Here and Now

Okay, reading all of the reviews gave me a big happy (face), so I decided to post the next chapter. Well, the *real* chapter seven. Anywho, sorry for the mixup, but my stupnternternet is slow as hell, and I wasn't sure if it uploaded the chapter at all (hence the "add chapter" three times). I hope you like this one too, and thanks for the reviews, cause everyone obviously stopped reading the first one I posted here. Thanks a bunch!


As the night progressed and the liquor continued to flow, everyone's inhibitions loosened up. Particularly Buffy's. As the old saying goes, "loose lips sink ships."

"So, us, Willow? How's this, uh, married life?" Buffy asked, her words slightly slurred.

"Oh, ya know. The usual married life?" Willow said, uncertain as to what exactly the drunken woman meant.

"Aww, come on! You're one of those house wives, right?" Willow shifted uncomfortably in her chair and glanced around at everyone, who had all eyes on Buffy.

"I mean, you watch his kid, wash his shorts, clean his house, right?"

"I- I um, yes. I do. Why?" Buffy slammed her hand down on the table as if the answer was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What about sex?" Buffy asked simply.

"Hey-" Xander started.

"What about it, exactly?" Willow said, getting a little ticked off at her personal question.

"Well, do you take a class? I mean, I'm after awhile that the military position can get quite boring. Gotta keep hubby interested, don't we?" She with a giggle.

"Hey now, just a minute- " Spike started.

"Come on, B. Light up. Better yet, go home and sleep it off." Faith added.

"Oh, god." Cordelia said more to herself than anyone else.

"Oh, shut up, Faith. You know it's true." Buffy said. Xander resumed his nervous twitch, not sure what to say to it all. Then the first thing that came to mind didn't seem so bad.

"Hey, are sex life is fan-fucking-tastic, thank you very much. Maybe if you didn't drink so much, yours wouldn't pass you by so quickly." Xander said. Willow got up and walked quickly to the bathroom. She'd never been so humiliated!

"Yea right. Like those seven minutes you give to her like, what? Once a week is any good. God, that woman needs a stick out of her ass and a dick in her coochie, pronto! Maybe next time she won't be so damned boring." Buffy said off handedly.

"You can be the queen of bitches sometimes." Cordelia said as she stood up. Everyone else was stunned into silence.

"Oh, thank you sweetie!" Buffy said while smiling, thinking the statement a compliment. Cordelia grabbed her arm and dragged Buffy to her feet.

"Come on, you've worn out the welcome for both us. Thanks Lilah, for inviting us. Angel call me!" She said cheerfully as she walked Buffy out the door. As theft,eft, you could hear Buffy's whiny complaints of not wanting to go.

"Say, that Buffy's a barrel of laughs, isn't she?" Anya commented as she sipped her soda.

"Well, at least the entire evening wasn't a total loss. Angel and Spike are going out on dates, which is no small feat. I mean, that was the whole point of this major disaster. Wes? Wes?" Lilah said as she tapped his shoulder. But all he did was groan in protest of the horrible turn of events.

"Well, you knoat tat they say: 'Tomorrow's another day.'" Giles said as he rose his glass up in an imaginary toast. Anya gave him a look of irritation. Before questioning him.

"What idiot said that? Of course tomorrow's another day."


No Silent Night


"Willow, please. I'm sorry, really. Can we just talk about this?" Xander pleaded through the bedroom door of their home. Willow had given him the silent treatment all the way home, then proceeded to give him a pillow and a blanket for the couch, and locking the bedroom door behind her.

"Xandeo too to sleep. You have work in the morning, and I have... things to do. So go away."

"Hey, maybe I'll take the day off tomorrow? We gotta talk about this, Wills."

"No. Besides, Dawn's visiting tomorrow, and I'd prefer if you weren't here so she won't see me mad at you. Now go away before you wake up our son. Then I'll be really pissed off." Xander contemplated saying something else to his irate wife, thought better of it, and went to the bathroom to change into his bed clothes. Though he knew for a fact that he wouldn't be getting much sleep at all.

