Changing Views--updated 1/27/05

[CrazyTaraWitch]

Title: Changing Views

Author: Jas/CrazyTaraWitch

Rating: ranging form PG-14 to NC-17

Disclaimer: i have not rights to any of this. the characters and place names belong to MutantEnemy, Fox/UPN/WB, Joss Whedon, etc. Original characters are mine

Feedback: PLZ, PLZ, PLZ, PLZ!!!!!

Summary: AU-fic. major characters are pretty much the same people, but thier relationships are different; if any relations are confusing, just ask, and i'll do what i can to clarify. willow and tara are not together at first, but eventually they will be. Warning: MAY CONTAIN ANGST; at certain parts, tissues may be required...but for the first two-or-so updates, it's pretty much set-up.

HOPE YOU ENJOY! !





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                        CHANGING VIEWS:

Chapter 1--Morning rush...or not so much

Tara sat down slowly, every bone muscle and fiber of her body aching. Even her hair hurt. It was all she could do not to collapse right in the middle of her living room floor. After ten hours straight of fighting vampires with her best friends, Willow and Buffy, and the teen wanted to do was take a hot bath and sleep for the next three or for days, but this, unfortunately, was not an option; she had school in less than an hour, and would only have time to wash her face--if she hurried--before having to wake her sister and get ready to leave.



Twenty-five minutes later, Tara was awoken harshly from her not-so-peaceful slumber.

“Tara! Come on, you have to drive me to school!” Dawn Maclay yelled loudly from the stairs. “It’s REALLY late, you need to hurry!”

“Oh no...”mumbled Tara in a half-sleeping state, “don’t tell me I fell asleep!”

“Tar’, what are you doing down here?” Dawn asked quisicaly as she noticed Tara slumped in the cozy armchair, and began to approach her big sister. “WOW...” Dawn said in horror at the bloody battered form huddled before her, turning from pale to paler to green before Tara had a chance to respond. “Are you alright? Speak to me?!!?” Dawn said with urgency, trying desperately to steady both her voice and the hand she’d reached out to Tara.

“I-I’m alr-right, Dawnie. It looks w-worse than it f-feels.” As Tara attempted to reassure her kid sister, she made on unfortunate error: as she tried to smile, Dawn caught a glimpse of her sister’s mouth, realizing she had chipped multiple teeth since the day before.

“Tara?...” Dawn said helplessly, seeming so small and fragile compared to the strong facade she had worn in the years since the death of their mother, so utterly week that, despite the pain it caused her, Tara could not resist wrapped her arms protectively around the preteen and giving her a tight squeeze.

The Maclay sister sat this way, one leaning into and comforting the other, for several minutes, before Dawn finally asked in a weak voice, “What happened?--and please don’t lie, I can take it.”

“Oh Dawn...I d-don’t want to l-lie to you. Your m-my sister, I don’t ever w-want to hurt you. But there are th-things about me that you don’t kn-know, and I’m s-sorry, but I c-can’t tell you r-right now.” The blonde replied, as tears welled in her ocean-blue eyes and finally spilled over and down her porcellin skin, finally landin in her sister’s hair where Tara lay her head. It was hard for Tara to keep anything, much less something as big as this, from Dawn, but she could just imagine the fear she would on that preteen face, that face she had known since it was first born thirteen years ago, that face she had dried so many times after their father left years ago, and again two years ago when Dawn felt their mother, too, had abadoned them, and Tara couldn’t stand the thought of seeing fear on that beautiful face, in those deep hazel eyes that had already seen and cried more than many people’s in a life time, especially with the knowledge she had caused it.

And so the only two live McClays that had not abonded their two daughters at only 5 and 9 years old sat in the living rroom of the home that had once been shared by two parents, then one, then an aunt, followed by a grandmother and uncle, and finally an older cousin, until Tara was 17 and the last of their relatives died, and so she gained custody of herself, Dawn and the house, and the two were left alone. The two glad into each other for a long time, until finally Tara announced that she needed a bath, and afterwards make brunch, before driving she and Dawn to school for their afternoon classes.



TBC--please comment!

grosses bisses

~jas

Edited by: CrazyTaraWitch at: 1/27/05 1:13 pm

[soluna350]

Keep going, I want to know where this leads. Great job.

