disclaimers same as in first post.
Here y'all go. Enjoy
Part 3
        Hands covered Tara's sapphire eyes. "Guess who," an all too familiar said.
        Tara sounded shocked. "Pablo!. That weekend in Mexico was supposed to be a one time thing!" She started giggling.
        "Uh-huh, wanna guess again?"
        Tara brought her hand to the side of her face in the classic thinking pose. "Well, if it's not Pablo, and I know it's not Count Viktor, it has to be the brilliant best friend of mine, Willow!" Hands pulled away, and Tara turned to find her red haired friend along with 2 others. The boy was fairly tall compared to them. He had shaggy dark hair and a skateboard in one hand. The girl was blonde and impeccably stylish.
        "Tara, this is Buffy and Xander Summers," Willow said breaking her out of her comtemplation of the two strangers. "They're in my english class, and Mr. Giles wanted me to show them around."
        Tara smiled. "Nice to meet you both." Tara cocked her head to the side for a second. "You're brother and sister, right? And both juniors?" she asked a little perplexed
        "We're twins," Buffy answered. "Fraternal twins."
        "We'd look more alike if Buffy would stop dying her hair," Xander explained further. He leaned in conspiratorially and couldn't help but add, "I swear one of these days her hair is gonna fall out."
        Buffy slapped him hard in the stomach. As he rubbed the pain away gently, the small group began walking down the hall. "He just has issues whenever I do something different. Twin anxiety, or something," Buffy said. "So what's the scene in Sunnydale?"
        "Scene?" Willow asks, then realizes, "Oh the happenin' spots...um...well there's really only the Bronze. It's a danceclub, and everyone goes. Tara and I have only been a couple of times since she got her license."
        "We so should go," Buffy practically begs. "I so need to blow off some steam. Xan's motorboy. Wanna go tonight?"
        Tara smiles awkwardly as Willow turns to her. Willow nods her head to the blonde. "Okay. We'll meet you guys there at...8?"
        Buffy seems to explode with enthusiam. "8 is good. Give Xander the details, and we'll be there."
        The small group entered the Bronze. Buffy grabbed her slightly younger sister's, Dawn, hand and immediately headed for the dancefloor. Willow and Tara secured a table while Xander went to grab drinks for everyone. After a semi long line, Xander set down 5 sodas and scooted next to Tara in the booth. Seeing refreshment, Dawn dragged Buffy back to the group and sat next to Willow.
        It was kind of a snuggly situation with five people. In an effort to be comfortable Willow moved her arm to rest on Tara's shoulders. Tara smiled sweetly at the redhead and leaned a little into her. After Buffy had downed over half of her drink, she asked, "Who's up for more dancing?"
        Everyone scooted out of the booth except for Willow. Tara frowned. "I'll keep watch over the table. You all go ahead," Willow encouraged. Without further ado, the Summers clan went to 'shake their groove thangs'.
        Tara stayed back a moment, gazing at the redhead. She reached to grab the other girl's hands. She tugged lightly wanting to drag the girl out with her. "Come on, Will. Please?" Tara attempted to use the puppy dog eyes on her friend.
        "Tara, you know me dancing equals spaz." Her embarassment won over her desire to grant the blonde's wish. "I know how much you love dancing. Go ahead. I'll be fine" She regretfully loosened her fingers from Tara's grasp. Tara shrugged and turned to their other friends with a sad smile.
        Willow watched her go, a myriad of emotions racing through her body. She sipped on her soda as she watched her friends, old and new, laughing and dancing. For the next hour or so various member of the small group floated back to the table to converse with the redhead only to be drawn back to the dancefloor. Whenever Tara came back, she would sit close to Willow and lean her head in intimately to talk with her, and each time she left, she would take the redhead's hand and ask "Come dance with me" and let go only when Willow shook her head shyly.
        Buffy headed for the table and passed Tara on the way. She noticed the slightly sad look on the blonde's face. Her eyes then fell upon the wistful expression on Willow's face. She sat at the table grabbed her brother's semi-full glass of coke. She gulped it down and started to chomp down on some of the ice. Willow barely acknowledged her arrival with a nod, all her attention focused on the dancing blonde.
        Buffy watched Tara get lost in the music. She had been able to tell early on that Tara loved dancing. She easily got swept away in it. Xander started dancing closer and closer to Tara eventually gaining enough nerve to wrap an arm loosely around as they swayed to the beat. Tara glanced briefly at the taller boy, smiled, but gave no sign of moving closer. Buffy could see the sparkle of hope in her brother's eyes.
        She turned to gauge Willow's reaction, and was almost frightened by the jealousy radiating from her. Her green eyes looked like they were trying to bore a hole in Xander's head. "Willow, you okay?" she asked trying to draw the redhead's attention from the dancefloor.
