Title: Coming BackFeedback: Please, this story needs all the help it can get.
Takes place five years from now.
Spoiler Warning: Through Season Six
Disclaimer: Its all ME and Joss. I do not have any copyrights or anything else associated with BTVS. All rights belong with the production company, writers etc, etc.
Rating: PG for now
Couples: Eventually W/T again
Notes: It feels like it is taking forever to set the scene. I hope it is making some sense.
"Hey Buff, it's me. Could you give me call as soon as you get in. I will be home waiting for your call. It is really important." Dawn hung up the phone and began pacing back and forth. She looked at her watch again. 8:00 PM. That made it 5:00 PM back in Sunnydale. Buffy was going to have classes for the next four hours. So she was going to have plenty of time to explain what she had discovered.
Four more hours to pace back and forth. How was she going to explain? She could just come straight out with her discovery. Or she could wait. She could just stress that Buffy needed to come as soon as possible. That would give her time to confirm things. It would be tough for Buffy to take time off from her classes. She was teaching self-defense classes and although her business was doing well, she only had one part time instructor to fill in for her. It would be stressful financially but it was important. For the first time in years, beyond the anger and regret, there was a trace of hope in her life. A chance that she and her family would finally get the answers that they needed before they could completely heal. Things had been wrong for so long.
Dawn had had a tough adolescence to say the least. She first found out that she was some mystical key. She still hadn't quite grasped that concept when her mother died suddenly. With in a week of her mother's death, Tara had her mind sucked by Glory. She was protecting Dawn. Then Willow used magic to get Tara back but Buffy died. Then Buffy was resurrected but she came back sad and depressed. Nothing ever turned out easily. There was always a "but" to follow good news in her life. When it seemed as if nothing else could happen, something did. Willow cast a spell on Tara and as result, they broke up. Things just got worse and worse. Tara moved out. The house lost the calm sense of stability that Tara had given. Just when it seemed that Tara and Willow were getting back together, Xander walked out of his wedding to Anya. And then one day, Tara also disappeared.
How could Tara just disappear. She had promised that no matter what happened between her and Willow, she would always be there for Dawn. And she kept that promise for four months and then she just disappeared. She and Willow were dating again and things were good. And then, she was gone. Dawn imagined that Tara would be amazed to see how her absence shook the family. Willow had searched every data place that she could find but she was never able to find her. She walked the streets. Buffy went on a demon rampage, threatened and tortured every vampire she could find but learned nothing about her missing friend. Anya passed out fliers at the Magic shop with ever sale she made. She even put up a reward for any news on Tara. Giles checked with all his council contacts but found nothing.
Tara was gone without a trace. Eventually, they got permission to pack the belongings that had been left in her dorm room. They were stowed away under the stairs of the basement. Keeping the boxes, keeping her things just made Dawn feel as if there was a chance that she would come back. But come back from where?
The thing about life is that it just continues, even when you are hurting. And that is what happened with there lives. Buffy continued slaying and started teaching self defense out of the Magic Box. Willow finished college. Xander got his contractors license and started working by himself doing small scale home renovations. And Anya continued to work at the Magic Box. She actually developed other friends and started dating other people Dawn graduated from high school and spent a year at Sunnydale before she decided to transfer. She didn't care where she went as long as it was far from the Hellmouth. She thought Buffy would not want her to leave. Instead, she basically pushed her out the door. Buffy wanted to give her a chance to live peacefully and so she transferred to a small private college in Pennsylvania. It was so different from Sunnydale. The mountains and the lush hills were paradise. She was able to just start over
Willow buried herself in her job. She worked as a computer consultant. It was a good job for her. She would be assigned a company that had computer problem, bury herself in the problem, solve it and move on. She traveled all across the country and would stay anywhere from a couple of nights to six months. Sunnydale was her headquarters. She still had a room at the Summer's house. Her traveling allowed her to stay isolated. In the companies where she worked, she remained professional and distant. She did her job and left. She remained close to Buffy, Dawn, Xander and Anya but did not meet anyone new. Currently, she was working in Orlando.
Her family moved on but they never forgot that they were incomplete. And now, Dawn believed that she had found her. She had been attending the Gay/Bi-Lesbian Alliance Meeting on campus. She had begun attending these meetings as a way to remember Tara and Willow. She had seen the trouble that they went through trying to get Tara stuff from the University. Willow had enough evidence that they were partners but the university still hassled them. She had witnessed them be yelled at on the street for holding hands. She had felt the subtle discrimination for just being a part of this unique family. And as a way to recognize all they had done for her, she had pledge that she would always fight for the rights of the GLBT population, even if it meant that guys assumed she was not interested.
So she had been at the monthly meeting. The two women sitting beside here were talking about their weekends. Kathy, was excitedly showing her friend pictures of her the camping she and her new girlfriend had gone on. For Kathy, she was proud that her girlfriend was older and in graduate school. She kept mentioning the different things that people in the picture studied as if know them made her more intelligent. Dawn had never thought much of Kathy. She tended to think a little to highly of herself and she never stopped talking. So she just tuned out the conversation until a part of the conversation until one part piqued her interest.
