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Part II

(“Deep within I’m shaken by the violence of existing for only you” Sarah Mclachlan – Do What You Have To Do)

 

Chapter 13 – Reunions

("Wrapped up like a knot in a ball of shoelace" Filter – Skinny)

 

                She was in the magic box and there was Anya, but just Anya, with her back turned, getting the morning jobs done to start the opening of the store.  Willow looked down, seeing no circle, no trace of anything.  It had worked, she was home.

                “Anya!” Willow practically yelled out.  The blonde turned and watched as Willow rushed up and wraped her arms around her, grabbing tight and lifting the young shop keeper into the air with a giant hug.  “God it’s good to see you.”  Willow continued to hug Anya for a moment longer then let her down.  “Where is everyone?  Where’s Tara and Dawn?”  Willow noticed for the first time that the shop keep was actually speechless for a moment.  Then finally the young ex-demons wits returned.

                “Willow, you’re back!  It’s good that you’re back, you need to kill a lot of demons because we can’t do your work for you you know.”  Willow grinned.

                “Where is everyone Anya?” the red head asked again in a forced patient voice.

                “Oh.  Giles is out on some form of business.  Xander is at work and I think Dawn is at school.”

                “Tara?” Willow asked.

                “She’s at home.  Ever since you left she’s stayed in her room and hasn’t come out.  Plus she’s been snippy too.  You should go over to the house and make her not snippy, it’s getting annoying.”  Willow pushed the comment aside in her mind and started out the door.

                “If you see anyone, tell them that I’m gunna be at home ok?  We can all catch up then.” 

                Tara felt a rustling on her bed as her eyes fluttered open.  Gently, she turned her head around from where she was laying to see that someone was sitting at the head of the bead, next to where she was resting her own head.

                “Hey sleepy, anyone ever tell you that you’re gunna waste your life away in bed?”  Tara felt herself wanting to bring herself upright at the voice, wanting to react but her strength had left her some time ago.  She felt herself to weak to do anything quickly, if at all.

                “Willow?” she whispered out.  The blonde watched as her eyes began to focus on the figure near her.

                “Yeah, it’s me.  Someone said you’ve been hanging out at home to much so I came back to help get you out and about.”  Tara felt a hand from Willow brush across her forehead, moving some stray hairs away from her face.  The blonde smiled at the feeling.  She wanted to bring her friends hand down and kiss it softly but she knew couldn’t even if she had the strength.  “I brought some soup in for you.  Can you sit up against the back of the bed?”  Willow watched her friend close her eyes for a moment and then slowly start to move about.  She watched her friend struggle to find the energy to set herself up right as she squirmed her body about.  “Her, listen just lay still and I’ll just sit behind you ok?  You can just rest your head in my lap and I’ll feed you, you won’t have to move.”  Tara smiled up to the comment.  Willow moved her self across the bed slightly, bringing her sitting body behind the head of her friend, gently guiding the blonde’s head to her lap, leaning her forward slightly.  Willow leaned over and grabbed the bowl of soup from the counter and patiently began feeding her friend spoonful after spoonful of tomato soup, smiling down.  As she emptied the bowl into Tara’s stomach bit by bit, Willow felt herself trying not to bend down and lay her lips softly on her friends forehead or rubbing her own cheek against her friend’s, and found it increasingly harder to resist as time went on. 

                The rest of the afternoon went pretty much the same, Willow helping to feed Tara slowly, giving her water and vitamins every now and then, talking to her, trying to raise her spirits up as well as her health.  Towards the end of the day Tara finally moved out of bed and took a shower, washing off all the sweat and grim she had accumulated over the last few days of her self imposed bed restraint.  Willow busied herself downstairs with Xander, Giles, and Dawn when they came home.  She explained some of the story to them and what she had been through as they listened wide eyed.  By the time Tara had finished up and had come down stairs Anya had finally returned home and everyone was getting ready to sit down to a dinner of pizza and soda ordered by Xander.  As everyone sat down in the living room Willow smiled inwardly as Tara moved in and sat next to her.  Willow quelled the thought of scooting close to her friend and snuggling up to her, keeping her mind on the recounting of her story.  She walked through the details of her small adventure, watching the faces change expressions as she told then about Buffy, about her and Dawn’s parents being alive there, and about how pretty much everything was the same there as it was here.  Finally towards the end, she talked about the other Tara canceling her spells that she had been using.

