Chapter 4

Willow didn't think she'd been this exhausted since the Battle of the Black Thorn, the last time she'd been in Los Angeles. Two straight days of spell casting had cured Apple's arm bone so only a fracture was left, and left Liam with just a damaged joint and some ripped tendons. They still both had slings on their arms, but mobility was much improved all around. She'd even gotten Liam to smile once.

Spike was still confined to his bed.

She knew that he understood why putting his bones back together was so much more complex than working on the others, and why she couldn't go any faster. She could tell his frustration was increasing though, especially when her magicks pressed his bones together and his pain temporarily increased, but he encouraged her to keep going. Willow wished she could speed up the healing process for him because she knew he hated feeling helpless. Logically, of course she knew that pushing herself into an exhausted collapse would drag out his healing while she rested for a day, and it could be dangerous to both of them.

Currently, Willow was in the courtyard in front of the Hyperion, sitting in the sun and trying to relax while Spike was having new X-rays taken inside in the clinic. She'd wanted to take a nap, but was too keyed up to sleep. Probably because she was still a little miffed about the whole 'we need to take more X-rays' thing. She could have told Ron the exact state of the bones, and the level of healing they could expect after tomorrow's restoration spell, but he'd been very stand-offish about her casting, and wanted solid medical evidence that her unique treatment was working.

Willow shook her head. As though Apple bouncing all over the place wasn't any kind of evidence that she could be helpful. She didn't know what else she'd have to do to get the guy to trust her. Then again, she wondered if it was even worth the effort; he wasn't her biggest fan, and didn't show any signs of warming up over the last week.

While Willow pondered life and healing and the male Sineyan who didn't seem to care for her, she watched construction workers go in and out of the wing opposite her. From hanging out with Spike during Jezebel's construction updates, she knew exactly what was going on in that wing of the hotel. The first floor, where the workers were entering and exiting through a new emergency door, was being converted into office space, with classrooms on the next floor up, and apartments for staff and guests on the next floor with dorm-style bedrooms above that. Atop the wing, accessible through the newly-installed elevator and fire stair, was the penthouse, which was slated to be two apartments for faculty with families, one of which was already set aside for Angel.

Liam, she needed to remember to call him Liam. Luckily Willow hadn't yet made that mistake to his face, but there was a first time for everything. Liam wasn't dealing well with his newfound humanity; she could tell that from the last few days, even if Merry hadn't mentioned it previously on the phone. He was willing to have the curtains open during the day in his room, and he'd interact with people if they forced the issue; it seemed like even the old Angel Investigations team had to hunt him down and force him to interact with them. He was hesitant to spend time outside in the sun, and his newly increased mobility didn't seem to be encouraging him to venture out more, even at night. Willow had hoped fixing his arm would get him interested in joining the patrol roster and going out with the Slayers, but so far that wasn't happening.

Willow didn't think putting him in his own apartment away from other faculty was a good idea. The thing was, everyone wanted Connor to have a place to stay in the Hyperion, but one where he didn't have unrestricted access to the girls' dorm rooms, so giving him a room in an apartment with his father seemed like the best plan. Even if that would leave Liam alone during the times that Connor was at Stanford or with his other family. They needed to get him a job, or a hobby or something.

Willow had tried to speak to Liam, but he'd been distant; almost as though he was angry or blamed her for some sin she was unaware of having committed. Spike said he was just like that, 'Gelus was moody and it was better to let him figure out his moods for himself than prod at him. Willow wasn't sure how good that advice was, but she didn't want to annoy Liam and set him off again, he'd already snapped at her once. She was starting to worry that he had more in common with Angelus than she'd imagined. Jezebel and Wesley were both watching him like hawks, which Willow figured also wasn't helping his mood, but she didn't live here and as they say, 'not my zoo, not my monkeys'.

