WISHING WILLOW

SUMMARY: Anya tricks Willow into making a careless wish.

RATING: PG for now

SPOILERS: This begins during the scene at The Espresso Pump in the episode "Entropy". Anya's conversation with Willow and Tara goes a little differently. After Willows wish it becomes AU for the series as a whole.

DISCLAIMER: None of these characters are mine. Not making any profit. Joss owns all.

AUTHORS NOTES: This idea's been floating around in my head awhile now and I've finally decided to try and put it down on paper, so to speak. Being that it's the first fic I've ever tried to write, I'd appreciate any constructive criticism anyone has to offer. I've seen at least two other stories recently that are similar to this, but neither of them approached it the same way I was interested in. I hope you enjoy.

Prologue

Anya paused outside the Espresso Pump when she noticed Willow and Tara. Did she really want to do this? Despite the desire for vengeance she was feeling, she still loved Xander. She knew if she was successful that he would never have anything to do with her again, not to mention his friends. His friends she thought, acknowledging the fact that they were never really her friends. They tolerated her because she was with Xander, but none of them had ever accepted her for herself. Willows snide remarks, Giles rather contemptuous amusement at her expense whenever she made an honest mistake and of course Xanders constant public correction of her. All these thoughts ran thru her mind in an instant, firming her resolve and causing her to momentarily forget that before the disaster that was supposed to be her wedding she had begun to finally be accepted in the "gang". She looked in once more at Willow and Tara, made up her mind and went inside.

Chapter One

Willow was giddy. She was doing it. She was finally talking to Tara again and Tara wanted to talk to her to. She wasn't going to waste this chance. This time she was going to do everything right. This time…

"Hi"

"Anya? Oh my god. You're back" Willow said as she got up to hug her. Anya hugged her back, a little stunned. Willow was worried about her?

"We've been worried about you" a softer voice said. Anya looked up to see Tara smiling at her. Tentatively she smiled back and suddenly realized that if she went through with her plans that Tara might never forgive her. She wondered why she had never considered that before now. Stepping back from Willow she began to reconsider once more

Somewhat distractedly she replied " I…, after the…, I had to be alone for awhile." The pain in her voice was evident to both women. The three of them sat silent for a few, very awkward moments. Finally Tara replied.

"I understand" She didn't need to say anything else. Anya and Willow both understood what she meant. For the first time since the wedding Anya was able to truly recognize a kindred pain. If I had my powers then she wondered. Willow on the other began to realize the extent of Tara's feelings of betrayal. Can I ever really make it up to her she began to ask herself. Thinking further she realized that she didn't have a choice. Tara had to be in her life. She just had to. To distract herself from any other options she asked Anya.

"Are you back to stay?" She didn't know what to expect Anya to say, so she wasn't really surprised when she replied

"I don't know. Things are more complicated now. I still have to deal with Xander and decide what to do with my share of the Magic Box if I don't." As she said it she realized it was true. She hadn't decided about anything but her desire for vengeance since she got her powers back. It wasn't as if she needed the money she thought sadly. I'm going to miss the place. It was then that she realized that she was going through with her plan no matter what.

"Well if there's anything we can do to help…" Willow began before Anya interrupted her.

"There is. Tell me about Xander. You know him better then anyone. Tell me why he would do this to me. But not here. Do you have time to come back to my apartment with me?" she asked both women. Tara answered first.

"Sure. It won't kill us to miss a class just this once." She looked at Willow somewhat mischievously as she said it know how she felt about school. Willow just looked back at her, to surprised to say anything at first. Finally she turned to an impatient Anya and said

"Let's go"

Several hours and a few drinks later the three women were still at Anya's apartment. Willow had told her about Xander. A great deal more than she had imagined. She had never known the extent of emotional and sometimes physical abuse he had suffered at the hands of what was supposed to be his family. As she listened to Willow talk to Tara about meeting Buffy she realized if he hadn't had the support that Willow and later Buffy had given him he would most likely have turned out far worse than he did. Pondering this she heard Willow say what she had been waiting to hear. Stunned , she thought to herself [Could it be this easy?] She continued to listen and realized that it was. She would probably never get a better opportunity. She turned her head to hide her face as she went thru the change. What, a slightly drunk Willow had said reverberated in her mind.

"Given what we've been through the past few years I wish that Buffy, Xander, Dawn, Giles, you, myself and hell even Spike could go back to the day Buffy arrived here knowing what we know now. We could make sure not to repeat the same mistakes. Xander probably wouldn't like it very much though. He hated school with a fiery passion. "

"Done" Anya whispered, wondering if she was making a mistake.