Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Sometimes Angels Fall

By

Disclaimer: Joss & Co. own ‘em, I don’t. I’ll put ‘em back when I’m done. : )

Notes: For those of you reading The Slayer Chronicles, don’t freak, this isn’t some lost chronicle, just my way of breaking bard block.

Warning: This is not a bright, happy cheerful story. In fact, the issues here are quite possibly some of the darkest I’ve ever written about. The angst factor is high.

Comments and constructive criticism are always welcome at: shaych3@yahoo.com. Flames will be used to BBQ my lunch.

This is for all the little angels. Wind to thy wings.

Dancers swirled around the nightclub floor, ebbing and flowing with the music in human waves. The slayer and her best friend moved within this tide until they reached "their" table.

"So," Buffy said as she and Willow settled onto the not-so-comfortable stools at the Bronze. "How’s, um, Tara?"

"She’s fine," Willow said, running a hand through her newly shorn hair. Earlier that day she and Buffy had gone over to the local beauty salon and had gotten their summer haircuts. Already, the hacker felt cooler and lighter. Though, as she turned and caught a glance of herself in one of the strategically placed mirrors around the nightclub, she wasn’t sure how Tara would like the new style. It was quite short. Shorter even than when she’d first met the shy blonde wiccan. Willow sighed dreamily, remembering the day she’d looked up at the Wicca group and locked eyes with Tara.

"Hello, Earth to Willow," Buffy said, snapping her fingers in front of Willow’s eyes.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, um," Willow thought hard, trying to see if her brain had automatically recorded her friend’s chatter. As luck would have it, it had. "Actually, I don’t know where she went for the week, Buffy. She wouldn’t say." Willow’s shoulders slumped a little. She missed her girlfriend. Really, it was as if someone had snipped off an ear or something, because she kept looking around for - something - and it wasn’t there.

"Well, she’ll be back tomorrow, right?" Buffy asked, fidgeting a little. Riley was still in Washington and the slayer was completely sympathetic to Willow’s plight, though she suspected for different reasons. Buffy was horny. Plain, simple and just a little on the hormonal side of things, but it was the truth. She missed her boyfriend and his…stamina. For some reason, Buffy didn’t think things had progressed quite that far between Willow and Tara. Briefly, a flash of just what Willow and Tara would look like in the throes of passion flashed before the slayer’s mental eye. Oo, gotta stop that! Fantasizing about my best friend and her girlfriend is a big no-no in the slayer handbook, Buffy told herself, as her cheeks reddened.

"I think so," Willow replied, wondering what had embarrassed her friend. Probably still hasn’t accepted that Tara and I are a couple. A couple. Willow’s stomach did flip-flops. A couple that did couply things. Well, sorta couply things. There was the hugging. And the hand-holding. And the kissing…oh yes, the kissing. And, Willow thought, becoming a little breathless, the touching… Willow closed her eyes and remembered the night before Tara had left for…wherever she was going.

She was in Tara’s room, of course. That was where she spent all of her time, lately. Spring semester was over and tomorrow, the students would all be packing up their things, or running their slips down to the various RA’s to prove that they were taking summer classes. For now, however, it was time to rest. Both Willow and Tara were taking summer classes, but since there was a slight break between semesters, Tara was leaving for a week. Willow would stay in Tara’s room during the wiccan’s absence and Buffy would stay in their room, as the slayer was also taking classes in an attempt to catch up on the things she missed while Slaying during the past year.

She and Tara had just completed a minor transformation spell, turning a glass of water into rather weak wine and were enjoying the fruits of their labors, as well as their standard after-spell feast of granola bars and Gatorade. Willow lay with her head in Tara’s lap while the blonde wiccan ran her fingers through the hacker’s hair. The quiet strains of Celtic harp music filtered through the room, blending with the remaining incense smoke to create a peaceful environment that the hacker found herself loving more and more. This was "home" to her now, more so than the place where she’d grown up or even the dorm room she shared with her best friend, Buffy.

Willow snuggled up to Tara. "I’m gonna miss you, you know."

Tara brushed a strand of hair out of Willow’s face and smiled. "Yes, I know, and I will miss you too. But I have to go. This trip was planned over six months ago - before I met you."

Willow sat up and hugged her knees to her chest. "I still don’t understand why you won’t tell me where you’re going."

Tara sighed heavily. "I want to," she whispered, ducking her head so that her hair fell over and obscured her face.. "But…" she mumbled, shrugging noncommittally.

"You don’t have to tell me if it really makes you uncomfortable, Tara," Willow said softly. "I’m just worried and all. I mean, what if a plane goes down and you’re on it only I don’t know because I don’t know where you are? And yeah, I know that’s looking on the dark side of things but it’s you and I care about you and I…" she babbled, then sighed resignedly. "Anyway, as I said, you don’t have to tell me, but I don’t have to like it either." Tara continued to hide behind her hair so Willow reached up her hand and caressed the wiccan’s face. "Just…come home quickly, all right?" she asked, looking into Tara’s eyes and smiling crookedly.

Tara returned the smile. "I will," she said, lifting her head up a little.

"Good! Now, what should we do to pass the time we have left?" Willow asked, wiggling her eyebrows playfully.

Tara blushed. "Uh, Willow… I’m…"

"Shh…" Willow said, putting a finger on Tara’s lips and lifting herself up to kiss the wiccan softly. "There’s no hurry here. See," she said, crawling around to lay beside the wiccan, "this is me, not hurrying." She patted the bed. "Come cuddle with me?"

Tara smiled and stretched out beside the hacker. "I can do that," she said, as Willow kissed her again. Their kisses stayed slow and easy, almost chaste, until Tara reached out and slid a shaky hand into Willow’s hair and pulled the hacker close. "More," she whispered against Willow’s lips, then painted them delicately with her tongue.

Willow grinned and responded by opening her mouth a little and flicking her own tongue against Tara’s lips. They both groaned at the sensation. The next kiss they shared seared them both to the core. Panting, they drew apart. "Slow," Willow said, catching her breath.

"Slow," Tara agreed, running her fingers down Willow’s forearm, then twining their hands together. Willow leaned in and kissed her for an answer…

"Wow, wherever Will’s gone, can I visit?" Xander Harris’ voice broke Willow’s reverie.

The hacker looked up as her former crush object and his girlfriend, Anya, sat down at the table. "Sorry Xander, but there’s only room for me at that particular destination," the hacker said as her lips curved into a thoughtful smirk.

Maybe I was wrong, Buffy thought, then said, "How is Miss Kitty taking her mommy’s absence?"

"Terribly," Willow said, frowning. "She spends all her time sleeping on Tara’s coat, or walking around the room and crying. I have to keep music on all the time. It’s very heartbreaking."

Anya sighed sadly. "That’s just so pathetic," she said, turning to Xander and looking at him speculatively. "How come you don’t do that for me?"

Xander choked on his drink, then said, "An, I’d like to think I’m a little more mature than a kitten."

"So you don’t miss me and pine away restlessly when I’m gone? You don’t love me anymore!" Anya accused, turning away and crossing her arms.

"An…" Xander started to say, but Anya just set her shoulders and refused to talk to him. He turned a pleading eye toward Buffy who coughed and pushed her chair away from the table.

"Well, it’s time for me to patrol. See you all later," she said, hastily exiting.

"Thanks Buff, you’re such a pal," Xander said as Buffy ran off. He turned his puppy dog eyes on Willow, who tried to stand firm, but in the end, caved.

"Anya," she said, trying to make her voice as coaxing as she could. The former vengeance demon turned and looked at the hacker over her shoulder.

"What?"

"Don’t you think you’re being a little harsh to Xander?" Willow said, not even attempting subtly. That sort of thing was almost always lost on Anya anyway.

Anya shrugged. "Maybe. But…he deserves it. He didn’t give me my orgasm today."

"I had to work! I was tired!" Xander tried to defend himself.

"That’s not an excuse!" Anya replied, turning around and glaring at Xander. "I don’t ask for much from you. Just one thing, really. Orgasms. That’s all. Nothing more, nothing less." The former demon frowned, then added, "And pretty things, but that’s it!"

Xander’s mouth worked, but no sound came out. Willow wanted to hide her head because several people at the adjoining tables were staring, others noticed who was having the conversation and nodded wise heads. Most of the regulars were used to the Scoobies and their unusual discussions.

"Anya," Willow said, unsure of how to defuse the situation, but barreling ahead anyway. "A relationship isn’t always about or-or-"

"Orgasms?" Anya supplied helpfully when Willow stumbled over the word.

"Yeah, those. Anyway, there’s other things to enjoy," Willow said.

"Like what?" Anya asked curiously, turning to look at the hacker.

Willow, suddenly on the hot seat, shrugged nervously. "Well, like, um, holding hands and, um, long walks in the park and movies - movies are always good."

"Oh, we do those too, usually right before, and sometimes, right after, the orgasms," Anya informed her matter-of-factly.

Xander laid his head down on the table in utter defeat, while Willow closed her eyes and prayed for patience. "Anya," Willow said gently, "you don’t always have to tell everyone about every intimate detail of your life."

Anya smiled wickedly. "I know, but it’s oh so much fun to see you all squirm when I do." She shrugged nonchalantly. "Since I don’t do the vengeance thing anymore, it’s about the only thing I have left to amuse myself with."

Willow nodded. "Oh-kay." She chewed on her lower lip a moment and listened to the band on stage for a bit. "Anya," she said, leaning over so the former demon could hear her. "What exactly do you want from your relationship with Xander?"

"Sex," Anya replied shortly, "and pretty things. I told you that already." Then she turned the tables on Willow. "Why do you ask? I mean, what do you want from Tara? Besides orgasms that is," she said.

Willow coughed and blushed. "Ah, um, ah…" she babbled, searching for something to say.

"What? Haven’t you gotten to the orgasm part yet? Gosh you’re slow. Most lesbians I’ve seen are already living together by the second date, right Xander? U-haul syndrome, I believe it’s called," Anya said, studying Willow curiously while Xander pretended that he didn’t hear his girlfriend’s question. Then she reached out and patted the hacker’s hand condescendingly. "It’s all right. I’m sure Tara will give you lots of orgasms when she gets home. That’s what always happens in the movies Xander likes to watch."

Right then, Willow would settle for having a root canal.

"Anya, let’s dance," Xander said, standing up and reaching his hand out to his girlfriend.

Anya considered his request, then said, "Oh, all right. One dance, then we go home and have orgasms."

Willow swallowed heavily. Not since sex education had she heard the word "orgasm" used so much in conversation. The hacker hoped that it would be a long, long time until she heard it again. Having them was one thing - talking about them was something else entirely!

Sitting all by herself at the table, hacker closed her eyes and listened to the pounding beat of the music, filling her mind with thoughts of Tara.

***

Before she left for parts unknown, Willow offered to be at the airport to pick Tara up when she returned. Tara, of course, told her she didn’t have to bother, but Willow insisted. "Come on, I’ll borrow mom’s car for the day and we can have a picnic or something afterwards," she said pleadingly.

Tara smiled and said, "Oh, all right. But, you don’t have to borrow your mom’s car. You can use mine."

"You have a car?" Willow said, just a little surprised.

"Yeah, I do. I don’t use it much because gas isn’t cheap right now," Tara explained.

"Cool…can I see it?" Willow asked eagerly but Tara looked at her watch and shook her head.

"I’d love to show it to you myself, but I can’t. I have to go, my flight leaves in twenty minutes." She stepped up to Willow and kissed her. "The keys are in the top drawer of my dresser. The car is in space 3-B," she said, kissing the hacker one more time. "You’ll know it’s mine when you see it," she added, winking. Then, she grabbed her suitcase and her purse and ran out the door.

Willow raced over to the window to watch as Tara went down to the street and opened the door to a waiting cab. The wiccan looked up and shaded her eyes, then waved at Willow before getting into the back seat of the car. Willow returned the wave, then went looking for Tara’s keys. They were exactly where she said they’d be. That was one of the things that Willow liked the best about Tara - she always knew where stuff was. Once, she’d even amazed Willow by telling her where a missing homework assignment was.

The hacker went down to the student parking lot and searched for space 3-B. It didn’t take long to find it. The car parked in the space was definitely Tara’s. It was a VW Bug, circa early 1970’s and it was purple, with little blue and pink daisies painted all over it. Willow unlocked it and looked inside. The seats were covered in soft cotton shams that had been batique-dyed in cool shades of blue and green. An arrangement of beads and crystals hung from the rear view mirror and the wonderfully distinct odors of sage and sandalwood seemed to permeate the interior.

Willow slid into the driver’s seat and noticed that the car had a standard transmission. "Good thing dad made me learn to drive his truck," she said, testing her reach to the pedals. She adjusted the seat until she was comfortable, then allowed her curiosity to get the better of her and opened the glove box.

Inside was a box of bandages, a California road map, the pink slip and insurance papers, as well as a small wooden box. Willow carefully removed the box, then opened it. The pungent scent of jasmine wafted up, causing the hacker to blink. Besides the incense, there was a book of matches, two sticks of chalk, some loose crystals, a couple of small candles, and a tiny pocket knife.

"A wiccan first aid kit, how cute," Willow said, closing the box and replacing it in the glove compartment. The next thing the hacker checked out was the stereo system. What she found delighted her. While the car didn’t boast a state-of-the-art CD system, it did have a nice AM/FM cassette player and a box with several cassettes in it.

The hacker was already aware that her girlfriend had some unique tastes when it came to music, so the mix of Melissa Etheridge, Heart and Metallica didn’t surprise her. However, the Godspell soundtrack did. Willow smiled and whispered, "I sure do love you, Tara." She stroked the box of tapes, wishing her girlfriend was there so that they could go for a drive.

"Next Sunday," she promised herself, returning the tapes to their place under the passenger seat, then getting out and locking up.

***

Sunday morning, at exactly 7:12 am, Willow woke up. Or rather, she was awakened by Miss Kitty’s pathetic mewling as the little black and white kitten sat on the end of the bed and cried piteously.

The hacker sat up and yawned. "Hungry, Miss Kitty, or do you just miss your mommy?" she said, stifling another yawn and rubbing her eyes.

The kitten meowed at "hungry", but laid down and sighed heavily at "mommy".

"Both then. Well, I have good news for you - your mommy’s coming home today!" Willow informed the kitten, getting out of bed and padding over to the closet. She pulled out the box of cat food and poured some into one half of the kitten’s bowl, checking the water level as well. Then, she made herself a bowl of cereal and sat down in Tara’s overstuffed chair to eat.

1:14 p.m. That’s when she would be able to see Tara again. Unless of course, the airline gods weren’t with them and Tara’s plane was delayed. Willow’s feet twitched nervously. It had only been a week, but already it felt like years had passed since she had seen Tara’s smile, felt the blonde’s soft warm hand clasp hers gently, or heard her sultry laugh.

Willow’s head fell back against the chair and she closed her eyes, sighing heavily. "I miss you Tara," she whispered, as she had every day since the wiccan had left. She finished her cereal, then got up to get dressed. There was still shopping for the promised picnic to do after which she and Buffy were to meet so that they could go for a run in the park.

***

It was 12:35 p.m. and Willow was easing Tara’s little car out of its parking spot, careful not to scrape or bump anything as she did. It had been a while since she’d driven a stick, and the clutch on the bug was sticky. Traffic, thankfully, was minimal. Willow made it to Sunnydale’s little airport by 12:58 and was at the gate, waiting for Tara, by 1:09. Someone must have granted the couple a minor miracle because the monitor showed that Tara’s flight was, amazingly, on time.

The seconds and minutes ticked by as Willow sat at Tara’s gate and watched others board and disembark. Children cried, businessmen chatted on cellular phones, and airport employees ran harried hands through mussed hairdos. Just another Sunday at Sunnydale Metro.

A vamp, dressed in Armani and Bruno Mali strutted by, flirting with every unattached person he saw. Willow smirked as he cast an appraising eye toward her. For just a second, she envisioned leading him on - he was quite nice looking - but she decided against it, making a mental note to tell Buffy about him so that the slayer could be on the look out for the scumbag. Of course, only in Sunnydale could a person get away with wearing a trench coat, hat and sunglasses in summertime and have no one comment on it. Willow sighed and turned her attention back to the gate.

A plane was taxiing in and Willow felt a surge of anticipation wrap around her, making all the hairs on her arms stand up. Chills played tag along her spine and she stood up, half hoping to catch a glimpse of her girlfriend through one of the small windows along the side of the DC-10. Of course, it was too far away for her to see anything, but her heart believed that she saw the sunlight glint off a blonde head and that was enough to put a lump in Willow’s throat.

Over the loudspeaker, the airline announced the disembarking protocol for the passengers. First came the children, the elderly and the disabled. Then, row by row, everyone else. It was forever, plus ten minutes until Willow caught sight of Tara’s familiar blonde head bobbing along between a brunette and a skin head.

The hacker was just about to open her mouth to call out the wiccan’s name, when she stopped. Willow looked at Tara, and looked again. What she saw wasn’t Tara. She blinked. At least, not a Tara she’d ever seen before. The person heading toward her was not wearing her usual trendy clothes, or her crystal and bead jewelry, not even, Willow noticed when Tara got closer, the slight hint of sandalwood oil that the wiccan usually dabbed on at her pulse points. Instead, what stood before her, shyly staring down at her feet, was a young woman, dressed in what could only be described as Church Formal. Beyond that, Tara was wearing make-up. Gobs of it. Almost too much, in Willow’s opinion. It occurred to Willow that Tara looked like she’d been gussied up and put on display, like some cheap mall mannequin. A very tired, almost dead, cheap mall mannequin at that.

"T-tara?" she whispered, almost certain that she was actually talking to a stranger.

"Hey Willow," Tara’s familiar voice replied in an exhausted monotone.

"It really is you," Willow blurted, causing a few people to turn and stare. She blushed and said, "Sorry."

"It’s all right," Tara reassured her, as they turned to leave. "I - I should have told you what to expect."

"No, I’m fine. I was just - surprised - that’s all. I mean, I don’t think I ever expected to see you in something that looked like it could be worn to church, is all," Willow said as they went to retrieve Tara’s suitcase.

"I did go to church," Tara said softly as they pushed their way through the crowds. The noise of the airport drowned her out though, and Willow didn’t hear her.

They found Tara’s luggage and escaped the airport quickly. Outside, Willow said, "Why don’t I drive? You look beat."

"Okay," Tara agreed dully, stowing her suitcase in the trunk, then climbing into the passenger seat of the bug and buckling her seatbelt.

The ride back to the campus was silent, punctuated only by occasional snatches of music from the radio. Tara had fallen asleep, so Willow decided that she would take the long way home and allow the wiccan a little time for a nap. Willow rolled down her window and breathed in deeply, just happy to be in Tara’s presence once more. The air was salty, an offshore breeze having come in, bringing with it the tang of the ocean. Willow looked over at her sleeping girlfriend and wondered again what had taken the young wiccan out of town, and had returned her looking like an escapee from Sunday School. Sleep had taken Tara hard, almost like she hadn’t slept very well during her time away.

As she exited the freeway, Willow took a moment to look over Tara’s slumped form closely. Deep purple circles, hidden partially by makeup, as well as a hollow cast to the blonde’s cheeks confirmed Willow’s suspicions that her girlfriend hadn’t been sleeping well.

It was almost two o’clock when Willow pulled the car into Tara’s space. Gently, she shook Tara awake. "Hon, we’re home," she said softly, running her fingers through Tara’s hair.

A violent twitch shook Tara’s entire body as she woke, coming to with a bitten off shriek. Willow nearly went through the roof of the car. "Whoa, hon, it’s okay," she said, reaching out her hand and brushing her fingers over Tara’s cheek. "Let’s get you inside and into bed. Once you’ve had some sleep, we can talk." Whatever was going on, it - and their picnic - could wait until after the wiccan had slept a little more.

Tara nodded, stiffly getting out of the car and retrieving her luggage. Willow tried to take the suitcase, but Tara shook her head. "N-no, I’ve got it," she said, looking down at her feet.

"Okay, no problem," Willow said, heading off to Tara’s dorm.

Once inside, she and Tara stared at each other uncomfortably for a few seconds until Tara said, "Well, um, thanks for watching Miss Kitty and, for, um, coming to get me, Willow."

"Hey, it was no problem," Willow said, laughing as Miss Kitty erupted from underneath Tara’s bed and launched herself into her mommy’s arms, mewling piteously. "She really missed you, Tara," Willow said, smiling at the kitten’s antics.

"I missed her too," Tara said, looking down at the black and white furball and tickling her tummy. She looked up and a little half-smile formed on her face. "I missed you too, Willow."

That was what the hacker had been waiting for. She walked over and slipped her arms around Tara, pulling the taller woman’s head down onto her shoulder and rubbing her neck. "I missed you too. Goddess, you’re so tense. Here, lie down," she instructed, stepping away and taking the cat.

Tara turned to sit down on the bed, but was stopped by Willow’s hand on her elbow. "Wait. First, that needs to come off," she tugged on the starched white silk blouse that Tara wore.

"Willow…you don’t really need to -" Tara said, backing away from Willow’s hand.

"Yes, I do, you’re as stiff as a board," Willow said, giving Tara a "resolve face".

"No, I’ll be all right, really, I just need to sleep…" Tara protested as Willow caught her and pulled her close.

"But I want to," Willow said, looking up and kissing Tara’s lips gently, teasingly. "Please?" she asked, sliding her fingers up Tara’s arms and reveling in the feel of the smooth fabric that encased Tara’s upper body.

Tara closed her eyes and swayed under Willow’s touch. Biting her lip, she opened her eyes and nodded jerkily. Willow unbuttoned and peeled off the blouse, raising her eyebrow at the lacy white bra the wiccan wore underneath the shirt. "I can see that there is going to be a lot to talk about," she said, putting a finger on Tara’s partially open mouth, "later."

Tara smiled and nodded, then lay down. Willow reached for the oil they kept in a sunny spot and poured some in her hands, then rubbed them together. She sat down, preparing to massage Tara’s back and just barely managed to bite back an exclamation.

The wiccan’s back was covered in bruises and welts. Some old and fading, others so fresh they were still raw and purpling. Willow opened her mouth to ask what had happened, but stopped when she saw that Tara was already asleep. Sighing sadly, she stood up and found their first aid kit, then carefully cleaned out the wounds. After that, she gently rubbed some oil into the less injured parts of Tara’s back and shoulders to try and loosen the wiccan’s stiffened muscles. Then, she covered her with a lightweight blanket and kissed the back of her head.

"I’m going to find out who did this to you, Tara," she vowed softly as she got up, "and then I’m going to get witchy on their ass!" She left a short note on Tara’s desk: Gone to see Buffy - Be back soon - I love you and left.

***

Willow walked into the room she shared with Buffy and said without preamble, "Buffy, there’s a problem with Tara."

Buffy dropped her book and stood up. "What’s up?" she asked, concern coloring her voice.

"Well, you know how weird Tara acted about that trip she took?" Willow asked. When Buffy nodded, she said, "I picked her up today and she was dressed real funny…not at all like normal."

"And this is strange because?" Buffy asked, sitting down cross-legged on her bed while Willow sat across from her.

"Buffy, she was wearing make-up! And silk! A-and…and it looked like she’d been to church or something!" Willow explained, waving her hands around in agitation. Hacker and slayer stared each other down, each counting heartbeats until Buffy shrugged.

"Maybe I’m just dense, but this is strange how? I mean, where did she go?" Buffy asked.

Willow sighed. "I don’t really know, but wherever she went, someone really hurt her." She told Buffy about the ride home and how Tara had slept so heavily, and about the marks she found on her girlfriend’s back once they’d returned to the dorm. Briefly, she glanced at the clock. She’d been away from Tara’s side for almost an hour. Not long enough for a good nap, she decided, and continued to tell the slayer about Tara’s strange behavior.

Quietly Buffy listened, but when Willow told her about the bruises and welts, she held up a hand. "Okay, weirdness is definitely a happening thing here. By any chance, do you know where her flight originated?"

