Beyond Expectation

by Talula

Summary: This is in response to a challenge based off the information that Buffy was a lot like Cordelia before she was called as the slayer. Tara and Buffy were classmates at Hemry before Buffy got expelled, and Buffy treated Tara like dirt. Now Tara and Buffy meet up at UC Sunnydale, and Buffy needs to figure out how to make it up to Tara. As they work together, Tara finds that Buffy’s not just becoming her friend as she starts to develop romantic feelings for the slayer.

Timeline/Plot Alterations: Takes place in s5, making Tara, Buffy, Willow and Oz college sophomores. Really, the only important change that may not be entirely obvious is that Dawn is not the key and Glory doesn’t exist. Also, Riley and the Initiative never happened.

Disclaimer: Some dialogue is borrowed from the beginning of the fifth season episode “The Body” for Christmas scenes.

Literature Quoted: Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov; The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

Music Credits: “Rock Paper Scissors” by Ani Difranco; “Anywhere” by Evanescence; “Canto Alla Vita” by Josh Groban w/Andrea Corr.

Part 1: B with an Itch

“Okay, so everybody has the project,” Professor Garvin said after his TA completed passing out the assignment description to the students. “Pair up and I’ll expect your completed assignments by next Tuesday. Then you’ll do peer reviews on how the project went. Dismissed.”

Buffy was wasting time reading the assignment while everybody else was pairing off. She was oblivious as the lecture hall started to clear. When she finished reading, she looked up to find the room was almost empty except for a few stragglers.

“Oh crap, I still need a buddy.”

She was wishing Willow had opted to take this contemporary literature course with her. But Willow’s schedule had already been packed with other courses. Buffy looked around and saw a girl up in the corner who was just starting to gather her things. She put on her best introductory smile and approached the girl. They almost collided when the girl didn’t notice Buffy. She was walking with her head down and seemed very shy. Buffy was up for that. Willow was quite the wallflower when they had first met. And look at her now, Buffy thought.

“Uh, hey, looks like we’re the only ones left without project partners,” she said. “If you want, we could pair up. I’m Buffy Summers.”

“Great,” the girl said. Buffy noticed the tone in the girl’s voice was more sarcastic than enthusiastic. The girl sighed and rolled her eyes. “You know, I-I’ll just do the project, put both our names on it and we-we can both lie on our peer reviews next week. It’ll save us both a l-lot of trouble.”

“Um, okaaay,” Buffy said as the girl pushed past her. She was a little confused about that reaction and definitely wanted to find out what was going on. She followed her out the door into the hall. “Or we could work on it together and both put our own work into it.”

“R-right. Your own work,” the girl said. Her tone was moving into pure bitter territory.

“Obviously, we haven’t got off to a great start here,” Buffy said in confusion. The girl stopped walking and glared at her. “Did I run over your puppy in a previous life or something? I don’t even know you.”

“You d-don’t remember,” the girl said, not surprised in the least.

“Remember what? I don’t even know your name.”

“Tara Maclay,” the girl replied. She waited for a reaction and watched as Buffy’s eyes widened and the recognition light bulb came on.

“Oh geez,” Buffy said, her surprise changed to guilt. “You went to Hemry. God, I should’ve remembered with the stutter.”

Tara rolled her eyes and turned, trying to retreat from this unwanted situation. Buffy hurried after her and stepped in her path again.

“I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have said that,” Buffy said apologetically. “Sometimes my mouth moves faster than my brain. You remember that, right?”

“Right,” Tara scoffed, not comforted by Buffy’s attempt at levity. “I-I remember you making fun of me every chance you-you got. You and your sh-sheep.”

“Okay, yeah, I was a bitch to you. I freely admit that,” Buffy said. She remembered what she was like at Hemry, what she called her Cordelia Era. She was prom queen incarnate and a pure nightmare for anyone who didn’t have an in with the popular crowd. Tara was one of those kind of people. “But I have really, really changed since I left Hemry. I mean, really. I don’t think I can say really enough.”

