by JustSkipIt » Sun Jan 20, 2008 2:09 pm
em – Thanks so much for the comments. I’m glad you like the Wish scenarios. They’re fun to play with. I appreciate your comments and PM. Here you go.
Story Title – Working It Out
Chapter – 4 – The Wish
Author – JustSkipIt
Pairing – Willow/Tara, Faith/Dawn
Feedback – Yes, please
Spoilers – None
Rating – NC-17
Disclaimer – Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy own Willow, Tara, and the Buffyverse and Angelverse and all characters and locations from those universes. No copyright infringement is meant by this fic and I will not make any money from it.
Additional Disclaimer – This story or at least this chapter is based on a rumor I’ve heard and read attributed to the creator of Buffy in various sources claiming this basic plot for Tara’s return. I do know not remember a citation nor do I know if those rumors are true. Nonetheless, I’ve never seen a fic from it and decided to do one.
Note – This will likely be my last update to this story for a while. I am starting a new project with a collaborator and am very excited about it. I will probably dedicate all my limited writing energy to that project. Sorry for getting you into this and laming out. I wanted to end on this note though for the time being.
Still she floated. Sometimes more aware and sometimes less. It seemed that there was someone waiting. Someones. Someone who loved her and still loved her and who was in pain over her. At times a cry pierced her spirt. Someone shouting Tara and a feeling of loss. But the spirit can’t hold onto thoughts or emotions or even piercing cries and she went on floating
--
Willow ran her fingers through her hair. Too long. Again. It seemed like she always needed it cut but maybe it just was that she didn’t really care to pay attention to things like her hair any more. Hell, if she didn’t feel like some authority was needed over all the new girls, she would wear pajamas, to hell with her image. Who was there to impress anyway? A smile graced her face as she remembered her angst over clothing selection when meeting Tara for spells. Why had that not been a clue? How could it have taken her months to realize that she was attracted to the shy witch when she spent hours trying to decide which pair of sneakers to wear and poured baby powder in each in case she took off her shoes? She never knew whether to be exasperated at herself for wasting those months falling in love when she could have been with Tara that entire time or loving the feeling, the secret romance, of their love. She’d been so selfish in the beginning—wanting to keep Tara all to herself. She knew that the blonde had thought her ashamed of their relationship but that wasn’t it. She just didn’t want anything to intrude on their little bubble.
She brushed the back of her hand across her eyes. Damn it. When would she be done crying all the time?
When Tara returns. She choked back a sob. Like that is ever going to happen. No. It wasn’t and she had to go on living and that just sucked beyond all belief. And part of what hurt so badly was the knowledge that her lover hadn’t died saving the world or even helping a little old woman cross the street. She had died randomly and with no warning, no reason. Stupidly.
Her coffee cup was empty and it gave her a chance to get up. She stopped first at the restroom and splashed some water on her face before proceeding down the hall to the hotel restaurant. Of course restaurant was a kind appellation for the large room with boxes of cereal, Danish, hard-boiled eggs, and kettles of coffee. At least the hotel had the large freezers and refrigerators or they would have been spending all their newly liberated funds on feeding the army of new slayers. And some of them were hardly able to feed themselves three times a day. The new setup would certainly require some supervision and chaperoning and again she missed Tara. The blonde would have loved having a role in guiding these young women. Willow couldn’t really imagine herself or Buffy and certainly not Faith in charge of their daily activities.
She grabbed a donut with the cup of coffee and trudged back to her workspace. The planning progress was going great. They had most known Slayers assigned to their locations. Watchers or in some cases temporary Watchers would be flying out over the next few days to find residences and training facilities, then their charges would follow within the week. Fortunately everyone could travel light but it was still a massive undertaking. The witch glanced at the clock on her desktop. 10:07. She’d been awake and working on the plan for over three hours, having met with Giles and Wesley as well as speaking to Xander by phone. The three surviving Slayers had made what the medical staff at the small-town hospital had termed amazing recoveries. Gunn had agreed to drive down in the afternoon to bring them and the healthy Slayers back. Xander would remain with Robin who was doing well. Willow had not determined the best location for his deployment and didn’t even know, in fact, if he wished to remain but his skill both with the vampire population and with a high school age cohort would be well utilized. She hoped that he would remain with them.
“Good morning, Will.” Buffy took a seat across from the red-haired witch sighing loudly and setting down a plate with three donuts on it as well as a diet coke. “I’ll be glad when we have something more nutritious to eat than donuts.”
