TITLE: THE LOVERS, THE DREAMERS AND ME
AUTHOR: Wimpy0729
RATING: R
FEEDBACK: Yes please.
DISCLAIMER: Willow, Tara and all other BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enema, etc. The story and all other characters, human and otherwise, belong to me.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I have no beta, so all mistakes are my own. For any glaring errors, please PM me.
Thanks once again to everyone for reading and/or replying!
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CHAPTER 31
Tara's heart sank.
She stood there in shock, motionless, just staring at the scared redhead. She didn't even notice her phone ringing in her pocket, so Mary grabbed it and saw Faith's ID on the screen.
"Faith?"
"Mama Bear?! What's going on? Where's Tara?" she asked frantically.
"She's here, but...I think we have a problem," Mary whispered.
"Listen...Buffy just called me. Something happened to Willow!"
"We're here with her now. She looks okay, but..."
"Don't let her eat anymore candy!"
"What?"
"The candy! Buffy said it's cursed. DO NOT let her eat anymore of it. NOBODY eat it!"
Mary looked through the door past Tara to see the redhead reaching for another piece.
"No!" Mary dropped the phone and pushed Tara out of the way. She quickly raised both hands and the box flew away from Willow and across the room.
"Hey!" That's my candy!" Willow yelled angrily. "And how'd you do that anyway?" she said frowning deeply at the older woman.
"No! No more candy!" Mary said firmly, shaking her head.
Willow pouted and tears instantly came to her eyes. "Please?" she begged. "I really want more candy," she said pitifully.
Mary's shove brought Tara out of the shock that her girlfriend didn't know her and she turned quickly to her mother for an explanation.
"The candy's cursed! Nobody eat it!"
"C-cursed?" Tara asked worriedly as she turned back to her pouting, crying girlfriend who didn't know her from Adam...or Eve, and her heart broke.
"Willow...sweetie?"
The redhead was trying to stealthily move closer to the candy scattered on the floor and Mary and Sofia instantly dove for it, covering it with their bodies.
"Darnit!" Willow pouted as she stomped her foot.
Tara moved gingerly toward her girlfriend. "Willow...it's okay, I'm Tara...and Buffy told you to wait for me?"
"Uh huh," the redhead said through her tears, "but I want my candy," she sniffed.
"Sweetie, Buffy said there's something wrong with the candy. It made you...sick," Tara said as delicately as possible.
"I'm not sick!" Willow huffed.
"Sweetie..."
"Why do you keep calling me that? My mother doesn't even call me that. Of course, it's hard for her to call me anything since she's never home. They don't even call to see if I"m okay," she said sadly, then the tears really started.
"They just leave me...for months at a time. They don't call me, don't even write. They leave me money, but they're not there. They desert me over and over...just abandon me...ever since I was little. I'm all alone...except for Xander and Mac."
She looked up into the strange blue eyes and sniffed again. "Is Xander here?" she asked hopefully.
Tara didn't think her heart could break anymore than it already had, but she was wrong. She could barely see through her tears but managed to notice Willow's phone on the table.
"No, but...would you like to call him?" Tara asked, wiping discreetly at her eyes as she tried to gain some composure for Willow's sake.
"Really? Yes, please!"
"I'm sure his number's in your phone, okay?"
Willow just nodded as the strange blonde picked up the black device from the table.
"Will?" the carpenter answered desperately.
"No, Xander, it's Tara."
"Is she okay?"
"She's...she's very confused," Tara answered carefully. "And she wants to eat more candy," she whispered.
"Do NOT let her, whatever you do!"
"We're not, but she wants to talk to you. Maybe you can calm her down?"
"Yeah, Tara, please put her on. We're on our way though."
"Okay, wonderful," Tara breathed a sigh of relief. "Here she is."
The redhead looked at the strange device and tentatively put it to her ear. "Xander?"
"Yeah, Will, it's me."
"I'm scared, Xander. I don't know these people," she whispered anxiously. "And they won't let me have my candy!"
"It's okay, Will. They're nice people. They're our friends, okay?"
She frowned as she heard a strange British voice cursing in the background.
"That damn pillock!"