Other than a fleetingly-expressed regret that he'd lost his healing abilities, Spike seemed to regard the loss of his undead status as an adventure. He'd taken to keeping the curtains and windows open, flooding his room with light for most of the day. He'd also had them shift the furniture around so the bed was closer to the window. Tommy and Will were evidently planning some type of road trip in a convertible, based on a movie she'd never heard of.

A year and a half ago, Willow couldn't have imagined being so comfortable hanging out alone with Spike; despite all the years he'd lived in Sunnydale she'd never gotten comfortable spending time with him as a vampire, yet now she considered him a friend. Angel…Liam, who she'd really never had a problem with unless he was evil, seemed like a stranger she didn't particularly want to get to know. How weird life could be.

Willow's musings were interrupted by Ron's arrival in the courtyard. She turned her gaze to the tall doctor walking towards her, smiling faintly at the look on his face. He very much resembled someone who'd chewed a bay leaf. "So, Doc, what's the verdict?" Willow called, even though she knew what he was going to say.

Ron just barely stopped himself from glaring at the little witch. Probably already knows what I'm gonna say, he thought. "Well, there's some healing, and the smaller chips of bone are compressing into solid pieces again. If that restoration spell you're doing tomorrow goes as planned, I think we'll be able to take the casts off in another week. Don't think the bones will take any stress at first, and there's still muscle damage; probably means braces and a wheelchair for a while, and physical therapy. But as of now, my prognosis is that he'll walk again."

Willow smiled. That was pretty much exactly what she'd thought. Spike would need to go through an extended healing process, but she'd been able to ensure that the healing went well. "Well, that's good, then," She said mildly. She stared up into Ron's face, trying to ignore the glare he was giving her. Willow wondered fleetingly if she should discuss it with him, ask him what his problem with her was, then decided it wasn't worth stirring things up.

"So, have you decided if you'll be on staff here full time, or if you're going to stay at the hospital?" Work seemed like a nice, safe topic. Merry had mentioned Jezzie's proposal to have a doctor on staff in addition to the regular 'school nurse' Marta Gonzales, and that Ron had been tapped for the job, at least until Merry graduated from Med school and was able to take over.

Ron sighed, shaking his head. Merry must have been talking to her. Well, of course Merry had been talking to her; Merry liked her. "For now I'm going to do both, we'll see what happens." And, he was really trying not to let that thought become dirty inside his head. He needed to stop hanging out with Merry so much.

Willow fought hard to keep herself from blushing. Ron had stopped looking at her like he was fundamentally irritated, and…Well, she'd almost say he was checking her out. Then again, he might be; men were weird. Years of watching Xander interact with Cordelia had taught her that a guy could be into you and act like you irritated the crap out of them at the same time. And, didn't that put a different spin on Buffy and Spike's interactions over the years? So, did that mean Ron…

Willow firmly put a cap on that idea, the same way she did when she contemplated Merry in a more-than-friends kind of way. She didn't live here and she had no plans to move, and that was that. It would be counter-productive for her to get involved, assuming there was even anything to get involved in, which was a hell of an assumption.

Fortunately, before she had to dig for another topic of conversation, Connor opened the front gate and walked into the courtyard. "Willow! Hey, you're still here! I was afraid that by the time I got done visiting my parents you'd be gone again." Willow smiled as the teenager rushed into the courtyard and enveloped her in a hard hug. "I hear you fixed Apple already. That's so awesome, we thought she was gonna be stuck resting for weeks yet. I'm gonna go find her and say hi, I'll catch ya later."

Before Willow could do much more than pat him on the back and open her mouth to reply, the boy had taken off into the Hyperion, the duffle bag on his shoulder bumping in his wake. Willow chuckled. "Well, I feel like chopped liver." Ron said dryly.

The witch shrugged. "He sees you almost every time he's here. I've only really met him the once, and when I did show up I got to do all the flashy witchy stuff that kids think is really awesome because they don't think about things like research and meditation and discipline and years of hard work."

Ron grimaced. Damn if she didn't make it hard to disapprove of her when she said stuff like that. It was getting harder and harder to not want to get closer to the other Slayers, he definitely didn't need to be having friendly feelings about Willow.

