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Strange Days

By Rach

DISCLAIMER: Yeah … not mine!
PAIRINGS: Wes/Willow and mentions of Willow/Tara
DISTRIBUTION: SU, Satan’s Toady – anyone else, ask!
SUMMARY: Wes and Willow chat, after Willow’s told Angel about Buffy’s death.
TIMELINE: Post There’s No Place Like Pltrz Glrb and The Gift.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: For Topaz and Amberina
RATING: PG
FEEDBACK is something I thrive on!

Wesley carried Willow’s bags upstairs, leading her into one of the empty rooms. Gunn had already taken Fred to get settled – as the two non-Sunnydale people in the group, they’d decided to leave the others alone together. The four of them had sat in pretty much silence for a while, before Angel gathered up the courage to ask Willow what had happened. Cordelia offered to drive him to Sunnydale that night, knowing that they could get there before sunrise if they left soon.
“Are you coming?” she’d asked Wesley.
Willow had shaken her head. “If it’s okay with you, I’d like to stay here for a day or two. Get away from all the crazyness at home.” She’d looked at Wesley. “I’d appreciate it if you’d stay here with me – friendly face and all that.”
Wesley had nodded. “Of course.” If he was honest with himself, he knew he was thankful of the excuse. He’d never been the most welcome of people during his time there.
Which was why he was now opening a door to a room that hadn’t been used since they moved in, and flicking on the light. Willow followed him inside, and sat on the end of the bed.
“I’ll get you some sheets,” Wesley spoke, the first words either of them had uttered since they’d been left alone. He turned to leave the room, but Willow put her hand out, stopping him.
“It can wait.” She patted the space beside her on the bed. “This has been another horrific day at the end of another terrible week … it’d be nice to just chat for a while.”
She pushed herself to the top of the bed, and leant against the wall. Wesley sat next to her and, placed his hand on top of hers, sighing. “I know I was never all that well liked in Sunnydale … but I hope everyone knows how much I still care about what happens to all of you.”
She smiled slightly, and curled her fingers around his. “We know.” She leant her head on his shoulder. “Can we talk about something else? Normal stuff. What have you all been up to lately?”
Wesley snorted, and raised an eyebrow. “Normal stuff?!”
Willow laughed, and Wesley was glad to see it. “Normal for us all, anyway.”
“Well, we’ve just returned from another dimension, where we rescued Fred from terrible slavery and saved Cordelia from having to mate with ‘the Groosalugg’ … before that we were working with an ex-evil lawyer to stop the roaring trade in evil body parts they were doing … nothing exciting, really.”
“I can beat that, then! Turns out Buffy’s sister isn’t actually Buffy’s sister, she’s a mystical blob of energy implanted by some monks to stop a hell God named Glory from using her to open the doors between all dimensions and unleashing hell on earth, and all our memories are fake.”
“Dawn?! Dawn isn’t real?”
“Killer blow, huh? Then Glory thought that Tara was the Key,” Willow stopped smiling. “But when it turned out she wasn’t, Glory sucked her brain, and she went insane.”
“Tara?”
Willow blushed. “My girlfriend. In the gayest possible sense of the word. Cordelia didn’t say?”
Wesley shook his head. “No, she didn’t. Go on?”
“Well, I spent every waking moment looking after Tara, and instead I should have been helping the others find ways to stop Glory. Buffy managed to stop her from performing the ritual, but one of her followers, Doc, managed to start it himself. The only way to close the portal was by stopping the flow of Dawn’s blood … which it turns out, came from Buffy. So Buffy sacrificed herself to save Dawn.” Willow started to cry again. “And I feel like it was all my fault, for making Tara my priority over Dawn.”
Wesley wrapped his arm around Willow’s shoulder, and she curled into his chest. He stroked her arm gently, trying to calm her, but knowing that words like ‘It’s okay’ weren’t going to do any good, because it clearly wasn’t.
“And I know it’s not my fault,” she continued. “Because I know Buffy didn’t have to do it, and everything went the way we planned it to. You know, even Spike helped out? He tried so hard to help Dawn, but Doc plunged a knife into his gut and pushed him off this fifty foot tower. It just didn’t work out on the night, and I know that nobody’s to blame, because we all did our best for Buffy and Dawn.”
Wesley smiled. “I know you did.” Shifting off the bed, he headed for the door. “I’ll be right back.”
Willow nodded, and as he left, she looked around the room. It was dark and dirty, and there was far too much dust. She idly wrote her name in the dust on the nightstand, before Wesley returned with a bottle of wine and two glasses. Dusting down the table with his sleeve, he placed them down, and ducked back out of the door, lifting some candles from outside. Lighting them, he flicked the main light off, and sat back on the bed next to Willow. Pouring a glass of wine, he handed it to her, before pouring one for himself. “That’s better.” He gestured to the wine. “I think we deserve this,” he smiled.