"Xander, where are you? Who are you with?"
"We're on our way, Will. I'm with Buffy and Giles, and we'll be there soon."
"Mr. Giles? The new librarian?"
"Shit!"
"Xander Lavelle Harris!" she scolded.
"Willow, listen...just stay right where you are and we'll be there before you know it. You can trust Tara. And no more candy. It's bad candy."
She glanced over her shoulder at the tearful blonde stranger but somehow knew Xander was right about her. "But I really wish they'd let me have my candy," she whined.
"Willow, trust me...you can't eat that candy, but I'll buy you a ton of new candy when I get there, how about that?"
"You will?" she asked excitedly.
"Absolutely. So just stay calm, you're gonna be okay. Can I speak to Tara again?"
"Well, okay...but you'll be here soon?" she asked, the trepidation creeping back into her voice.
"I promise. We're almost there. Everything's gonna be fine. Now can I please speak to Tara?"
"Okay," she said as she looked hesitantly at the blonde wiping her eyes. "Her eyes are all red and puffy, Xander. I think she's crying. Why would she be crying?" Willow whispered.
"Uhh...maybe it's allergies?" He rolled his eyes at his own lame excuse and prayed she bought it.
The redhead frowned as she snuck another glance at the blonde. "I think she really needs some medicine, Xander. Can you guys stop and pick some up?" She didn't know why, but she didn't like the idea of those pretty blue eyes staying all red and puffy.
"Oh, sure. I'll get it when I pick up your candy, okay?" Xander squeezed his eyes shut and tried to sound nonchalant.
"Yeah, yeah, good idea. Okay, here she is."
Tara sniffed as she took the phone and walked to the other side of the room. "Hello?"
"Hey, Tara, you okay?"
"She doesn't know me, Xander," she whispered, trying to hold back her tears.
"Okay, listen...something like this happened before, but I don't think they lost their memory, they just..."
"Reverted back to being teenagers!" Buffy yelled toward the phone, glaring at Giles as he drove, who still had the decency to blush even after all these years. "Right, Mr. Stevedore?" she asked arching an eyebrow. No, she'd never let him forget that.
"Reverted?" Tara asked, her mind completely addled from the disturbing situation.
"Yeah, and they went back to being themselves a few hours after they stopped eating the candy. Hopefully this is the same. We think we know who's behind this."
"She's going to remember me...us?" she asked hopefully.
"She should be her usual Willowy self in no time."
"Oh, thank God." She hesitated before she continued. "Xander, can...can I ask you a question?"
"Sure."
"Did...did her parents really leave her all alone?" Tara whispered as her heart broke again just saying the words.
"Ohh..." he groaned at the unexpected question. He really didn't know if it was his place to go there, but given the circumstances he didn't have much of a choice.
Tara glanced over at the pitiful redhead as she played sorrowfully with the empty candy wrappers. Luckily, Mary was watching her too. She snatched them away just before the sly girl tried to sneak and lick some of the chocolate remnants off of one, earning Mary a very dirty glare and a huge pout. Sofia grabbed the other boxes of candy and quickly moved them to the far side of the room, instantly getting her the same treatment.
"You guys are mean," Willow said as she crossed her arms and sulked like a petulant child as she scowled at both women.
"She...she said...did they really abandon her?" Tara whispered very low and closed her eyes as she waited for the answer.
"Well...yeah," he sighed. "They were gone...a lot. I think she was around eight or nine when they started that."
"Oh my God." Her heart just kept on breaking. "Is that why...Chosen means so much to her? Because she was abandoned?"
"Yeah, I think so," he sighed. "I think it bothered her more than she let on back then."
"Oh, Xander...I think it still does."
"Yeah," he admitted quietly. "We were pretty much all the other had back then. My family...well, not so good."
"I'm so sorry," she said sincerely.
"It's okay, but thanks."
"Xander...she mentioned someone named Mac? Was that someone in her family?" she asked and heard him chuckle on the other end of the phone.
"No, Tara. That was her computer. Her best friend besides me back then."
"Her computer?"
"Yeah -- MacIntosh. She called it Mac. That's when she started really getting into computers. That's our Will."