[sam darls]

Ooh I really like this so far . Love sam xx

"Sometimes things happen between people that you don't really expect. And sometimes the things that are important are the ones that seem the weirdest or the most wrong. And those are the ones that change your life." - Jessie Sammler (Evan Rachel Wood)

[justkazy]

I'll second what my baby said Can't wait to read more.

"I'd cry..i would die if i lost you"-Alex Parks...I love you, baby!

[stillrunning]

Huh so Tara and Dawn as sisters. Interesting. Can't wait to see where you're going to take this.

"Heaven's not a place that you go when you die...it's that moment in life when you actually feel alive"

[CrazyTaraWitch]

in this part we get to learn more about Tara's friendships, as well as meet another character...hope you like!

ps: feedback would be lovely!

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Chapter 2-- A new friend for Sunnydale...

“Hi, my sister and I just got to school; we had a stressful night and majorly overslept. Can we get passes to class?” Dawn asked the officer manager hopefully an hour and a half later.

“Do you have a note from your parents?” the addentance lady asked skeptically, directing her question at Tara rather than Dawn, clearly interperating Tara’s shy nature as nervousness at being discovered to have skipped classes.

“W-we don’t have any p-parents...”Tara said defensively, only glancing at the woman before her gaze shifted to her and she sadly continued “they died. We l-look after ours-selves now.”

“Hey, you’re not giving them a hard time, are you?” Buffy asked the woman aggresively, having come in a moment earlier at the sound of her sud-sisters’ voices, and now feeling ready to get Slayer on this bitch’s ass. “Their life’s hard enough without people like you pushing them around.” Buffy continued protectively, as she reciporated the smile the relieved younger teen had given her.

“I-its ok Buffy, we can h-handle it.” Tara attempted to calm her best friend. It still seemed a little odd to her when Buffy look out for er and Dawn, considered all the times before she’d become slayer that she’d let Cordy walk all over them and everybody else in Sunnydale who didn’t live up to her thermometer, by being either too far from cool or too far from hot. But that was a different lifetime, and Tara supposed it wasn’t really fair for her to still be expecting Buffy to turn her back on them...she and Dawn had just been through so much; she didn’t want to get her again, so sometimes, it was just easier to expect the worst form people...



“So, you’ll never geuss who’s here!” Buffy said excitedly to Tara on the way to fifthe period just after they’d left the attendance office, thankfully without any punches getting thrown, though Buffy had clearly been tempted to sock the older woman in the nose.

“Who?” Tara asked curiously, unsure of who Buffy would be so glad to see that didn’t already live here...there was one possibilty--but no Buffy would NOT be happy to see that person...it half-killed her when he left, but now she’d moved on; even if he did come back, which Tara doubted he ever would, she was pretty sure her best firend wouldn’t be very happy to see him. After all, she didn’t think in Buffy’s world even his coming back would mean much, cause she’d never feel sure that he wouldn’t just pick up and leave again...and once Buffy decided it wasn’t safe to trust someone, there was no changing her mind. He’d left, and that was that; now Buffy would never let him get close again.

“It’s Xander!” Buffy practically squeled after pausing a moment for dramatic effect.

“Who?’ Tara asked confused, as her brows knitted together pratically at her hair line; it wasn’t her style to forget someone, and is was clear to her that Buffy expected her to know who she was talking about. “I don’t reme-meber anyone named X-Xander... are you sh-su--”

“You don’t rememberXander? He’s like-all Willow ever talks about from L.A.!” Buffy said incredelously, shocked Tara’d forgotten their friend’s hundreds of stories about her best friend growing up before she’d come to live with her Aunt Jenny.

“Oh th-that Xander...so he’s h-here in S-sunnydale? Like t-to v-visit? Is he h-her to see W-will?” Tara asked tentatively, hoping he wouldn’t be around too long...it took her forever to get used to new people and she’d only recently gotten completely comfortable with Willow, who had lived there for nearly two years. It usually took her less time than that, though still a while, to get used to people, but Tara’d found surprisingly nervous around Will, even for her. There’d been an instant connection between the two witches, and looking back, Tara supposed it’d scared her, to have somebody that close bfore she knew for sure that she could trust them.

