Watchers Council

Chapter 12

Willow pushed back from the table and patted her stomach. “That was delicious” she grinned.

“It always helps when you build up an appetite first” Alex suggested with a wink and began clearing the table. “Should we finish the wine here or in bed?”

“I think here would be better and I think we should talk before we go back to bed” Willow said solemnly and cleared the remainder of the plates. “I just need to find a disc for my laptop, do you mind making some coffee?”

“OK” Alex sighed and shook her head. “Why do you need the laptop?” she asked as she loaded the dishwasher. “I thought we were going to talk”

“Actually you are going to read” Willow mumbled from the other end of the room. A couple of minutes later she groaned as she stood up from the cupboard with a CD in her hand. “Got it” she smiled and put it in the laptop drive.

“Are you OK?” Alex asked as Willow stretched and groaned again.

“Just a little stiff” Willow smiled and shrugged her shoulders. “Combination of the healing spells from earlier, a raunchy session of evening lovin’ with my girlfriend and the fact that I’m not getting any younger” she sighed.

“I knew this would happen when I started dating an older woman” Alex leaned on the back of Willow’s chair and kissed her neck.

“Hey, you’re only six months younger and stop that or we’ll never get this done” she leaned her head forward for a moment before rolling it back and capturing Alex’s lips in a searing kiss. “Please, I need my coffee and you need to read this” she stood up and held the seat out for Alex.

“What is this?” Alex asked as she pointed to the screen.

“After Tara’s death and everything I did” Willow paused and sat down next to Alex reaching out to hold her hand. “Afterwards, Giles and I spent a few months at a coven in England where they managed to bring me back from the edge and teach me the techniques that I needed to control the power I have” she squeezed Alex’s fingers and took a shaky breath. “After the first few weeks they suggested I keep a journal to let me see the progress I was making. I tried it for a few days but then I realised I needed to take it further and I predated it to the point when I first felt the dark energies taking me over”

Alex stared at her. “Tara’s death?” she asked quietly.

“No” Willow shook her head and looked uncomfortable. “The problems started long before that and I tried to be as honest as I could about what had led me to finally lose control” she let go of Alex’s hand and rose to pour out the coffee. “Remember I told you that someone had tried to get at us through Tara and I had managed to bring her back?” she asked as she set a mug in front of Alex and watched her nod. “Well there was a bit more to it than that and I think that’s when the serious problems began” Willow took up Alex’s previous position behind her chair and leant across to open a file on the laptop. “There are some things in here that you need to know before you start reading. At the end of the battle where I restored Tara’s mind Buffy died when she sacrificed herself to save Dawn” she wrapped her arms round Alex’s shoulders and held her tightly. “I know we have all asked you to believe some fairly outrageous things in the last few weeks and this is probably the worst of all but Buffy was dead for three months before I resurrected her from her grave” she felt Alex tense. “Please, just read the entries and I’ll answer any questions” she kissed the back of Alex’s neck to reassure her. “I was feeling very vulnerable when I wrote this so you might be a little shocked. I haven’t read it myself for quite a while so I can’t really remember how confused it might sound but I think this is the best way for you to understand what happened to me”

Alex watched Willow move to the other side of the table and take some papers from her bag. “And you just want me to read this?” she was a little confused.

“I could try to tell you everything but I don’t think you’d believe me and I’d probably miss something out and then a few weeks down the line you’d gettherther shock” Willow shrugged. “Nobody but Giles knows about the journal and he hasn’t read it. I didn’t expect it ever to be read by anyone else so it is as honest as I could make it at the time and, although I made a few changes a couple of months after I’d returned from the coven, it hasn’tn cen censored or prettied up since” she explained and cleared her throat. “Most of the entries are based in the anger I was feeling at the time and not really anything you’d recognise as coming from me” she frowned. “You’ve been saying you can’t imagine what the other me is like, you’ll get as close as you’d ever want to be when you read it”

Alex watched Willow for a few moments as she started to flick through the papers in front of her. Deciding that this was obviously the only Wil Willow could deal with someone reading her personal journal she shrugged and lifted the laptop onto her knees, relaxing on the chair and putting her feet on the chair opposite her. After the first few paragraphs she reached across and picked up her coffee mug, taking a sip as the frown lines on her forehead deepened.

