Willow felt a lump in her throat. "Did you say Angel?"
"Yeah," Ginger replied. "Should I tell security to send him up?" She asked the redhead. But Willow was already out of the door. She ran though the corridors, her mind racing. If Angel was here, demanding to see her, something must be seriously wrong. What could it be? Why would Angel be in Washington? Willow couldn't figure it out.
She burst into the lobby, and stopped short, her eyes searching for her handsome friend. She panted, out of breath from running.
"Willow!" A familiar voice called out.
Willow turned and saw Angel. She raced towards him and into his arms. He enveloped her in a tight hug.
"Angel,” Willow began, pulling away, "What is it? What's wrong?"
Angel looked around the lobby. "Is there someplace private we can talk?" he asked.
"Sure, let's go to my office."
The walked quickly, but quietly to Willow's office. Glancing into the conference room, Willow could see her co-workers watching her questioningly, but she ignored them, and shut her office door. Willow studied Angel intently.
"It's nice to see you again, Willow." Angel seemed uncomfortable.
"I haven't seen you since the night that.... Since you stopped Spike from..." Willow found that she couldn't finish the sentence.
Angel glanced up at Willow, then stared at the floor, "I was in the hospital, when you were still unconscious. But something came up, and I had to go back to L.A. I'm sorry about that."
"No. Don't be, I understand. Buffy told me about it. I just never really got a chance to thank you."
"You don't have to."
"Yes, I do. You saved my life, Angel. I owe you everything."
There was an uncomfortable pause, then Willow remembered exactly what was going on.
"Wait a minute. Why are you here, Angel?"
"I have some news. I don't want you to freak out when you hear it, because I haven't been able to verify it yet. But on the chance that it is true, you deserve to be told now."
Willow felt her concern growing, "Just tell me what it is, Angel."
Angel took a deep, albeit unnecessary, breath. "I'm in town trying to track down some important scrolls. Anyway, I have some sources in the area, and one of them told me something rather disturbing." He paused.
"Angel, for the love of God, what is it?"
"Spike has been spotted by several people in areas around London." Angel looked at Willow, trying to gauge her reaction.
"That can't be." Willow said, flatly.
"I know..."
"You staked him yourself!"
Angel took Willow's hand, trying to comfort her. "I know that. Normally I would just dismiss these claims. But several people claim to have seen him."
Willow pulled her hand free, "It's not possible. Spike is dead!" She felt tears filling her eyes as memories at what had happened to her all those months ago, came flooding back. "He's dead, Angel," she choked out. "He's dead."
Angel ran his hand through his hair, nervously. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have told you. Not until I was sure, at least. I'm sorry. I just thought you should know. I'm going to London to investigate."
Willow turned to face her friend. Tears streamed down her face, as she hugged him tightly. "No, you did the right thing. I'm glad you told me. Really, I am. You're really going all the way to London?"
Angel nodded, stroking Willow's hair, comfortingly. "I have to. I need to know. If it really is Spike then something incredibly strange is going on. Are you going to be okay?"
Willow sniffled a little, "I...I think so. When are you leaving?"
"Later tonight. I have some connections, so I found a plane that will keep me out of the sun without anyone suspecting anything. I called Giles and told him what was going on. He said he would tell the others."
"Thank you, Angel. You've done so much..."
"You've done a lot for me too, Willow. Nothing I can do will ever be enough to repay you for the gift you gave me." Angel gave Willow one last hug, and then pulled away.
"I hate to do this, but I really should go. I have some things to get ready before my flight."
"Of course. I should be getting back to work anyway. I can't exactly tell them I need time off because I'm scared of a vampire, who even if he is actually alive, is all the way in London." She smiled softly.
Angel returned her smile, glad that she could still be light hearted, given the circumstances.
Willow sighed, "I'll walk you to the lobby."