“Actually, no. He’s moved here. Isnt that exciting!?!” Buffy asked her best frend as she practically bounced for joy.

“So h-have you m-met Xander y-yet?” Tara asked her friend hopefully as they continued to walk down the empty halls of Sunnydale High School. Tara’d had enough experiences with people changing to not automatically believe Xander was the same kid Will had knwon, but also knew Willow well enough to realize she would assume the bast, as she always did, and so hoped that the Slayer had given him a once-over, and decided he was okay.

“Yes miss protective-gal,” Buffy said as she gave her life-long friend an exagerated eye roll. After seventeen years living next to the Maclay’s, Buffy Summers could read Tara better than ayone else--except maybe for Dawn, who instictively knew what Tara needed most from her, even if consciously she had no clue what to do--, and Buffy knew her best friend was trying to look out for one of the few people she had left to love. Buff loved to tease Tara about her maternal nature, but really it was what she loved most about her; though they were the same age, Buffy had always looked up to Tara, and felt she and Dawn to really be the ones more on equal ground: the two baby birds Tara had to keep safe and teach how to fly, as it always seemed like Tara was leading the two of them back to the road off maturity each time they strayed. “He seems nice...actually, he’s quite friendly.”

“Oh god...d-don’t tell me you h-have a cr-crush on him!” Tara exclaimed worriedly; even though Will had a boy-friend, Tara knew her friend still had feelings her first-ever crush, and would not appreciate Buffy drooling all over him. Infact--Tara suddenly wondered what Oz would think of Xander; he teded to get jealous if Willow ever talked about Xander and now he was actually here...She hope things would continue to go well for Willow and Oz, cause she knew that they loved eachother...but Will could never seem to forget about Xander, and got a far off look in her eyes whenever she talked about him.

“Relax Tar’. He has a girlfriend in L.A.; her names Anya, and he prectically lights up when he talks about her. Besides...he’s not my kind of guy.”

“Oh sh-sure! Buff, every g-guy is your k-kind of guy.”

“Hey! That is SO not true...--well, ok, I guess it is, but Xander’s just...different. I could never think of him that way.” Buffy said defensively as the reached their stop. “So ya ready to go in?”

“Sh-sure. Ah, B-buffy, I just g-got here, but wh-what’s your excuse for b-being l-late?” Tara asked her friend, stopping her mid-grab as she reached for the doorknob.

“Well, I was helping you. Lunch just ended before you got here.” Buffy said uncertainely, clearly not having thought about what excuse she would give to her teacher.

“That’s f-fine Buff, except, I-I don’t th-think Mr. H-Harford will uh-understand why you n-needed to h-help me g-get a p-pass to cl-class.”Tara reminded her best friend.

“Oh...well...um, maybe I’ll just wait in the library till class is over.” Buffy decided, looking both ways to make sure no one would see her skipping.

“By Buffy, see you in Sci-Tech.” Tara said with a wave as she opened the door to her geography class and tried to surpress a giggle...Buffy could be so silly sometimes!

As Tara entered the room and shut the door behind her, she immediately noticed the new edition to her class: a tall boy with brown hair and a soft face sat next to Willow in the spot Buffy usually filled at thier table in the back of the room.

Once Tara had tentatively given her note to the teacher, she made her way to the back.

"H-hi Willow." She grreeted her friend more shyly than she had in some time. "You m-must Xander."Tara greeted him with an extended hand, surprising Willow, who had guessed Tara would have no clue who he was. "Buffy t-tells me you'll be l-living here n-now." Tara explained more for Will's benefit than Xander's, as she shook his hand mildly, and took her seat on the other side of her red-haired friend



Less than an hour later, Tara left the class happily, glad to have met Xander. She already felt surprisingly comfortable around him; he felt like a cuddly, unimposing puppy-dog, and she knew they would be fast friends...

grosses bisses

~jas

[CrazyTaraWitch]

in this part we get to learn more about Tara's friendships, as well as meet another character...hope you like!

ps: feedback would be lovely!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 2-- A new friend for Sunnydale...

“Hi, my sister and I just got to school; we had a stressful night and majorly overslept. Can we get passes to class?” Dawn asked the officer manager hopefully an hour and a half later.

