"You can open your eyes sweetie."

The soft voice of the redhead’s lover made the young witch not want to open her eyes at all, after all if she did so the voice along with any image that might accompany it would disappear as it always did when her dead lover came to her in her dreams.

"Sweetie, it’s quite safe, you managed to blow all the candles out and not set fire to your hair or even the little icing dolphins I made."

Again came the encouragement to do precisely what Willow didn’t want to do. She never just opened her eyes in these dreams and was still in the dream, she was always pushed back into the reality of her empty bed, in her equally empty dorm room.

"Will, come on already." This time the voice wasn’t soft and thick like honey, it wasn’t even female. "Get up already Rosenberg." The vocal encouragement was accompanied by a soft shove in the shoulder and the thick wool blend blanket she’d tucked around her body being tugged away.

"I’m tired… you ruined my dream." Willow responded in a deep gruff sleepy voice.

"Yeah well right now you’re ruining your course average by skipping lectures and not handing in projects, so I’ve got the moral and right upper hand." The reply came as the blanket was victoriously pulled of the semi-conscious woman by a tall, somewhat gawky young man, who was dressed in a pair of flamboyantly red jeans with a green and pink polo shirt.

"Of course I am." Willow curled into more of a fetal position without her blankets to shield her. "Dr. Loemon already confirmed I’m in a depression, wouldn’t screwing up at school be in the territory?" She grumbled putting the pillow over her head.

"Yes, but I made a promise to you, and your friends that I wouldn’t let you get away with stuff." The young man countered, "And it’s actually a subject you like," He added the incentive, "With that hot youngish professor…" He continued his list of attractions.

"Fine…" She flung herself into a sitting position, trying to retain the mantra that her and Dr. Loemon had been working on. The hardest part was just getting the day started, if she actually got started who the hell knows what she could manage. "Give me five minutes then harass me again." She shuffled towards her clothes closet.

"You got it honey." The guy at who had now neatly folded the blanket and put it on the chair near her dressing table moved easily to the door. "You need to remember to tell the Doc that the dreams are getting worse." He added as he took hold of the door handle.

*******

Having convinced Clark to at least detour so she could get a double espresso and a donut, Willow finally settled next to him in a seat with some of her other new friends and looked to the front of the room waiting for the lecture to begin. She took out her less than perfect notebook, it had ‘beloved’ doodled on it in at least 40 languages, and in numerous styles of some versions. She had only one blue pen with her, the bottom a little chewed, another new almost compulsive habit she continued to indulge in even though it was on her list of things to get in control again..

Willow was slightly surprised when there was a slight tap on her shoulder from behind, and the girl there, a quite young brunette that Willow vaguely recognised from the class was leaning forward holding something, well a group of something’s actually.

"A little bird told me you needed these." She offered Willow a collection of pens, one each of red, black, green, orange and pink.

Willow looked between the young woman and the offered gifts before she took them trying to hide the shake in her hands as the flood of ‘Tara memories’ it brought threatened to send her running from the room, class or no class.

"What little birdie?" She asked suddenly her voice a bit awed.

"I don’t really know." The other student admitted, "There was a note on the fridge in the dorm this morning, ‘could anyone going to lecture room 326, advanced calculus, 10:30 take at least five different coloured pens and give them to Willow Rosenberg, she’s bound to have forgotten about them.’" She explained, "I’m the only one in the house that has this lecture so I thought I’d better you know, at least be prepared." She stopped, "You are Willow Rosenberg right? Because if not I feel like a complete idiot."

"No, I am. The only one as far as I know." Willow gave her a soft smile. "Pink… nice choice. Thank you again." She turned looking at them and immediately wanted to run to Buffy. "This is going to be the weirdest day." She muttered to herself praying for the lecture to start.

"Did Jenny Marche just give you her phone number or something Willow?" Clark leaned in and hissed into the redhead’s ear.

"No, pens… who is Jenny Marche?" Willow leaned back to whisper still trying to shake off the strange ‘Tara moment’ that didn’t seem focused on the blonde so much as on her trying to dare Willow to do it, to make some kind of point.

"Just a senior, same as you," He summed up and then nudged her lightly, "In more than one way." He added.

"Clark you think everyone is gay." Willow rolled her eyes still studying the very specific colours. "Remember Greg from Advanced Physical Calculus?"

"So gay just repressed." Clark huffed, "And anyway honey, Jenny is so confirmed rainbow clan it’s not even funny." He flapped his hand at the redhead a couple of times.

"Then let me guess…" Willow looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Because I am gay… she is gay… and…" She turned briefly to watch the brunette as she busied herself sending a text on her cell phone and realized that Jenny Marche was actually a very, very attractive girl. Not exactly Willow’s usual, as her gothic trended attire, professional makeup and the highlights of a few various colours in her long dark brown hair made her a little too self confident and self expressive. For Willow there had only been two types of girls, Tara and mistakes like Kennedy. Not that she was angry with the young slayer, they had found hastened physical contact at a time when nothing, not even the existence of a future seemed possible. The problem with Jenny was, she didn’t fit into either right now. "That I should ask her out?" She turned back to Clark. "To say thank you for pens."

"You could think about it." Clark wiggled his eyebrows. "After all I can’t keep up my sexual hi-jinx forever, I need someone else to be the star of Saturday night sex slander."

"I don’t know." Willow instantly felt about 14 and like she was the class freak again. Too smart to be a kid and too stupid to be an adult. "She probably is thinking God why did I bring this ugly girl pens."

"Unlike you Willow, Jenny Marche has been present at all of these lectures and knows very well who Willow Rosenberg is, she brought you pens knowing you were ugly." Clark countered.

"Damn you and your gay troll logic." Willow kicked him lightly with her sneaker and then looked checking that indeed for some reason the lecturer hadn’t yet arrived, and some of the more rowdy were starting to suggest the ’15 minute rule’ could now start to be applied. Some already were packing up again in hopeful anticipation of a free afternoon. Taking a deep breath she closed her eyes for a moment, saying to herself she would count to 20 and then if no lecturer she would turn around and see what happened with actually trying to talk to a girl, who was apparently gay too.

