Chapter 3.
"How long has she been like this?" Giles asked holding Willow's wrist and turning his own to look at his watch.
"Since she turned back to our Willow. She cried for awhile and then just stopped, she has been like this ever since."
Giles shook his head and shifted uncomfortably on the side of the bed. He was tired, bruised and battered. With his right arm now casted and in a sling, his ribs cracked, his body swollen, all his pains paled in comparison to the aching in his heart. "My girls," he muttered dropping Willow's hand to remove his glasses and rub his eyes, "my poor girls." He looked at Buffy and Willow asleep on the bed. He thought of Tara, dear sweet Tara, the best among them. A tear rolled silently down his face. Like the others he had not yet had the time to grieve their many losses.
They were all so young. Too young to see and live such violence. Too young to hold such responsibility, yet they continued as always to be brave and true. They continued to battle and win, time and time again. He had always expected so much and now as he sat he wondered what had happened to their youth, what had happened to their lives? Could he had done it differently? Would they be different? Would they be here now? Could he have done better, could he have been kinder, more understanding, more protective? He loved them, he loved them all. They had made sacrifices, they had always given their best, and now for the first time they lost, they lost one of their own.
"I'm your girl."
"Hmmm?"
"I'm your girl too" came a voice from behind.
"Yes Anya, you are my girl too." Giles smiled touching the hand that had been placed on his shoulder.
"Does that make me you boy?" Asked Xander looking at Giles from across the bed.
"Well, I suppose it does." Giles smiled again. "You are all my family, we, we all are family."
"What do we do now?"
"I don't know" Giles answered, "I just don't know."
"Giles?" Buffy was stirring against Willow.
"Yes Buffy, I'm here."
"Giles, are you okay?"
"Yes."
"I, we, have been worried about you, you and Willow."
"I am fine, a little battle weary perhaps, but fine."
"And Willow?"
"I don't know Buffy, I was just asking about her."
"Dawn?" Buffy asked looking at Xander.
"Still sleeping."
"Good," Buffy smiled turning on her side to look at Willow and Giles, "good." Buffy ran a hand down Willow's arm. "She hasn't moved, has she?"
"Not that I can tell" said Xander.
Buffy sighed and moved to sit up. Something was gnawing at her, an idea, a memory, something.
"I think it's time to move a rug in here to cover that spot." Xander observed staring at Buffy's failed attempt at cleaning the stain.
Buffy's head snapped up. "What did you just say?"
"I said that I think it is time to move a rug..."
"Time!" Buffy interrupted "It's time!"
"Yeah, that's what I said, it's time to cover the..."
"No Xander, time, this happened because of time."
"What, what happened because of time, what time?"
"Tara, Willow, you, me, everything, time."
"Okay Buf, you just lost me there, maybe you are still a little sleepy."
"No, I know this, I know what happened, I know why it happened."
"An accident happened Buffy, Warren shot Tara by accident."
"No, it wasn't an accident, it wasn't supposed to be, it was a change in fate, in Tara's life path, her destiny."
"Uh...forgive me for being stupid here but isn't that what an accident is?"
"In a manner of speaking yes...but what Buffy is talking about is something entirely different. Were you dreaming about her Buffy?" Giles asked.
"Yes, yes I was, she told me, she told me that it was not her time."
"Okay, now this is getting spooky."
"Hush Xander." Giles frowned. "Are you certain Buffy?"
"Yes, it was real, I could see her, feel her, hear her."
"You do know that sometimes when people are bereft..."
"No, I'm not, well I am, but it is not like that, it is like one of my premonitions, you know...first slayer, the master, like that."
"You're certain."
"Yes, I am sure, she told me, she told me that there was an interruption, a tampering with time that set a different course, for all of us actually."
"Well, yes, that would make sense, what a rather complex idea, an adjustment to time that would lead to a whole new series of events."
"Yeah, complex, too complex for me, not mine at all, I am not sure I even understand it, it is Tara, she is trying to talk to us."
Giles stood up and began to move. "So if what you are saying is true and time was interfered with, it created a change in the continuum which has effected us and our lives. It has effected all that has happened and all that was to be, all that is to happen, all that is to be. Fascinating. The only way to repair this may be to find the break in the temporal fold and then adjust it back."
"Yeah, okay, what do we do?"
"Well...didn't she tell you?"
"No...just that it is, I am assuming that if we can find where it happened we can fix it."
"Whoa...wait a minute...you mean trying to change time...undo what already has been done...isn't there some kind of supernatural law against that?" Xander stood up looking worried.
"I think that is what Buffy is getting at...and yes there are generally universals governing such things."
"Yes...we've..."
"Wait...couldn't that make all of this worse, we are just getting better."
"Better, better, how? How is it better Xander, tell me?" demanded Buffy rising from the bed.
"Well, I don't know about you, but I for one am thankful that I am alive and that the world didn't end."
"Well, I am thankful for that also but there are two of us still missing and we owe it to them to find them."
"Missing? I don't qualify dead and in NeverNever Land as missing. Giles help me out here."
Giles was quiet, pensive.
"Don't you want to help them?" Buffy put her hands on her hips striking a defensive pose.
"I don't know if they need help. I don't really know much of anything except that I am tired and sore and sad as hell."
"But I do...I do know..I know and if that is not good enough for you then..."
"Stop it," Giles said quietly, "both of you stop it now. We are all tired and hurt and have a complicated issue here. There is no room or time for quarreling."
"I can't believe you are buying into this." Xander huffed.
"Oh, where is my sweet sensitive Xander now?" Buffy asked sarcastically.
"I said stop it."
"Tempus Omnia Revelat."
"What?" Both Xander and Giles turned.
"Tempus Omnia Revelat." Buffy repeated.
"That's Latin!" Cried Xander waving a finger at Buffy. "You don't know Latin....you hate Latin."
"Time reveals all things." Giles whispered. "Yes, yes, it is Tara."
"Oh great...now we have possession!" Xander danced, agitatedly pulling on his hair.
Buffy sighed and relaxed, smiling. "No, she is just helping."
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"Oh...that is good honey." Willow smiled.
"Buffy needed a little help."
"I didn't know you could do that with other people."
"Buffy is open to me right now."
"I hate that they are fighting."
"Honey, we have all been fighting all year long. They are in pain right now. We all seem to fight when we are in pain, it must be the warriors in us."
"You are not a warrior."
"Oh, I'm not?"
"No, you are my sweet gentle girl."
"And that is why I haven't gone onto heaven yet, right?"
Willow leaned back and looked carefully at her love.
"There are different ways of fighting Willow, different ways of being, we always have a choice...always."
Willow took Tara's hand and looked deeply into her eyes. "God I love you."
"I love you too Willow and I will never leave you, ever, I promise." Tara squeezed Willow's hand gently knowing that what she promised was true.
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Sorry to be so late with this. I have been ill and unable to write let alone post. I hope you enjoy it and that it is becoming more tolerable. More soon.
Athame.
Edited by: Blue Athame 1 at: 4/19/03 11:40:33 am
by funkyasian » Fri Sep 20, 2002 8:55 pm 
Make me want to cry. 
**HUGS**
Willow needs her. Well, all the Scoobies do. 