-----A few hours later--Willow's Apartment---

Willow didn't know how she had gotten through her meeting. But it had been good to take her mind off her personal problems, and focus on work instead. That was the thing about her job. It took so much effort and thought, that anything else tended to fall by the wayside.
But now she was home, and she had nothing to occupy her thoughts, except Angel's visit. Spike might be alive, while not technically alive, considering he was a vampire, but still, Spike might be undead. How was it possible? Willow had seen him dusted with her own two eyes. She had seen Angel drive a stake into his heart. The memories were still crystal clear. It was like if had happened yesterday. She remembered everything. Every word Spike had said, everything he had done. It was all so terrible....
No. She wouldn't let her think about it now. She would focus on something else, anything else. Then Willow remembered what had gotten her angry earlier that day. Sam Seaborn. Or rather Sam convincing everyone to take the issue of gay rights out of the speech. It still confused her that he had done it. He was so passionate about social issues. She knew that a lot of the time, Sam had to be convinced to make comprises for the sake of politics. Well, she would figure out what was going on. She would convince Sam that it should be put back into the speech. Willow put on her coat, and checked her address book. Soon she was one her way to Sam's apartment.


--Sam’s Place---
Sam groaned when he heard his doorbell ring. He had been headed to bed to get some much-needed sleep. Who would be bothering him at this time of night? He hoped there wasn't any sort of emergency. But what could it be that someone would show up at his apartment, instead of simply calling him.
Sam sighed and threw on his robe as he headed for the door. He glanced through the peephole, and groaned again. What could she possibly want? He unlocked the door and opened it.
"Willow, what are you doing here?" Sam asked
"Sorry to bother you, but I wanted to discuss something." Willow took in his robe, boxers, and white t-shirt. She felt a little bit guilty, realizing that she might have woken him up. "I'm sorry. Were you asleep?"
"No. I was just headed to bed though. Look, if this is about the gay rights thing, I really don't want to talk about it right now. We can discuss it in the morning."
Willow knew that he was right. She shouldn't be here, but she for some reason she would let herself back down. "I think we need to talk about it now."
"Oh, Jesus Christ. Why have you latched onto this so hard?" Sam moved aside to let Willow enter his apartment. He could tell that it was going to be a long night. He wasn't sure what it was, but Willow just drove him insane.
"I've 'latched onto it' because it's an important issue. One we shouldn't just brush aside."
Sam felt himself getting angry, "Look, we aren't brushing it aside. It's simply not the right time right now. We are fighting too many battles right now. If we try to push the bill on gay rights, we are going to lose something else. It's not like I'm homophobic or something. I want to do something, but we can't do it right now."
Willow saw Sam's anger, and it fueled her own. "Then when is the right time, god damnit! When are we going to do something? I'm so sick of us speaking one way, and acting another. We're supposed to be the good guys!"
From the look on Sam's face Willow could tell that she had crossed the line. He looked angrier than she had ever made him before, and given some of their past fights, that was really saying something.
"How dare you! How the hell can you say that? You work for one of the best presidents this country has ever had. How dare you imply that he is anything less than that! Yes we make compromises, but we work hard to do the right thing." Sam was really yelling now. "We are the good guys!"
Willow stared at Sam in shock for a moment. Then, before she even knew what she was doing, she acted. Willow grabbed Sam's robe and pulled him towards her. Sam was too shocked to resist as she put her hands on the back of his head, and pulled him close and kissed him. Sam responded for a moment, then realized exactly what he was doing. He pushed Willow away, gently, but firmly.
"What the hell was that?" he asked softly.
Willow blushed bright red. "Oh my God. I'm sorry. I... I don't know what came over me. I shouldn't have. I didn't mean..."
Willow turned to go, but Sam grabbed her arm and pulled her back, turning her around to face him. The two looked at each other for a moment. Willow honestly wasn't sure who started it. But suddenly they were kissing again. It was a hard kiss, angry, and unromantic. But it was full of passion.
"We can't do this." Sam breathed as the broke for air.
"No, we can't." Willow responded. "Where's your bedroom?"
Sam didn't hesitate. He swept Willow up in his arms. They began kissing again as they made their to the bedroom.


