Tara, Meet The Scoobies
A couple weeks past and everyone's routines stayed mostly the same. The only difference being the Tara and Buffy would meet every couple of days to talk about the past and what they were doing in their lives now. One day Tara asked, "This may seem somewhat random and out of the blue, but what is the one thing you most regret that you did to me back then?"
Buffy looked at Tara for a moment, "No, I think that's actually a good question." She said, then shifted her gaze to her coffee mug as she thought.
Dawn came into the kitchen at that moment and seeing Tara gave her a quick hug. "Buffy I'm going over to sleep over at Janice's tonight. I already talked to mom, just thought I should let you know before I just take off."
"OK, it's getting kinda late…do you need me to walk you over?" Buffy asked, Dawn was getting pretty good in her training, but was not yet ready to take on a vamp, or any other demon for that matter, on her own.
"No, that's OK. She and her mom are gonna come pick me up." Dawn answered before grabbing a soda from the refrigerator and walking back to the living room.
"The frog eyes…" Buffy said her attention back on Tara, "The frog eyes in your locker is what I regret the most."
Flashback:
Tara MacClay walked sullenly down the hall from the front entrance where her dad had dropped her off. She wore a long flowing denim skirt and flower print shirt along with and earth tone long-sleeved, hand-knitted sweater her mother had made for her. Usually the purpose of her close was to hide the bruises left by her father and brother, but the past few days they had left her alone…even monsters could show compassion now and then. She walked down the hall toward her locker, her messenger bag hugged to her chest and her head tilted down so that her long hair hid her face from everyone. No one saw her tear-laden eyes that day as she dialed the combination for her locker, unbeknownst to her she had an audience that morning.
Buffy, head cheerleader and her posse were huddled together just around the corner, waiting for Tara to find the "gift" they had left her in her locker. Tara opened her locker and a jar of frog eyes spilled over her while a tape recorder played back a "witch's cackle". Normally for something like this Tara would shrug off and chuckle along, at worst she would glare at the cheerleaders as they laughed at her. Most of the school knew she was a Wicca, most students just shrugged and avoided the shy girl. The ones that made fun of her for it? Well usually she just let it roll off her back, but today she collapsed to the floor in front of her locker, sobbing uncontrollably.
The cheerleaders kept laughing except Buffy who had recently been called as the next slayer. Merrick, her watcher had told her about vampires and even staked one in front of her. She was doing her best, however, to avoid her calling. She only agreed to train with him so he would leave her alone at school. What he did not tell her, maybe it was something the watchers just were not in the know about, was that the slayer spirit had a natural compassion for humanity, it was the reason Buffy had not been able to make herself join the "Cordettes" when she moved to Sunnydale and it was the reason she sent her posse away when she saw Tara break down. She was about to take a step toward the distraught Wicca when she saw her and Tara's history teacher come out of a nearby room. She glared at Buffy before helping Tara off the floor and taking her to the office.
End flashback.
"I never did find out why that day was so different, at least on your side. I know being the slayer opened me up to see peoples' hurt and made me more compassionate. Otherwise no one would be able to do this job."
"We had found out a few days before that prank that my mom was terminally ill. She was the one who trained me in witchcraft, taught me what it means to be a Wicca and why we are granted our power by Gaia." Tara answered.
"Oh my God! I'm so sorry Tara!" Buffy exclaimed with tears in her eyes.
"That w-wasn't the worst teasing I got though…soon after you were expelled I c-came out, well I was kinda forced out of the c-closet. Your replacement basically told another g-girl that if she wanted to be in her group she had to find a way to humiliate me badly. So she and I started hanging out a lot. And long story short she outted me in the f-food c-court at the mall. That's not what I h-hate them for though…not exactly cause l-l-later that night my mom had to stop me from putting a c-curse on all of them. Causing me to try something that disappointed my mom, that's what I h-hated them for."
Buffy was speechless after Tara's story. A tear escaped her eye and she looked over at Tara not with pity, but with eyes full of compassion and asking for forgiveness. That was the moment Tara decided she would forgive Buffy, maybe she would not be able to forgive everything at once, but she could start.
