Part 101 is below Kittens. Sorry for the delay. A few replies first though.
Julie - Ooooh a dissertation. May I ask the title as they usually insist on that being phrased rather precisely?
By all means e-mail me after I finish this fic... The last part should post next Friday. *gulp*
Thanks.
Mrs Vertigo - Welcome back! You might see a few loose ends coming in the part that is below. All new loose ends. Shiny and new... I call them options. You might call them doors that are ajar.
Tara... hmmm. I would agree that I portray
my version of her with an internal consistency and in depth - I have always been aiming for that even if that depth annoyed mightily. But I always worried about the parts of her that were supposed to carry over from the Canon and whether I nailed those.
I think I have twigged where my inspiration for the tree might have come from and given that it was nothing to do with a tree I have to admit that I can see ways that she could continue as a literal force of nature. Maybe she will. Doors ajar see!
Tara would never have a physical fight with Giles, and I know you are kidding, and nor would Giles with her. BUt you are right it could have been very different. It nearly was... and that could have worked. I am not sure whether it would have been better or worse than this version.
Action - hmmmm. I never see myself as an action writer, yet when I start doing it it flows quite well (which is always a good sign) and people seem to like it (which is even better.) Action is like a necessary evil to me that, unlike exposition, I cannot avoid. I cannot avoid it cos the story needs it and you are all supposed to enjoy the story - so I suppose - whatever my own feelings - I am glad that you do!
Kalita - LOL. See my exposition comes in the planning. I write the notes for myself and then totally ignore the telling of it later and hope it slips out in other ways. Some times that works and other times it leaves holes as shown above. On the other hand I didn;t have to write it, which helped me keep going no doubt! And what has the lack of it caused? Debate*S*
See this is why I hate archives and I love Pens. Pens is interactive. If I skip the exposition I can cheat and fill in the gaps (even if it is not strictly needed) in the feedback. And I can listen to your explanations and appropriate them as my own. Archives... If I put this in an archive - without the feedback sections - I think so many people would go "huh?" and then just skip it.
And as for exceling at the internal stuff... it comes from too much practice. Some people might consider it my
style of writing. To me it is more... can't remember how to do anything else (and that is very true - I can't. I am having to ask someone to read what I have written for another project recently just to see if I am handling multiple characters correctly.) The internal stuff is my chosen method, but if you do too much then it is TOO much. Ideally I would have varied a little more in this fic... especially when it was not Tara's PoV.
Maybe then a few things would have been clearer.
I think I would say then - don't worry too much about the internal.
Celia - Hey Celia, update is here!
Slacking... no. Snuggling. And Xita... Shhhush.
I cannot decide if my "view" of the magic needs to be a view or an established fact. I suppose in this fic it can be a view. If this went anywhere else... then I would have to define it more. Just not with exposition.
Actually, you know... I wonder if I am avoiding exposition or if the whole damn thing is internal exposition. I so often avoid showing events and have an internal recollection of them later. Is that exposition? GAHHH!
What are you reserving your dexterity for?
The Beginning Cycle. It was a shame. The writing was much better towards the end, though lacking a serious beta reader, yet the story had slipped away from me. I wish I had written better at the start where the missing scene stuff was best (IMHO) and then I wish I had stopped earlier.... or at least skipped stuff. You will see if you read it.
And what can you do?
Well you can read Part 101.
Thanks Kittens,
Now enjoy... I think this might be a bit of a crowd pleaser based on the elements that are in there. But then everytime I think that you all prefer other bits! LOL
Katharyn
---------------
Title:
The Sidestep Chronicle – Legacies (Part 101)
Author: Katharyn Rosser
Feedback: Constructive criticism always welcome.
katharynrosser@hotmail.comSpoiler Warning: Pretty limited. The story occurs in an alternate universe though reference is made to events that occur in both realities.
Summary: The aftermath of the new magic and the reason that Lizzie was there.