                “I think I wanna try just going it regular for a while.  I’m tired of running around at all hours of everyday.  And besides, it would be nice to be able to sleep in every once in a while.”  Willow unconsciously pressed her hand against the necklace that lay just under her shirt as she stated her last comment. 

                “I think I speak for all of us when I say that we are relieved you have made this decision.  We have all been worried about you lately,” Giles said in a fatherly tone.  Willow smiled.

                “Yeah, I know.  It had just seemed like things had been so hectic for so long that I was always behind no matter what I did but…  I just kept wanting to catch up but…”  Willow sighed.  “I’ll find some way to cope with my time management issues,” the redhead grinned.  “If you guys don’t mind, I think I’ll bunk out here on the couch, let Dawn keep her room so she can study.”  Willow smiled down at Dawn who was stuffing her face full of pizza and Pepsi.  “Cause I know how earnest you are at keeping those grades up,” the redhead said as she eyed her little sister.  Dawn simply gave a look that was indiscernible because of the fact that her face was contorted with cheekfulls of pizza pie.

                “We can find you some blankets and an alarm clock.  I think Xander has some spare pillows in a cabinet upstairs,” Anya stated.  “But you’ll have to be up early, it would be improper to have someone sleeping on the couch all hours of the day, what would the neighbors say?”

                “Thank you for the fact that you save our lives on a monthly if not weekly basis?” Willow offered up.  Anya looked like she was about ready to make another statement but was interrupted by Tara.

                “You can’t sleep on the couch, you should have a room to sleep in after all you do for everyone.  You can sleep in my bed for awhile while we figure something out for you.”  Time slowed down for a moment for Willow as she turned to look at her friend.  The redhead felt something dance up the back of her spine as she replayed Tara’s words in her head.  And for a moment, the briefest of moments, she thought she caught the slightest hint of a blush in the blonde’s cheek, but it disappeared before she could make sure.  “I can sleep on the floor.  It’ll be like a sleep over with pajamas and pillow fights!” Tara said excitedly.  Willow felt herself let out a little laugh as she smiled back at her friend.

                “Ok, you talked me into it,” the Slayer grinned.  “But you’ll have to go easy on me.  I know some of the combat arts but for some reason my pillow fighting style has never been truly utilized, I feel at a distinct disadvantage.”  As Willow smiled and looked into her friends eyes she paused and just watched her friend, and it was at that point that a pillow hit her across her head from across the table they were all sitting near.  The redhead turned to see her little sister wearing a ‘More Innocent Than Thou’ look.

                “Dawn,” Anya chimed in.  “That is inappropriate horseplay around food.  You should kn—“ the ex-demon was quickly cut off by a couch pillow thrown into her face.  Willow watched as Tara let out a slight giggle at her own guilt.  Giles tried to interject to concur with Anya’s statement but was quickly interrupted by Xander.

                “I’ll protect you Anya,” the young man let out as he grabbed the seat cushion from the chair he was on and hit Tara in the side.  The sorceress, who was sitting on the couch near Willow, fell to her side in a motion of defeat.  For the rest of the night Anya’s complaints were drowned out as everyone proceeded to pummel each other with what ever pillow or cushion they could get their hands on.  Finally, Anya caved in and joined in with the motley bunch, exclaiming cries of vengeance on the people who had hit her with their foamy weapons.

