Rating: PG (I wasn't really sure how I should rate it so I've decided to play safe
) Spoilers: This story takes place at the end of "Forever" in season five.
Disclaimer: The characters featured belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy, not me, also the story is an extension of an episode written by Marti Noxon.
Feedback: Yes Pleasesies
Notes: I was going to try to balence the story so that there's just as much other Buffy stuff as there is Willow and Tara but it didn't really work...but hey, they're the stars of the show anyway
I assume the spelling of 'Rivelo Drive' is correct, I got it from a transcript of "The Body". This is my first fic I'm posting, I hope you like it. Part 1
Dawn still tightly gripped the photo of her mother as her elder sister ran to open the front door. She, however, couldn’t move.
Buffy reached the door, and immediately flung it open.
~~~*~~~
“Maybe we should go over there,” Tara still wore the same worried expression she’d had since discovering that ‘The History of Witchcraft’ was missing as she put the phone down. “I-I mean, if Buffy couldn’t stop her in time” Willow could only look on helplessly.
“But she might have not even gone through with it, and anyway, if she has, wouldn’t it be worse if we did something?”
“I’m not sure, this is all new to me, I mean I’ve read about it, but mostly, stuff just says how bad it is. I know this is hard for Dawn, but Mrs. Summers died, she’s not meant to come back, this could mess up all three of them.” Tara had an uncontrollable note of panic in her voice, “I just think that if something has gone wrong, Buffy might not be able to handle it.”
“But, this is Buffy, like super slayer Buffy!” Willow desperately tried to calm the quivering blonde.
“She is, but it’s still her mother, I just don’t think anyone-“ Tara cut herself short, she could see the concern in Willow’s eyes, “sorry.”
“No don’t be, I’m just not sure how we could help.”
“I think we’d have to be there to do what Buffy and Dawn can’t – or shouldn’t have to,”
Willow’s eyes shifted around the room and back to Tara, who still stood by the phone with her arms folded across her body. The redhead moved slowly over to her, and put a loving hand on her shoulder, skimmed it down the rest of Tara’s arm, and gave a comforting smile, which was returned by a momentarily reassured Tara. She unfolded her defensive arms and touched Willow’s hand. The two exchanged a tight embrace and started to get ready to leave for the Summers’ house. They collected together tinted glass bottles and bags of herbs, put them carefully into Willow’s book bag, and headed out.
~~~*~~~
The pale figure slumped in the doorway; it’s frosted eyes looked straight through the slight blonde girl in front of it.
“Mommy?” The girl said, wiping the tears from her eyes. Dawn still stood in the background, frozen.
“Mom” she whispered, pushing her hazel hair behind her ears. The figure stepped inside the house, and turned to face Dawn. Buffy stepped back, her gaze followed the woman she had let in. The brunette ran forward and hugged her mother but still held the photograph in one hand.
There was an eerie silence over the house, broken only by the sound of the fatigued breathing from the two young girls inside. Outside, the air washed over the trees and rustled the autumn leaves in the branches, bringing them to the ground, as the branches stretched their bony fingers into the night sky. The street was quiet and the lights in the houses on Rivelo Drive were off, they slept in blissful ignorance of all except their own lives, until the morning when they would awake to a harsh world filled with death and destruction.
~~~*~~~
The two witches walked swiftly along the road, the wind rushed past them and swept their hair back as they went. Clouds blanketed the town and hid the moon and stars from sight, the wind moved them on quickly but there was not a tear for the light to shine through. Dark engulfed the pathway and the street lamps seemed dim, even against the blackness of the sky and sleeping houses.
Tara stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes widened.
“Something’s wrong” the wind rushed past again and blew thin strands of hair across her worried face. Her eyes, followed by the rest of her body turned to Willow.
“Are you ok?”
“I-I think Dawn…I think she did it” Tara’s voice lowered to a whisper as her gaze met Willow’s. Tara’s stomach lurched as she spoke, her lip quivered.
“How do you- “ Willow began, before being cut off by the girl opposite.
“I just…do” Tara looked past Willow and around the street, “it’s in the air.”
