Title: Rescue
Author: Shannon
Email: angels_soul_1@yahoo.com
Rating: PG
Pairing: Willow/Asher
Disclaimer: Willow and Anya belong to Joss Whedon, ME, UPN, WB, and FOX, Anita Blake characters belong to Laurell K. Hamilton.
Distribution: My site, http://magical-worlds.us/musings/ , NHA, TtH anyone else with other fics of mine, anyone else that wants it just let me know first.
Summary: Willow has reason to believe Anya may not be dead.
Spoilers: Through Chosen. Nothing specific for AB but through Incubus Dreams to be safe.
Author’s Notes: This is for Lisa, its gone way beyond the promised drabble but Merry Christmas anyway.
Also thanks to Leslie and Gabrielle for beta-ing this for me.

Part 6


“Is that her?” Jason asked, trying to look past Willow into the waiting room of Animators Inc.

“Yeah,” Willow frowned. She had hoped that this would be a false lead. If Anya was…enjoying…her work as much as the recent murders indicated convincing her to leave wouldn’t be as simple as Willow would’ve liked.

“Well then,” Jason grinned and pulled the door open, “After you.” His grin widened as both Willow and Asher frowned as they passed him.

“Is she going to be much longer?” Anya asked the secretary, as Willow stepped up behind her.

“I’m really not certain, Ms. Blake said she’d be out shortly.”

“That was nearly an hour ago,” Anya snapped impatiently, “What could be taking so long?”

“Well, I don’t…”

“She was waiting for me,” Willow said. She moved to the side of the desk so Anya could see her, and to stop her from yelling at the poor man behind the desk any longer. As she moved, Jason positioned himself in front of the door, and Asher moved behind Willow.

“I don’t think…” Anya hesitated as she realized who had spoken. “Willow?”

“In the flesh,” Willow smiled slightly, still not entirely sure if Anya was happy to see her or not.

“How did you find me?” Anya asked hugging her tightly, “I never thought I’d see… Are you dead? Did the First kill everyone?”

“Umm, magic, and no to the other two.”

“So, you aren’t here because you’re dead,” Anya responded suspiciously. “Why are you here then?”

“Looking for you, actually,” Willow admitted. “You wouldn’t believe how many dimensions I’ve had to search in the last few months.”

“Me?” Anya said, “Why were you…” She was cut off by the office door opening.

“Took you long enough,” Anita snapped, “Let’s finish this in here.” She pulled the door closed after everyone had made their way into the room.

“Now, why were you looking for me?” Anya asked as soon as the door closed, “And how did you know where to look?”

Willow sighed and paced the floor for several seconds before responding. “I was looking for you because Xander misses you. It’s been more than two years and he’s still grieving. I owe it to him to try to make it better. I knew where to look, or well, really, that I could look, because D’Hoffryn told me.”

“He knew where I was all this time?” Anya asked angrily.

“Not exactly, that’s why he came to me,” Willow said and explained D’Hoffryn’s visit to her.

“So you came to make me come back?” Anya asked, “Like you did to Buffy?”

“If I intended to force you I wouldn’t be here, I would’ve just brought you back,” Willow snapped. “The same spell that I used then would’ve worked now and I wouldn’t need your exact location to do it.”

“So, then, I say no, and you go tell Xander and make him feel even worse?”

“Xander doesn’t know I’m here or what I’m doing,” Willow explained. She was still angry that the vengeance demon could think so little of her, “If you don’t come back, he’ll never know. It’s your choice.”

“I wouldn’t advise staying,” Anita cut in, “If you stay the police will connect you to the murders and I’ll be sent to kill you. If you leave, the murders stop, and it’s over.”

“What murders?”

“That’s how I found you, Anya,” Willow sighed, “I followed the trail of dead men from California, and then when I got here, I followed your magic.”

“I didn’t kill those men,” Anya said, “I haven’t killed anyone. That’s not why I’m here.”

“Anya, they’re going to let you leave,” Willow said softly, not completely sure why the other woman was denying it, “The men all fit…”

“The profile,” Anya finished, “All recently separated and not a friendly parting. I know, but it wasn’t me.”

“You said that wasn’t why you were here,” Asher interrupted. “But you are here for a reason?”

“I am here because of the murders,” Anya admitted, “But I didn’t cause them. When I died I was sent to a heavenly dimension. Apparently saving the world a few times outweighed the years as a demon, I understand why Buffy hated being back. It was wonderful there. I was able to see other dimensions. I could watch whatever I wanted, but not any of you. That was the only rule. I couldn’t see you or interfere in anyone else’s life. Then things started to get weird and I could sense emotional pain, especially vengeance.”

“But you couldn’t do anything about it?” Jason asked.

“No, and I didn’t want to,” Anya answered, “At first it wasn’t a big deal. I would tell the right people what I felt and they would make sure the right person in that dimension took care of it. Then the murders started in this dimension. They were nearly identical to what I had done. They weren’t committed by the women, but by an outside force. Which means it was harder to track and stop them from there. So they wanted me to come here, and try to get to a victim before they became a victim.”

“Intercept the vengeance call?” Jason asked.

“Yeah, and it finally worked. Whoever is doing this stayed here longer than the other places. So I was finally able to intercept Anita’s call. Which was really you, right?” Anya asked Willow.

“Well, the call itself did come from Anita, but it was my idea.”

“So the reason Willow has been able to track you is that you were tracking this other…thing?” Asher clarified.

“Yeah.”

“So, if you didn’t commit the murders,” Anita said pacing behind her desk, “Who did? And how the hell are we going to find it?”

“This changes everything,” Willow sighed, “Anya do you or don’t you want to come home with me?” That was the one thing that hadn’t changed because of Anya’s revelation.

“I do, but I can’t just leave this demon, or whatever she is out there killing,” Anya said.

“Oh, we’ll stay until we stop it.” Willow agreed. There really wasn’t any question about that; she had not spent all those years working with Buffy and the other slayers to just walk away from a possible demon attack without at least trying to stop it.

“Well then, we need a new plan,” Jason pointed out.

“No,” Anya responded, “I don’t think we do. You’re plan was to find the murderer by putting out a call for vengeance. It could still work. If I heard it maybe she did too. We just need to see if anyone else shows up.”