"So your better half is gonna lurk around here all day long?" Buffy asked with a giggle as she walked to the lecture hall with her best friend, glancing around curiously, "where is she, then?"
"Dunno", Willow gave back, glancing around, "probably trying to be inconspicuous. I told her that she should be careful so no one would report her for suspicious behaviour…"
"I'm not surprised she's taking such drastic measures this time", Buffy commented, looking around as well, but finding herself unable to spot the black haired woman, "seeing how this crazy guy came after all of us the last time someone wanted her dead… Did Giles figure out by now what it is?"
"No", Willow sighed, "and unfortunately, Pat couldn't really help with that, she saw it again yesterday, but again just from the corner of her eye, and when she tried to take a closer look, it was gone. At least, it didn't give her a headache this time though…"
"I guess that's something", Buffy nodded, "but I'd feel even better if we knew what exactly this thing is."
"Me too", Willow agreed at once, "Pat's taking it rather easy so far, but I'm worried. What if this thing is really dangerous? And just… charging up or something to do some real damage?"
"I'm sure Giles will figure something out", Buffy tried to reassure her, reaching out and patting her arm tenderly, "no worries, you know how good he is with such stuff. He even figured out the whole demon messes we had to deal with lately. And the shapeshifter thing, remember, the shards?"
"Yes, of course", the redhead nodded, "but still, I'm worried. I mean, what if some sort of shadow demon thing comes after her and it can hurt her, but she can't even see it? How are we supposed to fight such a thing? And from what she told me, if it wasn't a coincidence, it didn't even need to be there to give her a migraine from Hell."
"Maybe we're lucky for once and it was a coincidence", Buffy hazarded, "even though, on second thought, having blinding headaches out of nowhere coincidentally isn't an all too calming thought, either."
"Not really", Willow sighed, running one hand through her hair, "cause that could point to all kind of horrendous things."
Nodding, Buffy gave her a sympathetic look, feeling sorry for her best friend and the demon; after all, there had been more than enough action in their lives the last few months, and she had been hoping for a bit more peace before things would get all dramatic and complicated again.
"But no matter what", she tried to give some reassurance again, hopefully with more success this time and without putting thoughts of brain tumours and other nastiness into her best friend's mind, "we'll figure this out, and it'll be okay. Oh, and there's your girlfriend."
Giggling, she nodded to the right, prompting Willow to glance into that direction, a giggle coming from her as well when she spotted her partner, the taller woman casually leaning against the wall next to a lecture hall, as if she was waiting for someone, winking at her as she walked by, ignoring the looks the other students were giving her, ranging from curious to mildly uncomfortable.
"You know", Willow smiled as they moved into the lecture hall together, "I wasn't sure she'd really pull this off when she said she wouldn't let me out of her sight, but apparently, she meant it."
"I'm not surprised", Buffy shrugged, "after what happened when that Piretti was after her, that was pretty bad for all of us…"
Nodding again, the redhead thought of how bad exactly it had been, of how Piretti had tried to shoot Buffy, had blown up the home of Xander and Anya and had beaten her badly enough to send her to the hospital; and in the end, he nearly had killed her partner after all, the witch not even wanting to ponder the spell he had put on her in the moment of his death for a second, still remembering the unpleasant consequences it had had all too well.
"She felt really bad about this yesterday, you know", the witch now went on, "about how her past keeps catching up with her that way…"
"It surely would be easier if she hadn't had… that particular job before she came here", Buffy had to admit, "but we all know she more than made up for what she did, I mean, she helped save the world how often by now, a dozen times? That should be worth something, right?"
"You know it is in my eyes", Willow gave back at once, "and I know it is for you guys, too… But apparently not for whoever it is who is after her now."
"Apparently", Buffy sighed, finding an empty seat and taking it; sitting down next to her, the witch nodded her agreement, then the professor entered the lecture hall and prompted her to get out her textbook, the redhead giving her best to focus for the next fifty minutes, even though her mind kept drifting off to her partner and the new threat they were facing, the unpleasant feeling that what they had seen so far was just the beginning constantly nagging at her.