Willow nodded, "Yeah, her plane took off from the Las Vegas airport."

Buffy chewed on her lower lip for a minute before asking, "Has Tara ever told you anything about her parents?"

"I know her mom is dead, but that’s all. She gets all silent when the question of family comes up, so I usually just leave her alone about it." Willow explained.

Buffy nodded. "Okay, well, I wasn’t sleeping during all of Walsh’s psyche classes, so this is what I think we should do - I think we should find out about Tara’s past. We can do a little digging of our own, and then you should ask her about the bruises. She might not want to talk about it, but if someone is hurting her, we are going to make them stop. Make sure she knows that when you talk to her," Buffy said as she started pacing the room.

Willow smiled nastily. "Now that’s an idea that I like. Making them stop, that is. Especially the ‘making’ part." She got up and found her laptop and logged onto the internet. "First thing’s first, look up Tara’s family history." Easily, she hacked into the college’s student database, then browsed for "Kincaid, Tara Elizabeth". "Hmm, okay, here’s what I’ve found. Date of Birth: February 29, 1982. Hey, I didn’t know she was a leap year baby. And she’s so young, too. Does that mean that I’m robbing the cradle?" Buffy laughed and waved at Willow to continue. "Okay, let’s see. Mother: Deceased. We knew that. Father: Kincaid, Thomas Ian. Last Known Residence: Laughlin, Nevada. Hmm, this sounds promising."

The hacker clicked out of the college database and did a search on Tara’s father. Several hits popped up, including one for the Sunnydale police department. Willow clicked on that and scanned the page, while Buffy read over her shoulder. It was a report of an accidental death. On December 20, 1988, Thomas Kincaid had reported finding his estranged wife, Ashley Rose Kincaid, dead of a fall down the stairs in the family home. Their daughter, Tara, only six at the time, was home but had not seen her mother fall as she was down for her afternoon nap. The investigating officer suspected that drugs were involved and when Willow searched further, she found that an autopsy had confirmed that there was a high level of heroin in Ashley’s bloodstream, and the trauma she had suffered was consistent with a fall.

Time trickled by as she searched the internet, looking for anything that might explain what had happened to Tara. She found an old obituary in the newspaper’s online morgue. "Ashley Rose Kincaid, 28. Survived by Husband, Thomas Ian and Daughter, Tara Elizabeth. May God have Mercy on Her Soul." Willow frowned. "That’s an odd thing to say in an obituary," she said.

Buffy nodded. "Yeah, don’t they usually print comforting stuff?"

"Well, I’m not terribly experienced in the obituary department, but it seems to me that yes, they usually say you know, nice stuff," Willow said, continuing to search around on the internet.

She was still linked up to the police database, so she ran Thomas’ name again and came up with more hits. One was a date - 11-30-86. She followed it and found a copy of a request for a restraining order made out by Ashley Kincaid against her estranged husband, Thomas. The transcriber had left a note attached to the file: Respondent’s handwriting is difficult to read due to water stains. See original in Documents. "He’s been hitting me since I married him and I’m afraid he’s started hitting Tara. I can’t take it anymore. I just can’t take it."

Willow looked up from her computer, tears falling freely. "I’m going to kill him," she muttered as Buffy leaned over and gave her a quick hug.

"Not if I do it first," Buffy growled. "Okay, here’s the plan - you are going to go back to Tara’s and be with her. Talk to her, try to get her to tell you what happened if you can, but don’t push. Let her tell you about it in her own time. I’m going to get the rest of the gang together and we’re going to go check out Tara’s old neighborhood. Maybe that can shed a little light on things as well."

"But Buffy, I want to go too," Willow protested.

Buffy shook her head. "No, Tara needs you more." She made shooing motions. "Go, I’ll call you when we know something."

"Well, okay…but, call me soon!" Willow said, closing her laptop and getting up. She stretched, wincing when her neck popped loudly. She had been sitting in one position for quite some time and her body was paying for it.

"I will," Buffy said, also rising. "Now get going!"

"I’m going, I’m going…see, this is me, going," Willow said, backing out of the room.

Buffy laughed and waved as Willow turned and left.

***

Tara woke up alone. Miss Kitty had vanished into some alternate universe where kittens go to hide and Willow wasn’t anywhere to be seen. The blonde wiccan sat up and stretched stiffly, wincing as her bra scraped across battered skin painfully. Tears welled up in her eyes and angrily, she dashed them away.

"Get a grip, Tara," she told herself sternly. She stretched again, moaning slightly as her body protested its mistreatment. Then she realized that she was topless. "Oh goddess, Willow!" she blurted, realizing that her girlfriend must have seen the marks. She hung her head, ashamed. What does she think of me? she wondered, getting up and gingerly digging through her closet for some more comfortable clothing. She must hate me, she reasoned irrationally as she took off her bra and slipped on a baggy tee-shirt. That’s why she’s not here. She couldn’t stand to be around me, around my impurity. Tara leaned her head against her closet door and sobbed soundlessly. She had promised herself that she would never expose Willow to that side of her life. It was a foolish oath, she knew it at the time, but Tara had just wanted one piece of her life untainted by her father’s evil. More than ever, she wished she had just told him that she wasn’t able to get away from school, but he had begged her, pleaded with her to come to his wedding.

"Oh honey, Marlene and little Jenni are just dying to meet you, please come," he’d said over the phone, and she had caved in, just like she always did. She really had no other choice, not when he used his "nice daddy" voice.

When she’d arrived in Laughlin, things had been okay; maybe a little strained as her father, whom she hadn’t seen for almost a year, proudly showed her off to his fiancé and her six year old daughter, Jennifer. Tara had liked the little tow-haired child immediately. She was shy, but behind the shyness lurked a bright-eyed intelligence that blossomed under Tara’s gentle attention.

On the second day of her visit, things turned ugly. Some of her father’s friends decided to throw a bachelor party for him, and she was asked to come along and help with the cooking. She went, hoping to stay on her father’s good side. At the party, Thomas introduced her to his new friend, David Nebbitt. Nebbitt, it seemed, was rich. Extremely rich. Lonely, too. Moreover, he was willing to pay people to be his friend, and Thomas Kincaid, through the goodness of his heart and the Christian charity of his soul, graciously accepted Mr. Nebbitt’s money.

Tara shuddered slightly, but couldn’t help but smile a little, remembering the first time she met David. She was carrying out a tray of hors d’oeuvres when the billionaire stumbled through a doorway and right into her, knocking her over and sending the cheese and cracker tumbling to the ground.

"Oh, I’m so, so, terribly sorry," David had babbled while she scrambled to clean things up. "I’m David Nebbitt, a friend of Tom’s." Tara hadn’t been able to respond, because her father was there and he’d turned around at the clatter and glared at her.

"David! So glad to see you made it, man," he said, knocking Tara aside in order to help the billionaire stand.

"Oh, well, you know I wouldn’t miss this for the world, Tom," David said, brushing himself off ineffectually. He turned to look at Tara, who had managed to get back to her knees and was hurriedly trying to clean up the rest of the mess. "You must be Tara," he said, reaching his hand out to her. Hesitantly, Tara took it and he pumped it happily. "Your dad’s told me so much about you, but I have to say that you’re even more beautiful in person."

Tara had blushed and muttered, "Thank you, Mr. Nebbitt."

Her father took David’s arm and drew him away. "Say, why don’t you come over here and let me fix you a drink?" Nebbitt followed Thomas’ lead and was soon ensconced in a chair, nursing a Long Island iced tea. Tara quickly went back to cleaning up, but her father had words for her anyway. "You cow," he hissed as she picked bits of cracker and cheese off the floor. "Could you be more clumsy? Is that any way to show your fiancé what kind of wife you’ll make?"

Tara was so surprised over his words, she looked up and said, "Excuse me?"

Fast as a cracking whip, Thomas’ foot shot out and connected with his daughter’s leg. "You heard me," he whispered harshly. "We’ll talk about it later. Now, clean this mess up and bring out more food. Move, girl!" He kicked her again for good measure.

Tara thumped her head against the door softly. Gods, she hated him. Hated herself even more for allowing him to do that to her even now. She sighed and pulled out her favorite over sized sweater and skirt. Maybe, if she put them on, Willow would forget about the bruises and then they could be like they were before and their lives would go on normally.

Hurriedly, she dressed, trying not to notice the bruises, scrapes, burns, cuts and abrasions that painted her body from neck to ankle. The only unmarked portions of her body were the parts that were covered by her underthings because her father refused to "contaminate her purity". Once her clothes were on, it was like she had donned a special kind of armor, because suddenly she didn’t hurt so much. The oversized, baggy clothes allowed her to slump down and hide the aches of body and spirit that the fancy clothes did not. The make-up was easily removed with a washcloth and a little scrubbing in the bathroom.

Now, all she needed to do was unpack and find Miss Kitty Fantastico. While unpacking, she found Willow’s note, and hope budded in her heart, tiny and green. Maybe - maybe, she is coming back after all, she thought, closing her eyes and clutching the scrap of paper to her breast, before tucking it away in the drawer that held every single note she had received from Willow since they had met.

"Miss Kitty," she called out softly, making kissing noises.

"Mreow?" a tiny reply came from under the overstuffed chair. A tiny black and white nose peeked out under the skirting, followed by the rest of Miss Kitty’s body. Tara laughed and sat down on her bed and patted the blankets.

"Come here, girl," she crooned, as Miss Kitty padded toward her. The kitten wobbled unsteadily, yawned hugely, then made a mad dash for the bed, leaping up at the last minute and landing precisely six inches away from Tara’s leg. The wiccan chuckled and reached out a gentle hand to rub the kitten’s ears.

Miss Kitty purred and purred, knocking her head into Tara’s fingers, then toppling over and rolling onto her back, baring her stomach. Tara scooped her up and nuzzled her nose gently.

"You’re so cute, Miss Kitty," she said, letting her guard down and smiling happily as the kitten playfully batted her hair around.

"Now that’s my Tara," a voice said from behind the wiccan. Tara nearly broke her own neck, turning around so fast. Miss Kitty let out a startled squeak as the wiccan clutched her tightly.

"Willow," she said, relief dripping from her voice. She let go of the kitten, who raced off to hide under the chair again.

Willow frowned. "I didn’t mean to scare you, Tara," she said, coming into the room and closing the door behind her.

Tara stood up and linked her hands behind her back. "Oh, it’s okay. I-I just wasn’t expecting -"

Willow closed the distance between then and cupped her girlfriend’s face between gentle hands. She caught and held Tara’s eyes with her own. "I don’t want you to be frightened of me, ever," she said quietly, lifting her head up to kiss Tara sweetly.

Any fears Tara may have had about Willow vanished under the hacker’s loving touch. Tara hesitantly wrapped her arms around the hacker’s waist and leaned into the kiss, sighing sadly when they broke apart. A smile fought to take possession of her lips as she and Willow stared into each other’s eyes, quietly enjoying the other’s presence. "Willow, I -" Tara started to say, but the hacker silenced her with another tender kiss. Then she took Tara’s hand and pulled her over to the bed.

"Tara, we need to talk. But, I don’t want to scare you, so I’m just going to babble until I figure out how to get this out, okay?" Tara nodded and Willow continued. "I missed you all week. I know, it was only a week and all but I really felt as if some part of me were missing. So, I sort of had to figure out why I missed you so terribly - I mean, we’ve only known each other for a short time, right? Well, it sort of occurred to me that I didn’t know a whole lot about you. I mean, you know everything about me, because, well, because I talk a lot and you - don’t." Willow took a breath and laced her fingers through Tara’s, then brought their joined hands up and kissed the back of Tara’s hand. "And this is all going nowhere, isn’t it?" Willow sighed, then looked up and gave Tara a look that begged the other girl to trust her. "Tara, where were you this last week? Who were you visiting?"

"Willow, I…" Tara started to say, pulling away from her girlfriend, but Willow wouldn’t let her run. The hacker gently squeezed Tara’s hand and smiled encouragingly.

"Please tell me. I won’t be mad or anything, I promise," Willow whispered pleadingly.

Tara bit her lip and mumbled, "I went to see my father." When Willow didn’t say anything, only nodded knowingly, the rest of the story seemed easier to tell. "I guess you…saw the-the-the," Tara stuttered, unable to voice the words that would make her life all too real.

"I did," Willow said, letting Tara tell the story on her own time.

Tara licked her lips. Breathing was getting hard and her heart started to race. Fear rose thick and strangling in her throat. A tiny cry escaped and her face twisted in agony. "I can’t," she whispered raggedly.

"Hey," Willow said, rubbing her thumb over Tara’s hand. "Take your time. I’m right here, and I’m not going anywhere, okay?" Tara’s eyes moistened and she nodded. "I mean it," Willow said gently. "Whatever you want to tell me, however long you need to take doing it, I’ll be right here."

Tara sniffled, and wiped her eyes with the back of her free hand. "Th-thanks," she said raggedly. "It’s j-just really hard. To talk about. I mean, how do you tell someone a-about this kind of thing?"

Willow closed her eyes briefly, cut to the quick with the realization that her and Buffy’s suspicions were more than probably true. "Just start at the beginning," she said softly.

Tara rubbed her eyes. "Tha-that’s a long time ago. I was six or so, and mom and dad were fighting a lot. More than usual…" Tara’s eyes closed as she remembered.

***

Closets are great places to play in, if you are six. There’s something warm and comforting about the way the clothes brush your head. Besides, it’s fun to sit and see how many different ways you can line up all those shoes in rows of size and color. Tara sat on the floor of her mother’s closet and played with the shoes, stacking them and arranging them in pleasing patterns. Out in the bedroom, her mother napped on her bed, tired from a long day at the diner. A pleasant aroma of her mother’s favorite incense danced about the room and candles flickered merrily on the altar next to her mother’s bed. Just recently, Tara had come to learn that her mother was a very powerful witch, and that soon, she too would learn the secrets held in her granny’s grimoires.

A slight creaking alerted the child that something was amiss. Quickly, she slid the door almost all the way shut and peered out into the room, frightened that some monster had come into the house. Mommy was good at chasing away monsters - hopefully, she’d wake up and chase this one away too.

Heavy footsteps on the stairs. Uh-oh, that wasn’t a monster, that was daddy, and if daddy found her in the closet, he’d punish her again. She wasn’t supposed to be in mommy’s room right now - she should have been taking a nap, but she hadn’t been tired when mommy put her down, so after mommy had fallen asleep, she had crept out of her room and into mommy’s closet to play. Tara cringed away from the sliver of light that cut through the dark of the closet and prayed he wouldn’t open the door. She heard her mother wake up and say, "Tom? What are you doing here? You’re not supposed to be here, Tom. You’d better leave…" the bed squeaked as her mother got up to escort her father out, but she heard his footsteps come closer.

"Woman," she heard her father growl, followed by the slap of skin striking skin. "I ain’t goin’ nowhere. This here is my home and you’re my wife! You will do as I say!" Each sentence was punctuated by another slap. Tara flinched each time her father struck her mother and silent tears trickled down her cheeks when she hear her mother cry out. Ashley’s cries of pain only made Thomas angrier though, causing him to hit her harder. "See," he yelled, "I got me a little friend here," Tara peeked out and saw something glitter wickedly. It was a syringe. The kind the doctor used to give her shots. Tara shuddered in fear and horror. She hated shots. They always hurt, even when the nurses told you they wouldn’t. "And he’s gonna make sure you do exactly what I tell you to."

Tara’s mom tried to back away from her father, but she didn’t get far. The larger man reached out and grabbed hold of her arm and held her fast. He hit her again, once, hard enough to rock her head back violently. Tara’s mother collapsed in a heap, out cold. A slow grin of gratification spread over her father’s face and he knelt down next to his wife and slowly injected a dark brownish-yellow fluid into her arm.

Her mom jerked at the prick and started to come to, whispering, "What are you doing, Tom?"

"I’m making you mine forever, Ashley, just like the priest said it would be. Till death do us part, remember?" he said, stroking her face tenderly. The drug started to work and Ashley started to thrash about in pain, screaming loudly. Tom jumped back out of the woman’s reach and kicked her several times, trying to get her to shut up.

Weakly, Ashley fought back, but against the bigger, stronger man she was no match. He kept on kicking her, even after she passed out. Even after the blood started to flow. Even after Tara had dug her way deeply into the closet, hiding behind a pile of blankets and covering her ears to try and block out the sickening sound of her father’s boots crushing her mother’s skull.

***

Buffy met Giles, Xander and Anya at Giles’ place and quickly explained the situation to them. When she told them about the bruises and welts that Willow had seen on Tara’s back, as well as about the restraining order that had never been issued against the wiccan’s father, even Anya was ready to go hunt him down and eviscerate him.

"What do you plan to do, Buffy?" Giles wanted to know.

"I don’t know. I just have this feeling that we should look into this. There’s something pulling me out to Tara’s old house," Buffy replied with a shrug.

Giles had learned long ago to trust Buffy’s instincts, so he grabbed his keys and nodded toward the door. "Shall we go then?"

"Yeah, let’s boogie!" Xander pitched in, willing to do anything to help his buddy Willow, or her girlfriend. That was still a weird one for Xander, but he was dealing. Oh yeah, he was hella dealing with it. Except of course when he had those dreams where Willow and/or Tara invited him to join them in an all night love-a-thon. Then he wasn’t dealing. Nope, those were the days when he woke up in a cold sweat, wondering if he was truly as slimy as he felt. He had even gone so far as to mention the dreams to Anya, who had only laughed in his face and told him it was so typical of a man to think about that. Then she had slapped him for not including her in his dreams.

Anya frowned. "We are not taking that pathetic piece of tin that you call a car, Giles. I’ll drive," she said in a voice that brooked no arguments.

"What is it that you all have against my car?" Giles wanted to know as they all filed out of his apartment and headed for Anya’s car.

"I don’t know," Buffy said as they passed the sorrowful looking wreck that Giles liked to call a car, "maybe it has something to do with the fact that MacGuyver could rig up a better vehicle with a stick of bubble gum, a roll of duct tape and his pocket knife?" Giles shot the slayer a sour look as Xander and Anya stifled giggles.

The trip out to the suburban area where Tara had grown up didn’t take long at all and soon, they were cruising down the street that Willow’s girlfriend must have played on as a child. Nice houses lined both sides of the street and there were nice cars parked in the driveways. It was like the Sunnydale version of the beginning of "Edward Scissorhands", with all the houses being one of four colors and four styles.

"Okay, who’s getting major creeped out here?" Xander wanted to know as they looked at the addresses, searching for the one that matched the one that Willow had found.

Buffy shuddered. "I am. This is so like a bad memory of a Wynona Ryder film."

Anya continued to drive slowly as Giles read over the printed documents that Buffy had brought with her. "The house is at the end of the street," he said absently, looking at a printout of the newspaper page that had carried the story on Ashley Kincaid’s death.

Xander turned around in his seat and noticed the paper. "You know, I remember my mom and dad reading about that," he said quietly, eyes dark with old sorrows. "Mom worked at the same diner that Mrs. Kincaid did. She cried while she read the story. It was so weird, I don’t think I ever remember my mother crying for anything else, but she cried when she read about Mrs. K. Dad knew him," Xander reached over and pointed at a picture of a man with intense blue eyes, "from work. Called him the ‘preacher’ or something. I think he was always talking about biblical stuff." Xander closed his eyes, sifting through the memories of his childhood. "I think I met him once…at a picnic or something. He had a little girl with him. Shy, blonde hair, blue eyes and she had all these bruises on her arms and legs…" Xander swallowed heavily. "I - oh God, you don’t think that was Tara, do you?" They didn’t need to answer, because he knew. It had been her. In that moment, Xander Harris hated himself all over again. Because, he had known. He had known that Tara’s father was hurting her, because she had the same haunted look in her eyes that he saw every morning in his own. Yet, he hadn’t said anything.

"You were very young, Xander," Anya said quietly, reaching over and putting a comforting hand on his knee. "No one blames you for your silence."

He hung his head and sighed. "No one except me."

Buffy sat forward and squeezed his shoulders. "Hey Xan - don’t beat yourself up over the past. I’ve learned that it never does any good."

"Yes, Buffy’s right," Giles said, adding his two pence in. "You may not have been able to help her then, but you’re helping now and that’s what truly counts."

Xander looked up and put on a half-smile. "Thanks, guys."

"Anytime, Xan-man," Buffy said as Anya stopped the car in front of a deserted looking home. They all piled out and stared at the overgrown yard, unpainted boards and broken window panes.

"I’m guessing nobody’s home," Xander said, putting his hands in his pockets and rocking back and forth.

"Yeah, but there’s people in these other houses. Let’s interrogate them," Anya suggested, marching over to the nearest house and pounding on the door.

"Just a damn cotton pickin’ minute," came a querulous voice. The door was pulled open to reveal a middle aged woman dressed in bargain basement K-Mart leisure suit chic. Lime and orange weren’t this woman’s perfect colors, either. Anya visibly winced, but carried on bravely.

"Yeah, I was wondering about that house next door -" she started, shading her eyes.

"Oh yes! The Kincaid place! Just a second dear and let me get you the key," The old woman stepped away from the door and reached into a glass jar and fumbled around until she found an old brass key. "Here you are. Mr. Kincaid told me that people would come by from time to time and want to look at the place. I’d almost forgotten, it’s been so long since I’ve seen him or his beautiful little girl. I wonder what happened to them…" she said wistfully. "Little Tara used to sit in the yard for hours and play. It was such a shame when her mama died, but you know, those people," the old woman made a sour face, "always get what’s coming to them. Thomas was so wonderful though. Always taking care of his little girl. He never let her go anywhere alone, you know." Xander and Anya nodded helplessly as the woman babbled on.

Buffy surreptitiously crept up to the side of the house and listened intently to what the woman told the couple. The slayer nodded at Xander when she’d heard enough and he started acting like any bored husband would - looking around aimlessly and shoving his hands in his pockets. The old woman laughed and said, "Oh listen to me going on about the past when you two young things have so much to do. I’ll let you go and look over the house. You be careful though, the place is something of a fixer-upper. I’d sure hate to see you and your handsome husband," she nodded toward Xander, who had joined Anya on the porch, "get hurt looking at that lovely old house." She handed the key to Anya, who took it and forced a smile on her face.

"Thanks," the former demon said, turning to leave.

"If you need anything, just come knocking. I’m Ruth Grandlow," the older woman said, sticking her hand out for Xander to shake.

Xander took the woman’s bird-like hand and shook it, smiling hugely. "Thanks Mrs. Grandlow, we’ll bring the key back as soon as we’ve looked around a little. Have to make sure that my snookums really likes the place, right honey-bun?" he said, wrapping his arm around the retreating Anya and giving her a gooey hug.

The old woman smiled and clapped her hands together. "Of course! You young folk just go and have a good look around." Ruth closed the door, allowing Xander and Anya to escape back to the Kincaid place, where Buffy and Giles were poking around and looking in the windows.

"Heads up, Buff," Xander called out, tossing the key to the slayer, who caught it without even turning around.

"Thanks, Xander," she said, walking up the stairs and opening the door. It creaked, just like one of those doors in a horror movie. The gang shared a pained look and Buffy said, "Just once, I’d like for a door to open normally, sans scary sound effects." They walked inside, brushing aside cobwebs and noting the layer of dust that coated everything.

Thomas Kincaid had left absolutely nothing behind. Anything that hadn’t been bolted down was gone; all that remained was a faded brown carpet, faded green striped wallpaper and the old electrical fixtures. The only other remaining decoration were tiny wooden crucifixes that adorned the walls above each of the doorways in the house. Slowly, the gang moved from room to room, looking for any clue to the lives that must have once existed within the house.

In the kitchen, they found that one door frame had been scored at several levels, then, suddenly, the scoring stopped at just about waist height. Buffy squatted down and sighed.

"I bet Willow would really enjoy seeing this," she said softly, reaching out to gently stroke the flaking paint.

