School Days

by JustSkipIt

Copyright © 2004

Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: Guess what…I don't own W&T, Buffy or the rest of the BtVS crew. Any similarity to actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental and fortunate.
Distribution: The Mystic Muse    /mysticmuse.net
Spoilers: Geez! Even in Europe, the show has been off the air for a year. If you haven't seen any given episode, you aren't really trying. Nonetheless...Yes, there are lot of spoilers.
Author's Notes: This story is somewhat AU. Imagine that you took everything we know about Buffy/Canon, then took a completely separate story, put them in a blender, mixed it up and took out part of it. That's this story. For all intents and purposes, let's say this is very AU. And hopefully fun. This is meant to be fun and light. The updates should be frequent but short. Enjoy.
Pairing: Willow/Tara

Part 1    Part 2    Part 3    Part 4    Part 5    Part 6    Part 7    Part 8    Part 9    Part 10    Part 11    Part 12    Part 13    Part 14    Part 15    Part 16    Part 17    Part 18    Part 19    Part 20

Part 1
Directions

Willow hurried down the hallway towards what she was relatively sure was her classroom. The first day of school always carried a combination of excitement and anxiety for the redhead. She had loved school and learning for as long as she could remember but new experiences sometimes made her nervous. Stopping at a corner she looked again at the markings on the corridors and the paper in her hand. It was early yet so few students were in the halls.

One student carried a bag slung loosely over her shoulder and seemed to be checking her class schedule as if lost. She wore a denim skirt with a peasant top and had her blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail. Well thank God every student at this school doesn't dress like Christina Aguilera or Brittney Spears, Willow thought as she redoubled her efforts to find her classroom. She smiled as she recognized the room number by the door.

Just then she felt a soft tap on her shoulder. "Excuse me, Miss," the soft voice almost whispered. Willow turned to see the student she had noticed earlier facing her hopefully. Bright blue eyes searched her face, seeming to rest on her own orbs before the mouth opened again. Willow tried to control her gasp as she felt a charge like an electrical shock through the material of her shirt, where the girl had tapped her. The student's eyes held a look of shock or amazement or maybe nervousness and fear so Willow couldn't tell if she felt the same spark.

The blonde broke eye contact to consult the schedule in her hand. "D-do you know where room E-19 is?" she asked.

Willow smiled, feeling bad for the girl that she was nervous enough to stutter. The first day of school was always hard, indeed. "English wing is down that corridor and to the right," she explained as she waved her hand in that direction. Thankfully Xander had bored his friends nearly to tears with tours and tales of the new high school.

"Down that c-corridor and to the right," the blonde repeated. She nodded her head. "Thank you," she told the redhead and moved in the direction Willow had indicated.

Willow took a deep breath before entering the empty classroom.

Part 2
Answers

Setting her books on the desk at the front of the room, Willow turned on the computer before picking up a piece of chalk. "Miss Rosenberg" she wrote on the board before setting down the piece of chalk and wiping her hands. Miss Rosenberg! she thought triumphantly, I'm an adult, a grownup, a teacher! Ok, so maybe she was a bit excited on her first day…

Looking at the clock and seeing that there were still 15 minutes before class started she moved from desk to desk, turning on each computer. Having spent a few days working in the lab, she knew that these machines were not exactly state of the art and would take close to five minutes to boot up each morning.

Willow knew that she had been very lucky in getting this job. Not many teaching jobs opened up this close to the start of the school year and she'd only been in town for a day before beginning her in-service. Of course in Sunnydale, strange things happened and jobs opened up more frequently than in other cities.

Fifteen minutes later the seats were filled with a group of teenagers looking alternatively at Willow and at their computer screens. As they filed in and found their places she allowed them to talk freely and heard predictable snatches of conversation: "…so young?" "…real teacher?" "…a joke?"

Willow waited a few minutes after the final bell before beginning to speak to get the class's attention: "Good morning. I'm Miss Rosenberg and I'll be your teacher for 'Basic Computer Skills.'" Getting no response she asked, "Is everyone here in the right class?"

A few nods answered her and one slouching student shouted from the center of the room, "How old are you?"

Willow smiled in response. She had been expecting this; how could she possibly avoid it? She had always looked young for her age and having just turned 20 she was teaching high school. This morning, looking in the mirror she had tried to estimate how old she looked and decided 17. When Dawn had walked in, Willow had downgraded her own estimate to 16.

"On your screens is a questionnaire regarding your names, hobbies, and prior experience with computers," Willow explained, "Follow the instructions and submit your responses. When every student," and she emphasized everyone, "has finished his or her questionnaire, you can ask me questions."

She waited a few seconds, noting that most students were beginning to look at their screens and some were beginning to enter their answers. She returned to her desk, looked at the monitor and took a drink of her water. I've got to get here early enough to get coffee tomorrow, she mentally vowed.

The first few responses began to appear on her monitor, populating the class grid she had programmed earlier in the week. Her screen was filled with sixteen boxes which now contained the names of the students as they had entered them, clicking on the cells would allow her to view the information they had just entered on their questionnaires or their class performance. When the final entry had been received she clicked a button to check that each student had actually entered valid information and not just "Mickey Mouse" or "bite me" for their names and hobbies.

"A few of you missed questions," she announced. "Those questionnaires have been returned to your computer. Please complete them and resubmit." After three more rounds she had relatively full dossiers on all sixteen students. Each of them had submitted a name matching one on her class roster.

Moving around to the front of the desk, she announced that everyone had completed his or her questionnaire. "I was going answer ten questions but I had to send the responses back four times so I'll answer six questions," she explained. "The first six students who completed their questionnaires can ask them or pass their turn to someone else in class." She waited a second to see their understanding before calling the name of the first student to complete the assignment.

Predictably the first student didn't hesitate a second before asking, "How old are you?"

"Twenty," Willow responded before calling on the next student.

"Where did you go to school?" the next student asked.

"High school or college?" Willow asked.

"High school?" that student elaborated.

"Sunnydale High," Willow answered, "but the old one." All the students nodded their heads. Everyone knew the story of the gas leak that had destroyed the old high school the day of graduation. Now three years later, a new version sat on the grounds of the prior school.

"What about college?" another student shouted out.

Willow smiled knowingly, "It's Danny's turn." She pointed at the student who had turned in his questionnaire next.

"Where did you go to college?" Danny repeated the question.

"Massachusetts Institute of Technology or MIT," Willow responded.

Willow called on the next student who laughed as she asked, "Are you rich? That's an expensive school."

Willow laughed back as she explained, "I got a lot of scholarships."

"Why did you come back to Sunnydale?" The next student asked.

"Hey!" Danny shouted, "what's wrong with Sunnydale?"

The student who had asked the question rolled her eyes at the jock. "Nothing except the school blew up from a gas explosion." She put up air quotes around the words gas explosion. "And the teachers have almost as high a death rate as students."

Willow allowed the discussion to go on for a moment before she explained, "A friend's mother passed away last spring. I moved back to help her take care of her sister." The redhead heard Dawn's name being murmured throughout the room. "Last question," she announced pointing to the sixth student.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" one of the Britney Spears look-alikes wanted to know.

"No," Willow answered just as the bell rang.

The rest of the new teacher's day proceeded much like her first period. With a split schedule she only had three classes a day plus her free period. In the final class, the students got their questionnaires done more quickly and had enough questions for one to tack on, "do you have a girlfriend?" after "do you have a boyfriend?" Again Willow shook her head and said no although she couldn't stop the thought, don't I wish…

During her free period, she found herself wondering if the cute girl had found her classroom and if she was taking computer skills. Oh God! she thought, I can't possibly afford to be thinking that any student was cute. No she wasn't cute. Not her blonde hair or the way she was so shy or her blue eyes. Nope not cute at all. Willow shook her head. Not cute! Warty. Probably smells really bad too…

After shutting down the computers and turning off the lights she was still trying to convince herself that the girl hadn't been completely adorable, while glancing around to see if she might still be in the halls.

Part 3
Anyone Yummy?

Tara jiggled her key in the lock before feeling it finally turn. Once it did, she pressed her shoulder to the door and gave a good shove. Finally the door opened and she nearly fell over the threshold but righted herself but grasping the doorframe. "Hi honey, I'm home," she shouted as she set her book bag next to the door.

No answer came from the small apartment and she looked at the couch which curiously enough was empty and the TV that even more curiously was turned off. Moving to the refrigerator to pull a bottle of water from the shelf she found a note:

T, How was the first day of school? I hope you played nice with the little girls and boys. Speaking of nice little girls and boys, any one yummy? You need some yummy, T!

I went to look for a job after my classes. Need to bring home some bacon, you know?

Do you want to go out tonight? I think I heard about some hot spots.

Tara smirked and shook her head. Typical! Yummy? Right yummy. Well ok, there was that girl that she had asked for directions to the English wing but that was so out of the question. The age difference…But…nice to think about.

For a few minutes she did just that: thinking about that girl. Her hair had shone so and bounced when she pointed down the hallway. And her eyes were the most intense green. It had seemed like there was a spark when Tara touched her on the shoulder to get her attention but surely that was just the blonde's imagination. I'm not even going to ponder her lips, Tara quickly decided as she reached under the kitchen faucet and splashed cold water on her blushing face.

Well, if they were going out tonight she wouldn't get any studying done after dark. Feeling determined, the blonde sat at the kitchen table and opened her books to study. She could make dinner in a few hours.

Part 4
Home Sweet Hellmouth

After letting herself into the house, Willow went to the refrigerator to get a piece of fruit. Taking the apple with her, she went upstairs to find Dawn reading in her room.

"Homework already?" Willow asked. Dawn shook her head, holding up a worn copy of Fellowship of the Rings. "Oh," Willow nodded, "how are the Hobbits doing?"

Dawn sneered, "The Hobbits are walking and walking and falling asleep and walking and walking…"

"It goes faster after they meet Strider," Willow agreed.

"Are you going to the Magic Box or to patrol with Buffy?" Dawn asked.

Willow shook her head. "I don't think so," she answered, "I still need to finish unpacking and I should write a few more lesson plans."

"You don't have to baby-sit me you know," Dawn pouted.

"I know that," Willow agreed, "I really do have work to do." Dawn shrugged as if she only believed Willow partially. "How about soup and sandwiches for dinner?" the redhead offered and saw Dawn's nod before going across the hall into her room.

Willow began pulling books from a stack of boxes piled in the corner and carefully filling her bookcases. She tried to utilize an organizational system to make Giles proud, organizing by subject and author. Magical tomes filled two shelves, computer and mathematical theory books another two and fiction the rest of the space. By the time all the books were unpacked and organized she had worked up a good sweat and went to take a shower. One thing she didn't miss about college was the large communal shower rooms. Even sharing with the Summers sisters didn't compare to the dormitory experience.

On the way back from the bathroom, the redhead checked in with Dawn. "Hey Dawnie," she called from the doorway after knocking on the door. "Are you hungry?" she asked, "I was thinking of taking a little nap before dinner."

"No that's fine," the teenager agreed. As Willow was turning toward the door she heard Dawn's voice. "Buffy said she'll be late."

"That's ok," Willow said.

"Hey Willow," Dawn again called as the redhead was turning to leave.

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad you're here." The teenager blushed as she said it but Willow understood.

"I'm glad I'm here too," she agreed.

As she lay on the bed a few minutes later she thought of just how true that statement was. Could it have been only three years ago that she had to make the decision about where to go to college? As Snyder had said, she had "a letter of acceptance from every college with a stamp." As they had moved through their battle with the mayor, she wanted to stay and continue to fight evil. But she could remember everyone's urging. Every Scooby, Joyce and Oz included, had agreed that she was the one person who could take advantage of her opportunities. If she finished college and possibly graduate school and wanted to return to the Hellmouth, then she could. Of course her parents were very supportive of her attending MIT so she had gone.

And then the unthinkable had happened.

Willow knew when she left that Buffy or Xander or Giles were in danger every day. A vampire or other demon could kill them any time but she knew that they were right; she had to leave and then she could choose to return when school was over.

But the unthinkable…

The interval between Joyce's diagnosis and Buffy's hysterical phone call to Willow seemed to be only days although it was a few months. Willow only saw Joyce at her Christmas break and then the woman was gone. Leaving school in the middle of the week for the funeral had meant two missed tests and an incomplete in one class but the redhead had quickly made up the remainder of her work. Enrolling in even more classes over the summer allowed her to complete her degree requirements in three years and here she was, a college graduate at 20 and having returned to the Hellmouth.

After letting herself into the house, Willow went to the refrigerator to get a piece of fruit. Taking the apple with her, she went upstairs to find Dawn reading in her room.

"Homework already?" Willow asked. Dawn shook her head, holding up a worn copy of Fellowship of the Rings. "Oh," Willow nodded, "how are the Hobbits doing?"

Dawn sneered, "The Hobbits are walking and walking and falling asleep and walking and walking…"

"It goes faster after they meet Strider," Willow agreed.

"Are you going to the Magic Box or to patrol with Buffy?" Dawn asked.

Willow shook her head. "I don't think so," she answered, "I still need to finish unpacking and I should write a few more lesson plans."

"You don't have to baby-sit me you know," Dawn pouted.

"I know that," Willow agreed, "I really do have work to do." Dawn shrugged as if she only believed Willow partially. "How about soup and sandwiches for dinner?" the redhead offered and saw Dawn's nod before going across the hall into her room.

Willow began pulling books from a stack of boxes piled in the corner and carefully filling her bookcases. She tried to utilize an organizational system to make Giles proud, organizing by subject and author. Magical tomes filled two shelves, computer and mathematical theory books another two and fiction the rest of the space. By the time all the books were unpacked and organized she had worked up a good sweat and went to take a shower. One thing she didn't miss about college was the large communal shower rooms. Even sharing with the Summers sisters didn't compare to the dormitory experience.

On the way back from the bathroom, the redhead checked in with Dawn. "Hey Dawnie," she called from the doorway after knocking on the door. "Are you hungry?" she asked, "I was thinking of taking a little nap before dinner."

"No that's fine," the teenager agreed. As Willow was turning toward the door she heard Dawn's voice. "Buffy said she'll be late."

"That's ok," Willow said.

"Hey Willow," Dawn again called as the redhead was turning to leave.

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad you're here." The teenager blushed as she said it but Willow understood.

"I'm glad I'm here too," she agreed.

As she lay on the bed a few minutes later she thought of just how true that statement was. Could it have been only three years ago that she had to make the decision about where to go to college? As Snyder had said, she had "a letter of acceptance from every college with a stamp." As they had moved through their battle with the mayor, she wanted to stay and continue to fight evil. But she could remember everyone's urging. Every Scooby, Joyce and Oz included, had agreed that she was the one person who could take advantage of her opportunities. If she finished college and possibly graduate school and wanted to return to the Hellmouth, then she could. Of course her parents were very supportive of her attending MIT so she had gone.

And then the unthinkable had happened.

Willow knew when she left that Buffy or Xander or Giles were in danger every day. A vampire or other demon could kill them any time but she knew that they were right; she had to leave and then she could choose to return when school was over.

But the unthinkable…

The interval between Joyce's diagnosis and Buffy's hysterical phone call to Willow seemed to be only days although it was a few months. Willow only saw Joyce at her Christmas break and then the woman was gone. Leaving school in the middle of the week for the funeral had meant two missed tests and an incomplete in one class but the redhead had quickly made up the remainder of her work. Enrolling in even more classes over the summer allowed her to complete her degree requirements in three years and here she was, a college graduate at 20 and having returned to the Hellmouth.

"Try it again," Giles suggested. As soon as he had, Buffy returned to her movements, fighting a predetermined fight against three punching bags. Seeing that she was doing well, Giles returned to the front of the Magic Box to ensure that he hadn't missed anything.

Stopping in the doorway, he took off his glasses and began furiously cleaning them. Xander had apparently stopped by after work and found that he couldn't resist kissing his girlfriend thoroughly. Anya didn't seem to be resisting and fortunately there were no customers in the store. Loudly clearing his throat, Giles replaced his glasses on the bridge of his nose and entered the shop.

"Well," Xander ad-libbed, "I didn't see anything in your eye but you might want to use some eye drops or something."

"Eye drops?" Anya questioned. She turned to Giles. "Isn't he cute? He thinks you don't know we were making out. As if anyone could miss that bulge…"

"Hey!" Xander shouted, "so I'm going to use those eye drops myself and then check on Buffy." The carpenter picked up a magic book and carried it in front of himself to the bathroom.

"Any customers?" Giles asked Anya, praying for a complete change of topic from Xander's pants.

"No," Anya pouted, "and it's disappointing too because no customers means no money." Her gaze brightened: "I was hoping for more money today."

"Well," Giles answered glibly, "I'm sure that the people of Sunnydale are very sorry for failing to meet your expectations."

