Yours Always
Chapter Six
"Are you sure this is okay?" Tara asked hesitantly.
"Dawn keeps regaling me with 'cute kitty' stories," Buffy said with a shrug. "I'd feel better knowing you weren't sneaking off to take care of the cat until this is all done."
"And the fact that Dawn's been nagging you to get a cat doesn't come into it," Tara asked with a small smile.
"Cat, dog, llama, you name it," Buffy sighed. "It's just..."
"You can let something in, Buffy," Tara said softly. "You're not really good at the tough girl stuff."
"I don't need a pet," Buffy said with a frown. "I have Dawn and Xander."
Their conversation died as they came onto the campus of UC Sunnydale. Giles's shoulders tightened as he looked for a place to park and Buffy looked a bit forlornly at the students going by. Finally they came to Stephenson Hall. Tara hurried to the dorm room she shared with Willow. She was greeted by many complaints and vigorous demands for attention, including head butts. Tara tried to gather the toys but was being thwarted by a black and white streak. Finally Buffy arrived just as Tara was trying to get the catnip mouse from under the bed. With a Slayer's speed she caught Miss Kitty gently and lifted her into the air.
"Ready for a kitty vacation?" Buffy asked.
"Thanks," Tara said as she brushed a dust bunny off the mouse. Miss Kitty pawed at Buffy's nose and wriggled in her grasp.
"Ha!" Buffy sneered theatrically. "You cannot escape. I have the speed of-hey!"
Miss Kitty landed on her feet and made a very credible attack on Buffy's shoelaces.
"She's tricky," Tara said picking up the last of the cat supplies.
"Takes after her mommies," Buffy complained. Then she saw a picture on Willow's dresser. Willow was holding Tara from behind and both were smiling as they leaned into each other.
Like they had all the time in the world, Buffy thought sadly.
"How are you going to...I mean with Willow," Buffy asked roughly.
"I don't know," Tara said tightly. "We need to talk and...I don't know."
"If you need space or privacy or anything, tell me," Buffy insisted.
"I will," Tara promised. Then she sighed and picked up the cat. "Now comes the fun part. Could you open the box please?"
Miss Kitty yowled and tried to escape as they put her into a cardboard box instead of a cat carrier since she was still officially a 'sneaky' cat. On the way out of the dorm half a dozen people waved to Tara and made baby sounds as Miss Kitty stuck out a paw and tried to escape. Buffy opened the door for Tara and shook her head.
"Some sneaky cat," Buffy said with a grin.
"Will she be all right in the car?" Giles asked as he started the engine.
"Yes," Tara replied just as Miss Kitty gave her own answer with a wailing yowl.
"We'll hurry," Giles said as he put the car into gear.
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“Are you sure?”
“Oh yes, most excellent Molad,” a panting minion nodded. “The deadly witch, the Slayer and the Watcher together. It was only the base fiction that the Key is an innocent cat and the mortals reactions that let us know what was being carried out with such secrecy.”
“They have taken the Key to the Slayer’s home,” Mardol mused. “No doubt to protect it, and perhaps use it in some arcane ritual of their own to deal with the Orderly Ones.”
“Our time may well be limited,” Molad said grimly. “If they sacrifice the Key first we will be trapped here. Is the tower high enough to reach the portal?”
“We’re a bit behind on construction, since we’ve lost our primary workforce,” a minion reported. “But if we bring a ladder we should be able to reach it.”
“By my calculations a ladder would not be needed,” sniffed another demon.
“To be safe we shall steal a ladder,” Molad said quickly to stave off the argument. He looked at his small force and pointed at the two smallest. “You two get the ladder to the tower and make things ready. The rest of you, we move at nightfall.”
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“Oooh! Kitty!” Dawn gushed.
Buffy rolled her eyes as Dawn and the cat rubbed noses. Miss Kitty purred and meowed.
“I think she’s found a sympathetic audience for her tale of woe,” Tara laughed. “Why don’t you get her settled in?”
“Okay!” Dawn replied as she grabbed the bag of cat supplies and then pounded up the stairs.
“I’d better get used to cat hair on my clothes,” Buffy sighed. “Why did you have to get one whose fur can show up on all colors?”
“She was ours,” Willow said as she stepped out of the dining room. “Tara just knew. Hi baby.”
Tara could tell by the tone of her words and the almost desperate hug Willow had found something unsettling. She tried to give her love as much comfort as she could. Giles cleared his throat after a moment.
“Sorry,” Willow said softly as she let Tara go.
“We, ah, need to plan,” Giles said reluctantly.
“Yeah,” Willow said distantly.
“What did you find out?” Giles asked.
“Oh,” Willow said coming back to herself. She looked at Tara. “Does your power feel any different?”
“No, not really,” Tara answered.
“Well, your power seemed to be pretty much the same,” Willow explained. “At least as far as I could tell. But your vital essence is-wow! You’re very vital.”
Tara blushed for a moment as Buffy bit her tongue. Willow suddenly joined her lover after replaying the words in her mind. Giles took off his glasses.
“Well, then Tara would not have to learn any new form of magic,” Giles said calmly.
