FicWad

Spike roamed around the city at night. He had tried again to bite someone. Several times in fact. It wasn't just the witch. It was him. There was something making it impossible for him to bite people. He was even having trouble thinking about biting people. That's when he heard a familiar voice.
"We really do need to do something. The cave is so very drab. We need to make it more cheery." Harmony was walking along the campus of Sunnydale. She had five vampires with her. "Now, Steven, you should be able to come up with something. Your mom is an interior designer or something. Why do you think I went to the bother of siring you."
Spike jumped in the path of the walking vampires. "Hello, Harm. Looks like you've put together a nice little gang. Think you could use another."
Harmony crinkled her forehead at him. "As if. I mean, you were always mean to me. I don't know why I even bothered being your girlfriend. Steven is my new boyfriend, right?" She nudged him so that he would answer.
"Oh, uh sure." The vampire was wearing an old Sunnydale High letterman's jacket. "Whatever you say, babe."
Harmony rolled her eyes at him. "Besides, I thought that you had your own gang. I thought you wanted to get the slayer or whatever. That's not in our plans. We don't want to cross the slayer, now do we boys." All of her minions shook their heads. "It's safer to avoid her."
Spike shook his head. "What kind of vampires are you? All vampires want to fight the slayer. It's what our kind does. Well, that and kill as many innocent people along the way." He stared at her for a moment. His stomach started to rumble. "Say, Harm, you wouldn't have any leftovers lying around, now would you?"
Harmony just laughed. "Later, Spikey. There's a sale at April Fools that I want to take advantage of. And sales clerks to kill. Hope you have fun with the slayer."
Spike watched them wander off. Again, his stomach began rumbling. He wondered what he was going to do. He could really waste away if he weren't careful.

The sun was shining brightly. It was around noon the next day, the day after Valentine's. Riley and Buffy were enjoying a nice picnic on the lawn. Buffy kept staring at her boyfriend. He was so nice. And he seemed so normal. But there was this vibe that she was getting from him. It was almost like her spider senses were tingling around him.
"So, you going to be hanging with your friends again tonight?" Buffy asked as she took a slice of cheese.
"Sorry." Riley looked down at her. "I do seem to do that a lot, don't I. But you spend a lot of time with your friends as well. Guess we have different friends."
Buffy shrugged. "No big. And yeah, I'll probably be spending sometime again with the gang. It's hard trying to keep the high school crowd together. But I'm not letting go of Willow and Xander any time soon."
"Tara's not from the old high school gang?" Riley ask, very surprised. "She just seems so much a part of the group."
Buffy shook her head. "Willow and her started dating after they met here at college. Anya was in high school with us, but she wasn't part of the gang back than. The three of us are the original scoobies, through and through."
Riley practically choked on a piece of apple. "Willow and Tara are a couple?" Buffy nodded. "Well, that's interesting."
Buffy eyed him. "You have problem with unconventional relationships?" Her mind started to dwell on her last boyfriend. If Riley was having trouble accepting Willow and Tara together, he'd probably have a major problem with her dating a vampire. Even if said vampire did have a soul. Besides, he didn't know that all that supernatural stuff was real.
He shrugged his shoulders. "I guess not." He looked at her. "You got to admit that it is a shock to find out about that."
Buffy nodded remembering her own reaction to the fact that Willow had told her she thought she was gay. Even though she was her best friend and loved her more than anything, it was still hard to make that adjustment. But Tara was such a sweet girl. And she definitely made her best friend happier than she had ever seen her. "I had some wiggins when Will first told me. I'll admit that. But it didn't change who Willow is. She's still the same girl she has always been. She's my best friend."
"And best friends are hard to come by." Riley understood. "Now that I think about it, I really should have known. But they are kinda shy about their relationship in public, aren't they."
Buffy shrugged. "No, they don't go and have public make out sessions. But they love each other and aren't ashamed of anyone knowing. And I'm not ashamed to tell." That's when it hit her. She would have to tell Riley about her and Angel if she were ever to have a serious relationship with him. But not today. Today was a day to spend in the sun and have fun. For tonight, it was another night hunting for Spike.