Tara managed a sad smile as she looked at her girlfriend. "Yes...our Will."
"We'll get her back, Tara. We'll be there soon and we'll fix this."
"I really hope so Xander. I miss her already."
"I know you do, but try not to worry, okay?"
"Okay, I'll try. See you soon."
"Bye, Tara. Tell her I'm bringing her lots of new chocolate candy and she can eat all she wants."
She actually laughed as she looked at the still pouting redhead. "I will. Thanks, Xander." She ended the call then smiled as a thought struck her.
"Willow, Xander said to tell you he's bringing you lots of new candy." She smiled as Willow perked up. "And you can eat all you want."
At the last part, the redhead finally stopped scowling at Mary and Sofia. "Well, he better," she said, arching a cute little red eyebrow indignantly.
"I'll be right back. You stay here with mom and Sofie, okay?"
Willow looked back over at the older women and scowled again. "Will you really be right back?"
Tara's worries were forgotten for a second and she smiled at how adorable 'little unhappy Willow' was as she tried to give Mary and Sofia her best evil eye. She just had to lean closer and place a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I promise you. I'm just going downstairs for a few seconds. I'm not leaving." I will NEVER leave you!
Willow's eyes grew wide as a strange sensation flooded her body. "Wow," she breathed as she looked dazedly into Tara's glistening eyes. "Yeah...okay."
"Be right back!" Tara yelled as she ran downstairs.
Less than 30 seconds later, the blonde was running back into the kitchen and placing the laptop in front of the startled girl.
"What's this?"
"It's your computer. I thought you might want it."
"Mine?" She picked up the flat box and looked all around and underneath it and frowned. "This doesn't look like mine."
Tara opened it and tapped the keyboard waking the sleeping machine, and smiled at the look of surprise on her girlfriend's face.
"Cool!"
Tara nodded and then blushed as Willow's wallpaper popped up -- the picture of them kissing on their date at the creek with sparks flying around their heads.
"Holy cow," Willow whispered in awe.
"Uh..." Tara quickly clicked a few keys and brought up the home page. "Here...see?!"
Willow looked at Tara with wide green eyes. "That kinda looked like..."
"Night...n-no flash...turned out weird," the blonde stumbled out quickly. "Look...Yahoo!"
"Ooh! I have mail!"
"You might want to leave those..."
"Who the heck is McCarthy?" the redhead asked as she scanned over the emails.
"Um...that's...just don't delete them, okay?" Tara asked nervously.
Just then the doorbell rang.
"Oh thank God," the three normal adults groaned as Chosen growled from her position by Willow's feet.
"I'll get it," Mary said, jumping up. She nearly ran to the living room and flung open the door.
"We're so glad you're..."
She paused as her eyes popped open wide.
"...a middle-aged man dressed in a schoolgirl outfit...all tied up with duct tape over your mouth," she said flatly.
Very few things really shocked Mary Maclay anymore, but...
"Sofie, dear...could you come here please?"
Mary was looking around out front to see if anyone else was in sight as Sofia came up behind her.
"What is it, Mary? Are they here?"
Mary moved to the side and pointed wordlessly to the man on the porch.
"What the hell?!" Sofie laughed as she pulled out her phone and snapped a photo. "Nice outfit, Ethan. You might want to shave your legs before you wear it next time," she wheezed out between the guffaws of laughter. "Well, I think now we know where Willow got the candy. Couldn't come up with anything original? I'm appalled...for many reasons," she smirked.
He glared at her then rolled himself backwards off the porch.
"Oh no you don't," Mary said as she pointed one finger freezing him in place.
The women looked up as they heard a car pull in the driveway and Buffy came flying out the door before it was even stopped.
"Where's Will?! Is she okay? How'd you catch him? And OH MY GOD...seriously...a schoolgirl?!" She kicked Ethan in the face and knocked him out cold.
The two older women smiled.
"Hello, Buffy. I take it you know Mr. Rayne?" Sofie asked as Mary went over and kicked him in the head again for good measure.
"Nobody. Fucks. With MY FAMILY!" she spat at the unconscious man even if he couldn't hear her.
