CHAPTER FIFTEEN: BLUE
Two weeks after Xander and Anya's wedding, the happy couple had returned from their honeymoon, wonderfully tanned and more relaxed than any of the Scoobies had ever seen before. The two weeks without Xander and Anya had been fairly ordinary for the remaining Scoobies. Buffy had continued to patrol, Dawn had complaining heavily about school, Willow had been stressing about her exams, and Tara had decorated her new room within the Summers' house.
Of course, painting the room couldn't just have been a simple affair. They did live in Sunnydale after all.
/ "Are you sure this is the right blue?" Buffy asked, looking at the can of paint, after having pried off the lid, thankfully without breaking her nails. She'd foregone using a screwdriver to open the lid, but Slayer strength came in handy for more than just killing demons.
"It'll look lighter once it dries," Tara assured her.
Buffy just shrugged and nodded, pouring a good amount into a tray and replacing the lid so the paint wouldn't dry out. Buffy covered one of the roller-brushes with paint and handed it to Tara.
"Would you care to do the honours?" Buffy asked.
Tara smiled and took the roller from the Slayer, their hands overlapping for a few breathless moments. Their eyes locked for what seemed like an eternity, until Tara finally smiled mischievously and ran the roller up the side of Buffy's face. "Gotcha!"
The Slayer jerked away from the paint, wiping at it the cold liquid with her hand and pulling away her paint covered fingers.
"Dem's fighting words," Buffy cried, lunging at Tara, who laughed and dodged out of the way. Buffy managed to catch Tara in a corner and watched Tara's laughing eyes even as she squirmed to get away. Buffy lifted her hand and spread her blue handprint across Tara's cheek and ended the motion by drawing a line down the centre of Tara's nose.
Tara grabbed hold of Buffy's blue hand and held tight, knowing that Buffy could have easily outmatched her if she'd wanted to, but Buffy knew how to play fight with people who didn't have her strength. She allowed Tara to wrestle her into touching her own face. To add insult to injury, Tara grabbed the roller and ran it over Buffy's hair, making the Slayer squeal.
Buffy yanked the roller away from Tara and managed to paint a racing stripe down Tara's bare leg, loving the fact that Tara was wearing shorts for once. When Tara overbalanced whilst trying to get away, they ended up on the floor, Tara above the Slayer, who looked up at her captor. Buffy's breath hitched as she looked at Tara's soft blue eyes, and the struggles and play fighting stopped.
Buffy breathed in deeply before lifting her face slightly, touching her lips to Tara's before the Wiccan could protest. To the two blondes, it seemed as though time stopped and they melted into one another, Buffy enjoying the soft weight resting on top of her.
They pulled apart breathless, staring at one another for an endless moment until Tara rolled away from Buffy and stood up. Buffy sighed and pulled herself to her knees. She closed her eyes, looking down in an attempt to control herself. It hurt not being able to be with Tara the way she wanted to. But it hadn't even been two weeks since Tara and Willow had 'officially' called it quits. It would be very bad form for the two of them to be together, and hiding relationships had never worked well for the Scoobies.
"I'm sorry," Buffy said quietly.
Tara sighed and knelt beside the Slayer. "I don't want you to be sorry for kissing me," Tara said softly.
"Well, to be honest, I'm not really all that sorry," Buffy said, looking up at the Wiccan. "It's just…there's no point in torturing ourselves like this. We can't…"
Tara sighed once more and brought up a hand to touch Buffy's cheek. She leant forward and kissed Buffy's forehead, ignoring the trace of paint on Buffy's skin.
"Soon." /
Six weeks after the wedding, and Willow and Tara's official break-up, things were still business as usual at the Summers house. Willow and Tara weren't avoiding each other, but they still found it difficult to hold a conversation for more than ten minutes. It was better when there were others around to draw into their talks, but alone, they just couldn't seem to find anything to say to each other.
Willow knew that she need to give up hope of Tara going back on her decision, and honestly, Willow couldn't blame Tara for not wanting to trust Willow again. She'd gone back on her word, and that was something that Tara couldn't forgive.
For her part, Willow honestly tried to move on. Becoming part of a Wiccan group that was more serious than the one she'd been a part of in college helped her tremendously to sort through what was considered acceptable magic use. Willow hadn't really been taught about the consequences of self-indulgent magic, and she had a feeling that karma had been working against her for the past few months. The group she was with taught her to channel her magic properly, and how to use magic effectively without the magic being selfish.
It didn't hurt that she was making new friends through the group. And while she would never have friends as loyal as the Scoobies, it was nice to have something that could be considered as just hers.
The Scoobies were happy for Willow to be part of something that would help her to control her magic, especially if it meant it was an effective way for Willow to begin to heal over the pain of losing Tara.
Anya meanwhile, kept her eyes on Tara and her blossoming friendship with Buffy. To the ex-vengeance demon, the beginnings of a relationship were always the best parts, and she was honestly hoping that the two of her friends would get their acts together and admit how they felt about the other. The sexual tension was killing her, and Anya couldn't understand why Tara and Buffy wouldn't just go for it.
Giles had noticed the subtle shift of Tara's attentions, and hoped that the Wiccan wouldn't hurt the girl that Giles considered a daughter. However, he was knowledgeable enough to know that Tara would never knowingly do anything to damage his Slayer, and that the taller blonde girl would do everything in her power to ensure the safety and well being of Buffy's fragile heart.