Title: Emotional Rescue

Author: Jeanny

Rating: PG-13

Feedback: Please! jeannygrrl@hotmail.com

Distribution/Archive: Feel free, just drop me a line and tell me where it went so I can visit.

Spoilers: Season 6 Through Normal Again

Disclaimer: I don't own them, would that I did! The characters herein belong to Joss, Mutant Enemy, Greenwalt, Fox, etc. Just borrowing them for this little angsty thing.

Summary: Willow asks for help. Written for Meg's Cave-In Challenge.

Warning: Angst a-plenty ahead. Death, too. Be warned.

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"You've got to help her!"

Xander jumped, not really dropping but more throwing the peanut butter-covered bread in his hand. It landed on the kitchen floor, wrong side down, of course. It had already been that kind of day. He looked at his surprise guest in annoyance.

"Will? You scared the..." his eyes widened as he took in her unusual pallor, the dirt and blood that coated her torn clothes. Blood flowed from a scalp wound down her face, streaking it along with her tears.

"She can hardly breathe, Xander. We're running out of time."

"What? Who? Oh God..." shaking, Xander reached out to touch her, but she stepped away. "Oh God, no, Will, what happened?"

"Tara." The redhead's face scrunched up and he could tell by her erratic breathing she was fighting back sobs. "An accident...trapped...Xander...please...I tried, but I can't...help her...I need you..."

"Don't, don't cry, Will. Please..." Again he ached to take her in his arms, but he grabbed his keys, jacket and gloves instead. He prayed there was time. "Let's go. We'll get Buffy on the way..." Xander headed for the door.

"I couldn't...reach Buffy. You were the only one..." Willow sniffed, slightly calmer as she followed him out.

"It's okay. I think I know where to find her," Xander said with only a small sigh, pretty remarkable given what he was thinking. "And where we can get more help."

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Willow led the way through the cave, Xander only slightly behind, Buffy and Spike bringing up the rear. The Slayer looked around nervously at the fissures in the walls.

"Be careful," Buffy called out. "This place still looks pretty unstable." Xander looked back and waved his flashlight in response.

Her voice had startled him a bit. Scarcely a word had been spoken since collecting Buffy and Spike at the vampire's crypt. Normally their apparent chumminess would have turned Xander's stomach, but right now as far as he was concerned it was the only thing that had gone right in this horrible day. From what Willow had described, they were going to need the combined strength of the Slayer and vampire to free Tara, and that was all he cared about. Well, that and the girl stepping gingerly around rocks in front of him. His eyes moved over her familiar form as if he'd never seen it before, the red of her hair looking like cooling embers in the dim light, her gait as poetically awkward as a young colt's. She glanced over her shoulder, the sadness in her eyes belying her small smile.

"Been a while since you looked at my ass," she murmured.

"Been a while since you *caught* me looking at your ass," Xander corrected, also keeping his voice low. She made a sound that was half-laugh, half-sob that made him shiver. "What's going to happen here, Will?"

"I can't," she whispered. "Tara..."

"We'll find her," Xander said reassuringly. Willow shook her head, tears flowing again.

"I brought her here, because I found these crystals, so beautiful and...and just humming with...you know...and I can't use them anymore but I thought, someone should have them, Tara should...and then everything was shaking and the rocks just...they just fell. I tried to stop them, tried to do a spell but I just couldn't think fast enough..."

"It's okay, Will. It's not your fault," he said softly. She shook her head, not willing to accept absolution as usual. "God, I just want to hold you."

"I want that to. So much," she admitted softly. "But we can't. You know that we can't. 'Cause, Tara, she's...she's all that matters now."

"You love her," he whispered. The statement wasn't necessary; he knew the truth of it, but he needed to hear her say it.

"I love her so much, Xander. I can't even explain it. There aren't words. She's just...everything." Frantically she picked up speed. "She's...she's gotta be okay."

"Willow, I...I want to help her. I love her too...but I...I don't want to lose you," he said, the last few words coming out as a sob. Willow slowed and looked back at him, distressed, surprised and lovingly patient.

"Oh, Xan. You can't ever lose me. Not really, not ever..." she said fervently. "You're my best friend! You're my Xander. I love you, and I'm your Willow. Always. No one, nothing is ever going to change that, not even..." She looked away, and he swallowed hard.

"Not even..." he echoed. She slowed, approaching the wall and reaching towards it with a trembling hand. He came to her side, seeing when he got closer that what looked like cracks and fissures were actually freshly fallen rocks. The cave roof had partially collapsed, and the rocks had effectively sealed this passage. Willow confirmed his thoughts, with an excited tearful gasp for breath.

"We're here. This is it. She's barely breathing now, Xander. We've got to hurry." Xander turned to face her, his eyes burning into her. "Xander, please." She moved closer to him, not touching him but close, and his head came down to meet hers, her lips stopping mere inches from his. He reached out to touch her hair, stopping short and backing away, covering his face with shaking hands instead.

"Willow," he moaned. "I can't..."

"Please!" Xander turned and almost fell against the wall that had been formed by falling rocks. He pulled at them ineffectually, turning his head and shouting behind him.

"Buffy! Here! Hurry!"

In a flash the two blondes had joined him, pulling rocks out with amazing speed. Spike sniffed and looked at the others, his expression grave.

"Smells like blood. Lots," he said. "There's a heartbeat, but it's weak."

"Please, please hurry," Willow sobbed. Xander said nothing but redoubled his efforts.

They worked hard prying the rocks loose, Buffy and Xander working with particular intensity. As exhaustion threatened them they only worked harder. Finally there was a space at the top big enough for Buffy to climb over. Spike boosted her up as Xander sunk to the ground, all of the strength in his limbs seeming to have vanished. Willow leaned over and he looked up at her, into her beautiful green eyes once more, and she smiled. It was a true Willow smile, dazzling in its brightness.

"She's going to be all right. Thank you," she whispered, leaning down to kiss his cheek. The tears blurred his vision. It felt like he was shrouded in smoke, stinging his eyes, and he blinked frantically, needing to see her, knowing that when his vision cleared it would be over. To his watery eyes she was now just a splash of color, fading glowing fire like the setting sun. Spike looked down at Xander in bewilderment.

"Just how did you know, Harris? Where to find them?" the vampire asked.

The color was gone. His sun had set. Xander's breath caught, and Spike only heard his answer because of his enhanced hearing.

"Because it's Willow. My Willow. Always."

Xander closed his eyes. He could see in his mind's eye what Buffy would find on the other side. Tara's body battered and injured, buried under the rubble but shielded from certain death by the almost unrecognizable slight body that had taken the brunt of the blows. The body of the girl that had loved so fully, with all her body and spirit, and had used both to save her beloved. The beautiful red-haired girl that had loved him for most of his life. That he couldn't conceive of life without.

Buffy's agonized scream of grief echoed the one in his heart, and he started to weep.

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