"They should be," Anya answered, "today has been below average by 8%."

"Speaking of below average," Buffy interrupted as she and Xander entered the room, "my kill count is way off for the last week or so."

"Hmm," Giles answered as he poured himself a cup of tea, glancing around at the others to offer before deciding that no one would want a cup. "Have you been losing fights?"

"I'm the slayer, remember," Buffy answered smartly.

"Right, point taken," Giles agreed. "Are neck ruptures up in town?"

"Well, Willow would be better than me at finding that type of thing out," Anya answered, "but I don't' see any increase over the last week."

"So why the decrease then?" Xander voiced.

The foursome shrugged their shoulders at each other before agreeing that they didn't know. "Be on the lookout for anything strange," Giles cautioned his slayer. "Oh yes," he remembered as Buffy and Xander were starting to stand up, "have you taken Willow on a patrol yet?"

"Not yet," Buffy explained, "she's been really busy with school starting."

Giles nodded. "It's nice to have her back and I'm curious to see how her skills have improved or if she has worked on her magics at all while she was gone."

Xander and Buffy looked at the dusk and stood from the table. "I'll take her out this week sometime," Buffy assured him. "And I can let you know how she does."

Xander quickly kissed his girlfriend before returning to the subject of Willow. "It's really great to have Will back isn't it?"

Everyone nodded their agreement as Xander and Buffy headed out the door to patrol.

"I thought you meant dancing," Tara joked as they rounded a large headstone.

"We can dance later, T," Faith replied as she kept her eyes peeled.

Tara laughed out loud as she explained, "You know I d-didn't mean it." She pointed toward a figure rounding a headstone a few hundred feet ahead of them. "I'd rather watch you stake vampires than watch myself fail to p-pick up women any day."

Faith's eyes lit up as she saw the vampire moving confidently toward the girls. "If I remember correctly, you didn't always fail," she smirked.

Tara laughed back, "Yeah well…n-not everyone is as friendly as you."

Faith smiled sweetly as if remembering something and picturing it in her mind. "God, T, you were so damn innocent." Checking the vampire's progress she teased, "Or should I say you looked so innocent."

Tara laughed again at her friend's teasing and got a thoughtful look on her face as she stepped back to watch Faith work.

"Hey, Sexy," Faith called out to the figure who still hadn't shown his game face, "whatcha doin in a graveyard at night? Haven't you heard it can be dangerous?"

"Dangerous for you," her growled as his face transformed.

As the vampire was still a few feet from her Faith turned and mock swooned to Tara with the back of her hand on her forehead: "Oh my. Whatever shall we do?"

"Hmmm," Tara considered, "maybe you could kick his ass and then turn him into a pathetic pile of dust."

"Or maybe I'll turn you into dinner and you into a snack," the vampire suggested pointing first at Faith and then Tara.

Faith started toward the vampire without pulling the stake from her waistband. "You both say the sweetest things…" She hit the vampire with two fast punches to the stomach and then the head before telling him, "But I think I like her suggestion better."

Tara laughed at Faith's teasing comment and then watched the girl playing with the vampire. The blonde continued scanning the area but didn't notice any more vampires approaching.

Faith glanced over at her friend between punches and kicks to the seriously outclassed demon and noted her tilting her head to the side slightly as if considering something. Feeling concerned about the look on Tara's face, she decided to finish off the vampire and quickly pulled her stake and plunged it into the demon's heart.

"What's wrong, T?" she asked as she also looked around to scan the cemetery. "More vampires?"

Tara shook her head in confusion. "N-no. No vampires but there's something…I don't know…strange. Strong…Familiar…"

Faith looked at the blonde with concern. "What do you mean strong? Demons? Are they coming this way?" Getting nothing but a confused mumble from Tara, she shook her by the arms to get her attention. "I need your help here, T!"

Tara blinked a few times and smiled at her friend. "No d-danger, Faith," she assured her, "it was just strange." She patted the girl on the arm a few times. "It's moving the other direction now so nothing to worry about."

Faith nodded as if trying to decide if the blonde was serious. "Cool," she finally declared, "tell me if you feel it again ok?" When Tara nodded she explained, "I think this one's clean. Do you want to go dancing or head home?"

"Let's go h-home so I can get up early and go to school in the morning," Tara answered and the two girls started that direction.

Still keeping their senses tuned to their surroundings, the two girls began to walk toward their garage apartment. The small space was approximately half-way between the UC Sunnydale campus and Sunnydale High School so getting to either required a walk or bike ride of a few miles. Fortunately both girls were in good shape and enjoyed physical activity. Additionally, the weather in Southern California was usually good.

"So you never told me about your day, T," Faith prompted as they left the quiet graveyard and turned onto a neighborhood street.

"It was good," Tara began, excited to finally get to talk about the day. "Everyone was really n- nice and I think it will be a good fit."

"You're gonna be great," Faith encouraged her.

"You r-really think so?" Tara asked, her insecurity showing between the close friends.

"Damn girl," Faith continued, "I know so. First of all, you are the smartest person I ever met." Tara blushed slightly and nodded. "Second, you read like a demon and remember everything you read."

"B-but do you think they'll l-listen to me?"

Faith stopped walking to put her hands on the blonde's shoulders. "If you were my teacher," she told her earnestly, "I'd listen to every word you said not to mention not being able to take my eyes off you."

Buoyed by her friend's words, Tara nodded her head. As they started walking she pointed out, "Student teacher you know, not t-teacher yet."

"I know," Faith answered, "but you're teaching and that's what's important." She waited a second before deciding to tease her friend some more: "And did you meet any hotties?" The blonde just exhaled loudly. "Ahhh," Faith teased, "there must have been someone there. Some cute little high school girl?"

"You're a pervert. You know that," Tara pronounced but not before the image of the cute redhead from this morning flashed through her head. She shook her head as if that could get the adorable image to leave. "Anyway," she announced with grandeur, "I'm so done with casual sex."

Faith laughed at her friend's pronouncement. "A week of the hottest tail on the planet is not much of a casual sex career," she sneered.

Again putting her key in the lock and jigging it, Tara stated, "First off, it was a week and a half. Second, modesty much? And third: do you even want to get started on the topic of a career of casual sex?" Faith waited a second while the girl held her hand to the doorway and whispered an incantation under her breath. "All clear," the blonde announced and entered the apartment.

"Points taken, T," Faith agreed, "but I want you to be happy."

"I do too, F," Tara replied jokingly, "but I don't think that dating a high school student is going to do that, no m-matter how cute she may be."

"So there is a hottie," Faith shouted triumphantly. She jumped on the girls' beaten down couch. "T has a hottie!" she sung. "T likes jail bait. Tara likes her some hottie. Tara likes the jail bait." Her singing was quickly halted as Tara tackled her from behind put her hand over the girl's mouth. Within minutes the two girls were laughing as they had a beer to relax from their day.

"Dawn," Willow shouted up the stairs, "we're going to be late."

The teenager appeared at the top of the stairs. "I'll be ready in five minutes, Willow," she pleaded.

Willow sighed as she walked back into the kitchen to refill her coffee mug. Buffy looked up from her newspaper and laughed. "She's not ready yet huh? Big surprise."

"Well," Willow answered, sitting down to join her friend, "I told her that I have to get there early but she's just got to do her hair."

"Oh!" Buffy shouted jumping up from the table to grab her backpack. "I almost forgot," she told Willow as she pulled a sheet of paper from her bag. "Can you go to the UC Sunnydale library for me after school or tonight and pick up a couple of books?"

Willow took the sheet and looked over the list. "Sure," she answered, "are you working?"

"Yeah," Buffy answered, "I have to work after school and then patrol." She looked at her friend before asking, "Speaking of patrol, do you want to go with tonight or tomorrow night?"

"Tomorrow night sounds great," Willow agreed. She was really trying to put a lot of effort into being prepared for classes right now but a Friday night patrol wouldn't interfere at all. "Xander mentioned something about there not being many baddies lately?" she prompted her friend.

Buffy shook her head. "Nope," she agreed, "the kill count has been down and I don't know why. Probably a week and a half now. I keep thinking there's a vampire around the corner and then when I get there, poof, nothing."

"Strange," Willow agreed.

Just then Dawn walked in to the kitchen. "Can I drive?" she pleaded with the redhead.

Willow rolled her eyes at Buffy who rolled her eyes back. "You know I'm not the person to teach her," the slayer reminded her friend.

"It wouldn't be teaching me," Dawn argued, "I already have my learner's permit." She made sad puppy-dog eyes at her sister's best friend. "Please, Willow?"

Willow picked up her coffee and her books before smiling at the teenager. "Sure you can drive," she said. "Bye, Buffy." The slayer waved her hand and watched her sister and best friend go out the door. As she left she silently wondered if Dawn would have Buffy's driving skills or lack thereof.

As usual the student parking lot was starting to fill up and she glanced around at all the teenagers getting out of their expensive cars. Students were throwing footballs, visiting, making out, leaning against the vehicles or combinations of those activities. Others were getting out of their cars, meeting up with friends, and making their way into the school.

A black Jeep Wagoneer pulled into the parking lot and stopped before two girls got out. Tara noticed that the redhead who had given her directions, the one she had been thinking about and trying to tell herself she hadn't been for three days, was getting out of the passenger side. The girl immediately walked around the vehicle and started talking to her friend. At least she's not leaning on a car making out with some guy, she thought. On the other hand, maybe that's her girlfriend. She's very pretty and they seem very close. She shook her head at herself. Tara Maclay! It's none of your business if she has a girlfriend or a boyfriend or both. She's a student so hands and eyes off! Feeling much better for the resolve and the good talking to, she locked up her bike and went into the school for another day.

Part 9
What Are You Doing Here?

Willow shut down her computer and wiped her eyes tiredly. It had been a long day. All three classes had had trouble with their machines and the Internet connection had repeatedly gone down. And she'd had to put up with snickers and Beavis and Butthead reactions each time anyone had said that the Internet connection had gone down again. Oh the joys of teaching high school kids, she thought each time. Nonetheless, she was really enjoying teaching after just a week and certainly enjoying being in Sunnydale again.

She had seen a lot of students in the course of the last week and recognized most of those in her classes on sight and by name already. One person she had not seen again was the shy blonde girl who had asked her for directions the first day of classes. Since the last thing she needed was to be spending her time thinking about cute girls who happened to be students at the high school, she told herself that was for the best. Not that you haven't been thinking about her… she thought as she left the school building and got into the Jeep.

Dawn had agreed to get a ride home after Willow told her she was going to go to the UC Sunnydale library to get books for Buffy. The redhead stopped at the Expresso Pump for an iced Mocha and then drove to the campus. She had little trouble finding a parking space and quickly made her way to the library.

Once inside, her research instincts took over. She quickly found the books on Buffy's list and then continued finding references for the girl. Buffy's study habits had never been the best so Willow figured she could help her friend out a little bit. After about 45 minutes she was ready to go.

Standing in line, she noticed a familiar figure studying at a large table. The blonde girl from the first day of class had books spread out over the table and appeared to be meticulously taking notes from first one and then another work. Wow, not just cute but smart, Willow thought before, stop thinking like that! As she waited for her turn in line she continued staring at the girl. Today she was wearing a pair of jean cutoffs and a spaghetti strap T-shirt which showed off not only surprisingly muscled arms but a very nice tan. She had apparently worn sandals to the library but they were resting on two books, holding the pages open. How cute is that? Willow wondered before deciding that she needed a good swift kick in the butt.

"Next," the librarian called. Willow hadn't noticed the line moving forward while she had been staring at the girl. Oggling is more like it! Just as she was about to tear her eyes away and move forward, the unthinkable happened: the girl looked up.

Her eyes bulged for a second as she noticed the redhead who had been watching her. And then she smiled. It would have been hard for Willow to characterize the smile if she hadn't seen it. It was simultaneously warm and reserved, shy and ecstatic. The blonde held Willow's gaze for a moment before cutting her eyes to the librarian who was impatiently indicating that the next person in line should move up. "Oh," Willow said suddenly as she tore her gaze away from the blonde, "I'm ready. Sorry about that."

As she checked out her books she debated whether she should go over and say hello to the girl. If the blonde hadn't noticed her, she would have just ogled her from afar and then left the library. But she had noticed her. And smiled. And wouldn't it be rude now to just leave without going and at least saying "hi?" Nothing wrong with saying hi, right? No law against that. No, no law against saying "hi". And anyway, it would be rude not to go say hello after she saw me. With that conclusion, the redhead's decision was made. She took her book bag and made her way over to the blonde's table.

True to her plans, Willow stopped across the table from the blonde. "Well, I guess you found your classroom the other day. Either that or you took a serious wrong turn and ended up here and set up camp."

"No," Tara giggled in response, "I found it fine. Thanks for the d-directions. I'm surprised to see you here," the blonde said.

"Oh," Willow explained, "I'm picking up some books for a paper my friend is doing." She smiled and then added, "She goes to school here. Well, of course she goes to school here since I'm here and getting books for her so obviously she goes to school here." Attempting to distract herself from embarrassment for her babbling or the fluttery feeling she was getting from seeing the smile spreading across the blonde's face, she asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I like to study h-here," the blonde explained, "it's quieter." She paused for a second before adding, "I'm Tara Maclay." It occurred to her that she should have probably introduced herself as Ms. Maclay but it seemed so classist or something to have a student call her "Ms." outside of school. And not even one of her students, either. "Yeah," Willow answered, "it can get pretty loud at home." She paused before introducing herself, not wanting to exaggerate her status as a teacher. It wasn't like she wanted this girl to call her "Ms. Rosenberg" or something. "I'm Willow Rosenberg," she announced before she could question her decision. As Tara smiled again, Willow thought, Oh man, I'm definitely gonna burn in Hell.

"Do you want to s-sit?" Tara asked. Even as she did, she was internally admonishing herself. Why did you do that? Bad Tara!

"Sure!" Willow answered, pulling out the chair, sitting down, and dropping her books on the floor. She leaned across the table to thumb at the pile of books. As the redhead leaned across the table, Tara could see just the hint of her chest down her shirt. She gulped loudly and tore her gaze back to the redhead's face. Again Willow's voice interrupted her admonishing thoughts: "What are you studying?"

"To Kill a Mockingbird," Tara explained indicating the pile of research materials, "it's for c- class."

"Of course," Willow answered, "we read that Junior year. I liked it." Ok Rosenberg. Not only are you lusting after a student. She's a junior. Not even a senior, not that a senior would be ok but it would be better than a junior. And now she's talking to you and you aren't even listening. "I'm sorry," she said, "what were you saying?"

"It's a great book," Tara gushed, "one of my favorites." She remembers it from Junior year. So at least she's a senior, the blonde reasoned. Not that makes it ok.

Both girls fell silent for a few seconds as if trying to figure out what else to say. Each was experiencing an internal war. "Um," Willow finally broke the embarrassed silence, "so I have to get home for dinner."

Tara looked up and saw the time. She was supposed to meet Faith at 7:00 and then head out to look at more "hot spots." It was 6:45 "Oh crap," she cursed. "Sorry," she apologized as she started packing her bag, "I have to be h-home by 7:00."

"Do you want a ride?" Willow asked before appending, "Not that you can't get home on your own but if you are going to get in trouble for being late or something…"

The words were out of Willow's mouth before she could think about it. As soon as she had spoken she wished she hadn't. Hey, you can offer the girl a ride. There's nothing wrong or untoward about a car ride. the devil on her shoulder tried to convince her. Yes there is! her angel shouted, because you want to drive her home for few hours and stop outside her house or maybe stop and get coffee and maybe come inside for a while and…Stop thinking!

Tara got a shocked look on her face but hid it quickly. "N-n-no but thank you," she stuttered, not believing that Willow would offer her a ride. "I have my b-bike here," she explained as she finished packing her books.

"Oh," Willow answered her smile disappearing completely. "We could put your bike in the back?" she said kind of trailing off at the end.

The two girls were starting down the stairs, as Tara again answered rationally, "I b-better not. But thanks for the offer."

"Ok," Willow said, knowing that Tara was definitely being more rational than she was. Rational? What are you talking about? Not only is she a high school junior but you don't even know that she's gay. Not that it matters since she's a high school JUNIOR!

The two girls reached Tara's bike in the rack and the blonde unlocked it, checking her watch again. "I really have to g-go," she said again, "it was n-nice to see you again."

Willow stood and watched her until she was completely out of sight before getting in the Jeep and driving home.

Part 10
Silence

"You're late," Faith announced as she stood up and tossed her cigarette into the driveway.

"Sorry, Sweetie," Tara apologized, "I l-lost track of time."

"Hot girl, huh?" Faith teased as they went inside the apartment.

"N-n-no, why w-w-would you th-th-think that?" Tara stuttered as she set her books in on the table.

