Disclaimer: I don't own them. I never will. Joss doesn't own Willow's car.
Spoilers: Everything through season 6 is fair game. I'm ignoring spoilers for season 7.
Dedication: For Olivia.
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She didn't want the money.
It didn't seem right. Taking it was too much like profiting from Tara's death. Refusing to take it was out of the question. Willow knew that Tara would not have wanted her family to inherit anything.
So Willow took it. Tara's possessions, investments, life insurance payments. An unexpected death at only 21 meant rather a large pay off from the insurance company, as it turned out. Apparently their policies hadn't taken the Hellmouth into account. The investments were sizable, consisting mostly of stocks gifted to Tara by an old maiden aunt. A touch of foresight ran in the family, evidently.
The possessions were too much. Everything was so Tara. Willow couldn't bear to go through Tara's things, not yet. Nor could she bear for strangers' hands to touch them. So all that there was left to do was call the Scoobies and ask them to fold the beloved clothes, wrap the treasured knick-knacks, box everything away. It only took a little of the insurance money to rent a storage space, and then another. Willow's things hunkered in the little concrete-floored shed, neighbors to Tara's material remains.
What to do with the money was not so easy. Oh, some things were obvious. A large portion went to Anya, for the repair of the Magic Box. Another chunk to Xander, for a new car. To Buffy: the rent money that should have been hers all along. To Giles: enough to cover the hospital bills and buy a plane ticket back to England. Dawn was harder; there was no convenient bill to pay off. Finally Willow settled on a rose bush, planted in the Summers' backyard. A living memorial to Tara, to what she had been to the Summers girls and Dawn especially.
At last, Willow was left with only herself. Willow's debt to Willow was paid with a car, one that Tara would have chosen for them. It was a little four-door wagon, colored the peaceful shade of indigo that would always remind Willow of Tara's aura. The hatchback was the most important part. Every time the two women had discussed getting a car, Tara had mentioned the importance of having that fifth upward-opening door. "It's like a canopy. It's your very own awning, wherever you go. Kind of like a street corner café in the back of your car."
Smiling sadly at the memory, Willow lifted her bags into the back of the car. With everything else stored away, she had only two suitcases to worry about. All the loose ends were neatly tied up: leave of absence from college, financial debts paid, emotional excuses made. Xander didn't want her to do this, didn't think that she should be on her own. Willow knew that she had to be on her own. "Xander, please. I need to do this. I need to go someplace new. Every time I look at anything here, I see it with Tara. Maybe somewhere else I can look at the moon and not feel her absence beside me. Maybe I can teach myself to see the beauty around me again. I'll come back when I can, I promise."
There was only one thing left to do. Outrun the pain.