PREVIOUSLY

Willow closed her eyes and thought about what she was about to do.

'I can do this,' she told herself. "I… I never thought I'd… I'd ever be in this position… again," she started off saying, quickly thinking back to Xander and Oz. "I… I… don't know why me? Why now?" she shrugged as she began to pace. "I find myself having to make a decision that… that will not only affect me, but you two as well," she said gesturing to the other girls' who hung on every word. "I don't want to hurt either one of you, but that's *exactly* what I'm going to do… and I'm not sure I'm worth the pain I'm going to cause. I've been thinking about this very, very seriously… and please believe me, it wasn't easy." Willow looked at the two women who had captured a part of her and wanted nothing more than to hide. Knowing that she couldn't, she said the words that would most likely haunt her for a long time. "I've chosen…"

***

When she heard her name, she knew that she would have to do everything possible to show Willow that she had made the right choice. She got up from the bed and walked over to her.

"I'll… I'll wait outside… give you two some time," she said, before excusing herself from the room.

"Thanks," came the whispered reply.

She wanted nothing more than to shout for joy, but she couldn't, she knew how hard the decision had to have been, and didn't want to ever think about how she would have handled it had it gone the other way again.

A few minutes later Willow emerged from her room, her face streaked with tears.

"Are you going to be okay?" she asked.

Willow nodded, wiping at the tears.

"Can… can I… I sta… stay with you?" she asked, the emotions of the last few minutes making it difficult for her to speak.

"Sure," Tara replied. "I'll be right back," she said as she quickly went to the girls' restroom and got some paper towels for Willow. "Here… I… I think you might need it," she said handing them to Willow.

"Thanks."

"Let's go."

***

They spent the entire day talking about what they were going to do as well as what she had told Buffy and how Buffy had taken the news. She wasn't surprised when Willow finally fell asleep. She huddled next to her, hoping that by being close by, Willow wouldn't feel so alone.

***

The next week went by in a blur for them. Willow spent that night as well as others with her, never bringing up Buffy's name except in passing. Willow was avoiding Buffy and Tara knew that something had to be done to fix the problem before it got to the point where there wouldn't be anything left to fix.

***

"Willow?"

"Hmm?" she replied looking up from the book she was reading.

"I… I… um. I think you should get in touch with Buffy."

"I… I can't… not yet."

"I… I know it hurts, believe me I know. The entire time I spent sitting on your bed, waiting for your decision… I… I imagined what it would be like… if… if you hadn't chosen me. And to tell you the truth, I didn't like it. If that's how I felt by just imaging it, it must be ten times worse for Buffy, because she's living through it. You can't afford to let your friendship suffer, especially because of me."

"I… I will, just not yet, okay?"

"Okay. You know what, I've got to go to the library to pick up a book I need for one of my classes. I'll… I'll be back in an hour."

"Do you want me to go with you?"

"Nah, I'm okay."

"Alright, be careful coming back."

"I will," she said, kissing Willow on the cheek. She left the room and headed in the direction of the library. 'You'd better hurry,' she told herself, as she watched Buffy enter her dorm.

She didn't want to force the issue, but they had to talk, really talk. And if inviting Buffy over on the pretense that Willow wasn't feeling good, well, she'd take her chances. She sat at the base of a tree that provided an excellent view of the front of her dorm; she'd be able to see Buffy when she left.

She sat and waited for over two hours before Buffy came out. She couldn't tell anything by the look on her face. Standing up and brushing the dirt off of her clothes, she walked back to her room. Steeling herself, she opened the door and peeked inside, Willow was sitting down in the same place she had left her earlier.

"I'm… I'm back," she said as she entered the room.

"Why did you do that?"

"Willow… I love you and I couldn't stand seeing you like this anymore. I had to do something, I'm sorry if I went behind your back to do it. Are… are you two okay?"

"It was hard, for both of us. She… she tried to change my mind… in the end we decided that our friendship is so much more important to us," she trailed off as she thought back to their conversation.

"But… you're okay?"

"Yeah… we're okay. It's going to be hard, we both admitted that it was going to take some time before we're able to be comfortable around each other, but, it's going to work out."

"I'm so glad," Tara said as she enveloped the other girl in a hug.

"So am I."

***

6 Months Later

Tonight was the night. And she was scared out of her mind. Granted they had been at the point of no turning back a few times over the past six months, but there was always something that kept it from happening.

But tonight…

Was different.

The fact that Buffy was helping out as a testament of how far they had come since that night. That was not saying that they didn't have their problems from time to time. They did, but with any friendship, they grew stronger.

Tara was due back in another ten minutes and Willow's heart was racing, everything was set. Buffy was even taking care of Xander, so he wouldn't be around the entire weekend.

She was secretly hoping to stay in the entire time, which made her blush, considering what Buffy had said to her earlier.

"You dog Will. Try not to wear her out okay?" she said jokingly.

Sighing, she quickly changed her clothes and lit the candles that she hoped would bring her luck.

***

As soon as Tara opened the door, she could tell that something was going on.

Candles adorned the room, casting their gentle light in every direction. She had just stepped into the room and closed the door when Willow grabbed her and kissed her senseless.

"Happy anniversary," Willow exclaimed, after releasing her lip lock on the other girl.

"Hap… happy… anni… anniversary," Tara finally managed to get out. Stepping back, she looked at Willow. "You… you look beautiful," she told her.

"Thanks… I've got you a little something," Willow said handing Tara a small box. "Hurry up and open it."

Putting her bag down, she carefully opened the gift. She pulled a sterling silver chain, hanging off it was a heart, and in the middle were the initials, 'W T'.

"Oh… it's beautiful," she said as tears gathered in her eyes. After putting it on, Tara got her bag and reached inside and pulled out her gift for Willow. "It's not as nice as yours," she said, handing it over.

"I'm sure it's… oh… Tara, where did you get it?"

"I… I asked Mr. Giles… I asked Giles if he could get a copy of it for me," she answered.

"It's perfect," Willow replied looking at the leather bound volume of spells.

"Do you want to try one?"

"Nope… maybe later. I… I… I have other plans for tonight."

"Really?"

"Umhmm," she said placing the book down carefully on the table and walking back to Tara and relieved her of her sweater.

"So… so, wha… what do you have planned?" Tara asked as she was being guided towards her bed.

"Something I think we'll both enjoy."

"Oh?"

"Tara?"

"Yeah?"

"Has anyone ever accused you of talking too much?" she asked.

Before she could answer, she felt the back of her legs coming into contact with the bed.

"No…"

"Good."

Willow leaned in and brought her lips in contact with Tara's, getting lost in the sweetness of it. Tara fell back, sprawling on the bed, enjoying the sensation on Willow's body on hers.

"Tara?"

"Yes?"

"I love you."

Tara smiled.

"I love you to Will. Umm… Will?"

"Hmm."

"Are… are you happy?" she asked, all of sudden needing to know.

"I think I'll just show you how happy I am Tara."

End. End Series