No spoiler warning required as this is mostly out of my imagination.



Title- Eternity in an hour



Rating- PG-13 to start....but I haven't even nearly finished writing this story so it may go up as the story progresses



Copyright Disclaimer- All characters belong to Joss and Mutant Enemy, I have no rights to them whatsoever, I'm just borrowing them for a short time.



Notes- Okay this is set at the end of series 6 where it follows the original story lines up to Buffy and Tara being shot, but from there on in it's all mine, mine, mine.



Authors Note- This is my first time so please be gentle with my fic, I'm just making it up as I go along so if anyone wants to send me any constructive criticism please feel free (kateinaus@hotmail.com).



Here goes nothing, in the words of someone famous.



It all seemed to happen in slow motion, Willow was still looking into Taras eyes when they suddenly turned from being full of love, to slightly surprised, startled even.



It was even more of a surprise when she started falling towards Willow. But that’s not like Tara thought Willow, she’s always so graceful and elegant. Willow reached out to catch Tara and fell to the floor herself under the unexpected dead weight.



“Tara,” she asked concernedly, “what’s wrong sweetie?” she turned Tara over gently, feeling something warm and slightly sticky on her chest. It looked like - but it couldn’t be, it was - blood, Willow shook her head trying to concentrate, trying to focus, but this was made difficult by the fact everything had gone deafeningly quiet. No, concentrate, she had to do something, but what had happened?



I have to focus on Tara she thought. Ok remember first aid, I was good at first aid, top of the class, I have to… what do I have to do? I have to call an ambulance she thought.



Yes that’s what I have to do, they always know what to do. She carefully shifted Tara, who moaned a little, onto the floor, and then reached with shaking hands for the cordless phone on her bedside table.



She just wished her hands would stop shaking so she could manipulate the buttons more easily. Finally she managed push the right sequence of numbers in and the ringtone started. Hurry up she thought, oh please, please hurry up. “911, which emergency service do you require?” said a sharp female voice at the other end of the line. “A-a-ambulance,” she managed to stammer out “please hold for one minute while I connect you,” said the distant voice.



A new voice suddenly penetrated her consciousness “What is the nature of your emergency?” “Hello? What is the nature of your emergency?” “My friends just been sh-shot” she replied to the concerned voice, “Okay what is your address?” Willow managed to get the address and directions out, was reassured by the voice that an ambulance was on the way, and then the tone went dead.



Slowly placing the phone back on it's stand, Willow turned to look at Tara, who looked so ashen that Willow thought she must be.. she can’t be thought Willow hot tears springing into her eyes.



Angrily she dashed them away and thought, No, I’m not giving up on her, she’d never ever give up on me, dropping to her knees next to Tara she frantically sought a pulse in Taras' carotid artery, pushing her fingers down hard on Tara’s pale neck she felt a faint fluttering, deep within.



She’s still here, oh thank the goddess she’s still here, tears pouring down her cheeks unchecked, Willow pulled her discarded sweater from the bed and placed it over the angry looking hole in Tara’s left shoulder. Please forgive me she thought to herself whilst she took a moment to harden her resolve, then she pushed down firmly on the wound. Tara let out a soft groan at the pressure but then seemed to go even deeper into unconsciousness.



How long Willow was there for she didn’t know, but every second stretched into eternity, finally, finally she heard sirens outside and then loud knocks on the door, “We’re upstairs” she practically screamed at the top of her voice. She heard the door open and then two sets of heavy footsteps rushing up the stairs, “In here” she yelled “We’re in here” a slightly hysterical note in her voice.



Two men burst into the room, moving quickly over to where Tara and Willow were, “Okay, Miss,” one of them addressed her, whilst his companion started examining Tara “What’s her name?”



“Tara,” Willow responded “Her name’s Tara,”



“Okay, I’m just going to need you to move out of the way while we examine Tara,” he told her. Willow swiftly climbed to her feet and moved out of his way, as he pulled all sorts of medical paraphernalia from his bag, all the while talking to Tara, reassuring her, telling her what he was doing. He sent his friend to fetch the gurney whilst he swiftly doctored the wound and gave her a shot.