"And this girl was cooking pancakes over the fire. When Jamie and I got back, she asked us what kind of pancakes we wanted. I was like huh. And she explained that she could make round or funny shaped. I was like... well, I want boobed shaped. And she made them. Then everyone else, even those who were full insisted on a boobed shaped pancake. This is a picture of us all about to eat our boobs and this is the girl who cooked them, Terri. She was so swee... heh."
Without waiting for an invitation, Dawn leaned over and took the picture out of Kathy's hand. She couldn't believe her eyes. She was in shock. Looking directly at her was Tara. Same shy half smile, same beautiful blue eyes. TARA! That was Tara, hunched over a fire, looking at the camera, caught like a deer in the headlights. TARA! That was definitely Tara holding a plant of boobed shaped pancakes.
"Tara" Dawn screamed, waving at the picture. "That is Tara! Where is she?"
Her two women looked at her oddly. Dawn was shaking with excitement. To those in the circle, she almost looked possessed. They had never seen her react this way.
"Uh, no that is Terri. She is Betsy's sister.." Answered the owner of the pictures.
"Where is Betsy? Where does she live? Where can I find her? That is Tara." Dawn was trying to fight the urge to shake the information from this woman. "Who is Betsy?"
"Dawn, you have got to calm down. Who do you think this person is? An ex-girlfriend." Asked Kathy's friend.
"Ew, no, she- she- she's a dear friend. She was there when my mother died and when my sister di- disappeared. She helped raise me. That is Tara. I need to see Tara. She used to make me funny shaped pancakes. She used to take care of me and then she disappeared. Please tell me how I can find her!"
"Let me call Amy and see what she thinks. Dawn, I am not making any promises. I do not want to be stalking these people. After all, they are in graduate school." reprimanded Kathy as she took out her phone and began to dial.
***********
Kathy was surprised at Amy's reaction. Amy quickly called Becky's and talked to her girlfriend,Julie. With in five minutes, Kathy was handing over her phone to Dawn to talk to Julie,. The conversation was brief. "Are you sure you know her? Where? When? Can you meet me in three hours. Good, see you then."
***********
Dawn picked up the phone on the first ring. Buffy was finally calling back.
"Hey brat, where's the fire?" Buffy asked affectionally as she set her stuff down and began to wander around the kitchen.
"Uh, Buffy, I need you to come out here as soon as you can. It is urgent."
"Dawn, what's going on." The slayer's voice was full of concern. Her sister was tough. She rarely called for help. They worked together as a team now. Her sister was not one to panic.
"If I didn't tell you, would that get you here faster?" Dawn asked.
There was a growl of frustration on the other end of the phone and the response to her question was. "Probably, but it would also put a hell of a lot of strain on this heart. Please tell me what is going on."
"Buffy, are you sitting down because this is big."
"Dawn!"
"Okay, I was at the Gay/ Lesbian advocacy meeting today and..."
"Dawn, you know that I just want you to be happy - gay, straight, bi, demon-loving - I have seen it all and what matters to me is that you are safe and happy."
:"No, let me finish, I was at the meeting and one of the girls was passing out pictures of her weekend." Dawn could here Buffy eagerness to get to the point. "And one of the pictures was of Tara."
There was silence over the line. Dawn could hear a chair pulled out and the creak of Buffy's weight meeting the chair. She held her breath as she waited for her sisters response. There was more she had to tell but she had to let her news sink in. So she silently waited for her sister to respond. It finally came out as a whisper, "are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Well, did she look happy?" Dawn was thrown by that question. She never considered Tara's happiness. All she thought about was seeing her again.
"Um, well, no. She looks older and tired. Her hair was shorter. I think she even had a tan which is weird since she was the goddess of the sun screen." Dawn felt that these things were not relevant. "Buffy, she is here on the East Coast."
"Well, it's good to know she is alive but why do you want me to come out there?"
"To see her of course. She needs to see her family. Remember, we are her family."
"Dawn, she left us." That response from Buffy threw Dawn. She expected Buffy on the first plane out east to get her friend.
"Buffy there is so much more." Dawn began to plead.
"No, I do not need to hear more. It is good to know that she is alive but if she wanted to see us, she would have called. We haven't moved. Our phone number hasn't changed. We always thought something happened to her but now we know, she left. She just left. She didn't care about the hole she left. She didn't care about how worried we were. She didn't care about anything. She's alive and that is good but now all I can feel is anger. Dawn, she left us."
At that moment, Dawn saw here sister in a different light. For the first time, she realized how fragile her sister was. For the first time she realized how much this woman cared. She was able to deal with vampires and demons, they didn't hurt her as much as people. The news that she had just given Buffy added up to one more person who she felt abandoned by. But that was not the truth and Dawn began to tell her the rest. "Um, Buffy, there is more. You see, she goes by the name Terri. She goes by the name Terri because she does not remember her real name. She doesn't know who she is. Buffy, she is still lost."
"Oh, um, Dawn give me a couple of days and I will be out there. We won't tell Willow until we know more. For now, please tell me what you know."
***********
To be continued...
[This message has been edited by anon (edited March 23, 2002).]