This is the end of this particular chapter.
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Four Months After, Part 10
Darkness.
Am I dead? Probably not. I don't think you have headaches when you're dead…unless you're Spike. And I bet even he doesn't have to go to the bathroom… Okay, not dead. Let's hope this is a good thing.
Why is it so dark? Willow Rosenberg wondered, trying to remember how she got to this place. As more of her senses came online, she felt she was lying down on a soft yet firm surface. Am I in bed? Feels like it. Hmmm…doesn't feel like I'm wearing a great deal, either. Ooooh, erotic naughty dream? Usually, they're a lot more visual than this.
Footsteps off her left, sounding like two people coming up a flight of stairs and down a carpeted hall. The creak of a chair about two yards across from her signaled that someone was getting up to greet the Makers O'Footsteps.
"I got your page, when I was picking up— Oh my God!" Buffy, sounding a little panicked. Okay, she can see, I guess, so I'm not in some dark dimension, probably.
"N-no, it's okay, sh-she's just sleeping." That was Tara, judging by the direction, the one who had just gotten up out of the chair. [I]Was she watching over me? What a sweetie…
"'Okay?' Apparently, this is the 'comas are fun' definition of 'okay'!" Oh, I know this song: Slayer, Thy Name is Pissed.
"I thought you said that ritual was supposed to help her!" Dawn's voice now, quavering with fear.
"It was, Dawnie," Tara replied, patiently if a little bit defensive. "The point was for Willow to find out the causes of her addiction and use that to help her physical recovery. I – I mean, we, the other Wiccas and I – didn't realize how traumatic it was going to be."
Buffy audibly huffed, making Willow almost smile. She repressed the smile just in time, so that her friends wouldn't know she was awake. Hee-hee-hee. I'm so bad.
"Why didn't you take her to the hospital?" Buffy asked pointedly.
"I was going to, at f-first," Tara replied, "'specially 'cause I had trouble finding her pulse—"
"What?!?" Both sisters near-shrieked. Hey, stereo!
"No, no, it's okay, that was my bad. My hands were shaking so hard, I couldn't find the pulse points." Audible sighs of cautious relief. "I was still a little worried when we c-couldn't wake her up, but, uh, she started, um, murmuring." Small chuckle as full stop.
"Hunh?" Slayer Confusion Call.
"She always murmurs when she sleeps. You should hear her when she…" Pregnant pause. "…stops explaining things." So-so on the dismount, and that will affect her score…
"Uh-hunh." And this, children, is the sound of a Slayer going to Scary Visual Place.
Well, I've had my fun…time to join the world. "Y'know, it's not nice to talk about someone who's feigning unconsciousness and shamelessly eavesdropping," Willow said, opening her eyes to three very relieved young women. The youngest of the three pounced on her, drawing her into a tight embrace and making her emit a "Wooff!" sound.
"Dawn!" Tara said, covering a smile with great difficulty. "D-don’t break 'er!" Willow noticed that she had changed into a pullover and beaded jeans.
"Yeah, Dawn, don't break her. Let me do that!" Buffy stepped forward and grabbed the front of the robe in one fist, drawing Willow up from the bed, while her other fist was cocked back prefatory to beating the snot out of the hacker. "Give me one good reason not to hit you so hard that you'll wake up on the Enterprise!"
"Hey! Watch the robe!" Willow yelped. "I'm 'clothing-deprived' under this thing, okay?"
"Nope, not a good enough reason!" Buffy pulled Willow up higher, the better to send her to Coma Land. "Say g'night, Gracie!"
"Buffy!" Dawn protested, certain now that Buffy was not kidding. Willow gulped.
Tara placed her hand over Buffy's fist, as if her mere mortal strength could restrain the Slayer in Full Pissed-Off Mode. "Enough, Buffy."
