"Boy, you're looking perky, Will!" Xander greeted her with an expectant smile. "Tell me you've got good news."
"Buffy's alive!" Willow bubbled and latched onto Xander to give him a tight hug.
"Well duh," Cordelia grumbled, studying her fingernails petulantly. "When's she coming home?"
"I don't know!" Willow said cheerfully. She climbed onto a chair, seized a croissant from Cordelia's plate and proceeded to devour it, licking the crumbs off her fingers. "Reception was kind of fuzzy. But it was Buffy all right! She was sitting on some steps, or maybe it was a bench. And there was a big dog sitting next to her, or maybe it was this really small guy. And she was talking to him, or maybe she was yawning." She turned to Xander. "Get me a cheeseburger? Pretty pretty please?"
"And another croissant," Cordelia said.
"Good idea! And get Cordelia a croissant too. Oh and are they still serving those jalepeño popper things? Oh and a strawberry milk shake."
Cordelia drew back to regard her distastefully. "Pregnant much?"
Xander's mouth dropped open.
"Ooh." Willow pulled out a notebook. "Giles said that the spell casting might have some weird side effects."
"Spell casting made you pregnant!?" Xander yelped.
"No, silly." Willow shoved him off the stool and scooted over to take his seat. "It made me hungry." She grabbed a handful of his shirt. "Did I ever tell you, Xander, how much I've always wanted to see you in a silk suit? And tie?
Cordelia reached over to disentangle Willow's fingers. "Xander, dear, go get the food. Willow's having a Kodak moment now, as in 'If we could get a picture of this we could blackmail her for big bucks later on'."
Xander was backing rapidly off. "Right. Going. Now."
Willow melted onto Cordelia's shoulder and hooked an arm around her neck. With her other hand she fished out the notebook again and started to write.
"'Kodack', with a 'ck' on the end," Cordelia prompted her.
"I'm not drunk," Willow said indignantly. "I know how to spell." She tightened her hold around Cordelia's neck. "I feel really great though."
"I know," Cordelia reluctantly admitted. "You're kind of glowing. And you should have seen some of the guy looks you got when you walked in."
"Really?" The once terminally shy Willow grinned. "Which guys? Where's Oz? When's Xander going to get back with the food?"
"You know, this magic stuff could really do wonders for your Cosmopolitan guy magnetism-tude, but if you keep eating like this you'll blimp up and it's not going to work." Cordelia snatched Xander's french fries away from Willow, then took the pen and notebook.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm writing that you've become a dippy, food-snogging guy magnet," Cordelia retorted.
"No way José!" Willow scribbled out the last part. "I'm just supposed to say what I'm feeling. 'Dippy' I can do. 'Guy magnet' is just . . . extra stuff. Food!"
Xander set the tray on the table and leapt back as Willow attacked it. He inched over to Cordelia's side. "Is she okay?"
"Besides on the way to gaining 10 pounds in one night? All right, I guess, but maybe we'd better get her home before she embarrasses somebody. Mainly, us."
"I'm okay," Willow reported between mouthfuls of cheeseburger. "Really! When is Oz's band on? Did you guys help him set up? Did Cordelia break a nail?"
Cordelia held up a single mangled fingernail.
Willow's lower lip quivered. "Oh no!" she said in apparently genuine dismay. "And that's such a cool shade too. What color is it?"
"Um, Coral Blush," Cordelia said, somewhat taken aback.
Willow seized her hand to peer at the fingernail. "Did you have it specially mixed? The color, it's very glow-y."
Cordelia snatched her hand back. "Enough's enough, without you wigging me out admiring my nail polish."
The house lights dimmed. Xander grabbed Willow's shoulders and turned her to face the stage. "Oz's band is on now. Be a good girl, Will, and later we'll get you a lollypop."
Willow grabbed her milk shake and leaned forward. She waved joyously at Oz when he came out. "What do you think he'd do," she asked Cordelia, "if I threw my underwear onto the stage?"
Giles reshelved the last book and stood back to look about the library again. As was frequently the case these nights, he was reluctant to go home. Too many memories there. Several nights he'd given up and simply slept on the floor in his office, but that wasn't something he wanted to get in the habit of doing. He had enough of a reputation as an eccentric without adding fuel to the fire.
Besides, he realized with mild surprise, he was hungry. Ravenous even. He'd apparently been more enmeshed in Willow's casting than he'd realized at the time. Not something he'd planned on or even wanted, but at least it spoke for a close monitoring. He hadn't had any kind of an appetite for months now.
