What If??

“Relax, Tare.” Xander mumbles as he eats a cookie, watching as the blonde Wicca paces back and forth in the living room chewing on the side of her thumb.

“Can’t.” Tara glances quickly over at the young man, smiling softly at him before continuing to pace. Thinking about how all of them had grown closer in the past weeks. How Faith and Xander had settled down, and were able to joke with each other after the initial worry and badness between them. How Faith had become like a sister to both her and Buffy, with Xander being the big brother of the group.

“Damn, T-bear! You’re gonna wear a fuckin’ hole in the carpet or in your thumb one. Chill already.” Faith growls as she comes down the stairs and plops in the chair with her leg hanging over one side, a smirk on her face as she watches the woman. “Red’ll be cool.”

Tara looks worriedly at the dark-haired slayer and slowly shakes her head. “We don’t know that for certain. She may freak, or think I’m an interloper trying to take her friends away. She could have a problem with Buffy and a woman…” Tara waves her hands around, the worry obvious on her face as she runs a lightly shaking hand through her hair.

Faith groans before throwing her head back and howling loudly, shocking and surprising both Xander and Tara. Looking back at Tara, Faith chuckles and wiggles her eyebrows. “Took your mind off it, didn’t it?” Faith ducks as Tara swings half-heartedly at her head.

“Bitch.” Tara grumbles, finally smiling fully. “Put your ass back in a coma.” Tara threatens with narrowed eyes.

“Nah. You won’t do that. You like me pickin’ on B too much for that.” Faith smirks at Tara.

“I like the funny colors she turns when you flirt with her.” Tara laughs, her eyes twinkling. “Of course, you might be more careful flirting with me, I think she was about ready to go off on you the other night.” Tara warns half seriously.

“She’s cool. We discussed and drew some lines on it, so we’re okay now.” Faith admits quietly, smiling at Tara.

Tara nods and smiles before easing down besides Xander and bumping shoulders with him. “How’s the new supervisor doing?”

Xander blushes lightly and shrugs. “Slowly getting into the groove. It’s been a learning experience, but I’m enjoying it. The guys are settling down now, not pulling so many jokes on me.” Xander grins quickly.

“That’s good. I thought Buffy was going to go down to the construction site and kick their butts when she heard about them locking you in the port-a-let.” Tara grins crookedly at the young man.

Faith chuckles wickedly. “She didn’t get a chance to.” Faith’s eyes widen as Xander and Tara both look at her. “Oops.”

“So it was you that dumped all their tools together in that mud pit!” Xander starts laughing and shaking his head. “Those guys looked like Mud Monsters when they finally got all the tools out of there.”

Faith rolls her eyes and laughs. “It was better’n what B was plannin’ on doin’. I think she was threatening them all wedgies or somethin’.”

“And a slayer wedgie is not a thing to take lightly.” Tara squirms around as she narrows her gaze on Faith.

“It was an accident!” Faith shrinks down in the chair. “I didn’t realize I’d grabbed hold of your underwear.”

“Uh, huh.” Tara raises an eyebrow at the slayer, smirking as Faith blushes lightly. “That curtailed the roughhousing for a while.”

“But I bet B kissed and made it better!” Faith looks up grinning wickedly at the witch.

Tara blushes and picks up a pillow on the end of the couch to throw it at the slayer. “That is none of your business!” Tara wiggles a finger at the slayer. “Transport your ass to Greenland. I heard that its roughly about 50 below right now.”

“Ah, you wouldn’t do that to me. Ya’ love me to much.” Faith chuckles and jumps up to run into the kitchen before Tara can throw something else at her.

“Why the hell do I put up with her?” Tara grumbles, a huge smile crossing her face.

Xander shakes his head, watching the play between the two women. Thinking how much Faith had loosened up and seemed more like a kid now. An extremely strong, dangerous kid, but a kid nonetheless. “Because she’s like a sister to you. Actually you’re like family to each other.”

“So are you, Xander.” Tara pats him gently on the arm. “You’re the brother I wished I’d had.” Tara admits smiling softly at the kind hearted young man.

Xander hangs his head in embarrassment, but a huge smile crosses his face at the sincerity in Tara’s voice. “Thanks, Tare.”