Light as the words were in tone, there was enough emotion behind them for Buffy to see past her ire and fear. Tara's calming influence overrode her impulse to hit Willow (not that it needed much, as she really didn't want to hurt her friend.) The Slayer relaxed her grip, then looked at Willow soberly. "Y'know, I really wish you would do stuff like almost getting yourself k-killed…you…" At this point Buffy's self-control broke down completely and she collapsed sobbing into Willow's chest. The red-head, startled, wrapped her arms around her friend. Tara kneeled beside the bed and stroked Buffy's head. The Slayer raised her head, sniffled, and cried "You stupid bitch!" before falling back down.
Willow jumped a little at the outburst. She looked at an equally startled Tara. Dawn was getting upset at the histrionics herself. "Buffy…I'm okay—" Willow began.
"Yeah, well, Mom was 'okay' after her operation, and the next thing ya know, I find her on the couch staring at the ceiling!" Buffy shrieked. Across from her, Dawn blanched and gulped, tears spilling out of her eyes. Buffy noticed, contrite. "Oh! Dawnie, I'm sorry!" Her little sister nodded, so Buffy wrapped an arm around her and drew her into her and Willow, who also hugged her.
Tara hung back, looking at the three women she loved most in the entire world. For months she had prayed for this reunion scene, and it should have made her happy…
"What are you waiting for, Maclay: an eVite?" said Buffy. Tara smiled and moved over to encircle the three with her arms, as they shifted to accommodate her. Buffy made sure Tara was embraced, then murmured to Willow, "I, I just got you back, Will. I can't lose you."
"Me neither," whispered Dawn.
"I-I-I'm kinda attached to you, m-myself," added Tara. Dawn and Buffy chuckled at what they saw as a massive understatement. Willow, however, did not, but said nothing.
Buffy raised her head from where it had been resting on Willow's chest. "You really are naked under there, aren't you?" she said, a lascivious grin breaking through the tears on her face.
Tara blushed from scalp to neck, at least. "B-B-Buffy…" she stammered.
"Yeah, really!" Dawn added, backing away. "I mean, little kids here, don't need to hear that kinda talk!"
Buffy couldn't resist. "'Little kids?' What happened to 'old enough to drive?'" All four women laughed then. She then turned back to Willow. "Okay, recrimination time over, now for debriefing. What the hell happened?"
"Oh, Buffy, it was intense. A whole 'journey to the center of your mind' thing."
"Oh God, another one of those. Go on."
"Well, not to sound all Wizard of Oz, but you were there, and Xander and Giles, and Oz – guitar werewolf Oz, not the Wizard – oh! And Cordelia! It was like this whole high school flashback, only –"
Buffy prompted, "What?" when the Willowbabble didn't continue. Willow looked pensive, as if wondering if this was the best time to broach a particular subject. "C'mon, Will, talk to me."
"I, I guess I've always wondered, how you felt about me, I mean, now yes, you do like me, but at first, when we met, I always wondered why, 'why is she hanging around me, or more to the point, why is letting me hang around her.' I mean, was it just because I was great with helping out schoolwork, or was it the hacker stuff I did for you as the Slayer…"
Unnoticed by Buffy or Willow, Tara motioned to Dawn, that they should leave and let the other two discuss this particular knotty topic. Dawn looked for a moment as though to protest, then gave in and, as quietly as she could, slipped off the bed and exited the room with Tara.
"Whoa whoa whoa!" Buffy said, calling a halt to the soliloquy. "I thought we covered this. That first day, I was pretty clear, I thought, when I asked you help me with catching up with my schoolwork, I thought I was pretty up-front about it, and as I recall, you weren't that reluctant to get in good with the new girl!"
"Yeah, well, here you are, first day at new school, already cozying up to Cordelia, Xander's chasing after you, his tongue dragging along the ground…"
"Like that was a new occurrence!"
"…and there you are doing charity, a Good Deed, by spending time with the class nerd! Face it, Buffy, you felt sorry about Cordelia dissed me in front of you!"
Buffy's face tightened, but she did not shy. She blinked back tears, then stared at Willow and said in a calm tone. "I could say the same about you, Willow. Would you have been my friend if I wasn't the Slayer? If I was just sailing along, no super-powers, no mission, just going through life as the newest Cordette, probably only seeing you on the sly at the library to have you help me through geometry?