--Later--
Willow woke with a start. Where was she? It took her a few seconds to remember. She glanced to her side, and saw that Sam was still asleep. What the hell had they been thinking? They hated each other. Why had they...God, Willow didn't even want to think about it. She looked around the room, wondering what she should do. Her eyes settled on Sam's alarm clock. 7:42.
"Shit!"
Willow's exclamation managed to wake Sam. He rubbed his eyes for a moment, then looked at Willow.
"Oh, God. What the hell were we thinking?"
Willow glared at him. "And a good morning to you to, Sam!"
Sam sighed. "Oh, come on. Like you're happy about what happened. What, we temporally lost our sanity and had sex, so suddenly you don't hate me anymore."
"Oh, trust me, I still hate you." Then Willow remembered what had caused her to wake Sam in the first place. "It's 7:45."
"Yeah?" Sam asked. "So what?"
"We both have a meeting to be at in 20 minutes." Willow extracted herself from the bed, wrapping a blanket around herself as she did.
"Fuck." Sam said. "What are we going to do?"
"I don't know. But I don't exactly have time to go back to my apartment. We can't be late for this meeting."
Sam nodded. "Okay. Jump in the shower. Get dressed and I'll do the same."
"Alright. But it's gotta be fast. And I'll be wearing the same cloths as yesterday. But it'll be okay, cause I'll just tell everyone that I was working all night. But we can't walk in at the same time; cause what if people suspect something. But there isn't any reason for anyone to suspect anything, cause everyone thinks we hate each other. Which, um, we do. So it'll all be okay."
Sam rolled his eyes. "Okay, you really need to stop with the rambling. Everything will be fine. No one's going to suspect anything. Alright. We'll be fine." Sam was pissed at himself. How had he gotten into this mess? What had come over him last night? What had come over her?

17 minutes and 30 seconds later Sam was walking into the Communications department bullpen. Willow followed a few moments later. Neither of them was exactly looking their best. Toby was headed out of his office when he spotted them.
"Sam. Willow. Let's go. We've gotta meeting."
Sam nodded. "Yeah, I know. I'm all set."
Willow headed to her office. "I'll be there in a second. I just need to grab some stuff."
Toby watched her go. "Well make it fast." he called after her. Turning to Sam he lowered his voice. "Wow, she really looks like hell."
"Yeah," Sam murmured in a manner he hoped was convincing. "I wonder what's wrong with her?"
Toby looked at Sam. He had the feeling that something was bothering him, but wasn't sure he wanted to broach the subject. It Sam had problems he would talk to Josh, or he would bring it up to Toby on his own.


That Evening

All in all, the meeting went remarkably well, which was more than a little unusual. Willow and Sam didn't get into any arguments. Actually, they barely even spoke to each other, or to anyone else for that matter. Willow knew that their odd behavior might be noticed. But
she didn't know how to fix it. She just could barely bring herself to look at Sam.
Her feelings about him hadn't even really changed. He still just made her angry. She wasn't sure how she could have let things get so out of hand the night before. How could she work with him now? How could she face him everyday? What the hell was she going to do? Luckily she had been out of the office most of the day. She had a lot of meetings, which meant she hadn't seen Sam since the meeting that morning. She was relieved.
"Willow, wait up." a voice called behind her.
Willow stopped walking and turned to see Josh walking her way. "Oh, hi Josh. What's up?"
Josh caught up with her, and the two started walking again. "Not much. Hey, I need to get a copy of the speech for Miami."
"Okay. I'm headed to my office right now anyway. I have it on my desk."
"Great. So how are you doing?" Josh's voice reflected his concern. Willow just seemed to be off in her own world. Josh was worried.
Willow hoped to God that she wouldn't blush. "I'm doing fine. Why do you ask?"
"You were just really quiet at the staffing this morning. Are you sure your okay?"
"I'm fine." Willow insisted.
Just then Willow looked up to see Sam headed towards her and Josh. Donna was with him. The two seemed to be chatting happily. Then Sam looked up and saw Willow. The two pairs came to a stop in-between Sam and Willow's offices doors.
"Hey, you two what's going on?" Josh asked.
"Not much. We were just talking," Donna replied. "Hey, Willow are we still on for drinks tonight?"
"Hi, Donna. Yeah drinks sound great." Willow tried to sound enthusiastic. "Um, hello Sam." she added awkwardly.
Sam flashed a brief, tense smile "Hey, Willow." Sam looked down at the floor.
Josh and Donna exchanged glances. Something was definitely up. Willow's eyes were on the ceiling.
"Well, I... I have work to do." Willow rushed by Sam and Donna, practically running to her office. She shut the door quickly behind her.
"Yeah, I have stuff to do too." Sam said, and hurried into his own office.
Donna and Josh looked at each other again.
"What the hell was that?" Josh asked.
Donna raised her eyebrows, "I have not idea. I'll talk to Willow, you handle Sam."

