“Buffy, is it okay if I spend the night tonight over at Janice’s? Her mom invited me over for dinner and we’re working on a history project together.” Dawn asks Buffy when she gets home after work. “I promise we won’t be up late.”
“That’s fine Dawn. I need to take a shower and get the DP smell off me. Then maybe grab something to eat and head out on patrol. Is Willow here?” Buffy asks having not actually seen the hacker in a couple days, ever since Willow had de-ratted Amy.
“No, she said something about her and Amy going to the Bronze then she headed out the door. It seems she’s either at school or hanging with Amy all the time anymore.” Dawn says with a hurt tone. “I wish Tara was here.”
Buffy hesitantly reaches out to rub Dawn’s arm and Dawn looks up in surprise, Buffy hasn’t touched or hugged her since they brought her back.
“Dawn, I know it’s hard, but obviously something happened between Tara and Willow. It’s something that the two of them will have to work out and no matter how much we might wish it, it probably isn’t anything we can do anything about.” Buffy states softly.
Dawn throws her arms around Buffy, grateful for the contact and Buffy gently wraps her in her arms, hugging her tightly. “It just doesn’t seem fair. Tara is all upset, sad and crying all the time and Willow just acts like nothings wrong and goes out and does her thing. I, I hate to say it, but I would rather have had Willow move out instead of Tara. And before you say it, I know that I shouldn’t want that, but Willow just doesn’t seem to care about anything but herself lately, you know?”
“Honestly, I haven’t really talked or seen Willow in a while. Between work and patrolling” Buffy hesitates and mentally adds, screwing Spike “I haven’t been around a lot. I’m sorry I’m not here for you that much Dawn.”
Dawn sniffs lightly. “I love you Buffy. It has to get better, right?” Dawn pulls away slightly and grins at her sister. “Who knows what the future has in store for all of us. Good things, hopefully!”
Buffy smiles slightly and runs her hand down Dawn’s hair. “Hopefully. Why don’t you go get your stuff together while I go get cleaned up and ready for patrol. I’m going to stop in and see Tara tonight while I’m out.”
Dawn jumps slightly and gives a little squeak “Be sure to tell her I love her and miss her. Give her a hug from me and see if she wants to get together this weekend and go out for movies and shakes, okay?”
By the end of the ramble Buffy’s laughing “I’ll try and remember all that. Would it be okay if I join you two for the movie run?” Buffy questions, hoping that maybe she can start work on healing the rift between herself and Dawn.
“Of course! Buffy, I love you. No matter what. You’re my sister, the slayer and basically a wonderful person” Dawn says the last little bit with a glint in her eye and grinning from ear to ear at Buffy as she turns and runs up the stairs.
Buffy yells at her following her up the stairs “What do you mean by basically a wonderful person? You are an evil sister, you know that?” She laughs as she heads into the bathroom for her shower.
***
Buffy smiles slightly looking at the bag in her hands as she gently knocks on Tara’s door. ‘Hopefully Tara likes the spicy General Tso’s Bean Curd I got her to eat. Yesterday she looked like she had dropped probably a good ten pounds since she moved out.’ Her silent diatribe is cut short as Tara opens the door and glances from the bag up to Buffy’s eyes.
“Umm, I didn’t place an order for delivery” Tara quirks her lop-sided smile at Buffy looking at the full bag in the slayers hands as she steps back opening the door wider.
Buffy grins and with a fake Chinese accent says “Ah, but pretty lady needs much food. Needs to keep her strength up to work big magic’s.”
Tara starts laughing at Buffy’s antics and shakes her head shutting the door behind her.
“Have you had dinner yet? I was hungry and I stopped and picked up Chinese for us. Is that okay?” Buffy asks almost worriedly.
“Buffy, that’s fine. And no, I haven’t had anything to eat yet.” Tara states setting the slayers mind at ease.
Buffy starts unpacking the food “I got you General Tso’s Bean Curd, hopefully you like it. The man said that it is one of his big sellers as a vegetarian dish. I did get some vegetable lo-mein and vegetable fried rice too. I got myself Moo Goo Gai Pan.” Buffy says frowning slightly as she pulls out each item, thinking about the fact that Tara stated she hadn’t eaten anything yet.
