Chapter 1 - Don't leave me (Buffy's POV)

My eyes flutter open.

I see Willow's face, all serene and quiet. Her eyes are closed and her dark red hair flows just to her shoulders.

I smooth my right thumb over the top of her left hand, gently caressing her creamy smooth skin.

Willow is still meditating, drawing upon my strength to heal her wound. My eyes fall to the wrapping around her waist. The blood there has dried, and I can feel that she's already healed.

At first, the amount of strength she drew from me jolted my body, but I didn't say a word. I knew she needed it, so I endured the pain. Now there's no more pain. She's done drawing upon my strength, but now she needs to heal her mind.

I give Willow's hands one last squeeze, before I kick up my legs to turn and slide off the bed. Willow needs to rest now.

Her hands fall to her lap, and she remains in her meditative state.

I smile, and silently step out of the room.

I finally have Willow back, and I know things are going to be okay. I just know it.

******

"How's Willow?" Dawn asks me, as she pours herself a glass of OJ.

"Good." I flash Dawn a genuine smile, happy that I had a part in Willow's healing.

"Were you two meditating or something?"

"Yeah, how'd you?"

"I kinda walked by and saw you two on the bed, holding hands. I wanted to check on Willow too, but you beat me to it." Dawn smiles, taking a sip of her juice.

"I needed to know she was okay," I confess, sitting down in a chair.

"Want some juice?"

"Read my mind." I breathe, desperate for some energy to replace the energy I'd given away.

I watch Dawn skip over to the counter, grab a glass and pour me some OJ. She happily hands me the full glass of OJ and I gulp it down greedily. I finish the entire glass easily, and hand it back to Dawn.

"Seconds?" Dawn grins at me.

"Read my mind again," I answer, feeling my energy level pick up again. "Must be psychic."

Dawn quickly pours me another glass and I gulp it down just as greedily as the first. Wow, giving Willow my strength took more out of me than I thought.

Dawn pours and hands me a third glass.

"Wow, thirsty much?" Dawns teases.

"Mostly tired," I reply, letting the condensation on the glass cool my hand.

"I thought meditating was supposed to rejuvenate you."

"It is, but we were meditating together."

"How is that different?"

"I was lending her my strength to help her heal her body."

"You can do that?"

"Apparently."

"Wow, maybe you can lend it to me sometime?" Dawn asks hopefully.

"It's not gonna make you a slayer, if that's what you're thinking."

"It wouldn't hurt to try, right?"

"It might hurt me."

"You mean it hurts?"

I avert my eyes, not wanting Dawn to see the truth.

"Buffy, did it hurt?" Dawn asks, walking up to me and placing her hand on mine.

"Kinda," I admit ashamedly.

"Why did you keep doing it then?"

"Because." I pause, "It's Willow. Besides, it doesn't hurt that much," I lie half-heartedly.

"Buffy, you have to tell her. You can't let her take your strength if it hurts you."

"It's okay Dawnie, I can take it. Anyway, she's not taking anything. I'm giving it to her. It's my choice."

"Are you sure?"

"More than sure. If it was you, I'd do the same."

"It was me like a hundred times, but you never gave me your strength," Dawn teases.

"That's because we didn't know before. Now we do."

"So if I like bruise my knee, you'll heal me?"

"If it's a bruise, you can heal yourself," I poke Dawn in the arm.

"Fine, but if I get like major injured, you will heal me, right?"

"Of course," I smile and tuck a strand of Dawn's hair behind her ear.

"Buffy!" The scream resonates through house. It's Willow. I instantly jump out of the chair and fly up the stairs to my old room.

Willow's lying back against the pillows on the bed, clutching her stomach. Red. All I see is red pouring onto the bed.

I rush over, and put my hand over Willow's, desperately trying to stop the bleeding.

"Will, what happened?"

"I don't know," Willow cries. "I opened my eyes and you were gone, and I was bleeding, and then it was all red," Willow sobs. "It was all red."

I pull Willow into my arms, careful to avoid her wound. I know she must be having flashbacks. This much blood is too much blood.

Dawn stands at the door, frozen in fear. I can see the shock in her eyes. I know she must be having flashbacks too.

"Dawn," I shout, too loudly. "Dawn," I repeat again, softer this time. "Can you get some towels?"

Dawn nods her head, and walks back out into the hallway.

I hold Willow against my body. I can feel every shiver, every sob, and every tremble that racks her body.

"It's going to be okay, Will," I soothe, hoping that I'm telling the truth. Because, honestly, I don't know.

"Don't leave me Buffy," Willow cries desperately, clutching at her stomach with her right hand, and throwing her left arm around my body. "Please, don't leave me."

"I won't Will," I promise. "I won't."

Chapter 2 - I like the love (Buffy's POV)

'Where the hell's Dawn?' I scream internally.

Willow's hyperventilating and the blood continues to pour onto the sheets.

I pull away from Willow's body just long enough to slip my white tank-top up and over my head.

