Flies to Honey: Part Thirteen
by J Jericho Born
Giles hung the phone up after a disappointingly uninformative conversation. He and the adolescents in his charge had gone back to the motel and, after barely noticing a warm gretting from Eddie, settled in one of their rooms to chew over their course of action.

"My friend at the County Recorder's office said the property belongs to a 'Armstrong Holdings, Inc.' He couldn't tell me much about the company and they didn't own any other property in the area. It would hardly help us to find out about them anyway, it's probably just a shell for a larger company," informed Giles. He returned to the circle of curiousity that had formed around the peculiar weapon that was the bounty from their adventure. Willow remained partially removed from the group, sitting on the side of a bed in the corner of the room.

"We seem to have crossed the line from Fantasy-Horror to Science Fiction," wryly commented Xander, looking over the large cylinder absently.

"Just like Xander's love life," sniped Cordelia to little acknowledgement.

"What do we do now?" asked Buffy.

"Well, seeing as how this appears to involve neither the occult or the supernatural perhaps we should notify the authorities and be rid of the matter," answered Giles to Buffy's surprise.

"I'm with Giles. I mean, this isn't our department, this is like Mr. Spock material right here," agreed Xander, poking the cold exterior of the object.

"It's settled then. I'll return to the tele," concluded Giles, removing his glasses in anticipation of several long, tedious phone calls.

The do-gooder within her aside, Buffy was glad to not have to deal with the matter. She turned her attentions to Willow and approached as gently as possible, sitting next to her friend warmly, but not intrusively.

"What'cha thinking about, Will?" inquired Buffy softly.

After a moment's hesitation, Willow replied, "I'm not really thinking about anything, just wallowing."

"We've tried one lead, we're not going to just give up looking for Oz now."

"I know, perseverence and all that," said Willow mutely.

"It almost feels like it's not just Oz that's gone. I'm missing the Willow I used to know. You've repressed yourself into this hole where the only time you speak to another human being it's to offer to cast yet another spell," diagnoised Buffy with deeply seated concern.

"It's just that ever since that night when we got kidnapped I've felt so helpless. Magic gives me a way to feel like I'm actually doing something, like I'm not just watching events unfold." Willow didn't look directly at Buffy as she spoke.

"It's ok to miss Oz, Will, but it's also okay to not feel like finding him is your solitary life mission. You're allowed to think about other things every now and again and you're not the only one on the planet who's missing him. We're all in this together and we won't rest until he's back," Buffy said with a warm tone.

"I know I don't have to feel bad all the time, it's just that I want to feel bad all the time. I don't want things to not suck until he's back," remarked Willow, emotion manifesting in a restrained sour face.

"You're allowed to feel anyway you want about this, Will. I just can't stand by and let this destroy you. Take some time out from thinking about Oz to think about Willow once awhile. You can't shoulder this all yourself," commented Buffy, deliberately looking directly at Willow's eyes. Willow didn't reply and sat as still as she could, twinges of expression breaking onto her face intermittenly.

"How about if you at least let me think about Willow every now and again?" requested Buffy tenderly. Finally, the bottleneck Willow had put on her feelings broke, letting a gush of emotion pour out. With a choked weeping, she placed her head on Buffy's shoulder.

"I'm so sorry about blaming you before, I was just-"

"Don't worry about that now, it's okay," said Buffy softly, putting her arms around her friend in a comforting hug.

Xander and Cordelia had looked on in silence up until now. After a glance at Cordelia, Xander decided it was a safe enough time to butt in and approached his distraught friend with hands in pockets. A supportive Cordelia followed his lead maturely.

"Buffy's right, Will, we're all in this together," proclaimed Xander in mellow sincerity.

Giles finished his phone calls, but decided to wait before returning the group to matters at hand. After a few sensitive moments Giles walked up to the others timidly.

"The local police were quite rude and unfavorable, but I aquired the phone number for the state and federal authorities. I'll call them in the morning," he announced softly.


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