Anya stopped her inspection of the cupboards and walked over to look. "What is it," she asked, cocking her head to the side curiously.

"Well, if Tara’s mom was anything at all like mine, then this is a growth chart," Buffy explained sadly, brushing her fingers over each of the marks.

"A what?" Anya hunkered down to get a better look.

"It’s something parents do. They find a wall and have their kid stand against it every so often and mark their height," Buffy said, standing up and brushing off her pants.

Anya stood too. "Oh, sentimental human crap," she said dismissively, walking away. "Why didn’t you just tell me? I thought it was something interesting, like claw marks." The former demon sighed aggrievedly, but in her eyes, there was a haunted look that said more than her words.

Xander walked into the room, saw the look and said, "Hon, come here a sec, will ya?"

Anya walked over to her boyfriend, who very gently brushed his fingertips over her cheek and leaned over to whisper something into her ear. She spun away from him, but he pulled her back to him, hugging her close until she nodded jerkily. He murmured something to her and she smiled, hugging him back, then kissed him passionately. Buffy and Giles stared, open-mouthed at the display of almost coupleness between the two.

Xander glared at them and said, "What, you haven’t seen two people in love before?"

Two mouths snapped shut as hasty excuses were made. "Sorry, Xander," Buffy said as Anya turned around and wiped her eyes. "We forget sometimes that you two actually have more to your relationship than just sex."

"Well, that is a big, big, part of it, but we’ve been branching out lately," Anya said cheerfully. "We’ve been trying the romantic stuff too."

"Yeah?" Buffy said as they walked back out into the living room and went up the stairs to the second floor. "How’s it going?"

"It’s okay," Anya said, shrugging noncommittally, "except for the fact that I keep crying all the time." She looked at Buffy and asked, "Does that ever stop? Because, if it doesn’t, then I want to buy stock in Kleenex."

Buffy shrugged. "It comes and goes. Has he bought you roses and chocolate yet?"

"Yes, but roses make me sneeze and chocolate makes me fat. Should I accept them anyway? Would I be more sexy with a runny nose and big thighs?" Anya asked.

A strange thump echoed down the hallway.

"What was that?" Xander said in a nervous voice.

"Possibly a cat," Giles said, looking up and down the hall.

There was another thump, and another, until the thumps blended together and sounded far too much like footsteps for Xander’s comfort. "Uh, guys…" he said, looking back and forth and backing down the hall.

"Xander, shh!" Buffy said, cocking her head sideways and listening. She held a finger up to her lips and pointed to the stairs they’d just climbed.

More of the thumps sounded, coming closer, creaking up the stairs and heading right for the Scoobies. Xander grabbed Anya and tried to flatten the two of them against a wall, even though there was nothing to be seen. At the crest of the stairway, a ghostly outline began to form. It was a man. He was tall and broad shouldered and his face was a mask of unbridled rage. Buffy looked at him and mouthed, "Thomas Kincaid."

Everyone nodded in amazement and watched silently as the wraith walked heavily down the hall, then vanished through a door. They raced to follow and opened the door just as the ghostly form grabbed another wraith - this one a woman - and began beating her. He was yelling, but they couldn’t hear what he said.

The woman fought back, but was no match for his size or strength. The gang reached for each other’s hands, knowing there was nothing they could do for her now. Horrified, they watched as Thomas Kincaid brutally murdered his wife, then dragged her body out to the stairway and hurled it down to the living room below. Then, methodically, he cleaned the bedroom, scrubbing away the bloodstains and hiding the syringe under a loose floorboard.

Buffy, Xander, Giles and Anya continued to watch as the wraith vanished, but the ghostly bedroom did not. An unknown amount of time later, a small tow-headed child crawled out of her hiding place in the closet and stood over the spot where her mother had died. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she resolutely dashed them away. Suddenly, the girl’s body twitched, and her eyes glazed over. A force not her own seemed to guide the young girl as she slowly crept over to the spot where the syringe had been hidden and softly began chanting something.

The child, no more than six, then took the athame from her mother’s altar and pricked her own finger, then inscribed a small mark on the floor in her blood, while tears dripped down her face to mingle with the dust. A snatch of the girl’s young voice remained and whispered through the house, "Remember…remember…remember."

***

On the way back to the campus, Buffy and Giles argued about what they should do with the information they had. After the ghostly images had faded away, they had carefully examined the board that the young Tara had marked with her own blood. A rune that Giles recognized as a ward of binding, still glowed faintly on the edge of the slat.

"I’m going to kill him," Buffy said, echoing Willow’s earlier statement.

"Buffy," Giles said, rubbing his eyes wearily. "Slayers don’t kill humans. It’s against their nature."

"Faith did it easily enough. I don’t see why I’m any different," Buffy said nonchalantly.

Giles shot her a pained look. "Buffy, you and Faith are very different. But that’s not what the heart of the matter is. I understand your frustration with this situation, and believe you me, I am angered more than I can say by that man’s behavior. However, I believe that this is a case for the proper authorities and not for the Slayer."

Buffy laughed. "In Sunnydale? The ‘proper’ authorities here are likely to give the man a commendation for services rendered. Witch burning isn’t exactly an ancient sport here, if you recall."

"Yes, yes, I know. I was actually thinking of calling a friend," Giles admitted.

Buffy raised an eyebrow curiously. "A friend? What kind of friend? Would he be like that cool as cubes mage friend of yours?"
Giles shook his head. "No, as I said, the ‘proper’ authorities. I think I’ll call in the FBI. I’m sure that my old friend John Bradley would love to have a crack at Mr. Kincaid."

"John Bradley? FBI? Giles, man, is there something you’re not telling us? Like, should we be calling you Giles, Rupert Giles, double-oh-eight?" Xander quipped.

"Very funny, Xander. No, as a matter of fact, John and I attended school together. He was one of the lads I used to run with," Giles explained.

Buffy reached back and briefly touched her neck where the mark of Eyghon was still tattooed on her skin. "That group, Giles?" she asked as her Watcher looked away.

"A bit after, but yes. He knows about the real Evils in the world," Giles said softly.

"Okay, you call him. Meanwhile, what am I supposed to do? I just can’t sit around and wait for justice. I’m Do-something Buffy, not Sit-around-on-her-butt-Buffy," the slayer said.

"You could patrol," Giles suggested mildly.

"You’re no fun," Buffy said, pouting and crossing her arms over her chest.

Giles just sighed and turned to watch the cars that passed them on the street. "I know you feel helpless Buffy, I do too," he whispered so softly, that only the gods heard him.

***

"Oh Tara," Willow said softly, opening her arms to the young woman, who hesitantly leaned her head on the hacker’s shoulder. Carefully, Willow wrapped her arm around Tara’s waist. "So what happened when you went to visit your dad?"

Tara sighed and a little sob escaped. "I-I thought it would be different, you know? I’d been gone a whole year and I thought maybe he’d let go of me, but I was wrong."

"What happened?" Willow asked through gritted teeth, trying hard not to let her anger show. She didn’t want Tara to think she was mad at her.

Miss Kitty, sensing that something was wrong, jumped up on the bed and bumped her head against Tara’s knee, meowing and purring all the while. Tara laughed as tears splashed onto the kitten’s head. Miss Kitty climbed up the wiccan’s knee and onto her lap, then put her paws on Tara’s chest and cocked her head sidewise as if to say, "It’s okay, mommy, I love you."

"Oh, I love you too, Miss Kitty," Tara crooned, scooping up the kitten and nuzzling her while Willow smiled fondly at her beloved. Fortified by the love of her kitten and her girlfriend, Tara continued. "It was okay when I first got there. Marlene and Jenni were wonderful about making me feel welcome and even dad was nice, praising the last report card I sent home and telling me that he was so proud of me."

"Yeah? What happened?" Willow asked nuzzling the side of Tara’s head gently, kissing the wiccan’s golden blonde hair softly.

Tara sighed. "It started at the bachelor party…I was introduced to this guy named David Nebbitt."

"Wait, the David Nebbitt? Billionaire software exec?" Willow asked disbelievingly.

Tara shrugged and continued to pet Miss Kitty, who purred loudly. "I don’t know. He’s kind of nerdy, but cute, in a ‘kicked puppy’ sort of way. Anyway, he’s a buddy of dad’s - I guess they met at the casino where my dad works. I sort of ran into David and made a mess of things - dad didn’t like that much and um, he punished me for it. But it was okay because I made a mess and that was bad - I could have ruined his party!" Tara said quickly, to try and forestall any comments from Willow.

Willow closed her eyes and hugged Tara lovingly. "I don’t agree with that, hon, but go on."

Tara wiggled a little, getting more comfortable in the circle of Willow’s arms. "Well, afterwards, dad told me that David was looking for a wife, and that he - my dad, that is - had told David all about me. Even showed him pictures of me and stuff. Well, I guess David was interested, because he told my father that he’d be really grateful if he could arrange for us to meet."

Willow growled softly and whispered, "Mine," then kissed Tara’s temple.

Tara laughed. "I know, love, but," she sighed again, "Dad’s not exactly the kind of person I can bring you home to, you know?"

Willow made a face and said, "What is he, some kind of religious nut?"

Tara nodded solemnly. "Something like that."

"Oh, well, okay, yeah, I can see how that could be something of a difficulty. So…what happened next?" Willow prodded gently.

"My father kinda told David that I’d marry him, come hell or high water. I guess David was so happy that he started," Tara paused and thought about her words, "giving my father gifts of money. After I was introduced to David, my father let me know that I was going to marry him, and that I had no choice in the matter. I told him no anyway." Tara hung her head. "That was a mistake. I made him mad and he had to punish me for it." Tara’s voice was getting hoarse from talking, so Willow got up and got her a bottle of water from the mini fridge.

"What did he do?" the hacker asked as she sat down and opened her own bottle.

Tara took a long drink, then said, "He tried to convince me that my choices should align with his. We had long midnight talks," she said evasively, looking away as the memories came pouring in.

The soft click of her door opening woke Tara from a sound sleep. Her father’s heavy musk, a stale mix of Brut aftershave, cigarette smoke, beer and sweat crept up her nostrils. Tara shivered. She’d known this was coming, but some part of her had clung to the hope that maybe - just maybe - he’d forget and everything would be fine. Her father’s elephantine memory triumphed though, and he was there.

"Tara? Is daddy’s little angel awake?" he’d called out softly, reaching a hand out to shake her foot. Daddy’s little angel. Tara hated that name. He’d given it to her as a child, telling her solemnly, "Sometimes angels fall to earth honey, and I just know that you’re mine."

She sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Yes, daddy, I’m awake," she said softly.

"Good, good. Honey, I want to talk to you about Mr. Nebbitt, okay?" he said, sitting down on the edge of the bed. A long, leather strap dangled from his fingers, coiling on the ground like a shadowy snake.

Tara swallowed. "Okay, I-I’m listening," she replied, fear making her skin clammy.

"Honey, Mr. Nebbitt is a very nice man. He is the perfect candidate for your husband. He would be able to provide you and my grandchildren with a wonderful environment. Why can’t you see that?" her father said in a reasonable voice.

"W-w-what about m-m-my education?" Tara asked, trying to buy a little time before daddy became impatient.

"Now honey, we both know that going away to school was just a temporary thing for you to do to occupy yourself until you found a proper husband. Now that daddy’s found one for you, you won’t need to go back, will you?" he answered reasonably.

"B-b-but I w-w-want to go," Tara said, a hint of defiance creeping into her voice.

"Tara, don’t make daddy mad," her father warned.

"I’m sorry daddy," Tara said immediately, hanging her head and hiding behind her hair.

"Prove it to me. Say you’ll marry Mr. Nebbitt," he prodded.

Tara was silent for a long, long time. "I-I can’t, daddy."

"Why?" he asked, his voice deepening as he became frustrated. Then his face hardened. "There’s another man, isn’t there? Someone who has ruined my little angel’s purity? Tell me!" he grabbed Tara’s knee and squeezed, causing the young woman to whimper. "Is there another man?" he growled.

"No, daddy, there’s no man," she gasped.

His eyes blazed. "What is it then, angel? Tell daddy, tell daddy now!" He stood up and wrapped the strap around his fist and gave it a practice flick.

The muted pop startled Tara into letting out a little shriek of fear. Her father moved fast for a man his age. He grabbed her around the shoulders and clasped a hand over her mouth. "Shh, don’t you dare wake Marlene and the baby, you little whore," he spat as the strap dangled near her hand. His fiancé and her child had rooms on the first floor of the tiny two story home. Tara nodded and he moved around to look her in the eye. All sanity was gone from her father’s face, only the rage remained. "Now, I’m going to punish you," he said calmly, "and if you make a sound, I’ll have to punish you again, do you understand?" Tara nodded as tears formed in her eyes.

"Good," he crooned, then stood up and ordered, "Roll over." Tara did, grabbing hold of her pillow so she could cry into it. Her father pulled away the blankets and exposed her legs and back. Crack! The strap came down. Crack! Crack! Crack! Again and again and again, until Tara was sobbing so hard, she couldn’t hear or feel anything. But she kept silent, crying out into the soft down of her pillow until her father had finished and left her to a painful, exhausted sleep.

Willow and Tara were curled up together on the bed, rocking slowly. Tara’s whole body was consumed by choked, broken sobs as she told the hacker what had happened. How every night, her father had come into the bedroom to convince his "angel" to marry David Nebbitt. How, on her last day there, he’d ordered her to put on a nice set of clothes and make up her face so that they could attend church as a family. Finally, she told Willow about how David Nebbitt had come to her after church and taken her away - telling her father that he was taking her out to lunch.

"I love you, Tara," he’d said as they drove away in Nebbitt’s luxurious limo. "At least, I think I do. Well, anyway, I’m not a bad guy, really. And I can see that you really don’t like me -"

"No, I do like you, David, just -" Tara had said.

"You don’t like me that way, and that’s okay. Really! I mean it! I’d rather have your honest friendship than have to pay for your love." He smiled broadly. "I’m learning that, you know. Some friends of mine in L.A. have really shown me what it’s like when people like you for yourself. Anyway," he said, nodding and smiling his goofy smile, "Your father seemed so sure you’d marry me, but my friends have told me that no one can make that kind of decision for you but you. Then Jenni mentioned that Tom was going to take you out of school, and I know how much you love going to that college," he said, referring to one of their earlier conversations, "well, I knew something was up." He shrugged bashfully. "I asked my friend - he’s a private investigator - to nose around and well…he found some things out about Tom that I just can’t accept." David handed her an envelope filled with photographs. Photographs of her, laying on the bed while Thomas beat her with his strap.

"David -" she sobbed, "You can’t show these to anyone, ever!" she said, shoving the pictures back into the envelope and handing them back to the confused man.

"But Tara, you could use these to put your father in jail! Why don’t you want them?" he asked, confused.

"I can’t take them, David, I just can’t. Please, just - let it go," Tara said, hugging herself.

"Well, okay, but…is there anything I can do?" he asked gently.

"Can you - can you take me back to dad’s so I can get my stuff? Then take me to the airport? I want to go home," she said, rubbing her face.

"Of course! Anything for you! Friend," he said, smiling and holding out his hand to her. She took it and smiled back.

"And that’s how I got home," Tara said softly as Willow comforted her.

Willow couldn’t think of a single thing to say except, "I love you, Tara."

***

When Buffy got back to her dorm room, the light on her answering machine was blinking rapidly. Excitement swept through her. She crossed her fingers, hoping that it might be a call from Riley. To savor the moment, she slowly walked over to the machine and pressed the button, listening as the tape wound, then played.

"Beep. Hey Buff, it’s Willow, just wondering if you’ve found anything out. Tara’s gone to sleep again. Gods, it’s worse than we suspected. Call me." Buffy’s high plummeted to an equal low and she sighed, resigning herself to another day of zero communication from her boyfriend.

"Beep. Buffy, it’s mom, would you and your friends like to come over for dinner tomorrow? Call me." Dinner with mom, check, Buffy thought, leaning against wall and listening as the messages continued to play.

"Beep. Willow, it’s mommy and daddy. We’re going out of town for a convention, see you when we get back." Message to Will, check, Buffy thought, playing with a lock of her hair.

"Beep. Hi, um, this is Paul Madison, um, Amy’s dad, I uh, just wanted to know how my little girl is, um, call me." Buffy looked up at the rat, who was dozing on the bottom of her wheel and smiled sadly. Message from Amy’s father - check.

"Beep. Hi, um, Buffy," Buffy closed her eyes at the voice. "It’s Riley. Yeah, um, I’ve been really busy and I’m sorry I didn’t call earlier. Well, actually, this is the first time they’ve let me near a phone. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know I miss you," in the background Buffy heard someone yell, "Come on Finn, we have to go!", "And that I love you. I’ll see you soon. Bye."

"Bye," Buffy whispered back, running her fingers over the machine’s speaker. In all the chaos surrounding Tara, she hadn’t forgotten that her own love was far, far away. There was a Riley-shaped ache in the slayer’s heart and she hoped her commando boy would be home soon to fill it.

The machine whirred, then another messaged cued up. "Beep. Hi, Buffy, this is Angel." Buffy closed her eyes as her heart squeezed painfully. "I, um, have a favor to ask you. Could you check up on a student named Tara Kincaid for me? Thanks, I’d really appreciate it."

Buffy’s eyes shot open. What the hell could Angel want with Tara? Had Thomas Kincaid hired him to find his daughter? But why? Didn’t he know where Tara was? Holy smokes! He did know where she was! She and Willow might be in danger right now!

Not even stopping to change, Buffy grabbed her stake and ran out the door.

***

Later that night, as Anya lay curled up on Xander’s chest she said, "How can someone do that to another person?"

Xander shrugged and stroked his girlfriend’s back gently. "I don’t know, An. How could you be a vengeance demon?"

Anya pushed herself up and said, "Xander, that was different. I was doing something good. I was making those men pay for what they did. When I was a demon, I made men like Tara’s father writhe in agony as their wives watched, laughing with glee."

Xander sat up and drew his knees up to his chest. "An, I don’t really know how to explain it. But I’ll try. When you met me, you were doing a vengeance kick for Cordelia - because of something I did - right?"

Anya nodded and folded her legs so she could sit and listen. "Yeah, she wanted me to make it so that Buffy never came to Sunnydale."

Xander raised his eyebrows and whistled, impressed. "Wow. That must have been a hell of a wish."

Anya blew on her fingers and said, "Oh, it was easy, until I lost my necklace."

"Anyway - the point is - if Cordy’s wish had stayed true, then I’d most likely be dead," Xander said.

"Oh yes, you were quite dead. You were a vampire, with Willow. You two were living lives of vampy evilness. D’Hoffryn was quite pleased," Anya said happily, then frowned. "But, if you were a vampire, then you couldn’t be with me, and you wouldn’t have been there today to say those nice things…"

Xander nodded. "Exactly."

"So, maybe, eviscerating people just because they did bad things to someone isn’t such a good idea?" Anya said, working things out in her head.

Xander smiled and leaned over to kiss Anya on the cheek. "Yeah, something like that."

Anya ducked her head, then said, "Did you mean what you said, earlier?"

Xander blinked and looked confused, then said, "Oh, at Tara’s old house? With the marks? Yeah. If we ever get to Spain, we’ll go look up your old village. If the house is still there, I’m sure that there will be generations of little Anya markers."

"I love you, Xander," Anya said, wrapping her hands around his neck and pulling him over to kiss him fiercely. Then she whispered, "Make love to me?"

"Oh yeah," Xander said, reaching over and turning out the light.

***

Two vamps and one demon tried to get in Buffy’s way as she raced over to Tara’s dorm, but the slayer was in such high gear that she barely slowed down to wipe the slime and dust off of her shirt before barreling through the door and racing up the stairs. Her frantic knocks were answered by a sleepy-eyed Willow, who was still fully dressed, though rather rumpled from her nap.

"Buffy?" Willow said, yawning. "What’s up? And, ew. Here, come on in before someone sees all that icky stuff on you."

Buffy looked down at her shirt and made a face. "Sorry, demon guts aren’t exactly the easiest thing to accessorize with," she said, following Willow into the room.

Tara was still out cold on the bed, curled up into a small ball. Willow had gotten the blonde to undress so that she could care for Tara’s numerous hurts. Once she’d finished rubbing in a soothing balm, she had pulled Tara into her arms and stroked the wiccan’s golden blonde hair until she fell asleep. Willow figured she must have followed her into the arms of Morpheus soon after.

"Um, Will, the bathroom might be a better place to do the laundry," Buffy suggested as Willow closed the door.

"You’re right, but you can’t go wandering around in those," Willow insisted, going into Tara’s closet and pulling out a pair of her own pants and a tee-shirt. Buffy raised an eyebrow and Willow shrugged. "What? Like you didn’t have stuff over at Lowell," she said, referring to Riley’s former dorm.

Buffy laughed. "Busted!" Buffy quickly changed while Willow wrote a note for Tara, then quietly left for the bathroom.

"So, what’s up?" Willow whispered, helping Buffy to clean the slightly luminescent goop off her shirt and pants.

Buffy scrubbed at a particularly stubborn bit of slime and said, "I don’t know. I just got this big old wiggins about you two. I mean, there was this message from Angel about Tara and…"

"A message from Angel?" Willow asked, wringing out Buffy’s pants and inspecting them for further damage. "These are going to have to be patched, Buff, the blood was slightly acidic."

Buffy looked over at the pants and pouted. "Oh darn, and those were my favorite pair, too!" She looked at the shirt she was cleaning and sighed unhappily. "It got the shirt, too. Damn, now where am I gonna wear this stuff?"

"You could always wear it to church," Willow suggested mildly, adding, "since it’s now so holey."

Buffy rolled her eyes and groaned. "Keep your day job, Will."

Willow dramatically pouted, making her lower lip quiver and letting her eyes get watery. "You-you mean I’m not funny? But, it’s my d-d-dream!" she mock-wailed.

Buffy had to grasp the sink to keep from falling over. "I don’t know if I’m going to survive you and drama class," Buffy said, gasping through her giggles.

Willow smiled, wrinkling up her nose. "Hey, it’s better than psychology!"

"True, very true," Buffy agreed, taking her wet clothes and folding them up.

"Anyway, you were telling me about the message from Angel?" Willow prompted, leaning against the wall.

Buffy shrugged. "Yeah, he wanted me to check up on Tara for some reason. I guess I should probably call him and find out why, right?"

Willow nodded. "Yeah, might be a good idea. I mean, what if Tara’s dad hired him or something?"

"My thoughts exactly," Buffy said, nodding. "Which is why I raced over here. I mean, it’s not like it would be too hard for the asshole to figure out where she’s gone…"

"Oh my gods, and we left her all alone!" Willow blurted, jumping away from the wall like she’d been scalded. Slayer and hacker jockeyed for position, but the hacker won, getting out the door and down the hall in a matter of seconds.

She burst into the room, but no one was there. Fear and guilt did a jig in Willow’s stomach as she crept the rest of the way into the room, calling out in a quavering voice, "Tara?"

"Right here, Willow," Tara said, stepping out of her closet. Willow let out a huge sigh of relief and enveloped the startled wiccan in a giant hug, kissing her fiercely.

"Ahem," Buffy coughed delicately from the doorway. Willow suddenly realized that her girlfriend was almost nude.

"Oh, sorry Tara, didn’t mean to interrupt you. Buffy and I had to do her, I mean we were in the bathroom," Willow babbled, trying not to stare too hard at her girlfriend’s body.

Tara ducked her head and blushed. "I got your note," she said, slipping a loose-fitting tee-shirt over her head and pulling up a long skirt. "Did you get all the blood out?" she asked Buffy who mournfully shook her head. "Oh, well, I’m sorry."

"It’s okay, I mean, they’re just clothes, which can be replaced. Friends can’t," Buffy said, smiling. "Anyway, since you two are okay, I should probably just get back to Stevenson Hall and turn in for the night."

