Willow heard Buffy enter their dorm room, and continued checking her Email.  She was chatting back and forth with an online friend.  Someone who didn’t know her.  Who didn’t know about Hellmouths, werewolves, or vampires, but someone she could speak to more freely about her loneliness?

It had been months since Oz had left, and she hadn’t heard a word.  Not a single phone call, not a letter, nothing.  That angered her more than hurt her.  In the beginning Willow just wanted to die.  She wanted nothing more than to have Oz come home to her, and for things to go back the way they were, but now, she was just angry.  Angry with everyone.  She was angry with Oz for leaving, for deserting her.  She was angry with herself for allowing him to have that much control over her, and she was angry with her friends.  They had grown frustrated with her.  Not that she could blame them.  She had just wallowed in self-pity for so long she didn’t know if she would ever recover.

Then there was that spell, which caused Buffy and Spike to fall in love. There was an odd couple if she ever saw one.  Neither one of them had let her forget it.  The whole thing perturbed Buffy, Whereas Spike found it amusing.  Not that he had loved Buffy, that he found disgusting.  What he found amusing was the spell itself, and the malice with which it had been unintentionally used.  He told her she had a dark side.  She tried to convince him he was wrong, but somewhere, deep inside, she believed he was correct.  And the scary part was, it didn’t frighten her.

“Willow?”  Buffy asked from the closet. “You alright?”  Willow turned around; “yeah I’m fine.  How was patrol?” She smiled, trying to reassure her friend.  It seemed like lately she was always trying to appear to be okay, for everyone else’s sake.

“Good.  We took down at least a dozen vamps.  Then there was the fight between Spike and Riley I had to break up, if you could call it a fight.”  Buffy laughed as she remembered Spike clutching his head like a wounded puppy after he had attacked Riley.

“A fight?  What happened?”  Willow asked, concerned.

“Nothing really.  We ran into Riley… and company, on patrol.  Spike lost his temper, and attacked him, but the pain in his head prevented him from doing too much damage.” Willow turned back around to her computer and sent her email, and then shut it down. She then got up and grabbed her jacket, and headed out the door.

“Wills?  Where are you going?”  Buffy called after her.

“Out.”

 Willow left the dorm, intent on going to Spike’s to see if he was all right.  However, she didn’t make it more than a yard past the building when she could hear footsteps behind her.  She stopped and turned around, but she couldn’t see anybody, so she continued walking, a little faster this time.  She was halfway to Spike’s house when the sound became louder.  She started to run, but was halted by someone grabbing her from behind.  She let out a scream as she turned around, to see it was Mark, one of Riley’s commando buddies.

“Shit!” Willow exclaimed, “Don’t do that!  You cared me half to death!”

Mark looked apologetic.  “Sorry.  But you shouldn’t be out here.  It’s dangerous.”  Willow knew he was just concerned, but she was irritated that he felt she needed protection. “I know!  You forget, I know what goes bump in the night!”  She snapped as she started to continue on her way.  Mark grabbed a hold of her arm, and spun her back around.

“Where are you going?”  He asked. When Willow didn’t answer, he continued, “Let me take you home.”  He turned and started to drag her back towards the dorm.  Willow struggled for a moment, and then released herself from his grip.

“No!” She shouted, “Look, I know you don’t want me to get hurt, but don’t worry, I’ll be fine” When he didn’t look convinced, she sighed, “I have to go see a friend.”

“Okay,” Mark conceded, “I’ll walk you.” Willow grinned, “You really, really don’t want to do that.”

“Why not?”  He asked, curious.

“Well, my friend, he doesn’t exactly like you commando types, and to be honest, neither do I.”

Mark looked hurt for a second before he replied,  “Willow, be reasonable.  I’m sure your boyfriend will understand.”

Willow laughed at the last statement.  “First things first, he is * not * my boyfriend, second, I do not need you to protect me!”  Willow turned around and ran the rest of the way to Spikes house.

Mark was stunned for a second.  She seemed pretty adamant about not needing any help, but he couldn’t just let her walk away, so he decided to follow her.  He wondered who this *friend* was.  He hoped it wasn’t her boyfriend.  Riley had told him she wasn’t seeing anybody.  He had been trying to work up the nerve to ask her out, but every time he chickened out.

  After about seven minutes or so, he saw Willow turn down a side street.  He had to run to keep up with her.  Finally she slowed down as she approached a house.  After she stood at the door for a second knocking, she let herself in.