“You’ve changed?” Tara asked skeptically. She remembered all too well how Buffy treated her in high school. She had been ready to throw a party when she found out Buffy was expelled. Of course, she didn’t have any friends to invite to that party.

“Yeah, seriously, and you know, I think this project is a good way for me to make it up to you. I feel really bad about how I treated you,” Buffy said.

“I don’t w-w-want your pity,” Tara said sharply.

“Okay, no pity. Sure. Pity’s bad,” Buffy said, frantically trying to think how she could get on Tara’s good graces. “But let’s just try this project together. I really am a totally different person now. I do my own homework and everything.” Tara smirked slightly, and Buffy noticed that Tara genuinely seemed amused by that comment. “Well, that’s a start. So can we start over here? Clean slate?”

Tara looked reluctant. Buffy tried to think of something else she could say to convince her. She was digging through her memory for anything about Tara that might help her. Something personal to try and get on her good side. She thought of all the things she used to tease Tara about. Her clothes, her stutter, her shyness. Then it hit her.

“Witchcraft,” Buffy blurted out. Tara looked confused.

“What?”

“We used to tease you. We called you a witch because of the way you dressed,” Buffy said.

“Yeah, w-what’s your point?” Tara said, not fond of the memories Buffy was digging up.

“Sorry, I’m getting there. Are you really into witchcraft?” Buffy asked. Tara was too stunned to answer. “Because if you are, I know a guy. He runs a magic shop here in town. A real magic shop, not one of those hokey shops that deals in love spells and henna tattoos. If you’re interested, we could work on our project there. I could introduce you to him. So are you really a witch?”

Tara was hesitant. She wasn’t thrilled with revealing such personal information to someone she had hated as long as she had known her.

“I also have a friend who’s a witch,” Buffy said. “You could meet her, too. She helps out at the shop sometimes. I bet she’ll be there.” Tara was still hesitant. Buffy tried even harder. “Okay, so what do I have to do? Do I have to buy you presents? Because I will. Do you like chocolate? Or coffee? I can do bribery. I’m all over it.”

Tara couldn’t stop from chuckling. Buffy certainly was trying her hardest. So she gave in.

“Okay, we can w-w-work at the shop,” Tara said with a smile. Buffy smiled, happy with her success.

“Well, I got a full smile,” Buffy said. She turned, and the two of them began walking. “I’d say we’re getting somewhere.”

When they arrived at the shop, Tara was pleased to find that Buffy had described it accurately. It wasn’t hokey at all. It was the real deal, and as far as she could tell, the owner knew his stuff. Buffy introduced Tara to him, and the young witch was slightly surprised by his British accent.

“Tara Maclay, this is Rupert Giles,” Buffy introduced. “We all just call him Giles.”

“How do you do,” Giles said with a nod and smile. Tara smiled shyly back.

“Nice to meet you, M-Mr. Giles,” she said timidly.

“Mister?” Giles said in surprise. He shot a pointed glare at Buffy. “Well, that’s a refreshing change of pace. Perhaps you could learn a little respect from her, Buffy.”

Buffy just rolled her eyes and led Tara over to the large table where they would do their work.

“Tara’s a witch. Or do you prefer Wicca? I know Willow prefers Wicca,” Buffy said, not wanting to offend Tara. She had worked so hard to get her to agree to do the project with her, she was afraid to spoil it.

“Um, either is f-fine,” Tara said. Giles became curious.

“How experienced are you?” he asked.

“W-well, I’ve practiced my whole life, or ever since I w-was little, I mean,” she offered. “I-I don’t really do much anymore.”

“Why not?” Buffy asked, wanting to learn more about this girl she remembered tormenting in high school.

“I don’t know many other, um, witches,” Tara said.

