Disclaimer: I do not and will never own the charaters of this fic. I am merely borrowing them for a time. They belong to Joss, ME, etc.. people who aren't me.
Couple: W/T
Feedback: It would be nice but be gentle it's my first and probably last fic...if I ever finish.
NOtes: Sorry it ttok me so long but life has been hellish...please do forgive. That is if anyone is still interested in reading
Chapter: 11Willow looks at the man with hate as she walks towards the door. She stops but only briefly to thank the officer before heading out the door and towards the hospital. As she makes it to the main street she begins running, after a few minutes she realizes she will never make it fast enough on foot so she stops and goes in search of a cab. Once she has flagged one down she gets inside and clothes the door behind her. “Sunny Dale Memorial Hospital. Now!” She has the worst feeling in the pit of her stomach, a felling that Tara is in danger. ‘I’m coming Tara. Please god don’t let her family get to her before I get there’, she says silently. “Excuse me sir? Do you think that maybe you could go a little faster? I really need to get to the hospital and fast.”
“Look lady I’m going as fast as I can, if you want to drive get your own car. We are almost there.”
Buffy, Xander and Dawn all sit in the waiting room hoping Willow will return soon. “How long did Willow say she was going to be? Do you think I should call home to check on her?”
“I don’t know Buffy, she didn’t say. Only that it wouldn’t take long, maybe you should call just to be on the safe side.” Xander tries to smile reassuringly at Dawn, trying to hide the discomfort he was feeling.
“Yeah, I’ll just run and use the payphone right fast.”
Buffy gets up and walks across the room to the payphone. She takes a few coins out of her pocket and slips them into the coin slot. Buffy punches the numbers she knows well. Xander looks at her briefly then turns his attention back to Dawn. “Hey, you okay Dawn?”
“Yeah Xander, just a little worried about Willow. And from the looks of things it seems that maybe Willow didn’t go home after all.”
Buffy waits for the machine to pick up and then waits for the beep. “Damn it Will.”
“Hi you have reached Buffy, Dawn and Willow, sorry we are unable to come to the pone but please leave a message and one of us will get back to you” BEEP.
“Willow? Willow its Buffy. If you’re there please pick up the phone.” After still getting nothing Buffy hangs up the phone with a sigh and walks back to where Dawn and Xander are sitting. “Nothing, all I got was the machine.”
“Well if Willow’s not at home then where could she be?” Dawn feels tears start to well up in her eyes.
“It’s okay Dawn, she’s probably on her way back here as we speak. Right Buffy?” Xander looks over at Buffy but doesn’t get an answer. “Buffy?”
“Huh? I’m sorry Xander what where you saying?”
“I was just telling Dawn that Willow is just probably on her way here and that’s why she didn’t answer the phone.”
“Yeah, we probably just missed her is all. Don’t worry Dawn, Willow’s fine.” Buffy tries to smile as she sits down beside Dawn and takes her hand. “I just wish she would get here already.”
No sooner than the words leave Buffy’s lips, Willow runs through the doors. “Buffy!”
“Willow, what’s wrong? Why are you still wearing those clothes? I figured that was one of the reasons you were going home for, to change. We just tried to call but we didn’t get an answer. We just figured we had missed you or something, Willow?”
“Buffy, why aren’t one of you with Tara?” Willow looks down the corridor towards Tara’s room.
“Oh, well we were just in there a few minutes ago but we thought it might be better if we let her get some rest.” Buffy goes and stands beside Willow. “God Willow, you are as white as a sheet. What happened while you were gone? Willow! You didn’t go home did you?”
“Buffy I don’t have time to talk to you right now. I have to get to Tara’s room.” She starts to walk away but Buffy quickly grabs her arm. “Buffy, I’ll talk to you later I just…”
“Willow, Tara is fine. And you will make time to talk me, you will right now. Where have you been all this time? Why are you in such a hurry to get to Tara? She’s in a coma and we were just in there no more than 10 minutes ago. You’re shaking, and don’t tell me it’s nothing. I know you better than that.”
“Buffy, please just let me go. I just want to check on her right fast and then I’ll tell you everything. I promise. But right now you have to let me go and check on her, I have to make sure she’s okay.”
“Okay but don’t think you’re off the hook. I want an explanation and it better be good. Come on I’ll come with you to check on her.”
“Honestly Buffy, I don’t care what you do. But we have to check on her NOW, so let me go.” Willow jerks her arm out of Buffy’s grip and walks down the corridor to Tara’s room.
Buffy tries to keep up with Willow but she has quite a lead. “Willow, just slow down. We have time, what is wrong with you?”
