Turned by JustSkipIt

Disclaimer: Willow and Tara and any other character that appeared in the syndicated television show “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” is property of Joss and Mutant Enemy, I’m only borrowing them and am not making any money off them.

Author's Note: This story goes from the moment that Tara is shot at the end of Seeing Red with three changes to Buffy details. 1. Tara is shot through the spleen rather than the Heart. 2. Buffy is shot in the arm. 3. Spike did not leave town after the events of Seeing Red.

Summary: When Tara is fatally wounded by Warren's bullet, Willow must make a quick decision in order to save her life.

For a second Willow could do nothing but stare. Stare at the blood that suddenly appeared on Tara's torso, stare at the space between them, stare at Tara's shocked eyes as her body started to plummet toward the bedroom floor. Suddenly reacting, she bridged the gap to catch her lover and cushion the fall. She moved even faster than she had the night before when she heard those magic words: "can we just skip it? Can you just be kissing me now?" Always magic between them: First MAGIC between them, and later magic BETWEEN them.

Now cradling Tara's body as blood poured from her stomach, Willow could feel the tears of her hysteria pouring down her face as she prayed to Tara, to God, to each and every Goddess to keep Tara here with her. Tara only looked to Willow's eyes for comfort and love. Willow pressed her hand on Tara's stomach to staunch the flow of blood which now poured around her hand. This desperate and intimate moment was interrupted as Spike ran through the door to the witches' bedroom. Neither woman knew that Spike was sleeping in the basement waiting for Buffy to return so he could talk to her. At the sound of the gunshots, he ran upstairs to see what had happened.

Just as Willow could not stop the flow of blood from her love, Spike could not keep his human face intact upon smelling the fresh blood in the room. His vampiric self was apparent as he looked mournfully at the two women on the floor. Willow's mind raced for a way to save Tara, "Spike, help me."

The vampire actually displayed uncommon compassion, "I'm sorry Red; I can't. I don't think anyone can. Is she hurting?"

Willow didn't answer his question, "You can. She won't make it. Give her back to me."

Spike clued in, "You know I can't do that. I can't feed and you don't want it anyway."

Willow was shouting now: "YOU CAN. YOU OFFERED IT TO ME ONCE. GIVE IT TO HER. LET HER STAY WITH ME."

Spike still argued, "You think she'll be a puppy like Angel? Controlled like me by this chip? She'll be a monster like Angelus or me before or Drusilla, maybe worse because of the magic. How are you gonna feel when you have to stake her before she kills you all?"

Willow's determination grew as the flow of blood slowed, not because things were better but because Tara's heart had almost stopped: "I'll curse her like Angel. I'll have her back. Do it now before it's too late." Willow's eyes were starting to turn black as she raised Spike in the air, threatening, "Do it or you go through the window and get a sunburn. Buffy's out there talking to Xander. You want to go see her right now?"

Spike could see Willow's determination but he still argued: "Okay Red, think about this. You can dust me if you want but how can I do this? I can't bite her because of the chip. And even if I could, there isn't enough blood left to give back to her. I have to drink enough blood for her to drink mine to make her a vampire. She’s lost too much already.”

Willow stopped for a moment at that but her love for Tara kept her mind working. Use my blood. I’m saying to do it so you won’t be hurting me and the chip won’t activate. She’s unconscious so it won’t hurt her either.”

As soon as his feet hit the floor, Spike moved toward the redhead, grasping her and piercing her throat with his fangs. As Willow had predicted, he felt no pain and was blissful at the feeling he had missed for so long: warm, fresh, human blood.

From the instant that he was drinking her, the minds of these two merged. Willow saw the years of torture and death that Spike had spread. His triumph over 2 slayers. His family of Darla, Angelus, and Drusilla and the way that they lived with true freedom and abandon. She knew the absolute love and obsession he felt for Buffy and even the affection and protection for Dawn.

Simultaneously, Spike felt the pain of Willow's life before Buffy. The loneliness and feeling of not belonging. Of being a geek. And the love between she and Buffy and Xander. But most strongly, he felt the desperation of fear for Tara. The total love she felt for the wounded witch on the floor and under that, guilt at what she had done.

Spike felt Willow weaken and dropped her, moving toward Tara. He took a few sips from her wound but fearing that he would stop her heart entirely, he didn't want to take too much. The merging of emotions from Willow filled Spike with a pure love for Tara and he wanted to bring her back more than anything.

As Spike used his teeth to tear open the skin at his wrist and press it to Tara's lips, Willow crawled over the floor to hold her lover. Although unconscious, Tara began to suck the warm blood from the vampire, pulling harder and harder at the flow. While Tara was not conscious to feel the merging with Spike, he again felt the absolute love this woman had for her lover and how her love had brought her to a new life. Pulling away, he let her fall back into Willow's arms.

Two of the spent figures on the bedroom floor began to stir as the sirens sounded in the distance. Spike quickly lifted Tara's body and started from the room. He turned back at the door, "I'll take her to my crypt. I'd put the vampire locks back on the house if I was you." As he rushed down the stairs, Willow became aware that the sirens had stopped but no one was coming up the stairs. Was someone else hurt?

Hearing the sirens grow louder and louder until they stopped right in front of the house, Willow had to find out who else was hurt. She jumped up from the floor and ran to the door. She got about half-way down the stairs when she started to feel very dizzy from the loss of blood. It was a good thing too as stopping to lean on the wall and take a deep breath gave her a chance to think. As she stopped for the moment she realized that she could not tell anyone about Tara. Buffy and Xander would be likely to assume they needed to stake the new vampire before Willow could curse her, not to mention that they wouldn’t approve of her doing the magic to actually curse her lover.

Not hesitating for a moment, Willow passed her hand over her neck, instantly healing the wounds there and then over her shirt to clean the blood from it entirely. Sure she was using magic, but after you use magic to lift a vampire off the ground and force him to turn your lover, what was a few clean-ups? But that would be it. Once she had cursed Tara, she would stop again.

Willow quickly continued out of the house to the backyard where she found the paramedics looking after Xander and Buffy. As both smiled at her, her worry was relieved. The paramedics were wrapping a bandage around the Slayer’s left arm. As she approached she heard one paramedic commenting, “You were lucky, it was just a flesh wound.”

After treating the wound, the paramedics left the yard, leaving Buffy, Xander, and Willow sitting on the bench. Buffy turned to Willow, “Where’s Tara?”

Willow thought quickly, “Um she went back to her dorm to get some clothes and stuff. Uh, you know, not really moving in just yet but spending a lot of time here.” She blushed as she answered the question. “Also I think she had an afternoon class,” she continued to provide an alibi.

“Ok, do you think she’ll be back soon? Like before dark? I want her to put the vampire locks on the house again. To keep out ALL of the vampires. No exceptions.” Buffy stressed no exceptions without saying Spike’s name specifically.

Willow was a bit puzzled about locking Spike out of the house suddenly but more worried about the locks. I’m pretty sure she won’t be here before dark since she’s still dead and a vampire. And I don’t think that she can put the locks on the house even after dark since she’ll be a vampire then, she thought. “Why don’t I call her and see when she can come do it?”

Willow hung up the phone and turned to her friends: “She has class and can’t get here till late tonight. She had a suggestion though. Why don’t we let Dawn do the locks? She has always shown an interest and remember I put them on when Angelus was here and I hadn’t been studying magic at all. It’s really easy.”

Dawn was nearly jumping off the couch as she responded, “Yeah, please let me do it. Will can watch me and tell me if I do anything wrong.”

As Buffy was trying to allow her sister more responsibility, she agreed, “Ok, but let Will tell you just what to do.”

Spike was awake long before the sun set. He checked Tara repeatedly. Still Dead. Knowing that it would be hours or perhaps tomorrow night before the new vampire rose, he grabbed his duster and headed out into the night.

Tara felt a thirst like she had never known. Her throat and skin burned with dryness and fire. She felt as if her skin and hair and nails were rotting and growing and shrinking all at the same time. Opening her eyes, she expected to wake from the dream, but the burning continued. But behind that burning was one taste.

“Willow” she gasped as she realized she could taste her lover. She could taste Willow on her lips and skin and mouth. Not that this was the first time to wake to that taste, but this was a saltier, richer taste. She could taste Willow’s blood.

Willow sat in a wicker chair on the back porch of the Summers house. She was watching the sun set and waiting for the stars to come out. When it was dark enough, she planned to make her way over to the Magic Box to get the supplies for the spell to curse Tara. She had no doubt that she could get the necessary herbs but was a little worried over whether Anya would have the required orb. If not, oh well, she would cross that bridge when she came to it.

It was hard for her to believe that 24 hours ago she and Tara were making love in the peace and quiet of the Summers house. Buffy was patrolling and Dawn had gone over to Janice’s to give the Wiccans some privacy. Now, so much had changed.

Before it got close to sunset, Willow had supervised Dawn’s setting of the vampire locks on the house. She assumed that Buffy was angry for Spike for betraying her with Anya and did not want anything else to do with the blond bloodsucker any longer. Dawn had done a good job with the locks and now was watching a video with Buffy. Xander took patrol for the night since Buffy’s arm was giving her trouble. With slayer strength and healing ability, they had no doubt that she would be good to go soon.

Willow felt incredibly tired and weak. Of course, she had lost a lot of blood just that morning. But she couldn’t let her friends know. She planned to stop at the hospital for a top-off after her Magic Box run. In the meantime, she was trying to supplement her high intake of caffeine with an equally high amount of sugar. The result was a very hopped-up but exhausted recovering witch counting the stars and naming the constellations as Tara would have: Moose taking a Bath, Stack of Crackers, etc.

She snapped to attention as Spike rounded the house. He tossed her a small bag, indicating that he had brought her something to eat: “Eat that. I stopped and got you a Tuna steak sandwich and potato. Good protein. Oh, and drink this,” he said, pulling a bottle of orange juice from his pocket.

Her intellectual ability already slow from the long and tiring day, she uttered the very witty, “Huh?”

“You lost a lot of blood today Red. You shouldn’t lose that much and live. The fish is good iron and protein and the potato too. The orange juice helps you absorb the iron. Eat.” He surprised her with his answer.

Willow realized that she was actually very hungry and began to dig into the sandwich. After the first bite, she asked, “What about Tara? How is she? Is she awake? Why did you leave her? Why did you come here?”

Spike sat down next to the redhead, patting her on the knee to calm her down and indicating that she should continue eating: “First, I wouldn’t expect her to wake until tomorrow night or perhaps near sunrise tonight. I’ll be back home by then. Right now, she’s just a dead body in a crypt which is where dead bodies should be. I came to bring you that and to see how you were doing.”

Before Spike could answer, Buffy opened the door, bathing the back porch in light. “What in the Hell are you doing here?” she asked the vampire. “You know for years I’ve been wondering if there are actually good vampires or just vampires I haven’t staked yet. I’m thinking of putting it to a test. Of course, you were never really good, just controlled. I think it’s time to reduce the vampire population of Sunnydale by one vampire.” Buffy started out door, surprised as Willow stepped between her and Spike.

Willow tried to slow down Buffy for a moment, “Look I know you’re pissed that Spike slept with Anya and we all agree that was a really bad idea, but he’s been our friend for a long time and he has protected us a lot and maybe we can take a moment to think.”

This time both women merely glared at the bleached vampire. Buffy looked across the yard suddenly. “Willow, go in the house. There’s a vampire out here.”

As the words left her mouth, Tara stepped from the bushes, licking her lips slowly, “Willow.”

The three figures on the porch turned to face the blonde witch with shocked looks on their faces. Buffy seemed most shocked as she stared at Tara, sensing that she was indeed a vampire. The others were both shocked that Tara was awake. Spike and Buffy simultaneously stepped in front of Willow to shield her from Tara’s view.

Tara moved in an almost blinded stumble through the yard and towards the porch. She felt the burning of her thirst, the ache in her body, and a burning on her hip that she couldn’t identify. She could think of only one thing: Blood, Willow’s Blood. “Willow,” she croaked weakly.

“No. Don’t hurt her Buffy. The curse. Don’t stake her. Let Spike take her back home. Please,” the redhead pleaded.

“What? You knew about this? What is going on?” Buffy felt totally out of the loop. She was angry and wanted to know what had happened but more than that, she didn’t want to underestimate Tara. Although the blonde had been a good friend for 3 years, she wasn’t that anymore. She was now a demon inhabiting a familiar body and Buffy was prepared to stake her to save her Scooby family. She glanced at Spike, surprised to see how protective he seemed of her best friend.

The tense silence was broken as five vampires rushed through the hedges at the same time. They had obviously planned their attack on the slayer and seeing her in the backyard, took this as a prime opportunity. As they rushed by the weakened Tara, two knocked her to her knees. Two vampires were on Buffy at once, another two on Spike, and the last grabbed Willow. Buffy was fighting her two vampires but they were surprisingly strong. Spike had his hands full with his two, leaving Willow in the grasp of a very strong vampire. Buffy screamed her terror as she realized that Tara was joining the fight. A 6 to 3 ratio didn’t sound that good, especially with the slayer’s arm injured.

Buffy staked her first vampire and Spike neatly beheaded one of his with a garden tool, leaving each of them one very strong vampire to battle. The last vampire was holding Willow up off the ground so she could not kick or get away. Tara moved instantly toward Willow. A kick to the head distracted the vampire as she dropped the redhead. Without hesitation, Tara broke a spoke from the wicker chair and staked the vampire through the heart. She turned toward the yard, extending one arm toward Buffy and one toward Spike, incanting, “Incendio!” as the two opposing vampires burst into flames. As Spike stepped back from the firework which used to be a vampire, Tara collapsed to the porch.

Instantly the slayer and Spike joined the two Wiccans on the porch. Buffy looked to Willow: “So you cursed her?”

Willow was totally perplexed, “What? No, I didn’t curse her yet. I was going to do it tonight but I didn’t have the supplies.” Buffy pushed her into the house pulling the door closed and giving Willow a stern look to stay inside.

Spike pulled a flash from his pocket and put the mouth to the blonde’s lips, urging her to drink. She drank fully and deeply before taking the flask from the vampire and draining it completely. “More,” she moaned weakly.

Spike began to pull Tara to her feet but was stopped by Buffy who leaned down to look at Tara. “Tara. It’s Buffy,” she began. “When you say ‘more’, from where? From who? Where are you going?”

Tara tried to focus on the slayer. “I don’t know. I’m so thirsty. It burns like you couldn’t believe.” Turning to Spike, she questioned, “Where do you get it?”

“Oh, we can go to the butcher or Willie’s. The butcher is probably better since you’re new and the others might not cater to seeing you tonight.” He turned to Buffy: “She’s going to be really tired after I get her fed. I’ll take her to my place.” So saying, he helped Tara up and started from the yard. At the edge of the yard, the witch turned to lock eyes with Willow through the window in the kitchen door before disappearing from sight completely.

The mood inside the house was very tense as Buffy joined Willow in the kitchen. “I’m calling the Scoobies. Then we are all having a long talk,” she informed the redhead tersely.

Feeling duly admonished, Willow moved to the living room to wait. She didn’t have to wait long as Anya, Xander, and Dawn all joined their friends in a few minutes. “So what’s the big?” Dawn asked as she entered the room last.

Buffy turned to look at Willow: “Willow will explain because I don’t know the story. What I do know is that Tara’s a vampire. So please explain now.” Her anger was palatable to the entire crowd. The others were clearly shocked.

Willow attempted to explain the story as calmly as possible. However, as soon as she began, the emotion she had been restraining all day gave way. She collapsed in tears and had to be moved to the couch by Xander. Eventually she told everything.

Through shocked looks from all her friends, Xander spoke first: “Uh Will. I’m really sorry and know how much you are and were hurting. But…”

“Well, Will, it’s just. I mean the curse. A second of happiness and she looses her soul. I mean, you want to curse her like that? You can’t be together. Ever. I mean…” he trailed off looking around the room. Suddenly, it seemed that there was something very interesting on the rug as everyone intently studied the pattern.

Willow looked to her friends as she answered, “Yes I thought of that. Yes, I curse her to never experience a moment of happiness. But she’s still alive and that’s what’s important to me.”

“No Willow. She’s not. She’s not alive.” Everyone was surprised to realize that Dawn was speaking.

Buffy spoke next: “Ok, the curse is problematic. I know that more than anyone. But I’m not ready to stake her yet either. She’s one of my best friends. So…Anya, go to the Magic Box and get what Willow needs for the spell. Dawn, stay with Willow and neither of you goes outside this house until daylight. Xander, you and I are going to patrol.”

Everyone quickly dispersed, relieved to not have to stay and ponder the possibility that any one of them might have to stake their friend to save themselves. Dawn put an exhausted Willow to bed and stayed with her to help her get some rest. The loss of blood and high emotion of the day clearly affected the redhead as she fell quickly asleep. Just before loosing consciousness, she asked Dawn, “Do you hear someone on the roof?”

Spike scanned the crypt quickly, cursing when he found it empty. “Great, I go and get you some new duds and you’re not even here. That slayer will stake you if you threaten Willow you know. And here I am talking to myself. God, you witches really have an effect on a guy.”

Tara entered the crypt moments later laughing. “I didn’t know anything had an effect on you. Did you say you brought me some new clothes?”

“Changed a bit haven’t you bird? Guess the blood made you feel better. All up and about and smart-ass.” Spike was truly amazed at the attitude the witch was showing. Even more surprised when she started to strip, taking the clothes from him.

Tara spoke as she changed into the black leather pants and lace cammie that the bleached vampire had brought her. Of course, a black leather jacket completed the ensemble. “Yes. The thirst and burning is gone. Well almost gone. I’ve got a tattoo on my hip that is burning like fuck but everything else is great. Hey, did I torch 2 vampires?”

