It was around ten on the second day that I got the call from Will. Anya and I were sprawled in my living room, watching a really dumb movie, when the phone rang. I leaped for the end table and snatched the ringing receiver. “Hello?” I answered breathlessly, and her dulcet voice vibrated from the other end.

“Xander, can we talk?”

“Of course, Wills. When?” I asked, looking to Anya. She was already sitting up and gathering her stuff.

“Now?” she suggested uncertainly. “Your house?”

“Perfect. Anya’s just leaving,” I supplied. Anya smirked at my very not subtle hint for her to leave.

“Oh. Well, I don’t want to interrupt,” she offered up uncomfortably.

“No, no, it’s not a problem,” I quickly assured her. Anya tossed me a quick wave and mouthed the words ‘See you later’ and then she was gone. “She just left, anyway, so if you don’t come over, then I’ll be all alone.”

“I’ll be there in just a few minutes,” she promised. I said goodbye and paced restlessly, unsure of what was going to happen. I lay in wait at the front window and threw the door open wide when I saw her auburn hair hurrying up the walk.

“Wills! Hey!” I cried, embarrassed at my eagerness. She offered me a small smile.

“Hey, Xander,” she returned quietly. She stood on the front steps, a little nervous, and I gestured for her to follow me inside. We sat down on the couch, and I noticed with no small amount of glee that she sat directly beside me instead of on the opposite end of the couch. “I guess I just need to come right out and say what I need to say, instead of delaying it, huh?” she sighed. The glee quickly died down and trepidation flared up in its place.

“Will, you’re making this sound really bad,” I warned her. “If you chose him, please just tell me and then go so I can soothe my broken heart in peace.”

“I broke up with Oz yesterday,” she replied unexpectedly. I recoiled in shock.

“Will? You mean it?” I asked hesitantly.

“Yeah. I told him that I loved him, but I couldn’t stay with him when it was my relationship with him that destroyed my relationship with you,” she admitted. I wanted to jump up and shout to the world that she’d chosen me, that she rejected her first boyfriend, the man she loved, in favor of my friendship. “I came to realize something, Xander. I realized that I will fall in love again, and I will have what I have with Oz again. I’m not saying that anyone will ever replace Oz, but he’s just a love. A lover. I’ll have more of them. I’m confident of that. But Xander, I’m not ever going to have another friend like you. Buffy can’t even compare to you. You are the most important person in my life. And I can’t lose you. Not for Oz, not for Buffy, not for anyone. So, Xander, are you going to take me back?” she inquired softly. She hung her head, afraid to look at me. I lifted her chin with a single finger and made her look in my eyes.

“Willow Rosenberg, I never let you go in the first place,” I insisted. “You may have thought you were getting away from me, but I had you in my heart all along. You never left. It’s not a matter of will I take you back, but a matter of what am I taking you back to?”

She smiled beautifully, and my heart soared. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, we’ve been best friends all our lives. For a while, we were more. What are we going to be, Wills? Are we staying friends, or are you accepting me back into your life in a higher capacity?” I queried.

Willow’s lips trembled, and I leaned in to kiss them gently. Her hands wound around the back of my head to tangle in the hair at the nape of my neck, and I wrapped my arms around her tiny waist, pulling her to me more firmly. We kissed for a long time, and then only when we needed oxygen did we pull away from each other. I leaned back and she came with me, curling up against my chest. “I don’t think there was ever a question, Xander,” she admitted. “I knew, as soon as I made the decision to break up with Oz, that you and I were going to be together. At least, I prayed you still wanted me like that.”

“Willow, I never *not* wanted you like that. From the moment I held your limp hand in mine and feared that you’d never wake up, I knew I loved you. It took until Homecoming for me to lose my restraint and give in to the love. And from the time that I knew you wanted Oz more than you wanted me, I nursed a broken heart and grieved for the loss of the only woman I’ve ever loved,” I revealed quietly. Tears slipped down her face, but she was smiling radiantly.

“I never knew,” she told me. “I thought I was just a fluke. You gave in too easily when I went back to Oz. You didn’t try to keep me with you. You didn’t tell me that you wanted me to choose you. And then you slept with Faith the night I told you I loved you. I thought you were trying to tell me that I needed to keep my distance from you.”

“Willow, I didn’t protest you going back to Oz because, for once in my life, I was trying to be a man. I was trying to do the right thing. I was trying, for the first time since I’ve known you, to do what wouldn’t hurt you. I thought if I pressured you to stay with me and forget him, you’d be so torn in two that it would kill you. I wanted to give you the freedom to make the choice that you wanted, instead of what someone else wanted.” I closed my eyes and tried to swallow past the lump in my throat. “I didn’t know you still loved me. I thought I’d killed that with every hurtful thing I’d done to you. You had Oz, and I wasn’t about to destroy the only chance you had left with him. I was scared that I’d lose you entirely if I did that.”

She buried her face in my chest and wept, and I stroked her hair. “If I had known that you loved me, I would have tried to make peace with Oz, but I wouldn’t have tried to get him back. You’re the only man I ever wanted. Oz filled a need in my life, but I never wanted him more than I wanted you. I loved him, I’m not going to cheapen it by denying it now, but I would have given it back if I could have had you.”

She lifted her head and I kissed her passionately. I ran one hand up and down her side while using the other to cradle the back of her head, and she ran her fingers through my hair and held my head so as to hold my lips to hers. We kissed intermittently for several minutes before she snuggled up to me again.

“Xander, promise me that we won’t let anyone come between us again,” she whispered.

“Willow, I’m never going to let anyone take you away from me, for now and forever,” I vowed fiercely. She smiled happily and closed her eyes. Carefully, I scooped her up and took her upstairs to my room.

“Xander?” she murmured questioningly.

“Wills, I’m not trying to rush you. I want us to take our time. I’m just not about to let you out of my sight, and I’m tired. I want to hold you in my arms tonight while I sleep,” I confessed.

Her lips curved into a sleepy grin and she nodded. “Then don’t let me go, Xander,” she begged.

“Not on your life, Wills,” I promised. “I’m never letting you go again.”

She curled into me and I held her tight, letting my mind drift shut. Willow was right, there was truth in the music. Luckily for us, we found the truth before our relationship became irreparable. Things were finally right between us, and I was determined not to ever let them get so bad again. As I became wrapped in the comforting arms of sleep, the words of the Selena song on the radio seeped into my consciousness.