“Just calling it like I see it, Xan.” Tara runs her hand up and messes up his hair, chuckling. “You have the phone, Faith?” Tara calls out to the slayer as she hears the phone ring.

“Got it!” Faith yells back, picking up the phone and setting down one of the sandwiches Tara had made earlier. “Yo! Summers’ residence.” Faith answers the phone.

“Glad you didn’t leave it at just the yo.” Buffy chuckles into the phone leaning against the outside of the airport. “Just calling to let you know that Willow’s flight’s been delayed. Looks like it’s going to be another half hour, give or take before it lands.”

“Fuckin’ great. That’ll give time for your girl to get all wound up again.” Faith grumbles, rolling her eyes.

“Damn. Is she still worried about Willow?” Buffy frowns as she kicks at the sidewalk.

“Yeah. She was wearin’ a groove in the carpet in the living room. Plus she might be missing a hunk out of her thumb from where she was gnawin’ on it.” Faith explains quietly. “We finally got her calmed down, but I have a feelin’ she’ll get wound back up here soon, B.”

“Do your best to keep her relaxed. Maybe run upstairs and get her painting clothes and throw them at her. Painting always distracts her.” Buffy suggests softly.

“I might do that. But then she’ll probably be worried about meetin’ Red while she’s all painty and shit.” Faith frowns at the thought.

“I like her when she’s all painty. She’s sexy like that.” Buffy growls lowly at the thought of Tara with her paint smears and her hair flying everywhere. Having watched her do one of her ‘artistic’ pieces, Buffy had literally pounced on her girlfriend with the garage door open and everything. Luckily the only one to have come by was Faith, and she had actually been kind enough to close the door and stay away for a while. Not that she didn’t pick on them mercilessly for days afterwards.

“Yeah, I know ya’ do, B!” Faith chuckles wickedly. “Maybe I’ll get her sidetracked with framing up the rest of those paintin’s down in the basement. Now that she picked up the rest of the supplies yesterday.”

“That’ll work. Thanks, Faith, for watching out for her.” Buffy whispers into the phone.

“No prob, B.” Faith answers quietly before hanging up the phone.

**********

Willow shifts her laptop bag over her shoulder into a more comfortable spot and starts looking around for Buffy. Chuckling as she sees Buffy barreling towards her, dodging people, Willow winces waiting for the collision.

“I’m not going to run you over!” Buffy chuckles and picks Willow up hugging her gently while spinning her around. “Looking good, Wills.” Buffy sets the redhead down, looking her up and down, noticing the casual wear. The tight jeans with the t-shirt and the leather jacket. “Turned into a hot mamma while you were in New York, huh?” Buffy questions, tugging on the edge of the leather jacket, grinning hugely.

Willow laughs and shakes her head. “No, no hot mamma. Goddess, it’s good to see you!” Willow hugs Buffy again. “Let’s get down to grab my bag, I only have the one. So, what’s been going on, besides the discussion we had last week? And is Faith still behaving?” Willow questions seriously, still slightly uneasy about Faith being out of the coma, even with her supposedly having turned over a new leaf.

“She’s been great, Wills. Trust me in this. She’s still a smart ass but she likes to joke and pick on us. She’s more open than she was when she came here before. She was so afraid of getting hurt is why she acted like she did.” Buffy explains quietly as they make their way to the baggage claim.

“Where’s your mom at?” Willow questions, looking around for Joyce. “You didn’t drive, did you?” Willow’s eyes open wide as she looks at Buffy.

Buffy pouts and looks at Willow. “What’s wrong with my driving?” Buffy starts to laugh as Willow rolls her eyes. “Okay, okay. We won’t go there. She’s out in the parking lot probably playing kissy-face.”

Willow stops dead in her tracks and turns to look at Buffy with a shocked expression on her face. “Kissy-face?” Willow squeaks.

“Oops. Uh, yeah. Her and Giles are dating.” Buffy grumbles and rolls her eyes. “They suck face more than I do!” Buffy blushes darkly as Willow’s eyes get huge. “Umm. Really a lot to discuss here, and that’s why Mom and Giles are waiting out in the vehicle. I didn’t want to tell you on the phone, so I was waiting for you to be here in person.” Buffy shifts on her feet as she looks at Willow.

“Angel?” Willow questions worriedly.

