Title: Tempus Fugit

Setting: S4 slight AU post Hush, pre-NMR

Rating: PG-13.

Disclaimers: Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, 20th Century Fox and minions.

Copyright: You know it. The story and all original material belongs to me. To quote the fabulous Missy Elliot "copywritten so...don't copy me."

Summary: Willow attempts to deal with her growing feelings for Tara and a strange device that Buffy essentially drops into her lap and, in her usual Buffy style, leaves our beloved redhead to deal with on her own. Meant to be read with its sisterfic Tempus Fugit S7.

Pairing: Willow/Tara

Spoilers: Yep. S4 spoilery although it definitely diverges from canon

Thanks/Acknowledgements: mad props to all the Kittens and much love to my beta/muse Melissa.

Part I

Willow sat reading Bleak House in the student center looking up nervously every few seconds. She knew Tara's Art History class was over at two and that the blonde frequently passed through the Student Center before returning to her dorm. Unless she went to the library, but on Thursdays Art History was her last class of the day so she should definitely come here for a snack and not to the library.

And then it occurred to her that it might be a bit strange that she had memorized her friend's schedules and habits so quickly. They had only been friends for a couple of weeks.

What's up with that? You don't even know where Xander works but you've calculated the statistical probability of Tara's appearance in the Student Center at 2:00 on a Thursday?

Which made her feel uncomfortable sitting there waiting so she tried to even harder to look non-chalant which just made her more nervous.

Oh my god. You are so stalking her.

And that begged the obvious question: Why?

Because she's a powerful witch! It's a witchy bonding thing. Well, that and the fact that she's cute and shy and has those incredible lips and okay, so not ready to go there yet

With a loud sigh Willow looked at her watch for the fifteenth time. 2:11. Tara was late. According to all of her careful calculations the blonde should have walked by already.

Maybe she ran into someone? Or maybe she's not coming. Or maybe I missed her.

Willow looked up from her book with mounting panic and peered nervously through the crowd. Still no sign of the blonde witch. She sighed again heavily and went back through the possible alternatives. She could try to bump into' Tara at the library or just happen to be in the dining center when Tara normally went, which would be sometime between 5:25 and 6:05.

She stuffed the unread Dickens into her bookbag and mumbled irritably to herself, "Give it up, she's not coming."

"Who's not coming?" Willow jumped at the sound of the familiar voice behind her. Tara. Who was now smiling and ducking her head in that devestatingly cute way. "S-sorry. I didn't mean to scare you Willow."

The redhead felt a ridiculous smile spread across her face. "It's okay, it's justI thoughtdon't you have Art History in Gates on Thursday?"

The blonde looked confused. "Yeah, but it was cancelled."

"Oh!" Which meant that her calculations had been correct.

"So, who's not coming?" Tara asked again.

Willow stood up abruptly to face her, fumbling awkwardly for a response.

"Um, uh, I was supposed to meet Professor Blalock, but I guess she's tied up or something. I mean, not, like, in a kidnapped for ransom way or anythingsorry. Willow babble."

"I like Willow babble," Tara smiled again and looked around nervously as if she was embarrassed by her admission. "So, um, do you want to get a c-coffee or something?"

"Yeah!" Okay, that was a little too big with the yeah! But Tara was beaming happily. As they made their way through the tables and chairs toward the coffeemakers, Willow began to feel guilty about lying. But it wasn't a big lie. It was a tiny little white lie. Yeah, but it's still a lie and this is the Hellmouth and you know about that old road to hell.

As the internal moral struggle raged, Willow felt Tara's hand rest lightly on her arm and looked up to find the blonde's face full of concern.

"Willow are you okay?"

I can't lie to her. Besides the whole Hellmouth issue there's the what-if-professor-Blalock-actually-shows-up thing.

"Um, yeah, I just" she sighed dramatically and looked down at the ground. "It's just that I wasn't really here to meet Professor Blalock, I was here toum, well you always walk through here around two on Tuesdays and Thursdays so I always try to be here then, but you weren't here so I thought." She trailed off and continued to study the scuffed marble tiles, afraid to meet Tara's eyes. Great. Now she's gonna think you're a complete weirdo. "Sorry. It's really not as I'm-stalking-you as it sounds."

There were several moments of awkward silence before Tara spoke. "S- so you were here to s-see me?"

Willow felt her stomach turn over. "Um, yeah. Is that okay? Cause if it isn't I can totally not be here, y'know if that's what you wan." After several more moments of terrible silence she looked up to find the blonde blushing. The heat exploded in her own face at the sight.

"That's why I'm here too. C-cause you're always here after my Art History classor usuallyand I was hoping we could get c-coffee maybe" Tara admitted.

Willow knew she should say something. Tara was staring at her expectantly

"Oh." Which obviously was not the response Tara needed because she was staring at the ground again, her hair falling into her face.

"Sorry. I guess that sounds a little weird" Tara trailed off wistfully, her forehead furrowing deeply.