She actually got to 45 before she turned around to see Jenny was still playing with her mobile phone, and she sat awkward for a moment before she thought she should interrupt before she started to look like a psycho.

"Thank you again for the pens… but considering the awesome selection I feel that if I don’t offer you say, coffee and something sweet like dessert or a donut, that I’m not truly giving thanks for the little birdie." Willow felt her lips open and nothing but pure babble start, a la Xander babble, be it as she found ‘slick Willow’ had woken up and was at least trying to flirt.

For a second Jenny just looked at Willow as if to say, ‘are you talking to me?’, she then looked at her cell phone, flicked it closed and looked properly at Willow.

"Did you just offer me coffee in exchange for pens?" Te dark brunette asked, "And donuts?" she added her eyebrow quirking a little.

"Fundamentally yes." Willow was forced to admit and then of course she knew it was going to happen as the burning set in and her cheeks blushed. "With the added suggestion of me having coffee with you, but I can just buy it for you if you prefer."

"You could buy me an expresso machine and call the deal paid in full if you like." Jenny gave a soft shrug. "But it’s okay, I don’t need payment or anything, like I said, I was the only one coming within 100 metres of this place today, well any day really from my house, so it’s no biggie. Buy Clark another rainbow accessory with the money, god knows he needs more." She gave Willow a bright honest smile.

"True." Willow gave an awkward laugh, glancing at Clark who had just changed his expression from the ‘please be nice to her’ look he was giving Jenny to a supportive Willow look.

"We could do coffee just because coffee is good if you’d like though." Jenny said before Willow made any further comment.

"That was mostly what I had in mind the first time." Willow admitted with a slight smirk of personal mocking. "But I have this tendency to complicate things with too many words."

"Everyone has tendencies that get them in trouble occasionally. Complicating vocabulary isn’t a big one." The other student seemed to relax a little more as she pushed her back into the auditorium seat, shifting her legs a little to put her heavy soled boots up on the chair back just to the side of Willow, tucking her short black and white plaid kilt between her legs. "Sadistic tendencies and genocidal leanings are more you know ‘biggies’."

While Willow’s logical and rational mind followed the woman’s statements, her eyes betrayed the more primal wiring of her brain as Jenny moved, glimpsing in the millisecond the white underwear the girl was wearing before she moved the skirt.

"Who hasn’t done them though, I figured it was the little ones that weren’t good anymore." Willow shrugged swallowing as she suddenly felt very… well bad for having let her eyes divert at all.

"When I was eleven my best friend killed a pigeon to see if chickens really carried on running after you cut off their heads." Jenny nodded equally following Willow’s theory, "I pointed out that it was a pigeon and not a chicken so it made the test unscientific and as such I was going to have to report him to animal services." She gave a shrug, "That got me a good 6 months of gum and chips for free."

"That is capitalising off those who are sadistic and genocidal, completely different then actually being the sadistic or the genocidal." Willow nodded barely hearing the growing furor as it seemed they were getting closer to the magical 15 minute mark. "But the problem in that scenario is making sure you back the right genocide to make money off of."

"Completely." Jenny agreed easily, "My dad had an affair with his personal assistant for three years before I stopped taking his bribes." She shrugged again, that same easy shrug that seemed to just be a natural part of her usual movements. "I realised he wasn’t a sadist or a genocide guy, so why was I covering his ass?" She rolled her eyes and then dropped her legs again and leaned forward, the loose frilled unbuttoned collar of her white shirt falling open a little, revealing the black and red lace of an under bodice. She picked up the black satchel from the floor and then nodded to the front.

A small almost weasely looking man had scampered in and scrawled…

‘Lecture cancelled, study notes available at the library for photocopying after 3pm.’

In the next millisecond he was gone, obviously trying to avoid the onslaught of students that had already begun diving over rows of chairs to be the first to freedom.

"Wow looks like all of our prayers are being answered today, you got your pens and I get to slip out early and deal with shit." She wiggled her phone.

"But I thought you’d agreed to coffee." Willow’s voice held more actual confidence then she’d heard it hear in along time as she picked up her bag and carefully packed the pens into one pocket.

"I did." Jenny smiled and reached out taking Willows arm. She then pulled the top of the felt marker in her hand off with her teeth. She quickly scrawled a 10 digit phone number on the back of Willow’s hand, underlining it and putting a cross through the underline to make it a giant kiss. "I gotta run." She added replacing the cap and dropping the felt pen in Willow’s bag. "You need it more than me apparently." She added getting up stretching out her long body, which was revealed to be nearly 6ft, with long legs, curved hips, even if hidden under layers of black, lace, belts and chains.

Willow smiled as the whirlwind of an exit finished with the girl pushing her way past a slow moving group who couldn’t seem to figure out what to do with 3 free hours.

"Clark… tell me everything you know about her." Willow ordered looking at him to sit back down from where he had stood up to get moving as well.

"Do I at least get tea? My throat will dry up for sure." Clark looked horrified for a moment.

"Yes, maybe even green tea from the infusion place if you want to drive downtown." Willow smiled at him as she packed up. "We have 3 free hours, a half hour into the city is nothing."

"Now you’re talking my language." He grinned at her catching hold of her hand and urging her to hurry along with him.

*****

"So… what do I do?" Willow held up her hand, which was still very darkly marked with Jenny’s phone number.

"You said she was nice, right?" Buffy checked the details again, having had Willow explain the situation twice already and still wasn’t sure of the basic facts.

"Yes, but… she’s tall." Willow pointed out again. "And very well femme."

"She’s a femme." Buffy blinked and then gave a somewhat exasperated sigh, "I’m sorry Willow, I admit it, I’m a horrible best friend because I still don’t understand what that means. She wears pink a lot?" The slayer offered her level of comprehension.

