BurningWhiteRose: Actually, I wanted to write Tara biting Willow at some point. I had it all planned and then I changed my mind because I thought readers would not be able to handle that. Seems like I was wrong.
Glad you liked the update anyway.
RaVeN: thanks so much. Hope you continue to enjoy.
Disclaimer: I invented none of the Buffy characters. That honor goes to Joss Whedon.
A VISION IN THE NIGHT
Tara walked across the room, picked up a pile of Willow’s clothes from the wardrobe and placed it neatly inside a large knapsack lying on their bed. Then she walked to the wardrobe again and was about to reach for another piles of clothes, but changed her mind, turned around instead and look at Willow who was sitting near the knapsack, her expression intense as she held up a large book in front of her.
“Baby,” Tara glanced down quickly at her watch. “We have exactly three hours before sundown. Come help me pack.”
Willow sat up quickly, placed the book by her side and smiled guiltily. “Um…yeah. Packing. I’m all with the packing.” She got up from the bed and moved towards Tara.
Tara shook her head and smiled, handing Willow a pile of clothes. “What’s that you’re reading? Another Nalp docutrine?”
“Actually this one is really quite interesting,” Willow replied as she moved towards the bed again, reached for the knapsack and placed the clothes inside carefully. “Buffy gave it to me. She got it from one of the Elders and I’m telling you Tara, there’s a whole lot of stuff here that I’m sure scientists would love to get there hands on.”
“We could sell it,” Tara joked, her smile spreading when she saw the shocked look on Willow’s face. “We’d be instant millionaires. C’mon lets sell it.”
And as she said those words she moved suddenly towards the bed and made as though she was going to reach for the book. Willow grabbed her hand and pulled her back.
“What?” Tara raised her eyebrows innocently. “No sale?”
“That’s not funny,” Willow said, laughing.
Tara wrapped her arms around her and pulled her closer. Willow sucked in her breath when she felt Tara’s body press against hers. She did that a lot these days, and it had something to do with the overwhelming feeling of gratitude she had for having Tara alive and healthy before her, free of cravings, as if the few days of hell that they had both gone through had never happened.
Tara was grinning lopsidedly, completely unaware of the effect she was having on Willow. Her hair had been recently shampooed, and its clean fruity scent filled Willow’s nostrils whenever she moved. Also she had tucked a few strands away from her face causing her ears to stick out in that cute way they did sometimes.
Willow looked back at her in wonder, and then she leaned forward suddenly and kissed Tara on both cheeks and then on her forehead.
"What was that for?” Tara murmured, surprised.
“For being cute and not funny,” Willow teased softly. She leaned in again and kissed Tara on the lips.
Tara opened her mouth slightly and Willow felt her heart jolt with desire as their tongues brushed softly against each other.
“Lets not go,” she said, impetuously. “Let’s just stay here and make love for the entire day. Well, w-what’s left of the day.”
“Hmm, sounds tempting,” Tara shifted, pressed her lips on Willow’s earlobe, and then along the delicate pathway leading down her neck, sending chills down Willow’s spin.
Then, all too soon, she pulled back and made a face. “But Bargo and Hexall are waiting for us. They’ll be very disappointed if we don’t show.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Willow sucked in an unsteady breath. “Also, I think Buffy’s making us a late lunch before we leave. If we’re not downstairs in the next ten minutes, she’ll be up here knocking on the door wondering what’s going on with us.”
“Right,” Tara kissed her on the tip of the nose, and then she moved again towards the wardrobe. “Let’s get back to work.”
*********
Fifteen minutes later, they made their way downstairs and joined Buffy and Dawn who were busily setting the table in the dinning room.
Willow placed the colorful knapsack stuffed with her and Tara’s clothes, on one of the chairs in the living room, and then she moved towards the kitchen to help.
Not too long afterwards, they all sat down before a low calorie dinner consisting of salad, pasta and baked turkey breasts.
“When are you guys going to invite me to see this great mysterious Hidden Barracks place?” Dawn asked, reaching for some warm bread in a basket across the table. “I think it’s about time I saw it.”
“Soon Dawnie,” Tara said, fondly.
“How about like now?” Dawn watched her hopefully.
“Um…bad idea,” Willow said shaking her head. Then she caught Dawn’s annoyed expression and interjected, “But we’ll take you there soon. Very, very soon.”
“Dawn,” Buffy looked up at her solemnly. “I hope you remember that the Nalps have to be kept a secret. You can’t just go talking about the Hidden Barracks to any and everyone. You know that right?”
“Right,” Dawn twisted her face sarcastically. “Like I ever went yapping about you and the Hellmouth to anyone. Buffy give me some credit. I’m not a kid anymore.”
“Just thought I should remind you of that,” Buffy said. She spooned a large portion of salad into her plate, then reached for the turkey.
