**oneinten: Awww, shucks. Thanks *G* I'm really glad you like these little scenes ... they're so much fun to write, and all these wonderful comments are an extra-neat incentive to write more *G* Though 'goddess' is probably stretching it a bit. *G*
**Pixie: Heh ... thank you *G* I hope you still have your helmet on.
Series: Vignettes
Number: 9
Title: Return
Author: Sassette
Feedback: Can be sent to
pink_overalls@yahoo.com Summary: I feel like switching gears after that last one, so our darling 8-year-old Tara and our adorable 8-year-old Willow/Rose are back, each getting to know their new bestest girl-type friend.
Spoiler Warning: None.
Rating: G
Return
Part 9 of the Vignettes Series
by Sassette
Tara stood in the field of sunflowers, her eyes trained on the sky - only this time, she wasn't checking to make sure all the sunflowers were facing the right way. No, she was watching for something else entirely.
Her new bestest girl-type friend Rose had been gone for a whole week, and every day, Tara came to the field, straining her vision for any sign of the Magic Helicopter.
She raised a hand to shade her eyes against the bright sun, her little face scrunched up into an anxious look as she turned this way and that, her shoulders slumping when she realized there was nothing in the air but the clear blue sky.
Kicking the dirt a little, she sat down heavily in the small open space in the center of the field of sunflowers, resting her elbows on her knees and her chin on her fists.
Just when a wave of sadness hit her so strongly she thought she was going to cry, a soft buzzing sound hit her ears. Abruptly, she looked up, but still saw nothing. Still, the buzzing was getting steadily louder, and hope rose up in her chest.
She clambered to her feet, ignoring the dirt she had gotten on her clothes and looked once again into the sky, finally spotting a dark speck growing larger as it draw nearer.
Fidgeting with excitement, she shifted from foot to foot, her hands wringing nervously as a tentative smile lit up her face. In a way, she was afraid to hope - afraid that what she was seeing wasn't really what she thought it was, and she would be alone.
The speck grew larger still, and a stream of white smoke issued out the back. She gasped when she saw it, her eyes growing wide with alarm.
There wasn't supposed to be smoke, was there? No, smoke was bad coming from machines. Smoke was only supposed to be there when her mommy was burning the nice-smelling things when Papa and Donny were out of the house. And even then, Tara wasn't supposed to ever burn the nice-smelling things by herself - only when her mommy was there.
But her mommy wasn't here, and there was smoke in the sky, and Tara was scared.
Her heart thudding in her chest, Tara crossed all her fingers and shut her eyes up tight, hoping and hoping that if the dark shape in the sky was Rose in her Magic Helicopter, that the smoke wasn't a bad thing.
But how could the smoke not be a bad thing? So she hoped that it wasn't Rose - because she would gladly be alone for the rest of her life if she had to, if it meant Rose wouldn't get hurt - because Rose was her friend. And wasn't it more important for friends to be okay than for friends to be there all the time?
She heard the buzzing noise turn into a low roar, and felt a strong wind surround her. Gingerly, she cracked her eyes open, breathing out a sigh of relief when she saw the Magic Helicopter - a small little thing, completely open to the air and with just the one seat - fly low over her. She grinned and waved at Rose, who waved and smiled back, her white teeth bright against her soot-stained face. The white scarf around Rose's neck flapped wildly as she flew, her eyes protected by goggles that covered half her face and her shaggy hair tucked into an old-fashioned brown leather aviator helmet.
Tara turned to follow Rose's flight with her eyes, seeing Rose pointing vigorously into the sky. With a little frown, Tara turned and looked where Rose was pointing, only to see that the words "Hi Tara!" were written in thick white smoke there, followed by a gigantic smiley face.
Tara giggled and jumped up and down excitedly, clapping her hands together, incredibly pleased and proud of Rose's gesture. Rose was so clever, and Tara was constantly amazed by the things she could do.