Willow nodded and continued typing. “Not more than a week, Buff.” She finished her task and looked up, snapping shut the lid of her laptop. “How was last night?”
“Last night?”
Willow nodded her head. “Yeah. You know, patrolling with Faith?” Before Buffy could answer she looked up and saw Dawn coming in carrying an egg and donut with a diet coke to match her sister’s. “Good morning, Dawn.”
“Hey Willow. Hi Buffy.” Dawn took a seat next to Buffy and began to eat her breakfast.
“You look terrible,” Buffy declared as she took in her sister’s appearance. “Are you not sleeping?”
Dawn shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean I just couldn’t sleep last night. I’m sure …I’m fine.”
“And where did you get that bruise on your wrist? Dawn, are you ok?” Willow’s voice rose and she was practically shouting, getting the attention of a few of the other girls eating breakfast in the large room.
Buffy quickly grasped her sister’s hand and ran her fingertips over the skin. “Dawn. Where did you get this? I thought you said none of them touched you. Do you need to see a doctor?”
Dawn pulled away her arm quickly and tucked her hand under her arm-pit. “God Buffy. Worry when I’m really hurt. It’s… from the other day but it’s fine.”
“Well put some ice and arnica on it,” Willow added. “I was just asking Buffy about patrol last night with Faith.”
Dawn nodded. “Yeah. How was patrol? Anything interesting?”
Buffy rolled her eyes. “Interesting? It was about the most interesting patrol I can remember.”
“How so?”
Buffy took a long drink of her coke. “Well we hit a few cemeteries. Poofed some vampires.” She shook her head. “I think I had forgotten how much Faith gets off on the violence. I mean she was just… it’s different.” She looked over at the teen. “Dawn, you ok?”
Dawn shook her head. “Oh. Yeah, just wandering I guess.”
Buffy continued. “So the night went on and we’re out killing the bad guys, as we do, poof, poof, poof, slay, slay, slay… and we run into Whistler.”
Willow reacted immediately setting her coffee cup down too hard on the table and having to grab a napkin to mop up the spill. “Whistler? Buffy, are you ok? What did he say?”
Dawn looked back and forth between the two older women. “Eternal demon who tries to balance good and evil right?”
“Someone’s been doing research.” Dawn gave her sister a snotty look and waved her hand for the Slayer to continue.
“Yeah Whistler. Not my favorite demon ever.”
“Oh Buffy…” Willow trailed off. What could she say? Whistler had shown up and explained to Buffy how to kill Angel. She still thought it must be the hardest thing her best friend had ever had to do.
Buffy tried to wave off Willow’s sympathy. “Anyway, he says that I have 24 hours to make a wish.”
“A wish?” Willow repeated.
“A wish. I can’t go back in time and change something but I can wish for anything now.”
“Why, Buffy?” Dawn asked.
Buffy continued to shake her head. “Apparently someone has taken notice of all the good fight I’ve been fighting. Now I just have to figure out what to wish for.”
“A pound of jelly beans,” Dawn offered playfully.
“Lifetime supply of mochas,” Willow joined in. Then she got more serious. “What are you going to do Buffy?”
Buffy shook her head. “I just don’t know. I mean if I can have anything, what do I want?”
“Mom?”
Buffy smiled at her little sister and patted her shoulder. “I don’t know, Dawn. I just … I guess I need to figure it out.”
“Does Faith get a wish too?” Willow asked as the idea occurred to her.
Buffy smiled and seemed to take a perverse joy in her answer. “Nope. Apparently she hasn’t been fighting the good fight long enough. Whistler told her that she holds the key to happiness and love in her heart and that’s all she gets. You should have seen her face.”
Willow rolled her eyes. “I’ve never noticed Faith’s heart being where she holds happiness and does she even know what love is?”
Buffy shook her head. “She’s changed a lot since she went to prison. I’m not Faith’s biggest fan but I can see that.”
Willow shook her head. “I know. I just have a hard time wanting to trust her at all. I mean she held a knife to my throat.”
Dawn looked down at the table and pressed her fingertips to the fake wood. “Mine too, Willow, but she does seem different. Maybe you can give her a chance?”
Buffy saw a clear opportunity. “See, that’s why I want you to stay away from her, Dawn.”
