Title: Broken Wing
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Joss Whedon.
Part 15a
Tara entered the conference room where the award ceremony was being held and began scanning the small crowd for Willow. She quickly spotted her sitting to the left of the podium up on stage with the rest of the honorees. After taking a seat in the back of the room, she brought her gaze back to the stage to get a better glimpse of Willow in her formal attire. Unfortunately, the blonde had chosen a seat with a stunning view of the podium. A podium that happened to be obstructing what would have been an otherwise clear view of Willow. Tara let out a sigh of frustration, silently cursing herself for not taking more time in selecting a seat to watch from. She contemplated moving to a different seat, but opted to stay put, instead trying to persuade the time to pass quicker so she could finally see Willow's full ensemble. After what seemed like an eternity to the uncharacteristically impatient blonde, the professor finally announced Willow's name. She stood to accept the award, and Tara's jaw hit the floor. Willow was a wearing a black dress with spaghetti straps, the hem falling just above her knee. The dress was simple, yet elegant, but there was nothing ordinary about the person wearing it, or the way it made her look. Never in her life had Tara seen someone so beautiful. She tried to focus on the words Willow was saying, but her hormones were in overdrive, and she had all she could do to keep her drool to a discreet minimum. It took a sudden burst of applause to shake Tara from her fantasy and as she finally looked at something other than Willow, she noticed people leaving their seats and starting to mingle. Reluctantly, Tara stood glancing nervously around the room, deciding on her next course of action. For the shy blonde, a room packed with strangers socializing was generally her cue to leave, as she had never been much for mingling. However, she had come to support Willow, and what good was showing up if Willow never knew she had attended. Furrowing her brow in concentration she tried to think of a subtle gesture that would catch Willow's eye, just something to let the red head know she had been there, but not enough to alert the entire room to her presence. Looking back up at the stage, hoping to draw inspiration from the object of her affection, the blonde saw Willow descending the few steps to the ground.
As Willow cautiously stepped down from the stage, silently cursing Buffy with every step she took for having convinced her to wear heels, she sensed a familiar pair of eyes on her. Looking out across the room she saw Tara looking back at her, smiling nervously. Willow's entire face lit up as she focused on the blonde, absolutely stunned to see somebody she cared for in the crowd there to support her. She stumbled a little down the last couple of steps, as she had been looking ahead at Tara and not paying any attention to where her feet landed. She quickly looked around to see if anyone had noticed, but the only eyes on her were those of the blonde. As she made her way to Tara, she wondered why she hadn't noticed her before. She looked incredible. Her long navy gown seemed to hug every curve on her body in just the right way. Never in her life had Willow seen someone so beautiful. She was still gazing appreciatively at Tara when she found herself standing in front of her.
"Hi," Tara said stopping herself from ducking her head.
"Hi!... Oh my God," Willow said excitedly, unable to stop smiling at the sight of her friend as she pulled her in for a quick embrace. "I didn't know you were coming, this was so sweet of you! Tara, nobody has -ever- done something like this for me in my entire life," Willow beamed as they released from the hug.
"Well, you know... it's not everyday I h-have a friend receiving a b-big award," Tara said, "By the way, you l-look..."
"Breathtaking," Willow said unintentionally cutting Tara off.
"I was going to say amazing, but b-breathtaking works," Tara said nodding with a grin.
"No, I meant you," Willow said, "you look beautiful."
"Thanks," Tara said blushing, this time not having the strength to fight ducking her head.
"Against the rules, remember?" Willow said, smiling as she raised Tara's chin.
"Sorry," Tara said smiling shyly. She wanted to look away, to somehow avert her gaze from Willow, but she couldn't seem to tear her eyes away. If she didn't know any better she would have sworn she saw... love gazing back at her? Yes, that was it, there was love reflected in Willow's eyes. Something in the way they were sparkling, and the intensity of her gaze. No one had ever looked at her that way before, but she was positive something about that look had love written all over it. Suddenly as if realizing what was being acknowledged to each other through their eyes, both girls looked away, peering around the room in an awkward silence until finally Willow spoke.
"I have to talk to some people before I can leave, not that you're not people, but these people are important people, well you're important people too, far more important to me than them, but these are reporter people, and you're not reporter people, at least I don't think you are, maybe you are. It's possible that you write for some magazine or newspaper and I just never knew that about you, but if you did that would be good, cause then I could talk to you more, and you could interview me and write what I said, but not what's coming out of my mouth right now... cause I think I lost where I was going," Willow said stopping to smile at Tara, who was just smiling back at her affectionately. "Okay, so," Willow said trying to collect her thoughts and get them back on the right train, but for some reason she couldn't remember what she had been talking about.
"You have to t-talk to some reporters before you can l-leave," Tara said hoping she was helping.
"Right! So I was just gonna ask if maybe you wanted to hang around for a bit and we can walk back together?" Willow asked nervously.
"Okay," Tara said unbelievably happy that Willow wanted her to stay, "I'd love to walk back with you."
"Okay, great, so I'll go mingle quickly and then we can leave," Willow smilied, looking at Tara for a second confirmation that she was indeed going to stay.