“We’ll all go there someday,” Tara vowed. “We’ll invite the rest of the Scoobies and have a great picnic or something.”
“Oooh,” Dawn’s eyes lit up. “Sounds like fun.”
‘Will,” Buffy leaned back in her chair and regarded Willow, a quizzical expression on her face. “It’s been a week already since you figured out the mystery of Tara’s incarnation, but there’re some things I just don’t get.”
Willow chewed her pasta slowly and glanced at her.
“I mean,” Buffy went on. “We never figured out why Tara was plagued with cravings in the first place.”
“I have a theory about that,” Willow replied. She had gone over the experience she had in the room upstairs probably a thousand times in her mind, and now had theories on just about everything.
“Enlighten us, oh sageful one.”
“Well,” Willow took a deep breath. Then she rattled quickly. “I figured the cravings were meant to be a kind of hint. Since Osiris can’t reveal himself unless he is summoned, or unless his presence is unraveled, I think maybe Tara’s cravings were a hint meant for me to find Magritte Berry, and then him. It worked in a way. I didn’t really sense his presence until Tara got sick.”
“We read every Nalp doctrine that we could find,” Buffy mused, thoughtfully. “It’s strange we never found anything about Osiris in it.”
“Actually there was something about Osiris,” Willow replied. “Only he was not mentioned by name. At the Hidden Barracks, when Tara was stricken with her first bout of cravings, I asked Bargo to give me the chronicles of Magritte Berry. I remember reading that she had married twice, and that her first husband had died mysteriously and unexpectedly. I read that part quickly because I didn’t think it was relevant. I was so wrong. I could have saved Tara so much pain. The answer to her incarnation was staring me right in the face all this time. I just never saw it.”
Tara covered her hand over Willow’s and squeezed gently.
“Baby, you did great,” she said softly. “You solved the mystery when the mystery was meant to be solved.”
Willow slid her hand beneath Tara’s until their fingers were intertwined, and she squeezed back gently. Tara always knew what to say to ease her fears and uncertainties.
“I think,” Dawn said, frowning slightly, “that Osiris kind of took a risk just leaving Tara in the woods like that. I mean, if it wasn’t for Bargo, would Willow have even known that Tara was alive?”
“He knew that we would find each other eventually,” Willow said confidently, still looking at Tara, a goofy smile plastered to her lips.
“Yeah,” Tara said quietly, looking back at her. “We always find each other.”
Dawn stared at the two witches before her, and then she rolled her eyes with disgust. “You guys are so corny.”
“They’re not corny, Dawn,” Buffy said. “They’re in love with each other. We should be so lucky.”
Willow heard the sad tone of envy in her voice and she regarded her best friend sympathetically. Buffy was so preoccupied with raising Dawn, and with slaying that she had little time for romance. Willow vowed silently to herself that she would do something to help change that.
They were silent for a short moment, and then Willow shifted uncomfortably, suddenly remembering something.
“Um…Buff?”
Buffy munched on a crouton and looked up at her.
“Since we’re on the subject of cravings and Osiris, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.”
“Shoot.”
“You remember that night when you brought Tara here? You told me that you had followed us at the Hidden Barracks, and that was in fact the way you realized that Tara was really Tara. You remember when you told me that?”
“Yeah.”
“I was just…um…wondering,” Willow felt her cheeks getting hot. “how far you followed us. Did you follow us everywhere? Like m-maybe did you follow us out to the lake...?”
Buffy stared at her in confusion. Then she noticed that Tara’s face had grown even redder than Willow’s and realization dawned on her.
“Oh!” She widened her eyes, shaking her head quickly. “Guys, you don’t have to worry about that. Honestly. I did follow you out there, but I realized what was going to happen so I left.”
“That’s a relief,” Willow muttered, filling her mouth with pasta so that she could distract herself from how hot her cheeks were feeling.
“Actually,” Buffy said, “that’s how I found out about Tara’s cravings. I hid by the Hidden Barracks and waited for you to return and when you did, I noticed immediately that something was wrong. Tara looked panicked and strange. I listened in on your conversation when you moved into the room and my heart nearly stopped when I heard the two of you talking about cravings. It was horrible moment for me because of the young Nalp that Giles and I had to help four years ago. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I stood in the shadows under one of the windows listening to everything that was happening. I saw when Bargo and Hexall left, and then I saw Tara stumbling out of the Hidden Barracks and I knew that I had to help her, that I had to get her out of there.”
“I was so shocked when I saw you,” Willow said, shaking her head remembering. “I felt as though I was dreaming. I didn’t know what to do.”
“I didn’t think you would do as I told you and teleport Tara back home,” Buffy said. “I understood how torn you were. I was so relieved when you finally agreed.”