Confidant that she was probably safe, he turned around, and left, making a mental note to ask Riley again if she was available.

The house was dark when Willow entered. She thought that maybe he had gone out.  She was about to leave when she heard a noise coming from upstairs.  She quietly walked upstairs and knocked on Spike’s bedroom door.  When all she heard was a grunt coming from the other side, Willow let herself in.

  She found Spike leaning up against the far wall, clutching his head.  She ran over to him and knelt down, gently pulling his hands away.  He growled softly.

“Headache?”  She asked quietly, ignoring his growling.

He looked at her with amber eyes, which she ignored.

“Let me see.”  She commanded.  He turned to look at her, his face returning to its human visage.

“I’m fine.”  He forced his voice to sound calm.

Willow shook her head, as she stood up and walked over to his bed and sat down. “Come here.”

Spike stared at her for a second, wondering if he could argue with her, and win.  After taking one look at her face, he realized he couldn’t.  She was determined, and he had known her long enough to know that there was no arguing with her when she was like that.  He walked over to the bed, and sat next to her.

“Riley?  What happened?  It wasn’t very smart to attack him like that” Her voice was quiet, but Spike could read the undertones.  He groaned.

“I just lost my temper.  We were patrolling, just like normal, and the wanker comes out of the bushes, like Rambo!”

Willow leaned back up against his headboard, bringing Spike with her, so that he could lie down.  She brought her hands gently to his face, and began to rub gently at his temples.  “The headaches, are they getting worse?”  She asked quietly, trying to steer the conversation away from Riley, so that Spike would relax.

Spike closed his eyes, enjoy the calming sensations she was creating.  He was asleep in a matter of moments.

  Willow sat there silently for several moments, watching the vampire sleep.  It never ceased to amaze her how he could look so peaceful in sleep, yet, be so unruly awake.  She chuckled to herself as she imagined him lunging at Riley.  She knew she shouldn’t find it funny.  He could have been hurt, but now that she knew he was okay, she could see the humor.

Willow frowned as her thoughts returned to Spike’s headaches.  They had gotten worse lately.  He never told her about them, but she always knew.  He would get moody sometimes.  Cranky.  Not that he wasn’t cranky in general, but she could tell the difference.  These headaches bothered her.  She was sure they were related to the implant.  She only hoped it was something they could fix.

Willow gently moved off of the bed, trying not to wake Spike.  When she was sure she hadn’t disturbed him, she walked noiselessly out into the kitchen, and picked up the phone.

   Giles sat on his couch, and looked up from his current volume.  It was the sixth book he’d looked through that evening.  And he had found nothing new.  He was running out of places to look.  It was times like this when he missed his connections within the council.  He still had some contacts, but most people preferred not to deal with him.  It was aggravating.  The council knew that they were the last stand for anything trying to make it’s way to the Hellmouth.  But yet, they insisted on this silence.  It wasn’t doing anybody any good.  He was working blind.

Giles was startled out of his thoughts by the telephone ringing.  He glanced briefly at the clock, to see what time it was.  It was almost two-thirty in the morning.  He wondered who was calling. “Hello?”

“Giles?”  Willow whispered into the phone.

“Willow?”  Giles asked.  She was speaking so quietly he wasn’t sure if it really was her on the other end.

“Yes,” She whispered, “I need some help.  It’s Spike.”  She paused, waiting to see what the watcher would say.  When he didn’t respond she thought maybe he hadn’t heard her.

“Giles?  Can you hear me?”  She asked, speaking a little louder.

“Yes.  Willow, what is it?  Where are you?”

“Spike’s.  He needs our help.”  She waited for him to say something, when he didn’t she continued.  “He’s been having these headaches.  They’re getting worse.  I think they have something to do with the implant.”

“I take it he doesn’t know you’re calling?”  Giles asked, making note of her soft tones.

“No.  He’s sleeping.  Can you help?”  She asked hopefully.

“I’ll look into it. Why don’t you get some sleep.”

“I’m not leaving!”  She told him adamantly.

Giles smiled. “I didn’t think you would.  Surely you can sleep in the spare room, or on the couch?”

Willow let out the breath she was holding when she realized Giles wasn’t going to talk her out of staying. “Yeah, of course.  I’ll talk to you tomorrow.  Thanks.”

  Willow gingerly hung up the phone and headed back up to check on Spike.  When she found him still sleeping soundly, she went into the spare bedroom and fell exhaustedly on the bed.