FIC: Right In Front of You Part 24 (PG-13 for this part)

["CDS" <callistosdarkside@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Here's the long delayed chapter 24. :)

Enjoy in plain text here, or in html at the link below.

-CDS

? Title: Right In Front of You
? Author: Callisto's Dark Side
? Email: callistosdarkside@xxxxxxxxxx
? Feedback: The more I get, the faster I write.
? Distribution: Can be found at
http://www.geocities.com/callistosdarkside/RightInFrontOfYou.htm (My Site),
http://www.geocities.com/last_days_of_pern, and
http://www.peccath.com/extraflamey/mainframe.htm
? Spoilers: All of Season 5, but events take place before some events in
Tough Love.
? Rating: R
? Pairing: W/T & B/W
? Disclaimer: All characters from Angel & Buffy the Vampire Slayer are
copyright Joss Whedon & 20th Century Fox.
? Summary: Willow/Tara fic in which the two love birds must manage to deal
with the consequences of a spell that threatens to tear them apart forever.

Chapter 24


"What're you burning?" Buffy asked Willow.

Willow choked back a sob over the midnight bonfire in the Summers' backyard.

"Letters," The Wiccan answered succinctly.

"What kind of letters?"

Willow closed her eyes and exhaled before answering, "Love letters."

Buffy instinctively reached out and grabbed Willow's arm, stopping her from
dropping the handful of letters she now held.

"Will, you can't."

"Why not? It's not like she'll ever read them."

Buffy furrowed her brow, "Why would Tara need to read them if she wrote
them?"

Willow lifted her eyes to meet Buffy's, "Because, I wrote them to her when
she went away," Willow sniffled.

"Oh," Buffy replied sadly and let go of her friend's arm to allow Willow to
finish.

Willow dropped the letters into the fire, watching the flames swallow her
words whole, "Stupid," Willow shook her head.

"No, you're not," Buffy clasped Willow's hand, "there's no way you could've
known."

"It's just? I thought this time it'd be different."

"What do you mean?"

Willow clamped her watery eyes shut and wiped the wetness on her sleeve,
"When Oz left me, I wrote him letters too, but he never got to read them.
This time, I was sure, Tara would read mine, but she can't? she won't. Not
ever."

Buffy brought the fragile girl into her arms, "I'm sure wherever she is, she
knows," the Slayer soothed.

Willow pushed the blonde away in a surprising show of strength, "She's dead,
Buffy! Dead! She won't ever know!"

"Will, I?"

The redhead spun around and ran sobbing back into the house.

Buffy dropped her head and looked into the bonfire, a single letter laid on
the ground just within reach of the flickering flames.

The Slayer reached down and picked it up. The carefully sealed envelope had
the words 'To Tara' written on the front, with a heart encircling the words.

Buffy held the letter over the bonfire as the flames licked and burnt the
edges.

She just about let the letter fall, when she brought it back away from the
fire. She knew she could never forgive herself for dropping it in, even if
Willow didn't want the reminder now, the Slayer knew Willow would want it
later.

Buffy carried the letter back into the house and hid it underneath the sofa
cushions.

She could hear Willow crying upstairs, still, after a week since they'd done
the spell, a week after finding out Tara and Dawn were no longer alive.

Buffy had insisted that the spell went wrong, but Willow was adamant that
they did it right. She had researched it too long to have done it wrong.

******

"How much longer?" Dawn sniffled, her arms loosely wrapped around Tara's
waist, as they rode the horse to the Capitol.

"If the directions Leanna gave us are right, about a day," Tara answered,
clutching the reigns, but ironically using her mind to guide the horse.

"That long?"

"Well, we would've been faster if you didn't catch the flu."

"You gave it to me," Dawn shot back.

"It's not my fault you didn't get your flu vaccine."

"It's not like you did either. Besides, how do we know it would work here?"

"We don't."

"Exactly," Dawn replied triumphantly, squeezing her arms tightly around
Tara's waist.

"Hey," Tara gasped, "you don't have to crush me."

"Sorry, I was just happy that you finally admitted you were wrong, for
once," Dawn drawled.

"I admit when I'm wrong."

"No you don't."

"Didn't I just now?"

"Yes, but you usually don't."

"If you say so?"

"I do say so."

"Fine," Tara replied succinctly.

"Fine," Dawn said, knowing she was getting underneath Tara's skin.

The two continued riding the horse in silence until Tara broke it.

"At least I don't snore," The Wiccan said smugly.

"I so do not!" Dawn shouted.

"Tell that to my deaf ear," Tara teased.

"Whatever," Dawn rolled her eyes, "When we get to the Capitol, I expect you
to take care of me like I took care of you."

"Oh, you mean make bad chicken-noodle soup, without the chicken?"

"You are so gonna pay for that," Dawn threatened teasingly.

"How much you want? Cuz I can always duplicate us some more money."

"Funny, but you know what I mean?"

"Yeah, you're gonna snore my ear off again."

"Has anyone ever told you how annoying you are?"

"No, but I've heard it said about you several times."

Dawn exhaled in frustration.

******

Buffybot silently approached Buffy on the couch and offered her some orange
juice.

"No thank you," Buffy waved the robot away.

Buffybot put the glass of OJ down on the coffee table and headed for the
stairs.