"I don’t know why you find this so difficult." Willow frowned at her knowing she didn’t like to be mean to her best friend, this was like the 1500^th time they’d gone over the idea. "She’s girlie girlie, in an extreme way, she wears kilts and tall boots."

"Like me." Buffy pointed out her prada knee high brown suede stiletto heeled books and little matching skirt.

"Exactly." Willow nodded. "If you were a lesbian, you’d be a high femme…"

"So a girl who looks like me wants to go to coffee with you?" Buffy summed up.

"Yes, except you’re everything right about Malibu Barbie and she’s on the other side of femme with Emily the Strange." Willow clarified.

"She’s a goth?" Buffy blinked wide eyed. "She’s a devil loving black makeup wearing weirdo?"

"Yes to the former, no to the latter and way to insult the entire Goth nation Buffy." Willow tsk’d at her. "And yes I understand… look at me…" She pointed to herself. "Vampire me was gothic, I am the anti-gothic, I am… boring Willow in the apparently badly matched shirt and pants."

"No, you sometimes wear skirts." Buffy shook her head, not challenging the ‘badly matched’ aspect of the redhead’s rant.

"I know… Goddess, sometimes I wish I was butch, like Faith." She lowered her head to the island surface in Buffy’s kitchen. "Then life would be simple."

"You’d be an ex-skanky ho." Buffy blinked, "I’ll keep professional, intelligent slightly mismatched Willow for 500 please Alex." She announced firmly.

"Thank you." Willow looked up to give her a ‘thank you, I love you too’ smile. "I know it seems weird but… the whole little birdie note thing, with the pens, it’s so… weird."

"Do you think she might be evil? You know you went a little with the dark and the black makeup when you…" Buffy stopped and instead made a gesture with her hand.

"I don’t sense anything more evil about her than your regular mad at the establishment gothic type." Willow shook her head. "Maybe it’s a hint that I should call her, to broaden my horizons."

"You want to start dating again?" Buffy checked she wasn’t misreading her friends thought pattern.

"You’re right, that’s an absurd idea." Willow gave a low noise of disbelief at the indeed crazy idea as she sipped her coffee.

"No, will no." Buffy shook her head quickly, "It’s been too long." She added, "Leo and I were talking about it last night, and we both were trying to think of good ways to get you to meet people other than slayers, watchers, watcherettes and would be weird people, oh and demons." She clarified. "You deserve to be happy Will, all of us do, I know before the whole Sunnydale thing, and for a long while here I wasn’t miss Sunshine, but with Leo’s help, and by finding my place as leader of this rag-tag mob, I’m learning that life is about living and being happy." She reached out and closed her hand around Willow’s. "And I know that the world took away from you the chance you thought you had, but maybe there are more chances out there." She offered.

"Okay, I’ll call her." Willow resolved herself. "I mean what’s the worst thing that happens, we spend an awkward quarter of a hour with a coffee and she disappears after running off to the toilet." She sighed and laughed. "Just underlines that I should not look further for a girlfriend in the Goth community."

"No, not at all think about all the other options you have." Buffy shook her head again, "There are…" She paused, and the paused drew on. "I’m sorry I’m coming up all boys." She frowned again at her lacking ‘gaydar’.

"Make coffee, I mean good long brewed coffee." Willow stood up and straightened her shirt. "I’m going to call." She made a beeline for Buffy’s room where she could make the call in private but knowing the Slayer would be there for post call dissection and panic.

"I’m making…" Buffy moved obediently to get a filter.

Not more than three minutes went past before Willow was coming out of the slayer’s room.

"Don’t chicken out." Buffy scolded her.

"I didn’t, I called, she picked up…" Willow moved in and sat down looking very… shell shocked. "Third ring, figured I was going to get the machine and I almost chickened out… we talked, and we’re going for coffee." She stood up again and moved to put her cup in the dishwasher.

"That’s great, when? What are you going to wear?" Buffy looked pleased.

"Now… she said give her at least 10minutes while she got out of her school clothes and got into something more her." Willow looked at the slayer completely five seconds from panic. "I guess I’m wearing this." She looked at her green cords with her actually very risky for Willow tight lycra black shirt with the red imprint of runic writing on the front.

"It’s perfect." Buffy gushed immediately. "Now don’t panic, remember she’s just a class mate, and this is just coffee." The slayer gave the gentle pointers. "First date’s are always weird, and this isn’t really even first date, this is ‘hi how are you’ coffee."

"Right, right… I just need to relax." Willow seemed able to take a deep breath and stop panicking quite as much. "Wow… see I told you, you were good at this relationship stuff, even in a gay context." She smiled at her best friend.

"I’m trying." Buffy smiled back, "I even extended Dawn’s curfew to midnight." She added, "Trying to be the understanding relationship sister, with her ever changing boyfriend pattern." She rolled her eyes, "But don’t get me started on that, this is about you, about you going through that door and wowing a little Goth femme from your math class." She pointed to the door.

"Okay." Willow nodded and picked up her jacket and headed with one last look for reassurance to the Slayer out the door.

****

"I prefer here to those God awful cafes, at least here you have the distraction of the real world, I just love how they put you across from the newspaper and magazine section, one eye can focus on death and destruction, the other can stare at Heidi’s breasts." Jenny flopped down into on of the over sized leather couches that dotted in between the tables and stools that formed the in book store coffee shop. "In a café all you’re surrounded by is little people in their own microcosms, so not real world." She summed up and pushed one of the five cup mats on the low table nearer to her chair with her boot.

"I think it’s much more criminally commercial." Willow shrugged as she sat down and moved the coaster more towards Jenny’s end of the table. "They’re hoping you’ll pick up one to read while getting coffee, and then as you’re a supposed intellectual in a bookshop be compelled to purchase the item and thus increase their revenue."

"But why would I buy a magazine or book I could read for free with my coffee." Jenny countered.

"The hinge of the underlying social moral code adherence factor, you know you should pay for it, you are in a bookshop so you’re supposed to almost automatically be better than other people, and so that means more social pressure to adhere to the known code of if you read it you buy it." Willow moved to pick up the small menu.

