In The Right Place...At Least
by WildLonelyNeko
12/15/04
Chapter 1/?
Author's Note: I am the type of person who, at any given time, has many Willow/Tara fanfictions that I am working on. This is one of them. It developed from questions that I posed to myself. That, and the challenge of writing the Scooby Gang differently at the same time. Note -- I have only seen Buffy Season 4-6, and not 1-3. All of my information I got from reading fanfiction and my friend Ush-Koosh telling me stuff. We all know how unreliable those are. *grin* Enjoy!
* * * * * *
It was the bewitching hour. Glancing up at the old clock Giles had proudly brought with him from England, Willow sighed and reached out to turn off the reading lamp she had been using. Leaving a bookmark in the binding of the book she had been looking through, she shut it, rose from her seat, and stretched out her shoulders and arms. Making her way to the kitchen from memory, a soft light shining down from atop the stairs told her that Giles was still awake (or had fallen asleep reading with the light on again).
She smiled – Giles was so predictable - and opened the refrigerator, squinting at the light that blasted her in the face. She grabbed herself the carton of milk. Clinking down a glass from Giles’ cupboard, she sighed with relief when the cool milk soothed her mouth. Sometimes, milk was wonderful.
Finishing her drink, she put the cup into the sink and filled it with water, replacing the milk back into the cold where it belonged. Making her way back to the study, she thought about going upstairs to turn off Giles’ light for him, but decided against it. The idea of seeing the British gentleman in his pajamas didn’t frighten her – in fact, it might even be cute – but Willow really didn’t want to run into him if he was still awake and face some awkward questions. So she grabbed her stuff, slid into her warm winter coat, armed herself with some stakes and holy water, and left Giles’ apartment.
Willow didn’t really mind being the one who always stayed longer than everyone else when they were researching. She loved to look through the old books that Giles had brought with him. Each one was different, and the redhead knew that if she just treated them the way they were meant to be treated, the books wouldn’t mind dispensing their knowledge to her. In fact, Willow was sure that the reason Xander, Cordelia, and Buffy rarely ever achieved their goals when researching was because they thought the books were there just to help them or sleep behind. Most books wouldn’t care, though magickal ones, as a rule, did. Willow always made sure to treat hers with respect anyway.
It was a rather warm night, and she would have gladly taken a more leisurely stroll through the park, but this was Sunnydale and the Hellmouth, and she couldn’t take any chances.
So, when a bright pink aura suddenly surrounded her, she wasn’t altogether surprised. She was, however, alarmed. She twirled around, trying to see who had sent the cloud, but no one was there, and as soon as it had appeared, the pink was gone.
Willow blinked, and stopped. Had the pink ever been there? She didn’t feel any different. Had no trouble breathing. Bringing up her arm, she sniffed the sleeve of her coat, seeing if any new scent had settled there. Nope. Stuffy leather smell, as always. She touched her right hand with her left. Was it sticky? Oily? Nope, skin-feeling as always. Taste…? Slightly hesitantly, she licked her finger. The same.
Shaking her head, she decided that it was just caused by her lack of sleep. Turning back towards her house, she figured it was only logical to run the rest of the way.
So she did.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
She woke up, yawning, reaching out to turn off her annoyingly buzzing alarm. However, someone had already beaten her to it. That someone then sighed sleepily, brought the covers back up, and snuggled in securely around her. Willow settled back in, feeling safe and warm. Arms slid around her waist, secure, a heavenly scent of vanilla and sandalwood surrounding her, and the redhead decided, ‘Hey, I don’t need to go back to school today, anyway. I’m so far ahead…’
And then her eyes shot open.
