"Chance Meeting."

By A.M. Glass

Copyright: July 11th, 2000

Slightly Revised: May 11th, 2002.

RATINGS: (US) T (UK) 12A (AUS)

DISCLAIMER: "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" belongs to Joss Whedon, 20th Century Fox, Mutant Enemy, Sandollar Television and Kuzui Enterprises. The show is distributed by 20th Century Fox and UPN. No copyright infringement is intended or inferred. The story along with any/all original characters are the sole property of the author and can not be used without expressed permission first.

SPOILERS: "Hush."

AUTHOR'S NOTE CIRCA July 2000: Hello there. Umm... I wrote this out as a challenge to myself, especially after reading Ebaily's essays "Unconventional Relationships," on the WillowTara mailgroup. I began to think about a relationship that hadn't been explored yet. Eric attributed it to one of my stories; Bringing Her Back but as Quinn pointed out later, the story never stated whom Buffy was kissing. So, a question formed in my mind: "What if..." This story is in response to that question.

SECOND AUTHOR'S NOTE (05-11-2002): As you can tell by the date, this story was written almost two years ago, and back then, you would have never thought of the pairing in this story. I am not taking credit for starting it, I kind of think I was there at the beginning, I'm pretty sure there's someone out there who knows when it started, but hopefully, we'll never know when it ended.

THIRD AUTHOR'S NOTE (11-05-2006): I'm never satisfied with what I write. I always believe that it can be improved and after reading this story once again, I decided to tweak it. I think it reads better. Don't be surprised if I go back over it yet again.

Thanks: To Xita for letting me know she liked it, although it wasn't finished.

Buffy sat down and waited for Willow to say something.

Anything...

She looked over towards her friend and wondered what was going on in her mind. 'Well, besides the bomb I dropped on her,' she thought.

"I'll be right back," Willow said before leaving the room.

'Not good. Very not good,' Buffy told herself. She got up and started to walk to the door when she stopped herself.

She had to allow Willow her privacy.

She had to.

So she went back to the bed and sat back down...

For all of ten seconds...

Then she ran towards the door and flung it open.

She was about to give chase when she was stopped suddenly colliding into someone knocking them both to the ground. Buffy managed to shake off the surprise and was back on her feet when she looked at whom she had run into.

"Umm... hi."

"Tara?" she said, offering her hand to the fallen girl. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah... fine, no harm done," she replied, moving her hair from her face.

"Did you see Willow?" Buffy asked, going out into the hall and looking both ways.

No signs of the hacker.

"Nn... no. Is she okay?"

She sighed, "Yeah, I think," she replied. "Was there something you needed?" she asked.

"No, not really. I... I just wanted to..." she stopped.

Buffy stepped closer to Tara, "What Tara. What did you want?" she asked, standing very close to the other blonde.

"I... I... just wanted to see you," she stammered.

"And now that you've seen me?"

Tara blushed and looked away, until she felt Buffy's fingertips on her chin, making her look up. "And now that you've seen me?" she repeated, loving the way Tara's skin felt. "What is it that you want?"

"A... a... kiss," she whispered, closing her eyes as Buffy continued to caress her face.

"I think that can be arranged," Buffy answered, bringing Tara inside the room and closing the door behind them. Buffy leaned forward, gently guiding Tara back against the door. She let her thumb trace Tara's full lips, her own moistening in anticipation. "Do you still want that kiss?" she asked, knowing full well what the answer would be.

"Ye... yes," Tara replied, her hand slowly moving up the Slayer's body, feeling the other girl shiver, making her smile inwardly. Her hand finally found its way into Buffy's soft hair, and brought the other girl closer. "I want," she said before her lips covered Buffy's.

At first, it was just a simple act of skin pressing against skin, until someone moaned, indicating that they wanted so much more than just that. So, lips parted, and tongues delved into each other's mouths, sliding against one another. Hands tangled in hair, struggling to keep the other from moving as their passion threatened to ignite into an uncontrolled fire.

After a minute or so, they broke apart, not wanting to, only their oxygen starved lungs forced them to. Buffy breathing heavily, looked into Tara's eyes and could see a barely restrained desire burning inside them.

"That's was nice," Tara ventured, her heart beginning to return to its normal pace.