Tara looked at the clock on her nightstand. It was almost midnight. The wiccan closed her eyes and started to sway in place. Slowly, her arms came up and crossed over her chest protectively. Willow noticed and said, "Hey Buff, why don’t you stick around for a bit? We can have a mini slumber party, right Tara?"

The hacker’s words seemed to snap Tara out of her trance as she shuddered and opened her eyes. "Yes," she said in a soft voice. "It would be nice if you stayed." There was such a haunted emptiness to the wiccan’s voice that Buffy wouldn’t have left even if Willow ordered her to.

"You got it," the slayer said, curling up in the overstuffed chair while Willow led Tara to the bed and encouraged her to sit down next to her.

A few minutes ticked by, then Willow jumped up and said, "I know! We can play poker; I’ve still got a deck of cards in my backpack!" The hacker fumbled around in her pack for a bit, then produced a slightly dog-eared pack. "Here we are!" she said happily.

"But, what will we use for stakes? I sorta lost mine to the demon," Buffy said, smirking.

Willow looked over at Tara, whose eyes were still empty, lost somewhere in her own inner world. "We could play for hugs and kisses," she suggested, causing Buffy to raise an eyebrow.

"Um, Will, hon, I love you dearly - I’ve even become quite fond of your girlfriend - but," she coughed, "not in - that - way."

"No," Tara whispered, rocking back and forth. "No, daddy, please, no more, please?" she begged, as tears began to stream down her face.

Both Willow and Buffy wore identical expressions of anger, and both quickly suppressed the rage. Willow set the cards down and very slowly crawled onto the bed next to Tara. "Tara, honey," she called out softly, "he’s not here; he can’t hurt you anymore."

Tara turned to look at Willow, but the hacker could tell that the wiccan really wasn’t seeing her. "Mommy?" she said plaintively. "I still remember…just like you showed me how, mommy. I won’t forget, I promise. I will always remember."

Willow shot a glance at Buffy that plainly said she didn’t have a clue what Tara was talking about, but Buffy did and she acted without thinking.

"I know you remember, Tara," she said slowly, "but you don’t have to work so hard at it anymore. We know now. We know what he did and we’re going to fix it so that he never does it again, okay?"

"Justice?" Tara’s voice said, but there was another, older woman’s voice threaded through the wiccan’s familiar speech patterns. There was a quaver to the voice, as if the owner were so tired, she could barely hang on to consciousness.

Buffy nodded solemnly. "There will be justice, if I have to see to it myself. I swear it."

Tara sighed and seemed the shrink into herself. "Then I can finally rest," the voice whispered. Tara’s head turned up to look at Willow. The wiccan’s eyes shone with a silvery light and her face was suffused with a kindly smile. One of Tara’s hands crept up to touch the hacker’s cheek. "Willow," she said warmly, "take care of my daughter - she’s all I have to give the world." Willow nodded, unable to speak. "Thank you," Tara sighed and toppled over. Buffy and Willow watched in awe as the shape of a woman detached itself from Tara’s body and hovered over her, waiting. Slowly, Tara opened her eyes, sobbing when she saw the ghost.

"Momma," she sobbed, reaching out for her with one hand.

"Shh, it’s okay Tara, it’s time for me to go now," Ashley Kincaid said, taking her daughter’s hand and brushing ghostly lips over it. "You’ll do just fine, daughter. I am so proud of you," she whispered, fading away. "All my love, always."

"I love you, momma," Tara whispered, then closed her eyes and slipped into a deep sleep.

***

"That was just about the coolest, yet most heartbreaking thing I have ever seen," Buffy said while Willow spent several minutes looking over every inch of Tara’s body to make sure she was okay.

The hacker nodded, satisfied that Tara was going to be all right. She ran a hand over Tara’s hair, smoothing out the tousled blonde strands. "I know. Wow, she wasn’t kidding when she said her mom was powerful," Willow said, awed by the power it must have taken to cast the spell that linked Ashley’s spirit to Tara. She shuddered, then said, "Anyway, you were going to tell me about what you found out at Tara’s old place?"

Buffy chewed on her lower lip, ordering her thoughts, then began to tell Willow about the house, and what she and the rest of the Scoobies had witnessed earlier. "…anyway, after we all picked up our jaws and left, Giles told me that he’d contact an old buddy of his and try to get the case reopened."

Willow’s eyes had gone from their normal lovely green to a rather chilling steel gray while Buffy recounted her story. The hacker had scooted up against Tara’s sleeping form and was absently stroking the young woman’s hair while she slept. "We’re just supposed to let Giles handle it?" the hacker asked in a dangerously even voice.

Buffy nodded slowly. "Yes," she said, and at the flash of anger that crossed Willow’s face, quickly added, "I know, I know, I wanted to be action Buffy too, but Giles seemed pretty certain that his friend could handle this better. Besides - murder isn’t really a Scooby thing, not when it’s ‘ordinary’ and not from the paranormal."

Willow’s hands started to clench into fists, but just then, Tara woke up. The wiccan opened her eyes to the sight of her girlfriend’s partially restrained anger. "Willow," she whispered softly, reaching up and covering the hacker’s hand with her own, gently forcing the fingers to uncurl. "What’s wrong, love?" she asked, sitting up and looking the hacker in the eye.

Willow looked toward Buffy, a pleading expression on her face, but Buffy shrugged and mouthed, "Tell her."

So with a heavy sigh, Willow told Tara everything. Of course, Buffy helped, filling in the stuff that Willow couldn’t and in about an hour, the whole story came out. Everything. From the moment that Willow suspected something was up, to the eerie happenings at the old Kincaid house. By the time they were finished, Tara’s face had gone from weary confusion to absolute heart rending terror.

"I remember it all so clearly," she whispered, when Willow had run out of words. "The smell of mothballs - I hate that damn scent now - the feel of mom’s shoes digging into my bottom, the shadows mom’s things made on the closet walls, the taste of the cherry bubblegum I was chewing, and most of all," Tara shuddered with revulsion, "the sound my dad’s boots made as he walked away from my mom’s body. I still hear it in my nightmares. Squelch-squelch swoosh. Squelch-squelch swoosh." The wiccan’s hands mimicked the steps, causing both Buffy and Willow to wince.

"I coulda done without the visuals, Tara," Buffy said, reaching out and taking one of the blonde’s hands.

Willow took the other, searching her girlfriend’s face and was frightened by what she saw. Tara’s eyes, her beautiful sky-blue eyes that were always so full of smiles, were empty, almost dead. "Tara?" Willow said, hoping to bring a little life back.

Tara just sat there, staring out at the two other girls, but not speaking. Slowly, her eyes closed and she sighed. "It’s so hard," she finally said, voice as hollow as her eyes. "To keep remembering," she added. "Sometimes, I just want to forget everything. To wake up one day not knowing who I am, or where I came from. Maybe then - just maybe," she said, pulling her hand free from Buffy’s gentle grip and touching her chest, "it won’t hurt so much anymore."

"Tara," Willow whispered, her own eyes overflowing with tears. The blonde wasn’t crying though. Tara reached up and stroked away Willow’s tears.

"Are these for me?" she asked, voice soft and stricken. Willow nodded and leaned into the blonde’s touch. Tara laughed, a short, mirthless bark. "I seem to have run out of tears today. Thank you for lending me yours," she said, while Willow cried even harder.

"Oh Goddess Tara, I love you so much," Willow sobbed. "I wish I could cast a spell to make this all go away - to make your world okay again."

"But you can’t," Buffy said quietly, getting up and kneeling in front of both of her friends. "No one can, and really, no one should. This is probably not what you want to hear right now, but this will get better. I promise. I promised your mom, and now I’m promising you - there will be justice, if I have to do it myself. Okay?"

Something of Buffy’s fervent tone must have broken through Tara’s walls, because her eyes moistened and her breath started to come in short, hitched sobs. She closed her eyes and nodded jerkily, then said, "Oh-okay."

Buffy stood up and wrapped her arms around both wiccans and hugged them close. "I love you Willow. You too, Tara. I don’t know you very well, but that will change, right?" Buffy stared at Tara until she smiled shyly and nodded.

Miss Kitty Fantastico, tired of being the only one not being petted and loved on, chose that very moment to leap up into the pile of hugging women and find her way to one of her mommy's hands. A cold, wet nose and tiny, sharp claws shoved and pricked their way across tender flesh until Buffy and Willow let go of Tara, laughing at the indignant expression on the kitten’s face as she presented herself to Tara for petting.

"Mrrow," the kitten meowed, kneading the blonde’s leg enthusiastically while Tara laughed and reached out to rub the kitten’s ears. Purring contentedly, Miss Kitty curled up into a tiny ball and fell asleep on Tara’s lap.

"I guess we know who the boss is here," Buffy smirked, sitting down on the bed and delicately stroking the kitten’s fur.

Willow smiled, wrinkling her nose. "Yeah. She’s got Tara and me wrapped around her little paws as tight as she can. Don’t you little miss?" the hacker said, bending down to nuzzle the kitten, who uncurled enough to bat playfully at Willow’s face.

Tara laughed, startling Miss Kitty, who hissed and leaped away from her suddenly quite unstable perch, which caused Tara to laugh harder. Willow and Buffy joined in, laughing until they were crying. Miss Kitty, offended, licked her paws twice, then stalked away, giving the three young women every opportunity to notice that they were on the receiving end of some seriously unhappy tail flicks, but none of them paid any attention.

***

Rupert Giles stood in his kitchen drying dishes and holding his telephone to his ear with one shoulder. He really didn’t want to be here right now, not at all. No, right now, Rupert, once known as Ripper, wanted to be wherever Thomas Kincaid was, kicking the holy living shit out of him. But he wasn’t Ripper anymore, and he was doing his jolly best to prove that by performing the most American of tasks - hurry up and wait for the beaurocratic red tape to clear so that he could talk to his old friend, John Bradley.

The phone slipped from his grasp as he heard something other than the government approved "soothing" tones of canned elevator music switch over to a real, live human voice. In order to catch the phone, he had to drop the plate he was drying back into the soapy water, which splashed up into his face.

"Bloody hell!" he cursed, wiping his face.

"I see you haven’t changed one bit, Ripper," his old friend John’s thin, reedy voice said.

"John! Oh, it’s about time," Rupert said, putting down his towel and walking out into the living room. "I’ve got a bit of a conundrum for you, old friend."

"What, no hello, no how the hell are you old buddy, old pal?" John asked, chuckling lightly.

"If I had time for such things, you can be sure that I would spend at least a good thirty minutes ‘shooting the breeze’ with you, my friend," Giles said, sitting down on his couch. "But as things stand, I simply haven’t got the time. John, I need you to come to Sunnydale."

"That bad?" John asked, knowing exactly what Sunnydale was to his friend. "Has something happened to your - charge?" he asked, inflecting the word in such a way as to let Giles knew that he did remember what they had talked about the last time they had spoken. Just before Giles had come to America to be Buffy’s Watcher, he had called John and told him all about the slayer, just in case something ever happened.

"No, Buffy is fine. But this does, in a rather round about fashion, have something to do with her." Giles closed his eyes, imagining what was to come and wondering, suddenly, if he could shield Buffy from the worst of it.

"Okay, what’s up then?" John wanted to know.

"It has to do with a murder committed some twelve years ago…" Giles started, settling in to begin his version of Tara’s story.

***

Waking up as the filling between a Buffy and Willow sandwich was definitely an experience, Tara decided, trying not to disturb her companions as she stretched. One that bore much consideration. Especially since Buffy drooled ever so slightly, and Willow snored ever so heavily. Miss Kitty had apparently decided to forgive her mommies and was stretched out on her back between Tara and Willow’s feet. Tara reached down and delicately tickled the pad of the kitten’s outstretched foot, causing Miss Kitty to slowly open one green eye and stare at her for a long second before she yawned and rolled over onto her belly to begin her morning ablutions.

Tara covered her mouth and stifled a giggle. Buffy rolled over and wrapped her arm around both the blonde wiccan and the red headed hacker and Tara marveled at the length of the slayer’s reach. Willow snuggled closer to Tara and let out a contented snort. I’m happy, the wiccan realized with an astonished smile, delighting in the small sounds that her girlfriend made as she slept. Willow sort of grunted and purred, almost like a cat, but different enough from Miss Kitty for her to know it wasn’t the kitten she heard.

Buffy was a silent sleeper, barely making any sound, except for the occasional loud snore that seemed to startle the young woman, as she would come to semi-consciousness and move into a new position whenever one of the sounds would escape. Tara laid on her back and wrapped her arm around Willow, who snuggled even closer to the wiccan. Buffy threw a proprietary leg over them and muttered something about wanting the dancing marshmallow babies to please go home now because the chocolate flowers were all gone.

Tara giggled. Just a tiny explosion of sound, but it was enough to wake the slayer. Buffy’s eyes shot open at Tara’s muffled laughter. She stared at the wiccan for a long moment before realizing that she had turned her best friend and her best friend’s girlfriend into her own personal teddy bears.

"Um, good morning?" she said, slowly unwrapping herself from the two wiccans.

Tara smiled and nuzzled Willow’s hair, inhaling the scent of the hacker’s herbal shampoo. "Morning," she replied softly, hoping that the hacker would continue to sleep. She loved to watch Willow sleep because the hacker’s face softened into an almost childlike innocence that Tara found to be so beautiful, it made her want to cry.

"Sorry about the um," Buffy paused, trying to come up with a good way to explain her actions.

"It’s okay. I like to snuggle, Willow likes to snuggle - now we know you like to snuggle too," Tara said.

Buffy returned the smile and sat up, scratching her head. "That’s great. That you like to snuggle, I mean. Because, you know, Willow’s the snuggle bunny extraordinaire of the Scoobies."

Tara’s smile spread over her entire face and her eyes lit up happily. "I know. It’s wonderful."

"I don’t know how I could have ever for even one second thought that there was something wrong with the two of you being together," Buffy whispered under her breath, so softly Tara had to strain to hear her. "You’re beautiful, the two of you, I mean, you know that? You make my heart hurt." The slayer gestured to the two wiccans entwined together on the bed. "I see you two like that and I wonder if Riley and I will ever find that kind of peace."

Tara nodded. "You will. I can feel it. And thanks," she closed her eyes and sighed. "It helps, knowing that you like me - that there’s people who care. It’s what…what kept me going, last week."

Buffy frowned. "I’d like to walk up to your father and pull out all of his nose hairs!"

Tara gave the slayer a startled look, then burst out laughing, waking Willow, who sat up and rubbed her eyes. "What’s so funny, Tara?" she said sleepily.

This was somehow even more amusing, and Tara lost it, almost rattling Buffy off the bed with her laughter. Buffy and Willow exchanged confused looks, but the blonde wiccan’s giggles were so infections that soon, they too were laughing.

Tara’s phone rang and the wiccan collected herself enough to answer it. "Hello? Yes, she’s right here Mr. Giles, hold on," she handed the phone to Buffy, whispering, "it’s for you."

"Thanks," Buffy replied, then took the receiver. "Morning Giles, what’s up? Something new and deadly in town that needs killing before breakfast?" Buffy nodded as Giles spoke, playing with the phone cord and rolling her eyes dramatically. "All right, all right, I’ll be there," she sighed and made a face. "Yes, I’ll make sure to dress appropriately, sheesh. Don’t have a cow, Watcher man, it’s just a meet and greet. Now, I’d better go so I can shower and all that happiness. Ciao!" Buffy handed the phone back to Tara and sighed.

"What’s the what, Buff?" Willow asked.

"Giles wants me to come with him to the airport to meet his FBI friend. Says I’ve got to look all nice and stuff." The slayer tossed her head and harumphed. "As if I ever don’t look nice? Well, except for those times when I’m up to my eyebrows in demon slime and vamp dust. But anyway, that’s not the point. The point is, I’ve got to go and make nice to Giles’ old school buddy so he can be all impressed over the great job Watcherman has done in raising me."

"Are we invited, or is this a Slayer-Watcher only kind of thing?" Willow said, looking at Tara as the blonde rummaged around in her closet.

Buffy shrugged. "Dunno, but, it’s probably just going to be really boring stuff and going over what we already know again. I mean, I’m sure he’ll want to talk to Tara, but I thought you two might like some time together - alone - if you catch my drift?" Buffy said, waggling her eyebrows lasciviously.

"Buffy," Willow hissed, flicking her gaze over to her friend and frowning. "You’re so bad!"

"I know," the slayer grinned, "but I’m good when I’m bad so I’m forgiven. So, do you want to do boring Scooby stuff or spend some alone time with your girlfriend?"

Willow sighed. "Well, the selfish part of me wants to say option number two, but the realistic side knows that we need to take care of," she nodded toward Tara, "her father before he comes looking for her."

Tara exited her closet, carrying her clothing over her arm. "I-I’m going to take a shower, okay?" she said, grabbing her toiletry bag.

Buffy nudged Willow’s leg and mouthed, "Go with her, silly."

Willow shook her head vigorously and mouthed in return, "Nuh-uh."

Buffy raised and eyebrow curiously. "Haven’t gotten that far yet, hmm?" she leaned over and whispered into the hacker’s ear.

Willow face turned a deep scarlet and she shrugged and coughed a little. "No," she whispered back finally.

Buffy gave her another little push and whispered, "Well then, there’s no time like the present."

Willow’s blush grew deeper, surpassing even the red of her hair. Tara gathered up her towel and walked out the door. "Wha-what do I do?" Willow blurted, jumping up and running around the room like a chicken with her head cut off.

Buffy laughed. "Um, hon, that’s something I’m not terribly familiar with either. Though, I’d imagine it’s fairly similar to what you would have done with Oz - without certain things, of course."

"Oh very funny Buffy. I meant should I go? Do you think she wants my company? Am I being over protective? Am I just too horny for my own good? Did I really just say horny? I meant smoochie deprived, yeah, that’s it, smoochie deprived," Willow babbled.

The slayer got out of the bed and found Willow’s overnight bag with her soap and stuff. "Here, take this, take some clothes and go. If she wants you, great, have fun, don’t wake the neighbors. If she doesn’t, also fine, take a shower, you reek," Buffy pinched her nose and made a face.

"I do? You’re not just saying that to encourage me are you?" Willow asked, taking a moment to sniff herself.

"You do. Now go! I’ve got to get myself. Since Giles expects me to be display Buffy and all, I need at least an hour to be ready." Buffy grabbed her shoes and put them on, then pushed Willow out the door and down the hall toward the communal bathroom. The hacker stumbled for a second, then put on her "resolve face" and went through the door. "Good girl," Buffy whispered, smiling. "Okay, my work is done here. Time to go put on my face." She brushed her hands off on her thighs and headed back to her own dorm.

***

Willow put her hand on the door handle to the bathroom and took a deep, steadying breath. Okay, Rosenberg, this is no different than any of the other sixteen times you’ve showered with Tara after spending the night, right? I mean, it’s not like you don’t know what she looks like without clothes on - kinda hard to perform skyclad rituals without peeking once or twice - so what’s the problem? Willow’s mind filled with the stolen images of Tara’s beautiful body and she shivered pleasantly. Yeah, okay, so she’s hella sexy and you’re so totally turned on by her that your knees turn to jello at the very thought of touching her, but that’s still no reason, so buck up, Will and go get her!

The hacker turned the handle and went inside, promptly running headlong into one of the other residents of the dorm. "Oh, pardon me," the handsome young man said, smiling at Willow and holding the door open for her.

"Um, yeah, sorry. Thanks," Willow mumbled, sliding around him and looking around for Tara’s tell-tale Snoopy and Woodstock towels.

She found them thrown over the wall of the corner stall. Tara was just slipping out of her skirt when Willow carefully opened the curtain and slid in behind her and said, "Hey beautiful." Casually she placed her hands on Tara’s hips and nuzzled the wiccan’s back, mindful of the bruised flesh under the wiccan’s blouse. Tara froze for just one instant, then relaxed as her body recognized Willow’s.

"Hey," she said, turning around and wrapping her arms around the hacker. They kissed tenderly, then, as Willow allowed her hands to wander a little, their kisses heated up. Tara pulled away gently and said, "I think I kinda like this."

"Mmm, yeah, I think you do too," Willow agreed, nuzzling the wiccan’s throat, then boldly nipping the skin above her pulse point. "And I know that I just love it…and you." Willow slipped her hands up between them and started to unbutton Tara’s shirt.

"W-Willow…w-what are you d-doing?" Tara babbled, as Willow pressed a soft kiss to each inch of skin revealed as the buttons came free.

"Do you want me to stop?" Willow asked, unbuttoning the final button and pausing before opening the wiccan’s blouse. They exchanged glances. Willow allowed all her love and desire for the other woman to fill her eyes. The soft, knowing smile that perched on the hacker’s lips told Tara that Willow was more than willing to stop, if the wiccan wanted her to.

Tara gathered Willow close, kissing her forehead, her eyes, her nose, and finally, her lips. "Not just yet. But - I don’t know how far I’ll be able to go, okay?"

"Always," Willow said, stepping away to peel off the wiccan’s blouse and take her first uninterrupted look at Tara’s naked breasts. A gentle smile of desire wandered across Willow’s face as she skidded her fingertips up Tara’s arms, then, ever so lightly brushed them down the wiccan’s chest to stop and cover her breasts completely.

"Willow…" Tara whispered, leaning into the hacker’s touch and tipping her head down to kiss Willow passionately. "You’re overdressed," she said in between kisses, then slipped her hands up under the hacker’s shirt and removed it with a quick tug.

The two wiccans stepped apart and stared at each other for a long moment, then wordlessly shucked the rest of their clothes into a pile. Slowly, they came together, embracing slowly and marveling at the sparkle of energy that rippled through them when they touched, skin to skin.

"Wow," Willow said, as she held Tara closely, yet carefully, aware of the numerous cuts and bruises that painted the wiccan’s body.

"Yeah," Tara agreed, stroking the hacker’s bare back absently. "We should shower though. The dorm isn’t exactly blessed with an abundance of bathrooms."

"But I don’t wanna move," Willow complained softly, kissing little patterns over Tara’s neck and shoulders.

"I - oh, that’s nice - don’t want to either," Tara said, exploring the hacker’s curves with her fingers.

Willow sighed and pulled away, giving the wiccan’s breasts a parting caress. "But we should be nice and get clean quickly."

Tara nodded. "Yeah, nice. Clean." Her eyes were locked on the hacker’s compact nude form. Willow smirked, turned around and wiggled her hips.

"Coming?" she said, turning her head back to look at Tara who returned the smirk.

"Not yet," she murmured, then followed Willow into the stall.

***

The first thing Buffy did when she got back to her room was call Angel. After bantering with Cordelia for a few minutes, she finally got put through to him.

"Hey Buffy," he said softly and her heart spasmed at the sound of his voice.

"Hey Angel. I uh, got your message," she said while choosing the clothes she would wear to meet the FBI agent. "Why do you want to know about Tara?"

"Is she a friend of yours?" Angel asked curiously.

"Yeah, she is," Buffy replied in a tone that let the vampire know that she wouldn’t tolerate any funny business.

"Good. Look, I’ve ah, got this friend-slash-client named David Nebbitt, and he ah, hired me to find out about her and I did and some of what I found out wasn’t too good. In fact, it was downright bad - I almost called Kate about it," he said seriously.

"Wow, it must have been something if you thought about calling that ice queen," Buffy said, trying to pump him for more information.

"Yeah, I saw the girl’s father beat her severely. I wanted to stop him but I couldn’t," he said sorrowfully. Buffy sighed, thinking about how frustrating it must have been for Angel to want to burst in and save Tara and be unable to because he hadn’t been invited into the house.

"We know about it Angel," Buffy said softly, "and we’re going to do something, don’t worry. I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t mention anything to your client though."

"No problem, just make sure that guy never hurts anyone again," Angel said evenly.

"You got it," Buffy replied. "I’ll talk to you later, I gotta get ready to meet someone."

"All right. It was nice talking to you, Buffy," Angel said.

"You too, Angel. Take care," Buffy said and hung up.

