This story is based on Joss Whedon's idea to bring Tara back. The execution is a little different, but it stays relatively true to the original idea. Enjoy.

For those of you who have seen Season 4 of Angel, I messed with the timeline a little to speed it up.

For seven years, Buffy had been the only thing standing between Sunnydale and the Hellmouth. Now, Sunnydale was gone, reduced to a massive crater that had swallowed up everything that Buffy, Willow, and Xander had grown up with and valued. It swallowed Buffy's house, and Xander's, and Willow's. It swallowed Spike and Anya. Everyone who had ever mattered to any of them were either staying in the hotel about 5 miles away from what had once been their hometown or had been left in the ruins of Sunnydale.

Buffy stood on the balcony in her and Faith's room and stared at the stars. She felt sad about how things had turned out. Willow was all alone in her room because Kennedy ran back home after they had an argument about what to do next. Xander was also alone. Anya was supposed to share the room with him, but she was dead. The other potentials had slowly begun to return home. In the week since Sunnydale fell, about half of the potentials went back to their families. The remaining ones were either waiting for flights or just wanted some time away from their old lives.

Buffy sighed and turned around to go back to bed when a flash of white light appeared in front of her. Buffy brought her forearm up to her eyes to block the blinding light and kept it there as the light faded. "Buffy Summers. I have a message for you," announced the glowing figure that appeared in front of her. The figure seemed familiar to Buffy, but she couldn't quite place her.

"Who are you?" she asked suspiciously.

"I am one of the Powers that Be. Being one of the newest Powers, I have been assigned to bring you a gift, Buffy."

"Yeah, well I'm wary of Greeks bearing gifts."

The mysterious woman laughed and said, "Well, I know that you have been through a lot. However, I assure you that this is no joke. You are going to receive an opportunity unlike anyone before."

"What is it?"

"You will receive a wish as a reward for defeating the First Evil. One without consequences or limits. You can wish for anything you want. You have 24 hours to decide." With that the figure disappeared, leaving Buffy confused and shocked.

"I need to talk to Giles." However, since the sun was only beginning to rise, she decided that she would wait a few hours and went back to bed. Buffy woke up again about 4 hours later and immediately dressed and went to see Giles. She knocked on the door and within moments, Giles opened it.

"Buffy? Please come in," he gestured.

"Giles, I got a weird visit last night," she began as she walked in. "One of the Powers came to me and said that I was going to get a wish." Giles only nodded and waited for Buffy to say more. "They said I have 24 hours and that it would be consequence free."

"Well, I have never heard of this actually happening before, but I did read somewhere that the Powers swore that they would grant a great reward to anyone who defeated the greatest evil, which likely referred to the First."

"So this is real?"

"Well, yes. Y-yes, it is." Buffy only nodded in shock. "Buffy, do you know what you want to do with this wish?"

"No, but I do have some ideas. Shoes being one of them," she said as she stood. Giles sighed with exasperation and Buffy laughed. "Don't worry, Giles. I won't waste this," she assured him as she closed the door with a soft click. Buffy spent the rest of the day pacing, despite Faith's many attempts to calm her down.

The Next Day…

The next morning, Buffy was once again on the balcony waiting for her visit from the Powers that Be. Suddenly, the flash of white light was back and Buffy was once again visited by the Powers that Be. "Have you made your choice?"

"Yes, I have. But, first. I have a question." The woman nodded. "Why do you look familiar? I feel like I know you. Who are you?" The woman smirked and waved her hand in front of her face. Buffy simply stared and just opened and closed her mouth, trying to say something.

"Well, say something, Buffy."

"Cordelia?!" Buffy asked incredulously. "You're one of the Powers? How? You're not dead!"

"Well. I kinda died a few months ago when a former Power hijacked my body and forced me to give birth to her. Very awkward and messy."

"Oh," Buffy said as a bewildered expression showed on her face, "I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I'm fine. Now your wish?"

"Oh yeah. I wish to resurrect Tara Maclay."

"Done."

"Cordelia, just one thing. She won't be miserable, like I was, right?"

