"We should all get some rest now", Giles suggested after Deira's body had been stuffed in the trunk of Xander's car, for later disposal, "I believe we can discuss tomorrow what to do with the Staff and if we have to fear any more attacks from the… followers this creature had."
"I don't think so", Pat gave back, having the decency to step out of the house before she lit up a cigarette, suddenly feeling quite exhausted as the past events caught up with her, "but who knows. Let's hope I'm right."
Nodding, Willow gave her a concerned look, noticing how tired she looked all of a sudden; and thus, the redhead asked Xander if he could give them a ride home, smiling gratefully when he nodded at once, reassuring her that it was no problem.
"I'll stuff you into the bathtub the moment we get home", Willow let her partner know as they both got into the car, "and once you scrubbed off all that blood and gore, I'll tuck you in."
"No need for stuffing and tucking", the demon reassured her, sinking into the seat, momentarily asking herself if she'd stain those as well now, then shrugging it off, "I'll do all that voluntarily. I'm quite tired all at once."
"No surprise", Willow mumbled as she made herself comfortable next to her, then grasped her hand, ignoring the fact that it was stained with Deira's blood, some of it still beneath her partner's fingernails and on her skin despite her tries to get it off in Buffy's bathroom, "Iris gave back your strength, but apparently, you're still not fully recovered from what that Lana did to you…"
"Apparently", Pat replied curtly, making it obvious that she wasn't willing to discuss this any further; in response, the witch gave her a brief look, then squeezed her hand, relieved when she earned a weak smile in response.
"I hope you're not getting demon blood all over my seats", Xander then distracted the couple from the memories of the power-stealing Lana, "cause if you do, you'll have to pay for their cleaning, as well, not just for Buffy's carpet."
"No problem", Pat let him know at once, smirking slightly again, "I'm loaded, remember?"
"Yes, which is why she won't work for my delivery service", Anya reminded him of that discussion, something she had brought up a dozen times by now and an idea which had been shot down just as often by the black haired woman, "I still think that is mean."
"You'll survive without one", the demon grumbled in reply, making Anya huff; at least though, her tone of voice had made it clear to the ex-demon that she wasn't willing to discuss this yet again, at least not right now, and thus, the brunette fell quiet, merely looking out the window while Xander drove, all four of them constantly on the lookout for any surprise attacks the followers of Deira might launch against them.
To their relief, nothing happened though, no hooded men jumping out at them from behind buildings or bushes, or trying to attack them from the vehicle they had used to kidnap Willow; not all too long after the departure from Buffy's house, Xander stopped in front of the apartment building the couple lived in, both of them thanking him for the ride before they got out of the car and made their way outside, Pat yawning quite heartily once they had called down the elevator and had stepped inside the cabin.
"Bathtub", Willow reminded her, "just keep your eye open until we made it to our apartment."
"Uh-huh", the demon let out as an answer, making her smile slightly; it didn't take long until the elevator reached the second floor, and they made their way to their apartment, the taller woman immediately moving on to the bathroom after taking off her shoes and jacket.
"Good demon", the witch called after her, making a quick detour to the kitchen; from there, she retrieved a bottle of wine and two glasses, along with an ashtray for her lover, then joined her in the bathroom, not surprised to find the water there running already, filling the tub, while the demon sat on the edge, waiting for it to get full enough so she could get in without freezing her butt off.
"Oh, goodie", Willow commented, smiling as she handed her one of the glasses, then uncorked the bottle and filled it up, "you didn't undress yet. That means I'll get to watch."
"Not sure this will be so nice today", the demon gave back, taking a sip of the wine before she went on, "what with all the blood everywhere."
"Well, that'll be gone soon", Willow shrugged, "then I'll get to enjoy the show. Unless you pour so much bubble bath in it again that I can't see anything."
"I can't help it, I just like bubble bath", Pat gave back, finally deciding that the tub had filled enough and starting to strip out of her clothes as she spoke on, "and if you tell that to Buffy or anyone else of our friends, I'll be really cranky with you."
