Reach Out and Touch Someone

[DaddyCatALSO]

Summary;Tara makes a phone call to her father.
Rating;G, pretty much
Disclaimer;The charcaters of Tara and Mr. Maclay,Willow, and the Sunnydale setting are property of ME PRoductions;no compensation is being taken for thsis tory. Jared is an original character of the author's.
Comments; You won't hurt me....

Reach Out and Touch Someone


Bo Maclay was sitting at his desk on a Friday evening, pulling together the last few sums and quotients, differences, products, and fractions, which represented the financial picture of his farm at the end of that week. The main business line rang.

“Hello, Maclay Ranch.”

“Hello, Dad, I’d heard you’d change the name recently.”

“Good evening, Tara. To what do I owe this unexpected call?”

“Well, I though you should know that Willow’s pregnant.”

“Why should I know that? Illegitimacy rates may be declining, but it’s still a major problem in this country. I can’t take the time to be more concerned about one more bastard, even if my daughter is sleeping with its mother.”

Tara had been expecting both anger and coldness, but she felt it as a harder blow than she had expected. She took a breath and continued.

“In-vitro fertilization, Dad. The baby is from my egg. You deserve to know about it, at least. I thought you might, possibly, even care a little.”

Mr. Maclay shook his head and sighed audibly, even clucked his tongue a bit. “You’ll stop at nothing, will you? Anything to justify your idolatry and unnatural passions. And now you’re going to build a fake family on your sandy ground.”

“Dad, that baby has my genes, and that’s real. That baby is growing in Willow’s womb, and that’s real. There’s nothing fake about it!”

“Except a temporary relationship based on bodies that don’t fit together.”

“Willow and I couldn’t be more permanent if . . . if anything were different.”

“And to prove that, you two conspire to create this mock sharing of the fertility that God built into nature, a fraud compared to the true fruitfulness Donny and I deal with everyday up here.”

[DaddyCatALSO]

Part 2

Tara had resolved not to return anger for anger, but she could not stop herself from doing a little needling, “Like your herd of dachshunds?”

“Don’t be flip, Tara, and that actor looked nothing like me. Besides, you were dead when that commercial was running; don’t tell me Willow was tapping things for you while you were away,” he said, sarcasm dripping from his voice like juices from a roast.

“No, Dad, I came back with a complete set of memories of the time that had passed.”

“False memories of earth, to go along with that phony afterlife you claim to remember.”

“And you’re going to start that again?”

“Yes, anytime I speak with you. The Enemy knows something of the future, he knew you wouldn’t be staying where you were, he knew what your demon lover would attempt. Of course he’d set up a Potemkin village for your poor lost soul, so you wouldn’t come back speaking the truth. He is the Prince of Lies, and you’re living in one of the dukedoms under him.”

“I see calling was a mistake . . . . “

“It can be Providence, Tara. I don’t want my little girl lost forever. Unstop your ears, God’s door is always open, and so is mine. And there’s room for you. My adding those extra lots and putting in the cattle was the right idea; the profits are more than doubled from what the truck farm alone brought in. Donny needs a partner. There are several boys from the Montana and Missouri and even the Alabama Maclays who’d be happy to have you to wife, regardless how you look now or what you’ve done, and take a half share as the dowry. We have a place for you, baby,” he said, sounding plaintive, even concerned.

Tara relaxed a bit; things were basically the way they had always been. But she was not, and that gave her strength.

“Dad, if that had ever been right for me, I never would have left. And yes, that used to be a good way to control me; you and Donny and most of the other relatives had me well convinced I was unattractive to men and I’d end up alone if I didn’t do what you all told me. Even after I realized I didn’t want that, it still bothered me, a part of me.

“But I know better now. For what it’s worth, I’ve seen the boys checking me out. There’s even an old friend of Willow’s, he’s just over a year younger than she is, who’d run off to Vegas with me tomorrow if I told him I wanted to. He’s even a Christian, although you wouldn’t think so since he’s not a creationist.”

“But of course that won’t happen.”

“No, Dad, it won’t, because that’s not who I am, which Jared understands, just like all my other friends who moved back here when the town was rebuilt. To you it isn’t real, but I’ve found love here. Besides, he’s already said flat-out he’d rather have us both as friends than either of us as a wife,” she continued. She didn’t add that neither she nor Willow had known how to take that comment when he’d made it; it was obvious from his expression at the time that he had been making a wisecrack, and his tone of voice had actually sounded somehow relieved.

“So there really was no point in our talking tonight, was there?”

“You’re wrong, Dad, there was a point, the original point. You have a grandchild on the way, and it was only right for me to tell you that.”

“Well, you have, so I guess there’s nothing more for us to talk about, is there?”

“I guess not. Good night, Dad.”

“Good night, Tara.”

[AlysonGoddess]

Good start... cant wait to see where your going with this please continue!!

xx Peace Out xx

Erin

[LtSticks]

I really like this, I like the way you've brought Tara back and also made her deal with her father and also the future (Willow and their child).

Can't wait for more

~Emma

[eirnlove]

I hate the father.

keep on very interesting!

[DaddyCatALSO]

Uhhh, this is actually the whole thing....

[tarebear]

daddycatALSO

it is just like tara to try and reach out to her father and share in her joys even if a part of her knows that she would just be rejected... she is definitely in a happy place in her life and she wanted to let her father in on it... to make it known that she has broken away from the oppression and manipulation and found not only herself but someone who could love her in spite of her past, and the future holds so much promise now that the love of her life bears in her a proof of their love.

Dad, there was a point, the original point. You have a grandchild on the way, and it was only right for me to tell you that.”

“Well, you have, so I guess there’s nothing more for us to talk about, is there?”

boy, isn't he just dripping with happiness for her! (what a waste of her time!) i would like to give him a piece of my mind!

nicely done piece, daddycatALSO!


ces

[DaddyCatALSO]

Again, thanks; I don't have the strict "inerrantist" background myself but I've been around it a lot, in college and while living at a mission a couple years back and I tried to get both sides accurately. And the point; Tara made the effort not to keep anything from him, so regardless of what happened it wouldn't be her error. (Fact is, I do a lot of pieces with several of the Scoobs and hangers-on regarding children, careers, etc.)