Willow rambled on, trying to think of how to get to the topic she wanted to discuss with him. "I mean, I should know. I made some really bad judgment calls by focusing on just having power and using it to solve all my problems, instead of trying to understand it and how to use it for the most benefit to others. Did you know I almost destroyed the world?"

The doctor looked down into the open face of the young witch sunning herself in the courtyard, and couldn't for the life of him form a response. He shook his head in the negative, words totally failing him.

"Well, I did. I was overcome by grief, and didn't have good control over my powers, and I just wanted everything to go away. I got a little too literal with that. My point…And I have a point, I swear…My point is that it's not having the power that's bad, it's not being responsible with it, and not learning from your mistakes when you inevitably make them. And that's true of anything, from gambling to having super strength." Willow held her breath, hoping he picked up the thread she'd put out.

Ron felt capable of speaking again, at least enough to venture a guess about where this conversation was going, by the time she'd finished. "Merry told you that the magics make me nervous?"

"I sensed some hostility, that's all. But, it seemed pretty similar to Merry's hostility, so I took a chance." Willow patted the seat next to her, and Ron sat. "I was thinking earlier that I'd be gone in a few days, and it probably wasn't worth trying to talk this out with you because if it stirred up badness I'd have to leave you to deal with it in my wake. Then, seeing Connor reminded me that short cuts and avoidance can cause more serious problems. So, do you wanna talk about whatever it is?"

Did he? Not particularly. Ron wasn't much for talking about his feelings. That had been one of the perks of military service; they point you toward what needs to be done without asking how you feel about it. Then again, Willow and Merry were getting to be close, and he didn't want to have to admit to his friend that he'd had the chance to resolve some of his unresolved feelings toward her friend and avoided it.

Ronald took a deep breath. "I don't have a story, not like Merry does. With the bad witch and the mother-stabbing. I guess…I like the world better when there's a clear delineation between humans and demons, you know? Even for those of us who look the same to the naked eye. With most humans, I know what to expect, in terms of strength and abilities. I can fight a demon, and I may not win, but I know what to do and how to go about it. Once you throw magic in, it upsets the status quo, you know? I don't know where the power is coming from, how much there is, and how the person is going to use it. It creeps me out."

"Well, I gotta say, I don't often get told that I'm creepy. So, thanks for that." Willow grimaced, and Ron smiled hesitantly. "I can't promise an easy way to deal with…Well, anything, really. But I feel like I went through a lot of the same kind of confusion you're dealing with about magic users when I learned that vampires, and even full demons, could control themselves enough to be civil to humans. Did Spike tell you about his friend Clem?"

Ron shook his head. He thought he might have heard the name in passing, but not from a conversation with the ex-vampire. He tried not to have many conversations with William, though clearly he loved to talk.

"Clem's a loose-skinned demon. He was one of Spike's kitten-poker buddies in Sunnydale for years. He's a total sweetheart, he used to tell the humans he had a skin condition to help him blend in; in Sunnydale you could do that kind of thing and get away with it. He even helped Buffy train the Slayers who fought the First Evil." Willow sighed. "When I was in high school, and we were first learning about demons, I probably would have just shot a crossbow bolt into his folds and not thought twice about it. Because all demons are evil, right? Except, once you grow up some and meet some of the friendlier demon species, you understand that it's not all of them, and you learn to be more open-minded…"

Ron blinked at her. "Are you…Are you calling me a racist?"

Willow looked horrified, her jaw dropping, "Oh, no, I am absolutely not calling you racist. I was going for a more gentle way of saying narrow-minded, but I guess I overshot a bit."

"Yeah, a bit." Ron stood to head back into the Hyperion. "I'll just take my narrow mind off somewhere else, then."

Willow watched the stiff retreating back until Ron had slammed into the Hyperion lobby and she couldn't see him anymore. Then she closed her eyes and dropped her head into her hands. "Gee, that went well."