Thanks to everyone for reviewing! I'm so glad that everyone is enjoying it!

cordyangel - I forgot to reply to your review in the last chapter, so I thought I would here. While Willow was a lesbian at the end of the show, she wasn't at the beginning. Don't be forgetting Oz ;-) I'll get into it a little in this chapter, actually.
Captian Insomnia - Thank you sooooo much for your suggestion to move it to the Buffy crossover side! It was definitely a good idea :-)
Cherry Owens - I do plan on having most of the scooby gang make some kind of an appearence in the not to distant future, so keep an eye out for it :-D
Ilse M Jupnur - Again, thanks for the suggestion to moving it to the Buffy side:-)
Indigo Spirit - Thanks for reading! I'm glad that you decided to try it out, and even more glad that you liked it enough to review! I know technically Willow isn't Jewish anymore, but I figured that since Joss took his own liberties with it (such as Willow still doing things very Jewish, like placing the stones on Tara's gravestone in 'Help'.) Plus, she still has that background
Lorne - Why thank you :-D Thank you very much!
Anon - I talk a bit about where Kennedy went in this chapter. I didn't much care for her, so I got rid of her teehee
Serrafina - All in due time mah dear, all in good time :-)

So, on with the show:-)


"So...?" Faith asked almost as soon as they left the Café. Willow rolled her eyes. "You comin' back to the fold or what?"

"Please. We just met."

"And I saw the oogling."

"What oogling? I was there. There was no oogling." Faith just laughed. Truth was, Willow didn't know what to think. She left Kennedy about four months ago. Four months ago she was positive she was gay.

Heck, four hours ago she was positive she was gay. Though now, she couldn't help but think of Oz. She sighed.

There was something about Mark. Something Oz had. Something that triggered a feeling that hasn't been there since Tara.

Sure, they only talked for about 45 minutes, and true, the conversation wasn't exactly deep or profound, but there was some underlying thing there that Willow couldn't explain.


As Mark rode his bike to the Life the next day, he couldn't help but think if he really wanted this. If he really wanted to take the chance that this could be 'Maureen: The Sequel'

'You pretend to create and observe, when you really detach from feeling alive.' Rogers words to him a year ago echoed in his mind. Those words have haunted him since Roger said them.

He hated it, but Roger was right. He did his best to change. Even made some headway, involving himself in his friends lives more, but when he thought about it, he didn't really have a life of his own. He just lived vicariously through his friends.

As he parked his bike, he clenched his jaw and opened the door to the Café with a new resolve.

He looked around the room, thankful Mimi wasn't working. He wanted to spend the time with Willow without any of his friends watchful eyes.

He saw her sitting at the same table she was yesterday and walked over to her. She looked up with she sensed his approach and smiled widely when her eyes landed on him.

"Hey Mark, have a seat." Mark returned the smile and set his bag on the bench, sitting down next to it.

"How are you?" he asked.

"Alright. Sorry about Faith last night. She can be kind of...intense if you don't know her." she laughed.

"It's a good thing you left when you did, otherwise you would have seen how intense my friends can be." laughing was easy with Willow, Mark found. "So, what brings you to this side of town?" he asked, conversationally.

"I'm helping out a sibling to one of our students. And Faith has other business down here, so I stick around so we go home together."

"So, are you two...?" Mark stopped and Willow burst out laughing. "Take that as a no?" he said with a smile.

"Big no. I'm single, actually. You?" she took a sip of her tea.

"Same. I hate to admit it, but my last relationship was close to three years ago."

"Yikes, bad ending?"

"You could say that. She broke up with me for a woman."

"Ouch." Mark saw real pity in her eyes. Not the usual laughing pity he got when he told people how his last relationship ended.

"So, what about you?"

"Four months. And I think you'd have to know Kennedy to know why I left her. To make a long story short, she was kind of a brat." Mark laughed a little.

"So, have you dated a lot of girls? Or...?" he asked. Willow shook her head.

"Just two. Though the more I think about it, Kennedy was kind of a rebound, so not sure if she counts. I was going through a bad time when we met and there she was, being all attracted to me, so I just sort of went with it."

"What about the other?" Mark asked, curiously, then regretted it when Willow went to some far away place inside her head.

"Tara." she almost whispered, then she smiled. "She was the love of my life. My soulmate."

"What happened?" Mark asked, then stopped. "Sorry, that's not really any of my business."

"It's alright." she said, giving Mark that small smile she always seemed to have. "She died."

"I'm so sorry." Mark said, sincerely.

"She was hit by a stray bullet meant for my best friend." Willow said to the unasked question.

"Oh my god."

"Who knew living in a place called Sunnydale would be as scary as living in New York." She said sadly.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean..." Mark started, but Willow cut him off by putting her hand on his, her small smile back. She shook her head.

"Don't be sorry. It's nice to talk about it. It helps." Mark smiled. "So, what about you? Did you go to hating women when your girlfriend dumped you?" Mark laughed.

"No. Looking back on it, the time after Maureen left, I was still in love with her, though I never would admit it at the time. But I'm over her now, and she's still with Joanne. I'm actually friends with both of them now."

"Wow. And I thought my group of friends was filled with drama." they laughed.

"Guess there's enough drama to go around."

"Too true."

"Okay, to the less emotional...you said you teach?"

"Yeah, computer skills mostly, but I'm sort of in charge so I do other things."

"In charge?" Willow blushed modestly.

"I guess I'm what you could call the Dean. Sort of."

"Impressive." Mark said. "What was the name of the school agian?"

"The Tara McLay WCI School for Girls."

"Tara? Is that the...?"

"Yes. We figured one of our schools had to be named after her, to honor her."

"Your schools?" again, she smiled modestly.

"My friends, colleagues, and I started the school, and others around the world."

"Wow. I'm getting more and more impressed by the second." she laughed lightly. They continued to talk. About everything. About nothing. Not realizing the time passing until Faith showed up a little after one.

They exchanged phone numbers and reluctantly said goodbye.


Alright, let me know what you think:-D