"Surprise", a deep and hoarse voice whispered into her ear from behind as she sat down for lunch, making her flinch – before she shook her head and turned in her seat enough so she could look at Pat, a twinkle in her green eyes as she replied. "Not really, I've spotted you before. But you'll be pleased to hear that nothing out of the ordinary happened when you weren't around."
"Oh, I was around", the demon reassured her with a smirk while she sat down at the table, as well, "just because you didn't see me, doesn't mean I wasn't there. I didn't see the thing again though, either, so maybe it's gone."
"That'd be too good to be true", Willow sighed, then smiled as the taller woman leaned over for a tender kiss; not caring who might be around to watch, she responded to the kiss, smiling at her partner afterwards, reaching over the table to grasp her hand as she spoke up again. "It's good to know you're around though, just in case anything happens… Who knows what this thing is and what it really wants."
"Uh-huh", the demon let out a vaguely agreeing noise, smiling slightly when Willow squeezed her hand tenderly, "as you said, it'd be too good to be true if it was just gone now. Shouldn't you be eating lunch, by the way?"
"The presence of my wonderful girlfriend distracted me", Willow teased in response, making the taller woman chuckle – before she snatched one of the redhead's French fries from her plate and munched it down, smirking when the witch shot her a disapproving look.
"What?" the demon then asked, leaning back into the seat comfortably, "don't wanna share with your wonderful… girlfriend…" She trailed off as she spotted the strange shadow from the corner of her eye again, the way she tensed up immediately telling Willow that something was amiss; keeping her voice low so the people around wouldn't hear her, she asked if she was seeing it again, earning a barely visible nod in reply.
"It's just hovering there", Pat then mumbled, fighting down the urge to look directly at the thing, knowing it would just be gone again then, "I wonder if—"
The pain shot through her head like a bright lance, a low groan involuntarily escaping her as she doubled over; dimly, she heard Willow call out her name, then the pain, impossibly, became even worse, the black haired woman not even fully noticing how she ended up falling off the chair and crashing to the ground, groaning through grit teeth as she laid there, clutching her head.
"Pat!" Willow cried out, getting up from her chair so fast that she nearly made it fall over and rushing to her partner's side; upon kneeling down next to her and, with a dreadful feeling of helplessness, pulling her into an embrace, her heart clenched up even further when she saw the blood practically gushing from the taller woman's nostrils.
"Someone call an ambulance!" she heard someone in the crowd of startled, watching students call out, then the demon let out a low groan, clutching at her head even tighter, tears now spilling from her good eye as the pain was getting too much to handle; and then, just as fast as it had started, it ended again, as if someone had flicked a switch in her brain and had simply turned it off.
"…I'm okay", Pat brought out in a hoarse voice after a few breathless moments of waiting if the pain would come back, struggling to sit up, grimacing at the feeling of blood still dripping from her nose, even though the flow had lessened considerably, "I'm okay, it stopped again…"
"Again?" one of the members of the small crowd which, to her dismay, had formed around her, wanted to know, giving her a concerned look, briefly making her wonder why he seemed to care since she couldn't recall knowing him, "if you have those regularly, you should go see a doctor."
"I will", the black haired woman mumbled, then shot her partner a brief, but pleading look; getting the hint, Willow helped her to her feet, then wrapped one arm around her waist to make sure she wouldn't end up falling down again, giving her a worried look as she asked her in a low voice if she was sure she should be standing up already.
"Yes", the demon grumbled in reply, glancing at the people staring at her in concern, "just get me outta here. I don't like how they're all concerned and worried."
"Better than ignoring you", Willow pointed out as she started leading her partner to the exit, figuring that some fresh air couldn't hurt; someone was thoughtful enough to pass her a napkin, and she handed it over to Pat, prompting the taller woman to wipe the blood off her upper lip and chin, grimacing at how soaked the napkin was once she got done.
"This is bad", she then sighed, throwing the bloodied napkin into the nearest trash can as they stepped out of the cafeteria hall, "when it happened the first time, it didn't take quite so long until the pain stopped again. And it didn't make me bleed."
"We really need to find out what might be causing this", Willow let her know in reply, leading her to the nearest bench and making her sit down there, giving her a disapproving glance when she dug out her cigarettes, but not saying anything.
