Fic: Best Laid Plans (Willow/Angel) FRT-13/PG-13 2/?
I realize that most of my f-list is occupied with Harry Potter, but for you few who aren't, I offer the latest chapter of my unexpectedly light fic, Best Laid Plans. I hope you enjoy it.
Summary: Set in Season Six. Willow finds a spell that just might fix everything, but you know what they say about the best laid plans...
Warnings: NONE (Yes, you read that right: NONE)
Feedback: Please. It is always cherished.
Distribution: Here and at my site only.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. It all belongs to Joss and a bunch of other people who are not now and have never been me.
Author's Notes: I dedicate this to the SSFF crew, for giving me the confidence to go in a new direction with my writing; to marewillow, who inspired me with the idea for this in the first place; to sexymermaid for her constant encouragement and support; to hotspur18, for making me gorgeous art and for being such a brick; to lilbreck, for beta-reading the first chapter and listening to more whining than any girl should have to bear; to rua1412, a sweetie who really needs some cheering up right now; to kity_poker1, for keeping me grounded; and to purplefeen, because she's Feen and that's reason enough.
Best Laid Plans (Chapter Two)
Was the Magic Box always this close to the house? It seemed as if she’d started the walk only a moment ago and now - here she was, a foot from the shop door. Okay, Willow, breathe. And try not to look as guilty as you feel.
Willow didn’t have a mirror, but she was pretty sure that right now she looked like a chicken thief with a hen in each pocket. Boy, those would have to be pretty big pockets. Where would you get a coat with pockets like that? Did they make coats just for chicken thieves, or would you need to make one yourself? Okay, stop. Focus, Tangent Girl.
She walked into the store. Dawn wasn’t there and Willow was relieved not to have to try to pull this off with the sullen teenager glaring at her all the while. She also noticed with a bit of sadness that Tara wasn’t there. She hadn’t really expected her, but still... She refused to dwell on her love’s absence and concentrated instead on schooling her expression into what she hoped was a very convincing blend of curiosity, remorse for past misdeeds, and innocence. Actually, she’d settle for achieving mildly convincing, just so long as she didn’t give the game away the moment her friends saw her face.
“Hi, guys.”
Stony silence was the only reply she received from the three occupants of the store . Oh great. Weeks without doing any magick at all (it wasn’t like they even knew about the spell book, either) and she still didn’t get a break, not even from Xander. For a moment, she wondered if it was worth it - the sacrifice, the effort, the pain. Maybe she wouldn’t even bother making Angel’s soul permanent. If this was the way Buffy was going to be...
She shook it off. After all, she had done some pretty bad things and just because Buffy had too, in fact had even run off without a word leaving them all alone to guard the Hellmouth before Willow could even really float a pencil, it didn’t make her own misdeeds okay. Her friends had a right to be upset. Okay, Xander had summoned that singing demon and someone had died but...no. Thinking like that was all wrong. Trying to minimize the severity of her magick addiction was one of those things she’d been warned about and it was sure to lead to badness.
Finally, Buffy spoke. “Angel called.” She hesitated for a moment. “He wants you to help him in Los Angeles. They need you to hack into some computer system for a case they’re working on. He says it’s an emergency and, well, you’re the only one he knows who can do it. It won’t take more than a day or two, but he wants you to come as soon as possible.”
She looked upset, but Willow was pretty sure it was from talking to Angel and not at the thought of Willow being gone for a few days. She felt a selfish pang and chided herself. After all, it had to be hard for Buffy to hear Angel’s voice and think about the past. Boy was she ever going to be happy when she found out the real reason Willow was going to L.A.
Willow was quickly brought down from the clouds where her thoughts had lifted her.
“You’d better not do any magick while you’re there.”
“An...,” Xander halfheartedly admonished his girlfriend.
“What? It’s not like you didn’t want to say the same thing. I don’t see why I’m not allowed to say it after she almost killed Dawn, and stole things from my store.” Anya’s expression and emphasis made it clear which she considered the greater offense.
Leave it to Anya to keep things in perspective. She’d spent centuries killing and torturing and maiming, but she couldn’t forgive Willow for borrowing a few herbs and roots. Once again, Willow started to get distracted by a burgeoning sense of ill treatment and unfairness. And again, she admonished herself not to think like that. Now was not the time to be sidetracked by selfishness. Besides, once she got back from L.A., they would all love her again and everything would be okay. What she was feeling right now would all be moot. Breathe. Focus.