************

The Morning Hangover

Buffy woke up with a terrible headache and tried to account for last nights events. Besides the Spike incident, everything afterwards seemed kind of hazy. All she knew for sure was that she had an extreme guilty feeling lurking in the back of her mind for god knows what. She popped some aspirin and called Cordelia to find out the damage she'd done.

"What?!" Cordy yelled into the phone, purposely. Buffy pulled back her cordless and winced.

"Geez, Cordy. Was I really that bad?" She asked meekly.

"Ugh, yea. You know, I warned you- repeatedly I might add, and yet you ignored me. God y, yy, you made me look bad!"

"You? How did I-"

"The mere fact that I'm associated with you, especially by us coming together... You were drunk and- I've never been more ashamed and embarrassed and-"

"Okay, alright. I get the picture." Buffy said as she flopped back onto her pillows. "What'd I do?"

"Not what you did, what you said. You ripped that Willow chick to shreds. I mean, even though we alew iew it was true, you never say things like that out loud. Ugh, gotta go. Talk to you later." Click. Buffy couldn't believe it. One of her best friends just hung up on her! How could she? *Well, only one thing to do.* she thought. *Gotta make amends.* She took another couple of aspirin and dialed up Lilah.

"Yes, Buffy?" Lilah asked impatiently. Buffy began to feel worse as sec seconds ticked away.

"Uh, Lilah, I know you're probably all mad at me, and I jwantwanted to say I'm sorry. You haveta forgive me, please?"

"What, ye, yeah, whatever. Look, I'm kinda busy right now." She said. Buffy could hear Wesley mumble something in the background.

"Oh, well uh... I need a quick favor. What's Willow's address and phone number?"

"What, are you fucking insane? Why'd I give that to you?"

"Because I want to apologize personally to her. And besides, the quicker you give it e, te, the faster you can get back to giving it to Wes."

"Well, I could always hang up."

"Then I'd just call back; repeatedly."

"I'd unplug the phone."

"Lilah, please! I have to make it up to this Willow person. I know I was a major bitch and all, and she may never forgive me, but I have to try! I was gonna get her a fruit basket and everything." She complained. Lilah sighed into the phone, gave Buffy the information, hung up, and got back to giving Wes one of his many birthday presents.

*************

Dawn could tell that Willow wasn't her usual cheerful self. So Dawn attempted to stay out of her way as much as possible and quietly played Game Cube with Jesse. Just when Willow seemed to be in a good mood again, the doorbell rang and mean Willow came out to play again.

"What the are you doing here?" Willow asked, more flabbergasted than angry as she looked at the blond haired woman with the insanely large gift ba.
.

"I've brought you fruit, and cheese, meat, tea, jam- "

"But what are you doing here? At my house?" Buffng hng her head in shame as she explained.

"I'm sorry. I came to apologize. You see, I'm a terrible drunk, and I often lash out at people for no particular reason. I just hope that... you accept said apology. If not, then please take this gift basket as a peace offering. It's just, I'm not typically a mean person, it's just, I was having a bad night, and I-m som so sorry." She finished as she looked the red head in the eyes. Willow gave her kind, sympathetic eyes and actually invited her in.

"It's okay. I'm sure that one day, I'll look back on this and la- well, still feel pretty bad, but hopefully I'll be over it by then." Willow said as she placed the basket on the coffee table.

"Hey kids, this is Buffy. Buffy, this is Dawn and my son Jesse." Dawn pressed the pause button to get a better look at the newcomer. She looked nice and... tired.

"Hi. How do you know Willow?" Dawn asked from her seat on the floor.

"Oh, we met at this party." The kids looked at each other, shrugged, and continued to play their game. Willow motioned for Buffy to follow her to the kitchen.

"So, is that one of your son's friends, or is she one of those annoying kids that happen to miraculously live right next door to you? I was one of those." Buffy joked.

"Actually, she's sort of my niece. Well not by blood, but... She's my friend's daughter. I believe you met him?" Willow said as she motioned for her to have a seat.

"Oh, who?"

"Spike's."

tbc

Oh come on! Like Willow isn't the Queen of Forgiveness.