The first thing the teenager noticed was that dark blonde hair seemed to be veiled across her eyes. Raising a hand to try and brush it away, she found she couldn’t, someone’s shoulders being in the way. The second thing the teenager noticed was the soft, even breathing that blew across her ear. It was somehow comforting, and Willow’s half-asleep mind tried to convince her to succumb back into dreamland. However, no matter how tempting it was, and no matter how peaceful she felt…
Willow forced herself to open her eyes again. When she wasn’t paying attention, her body had decided it was going to sleep again, but she couldn’t let it. No! She couldn’t! She wanted to know what was going on! So, with a determined expression on her face, she forced herself to pull herself out of the arms that held her, untangle her legs from the others, and managed to get herself situated with tripping only once.
“Mmm? Willow? You don’t have an early class this morning… Come back to bed…” mumbled from behind her.
Willow swung around, demanding, “Buffy? What are you talking about? Of course we have class! And how did you get in here anyway…?”
She gaped. Pointing frantically at the bed, she blurted out, “You’re not Buffy!”
And indeed the person in Willow’s bed wasn’t the blonde slayer. The girl – no, woman, Willow’s mind registered – was indeed a blonde, but her hair was much longer than her best friend’s, and more multi-colored. It hung around her face, framing the purest blue eyes Willow had ever seen, even sleep-filled as they were. Plump lips were in a pout, and a graceful hand reached up to tuck stray hair behind an ear, and Willow’s gaze followed the arm down to a gray tank top that proudly sported UCSD on the front, doing nothing to hide the fact that the woman was well endowed (with a blush, Willow crossed her arms over her own lack of a chest, feeling rather silly in her cotton pajamas with black-and-white cows jumping over yellow moons).
Wait a minute! Why should SHE feel silly? This was Willow’s house, Willow’s room, and just how did this beautiful woman that she had never seen before get in here?
The woman looked at her, a confused expression on her face. “Uhm… I should hope I’m not Buffy,” she said softly, “Cuz’, you know? Wiccan and Slayer don’t really work well together in one person. And,” she rose from the bed, crossing over to where Willow stood, “I really wouldn’t want to share.”
The teenager took a step back, blushing. Underneath the tank top, the woman had on a pair of striped green and red boxers, showing off her long legs. She was also a couple of inches taller than Willow, and Willow figured that was why she had felt so secure in her arms… She always did have a thing for taller guys (Oz was a special case)…
She snapped back into focus when the blonde frowned and cocked her head, “Uhm, hun? You’re looking a bit short.” She suddenly frowned, crossing her arms across her chest, “You didn’t do another spell, did you?”
“Spell?” Willow squeaked out, “No, no spell here. The only spell I did was to get Angelus back his soul – but hey! You still haven’t told me why you’re here! In my room. And,” she looked at her suspiciously, “How do you know that Buffy’s the Slayer?”
“W-Willow?” The blonde woman started to stutter, beginning to look concerned. Reaching out to gently touch her arm, she asked, “You alright? Don’t you remember? Dawn was having a big sleepover – with Buffy supervising, of course – and we volunteered to get out of the way. Anya and Xander couldn’t house us because it was their anniversary yesterday, so we snuck over to your house for, as you put it, ‘some alone time’?”
Willow shook her head. She was beginning to feel miserable. Here was this woman, seeming to know Buffy and who Buffy was, talked about her and Xander as if she knew them and they knew her – and Anya too! But why would Anya and Xander have an anniversary? Was Anya, somehow having gotten her powers back, playing a trick on her for not helping her get her necklace back? And who was Dawn? Did Buffy get a new pet? And why would a pet have a sleepover?
Something seemed to register in the woman’s eyes, and she took a step back, saying softly, “Oh. Something must have happened. How much should I say? The truth?” The blonde laughed quietly to herself, sighing, “So my Willow…” Suddenly, the woman looked at her sadly, looking as if she had lost something. However, with an almost unnoticeable movement, she straightened her shoulders, composed herself and captured Willow’s eyes with her own. Almost awkwardly, and smiling nervously, she said, “I’m Tara Maclay. Your, uhm…”
The name of Tara fit the woman. Beautiful and graceful. Willow couldn’t stop blushing around her, the memory of waking up in her arms still strong and fresh in her mind.
