Hi guys, not to spoil you but here are parts 3 & 4. Since 4 is a short one, I'm putting it with 3 just to get it posted. Hope you like. #3 is one of my favorites yet.
Title– W/T Season 3 Y’all – part 3
Author– JustSkipit - Debra
Feedback – Yes please.
Spoilers–Season 3 through Dead Man’s Party
Rating– Part 3 – PG Disclaimer – Willow and Tara and any other character that appeared in the syndicated television show “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” is property of Joss and Mutant Enemy, I’m only borrowing them and am not making any money off them Thanks.
Summary You remember how Willow was in a coma and came out of it in Becoming? And how Buffy was accused of killing Kendra? Well, Willow’s parents actually took some notice of those events. That and the fact that when they got to the hospital, she had a boyfriend they had never met: a musician! So they did what any caring loving parents would do. That’s right: stay home more and pay more attention to their daughter right? Wrong! They sent her to boarding school out in the beautiful Hill County of Texas.
And you will never guess who comes to pick her up at the train. Ok, maybe you will. A certain horse-riding blonde with her own reasons to get away from home.
Consistency etc. How AU is it? There are Vampires, Buffy is the slayer. She is currently in LA and no one knows where she is. Everything through Becoming happened. Everything in season 3 will happen but without Willow. Tara is the Tara we know but without the abusive father/brother and she doesn’t think she’s a demon although she and Willow are both witches.
Thanks and notes to Alyson and Amber.
Thoughts in italics! The next few days passed quickly for Tara and slowly for Willow. For Tara, her duties kept her very busy as students began arriving. She gave regular tours and explanations of the rules as well as being interrupted at all times of day and night by new students with questions. Of all of her responsibilities, working with the parents was the worst to the blonde. Although she managed to overcome her shyness with many of the students, she still felt very intimidated by these rich parents sending their children off to boarding school for whatever reason. Throughout that time, she felt her greatest release and relaxation through riding.
In the meantime, Willow continued working on her program to help the Scoobies. She got her room completely unpacked and resumed communication with her friends through e-mail. Although she began to meet other students as they arrived, she nonetheless felt incredibly lonely and missed her friends at home. She truly couldn’t wait for classes to start.
The day before classes started, she was sitting under a tree reading a computer journal when she noticed a sudden dust storm. Looking up she saw Tara grinning from the open window of the school truck. “Hey,” the blonde said, “What are you doing?”
“Reading this great article about fuzzy logic matching theory. Ok, you probably didn’t need to know that. Let’s go with reading. You?” Willow answered, walking toward the truck.
“Actually I’m fixin ta head into town to get some supplies and thought I’d come look for you to see if you wanted to come. Whatcha say?”
Willow was already moving around to the driver’s side as Tara slipped from beneath the wheel to allow her to slide across. “Actually I was hoping to come into town with you at some point. Can we go to the post office? I need to rent a PO Box,” Willow explained.
“Well sure,” Tara responded, “but why do you need a PO Box? We get mail at the school.”
“Well, uh, I kind of want a PO Box so I can get some other type mail. You know boxes and such. Nothing bad.” Willow struggled to explain.
“Right. Porn huh?” Tara suggested.
“What? Porn? Do I look like… hey, wait a minute, I think you’re teasing me again,” Willow had turned bright red but now lapsed into the laugher that both women found infectious.
“Well yeah, I’m teasing. I mean you get so cute when you turn red and everything. It’s kind of irresistible,” as Tara said the words, she felt like a cartoon character and the words were hanging there in a bubble above her mouth but she couldn’t get them erased or taken back or clear the screen. “I mean, oh Hell, I don’t know what I mean,” she concluded turning red in response.
Willow laughed, “well, at least now we know you can turn as red as I do Ms Maclay.” The unintentional reference to their first ride from town started the two women laughing again.