“Willow, what’s up?” Xander comes up behind then with Dawn in foot. “What’s the hurry?”
“I’ll explain later Xander.” Willow walks up to Tara’s door while turning to see Buffy, Xander and Dawn right behind her. “Buffy? How long did you say it’s been since you were in there?”
“I don’t know. 10 or 15 minutes maybe? It hasn’t been that long Willow.”
“That’s long enough.” Willow says it too quietly and no one hears her.
“Yeah Buffy’s right, it hasn’t been that long at all.” Xander comes up and stands behind Willow. “What’s with all the worry? Tara’s fin, well other than the fact that she’s in a coma…”
“Xander, you don’t know for a fact that she’s fine. Have any of you seen Tara’s brother or father around here?” Willow’s face is almost as red as her hair ad she has tears streaming down her face. She waits for an answer as she reaches for the doorknob. “Well? Have you seen them or not?”
“I haven’t seen anyone…Guys?” Xander turns to look at Buffy and Dawn.
“No.” Both Buffy and Dawn answer at the same time.
“Well, just because none of you seen them doesn’t mean they aren’t here.” Willow opens the door only wide enough to stick her head in, pleased to see Tara sleeping peacefully. Willow closes the door back and turns back towards her friends. “Look guys I’m really sorry but we have to keep an eye on Tara, make sure no one gets to her. I couldn’t bare it if anything else happened to her.”
“Will? Why are you so worried about this all of a sudden?” Xander looks a Willow with confused eyes begging for an honest answer. “Come on Willow, where have you been? And don’t say you just went home because we all know better than that.”
“What are you hiding Willow? You can tell us, you know that right?” Buffy stands beside Xander waiting for Willow to speak but she never does. “Damn it Willow! Where were you before? Where did you go? Wherever it was something has upset you.”
“I’m afraid to say. I know for a fact that you guys aren’t going to like my answer, in fact I’m more than certain your gonna be pretty pissed when I tell you.” Willow looks at her friends with pain and sadness in her beautiful green eyes. Eyes that usually held so much life, so much happiness.
Dawn comes up beside Willow and wraps one of her arms around her. “Willow we are your friends and we love you. Just because we don’t like some of the things you do doesn’t mean we are going to turn our back on you. It doesn’t mean we love you any less. Hello do you remember what Buffy did to all of us no more than 2 days ago. We still love her don’t we? And what about my whole clepto issue? You still love me right? You guys love me and Buffy jut as much as you always have, I know you do.”
“But Dawn this is…”
“Willow don’t you even dare sit there and tell me it’s different. We still love Buffy, you guys still love me. It’s not different. It may be different circumstances but the outcome is the same, we love you.” When Willow goes to answer Dawn cuts her off again, “Willow? You still love me and Buffy don’t you?”
“Of course I still love you and Buffy, I always will. Buffy didn’t know what she was doing, she was very sick and you were just trying to get some attention. That’s why the situation is so different Dawn, I’m not sick. I didn’t lose my mother and I’m not trying to get attention. I did this because I wanted too.”
“No Willow, it’s not different. Your sick too Willow, believe it or not. You are grief stricken because of what happened to Tara, that’s exactly what you are and that will make you do crazy things. Things you wouldn’t normally do. So why don’t you just tell us where you were all this time? It’s not like it’s the end of the world or anything.” Dawn gets a weird look in her eyes. “Wait, it’s not the end of the world and no one told me is it?”
“No Dawn, its not. And Willow, Dawn is right on this one. You and I have been best friends since grade school. Do you have any clue as to how much I love you?”
“Yeah Willow, I know I haven’t been around as long as Xander but I love you just as much. Dawn loves you and Tara loves you. We all make mistakes, god knows I’ve made more than a few. Just tell us, please?”
“Okay, I’ll tell you. I went to the police station. I’m sorry I lied but I knew if you knew my intentions you would have never let me go.”
“Damn right we wouldn’t have let you go. Why did you go there?” Buffy’s tone had a little disapproval in it but nothing more.
“I went there to talk to that man, the one who hurt Tara. I just wanted to ask him a few questions is all.”
Buffy is more than confused. “Why, why would you ever want to see that man again?”
“Buffy, I told you what he said, what he said about Tara’s father. He was the one behind this, he is the one who put that man up to hurting Tara. He is the one who put all of this into motion.” Willow wipes angrily at her tears. “He did this and the man said that while I was there talking to him that Tara’s dad was probably here. That he had probably already found Tara and finished the job. It scared the hell out of me and I came straight here, as fast as I could. I can’t stand the though of that man being anywhere near Tara, hurting her. That thought makes me cringe and it always makes my blood boil.” Willow clenches her fists at her side, her nails digging into the soft flesh of her palm.