Disclaimer: I still don’t own any of the copyrights or anything else associated with BTVS. All rights lie with the production company, writers etc, etc. I am making zilch from this series of stories.
Rating: 15
Couples: T/W
Notes: This, along with 102, would have been served up with Part 100. As such it refers back to events in that part without necessarily recapping as otherwise it might. I have a headache and can’t be bothered to change that now so… live with it*S*
Thanks To: Well if last time it was the beta readers then this time it’s the ideas people. Funnily enough they are mostly the same people. Kerry who was here right from the start and was chatting with me about idea’s and reading the synopsis more than 12 months ago now. Do you have any idea how good it is to have fresh, unconnected, eyes looking at something like that so early? She pointed out the pitfalls, the loopholes and whether the damn thing would work before anything was really written. Had she not done that, I am not sure that the plan would have been tight enough to have this work. Jo – who lent expertise as well as her beta reading and was never shy about an opinion, which taught me how I should be with my own beta reading. In a very good way Kerry became incredibly close to this and thus it was Jo who became the detached observer for such a long time. MariaComet who brainstormed with me on more than one occasion – and like some of the others talked me out of some stuff and into others. Xita… can you guess what parts of this Xita helped to brainstorm? Yes it was the smut. I will not say which aspects of that. Thank you all. Oh and the legion of writers and filmmakers whose ideas I stole shamelessly.
The Sidestep Chronicle
Legacies
By
Katharyn Rosser
He had to admit that it was pretty impressive – whatever it was that she had actually done. The question, ‘couldn’t you just have staked it,’ was a valid one but, he felt immediately after the words left his mouth that, he’d been harsher than was necessary in the circumstances. Maybe not ‘harsh’ as such, but certainly lacking the humour that the situation should have merited.
And the wonder.
He’d been trying to make a little joke because he really had no idea what else to do or to say.
In his career, his training and in his life before being a Watcher he’d seen a lot of magic but he’d only ever read of something like that in very old texts – and even then the writings were based on legends rather than actual eyewitness accounts. Perhaps even with that limited knowledge, and looking at the doubt and uncertainty on Tara’s face, he knew a little more about it than she did. And he’d never heard of any problems with that kind of magic. At least not as it was presented in those incomplete legends. It had always seemed older… purer. It had always seemed that the corruption had come after those days. That perhaps in a search for more those practicing such arts had lost far more than they had ever gained.
And magic had faded from the world at large.
Tara could have flung that stake through the vampire, through a half dozen more of them in fact. He had seen her do that, in fact he was alive because of that sort of action on her part. She would have done that a year ago and she’d have felt okay about that – at least that he thought she would have. Now… he wasn't so sure about what her opinions on the magic were. She hadn’t been
unable, she had very clearly being…
unwilling. All that time he’d been willing to make use of her magic to make things easier for Faith – and at the same time he’d feared it because he knew where the magic could, would and possibly even should, lead to. And she’d never wanted the magic? Was that it? But that had been a different sort of magic. That had been the sort of magic that was a part of chaos and entropy. It gave itself over to the use of those who worshipped it and it offered itself to those who might be lured, eventually, to its side.
To the darkness.
Such was his experience.
But this… he’d never heard of nature bending to the will of magic. Nature was too powerful for that and it had it’s own plan. Whilst entropy and chaos might be necessary parts of nature, nature was never subservient to them. For creature every person that died there was a birth. For every fire that decimated a landscape there were seed pods that needed that release. Entropy and chaos were there for…
They were there because they were necessary
for the course of nature.
Had Tara been necessary in the same way? Had she found nature now? Had nature found her? Had something touched her and found that she was deserving of it? Or was something deserving of her?
He softened the sarcasm of his question with a slight smile. It was, perhaps obviously, false. But it wasn't false because he was angry with her. He was bemused. He had to admit it to himself. Everything that he had thought about her, in the report that he’d submitted to the Council with such tragic results, and in the days since those results had come to pass… everything was turned on its head by this simple demonstration of accidental power… as well as by her reactions to both kinds of magic.
