A/N another short one but I like it and hope you do also.

Chapter Four

As the sun rose that next morning, Tara lay in a deep slumber. She saw her self far off in the distance moving methodically towards something. She saw what looked like a silver cord attached to her body and then to a silhouette of herself moving further away from her body. She heard a low voice saying, "I need you Tara," and knew it to be Willow's.

She watched in horror as the silhouette of herself moved into a room where Willow held a Scythe and then the figure disappeared into Willow's chest. Willow began to chant some words and the Tara that watched from afar knew what was happening. She then felt a great energy in the air and then Willow's hair went white and her image withdrew from the redhead's body. She knew, by the look on Willow's face, that she felt Tara's presence.

As Tara jerked about in bed from the vivid dream, Buffy raced in and tried to awake her. She saw that Tara's facial features changed from shock to pained to confusion as the blonde opened her eyes. "I saw it all Buffy." Tara stammered as Buffy pulled her shaking body into her arms. "Maybe it was just a dream but I saw it all."

"What did you see Tara?" Buffy asked softly as she tried to comfort the woman.

Tara explained every detail of the dream including seeing her projected self going back into her own body. She told Buffy a few details of the fighting and Buffy knew that it wasn't just a dream. She believed more than ever now that Tara was the Goddess and that this needed immediate attention. "We have to phone Giles Tara. Maybe if you learn what your role as the earth Goddess is, you can stop this power outage thingie."

"The earth Goddess simply uses the earth to aid in healing, battles and so forth. She's not a Goddess like the Goddess of love and so on but rather a human with Goddess like powers because she was chosen before her birth to use the earth to aid mankind." Tara said in a matter of fact tone. Nobody had to give her lessons on such things as she had studied these topics since her childhood. She recalled her studies and her mother telling her repeatedly that it was imperative for her to understand the differences between the earth Goddess and the Goddesses who live in the other realms. She had insisted that Tara practice feeling the vibes that the earth's energy gave off and Tara now knew why. She knew that her mother knew what she was and tried her best to prepare her for her tasks as she grew into her role as the current earth Goddess.

"Tara," Buffy said more urgently and was glad to see that the blonde had finally turned her gaze towards her. "What's going on? Maybe we should get you something to eat and a nice hot shower and then we can talk this over."

"I was just thinking about my mom, she knew and I can remember the things that she told me now. She wanted me to be ready but I'm not!" Tara stood abruptly and went into the bathroom, leaving a bewildered slayer in her bedroom.

Buffy collected herself and headed down to the kitchen. She got a light breakfast that consisted of toast with butter and jam and juice ready. She then tried to find something to do to busy herself while Tara did whatever she was doing in the bathroom. She didn't want to crowd her friend but felt helpless piddling around in the kitchen. The kitchen was somewhat of a foreign room to Buffy and everyone knew it but here she was trying to pass the time off in this room until Tara returned. "Buffy?" Tara's soft voice breaking through the silence made Buffy's facial tenseness relax straight away.

"Hey," Buffy said and motioned to the breakfast. "I didn't know what else to make and wanted to give you a few minutes to yourself."

"Thanks," Tara said in a defeated tone and sat down to eat. "Buffy, I don't want anyone but maybe Mr. Giles to know about this. Willow has had so much taken from her in her life and I don't want to take this. I'm afraid that it might break her."

Buffy looked into the sky-blue eyes of the woman that she was growing more comfortable with by the minute. She saw nothing but compassion in those eyes and it warmed her heart, if she could have a fully normal life, she knew it would be spent with someone like Tara. "I promise that I won't say anything until you tell me to Tara." Buffy said as she finished her breakfast. "I wish we had more people as selfless and loving as you Tara. If we did, we could all get a happy ending."

"There is hope that you can be happy Buffy." Tara said with a slight smile replacing the worried look on her face. "We'll get to the bottom of all of our problems and then you can relax."

"I hope so," Buffy said, as the two women momentarily seemed to get lost in each other's gaze. "I'll get this cleaned up so you can get to work." Buffy said quickly and stood from the table to break the moment.

- - - - - - - -

Later that evening, the two women had decided to go out for a nice dinner rather then stay at home and deal with life. They had gone to a quaint diner, which was dimly lit and had soft music playing in the background. It created a nice ambiance for a relaxing evening and the two were enjoying it immensely. As they finished their dinner, they both noticed a few couples dancing. They both wished that they had someone to share a night of dining and dancing with but dared not to entertain the notion that the other was feeling the same way. Both women tried to chalk it up to having spent far to many nights alone but knew that this was not the case. "Hey," Buffy tried the casual approach, "let's go out and dance with all those people."

"All right but I'm not a good dancer," Tara said with a reluctant smile. She quickly changed the look on her face out of fear that Buffy would read the situation wrong. She then mentally kicked herself because she knew that Buffy was just being friendly. She was certain that there was no situation to read but smiled more eagerly as the slayer led her towards the other dancers.

"I've seen you dance Tara." Buffy replied and then felt like a fool. She didn't want to say things that would cause Tara to think of her time with Willow because that usually made her sad. She knew that Tara would know that she was referring to her birthday dance with the redhead and could have slapped herself then and there for saying the words before thinking.

Tara's mind drifted back, for the briefest of moments, to the birthday party in question. It was the night that the gang found out that she was not a demon. She and Willow were so in love then and the world seemed to be at their feet. She shook her head out of thoughts and tried to display a full smile. "Times sure do change," Tara said softly and relaxed in the dance with the slayer.

"They sure do Tara." Buffy said and gazed into the soft blue pools of kindness that belonged to Tara Maclay. "Who would've ever thought that the two of us would be so far from Sunnydale and dancing together?"

"Sunnydale seems so long ago and distant most of the time now." Tara replied honestly as she gazed back into Buffy's lively eyes.

As the two women danced and gazed at each other with an ever-growing attraction, the first mutual kiss happened. Both women moved away quickly and looked apologetically at each other. "I'm sorry Buffy, I didn't mean…"

"If I recall, we both did it. If it's something that neither of us minded, we have nothing to be sorry about." Buffy answered boldly with a beaming smile on her face. She knew that she was attracted to the blonde and didn't feel one bit sorry about it. Her time with Willow was years ago and therefore Buffy had no reason to feel guilty.

"You're right," Tara said with a smile and they shared another kiss before heading out of the diner.

Buffy took hold of Tara's hand as they walked towards the car. The night air was cool and fresh and Buffy wished that they could just walk home. "Tara, if you're uncomfortable just tell me. I don't want us to mess up the friendship that we have and I certainly don't want to move in any given direction with great speed. I mean, if there is a direction." Buffy felt a little uneasy after her burst of confidence. She should not have assumed so much from a couple of kisses and was regretting having spoke on the subject so confidently.

"It's all right Buffy," Tara gave the slayer's hand a reassuring squeeze and smiled brightly. "We're not doing anything wrong to anyone and nobody is moving fast." Tara believed that she and Buffy were not stepping on anyone's toes by their dancing and kissing but felt a small pang of guilt. Willow was Buffy's best friend and the woman who still held a huge piece of her heart. She resolved not to share this feeling with Buffy in hopes that it would go away as time went on. She didn't want to say anything that would cause Buffy to back off and feared that might just do it.

Buffy smiled at Tara and gave her a quick kiss as they neared the car. "You're most always right Tara." The women laughed slightly as a figure moved away from the bushes unseen by them both.