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Title – W/T Season 3 Y’all – part 61 – Graduation Day Author– JustSkipit - Debra Spoilers–Season 3 through the Graduation Day Part Two Rating– Part 61 - NC-17 Disclaimer – Guess what, I don’t own W&T, Buffy or the rest of the BtVS crew. Notes and Thanks Well it’s almost over so I’ll toss out a bunch of heartfelt thanks. First to Rachel—my one and only always love. To Joss Whedon who created these characters. To both Willow & Tara and Alyson Hannigan & Amber Benson. To the rest of the Buffy world, writers, and actors. To the moderators, especially Xita who keep this place running and give us all a wonderful place to write and read. To the wonderful Kittens who read, enjoy, and comment or don’t. Thank you. Thoughts in italics!
Willow sat in the library researching and thinking about Tara. She didn’t know if she did the right thing by leaving and particularly the way she left. The more that she thought about it, the more she felt that she had made a huge mistake. What if Tara couldn’t forgive her? Really she had done the same thing with leaving that she did with the college applications. She had made a choice without consulting the blonde. Even with the weight of their impending battle bearing down on her, she was really regretting her hasty choice.
She wondered if Tara was mad at her, hated her, would ever forgive her for the way she had left. She just wanted to enjoy their love and then come do what she had to do. She loved Tara more than anything in the world, but here was her chance to help people, people she loved: to help save her hometown. She hoped and prayed that Tara could understand that. Would understand that.
Suddenly Buffy pulled the newspaper from beneath a stack of books. She looks at the headline about the murder of Lester Worth and the grisly picture below that. “Faith,” Buffy exclaimed.
“How do you know Buff?” Willow asked.
“I recognize the brushwork,” Buffy replied.
“But why?” Wesley asked. “Just blowing off steam? Going a bit mad?”
Willow interjected, “maybe he knows something and the Mayor wants him out of the way.” Turning to Buffy she continued, “where’s Giles anyway? We need a watcher around here.”
“Hey!” Wesley shouted.
“Oh right,” Willow conceded. “Anyway, where’s Giles?”
“He got a phone call a little while ago. Said he had to go to the airport and pick up a secret weapon or something. Didn’t make much sense to me,” Buffy explained. Still holding the paper she spoke: “Look I’m going to check this out in a little while. See what the professor knew.” Dropping the newspaper and picking up her books she started to leave the library, “I’m going to class for first.”
Willow nodded as she returned to reading the tomes in front of her. Wesley pulled up a chair and began doing the same. Close to an hour later the bell rang to indicate that class was over. Buffy, Xander, and Anya all came in the door quickly. “Where’s Giles?” Xander asked.
“What’s evil girl doing here?” Willow wondered out loud.
“You guys want to know about the ascension? Meet the only living person who’s ever been to one,” he explained pointing at Anya.
Willow looked around the room shocked before explaining, “Giles called about half an hour ago. He should be back any minute.”
“Ok, but I’m not waiting long,” Anya said. “I’m going to get to minimum safe distance as soon as possible.”
“Keep your panties on demon girl,” Buffy admonished her.
Everyone’s attention shifted as Giles came in the door followed quickly by Tara. She looked around the room shyly allowing her hair to hang in front of her eyes in a gesture Willow hadn’t seen in a long time. Willow’s heart nearly stopped when she saw her lover come in the door. Everyone watched as she slowly stood and walked toward the blonde. As she reached her she reached out her hand and took Tara’s in her own before pulling her into a hug.
It was as if both girls were in their own world as they pulled back from the hug. Willow ran her hand gingerly along Tara’s jaw line before softly kissing her. As she leaned their foreheads together she whispered, “I’m sorry for the way I left.” Tears rolled from Tara’s blue eyes as she nodded. “You didn’t have to come,” the redhead continued.
Tara felt herself responding instantly to the love she felt for and from the redhead. A big part of her was still angry with Willow for the way she left. It was as if the redhead hadn’t learned anything from their fight over the college applications. She had to learn that the most important thing in their relationship would always be honesty and openness. Well, ok honesty, openness, and love. But the blonde knew that this wasn’t the time for all that. They had plenty of time for that: years.
