Buffy shifted them around so they weren’t facing Willow, leaning her head back on Tara’s shoulder as she ran her hands along the Wiccan’s forearms.  “Are you okay?” 

“Mmm.”  Tara rested her head against Buffy’s, wrapping her arms tighter around the Slayer as she thought about the question.  It wasn’t every day that she took on Spike, nor made a show of her power.  But the bastard had pissed her off!  She growled softly, smiling as Buffy moved her head to turn worried eyes her way.  “Just thinking.”  Tara kissed her softly.  “I’m fine, considering…”  She gently brushed her fingers over Buffy’s sides. 

Buffy nodded and rested her head against Tara’s again, giving the arms around her a soothing brush as her eyes caught Cami and Amy heading to the bar.  “Considering… this night is turning out to be… somewhat bizarre?”  Buffy smiled as Tara laughed softly and kissed her ear. 

“Mmm, something along those lines, yeah.”  She sighed as she leaned into the Slayer’s back.  “It’s not every day that I…”  Stiffening, she sighed again as Willow interrupted them. 

Buffy growled at the interruption, now wishing that they’d never left the house.  ‘Though, if we hadn’t, would we be where we are right now?’  She was thinking about the warm body pressed against her back, and the arms around her waist.  Even though she’d woken in these same arms earlier today, she didn’t think they’d be on the verge of… whatever it was that was happening between them, if not for coming to the Bronze tonight.  Even if nothing else happened tonight, something had definitely changed between them.  And she was thinking it was definitely for the better. 

“Why did you do that to Spike?”  Willow demanded when they basically ignored her by turning away, Amy’s flight now forgotten.  “He was only trying to help.” 

“He’s a pain in the ass!”  Buffy growled as she sent an agitated look Willow’s way.  “Here they come.”  She added for Tara’s benefit as she saw Cami and Amy heading back their way. 

“Is she okay?”  Tara straightened up as she looked for the two in the crowd. 

“Seems like it, anyway.”  Buffy studied the ex-rat as she followed closely behind the waitress, eyes darting around her as they cut through the crowd. 

“What was that you did to him, anyway?”  Willow frowned as she thought about Tara being able to take down Spike all on her own.    “And can you teach me?”  She looked hopefully at Tara as she waited for them to turn her way.  She’d been surprised, to say the least, not having seen Tara do anything like that before, and curious about the spell.  Something she wanted very badly to add to her repertoire.  She smiled with the thought of being able to do damage to the opposition without breaking a sweat. 

“No.”  Tara never turned and didn’t bother answering the first question, as she had no intention of teaching Willow anything at this point.  “Are you okay, Amy?”  Tara worriedly searched the jittery woman’s face. 

Amy nodded once, shrugging as she did.  “It’s just…”  She trailed off, not really knowing how to explain what she was feeling. 

“She’ll be fine.  She just needs to adjust back to being human again.  Right, Amy?”  Willow smiled at her friend, flinching at the angry looks from everyone as they turned her way. 

“She’s not fine, Willow!”  Buffy growled angrily.  Knowing it wasn’t the same, but she knew something about being brought back. 

Tara pulled Buffy tight against her body, trying to ease some of the tension that surged through the Slayer as they’d turned to face Willow. 

“She just needs to get…”  Willow’s eyes opened wide and she took a step back, shying away and snapping her mouth closed as Buffy came at her. 

Buffy quickly shifted out of Tara’s arms ready to beat the hell out of Willow, coming up short as Tara grabbed her pants.  “If you say ‘get over it’ or ‘back in the swing of things’, I’ll fuckin’ kill you!”  Buffy’s face was red with anger as she glared at Willow, fists clenched and jaw muscles jumping as she shook with rage. 

“Buffy!”  Tara quickly reached out and grabbed the waist of Buffy’s leather pants, amazingly stopping her from pouncing on the redhead.  “Easy, Tough Stuff.”  She gently tugged on the pants, bringing the riled Slayer back into her arms as she sent a look of warning to Willow. 

The gamblers quickly started placing other bets with the new turn of events, happy to see that no one was paying attention to them this time. 

“I’m gonna kill her!”  Buffy growled through clenched teeth as she continued to glare at Willow, remaining stiff in Tara’s arms. 

