Chapter Two-First Day Back
Tara awoke early, with a frown and shaking her head slightly. Her sleep had been disturbed during the night in a way that hadn't happened in several months. She had dreamt of Willow. I suppose that is going to happen from time to time, probably forever, she thought. This dream was far from the worst she had experienced. Normally the dreams were of specific past incidents, usually of the negative or horrifying kind, on rare occasions happy or passionate, but this one had been vague. In her dream Willow was in Sunnydale, but the setting was not one she could remember specifically, and while she knew it was Willow, that fact was not based on visualizing her. In fact, Willow seemed to be covered in a cloak and did not show her face. The disturbing aspect was that Willow was walking down Revello in her dream, right across the street from the house. Tara had never had a dream of a current Willow, or what Willow might look like after all this time. After four years it could be worse, so much worse, crossed her mind just as her usual reason for awakening early appeared.
For the second time in one day, Willow found herself covered in dust from the floor. She must have fallen asleep in front of the window sometime before dawn. This time at least it wasn't vamp dust, she mused. Finding the water was still turned on in the vacant house she cleaned up as best she could and headed out for supplies. The first order of business was computer equipment. She didn't intend to steal anything, but necessity required a little magick for the clerk at the Apple store to believe she had paid for the laptop and impressive array of ancillary items she needed to get started. Once she had funds, she would repay the debt. She was able to access the college fund her parents had set up and apparently forgotten. Next, she contacted the realtor for the Revello drive house she intended to stay at and negotiated a rental agreement, with option to buy. Within a day the internet access was installed, basic furniture delivered and most importantly, herbs and magickal supplies ordered.
After the first night Willow had placed a strong protection spell and glamour over the property. What was seen from the street and sidewalk would never include her or anything going on inside the windows. She entered and exited from the back of the house into an adjacent alley. She had also realized a portion of the roof had a slightly flattened area which provided unrestricted viewing of the street and all the other houses on the block, including Buffy's, an observation platform where she planned to spend many evenings.
The first resident of the house Willow saw was Dawn. She had come and gone from the house several times during the course of the evening. She looked confident and had grown into a beautiful young woman.
The second resident sent Willow's heart into a brief arrhythmia. Tara came walking down the street from the bus stop at the corner and into Buffy's house. She was carrying a large book bag and looked like she had just come from class. She also looked stunningly beautiful in jeans and a blue scoop neck shirt. Willow realized if she had ever for one second truly questioned her decision to return to Sunnydale, that question was no longer an issue. Frozen to the roof by her swirling emotions, Willow watched the house until Buffy emerged several hours later into the darkness, clearly headed out for patrol.
"No time like the present," Willow convinced herself as she followed Buffy into the closest of Sunnydale's cemeteries. Content to follow Buffy and conceal herself, Willow toured silently through graves and crypts while Buffy staked two new vampires. She debated revealing herself but realized she did not know what to say yet. She felt relief and joy that her former best friend had survived seemingly unscathed in the years of her absence and was still slaying. Around midnight she heard Buffy mumble "slow night" and watched her head for home.
Finding herself back at her nearly empty house with most of the night still ahead of her, Willow decided she needed to spend some time on money generating endeavors. Her computer skills had not diminished during her time in Khul, in fact they had developed in a unique way. Most humans and demons that were even aware of other dimensions were not very familiar with Khul. While there were many reasons for this, the fact was Khul had an unusual combination of advanced technology and magick. While on Khul this was often utilized in a militaristic way perpetuating a century's old war, Willow realized she could adapt programs that she had been developing in Khul to sell, possibly to the gaming community or to the government. She anticipated little difficulty in establishing cash flow in short order. Her hacking skills could at least translate into substantial financial gain.
With the basics of her life situation dealt with, Willow was left with how, and who to approach first with her return. Apparently Buffy, Dawn and Tara were living at the house. She had yet to see Xander or Anya; however it had only been two days. Catching up on the major events of Sunnydale and the world at large had not taken long. Going through the national and local newspapers it didn't appear that she had missed stopping any world ending apocalypse. Of course that did nothing to help her with the events that really mattered to her, those of her family. She decided patience was her best choice for now, especially since patience resulted in the same approach as the abject fear she was feeling, which was to observe without contact. After so long, so many nights of clinging to the possibility of returning home as a lifeline, she could not afford to make the wrong step now.
It was her plan for exactly 8.5 hours, when late the next morning she spotted Tara through her front window leaving the house. But she was not leaving alone.