"Tis now the very witching time of night,
When churchyards yawn and Hell breaths out
Contagion to this world. Now could I drink hot blood,
And do such bitter business as the day
Would quake to look on."
--William Shakespeare
"Hamlet"
<<>>
During the quiet two-hour drive from Los Angeles to Sunnydale, Buffy considered what Lorne had told her. His visions weren't as informative as she had hoped; all he could say was that she would see Tara again, when the time was right. He also said something about the Powers That Be, which rather galled her. The PTB were notorious for not volunteering information until they felt it was required, and she had no idea when they would deign to contact her. Furthermore, she felt there was some information that Lorne was keeping back as well. When she approached Angel about what Lorne had said, or what he didn't say, Angel also fell strangely silent.
There was also the matter of Lorne's run-in with Spike a few days earlier. Lorne had warned her that the Brit vamp wanted her dead, but that didn't worry her much. After all, he was still neutered by that chip. If he showed his face in Sunnydale, she figured that she was more than capable of taking her down. She found herself remembering the scene in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" where King Arthur hacked off the limbs of the Black Knight. She figured that any fracas between her and Spike would be as easily decided.
By the time she pulled the Jeep into the driveway, she was ready to crawl into bed and vegetate for twelve hours. Fortunately UC Sunnydale was holding its annual arts and crafts bazaar at the Community Center, so her weekend self-defense class was cancelled for tomorrow. She quietly unlocked the front door and slipped in, hoping to go unnoticed.
The moment she entered the living room, she stopped cold, nearly dead in her tracks. She tried to speak but control of her jaw proved difficult. Sitting on the sofa across from where Buffy was standing was Buffy. A perfect doppelganger of the Slayer sat motionless, almost serenely so, her glassy eyes staring at a spot on the wall to the left of where Buffy was standing.
Buffy tried to clear her throat, finally succeeding on the third attempt. She swallowed hard and managed to call out, "Uh, Willow?"
"Willow is in her bedroom," the double answered as her head swiveled toward Buffy. She sounded so unnervingly like Buffy yet at the same time different, droning and inflectionless. "She is locating some spare RAM cards to supplement my main memory."
Buffy's eyes lit up with understanding at that moment, as Willow walked into the living room. Willow noticed her friend standing and staring at the figure on the sofa, and smiled slightly. "Hey, Buffy. I hope you don't mind that I salvaged the Buffy-bot. I just wanted to take a look inside her, see if I could reprogram her. I've made some progress, actually; Warren might be a total sleazoid but he did make his bots user-serviceable I managed to boost her memory, and erase her programmed attraction to Spike."
"This is true," Buffy-bot answered. "I no longer desire to have sex with him, even when I remember his washboard abs."
Buffy crooked a sarcastic eyebrow at Willow, who blushed slightly. "Well, maybe there's some backup memory I need to tweak. But if this works, maybe we can train her to fight, so she can help you on patrol."
Buffy considered Willow's suggestion for a moment, then nodded reluctantly. "Maybe. With Demona about I suspect I'm gonna need all the help I can get. But it may be awhile before we get Buffy 2 up to fighting specs."
"Maybe," Willow smiled as she sat next to the android and popped open a service hatch between her shoulder blades. "But I love a challenge. So," she added, as she popped a RAM card into an exposed slot, "how was your patrol? You were gone late, so I figured you were cleaning up a larger nest of vamps than usual."
"Oh, yeah," Buffy said suddenly, uncomfortably settling into a chair next to the sofa. She didn't like to lie to Willow, but also didn't wish to raise false hopes regarding Tara. "Big nest, mostly newbies. No real challenge, just time consuming."
"Oh?" Willow glanced over Buffy with a questioning eye. "Then shouldn't you be covered in vamp dust?"
Buffy looked down at her clothes, mentally hitting herself for not noticing their relatively pristine condition, considering that she was supposed to have slain a nest of vampires. "Oh, yeah. That," she stammered, feeling the quicksand slowly swallowing her. "I used the car-vac. Y'know, the mini-vac that plugs into the Jeep's cigarette lighter slot?"
"So how's Angel?" Willow asked in a level voice.
Buffy sagged her shoulders, scolding herself mentally for even being surprised that Willow knew. "He's fine. I think he's got a thing for Cordy now."
"Go figure," Willow muttered absently as she reached for a jeweler's screwdriver. "In case you're wondering, Buffy, Cordy called me about ten minutes ago. She wanted to make sure you got back safe, and asked me to have you call them when you got back. Oh, and she also wanted to assure me that they would do everything they could to locate Tara." Willow crooked her eyebrows at Buffy. "You went there for me, didn't you?"
"Oh," Buffy smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, something like that. I just didn't want to see you unhappy."
Willow flashed Buffy a smile that Buffy understood to mean 'You're off the hook, this time.' Relieved, Buffy got up from her chair and walked briskly toward the kitchen to pour herself some iced tea.
"Then Willow told her to drop the search," the Buffy-bot announced.
Buffy stuck her head out of the kitchen door, her eyes wide with shock. "You did what?"
Willow sat with clenched teeth as the android looked blandly at Buffy, "Willow told them to call off the search. She said that Tara was not in any trouble, so they don't need to search for her."
"You sure you weren't supposed to be a Cordy-bot?" Willow scowled at the android as she adjusted a circuit board in her chest cavity.
Buffy slowly approached Willow, knelt beside her and placed a hand on her arm. "Okay, Willow. Drop the screwdriver and back away slowly from the android."