Tara smiled as she responded, “well if we are g-g-going to go to college here we should probably try to s-s-save the town first.” Willow allowed her mouth to drop open in shock at her lover’s words. Unable to speak she simply kissed her passionately, wrapping her hands around her lover’s cheeks. Tara drew her head back to look pointedly in Willow’s eyes as she told the redhead, “but we need to t-talk about some things baby.”
“I love you and I know we need to talk,” Willow agreed.
“Hey, let’s talk to me and then you two can make out or whatever later,” Anya shouted from the tables. Willow and Tara smiled knowingly at each other about the demon’s lack of social graces and moved toward the table to take their seats. Oz came in moments later and moved toward the table too, wanting to help with the research. Tara felt nervous as he entered but it was obvious that he harbored no ill feelings toward either girl.
The entire group’s feelings fell lower and lower as the listened to the ex-demon’s tale of the demon Lohesh. Her story was alternately disheartening and vague. Clear though was that this demon had destroyed the village completely and that she didn’t think there was a way to stop the bloodshed. The entire gang grilled her about anything she might know to help stop the ritual and the destruction. As she was starting to wind down, the door to the library opened and the mayor walked in.
Willow recognized him from the picture on the city’s website but Tara had never seen the mayor. She could feel his evil emanating from him but didn’t know who this was. She only knew that everyone else obviously feared him and that Willow had grasped her hand and was subtly positioning herself between Tara and the man. Advancing until he reached the table he spoke: “So. This is the inner sanctum. Faith tells me this is where you folks like to hang out and concoct your little schemes. I'll tell you, it's just nice to see that some young people are still interested in reading in this modern era.”
No one knew what to do as he reached out and took a book from Willow asking what she was reading. After making a comment about death and destruction Buffy smarted off to him. He turned to Giles, obviously trying to get the watcher’s goat: “That’s one spunky girl you’ve raised. I’m going to eat her.”
Suddenly Giles became angry enough to grab a sword from the table and thrust it through the Mayor’s heart. Tara was shocked as the man calmly pulled the sword from his chest before wiping it off and admonishing Giles as if he had simply used poor judgment. Before leaving the library he made it clear that he planned to kill everyone present.
After the mayor left, everyone resumed researching looking for possibilities for ways to stop the ascension. After a while Oz, Buffy, Xander, and Anya left to return to their classes although they grumbled about the necessity of attending class for the privilege of being eaten by the commencement speaker. Tara and Willow continued researching holding hands under the table to lend each other strength and share their love and commitment. They were interrupted from their concentration by Giles who suggested that they take a few hours off to rest from their travel and return in the evening to help go through any materials that Buffy might get from Lester Worth’s apartment.
As he turned to reenter his office Tara began whispering in Willow’s ear, “see if we can b-b-borrow his car. I n-need to go recharge.”
Willow smiled knowingly as she took Tara’s hand leading her from the library. “We’re covered baby,” she reassured her lover. Suddenly she stopped in the hallway shouting, “Hey!”
“Yep,” Tara laughed, “we’re back in Sunnydale.”
“How did you get here baby?” Willow asked.
Tara smiled right back as she explained, “uh you bought me a plane ticket.”
“I did?” Willow asked suspiciously.
Continuing to walk toward the parking lot Tara explained, “you sure did. You called the airline and gave them your credit card number and here I am. Very generous of you love.”
Willow nodded her head, impressed with her lover’s decision, “yes very generous of me. I’m glad I was able to get the credit card number.” Both girls stopped short as the redhead pulled a set of keys from her pocket and pressed a button causing the lights on a brand new Nissan Pathfinder to go on and the horn to beep indicating that she had just disarmed the alarm.
“Happy graduation?” Tara surmised as Willow opened the passenger door and let her girlfriend into the front seat.
“Happy graduation,” Willow agreed as she began showing the other girl all the fancy gadgets and controls in the SUV. Without asking she began driving toward the beach to allow both girls to rejuvenate their magical energy. After a visit to the beach, they returned to Willow’s house and rested a while. Tara was initially nervous about seeing Willow’s parents again but the redhead reassured her that they were out of town as usual and led her up to her bedroom.
