Author's Note: Since I won't be home tomorrow evening to update, here we go with a day early ;)
"…yes, again", Pat heard Willow say as she came back around again, without an idea how long she had been out cold; since she still was on the couch and fully dressed, she figured it hadn't been too long, taking a moment to make sure the pain was gone before she slowly opened her good eye, spotting the redhead moments later as she was pacing the room, on the phone with someone, the demon presuming that it was Giles while she slowly sat up and ran both hands through her hair, grimacing when she encountered sticky wetness and realized that this time, she hadn't just bled from her nose, but from her ears, as well.
"And it is getting worse", Willow now told Giles, not having noticed yet that her partner had woken up again, "the pain got so bad that it knocked her out! We have to do something Giles, who knows how much worse this will get, and there was so little time between the incidents now…"
"I'm awake", Pat croaked from the couch now that the witch finally had fallen quiet; and almost immediately, Willow was at her side, grasping her hand and ignoring what the Watcher was telling her on the phone as she was fully focused on her partner, asking her how she was feeling.
"Better", the demon let her know, smiling weakly at her, "the pain's gone. For now."
"She's awake again and better", the witch let Giles know as, even though Pat couldn't understand what he was saying, he was sounding quite impatient and worried, "the pain stopped, at least for now. But Giles, we have to figure this out quickly, if it got so bad by now that it knocks her out, who knows how much worse it can get!"
"I'm working on this with all my resources", the Brit reassured her, in a vain attempt to calm her down, "I promise. I'll call the coven once more and explain how urgent the situation is."
"Yes, please do that", Willow sighed, "until then, I'll try to find some healing spells which might help. I kinda performed one out of nowhere when I tried to soothe her pain, but I'm not sure this will be enough the next time it happens, it knocked her out so fast just minutes ago…"
"…I understand", the Watcher let her know after just the briefest pause, long enough to let her notice and make her wonder why he had hesitated; under different circumstances, she might have asked, but since her worry for Pat was too big to bother about it, she simply ignored it, instead telling him to call her the moment he knew anything.
"I will", Giles promised her, then told her to be careful before he ended the call; with a sigh, the redhead put the phone down and looked at her lover, smiling weakly when she was pulled into a tender embrace, even though her smile vanished in an instant again when she saw the blood which had leaked out of her girlfriend's ears and was drying on the skin now.
"Giles or the coven better figure something out fast", she then stated, moving out of Pat's embrace with the intent to get a washcloth, "headaches so bad that they make you bleed from the nose and ears can't be healthy for long."
"Yeah", the demon agreed with a small sigh, watching how her partner made her way to the bathroom, "and you know what sucks the most? I can't even fight this thing. If it was corporeal, I'd kick its ass from here to next Sunday, but, well…"
"Maybe we can try making it solid", Willow pondered out loud in reply as she returned from the bathroom with a wet washcloth, sitting down next to the taller woman again and asking her to hold up her hair, carefully washing off the blood once Pat had done so, "like I did with the ghost of that serial killer, remember?"
"How could I ever forget", the demon chuckled in response, "cause you kicked him in the junk right afterwards."
"I still think it's funny that this surprised you so much", the redhead smirked, making her partner chuckle once again, "but, well, I guess I'll look that spell up again, it can't hurt to have it in the back of my mind once you see this thing again."
"You need any stuff from the Magic Box for that?" Pat asked her in response, "cause Anya asked me yet again to help her with some delivery, and if I can't go on patrol, maybe hauling around heavy boxes will help to get rid of some energy."
"Not really for that spell, no", Willow let her know, smiling at the way she frowned at once, clearly not liking the thought of going to the shop without her partner, "but I need to restock some of my other stuff anyway, so we can go there tomorrow if you like?"
"Sure", the taller woman agreed, "good plan, cause today, I just wanna take it easy, after those headaches…"
"I wouldn't have let you go today anyway", Willow told her at once, making her smirk slightly – before she pulled her closer for a tender kiss, forgetting the headaches and her worries about them as their lips met, once more only capable of focusing on her loved one and how good she was making her feel.
"That box should go over there", Anya stated early in the next afternoon, after Pat had picked Willow up from campus and they had gone to the Magic Box together, the demon now hauling around heavy boxes while the witch was looking for the things she needed, "but please lift it carefully, it contains fragile items!"
Letting out a vaguely agreeing grunting noise, the taller woman hoisted the box up, then carried it to the spot Anya had pointed out to her; there, she carefully lowered it, to the ex-demon's relief, putting it down just in time to straighten up again when Willow poked her head into the storage room, frowning slightly as she asked Anya if she really had run out of dried wolfsbane or if she just couldn't find it.