----Willow's Office-----

Donna knocked softly. When she got no response, she slowly opened the door, and stepped inside. Willow was sitting at her desk, starring blankly into space.
"Willow?" Donna gently tried to get the redhead's attention. "Are you alright?"
Willow looked up, finally noticing Donna. She shook her head. "I'm fine, really."
Donna didn't believe her for a moment. She pulled up a chair, and sat in front of Willow's desk. "Did something happen with Sam? I mean you too never get along, but did you have a particularly bad fight or something? Because both Josh and I noticed you guys were acting strangely."
Willow sighed. She had become very close to Donna over the last few months. She felt that if she didn't tell someone what had happened she would burst. She knew she could trust Donna to keep what had happened a secret. She took a deep breath and looked Donna in the eyes.
"Yeah, something happened. But it wasn't a fight. Well it was at first, but then things just kind of got out of hand, and I really don't know what to do."
Donna was concerned. "Tell me what happened. I'm sure it'll be okay.”
Willow laughed bitterly. "I don't know that it will be. But okay. I'll tell you what happened.
I went to Sam's apartment late last night, to talk to him about the speech for next week. I know I shouldn't have, but I couldn't help myself. We started fighting. It got pretty bad, and I, well...I kissed him."
Donna's jaw dropped in shock. "You kissed Sam?!"
Willow winced. "Shhh. I really don't want the whole office to hear you."
"I'm sorry, I'm just really surprised. But don't worry about it too much. A kiss isn't the end of the world."
Willow blushed. Now came the really hard part. "Well, that's not all that happened. So, I grabbed him and kissed him, and then after moment, he stopped the kiss. I got really embarrassed, and I turned to leave. Then he kinda pulled me back and we started kissing again, pretty heavily. And well...." Willow trailed off.
Donna just starred at her. "Are you telling me that you and Sam...."
Willow looked at her desk, avoiding Donna's gaze. "We slept together."
"Oh my God! What were you thinking?" Donna yelled.
"Donna, right now I don't need 'what were you thinking?' I need, 'It's okay Willow, everything will be okay.'"
Donna felt bad, "I'm sorry, Will. I really am, but I'm shocked. You and Sam hated each other."
Willow sighed again. "We still do. That's the thing. We had, um, sex. But we still hate each other."
"That's really unhealthy"
"I know that, Donna! But what am I supposed to do?" Willow pleaded.
"You and Sam need to talk to C.J." Donna replied. She really wanted to help Willow, but she didn't know what she could do.
"C.J.!" Willow's eyes' widened, "Why C.J.? I don't want to talk to C.J. C.J. will not react well. She'd get all scary and everything."
"Willow. You're 21. Sam's older than you, and he's your boss. It's also very well known that you hate him. If the press gets a hold of this..."
Willow interrupted. "But the press isn't going to get a hold of it. How could they?" Willow was filled with dread. Things were getting worse and worse. She honestly hadn't even thought about the press situation."
"It's the press, Willow. They manage to find out about a hell of a lot of things we don't want them to. C.J. needs to know. She'll tell you what you need to do."
Willow nodded. "I guess you're right. I guess I should go talk to Sam."
Donna agreed, "That's a good idea. And Willow. I really am sorry. If you want to talk about it some more later, you know the emotional side of it. I'm here to listen."
Willow smiled sadly. "Thank you, Donna."