***

Buffy had decided that she couldn’t go wrong with neutral colors, touched off by just a hint of something summery and fun. So it was that the slayer showed up on Giles’ doorstep in a pair of skin tight white capris, a pale yellow short-sleeved blouse and a red tank top. Her watcher took in her apparel and sighed.

"Now what?" Buffy asked as she walked in and tossed her purse onto the couch.

"Now we meet John at the airport," Giles replied handing Buffy her bag back.

"Oh, okay. I’m ready then." She pirouetted. "What do you think? Nice enough?"

Giles cocked his head sideways and said, "Well, at least you’re not wearing leather and chains."

Buffy frowned. "Is this guy really all that uptight? I mean, cuz I have like the total girly thing I can run home and throw on, but I figured since he was a friend of yours…"

"No, no, it’s okay. You look fine Buffy. We need to go, his plane lands in ten minutes," Giles said, hurrying the slayer out the door.

While the watcher coaxed his little car to amazing speeds on the freeway, Buffy told him about her conversation with Angel. He nodded as she spoke and when she was finished he said, "I trust he is doing well otherwise?"

Buffy shrugged. "We didn’t really talk that much, but yeah, I guess so."

"Good, good," Giles replied absently as he pulled into the airport. They arrived just in time to see a short, balding man dressed in the typical "G-Man" attire of a three piece suit exit the building.

"Is that him?" Buffy asked, pointing.

Giles looked, squinting against the bright sun. "Yes, I believe so. Stay here." Giles pulled the car over and stepped out, calling, "John?"

The man turned, and a smile instantly spread across his cherubic features. Buffy looked him over and decided he resembled one of those garden gnomes that littered the lawns of many Sunnydale residents. "Rupert," he said warmly, coming up and shaking Giles’ hand enthusiastically. "It’s so good to see you, old man," he added, then peered over the watcher’s shoulder. "Is that your car?"

Giles rolled his eyes. "Yes, I’m afraid it is."

"I can see that your penchant for junk yard specials hasn’t waned, though your taste in companions certainly has improved. Would the young lady be the chosen one?" John said, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and lighting up.

"Yes, that is Buffy. Shall we get your luggage and go?" Giles suggested, surreptitiously waving away the smoke.

"I’ve got a man on it," John said, taking a long, loving drag of his smoke. "So, why don’t you tell me all over again why I’m spending a lot of the government’s money out here."

***

Buffy drummed her fingers on the cracked vinyl dashboard, wondering when Giles and his friend were going to quit chewing the fat and get going. It was rather hot and sticky in the car, and the smell of jet fuel was beginning to make her feel light-headed. The slayer closed her eyes and tipped her head back, careful not to knock the headrest off of its post. I wonder how Will and Tara are doing? she thought curiously. A slow grin spread across her face as it occurred to her just what might be occupying them at this very moment. At least, I hope Will got the hint… How could she not? Buffy reasoned smugly. She had only just about told the hacker to go and seduce her girlfriend.

Sigh…if I can’t get my own smoochies, at least I can have them vicariously, Buffy thought, sitting up and opening her eyes as she heard Giles and his friend approach the car. At the watcher’s nod, she got out and presented herself to the FBI agent.

"Hi, I’m Buffy," she said, holding out her hand.

John took it and bowed his head over it. "It is a real pleasure, Miss Summers. I’ve heard such wonderful things about you." He smiled, a mischievous twinkle sparkling merrily in the dark blue depths of his eyes.

"Don’t believe everything you hear, sir," a new voice said, causing Buffy’s mouth to drop open in surprise. "I have it on good authority that she’s a real troublemaker."

"Riley!" Buffy squealed happily, dropping John’s hand and dancing around him to be scooped up into an enthusiastic hug by her beau. "When did you get home?"

"Right now," he answered. "I came with Agent Bradley."

Buffy frowned. "But, I thought you were going to be discharged," she said, then kissed him happily.

John turned away and pretended he didn’t see his associate perform several public displays of affection. "All right Rupert, let’s stow the bags while the kids say hello."

Riley had his head down against Buffy’s forehead and he was saying, "Well, they decided that they didn’t want to waste such a good soldier, so they reassigned me. I’m on permanent loan to the Bureau. Mr. Bradley was good enough to request me when he heard where my last post had been. It seems that Giles’ friend has convinced the director that they need a field office out here and we’re here to set it up."

"Well, I guess that’s good," Buffy smiled. "But I really don’t care, because you’re here. You’re home!" She bounced up and down on the balls of her feet and kissed him a few more times.

He readily complied, but put a halt to it when Bradley and Giles came around to the front of the car. "Buffy - we have to be a little less affectionate while I’m on duty now - it’s against the bureau policy."

"Oh pooh!" Buffy said, stepping away from her boyfriend and frowning unhappily. "When are you off duty, then?" she smiled and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. "Because I really, really missed you," she added in a low voice.

Riley swallowed and looked at his watch. "In a couple of hours. Want to go out for a bite to eat?"

"Sounds like a plan. Now, let’s go join the adults before they have a wiggins," Buffy said, taking Riley’s hand and walking over to the car.

***

Tara and Willow sat on Tara’s bed, feeding each other little bits of fruit salad. By the time they had finished their shower, the cafeteria had run out of most of the things they liked to eat, forcing them to settle for the salads and yogurt. Neither had classes, so they planned on studying and shopping.

"I love you," Willow said, in between bites, just to see Tara blush.

The wiccan complied, ducking her head and allowing her hair to partially cover her face. "I love you too, Willow," she said softly, holding out a piece of watermelon for the hacker to bite into.

Willow leaned over and took the bit, slurping at the explosion of juice, chewed it up and swallowed. "We are so sappy today," she said with a grin.

"Oh yes, just full of sappy goodness," Tara agreed, laughing. She frowned slightly and said, "When are Xander and Anya supposed to be here?" They were going shopping with the couple, as well as planning on doing a little house hunting. Anya hated the cramped basement that Xander called home and was determined to find a new place for them to live.

The hacker glanced at the clock and said, "Oh, any minute now. You know Xander - he gets here when he gets…" a knock at the door interrupted her. "Here," she finished, getting up to answer the door.

Xander and Anya stood outside, looking a little mussed. They both smiled and waved. "Hi!" Xander said, a bit breathlessly. "We’re here. And ready for the delights of food shopping, right, babe?"

"Oh, joy. Oh happy day. I am so thrilled to be invited on this wholesome expedition into domesticity," Anya replied in a forcefully cheerful tone. "How was that?" she asked, sotto voce, when Willow turned away to grab her bag.

"Good job, hon," Xander replied, winking and making the "thumb’s up" signal.

Anya smiled happily, then frowned when Tara and Willow weren’t ready. "Well, come on you two. We don’t have time to waste!"

Miss Kitty Fantastico, awakened by the new voices, crawled out of her little bed and ambled up to sniff Xander and Anya’s feet.

"Oh, hello there kitty cat," Xander said, hunching over to pet the kitten, who promptly began purring. When she was done inspecting him, she turned her nose to Anya.

"How…cliché," the former vengeance demon said, looking down at the kitten and raising an eyebrow. She reached down and patted the kitten on the head, who promptly hissed at her and backed away. "So, what’d you name your little pussy anyway?"

Willow and Tara exchanged looks, then both wiccan’s said, "She doesn’t really have a name yet."

Anya smirked and nudged Xander. "I told you they hadn’t gotten that far yet. You owe me five favors."

Xander sighed. "I guess I do, don’t I?" He looked over at the two befuddled wiccans. "See what you’ve done? Because of your celibacy, I have to do unspeakable acts! Unspeakable, I tell you!" Anya stood on her tip-toe and whispered something to him, causing his face to go through several transformations, but leaving him grinning wildly. "Oh, very unspeakable!"

"Xander, you are, without a doubt, the strangest human on this planet," Willow said, giggling while Tara continued to look blankly at the couple.

Tara raised her hand and said, "What does the cat’s name have to do with our level of um, intimacy?" she whispered to Willow, who laughed again.

"I have no earthly idea, but you can bet it means something to Xander and Anya," she whispered back. "I think it’s ‘cuz they’re strange that way," she added, while the couple in question just grinned.

"Yeah, strange…" the blonde wiccan muttered, putting her uneaten food into her mini fridge, then grabbing her bag.

"’K, I think we’re ready," Willow said, interrupting another whispered conversation between Xander and Anya.

The phone rang. Tara stopped moving toward the door and stood in the middle of the room like a deer caught in the headlights. It rang again. The wiccan turned slightly toward the phone, then shook her head. "I’ll let the machine get it," she said, forcing a smile.

Everyone nodded and backed out of the room while the phone rang again. Tara was just locking the door when she heard a muffled, "Tara? Are you there? It’s Buffy. Pick up if you’re there. Willow? Hello?" Anya sighed and flopped down on a nearby bench while Tara fumbled with the lock, opening the door and running over to grab the phone.

"Hello? No, we were just on our way out to go shopping. Oh." Tara’s eyes widened. "What?" she gasped, playing with the cord. "I-I don’t know," she said, swaying a little. Willow came up behind her and put a steadying hand on her hip. "He is? Oh. Well, I guess…I could…try. Can Willow come?" She let out a huge exhalation of relief.

"Can I come where?" Willow asked softly, curious about what was up.

Tara covered the receiver of the phone and said quickly, "Giles-called-a-friend-in-the-FBI -and-they-want-me-to-come-and-look-at-my-parent’s-old-house."

"Oh," Willow nodded. "Of course I’ll come with! Wild green beans couldn’t keep me away," she said, smiling gently.

"Meet you out front. No, I have a car, I can drive," Tara said into the phone, then handed it over to Willow. "She wants to talk to you."

"Thanks. Hey Buff, what’s the what?"

"Hey Will. Guess who I’m currently snuggled up to in the back seat of a plush rental car?" Buffy said, giggling as someone on the other end tickled her.

"Tickle-me Elmo?" Willow guessed.

"No! Silly! It’s Riley. He’s home, Will! He’s home! It was such a surprise. I am so totally happy right now. Anyway, we’re on our way over to the Kincaid place, so we’ll meet you guys there, okay?" Buffy said.

"That’s cool, Buffy. Yeah, we’ll be there. Bye," Willow hung up and shook her head. "Riley’s home," she announced.

"Whoa, that’s cool," Xander said, standing up. "I guess our little expedition to the grocery store is canceled?"

Willow nodded. "Yeah, we’re going to Tara’s old house."

"Oh goodie, more ghosts and ghoulies," Anya said happily, standing up as well. At the other’s looks of confusion she said, "You don’t actually think I’m gonna miss out on this, do you? No way! Bring on the dust and cobwebs! I wanna see some ghostly heads roll!" she declared, walking down the hall to the stairs.

"I’ll meet you guys downstairs," Xander said with a sheepish grin, then followed in his girlfriend’s footsteps.

"You okay with this?" Willow asked Tara, reaching out and taking the wiccan’s hand in hers.

"I-I think so," Tara mumbled, chewing on her lip nervously. "W-would you drive? I-I don’t think I’d be a very cautious person right now."

Willow nodded, "Sure. You can be the passenger type person and snuggle up to the driver while she does driver type person things."

A little smile edged its way onto Tara’s face and she said, "Thanks."

"You’re always welcome, my dear. Now, the keys to the Taramobile, please?" Willow said, holding out her other hand imperiously.

***

Willow pulled in behind a black Lincoln that had a local rental car company’s sticker on the bumper and parked the car. She looked over at Tara who had drawn her knees up to her chest and was staring blindly at the run-down house she grew up in.

Buffy, Giles, Riley, Xander, Anya and some guy who was probably the FBI agent were already there, poking around the premises. Anya was busy going through the bushes while Xander checked the mailbox. He looked up when he saw Willow park and waved.

The hacker waved back, but made no move to exit the car, choosing to wait for Tara. Tara continued to stare at the house, not moving, almost not breathing.

"The daisies died," Tara said sadly, looking over at a bare patch of earth in the flower bed. "I’ll have to come back and replant them," she added softly. She looked at Willow and said, "They were her favorite, you know. Daisies. Bright yellow daisies. Every day when they were in bloom she’d pick them and we’d have daisies on our dinner table."

Willow nodded. "Do you want to get out now? We’ll go real slow, I promise."

"Okay," Tara agreed, her voice rising a little and thinning out like a child’s. "Will you hold my hand? I’m kinda scared." Tara’s face reflected the struggle that raged within the wiccan, as her face changed from the innocent sadness of a child to the weary pain of the adult.

"Sure," Willow smiled, then got out and came around to help Tara out of the car. The hacker took the wiccan’s hand in hers and slowly led her onto the grass. As they walked toward the house, Tara felt like she was walking backwards in time, moving through her life until she was six years old again and just coming home from school.

Giles and the man in the suit walked over to greet them. "Willow, Tara, this is Special Agent Bradley. He’s here to see what can be done about, ah, Mr. Kincaid."

"Nice to meet you, Agent Bradley," Willow said, shaking the man’s hand.

"A pleasure, yes, it is a pleasure," the man said garrulously. Then he turned to Tara. "Hello Tara. I’ve heard quite a bit about you. I’m sure you must be really scared right now, so we’re going to do this at your pace, okay? If you need to stop or to leave, just let me know and we’ll make it happen."

"Okay," Tara replied, nodding slowly with wide eyes. She turned to Willow and whispered, "Is he gonna make my daddy go away?" in a very child-like tone. She blinked and added, "He scares me."

"You betcha," Willow replied with false confidence, trying to hide the fact that Tara’s sudden change was more than a little disturbing.

"All right, why don’t we go inside and see what you can remember then, Tara." Agent Bradley took Tara’s free hand and led her to the steps. As they walked, the years seemed to slough away from the blonde wiccan as her gait became more like that of a child and her shoulders slumped down. Bradley and Willow let go of Tara so they could climb up to the porch, then turn to wait for the wiccan. Tara reached both arms out and grabbed hold of the rails and slowly, one step at a time, climbed up to the porch.

Once up there, she reached for Willow’s hand again while Agent Bradley opened the front door. He entered first, drawing his service sidearm and checking the place over. Once assured that there weren’t any squatters, he nodded. "Come on in. It’s a little dusty, but not bad."

The two wiccans slowly walked in, looking around. Willow noticed the disturbed areas in the dust where the rest of the Scoobies had investigated the day before, but Tara didn’t seem to see them at all. She shuddered a little, then blinked.

"The couch is looking a little dirty," she said in her little girl voice. "I’ll help mommy clean it up before daddy gets home." She let go of Willow’s hand and walked into the sitting room and acted as though she were brushing off furniture. After a few moments she stopped and stared at the blank area and nodded. "There, it looks just fine. Daddy will be happy now." She dusted her hands together and then skipped back into the dining room.

"Tara," Agent Bradley said gently, "why don’t you show us your house?"

"Oh, like a tour? That’s what daddy calls it when he has visitors," she said with a slight smile. "The ‘two-bit tour’. I’ll give you the ‘two-bit tour’, okay?" she said enthusiastically, and schooled her face to proper soberness. "This is our dining room. We eat dinner here. See, there’s the table and the fish tank where Goldie and Bear-Bear live," she pointed to objects that only she could see.

Willow’s fear had grown while Tara spoke, and Agent Bradley noticed the hacker’s face growing more and more frightened. "It’s okay," he said softly, leaning over and putting a friendly hand on her shoulder. "This happens a lot in stressful situations. Once we take her away from the house, she should revert to normal."

"The operative word is ‘should’, Agent Bradley," Willow replied in a low voice. "If she’s not okay, I’m not so sure I’ll be supportive of any more investigating."

"I understand and I promise you that I’ll do everything in my power to make sure that she’s fine," Bradley said in reassuring tones while Tara babbled on about her living room.

"And in here is the kitchen where mommy makes the yummiest food!" Tara giggled and ran into the kitchen, yelling, "Come on, let’s see what mommy’s making today!"

They followed her in, crowding around the door as Tara extolled the virtues of her mom’s macaroni and cheese, which was apparently on the menu for their supper. Willow noticed the marks on the door frame that led to the laundry room and said, "Tara, what are those," she pointed.

"These?" Tara bounced over and touched them. "Oh that’s me, silly. Or, at least, me growing up. See, this is when I was one and could barely walk, and that’s me now," she pointed to the first and last marks. The wiccan was now much taller, but she hunkered herself down to fit in the height delineated by the last mark. Tara’s eyes clouded over and she frowned in concentration. "Mommy made this mark a week after daddy left," she said, sighing unhappily. "She cried when she did it, I wonder why?"

"Why did your daddy leave?" Agent Bradley asked gently.

Tara made a sour face. "Because mommy made him go. She said she finally got tired of his h-h-hitting h-h-her," she stammered, then turned her face into the wall and mumbled, "he h-h-hit me too," so softly that Willow had to strain to catch it. Tiny sobs shook Tara’s shoulders.

"I’m sorry to hear that Tara," Bradley said, walking in to the kitchen and slowly coaxing the girl away from the wall. "Could you show us the rest of your lovely house? I’m really curious to see it."

Slowly, a smile began to form on Tara’s face, and her tears dried up. "Sure, I’ll show you my bedroom upstairs! You wanna play with me in my bedroom?" she asked Willow brightly. "Mommy bought me a Barbie doll yesterday!"

"Sure Tara, I’d love to," Willow said gently, going along with the fiction for now.

They all carefully trooped up the rickety stairs to the second floor. Those that had been in the house previously waited for the sound of ghostly footsteps, but none came.

"Huh, must have been a one use only haunting," Buffy quipped, peering into the bathroom and linen closet, disturbing a few spider’s webs.

From the doorway to Tara’s old room, Agent Bradley looked back at the group and said, very softly, "Well, if you ask me, I’m just as glad not to be experiencing it. The shock of reliving the event could be enough to unhinge the young lady completely."

Inside Tara’s room, Willow and Tara were seated in the middle of the floor, playing with pretend Barbies. Tara had just dressed Barbie for a dinner date and then handed her off to Willow. Then she pulled out her Ken doll and suited him up as well.

"Okay Barb, I’m ready to eat!" Tara yelled in a child’s mock baritone.

"But I’m not quite ready, Ken," Willow said in a very ditzy tone. "My toenails aren’t dry."

"Woman I said I was ready to eat!" Tara-as-Ken yelled. Willow jumped as the wiccan walked her pretend Ken over and smacked the hacker’s pretend Barbie. Again and again, Tara made her Ken strike the pretend Barbie, shouting, "You useless whore! I don’t know why I married you!" Each time, Willow flinched as if she had been the one struck.

Willow bit her lip as her girlfriend continued to relive being six years old. She looked out of the room to see Buffy lean on Riley and bang her head against the agent’s chest. Giles sighed heavily and pulled off his glasses to clean them while Xander snuck off, his face a wash of pain.

"Tara?" Willow whispered, reaching out to cover the wiccan’s hand with hers. "Tara, come back to me," she pleaded.

Tara’s eyes were empty and cold. "Useless, you’re useless!" she declared, pushing Willow’s comforting hand away. "All women are useless," she whispered.

Agent Bradley turned back to the room just in time to see this. He cleared his throat and said, "Tara…do you think you could set your Barbies aside long enough to show me the rest of the house?"

Out in the hallway, Xander and Anya had drifted to the back of the group and sat down on the creaking floor. Xander had his head in his hands and was shaking slightly.

"Honey, this is not a good place for you," Anya said, putting her arm around him and hugging him.

"No, no it isn’t. But I’m not running away, not this time. I can’t," he said softly, turning to face her. "It’s funny to think that I have something in common with Willow’s girlfriend besides having a preference for the female of the species."

"Remind me to kick your father the next time I see him," Anya said, a wicked gleam twinkling in her eyes.

"I don’t think he’d get it, An," Xander said, a smile starting to creep over his face.

"I don’t care. He hurt you and that’s bad. No one messes with my Xander!" she said possessively, hugging him so tightly that he grimaced.

"Gee, thanks, love you too, An," he said, trying to take a breath.

***

"This is my mommy’s room," Tara said, looking down at her feet. "But I’m not s’posed to go in there unless she invites me in, ‘cuz it’s her private place."

Agent Bradley nodded. "That’s okay, Tara. I’m sure she won’t mind, just this once."

Tara looked up at the gentle-faced man, clearly wanting to believe him. "Oh-okay." Slowly, she pushed open the door and looked inside.

Suddenly, the wiccan screamed and fell to her knees, clasping her head between her hands. "No! No no no! Bad things in there!" she shouted, rocking back and forth quickly.

Willow pushed through Buffy and Giles to kneel beside her girlfriend. "Tara, it’s okay, I’m here," she whispered, pulling the now hysterically sobbing wiccan into her arms. "Shh, it’s okay. I’m here, nothing’s going to happen. Shh." Willow said, over and over, rocking Tara gently.

Just as quickly as the change had come, it left, leaving Tara very exhausted, but whole again. "No, it already happened, over ten years ago," Tara said softly, pulling herself upright. Willow dragged herself up as well, hovering near Tara’s shoulder. The wiccan shot her girlfriend a grateful look and took a deep breath. "It happened in there," she said woodenly, indicating the room with a nod of her head.

Agent Bradley nodded and said, "Okay, can you take us through what you remember?"

Tara closed her eyes, sighed and went into the room. "Mom’s bed was here," she said, voice devoid of emotion, pointing to one section of the room, "and her altar was here, though I wasn’t too aware of what an altar was at the time," she added, an echo of her old humor coming forth in a wry shrug as she looked at Willow. "Over here was a dresser and a chest. I was in here," she opened the rickety closet door and pointed to the ground near the door, "hidden behind a pile of things. I saw it all," she whispered sadly, eyes glistening with unshed tears.

The agent came into the room and looked around, noting the placement of dents and scratches in the wood flooring. Something caught his eye and he gestured toward Riley, who carefully entered the room. "Get the kit from the car, Agent Finn," he whispered.

"So it’s a go, then?" Riley asked.

"It always was, Finn," Bradley said, sighing sadly. "Please go on Tara, tell me all you can remember."

Haltingly, Tara told the story of her mother’s death while the agents collected what evidence they could. Surprisingly, there was quite a bit to collect. Flakes of paint that still bore the residue of blood, fibers and hair samples that were painstakingly removed from cracks in the flooring all were collected, bagged and numbered.

As she came to the end of her story, Tara moved over to the rune inscribed floorboard and knelt down. "I remember, momma," she whispered brokenly as a single tear dripped down her face and mingled with the dust. Tara closed her eyes for several heartbeats, then took a deep, shuddering breath. "Guardians of air I thank you for the service you have rendered. Your duty is done, you may go." Tara’s voice rang through the house as she wove an intricate pattern of gestures over the board, then brushed away the old rune. There was a flash and a popping noise and then she stood up. "The syringe is in there, Agent Bradley."

Riley carefully knelt down and pulled up the board, revealing the syringe, still there, even after all this time.

"We’ve got him," Agent Bradley said, anger dropping his voice an octave. He looked at Giles and added, "I’ll never doubt you again, old friend."

***

"Do I get to be action Buffy yet?" Buffy quietly asked Giles as they exited the house. Tara and Willow had already left and were sitting on the front lawn, holding each other close while waiting for the rest of the gang.

"I still believe that this is beyond your purview, Buffy, but if you must insist on doing something, then perhaps you could spend some extra time patrolling tonight. The magickal energy released recently is bound to draw some rather nasty creatures to Sunnydale," the watcher replied quietly.

Buffy pouted. "But I want to go pound, now!"

Riley came up behind his girlfriend and gathered her up in his arms. "Buffy, I know it’s hard for you, but this really isn’t your job. This is my job and I intend to do it very well." The agent’s voice was very grim.

"Why do you get to have all the fun?" Buffy said exasperatedly.

"Hey, you’re the one that gets to go out and kick major evil butt, remember? I mean, who was it that turned Adam into spare parts?" Riley pointed out while guiding Buffy toward the car.