"Buffy," Willow complained quietly, "It's fine, really, I-"
"It's not fine, Willow," Buffy insisted as she sat beside her friend. "You're starting to scare me, Willow. I mean, this is Tara we're talking about. Remember, Tara Maclay? Love of your life? The woman whose mind you managed to pull back after Glory brain-sucked her?"
"Yes, Buffy," Willow nodded. "I know who she is. And I still love her. And if she ever got lost that way again, I'd move Heaven and Earth to get her back. But she's not lost this time."
Buffy looked closely at her best friend, reading her facial expressions and body language for any sign that she was hiding something from her. She realized that there was no artifice about Willow's behavior; she wasn't smiling for Buffy's benefit, she was telling her the truth. "So you know where she is?"
"Yeah," Willow smiled sadly. "Well, not 'know where she is' in the sense of actually knowing her current location, but at least knowing that she is someplace. And Tara knows where she is, and that's what matters. I can't tell you where she really is, but I know that she's where she needs to be. Y'know?"
For the next five seconds, Buffy digested what Willow had told her. "This is scary, Will. Your babbles are starting to make sense." Willow chuckled as Buffy looked lovingly at her. "I just don't understand how you know, uh, whatever it is you know. Did Tara manage to cram all that into an email, before she went-well, where she went?"
"Not an email, Buffy," Willow said softly. Buffy could almost detect the reverential tone that suddenly infused her friend's voice. "She was here. Her spirit was, anyway. Remember last month, when we rescued her from Aaron Webb and the cult of Anansi?"
Buffy nodded, "Yeah, and she sent that blue Tinkerbell thing to guide us to her." Buffy's head snapped up suddenly. "Did Tara visit you in that sprite-form again?"
"Yes," Willow said, tears shining in her eyes. "She couldn't tell me everything, but she let me know that she was doing something important. She-she joined her soul to mine for a moment. Just a second in real-time, but it was like hours with her. Without words, we said so much to each other. We communicated on the deepest level possible. We shared our souls for that instant, Buffy. It was the most intimate moment I ever had with anyone."
Buffy looked on in awe and wonder as Willow spoke of her final moment with Tara. "Wow," she whispered. "Sounds like you two shared something special. You think she'll visit you again like that?"
"No," Willow answered, with the faintest tinge of sorrow. "As we parted, we realized that we weren't gonna be together that way again. She's destined for something different, Buffy. We both are. Like Ben Kenobi said to Luke Skywalker, her destiny lies along a different path than mine."
Buffy felt her own eyes welling with tears, and absently started to dab at her eyes with her sleeve. "Willow, I'm so sorry. I had no idea-"
"Don't be sorry for me, Buffy," Willow smiled warmly, assuring Buffy. "I know that we'll see Tara again. And even if she and I aren't together, we'll always remember what we had. I'll always love her, Buffy, but that doesn't mean I won't love anyone else."
"I'm glad to hear that, Willow," Buffy breathed out a sigh of quiet relief. "I guess I was worried about you, especially after how sad you were when Oz bailed."
"You mean," Willow said archly, "you were afraid that I'd try that 'I Will It So' spell, and you'd end up smooching on the couch with Spike again." Buffy mock-glared at Willow, causing them both to giggle. "I'm okay, Buffy. Like you said, Oz bailed. He ran away. Tara's not running away, she's running toward something. She's doing this because she needs to, and how can I say I love her if I didn't give her the chance to do what she needs to do?" Willow took Buffy's strong hand in her small one, and gave it a warm and loving squeeze. "It hurts a little, letting her go, but I'll never lose her. I'm okay, Buffy. Really."
Buffy squeezed Willow's hand back, wishing to convey the love she bore for the Wiccan hacker. "Is there anything I can do for you, Willow? Anything at all?"
Willow returned Buffy's watery smile with one of her own. "Two things, Buffy. One, be my friend."
"Always," Buffy nodded enthusiastically.
"And two," Willow added, "hand me that Phillips screwdriver. I think I may have Buffy-bot's humor reaction programming licked. She still needs work on her comebacks."
"I can do knock-knock jokes," Buffy-bot chirped, oblivious to the screwdriver poking her innards.
"Knock-knock?" Buffy asked skeptically.
"Who's there?" Buffy-bot chimed in.
Buffy rolled her eyes at her double, then turned back to Willow. "Look, Willow, you ever need to talk about anything, you knock on my door. Anytime at all. You need me, I'm there."
"Thanks, Buffy," Willow answered. "And I'll probably take you up on that soon." Buffy took Willow's hand in hers again, simply content to enjoy the contact for a fleeting moment.
"Look-Willow-you-ever-need-to-talk-about-anything-you-knock-on-my-door-anytime-at-all-thanks-Buffy-and-I'll-probably-take-you-up-on-that-soon WHO?"
Buffy and Willow glared at the blank-faced android, then slowly dissolved into a fit of laughter. It was a healing laugh, the kind that required deep breaths that allowed oxygen into the system, restoring the body and cleansing the soul. A few minutes later, as the two best friends collected themselves, Buffy fetched two glasses of iced tea while Willow turned back to repairing the android.
As Buffy allowed herself to enjoy the company of her best friend, a pair of eyes glared at her through the living room window. Unseen, a dark figure stood under a large tree, his form and face shrouded in the darkness of the night. His eyes smoldered dimly, angry and bloody thoughts dancing behind them. He ran his hand through his slicked back hair, and considered his plans.
"Soon, Slayer," Spike vowed as he took a swig from a can of Guinness, "soon."