Pansy32 requested "How long has it been?" + Amy and Willow. I could make them a pairing or not.

Willow didn't usually go out to bars or nightclubs. Actually, she hated doing that. The Bronze in Sunnydale had been one thing – it was the Bronze, after all. Only place to hang out anyway.

But here she was, in a gay bar, sitting in the corner and slowly nursing a drink. It was all Buffy's fault. Willow had been content with spending her nights at home curled up with her laptop or a good book and her cat Inigo Montoya – yes, she'd named him after a Princess Bride character – but Buffy had threatened to fly all the way from Paris and force Willow to put herself out there again at metaphorical stakepoint if that's what it took.

Buffy was under the impression that Willow needed to stop moping over Kennedy, but… Willow hadn't really ever moped over Kennedy. By the time she'd walked in on her ex having sex with another woman, their relationship had been basically dead for months anyway. Both of them had known that. Willow hadn't even been able to muster enough anger to yell at Kennedy even a little, or burn the things Kennedy had accidentally left behind. She'd actually dropped them in the mail and sent them to her.

Because… well… she wasn't even upset. It was sad, a little, that her relationship had died, but it had died with a whimper, and it had died before Kennedy cheated. They'd just… drifted apart, stopped working… take your pick. Which was really why Kennedy had cheated. Her ex had known as well as her there was no love left in their relationship. It barely counted as cheating.

Three months is long enough Willow! You need to put yourself out there!

Rather than put up with Buffy pestering her over the phone, Willow had decided she'd go out a few times this week, and then she could tell Buffy she'd tried and go back to spending her nights in her apartment, like she wanted to. There was this 200,000 word fanfic for one of her OTPs that she'd just found yesterday that she wanted to get started on reading.

Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, Willow looked around the bar. She'd picked one that wasn't the type to be that filled with people, on a night when it especially wasn't. She was going to tell Buffy she'd tried, not that she'd tried that hard.

As she surveyed the room, she caught sight of a brown-haired woman sitting at the bar, her hair falling down straight, past her shoulders. Something about the woman caught Willow's eye… maybe it was the way her jeans hugged her hips, maybe it was… something undefinable. Willow wasn't sure what it was, but as she sat there, taking another slow sip from her drink, she found herself… well…

She really wanted to introduce herself to the other woman. She didn't get why, but…

Well, I guess I'm going to try a little bit harder than I intended. Willow got up and walked over to the bar, sitting down next to the woman, who was sipping from a fruity-looking tropical-y drink, complete with a little umbrella.

"Hey." Willow said, already feeling like an idiot. The other woman turned her head and Willow caught her breath as she recognized the woman. Amy Madison.

The last time Willow had seen Amy had been a few days after the Collapse of Sunnydale. They were in L.A., waiting for the last of the new Slayers that had made it out alive to be checked out of the hospital, and Willow had gone to get a coffee, and seen Amy coming out of the shop. Showing good sense for a change, Amy had actually tried to run when she saw Willow, but she hadn't made it far. Willow hadn't done anything to Amy, but she had promised the other witch that if she saw her again, she'd get around to making her pay for that hex.

Of course… that had been a long time ago.

"Willow." Amy stood up, moving quickly, almost knocking her chair over, babbling. "Goddess.. . if I had known you were in this city… look, I'll leave tomorrow… I mean, if you want me to leave tonight, I will, it's just – I mean, I already paid for my motel room and-"

"Amy, it's… it's okay. You don't need to… I'm not going to do anything to you. You can sit back down, finish your drink." Hesitantly, Amy sat down, not taking her eyes off of Willow, as if afraid she would attack her suddenly otherwise.

"You said-" Amy started, her voice soft, but Willow shook her head.

"I know what I said. But that was – how long has it been? Nearly three and a half years? As long as you're not… not going to do something like that again, I don't… I'm not going to drum you out of town."

Amy shook her head, "No, I'm not… I was… I was planning on moving here, to this city… if you want-"

"Cleveland is big enough for both of us, Amy. I'm not… at this point it's not like I'm still angry at you. It's been long enough." She'd barely even thought of Amy that much, really, and… what Amy had done was reckless, and wrong and petty, but… she wasn't going to hold onto anger forever. That didn't help anyone. "How… how have you been? I didn't – I didn't know you were… well, gay."

"I'm bisexual, actually." Amy corrected, without any heat, "And… well, I didn't realize it myself until two years ago. Though in hindsight…" Amy shrugged, "it explains a few things."

Willow nodded, "I understand that." Once she'd realized she liked girls, certain things about the way she'd looked at and thought about Miss Calendar, for example, had made a whole lot more sense to her. "How… how have you been?" It felt weird asking Amy that, but… they had been friends once. A lifetime and a half ago.

Amy didn't say anything for a long moment, then, "I… I could be a lot worse. Bounced around a bit after Sunnydale fell… skirted pretty close to the edge. Things have been better for a while… but…" Amy shrugged, "I came here to Cleveland looking to start over. I had a bad… bad breakup a few weeks ago."

"I'm sorry." Willow said sincerely. She looked down at the bar for a moment, then back up to Amy. "I broke up with Kennedy a few months ago." She said suddenly. Before Amy could say anything, she held up a hand, "It… its nothing to feel bad about… we should have broken up a while before we did. Inertia kept us going those last couple of months." Willow trailed off. She didn't know why she'd been drawn too Amy in the first place, but… there was something about her. Purely physically, there was the fact that Willow was finding Amy attractive, but..

Am I…am I actually interested in Amy? Of all people? Willow bit her lip. She was. Wow.

"You mentioned you were planning on moving here. Do you have a place lined up?" This is a bad idea. But… frankly, Willow hadn't realized just how scared Amy still was of her wrath– now that she'd seen it… she could still see it in the way the other witch carried herself. Willow wanted Amy to know she didn't bear her any ill will. And… a new start was always something Willow could get behind helping.

"Not yet."

"Well… one of the tenants in my building moved out a few days ago… if you wanted to come by the building tomorrow… it would be easier than having to go apartment hunting."

Amy looked at her, her brow furrowed in confusion. "Why… why are you- I mean… fine you're not still angry at me and… believe me, that's… that's good to know, but…"

Willow shrugged. "I'm not totally sure, to be honest. But… I mean, we were friends once, Amy. It'd be nice to see if we could be again. And… well, it would be nice to have someone on my level, magically, around."

"I was never on your level Willow." Amy pointed out, without any bitterness in her words this time.

"You were close. You sell yourself too short, maybe." Willow disagreed. "Look, just think about it, okay?" She wrote the address of her building on a napkin and pushed it over to Amy.

Amy nodded. "Alright."

Little did either of them know that in a few months, they'd be dating. That before three years had passed, they would have a handfasting ceremony. That after the Obergefell decision came down from the Supreme Court, they would be among the first same-sex couples in line to apply for a marriage license in Ohio. There was no way either of them could know that's what was coming. All they knew was that something new had been started between them, though neither of them were entirely sure what.