"Okay," Tara said nodding as she reached out and grabbed Willow's hand, giving it a quick squeeze. Willow smiled brightly and then walked back toward the reporters she was suppposed to talk to. Tara watched as Willow walked away, unable to take her eyes off the red head's back side. The dress hugged it perfectly, and while Tara never liked to see Willow go, she had to admit the view wasn't bad. Slowly, Tara moved from the middle of the room to a corner in the back where she was hoping to blend in with the wall and become invisible until Willow had finished doing her interviews. From where Tara stood she could easily see Willow as she made her way around the room. She was amazed at the girl's grace and poise. Willow possessed the ability to be at ease, whatever the situation, and that was something Tara admired about her. She was completely transfixed by everything Willow was doing. Every little hand gesture or smile was mesmerizing to Tara, she wanted so much to have that same casualness in a room full of strangers. The blonde was so caught up staring at Willow, and studying her every move, she didn't notice a young man approaching her.
"Hello, Dave Freidman," he said extending his hand.
"Huh? Oh... Tara... Maclay," Tara said snapping back to reality.
"If you're trying to get an interview, hanging back in the corner like this, probably isn't your best bet," he said with a flirtatious smile. "What paper are you with?"
"I'm n-not a r-reporter," Tara replied shaking her head.
"Oh, I just figured you were. Reporters are usually the only ones who come to these things," Dave continued, "I write for the University paper. Are you a student here?"
"Yes," Tara replied, purposely keeping her answers short.
"I'm a senior here," he smiled puffing out his chest and taking a step closer. Suddenly Tara didn't think the corner was such a great place to be standing. Her body was going into panic mode as her palms became sweaty, and her heart began to race. She tried to take a step back, but there was no place to go.
Meanwhile, across the room, Willow found herself losing her patience to do interviews. She understood completely that they had to be done, but with Tara in the room looking so gorgeous, she was finding it difficult to give the reporters her full attention. She had been sneaking glances at Tara as she made her way around the room, and had even managed to position herself so she could continue glancing during what she hoped was her final interview. Peeking around the reporter, she expected to see Tara looking back at her, but instead Willow saw Tara conversing with a young man. Unable to look away Willow was instantly jealous, and she couldn't help but wonder what they were talking about. 'Why is Tara talking to him?' Willow thought, 'and look at him, standing all close to her like he's God's gift to women, I don't think so, Buddy. I'm God's gift to that particular woman, and wait... what if I'm not? What if she likes him?'
"Miss. Rosenberg?"
"Huh? What?" Willow asked her attention being drawn back to the interviewer.
"Your answer?" He asked politely.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't hear the question, could you repeat it?" Willow asked giving her best 'I'm really sorry smile'. As the interviewer began to repeat the question though, her focus wandered back to Tara, expecting to see her smiling and flirting away with the boy, now throughly convinced she was not what Tara wanted afterall. However, when Willow's eyes caught back up with blonde, she saw her attempting to take a step back only to run into the wall that was directly behind her, and even from that distance she could see fear mounting in Tara's eyes.
"Miss. Rosenberg," the interviewer said again.
"I... I'm sorry, would you excuse me," Willow said brushing past him, completely distracted by the scene unfolding across the room, coupled with her determination to protect Tara from whatever threat that was being posed to her by this stranger. She strode purposfully across the room, finally stepping in front of the overbearing student, "Are you ready?" She gently asked the blonde. Grateful for having been saved, Tara fervently nodded yes. Willow gently took the blonde's hand, giving a firm squeeze as she could now see and feel that Tara was visibly shaking. Tara responded by clutching Willow's hand in a vice grip.
"Do you have time for a quick interview?" Dave asked hopefully. Clearly this girl was Willow's girlfriend. He wished he had known before he hit on her.
"No, I don't," Willow said walking away, taking Tara with her. Once outside, Tara's grip on Willow's hand loosened, and Willow stopped walking as she turned to face her friend. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" She asked taking Tara's other hand, her face showing nothing but concern.
"Yeah.. I... N-n-no, he didn't h-hurt me... I..." Tara paused as she pulled her hands from Willow's and wrapped the red head in a tight hug, unsure what had come over her. "I'm fine now," she said as she closed her eyes and smiled. For a moment, Willow hesitated, more out of shock than anything else, then happily returned the embrace. They stayed that way for several moments before they broke the hug and Tara spoke.
"Thank you," she said smiling.
"For what?" Willow questioned.
"For rescuing me," Tara said.
"Oh, well..." Willow said unable to say anything else. Tara had left her speechless. Willow began blushing and ducked her head.
"Against the rules," Tara said lifting Willow's head and continueing to smile at her.
"Throwing my own rule back in my face," Willow said laughing, "So are you ready to head back?"
"Sure," Tara said.
"Hey, are you doing anything tonight?" Willow asked.
"No," Tara said a little thrown by the question.
"Good, well not good that you don't have anything to do, but good because I thought you might want to come over and watch a movie...eat popcorn, or talk," Willow suggested. "Of course if you would rather do whatever it was you were going to do, that's okay too. I could always study instead."
"I'd love to w-watch a movie," Tara said smiling.
"Really?"
"Really."
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~Spencer~
"Cause when we're torn apart, shattered and scarred, love has the grace to save us. We're just two tarnished hearts, but in each other arms, we become saints and angels."
~Sara Evans~
Edited by: Mainer at: 3/3/03 11:33:08 am
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I'm not sure when the next update is coming, but hopefully it won't be too far off.
-Viv- 
So sweet of Tara to stay and comfort Will. I think Tara did the right thing not going for the kiss at that mo cuz Willow's upset, not exactly a nice romantic time for a first kiss...although I do wanna see smoochies, as I've told you 
You have Annie to thank for the movie switch up as the whole thing was her idea, including the movie titles. She's a smart one. 
I'm sure you'll think of something good to get her with 
...I sincerely do apologize for the delay!! 
at: 2/16/03 7:05:43 pm
at: 3/22/03 8:39:51 pm