"Nope. Remember no consequences," she said as she waved her arm. Then in the blink of an eye, Tara appeared. "Good bye, you guys." Cordelia smiled and disappeared.

Buffy turned her attention to Tara and smiled. "I've missed you so much." The two girls ran toward each other and hugged.

"So have I. But, Buffy, can I ask you something?" Tara said as she pulled away.

"Sure. Anything."

"Why did you pick me? You could have brought back your mom, Anya, or even Spike."

Buffy sighed and said, "For Anya and Spike, the answer is the same. It would make their sacrifice meaningless. They did it to stop the First and bringing them back would invalidate all of that and I wanted to give them that. They knew what they were getting into. About my mom… I barely survived her dying once. I couldn't handle it again. But, you… you died because of some jackass, not because you signed up to fight a war. Your death has destroyed Willow and I-I just want the old Willow back. I just want a little happiness back," she said trying not to cry. "Oh god, Xander and Dawn are gonna resent me, won't they?"

Tara looked at Buffy seriously and pulled her into a hug. "I don't think so, but I do know that they'll understand."

"We have to tell Willow," Buffy said as she pulled back. Tara only nodded. "Boy, this'll be a fun morning."

"Does she know?" Buffy's mouth formed an "o" and she shook her head. "Well, looks like she's about to find out, huh?"

About 10 minutes later…

After several minutes of back and forth, Buffy and Tara formed a plan of action of how tell Willow about Tara's return without her freaking out that the First had returned. The two walked into Buffy and Faith's room to get to the door leading into the hallway, when they were greeted by Faith. She was sitting in bed with the television remote, staring intently at the TV and causally greeted the two women. "Hey Buffy. Hey Tara," she said like it was the most natural thing in the world. However, after a moment, Faith's face changed and she dropped her remote and did a double take. "Wait, Tara?!" Faith leaped off the bed and gave the two women a very confused look. "Wait a sec… How is she back? The First is definitely gone and well, she's fricking dead!" Faith said as her voice increased in volume. "Oh, yeah. The wish. Welcome back."

"I used my wish to bring back Tara. By the way, Cordy was the one who granted it. Since when is she a power?" Faith shrugged in response to Buffy's question and moved to hug Tara.

"Nice to meet you for real." Faith looked down guiltily and said, "I'm sorry for how I acted when I was in Buffy's body. I was an ass and you didn't deserve it. I'm so sorry." Tara only smiled and waved it off.

"I know you're sorry. You've changed for the better, Faith. I'm not mad."

"Thank you," Faith said sincerely.

"Now, if you don't mind, we have a Willow to surprise," Buffy interjected.

"Oh yeah. How are you gonna do that?"

"Well, Faith. I have a plan."

"Oh boy. You better watch out Tara. This one," Faith said pointing to Buffy, "is not so good with the planning."

"Haha. Very funny. Come on Tara." With that the slayer and her recently resurrected companion left the room. They walked down the hall until they reached the door of Willow's room. "Stay out here, until I tell you, okay?" Tara nodded and hung back a little. Buffy knocked and shortly after Willow opened the door.

"Buffy!" she exclaimed. "Come in."

"Thanks." Buffy walked in and sat on the bed. Willow did the same and looked at Buffy worriedly. "There's something I need to tell you."

"Anything."

"Well, I got a visit from the powers, well Cordy actually."

"SHE'S A POWER?" Willow yelled.

"Yeah. Anyway, they gave me a wish as a reward for beating the First."

"What did you wish for?"

"Do you like my shoes?"

"You wished for shoes," Willow asked skeptically.

"No. But I did wish for something pretty awesome. Stay here for a moment I'll show you." Willow nodded and Buffy went out into the hall. Willow stood up and took a few tentative steps toward the door. She had only covered about half the distance between the bed and the door when it opened to reveal Buffy and another shadowy figure.

"Buffy, who is that?"

The other figure stepped into the light and said, "Will, it's me."

"Tara?" Willow asked quietly.

