Five Times Willow Met the Doctor

Time Three (Ninth Doctor)

The third time Willow met the Doctor, was after the end of the world. Well, sort of. It was after she'd tried to end the world, but was stopped by her oldest friend and a yellow crayon. She was curled into Xander's lap, crying like her soul had been ripped out of her in tiny shreds – which it kind of had, in certain metaphorical terms – when she heard that strange vromp-vromp sound again and an odd blue box appeared on the hilltop next to them.

The Doctor strode out of the TARDIS with an annoyed look on his face, and upon seeing Willow curled up in Xander's lap, froze.

“Oh, well it would be you.”

Willow pulled herself from her grief enough to give him a look of such utter despair, that the Doctor's ire melted away in an instant.

“What are you doing here?” Willow asked him, blinking through the tears.

“Whatever stunt you pulled had enough energy in it to pull the TARDIS off course,” was his answer as he crouched down next to her. Willow started wailing again, sobbing out her apologies. The Doctor just rolled his eyes and ignored the looks and questions he was getting from Xander.

“Enough of that,” he said, his voice gentling. “It's partly my fault, for not coming round earlier to explain.”

“Explain? Explain what? Who are you?” demanded Xander. Yet another look of annoyance was all he got for his efforts.

“Come on, Willow. Let's go on a little tour of the universe, huh?” he cajoled, seeing interest on her tear-stained face. “I've got some friends I want you meet.”

“Rose?” asked Willow, searching for her over his shoulder.

“And Jack. You'll love them, promise,” said the Doctor, a gentle urging in his voice. “Come on, then. There's an entire universe to explore, and some things that need tellin'.”

Standing up, he held out his hand to Willow, his smile growing as she took it, leading her back the TARDIS and his waiting companions.

Xander just stood in complete bemusement, watching his oldest friend being led away by some stranger, into a blue box that disappeared seconds after the door closed.

He'd just gotten to the first stage of his panic attack, wondering how many ways Giles knew to kill him, when the box reappeared, and Willow walked out.

In different clothes, longer hair and a more peaceful expression on her face.

“Oh, Xander. I missed you so much,” she said, throwing her arms around him as the blue box disappeared again.

“What?!”

END

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