“Actually, that’s one of my favorite dishes” Tara grins sheepishly at Buffy. “But where are we going to put all this food? There’s enough to feed a small army.”
“Hey, I resemble that remark” Buffy states with a grin and pats her stomach. “Where there’s a slayer, there are very few leftovers.”
Tara laughs as she grabs a couple waters from her mini fridge and sits down across from Buffy on the bed. Grabbing her dinner and waving her pair of chopsticks at Buffy she asks “Do you want to talk about what I found out while we eat? Or wait till afterwards?”
Buffy stiffens slightly looking at Tara with an almost scared look in her eye. “I….”
Tara interrupts seeing the look “Buffy, you didn’t come back wrong. You can relax. I found nothing that would indicate anything like that.”
Buffy breathes out a sigh of relief and smiles at Tara “Thank you.”
“No problem. But I actually have a question for you that you might have to think on for a little while.” Tara hesitates watching Buffy. Buffy nods her head for Tara to continue. “I want you to think back and see if you can remember Spike ever trying to hurt you after he got the chip. I-I know that he t-tried to hurt W-willow, and couldn’t. But did he ever try to h-hurt you?”
Buffy stops and looks off distantly as she chews. ‘Did Spike every try and hurt me after the chip was implanted? He was always hanging around, occasionally helping. But being more of a pain in the ass than anything. I don’t ever remember him taking a swing at me or trying to hurt me in any other way. Huh.’
Tara takes a sip of her water watching Buffy as the emotions cross her face as she thinks back over the past. “Buffy, I was just wondering if the reason he can hurt you isn’t because you were dead and came back wrong. Not saying you did. I know you didn’t come back wrong. But I was wondering if it isn’t because of your mystical Slayer powers that you don’t register as ‘human’ to his chip.”
Buffy’s eyes light up at that thought. She reaches over lightly touching the blondes knee. “I think you could be right. I never remember Spike trying to hurt me after he got his chip in.” She grins, pulling her hand back.
Tara smiles and starts eating her dinner, happy that she could be of some help to the slayer. Hesitantly she looks at Buffy, wondering to herself if she should mention the spell she found that might help.
Buffy is watching Tara and sees that Tara seems to want to say something but is afraid too. “What is it?” Buffy asks softly.
Tara hesitates looking up at Buffy for a second “I-I came across a spell. It m-might help you in regards to Spike, if you want. Umm to where it might make his chip register you as human.” Tara looks down at her lap, picking at the water bottles label. “I p-put it on a necklace I had, if you w-want to try it?”
Buffy looks at Tara with surprise. ‘She researched the two spells, did her witchy-mojo on a necklace to help keep me from being hurt. Willow, you were stupid to let her get away.’
Tara glances up briefly at Buffy before getting up to walk over to her bookshelf. Grabbing the Celtic cross necklace that her mother had given her she walks slowly over to Buffy and hands it to her. “My m-mother gave me this necklace. She had put a protection charm on it which should add more power to the spell I did. I-I hope this will work.”
Buffy shakes her head in shock. Looking from the necklace and then up to Tara, she hands the necklace back to her. “Tara, I can’t accept this. Your mother gave you this.”
Tara puts her hands behind her back, not accepting the necklace. Shaking her head she looks Buffy in the eye and says determinedly, “You need this more than I do. She would want me to give it to you if she was here. Trust me.”
Buffy smiles looking down at the necklace in her hands, gently running her fingers over the cross. “It’s beautiful, Tara. I don’t know how to thank you.” She looks back up with a gentle smile at Tara, going to hand the necklace to her again, “would you please put it on for me?”
Tara smiles, grateful the slayer isn’t going to argue over this as she reaches for the necklace and gently lifts Buffy’s hair out of the way as she puts the necklace around the slayers neck and latching it. “There you go. All ready now.”
Tara starts gathering up what few leftovers there are laughing quietly at the fact that there is basically only some of her dinner left, along with a couple bites of lo mein.
Buffy helps gather up the trash and remembers what Dawn said earlier in the day.
“Dawn wanted me to ask if you wanted to go out with us this weekend for shakes and movies?”