Hours later feeling much refreshed from visit to the beach and time together the two girls decided to return to the library. “I wonder how Buffy made out at that guy’s apartment,” Willow wondered.
“I h-h-hope it helped,” Tara agreed as they entered the library. “What the…?” she trailed off as she took in the scene in the library. Giles and Buffy were gathered around Angel who had an arrow sticking out of his chest. Before either witch could react Buffy pulled the arrow from Angel’s chest and placed gauze on the wound.
Wesley was reading the report the two lovers stole from Lester’s apartment and surmising that there might be important information regarding the volcano. Tara crossed the floor to offer to help when she saw that Angel was still hurting. “C-c-can I h-h-help?” she offered.
At his nod she leaned back to take Willow’s hand and forward to place her other hand on his wound. As she began her incantation her hand and the air around it began to glow blueish-green and the light flowed between her palm and his wound. For a few moments everyone watched in expectation that she would easily heal the ugly looking wound. Suddenly Willow dropped Tara’s hand and leaned heavily against the table grasping a chair for support. As Giles helped her into a chair Tara likewise repelled from the vampire. Her reaction was more violent as she moved as quickly as she could toward the trash can by the table and leaned over it vomiting into the container before falling to her knees.
By now Angel’s face was even more ashen than usual and he could not stand up. “That’s not a good sign,” he commented indicating Tara and Willow’s reactions to their attempt at healing him.
“Poison,” Tara groaned as she continued being sick in the trashcan.
“She’s right,” Angel agreed, “I can feel it. My arm is totally numb.”
Giles’ cursory inspection of the arrow confirmed Angel and Tara’s conclusion. “Let’s get him into his own bed before sunrise and then find the cure.” Everyone agreed as Giles and Buffy left to take Angel home and Willow called Xander so he could help with the research.
As she returned from Giles’ office Willow brushed her hand lovingly over Tara’s brow, brushing a wisp of hair from her forehead. “Are you feeling better love?” she gently asked. Tara nodded but excused herself to use the bathroom before continuing to research. When she returned Willow grabbed her hand and said, “come on.”
Reaching a science lab Tara teased sexily, “ahhh baby, I never knew…”
Willow looked vixeny for a moment before becoming serious, “I need to do an analysis on the toxin. Xander will be here in a minute and he can run to the magic shop for supplies.” Tara nodded and began helping her lover examine the arrow. As the redhead became more entranced and involved in her research, Tara leaned back against the counter. Willow had that look that Tara loved, that so involved in what I’m doing look. Goddess, she looks so beautiful. Just like an angel she’s concentrating so hard on helping. Trying to help her friends and other people. The blonde felt her heart almost hurt with the level of love she was feeling for her girlfriend as the woman worked so hard to help.
Once Willow had identified the toxin used she wrote it down and handed it to all the other scoobies to look for cures in the books. As they researched, Tara and Willow brushed their hands or thighs under the table. Much as they were involved in their mission, they also were elated to be working together, battling evil and loving their friends. As they researched Buffy came in asking what they were finding. Just then Tara found something in a book. “Hold it,” she said.
“You got something?” Xander asked.
“Oh …” Tara started to trail off.
“What?” the others yelled.
“It’s it’s it’s…” Tara stuttered. Seeing that everyone else was waiting she explained quietly, “the only cure is to drain the blood of a slayer.”
Showing her resolve Buffy stood up from the table: “Good. He needs to drain a slayer; I’ll bring him one.”
Willow dropped Tara’s hand as she crossed in front of her friend: “Buffy, you can’t do that. If he drains Faith’s blood, it’ll kill her.”
“Not if she’s already dead,” Buffy answered.
Tara looked from one Buffy to Willow to Xander. She knew that she was a virtual outsider here but she had to say something. She moved gently to touch Buffy’s wrist. “B-b-buffy?” she started. As Buffy nodded she explained, “maybe it’s not a g-g-good idea? You d-d-don’t w-w-want to be her…” she left it hanging, not knowing if she had made her point. The slayer looked at Tara softly before leaning forward to kiss her on the cheek and turning quickly to leave the room. As she reached the door she told Willow, “I need to know where she is.”