"Nice is good," Buffy nodded in reply. Pushing herself away from Tara, she took her hand and led them back into the room, towards her bed. "Sitting... nothing else. Okay, maybe some more kissing," she explained, when she saw Tara's eyes widen as she realized where they were heading.

"What... what happened with Willow?" Tara asked as they sat down. As much as she may have wanted to continue where they had left off, she had to know.

"I told her, about us."

"She left," Tara said quietly, her heart aching for Buffy.

Buffy nodded. "It isn't everyday that you tell your best friend that you're going out with someone from her Wicca group," Buffy replied.

"Do... do you think she'll be okay?"

Buffy shrugged. "I don't know," she answered. Sighing she held on to Tara's hands. "I... never really told her about Faith. I should of, but I didn't want her to be disappointed in me. I mean, Faith had sex with Xander and," Buffy bit her lip, tears forming in her eyes.

"You didn't want her to know?" Tara reached out and caressed Buffy's cheek.

"I couldn't hurt her anymore," Buffy whispered, thinking back on her "Relationship" with Faith.

She had been drawn to the other Slayer. She couldn't resist the temptation to walk on the "Wild-side". It had been exciting, dangerous and out of character for her. And in an odd way, it was safe.

She didn't have to worry about Faith turning into a deranged killer, going after her friends. She smirked. 'Right.'

"Honey?"

"Sorry."

"It's okay. What do you think she'll do now?'

"Well, she has Oz. I'm sure she'll talk to him about it." Buffy looked down momentarily, getting her thoughts in order before facing Tara. "I love Willow. She's my best bud, and I... don't want to lose her."

Tara nodded in agreement. She knew how important Willow is in Buffy's life. Buffy had spoken about Willow, Xander, Oz and Giles. She knew Buffy loved each one of them, yet her relationship with Willow went deeper and she would hate herself if she damaged it in anyway.

"I think in the end, it'll be, 'what makes me happy, makes her happy' kind of a thing." she said unaware of Tara's thoughts.

"And... I... I make you happy?" Tara asked, needing to know the answer.

"Very much so," Buffy replied seriously, feeling a flutter in her stomach as she watched the smile grow on Tara's face.

Tara knew she would make this work - she had to.

Buffy couldn't believe her luck. She would continue to thank whoever had placed this adorable woman in her life.

Willow had brought Tara over after one of their meetings, and that was all it took. A locking of eyes that let her know that Tara was more than what she seemed, and would some how become a very important person in her life.

Now she only hoped that Willow would not shut her out, or treat Tara any differently. What was she going to tell the others?

"Penny for your thoughts," Tara said as she'd seen Buffy drift off to parts unknown.

"Hmm?"

"You seemed so far away."

"It might have seemed that way, but you were always in my thoughts," Buffy replied.

Tara looked into Buffy's eyes and could see the truth of her words. And needing no invitation, she bent forward and captured her lips again. She broke the kiss before it could escalate into something they weren't ready for yet. Their foreheads touched and they held on to each other. They looked at the door when it opened. Willow came inside with a determined look on her face, Buffy swallowed audibly.

"If you hurt her, I will take a shovel to you and beat you over the head with it. Do you understand?" Willow said.

"I..."

"Not you Buffy... Tara," Willow said, stopping Buffy's answer.

"Hey!" Buffy cried out.

Willow held her hand up, stopping Buffy from getting off the bed. "Let me finish," she pleaded.

Buffy nodded slowly. She was willing to give Willow some lee-way, but she wouldn't sit by idly if Willow said anything else against Tara.

"I have to Buffy. Vague disclaimers are no one's friend. So, do we have an understanding Tara?"

Tara nodded her head vigorously.

"Good." She turned towards Buffy. "Now, Buffy, if you hurt her, you know I can't physically do anything to you... but... I can guilt you to death," she said seriously before continuing. "I like Tara, she's not like the rest of those Wanna blessed be's. So, you do good by her, yes?"

"Yes."

"Good... now, let's go Bronzing. I want to tell Xander," Willow said smiling gleefully, rubbing her hands together.

"You are evil," Buffy told her.

"I only use my power for good... never Evil."

Buffy looked at Tara and before she could say anything, kissed her. "You're in," she whispered.

The End.