Title: Wakeful Night
Fandom: BtVS
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Willow, Buffy, Angelus.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 400
Spoilers: Passion.
Summary: For a sleepover there’s not a lot of sleeping going on.
Written For: Challenge 327: Amnesty at fan_flashworks, using Challenge 127: Sleepless.
Disclaimer: I don’t own BtVS, or the characters.




The sleepover was unplanned but totally necessary; not that there was much in the way of sleeping going on. Buffy and Willow sat on Buffy’s bed, dressed in their pyjamas, and clutching crosses and stakes. The windows were closed, strings of garlic bulbs surrounding them, and holy water was within easy reach, just in case it should be needed. Better safe than sorry, and right at that moment the safety of Buffy and her friends was far from assured.

The moment Willow had found the gift Angelus had left for her, all her tropical fish dead and threaded onto a string, she’d known she couldn’t remain in her room. She’d invited Angel inside that one time and now he could come and go as he pleased, which was fine before he lost his soul again, but now… Not so much. These days, Angel’s mind was less on getting or giving advice, and more totally consumed with making Buffy and her friends suffer in the most horrible and inventive ways he could come up with.

Angelus had an all-access pass to Buffy’s house too, so in that respect Buffy’s room was no safer than Willow’s own, except for the fact that it had Buffy in it, which automatically increased Willow’s chances of surviving the night in one piece. If the Slayer couldn’t protect her from one of the most sadistic vampires ever known, then no one could.

Willow could only hope her parents would be safe; there’d been no way she could bring them with her, no explanation she could have given as to why they had to spend the night somewhere else. Buffy’s mom was equally at risk, but she was just across the hall where, with luck, Buffy could reach her quickly if Angel should decide to target her instead. It wasn’t a particularly reassuring thought. The sooner they had some way of uninviting Angel the better. No way was Willow going to get a decent night’s sleep until she could be sure she could go to bed in her own room at home and not wake up dead. This whole situation was a nightmare, and how much worse must it be for Buffy?

Glancing at her best friend, Willow tried for a smile. It wasn’t a particularly successful attempt, but Buffy smiled back anyway. They’d sit here, sleepless, until sunrise if they had to, keeping each other company.

The End