"Ah but if you go along with that then everyone would buy books and there would be no need for libraries, and just think of the hole that would cause in the labour laws." Jenny continued the discussion with a growing smile.

"Rubbish." Willow gave the Giles’ dismissal as without thinking, she gently grasped the boot that seemed to be waving needlessly in the air and settle it across her lap. "Libraries are in fact an institution necessary for the general check up to our basic social structural stability. If your libraries aren’t great places of free knowledge, something is wrong. People will always go to libraries because they offer the sharing of knowledge, books you could never own and the almost brainwashed anthems they drill into us from kindergarten of always return your library books."

"Okay then think of the trees, by not buying sexy Heidi in her full spread, I am saving a tree from mastication in a huge machine and being pulped up for the greed of the big man with the dollars. Oh and you forgot the main reason everyone will always hang around libraries. Where else do you hang around when you’re skiving off lessons and don’t wanna be caught like the dorks who go to the mall or the local café." Jenny wiggled her boots against Willow’s thighs a little.

"We’re back to the café, argument is now circular." Willow laughed.

"Circular but with me as the victor." Jenny pointed out with a giant grin.

"Guess that means I have to buy you something sinful like cheesecake." Willow grinned back at her.

"Or Heidi’s full page spread." Jenny chuckled, "Don’t bother by the way, I read it yesterday."

"Is she still gushing about Seal and denying her inner lesbian?" Willow smiled as the waitress finally placed their pre paid drinks down in front of them with the cookies she had first ordered for a snack.

"U-huh." Jenny nodded, "So I was chatting to Clark, he told me you’re girlfriend upped and left you for a job in Europe." She just began the discussion as the waitress moved away seeming far more interested in the conversation she was having with one of the servers than in the customers she was supposed to be helping.

"Yes she did, it was for the best though, we weren’t exactly compatible." Willow admitted with no hint of malice, it bothered her sometimes but all in all it had been for the best.

"Was she a buy, read in, or get it from the library girl?" Jenny asked.

"She was only on loan to me for a very specific time." Willow smiled at the analogy. "Did Clark go into my entire dating history?"

"No, he begins talking about someone else and it always ends up as a story about him and some boy or other who broke his heart after their three day relationship, I mean didn’t Eric understand, they were positively engaged for goodness sake." She did her best Clark impression.

"You should see him around my best friend Xander, he has this enormous crush and Xander is 150% hetero but very cool with Clark, but Clark just can’t get over it. He’s like a little puppy." Willow laughed lightly.

"The one eyed carpenter?" Jenny made a guess.

"Yes, that’s Xander." Willow nodded. "I guess he’s mentioned his obsession."

"Perfect ass apparently, and the eye patch is totally ‘Pirate’ whatever the hell that means." Jenny rolled her eyes and reached out one arm, making little grabbing motions towards her coffee cup.

"So what kind of girl was your last girlfriend?" Willow asked the evening out question as she reached to hand her the mug.

"Straight." Jenny groaned. "Total disaster, but so hot." She shook her head and blew the steam off her coffee to great effect. "Though seriously she had more of the y chromo than her husband had."

"She had a husband?" Willow quirked an eyebrow.

"That’s how we met, long crazy story, husband fantasizes, wife with hot lesbian… me, wrong place, wrong time, totally naive that THAT is the dealio." She shook her head. "I was just picked up by a nice looking butch in a bar; the rest as they say is ‘shame on you Jenny’ history."

"Ouch." Willow sipped at her coffee. "You have beautiful eyes." She said without any abruptness or nervousness, it just had struck her as the best thing to say as she looked at the other woman.

"Is that a come on?" Jenny gave a one sided smirk and looked at Willow over the top of her steaming mug of flavoured coffee.

"No, more an observation." Willow smiled at her from over her cup. "Though if it was a come on would you be horrified?"

"I’d be jumping you." Jenny laughed shaking her head. "So you see you’re lucky it wasn’t." She sipped her drink and then cradled the full mug in her lap.

"Your place or mine?" Willow heard the very slick and confident words leave her lips long before her brain had re read them and checked them for geek comments. At the same time she put her coffee down, keeping eye contact with the other woman. For some reason she didn’t feel any nervousness, there was something about this girl…it just made her relaxed.

"You know you’re not at all how Clark made me imagine you." Jenny was honest as she leaned a little to the side and put her coffee on the small round stool that was in reach of her long arm. "My place." She decided upon, as she kept up the eye contact Willow had begun.

"Clark has no idea about this side of me.’ Willow summed up easily not faulting him. "The question is do we finish coffee and then flirt while we pick out books, or just go to your place?"

For a moment Jenny just looked at Willow, her brown eyes shifting ever so slightly to glance at the rows of books that filled the store. She licked her lips slowly and then looked back at Willow.

"You’re incredibly sensual, do you know that?" She asked her voice a new low rich tone.

"No, but thank you." Willow blushed just a little. "I tend to think of it more as just my overwhelming appreciation of a beautiful sexy woman, like you."

"Why don’t we skip the foray into books this time, let’s see if you find me a read in, buy or borrow type." With another slightly smirk Jenny eased her legs off Willow’s lap.

****

"Hello Willow best friend of me, who is sitting on my couch grinning… am I missing something?" Xander came in from his kitchen carrying two glasses of juice, one for him, the other for his most unexpected visitor. At eleven fifteen pm all Xander had been working up to do was go to bed, he had a bit of a headache and his eye, the one that wasn’t there, hurt. But when the doorbell had gone off, and the small redhead was on his doorstep, minus her jacket, and with a shirt that he quite honestly didn’t think Willow owned on, the thoughts of sleep had migrated somewhere to be over taken with concern for the redhead.

"I met a woman for coffee at 5:45… and I just had the most amazing five hours of sex since… I don’t know when exactly." Willow gave a little giggle. "She’s 6ft tall, wears kilts professionally with the legs to match and she tastes like… mmmmm she tastes so good."