 

Chapter 14 – Suppression

(“The yearning to be near you” Sarah Mclachlan – Do What You Have To Do)

 

                Willow walked into Tara’s bedroom dressed in her Wonder Woman pajamas and felt a small wash of guilt mixed with something else she couldn’t quit discern as she looked at her friend who was making up a sleeping bag on the floor.  Tara dutifully was making sure the edges of her sleeping bag were flat and crisp, adjusting this corner here and smoothing out that corner their, her back to her friend.  Willow walked quietly up behind her friend and started to stretch her hand out but stopped before she began running her hand through the blondes hair.  Tara still appeared oblivious to Willow’s presence as she started placing pillows neatly about her sleeping arrangement, adjusting stuffed animals in certain key places.  Willow simply stood there as she watched her friend move about, seeming to try to create a work of art out of her sleeping area.

                “I love you,” Willow mouthed silently to her friend’s back.  “You know,” Willow said as she cleared her throat to let Tara know of her presence in the room.  The blonde quickly turned around with a startled look to face her friend.  “You don’t have to sleep on the floor.  This is your room after all I mean.”  Willow let her eyes wander about the room, across the pictures and posters that hung about.

                “Na, no, tha that’s ok.”  Willow watched as Tara took a slow breath.  “You deserve a chance to sleep in a bed after what you’ve gone through, it’s ok.”  Willow sat down on the edge of Tara’s bed.

                “Listen you should…  I…”  Willow felt herself get confused at what she wanted to say and then it all of a sudden just came out.  “We can just sleep together.”  The redhead felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up as she mentally berated herself for her remark.  She thought about trying to verbally retract her statement for a brief second but decided to continue on, trying to loose her comment in the forward momentum of the conversation.  “I’m pretty sure I’m not a cover hog and I don’t kick and I think it would be ok if that’s alright with you and I don’t snore, or at least I don’t think I do, and you won’t have to sleep on a hard floor so you can get a good nights sleep for school and…”  Willow trailed off as she slowly dropped her gaze away from her friend to the floor.

                “Ok,” Tara responded quietly.  Willow sat on the bed in silence for a moment, not knowing quit what to say or do.  She watched as Tara gently picked up her stuffed animals that she had placed near her sleeping bag on the floor and put them back onto the bed.  Forcing herself to move, Willow stood up and helped move the pillows that were on the floor to the closet along with the sleeping bag.  As the two moved about they both could feel a kind of nervous silence settle in between the both of them as the two unconsciously tried to avoid each other’s gaze.  Finally the two friends slipped into the large bed and pulled the covers up about them.  Willow felt her eyes concentrating on the ceiling as she gripped the ends of the blankets with her hands, not knowing why she wanted so desperately to clear her mind of everything.

                “You know I can sleep above the covers if you…  Just incase I kick in my sleep I mean…  I don’t think I do but just, you know…” Willow mumbled with a nervous tint in her voice.

                “Tha, that’s ok.  It can get cold at night in here so ya you…  You don’t have to if you don’t want too,” Tara responded quietly to the ceiling that she was concentrating on as well.

                “Well…  If it gets cold, I mean…  If it’s ok then I’ll just go to sleep then.  I mean I know it’s ok to go to sleep.  I mean, what else does a person do in a bed besides sleep anyway?”  Willow could feel her face pale at her last comment.  “So I’m just gunna go to sleep now.”

                “Ok,” Tara let out in an almost whisper.  Willow tried hard to close her eyes and relax her muscles as she laid in bed, forcing her breathing to be calm and smooth.  After a while Willow felt a rustling next to her as Tara turned over on her side away from Willow and adjusted her body.  Then it happened, Willow felt Tara’s foot brush up and come to rest on her left leg, it just staid their, warm and soft, even through her PJ’s.  And that’s when it came to Willow, when something in her became clear, she knew that her day was over.  All the trials and hardships were done, all the bills and work were somewhere on the other side of the bedroom door, other dimensions and the trio were outside the room, away from the bed that she and Tara were in.  And she was where she wanted to be, in bed with her friend, with the woman she loved.  Willow felt a slight pain in her heart for not being able to turn over, to pull Tara close, but with Tara there, touching her, even if it was a casual placement of a leg, Willow knew that they both were going to be with each other all night, and a lot more seemed bearable then.  Willow drifted off to sleep with thoughts of waking up with Tara’s arm wrapped around her, her friend’s head resting near her neck, holding her close.  The Slayer smiled as she slept.