Dawn rolled her eyes in response. “You were just telling Willow how much she’s changed but now you want me to stay away from her. God, hypocrite much, Buffy?”
“I just don’t want you getting hurt.”
“She’s changed,” Dawn argued.
“Look, maybe Dawn’s right.” Willow tried to diffuse the Summers family tension. “Did you talk when you were coming in from slaying?”
Buffy smiled. “Well, we might have except that she didn’t come in. She waved her thumb in the direction of some clubs and went to get wild or jiggy with it or whatever. She’s all… you know… Faithy that way.”
Willow glanced at the teenager at the table. “She probably just… you know, found someone to talk with and had a deep meaningful conversation.” She looked around before adding, “or maybe they played board games.”
“And didn’t come home last night?” Buffy argued. She glanced at her little sister and apparently decided that Dawn was old enough to hear talk of sex. “Willow, you know that it means nothing to her. She’s trying to sow her oats from her time in prison. I mean if she was in 3 years she probably missed out on, what sleeping with a thousand or so guys or girls or whatever?”
Dawn couldn’t believe Buffy’s nerve. “Why are you checking up on her?”
Buffy took a deep breath and looked at her sister. “I wasn’t checking up on her. I went past her room on the way down here and she wasn’t in there.” She saw the way the other two women were looking at her and pointed at her ear. “Slayer hearing.”
Dawn shrugged. “Whatever. Willow here is the one who wants Wesley to talk her out of going back to prison.”
“Oh!” The redhead nearly shouted. “He and she talked yesterday afternoon and as of this morning, I’ve got her records all fixed. She’s as free as you or me and can use her name again.”
Buffy snorted. “I’m sure she’ll make good use of her freedom.”
Willow could see that the two sisters were about to get back into a fight and it hardly seemed worth it for anyone to defend Faith’s honor. The dark-haired slayer had certainly never wanted to defend it. She did find Buffy’s supposition that Faith was interested in both men and women telling, having long suspected those leanings in the other Slayer but never really noticing that Buffy was that perceptive.
And apparently Dawn had had enough of it as well. “I’m going for a run. I’ll take my phone in case you need me.”
Willow had been going to ask the teenager to help her this afternoon but Buffy stood up and took her sister’s hand before the redhead. “Hey, sis. Want to help me do some shopping this afternoon? I haven’t gotten any thing new to wear yet.” She motioned toward her current outfit with obvious distaste.
Dawn smiled. “Sure, you know mom here gave us all credit cards…”
“Hey!”
“I’m just teasing you, Willow.” The teenager assured the two other girls that she would be back in a few hours and left the ballroom.
“Oh!”
Buffy turned back and looked at the red-haired witch. “Willow? Are you ok?”
“Yes, it’s just…” she quickly opened her laptop and hit a few keys. “I wasn’t exactly keeping up with my e-mail the last few weeks.”
“Slacker.”
“Right.” She turned the computer around and pointed to the screen. “I missed this reminder from Amazon.com.”
Buffy looked at the screen. “… reminder from wish list… Dawn Summers…. Birthday… Oh Crap!” She looked at her best friend. “We totally missed her birthday.” She melodramatically banged her forehead on the table. “Ok. We need to plan a party for her. Or maybe not a party. Dancing? No. Dinner? You and me and Xander and her and … Yeah. A dinner. Maybe tomorrow night?”
Willow saw something on her computer that needed attention. “Why don’t you worry about your wish today and Dawn’s birthday tomorrow? It’s already late.”
Buffy smiled at her friend as she bent over the computer. It was obvious that she was absorbed already. “Right, Will. Talk to you later.”
--
Dawn opened the door to her room quietly, not sure if Faith would still be asleep at 10:30 in the morning and was glad she had. The Slayer in question was asleep on her stomach, her arms wrapped around the pillow and Dawn had to suppress a giggle at how adorable the other woman looked. She quickly got her running gear and stepped into the bathroom to change. When she emerged, Faith was lying in bed watching the door with a smile on her face.
Dawn crossed the room and casually kissed her lover. “I’m going for a run. Want to go?”
Faith groaned. “You can’t possibly expect me to go running this early after the workout I had last night.” She reached up and pulled the teen back toward the bed and kissed her deeply. “Maybe you could stay here and get some exercise some other way.”
Dawn pulled away with her eyes still closed. “Mmm. That is very tempting, Faith, but since I just told Willow and Buffy that I’m going running, unless you want a visit from them, it’s probably not a great idea.”
