FIC: In Another Life (4/22) - BtVS/Numb3rs
Dec. 8th, 2008 07:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lyl_devilSorry this is so late. And short. :)
Title: In Another Life (4/22+Epilogue)
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lyl_devil
Rating: PG-15
Fandom: BtVS, Numb3rs
Beta:strangevisitor7 & kallie_kat
Words: ~36,000 (as of Dec 4, 2008)
Disclaimer: I don’t own either show. I just like to play in their sandboxes.
Summary: Every action has a consequence and every deal comes with a price. Willow’s life is wiped clean, so she makes a new one for herself in LA.
Master Post
Note: I don’t claim to know anything about magic, medicine or the FBI – what I didn’t pick up from tv and books, I made up.
~!~
Part 4
"Uh-uh. No way," said Willow, staring wide-eyed at the hundred foot climbing wall in front of her.
"This was your idea," Don reminded her, clipping the last of his safety gear in place.
"It was a bad idea. So very, very bad."
"You said you wanted to try something new. It's either this or the paintball place next door," he said, knowing it was dirty pool as he said it.
It had been three weeks since the disastrous meeting with Willow's parents, and Don was doing his best to pull her out of her funk. True to their unspoken agreement, either Milo or Don had been present at all future meetings between Willow and her parents, and both men had been happy to see them take off back to Africa. But Willow had been depressed since the visit, which Don understood. Her first real link to her past had turn their noses up at helping her out, all in the name of 'research'. To make matters worse, Willow now knew why no one had ever looked for her when she went missing – they all thought she was dead.
To try and take her mind off the spectacularly bad meeting with her parents, Don had stolen Willow away from work for the day.
They'd driven to the outskirts of LA to a paintball arena that had an outdoor course, only to have Willow freeze up the second she'd picked up the paintball gun. She'd started to hyperventilate, and Don knew a full blown panic attack was on its way. He'd taken the gun from her hands and led her outside where he'd eventually been able to calm her down.
He'd tried to understand where this fear of guns had come from, and whether it was all guns or just paintball guns. In all the time he'd known her, Willow had never had a problem at the FBI where most agents carried sidearms on a daily basis, and she'd never had a problem being around him when he was still armed.
Her answer was the generic, "I don't know. I just...don't.” It was what he'd come to expect from these situations. Willow would suddenly start doing something new, or not doing something new, but wouldn't know why. It was just another side effect from her amnesia that was still haunting her four years later, and always brought back the frustration and anger at her missing memory.
In an effort to bypass the coming breakdown and recover some of the day, he'd suggested the climbing club next door.
Now, here they were all geared up and ready to go, and Willow was suddenly balking at the sight of the wall. Don had enough experience at this point to know that her reluctance wasn't because some unknown instinct had surfaced, like it had at the paintball arena. This was simple fear of the unknown, possibly a fear of heights, and a little coaxing would get her up the wall.
"Paintball. Bad," was all she said, making Don smile.
"Then let's go," he said, nudging her towards the wall.
It took some encouragement on his part, but eventually Willow was hesitantly climbing the wall as her instructor called out directions and encouragement, having picked up on her hesitation. Don needed far less instruction from his own teacher, having gone through some of the basics at Quantico. Throughout his own climb, Don would sneak peeks at her as she slowly ascended the wall just below him. She had a look of intense concentration on her face as she moved, gaining confidence with every foothold.
When Don reached the top of the wall, he sat and started chatting with some of the other climbers that were taking a break before repelling back down, when he looked and found Willow was nearly to the top. He noticed she had frozen where she was, her head bent down. Don realized she was staring down at the ground, more than eighty feet below, frozen in place.
"Hey, Willow," he called down, pitching his voice low enough to not draw the attention of everyone in the climbing facility. "You okay? Do you need me to come down there and rescue you?"
It had the desired effect, as Willow looked up at him and glared. "Shut up!"
Don laughed as she started climbing again. One thing he'd learned about Willow early on was that she hated having people do things for her. Especially if it was something she knew she could do. Being incapable of a task was different than letting someone do it for her.
Eventually she reached the top, settling in next to Don, looking down at the busy warehouse floor below her.
"That was fun," she said once she caught her breath. "Can we do it again?"
Don smiled and congratulated himself on the idea of the climbing facility. She had a look on her face he'd only seen a few times before - the discovery of something new that was truly 'new'. He'd been on a few of her quests to 'find out what I like', and had seen many of them end in disappointment. Either she didn't like something, or already 'knew' how she should feel about it. Their latest excursion to a museum showing an exhibit of ancient civilizations had ended short when she'd realized most of the translations were wrong, and that the exhibits had pieces from various eras mixed in together.
Neither of them knew what that said about her previous life.
Hours later, sitting in the car, Don couldn't help feeling a little smug and a lot proud of himself. Willow looked exhausted and sore, but also languid and relaxed, blissed out on adrenaline.
"I'm going to be so sore tomorrow," she said after a minute, staring sightlessly through the windshield.
"So you had fun," Don said.
"Oh yeah. Once I got over the mind numbing terror, it was a blast." She still had a dopey smile curving her lips as she looked over at him.
"You know, they have year long memberships," said Don, putting out an offer he hadn't consciously decided on yet. But she looked so happy right now, and Don wanted her to feel this way as often as possible.
Willow turned back to the windshield, the smile leaving her face as she bit her lip in contemplation.
"Would you come with me?" she asked after a moment, turning back to him.