For the first time in a few decades, Spike found it hard to speak as he watched the very different blonde witch changing clothes. “Uh. Uh. Uh. Yeah. You said some word and they both went up in flames. By the way, if you could avoid doing that when I’m holding a the guy, I’d appreciate it. Don’t really feature a barbecue personally.” Spike turned away as his thoughts were flooded with memories from Willow’s mind.

“Cool. So my magic is way stronger. And obviously my body is stronger. I like this.” Tara was clearly enthused with the changes. “I’m going to get some rest. Anywhere better or worse?”

Through his shock, Spike spoke again: “Uh, down the hole there are a few beds. No sunlight. Um, where did you go before.”

As Tara started down the ladder she laughed the answer: “To check on Will of course. She and Dawn were sleeping in our bed. She’s had a hard day.”

Spike woke very suddenly as he felt a single strand of hair pulled from his head. “What the fuck?” he shouted, jumping from the bed to grab the intruder. He found no one within his reach but looked around quickly to find Tara 20 feet away and sitting on a high beam in the underground crypt.

She laughed loudly at his confusion. “What’s the matter Spike? Missing some of your hair? Not perfect anymore?”

“No Blondie. And how did you get up there so fast? Why did you wake me up?” He threw out the questions quickly, not knowing if he even wanted a response.

Tara laughed again. “I got up here by wanting to be up here and I woke you up so we can talk. How does this work? Where do I get blood? How much do I need? What will harm me? What will kill me? And finally, why is my tattoo burning so bad?”

Spike pulled a cigarette from the pack in his jacket and lit up before answering: “Ok. One at a time. How does this work? You’re a vampire. Warren shot you, you were dying, Willow gave her blood, I gave it back to you. You can get the blood from your victims or from the butcher or from Willie’s tavern.”

He was interrupted by Tara: “Victims? You asshole. What victims? You expect me to hunt people? I’m so fucking sure. God, like it’s not bad enough that I have to drink animal blood. I mean six years as a vegetarian and now I am going to live on blood. Ok, not live but you know.”

It was Spike’s turn to laugh. “You were a vegetarian? That’s rich. Well, not anymore love. Maybe you can still go organic, you know, all free-range hens and such, ” he would have continued to answer the questions but was overcome with laughter.

After a few minutes laughing his ass off, he continued, “I don’t know how much you need; you’ll have to figure that out on your own. Lots of stuff can harm you but you’ll heal. Crosses and other holy stuff will burn you. Staking, beheading, being set on fire, and sunlight will kill you.”

“As far as this tattoo, I don’t know. I didn’t have one but I’ve never known any vamps that had a problem with one. What is it? When did you get it?” Spike asked curiously.

“It’s a family design. I got it when I was really little. But it’s burning like anything and, well, I think it’s growing. It’s on my hip,” Tara explained.

Spike breathed out smoke, “Interesting. Maybe your friends can research it for you, if they don’t stake you that is.”

“Wow, you should be a comedian funny man,” Tara retorted. “Ok, here’s what really gets me. Shouldn’t I be evil? I mean I don’t want to hunt victims or even hurt the animals for their blood? Am I really a vampire at all? I just feel like me but stronger…” she trailed off.

He bleached vampire answered, “Not just stronger, with a tude too. I don’t know. You should want to go hunting and kill all your friends by now, but you don’t. Maybe Red already cursed you. I’ll tell you one thing though. You talk in your sleep and all night you were moaning about Willow’s blood. Are you sure you don’t want a victim?”

Tara considered it briefly before answering, “No I don’t want to hurt her. I never do. But yes, I want her blood. I can still taste it. I can taste it in my mouth and on my skin. Through my pores. The other blood I had quenched my thirst but it’s like mud compared to that taste of her. Oh Goddess.”

Spike gave her a few minutes to think about it. “Look, I’m going over to get some blood. Wanna come with and then maybe kill a few demons with me? I could use some company and you can meet Ken at the slaughterhouse.”

The five Scoobies stared at Willow and then at the orb. They were gathered in the Magic Box for Willow to curse Tara. Special delivery of the orb didn’t happen until close to closing time but they wanted to get the task completed as soon as they could.

Willow was tired but needed to answer, “I don’t know. I mean when I cursed Angel, I felt the magic take over. I wasn’t doing the spell anymore. It was doing me but this time I didn’t feel that. And also the orb didn’t get all glowy.’ She continued, “This is really weird.”

Buffy agreed that it was weird, but, “Look I need to go start my patrol and I want to get the two of you back to the house before…”

Five heads swiveled as the bell on the door chimed to announce the arrival of two customers. All mouths dropped open as Tara smiled, “Hi everyone.”

Spike and Tara tentatively entered the shop as the others stared at them. Buffy moved toward the two vampires, placing herself between them and the rest of her family. Anya was the first to speak: “So, Tara, you’re a vampire. How original.”

Tara looked at the former demon, momentarily unable to believe that she had said such a tacky thing. Then remembering the source, she retorted, “Well yeah, you know. Dead is in this week. Speaking of which, vengeance demon again? Not so original yourself.” Spike and Tara both started laughing as the others in the shop looked to Anya to confirm Tara’s assessment.

The vengeance demon answered their glances, “Ok, ok. Yes I’m a vengeance demon again. Get over it and let’s talk about Tara’s evilness. I mean we know the curse didn’t work. I’m waiting to see which of you she kills first.”

At that, Buffy moved a little more protectively toward the vampires and pulled a stake from her pocket. Tara looked at the slayer a little exasperated before speaking, “Of course the curse didn’t work. I never lost my soul. I’m not evil and I’m not going to kill any of you.”

Spike chimed in, “It’s true. She’s got an attitude but I don’t think she’s evil. Won’t kill anyone and she’s all upset about the animals that have to die so we can get blood from the butcher. Not very good publicity for us undead types,” he sneered. He looked to Tara, “By the way love, gotta go pretty soon. It’s getting late.”

Using her enhanced magical powers, speed, and strength, Tara covered the distance between herself and her lover in less than a second. As soon as Buffy realized what had happened, she started toward the two witches, but found herself unable to move any closer as Tara held a hand open behind her back to keep her back. Tara softly cupped Willow’s cheeks in her hands, bending toward her lover and lightly placing a tender kiss on her lips, “I love you sweetie.” Willow still had her eyes closed as Tara kissed her again telling her lover, “But no more magic love.”

Realizing that Tara was about to disappear again, Willow grabbed her wrist and kissed her harder this time. “Baby, I love you too and I know you’d never hurt me. But no smoking ok? It tastes gross.” Tara smiled and nodded as she and Spike left the shop.

Spike leaned back out of the beam of sunlight that shone into the crypt as Willow entered, quickly closing the door behind her. “Sorry about that. Is Tara here?” she asked.

“Yeah, she’s down the hole. We kind of split it up for the time being. You moving in?” he asked, indicating the bags the redhead was carrying.

“What? Moving in? Huh? Oh, no, I brought some of her stuff. I mean, I don’t know how long she’s planning on staying here or where she’s going to stay or what she wants to do or…” Willow stopped herself in the middle of the ramble as she realized that Spike was mostly just being a smart-ass anyway. “So down the hole huh?”

The bleached vampire waved towards the ladder, “Yeah, that way. You need a hand with the bags?”

“Uh, yeah, it’d help me get down the ladder without breaking anything, including me,” Willow responded, thankful for the offer. At the bottom of the ladder, Spike dropped the bags and turned to go. Willow grasped his wrist and looked into the vampire’s eyes: “Spike, I…Thank you.”

“Yeah love, she’s worth it,” he answered before quickly ascending the ladder again.

After waiting a moment for her eyes to adjust to the torch light, Willow started through the underground cavern, leaving the bags at the foot of the ladder. She quickly found Tara asleep in a queen-size wrought-iron bed. As Willow moved closer to watch her lover sleep, Tara spoke, “Hi sweetie.”

“Um, I didn’t know you were awake. Or I didn’t mean to wake you up. You probably need your sleep.” The redhead rambled as Tara sat up.

“I was sleeping but I sensed you when you came in.” ok, really I smelled you when you came in, but let’s not talk about that. Tara moved from the bed toward her lover, “How about you? Have you recovered?”

“Yes, feeling much better. Much more awake today. Plus good to know you’re not evil and not going to kill me and …” Willow was finding it very hard to string together a rational thought as Tara began pressing her silk-camisole-clad body against hers.

Tara bent her head toward Willow’s, “No definitely not going to kill you.” She pressed her lips softly to Willow’s and heard her lover moan softly. The kiss grew in intensity and depth as both women took the opportunity to join their lips, their mouths, their tongues, and essences. As Tara explored Willow’s mouth with her tongue, Willow felt her knees weaken. The lovers had not yet made up for the months apart when the latest separation began. Now, they needed to share this intimacy once again. As they kissed, Tara lifted Willow and carried her across the cavern to the bed, laying her on the bed and covering her body with her own. As she moved her attention to kissing Willow’s neck, Willow whispered, “Strong.”

“Yes baby, very strong, and very much yours.” Tara punctuated every word with a light kiss to Willow’s neck. As the redhead moved under the weight of her powerful lover, Tara was driven to an even greater passion by the feeling of Willow’s pulse under the skin. She could sense and almost smell the blood just below that thin layering of skin. Realizing that she was quickly loosing the ability to think of anything but that blood, she pulled back for a moment.

Looking into Willow’s green eyes, Tara placed her hands under Willow’s top, pulling it up and over her head. As Willow shivered, Tara suddenly realized the problem. “Oh sweetie, I forgot. I must be really cold. Do you want me to go and have a warm drink? Do you want to stop?”

Willow gasped, “no, no stopping. Just let me try to warm your hands for a second.” She took Tara’s hands in her own, first rubbing them. Next, she took each finger slowly in her mouth, running her tongue over each, never breaking eye contact with her lover. Any questions the two women might have had about Tara’s responses now that she was a vampire were answered as they felt a rush of warmth and wetness on Willow’s leg. As her first hand was released from her lover’s mouth, Tara used the much warmer digits to release her lover’s bra and toss it to the floor.

When the women resumed their kiss, Willow ran her hands over the smooth silk and the body beneath that silk. She could feel Tara’s nipples through the silk and it didn’t take more than a touch to bring those nipples clearly to attention. Willow continued to rub and roll the nipples as Tara moaned her pleasure. Tara sat up momentarily, pulling off her only covering before leaning forward to lick one of Willow’s nipples. As she ran her tongue around a very hard nipple, she was again entranced by the presence of Willow’s blood and the smell of her skin. Her skin, her sweat, her juices, all contained that same basic scent that was Willow and ran through her blood. Captivated by licking and sucking first one then the other nipple, Tara nonetheless managed to unzip Willow’s jeans and remove the jeans and panties the smaller women wore.

As Tara lifted her head to move it from one nipple to the other, Willow ducked her head to reach the hard nipples that she had continued manipulating. Pulling Tara to straddle her and sit upright, Willow began slowly licking her lover’s entire breast. She made circles, moving closer and closer to the nipple. As Willow took the blonde’s nipple in her mouth, Tara began to make whimpering noises. Without releasing the pressure on her lover’s chest, Willow used her fingers to part Tara’s lips and run her hands through the silky wetness.

Willow alternated kissing Tara’s nipples and continued her ministrations on her lover’s wetness, stroking her lips and feeling her shudder. Tara screamed out, “Oh Goddess,” as Willow lightly stroked her clit just before entering her lover. Her strong vaginal muscles squeezed the redhead’s hand immediately before releasing. Returning to kissing Tara’s sweet lips, Willow quickly found a rhythm and pressed her fingers tightly into her lover while using her thumb to continue to massage her swollen clit. Tara pressed Willow to the bed and she deeply kissed her lover, allowing her tongue to explore the redhead’s mouth. The mouths pressed together muffled Tara’s scream as she shuddered with a blinding climax.

As Tara collapsed onto the bed, Willow rolled with her, never removing her hand from its very wet, warm, tight resting place. Wrapping her arm around Tara’s neck, she placed light kisses all over the blonde’s eyes, face, and neck. As Tara began to relax her hold on Willow’s hand, the redhead started to pull out; however, rather than removing her hand, she pressed deeper into Tara’s well, adding a third finger. Tara arched her back, gasping, “Oh Goddess. Yes. Yes. Yes.” It took only moments for Tara to come again, squeezing her muscles around Willow’s deep fingers.

Pleased with the connection of their union, the two women lay still as they waited for their breathing to begin to return to normal. Willow moved her fingers from their resting place, petting her lover’s face softly. Expecting a refractory period, she was surprised as Tara pulled her down, kissing her deeply and hard before rolling her over to rest between her legs. As Tara began to kiss down Willow’s stomach, the redhead tried to slow her: “Baby, you can rest if you need to.”

Tara looked up grinning seductively at her lover, “Super strength remember? I’m all refracted.” Willow smiled and began for the first time to wonder at the possibilities of having a vampire lover. Before she could get very far into that line of thinking, she enjoyed the reality as Tara ran her tongue through Willow’s wet curls. Tara began sucking each curl to extract every drop of Willow’s juices. She settled down to pay very special, very slow attention to the redhead’s center, first licking slowly up one lip, then the other, then her clit. Again, she found herself totally immersed in Willow’s essence and scent. As she licked the edge of Willow’s leg, she felt the strong pulse there and could barely restrain from making a little nip. She was brought back to reality by the feel of Willow’s hand on the back of her head, lightly pulling and holding her in place.

Tara now began truly feasting on her lover. Drinking her juices and sucking and licking on her clit, she was rewarded as she heard Willow moaning and felt her writing beneath her. Before Tara could even get her hand inside Willow’s depths, the redhead came in a rushing torrent, screaming Tara’s name. Without releasing any pressure, Tara sucked hungrily at the abundant juices. Using her hands only to separate Willow’s lips to allow greater access to the new wetness, Tara paid such intense attention to her lover’s center that in moments, Willow had come again, blessing her lover with another rush of wetness.

“Hold,” Willow managed to gasp out through the exhaustion of her two overwhelming orgasms. Tara of course quickly lifted her body to lie next to her lover and hold her throughout the aftershocks. Sharing small kisses, the witches slowly recovered from their exertions, softly running their hands over the other’s bodies.

Willow smiled a little, “So baby? Uh. You feeling ok? Not evil or homicidal or anything right?”

Tara also smiled, locking blue eyes on green, “Yes sweetie. I’m feeling fine. My soul’s right here and it’s yours. I love you so much!”

“Ok, good. I mean love is good. Evil not good but love is good. Ok, you’re mine, I’m yours. It’s all good.” Willow babbled her relief. Taking a few deep breaths she explained, “Oh, also I brought some of your stuff over. Spike helped me bring it down the ladder. Some clothes, books, the dolls-eye crystal. I didn’t know if you were going to go back to the dorm to get it or what your plans are.”

“Thanks baby. You’re so thoughtful. I mean, the leather pants aren’t exactly me? You know?” Tara smiled.

“Well baby, they might not BE you, but they look really hot on you. Or off you,” Willow smiled back, rubbing her hand over her lover’s stomach and side. “Hey baby, what’s up with your tattoo? I mean you’re like 70 degrees and it’s like 150. I can feel it burning my hand every time I run my fingers over it.”

“Yeah, I don’t know. It’s been burning since I woke up. At first everything burned because I needed to drink but then I drank and it didn’t get better. In fact, I think it’s gotten worse. It really burns. Also, it may be growing,” Tara responded, more confused than worried.

Willow looked at the tattoo: “Yeah, it’s definitely growing. This is the one your mom made right? The family design thing? I’ve examined it pretty close in the last few years,” she smiled sexily. “Anyway, it’s always been a kind of Celtic cross thing with seven crosses around it. Now, I’m pretty sure the Celtic cross has grown and I count about 31 crosses around it. It seems like the new crosses all make another group of Celtic crosses too. No wonder it burns huh?” Willow put together the reason that the crosses would burn so badly.

“I guess so. Anyway, my fingers are usually cold so I’ve been using them to calm the burning somewhat. Pretty strange though.”

When Willow woke up, she was extremely confused about where she was, until she saw Tara sleeping beautifully next to her, then it all came back. With no clock and no windows in the underground crypt, she had no idea how long she slept. Maybe Buffy will have some advice about dating a vampire, she chuckled to herself at the thought of asking Buffy for undead dating advice. She quickly dressed, finding her clothes all at the foot of the bed.

“He he. Yeah, just thinking of asking Buffy for advice on dating a vampire so picturing that conversation pretty good,” Willow giggled back. “Seriously, I have to go do some studying and check in on Scooby Business. I’m staying home with Dawn tonight; you want to come see me?”

Fully awake now, Tara looked at her lover, “Can you invite me in or is Buffy all with the worried?”

“She’s worried but she trusts me and she knows you could have killed me at the shop so I think it will be fine. I’ll ask her before she heads out. Do you want …oh never mind.” Willow corrected herself.

“Nothing. I’m stupid. I was going to ask if you wanted me to pick you up some supper.”

Tara smiled, “not stupid sweetie, it’s a big change. But no, I’ll eat on the way. See you after dark ok?”

Willow leaned in to give her lover a kiss before turning to leave, “I love you.”

When Tara woke, she could tell that it was close to sunset. She went through the bags that Willow left, finding some of her favorite clothes. She smiled to note that Willow particularly brought those things that she liked to see her lover dressed in. She chose a pair of tight jeans, white peasant blouse, and the long Black Leather Jacket that she wore the day she returned to Willow. After putting everything else away for the time being, she knew the sun was fully down. She climbed up the ladder quickly to find Spike gone. A note on the TV read, “Gone. Eat. Back.” A pack of cigarettes and a $20 bill sat on the TV with one stick pulled partway from the pack. Remembering Willow’s request, the blonde left the cigarettes but took the $20.