Faith laughed, "Well I didn't really think that until your reaction." She sat down as she watched the blonde quickly make herself a sandwich. "So…spill," she encouraged.

"There w-wasn't any hot girl," Tara pleaded futilely.

Faith laughed as she reached over to take a handful of chips from the other girl's plate. "Would this be the first time I've told you what a crappy liar you are?"

Tara looked up knowing that Faith was having fun with her. "Can we d-drop it, Faith?" she asked seriously.

Faith seemed to consider it for a minute before nodding her head. "For now," she agreed, "but we'll come back to this topic, T."

Tara sighed as she put her plate in the sink. "Good, give me a minute and I'll be ready to go," she said. Faith followed her into the bedroom to watch her change into dark clothes. "Are we going to the same place tonight?" Tara asked.

"Another one," Faith answered as she flopped onto the bed. "Can you believe there are twelve cemeteries in this town?"

"Twelve?" Tara questioned. "That's a lot of cemeteries."

"Yeah," Faith agreed, "you don't even want to know how many churches."

Tara shuddered visibly. "Let's not go visit them." She'd had enough of her father's type of religion throughout her first 18 years. "How'd you find out about the cemeteries and where to go tonight?" she asked as the two girls headed out the door.

Faith waited for Tara to lock the door and activate the spell on the house. "Got a new tat," Faith explained, pulling her shirt down off her shoulder.

Tara looked at the small representation of a dark fist on her friend's shoulder. "Good thing I know you like to fight," she joked.

Faith got a tough look on her face. "Of course I like to fight," she answered smugly, "what else would it…Jerk!"

Tara laughed at Faith's reaction to her teasing. "But you didn't get any work done on the one on your b-back, right?"

Faith gave an exasperated look while scanning the graveyard for movement. "T," she started, "I'm not stupid you know."

"I know you're not stupid, Faith," Tara reassured her friend, "but that one is protecting you and I d-don't want you to mess it up."

"How does it protect me again?" the dark-haired girl asked.

Tara sighed exaggeratedly. "The tattoo is a physical representation of the spell that masks you."

"Like the one on the apartment?" Faith asked.

"No," Tara explained, "the one on the apartment is a barrier and alarm spell – no baddies can come close without setting off the alarm and they can't get in at all."

"God I was lucky that night," Faith recalled.

"A few ways," Tara joked. But she remembered the importance of the alarm spell:

Tara rolled onto her stomach, reveling in the smoothness of the sheets beneath her. Those above her were tangled in a heap, stretched across her hip but the weather was warm and she was barely aware of the coverings at all. Her hand reached out to find an indention on the pillow next to her but nothing more at the exact moment she felt her bracelet vibrating forcefully, indicating that something had broken her spell.

"Faith," she muttered in sudden realization of what was causing the effect. Quickly she jumped from the bed looking around to find that the girl had in fact left, despite Tara's request to stay until morning. Of course Faith did seem like the "get some get gone" type but Tara had hoped that her heartfelt request would keep the dark-haired girl there until sunrise.

Pulling on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt Tara didn't even bother with shoes as she picked up the small bag from the dresser and ran out the door of her room. It didn't take long to spot Faith or the three vampires surrounding her. As she ran, Tara pulled the weapons from her bag. Astoundingly Faith was holding her own, throwing punches and kicks at the demons.

"Faith!" Tara shouted. She held up a wooden stake and threw it toward the dark-haired girl, holding out little hope that she would catch it or that she would know what to do with it if she did. For herself she pulled a Bic lighter and a can of hair spray from the bag.

Noticing Tara for the first time two of the vampires smiled their feral grins at each other and turned toward the blonde. "Closer, closer, closer," Tara whispered as she watched them approach.

"What do I do with this, T?" Faith shouted even as she continued fighting with the third vampire.

"Are you kidding me?" Tara thought, "everyone's seen a vampire movie." "Through the h- heart," she shouted.

"Nice elocution," one of the two vampires now circling the blonde teased.

"Elocution," the second chimed in, "that's a big word."

"Well," the first explained, "I used to be an English teacher." He smiled at Tara: "You're welcome to call me Mr. Smits while I'm sucking your blood."

Tara watched the two vampires carefully. She had hoped that they would stay close together but they were circling her from opposite sides. Suddenly one lunged and her decision was made. She lifted the lighter and hair spray, flicking the wheel and then spraying flames toward the advancing demon. The flames hit him in the face causing him to yell but that wasn't what the blonde was aiming for. Still holding down both buttons, she lowered her aim. As his coat and shirt caught fire she turned 180 degrees toward the other vampire.

Fortunately the screams of his partner seemed to have startled the second vampire. He was standing still, making himself an easy target for a new stream of fire. As soon as both creatures were gone Tara turned quickly to look for Faith, sure that she would see the third vampire holding the dark-haired girl's drained body. Instead, she saw the girl standing awkwardly, looking alternately at the ground and the stake in her hand.

Tara approached her wordlessly and gently touched her face. "We should g-go clean this up," she said, indicating the numerous cuts and bruises on Faith's face.

"Yeah," Faith agreed weakly. She held up the stake and looked at the ground again. "Vampire?" she confirmed.

"Three of em," Tara agreed. "You did great." Curious, she asked, "How did you manage to stake this one?"

"I don't know," Faith explained, "I was fighting with them and then just the one and it was like I could feel the fight in my skin and then I felt like a tunnel or a direct line calling the stake into his heart. So I just let it go where it wanted and poof." She smiled as she declared, "Cool. I could get used to that."

"Ok, so that's an alarm," Faith recapped, "and the one on my back makes sure no baddies can sense me."

"Right," Tara agreed.

"Cool!" Faith announced. "I found a job."

Tara turned around to hug her friend. She'd long since become used to the girl's sudden subject changes. "That's great, F," she congratulated her, "where?"

"Cat's meow," Faith mumbled.

Tara didn't even have to ask for clarification. "A 'men's club,'" she muttered. "You're dancing at a men's club."

"I'm not dancing," Faith argued, "I'm just waiting tables." As Tara's look softened she continued, "I got some lunch shifts and I can make good money but still hit classes during the day and come out here at night."

"Yeah," Tara agreed, "you're right. I just hate seeing you work at those places."

Faith laughed, "At least this one seemed to have mostly human clientele."

"Was that unusual?" Tara asked.

"This is a strange town, T," Faith answered just as four vampires came around the corner, their game faces still on and blood on their chins.

"Dessert," one of the vamps growled.

"Can you take one?" Faith asked her companion. In general, she preferred for Tara not to have to fight but in this case, it seemed necessary.

"Gottit," Tara agreed as she reached into her pocket to grasp a handful of powder. She'd learned a lot about fighting vampires in the two years that Faith and she had been working together and while she no longer needed the lighter and hair spray, the crystals helped her quickly cast her spell. Tara saw Faith stake the first of her three vampires and grabbed another from behind, hoping to get his attention away from the dark-haired girl.

The surprised vampire turned around quickly looking very annoyed at the interruption. Tara could hear punches and kicks being traded between Faith and the remaining two vampires. Knowing that a quick fight was better for both girls, Tara threw the powder onto her opponent and began her incantation. Suddenly she felt herself lifted from her feet and thrown to the ground. Hitting directly on her back, she felt the wind rush from her lungs and attempted to get another breath so that she could resume the spell. Before she could inhale the vampire was upon her. He covered her mouth with one hand and held her by the neck with the other. She could see his fangs lowering toward her neck and tried to bite the hand that held her or kick as hard as she could but she couldn't break his grip. She felt his teeth pierce her skin and wondered if this were the end.

The dust suddenly covering her mouth caused a coughing fit as Tara instinctively breathed deeply as soon as the hand was gone and inhaled a mouthful of vampire dust. Rolling over she began coughing and gagging on the rancid taste while still trying to get air into her lungs. She felt Faith's hand on her back as the girl was saying, "Easy, Tara. Take it slow."

After a few minutes Tara rolled back over. "Thanks, Faith," she whispered as the girl pulled her to her feet.

"Aw shucks," Faith chuckled, "say nothing of it." She reached out to touch the blonde's neck, fingering the large bite marks still covered with wet blood and then wiped the blood off with her sleeve. "Let's get you home and doctor this up." She considered for a moment: "Or are you hurt anywhere else? Your ribs? Should we go to the hospital?"

Tara shook her head as Faith began to guide her back toward the apartment. "I'll be f-fine. Too bad, I don't heal as quickly as you," she commented as she pointed at the large scrape on the dark-haired girl's forehead. Faith nodded her head, grateful for her mysterious strength and ability to heal.

Part 11
Lunchtime

Willow finally broke her view of the computer screen as she realized that Buffy was talking to her. "Buffy? What are you doing here?" she asked. Her face turned bright red as she waited for the slayer's answer. No wonder the blonde had to repeat herself and apparently wave her hand in front of Willow's face. She had been thinking about arriving at school this morning:

"You're doing well, Dawnie," Willow complimented the teenager as they pulled into the student parking lot again.

"Thanks," Dawn smiled, "I think I'm getting the hang of this."

"Sure you are," Willow agreed. "Maybe you could try pulling into the teacher's lot next time."

"Yeah," Dawn agreed, "I was hoping for being the most uncool student in this school."

Willow took the keys from the younger girl as she teased, "And having a teacher ride to school with you every day is such a big status booster."

"t-ever," Dawn smirked as she walked away from the teacher and toward the school.

Willow meanwhile stopped walking as what she saw took her breath away. Tara was pulling up to the bike rack and dismounting her bicycle. The girl unclasped her helmet and hooked it to her bike and lock before slinging her book bag off her back and onto one shoulder. Then she ran her fingers through her hair, obviously smoothing it after the ride. Willow couldn't imagine why she would want to change anything about her hair. At that moment she was without a doubt the most beautiful woman the redhead had ever seen. Willow couldn't even make herself pretend to tear her eyes away, instead watching the blonde as she walked all the way across the grass and into the school.

"Trance much?" Buffy teased, wondering what the redhead was thinking. She pulled up a chair and asked, "So…computers, magic, or girls?"

"What?" Willow asked.

"I said, 'computers, magic, or girls?'" Buffy repeated. "I was talking to you for five minutes. Any time it takes you that long to answer it's got to be one of the three."

"Uh computer…," Willow settled on lamely. "Yep, computer because that's me: computer girl and math girl and that's what I think about computers and math and nothing else. Yep that's me."

"So girl," Buffy teased.

"No girl," Willow argued, exasperated that her best friend had decided to tease her and more importantly that she was right. "Why are you here, Buffy?"

Buffy stood up as if realizing that she wasn't going to get anywhere with her teasing. "Dawn forgot this," she explained as she held out a signed permission slip. "Can you give it to her?"

"Why can't you?" Willow asked.

"Oh you were never 16?" Buffy asked. "How uncool is it to have your sister visit you at high school?"

"Right," Willow laughed, "you big nerd." She walked Buffy to the door and told her, "Don't worry though. She doesn't want to park in the teacher's lot because that would be so uncool." Buffy left and then Willow checked her watch. If she was right about Dawn's lunch period, she had just enough time to take her the slip. She pulled the door closed behind her and headed out to the quad.

As soon as she was out of the school she spotted Dawn and her friends sitting on the lawn. Willow hoped that she wouldn't damage the teenager's image too badly.

Tara glanced up from her position under the tree to see Willow approaching her friend. The dark-haired girl was sitting on a blanket with friends, having lunch and Tara wasn't surprised to see Willow joining them. Tara was enjoying the beautiful weather by having a quick bite under a tree. It would probably be more professional to have lunch in the teachers' lounge but she enjoyed the energy of the tree and the nice weather. Moving to Sunnydale from Cleveland certainly made her appreciate the sun. And if she was honest, she had decided to sit under the tree a few days ago hoping to see Willow again.

This was the first time she had seen the redhead at lunchtime. Willow stayed a few minutes visiting with her friend before handing her a piece of paper, probably homework or something, and then turned back toward the school. She did a double-take as she saw Tara sitting under the tree, then smiled and slowly walked over to the blonde.

As she watched Willow's approach, Tara wondered about the glamour she had cast on her neck to hide the bite marks. She was pretty badly bruised but thought that it was mostly covered. Worst case scenario, it might just looks like she had hickeys. Sure that'd be great: if Willow thought someone had given me hickeys. What difference would that make, Tara? Why do you care if she thinks you have hickeys? Well I'm a teacher and it's not very professional. Yeah that's it!

"Did-did you get home on time?" Willow's voice cut into Tara's thoughts. The blonde tried to form words but all she could think was that Willow's hair looked like fire in the sun or the ocean with the sun glinting off it. She wondered what it would feel like to slowly run her fingers through it, savoring the curls.

"W-what?" Tara stuttered.

Willow smiled before looking down. Perhaps she was interrupting the blonde. She didn't have any books with her. "How was your presentation? On To Kill a Mockingbird? That you were studying yesterday…at the library…when I saw you."

Tara smiled back as she listened to the redhead's babbling. As if she could forget the redhead's visit at the library. "It went very well. I think the students enjoyed it and the teacher said I did very well."

"That's great, Tara," Willow effused. She quirked her eyebrow as she felt a magical energy around the tree. It felt as if someone had cast a spell but nothing big.

"She says I'll be a very good t-teacher," Tara explained, excited about her successful presentations this morning. She would teach the same section one more time today and then three times tomorrow before waiting until the next week for another assignment.

"You're going to be a teacher?" Willow asked excited at the prospect. She couldn't put her finger on it but she felt that she and the blonde student had much in common.

"That's always been my d-dream," Tara explained. "As soon as I finish college and my student teaching, I'll be c-c-certified."

"That's so great," Willow again gushed. "I always wanted to teach too." Tara nodded and Willow looked at her watch noting the time. "Oh," she suddenly said, "I just realized I have to get to class."

"Sure," Tara agreed as she started to gather up her lunch wrappers.

"I'm sure we'll meet another day," Willow assured the blonde as she started to walk away. She was surprised to feel Tara's hand on her arm and the familiar spark she had felt the first time they met.

"Thanks for saying hi, Willow," Tara told her genuinely. She waited a second as if unsure whether to say anything before adding, "I eat under this tree e-every day."

Willow smiled, "I usually eat at my computer but I may have visit this tree regularly." Stop flirting! Visit this tree? Student! She waved at the blonde and walked into the school cursing her bad judgment.

Part 12
Magic Box

Tara looked again at the slip of paper in her hand and then the building in front of her. "Magic Box," the sign said. She hoped that there would be someone helpful inside and that she wouldn't be too nervous talking to him or her. The glamour on her neck had mostly worn off and she didn't want to cast another spell so she wore a button down shirt and hoped it covered the marks. As she opened the door, a bell rang announcing her presence. The blonde girl behind the counter waved. "Thank you for coming to spend money," she called optimistically and Tara again wondered about the establishment. Oh well, she thought, it's the only magic supply store in town.

She took her time looking at the products on before moving to the bookcases near the back. A door past the bookcases was open but didn't appear to lead to any inventory. She looked at the books, periodically consulting the piece of paper in her hand. "C-c-can I sit and l-look at this?" she asked the girl behind the counter as she held up a thick volume.

"If it was up to me, you would have to pay to rent it," the blonde answered.

She was interrupted by a tall man entering through a door that Tara guessed led to a storage area: "Fortunately it isn't up to Anya," he announced. He took a moment to see which book Tara held before telling her, "You might want to look at this one too," and pulling a second book from the shelf. As Tara took a seat he poured himself a cup of tea. "Would you like a cup of tea?" he offered.

Tara shook her head no, impressed with how friendly the British shopkeeper seemed and not wanting to embarrass herself by stuttering. She opened the book and began scanning the contents and spells. After a few minutes she opened the second volume, thankful that the shopkeeper had suggested it.

"I'm telling you," a dark-haired young man was saying as he and a blonde girl entered the shop, "Batman could kick the Green Hornet's butt."

"His sidekicks are terrible," the blonde argued, "the Green Hornet could take him easy. And how do I let you get me into these arguments?"

Tara quirked her head as the pair approached. They split apart and the man went over to kiss Anya while the other girl approached the British man. "Giles!" she said none to quietly, "are we going to train?"

Tara attempted to be discreet while listening to the conversation. The girl had very familiar energy but the witch couldn't put her finger on it. It was very much like what she'd sensed in the cemetery earlier in the week. She had a mystical power about her but Tara didn't think she was a witch. The man she had called Giles and she went through the door at the back of the store. The second they crossed the threshold, Tara gasped. The feeling she had about the blonde was gone, completely masked. She stood and moved toward the door, hoping that Anya and the young man wouldn't notice her and looked through.

The room held all manner of weapons and gym equipment as if to allow someone to workout. More interestingly the walls and floor were adorned with symbols. Having used symbols for protection, Tara was fascinated. She evaluated the symbols wondering if she could augment the spells on the apartment or on Faith for better reliability and strength.

