She could feel Andras straining against her magic, his harsh voice in her mind, cursing her, threatening her, yelling at her to stop, to pull back; and then, at the second try, his tone changed and he tried cajoling instead, sweet words and promises of fame and money and immortality if she would just stop and let him have what was his, the priest's soul and all the souls he would gain with his army of the walking dead.

Still she didn't stop, knowing she had to finish the magic to put an end to this; and then, her loved one was by her side, grabbing her hand and giving her strength, strength she needed so much to finish this, and thanks to her, she could come to her feet once more and do the spell yet again, and this time, Andras just yelled wordlessly with rage and there was pain and exhaustion, followed by darkness…

A pleasant smell was the first thing she noticed as she slowly came out of the dark, and she took in a deep breath, identifying the smell as burning sage a moment later; slowly, she opened her eyes, surprised to find herself in the bedroom of the apartment she shared with her partner, the darkness in the room telling her that it was in the middle of the night and that she had been out the whole day – if not even longer.

Glad that at least, her head didn't hurt anymore, Willow glanced to her left, where Pat normally slept; the other side of the bed was empty though, and she frowned to herself; then, before she could call out for the demon though, the door leading to the bathroom opened and the taller woman stepped into the bedroom, stopping dead in her tracks when she saw that Willow was awake.

"Hey", she then smiled, giving the witch a chance to see how tired she looked as she moved closer to the bed, "there you are again. Welcome back."

"Thanks", the redhead gave back, momentarily shocked by how weak her own voice sounded, "how long was I out…?"

"The whole day", Pat let her know in reply, moving to sit down on the edge of the bed so she could grasp her hand, her eyes by now used enough to the dark so she could see the slight smile on the demon's face, "and most of the night. It's three a.m. now."

"And you are still awake why?" Willow wanted to know, testing her strength by sitting up slowly, not really surprised by her partner's reply. "Couldn't sleep, too worried about you. I'm glad you're awake now."

"So am I", the witch gave back at once, letting Pat help her to sit up fully, "and that I wasn't out like a lightbulb for three days this time."

"Oh yes, thank Goodness", the demon agreed at once, "I wouldn't have slept for three days then. Do you need anything? Something to eat, to drink?"

"A glass of water would be nice", Willow told her after a moment; nodding, Pat still took the time for a brief kiss before she got up from her seat and moved into the bathroom, returning with a glass of water a short while later.

"There you go", she stated the obvious, handing the glass to the redhead and sitting down again, smirking when immediately after drinking, Willow wanted to know if at least, the spell had worked.

"At least partly, I suppose", she then informed her, telling her about Henderson's call afterwards and about what the doctor had said; when she didn't mention the priest with a single word, Willow immediately felt suspicious, wanting to know if anything had happened with him.

"I punched him", Pat admitted, not sounding all too ashamed though, "while you were out cold, because he was talking shit again. Giles scolded me."

"Sweetie", Willow giggled, shaking her head, "no surprise there, I would have scolded you, too, had I been awake."

"I know, but it felt good to punch him, after all the crap he sprouted", the taller woman shrugged, "and anyway, I didn't hit him that hard. He didn't even fall over."

"Good, because we'll have to meet him once more to make sure the spell worked for him, as well", Willow smiled, then yawned, the exhaustion of the spell once more taking its toll on her; immediately, Pat told her that she should get some rest, taking the glass from her before she joined her in bed, knowing that now, she'd be able to get some sleep as well, with her partner awake, aware and alright.

"You better get some sleep too", the witch advised her, snuggling up to her and smiling when immediately, she was taken into a tender embrace, "if you've been awake all night until now, you need it as much as I do, especially after I took some of your strength for that spell."

"You didn't take that much", Pat let her know at once, ignoring the fact that she looked quite tired and that Willow surely had noticed this, "so no worries there."

"Sure", the redhead teased at once, giggling when the black haired woman gave her a mock glare; then, the two smiled at each other before they exchanged a tender and loving kiss, drifting off into sleep just minutes later, spending the rest of the night slumbering in each other's arms.

They did meet up with the priest once more, and this time, he even was quite civilized, clearly still remembering the punch he had received from Pat the last time he had talked nastily about what the witch had done for him; thus, he just remained quiet and nodded when Willow told him she had to do one more spell to see if her earlier one had worked, one which thankfully was easy and done quickly without tiring her out, the witch smiling the moment the magic took effect and gave her the information she had been hoping for.

"It worked", she told him, something she already had expected anyway after she had heard what Dr Henderson had told her loved one, "Andras has no more power over you, and this should stop the invasion of the undead as well."

"Let's hope so", Murray sighed, "I really don't want to be bothered by this demon again… and, no offense, but I'd prefer it if you could stay away from me in the future, as well. I appreciate what you did for me, and I thank you for it, but… I don't think we are good company for each other."

"Agreed", Pat dryly replied, shrugging at the look Willow gave her; then, the witch smiled at the priest again and reassured him that he wouldn't see them again any time soon, not able to hold back a little verbal jab of her own by adding that they didn't go much to church anyway.

"I'm not surprised", Murray said before he could stop himself, then gave the demon a short, but worried glance; to his obvious relief, she just snorted, but didn't punch him again, his relief even more palpable when he asked if they were done then and the witch nodded.

"Take care then", he told the couple after a moment, "and, um, have a good life."

"Yeah, you too", Pat replied with a roll of her good eye, annoyed by his behaviour, "and no more pacts with demons, even if you're alone in your church every Sunday from now on, got that?"

"Yes", Murray primly gave back, then turned and walked back into the church without another word; the witch and the demon exchanged a look, then walked off in the opposite directions, Willow speaking up after a while, sounding mildly annoyed. "You'd think he'd be a bit more grateful. What an impolite man."

"I'd have a few juicier words to describe him", Pat smirked, making her giggle slightly, "but I'm not gonna say them because you'll just reprimand me again."

"Indeed, I will", the redhead confirmed, then stopped walking and embraced her partner, suddenly in the need for close physical contact, smiling warmly when immediately, the hug was returned, the demon's hands coming to a tender rest on her back.

"Let's not mind him anymore", the smaller woman suggested, smiling up at her girlfriend, "the important thing is that we stopped this, and that Andras can't cause anymore harm for anyone."

"Indeed", Pat agreed, "and we won't have to be bothered by that guy again anyway, so who cares about him."

Nodding, Willow's smile widened as her hands slid to the back of the taller woman's neck; she pulled her down with tender pressure, kissing her moments later, a small, but audible content sigh escaping her when the kiss deepened almost immediately.

"I love you", she mumbled after they had pulled apart again, playing with the demon's hair, "and I'm glad this all worked out so well."

"Me too", Pat nodded at once, smiling down on her, the kind of warm and loving smile she only ever directed at her, "and I love you too, you won't get rid of me anytime soon."

"Don't want to", Willow reassured her, pulling her down for another kiss; afterwards, she suggested dropping by at Buffy's place to inform her that everything had been resolved, making the taller woman nod as they ended the embrace and started walking again, towards the Slayer's house, the demon putting one arm around her partner's shoulders after a moment and making her smile as she returned the gesture by wrapping her arm around the black haired woman's waist, her happiness clearly showing on her face as she walked along next to Pat, just glad that once more, everything had been resolved and that things had ended well for all of them.

End.