Author: Willow!
E-Mail: PM to ask me for it
Feedback: Yes, yes! Be nice to the newbie, though.
Rating: PG-13 for this chapter. So far, third installment has an NC-17 rating, and most will probably have PG-13 or R because I curse.
Distribution: Ask first, please.
Notes: The angst rating for the first couple of chapters is pretty non-existent. There is drama in later chapters, however. Buffy and the Scoobies exist in this fic. It doesn't follow any particular season in the show, but gives you a general idea.
There are no spoilers, either. [I don't think. I mention Slayerettes...Does that count?]
More Notes: Baddies(demons, vamps, etc) do exist in this fic. Its not in the synopsis cause that would ruin the surprise, now wouldn't it? There are also lots of cool developments in Willow and Tara's magickal powers. Read on to find out what!
Also, I'm a newbie, but I have been lurking for years. Hi, everyone!
More, more notes!: dlline kindly let me know that I was spelling Willow's name 'Rosenburg'. Strangely enough, in my original copy on my IMac, its spelled 'berg'. So, I went and fixed it so now it reads Rosenberg. [I think it's because I had a teacher named 'Rosenburg' and entered it into the dictionary so it would stop giving me angry red lines under it.] Please, if you see something like this...let me know! Constructive criticism is good!
Synopsis: After Willow Rosenberg is sent to the hospital by a run in with a particularly nasty demon, she realizes its time to move on from Sunnydale. Her close call with death makes her rethink where she is going in life, and she moves first to San Francisco, and then to Philadelphia to study at a small liberal arts school called Chestnut Hill College. That's where she meets Tara Maclay, the shy but funny Psychology teacher and powerful Wicca who instantly takes a liking to Willow.
DISCLAIMER!: I do not own any characters from BTVS, Mutant Enemy does. Chestnut Hill College is a *real* school in Philadelphia, and I also do not own the rights to that. I just wanted to use the name so that people from the area could relate more. Please, don't sue me.
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CHAPTER ONE
Willow Rosenberg's head was leaned awkwardly against the plane's uncomfortable headrest, her laptop bag sliding slowly out of her lap as the plane started it's bumpy descent. The obtuse man to Willow's left took no mind; after all, the slim redhead had given him more then enough interesting stories to take home to his brother. Throughout the duration of their flight from San Francisco, California, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the redhead next to him babbled incessantly in her sleep, thrashing out every so often as if she were fighting some invisible demons.
Despite the girl's humorous antics, he still felt bad leaving her on the plane once it landed. Poking her a few times, he stood and gathered his own laptop bag. "Girl, the plane landed." She still didn't stir. "Jeezus..." He grumbled, watching as the passengers filed out of the plane.
Willow was enthralled in her intricate dream. She was standing at the front of a classroom, teaching, when a rather large demon broke in. It was dark blue, with a singular horn poking out from its forehead. It reminded Willow of the band whose members decided to paint themselves blue during shows; except, for his long, sharp nails and six tails. Definitely a difference there. The demon stormed towards her, knocking over her desk in the mean time. She was surprised how fast he lumbered, despite being close to seven foot tall. He totally caught her off guard, grabbing her by the shoulders roughly. Willow screamed, trying to think of any kind of spell, but those blue eyes were boring into her, freezing her on the spot. Soon, the dream-demon had morphed into a beautiful, light brown haired girl, the same blue eyes boring into her, but more peaceful. In Willow's dream, it was hard to make out the girl's face, like she was wearing foggy glasses, but she could see those eyes perfectly.
"Are you okay?" The woman asked, shaking her a little as if trying to wake her. "Wake up, girl!"
Willow jumped in her seat, realizing that the voice had come from the guy sitting next to her. Her eyes flew open and she looked around, surprised that she had slept through her neighbor's poking and shaking. Willow noticed that she was sweating a lot, and shaky. The demon that hurt her was still constantly on her mind. She tried to shake it off, but she had to admit that the blue eyed girl was a weird addition to her once reoccurring dream. Gathering her stuff, she muttered a quick sorry and a few thank yous before bolting from the plane. The guy was staring daggers into her, and she guessed she made him miss his ride or something.
She stretched her arms behind her head as she walked into the Philadelphia International airport. It was filled with stores, beggars, and lots of good smelling food. People bustled back and forth, never stopping to make eye contact, intent on going wherever the hell they were going.