For as long as Willow had known her, Tara had always been particularly perceptive when it came to supernatural disturbances. Willow swallowed, and looked for her feet. Her hands were held together, and she had trouble keeping still. Willow unclasped her own hands and stretched one out to touch the side of Tara’s arm, the blonde’s eyes flashed to her arm, where the affectionate hand rested, and then moved up to meet her lover’s own eyes. Their eyes spoke a thousand silent words in one second, and they both turned back in the direction they were headed. The two carried on, with more urgency now, they reached for each other’s hands, and held on.
Tara’s eyes hid deep pools of concern behind the focus on the task at hand, her lip had stopped quivering, but inside her mouth she bit her tongue, and each time the wind picked up she gripped the redhead’s hand just that little bit tighter.
Surely, they were almost there? Her eyes glanced to the side, past Willow, to the houses they were passing, as the streets all looked the same in the darkness.
Rivelo Drive.
1620, 1621, 1622, 1623…
Willow let her eyes move from their fixed position on the pavement, up to see where Tara’s were. She turned her head to follow Tara’s gaze, and took note of exactly where they were.
1624, 1625, 1626, 1627…
The environment took a tighter still grip on the two girls, as they approached the only open door and the only house with any signs of life at all. The two girls took a tighter still grip on each other. The wind was colder on their skin but they ignored it, all their concentration was on the open door and making sure the other was still with them.
Almost there now.
~~~*~~~
The nibblet loosened her grip on the older woman, who had began to make desperate ‘attempted breathing’ sounds. Buffy still looked on, fighting back yet more tears, as she tried to contemplate what was happening.
Even Buffy, who had seen everything, been through everything, didn’t know what to do.
Dawn could see the astonishment in her sister, but she could not keep the huge grin from her face, she stood back from her mother to give her space to breathe. The woman’s eyes were cold, emotionless, empty, she didn’t even flinch when her eldest daughter spoke,
“A-Are you ok?” the girl enquired in an unusually timid voice.
Nothing.
“Mom?” The brunette asked. At that, the woman snapped her eyes to Dawn and waited. “Do you want to sit?” She said as she caught sight of the couch next to them. The woman immediately turned from Dawn and sat heavily on the seat, with a straight back and her eyes staring straight ahead. Buffy had been following her mother, but her eyes left her and fell on a puzzled looking Dawn.
“Dawn can I speak to you – over here?” Buffy’s head signalled out of the room, “Mom, you’ll be ok?” The older woman did nothing, but Dawn looked over to Buffy,
“Sure” her eyes flashed back to her mother but returned to her sister. She took slow steps over to where Buffy was standing, and as the blonde moved into the dinning room, she followed.
“This is not right” Buffy exclaimed in a hushed voice, although they were out of earshot of the woman on the couch. Her eyes darted from left to right while still fixed on Dawn. “Something’s not right about her”
“How do you know? You don’t know, you’re just jealous” Dawn also hushed her voice but let an angry tone creep in.
“What?Jealous of what?” Buffy protested, slightly louder than before.
"You're jealous 'cos I brought Mom back and you weren't gonna let me." This time Dawn spoke at almost her normal volume. Before Buffy had a chance to retaliate,
“Buffy?” called Tara, from the porch as neither witch had dared enter yet. Buffy shot Dawn a look that said ‘I’m not finished with you, missy’ and stepped past to greet an anxious Tara, and Willow standing half in front of her to stop her moving further inside. Buffy gave a sigh of relief as she saw the two in the doorway.
“Are you alright? Where’s Dawn? A-And-“
“Mom?” Buffy confirmed Tara’s fears by finishing her sentence, “Yeah she’s here” Buffy couldn’t help sounding pleased when she said it, but the two girls saw that she knew it was wrong.
“Are you ok?” Willow reinforced Tara’s question, Buffy lowered her eyes to the ground as she answered
“Yeah, well, I guess so, I mean…“
“It’s ok” Willow touched her arm and gave her best friend a small, comforting smile. Buffy stepped back from the door to gesture the girls in. The figure on the couch burst into life and sprung to her feet, all eyes turned to her and Tara’s free hand found itself latched onto Willow’s, and Willow readily returned the favour.
To be continued...
Like I said, feedback please
love'n'hugs
cath
Edited by: The girl who talks but doesnt
at: 4/9/04 11:42 am
hey cath! finally go round to reading your fic! LIked it alot, and i enjoyed reading it! So that means...dun dun dun...you must write more!! haha..yes more soon ppplease! "pout face" (there really needs to be one as a smiley...) update soon!
more
I'm gonna try work more on it now though...