Moving slowly though the cemetery and the alleys of town, Tara attracted little attention. A few vampires greeted her, noting a new presence but for the most part, she avoided all the demons and they did the same. She stopped by the butcher and got her evening feed from Ken before heading over to the Summers house.

Because of the late hour and because she came through the back yard, Tara was surprised as she neared the door to hear Buffy’s voice, “Hi Tara. Why don’t you come with me to patrol for a while?”

Tara was understandably nervous as she answered the slayer, “Uh sure. N-n-no invite?”

The two blondes walked in silence for a while. Occasionally one or the other would sense a visitor and signal to the other. Tara had the opportunity to test her new strength and speed in helping to stake 3 vampires before they had completed their sweep.

Buffy teasingly asked, “So you want to give up the research part and stick with me on patrols?” She started laughing before Tara could even answer, “Never mind. I know you like the research and being with Will. But you can fill in with me occasionally right? I mean, your strength and speed are really good and if you can keep torching them like you did that first night, it would make my job pretty easy.”

Tara nodded: “Yes, you’re right. I like research and being with Will. Plus, the fire is pretty tiring to cast. But staking them is kind of fun so sure, I can hang.” She continued, “B-b-Buffy, did you want to talk about something?”

“Well yeah. I mean, I know you’re not evil. I mean you could have killed Willow at the shop and you didn’t and you could have killed me plenty of times tonight but you haven’t so you’re not evil. But we don’t know why you’re not. I mean why did you keep your soul? And what if…I mean. I …well…Will and you …and well … happiness and …”

Although she was amused by the slayer’s ramble, Tara had to interrupt: “Um Buffy. Well, Willow and I. Well, uh. Ok, let’s just say this: one moment of happiness isn’t going to make me lose my soul.”

Buffy turned to look at Tara confused. “What? I mean oh. Oh. I mean. Ok, good. That’s good. I mean Willow didn’t say.” Lucky Willow, the slayer thought.

“I mean. She used magic. She forced Spike to turn you. She didn’t know that you wouldn’t lose your soul. She turned you into a Vampire. You could have killed her, us, anyone? Aren’t you mad at her at all?” Buffy asked.

Tara sat down on a low retaining wall and took a few unnecessary breaths before answering: “Wow, that’s a lot of questions. Ok. Am I mad at Willow? No. If she hadn’t made that choice, I’d be dead. And who knows where she would be. I have to tell you Buffy, I was not completely satisfied with her magic recovery and who knows what she would have done if saving me had failed. I hate to think about it. So I’m not mad at her, but I still don’t want her using magic. Yes, it would have been a terrible decision for her to make if I had turned evil and killed you all. But you know what? I didn’t. I never lost my soul. I don’t know why but I’m glad to still be here.”

Buffy looked intently at the blonde vampire before Tara continued, “I know that my life is changed. I mean, I can’t go in sunlight and I’ll never get older and I have to visit the butcher for dinner every night. So I have limitations. But on the other hand, I have super strength and speed and enhanced magic. And I still have my soul mate and hopefully my friends. And I can help those friends fight evil just like I’ve been doing for 2 years.”

“I have to tell you Buffy,” Tara started, “This is incredible. I can see and hear things that I never noticed before like...behind you!” Tara suddenly shouted.

Buffy reacted quickly. Nonetheless the three vampires caught her off guard and were able to back her against the wall and cause her to lose her stake. Tara jumped from the wall, staking the largest of the vampires while still in the air and kicking the other two before hitting the ground. Buffy recovered quickly, fighting with one vampire while Tara grappled with the other. Each woman took a few more hits and kicks before dusting their respective foes.

As Tara helped Buffy up off the ground, Buffy smiled, “Glad you’re not evil and thanks. Do you want to go home? I could use some ice for my head and we can see what the others are doing.”

Tara smiled at her friend, accepting the invitation as they started returning to the Summers house. The two walked in silence for a while before Buffy turned again to Tara, “So speaking of research do you think some research is in order to find out why you didn’t lose your soul?” And if you might?

“And whether I will later right?” Tara responded smiling. At Buffy’s shocked look, Tara told her, “No I can’t read minds but it’s logical that you’d wonder. Yes I want to find out why I didn’t go bad. I have a theory but it needs some research. Which brings us back to the initial conversation for the night I guess.”

As they neared the house, Tara turned to Buffy. Don’t invite me in, I want to test Dawn’s spell and see what it feels like.

As Buffy entered the house, Tara stepped right behind her. Meeting the invisible barrier, she was immediately repulsed. As she tried entry again, Willow and Dawn started down the stairs. Seeing what was happening, Dawn grabbed some holy water from her backpack and threw it as Willow pulled Buffy out of the way. Although Dawn’s aim was poor, the bottle shattered, splashing and burning Tara’s lower arm. Tara screamed out in pain as all three women inside the house screamed simultaneously.

Although Buffy was reeling in shock, she reacted quickly enough to knock the cross from Dawn’s hand, “Everyone stop!” As she looked to the porch, she saw Tara sitting on the step cradling her arm. Joining the vampire to check on the damage, she was shocked to see Tara’s vampire face for the first time.

“I can’t. I can’t. It hurts. Please don’t let her see me like this,” Tara pleaded with the slayer.

Buffy understood instantly Tara’s feelings. Buffy turned to the two women still in the house, “Both of you go back upstairs. We’ll be in a few minutes.” Physically stopping Willow, she directed her, “No, back inside.” The slayer sat with Tara on the front porch and held her hand trying to calm her down: “Just rest for a minute. We can put something on the burn whenever you are ready to come inside. Dawn didn’t understand.”

“I know. It was just a misunderstanding but it hurt. And I don’t want Willow to see me like this. I mean, it’s not me but it is me. You know.” Tara explained.

“Believe me, I remember. Angel never liked me to touch him when he was like this. I can tell you though, that it never bothered me. He was still him and I still loved him and I think she’d love you too.” While Buffy talked and soothed the vampire, her human face had returned. “You want to come inside now?” Buffy asked.

“You are welcome to come inside. I invite you,” Buffy answered as both women entered the house. Dawn and Willow came running down the stairs.

“I’m so sorry Tara,” Dawn said first. “I didn’t know what was happening and I just reacted.”

Willow spoke next, “Baby, let’s get some stuff on that burn. But why were you trying to break the barrier?”

“Oh. I wanted to test it and see how good a job Dawn did on it. Good job Dawn. It was pretty strong. I was just about to give it a second try when you burned me so all in all, you really protected the house,” she smiled at the teenager.

After a few minutes looking after the burn, Dawn headed over to a friend’s house and the others sat down to watch a video. Later Tara and Willow went upstairs to the bedroom. “Look baby, I put in very heavy curtains with ties so no bad sunlight can get through,” Willow pointed out to her lover.

“Thanks sweetie but I think we better set an alarm so I can leave about 5:00 ok?” Pulling Willow to her she started kissing the redhead’s neck and growled , “of course, maybe we’ll still be awake then. It’s only 4 hours from now.” Willow moaned in response, looking forward to a very long night. .

Tara entered the Magic Box to find the other Scoobies already present and researching a series of mysterious deaths in the last week. Books were spread all over the table and Xander, Willow, and Dawn were moving through a pile of tomes trying to determine the current threat and how to stop it. Dawn looked close to falling asleep and Xander looked very bored.

“Hi everyone,” the vampire greeted the group, moving to kiss Willow before sitting down and opening a book from the pile on the table.

“Hi baby. Buffy’s on patrol and we’re trying to figure out what may be killing people this week,” Willow explained.

“Uh I know. I saw her at the cemetery. We did a few laps before I decided to come over here,” Tara explained, looking distracted.

“Oh yeah, I guess that’s the routine I mean a few weeks and you’ve been patrolling with her before coming over here huh? Well that’s good.” Willow noticed that Tara seemed a little off but didn’t know what was wrong.

Suddenly Tara shut the book she was perusing. “You know,” she said, “I think the Geldon book from the rare books may be useful.” So saying , she got up and moved to the loft area to begin looking at the book she had indicated. After a little while looking at that book, she came down the ladder to announce, “I’m just not into this tonight. I’ll head home and see you all tomorrow ok?” Stopping to kiss Willow briefly, she was gone before anyone really knew what was wrong.

When she entered the crypt, Willow was surprised that it sounded empty. Spike was not upstairs, which did not surprise her, but she couldn’t see the lamplight from below ground either. She expected to find Tara reading or meditating in her crypt. Moving down the ladder and lighting a lamp, she noted some changes to the cavern. Obviously Tara had brought all her belongings from the dorm room and filled this space, making it her own. Willow felt a little sad that Tara was “living” here rather than with her again as she had always assumed that when Tara eventually left the dorm, she would be back with Willow. This setup seemed very wrong.

Getting a Coke from the mini-fridge that Tara had gotten for Willow’s convenience, the redhead investigated a little further and decided to wait for her lover to return. She was a little worried about Tara’s mood at the shop but she didn’t know what was wrong. Eventually she stretched out on Tara’s bed and relaxed.

“Shit, Fuck, Damn!” Tara cursed as she tripped over the bag in the doorway to her room. As Willow sat up in the bed, rubbing her eyes, Tara smiled, realizing her lover had set the bag there to alert her when Tara returned.

“Baby, is that you?” Willow called from the bed, not able to see as clearly as Tara could in the near-darkness.

“Yeah sweetie. It’s me. I did some p-p-patrol to work off some energy. It’s close to daybreak. Shouldn’t you be heading to c-c-class?” Tara stuttered from near the doorway.

Willow sat fully up in the bed staring at her lover. Finally she spoke, “What’s wrong? You were weird at the shop and now you’re really nervous. What’s up baby?”

“Nothing. I’m fine. Just having a weird night you know? Kind of jumpy.” Tara tried to brush the redhead off.

Willow moved from the bed towards Tara to calm the vampire. As she moved close enough to touch her, Tara turned toward the doorway. “Wait, don’t go. Please tell me what’s wrong. Baby you’re scaring me,” Willow pleaded.

“I can’t. Please go.” Tara was almost in tears as she choked out the plea.

Willow began to stroke Tara’s neck, “Baby, whatever it is, it’s ok. Just tell me. Tell me and then if you want, I’ll go, ok?”

Tara sat down on the floor of the crypt, still facing the doorway but taking Willow’s hand in her own. Willow sat down directly behind her lover so she could caress her hair. Whispering, the vampire explained, “I can s-s-smell you.”

“You can smell me. You can always smell me. You told me that your sense of smell is way…Oh. Oh, you can smell me.” Willow finally clued in.

“Yeah sweetie. I can smell you and I can’t control, I mean. My face. I really don’t want you to see me like this. Please go ok? You can come over in four days ok?” Tara was close to the point of tears again.

Willow leaned forward to cradle her lover from behind, stroking her hair as she spoke, “I love you baby.” Using her hands, on the side of Tara’s face, she gently turned the blonde to face her. “Now that’s a beautiful face, love,” she said, softly kissing her lover. Willow began running her tongue over Tara’s lips, darting her tongue quickly between them to tease Tara’s teeth. Slowing her movements, she ran her tongue over the vampire’s fangs, kissing and sucking each of them.

Willow whispered, “This is my body. This is my blood.” Feeling and hearing Tara growling with passion and hunger, Willow pressed her bottom lip against the tip of Tara’s fang, puncturing her own lip. Wincing for only a moment, she licked the drop of blood from her lip, spreading the blood over Tara’s lips with her tongue before plunging her tongue deeply into her lover’s mouth.

Tasting Willow’s blood once again, Tara was transported to a place of ecstasy and love, passion and hunger. In the last weeks, she had gotten used to the animal blood that she required for sustenance, but this taste exceeded any sustenance. This was Willow’s blood: the blood which gave her life, the blood of her eternal lover. Growling deeply, she pressed her body against Willow’s until the she completely covered the redhead’s body with her own. Willow whimpered with pleasure as she felt the strength and weight of her lover’s body on hers.

Fully in control now, Tara kissed Willow deeply while using her tongue to continue licking every drop of blood from her lips. She sucked at the small puncture hole, extracting a few more precious drops before abandoning that source completely. Driven by her need, she could no longer resist her lover’s body and the nourishment that it held. The vampire began kissing her way greedily down Willow’s neck and chest, popping buttons from her blouse as she went. Willow giggled as she felt the buttons pop and the material rip, “You are gonna owe me a new shirt baby.”

Tara pulled back for a second to grin at her excited lover: “I’m gonna owe you more than that.” She quickly bit through the bra strap, grazing the side of Willow’s breast with her teeth. Pressing her leg between Willow’s, she felt all her lover’s wetness and warmth as she took one nipple in her mouth. Sucking greedily, she quickly removed Willow’s skirt. Willow’s loud moaning was driving Tara almost as crazy as the even stronger scent of her blood, now mixed with the scent of her arousal. Feeling drunk and overwhelmed with the combination of sounds and smells, Tara slid down Willow’s body to place her face near her lover’s source. “Now I owe you a pair of panties,” she laughed as she ripped those the redhead was wearing from her body with her teeth.

“Oh God,” Willow moaned in response to her girlfriend’s aggressive move. She moaned even louder as Tara pressed her mouth to her center, entering her deeply with her tongue. Willow arched her back as Tara continued pressing her tongue against her lover’s G-spot, growling with hunger.

Slowing her movements, the blonde began to slowly lick Willow’s lips, drinking the mixed juices and blood. Tara experienced the ecstasy of drinking Willow’s blood. When she was turned she was not conscious and it was filtered through Spike’s body. But this time, she could fully appreciate and experience the merging of souls that such feeding entailed. As she licked and sucked hungrily at Willow’s sweet nectar, she felt everything that Willow felt. She knew and felt the merging of their two souls and felt Willow’s excitement and response.

This incredible connection flowed in both directions as Willow felt the perfection of this experience in her connection with Tara. Her arousal was further heightened by Tara’s hunger for her. Unable to hold back her response, Willow came powerfully and completely, bathing the vampire’s mouth in a flood of fresh blood. As Tara felt the warm liquid filling her mouth, she came in sympathy and connection with her soul mate, knowing that this moment was absolute perfection. As Willow’s vagina continued to clench and release, Tara lapped all remaining juices and blood from her lover. Rather than feeling separate climaxes, both women rode a series of growing waves of a continuous orgasm.

Slowing the movement, Tara lightly licked her lover as her face returned to its human appearance. As she did so, she realized that Willow had stopped stroking her head. In sheer bliss, she glanced up to see that Willow had fallen deeply asleep, exhausted from her powerful climaxes. She rose, gently lifting the redhead’s exhausted body and carrying it to the bed. Lying down next to her lover, she kissed her lips softly, whispering, “I love you Willow Rosenberg,” before placing her hand again on her lover’s center and losing herself in a deeply satisfied slumber.

Tara woke from a very peaceful slumber to find Willow looking lovingly at her and lightly running her fingers over the vampire’s body. “Good morning sleepyhead,” the redhead whispered, kissing Tara on the forehead.

“Hey, did I oversleep? What time is it? Don’t you have class?” Tara started slightly panicking about the time. She could see little beams of sunlight coming under the thick curtains in Willow’s room.

“Well, I got a walk in my 8:30 and don’t have class till 11:00. We uh, fell asleep so late that I guess I forgot to set the clock so now it’s 8:00.” Willow explained. Giving her best vixeny smirk, she continued, “I guess I get to keep you here as my prisoner all day.”

“Oh yeah? And what are you going to do with your prisoner?” Tara smirked back.

“Nothing I didn’t do for hours last night,” Willow continued the playful banter as both women came fully awake. She continued tracing her hand softly over Tara’s body, paying particular attention to the source of heat on Tara’s hip.

Tara noticed the attention Willow was paying to her tattoo: “So how’s the tat coming?”

“Cooler and cooler. Well, not cool, I mean it’s hot. I mean. Oh you know. But the design is becoming more and more intricate. I now count 53 crosses in the whole thing. Sorry about the burning baby. Also, I’m pretty sure there is an inscription now.”

“Well, it’s hard to say since its light, incomplete, and appears to be partially in Greek and partially in Latin, Sumerian, or maybe Aramaic,” Willow smiled as she explained. “Hey baby, this is a really extensive thing. How long did it take your mother to make it?”

Tara remembered lovingly the time spent with her mother: “Actually it was really great. She started it on my fourth birthday. I remember because she gave me a Winnie the Pooh book and we started reading it together. She taught me the letters while she started work on the tattoo. She told me it was a tradition for women in our family to get it and that it held great power and love. Eventually I learned to read and I would read to her while she worked on the design.”

As tears began to fall from Tara’s eyes, Willow took her lover’s face in her hands: “Baby, I’m so sorry that your mother is gone. I know you love her very much. I thank the Goddess everyday that she brought me you.”

“Yes, I know and I do love her. It’s just that when I think about it I can almost remember the feeling of her hand on my skin and the smell of her hair when she held me,” Tara explained.

“Well, I’m not sure. I was in middle school when she said that it was finished. So I guess what, seven years or so?” Tara reminisced lovingly about the time spent with her mother.

“Wow, that’s incredible. I mean my mother is alive but I’ve seen her like 15 minutes in the last year and your mother worked on this design for seven years. No wonder you miss her so terribly.” As Tara cried, Willow held her lover for a long time.

Finally Willow wondered out loud, “I am thinking of calling Giles. I thought maybe he could translate the inscription and find out what the deal is. What do you think?”

“W-w-well. Did you tell him about me yet? Did anyone? What do you think he will think? How will you ask him to translate the inscription?” Tara felt slightly worried about involving the former watcher and certainly if the watcher’s council wanted to get involved. After seeing how they were with Buffy and hearing about their treatment of Angel when he needed a cure, she didn’t really want to get involved with the group.

“Um. No, I didn’t tell him yet. Ok, confession time, I called him the day before yesterday but I got his machine. Is that ok?” Willow confessed.

