Quick Note: This part has a cliffhangery like end...I should/would say I'm sorry but I'm not
(ducking the rotten produce now)
PART 5
She wiped the bathroom mirror with a paper towel.It was still wrong…something was still wrong.She sprayed the cleaner over the reflective surface and scrubbed harder with the towel.A woman with chocolate brown hair and light brown eyes watched first with amusement then with concern as the redhead cleaned the same mirror for the third time.
“Boss?The anal retentive society called…your award will be shipped in five to seven business days."
Willow missed the boat on that wisecrack.Heck, she missed the pier.She dropped the soggy cloth onto a growing stack on the floor.Then, she sprayed another round of ammonia based fluid onto the mirror and picked up another cloth to wipe it off.A slender hand fashioned with an expensive opal pinkie ring and well-manicured nails fluttered in front of her unresponsive face.
“Enough…what’s going on?” Green eyes became aware of the newcomer and she limply lowered her hand into her lap.“Bela, she’s back.”
“Who’s back?” Isabel questioned as her eyes narrowed.“You mean?The bang on the drums and cue the spotlight girl?” A slight Italian accent did little to hide the disbelieving tone of her voice.An empty place where a reply should have been answered her much more morosely than any word Willow could have chosen.
“Oh, honey what happened?What did you say?” Warmth and worry poured from her voice.
“She appeared with Xander last night.They have a noon appointment today.”The voice faltered.Her strength seemed weakened...her confidence appeared shaken.Isabel briefly remembered one other time her boss acted this way and that was the night she almost spent eternity trying to forget.
“How do you want to play it?” she asked, physically shaking off some of the residual horror.“I can sit in your lap and play the pretty puppy.”
Willow’s eyes blazed and a small grin almost fought its way onto the playing ground of her face before it seeped back into its maker.“Let’s stay straight faced, Bela.”
“Honey, I’m always straight faced.Endeavors of the non-straight variety are more your cup of tea.Or so I’ve been told.All the detection equipment in your lab hasn’t answered that one for me.” Isabel shrugged and gave a four star smile.
“Are you gonna change out of your jammies?It’s closer to noon than not.” Willow sighed and nodded.Then she spent the next minute staring at the mirror.
Isabel pestered her off the sink counter and, to her perverse internal amusement, into the closet.She picked out professional attire with a touch of sexiness and handed the garments to her still lagging counterpart.“Clothes.Wear.Now,” she monosyllabically ordered.“I’m going to make my special cuppa joe and you better be ready when I get back.”
Willow dressed and then promptly returned to the bathroom mirror.She stared for a minute before spraying cleaner on it again.She grabbed a handtowel from the rack and pressed hard on the surface, the glass cracked vertically in half under the stress.“That’s better,” she cooed.“All better.”
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If the greeting room was the equivalent of a white sale down at the psychiatric ward, Willow’s office was the dark incarnate of some medieval armory.The walls and ceiling were painted black and weapons of all types hung from the walls.It curiously reminded Tara of her illegally decored dorm room.Except that old dorm room had a large window…and, oh yeah, no creepy red lighting from scone fixtures on the walls.
Xander and Tara’s entrance had been just as strange as the previous day.The front doors opened automatically this time and they were informed to go into the office and wait.Xander sat playing a bowling game on his cell phone, ignoring the darkness.Tara could do nothing but feel its all-consuming nature.
“So have you ever, you know, been in there?” She motioned at the doors to the lab.
“Nope, I don’t think anyone’s been in the lab other than her staff.I don’t think she lets anyone upstairs where she lives…except for the ‘assistant’.”He added quotes around the last word.Along with a lecherous grin that almost immediately turned apologetic as he realized how his words would hurt Tara.She dismissed his worry with kindness but it really didn’t make either one of them feel any better.
The noon chime sounded and Isabel cracked the door to the lab, not gracing the room with her presence.“Lights,” she ordered as she unnecessarily twirled her hand.Soft overhead fluorescent panels came to life.Satisfied with the look of the room and after a quick, but hard glance at the blonde, Isabel went back to the lab.
“Boss…midday meeting,” she informed the redhead.They both knew the computer genius was hyperaware of the time.Greenwich could align with her internal clock.“Would you like me to cancel the meeting?”
“No,” she squeaked.Her jaw tightened, disgusted at her own tone.“No,” she responded again with an icy firmness.She grabbed a folder and became the what that could face that room.Or, more importantly, could face who was in that room.
The sharp click-clack of two sets of heels brought Tara’s attention to the door as it opened again.The first set were tall black stilettos that supported an olive skinned beauty with dark features.Her dress was small, black, and high fashion.Certainly some New York label the blonde would never remember or identify on sight.It fit skin tight like a neoprene glove.
The second set of heels were more modest…some sort of black strappy number that crisscrossed a couple of inches above the ankle.Black silk pants ran about three-quarters of the way down creamy white legs.A green, sleeveless Chinese style shirt with golden dragons skimpily covered the remainder of her lithe body. Her eyes drifted up to a face long burned into her memory.
Even if her skin was a couple of shades pale…
Probably staying inside too much
.Her eyes were slightly puffy and faintly circled.
Too many hours working in front of her computer.
