Dew drives, rain falls

Willow was happy, more so than she had been for a while now, actually she hadn't been in such a bright mode since before the whole Veruca incident. Wow, she didn't even feel like a sword tore into her heart and chopped it into little pieces at the mere thought of Oz anymore. Of course it still hurt a lot, but Willow felt for the first time since her trip down to despair that she was moving in the right direction - up and forward.

She also had to admit that Graham had a huge part in the cause of her happiness. *He thinks I'm pretty!* She thought for the fiftieth time in ten minutes. Although she might not be ready for a new relationship at this moment, she still felt attracted to him and she wanted to get to know him better. He seemed to want that too, even if both Willow and Buffy assumed he still mourned his late slayer-girlfriend. But maybe later there was a possibility for Willow and Graham. Who knew what the future had in tow...

Willow was happy, so happy she had let Buffy talk her into a shopping trip to the mall. They had now visited most of the boutiques and Willow had bought at least three articles of clothing she didn't know if she was ever going to wear, but Buffy had told her the shirt, skirt or dress was just so right and Willow hadn't been able to resist the temptation to buy something not so 'willowy'.

"Really Will, I'm so glad you wanted to go shopping today, this blouse will be perfect for the party tonight!" Buffy beamed when they left the last boutique and went out on the square to have some lunch before they headed back to campus. Willow sighed, she had lost count of how many boutiques they had been to and how many fitting-rooms they had queued for.

Buffy's words suddenly reached Willow's brain: "Party, what party?!"

"The frat party at Lowell House, Riley invited us both, didn't I tell you yesterday?"

"Oh, yes you really did, I just forgot it in the middle of everything..."

"In the middle of meeting a really handsome guy who is obviously into you too?" Buffy teased and Willow of course blushed. Her eyes widened a bit when she looked over Willow's shoulder. "A guy who is waving at us from a restaurant."

Willow turned around and indeed Graham was waving at them from a window of one of the more fancy restaurants in the mall area. The girls soon understood that he didn't just wave to them; he wanted them to come over. They exchanged a glance and then walked over the square. When they reached the building, Graham came to the door and met them. "Hi, I don't want to spoil your day of shopping fun, but if you haven't eaten yet, may we buy you lunch?" He asked and seemed very eager to get them inside, something that amused Buffy and she smiled a little teasingly at her friend.

"Sure, I'm hungry." Buffy smiled.

"Thank you." Willow smiled when he held up the door for them.

He escorted them back to the table he'd been sitting at and there his company rose and Graham introduced them: "Willow, Buffy, this is my brother Jordan Miller. Jordy, meet Willow Rosenberg and Buffy...eh?"

"Summers." Buffy finished for him and shook hand with the handsome man, who looked like an older, taller and not so serious version of Graham, and the little flinch he made at the mention of her name didn't go unnoticed by her.

The four of them sat down at the table and a waiter came with menus for the girls; the guys had already ordered their food.

After they had placed the orders Buffy looked at the guys, one at the time, and asked: "So, did you just long for our company or did you have an ulterior motive with this?"

"Well, both actually." Graham smiled and put down his water glass. "You see, Jordy is an attorney, assistant districts attorney in L.A. to be exact, and they've been having some problems over there."

"Are you sure it's safe to tell them this?" Jordan took a sip of his water and gave Willow a doubtful look.

Willow raised an eyebrow. "What? You're having trouble with 'Wolfram & Hart'?

Jordan choked on the water and Buffy frowned and turned to her friend: "I think I speak for both of us when I say: Huh?!"

"I really don't know that much." Willow said and smiled a little at their reactions. "It's just that I've kept in touch with Cordelia and she has more than one time mentioned this troublesome law firm in L.A. that defends demons and other bad things."

"God this is creepy!" Buffy's eyes were wide and she looked horrified.

"Yeah, I know, they represented this master vampire who was after young women and..."

"No, not that. You're really keeping in touch with Cordelia?!"

Willow gave her friend a sad smile. Buffy had spent too much time on the dark side of life; she was actually more surprised that Willow talked to Cordelia than the fact that there was a law firm that represented demons.

Graham had to smile. "Who is Cordelia?" He asked the obvious question.

"Oh, she's a high school enemy of mine. She moved to L.A. after graduation and is now working for 'Angel Investigations'". Willow roamed around in her backpack and found a business card, which she handed to Jordan. "They take those weird cases nobody else can handle because general investigators don't know what they are dealing with."

"And these people do?" Jordan asked skeptically but with a little bit of hope in his voice.

"Oh yes, they definitely do." Buffy stated in a tone that made the guys want to ask more about those investigators, but their food was served and as if they were following an unspoken rule they left the unpleasant topic during the meal. The four of them had a nice lunch and talked about this and that, just common things.

"Are you ladies coming to our party tonight?" Graham asked the girls when the dessert arrived.

"Yes, of course we are, what do you think we have been shopping for all day?" Buffy answered simply, then smiled. "Riley invited us both a couple of days ago."

"Finally he did something right." Graham muttered.

"What? You don't like Riley?!"

"Of course I do, he is my best friend. Sometimes it just bugs me that he is so clueless about the things we deal with everyday..."

"Give the guy a break, Graham, it's not everybody who grow up with a slayer and spend their childhood days buried in dusty old books studying demonology...in fact, I think you are quite unique." Jordan smiled to take the edge of his words.

"Well, I kind of did that too..." Willow smiled shyly. "At least since sophomore year in high school, that's when Buffy transferred to Sunnydale."

"And you were called in 1996, weren't you?" Jordan asked Buffy but kept an eye on his brother. The girls wondered why, but Graham seemed to find the flower arrangement on the table very interesting. "Say around may 14th?"

Graham suddenly rose, obviously very uncomfortable with the topic of conversation. "I think I'll go get some coffee, you want some?"

"I'll go with you." Willow offered and followed him to the coffee table. "I'm sorry." She said and put cups on the tray he held up.

"For what?" He sounded surprised.

"I don't know...sorry that you feel uncomfortable?"

"Oh, it's not your fault my brother talks about the wrong things. He thinks I should have got over it years ago, but he wasn't the one who was there...I know this is confusing for you, but..."

"I'm not asking anything, but if and when you want to talk about it, I promise I'll be there for you." Willow put down the pot after pouring coffee in the cups and looked at him. She couldn't help but blush when she met his gaze.

"You're really amazing, do you know that?" Graham smiled and gave her a light kiss on the cheek before they walked back to the others at the table.

*Oh my!* Willow almost skipped all the way back and was really glad it was Graham who carried the tray with coffee and not her.