Finally she approached the counter to make her purchases. "I'll take this b-book," she announced holding out the one Giles had suggested. "C-can you get a book that you didn't have?" she asked.

"Probably but you have to pay in advance," Anya predictably answered. Tara shrugged and handed over the paper with the publishing information for two more works.

After weighing the potential upside and downside, she finally asked, "Um…who did the protection s-spells on the b-back room? They're very good."

Anya looked at her with a raised eyebrow for a moment before cutting her attention to Giles who was approaching from behind. "I did them," he announced curiously. "Why do you ask?"

"I w-was impressed," Tara explained, "they're very effective. I wouldn't have thought of repeating the first rune on the second and third walls." Seeing his gaze soften she explained, "I always use this one." She grabbed a piece of paper and depicted her usual pattern. Suddenly feeling self-conscious she amended her statement, "I mean if I w-were needing to…" "Do you sell h-holy water?"

Giles nodded at the apparent witch standing in front of him. "Over there," he indicated, "but we recommend that you stay in at night. You never know what is out there."

"We have half-pints, which are best for throwing but the worst value, pints, or quarts," Anya explained.

Tara crossed to get four half-pint bottles and returned to set them with the book she had selected, pulling her money from her pocket. "When will the book be in?" she asked.

"Tuesday," Giles responded, "Ms…" he looked at the order form, "Maclay."

"Tara, please," Tara answered.

"Of course, Tara," he said extending his hand, "I'm Rupert Giles."

"Thanks for spending your money with us," Anya chimed in.

Tara nodded and took the bag the girl was extending. Giles walked her to the door of the shop. "Really," he spoke, "thank you for coming in today." Tara smiled at the friendliness before he continued, "But please leave the bumps in the night to the professionals."

"Of c-course," Tara agreed but as she was walking out the door all she could think was, what professionals? Professional bump fighters? Do people get paid? That was all so strange Checking her watch and seeing that she should get home, she resolved to bring Faith when she returned on Tuesday for the book.

Part 13
She had…you fill in the blank

"Maybe she's causing my low kill count," Buffy suggested as he Scoobies sat around the lighted table in the Magic Box.

"I'm not sure that a witch could cause that much damage," Giles argued.

"Hey," Willow protested, "sitting right here."

"Oh right, Willow," Giles backtracked. "We know how useful witches can be but it's best if Buffy is the mainstay of the fight against evil."

Xander and Willow rolled their eyes before Anya joined in the mockery speaking like a helpless Southern Belle: "Oh my! Whatever shall I do, kind miss? I think this vampire is after me."

"Ha ha, very funny," Giles replied in a tone that made it completely clear that he didn't find the banter funny at all. "Nonetheless," he continued, "we don't want this girl taking on some ill-thought out vendetta and reaching a tragic end."

"Did he just use the words ill-thought out, vendetta, and tragic in the same sentence?" Xander asked. "Why not speak more simple: some vampire's going to eat her if she's not careful."

"It's speak more simply," Buffy interrupted.

"I couldn't care less how simply anyone speaks," Giles declared in exasperation. He turned to Buffy: "Watch out for this girl while you are on patrol."

"I hope she doesn't get hurt," Anya spoke up, "she had really beautiful breasts." Willow and Xander both choked on their drinks and looked at the ex-demon with puzzled expressions. "Really," Anya continued, "I'm not saying I want to touch them but they were very beautiful. If it hadn't been for the bite marks on her neck, she would have been absolutely perfect."

"She had bite marks on her neck?" Buffy shouted. "Bite marks like hickeys or like she got caught by a vampire?"

"Definitely the second," Anya answered confidently. "When she reached for her money, I could see right down her shirt." She looked to Xander and spoke confidentially: "Like I said: beautiful breasts."

"Ok," Willow attempted to turn the conversation, "so she got attacked by a vampire and decided that she needed some holy water?"

"Could be," Giles agreed.

"What books did she look at?" Willow asked, ever the researcher.

Giles stood and pulled the two books from the wall that Tara had looked at. He had had two copies of the book she bought and still had the one she didn't. "Oh," Anya piped up, "she ordered two books that we didn't have."

"Which ones?" Willow asked as she started looking through the books on hand.

"I don't know," Anya sneered. "It's not like it's my job to memorize things like that."

"Right, just the breasts," Buffy muttered.

"Nonetheless," Giles spoke as he cleaned his glasses. He crossed to pull the order form from the stack. "Ms. Maclay ordered these two books," he handed the form to Willow.

"Maclay?" Willow reacted immediately. "Ms. Maclay?" She quickly scanned the form to find Tara's name. "I know her," she explained, "she's a student at Sunnydale."

"Oh," Anya chimed up cheerfully, "then you can back me up. Doesn't she have beautiful breasts? You're a lesbian so you should be an expert."

"God Anya," Willow sputtered, "I don't spend my days looking at my students's breasts."

"Get huffy why don't you," Anya replied before standing and stalking out of the store. Xander looked apologetically around before following his girlfriend.

"Way to break up the party, Willow," Buffy joked.

"Thanks," Willow muttered as she began looking through the books again. Anya's right. She does have beautiful breasts. Not that I've noticed… she thought.

Willow continued looking at the books for an hour or so before Buffy interrupted her: "Hey, Will, you ready to go patrol?" Willow closed up the book and started out the door with the slayer. "So," Buffy asked, "what did you find in the books?"

"Well," Willow started, "they're pretty comprehensive works. It could be that she's working on harnessing energy from the earth or detecting demons or possibly trying to learn to cast spells without speaking. That's the most likely scenario actually since all three books she bought cover that topic but it's a very advanced practice."

"Why would she want to do that?" Buffy asked. "I thought saying the mumbo jumbo was the whole thing."

"The incantation is important," Willow agreed as the two girls entered the first cemetery, "but there can be times when you would like to cast without speaking."

"Like when?"

Willow thought about it for a second, "Like if you couldn't speak because your mouth was taped shut or…" She trailed off at the end and smiled wistfully.

"Or what?" Buffy asked.

Willow didn't know why she felt such loyalty to Tara. She didn't want to share the girl's speech impediment with Buffy but she knew that the slayer wouldn't give up the conversation without an answer. "She, Tara that is, well, she stutters."

"Oh," Buffy answered casually, "I thought it was going to be something bad."

Willow laughed at her friend before asking, "So what's up with the mysterious missing second slayer."

"Hold that thought," Buffy answered as she watched a vampire rising from the grave and walked over to neatly stake him before he was even free of the soil. She returned pouting: "That wasn't even fun."

"I'm sure he's very sorry not to have given you a good fight, Buffy," Willow joked.

"He should be," the slayer agreed jokingly, "I could use a good fight." Knowing that Willow couldn't hear her, she muttered to herself, "Or something."

"So," Willow asked again, "the other slayer?"

"No idea," Buffy explained, "the Watchers Council has no idea where she may be. Kendra died two years ago and the Council tracked the new slayer to Cleveland."

"It's a Hellmouth," Willow interrupted. "Yeah," Buffy agreed, "how lucky for Miss Slayer Number Two." She continued, "then suddenly, poof she vanished. They have no idea where she is now. At times they thought she was still in Cleveland because the vampires seemed to be losing a lot of fights but sometimes the same could be said for Chicago, New York, or Florida."

"Maybe she travels?" Willow suggested.

"Sure," Buffy agreed, "she likes big cities in the summer and the beach in the winter."

Willow laughed at the idea of a carefree traveling vampire slayer. "Have stakes, will travel," she joked. "What about rumors?" Willow asked. "Don't the demons say anything about the other slayer?"

"Nothing," Buffy shook her head, "she's a mystery."

Both girls continued their patrol in relative silence before heading home for the night.

Part 14
Bronzin

"Well, that was fun," Faith announced as she wiped her hands and held one out to pull Tara to her feet.

"For y-you," Tara huffed, "I spent most of the fight on my butt watching you."

"Hey," Faith argued as she wiped blood from over Tara's eye, "you did great. You did your fire spell on two of them." Like a mother she spit on her shirt before wiping at the cut again. "Do you want to go home and clean this up?" she offered.

"No," Tara said, "let's continue."

Faith smiled: "Actually I had other plans."

"Dancing," Tara guessed with a smile.

"It is Saturday night," Faith agreed as she turned the two girls to move toward the Bronze. "How many vampires have we gotten this week?" Faith asked.

Tara thought about it for a few minutes. "I think 17," she answered, "does that sound right?"

"You're the brains of this operation," Faith shrugged. "How does that compare to Cleveland?"

Tara nodded and answered, "Average in Cleveland was 23 in a w-week. New York was 8, Chicago 6, and Ft. Lauderdale 5."

"Spring break," Faith smiled.

"Good old spring break," Tara laughed back.

"So 23 in Cleveland," Faith repeated, "and 17 here. Didn't you expect more?"

"I guess so," Tara answered, "I mean this is supposedly a Hellmou…"

"What's up, T?" Faith asked as the blonde girl trailed off.

"Oh," Tara pointed surreptitiously, "that group of kids. The blonde was the one I told you about with the strange feeling."

"At the witchy store?" Faith confirmed. Tara nodded and Faith asked, "Can you feel that energy thing now?'

"No," Tara explained, "there are too many p-people around." Both girls showed their IDs at the door and entered the club smiling as they heard the dance music blasting.

"I'll buy," Faith offered, "you find a table." Tara agreed but wondered why bother. Both girls loved to dance but they could start out at a table. Faith returned and handed the blonde a beer. They clinked bottles. "To the Hellmouth!" Faith toasted laughing and they both took long drinks.

Faith took a good look at the bar. Surprisingly she hadn't had a chance to visit it in the two weeks that the girls had lived in Sunnydale. "Hey," she shouted at her best friend, "there is that blonde girl and look there's a redhead with her."

"Don't start," Tara admonished her friend. She knew that Faith was well aware of her "thing" for redheads and she had certainly noticed Willow with the group from the Magic Box.

"Oh come on, T," Faith argued, "she's very cute and if she's with that group then she's probably not going to be wierded about Hellmouth stuff or your being a witch." The dark-haired girl ignored Tara's icy stare and continued, "And she's looked over here a few times. Definitely checking you out."

Exasperated with her friend's perseverance, Tara grumbled, "The whole group is probably checking me out. I m-mean I went over there with major bite marks on my neck and b-bought holy water."

"I thought you wore a shirt with a collar," Faith argued. "Ok," she said excitedly, "now she's definitely looking at you. T, you gotta go talk to her."

Tara glanced over to see Willow watching her before both girls looked away, embarrassed to have been caught. "Faith," Tara nearly shouted, "can you j-just drop it?"

"She's cute," Faith argued somewhat disheartened by her friend's lack of interest in spite of the redhead's obvious interest in her. "Plus which," Faith continued, "that blonde is totally hot." She appeared to consider for a moment before pronouncing, "Definitely my type." As she spoke, she caught the girl's eye and held it as if mentally undressing her.

"C-c-can you just ignore the entire t-table?" Tara asked again.

Faith raised an eyebrow at her friend. "T…," she drew out the other girl's initial. "Spill," she finally ordered her.

"She's a s-student," Tara admitted.

"The mystery hottie," Faith announced triumphantly. "Good taste, T," she declared. "Of course we knew that." Faith drained her beer before declaring, "Well, I'm going to see if the blonde wants to dance. That usually works pretty well."

"Faith," Tara admonished.

The dark-haired girl picked up Tara's beer and placed it in her hand. "I'm going over to say hi and see if she wants to dance. If you don't come you'll look really rude." With that she started walking, barely glancing back to see that Tara was sighing as she followed her friend.

"Stubborn ass," Tara muttered at her friend's back.

"Now what?" Willow asked as she kept her eyes on the table. She'd been caught looking at the blonde witch two times by the witch and once by her friend or girlfriend.

"Now they're coming over here," Buffy told her with a trace of excitement in her voice.

"You've got to be kidding," Willow groaned, "here come Tara and her girlfriend to visit."

"I don't think she's her girlfriend," Buffy answered her friend.

"Why not?"

"They don't go together," Buffy informed her. Since Xander and Anya were dancing, the slayer had no one to back her up but she was sure that the very hot girl with the witch was neither a witch, nor her girlfriend.

"You like her," Willow concluded confused.

"She's hot," Buffy answered back as she drained her beer.

"You're straight," Willow argued.

"But feeling bendy," Buffy laughed at her own double entendre as the other pair reached the table.

Willow shook her head in wonder at her best friend. Here, the redhead had gone through such soul searching before coming out. She'd gone off to college and started a seemingly academic investigation of her own interests, initiated when she'd noticed a crush on a girl in one of her classes. Then she'd researched the subject thoroughly and rated her feelings of attractiveness toward ten male and ten female celebrities. Then she had gone on three dates with boys from her classes and three with women and rated on a matrix of responses including comfort level, humor during the date, good night kiss (if applicable), and willingness to date the person again. After concluding that she was a lesbian, she had undertaken a 4-step plan to come out to her friends and family. So it would just figure that after all her work, none of which had led to a relationship, Buffy would just see a hot girl and go for it.

"Hi," Tara started shyly.

"Hi, Tara," Willow answered. She looked up to see Buffy being appraised by the other girl like some piece of meat and hoped that this wasn't Tara's girlfriend. If it was, the girl didn't seem to have any respect for the blonde. Feeling like she had to say something she started: "That's my friend Buffy and those," she pointed on the dance floor, "are Xander and Anya."

Tara nodded and motioned toward Faith: "This is Faith."

"You old enough to dance?" the dark-haired girl asked with smirk.

"And more than that," Buffy flirted as she pulled Faith toward the dance floor.

Willow watched them go for a second, shaking her head before looking at Tara standing awkwardly and taking another drink of her beer. "Do you want to sit?" she offered and was relieved as the blonde did just that.

"I'm surprised to s-see you d-drinking," Tara said indicating the redhead's beer.

"Yeah, well," Willow answered somewhat worried about the impression she was making, "Xander was payday man and he wanted to get everyone one. But I don't usually…I mean I'm not exactly old enough…I'm not a drunk or anything…" She trailed off as she looked at the dance floor to see Buffy and Faith doing something that probably could be interpreted as dancing but looked much more like feeling each other up. Embarrassed to be caught drinking she suddenly realized that Tara was drinking too and the girl was definitely way to young to be drinking. "But you too," she started. Realizing she sounded accusatory she amended her statement, "I mean you're drinking."

"Oh," Tara answered casually, "Faith got it. I would probably prefer a c-coke but I'm not entirely opposed to a beer now and then."

Willow was surprised at the comfort with the girl indicated the beer, as if she had nothing to be sorry about. Here she was a high school junior drinking beer while talking to a teacher and she didn't seem apologetic about it at all. The redhead shook her head before deciding to change subjects. "How do you like school?" she shouted over the music.

"G-good," Tara answered, glad to be rid of the subject of Willow's drinking and wondering how her friend had gotten the beer at all. Maybe her friends were older? Willow had said that she was getting books for a friend who was a student at UC Sunnydale so maybe they were all older than her. "I was kind of w-worried about being new but it's going well."

"That's good," Willow answered, relieved to be on the subject of school. "Being new to Sunnydale can be a pretty overwhelming experience." Her eyes ran to the blonde's neck where she could see faint bruises from her apparent run-in with the vampire a few days before and then to her forehead which, she suddenly noticed, was sporting a scrape. Without thinking about it, she reached out and grasped the blonde's hand. On contact, both girls felt a tingling electric spark shoot through their bodies and stared at their joining. Willow pulled back embarrassed at the intensity of the connection as well as knowing that she shouldn't be doing anything that could be interpreted as flirting with the younger girl. "You should be careful," she warned the blonde.

Still somewhat shocked at the intensity of physical sensation, Tara was nonetheless caught off guard by Willow's warning. Did she mean be careful of the bumps in the night? And if so, what did she know of them? Or be careful of what was going on between the two girls. And what was going on between them? "I-I-I…" she faltered and looked down at the table. "I am," she finally told the redhead, all too aware of the deafening silence that was filling the space between them.

Buffy's heart beat wildly as she danced with the dark-haired girl across from her. Or not so much across from her as on top of her. They'd been dancing for probably 2 minutes before Faith had reached out to run her hand across the blonde's hip and since then their bodies had been pressed close together. The feelings she was experiencing were confusing and overwhelming. Faith just felt like she fit--her passion and power and speed just seemed so right that even an avowed resident of boys town like Buffy couldn't resist the woman.

Nonetheless she spared a quick glance over at Willow. Her redheaded friend had been literally shaking as Faith and Tara had made their way toward the table although Buffy couldn't figure out what made her friend so nervous. If Tara was a witch, then it seemed good. Maybe Willow and she could do some spells together and increase their abilities. Assuming that she was a "good witch" of course. Now the two girls appeared to be involved in a halting conversation but at least they were talking…mostly.