"Yes. It's me," Tara said stepping forward into the room. As Tara neared, Willow's eyes widened slightly and she fell to the floor with a thud. "Willow!" Tara said as she fell to her knees near Willow. She sat on the floor and cradled Willow's head in her lap. "So I guess she's happy, huh?" Tara said as she stroked Willow's ginger hair.

Willow groaned slightly and mumbled, "Buffy, I had the weirdest dre-"she trailed off as she opened her eyes. "Um, hi," she said looking up at Tara.

"Hi," Tara laughed. Willow sat up and stared at Tara for a minute.

"What happened?"

"You fainted," Tara answered.

"Of course, I fainted. YOU'RE DEAD!" Willow paused and added, "No offense."

"None taken. Though, as you can tell, I'm very much alive now."

"You are? Does that mean you'll stay?"

"Yes, Willow tree. I'm back. I found you." Willow laughed and hugged Tara. Just at that moment, the three women heard two sets of footsteps coming from the hall.

"What's going on? I heard a thud," Xander as he neared the door. "Oh, hey Buffy. Hey Willow, Tara. Is everything-," Xander whipped his head back to look at the two woman on the floor so fast, Buffy was afraid he had gotten whiplash. "TARA?"

"Wait, what?" Damn asked as she pushed her way into the room to see Willow and Tara on the floor, hugging. "Tara's alive! How is she alive? Buffy?" Dawn asked as she turned toward her sister.

"The Powers. They gave me a wish."

"Oh."

"Well, Tara, welcome back," Dawn and Xander announced as they pulled Tara into a hug. Xander turned and hugged Buffy.

"I understand, you know," he whispered into her ear. "I know why you chose to bring Tara back and I'm ok with it. I just wanted you to know."

Buffy smiled and said, "Thanks, Xander. It means a lot." Xander let go of Buffy and Dawn hugged her to as Xander hugged Willow.

"I get it, too. Why you brought her back and not Mom. Thanks, Buffy." With those words from her sister, Buffy cried into Dawn's shoulder. "Oh, Buffy. Please don't cry."

"Happy tears, Dawn. Happy tears." Buffy wiped her eyes and looked around. "Giles," Buffy said randomly.

"Giles?" everyone asked.

"We need to tell him." Everyone collectively nodded. At that moment, Faith walked in the room.

"How's the reunion?"

"Better now. We're about to go see Giles. Wanna come?" asked Buffy. Faith shrugged and nodded.

The Scoobies moved to go see their resident father figure and walked the 20 feet to his door and knocked. Buffy smiled and grabbed Tara and pulled her closer. Giles opened the door and before he could say anything, they all yelled, "Surprise!"

"I take it you used your wish. Good job, Buffy. Welcome back, Tara. It is good to see you."

"You, too, Giles. I've missed you."

"Hey, Giles? Who's at the door?" asked Giles' roommate. "Tara?" asked Andrew. "H-h-hi," he forced before he slinked away.

Tara looked at Buffy with a look of confusion, "What was that about?"

"He's still guilty about the whole thing with Warren."

"Oh." Tara walked in the room and sat on the couch next to Andrew. "I don't blame you, you know."

"Really?" he asked.

"No. Warren killed me. He acted alone. You had nothing to do with it."

"I'm still sorry."

"It's ok. You're good now. It's all that matters," Tara said with a hug.

"Thank you."

After the Scoobies finished their reunion, Willow took Tara back to her, rather their, room. The two reunited lovers laid down on the bed together and looked at each other. "I'm so glad to have you back." Willow looked down sadly. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For turning evil. For Kennedy. For everything."

"Oh, Willow," Tara reached out and out her hand on Willow's cheek. "You don't have to be sorry. I understand why you did what you did. You have redeemed yourself many times over. I mean, you helped save the world. It's a far cry from trying to destroy it." Both women laughed. As for Kennedy… you needed someone. I couldn't expect you to only love me for your entire life. I was dead and I didn't expect you to never have another person in your life. Though now… you're all mine."

"Thank you," said Willow as she leaned in for a kiss. The two women had a year to make for and they were going to start… right now.