"Wait!" Buffy ordered. "Don't go up there."

"Why not?" Buffybot inquired.

"Willow wants to be alone," The Slayer answered.

"Do you want to be alone as well?"

"It's okay, you can stay."

Buffybot scurried over and sat down next to the Slayer on the couch,
curiously but silently watching the emotions etch across the blonde's face.

"What?" Buffy asked, feeling awkward at being stared at by her nearly
identical robot-self.

"You're sad."

"So?"

"Why are you sad?"

"Because of Dawn, because of Willow," Buffy answered.

"Why?"

Buffy saw the innocent look in Buffybot's eyes and the Slayer's heard
melted.

"Because Dawn's no longer here, and because Willow's upset."

"Where did Dawn go? Why is Willow upset?"

Buffy exhaled, not wanting to say the words out loud, because it would mean
they were true.

"Just because," Buffy finally replied.

Buffybot furrowed her brow, "I don't understand."

"Maybe it's better that way. You don't have to feel the pain."

"Pain? Are you hurt?" Buffybot asked, reaching out to check the Slayer.

"More than you know."

"How can I fix it? Where can I fix it?"

"You can't."

"But I can fix anything. Willow programmed me so."

"Can you fix a broken heart?"

"No, but I could if Willow programmed me. Should I get Willow?"

"No," Buffy grabbed Buffybot's arm to prevent her from getting up, "It's
okay, it'll heal, at least I hope it will."

"How long will it take?"

"Probably forever."

"What is forever?"

"A very long time."

"Will Willow heal in forever too?"

"I don't know," Buffy answered dejectedly. "I hope so."

"I hope so too," Buffybot smiled.

"Thank you," The Slayer replied.

"You're welcome. What did I do?"

Buffy let a small smile to crease her mouth. Somehow, talking to Buffybot
seemed to ease her pain, even if it was for a little while. Unfortunately,
she couldn't say the same thing about Willow.

******

Buffy walked into the magic shop around noon, the store deserted except for
Anya.

"Where's Will?" Buffy asked, approaching the counter.

"In the back, she's been in there all morning," Anya answered, as she
counted her cash. "Giles said he'd be back later, but he never specified a
time."

"Thanks," Buffy replied, as she hesitantly headed for the training room.

The Slayer could hear Willow unleashing her pain into the punching bag, even
several feet from the closed door.

Buffy paused before opening the door, taking a deep breath before entering.

Willow punched the bag in a haze, her hands poorly wrapped and bleeding.
The redhead didn't even notice Buffy entering the room as she punched again
and again.

"Will?" Buffy approached from behind with caution, not wanting to startle
the young woman.

Willow only seemed to punch harder.

"Will?"

Willow continued her onslaught on the defenceless punching bag.

"Willow!" Buffy finally shouted, standing just behind the redhead.

The Wiccan spun around and swung wildly at a surprised Slayer, the Witch's
eyes full of tears.

"Willow," Buffy grabbed a hold of Willow's wrists and forced the redhead to
stop swinging. "It's me Will."

Willow didn't seem to register and breathed heavily, sucking in the
occasional sob.

"Oh God, your hands," Buffy stared in horror, "you're bleeding."

"Buffy?" Willow snapped out of her daze, and noticed Buffy undoing the
sloppy wrapping around her bloody hands.

"It's okay Will, we just have wash and bandage them."

Willow flinched in pain as the final bits of wrapping came off and the cool
air seeped into her wounds.

"I'm sorry," Willow apologized.

"For what?" Buffy searched Willow's eyes with her own.

"For everything."

"This is not your fault Will, none of this is."

"I know," Willow hung her head, but lifted it up and stared intensely into
Buffy's eyes, "Can I come on patrol?" Willow said, more of a statement than
a question.

"Not now Will, you're still in mourning."

"So are you, what's the difference?"

"The difference is, I can protect myself, and I don't want you to get hurt."

Willow snorted at the sincerity.

"What?" Buffy asked, disturbed at Willow's reaction.

"That's not why you don't want me to go. You want to keep all the slaying
to yourself," The Wiccan accused.

"What?" Buffy shook her head.

"I'm not stupid, Buffy. I know why you stay out later and later every
night, it's so you can slay."

"Of course, that's my job."

"It's your job to slay demons, not to pummel them until they bleed to
death."

"What're you talking about?"

"I saw you last night in the cemetery."

"You were there?"

"Not like you'd notice, the way you were torturing that green demon."

"I wasn't torturing him," Buffy spat.

"Please, you could've killed it in five seconds, but you decided to go all
Faith him."

"So what, you want to do the same?"

"Damn right I do," Willow clutched her hands into fists.

"Fine, I'll let you go out there all emotional and let you get killed."

"Fine."

"I was joking," Buffy ground her teeth.

"I don't care, anything's better than this," Willow cried, hot tears
streaming down her face.

Buffy's anger melted and she brought the sobbing girl into her arms,
comforting the crying Wiccan and herself.

"I can't let you go Will," Buffy sobbed, "Mom, then Dawn, I won't let you
leave me. I love you too much."

Willow cried so hard, she gasped for breath, partially due to Buffy's
tremendous grip on her small frame.

The two girls stood there crying in each other's arms for what seemed like
forever, until they cried themselves out.


To be continued.