Willow was glad to get out of the airport. For some reason, large, crowded places didn't exactly make her feel comfortable. Who knew what kind of baddies were lingering around, hidden behind a human facade? As Willow slid into a cab, telling the cab driver to take her to her new address in Chestnut Hill, she settled back into her own mind. What had that dream been about? She thought her reoccurring nightmares stopped a long time ago, after she left Sunnydale. She had been living in San Francisco since then, still helping Buffy and the Slayerettes, who had relocated to the huge city themselves. Willow had gone her own way after that, once Giles let her know, from England, that there was demon activity starting to pop up in Philadelphia. He said it was "highly unlikely" that it was anything serious, however Willow took the opportunity to finish out college.
It was strange leaving California, Buffy, Xander, Anya and Dawn after all of the years they had been together. Still, Buffy had a small army under her wing, and demon activity was at an all time low across the board. Willow felt drawn, somehow, to the City of Brotherly Love, and her friends accepted that she needed to move on. To be honest, Willow wanted to leave all that happened behind her, to pick up some sense of normalcy. The past year had been a roller coaster, and she was glad to find a place to settle down. She had spent close to a few months in the hospital, clutching to life, after one particularly scary run in with a demon a year ago, right when she first moved to San Francisco. She got a nasty bout of amnesia, and even now there were still some details of her life that hadn't come back to her. Ever since then, Willow had felt a need to move, to finish out school and come back once she was settled. She needed a break, honestly, from having death shoved in her face on a daily basis.
Moving her attention past her thoughts and to the cab window, she was surprised at how beautiful some of the houses were. The cab was going over a particularly bumpy cobblestone road, and Willow was surprised that cobblestone roads existed anywhere. But, the section of Philadelphia that she chose to go to school in didn't exactly feel like Philadelphia. It felt more suburban, with lots of old houses, trees, and land. Willow was looking forward to seeing her apartment again. She had visited a month or two ago to get things settled. She had brought some furniture in that time, nothing really beside a couch and a table. She did need to make a trip to Ikea...
"Okay, ma'am, here we are." The cab driver pulled the car over next to the huge mansion, and Willow whistled appreciatively.
Paying the guy his money, Willow smiled as he helped get her bags out of the trunk and headed up the rocky, dirt driveway to her apartment. The building itself was an old mansion, over one hundred and fifty years old. The windows and doors were painted a robins egg shade of blue, and the quirkiness in the apartment is what made Willow fall instantly in love with it. It boasted of high ceilings, floor to ceiling windows, and two amazingly huge bedrooms. Still a little weak, Willow set her suitcases next to the door before searching for her key. Despite being August, Willow found it was unusually chilly out, the skies looking ominous. She shrugged and went back to fiddling with the lock.
"I'm lucky I'm so close to the college...Dorm living is expensive." Willow murmured to herself as she finally got in her apartment. There was a trick to opening the strange, old lock on the door.
Though basically empty, the apartment would be gorgeous once Willow got through with it. The first floor apartment also boasted a fireplace, which she would be glad to use in the winter. Her black leather couch was sitting against a wall next a floor lamp, a red oak coffee table sitting in front of it. Other then that, the apartment was bare, with empty cabinets and two empty bedrooms. Willow had claimed the smaller bedroom next to the bathroom as her office and study, while the living-room sized master bedroom across from the kitchen would serve as her main bedroom. Speaking of, the bedroom set, desk and shelves she ordered online should be arriving soon.
"Welcome home, Ms. Rosenberg." Willow mused as she flopped into her couch, slipped off her shoes, and rested her feet on her table. Willow got a chill and she felt distinctly and utterly alone. "Get a grip, a girlfriend, or a dog." She told herself. Later, she'd venture out to check out the neighborhood--but now, it was time to sleep off her jet lag.
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"Get a grip or a girlfriend, Tara." Tara Maclay rubbed her temples as she stood outside of the entrance to Chestnut Hill College. She leaned against the heavy stone that held an opened gate, beckoning her inside the campus despite her nervousness. This wasn't her first teaching job, but something was just grating on her nerves today. Maybe it was the two cups of coffee she had earlier.
Tara had accepted a job position as a teacher of Psychology at Chestnut Hill College. Though she did have a masters degree, she was going for her PHD. The Chestnut Hill brochure boasted that, "85% of our teachers have the highest degree in their field." So, Tara was nervous...after all, she only had a masters and most other teachers had a PHD. She definitely was going to feel like an outcast. Glancing at her Blackberry, she realized she had a whole hour to walk around the campus again and get a feel for it.
