Disclaimers:
These are obviously not my characters, I'm just borrowing them from Joss Whedon, NBC, and anyone else who owns them.
If you have issues with people of the same sex loving each other, or live someplace where that's illegal (in which case, consider moving) please move on.
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No sooner had Dawn vocalized the idea than a knock came on the door.
"Buffy is back to get you." Anya said happily, going to the door.
"Wait! Anya, could we really do that?"
"I think it's a crazy idea. But maybe we could try to get my necklace back, and if that works we can try to get Tara."
Unfortunately, she opened the door before she finished speaking. It swung open to reveal a pale-faced Willow and Buffy with wide eyes.
"What?" the witch was the first to speak.
"Oh, Dawn had a weird idea on how to get the Tara from the other world here."
"Anya!"
"What other world?" Buffy jumped in, closing the door quickly after pulling her best friend through.
"That's right, you wouldn't remember. Well, you were dead there anyway, there wouldn't be much to remember."
The slayer was looking more and more angry, and Willow looked as though she was about to fall down.
"Dawn, what is she talking about?"
"Um, you probably didn't notice, but right before you left I kinda made a wish."
"What? Well nothing happened though."
"Not to you. I guess it was like what happened to Cordelia. You know I never really heard all about that. So I'm not really sure if this would work. Okay right, back to the wish. I um, I wished that Willow got shot instead of Tara."
"And you granted it?" The slayer turned on Anya.
Willow just looked at the ground. She couldn't blame the teenager for wishing that. In fact, the exact same thought had run through her head on more than one occasion.
"Hey, you can't hurt me, I'm human again! Of course I granted it, it's what I do! Or what I did, until Dawn made me break my necklace to get back here." She grumped.
"So what happened in this other world?" Buffy asked.
"Willow got shot, and she died, like Tara did. And there, Buffy died too, since Willow didn't come and save her." Anya put in helpfully.
"Anya remembers it apparently. And she had this great idea. You and Anya brought the vampire you into our world right? So couldn't we bring the Tara from that world to this one?" Anya had in true Anya fashion not bothered to mention that the idea had originally been Dawn's.
Willow did in fact pass out at that thought. Slayer reflexes caught her before she landed on the floor and carried her to the couch.
"I told her it was a crazy idea. Not as crazy as bringing you back from the dead though, and we did that. So maybe we could do it."
"Anya, ix-nay on the ead-day!"
"What?"
Dawn rolled her eyes. "How could you have been engaged to Xander and not learn pig latin?"
"In case you were wondering Dawn, I do in fact understand pig latin myself, and it's fine, I'm better, remember? Hey she's waking up." Buffy said.
"What happened? Wait, you were talking about Tara. About bringing her back. You, you can't, I tried, and anyway she wouldn't want it." Tears filled Willow's eyes.
"Not bringing her back exactly. There's a Tara in this wish-universe I made. And Anya said she misses you as much as you miss her. I bet she'd totally be up for it." Dawn said enthusiastically.
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After a few hours of deliberation on the subject, in which Dawn finally heard the full story on Cordelia and her wish-verse, including the spell that brought vampire-Willow to the real world; and the whole group heard as much about the new wish-verse as Anya knew, the verdict seemed to be for attempting the spell to bring the blonde witch back. There were two large problems with the plan. The first was that Willow would have to perform the spell. The second was that from what they had gathered from vampire-Willow, she had come into their world spatially in the same place she'd been in in her world. That meant that Tara would appear in their world in the middle of the state prison.
Willow had been terrified that they would bring her girlfriend to their world and she would leave her all over again because of the magic she had done. Anya had explained, surprisingly tactfully, what Tara had done in the other world. Of course, Willow couldn't really believe that her Tara would do that, she'd been so against black magic, and how could she not have told her if she'd had her own bout with it? Clearly if they went ahead with the spell, the witches had some tough conversations ahead of them. Dawn was sure that they'd get through that though. She knew they were meant to be together.
