Reset

By PSUBrat

Reset

Willow blinked and looked around. Suddenly she was very confused and disoriented. This certainly didn't look like the place where she was just sobbing about losing the love of her life. Where was everybody?? Out of the corner of her eye she caught motion. It was Tara!! But how?!?

"Better not get used to them," Tara said with a knowing grin.

Willow wasn't sure what to say simply because she had no idea what Tara was talking about. Something was so wrong. Was she dreaming? She had a sense of déjà vu but couldn't quite put her finger on it. She stood gaping, feeling unable to move even if she wanted to.

Her surroundings started to make a little sense. She was in her bedroom at Buffy's house, it was midday, and the sun was shining brightly. How could this be? She was supposed to be at what was left of the Magic Box, being comforted by her friends, yet she was here. From the look of things, she and Tara had definitely enjoyed each other's company not too long ago. That thought brought a smile to her face. She looked down at her clothing, jeans and a white button blouse. Definitely not the black ensemble that she'd just had on while trying to destroy the…

"Sweetie?" Tara was next to her now staring at her. "God," Willow thought as she slowly came out of her thoughts, "She's so beautiful."

"Sweetie? Willow? Are you okay?" Tara was gently shaking her now.

"I'm, uhm…I'm fine. Now. That you're here." She said giving Tara a sheepish smile. "I'm dreaming," she thought to herself. "Definitely dreaming." Tara pulled her into a tight embrace and Willow thought she would melt right there, whether it was a dream or not.

"Xander?" Tara asked hopefully, looking out the window into the backyard below.

"Xander??? I'm not Xander…" Willow said, not being able to hide her confusion.

"No, he's here." Tara said.

"Why would Xander be here?" Willow asked, still thinking this was some type of dream. She didn't think she'd be including Xander in any "Tara's alive I'm so happy" type dream. She wanted to concentrate on one thing but Tara was talking again.

"You know," Tara shrugged, "probably to make up with Buffy."

"Make up with Buffy? I don't understand. Did they fight?" Why should she even care? This is her dream!

Tara tilted her head slightly to the side and looked at her lover trying to figure out if she was as okay as she had said. Other than being slightly flushed, Willow looked fine. "Yeah. You know. The whole not telling about sleeping with Spike thing..." She paused smiling to herself. "I hope they make up. Making up is the best…"

The rest of Tara's sentence was lost as Willow realized where she was and what was about to happen. It wasn't déjà vu at all. She was back to the minutes prior to Tara's death. How did this happen? What was she going to do? Willow froze with panic as her thoughts consumed her mind.

Before she knew what she was doing she lunged at Tara, screaming, "Get away from the window!!!"

"Willow what is wrong with you?!?!" A visibly shaken Tara demanded.

"Just stay away from the window! Don't go near the window! I have to get downstairs and warn Buffy!" Willow shouted as she got up and bounded down the steps.

"Stay away from the window? Warn Buffy? What are you talking about??" Tara pulled herself into a sitting position, away from the window. She was thoroughly confused and wondered if they had spent too much time making up and not enough time eating or something. She shook her head and grinned. Concerned, she got up and started to follow Willow down the steps - being careful, of course, to avoid the window.

***

Buffy and Xander had just sat down on the bench to talk when Willow came bursting through the backdoor. She was visibly upset and highly agitated. Buffy and Xander shared a quick, but worried glance.

"Will? What's wrong?" Xander asked as he started to get up off the bench and go towards his oldest and dearest friend.

"Buffy! Xander! Get out of here! Warren's coming! He has a gun! He's going to shoot you Buffy and I don't know if I can save you again!!" She said breathlessly.

Xander and Buffy stared at her and then looked at each other. Both were thinking that Willow had hit her head one too many times on the headboard while making up with Tara, but from the look on Willow's face, both knew that something much worse had happened.

"What do you mean save me again?" Buffy asked incredulously.

Willow didn't answer and instead started herding them towards the back door. Tara appeared in the doorway looking troubled. Willow screamed, "Tara! Get back inside! It's not safe!" Tara wasn't sure what was happening, but knew it was serious because of the way Willow was looking at her.

"Will…you're really starting to scare me now," Xander stated as he tripped up the steps.

Willow was beside herself with panic as she kept pushing them towards the door. "Please, you don't understand what's about to happen. We need to get out of here!"

As the three of them were trying to understand Willow's fears, a voice came from behind them, "You think you could do that to me? You think I'd let you get away with that?"

They all turned to see Warren standing there pointing a gun at them and laughing as though he'd lost his mind.

"Think again!" he shouted and aimed the gun at Buffy.

Without even thinking, Willow and Tara grabbed each other's hand and intertwined their fingers together. Tara said something that Buffy couldn't quite catch. Then, in an instant, the gun in Warren's hand turned into a dove and flew away.

The shock on Warren's face was quickly replaced with anger. He turned and started to run back towards the alley knowing that he was helpless against them right now. "Don't think this is the last you'll see of me Slayer!" He shouted. "This is far from over!"

