Title: Heart Ache Series
By A.M. Glass
E-mail: glasswrks@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: The author of this story does not own any of the characters. Please do not sue.
Distribution: Please email Author
Rating: Unrated
Feedback: Yes

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Chapter Eleven
The Final Heart Ache: Buffy

Her breathing stopped. She watched as the other girl got up slowly, walked over towards Willow and hugged her tightly for a few seconds before silently leaving the room. She couldn't move, she was so sure that Willow was going to chose Tara that she never really considered herself in the running.

As soon as Tara had left the room, Willow threw herself on her bed and cried. Buffy got up and went to her, and rubbed her back. She wanted to tell Willow that everything would work out in the end, but she couldn't. Willow looked up through her tears and embraced her. Buffy said the only thing she could think of.

"I'm sorry Will, I'm sorry."

They stayed that way until Willow fell into an exhausted sleep, there would be no classes today for either one of them.

'If I've won, why do I feel so bad?' Buffy mused as she gently untangled herself from Willow's arms. She knew she had to do something first, before they moved on from here. Making sure that Willow was covered, she kissed her on the cheek and whispered, "I'll be right back," moving a strand of hair away from Willow's face.

She'd headed out of the room and down the hall. The early morning light shone in her eyes as she stepped out of Stevenson's Hall. Tara had been gone for nearly an hour; she should have done this earlier but could not leave Willow alone, in the state she was in. She decided she needed to talk to the other girl, but she had no idea where Tara's dorm room was located.

How was she going to find her?

She was about to turn around and head back inside when she thought she saw her. Running across the grass, her legs pumping, she called out:

"Tara! Tara… wait!"

The girl kept walking away, and with a burst of speed Buffy reached out.

"Hey!!"

"Oh… I'm… I'm sorry. I… I thought you were someone else," Buffy told the stranger. 'Idiot,' she told herself. Buffy returned to her dorm room somewhat dejectedly. Walking back towards Willow, she sat down next to her, keeping an eye on her. Maybe she'd ask her later on where Tara lived. She wondered if Willow would tell her.

***

Two months later…

Life had returned to normal, as normal as one could get in Sunnydale. Buffy had finally managed to speak with Tara and had formed a fragile alliance with the other girl. It wasn't hard as they both recognized that Willow's safety and happiness would always come first.

Of course there were some rough spots at the beginning, especially when Tara refused to take the locket back. Willow had told her that she didn't feel right keeping it, Tara had told her to think of it as a symbol of their friendship. And Willow being Willow, kept it, although she didn't wear it as often as she did at first.

There were awkward moments as well, whenever they'd run into each other around school, they weren't sure how to talk to one another. Willow finally took the bulls by the horns and had a heart to heart talk with Tara. Now, things were going a bit more smoothly.

***

5 PM

"Do you think she'll remember?" Tara asked Willow after they had finished casting a few spells.

"Remember what?" Willow answered, gathering her things together.

"Your, um… your anniversary." she stated simply.

"Oh… I... I'm not sure. She's been really busy that last couple of days…"

"Well… happy anniversary Willow."

"Tha… thanks. I'd better go."

"Okay, see you later," Tara said walking Willow to the door. "Bye."

"Bye Tara."

Willow walked back towards Stevenson's Hall, in silent contemplation, she had completely forgotten what today was. Now, she only hoped that she could do something for Buffy to show her how much she cared.

Although they were a couple, at least they thought of themselves as a couple; Xander and Giles weren't very surprised, which surprised them. They hadn't moved their relationship past the heavy petting and kisses that left them both breathless stage. They were both exhausted and it didn't seem to really matter to either one of them at the moment. They both knew it would happen, only the *when* was in question.

When she entered the room, she could tell that Buffy hadn't been by as of yet. Putting her supplies away, she quickly changed her clothes, sat down and waited.

***

Ten PM

"Okay, thanks Giles. I'll… I'll be over tomorrow… good night," Willow said as she hung up the phone. She picked at the pizza she had ordered two hours previously. She'd listened to three CD's, watched television, and completed her assignments and still no word from Buffy. Of course she could take care of herself, but that didn't make it any easier on Willow. 'Please be alright,' Willow thought.