"Why was I dead in that world?" Xander had of course been invited over and was still getting the full details straight.
"You apparently tried to be heroic and failed." Anya said bluntly. "You always seem to forget you don't have supernatural powers like them."
The blow to his ego shut him up for a while.
"Maybe we should call Giles, and sleep on it? Before we do something we might regret."
Willow turned to her best friend. "Buffy, she's out there. My Tara. The same as mine, right up to the minute she died. I can't not try. I can't."
"It was reversible, remember? We sent the other her back to her own world." Anya said.
"And besides, the Tara in that world is really sad. And in prison. We can't leave her there."
"It's your fault she even exists." Buffy said.
"Um, okay that's true. But, maybe it was like fate! They're destined to be together so I made that wish so that they could get back together!"
"Okay fine, or not." Dawn huffed when her theory got vague stares of amusement from all of the other Scoobies. "But if we do get her back, you totally owe me."
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"All right, so Xander's at the prison, ready to get her? With all those papers you faked, Will?"
"Yup. All we have to do is the spell, and if she appears there, he'll get her out." Willow's eyes were sparkling for the first time in months, though she was trying hard to not get her hopes up. Buffy hoped this worked, or her friend was likely to slip back into the depression she had just been climbing out of.
"Okay, so we do it exactly like we did last time. Hopefully the necklace picture will direct it to the right world. And then when it spills on her picture, we'll get her instead of the necklace."
Anya had protested enough by now to know there was no chance of an attempt to get her necklace back.
"We'll be right over here." Dawn and Buffy stood to the side to watch the spell.
"Ready when you are." Willow said, taking a deep breath. Anya spoke first.
"Eryishon. Kishala. Meyun."
"Diprect. Dotehenlo nueryishon."
"The child to the mother."
"The river to the sea."
"Eryishon, hear my prayer." Anya finished. She poured out the bottle of sand. Willow held the picture of Tara so that the sand fell on it before landing on the picture of the necklace, being careful not to let any of it hit her hand.
But unlike the last time these two had performed this spell, in which nothing had appeared to happen, something very clearly happened. There was a flash of light and a figure appeared in front of the spellcasters. Willow took one look at her and froze, not having yet prepared herself for this.
Tara stood frozen in place too, staring at Willow. She didn't even notice the other women in the room until Dawn broke the tableau by squealing and rushing forward to hug Tara, who all of a sudden realized this must be the same Dawn she'd talked to earlier that day. The Dawn who said she came from another world, one in which she, not Willow, had been shot. She pulled away slightly from the bone-crushing hug.
"You…it's you, isn't it? You were telling the truth today, in the prison. And you brought me here, somehow."
"I don't remember any of that, but yes, it must have been me. Anya smashed her necklace to get us back here, and Willow did a spell to bring you."
"Tara, you should know it can be reversed, if we made a mistake." Buffy said, her voice wavering. She didn't want the blonde witch to leave again either.
Tara shook her head vehemently. "There was nothing for me in that world." She was looking right at Willow as she said those words, knowing they really meant that there was no Willow in that world. She moved forward and reached down for Willow's hand. The redhead allowed herself to be pulled up and captured in a long, oxygen depriving kiss. By the time they broke apart, reality started to hit Willow, and she clung to Tara for dear life as the tears started to flow.
Buffy and Dawn were just grinning from ear to ear. The world was right again. Only Anya had the presence of mind to remember the other Scooby.
"We should call Xander. He won't have to get her out of jail now."
"What?" Tara asked, turning around but still maintaining a hold on Willow.
"We thought you'd show up in jail, since that's where you were in the other world. That's what happened last time, with the Willow vampire."
Willow spoke up. "I stopped it too soon last time. I saw the other world, and I jerked my hand away. I didn't remember that until it happened again this time."
"You saw my world?" Tara said quietly.
Willow nodded, meeting Tara's eyes with quiet understanding.
Buffy took charge. "Okay, I'll go call Xander and tell him to come back. Will, is there anything you need to reverse from what you did online?"
