TITLE: Mending Fences
AUTHOR: Gimpy72
RATING: PG-13 (Some chapters will be NC-17, this is your warning!)
DISCLAIMER: Willow, Tara and any other characters from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise belong to Joss Whedon, FOX, and a whole host of other entities, none of which are me.
SUMMARY: Mostly AU - takes place after Tabula Rasa
FEEDBACK: Yes please

Part 10

Buffy and Dawn had spent the night at the Magic Box trying to give Willow and Tara as much alone time as possible. Though the teen was not at all happy about not getting a say or advanced notice that they weren't staying at home. Things were going well at home with Willow and Tara, Dawn just didn't see why they had to stay there. Buffy was thankful that they kept a change of clothes in back there just in case something came up, this way they didn't need to head back to the house before beginning their day.

The night of research hadn't produced any new leads on things. Giles had called and said he was coming up empty too, but he did have one other source that he was going to check with. There was one person that he and Ethan used to be close to that might have information. The trouble was, tracking the guy down wasn't going to be easy. Xander had stopped on the way back to the Magic Box and picked up dinner and donuts for them, figuring it was going to be another all-nighter.

"Dawn, you need to get going or you're going to be late for school," yelled Buffy into the back room where the teen was finishing getting ready.

"Yeah, I know, but all my good stuff is at home. I don't see why we couldn't just have gone home to get ready," whined Dawn as she walked into the main area from the training room.

"Ok, last time I'm going to explain this. Willow and Tara need as much time alone as we can give them. Tara moving back into the house has been a big thing for them. Them living under the same roof and they're seeing one another a lot more and dthey seem to be going well, but we need to still be cautious and give them time. I don't know if they have even discussed things yet."

"Yeah, but you saw them – their all cuddles and stuff…"

"And that's a start, but they may still have stuff to work on and I'm not going to be the one to push them," interrupted Buffy.

"Fine," Dawn said in a huff as she grabbed a donut and her bag. "I'm headed for school, can I at least go home afterwards?"

"Yes, fine. Have fun at school," Buffy said full of sarcasm and annoyance. There were days that she missed her mom more than others. Today was one of those days that she wished her mom was around to deal with the stresses of her little sister.

Anya and Xander were standing behind the register just smirking at the exchanges between the two girls. They loved watching them go at it – gave them a true feeling of 'family' instead of their own upbringings.

"Gotta love being an only child," quipped Xander as the door closed behind Dawn. Buffy shot him a playful glare as she grabbed the last jelly donut and bit into it before he could protest.

"Ok, you two need to leave – I have to open and I don't want customers seeing you two here. Xander you need to go home and shower, you smell and you'll scare away business." Anya said. With that Anya managed to get the two of them out of the Magic Box so she could tidy up and open the store.

Buffy and Xander walked along Main Street talking about where they were going to go from here on the research and what they were going to do to look out for Willow and Tara. In the back of both of their minds they wondered how the night had gone for the two girls.

Willow and Tara walked onto campus holding hands and smiling. It could have been pouring rain and they would still have looked like it was warm and sunny out. As they neared the quad Willow stopped and pulled Tara into a tight embrace and gave her a longing kiss.

"Not complaining, but what was that for?" Tara asked praying silently for her knees not to give out.

"For being you, the woman I love more than anything in this world. And so that you don't forget me while you sit in class with Kasey and she is dazzling you with her Ancient Ruin knowledge," laughed the red head.

"Willow," started Tara.

"Honey, I'm just kidding on the Kasey part. I'm glad you have good friends."

"Yeah, uh huh," Tara added before placing a gentle but passionate kiss on Willow's lips. Willow leaned into the kiss feeling her knees getting weak.

"I love you."

"I love you, too. I'll meet you here after classes today?"

"I'll be here waiting – and if I find bells, I'll have bells on…you'll just have to find where," said Willow in a sexy tone and eyebrow wiggle. Tara felt her body flush at the thought. She turned and shaking her head made her way towards class. Willow chuckled to herself. She loved flustering Tara, and most days it wasn't this easy so she would take the victory.