"I like how even then, you wouldn't be mad", Willow giggled, watching how her partner finished peeling off the ruined shirt, then the rest of her clothing, along with her underwear; momentarily, her heart clenched up at the sight of all the blood, reminding her of all the wounds her partner had taken in the last few hours and of the fact that she had been the cause for most of them, then the demon had stepped into the tub and the foam covered her up to her neck, hiding her bloodied torso and legs from view.
"Oh that feels good", Pat sighed out, only now remembering that she still wore her eyepatch and removing it, not wanting to get the leather wet; then, she sank even deeper into the tub, until the foam almost reached her nose, a content noise escaping her as the hot water soothed her muscles.
"I'm glad", Willow let her know, smiling, "I want you all relaxed and fine for when we go to bed later."
"You do?" Pat smirked, raising an eyebrow; with her smile widening, the redhead nodded, then made the taller woman sigh happily again by holding her cigarettes out to her, prompting her to briefly flame up one hand to dry her fingers before she took one and lit it up, taking a sip of her wine afterwards.
"Best girlfriend ever", she then told Willow, shifting in the tub to get more comfortable, "there's only one thing which would improve all of this even more."
"And what would that be?" the redhead wanted to know, even though she was quite sure she already knew the answer, a suspicion her lover confirmed with her reply. "If you'd join me in here once I cleaned up…"
"Gladly", Willow reassured her, laughing a second later as immediately, Pat grabbed the washcloth and started to scrub the blood off with record speed; still giggling, the witch already started to undress, joining the taller woman in the tub a few minutes later, smiling happily when she immediately was pulled into a tender embrace and they shared a loving kiss, all the pain and fear and terror of the past few hours forgotten as they only focused on each other.
In the next morning, Willow was, as almost always, the first one to wake up; next to her, Pat still slumbered soundly, one arm caught beneath the pillow the witch's head rested on, the other draped loosely over her waist as she laid on her side, her soft snores mostly muffled by her own pillow.
"Too cute", the witch muttered to herself, then carefully disentangled herself from the taller woman's embrace; she took a moment to stretch before bending down and tenderly kissing her on the cheek, then made her way through the living room and into the kitchen, glancing at the now wrapped up again Staff of Righteousness as she passed it where she had leaned it against the wall the previous evening.
While she started preparing the coffee machine, she thought of the Staff, and how easy it had made fighting for her; she never had been all too good with physical violence, nearly having broken her hand the few rare times she had actually thrown a punch, but with the Staff, it had been so easy to fight efficiently and well, no matter how bad the odds had felt.
And now, after experiencing this herself, she knew why her partner often felt so good after a successful fight; she had to admit that it had been a good feeling to use the Staff to dispose of their opponents, taking them down one by one with such ease that it was almost frightening, a shudder running through her as she thought of how the Staff had widened the crack in Deira's hardened outer shell and had allowed Pat to finish the demon off, something she never would have thought of doing on her own, not even with such an opportunity.
"A dangerous thing, that Staff", she muttered to herself, getting done with the coffee machine at last and moving on to the fridge; she could all too easily imagine how someone might get addicted to the power the Staff gave them, having to admit that, even though she hadn't possessed it for long, she already was reluctant to part with it, despite knowing that it probably would be the wisest thing to do, and that the Staff was too dangerous to be kept around in the long run.
Especially if it can be used to bring forth yet another apocalypse, she thought to herself, remembering the plans Deira had had for the Staff and for her, let's wait what Giles has to say about it, but I'm quite sure I already know…
"What'cha thinking about?" a low voice came from behind her, even hoarser than usual thanks to the fact that the owner had just gotten out of bed; startled, Willow flinched, then turned around to face her girlfriend, smiling slightly when Pat stepped closer to her and put both arms around her, giving her a questioning look and briefly making her wonder how she had known that something was on her mind before she shrugged it off with the explanation that by now, the demon just knew her well enough to tell from her posture and body language.