“Sure sweetie. If you think it’s wise, it’s fine with me,” Tara answered.

Willow sat up in the bed before speaking, “Actually baby, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about. Well, something I wanted to ask. Well something I need to ask. Well, I mean.” Tara silenced her lover with a soft kiss on the lips.

“Ok. Better now. Thanks. Ok, here goes: well, you know I erased your memory and we fought and I did it again and that was bad and you left and I got over the magic and stuff and we had coffee and you came back and now we’re back together and that’s great and I love you and but…” Willow was rambling with no sign of stopping when Tara interrupted her, “Baby, what’s up?”

“Ok, well, do you want to go out on a date? I mean we skipped that step and it’s an important step and …” again Willow felt Tara’s soft lips on hers. Pulling back far enough to lean their foreheads together and look directly into her lover’s green-eyes, Tara answered, “Yes, I’d love to go on a date with you anytime. Ok, anytime after dark.”

“Great. Ok. Great. I love you baby.” Willow breathed a sigh of relief, kissing Tara hard before beginning to sit up. As Tara pulled the redhead back down she whispered, “I thought you wanted to make me your prisoner.”

Tara felt pretty comfortable on Willow’s bed. Willow had gone to her 11:00 class and had a lab in the afternoon so she would probably have the day alone until Dawn got home from school. That was fine with the blonde. She was reading a really great book and using the excuse of sunlight to have a very lazy day. This Sarah Waters can really write, she thought as she wondered where the novel was going exactly. The first of the novelist’s books, Tipping the Velvet was very good but this one, Affinity was truly amazing. Tara had started the book this morning and was considering reading it continuously until she finished it.

She was so absorbed in the novel that she didn’t at first identify the pounding she heard from downstairs. Realizing that someone was at the front door, she laughed to think about the visitor’s bad timing. Visiting the Summers house during day when the only occupant is a vampire isn’t going to help you buddy, she laughed to herself. Just then, she heard the door open.

“Hello. Buffy? Dawn? Willow? Tara?” Came the call from downstairs. Tara immediately recognized the male voice with the familiar English accent. Putting a bookmark in her book she moved to top of the stairs and called out, “Hi Mr. Giles, I didn’t hear you knocking. What are you doing here?”

“Oh well, I had to come anyway to sign some papers so when I got Willow’s message, I just continued here. How are you?”

“I’m fine. Uh, Buffy is probably at the shop or the Doublemeat and Will’s in class. Do you want some tea?” Tara asked nervously.

Giles looked intently at the blonde for a moment. “Yes, tea would be good. Are you going to have a tea with me or some blood?”

“Uh, I’ll just have Tea, I’ll go out for some more fresh blood later.” Tara came down the stairs to give the watcher a hug. “Sorry I’m kind of cold. Maybe I can give you another hug after I have a warm drink. It helps,” she apologized.

“That’s fine my dear. I expected you to be cold although I must say I didn’t expect you to be a vampire. Was anyone going to tell me? How did this happen? How are you? Wait. Let’s sit and have a drink and converse like civilized people.” Giles took Tara’s hand as they moved to the dining room. Entering the room first, he pulled the curtains tightly closed. “Ok?” he checked.

“Yes that’s fine. I’ll wait here so you won’t have to do the windows in the kitchen too,” she answered.

“So the your mother made the tattoo when you were a child and it’s growing more intricate and larger and it burns?” Giles was now caught up on the saga of Tara’s transformation and was very interested in the fact that she didn’t lose her soul.

“Yes, she made it from the time I was 4 till I was about 11. It was a Celtic cross with seven crosses around it but now it’s up to 53 crosses which all make up more Celtic crosses and it seems to have an inscription on it. I can’t really see the whole thing but Will’s keeping me updated.” Tara smiled a little embarrassed at the older gentleman. Even though everyone knew about her and Willow’s relationship, she could never tell if Giles fully approved.

“I take it Willow called me to try to decode it, to translate the inscription?” Giles surmised.

“Tara? Are you here?” Willow’s voice echoed through the house as she came quickly into the dining room. “Giles!” She quickly wrapped her arms around him to give him a warm embrace.

Tara interrupted the meeting, “Baby, we were just discussing the tattoo. You want Mr. Giles to translate the inscription right?”

“Ok, I missed some conversation obviously. Everything’s ok here?” Looking between Tara and Giles she felt relieved to see both smile and nod.

Looking at the lack of light coming around the curtains, Tara rose from the table. “You know I’m kind of stir crazy from being here all day. Why don’t I go and run an errand and meet back here or at the Magic Box?”

Willow moved to kiss her girlfriend before Tara headed out. “Ok, see you at the Magic Box later? I love you.”

“Thanks for coming Mr. Giles. I love you too Will,” Tara agreed, kissing her lover and heading out the door.

Tara had gotten very used to waking up alone. Glancing around the crypt, she felt sure that the sun was almost down and that it was time to greet the night. Smiling, she picked up her “vampire” clothes: the leather pants and silk cammy that Spike brought her the first day. It felt like a night for the sexy costume and she certainly filled out the attire well.

Spike was sitting in a chair drinking whiskey and smoking a cigarette when as Tara entered the upper crypt. As she had detected, it was nightfall and time to see what was happening in Sunnydale.

Taking another long drink from his bottle, Spike held out a crisp crème-colored envelope: “Red was here. She said to give this to you before you went out.”

Tara took the envelope, thanking the bleached-vampire and shaking her head to decline a drink from the bottle. The envelope had the single word: “Tara” written in it in Willow’s hand and was sealed. Before Tara could open the note, she heard Spike’s slightly slurred speech.

“Yeah, she was looking a little less pale than last week, like she got a little topped off.” He sniggered at Tara, taking yet another drink.

“I said, she looked bit more rosy than last week. She was looking a few quarts down I noticed. Been tapping the maple tree huh? Getting your dinner delivered?” Spike waited for an answer that would allow him to continue living vicariously.

Laughing, he responded, “It’s not like you’re the first vamp to have a pet. I mean who could resist a little of that sweet meat? Oh, let me tell you, I had some and it was sweet.” Noting Tara’s anger rising, Spike continued nonetheless: “Or are you her pet?” Taking another drink and a long drag on his smoke, he went in for the kill, “Selfish though you know. You could share the wealth a little.” He flashed a long lecherous grin at the witch.

Recovering from her shock, Tara walked slowly across the crypt to where Spike sat. She spoke slowly and carefully, “Spike, in the last few years you’ve saved us and our friends a lot of times. And you’re my sire. So I’m going to walk out of here now. Don’t follow me.” Striding toward the door, she looked back once, looking him in the eye: “You’re a pig.”

Tara calmed down as she walked through the cemetery. After a few minutes, she sat on a headstone to open the envelope. She felt filled with excitement about this note. Finding a single sheet of note paper inside, she read the words: “Meet me where we had the Strawberry Picnic.” Beginning to walk toward the familiar site, she remembered the Strawberry Picnic:

Tara had returned to her room exhausted, mentally and physically. She was ready to sleep for 24 hours maybe eating when she awoke. In one of those occurrences like the full moon falling on the Solstice, she had a major project due just hours before a midterm in Art History. Having not slept in 2 days or even taken a meal break in the last day, she had completed the project and felt sure of acing the test, but now needed nothing so much as sleep.

Just as she collapsed on the bed, a knocking came from the door. Groaning, she dragged herself to the door to find Willow standing on the other side. “Hi. I know you’ve been studying and haven’t eaten so I thought I’d reward you for your hard work. How about coming with me?” Tara noted the picnic basket held by Willow’s side. Ignoring her exhaustion, she smiled and agreed eagerly. Pulling the door closed, the two girls started out of the dorm.

“Really well, I think I aced the test and the project is awesome. I’m really proud of it,” Tara answered honestly. The lack of sleep and food put Tara in a kind of trance as they walked across the campus in the bright sunlight. At times the two girls talked about classes or witchcraft. Occasionally, their hands or shoulders bumped as they walked and Tara felt an electric jolt through her entire body.

Tara hadn’t even noted where they went but as Willow pulled to a stop, she looked around to find that they were under the branches of an enormous Oak tree. Willow spread the blanket near the base of the tree and indicated that Tara should sit. “Ok,” she explained, “I know that you didn’t eat lunch or breakfast so I tried to bring some stuff to give you some nutrition.” She pulled various containers from the basket, naming each: “brie and cheddar, French loaf, carrots, grapes, and best of all, red ripe strawberries.” At the last, she pulled an overflowing basket of the red fruit, setting them between the girls. She smiled as she pulled some bottles of fruit juice from the basket: “I was going to get you drunk and take advantage of you but the guy who lives in the box in front of the package store was asleep so I got these.”

Tara was too shocked to respond immediately; obviously the redhead was just teasing, but it took her breath away. Taking a deep breath, she assessed the spread: “That’s p-p-probably best since I haven’t had anything to eat in 24 hours. I’d be very e-e-easy. I mean very e-e-easy to get drunk. This looks w-w-wonderful.” As she spoke and stumbled, she reddened and looked at her hands in her lap.

Willow leaned across to touch Tara softly on the chin, lifting it to look her in the eye: “Then let’s eat ok?” she asked gently. Tara nodded and took the bread and cheese the redhead offered.

The girls stayed on the blanket as the day turned brighter and darker. Not dark enough to offer any danger but for hours they nibbled and visited: telling stories and dreams from their pasts and future. Toward the end of the daylight hours, Tara reached for a strawberry. She wasn’t looking and didn’t notice Willow reaching for the same berry. As they fingers touched, Tara felt the magical connection that she always felt with Willow but something was different this time. Looking at Willow, she realized that this time, Willow felt it too. The redhead gasped as the intimacy of the connection hit her for the first time. Tara pulled away, laughing, “I guess we both wanted the same berry. Sorry, you can have it.”

Willow looked intently into Tara’s blue eyes: “Let’s share it.” Holding Tara’s gaze, she slowly ran the berry over her lips and teeth. As Tara stared, transfixed, Willow softly and slowly bit half the meat of the berry and chewed it, allowing a drop of red juice to run down her chin. Continuing to hold the blonde’s eye contact, she held it to her soft lips, urging Tara to open her mouth by brushing it lightly over the tips. Neither woman could breathe as Tara eased her lips apart, allowing Willow to press the berry between them, brushing her fingertips against Tara’s lower lips as she withdrew her hand. Their eyes echoing the passionate connection, both women exhaled slowly.

Just before sunset the two women finished taking turns feeding each other the berries, the intensity of their gaze never diminishing.

Tara crested the hill to reach the Oak Tree, a dreamy smile on her face, and noted the care Willow had taken to set up this picnic. Again the blanket was spread under the beautiful tree, but illuminated in the darkness. Somehow she had enchanted fireflies to hover near the blanket. Before Tara could express any disappointment over her lover’s use of magic, Willow smiled, “I didn’t do the spell. Dawn did. I’m working with her on drawing her magical energy from the magnetic lines.”

“Baby, I’m glad that you’re working with her on her magic,” Tara reassured her as she kissed the redhead, sitting cross-legged on the blanked. “I was reminiscing about the Strawberry Picnic all the way over here,” she smiled.

Willow began to draw food from the basket: “I dreamed about it last night. I’ll never forget the softness of your lips and the blue of your eyes as I touched them for the first time. I think I already knew I loved you but that was the first time I knew I wanted you too.”

Lightening the mood slightly, Willow began to explain the Picnic spread: “Ok, it’s kind of a weird picnic I guess. We have grilled salmon, rice, broccoli, French bread, cheese, strawberries (of course), licorice, and wine. This time I could get it myself. Also a jug of Ken’s finest which I warmed a little and kept in this thermos.”

Still uncomfortable about feeding in front of her lover, Tara picked up the thermos: “Give me a minute ok?” She walked a few yards away, turning her back to drain the thermos. Having learned much greater control over her features, she turned back seconds later, licking a few remaining drops of blood from her human lips.

Both women began to eat the wonderful spread with their fingers, frequently feeding the other a particularly tasty morsel. They discussed Willow’s school and details about what was happening at the Summers house and Giles’ visit. A few days earlier, Willow had hacked the UC Sunnydale system to withdraw Tara from her classes and dorm, getting the refund for the remainder of the semester direct deposited into their joint checking account.

As the two women finished eating, Willow poured a glass of the dark red wine. Lifting it, she moved across the blanket. Seductively she kneeled straddling her lover, holding the crystal wine stem to the Blonde’s lips: “Would you like a drink baby?”

More than a little distracted by Willow’s position, a position made even more attention grabbing by the realization that Willow was wearing a short skirt with no panties, Tara swallowed quickly, “Um. Uh. Yes, please.” She squeaked the last bit out. As Willow tipped the glass to her lips, she took first a small and then a larger sip, staring hard into Willow’s green eyes.

Closing her eyes for a moment to center her energy, the vampire addressed her lover: “Sweetie. This is very special wine.”

Again tipping the glass to Tara’s lips, Willow slowly removed the glass and leaned forward to whisper in the blonde’s ear. “I thought you might like it a little special. A quick cut behind the knee and my blood just poured into the bottle. It made little splashes in the wine as it fell.” She punctuated this disclosure by flicking her tongue across the edge of her lover’s ear, eliciting a deep growl from the vampire. Before serving her lover a drink of this very rare Willow wine, the redhead pulled Tara’s hand under her skirt and between her legs. Pressing her center forward to touch the soft fingers, she informed her lover, “It’s been a long day without you, thinking about the Strawberry picnic and about feeding you this wine.”

“I can tell,” Tara observed slyly, running her fingers along her lover’s wet lips, “It feels like you really missed me.” Kissing the redhead deeply, Tara could no longer resist the wet warm opening as she drove two fingers into that waiting valley, hearing Willow cry out. Wanting to check in, she quested, “That was a good scream right baby?”

Struck by a new idea, Tara broke the kiss for a moment: “Are you teaching Dawn about the power of the trees baby?” As she said this she stood, lifting Willow with her and carrying her to press against the trunk of the massive oak.

Feeling Tara’s power and strength Willow could barely answer, “Not like this. Teach me baby.” She drove her tongue into Tara’s mouth in response to the thrusting of Tara’s fingers into her depths. Willow knew that Tara fully supported her weight. Completely in Tara’s control, she screamed out as Tara pressed another finger deeply into her. After a few short minutes, burying her face in the blonde’s neck, Willow bit down hard to muffle her scream as she came in a shuddering climax.

As Willow’s breathing slowed, Tara placed small kisses along the side of her neck, teasing, “Hey baby, you don’t want to bite too hard with those little baby teeth. If you need to break the skin, you can always use mine.” Staring deeply into each other’s eyes, neither woman was entirely sure what part of the last statement was serious and what part was a joke.

Recovered at last, Willow indicated the picnic supplies, “Baby, how about I clean up this stuff and you disperse the fireflies. Then we can go back to your place to continue this date?”

Tara waved her hand, “Dispersio! But actually let’s go back to your place. It might be a little more friendly tonight.” She grasped the picnic basket in one hand as Willow slipped her hand in Tara’s other. Willow continued giving the blonde sips from the wine bottle as they quietly moved toward the Summers house.

Tara smiled as she identified Dawn’s voice echoing throughout the large crypt. She called out to the young girl as she placed a bookmark in her book and set it on her bed before moving toward the ladder: “I’m downstairs. I’ll be up in a minute.”

Climbing up the ladder, she saw Dawn sitting in Spike’s TV chair, her coat thrown over the arm of the chair and her backpack at her feet. “So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your presence?” she teased the youngster.

“Can’t I just come see you because I wanted to see where you live? Well ok, not live? But unlive or whatever? I mean I haven’t been here since you moved in with Spike and maybe I just wanted to see the place,” Dawn stammered through her answer. As Tara smiled and fixed her with a look the teen spoke again, “Ok. I have a history paper due tomorrow and wanted to see if you can help me with it. Willow’s working on something and Buffy sucks at schoolwork,” she smiled.

“Of course I can help you. Do you have your stuff or do we need to go to the library later?” Tara asked.

Dawn indicated her backpack, “I have it here – a rough draft and copy of the assignment. It’s on the history of Sunnydale and how that history might differ from that of other places. Understatement huh?”

Tara gave Dawn a quick hug as she picked up her backpack and started toward the ladder: “Come on. We can work downstairs for while. Do Buffy and Will know you’re here?”

As Dawn started after the blonde, she answered, “Yeah. They said you can walk me home after dark or I need to leave before dark if you’re busy. But they both wanted to see you anyway so why don’t you come for dinner? Well, I mean dinnertime. Hey, where’s Spike?”

Tara stopped at the top of the ladder: “Yes, I’ll walk you home and have dinner. And I don’t know where Spike is. He kind of pissed me off a few days ago and I told him off and haven’t seen him since.”

“Oh,” Dawn suddenly remembered, “Mr. Giles said he wants to look at your tattoo tomorrow so can you either stay at our place or can he come over here?”

“Sure. I think I can probably find some motivation to stay at your place,” Tara smiled. “That way, if he wants to sketch it or whatever he can. Actually I need to talk to him about it. It seems to be cooling and stopping growing.”

Still at the top of the ladder Dawn agreed, “That’s cool. No pun intended, you know. Hey, it’s kind of dark. Can you make some light?”

Tara smiled at the young girl: “Actually why don’t you? I know that you did the lights for Willow’s and my date last week. Did you use herbs or an incantation?”

A bright smile lit up Dawn’s features as she remembered the spell, “Both. First I sprinkled some herbs on the ground, then incanted each spot of light. Willow said that would lend focus.

