STRAWBERRY HAVEN
A/N: This is a "Spillow" story I thought about. I will still stick with "Spuffy" stories primarily, but like my other story, "How the Goddess Was Won", I just wanted to do something a little different.
The plot takes place in Season Six. I didn't like some of the ways the writers took things too far (like with Spike nearly raping Buffy and Willow trying to destroy the world), so here is my spin on things. One major change is that Willow doesn't go to Rack and get addicted to magic. Like so many of my other stories, this is an "Alternate Universes" tale.
Disclaimer: Joss, Twentieth Century Fox, and other subsidiaries own the whole Magillicuddy. I'm just playing, and I will return the characters when I am done. This story is for a different spin on things, and is not intended to plagiarize.
CHAPTER ONE
Willow Rosenberg stared at the empty room in Tara's sometime residence, her eyes widening with the shock of her friend and lover's departure. She had known that the blonde witch was angry with Willow for using magic to bend things to her will, but somehow, she'd thought that the rift between her and Tara would blow over soon. She never expected Tara to leave.
The red headed witch saw the note on the bed suddenly and picked it up. A glance at it confirmed that Tara had left to "have some space", and she didn't know when she'd be back in Sunnydale, or if she would return. Willow's face scrunched up in anger. She willed the note to burn, watching as the flames caught in the air and then evaporated.
The Wicca considered using a spell to locate Tara, but she banked down her desire. Her interference would not be appreciated, she knew, since that was the reason for Tara's leaving in the first place. She pulled out her cell phone and called her best friend (or at least, she hoped Buffy still was after all that had happened between them when the witch had pulled the Slayer out of Heaven.)
"Hello?" Buffy's voice came on the line.
"Hey…" Willow greeted softly. She heard a stilted sounding "hey" from Buffy.
"How are you?" Willow managed to get out. There was another pause.
"OK," Buffy told the titian haired young woman. Then, the Slayer amended, "well, not really, but I'm getting there. Did you want something?"
The less-than-warm response didn't take Willow by surprise, but she was hurt by Buffy's curtness. Willow tried to manage a happy voice.
"Well, I just wanted to say I'm sorry, a-and I was wondering if maybe you wanted to get some coffee at the Expresso Pump. My treat," Willow said.
"Sorry, Willow, I can't," Buffy told her friend. Willow's pink lips curled into a frown, but she brightened a moment later as she thought about a possible reason that Buffy might not want to join her.
"Oh, the nerds are back? Or is it Spike, or some other evil?" Willow guessed. The pause on the phone spoke volumes.
"No, it's none of that," Buffy responded, "I just don't think it's a good idea, that's all."
Despite herself, and her current inner monologue not to be angry at Buffy, Willow snapped, "Oh, I get it! You don't want to be around me, right? You don't have to sky write it!"
Buffy's voice tried a soothing tone as she said, "Look, Willow, I just need space, okay?"
Willow started seeing red. What was it with her friends and lovers, lately? So, she made one mistake and they were shutting her out? It occurred to her to tell Buffy about the Slayer's debacles with her friends since she'd returned from death a second time, especially Spike.
The witch didn't need a figurative diagram to see the romantic drawings on the wall that the vampire and the Slayer had done. She knew from the tension between them that something was going on, from the extra cigarette butts whenever he was stressed and looks Spike threw not only at Buffy but everyone else, it was not going on in a good way.
Normally, Willow would discount the former William the Bloody as evil and not worth a second look, but she remembered how the master vampire had looked after Dawn the summer following Buffy's death. He had taken her under his wing as a mentor, and an honorary older brother, and although Willow knew the Slayer's younger sister could be impressionable, the red head also knew that it took more than just a crush to win Dawn's loyalty and trust.
"Will?" Buffy's voice asked, "you still there?"
"Yeah," Willow responded.
"I have to go," Buffy's voice said, as she thought don't try to call me. I can't deal, all right? But the Slayer knew the expressing of that thought would hurt too much, so she muttered a quick "good bye" and hung up. Willow let the phone drop softly as she considered her options.
She could try Xander, but he'd probably blow off what had happened, particularly since he was preparing to marry Anya. Giles might be available via e-mail, but Willow wasn't looking for a lecture on the "dangers of using magic to excess", or something like that. Tara was still off limits, and anyway, Willow wasn't sure that she could deal with her girl's wide, perceptive eyes staring into her and reading her aura just then.
After putting the cell phone inside her pocket, the red head decided that maybe things would look better after a cup of mochaccino or a caramel latte. She left the abandoned apartment and headed for the Expresso Pump.