"The Staff", she explained, "I thought about how easy it was to fight properly with it, and how dangerous it is… Deira wanted to use it, and me, to cause yet another apocalypse, and when I thought about that, and about how we might have to destroy it, that was kinda upsetting because it made fighting so easy… And that made me realize how dangerous it is."
"One might get kinda addicted to it, I imagine", Pat pondered out loud, saying exactly what the witch had been thinking about, "but not everyone can use it, remember? It sparked me, it didn't react to Buffy, it only worked for you."
"But I already got addicted to power once", Willow reminded her, "to the magic… And you know what they say, once an addict, always an addict. So… I might get addicted to this too, to fighting with the Staff, to the power it gives me…"
"So what do you suggest?" Pat wanted to know, surprisingly coherent and alert, considering the fact she just had gotten out of bed, "that we destroy it?"
"Perhaps", Willow sighed, "or put it somewhere where it's safe, in case we need it again in the future… It would be handy to have around after all, even if we don't use it regularly."
"Good point", the demon agreed, "well, let's see what Giles has to say… I'm sure he'll have an idea by now."
"Most likely", the witch nodded, "I'll call him after breakfast… Coffee is almost done."
"Thank Goodness", Pat sighed, making the redhead giggle at how she acted as if coffee was the one thing which kept her alive, "I'm positively craving for a nice hot sweet coffee by now. What have we got to eat?"
"Whatever you want", Willow shrugged, "you got up and about before I could figure out what to make."
"Alright", the demon smirked, moving to the coffee machine already, "let me get some coffee first and then we can decide on what we want to eat."
"And after breakfast, I'll call Giles", the witch decided, "and ask him when he wants to meet today. And where, I'm quite sure he stayed with Buffy after she injured her arm again last night."
"Oh, that reminds me", Pat gave back, generously spooning sugar into her coffee, "if I manage to not get injured again until tomorrow afternoon, I can heal Buffy then. We should tell her that, just so she won't be too grumpy about her broken arm."
"Good point", Willow nodded her agreement, peering into the fridge as she tried to decide what she wanted to eat, "she'll be happy to hear that. I'm a bit worried though…"
"About what?" Pat wanted to know, frowning as she moved to stand behind her, taking a sip of the coffee while she waited for the redhead to reply, the witch doing so a moment later.
"Well, you didn't heal all your wounds with your demonic powers", she explained, turning to look at her partner and smiling slightly when immediately, the taller woman put one arm around her, "I healed some of them, too, remember? And I'm not sure how borrowing your healing to Buffy might affect the magic I used for that…"
"It shouldn't, right?" Pat frowned, trying to remember the little she knew about healing magic, "I mean, it had nothing to do with the magic I use when I demon out."
"That's it, I'm not sure about that", Willow sighed, turning back to the fridge again and smiling slightly when she felt the taller woman rub her back soothingly, "I didn't use a particular spell, I just… used the magic I have, channelled it… but I'm not sure if it's just mine, or if I tapped into your healing abilities."
"Well, neither of the two options should be influenced by lending my healing to Buffy", Pat shrugged after pondering this for a moment, "and even if it does, you can just heal me again, right?"
"I hope so", Willow gave back, giving her an uneasy look before focusing on the fridge's contents once more, "when I did it back there, in that factory, I was quite upset because I was afraid you might die otherwise, so that might have helped…"
"It'll be alright", Pat decided to go for the reassuring route, moving closer to her and hugging her from behind, "no worries, Sweetie, everything will be just fine and dandy."
"And once again, I wish I had your confidence", the witch gave back, smiling weakly; Pat took a moment to shrug and smirk back at her, then bent forward to tenderly kiss her on the cheek, only to have her lips meet the redhead's as the smaller woman had anticipated her move and had turned her head just in time.
"That always makes me feel better", she mumbled after the kiss, prompting the taller woman to smile and tell her that she was glad to hear that; then, they both focused on the fridge's content fully at last, soon deciding what they wanted to eat, Willow's worries about the Staff and about what borrowing her healing to Buffy might do to Pat at least for the moment forgotten.