"Yes, unfortunately. Last we heard, he was locked away at a dessert somewhere."
"Buffy!" Giles yelled as he ran up to the porch. "Is everything okay?" He looked over at Ethan with disdain, and then he kicked him too. "Bloody ponce!"
"Nice job with the bondage. How'd you guys catch him?"
"We didn't. I just found him like that," Mary said. "Someone rang the doorbell, and when I answered it, there he was."
"Someone just...delivered him tied up and duct taped?" Buffy laughed. "Whoever it was, I'd sure like to shake their hand."
"Maybe it was the guy who did this," Xander said as he joined them, holding up an arrow.
"Where'd you get that?" Sofie asked as she took it and looked it over carefully.
"Out of the tire of a car we found in the ditch down the road about a mile." Buffy said as she looked closely at the arrow and ran her hand down the shaft. "Look at the craftsmanship."
"It's remarkable. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it," Sofie said as she admired the unique arrow.
"Can you guys keep an eye on...him? I'm gonna go check on Will."
"She's in the kitchen," Mary said as she took a menacing stance beside the unconscious man, just daring him to try to wake up again.
Xander joined Buffy and they hurried into the house. They stopped just outside the door to the kitchen, grinning widely as they watched Willow happily playing on her laptop and sitting as close as possible to a blushing Tara.
"That was us in that picture, wasn't it?" Willow asked shyly.
"Um...yes."
"I really wish I could remember. Where were we?" she asked innocently.
"That's because of the um...candy," Tara explained quietly. "We were down by a creek...not too far from here." She swallowed hard as the redhead leaned even closer.
"At night?"
"Yes."
"What were we doing there?" Willow asked as she stared fondly at the blonde.
"Ummm..." Tara felt the burning in her cheeks as she remembered what they did that night at the creek but didn't exactly feel comfortable explaining it to this younger, very adorable, very innocent version of the woman she loved.
Buffy nudged Xander, deciding it was time to save Tara from the uncomfortable situation.
"Hey, Will!" Xander yelled as he held out a huge bag of candy. "Look what I picked up on the way."
"Buffy! Xander!" she screamed as she jumped up and ran to her oldest friend. He hugged her tightly and gave Tara a wink over the redhead's shoulder.
Tara mouthed 'thank you', then buried her face in her hands.
"Xander," Willow whispered in his ear, "did you bring her medicine? Her eyes are looking better, but now her cheeks are all red and splotchy. I think she's having an allergic reaction or something," she said worriedly.
He had to bite his lip to keep from laughing at his best friend's concern over the girl she was obviously crushing on. "I sure did, buddy. We'll get her fixed up in no time, okay?"
"Thank you so much," she said as she hugged him again, then looked up frowning. "Xander...have you gained weight?"
Buffy sighed with relief once she saw for herself that Willow was really okay, then went over and patted the blonde on the shoulder. "How ya doin', Tara?"
"Been better," she mumbled into her hands.
"Well, I know something that might cheer you up."
Tara looked up anxiously. "You have good news? Any news would really be great right now."
Buffy smiled. "Looks like someone caught the guy behind this."
"What?! How?"
"Your mom found him out front all tied up. He's done stuff like this before. We thought he was still locked up, but apparently the snake slithered his way out."
"He's out front?" Tara stood up with fire in her eyes.
Buffy nodded and laughed as Tara ran for the door. She followed her and got there just in time to watch Ethan's head bounce to the side once again.
Tara leaned down and growled low in the unconscious man's bruised and bloodied face.
"Nobody. Fucks. With MY GIRL!"
"That's my daughter," Mary said proudly.
"What should we do with him?" Buffy asked as she looked over at Giles. "We can't leave him out here, and unfortunately I don't think you'll let me kill him."
Giles just grunted. "Stupid Slayer rules."
"I have a suggestion, Rupert," Sofia offered.
"Yes?"
"Well, as much trouble as he's caused, I think with all the witches we have here, we should bind him."
"Yes...excellent idea Sofie!" Mary agreed excitedly and looked over at Giles, who nodded.
"Yes, yes. That's something that should've been done a long time ago. Where can we take him?"
"My place might be best," Mary said, "but what are we going to do with him after that?"