Ten minutes later Willow was glancing up with increasing frequency. She saw Alex’s extremely concerned expression and closed her eyes as she tried to calm herself. The papers in front of her could have been written in Swahili and she wouldn’t have known, they were just something to keep her hands busy while she panicked about Alex’s reaction. This was the last resort and she wasn’t sure it would be enough, but she didn’t have any other way of sharing what had happened to her. The pain was almost physical, sitting in the same room while Alex discovered just how despicable she had been.

Half an hour later Alex stretched her back and looked up at Willow. “Is there any way I can read this in bed?” she asked and slowly rose to stretch properly. “I think this is going to take quite a while and I’d like to be more comfortable”

“Of course” Willow nodded and unplugged the power cable. “I’ll just set it up in the bedroom for you” she hung her head and carried the laptop through, resisting the urge to see how far Alex had got.

“Thanks” Alex said absently and handed Willow another mug of coffee. “I’ve made a new pot, perhaps you’d keep the supply coming?”

“I’ll make sure it’s not decaf” Willow smiled a little before blowing out a deep breath. “Is there anything I can help you with?” she finally gave in to curiosity.

“No” Alex shook her head. “I think I’ll read it through completely before I ask any questions” she reached out to put her hand on Willow’s arm. “But I haven’t read anything I can’t live with yet” she assured her and stretched out on the bed. “You can stay with me if you want” she patted the cover next to he
“D
“Don’t think it isn’t tempting” Willow leaned across and kissed her for several minutes. “Let me know when you’re finished and we can talk” She returned to the dining table and stared in disgust at the papers, stuffing them back in her bag before looking around to find something to do. An hour later the oven had been scrubbed and the kitchen had never looked so clean. Willow breathed a little heavily before setting up another pot of coffee. She glanced at her watch and groaned. “I had to give her the laptop” she mumbled in frustration and finally picked up the phone before slumping on the sofa. “Hi Dawn, is Buffy there?” she asked in a quiet voice. “Hey Buffy, what you doin’?” she asked and sighed as she listened patiently to her friend. “Nothing’s wrong, not really” she took a deep breath and decided to tell her everything. “I wrote a journal while I was in the coven and Giles kind of let some stuff slip earlier in front of Alex so I’ve given her the journal to read. Now I’m petrified that she’s going to finally find something that she can’t deal with” she listened to Buffy’s calm voice and moved the phone to her other ear as she snuggled further down in the sofa. “It wasn’t really his fault, his shoulder was giving him some trouble and I sort of offered to do the healing mojo on it”

“So what’s the problem with that?” Buffy asked as she shook her head at Dawn and turned the TV off. “You didn’t tell her?” she asked incredulously. “But you’ve just spent two weeks locked in the apartment with her, what on earth were you doing?” she giggled for a moment. “Sorry, stupid question” she acknowledged and was relieved to hear Willow chuckle a little. “So why was she so freaked about the healing magic, surely that’s the good bit of your witchlf” lf”

“Would have been if I hadn’t blurted out that I’d used it on her a few months ago without telling her” Willow mumbled and sniffled a little. “I know it was really stupid but she was in a lot of pain and I thought I could help without it getting out of hand”

“So what about the journal, what does it say?” Buffy nodded her thanks to Dawn as she set a glass of juice in front of her. “Everything?” she asked after a moment or two and sat up on the sofa again.

“I’m really sorry Buffy, but Giles thinks she needs the full story or she’ll just keep getting things springing up to surprise her” Willow apologised and reached for the box of Kleenex. “I know it was your secret but it’s covered pretty heavily in my journal and I couldn’t keep it from her any longer.”

“No, no that’s OK Will” Buffy stood up and paced a little. “I guess I was just used to Alex thinking you were the only one with deep dark secrets and the rest of us were super heroes” she sighed. “It was nice to have at least one person close to me who didn’t know about the whole heaven and hell thing but I’m just being selfish, of course she needs to know”

“I’m just really frightened Buffy” Willow started to sob a little and tried to keep the noise down. “What’s in the journal is bad enough but I was in a really scary place when I wrote it and I keep remembering some of the things I thought about doing to myself.” She tried to keep herself under control but her breathing was getting heavier and she was seriously sobbing now. “I should have taken out some of the really scary stuff before I let her read it”

Buffy didn’t know what to say and sank back down onto the sofa again. “What sort of things Willow?” she asked quietly, hoping to calm her down. “You never overshared about your time at the coven but we all assumed Giles had looked after you”

“He did” Willow sniffed and reached for another handkerchief. “If it wasn’t for him I probably wouldn’t be here now, but there were some pretty dark days in the beginning and I’ve jtoldtold my girlfriend to treat it like a book review” she was starting to get upset again.