***

“And then he said ‘you were just like this when we were dating’!” Willow giggled, and Wesley gasped.
“Anya dated a troll?!”
“No, silly!” Willow slapped him on the chest. “He wasn’t a troll back then!”
Wesley rolled his eyes, before joining in Willow’s laughter. “And that makes it all better!”
“Well, at least I’ve never impersonated Buffy!”
Wesley almost choked on his sixth glass of wine. “I’ve never impersonated Buffy, thank you very much! Angel, now that’s a different matter … but what a man does in his own time is his own business!” He chuckled, trying to wink, but failing - and causing Willow to fall even deeper into hysterics.
“You and Angel – that’s just disturbing!”
Wesley frowned. “I don’t know why! Anyway, when did you realise you were a lesbian?”
“When did I … Wesley!”
“What? ‘s a fair question.” He drained his glass, and went to pour some more wine. Two drops trickled out of the end.
“Oops,” Willow smiled sheepishly. “We might need some more.”
“I think that would be a sensible deduction, Sherlock, if only it weren’t for the fact that my legs would appear to have stopped working,” Wesley giggled.
“Right then. We’d better stay here. What was the question?”
“How long have you been a lesbian?”
“Right. Pass.”
“You can’t pass!”
“But I don’t know!”
“Why not? You’d think it’d be a significant event in your life!”
“I didn’t just wake up one morning and go ‘Ooh, I think I’ll be gay,’ you know!”
“You didn’t?”
“No! I just know that I love Tara so much, and I’m so confused, because all of a sudden I’m having this urge to kiss you.” She finished in a rush, and looked up at Wesley, her eyes still wet from laughing so much.
“Willow, I …” he trailed off, not knowing what to say. He hadn’t been expecting that at all.
“Kiss me, Wesley,” she whispered. “Screw the consequences.”
When Wes hesitated, she leant up and placed a kiss on his lips. “Willow …” he mumbled.
“What?”
“This is the drink talking …”
“Then we have an excuse in the morning.” She pushed him flat onto the bed, and kissed his neck, making him shiver.
“Willow …” he moaned again.
“What now?”
“You’re grieving. We shouldn’t …” he trailed off as she moved the kisses further down his neck, wrapping his arms around her back. “Willow!”
She sighed. “You’re right. Ever sensible Wesley. Even right know through the boozy haze, I know exactly what this would do to Tara … and the guilt would eat me up inside.” Willow smiled, and lay her ear on Wesley’s chest. “Thanks for helping me forget about everything that’s going on back home. I needed the break.”
Wes smiled. “Any time you want to come and seduce me …”
“Hey!”
“Just kidding. But truly, Willow, you’re welcome both here and at my apartment any time you need to get away. Tara too.”
“I’m thinking there are some connotations in that …”
“Willow! You know what I meant!”
“Yeah, but I like messing with ya.”
“If I could be bothered, I’d get you for that.” He looked at his watch and sat up. “As it is, I should probably be getting back home.”
“Yeah, because I’m really going to let you drive in that state.”
Wes flopped back onto the bed. “Well then, in that case, I suggest we get some sleep. I’ll drive you back to Sunnydale tomorrow – you need to spend some quality time with Tara, and I should probably go and see how Giles is coping.”
Willow laid her head back onto Wesley’s chest. “You’re going to make somebody one hell of a husband one day, you know that?” she yawned.
Wesley stroked her hair. “Thank you.” He continued the gentle motion until Willow was asleep, then blew out what was left of the candles he’d brought earlier. It had been a strange couple of days.

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