http://quickie.moonlightpaths.com
disclaimer: I own nobody from Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel the Series.
distribution: WLS, NHA, QPC, Bite Me please?, anyone else just ask.
note: AU from the Angel season 1 episode Hero.
Willow shifted uncomfortably in her bed, her shoulders brushing against
her husband as she tried to find a comfortable position. They were
delighted to be expecting their first child next month, but her advanced
pregnancy made it hard for Willow to find a comfortable position to sleep at
night. If she lay on her back, the baby pressed against her kidneys, and
she had to go to the bathroom. She couldn't sleep on her stomach, even if
it wasn't feeling rather large at the moment, because it made her feel like
she couldn't breathe. Even in her slumber, she tossed awkwardly, especially
when driven by troubling dreams.
Half asleep, her husband turned, his arms sliding around her, pulling her
close as he sleepily murmured soothing words, his Irish accent thickened in
his sleep. One hand tried to stroke her hair, knowing that sometimes
soothed her.
Willow frowned as the images continued, everything intense and vivid to
her sleeping mind. "no..."
* * *
A crowd of people, their faces clearly marking them as having demon
ancestry huddled in the hold of a cargo ship, their clothing worn, faded and
in some places torn or stained. Mothers clutched their children close to
them, and some tried to pray, desperately hoping that the God of their human
ancestors would deliver them. They were hybrids, poor unfortunates who had
been born with human and demon ancestry, unwelcome and undesired by either
the humans or the demons. They had hoped to buy passage to a far away
place, having collected all the money they had saved, begged, or borrowed to
buy passage.
But the Scourge had found them.
The militant group of demon purists felt that any 'human taint' made a
demon impure, unworthy to continue existence. They lined the railing, their
uniforms a dark, ominous grey, the color and style somehow reminiscent of
Hitler's forces. They were part of the reason why the hybrids cowered in
fear.
The rest of the reason dangled even now from a crane, a spiked globe of
dark grey metal. This device was the product of decades of careful research
by the Scourge, a device that would instantly vaporize anything within it's
range that carried human blood within it. Like the hybrids. Like Angel,
who as a vampire was something of a hybrid demon. Like Cordelia, the
sharp-witted aspiring actress that helped keep Angel from brooding too much.
Like Doyle himself, the child of a Brakken demon father and a human mother.
Angel started towards the railing, clearly intent to stop the lowering of
the device, but Doyle leapt forward, punching Angel, knocking him down so
that Doyle had a few moments. He jumped, his body slamming into the device
with a painful thud, the spikes drawing blood in a dozen painful paces as he
crawled over to the place where the controls were. Frantically, he tried
with fear dampened hands to disarm the device before it could unleash
horrible tragedy. His fingers were just a fraction to slow, and the rays
came forth, a searing numbness that turned the whole world to harsh white
pain....
* * *
"NO!!!" Willow sat upright, the harsh scream torn from her throat as her
whole body quivered in terror.
Her husband pulled her close to him, holding her in an effort to stop
her shaking. "Willow, sweet, it's alright. It was just a dream...
everything's fine... Unless it was the baby. Please tell me it isn't time?"
She'd turned, burrowing as close to her husband as she could, one hand
around his ribs, another raised to tangle through his dark hair. "I dreamed
about the Scourge... You were on this device, and it went off, and you
died..."
Willow closed her eyes against the hot tears, uncertain how she would
have made it through Oz's cheating and abandonment without her beloved
husband. He had been the person who had been there for her, had kept her
from drowning in despair and misery. Gradually, they'd fallen in love.
Now, they were happily married, and she couldn't imagine life without him.
"It's alright... I'm here for you. I'm not dead. Cordy shot the cable
while Angel and I were fighting, and the device shattered on the floor...
you remember all of this. We've told you so many times..." Doyle held his
wife close, rocking her in a gentle, soothing rhythm.
She sniffled slightly, knowing that it had only been a dream. "I
know... but it felt so real. You were gone. You can't go... I need you,
we need you. You have to stay and teach baby Michael everything he'll need
to know."
"Don't forget the best reason, sweet. I have you, the prettiest, most
passionate, red haired angel that a man cold ever ask for." Doyle's words
were murmured into her ear, a gentle reminder of his love.
"I love you, Doyle. You know that, right?" Willow's voice shook only a
little.
"Yes, I know. Just like I love you. Now, let's try to get a little
more sleep, alright?" Doyle spoke gently as he eased them both back to the
bed, one hand stroking her stomach where their baby shifted position.
'hrmmm... love you... don't die.' Willow's words were blurred as her
exhaustion claimed her once more.
"Never, my love. Never." Doyle murmured as he snuggled up to his
wife.