Finally getting themselves under control, Tara answered, “Yes going by the Post Office is fine. I need to run an errand so how about I drop you off and go run my errand and then come back for you. That way your PO Box is totally private and I won’t even know the number or anything,” she smiled.
Now getting into the mood of the joking and teasing, Willow responded, “Well sure but I was kind of counting on your being my little gopher. Now I guess you’ll just have to put up with my company and bring me into town with you to check the box myself.”
Taking her eyes from the road, Tara answered quietly, “Then I definitely don’t want to know the number.”
“Hey,” Willow suddenly shouted, “I forgot to tell you.”
Recovering from the shock of Willow’s shout, Tara answered, “Tell me what?”
“Buffy came home. She just showed up a few days ago. She called me this morning. Seems like I missed quite a party for her homecoming but nothing unusual for Sunnydale. Everyone was really glad to see her and I guess she and her mom kind of reconciled,” Willow trailed off at the end. She felt somewhat bad for only telling half-truths but better half-truths and a potential friend than full-truths and someone who thinks you’re a total nutjob right?
“Wow that’s really great.” Tara answered. Tenatively she ventured, “and she’s going to be tried or no?”
“What? Tried of what? For what? Oh, Kendra’s murder? Nah, that’s over, she’s innocent and I don’t mean not guilty cause they can’t prove it. She wasn’t there with us when it happened; she was at the … I mean.... But she’s not back in school yet; Snyder expelled her.”
“The worm?” Tara asked.
“The worm? Well yes, he’s a worm. Oh, I called him a worm in an earlier rant right?” Willow clued in. “Yes, he’s a worm; also the principal of the high school so a worm on a power trip.” She then remembered, “Oh one other thing Buffy told me. My genius boyfriend Oz, ‘forgot’ to go to summer school so he’s repeating his senior year.”
“Wow, he flunked?” Tara was loosing respect for this boyfriend pretty quick.
“Oh don’t get me wrong. He’s a genius and everything but he isn’t all that committed to school work or, well anything but music I guess, and he didn’t show up for class a lot last year and then didn’t show for summer school so he is repeating,” Willow explained. “I guess he thought it would be cute that he’d graduate with me…”
“Well, I guess that would be cute,” Tara posed somewhat tentatively pulling up to the post office. “Look, I’ll be back in like 20 minutes ok? I can pick you up here or at that Starbucks. What do you want?”
“Ooohh, Starbucks mocha. Definitely at Starbucks. But come in and have one with me. You don’t have to be back right away right?” Willow encouraged.
“Well, no there’s no rush but…um…,” Tara trailed off.
Willow interrupted quickly, “Hey mochas on me ok? I owe you for this ride into town and for dinner that first night. And I won’t take no for an answer.”
Embarrassed, Tara assented: “Well ok. Only cause you won’t take no for an answer. I’ll meet you there in about 20 minutes ok?”
---
Having a mocha at Starbucks turned into having another and another until the two women felt pretty sure sleep wasn’t going to happen any time soon. As it was getting dark, they headed back to the campus. Tara went to deliver the supplies she had picked up as Willow went back to her room. As she was researching some spells on the Internet, she heard a quiet knock at the door. Although she was resistant to answer it, interrupting her research, she felt like she needed to since someone might know she was in the room. Muttering to herself, “Geez, don’t people know if the door’s open, come on by but if it’s closed, leave me alone?” she opened the door.
Tara stood in the hall holding a small fish bowl with a blue and red fish in it. As Willow invited her in, she explained, “Hey, I uh, well, I. I. I.”
Taking the bowl from Tara, Willow set it on her bookshelf: “Hey, you do own sneakers. I thought you slept and lived in boots.” As Tara smiled at her feet, Willow prompted, “So what’s with the fish?”
“Uh, Boris I think. I thought. I thought.” She took a deep breath before continuing: “You’re so lonely and miss your friends and everything and well, I couldn’t get you a kitten but I thought maybe it would help… but probably lame and a dumb idea and I’ll be going now ok?”