Willow stretched and yawned. She looked at the clock. She quickly sat up in bed. It couldn't possibly be that late. Tara moaned next to her, still asleep. Granted, the two of them had had a very late night, but she never slept this late.
Finally, Tara rolled over. "Morning." And it was a beautiful morning. It had been the most perfect night that Tara had ever experienced. In the back of her mind she still wondered if Willow would love her like she did if she found out about the secret. The one thing that she feared to tell her girlfriend. She knew that eventually she would have to tell her. Maybe even today. But not now.
"Morning." Willow kissed her gently on the lips. "That has to have the most amazing night I've ever had." She snuggled up close to the blonde. "And I owe it all to you." She smiled. "I'm beginning to wonder what my life would be like now, if we hadn't met." She chuckled to her self. "I think that the forces of fate made sure that the two of us met. What do you think?"
Tara smiled back. "I think we've always known each other." Willow looked at her. "I don't know about you, but last night felt like the first time, but also like we'd done that so many times that we knew exactly what the other wanted."
Willow raised an eyebrow. "Well, you certainly knew what to do." She smiled even larger as she thought about the night before. Tara was right. It was as if the two of them were these partners in life. And not just this life. It was like their two souls kept traveling until they found each other in whatever lifetime it was. They would always, always find each other no matter what. "I think I know what you mean."
Tara leaned over Willow. "Gosh, it's late. Good thing we don't have classes today."
"But we do." Tara looked into Willow's green eyes. They were sparkling mischievously at her. "Remember. You teaching me control so that I don't go over the edge like I almost did when Spike was threatening you."
"W-we did say we w-were going to do that, didn't we?" Tara looked away from Willow.
Willow didn't miss that Tara's stutter had returned. She rarely stuttered when it was just the two of them. Only when she was nervous. "Tara, you don't think you can do it?"
"T-that's not totally it." Tara sighed heavily. "I-I'm afraid b-because the w-whole world rests on m-me. A-am I really t-that knowledgeable to be able t-to teach you t-that control."
Now Willow took her girlfriend's face in her hands. "I have all the faith in the world. The two of us together can figure anything out. Once we set our minds to it. And this will give us an excuse to spend extra time together. Although, we will have to use some of that control right away." Tara raised an eyebrow, not understanding what Willow was talking about. "We have to get up and get dressed and try and keep our hands off one another while we do that so we can begin learning the control thing."
Tara smiled big. "Now that's what I call self control."
The rest of the day was spent with the two of them together buried in various witchcraft books. Most of the ones that they had, Tara had inherited from her mother. There were several that told about powerful witches and how they had lost control. There weren't many though that had told how those witches had learned control. It seemed that the witches that had lost control had basically burned themselves up with the power that they had. Or they had hurt others.
Willow sighed as yet another book told her to beware of her growing powers. "They all tell of the powers and the oh so good results if you can't learn to control them but do you think any of them will tell you the how to control them so that you don't look like you've spent too much time in the sun or even worse, forgot to turn off the oven and the nice turkey is now cajan style which I don't really care for the taste." She looked up to see Tara smiling at her. "Ramblings of a nervous witch."
Now Tara laughed. "It could be worse. You could be one of those ones that has to spit when you talk or use big time hand gestures. Now that's even worse."
Willow shook her head. No matter what the two of them had been through the past six months, they always seemed to get through it. As much as she still loved Oz, things were never this good between them. She could say and do anything with Tara, and the witch still loved her. How had she been so lucky to find her. It really must have been fate. Or, was it something else.
"Will?" Willow's red hair flew she looked up so quickly at Tara. She hadn't realized that she had grown silent for all those minutes. "D-did I say something wrong?"
"Never." Willow smiled big. "I just got lost in thought. About me and you."
"Care to s-share?" Tara swallowed hard. "O-or is it..."
Willow came over to where Tara sat on the bed. "Where is this coming from?" Tara looked into her green eyes. "I'm sensing an unsureness about yourself when it come to me. Why? After last night, you have any doubts?"
Tara shrugged. "T-that was p-physical. A-and I know I talked about f-fate but..."
"But nothing." Willow took both her hands. "Listen, you are the one. You are my soulmate. I would do anything to make you happy. If chewing gum annoyed you, out the door. If I was too messy for you, I'd learn to be neater. Not that I'm messy. I'm actually somewhat of a neat freak. And, even bigger than all of that, if you were concerned that we couldn't learn to control my powers together, I would stop. I would never do another spell. I'd leave all the magicks up to you. That's how much you mean to me. That's how much I love you."
Tara sat just looking into the loving eyes. Tears formed in her own. Her own family would never have said anything like this to her. They thought she had evil in her and didn't want anything to do with her. And here was this girl. When they'd first met, she knew that she was more than just an ordinary girl. And it wasn't because of the magicks that she had sensed in her. There was something else as well. This woman was so kind and gentle and understanding and she would literally lay down her life to protect her own.
There was several minutes of silence between the two of them. "I-I think I-I'm ready to tell you something." She swallowed hard. "It's that thing I t-told you about."
"You mean, your family?" Willow's eyes grew wide. This was the biggest thing that Tara could share with her. It was one of the few things that the two of them had hinted about, but never talked about. "Are you sure you're ready to tell me?"
"I am."