Author's Note: I will be attending a music festival from tomorrow until next Tuesday, during which I won't be able to update. So here's a longer chapter, and the next one will be posted next Wednesday :)
"I'm not even sure that all the sage Anya has in her shop will help with this", Willow let Buffy and Iris know half an hour later, despite her own words burning sage yet again and making sure that the smoke was reaching her girlfriend's nostrils, "she took so much from her, if you had hit her with that ashtray just a few seconds later, she might have drained and killed her…"
"But she didn't", Buffy tenderly replied, sitting down on the edge of the bed next to the witch and placing a reassuring hand on her arm, "and she'll be fine, right? After she… I don't know, recharged?"
"If she gets the time to do so", Willow sighed, looking at her lover in dismay, "you heard that wretched woman, she won't give up until she got all of it…"
"We won't let that happen", Iris told her, the determined sound of her voice making the witch smile slightly, "she might be hard to kill, but it's not impossible to kill her. And that's just what we'll do. She's been doing this to humans and demons long enough."
"She's only doing it because you forced her to with that curse", Buffy pointed out, saying exactly what Willow had been thinking, "so technically, we might blame you as much as her. Or even more."
"I also forced a certain need for physical violence on Pat", Iris gave back, just a hint of coldness in her voice, "but she uses that now to fight the good fight. Lana might do the same, or find other ways to feed, but instead, she kidnaps and torments people regularly."
"Playing the blame game won't lead anywhere", Willow threw in before they could discuss this any further, even though she still agreed with what Buffy had said, "we have to make sure she can't feed on Pat any more, just in case she comes back. Some protection spell perhaps…"
"It's too bad we can't fill her up with poisonous magic", Iris sighed, looking at the unconscious demon in dismay, "that would solve our problem quickly."
"We won't fill her up with any kind of magic", Willow strictly replied, giving her a warning look, "after losing so much of it, who knows what might happen if we give her too much too fast."
"Can we actually give her anything?" Buffy wanted to know, rising an eyebrow, asking herself if she ever had heard of this before; nodding, the witch cleared her throat, then glanced down the lifeless demon again as she replied, her cheeks reddening as she spoke. "Of course, it's what… what Rack was doing. When I was going there… he juiced me up, it's what made him so addicting…"
"You went to see Rack?" Iris wanted to know, sounding shocked, "I never would guessed. You seem so… balanced. Balanced people don't go to Rack."
"I wasn't back then", Willow mumbled, her gaze momentarily darkening as she thought of the times she had gone to see the magic dealer, how dirty she always had felt afterwards, but finding herself unable to stop; then, she shook her head lightly, as if to clear it, and focused on the topic at hand again, her voice back to strict as she went on. "So, anyway, we won't give her any magic. The Goddess knows I have more than enough, but I don't dare to, who knows what it might do to her…"
"Not to mention that your magic differs quite a bit from hers", Iris sighed, looking at the demon as well, "so, you're right, it's not an option. I guess we'll just have to figure out how to protect her until she managed to recharge…"
"She's protected me so often since we got together", Willow mumbled, reaching out with one hand to tenderly caress the taller woman's whitened hair, fondly remembering all the moments during which the demon had done just that, "she snapped out of insanity once, to protect me… And she lost her eye when she came to my rescue… Now it's my turn to protect her."
"And we'll help", Buffy reassured, "all of us. We won't leave her out of our sight until this has been dealt with."
"Thanks", Willow gave back, smiling slightly at her; smiling back at her, the blonde patted her arm reassuringly, then rose from her seat, giving Iris a pointed look as she stated that some more research should be done.
For a moment, the other witch looked confused and as if she wanted to protest; then, Buffy gave her another meaningful look and she got the hint, nodding a bit too enthusiastically as she vaguely gestured at the door.
"Yes", she then said, "we better do that! Come on Buffy, let's hit the books!"
Holding back the urge to roll her eyes, Buffy nodded, then the two left the room together; and the moment the door had closed behind them, Willow shook her head, a slight smile on her face when she looked at her unconscious partner and spoke up again, making sure to keep her voice low so the two outside wouldn't hear her.
"At least they made up a better excuse than they did when we just met", she mumbled, caressing the demon's hair tenderly, "remember that? They kept saying 'I forgot something' or 'I need to go and do that thing'."
She fell silent, not sure what else to say and not having an idea if Pat could actually hear her; then, she remembered how the taller woman had rested in her arms before they had been attacked yet again and figured that she might as well hold her close like that again, even though she doubted that she'd find any sleep after the excitement they just had gone through.
"You'll be okay", she mumbled as she laid down next to the knocked out woman, carefully pulling her into her arms and holding her close, "I promise. And I won't let her hurt you again… I love you."
