CHAPTER SIX: MATCHMAKING

Armed with the knowledge that her new friend Tara Maclay was crushing on Buffy Summers, Willow Rosenberg ran over all the subtly nudging hints she could direct at Buffy to guide her towards Tara.

Buffy hadn't said all that much about Tara, although when the Slayer had mentioned the other blonde girl, her voice had been tinged with a little sadness, which Willow wasn't sure what to think about.

So, when Willow finally caught up with her best friend, she took the opportunity to gauge her friend's interest.

"Guess who I ran into – literally- last night," Willow said happily.

Buffy couldn't work out who would have got her best friend that excited, unless it was Oz. Except Willow wouldn't have approached their conversation that way.

"Uh…Seth Green?" Buffy asked, knowing very well that the Wiccan harboured a crush on the famous actor.

"What! No! Be serious. I ran into Tara," Willow said.

"Tara? Really. Uh…h-how is she?" Buffy asked.

Willow couldn't help but smile. Buffy's reaction was very telling. Her best friend, Slayer of Evil Demons, did NOT stutter.

"Good. She's good. She mentioned that you kicked some vampire ass," Willow said. "Not in those words of course, but…you get the idea."

"Yeah, I uh…she seems to attract vamp attacks for some reason," Buffy said. "She uh…did she say anything else? About me, I mean?"

"Like what would she mention?" Willow asked curiously.

Buffy blushed slightly, and Willow mentally rubbed her hands together with glee.

"Well, it's just…I think I might have scared her," Buffy admitted.

Willow pulled up short, looking at her friend in shock. From what Tara had said, she was in no way scared of Buffy.

"Scared her?"

"Yeah. The whole Slayer thing," Buffy explained. "When I told her about my calling, she…well, jumped off the bed."

Willow's eyes went wide. "The bed!" Tara hadn't mentioned this at all!

"I haven't been able to get near her since," Buffy said sadly.

Willow tried processing this, wondering what she was missing. From what Tara had said earlier, the taller blonde Wiccan was completely smitten with the Slayer. But from Buffy's story, it sounded as though Tara was completely frightened of something.

"Maybe it's not what you're thinking," Willow offered.

Buffy shrugged and shook her head. "It seemed pretty clear. I mean, it's fair enough really. Chances are I'll be dead in a year or two, so-"

"Don't say that!" Willow yelled, horrified at the thought.

They fell silent, trying to shake off the gloom that had been cast by Buffy's pessimistic view of a Slayer's life.

Willow wondered if she should maybe give the Slayer a bigger nudge in Tara's direction, hoping that it wouldn't completely backfire.

"Well, from what Tara said this morning…she wouldn't mind talking to you again. Maybe you guys could work this out," Willow said.

Buffy sighed and put her hands in her pockets. "I don't think so Will. Every time she even sees me, she gets tense, and…well, the stuttering just gets worse. I don't want to scare her Will. And as much as I'd like to get to know her better, I'm not going to force her into anything."

And with that depressing thought, the Slayer hurried off to her next class, leaving a mystified Willow behind.

But of course, Willow wasn't about to give up.

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"Why does Buffy think you're scared of her?" Willow asked. Straight to the point.

Tara blanched. She hadn't really been expecting Willow to approach Buffy about the subject, and she wished that Willow hadn't. She didn't want to lose Willow as a friend either. Regardless of the fact that a lot of Willow's interest in Tara seemed to be the thought of fixing the two blondes up together, Tara still enjoyed the redhead's company.

"S-she said that?" Tara asked.

"Well, she mentioned that she thinks that you think that she's intimidating," Willow said. "Which is stupid, cos she wouldn't hurt a fly. U-unless it was a demonic fly. Then she would."

Tara winced. "W-what if the demonic fly wasn't a-actually evil?"

Willow pulled to a stop, wondering where that question had come from.

"Well…I mean, as long as the demonic fly wasn't hurting anyone, she wouldn't hurt it. We'd research it first. A-and if it wasn't hurting anyone, well, we probably wouldn't know it was demonic in the first place," Willow replied.

Tara still wasn't entirely sure what to think about that. The situation was hypothetical really, and probably a poor example.

"Is that what this is about?" Willow asked, thinking that she'd caught on. "The violence?"

Tara's heart had sped up at the first part of Willow's question, but calmed considerably at the second.

"N-no…well, y-yes maybe," Tara admitted.

"Cos it's not like Buffy just kills demons for the fun of it," Willow said. "If they're killing people, she'll stop them. And yeah, it's violent. Really violent sometimes, but that's not who she is."

"W-what if you came across a peaceful demon?" Tara asked. "One that wasn't hurting anyone? What then?"

"Funny you should mention that," Willow said, with a sheepish chuckle. "You remember Oz?"

Tara nodded. "Your guitar-playing boyfriend."

"Yup. He's a werewolf," Willow admitted.

Tara's eyes went wide. A werewolf! From what she'd seen of the short young man, he'd been nothing but loving and completely devoted to Willow. To imagine him transforming into a vicious killer every month was more than a little shocking.

"And…and that doesn't bother you?" Tara asked.

"Well, it's annoying," Willow admitted. "Three nights a month I don't get smoochies. But, we handle it. Oh, and Angel was a demon too. No killing…except when he went evil. But…if a demon doesn't offer violence, then neither do we."

Tara blinked several times, trying to adapt to this sudden flow of information.

Willow narrowed her eyes curiously. "What's this about anyway?"

Tara breathed in deeply. Better to get this over with now, she decided. Before anyone got too attached.

"It's a-about m-m-me," Tara said quietly. "I'm e-evil."