“Do you have a note from your parents?” the addentance lady asked skeptically, directing her question at Tara rather than Dawn, clearly interperating Tara’s shy nature as nervousness at being discovered to have skipped classes.

“W-we don’t have any p-parents...”Tara said defensively, only glancing at the woman before her gaze shifted to her and she sadly continued “they died. We l-look after ours-selves now.”

“Hey, you’re not giving them a hard time, are you?” Buffy asked the woman aggresively, having come in a moment earlier at the sound of her sud-sisters’ voices, and now feeling ready to get Slayer on this bitch’s ass. “Their life’s hard enough without people like you pushing them around.” Buffy continued protectively, as she reciporated the smile the relieved younger teen had given her.

“I-its ok Buffy, we can h-handle it.” Tara attempted to calm her best friend. It still seemed a little odd to her when Buffy look out for er and Dawn, considered all the times before she’d become slayer that she’d let Cordy walk all over them and everybody else in Sunnydale who didn’t live up to her thermometer, by being either too far from cool or too far from hot. But that was a different lifetime, and Tara supposed it wasn’t really fair for her to still be expecting Buffy to turn her back on them...she and Dawn had just been through so much; she didn’t want to get her again, so sometimes, it was just easier to expect the worst form people...



“So, you’ll never geuss who’s here!” Buffy said excitedly to Tara on the way to fifthe period just after they’d left the attendance office, thankfully without any punches getting thrown, though Buffy had clearly been tempted to sock the older woman in the nose.

“Who?” Tara asked curiously, unsure of who Buffy would be so glad to see that didn’t already live here...there was one possibilty--but no Buffy would NOT be happy to see that person...it half-killed her when he left, but now she’d moved on; even if he did come back, which Tara doubted he ever would, she was pretty sure her best firend wouldn’t be very happy to see him. After all, she didn’t think in Buffy’s world even his coming back would mean much, cause she’d never feel sure that he wouldn’t just pick up and leave again...and once Buffy decided it wasn’t safe to trust someone, there was no changing her mind. He’d left, and that was that; now Buffy would never let him get close again.

“It’s Xander!” Buffy practically squeled after pausing a moment for dramatic effect.

“Who?’ Tara asked confused, as her brows knitted together pratically at her hair line; it wasn’t her style to forget someone, and is was clear to her that Buffy expected her to know who she was talking about. “I don’t reme-meber anyone named X-Xander... are you sh-su--”

“You don’t rememberXander? He’s like-all Willow ever talks about from L.A.!” Buffy said incredelously, shocked Tara’d forgotten their friend’s hundreds of stories about her best friend growing up before she’d come to live with her Aunt Jenny.

“Oh th-that Xander...so he’s h-here in S-sunnydale? Like t-to v-visit? Is he h-her to see W-will?” Tara asked tentatively, hoping he wouldn’t be around too long...it took her forever to get used to new people and she’d only recently gotten completely comfortable with Willow, who had lived there for nearly two years. It usually took her less time than that, though still a while, to get used to people, but Tara’d found surprisingly nervous around Will, even for her. There’d been an instant connection between the two witches, and looking back, Tara supposed it’d scared her, to have somebody that close bfore she knew for sure that she could trust them.

“Actually, no. He’s moved here. Isnt that exciting!?!” Buffy asked her best frend as she practically bounced for joy.

“So h-have you m-met Xander y-yet?” Tara asked her friend hopefully as they continued to walk down the empty halls of Sunnydale High School. Tara’d had enough experiences with people changing to not automatically believe Xander was the same kid Will had knwon, but also knew Willow well enough to realize she would assume the bast, as she always did, and so hoped that the Slayer had given him a once-over, and decided he was okay.

“Yes miss protective-gal,” Buffy said as she gave her life-long friend an exagerated eye roll. After seventeen years living next to the Maclay’s, Buffy Summers could read Tara better than ayone else--except maybe for Dawn, who instictively knew what Tara needed most from her, even if consciously she had no clue what to do--, and Buffy knew her best friend was trying to look out for one of the few people she had left to love. Buff loved to tease Tara about her maternal nature, but really it was what she loved most about her; though they were the same age, Buffy had always looked up to Tara, and felt she and Dawn to really be the ones more on equal ground: the two baby birds Tara had to keep safe and teach how to fly, as it always seemed like Tara was leading the two of them back to the road off maturity each time they strayed. “He seems nice...actually, he’s quite friendly.”