“Yes, she’s right. That does add focus. The problem is what if you need light and you don’t have the time to put out the herbs? Or don’t have the herbs?” Tara questioned. As Dawn gave her a curious look, Tara explained further, “Here’s what I want you to do. Get a picture in your mind of the space that you want to light. Then imagine the power that comes through you from the magnetic lines in the earth. That power runs through every living thing and even inanimate objects. Feel that power as it comes through you. Know that even if it is dark where you are, there is light outside or on the other side of the earth. Place the power that makes that light into the space that you want to illuminate. You may want to close your eyes the first time.” Smiling at the youngster, she nodded, indicating that Dawn could begin.

Tara felt very impressed and proud of her friend as she had no sooner closed her eyes than the passageway began to be filled with a soft light. Sensing the light, Dawn opened her eyes and hugged Tara. The light began to grow stronger and stronger as her excitement at completing the spell grew. Softly the older woman placed a cool hand on Dawn’s shoulder: “You are still connected to the light and your excitement is causing it to be inconsistent. Release the light so that it can exist on its own.”

Dawn was about to ask how when she realized that she had already done what Tara had described just by questioning how. Both girls smiled as they started down the ladder to Tara’s room to get some work done on that history assignment.

As Dawn entered the Summers’ house, she immediately was greeted by her sister and Willow at the door: “Where’s Tara?,” both women asked simultaneously.

“Oh, she said she needed to run an errand and she’d be here in a few. She walked me to the door,” Dawn explained. No one needed more explanation that Tara was going over to visit her new “friend” Ken.

“Ok. Did you get some work done on your history paper Dawnie?” Willow asked.

“Yeah. I’m done with it. Also, I did a lighting spell to go down the ladder at Tara’s.” Dawn described the spell and how she had controlled it and how it felt different from the last time. Continuing on the subject of the crypt needing light, she commented, “You know that place is pretty creepy sometimes. I mean she lives in a crypt. That’s like a grave. A place with dead bodies.”

Tara laughed as she entered the house, “Actually sweetie, this is a place with a dead body now. You know? Me.”

Dawn tried to backpeddle from her faux pax as Tara and Willow kissed, “I didn’t mean. I mean. I …oh forget it, I’m going to wash up for dinner.” Dawn left the room as Tara and Willow continued their embrace.

“So I heard there was an invitation for me to stay here tonight and tomorrow. Any special motivation?” Tara leered at her lover.

“I think we can find something to keep you busy this evening, Miss Maclay,” Willow smirked back running her tongue over her lover’s lips.

Buffy’s voice from the kitchen brought both women’s attention back to the present: “HEY everyone, dinner’s getting cold. Get in here.”

The light from the full moon bathed the witches’ bodies in light as they cuddled in the bed. Both were lying fully satisfied and relaxed, smelling their scents mixed in the air of the room and running their fingertips over skin and hair.

“The moonlight is wonderful but let’s set an alarm in case we fall asleep and forget to close the curtains baby,” Tara suggested.

“Of course.” Willow leaned to turn on the alarm as she continued running her fingers over the skin of Tara’s hip. “Hey,” she commented, “the tattoo is not so hot.”

Willow bent to look closely at the design. “Wow, it’s so beautiful. I can’t believe your mother did this. I count 76 crosses now and the inscription winds through the whole thing.”

Willow laughed as she started tickling the vampire: “It says Giles will have to translate this because I don’t even know what language this is.” Soon the tickling led to other activities involving fingers and skin and laughter and shaking.

Tara’s bright face lit up as her smile widened with her mother’s praise for her efforts. This was the best part of the day to the young girl. As the sun faded to darkness, they shared their special time every evening. Tara read from the book which her mother had given her on her seventh birthday. Some days her mother would sit behind the youngster on the bed, brushing out her long blond hair over and over again. Both mother and daughter reveled in the closeness and intimacy of this shared time.

Other times, she carefully crafted the intricate design on her daughter’s hip. Tara felt herself slip into a dream-like state as her mother worked the ink into her skin.

Once the young girl asked her mother to show her how to make the tattoo: “Mama, can you show me how to make that design?”

“My darling, when I am older I will show you everything you need to know. Then one day you will do this with your daughter, just as my mother did for me.” Finishing the needling for the evening, Tara’s mother reached for the healing salve and began to slowly work it over and into her daughter’s delicate skin. As Tara faded into slumber, she was aware only of the soft comforting touch of her mother’s skin on hers, cooling the burning sensation.

Tara felt the continued soft stroking of her skin as she woke from her peaceful slumber. The tattoo still burned slightly but it had cooled significantly since the night before. That healing salve and her mother’s attention really did make the healing process much faster.

Willow laughed low and quiet, whispering in her lover’s ear, “I’m glad it feels nice baby but when did I get a new pet name?”

Tara’s eyes flew open as her hand instinctively grabbed for the one on her hip, forgetting her strength and speed until she heard Willow’s gasp. “Oh God, I’m sorry,” She quickly apologized, dropping Willow’s hand entirely. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah, fine, you just scared me. It’s fine.” Willow assured her. “Are you ok?”

Tara bit her lip looking around the room and having difficulty getting her bearings in the total darkness. “Mama. She was working on my tattoo. She finished and was rubbing it to help it heal and not hurt so much. I fell asleep while she was rubbing it. It’s really dark in here.”

Willow softly took her lover’s hand, “Baby, you can see in the darkness. Focus on me for a minute. I can turn on the reading lamp if you want.” Petting her lover’s hand and beginning to stroke her hair, she spoke again, “You had a dream baby. I was stroking the tattoo to feel the difference in the temperature. You thought it was her.”

“Yeah baby, a dream. You’re here at home with me,” Willow reassured her lover as she continued stroking the blonde hair.

“N-n-o. Not the hair. Well I love that too. But that’s not it. ‘Home.’” Tara explained quietly.

Willow smiled, knowing that her lover could see her in the darkness: “Home baby. Yours, mine, ours. I want you back here whenever you are ready. I always want to be with you. I love you.”

Tara leaned in to softly brush her lips against her lover’s. As she pulled back, opening her mouth to speak, both women heard a loud pounding at the door: “Hey guys, Giles is here. He’s been waiting for 15 minutes and I have to go to work. He’s having tea.”

Kissing the redhead again, Tara whispered, “Let’s come back to this conversation later sweetie. Would you go and tell him I need 10 minutes to take a shower?” Tara moved toward the bathroom as Willow dressed quickly to pass on the blonde’s message, both women leaving the conversation atop the waiting bed.

The gang gathered at the Magic Box that night according to Giles’ request. The watcher had spent the first few hours of the day copying and sketching Tara’s tattoo. The later part he spent working on translating the inscription and researching its meaning. Now everyone but Tara was sitting at the shop awaiting his news. As the sun had just set, all present knew that it would be maybe another half hour before she made her nightly stop and then came. Of course, she was as expectant to learn what Giles had discovered as anyone, probably more so.

While all the Scoobies were satisfied that Tara had not lost her soul and turned evil, and obviously that she wasn’t subject to the “one moment of happiness” clause of Angel’s soulfulness, they were extremely curious as to the reason.

An observer could cut the tension in the shop with a knife as Tara finally entered. She looked very nervous, making eye contact only with Willow as she kissed her lover and sat beside her.

While Tara and the others intently studied their fascinating footwear, Dawn made her way across the room. As she reached Tara, she spoke, “Hi Tara. Thanks for the help on my paper. I turned it in this morning.” As Tara looked up and smiled at her, she leaned down, giving the blonde a heartfelt hug. Everyone released a long breath as Tara answered, “Y-y-your welcome D-d-dawnie. Thanks,” before Dawn sat on the floor in front of the two witches.

“Ok,” Giles began. “There’s no reason to beat around the bush as you American say. I found out quite a bit today about the tattoo and its meaning. I must say, I was quite surprised by most of what I learned. I would guess that the design is currently complete. You say that it began with seven crosses. It now contains 76 crosses and the inscription. Parts of the inscription appear to be obscured or incomplete.”

“Anya, I do not appreciate your interruptions. If we are boring you, you are welcome to go for a walk or sleep or whatever you would like,” Giles answered briskly. “As I was saying, the inscription is written in Greek, Latin, and Aramaic.” Turning to Tara he noted, “It appears that your mother did a beautiful and obviously thorough job on the tattoo.” Continuing he explained, “The inscription is roughly translated:

76 Crosses for the 76th daughter
Banish the spirit conquered by our mother
Protection given by love, enforced by power

Waiting for the depth of the words to sink in, Giles looked around the magic box. Tara took an unnecessary breath as she processed the meaning of the words. “S-s-o it is the tattoo. It kept out the D-d-demon?”

Giles proceeded carefully, “Well, yes. Um as we know, your family believed the women in your family to be demons or at least used this myth to keep them in line. It seems that your mother believed this story also and gave you to the tattoo to keep the demon from taking hold. If as you say, her mother gave her the design, then the demon would never have taken hold with her either.”

“B-b-but. Dad said it did. I mean. He s-s-aid she became a demon at age 20. That that’s where she got the magic.” Willow took Tara’s hand as her lover visibly shook.

“I’m sorry. I know he did. It appears that the women in your family had long been creating these designs to keep the demon out. I would venture that this is exactly the reason that you have kept your soul.” He waited a beat before continuing. “There’s more.”

The watcher took a deep breath before continuing: “I remembered a myth I had read years ago in a watcher’s diary. I reread it today.” Turning to Tara again, he asked, “Tara, have you ever heard of Abigail the protector?”

“N-n-o. Someone from the watcher’s diaries?” Everyone in the room had noticed how much worse the blonde’s stutter was tonight and knew that she was very nervous about what they were all learning.

“According to the watcher’s diary, around 483AD a witch named Abigail battled vampires and demons and earned the nickname Abigail the protector. There were rumors that in addition to great physical strength, she also possessed precognitive and telekinetic abilities. At age 19, she battled a demon called Kaltrek. She was 7 months pregnant at the time. To defeat the demon, she not only had to physically slay it, but absorb the demon’s essence through a conduit, a living organism. She absorbed the essence into her own body.”

Quiet until now, Xander interrupted, “Wait a minute. This is fascinating but what does this have to do with Tara and why is it in the watcher’s diary?”

As all in the room looked to Giles for an answer, Dawn spoke, “Abigail was a slayer…and Tara’s ancestor. Right?”

“Yes Dawn,” Giles nodded. “Very good. Abigail was a slayer. Because she had absorbed the demon’s essence, she feared for her unborn child. With her watcher, she designed a tattoo which would keep the beast from emerging in the daughter’s maturity. It would appear that that design featured one cross. Now 76 generations later, Tara bears 76 crosses to continue to protect her from the legacy of her ancestor.”

“Before you get too wowed, there’s a little more,” Giles indicated. “Abigail combined the powers of a slayer with magic. As I said, she had precognitive abilities. She and her watcher had parallel dreams. Her line would continue as we know by Tara’s presence. The 77th would be another slayer: the ‘proximus 2000 anos.’” Looking toward Dawn he prompted, “Dawn want to be 2 for 2?”

The young girl whispered, “Tara’s daughter would be the first slayer born in the new millennium. Closest to the 2000 years?”

Everyone in the shop was quiet for a long time, not making eye contact or speaking. They pondered the meaning of this revelation. First was the role of Fate in their lives. Was Tara truly supposed to mother a new kind of more powerful slayer for the new millennium? Had Willow stopped Fate by having her changed? What would happen now that the prophecy was obviously changed?

As they sat pondering the meaning of all this, Tara noted the growing light in the sky. Giles had talked and explained the night away and dawn was coming. She quickly rose, releasing Willow’s hand and moving toward Mr. Giles. “Thank you Mr. Giles for your research. Thanks for telling us this.” Before he could say a word, she was gone from the shop as the others continued their deep contemplation. Eventually everyone fell asleep, went to work, or went home to prepare for the day.

Giles called out before opening the door to the crypt to avoid surprising either of the potential occupants with a slash of sunlight across the crypt floor. Entering quickly, he closed the door to find Tara obviously awaiting his arrival.

He sat across from the woman before speaking, “Good. We need to talk. Where’s your daughter?”

“Dawn was very close on the translation. Actually she got the translation right but the interpretation wrong. The 77th is the slayer born closest to the millennium but not the first of the new, the last of the old.” He let the words sink in for a moment. “I noticed that you didn’t correct her assumption.”

“Since you have been here all day, I will tell you that Willow is extremely upset. She believes that when she had you, well, sired, she interfered with Fate, that you will never bear any child and especially the mythical 77th.” Giles said these words not intending to hurt Tara but simply meaning to let her know what had been happening throughout the day as she stayed in her crypt.

“Yes. I’m sure that she is. We had talked before about having children together. I mean someday and she was always really clear that she meant someday. So obviously when I became what I am, she would assume that I would never have our child.” Tara looked at the floor as she spoke.

After a few minutes, Tara looked up again. “Let me get that tea. Something tells me we may be talking for a while.”

Attempting the same level of hospitality Giles responded, “Yes Please. Do you need to go out first?”

“N-n-no. I’d rather talk first. I can go later.” Tara prepared a cup for both herself and the watcher, bringing the entire pot to the table. As both took a drink from their teas, savoring the flavor, she spoke quietly, “She’s at my aunt’s.”

“Yes. When was the last time you saw her?” he prompted. Giles would have preferred for the young woman to tell him the details without his having to ask these questions, but it as obvious to him that she felt uncomfortable.

Giles showed obvious surprise at Tara’s answer: “Two weeks ago? You see her regularly? I mean …” He trailed off at the end.

Tara took a deep unnecessary breath, to steel herself before explaining. “I don’t know what you know about the time while you were gone. You left the night of Willow’s Tabula Rasa spell.” Giles nodded but did not speak. “I did too. I mean I left Willow. Understand I loved her more than I ever knew I could love anyone or anything, well, except my daughter, but it was the second time.” As tears started to slowly pool in her clear blue eyes, she continued, “I moved out that night. Although I had some stuff at the dorm, I really lived at my aunt’s until just before I was shot.”

Tara smiled as she thought of her daughter, “Tabitha Rose Maclay.” Placing her finger on her nose she wrinkled it back and forth and laughed lightly.

“That’s a very pretty name,” the watcher answered, apparently unaware of the reference.

“Thank you. My mother’s name was Rose. She died about a year before Tabitha was born.”

Giles looked down as he spoke next, “I don’t mean to pry or bring up painful subjects, but…The myth had more details.”

Tara looked worriedly at him as he continued. “Basically, the power of the 77th will come from the grafting of two branches of the same tree.” He left the statement hanging in the air.

“For as many generations as anyone can remember, the women in my family have had only one daughter although they might have more sons. But there has always been one and only one daughter.” She spoke without any trace of stutter now. “Until my grandmother. My grandmother had twins: my mother and my Aunt April. My mother had me as well as my older brother Donnie; you met him.” The watcher nodded, allowing the memory of his one encounter with Tara’s family to cloud his features.

“My aunt had only a son, no daughter. Timothy is a year older than me. While Donnie had no magical ability, Timothy did. Not a great deal of power, but a good amount for a boy. He, he, he had enough power…He…”

Giles reached for the young woman’s hand as she continued. “I had Tabitha just before my 18th birthday. I should have started college that year but it was impossible. I finished high school with the last few months of home schooling. Tabitha was born in September, 1998. My father had kicked me out months earlier and I lived at my aunt’s. She never asked for any details about my condition and I never offered any.”

The tears which earlier pooled in Tara’s blue eyes no longer pooled there but poured down her face as she told this story for the first time. While it caused her pain to reveal the information, she feared knowing that she was going to have to repeat it soon to Willow and possibly others. She feared Willow’s reaction to being lied to for all this time.

“As you know, my family expected that I would return home at age 20, that when the demon manifested, I would need to be with them. So when I left, we believed that it would be for a year only. Although I have been gone longer, I’ve never gone more than three weeks without a visit.” As she got a loving and proud look on her face, she described her jewel, “She’s spectacular: smart, funny, joyful. She loves to sing or dance and tell stories. And she has much more powerful magic than I do. She’s powerful like my mother and Willow, maybe more so.”

Tara rose to make more tea as the conversation had continued for hours. The two spoke quietly for a long time regarding the myth and Tara’s daughter. Finally Giles asked, “Do you plan to have Tabitha with you?”

Again tears appeared in Tara’s eyes. “I want her with me more than anything. These last few months when I was living with April and Tabitha have been wonderful. I have missed Willow and Dawn but being with Tabitha every day was incredible. When I returned to Will, I didn’t plan to stay with her. I planned to continue living with my other family. But… and …well, now here I am in a crypt and I’ve visited in the evenings as often as I can.”

Tara explained further, “My aunt realized what had happened when I was turned immediately. She was the one who suggested the tattoo to me. Of course, she knows much better than I the meaning of it. I assume she has been planning on showing me how to make it for Tabitha or maybe she has been planning to do it herself. She never needed to use her knowledge of course. Tabitha doesn’t know that I’m a vampire yet.”

“Willow really wants me to move back in with her and Buffy and Dawn. She mentioned it yesterday. But I want Tabitha with me. Now that I’ve been with her again after years, I don’t want to give that up. I don’t know what to do.” As she spoke, Tara resumed crying. This time Giles wrapped the witch in his arms and held her as she cried.

Just as Tara was regaining her control, Willow entered the crypt. Knowing that she was intruding, she nonetheless wanted to be with her love and be the one to comfort her. After a few awkward moments, Giles excused himself. As he and Tara hugged at the door, he whispered in her ear, “We can talk further later.”

