“Hi Giles,” a sleepy voice said right before the banging of doors. The owner of the voice trudged across the floor, eventually collapsing on a library table.

 Xander looked at the girl who had fallen asleep on the library table next to him. “Yo, Buffster, rise and shine! We’ve got stuff to do! Demons to slay!” Xander walked over to her and tapped her lightly on the shoulder.

 “Yaugh!” Buffy cried out as she snapped awake and bolted upright. “What is it? Where am I? How long have I been out?” She looked around the room with rapid glances.

 Giles walked over to the exhausted girl, offering her a cup of coffee. She grabbed it from his hands with lightning speed, and began to consume the blessed stimulant. “I have to admit, it makes me a, a bit curious that you’re not your perky self this morning.”

 The coffee cup met the table, empty. Two green eyes met Giles’ with a cynical stare. “My boyfriend and best friend are cursed to screw, and I didn’t get more than fifteen minutes sleep last night. And I’m supposed to be PERKY?” Buffy fell into a seat and let her head fall to the table.

 Xander exchanged an uneasy glance with Giles over Buffy’s head. The meaning was clear: should we tell her? After a moment, Giles waved him off and sat down next to Buffy.

 “Um, Buffy…we had a brief…incident this morning,” Giles said, trying to find the right way to word it.

 “Incident?” Buffy mumbled through the table.

 “Wha…?” Giles said, quickly figuring out what Buffy had said. “Oh…yes, well…it seems that Willow and Angel…um…spent the night here.” He twisted uncomfortably in his seat.

 At the sound of Angel’s name, Buffy’s head popped right up. “They spent the night?” she demanded. “Here?”

 Xander felt it was about time he spoke up. “Yeah. And in their pj’s, too.” It wasn’t until after he received Giles’ killer glare that he realized he had said the wrong thing.

 “What?” Buffy said in a cool, angry tone. Her eyes flared and she stood up quickly, forgetting her earlier exhaustion. “That little *bitch*!” she growled, knocking over her chair.

 Giles backed away from the rampaging Slayer, casting another angry look towards Xander. “Buffy, I don’t think they did anything wrong!”

 A silent stare between Watcher and Slayer lasted only a few seconds before Buffy flipped the table and stormed from the room.

***

 Willow wrung her hands nervously. She knew she shouldn’t be here, that she should’ve gone back to school and faced everybody. But she just couldn’t. She had this strong feeling that she wasn’t supposed to, even. It pulled at her…kind of like Nature calling, she thought with a smile, you can try to ignore it, but it won’t go away. You have to follow it.

 Like the smart girl she was, she had checked her calendar. Only one week until the full moon. That was when the love was supposed to be at its peak, right? So if they were to be drawn together, they had to get over the whole anger thing right away. They really didn’t need any additional fuel for the New Moon when it came.

 Slowly, shyly, she raised one pale fist to knock on the door. *Thonk, thonk*, the heavy sounds echoed inside the desolate mansion. Outside she waited nervously, hoping he was home.

 Soft footsteps could be heard approaching the door, and then there was silence.
 
 “Come in,” came a muffled voice. More footsteps followed.

 Cautiously, Willow opened the door as little as possible, slipped inside, and shut it soundly. Looking around, she saw little furniture and a lot of stone.

 “I know, it’s kind of empty,” came a voice from behind her. Willow whirled around to face an embarrassed-looking Angel, who was also wringing his hands. “But it’s not exactly like I can go shopping during the day.”

 Willow couldn’t help but smile softly. “It’s alright…it’s very…Japanese,” she said with shaky finality. She could see the beginnings of a smile at the corners of his mouth, and she was unable to keep herself from rushing forward and kissing that mouth.

***

 Shopping during the day? What kind of line is that? Of course I can’t go shopping during the day, she knows that. She’s no idiot, not my Willow.

 My Willow? Since when did she become MY Willow?

 “It’s alright…it’s very…Japanese.”

 Japanese? Oh yes, the lack of furniture. Is she making a joke? I can’t quite tell…

 What’s this? This is a kiss. Yes, this is most definitely a kiss. It’s a very nice kiss, too. Amazingly nice. I wonder if Willow knows how good a kisser she is. I can’t help but wrap my arms around her, hold her close…she feels so good near my body. I never want to let her go, ever.

 How long has this kiss lasted? One minute? Two? Is this going to go to the next level? Are we ready for that yet? What about my curse? Oh God…well, Willow’s a smart girl. She’s already thought about that, probably.
 
 Oh no, don’t pull away, Willow, please, don’t.

 “I’m skipping school.”

 Of course she is.

 “I kinda realized that.” Nice line, big guy. Oh, she looks awkward. That’s bad.

 “Yeah…um…Buffy and Xander are going to worry.”

 Probably. Those doofs can’t get through a day without Willow. She’s so smart, and she always knows what to do or say…I’d be surprised if they knew where they were without her.

 “Probably.” At least I said some of what I thought.

 “So…here I am.”

 You sure are, Willow, you sure are. And you have no idea how happy it makes me to have you here with me.

 “Yeah.” Dammit, what am I waiting for?

***

 He’s kissing me again, Willow thought, and kissed back.

***

 The library doors swung open and shut as another regular entered the room. Seeing Xander talking to Giles across the room, he walked up to them.

 “So guys, what’s up?”

 The two men looked up suddenly, having not even noticed the third person. Xander looked at him uncomfortably, not sure if he could talk without his voice squeaking.

 “Oh, hey, Oz. What’s up?”