Willow just stood there and watched, arms wrapped round herself as she stood there wishing she could do something, anything, to help her poor Tara. The other paramedic returned with the gurney which they gently lifted Tara on to. They walked carefully to the door where one of them, Bill she noticed his name tag said, called to her “Miss are you coming in the ambulance?” Willow shook herself from her reverie and just nodded, fighting tears again as she ran down the stairs after them.



The ride to the hospital was another interminable eternity as she just sat there staring at Tara’s bloodless face as it was bounced from side to side as the ambulance shook it’s way to the hospital.



Once there Bill and the other paramedic rushed into the hospital with the gurney with her baby on, while she ran along behind, until suddenly a firm hand grasped her shoulder and a gentle voice said, “I’m sorry Miss but you can’t go in there,” turning she was about to rip the hand off her shoulder and tell whoever was standing between her and her and baby that there was no way she was leaving Tara alone for a minute, when she stopped, arrested by the sympathy in the old eyes of the nurse who had stopped her, “You won’t do any good in there, you’ll just stop the doctors from doing their job, and I don’t think you want to do that.”



Willow thought of a thousand responses but all that would came out, almost pleading was “Will she be alright?” “Please tell me, she’ll be alright won’t she?” the nurse, caught by the raw, naked emotion in the girls’ green eyes could do nothing more than mouth the familiar words, which she hated to say, “The doctors are doing their best.” The nurse couldn’t face the open hurt on the red haired girls pale face and was just about to make her excuses to leave when a young, dark haired man suddenly appeared and swept the devastated girl into his arms. Grateful for the distraction the nurse quickly made her escape.



Willow was just staring into the nurses face feeling completely detatched from reality when she felt warm arms wrap around her and a familiar voice saying “Will, I don’t know what happened..one moment she was standing there and the next moment there was Warren and then bang and then she was lying on the floor, she was just lying there, so still and then she was covered in blood and I don’t know where it all came from, she’s so small and there was so much and I’ve never seen Buffy so….still,”



“Wait,” said Willow as “Buffy” pierced her deadened state, “Buffys here?” “Well yeah,” said Xander, “Didn’t you know? What are you doing here?” his tone rising with worry as he suddenly realised that Willow’s hands were covered in blood.



Holding her at arms length he looked into her eye’s and asked her again “Willow what are you doing here?”



Her emerald eyes shone with tears as she fought to get out the answer “Xander it’s Tara, one of the bullets must have come through our window, she’s….she’s been shot too.”



Suddenly it all became too much for Willow as thoughts of Tara’s laugh and smile swirled round her head and she realised she might never see them again. Great heaving sobs wracked her tiny body as she buried her head in Xanders chest “He shot Tara, Xander, he shot my baby”.

Edited by: Ka81 at: 2/5/03 4:04:48 pm

Hi Kate, welcome to Pens.



This is a really distressing start, and captures the attention of the reader right away. You describe the emotion and events in a really visceral manner; I do hope that Tara's going to be able to make a recovery from this. And Willow, of course.



One pointer that might be useful is to insert some paragraphs into your writing. It's always helpful to guide your readers from person to person, and from event to event, especially if something important is happening, like it is here. Paragraphs would also help to break up the dialogue so that the reader is aware of who's saying what.



If you want help with this fic; or just want someone to look over it before you post for another opinion, then try the beta readers thread here on Pens. And good luck with more of this!

It's in your eyes, I can tell what you're thinking; my heart is sinking too...It's no surprise, I've been watching you lately; I want to make it with you...

Edited by: tommo at: 2/2/03 8:26:09 am

Cool story! ANd the last line was just so perfect.



-Will

"I think finding her soulmate would have made Tara a more confident and secure person" -Amber Benson

Great start!

Hope Tara will recover soon.