Sofia looked over at the men standing by the black SUV. "Giles, do you think the Council could take care of this piece of shit for us?"
He followed her gaze to the other Watchers and smiled. "That just might work. What in the world are they doing here anyway?"
"They brought a book to me last night...a very special book," she emphasized and laughed inwardly at her old friend's reaction.
"Special? Well...how interesting."
"Yes, it is. I'll tell you all about it once we get to Mary's. I might even let you touch it," she teased.
"Excellent, excellent," he said almost giddily.
Sofie glanced over at Mary and Tara, who both still stood over the unconscious Ethan Rayne, with their arms crossed over their chests, glaring identically at him.
"Mary, can you and Tara take care of the binding or will you need Willow too?"
"We can do it," they said in unison, their eyes never leaving the unconscious man.
"Wonderful. Buffy, if you would be so kind?" Sofia asked as she pointed to her car.
"My pleasure," Buffy said as she lifted the still unconscious man over her shoulder none too gently and headed to Sofie's car.
"I'm going to check on Willow, then I'll be right there," Tara said as she walked back into the house.
She stopped and smiled as she watched her girlfriend happily eating one of the new chocolate candy bars and pointing excitedly to her laptop screen.
"But Xander...Look! That's me and...her!"
"Yep."
"And we're..."
"Hey look, Will...I brought you some Mounds! You always told me how much you love Mounds!"
He managed to distract her once again just as Tara walked into the room but it didn't last long.
Willow looked up and her eyes locked on the blonde's tight t-shirt. Her eyebrows rose animatedly and she looked away quickly as the heat rushed to her cheeks. Yeah, pretty sure I love those 'mounds' alright. She gulped and tried to look busy on her laptop as her heart raced uncontrollably.
"You guys doing okay in here?" Tara asked as she caught Willow's line of sight right before she turned away. Part of her wanted to smirk and part of her wanted to cross her arms over her chest. This was just too confusing.
"Tara! So great to see you!" Xander yelled as he jumped up and walked over to the blonde.
"How is she?" Tara whispered.
"She's okay...just obsessing over the fact that she was kissing you."
"Yeah...she seems to be a little..."
"Fixated? Lovestruck? All googly-eyed?" Xander whispered as he attempted to joke, which only made the blush rise to Tara's cheeks yet again.
"So incredibly cute," she sighed sadly. "But I can't...this is so hard, Xander," she admitted and the carpenter nodded his understanding.
"Don't worry, okay?"
"That's easier said than done, but I'll try, and thanks for everything."
"Not a problem. Hey, did anybody figure out who shot the tire out with the arrow and captured him yet?"
"Arrow?"
"Yeah. We pulled it out of a car down the road in a ditch. Nobody around anywhere."
"I don't know anything about the arrow, but we're taking him to mom's. We're going to bind his magic, then I think the Watchers are going to take him back to the Council with them."
"Sounds like a good plan."
"Can you stay here with her while I go over there?"
"Sure, no problem."
Willow had been sneaking sly glances at the blonde, then looking back at her computer and blushing a bright pink. Tara smiled at how cute she was and hated to have to leave her even for a second, but she needed to do this.
"Hey, Willow...I'm going over to my mom's for a bit, but I'll be back as soon as I can, okay?"
Willow's blush deepened as the blonde smiled at her. "Um...okay. Is Xander staying here?"
"I sure am, cute buddy. You and me and tons of chocolate. How's that sound?"
The redhead nodded as she smiled shyly at Tara. "You'll be right back?"
"I promise I'll be back as fast as I can," Tara curled her lip and gently touched her shoulder once more.
"Well, okay," Willow said dreamily.
Tara smiled a genuine smile as she recognized that look -- a look she knew belonged to 'her Willow'. "I'll see you soon," she said as she left out the back door, smiling even brighter as Willow craned her neck and leaned out of her chair to watch her until she was out of view.
"Wow...I really kissed her?" she whispered in amazement as her eyes glazed over.
_________________ Pam aka Wimpy0729 Restlessness ~ Quickies - The Lovers, The Dreamers & Me "There was plenty of magic." ~~ Tara
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