As she turned from the watcher, Tara felt herself immediately wrapped in Willow’s arms. “Oh baby,” she said, “I’m so sorry. It’s my fault that I didn’t have enough faith. I should have trusted that you would have been fine after the shooting. But I panicked and now you’re a vampire and we’ll never have kids and I ruined the prophecy and …” Willow was quickly nearing the point of panic. After nearing that point, she rushed right past it. She broke down completely, falling to her knees. She sobbed and murmured inconsolably: “I killed you. I ruined the prophecy. You would have lived. I eliminated the slayer when I had you turned…” and on and on and on. Tara held her lover as she cried inconsolably. As it became apparent that this would go on for a while, Tara rose, cradling Willow in her arms. She walked softly through the crypt to the ladder, dropping effortlessly to the floor below, still holding Willow’s sobbing form. She laid Willow on the bed and wrapped her body around the redhead’s.

Eventually Willow’s regained control of her emotions. She looked at her lover, stroking Tara’s face. “I’m so sorry baby for everything I did. I can’t take it back but I wish I could.”

Tara touched a fingertip softly to Willow’s lips quieting her lover. She moved to the dresser removing something from the top drawer and bringing it with her back to the bed. “Sweetie, I need to show you something,” she said holding out the object she had taken from the dresser.

Willow took the frame from Tara’s hand silently. It was a tri-fold wooden frame holding three pictures. As Tara sat down again by Willow, the redhead ran her fingertips over the three images. The first image showed a baby of about six months old. The baby had blond hair and beautiful blue eyes and appeared to be laughing. The second picture showed the same girl at about three years old. The girl held her hands palm up at the bottom of the picture frame. Floating above her hands were a teddy bear, a sippie cup, and a red crayon. The look on the girl’s face was absolute joy. The third picture showed the girl sitting atop a black horse. Standing by the horse was an older woman displaying the same blonde hair with similar features.

“Oh baby,” Willow said taking Tara’s hand, “I know you have been thinking about your mother a lot and your childhood with all this talk of the tattoo. I know how hard it is on you.” She looked toward the floor before continuing, “Um, I’ve seen these before, I mean some pictures from this frame. I was looking for a purple pen for my notes in your desk once because I only had blue and green and red and found this frame. I, I didn’t bring it up because I know how you don’t like to talk about your mom.” Willow stroked Tara’s hand throughout her confession and kissed her softly on the cheek.

Tara spoke clearly: “Baby.” She waited for Willow to look at her. “T-t-that’s not me and my mom.” As Willow looked at her completely dumbfounded, she continued, “That’s my daughter, and my aunt.” She waited for the explosion that she knew was coming.

Willow looked intently at her lover, realizing that the shock of the day was too much for her. She spoke very slowly and softly, tracing her thumb on the blonde’s jawbone: “My love, you don’t have a daughter. I know you are upset about the tattoo and the myth but you have never had a baby.”

Tara silently reached under the mattress, bringing up another picture frame. “Yes sweetie, I do,” she whispered, handing Willow the image of herself holding the young girl. “That’s my daughter, Tabitha Rose Maclay.”

Willow looked from the picture to the woman she loved to the images in the frame to Tara. The truth was unmistakable to her. She stared in shocked in silence as both women sat unmoving on the bed.

Willow’s voice was quiet, hurt, and angry, “Wh? Wh? How? I mean…Three years…Three years…you never…and you said and …” She took a deep breath to steady herself, speaking very slowly and carefully, her anger apparent through her words, “We’ve been together for three years. We’ve shared everything. You never told me. And you said. You said. You said that I was your only…Your only.”

Tara kneeled on the floor in front of her lover, “Baby, you are my only. I have never made love with anyone but you.” As she raised Willow’s face to force her to make eye contact she emphasized, “Never.”

Willow shook off the contact with Tara, screaming, “Then how in the frilly heck do you explain this?” She waved the pictures at the blond. “Huh? You have a daughter you forgot to mention in the last thousand days? You had a virgin birth? She’s the second coming? Remember ‘I am you know, what? Yours?’ Ring a bell? What the fucking hell?” With the last, she threw the frame against the wall of the crypt, shattering the glass and wood on impact. Tara winced not from the breakage but from Willow’s anger. Although expected, it was nonetheless powerful and dangerous. As Tara watched, a black color seemed to creep into her lover’s eyes, replacing the beautiful green she was used to. She took Willow’s hands in her own once again, “Baby, let me try to explain ok?”

Feeling the soothing cool of Tara’s hands on hers, Willow took a deep breath. Speaking tensely as the green seeped back into her irises, she answered, “Yes, I think I would like that. Starting talking.”

“Do you trust me love?” Tara asked quietly. As Willow nodded, Tara placed her right thumb print softly between her lover’s eyebrows. Her left hand she placed over Willow’s heart, locking eye contact before Willow slowly closed her eyes.

Willow opened her eyes to find herself standing alone in a dark room. As she looked around, she noted that it was not a room at all but rather a space and that although it appeared dark, she felt no fear and could see clearly as though the room were illuminated by light. Looking to the right, she marveled as a scene began to fill her vision. She stood at the edge of a bedroom, sparsely furnished with a bed, dresser, mirror, bookcase, and desk. Sunlight streamed through the window as light faded from the evening sky. The bookshelf contained both picture frames and thick bound volumes. She knew instinctively that some of these books contained magic. Turning, she realized that a young woman sat at the desk concentrating on her homework. Her head was bowed toward the book and the notebook in which she was taking notes. On the desk sat a vase with three roses. Tara did not seem to realize that she had a visitor.

Both women turned toward the door as they heard a knock. “Come in,” the blonde said. Willow looked toward the dorm room door to see Spike enter, angry and wearing his black trenchcoat. She felt fear and anger at herself for being so careless. She had been lying on her bed, feeling sorry for herself after Oz left and listening to music. “Never invite a vampire in!” she thought too late. Wait, no. It wasn’t Spike at this door; it was a young man, very good looking with blonde hair and blue eyes.

“T-t-timothy, w-w-what are you doing here?” Tara asked as Spike locked the door to the dorm room behind him. “Well, you left the stables so quickly…” The blonde man advanced toward the window.

Willow looked from the young man to Spike to Tara. “Tara, scream honey, I’ll scream!” she told the woman. “Bonus!” Spike said turning up the music as he threw Willow back onto the bed. Timothy moved closer to Tara, taking her hands in his as he looked in her eyes.

Tara pulled back from the larger man, “You need to leave Timothy. You’re scaring me. P-p-please go.”

He smiled before moving his hand softly behind his back, locking the door to the room and moving a chair in front of the handle without moving from the space in front of Tara. As Spike bent to bite Willow/Timothy bent to kiss Tara, Willow fought against the Vampire with all her strength/Tara slapped her cousin as hard as she could. Attempting a second strike, Tara pulled back her hand, only to feel it grasped tightly and twisted behind her. Willow fought with all her strength against the superhuman vampire, continuing her screaming both for herself and her lover.

Willow and Spike faded from the scene as she concentrated on what was happening to the other young woman. Her cousin now had her on her bed, holding her down and covering her mouth with his hand. His other hand moved at the waistband of her skirt and under her blouse.

Willow heard music and cheers. Turning around to determine the source of all the noise, she saw bright daylight, a fair of some sort, students dancing with a dragon like you see on Chinese New Year. Willow ran toward her lover on the bench as Glory thrust her fingers through the blonde’s skull.

Willow looked up at the house as Tara moved slowly down the stairs, carrying her one suitcase to her aunt’s car. Her aunt was kind and loving as she showed her to her new room. She saw the young woman visibly shudder as she passed Timothy’s room.

The pain was more overwhelming than anything Willow had ever felt. She felt like she was being split open. But then she felt overwhelming joy as she looked down at the beautiful baby girl lying on her stomach. Wait, no, it wasn’t her baby, it was Tara’s baby. She left for college, crying hysterically as she left the almost one year-old with her aunt. She knew that she would be back when she turned 20 and would visit as often as she could.

Tara lay on her bed, facedown, naked from the waist up. Willow sat next to her, softly tracing a design on her back in ink with a fine-tip brush. “You don’t know everything about me,” she said. “Have you told me your real name?” Willow asked. “Yeah, you know that.” Neither woman had ever felt as close or as safe as they did at that moment.

Willow walked her lover to class. Parting at the door, she kissed her softly. “Remember, I have a lab this afternoon and won’t be done until late,” she reminded the blonde. “Y-y-yes. I know. I have study group. I’ll s-s-see you late ok?” Kissing her again, the redhead moved down the hall. Waiting a few minutes, Tara quickly turned from the classroom, walking out the door and getting on a bus to ride a short distance across town. As she neared the house, a burst of blonde hair and green dress shot from the porch and into her arms. Both blondes had looks of unmistakable joy on their faces.

Willow sat against the bathroom sink, crying as she knew that she had really blown it with the Tabula Rasa spell. Tara moved to hug Dawn but the young woman ran up the stairs. She lifted the box and walked to the curb where a car pulled over to pick her up. Her aunt took her hand gently as she cried.

Willow opened her eyes to see Tara’s beautiful blue ones locked on hers. She looked quickly at her hands in her lap before speaking, “You didn’t put me in there.”

“No. I mean, you didn’t put the lethes bramble in there. It, it, it should have gone right after Glory.”

Both women were silent for a few minutes as they stared at their hands. Finally Tara raised Willow’s chin again to make eye contact, “I’m sorry I never told you.”

“Oh Goddess. T-t-that’s the $64,000 question isn’t it. At first I didn’t tell you because I didn’t think you would understand. Also I thought I’d be leaving you when I turned into a demon and not telling you that was a pretty big betrayal. Then it just got more and more difficult. Once my secret about my heritage came out and it didn’t matter to you, I thought, ‘how much more can she take?’” Tara’s eyes were still locked with Willow’s as she knelt again in front of the redhead, taking her hands in her own once again: “I wanted to tell you so many times. I would rehearse and start to say something and we’d be interrupted or I couldn’t do it. I wrote you hundreds of letters to explain, but I never gave them to you. I’m so sorry baby.”

Willow sat silent for many minutes before speaking, “Love, I’ll be honest. I’m really hurt and feel betrayed that you would keep this from me at all, let alone for so long. I’m kind of in shock.” Tara looked at the floor as Willow spoke. Placing her finger on the blonde’s chin, she raised her face so she could see her blue eyes. “But I love you and I don’t ever want to lose you again.” She kissed her softly on the lips before whispering, “We need to sleep; hold me lover.”

Willow woke feeling totally disoriented and exhausted. She quickly realized where she was as she felt Tara next to her in the bed. She wondered momentarily how long it would take to get used to waking up next to her lover but not hearing her breathe. The only sound in the crypt was Willow’s breath and her heartbeat in her ears. As her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she looked around the room, remembering the surprising events of the last two days.

Surprising. That was an understatement. How do you adjust to the knowledge that your lover is not who you thought she was? That she kept something like this from you? That she has a child and never told you? Willow felt overwhelmed by the feeling of betrayal from her lover. Her always. As Tara murmured and turned in her sleep, Willow felt those feelings relent a little. Knowing the depth of their love, she knew that she would need to get over this anger but it was not going to be instantaneous.

As her eyes fell on the opposite wall, she saw the jumble of broken glass, wood, and pictures. Moving silently through the space, she first lifted the pictures from the other materials to salvage them. Running her fingertips over the images, she couldn’t believe the beauty in them. Setting the pictures carefully on the desk, she proceeded to clean up the broken glass and wood frame, resolving to find replacements before the day was over. She cursed quietly as a piece of glass sliced open her index finger.

Sucking on her fingertip, she giggled internally, thinking Great another thing I need to bring over: band-aids, mirror. In love with a vampire now. Feeling a chill, she crawled under the covers to snuggle Tara as the vampire slept. Suddenly, Tara’s hand shot from under the covers to grasp Willow’s wrist. Her face transformed as, still sleeping, she pulled Willow’s finger to her mouth and began hungrily sucking the blood from the cut. The redhead felt herself falling into the stream of their merged minds at the moment that Tara awoke.

Gasping, the vampire released Willow’s hand: “Oh Goddess, what? What happened? What did I do? Are you ok?”

Willow brushed her hands over her lover’s face, “Baby, baby, it’s ok. I cut my finger on the glass when I went to pick it up.”

“Drops baby. It’s ok. It’s ok.” She attempted to comfort Tara who was obviously very concerned.

“I’m sorry sweetie. I…I…I haven’t um since before the meeting at the magic box.” Tara looked down at the floor.

“Baby, that’s days ago. Why didn’t you go out last night? Don’t you have any in the frig?” Willow asked.

Tara answered, “Giles came just before sunset and we talked until you arrived. I thought I had some here but I guess Spike stopped by and took it.”

Willow thought for a moment. “Maybe it’s night now. You can go and I’ll wait here.”

“It’s about 10 in the morning sweetie,” Tara answered. Willow registered surprise before she realized that Tara had an infallible internal clock. “Actually, can you go and get me some? You know where to go right? Just ask for Ken and give him $10.” Tara felt intense shame to have to ask her lover to run this errand for her. She lay back on the bed, hiding her eyes from Willow as she felt the smaller woman stand up from the bed to leave.

Tara opened her eyes in shock as rather than hearing her lover leave quickly to run the errand, the felt Willow’s warm body pressing down on hers. Willow grasped Tara’s head in her hands, pulling her to her mouth and kissing her hard. Placing her mouth right at Tara’s ear, she whispered softly, “I don’t see any reason to go out when we have quite a bit of nice warm blood right here.”

Tara pulled back immediately from her lover, stilling her with a glance, “You, you, you don’t know. I mean. You… I think you should go visit Ken and come back in a few minutes.”

Willow sat up astride her lover with a vixeny look on her face. She slowly and deliberately spread the just healing skin on her fingertip. Pulling back the skin, she pressed her other fingers upward to force blood from the cut. “Ahh, now that’s nice,” she purred. “It’s wet and warm. I wonder how it would feel…” Locking her eyes on Tara’s she slowly ran her finger in circles around her hardening nipples.

Tara gulped loudly before pleading with her lover, “Baby, I’m not that strong. Please go.” Willow shook her head playfully before running her bleeding finger first across her bottom lip and then lightly touching her center with her fingertip. She looked Tara intently in the eyes whispering softly, “I need you. I need to know you are mine.” Bending to kiss the vampire, the redhead was shocked with the speed with which Tara claimed her lips, moaning loudly.

Feeling the redhead’s wetness on her stomach, Tara pulled her down on top of her and kissed her deeply. As they kissed, Tara ran her hands all over Willow’s naked body. Willow moaned into the kiss as she expertly undressed her lover. In moments, the two witches lay entwined and naked on the large bed.

As Willow leaned back again, Tara leaned forward taking one nipple in her mouth. Running the tip of her tongue around the aureole, she tasted just the first hint of her lover’s blood. Patiently, she continued stroking the nipple edge with her tongue as it hardened more and more. Moving toward the center of the nipple, she softly sucked the nub into her mouth. She was aware of so many sensations at once: Willow’s loud moaning, the taste of this exquisite blood in her mouth, the increasing wetness on her stomach and of course the gathering wetness between her own legs.

Greedily the blonde moved her mouth to Willow’s other nipple, continuing to attend to the first nipple with her fingertips. As she sucked the blood from her lover’s second nipple, she rolled and pinched the skin under her fingertips, eliciting louder and louder moans from the redhead. “Oh Goddess, baby, I need you,” Willow gasped.

Tara quickly flipped her lover onto her back, pressing herself against Willow’s wet center. Kissing and nibbling her neck and earlobes she whispered, “Patience is a virtue...” Willow returned the kiss and the whisper, pressing her wet center against the blonde’s stomach, “…seldom found in a man and never in a woman.” Tara laughed as she slid farther down Willow’s body to place reverent kisses on her wet red curls. As Tara began to lick the curls rather than the skin underneath them, Willow arched her back, attempting to touch her lover’s mouth with her center. Reaching her hand down, she softly guided Tara’s head forward to contact her wetness. Tara tasted the lightest touch of blood on her lover’s juices, moaning with pleasure at the combination.

Softly she ran her tongue through the curls to caress the edges of Willow’s outer lips, drinking the sweet nectar. Using her fingers to separate the lips, she circled that swollen nub with her tongue. Absorbed and lost in her lover’s wetness, she barely registered Willow’s voice as she said, “I am you know,” pressing her bleeding fingertip under Tara’s lips to allow the vampire to drink from her skin. “Drink baby,” she commanded softly.

As Tara entered her lover with two fingers, Willow moaned out, “Oh Goddess. Yes. Now baby!” Tara locked blue eyes on green once again, whispering “I love you Willow Rosenberg,” as her face transformed. As gently as she could, Tara pierced the skin of her lover’s upper thigh, continuing her rhythmic finger motions. Slowly, she drew Willow’s blood into her mouth, allowing it to bathe the soft tissues there as she savored the flavor.

Both women felt unimaginable ecstasy as their minds melded. Tara’s essence was all joy and love, tasting her lover and fulfilling her completely. They felt Willow speeding toward a powerful climax as Tara knew instinctively that she had taken enough blood. She licked and kissed the closing wounds as she moved her mouth back to Willow’s engorged clit.

“Oh fuck!” Willow screamed as her muscles clenched around Tara’s fingers. Spasm after spasm racked her body as she ran her fingers through her lover’s hair. Tara lovingly licked every drop of wetness from her lover’s center as she rode out the climax. Removing her fingers, she drank from them before rising to press her body onto the redhead’s and kiss her deeply.

“Wow. That was. I mean. Wow.” Willow attempted to make words but doubted whether she was forming them correctly.

“Yes it was sweetie,” Tara smiled. “I um tried to …I mean, I didn’t think it’d make a noticeable mark. Well, not to anyone who doesn’t look closely at the inside of your thigh that is,” she smiled.

“Yup, pretty limited audience there,” Willow returned. “I am you know. You are you know. Very limited.” Idly running her fingers through the blonde hair, she spoke again, “Of course, there’s only one problem.”

“What? What problem? What’s wrong sweetie?” Tara panicked, lifting herself off Willow’s body.