*lil´c*



Unter den Blinden ist der Einäugige König.

very good start, I also hope Tara will be ok Welcome to Pens



~Stephie~

If you woke up breathing, congratulations, you have another chance!

No spoiler warning required as this is mostly out of my imagination.



Title- Eternity in an hour



Rating- PG-13 to start....but I haven't even nearly finished writing this story so it may go up as the story progresses



Copyright Disclaimer- All characters belong to Joss and Mutant Enemy, I have no rights to them whatsoever, I'm just borrowing them for a short time.



Notes- Okay this is set at the end of series 6 where it follows the original story lines up to Buffy and Tara being shot, but from there on in it's all mine, mine, mine.



Okay points taken on board and I will try to space this out a little better, I appreciate those huge blocks of text must be pretty intimidating (I guess I got a little overenthusiastic).

So I’ll try part 2.



As she heard footsteps hurrying down the almost deserted corridor, Willow looked up from the grey linoleum floor into the resigned, haggard face of the nurse who had attempted to comfort her earlier on. “Are you Tara Maclays…friend?” the nurse asked her in a gentle tone.



Willow nodded silently, then realised words were probably needed and replied in a slightly wobbly voice “Yes that’s me,” as all sorts of doubts raced through her head, “Is…is she alright?” needing to know the answer, but also more scared about the answer than anything she could remember.



“Well, she’s stable at the moment” the nurse tried to reassure, “But, well she’s in a coma, and, we’re not entirely sure when she’ll come out of it,” Willow tried to process what she was saying, her usually sharp and overactive mind dulled by pain and grief. She felt her throat tighten, and her breathing suddenly become harsh and constricted as she struggled against the seeming leaden weight that had taken the place of her heart.



“So what you’re saying is, you don’t really know what’s going to happen?”



“Well,” the nurse tried to defend herself “We’ve stopped the bleeding, and she is stable, she’s just going to take some time -”



“It doesn’t matter” Willow hastily cut her short, not wanting to hear, only needing to see Tara. “Can - can I see her?” She nervously asked the nurse.



“It’s supposed to just be family in the intensive care unit…” the nurse began feebly, and then quailed before the suddenly smouldering green eyes that were boring into hers. “I guess I can take you there, just for a short visit,”



“Good, let’s go then,” came the unflinching response as Willow strode rapidly down the corridor following the flustered nurse.



“This is it,” the nurse told her, stopping in front of a plain grey door, with a small window just at eye height. Willow slowly brought her eyes up to the window and forced herself to look through the thick glass window, criss-crossed by thin strips of wire – almost like a prison window, Willow noted distractedly. Tara lay in the centre of huge array of machines, pipes and tubes, looking so small and vulnerable, so pale and lifeless, Willow thought her heart would break. Ignoring the stinging in her eyes she slowly pushed the heavy door open. Moving through the portal she slowly let the door swing quietly into place, never taking her eyes from the waxen blonde that she was suddenly, painfully aware, was the centre of her universe.



Slowly she crept over to the bed, where she took one of her lovers’ hands, flinching at how cold it was. Gently she stroked some of Taras’ soft hair out of her face with her other hand. “Oh baby,” was all she could manage to choke out, unable to believe how lifeless Tara, always so vibrant, looked.



Willow didn’t know how long she stood like that, willing Tara to show some sign of life, to do something, anything, just staring, staring not able to think about anything but what she would do if the unthinkable happened.



She gradually became aware there was a heavy, warm, comforting hand on her shoulder. It was a familiar hand - a Xander hand, that was it, Xander, her friend, Xander might know what to do..



“Will,” he said gently “Are you okay, I mean I know you’re not okay but you look kind of funny..” His voice seemed to be coming a distance and it took Willow a while to respond to his worried tone.



“Yeah I just, I, don’t know, I mean she’s so still and, not moving and I don’t know what to, what I can do, I mean there must be something…” She trailed off not entirely sure what she was saying. Or indeed meaning to say. Or well, anything really.