If magic was even what one of those was.
“Wh-what did I do?” she asked him hesitantly.
“You don’t know?” Of course she didn’t. She shook her head to confirm that. “Neither do I,” he admitted.
Jenny might have some idea though. Her clan’s magic had been one that was rooted more in the natural traditions than the dark magics he’d explored in his own life. Even when they were used for good those spells were almost always referred to as the ‘Dark Magics.’ He’d never really stopped to consider the reasons for that.
But nature, as far as he knew, had never been a part of that ‘darkness.’ Not a willing part.
She wasn't using the Dark Magics now.
She wasn't
using anything as far as he had been able to see. Nor was anything using her – as the Dark Magics
could be argued to do. She’d received a gift or a boon and she, through that, had saved their lives without recourse to the more dangerous powers that she had clearly been unwilling to use.
“We’ll find out,” he promised her. “You should-”
Tara stopped him with a gesture to the older lady who had picked herself up and was approaching them.
“Ah,umm Madam,” he said, “you should get yourself home as soon as you can,” he insisted. Despite what she’d seen, the rationalisation would soon start – better not to confuse that with any ill chosen words now.
“No, Mr Giles, Lizzie is well aware of what is out there… besides I have to go and get Willow later. Can we…” she trailed off, not asking him the question.
So she knew this person, and it wasn't a chance meeting then. Not quite. And he knew a dismissal when he heard it. Nor was he about to argue. He’d come out here to observe her, to see what she would do if she was put under stress. Maybe even to decide if the Council’s orders were still necessary.
Not that he’d intended to carry them out… not without the severest provocation. If Quentin had been worried by her power before – not that he was convinced that was the case, it might truly have been the embarrassment of his best team that had decided matters, then tonight added a whole new layer to that concern.
Tonight a power that perhaps hadn’t touched the world, via a human, in centuries or millennia had been revealed. And that was something that Rupert wasn’t entirely sure that he
should report.
After this, the Council wouldn’t want Tara Maclay dead. They would just want her. And that was, apparently, nothing that Tara herself would have desired. Tara just wanted her life. She wanted her Willow.
And she wanted to help people – she still did. And that was all.
He needed to go home. He needed to be with his wife and his daughter.
He needed to decide what he was going to do.
“Thank you,” he managed to say. She had saved their lives. But she just looked confused by his thanks.
“You-You came to help me.”
But that wasn't why he’d been there.
“Thank you,” he told her once more and then left them there.
The thanks continued in his head. ‘Thank you for making it possible for me to go home to my wife and daughter.’
----------------------
She sat on the edge of the roof of the building, swinging her legs in the cool night air. Just a few minutes ago she’d taken her shoes off and she’d been running her toes through the leaves of a large oak tree.
Which was strange.
It was a tree that hadn’t been there before and it was a tree that wasn’t there now. The canopy had blocked her view of the events below. The vampire that had been about to eat though, clearly hadn’t. The asphalt and concrete was broken. There was a broken wall and there had been screams. She loved the screams.
It obviously hadn’t been the screams of humans. She’d inflicted a few torture sessions in the last few centuries, but those screams had been something… new. More and more desperate as the seconds had passed – but they were also filled with disbelief.
Her instincts were still good. If she’d been down there…
Well, she wouldn’t have screamed – no matter what. But it was possible that she wouldn’t have survived either. Whatever it had been that had happened. She wasn't above fighting when she had to and there was a reason, usually her own life – but there were those who better at that sort of thing.
She specialised in the pain, the feeding, the power.
Not the common brawling.
There was an art to death and fighting wasn't a part of that.
She’d been right to watch.
The Watcher left and it crossed her mind to beat him back to his home, before he could reach safety. Just a quick bite… a tasting session. She could still let him live but he would have to know that she could take him any time that she wanted to. And his family. Their only defence would be to hide inside their home and never come out in the darkness. That would be a victory of sorts – if literally tasteless…
But no…
Tara Maclay was far, far more interesting than even that.
