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The living room was chaos. Potentials talked on top of each other, and there was lots of yelling, and Fred and Tara only had to exchange one look before they both retreated to the kitchen.
“All that noise,” Fred said. “Reminds me a bit of when lots of demons see you all at once, and they all start realizing you really ought to be chained up somewhere, and then they—“ She stopped cold once she saw the look on Tara’s face. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up the dark past and all that.”
Tara reached for her hand. “It’s okay,” she said. “When I was a kid, I went through a couple of years where I didn’t talk to anyone but my mom, and it was a lot like that. All the other kids would yell a lot, and I could barely take it.”
“I guess we’re both kind of out of place here,” Fred said. “What with all the loud girls and all.”
“I’m surprised Willow can handle it, even,” Tara confessed. “All that yelling, and no Buffy.”
Fred peeked through the kitchen doorway. She had to look through the dining room and the entryway first, but she could see that the commotion in the living room hadn’t yet died down.
“Maybe we could find her,” Fred said. “Buffy. We can find her, and make her feel better or something.”
“We can’t bring her back, though,” Tara said. “The girls would be even louder than they are now.”
“Yeah, I know,” Fred answered. “But Buffy’s got to need a bit of support, and we’re not really suited to the whole helping Potentials thing. Honestly, I much prefer being emotional support.”
“Me, too,” admitted Tara. “I’m a lot better at it.”
Fred looked back in at the living room. “Let’s leave Willow a note,” she said. “This is going to take a really long time.”
Tara ripped a piece of paper off the pad by the phone and wrote, This house is too loud. We’ve gone to find Buffy. We’ll be back by ten. -Tara & Fred
“Are we going to leave it in the bedroom?” Fred asked.
“Yeah,” Tara answered. “I’ll be right back.” She disappeared through the dining room and up the stairs, and came back a moment later holding a bag that Fred had come to associate with casual magic. She and Fred stepped out into the warm air outside, unnoticed by the arguing masses within. “Let’s do a locator spell,” she said. “It’ll help us know where to look.”
“Okay,” Fred said. “How?”
Tara looked around. “We have to sit on the ground,” she said. She led Fred to the side of the house. “Here.”
“Okay,” Fred said.
Tara laid out all the ingredients. “Here. Do you mind if I handle the chanting? There’s not really time to teach you.”
“It’s no big deal,” Fred said. “I’m not a real witch yet, anyway.”
“No, you are,” Tara assured her. “There’s no, like, initiation or anything.”
Fred shrugged. “Doesn’t matter, really. You do the chanting.”
The spell was quick, and Tara and Fred set off to find Buffy.
“Do you think they’re still yelling?” Fred asked.
“Probably,” Tara said. “They’re kind of like that.”
“It’s like when Angel and Gunn and Wesley and Cordelia all get into a fight,” Fred mused, “except not anymore, because Cordelia’s a demon or something, and Wesley ran away with Angel’s kid, and so now I guess it’s just Angel and Gunn. And there are more Potentials, anyway.”
Tara laughed. “Isn’t Angel a vampire?” she asked. “How does he have a kid?”
Fred looked at her. “It’s a really long story. It doesn’t make very much sense, either, and it’s all really weird.”
“That’s okay,” Tara said. “After long enough with Willow and her gang, I’m kind of used to weird.”
“It’s not really worth telling, to be honest,” Fred admitted. “We have bigger problems here.”
They walked in silence for a few moments.
Suddenly, Fred remembered something else. “Oh, and, did I tell you?” She grinned. “I mapped out a way to lay out the girls’ sleeping patterns to maximize extra living room space. Oh, and, when I was done with that, I was still bored, so then I mapped out a way to use their bedding coupled with the furniture to make different mathematical shapes.”
“You should show Faith when we get back,” Tara said.
“I think I’m gonna,” Fred said. “It’s really interesting.”
Tara smiled at Fred, then looked ahead. “This is our stop,” she said.
They both turned into the front path of one of the houses. Upon arrival at the front door, Fred rang the doorbell.
A moment later, the door opened, and Buffy appeared, looking exhausted.
“What? Do you guys want to kick me out even more?”
“No,” Tara said.
“We like you,” Fred agreed.
“It was just getting kind of loud with all the Potentials,” Tara explained. “They argue a lot.”
“And we figured you’d need emotional support or some such,” Fred added. “So now we’re here.”
Buffy gave a small smile. “Well, it’s quiet here, that’s for sure.”
“We told Willow we’d be home at ten,” Tara said, quietly. She stepped forward a little bit. “Does it— does it help if we’re here?”
Buffy stepped back, letting Tara and Fred in. “Yeah, it helps,” she said.
An hour later, Tara and Fred were sitting on a couch across from Buffy in an armchair, listening to her talk about everything she was struggling with.
“I just— I don’t know what to do with these girls,” she said. “I’m too strict, but somebody has to be. Giles isn’t the strict one anymore, and Faith takes them out to party. It’s probably better that I’m not allowed around them anymore.”
“They liked you fine,” Fred protested. “It’s just hard to be the leader. You have to deal with all those people, and the talking all the time, and disagreeing with them, and all that. I’m surprised Wesley manages it.”
All of a sudden, all traces of misery were erased from Buffy’s face, and she started laughing. “Wesley is your leader?”
Fred frowned. “Yeah? Something wrong with Wesley?”
Buffy was still laughing. “Last time I saw him, he couldn’t have led us to the mall.”
“He’s a lot better now,” Fred said. “Cordelia said he used to be really pretentious.”
Buffy’s laughing renewed itself. “She should know,” she giggled.
Soon enough, it was 9:30, and Fred and Tara decided that they should go home. They left a significantly more cheerful Buffy behind, although the instant the door swung shut behind them, they started worrying about her again.
“Do you think we actually helped?” Tara asked.
“She sure seemed happier,” Fred said. “Even if she just gets sad again, happy for a little bit is good, right?”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Tara agreed. “But when it gets taken away from you all the time, being happy isn’t much fun. I’m worried about Buffy.”
“Me, too,” answered Fred. “She’s too stressed.”
“Maybe this break will be good for her,” Tara suggested.
“I sure hope so,” Fred agreed.
They were both silent for a moment, then Tara spoke. “I always feel like a third wheel around here. Everyone’s running around and doing things, and I’m just Willow’s girlfriend. It’s nice when I can help people.”
“Yeah,” Fred replied. “All I do is rearrange people’s sleeping bags for maximum extra space. I’m not really of much use here.”
“You do a lot of research,” Tara said. “You’re a lot more helpful than you think.”
“Then that has to go for you, too, okay?” Fred grinned at Tara. “You’re really good for all those girls, and you’re especially good for helping Willow with her magic, and with not using too much of it.”
“Thanks.” Tara sighed. “It’s hard, you know? Being in Sunnydale is hard.”
Fred murmured her assent, and neither of them spoke again until they got to the house that had been Buffy’s.
They slipped in without much fuss; by now, the girls were all trying to sleep, and they were able to creep up the stairs without any problem.
Willow was still up, though, sitting up in the bed, reading. When Fred and Tara entered, she looked up.
“Did you help Buffy?” she asked.
“We tried,” Fred said. “I think we helped.”
“She’s been better,” Tara admitted.
Willow put her book aside. “I’m sorry it got so loud. Those girls are almost feral.”
“It’s not their fault,” Tara said, pulling her pajamas out of a drawer. “They’re all cooped up, and people keep telling them what to do.”
“Still,” Willow said. “When this is all over, we’re all going to go find a quiet place and stay there for as long as we can before another apocalypse appears. Deal?”
Fred and Tara laughed. “Deal,” they chorused.