The rest of the day for the gang was without incident. They all decided to meet at the Summers' house instead of the Magic Box. They had been through all of the books there and felt that maybe they needed a night to just relax. Plus it was Friday and they had been running all week.

Buffy and Dawn had just finished cleaning up the house when Willow and Tara walked in. Seeing them holding hands and smiling brought back so many happy memories that both girls began to smile themselves.

"Hey you two," Buffy said finally.

"Hey Buff, Dawnie," Willow said with a wave to them.

"Hi," Tara said as she went into the living room to gather her stuff to move upstairs.

"Sweetie, can you give me a hand packing and moving my stuff upstairs…unless you changed your mind and don't want me to…" Tara quickly added feeling awkward and letting her self-doubt tell her that Willow may not want her to stay in the room.

"Let me see – definitely think that I want to wake up in your arms again every morning as I did this morning…and you down here on the couch would definitely make that a bit harder…yeah, thinking you in the room would be best."

"Well, alrighty then, I guess you guys got some stuff 'worked' out last night," laughed Buffy.

"Yeah, we were very, oh, thorough in our discussions," Willow said as both her and Tara started to blush. Buffy started to giggle as Dawn just looked at the three of them.

"Ok, is this one of those adult jokes that I'll get later?"

"Hopefully not until you're say 30," said Buffy.

"Oh – O-O-OH…" Dawn said finally catching on. This made everyone in the room start to laugh. Just as they were calming down, Anya and Xander walked in.

"Ok, I brought Chinese," Xander said holding out three bags full of food.

"And I brought desert," added Anya not wanting to be left out.

Everyone moved to the living room where they ate and watched movies. Tara and Willow cuddled together at one end of the couch as Dawn stretched out on the rest of it. Buffy, Xander and Anya found spots on the floor.

After two movies, everyone started to get tired. Dawn crashed on the couch, Willow and Tara started to nod off, and Xander was still watching the movie as Anya was snoring with her head resting on his lap. Buffy surveyed the group and motioned for Xander to look around the room. They both giggled.

"Why don't you two just crash here tonight?" Buffy said not wanting Xander and Anya to leave when they were tired and with everything that goes bump in the night out and about.

"Yeah, that would be cool. Thanks," Xander said grateful that he didn't have to drive home.

Buffy managed to get Dawn upstairs. Willow and Tara said their goodnights and headed up to their room. Xander helped Buffy get some pillows and blankets for him and Anya to use and then she headed up to bed. Everybody Buffy could be worried about in Sunnydale was under her roof and safe.

"What are you saying," asked Giles

"The curse. This is it," Buffy said handing Giles a printout.

"Looks like Ms. Calendar was trying to replicate the original curse. To restore Angel's soul again," added Willow.

"S-she said it couldn't be done," Giles said looking at the printout.

"Well, she tried anyway. And it looks like it might have worked." Said Buffy

"So he killed her…before she could tell anyone about it. What a prince, huh?" interjected Xander.

"This is good, right? I mean, we can curse him again," said Cordelia looking towards Giles.

"Um, well, this, um…certainly points the way, but…the ritual itself requires a greater knowledge of the black arts than, I, I, can claim," Giles said.

"Well, I've been going through her files, and, researching the black arts, for fun, or educational fun and I may be able to work this." Willow said glancing around the room at everyone.

"W-Willow…channeling…such potent magic's through yourself, it could open a door that you may not be able to close," Giles voiced sounding very concerned and hoping she would see the seriousness of this.

"I don't want you putting yourself in any danger, Will." Added Buffy.

"And I don't want danger. Big 'no' to danger, but I may be the best person to do this." Willow said trying to sound confident and sure of herself.

Willow awoke with a start, looking around the room. Seeing Tara lying there she knew it was just a dream, or memory. She recalled that conversation from High School when she was trying to restore Angel's soul. Willow adjusted and cuddled back up to Tara and drifted back to sleep.