The file had never suggested anything like a magic that raised trees. Maclay should just have been a stake thrower. It was times like these that she wished that her old lover was still around. He would have leapt into the fray to kill the witch, but at least he’d studied things like this. Done the reading. He might have known what was going on.
She was willing to admit to herself that she didn’t have any idea.
But on the plus side neither, clearly, did the Watcher, the lawyers or even the witch herself. Knowledge was power – so the Master had always said. Of course strength was also power… and strength came in many different forms.
She waited, listening to the conversation in the alley below. The Witch and the former ‘victim’ seemed to know each other. But after that… after that she had things to start doing. Plans to make. Demons to see.
Humans to eat.
-----------------------
“Tara,” Lizzie said to her.
It was funny how you could forget what a person sounded like but then you’d still know exactly who they were just from the sound of their voice. The Mayor’s secretary had always been much more, though that had always been the older woman’s title. City Ordinances allowed for one secretary and one assistant and the Mayor had always had more in mind from his assistants than administrative support.
Lizzie had kept his life in order.
“Lizzie,” she replied. “Are you okay?” She looked fine, shaken perhaps but okay apart from that. She probably, Tara realised, was doing a lot better than Tara herself. Only Lizzie knew now what she’d seen in the last thirty years of working for Richard Wilkins.
“I’m fine Tara, don’t you worry yourself at all about me. How are you?” Lizzie asked. “How’s Willow?”
“W-Willow?”
“I assume that she came with you? I hope so, I’d like to meet her one day. She must be very special,” Lizzie suggested and Tara could just nod as she was taken aback by the older woman’s awareness of what had happened.
Lizzie knew that…
Of course she knew. It had been her job to know for a long time now… and someone had been arranging for the credit card bills to be paid. That had to have been Lizzie. “You knew where we were?” Tara asked her.
“Always honey, well at least from a few days after you went home” Lizzie winked. “It’s not all down to me though. The Mayor, he left instructions you know in case… He always said that you were special Tara – and that I had to take care of you if he wasn't around to do that.”
Tara wasn’t sure that she needed his brand of care at all. Besides he was gone. So this sort of fell into last wishes territory and whilst Lizzie was a good woman, Tara was sure of that, she would also only have seen the best of the Mayor. Tara, working for him for just a year, had always needed to remind herself that no matter what he did to make Sunnydale a better place – there was a nefarious reason behind that. She’d had to tell herself because with his charm and personality it was so easy to forget.
Lizzie though… she’d been there so much longer and she was still a good person at heart. That was why Tara didn’t argue with her. Instead she just allowed Lizzie to take her by the arm and lead her out from the alley.
“He always said that you were special and I have to admit that when I first met you I just thought ‘witch.’” The older woman smiled again and Tara had to return that, thinking about the strangeness that essentially was Lizzie’s day to day job – at least until Willow had…
Until she’d encouraged the vampire to do something about him.
“Then,” Lizzie continued, “you showed you had compassion as well as talent. That made you a little more special than the others. You cared about this town and he was very fond of you, you know.”
The others? “I know,” Tara told her.
But I had no choice. She had to wonder if Lizzie actually knew what had happened and who’d caused it to happen? And… what did she really think about that if she did?
The sheer fact that Tara had been absent after his death spoke volumes about her ultimate guilt in the matter.
“Walk me home dear?”
“Of course,” Tara accepted the duty without any hesitation. She’d done it many times before when she’d been working for the Mayor, and Lizzie or any of the others at City Hall had stayed in work after sundown.
“You look well, love must agree with you,” Lizzie remarked. Tara was about to demand to know what she knew, and how… but then what was the point? It wasn't a secret anymore. They’d come back and there was a surprising warmth in Lizzie’s smile.