Willow looked across at Buffy, and then they smiled warmly at each other. They had gone through so much together that they knew each other inside out. They shared a bond that was deeper than friendship, more like sisters. Buffy had tried so hard to sooth her pain when Tara had died. She had helped with Tara’s odd incarnation and cravings and now she shared in the joy of having Tara alive and healthy with them again.
**********
Half an hour later, they cleared the table and then Willow and Tara gathered their things to leave. They were spending five days with Bargo and Hexall at the Hidden Barracks, and they walked the Sunnydale streets quickly, with Willow carrying the large colorful knapsack on her back.
The late afternoon sun was shimmering warmly through the woods. They made their way through the trees until they reached the secret opening of the hidden tunnel and then climbed down.
Willow reached the bottom first, and then she reached up to help Tara who was making her way awkwardly down.
As usual, the first thing to greet them was the flaming torches, lined in the rugged dirt walls of the tunnel, its flickering hue spread as far as the eye could see.
Tara slipped her hands in Willow’s and they walked quickly, with the pungent stench of the Hemlock bushes filling their nostrils.
Willow looked down at the odd clusters of twigs and leaves, and then she chuckled.
“I remember when I saw those for the first time,” she said. “I thought they smelt so horrible. Now, I don’t know. They smell oddly comforting.”
Tara smiled. “Yeah. I actually miss it some times.” She glanced at Willow and then her smile grew larger. “I wish I could have seen your face when Bargo brought you down here for the first time.”
“I looked like this,” Willow said, widening her eyes comically.
Tara giggled.
“It was exciting and scary all at once. I wasn’t sure exactly what was happening. And then I saw you and the world kind of stopped. It nearly blew my mind.”
“It nearly blew my mind too,” Tara said quietly.
“We owe Bargo and Hexall so much,” Willow said.
“Yeah,” Tara nodded. She rubbed her thumb gently across Willow’s hand.
They walked on silently, their footsteps shuffling on the dirt floor.
Willow bit her lip, thinking about the Nalps and the prodigious mission that she had ahead of her. She had been ordered to help them, and she wasn’t sure how she was going to do that yet, but it was mission that she would carry out happily.
After about fifteen minutes, she slowed down, glanced up at the tunnel frowned thoughtfully.
“You know,” she muttered. “Every tunnel needs some kind of support system so that it will not cave in. I’ve been trying to figure out how the Nalps built this one the way they did. The walls have no support whatsoever.”
Tara had walked a little way ahead of her, and she glanced back when Willow started speaking.
“And these torches,” Willow continued, stopping abruptly and staring the flickering lights in the walls. “There must be hundreds of them. How do they stay lit all the time? Do they have little Nalps who come here every day to see that they stay lit? I mean, gosh, that would be one hell of a job. But then again you never see Nalps here at all, so when do they come here…”
“Baby,” Tara interrupted, reaching out her hand for her again. “We’re slowing down. At this rate, we’ll never make it to the Barracks.”
Willow looked at her and then she said, surprised, “Hey, I thought you were impressed with my brain.”
“I am,” Tara replied. “I just...” She clasped onto Willow’s hand and then she said, “I-I want to get there as quickly as possible.”
“Why?” Willow asked, staring at her.
Tara pulled in a deep breath, and then her face colored slightly. “We haven’t made love in a week and well I w-want to get there so that we can speak to Bargo and Hexall for a few minutes, and then find some quiet time together.”
“Oh,” Willow said, still staring at her. Then she added, “A week? Has it been that long?” although she had been counting the days herself. “Well, we have to put an end to this.”
“Lets hope the lake is deserted tonight,” Tara squeezed her hand, quickening her step. “The things I’m going to do to you.”
Willow felt shock mixing with desire. “Tara…”
“Come on,” Tara whispered impatiently, but then she grinned, her face now bright red.
Willow didn’t argue. She shifted the knapsack on her back and hurried along, twisting her face determinedly with now only one thing on her mind. Reaching the end of the tunnel.
*Had to edit a few things I just didn't like. Whew, feel so much better
To be continued….
Edited by: bijoux2 at: 8/16/04 5:11 pm
, frickin bad timing as usual. 
I'm typing this from a friends house. can't say for sure when the next update will be. maybe in a few days when i get my pc fixed. anyway, till then, and thanks to everyone who responded. 
Sorry about the long wait, kittens, but the lack of my computer gave me writers block and so when I did fix it I couldn’t write a thing. Not only that, I had to scrap the update that I had already written. Okay, I’m hearing my own self now, (whine, whine, whine,) so I’m going to shut up and just post. 
Hope you like the update.
BWR 
Okay, I can’t fake it I don’t have a clue who Jessy is because we didn’t get Buffy here where I live until late into the forth season. I’ve never seen the earlier episodes, although I would really love to. 
Towels only, then nakedness!!
Love this story!! 
.....Didnt trigger anymore cravings. That would be bad...