Putting the keys in the ignition, Don smiled as he started the car. "I'd love to."
End Part 4
Part 5
Title: In Another Life (4/22+Epilogue)
Author:
lyl_devilRating: PG-15
Fandom: BtVS, Numb3rs
Beta:
strangevisitor7 & kallie_katWords: ~36,000 (as of Dec 4, 2008)
Disclaimer: I don’t own either show. I just like to play in their sandboxes.
Summary: Every action has a consequence and every deal comes with a price. Willow’s life is wiped clean, so she makes a new one for herself in LA.
Master Post
Note: I don’t claim to know anything about magic, medicine or the FBI – what I didn’t pick up from tv and books, I made up.
~!~
Part 4
"Uh-uh. No way," said Willow, staring wide-eyed at the hundred foot climbing wall in front of her.
"This was your idea," Don reminded her, clipping the last of his safety gear in place.
"It was a bad idea. So very, very bad."
"You said you wanted to try something new. It's either this or the paintball place next door," he said, knowing it was dirty pool as he said it.
It had been three weeks since the disastrous meeting with Willow's parents, and Don was doing his best to pull her out of her funk. True to their unspoken agreement, either Milo or Don had been present at all future meetings between Willow and her parents, and both men had been happy to see them take off back to Africa. But Willow had been depressed since the visit, which Don understood. Her first real link to her past had turn their noses up at helping her out, all in the name of 'research'. To make matters worse, Willow now knew why no one had ever looked for her when she went missing – they all thought she was dead.
To try and take her mind off the spectacularly bad meeting with her parents, Don had stolen Willow away from work for the day.
They'd driven to the outskirts of LA to a paintball arena that had an outdoor course, only to have Willow freeze up the second she'd picked up the paintball gun. She'd started to hyperventilate, and Don knew a full blown panic attack was on its way. He'd taken the gun from her hands and led her outside where he'd eventually been able to calm her down.
He'd tried to understand where this fear of guns had come from, and whether it was all guns or just paintball guns. In all the time he'd known her, Willow had never had a problem at the FBI where most agents carried sidearms on a daily basis, and she'd never had a problem being around him when he was still armed.
Her answer was the generic, "I don't know. I just...don't.” It was what he'd come to expect from these situations. Willow would suddenly start doing something new, or not doing something new, but wouldn't know why. It was just another side effect from her amnesia that was still haunting her four years later, and always brought back the frustration and anger at her missing memory.
In an effort to bypass the coming breakdown and recover some of the day, he'd suggested the climbing club next door.
Now, here they were all geared up and ready to go, and Willow was suddenly balking at the sight of the wall. Don had enough experience at this point to know that her reluctance wasn't because some unknown instinct had surfaced, like it had at the paintball arena. This was simple fear of the unknown, possibly a fear of heights, and a little coaxing would get her up the wall.
"Paintball. Bad," was all she said, making Don smile.
"Then let's go," he said, nudging her towards the wall.
It took some encouragement on his part, but eventually Willow was hesitantly climbing the wall as her instructor called out directions and encouragement, having picked up on her hesitation. Don needed far less instruction from his own teacher, having gone through some of the basics at Quantico. Throughout his own climb, Don would sneak peeks at her as she slowly ascended the wall just below him. She had a look of intense concentration on her face as she moved, gaining confidence with every foothold.
When Don reached the top of the wall, he sat and started chatting with some of the other climbers that were taking a break before repelling back down, when he looked and found Willow was nearly to the top. He noticed she had frozen where she was, her head bent down. Don realized she was staring down at the ground, more than eighty feet below, frozen in place.
"Hey, Willow," he called down, pitching his voice low enough to not draw the attention of everyone in the climbing facility. "You okay? Do you need me to come down there and rescue you?"
It had the desired effect, as Willow looked up at him and glared. "Shut up!"
Don laughed as she started climbing again. One thing he'd learned about Willow early on was that she hated having people do things for her. Especially if it was something she knew she could do. Being incapable of a task was different than letting someone do it for her.
Eventually she reached the top, settling in next to Don, looking down at the busy warehouse floor below her.
"That was fun," she said once she caught her breath. "Can we do it again?"
Don smiled and congratulated himself on the idea of the climbing facility. She had a look on her face he'd only seen a few times before - the discovery of something new that was truly 'new'. He'd been on a few of her quests to 'find out what I like', and had seen many of them end in disappointment. Either she didn't like something, or already 'knew' how she should feel about it. Their latest excursion to a museum showing an exhibit of ancient civilizations had ended short when she'd realized most of the translations were wrong, and that the exhibits had pieces from various eras mixed in together.
Neither of them knew what that said about her previous life.
Hours later, sitting in the car, Don couldn't help feeling a little smug and a lot proud of himself. Willow looked exhausted and sore, but also languid and relaxed, blissed out on adrenaline.
"I'm going to be so sore tomorrow," she said after a minute, staring sightlessly through the windshield.
"So you had fun," Don said.
"Oh yeah. Once I got over the mind numbing terror, it was a blast." She still had a dopey smile curving her lips as she looked over at him.
"You know, they have year long memberships," said Don, putting out an offer he hadn't consciously decided on yet. But she looked so happy right now, and Don wanted her to feel this way as often as possible.
Willow turned back to the windshield, the smile leaving her face as she bit her lip in contemplation.
"Would you come with me?" she asked after a moment, turning back to him.
Putting the keys in the ignition, Don smiled as he started the car. "I'd love to."
End Part 4
Part 5