“Willow, let me come over and we can both help Alex through this” Buffy suggested and started to pull on her shoes. “You shouldn’t have to deal with this yourself”

“No, it’s not fair to keep getting you involved in helping to clean up my mess” Willow took a deep, shuddering breath and tried to pull herself together. “You and Xander have gone above and beyond where Alex and I are concerned and you shouldn’t have to spend another night listening to me weeping and wailing”

“Willow, you’re my best friend, weeping and wailing duties are top of the job description” Buffy pulled her jacket off of the coat hook behind the door. “I’m on my way over, you can decide whether you want to open the door for me or not” she hung up the phone and shouted towards Dawn’s room. “Dawn, I’m going over to Willow’s for a while, don’t wait up for me” she waited till she heard Dawn’s answering mumble before heading towards the convenience store.

*****

“Everything OK?” Willow asked quietly as she placed another mug of coffee on the bedside table.

Alex stared up at her, her eyes red and puffy. “Getting there” she swallowed. “This is pretty intense” she admitted and took a deep breath. “But I think I’m beginning to understand” she nodded and wiped her eyes on her sleeve.

“I’m sorry” Willow mumbled and licked her lips. “Buffy’s coming over to keep me sane in the other room so she can help out with the questions later if you want”

“Honey, please stop apologising to me for stuff that happened before we even met” she reached up to capture Willow’s hand. “I had no idea what you had to go through just to survive after Tara” she squeezed the fingers gently.

Willow shrugged and couldn’t think of anything to say. Turning she quietly closed the door and went to make another pot of coffee, it was going to be a long night. “Buffy” she threw her arms around the blonde twenty minutes later when she answered the knock at the door.

“Willow, it’s going to be OK” Buffy assured her but had no idea if she was telling the truth or not. “I brought ice cream and we can sort this out once and for all” she pulled back and handed Willow one of the grocery bags.

“How many tubs did you bring?” Willow asked as she looked into the bag. “Oh goddess, you must be worried if it’s chocolate chip cookie dough flavour”

“That tub’s for Alex, it’s her favouriBuffBuffy grinned and locked the front door behind her before trailing Willow to the kitchen. “The place looks good” she nodded at the gleaming surfaces.

“Idle hands” Willow shrugged and laid out some bowls and spoons. “Thanks for coming over” she said quietly.

“Will” Buffy pulled her into another hug. “We are a team” she mumbled against her hair as Willow sobbed against her shoulder. “You know that you’re never alone and nothing is ever so bad that we can’t defeat it” she patted her back.

“This isn’t a de Wil Willow pulled back and used a dishtowel to dry her eyes. “This is an all too human problem and I accept that I have to pay for the rest of my life for what I did” she straightened her shoulders.

“I’m not saying you should get an easy ride” Buffy assured her as she spooned ice cream into two bowls. “I just think you need to stop making everything into a remorse payback thing” She handed Willow one of the bowls and headed for a comfortable chair in the sitting room. “I mean you are allowed to be happy again, your life doesn’t have to be one long round of misery” she looked around. “Where is Alex?”

“In the bedroom, she wanted to get comfortable” Willow shrugged. “I just can’t seem to make it work out right” she sniffed and put her ice cream on the coffee table. “Every time I think we’re past the tears and recriminations another surprise pops up and we start all over again”

“I hate to say it but Giles is right” Buffy nodded and left her ice cream as well. “We should have dumped everything on her at the beginning and you might have been getting over it by now”

“Or at least visiting her in the asylum” Willow suggested sarcastically and pulled her legs underneath her. “You would think people who’s job it is to explain impossible things to young girls would be better at this” she pouted.

“This isn’t about vampires and demons” Buffy said quietly. “This is about you and I don’t think anyone else has any idea how you dealt with what you went through” she admitted. “Xander and I were just so glad to have you back that we didn’t stop to ask what you’d gone through”

“I doubt I could have explained it then” Willow shrugged. “I was still a little raw from the experience and I just wanted to get back to my normal life”

“Being invisible and almost skinned alive by a demon” Buffy reminded her and smiled a little. “How can anyone else hope to understand that you had returned to a normal life in Sunnydale when that happened to you?”

