Another Halliwell

Chapter 3

Truces Made

            The sunlight streaming through the basement window shone down on Sarah's face, the warmth, and light of it waking her.  Sitting up, she gingerly tested the status of  her shoulder, 'much better.'  She grabbed a clean pair of jeans, a red tee shirt, and clean socks, hurriedly changing out of the clothes she had patrolled in the night previously.  Sarah noticed her piles of clothes were dramatically reduced, what little she had was already dirty.  'I'll have to do laundry today, good thing I'm not going to school.'  After finishing changing her clothes, she headed up the stairs, intending to get some breakfast, and knowing that an inquisition awaited her when she got up there.  Piper and Leo would have tons of questions, hopefully they had talked that watcher into staying, Sarah had kind of reacted harshly, she hadn't wanted to scare the watcher away, but her presence had poured salt and acid in an open wound that was refusing to heal.

            Piper was standing in front of the stove, a frying pan on the burner, French toast sizzling inside it, there was a large plate of French toast next to her on the island.  She was making French toast because she needed something to keep her hands occupied, and she wanted Sarah to have some sort of comfort food when she woke up for breakfast.  Willow was due to arrive in a few minutes, Leo was sitting at the table eying the toast hungrily.  Piper saw this, and said, "Hungry Leo?"

            "Yes, orbing takes a lot of energy, and so does healing, and if you remember, I did a lot of both of them yesterday."  He said nothing more, just continued salivating over Piper's latest masterpiece.

            "Here, have some."  She handed the plate to him, and saw him ravenously dig in. 'Men.' She thought to herself as she heard the doorbell ring.  "That's probably Willow, I'll go and get it."

            While Piper was answering the door, Sarah came upstairs, and joined Leo in consuming the French toast.  "Hey there."  Piper said as she returned to the kitchen, Willow in tow.  "Look who I found."  Just then, Sarah saw Willow,  she slowly swallowed the mouthful of French toast, stood up from the table and addressed the watcher.

            "Look, I'm sorry how I acted last night.   I was kind of messed up.  You know how it gets."  Sarah was looking uncomfortable in her apology.  "So, I would like you to stay and be my watcher.  That is, if you still want to."

            Willow nodded, and then said,  "I would love to stay.  Why don't you finish your breakfast, and then I'll tell you about me, and we'll start getting to know each other.  Okay?"

            Sarah agreed, sitting down and hurriedly finishing her breakfast.  While she was eating, Piper and Leo exchanged looks that said very significantly, 'Things are looking up.'  "Uh, Sarah?  I'm going to go to the club and do some paperwork, if you need me, I'll be on my cell okay?"  Piper said to her cousin as she headed for her jacket and purse. 

            Sarah nodded, her mouth  full of milk.  "And, I have to go up 'there.'"  Leo said,  "If you need me, just call."  He then orbed out in a flash of bright lights.

            After finishing her breakfast, Sarah went down to her bedroom to grab her dirty clothes so she could start some laundry.  Hurrying slightly, she tossed them in the washing machine, poured in some soap, and started it.  That chore having been accomplished, she went into the parlor where Willow was sitting on the couch, waiting for her.  "I'm not like those stuffy Brits, for one thing, I was born and raised not three hours from here in  Sunnydale.  My best friend is the Slayer there on the Hellmouth.  I'm not going to go into all the details that ended up with me here, and not there right now; but maybe later.  We'll start training later, I just want to get to know you right now.  Okay?"  Willow asked, she was hoping that Sarah would be open to the idea of a friend rather than a watcher.

Sarah nodded.  "You probably know all about my childhood, if you read my file that mom gave the council.  It's all in there." 

"I want to hear it from you, not from papers."  Willow replied,  Sarah nodded, and began to tell all the horrible details of her awful life.

Hours went by, and before they realized it, it was five in the evening, and Piper was coming home from the club.

"Hey in  there, how's the watchering, and slaying going?"  Piper asked as she started dinner. 

Willow and Sarah walked into the kitchen and sat at the table.  "Good." Sarah said monosyllabically as she went and put her laundry in the dryer.

"Yes, things are going very well.  I'm going to patrol with her tonight, to see where her skills are."  Willow said.

Just then, Leo orbed in.  "Hi all.  I've got news for Willow.  After your little thing in Sunnydale, the Elders have decided to assign you a white lighter, but no, it's not me. Its somebody you actually know."  He was trying to get something across to her, but it wasn't getting there.

"Who is it?"  Willow asked.

He didn't get the chance to answer before another burst of white lights appeared.  "It's me."  It was female voice that spoke before the person was fully materialized.  Nobody but Willow recognized the voice, tears formed in Willow's eyes, and started running down her cheeks.

"Tara?"  She asked, just then, the form became fully materialized. 

"Yeah, baby,  it's me."  Tara said, running forward and hugging Willow hard, planting a firm kiss directly on Willow's lips.

They stayed that way for quite some time, neither letting go.  Willow couldn't believe that her girlfriend was alive again.  It was too good to be true.  "But how, why?"  She asked when they finally broke apart.

"When I died, they asked if I wanted to continue doing good in the world. I couldn't say no.  And when Leo mentioned that you were in San Francisco, I got myself assigned to you.  And here I am."  Tara explained.  "I missed you so much."

"I missed you too." Willow paused, "I did awful things after you died, I killed Warren, tried to kill Buffy, Dawn, Xander, Anya, Giles, and the whole world.  I would have to, if Xander hadn't stopped me.  I just broke, I had just gotten you back, and then you were gone."  She was still crying.

"I know, but I don't blame you, in fact, I forgive you."  Tara replied, gently stroking Willow's face, drying away the tears.  "Don't cry, I still love you no matter what you did.  You've changed Will, and it's for the better, that much I can see."

Author's Note:  I know, I'm being evil, but it's late, and I want to go to bed, but I wanted to get the next chapter up for you.  Here you go.  Enjoy.