She bent down to tenderly kiss the top of her partner's head, then just held her close, listening to her slow breathing and feeling her heart beat in her chest; and after a while, despite the attack and of how worried she was, she drifted off into sleep, slumbering through the rest of the night without anyone disturbing Pat or her again.
In the next morning, Pat was still out cold when Willow woke up, to the redhead's great dismay and concern; but even though she wanted to, she didn't try to wake the taller woman up, telling herself that she needed to regain some energies through this deep unconsciousness as she carefully moved out from underneath her, then got out of bed and made her way into the living room, finding Buffy and Iris still fast asleep there, opened books on the table in front of them, showing her that they really had been doing some research the previous night.
Shaking her head, the redhead smiled at the two sleeping figures, then made her way into the kitchen; not sure if Iris wanted tea or coffee, she decided after a moment to make coffee only, telling herself that, thanks to their electric kettle, she'd be able to heat up water pretty quickly, should the other witch want tea.
While she prepared the coffee machine, she thought of how much her partner always needed caffeine to get going in the morning, and how much of a morning grouch she always was before her first cigarette and sips of coffee; briefly, her heart clenched up as her thoughts returned to her demon unconscious in their bedroom, then she pushed those bad thoughts aside, telling herself that surely, Pat would wake up again soon.
"Morning", Buffy's voice distracted her from her ponderings as the Slayer came trotting into the kitchen, rubbing at her eyes, said eyes lighting up when she saw the already working coffee machine, "and it just got better. Thanks for the coffee. How's Pat?"
"Still out cold", Willow gave back, nodding towards the fridge in a gesture which told Buffy to just help herself to whatever she wanted, "I hope she'll wake up again soon, poor her…"
"It looked really scary when that witch fed on her", the blonde commented, peering into the fridge in search for something she could put on the bread Willow had helpfully put out already, "how her hair went white… I didn't even know it's possible to take so much so fast."
"It usually isn't", Willow let her know, turning to look at her, "it must be part of the curse Iris put on her. Or she could feed so fast because she already fed from her before, so it was easier… Maybe Iris can specify."
"Once she wakes up", Buffy replied with a roll of her eyes, finally having found something to put on her bread, "that woman sleeps like a rock, I made so much noise getting up and she didn't even stir. But she snores a lot, I kept waking up during the night because she was so loud."
"I bet I wouldn't even have heard that", the redhead smirked, "Pat snores too, normally, it took me a while to get used to it when I started spending the nights here…"
"She'll be okay", Buffy let her know in a tender voice in reply, moving over to her and placing a comforting hand on her arm, having heard the slight tremble in her best friend's voice when she had said her partner's name, "it might take a while, but you know she'll be okay."
"I know", Willow gave back after a few seconds of silence, "but… I feel so bad for her, I mean, she was so scared when that Lana person came back, and still she got over that fear to protect me… again… One day, this is gonna get her killed, but I know there is nothing I can say or do to stop her. And now look at her…"
"You're right", Buffy told her, smiling slightly, "there is nothing you can say or do to stop her. And, as heartless as this may sound, it was a good thing she pushed you outta the way, imagine if that witch had fed on you, how powerful she might be then…"
"She never planned to", the witch shook her head, "she said that she knew this would work just before she grabbed Pat and… ate."
"She must know her well then", Buffy frowned, not liking this thought at all, "or she wouldn't have known that Pat's willing to give her life to protect you."
"Maybe she kept tabs on her, too", Willow pondered out loud, frowning as well, "Iris said she did, and we never knew. How can we know this Lana person didn't do that, as well? Even though I have to say, I don't like the thought of anyone watching us and we're not having an idea about it."
"Neither do I", Buffy grumbled, "perhaps we should look into spells which might help detect us anyone watching us. Ordinarily, I'd ask Pat to use her assassin skills to do just that, but, well…"
"She's in no shape to do that", Willow finished for her at once, "after how much Lana took from her yesterday, I'll be glad if she'll be able to get up… and I better go check on her."
Nodding, Buffy focused on her breakfast again while the redhead turned and made her way through the living room, where Iris was still sleeping soundly, and into the bedroom; to her dismay and concern, she found the demon still out cold, lying on her back exactly the way she had been when Willow had left, her breathing slow and calm.
Slowly, torn between not wanting to wake her up and hoping that she'd come back around again soon, the redhead moved over to the bed and sat down on the edge; after a moment of studying her sleeping partner, she reached out with one hand and tenderly caressed her hair, her heart once more cramping up at the sight of the white strands, a feeling which was quickly forgotten though when, in reaction to her gentle touch, the taller woman's good eye opened and she looked at her, even managing a weak smile as their gazes met.