“I know” Willow smiled a little as well and absent mindedly rubbed her abdomen. “At least I can tell Alex what the scar is now” she suggested.

“Benefits of slayer healing” Buffy grinned. “Never have any scars to explain”

“Just as well, considering what you and Spike were up to!” Willow giggled and reached for her ice cream.

“Hey, no fair” Buffy couldn’t stop her own laughter. “Tara promised she wouldn’t tell anyone”

“She didn’t” Willow shook her head. “And believe me, I tried everything I knew to persuade her” she waggled her eyebrows.

“You must have got better at the persuading thing then” Alex said softly from the bedroom door.

“Alex” Buffy and Willow both jumped up from their seats.

“Is this a private party or can anyone join in?” Alex asked as she moved to hug Willow tightly. “Are you alright?” she asked as she pulled back to meet her eyes.

“I should be asking you that” Willow suggested and took a deep breath as she felt Alex’s arms tighten around her. “Did you finish it?” she nodded towards the bedroom.

“Every word” she said and pulled Willow to sit next to her. “Thanks” she smiled up at Buffy as she took the bowl of ice cream from her.

“Look, I can leave if you want to work this out between you” Buffy suggested and headed for the door.

“Buffy wait” Alex said and handed her bowl to Willow as she stood up. “Please stay” she asked as she took Buffy’s hand and pulled her back towards the armchair. “I need to understand everything that happened before I can make Willow believe that I want to be with her and I think you might be able to help with the understanding and Willow belief thing”

“I’ll do my best” Buffy nodded and settled into the chair. “But just tell me when you want to move to the smoochy stuff and I’m surplus to requirements” she smiled sweetly and started on her ice cream.

Alex grinned and took her bowl back from Willow. “Why would you choose anyone else to share your life with when you have a friend like her, with the ice cream supply thing as a bonus” she asked an astounded Willow.

“I turned her down” Buffy announced solemnly. “Legs weren’t up to scratch” she kept the serious face but the twinkle in her eye gave the game away.

“One day you are going to wake up with frog’s legs and you’ll regret mocking me” Willow said quietly and glared at Buffy over the edge of her bowl.

“Hey” Buffy held her hands up in surrender. “If you gave me frog’s legs it would just freak you out every time I visited”

“OK, that’s just an embarrassing secret not something that Alex needs to know about, ever” Willow pointed her spoon at Buffy and felt some of the tension leave her.

“OK, ladies, enough!” Alex held up her hands. “I just finished reading about the last time you two got into a fight and I’d like the apartment not to be trashed” she wagged a finger at both of them.

“I can be good” Buffy nodded. “What’s the first question?” she settled into the armchair more comfortably.

“Technically it was Giles that did most of the trashing but I’ll behave” Willow mumbled and pulled Alex against her. “Buffy’s right, let’s get the Q&A over with”

“Tell me about the resurrection” Alex said quietly and looked towards Buffy.

“Not much to tell from my end of it” Buffy shrugged and saw Willow’s face drain of colour. “I was dead then I wasn’t, wandered around a little bewildered for a while then Dawn found me and I eventually got myself back together”

“Buffy was in heaven after her jump into the dimensional portal” Willow started quietly without looking at either of them. “But I persuaded the others that she must be in some kind of hell because she hadn’t died a natural death” she sniffed a little but was determined to get through it. “They had no idea of the dark magics I was having to access to do the resurrection spell, although I think Tara was starting to suspect near the end”

“So you did the spell and then got stuck with the dark stuff you’d used?” Alex asked, trying to understand.

“Sort of” Willow nodded. “Giles knew as soon as I told him what I’d done” she shrugged. “He was really angry and it turns out he was right”

“So you were slowly getting more and more addicted to doing the spells and stuff” Alex continued.

“Yes” Willow admitted quietly and swallowed. “Eventually I was even using spells to make Tara forget arguments we’d had and when I promised to stop for her then did a spell that went wrong and made everyone forget who they were” she paused. “Well she didn’t have any choice but to leave me” she admitted. “She was trying to shock me into realising how deep into it I was and it took a little while but the tactic worked”

“That and the car crash when Dawn got hurt” Buffy said quietly.

