Chapter Twenty Five-Returning Home

Tara had never felt a greater sense of relief when she found Isobel was still in her arms. The teleportation had left her dizzy and she sat down on the nearest piece of furniture which happened to be a couch.

Isobel was clinging to her and crying and Tara cooed soft words of love and comfort and stroked her hair until the child calmed enough to curl up in her lap.

Tara glanced around to take in their surroundings and found she was in Willow's sparsely furnished living room. There was no indication that anyone was in the house and all she could hear from the outside was the sounds of the storm still raging.

Something about the house felt different to the blond witch. She opened her magickal senses and found that Willow had reinforced the glamour on her home with powerful dark magick shields and traps. The defenses were all aimed out towards potential attackers. Tara realized she was probably inside the safest place on the planet.

Allowing herself to breathe and center, Tara placed her daughter on the couch and covered her now sleeping form with a blanket. She thought she should feel bad for leaving the group in the middle of the battle, but keeping Isobel safe was a priority to them all, and here she could do that, thanks to Willow.

Her lover's transformation was so confusing. Physically she was darkness embodied, her beauty hideously twisted. The immense dark power she possessed was undeniable and nauseating to the blond's Wiccan sensibilities. And there was the small matter of having her life ended by the dark witch. Tara's hand moved unconsciously to her neck as she remembered the horrifying feeling of gasping for air and clawing helplessly at the hand crushing her throat.

But Willow had brought her back somehow with Isobel's help. She had fulfilled her promise to bring Isobel to her, and to keep them both safe. Somewhere in all that darkness Willow must still exist, trying to mold the darkness to do her bidding. Maybe it was because the dark power was forced on her. Unfortunately her continued control over the dark witch was not something that could be trusted. Eventually dark power of that magnitude would overwhelm what remained of her Willow and she would be lost. She knew the Willow she loved would never want that.

Tara thought maybe it would be better if she could end the dark witch first, get close to her and bind her, before the Slayers were forced to fight her. Either way, she feared for Willow's survival.

The blond witch pondered her options as she went to the kitchen for a drink of water. As she was filling a glass Isobel toddled into the room rubbing her eyes. "Mama?"

"I'm just getting us something to drink. Are you hungry? I could look for something to eat." Tara scooped up her daughter into another hug.

"I'm not hungry Mama. I'm worried about Mommy." The little redhead wrapped her arms around Tara's neck.

"Oh me too my darling child, I'm worried too." Tara wasn't sure what else to say.

"Mommy's gone away inside. The ugly witch is just on the outside. She's lost and you have to find her Mama." Isobel needed to tell her Mama, it was important, but she was just so tired.

Tara didn't know what to make of what Isobel had said, it didn't really make sense. Maybe she had seen or heard something after Willow had taken her to Morton's. Either way her daughter was exhausted. Tara took Isobel to Willow's room and put her in bed to sleep while she watched over her.

Buffy had assembled the Scoobies back in the student lounge. Faith had collapsed in the hallway from injuries and exhaustion and Buffy had half carried her back down the hall and deposited her on a couch. Anya had helped Xander inside and was cleaning some cuts and scrapes from his face. Unfortunately his arm was clearly broken and although his wife had fashioned a sling, he needed to go to the hospital. Anya had a few bruises, but nothing that would require medical attention.

Dawn was thankfully unscathed. The youngster had stayed guarding the handcuffed dark soldiers in the transport until Spike had come to give her the all clear. Then the blond vampire had surprised them by calling Angel who agreed to deal with the soldiers if Spike would drive them down to LA.

"Glad to see you made it Slayer." Spike called out to Buffy from the driver's seat of the transport truck. "Did you lose anybody?"

"Nope. Banged up pretty good, but everyone's alive. Elena took Morton back to Khul." Buffy answered as she jumped up on the runner of the truck.

"Good. What about Red and the kid?" The blond vampire hadn't seen Dark Willow.

"Isobel and Tara are somewhere safe. Willow is closing the portal right now." Buffy sighed. "She's really full of the dark stuff Spike. I don't know if we can get her back."