All she could do was will Tara to fight and not give in. She couldn’t give in, whatever happened, Willow couldn’t let that happen as long as she was alive, Willow couldn’t let Tara go, she had to do something,she had to, go to the Magic Box! That was it, there must be a book there, with some sort of spell that could help, that was it she had to get to the Magic Box, and now!



Xander stared at Willows face, concerned for his oldest friend, he had never seen her like this. She was just sitting there, with all that open grief contorting her face into a mask of wretched pain and somehow even more frightening was the emptiness, in her eyes. “Will,” he tried again



“Magic Box,” she suddenly blurted out.



“What ?” Xander asked confusedly as the blankness dissapeared from her eyes, to be replaced by a look of fierce intensity



“I have to get to the Magic Box now. Give me your keys” she told Xander



“I-I didn’t bring them,” he stuttered surprised by the anger in Willows voice, “I came in the ambulance, with Buffy, remember?”



“Never mind then” she threw back at him “Stay here and look after Tara, I have to go to the Magic Box.”



“But Will” he started to say when she threw off his hand and sprinted from the room, the door banging closed violently in the wake of her passage, “don’t you want to know about Buffy?” he finished quietly, almost inaudibly.



****



Anya loved counting the money, all the shiny coins and crispy new notes. She had just decided she could quite happily spend all day,every day for the rest of her life just counting the captivating money when the door, totally without warning, was blasted brutally back on its hinges, flapping against the wall as the room was suddenly filled with an enormous force.



With so much energy in the room, Anya struggled for breath for a moment, and her vision swam for one disconcerting moment, then cleared to reveal… “Willow ?” she squeaked in surprise “What are you doing…?”



“Silentium” Willow breathed and everything went deadly silent, Anya opened her mouth to try again but nothing came out.



What the.. she’s put a spell on me, Anya thought to herself indignantly, how dare she! She was just about to march around the counter and give the impudent young witch a piece of her mind when Willow turned to meet her eyes, Anya recoiled – far from being their usual sparkling green, Willows eyes were black, full of pain and anger, suffering and.. fear.



“You can’t distract me right now,” Willow informed Anya who unexpectedly found herself in stasis, unable to move a muscle.



Willow drifted up to the restricted section of dark magics, searching for something, pulling books off the shelves with reckless abandon, hurling them to the floor when they failed to provide her with the knowledge she was so desperately seeking.



What the hell’s going on, Anya worried to herself, unable to voice the question, and then, in a rather peeved manner, she’d better not be damaging any of those VERY expensive books. As far as Anya was concerned there was absolutely no reason to barge into someones’ neat, orderly shop, cast not just one but two! Two! Spells on the owner and then start wilfully damaging said shop keepers property! It was quite intolerable! Not to mention rude!



Just as Anya was starting to get extremely annoyed with the whole situation Willow seemed to find what she wanted, breathing a sigh of satisfaction she hugged the book to her..then disappeared!



Anya blinked in shock, Willow shouldn’t be able to do that, she was only, well she wasn’t sure what level exactly but she shouldn’t be able to do that for sure. Anya felt a deep wave of foreboding sweep over her, and a chilled shiver run down her spine. Suddenly she desperately wished Xander were with her.

It's not my fault I fell in love, you're the one who tripped me!

Nice sig btw.



Now why oh why would you need 'dark' magic books to cure someone from their wounds ? Shutting up Anya I can follow easily, Willow was most definitly not in the mood to talk to her anyway. Willow wants to help Tara, so she goes to get the means with which she thinks she that highest chance of succes, hardly suprising.



Anya's indignation was fun to read, Willow didn't really 'wreck' her shop though. Anya should consider herself lucky, just check the damage done if things were slightly different, heh.



Seems Willow has little faith in the medical staff at Sunnydale Hospital. She could at least wait and see for a day or so. Maybe Tara wakes up on her own, that would be better than any medication/magic used.



Hopefully Willow wont cause a power-out in the hospital, a bit more control would be nice too. She wont stop to rethink and get control though, so this will just have to do.