"They like each other." Faith's voice cut into Buffy's thoughts and she looked up suddenly before slowly watching the two witches for a few seconds.

"I guess so," she agreed.

Faith looked the blonde in the eyes: "You can tell when two people like each other that much."

Buffy grinned as she wondered which two people the dark-haired girl was talking about. "Yeah but…" she trailed off.

"The whole teacher/student thing?" Faith suggested. As Buffy nodded Faith explained, "Not to worry. Tara's has the most integrity of anyone I know. She would never cross that line."

"Willow either," Buffy quickly volunteered. Looking again at the dark-haired girl she pulled her closer and whispered in her ear, "Dance with me, Faith."

Lost for something to say, Willow grasped at, "So how did you meet Faith?"

Tara smiled as the memory came back to her of how she'd met the dark-haired girl nearly two years ago.

Seeing Buffy and Faith walking toward the table and feeling the blush filling her face, Tara stammered, "W-we met a few y-years ago. Out dancing, you k-know…" Thankfully she saw Faith and Buffy nearing the table.

The dark-haired girl arrived, took a drink of Tara's drink, and began pulling her and Willow toward the floor. "Come on, T," she urged as she turned to Willow. "Tara loves to dance and I bet you do too." Neither girl could resist the energetic girl's urging and they enjoyed dancing the rest of the evening. Although both girls were careful to never appear to be dancing together, each stole glance after glance at the other.

Part 15
Meet the Parents

The shrill ringing of the phone cut through the early morning. Willow's hand shot out toward her alarm clock as she tried to silence the sound before her mind caught up with her ears, realizing that it was the phone. "Hello," she mumbled into the receiver.

"Oh good," Willow heard her mother's voice on the phone and groaned inwardly, "we caught you dear. Wouldn't you like to go to brunch today?"

Willow shook her head and looked at the clock: 7:13. My mother called me at 7:13 on a Sunday morning! Willow wondered where her mother got her manners but on the other hand, it was hardly Sheila's fault that the redhead hadn't gone to bed until after 2:00. She and Buffy had shut down the club with an awkward goodbye between them and Faith and Tara. Buffy and Faith had looked like they would have rather torn each other's clothes off in the alley behind the Bronze but they'd each reluctantly decided to keep their friend out of trouble. Which wasn't to say that Willow and Tara were in any trouble…

And anyway, it wasn't like the blonde was just the most amazing woman Willow had ever met or had beautiful eyes or like the redhead could feel her magic mingling with Willow's own. No that wasn't the case at all. And it wasn't like Willow had lain in bed thinking about the student and telling herself that she shouldn't for another hour after getting into bed.

"Brunch?" Willow repeated dumbly.

"Yes, dear," Sheila answered, "the meal between breakfast and lunch."

As if it's one of the standard four, Willow thought amused. "What time, mother?"

"10:00," the older woman answered.

"Make it 11:30 and you've got yourself a deal," Willow bargained. She'd been through this particular conversation many times and she knew just how to win it.

"What's she say?" she heard her father shout in the background.

"She says, 11:30," Sheila explained to Ira.

"Tell him I said 'Dim Sum,'" Willow offered.

"You play dirty, Willow Rosenberg," Sheila laughed as she turned to relay their daughter's message to Ira.

"Sure, honey," Ira's voice now came on the extension. "You can bring your friends if you want."

"I'll see you at 11:30," Willow answered before getting off the phone. She set her clock to give her 3 and a half more hours to sleep and made sure to turn the alarm up loud. Closing her eyes, she again saw Tara's image. "I've got to stop thinking about her," she muttered to herself.

A little over four hours later walked up to the Golden Palace. She'd been thinking of the blonde witch since her alarm had gone off and it was making her crazy. Why couldn't she just tell her mind to stop because it was wrong and be done with that? I can do this, she finally decided. I'm having lunch with my parents. No way that will bring up any sexy thoughts. Not that Tara's sexy. I mean maybe she's sexy but not to me. "Willow," her mother's voice cut across the foyer of the restaurant, "whatever are you thinking about so intently?"

"Nothing," Willow nearly shouted. She gave both her parents a hug as they were led to a table.

"I thought you were going to bring your friends," Ira mentioned.

"No," Willow answered, "I see them every day and I've only seen you two once since I got home." "I missed you," she told them sincerely.

"You missed my buying you lunch," Ira joked as she pulled three tins from the push cart and set them in the middle of the table.

"That never hurts," Willow agreed as she picked up a few dumplings with her chopsticks and transferred them to her plate.

"So how is school?" Sheila asked as she shook her head at Willow and Ira's playful battle for the best dumplings.

"I'm really enjoying it," Willow answered eagerly before filling her parents in on her experiences in her first week teaching. Her parents had been very supportive of her intention to teach, seeing it as a "starter job" for the redhead. They were well aware that she had plenty of time to make her mark in the world.

"Do you see any opportunities to publish?" Sheila asked, ever the researcher. The family discussed Willow's thoughts on the subject for a while with both Sheila and Ira contributing additional ideas. After a little while Sheila changed the subject to Willow's social life: "So…anyone interesting at the school? Any attractive young men?"

Willow rolled her eyes and sighed at her mother's stubbornness. Willow had come out to her parents her freshman year in college and they had seemed supportive since then. Nonetheless, Sheila seemed to harbor hopes that Willow had been in a phase and would soon leave it.

"Or young women," Ira quickly interrupted the icy tone beginning to take over the table. "Surely there are some nice young women at the school?"

"No," Willow finally interrupted her father, "there's no one at the school. And I don't even know if I'm interested in a relationship anyway. I just got back to town." But as she spoke, she knew that she was lying to them and to herself. Tara was beautiful and Willow knew that she would certainly be interested in the witch if she were only old enough. The girl was beautiful, smart, obviously very kind, and a witch besides. Hell, not would be; Willow was interested much as she tried not to be.

Ira continued his suggestions: "If not there then there is a nice group at the temple. They started it a few years ago and I think I know some of the women who go. They seem very nice and if you came to services regularly, you might meet someone."

The redhead was again rolling her eyes at her father's matchmaking attempts. "What are you," she joked with her father, "my Bubbie?" As she spoke she couldn't believe her eyes. She had a clear view of the door as Tara walked in. She was slightly sweaty as if she had run to the restaurant. Apparently she was waiting for an order as she spoke to the hostess and then leaned against the counter and began scanning the restaurant with her eyes.

Ira laughed at his daughter's teasing. "No, I'm not your Bubbie but I'd like you to be happy," he responded.

"Uh huh," Willow answered as she sat mesmerized by the blonde by the counter. Her hair was up in a bun and the redhead could see perspiration on her upper lip. At that moment, it seemed like the sexiest thing she had ever seen. Quickly the redhead looked down at the table and took a drink of her icy water.

"Oh look," Sheila announced, "that girl is coming over here. Is she a friend of yours?"

Willow swallowed a few times, trying to get her speech back. Before she could do so, Tara had approached the table. "Hi, Willow," the blonde said, "I was picking up an order and s-saw you so I thought I'd come by and say hi."

"Tara," Willow answered, her voice a bit too high pitched, "hi. These are my mother and father, Ira and Sheila Rosenberg." Addressing her parents, she completed the introduction: "Mom, Dad, this is Tara Maclay."

"Nice to meet you," Tara politely answered, shaking first Sheila and then Ira's hands. "I met Willow at school, Mr. and Mrs. Rosenberg, Everyone f-finds her quite spectacular" she said before she could stop herself. Spectacular? Spectacular? What is she a race horse? Who finds her spectacular? You certainly do. Sure she's obviously a wonderkund or something but spectacular? How stupid do you sound?

"Why thank you, Tara," Sheila answered, her chest puffed out at the compliment of her only child. "Please call us Sheila and Ira," she continued oblivious to the red spreading further and further across Willow's face. "Would you like to join us?"

"N-n-no," Tara stuttered, unable to believe how friendly Willow's parents seemed. Her father would never have invited someone her age to call him by his first name or to join the family for lunch. Before she could say anything further the owner approached and held out her order. Tara dug in her pocket to hand the cash to the woman and thanked her for the food. "Well," she started, "it was very nice to meet you…Shelia and Ira." She looked at Willow to address her: "Perhaps I'll see you at school this week."

"I'm sure you girls will catch up soon," Sheila assured both blushing girls.

"Sure," Willow agreed, "I'll see you then." She was somewhat relieved to see Tara leaving the shop with her order. The fact that she had been thinking of the girl when she arrived had been embarrassing and she knew that she was blushing when the blonde came over to the table. Is she getting cuter every time I see her? How is that possible? Oh God, I've got to stop this, she babbled in her head.

"Willow! Willow!" Sheila repeated, trying to get the redhead's attention.

"I think you've lost her," Ira chuckled as he looked from the expression on his daughter's face to Tara's retreating form.

"What?" Willow finally sputtered.

"Looks like you don't need to come to that temple group after all," Ira teased.

"What?" Willow again sputtered, "she's a student."

"No," Ira said completely surprised by this revelation. "I would have thought she was a teacher at the school. She seemed to mature and intelligent." He thought about it for a minute before answering, "Oh well. My mistake," and reaching over to pat his daughter's hand. As he finished he quickly snatched the last dumpling off her plate and popped it in his mouth.

"Hey!" Willow shouted, "you're sneaky you know that, old man?"

"As I was saying," Shelia interrupted laughing at Willow and Ira's antics. "Can you housesit and feed the cat next week, sweetie?"

"Yeah, mom," Willow agreed with a smile. "Send me an e-mail with the dates and I'll do it." She thought for a moment before amending her statement, "I'll even sleep at the house a few nights."

"Good," Sheila declared.

Ira finished signing his credit card receipt and began standing from the table. "We have that tennis game, darling," he informed his wife. The family walked to the door together before Ira and Sheila offered Willow a ride home.

"No thanks," she told them, "I need to do some errands anyway." She wanted to visit the Magic Box and it was such a nice day that she decided the walk would be in order. Finally unable to get Tara out of her head, she decided to give in and think about the girl while continually telling herself that thinking was ok as long as she didn't touch.

Part 16
Sparring

"Man," Faith said, "that's a nice bow."

Tara stopped to look in the window along with her friend. Faith had taken a break from her studying to come with Tara to the Magic Box. "Do you want to g-go look at it?" the blonde offered.

"Sure," Faith agreed. They had plenty of time to get to the magic shop before it closed. After a few minutes both girls left the sporting goods shop. "Damn," Faith swore, "we can afford your magic books but not that bow. Seems a shame."

"I know," Tara sympathized, "but it was over $200 dollars."

"Yeah," Faith agreed. "These books," she started, "they'll let you do spells without talking right?"

"That's the idea," Tara agreed. She knew that Faith wasn't hassling her. Both girls had gotten a scare last week when the witch had gotten the wind knocked out of her. They had grown to rely on her spell casting and without her voice she had been virtually defenseless. Now she carried holy water and hoped that the new books would help her learn to cast without reciting the incantation out loud.

"Then that's our priority," Faith agreed as she pulled open the door to the shop.

Both girls entered looking around for any of the group they had met dancing on the weekend but seeing only Mr. Giles behind the counter. "Oh, Ms. Maclay," he called out as he saw them enter, "we have your books."

"A-anya called me," she answered as both girls neared the counter. "This is Faith," she introduced the dark-haired girl, "this is Mr. Giles. He owns the sh-shop."

"Hey, nice to meet you," Faith extended her hand, "do people call you G-man?"

"Not if I can help it," he answered dryly.

"Is Buffy around?" Faith asked immediately.

"Subtle, Faith," Tara muttered, "very subtle."

"You know Buffy?" the shopkeeper asked, somewhat confused.

"We met at the Bronze the other day," she explained as Tara moved to the table to look at the books she had ordered. Just as she was sitting down the bell over the door rang and Buffy came in.

"Hey," she said as she saw the two girls in the shop, "Tara and Faith. What are you doing here?"

"Yes," Giles answered drolly, "that should keep business hopping."

"We need business but I don't want anything hopping," Anya announced as she also entered the store.

"She already bought her books," Buffy smart-mouthed. She walked over to Faith and told the girl, "I'm about to work out. Do you want to watch?"

Faith put her arms slowly on the slayer's shoulders before whispering in her ear, "Will it get you all hot and sweaty?"

Buffy gulped loudly as she nodded. Looking up from cleaning his glasses Giles muttered, "Bloody hell. First Willow and now you, Buffy?"

"Maybe it's in the water around here," Anya mused, "I guess that means I'll be next and Xander's penis will be all alone."

"Oh most Bloody Hell," Giles muttered before turning and stalking toward the back of the store.

Even as she attempted to concentrate on Buffy's energy signature, Tara smiled at what Giles and Anya had said. So apparently the redheaded student was gay. Tara knew that she wasn't imagining the flirtation.

"You coming, Blondie?" Faith asked as she followed Buffy through the doorway. Tara noted that as before Buffy's mystical energy seemed to vanish the second she crossed the threshold.

By the time the blonde reached the doorway and entered the workout room, Buffy was apparently giving the dark-haired girl a tour, pointing out the workout mats, pommel horse, and other exercise equipment. Looking at the front wall, the one Tara hadn't been able to see until entering the room, she was surprised to see an array of dangerous looking weapons hanging in a frame.

She walked closer and began looking at the items, noting that Buffy and Faith had both arrived also. Buffy began pointing out a few of the more simple weapons but didn't explain what any of them were for. "Can I?" Faith asked reaching toward a scythe.

Tara giggled inwardly as she noted the increase in the dark-haired girl's breathing. If she wasn't turned on by Buffy, she certainly was by the array of weaponry in the room.

"They're not toys, Faith," Giles admonished, "I'd prefer you didn't touch them."

"Whatever," Faith shrugged, turning to walk over toward a pile of mats in the corner. Tara joined her and the two girls waved their hands as if to say, "So get started working out."

Following Giles's directions, Buffy began her routine, soon losing track of the two visitors. After a few minutes Faith turned to Tara. "So how was that energy thing this time?" she whispered.

"Same as before," Tara informed her, "similar to yours but it disappeared when we entered this room."

Faith nodded as she looked at the symbols on the walls. "What do you think she's working out for?" she asked her friend.

Tara shrugged: "I wondered that too." She added, "also, what do you think the weapons are for?"

"Yeah," Faith agreed, "that's some nice hardware. Imagine the vampires I could take out with that big one."

"I think people might notice you carrying a sword around, even in Sunnydale," Tara offered. As the girls were talking, Buffy had started sparing with Giles who wore padding. She was making feints with both her hands and feet and both visitors were impressed with her movements. Just then she made a quick strike which caught the shopkeeper on the bridge of the nose.

"Bloody bloody hell," Giles muttered as he bent over holding his face. Tara ran onto the floor to see if she could help him. His nose was not bleeding but it was already swelling.

"C-can I?" she asked before touching his face lightly. "No b-break b-but you should ice it," she informed him. "I c-can…" she paused before continuing. Since he owned a magic shop he likely approved of magical remedies.

"She's really good at healing stuff," Faith offered as she saw a questioning look on the man's face.

Giles nodded and handed the hand pads to Buffy. "We'll take a break," he told her as he let Tara lead him toward the mats.

"I pulled it," the slayer pleaded.

Faith turned back to Buffy smiling. "Why don't I take his place for a little while?' she suggested.

"I don't want to hurt you," Buffy argued.

"I think I can move as fast as an old man."

"Hey!" Giles yelled from the mats.

"Let's see," Faith teased. Actually she had been thinking of getting into the workout for a while. She rarely had the opportunity to spar with anyone who could give her a workout. Well, except for vampires and they didn't usually want to ensure that she got her heart rate above 160 beats per minute for 20-30 minutes a day. But Buffy seemed to have good moves.

The blonde began slowly, feinting with both her arms and legs. She was only occasionally hitting the pads because she didn't want to hurt Faith and didn't want to let the girl feel how fast or strong she was.

Faith circled carefully, paying attention not only to Buffy's movements but to the tensing of her muscles. The girl knew that a good fighter could predict her opponent's next move most of the time by watching the way she moved. Buffy, however, was not making the same type of moves she had made while sparing with Giles. With him, she had moved much quicker and more powerfully. Now she was just playing and it was starting to piss the dark-haired girl off.

Tara felt a wave of anger from Faith and looked up at the two girls at the center of the room. She looked at Giles, noting the way he was watching the pair and took her hands from his face. "I think that's b-better?" she confirmed.

"Yes, thank you, Tara," he answered and started to stand from the mats to take Faith's place.