Willow smirked, “oh nothing big, just that now I’m thirsty and my fingers are so cold…” She ran her fingers through the vampire’s soft pubic hair. “I can tell you my favorite place to warm them…Or maybe show you,” she whispered entering her kneeling lover from below. “Oh yeah, that feels so nice,” Willow said as Tara whimpered her pleasure.

Stilling her fingers, she slid down the bed between her lover’s legs. As Tara lowered her center into and onto Willow’s waiting mouth, she gasped to feel the warm tongue on her clit immediately. Willow licked and nibbled hungrily at the blonde’s clit, thrusting her fingers repeatedly into her lover’s wetness. Moaning loudly, Tara leaned forward to wrap her hands around the wrought iron headboard. Unable to hold out any longer after sharing Willow’s climax with her, Tara’s orgasm claimed her entire being. She flooded Willow’s mouth with a fresh wave of her juices and squeezed the redhead’s fingers. Unable to hold herself up, she rolled over on her back, pulling Willow with her.

Willow continued moving her fingers softly inside her lover as she crawled up to kiss her on the lips once again. “Oh yeah, much warmer. And my thirst is quenched…” she grinned, “for the moment that is.” Pressing her fingers against Tara’s g-spot, she was rewarded as a powerful aftershock grasped her muscles.

As she softly stroked Tara’s wet hair, Willow asked, “Does she know about me?”

“Yes, your daughter. Does she know about me?” Although she felt totally connected to Tara at a soul level, Willow could not set down her insecurities and feelings of betrayal.

Tara grasped Willows face softly, pressing her hands against her lover’s cheeks and looking deeply into her beautiful green eyes before speaking: “She knows everything.”

“Sweetie are you sure you’re ready to do this?” Tara asked yet another time.

“Sure, I mean yes, I mean well, I’d like to meet this little mini-Tara,” Willow answered.

Tara noted the difference in the words her lover spoke and the feeling behind them. She moved beside the redhead to hold her hand: “Honey?” Waiting until Willow made eye contact and nodded, she continued, “Are you sure? I mean, I don’t know how to say this but…”

“Well, no, I mean I don’t want you to get h-h-hurt but that’s not…Ok. Tabitha is only four but she’s very perceptive. First of all, she’s a child and they can see through masks and falsity. Second, she’s very powerful and part of her power is empathy, she can tell what people are thinking or feeling. She will be able to connect with you.” Tara spoke clearly but doubted that Willow was taking her words as she meant them.

“Can I see the picture again?” Willow finally asked. After looking lovingly at the picture, she picked up her jacket: “Yeah, I’m way ready to meet your little secret.” As she headed out the door to Xander’s car, Tara looked after her not sure whether to take the joking as a good sign or a sign of her hurt.

The past few days had been a whirlwind of emotion for both women. First Tara found out about Tabitha’s fate and revealed her existence to Willow. Then she had to reveal the truth to the rest of the Scoobies. Reactions from them had ranged from Dawn’s excitement of a child to play with to Xander’s not too veiled worry for Willow if Tara had kept this from her. Buffy and Giles seemed more concerned with the implications for Tabitha now that they knew that she was a future slayer.

A few days earlier, Tara visited her Aunt and Tabitha. She discussed with her Aunt the results of Mr. Giles’ research and in fact found her Aunt to be completely nonplussed. Her reaction was one of, “well, yes we have unusual heritage.” And of course the tattoo would keep out the demon. Her reaction to the news that Tabitha was going to be a slayer was again lackluster: well of course, she’s a very special and powerful child.

Now the two women had borrowed Xander’s car to join Aunt April and Tabitha for dinner so that everyone could finally meet each other. Tara and Willow rode in silence as they drove across town. A block away, they pulled into an alley so Tara could drink the warm blood from a thermos to mask her cool skin and sate her hunger.

Pulling close to the house Tara had indicated, Willow recognized Tabitha immediately. The child was sitting on the porch steps waiting and watching the street for any sign of her visitors. As Willow turned off the key, Tabitha ran down the steps to launch herself at Tara. A smile broadened her face as the redhead watched the two blonde beauties soak in each other’s presence with a long hug.

“Mama, I’m so glad you’re here for dinner. Is this Willow?” the small child asked excitedly.

Tara smiled at the child as she turned to her lover. “Yes, it is.” Setting Tabitha down she was about to make the introduction but was stunned as Tabitha threw herself into Willow’s arms. Willow was surprised but able to recover and not drop her, picking her up in a hug.

As Willow held the child, Tabitha spoke to her, “Hello. My name is Tabitha Maclay. Nice to meet you.”

Looking into very familiar blue eyes, she responded, “Well you too. I’m Willow Rosenberg. You look like your mama. You know that?”

“Of course, silly,” Tabitha threw back as she ran from both women through the front door yelling for her Aunt.

Aunt April came out a moment later, “I’m Tara’s Aunt April, very nice to meet you Willow.” Willow returned the introduction and passed the older woman the bottle of wine they had brought. She quickly advanced to grasp Tabitha’s outstretched hand and enter the house.

As the walked up the walk, April told Tara, “I like her. She’s beautiful like you said. Very powerful.” Placing her hand on Tara’s arm to stop her for a moment, she explained, “Timmy is here.”

“W-w-what? Did father say why, what h-h-happened? Or just put him on a b-b-bus this time?” Tara asked with obvious concern in her voice.

“Your father sent no word. I came home from the market and he was sitting on the porch. He’d forgotten where the key was hidden.” Although the women had walked slowly, they reached the door to the house and entered. And walked right into Willow who was standing stock still in the doorway. She was staring at the young man on the sofa.

Tara took Willow’s hand in her own and stroked it for a moment. She decided to try something new: she traced the paths she had forged with their merging spells and sent words into Willow’s mind, “Yes baby. I just found out he is here. I’m sorry to surprise you.” As she sent the words into her lover’s mind. She bent down in front of the young man, softly touching his knee, “Hi Timmy. It’s Tara.” He smiled as he reacted to the contact and her voice and she hugged him gently.

She pulled Willow a little closer by the hand and introduced the two, “Willow this is my cousin Timmy. Timmy, this is my friend Willow.” He finally pulled his look from her blue eyes before seeing Willow, “Willow. Right Willow. Nice to meet you.” He immediately looked back at his hands.

April called out that dinner was ready and Tabitha came from the kitchen to take both women by the hand toward the table. As she walked between them, she looked to Tara, “Mama, what was a surprise?”

Tara was impressed that Tabitha could hear her communication with Willow but felt like if they were going to try that any more, she would have to work on masking it better. “Oh sweetie, she thought it would be just you and Aunt April and she and I at dinner. Your uncle Timmy being here was a surprise.”

Tara’s words were lost quickly as Tabitha found the answer satisfactory and skipped to the table, directing Willow to the seat next to hers. The child was very excited to finally meet her mother’s friend. Dinner was a very uneventful affair. Midway through the meal, Tabitha asked Willow and Tara if they could stay the night.

While both women hesitated, Aunt April spoke, “Actually if you can, it would be very convenient. I would like to speak to you a bit. I fixed up your room.” Showing that Tara was not the only one with some magic, she informed both of them without speaking, “I put some extra heavy curtains in there with a tie to hold them firmly closed. I really need to speak to you.” The couple assented quickly to spend the night even though it meant that Tara would be there at least until evening while Willow had to attend day classes.

After dinner Tabitha asked the two women to take her to the park. While the vampire population would usually make this a very bad idea, having a vampire witch in the family did allow for some evening activities. Aunt April offered to clean up while they went. For the first time during the meal Timmy quietly spoke up, “Can I go?”

Throughout dinner, Willow had observed the young man. Something was wrong with him. This was not the same person from Tara’s vision. Not the same person who …. And it was obvious to her that Tara held him no ill will. Everyone in the house appeared to treat him with respect and love. Willow wondered, not for the first time, if Aunt April knew how Tabitha was conceived. She pushed those thoughts from her head as she nodded to Tara and Tara answered simply, “yes.”

Now the four young people were on their way to the park. Willow could not stop looking from Tara to Tabitha and back. The strength of the resemblance was truly amazing. She would not allow herself to note any resemblance between the young man walking in front of them and the little girl though. That was simply too much.

Seeing her uncle shuffling down the sidewalk, his hands in his pockets, Tabitha dropped Willow and Tara’s hands and ran ahead to take his hand gently in his. She began telling him a story about a girl at play group and he nodded his head as she spoke in her high voice. Willow looked at Tara to take her eye, to Timmy and back to Tara with a questioning look.

Willow nodded as they entered the park and Tabitha let go of Timmy’s hand to run ahead to the swing set. He moved along at his same slow pace to sit on one of the swings, idly swinging next to her. It became immediately obvious that this was her favorite part of the visit to the park as Willow and Tara took turns pushing her as she sang out various songs. None of them noticed the two figures that stood quietly watching from the trees.

Willow walked back to Aunt April’s house with her lover’s family. Tara was carrying Tabitha who had fallen asleep on her shoulder. Timmy followed the three women, shuffling quietly down the sidewalk. None of them had noticed the two figures who watched until they left the park, then got into a car and drove the opposite direction.

Entering the room still carrying the little girl, Tara spoke quietly to her aunt: “She fell asleep on the way home. Let me go and put her to bed and then we can talk ok?” Turning to Willow, she continued, “do you want to come with?”

As Willow followed, she noticed Timmy waiting a moment before kissing his mother on the cheek, saying, “good night mom,” and moving to a room on the other side of the living room.

Watching Tara put her daughter to bed Willow was overwhelmed by the strength of emotion. All at once she realized the depth of Tara’s love not only for Tabitha but for Willow. Also, her fear that she would lose Willow if she found out and how hard it must have been for her for all these years. As Tara turned from the bed after kissing her daughter on the forehead, Willow took her hand tightly, pulling her into the hall.

Tara felt distressed and confused about what was upsetting Willow so badly: “Sweetie, what’s wrong?”

“Oh God baby, it must be so hard for you. I mean you love her so much and you love me so much and you always thought you would have to choose.” Willow looked deeply into Tara’s eyes before stressing, “You will never have to choose baby. I promise. I love you.” She sealed her promise with a tender kiss. When she pulled back, she noted the tears pooling in Tara’s eyes and pulled her into a hug.

When the two women joined April downstairs, she handed Tara a cup of tea and Willow a mug of coffee. “Hey, two sugars, just like I like,” Willow commented.

April smiled, “I’ve been hearing about you for two years Willow. I think I know how you like your coffee by now.”

“I thought so too,” April agreed. “He’ll have to go back home soon. Actually that’s what I wanted to talk to you girls about.”

“What? Oh, no,” April quickly answered. “Tara darling, what are your plans now?”

Looking to Willow, Tara began, “Well, I’m not sure. Right now I’m staying in a crypt of a friend. But…”

Taking Tara and Willow’s hands April interrupted, “Look, I don’t mean to be nosy and maybe it’s none of my business. But will the two of you live together again?”

“Yes. I expect that it is. But it may be getting less complicated,” her aunt said cryptically.

Taking a deep breath April answered, “I have loved having Tabitha with me Tara. You know that. It’s like seeing you or your mother every day, a beacon of light and love. But she needs to be with her mother. She’s having visions Tara.”

“She says two men are coming for her. She says that only you and Willow can keep her safe and that it’s time.”

Both girls gasped at this revelation: “What? I mean how long? What else does she say?”

“Ok, calm down girls. I’m having them too. I don’t get a vision about the men but I do have an overwhelming sense that if she’s with the two of you she will be fine.” Turning to Tara she softly spoke: “Tara, sweetie, I know you are scared but she’s your daughter and she belongs with you.”

Pulling back suddenly Tara narrowed her eyes at her aunt, “and you don’t have much longer? Why didn’t you tell me?”

Rather than speaking, April pulled Tara into a tight hug as the younger woman was overtaken by tears. Feeling like she was intruding on an intimate scene, Willow eventually got up and quietly ascended the stairs to the room in which they would spend the night.

After quite a while, Tara joined Willow, closing the door softly behind her. Willow crossed the room to take her lover in her arms before speaking, “I’m so sorry baby.” Holding her on the bed, she continued, “What do you want to do?”

Tara looked at the redhead, “I’d like for the three of us to live together. I mean if you want that. I love you and I love her and we need to protect her.”

Brushing a lock of hair from Tara’s forehead to place it behind her ear, she answered, “Yes baby. I do want that. Let me talk to Buffy but if we can’t stay there. I’ll find us an apartment ok? I love you Tara Maclay,” she concluded kissing the blonde tenderly.

Tara took a deep unnecessary breath before answering, “He used to be Timothy.”

Allowing her anger to show, Willow responded, “I gathered that. Why is he here? Why is he anywhere? Why is he near you or Tabitha?”

Holding Willow’s hands in her own, Tara tried to explain: “I’m not sure that I can e-e-explain. When he, well…, you know. That was not totally out of his character. I mean it should have been p-p-predictable and I knew as soon as I saw him that day that he shouldn’t be there-that he was dangerous. Also, he had been growing more and more obsessed with me.”

“Anyway, that was the only time that anything like that happened. As you know, my father kicked me out and I went to live with April and he. He was different from that day. Not totally meek but somewhat tamed. He looked at me with sadness and longing but never hunger like that one time. As my p-p-pregnancy progressed, he became more and more reserved until he would rarely speak unless someone asked him a question.”

“The day that I had Tabitha, April was with me at the hospital. Donnie actually came to the hospital looking for Timothy. He hadn’t shown up to work that morning. We of course didn’t know where he was. So Donnie went looking. He found him in the barn, nestled in the straw. He was cold, naked, and obviously t-t-terrified of something. Donnie tried to approach him but he shied from his touch. It was as if he couldn’t hear anything that my b-b-brother said. Donnie kept calling to him but he wouldn’t listen. Eventually, Donnie got on the floor with him and crawled toward him, calling him Timmy instead of Timothy from when we were little kids. And he responded and he’s been Timmy ever since.”

“Donnie took him to Father’s house and cleaned him up and put him to bed but he still wouldn’t speak. This, I mean, how you saw him today, well, this is a medium day. There are good ones and bad ones. On the bad ones, if father gets frustrated, he puts him on a bus here. After a week or two, Timmy misses the horses and Aunt April calls and Donnie convinces Father to take him back and he goes back. It’s totally a coincidence that he was here now baby but I didn’t mean to shock you and I’m s-s-sorry.”

Willow stood and began to pace the room, “ok, that sounds bad and I’m sorry and everything but well, good he deserves it. I mean, what he did was wrong and terrible and bad and he deserves to be punished.”

“He is what? Punished? By who? Probably not enough. And you I don’t get. I mean how can you sit and have dinner with him or let him around Tabitha? How can you not want to kill him?” Willow ranted.

Motioning to Willow to come sit by her on the bed, Tara answered carefully: “That’s a lot of different questions. First, he is punished. I don’t know by who but I know that it’s not my role to punish him and I would not want to. Second, I let him be around Tabitha because he is not a danger to her and he loves her as her cousin. Third, I can have dinner with him and not want to kill him because I forgive him.”

Again Willow jumped up from the bed, “you forgive him? How can you forgive him? He doesn’t deserve it. I don’t forgive him.”

In contrast to Willow’s agitation and anger, Tara spoke calmly and evenly, “No one ever deserves it. I don’t believe that forgiveness is about deserving it. It’s about grace. To forgive is an act of grace.”

“What in the Hell are you talking about? Grace? You can’t forgive this. He doesn’t deserve it,” Willow shouted.

“Sweetie, please talk more quietly or we will need to go for a walk ok?” Tara waited for Willow to nod before continuing: “I can and do forgive him. Life is too short for me to walk around with hatred and poison in my body. Actually I guess life was too short. Now I have eternity to walk around with any poison I choose but I don’t choose that one.”

“Can I tell you a story?” Tara asked quietly. As Willow nodded Tara started to explain: “A few years ago I was listening to NPR one morning. It was one of the first days of the trial for the Oklahoma City bomber. They were interviewing people out front of the court house in Denver. The interviewer was a woman and she was interviewing a man who lost his fiancé in the blast. He had turned on the TV and saw a big hole where her office used to be. She was gone and he was angry and devastated. He stayed angry and devastated for a long time. Then one day he started to think about his faith.”

“He believed that everyone gets forgiveness from God/Jesus. Now you know that’s not my belief structure but I wanted to hear what he had to say. He sat and thought about it and he realized that if God could forgive the bomber, so could he. So he did.”

Tara waited a minute before continuing: “The interviewer was stunned. She asked how that works for him and he said some days better than others. She asked what happens on the days when it doesn’t work well. Do you know what he said?” Tara looked to Willow for answer before continuing. “He said, ‘then I forgive him again.’”

Tara crossed the room to brush a tear from Willow’s cheek. She spoke quietly, “On the days that it’s hard, I forgive him again.”

Willow looked stricken as she made a connection, “Other days you forgive me again?”

Kissing the redhead softly, Tara whispered, “I forgave you immediately and every day since then my love.”

“There’s a difference in forgiving someone and putting yourself in danger. I forgive my father but I don’t go to his house or let him see Tabitha. I forgave you but I had to let you heal before I could open myself up to you again. Timmy is not a danger to anyone.”

As she spoke, Tara took Willow’s hands in hers, pulling her to the bed. She softly kissed her lover, first with soft tentative pecks. As Willow began to open to her caresses, Tara deepened the kiss, probing lightly with her tongue, hugging her body to her own. “Make love with me,” she whispered and Willow’s anger melted away.

“Is that the last?” Tara asked as she took the small dresser and carried it easily up the stairs.

“That’s it. I put the tricycle in the back yard and Xander is almost done building the swing set,” Willow answered as she dropped a duffel of clothes in Tabitha’s new room next to the dresser Tara had placed against the wall.

