Title: You and Me

Author: Sulks

Rating: NC-17

Pairing: Willow/Fred

Setting: Post Season six BtVS

Summary: Sequel to Touch. Willow and Fred meet up again.

Disclaimer: Author does not own characters or make money from this.

She was sure they were talking about her *again*, it was the way the

conversation stilled the moment she walked inside. She flashes them a bright

smile, and acts like she didn't notice. But for Chrissakes, she is a genius,

and she was a scientist, so she is very accustomed to taking in empirical

evidence. And so she knew they'd been talking about her, the way they all

clammed up.

She gives them another smile, and if they'd observed a little closer

(instead of trying to think of a new topic for conversation) they would have

noticed that this smile was a little more devious.

"They say the barometer is rising," she announces, "so it's going to get a

bit warmer." She launches into a babble about warm Texas days and barbeques

and they all gave her relieved, indulgent smiles. Just like she knew they

would. She reminds herself to turn all the TVs in the hotel to the Weather

Channel, just to fuck with them. It's mean spirited, sure, but she was sick

of them acting like she was blind. She gives one more random statement, "the

trees are falling off their leaves" and enjoys their looks of confusion

before she leaves the room.

"I think she meant the leaves are falling from the trees," Wesley says.

"But they're *not*," Cordelia whispers.

She walks into the lobby and sits behind the desk, ready to take a few phone

calls. She is reading a book when she hears the front door open, "Angel

Investigations," she calls out brightly, "we help the help--" she looked up

and saw red hair and her mouth drops open. "less," she finishes lamely.

She peers into equally astonished brown eyes.

***

"You work here?" she asks the skinny woman behind the counter. The one

dressed in a completely different manner than she'd last seen her. Right

now, Fred is wearing a grey baby doll t-shirt and dark blue jeans with just

a tiny bit of a flair. Her long hair is flowing loosely, and there is a pair

of glasses perched on her nose.

Fred stands hastily, "hi," she says hurriedly, "how did you--"

"I'm here looking for Angel..."

Which is exactly when the man himself made his entrance. "Willow!" he calls

out, hurrying over to the redhead and enveloping her in a hug. "Buffy said

you'd be showing up here..."

When Fred was in fifth grade, she'd already shown a promise in mathematics,

but that was when she heard about the Big Bang Theory and about all that

stuff about the universe expanding. A year later, she was reading Stephen

Hawkings and before she got sucked into Pylea she was doing research on

Super String theory, and realised that if the problems of Super String

theory could be solved, she, as a mathematician/physicist could deduce

Einstein's theory of relativity, Newton's laws of motion, and Heisenberg's

quantum theory all from the movements of a few squiggly one-dimensional

strings. As a scientist, she'd always been so fascinated by the world

because it just seemed so *big*. And even when she knew that the world

wasn't that big and infinite a place as she once thought, there was still so

much to learn... but now all because of Willow, the girl she'd had a

one-night stand with a few weeks before simply because she reminded her of

her dead first lover, the world seemed way too small.

"I need to go," Fred says abruptly, and sprints towards the stairs.

Willow stares after her.

"Sorry," Angel explains. "She spent five years trapped as a slave in a hell

dimension. She's still readjusting."

"Oh," Willow says. What else could she have said?

***

As if drawn by some sort of mysterious force, Fred goes to the bar she met

Willow in, several weeks before. Willow is already there.

"I knew you'd come," Willow says, not turning to look at her as Fred hops

onto a stool next to her. "Jack and Coke for her," she says to the

bartender. She is drinking a Midori Sour. It's only when he sets the drink

in front of Fred that Willow finally turns to look at Fred.

"You look different."

Fred shrugs. Tonight she is wearing a black leather skirt and a skimpy red

top. It's technically more of a handkerchief that anything else, but she's

enjoying the stares she's getting from men and women. She knows she's a

little bit on the skinny side, and she's always been self-conscious of her

small breasts, but in a top like the one she's wearing, it's good to be on

the skinny side.

"I hear you spent five years in a hell dimension and now you're a little

off." Willow sounds a little mean.

Fred doesn't flinch. "I hear you tried to end the world and now you're doing

the racked with guilt and atoning thing."

"Touché."

"You decided not to stay at the Hotel," Fred comments. She's a little

relieved about that.

"This is true," Willow agrees.

Neither of them were sure where the tension between the two of them came

from, maybe it was because they both resent the other. It was just supposed

to be a one-night stand, and now they were in an awkward position. Neither

of them *really* thought they'd ever see each other again.

They drink a little bit more, five Jack and Cokes for Fred, two and half

Midori Sours for Willow.

They stumble back to Willow's motel room. Fred much more drunk than Willow.

The redhead practically holds Fred upright as she fumbles for her keys. They

grope each other as they stagger towards the bed, shedding each other's

clothing. The room is dark except for the moonlight wafting in through the

window.

"You're playing dress up," Willow mutters, as she rips off Fred's skirt, and

fingers Fred through her panties. Fred squirms. "Be still," Willow commands

as she reaches up and pinches one of Fred's nipples. Willow takes off Fred's

top and takes one of the erect nipples into her mouth. Fred moans and Willow

feels herself getting a little wetter knowing that she's in control. She

wraps her legs around one of Fred's and begins rubbing herself against

Fred's leg, she sighs at the friction and Fred's deepening moans. She

reaches down to cup Fred's mound and inserted a few fingers. Then she curls

her fingers around her thumb and quickly thrusts upward. Fred gasps and

shrieks in pleasure at the sudden invasion. "Fuck," she mutters, "oh, fuck."