“That was the lowest point” Willow admitted. “I’d never have forgiven myself if anything had happened to her, she’s like a sister to me” she looked up quickly at Buffy before returning to gaze at her hands. “I realised what I was doing to everyone around me and decided to go cold turkey” she shuddered as she remembered. “By some miracle it sort of worked and I was able to function again, for a while anyway”

“You weren’t to know that it was just waiting for you to lose it before it took you over completely” Buffy suggested and closed her eyes. “We were all so caught up in other stuff at the time and we all thought you were back to normal Willow”

“Then Warren came along” Alex said matter of factly and saw both of the women flinch. “He shot Buffy and Tara and you were overcome with grief and anger”

“Pretty much covers it” Buffy nodded. “Except for the complete change in personality” she stood up to stretch a little. “When Xander and I first saw Willow in the hospital, when she came for me, we hardly recognised her” she paced a little and saw Alex watch her every move while Willow remained silent and staring at the floor. “We didn’t know about Tara until she told us a little later and by then we couldn’t reach Willow” she pointed at the red head sitting ominously quiet on the sofa. “The thing that she had become was seriously pissed off and had the power to do something about it”

“How much of this do you remember?” Alex asked quietly and used her finger to lift Willow’s chin so she could see her eyes. “Will, please, I need to go through this one more time before we never talk about it again, can you be strong for a little longer?”

Willow nodded and wiped the tears that were soaking her cheeks. “I remember it as if it was a dream, not really me but I was aware and in control of what was happening” she admitted. “Once I’d left Buffy and Xander in the desert I traced Warren and cornered him in the forest”

“We arrived just as she was finishing with him” Buffy said quietly and cleared her throat. “He was a piece of scum but he didn’t deserve what you did to him”

Willow locked eyes with Buffy and they stayed silent for some moments. “A lot of people didn’t deserve what happened to them that day” she finally suggested.

Alex could see the colour return to Willow’s face and her breathing was a little faster. “So you killed Warren and then went looking for the others” she asked, keen to get the story finished so that she could move to the next part of her plan.

“Yeah, we realised what she was going to do and managed to get them to safety” Buffy started pacing again and was gazing off into the distance. “The fact that we were protecting them just slowed her down a little and she would have gotten to them fairly quickly if it hadn’t been for Giles” Buffy admitted.

“Giles had been working with a coven in England and they had picked up the power I was channelling and given him the power to fight it” Willow sniffed a little but seemed more confident. “Turns out he had been given the power of twelve different witches from the coven and was basically sent as a decoy in the hope that I would drain the power from him”

“He never told me that” Buffy looked round in surprise. “It was a suicide mission?” she tried to get her head around this idea.

“Sort of” Willow nodded miserably. “He certainly was lucky to survive after I drained his power and it was touch and go for the first few days back in the coven”

Alex watched the interplay between the two friends and knew that Giles would be getting a very intense visit from Buffy. “So you and Giles were fighting and Buffy had gone to save Dawn” again Alex was trying to get them back to the main story.

“Dawn and I ended up in a crypt when the ground collapsed under us and we couldn’t get out” Buffy filed the information about Giles till another time. “Xander was trying to rescue us when Anya popped up and told us where Willow was heading and that Giles was in a bad way”

“Xander got to me just in time” Willow acknowledged. “Five more minutes and it would have been too late to stop the events I was trying to set in motion”

“But he got to you” Alex said quietly. “And he stopped you” she said in the same even tone of voice.

“After I’d beaten him up pretty badly too” Willow shrugged.

“But you came back” Buffy reminded her. “When Dawn and I got to you both, you were back to being Willow again” she smiled as she remembered the relief at the sight of the red head in Xander’s arms. “Then Anya and Giles arrived and you both left to go to the coven”

Alex looked between both of them. “So you didn’t destroy the planet and your friends forgave you for what you did to them” she looked towards Buffy for confirmation.

“I’ve lost it a couple of times myself, I just didn’t have the skills to do anything as spectacular” she shrugged. “And if I’d watched Tara die in front of me, in my arms, I don’t know what I would have done to the person who’d caused it”

“It’s no excuse” Willow mumbled and looked up at Buffy. “We’ve all lost people before and none of us have murdered a human and tried to destroy the planet”

“You always were an overachiever” Buffy suggested and returned to her chair.

“But you came back from it” Alex returned to her main theme. “I look at you now and I know that you won’t ever become that person again” she looked between both of them. “You still have the power but you’re completely in control and even a shock like before won’t tip you over the edge”

Willow shook her head. “I just don’t know” she mumbled and gulped.

