= = = {*LOVE (no matter how you spell it)*} = = =

Willow still looked shocked, even as Buffy continued to laugh.

"Come on Will, I was just joking!" Buffy put a comforting hand on the her leg, still cracking up. Willow sighed, happy to hear that it was only a joke, though she was still slightly dazed.

"Goddess, that scared me . . ." Willow forced out a laugh, "I was worried you were serious!" Willow put a hand to her head, trying to calm down.

"Wills? You okay?" the Slayer asked sounding concerned, all traces of laughter gone. "You look Shaken."

"Yeah, just the idea of YOU and FAITH . . ." Willow took a deep breath, and put a hand over the one Buffy rested on her leg. "Ugh! Just gives me the Wiggins is all."

"I take you don't like the idea of me kissing her?" Buffy said sympathetically. The Slayer could understand why Willow didn't like Faith. The Dark-Slayer had been exceptionally cruel to the young Witch.

"Ugh!" Willow said, looking physically ill at the thought of it, "it's just WRONG!"

Buffy stopped. She hadn't expected that response from Willow. She herself had dated a Werewolf, she had supported Buffy al through her Vampire-Courtship. Not to mention the fact that Xander was now dating a former Vengeance Demon (who was now nothing more then an annoying pain in the ear)! Buffy had thought that Willow would have no problem with the idea of a Same-Sex relationship.

"What's so 'WRONG' about it?" Buffy was shocked, but kept it in, wanting to hear Willow's explanation.

"BUFFY!" Willow exclaimed, sounding shocked "It's Faith! She's a . . ." Willow got up off the bed and walked to the door. Leaning against it she continued. "How can you even say that?!" Willow wrapped her arms around her stomach, trying to comfort herself.

"I had no idea you felt like that." She couldn't keep the slightly sour look off her face. Buffy swung her legs over the side of the bed, resting them of the floor. The Slayer couldn't look at her friend. Just a little while ago she'd realized that she was in love with this girl, and her she was saying that it was 'WRONG', and that her saying it wasn't even funny. "I don't really know what to say." Buffy looked at the floor, trying to think of a reason why people would want to fall in love if it hurt this much.

"Well, you said it was a joke right?" Willow said franticly, "You never really . . . I mean-"

"I did." Buffy whispered. Willow's heart began to hammer.

" 'Did' What?" the Witch asked breathlessly.

"Kiss her." Buffy hung her head lower, knowing she couldn't lie to her best friend.

"What?" Willow whispered. Her heart had stopped, and her world had just collapsed. Buffy had kissed a girl, and it wasn't her. {and Faith could not be more different them me . . .} Willow thought sadly. {What if this is another Xander situation? Like, what if Buffy knows how I feel and she just doesn't care?} Once again Faith had gotten something that Willow had desperately wanted.

The Witch had been heart broken when she'd herd about Xander's night with the Dark-Slayer, but now it felt as though she had no heart at all.

"I kissed her once" Buffy got up, but kept her eyes on the ground.

"You . . . You . . . You KISSED her?!" Willow was shaking now, almost giving into tears.

"This was a side of you I didn't expect." Buffy walked over to her desk and started fidgeting with the things on it.

"What do you mean?" Willow finally noticed the almost offended tone in Buffy voice.

"I just had no idea that you felt like this."

"I think I have the right to feel this way when you just DROP something like this on me! Most people in the world would agree with me when I say it's disgusting!" Buffy finally looked at Willow, an appalled look on her face. Buffy grabbed her toiletries and bathrobe. She walked past Willow, who was still leaning against the door, and grabbed the knob.

"I had no idea you where so Homophobic." Buffy whispered, sounding genuinely disappointed in her friend. She opened the door and began to walk through it.

{WHAT?!} Willow thought, totally shocked. Then it suddenly clicked. {Oh No!} Willow grabbed Buffy's sleeve and pulled her back into the room. The Slayer looked stunned.

"You think I'm homophobic?" Willow asked, sounding caught between laughter and out-rage.

"Willow," Buffy started, "What you just said-"

"Buffy, I wasn't being homophobic-"

"Really?! 'Cause it sounded that way to me!" Buffy yelled. The Slayer was becoming very frustrated. In one morning she realizes that not only is she in love with her best friend (who was a girl), but also that the same person thought that love between two people of the same sex was disgusting.