“You too,” Tara told her, struggling for anything else to say in her surprise and her guilt. If anyone since his wife had loved Richard Wilkins, in any way, it would be Lizzie. Was it love? A long term, deep-rooted respect and compassion maybe. The Mayor had been man who cared about his employees – Lizzie more than most. He’d cared about everyone – right up to the point where he intended to eat them to fuel his transformation into a True Demon.
The man, if he’d been one, had been a mystery to everyone.
Perhaps less to Lizzie than anyone else though.
“I think,” Lizzie said, “he’d have appreciated what you just did. And I don’t mean saving me.”
What did Lizzie know? “P-pardon?”
“He always worried about your use of magic Tara, it was just one of his little foibles. He couldn’t stand anyone else’s typing even whilst he hated the fact that I sometimes struggled to use the keys. When it was really bad.”
Tara’s eyes flicked to hands that had been, even in the short period she’d worked in City Hall, becoming increasingly wracked with arthritis. And there was worse than that at work in this courageous woman.
“He hated having to use you –and your magic - to make Sunnydale safe again, but he knew that he had to,” the secretary finished.
“They look a little better,” Tara said hoping it was true gazing at the tortured fingers.
“Liar,” Lizzie told her, still smiling. “But thank you. I can go weeks without it being so bad that I can’t work. But will you walk a little slower with an old woman?”
Tara took the arm that Lizzie proffered to her and found herself supporting the other woman. “It’s not just your hands is it?” Lizzie just smiled. “Is it bad?”
The older woman’s eyes closed briefly, even as the smile went on, then she nodded.
The Mayor had mentioned it to Tara more than once. His fears, his hopes… But now he was gone. Tara knew that this wouldn’t be the last that she’d be seeing of this woman who she supposed was her friend… even if she’d never thought of her that way before. It had been hidden behind the fact that she worked for the Mayor… chose to. For three decades.
And she’d just typed for him, kept his diary straight and helped him pick out his ties for photo shoots. The priceless things every politician needed. Tara had been there less than a year and she’d done far worse things… she had no right to be judgemental about anyone at City Hall. “You shouldn’t be out in the dark,” Tara told her having the awful feeling she was the reason that Lizzie was on the streets at this time. It didn’t matter what the city was, most people didn’t choose to hang around this sort of neighbourhood after dark.
And she wished the Mayor, as he’d mentioned to her that he would have liked to, had made a
bargain for Lizzie. A bargain where
he paid the price. The sort of bargain that only he could make for his secretary. This, what was happening to Lizzie, wasn’t fair. Tara had seen the same thing in her Grandmother. It might be natural but it wasn't fair.
Nature wasn't though was it?
Nature.
She had no idea what had happened to her back in that alley but… she took Lizzie’s hand hoping that a little of that power might help her even for a few minutes.
“I have to come out to shop dear,” Lizzie told her, but she had no bags. She’d been walking in the opposite direction to the shops when Tara had spotted the vampire trailing her. And she was just clutching an envelope. No stamps so it wasn't about to go into the mail.
“Now who’s fibbing?” Tara asked, not wanting to use the word ‘lie’ to her.
Again there was a smile. “You’re right… this is just the last duty I have to perform for him. After this… I’m the new Mayor’s secretary and it’s been a while since I was just that – even if she is a nice lady.”
Tara smiled in sympathy. Change was always hard. “What was?”
“I was told that if he died or disappeared that I was to do certain things Tara, one of those – the last remaining one - was to give you this,” Lizzie handed over the envelope, “and these.” She fished in her bag. “If I can ever find them in here.”
Eventually Lizzie pulled them from her bag. They were the keys to the apartment. They still had Tara’s old key fob attached to them.
“I couldn’t send this to you. He insisted that you had to be in town – back in town – before you got them from me,” Lizzie said. “You know I was worried that you were never coming back dear?”