“I don’t blame you, Sweetie.”  Tara whispered softly and kissed the side of Buffy’s head as she held her close, soothingly rubbing her hands over her sides. 

“Then why’d you stop me!”  Buffy grumbled as she started to relax against Tara, though the death ray aimed at Willow remained in force. 

Tara laughed softly as she felt the Slayer’s body uncoiling, bringing her lips to Buffy’s ear as she relaxed somewhat her self now that Buffy wasn’t going to do bodily harm to her ex.  “I wouldn’t want your first experience to end up happening with your cellmate while you were behind steel bars, that’s why.” 

Buffy pressed back into Tara’s body as she closed her eyes and whimpered, bringing her arms up to cover Tara’s.  “That is so not fair!” 

Cami sighed and relaxed her self as Tara grinned and kissed the Slayer’s ear.  She hadn’t heard what Tara had said to the pissed off woman, but whatever it was, worked.  ‘At least we won’t have to clean up any blood… yet, anyway!’  She tacked on to her thought. 

Tara grinned as she loosened her hold on the Slayer and straightened up to step back away from her.  “Well, if that’s what you really want?” 

“Get back here!”  Buffy growled and grabbed Tara’s arms before they could slip from around her completely, pulling on them until the Wiccan smacked against her back with a soft ‘Oomph’.  “Evil wench!”  She mumbled as she wrapped Tara’s arms around her self, holding them in place. 

Tara laughed softly as she wrapped herself around the Slayer, kissing her shoulder as Cami smiled and winked at her. 

Cami lifted one of the shots off the tray.  “That’s one disaster avoided.”  She brought it up in salute before downing it quickly.  Placing the empty back on the tray, she stepped closer to Buffy and Tara, holding the tray out to them to choose their own shot as she sent a disdainful look Willow’s way.  “I wouldn’t hope for a second one, if I were you.” 

“I’ll second that.”  Buffy saluted Cami as the waitress turned back to them, tilting her head back on Tara’s shoulder as she drank one of the Afterburners. 

Tara smiled sadly at Amy as she lifted a Slippery Nipple off the tray.  “I don’t think alcohol would be a wise choice for you, at the moment.” 

Amy nodded and held up the bottle of water she still carried.  “I’ll stick to this, thanks.  I had a cup of coffee this morning, and started bouncing off the walls.” 

“Caffeine high?”  Tara smiled at the woman before chuckling softly as she brought her shot to her mouth.  ‘Goddess, how many of these have we had?!  It’s a good thing I made sure we ate before the taxi got to the house tonight.’  She licked her lips as she felt the warmth spread through her once again.  ‘Oh yeah, I could get to liking these.’ 

Amy nodded and twisted the cap off her bottle of water, sipping as her eyes darted around them.  She inched closer to the group of woman at the sight of peoples eyes looking their way.  “Still, I’d say.”  She quickly capped the bottle then began playing nervously with the label. 

Tilting her head to study the fidgety woman as she put her glass back on the tray, Tara smiled softly as the woman looked up feeling eyes on her.  “Would you like me to temporarily help you out a bit?” 

“Huh?”  Amy frowned, not knowing what the woman meant. 

Tara looked around quickly, spotting an empty chair by the wall not far from them.  Giving a confused Buffy a squeeze and a kiss, she patted her stomach as she pulled her arms from around the Slayer, holding out a hand for Amy.  “Come with me.”  She smiled as Amy took her hand, leading her to the seat. 

Buffy and Cami looked at each other and shrugged, following the two woman. 

“Have a seat.”  Tara took the bottle from Amy’s hand and handed it to the Slayer with a wink before turning back to Amy.  “Actually, turn around and straddle the chair.” 

Amy jumped when Tara’s hand touched her shoulder, brows drawn as she looked at the woman before doing as told. 

“Try to relax.”  Tara placed her other hand on Amy’s shoulder, gently starting to massage them as she stepped close to her and brought her body back to lean against her self.  “Take a few deep breaths and try to center yourself.  Your nervous system is what’s making you feel wired.  Until things even out between your former self and being you again, you’re still going to have the nervous twitches of a rat.” 