“Oh god...d-don’t tell me you h-have a cr-crush on him!” Tara exclaimed worriedly; even though Will had a boy-friend, Tara knew her friend still had feelings her first-ever crush, and would not appreciate Buffy drooling all over him. Infact--Tara suddenly wondered what Oz would think of Xander; he teded to get jealous if Willow ever talked about Xander and now he was actually here...She hope things would continue to go well for Willow and Oz, cause she knew that they loved eachother...but Will could never seem to forget about Xander, and got a far off look in her eyes whenever she talked about him.

“Relax Tar’. He has a girlfriend in L.A.; her names Anya, and he prectically lights up when he talks about her. Besides...he’s not my kind of guy.”

“Oh sh-sure! Buff, every g-guy is your k-kind of guy.”

“Hey! That is SO not true...--well, ok, I guess it is, but Xander’s just...different. I could never think of him that way.” Buffy said defensively as the reached their stop. “So ya ready to go in?”

“Sh-sure. Ah, B-buffy, I just g-got here, but wh-what’s your excuse for b-being l-late?” Tara asked her friend, stopping her mid-grab as she reached for the doorknob.

“Well, I was helping you. Lunch just ended before you got here.” Buffy said uncertainely, clearly not having thought about what excuse she would give to her teacher.

“That’s f-fine Buff, except, I-I don’t th-think Mr. H-Harford will uh-understand why you n-needed to h-help me g-get a p-pass to cl-class.”Tara reminded her best friend.

“Oh...well...um, maybe I’ll just wait in the library till class is over.” Buffy decided, looking both ways to make sure no one would see her skipping.

“By Buffy, see you in Sci-Tech.” Tara said with a wave as she opened the door to her geography class and tried to surpress a giggle...Buffy could be so silly sometimes!

As Tara entered the room and shut the door behind her, she immediately noticed the new edition to her class: a tall boy with brown hair and a soft face sat next to Willow in the spot Buffy usually filled at thier table in the back of the room.

Once Tara had tentatively given her note to the teacher, she made her way to the back.

"H-hi Willow." She grreeted her friend more shyly than she had in some time. "You m-must Xander."Tara greeted him with an extended hand, surprising Willow, who had guessed Tara would have no clue who he was. "Buffy t-tells me you'll be l-living here n-now." Tara explained more for Will's benefit than Xander's, as she shook his hand mildly, and took her seat on the other side of her red-haired friend.



Less than an hour later, Tara left the class happily, glad to have met Xander. She already felt surprisingly comfortable around him; he felt like a cuddly, unimposing puppy-dog, and she knew they would be fast friends...

grosses bisses

~jas

[CrazyTaraWitch]

sorry...my comp was being wierd; didn't meen to pst twice!

grosses bisses

~jas

[MissKittys Ball O Yarn]

Oooooo I likey likey, please continue.



xoxo

Emms

[isfreaky]

Hi



I really like it so far ....im curious to see where this fic will lead to. hope the updates keep coming

[CrazyTaraWitch]

hi, just wanted to thank yall for the feedback

i'm glad u all like this story so far, and i'll to keep with te updates! i'll hopefully get another chapter ot before i have to go to school thursday...i guess there are good thinks about being sick, gives u time to write!

grosses bisses

~jas

[stillrunning]

Hey I really liked this update. It's nice to see Tara so comfortable around Xander, though I'm definately curious to see how you are going to get her and Willow's relationship to progress with 'the boyfriend' and 'the big crush'. I guess we'll just have to wait for some more interaction between the girls.

"Heaven's not a place that you go when you die...it's that moment in life when you actually feel alive"

[CrazyTaraWitch]

Chapter 3--Secrets

“Hey Tar’, Will. Where’s Xander?” Buffy asked her two best friends as she met up with them in the hall just before 6th period.

Tara glanced over at her red-haired friend after a momet of peculiar silence. The question had felt directed at Willow, and it was quite odd that she hadn’t jumped at the chance to answer; usually between Buffy and Willow there wasn’t this much silence built-up in a week.