Faith laughed. “I don’t know. B might learn something.”
Dawn sat on the edge of the bed and began tying her shoes. “Sure like when’s the next flight to Greenland so she can station you there and where to find a convent for me.”
The Slayer nodded. “True. But it would be fun to see her turn colors.”
Dawn looked at the dark-haired girl skeptically. “Are you just doing…” she waved her hand between the two of them “whatever we’re doing to piss off Buffy?”
Faith picked up the teen’s hand. “No. I’m doing … whatever this is … I don’t know.. I guess I kind of … I mean I kind of like… you know… whatever… you know, kid?” She smiled and added. “Pissing B off would just be a French benefit.”
Dawn kissed the Slayer but she was smiling and laughing when she did. “Did you say a French Benefit?”
“Sure. French Benefits. Something good like toast or fries or kisses.” She leaned forward and demonstrated the last item in the list. “See, good things.”
Dawn laughed again and tucked a piece of hair behind the older girl’s ear. “They’re not French benefits like good things. They’re fringe benefits like something extra you get besides getting paid.”
Faith rolled her eyes and flopped back onto the bed. “Great. Now I’m going to have to study or go back to school or something to date you.”
“We’re dating?”
“I don’t know. I mean… I’ve never dated but this is kind of … I mean. Fuck. How about it?”
Dawn shook her head. “Well, gosh, Faith. You really know how to romance a girl. I mean ‘fuck. How about it?’ I’m overcome.”
Faith stood up and paced over to the younger girl, kissing her on the cheek and taking her hands. “Sorry for the lack of romance, kid. I have an idea of somewhere I’d like to take you but I need to check some things out. Will you go with me the day after tomorrow?”
Somehow Dawn just couldn’t help smiling although she tried to be tough. “Only if you stop calling me ‘kid’ and I’m not sure that I’ll be putting out on our first date.”
“I’ll stop calling you ‘kid’ when you’re not a kid anymore and I’m pretty sure that the boat already sailed on that putting out thing unless I dreamed the last few nights.” She whispered in the younger girl’s ear, “And believe me, if they were dreams, they were very very very…” she licked Dawn’s earlobe, “wet.”
Dawn shuddered a bit, regretting that she didn’t seem to be able to resist the Slayer’s attentions. “Yes, I’ll go out with you.” She stuck out her tongue in her best spoiled brat fashion and added, “on a date.”
Faith smiled at Dawn’s behavior and then leaned forward to capture the offending tongue between her lips, kissing her quickly. She swatted the younger girl on the bottom. “You better get going or I’m going to find something for you to do with that tongue.”
Dawn tucked her phone into her pocket and winked. Since she turned and jogged to and out the door, she didn’t see Faith watching her ass with a dazed look on her face. And of course she didn’t hear the Slayer’s mutter. “Damn. I gotta get my head back on business.” Nor was she aware that the Slayer didn’t exactly get her head back on anything but a pillow and memories of the night before for quite a few minutes. Nor was she able to be eternally grateful that her sister and her amazing hearing didn’t, in fact, walk by the room during that time.
The teenager returned to the hotel an hour and a half later, saying hi to Willow and letting Buffy know that she’d be ready to shop as soon as she had showered and changed. She didn’t mention the intense joy she felt about the fact that as she was finishing her run and stretching in the park, Faith had surprised her by meeting her there. The Slayer had shrugged it off as just needing to stretch her legs and seemed puzzled when she explained that she didn’t know how she had known how to find Dawn but that she had run this way and that for ten minutes or so before arriving at the park. The two had goofed around for a few minutes before making plans to run the next day and some vague intimations that they’d be seeing each other before that. The teenager felt that she had “played it cool” in spite of the way she felt. A part of her couldn’t believe that Faith was actually paying this kind of attention to her. More than that, seemed to be seeking her out. She knew what Whistler’s words meant and while the warning about protecting her made her uneasy, the fact that she was in Faith’s heart was, well, heartening. Of course, Faith clearly didn’t know what his words had meant or she would be likely to bolt. And a part of Dawn wondered if she should mention the warning to Giles or Willow but how could she possibly do that without revealing why Whistler would have given the first part of the message to Faith? Not to mention, how mad would Faith be when she found out Dawn’s identity? Sure she wasn’t really the Key anymore, but that didn’t mean that Faith wouldn’t be pissed off when she found out that Dawn was keeping it from her.