“No, absolutely not. NO Angel anywhere.” Buffy states vehemently. “Never going that route again. Let’s get your bag, then go to the Starbucks over there and get a mocha so we can talk for a few minutes, okay?”

Willow watches Buffy curiously as she thinks about how quickly and strongly Buffy had shot down her thoughts that it was Angel. Shrugging her shoulders at her friend, they finish walking the short distance to the baggage claim area, waiting for the airport crew to unload the baggage.

“So, what about you, Will? Anybody new in your life?” Buffy questions curiously, raising an eyebrow in surprise as Willow blushes darkly.

“Not so much new…” Willow trails off, embarrassed.

“Who is it?” Buffy questions, blinking at her friend, surprised at the obvious embarrassment crossing her face.

“Probably best to wait until mocha’s.” Willow whispers softly, not knowing how to tell Buffy about her new relationship, almost wishing Amy was here with her, instead of in Texas spending the Christmas break with her father.

“Did you and Oz get back together?” Buffy looks at Willow, not knowing why that would make Willow embarrassed, but not knowing who else it might be.

“No, no Oz.” Willow sighs in relief as the luggage finally starts making it’s way around the conveyors.

“Bet I got you beat.” Buffy wiggles her eyebrows, grinning hugely at her best friend.

“Doubt that.” Willow breathes almost silently, plucking nervously at the edge of her jacket.

“Why do you doubt it?” Buffy blinks tilting her head. “You’ll never guess in a million years, so I don’t think you can beat me.”

Willow looks up in surprise at Buffy, knowing she has good hearing, but with the noise of the crowd and the fact that she had practically just breathed the words, not saying them, she’s in shock. Blinking she turns her gaze back to the luggage, reaching down to grab her small bag, smiling as Buffy quickly takes it from her to carry. “Thanks, Buffy.”

“No problem. I’d offer to carry your other bag, but I don’t want to be beat for accidentally hurting your laptop.” Buffy smirks at Willow as they head towards the coffee shop.

Willow shakes her head at her grinning friend. “You seem awfully happy.”

“More than I ever thought possible.” Buffy admits smiling. “Here, let me go get the mocha’s… you do want a mocha, right?”

Willow laughs and nods her head. “Of course! I haven’t changed that much.”

“Just had to make sure. I’ll be back in a flash.” Buffy sets Willow’s bag down at the empty table before weaving her way quickly through the tables to get there drinks.

Willow slowly sits down, shaking her head in surprise at her best friend. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this happy. Whoever he is, he’s obviously taking good care of you.” Willow chuckles and pulls a napkin from the dispenser and wipes the table as she waits for Buffy to come back.

Buffy groans quietly as she hears Willow’s comments. “Not a he, Wills.” Buffy whispers as she waits for the mochas to be made, thankful that there wasn’t that big a line, since most people seemed to want to get home for the holidays, instead of hanging out at the airport. Accepting the drinks, Buffy makes her way back to Willow, smiling at her friend. She could see the changes in the redhead. Willow seemed more relaxed and poised than she was when she left. More in touch with herself, instead of being the nervous spaz she’d been in high school.

“Thanks.” Willow accepts the mocha from Buffy and pulls the lid off to blow on the hot drink, sipping it cautiously.

“Mmmm. Good.” Buffy moans after taking a sip of hers, smiling at Willow. Knowing she probably should be nervous, but somehow just thinking about Tara calms her… and makes her want to run home and be with her lover. Sighing quietly at her meanderings, Buffy finally chuckles and tilts her head at Willow. “Do you want to go first, or me?”

Willow stops with the cup halfway to her mouth again, before setting it back down. “You first, please.” Willow begs softly, trying to get the butterflies in her stomach to calm down.

“Hmmm. I don’t know how I should say this, to tell you the truth.” Buffy admits softly, running a finger around the table while looking at Willow. “I met someone, obviously.” Buffy rolls her eyes and chuckles. “And this person is literally my other half, Willow. I’m complete now. My slayer half and my half have integrated completely because of this person.” Buffy whispers softly after looking around to make sure no one was paying attention to them.

“What?” Willow squeaks in surprise. “But… I didn’t think that was possible.” Willow whispers quietly.

