FicWad

Tara had been at the hospital until they had made her leave. Her girlfriend needed her rest and it was well past visiting hours as it was. But she had still left oh so reluctantly.
As the doctors had all predicted, Willow still had no sensation in either of her legs. But that was to be expected, so they said. It would take time. Months, maybe even years for her to fully recover the use of her legs. The damage had been even more extensive than first thought. Time was what she needed to heal now.
And that didn't matter to her. She would stand by her girl no matter what. She finally had someone to love more than anything in the world. Well, besides her mother. And her mother was now no longer there for her. And Donny couldn't be. Although, he had called to let her know that he had been worried about her and Willow. And that he was sorry not to be coming back for the funeral. He just couldn't face their dad. And he was sure that their mom would understand. Not that he liked it. He had turned into such a caring brother.
The blond was now sitting on the couch. She really should be getting upstairs and to bed. After all, tomorrow was a school day and life had to continue even though her everything now sat in a hospital bed all alone. But the redhead had insisted that she go to school. If only to take notes for her. Just like her girl.
That brought a smile to her face. Just the little quirks that made her girl her girl. They were the tiny things that not everyone else new about or took the time to notice. But she had. Those were the things that made her love her that much more.
She sighed as she finally decided that it was bed time. She noticed that she was hungry and decided to get a quick snack before she turned in. Slowly, she made her way into the kitchen. There was note on the refrigerator. 'Tara, sweetie. Didn't know when you'd be back. The funeral for your mother is tomorrow. So no school for you young lady. And no hospital either. We'll talk in the morning'.
Tears quickly formed. Her mother was really going to be gone now. Her death had happened so quickly, but not really. She had been sick for so long that it was also very expected. But with Willow being hurt, it had distracted her from how bad her mother had gotten the past few weeks. And now, it was too late.
Swallowing hard, she pushed the tears back. Not because she didn't want to cry for her mother. But because she was afraid that her father would catch her crying. And he considered that a real weakness. Especially when it came to death.
She remembered when her grandfather had died when she was only six. The two had been so close to one another. And she had cried for days and days. Finally, he had come to her room as she lay crying still. He took his belt off and had hit her so hard and so many times that she had welts upon welts on her back. She couldn't move for nearly a week.
And he had gotten around it by saying that she had fallen down the basement stairs. But she remembered what he had said while he was hitting her. "Little girls don't cry over death. Little girls cry because of real pain. Little girls are weak. But I'm gonna make you strong. Whether you like it or not." And the pain quickly flooded into her mind.
That made the tears form again. But again, she swallowed hard so that they would not come. No more pain. She would not let her father have the satisfaction of knowing that he had yet again caused her pain. Never. Again.
She sighed and pulled out her favorite drink, raspberry lemonade. Her father hated it. And her brother hadn't cared for it. But she loved it. So had her mother. And she drank a whole glass after eating a couple crackers with cheese on them.
As she walked up the stairs, her stomach started to feel a little funny. Again she sighed. It must just be the stress of Willow and her mother. That's all it was. What else could it be?

Giles was wrapped up in the computer teacher's arms. With his niece unfortunately in the hospital, they had the apartment to themselves. And they had taken full advantage of it. She was now sound asleep. But he simply couldn't.
There were too many thoughts going on in his mind. If he were truly right about Tara's mother, something would have shown up in the autopsy report. But when Jenny had hacked in to the corner's office, there had been nothing of the unusual.
But what about all the coverups of abuse in the past. Could there be another coverup going on here as well. He prayed to God that he was wrong. Because if he was right, Tara truly was in danger. And he didn't want to see anything happen to the girl.
And not just because his niece was truly in love with her. No. It was because she was one of the few genuine people that existed on this earth. She loved everyone equally and didn't judge anyone. The girl was simply amazing.
And she had been through more than her fair share for someone so young. He knew that she could never let on, but there was the abuse. And now Willow was still recovering from a near death experience. And before that, she had had to be the one to constantly take care of her mother. And now, her mother's funeral was the very next day.
"You're awake." Jenny looked up into those eyes. "And you're in deep thought. What's up or don't you want to talk about it?"
Giles smiled big. "I'd rather not at the moment." He leaned down and kissed the teacher. "I rather have other things that I would like to do, if you don't mind."

Wesley watched his sister pace back and forth. They had been sitting on the swing on the front porch of their house wrapped in a blanket like old times. But his sister was never one for sitting still for long. Especially when her boyfriend was out of town and would be gone for quite awhile.
"Is everything all right between you and Oz?" Wesley watched as his sister stopped in her tracks. "Other than him being out of town, I mean."
Faith smiled big. "I could tell you something. But you'd get all blushy on me. Kinda like when you told me that you and Fred were getting serious. So serious that you were thinkin of takin her someplace special." She winked as she said it.
At this, Wesley did begin to blush. "Yes, well, um." He shook his head. Sometimes he wondered how they were truly brother and sister. He was so reserved and she was so outgoing. But he loved her more than anything in the world. And he worried so much about her. "Go ahead and tell me. I'm already all red."
Faith laughed and sat back down next to her big brother. "Well, it's like this. Oz and I went on this picnic. But we ended up in the back of his van."
"Is this something that I'm going to want to pummel him for?" Wesley eyed his sister.
She simply shook her head no. "Nah. In fact, when you hear the whole story I think you'll like him more. So just let me finish." He nodded in agreement. "See, we were making out. And things were gettin pretty heavy." She could see the look on Wesley's face. "And I well, put the moves on him. But he stopped me." Her brother raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. He said it wasn't cause he didn't want to. It was that he wanted to wait for when it was truly special. He wanted to make love to me. Can you believe a guy sayin that?" She smirked. "Well, you would. But I mean a guy sayin that to me?"
Wesley laughed. Those had been the words, well sorta, that he had said to Winifred. And he knew what his sister was talking about. She had never gone out with anyone that had really cared about her. "I believe you've found someone that actually cares for you. However are you going to deal."
Faith shook her head. "I don't know. And it's not easy right now cause he's gone. And will be for another three weeks. I'm like havin withdrawals or something. And it's kinda scary. I'm only like fourteen, nearly fifteen. And this guy is doin this to me already."
"I know exactly what you mean." Wesley looked her in the eye. "I feel the same about Winifred."
The siblings smiled at one another. "Well, what do you know. Both us havin happys, but confusing happys at the same time. Or us havin happys at all." Faith laughed. "I guess miracles do happen, yo!"

