Fic. "Heart Ache 11B: The Final Heart Ache: Tara"

["A.M. Glass" <glasswrks@xxxxxxxxx>]

Title: "Heart Ache 11 B: The Final Heart Ache: Tara"
Author: Angela
E-Mail: glasswrks@xxxxxxxxx
Copyright: March 14, 2000
Rating: 'PG'
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon, Fox, Mutant Enemy all have
something to do with "Buffy, The Vampire Slayer" and
all the characters contained herein. The story is sole
property of the author, me. No copyright infringement
is intended or inferred.
Distribution: Heck if you want it& it's yours.
Author's Note: Well, here we are the FINAL installment
of the monster of a series, no pun intended. As I said
in the previous story, I would have two parts, this
being part B. I think you'll know how Willow's
decision went by the title. I hope I don't disappoint
anyone with this odd ending of the series. You may
wish to read "Heart Ache 11 A: The Final Heart Ache:
Buffy" for the other choice. Okay G'man, get with the
saying:

PREVIOUSLY


Willow closed her eyes and thought about what she was
about to do.

'I can do this,' she told herself. "I& I never
thought I'd& I'd ever be in this position& again," she
started off saying, quickly thinking back to Xander
and Oz. "I& I& don't know why me? Why now?" she
shrugged as she began to pace. "I find myself having
to make a decision that& that will not only affect me,
but you two as well," she said gesturing to the other
girls' who hung on every word. "I don't want to hurt
either one of you, but that's *exactly* what I'm going
to do& and I'm not sure I'm worth the pain I'm going
to cause. I've been thinking about this very, very
seriously& and please believe me, it wasn't easy."
Willow looked at the two women who had captured a part
of her and wanted nothing more than to hide. Knowing
that she couldn't, she said the words that would most
likely haunt her for a long time. "I've chosen&"


***

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."


The end.

Well, there you have it, the conclusion to the "Heart
Ache" series. I'd like to thank each and every one of
you that has let me know how much you've enjoyed the
series. I'm not really sure why. I think if one of the
other talented writers had a hold of this, they
probably would have done a better job. Thanks again. I
think I'll lurk for awhile.

Angela
March 14, 2000


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