I got this from a conversation with Aragorn II Elessar and come to think about it, Tara dying the way it happened didn't make any sense at all, since she and Willow would've heard the first gunshot and had enough sense to take cover, then again, Whedon is an asshole. So, hope you will enjoy this. A stray bullet still hits Tara but I'm gonna handle this differently than the show did, since, f*** you, Joss. Willow would probably want to use magic to pull the bullet out and heal Tara's wound but I doubt Tara would allow it due to the risk of addiction again. And I know that the trajectory of the gunshot, considering Tara's wound in the show, wouldn't fit, but, please, just go with it, let's just say that she and Willow stood in a little different positions in the bedroom but Tara still gets shot.
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffyverse.
Buffy and Xander stood in her garden, talking.
"I thought I hit bottom, but… it hurt. That you didn't trust me enough to tell me about Spike. It hurt." Xander admitted.
"I'm sorry. I should have told you." Buffy said apologetically as Xander smiled.
"Maybe you would have, if I hadn't given you so many reasons to think I'd be an ass about it." Xander acknowledged.
"Guess we've all done a lot of things lately we're not proud of." Buffy noted.
Xander gave a slightly larger smile. "I think I've got you beat."
"Wanna compare?" Buffy asked.
"Not so much. I don't know what I'd do… without you and Will." Xander smiled as Buffy tried to hold back tears.
"Let's not find out." Buffy said as they hugged. "I love you. You know that, right?"
Xander spotted something over Buffy's shoulder and his eyes widened in alarm. "Buffy!"
They turned to see Warren enter the garden, still wearing the black outfit from the previous night.
"You think you can just do that to me? You think I'd let you get away with that?" Warren scoffed and laughed crazily. "Think again." He pulled out his gun and fired but Xander jumped to the ground, while Buffy dodged to avoid the bullets and Warren turned to run off as he fired few more shots blindly, one of them hitting the upper window before Buffy grabbed a rock and threw it, hitting Warren in the head and knocking him out.
Buffy and Xander turned their heads to the upper window that Warren had shattered, realizing it was Willow's and Tara's bedroom.
"Oh, my God…" Xander whispered as his and Buffy's blood ran cold.
Willow and Tara were in their bedroom, talking, when they heard 'crack' and Tara suddenly saw some blood spatter on Willow's face, while her expression turned into one of shock and horror before Tara suddenly felt numb and her body seemed to freeze in shock.
"Your shirt…" Tara trailed off before she started to tremble and felt wet on her chest as she looked down to see red blooming on the wool of her sweater, blood soaking into the wool, a gunshot wound appearing on her chest as her legs suddenly gave out and she collapsed to the floor.
"Tara?" Willow cried out in horror as she knelt towards Tara. "Baby?"
"Willow…" Tara whispered, breathing shakily and rapidly as Willow immediately pressed her hand on Tara's wound to reduce the bleeding, with tears pouring down her eyes, while Tara let out a weak wail of pain and started to whimper.
"I'm so sorry, I know it hurts, but stay with me, please…" Willow begged, barely holding it together as her voice started to break.
"Willow? Tara? Are you OK?" Buffy called out as she rushed upstairs and at the doorstep to the bedroom, she froze, horrified. "Oh, no…"
"Buffy…" Willow said brokenly with her eyes wet.
"Xander called 9-1-1, just keep the pressure on the wound and make sure she's awake and talking, it'll buy us some time." Buffy said as she knelt towards Tara, also placing her hand on the wound.
"It hurts…" Tara whimpered in between shaky breaths and going paler from the blood loss, while Buffy and Willow felt the blood on their hands, both of them barely able to keep it together.
"I know… I know… it's gonna be OK, just don't pass out, please…" Buffy said.
"We're here with you. We're not going to let you go…" Willow said.
"You won't…" Tara trailed off as her eyes started to close and she began to drift out of consciousness and in that instant both Buffy and Willow lost it.
"Tara? Tara, please, stay with us! You have to stay awake, please!" Willow begged.
"Don't do this to us! Please, Tara! Come on! Open your eyes! Tara!" Buffy screamed as the dam broke and both girls burst into tears, just as Xander and the paramedics went upstairs, pulling the girls away and putting a self-inflating mask on Tara's face and treating her before they and Xander brokenly and in tears observed Tara being carried away on the stretcher to the ambulance and Buffy, Xander and Willow insisted to come, since she was their family.
Few hours later, Buffy, Willow, Xander, alongside with Anya and Dawn, who had become just as shattered upon hearing the news, were in the hospital, waiting outside the operation room for hours, even though it felt like an eternity for especially Willow, Buffy and Dawn.