***

"Look, I don't have time for this," Buffy said as she fought off another vampire. She had managed to dust three of them, when she was taken off guard. Punches were exchanged as Buffy tried to find an opening. She groaned as the vampire took her legs out from under her. She had a feeling she was in trouble when Mr. Pointy fell from her grasp. 'Oh shit,' she said to herself as the stronger than normal fledgling vampire picked her up by her coat and head butted her three times in a row.

Blinking the stars from her eyes, she punched him in the face, hearing the distinct sound of his nose breaking, only to have him shake it off.

'Will.'

He grabbed her head, as she desperately kicked out against him.

He smiled.

Buffy felt her neck twisting.

***

Willow heard a faint knocking on her door, grabbing a crucifix, just in case; she went to the door.

"Who is it?"

"It's me… Tara."

Opening the door, she saw Tara holding on to Buffy.

"Oh my God!"

"Can… can I come in?"

"Oh… yeah… bring her in."

Tara brought Buffy's battered and bruised body inside, Willow quickly closed the door and helped Tara get Buffy to her bed.

"What happened?"

"She was fighting off a couple of vampires, and… and one of them. He… he was pretty strong, and… he almost killed her."

"How… how did you find her?" she asked as she took off Buffy's jacket.

"Well… aft… after you left. I… I sorta did a location spell."

Willow quickly looked over at Tara.

"I… I… wanted to make sure she… she didn't forget."

"You saved her?"

Tara simply nodded her head.

"Why?"

"You love each other… if… if something ever happened to her… you'd be crushed."

"Thank you Tara," Willow said embracing the other girl.

"I'd… I'd better go…"

"Do you have to?"

"Yeah… um… I'll… I'll see you later."

Soon, Willow was alone in the room with Buffy.

"Buffy… Buffy, can you hear me?" she whispered as she carefully removed Buffy's torn clothes.

"Will?"

"Buffy?"

"I'm not dead?" she asked, her voice cracking.

"No…" Willow replied as tears fell from her face.

"Hey… no crying. I'm… I'm fine. I don't know why, but I am."

"I'll tell you later."

"Will?"

"Yeah."

"Happy anniversary."

"I love you Buffy."

"I love you to Will."

************
Chapter Twelve
The Final Heart Ache: Tara

When she heard her name, she knew that she would have to do everything possible to show Willow that she had made the right choice. She got up from the bed and walked over to her.

"I'll… I'll wait outside… give you two some time," she said, before excusing herself from the room.

"Thanks," came the whispered reply.

She wanted nothing more than to shout for joy, but she couldn't, she knew how hard the decision had to have been, and didn't want to ever think about how she would have handled it had it gone the other way again.

A few minutes later Willow emerged from her room, her face streaked with tears.

"Are you going to be okay?" she asked.

Willow nodded, wiping at the tears.

"Can… can I… I sta… stay with you?" she asked, the emotions of the last few minutes making it difficult for her to speak.

"Sure," Tara replied. "I'll be right back," she said as she quickly went to the girls' restroom and got some paper towels for Willow. "Here… I… I think you might need it," she said handing them to Willow.

"Thanks."

"Let's go."

***

They spent the entire day talking about what they were going to do as well as what she had told Buffy and how Buffy had taken the news. She wasn't surprised when Willow finally fell asleep. She huddled next to her, hoping that by being close by, Willow wouldn't feel so alone.

***

The next week went by in a blur for them. Willow spent that night as well as others with her, never bringing up Buffy's name except in passing. Willow was avoiding Buffy and Tara knew that something had to be done to fix the problem before it got to the point where there wouldn't be anything left to fix.

***

"Willow?"

"Hmm?" she replied looking up from the book she was reading.

"I… I… um. I think you should get in touch with Buffy."

"I… I can't… not yet."

"I… I know it hurts, believe me I know. The entire time I spent sitting on your bed, waiting for your decision… I… I imagined what it would be like… if… if you hadn't chosen me. And to tell you the truth, I didn't like it. If that's how I felt by just imaging it, it must be ten times worse for Buffy, because she's living through it. You can't afford to let your friendship suffer, especially because of me."

"I… I will, just not yet, okay?"

"Okay. You know what, I've got to go to the library to pick up a book I need for one of my classes. I'll… I'll be back in an hour."