Tara looked unsure as she uttered the next few words, finally raising her head and gazing at her with open blue eyes, “Willow Rosenberg’s g-girlfriend.”
Willow squeaked and grabbed the phone next to her, hurriedly typing in the number she almost knew as well as Xander’s. After a couple of rings, a young female voice that she didn’t recognize, answered sleepily, “’Ello? Summers’ House o’ Doom. Dawn here.”
Willow stared at her phone. What? So Dawn wasn’t a pet. She was a person. But who was this person? Was Willow going insane? Was EVERYONE going insane? The teenager could feel Tara’s presence behind her, soothing and electric at the same time. Willing herself not to pay attention to the woman, Willow yelled into the phone, “I don’t know who you are, but get me Buffy! I need to speak to Buffy! It’s an emergency. I… Just get me Buffy. Oh, I hope she hasn’t gone to school already…”
Suddenly, Tara’s hands settled onto her shoulders, and a warm peaceful feeling flowed through her. “I understand that this is scary for you, Willow, but please calm down,” Tara murmured, stepping away again and taking a seat on the side of her bed, sensing that Willow, sufficiently calmed, probably wouldn’t tolerate her presence.
“What? Willow?” The person calling herself Dawn sounded confused, “You know Buffy doesn’t go to school. What’s going on? Is Tara alright? Are you alright?”
“Just get me Buffy…” Willow moaned; she would make it all better. After Buffy managed to slay the mean demon in Willow’s room, right everything and go back to normal, Willow could cry into Buffy’s lap, and it would all be better. She, Oz, Buffy, Cordelia, and Xander could all get together and go to the Bronze after and laugh about it.
Willow ignored, of course, the fact that she wasn’t –really- afraid of Tara, and that if she just managed to really think about it, Tara really did make her feel better, and she was beautiful and soothing, and maybe she really wasn’t a mean demon, but…
Buffy’s voice cut through her inner-babble; somewhere along the way, the person calling herself Dawn had passed the phone to the Slayer, “Willow? What’s wrong? Dawn said you sounded upset. Is everything okay?”
Instantly, relief washed through the redhead’s body. “Buffy! Buffy!” she burst out, “There’s a woman here who’s telling me that she’s my girlfriend!”
There was silence on the other end. Tara giggled behind her.
“Buffy?” Willow wanted to make sure her friend hadn’t hung up on her.
“Willow?” Buffy asked slowly, “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know!” Willow wailed. “I just woke up this morning, and wham! There she was, all wrapped around me - and!” She cut herself off, not willing to say any more.
“And…” Buffy started again, suddenly asking, “Willow, are you drunk?”
“What!?” Willow gasped, “Of course I’m not! You know we’re underage!”
“Stoned?”
“Buffy!”
“Alright then, what does this woman look like?”
Willow was confused. Buffy wasn’t acting the way Willow thought she should. Maybe this Tara-demon had already gotten to her! “She’s a couple of inches taller than me, has long blonde hair, blue eyes, and appears to be older than me.” Willow was certainly NOT going to say how she made her feel.
“Oh. Gee, Willow. I don’t know. That does sound pretty horrible. How does Tara feel about it?”
The blood drained from Willow’s face. Buffy knew about Tara. “Who?” she whispered out, dreading the answer.
“Tara? You know? Your girlfriend? How does she feel about this new woman?”
But Willow didn’t hear the rest of Buffy’s sentence. The phone slipped from her hand and bounced on the carpeted floor, turning itself off. Suddenly, Tara was behind her, wrapping her arms around her tightly, holding her securely as she cried.
“I’m sorry,” Tara whispered into her ear, “I should have told her that it wasn’t you.”
Willow wasn’t in Kansas anymore. But Tara was. And even if Tara was the cause of all this, Willow didn’t care anymore. She just wanted to go home. And Tara’s arms were warm.