The next morning Buffy was the first to rise – "Damn Slayer sense, I've never been allowed to sleep in like the rest of them," she thought to herself as she showered, dressed and headed towards the donut shop. When Buffy returned she heard the noises of movement coming from the living room. Upon peeking in she saw Anya was awake but Xander was still out cold. Buffy placed the donuts in the kitchen, started the coffee machine before heading upstairs to see if there was any movement there.

Dawn was heading out of her room as Buffy reached the top of the stairs, yawning Dawn acknowledged Buffy with a nod.

"Welcome to the world sleepy head," laughed Buffy.

"Whatever, I see Willow and Tara's door is still closed so I'm assuming that they aren't up yet…since I'm not the last to rise you have no reason to harass me," said the teen trying to defend herself.

"True, but see you're my sister and therefore that allows me the right to harass you whenever I choose," Buffy said as she made her way past Dawn and went to knock on Willow and Tara's door. She hated the idea of waking them, but wanted to talk with everyone before they got started on their day.

Willow heard Buffy and Dawn in the hall and carefully and quietly made her way to the door hoping not to wake Tara. Willow slipped out the door and into the hallway just as Buffy was getting to the door.

"Will, hey – are you and Tara up or is she still sleeping?" asked Buffy.

"She's still sleeping and well I don't have the heart to wake her – we'll be down shortly though. You know Tara was never one to sleep in."

"Yeah, ok – well there are donuts and coffee in the kitchen…I'll try to save you guys some."

"Oh, donuts, er coffee, no donuts, oh - booooth…sweet I'm up," Dawn said as she bound down the stairs headed for the kitchen.

"You may want to reconsider that whole not waking Tara thing – cuz that girl looked REALLY hungry," laughed Buffy.

Willow laughed and quietly slipped back into the room to find Tara looking over at the door pouting.

"Awww, baby. What is with the whole pouty face?" giggled Willow as she made her way back to the bed.

"I know when I went to sleep I had my Willow-cuddle-bear and when I woke up it was gone," said Tara in a little kid pouty voice.

"Awww, I'm right here," Willow laughed as she slid into bed and cuddled up to Tara. Willow pulled Tara close to her and placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

"Where'd you go?" asked the blonde as she tried to get as close as she possibly could to Willow. She had missed their cuddle sessions so much for the past month.

"Buffy and Dawn were in the hall and I didn't want them to wake you – so I went out to stop them from knocking on the door. I'm sorry you had to wake up without me here."

Tara looked deep into Willow's eyes and then as if being drawn by a powerful magnet their lips came together in a slow passion filled kiss. Both girls let out soft moans of enjoyment as they savored the kiss.

"Oh that definitely helps make up for it," smirked Tara as she broke the kiss.

"Wow, I will definitely get used to that every morning," said Willow as a large smile crept its way across her face. Just then Tara's stomach made a noise letting them both know it was there and it wanted some food soon.

"Um, I think that was my stomach voicing its interest in breakfast. Think Buffy has anything that I can whip together?"

"Better yet – she went out and got donuts…Dawn was headed after them, but Buffy was going to try to save us some."

"Dawn and donuts – we better hurry," laughed Tara as she got up and headed for the door with Willow following quickly behind her. Just before opening the door Tara turned around and pulled Willow into another kiss. "I've missed kissing you like this," she said as she opened the door leaving the red head standing there trying to absorb everything.

Everyone gathered around the island in the kitchen, Buffy broke out the donuts, coffee, and juice. She kept a couple donuts aside for Tara and Willow as she had promised to try and do. As everyone was getting comfy Willow and Tara came into the kitchen holding hands and smiling.

"I see it didn't take long for you two to get down here," smiled Buffy.

"Well when Willow said Dawn and donuts I knew if we didn't hurry there would be none left," Tara said looking at the teen who was holding her second donut in her hand.