“Willow, you should know better than that. You should know that I would never let that jerk within two feet of Tara. Tara is my friend too Will. Why do you think I went after that bastard tonight? I wanted to kill him, make him feel pain beyond imaginable. And I did.”
“I know you love Tara, Buffy. That’s not even a question. But you can’t be sure her father won’t slither his way in when no one is looking. We have to be very careful and if…”
“Willow, you just saw it for yourself. There is no one in that room with Tara, she’s all by herself, she doesn’t even have a person sharing a room with her right now.”
“I know that Xander but that doesn’t mean he’s not coming. We can’t let him get Tara. There is no telling what he could do to Tara given the opportunity, and it’s my job to make sure he never gets that opportunity. When he finds out that Tara is still alive then he will be here to make sure it’s not for very long.”
“We won’t Willow, we will make sure that jerk comes no where near Tara.” Dawn gives Willow a small but comforting hug. “We’ll protect her, won’t we Buffy? With our lives.”
“Dawn’s right, we won’t let anyone hurt her again. I’ll die first before I let that happen.”
“Yeah Willow, the Scooby’s are here to help you look out for your girl. We’ll stay at this hospital 24/7 in we have to. We may even be able to convince Anya to help us, her and Tara and kinda close, right? She doesn’t care to be around me after everything that’s happened but…but she still does care about all of you. You can tell she does, you can see it in her eyes. You could try calling her and asking…maybe, I guess.”
“No Xander, I don’t need you to be here all the time. I’ll be here most of the time, but I will need for you to watch after incase I have to go home and stuff like that. You guys can help me out with that right? We can do it between the 4 of us we don’t need to get Anya involved. In fact there is no reason to even tell Anya, she doesn’t have to be involved.”
“Oh, well there might be a small problem with that Willow. Anya already knows and she is already involved.”
“What do you mean? I haven’t spoken to Anya since the wedding, how could she possibly know?” Willow looks at Buffy confused.
“She was at the Bronze when I went back, she granted my wish…”
“Wish…wait what! Anya’s a vengeance demon again? When did this happen?” Xander asks.
“I’m not sure but yes she is indeed a demon again. I seen it with my own eyes, but she helped me find the guy ho did this to Tara. She really does care about Tara, I think that’s why she helped me.”
“Okay that’s weird but really guys, do you think you can help me?”
“Yes Willow, we can help. It’s summer so I don’t have classes or anything, which means no curfew.”
“Oh yes there is curfew, well unless you’re here with Tara then it’s fine but other than that it’s 10 missy.”
Xander is still kinda in shock over the whole Anya thing. “Stop fighting.”
“We aren’t fighting.”
“Yes we are fighting Buffy, you never let me do anything.”
“Dawn this is neither the time or the place to be having this conversation. We’ll talk about this later at home. So do you think you could handle the night shifts Xander? I mean because I have patrol and everything, I guess I could stop by after that though if you want me to.”
“No problem Buff, me and Dawn can handle the night stuff…”
Willow cuts Xander off. “Actually Xander, I would be here during the night. I can’t leave her alone in there at night. It shouldn’t take to much of your time, like I said it would only before me to go home at times.” Willow looks through the glass on Tara’s door just to make sure she’s okay. “Besides I don’t want to be away from her more any more than an hour or so. She needs me to be here for her right now and that’s exactly where I am going to be. Right by her side.” Tears stream down Willow’s face. “She shouldn’t be in there any ways, she shouldn’t be hooked up to those machines that are breathing for her.”
“But she is hurt willow and there is nothing we can do about that right now except to be here for her. But I swear to you Willow, that if her family shows up then I will personally kick all of their sorry asses. They’ll wish they never heard of Sunnydale. I won’t let them hurt her anymore than they already have.” Buffy tries to get through to Willow.
“It’s getting late, I’m here now so you can all go home and get some rest. You all look tired.”
“Are you sure, because your looking a little tired yourself there buddy.”
“I’m sure, I’m fine Xander. Don’t worry about me, I can take care of myself.”
“Okay Willow if that’s really what you want then…”
Willow cuts Buffy off. “It is, we will be fine here. I don’t think her family will try anything tonight. If I need you I’ll call.” Willow tries to give her friends a reassuring smile but she is quite certain she failed at doing this. She just didn’t have much to smile about right now.
“Okay, do you want us to bring you anything from the house?” Dawn looks down at Willow’s clothes seeing Tara’s blood everywhere. “Like maybe a change of clothing or something? We are coming back first thing in the morning.”