Spike found a pack of cigarettes in his coat, but snarled when he found they were soaked with rain. "Wish I could tell you it will be alright, but we both know better. No witch can handle the Hellmouth, even Red. It will consume her eventually. Damn that means I'll probably never get paid. See ya around Slayer!"

With that Spike drove off into the night.

By the time Buffy got back to the student lounge Willow was there. The dark witch was standing with her arms folded loosely in front of her surveying the Scoobies with no hint of emotion on her face.

"Portal closed?" Buffy asked.

"Yes."

"We should probably clear out of here. We need to get Faith and Xander to the hospital. Xander's arm is broken and I'm pretty sure Faith has some broken ribs." Buffy assessed.

The dark witch looked hard at the Slayer. "There is no 'we'. You and the others have things to attend to, as do I."

Willow walked to the doorway and peered out at the storm. The rain was still coming down hard, but the lightning had lessened and was no longer concentrated on the campus. "The hospital is far from here, and the storm is still strong. I will send you all where you need to go."

"Willow, no. . ." Buffy didn't bother finishing the sentence when she found herself, along with the others all groaning on the ground of the ambulance bay outside the emergency room.

Willow's second visit of the night to the Hellmouth was alone. Unless you counted the dark witch as a second entity, which was one way of analyzing the unique situation. The body was Willow Rosenberg transformed by darkness. The consciousness was primarily the dark witch, acting and reacting to the rapidly changing conditions of the battle. The soul, well that ownership was still in question.

Willow remained in her self-imposed prison and with her was the bulk of her heart and soul. However, in her bargain to get rid of Morton she had undeniably granted the dark witch access with the possibility of ultimate control of her soul. The dark witch had acted as agreed and had performed admirably, but only for ultimately selfish reasons. She doubted Willow could ever achieve release from her imprisonment by the terms of their agreement and therefore in the end she would have free reign to use the power of the darkness.

A quick assessment showed both the dark witch and Willow that the temporary magickal cap on the Hellmouth was thinning. Never designed to withstand a prolonged assault from the evil held beneath, the magicks were beginning to fail. The Turok-Han were visible by the hundreds waiting in the cavern below the seal, and they were angry. Morton's absence would not concern the original vampires, they would be content to spread death throughout Sunnydale and onward.

In recognition of the presence of the witch who had denied them release, the vampires surged upward, striking the barrier and further weakening its integrity. Willow knew they would travel to the ends of the earth to find and destroy her if they escaped. She had caused the deaths of their brethren and denied them a new dimension to terrorize with the warlock. The demons wouldn't spare her family or friends either, as all of them had been involved in their defeat.

So in this Willow and the dark witch were united. The seal over the Hellmouth had to be made permanent. The dark witch proposed a spell which Willow was willing to try, but had little faith in the chance of success. Willow understood the dark witch was all ego with few controls. Chanted words and a few drops of blood wouldn't undo what had been done when the seal was opened.

The dark witch could not understand why using the power of the Hellmouth would not effectively control the Hellmouth itself. Her focus was too limited to understand that the evil inherent in the dark power wanted to remain accessible to anyone, wanted to allow the chaos of the Turok-Han and any other demons that could find their way out to be loose in the world.

Willow on the other hand was disembodied superego. She felt overwhelming guilt for her actions and wanted nothing more than to make a sacrificial act as punishment for her misbehavior. Where the dark witch had opened a small vein in her palm to release drops of blood, Willow forced their joint body onto the seal and moved the knife to her wrist, ready to open her arteries completely and allow the dark power to return to its origin. A life had been given to open the seal, perhaps a life given would close it as well.

But the dark witch was not willing to give up so easily. She held primary control over the actions of the body and had no intention of allowing Willow to drain her life's blood.

As the internal battle raged into the darkest hours of the night, the barrier continued to stretch and thin, until the Turok-Han could be seen as if through a pane of glass. Within the hour the demons would be free and the body housing both the dark witch and Willow would be dead, unless they could agree on a course of action. What was needed was a mediator, Moirai to the fate of the two warring within the same human shell for the single soul. Only one existed whose authority was unquestioned by both.