"Mmmm, whaf?" Dawn asked with her mouth full, everyone started to laugh.

As they ate and talked about what they did know, Willow toyed with the idea of telling everyone about her dream last night. She wasn't sure if it would be relevant or not, she also was afraid that if she told them, that Tara especially might be hurt that she didn't wake them. Willow really didn't want to hurt Tara. She was just working on getting her back – but she also knew that if she didn't tell them that it was as good as lying to them. Tara saw the range of emotions running through Willow's mind. She gently touched Willow's hand hoping that it would be enough support to help the red head with her conflict. Willow shot Tara a soft smile and indeed it did help.

"Hey, I don't know if this will help or not…but I um, kinda had a dream last night. I didn't want to wake anyone because it wasn't a bad dream – more of a recollection," started Willow hoping that everyone would understand. As she told them about the dream, Buffy and Xander both exchanged looks and nods that they remembered the conversation in the library.

Tara listened intently to what Willow was saying and to what Buffy and Xander had to offer as input on the recollection and the happenings around that time. They all agreed that it was fine that Willow hadn't woken them up over it and that she shouldn't have felt bad or even had a worry about bringing it to them. Buffy informed the group that she was going to spend the day going through some of the old papers that Giles had inadvertently left at the Magic Box when he moved back to England. Anya had to manage the store. Tara and Dawn had another art show to attend, which left Xander and Willow without any plans.

"Well Willow, looks like it's you and me today – whatcha say we catch a flick and maybe just spend some quality Xander/Willow time together?" Xander asked hoping that his best friend would agree, it'd been a long time since they had spent time together just the two of them. He also figured it would be good for Willow to do something not related to the whole dream and Ethan thing.

"Well I should be helping with research…" started Willow.

"Nope, it's all covered – you have earned a day off," interrupted Buffy.

"Sweetie, I think it's a good idea for you and Xander to spend the day together," added Tara.

"Just remember that he is MY fiancé so no lips missy," added Anya.

"Hello, gay now…" was all Willow said as she took the opportunity to lean over and plant a passionate, sensual kiss on Tara's lips as everyone else in the room broke out into laughter.

Anya seeing the passion hit Xander on the arm, "why don't you kiss me like that? Maybe I should let her kiss you, it looks like you could learn something."

"I'm going to have to say no to that," smirked Tara as she covered the redheads mouth to stop her from commenting.

Anya and Xander headed home to shower and get ready. Xander told Willow he'd head back to the house once he was done at the apartment. Buffy who was already dressed headed off to the Magic Box to get a start on going through Giles' things.

"I get the shower first," said Dawn as she raced out of the room and up the stairs.

Willow and Tara sat there in silence for a few minutes both absorbing the events of the morning and the feelings that were running rampant through their bodies. After they heard the water from Dawn's shower stop they headed up stairs to get ready. Tara went to shower while Willow picked out her clothes.

Tara made her way back into the bedroom in just a towel, shutting the door she turned around to see Willow standing in the middle of the room with a huge smile on her face.

"Merry Christmas, Willow," giggled Willow.

"Um, baby you're Jewish remember?" blushed Tara.

"Oh yeah, but you aren't and this is one gift that I want to unwrap right now," Willow said as she made her way over towards the now very blushing blonde. Tara tried to back up but found herself pinned against the door. Willow quickly closed the distance between them and pulled the blonde into a passionate kiss. Tara let the towel drop to her feet as she pulled Willow closer. Willow felt Tara's naked body against hers, running her hands along Tara's breasts. Willow felt her legs were starting to get weak. And just as they were about to fumble their way to the bed they heard a knock at the door.

"Tara, hurry you know that if we don't get there soon all the good paintings are going to be taken," yelled the teen through the door.

"Damn that Summers' timing curse," Willow said as she let out a frustrated sigh and bent down and grabbed Tara's towel and handed it to her.

As Tara dressed, Willow headed across the hall to the shower. A very cold shower.

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TBC…
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