Disclaimer: I own nothing, except Sophie.

"Sweetie, I know you're getting a little frustrated" said Tara, once again fighting not to laugh at her daughter's expression. "But stories wouldn't be as much fun if you skipped straight to the happily ever after would they?"

"I guess not.." Sophie reluctantly agreed.

"If Mama Tara had never been shot, she and I could have had our happily ever after a long time ago" Willow added. "But then you might not be here. And we want you here, because our life together is so much happier with you as a part of it."

"Sometimes the best happily ever afters are worth waiting for" said Tara. "Understand?"

"Yeah" Sophie smiled.

"Good" Tara replied, hugging her daughter before smiling over at her girlfriend. "Go on, Will."

--

Meanwhile, in the dining room, Dark Willow paced back and forward impatiently while Xander and Buffy looked on, feeling slightly anxious. Wesley had been sent to fetch Tara a short while ago, but had not yet returned.

"What's taking her so long?" Dark Willow growled. "I told her to come to dinner, why isn't she here yet?!"

"You have to learn to be patient, Mistress" said Buffy. "After all, the poor girl's just lost her Uncle and her freedom, all in one day!" Dark Willow fell silent for a moment, and Xander decided that this was as good a time as any to raise an important point.

"Hey, Mistress Wills?" he began, hesitantly. "Have you considered that, maybe, this girl could be the one to break the spell?"

"Of course I have!" the witch snapped. "I'm not a fool."

"That's good then" Xander smiled. "So, you fall in love with her, she falls in love with you, and poof! We'll all be back to normal by midnight!"

"Um, it's not quite that simple Xand" said Buffy. "These things take time."

"But the rose is already starting to wilt!" Xander cried.

"I know" Buffy frowned.

"Ah, what's the use?" Dark Willow yelled. "She's so beautiful and I'm, well.. Look at me!" she growled, snatching Xander up into her semi-clawed hand.

"You have to help her see past all that" said Xander, feeling a lot less frightened than you might expect. As scary as Dark Willow was sometimes, he knew that she never really wanted to hurt any of them. They were all she had. When Dawn had been chipped after Dark Willow had accidently knocked her off the teacart during one of her rages, the witch had sulked around the castle feeling guilty for almost a week. She was always extra careful with Dawn now, not wanting to make the chip any worse.

--

At this point in the story, Tara reached over and placed a hand on her girlfriend's shoulder. Though at the time she hadn't cared much beyond being frightened for Dawn and angry at Willow for putting her little sister figure in danger, Tara now knew how guilty Willow felt about her magic addiction causing the accident in which Dawn had broken her arm, or when she really had been Dark Willow and had threatened to turn Dawn back into a ball of energy.

--

"You were a good person once, Will. Deep down, you still are. You just have to find it again" said Xander

"I don't know how" she sighed, putting the candlestick down and turning away.

"For a start, you could try making yourself more presentable" said Buffy, hopping in front of her. "So straighten up!" Dark Willow did as instructed, and Buffy smiled. "Try to act like a proper lady."

"Yeah" said Xander, hopping over. "And when she comes in, give her that winning smile. Come on Wills, show us that smile!" The witch smiled, bearing a mouthful of yellowed teeth. Buffy and Xander frowned at each other, both thinking that it was really too bad that the spell hadn't turned anybody into a toothbrush.

"Uh.. maybe don't smile" said Buffy. "We don't want to scare the poor girl."

"Instead, you could try to dazzle her with your delightful and rapier wit" Xander suggested.

"But be gentle" said Buffy.

"Shower her with compliments!" said Xander.

"But be sincere" Buffy added. Overwhelmed by all these instructions Dark Willow grabbed her head in her hands, feeling a headache coming on.

"And above all" said Buffy and Xander in unison, "You must control your temper!" At that moment, a door down the hall swung open.

"She's here!" Xander cried happily. Dark Willow turned, expecting to see Tara, but frowning when she only saw Wesley, talking to himself worriedly as he approached.

"This is not good at all, the Mistress is definitely not going to be happy about this.. Oh, good evening Mistress" he greeted, smiling nervously.

"Well, where is she?" the witch growled.

"Who?" asked Wesley, feigning ignorance.

"The girl!"

"Oh, of course" Wesley laughed nervously. "Well, she is uh, currently in the process of.. I mean, with circumstances being what they are.." Dark Willow glared at the clock, crossing her arms. "She's um.. not coming."

"WHAT?" Dark Willow roared, before marching off down the hall. Buffy, Wesley, and Xander sped after her, worried. When the witch reached Tara's room, she pounded on the door loudly. "I thought I told you to come to dinner!" she yelled.

"I'm not hungry!" shouted Tara from inside the room.

"I'm telling you to come to dinner this instant!" Dark Willow snarled.

"And I'm telling you I'm not hungry!" Tara shot back.

"You'll be hungry when I say you're hungry!"

"That's ridiculous."

"What?" the witch hissed.

"Going around ordering people to be hungry" said Tara. "It doesn't work that way, and its very rude."

"Is it? Well, I'll show you rude" Dark Willow growled. "If you don't come out of there right now, I'll break down this door and drag you downstairs myself!"

"Um, Willow?" said Xander, tugging on the witch's cloak. "I may be wrong here, but that's probably not the best way to win a girl's affections."

"Please," Wesley begged, "Attempt to be a lady."

"But she is being so DIFFICULT!" Dark Willow growled, glaring at the door.

"Remember, gently" Buffy reminded her. The witch turned back to the door, trying to calm down a little.

"Why are you being so difficult?"

"Why are you being such a bully?" Tara retorted.

"Because I want you to come to dinner, that's why!" Dark Willow yelled.

"So you admit it" said Tara. "You are being a bully."

"I'm giving you one last chance" said Dark Willow sternly. "Now, would you be kind enough to join me for dinner?"

"Uh, uh, uh, Wills" said Xander. "We say 'please'.

"Please" the witch added, turning back to the door.

"No thank you" Tara replied.

"Fine then, you can go ahead and STARVE!" Dark Willow growled, turning to her servants before stomping off down the hall. "If she doesn't eat with me, then she doesn't eat AT ALL!"

"Well, that didn't go quite as planned" Wesley sighed.

--

Dark Willow threw open the doors of the West Wing, marching over to her dressing table.

"I ask the girl nicely, and she refuses! What the hell does she want me to do, beg?" She paused, snatching her magic mirror off of the table. "Mirror, I demand you show me the girl!" An image of Tara sitting in her room formed on the mirror's surface, with Cordelia standing beside her.

"Come on Tara, the Mistress isn't so bad once you get to know her" said Cordelia. "Why don't you give her a chance?"

"I don't want to get to know her!" Tara cried. "I don't want to have anything to do with her, ever!"

Hearing this, Dark Willow's face fell.

"I'm just fooling myself" Dark Willow sighed, placing the mirror face down on the dressing table, as a petal fell from the rose nearby. "She'll never see me as anything but a monster. It's hopeless."

--

"This happily ever after better be really good" Sophie frowned.