Finally Tara decided to answer Buffy, as she knew as well as Willow where Xander was...still, she couldn’t imagine what was making Will stay quite for so long.

“H-he went to the b-bathroom. Xander s-said he thought he c-could find cl-class on hi-his own.” Tara said quitely, glancing at Willow as she spoke to see if the smaller girl would show any response.

“Are you okay Will? You seem awefully quite.” Buffy asked worriedly. Not only was Willow not speaking, but she had an all-to-familliar angry-face on.

“How could you skip class!” Willow, her resolve finally breaking, asked indignatly, as if Buffy’s missing History had been a personal insult.

“Oh, relax Willow, it’s just one class! Besides, Giles gave a far more interesting history lesson. It involved monsters and blood, and me getting to kill things tonight!” Buffy said excitedly, a glimmer of longing in her eye. It was clear that this girl had been born to slay.

Listening to her best friend, Tara couldn’t help letting a beautiful grin spread across half her face behind the veil of blonde hair, just barely hiding her radiance from the world.

“Wo-ho, I think somebody here might be just a tad-bit crazy! What’s with the monnster-talk?” Xander asked skeptically, making all three girls jump as he came up behind them.

“Oh, uh...it’s nothing. Monster’s just, Sunnydale-slang for cute boys.” Bufy explained hastily.

“Yeah, and, and by ‘kill’, buffy meant, uh-uh, date! Yeah, that’s it, ya know, kill a monster, date a cute guy...” Willow rambled worriedly, making Tara’s smile return, and an unfamiliar longing form deep within her stomach. A relieved sigh escaped from Will as her old friend seemed to buy her lame story, and a gorgeous little I’m-such-a-dork smile spread across her face as she caught Tara’s eye, making her friend’s heart leap, just as she lowered her head and hid her beauty once more.



“S-so what did M-mr. Giles have t-to say?” Tara asked Buffy as the girls sat with Willow in the Maclay living room eating a snack half an hour after school ended for the weekend.

“Oh, not much really. Just that the guys we faced last night aren’t all that’s coming. He said that this Master guy has a lot of power, and is going to keep coming after us. He uh, he also found some prophecy about him, but hasn’t been able to translate it yet.” Buffy informed her friends as if a prophecy was no big deal, but the way she avoided their faces told tara she was worried.

“S-so are you p-patroling again? I-I could h-help, Dawn’s w-with her fr-friend Amanda, s-so I’m f-free.” offered Tara. The teen wasn’t really fond of patrolling, fighting wasn’t really her thing, but when Buffy needed her she was there every time, doing what little she could.

“No!” Buffy said hastily, “I-I mean, I don’t want to risk you. It-it might get feirce out there; until we know what were up against, I’d rather keep the two of you safe.”

“Okay, well, maybe we could help Giles in the library...ya know, make with the research!” Willow suggested enthusiastically, getting her two ‘you are into this on a very creepy level’ looks from the blondes around her. “I mean...” Will continued sheepishly,the color of her cheeks matching the red flame of her long flowing hair, “research is important, and, and were pretty good...at the researching, and--”

“It’s ok Will, we realized you’re a nerd that likes books way too much a long time ago. I geuss we can all head over to the library, and then once the sun goes down, I can hunt me some vamps!”

“See, I-I’m not the only one way too inta this stuff!” Willow pointed out brightly as the three friends headed for the door. “Buffy likes killing things!”



“So B-buff, how are w-we going to g-get in?” Tara asked as they reached the gate to Sunnydale High and, unsruprisingly, though none had thought of the possibility, found it locked.

“I’m the Slayer. Since when do I pay attention to locks?” Buffy said smugly as she kicked in the gate and walked towards the school like breaking-and-entering was nothing out of the ordinary.



“That’s my girl,” muttered a dark figure from a nearby alley, turning to leave now that he’d made sure she got to school safely. “I always said locks don’t matter.”

grosses bisses

~jas

Edited by: CrazyTaraWitch at: 1/29/05 2:25 pm

[tara_schmitt]

teehee. love it! willow's rants are so cute! Relationships and junk take getting used to, though.....