Tara smiles shaking her head slightly thinking about the teen. “I would love to go out with Dawn this weekend. That girl is gonna turn into a chocolate shake.”
Buffy laughs lightly, agreeing with Tara’s comment. “Well, actually, if you don’t mind. I was planning on tagging along with you two, if it’s okay?”
“Of course it’s okay, Buffy. You don’t have to ask permission!” Tara states with a smirk on her face. “After all, you brought dinner, it would be kinda rude of me to say you couldn’t go to the movies with us, now wouldn’t it?”
“Oh, so that’s the way it is.” Buffy laughs joking with the blonde. “I have to bribe my way into your affections, huh?” Buffy states without thinking.
Tara winks at her, not thinking anything about the statement and grins broadly. “Well, it doesn’t hurt, now does it?”
Buffy just smiles thinking how Tara seems to be doing much better tonight. Wondering if she should bring up whatever had happened between her and Willow.
“D-did you see Spike tonight?” Tara asks hesitantly.
Buffy shakes her head. “No, I didn’t run across him. I came across five vampires trying to snack on this guy outside the Bronze. But that was all I came across tonight. I’m glad I didn’t see him. He’ll probably pop up on my way home and I can check and see if the necklace works.”
Tara frowns slightly thinking about Spike hurting Buffy. She tilts her head forward letting her hair cover her face.
“Hey, hey, none of that now.” Buffy says lightly lifting Tara’s chin. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll goad him into a cheap shot and then tell him its over. Hopefully it won’t take much reinforcement to get him to leave me alone.” Buffy states with a little grin at the blonde.
“I j-just don’t like the idea of him hurting you. Nobody deserves to be hurt like that. As far as I’m concerned he was t-taking advantage of you.” Tara states with a slight tremor in her voice.
“Yeah, but I let him.” Buffy stated the fact.
“Buffy. You ‘re hurting. You needed someone that would help you, protect you. You needed somebody that would be there for you, not take advantage of you.” By then Tara had jumped off the bed and was pacing back and forth. “H-he r-r-raped you.” Tara raised her hand as Buffy was about to interrupt her. “He did. He was just looking out for himself. He didn’t care about you or your feelings and took advantage of the fact that you were hurting. You needed someone to understand, help you. You didn’t need what he gave you. You needed someone to just hold you. Talk to you and be there for you.”
Finally Tara wound down and sat heavily on the bed looking at the floor. Buffy reaches over to gently hold her hands “I wouldn’t let anybody be there for me, before. It’s partially my fault. But now, I…I’m willing to try and open up. It’s not as raw as it was. It still hurts, but it’s slowly getting better.” Smiling slightly Buffy adds “A lot better today, talking to you took a huge weight from me. I owe you. Big time, Tara.”
Tara looks up, shaking her head. “You don’t owe me a-anything Buffy.”
“I think we’ve talked enough about me to last a lifetime. Are you, do you want to talk about what happened?” Buffy hesitantly asks watching the Wicca lower her head once more, pulling her hands away and wrapping her arms around herself.
“I-I-I don’t know if I can.” A tear silently drops down Tara’s cheek as she quickly glances up and then back down again.
“Please, Tara. You need someone to talk to. You can’t keep everything inside. You need someone to talk to, be there for you, just like I do. Please?” Buffy whispers quietly. Begging Tara to open up.
“You know about the spell that she did, causing us all t-to lose our m-memories?” Buffy nods her head, that night was when Tara had moved out of the house. “That w-wasn’t the f-first time she used it on m-me.” Buffy’s eyes got wide, looking at Tara. “I know f-for a fact, that she did it at l-least once more. I don’t know how many times she might h-have performed it.” Tara states on a sob, holding herself tighter.
“S-s-she uses magic for the simplest of things. She e-even uses it for doing housecleaning, research, dressing herself I-I tried t-to tell h-her that it’s wrong, but she w-won’t listen. W-we argued about it b-before. Then I f-found out she did the forget spell on me. I almost l-left her then, but s-she promised me she w-wouldn’t use magic for a week.” Here Tara let’s out a sarcastic snort. “A week. She d-didn’t even l-last 12 hours. That’s when she screwed up and the spell back-fired, making everyone forget. The power is too much, she doesn’t realize, or doesn’t want to realize that what she’s doing is wrong.” Looking up with sad, tear filled eyes Tara swallows hard stating “I can n-never t-t-trust her again, Buffy.”
