The Listener: Chapter 3
by stargirl
The sun rose and shone through the blind in the window, lighting up Buffy’s face as she slept peacefully on the sofa. Dawn dosed in the chair opposite her. As the light shone through, Buffy stirred and awoke suddenly, realising what she had done. She stood quickly, letting the blanket fall off her quickly, not quite remembering where it had come from, and walked to the phone. She saw a flashing number one in red on the answer machine. Hurriedly, she pressed play. “You have one new message.” Said the voice from the recorder.
Loud music played in the background like some kind of club, then came the voice of Willow, hardly recognisable above all the noise. “Hey Buffy, sorry that it’s late. I’m OK and should be home soon. I’ll call again soon. Bye.” Buffy was relieved and angered at the same time. Willow had called at least, but not to say where she was, to be more precise about why she had left in the first place, or even when she was coming home. Buffy returned to where Dawn was sleeping and bent down to pick up the blanket off the floor. She put it over Dawn, kissed her on the forehead, and then dragged herself upstairs for a shower, to start the long day ahead.

After Spike had made his departure, all the attention had been drawn to Willow. Surprisingly, some of the demons looked a little afraid of her, and shifted uncomfortably in their seats, though Willow hadn't seen any of them before, unless Buffy was with her. Not to let her nerves get the better of her, Willow rose out of her seat and went over to the bar. As she did this, silence followed and even though the place was packed from demons and vampires, no one spoke or moved, as if Willow was the centre of everything. Willow thought quickly and when she arrived at the bar, she pulled out some rolled up money and said, very uncertainly, “Next round on me?”
As soon as she said this, the tension was gone, a huge roar from the crowd, then their own conversations following. Willow breathed a sigh of relief, as the bar woman went out to start taking in orders. “Nice going, Will.” Said a voice out of nowhere.

Buffy sat at her desk in the new High School, tapping idly at the computer, not thinking straight, her mind wondering off. She needed to find Spike, yet she couldn’t. Had he disappeared again? The First hadn't struck yet, but when it did, she needed all the help she could. Especially from Willow and Spike. She didn’t know where neither was, when they were back, or what they were doing. As the bell went, she stood and grabbed her coat off the peg and left the office. Lunch was long enough to find something, even the tiniest thing. She made her way down a corridor and opened the door labelled ‘Basement’. The door behind her shut by itself, but then opened again and someone stepped through. Buffy had the feeling someone was there, but carried on, letting the person follow her. Buffy stopped down the passage she came to and hid behind some pipes. The person walked past her hiding place, and with her natural born talent, she got the person into a lock to see who it was. “Its OK Buff.” Xander’s voice came through the darkness. “Thought you may need a hand, but hey, let’s not rush anything...”

Willow spun around to see who had spoken. She saw no one, apart from the crowd before and the waitress darting around. She shrugged herself and turned back to the bar. “It was me.” Willow raised her eyes and saw a teenage girl stood in front of her, about eighteen years old. She had black hair, flowing down her back and the greenest eyes Willow had ever seen. She was tall, about 5ft 10, and looked as if she worked here. She was pretty, and Willow knew it.
“How do you know my name?” Willow asked. She felt like she knew this person even more than what she did towards the waitress.
“Willow Rosenberg, the big bad ass witch who tried to destroy the world. I know plenty actually. I have a habit of it.” She was mixing up a drink, adding ice and contents of bottles from shelves, knowing exactly what she was doing.
“Then can I ask you’re name?” Willow said uncertainly. “And can I get a drink that isn't gonna kill me?”
“No. And yeah, just order a coke.” The girl smiled, showing a full set of white teeth and it made Willow go warm inside, like Tara once did. Willow shook off the feeling and tried to remind herself about the reason she was actually here. But that smile...

“He’s not here Buff, good riddance to old trash I say.” Xander didn’t care much for Spike, not since he deserted them when they needed him. Why did Buffy always fall for the bad guys?
“I know. Thought I’d at least try. Don’t see you doing anything to help Willow, do I?” Buffy knew it wasn’t the right time to turn on Xander, but she was angry at Spike for not being where she could find him. As they headed back to the staircase they came down, Buffy heard a faint noise from further down a passage to her left. She put her hand on her stake and turned to look at Xander. He wasn’t there.


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