And then it just seemed ridiculous. Both of them arranging to be here on the same day hoping to run into each other. Ridiculous, but not odd considering the obvious connection they both shared.

"No! I mean, it doesn't sound weird well, maybe a little, but I mean it's kinda cool. You know, both of us sneaking around to see each other here on the same day. Like we were both thinking the same thing at the same time -- synchronicity and all." And then she stopped abruptly. "Sorry, I'm rambling again."

Tara was thoughtful for a moment, a small smile playing over her lips."Yeah it's cool, but you know, I've heard there's this nifty new invention called a phone that you can use to actually arrange to meet someone at a certain place in time."

Willow laughed, "I'll have to try that.some other time when I'm not being all sneaky. Smartypants."

They sat down to drink their coffees and Willow found it harder and harder to concentrate on the conversation. Her thoughts kept wandering along with her eyes to the witch's lips, her blonde hair, her deep blue eyes. What's wrong with you?

There was a long awkward silence as the two of them smiled shyly down at their coffees. Willow stirred slowly and wondered if it had been long enough. Could she ask now? Would it seem rehearsed?

"Hey, um, I thought maybe we could get together later. Do some spells or whatever. I'll bring the pizza!"

She glanced up cautiously from her coffee expecting the blonde's shy smile and a quick yes'. But Tara was bent over her coffee, biting her lip, her forehead lined as she studied the contents of the cup.

Willow backtracked immediately, "But I mean, we don't have to'cause you probably have better things to do on a Friday night and we can do it some other time if you don't want to"

"No. I want to, it's just" the blonde interrupted her and then trailed off looking down at her hands uncomfortably.

Willow tried to suppress the panic that threatened to overwhelm her. She had counted on a quick yes.' Tara had always made time for her before. At all hours.

"It's okay. Really. I shouldn't have assumed"

"No. I mean, yes, you should have. It's justI have a, um, a d-date."

"Oh." Willow felt as if she had been physically struck. The wind knocked out of her in one terrifying blow. But that wasn't right. Tara was her friend. She should be happy for her. Right? "Oh. Really? That's, that's great! That's so cool Tara." Willow managed to put some degree of sincerity in her voice to put the blonde at ease. She touched the blonde's soft hand and then pulled back as the strong electric shock arced between them.

Tara gasped at the contact, her eyes locking with the redhead's for what seemed like hours and then she forced her eyes away, a deep frown on her face. "No, it's n-not. A friend of mine set it up. I d-don't even want to g-go. It's g-going to be awful." Willow felt herself melt at the sight of the other girl's discomfort. Her stutter just made her more endearing. Tara was so special. She deserved to be happy. More than anyone.

Willow's voice, when she finally found it was gentle and certain,

"No it's not gonna be awful." She took the blonde's hand gently in her own, ignoring the powerful surge that ran through her. "You are going to have an amazing time. Who knows. Maybe he'll turn out to be the man of your dreams!"

Tara gave her a sad smile and squeezed Willow's hand before withdrawing her own.

****

"Wow! Who died?"

Willow looked up to find her best friend standing over her. The room was dark and she hadn't even heard Buffy come in. When Willow didn't respond right away, Buffy's mind began to race to the obvious Sunnydale conclusion."Oh, wait. God. Did someone die?"

"No!" Willow managed. "No dying here. Or elsewhere. Sorry."

"Can I turn on a light or will that break the depressing mood you were going for here?"

"Sure. Sorry. Guess I didn't notice."

Buffy turned on the overhead light and Willow squinted painfully as the Slayer made her way over to sit next to the redhead on the bed.

"You okay?"

Willow nodded and gave her friend a brave smile.

"Yeah. Sorry. I don't know what's wrong with me.." All she could think about was Tara. Tara on her date. Where were they? What were they doing? And that brought a series of disturbing images: the blonde making out with someone, the blonde in some state of semi-naked. She felt herself heat up at the thought and nervously searched for a distraction. "but I'm okay. How's Riley?"

Yes, Buffy's Riley chatter she had discovered recently was the exact equivalent of a cold shower. Especially when paired with the image of her best friend.

Buffy gave her a suspicious look before letting out a long sigh.

"The usual. Busy with Initiative stuff." She got up abruptly and stood facing the hunched form of the hacker. "You know what? I think it's time for us to have a girl's night. You, me and lot's of coffee. Which leads to lots of talking about what's going on in WillowWorld."

Willow gave her another sheepish grin. "Thanks Buffy, but it's okay. I'm sure Riley'll be by soon."

Buffy studied her with a worried look and then grabbed her arm, dragging the slim witch up to face her.

"He can wait. It's been too long since we had a best friend night."

"Really? Well, I'm good with the coffees, but I'm not so sure about the whole talking thing. It's just I don't even know what's wrong you know?"

"Well, then it's time for Buffy research mode to get to the bottom of this mystery minus the stuffy British guy and with lots of chocolate."