Sorry for the lateness, I really didn't realize it had been so long. Well, it wasn't so long, it was only a week, but it was two days more than I normally update…I'll stop babbling now, shall I?
As always…thanks a great big bunch for the reviews! It's real nice to hear what you think about this! And I know lots of you are rooting for Sirius and Buffy to get back together…well you'll just have to wait won't you?
Anyway, on with the chapter!
Chapter 35. Reunions.
"Giles." Buffy whispered softly, smiling at the man she felt as a father, who stood at the portrait door, next to a tall blonde woman. Giles smiled and a tear ran down Buffy's cheek. "It's you." She said, before pushing past Snape and embracing Giles tightly, her arms wrapped around him like she would never let go. Giles said "oomph" when Buffy impacted with Giles and smiled weakly down at the small slayer.
"Buffy…Need…Air…" He choked weakly and Buffy let go of him abruptly, smiling in embarrassment. Once he had enough air, he asked Buffy how she was. And she hit him. And then hugged him tightly again.
"Don't ever do that again, ok Giles?" Buffy scolded in his chest, and Giles chortled.
"Missed me?"
"Duh."
"G-man!"
"Giles!"
And as soon as Buffy had let go of Giles, two more bodies impacted into him and Giles 'oomphed' again.
"Willow." He said, smiling down at his favourite witch, who was currently crying. "Xander." He said, frowning. "Do not call me that."
"Sorry G-man." Xander said goofily, letting Giles go. Xander looked behind Giles and greeted the person who had entered with Giles, who had sadly been overlooked. "Tara."
"Tara?" Willow whispered into Giles' shirt, and she looked behind Giles to find the blonde witch, in a long purple dress, smiling softly at everyone. Everyone but Willow. Tara was avoiding looking at Willow, only smiling and saying hello in her shy way at everyone else.
"Hi Tara." Buffy said, embracing the blonde witch tightly.
"How are you?" Tara asked, looking firmly at Buffy.
Buffy glanced at Willow, who was watching the two through sad eyes. "Talk to her."
Tara looked down, her hand fiddling with her dress. "I will, later."
Buffy nodded and smiled gratefully. "In that case, I'm good. And you?"
Tara sneaked a look at Willow, who was currently seated next to Lupin on the sofa, her hands in her lap and two silent tears making their way down her cheeks. Tara took in her red hair, the hair she had missed so much, Willow's piercing eyes, and Lupin's hand that was on Willow's back. Tara looked back to Buffy.
"Is he and Willow…?"
Buffy looked back at Willow and then returned her gaze to Tara, shaking her head negatively. "She's yours, now and forever."
"When did you wake up Giles?" Anya asked, as Giles sat down next to her, after greeting all the Scoobies, leaving the Hogwarts students, professors and convict looking on in bewilderment.
"Five days ago."
"Five days?" Buffy asked in disbelief, going over to sit next to her Watcher. "Five days and no call? No owl? Not even a message in a bottle?"
"We wanted to surprise you." Giles defended, smiling at his slayer. "How was the apocalypse?"
"Ages ago." Faith said. "Why did you let yourself get stabbed?"
Giles bristled. "I did not let myself. Besides, I heard Buffy got kidnapped."
"Faith saved me." Buffy shrugged. "So, you have seen the castle?"
"We s-saw when w-we came in." Tara said.
"Uh-"Harry spoke up, "shall we go?"
"No." Buffy said, motioning for him to come forward. "Giles, Tara, this is my nephew, Harry. And they are Sirius, Ron, Hermione, Snape and Lupin." She said, indicating each person as she said the name.
Tara nodded a hello. "These were friends of your sister's, Buffy?" Giles asked, gesturing to the older.
"Lupin is my sister's husband's friend, and also a teacher here. Snape is not a friend. Sirius is Harry's godfather and my…" Buffy trailed off, not quite sure what to say.
"Boyfriend." Sirius offered after a moment of silence. He glared at Snape and Snape rose an eyebrow in a challenge…or satisfaction, Buffy was not sure which, but it had made Sirius look as if he was ready to kill him.
"Uh, we better tell Dumbledore that you're here." Buffy said, changing the subject quickly.
"He brought us h-here." Tara explained. "He already k-knows."
"He brought you here right on time then." Lupin said, smiling. "There's always a wonderful feast on Halloween."
Tara looked surprisingly at Lupin and pointed at him slowly. "Is h-h-he a w-w-w-"
"Werewolf, Glinda?" Spike finished. "Yes."
Lupin huffed in disbelief. "How do you all know?"
