Willow smiled and closed
the book, sending up a small cloud of dust. 'May 12' she thought to
herself, 'I have a week to -' *RIIIIIING*
She grabbed her books and
headed to class, still smiling to herself. 'It'll be perfect.'
***
Three days later Willow was
'getting to know' a new graphics generating program Giles had had
installed in the library computer. She heard someone approach and quickly
hid the program, pulling up
the search engine look alike program.
"Hey Will, what'ca doin'?"
Xander threw himself into the chair closest to her.
"Uhm....just running a general
occult search for He of the Dusty Wisdom." She hoped Xander
couldn't tell she was lying and for once, wished he would go away.
Giles, God bless him, chose
that moment to urgently need Xander's help carrying some stacks of
books. Alone again, Willow quickly recalled up the graphics program.
She was glad her drawing
skills had carried over to the computer, even improving a bit. Especially
since she had to to the entire portrait from memory. 'He'll love it'
she murmured absently to herself.
***
The next day, Willow decided
to forgo studying (for a few hours at least) and head to the mall.
Alone. She didn't want anyone to figure out what she was up to.
She'd walked past the store
twice before she saw it. When the large, ornately crafted antique
caught her eye, she knew it was what she was looking for.
She immediately bought it,
even though it meant she'd have to wait a little longer to upgrade her
RAM. 'He's worth it.' She tucked the object into her purse and left
the mall, feeling rather pleased with
herself.
Later that evening, she
offered up a prayer to the printing gods as she printed out the full color
picture she'd drawn the day before.
She was amazed, she'd never seen
such a high quality print from this old hunk of junk. It looked
almost as good on paper as it did on the screen. Her eyes misted
slightly, 'It's too perfect.'
***
'I just hope he doesn't kill
me for this.' She thought, as she knocked on his door. For the first time
doubt entered her mind. She quickly pushed it down. 'It's too
late to turn back now, after all the work
I've put in.'
The door opened, "Willow?"
he said, somewhat surprised.
She smiled shyly.
"May I come in, for a minute? Please?"
He opened the door and let
her in. She held a package behind her back.
"What's that?" He indicated
the package.
"It's for you." She handed
it to him, then looked for a place to sit down.
He quickly cleared a spot
off his couch for her, and they sat. He turned the package over slowly
in his hands, wondering what it could be.
"What is it?"
"Open it and find out. Only
please -" She stopped.
"Please what?" He prompted
gently.
"Please don't be angry with
me."
He smiled, "Why could I
possibly be angry at you?"
When she stared at her hands
and didn't answer, he decided it was time to open the package.
Willow looked over when
she heard him start work on the paper. She
watched in silence as he undid the paper with agonizing slowness. She
almost wanted to tell him to
hurry up and rip the paper already, but held back--this was for him.
When he finished his meticulous
unwrapping, the picture frame was upside down. She held her
breath as he turned it over and saw the face in the picture.
"Is - " his voice broke
and Willow saw a tear trickle down his cheek. "Is that me?"
"Happy birthday Angel."
She said softly.