"Buffy, I'm NOT being homophobic! I was just-"

"I don't get it!" Buffy yelled, once again interrupting the Witch, "Your mom was so liberal about so many things, and yet somehow she raised a closed minded little girl!" Willow was shocked; she had no idea that the Slayer felt so strongly for Gays, Bis, and lesbians. "Oh sure, you have no problem with people dating demons or deadly monsters but when it comes to two humans in love it 'JUST WRONG'!" There was so much Ice in Buffy's tone it made Willow freeze before she defended herself.

"Buffy." Willow stated slowly, Resolve-Face set, "I am not Homophobic. I was ONLY talking about the idea of YOU and FAITH. I have nothing against gay people." Part of Buffy's mind believed that she was telling the truth, but the rest of it was still in Fight-Or-Flight mode. "Trust me when I say this." Willow smiled softly, taking Buffy's hand, running her thumb over the Slayer's softly.

"Oh." Buffy glanced down at their joined hands. She once again felt the heat that seemed to envelope her every time they'd touched recently. She slowly raised her eyes back up to Willow's.

Willow was near panicking. She had just admitted that she was Bisexual, and to Buffy of all people! She'd never told anyone before, not even Xander. She was breathing heavily, and her pulse was racing. Willow was about to faint due to lack of oxygen flow to the brain.

"Willow . . ." Buffy whispered, almost reverently. The Slayer walked forward until there was only an inch between them. She raised her free hand and lightly held the Witch's face, the skin feeling like warm rose petals under her fingers. Willow closed here eyes and sighed, her body lavished in the essence of Buffy. The Slayer leaned forward, enjoying that familiar Cheery-Cranberry smell that seemed to derive from her friend.

Buffy lightly touched the tips of their noses, her acute Slayer Senses overwhelmed with all things Willow. She softly teased the red-head with the light touches, enjoying the way they made the girl shiver and gasp silently. Buffy moved her hand back to cradle the head, readying to kiss the Witch. {She's gonna kiss me!} Willow thought excitedly, {She's finally going to kiss me!}

But nothing came.

Willow opened her eyes to see that Buffy had moved back away from her, a worried look on the Slayer's face. She dropped Willow's hand and looked away. Buffy nervously ran a hand through her hair, and picked up her dropped bathroom stuff.

"Buffy?" Willow whispered, scared that she had done something wrong. "What's wrong?"

"No, Will," Buffy put her stuff back down and quickly hugged her friend. "It's not you, okay? It's not your fault, alright?" she whispered into her friend's ear. She quickly had to pull away, the feeling of their two bodies together was too much for her already overloaded senses. "It's just . . ."

"You don't like me like that?" Willow guessed, having had it said to her before, countless times.

"No, Wills, that's not it." Buffy laughed quietly. "In fact you're the only woman I've ever felt this way about . . ." Buffy when back to gathering up her toiletries, so she missed the HUGE grin on the Willow's face. "It's just the wrong time." The grin left as quickly as it had arrived.

"What do you mean?"

"Now's just not the right time." Buffy stood back up, shower-gear in hand. "I just had two really bad break-ups. And, Will . . ." She gave Willow's hand a quick squeeze, "You and I just spent the night grieving over the fact that Oz left. You need time to heal, and I need to be the best friend. Changing the metaphorical bandages and that type of thing." She looked down at the floor.

"But Buffy," Willow whispered, worried she had lost her chance with the Slayer, "You can help me heal by being with me?" the witch whispered in her little-girl voice.

"No, Willow. I don't want to be a Band-Aid, use once then thrown away. If that means I have to wait, then so be it." She walked to the door with her bathroom stuff in hand, and opened it. "You're worth waiting for." Willow gave a winning smile, happy just knowing that there'd be a chance for them later. "I'll see you Psych, okay?"

"Okay." She closed the door behind her, as a much happier Willow then the night before flopped down on then bed.

Part 1 - The Heart's Labrynth
Part 2 - A Weird Welcome
Part 3 - Loves Lost and Found
Part 4 - Telling the Truth
Part 6 - Class Notes
Part 7 - Fire and Lightning
Part 8 - Pangs of Loss
Part 9 - Flashes of Truth
Part 10 - In Need of Explanations
Part 11 - Dreaming of You
Part 12 - A New Girl
Part 13 - So Silently Spoken
Part 14 - All the Things
Part 15 - With A New Sun...


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