Angel and Darla sat wrapped up in a blanket. They were sitting on the roof of his nice mansion. There were no clouds in the sky and the stars twinkled at them. And the full moon's light made their skin look pale.
"You're thinking about Dru, aren't you?" Darla asked in a quiet voice.
"Always. Well, almost always." Angel gave her a quick hug. "Only cause it's my fault. And you can't make me change my mind on that one, you know."
Darla only smiled to herself. This man that had his arms around her had changed so much since she had first known him so many years ago. He had never really cared about anyone but himself. And that's one reason she was glad that she had gone away. She loved him, but it hurt to know that the man she loved only cared for himself. But not anymore.
"I won't argue." Darla kissed his hand. "You know how I feel about what happened. After what happened, I think you need to just relax a little." She rolled over on top of him. "And I think to ease your conscious, we could pay for Willow's surgery. I've got a way to do it anonymously if you want." She looked into his eyes, searching for an answer.
"I've already taken care of it." A little smile played at the corner's of his face. "Spike and I both took care of it. We talked old daddy into giving us the money. In exchange for the silence on the chop shops."
Darla's eyes widened. "Really? That's kinda risky isn't it?"
"I don't care." Angel's eyes got a look of anger. "After what I did to that girl, she deserves to be happy. And get the best medical attention that she can. And if I have to reason with Father in a way that he doesn't like, well that's just too bad."
"But what if he, well, reacts badly." Darla placed a hand on his chest. She was the only one that knew of the scar. The one that his own father had placed there. With a hot fire poker.
"He won't." Angel's eyes softened a little. "He knows that just more than Spike and I know. And that we've done the insurance thing. If anything should happen to us, there are boxes that will be delivered to the police. So we're covered."
Darla sighed. "But I wonder for how long? You know that your father is not just into chop shops. He's the bona fide mafia. At least in this tiny town of Sunnydale."
"Yeah. I know." Angel looked up at the sky in time to see a shooting star. It was silly, but he did it anyway. He made a wish. He just hoped that his wish would someday come true.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't come out tonight." Buffy sat on the edge of her bed on the phone with Spike. "But Mom didn't want me going out late. And with the funeral tomorrow..."
"It's all right pet." Spike's deep voice was soothing. "We've still got this nice invention called the telephone. It's not the same as bein in person, but I still get to hear your sexy voice."
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Sexy, huh? Does that mean that your mind is going someplace naughty?"
"Always pet." Spike laughed. "But seriously, I just like being with you. Would I someday like to take that step with you, of course I would. But not yet. We've just gotten back together. And I'm not hiding anything more. Ever. I now know that I can trust you completely."
"Good." Buffy sighed. "I love you Spike. And I want that someday as well. But I want it to be special. And with everything going on, well, I'd feel a little guilty at the moment."
"I understand. But there will come a day when we are together." Spike stared at the picture of the two of them together. "In every way possible. Until than, I love what I got. Now it's off to bed for you. For the both of us. No school, but a funeral to attend."
"Yeah. Another one." Again, Buffy sighed. "You'll pick me up in the morning?"
"Of course. Now go. And remember that I love you." Before she could respond, he hung up the phone. He closed his eyes. Before long, he was asleep. And a certain dark haired woman appeared to him.
"Spikey, how could you?" Drusilla walked towards him. She was dressed in a flowing white gown. "You just let me die. And now, you've gone and gotten yourself a new girl to replace me. How dare you do that."
Spike looked at the ghostly figure. "This is not real. I'm only dreaming."
"Of course it's only a dream silly." Drusilla stopped and stared at him. "You know that she can't make you happy. You're guilt will over take you. And when it does, you'll end up just like me." Now the ghostly Dru made her way over to where Spike stood. "Or have you forgotten why you always wear long sleeves?" She slowly pulled up the long arms of his leather duster. "You do it to hide the scars." When she had pulled up the sleeves, on both wrists were two fine little faded red marks. "No one knew why you were gone for those two weeks as a freshman. But I did. And I kept your secret. Do you really think she will?"
He quickly pulled his arms away from her. "She will. I love her and I trust her. Even with this."
"But you told her there were no more secrets." She placed a cold ghostly hand over his cheek. "You know, William, that I'm the only one that knows all there is to you. Not even big brother knows about this. And you didn't tell her cause you know that she won't understand." She smiled big. "Poor, William. You'll end up all alone. All alone."
"No!" Spike sat up in bed. As he did, the picture of him and Buffy fell to the floor the glass shattering, ripping the picture inside. "Bloody hell!" He sat there breathing hard. Sweat literally dripping off from his body. His right hand felt his left wrist and the faint little indentation that remained from his scar. Was his dream for real? Would Buffy not be able to understand this? Or would she leave him again for not telling her everything. He only wished he knew.