• Goodbyes

  The following Tuesday Willow's bags were packed and she was sitting in Giles' stuffy little living room, with it's drab off-white walls and the rather threadbare sofa. Giles' furniture creaked in protest as Willow was crowded in along with Buffy, Dawn, Xander and Spike.
  
  The bleach-blonde vampire hadn't been invited to Willow's farewell party, but when given a choice between spending his time at Wolfram and Hart, Xander's flat, or someplace where he'd have to buy his own blood, he'd opted for Xander's flat. He'd been watching day time TV in the living room while Xander worked in his carpentry shop downstairs when Giles had rung, and had reasoned to himself that he'd only nag Xander into telling him what Giles had called for when the phone call had ended, so he might as well save everyone the trouble and just listen in on the upstairs line.
  
  When Xander had left the flat for Giles' house Spike stuck by his side on account of having left some blood in Giles freezer the last time he'd visited. There was a slim possibility that it had neither congealed nor been thrown away by Giles, and he was willing to take that chance.
  
  Which brought them to where they were now; squashed into Giles' small living room. Willow, Buffy and Xander had monopolised the sofa, though they only just fitted on it. None of them minded. It was unspoken between them, but they were all three enjoying the closeness. The three original Scoobies didn't know when they'd have a chance to be together again, and no-one was about to disrupt the precious time they had left.
  
  Xander was trying to hold back tears, and wondering why it wasn't twice as easy now he had half as many eyes. *My Willow, going to England. When did we all grow up? We weren't meant to have seen the things we have. I don't remember doing the normal stuff. Now she's leaving and I don't have the chance.* He wrapped an arm around Willow, and pulled her closer to him. *God, I hope that's not true.*
  
  Buffy was trying to smile on the other side of Willow, telling herself that it was good for Willow to be leaving. *We can go and visit. It'll be cool. We can go to Giles-land. Well, kinda north of Giles-land. But we'll see her. Which was my point.* She shifted slightly as Willow leaned into Xander's hug. *I'm really gonna miss her.*
  
  Dawn had perched herself on the arm next to Buffy, and was leaning over, resting her arm on her sister's shoulders so some of her long brown hair ended up tickling Buffy's nose. Dawn was too busy quickly smudging the tears off her cheeks, only to have more replace them, to notice.
  
  "We can come visit, right? And you'll visit us too? You know, when you can." She sniffed and scrubbed at her red eyes again.
  
  Willow wriggled out of Xander's hug and pulled Dawn across Buffy so she could hug her. Dawn squeaked in surprise, echoing the complaint of the furniture, and smacked Buffy in the nose trying to keep her balance. Suddenly they were all laughing, their silent introspection broken by the sight of Buffy indignantly rubbing her nose, while Dawn was sprawled across her lap, legs awkwardly over the arm over the sofa, being viciously hugged by Willow.
  
  "Hey Giles, where's the sodding milk?" Spike's voice drifted in from the kitchen, where the vampire was currently raiding the cupboards and the fridge.
  
  Willow stood up, and let Dawn fall into the sunken seat she had been occupying. Looking at the emotion on the faces of her friends, the people who had stood by her through everything that had been thrown at them, through everything she had thrown at them, she couldn't help wondering, for the fiftieth time, if she was doing the right thing. This time the doubts were fleeting and she brushed them aside. She was doing the right thing, proven by nothing more than the fact that the people in the room with her supported her in it.
  
  "I love you guys, all of you…"
  
  "I'm touched," Spike chipped in from the doorway where he was now lounging, drinking a cup of black coffee.
  
  "Good to know, Mr. Bad Ass Coffee Drinking Vampire. And you know I'll miss you too."
  
  Looking at Spike's face, now half hidden in the coffee cup, Willow thought he'd looked rather pleased. *I guess he's living proof that people can put their past behind them. Or undead proof.*
  
  Suddenly Giles stood up next to her, pulling her from her thoughts.
  
  "It's time to go Willow."
  
  *So soon? But I haven't said all the goodbyes I wanted to yet!* A rush of panic coursed through her. *I needed to say stuff to people.* The dull feeling of butterflies she'd had all day morphed into rats running around her stomach. Clog-dancing rats.
  
  "So, this is it guys." The tension broke as the others all tried to hug her at once, and laughed again at the ensuing muddle. "Buffy, if you need me to come back here and help out with anything, just let me know. And you'd better come and visit, with Dawnie!"
  
  She turned to Xander.
  
  "Hey, you know Wills, it's gonna be weird to not have my bestest best buddy around any more. Um," He paused awkwardly, "I guess I suck at goodbyes. Just take care?"
  
  The room was silent as the two oldest friends hugged, the words they were both thinking left unspoken. For the first time in years they wouldn't be able to laugh or cry with each other at the end of a tough day. Neither of them could think of a way to put into words the way it felt to know that your best friend would be on a different continent instead of a few blocks down, and so they just held on tightly, remembering the feeling until they'd see each other again.
  
  A loud slurp echoed out from behind Spike's upturned coffee mug.
  
  "What?" He looked around cluelessly at the glares, "What'd I do?"
  
  "Jeez Spike, touching moment here!" Buffy snapped, gesturing at Xander and Willow.
  
  "I put a lot of sugar in it," he shrugged. "You know what the sugar's like at the end. All gooey and coffee flavoured. Couldn't let it waste, could I?"
  
  Xander sighed and wandered over to take the coffee mug off the protesting vampire, before smacking him upside the head with his free hand, grinning at Willow. She giggled at the look on Spike's face before turning back to Dawn and pulling her into another hug.
  
  "I love you Dawnie, just cause I'm across the ocean doesn't mean I'll love you any less. Make sure you bug Buffy until she brings you to visit," she whispered in the girl's ear, "From what I've heard of this place, you're gonna go crazy over it!"
  
  Willow looked Giles, giving her best determined face. "Are we ready?"
  
  "I believe we are." He turned to the others while picking up Willow's largest suitcase, "I'll be back soon."
  
  On her way to the door Willow stopped by a sulking Spike, who tensed up at her attention. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna spoil your evil vampire image by hugging you. Just look after them for me Spike. I trust you to."
  
  She was almost out of the door before he caught her arm. She glanced back and when she met his eyes he nodded slowly and smiled.
  
  "Thanks Spike," Willow said, knowing what he meant, and disappeared into the bright sunshine bathing the LA streets.
  
  
  -: Chapter 1 -:- Chapter 3 :-
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