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The Battle of Salamander Street
2/?
Author:
Andrew Rodgers
Timeline: Between Intervention and Tough Love
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy own all places, characters and names. I just play here.
Tara walked hurriedly past the Espresso Pump towards the Magic Box, the worry obvious on her face. Willow had gone out on patrol with Buffy last night and hadn't come back and her first thought had been to try and find Mr. Giles to see if he'd seen Willow or knew where she was. Since they'd been together Tara had never not known how to get in contact with Willow and her sudden absence was bringing some of Tara's old insecurities to the fore.
Tara tried the door to the Magic box and it opened without hesitation, This was a bad sign, the Magic Box wasn't supposed to open for another hour yet and Mr Giles would never leave the shop unlocked. She entered very cautiously, looking around for any signs of a struggle and on seeing none came more fully into the shop. It was then that she saw Mr. Giles slumped across the table, his books strewn out before and beneath him.
Tara ran up to him and started to shake him. "Mr. Giles, are you okay? Mr Giles?"
Giles slowly roused at the strangely familiar yet distant voice, "Jenny?" he mumbled.
"No Mr. Giles, I'm Tara, remember. Willow's girlfriend." Tara replied.
Giles came to full consciousness now and saw Tara kneeling in front of him smiling her self conscious lop-sided smile that she always seemed to wear. "Oh, uh... Hello Tara," Giles started. "um... is there a problem?"
At this Tara's smile disappeared and a look of concern passed across her face. "Willow didn't come home last night after her patrol with Buffy. I'm worried that something might have happened to them."
Giles smiled sympathetically at Tara. "I saw them after they finished their patrol last night, they're fine. Willow probably just spent the night with Buffy, that's all." He answered.
"She spent the night with Buffy!!!" Tara nearly shouted. Okay, so those insecurities were nearer to the surface than even she wanted to admit.
"OH, I see. Uh, well, um," Giles stuttered. "I'm sure it was all completely above board. I don't think Willow sees Buffy like that."
Tara smiled back at Giles. "I know Mr. Giles. It's just I get scared sometimes. It took me so long to find her."
!I'll just go and phone Buffy, make sure Willow's still with her and I'll tell them that you're here." Giles offered. Standing up, looking dishevelled after having slept in the clothes that he still wore, Giles went across to the phone and started dialling.
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The phone ringing woke Buffy out of a restless sleep, she'd been dreaming about the Buffybot going Highlander on her and attacking her because 'there can be only one'.
"Hi." Buffy answered as she picked up the phone.
"Hello Buffy. It's Giles, is Willow there?"
"No, she went home last night after asking you about the Buffybot. Why, what's up?" Buffy asked, then thought gleefully. "You've changed your mind haven't you, you think that it's a bad idea now that you've had a chance to sleep on it." Then suddenly. "But not literally, right?"
"No I haven't changed my mind Buffy, it's just I've got Tara here and apparently Willow didn't get back last night after she left here. I thought she might have gone home with you." Giles replied.
"I'll be right there Giles. Don't let Tara go anywhere." Buffy instructed then put the phone down. It had to be Glory. She had promised to come after the people Buffy loved, but why Willow rather than Dawn.
Buffy had no time to think about that now, she had to get dressed and get over to the Magic Box, there'd be no telling how Tara would react to the news that Willow had disappeared. Buffy hadn't known Tara before Willow and Tara became 'friends, but after seeing how Tara had reacted when her family came to town was enough to convince her that Tara just might wig out at the thought of Willow missing with a Hell God on the loose, hopefully Giles would be able to keep a lid on Tara's emotions untill she got there. Lost in her thoughts of how Tara was coping with her emotions and how Giles was coping with Tara, Buffy walked out the door without noticing a very Willow like leg sticking out of the bathroom.
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"Ahh, umm, Tara? It seems there's a bit of a problem." Giles said as he turned round to face Tara after putting the phone down. "It seems Willow didn't spend the night at Buffy's house. We uh... we don't know where she is."
Tara's face dropped and Giles immediately wished he hadn't caused her face to do that. "But we'll find her." He added belatedly. "She'll be alright, she can't have gone far."
"But Mr. Giles, why wouldn't Willow have come home unless something had happened to her?" Tara asked, looking rather forlorn sitting on her own at the table.
Giles moved across to the taqble, sat down, and clasped Tara's hands in his own, trying to show some empathy towards her situation. "Don't worry, Buffy's coming over right now. I'm sure nothing has happened to Willow. She probably just got excited and lost track of time."
"Excited? Why would hse be excited?" Tara asked.
"Well, last night after her and Buffy finished patrolling, they came round here and asked if it would be okay to try and rebuild the Buffybot. Willow looked really excited by the prospect of being able to work on something that might distract Glory from the real Buffy." Giles answered.
Tara suddenly looked very alarmed at what Giles had just said to her as the same thought struck him moments later. "No." Giles stated. "I'm sure Glory wouldn't go after Willow. There's no way that Glory could know about Willow's plans for the Buffybot."
"But Glory knows about Willow's spell casting abilities. I have to go Mr. Giles. I have to try and find her." Tara replied, an edge of panic creeping into her voice.
"And what exactly would you do if you run into Glory and she has got Willow? You yourself admit that Willow has much more power than you, and if Willow couldn't fight her off, what chance have you got?" Giles stated, trying to calm Tara down while his own panic levels were rising.
He'd never considered that Glory might try and get to Buffy through Willow but it made perfect sense. Willow had been the only one out of the whole group that had been able to do any kind of damage to Glory so what better way to take out a powerful opponent and weaken the slayer in one stroke. Their only hope now was that Glory was keeping Willow alive to try and find out what, or who, the key was.
The door opened and both Tara and Giles jumped at the sound. As they turned to face the door they saw buffy standing in the doorway, a worried look on her face. "Buffy, you're here." Giles said as he sat back down again.
"So what do we know?" Buffy asked, striding into the room. She smiled at Tara. "We'll find her, she probably just wandered off and didn't realise the time."
"I'm afraid it's entirely possible that Glory has found her." Giles answered, trying to put a brave face on things.
"I can't lose her Buffy." Tara pleaded. "I've only really just found her, I don't think I could be alone again."
"You won't be alone Tara. If Glory has her, we'll find her and get Willow back. We did it for Spike and I'll be damned if we lose Willow to her." Buffy answered. "I think the best thing to do would be to go back to your place, just to check that Willow hasn't found her own way home."
As the group trouped out of the shop, none of them noticed a distinctly Willow shaped arm protruding from behind the counter.
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As the gang entered Tara's dorm room there seemed to be nothing unusual or out of place until Tara tripped over something protruding from under the bed. As she and the others pulled on it, it became clear that it was Willow, lying unconscious, on the ground.
"How would she have gotten there?" Buffy asked Tara, rather suspiciously. "And why on earth would she be holding a snow globe?"
Tara sat upright in bed screaming "Snow globe." Snow globe, that was the trigger. She looked across to the other side of the bed just to make sure. Sure enough, Willow was lying there still asleep despite Tara's screaming. Tara hugged herself, saying quietly to her self "It was just a dream, just a dream."
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"Snow globe." Buffy shouted as she sat bolt upright from her dream. "What the..."
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"Snow globe." Giles screamed as he woke in the chair he'd fallen asleep in. "Oh no," He said softly. "it's started."
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