"Hellmouth breeding." Willow offered.
"Slayer sixth sense." Buffy explained.
"Your aura." Tara volunteered.
"Uh, Tara, not meaning to change the subject, but, how is the AI?" Angel asked.
"Good. No badness in LA, apart from Wolfram and Hart."
"Wolfram and Hart?" Sirius asked.
"Evil law firm." Angel explained.
"Their clients are all evil, demons, vampires, that kind of thing. So evil, I bet they represent Voldemort." Buffy joked.
"That's all very well, Miss Summers, but I need you to deal with these three." Snape said irritably from the corner. Buffy peered behind the mass of bodies at Snape.
"You're still here?"
Snape huffed in response and spoke to the three students. "Ten points from Gryffindor. Each. And two detentions next week."
"That's unfair!" Harry protested. "I've already got a week worth of detention!"
"I meant to talk to you about that, Snape-y." Buffy interrupted.
Snape lifted an eyebrow. "You were?"
"Yeah, but then…" Buffy trailed off, looking guilty over at Sirius.
"You were distracted?" Snape finished for her, smirking at the raging Sirius. He loved provoking him. It was so much fun.
"Yeah, well, can you decrease the amount of detentions you give Harry? He already has enough on his plate, and he doesn't need to spend pointless hours with you on top of that." Buffy argued, strolling over to the students and Snape.
"Besides, Malfoy was the one who started the fight!" Ron added angrily. Snape glared at him.
"Fine." Snape agreed.
"Really?" Ron asked, surprised.
"You can miss the Halloween feast instead." Snape said. "And the Quidditch match against Ravenclaw is coming up. You can miss that too."
"Professor!" Harry, Ron and Hermione exclaimed.
"Be reasonable, Severus." Lupin scolded lightly.
Snape sighed angrily. "One week of detentions for Mister Potter, two detentions each for his partners in crime." Snape swept to the portrait, and looked back for a moment. "Lunatics." He muttered, before leaving the room, his black robe billowing out behind him.
The room was left in an amazed silence from Snape's departure. Sirius gave Buffy a look, saying 'I can't believe you kissed HIM'. Tara and Giles stared at the space Snape had just occupied, amazed by his rudeness, having never encountered him before.
"I don't like him." Tara said softly.
"Join the club."
Willow sat in her room, on her forest green bedspread covers, minutes after Snape's departure from the living room. Dumbledore had arrived immediately after and had left just as quickly to show Giles and Tara their living quarters. The Scoobies had left, Lupin had returned to his office, Harry and his friends had gone back to the Gryffindor tower, Faith and Charlie had gone into Faith's room, and Buffy had followed Sirius into his room for a talk.
So Willow had returned to her room, confused and worried about what had just happened.
Or rather, what had not happened.
What had not happened was Tara running into Willow's arm, telling her that she wanted to get back together. That was what not had happened. What had happened was Tara avoiding Willow's gaze, and there was no chance for Willow to explain.
"Things fall apart. They fall apart so hard."
Willow looked up from her hands and at the door. "Tara?" She whispered in surprise. Tara stood at the door, her hand fingering her dress.
"You can't ever," She sighed frustrated, "put them back the way they were before."
"Are you ok?"
"I'm sorry it's just," Tara inched away from the door, and leant against Willow's dresser. "You know, it takes time. You can't just see me and expect-"
"I know." Willow said guilty.
"There's just so much to work through. Trust has to be built again, on both sides," Willow's face fell, "You have to learn if…if we can fit together, in each other's lives, because, you're happy here, and I'm happy in LA…" Willow's heart felt like it was breaking. "It's a long…important process, and…can we just skip it? C-Can you just be kissing me now?"
Willow looked up at Tara, wide eyed with disbelief. Tara smiled sweetly, and her words sunk in. Willow smiled widely as she jumped off the bed. Tara met halfway and entwined her hand with Willow, smiling happily. Their lips met, and Willow's heart felt as if it would burst with joy.
Woo hoo! Tara and Willow back together…they are like one of my favorite couples in the buffy verse.
Kind of a nothing chapter, so I'm gonna leave you with a sneak peek for the next chapter:
"He's been here for the past two months…and he never spends any time with me!" Harry shouted, angry that Buffy had taken up so much time with Sirius.
"He's an ex-convict Harry! He can't walk around Hogsmeade with you!" Buffy reasoned, stepping away from him.
"He's my family!"
"I am too!" Buffy countered angrily.
Harry stared at her. "No you're not."
Buffy and Harry finally deal with each other…see, I told you it was gonna happen!
Please review!