                The next morning, after Tara had showered and got ready for school and was about to head out of the front door she heard Willow call her name from behind.  The blonde turned around and thought for a second she saw a fleck of nervousness dance across her friend’s eyes.

                “Hey Tara I…  I noticed you weren’t, you know, in my dreams last night,” the Slayer said in an almost whisper.  Tara paused for a moment, confused at why Willow had spoken so quietly to her.  She watched as her friend gave another almost imperceptible look of nervousness as she cleared her throat.  “I was just kinda wondering because…  I mean I was wondering if everything was alright you know,” Willow let out in a louder tone.  Tara frowned slightly to her friend as she pulled a small ruby out from under her blouse.

                “The ruby I have acts as a kind of gateway into your dreams but for me to use it I need to cast an activation spell every time I want to use it before I go to sleep.  It takes time and ingredients, common one’s but finite none the less.  Besides, the last time I was in your dream everything seemed to be going well for you and I don’t like to use magic when I don’t have too.  I’m sorry I didn’t explain everything to you.  I was meaning too but you got sucked away into that other dimension before I got the chance to tell you everything.”  Tara hugged her friend close.  “But you’re back now.”  The young blonde watched as Willow beamed up at her.  Tara stepped back and prepared to once again head off to school as she heard Willow speak up.

                “If you want...  You can check up on me anytime, in my dreams.  I don’t mind.  I mean, if you want to that is.”  Tara paused as she watched her friend’s face seem to become confused with different emotions.  “I…  I gotta go and get ready for work,” Willow mumbled out and turned quickly to head upstairs.  Tara stood there for a moment longer and then headed off for school wondering about their conversation.

                And so a week went by for the Slayer.  Willow talked her boss into giving her her job back, feigning ignorance as to what had happened, explaining that she had simply woken up on the shore at the beach without any memory of the experience.  She was surprised that he had accepted the story, but wasn’t too surprised.  She began doing her patrols a little earlier, splitting some of the duty with Spike who seemed anxious to hear about her experience with the ‘other’ Spike.  Willow began rearranging her life, all to get home early and go to sleep, go to sleep with Tara.  Willow found herself smiling at the most random times during her day as her mind wondered to curling up in bed with her PJ’s and blankets next to Tara.  And every night Willow found an arm or leg from Tara resting against her.  It didn’t take long for Willow to become so accustomed to the physical contact that she realized that she couldn’t sleep without being close to her, touching her lightly in some way.  She became acutely aware of the fact when a little over a week had passed and they were both in bed and Willow realized she needed to use the bathroom.  Willow was on the left of the bed, on her side, facing away from Tara.  Tara herself was on her side as well, sleeping with her body towards her friend and her hand had come to rest so that it was just touching the back of her friend.  Willow got out of bed quietly and hurried to the restroom and back at which point she noticed Tara had turned over and curled up into an almost fetal position.  Willow slipped into bed and laid awake for what seemed like forever, watching the ceiling carefully and examining the different cracks and bumps to see what kind of correlation she could find about them, she counted sheep, she tried to slow her breathing but she couldn’t get to sleep.  Finally, carefully, slowly, she turned towards the sorceress and gently slid her hand across the small space between them to let it brush up and lay against her friend’s back.  She wasn’t quit sure but Willow thought for a moment that she saw Tara’s body move slightly, like she was releasing a breath that she had been holding, or relaxing muscles that she had been keeping tense, when she touched her friend.  Willow let the thought slip from her mind as she happily drifted off into sleep knowing once again that Tara was near her, warming the same bed she slept in.