Tara extended her hand and grasped his wrist. "Please," she started, "l-let them…" He looked at her questioningly before shrugging and relaxing. Buffy had always been careful, well except for hitting Giles 10 minutes earlier, and she certainly wasn't going to hurt the girl if she liked her.

Buffy continued circling the dark-haired girl, enjoying watching her move. Faith was watching Buffy's movements intently and the blonde slayer wanted to show off just a bit, in spite of her better judgment. Not wanting to hurt her, Buffy threw a quick jab into the glove and then a slow kick with her right leg. She was shocked as the dark-haired girl easily sidestepped the kick but used the pad to push Buffy's leg to the side. Surprised by the move, the blonde wound up on her butt looking up at a smirking Faith. "You telegraphed that," the dark-haired girl told her as she extended her hand to pull the other girl to her feet.

"I so didn't," Buffy argued, still surprised that Faith had been able to take her down so easily. She scuffed her feet on the floor and called out, "Giles, I think the floor may be too waxy over here."

"No doubt," the watcher agreed with more than a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Faith could fall and break her butt," Buffy retorted.

"Doubtful," Tara muttered to herself as she giggled at Buffy's consternation.

"Again?" Buffy questioned the dark-haired girl.

Faith merely nodded and raised her hands again. This time Buffy concentrated a little harder. She wasn't going to fight the other girl all out, that was for sure, but she didn't want to look like a fool. She started with a kick intended to move Faith to the side, then threw a quick punch into the space the girl had moved into.. She was shocked as her punch merely glanced off the mitt and even more startled as the other mitt smacked her lightly on the side of her head.

Buffy narrowed her eyebrows at the dark-haired girl, wondering where she had gotten her fight training and how she had gotten so fast. She was tempted to go at Faith with slayer speed and strength to make up for her embarrassment but knew that it wasn't appropriate. "The floor does seem waxy," Faith smart-mouthed.

Buffy blew out a breath before settling into her fighting stance again. This time she threw two punches quickly, both of which missed the mitts entirely. Then Faith easily stepped back from a front kick. The dark-haired girl smirked as she pulled off the mitts and offered them to Buffy: "Can I try?"

Buffy puffed as she put on the mitts. She knew that she could easily impress the other girl if she were allowed but a look over at Giles made it clear that this was not the time for showing off. Faith assumed a fighting stance as Buffy readied the mitts. Then the dark-haired girl threw two quick punches which both connected. Buffy was surprised as she absorbed the blows; the girl was very strong. She grinned slightly as she decided to test Faith a bit. As Faith's first kick came up, Buffy easily sidestepped it and batted at the girl's leg as the darker-haired girl had done to her. She was shocked as rather than falling as Buffy had done, Faith seemed to readjust her weight and regain her balance easily. "Good one," Faith laughed.

The dark-haired girl was thrilled with the workout session. While Buffy didn't seem to have either speed or strength to mirror her own, she was a reasonable opponent. The two girls went on for a while, each testing the other's strengths and weaknesses and neither going all out. By the time they stopped 30 minutes later, both were covered in sweat and breathing hard. Giles threw each a towel as they walked over to join the spectators on the mats.

"How's your proboscis, G-man?" Faith asked.

"Much better, Faith," Giles assured her. "Where did you learn your fighting moves?" he asked in what he hoped was a casual manner.

"Around, you know," the girl answered vaguely as she caught the look in Tara's eye--a look which said to keep her mouth shut. She glanced up at the clock before telling both Buffy and Giles, "Hey look at the time. I've got to study." She turned to Tara asking, "Ready to go?"

Tara nodded, as she stood from the mats, relieved that Faith hadn't said too much. Giles and Buffy seemed nice but there was no way to know what their connection to the Hellmouth might be. All four said goodbye with Buffy and Faith making some vague plans to "see each other around."

Part 17
Lunchtime

Willow looked again at the clock. There was still enough time. But there shouldn't be. She knew she shouldn't go out and visit Tara at lunch. She should just let the student eat her lunch in peace. And maybe the blonde would have friends with her and Willow would just be interrupting if she went outside anyway.

She looked at the clock again.

It was Wednesday, which meant that the redhead had managed to avoid going out to see Tara at lunch for two days. The last time she'd seen the adorable blonde had been at lunch on Sunday when Tara had met Willow's parents. Willow's breath caught in her throat as she thought of the way Tara had looked then, slightly sweaty from her walk or ride to the restaurant and a little shy. The touch of pink in the younger girl's cheeks seemed to invite Willow's caress.

Willow had spent a good portion of Sunday afternoon lying in her room and daydreaming about the blonde student. Ostensibly she was studying spells. She felt intrigued about the missing second slayer. It just didn't make sense that the girl couldn't be found. If she was alive, then the council should be able to find her and if not, another slayer would rise and they would find that one. Instead, there had been no sign of Kendra's replacement in over two years and it grated on Willow's sense of order.

In spite of the redhead's interest in the missing slayer and finding a spell to reveal her presence, she had actually spent much of her time daydreaming about Tara. It had started typically enough: wondering what the blonde was doing. Had she enjoyed her Chinese take-out? Did she spend the day with her family or did she study? That led to the redhead picturing Tara lying on her bed reading, perhaps swinging on a swing on the front porch as she enjoyed To Kill a Mockingbird or some other novel. Willow wondered what other books the girl liked and imagined having a conversation with her about literature, movies, or magic. She could almost feel Tara's hand in her own as they walked along the water's edge, sharing all their interests, passions, and dreams.

And of course by the end of the day, her hand was no longer just resting in the blonde's. In her mind, her thumb began moving back and forth, brushing across the back of Tara's hand. She imagined Tara stopping to look at a duck or turtle, Willow imagined stepping behind her and wrapping her arms around the blonde's waist. She could almost feel her own heartbeat as it pounded into the space between her chest and Tara's back, could hear the blonde's breath increase as she welcomed the embrace. And then fantasy Tara had turned toward Willow, placing her arms on the redhead's shoulders. One hand moved to tuck a curl behind Willow's ear, tracing the tip of that ear. Her tongue poked slowly out to wet her lips before the two girls simultaneously but excruciatingly slowly bent toward each other. Their lips would meet softly and tentatively before both girls pulled away just enough to smile.

Willow had replayed the fantasy over and over, each time altering some small aspect: which girl stood at the water's edge while the other wrapped her arms around her? Which girl had initiated the kiss? Had the sun set while they continued walking? Had she walked Tara home?

Finally, seeing the sun setting out her own window, Willow had jumped from her bed to take a cold shower. She was scheduled to patrol with Buffy and wanted to be ready. In the shower, she had continued thinking about the blonde but something her father had said grated on her. He thought Tara was a teacher like Willow. What if she was a teacher? Willow thought back through their conversations: Tara was looking for the English wing. Ok, that didn't prove anything. But she had run into the girl at the UC Sunnydale library. Why would a teacher be at the university library? And what had she said there? That she was preparing for class; that could go either way. She could be a student or a teacher and preparing for class. It seemed hopeful until Willow remembered Tara's recounting of the steps to become a teacher: finish college and student teaching. Nonetheless…

With the topic of Tara's teaching status still fresh in her mind on Monday morning, Willow stopped by the school office to check her mailbox. Standing in front of all the cubbyhole boxes, she knew that Tara wasn't a teacher but couldn't help scanning the names nonetheless: Larchen, Maclain, Nedrish. No, no Maclay. She was disappointed but not surprised. Of course the lovely blonde wasn't a teacher. She was a student and Willow needed to keep her hands, and her thoughts off the girl.

The redhead finally focused on the computer screen in front of her. She had been doing anything but keeping her thoughts off Tara for the last 30 minutes. Instead she had been daydreaming about the blonde and each interaction they had had. Finally deciding that attempting to avoid the blonde did no good, Willow got up from her chair. It would be ok to go and say hi to Tara during the time she had left. After all, the blonde had all but invited her to come back at lunchtime and Willow wouldn't want to be rude, right?

Plus which, the redhead had been fighting all day against her impulse to research the blonde. She wanted nothing more than to look up Tara in the school's database. What other classes was the blonde taking besides English? How were her grades? When was her birthday? She wanted to know so much information about the girl couldn't come up with even a vague rationalization for doing so. To look Tara Maclay up in the system would invade the girl's privacy and be completely inappropriate.

She pulled the door shut behind her and walked quickly out toward the quad. She glanced both ways before realizing that she was acting guilty and then assumed a more casual stride. As predicted, Tara was sitting under the same tree. Her eyes were shut as if she were meditating and Willow noticed that she felt calmer the moment she laid eyes on the beautiful woman.

Not wanting to interrupt, Willow slowed her step and then stopped walking about fifteen feet from the tree. She was trying to decide whether to turn around and go back to her classroom when Tara's eyes popped open, locking on Willow. When Tara slowly smiled, Willow couldn't have turned around if she had wanted to.

"Willow," Tara whispered under her breath as the redhead approached.

"Hi, Tara," Willow said nervously as she stood a few feet from the student, "you said last week that you always have lunch out here and I kind of took that as an invitation I guess. You know, an invitation to come and join you, but maybe not. But I took it that way so I wasn't sure but I didn't want to be rude by not coming out to say hi. Hi." Her cheeks burned red as she saw the way Tara was first grinning, then smiling, and finally laughing out loud at her endless babble. For anyone else to laugh at Willow would cause her endless embarrassment and probably make her want to sink into the ground or wish for frogs to rain from the sky on their head. But hearing Tara's laugh, all Willow could think was that she wanted to hear it again and again.

"Then it's the treat of my day," Tara answered flirtatiously. As she did, she couldn't believe how she sounded: Oh Goddess, I'm flirting with a student. I have to stop this. Even if she is totally adorable and smiling at me and standing there and… "Do you want to sit down?" the blonde asked.

"If I'm not interrupting you," Willow answered as she took a seat.

"I was just m-meditating for a few minutes," Tara explained, "have you ever t-tried it?"

"A little," Willow admitted, "I kind of have trouble stilling my mind."

"I have some good exercises…," Tara answered, "if … I mean if you w-wanted to …" She trailed off completely. What are you doing Tara Maclay? Asking a student on a meditation date? What's wrong with meditating?

Tara's internal battle would have been completely obvious to Willow had the redhead not been thinking about the offer to meditate with the blonde. She gulped loudly as she pictured it: candles around the room, the two girls sitting across from each other, their eyes closed as they held hands. She couldn't possibly say yes. It just wouldn't be right. "That would be great," she answered enthusiastically.

"Great," Tara smiled warmly. "Today I have p-plans. How about t-tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow would be great," Willow agreed, "just great."

"Meet here about 4:00?" Tara offered. As Willow nodded the blonde asked, "Where do you want to go?" She thought about the condition of her apartment, the possibility of Faith being there, and the amount of demon fighting and magical supplies strewn about and prayed that Willow wouldn't suggest Tara's place.

"My house?" Willow offered with a question. She took note of the students all moving inside and Tara gathering her lunch things together. As soon as the words were out of her mouth she wanted to slap herself. First, it was completely inappropriate to invite the girl to her house and second, she couldn't possibly try to relax with Buffy and Dawn around. They would probably be wandering in and out, making rude comments, or teasing the two girls. Not to mention, the weapons and magic supplies all over the house. Ok, the magic supplies weren't a problem because Tara was apparently a witch.

But…

Tara didn't know that Willow was a witch. More importantly, Tara didn't' know that Willow knew that Tara was a witch.

At that point in her thinking, Willow began giggling at her internal babble. "My parents will be at work until late so we can have the house to ourselves," she offered as she marveled at her quick thinking.

"G-great," Tara agreed as the two girls walked into the school building. Students were rushing to their next classes and Willow and Tara felt themselves being jostled by the crush. Seeing a student about to rollerblade into Tara, Willow reached out to grab the blonde by the forearm and pull her forward, away from danger.

This time the redhead recognized the electric spark that flooded her body, radiating out from where her palm met Tara's arm. Of course, she realized, it's because she's a witch! The shocked look on the blonde's face made it clear that Tara still didn't understand the source of their connection. Willow looked at the quickly clearing halls and decided that she couldn't possibly explain right now. "I have to get to class," she said.

"R-right," Tara stuttered, still shocked by the intensity of their connection as well as by Willow's actions. She had seen the student coming but couldn't move fast enough so she wasn't confused by Willow's pulling her closer but the intense feeling rushing through her body when they touched was intoxicating and amazing. As Willow turned and headed toward the Math wing, Tara could only wave lamely before returning to the English wing.

Part 18
Lying and Wait

"So you made a date with Willow?" Faith asked.

Tara shook her head as she looked around the graveyard. "It's not a date," she argued. She knew that Faith was just teasing her but she needed to defend herself against the dark-haired girl's teasing. And of course, it wasn't just Faith's teasing, Tara knew that she shouldn't have made the date with Willow. "It's just…I'm going to show her…how to s-s-still her mind."

"Uh huh…," Faith answered as if she didn't believe a word her friend was saying.

"Yes," Tara answered with a hint of indignation in her voice, "it's nothing like that."

"Of course not," Faith agreed as she twirled her stake, "you just happened to tell this totally cute redhead. Hey," she commented thoughtfully, "now who do I know who has a thing for redheads? Oh I know, you." She stopped and pointed at a headstone, motioning that there was a vampire on the other side of it. "So there is this totally cute girl and you totally like her."

"This is fascinating," Tara answered drolly, "have you ever thought of writing for television?"

Faith laughed at her friend as the vampire stepped around the headstone. Rather than breaking the conversation she threw the stake, easily hitting the monster's heart. She reached into her waistband to get another stake without commenting on the interruption and continued: "So you casually tell her that you always eat lunch somewhere. Let me see…probably under a tree knowing you."

"Faith," Tara hissed.

"Oh, Willow. I usually eat lunch right here. Maybe if you happen to be around, you can come s-see me," Faith mimicked her friend, even including the stutter.

"It wasn't like th-that," Tara argued lamely.

"Of course not," Faith sneered. "I'm sure it was all very sweet and hands-off. I'm sure you have no untoward thoughts toward the very cute redhead."

Tara finally laughed, "Faithy, you know better than anyone that I never have untoward thoughts."

"A saint," Faith agreed ironically.

"I don't get it," Willow asked, "are you dating her?"

Buffy huffed, "Hell if I know."

"How can you not know if you are dating someone?" Willow asked.

"Do you?" Buffy retorted.

"Hey," Willow argued, "we're not talking about me."

"Why not?"

"Are you dating Faith?" Willow asked again, trying to keep the topic focused.

"You know what's funny," Buffy mused. "School's been going on for a few weeks and you haven't mentioned Tara one time."

"Why would I have mentioned her?" Willow asked innocently.

"Where are all the freaking vampires?" Buffy fumed. It was obviously a rhetorical question as she continued her teasing: "I mean apparently you've met this very cute blonde and did I mention witch and you conveniently forgot to mention it to your very bestest friend in the world."

"Maybe I didn't mention it because there's nothing to mention," Willow argued.

"Here's what I think you should do," Buffy answered. Great, Willow thought, dating advice a woman whose first love was a vampire. "You should definitely stick with that story," Buffy continued, "no matter what. No matter how transparent or unbelievable it may be to other people."

"Buffy," Willow growled under her breath as she realized that the slayer was just continuing to tease her, not really offering advice.

"I mean if Xander or Dawn try to give you trouble about it and certainly Anya. I mean she's already on about Tara's beautiful breasts," Buffy continued. "Not that I don't think that Tara doesn't have beautiful breasts but of course you don't think about her like th…" Suddenly the slayer came to a stop as she rounded a headstone and screamed: "Argghhh!"

Not taking note quickly enough of the slayer's sudden stop, Willow walked into Buffy's back. "Ommph," she grunted as she fell ungracefully to the ground. "What are you…" she started to ask as the blonde extended a hand to pull her friend up. She noted the quick way the slayer was tucking her stake into her waistband and looked up to see Faith and Tara a few feet away, looking shocked.

"Willow," Tara asked surprised to see the other girls in the cemetery at night, "what are you d-doing out here?"

"Hey," Faith said smoothly as she recognized Buffy and Willow.

"Hey yourself," Buffy shot back, wondering what the other two girls were doing in the cemetery.

"We were on our way from the library," Willow nervously answered Tara's question, "yep. From the library. At the university. Buffy has a paper on…the Civil War and we were there. Doing research and checking out books."

Tara and Faith looked at each other and grinned. The redheaded girl was so obviously lying that it was hard not to burst out laughing.

"At the university library, huh?" Faith asked.

"Yep," Willow continued, "you know, using the Internet and the card catalog and all that libraryish stuff."

"Were you aware that the university library is that way?" Faith asked as she pointed in the direction that she and Tara had come from.

"Well yeah," Willow flubbed. "I mean we were there but then we left but we remembered we forgot something so we were going back. There. To the library I mean."

"Was it your books?" Tara asked, deciding to get into the teasing.

