it's so meta

I'll thank you to keep your higher literary thought away from my taradiddles, missy. Melodrama is my specialty.

Speed should be your specialty. Just for my amusement, of course.

Say, I wonder what would happen to Spike and Xander in a steam room these days?

Seriously, I love the little touches you're doing in this story. Xander, as usual, is my main focus and I think that you're being brilliantly subtle with his reactions to wounded!Spike.

t laughing the delighted wicked laugh of an author who knows someone is just going to have so much fun when certain parts appear

And by parts I mean ...

Or maybe not.

Hey, it's the Extra-Sparkly Tiara of Taunting! Who knew?

BWAH! t it's funny cause it's true

I'm very much looking forward to the next few installments.

t ask and ye shall receive

Tara didn't think Willow had had any caffeine when she wasn't looking. It was theoretically possible that the bounciness came purely from the gorgeous spring day.

"We ought to just peek into the Magic Box," Willow said, "it's on the way to the Cultural Fair. Maybe pick up some business cards to give to folks, since Anya won't let us run a tab, like Giles did. Then maybe she'd give us some store credit."

Tara smiled fondly. "I don't think the word credit exists in Anya's vocabulary. Unless it's credit card."

"Probably not. Here we are!"

Willow bounced into the shop. At the counter, Anya turned with a bright smile, which immediately faded into the familiar "Oh, people we like who hang out here but who probably won't buy anything" look. A customer was perusing one of the magic books for sale, comparing the text with something on a Palm Pilot. In the back part of the shop, Xander was on a ladder changing a light bulb in the ceiling fixture.

"Hello, lovely ladies," he called. "What brings you to our fine establishment today?"

"Hi, Xander!" Willow called. "And hi, Anya. We're on our way to the Cultural Festival down by the river. Why aren't you at work, Xander?" She gave him a scolding glare. "Are you playing hookie?"

"Au contraire, mon amie," he said, climbing down the ladder. "My team is ahead of schedule and they let us off early. So I came down to give my favorite girl a hand."

"It's a wonderful system," Anya said. "He works for free, and I get someone strong and decorative to do the boring heavy lifting."

Xander bowed. "We bloom where we are planted. So, Cultural Festival?"

Willow began rapidly explaining all the things on display at the Festival. Tara put in the occasional comment, but most of her attention was on Anya, who had gone to answer the phone. Anya was whispering to whomever had called, and she kept glancing at Xander. She looked very thoughtful when she hung up.

Xander saw her and frowned. "Who was that, Ahn?"

"Someone who you said just this morning that you didn't care if you never heard from again because you didn't give a damn what vampires were up to, so I don't think you want to know."

Willow blinked. "Giles?" Xander muttered and turned away.

Anya lowered her voice. "He says he found out when Glory needs to open the portal, dawn three days from now. And his minions have found where, there's a tower being built in the junkyard by Glory's demons and those crazy people she's making."

"Well, that's wonderful," Willow said. "Now we know when and where we have to avoid." She blinked. "Giles has minions?"

Anya waved her hand. "His minions, Spike's minions, somebody's minions."

"How is Spike?" Tara asked.

"Healing, apparently. I heard him in the background, yelling at Giles and telling him what to say." She turned to watch happily as Xander folded up the ladder and carried it back to the training room.

"We should tell Buffy," Willow said decisively.

"Probably so." Tara swallowed her disappointment at losing a day she'd hoped to spend solely with her lover. After all, this was important.

Willow looked at her closely, then frowned. "Oh, I'm sorry, baby. We'll call Buffy, then go on to the festival, it won't take very long. I wonder how he figured it out," she added. "I wonder if he used magic or the books or--ooh, maybe he called up one of those demon informants of his and asked."

"Honey," Tara frowned, "I don't think you should sound so excited at the idea of calling up demons."

"I don't see why not. How is it any different than going to Willy's and asking about stuff there?"

Tara stared at her, but Willow seemed completely serious. "I'm pretty sure the kinds of demons that hang out at Willy's are different from the demons you have to summon. You generally have to promise them things, and they're a lot nastier."

Willow shrugged. "OK, I know that lending your body to something like Eyghon is pretty stupid, but just summoning one into a circle strong enough to hold it doesn't seem that risky. And you could learn so much."

"But that means consorting with creatures from the lower planes, from the hell dimensions themselves. Those kinds of creatures are truly evil, they offer bargains that you don't want to keep."