 

Chapter 15 – Territorial Dissonance

(“I used to be so big and strong, I used to know my right from wrong, I used to never be afraid, I used to be somebody” Nine Inch Nails – Down In It)

 

                Willow glanced at her watch as she approached the front porch of the house.  She read 10:00pm and let out a whimper.  She was feeling happy earlier when she had gotten off of work early, anxious to do a quick patrol and then get home and maybe see a movie with Tara, or was it a play?  Willow wasn’t sure what it was, only that Tara wanted to share it with her and that made her happy.  But unfortunately her patrol had taken up more time than she had wanted when she had stumbled on a nest of Keffler demons nesting near a school playground.  Taking the little out had been quick but the adult had taken her from one part of Sunnydale to almost the complete other side.  She wanted to call but the first time she thought she had a free chance to phone Tara, the mother Keffler hit her from behind, knocking the phone out of her hand and into a sewer drain.  Not only that, but the demon had beat her down pretty good.  Willow took her left hand and rubbed her right shoulder at the thought.

                “Tara isn’t gunna be happy about this at all,” Willow said in a whisper to herself.  The redhead had thought about picking up flowers to help with an apology but had decided against it.  Actually she hadn’t decided on anything, she had just gotten too scared to buy any when she was at the store.  Nothing seemed to be going quit the way she had wanted it to today.  Willow sighed again and opened up the front door, dragging herself in.  As she hung up her coat and tilted her sword against the wall she heard the faint sounds of conversation coming from inside the kitchen.  Willow turned her head and tried to perk up an ear but realized it was no use.  She couldn’t hear as well as she used, not without her spells.  The young Slayer felt a small wisp of regret but let it pass as she knew that giving up her spells was one of the things that had allowed her to get closer to Tara.  Part of her had even been thinking about telling Tara how she felt.  She knew that Tara wouldn’t feel the same way but telling her the truth seemed to be something she wanted to do more and more as of late, the only thing preventing her was fear.  Willow forced herself to take a breath and clear mind as she walked into the kitchen.  She walked in to see Tara chatting happily with Anya and Xander.

                “It was great, the kids were trying really hard, you could tell.  The lead girl was real good too.  She delivered all her lines on time and it was easy to tell she was really in character.  One of the boys forgot their lines and improved for a bit, but it was cute.”  Willow walked up quietly behind Tara and tapped her left shoulder, quickly moving to the right side of her as Tara as the blonde turned her head to look left.

                “Hey there,” Willow said playfully.  Tara turned straight to see her friend and gave a half smile.  “Sorry about being late, Keffler demon’s kept me busy all night,” the redhead said, motioning to her dirtied jeans and shirt.  She watched as Tara reached over to the kitchen table and picked up a napkin and started wiping her face.

                “You know you’re kinda a sloppy Slayer,” Tara said with a smirk as she pulled the napkin back to show the patch of purple ooze that had been on her face.  Willow wondered if Tara could see her blush from under the dirt that was still on her face.  “It’s ok.”

                “No, it’s not.  I was gunna go with you tonight but I didn’t.  You wanna try and do something tomorrow?  It should be better tomorrow night,” Willow said.

                “No, don’t worry about it.  A new classmate fro—“  Willow didn’t pay attention to the rest of the sentence from Tara.  Instead she turned her head to see the young gentleman stepping into the kitchen from the living room.

                “Sorry about that, I kinda got lost on the way to the bathroom.  I’m not all that proficient with directions I must confess,” the young man said.  Willow couldn’t tell why but something cold passed through her, leaving a chill in her bones.

                “Who are you?” the Slayer asked in a voice that danced on the edge of hostile.  The young man gave a toothy smile to Willow.

                “Hello, I’m Alex,” the young man said simply as he extended his arm out.  Willow stood there looking at Alex quietly, ignoring the offered handshake.

                “Hi Alex, may I help you with something?” Willow asked as her back muscles tensed up.  Alex’s face contorted into a somewhat confused look at Willow’s comment.