“Yes, witchcraft—well, white magick rather—is a very communal practice, Buffy,” Giles explained. Buffy recognized lecture mode, but she was very used to it by now. “That’s why there are entire covens with anywhere from two to forty witches. Solitary practitioners tend to lose focus and they begin to stray into the dark magicks. It can be dangerous to practice alone.”

“Well, how come you don’t tell Willow that?” Buffy asked innocently. Giles scowled and removed his glasses.

“I have told Willow that numerous times. She chooses not to listen,” he said. “Something I’m afraid she may have picked up from you.”

“I listen,” Buffy said defensively. “I listen all the time.”

“Right,” Giles said dismissively.

“So, W-Willow is the friend you were talking about before?” Tara asked. She was definitely interested in meeting another witch. Her shy nature tended to get in the way of her meeting other witches, or anybody, for that matter.

“Yeah, she’s the one,” Buffy said. “Has Will been in yet today, Giles?”

“Not yet,” he said. “Actually, it’s Tuesday. She generally doesn’t come in on Tuesdays.”

“Oh yeah, she’s got chemistry lab on Tuesdays. Takes up all her time,” Buffy said. She looked apologetically to Tara. “Sorry. I really wanted to introduce you two. Will’s always wanting to meet other witches. I think you two would hit it off. She was a lot like you in high school, except she was a computer nerd instead of a literature nerd.” Tara scowled at Buffy, and the slayer looked up to see that Giles was offering the same scowl. “God, I’m sorry. Ask Giles, I have chronic foot in mouth disease. I didn’t mean to…well, I’m just going to change the topic to our project.”

“You mean our project on contemporary literature?” Tara asked pointedly.

“Wow, I really suck at making up for being a bitch,” Buffy muttered. The bell over the shop door clanged and Buffy looked over, hoping it would be Willow making a surprise Tuesday visit to the shop. The person she saw was almost as good as Willow.

“Xander, hey!” she said happily. She stood, went over to Xander and hugged him. “I’m so glad to see you. You know I love you, right?”

Xander looked at Buffy confused. Then he looked worried. “Is somebody dying? Am I dying? What’s going on?”

“Nobody’s dying,” Giles said dryly. “Buffy just insulted her new friend and is trying to awkwardly get out of the hole she’s dug herself into.”

Tara smiled. She knew there was a reason she liked Giles already. She could definitely get used to being around him.

“New friend?” Xander asked, now curious. Tara looked up at him shyly. He smiled broadly, trying to play it cool. It was his ‘there’s a new, pretty girl’ smile. “Hi, I’m Xander. If Buffy has told you anything about me, the good stuff is true and the rest is all lies.”

“I’m T-Tara,” she introduced herself. Xander nodded and sat next to her at the table. Buffy returned to her seat, glad that there was a distraction to get Tara to forget the unintended insult.

“So, Tara tell me all about yourself, starting with favorite restaurants and what you look for in a guy,” Xander said. Buffy shot a look at him.

“Xander, you’re dating Anya!” she said. He pointed at her and spoke in his defense.

“Having a girlfriend does not mean I can’t flirt,” he said. He looked back to Tara and noticed she was blushing. “You and Buffy go to UC Sunnydale together? You do the whole matriculating thing?”

“Yeah, Buffy and I are w-working on a project together,” Tara said.

“Well, good. That means we’ll see more of you then, right?” he asked. Tara smiled and nodded her head. Xander stood and turned to the counter where Giles was looking through some receipts. “I’m actually just here to pick up Anya’s paycheck.”

“Why didn’t she come herself?” Giles asked. Xander shrugged his shoulders.

“The line’s really long at the bank. She figured by the time I got back with her check, she’d be up to the counter,” he explained. Giles opened the register and handed over Anya’s paycheck.

“Tell Anya if she wants her precious money so badly, she needs to start picking up her own checks,” Giles said. Xander nodded his head and turned toward the door.

“Okay, I’m off to make Anya happy. With the check, not…” Xander trailed off, feeling slightly awkward having slipped up like that around Tara. “Bye ladies…and Giles.”