“Very possible. It’s only happened once before.” Buffy growls deeply as the thought of that time angers her, as usual, unaware of her eyes starting to glow a bright, hot copper.

“Shit!” Willow backs away from Buffy looking in her eyes. “Buffy?” Willow questions worriedly.

Buffy shakes her head and tries to calm down. “Sorry. My eyes changed, didn’t they?” Buffy looks apologetically at the redhead. “When I’m angry… or…” Buffy blushes lightly looking down.

“Or?” Willow urges, curious.

“Or when I’m around Tara.” Buffy admits quietly, her eyes opening wide as she realized she’d said Tara’s name, without telling Willow it was a woman.

“Tara?” Willow looks confused at Buffy. “Who’s Tara?”

Buffy slowly raises her eyes to Willow. “My other half, my lover, my soul mate.” Buffy whispers quietly.

Willow stares in stunned surprise at Buffy for a few minutes, before she starts laughing hysterically. Sliding down partway in the chair, Willow feels a ten-ton weight lifting from her shoulders and she wipes at the tears running down her face in between her laughing fits.

Buffy frowns at her best friend, wondering if she had finally been able to send her over the edge into looney land. “Willow?” Buffy finally questions after a few minutes of the redhead laughing and wiping away the tears.

Willow waves her hand at Buffy and reaches for a napkin, gently patting the tears still streaming from her eyes. “You… gay?” Willow starts laughing again.

“Yes, I guess you could say that.” Buffy blinks, starting to get upset. “Is it that unbelievable?” Buffy growls quietly, her eyebrows drawing together.

Willow’s eyes widen as she sees Buffy getting upset and waves her hand at her, as she tries to get control of her emotions. “No! No, Buffy! My girlfriend would be so pissed at me, if I had a problem with you dating and being in love with a woman!” Willow explains quickly.

Buffy slowly unclenches her hand and tilts her head at Willow. “You…” Blinking a couple times, a quiet chuckle escapes her lips as she slowly relaxes. “Your laughter is because you were going to tell me you’re seeing a woman and didn’t know how to break it to me, then I…” Buffy sighs quietly and shakes her head in disbelief. “We are a pair, aren’t we?”

Willow laughs and nods her head. “Poor Xander’s head is going to explode!”

“It about already has, numerous times with me and Tara.” Buffy grins wickedly at Willow. “She’s great, Wills. There’s so much I have to tell you…” Buffy shakes her head as she thinks about everything that the redhead had missed. “But first things, first. Who is your mystery woman?”

Willow purses her lips, her eyes flashing merrily. “Amy.” Willow’s lips turn up into a wicked grin as Buffy’s eyes widen in surprise.

“Rat, Amy?” Buffy slaps her hand down gently on the table, starting to laugh. “When did you change her back?”

“Beginning of the school year. It took a while for her to be comfortable around people again. She’s sworn off magic completely, and honestly after I did that spell, and discussing things with her, I decided to not do any more magic, either.” Willow explains quietly. “So, hopefully you won’t need my help with anything.” Willow look worriedly at the slayer.

“That’s fine, Wills. Tara’s actually a very powerful witch. And believe it or not, I have access to her power. I’ve only used it a few times, right after the last wall was unlocked between us, but it’s there if I should need it.” Buffy explains quietly. Seeing the confused look on Willow’s face, Buffy sighs softly. “Very serious, very long discussion. But first things first. Tara’s staying in the room with me. You can bunk down in Faith’s room, she offered up her bed and said she’d either sleep on the floor, of if you had a problem with her being in the room, she’d crash on the couch. So you can think about where you’d like to sleep.”

“Faith’s offered to give up her bed for me?” Willow blinks in surprise at Buffy.

“Yes, she did. She’s changed, not a lot, but she has changed, Willow. She’s sorrier than you can ever know for what she did. We’ve all talked and straightened things out. I honestly believe we all were at fault with what happened back then, but you need to talk to her about whatever hang-ups you might have.” Buffy explains quietly. “Please try and give her a chance, Wills. She’s still a pain in the ass, but she’s trying and she’s actually chilled out somewhat. Tara’s the reason she’s out of the coma. She went into her psyche and talked with her, trying to calm her and mend her broken soul. Faith met her more than halfway, finally and was wanting to get better.” Buffy shrugs, smiling softly. “Tara said it wouldn’t work, unless Faith really wanted to get better.”