"Was what your books? I mean our books?" Willow asked bewildered. She glanced out of the corner of her eye to note Buffy's eyes rolling in exasperation.

"The thing you forgot, Red," Faith answered, "did you forget your books at the library?"

"Of course no…," Willow started before she realized that neither she nor Buffy had so much as a pencil with them. They certainly didn't look like they had been to the library. Struggling for some explanation she grasped onto: "And what are the two of you doing out here?"

"Mostly waiting for you to finish your story," Faith muttered. Tara kicked her friend in the shin as she answered easily, "We were on our way to get coffee."

Why didn't I think of coffee? Willow thought, followed quickly by, Why don't you and I go get coffee and leave these two? No! Bad Willow!

"We'll walk you," Buffy quickly offered.

"Uh...," Faith stalled as she realized that if the other two girls walked them to the coffee shop they wouldn't be able to find any more vampires tonight.

"That's ok," Tara interrupted, "you d-don't have to."

"No really," Buffy insisted as she scanned the area, "there are some real unsavory characters around here."

"Really?" Faith asked, feigning disbelief.

"Not unsavory characters," Tara echoed. "Maybe we should w-walk you two back to the library?" she suggested teasingly.

"I really think we should walk you to the coffee shop," Willow argued.

"But the library closes in like," Faith looked at her watch, "twenty minutes. You two need to make it there before it closes right?"

"Well…yeah," Willow agreed.

"Are you sure you two will be ok?" Buffy asked.

"We'll be fine, Buffy," Tara assured the blonde-haired girl.

Buffy stepped closer to Faith before whispering in her ear, "Good."

She started to pull back and felt Faith's hands on her belt-loops, pulling her forward. Held her breath as the dark-haired girl's hand brushed amazingly close the stake hidden in her belt. She lightly brushed her cheek against the other girl's and whispered back, "Be careful, B."

Tara and Willow both inspected their fingernails, kicked the ground, stole glances at the other, and blushed as they watched their friends moving sensually together. "So," Willow finally interrupted the two girls, "the library waits?"

"And c-coffee," Tara added, glad that Willow had broken the uncomfortable scene.

Buffy and Faith broke apart nodding. As they were about to turn and go their separate directions, Faith suggested, "Hey B, how about another workout tomorrow?"

Buffy's face lit up at the thought of another sparing session with the dark-haired girl. "3:00 work for you?"

"At the Magic Box?" Faith confirmed. As Buffy nodded, Faith agreed: "See you there."

All four girls watched the others carefully as they crossed paths to resume their walking. Buffy was careful to keep her back turned to disguise the stake tucked in her waistband, and couldn't help noticing that Faith seemed to have something to hide as well.

Buffy and Willow were quiet for a few minutes before Buffy said, "Yep. You should definitely go out with her."

"Argghh!" Willow yelled as she playfully tried to knock her friend over. Both girls laughed before deciding that once again there were no vampires to be found and headed home for the night.

Part 19
Less than a Kalpa

PSA – Apparently the US Senate thinks that the most important problem facing our country today is gay marriage. If you are an American (and voting age), please follow this link to contact your senators and let them know that you oppose this discriminatory legislation.

Note – Asher's contribution: qxw4t007Adfew esrszaaaaas – He had put this in the story but I decided to move it here for readability.

Note 2 – I am neither a meditation master nor an enlightened being. I wholeheartedly endorse and promote the practice of meditation. If you want to learn, I recommend that you find a teacher or class for some guidance. In the absence of that possibility, there are many many books on meditation. As Jack Kornfield says, the most important thing is "taking the one seat."

"Are you ok, Miss Rosenberg?" one of Willow's students asked.

"What? Why wouldn't I be…ok?" the redhead nervously answered as she stopped pacing.

"Well," Brian answered, "you've been pacing nearly the entire class and I guess you just seem really uneasy." The other students watched the interaction with interest; they had obviously all noticed the teacher's unease and were relieved that Brian had asked.

"No, I'm not…," Willow paused as she realized that the entire class was watching her and that she had been acting very strangely throughout class. "I'm sorry," she apologized, "you're right. I'm feeling nervous about a meeting I have later." She moved to her desk and sat down as the students returned to their work. Once there, she considered whether to embark on a strict regimen of counting, breathing deeply, or drinking more coffee. Deciding that the afternoon would probably involve plenty of breathing deeply, she returned to the caffeine plan.

Noticing that there were still 40 minutes left in the class, the young teacher decided to do some work on the computer to distract herself. It worked well and she was able to at least make it until the final bell without getting up and pacing more than three more times. "Enjoy your meeting," Brian called sarcastically as the students filed out.

"I will," Willow answered before realizing that her students were teasing her. She waited until they had all left the room and then sat in front of her computer once again. She wanted to run out to the quad but she couldn't appear that eager and besides, it was only 3:35. She worked a few more minutes on the computer before shutting it down and ensuring that all the computers in the room were shut down appropriately. Glancing again at the clock she picked up her bag and quickly locked the door to the classroom.

Tara smoothed her slacks again as she stood awkwardly by the tree waiting for Willow to arrive. She hoped that she looked professional. She was wearing her best pants suit although she had taken off her jacket earlier in the day in deference to the heat. Since making the date, Tara had been trying to figure out how to maintain the necessary distance between herself and the adorable redhead.

While patrolling the night before, Faith had predictably teased Tara about Willow, implying that the two girls had a meditation date scheduled. While Tara argued with her friend and attempted to defend herself, she also knew that she needed to maintain distance throughout the afternoon. And as the older and more mature woman, she needed to take responsibility for the encounter. If anything inappropriate were to happen, as the teacher, it would be her fault. Having run into Willow and Buffy in the cemetery had reinforced her knowledge of how young the girl was. Goddess, the story about researching at the library for Buffy's paper was ludicrous. Tara wondered if Willow always panicked like that under pressure.

"What's so funny?" Willow's voice cut into the blonde's thoughts.

Tara turned quickly to see the redhead smiling flirtatiously at her. Oh Goddess! This is going to be much harder than I had thought, she realized as she absorbed the sparkle in Willow's eye and the sun glinting off her hair. "Some-someone said s-something f-funny today," she lamely answered.

Willow immediately regretted startling the blonde student. She was obviously thinking about something and now the redhead had startled her so badly that she was stuttering. Instinctively the redhead reached out and softly took Tara's hand. "Yes, sometimes high school students do manage to say funny things," she whispered as she stroked the skin she had been dreaming of for days.

Tara could barely speak as she felt the sensual movement of Willow's fingers over her palm, the younger girl's thumb rubbing the back of her hand. "Some high school students can surprise you," she finally squeaked out, "they are more mature than you would e-expect."

"I've noticed the same thing," Willow agreed in a whisper as she stared at the beautiful blonde. After taking the girl's hand she had taken a step closer so that the two were now separated by a mere few inches. She could hear her heart pounding in her chest and wondered if Tara could hear it as well. Willow could see the vibration on Tara's skin as her pulse pounded in her neck. "I mean," she whispered moving slightly closer, close enough that she could smell the girl's sweet scent, "sometimes it's more about individuals than age."

"Yes," Tara agreed breathlessly, "it's about two individuals who connect completely."

Neither girl could bring herself to move closer but neither could they break apart. All either could do was stare at the other: her lips, her eyes, every feature on the other's beautiful face. Both breathed deeply the scent of the other, reveled in the feel of their flesh brushing lightly together through their linked fingers. "Completely," Willow breathlessly agreed.

Tara couldn't believe the feelings she was having as she stood under the tree entranced by the redheaded student. It wasn't like they had had that many conversations or that their encounters had been long. But somehow she felt that she knew the girl as well as she knew herself. I'm falling in love with her, she realized with a start and a slow smile spread across her face. I'm falling in love with her, her mind repeated and she felt elated. It was like nothing she had ever felt before. Certainly she had loved her mother and she felt love and affection as well as an intense protective streak for Faith but this was something entirely different, something like she had read of and dreamed of as a little girl. I'm falling in love with Willow Rosenberg. She played with the thought in her mind, playing it forward and backwards. "Can you feel that?" she whispered.

Willow was shocked to hear Tara's question. She had thought that the two girls were going to pretend to not notice their connection. That they were going to just break apart saying, "Ok. So meditating?" Instead, Tara had asked, "Can you feel that?" And Willow's mind whirled, searching for the perfect romantic but not too romantic answer. "Can I feel that?" she finally whispered. "Can I feel how perfectly our hands fit? How it feels like you've taken up residence in my soul and my heart? Can I feel your heartbeat and smell the sweetness of your breath? Can I feel how badly I want to kiss you and never stop?"

"Yes, th-th-that," Tara stuttered back as she felt the first drops of cold rain on her head. She lifted her gaze to wonder at Mother Nature's timing. It was a reminder of the power of the elements. As a witch she had to respect the messages her world sent and this one was clear. She pulled her hands away and attempted to lighten the moment: "Or c-c-can you feel that rain?"

Willow looked down at her hands in shock. The world was quite literally pouring cold water on the two girls as if they were dogs in heat. This she hadn't expected. She wouldn't have been surprised if Buffy had appeared suddenly from around a tree to cluelessly interrupt the moment but for it to start raining…and hard…was just too much. She knew that the universe sent signs all the time and it was clear this time: hands off this wonderful, beautiful, girl who you are falling in love with.

Falling in love with?

The two girls had silently started walking across the grass toward Willow's jeep and the redhead now stopped suddenly. In love with?

Tara stopped as she realized that Willow was no longer walking beside her but standing a few feet away staring at her. "Are we g-g-going the right way?" the blonde asked, confused by Willow's stopping. "Did you want to drive or w-w-walk?"

Willow stood smiling at the blonde for a second before skipping to rejoin her. "The Jeep is this way," she said pointing at the vehicle standing in the almost deserted student parking lot. Of course Dawn had driven this morning and insisted once again on being cool.

"C-c-can we put my bike in back or do you want to bring me back?" Tara asked.

"Oh definitely in back," Willow eagerly agreed, happy to focus on meditating and working out the transportation logistics. "I mean that we can put your bike in back and go meditate and then later I can take you home or you can ride home or whatever you want without having the complication of my bringing you back here to pick up your bike and then take you home or bringing you back here and then you riding home."

Tara giggled at the redhead's babbling. "I'll get my bike then," she winked as she walked away.

Willow reached the jeep and opened the hatch. It was still raining but only lightly and she didn't mind standing outside watching Tara retrieve her bike and then return to the car. As far as she was concerned, the blonde was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen in her life. She held Tara's bag as the blonde loaded the bike easily into the back and then led her around to the passenger door, opening it for her. "My lady," she said half-jokingly, "your carriage awaits."

Tara quirked her head somewhat curiously as she slid into the seat. "Your carriage has a lot of garbage on the floor," she teased as Willow shut the door.

"Buffy and Dawn have no respect," Willow commented as she started the car.

"I know B-buffy but I don't think I've met Dawn," Tara led. She was gripped with a sudden fear that she knew exactly who Dawn was. She's probably the beautiful brunette you've seen Willow with before school and at lunchtime, she thought.

"Oh you wouldn't have met her," Willow commented casually, "she's only a sophomore so I'm sure you never see her."

"Yep," Tara agreed, "I mostly get to know the juniors and seniors." She tried to ignore the thought that Willow hadn't really explained who Dawn was. She looked up as the jeep pulled into a driveway. "This is a nice house," she commented seeing the two story house.

"I'm hardly ever here," Willow said as she again came around to open Tara's door, "but then neither are my parents."

"W-w-why not?" Tara asked, wondering why Willow's parents wouldn't be around much. They had seemed to have a good relationship when she met them at lunch, not that you can tell anything from that.

"Oh," Willow explained as she opened the door, "they travel a lot. Both are researchers and college professors." She shut the door behind Tara and offered, "Do you want a coke or some water?"

"I'd take some water," the blonde agreed as she looked around the house. She didn't want to be rude but at the same time she was intensely curious to find out more about the intriguing redhead.

"My room is upstairs," Willow explained before leading Tara upstairs. You are a very bad woman, Willow Rosenberg, her mind shouted at her, you shouldn't be doing this at all!

"Willow? Willow?" Tara repeated. It was obvious that the redhead was lost in a world of her own.

Finally the redhead realized that Tara was speaking to her. She blushed hotly: "w-w- what?"

Tara smiled as she saw the look on Willow's face: "Can I use the b-bathroom?"

"Oh absolutely," Willow agreed as she opened the door to her room and pointed at the door across the room. Tara set down her bag and went into the bathroom, giving the redhead a chance to look around. She sighed as she inspected the room. It had been over three years since she'd been in her room for more than sleeping a few hours on Christmas break. Most of the time she was at home she'd been with Buffy or patrolling or hanging out. Now she had a chance to peruse the room.

It was like a time capsule to 17-year-old Willow. Her desk set still was arranged neatly on the desk with an assortment of different colored pens and pencils. Her bookcase displayed various books she'd read in high school and not wanted since. Most amusing to the girl were the posters on her walls: Sarah McLaughlin, the movie poster from The Craft, and a poster from the US Women's Soccer team that had won the world cup. Another wall held the famous picture of Brandie Chastian after she'd made the penalty shot and torn her shirt off. How could I not have come out until college? Willow wondered.

"Nice room," Tara interrupted Willow's thoughts, sorry to see the redhead jump. "Oh," she apologized, "I didn't mean to startle you." She stepped closer and ran her hand down her host's arm.

Willow smiled as she caught Tara's fingers in her own as they were brushing over her hand. "Did you ever see something later and wonder how it could take you so long to figure it out?"

"I guess so," Tara agreed glancing around at Willow's bedroom. It was a typical teenage girl's bedroom, neat and somewhat pink with posters on all the walls. The blonde's mouth quirked up as she noted the assortment of women gracing the walls. Searching for something to say she managed to compliment the room with a minimum of irony: "Your room is cute."

"Thanks," Willow said while thinking, Well of course she thinks it's cute. I mean typical high school girl's room with girls on the wall. She quickly reached for two pillows off the bed and held them up before setting them on the floor.

Tara breathed out the breath she had been holding and reached for her bag. From it she pulled a few candles and a book. "I…um…I brought you this b-b-book," she explained as she handed the paperback to the redhead.

"A Path with Heart by Jack Kornfield," Willow read aloud from the cover as she sat down, "thanks." She opened the book and began idly flipping through it, startled to see copious notes in the margins. "Kwan Yin = Compassion" one said. Another: "show to Faith." She looked up to see Tara watching her with a smile on her face. "This is your book," Willow stated simply.

Tara smiled again. "It's one of my favorites," she said simply. She didn't mention that there hadn't been time to buy another nor did she have the spare money.

Willow jumped up and grabbed her bag before sitting down. "I got you one too," she explained as she pulled a leather bound volume from her bag and handed it to the blonde.

"Breakfast at Tiffanys," Tara read from the cover as she ran her fingertips over the fine work. She didn't know exactly what to say. The book was a fine book in perfect condition and suddenly her used offering seemed so inadequate.

Willow tried to gauge the disappointed look on the blonde's face. "Because you said you love To Kill a Mockingbird and…um…well Harper Lee and…"

Tara looked up as she realized that Willow doubted her present. "Because Harper Lee and Truman Capote were friends and he is Dill," she smiled as she placed the book behind her. "I love it, Willow. Thank you." Impulsively she leaned forward and kissed the redhead on the cheek before sitting back on her heels again blushing furiously.

Willow gulped as she processed the experience of Tara's lips softly touching her cheek. She wondered where she could get more leather bound books for the girl before mentally slapping herself. She looked away quickly again to pick up the book from Tara and found a post-it note on one page.

"It's the definition of a Kalpa," Tara interjected as she saw the page the redhead was perusing. When Willow shut the book and looked up expectantly Tara explained, "The Buddha lived one hundred thousand Kalpas of perfect compassion and equanimity before he became enlightened." When Willow looked confused about the term Tara continued: "to understand what a Kalpa is, imagine a mountain taller and higher than Mount Everest." She waited a moment until Willow closed her eyes and nodded. "Every one hundred years a raven carrying a silk scarf flies over the mountain letting the scarf trail over it. A Kalpa is the amount of time it would take for the mountain to be completely worn away." She smiled as she finished the story. It always calmed the blonde witch to think of how long time really was.

Willow listened to Tara's story intently. She felt herself calmed by the blonde's tone of voice and the timber of her lyrical voice. If she couldn't kiss this beautiful woman, she truly wished she could just lay her head in the girl's lap and feel her running her thin fingers through her hair. "Kind of makes the time between now and summer seem short doesn't it?" she finally asked, knowing that Tara would understand exactly what she was saying: "Can you wait for me? Will you wait until summer?"

