I'm in Turkey; well to be exact I'm in Istanbul. I should be looking for that new Slayer but I figure taking a few days off won't be much of a problem. It's autumn and I'm a bit chilly, but it's a good chill, one of those chills that lets you know at least a part of you is alive.
I turn the corner and there he is. Spiked hair, same blue jacket, and a small smile that lets me know he knows I'm here. I freeze; well at least I think I freeze because suddenly he's in front of me. "Oz?"
"Hey." Yep, definitely Oz. I can't help but smile.
"What are you doing here?" I can't help but ask, I mean the last time I had spoken to him was that night, that night so long ago. It was the end of our relationship, but the beginning of discovering Tara. It was when we had been so young, so new, and so innocent.
"Making my way back to Tibet."
"You're still working to control the Wolf?" Control; that was something I had in common with him now, walking the line between light and dark.
"Not so much keeping control as expanding it." Oz explained.
"That's great Oz." I suddenly feel scared, I don't want him to leave just yet, I want to… I don't know what I want but I know Oz can help me have it.
"Do you wanna get a coffee? There's some pretty decent food at the hotel I'm staying at." He asks. He knows, he always did.
I find myself taking his outstretched hand and as I feel it close around mine I let him take me back to his hotel and back to my memories.
She's as beautiful as I remember, but what I don't remember is the weariness that dims her smile, or the sadness that shadows her emerald eyes.
She's telling me about the end of Sunnydale with a bit of pride. Truthfully, Spike giving up his unlife to save the world is not how I had expected it all to end. I look at her fidgeting hands in the lull of the story and I make a decision. I reach over the table and take her hand in mine once again as she tells me about the spell.
"For a whole moment I almost felt like Willow again, I achieved a state of content balance."
I stare deeply into her eyes as she tells me this. "You look like Willow to me." I tell her.
The sadness leaves her eyes and all that is left is a naked pain. "I feel like a part of me, Tara's Willow, I feel like that part of me is gone."
"That's not true." I state firmly.
"How do you know?" She asks quietly.
"Cause she's sitting right in front of me." I say squeezing her hand gently.
"But…" She trails off.
"I can see Buffy's Willow, Xander's Willow, and Giles' Willow in front of me." I pause knowing what I say will admit to her, to me, to the world what I feel. "And if I look hard enough, I can even see my Willow in front of me."
She quickly ducks her head down. There, there was my Willow.
"Oz, I-I think that - ''
"Come with me."
"What?" She asks completely thrown off by my request.
"Let me help you find that peace again." I need her to be okay, she's Willow. If I can help her be okay then, well, a part of me can feel okay too.
"I-I…" She pauses, and then looks into my eyes, "I'll come with you."
Silently I stand up and offer her my hand. She takes it without hesitation and I take her to my hotel room.
I close the door behind her and lead her to the bed, Slowly we sit on it together. I still have her hand in mine. I lean to her until our breath is mingled and I whisper the one thing she needs to hear. "You've been away for so long, let me bring you back home."
She nods softly and I catch her lips in mine and we kiss. Willow will always love Tara, I understand that, but she needed Tara then and now she needs me. Tara helped her find her home, but after she died Willow got lost, she needs someone to bring her back and I'll be the one to do it.
I'll bring her home.