By the time she had dressed after her shower she felt no more relieved about the situation than before but she resolved to put it out of her mind and enjoy shopping with Buffy. She wanted to be helpful to Buffy about her wish but at the same time, didn’t want to influence her. The fact was that Buffy, with brief interruptions for death and a season of waitressing which had included a trip to Hell, had given everything, including her life to save the world over and over. If she wanted to wish for Mr. Gordo back and animate him with speech capabilities in ten languages that was her prerogative.
As it turned out, Buffy wasn’t considering retrieving Mr. Gordo. The Summers sisters had lunch and shopped and had dinner and continued shopping. In spite of the younger sister’s efforts the day before she found quite a few selections to her liking while Buffy, shopped so much that only her Slayer strength allowed her to transport the combined purchases home. Fortunately they had hailed a taxi to return them to the hotel with their loot.
By the time they arrived, Dawn knew no more about what Buffy would do with her wish than she had at the start of their afternoon. Not that Buffy was keeping it from Dawn; clearly Buffy did not know either. The Slayer had mentioned perhaps 25 ideas regarding her wish but had found reasons for and against every one of them. It struck Dawn as surprising that Buffy seemed to be considering ideas to bring joy to others rather than to herself and then struck her as ungenerous to be surprised by that.
“Do you want me to come with you while you think about it?”
Buffy considered it and then shook her head. “No. I think I’ll go and pace on the roof. Hey, if you see Faith can you ask her to take out some of the newbies and that I’m taking the night off?”
Dawn shrugged. “I’ll see if I can find her.”
Buffy looked thoughtful. “Thanks. Hey, I’m thinking about this. Her room is way down on two and ours is up on fourth. Do you think we should move her up?”
Dawn tried her hardest to affect a nonchalant attitude in spite of how much easier that move would make her sneaking. Or at least Faith’s sneaking. “So you can keep an eye on her? Sure.”
“Actually, I thought she wouldn’t feel left out that way. You know I’ve been thinking about her… well her little foray into evil and it seems to me like she was kind of lonely at the hotel.”
Dawn had to mentally admonish herself again as she nearly smarted off about Buffy’s sudden seeming care for those around her. “Well, I think that would be nice then.” She smiled. “I could tell her when I tell her about patrol.”
Buffy thanked her and they parted at the stairs. She realized partway up that she still carried all her bags so she went back down to four, dropped them in her room, and then went up the stairs to the roof. Maybe it was being a Slayer, who knew, but she had always enjoyed being outside when she really needed to think about a problem. She checked her watch and saw that she had only about two hours to make her choice. One idea continued to pop up no matter how many times she thought of other ones. And she could see how it would make the world a better place. But she couldn’t see how it would immediately help her. And was that something that she wanted? To make a wish that wasn’t directly Buffy-beneficial?
--
An hour and a half later, her decision made, she knocked lightly on the door to room 417.
“Buffy?” Willow pulled open the door and stepped back a step to allow her best friend inside while yawning. “How was shopping?”
Buffy shifted her weight from foot to foot and smiled. “It was great. I found these great boots.” She lifted her feet one at a time. “Black, of course, and they’re perfect in absolutely every way. Comfortable, light, durable.” She lifted up her foot to show the sole and then her pant leg to show the uppers. “I’m telling you these things are going to be a miracle… although I don’t know if I can fly wearing them. They have metal in the tips.” She experimentally kicked a few times. “Very lightweight though.” She smiled knowingly. “Faith is going to want a pair. But I think I only want them for me. What do you think?”
Willow yawned and ran her hand through her hair. “I’m sure they’re great, Buff.”
“Great? They’re a miracle.”
Willow nodded sleepily. “Are the boots your wish? I mean it’s midnight, Buffy, and I’m sure that they’re really, really wonderful. But it’s midnight.”
Buffy’s hair barely moved in spite of the massive shrug, perhaps testament to her need for a visit to a beauty shop to go with the shopping spree. “I just thought you might want to know about my wish.”
Buffy’s wish. I almost forgot. Time to step up being a friend.”I’m sure you made a great choice, Buff. What did you decide on?”
Buffy didn’t speak at all. She just let the smirk on her face and the sight of the figure behind her as she stepped to the side do the talking.
“Tara?”
Disappointed?
.
Well try to. But it is really hart!!:paranoid