If nothing else, his mentoring Willow in her practice of magic might have the side effect of allowing him to gain back some of the weight he'd lost over the last few months. Giles collected his things and locked up, wondering what dining establishments might still be open at this hour.
"That was a really great last song you did!" Willow said to Oz as she snuggled against his shoulder.
"Well, there were a couple of guys playing with me on it," Oz said, looking pleased. "I'm glad you liked it though, because I wrote it for you."
"It's my song? Really? Even that part about 'she radiates grace'?"
"Of course." Oz attempted -- reluctantly -- to ease her away a bit so he could steer the van.
"Don't you think she's radiating a bit more than grace tonight?" Xander said from the back. He hung over the seat, looking like a disapproving father.
"She seems a little bouncier than usual," Oz admitted. He pulled into the high school parking lot. "Do you and Cordelia want out here, or should I drive you home?"
"I thought we'd hang out with Willow for a while. . ." Xander began.
"We're getting out," Cordelia said firmly. "You promised you'd take me up to Pinson's Point to do some star-gazing."
"Gotta gaze those stars," Willow said with a grin and a wink at the other girl.
"You see?" said Xander. "That is not our Willow talking there."
"You haven't noticed this side of her before?" Oz replied.
Xander scowled. "The notebook, Will. Write."
"Okay," Willow said, and pulled out the notebook to make another entry. Xander waited while she wrote, then pulled it from her hands to scan it.
Cordelia read over his shoulder. "Satisfied?" she said. "Nothing in there that I wouldn't do on a really slow night. Now let's go. Oz will make sure she gets home."
Xander opened his mouth to protest, but Cordelia shoved him out of the van.
Willow snuggled back up to Oz as she watched them walk to Cordy's car. "You know, I really hated it when they got together? But now it's not looking like such a bad thing?"
Oz smiled. "They have these weird harmonics between them, that's for sure. Do you want to go home now?"
Willow shook her head. "I'm feeling way too energized. Pinson's Point sounds fun. And don't look at me like that. We've been up there before."
"Yeah, but you weren't high on black magic then." Oz started the van again. "This time we're just going to listen to some music and look at the lights. Okay?"
Willow sighed. "If that's what you want." She grinned a little, then leaned over to nibble on his ear lobe. "Let me know though, if you change your mind."
She bounced into the library the next afternoon. Giles was there, surrounded as usual by piles of books.
"Hi, Giles!" Willow said cheerfully. "Did you find anything useful?"
He looked up and studied her intently for a moment. "Not yet," he admitted. "But I only just arrived."
She sat down and pulled a pile of books around to read the titles. "Can I help? When can we try again?"
Giles held out his hand. Willow dug into her bag and pulled out the notebook. He opened it and looked over her notes. "No ill effects at all? What's this that you scratched out?"
"Oh, that was Cordelia." She continued to examine the books. "She was afraid I'm going to get fat I was eating so much last night."
"Not likely." He shut the notebook and handed it back to her. "The energy expended in spell casting is something like that used in running a marathon. You needed those calories. You wrote everything down?"
"I was just feeling really good, confident, and energized," Willow said. "No depression or anything like that, except for right after the casting."
"We'll have to work on that." Giles handed her a stack of paperback books. "You should be fairly emotionally centered after a casting."
She looked crestfallen as she shuffled through the books. "You mean I shouldn't have been feeling that good?"
"It was the result of residual energy from the casting," Giles said. "It's indicative of inefficient casting. Ideally all of the magical energy should focus in on the spell. You yourself should be outside of it. Those books on meditative techniques should help."
"Okay." Willow opened the top book. "I'm sorry. And here I thought I was doing pretty good."
He looked up at her in surprise. "You are. Willow, you must remember that you're a novice. The rush you felt last night undoubtedly gave you a great deal of confidence in your ability. That's why it's dangerous. You need to keep an objective mind." He tapped the stack. "Meditation will help somewhat. The rest is going to be simply a matter of experience."
"I get it," she said, trying to be objective about his criticisms, as he said. She began to read. After the first chapter, she looked up at him. "Giles?"
"Mmm?" he said, still caught up in whatever he was reading.
"How did it affect you? When you first started?"
He looked at her, surprise shifting into a chilling intensity. Willow held her ground, but just barely. "It was an incredible high," he finally admitted.
And he gave it all up, Willow thought uneasily. "Did you have anybody?" she said. "To play safety for you?"
Giles smiled, but there was no humor there at all. "I had Ethan Rayne," he said.