This is my first fic and I'm really excited about it. I've been lurking here for a while and despite being semi-nervous (or maybe very) about it, I decided I really wanted to post my own fic. This ones been in my head for a while and it combines my favorite tv show, Buffy, with my favorite movie, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It looks great in my head, but I'm not sure how it will turn out on paper... hopefully okay though. I don't have a beta so all mistakes are mine, but depending on this stories reception/how I do with it I may look for one soon. I really hope you enjoy it!
Title: The Sweetest Thing
Author: Sparks
Rating: Well, I've never written smut before, but I'm gonna try! As for right now, we'll say PG-13-R for small naughty references and language.
Spoilers: None, totally AU!
Pairing: W/T and B/A and X/A are around a bit
Feedback: Pleeeeeeeeease
Disclaimer: Okay, so I don't own any of this, not Eternal Sunshine, not Buffy or its characters, not Alexander Pope's poem or even any of the many songs I intend to include in this fic. Really don't sue me, I own nothing but a few original characters
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Summary: Well, for those of you that have seen the movie, I'm taking its basic idea to create a Willow and Tara story. It will not follow the movies pattern however, as the erasing will start at the beginning of their relationship rather than the end. Willow and Tara in this are quite different from canon. Tara is a dancer/artist that is not at all shy, and kind of like a manipulative seductress, but with a vulnerable side. She has some issues but don't worry, I don't work for ME so it'll turn out great in the end. Willow is a professor at MIT and a musician, her personality is similar to canon. Angst warning! This fic will have a breakup scene somewhere down the road and will be all around angsty at times but like I said, bare with me.
*Thoughts and flashbacks in italics.
The Sweetest Thing
Chapter 1
It was a Tuesday morning in Boston, as the sun blared down onto the hood of a dark blue car. It was beautiful day, the sun was high in the sky and there wasn’t cloud in sight. The air was warm with barely a gust of wind as people hurried along in delight wearing their light summer clothes and several coats of sunscreen. For the vast majority of Boston, the wonderful weather set the stage for a fantastic day. But of course, even on this magnificent morning there were still people living in complete misery, and the woman occupying the dark blue car was one of them. In fact, in her curent state of mind, it probably wouldn’t make a difference if it was snowing outside, for her day was to be sorrowful one regardless. Inside the vehicle, the woman had a death grip on her steering wheel causing her knuckles to turn ghastly white. The front strands of her bright red hair were stained with the tears falling freely from her eyes. In her lap lay a crumpled piece of white paper with an address in the corner that read: Lacuna Inc.
The woman let out one final gutwrenching sob and composed herself as well as she could. Her green eyes still shimmered with the remnants of freshly fallen tears as she pulled her car into the busy street. She drove mindlessly, as if she was being operated solely on her desire to reach her destination. A few blocks away she pulled up next to a small brown building that said Lacuna Inc. above its door. She shut off the engine and seemed to take a moment to consider her actions. She stared straight ahead in contemplation and eventually seemed to come to a decision. With her resolve in tact, the woman hastily exited her car and burst through the doors of the facility.
Inside Lacuna Inc. Dr. Rupert Giles sat behind his desk finishing the paperwork on his most recently completed procedure. Dr Giles was a relatively young man, perhaps in his early forties, and was certainly quite dashing for his age. He was dressed in a smart tweed suit with a white lab coat draped over the chair behind him. It was clear the doctor did quite well for himself as his office was spacious and expertly crafted in mahogany and cedar wood, with tall book cases and file cabinets lining the three walls around him. He stood from his desk and walked across the large office to place the completed file in one of the tall file cabinets. Dr. Giles stood back to reflect for a moment on just how many patients he had helped. It was never a question of morality for him because his worked helped people, and right or wrong; helping people was his main concern. He began to return to his desk and close up for the day when the office door burst open revealing a familiar red-headed woman, and his secretary following her in a huff.
“I’m sorry Dr. Giles, I tried to stop her but she just wouldn’t listen,” the dark brunette secretary explained with a harsh look in the red heads direction. The secretary was a rather good looking woman, she was well dressed in a long flowing black skirt with a white blouse on top hugging her small form. Her deep brown eyes seemed to twinkle with the hint of a secret in the presence of Dr. Giles, but he seemed unaware of her attentions at the moment. The redhead remained oblivious to the harshness of the secretary’s demeanor and simply sat in the chair opposite of Dr Giles.
“I want the procedure, “ she stated firmly, tears once again falling from her eyes.
“You can’t just barge in here and expect treatment right away! There are waitlists and forms to be filled out, not to mention..”
“That’s quite alright Jenny,” Giles interrupted.
“But Doctor, there are people waiting,” Jenny pointed out vehemently.
“They can wait Jenny, I believe this patient has- shall we say- special circumstances. Now if you’ll please excuse us.”
Jenny sighed and made her exit while Giles turned to the redheaded woman and said “we will be happy to address your problem immediately.” He opened his desk drawer and pulled out a small tape recorder.
“This procedure,” he began “starts with the very basics. Why don’t you start by telling me your name and why you’re here.”
The redheaded woman sighed, and wiping yet another tear from her eye she said, “my name is Willow Rosenberg, and I’m here to erase Tara Maclay.”
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Chapter 2
Willow arrived back at her empty apartment a few hours later, feeling distraught and reliving the events of her afternoon over and over. The voice of Dr Giles rang loudly in her mind as she recalled his explanation of the procedure.