        Willow tried to shake off the slightly sick feeling rolling around in her stomach. She pulled her eyes away from the 'cozy couple'. "Yeah, I'm fine." She forced her eyes to stare intently on the drop of condensation slowly sliding down her glass.
        Buffy looked over at Tara and Xander again. "I think my brother likes Tara. Think she'd be interested?"
        Willow glanced at Buffy and the others before bringing her eyes back to her glass. She took a sip to water down her inexplicably dry throat. "I'm not sure. I don't really know what type of guy Tara would be interested in," she answered quietly.
        "Really? I thought you two have been friends for years upon years," Buffy was astonished. "You've never talked about crushes?"
        "It's never really been brought up before."
        "You've never needed to talk about how cute you think somebody is? Or whether so and so might like you or her?"
        Willow shrugged a little uncomfortable at the topic of conversation. "It's always just been Tara and me. Off in our own little world. There's never been anyone who has caught my eye."
        "Because Tara is all you see," Buffy smiled. "You've got it bad, Will." Tired of ice, Buffy grabbed what was left of Dawn's drink.
        Willow turned her gaze on the blonde. "What are you talking about, Buffy?" in a freaked out voice.
        "Don't take this the wrong way, and let me know if I'm totally wrong, but I've seen how you two interact. I can also tell you want to break my brother's arm for touching her." Buffy smiled to help alleviate some of Willow's apprehension.
        "We're not like that..." Willow started to say.
        Buffy interrupted. "I think you care deeply about her, maybe even love her. And it's obvious from the way she looks at you that she feels the way"
        "What? Do you have some kind of lesbadar?" Willow said a little defensively. She wasn't used to anyone, but Tara, reading her so well.
        "Well there is a better word for it, but yeah, I do get the vibe from you both." Buffy smirked.
        "They just look cuddly over there, and I want her to be happy no matter what."
        "Willow, if you don't do something about it soon, you may well lose her to Xander or some other girl. All you can do is try and see."
        The song ended and a slow one started. Willow watched Xander hold out his hands asking Tara to dance with him. Tara smiled, but shook her head and walked off the dance floor. She kept her head down as she walked, and when she finally looked up she froze in her tracks. Willow had gotten up and was walking towards her, the infamous 'resolve face' in place.
        "You okay?" Tara asked as Willow stopped very close in front of her. Willow grinned and took Tara's hand leading her back to the dance floor. Still unsure of what was going on, "Will?"
        Willow stopped near the center of the floor. She placed a finger on the blonde's lips silencing any more questions. Then she held out her arms. "Dance with me?" Tara's blue eyes widened. Rendered speechless, she could only nod and move into the other girl's arms. They embraced gently with Tara's arms around Willow's waist and Willow's arms around the Tara's neck. "Are you okay?" Willow checked.
        Tara gazed deeply into Willow's eyes looking for an answer. Willow let all the love she had for her dear friend shine in her own emerald orbs. Finding what she needed, Tara leaned in to rest her forehead against the redhead's. "I'm so much better than okay."
        Xander had made his way back to the table after checking on Dawn who had run into a few people she had met from school. He sat across from her twin and turned to see what she was staring at. He saw Tara's arms wrapped around Willow as they danced closely together. "There that went flying out the window, didn't it?" he asked Buffy.
        "Sorry, Xander. You really had no chance." Buffy kept her eyes on the new couple.
        Xander shrugged. He gazed at the dancing girls for a few minutes. Eventually he turned back to his sister to find tears threatening to fall. "You miss Faith, dont you?"
        Buffy wiped at her eyes before the tears could find their way out. "Yeah, why do you ask?"
        "'Cause you're playing matchmaker..."
        Buffy interrupted, "Not really. I just said the right thing at the right time. A slight nudge really. They were a match already made."
        "I know you, Buffy. You only do that to avoid thinking about your own lovelife, or lack of one."
        "Just 'cause we're twins doesn't mean you know me that well."
        "Yeah, it does." Xander smirked. "There's only one other person in the world who might know you just a little better than me, and she is 2 hundred miles away."
        Buffy looked down at the empty glass in her hands. "I talked to her on the phone after school. She says that we just need to get through the next year and a half. Then we can be together at the same college." She looked back at her brother. "Do you think we'll last that long?"
        Xander thought a moment, then answered. "The important question is do you think you will last that long? I think that if you both believe it and work for it, you'll be together forever." Buffy scooted over to him and they hugged tightly. When they released each other, their eyes went back to the blossoming couple.
        "Tara, I need to tell you some stuff," Willow began, but was silenced by Tara lightly kissing her on the lips. It was a quick kiss, but it filled both Willow and Tara with happiness.
        "Will, we have the rest of our lives to talk. I just wanna be dancing with you right now." Tara said as she laid her head on Willow's shoulder and embraced her tightly. Willow welcomed the new closeness and closed her eyes to revel in it. They each smiled contently as they continued to dance.
TBC