"You jumped at the chance to play Slayerette because it took you away from yourself, from your so-called 'pitiful' life. You so wanted to live vicariously through me, be Little Miss Kick-Ass, that you never stopped to consider that maybe I wanted to live vicariously through you! And-and have no bigger worry than getting a date for the prom!" Buffy folded her arms and looked away from Willow.
Willow hung her down, in unconscious imitation of Tara. "I'm sorry. I'm a bad friend."
Buffy suddenly lunged forward, taking Willow by the arms and drawing her up. "No, you're a good friend! Don’t you get that! After all the shit we've been through… You've kept me going when I had no reason to. You listened to me whine about my stupid destiny and my lousy relationships for five years, you brought me back from the brink of insanity, you brought me back from…" She broke off as sobs threatened to choke her. "God, can't you see what a wonderful person you are? Huh? I didn't just need to watch my back, I needed you just to be there for me! You're my best friend! I love you!"
"I know!" Willow cried back. "I just couldn't accept it for so long! Maybe now, I, I can try, I dunno." She collapsed sobbing into Buffy's arms, while the Slayer herself cried as she held her friend and rocked back and forth on the bed.
As the sun went down, the shadows enfolded them.
**********
Two hours later, they had discussed a slew of topics relating to their friendship. While there had been some tears, the recriminations were mostly gone. In the end, Willow felt better about Buffy, and herself than she had in a long time, probably ever.
They lay on their sides on the big bed, as they had often done in high school at sleepovers. At one point they had closed their eyes, drifting off but not really going to sleep, secure in each other's company.
Buffy roused herself first. In full night, the room was dark. She sat up and turned on the lamp beside the bed. Willow blinked and sat up.
"How ya' feeling?" Buffy asked.
"Tired. Hungry. Like my head just had a spring cleaning, much overdue. You?"
"Definitely hungry. I can hear them moving downstairs, in the kitchen. I hope they're making dinner." She saw Willow grin at her, and something clicked in Buffy's mind. When Willow turned to find some clothes to put on, Buffy stopped her. "Do that again. I mean, smile.:
Bewildered, Willow nonetheless complied. The result made Buffy's eyes go wide. "Willow, your face!" The hacker drew her hands over both sides of her face, feeling for numb spots…and finding none. She opened her eyes wide and closed them rapidly, testing to see if…
Buffy leapt off the bed and opened the bedroom door. "Tara! Dawn!"
The witch and the teenager thundered up the stairs, to find Willow standing unsupported, walking unassisted if a little unsteadily. "Look at me! Tiny Tim walks again! God bless us, everyone!" She suddenly wavered, making Buffy rush over and catch her. "Whooops! Muscles not used to this. Back to the physical therapy torture mill for me. But look!" She waggled the fingers of her left hand. "I could play the piano again…that is, if I had ever learned how."
Tara went to Willow, smiling. "This is wonderful!"
"But how?" Dawn asked, smiling but overwhelmed.
"The-the ritual!" Buffy exclaimed. "You did some mojo-jojo that fixed all the damage from the stroke!"
Tara blinked. "We didn't do any 'mojo.' Willow did. Not so much with 'mojo-jojo – and would you please stop calling it that – but by confronting a lot of the issues that she had in her subconscious –"
"Oh, who cares, Spock?" Willow cried exuberantly. "I'm cured!"
Tara's expression changed abruptly, so much so that Willow, Buffy and Dawn stopped celebrating. The blonde witch asked, deadpan, "Does this mean you're back to liking boys?"
Buffy and Dawn looked at Willow, as if wondering themselves. The redhead was about to protest the contrary when Tara's poker face broke into giggles. This made Willow laugh as she got the joke. The sisters shrugged in confusion, but decided that it didn't matter.
As the two former lovers embraced one another, Buffy and Dawn smiled at one another.
Ten months after.
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"Good God, that's a lot of shake!"
[This message has been edited by CaptMurdock (edited January 20, 2002).]