“Right!” Willow said quickly. “She’s very good with the vital essence based magic.”
“And you can help me with the external forms,” Tara pointed out. “I could give you power along with anchoring.”
“You’re an anchor?” Buffy asked with a puzzled look.
“She keeps me steady and secure,” Willow explained.
“And helps in magic too,” Buffy said innocently.
“What about your plan?” Giles interjected as Willow made a face and stuck her tongue out at Buffy. “Before the preschoolers get sent to a time out.”
“I thought I’d weave a protection spell tied directly to me,” Tara said.
“Directly to you?” Buffy asked suddenly sober. “Wouldn’t you get hurt if somebody say stabbed me through the heart…oh.”
“Exactly,” Tara said nodding. “But you’re not going alone.”
“Going?” Buffy asked warily.
“I don’t want to do this near any innocents,” Tara explained. “There’s going to be a lot of magic being used by the hellgods and between the spells protecting you, the group-”
“No group!” Buffy snapped. “You are not following me into the Hellmouth. None of you are coming, understand?”
“Of course not,” Tara said calmly. “I need Willow to work the complex magics. No one else can do that. I was going to use Giles, Anya and Xander as grounding points to keep the magic steady to stabilize the protections and make sure all of you have a way home.”
“All of us?” Buffy asked.
“You and the Knights of Byzantium,” Tara said firmly.
“Of course,” Giles said leaning forward. “People trained to fight with weapons that will work in any dimension.”
“I not taking-” Buffy started.
“Trained fighters,” Willow said.
“Trained fighters…well, yeah, but…” Buffy sputtered.
“You are not going out there alone, do you hear me?” Willow said with her resolve face firmly in place.
Buffy looked to Giles and saw her friend’s look echoed there. She looked at Tara hoping the meek girl she’d met last year would put in a miraculous appearance. She met blue eyes that refused to look away. Tara even gave a resolute small shake of her head. Buffy sighed.
“Fine, be reasonable,” she muttered.
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“We’re not going to do the magic smackdown thing tonight, are we?” Xander asked.
“Don’t worry, there’ll be time for sex afterwards,” Anya said reassuringly. “There’s always time for orgasms.
Tara looked at Anya and nodded just slightly. Giles’ knuckles grew white on his teacup even as he looked down at the crystal ball.
“We need to ascertain where the army of Glory’s fellow gods is going and how fast they’re approaching,” he said evenly. “I doubt they’ll be taking the fastest route to the Hellmouth.”
“Not if they’re as cautious as you say they are,” Anya said confidently. “The local dimensions wouldn’t like an army tramping through. They might take the Mournful Passage but that’s long and tedious.”
“Sounds about right,” Buffy said wincing. “We’re talking about the Mrs. Gladstone of hellgods.”
“Health class Mrs. Gladstone?” Anya asked with a shudder. “Forget the Mayor, she was the most terrible thing that year.”
“It was that bad?” Tara asked.
“She was our Health teacher,” Willow said with a grim smile. “She had the worst monotone you ever heard. Then there was the way she taught. Xander slept through the sex parts.”
“Oh,” Tara said with horrid fascination.
“She had these assignments that only Willow could get right,” Anya said darkly. “She demanded bibliographies, and then she checked them. You don’t want to know about indexing and footnotes.”
“She was considered a bit dry by the other staff,” Giles added. “So consider that part of your, ahem, reasoning,” Giles said.
“I can see them going that way then,” Anya said. “They must have a lot of supplies.”
“What is the Mournful Passage?” Tara asked reluctantly.
“A series of empty dimensions,” Anya said nervously. “Generations ago one of those conqueror types you know, the ones who look good on the back of a horse showed up on one of the worlds. Trouble was there was another one at the same time in a different but accessible dimension. They fought and in the process made books full of epic bad poetry and an empty string of used up, broken dimensions.”
“Used up?” Tara asked pointedly. “Could they have anyone living in them now?”
“Not unless they could live on dust and rock,” Anya said with a frown. “We’re not going there, are we?”
“We?” Buffy asked. “No. Me.” Willow cleared her throat. “Oh, and the Knight guys. Tara wants to do a protection spell on all of us.”
“Are you crazy?” Anya snapped at Tara. “Do you know how much that is going to drain you? You’d never survive…ahh, right.”
“This is different than anything I’ve done before, I’d like to, umm, practice,” Tara said nervously. “I-well, Willow really, came up with these great protection spells.”
Buffy saw Willow’s smile and the way Tara looked at her. It was just an instant but the admiration and depth of feeling that passed between them made Buffy fear for Tara’s sanity when Willow was gone. Could she turn into a vengeful monster, wounded beyond reason with the loss of the love of her life, her soulmate? Buffy shook away the thought and resolved to get more sleep. She was starting to get silly around the edges.
“Don’t everybody volunteer at once,” Willow said with a frown.
“Huh?”
“She said she wants to put those protection spells on us,” Xander said. “And people said I drifted off in class.”
“Oh,” Buffy said ignoring Xander. “Hit me. I’ll take one.”