Once Xander was gone, Tara turned to Buffy.

“Okay, w-we need to get started on this,” she said. “How far h-have you read?”

“Um, well, I’ve read most of it, or some of it,” Buffy said. Tara just looked at her, waiting for a clear and honest answer. “Okay, I read the poem.”

“I guess that’s more th-than I expected,” Tara said. Buffy shot her a pointed look and Tara smiled innocently.

“It’s a long poem,” Buffy said defensively. “A 36-page poem.”

“What are you reading?” Giles asked. The former librarian in him always came to life when books were the topic of discussion.

“Pale Fire by Vlad…Vlad…Vladimmer Nabo…” Buffy said as she looked at the book, struggling with the foreign author’s name.

“Vladimir Nabokov,” Tara said, pronouncing it perfectly without even her typical stutter slipping through.

“Ah, yes, Nabokov,” Giles said. “I haven’t read that particular book, but Lolita was not really to my tastes.”

“Pale Fire’s better. It has such an-an interesting style. It’s so unique,” Tara said. Buffy felt left out so she started reading the first page. Then she looked up after reading a few lines.

“I thought this was a novel,” she said in confusion. Tara nodded her head. “It’s looking like a review of that poem.”

“It’s a novel,” Tara said. She pointed further down the page. “Keep reading.”

Buffy did as Tara said and then scowled. She quoted the book. “‘There is a very loud amusement park right in front of my present lodgings.’ What the hell does that have to do with anything?”

“You’ll figure it out w-w-when you read more,” Tara replied. “That’s what I was talking about, with the style. Nabokov wrote the book in the style of a literary critique. The main character, Ch-Charles Kinbote, is critiquing this poem, b-but the more you read, the more you realize that Kinbote’s, um, not quite right in the head.”

“Sounds interesting,” Giles said. Buffy pouted.

“Sounds confusing,” she said. She sighed. “Well, I guess I’ve got some reading to do before we start on this project. Sorry. I’m Miss Not Prepared.”

“That’s okay,” Tara said. Buffy noticed that Tara had lightened up considerably since they had arrived at the shop. “I-I can work on some outlines tonight, kind of, um, get things going.”

“Okay, well, I’ll give you a call and we can figure out when to meet again to work on this,” Buffy said as they packed up their things. “You’re in the campus directory?”

“Yeah, I-I am,” she replied. She smiled at Giles before she left. “Goodbye, Mr. Giles.”

“Goodbye, Tara. Pleasure meeting you.” Once Tara was gone, Giles went about his business in the shop while talking with Buffy. “She’s a pleasant girl. You went to high school with her? I don’t remember ever seeing her.”

“No, she didn’t go to Sunnydale High,” Buffy replied. “We went to Hemry together before I got kicked out.”

“Oh, you two were friends then?”

“Not so much,” Buffy replied. Giles looked confused. “I’m sure she had plenty of words for what I was to her. One starts with b and ends with itch. She was Willow. I was Cordelia.”

“Good lord, and she agreed to work with you?” Giles asked, remembering how Cordelia had treated Willow.

“It took a lot of arm twisting and promises that I had changed,” Buffy said. Giles looked concerned and Buffy realized why. “Not literal arm twisting. But anyway, we were the last two in the class who hadn’t paired off for this project. We got stuck together.”

“I suppose it’s fate’s way of allowing you to redeem yourself,” Giles suggested.

“Maybe. I mean, I’m glad that I’m getting this chance. I do feel bad about the way I treated her,” Buffy said sincerely. “I kinda wish I could apologize to everybody I tormented at Hemry. Although, that would take a while.”

“Long list?” Giles asked.

“Entire student body, excluding the cheerleaders and football players,” Buffy replied. Giles raised an eyebrow at her. “Yes, that was me. Just call me Cordelia’s twin.”