Xander sat up and blinked, clearing his throat at least three more times than really necessary.

"You…" He stopped, "Are you really on my couch telling me you just had great sex, great lesbian sex? Am I dreaming? Oh God is it one of those dreams?" he reached for a cushion to cover his crotch.

"Xander you have clothes on." Willow assured him. "And yes I am… I just had sex for five hours with a sexy girl and do you know what? I like her, she likes me and we’ve agreed sex is a good thing."

"Well it is, sex is good, I’m all about the sex... you know what I mean right?" Xander checked.

"Yes, I know." Willow nodded. "She said I was amazing." She leaned back and grinned.

"Cool." Xander nodded, "And so we will be meeting this new smoking hot girlfriend of yours when??" He asked trying to move away slightly from the idea that his best friend was an amazing lesbian lover who liked to taste girls,

"Oh she’s not my girlfriend, she is way too anarchist for something like a girlfriend." Willow actually laughed heartily at the idea. "We’re… what do they call it on that show… friends with benefits?" She grinned more.

"Tasty benefits." Xander nodded his understanding, reasserting his grip on the cushion.

"Eww Xander…" Willow threw another pillow at him.

****

It was a distinctly fall day, something Willow liked about their migration here after Sunnydale had folded into the ground. The wind wasn’t freezing but it was brisk, and as Willow sat on one of the concrete benches in the centre of the garden between the physics and math buildings, she wished she had though to wear a hat of some kind. She wouldn’t have to give up reading in the bright midday light as quickly as she was going to do if she’d brought a hat.

"You fucking moron, did I say toss it to Australia?" They were the only words that Willow heard before 140 pounds of tracksuit covered body ploughed into her pushing her to the side and backwards as that body was in turn hit by a wayward flying football. "Oh crap…" With an obvious ease the sporty anomaly rolled to the side of the redhead letting the ball bounce off into one of the fountains.

"Ouch." Willow lay on the ground staring up at the sky for a moment trying to get her bearings.

"You’re okay, but don’t move." Blue eyes suddenly came into focus over Willow’s head, along with a shock of bright blonde hair, neatly crafted up into a faux hawk.

"Okay… I missed the postings for squish the redhead day." She wiggled her toes and fingers happy they worked. The only thing that really hurt was her ankle a bit, it had banged off the bench when she’d landed behind it.

"There were no posting that was just my ASSHOLE of a friend who can’t pass to save his life, which is ultimately over anyway because he hurt you." The reply was thick and the voice heavy with concern. "Does anything really hurt?"

"Just my ankle." Willow admitted blinking ore of the world into focus to see that she was speaking to a… her brain took a minute to decided… handsome butch woman in a football jersey who was currently running her over with her hands for visible bone breaks.

"Okay." The woman seemed to internalise the information. "Harry, get the nurse out here, you fucking moron." She turned her head and screamed at her friend, before turning back and with a surprisingly soft voice said to willow, "You’re going to be okay I think, nothing feels broken. Did you bang your head? I’m sorry I was trying to keep you from getting the football in the side of the head."

"No, I’m okay really." Willow managed to sit up a bit without the world going to askew. "I bounce well." She said with a soft laugh.

"Yeah well there’s nothing wrong with being 100% sure of that." The butch moved to help Willow into a soft supported sitting position. "I can’t believe that moron tossed it where there were people, I am so sorry."

"I’m sure it was an accident." Willow tried to diffuse the concern about this apparent moron.

"Yeah, much like his birth." The blonde agreed.

"Now, now." Willow smiled at her and laughed. "I guess I should consider myself lucky, to get such a handsome butch dropped on me."

"Yeah, but hell heaven sent shouldn’t mean hitting you at 30 in flying form." The blonde laughed to, "I’m Nic by the way." She added.

"Hi Nic, my name is Willow." She offered her hand with another giggle.

"Willow Rosenberg I know." Nic nodded, "You ran for union tech leader this year right?" She checked.

"You’re in the union?" Willow nodded with a smile.

"Field Sports rep." Nic nodded, "Second year stint." She rolled her eyes a little, "Apparently it was the cool thing to have a girl not some meathead linebacker."

"What sport do you play though?" Willow was impressed by her ‘political’ involvement, not common for the jocks as a stereotype.

"A few, field hockey, baseball," Nic began to list, "Would you believe at I’m actually here because I’m a sprinter." She smiled. "As close to not being a sport as most of my sportsmen friends could get."

"That’s okay, I’m a geek, we have our own code and hierarchy too." Willow winked at her.

"Nic, the nurse is busy, can she just walk in, she’ll be in her office." Nic’s friend jogged out of the nearest building calling out the situation to his friend.

"Fuck off moron, she’s not walking anywhere." Nic growled. "I’m sorry to have to do this Willow." She added and then eased closer to the slim redhead, and before Willow knew it she was hoisted a good four feet off the floor, in a very safe feeling cradle hold against Nic’s body. "If something hurts real bad tell me." She encouraged.

"No, I feel remarkable like a Princess." Willow laughed as she was carried off.

*****

"So… Nic is picking me up Friday or bringing in take out if my ankle is still strapped up." Willow smiled at the slayer on the end of her bed listening to her latest story. "Luckily just a little sprain, faced way worse in my day."

"Do I need to slay her for hurting you?" Buffy gave the genuine offer, "Or at least do the heavy slayer threat thing?"

"No, she just seems to be a really nice girl Buffy." Willow smiled at her best friend. "She’s beating herself up enough about hitting me, I had flowers on my doorstep this morning with a sorry note."

"I was going to ask." Buffy nodded to the vase of asters on the desk. "I wondered if maybe Jenny had decided she wasn’t a ‘shop copy’ is that what you called it?"

"Basically yes, but no she’s a read in store." Willow gave a slightly devilish grin. "Aren’t they gorgeous? Apparently the flying sports girl has flower taste."

"Well she is still a girl." Buffy stressed, "She IS a girl right?"

