FF: Seeing Red: Chapter One

[aerisjade@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Title: Seeing Red 

Chapter: One 

Pairing: Willow/Tara, Willow/Buffy, Buffy/Willow/Tara 

Rating: R 

Timeline: Two seconds after Seeing Red 

Spoilers: Only if you haven't seen it yet. 

Beta Reader: Dark Gremlin 


Summary: Willow's worst nightmare is forced to 
the front in her attempts to alter the future that 
she knows is ahead. 


Disclaimer: All characters belong to Joss Whedon, 
Mutant Enemy Productions, and Paramount Pictures. 


<---------> 


She brushed past the surprised, sleepy blonde as 
she opened the dorm room door. She had the vague 
sense that perhaps she should've taken the time 
to put on some sort of shoes, or maybe some clothes 
other than the grey and red sports shirt, but it 
was an emergency, and she just couldn't seem to 
get past the whole problem. 

" What's wrong? " 

" Do you remember that horrible nasty tea like 
stuff you made that time when Xander...? " 

" I don't think I could ever forget. " Tara 
grimaced, trying to block the image of the 
construction worker with way to much alcohol in 
his system. 

" I need you to make me some. " 

" What? Why? " 

Willow nervously looked away from her ex, 
hoping that maybe the dirty blonde wouldn't 
drill her too much on the subject. " There's 
some medicine in my system that I have to 
get out. " 

" Did you....? " 

" No. " Willow shook her head against the 
blondes concerned question. " The doctor has 
me on this medicine. " 

" Then why don't you let it naturally...? " 

" Tara, please. I have to get it out. Now. " 

The blonde witch stared at her ex-lover 
trying to read the various emotions scurrying 
across her face. Fear, confusion, guilt, anger, 
they were so varied that for once she wasn't 
sure what to expect from the red head. 

" Alright, let me get what I need, and we'll 
go to Buffy's. " 

" Tara...." 

" I'm not about to leave you alone while you 
take the potion, and I doubt that you want to 
stay here. " 

" Yeah but..." 

" No buts, now get a pair of my shoes to put 
on. " 

Willow sighed tiredly as the dirty blonde 
began to systematically gather everything she 
could possibly need, including the bottle of 
potion she kept for emergencies. Now all she 
had to do was get a hold of it. 


<---------> 



Buffy glanced at the vcr clock, then spun 
on her bare foot to pace the other way. When 
she was at the end of the living room she 
glared worriedly at the front door, spun, 
and started to pace in the opposite directions. 

' And repeat as needed. ' 

She swallowed back the urge to run out into 
the night in search of her best friend. All 
the horrible thoughts and scenarios were trying 
to drive her crazy. 

What if Willow had relapsed and was with 
Rack, or maybe Spike had finally snapped and 
kidnapped her. O-or what if she was sleep 
walking and was attacked by vampires. Or 
what if.... 

" Where the hell have you been? " She 
snapped as the front door opened. 

She paused at the sight of Tara, leading 
a messy haired red head still in her sleep 
shirt. " What happened? Are you okay? " 

" Willow wanted some of my special 
potion. " 

" And it couldn't wait until morning? " 
She asked suspiciously, focusing on her 
friends ex. 

" She said it was an emergency. " 

" So you decided to just give it to 
her? Don't you remember how sick that 
stuff made Xander? " 

" I tried to talk her out of it, but 
you know how she is when she's determined. " 

" I am not going to let her ingest that 
stuff. " Buffy firmly commented. 

" Good. " 

She nodded satisfied that Tara would 
back her up, then turned to...empty space. 
" Where's Willow? " 

Tara turned around and stared at the 
spot where the red head had been just a 
few minutes earlier. Along with the bag 
containing the potion. 

Before she could process the missing 
red head, the sounds of someone getting 
seriously sick filled the house, solving 
the mystery. 

" Damn. " Buffy muttered, dashing up 
the stairs to the open bathroom door. 

The red head was kneeling by the toilet 
making noises that told quite vividly what 
was happening with her. 

" Hey, you okay? " She closed the distance 
between them, barely paying any attention 
to Tara as she sat beside the red head. 

" What do you think? " Willow grumbled, 
then groaned loudly when another wave of 
nausea hit her. 