Giles chuckled and went back to his work around the shop. Buffy began reading the book, hoping she would understand it enough to make valuable contributions to the project. The last thing she wanted to do was make Tara feel like she was using her for a good grade.

Part 2: Withholding Information

Buffy left the Magic Box and went home. Joyce was surprised to see Buffy on a weeknight, but Buffy didn’t stop to chat. She went up to her bedroom closet and dug around until she found her freshman yearbook from Hemry High School. She flipped to the back index and scanned the names until she found the one she was looking for—Maclay, Tara. There was only one page number next to Tara’s name. Buffy flipped to it and found it was simply the freshman class pictures. She looked through the rows of students whose last names started with M, but she couldn’t find Tara’s picture. Then she got to the end of the freshman class and saw Tara’s name.

Tara Maclay – Not Pictured

“God, she’s not even in the yearbook,” Buffy muttered to herself. Then she flipped to the S list in the index. Summers, Buffy. There were 20 page numbers next to Buffy’s name. She sighed and shook her head. “No wonder she hated me.”

Meanwhile, in her dorm room, Tara was doing the exact same thing. She skimmed the index and found Buffy’s name. She marked that page in the index and turned to the first page listed. She already knew her picture wasn’t in the yearbook. She had missed photo day, and she never participated in extra curriculars. She never made the candids. Only the popular kids made the candids. She sighed as she made her way through Buffy’s pages. Homecoming court, cheerleading squad, prom court—the list was extensive.

She flipped to the front of the yearbook and started looking at the few signatures. There were a few people who wrote little messages to her. There were a few from a couple teachers she liked. The rest were the typical signatures of the people who didn’t even know whose yearbook they were signing. “Have a nice summer.” She looked toward the bottom of the first page and saw what she had been looking for.

Have a nice summer! Buffy Summers

She turned to the picture of the Homecoming court and just stared at Buffy’s face. It appeared that Buffy had changed like she said. But Tara wasn’t quite sure she trusted that yet.

Buffy had asked Tara to relocate their project planning to her house because Buffy’s mom had a doctor’s appointment and needed someone to stay at the house with Dawn. The younger Summers girl resented it, of course, and had locked herself away in her room to sulk. Buffy and Joyce were used to it. Buffy introduced Tara. Much like Giles, Joyce had taken an instant liking to her.

Once Joyce was gone, Buffy gathered popcorn and sodas, and the two of them sat in the living room discussing the novel, which Buffy had finished in record time. She had never completed a required reading assignment so fast in her academic career. She was very impressed with herself. Tara appeared impressed as well.

“So you think Kinbote is gay?” Tara asked with a raised eyebrow when Buffy presented her views on the relationship between Charles Kinbote and John Shade in their reading assignment.

“You don’t?” Buffy asked. Tara shook her head. “I mean, just the way he talks about Shade, and then there’s all the young students he invites over to his house. Guy students. Those twins and the ping pong tables…”

“But you have to keep in mind that Kinbote m-might not be real. He might be a figment of Shade’s imagination,” Tara said.

“Nah, this guy’s no figment,” Buffy said. “He’s real, he’s insane and he’s gay.”

“Who’s gay?” Dawn asked as she entered the room.

Buffy didn’t notice, but Dawn saw the expression on Tara’s face in reaction to that question. Tara looked flustered, as if the question was about her personally. The teenager filed that expression away for future investigation.

“Nobody,” Buffy said, the annoyed older sister tone saturating her voice. “Don’t you have homework that you could be doing? In your room…away from here.”

Dawn ignored Buffy and turned to Tara. “I’m Dawn. I hear you hate Buffy.”

“Oh, I-I don’t hate her,” Tara stammered with a nervous smile. “I-I just…we, um, didn’t get along in-in high school.”

“She was a bitch,” Dawn said with a nod, trading a sharp gaze with Buffy. “Thought maybe you and I could talk some time.”