"Only a heartbeat," Tara agreed. And she could really believe it. Next summer Willow would be graduated from high school and, she assumed, 18. And Tara would be finished with college. They could be free to explore what was growing between them. It was a matter of patience…

Willow opened her eyes and smiled at the blonde allowing their eyes to connect and hold. "A heartbeat," she repeated to let Tara know that she would wait for her. Both girls sat silently enjoying the other's gaze and the peace that came from knowing that a relationship lay in front of them if they could just be patient.

Finally Tara spoke: "Tell me about your meditating experience."

Willow leaned back against the bed and told the blonde about her relatively few and failed experiences meditating. She had read descriptions from books but never really been able to get into them.

Tara listened interestedly in Willow's explanations of her attempts to meditate. No wonder she hadn't been pleased. The girl had been trying to learn from books and trying to apply an almost mathematical methodology to the practice, keeping track of thoughts and distractions and classifying them. Tara had learned to still her mind from her mother and from the earth. She needed do nothing more than use her mystical senses and feel an inner calm. She hoped to be able to help the redhead attain a similar peace. When Willow finally finished speaking Tara thanked her.

She guided Willow to sit on the pillow with her back straight and her legs crossed, ensuring that the girl was comfortable and lightly adjusting her position with her hands. For Willow's part, she turned herself over completely to the blonde student's touch. She wondered if it was the intention to meditate or Tara's touch that had her so relaxed and simultaneously wondered at the contrast of the calm and peace she felt in the midst of unquestionable sexual tension. Her want for the blonde was almost palatable and she grinned as she realized that she was finally feeling the passion she had never understood from those around her. Just before feeling Tara's fingertips stroking her temples from behind she wondered if Tara felt the same excitement she did.

"Ok, Willow," Tara spoke softly while still rubbing the redhead's temples, "we're going to do a Mantra meditation. For a mantra you will want to use something that you consider to be holy or peaceful words. Examples would be the Lord's Prayer, The Prayer of Saint Francis, the Shema, or simply a word like peace, love, or joy." She waited close to a minute before asking, "Do you have the phrase?"

Willow nodded. She thought about speaking to tell Tara what her mantra was but she felt just so relaxed that she didn't want to break it.

"Ok," Tara continued in her soft voice, "what I want you to do is just sit and relax. If a thought enters your mind, no matter what it is hear, as if you are actually hearing it, the next word in the mantra. You want to actually feel that you are physically hearing the word as if you are under a loudspeaker or listening to headphones. Don't judge the thought, just hear the mantra and let your mind clear again."

The blonde removed her hands from Willow's temples with some amount of regret. As long as she had the excuse of calming the redhead, she could enjoy the softness of her skin and the intense sparkling connection she felt. She almost felt the impulse to ask if Willow was a witch but thought better of it and held her tongue.

"What about breathing?" Willow asked.

"I'm definitely in favor of it," Tara whispered and enjoyed seeing just a corner of Willow's smile. "Seriously," she whispered, "let your breath go and relax." She moved in front of Willow and told her, "We can start now and I'll tell you when we've gone long enough." When Willow didn't speak, Tara closed her own eyes and quickly entered a meditative state.

After thirty minutes Tara allowed herself to return to conscious awareness of the room and slowly brought Willow back. The redhead looked refreshed and well rested.

"Wow," Willow breathed, "that was amazing. I mean wow. Just…wow. It was better than…" she trailed off as she realized that she was about to say "better than sex" Not only is it a good thing you didn't say that but how would you know? her mind kicked out.

"Sounds like it was good," Tara joked back as wondered what the student had been about to say. Coming from someone else, the blonde would have suspected that she was about to say it was better than sex. But Willow just radiated such innocence that Tara couldn't imagine her saying such a thing. The girl was…virginal was the only word. The blonde looked around the room and noted the growing shadows. "Can I use y-your phone?" she asked.

Willow nodded as she stretched her arms and legs. She noted the way Tara's gaze was following her as she did so and smiled back. "I don't have one in here but we can go to the kitchen," she explained as she stood up. Tara did the same and followed her from the room.

Once downstairs, Tara set her book bag on the counter while Willow pulled another two bottles of water from the fridge and handed one to the student. "Hey," she heard Tara say. Willow left the kitchen so that she wouldn't be eavesdropping and waited in the living room for the blonde to finish her conversation with her parents. After a few minutes the blonde joined her. "I have to g- go," she said, "but I really enjoyed today, Willow."

Willow walked Tara to the door, not knowing exactly how to finish the date. She wanted to kiss Tara and in absence of that option, wanted desperately to hug the girl. But she was all too aware that if she hugged Tara, she might never let go. "Maybe we can…do this again?" she offered as the girls stepped onto the porch.

"I'd love that," Tara whispered as she stared into the redhead's eyes. She wanted to lean over and kiss the girl's cheek again but knew that it wouldn't be right. She shouldn't have done it the first time. Instead she awkwardly stuck out her hand and shook Willow's. Even that touch seemed strangely intimate as both girls held the contact for longer than the usual handshake. Looking at their hands Tara finally whispered, "I really d-d-do have to…" She knew that she was trying to convince herself to go.

"Right…," Willow agreed as she noted the way the sky was darkening, "…dinner time and all."

"Dinner," Tara agreed wishing that she could ask Willow to dinner instead of meeting Faith at the apartment for sandwiches or Ramen noodles. As a clap of thunder sounded she started laughing and broke the contact. "I think someone is trying to tell us something," she smiled.

As Tara lifted her bike down onto the sidewalk Willow offered, "I could take you home?"

"No," Tara answered, "I think the rain will do me good." She waved and pedaled away, leaving Willow once more standing and watching her ride away. It wasn't until Willow had gone through the house turning off lights, straightened her room, and was leaving for Buffy's house that it struck her that Tara had agreed about waiting until next summer in spite of only being a Junior.

Part 20
Google: I Google, You Google, He, she or it Googles, We Google, You Google, They Google. Or a ridiculously long title.

Tara Maclay: Willow looked at the words on her computer screen. She hesitated before hitting the "Google Search" button. Her fingers hovered above the key. It wouldn't be that bad would it? Maybe she could find out something about the wonderful and mysterious blonde. Even though Willow felt so incredibly connected to Tara, she realized that she truly knew very little about her. She didn't expect that a Google search would reveal that much but it was a place to start.

Maybe it would tell her some details: mother and father's names, professions, did the blonde have siblings, her birthdate? Ok, so she wasn't likely to find out any of that information from Google but Willow certainly knew how to find out anything she wanted to know about the intriguing witch using a computer for a few minutes. So really, given that she could hack the school's database in a matter of seconds, wouldn't using Google be honest by comparison? She remembered the scene yesterday at the Magic box.

Willow continued looking at the research book on the table in front of her. However, her mind wandered constantly. After her meditation session with Tara, Willow had returned home to find Dawn waiting with dinner and instructions for both girls to join the other Scoobies at the Magic Box for research. Buffy's continuing low kill counts still disturbed the group and Willie had been no help. There were no rumors from the demon community of any big bad brewing but the Scoobies were worried.

"I think you should Google her," Anya suddenly piped up.

The group looked at her as if they had no idea what she was talking about. "The big bad?" Dawn asked.

"No," Anya explained wondering why no one ever followed her brilliant trains of thought, "Tara."

The group attempted to digest the former demon's suggestion while looking to Willow. The redhead had briefly told Buffy about the meditation session as soon as they arrived and since she had tried to keep it quiet, Anya repeated every word the redhead had said so that by the time Willow finished her summary of the afternoon, everyone in the shop knew the details. "I'm not going to Google her, Anya," Willow retorted.

"Yeah, An," Xander answered, "it was only their first date."

Buffy slapped the young man on the arm as she argued, "You moron! Willow's not going to google her because Tara is a student."

"It wasn't a date," Willow argued lamely.

"See," Xander argued back at Buffy, "she isn't going to Google her because they haven't had enough dates."

Willow hit her forehead on the table a few times as Buffy and Xander engaged in an idiotic argument regarding how many dates the two girls would need before Googling. "Giles," she asked, "do you still have that statue you hit the Toth with? Could you knock me unconscious with it?"

"If I still had it," he answered dryly, "I'd knock myself unconscious first."

"That's probably the first thing our new big bad has planned," Dawn predicted.

"That's the first thing they all have planned," Xander agreed taking a break from his argument with Buffy. He turned to his best friend. "Hey Will," he asked, "if you Google Tara, you'd tell me first right?"

"No. I'm not going to Google her!" she shouted completely frustrated with the question before realizing that even she was now using the word incorrectly. "Google is a search engine," she explained to the room at large. "Anya is suggesting that I do a computer search to find out more about Tara."

"But Willow probably wouldn't do it because it's a complete invasion of her privacy," Anya predicted.

"Could you do one on Faith at least?" Buffy asked.

"You could do one on Faith," Willow huffed. "You just need her last name."

"Oh," Buffy answered downhearted.

"You should do it," Dawn suggested.

"I agree with her," Xander added, "you want to know about her. It doesn't sound that bad."

"Except that it breaks any trust the two of you share," Anya contributed.

"I agree with Anya," Buffy said before muttering under her breath, "I can't believe I just said that." "Ok, two votes for completely undermining any trust with Tara, two against," Willow summed up. "What do you say, Giles?"

The watcher huffed before asking, "Is she a vampire?" As Willow shook her head he continued, "a demon? Monster of any sort? Vampire slayer?"

"Of course not," Willow argued, "she's just a normal high school girl who, ok happens to be a witch."

"Then giving you love advice is not in my job description," he answered as he left the room cleaning his glasses.

"Like it's ever stopped you before," Willow muttered as everyone returned to their research.

She looked again at the Enter key before deciding that Anya was right. She didn't want to undermine the trust she and Tara seemed to share. Of course that didn't mean that she couldn't find out more about the blonde. She glanced at the clock before deciding there was just enough time to go and sit with Tara for a few minutes before the next class.

Tara was of course sitting under her usual tree doing stretches of some kind. She smiled as she saw the redhead approach and waved her to sit. "Hi," the blonde greeted her.

"Hi," Willow answered as she sat and waved to Dawn. "Oh," she said, "that's Dawn over there."

"R-r-right," Tara said, "I've seen you two together before."

"When?" Willow asked confused. Dawn rarely wanted to be seen with Willow during school because of the entire uncool factor.

"Uh…driving here and o-one day at lunch," Tara explained, "not that I've been stalking you or following you or…" She was surprised to see the redhead smiling rather than looking bothered at the attention.

"Of course," Willow agreed casually as she happily realized that the blonde had been watching her for as long as she had been watching Tara. She looked to notice that Tara was extending a container of apple slices and took a few. "Thank you," she chomped. "So how was your ride home?" she teased.

"Wet, but refreshing," Tara answered. She'd arrived home to find Faith waiting for dinner and the two girls had each discussed their respective "dates" before Faith went out for a spot of violence.

"Buffy said she got in a good workout with Faith," Willow offered.

Tara nodded, "Faith said so too. She's pretty e-excited about it too." She didn't mention that she'd had to do a healing spell on her roommate after Faith allowed Buffy to kick her a few times when the blonde made particularly good moves.

"Yeah," Willow agreed, "Buffy could hardly stop talking about Faith's fighting and something about heart rate and perceived exertion all night."

All night? Tara wondered. What did that mean?

"How were Faith's ribs?" Willow asked. "Buffy had mentioned that she kicked her a few times accidentally."

Tara could hide her smirk: "Oh I think she'll heal just fine." In fact, Faith had shown no signs of bruising by the time she left for class. Tara's mind still raced as she tried to understand what Willow had meant about Buffy going on about Faith all night long.

Willow looked around as she tried to think of a safe subject for the two girls to discuss. "Anywhere but here?" she finally blurted out.

"What?" Tara asked.

"Anywhere but here," Willow explained sheepishly. She didn't know why that was what came out of her mouth. She just wanted so desperately to keep Tara sitting with her and hear her beautiful voice.

"What's anywhere but here?" Tara finally asked.

"Oh," Willow blushed, "you say a scenario of where you would be if you could be anywhere but here." She looked down at the blanket before adding, "I know very dumb and teenagy…not that there's anything wrong with that but…"

"Here," Tara smiled.

Willow crinkled her brow as she tried to understand what Tara was talking about. "Here what?"

"Here, here," Tara repeated giggling at how ludicrous their conversation sounded.

"Here, here, what?" Willow again mimicked. "This is beginning to sound like an Abbot and Costello routine."

"Anywhere but here? Here!" Tara explained. As she watched Willow waiting for the light to dawn in the student's eyes she finally added, "If I could be anywhere. I'd be here."

"Oh," Willow finally said. She felt stupid for even suggesting the game and even more stupid for not getting what Tara was saying but her embarrassment was overwhelmed but joy at Tara's answer. If she could be anywhere in the world, she'd want to be here. With me!. "Me too," she smiled.

Tara watched the sparkle in Willow's eyes as the girl finally understood what he blonde was saying. Before the silence could become uncomfortable again she said, "But play anyway. Anywhere but here another day, another time."

"Venice," Willow answered quickly.

"Venice?" Tara repeated.

"I went there with my parents when I was younger and I always thought it would be the perfect place to return with…someone…someone special," she blushed at the words. Having gone there at 16 she knew that Venice would be an amazing city to visit with a lover. "It's so beautiful with music and art everywhere and the food is amazing." Her eyes sparkled as she talked.

Tara smiled as she heard Willow's description of the city she had obviously loved. "It sounds absolutely amazing." She waited a few seconds before whispering, "I'm sure your someone would love to see it all with you."

"Ms. Maclay, Ms. Rosenberg, just the people I wanted to see," the Principal said as he looked down on the two women sharing fruit from a container.

Tara and Willow both jumped quickly to their feet stammering their hellos. "Hello Principal Wood," Willow squeaked as her eyes darted around as if she were trying to come up with an explanation for her sitting with Tara.

"H-h-hello…," Tara stuttered as she attempted to calm down. Just the people he wanted to see? Why did he want to see us? What is wrong? Oh Fuck! her mind panicked.

Willow asked Tara's questions for her: "Just the people you wanted to see? Why is that? Not that you can't come see us. I mean you, Principal and us…well not Principal and what can we, I, we do for you?"

Tara fought her giggle at Willow's amazing ability to babble.

Wood produced a clipboard and two pens. "Every year volunteers take kids out trick or treating. I need both students and teachers." He held the clipboard and handed both girls a pen.

"I u-u-usually…," Tara began as she wondered what would happen to her Samhain ritual with this new "volunteer effort."

"It's from 4-6 so it shouldn't interfere with your plans," Wood interrupted. He didn't want to intimidate the girls but as they were the newest teachers at the school it was imperative that he get them to help with the annual project.

"Not again," Willow muttered under her breath as she took the pen.

"What did you say, Miss Rosenberg?" Wood asked.

"Oh nothing," she said a little too cheerily as she signed her name and offered her pen to Tara.

"Sounds like a lot of f-fun," Tara attempted to mirror Willow's acquiescence as she also signed her name.

"Great," Wood announced as he turned and left the two girls standing in front of their tree. He felt pretty good as he did. He had wanted to have some sort of a "meet the new staff" event to kick off the year but he hadn't gotten around to it. Luckily the only new teacher and student teacher had already met and hit it off by the looks of things.

Tara and Willow looked around guiltily as they took their seats again. Willow glanced at her watch, seeing that they had another 15 minutes before class. "Your turn," she smiled.

"My t-t-turn?" Tara asked.

"Tell me a story too," Willow suggested.

Tara smiled as she remembered a story. "Mine isn't from the future; it's from the past." She took a breath. "When I was young we lived in Pennsylvania." She noted the way Willow was watching her as if enraptured by the story. "Each yard was separated from the next yard by a line of pine trees."

"Sounds beautiful and wonderful," Willow said.

"It was," Tara agreed. "My brother Donnie was three years older than me and he and his friends would sneak out to play at night and some nights he would let me go too."

"That's nice," Willow added, "I don't have any siblings."

"We would play Chase," Tara continued, "which was like tag or hide and go seek but with only the moonlight to light us and all the trees it would take a long time to tag someone if you were 'It.'" Willow didn't speak so Tara continued: "One night I fell asleep while I was hiding under a tree." A smile graced her face as she remembered the smell of pine in her nostrils and the sunlight attempting to peek through the branches on her at dawn. "I slept there all night, making friends with the tree and when I woke in the morning, I could hear it talking to me."

"How magical," Willow praised. She felt like she would treasure Tara's story as something that she could finally hold onto to tell her who this amazing woman was: a child of trees and nature, a lover of moonlight. She looked at the students rushing for class and stood up, extending her hand to Tara. "It seems anticlimactic but we have to get to class."

"I know," Tara agreed as the two girls made their way toward their rooms. They parted again knowing that they would see each other soon.

Continued...

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