"Yes Buffy, she is just butch, not a boy." Willow laughed. "If you want you can be here when she comes to pick me up and give her the evil slayer eye."

"Okay I will." Buffy nodded but kept looking at her best friend, "Wait a minute, I know that look," she paused, "Willow Rosenberg do you LIKE this Nic?" She teased softly.

"Yeah." Willow did a deep innocent shrug. "I mean… she’s handsome and polite, and she carried me in to have the nurse check my leg, and carried me home." She giggled.

"Has the super student sprinter swept you off your feet?" Buffy teased even more.

"Oh yes." Willow grinned at Buffy more. "And she’s a good kisser, I know that already."

"Willow!" Buffy lightly slapped her best friends arm, "A month ago Leo and I were worried you were too much book and not enough worm, and now you’re like get out and do it girl." Buffy laughed softly, "With Jenny it was all so, wow, and well you know, like you and Kennedy but with out the ‘icky’ factor. No offence." Buffy put in quickly, "And now you like the strapping sprinter from Butchonia, Butchstate, USofA."

"I know isn’t it weird in a way?" Willow leaned back and sighed happily. "It’s like they always tell you that you’ll bloom, I guess I’ve finally bloomed to the point where people come find me wanting to date me."

"Why didn’t I bloom like that?" Buffy pouted a little, "No wait, I have perfect Leo." She gave a girlie squeak of happiness. "So it’s okay for you too bloom." She added. "As long as she’s not all manly, because EW!"

*****

This late Saturday morning by the time Willow had flopped on Xander’s couch, Buffy was there for the blow by blow as well on the prompting of his promises of inappropriate Willow statements about sex.

"I am so tired." She cradled her coffee and curled up into a ball on the couch.

"Tired, is tired a good thing?" Xander looked between Buffy and Willow a little confused. "Or is tired a she snored like a pig and the couch was uncomfy bad?"

"No, tired because I didn’t get to sleep until 4am this morning." Willow grinned into her coffee.

"4am?" Buffy leaned a little closer for details, where as Xander still looked on a little perplexed.

"She had you out till 4 am, bad sprinter, she should know that all good little girls need to be in bed way before then." He admonished.

"Xander, we were in bed by 9… I didn’t get to sleep till 4." Willow pointed out sticking out her tongue at him thinking he was playing the comedic didn’t get it guy. "Wow… she can sprint."

"I need to make more coffee." Xander and cushion left the room quickly.

"You did that deliberately didn’t you." Buffy admonished her best friend.

"I did, because he so can’t handle this." Willow looked at her best friend. "She is so butch… it is so sexy."

"Really? It’s not too much you know, like a boy?" Buffy asked obviously curious. "Because I mean though it was obvious Nic is a girl, she’s very…toned and not at all…" Buffy obviously struggled with trying to get across what she wanted to. "She has no breasts." She finally summed up.

"That was odd a bit, me being a breast girl but… no she wasn’t boy like, she was… mmmm butchy." Willow licked her lips.

"So she was better than Jenny?" Buffy asked for the comparison

"Well no not better, different." Willow took the cop out.

"Are you planning on sprinting again?" The slayer asked the most polite way she could think of.

"Sunday night." Willow giggled.

"Wow, Sunday night." Buffy nodded, "Remember you have classes Monday." She added.

****

Willow had to admit she was having a good time as she danced with Dawn by the pillar they had assigned themselves as home base. Xander was off getting drinks and Buffy was with Leo on the dance floor.

Dawn was also deeply lost in the music and the atmosphere of the club, she had to admit although it was kind of odd being in an age bracket that meant she was as much looking for play as any of them, but still there was the ever constant slayer as a sister issue. Which pretty much narrowed Dawn down to having a nice time, and possibly sneaking a phone number or two.

The eighteen year old was checking around the room when her focus suddenly narrowed, but not in a good way. She stood herself a little straighter, the dance swing falling out of her body.

In the darkness over past the far edge of the bar, near the corridor that led to the cloak room and the fire escape there was a tall guy, dressed in you average Joe outfit, with a strong jaw and a surprisingly attractive face. But dawn wasn’t attracted, well at least not to his looks. She was more attracted to the fact he had one of his large hands gripped around the arm of an almost impossibly tiny young woman.

Willow had stopped and began tracking with the brunette the moment she’d seen the falter in Dawn’s dance step. Her eyes narrowed on the obviously undead party guest and she was moving immediately.

"Dawn, get Buffy, I’ll try to delay things." Willow threaded her small body through the crowd and into the hallway, moving to the back in the shadows where the vampire was now doing the usual chat up of impending doom before biting his victim. "Really you should let her go and walk out of her." She warned him in an icy tone.

"What? Who the hell are you? One of her type I bet." With a growl he literally tossed the other woman against the still closed fire escape, Willow watched as the slender body literally buckled around the thick iron bar that ran the width of the door. The five foot nothing blonde fell in a heap on the wet mat not making a sound as she hit the ground.

"Who the hell are you?" Willow asked back with the odd echo that now any magic made appear in her voice. Since the spell in Sunnydale the magic wasn’t so much of a daily worry anymore. She’d reached into both sides of the pool now, both had been as overwhelming and as consuming as the other in their own way and now all she relished was not using magic unless it was necessary. And with the guy doing his bash humans impression she needed magic or she was going to be in an heap unconscious soon too. With a sweep of her hand, she pitched him backwards and struck him harshly into the concrete wall knocking him out. Her steps not quite floating, she walked over to the crumpled form and knelt down.

"Are you okay? It’s safe now, I’ll get you an ambulance." Willow kept her voice soft and comforting, letting the magic seep out of her slowly and in a controlled way so it didn’t give her nearly as much flashback.

"Will what’s going on…" Buffy was in the hallway the next millisecond.

"He needs a new wooden chest accessory." Willow pointed back to the unconscious vamp as she tried to see how the woman was doing when she got no immediate response.

"On it." Buffy had turned the assailant to dust the very next instant. "Is she…" the slayer then moved over and hunkered down beside Willow with a hard frown.

