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Title: Dimension Dementia
Part: 4
Author: SallyMcFine
Feedback: I love feedback. Bring it on!
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: All disclaimers apply
Thanks: To my beta, Mrs. McFine, for her editing and storyline skills that are out of this world.
Setting: AU/canon crossover
Summary: What happens when a shy, introverted girl is torn away from her world and deposited into a dimension full of vampires, demons, and…a girlfriend?
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Part 4 - Ghost
Willow's tears spurred Buffy into action. No matter how strangely she might be acting, her best friend was clearly upset, and she jumped up from the couch and enclosed her in a secure hug. Willow didn't resist - Buffy looked a little different, but she was still the only familiar anchor in what was turning out to be a strange sea. She clung to Buffy as she cried out her confusion and fear. A corner of her mind noted that even Buffy's body felt different - she seemed impossibly strong and well-muscled as she held Willow in her embrace, whispering soothing words.
Gradually her sobs subsided and Buffy led her gently over to a wing chair on the other side of the coffee table. Giles emerged from the hallway and handed her a box of tissues, which she accepted gratefully. She stole a glance at Tara, who hadn't moved during the entire time - she sat on the couch with her arms wrapped around her torso, watching Willow with an expression of worry and...something else that Willow couldn't identify.
"All right, then," Giles spoke into the awkward silence. "No appointment at the hospital?"
She shook her head.
"Willow, why don't you tell us what it was you were doing before you came over here. That seem as good a place to start as any," he said.
She dabbed at her eyes and took a deep breath. "I got up, took a shower, had breakfast, said goodbye to Buffy, and started walking to the hospital. My appointment was at 10:00 a.m." She looked ruefully at the clock. "It was, I swear. I have this appointment card." She still clutched the card in her hand, and laid it down on the coffee table. "But they said that not only do I not have an appointment today, but my doctor isn't on staff."
Tara cleared her throat hesitantly. "Um, Willow? Why were you going to the h-hospital?"
Willow hadn't noticed that Tara had a stutter - she hadn't stuttered at all on their walk over to the apartment building. "Six days ago I hit my head on the freezer, pretty hard. It knocked me out, and Buffy found me in the kitchen. I went to the hospital and they kept me for a few days because apparently I had a seizure, and they wanted to rule out a brain tumor. Do you not remember any of this, Buffy?"
Buffy shook her head. Giles motioned for her to continue.
Mystified, Willow said "Well, I swear, it happened, unless I'm crazy. Anyway, I was having headaches, and I started having trouble with my vision."
"What kind of trouble?" Giles said. "Loss of vision?"
"Not exactly," Willow said. "Too much vision, I guess. I was seeing things that weren't there - dishes, cars, flickers of light - mostly out of the corners of my eyes. When I looked at them straight on, they weren't really there. Until this morning..." she trailed off.
"Yes?" he prompted.
"When I left the house this morning, I told Buffy I was going to walk because it was so nice outside. And I was crossing Main Street, and there's this new age shop, Middle Earth, you know?" Blank stares greeted her. "And I saw the sign change, right in front of my eyes. It changed to 'Magic Box.' And then Tara came out of the door, called me by name, and told me we were late. I just sort of got carried along - I thought she was a friend of Buffy's and that Buffy had decided to drive me to the hospital after all."
"Hmmm," said Giles, looking at Willow consideringly. "And you don't know me or Tara, but you do know Buffy."
"Yes. So you're saying that the four of us are friends?" she said absently. She saw Tara flinch again, although it was subtle. "But Buffy...you look different."
"How?" Buffy's tone was curious.
"Your hair - it's shorter than it was this morning. And you're kind of...stronger than I ever remember you being. I don't know how that could have happened so fast."
"I might have an idea," Giles said. "But it's only a hypothesis."
"What is it?"
"I think that you are not the Willow Rosenberg that we know." He said this gently, as if trying not to panic her.
It didn't work, though.
"What do you mean?" she said, her voice a little shrill as her heart resumed its pounding.
"Well, I propose that you are from an alternate reality, and you've been accidentally transported into our world."
Buffy turned to him. "Is this like the time with Anya and the necklace and everything?"
He nodded. "Similar, although it doesn't seem like the same forces were at work here. We at least know it's possible - we'll have to do some research to confirm it."
Willow couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Wait a minute, what are you talking about? Alternate reality?"
Giles looked at her. "Yes, you know - parallel universes, quantum theory, probability waves. That kind of thing."
