Title: Kiss the Girl

Author: Ricki

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Rating: PG

Thoughts are in italics

Author's Note: This is my little version of Hush Willow/Graham style. I came up with it while listening to The Little Mermaid's "Kiss the Girl". Yes, feel free to laugh at this.

~~~~

Buffy paced in frustration, after all there wasn't much else she could do. The entire town had been silent since before she had woken up at 7:00 am and it was now 6:00 pm. She didn't think she'd ever gone this long without talking and it was driving her insane. What made it worse was Angel. He had come into town to get a book from Giles and had gotten stuck there by the lack of a voice. There he was sitting on Giles' sofa reading as calmly as he did everything else.

Without warning Xander slapped the table and everyone turned to look at him. Pointing to his book frantically he smiled and then went rather grim. Giles walked over and started reading for himself. His reaction was to take off his glasses and polish them while shaking his head.

Willow moved over to the desk and read the page and let her shoulders sag. Just as quickly she perked up and wrung her hands in the air excitedly while mouthing the silent equivalent of Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! She then moved over to the easel and giant pad of paper that was attached to it. Taking up the felt pen she wrote out what the page said and what she wanted to say.

.And the silence shall be broken when the sound of pure love's

Kiss is heard by the heart and the heartless.

.If love should fail then anointed bronze will be the choice.


I can do the potion easily. It's like chemistry class, really. Giles could

do it with me. I think I even have all the ingredients.

The look on the others' faces told her that they weren't thrilled with her doing the potion but her suggestion of help did a lot to ease their minds. Giles himself read over the potion at the bottom of the page and nodded slowly.

It took a long time, and a lot of paper for them to have their discussion. Angel thought it was worth a try to do the potion and then go hunt the demons down. Giles believed that it would be a simple enough potion and that Willow could even do it on her own but the problem was where were they going to find a bronze weapon to anoint with the potion once it was made.

This was the opportunity that Buffy was waiting for; she put forth that while everyone else was looking for bronze weapons she would be out trying to find these things. In truth all she'd been thinking about was the other option. True she wanted to kill these things but why not get a little smoochies on the side right? What was better than work induced kisses, especially if they were with whom she was planning?

The gang broke up to go and do their respective jobs. Giles stayed put to do more research, Xander and Anya went in search of a bronze weapon, Buffy and Angel went in search of the demons, and Spike and Willow headed for campus. Willow had to get supplies from her dorm room and Spike wanted to so a sweep of campus for the demons as well thinking of ideas for sources of bronze.

~~~~

Riley, Graham, and Forrest suited up to go out on patrol. They had orders to search and destroy whatever was responsible for the silence. Forrest was about to put on his communication system when Graham tapped him of the shoulder. With a few well-chosen gestures he communicated that it wouldn't do much good considering they couldn't talk. After their commando gear was all prepared they donned street clothes to blend in when they went into populated areas. Graham had to smile at his two friends; they were so awkward in the silence. He'd never been a man of many words in the first place so it really didn't bother him.

~~~~

Buffy and Angel were hunting through the cemetery she suddenly turned and looked him straight in the eye. Angel gave her a questioning glance before turning to look around. Buffy grabbed his arm and turned him to face her.

Okay girl here's your shot at getting Angel back and saving the town. Just one kiss is all I need. We've got pure love, we'd have to after all we're a slayer and vampire and we're love.

With those thoughts running a mile a minute in her head Buffy launched herself and Angel and kissed him for all he was worth.

Angel for his part was surprised as hell. He couldn't help but kiss back; this was his Buffy after all. After a few moments however, he pulled away. They stared at each other. Angel knew what she was trying to do, finish off the demons by the other option, as well as get some action on the side. He was having trouble with the concept though considering she had that psych guy on a proverbial leash, which he got from Cordy, who got it from Willow.

Buffy opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. Sadness, confusion, and anger washed over her face and then she bolted.