"I think we need an ambulance." Willow frowned not wanting to move her after she checked that the blonde woman was breathing.

******

The lights above her head buzzed and she had a migraine that could have felled any demon, but Willow had felt somehow compelled to find out how the injured victim had faired. She sill hadn’t regained consciousness by the time the paramedics carted her away, and in a lot of ways Willow felt guilty she hadn’t done something sooner to block her fall.

It was only at close to two in the morning, she overheard the nurses talking about how the girl was conscious and in between Doctor’s visits she slipped in the cubicle.

"How are you doing?" She said softly approaching the stretcher where the blonde was still on a backboard.

"You’re the girl…" The blonde replied blinking weary blue eyes at Willow. "The one who stopped him…" she added.

"Yes." Willow nodded. "You don’t have to worry about him, he’s gone." She gave her a gentle smile. "I wanted to make sure you were going to wake up, you scared me."

"The door was hard." The blonde admitted with a frowned wince.

"It looked it." Willow assured her. "How do you feel? The doctors seem happy you haven’t broke anything."

"Just bruised ribs." Again the blonde confirmed with a slight nod.

"Did they say if they were going to release you? Did you need a ride home?" Willow checked wanting to take care of the poor thing she’d done such a bad job helping in the first ten seconds.

"They mentioned they might but weren’t keen when they found out I’m here alone." The other woman replied, "I don’t have a home, that is I do, but not here, I’m just here for a little while, a vacation kind of." She admitted, "They didn’t seem to think a hotel room was a great release address."

"I might sound crazy but… I’ve done head injury watch before." Willow gave one of her classic quirky Willow smiles.

"I couldn’t ask you to do anything more than you already have." With a soft shake of her head the blond returned the smile, with one that was equally quirky and cute.

"You didn’t ask, I offered. I watched you hit the hard door remember, and I feel guilty I should have stopped him quicker." Willow frowned. "So please, you don’t want to stay here and you need a guard, I think we can both agree fate kinda picked me for that part already."

"Really?" A tone of surprised pleasure filled the blonde voice.

"Yes, I put a lot of trust in the fates." Willow admitted with a nod.

"So did Xena." The blonde gave another quirky smile.

****

"So I did the romantic stand on the platform while her train left at 2 o’clock this afternoon." Willow gave a contented sigh. "We almost missed the train but that’s not the point."

"Oh thank God that’s not the point." Xander sounded completely relieved that he might actually be able to sit through the whole story this time.

"So she’s not moving down here, and there’s no long distance relationship talks, but she was the ‘sweetest thing’?" Buffy checked she’d got everything straight.

"She is, she will always be." Willow smiled at her best friend. "It’s just… for her it’s too soon after her engagement broke up, and she’s full of a lot of big questions and she has my number, when she’s ready she’ll call."

"But you’re not carrying the phone around all day and night longing girl?" Xander checked that his best friend was indeed in the good place she appeared to be.

"No, I think this was just a little snippet of time, when I could help her answer a few questions." Willow gave a knowing distant smile. "Besides… she has a fabulous job there, why would she give that up?"

Xander had no clue what would be appropriate to say so instead he decided to remember the lesson taught him long ago, if you cant think of anything to say, don’t say anything. It all made sense to him now.

****

Willow didn’t know what exactly had compelled her to go out for a walk even before the sun had risen. She’d had an agitated sleep, waking up what it seemed like every twenty minutes almost looking at the window to see if there was light behind the blind.

Finally when it was just starting to get the barest of red shades at the edge of the horizon, Willow pulled herself out of bed, got dressed in some fairly warm clothes and headed out of the dorm.

Her path didn’t really have a goal, though she did have a stake and some holy water just in case it was dark enough for some vamp to think she was a late snack.

She crossed over the still empty busy main street into the big forest park at the edge near the university and made her way down the winding trails to one of her favourite places.

What Willow wasn’t prepared for was the sight that she met. In the sheltered clearing, close to the side of a small brook, framed by long branches of weeping willows was a figure. They were knelt on a round rug, the ground around them littered with candles and even from the distance Willow could make out a chalice, an athame and some smudge sage smouldering in a shallow bowl. On the grass close beside the figure was a white raven, which occasionally took a few steps this way and then that, before stopping and cocking its head towards Willow, surprising the redhead again by the fact the large bird had bright blue eyes. The bird then uttered a low call which instantly made the figure pause in what they were doing. Tilting their head back they looked across the expanse to Willow, and a soft smile danced upon perfect bow lips.

Raising two long figured, beautiful hands the figured eased down the white hood covering her head and shook out a main of long honey brown hair. Slowly she tipped her head to the side and smiled properly at the redhead.

"Blessing of Gaia upon you sister." She said softly rising to her feet, the raven taking flight the same moment to rest in a branch in the closest tree.

"Blessings to you, I didn’t mean to interrupt, I was just… your circle is so pure." Willow continued to look at her seeing the vibrant innocent magic that made up the circle of power the caster had created around herself.

"So many people have told me." She nodded slightly, "They tell me that is why I was blessed with Solomon." She glanced up at the raven who gave a cry of approval, ruffling his feathers making himself even more majestic. "Is this your sacred place too? I some times feel the trace of great magic here, but you do not use it regularly do you?"

"No, I don’t." Willow said agreeing easily to bare her own intimate magical facts. "But yes it is my secret place too, it was always so open and inviting." She remarked walking closer to where the other woman stood. "I must now keep my magicks on a short leash, I let myself walk too far into the dark once, I dare not do it again."

"The world is full of magic, we all answer it’s call our own way." Another, this time more whimsical smile danced on the other woman’s lips. "Do you love your magicks?" she asked

Willow was instantly stalled by this question.

"Do you know I have never thought of that question before?" She admitted moving closer and sitting in the grass next to where the other witch had been sitting.

"No, why would you." A soft chuckled escaped from the perfect lips. "How came you to the earth mothers powers?" She asked again of Willow soft intimate questions.