The last hour of true night held the world in silence. The storm had steadily dissipated, leaving only a light rain on the streets of Sunnydale. To the Scoobies gathered back at Buffy's house after treatment at the hospital, the quiet seemed to confirm the battle had been won. But Buffy was restless. She had gotten the others settled in to rest and recover from their injuries. The Slayer just couldn't join them until she knew the final members of her family were safe and sound and she didn't know where Tara and Isobel, not to mention Willow, were.

Deciding a quick check of the perimeter of the yard was in order, Buffy grabbed a stake and headed out into the misty rain. She found herself standing on the front sidewalk, face upturned into the dark sky, contemplating yet another apocalypse averted as the drops washed over her. But something still didn't fit, it felt incomplete. She was sure Tara and Isobel were safe. Maybe it was Willow she was worried about. Even after Morton was gone and the portal closed, she had remained just as dark, as emotionless.

Thinking about her friend, Buffy found herself unconsciously turning to look down the street at the house where she now knew Willow lived and was surprised to see lights and movement inside. Had Willow simply returned home? Maybe she had sent Tara and Isobel to her house. Could it be that easy? Only one way to find out, Buffy thought as she headed down the sidewalk.

The dark witch teleported herself into Willow's living room and found it empty. She moved through the kitchen and down the hall growing concerned until she peered into the master bedroom. Isobel was asleep on the bed and Tara had apparently been watching over her from a chair pulled up alongside until she too had succumbed to exhaustion. Her face was on the bed, tucked into the crook of one arm. The other arm was flung protectively over the small form of her daughter.

Willow didn't want to wake Tara and ruin the beauty she radiated at that moment. She forced the dark witch to pause so she could imprint the vision in her memory. She didn't know what the next hour would hold, but chances were high she would not experience the sight of her lover and daughter in such peace and serenity again.

When she could stall no longer, Willow moved quietly to Tara's side and crouched, touching her knee and whispering that she needed to wake up. The blond witch moved slowly, reacting to the voice she loved, moving her hand over Willow's on her knee and giving a light squeeze before she opened her eyes.

For just an instant, Willow saw Tara's blue eyes, full of love and longing. Then blue met black and the blond witch could not stop the quick gasp and jerk of her hand that followed as Tara was reminded of the nightmare of the last day by the distorted visage of her love. Willow looked down at the floor to avert seeing more of the horror passing over the expression of the woman she loved.

The dark witch made it easy to forget. The darkness made her so confident in her powers; she couldn't understand the reaction her appearance provoked. Willow retreated and gestured to Tara the need to leave the bedroom for a conversation.

The blond retrieved a glass of water from the kitchen and sat again on the couch.

"We need your help."

Tara didn't quite understand. "Who is we? Are you still working for Morton?"

"No. Elena took the warlock back to Khul. His magick is bound and the portal is closed." The dark witch didn't really want to give away too much information about her situation, about Willow's status. "'We' is meant to imply Willow and I together. Our interests are the same in some ways, but differ in others."

"Why do you need me?" The blond witch wanted to keep up a conversation with whoever was speaking. If there was a way to draw Willow out, she needed to find it.

"The Hellmouth is about to re-open. The barrier I placed on it last night was only temporary and it is failing. I tried to reinforce it but failed. We think you might be able to help make it permanent."

The dark witch was secretly thinking that if Willow tried to use the knife on herself again, she might have to repeat her performance from the previous day with the blond. Only this time she would use the blade and there would be no resurrection.

Tara squared her shoulders and spoke with authority. "I can't leave Isobel. I won't leave her alone, not for any reason. I'm sorry."

I don't need an argument with the blond, the dark witch thought. I can just take her to the Hellmouth. But as she stepped forward to force the issue, Willow lashed out, keeping her immobile.

A knock on the door broke the stalemate. The dark witch approached the entry, ready to trigger one of the many deadly protections she had placed on the house. Before she turned the knob, Buffy's voice called out into the house.

"Willow? Tara? Are you guys in there?"

"Open the door Willow." Tara commanded.

Buffy strode past the dark witch, glancing at her as she did with a slight shudder. "You Ok Tara? Is Isobel here?"