* * *
Willow woke up when her alarm went off. Expecting Tara to turn it off, (the blonde wiccan always the one able to wake up faster) she frowned and made a disgruntled noise when the alarm stayed on. “Tara…?” she grumbled.
Bzzz bzzz bzzz.
With an exasperated whimper, she reached out and hit the snooze button. Flopping back down, the college student realized what had been bothering her. Tara wasn’t next to her. There wasn’t even a warm spot where she had lain. Opening her eyes, she frowned and sat up, the covers falling to her lap. “Baby?” She looked around the room.
Tara wasn’t there. Picking up her stuffed elephant, she furrowed her brow, getting out of the bed. “Tara?” she called out.
Silence.
“Okay…” she mused to herself, “She must be downstairs, making me some funny-shaped pancakes.” She nodded decisively. “Yeah. Don’t worry, Willster, that has to be it.”
If she wasn’t supposed to worry, than why did she run down the stairs?
With a sickening feeling, she stared at the kitchen she had grown up in. There was no Tara. No sizzling pancakes. No Tara-kisses to wake her to the morning. She flew to the cupboards. Pancake mix greeted her.
She sat back against the counter. Maybe Tara had gone to the store to get more…?
No. Willow’s analytical mind betrayed her. It was only her and Tara that had been in the house, and they didn’t need to eat that much food. She hugged her cow pajamas to herself. Tara couldn’t have left her.
Grabbing the phone, she dialed Buffy’s number. Maybe… Maybe Tara had left something there that she needed, that she wanted to surprise Willow with.
Buffy’s sleepy voice answered after the fifth ring. “Hello?”
“Buffy?” Willow could feel tears begin to rise into her throat. “Buffy, I need-”
“What? Hold on a second,” Buffy’s voice moved from the phone, “Yes Mom! I know! Getting ready now!”
Willow frowned. Who was Buffy talking to? Joyce couldn’t be…
Buffy suddenly came back, “Sorry, Wills’, what was that?”
“I need to know, Buffy?” Willow took a deep breath, “Did, did Tara come by this morning?”
“What? Of course not.”
She took another deep breath. Her life was beginning to crumble. “Do, do you know where she is…?” she whispered raggedly.
“No.” Buffy’s voice was pert and matter-of-fact, “Willow, what’s wrong? Who’s Tara?”
Willow lost all breath in her chest. “What? Buffy, I don’t understand! You know Tara. I mean, I knew about people and denial, but isn’t this a bit much? Sudden? Didn’t you just come to our anniversary? I mean, I know you did. You gave us the matching scarves. The blue and purple ones? You must remember. You have to remember.” She was beginning to get desperate.
“Uh, Wills’, no matter how interesting this is, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Must’ve been some weird dream, huh? Anyway, fill me in when we get to school, kay? I wanna hear all about it. Right now, Mom’s making me get ready for school. Sucky, huh?” Buffy bulldozed through.
“School?” The redhead felt weak. “Buffy, you don’t go to school.”
Her friend laughed. “God, don’t I wish. Would make life so much easier. Than I could hang out with Angel all the time, and hey! You and Oz, too. Get some smoochies going. Oh, and speaking of that – ALright, Mom! I’m coming!” Buffy sighed heavily. “God, mothers. See you at school, Willow.”
Willow stared at the wall. With a weak goodbye, she turned off the phone. “Angel? Oz?” With a sinking feeling, she threw the phone down, ran back up to her room, and stopped at the doorway. Seeing the teenage posters on the wall and all of the things she hadn’t noticed before, Willow leaned against the doorframe and wrapped her arms around her waist, laughing hysterically.
No wonder Tara wasn’t there. This was before Tara had moved. She was still with her family, only two years since her mother had died. Tara was waiting for Willow to find her. And, Willow glanced at her puppy calendar, she had another year before they would meet.
Willow laughed so hard she started to cry. High school was going to be Hell without Tara.
poor young willow having tara to deal with i feel sorry for her
not 
this has the read of a really good fic.so when is the next update? 
very nice...
. Love sam xx