Shattered 11/?

[eyes_of_laura_mars]

Title: Shattered
Author: Andy
Ch. (11/?)
chapter title: Grave surprises
Pairing: Willow/Angel
word count: 2000
Disclaimer: As always I own nothing
Feedback: YES PLEASE!



 

Willow moaned as she reluctantly swam up from sleep; she had to pee otherwise she would stay in bed. She was exhausted. She squinted her eyes open; it was almost 3:00 when she got back from the mansion and full dark. Now the sky was lightened somewhat, but the sun was full up yet. She figured she must have only been sleeping for a couple of hours. She glanced at her alarm clock; 5:44.

She pushed back the covers and stumbled out of bed and made her way to the bathroom. She would have went strait back to bed, but a rumbling in her stomach protested; she was hungry. A fact that surprised her, she hadn't felt hungry in a while. Lately for her eating had become like a chore; something not enjoyable, but necessary. But for the first time she actually found herself craving something; pancakes, she wanted pancakes.

She was surprised to hear the sound of the television on as she made her way downstairs, and again taken aback to see Dawn– fully dressed– sitting on the sofa.

"Dawnie," she ventured, "what're you doing up so early?"

Dawn looked at her like she was nuts. "It's almost six."

"Yeah." Willow said, "Last I checked, for a teen, anything before noon was considered early." She joked.

Dawn was still looking at her strangely. Willow was beginning to wonder if she had sprouted and extra head or something.

"Willow," Dawn said slowly, "it's almost six p.m., not a.m."

Willow's face scrunched. She thought Dawn was kidding for a moment, but the dead serious look on the girl's face told her otherwise. She looked out the window and saw that it was in fact a fraction darker out now than it had been when she was upstairs. "That means I've been sleeping for over twelve hours." she murmured. 'No wonder I had to pee so bad.'

"I guess." Dawn commented. Her eyes had gone back to the T.V. screen. "Buffy said you weren't feeling well the other day." She ventured, trying to sound indifferent, but there was a slight note of concern in her voice.

"Uh, yeah." Willow confirmed, still shaken by how long she'd been out; she sure as hell didn't feel like she had gotten so much rest. "I was feeling a bit icky the other day, but I figured it was just..." She was going to say because of Tara, but being as it was Tara's leaving that had caused the rift between her and the youngest Summers in the first place, it probably wasn't a good idea to bring her up. "Just nothing."

"Yeah. Well maybe you should see a doctor." Dawn suggested, still fighting to keep up her 'who cares?' attitude.

"Ah, I'm sure I'm fine." Willow dismissed. "It was probably just all the sleep I've been missing catching up with me."

"But it might not be." Dawn lost the battle to keep emotion out of her voice. "People think there fine all the time when there not. They just ignore the problem and hope it'll go away never doing anything until it gets worse and then it's too late."

Willow felt tears sting in her eyes; she knew that Dawn spoke from experience. It broke her heart knowing how much the young girl had been through, and in such a short time; her mother dying, then Buffy just weeks later. Even though, Buffy was back now, it was clear that the younger Summers was still struggling. And now with Tara– who had taken on the role as a surrogate mother of sorts for the teen– moving out. Willow wanted to do anything she could to help, even a little, to ease the girl's worry.

"You know maybe you're right." She told Dawn. "How about if I don't feel better in a couple of days I make an appointment with the doctor."

Dawn shrugged, impassively. "Sure. Whatever you think is necessary."

Even though Dawn's wall was back in place, Willow couldn't help but smile at the tiny crack she'd seen in it. There was hope to repair her relationship with Dawnie after all.

"So, Dawnie," she ventured, "I'm feeling kinda hungry from the marathon napping; I was gonna make some pancakes, ya want?" It was common knowledge that pancakes for dinner was Dawn's favourite.

"Well I was going to order a pizza," Dawn informed, "but, I guess since you're making pancakes..."

Angel groaned irritably as the shrilling of his cell phone ripped him out of a particularly good dream he was having about Willow. He hated his cell phone. It was one of the advancements in technology he could do without, but Cordelia insisted he have one for business purposes. But as far as Angel was concerned they seemed more of a hindrance than help.

He scooped up his pants off the floor and dug the thing out of his pocket. His lips pulled back in a smile when he saw the readout; Willow calling. Okay, so maybe cell phones weren't so bad after all. He flipped the phone open and put it to his ear.

"Willow."

"Angel," she returned, "hey, it's Willow. Er, but you already knew that didn't you, being as you just said my name and all, so never mind, just um, hi."

Angel smiled at the Willowness. "Hello, Willow." He replied. "So what can I do for you?"

"Um," Angel could hear the woman's apprehension in that one syllable.

"Is something wrong?"

"Wrong, no. Nothing's wrong." She assured. "It's just, well, I just wanted to call and tell you that, well I know we sort of had plans for me to come by the mansion at sundown, but..."