Still, dark magics to heal people ? Sounds weird, it did work the last time on Tara so it might just work again. I'm not too worried about Willow and Willow simply doesn't have room in her head to worry about her right now I think



Grimmy

"You hurt Tara," Willow said too calmly. "The last one who tried that was a god. I made her regret it." -- Unexpected Consequences by Lisa of Nine

Edited by: Grimlock72 at: 2/5/03 3:33:17 am

That was just a great update!!



But Willow wouldn´t turn into that black-magic willow like in the Show? I don´t want her to be that way.



Tara in coma , she will recover soon or???



Please let Tara and Buffy be soon out of the hospital!!



CU

SoL/Natti



I love my family but I´m a part of you. I want it to be that way - Gabrielle - The Abyss

Great update!

I hope Tara will recover soon!

What´s Willow going to do?



*lil´c*



Unter den Blinden ist der Einäugige König.

Ok first off just want to say thanx to everyone who has posted on my first thread, it is all still very exciting to get any responses to my fic, let alone such nice, positive ones.



Grimlock72 - thanx for the sig compliment, I kinda like it, and I'm not really into the whole magic thing. When I think about it in retrospect I too am slightly confused by my logic in the whole dark magic/healing thing, I think maybe I was trying to convey the danger aspect more than anything.



Part 3 is nearly finished so I will send it to my very thorough beta reader and hopefully I will be able to post again soon.

******



It's not my fault I fell in love, you're the one who tripped me!

No spoiler warning required as this is mostly out of my imagination.



Title- Eternity in an hour



Rating- PG-13 to start....but I haven't even nearly finished writing this story so it may go up as the story progresses



Copyright Disclaimer- All characters belong to Joss and Mutant Enemy, I have no rights to them whatsoever, I'm just borrowing them for a short time.



Notes- Okay this is set at the end of series 6 where it follows the original story lines up to Buffy and Tara being shot, but from there on in it's all mine, mine, mine.







Willow gave a satisfied sigh as she found the book she had been searching for so urgently, the book she shouldn’t even know about. It wasn’t like she’d ever actually done anything from it, just had the occasional peek through it…



Focus Willow, this is going to be tough enough without your usual mental babble she sharply reprimanded herself. Taking in a deep breath she began to murmur the short incantation she had always feared to use. Her head filled with blinding pain and dazzling white lights flashed in front of her eyes while a tremendous roaring filled her ears, then a deafening silence as solid ground rematerialised beneath her feet.



She stumbled at the unexpected physical contact, then caught the edge of something solid just in time to save herself from an inelegant fall. Struggling for breath she felt blood coursing through her like never before; all of her senses were suddenly hyper aware as she struggled against the feelings of pleasure and… power that swept through her. She caught her breath and bit her lip slightly; it had never been like this before she felt …energised and, well powerfu. It was..intense to say the least.



“Wow,” she whispered softly.



It took a few moments for her vision to clear, as at last she was able to bring the coldly bright hospital room, and more especially Tara into focus.



Enough, she had to look after Tara, that was all that mattered right now, but where was Xander? She had told him look after Tara and he had left her all on her own; all on her own in that big, cold,inhospitable bed. Well Willow would soon take care of that. Sealing the door first, to prevent any dangerous interruptions, she walked swiftly over to the bed upon which her love was still enthroned.



Tara’s chest gently rose and fell in sequence with the ventilator, and her eyelids flickered slightly, Willow hoped they were good dreams wherever Tara was right now. She gently brushed her lovers’ soft cheek with her small hand, allowing herself one last caress before she got down to business.



Opening the book she started to read, rechecking what she was already pretty sure of, but not prepared to take any chances with Tara’s life. It was a simple spell in theory, made difficult only by the fact that it required immense concentration on one task, for possibly a very long time depending on the severity of the wound in question.