At Tara watched the blonde leave the room Willow took her hand. “I love you,” she whispered. Tara, Willow, and Xander went to the library so Willow could find Faith’s address. Within a few minutes she had the address. Buffy entered the library wearing a dark outfit.
Xander stepped in front of Buffy, “Buff? Are you sure you’re up for this?”
“It’s time,” Buffy answered.
Tara was relieved to see that someone other than her had reservations about Buffy’s plan. “I just don’t want to lose you,” Xander told his friend. Buffy brushed her hand over his face as she took the address from Willow and left the library. At the last moment she asked, “some of you guys go spell Giles ok?”
After dropping Xander off at his house to get some sleep, Tara and Willow went to Angel’s mansion to relieve Giles. “You’re here? How did the research go?” he asked.
“B-b-buffy went to g-g-get the cure,” Tara explained as Willow crossed to look at Angel.
“The cure?” Giles asked.
“Faith’s blood,” Willow explained as Tara crossed to hold her hand by Angel’s bed. The watcher nodded once before giving instructions about Angel’s condition and leaving the two girls to watch the vampire. Tara moved behind her lover wrapping her arms around the girl as she whispered again, “I love you Willow Rosenberg.”
Willow turned into the hug as she wrapped her arms around the blonde. Laying her head on the taller girl’s shoulder she began to cry. “I can’t believe you came,” she cried.
For a long time Tara just held her lover close. Finally she pulled back and brushed her hand along Willow’s jaw line and pressed their lips together. Slowly pulling their lips apart the girls leaned their foreheads together. “I always want to be with you my love,” Tara answered. “Always; you just need to talk to me,” she emphasized. Pulling a chair up toward the bed, the two girls sat silently holding hands.
Hours later Buffy entered to see the two girls sleeping sitting up in the chairs by the bed. A smile graced her face briefly before she tapped them on the shoulder. “Don’t warn the tadpoles!” Willow screamed as she bolted awake. Tara just smiled at her lover as she watched her wake. She had seen this so many times and it was always something interesting.
“Where’s Faith?” the blonde witch asked the slayer.
Buffy crossed to Angel and caressed his brow lovingly as she responded: “not here. I’ll watch him for a while. You guys want to join Xander and Giles at the library?” Both witches gave the slayer a hug before leaving. They were quiet on the way to the school, both absorbed in their thoughts.
Willow was very aware of the contradiction in her emotions. On one hand here she was probably near to death as was everyone she loved. Buffy was in pain and was going to lose Angel. But on the other hand, she was with Tara. They were together and as they held hands she could feel their connection passing through and into their skin and their flesh, making them as one. They were going to fight this evil together and share this joy for the rest of their lives. As they pulled into the parking lot Tara put her hand on the door handle. Willow stopped her pulling her into a passionate kiss. It was as if she couldn’t get enough of the blonde as she pressed her tongue needily into Tara’s mouth and her breathing became labored. Regretfully she broke away explaining, “we have to get inside but when all this is over, I want to show you how much I love you once again.”
“Only once?” Tara teased and was pleased to see the red blush that filled Willow’s features. The redhead was still blushing as they entered the library and began helping to research. For hours the quartet researched. Tara was surprised to see Xander attacking the books so avidly. From what she had heard, she thought that his main purpose was getting coffee and donuts. “Hey, y-y-you’re doing ok with this r-r-research stuff,” she pointed out to the boy.
Xander smiled lamely as her joked, “yeah well, being about to die inspires me to put my brain to work.” Just as she was smiling back the phone rang. Giles hung up and told them that Buffy was at the hospital and they all ran out to drive there quickly.
As they reached the hospital they found Angel standing in the hall. “What happened?” Giles asked.
“She’s fine. She’s sleeping,” the vampire explained.
No one spoke as they took in the scene. Finally Giles instructed Angel, “you better go Angel. It’s getting late.” The brooding man nodded and left.