“I guess that… we… I had to leave town. I had to…”
“Hide?” Lizzie guessed and Tara nodded. “No one ever asked me dear… no one ever came looking for you here. I think that they would have asked me… after what happened.”
That might not really mean anything but it was good to know. Wolfram and Hart certainly would have gone to Lizzie for access to certain files Tara knew the Mayor had held for them. It would only make sense to ask her about Tara and Willow at the same time. They were nothing if not efficient, especially when they weren’t billing by the hour.
“These,” she held up the keys to Lizzie, “Aren’t mine.” That was a part of life that was over. Past. She had somewhere to live and somewhere to stay.
Lizzie pressed them back into her hand though, squeezing the other one firmly as if testing her grip. Maybe that was working. She
wanted and she could feel the stiff joints, the swelling… She could see ways to make that just a little easier for her friend. “He wanted you to be there when you opened the envelope Tara. That’s all I know.”
Tara put the keys in her own bag and walked into the apartment building where Lizzie lived. It was the same one that her own City sponsored apartment had been in. They caught the elevator up and when they reached Lizzie’s floor the older woman finally let go of Tara’s hand, flexing her fingers. “You’ve got the touch dear,” Lizzie smiled and they both knew that it was a temporary relief. “You should go and watch that dear, and this,” Lizzie pushed a piece of paper into her hand, “is from me. I know you might not be able to tell me where you are… but you can stay in touch.”
Tara looked at it, it was a phone number. She could have found it out easily, would have done. But it was a sign that Lizzie wanted her to know. Lizzie pulled her into a gentle hug. “Make the right choice dear, for you and the person you love.”
Now what did that mean?
“I thought you were going shopping,” she said as the lift doors closed.
“I was fibbing.”
And she was gone – but not forgotten.
-------------
“Well Tara,” the Mayor on the TV screen sighed and then gave the camera a sad smile. It was a look that she’d not seen on him before. Disappointed, but not sad. “You have no idea how hard it was to record this tape for you. Knowing that if you ever saw it then I would be dead or at the very least stuck in some dimension that wasn’t entirely hygienic and in which I suspect that there is a distinct lack of miniature golf. That took all the fun out of what should be a happy moment for us, I must say.”
Us? There was an ‘us’?
“And talking of miniature golf…” He was, it seemed as the camera moved with him, moving down to the Windmill on the Sunnydale course. She wondered who he had got to film it for him. “Here we are,” he said, “on the sight of some of our greatest adventures. I wonder now - looking forward in time – whilst you no doubt are looking back - if you ever beat me?” He paused as he knocked the ball straight though the gap between the rotating sails and Tara heard the clunk from the speakers as the ball fell into the hole. “You were getting better, but I couldn’t wait until you actually did to record this. If it makes you feel any better I really was trying. Heck just last week you gave me a run for my money. Not that I approve of gambling or anything. I hope that ‘last week’ might have been years ago for you so that we had some more time together.”
He moved over to the next hole. “I hope it was years,” he continued, “because I really wanted to see you fulfil your potential. In fact that is what this is all about really. I still want you to do that – for me.”
“I bet that if you are seeing this tape, instead of some later recorded ‘video disc’ or something, then I never made it to my ascension – or I forgot to make a diary note to update it. Realistically, it means that I failed – which disappoints the heck out of me, even though it hasn’t even happened yet.” The Mayor looked right at the camera, “But I want you know – in case you doubted it – that you never did. You never failed me Tara, and you never failed yourself either. No matter what happened after I recorded this, you never could after all that you had already done. You did what you came here, to my little town, to achieve. You defeated the Master and you saved a lot of people while you were doing that. That is something that you should be very proud of – heck I know I sure am.”
“I also know,” he went on, “that you felt guilty about the people you failed to save. You shouldn’t because you didn’t fail anyone at all. Least of all me – and believe me I was definitely looking to minimise the body count.”