She liked the sleek red bob of hair with razor fine ends.Familiar and sexy.Tara pursed her mouth tightly to trap a tongue that was desperate to lick her dry lips.
“Hey boss…what’s the word?” Xander asked when he registered his old friend’s presence.
“Inconclusive,” the scientist remarked as she pushed the folder to the clown-hating boy. “Vampires didn’t attempt this spell.You’re looking for a slightly more elevated evil…something with the firepower to conjure a Herotaus.”
“A soul conduit demon?There’s only a handful of things that could control one of those,” Tara answered with a touch of surprise.
“Maybe a couple of handfuls,” Willow shrugged, acknowledging Tara’s presence for the first time. A Ginsu cleaver on steroids couldn’t cut the tension.
So Isabel tried by pulling out a chair for her boss…presenting and caressing it like a naughty Barker’s Beauty from The Price is Right. Willow turned and smirked at her with her back away from the guests.Xander gaped and Tara simply bit her lip and looked away.
Tension forgotten…mission accomplished,
Isabel thought with a hidden smile.Willow took the seat and resisted the brow furrow that disapproved of her assistant’s catty behavior.
“What’s a soul conduit demon?”Xander asked as he looked between the two former lovers.“I mean I know a conduit…from construction is a duct for wiring.Somehow I don’t think whoever cast that spell wanted to upgrade their electricity.”
“Herotaus is a collector demon trapped in a decayed dimension.A higher demon would summon him to gather souls for rituals or revenge.Summoner gets a soul…Herotaus gets a corpse to munch,” Tara supplied, remembering the information from some archaic book she had skimmed before.
Willow raised an impressed eyebrow and nodded.“Mutual relationship…and while it requires an immense amount of power to summon Herotaus, it is rather easy to control it once it’s established on the mortal plane.” Willow punched up a couple of commands on her keyboard and a large monitor to the left of the Scoobies lit up with a picture of the monster.
“Aim for the neck or middle thorax for the kill.”She gestured at the picture with a hand-held laser pointer.“The monster should be slayed prior to the summoning party because without someone guiding its actions the demon becomes a bit of a reckless killing machine.”
“And that would be bad,” Xander concluded by stating the obvious.“So we patrol tonight?”
“Yes, all of this is in the file…including a few likely locations that match up to its known habitat.” Xander assented and began a text message to Buffy and the gang about tonight’s plans.
Tara slightly frowned as she observed the indifferent professional behavior of her ex-lover.Every movement seemed prechoreographed…precisely timed for maximum efficiency.
Where’s her airiness?Her babble?Did I cause this?I never meant to hurt you.
Willow looked up from her monitor and met blue worried eyes.She stared…and waited.“Your information?” she finally asked.
“Um…oh…yes,” she replied clumsily, averting her eyes and sifting quickly through her reading materials.“I xeroxed it…Wesley would shriek his little head off if I lost a volume of World Book’s creature feature edition.”
“That sissy ex-watcher?” Xander guffawed as he closed his phone.
Willow was also intrigued by the notion that Mr. Wyndam-Pryce was an associate of her ex-girlfriend.She refrained from commenting, however.
“He’s, um, 70% less prissy now?” she replied as if weighing the percentage in her head for accuracy.
She’s seems so bold…comfortable.Happy?
The redhead shut her lids and took an exaggerated inhalation.
Maybe leaving me was the best thing that ever happened to her.
The ambivalence she felt from that statement provided a clear answer to an avoided internal question.She wanted to snarl…scream.Instead, she handed the papers to Isabel and instructed her to take them to the library.
“You will have my theories on your analysis by midnight.”Willow stood and effectively adjourned further discussion by pointing her body towards the lab and walking away.
Tara felt a breaking point as she watched two best friends drift towards opposite doors and opposite lives.“Wait.”They both came to a halt.She approached her ex-lover with the graceful, cautious gait.“Willow?”
She turned, brittled with surprise.No one had called her that in years.She was Boss…she was Scarlet…she was
not
Willow.Still…she had her strength and her pride.“Yes?”
“I’m sorry.”It seemed like a bare platitude but she put every ounce of her heart’s regret and sorrow into the little statement.
“Forgotten,”the redhead croaked out in a whisper.Stillness followed.
“Will?” the blonde breathed lowly, reaching out to Willow’s right wrist.As her fingers made contact with smooth white skin, there was an intense surge.She flew backwards and landed several feet away on the floor, hitting with a painful thud.The last thought Tara had before the darkness claimed her was what she felt in that touch…and what she didn’t.
I don't care if you're drunk on me
Or only just someone else's fantasy
~C. Dezen
And Willow needs to live and let live. The hardest thing to do in life is to forgive, but without that ability, you are doomed to live a life constantly filled with "what ifs" and anger. But, I'm sure that Tara can break through that tough exterior with a little patience and her natural charm. 
A great piece of writing here and I hope that you update soon! 
If it doesn't i firmly believe its my Lit professors fault. Hopefully we see more soon. 
). Pleeeeaaaassssseee don't keep us waiting too long!
*sniff sniff* 
.
If I ask nicely and say things like "pretty please...." and "with sugar on top?" would you gift us with updatey goodness??? 