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DISCLAIMER: Not mine. Not me. Not ever.
SUMMARY: Willow and Xander through the years.
WORDCOUNT: 1181
PATTERNS
by Leni
1.
“I’ll miss you.”
Xander looked down at his redheaded friend and smiled. “It’s only for a weekend,
Willow. I’d like you to come but, you know Coach’s weird projects.”
“I know,” she pouted. Coach Martinez had decided to take the boys on a survival
camp. Against all odds, Xander’s parents had signed the permission. Of all the days
they could have chosen to pay attention, Willow sulked. “But I’ll still miss
you.” She shuffled her feet nervously on the school’s front yard and shyly
presented him with a carton box.
“For me?” Xander took the box curiously.
Willow nodded.
Impatiently, he tore the lid off and peered inside. The wide grin on his face told Willow
he had liked her surprise. “I did them myself,” she said proudly. “Mom
didn’t have to help me this time.”
Xander bit the first cookie and moaned in delight.
“I made sure there were extra large chocolate chunks in them.”
“You are the best! I’m not sharing these with anyone.”
Willow grinned. Then she looked as the coach stalked to the last straggler of his group.
“Harris!” the man called. Xander straightened and quickly shoved the small box
into his pack.
“I guess this is goodbye.”
“HARRIS!”
Xander cringed and half-hugged her. “Goodbye, Chocolate Lady,” he whispered
before running to the school bus.
2.
“I’ll miss you,” Willow began as she watched Xander pack his suitcases into
his uncle’s car.
He turned around to smile at her confidently. “You won’t. I’ll send
postcard after postcard until I’m sure you’ve drowned in them.”
She looked up and tried for an unconcerned smile. “And then you’ll come back to
rescue me?”
He grinned. “Of course, my princess. Have I ever failed to do so?”
She shook her head and helped him accommodate the last bags in the back seat. The sun was
already setting, Willow knew him enough to know he’d chosen to make a true movie-like
parting.
“I guess this is goodbye.”
Xander looked at the red sun and smiled, then turned to her and nodded. “Take care,
will you? Or I’ll come back and hunt down Wolf Boy otherwise.” Willow made a
convincing giggle which didn’t fool Xander for a second. “I’ll be okay,
Wills, and I’ll tell you all about it later.”
Willow hugged him tight, then released him. “We were supposed to do this together,
you big dork,” she sniffled.
They were. He had talked of cars and motorcycles and she had bought a map and taken flyers
from the two travel agencies in Sunnydale. Then they had studied the unfolded map on her
floor, and marked with red crayon all the places they had to visit and with green
those they still had to consider. They had been nine, known nothing of teenage confusions
or underground hellmouths or wary boyfriends.
“Three do not make for a peaceful roadtrip.” Xander shrugged, then he jumped
onto the driver’s sit and winked merrily. ”See you, Wilster.”
Willow only waved him goodbye, laughing a little as he indeed drove into the sunset.
3.
“I’ll miss you,” Willow told him seriously as they arrived to the airport.
“Hey, I’ll be okay,” Xander reassured her from the shotgun seat.
“You swear?”
“I’ve lived 22 years on a hellmouth and survived through at least as many
Apocalypses, what could Africa possibly hold for me?”
Willow just fixed him with a look that was scarier than her old Resolve Face. Xander
privately thought it was the 2.0, Witchy-R-Us version. “I swear,” he relented.
Both laughed when they raised their thumbs at the same time, but they pressed them
together anyway.
Xander glanced at his watch and breathed deeply. He was nervous about this, Willow knew,
it would be his first solo assignment. She also knew he needed it, this time alone. But
that didn’t mean she wouldn’t miss having him close by.
“I guess this is goodbye,” Willow sighed, opening the trunk as Xander stepped
out of the car. Willow watched him grab his bags through the rear-view mirror. Then he
walked to her window and almost stuck his head inside to kiss her cheek. “I’ll
be back, Willowgirl.”
4.
“I’ll miss you,” Willow whimpered from under her quilt.
Xander laughed. “I’m just going to the store, Wills. I’ll be back before
the credits roll over.”
“No,” she sniffled exaggeratedly. “You’ve gotten sick of me and my
pity party and now you’ll abandon me for a happier room.” Her large eyes widened
further, begging him to correct her.
“I swear, you were never this way before.”
“Forgive me if I’m desolated at the loss of a relationship!”
He said nothing, knowing the rant that would follow.
“First we’re okay and everything is happiness. Brazil is beautiful, you knew
that? I truly thought we were enjoying it. There’s nothing like stress-free times to
truly test a relationship, I guess. Two months without fearing for our lives and no world
about to end and then the romance is over. It isn’t fair.”
Xander had learned the hard way that there was nothing he could do to stop his friend from
going down that path.
“’I miss the fight,’ she said, 'I want to go back.'. It was supposed to be
a beautiful beginning for me and Kennedy, far from everything ugly and dangerous. It
wasn’t good enough for her.” Willow took a tissue again. “It wasn’t as
if I planned to stay out of it forever, you know? I knew I had responsibilities, that she
had responsibilities too. But we fight because it’s needed, not because we want
to.” She looked up at him for support. Xander nodded, that was the truth, at least
for those who’d fought for so long that they couldn’t remember a normal life
anymore. “I knew then that it wouldn’t work,” Willow continued.
“I’d never broken up with someone before. It hurt, Xander. It hurt. It
wasn’t fair.”
“I know.” Xander sighed and ruffled her hair, noticed that the credits had
finished while they talked and popped another movie into the VCR. “I’m
sorry,” he said sincerely, handing her another tissue from the box. He waited until
she was composed again, concentrating on the movie playing. “Now please let me go for
some snacks for my hungry stomach,” he begged, actually going to his knees at her
side.
Unfailingly, Willow giggled. Then, more seriously, she pointed wordlessly to the chocolate
and biscuits at her side. Xander raised an eyebrow. “Nuh-uh, I know you. You’ve
held those ransom for the whole afternoon, you actually snarled when I wanted to
grab one.”
“You were going to turn the plate over!” she protested.
He shook his head.
Willow took a good look at him and relented. “I guess this is goodbye, then.”
Xander made the mistake of looking at her pleading expression, that irresistible pout that
had won him over back in kindergarten. He sighed and plopped down back on the empty seat
at her side. “I’ll stay, Willow.” He smiled. “Just for you.”
Willow grinned back, then swatted his hand away when it tried to invade her chocolate
supply.
The End
08/08/04
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