"So you don't accept them. We've dealt with evil, nasty things before. The Mayor, he was spooky."

"Yes, I remember you telling me about him, how he wanted to turn into a true demon. Those kinds of forces, they're not the sorts of things you should just play around with."

Willow hugged her. "Honey, it's not like I'm asking you to summon one yourself. I don't blame you if you're scared of them--

Tara pulled away. "I'm not scared of them, I'm scared for you! The powers of evil are a whole different level than the scaly things at Willy's."

Willow blinked, hurt. "You don't think I could handle something like that."

"That's not it at all." Tara put her hands on Willow's face. "You're strong, so very strong. But someday something's going to be stronger. That's what I'm afraid of. And if it's something evil and horrible, it could do--terrible things to you."

"I'm not stupid, I wouldn't try anything I didn't think I could handle."

"Like that My Will Be Done charm?" Tara said very softly.

Willow jerked away. "That was an accident, Tara. And I've apologized for that, over and over. If you and Giles had your way, I wouldn't do anything more involved than--than charm warts off of people or bless the pigs or something. I'm stronger than that."

"I know," Tara nodded sadly. "And I'm not. I never meant to hold you back--"

"Oh, honey, no, that's not what I meant--" Willow tried to take her hands, but Tara stepped back.

"It's all ri

"It's all right, I've never tried to kid myself about how much power I have. I--I just want you to be careful."

"I am! I do, I always am. Tara, it's just ..." She shrugged helplessly. "There's so much I want to learn."

Tara nodded again. "I know." She took a deep breath. "You said you needed to call Buffy. I'll-- meet you at the fair, if you have a chance to make it later." She slipped away.

"Tara!"

Willow saw the customer with the Palm Pilot glance up with carefully disguised curiosity, then look back at the book. Muttering nasty words under her breath, Willow went to the table in the rear of the shop and plopped unhappily into a chair. After a moment, Xander took the chair next to her.

"Sorry about that," she said softly. "Shouldn't have done that in public."

Xander chuckled and glanced at Anya. "I don't think you get to choose when you have a fight."

"But we shouldn't have fights! I love her, she loves me, we shouldn't have anything to fight about! We even agree on toothpaste!"

Xander took her hand in both of his. "Willow, loving someone does not mean you'll always agree. You and I don't always agree on everything, but you know I love you. Um, but not that way, you know."

Anya waved from the counter. "I'm not worried. She's gay now, and it's a purely male fantasy that lesbians are anxious to have threesomes with a man."

Willow gave Xander a sympathetic grin. Once he stopped blushing quite so hard and was able to meet Willow's eyes again, Xander scooted closer. "I wasn't trying to eavesdrop, but I heard a little of what she said. You're, uh, not planning on going into the demon raising biz, are you?"

"Of course not!" She blinked a few moments. "I mean, not anytime soon--and I wouldn't do something stupid, like Giles did with Eyghon. But don't you want to know what other dimensions are like?"

He pointed over his shoulder at Anya. "You want to know about other dimensions, there's a lady over there who would be happy to give you the blood-soaked travelogue of several. Willow, hell dimensions, not of the good here. That's why they call them hell." He took her hand. "I don't like the idea of you anywhere near that kind of stuff."

Willow made herself look away from the concern and love in her oldest friend's eyes. "Someday we may not have a choice, Xander. The bad guys don't care what kind of stuff they throw at us. There's going to come a point where we can't care either. And I'd better know what could happen before I have to learn in the middle of a fight. We don't have Giles for the not-so-nice magic anymore."

Xander bit back an obscenity. He looked around the store, at the lollygagging customer, at everything but Willow. Finally he took a deep breath and just said it. "I'd rather deal with him than have anything happen to you, Will. I'd rather do anything than that."

She leaned over to kiss him on the cheek, fighting silly sniffles. "Sometimes I wish you were a girl, Xander Harris." She bounced up from her chair before he finished processing that.

"What? What's that supposed to mean?"

She beamed at him as she picked up the phone and dialed Buffy's number. "Because I like the girls now."

"Hey!" Anya protested. "You just leave his male bits alone, missy! Go play with your own kind!"

Xander buried his head in his arms on the table.

Lovely. I'd forgotten just how painful Tara and Willow's relationship was at times. You've captured it beautifully. What was the fight that originally made Tara go to the cultural festival by herself (in canon, I mean)?

Tara and Willow at first fighting about how powerful she's become, and then seguing into Tara's fear that Willow will leave her once she gets over her college lesbian stage...