"My heart, she was a follower of the earth mother tradition; she introduced me to many of her teachings and rules of magic." Willow admitted freely.

"Ah so you do literally love magic." The other woman chuckled.

"If Tara was magic, then yes." Willow knew she was still confused about the riddle but there was something about how each time the woman laughed she felt a little lighter and happier. "You are magic too aren’t you?"

"I am pure magic." Came the chuckled reply, "But your heart, she can’t have been, you talk about her in the past tense, suggesting she is no longer here, true magic cannot die."

"I have no doubt her magic is not lost, but the vessel, my Tara, was murdered." Willow frowned feeling her elation as she sat in the grass dim darkly for a moment to the hurt and pain of the loss of the blonde. "If not for the power of her magic, I would have blown up this world." She admitted.

"But the knowledge that her magical essence is with you, that does not satiate the loss?" The woman asked carefully moving the candles in the array in front of her.

"No." Willow shook her head softly. "The magic, her magic was her and yet there was something more than that, there was the every essence of her, the sound of her, the touch of her, the way she could use her aura to engulf me and make me feel like nothing on earth could touch me."

"But surely those things can be found elsewhere? Can you not feel inspired and intellectually simulated by another, can you not feel safe and yet at the same time excited by another, or find the innocent helplessness inside another lover?" the questions came again as the woman finished her rearrangement.

Willow was quite suddenly hit with a moment of divine revelation. There was enough magic just flowing gently through her within the air to have put her to an almost scary high of pure innocent magic, much like what she had found when she opened the Scythe.

"Why have you been testing me?" She thought back to the recent 1000 percent spike in her love life and how ‘fated’ all of the meetings and women had seemed.

"Not testing child, merely gathering and examining information." The figure shook her head and stood up. She stepped to the side of the mat and held out her hand to Willow, "Would you like to know what we have decided?"

"Yes." Willow nodded somehow understanding that some sort of trial had gone on somewhere and that an important decision had been made, though she wasn’t sure what exactly. Almost with childlike trust she reached out and put her hand in the one offered.

"A wise answer." The woman chuckled. "Willow Rosenberg you have in the past been a reckless and careless child." For the first time a harsh tone entered the woman’s voice. "You have engaged the powers, my powers inappropriately, but until one point you never made the mistake of crossing thresholds. Power corrupts Willow, Absolute Power corrupts absolutely. You sought absolute power to right a wrong, which was absolutely the wrong thing to do." The tone once again softened. "But it was that that drew my attention, our attention." She corrected softly. "And for the last two years we have watched you, and learned about you." The woman placed Willow’s hand in both of her own and urged her to stand and move towards the edge of the brook. "You are a witch of great power Willow, you know this." She raised one hand off Willow’s and then held it lightly against Willow’s cheek. "Keeping that power in a locked cage like a tiger, will not protect you from it, nor will it teach you what it is or how it can be used for good, and you are capable of such good." She implored. "Look into the water child." She urged.

The redhead bowed her head slightly and looked into the still mirror like surface of the brook, which she was sure usually babbled its way almost too happily through the small wood. Today though there was no trace of a current, above or below the surface. The other thing that Willow noticed is that she stood on the river bank quite alone.

"Initially it was decided that the loss of your heart was justified by your use and abuse of your powers, but then…" The woman’s tone went softer, "Let us just say sometimes it is hard for those who see all, the past, the present and the future as one, to understand the idea of chronological progression. To understand cause and effect." She summed up, "You were wronged Willow, and we could not let that lie. And so we began our search, for one who would be to you what your lost lover was. And it was here we learned our most valuable lesson." She went quiet for a moment and a soft breeze caused a gentle ripple to cross over the water, causing the mirror perfect image of Willow to distort just slightly as the wind caressed the surface. "Your heart would not be filled with one as bright and different at her, nor would it be still even when held by one as strong and protective, and though impassioned by one who’s innocence was as pure as hers, your heart was still lacking, which left only the magical aspect to find an answer, but as you taught me with your first three answers, that is not the element of her soul that filled your own." Again the soft monologue paused for a moment and another this time slightly stronger breeze pressed harder ripples into the streams surface. "The investigation is over, you were wronged and to each should come justice. Accept our gift Willow, and know that there is still so much that is yet to come."

Willow had listened to all of the softly spoken words as she stared into the rippling surface of the water. As the breeze continued to rush over it, the ripples had an almost hypnotic quality as the waves of magic flowed through her. It was only as the white witch started with ‘Accept our gift Willow’… That she realized she could no longer see the strange witch’s reflection in the ripples but it had been replaced, as had the hand in hers with one more familiar and even more ecstasy inducing.

"Tara?" Willow whispered almost reverently.

"Willow." The blonde witch replied, squeezing the redhead’s hand tight before urging her to turn with a soft tug on her hand, closing her arms around her smaller lover the instant they faced on another.

"Are you okay baby?" Willow clung to the blonde asking the question in momentary terror this was going to be another one of her dreams.

"I am now." Tara replied placing a light kiss against Willow’s ear. "I am now." She repeated softer still.

"I…" Willow felt the warm lips that kissed her and it sent an immediate shiver down her spine. "How?" She asked and then spoke quickly. "I don’t care how, I just know it was all good magic, so… I get you back." Her words were punctuated by light kisses as she pressed up the short distance on her toes.

"It was the best magic." Tara caught one of the kisses and drew it into something much deeper and more expressive. In fact if it hadn’t have been for a shrill caw of a Raven the two may never have eased apart, but one came, and only just in time for the girls to ease away from each other before a family of seven came bumbling through the grove.

"Perhaps we’d be best going back to my place to talk." Willow blushed when the father of the group waved politely at them both as his crew kept on muddling past.

"Probably best." Tara agreed nodding, though the blonde hadn’t for a second taken her eyes off willow, "Should we tidy the…" Her voice stopped when a quick glance under the willow tree showed that there wasn’t the slightest trace of anything ‘magical’ remaining. "Let’s go sweetie." Tara urged.

The end…