"Hey", Willow smiled, still caressing her hair, "welcome back. How are you feeling?"
"I'm feeling each and every day of my age", Pat mumbled in reply, "and a few hundred years extra. But I'm glad she didn't feed on you…"
"That was quite reckless of you", the witch admonished at once, shaking her head, "you need to stop risking your life to save me, or one day, it'll end badly."
"I'd let her feed on me again a hundred times, if that meant she won't touch you", Pat replied at once, proving how true Willow's words about how there was nothing she could say or do to stop her partner from behaving recklessly for her sake had been, "no matter how… bad it feels."
"Did it hurt?", Willow wanted to know, not sure if the demon was ready yet to talk about it, but figuring that simply asking would be a good way to find out; it didn't really surprise her that the taller woman glanced away from her, then mumbled that she'd rather not speak of it, prompting the witch to grasp her hand and squeeze it tenderly.
"It's okay", she then let her know, not wanting to put any kind of pressure on her, "you can talk about it when you're ready. Or never at all, if you never want to."
Nodding, the demon gave her a thankful glance, then carefully sat up; momentarily, she felt dizzy, shocked about how weakened the attack of the other witch had left her, but not willing to just accept said weakened state, coming to her feet a few moments later.
"Are you sure you should be up already?" Willow asked concerned, taking a step closer to her so she could grab and steady her, should her legs end up giving in beneath her; this didn't happen, but still Pat put her hand on the smaller woman's shoulder after a moment for support, and by now, her lover knew her well enough to know that this was the only admission for a need of support she would get, thus wrapping her arm around her waist and earning another thankful look in reply.
"I made some coffee", Willow let her know as they left the bedroom together, passing the still slumbering Iris, "so if you're up to having some…"
"I'm always up to have coffee", Pat let her know, making her smile slightly; she wasn't sure if it was such a good idea for the demon to drink coffee in her weakened state, but on the other hand, she figured that Pat knew well enough what she could dare to eat and drink, thus not even protesting when the taller woman snatched up her cigarettes as they moved past the living room table.
"Good morning", Buffy greeted them as they entered the kitchen together, her surprise about seeing Pat out and about quite obvious, "how are you feeling, favourite demon of mine?"
"What exactly did you eat and drink while I was gone?" Willow wanted to know with a slight smile while Pat merely raised an eyebrow at being addressed this way; then, she clearly shrugged it off, since she almost fell into the nearest chair, momentarily closing her eye as she felt dizzy yet again, prompting Willow to give her a concerned, but unnoticed look.
"Are you sure you should be out of bed already?" Buffy asked what the witch had been thinking yet again, making the taller woman shrug, her gaze fixed on the pack of cigarettes as she replied, her hands shaking just enough to let the two women notice when she removed one of the smokes from the package.
"Not sure", she mumbled, briefly pausing to light up the cigarette, both Willow and Buffy noticing that she did so with an ordinary lighter and not by flaming up, as she usually did when there were no uninformed people around to see, "but I've spent more than enough time lying around the… last few days. Even though it apparently seemed longer over there than it was here."
Hearing this from the taller woman surprised both the Slayer and the witch – from what Pat had said when Willow had found her in the tower, it had been obvious that time had passed faster in that other dimension than it had in Sunnydale, but neither of them could recall mentioning this to the demon.
"How do you know?" Buffy finally was the one to ask, "that time passed faster over there, I mean?"
"Easy", the taller woman gave back, even managing a slight smile, "I saw the date on the DVD player when we walked through the living room."
Her smile widened slightly at how surprised both Buffy and Willow looked at hearing this, only to vanish again a second later as she glanced at the witch, her voice full of remorse when she went on, her words prompting the redhead to grasp her free hand yet again and squeeze it tenderly.
"I should have figured it out faster, though", Pat muttered, her eye never leaving the face of her partner, "I should have known you'd come for me as fast as possible, and I shouldn't have believed her when she told me no one would do so…"
"Don't worry about it", Willow told her at once, smiling at her reassuringly, "seeing what she was doing to you, it's no surprise you ended up believing her… It must have been awful."
The only reply she got was a slight nod, prompting her to squeeze Pat's hand yet again; then, Buffy distracted the demon by placing a cup of coffee in front of her, made with lots of sugar and a tiny splash of milk, just the way she liked it, the taller woman giving her a thankful glance as she picked the cup up and took a tentative sip, both Buffy and Willow noticing how she just stared off into the distance afterwards, but neither of them saying anything, knowing that they had to give her time to cope with what had been done with her and that she'd talk about it and recover once she was ready to do so.