Disclaimers: I own nothing, I am but an adoring peon in the World of Joss. No copyright infringement intended, I’ll put them back when I’m done (but do I have to?).
Notes: Set after "The Gift" and inspired by the daily thread at the Kitten, i.e. how do you think Willow and Tara spend the weekend?
Rating: totally G; X/An, W/T, T/An/Dawn friendship and W/X friendship.
Distribution: If you have my permission already, go ahead, if not, please ask. Will eventually appear on my website: http://www.geocities.com/ressick/index.html
Other Stuff: Feedback welcome at ressick@yahoo.com and all that. Thanks y’all. Kittens rule!
****
The Weekend
by Ressick
~~~
Dawn Summers awoke to the sound of pans banging in the kitchen downstairs and the warm smell of breakfast being cooked. For a second, she thought the last few months were a horribly bad dream, that it was her mother making breakfast, and her sister Buffy would soon walk in to get her up. There was a light knock on her door, and a quiet "Dawnie, wake up," but it wasn’t her sister’s voice. Instead, Tara Maclay opened the door, and reality came crashing back down on the former Key. "Dawnie, c’mon, breakfast is mostly done, and Xander and Anya will be here soon," said the witch, gently smiling at her young friend.
Dawn smiled back, relaxing in the comfort Tara’s presence gave. Then she realized it wasn’t Tara in the kitchen, and she started to panic, "Willow isn’t cooking, is she?" Dawn said, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and throwing the covers off.
Tara’s eyes twinkled and she shook her head, letting her golden hair fall over her eyes. "No, of course not. Mr. Giles is cooking. Will’s setting the table." They both laughed softly, hesitantly, as if with all the tragedy in their lives, they didn’t deserve to smile.
"Good, cuz I remember the last time Will cooked breakfast," replied Dawn with a grimace.
"Me too, too bad Glory didn’t suck that memory out of my head," Tara joked. She’d gained a sense of humor about her incapacitation at the hands of the hell-bitch. "Well c’mon, go brush your teeth and then come down to breakfast," she said.
"Why do I have to brush my teeth before I eat?" the teenager whined back.
Soon the remnants of the Scooby Gang were gathered around the table in the Summers residence, eating quietly. Xander and Anya held hands under the table, while Giles took his place at the head of the table, and family, with a sad grace. Willow and Tara were human bookends for Dawn, who drew strength from the two witches. The Scoobs softly began to discuss patrol, and the legal arrangements they were attempting to make regarding custody of Dawn.
"Buffy left it real clear in her will that my custody was to go to Giles," Dawn said softly to Tara, who with Giles were handling the legal issues.
"Yes, but if your father attempts to claim custody, we won’t have a chance in the American courts, no matter that we’re family," Giles replied stiffly, the thought terrifying him that he might lose Dawn.
"Well Mr. Summers hasn’t even showed up since Mrs. Summers or Buffy..." Tara trailed off, and swallowed willfully before she could continue even more soft-spokenly, "... died. He doesn’t seem to care at all. And with that, the will should stand uncontested."
"Thank goodness I forced Buffy into drafting a will," Giles murmured.
"How about we swing around Restfield tonight?" Xander said.
"Yeah, it has been about a week since we were last there. Do you two want to stay with Dawn or should Tara and I?" Willow replied softly, letting her arm curl around Dawn’s shoulders as she ate one-handed. Ever since they’d lost Buffy, Willow had been extra-protective of the youngest Summers, often making sure she was touching the teenager, assuring the redhead that Dawn was still there.
Anya shuffled around in her seat. "You can stay with Dawn, we’ll take Giles," Xander answered, pulling Anya close to him.
"No," Anya said suddenly, "I’d like to stay with Dawn."
Willow and Xander looked at her, and nodded quietly. "Then Xander, how about you and me head over to Restfield? Tara and Anya can stay with Dawn. I think Giles has some work at the Magic Shop to do tonight." Xander nodded, and they turned their concentration back to eating.
****
That night, Willow and Xander quietly packed their weapons, put on their jackets, and kissed their girlfriends goodbye before heading out to patrol. They left Tara and Anya with Dawn, and Giles had, after dinner, gone to the Magic Shop to do paperwork.
The two childhood best friends walked together through Sunnydale’s largest cemetery. They had taken to patrolling together, needing to share the time, needing to remember that they were both still alive. Losing Buffy had destroyed both of them. It drew the pair closer than before, needing the comfort of lifelong friendship and original Scoobydom. They would patrol, talking about high school, the early days of fighting the forces of darkness, and even their shared childhood. Slowly, tenderly, they reconnected with each other, sharing dreams and hopes and fears.
Vampires had mostly been absent from Sunnydale since Glory had been defeated. It seemed evil was taking a break on the hellmouth. So patrol invariably led to visiting Buffy and Joyce. Willow and Xander would stand together before the graves, arms around each other, silently weeping before they wiped the tears from each other’s eyes and started for the Expresso Pump, where they’d get a coffee before heading back to the Summers residence.
****
Tara and Anya were a strange pair to be friends, everyone besides them agreed. A former vengeance demon and a shy blond witch weren’t the most obvious to become friends. But they were good friends, sharing the ups and downs of being Scooby girlfriends ever since being trapped in the bathroom as their significant others fought during Spike’s Yoko maneuver. Their friendship had grown as the two discovered a similar tender-heartedness, and a shared love of violent movies. Anya had been near inconsolable when Tara had been brain-sucked, feeling as if she’d lost her only friend. Likewise, Anya had been the only one besides Willow who could calm the mentally incapacitated witch down.
After Tara had regained her mind, they’d been inseparable, much like Xander and Willow. And Tara’s closeness with Dawn had grown to include Anya as well. The three women spent patrol-time watching movies together and talking about the things they couldn’t mention around the others.
"Willow is getting a little too big-sisterish," Dawn complained, "I mean, it’s summer and she’s making me do homework!"
"She thinks she has to take over for Buffy," Anya wisely pointed out, even as her eyes misted at the mention of the lost slayer. The former vengeance demon was at her most human with her two friends.
"And she wants you to do well enough to stay with Mr. Giles. But I’ll talk to her, okay Dawnie?"
"Thanks Tara," the teen replied, stuffing popcorn in her mouth. "Look," she mumbled around the food, pointed at the television.
"It’s getting to the scene where there’s lots of violence!" Anya declared happily. "Ah, what I wouldn’t give for a good gun battle some days. Modern times, so many wonderful weapons. Not like when we had to rely on swords, fire, and boiling oil."
Tara just shook her head at the former demon, and snuggled into the couch.
****
Willow and Xander arrived back at the Summers residence to find the three women asleep on the couch, the credits to The Matrix scrolling across the screen.
"How many times can they watch this movie?" Willow asked rhetorically, as she shut off the VCR.
"I dunno, Will, Tara seems to have this thing for violent movies. I mean, with An, it’s understandable, but Tara?" Xander grinned.
"She’s my girl," Willow ignored him and ran her hands gently through the blonde’s hair.
"Mmmm, Will?" Tara groaned, her eyes opening. "How was patrol?" she asked, reaching up to grab her lover’s hand gently.
"Slow," Xander supplied helpfully. "No evil undeads." He kissed Anya awake, and then lifted Dawn into his arms. "I’ll take her up to bed."
Anya stretched, then grabbed the empty popcorn bowl and headed into the kitchen.
Willow and Tara stared at each other, hands linked. "Love you," Tara whispered.
"Love you too, my Tara," Willow smiled. "C’mon, let’s go make sure Xander tucked Dawnie in, and then, I want my snuggles."
"Vixen."
...finis...