“Dawn, we’re kinda busy here,” Buffy said. Dawn picked up Buffy’s copy of Pale Fire and looked at the back cover, reading the brief summary.

“So, Buffy says you’re a witch. Do you do spells and stuff?”

“N-not really. It’s dangerous to do spells alone,” Tara said.

“Magic’s so cool. Sometimes Willow shows me stuff,” Dawn said. “Have you met Willow yet?”

“Not yet.”

“She’s way cooler than Buffy,” Dawn said with a smirk. She tossed the book into Buffy’s lap and backed away. “I guess I’ll leave you guys alone then. I’m feeling major evil eye in here.”

Dawn left and Buffy shook her head in frustration. “Sorry about that.”

“No, it-it’s okay,” Tara said with a smile. “I used to wish I had a little sister sometimes.”

“I used to wish I didn’t have one,” Buffy said with a chuckle. “Nah. She’s okay, I guess. But what would sisterly love be without us being major pains in each other’s asses, right?”

Tara smiled and nodded her head. She had a feeling Dawn had noticed her reaction to the ‘Who’s gay?’ question. She just hoped Dawn wouldn’t draw anything off that reaction and tell Buffy. She wasn’t ready for that. Not yet.

They made their way back to the dorm and that’s when Buffy found out from Tara that they lived on the same hall. They had lived on the same hall for a year. Buffy tried to apologize for not talking to Tara already. She thought she had met everybody on their floor. Tara brushed off Buffy’s apology, stating that she had kept to herself a lot.

“It’s not your fault,” she said. Buffy wasn’t quite sure about that, but she accepted it as they arrived at her door.

“We can get together tomorrow night,” Buffy said as she opened her door. She saw Willow in the room with Oz and motioned for Tara to come in.

“Hey, Buffy,” Willow said with a smile.

“Hey guys,” Buffy said. She smiled and gestured at Tara. “Guys, this is Tara. Tara, this is Willow and Oz.”

“Hi,” Tara said quietly.

“Hey!” Willow said excitedly. She stood from the bed and stepped toward Tara. “Buffy’s told me all about you, including the parts that weren’t so nice. She’s definitely not like that anymore. I mean, when she first got to Sunnydale she stuck up for me and she’s saved our lives so many times…”

Buffy’s eyes widened and she gave Willow a look that said she was revealing too much. Willow got the hint and frantically tried to cover.

“Figuratively speaking, of course. She didn’t literally save my life because there’s never any reason to save my life literally,” she said.

“Yeah, same here,” Oz said in a calmer manner than Willow.

“Did she-she tell you to talk her up?” Tara asked, only half-serious. Buffy and Willow exchanged a nervous look, and Willow shook her head.

“Oh! No, no she didn’t. I was just…just over-compensating,” she explained. She looked flustered. “So…Buffy says you practice witchcraft.”

“Yeah, not much now, but I used to b-before,” she replied.

“Why’d you stop?” Willow asked curiously. She noticed Tara’s expression change. She looked sad. So she changed the subject. “Maybe we could get together sometime and do some spells or something. I mean, right now I’m mostly floating pencils and putting my friends in mortal danger. Might help to have a secondary or vice versa for you.”

“Yeah, that’d be cool…sometime.”

“How about tonight?” Buffy said. She shot a glance at Willow. It was highly suggestive. She hadn’t asked Willow to talk her up with Tara, but right now it didn’t sound like a bad idea. “I mean, the only reason we’re not working on our project is because I have pat…political science homework.”

“And it’s a full moon, so I’m busy,” Oz said.

“Full moon?” Tara asked. Oz realized he had slipped this time.

“Oh, my band rehearses when there’s a full moon. It’s like this…tradition thing,” he covered. Tara appeared to accept that.

“Are you sure?” Willow asked Oz. “You don’t want me there for…rehearsal?”

“Nah. It’s cool. I’ll manage,” he replied. Willow turned to Tara with an eager smile.