Tara and Buffy talked for a while longer until Joyce and Faith arrived. Faith briefly acknowledged them as she walked past them to get one of her energy drinks from the refrigerator. Joyce, meanwhile, set the tea kettle on the stove for her usual after work cup of tea. "Hey girls. What have you two been up to today?" Joyce asked turning her attention to Buffy and Tara.
"H-hello Mrs. Summers a-and Fa-faith." Tara said, the shy girl reflexively hiding her face behind her long hair.
Buffy wanted to say something to Tara about hiding, but was unsure if she and Tara were close-enough friends for that…Wait, are we friends? I guess that's up to her.
Joyce stepped over to the shy witch and tucked her long hair behind her ears and over her shoulders. She placed a gentle hand on Tara's shoulder, "You shouldn't hide yourself like that Tara dear. The world becomes a bit darker when you hide your beautiful face."
"Thanks Mrs. Summers, but I know I'm not beautiful."
Oh, but you are!" Buffy blurted out causing Joyce to glance at her with a mildly surprised and questioning look and bringing a smirk to Faith's face.
Buffy blushed and felt like dashing from the room, "Do you really think so?" Tara asked the hopefulness evident in her voice.
"Definitely." Buffy answered after a brief pause.
For a moment both girls forgot that Faith and Joyce were in the room. Until the Summers' matriarch broke the silence as she continued preparing her tea, "Tara, would you like to stay for dinner? We're also having Willow, Xander, and Rupert over."
"I don't w-wanna be a b-bo…" Tara started.
"Don't even think about finishing that statement young lady." Joyce said sternly, but with a soft smile on her face, "You are more than welcome here." Joyce hid the sadness she felt for Tara, obviously she had been disappointed when Buffy told her the history the two of them had, but she was proud of her daughter for reaching out and trying to make amends. She knew very little about Tara's childhood, but knew it could not be much different from Xander's or Faith's. Joyce still found herself amazed at how these kids who had horrible childhoods could turn out to be such amazing people.
"I-I would be happy to join y-you for dinner Mrs. Summers." Tara answered with a shy smile, having to fight herself to keep from lowering her head.
Later that evening the Summers women, sans Dawn, were putting the finishing touches on the dinner preparations along with some help from Tara. When the doorbell rang, Faith answered it and returned a few moments later followed by Willow, Xander, and Giles. The three newcomers paused when they saw the young woman with long blonde hair, Willow was the first to introduce herself realizing that this was probably the Tara chick that Buffy had been talking to her about, "Hi! I'm Willow. Willow Rosenberg, Buffy's best friend since high school and this is my boyfriend Xander and our groups surrogate father Giles. Buffy's told me so much about you, she just goes on and on about you whenever she gets back to our dorm…and I'm babbling now…that's something I do. You'll get used to it, hopefully." Willow said as she enthusiastically shook the other girl's hand.
Tara could not help but smile at Willow's babbling and when she heard the part about Buffy talking about her she turned to the now blushing slayer and arched an eyebrow, "Oh, does she? I-it's really n-nice to meet you all." She said softly.
As everyone settled around the table there was another knock at the door which Joyce answered and soon re-entered the kitchen followed by Anya, the ex-vengeance demon and manager of the town's only true magic shop. Seeing the 1200 plus year old woman enter the room Willow leaned across the table and whispered to Tara, "Anya speaks with very little tact and seems like she doesn't grasp how civility works, however when it comes to methods of torture and making money she is a total wiz. Just don't take anything offensive she says too seriously." Warned the redhead.
"Mom, you didn't tell me Anya was coming tonight." Buffy said in mock disapproval. Glad that Willow had warned Tara about the ex-demon.
"Well when I asked she wasn't sure if she'd be able to make it…" Joyce started.
"Yes, but we had a sudden influx of customers today and I was able to close early because of it." Anya said interrupting Joyce, then seeing Tara she continued, "Oh, you must be the witch that Buffy was a bitch to and made cry!"
Everyone around the table barely contained their gasps of shock at what Anya said, although it was rather tame compared to her usual banter. Tara just let out a chuckle at the somehow refreshing bluntness of the woman before her, "Y-yes, I'm T-tara. Nice to meet you."
