Fight to the Finish (BTVS, Book Seven)

chapter 3 - Same Time, Same Place

Willow was supposed to be coming home from England after Giles had took there for witch rehab, and Buffy, Xander, Dawn and I were all at the airport that night to try to pick her up.

Xander was holding a white sign with 'WELCOME BACK WILLOW' written on it in yellow crayon. "You think she'll get the sign?"

"Get the sign?" I repeated. "I don't think she's gonna see the sign."

"Why is it so pale?" Dawn asked.

"I used yellow crayon," Xander answered. "It was a thing from when I talked to Willow on the bluff. I hope she gets it."

"Oh, tell us again what you said," Dawn told him sarcastically.

"Well, I was talking from my heart, and I knew Evil Willow wasn't really ready to..." Xander trailed off when he realized that Dawn was being sarcastic. "You were kidding."

Dawn smiled a little. "Mm-hmm. A little bit."

"We've heard the crayon speech a few times," Buffy told him. "Not that it's not great, of course."

"I saved the world with talking from my mouth," Xander told us. "My mouth saved the world."

Dawn nodded nervously. "Uh-huh. I'm getting nervous. Are you nervous?"

"Yeah," Buffy answered. "It's gonna be weird seeing her. What do you say to someone in this situation?"

I gave them a sarcastic look. "I'm gonna say, 'Hi, Willow'."

Buffy tilted her head at me. "Come on. You're saying it's not going to be the least bit strange? We saw her kill someone. She was about to kill all of us."

"And Giles wouldn't let her leave unless she completed that whatever recovery course," Xander told us.

"Right," Dawn told us. She looked at me. "Right?"

I hesitated, sighing. "She kinda didn't finish."

"She didn't finish?" Dawn asked. "She didn't finish not being evil?"

"H--he said it was really important that she come back early and that she was doing really well and we shouldn't worry," I told them.

"Guys, I just noticed something," Xander told us. "Everyone's off the plane, so where's Willow?"

We looked around, but we didn't see Willow anywhere.

•••••••

Buffy, Dawn, Xander and I walked into Buffy's house.

"They absolutely put her on the plane in London," Buffy told us.

"So, she got off in Chicago when they stopped?" I asked.

"She could've caught a flight anywhere from there," Dawn told us.

Buffy crossed her arms. "Maybe she doubled back. Got off the plane in London after Giles left."

"Well, if she's doing that, ducking Giles, then she's evil, right?" Dawn asked.

"Well, I've avoided Giles tons of times," Xander told us. "Just meant I was lazy, not evil."

"I hope you're right, because defeating lazy Willow, probably less hard," Buffy told us.

"We should check the messages, see if she tried to reach us here," I told them.

We heard something from further in the house.

"What was that?" Dawn asked.

"Upstairs," I told them.

We walked upstairs, but didn't see anyone.