The blond witch approached the Slayer and put a finger up to her own lips to indicate they needed to keep their voices down. "Isobel is sleeping in Willow's room. She's fine, but I think she was exhausted by the whole trauma." Tara couldn't stop a firm look towards the dark witch as she thought about what her little girl had been through. She knew what had happened was Morton's fault, but it was hard to separate out Willow's participation.

Willow watched the conversation. She had stopped the dark witch from forcing Tara to the Hellmouth leaving Isobel alone, but now Buffy was here. And neither the Slayer nor the blond witch understood the time constraint they were under or the damage that would be done if the seal opened again. As Buffy and Tara spoke, Willow allowed the dark witch to move closer to Tara.

When she was within arm's reach Willow spoke. "Buffy, please watch out for Isobel. Don't be angry, but I need Tara for something." Before the Slayer could process the words, she teleported the blond witch away.

Tara had enough time to recognize she was at the Hellmouth before she was on her knees in the dirt beside the seal. The teleportation had made her nauseous and the waves of dark power and pure evil rolling out of the hole in the earth were overpowering.

But she controlled herself quickly using her anger as impetus. "How dare you!" The blond struggled to her feet and moved to face the dark witch whose expression remained implacable as she glanced over to the Hellmouth.

"That is how I dare."

Tara walked to the edge of the opening and looked directly into the mouth of Hell for the first time. Her knees went weak and she gasped when she saw the legions of Turok-Han along with several other types of demons gathering below. She reached out until she touched the transparent barrier, now as thin as plastic wrap.

"Oh Goddess. What have you done?" The blond witch looked at the dark witch in fear and awe.

"I made a choice. I chose the least horrid path available out of many truly horrible choices. One that so far has saved you and your daughter and disposed of the warlock. But now we need help, and Willow thinks you can be of assistance."

Tara heard again the use of the plural form and the dark witch speaking of Willow in the third person. She needed to get past this persona, to see if she could communicate with the woman she loved.

"I need to talk to Willow, alone. I can't help unless I hear from her, and you really aren't her, are you?"

Willow tried immediately to call out to Tara, to tell her to take the knife strapped to the dark witch's leg and plunge it into the dark heart and to use the blood to close the seal and protect her family. But the dark witch would have none of that. Willow was somehow keeping her from moving or speaking at the moment, but she could do the same to Willow. They had made a deal and the dark witch intended to follow the contract to the letter. There was only one way Willow could be freed to speak to Tara, and from the angry, hurt look in the blond's eyes tonight, that was never going to happen.

The small room that held the Hellmouth was completely still and the silence was almost too much for Tara to bear. The dark witch stood completely motionless before her. Maybe Willow really was gone and all that remained was this scarred emotionless husk. Tears came to her eyes as she realized she had never really given up on the hope that her lover was still alive and would somehow find a way to come back to her. But what if now, at the source of the darkness, there was no one to come back, no one for her to find?

Tara thought about everything that Willow had gone through, the struggles with darkness, time and again. Each time her beautiful redheaded witch had found a way to come back into the light, always clinging to life and love. Always believing in friends and family, always giving of herself. Using that big brain to help others. Making mistakes along the way, but always with the best intentions. That was her girl, her woman, her lover.

Tears leaked down her face as she waited for a sign from Willow. As the minutes ticked by noises started to come from the Hellmouth, growls and grunts and howls. Tara knew now why Willow had brought her here. She saw the athame strapped to the dark witch. She also knew Willow wouldn't want the dark witch to be all that was left of her.

Before she could contemplate what might need to be done, Tara needed to speak to Willow from her heart. She took Willow in a one-sided embrace and spoke quietly in her ear. She told her how amazing she was, what a wonderful lover and friend she had been, how much Isobel loved her, and how much she would be missed if she never came back.

Tara took the pale veined cheeks in her hands and smoothed the dark hair back. She looked one last time into the endless black eyes and imagined they were bright green and dancing with life. Ever so gently, the blond witch kissed the lips she knew so well one last time. "I love you Willow."

Willow was transfixed at the window of her cell watching and listening to her lover. She could not believe after everything she had done that Tara was still so caring, so forgiving. Then Tara was touching her hideous face and speaking words of love.

"It's not possible. She can't kiss you and mean it, not after everything you've done to her!" The dark witch screamed into Willow's mind.

