Flies to Honey: Part Three
by J Jericho Born
Avoiding other students as she went, Buffy turned a hall of Sunnydale High to come upon the school's computer lab. She had not seen her friend Willow at all that day and was starting to get concerned. Her worries were quieted somewhat when she saw the redhead in question diligently hacking away at a keyboard. Interested, Buffy approached.

"Hi, I've been looking for you," she said pleasantly.

"Hi," blandly replied Willow without even averting her eyes from the computer screen.

"What 'ya working on?" casually inquired Buffy.

An awkward amount of time passed before Willow spent energy to give a reply.

"I've been going over some of Miss Calender's documents and some necromancer books to come up with a way of changing Oz back to human," she replied.

"If we ever find him that is," Willow added pessimistically.

"Willow!" Buffy said in shock.

"I told you we'd find him," reaffirmed Buffy.

"Yeah, well, you like to say that, but you're not doing much about it," commented Willow.

Buffy was shocked even more. Willow finally looked at Buffy, irritation and contempt showing.

"It's just that you haven't done a thing to try and find Oz. All you do with your slaying time lately is guard. . . him," Willow boldly said.

Amazed to say the least, Buffy had no idea that this kind of angst had been brewing with her best friend. She looked away and thought for a second or two, cocking her slightly in a hurt, confused gesture.

"I know this must be hard for you. I guess I didn't really look at things from your point of view. I'm the Slayer, I've learned to accept it," explained Buffy maturely. Willow looked away and listened to Buffy with her ears, but not her heart.

Buffy continued, "Part of the job description is having to slay vampires when you'd rather be out or shopping, or having a life, or even rescuing your friends. Right now every vampire and his mother seem to be flocking to Abel's body, so that's where I have to be."

Clicking away with the mouse, Willow saved her work to a floppy disk. She put it in her backpack and got up to leave.

"It's nice to see you're so grown up and mature and have all your priorities straight. Don't bother trying to call me tonight, I'm going to be going through. . . his library to find something that can help Oz," said Willow while leaving.

"Hey," called out Buffy after her, "If you want I can go with you."

Turning, Willow stopped mid stride. She answered sarcastically, "I'll be fine by myself. Abel could use some company anyway."

Now alone in the commotion of the computer lab, Buffy's jaw dropped astoundingly. It felt strange to be on bad terms with Willow. Slowly and bitterly, the reality of the conversation that just occurred seeped in. Buffy searched for a silver lining to the bleak cloud that just drifted into her life. Willow finally said Abel's name she realized, but it was little consolation.


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