CHAPTER THREE:

Tara was never very good at approaching new people but she had a feeling that Buffy might be different from her friends. Tara had known Spike a long time now, they even dated for a little while and it allowed her to see a more caring and softer side to him. He was always a gentlemen but she could tell there was no spark for either of them. Funnily enough it had been Spike who made it easy for her, when the time came, to open up to Winifred or Fred as she was called. If she couldn't get sparks from a leather clad bad boy with a kind and gentil soul no man, would ever set her cauldron on fire. Spike showed the least amount of shock when she made her announcement and had been a good friend to her. So this gesture was as much for his sake as anyone's.

Having joined the group late she was afforded a different perspective as Spike explained his past and present relationship, or lack there of, with Buffy. Tara saw the way they fought and needled each other. She saw that Buffy irritated and excited Spike and also the fact that he was always his most grizzly after encountering her. She saw the way Buffy would occasionally watch them all when she thought no one could see and the fact that her eyes always lingered longest on Spike. For his part Tara noticed that Spikes eyes always glittered just a little when he talked about a memory that had Buffy in it. Even after the hurtful things Buffy said their senior year, Spike was still able to forgive her. It hurt him deeply but after watching Spike and Buffy dance together at prom Tara had seen a tiny spark flickering there that promised of something more if they would just get out of their own way.

Tara knew, as did Spike, that Angel O'Neil was a jerk and treated Buffy like property that he owned. It was all the gang could do to stop Spike from flattening the guy two weeks ago when they saw him leaving Cordelia's bedroom window half naked early one morning. After that she was sure, even if neither of them knew it. There was defiantly something there and as her parting gift to her dear friend she was going to give them a chance to get to know each other again. Not as children but as the adults they had become.

Spike had endured a lot and Drusilla opened up old wounds that still had not healed. She was sure that Buffy had her own crosses she was struggling to bare but something told her that they would be so much happier and stronger together. Now all she had to do was summon the courage to talk to the prettiest, most popular girl in town and get her to agree to come to her farewell party, even though they had only said maybe six words to each other in the entire three years Tara had lived there.

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Buffy was having the strangest day. First Angel canceled their date and made up some lame excuse about Cordelia needing help studying, as if that ever happened. Then out of nowhere Tara, the really quiet girl from her ancient history class came up to talk to her for what may have been the first time ever.

Buffy had been walking down the south building corridor when the slightly breathless young woman had caught up with her.

"Um...excuse me, but I was wondering...if you're not busy that is...if you would like to come to my farewell party?"

Buffy's surprise must have shown because Tara looked disappointed.

"I...I know we haven't exactly been friends and I am leaving and all but I just thought that it would be nice if you could come." Tara hurried on with a tentative smile.

The poor girl looked as though that was the longest speech she ever made in her life and for some unknown reason Buffy didn't want to disappoint her. Tara always seemed nice but so shy and Buffy was never exactly Miss approachable especially to Spike and his friends. It was time she made an effort to meet new people.

"Thank you Tara, I would love to come. When and where?" Buffy smiled encouragingly.

Tara smiled the first genuine smile Buffy had ever seen from the girl and her features were instantly transformed to show just how physically beautiful the girl really was.

"That's great Buffy, it's at about seven at Spike's house tonight. I'll see you there."

Oh brother! She hadn't thought of that. Spike was one of Tara's closest friends, of course he would be there and the gang was always at his house so why wouldn't it be at his place. Oh well. She had been invited he would just have to deal. Knowing him he would probably be all silent and standoffish anyway. That made her stop and think, he was probably different when he was with his friends. She was suddenly a little jealous that his friends got to see the real him but brushed that thought aside. What if they didn't like her? What if the people she had snubbed all these years turned around and snubbed her right back? What if Spike still hated her? The fact that she cared so much worried her more than any of the "what ifs".

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Tara was very pleased with herself. Buffy was coming to her party and Tara had already had a quiet word to Willow and enlisted her help. Since she knew she would be leaving tomorrow she figured she would have to get Willow to support the induction of Buffy into their group. Boys could be so dense some times but Tara had a feeling even Xander suspected that Spike was unknowingly harboring a crush on the lonely blonde.

So it was settled. All she had to do was tell everyone before Buffy turned up and they all went into a dead faint. Her lips twisted into a hint of Spike's trademark smirk at the thought of Spike fainting.

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"You did what?"

Spike stared open mouthed at a shy but unapologetic Tara. He didn't have that much against Buffy, well except for her cold attitude toward him and the fact that she was the only one who ever came close to making poncy old William reappear. As Oz raised a well defined eyebrow Spike tried again.

"I don't mind that you invited her, I mean it's your party and all but I didn't even think you knew her."

Tara smiled as she made the slightest conspiratorial nod towards Willow.

"Maybe I'm just trying to replace my absence from the group." Tara countered.

"That's like trying to replace water with vodka because they look vaguely alike" Spike challenged.

At this Tara pretended to be outraged.

"So are you saying I'm dull...and weak...and don't create fun...and...laughter?" She punctuated each accusation with a well placed poke to his ribs eliciting varied degrees of squirming as he shook his head in the negative.

Xander laughed at his best friend's predicament.

"Poor old Spike, even sweet little Tara can get the best of him."

With this Spike glared at him as Willow knowingly squeezed a spot above Xander's kneecap causing him to jump away from her. All six burst into hysterics allowing the potential tension of the previous discussion to disappear.

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Buffy stood at Spike's door, fist poised to knock. Suddenly she heard a male voice yelp and then the sound of contented and genuine laughter. It was the kind of sound that drifted over the garden wall and into her lonely room many times over the years. Although Buffy continued to reassure herself that she had only come by because Tara asked her and told herself that she would not stay long, deep down she knew that she wanted to do this almost a hundred times over the last eight years, just walk up, knock on the door and meet some real people. Oh well she thought, here goes nothing.