"All right, you have a point," Buffy said grumpily. "But it’s still not fair."

"I’ll make it up to you tonight," Riley whispered into her ear, causing her to grin happily.

"Now that gives me a happy," Buffy said, grinning mischievously. "So, what’s next?" she said in a louder tone.

Giles looked at Agent Bradley who shrugged and said, "Next I send these bits of evidence off to be tested and analyzed five ways from Sunday. Oh, and I get a signed affidavit from Miss Kincaid there as to the events of December 20, 1988. Then, Riley here will trot all this down to a judge and we’ll swear out a warrant for the arrest of one Thomas Ian Kincaid. At that point, it will be up to the authorities in Nevada to arrest him. Once that’s done, the court battles begin." The agent shrugged, "Welcome to justice in America."

"What will happen to my father if he’s convicted?" Tara asked, standing up and walking over to the group forming near the cars.

"Well, California is a death penalty state, but since the crime was committed in the 80’s, there could be some difficulty deciding whether or not to try it as such." He shrugged again, "I can’t really say beyond the guess that he’ll be spending a great deal of time in jail."

"Oh, okay," Tara replied absently.

"Miss Kincaid, I think you should go home and have yourself a nice meal, then get some rest. Today has been very stressful for you," Bradley suggested with a weary smile.

"I was thinking the same thing," Willow said softly, coming up behind her girlfriend and cradling her close. Tara leaned her head over on the hacker’s shoulder and sighed resignedly. Willow tipped her head over and gently brushed her lips over Tara’s forehead. "Come on, let’s go back to the dorm and take a nap. Then we can do a little shopping with Anya and Xander, right guys?"

Anya and Xander, who had taken the opportunity to sneak away for some serious necking nodded and Anya said, "Yeah, we still need to look at houses too. I don’t want you staying in that dank little hole any longer than you have to, Xander."

"Why don’t we meet back at my apartment tomorrow?" Giles suggested softly. "John, you can take Tara’s statement then and Buffy, you can fill me in on tonight’s patrol."

The entire gang shot Giles a strange look, then glanced at the FBI agent from the corner of their eyes. Bradley found the whole situation rather amusing.

"Try not to break my agent while you’re out hunting demons, Buffy," he said, chuckling merrily at the stunned expression on the group’s faces. "What? Did you really think that I was just your average G-Man? Hardly. I’m no Fox Mulder," he said with a snort, "but I am well aware of the other world that exists beside ours."

Anya took a long look at the shortish, balding, yet baby-faced man and nodded. "You’re right. You don’t look a thing like David Duchovny."

Bradley laughed harder. "You’re absolutely correct, I don’t. In fact, not many of the agents I’ve worked with are that handsome, or in the case of the lovely Miss Andersen, that lovely."

"What about Riley? He’s a candidate for dreamboat status," Buffy piped up, running her hand down her boyfriend’s well muscled chest possessively. "Though he is my dreamboat," she added with a smirk.

"I hadn’t honestly thought about it, Miss Summers," Agent Bradley said with a straight face. "I don’t think it would be politic of me to comment one way or the other on the status of my colleague’s level of dreamboatiness."

Everyone laughed and Xander said, "You’ll fit in just fine, Agent Bradley. Welcome to the Scoobies." He held out his hand and the agent promptly shook it.

"Why thank you Mr. Harris. Now, Finn here tells me that you’re quite able to think on your feet. I’d love for the two of us to have a chat…I just may have a job for a man like you," Bradley said quietly as everyone drifted off to their cars.

***

The drive back to their dorm was silent, broken only by the occasional passing car or motorcycle. Tara leaned against the door and looked out as the streets of Sunnydale whizzed by, one hand cradling her head, the other stretched across the front seat and laced gently in Willow’s red hair. She couldn’t hold the hacker’s hand because Willow needed it to drive, but just touching her was enough. She sighed, and the tears came, just as silent as the ride, spilling out slowly and blown away by the wind.

It was a bit like she was crying away the terrible pain of that day, as each tear she shed left her feeling lighter and lighter, almost weightless. Strangely, her memory of the day got clearer, less tainted by her fears as a child and easier to bear. Tara rubbed her eyes. Not that knowing that her father had murdered her mother was an easy burden to carry, but somehow, she knew that it wasn’t an event that would control her life anymore.

"You okay?" Willow asked softly, taking her hand off the gear shift long enough to caress Tara’s knee.

Tara looked over at the hacker and smiled. "Yeah. Yeah, strangely, I am. I mean, I know that it’s not over, but," she shrugged, "I feel a lot better right now."

"Good," Willow said, smiling. "Wanna do something?"

"What?" Tara said, wiping away the last of her tears and focusing her attention on her girlfriend.

"Well," Willow drawled softly, "I thought we could get Miss Kitty and her harness and go to the park for a little picnic. What do you think?"

"I love it," Tara said, smiling happily. "And I love you, Willow. I don’t know if I’ll ever say it enough, but thank you, for sticking by me and for giving me a chance to let go of my past."

Willow pulled the car over to the side of the road and leaned over to stroke Tara’s cheek with the back of her hand. "Never thank me for that, Tara. I love you and that’s all that matters."

They kissed softly, then Willow pulled the car out into traffic and they continued on their way back to the campus.

***

Miss Kitty was terribly happy to see her mommies. They had been gone forever and the kitten was beginning to wonder if she had been abandoned. When both of them walked through the door, she immediately began meowing and winding herself around their feet, letting them know just how much she missed them. Once she was certain that they had gotten her message, she bounded over to the bed and curled up in the middle and flicked her tail up and down in a slow, mesmerizing way.

Willow giggled. "Oh look, she’s trying to hypnotize us."

Tara chuckled and said, "Yeah, she’s telepathically telling us to pamper her until she turns into a Garfield clone."

Miss Kitty shot her Tara-mommy a long look of kitty disapproval, then thumped her tail a few more times on the bed.

"No, I think she just wants us to sit down and pet her, don’t you Miss Kitty Fantastico?" Willow said, sitting down and scooping up the kitten to cuddle her close.

The kitten started purring loudly.

"You really do know what she wants, don’t you?" Tara said, getting the kitten’s harness out of a drawer and walking over to the bed to sit next to her girlfriend.

Willow half-grinned and said, "Well, she and I had a lot of time together while you were - away."

Tara nodded and offered the harness to Willow. "Did you get her used to this?"

"Of course I did!" Willow said, her voice tinged with light offense. "But she doesn’t like it too much. Miss Kitty, you need to put your special harness on so we can go for a ride. You want to go for a ride, don’t you Miss Kitty Fantastico?" the hacker crooned while quickly working the straps over the cat’s body and belting them into place. Then she set the kitten down on the bed.

Immediately, Miss Kitty noticed the new additions, but instead of trying to wriggle out of them like she had in the past, she calmly began washing herself. Tara laughed and stroked the kitten’s ears. "I guess she got used to them," she said in an amused tone of voice.

"Nah, she’s showing off for her Tara-mommy," Willow said, snapping the leash to the metal tab attached to the harness.

Tara tilted her head up and smiled at Willow. The hacker’s breath caught in her throat as the dim light that swept through the room lit up Tara’s face, giving it a glow that seemed to come from somewhere deep within the wiccan. The spell was broken when Tara stood up, carrying Miss Kitty with her. "Let’s go get that picnic lunch and find a nice place in the park before the sun goes down."

***

The park was full of golfers, runners and dog owners. Willow and Tara exchanged a look and said, "Beach," simultaneously.

The drive to the ocean was nice. They talked softly of inconsequentials and traded off petting Miss Kitty until the kitten fell into a deep sleep on the seat between them. The sun was setting as they parked the car and got out.

"Do you think it’s okay?" Tara asked, pulling her hair back in a ponytail to keep the wind from whipping it about too much.

Willow shrugged and went around the front to open the trunk. "It should be, I mean, this isn’t Sunnydale anymore. Besides, I came prepared!" She held up a stake, a bottle of blessed water and a crucifix. In the other hand she had jackets, necessary because of the chill coming off the water.

Tara smiled and pulled a grumpy Miss Kitty out of the car. "Cool. I’ll get the food and the blanket." To save time, the girls had stopped at a nearby sandwich shop and purchased their lunch, as well as a little treat for Miss Kitty. Tara grabbed the bag of sandwiches they had bought and the old blanket that she always had in her car out of the trunk and followed Willow out onto the beach.

The wind was brisk, but not hard enough to throw sand up into their faces as they searched for the perfect spot to sit. They finally found the remains of someone’s fire, and with a little coaxing and a little magick, managed to get it blazing again. Tara set out the blanket and food while Willow tied Miss Kitty’s leash to a convenient log.

Soon, they were curled around each other, eating and drinking while Miss Kitty tried to walk on the sand, chasing little bits of debris that the wind blew around.

Tara laughed loudly at one point when Miss Kitty went to pounce on a pigeon feather and the sand shifted, causing her to fall flat on her face. "Oh gods, that was so funny!"

"Yeah, did you see when she found that crab?" Willow asked, giggling softly.

Tara chuckled in memory. "I thought I was going to get a cramp, I laughed so hard." She turned her head and looked at Willow. "I’m having such a good time. This was a great idea."

Willow ducked her head and shrugged. "Yeah, it was."

Tara studied Willow’s face for a minute, then said, "Willow, you’ve got something on your face."

"I do?" the hacker asked, reaching up to wipe it off, but Tara stopped her.

"No, let me get it," she said huskily, leaning over and gently kissing the hacker, moving her mouth slowly over Willow’s lips and tasting salt and sea and sandwich all at once.

Willow’s hands came up to cup Tara’s face, then slid into her hair as their kiss grew longer and more passionate. Tara’s mouth traced the curves of Willow’s face and neck as her fingers slowly wended their way under the hacker’s shirt to stroke the soft skin underneath.

"Tara - this is not -" Willow panted as the wiccan’s touch took away her ability to think clearly. "A really good - place for this," she finished as her shirt slid all the way up, exposing her breasts to the cool air.

"I don’t care," Tara said softly as she hovered over Willow and kissed her face delicately. "This feels too right to stop."

Willow had to agree with Tara’s point when the wiccan stroked her nipple to taut hardness with her tongue. Then the wind kicked up and blew sand across them. Tara stopped and laughed, spitting a bit as sand had gotten into her mouth.

"See?" Willow said with a shy smile, pulling her shirt down.

Tara nodded. "But I don’t want to do this at the dorm." She shrugged. "I want to be able to face my neighbors in the morning," she said with a smirk.

"Well, maybe my parents are out of town," Willow suggested seductively. "It is the right time of year for them to be doing one of their seminars…"

"Is it?" Tara said innocently, allowing Willow to draw her upright. They embraced, kissing softly as the wind and ocean crashed in the background. "I think I’d like to see your old room, Willow Rosenberg," Tara whispered into Willow’s ear, nibbling the lobe teasingly.

"Okay," Willow replied with a happy grin, then started kissing Tara again.

Miss Kitty, tired of chasing bits of beach fluff, flopped down on the blanket and watched her mommies sniff each other’s faces for many more minutes before she finally yawned and fell asleep.

***

Willow carefully opened the door to her parent’s home. Her mom’s car was gone and there was a note on the counter.

Dearest Willow,

Your father and I have gone to a convention. If you should stop by, there’s food in the fridge for you. We love you lots,

Mommy & Daddy

"Well I guess that answers my question," Willow said, leaning into Tara, who stood behind her holding Miss Kitty. The kitten was frantically trying to get down and explore, but Tara kept a good grip on her. Willow noticed and laughed. "Here, let’s take her up to my room and make a box for her."

After searching around in the garage for a few minutes, Willow located an old cardboard box and some old newspapers, which she shredded up for the cat to use as litter. "There, it’s not exactly scoopable, but we’ll only be here for a day," she said, smiling at her handiwork.

Upstairs, Tara had filled one dish with water and another with some of the tuna they had bought earlier for the kitten and now Miss Kitty was happily gorging herself. Willow walked in with the box and introduced the kitten to it, who seemed rather put off that the hacker had taken her away from her meal.

Tara laughed when Miss Kitty hissed and bit Willow’s finger, drawing blood, but Willow wasn’t so amused. "Ow, lotta thanks I get for making you a nice little potty." She sniffed and let the kitten go, who raced back to her food dish.

"Aw, let me see it hon," Tara said, reaching for Willow’s hand. The hacker slowly held out her hand to the wiccan, who took it and inspected it closely. "It’s only a little puncture. See, it’s not even bleeding that much." Tara grabbed a tissue from the desk and wiped away the little drop of blood that had welled up on the fingertip.

"It kinda hurts though," Willow said, watching her girlfriend’s actions avidly.

"Well then, I guess I’ll just have to kiss it and make it better," Tara murmured, bringing Willow’s hand to her lips and sucking gently on the fingertip.

Willow exhaled slowly, sighing happily. "Th-that’s really nice of you," she said haltingly as her blood began to pound in her veins. "Perhaps I should return the favor," she suggested casually, using her other hand to reach out and stroke a fading bruise on the wiccan’s arm. Tara shivered at the touch and looked down at Willow’s hand, then back up into the hacker’s face.

Their eyes met and held for a long, breathless moment as Tara continued to stroke Willow’s fingertip with her tongue. Finally, she let it go and Willow’s arm dropped down to hang between them. Tara reached out and brushed a bit of the hacker’s sunset-stained hair away from her eyes, then allowed her fingers to linger on Willow’s face. Willow licked her lips and took a deep, shuddering breath.

Keeping her eyes locking on Willow’s, Tara closed the distance between them. "I think I’d really like that, Willow," she murmured silkily. "I think I’d like that a lot," Tara’s words were a release, allowing the love and desire Willow felt to run free, marking her face with a sensuous smile.

Reality hit when Tara nuzzled Willow’s cheek, kissing her softly. The hacker swallowed nervously, then reached for the tie to Tara’s blouse and pulled it free. Slowly, she peeled away the layers of Tara’s clothing, taking every opportunity to lovingly caress the revealed skin. Angry purple bruises peeked over the wiccan’s shoulders, barely obscured by the stark white fabric of her bra. Carefully, Willow lowered Tara’s bra straps, stroking her fingers lightly over the bruises, then following the path her fingers had sketched with her mouth.

Tara’s head fell back, baring her neck to Willow’s lips. The hacker eagerly tasted the skin, murmuring softly at the sweetness of Tara’s flesh. Tara wound her fingers in Willow’s hair, panting as the hacker’s lips traced fiery patterns over her skin. They kissed, lips coming together almost roughly. Tara moaned and Willow smiled into their kiss as her hands finished removing Tara’s bra, then began stroking the wiccan’s breasts until her nipples stiffened against her palms.

"Willow," Tara whispered, desire and need making her voice ragged.

"Shh," Willow said, grinning and sliding up a finger to place against Tara’s lips, silencing her. "It’s all right," she added gently, kissing her. "Okay?" she asked, some of her earlier nerves creeping into her voice.

Tara nodded and kissed her back. "Want you," she whispered, sliding her hands down the hacker’s body and untucking her tee-shirt. Willow allowed Tara to remove her shirt, then wrapped her arms around the wiccan’s neck and pulled herself against Tara’s half-naked form. They kissed again, slower this time, savoring the electric feel of their bodies and mouths joining in passion.

"I love you," Tara said, pulling away and looking down into Willow’s face.

"I love you too," Willow replied, freeing Tara’s hair from its ponytail. Tara shook her head, allowing her blonde locks to spill over her shoulders. "So beautiful," Willow whispered, watching her.

Tara blushed and tipped her head down to nibble Willow’s ear. "In your eyes," she said.

"Always," Willow replied, running her fingers through Tara’s hair, then over her shoulders, down her arms, across her chest and finally, they came to a rest on the waistband of her skirt. Quickly she grabbed hold of the fabric and tugged, pulling the wiccan’s skirt and underwear free with one motion, tossing them aside carelessly. The rest of her own clothes soon joined the pile and Willow stood before Tara, as naked as the wiccan was.

They both grinned shyly, suddenly embarrassed. Willow closed her eyes briefly and took a breath. "Lie down on the bed," she asked softly and Tara did, stretching out on her belly. The hacker lit two candles with barely a glance, then turned out the light. Slowly, she slid onto the bed beside her girlfriend and began to leave a trail of soft kisses over every single bruise, mark and cut on Tara’s body.

At first, Tara stiffened at the touch of Willow’s lips on the sores, but the hacker’s mouth was so gentle and her touch so sure that she began to relax. When Willow came to the really nasty welts, she took her time, kissing each bit of bruised flesh gently and lovingly.

As she reached Tara’s feet, she encouraged the wiccan to roll over and then continued her journey of kisses and caresses up Tara’s legs to her belly. Once there, she took her time exploring the curves with her lips and tongue, causing Tara to laugh in a few places, cry out in pleasure in others. The laughter melted into sighs of pleasure when Willow reached Tara’s breasts.

Slowly, she flicked her tongue over each nipple, smiling when Tara moaned and arched up to meet her mouth. The wiccan wrapped one hand behind Willow’s neck while the other lightly stroked the hacker’s back. Willow lifted herself up to hover over the wiccan. She looked down at Tara and chewed on her lip before making the decision to part Tara’s legs with her knee, then lower herself against the wiccan’s body.

As their flesh met, Tara whispered, "Oh yes," and wrapped her legs around Willow’s hips.

Face to face, slowly moving together, they exchanged kisses, not speaking, barely breathing. Tara could hear their hearts begin to beat in synch as they rocked against each other. Their breaths came faster, harsher, as if breathing were the last thing either cared about.

Tara wrapped her arms around Willow’s body and rolled them over, kissing her way down to the hacker’s breasts, taking up where she had been interrupted at the beach. "Tara - oh, Tara," Willow groaned, holding the wiccan’s head to her chest and throwing her head back on the pillows. The wiccan painted a trail of kisses from Willow’s breasts to her hips, stopping to nibble on the bone there before dipping down between her legs and tasting the skin there.

Willow writhed on the bed and said in a deeply sultry voice, "That’s - very nice."

Tara looked up at Willow and smiled. Willow looked down at Tara and her heart thudded in her chest. Their eyes met and Tara’s smile blossomed into a huge grin. Willow returned the smile, then gasped as Tara began making love to her.

Tara’s fingers brushed against the hacker’s intimate flesh, stroking the sensitive skin softly. "Mmm, that feels so good," the hacker purred and then reached down and pulled Tara up so that they were laying side-by-side. "Let’s do this together, okay?" She fondled Tara’s nipples, pinching them gently. "Please?" she added, dipping her head down to slowly feather her tongue over the wiccan’s now-hardened nipples.

Tara bit her lip and smiled, then nodded. "Okay," she said and repositioned herself so that the hacker could have easy access to her body. Willow returned the smile, then allowed her fingers to drift down Tara’s belly and hips, across her thighs and then, dip between her legs to stroke the wiccan’s most sensitive skin. Tara sighed in pleasure and slipped her fingers back inside of her lover.

They kissed and wrapped their legs around each other, cradling the other with their free arms. Small gasps and moans began to fill the silence of the room, getting more frequent as their loving grew more passionate until finally, they cried out as one.

Miss Kitty looked up from where she had curled up to sleep and yawned, then rolled over and went back to dreaming kitten dreams.

***

"So, you’re okay with being a fed?" Buffy asked as she and Riley patrolled the UC campus.

Riley shrugged. "Beats a dishonorable discharge and unemployment. And I get to chase the bad guys," he added with a grin. The former Initiative commando was wearing his old camouflage uniform and he carried many of the same tools he’d had while on that team. Missing though was his blaster and he felt its loss keenly. He was a little intimidated by the idea of patrolling without the weapon, but he’d told himself that if Xander and the others could do it with only stakes and crossbows, then he could do it too.

"Yes, gainful employment is a good thing. Especially since my job isn’t exactly the highest paying in the land," Buffy said, coming to a stop and observing a couple walking hand-in-hand back to their dorm. Riley wrapped his arm around her and gave her a warm hug. She returned the embrace with a happy sigh. "Oo, I missed this. Don’t go away again, okay?"

"Okay," he replied softly. The hairs on the back of his neck started to get that creepy tingly sensation that meant something weird was going to happen. Buffy stiffened as well, her own brand of "slayer-sense" kicking in simultaneously.

She groaned and rolled her eyes. "I think we’re about to have one of those interesting nights that Giles is always going on about," she said resignedly.

"Yeah, I feel it too," Riley replied, wishing that he still had his HST scanner.

Buffy sniffed the air, then wrinkled her nose. "Over there," she said, nodding toward the shadowy area of trees that made up most of the central quad of UC Sunnydale.

The sickly-sweet odor of rot reached Riley’s nose and he shuddered. "Yeah, gotcha. Okay, you go left, I go right?"

"Right, I mean, yeah. Meet you in the center, honey," Buffy said, standing on her tip-toes to give the agent a quick peck on the lips, then sprinting off to face whatever lurked in the darkness.

Riley took a deep breath and sprinted off, hoping that at least some of the nasties that haunted Sunnydale’s nights could be intimidated by good old fashioned brute strength.

Buffy approached the clearing cautiously, letting the stake concealed in her sleeve slide down into a comfortably loose grip in her hand while scanning the area for whatever was causing the wrongness she sensed. Concrete picnic tables and benches jutted up from the ground like the misshapen ruins of a castle that was attended by garbage can guardians. In the very center of the quad was a figure shrouded in a dark green robe. Light from a tiny brazier cast odd shadows on the fabric, causing it to appear alive and fluid, almost as if the material were breathing.

It looked up at Buffy’s approach and even the slayer was hard put to clamp down on her surprise. Instead of a face, the creature possessed a head of an almost wax-like substance that seemed to hold no form other than a general skull-shape. The cowl of the robe slithered and squelched over the body until two golden eyes appeared and focused on the slayer.

"Good evening," said a strangely hiss-whispery voice.

"Great, now even the polite demons are coming to Sunnydale," Buffy said sarcastically. She cocked her head slightly and looked at the creature, noting that Riley was just a few steps away from its back. "So, what’s your angle? World domination or are you just out to cause a little mayhem?"

"I…feed," it hissed softly, as the robe writhed and wriggled over its body.

"Oh, so you’re just a general mayhem-causing eating machine? Great. Well, sorry to disappoint you, but the Sunnydale buffet is now closed. Please fasten your seatbelts for a one-way trip back to the rock you crawled out from under!" Buffy said, taking a running leap and lashing out with her fist. Riley attacked at the same moment, flicking out the retractable baton he’d been allowed to keep and striking for the creature’s knees.

Both attacks passed harmlessly through the creature, who hissed in ecstasy. Yellowish mottling began to appear on the "robe" that undulated over the waxy body it covered.

"Yes…feed me," it whisper-hissed. Its eyes flashed a bright yellow and it reached for Buffy, who evaded it by tumbling sideways.

"Hmm, I’m not sure I’m fond of fighting something I can’t touch," the slayer groused, bouncing up and taking a better look at the creature. After a few moment’s study, she yelled, "Riley, try to tip over the brazier!"

The agent nodded and while Buffy rushed the creature he reached out with his baton and tried to push the brazier over. It toppled with a thud, spilling out the coals all over the grass.

"No…you…musssst not!" the creature said, breaking off its fight with Buffy and leaping over the spilled coals.

Buffy and Riley both watched in amazement as the waxy body melted over the coals, scooping them up in a bubble of protective coating while the "robe" slithered off and shaped itself into the shadowy form of a man.

"What the hell is that?" Riley said slowly, watching as the shadow creature gestured, causing the now glowing ball to roll into the brazier, then both vanished.

"I have no idea, but something tells me that Giles needs to hear about this - now," Buffy said.

Riley nodded in agreement and the two of them took off at a jog toward the watcher’s apartment.

***

Tara woke to the sound of Willow’s soft snores. She lifted herself up to stare at the sleeping hacker, struck all over again by her beauty. We did it, she rejoiced silently, as her body noted new areas of soreness - the kind of soreness that comes from pleasant activities, rather than injury. Take that, daddy! she thought spitefully, remembering when her father used to tell her that no one would ever find her attractive. She sighed happily as Willow snuggled up against her and burrowed her head into the pillow.