“I didn’t realize…Tara, I am so sorry. I didn’t know that it was that bad.” Buffy shakes her head, not wanting to believe, even though knowing in her heart what Tara said was true. Is Tara right? Did Willow do other spells on her? God, if she did that to Tara, her everything, how hard would it be to do a spell on someone else?
“Is there something we can do? Something to see if there were other spells done? Something to maybe reverse the spell?” Buffy asks her mind going 100 miles per minute, trying to see if there is something that can be done.
“I haven’t b-been able to c-come up with anything yet. And truthfully, I don’t know if I would undo the spell or spells. What if I found out that my loving her was a spell Buffy? What if, God forbid, she did spells on someone else? Where would it end? I’m almost afraid what the consequences would be if she had done any other spells.” Tara breaks down and curls up on the bed into a tight ball, shaking and crying.
Buffy swallows hard, not knowing what to do. Tears flowing down her own face at the never ending possibilities. Needing comfort herself, she lays down behind Tara, wrapping her arms around for comfort while crying with her.
Finally about half an hour later, they’ve both calmed down somewhat and Buffy eases up to a sitting position with her back against the headboard, while lightly running her hand over Tara’s hair in a comforting gesture. “I was wondering…” Buffy trails off, not knowing if it is possible or not.
“What, Buffy?” Tara asks, uncurling her stiff body, to slowly pull herself up to a sitting position besides the slayer.
“Is there some kind of charm to protect us from magic use? Or even magic use against one particular person?” Buffy asks still trying to think of something to help.
Tara stops and looks at Buffy with a wondering look. “Why didn’t I think of this? You’re brilliant!!” Tara jumps off the bed, running to her magic books, quickly flipping through three of them before finding the one she needs. Sitting back down beside Buffy on the bed, she quietly reads the spell and the ingredients. “This is a relatively simple spell to do. I have most of the ingredients here…” Tara trails off looking up at Buffy for a moment. “We’ll need something personal of hers, hair would probably be the best thing. Do you think…?”
Buffy smiles, glad that she thought of something that could be helpful and as Tara trailed off she realized what the Wicca was asking of her. “Oh, oh. Yeah, I can get the hair out of her hair brush. She isn’t home that much, so it shouldn’t be a problem. Is there anything else you need?”
Shaking her head Tara smiles taking a deep, cleansing breath. Feeling better than she has in the past month, since the Tabula Rosa spell. “Thank you, Buffy. I d-didn’t want to s-say anything before, but I w-was thinking about t-transferring out at the end of the school year.”
Buffy’s eyes widen and she starts shaking her head vehemently. “No, not a possibility. I can’t, no I won’t let you run away! I need you here. You’re keeping me sane. I know I’m being selfish, but if I have to hog tie you I will! Hell, Dawn will probably help me. No, she wouldn’t help, she’d push me out of the way and do it herself! God, Tara, you’re family. No matter what, please promise me you won’t leave. Please!” Buffy grabs Tara to, her in an oxygen depriving hug, begging.
Tara’s eyes get big at the slayers comments. Actually realizing for the first time how much of an impact her being there might actually mean to these wonderful people. Little insignificant Tara has actually found a home. Hugging Buffy back tightly she half-laughs “I promise I won’t leave, but, Buffy I need to breathe!”
Buffy hurriedly loosens her grip apologizing profusely.
“Buffy, Buffy! It’s okay. No harm.” Tara laughs quietly, letting the Slayer know that everything is okay.
Looking at the clock, seeing that it’s almost 1 a.m., Buffy sighs. “I guess I should be going. See if I can scrounge Spike up to tell him it’s over” Buffy stops reaching up to touch the Celtic cross “and see if this does the trick. I’ll try and get the hair for the charms. Don’t forget, shakes and a movie Saturday night we’ll come by here and grab you!”
Tara smiles gently at Buffy “If I don’t talk to you before then. Be careful.”
Smiling back at the blonde, Buffy heads out the door, grateful that she could be of some help to Tara.