Willow nodded regretfully.
"Maybe you should do that. Tara, is there anything you want? Food, a shower?"
A smile spread across her face. "I haven't taken a bath in months. And…pizza? I haven't had that in months either."
"I'll order it!" Dawn said. "I remember what you like."
Tara smiled at her, the last few months already starting to fade away as if they had just been a bad dream.
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The rest of the evening was passed mostly just luxuriating in their good fortune. The gang stuffed themselves with pizza while watching a James Bond movie on cable. It was the perfect type of action movie for them – very light on the martial arts, which Buffy usually complained about if done poorly, and also light on blood and gore, which Tara wasn't a fan of. It was also good for the night because most of the Scoobies were paying more attention to Tara than to the movie. Willow and Tara were curled up together, and even Xander and Anya were sitting awfully close on the couch, the spirit of rekindled love making them both wonder why they were apart. Buffy hid a smile when Xander offered to give his ex-fiancee a ride home when the movie was over. Maybe there would be two couples getting back together tonight.
As it was a school night, Dawn reluctantly headed to her room, after hugging Tara one more time, and Buffy headed out for a quick patrol.
Willow looked at Tara. "Are you tired?"
"A bit, but maybe we should talk first?"
Willow nodded. "I sleep in Buffy's old room now." She explained on the way upstairs. "I just couldn't…and they knew that, so by the time I came back it was all different." That reminded her of something. "Your things were all gone too. I know they didn't get rid of them, but I guess they hid them from me. They're pretty freaked out, even now. Scared I'll go all crazy on them again. Guess I can't blame them." She said.
Now in the bedroom, Tara lay down on the bed on her side. "Where did you come back from?"
"Did you hear about what I did?"
"Dawn told me some things. Something about trying to end the world."
Willow nodded. "That was after I killed Warren, and fought with Buffy and Giles. Xander tried to stop me, and I tried to hurt him too, but he wouldn't stop, and I guess he finally got through to me. Giles took me back to England to live with a coven and learn magic the right way. But I'm still terrified every time I do a spell." She admitted.
Tara just listened. After the past months of her life, she wasn't about to judge the redhead.
"Why are you so calm about all of this?" Willow couldn't help but ask. "If I were you, I'd be running for the hills."
"Well, first of all because I lost you Willow. I've spent almost four long months without you, and to have the chance to be with you again…I wouldn't give that up for anything. And also because I killed Warren too." Tara admitted.
"So it's true? Anya said you used black magic, that you'd used it before, when your mom died. Why didn't you ever tell me?"
"I didn't want you to think it was okay. Because it wasn't. And I didn't go nearly as far as you did with Rack." Her eyes watered at the memories. "And I guess, because I was ashamed."
"Oh baby, you just said it was nothing compared to what I did. You have no reason to be ashamed."
"I killed Warren, Willow! I killed someone!"
"I know you did. I did too, so I know how horrible that is. It is. But we have to get past that." Willow had no idea how she was being so strong. Yesterday, this conversation would have reduced her to tears. It was amazing what just having Tara back had done.
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The next morning, Dawn awoke to a smell she hadn't known in months – pancakes. The events of the last night came back to her and she rushed downstairs to find Tara piling her signature dish onto plates. Willow was already in the kitchen, content to just sit in the blonde witch's presence.
Tara turned around. "Good morning Dawn. I haven't cooked in months. I hope you're hungry, I think I made too many."
"Slayer appetite to the rescue!" The final member of the household announced, walking into the kitchen with a grin.
"Oh no you don't, I get some first." Dawn snatched a plate and slid pancakes onto it, as Buffy jokingly tried to appropriate the entire pancake stash. Finally she gave up and let her sister and Willow get their pancakes. Willow made her girlfriend a plate as Tara turned off the oven.
Dawn just beamed as her family, now complete again, laughed their way through breakfast. Maybe she shouldn't have made that wish. But looking back, she sure was glad she did.