Willow nods her head in understanding. “Tara must be a very powerful witch. Doing that is very draining and taxing on the body, to visit inside another person’s psyche like that.”

“I know. That caused a bit of an argument between us, among a few other things.” Buffy rolls her eyes. “Damn woman usually wins the arguments or gets her way, though. It’s starting to piss me off.” Buffy jokes and winks at Willow.

“So, how’s your mom about your new relationship?” Willow smirks at Buffy as she slowly eases back in the chair, relaxing even more as she sips on her mocha.

“Actually, she’s been wonderful and very understanding. I played the pronoun game with her when I first talked about Tara.” Buffy looks up, a goofy grin on her face as she thinks back to that time. “I kept going on and on about Tara’s eyes. Of course I didn’t say her name…” Buffy shrugs. “I think it took a couple days before I noticed anything else but her eyes.” Buffy blushes lightly. “But when I did… hubba hubba.” Buffy wiggles her eyes and grins lasciviously.

“TMI!” Willow yells and tosses a napkin at the slayer, laughing at her best friend.

“Oh, that isn’t TMI… When my mom and I were teasing her about the sheets… Now if I told you about that, that may be TMI!” Buffy jokes and wiggles her eyebrows.

“Sheets?” Willow furrows her brows at Buffy.

Buffy leans forward and whispers quietly. “She was a virgin.” Buffy leans back and laughs wickedly as Willow blushes furiously. “She isn’t anymore!” Buffy sing songs, laughing even more as Willow drops her head down to the table.

“You’re doing this just to pick on me. There is no way your mother would pick on someone about something like that.” Willow mutters loudly, unaware that Giles and Joyce had walked up behind her, seeing if they were ready to leave yet, and to see how things were going.

“Of course I would. You’ll see why when you see Tara. It’s fun picking on her.” Joyce winks at Buffy. “Though she isn’t as easily embarrassed as she was.”

“Joyce!” Willow jumps up and spins around, hugging Joyce tightly, while looking at Giles, blinking in surprise at the casually dressed watcher. Seeing the white polo shirt tucked neatly into a pair of black Levi’s with a black leather jacket over his shoulder. “Giles?” Willow squeaks in surprise.

“Hello, my dear.” Giles smiles and laughs quietly as Willow quickly hugs him after Joyce lets her go.

“I assume everything went okay?” Joyce raises an eyebrow at Buffy.

“Yep. Went great. Willow has some of her own news to break to everyone, though.” Buffy chuckles as Willow groans quietly. “You can wait ‘til we get to the house, if you want to tell everyone at once.” Buffy offers magnanimously.

“Why me?” Willow rolls her eyes, but doesn’t feel the nervousness or the trepidation that she’d felt earlier. Knowing that if everyone had accepted Buffy’s relationship, it shouldn’t be any problem for them with hers.

“Come on, let’s go. Wanna see Kalina.” Buffy grumbles as she grabs up Willow’s luggage.

“Who’s Kalina? I thought her name was Tara?” Willow follows behind Buffy after grabbing her laptop.

“I’m assuming you weren’t able to explain everything.” Giles raises an eyebrow at Buffy, not that either of the young women had really explained to him what happened, but at his repeated requests, Travers had finally sent him a copy of what had happened at that time. Shivering uncontrollably as he thought about what the Council had tried to do to the slayer, what they had done to Kalina and what Sarim had done to the men she’d went after, he feels his stomach get queasy just thinking about it. Feeling Joyce place a hand on his arm and gently squeeze, he smiles sadly at her. Slowly shaking off the thoughts running through his head, he turns back to Buffy.

“Kalina is Tara.” Buffy explains to Willow before turning to Giles and shaking her head briefly. “I just told her that she was my other half, my lover and my soul mate, that I had access to her abilities, but I didn’t go into much detail, since that’ll take a couple hours probably.”

“Quite right. Well, the sooner we get out of here, the sooner you’ll be with Tara. And the sooner Willow will be able to hear all the details.” Giles smiles and unlocks the hatch, so Willow and Buffy can place Willow’s belongings in the back. Before they all climbed in to head back to the Summers’ residence.