"I ran out", Anya confirmed, prompting the witch's frown to deepen, "a customer bought all I had left. But no worries, I already ordered more! Shall I put some aside for you?"
"Yes please", Willow gave back, asking herself why anyone would need so much wolfsbane, knowing that Anya had had quite the big stock of it, "did they say why they need so much? It's a bit odd, I mean, I don't use it that often, and I do a lot of various spells…"
"He didn't say, and I didn't ask", Anya shrugged, "I was just happy, because he bought a lot."
"Strange", the redhead commented, making her partner give her a curious look, "you'd think I would have noticed by now that some other person is around who's doing a lot of magic."
"Maybe he's not doing any magic at all", Pat shrugged, clearly not as curious about this as her partner, "you know, like those girls from the campus Wicca group."
"Could be", the witch agreed after a moment, smiling as she thought of how those girls had reacted when they had seen some real magic and had seen what her partner could do, "and, well, I'm probably pondering this for nothing. If you have no wolfsbane, Anya, I got everything, so I'm ready to pay."
"Great", Anya beamed, only to have her face fall as immediately, Pat reminded her of the discount she owed them for the help the demon once more had provided; grumbling to herself, the brunette led the way back into the shop's main area, followed by the witch and the demon, the couple exchanging an amused smirk at the ex-demon's reaction to the mere mentioning of a discount.
"You wanna go back home now?" Pat asked while Anya was busy adding the prices for all the items Willow had chosen, a surprisingly big stack, considering that she only had been planning to get a few supplies, "or maybe have a coffee somewhere or something?"
"Coffee sounds like a good idea", the witch agreed with a smile, "let's go to the Espresso Pump? It's not far from here."
"I know, I went there a hundred times to get coffee when we were researching stuff here", the taller woman reminded her of her delivery duties, making her nod with a slight giggle as she remembered how often Anya and Pat had bickered about this, the demon wanting their friend to buy a new coffee machine and Anya refusing to do so for quite some time until she finally had given in; clearly figuring out what she was thinking about, the black haired woman smirked as well, then moved to help Willow pack up the things she had bought, holding back the urge to roll her eyes when Anya sounded just a bit too happy about the total price for all the stuff.
"You didn't forget the discount, right?" Pat wanted to know, giving her a suspicious look; immediately, Anya shook her head, reassuring her that she already subtracted the fifteen percent they had agreed on beforehand, still sounding cheerful when she asked Willow if she needed help with packing all the items she had bought.
"Yeah, that'd be nice", Willow gave back, making the ex-demon smile brightly at her; together, they quickly packed the items the witch had bought into two bags, Pat taking one of them the moment they had gotten done while the redhead grasped the other one, both wishing Anya a nice day and good business before they finally left the store, the smaller woman grasping her partner's hand the moment they had stepped on the sidewalk.
"That should last for a while", Willow then told the black haired woman as they started walking, "unless some big thing comes up for which I have to do a lot of magic."
"Let's hope this won't happen", Pat gave back at once, giving her a concerned look, "I don't like the thought of any big things coming up while there's the constant little problem of me getting crippling headaches."
"That reminds me", the witch perked up in response, "I wanted to call Giles and ask if there's anything new about this particular situation."
"Don't you think he would have called if there was?" the demon wanted to know, frowning slightly, "he said he would, right? And he usually does."
"Yes", Willow agreed, "but, well, I just want him to find something quickly… I don't like this whole thing at all, and I don't like it to see you in so much pain… Perhaps he'll find something quicker if I annoy him enough."
"I doubt it", Pat chuckled, "but fine, call him then… But first, let's have some coffee, alright? I need another caffeine fix."
"Junkie", Willow playfully teased, making her smirk and nod; the couple briefly stopped walking to grin at each other, then shared a quick kiss before they moved on, a relieved sigh coming from the taller woman when the Espresso Pump appeared up ahead in the distance at last.
"Maybe I should order you decaf", the redhead immediately took another chance given for teasing as she saw the way her lover's good eye lit up; not even dignifying this with a proper answer, Pat just snorted, making the witch giggle yet again, then held the door open for her, the man behind the counter recognizing them on sight and waving cheerfully at them, clearly happy to see two of his best customers enter.
"What will it be today, ladies?" he asked them as soon as they had approached the counter, "the usual?"
"Yeah", the taller woman answered after exchanging a brief look with her partner, "and don't be stingy on the sugar, you hear?"
"As if I ever am", he replied with a roll of his eyes, making the demon smirk; after a moment, he smiled back, then turned his back on them to fix the coffee, and that was when the glass door and window exploded into myriads of splinters and people started screaming in pain and terror, the peaceful mood in the café shattering as effectively as the glass.