Six Months Later….
It was the first time Tara had actually let Spike dress her. He bought her clothes, of course. Once he'd gotten a good look at her wardrobe he'd replaced the whole thing with a dismissive, “Girl's got to have pretty things, pet.”
But he'd never picked anything out. And Tara was beginning to doubt his ability to see color.
“The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a staple of Western Culture, love. You NEED to dress up.”
Tara looked at the image in the mirror and winced, “If you say so.” Tara was not at all sure about this.
* * *
“We have to come back tomorrow night! We have to go buy the soundtrack so I'll know all the songs this time! I can't believe I humped a Gumby doll-“
Spike grinned and adjusted his dress, “Liked it then?”
* * *
Tara woke up crying again. She didn't understand why on earth she would be so teary now, when she was happier than she had ever been. She had never cried in Mississippi.
She got up and crawled in to Spike's bed and he turned and wrapped his arms around her immediately, “Ssssh, love. 'S all over now.” He cooed soothing nothings and stroked her back.
“Why?” Tara voice broke on the single syllable.
“Don't know, pet. But if I'd known then what I know now I'd have ripped his throat out.” Spike voice took on a hard edge that once upon a time would have made Tara nervous. Now it was only comforting. When Spike threatened violence like that he was really saying, “I'll take care of you. I'll never let anyone hurt you.”
Tara had never thought she ever feel safe in a man's embrace. But then, she had never known a man like Spike. His arms were strong and she could feel the corded muscle and had seen what it could do. But his skin was softer than her own.
It was this combination of power and vulnerability that defined her best friend to her.
It was this combination that made her feel safe.
* * *
Skating at Rockefeller Center for her birthday was another dream Tara didn't know she had. Spike was a good teacher and he glided over the ice as though he were born on it.
She watched him do a triple-axel just to show off to her and she couldn't help smiling. She watched several women give him admiring glances and knew he was totally oblivious to them.
She skated shakily over to him and he head out his arms. She felt like a toddler just learning to walk. She supposed this was a very appropriate feeling. This was her eighteenth birthday and this past year she felt as though she had been born anew.
She stumbled and fell just as she was getting within arms reach. But it was all right.
He caught her.
And she knew he always would.
* * *
Dancing naked under the full moon with hundreds of other people was something Tara had never imagined herself doing.
But coming to the Gaia Festival had been her idea.
She looked over at Spike who looked completely absorbed at the dance steps an African beauty was teaching him. Both of them were bare, of course, and their skin's contrasted beautifully in the moonlight.
Tara had her first sexual experience with a woman that night and it was everything she had ever wanted it to be. Her partner was a Hispanic woman named Carmen with the most beautiful ebony hair. It fell in a glorious mane of ringlets that caught the firelight and often appeared almost blue.
Spike had his own romp in the grass with his dance instructor and they both came away feeling cleansed and a little wild.
Tara fingered the hand-woven bracelets that Carmen had made them and smiled over at Spike. He was singing along to the Beatles on the radio and the highway stretched ahead of them as endless as a promise. She opened her mouth and let her voice harmonize with his for 'Let It Be' and nothing had ever seemed more appropriate.
* * *
One Year Later…
The Golden Girls played in the background and Tara was half-watching it and half-reading The Good Earth. Her fingers drifted through Spike's curls where he lay, his head pillowed on her stomach.
She put down the book suddenly, “You know how you promised to take me to London for my birthday next year?”
Spike forced his eyes away from the argument between Dorothy and Blanche, “Mmmm, yeah. Then you get to see what real fish 'n chips are.”
“Uh, huh. Well, I was thinking it would be lot nicer if we could walk about during the day. Then you could show me all the sights in broad daylight.
Spike lifted his head up and stared at her as if she'd grown a second head, “Um, as lovely as you are in full light, you've maybe forgot my little affliction-“
“I know. But I was reading about this stone called the Gem of Amarra-“
Spike cut her off, “It's not real, pet. That's a fairy story.”
“I think it is. From what I've read, I think I know where it is, too.”
Spike pulled himself up into a full sitting position, “But surely with all the vamps out there looking for it someone would have found it by now?”
“I think maybe they read the signs wrong. I think it's right her in the U.S.” Tara closed her book with a calm assertion.
Spike had great respect for Tara and when she said she thought something, it usually meant it was a certainty, “So you want us to find this rock?”
“Well, I don't think it will be easy and it may take time and while we're looking I thought I might take in a year of school and we could settle somewhere for a year or so before going off to Europe.”
Spike's face took on a pained look, “Love, if you want to go to school all you had to do was tell me! You can go anywhere you want, spare no expense. We can settle anywhere, I'll buy you a pretty little house and we'll set up for a while. We don't need to find the rock to do that.”
Tara took hold of his hands, “I want us to find this for you. And for me. I miss you during the day if I go out and you can't come. I just want to give university a try and what better time than when we're looking for this.”
Spike sighed, “You win. We'll dig up the rock. Where is it?”
“I think you've already been there. You told me you've been to the Hellmouth in Sunnydale, California. That's where you ran into the Slayer right? I think the gem is buried somewhere under the town.”
“Bloody Hell.”
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