She decided to ignore Anya’s crass remark and addressed Buffy. “I think this will be good. You know, getting away from the Hellmouth for a little while, doing computer-y things, just like the old days. I’ll be Willow, the Net Girl again. That’s got to be healthy, right?”
At Willow’s mention of ‘the old days’ Buffy’s eyes got that far-away ‘Angel’ look and Willow was irritated once more. Everything was all about her; she couldn’t think about Willow for longer than ten seconds without turning things around to be about Buffy again. Okay, maybe, really, this was about Buffy, but Buffy had no way of knowing that and the least she could do was spare a moment for a tiny bit of concern about someone who was supposed to be her best friend. Of course that nasty inner voice that seemed to have so much to say right now chimed in with the observation that Buffy’s self-absorption might be a good thing since she had probably not even thought to tell Angel about Willow’s problem with magick.
Reining in her thoughts was getting annoying and difficult, but Willow did it yet again. Still, she wondered briefly why it was so much easier to see her friends’ side of things - and to believe that they really cared about her and wanted to forgive her someday - when she was alone.
“This could really be the best thing for my recovery, guys.” She spoke to Xander and Anya this time as Buffy seemed lost in ‘Angel-land.’ “I’ll be busy fighting the forces of evil in cyberspace. What better way to take my mind off all the bad, magick-y stuff I’m not supposed to be doing? They always say that you need to develop new interests and healthy activities when you’re trying to control your addiction, right? I mean, I know it’s not actually a new interest, but I think computer do-gooding qualifies as a healthy activity, don’t you?”
Xander appeared convinced, at least slightly, but he continued to look at Willow with suspicion and distrust and it hurt.
“I guess we can count on Deadboy to keep an eye on you for a few days.”
Great. He didn’t trust her, he trusted...Angel? How bad had things gotten between the two of them that he trusted a vampire he’d just as soon stake before his own best friend? The unwelcome realization that Xander hadn’t truly been her best friend in a very long time hit her and she wondered just how many more painful thoughts she was going to have today. Maybe she needed to do that Tabula Rasa spell on herself. No, bad Willow, no - more - spells...well, except for the one she was going to do for Angel. Wait, she meant for Angel and Buffy...right?
Her head was starting to hurt from editing herself. She was beginning to think that Xander might have had a point all those years ago about her having too many thoughts.
“So, I guess I need to go home and pack a few things and get the bus schedule, right?”
“No, Anya’s going to drive you and Angel said he’d bring you home.”
“Yes, and I’d better not lose any money because of having to drive you to Los Angeles.”
“An, I said I’d watch the store for you tonight.”
“I’m sure you won’t lose any money.” Anya seemed about to interrupt her but Buffy cut her off at the pass. “And I’m sure Willow will be more than happy to pay for gas. We all appreciate you doing this. Xander and I will keep an eye on the store. You’ll see; you’ll be back before you know it and everything will be just fine.” Buffy pacified Anya with a treacly smile.
Great, even in a conversation about her no one could ever stay focused on Willow. Somewhere in her mind, an understanding of just what factors might have led her down the garden path to dark magick began to coalesce and, once again, it was something Willow knew she wasn’t going to enjoy thinking about once it had fully taken shape. Were all these depressing thoughts some sort of punishment?
Why hadn’t she just put down that darn spell book and bought the bass boat guide instead? If she was on a boat right now with a fishing rod in her hand, she wouldn’t be thinking about anything substantial, let alone having doubts about every single important person in her life. After all, Herbert Hoover loved fishing so much that he had even written a book about it and Willow was pretty sure he’d never thought about anything at all. He may have had a lot to do with the Great Depression, but he somehow seemed to have been much happier than she was. He had to be on to something.
“I guess I’d better go pack so we can leave right away, huh?”
Everyone suddenly turned towards her as if they’d forgotten she was there. Self-pity raised its ugly head yet again. Fishing, Willow...think about fishing.
“Bye, guys. I’ll be back in a couple of days and I promise I won’t do anything I shouldn’t.”
Two brief and perfunctory goodbyes were all she got in return as she headed out of the store. A grumbling, cranky Anya grabbed her purse and followed her out the door, continuing to grumble as they drove to Buffy’s house and for the few moments she begrudged Willow to pack the bare necessities required for her stay at Angel’s. Willow had a feeling the grousing wasn’t going to stop the whole way to Los Angeles. Angel and Buffy were so going to owe her when this was done.