Benson's two-episode arc as Willow's Wicca-loving college friend Tara expanded into a multiseason stint as the girls grew into the series' most functional couple. ''My hope is that people won't be so anxious to put a label on it like she's become a lesbian, or it's just a phase, or she's bisexual,'' Buffy creator Joss Whedon told EW in 2000, ''I didn't want to make it a big issue. As soon as you start to hammer out a definition, it becomes kinda icky. It stops being just about these two people.''