Buffy turned and began to follow him; suddenly she stopped dead in her tracks. "Willow," she asked turning to look at her friend, "Just how is it you knew he was coming??"

Willow, not quite understanding how she knew, stammered, "I…uh…don't know."

***

A little while later, the four of them sat around Buffy's dining room table. At first no one was speaking and then they were all speaking, at once, and not in an understandable fashion. Finally, Willow stood up, not being able to take the loud buzzing around her, and went to the window. Everyone stopped and looked towards her hoping for an explanation. The silence was deafening. Willow glanced at Tara, lingering just long enough on her lover's face to take in every contour, every detail. Everything was as it should be. Nothing was out of place. "She's alive. She's so alive!" Willow thought to herself with a smile.

"Uh. Hey. Will?" It was Xander. "Earth to Willow."

"Huh?" Willow asked giving Xander a blank look.

"What's with the smileage? Wanna kinda let us in on the joke thing?"

Without even thinking, Willow took a deep breath and said quickly, with a sense of relief, "I'm just so glad you're not hurt Buffy. And Tara! Oh my god. I'm just so happy you're not dead!"

Buffy just looked at her friend questioningly. She was sure that Willow had hit her head somehow. She'd have to ask Tara about it when she had a chance to be alone with the other witch.

"Willow, I'm definitely not dead. Am I supposed to be?" Tara asked as that look of concern crept back into her face.

"Well yeah. Warren shot you in the back and he shot Buffy and you died and I had your blood all over my shirt (she looked down at her shirt and absently tugged on it with her hands) and Buffy was really hurt…

"Yeah we've got that so far, Will…" Xander broke in.

"…Then I went to the Magic Box and got all of the black magic books, but that was after I froze Anya and became really evil but I saved Buffy's life before I tried to destroy the world and Sunnydale was this big mess and Giles came back and…"

"Giles? Haven't heard his name in like, forever…" said Xander breaking in again.

"…and…I think I better sit down." Her knees started to give out but Buffy was there in a flash helping her to a chair.

"And let me guess, I was the Tin Man and Buffy was the Lion and Tara was the Scarecrow. Who was Toto?" asked Xander with a wink.

Tara was now kneeling in front of Willow holding her hand while Buffy had her arm around Willow's shoulders. Dawn would be home from Janice's house soon and Buffy wanted to have this thing settled before that. She just didn't want Dawn to have to see Willow coming unglued like this. She then gave Xander a scowl, which told him he should shut up or at least not be making light of the situation when their friend was obviously not well.

So many thoughts were swirling through Willow's head. She wasn't sure how she had gotten here and she certainly couldn't explain why Tara was alive and well. Not that she was upset with this outcome. Not in the least. She just didn't understand it. She tried desperately to think back to what could have happened. Did she do a spell? No…she couldn't have. Giles and Anya had drained her of all of her powers. There was something tugging at the back of her brain, as if she knew the answer to this entire question but just couldn't reach it. One by one, she looked at her friends. Each had a look of desperate concern for her well-being on their faces. She especially hated the pained look in Tara's eyes. She wanted that face to be smiling forever.

Shaking her head, she slowly stood up. She needed to say something, anything to allay their fears. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to worry you. I guess maybe I'm just dehydrated or hungry or something. Oh! Maybe I had a bad dream and like, I couldn't tell the difference between being awake and being asleep because I'm so hungry!"

Buffy looked at her friend thoughtfully and slowly said, "Maybe you're right Will, but that doesn't explain how you knew about Warren coming here with a gun to threaten me."

Willow knew she had to think fast. She really didn't want them worrying about her. She just wanted to be in Tara's arms. Sweet, loving Tara. Willow needed to think of a good explanation until she could work this out on her own. Besides, she was beginning to think that maybe she had dreamed all of that stuff about trying to destroy the world. "You're right," she said to Buffy, "I think maybe I had a vision about that."

Tara put her arm around Willow's waist and asked, "Sweetie, was that when you went all spacey on me upstairs while we were getting dressed?"

Willow, seeing the out, took it and ran, "Yes! That's it! It must have been a vision type thing!" She wasn't exactly lying, right? When she figured this all out for herself, she would let the others know. Until then, there was really no reason to continue worrying them.

Buffy thought Willow's explanation was a bit forced seeing as how her friend had never had visions before this, but for now she would take her word. There were bigger things to worry about, namely Warren. He had proven dangerous, even without any special powers. He had to be stopped. God only knew what else he might have up his sleeve. She longed for a good old monster of the week or even a big bad. Where was a vampire when you really needed one? Those she could handle, she was born to handle them; but humans…humans were another thing entirely.

Nodding his head and rubbing his hands together, Xander looked at the girls and grinned, "Great. Problem solved. Now. What are we going to do about Warren?"

"Good question." Buffy said mostly to herself as she looked out the window, slipping deep into thought. The others continued their conversation around her.

"…and when can we eat?"

"Xander do you only think about food?" Willow asked while in Tara's embrace.

"No I think about other things too but usually they involve big breasted women and…"

Continue