Willow simply smiled as she heard the key turn in the lock on her cell door. "She's Tara, the most amazing woman I've ever known." Willow reached out with her mind and drew the dark witch to the prison. "The contract is complete. Tara still loves me. She released me with a kiss, freely given. You are hereby imprisoned, forever."

Tara froze and looked up into the face of the witch and beheld a wonder. She was seeing the dark transformation undone. The process was anything but gentle; in fact it appeared a battle was being fought. But slowly the darkness was receding. Red appeared at the roots of her lover's hair as the veins began to recede from her beautiful face. The blond waited anxiously for the redhead's eyes to open, to give her the ultimate truth.

What Tara wasn't expecting was to see those emerald eyes glittering, full of love, as she felt the owner of those hands close around the handle of the athame and force the blade to her own chest. When the tip broke the surface of the skin, a drop of blood appeared, and suddenly the chest beneath the knife began to heave, great gasping breaths.

"Willow, no." Tara cried out, grabbing the knife and pulling back with all her strength.

"I love you Tara. But this is the only way. The barrier is about to fall and the Hellmouth demands blood. I can close it this way and keep you safe. That is all I ever wanted to do."

The blond had to think quickly. She knew Willow would sacrifice herself. Willow was probably the most powerful witch in the world, but she didn't need to act alone. The magick was always more balanced and the outcomes right when they casted together. They hadn't done that since Willow had been back in her life, but there was no time to worry about that now. Tara yanked with strength she didn't know she had until the knife was in her hand alone.

"Willow, I love you. I'm not giving you up for anything. We can do this, together. But you have to believe in us, our magick." The blond witch stopped the objection poised on the redhead's lips. "You have to trust me."

All the arguments, the logical reasons why things had to be done a certain way flew from Willow's mind in an instant. There was only one response to what Tara had said, and she did it with all the love she felt.

"I do."

Tara smiled and stepped up beside Willow as they turned toward the Hellmouth. She reached for Willow's right hand and quickly sliced down the palm with the athame. Then she mirrored the cut on her own left palm. The two witches held their entwined hands over the disintegrating barrier as drops of mingled blood fell into the endless chasm. An ancient incantation rose from their lips and as they spoke, light emanated from each, white and black, swirling and mixing and forcing its way into the opening where hordes of Turok-Han waited, pushing back against the magick.

A single vampire at the far edge clawed up the edge of the crumbling earth until it found a perch on more solid ground. It saw the witches completely consumed by the needs of the spell and standing defenseless and immediately sprung towards them.

Willow sensed the spell was working. Somehow they had been granted the power and knowledge to close this mouth into Hell. It was the most beautiful magickal experience of her life. She had forgotten the merging of souls that occurred when casting with Tara. It was like being wrapped in a blanket of love. She could also feel the darkness leaving her as the spell progressed. It was being drawn out to power her part and she was happy to let it go.

Both witches saw the Turok-Han escape just before their newly created seal began to take hold. There was nothing they could do, they had to finish the spell. Even as the demon bore down on them, fangs bared, the witches continued knowing nothing was as important as closing the Hellmouth. Whatever happened would happen to them together, they would never be apart now.

The Slayer was pissed. The dark witch had taken Tara against her wishes and left Isobel without her mother. Buffy didn't want to wake the girl, but she needed to get back to the house and figure out where Willow had taken Tara. Isobel was sleeping soundly as Buffy wrapped her in a blanket and held her close as she walked down the sidewalk back to the house. Morning light would soon be visible as she took in the now clear cool air. But her Slayer senses were still twitching. Something was not right, in fact it felt like it was getting more wrong by the moment. Then it struck her, the Hellmouth.

Isobel barely stirred even when Buffy tucked her into bed with Dawn. She woke her sister and told her to take care of the girl. Stopping only for a few stakes and a sword, the Slayer stepped out into the last of the night. She strapped the sword on her back and headed out for the high school. With her senses tingling she would bet the house she would find Willow and Tara at the Hellmouth.

