A Slayer's Fortune by VoronaFiernan

Summary: Written for the April Challenge Event - Response to the Tarot Cards challenge and Christmas Carol challenge.
After Buffy stands up for Tara when her family tries to take her away, Tara shows her gratitude by offering Buffy a reading from a special Tarot deck she has had in her family for generations. Buffy chooses to focus on relationships, and Tara proposes a series of three-card (Past, Present, Future) readings over the course of three days, to evaluate three separate possible relationships. After each reading, Buffy meditates on the cards, and learns additional information, as she tries to see whether or not her relationship with Riley will succeed, or if there is a chance with Angel. She has no idea who she will consider for the third reading, but there's an annoying vampire who keeps insulting her and standing out under her tree every night... A mix of Tarot and A Christmas Carol leading to an unexpectedly happy new relationship.
Complete at 5 chapters.

Categories: Season 5, Crossover (AtS), Challenge Response
Characters: Buffy, Spike, Giles, Angel, Darla, Drusilla, Ensemble, Glory, Harmony, Lloyd, Riley Finn, Samantha (Sam) Finn, Tara, William
Genres: Fix-It, HEA/HFN, Romance
Warnings: Adult Language, Attempted Rape, Buffy/Other (Temp), Sexual Situations, Torture (Physical)
Challenges: Tarot Cards (Author's Choice of Name) , christmas carol, but for love instead (author choice)
Event: April Challenge 2023
Completed: Yes Chapters: 5
Word count: 32,430 Hit Count: 6,571 ePub Downloads: 127
Published: April 09, 2023 Updated: June 25, 2023

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05/01/2023: Fixed some of the dashes to make them more consistent and added some additional notes at the end.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Buffy meditates on the first reading she received from Tara about Riley, and has three vivid dreams that show her the truth about her current relationship.

05/01/2023: I forgot the water suit was Chalices, and wrote Seven of Cups in one place. That has been fixed. Also, some dialogue is taken from the show, specifically A New Man.

Buffy meditates on the second reading she received from Tara about Angel, and has three vivid dreams that show her the truth about her current relationship.

This chapter was a difficult one! And I must give TONS OF THANKS to Einna Dreamer for her exceptional feedback. Without it, this chapter would have been much worse.

05/01/2023: I forgot to note that some dialogue is taken from the following episodes: AtS Season 2 episode 6, Guise Will Be Guise and AtS Season 4 episode 22, Home.

Buffy has to decide who or what her next Tarot reading should be about, and the dreams she has as a result cause her to question much of what she knows of herself and a certain blond vampire.

This is the chapter that starts going into R territory, and where the more major warnings apply. Some dialogue and scenes have been taken from the following BtVS episodes:
Season 5, episode 4: Out of My Mind (Shooting Script)
Season 5, episode 6: Family
Season 5, episode 7: Fool for Love
Season 5, episode 18: Intervention
Season 7, episode 17: Lies My Parents Told Me
Season 7, episode 22: Chosen

WARNINGS:
Attempted Rape: Not described in detail. A single line evoking the scene between William and his mother from Lies My Parents Told Me.
Torture: Expanded the scene where Glory tortures Spike in Intervention
Sexual Situations: Expansion of Spike's dream from Out of my Mind into more of a sex scene, but still non-explicit. It comes directly from the Shooting Script (rather than the transcript).

With new information about the woman after the Key, Buffy has a research session with the Scoobies, followed by an unexpected revelation from Tara, and culminating in a night of understanding and bliss with Spike, with a more hopeful view of the future to come.

Lots of love to Sigyn for her extensive beta work, along with Harlow Turner and FoolForSpuffy who also helped. Thank you so much! Any remaining mistakes are mine. Many apologies on the delay on this chapter; fixing it to my liking took longer than I expected.

WARNINGS:
Sexual Situations: The conversation at the end with Spike involves a sex scene. Some very minor kink at the end as well.

Dialogue from/Allusions to the following episodes of BtVS:
Season 5, Episode 7: Fool for Love
Season 6, Episode 9: Wrecked
Season 6, Episode 13: Dead Things
Season 6, Episodes 20-21: Villains, Two to Go, Grave
Season 7, Episode 20: Touched
Season 7, Episode 22: Chosen