"Do you want me to go with you?"

"Nah, I'm okay."

"Alright, be careful coming back."

"I will," she said, kissing Willow on the cheek. She left the room and headed in the direction of the library. 'You'd better hurry,' she told herself, as she watched Buffy enter her dorm.

She didn't want to force the issue, but they had to talk, really talk. And if inviting Buffy over on the pretense that Willow wasn't feeling good, well, she'd take her chances. She sat at the base of a tree that provided an excellent view of the front of her dorm; she'd be able to see Buffy when she left.

She sat and waited for over two hours before Buffy came out. She couldn't tell anything by the look on her face. Standing up and brushing the dirt off of her clothes, she walked back to her room. Steeling herself, she opened the door and peeked inside, Willow was sitting down in the same place she had left her earlier.

"I'm… I'm back," she said as she entered the room.

"Why did you do that?"

"Willow… I love you and I couldn't stand seeing you like this anymore. I had to do something, I'm sorry if I went behind your back to do it. Are… are you two okay?"

"It was hard, for both of us. She… she tried to change my mind… in the end we decided that our friendship is so much more important to us," she trailed off as she thought back to their conversation.

"But… you're okay?"

"Yeah… we're okay. It's going to be hard, we both admitted that it was going to take some time before we're able to be comfortable around each other, but, it's going to work out."

"I'm so glad," Tara said as she enveloped the other girl in a hug.

"So am I."

***

6 Months Later

Tonight was the night. And she was scared out of her mind. Granted they had been at the point of no turning back a few times over the past six months, but there was always something that kept it from happening.

But tonight…

Was different.

The fact that Buffy was helping out as a testament of how far they had come since that night. That was not saying that they didn't have their problems from time to time. They did, but with any friendship, they grew stronger.

Tara was due back in another ten minutes and Willow's heart was racing, everything was set. Buffy was even taking care of Xander, so he wouldn't be around the entire weekend.

She was secretly hoping to stay in the entire time, which made her blush, considering what Buffy had said to her earlier.

"You dog Will. Try not to wear her out okay?" she said jokingly.

Sighing, she quickly changed her clothes and lit the candles that she hoped would bring her luck.

***

As soon as Tara opened the door, she could tell that something was going on.

Candles adorned the room, casting their gentle light in every direction. She had just stepped into the room and closed the door when Willow grabbed her and kissed her senseless.

"Happy anniversary," Willow exclaimed, after releasing her lip lock on the other girl.

"Hap… happy… anni… anniversary," Tara finally managed to get out. Stepping back, she looked at Willow. "You… you look beautiful," she told her.

"Thanks… I've got you a little something," Willow said handing Tara a small box. "Hurry up and open it."

Putting her bag down, she carefully opened the gift. She pulled a sterling silver chain, hanging off it was a heart, and in the middle were the initials, 'W T'.

"Oh… it's beautiful," she said as tears gathered in her eyes. After putting it on, Tara got her bag and reached inside and pulled out her gift for Willow. "It's not as nice as yours," she said, handing it over.

"I'm sure it's… oh… Tara, where did you get it?"

"I… I asked Mr. Giles… I asked Giles if he could get a copy of it for me," she answered.

"It's perfect," Willow replied looking at the leather bound volume of spells.

"Do you want to try one?"

"Nope… maybe later. I… I… I have other plans for tonight."

"Really?"

"Umhmm," she said placing the book down carefully on the table and walking back to Tara and relieved her of her sweater.

"So… so, wha… what do you have planned?" Tara asked as she was being guided towards her bed.

"Something I think we'll both enjoy."

"Oh?"

"Tara?"

"Yeah?"

"Has anyone ever accused you of talking too much?" she asked.

Before she could answer, she felt the back of her legs coming into contact with the bed.

"No…"

"Good."

Willow leaned in and brought her lips in contact with Tara's, getting lost in the sweetness of it. Tara fell back, sprawling on the bed, enjoying the sensation on Willow's body on hers.

"Tara?"

"Yes?"

"I love you."

Tara smiled.

"I love you to Will. Umm… Will?"

"Hmm."

"Are… are you happy?" she asked, all of sudden needing to know.

"I think I'll just show you how happy I am Tara."

END

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