It took ten minutes at a fast run to reach the still relatively new building that had replaced the one she had attended. Buffy had found the access to the seal years ago and stopped by on patrol routinely to make sure everything was quiet. It was anything but calm now. As she approached the underground chamber she could hear the witches chanting and the sound of a growling beast all in the background of a whirlwind. How that could be fifty feet beneath the surface in a closed room the Slayer did not know. The door was still secured, but she knew that was no barrier to Willow who could simply teleport inside.

Buffy released the lock on the door and pushed it open as quietly as possible. She needn't have bothered. The inside was a cacophony. The sounds of vampires and demons rose up in anger from the hole in the ground where the seal used to be. Light poured from the witches, both white and black, coming together into a tornado of color and sound concentrated directly over the Hellmouth.

Most concerning was the Turok-Han now poised to spring on the witches from the far side of the opening. It had clearly escaped whatever Willow and Tara were trying to do and was preparing to strike them down. Anya had told her about the original vampires at the hospital and Faith had confirmed they were hard to kill. But this one was so focused on the witches, it hadn't seen her yet. And that would be its fatal mistake.

As the creature sprung, the Slayer drew her sword from its sheath and intercepted it with her own leap, cleaving through its neck with a single powerful stroke. The body collapsed before turning to dust and the head fell into the swirling mass being created by the witches at the top of the Hellmouth. When it became dust, the particles were picked up in the whirlwind, giving substance to the starkly contrasting colors of air.

As Buffy watched, the light and dust coalesced into the shape of a disk and slammed down into the opening, re-sealing the Hellmouth with a thunder clap.

Tara slumped to the ground exhausted and lost her hold on Willow's outstretched hand. She could sense the spell coming to an end and the seal taking effect. She had used every ounce of light magick she had to balance Willow's dark power in closing the Hellmouth, but it was worth it. They had succeeded. Buffy had appeared just in time to kill the vampire and was now holding her and saying something. It sounded important, but the blond was just so tired it was hard to listen.

Then the ground began to shake and Tara knew something had gone wrong. Forcing herself to pay attention, she realized Buffy was trying to get her to stand up and saying something about Willow. Tara opened her eyes and immediately saw the problem. When the spell had finished, the flow of light magick coming from her had stopped, probably because she was completely drained. But the flow of dark magick was still pouring from Willow into the newly created seal and into the ground all around them.

Tara got herself to her feet and reached out, grabbing the redhead by the arms.

"Willow, you've got to stop. The seal is good, the Hellmouth is closed."

Shaking and sweating, Willow turned to Tara. "I can't. I tried to end the flow, but it just keeps going. I've lost control. You and Buffy need to get out of here. I don't know what is going to happen."

As the Slayer and blond witch watched, the dark power kept streaming out and the transformation back into the Willow they knew and loved continued. Her hair was red to the tips now and the last of the dark veins receded from her skin. Her eyes were teary, but sparkled green beneath.

"We aren't leaving you Will." Buffy moved to stand next to her friends. "Right Tara?"

"Not a chance." The blond huddled close to her lover as the ground around them began to pitch and shift. "But perhaps the Slayer could lead us in a withdrawal?"

Now chunks of the packed earth ceiling were falling on and around them. Willow screamed out and fell to her knees, but the dark power continued to pour out.

"Sounds good. Tara, you get the door, I'll get the witch." The Slayer reached down and grabbed the redhead, hoisting her onto her shoulders and running through the door. As they ran up the tunnel that led to the surface, they all could hear the shuddering creaks and groans of the ground around them and the school building above. Their path became an obstacle course as concrete, dirt and tree roots thrust into the tunnel and still they could all feel the dark power coming from Willow and feeding back down towards the Hellmouth.

By the time Tara opened the hatch to the surface and Buffy carried Willow through, the redhead was unconscious. The first rays of dawn were peeking over the horizon as the Slayer set her friend down gently. The dark magick had seemed to diminish when they had gotten above ground, but suddenly one last great wave washed out of the witch and rode over the grass until it reached the now highly unstable high school.

The magick etched its way between each brick, window frame and roof tile. It was like watching a construction crew in reverse. Before their eyes, the building was unmade. As the components lost cohesion, they crumbled and tumbled along with desks and lockers, books and computers. Then the ground beneath finished its own shifting and the entire mass disappeared into a giant sinkhole in the earth above the now sealed Hellmouth.

