I'm the perfect disaster [You can't stop me]

[Rescue Someone]


Co-written with stillacrime and whattingawhat. Willow is written by both and not binding on any muse. Follows Part I, Part II, and Part III


Her first breath was so violent it hurt. That first gasp, half scream. She came half way up off the couch, hands made into fists and her head full of memories from the last time. Her predominant thought was Get out get out get out get out get out now before the air runs out. And then she realized she wasn't locked in a coffin. She didn't have to bust out and she wasn't in Heaven. That was last time. She hadn't been dead long enough to get there. She swallowed her next scream and scuttled back into the corner of the couch, knees going to her chest and arms wrapping around her legs protectively. For the first time since her eyes flew open, she looked around, realizing where she really was. Home. She was home. Her eyes met Danny's and she raked her hands through her hair. No grave dirt, just blood. It was all over her wrist and she could feel it dried, pulling at the skin on her neck.

"I'mokayimokayimokay," she said in a rush of breath. It was a reassurance for him. She hadn't made enough of an assessment to assure herself yet.

That breath tore the air in half and something in Danny snapped out of the tunnel he had been traveling through. With her first breath, his own breathing became heady and uneven. He could finally breathe too. He watched her, not sure if he should reach out to her or not, not sure of anything. And then she was okay... or she said she was.

Danny shifted his weight back and forth from foot to foot, a nervous tic. "Hey Sunshine... I got number one right."

"That's the important one, right, Buffy?" Willow said. Her voice was soft. She didn't reach out to touch Buffy yet either.

Buffy nodded in answer. It was disorienting, being dead and then not being dead. She knew she needed to do something but right now she couldn't. It was like her system was fried. "C-cold," she managed to push the words between her lips.

Springing into action, Danny went to the bedroom to grab two throw blankets from a pile in a wicker chest. He carried them back into the living room and rested one over her and then another. At that moment, Rocky decided personal space was not necessary and jumped up onto the couch. Danny grabbed him quickly away from Buffy and held onto the puppy to keep him from trying again. "Not right now, Rocky. Later." He paused a beat. "Love you, Summers."

Buffy pulled the blankets closer, wrapping them around her. "Thanks," she whispered. "Love you too." She scratched at the bite on her wrist.

"She'll be okay," Willow told Danny. It had just the faintest hint of desperation to it, like she was trying to convince herself as well. "Just...give her a little bit." She looked to Buffy. "Do you want some hot tea? I can go make it."

Buffy nodded slightly in response and Willow fled the room to the kitchen to make the tea.

Danny hesitated before nodding his understanding. She was going to be okay, Willow said. "Yeah, yeah... you know what. Gonna go make you a bath. Boom." He took a deep breath and turned out of the living room carrying Rocky with him. He put him down on the bathroom floor and closed the door so the pup wouldn't escape. In the bathroom he plugged the drain of the tub and started some warm water. He added vanilla scented bubble bath and bath salts to the mix and then turned to look in the mirror while he waited for the tub to fill up.

He looked like shit and he knew it. But the more he stared into the mirror without really seeing, the more unshed tears welled up in his eyes. This time he let them fall, hunching over the sink to keep from seeing himself at all. He didn't like to cry, but it happened sometimes. And now Buffy was okay... kind of. She was here. He had done it, even without a list. He hadn't let her down. He deserved a few tears for a few minutes, so he let them fall. Buffy was awake and he was so damn thankful.

(no subject)

Follows Part I, Part II, and Part III and Part VI

. "What the fuck have you done lately?"
| Wanted

Buffy was in the bath tub until the water went cold. She scrubbed her skin pink and clean then her hair until it smelled like vanilla instead of blood and ash. She submerged herself underneath the water one more time then slipped out of the bath. She wrapped her body in a white towel and stared at herself in the mirror. She didn’t look like herself, skin bruised and stretched too tight over her face. The vampire bite was still livid against her skin, barely healed. She hadn’t been alive long enough for her healing to kick in. She looked down at her left wrist to see the same sort of bite, neat and deep. Absently she wondered if it would scar. Not that it would matter. Her neck is already scarred and she can buy a bracelet to cover the bite on her wrist.

She combed through her hair, drying it with a hair dryer. She skipped makeup because she’d have to pile it on to cover the bruises of varying shades scattered across her face. There was a black eye and a dark one along her jaw. Once her hair was dry, she took the curling iron and meticulously did her hair in loose, bouncy curls.

The only thing left to do was get dressed. She put on a pair of black jeans and a soft, white, long-sleeved tee shirt along with a big, silver cross before padding into the living room. She smiled slightly at Danny then looked to Willow.

“That little bitch still has my scythe.”

And by killing her, she’s just made her stronger.

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