~~~~

Spike had left Willow at her dorm with a gentle squeeze of her hand to convey his usual everything's going to work out pet demeanour and went off in search of the demons. She knew that even if he couldn't kill them he would just as happily beat the daylights out of them.

She unlocked her door and closed it gently not wanting to startle anyone in the silence. She went over to her trunk at the foot of her bed and opened it revealing her Wiccan supplies. Taking the list out of her pocket she ran down it making mental notes of everything she didn't have and would have to go to the magick shop for.

Moving to her closet she pulled out her large backpack and packed up the ingredients she would need to bring to Giles'. She crossed them off the list and then left for the magic shop before it closed.

~~~~

Buffy was embarrassed. She couldn't believe that she had kissed Angel like that and then he'd done nothing. Worst of all that their voices hadn't come back.

How could it not have worked?!? I love him, loved him, love him.oh I don't know anymore. Either way there was some major love of some kind there now or in the past. How could it not have worked?

In the midst of her troubling thoughts she nearly crashed head on with Xander. He had separated from Anya, sending her ahead of him to Giles to relay the message that he had a bronze weapon. Well borrowed it, well stole would be a more accurate term. That was also why he had send Anya ahead, he didn't want her in danger if he got caught. Over the years Xander had acquired quite a proficiency in lock picking, so he went to the museum and helped himself to a bronze sword on display as part of the Ancient Minoan section. They stared at each other for a while each thinking their own thoughts.

What's Buffy doing around here? I thought she was with Deadboy. Hey, what if he's evil again? No. That wouldn't happen, she's smarter than that, he's smarter than that. Why is looking at me that way?

Xander! What's he doing over here? I thought he would be on some couch with Anya making out until the world ended. What's that in his hand? A bronze sword! He actually found one! I'm not going to ask where from, not that I could ask. Hey, doesn't he have the hots for me, always has? He's gotta have pure love for me. I'll kiss him and make everything perfect! I'll just have to let him down gently afterwards, he'll understand, all in the name of slaying.

With an almost feral look in her eye Buffy grabbed Xander's collar and pulled him down into a hard, and slightly empty kiss. He struggled and finally broke the kiss looking at her incredulously. It dawned on him what she was trying to do. He felt flattered that she would think so highly of the emotions that he had felt for her. He drew back and held up the sword and signed that they should get to Giles'. Buffy followed for a while feeling even more embarrassed than she had before. About half ways along Xander turned around to check on her to discover that she had left.

~~~~

Willow walked down the street towards the magic shop; her body was in downtown Sunnydale but her mind was a mile away concentrating on the potion she would be mixing later on. She went over the supplies she was on her way to get as well as the actual action of the concocting so she would be sure what to do and confident that she wouldn't goof up. It was fortunate that she new her way to the store by heart because she was taking no notice of her surroundings whatsoever.

It was a prickling feeling on the back of her neck that roused the redhead from her thoughts. Willow felt her muscles stiffen as stopped short and turned to come face to face with one of the demons. For an eternity, or one second, they stared each other down and then all there was a red streak moving down the street.

Run Rosenberg Run!!! Goddess that thing was ugly! She whipped her head back to check and sure enough it was following her. I'm gonna die! No! Just make it to the shop; it's not that far! Come on Red, MOVE YOUR ASS!

Willow ran as fast as she could but she could still feel the demon behind her gaining ground. She was within a block of the magic shop when a mix of panic, anger, and adrenaline kicked in and she kicked out. More specifically she did a quarter turn to the right and braced herself on her left leg. Willow then delivered a hard right kick to the demon's midsection and a left cross to his head while it was low enough for her to reach. The witch then sprinted the last few feet for the store and never looked back.