As tears filled her eyes, Willow reached out to stop Tara from nearing the door, “No! Not ok. You can’t go. I mean it’s so sweet that you would do that.” By now the tears were freely flowing down her cheeks and she collapsed on the bed.
Tara moved to sit next to her, “Ok, I’m glad it’s ok. But you seem upset about it. You don’t like fish?”
Willow continued crying as she explained, “no that’s not it. I like fish. I love fish. It’s…” Taking a deep breath she decided to plunge in, “I had some fish and last year someone killed them.”
“You mean like accidentally knocked the bowl over?” Tara ventured, “You must have really liked those fish.”
Willow laughed somewhat bitterly, “No. Not like knocked the bowl over. Like broke into my room, killed the fish, put them in an envelope and put my name on it.”
Tara was so shocked she almost didn’t start her empathetic spell to help Willow: “Wow, that’s really sick. Who would do that?”
Willow felt slightly better but couldn’t identify why. She attempted to explain, “It’s complicated. It was Buffy’s boyfriend or maybe ex-boyfriend.” She trailed off. . Very quietly she continued, “That’s not what makes me cry so hard though. He. He. He killed another friend of ours a few days later.”
As Tara redoubled her efforts to lessen Willow’s pain, she concluded, “Oh Kendra? Wow, I’m really sorry. You’ve been through a lot.”
“Huh? What Kendra? Oh no. Jenny. Angel didn’t kill Kendra. His girlfriend did.”
Tara was becoming not only concerned but confused, “Wait, I thought Buffy was his girlfriend but you said she didn’t kill Kendra.”
“Oh. Goddess. It’s really complicated. His other girlfriend killed Kendra. He killed Jenny. Buffy didn’t kill anyone.” Connected as she was to Willow, Tara suddenly felt a sudden bolt of energy: the energy of falsehood and lies—a really big lie. Allowing Willow to feel her emotions, she held the redhead for a long time. Finally she asked, “Will, can I ask you something personal?”
Willow looked up, “sure what?”
“Well. I don’t know how to say this. But um. Well. You seem really sweet and nice and obviously an academic overachiever and everything.”
“But I sound like a juvenile delinquent?” Willow finished.
“Well, not exactly but you have two friends murdered, people you know did it. You may or may not have stolen a rocket launcher and blown up the mall. You apparently have something to do with trashing your school library not once but twice and I don’t know what else,” Tara finished.
And my boyfriend’s a werewolf Willow thought to herself. “Uh, would you believe ‘they started it/’?” she asked.
Strangely enough, that statement rang totally true to Tara’s magical sense. Holding eye contact, she whispered, “From you I might believe anything.”
“Well good, because I don’t want to lie to you and I want you to know that. You mean a lot to me,” she answered. Lightening the mood, she walked over to the fish, “So, Boris the Beta huh? He’s great. I really like him. Thanks.”
Tara pulled a small package from her pocket: “You’re welcome. Here’s some food for him. Uh well I should probably let you sleep, big first day of classes tomorrow.” She turned toward the door to leave.
“Hey,” Willow called out, probably a little too suddenly. As Tara turned back she asked her, “I’m too caffeined up and you said ‘anytime’ so how about we listen to some music or something. I have some cards if you want to play gin.”
Tara smiled as she kicked her shoes off, “Yeah that sounds great.”
----
PART 4
Title– W/T Season 3 Y’all – part 4
Author– JustSkipit - Debra
E-mail – debraser@yahoo.com
Feedback – Yes please.
Spoilers–Season 3 through Dead Man’s Party
Rating– Part 4 – PG
Disclaimer – Willow and Tara and any other character that appeared in the syndicated television show “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” is property of Joss and Mutant Enemy, I’m only borrowing them and am not making any money off them Thanks.