Without speaking Tara took Willow’s hand and started toward Buffy’s room. Reaching it she noted that the slayer was resting peacefully but receiving a blood transfusion. Quickly she began an incantation and placed her hand over the slayer’s heart. The green glow, which emanated from her hand was more intense than it had been before and she wondered if the power she was feeling was caused by Buffy’s special characteristics or the strength of Willow’s love for her friend or some other cause. Whatever the reason, after less than a minute Buffy’s eyes snapped open. She locked eyes with Tara’s blue orbs instantly understanding what had happened. As she pulled the IV from her arm and reached for her jacket she held the witch’s eye contact. “Thank you Tara,” she sincerely said.
As Buffy was meeting up with Xander and Giles in the hallway Willow started from the room but was stopped as she realized that Tara still held her hand and the blonde witch wasn’t moving. “No,” she whispered.
“We need to go Tara,” Willow explained.
Pulling her lover toward the door to the next room Tara spoke again, “no Willow, not yet.”
Willow finally saw the Faith’s body lying in the bed next door. She looked at her lover and shook her head. Pulling the blonde to her she explained as calmly as she could, “we can’t love. She would help him today.”
“B-b-but she’ll d-d-die if we d-d-don’t…” Tara trailed off.
Willow knew how much pain it caused her lover to think of anyone sick or hurting. Touching their foreheads together in a motion they used for comforting each other she thought quickly: “we can come back after.” Tara caught her lover’s green eyes and the love in them. She nodded her agreement and the two witches joined the others in the hallway.
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Hours later the entire Scooby gang was in the library listening intently to Buffy’s proposed plan and staring at her in disbelief. “ That's the basic plan. So. Am I crazy?” she finally asked.
Willow commented, “well, ‘crazy's’ a strong word…” and Giles interrupted, “Let's not rule it out though.”
Tara sat quietly being amused as the entire gang engaged in some witty banter about the craziest plan for defeating the mayor. Oz’s suggestion was the funniest and Tara began to see why her lover had dated him. He was just quirky and cute enough that she could understand the couple. Surprisingly Cordelia was also the person who pointed out that Buffy’s plan was the only one they had and that being the slayer she was the most likely to have a good plan.
Excited to finally have some consent Buffy flattered Xander with his importance to the plan. He responded as expected: “Key? Me? Okay, pride... humility... and here's the mind numbing fear. What do I have to do?”
In response Buffy disclosed the entire plan to the gang. Basically the students would be united to fight the mayor’s henchmen while she led the mayor into the library. With the help of Oz and some other students with a modicum of science ability the library would be rigged to blow up, hopefully destroying the demon. As they discussed the plan, Wesley entered the library to announce, “You haven't an enormous amount of time.”
Tara was surprised to see the interaction between Buffy and the watcher. It was obvious that something had happened to create a division between the slayer and the watcher’s council but she didn’t know what it was. Regardless, the watcher offered his help in any way possible. As Buffy accepted his assistance she laid out the remainder of the plan.
Once Wesley explained that there would be an eclipse during the ascension it became obvious that the mayor would use vampires and that Angel could fight on the Scooby side. Buffy pointed out that Xander and Angel would need to fight the vampire element together although Xander would be in charge. “W-w-what about us?” Tara stuttered.
Buffy turned to the blonde witch and brushed her hand over her shoulder before explaining that she wanted to the two witches to work to take out the vampires. “And if anyone lives through, we’ll need your healing. Can you do both?” Buffy confirmed.
“With Willow’s h-h-help I can,” Tara nodded.
As everyone agreed that the plan was a go, each member of the team left to begin their parts. Oz, Cordelia, and Xander went to recruit the senior class to help with the conspiracy. The two witches looked to each other unsure what to do before the ceremony. Finally Tara leaned across the table to whisper in her lover’s ear, “only once?”
Willow’s eyes popped open as she realized what her lover was implying. Without a word, she grabbed Tara’s hand and pulled her toward the hallway. As they moved quickly along the hallway she saw a janitor’s closet and pushed the door open. Before it closed she felt the blonde’s body pressed against hers holding her to the door. “Oh Goddess,” Willow moaned out as their tongues traded position inside their joined mouths.