Willow was tempted to burst in and use magic, hating feeling so helpless to do anything to save Tara, but looking at her friends and reflecting on how magic had been negatively influencing her, she restrained herself from doing so, even though it would have made it easier for Willow, she was done looking for the easy way out with magic, even though she despised the waiting that felt like eternity and the rest of the Scoobies weren't any better. Xander just paced back and forth, Dawn was in tears leaning onto Buffy's shoulder, who wasn't any better as she stroked Dawn's hair, while Anya leaned onto the wall with crossed arms and rubbing her face. This was just as bad as when Joyce had gotten sick and they prayed to any higher powers that were out there that Tara would make it. Willow wanted to be in the surgery room for Tara but the rest of the Scoobies decided that it would be best if they wouldn't see Tara in such a vulnerable way.
They had learned that Warren was currently in a cell with Jonathan and Andrew, but as much as the Scoobies were relieved he was not going to hurt anyone, ever again, they were too wrapped up in their concern for Tara until hours later, one of the doctors let them know that they had managed to stabilize Tara, much to their relief.
For the first two days, Tara was in the ICU, resting and hooked up to heart monitor and life support, with a breathing tube attached to her mouth and the ventilator and kept under sedation to dull the pain until the third day the doctors decided to get Tara off the ventilator and reduced the dosage of sedatives, even though she had an oxygen tube attached to her nose. At that point, whether Tara would pull through or not was entirely up to her.
The Scoobies regularly came to visit to see if there had been any improvement in Tara's condition, while Willow refused to leave Tara's side, outside of getting a coffee or something to eat, most of the time she spent on the chair next to Tara's stretcher as she held Tara's hand, frantically begging for her to wake up. It was late at night, when Willow had gone for another cup of coffee and entered Tara's room again, when one of the doctors approached Willow.
"Miss Rosenberg, I understand you don't want to leave Miss Maclay but trust me, there is nothing you can do for her anymore. Go home. Get some rest. We'll let you know if there's any change in—"
"No. I'm not leaving her. I can't." Willow shook her head firmly as the doctor sighed and nodded.
"She's strong. I have hope for her. You just have to be patient." The doctor assured as he left, while Willow kept her eyes on Tara, while Willow approached Tara's bedside and held her hand again.
"I can't lose you, Tara. Please… wake up, Tara. You need to find your way back. Please…" Willow begged, sobbing into her sleeve before she suddenly felt the movement on her fingers and whipped her head.
Tara's eyes fluttered and she blinked rapidly and Willow suddenly felt hope rising as she pressed the call button on Tara's stretcher.
"Come on, Tara, wake up…" Willow whispered, waiting for a minute or two, even though it felt like an eternity before Tara's eyes fully opened and Willow felt Tara's hand holding her own tightly as the doctors entered, checking on Tara.
"Hey, Willow…" Tara said weakly with a smile and Willow felt like if a heavy burden had been lifted off her shoulders.
The following day, the Scoobies felt mightily relieved to learn the news that Tara had woken up. Tara's condition had improved, though she had to use wheelchair at the moment and was still on painkillers before she would fully recover.
"Thank God you're OK." Buffy said as she and Dawn hugged Tara but they tried to take it easy, considering Tara's wound, though Xander wasn't that careful.
"Oh. Easy…" Tara groaned weakly.
"Sorry…" Xander said sheepishly as he pulled away.
"You really scared us to death." Anya said.
"We missed you. We thought we'd lost you." Dawn said, glad to see that Tara was alright, considering that she and Willow were like her surrogate mothers.
"I'm not going anywhere." Tara assured. "Come here, Dawnie." She hugged Dawn, who couldn't hold back anymore as she cried, while Tara patted her on her back and kissed her on her forehead before she and Willow kissed too, as both girls started to cry.
"It hurts…" Tara whispered.
"I know… it hurt us too…" Willow said.
"No… I meant…" Tara trailed off as she grunted quietly and shifted on the wheelchair, holding her chest as it hit them. Apparently, the painkillers were starting to wear off.
"Yeah, I think we should let you rest but we'll see you later." Buffy said as Willow picked Tara's wheelchair and started to ride her back into her room.
"Don't ever do this to me again." Willow said.
"If you promise you'll stay strong for us both again too." Tara said and smiled at Willow in pride, glad that she did not succumb to temptation of using magic to save Tara.
Hope you liked Tara surviving, I sure enjoyed writing this and hope this was emotionally well done, since, once again, f*** you, Joss. Tara's and Cordy's deaths are the ones in Buffyverse that I can never forgive, at least Fred later returned in the follow-up comics.
So, what do you guys think?
Please review and let me know if you have enjoyed this one-shot.
With regards
Bl4ckHunter