"When I saw you today," Willow says, "you looked so innocent. You've got a

pretty dirty mouth for such an innocent face." Fred opens her mouth to

answer, but Willow brushes a finger against her clitoris, and her eyes roll

back in pleasure.

"Which one is the real you, Fred? The one at the Hotel or the one who bought

me a drink that night?"

She brigns her lips down to Fred's labia and teases her. Fred grabs the

sides of Willow's head and brings the redhead closer. "Please," Fred gasps

out. "Please."

But Willow simply continues her torment.

"Were you playing dress up at the bar? "Willow asks, as she pulls her mouth

away, but uses her finger to stroke the inside of Fred's opening. "Doesn't

matter," Willow mutters. "You looked beautiful."

Later, after Willow has allows her to come, Fred realises that that was the

moment Willow began to display some tenderness.

"I'm sorry," Willow mutters, placing herself on top of Fred's still

twitching body. "I had no right to ask you that...I have no place to judge."

she begins to massage one of Fred's breasts with one hand and lightly plays

with Fred's pubic hair with the other. Fred cranes her neck to capture

Willow's mouth with her own. She sits up and spreads open Willow's legs.

She kisses the inside of Willow's thighs. Willow's hips thrust upward as she

feels Fred's tongue making little swirls inside her.

***

"Tell me about her," Fred says, as they lie in bed, intertwined, neither

quite ready to let go but neither of them expecting anything more than a

fuck. "Your girlfriend."

She feels Willow freezes up beside her. But eventually, Willow relaxes.

"She was so beautiful and shy...and sweet. She had nice hands...they were

always warm..."Willow's voice trailed off for a moment, as flashes of Tara

passed before her eyes. The way Tara would wake her up in the mornings when

she was refusing to get out of bed...Tara's tongue in her mouth, kissing her

sweetly. Tara smiling at her when Willow was sad even when Tara herself

didn't feel like smiling. She remembers the look of betrayal on Tara's face

when she found out that Willow had cast a spell on her. She remembers the

torment of months gone by, when all she wanted was Tara's arms around her

again. In the end, she believes that if she only hadn't cast that memory

spell, if she only hadn't betrayed Tara, then she and Tara wouldn't have had

to make up...that Tara would still be alive. 'If only I'd acted like a grown

up and talked it out, instead of acting like a child...'

"Tara had the sweetest way of looking at me, part shy, part vixen" Willow

continues, finally finding her voice. "She was so beautiful, so sweet...she

sang like an angel..." Willow coughs to cover up the fact that she is very

near tears, "sometimes, in the morning, the sun would be in her hair, and

she'd look like an angel too...she was so happy those days when we used to

go to class together..." She was unwilling to share any further, "tell me

about the girl."

"What girl?"

"The one you're trying to forget."

"There's no--"

"I know what it's like to want to forget," Willow says gently, "tell me

about her."

"Her name was Lauren, and sometimes she used to drive me crazy, but I loved

her more than I've ever loved anyone else. I'd go over to her class after

school because she got a home a little bit later than I did-- she was on the

basketball team. And she'd be lying on her bed, reading Shakespeare or some

other book, and she had a thing about windows. She loved windows. It was the

first thing she'd look at the moment she walked into any given room."

"Tara liked strawberry maple syrup on German pancakes."

"Lauren put sesame seeds in her scrambled eggs."

"Tara liked to rub my belly."

"Lauren was ticklish *everywhere*."

"Tara was never shy in bed."

"Lauren was."

It was like each woman was really talking to herself.

"I wanted her so bad," Fred whispers. "I wanted her the moment I saw her,

she never even know how much I wanted her. I've never felt that way about

anyone ever again that immediate sense of desire."

"What happened to her?"

"She died."

"Oh."

"There were days in Pylea," Fred continues softly, staring up at the

ceiling, no longer even aware that Willow was still in the room. "that I

used to even wonder if my name was really Winifred, but I never forgot her

name, I never forgot her face. She smelled like Tide and Bounce...you know

that fabric softener and Finesse shampoo and conditioner, and sometimes she

smelled a little sweaty, like after a practise or a game, but she always

smelled so good. And her lips always tasted a little fruity."

"The night Tara died," Willow says, continuing where Fred left off, "she was

more concerned with my shirt than she was with herself...her blood...it was

all over me...she was always like that though. All she ever wanted to do was

to make me happy and I abused that. I tried to control her, I tried to make

her mine with spells because I couldn't face up to losing her. And then I

did...but she forgave me, because that was in her nature. But if I...if

I..." Willow's breathing becomes a little more erratic. "If I didn't cast

that spell...then maybe that morning never would have happened, maybe she'd

never would have been near that window..."Willow begins to lose steam.

"God," she whispers before fresh tears come to the surface.

Fred is crying as well, remembering the look on Lauren's face when Fred told

her she didn't love her. She remembers Lauren pleading with her, "please

don't freak out about this, we can get through it. I'll do anything you ask

me to!" She can still *feel* the desperation in Lauren's voice. She

remembers being cruel, pushing Lauren away and walking out the door without

looking back, closing it softly. She remembers pausing outside the door of

Lauren's room, hearing the girl cry. She remembers the tears that came to

her own eyes at that moment before she finally just walked away.

Fred stops crying first. She wraps her arms around Willow and buries her

face into Willow's neck. "Don't cry," she mutters as she pulls her head

away. "It's okay. We're both okay."

It was a lie they both wanted so much to believe.

"We'll get through this," Fred tries to soothe.

Willow finally quiets down. "You and me?" she asks softly.

"Yeah."

The End