“Umm…” Willow looks down at her clothes as well. “Yeah Dawn some more clothes would be nice. Oh and do you think you could grab my diary too? It’s beside the bed on top of the dresser. It’s bright pink, you really can’t miss it. There is a bag in the top of my closet that you can throw my clothes in. I honestly don’t care what clothes you bring as long as they are clean. Are you sure you don’t mind doing this? Because if it’s a…”
Dawn cuts Willow off before she can finish. “Of course we don’t mind Willow, don’t be silly.” Dawn wraps Willow in a gentle hug. ‘You sure you don’t need anything else?”
“A tooth brush would be nice. Thank you so much guys, I really appreciate you helping me out like this. You positive it’s not going to be a bother because I can go and…”
“Willow!” Buffy voice is stern but still loving. “Would you stop asking us that already? No it’s not a bother, we are your friends therefore we help you. That’s the way it works, deal with it already.”
“Thanks.” Willow wipes at her tears for what seems like the millionth time that night. “You guys are the greatest, always here when I need you. It really means a lot to me and I’m sure it means a lot to Tara as well. Oh and Buffy? I’m dealing thank you very much.” Willow actually smiles and means it this time. “I am very well at dealing.”
“O-kay, if you say so Will.”
“Hey, I am! But really, thanks guys. I know I’ve said that more than a few times tonight but I mean it.”
“What have I always told you Willow? You don’t have to thank us. We love both you and Tara and you need us right now. We will always be here to help, always.” Buffy come up and puts her hand on Willow’s arm.
Xander finally decides it’s time to go home and let Willow be with Tara. “Okay guys, it’s getting late so what do you say we split? I can drop you two off at the casa de Summer’s. You guys are ready right?”
“Yeah Xander, we’re ready.” Buffy steps away from Willow while coming up beside Dawn and taking her arm. “Come on Half Pint, let’s go so Willow and Tara can get some rest.”
“Actually Buffy., do you think I could go in and say goodnight to Tara first? It won’t take long I promise. Please?”
“Umm Dawn I’m not sure that’s…”
“Aww, come on Buffy. Pease?”
“Okay but only for a second. And only if Xander doesn’t mind waiting on you. Xander? Do you mind if Dawn goes in and says goodnight to Tara?”
“Sure Dawnster, go right ahead. But try not to take too long okay?” Xander smiles toothly at Dawn.
“Okay, I won’t. Willow? Do you mind if I so in to see her? She shouldn’t dream of leaving without saying goodnight to me and so I don’t want to let her down.” Dawn tries to stop her tears before Willow notices them.
“Oh, of course Dawnie. Go right ahead. I’m sure she’d love for you to come in and say bye.” Willow gives Dawn’s arm a gentle squeeze. “Do make it short though, it’s getting late and I don’t think she suppose to have visitors at this time of the night.”
“Okay thanks so much guys.” Dawn smiles and then walks into Tara’s room shutting the door behind her as she walks over to Tara’s bedside and falls down in the chair beside her. Dawn takes Tara’s hand in hers, “Hey Tara. It’s me again We are all just about to leave.”
“Dawn? I knew you wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye to me. Thank you.” “Willow’s back now and so the rest of us are just going to go home and come back in the morning. But don’t worry, Willow’s going to stay the night here with you. She’s doesn’t want to leave you here alone and I can’t say that I blame her on that one. I just wanted to come by to say goodnight and that I love you.” Dawn brings Tara’s hand to her mouth and kisses it.
“I love you too Dawn, I just wish you could actually hear me saying to you instead of it just being in my head.” “You know, I really miss talking to you so much already and it hasn’t even bee a day yet. I know you can hear me in there Tara so I want you to listen.”
“Your right, I can hear you and I always listen when you are talking to me. I just can’t answer you right now. I’m trying to come back to you, I miss all of you dearly but I can’t open my eyes.” “I just want you to know that I love you. I love you more than anything Tara and this is breaking my heart, seeing you just lying there not breathing. Willow’s not the same person when you’re not around, this is so much worse than with you broke up with her too. So do us all a favor and hurry up with the waking up okay?” Dawn gently places Tara’s hand back beside her side after giving it one last kiss. “I love you.”
“Soon Dawn, I promise you I will wake up soon. Wait for me, please don’t Edited by: xita 
at: 7/14/02 3:06:07 am
by all4tare n will » Wed Jun 05, 2002 11:23 am 
I hope you have a good time on your trip. Maybe you could write when you're bored- that is, if you're not having too much fun day in and day out with your parents 
,