                “Willow!” Tara said in a stern voice.  “Be nice, he was the one that took me to the play today,” Tara said as she put a hand on Alex’s shoulder.  “Honestly, what’s gotten into you?”

                “I’m sorry I just…  I guess I’m tired and worn out is all.  I think I’m gunna go to bed.”  Willow turned to look at Alex.  “Listen, sorry for being snippy, I didn’t mean to make you feel un-welcomed.”  Willow hesitated for a moment then brought her hand out and shook Alex’s.  The young man gave a warm look to Willow as he shook her hand.

                “I have to be going,” Alex stated as he let go of the Slayer’s hand and turned to Tara.

                “No, no, don’t go because of me.  I didn’t mean to be so rude,” Willow pleaded, not wanting to anger Tara any more.  Alex smiled back at Willow’s comment causing something cold to dance in the back of her mind, elusive and hard to pin down.

                “Oh no, it’s nothing to do with you, I just need to be getting home, it’s late.  There’s a test I need to study for tomorrow and I’m already behind,” Alex said.  Tara suddenly gave a grave look.

                “Oh, I’m so sorry Alex, I didn’t know you had a test to study for.  I would have never asked you out to that play if I knew.  I’m sorry.”  Willow watched as Alex smiled his toothy smile down at Tara.

                “It’s ok, it was worth it.  Besides, I know the material pretty much already, I just need to review is all, don’t worry about it.”  As Alex turned around to start towards the door Tara pulled on his coat sleeve and kissed him lightly on the cheek.  Willow stood frozen for a moment, unable to move or react or breath.

                “See you tomorrow at school?” Tara asked in a playful tone.

                “With bells on,” Alex replied in a sickeningly sweet tone.

                “With bells on?” Willow mouthed silently with a confused disgusted look.  After Alex had left Willow dragged herself upstairs into bed before Anya had started in with her questions for Tara.  She changed and laid down in bed and started replaying through the day in her head, always ending up pausing at Alex.  After a while Willow closed her eyes, trying to go to sleep but instead only tossing and turning.  Finally Willow simply laid in bed in the dark and watched the clock on Tara’s counter tick the time away until Tara came in the bedroom.

                “Hey, I thought you’d be asleep by now,” Tara commented in an offhanded voice as she got into bed.

                “Yeah, I guess I’ve just been thinking is all.  It’s been a long day.”  Willow sighed as she turned her head away from Tara to look at the bedroom door that she could barley make out in the dark.  “Listen, sorry again about Alex,” Willow said while trying to keep her voice above a mumble.

                “It’s ok, he’s pretty good about stuff like that,” Tara replied.

                “He’s pretty good about stuff like that!?  You talk like you’ve known him for a while.  Are you two good friends?  Why didn’t you ever tell me about him?” Willow let out in a restrained voice, agitation still showing through.

                “Willow!  What’s wrong with you?  Why are you so upset?  Listen, I’m sorry that I didn’t go to the play with you, I didn’t do it out of spite.  I tried to call you but I didn’t get an answer so I just went.  If you’re mad at me, I’m sorry then.  I didn’t know tha—“

                “I just,” Willow cut in.  “Something about Alex rubs me the wrong way.  I don’t know but I’ve got a bad feeling about that guy.”

                “I appreciate your concern for me but it’s ok.  He’s a good person.  Besides, I checked his aura and he didn’t have anything wrong with him.  You should really give him a chance.  Anyways, I think I kinda like him.”  Tara felt an awkward silence creep in after her comment as Willow gave no response for while.  Slowly the Slayer spoke up.

                “You two are dating?” Willow asked in a cautious voice.

                “No but I think…  Maybe we might, I don’t know.  I hope we might.  I’m not sure…” Tara said in a warm voice.

                “How long have you two been friends?” Willow asked.