Accompanied by a sound like a giant sigh, the ground settled once more, leaving only a barren spot with a slight depression where generations of teen-agers had experienced secondary education in two different buildings, the Slayer and the red witch included.

Tara had scurried behind Willow and sat down, holding the redhead in her lap and hugging her. The blond was talking to her, begging her to wake up and telling her that everything was going to be fine. Just as panic was starting to set in, the sun rose over the tree line and shined down on the three women.

As if she had needed the warming rays, Willow stirred in Tara's arms and slowly opened her eyes. "The darkness is gone. I guess I just had so much of it to get rid of, sealing the Hellmouth wasn't enough. My power wanted to destroy it utterly."

Tara squeezed her tightly and it felt so right.

"Isobel." The redhead suddenly exclaimed.

"Oh sweetie, she's fine. She's with Dawn and Faith right now." Tara thought her lover was delirious.

"No, behind you. Isobel! And Dawn, Faith, Xander and Anya." This time the redhead was smiling as her daughter launched herself into her mothers' laps.

Dawn had been running behind the young girl, trying to keep up and reached the three women first. "Wow, wasn't the high school I graduated from there yesterday? Great job Sis, Willow. You've now destroyed two Sunnydale Highs."

"Well, if they would stop building them on top of the damn Hellmouth then we would stop reducing them to rubble, right Will?" Buffy smirked.

Willow smiled and waited until all the Scoobies had walked over to where they were before speaking.

"Maxwiel Morton wanted to open the Hellmouth last night because it was the darkest, longest night of the year. He saw the shortest day of winter as a time he could best access great evil. But he misunderstood. The Solstice celebrates the beginning of days getting longer with renewed hope, joy and promise."

Willow looked up at her family and friends. "That is what I'd like to celebrate if you all can forgive me. I'm so sorry for everything that happened over the last few days."

Everyone stood comfortably around Willow, Tara and Isobel sitting on the ground. Buffy glanced around at the group and saw each one nod before she addressed the redhead. "You saved us. What you did, it wasn't easy, especially on you three, but it worked. And we know you did it because you love us. Well, we love you too."

The Slayer waved at the standing Scoobies. "Let's give these guys some privacy. Donuts and coffee, I'm buying."

After their friends walked away, Willow tucked into Tara's side, needing to be as close as possible. "Can you ever forgive me? What I did, it was horrible, and I wouldn't blame you for needing some distance."

Tara looked down into Willow's bright green eyes. "Did you do those things to save us, because it was the only way?"

Willow nodded, her eyes wide.

"Did you ever stop loving me, for one second?" Tara asked.

"Never, not for one millisecond." Willow spoke with all the conviction in her heart. "You saved me too."

"Then I forgive you." Tara sealed her statement with a soft kiss. "Let's go home."

"Yes. There is just one more thing I need to do. Isobel, I need your help." Willow sat up and then kneeled on the bare ground. "Come here and take my hand."

The little redhead got next to her and grasped her right hand to Willow's left.

"Now place your other hand on the ground and imagine a tree growing here, a big beautiful tree with green leaves and lots of shade to have a picnic under. This tree will be special, it will mark where the Hellmouth used to be. But as long as our tree grows strong and healthy, we will know it is gone and can't hurt us or anyone else anymore."

Willow reached back and took Tara's left hand in her right and the three witches, mothers and daughter gave their power to the earth and received back the blessing they had requested. A tree emerged and grew tall, branches waiting to blossom with leaves in the Spring.

"It's a Willow tree Mommy! I made it for you." Isobel beamed.

"Thank you my beautiful girl." Willow picked up Isobel in a hug and turned to Tara, reaching over to give her another kiss, this one lingering. "You too, my beautiful woman."

In the warm morning light, the redhead sighed and wrapped one arm around Tara's waist as they walked away from the Hellmouth for the last time. Willow found she was exhausted, drained and utterly, deliriously happy. She gazed at her daughter and lover in wonder and thought of the endless possibilities their future held together. With the help of her friends and Tara's steadfast love, she truly had returned home.