Series: R.E.M. title series
X-over with West Wing
Pairing:Willow/Josh Angst
Character death
Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine. Willow is Whedon's and Josh is Sorkin's
Distribution: Please, take it. Just let me know.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Futurefic.
A/N: I'm doing a series of Willow stories based on titles of R.E.M.
songs. They don't fit
together. They will all be x-over's with some different shows. If you have any shows/pairings you'd
like to see me do, tell me. I'd
love to have suggestions.
Willow had
always associated death with the Hellmouth. Even after JoyceÕs death, which was completely unconnected
to any demon activity, Willow had thought this way. She had thought outside of vampire or demon attacks, she didn't
have to worry about losing her friends. She shouldn't have been so naive.
When Willow had
lost Tara three years ago, she went mad.
She tried to destroy the world.
That didn't happen this time.
Willow hadn't even done any magic in the past two years. She hadn't done any spells since she
and her friends conquered the first and permanently closed the Hellmouth. She hadn't had to.
No, the
second time she lost someone she loved with all of her heart, she hadn't gone
evil. Of course, she had spent the
month after his death in a coma. She
had woken up, no idea of how much time had passed, and asked for him. That's when the doctors brought Sam
into her hospital room. So she had
asked him what was going on. She
knew at the look in his eyes that something was wrong.
Will told
her everything. That she had been
in a terrible car accident. That
for the past month, she had been in a coma. And then came the worst news: the
car accident that had caused her coma had claimed her fiancˇ's life.
Six months
had passed, but she could still remember the exact look in Sam's eyes, the
exact tone in his voice when he had told her. "I'm so sorry, Willow. The car accident, Josh didn't make it. Josh is dead, Willow. I'm so sorry."
Three
months had passed since the day she learned of Josh's death. Today was supposed to be the day they
were married. Instead of standing with him, in front of friends and family,
pledging their love for one another, Willow now stood in front of his grave.
"Hey,
baby." Willow spoke softly.
"I know I haven't been here for a little while, but Sam told me that I
shouldn't come here every week; that you wouldn't want me to torture myself
like this. He told me that he were
really worried, that I had lost too much weight, and that I was looking even
paler than usual. He told me that you'd want me to be taking better care of
myself.
"But
today I had to come. I miss you so much, Josh. Today was supposed to be our day. It was supposed to be the happiest day of our lives. All I can think about lately is the day
that we met.
*Two Years Earlier*
Willow had
never thought she would be here, and if the hellmouth hadn't been closed, she
wouldn't be. But now she was here,
working for Sam Seaborn's congressional campaign. It was a lot of hard work, and even Willow, with all of her
optimism, had to admit that Sam wasn't going to win. But tonight was still great. The election was only few weeks away, and the President,
along with much of the senior staff, had come to Orange County to throw support
behind the former Deputy Director of Communications.
Willow
smiled as she looked around the reception hall. Everyone, including herself, was dressed to the nines. She hadn't met the President yet, but
Sam had promised that he would introduce her at some point.
Willow was
at the bar when she saw Sam approaching her with another man beside him. She recognized him immediately. He was Josh Lyman, the Deputy Chief of
Staff. She had seen him in pictures,
and on television, but that didn't do him justice. He was handsome, and even from a distance she could see the
charming boyish grin on his face.
Sam
introduced them, and the two hit it off right away. Josh had a certain arrogance about him, but for some reason
it didn't bother Willow. It was just one more thing that she found endearing
about him. They spent the whole
night talking and flirting. But
they both knew that Josh would be flying back to Washington the next day. The night had ended with a passionate
kiss, before Willow got in a cab to go back to her apartment. She had had a great time, and was
disappointed that it was over.
Then the
remarkable had happened. Sam won
the election. He was now Congressman
Seaborn, and he asked Willow to come to D.C. to work for him. Saying good-bye to her friends in
Sunnydale had been hard, but she wasn't going to turn down such a wonderful
opportunity.
Almost immediately Willow reconnected with Josh. It wasn't long before they were officially dating. There was some mild scandal when the press first found out, but there was nothing major. The two had quickly fallen in love, and then Josh had asked Willow to marry him. She had happily agreed.
Then, four
months ago, Willow and Josh had gotten in his car. They were on the way to dinner to celebrate. Josh had pretty much single-handedly
gotten a bill through Congress, and was positively giddy. Willow was proud of Josh, and excited
for him. She knew how hard he had
worked for this. He was bragging about
his latest accomplishment, and Willow was laughing gently at him.
Neither of
them noticed the car head towards them, until it was too late. Josh tried to swerve, but to know
avail. The collided with the other car full speed. That was the last thing that
Willow remembered. The next thing
she knew she was waking up in the hospital and everything had changed. Sam had filled her in on some of the
details. Apparently the other
driver had been drunk. She had
died a few hours after the accident in the hospital.
**********
Willow knelt by Josh's grave. She pulled a small stone out of her pocket and put it on top of his headstone, beside all the others that she had placed there during the months since his death. Tears streamed down her face.
"Everybody
still misses you so much, Sweetie.
Donna's working in C.J.'s office now. She and Sam are kind of seeing
each other. I know that'd make you
happy. Toby and Andi are still
arguing all the time, but you can tell they really love each other. The twins are healthy. You'll be glad
to know that fatherhood hasn't changed the Toby's gruffness too much. Leo
finally broke down and hired someone to take your old job. The White House staff is trying really
hard not to resent him, but sometimes I don't think they do a very good job of
it.
I'm
started work again last week. Sam
said he was glad to have me back, and I'm glad to be there. You'd be so proud of him, Josh. He really is a wonderful politician,
and I'll tell you a secret: I think he's going to be President some day. I don't tell him that, because I don't
want him to get a big head.
I never
thought I would have two great loves in my lifetime. And I certainly never
thought that if I did, I'd lose them both much too soon. I don't know what I'm going to do
without you. It should be getting
easier as time passes, but it seems like it's just getting worse. My friends and I saved the world quite
a few times, and we saved lots of lives.
I don't understand why I couldn't save yours.
I miss you
so much, Joshua. It hurts a lot. I'm sad, and I'm angry. But mostly I
just love you. I'm so glad that I had the time with you that I did. I'm so glad that I got to bask in your
love for two years. But I really
miss you, and I don't think that's ever going to change."