" I told you not to take it. " Tara 
scolded gently, sitting on Willow's 
other side. 

" Had to. " 

" Why? " 

" Oh..." She dived back over the commode 
and started to heave again. 

Buffy settled back against the wall 
and rubbed the red heads tense back. " It's 
alright we can talk about it in the morning. " 

Tara nodded in agreement, and smiled 
at the slayer, in silent thanks. They were 
going to be in for a long night. 


<---------> 


Tara ran her fingers through Willow's 
sweat soaked hair as she buried her head 
into the witch's thigh. It had been less 
than an hour since the ex-witch had stopped 
dry heaving, and the thin body was now 
shaking from burning the medicine from 
her system. 

Pressed into her side Buffy was holding 
the rest of the curled up red head. She had 
noticed the tender look that the slayer had 
as she softly stroked Willow's leg's, and 
back. 

" She's missed you. " Buffy whispered. 

" I know. " 

" She hasn't used magic in thirty five 
days. Well, there was that spell that Amy 
used on her, but that doesn't count, if 
anything that just proves how hard she's 
trying. " 

" What spell? " 

" It wasn't really a spell, she just sort 
of gave her all this energy that over flowing 
into anything Will touched. " 

" She gave her a high. " Tara had been afraid 
of what Amy would do, since she doubted the red 
heads childhood friend, would simply leave her 
alone. 

" Yeah. " 

" She didn't use the magic? " 

" No. " 

" Good. " Tara slide her finger tips over 
the soft skin of Willow's cheek. 

" No...." Willow whimpered, curling up 
tighter. " Buffy....Tara....Please, not them. 
Please. Don't.... TARA!! " 

" It's alright sweetie, we're right here. 
We're alright. No one's going to hurt us. " 

" Warren.....no....kill you..." 

Willow rolled up into her self, sobbing, 
and convulsing violently as she scrambled 
out of their arms. " NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! " 

Tara lunged after the red head, hugging 
her hard into her chest, while Buffy grabbed 
them from the other side. The convulsions 
worsened through the raspy scream of pain 
and fear, reminding her of living through 
the worst nightmare on the planet a thousand 
times over. 

" What the hell did you give her? " Buffy 
growled, trying to keep a grip on Willow. 

" Nothing. " 

" Then what's happening to her?! " 

" I..." Tara forcefully rolled the red 
head onto her back, and pried her eyes 
open. The gorgeous dark emerald eyes had 
dilated and were unseeing. " Oh god... 
She didn't tell me... I didn't know..." 

" What?! " 

" She's a seer. " Tara muttered, her 
eyes searching the bathroom, almost in 
a panic. 

She quickly climbed to her feet, 
moving to the medicine cabinet. The 
various medicines, Tylenol, and first 
aid supplies were swept aside in her 
quest. Each prescription bottle was 
read and disregarded until she found 
the bottle with her ex-lover's name 
on it. 

" Oh goddess. She was on anti- 
psychotic medicine. It was blocking 
the flashes. " 

Buffy cradled the convulsing red 
head into her body, afraid of where 
Tara was going with her point. " And? " 

" She's now catching up on every 
thing that was blocked. " 

" She'll be alright though, right? " 

" We should move her to the bed. " 

" Tara? " 

" I don't know. " Tara admitted. 


<---------> 





Aeris Jade Orion

Grey Fox, and cause of Discord.

Gabrielle: "Do you deny spying on these women?"
Joxer: "I resent that."
Gabrielle: "Do you deny it?"
Joxer: "No, I just _resent_ it."

Joxer: Hello--heh-heh-- name's Joxer-- spelled, uh [Clears throat]--
J-o-x-e-rrrrrrrr. 

Rh: "Would you wanna make a baby with me?"
Jox: "What?!"
Rh: "Will you help?"
Jox: "Wait a minute! You want me to-- to-- to-- make a-- "
Rh: "Right-- will you?"
Jox: "Of course not! Hey, listen! We're not just machines, you
know, you can use to-- . Besides-- you know, uh-- we can't just
do it on command. We need stuff like, uh-- cheap motel rooms and
dirty pictures and lingerie-- stuff like that! We're _not_
animals! But I can get those things!"