Xander glanced at his watch, which read 7:26, and then at Willow,
     who had fallen asleep on the couch beside him. Poor girl, Xander
     thought, she hasn’t gotten any real sleep in ages. Despite his
     positive attitude, Xander could feel the fear in his stomach that
     something was really going to happen to Willow tonight. What will
     I do without her? Xander’s mind pondered. Who am I going to talk
     to about all my problems. Buffy’s okay, but she never really
     understands me. Come to think of it, nobody really understands
     me. Except Willow

     The more cynical part of his mind kicked in. Yeah, if she’s your
     greatest friend, then why were you treating her like crap a couple
     months ago? Taking her for granted and teasing her Xander
     sighed. He had purposely acted like that when he had realized
     Willow’s feelings for him and had gotten scared. He hadn’t wanted
     her thinking of him in that way, and so he had acted like that. But
     when Oz came into the picture, Willow seemed to be content with
     the guitarist. But Xander couldn’t understand why he had felt a
     pang of jealousy when Willow and Oz had first been going out.
     Looking at her sleeping body, Xander couldn’t figure out why he
     had done such a stupid thing to be so mean to her. Lately, he
     couldn’t even figure out why he had been so scared of her
     feelings for him. It wasn’t that bad a thing was it? Xander decided
     to let his thoughts continue and try to figure out what he was
     feeling, something he had been to confused and apprehensive to
     try before.

     But before he could start some heavy duty pondering, Willow’s
     body started trembling and gasping. Xander realized what Willow
     was dreaming about and started shaking her to wake her up.

     Try as he might, Xander was unable to wake her up. Stopping his
     pushing, Xander frantically considered throwing a glass of water
     on her. But while he was standing in the middle of the room, away
     from her, Willow sat up quickly with a hoarse scream. Regaining
     her bearings, Willow looked around as her memory kicked in and
     she remembered why she was on her living room couch and who
     was with her.

     Looking up at Xander, she saw him peering at her, concern all
     over his face.

     "When I saw that you were having the nightmare I tried to wake
     you, but you wouldn’t wake up." Xander told her.

     "I woke up right as he bit me. Where I always wake up. I don’t
     think it will let me wake up before that. Or after, for that matter."
     Willow sighed.

     "Come on," Xander said, reaching his arm out to help her off the
     couch. "Let’s go hang in your room."

     They climbed the stairs, and entered Willow’s room. Willow looked
     out the window. "After sunset." She observed. She looked down,
     ashamed. "I should never have let him in when he wanted
     information on Ford. Now he can come into my room whenever he
     wants." Willow’s voice broke on the last few words.

     "You didn’t know." Xander said firmly. "If it makes you feel better,
     we can put some crosses on the balcony."

     "Nah," Willow replied. "I doubt it will help."

     Xander sat down on her bed. "Willow, come on, talk to me. You
     can’t keep all your emotions inside."

     "I’m fine," Willow told him, but even she didn’t believe her shaky
     voice.

     "Bull," Xander insisted.

     Willow slowly walked towards her computer, back away from him.
     "I’m not good at talking about how I feel," she said softly.

     "I’m not either, but this is important."

     "I just--It just doesn’t seem fair you know?" Willow didn’t wait for
     Xander to reply, but rushed on, finally voicing her emotions. "I
     never really realized how close we come to death. There are so
     many things that I’ll never do. I’ll never drive a car, or see Europe,
     I won’t get to have a job, I won’t even get to go to university. I had
     so many things I have planned for my life. And what about my
     parents? I’m their only child, it will be so hard on them." Willow
     finished, waiting for Xander to say something. Silence. "Xander?"
     Willow asked, her body still turned away from him. Again she got
     no answer.

     Fearfully she turned around, and was faced with the sight of her
     best-friend missing, the door to her balcony open, and a note
     sitting on the bed. Wide-eyes and having a hard time breathing,
     Willow picked up the note and read it.

     "My dear Willow,

     As you know, it is my reputation to torment my lovers before I kill
     them. And, also as you know, Buffy is someone very, very special.
     So I thought for a long time, What would be the best thing to do?
     And when I heard from my good friends Willie that she was going
     to UCLA for a couple of days, it hit me. Why not attack her friends
     while she’s away, and then have her live with the guilt of not being
     here to save her friends when they needed her? And as you can
     see, I have already set my plan in action. I’m not going to make
     this too long. We’ll have enough to talk about when you arrive. I
     know how much you love Xander, Willow. I know that you will risk
     your life to save his. Please, don’t disappoint me. Come to the
     school right now if you ever want to see your beloved Xander
     again.

     Sincerely,
      Angel

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