“That’s the problem” Alex said softly and pulled Willow into her arms. “It’s so obvious in her journal that she’s scared that it will happen again and Xander or you or Giles won’t be there to stop it”

Buffy watched her friend crying while wrapped in Alex’s arms. “Will, you’ve taken risks since then and been able to control your power” she said and moved towards the sofa to put her arms round Willow’s shoulders. “The slayer release spell could have backfired badly but you saw it through and we all trusted you”

“I had time to prepare” Willow sobbed. “I don’t know what will happen if something bad happens suddenly” she admitted and knew at the back of her mind that she had been keeping this to herself since her recovery at the coven.

Buffy looked at Alex and shook her head. “I’ve trusted you with my life too many times to count and I would do it again” Buffy took a deep breath. “Xander, Dawn and Giles feel the same way”

Alex sniffled and wiped her cheek on her shoulder. “Willow, please” she mumbled as she pulled her even tighter into her arms. “You need to trust Buffy and the others. They know you better than anyone else and they don’t think you’re ever going to go there again” she looked towards Buffy and smiled a little as Buffy put her arm round her as well. “And you need to trust me when I tell you that I can live with what you were so long as you promise to live with me now”

Willow sobbed for a few more minutes before subsiding into hiccupy breathing. Buffy stood up and brushed Alex’s hair from her forehead before dropping a kiss on it. “Call me when you get to the retail stage of the therapy” she smiled and let herself out of the apartment.

Alex relaxed her hold a little and reached for the handkerchiefs. “Let me” she whispered and slowly dried the tears from Willow’s face. “Missed a bit” she mumbled and kissed her nose. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone before and I know you have some pretty spectacular baggage but I think I can foresee spending the rest of my life with you” she lifted Willow’s chin with her finger and looked into her eyes. “The only thing we need to promise each other is that we’ll always be 100% honest and not keep secrets, not even weird demony type ones”

“But you read the journal” Willow’s throat felt scratchy and she cleared it. “You know what I was like, what I did”

“And I’m willing to live with that knowledge” Alex explained before sighing. “Unless you really want to spend the rest of your life falling in love then breaking it off every time they find out about your past” she took Willow’s hands in her own, wincing at how cold they felt. “You’ve taken a major step in sharing the journal with me but I want to be the last person you ever have to do this for”

“You still love me?” Willow asked quietly and Alex knew that the simple question would decide the rest of their lives.

“You have no idea how much I love you and I don’t have the words to ever be able to tell you so I’ll just have to spend the rest of my life showing you” she said before leaning in slowly and kissing the cold lips.

Willow sank into the kiss, feeling weeks of tension finally draining from her. She sat back on the sofa and pulled Alex on top of her, feeling the warmth from her girlfriend seeping into her own body. Suddenly the bad tension was replaced with good tension and she ran her tongue along Alex’s lips to gain entry to her mouth.

Alex closed her eyes and felt herself start to cry again as she kissed Willow with everything she had. The hands that had been so cold two minutes earlier were now trailing delicate, warm fingers across her neck and fighting to get underneath the sweater she was wearing.

“Honey” Willow pulled back as she felt Alex’s tears running onto her cheeks. “Everything’s going to be OK” she promised and ran her hand through the mussed up blonde hair. “I love you so much” she smiled and reached up to continue the kiss where she had left off.

Alex felt the hand trail up her side and slide round to just below her breast. Her breathing was now at the six minute mile stage and she finally allowed herself to acknowledge the tingly messages her body was sending to her brain. “Let’s go to bed” she whispered as Willow managed to loosen her bra.

“Not yet” Willow whispered in her ear and chuckled at the shudders her breath caused. “We haven’t christened the sofa, have we?” she asked and raised her eyebrow.

“Half a dozen times” Alex shook her head and grinned at her. “I want to snuggle up under the duvet”

“You’re supposed to be the wild young thing” Willow pouted but slowly pushed up from her reclining position. “Let’s take the ice cream” she waggled her eyebrows and lifted both bowls before heading at speed for the bedroom.

Alex giggled and rolled her shoulders. “I love you” she whispered and stood up to follow her. “Save some of that ice cream for me” she laughed in a louder voice before stripping her sweater off and dropping it on the sofa.