"You're not coming." Angel conjectured, disappointment evident in his voice.

"Well, no, it's not that I'm definitely not coming." Willow elaborated. "I just might not be able to get there until late. Buffy just called' she had to take and extra shift at the Double Meat palace, then she has to patrol. So I'm gonna stick around and hang with Dawn."

"I thought things weren't going well between you and Dawn." he ventured. "Didn't you say she's been going out of her way to avoid you?"

"Yeah. She has. But we had a nice time today. She doesn't seem to be quite as much with the seething hatred of me. I want to enjoy the change while it last; she's a teenager, you never know she might despise me again tomorrow.

How many times had Buffy had to cancel plans for the same reason Willow was canceling theirs now; to take care of Dawn. He knew he was being unfair– it wasn't Dawn's fault, she was just a kid– but he couldn't help harbouring a tinge of resentment toward the young girl. He didn't feel too guilty about it though; he knew that Dawn had never cared much for him anyway– he knew about that little nickname she had for him. And he'd never seen her as anything more than a spoiled brat. A brat who always seemed to be standing in the way of him and the woman he wanted to be with.

"I understand." He said, the same thing he used to say to Buffy. "I'll see you some other time."

"I still may come by tonight." Willow told him. "It just might be really late. And if I don't make it tonight, I'll be there tomorrow for sure."

"Don't worry about it Willow." Angel said in his(fake)understanding tone "It's okay. I'd like to see you now, but I can wait. It's no problem."

"Thanks, Angel." Willow said, the relief obvious in her voice. "I'm glad you understand. I'll see you later."

"Okay." Angel replied. "Bye, Willow."

"Later, Angel."

Angel snapped his phone shut and flung it aside.

Damn cell phones; they only ever bring bad news.

Angel was bored just hanging around the mansion now that he knew that Willow wasn't likely to show, he was also frustrated. And the best thing– well, second best– for dealing with frustration was fighting. And in Sunnydale a good fight was never hard to find. So he headed for one of the Hellmouth's many cemeteries.

He wasn't even there five minutes before he heard the sounds of fighting. Instinctively he ran toward the sound, but slowed when he caught Buffy's scent. He really wasn't ready to let his presence be known to her just yet. He wasn't sure he wanted her knowing he was here at all. But he couldn't just turn around and ignore if she was in trouble; from the sounds of things, she was really struggling. He kept moving forward, deciding he would step in if it looked like he was needed.

He slid up the side of a crypt and peered around the corner to where the sounds were coming from, and there was Buffy; pinneddown on the ground by a vamp. Not, just any vamp, but his very own grandchilde. And what they were doing wasn't fighting, though it did start with an F.

Angel's mouth dropped open as he stared in horrified astonishment; it was like passing by a car wreck, no matter how gruesome and hideous, he just couldn't look away.

With a grunt Buffy pushed Spike onto his back, then mounted him, and started riding him, hard.

Angel clenched his fist in preparation for the surge of anger and jealousy he was sure would come. But it never did. That shocked him more than seeing the two together, he wasn't upset. Well, he was upset–it was an upsetting sight– but not in the way he would have that moment in knew with absolute certainty that he did not want to be with Buffy anymore or ever again. He had let her go. Now there was only one woman he wanted. A smile slowly crept across his he crept away from the unsuspecting pair, then raced backed to the mansion, hoping that Willow would be there soon.

As much as Willow had enjoyed spending the evening with Dawn watching John Cusack movies– an actor they both shared an admiration for– she had been feeling anxious wanting to see Angel ever since her companion had gone up to bed a couple hours ago. She had consideredgoing on after Dawn went to sleep; at fifteen she was capable, as she kept telling everyone to be left on her own every once in a while. But still Willow didn't feel right doing so.

So she waited... and waited for Buffy to come home.

It was almost two in the morning before she heard the door opening.. 'Finally!' She thought, jumping to her rushed into the foyer as Buffy was closing the door. She had to fight a grimace, her stomach rolling as she caught a whiff of the fried meat smell wafting off the Slayer.

"Hey." She greeted, forcing a smile.

"Hey," Buffy replied with a hint of surprise. "You're up late again. Becoming quite the night owl, huh."

Willow smirked. "Yeah, well, my nap earlier kind of went into overtime, so I'm not tired now."

"Well, it's good that you finally got some rest." Buffy remarked with a small smile. "So are you feeling any better."

"Much. Thanks."

"That's good." She smiled. "Well," she ventured after a moment, "I didn't have a long nap today and I'm wiped. I'm gonna head up to bed."

"Okay. Night Buffy."

"Night." Buffy returned and started upstairs.

Willow waited, for a few minutes after she heard Buffy shut the door of her bedroom, then snuck out the door.

Shattered ch. 10 

shattered 9