Title: Safe
Author: Karen U
E-mail: revivingophelia13@yahoo.com
Category: BtVS
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Joss Whedon, UPN, and other entities
that are not me
Distribution: ask first
Rating: G
Spoilers: through Wrecked
Summary: Willow goes to someone

~~*~~

No one knew she was here.

It didn’t bother him, the secrecy of it all. Secrecy was a way of life for
him, it had been for awhile now. When she had shown up at his door, shaking
and exhausted, asking if she could stay, he hadn’t questioned it. He didn’t
know how she had found him, but it didn’t bother him. He’d known for awhile
now that she was one of those who always got the information that she was
after. He knew that, accepted it. Just like he accepted her need for
secrecy. It was nothing new to him, nor had it surprised him. They had
always kept themselves a secret from their friends.

She had been worried that it would be difficult for him, keeping her tucked
away, not even allowing his superiors to know someone was with him, but he
had done it, and now one knew. He was sure of this because if they did
know, something would be said. Action would be taken.

And he’d be in big trouble.

He wasn’t sure if she knew the extent of the risk he was taking by keeping
her here, but something in her eyes told him that she did. Something in her
eyes told him that she wouldn’t have come here unless she was desperate as
well. And he couldn’t turn away from that. He couldn’t turn away from her.
He’d never been able to.

He wasn’t supposed to care. That much, he had once been certain of.
Discovering who she was, the connections she had around her... He was not,
under any circumstances, supposed to care for this girl. Riley had cared
for Buffy - fallen in love with the chick - and where had it gotten him?
Many men that didn’t know the true events of what had happened to the
Initiative, the truth behind its demise, were certain that the Slayer was at
fault. They just didn’t get that the program self-destructed. The demons
they had been ‘studying’ had literally been the death of them.

Thank God he had survived. Many others had not been so lucky.

But there were still some that blamed the Slayer and her friends for what
had happened. The number was small, but it was there, and since they were
technically forbidden to speak about that night, he didn’t try to do or say
anything to persuade them otherwise. It was probably useless, anyway. An
exercise in futility. And he tried more than anything not to get involved
in something that was futile. He’d been involved with something useless
once, and it had gotten one of his best friends killed. And others... So
many others.

Sighing, he tore his gaze from the window at looked over at the delicate
woman sitting on his couch, his thoughts returning once more to her. He had
no idea why she was there. She hadn’t offered to say, and he wasn’t asking.
He’d never asked her any questions...

Perhaps that was his problem.

Perhaps, if he had asked her questions to begin with, he would have never
found himself in such a hopeless situation. He would have known that she
was more than a pretty girl he had met on campus, and he wouldn’t have been
so surprised when he found out the truth about her. Not that he knew the
entire truth, not even now. Secrets were not discussed between them. It
was better that way. Not knowing each other’s secrets meant that they
wouldn’t tell them to anybody else.

"Are you feeling better?" he asked quietly as he walked over to the couch,
joining her on it, and she jumped a little, her wide green eyes flicking to
his face as she held the blanket a little tighter around her. It had been
raining when she had appeared on his front step, and she had been soaked to
the bone. Her hair was still damp, hanging limply around her face, and she
was shaking... Though something about her eyes made him wonder if the
shaking was from something more than just being cold.

Her eyes darted restlessly, flitting from his face to a spot above his head,
back to him, then going to the fire he had crackling in the fireplace,
settling there for a long moment. She was silent for so long that he didn’t
think she was going to answer him at all. After what felt like forever,
though, she finally did speak. "I’m... I’m fine."

"You don’t look fine. You don’t act fine," he returned, and she looked back
at him again with haunted eyes.

"I thought we didn’t ask questions."

"That wasn’t a question, it was a statement," he told her. He started to
reach and touch her, then sighed, bringing his hand back. "Do you want me
to make sure the others know you’re safe?"

"Safe," she whispered, her tone musing as she lifted the mug of hot
chocolate he’d made for her to her lips, just holding it there for a moment
before taking a sip, then lowering it once more. "I’m not... Don’t tell
them. I don’t want them to know where I am."

"Even if they figured out who you were with, they wouldn’t know how to find
me," he told her, still watching her carefully. "Willow, look-"

She flinched at the sound of her name, her eyes flicking to his face once
more before settling on something else, this time the television. Of
course, he didn’t have the television on at the moment, making it very clear
that she was just looking... Well, anywhere, in order to avoid meeting his
eyes. She had once told him that his eyes were so piercing they made her
feel that he could actually look inside her, look all the way to her
deepest, darkest places, and he wondered if that was why she refused to look
him in the eye right now. She didn’t want him to see inside of her right
now.

"I don’t want them to know where I am. I don’t want them... I’ll face them
when I’m ready. Until then, I don’t..."

"They won’t know where you are. They’ll just know that you’re okay."

"They would find a way to figure out where I was, and I... I don’t want
that. I can’t-"

Her voice broke, and he frowned, shaking his head. "They won’t know. I
won’t tell. They’ll worry about you, though."

Her smile was brittle. "Don’t be too sure of that."

"Look, Willow, I don’t pretend to know what happened-"

"You don’t want to know... I don’t... Can I stay here for awhile, Graham?"
she asked quietly, and he nodded, reaching out to stroke her hair. She
allowed it, shifting closer to him and laying her head against his chest,
letting him wrap his strong arms around her, taking comfort in his embrace.
They were silent for a long moment, and when Graham did speak, his voice was
barely more than a whisper.

"You can stay as long as you need to, Willow. Always."

The End