Title: Nightmares
Prompt: Nightmares
Word Count: 551
Rating: T
Summary: Tara is plagued by nightmares, and Willow is haunted by the death of her best friend. Grief never really goes away.

A/N: Here is the first instalment of a series of Tillow drabbles (short stories of 50-500 words). The rating won't go over T, and please feel free to send me prompts through either reviews or private messages. I hope you enjoy! :3

Fingers were probing Tara's mind. Searing agony erupted wherever they touched, driving her to the edge of madness- until there was nothing. Just green light and pale glory, fading into a flash of purple. There was a dark, black sky, rolling on for ever and ever. Suddenly there was a body from it, tumbling towards the ground like an abel cast from Heaven-

CRASH. Tara let out a shriek at the noise, scrambling awake. She fumbled for the lamp beside her bed, her heart thundering as she turned it on. The clock next to it read 10pm, and Tara was surprised at how early it was. On the carpet rolled an empty glass, and she sighed shakily with relief. She must have knocked it off her bedside table in her sleep.

Tara curled up into a ball. She drew her blankets around her, and her skin prickled as she thought of her dream, remembering the awful feeling of having her sanity ripped away by Glory the hell god. That had only been a few weeks ago, and her mood dropped even further as she thought of what had happened since.

She missed Buffy.

They all did, of course, especially Willow and Dawn. Poor Dawn, her heart twisted as she thought what the girl must be going through. Fourteen years old, and her entire family dead. Tears burnt the back of her eyes, unbidden and unwanted.

"Tara?" She looked up, smiling weakly as she saw who it was. There was Willow, standing at the door. There was Willow, her fiery hair in a messy bun and a half eaten sandwich in her hand. Jam oozed from its' crust.

"Baby?" Willow was on the bed now, wrapping Tara in a warm and sticky hug. "What's wrong? I hard a noise. Dawnie and I were watching TV but I thought I might check on you just in-"

"I had a bad dream," Tara mumbled into Willows shoulder, wincing at the hot, fat blobs of tears running down her face.

Willow set the sandwich down onto the covers. "What about?" She asked gently.

"I-" Tara hiccuped a little. "I was with Glory... And then there was B-Buffy. And- then there was a loud noise. I'm not sure, but it was really, really scary and there was Glory and we were back on the bench and she-" her voice had risen in pitch as she became more distraught.

"Hey," Willow stroked Tara's hair in attempt to calm her down. "It's okay. You're okay, see? No Glory. No one is gonna mess with your mind again- they're gonna have to go through me first!"

Tara smiled a little.

"You're okay," Willow continued firmly. "Nothing can hurt you."

Tara nodded slowly, feeling at least a small bit comforted. "Thank you," she said quietly.

"It's no problem," her girlfriend leaned forward and kissed Tara's forehead. "Do you think you can get back to sleep? We can go downstairs. Dawnie's watching Star Wars!"

"Star Wars sounds good."

"Okay, then!" Willow smiled. "If we're quick there might still be some popcorn left."

As they walked downstairs, arms linked, Tara pretended not to notice Willow flinch at the beeping of the Buffybot.

They had a long way to go.