With a delighted spritely laugh, Tara started running, carefully maneuvering through the sunflowers until she came to a broad grassy plain, Rose's Magic Helicopter following her. She stopped and turn, waving excitedly again, and Rose waved pack, passing Tara and bringing the Magic Helicopter to a stop, slowly lowering it to the ground.
When the blades stopped spinning, Rose unfastened her safety belt and jumped out, lifting her goggles up, her green eyes twinkling.
"Rose!" Tara called, running to meet her friend, and then Rose was running to meet her, and they laughed and hugged, then held hands and spun merrily until they were both so dizzy they fell over onto the soft grass.
The grass tickled, and the sun was warm, and it was a beautiful day, and Tara found herself just laughing and laughing from the sheer joy of it all, Rose's hand tucked in her own.
"Hi, Tara," Rose said, turning her head with a giggle, looking at her friend. Tara just smiled in response, so very happy to not be alone anymore. A part of her wanted to ask what took so long - why Rose had been away for a week - but another part was afraid to ask, like placing any kind of constraint on Rose's free spirit would break their new and fragile friendship into a million pieces.
"I'm so happy you're here," Tara finally said, smiling broadly and breathing in the sweet-scented grass and fresh air all around them. "I didn't know if you were going to come back," she couldn't help adding in a small voice.
"Of course I came back," Rose said, looking surprised. "You're my very good friend, and I'll always come back. I promise."
"You ... you promise?" Tara asked, her heart singing. Rose promised. That meant she would always have a friend - that no matter how alone she felt, Rose would always come back to her.
"Absolutely," Rose said with a determined nod.
"What do you want to go do?" Tara asked, satisfied with the promise and leaving it up to her friend to pick the game they would play.
"Want to go for a ride in my Magic Helicopter?" Rose asked with an impish grin.
Tara swallowed hard, her eyes widening as she tilted her head back until she could see the Magic Helicopter behind her, though it was upside-down from that angle. "It's, umm ... only got one seat," Tara pointed out.
"Silly," Rose said, rolling her eyes. "It's a Magic Helicopter. I can make more seats."
"Oh, but, ummm ... we'd have to ... fly up really high?" Tara pointed out, uncertainty clear in her voice.
Rose rolled onto her side, looking at Tara with a serious expression. "You don't have to if you don't wanna'," she said solemnly. "It's okay to be scared."
"I'm ... umm ... I'm not scared," Tara said hurriedly.
"I was really scared the first time I flew, too," Rose said. "It's really okay. It took me a long time to try it after I built it."
"How come you built it if you were afraid to fly it?" Tara asked curiously.
"To prove I could," Rose said, an impish grin crossing her face. "And then I had to prove it would work. Jesse and Xander said it would never make it off the ground."
"Jesse and Xander?" Tara asked, the names completely new to her.
"They're my friends at the castle. They're boys," Rose confided.
"Oh," Tara said softly, her mind turning over the information and she wondered about Jesse and Xander. Were they nice? Did Rose like them better than her? Was that why Rose had been away so long?
"They made fun of me," Rose said softly. "They made fun until I just >had< to fly the Magic Helicopter. They wouldn't believe it would fly until I showed them."
"I would have believed you," Tara whispered back.
"I know," Rose said with a little grin. "That's why you're my bestest friend. You believe I can do anything."
"You >can< do anything," Tara pointed out as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"See?" Rose said, giggling. "And I think you can do anything, too. But if you're scared to fly in my Magic Helicopter, I won't make fun of you, or make you do it. You just tell me if you ever want to try it."
"You make me feel brave," Tara said softly. "You make me feel brave enough to fly."
Rose felt a hundred feet tall at Tara's words, but she could tell that Tara was still nervous about her Magic Helicopter. That was okay, though, because they could play something else, and one day, Tara would fly with her on her Magic Helicopter, and Rose would show her the world.
by blameburner » Sat May 25, 2002 11:57 pm 
And thank you!
*thud*
To bad you stopped it there though. 
Poor Willow, all of her thoughts churning in her head, but unable to speak. Its too bad something like this didn't really happen during Hush 