“I’ll try one as well,” Giles said with a very slight shrug. “Though I don’t think it will protect me against eyestrain.”
“Meaning there’s research on the schedule tonight?” Xander asked with a suspiciously light tone.
“Yes, why?” Giles asked pointedly.
“I’ve got union business tonight,” Xander said with some importance.
“On a Sunday night?” Giles asked crossly.
“We’re watching for a violation of a restraining order,” Xander said with a shrug nowhere near as cosmopolitan as Giles’. “Some crazy religious sect is fighting us in court with their big L.A. law firm. I’m an one the spot witness in case these guys show up at their building site.”
“How convenient,” Buffy said with a glare.
“I can help,” Dawn said brightly popping her head in from the kitchen. “And I want a spell too.”
Buffy looked at Willow and Tara and smiled just a bit. She nodded. “Sounds good.”
Willow looked askance at her friend, but Tara’s look said she knew what Buffy was doing. Giles just sighed.
“Just how long are you going to be out?” Anya asked crossly.
“Until two,” Xander said more meekly.
“Two o’clock in the fu-frigging morning?” Anya almost shouted. “You know how badly I sleep without orgasms.”
“Ah, An-” Xander said backing up a bit.
“Fine! But you get over here and get a spell, buster!”
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Willow closed the door behind the departing Scoobies. She looked back at Tara and knew the shy witch had made this time just for them. Without a word Willow walked to Tara and touched first her hands, then her face and finally Willow wrapped herself around her love. She felt Tara’s embrace in return and felt the trembling heart so close to her own. Finally she took Tara to the dining room and laid the drawings on the table. Tara blushed but studied the one of Willow nude very carefully.
“I do have an eye for beauty after all,” Tara said with a soft smile.
“And a big heart,” Willow added as she leaned against Tara’s shoulder. It was safe here. Tara flipped the next rendering over. She looked carefully.
“Power?” Tara asked leaning slightly into Willow.
“Yeah,” Willow said distantly. “It’s the one that gave me the idea to use a circle to measure the next one.”
“Do you know how sexy smart witches are?” Tara said with a hint of a flirt in her voice as she turned the page. Willow could feel her confusion as she looked at the straight line.
“I can’t measure it,” Willow said flatly. “There’s no curve in the vital essence. It may be beyond measure.”
“Oh,” Tara whispered.
“Honey, what did the Pythia say?” Willow asked.
Willow’s answer was in the way Tara moved, the way she reached for Willow to comfort her. The way she tried to hide her pain and fear. Willow knew her heart would break with Tara’s words but she had to hear them.
“She said I’m…until good and evil and love everywhere pass away,” Tara said woodenly at last, looking down at her hands holding Willow’s, hiding behind her hair. Willow reached out and brushed away the soft hiding place and looked into the troubled blue eyes.
“Everywhere, like the whole universe?” Willow asked unbelievingly.
Tara just nodded.
“Can anything, you know…?” Willow asked unwilling to say the words that would indicate one day Tara might not be.
“She couldn’t see anything,” Tara whispered.
“Good,” Willow said sincerely. “I want you safe.”
“I’ll be okay,” Tara said with a weak smile. “As long as I have you.”
“Honey…” Willow started but her voice threatened to break. Finally she looked into Tara’s eyes and let her love see her fear. “You won’t forget me?”
“No!” Tara said as she kept on the ragged edge of losing herself.
Then they just held each other until words stopped hurting. Finally Tara took a deep breath and framed Willow’s face with her graceful hands.
“Why did you think I would forget you?” Tara asked.
“Alberti and Leonardo da Vinci,” Willow replied. Tara just waited for the explanation with the look that told Willow she hadn’t made the Rosenberg leaps yet. “Perspective, and it was just a line and they go on forever.”
“And if I’m too far away on a line you’ll disappear?” Tara asked finally understanding. Willow nodded and Tara could feel her pain at one day no longer being part of Tara. Tara smiled and kissed away Willow’s tears. “Silly mathematical genius,” she said smiling gently
Tara walked over to the dining room table and picked up the drawing Willow had made of Tara’s heart essence. She laid it out on the table with care. Then she reached for Willow without looking for her. When Tara felt the steadying warmth next to her she touched one of the sleeping Willow pictures with Tara’s mother next to the image.
“A line goes on forever, right?” Tara asked.
“Yeah, no bend, no reruns,” Willow said unsurely.
“And how do you define a line?” Tara inquired. “Isn’t one of the ways with two points?”
“Yes,” Willow said more confidently. “It’s the basic one.”
“I’m a basic girl,” Tara said with a smile. “Willow, my first point was my mother, but the person who taught me even more about myself and love was you. Baby, no matter how long I exist, how long my line becomes, you’re the point that’s made me what I am. Without you I’d be home trying not to be a demon, or hiding, or just unwanted…alone.”
“You wouldn’t be alone,” Willow said defending her love from her harshest critic. “You wouldn’t.”
“I don’t want to be,” Tara said shakily. “Don’t pull back love, please. This is so scary…”
“I won’t,” Willow promised as she pulled Tara close. “I’m here, baby. I’m here.”
To Be Continued
