Chapter 2

Willow reflected back on her weekend. She'd had a really great time with Tara on Saturday, though she could tell the blonde was still wracked with guilt over what had happened to her uncle. For the most part she was okay, but in quiet moments a deep sadness clouded those soft blue eyes.

Willow had done her best to comfort her friend, who she had come to care very deeply about in so short a period of time. She was so full of life, so sweet and at times shy, yet bold in her own way, going on her own path regardless of any obstacles that stood in her way. Willow really admired that about her, what little Tara had revealed about her past had pretty much shown that she was a very determined person and was true to herself no matter what.

Tara had proudly shown Willow her collection of books that she had toted down the coast with her on the way to Sunnydale. Tara's mother's small, precise handwriting lined the margins of many pages, making notes, tips, or clarifications to the text. Tara had written in occasional blurbs, her handwriting also small but more fluid, mostly about mistakes she'd made and how to correct them in the future. These were not written directly in the book, but on small sheets of notepaper and tucked between the pages. Small sketches, mostly of birds and winged sprites with playful smiles, were sometimes on the back of the slips of paper. When she'd questioned Tara about them, the fair-haired young woman dismissed them as "scribbles" and her cheeks had tinted slightly red.

Together that had done one spell, one that had two pieces of paper detailing what not to do, indicating that Tara had attempted it twice by herself with minimal success. One slip was quite yellowed, the writing slightly larger and rounder than on the second paper. Willow had thought that to be a good one to try, because that way they would be covering new ground when they succeeded, as she was confident they would. And succeeded they had, the redhead grinned, remembering the triumphant smile on Tara's face, the sparkle in her cerulean eyes.

It wasn't anything big, no vampiric soul restoration or polymorphing or transdimensional gateways, just a fleet of tiny sparkling blue-green lights, it seemed like thousands of them, floating leisurely around the studio for about forty-five minutes. Once they had been summoned, the lights just wafted around shining, and Tara seemed to particularly enjoy the lighting effects they created, making the entire apartment appear to have reflections off a body of water. She watched delightedly, remarking about the great number of lights, and how she'd only gotten between three and five by herself, and the duration of the spell, which continued for the better part of an hour as opposed to fifteen minutes. If it was possible, Willow would have liked to make the spell permanent, just to make Tara that happy all the time.

Yes, it had been a pretty good weekend. And now it was the kind of lazy week before vacation. Everyone was only in school because they had to be, and with winter break coming up, no major projects were being assigned. It seemed even the teachers were looking forward to a couple weeks with nothing to do. The only on who still managed to be a grouch was Principal Snyder, but he seemed to fit the Grinch profile quite well, so it was mostly expected behavior. Anyone who thought Snyder would actually show some holiday cheer would at this point have to be delusional, holiday spirit or not.

Willow headed to her locker alongside Buffy and Xander as the bell rang, trying to hear Buffy's story about Angel over the excited throng of students pouring into the hallway. After that, they made their way to the student lounge to relax for a bit, but were momentarily interrupted by Cordelia going out of her way to be rude to Xander. This tended to happen a lot now, ever since the kissing fluke. She knew it hurt Xander, so Queen C made an extra effort to put him and the Scooby gang down at every occasion. No sooner than Cordelia left, than Oz quietly approached.

"Hey," he said casually, stepping up onto the first stair to the lounge.

Willow couldn't hide her surprise at seeing him, and more, being addressed by him. This hadn't happened in quite a while. "Hey," she answered, not knowing what else to say. The Scoobs greeted the musician, and he smiled, but kept his focus on Willow.

"Could we … talk?" At Willow's affirming nod, he led her away from the lounge.

~~

"This is what I do know: I miss you. Like, every second. Almost like I lost an arm, or worse, a torso. So, I think I'd be willing to ... give it another shot." Oz looked at Willow with a small, hopeful smile. "What do you think?"

Willow looked more confused than anything else by these words. "Oz, I-I don't know what to say. I mean, I sorta thought we'd never be at this place. I, you know, I kinda hoped we would, e-eventually. But…"

Oz stepped towards Willow, reaching for her hand with both of his. "Hey, if you need some time, I'm cool with that. I mean, it was kind of a big thing. But just so you know … I'm ready when you are. I'd really like to try again." He gently squeezed her hand before letting go and exiting the room, leaving Willow alone with her thoughts.

~~

"Will, that's great!" Buffy grinned. "Wait, you don't look like it's great. Why isn't this great?"

Willow shook her head, obviously baffled by her own reactions. "I don't know! I mean, yeah, part of me is like yay! Oz! But the other part is all, is that what you really want now." She got the concentration face, her eyebrows drawing together and her lips forming a thin line. "It's all confusing. I miss him a lot, but I'm not sure I'm ready to, you know, give it another go yet." She picked invisible lint off Buffy's comforter, eyes downcast as she admitted this to her best friend.

"Then that's probably what you should tell him. I mean, Oz is an understanding guy," the Slayer pointed out. "Just talk to him. You'll work it out."

The witch let out a sigh. "Yeah, I guess." But if Oz was the one she really wanted to be with, why was there so much as a slight hesitation? Why hadn't she just said yes? She knew it didn't have a thing to do with Xander, things on that front were completely back to normal. Maybe she should talk to Tara about it. The blonde was really good with figuring out people, their motivations, what made them tick. Her quiet observations were almost always dead on. Yes, she determined, talking to Tara would help.