Breathing hard as she went to the back of the store she thought, that'll wipe that evil maniacal grin off his face! Humph!

~~~~

Graham Miller was scanning the downtown area for the hostiles, not that he'd find them here. It was his experience that most HSTs that weren't vampires stayed away from the general populace. Then again there wasn't the usual number of people about since they couldn't speak, there were still quite a few though.

Only in Sunnydale could everyone in town lose their voices and people be barely affected.

He turned the corner and walked down main street keeping and eye out for anything suspicious.

People walking, people running, car, truck, closed store, closed store, open store.wait a minute open store! Whoa redhead!!!

Graham couldn't stop from staring as the mop of red hair poked out of the shop's door, looked around cautiously and then headed out to the left, all the while looking like she was on the lam. She wasn't walking that fast so she wouldn't be noticed, even though who couldn't notice her with that bag on her back that looked like it was going to fall drag her down to the ground. Graham made the instant evaluation that she was scared, and who wouldn't be with the circumstances, but he thought that for just a second he saw something mysterious in her eyes.

~~~~

Riley was fighting for his life. Not that that is not regular or anything, just not for this long. His stun gun hadn't had any effect on the demon and now he was down to hand-to-hand combat in one of Sunnydale's old cemeteries.

The demon got the upper hand threw Riley into a headstone. Just as it was advancing on him and he was struggling to get up a body flew from behind the headstone knocking the demon down. It took riley a few moments to realize that the body was small, blonde, female, and kicking the demon's ass?! The girl and the demon circled as Riley pulled himself to his feet. When he got there his original intent had been to save the girl but upon closer inspection it was the demon that could with a little saving.

Wow! Who the hell is this chick and where did she learn to do that? Why isn't she afraid of the monster? How can she hit that hard?

Just then the demon charged but the girl caught it in the stomach and vaulted it over her head into the wall of mausoleum.

Holy Shit! It's Buffy!!!

As Buffy came up from throwing the creature she came face to face with Riley and froze.

Oh great, now what am I supposed to do? Hey Riley I really have super powers that help me fight what goes bump in the night, but I still want to go to that party with you. Sure Summers, that'll work. Wait a minute Do I want Riley or Angel? Oh hell, I don't know! Shit! He's coming towards me.

Riley moved closer to Buffy slowly considering she had that deer in the headlights look and was ready to run. They stared at each other for a long time until Buffy looked away, to see about the demon, but it was gone.

Great! I can't even back out of this situation on account of the evil!

She looked back at Riley and saw that his head was bleeding from where he hit the tombstone. Tentatively she reached up and touched the injury. He winced slightly in pain but it didn't hurt that much. She looked it over and then into his eyes trying to convey that it was only superficial. The look she got in return made her gasp, silently. It only took milliseconds for their mouths to meet in a kiss that told of all the pent up emotions on both sides. When they finally relaxed and somewhat reluctantly pulled away from each other Buffy tried to say something but nothing came out.

Damn! How could a kiss like that, and what a kiss it was, not come from pure love? Well at least I know something is there. I definitely want to see where this is going to go. What now.Xander! He had a sword; they must be ready for the potion. I'll head back to Giles'. I can't leave Riley out here all alone though.

