CHAPTER SEVEN: BETRAYAL
(Ahhh, can't you just imagine the bliss of a season six without a whiny Buffy. It's hard to do, but oh so much nicer. We're skipping a few eps and going straight to 'Once More With Feeling'.)
"I'm under your spell
God how can this be?
Playing with my memory.
You know I've been through hell.
Willow don't you see,
There'll be nothing left of me
You made me believe."
Tara could feel the tightness in her chest. She looked down from the loft of the Magic Box as she took in the sight of her lover speaking with the girl who had rapidly become her best friend. Ever since Buffy had opened up to her in the car on the way to Los Angeles, there had been a marked improvement in Buffy's complete attitude. She'd turned her life around completely. The spark was back in her eyes, even though every so often it would disappear.
Buffy had found a reasonably well paying job as a bouncer at the Bronze after there had been an attack and the previous bouncer had been killed. The Manager of the Bronze had seen Buffy handling herself in a tight situation and had offered her a job. Buffy had taken it and had been immensely grateful that even though the Manager hadn't used the word 'vampire' he seemed to know and understand that something was not right in the town of Sunnydale.
Tara was heartened by the improvement and things were going extremely well for the gang. Of course, that had changed when Dawn had run off with a vampire named Justin on Halloween night. Tara had fought with Willow about Willow's use of magic when Willow had been about to send the occupants of the Bronze to an alternate dimension for a matter of moments. She was abusing magic, and now she was abusing Tara's trust.
She'd taken part of Tara's memory, and that was not something that Tara would turn a blind eye to. She couldn't stay with Willow if she was going to abuse the trust that Tara had freely given her. She'd promised herself when she'd left her father's house that she would never live in fear. And if she couldn't trust Willow, then that was what she was doing.
"Believe me I don't want to go.
And it'll grieve me cos I love you so
But we both know…
Wish I could trust that it was just this once
But I must do what I must
I can't adjust to this disgust
We're done and I just wish I could stay.
Wish I could stay.
Wish I could…stay."
Tara didn't understand the whole 'bursting into song' thing that was happening in Sunnydale, and whilst it was incredibly strange, she also knew that when the songs came forth from within, it was the truth of her heart that was being sung about. It was what she didn't want to admit to either herself or anyone else. And this time, the truth of it was that she and Willow could no longer be together. And it hurt terribly.
The song cut off and Spike chose that moment to burst through the door, a demon in his clutches. Willow noticed Tara for the first time, but Tara completely ignored her, not wanting to say anything that she would later regret. Dawn had been kidnapped, and the group was quick to mount up with weapons and make their way to the Bronze, which had been closed due to the strange phenomenon of the random songs. It would have been hard to have a club open with so many people singing so many different songs. Buffy hadn't minded having the night off, so wasn't exactly complaining about it.
Tara walked beside Buffy, Willow hanging back. Tara could feel her lovers eyes boring into the back of her head, and Tara could literally hear Willow's internal dialogue of questions of what she'd done wrong.
They reached the Bronze without incident, although they had passed several fire trucks on the way there which was slightly worrying. They'd burst into song once more, but no one had been terribly worried about it. When they'd reached the Bronze, Buffy had kicked in the door, making a grand entrance, only to find Dawn and a red-skinned demon with what looked like a melted chin seated on couches up on the stage.
Buffy faced off against the demon, quipping and joking away. And then the song had begun. Tara and Anya went to back her up, and the Scoobies listened with rapt attention as the truth about Buffy finally came out. Tara could only watch with sadness as Buffy sang out the horrible truth of where she'd been.
"It's not quite hell
But I've been expelled
From heaven.
I think I was in heaven."
Tara saw the devastated look on Willow's face and couldn't help but feel some of her anger at Willow's betrayal melt away. She could see that her lover still had some innocence left inside of her.
Tara's attention went back to Buffy, thankful that the Slayer had found her reason for living, otherwise she knew without a doubt that Buffy would have had problems ceasing her dance. She'd stopped herself in time and stared up at the musical demon.
"You're not taking my sister."
The demon was (sort of) defeated when it was revealed that Xander was truly the one behind the summoning. And Tara sucked up her pain and her fears and allowed Willow to sleep within the comfort of her arms, tears streaming down the redhead's face at the truth of Buffy's whereabouts.
Buffy herself went home feeling surprisingly cleansed. She hadn't realised what a heavy burden it had been carrying the weight of the truth on her shoulders. Having it out there was comforting, and even though she knew that the truth had greatly shocked the Scoobies (minus Tara and Spike), it felt good to finally have it out there.
She sat on the front porch with Giles seated beside her, the two of them seated in the swinging chair that Buffy and her mom used to sit in all the time. Buffy was leaning her head on Giles' shoulder, and Giles was trying to understand what had happened earlier.
"Why did you never tell me?" he asked gently.
Buffy sighed. She'd been waiting for this question.
"Because I heard you that night you first got here. When you yelled at Will," Buffy replied. "I didn't want you being any angrier at her than you already were."
Giles sighed and shook his head. No matter what had happened, Buffy was still very much his Slayer. The girl who didn't want people to hurt, and so would conceal the truth to protect them, no matter how much more painful it would be to find out later rather than sooner.
"Did anyone know?" he asked.
"Tara did," Buffy admitted. "And Spike."
Giles hesitated a moment. He had noticed the growing friendship between Buffy and Tara, and also a friendship between Buffy and Spike. It was the latter one that worried him.
"About Spike…you aren't…you don't…"
"Have feelings for him?" Buffy guessed. "No. I mean, yeah we're friends and all that, but…well, Angel left me so I could have sunlight and picnics and…and Spike can't give me that. And mom wanted me to have a normal life, and…if I'm dating a vampire, a soulless one at that, it could never happen. We're friends, and…he understands that."
"Does he?"
"Yeah. We've actually spoken about it," Buffy admitted. "And yeah, while he wants to be with me, he said that he knew it could never happen. I'm a Warrior of Light, not a creature of the darkness."
Giles sighed with relief. He had worried that Spike would use Buffy's vulnerability against her, but it seemed as though Spike genuinely had what was best for Buffy in mind.
"Tara's been helping too," Buffy continued. "She's been…incredible really. She got me to stop looking for faults in everything. Told me that I had to look on the bright side of life."
Giles smiled a little at the phrase.
"She's a smart woman, our Tara," he commented.
Buffy smiled and closed her eyes as she leant against Giles' shoulder. "That's what I said."
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Glad your liking this thing as well as the pairing. Many thanks for all your feedback, you guys rock!
DKG.
PS, in case any of you are wondering DKG is the alter-ego to DragonKatGal. Kinda obvious, but…eh. Any girl/girl pairings I write will be posted under this name. (I'm bored, kay? Wanted another account.)
DKG.