She shook her head. "I'm not very up on my physics."
Tara and Buffy both did a double take. "You're not?" Buffy said.
She shrugged, wondering why they seemed so surprised. "I know the basics, but nothing beyond that." Her throat was a little scratchy from crying and she coughed.
Giles said "Buffy, why don't you get Willow some water." Buffy nodded and walked over to the kitchen.
While she was doing that, Tara leaned over to Giles and whispered, "Giles, if you're right, then where is..." He returned her look with one of understanding and murmured a few words to Tara. She nodded and stood up from the couch, producing a cell phone from her bag as she walked into the hallway.
"So Willow, parallel universes. One of the mathematical consequences of quantum theory is that the equations predict the possibility of infinite simultaneous realities. Without going into all the boring details," his tone became pedantic, "suffice it to say that it's possible that there are many Sunnydales, each of them infinitesimally different from the next. In this one, there's a certain ratio of nitrogen and oxygen in the air, for example. In another one, every minute detail might be identical but for that ratio - it might be slightly changed. A bit more nitrogen than oxygen. And bigger things as well - a Sunnydale where Buffy has red hair and you're a brunette. Where you have three sisters. Where the grass is pink. No matter how preposterous it sounds, the mathematics say that it's possible."
Behind his back, Buffy mimed falling asleep and snoring as she finished pouring a glass of water. Willow covered a smile with her hand, the first real smile she had since finding herself in this nightmare. No matter what universe this was, Buffy was still Buffy.
Giles glanced askance toward Buffy. "Anyway, at this point, I think it's best to assume that you and your counterpart - our Willow Rosenberg - have switched places."
She detected something evasive in his tone, but didn't pursue it, feeling so overwhelmed by what he was proposing. "Another Willow Rosenberg? Another me?" She accepted the cup Buffy handed her as her friend settled back down on the couch, where she was joined by a pale and increasingly agitated Tara, returning from the hallway.
"Possibly," Giles said. "Why don't you tell us some details from your life so we can ascertain if that seems likely. For instance, when did you meet Buffy?"
"I met her in ninth grade."
Buffy looked up. "Tenth."
Giles leaned forward. "And here we have a discrepancy, probably one of many details that makes your life different from the Willow Rosenberg in this universe."
"Why did I move to Sunnydale in ninth grade?" Buffy asked, curious.
"Your parents had split up in eighth grade and your mom wanted a fresh start. She was also...worried about some people you had been hanging out with. And we met our freshman year, which was a lifesaver for me."
"How come?"
Willow looked down. "My best friend died that summer in a car accident. He was my oldest friend since we were kids. It was really hard."
An indrawn breath made her look over at Tara, her hand over her mouth in a belated attempt to stifle the gasp.
"Wh-who...?" Tara asked.
Before Willow could answer, a scraping sound at the door caught their attention. The handle turned and the door opened, revealing a slim blonde woman who sashayed into the room, followed by a man carrying a white bakery box.
"Sorry we're late!" the blonde chirped. "Anyone want doughnuts? Oh, darn, you already have some."
Buffy glanced over. "Hey Anya. Hey Xander."
Willow's plastic water glass slipped from nerveless fingers and clattered on the floor, splashing across the hard wood. Everyone looked over at her. Her face had drained of color.
"What's up, Will?" Xander asked. He walked over and set the doughnut box on the coffee table next to the half-empty one. "You look like you've seen a ghost. Or a demon. Or a ghostly demon."
Willow tried to speak. Her lips moved, but no words came out. She stood up shakily and took some tentative steps toward Xander, who watched her curiously. She approached him and touched his face gingerly as if to convince herself that he was real.
For the second time in hour, she burst into tears.
Oh, I'm sure there is much exposition and angst yet to come, but I'm looking forward to it just the same.
Hi Sally,
Alky
that was funny. I really feel kinda bad for Willow though…that would be so scary to one minute be in your normal life and then suddenly be transported somewhere else where you don’t know the people that seem to know you and the one person you do know is offering you coffee and making jokes about how you take it intravenously.
.. and Willow and Tara have already met even 
*taps desk* Okay, I'm seriously not reading this story over and over again, perpareing for the next update. No siree, not me. What?! Hey at lease I'm not bitting my fingernails. Any lower I dont think I'll have any fingers. Just kidding, just posting, waiting for the update. 
right?? because if not that would be a really,
I had a huge lump in my throat the entire time I read that.