While they slept, their blankets had slipped away, revealing the bared skin of their shoulders and Tara had to resist the urge to lay new trails of kisses along Willow’s neck.

"Mmph, what’re you staring at?" came a sleepy voice.

Tara smiled and ducked her head down to brush a fleeting kiss over Willow’s lips. "You," she said huskily.

Willow reached out with a sleep-wobbly arm and dragged Tara back down for another, lengthier kiss. "Oh, then that’s good, right?" she asked, once she let the wiccan go.

"Yes, yes it is," Tara replied with a grin as their bodies naturally gravitated toward each other. Her fingers began to trace spiral patterns over Willow’s arm and shoulder.

Willow shivered and reached a leg out to wrap it over Tara’s hip. "Keep doing that and we’ll end up back where we started," she said with a little mischievous grin.

"I think I could handle that," Tara said, scooting closer and teasingly grinding her hipbone into Willow.

"Insatiable," Willow teased, raking her fingers through Tara’s hair, then reaching out and stroking her palms over the wiccan’s nipples until they pebbled.

"Only for you," Tara replied softly, capturing Willow’s lips for another, exquisitely passionate kiss.

Neither wiccan noticed when the light from outside dimmed away as the window was covered by a velvety green fabric that seemed to breathe with a life of it’s own.

"Yes…" a sibilant voice whispered, "I…feed."

***

"It was, to put it mildly, way weird, Giles," Buffy said, after telling her watcher about the creature she and Riley had encountered. The couple had knocked on Giles’ door for almost ten minutes until he’d answered it, wearing only his robe and a hastily tugged on pair of sweats.

Giles cradled his chin in his fist and nodded. "Yes, I’d imagine so. Well," he said, standing up and padding over to his bookshelf. "No time like the present to begin looking for information on the creature. Buffy, perhaps you should call Willow and Tara - their assistance would be deeply appreciated since I cannot seem to get the hang of ‘surfing the internet’ on that infernal machine."

"It’s called a computer, Giles and yeah, I’m on it," Buffy said with a sardonic grin.

"What would you like me to do?" Riley asked, feeling a little uncomfortable about standing around while Giles and Buffy worked.

Giles looked up from his book, "Could you make some tea? Perhaps you could make some sandwiches as well. It does help the pass the time."

Riley frowned, then leaned over and whispered to Buffy, "Did I just get Xander’s job?"

"That would be a yes, but don’t worry, being snack-boy has its own rewards," Buffy replied.

"Oh?" Riley asked.

"Yeah," she said, batting her eyelashes prettily. "Like this," she kissed him sweetly. "Get me a glass of milk?" she added, kissing him again.

"I sure hope you don’t use the same rewards on Xander," he grumbled.

"Oh no, that’s Anya’s job," Giles said without looking up from his book. Riley laughed and went to get the food.

***

The sound of the ringing telephone hit Willow and Tara like a bucket of very cold water, causing the two wiccans to jump apart and stare guiltily at the device. Finally, Willow reached out and lifted the receiver.

"H-hello?" she said, trying to slow down the beating of her heart to a level approaching normal.

"So there you are! I’ve been looking all over for you!" Buffy’s voice replied. "Is Tara there with you?"
"Uh, yeah," Willow said, hoping the slayer’s preternatural hearing wouldn’t pick up too much of the background noise, especially her heavy breathing.

"Willow," Buffy drawled, "did I call at a bad time?" Amusement tinged the slayer’s voice.

Willow flushed. "Oh, just slightly," she replied, voice squeaking a little as Tara raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "It’s Buffy," she mouthed.

"Oh," Tara mouthed back, nodding. "What’s up?"

Willow shrugged and repeated the question aloud for the slayer’s benefit. "So, um, Buff, what’s up?"

Buffy laughed. "Oh, just the usual Sunnydale wackiness. Scooby meeting tonight though, because of something Riley and I ran into."

Willow turned her head to glance at her clock. "Buffy, it’s one am in the morning," she faked a yawn, "can’t it wait until tomorrow?"

"No can do, you faker," Buffy said. "I’m sorry to burst in on your fun, but there’s something new running around out there and I want to get it before it hurts someone."

Willow sighed dramatically. "Oh all right, Tara and I will be there in a bit…we need to um…"

"Take a shower and get dressed?" Buffy supplied helpfully.

Willow’s blush deepened. "Yeah, something like that."

"All right, see you in a few." Buffy hung up.

Willow cradled the phone and sighed. "I now know what it feels like to be a cop."

"Oh?" Tara said, snuggling up to the hacker.

"Yeah," Willow said, sitting up and throwing aside the covers, much to Tara’s surprise. "We’ve just been called to duty," she added grumpily, grabbing her clothes and heading for the bathroom. Tara slid out of bed and followed her lover into the shower.

Outside, the strange creature let out a frustrated sigh and removed itself from the hacker’s window. It emitted a series of strange whistle-clicks and a tiny rift appeared, out of which the waxy glowing white orb emerged. "Attend me," it whispered and the light within the ball pulsed once, then slowly, the strange material began to stretch and change until a vaguely man-shaped body stood before the shadowy creature. It wrapped its greenish flesh around the automaton and extended its psychic senses outward, seeking its next prey. Its skin rippled in excitement when it found another human to feed off nearby. Quickly, the creature began walking toward its next food source.

***

Tara and Willow arrived at Giles’ place about an hour later, their hair still slightly damp from the shower. Buffy didn’t waste any time filling them in on the situation. They both listened attentively, then agreed that they had to figure out what the creature was as quickly as possible.

"So what have you found Giles?" Willow asked, tossing her sweater onto a chair and sitting down at the table. Research parties were nothing new to her and she settled right in. Tara shyly slid into the chair next to her, waiting for the opportunity to contribute.

"Well, it wasn’t a ghost, ghoul, wraith or serpent demon," Giles replied, tapping four books that had gone into the spot designated as the "out" pile. In the "in" pile was another twenty or so tomes that ranged from the moldering to the paperback.

Willow reached for the top one and opened it, starting to look for any reference to "wax bodied green robed demon things that aren’t really there" while Tara peered over her shoulder and re-read what she glanced over, just to make certain she didn’t miss anything.

After a bit, Tara looked up, licked her lips and said, "W-well, the body you d-described sounded like an automaton to me, though I’ve never heard of one that had no mass."

Giles nodded. "That’s exactly what I thought, which is why pulled out this," he held up a book bound in gilded leather. The title read, "On Hauntings and Other Happenings of the Supernatural".

Tara smiled briefly, then turned her head away and covered her mouth.

"What is it?" Willow asked.

"Well, it’s just that mom had that book - she used to read to me out of it - anyway, she called it a book of ‘fairy tales for grown ups’ because it had been published as something serious, but was really just a big joke," Tara explained, much to Giles’ chagrin.

"Er, yes, but sometimes fairy tales have basis in truth," he said, pushing up his glasses. "I did find out about the Gentlemen via a book of fairy tales, if you will recall." The group nodded and he cleared his throat. "But in this case, Tara is likely correct. I have not had any luck locating anything that matches your colorful description, Buffy."

Willow stretched and yawned, and soon, everyone was echoing her yawn. "Wow," the hacker said, "I don’t know why, but I just got real tired all of a sudden."

Buffy and Riley nodded in agreement. "Me too," Buffy said, yawning again.

"Me three," Riley said through a yawn.

Tara was already asleep on the table. Willow looked down at her girlfriend and reached out to stroke her head when sleep overtook her as well.

Giles looked up from his book and said, "Oh dear. I should have known."

Quickly, he jumped up, the tails of his robe flying behind him as he leaped over his couch and grabbed the salt from the kitchen counter. Chanting softly in old Gaelic, he circled his apartment three times counterclockwise and threw a pinch of salt at each of the sleeping teens.

As soon as his spell came to an end, they awoke, stretching and groaning.

"I suddenly know what it feels like to be Wile E Coyote," Riley complained, rubbing his neck with one hand. "I mean, wow, what hit me and did anyone get the license plate number?"

"Ditto," echoed Buffy who stretched until her neck popped loudly.

"What happened?" Willow wanted to know as she and Tara both yawned and stretched.

Giles sighed and said, "I had hoped to never again encounter one of these creatures." He took off his glasses and cleaned them, then put them back on while the Scoobies waited for him to explain. "Buffy, what you encountered tonight is called an empathic ghoul. It feeds off of a person’s emotions as well as their life force. I should have suspected that from the start, but I’ve never dealt with one before its fed. If memory serves, they are a truly horrific species and it will be quite difficult to defeat it."

Willow frowned in concentration. "Okay, that explains the falling asleep thing, but…I don’t feel any different otherwise. If this creature eats emotions, wouldn’t I be like, all blah-y and stuff?"

"Yeah, what she said," Buffy said, frowning as well.

"Well, ah, how do I put this delicately?" Giles said, sighing a little. "Willow, tell me how you feel about Tara, right now?"

Willow shrugged. "I-I-I," the hacker struggled to voice the emotions she could feel burning in her heart, but the words just wouldn’t come out. She looked at Tara, who nodded, eyes wide with fear. She was having the same problem.

"And Buffy…how do you feel about Riley?" Giles pressed on.

"That’s easy I l-" Buffy’s voice stopped, as if somehow shut off. She tried again. "I l-" Frowning, she looked at Giles, then at Riley, who had the same look on his face. "Okay, point taken. We can’t say mushy things to each other. How long will it last?"

Giles shrugged. "It really depends on how much of your essence was fed upon. For the minimal contact that you and Riley sustained, I’d say that it’ll pass soon. For Tara and Willow, I can’t say, since I’d no idea that they’d encountered the creature."

"Neither did we!" Willow said fearfully.

Tara placed a gentle hand on the hacker’s knee and whispered something that caused Willow to blush hotly.

"Care to share?" Buffy asked, her interest aroused.

"I just told her that we were otherwise occupied, which might explain why we didn’t notice anything - unusual," Tara said softly.

"Woo hoo Willster," Buffy chortled, walking over to playfully shake the hacker’s hand.

"Oh gods!" Willow blurted. "That thing must be at mom and dad’s place! We gotta go slay it quick before they get home!"

"And more with the woo hoo - in the parent’s house, even," Buffy laughed some more, causing Giles to turn bright red.

"Buffy, do you think we could stick to the serious side of the problem?" he asked.

"Sure Giles," Buffy said, giving him a long look. "Guess you don’t want to hear about our sex lives any more than we wanna hear about yours."

"Something like that," he admitted wearily.

"Okay, then tell me how to slay that empathy whatsis and we’ll be out of your hair," Buffy said, returning to her favorite pastime of using Riley as her personal pillow.

Buffy’s comments caught up to Willow and she stared at the slayer for a long moment before saying, "You’re just jealous."

Buffy laughed, then looked at her boyfriend. "You could be right," she admitted.

"Overfeed it," Tara said quietly, so quietly that they almost didn’t hear her, but Willow did and she turned and looked at her lover.

"What do you mean by that, Tara?" she asked curiously.

Tara shrugged. "If you can’t hit it, maybe the key is to poison the well, so to speak. What happens when you over water a plant or overfeed an animal? It dies, right?" At everyone’s nod, the wiccan continued, encouraged by their confidence. "Well, it stands to reason that a creature like the ghoul could be vulnerable to the same thing it feeds on - emotion. I think what we should do is this…" she said, outlining a rough plan.

***

Of course the first place the gang checked was Willow’s parent’s house. They found evidence of the ghoul on Willow’s bedroom window. A grayish-brown ooze dripped from the wall and onto the plants below, killing them.

"Yuck, gross and all those other words that mean, ‘gosh that’s just about the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen," Willow said, grabbing the hose to wash the gooey mess away.

"I think we know how it fed off of Willow and Tara," Buffy said succinctly, giving the two wiccans a sideways glance, then sharing a knowing grin with Riley.

Both of them flushed and Willow whispered to Tara, "Do you think it was…while we?"

"No." Tara shook her head vehemently. "I don’t. At least, not the first time," she replied, brushing a soft kiss over Willow’s cheek. The hacker slid her hand into the wiccan’s and squeezed. The others looked away, allowing them their privacy.

"Thanks, I needed to hear that," Willow said in a relieved tone. "Because the thought of…us being watched while we…" she shuddered and sprayed water over the slime with renewed vengeance.

"I know," Tara replied, grimacing. The blonde wiccan shifted uncomfortably on her feet for a few seconds, then put her lips to Willow’s ear to whisper, "I-I’m glad we did…what we did."

Willow turned her head up to look at Tara out of the corner of her eyes. "Me too." They kissed briefly, then the hacker shut the hose off. "Okay, we can go now. No more icky stuff."

"Good. So, okay, how do we follow this thing? I mean, I didn’t notice a trail of slime or anything like that," Buffy asked, breaking away from an embrace with Riley.

"I’m not entirely sure, but I’m sure we will figure it out," Giles said distantly, studying the other houses on Willow’s block.

"Do you think it ‘visited’ anyone else tonight?" Riley asked, also looking over the other houses.

"I’m not sure. Empathy ghouls are usually drawn to people who have strong emotions," the watcher explained absently, as he slowly walked down the block.

"Oh, so if anyone else around here was getting a little nookie, we should find the baddie?" Buffy asked brightly.

Giles closed his eyes, sighing in exasperation. "Yes, something like that. Although, the prey of the ghoul doesn’t have to be experiencing positive emotions in order for the creature to be drawn to it."

"English please, Giles," Buffy grumbled while kicking a rock.

"He means that it feeds on bad feelings too," Tara extrapolated for the slayer as they walked. Willow grinned at her girlfriend and Tara shrugged shyly.

"Why didn’t he just say that, then?" Buffy wanted to know, giving her watcher a dim glare.

Willow laughed quietly. "Oh come on Buffy, it’s a watcher thing to be all enigmatic and stuff."

Buffy looked at her friend, then laughed with her. "Yeah Will, you’re right. Okay, bring on the nasty thing so we can deal with it. I am so way tired," she said, yawning and resting her head against Riley’s arm as they walked.

Giles turned the corner and started walking purposefully toward one particular house. It was Xander’s place and there was a light on in the kitchen. The others had to sprint to catch up to the watcher, who was now running toward the house.

They arrived at the door to the basement simultaneously, but Willow was the one to tap out a specific knock pattern on the wood. They held their breaths and wait. One heartbeat, two, three, six…finally, the bolt slid back and a very disheveled, sleepy-eyed Xander opened the door.

"Willow," he yawned, "what the heck are you doing here at o-dark-hundred?"

"Xander, quick, did your parents have a row tonight?" Giles wanted to know.

"A w-what?" the sleepy young man asked, yawning and scratching his chest.

"Xander, what’s going on?" Anya’s sleepy voice trickled out to them.

Xander blinked owlishly at the group. "It’s the Scoobs, hon."

Anya joined her boyfriend at the door, slipping her arms around his waist and resting her head against his chest. She glared at the group, "I was having a very nice dream so this better be really important."

"Xander, did your parents fight tonight?" Willow asked softly.

Xander’s eyes went bleak and he nodded. "An and I had to go for a very long walk, didn’t we, dear?"

Anya nodded, yawning. "Yes, his parents wouldn’t shut up. I swear, if I still had my powers, I’d send both of them to the seventh plane of death. They are so annoying. Did you know that all they ever fight about is money and alcohol?" the former demon asked the group curiously.

"Xander you need to go and check on your parents, quickly," Giles said in a tight voice.

Xander, somehow sensing the urgency of the moment, nodded and moved away from the door and let the gang in.

Once inside, he slowly ascended the stairs, then opened the door to peek into the kitchen. The rest of the Scoobies were behind him on the stairs, waiting for word from him. Cautiously, he stepped into the room and looked around.

His mother was passed out at the table, face down in a puddle of spilled beer and he could see his father’s boots sticking out passed the doorway to the living room where he was likely asleep in the recliner.

"All quiet up here," he whispered. Then, his spell-gained military senses kicked in and he blinked. His parents weren’t snoring. They should be snoring. In fact, they should be snoring so loud, that the windows rattled. "Too quiet," he added, a little worried now.

The others climbed up the stairs the rest of the way to join him in the kitchen. Giles was the first to move, gently touching his fingers to Mrs. Harris’ carotid artery. A tiny flash of fear crossed Xander’s face until the watcher nodded. "Very faint, but the heart is still beating." Carefully, he repositioned the woman’s head so that she was able to breathe freely.

Once Xander heard that, he was in the living room, checking his father’s pulse, which, like his mother’s, was very faint, but still there. He popped back into the kitchen and said, "Okay, what the hell is going on?"

Quickly, Willow filled him in. "Empathy ghoul." At Xander’s blank look, she added, "A big bad that goes around sucking up people’s life force…and its favorite flavor is highly emotional."

"Oh, okay, so where is it and how do we kill it?" Xander wanted to know.

"There’s an empathy ghoul in Sunnydale? Great, next thing you know we’ll be putting out flyers in Demons Annual. ‘Good Eats Here’," Anya quipped sarcastically.

"I thought that was painted on the Welcome to Sunnydale sign," Buffy returned, just as sarcastically.

Upstairs, where it had gone to digest the emotions it had fed on, the ghoul stirred. The odd fabric-like substance of its body fluttered and rippled over the ectoplasmic body it had created to allow it to move among the human food source. There was a feast near, a great feast unlike any it had consumed in some time. Hunger rose in it, fiery and needing. It stood, sinking psychic claws into the crystalline brain of the automaton and causing it to slowly walk down the stairs. There was a familiar flavor to the feast and the ghoul quickened its pace in anticipation of tasting more of the essence it had enjoyed earlier.

"And I don’t know why you always have to be the hero, Miss ‘I-am-the-big-bad-slayer-so-don’t-you-forget-it’," Anya groused, glaring at Buffy. "I am so tired of having to run here and run there to pull some pathetic human’s hind end out of trouble. Why can’t you just ignore them and go have orgasms with him?" she nodded toward Riley, whose ears flushed.

"Oh, you think I don’t want to? You think I actually have a choice?" Buffy asked irritatedly, taking a step toward Anya, who sneered. "Maybe if you had friends and family, you’d understand what it’s like to have this power. I can’t not help, Anya, because if I don’t, then someone I love will suffer. I won’t have that happen, not again," Buffy said sadly, thinking of all the people who had lost their lives because of her actions - or lack of them.

The ghoul stood unnoticed in the shadows, drinking in the sweet flavors of the group’s emotion. It couldn’t believe its luck in discovering this lair. In just one night it had fed enough to sustain a long hibernation. But now, its instinct told it that it might be able to consume enough energy to spawn, thereby fulfilling its greatest need. "More…I must have more," it whispered softly, sending a psychic probe toward the group, seeking the weakest among them.

"Anya, leave my friends alone!" Xander shouted all of a sudden, anger pouring off of him in waves. Tara and Willow exchanged looks and nodded imperceptibly.

"Xander, what’s gotten into you?" Anya asked as her boyfriend glared hatefully at her.

The young man didn’t reply, just continued to glare, breathing heavily and rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. Then, "You never wanted me for anything more than sex, did you? You don’t care, you’re just using me! You’re worse than Spike! At least he admits it when he wants something!" he shouted hatefully, curling his hands into fists and taking a threatening step toward Anya.

Quickly, Willow and Tara linked hands, as did Buffy and Riley. Anya looked at them fearfully. "What are you doing? Can’t you see Xander’s going crazy? Do something!" she shouted, fear making her voice crack. Xander stumbled drunkenly and took a wild swing at Anya, which she dodged. "Well? Are you gonna let him kill me? I thought you were supposed to rescue," she blocked another wild swing, "people!"

"Anya, take Giles’ hand," Willow said calmly, extending her free hand to Buffy, who took it.

Frowning, Anya moved away from Xander and took the watcher’s left hand. Riley grabbed her other hand, leaving Giles and Tara to reach toward the still crazed Xander and grab his flailing hands.

Tara started chanting softly. "Soft they come, some to stay, some to go, emotions I feel, all I know."

Willow echoed her. "Soft they come, some to stay, some to go, emotions I feel, all I know." Buffy and Riley added their voices to hers, whispering in a descant that was strangely harmonious.

"A baby’s cry, a mother’s tears, a child’s laughter, midnight fears. These are the feelings I share, I give, I live," Tara continued.

Willow’s voice followed behind hers, almost songlike. "Soft they come, some to stay, some to go, emotions I feel, all I know."

A pale blue haze of energy haloed the blonde wiccan, spreading from her to Willow, from Willow to Buffy and on around the circle, ending with Giles.

"A father’s joy, a son’s anger, a teacher’s pride, a lover’s desire. These are the feelings I share, I give, I live," Giles chanted softly.

"Soft they come, some to stay, some to go, emotions I feel, all I know," the entire group chanted as the energy flowed into Xander, then burst outward in a spiral of dagger-like shards, striking the entity that hid by the stairway.

"Yes!" it shrieked, stepping out of the shadows to open its arms wide and gather in the first bits of energy. "Good…good. So good. I feed good," it hissed, swaying at the impact as more of the incandescent shards struck its body. The group continued to chant, channeling more and more energy through Xander. The entity continued to feed until it was so full it could barely move.

Ponderously, it tried to walk away from the rain of emotional energy, but it found it could not move. More and more energy poured into it, driving it to its knees. For the first time in its existence, it knew an emotion of its own - fear.

"No!" it wailed as the daggers of energy sliced through its velvety green skin and into the ectoplasmic shell beneath. The crystalline coals within the body absorbed the energy, causing it to swell and grow faster than the entity could control. It tried to break the bond that it had forged between the automaton and itself, but it was too late. It was trapped, unable to do anything more than watch in horror as one last volley of spell-charged emotion erupted from the group it had thought to feed off of and enveloped it. There was a sickly popping noise, then a cloud of noxious smelling air exploded through Xander’s living room, sending the Scoobies racing for the back yard and fresh air.

"Did we get it?" Buffy asked weakly, leaning against Riley, who was gasping for breath himself.

Giles nodded, wiping his streaming eyes with a handkerchief. "Yes, I’d say that we did."

Anya looked up from her coughing and gagging and said, "You mean you picked that fight on purpose?" to Buffy.

The slayer shrugged, "Yeah, sorry, An. I didn’t mean…"

Anya held up a hand to stop her. "Yes you did. So did I. And, it felt really good to say it aloud finally. But, I think I understand a little more about you now, as well." She offered her hand to Buffy. "I think this is when we shake hands and promise to try to understand each other more," she added when the slayer gave her a dubious look.

Buffy smiled and shook the former demon’s hand. "Okay, I can do that."

Xander coughed and said, "Um, honey…"

Anya turned to him and bit her lip. "Do you really think that about me?" she asked softly, sighing sadly.

"I-you know I don’t, hon," Xander said, fumbling for the right words.

"I should call 911," Riley whispered into Buffy’s ear as they snuggled.

"Yeah, Xander’s parents didn’t look so hot," she said, looking into the kitchen where Mrs. Harris was still passed out.

Riley nodded grimly, pulling out his cell phone to make the call.

Tara walked over to where Anya and Xander had sat down to talk. "I couldn’t say this inside, but I thought you should know; a lot of what Xander said didn’t come from him - it came from the ghoul. I felt its psychic attack just before you started yelling, Xander," she told them quietly. The wiccan shrugged. "I just wanted you to know, that’s all." She turned to walk away, but Xander’s hand on her leg stopped her. She looked down at him curiously.

"Thanks," he said, smiling crookedly. "I was having a hell of a time trying to explain why I said what I said when I couldn’t even remember what I said." He made a face. "And could I make any less sense?"

Tara laughed, a rich sound that seemed to make the whole night brighter. "I understood just find, Xander."

"Me too, I mean, apology accepted," Anya said, reaching for Xander’s head and turning it toward her so she could kiss him fiercely.