                “He transferred into my English class today.  The teacher assigned him to me so tha—“

                “Today?!” Willow said in a strained voice.  “You met him today and you’re already dating?  Isn’t that a little fast?  I mean I guess I don’t know him bu—“

                “That’s right, you don’t know him.  I don’t want to talk about this anymore tonight.  We can talk about this tomorrow after you’ve gotten some sleep,” Tara said in a final tone.  Willow almost interjected a comment but decided not too.  As the two laid in bed Willow waited for, hoped for, the casual brush of a hand against her back or the soft nudge of a foot against her leg but none came.  Finally Willow turned to face her friend how was sleeping with her back to the redhead.  Willow hesitated for a minute and then gently moved her foot to come to rest lightly against her friends leg and let it lay their.  Willow let out an internal sigh as she started to close her eyes, knowing that even with their heated talk that everything was ok, that Tara was still there with her, but just as Willow fully closed her eyes she felt Tara adjust her body and pull away slightly, just enough to remove Willow from touching her leg.  Willow hesitated for a moment then pulled her leg back up near herself and turned over.

                “I’m sorry,” Willow whispered silently as she took a hand to wipe away a tear on her face. The next day Willow woke to an empty bed as her alarm clock went off.  She looked around the room for any signs of Tara but gave up hope and finally threw her legs down and stood up and went to shower.  As she redied herself for her day, Willow kept seeing images of Alex’s toothy smile over and over again, making her stomach quesy.  After she had eaten breakfast and packed lunch Willow started for her car but paused as she sat in the drivers seat.  Willow sat in the car and watched the dashboard clock tick by as she struggled with an internal debate until finally she got out of the drivers side and went back into the house and called in sick for work.

                “Are you gunna be ok to come to work tomorrow?” Jeff asked in a concerned tone.

                “Yeah, I think so.  I think I just ate some bad fast food last night but I’m just staying home just in case is all,” Willow lied.  “Sorry about the short notice.”

                “That’s ok, it’s projected to be a slow day anyways.  Just rest and feel better for tomorrow,” Willow’s manager said sympathetically.

                “I will, thanks.  And sorry again,” Willow added.

                “No problem.  Gotta go, customers at the door,” Jeff said in a distracted tone.

                “Ok, bye.”  Willow hung up the phone and frowned to herself.  She had done this more than once to Jeff, taken days off for personal reasons.  In her own defense, almost all the times she had taken off were to stop demons and vampires, and that counted as work too, so she didn’t feel to guilty about times like those.  Plus, she had taken a few days off a few times because she was actually sick.  Willow put work out of her mind, a determined look settling in on her face, as she grabbed her laptop and connected with the local college’s servers.

                “Let’s see what’s so special about you Alex, cause me and you, we’re gunna be new best friends,” Willow mumbled to herself as she started her search for everything the school had on Tara’s boyfriend.  As she poured through the school systems, Willow pieced together what little information she could find on Alex.  Alex Chesterberg came from Twofalls, Utah where he was the star quarterback and maintained a decent 3.4 GPA.  Young Mr. Chesterberg also was a member of the year book club and participated in the meals on wheels program.  Apparently Alex oozed American pride and apple pie, Willow felt herself getting sick at the sheer excess of clichés the young boy presented.  As Willow continued her search she found more of the same, young Alex keeping up with his town and helping out in small community projects and other school related functions.  After scanning through all she could Willow let out a huff and leaned back in her chair as she turned her laptop off.

                “Well I guess if you’re finally gunna get together with someone, you couldn’t have picked a better guy Tara.  I just wished…  I guess it doesn’t matter what I wish, you deserve to be with who ever makes you happy.”  Willow let out another sigh as she resigned herself to accepting Alex in Tara’s life.  Willow knew she didn’t have much of a choice in the matter and she knew that she could be happy in the fact that Tara was happy.  In the entire time that Willow had known Tara she had never dated anyone and whenever Willow had tried to bring up the subject Tara always shied away from the topic or gave the distinct impression that it was a topic she didn’t want to pursue and Willow respected that.  Willow decided to lounge around the house, cleaning up odds and ends, doing laundry, until Dawn was out of school, at which point she thought she’d head over there and pick up her little sister as a surprise.

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