"Did you see that… shadow thing again before the pain started?" she asked instead, sitting down next to her; nodding, Pat gave her another unhappy glance, lighting up her cigarette with the lighter Willow had given her as an anniversary present several years ago, not daring to flame up in such a public place, then taking a long drag of the smoke before she spoke up again.
"Yeah, I did… I avoided looking at it directly, cause it always seems to vanish then", she explained, "but apparently, avoiding to look at it doesn't help."
"Obviously", Willow had to admit, giving her another concerned look while she reached out and grasped her hand.
"I'm worried", she went on, giving the taller woman's hand a tender squeeze, "what if this gets worse?"
"We'll just have to find out what's going on before it has a chance to get worse", Pat gave back, giving her best to sound confident since she didn't want to increase her girlfriend's concerns by letting her notice how much this was freaking her out, the mere thought of that horrid pain starting up in her head again making her break out in cold sweat, "I'm sure Giles is already working on it."
"Giles!" Willow nearly cried out in reply, making the demon flinch, "I can't believe I didn't think of this right away! I'll call him!" And with those words, she already dug out her phone while Pat took another long drag of her cigarette, holding back a snarky comment about how yelling like that near someone who'd just had a massive attack of the headaches maybe wasn't such a good idea; instead, she simply watched how the redhead dug out her cell phone, then flipped it open and quickly dialled the Watcher's number, slight anxiety on her face as she waited for the elder man to take the call.
"Giles, hey, it's me", she greeted him half a minute later, glad that he had been at home after all, "I know we only just talked about this, but… you didn't happen to find anything out yet, right?"
"Nothing definite, no", the Watcher let her know, her dismay showing on her face enough to make it Pat's turn to squeeze her hand tenderly, "why are you asking? Did it happen again?"
"Yes", the redhead sighed, giving her lover another unhappy look, "and it was worse this time. She even got a nose bleed and it lasted longer than the first time."
"This is quite concerning indeed", Giles let her know, not really helping to calm her down, "I'll try to speed up my research, but as you know, these things often take time…"
"Yes, I know", Willow sighed, then glanced at her watch before she went on. "I have one more class I can't skip", she told the Watcher, "then we'll head right to your place and help."
"I'll be expecting you then", the Brit gave back, prompting her to let out a vaguely agreeing noise; then, she said her goodbye and ended the call, looking at her partner afterwards, immediately making the taller woman tell her that she'd come along the moment their eyes met.
"Maybe we'll find something faster if we all work together", she then added, still giving her best to sound confident, "you know we'll figure this out. We always do."
"Yes", Willow had to admit, smiling slightly when the taller woman ditched her cigarette, then reached up with her now free hand and caressed her cheek tenderly, her voice down to a low murmur when she went on.
"It'll be okay", she reassured her girlfriend, the redhead almost automatically leaning into her gentle touch, forgetting the world around her, "I promise. We'll figure this out, put an end to it, and it'll be okay. And until then, I can handle the headaches."
"As long as they don't get worse", Willow gave back, shrugging when the demon gave her a strict look in reply.
"What?" she then wanted to know, feigning innocence, "we both know you're kinda thick-headed, but you have your limits, too."
"I am not thick-headed", Pat protested at once, making the witch giggle since she had known that this was exactly how the other woman would react, "I resent that."
"Sure you do", Willow mumbled, then silenced her with a tender kiss before she could voice more protest; and once again, she forgot about the world around them as the kiss deepened, regret filling her when she finally had to pull back, still rational enough to remember that she had one more class to attend before she could leave the campus.
"I better get going", she thus mumbled, glancing at her watch again, "or I'll be late for class."
"And we don't want that", the demon said so solemnly that it made her partner giggle again, "I'll go find a washroom in the meantime and wash up. Meet you at the gate after class?"
"Yes", Willow agreed at once, then took the time to quickly, but tenderly kiss her once more before she got up from the bench and made her way to the lecture hall where her class would be held while the taller woman went to find a washroom, both of them barely able to wait for the moment they'd meet again and hopefully find a solution for the demon's predicament.