Chestnut Hill College was a small, liberal arts college. It had a happy student body, and an amazingly beautiful campus. Trees and fields surrounded the school, leaving students lots of room to lay around on their laptops. The whole campus, not surprisingly, was wireless. Tara was glad of this, since her BlackBerry got a connection no matter where she was.
The school, Tara decided, was quirky. A series of underground tunnels connected all of the buildings, allowing students and faculty to go from one side of the campus to another without going outside. When the cold January weather hit, Tara would be glad for this cool feature. To her, it felt like Hogwarts. The mascot was a Gryphon, the school colors were gold and scarlet, and the buildings had a creepy, old British feel.
"Then again, maybe I've just read the books one too many times." Tara mused, finding a spot beneath a tree to sit and check her e-mail. She found a secluded spot towards the back of campus, away from all of the freshman starting to move in. Before she had a chance to even click on the Internet Explorer, a call came in.
"Hello?" A distinctly British voice came clear through the phone's speakers.
"Hello, this is Tara Maclay." Tara spoke cheerily into the phone.
"Yes, er, this is Rupert Giles...We spoke a few days ago. I was wondering if you had a moment?" Giles took his glasses off his face, cleaning them nervously on his shirt as he waited for Tara to answer.
"Of course! How are you, Mr. Giles?" Tara was glad to hear the voice of the Watcher. He had called her a few days ago about a now defunct coven in Philadelphia, which Tara was once a part of.
"I am fine, thank you. To get down to business, I'm sure you are aware of the recent influx of dark activity in Philadelphia. Since you are the only Wiccan contact I have for this area, I figured I should let you know about this. According to accounts from Buffy, a few demons spilled the beans, per say, about a dark coven forming in your area. Now, demons aren't known for their honesty...However, I suggest you keep an eye out for any sort of strange activity." Giles explained, hoping not to scare the witch too much.
Tara shrugged a little and got more comfortable in her spot. "Thanks for the heads up, Mr. Giles. So far I haven't seen anything. If something does go down, though, I'm going to have to call in reinforcements. I'm only one witch, you know?"
"Don't worry too much about that. A very strong Wicca named Willow Rosenberg is heading into town...Actually, to your college." Giles said, a little distracted
"Really?" Tara's interest was piqued, and she sat up. She tried to mask the utter excitement in her voice. Willow? I can't believe it..."Well, I'll have to look out for her."
"I don't know the full details since I am in England...But Willow has been planning this for a while. Anyway, my tea is boiling so I must attend to that. Please keep in touch if anything happens. And, er, Tara?"
"Hmm, Mr. Giles?" Tara inquired, standing up to stretch her legs.
"Please, keep an eye out for Willow. She...She has been through a lot." Giles explained.
"Sure, sure. I'm sure all of this is just demon talk...you know how they are." Tara used her smooth, reassuring voice to calm the Watcher's nerves.
"Yes, yes I do. Good day, Tara."
Giles hung up promptly, leaving Tara to her own thoughts. The first thought she had was that she probably got grass stains on her business suit, and the second was that she really, really wanted to see Willow Rosenberg again.
Standing, Tara decided to walk off the excited feeling she got in her stomach. The fact that Willow was coming to campus was amazing. I haven't seen her since I was thirteen...She would have to check her class listing to see if Willow was going to be in her first class of the day.
It didn't take long for Tara to speed walk through the underground tunnels to her classroom. Feeling slightly more confident, she said her hellos to fellow teachers and students, a little more excited at the prospect of meeting so many more new people. After spending years in college as the quiet wallflower, Tara hoped to make the transition to a slightly more outgoing woman on this campus. Fauke's University, the school she got her Master's degree at, was huge and unwelcoming. The teachers felt bitter and uncaring, and Tara was glad to be a Chestnut Hill where things seemed entirely different.
The door to what was called a 'Smart Classroom' was locked, but Tara swiped her ID and it opened. She flicked on the lights to the state of the art classroom, glad to see outlets for students to plug in their laptops if they so choose. A flat screen Toshiba television sat to the right of a white board, with a projector screen over head. She had her own, brand new laptop to use in slide show presentations. Glad for the small sized classroom, she sat at her desk and browsed through the class listing. A grin slipped across the woman's face as she read the familiar name.
"Willow Rosenberg."
GREAT start! can't wait to read more
I am hooked and panting for more ..MUCH more goddess this is going to be great! You have me squirming in my seat as we speak. boy I have been out of the loop lately to miss this gem of a story. 