Well it’s now or never, Willow thought to herself ruefully, she had read the spell through and through, all that remained left to do was to actually perform it. She allowed her eyes to linger on Taras’ delicate face for a few moments longer before closing her eyes and sending herself into a deep trance.



Far deeper than she had ever been before, she could feel every molecule of blood, every atom of air as it passed in and out, every thunderous beat of her heart. Slowly she let herself drift from her body, softly, gently, drifting almost imperceptibly in Tara’s direction.



Finally, floating almost directly over the horrific wound in her babys’ shoulder she let her senses sink down into her lovers’ body. She had never even attempted something on this level of healing before so she would have to take it easy at first, afraid of making the problem yet worse.



Extending a tiny tendril of power, she delicately manipulated some tiny blood vessels back into place and then sealed them with a little more energy. Almost immediately blood began to pump back through the repaired area and Willow felt a small thrill of satisfaction pass through her. There was still a long way to go however, she firmly reminded herself, so don’t go getting cocky yet. Settling to the task she began to extend more and more ethereal tendrils, becoming totally absorbed in her undertaking.





*****



Willow groaned involuntarily as she snapped back to reality. Her body felt like it had been beaten with a sack of rocks; every muscle a screaming ball of fire, every bone feeling like it was about to shatter into a million tiny pieces.



Opening her eyes she blinked against the harsh phospherent hospital lights, and staggered to her feet, every muscle protesting even this small movement. She lurched over to Taras’ bed feeling more tired and drained ever before.



Finally making it to the bed, she looked up into a pair of deep blue, slightly bewildered looking, eyes. Eyes she had feared she may never lose herself in again; never find herself in again. Tara made a small noise, indicating the ventilator tube which still led down her throat.



“Oh sorry baby,” Willow exclaimed, dragging her eyes reluctantly from Taras’. Gently she pulled the tube from Taras throat, who immediately proceeded to pull Willow into the warmest, most comforting hug Willow had ever felt. She wrapped her arms around Tara and half wept into her chest, “I thought you were gone, you were so still and cold and….”



“I know, I know, it’s okay,” Tara comforted Willow, holding her so tight Willow could hardly breathe, “I was scared too, but I knew, I always knew you were there, and I was right there with you. Whatever happens we’re always together. Always!” she ended almost fiercely.

******



It's not my fault I fell in love, you're the one who tripped me!

Ka81



Wow, interesting start, even though it was three updates ago, I just caught up and I'm addicted, and very anxious to know what's coming up, what you have planned.



You have captured such emotion and the characters very well. Beautifully done.



Can't wait for the next update.



~Holly~



You still my heart and you take my breath away. Would you take me in, take me deeper now. And how can I stand here with you and not be moved by you. Cause you're all I want, you're all I need.- Everything –Lifehouse

Hey there, welcome to the board. I have to say that I love this fic. I'm already hooked...do you think we'll have another update soon?



Thanks!



Aimee

It's hard to be precise, though. Alternate universes don't stay put. Sending him to a specific place is like, like trying to hit a puppy by throwing a live bee at it. Which is a weird image and you should all just forget it. -Willow in Triangle

Heh, I wonder who's more tired at this moment; Willow or Tara



I like whatever spell she did, it required concentration but nothing evil/blacky like, which is good. The book probably got misplaced, or maybe healing can be dangerous if done without sufficient concentration. Got that taken care in casu Willow healing Tara of course



I don't recommend anyone to just remove a breathing-tube like that by the way. Leave that to hospital staff, they'll just be a little amazed about this recovery. This being Sunnydale they'll deal...



Grimmy

"You hurt Tara," Willow said too calmly. "The last one who tried that was a god. I made her regret it." -- Unexpected Consequences by Lisa of Nine

Great Update!!!



Short but great!

Nice to see that Willow could help her girl. Tara will be 100% healthy???



Next update soon?



Cu

SoL/Natti



I love my family but I´m a part of you. I want it to be that way - Gabrielle - The Abyss

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________
"...the sharks got smarter."

Edited by: maudmac  at: 12/28/03 12:42 am