Summary You remember how Willow was in a coma and came out of it in Becoming? And how Buffy was accused of killing Kendra? Well, Willow’s parents actually took some notice of those events. That and the fact that when they got to the hospital, she had a boyfriend they had never met: a musician! So they did what any caring loving parents would do. That’s right: stay home more and pay more attention to their daughter right? Wrong! They sent her to boarding school out in the beautiful Hill County of Texas.
And you will never guess who comes to pick her up at the train. Ok, maybe you will. A certain horse-riding blonde with her own reasons to get away from home.
Consistency etc. How AU is it? There are Vampires, Buffy is the slayer. She is currently in LA and no one knows where she is. Everything through Becoming happened. Everything in season 3 will happen but without Willow. Tara is the Tara we know but without the abusive father/brother and she doesn’t think she’s a demon although she and Willow are both witches.
Thanks and notes to Willow and Tara.
Thoughts in italics!
---
Willow exited the hall glad to be through her 3rd hour class. Her A day was the heavy math day and she already felt like her brain was going to explode. Now she had off till 5th hour. Since it was a beautiful day, she thought she’d grab a sandwich and head out to enjoy the weather, from under a tree, and write some letters. After grabbing a sandwich and drink, she walked out toward the fields. As she approached the spot she had been using since arriving, she saw someone sitting under it. Tara sat leaning against the tree, focusing on a spot in the distance and writing on a pad.
Willow stopped walking as she got close to take the chance to watch the blonde. She seemed totally entranced her studying and completely at peace. Dressed in the usual jeans and long sleeve shirt, she had taken her boots off and they lay at her side. Her hair blew in the slight wind and she kept having to tuck it behind her ears. As she approached quietly, Willow noticed, not for the first time, how Tara gave her such a feeling of peacefulness.
She decided to break that peacefulness with a little play. She snuck up behind the tree and pulling some fallen pecans, began to toss them at the blonde’s pad one at a time. At first Tara just brushed them off but as the fourth hit her page, she turned to look for the source. As she did, Willow approached around the other side of the tree, dumping an entire handful of nuts on her head. Tara turned quickly to grab the redhead by the legs pulling her to the ground.
“Well now Miss Rosenberg, acting like a juvie again huh? I think you need punished,” she said beginning to tickle Willow around the middle. Willow attempted to fake not being ticklish but that only lasted for a few seconds before she had to give in. As she tried to tickle the blonde back, it quickly turned into a wrestling match with Willow on top. As she straddled Tara, leaning forward to hold her down by the wrists, she taunted her, “So, now who’s getting punished huh?”
Tara felt her heart beating in her chest and ears but couldn’t really hear anything else. She was vaguely aware that she should say something but couldn’t even imagine what. All she could see was Willow leaning over her, her lips moving to say something. Finally a recognizable thought entered her head, She’s talking. She’s saying something. I can tell because her lips are moving. Her lips are moving. Her lips. Beautiful lips. Full lips. Soft lips. Hey, wait. What the? Why am I thinking about her lips?
Suddenly Willow rolled off her, grabbing the pad: “Oh Goddess. This is amazing. You did this?” She held up the pad to show a beautiful sketch of a horse. Tara grabbed for the pad, “wait, don’t. I mean don’t look no one looks at my… Please…” she hung her head.
As she looked at her friend, Willow gently closed the cover of the pad before handing it back to her. Placing her hand softly on Tara’s chin, she raised her face to look in the eye, “I didn’t mean to intrude but it’s really beautiful. If you want to show me some day, I’d love to see more.”
“Thanks.”
“No problem. Hey, I brought a sandwich and drink. Wanna share? We have history 5th hour so we have a little time,” Willow offered. The blonde agreed and took half the offered lunch. As they relaxed against the tree, they both shared about their days and how classes had gone. Willow expressed surprise and satisfaction with the level of learning that she was going to get from the math and computer classes. Sometime around binary notation she lost Tara who sat looking somewhat blank-faced at her profile throughout her long speech. Soon it was time to go to history class and they walked silently back across the field.
Edited by: JustSkipIt at: 3/26/03 5:28:53 pm