Tara didn’t know if it was the danger of the overall situation or their location secluded in the janitor’s closet but the blonde couldn’t keep her hands off her lover. She allowed them to roam all over Willow’s body, clutching her ass to pull the smaller woman closer and closer. Pulling open the redhead’s shirt she desperately kneaded her small breasts in her hands. Willow’s tight nipples strained against the lace of her bra and Tara bent her head to suckle the tip right through the material. As she heard Willow’s loud moaning she was aware of her girlfriend’s hand clutching at the back of her head and her other hand moving to Tara’s breast.
Willow reveled in the feeling of Tara ravishing her body. She felt amazingly turned on by their position in the janitor’s closet. Tara’s breast in her hand felt full and the nipple was already hard under her attention. Removing her hand from the back of the Tara’s head as the blonde switched to suck and nip at her other nipple Willow raised it to Tara’s other breast and began rolling the tips of her breasts in her small hands.
Unable to resist any longer Willow dropped her hand to Tara’s jeans releasing the button and zipper. As she did so, she felt Tara’s hand mirroring the same action on her own pants. Both women slipped their fingers lightly into the other’s panties at the same moment and moaned out as they felt the hot wetness pooled there. “Now…” Willow growled.
Instantly both women thrust two fingers inside the other. Their need was so great, so passionate, so hungry. “Oh Goddess,” Tara moaned out as she felt herself take Willow’s hand and wrap herself around it. She felt transported by the simultaneous feeling of Willow sliding in and out of her wetness and her own hand moving more and more forcefully into her lover. Their mouths melded together hungrily as both women clutched to each other, their knees weakening as they neared their climax together.
“Harder. Faster,” Willow moaned into Tara’s mouth and was surprised as the blonde deciphered her message instantly speeding up her movement to thrust in and out of her lover. Willow mirrored the motion and instantly felt Tara’s body begin to tighten against her hand. As she thrust into her lover, Willow ground the heel of her hand against Tara’s clit and felt the blonde fall over the edge.
Tara screamed into Willow’s mouth as her climax broke over the smaller woman’s hand. The sensation of her muscles clenching around Willow’s fingers was enough to send the redhead over the edge. She returned her lover’s scream as each woman clenched and unclenched around her lover. Tara raised her arm to lean it against the door as she removed her fingers and cradled Willow in her arms. She placed small kisses on the redhead’s mouth and whispered, “I love you Willow Rosenberg.”
Willow reveled in the feeling of being wrapped in her lover’s arms. “Not as much as I love you Tara,” Willow responded. She instantly saw Tara’s look and amended her statement: “I love you the exact same my love. Always.” For a few minutes they held each other.
“It seems quiet,” Tara commented as both women began to wonder how long they had been in the janitor’s closet.
“Oh Goddess,” Willow gasped as she realized how long they had been in there. As both women quickly buttoned their pants they pulled open the door and ran down the hall toward the graduation ceremony. “I’m glad we came out of the closet,” Willow joked as they reached the gathering.
They took their seats near the back of the spectators and held hands. They could hear the mayor already in the middle of his speech. What a bore! I can’t believe he’s really making this stupid speech. Willow thought. Leaning over to Tara she whispered, “just ascend already.”
Tara giggled at her lover’s silly comment just as she noticed the darkening sky indicating that the eclipse was starting. Turning around in their chairs, they saw the crowd of vampires gathering at the foot of the stairs just as they heard the screams indicating that something was happening on the stage. Neither witch could see the stage for the crowd of students that stood to face the stage and tore off their caps and gowns. Both watched as the enormous snake began to take fire from the class.
Xander approached calling out to the rear guard. As he did Willow and Tara took their places, linking their hands so that their rings met. Tara had moved her ring to her other hand so that they could share their magical energy more fully without being behind each other. As they waited for Xander to start the attack on the vampires, the two witches allowed their magical energy to build. Sparks ran along their hands and arms as the power built. Tara could feel Willow’s greater power but used her tight control to allow the two forces to work together.