Riley was still looking at her trying to figure out what she was thinking when she unceremoniously grabbed his hand and started pulling him along with her.

~~~~

Willow walked quietly down the street, she knew with people around now that the demon wouldn't be back but that didn't stop her from being on her guard. She looked around constantly but on her visual sweep she stopped short on a pair of crystal clear blue eyes. She couldn't move, she just stood there staring, and he stared back. Willow felt her breath catch as she took in the perfect male body attached to those deep blues.

Graham thought his heart would stop. Her delicate features were flawless and her beauty held him in wonder. Her petite frame looked as if would break under the load of her obviously full backpack. Her green eyes practically glowed in her face and her mouth was slightly open with wonder. That's when he noticed that she was standing there staring back at him. She was motionless across the street, or a world away for all Graham could budge. It was her nervous gesture of licking her lips that had set him into action.

As if drawn by some force he couldn't explain and didn't want to Graham crossed the street to stand toe to toe with his ethereal pixie.

Her

Him

Their thoughts were so simple yet so complex and they could almost read each others minds. Willow drew her hands up to be met by his own. Palms pressed gently together sapphire gaze locks with emerald as all sound except for their breathing is muted, the world stops rotating, and all else ceases to exist. Together they feel the wind swirl gently around them. Graham feels as if fire has begun burning in his very soul, Willow feels the tide wash over her entire being, and the earth seems to steady their already racing hearts. Lips touched and clung as they closed their eyes and lost themselves completely in the other and the sensation. That kiss seemed to last forever and a day but they finally released it only to stay close and look into each others once more.

Graham finally broke out of the spell by trying to take her bag for her and had to look down at their joined hands. Thins ivory fingers were interlaced with his and he had to smile. "Here, let me take that." He said it without thinking. Upon realizing that he spoke he looked up to her face to find her eyes wide and her lips smiling sweetly. He slid the bag off her shoulder and let it drop gently to the ground.

Bringing his arms around her slender form he drew close and held her tightly to him. Willow naturally wound her arms around him leaning her head on his chest and smiled when she felt his head on the top of hers. They didn't say anything else, they really didn't have to. Willow knew that that kiss had defeated the demons, which was amazing considering she really didn't know who this man was. Equally Graham was wondering who this angel in his arms was and how they had solved everything just by kissing.

~~~~

About twenty feet from Giles' door Riley's curiosity got the better of him. "Buffy, where are you taking me?"

"What did you say? Oh my God! We can talk! It worked, it must have just taken a little time, but it worked!"

~~~~

It had been a week since the silencing demons had been destroyed. The gang was gathered at Giles' apartment to discuss it and wind things up.

"Well, I found two of the blighters off campus with there heads popped off. Looked like someone squashed'em like a grape."

"Thank you for that rather vivid imagery Spike." Giles said as he took off his glasses to clean them.

"It must have been that kiss that Riley and I shared, it just took some time to work. I just wish he would talk to me now without asking all those questions. It's getting harder and harder to distract him. I don't want him to be in danger because of the truth."

"What was he doing fighting the demon anyway?"

"I don't know, I asked him, and he avoids it like avoid his questions."

"Maybe he has the same reasons as you. He's afraid the truth would hurt you in some way." Everyone looked astonished at Anya for having valuable insight. "What, I didn't just see bad relationships over the past thousand years."

"I, uh, I don't think that was it Buffy."

"What do you mean Giles?"

"Well, um, i-if it were then you wouldn't be having these, uh, problems with him."

Buffy unexpectedly got up and went in the kitchen with Giles close on her heels. She had told him about her attempts to 'give the demons the kiss off' as she put it. "What about my kiss with Angel?"

"I-I think that was the kiss of forbidden love, Buffy."

"And Xander?"

"Hopeful love or unrequited love, either one is possible. I don't know what your kiss with Riley was but I suggest that if you really like him should try to work things out." With that they returned to the living room.



Willow's watch alarm went off and she got up and started packing up her stuff.

"And just where do you think you're going, Missy?" asked Xander in a teasing tone.

"I have plans with Graham and I have to change, I don't want to be late."

"This awfully heavy awfully fast Wills," Buffy said with concern, "You haven't known him very long. Where did you meet him anyway?"

Willow went to tell her friends about how she had met Graham the night of the silencing demons. They all stared at her as if she had two heads. She started shifting from side to side nervously when the doorbell saved her. Running to answer it said squealed as a pair of strong arms picked her up and twirled her around outside.

The gang had moved to the door to watch this open display of affection with confusion.

"Graham! What are you doing here? I was going to change before our date."

"I couldn't wait to see you and I knew you'd be here. Don't change, you look marvellous as you are."

Willow blushed a delicate shade of pink and rushed inside to get her bag.

"Wills?" Buffy asked in a questioning, wondering tone.

"You know what they say Buffy, first kisses make the biggest impression." she said as she walked towards the door, "even in silence." With that she shut the door leaving a very perplexed group of people standing there staring after her.

THE END