The meal went well and everyone enjoyed the conversation, even Tara spoke up from time to time. Buffy was glad that it looked like her friends were going to accept Tara without any problems. Hell, if we keep Anya around we better be willing to add Tara to our wacky little family. Buffy though to herself. Aside from being a good host and making sure Tara was enjoying herself, Buffy found herself watching the interaction between her mother and Anya. She noticed that the two of them would often be involved in their own separate conversations and were touching a lot. Buffy frowned trying to figure out what was up between her mother and the ex-demon when it hit her, Holy shit! I think my mom likes Anya! She though, barely containing the gasp and looking away before her facial expression could betray her surprise. Wow! Is that for real or am I just imagining things? I guess I could just ask her…though that'd be awkward if it turned out I was wrong. I can't ask Xander, he'd just slip into Fantasy Land. Willow'd probly have no clue, Faith'd make it weird. I guess that leaves Giles, cause I doubt Dawn would notice and Tara doesn't know either well enough. Buffy shook herself from her thoughts for now and rejoined the conversation.
After the meal Buffy and Faith took care of clearing the dirty dishes to be washed later before joining everyone in the living room. "So are we ready to get this Scooby meeting started?" Xander asked from his spot on the couch with his arm around Willow next to him.
Giles had a worried look on his face and indicated Tara, "Is she ready for all this?" He asked from one of the two arm chairs opposite the couch.
"I think she can handle it Giles…she's a witch and she handled a vamp pretty well on her own a while ago." Buffy answered a little proudly.
"Oh, how did she do it?" Asked Anya who was sitting on the floor leaning against the other chair where Joyce was sitting. "Did she levitate a stake? That's always cool. Or maybe a fireball?"
"A-actually it was h-holy flame." Tara answered from her seat next to Buffy in front of the couch where Faith had taken the last spot next to Willow.
"White magic eh?" Giles asked rhetorically, "Is that hard to do on the hellmouth? We've only used magic that is either neutral or leaning toward dark in our fight thus far…unless the count the occasional healing spell."
"It's n-not so much harder to-to do Mr. Giles, it just takes a b-bit more concentration to pull off the white magic, w-with all the i-interference from the h-h-hellmouth." Replied the blonde witch.
"Not meaning any disrespect to the magic users here, but can we get on with the meeting? Has anyone found out anything about those commando guys?" Faith asked, redirection the conversation to the problem at hand.
"Well my contacts were able to tell me that the group is government run, as in they are actually with the Army, but all I can get is the name, The Initiative. My higher-up contacts haven't gotten back to me yet." Xander said, his soldier memories had been a big help on more than one occasion, like in acquiring the AT-4 to take out The Judge.
"My contacts haven't revealed anything of use yet either." Giles answered.
"Well from the people who still talk to me in the demon community it seem that these soldier boys are on our side…there's been a noticeable decrease in certain demon populations. They aren't killing though, they're capturing, probably for testing and research purposes." Anya added with a shudder, remembering a time when she had almost been caught by human scientists…only just saved by her friend Halfrek. She smiled up at Joyce who placed a hand comfortingly on her shoulder.
"OK," Buffy said, not letting her eyes linger on her mom and Anya, "So I guess it's more recon and intel gathering for now. Faith and I'll continue to patrol, swapping out every other night. Anya, if you think you can do so safely, then try to press your contacts for more information, but don't put yourself in danger." With a nod from the former demon she continued, "OK and this is something I'm sure Willow's just dying to ask, but Tara, do you think you can teach her a little bit? She's pretty damn strong, but I think she'd be the first to agree that she has problems with control. The times she's been able to use magic to help, it's been invaluable."
"Yeah that'd be great!" Willow agreed excitedly, almost bouncing around the room, but for Xander's arm around her. "My spells usually just fizzle out on me and my potions tend to wind up soup…"
Tara smiled shyly, "I-I'd be happy t-to help."
Just then Faith's cellphone rang. She answered it and heard Dawn's hushed and worried voice on the other side, "Faith! I need you and Buffy over at Janice's now! I don't know what attacked, except they aren't vamps and I can't get to my gear. We're in their basement which has no windows, but I dunno how long the door will hold up…"
Dawn was cut off by a loud crash followed by a girl, Janice, Faith thought. She immediately took off out the door calling out to Buffy to follow her. Buffy was up and out a few seconds later with Giles and Xander behind her. Willow and Anya opted to stay with Joyce and Tara.