“Willow, now that we have the taped confession of your life with Tara, I’m going to need you to go to your apartment and bring me every item you have that reminds you of her. We will use these objects to create a map of Tara in your mind. We’ll need pictures, letters, clothes, anything you have at all. After you bring us those, return to your apartment and take this pill. We will come to you tonight and in the morning you will have no recollection of Tara ever being in your life at all. It will be as if you two never loved, never touched, and never even met.”
Willow sighed and went to her kitchen to fix herself a drink. On her way she glanced around her elegant apartment and realized how much less special it had become without the small reminders of Tara being around. There were no longer any of Tara’s spectacular paintings hanging from her wall, and the framed photos of them together had been stripped of their usual resting place on the mantle. Willow stared sadly at the empty place in a shelf where their DVD collection used to be and began to once again feel overcome by her emotions. She began to crumple into her favorite chair and sob the night away when she suddenly stood up straight. With new motivation once again began her journey to her kitchen.
Don’t break now Willow, this will all be over in the morning, just get your drink and get to bed. But wait… is it safe to drink when I have to take these sleeping pills tonight? God, I hope I don’t have some sort of freaky growth or get all bleedy from the eyes in the morning, because there’s no way I’m going to bed without a drink.
She reached her freezer and pulled out a nearly empty bottle of vodka from the back. Willow was never much of a drinker, but her drinking had reached a near cataclysmic level since Tara left. It continued to reach new extremes when she found out Tara had paid to have her removed from her memory. Willow flinched at the thought of Tara forgetting her and tossed back her vodka on the rocks to help dull the pain. She shuddered as she felt the cool, rubbing-alcohol flavored refreshment began to fill her veins and slightly cloud her heartache.
Willow refilled her glass and once again began to think about the procedure she was to have done here tonight. She was really going to do it, she was going to have Tara erased from her memory once and for all. Willow plopped herself down on her love seat and wondered if she could really do it. Was she was really ready to give up all of her memories of the beautiful blonde that had turned her otherwise mundane existence into a whirlwind ride each and every day? Afterall, Tara had always been there for the last three years. She was there for the joy, like when Willow had received her Ph.D from MIT and was invited to return as a professor in the Computer Science department. She was there for the sorrow, like when Willow’s father had passed away after a short battle with pancreatic cancer. She was there in the morning to make funny shaped pancakes, and she was there in the night to make love with Willow until the early hours of the morning. During that time, Tara had seemed to have always been there for Willow. But now, when Willow arguably needed her the most, Tara was gone. With that thought, Willow shook off any last reservation and reminded herself that Tara had done this thing to her first.
Willow headed into her bedroom and changed into the simple blue pajamas Lacuna had given her to wear for the procedure. After quickly popping back the mandatory sleeping pills she shut off the light and settled herself into her big cozy bed. A single tear trickled down her cheek as she realized she was having her last thoughts of Tara for the rest of her life.
Gotta be strong on this on Rosenberg, in the morning this will be finished and you can get on with your life. You won’t know how empty it is without her because… well because you won’t remember how full your life was with her in it, duh. You’ll be okay Rosenberg… you will.
You’ve gotta be.
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As the lights went out in the home of Willow Rosenberg, the activity in the van across the street started to bustle. A well-built man with sandy brown hair stepped out of the dark vechicle and opened the trunk. From the passenger door, a dark haired woman dressed almost exclusively in black leather stepped out and began to help the sandy-haired man unload the multiple boxes of equipment sitting in the rear of the van.
Several moments later they had reached the door to Willow’s home carrying armfulls of boxes each. They clumsily fumbled around trying to get the door open.
“Man Riley, don’t you think one of us should have left the damn boxes in the van and opened the door?” the brunette questioned harshly.
“A little too late for that now Faith,” Riley said as he finally managed to squeeze the door open.
The two technicians then quickly made their way to Willow’s bedroom and began to set up their equipment. Riley began plugging in computers and booting up the system as Faith set down another huge arm full of boxes from the van. She turned around to inspect their patient for the night and quirked her eyebrow approvingly.
“Damn Ry! She’s hot! Maybe I should give her a call when shes all not hurting and heartbroken in the morning,” Faith exclaimed as she gave Willow another look of approval.
“Come on Faith, you know that’s against the rules,” Riley replied, seeming less than shocked at his partners innapropriate comments. “Although I guess it wouldn’t be the first time considering you’re sleeping with the last girl we wiped. Still seeing her by the way?”
“You know it, I’d be crazy to give up that fine ass” she said with a smirk. “But shes pretty flexible about it, and so am I. And it looks like this Rosenberg here could use a little Faith-lovin.”
Riley merely laughed in reply and continued working on getting their system up and running. A few moments later, Faith was connecting Willow to the main computer as Riley put the finishing touches on the system set up.
“Alright looks like we’re up and running,” Riley began excitedly “now lets get this thing rollin’ and start erasing some pain. Who are we erasing today?”
“Let see,” Faith said, opening up Willow’s sizeable file, “Oh here it is.. wait a minute… Tara Maclay!?”
“You mean the girl we did last week! The girl you’re still doing now,” Riley said, slightly shocked. “She’s this chick’s girl?”
“Was this chick’s girl,” Faith said with a cocky grin. “Come on, lets get to work.”