Amy twisted her head to look up at the woman behind her, lips twitching before she spoke.  “Is that an alternative way of saying until I get over it?”  She smiled as Tara growled softly at her before chuckling. 

“Smartass!”  Tara bumped her hips into Amy’s back as she smiled at her.  “Now, turn around and behave.” 

Buffy laughed softly as she leaned against the wall beside the chair, having heard the softly spoken sarcastic question.  “I wouldn’t piss her off, Ams.” 

Amy nodded quickly to that comment as she turned around and behaved as told, though a smile turned up the corner of her lips. 

Tara closed her eyes and centered herself as she continued the gentle massage of Amy’s shoulders.  Smiling after a few minutes when she felt Amy relax and sag back into her body.  “How’s that?”  She opened her eyes to look down at the smiling woman leaning against her. 

Buffy had felt the magic, though she didn’t know what Tara was doing.  She had to smile as she watched Amy’s hands relax their tight grip on the back of the chair and her legs stop bouncing up and down, then her body relax. 

“Whatever it was, I’ll take it!”  Amy reached up and squeezed Tara’s hands, opening her eyes and tilting her head to grin up at the Wiccan. 

“Remember, it’s only temporary.”  Tara squeezed Amy’s shoulders as the woman nodded. 

“Thank you.”  Amy closed her eyes as they filled with tears.  She hadn’t felt this relaxed in a very long time, even if it was only temporary, she’d take it. 

Willow’s eyes widened and her mouth fell open as she watched Amy and Tara.  “What did you do to her?” 

“Some thing to help calm her nerves for a little while.”  Tara answered without looking at Willow, before leaning down to press a kiss to the top of Amy’s head, whispering.  “It was a serenity spell.  I think some meditations and relaxation techniques would help, but I’ll be more that happy to redo it for you when necessary.  I don’t think trying to do the spell on your own is a good thing right now.” 

Amy nodded and swallowed over the lump in her throat as a tear slid from the corner of her eye.  “I’ll probably take you up on that.”  She swiped at the errant tear. 

“Any time, Amy.”  Tara kissed her head again, smiling as she looked up at Buffy. 

Buffy nodded and smiled back at Tara, squeezing Amy’s shoulder as the woman sat up straight. 

“But what was it?  Can I do it?”  Willow frowned as she looked from Tara to Amy.  “And why didn’t I think of it?”  She shook off the last question as she looked back up at Tara. 

“It was a serenity spell.”  Tara sighed as she looked at Willow. 

“I should have thought of that!”  Willow grumbled, chastising herself for not having done so.  “Maybe I can tinker with it a bit to make it last longer.”  Her mind quickly started thinking of a way of making it a more permanent spell. 

“Willow!”  Tara growled at the redhead as she spun on her. 

Willow jumped, her eyes opening wide as her head snapped up to look at Tara.  “What?” 

Buffy handed Amy back her bottle of water as she pushed off the wall, stepping quickly towards Tara as she saw her stiffen when Willow started to babble to herself.  “Haven’t you done enough, Wil?”  Buffy placed her hand on the small of the rigid Wiccan’s back. 

“What, I can make it so that it’s bigger and better!”  Willow frowned not understanding why everyone was glaring at her, again. 

“Enough, Willow!”  Tara narrowed her eyes at Willow, her arm unconsciously slipping around Buffy’s waist as she leaned into her. 

Buffy pressed into Tara’s side as she started to feel the low buzz that she was now associating with the Wiccan doing magic.  ‘Uh oh, here we go again!’  She smiled internally, getting a perverse pleasure out of watching the Wiccan take a stand and take someone down.  She couldn’t think of two more deserving people than Willow and Spike at the moment. 

Cami sighed and grabbed another shot, checking on the betting duo as she did.  Not really surprised when they’d leaned their heads in and started whispering back and forth again. 

Amy smiled a bit as she stood.  Now much more relaxed and feeling a bit like her old self, though still a bit queasy as she moved to stand to the side and slightly behind Tara.  She was ticked off at Willow, and rather interested in what the woman was going to do to her longtime friend after witnessing her bout with Spike. 

Willow, for her part, was unaware of the shaky ground she now found herself standing upon. 

~HLM~