“A crazy thought crosses my mind as I make this tape – that it might have actually been you who ‘did for me,’ Tara. That’s always possible I guess as you are a woman of strong integrity and moral fortitude – even if you might have doubted it sometimes. And I have to admit that, ultimately, there would be a point where you could no longer work for me.”
She winced as she heard that. It had been Willow who had actually done it… but it had been at her request. She’d known where the vampire was going. She’d encouraged it… and he’d thought it possible before the event without ever taking any precautions. What did that say about him? About her?
“You were never really on my team Tara, but that’s just fine, that was your strength. And your weakness. You were a loner until you came to me… and try as I might I couldn’t change that. It took a vampire to do that for you. Irony is kind of ironic that way. But if it
was you then it makes me proud that you, like me, found a way to look beyond loyalty and to the good of the community. I always did that – admittedly there should have been an Ascension, but even that… Well, it didn’t happen so I don’t need to explain it. If I’m no longer here then I have to wish the best for the community. Just because I was going to eat them doesn’t mean that I didn’t love them all and that I wasn’t planning to continue to do that after the Ascension.”
He chuckled and played another hole as she watched, and she knew that in his own strange way he was absolutely sincere about all of that.
“I can’t say that I approve of your choice of love though, no sir, I can’t, but if she made you happy then that’s fine with me. Or even just
happier… I’m guessing that she didn’t though. Not really. I could often see it on your face and I suspect that eventually you found that you had to do something about that.”
How right he was… compared to the real Willow that other creature had just been a pale shadow… not even a shadow… just darkness.
“I know that you will have taken steps by the time you see this. One way or another you had to and if that didn’t turn out quite as you wanted it to, then you shouldn’t doubt whether those steps were necessary Tara. You couldn’t go on as you were – so right now you are either very much alone… or you have found the one person you really want to be with. If it’s the former then I’m sorry I am not there to make it better – I hope what follows helps a little. And if it’s the latter then you need to set out in life properly. No half measures and scraping by… not for my Tara.”
“Now then… it is of course possible that this is being watched in the Richard Wilkins the Third Presidential Library, in which case I hope to have a rousing chorus of Hail to the Chief out of all you kids at the end.” Tara smiled as he whistled, and after taking his shot he started to conduct the band that wasn’t there. Funnier still, as the hole he was playing was a mock up of the White House.
She wondered if he’d ever seriously considered that…
“Guess not though,” he said eventually after he’d found the hole again. “I hope you aren’t alone Tara. You’ve been alone far too long, even when you were with that vampire… I told you about my Edna-May.”
Many, many times.
“Those were the happiest decades of my life Tara… I want for you to have something like that too but there’s no point trying to build a life from nothing – not if you don’t have to. It might well build character but you have more character than a theatre full of actors my dear.”
Once again she had to smile. She’d practically had him killed, he’d known that she might have done that… and yet he would have called that ‘character.’ It was the first time she’d ever been able to smile about that action at all.
“Now that I’m gone you have you chance at a real life. Hopefully with that someone I think that you can really love. If not yet… then there will be that someone one day for you… and I have more than a shrewd idea of who that someone will be. It’s been fated from the start Tara – but I’m sure that you know that by now too… I spy, with my little eye… someone beginning with ‘W.’ If it hasn’t happened yet then it will – you have a knack of achieving your goals against the odds… But if you haven’t seen to it yet, then just please be careful. Some might think that they’re more vicious than ever I was… but by heck they’re lawyers – that’s what we pay them for! And some people might be wrong too.” He winked.
He’d known how? How she could get Willow…? Maybe he’d seen the file?
“You don’t need me anymore Tara… perhaps you never did. To be honest I did very little to assist you in your fight… and you did everything for me. Maybe even the final thing. But I want to give you something… and to ask something of you.”
In spite of herself she sucked in her breath, wondering what he might demand of her. She couldn’t do it… she was out of that life. Totally out… even the magic now. The old ways, that old life… gone. It had been tough to stop using it… she hadn’t realised when she left this town how much she’d relied on the magic. But she’d weaned herself off it little by little. Just for the really important things until this evening… when there was no other choice at all. And there hadn’t been anything serious since Lilah – until tonight and now there was another magic… another way of doing things.