As the witches watched, ten students lit the end of flaming arrows. They waited for Xander’s command to “fire.” As he yelled the instruction the students let go of the flaming missiles, a couple hitting vampires who burned up instantly. After another volley, the vampires turned to retreat but were confronted with a crowd including Angel, Wesley, and others. Nodding to each other the witches began their incantation. They found that they needed no verbal communication to choose the target of their spell. Both women knew that their power would be best utilized by aiming for those vampires in close proximity to a victim or winning the fight. They wisely kept their attention far from Angel who was both susceptible to their powers and capable of taking care of himself.
Continuously murmuring their incantation, with each accented shout of “incendio” the two witches immolated a vampire. As they realized what was happening the students fighting the creatures learned to back off as soon as one began to burn. Quickly the witches had destroyed six vampires and others had taken care of the remaining creatures. As they began to move toward the crowd to determine injuries, Willow noted Angel slipping silently away.
The two girls had taken a few steps as they heard and felt the explosion simultaneously. Realizing what was happening, Willow turned to wrap her arms around her lover as if to shield her from the danger. Both girls were blown from their feet and into the grass adjacent to the walk. Willow attempted to keep her hold on the blonde as they hit the ground and rolled to a stop next to a stone bench. Her head snapped back as she felt it connect with something hard. Even as the pain raged through her head, she attempted to use her body and arms to shield her lover from the debris raining down on them.
As the rain of debris relented Willow pulled back to look at Tara. She could feel a warm stream of blood dripping from her hairline and saw a few drops fall onto Tara’s forehead. The blonde opened her eyes to look into her lover’s green ones. Initially she smiled to see Willow’s gaze locked on hers but her countenance fell as she realized that Willow was injured. She began to raise her hand to touch the injury. Before she could do so, she felt Willow’s lips pressed against her. Her kiss communicated everything she could not say with words: joy at their surviving, gratitude that Tara came, and love for this women.
As she pulled back, Willow felt Tara’s hand on her brow and felt the familiar healing sensation of the cut knitting back together. As the blonde opened her eyes Willow brushed her own fingers along Tara’s jaw. “Sorry,” the redhead whispered as she realized what her head had hit so hard.
“It’s ok,” Tara confirmed. Starting to rise she pulled Willow with her. “Let’s check on everyone,” she said. The two girls began moving through the students allowing Tara to heal those she could help. Although she felt drained, the addition of Willow’s power did much to allow her to extend her energy. Each time they encountered their friends they felt tremendous happiness that each had survived the battle. Seeing Buffy, Willow dropped Tara’s hand and ran to the slayer, wrapping her in a tight hug. Tara followed quickly, hugging the slayer before she gently placed her hand on her forehead to heal an ugly cut across it.
After the sirens had faded, the entire gang—Buffy, Cordelia, Oz, Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Tara—sat on a stone bench or stood behind it looking at the destroyed façade. They bantered and joked about how badly they kicked the demons’ asses as Tara observed with joy the fun they all had together.
Before walking away Oz commented with unusual verbosity: “Guys. Take a moment to deal with this. We survived.”
Buffy agreed: “It was a hell of a battle.”
Smiling Oz commented, “Not that battle. High school.” Tara joined the others in smiling in appreciation.
After taking a moment Willow turned to the others asking, “So y’all ready to go?”
Everyone nodded rising from the bench and walking away from the school. Tara smiled widely as if hearing the punch line to an inside joke as she lifted the redhead’s hand to her lips, pressing a soft kiss into Willow’s flesh.
The End
I have just posted the sequel: Paths Diverged/Divulged.
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"Keep in mind always the present you are constructing. It should be the future you want." - Alice Walker, Temple of My Familiar Edited by: JustSkipIt at: 6/3/03 3:31 pm
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You're such an excellent writer and I love how you captured the Willow and Tara we all love as well as adding your own flavor. Thanks for a great story!
at: 5/27/03 3:27:19 am
JustSkipIt,
From the begginning to the end, you took us on this great great ride, and you can't beleve how happy I am to have read this. I'm kinda sad to see it end, but you said there is a sequel, so me happy! 
Ahhh, come on they could have made other choices in some other reality… And your later comment. Awesome. Yes to the sequel.
A week! Can't wait! 
. Yay, there’s gonna be a sequel