Tara smiled at the couple, then walked back to Willow, who had sat down on a bench and was beginning to fall asleep. "Hey sleepyhead," Tara said, sitting down next to her girlfriend and sliding an arm around her.

"Whoa, hey," Willow replied, snuggling up. "You okay?" she asked.

Tara nodded. "Way okay. You?"

"Yeah, sleepy, but good. How’s the back?" she asked, knowing intimately how beat up the wiccan’s back truly was.

"Honestly? I can’t feel a thing right now - not with you here," Tara replied softly, kissing Willow’s forehead.

"Liar," Willow said affectionately.

"Scout’s honor," Tara said, grinning foolishly and holding up three fingers.

"Goofball," Willow returned, turning to kiss her.

"For you," Tara murmured, then put her energy into kissing the hacker thoroughly.

***

The EMTs arrived a few minutes later and began working on Xander’s parents. They didn’t question story that Xander told them - that he had awakened to find his parents in their respective conditions - instead, they said that he’d done the right thing in calling them. Giles offered to drive Xander and Anya to the hospital to await word of his parents, while Buffy and Riley decided to walk to her mom’s house.

As they wheeled his mother away, Willow walked up to her old friend and gave him a warm hug. "It’s gonna be all right, you know that," she whispered as he held on tight, shaking a little.

"I know, but it’s still really weird. I mean, they’re my parents and…most of the time I can’t stand them…but I still love them," he replied shakily.

"If you need to talk, I’ll be at mom and dad’s," Willow said gently. "Tara and I are um, going to get some rest. We’ll probably head back to the dorm in the morning though."

He could barely muster a leer. "I want the video rights," he said softly, earning a laugh.

"You’d be too late, Xan-man," Willow taunted, winking at him suggestively.

Xander let out a mock cry of agony. "Oh no! I missed your first time with Tara!" he said, shaking his head sadly. "Oh woe is me, I’m crushed that I wasn’t invited!"

Willow laughed and smacked him lightly on the arm. "Would you stop that, you silly boy!"

"Heh, that’s silly man to you, young lady," Xander said mock-seriously as Anya came over to find out what was taking him so long.

"Boy, man, whatever. Go to the hospital and check on your parents. Tara and I are going to get some shut-eye," Willow said and yawned.

"Yeah, I’ll um, call you, later, okay?" Xander said, his cheerfulness ebbing.

"You bet," Willow replied fondly.

"Ready?" Buffy asked as Willow walked over to join her, Tara and Riley. They were going to walk together until they got to Willow’s.

"Yup, let’s go," Willow replied, slipping her hand into Tara’s.

Buffy smiled and the foursome headed off.

***

Willow woke to bright sunshine streaming in through her window and directly into her eyes. "Mmph, that’s the last time I forget to close the curtains," she muttered, rolling over and wrapping an arm around Tara.

The wiccan was dreaming, twitching and moaning in her sleep. Willow noticed this and immediately began stroking her hair and whispering comforting nonsense to her. Suddenly, Tara cried out in pain and sat bolt upright.

"No daddy, please don’t hit me anymore! I don’t wanna be your angel!" she sobbed, then fell back to the bed and curled into a tiny ball.

Willow was at a total loss as to what to do, but she wasn’t about to run away. Carefully, she untucked Tara’s body and pulled her into a gentle embrace, rocking her and softly saying, "It’s all right Tara, I’m here and I love you," over and over again until Tara finally woke up.

"B-bad dream?" she said brokenly, trying to make heads or tails of why she was being held like a child.

"Yeah, pretty bad, hon, but it’s okay. I’m here for you," Willow said softly, brushing tiny kisses over the wiccan’s tear stained face.

Tara nodded and sat up, drawing her knees up under her chin and hugging them. "I know, and I really, really appreciate that. You know that, right?" she asked, giving Willow a teary-eyed smile.

Willow sat up too and nodded, "I do. But I know I can’t always be what you need. Maybe…" she took a deep breath, "maybe you should think about talking to someone like a…counselor."

Tara shrugged and looked away. "I don’t know. Maybe. Not right now though." She leaned over toward Willow, who willingly took her into her arms. "Right now I just need you," she whispered softly.

"Well you got me, ‘k?" Willow replied lovingly.

"Okay," Tara said softly, snuggling close.

***

Xander called and left a message on Tara’s machine saying that his parents would be okay after a few days in the hospital and that they were already complaining that they couldn’t smoke or drink.

Willow sighed sadly and rewound the machine. "One of these days they’ll get it, Xan," she whispered.

She and Tara had come back to the dorm after cleaning up her bedroom at her parent’s house to shower and change. Willow felt more than a little weird when they washed the sheets from her bed - she remembered doing exactly the same thing with Oz almost exactly a year ago. Giles had also called and left a message stating that Riley and Agent Bradley would be by his place around fourish to take Tara’s statement and that he would be serving tea, so would they please bring some scones? They had laughed over the request, but Willow could see the fear that haunted the edges of Tara’s eyes.

Showered and dressed in clean clothes, Willow and Tara found themselves with a few free hours. Tara stepped out of her closet and adjusted her shirt. "I suppose we should be good students and study instead of," she blushed, "other things."

"You’re probably right," Willow agreed with a sigh, sitting down on the bed and pulling out her books. "But if it makes you feel any better, I’d rather do ‘other things’ too," she wrinkled up her nose and grinned at the wiccan. Tara returned the smile bashfully.

"We should really study, though." the wiccan said, trying to convince herself as much as Willow.

Miss Kitty, having recovered from her excursion to the sea and then to Willow’s old room, was now racing around, chasing a catnip mouse. She had the toy by the tail and was dragging it all over the room. Finally, she tired of the toy and dragged it over to Tara’s shoe, dropping it inside. They both laughed at the kitten’s antics, then Tara sat down at her desk and pulled out her computer science textbook while Willow picked up the math book she’d pulled out to study. Pages turned. Green eyes looked up from the book to study a hunched over wiccan. Blue eyes shifted to meet green, then both looked back to their respective books.

Tara shifted in her chair, secretly taking a moment to gaze at Willow, whose lips were moving as she read. Willow caught Tara staring and stuck her tongue out. Tara giggled and turned back to her book.

Fifteen minutes later, the books were forgotten on the floor and the two wiccans were busily shedding their clothes, kissing passionately and falling toward the bed.

***

Three o’clock rolled around and Tara and Willow were still lazing in bed, enjoying the hazy afterglow of their lovemaking. The hacker was curled up on the wiccan’s chest, purring as Tara drew little designs on her back with her fingertips. Willow looked up at the clock and made a face.

"Oh fiddlesticks!" she said, kissing Tara fiercely before sitting up.

Tara looked over at the clock and echoed her. "Yeah, we better get ready to go."

"Shower!" they both decided at once, grabbing clothes and bathroom kits.

They managed to show up at Giles’ place at exactly 4:07 pm. Willow put the bag of fresh scones on the table while Tara nervously waved hello to Agent Bradley. Riley and Buffy were seated on the couch, watching television.

"Xander and Anya send their regrets," Giles said, bringing out a tray with a fresh pot of tea on it. "But they’re staying at the hospital for now."

The two wiccans nodded and sat down at the table. Giles and his friend joined them while Buffy and Riley continued to be mesmerized by whatever soap opera they were watching.

Giles poured them tea and set the scones on a plate. For a few minutes the only sound was the soft murmur of the television and then, Agent Bradley took a deep breath and said, "All right Miss Kincaid, I’d like your permission to record this." He pulled out a small tape recorder and set it on the table.

Tara, caught in the middle of taking a bite of scone, put the pastry down and stared at the device. This was it. Once she opened her mouth, there would be no going back. She could almost feel her father’s presence, hovering over her with his strap in hand, casually flicking it and making it crack the air. Her breathing increased as her heart thudded in her chest. She couldn’t do it. She was too afraid. The food she’d eaten felt like a lump of coal in her stomach.

Then, without warning, Willow’s hand covered hers and the hacker’s warm voice said, "You can do it, Tara. I believe in you."

Suddenly, the memory of her abusive father dwindled away, almost as if it belonged to someone else. Tara took a deep, cleansing breath and nodded. "Yes, you may record me," she said softly.

"Once more for the tape, please," Bradley said, all business.

Tara repeated herself, and then, began her story. "I think my first memory of my father is of him hitting my mother, but I’m not really sure…"

***

Two days later, Xander and Anya showed up for the daily Scooby meeting.

"Xander!" Willow said, getting up and hugging him tightly. "We weren’t expecting you."

Xander shrugged as Anya quietly settled down on the floor in front of the television. "Dad told me to go away. Mom did too. They’re both too busy complaining about the hospital food to care whether I’m there or not."

"Well we care that you’re here! It’s great to see you!" Willow said, hugging him again. "Both of you," she added, giving Anya a friendly smile. Anya had the grace to smile back, then returned her attention to the television.

Giles, who had been reading an old book, looked up and said, "Ah Xander, just the person I wanted to see. Please, sit down."

"Okay, now I’m freaked. Giles is being nice to me," Xander said, cautiously taking a chair at the table. "Is he dying?" he leaned over and whispered to Buffy, who smacked him.

"No! But he’s got something to tell you and it isn’t that you’ve just become the next winner in the Publisher’s Clearinghouse contest," the slayer replied wryly.

"Oh, okay, well, go ahead, ruin my day," Xander said with a weak smile.

Giles sighed and said, "You recall that we recently battled and defeated an empathy ghoul?"

"Yeah, I got to be focus boy for that one," Xander said, shrugging. "Fun, fun, fun."

"Yes, well, I’ve been going through my books and I’ve finally found the reference material on them. The empathy ghouls are rather unique in their method of attack -" Giles’ voice took on it’s "lecture" tones.

Xander sighed and said, "Please spare me the dictionary definition and just tell me the bad news."

"Your parents may be permanently affected by the ghoul’s attack," Giles said sadly.

"Oh," Xander said weakly. "Um, how? I mean, should I start planning the wake? Or do I need to clean out my old room to make room for a demonic brother?"

"Nothing like that. I’m afraid it’s much worse," Giles shook his head, unable to come up with a better way to tell the young man. "I’m afraid that your parent’s ability to express the more tender of their emotions may be severely impaired, if not gone all together."

Xander blinked and stared at the watcher, digesting what he’d been told. "So…my parent’s won’t be able to say ‘I love you’, is that what you’re saying?"

Giles nodded. "I’m afraid so. I’m so very sorry, Xander. I know what it means to -"

Xander was laughing. He was crying, but he was also laughing. "Thank you Giles!" he said loudly. Willow got up from the bar stool she had been sitting on and came over to rub his shoulders. Buffy stood up as well and stood next to Xander while he laughed until the laughter turned to sobbing.

"I’ve never heard them say those words anyway," he muttered, so softly that only Buffy and Willow heard him. They both hugged him, then moved aside when Anya tapped Willow on the shoulder.

The former demon pulled Xander’s head against her chest and ran her fingers through his hair. He clung to her and said, "Did you hear that, An? Mom and dad might not be able to say those three little words anymore. Isn’t that amazing?" in a dull voice.

"It doesn’t matter, Xander. I love you," Anya replied, giving everyone in the room a look that dared them to say differently. She got only smiles of approval.

***

It had been almost a week since Tara had told her story to Agent Bradley’s tape recorder. Life had started to get on track for her and Willow. There was school, studying, spell work and togetherness. The togetherness was the best part. They spent long days in each other’s company. Days full of laughter and loving and sometimes, tears when the memories overwhelmed her. Somewhere during those hours, the two wiccans realized that there was a bond between them that ran soul deep.

It might have been that bond that caused both of their stomachs to growl at the same time, or it might have been the fact that they hadn’t eaten all day. Never the less, it was six o’clock on a Friday evening and they were starving. Neither had any desire to eat what little food was contained in the mini refrigerator in the dorm, so they grabbed their bags and headed out to the local grocery store to do a little shopping.

"Have you heard anything from Agent Bradley?" Willow asked as they walked into the air conditioned quiet of the store.

Tara shook her head. "Not yet, but I know these things take time," she said, grabbing a cart and pushing it in front of her. The two young women began to wander the aisles, unaware that a pair of icy blue eyes had noted their arrival with glee.

Thomas Kincaid pushed himself away from the wall, took one final drag on his cigarette, then tossed down, grinding it out with the heel of his boot. With one hand in his pocket, he whistled a carefree tune as he followed his daughter and her dyke lover into the store.

***

"Ry, honey, you need food," Buffy said, looking in her boyfriend’s fridge and spotting a pitcher of juice, a bottle of ketchup and a moldy pizza.

"Wanna order out?" Riley said, coming up behind Buffy and wrapping his arms around her waist.

"No, I want to cook. I’m feeling domestic. Take me to the grocery store!" Buffy said, turning around and kissing him lightly. "Please," she added, batting her eyelashes at him.

He chuckled and gave her a lingering kiss, then said, "All right, let’s go then."

They left his apartment and headed for the store.

***

It happened in the condiments aisle. That’s what Willow would remember for the rest of her life. She and Tara were rounding the corner after picking up a package of noodles and there he was. He was Thomas Ian Kincaid, and he had a gun. A big, mean, nasty looking gun. And it was pointed right at them.

"Hello Tara," Thomas greeted his daughter gently, almost lovingly. "I’ve had such a time finding you darling. I’m so glad we could run into each other like this."

"D-da-da-daddy," Tara babbled, staring at the weapon in her father’s hand.

"Yes dear. I’ve come to take you home. You want to come home don’t you? Marlene and Jenni miss you, sweetheart. So does David," he said sweetly.

"I-" Tara whispered, then cleared her throat and started again. "I’m not coming home, daddy."

"Oh, but you are, my dear Tara. You don’t have a choice," Thomas said, reaching for his only child and grabbing her by the collar. Willow moved to block him, but he swung the gun around and put the barrel against the hacker’s temple. "Don’t," he growled menacingly, "tempt me, bitch!"

"Willow, please…" Tara gazed pleadingly into her lover’s eyes. "I’ll be fine," she lied. "I’ll go with you, daddy, just let Willow go," she said, turning her attention to her father.

Thomas nodded. "Good girl, Tara," he said, lowering the gun until it rested at the base of Tara’s spine.

Willow backed away, already making plans to run to the nearest phone to call Buffy as soon as Tara and her father were out of sight. As soon as they rounded a corner, Willow ran in the opposite direction and right into Buffy.

"Oof! Whoa there, speedy, where do you think you’re going in such a hurry?" Buffy asked, grabbing hold of Willow’s arms to keep her from toppling over.

"Tara. Her father. He had a gun!" Willow babbled and pointed in the direction she had just run from.

Riley’s face was a mask of fury. "So this is where he came. I should have known," he growled, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his cell with one hand and reaching behind him to unholster his 9mm with the other.

"You knew about this?" Buffy asked her boyfriend while he made a low-voiced call to Agent Bradley.

He nodded bleakly. "I knew that when the Nevada police went to arrest Mr. Kincaid that he ran and managed to get away."

"Damnit why didn’t you tell me?" Buffy demanded.

"Could you two argue about this later? My girlfriend just got hauled away by an abusive maniac with a gun!" Willow said hysterically, bringing her friends back to reality.

"Sorry Will," Buffy apologized quickly, switching gears. "Okay, Ry, this is your gig, tell me what to do."

"Okay, Buffy, you and Willow hang back while I follow Kincaid. Whatever you do, stay out of the line of fire," Riley ordered.

Buffy made a face. "Riley, you’re no more bulletproof than I am, so give me a real job."

He shrugged. "Either stay behind me or stay out of my way, I don’t care," he said, then sprinted off to see if he could catch the Kincaids before they left the store.

***

"Daddy, why are you doing this?" Tara asked her father as they slowly walked through the store.

"Oh honey," Thomas said, stopping and pulling his daughter over to the side so that an old lady with a cart could pass. "It’s for your own good, don’t you see? If you continue on like you are with that…that…that dyke, you’ll go to hell. I can’t have my only daughter going to hell now, can I?" He reached out and stroked her hair, brushing it away from her face. "And I promise that it won’t hurt too bad when I purify you."

Tara turned away from her father. "Daddy, I don’t need to be purified," she said softly. "I love Willow and there’s nothing you can do to change that."

Crack! Thomas Kincaid’s hand connected with Tara’s face, sending her reeling. He grabbed her and pulled her back, shaking her. "Shut up! Don’t you ever say that again! Do you hear me? Do you?" he screamed, causing several people to stop and look at him.

Tears had sprung up when Thomas had struck her, now they spilled down her face and mingled with a trickle of blood that flowed from the corner of her mouth. "Yes, daddy," Tara said meekly.

"That’s my girl," he said, hugging her and patting her back. "Now, let’s go on home."

They continued to walk toward the exit. A rather large man stepped up and blocked them.

"Excuse me mister, but where I come from we don’t cotton to those who beat their women." The man cracked his knuckles and gave Kincaid a hard look. "Now I’d let the lady go, if I were you."

"Where I come from, we don’t butt into other people’s business," Thomas replied softly, then brought his hand out from behind Tara’s back and shot the man in the chest. Bits of blood and bone sprayed the shelves behind him, painting the boxes of cereal a grisly red.

The stranger gasped and clutched the gaping wound while Tara screamed. The man fell back as blood bubbled up in his mouth. Thomas kicked him in the side once, dragging Tara behind him.

"Shouldn’t have butted in," he said contemptuously.

***

The gunshot echoing through the store caused a huge panic. People began running around, trying to reach the exit. Riley looked behind him and spotted Buffy and Willow not far behind. "Buffy!" he yelled over the ruckus, "Go make sure people get out of here safely! Willow, go with her!"

Willow looked like she wanted to argue, but right then noticed a woman with a small child nearly get trampled by a group of screaming customers. She nodded, then she and Buffy broke away to head for the door while Riley continued to follow Kincaid.

***

He could see the doors now. There were hoards of people trying to get through, but he’d solve that problem right now. Aiming at the ceiling, Thomas Kincaid fired twice.

"Move out of my way," he yelled, pointing the gun at the nearest bystander. "Now!"

The exodus turned into a route as people literally fell over each other to get out of Kincaid’s way. Thomas dragged his now hysterical daughter by the hair over bodies and boxes, trying to make it to the door.

"Thomas Kincaid, put your weapon down and let the girl go," A deadly calm voice said.

Thomas twitched and looked for the speaker. Agent Riley Finn stood not more than ten feet away, a 9mm semi-automatic pistol gripped in a tense hand. Thomas grinned. "Put your weapon down, cop. Or I’ll start shooting people. Her first," he dragged his daughter around and shoved her onto her knees, putting the barrel of his gun against the back of her head.

"I’ll say it again, Mr. Kincaid, put the weapon down and surrender, now," Riley said calmly, locking his eyes with Kincaid’s.

Kincaid laughed maniacally. "You don’t get it, do you, cop? You can’t have her. She’s mine, and I’ll decide who gets her." He looked the agent up and down. "You’re not right for her. You’re too big. You’d crush my darling with that body of yours. No, she must have the right man. Only the right man can give my pure Tara what she truly needs, right darling?" Thomas yanked his daughter’s head back and looked down at her.

Tara gagged, but managed to gurgle out, "Yes, daddy."

"There, you see? Now be a good cop and put the weapon down," Thomas said reasonably.

Willow, who’d watched silently this whole time, couldn’t take it anymore. "Let her go!" she shouted, as Buffy grabbed her.

"You!" Kincaid shouted, bring his weapon up and aiming it at Willow. "You filthy whore! You will not speak to me in such a tone! Do you hear me?" he yelled, nearly frothing at the mouth.

Willow broke free of Buffy’s grasp and stepped closer to Kincaid. "I’ll speak to you however I want to, you steaming pile of pig shit," she said defiantly.

"Willow, no," Tara whispered in agony as she watched her father’s finger twitch on the trigger of the gun.

Then, Kincaid did something no one expected. He laughed. "You’ve got spunk, whore. Good for you. Now get the hell out of my way!" he shouted, reaching down and hauling Tara up by the hair again.

"I wouldn’t, Mr. Kincaid," Riley warned, as sweat poured off of his face.

"You won’t shoot me, cop. Not with all these people here. What if you miss?" Kincaid taunted, taking a step and yanking on Tara’s hair, causing her to whimper in pain. "Just hang on honey, it’s almost over. If you’re a good girl, daddy will buy an ice cream for his little angel."

Tara’s fear vanished. It just went bye-bye, poof, gone, out the door and see ya sometime in another life. "Daddy," she said quietly.

There are times when, in a lot of movies, that the picture goes into slow motion and events seem to happen as if viewed through the glass of a fishtank. Later, Tara would understand that everything had occurred in a matter of seconds, but in her mind, they would always be hours.

"Yes, Tara," her father said, his voice oddly distorted.

"I’m not your little angel anymore," she said in that same, deadly calm voice, then, she tore her hair free of his grasp and stomped down as hard as she could on his foot.

"You bitch!" he screamed, bringing the gun around as she ducked away.

Two shots rang out. Tara fell back, tripping over Willow and the two landed in a heap. People were screaming wildly. Tara looked up in time to see her father’s stunned face as he fell over, landing heavily on the automatic door opener. His gun tumbled and rolled away, coming to a stop near the gum and toy machines.

A crimson stain slowly spread over the ground beneath him and he gasped, mouth working over and over. "Tara…" he whispered. "Tara honey, where are you? It’s time for school," he said, blindly looking for her.

The wiccan crawled toward him, crying. "Daddy," she said, voice harsh from screaming.

"Be a good girl, make daddy proud," he ordered, wheezing and then reaching up to pat her cheek. "Don’t forget your lunch, it’s on the counter."

"I won’t daddy," Tara said quietly, sniffling.

"Are you sick? Do you," he coughed, "do you want to stay home?" His hands fluttered near her forehead, as if checking for a fever.

"No daddy, I’m fine," Tara said softly.

"Oh, okay," he said, his voice weakening. "Oh, I’m so tired. Daddy’s gonna take a nap now, angel. Be a good girl…make…daddy…proud," he whispered, then died.

"I’ll try, daddy, I really will," Tara said, closing his eyes, then turning to Willow and collapsing in her arms, sobbing.

The world sped up again. People were crying and talking and moving normally again, but it was all outside of her now. Only she and Willow existed in the tiny haven of the automatic door that led out of the grocery store.

"You’re hurt," Willow said, looking down and noticing that Tara’s arm was bleeding.

Tara looked, then swallowed. "He shot me," she said, laughing a little. "All those years that he beat me silly and he finally shot me." She laughed again, a little hysterically. "Why, Willow? Why did it have to end this way? I tried so hard to be good…" she sobbed.

"I know, shh, it wasn’t your fault, Tara, it never was your fault," Willow said, over and over, holding her lover as she cried.

***

They went to the funeral. All of the Scoobies plus one slightly confused kitten. It wasn’t much of a service, but what can you say about a man who beat his wife to death and tried to kill his only child?

His second wife and her daughter attended, but refused to speak with Tara. As they lowered the casket into the ground, Tara walked up and looked down at the wooden box that held her father’s mortal remains. Her arm ached where the bullet from his gun had lodged in the bone. Four days in the hospital, three weeks to heal completely, but the scars would be there forever. All of them. She sighed sadly, then reached into her sling and pulled out a single red rose and dropped onto the casket.

"Sometimes angels fall, daddy. I’m sorry I couldn’t be yours," she whispered as the first shovel full of dirt was spread over the casket. Then she turned and walked away, joined by Willow and their friends.

fin

07/08/00

Note to my readers: Yes, it was a hell of a ride, wasn’t it? I want you all to know that although I was never abused as a child, I’ve known far too many children who were. Please, if you, or anyone you know is being hurt, please, please, seek help. Here’s a number you can call: National Child Abuse Hotline: 1-800-422-4453. 800 numbers are always free. : )

To my readers in the UK: Here is a website and phone number you can call : )

Childline 0800 1111 and the website is: http://www.childline.org.uk