Discovery

Chapter 47

Willow groaned as she woke up. She didn't open her eyes, enjoying the comfort of lying still for a moment. Tentatively, she stretched her legs, wincing as they throbbed, protesting the movement. Frowning, Willow began to stretch each part of her battered body, wincing when her body ached due to how it had stiffened up while she had slept.

"Slayer healing would so be good right now," she muttered into her pillow before blearily opening her eyes. According to the clock on her bedside table, it was twelve thirty and Willow groaned again, wishing that she could go back to sleep but knowing that she wouldn't be able to. Sheila Rosenberg had drummed into her how important it was to be polite when you had guests and Willow had let her duties as a host lapse drastically, although given the situation she thought that it could be forgiven.

Still, it took longer than Willow would care to admit for her to lever herself into a sitting position. She'd been fighting alongside Buffy for long enough to know that she was heavily bruised but Giles had told her that hot showers did wonders for the ache that mere mortals felt after being engaged in the sort of fighting Willow, Xander and Giles tended to get involved in.

Oz, however, had never had an issue with being sore after a hard night of slaying. They'd put it down to his werewolf constitution. Willow couldn't help but feel a little jealous of the musician at that moment.

Slowly and carefully, Willow eased herself out of bed, grabbing a clean set of clothes and walking to the bathroom attached to her bedroom. She let out a groan of relief as the hot water eased the tension in her muscles and made her whole body relax, easing the aches and pains that had plagued her upon awaking.

Willow let out a wince as she looked over her body. She had known she would be battered and bruised but it was worse than she had anticipated. She had lots of bruises, ranging in color from dark blue and purple to mottled yellow. Willow knew from personal experience that the bruises would continue to get worse for the next day before they began to heal, especially the deeper bruises.

Turning off the shower, Willow dried herself with a large fluffy towel and got dressed in a loose t-shirt and a pair of loose-fitting pants, knowing that clothing that would not rub against her battered body was important. She threw a light jacket on over the top, just to make sure the worst of the bruises on her arm were covered. She wasn't sure what, if anything, her father had told Parker and she didn't want to upset her little brother by walking around the house with her wounds and bruises on full display.

Finally ready to face the day, even though the day was already half over, Willow edged out of her room, creeping towards the stairs. However, the sound of voices coming from the living room made her stop.

Hodgins, Angela, Cam, Zach and Dr. Sweets were all sitting in the living room with cups of coffee in hand.

"I mean, it's another example of the government brushing things under the carpet... and it's been going on for years... centuries even," Hodgins was ranting. Willow fought to contain her smile. She had wondered how long it would take Hodgins to label the whole thing as a conspiracy theory and use it to badmouth the idea of government.

"I don't know. This whole thing is kind of... covert. Who says the government even knows about it?" Angela commented. Hodgins scoffed.

"Yeah... like they could not notice it. I mean, there are demons walking out on the streets with us, trying to end the world or change the world forever, or whatever... and you think the government wouldn't notice."

"The British government obviously does... or at least did. Why else would they have set up the watcher's council?"Commented Zach. Willow smiled and shook her head, continuing down the stairs. Cam was the first to notice her.