“What do ya say?” she asked.

She smiled and nodded her head. “Sure. Do you wanna meet here or my place?”

Willow noticed Buffy nodding her head to Tara behind Tara’s back. “Oh, your place would be good. There’s this spell with a rose that I think will be cool to try.”

“O-okay. I’m just down the hall in two-nineteen,” she said, gesturing toward the door in the direction her room would be. “What time?”

“Say seven?” Willow suggested. Tara nodded her head and turned for the door.

“Nice meeting you guys,” she said with a wave. “I’ll see you.”

“See ya,” Buffy said. They watched Tara leave and then Buffy flopped down on her bed. Willow returned to her spot next to Oz.

“She seems really nice,” she said.

“She is,” Buffy said. She pouted a little. “Just makes me feel all the more like a moron.”

“She’s kind of quiet,” Oz said. Buffy and Willow looked to him with raised eyebrows.

“Says the pot,” Buffy commented with a smirk. “You know, I think that’s the problem though. You were in her shoes, Will. The smart, quiet ones are the ones who get treated like crap and deserve it the least.”

“Sure, but you’re not like that. You’ve got all this perspective now from risking your life every night to save the world,” Willow assured Buffy.

“Well, I can’t tell her that,” Buffy said. “Giles is still pushing the secret identity thing.”

“You don’t trust her?” Oz asked.

“It’s not really about trust,” she replied. She sighed and shook her head. “I have to know, for one thing, that it won’t freak her out royally. And if she’s going to actually forgive me enough to stick around. What if we just work on this project together and that’s it? It’s obvious that if she doesn’t want to be found she can find a way to not be found. We’ve lived on the same hall for a year and we never met up.”

“Do you want her to stick around?” Willow asked. Buffy shrugged her shoulders. “You just gotta show her the new and improved Buffy, minus the slayage. Once she gets to know what you’re like now, she won’t run off and hide. Then you can tell her what you really do at night. And once she finds out that, she can run off and hide with the rest of us.”

“In the meantime, I lie.”

“Not lie. Fib. Embellish,” Willow said.

“Translation—lie.”

“Withhold information,” Oz added. “She’ll understand. We’ve all been there.”

Buffy wasn’t so sure about that. She knew Tara would be a little more receptive than most people due to her involvement in witchcraft, but she still wasn’t sure how well Tara would take the fact that demons and vampires were real. And she wasn’t sure if Tara would be around long enough to find that out.

Part 3: Just Good Friends

Willow arrived at Tara’s dorm room that night with a rose and some other supplies for the spell she had told her about. Tara let her in and Willow started setting up as she explained what the spell was supposed to do.

“We attune our minds and pluck the petals off one by one,” she said.

“Sounds cool,” Tara said with a smile. “Buffy says you’ve been practicing witchcraft for a couple years.”

“Yeah, I got into it in high school,” Willow replied. “How long have you?”

“Um, since I was little,” Tara said quietly. “My mom…she taught me a lot of stuff. Everything really.”

“Wow. All my mom ever taught me about witchcraft was the psychological ramifications of personal identity on society,” Willow commented. “You must know way more than me. Plucking rose petals is probably like witchy kindergarten for you.”

“No, it’s cool,” Tara said. “It-it’s been a few years since I’ve, um, done anything more than your basic spells.”

“Yeah, why is that?” Willow asked. Tara hesitated and Willow stumbled a little. “I mean, I guess you have your reasons and it’s none of my business. If you don’t want to tell me, that’s okay. I was just being nosey. That’s me. The cat curiosity killed. I think we’re almost ready here.”

Tara watched Willow, slightly amused by the breathless babbling. She could see why Buffy liked Willow. Or why anybody with eyes and ears would like Willow. The babbling was very endearing.

“What about you? How’d you get into witchcraft?”

“Oh, well there was this girl Amy and she taught me a bunch of stuff,” Willow explained.

“Does she live on campus?”