Willow clutches for me as if I'm about to leave her.

"It's okay, Will." I apply the tank-top over Willow's hand. "I just needed something to soak up the…" I trail off, knowing I shouldn't have even begun that sentence.

Somehow, I manage to slip my top underneath Willow's fingers, to apply pressure to her wound. Then I pull Willow close once again, keeping my right hand between our bodies, continually applying pressure to her wound.

She buries her face into my neck. I can feel her cool tears dripping down my throat, all the way down to the top of my bra-clad breasts.

I realize that's all I'm wearing, other than my pants, but that doesn't concern me now. I need to help Willow.

I can feel her wince, as I press against her wound.

"Sorry," I apologize, but I don’t pull my hand away. I don't want her to bleed anymore.

"Will, can you still absorb my strength?"

Willow murmurs incoherently into my the crook of my neck.

"I hope that's a yes. It's a yes, right?"

Willow bravely pulls her face from out of its hiding place, and wipes her tears on her sleeve.

I watch her face and body for any sign of a 'yes,' and then she nods ever so slightly, much to my relief.

Before I know it, Willow takes my left hand in her right, and takes a hold of my right arm, with her left hand. My right hand won't leave her wound until I'm sure it's stop bleeding.

Willow's borrowing my strength, and I can feel it. The pain is sharper than before, and I try my best not to wince, not to show any sign of weakness or pain. I can't let Willow know, because if she does, she won't let me heal her.

I have to heal her. I have to.

So I endure. I watch as Willow's breath becomes calm once again. I can feel her body healing, the wound growing smaller around her waist, and the blood stopping.

Willow has her eyes closed, but mine are wide open. I watch every single change of expression on her face. It's amazing how she can so easily go from happy to sad, sad to happy, and everything in between in the blink of an eye. I don't know anyone else that has a face as expression-filled as hers.

She's unique that way.

The pain is easing now. She's taken all that she needs. I've given her all that she needs. No that's not true. I still have to give her my complete trust. I have to believe that she'll get better, mentally and physically. That she won't go all bad again.

And a part of me already believes. Especially now, that's she's just opened her eyes and stares at me with that beautiful smile. I can't see anything evil in her at all. All I see is Willow. The girl I knew, the girl I missed so much, and the girl I love.

"Will?"

"Thank you." Willow smiles in response.

"I'm just glad you're okay, Will. You're okay, right?"

"I think so. I mean, I'm not bleeding anymore." Willow looks down to where I'm still applying pressure.

I slowly take my hand away, and sure enough, the blood has already begun to dry. Surprisingly fast. Magically fast.

"Yup, no more bleeding," I assure her.

"I don't know how to repay you, Buffy."

"Since when did I become the debt collector?" I tease.

"Since you started working at the Double Meat," Willow teases back.

"Don't remind me." I roll my eyes, glad to have happy Willow again. "Do you want to get cleaned up?"

Willow looks down at the bloody mess, and nods her head.

"I'll go see how Dawn's doing with the towels first," I say before I even think.

My body's getting up off the bed, but Willow firmly holds onto me.

"Buffy?" Willow pleads.

I wanna smack myself on the head for being so stupid. I made a promise, and I intend to keep it.

I sit back down on the bed and pull Willow into a hug.

"Sorry," I apologize. I feel her melt into my body. It reminds me of the time she told me how much warmer my body was, when she first hugged me. That's when I figured out that Slayer's had a high body temperature.

Apparently, Giles didn't think it was a necessary fact I needed to know until Willow brought it up. I thought I had some crazy disease, until Giles cleared it up.

Fortunately, Willow was there to make me chicken-noodle soup, while I was supposedly sick. Now Willow's sick, and I need to take care of her, and I will.

I gently stroke Willow's back.

"I'm going to call Dawn, okay?" I whisper softly into her ear, so she's not surprised when I call out.

Willow murmurs her understanding.

"Dawn?" I call out.

In an instant, Dawn's at the door with a handful of towels, small, big, and multi-colored ones.

"What took you so long?"

Dawn hangs her head in shame, "I just wanted to make sure I had enough, and the right kind, and well, I figured white wasn't a good choice, so I looked for other ones, and…" Dawn babbles, and eventually breaks into tears.

"Come here," I motion Dawn to come sit on the bed.

Dawn hesitantly walks over and sits at the edge of the bed, making sure to avoid the blood. I free my right arm and pull Dawn into a hug too, somewhat surprising her.

I think she was expecting me to yell at her for taking so long, but she adjusts, and hugs me back.

"It's okay, Dawnie. I kinda freaked out too," I admit, and kiss her on the forehead.

"I'm okay," Willow reassures us with a smile, wrapping both of us in a hug.

Soon it becomes a hug fest, and magically, all the blood disappears, and it's only us.

I start to feel chilly and realize that I'm still in my bra, and my tank-top is on the mattress, magically clean of blood. Unfortunately, neither of them will let me go long enough for me to put it on, but that's okay, I like the love.