Poor Lilah.
“If everyone is following my instructions properly, and dang it they’d better be, then you’re sitting in the apartment now to watch this. Well it’s yours… it always was, I think its important to have a home – if you haven’t got one already. I realise that you might not be able to use it just now. I can imagine that there might be a few people – and firms – who are pursuing you. I never dreamed that the favour I was asked to do would turn into such a deep and abiding respect for you… and yes… I would have given you that job – and it was a real job – anyway, for my own reasons and for the people of Sunnydale. But getting back to the apartment, when you want it… it will be here. And you will want it I think. If you do want the same thing that I do, but more of that later.”
“In the envelope, go on now and open it up, are the details of trust fund that I established for you. It will pay out to you only the specific funds required for you to attend a college of your choice. And not alone… the amount is almost precisely double what most colleges are charging right now… Hopefully that will not have to be a night school. There are also some recommendations for you. I’m afraid I have no idea if my opinion carries any weight any more… but I guessed at the name of the other person – there are recommendations for her too. This is why I was so keen for you to graduate Tara… because I wanted you to have a future… and I want to try and give that to you.”
Tara looked at the details and passwords. Documents drawn up by a small local law firm… nothing to do with Wolfram and Hart as far as she knew. He’d thought of everything. All she had to do was present herself. The other recommendation was for Willow. Based upon her old school file.
How had he known? How could have known that Willow would come back. That joke about ‘night school.’ He’d known she would be human… and he’d referred to the
how just a little earlier.
“All you have to do in return… is two little things, and one of those is just a personal promise to me. First you have to use an extra set of funds that I set aside to get Lizzie, always assuming that the dear lady is still with us, into a good hospital to have her pains relieved. She would never even accept the money from me. She will from you… just don’t tell her where it’s from. And if they can’t help her… then send her off around the world or something. I trust you to know the right thing. You were always so very good at that – looking after others. It was yourself that you never paid enough attention to Tara.”
She sat wondering what the second thing might be. There had to be a personal price… even if it was just a promise to a dead man who wanted to be a demon. There was always a price.
“Someone once told me that you had a dream… I want you to follow that dream Tara – here in Sunnydale if at all possible.”
What was he talking about? The only dreams she’d had were of Willow… was that what he meant? Or…
“I realise that you might not be able to do so yet, but in time you’ll be able to settle here and I want you to be the teacher that you once said that you wanted to be, Tara. I can think of nothing more fitting than for you to be the guardian of the coming generations whose life you made possible. I’d like you to promise me that Tara – that you will apply for positions here in Sunnydale before anywhere else.”
He laughed. “You can really do good in that way Tara. Anyway… lets play another hole here.”
She let the tape run on the screen as he played some more golf, chatting to her, and while she went and packed some of the things that she’d left behind when she’d gone to try and get her Willow back.
Willow… she had to go and pick her love up from her Dad’s. He’d known what she wanted and he was trying to give that to her. Well maybe… she’d been looking for a way to make some amends.
She owed it to little Faith who’d never know her namesake.
She owed to all the children in Sunnydale who’d lost aunts and uncles. Mothers and fathers. Because she hadn’t helped enough. Because she hadn’t stopped one vampire soon enough.
-----------------
She left the tape on when she rushed out to get Willow. He’d just carried on playing golf and it had seemed rude to turn him off, but she really had to go before Willow started to worry about her.
So she never heard his last words, laughing after a fluke shot. “Besides Tara, I’d like you here when I get back. I’m really looking forward to seeing you again – and Willow.”
*****************
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If I want a little pussy, I got my own to play with.
Chance in
Chance.------------------------
by Cicca » Thu Nov 14, 2002 12:46 am 
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at: 11/14/02 8:28:31 pm
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