Suddenly Tabitha ran into the room jumping on her new bed and then into Tara’s arms. “Mama, Uncle Xander is outside building me a swing set in my own backyard. Can you come play with me when he finishes?”

Tara hugged the child as she answered, “I know. Uncle Xander is a good builder and he was really excited. I bet he would love to play with you and I can come out to play this evening ok?”

As Tara set the girl down, Tabitha hugged Willow around the legs before beginning to run from the room. Stopping in the doorway, she asked excitedly: “mama, can I sleep with you tonight?”

Tara looked to Willow who nodded her approval before answering the little girl: “yes sweetie but not every night. Just tonight because it’s your first night to stay here ok?” Tabitha nodded excitedly before running down the stairs again.

As Tara began pulling the toddler’s clothes from the bag and placing them in the dresser, Willow came up behind her and hugged her from behind. Placing her head on her lover’s shoulder she hugged her for a few moments before speaking: “how are you doing sweetie?”

Tara sat heavily on the bed holding Willow’s hand as she did so. The redhead joined her, stroking her lover’s cold hand. Willow sat against the headboard pulling the larger woman to lie across her lap and stroked her blonde hair as she waited for her to speak. As she felt Willow’s safety and love, Tara allowed the tears to come. They fell freely as she thought about the events of the past week.

Only 6 days ago, Willow and Tara had gone to have dinner with Tara’s Aunt April and Tabitha. Willow met the small girl for the first time and the two most important people in Tara’s life had gotten along very well to say the least. Any confusion or ill-will the redhead may have had prior to meeting the child had obviously melted instantly as Tabitha had charmed her. If anything, Tara worried that Willow would be much too lax with the girl. On the other hand, Tabitha was bound to be spoiled by the entire Scooby gang. After the dinner and the long talk with Aunt April, everything had happened very quickly.

Aunt April had entered the hospital and remained there. Her illness was in its final stage and Tara knew that she did not have long. Tara’s grief over Aunt April’s impending death was compounded by the memory of losing her mother, a wound that was being reopened painfully. Tara had offered to give her aunt eternal life, knowing that the tattoo would allow her to keep her soul as it had done for Tara, but her aunt refused the offer. Tara had to concede that if something should go wrong, neither of them would want to deal with the consequences. Additionally, April knew that her death would only mean that she was leaving this physical world for a time; not that she would actually die. Every evening Tara went to the hospital to sit with her aunt. Sometimes they talked and sometimes they just sat together. In addition to giving both women the opportunity to just be together, it had allowed April to teach Tara the secret of making the tattoo.

While she was glad to know the information about preparing the tattoo, Tara had not yet decided whether to continue the tradition for Tabitha. Although it was the only reason Tara had kept her soul when she became a vampire, she had mixed feelings regarding the tradition. What had started out as a magical emblem created by her ancestor Abigail and her watcher had become part of the basis for the tool men had used to control and abuse the women of her family for hundreds of years. The legend of the demon had caused over 50 women to have to endure the belief that they had demon inside them. On the other hand, Tara considered continuing the tradition as bonding experience for herself and her daughter. She had treasured every moment she spent with her mother during the years it took to create the design.

Then the week had contained the challenge of what to do with Timmy. With neither April or Timmy capable of making the phone call, Tara had been compelled to call her brother to talk to him about taking Timmy back. Donnie had been as much of a hateful ass as ever. Tara had had no contact with either her father or Donnie in two years and this phone conversation confirmed that she would gladly go another twenty without speaking to either of them. When Tara explained to Timmy that it was time to return to the farm, the boy had seemed to understand that. And he seemed to instinctively know that he was truly saying goodbye to his mother. But the young man was afraid to get on the bus by himself. Tara knew that April had always taken him to the station and held his hand until he was on the bus, waving as the transport pulled away. Knowing that April was unavailable, he had begged and pleaded for Tara to come with him which was completely impossible given the noon departure time. Luckily Tabitha had offered to take her cousin to the bus station. Timmy accepted the substitute and Willow again borrowed Xander’s car to take the two blondes to the station.

For Willow the episode with getting Timmy on the bus had allowed her to increase her compassion for the young man. While she could not resist hating him for the way he had hurt Tara, she could also see that he was obviously not the same man who had committed that crime. The young man had started crying before leaving April’s house and was still sobbing as Willow held Tabitha up so that they could wave at the departing bus.

When Tara and Willow returned home from their dinner/overnight stay with Tara’s family, they had explained the situation to Buffy and Dawn. While the Summers girls were eager to have the young Maclay in their midst, they had trouble figuring out where she could sleep. But Dawn made a suggestion which filled many needs. She suggested that Tabitha take her room and Xander make over the basement so she could move into that space. The move allowed the teenager to feel that she was making a contribution to the house and to have increased freedom. It had taken the carpenter five days to make the basement acceptable and although he still had things he wanted to do with the space it was livable and the teenager eagerly moved downstairs. In the meantime, Tara and Willow had stayed at April’s house with Tabitha, which had allowed Willow to get to know the child and Tara to observe her interactions with her daughter.

It was obvious to Tara that Willow had a natural way with the girl. Perhaps it was because the redhead was in many ways such a child herself. She was as likely to become entranced in some make-believe game as Tabitha and her ability to tell stories had pulled the child to her immediately. Tara knew that Willow had always wanted them to share a family someday and perhaps this was sooner than she had expected, but the bonding was moving along wonderfully. And it needed too…Tara was abundantly aware that her ability to mother Tabitha completely was very limited by the fact that she was a vampire now. She and Willow would need to very quickly initiate the process of having Willow adopt the girl or at least get her legal guardianship. Suddenly it seemed that there was so much to be done.

Finally the crying stopped and Tara shifted to face her lover. “Thanks sweetie,” she whispered.

“Of course baby,” Willow answered. “I’ll hold you for the rest of my life. I want to be there for you always. I know this is hard and confusing but we will all make it through together ok?”

Tara nodded. As she did so, they heard shouts from the backyard. Moving through the house to their bedroom, Willow looked out the window as Tara stood by the bed. “Xander finished the swing set. He and Tabitha are having a celebratory dance and now he’s pushing her,” she narrated.

Tara smiled as she saw the joyous look on the redhead’s face while she watched. “Why don’t you go join them sweetie and I’ll finish putting her clothes away?” she asked.

“Really?” Willow asked excitedly. Kissing the blonde she was down the stairs with almost vampire speed as soon as Tara nodded her agreement. Moving back to put away the clothes, Tara chuckled at the sounds of Willow, Xander, and Tabitha playing in the backyard as they echoed through the house.

Tara paid for her blood and began to move away from the butcher shop. She felt a hand on her arm and turned suddenly, ready to attack if necessary. As he leapt back, Ken apologized: “I’m sorry to startle you Tara. I forgot to give you this.” He handed her a slip of paper as he explained, “that Anya girl came by earlier and asked me to give it to you.”

Tara frowned as she took the note. Why would Anya come and leave a note for me here rather than calling the house? That doesn’t make sense. She opened the note but reading it shed no light on the cause for the cloak and dagger:

Tara,
If you can, please come visit the shop tonight. I need to ask you something.
Anya

Noting the position of the moon and stars, Tara decided that she could spare a few minutes for Anya before going to the hospital. She had made dinner for the Summers household before leaving to get her own dinner. That was one duty which she still enjoyed. She had always been the cook around the house and now with no where to go during the day, she had expanded her repertoire even further. Of course, her epicurean masterpieces were lost on Tabitha who thought that McNuggets or macaroni and cheese were the best dining experience in the world.

Arriving at the shop, she noticed that the window was dark although she could detect someone moving around inside. As she opened the door the bell chimed above her head. “Hi Tara,” Anya called out.

Taking a seat quickly Tara got right to business: “H-h-hi Anya. What’s up?”

Anya came around the counter waving a glass bottle. It appeared to Tara that the demon had been drinking which struck the blonde as being out of character but not so out of character as to be worried about it. Anya offered Tara a drink before placing the bottle on the counter and joining the vampire at the table. “Thanks for coming over. How’s the move going?” she asked graciously.

Anya leaned conspiratorially close to the vampire, “how pissed off was Willow at you? You can tell me. I mean I bet she was really mad huh?”

“S-s-she was pretty mad and hurt that I k-k-kept Tabitha from her but I think she’s over it,” Tara answered. The vampire was pretty curious about this summons from Anya and particularly so given the strange line of questioning the demon was pursuing.

Anya nodded before pondering an even more offensive and disturbing line of questioning: “actually I’ve really gotta wonder about that girl. I mean you had a baby like a year before you met her. It had to show. I mean some things just never stretch back you know? Or so I’ve heard.”

Tara clenched her hands together and took a few unnecessary deep breaths before speaking: “Anya, surely you didn’t send me a n-n-note at Ken’s to ask this stuff right?”

“Well no, I did have a good reason for asking you down here. But while you’re here. Maybe Willow said some ugly things when she found out or maybe you’re still hurt about the Tabula Rasa spell. Isn’t there anything you would like to wish for?” As Tara stood and moved toward the door, a disgusted look on her face, Anya called after her: “ok, you can’t blame a demon for trying to get some business. Come back please Tara.”

Tara did so but her look said that Anya better be careful or the vampire would be gone in minutes. Deciding to plunge in quickly Anya practically shouted out, “Tara do you want a job?”

Seeing that she had Tara’s attention Anya explained: “Well, you see: business is really good. A little too good actually. And I’m getting a lot of requests to stay open at night. But I need to handle my other duties in the evenings if you know what I mean?” Tara looked a little disapprovingly at the vengeance demon. The Scoobies had all noticed that Anya seemed to be setting up shop at the Bronze most evenings to coax wishes from scorned women. “Ok let’s not discuss that. But I can’t really be here at night. And I thought: you aren’t in school any more and you probably need money to support your family and you know the stock really well.”

Tara nodded in response to Anya’s thinking. Much as the demon sometimes had very strange ideas, this one actually made sense. Tara had been thinking about trying to get a night job and had only been able to think of perhaps working at the library reshelving books or something like that. “D-d-discount on purchases?” Tara asked.

Anya considered for a moment before responding. “Sure. How about this: we try it 3 or 4 nights a week. You pick the nights and we can post the hours on the door and spread the word. I pay you hourly plus your discount, which applies to Willow too. How does that sound?”

Tara smiled at the demon, “g-g-great. B-b-but no discount for W-w-willow. She’s not doing magic any more.”

Anya looked shocked for a minute before answering: “right…of course she’s not. Whatever. When do you want to start?”

As she rose to leave the room, Tara was completely determined: “I need to go and see my aunt. That’s my priority for a while.”

Showing a hint of compassion Anya nodded her agreement, “right. Whenever you want then!”

Tara entered the hospital room to find her aunt sleeping peacefully. The machines hummed loudly and would have bothered her head even if she had human hearing. But with vampire hearing, the background noise was deafening. Add to that the sickening smells of the place: disinfectant, blood, urine, stale food, rotting flowers, and other smells of human inhabitation. It was easy for her to understand why most vampires shunned humans and all their places with the exception of feeding on them.

Of course Tara was not the usual vampire. She did not shun anything about humans, in fact living with an entire family of humans: her family. Over the past two days of moving Tabitha in to the house, another important move had been completed although no one was pointing it out. Of course, Tara had moved back in with Willow. It was an important step in their relationship but Willow had not wanted to point it out. Perhaps she was afraid that if she did, Tara would be upset. Perhaps she feared that Tara would feel that she was putting her own happiness above the grief the blonde was dealing with in being with her aunt.

In spite of the array of disgusting odors and sounds of the hospital, Tara moved confidently into the room. A few vases of flowers rested on the table near the bed and she refreshed the water in these quickly. As she weeded through the buds, discarding those which were old, she noted that flowers had arrived since her visit last night. She saw a card from Willow and knew the redhead had come to visit during the day without mentioning it. After finishing cleaning and freshening the flowers, she cleared up the bedside table and straightened the wall artwork. Tabitha had been drawing pictures for her Aunt continuously since learning that the April was sick.

After doing what she could to improve the order of April’s surroundings, she sat close to the bed and took hold of April’s hand. The older woman didn’t stir as Tara stroked her soft skin. The younger witch wished that her power lay in healing, but it didn’t and never had. She could comfort her aunt as anyone would but could not absorb the pain and suffering of the older woman. The only way she could do that had already been forbidden by April. Her vigil was quite painful for Tara. Not only was she about to lose her aunt but it brought vividly to mind and spirit the loss of her mother.

As tears flowed unceasingly down the vampire’s face, April opened her eyes. “Rose?’ she weakly asked.

While April was awake, the two women visited quietly for a while. Just before falling back to sleep April asked, “can Tabitha come visit me tomorrow? I’d like to say goodbye.”

April stroked her niece’s hand as the younger girl cried. During the short time they shared before sunrise she attempted to let her know how much she loved her and had felt loved by her; how proud her mother would have been of her and Tabitha; that she would see her again; and, many other things. Finally Tara had to go. She leaned over and kissed her aunt gently before telling her she loved her and saying goodbye.

Before climbing into bed with Willow, Tara had a quick drink of blood to warm her skin slightly. Crawling into Willow’s arms she began to sob, waking the redhead. “Tara?” Willow whispered.

“C-c-can you t-t-take Tabitha to s-s-say goodbye to Aunt April t-t-tomorrow?” Tara choked out. Willow could hardly hear her lover’s words but she understood now why the blonde was so upset. Wrapping her more tightly in her arms, she assured her that she would take the toddler first thing in the morning. Knowing there was nothing more she could do, she held her lover tight whispering over and over, “I love you baby.”

The funeral was just after sunset. Normally nighttime funerals in Sunnydale would be a very bad idea. But with Spike, Tara, and Buffy attending, the danger was minimal. Spike hadn’t even requested any money for coming, which had been Xander’s prediction. Apparently he did have some level of compassion. Tara had no idea the number of people that April had known. The woman had moved to Sunnydale to be near Tara when the younger woman had come to college. In the time since then, she had obviously met many people who cared for her deeply.

Friends attended from her work, her hobbies, and Tabitha’s school and playgroups. Many were people Tara knew well. A few, women she did not know well, carried the unmistakable energy of magic on their skin. Because she had fed immediately before coming, only a few of those present seemed to note anything out of the ordinary about her. Spike of course, made no more an effort to appear human than he ever did but he remained in the background throughout the service.

Overcoming her shyness, Tara managed to deliver a beautiful eulogy praising her aunt’s love and generosity. She told how her Aunt had been a second mother to her, filling as well as she could the hole left in Tara’s life after her mother’s death. She told how the woman had never hesitated to make Tara and Tabitha her first priority in her life. As tears fell unceasingly from her eyes, Tabitha stepped forward to take her mother’s hand. The gathering was initially speechless as she started singing quietly but was soon joined by Tara and everyone else in a touching rendition of Amazing Grace.

As they finished singing each member of the gathering took turns dropping a shovel of dirt onto the coffin. After giving their condolences to Tara and Tabitha, they slowly dispersed, eventually leaving only the Scooby gang, which made its way back to the Summers house. After Anya, Xander, and Spike left Buffy went out to patrol leaving Willow, Tara, and Tabitha. At Willow’s suggestion, the blonde carried her daughter up the stairs to cuddle and comfort her in her sleep. The hacker stayed up late waiting for Buffy to return and pondering the future.

Sitting in the living room, Willow wondered at her life. Who could have predicted seven years ago that this would be her life? She was a high-school nerd with few friends and a lifelong crush on her best friend Xander. Now she was a lesbian witch with a magic addiction from which she was recovering. Her lover was a vampire who had had a child that she had never disclosed and that child was to be a new kind of more powerful slayer. She lived in a house with a slayer, a future slayer, a vampire, and a mystical key teenager. Suddenly the hacker was a parent. Not legally yet, but she knew that was only a matter of time and paperwork.

And strangely enough, she was enjoying being a parent. Tabitha was a charming child. She reminded Willow so much of Tara that at times she was amazed at the strength of recognition she felt for her lover in the little girl. They shared so many of the same mannerisms, speech patterns, and of course looked so much alike that it was overwhelming. Since Tara could not share the daytime with her daughter, Willow had plenty of opportunity to spend with the girl. After finding a good pre-school near the house, the redhead and the small child would walk to school together every day, their hands linked as they walked or skipped down the sidewalk. After school when Willow picked her up, she loved to listen to the child’s stories about her day. Tabitha would tell her tales about the other children and what job she had that day.

Of course this being Sunnydale and life with the Scoobies being life with the Scoobies, a few times Willow thought she noticed someone following she and Tabitha on their walk. Although she didn’t want to upset Tara who already felt inadequate due to her little sunlight problem as Willow liked to call it, Willow had resolved that if she noticed anything strange during the coming week she would definitely discuss it with Tara and Buffy.

Tara woke to very sore eyes and a bad headache. She didn’t immediately recognize her surroundings but realized after a few moments that she was in Tabitha’s room, sleeping in the girl’s small bed. Sadly she remembered leaving the funeral and returning home. Willow had urged her to hold Tabitha until the girl fell asleep and obviously she had fallen asleep along with the child. It was no surprise, given the emotional exhaustion she felt.

“Mamamamamamama!” shouted the small blonde streak that ran into the room and jumped onto the bed and onto Tara’s stomach. Of course a larger red-haired streak followed close behind, also jumping onto the bed to tickle the vampire. Tara quickly grabbed Tabitha, tickling her as she held off Willow. After a few minutes Tabitha jumped from the bed grabbing her backpack.

“TodayI’mgoingtobesongleaderatschoolandIwanttogetthereearly!” Tabitha announced to the two witches. Both sat starring at her for a moment before the words (or word) started to make sense.

Tara reached out to snuggle her daughter as she spoke: “yes baby girl. But you need to put some yummy breakfast in your tummy first.” As she spoke she tickled the tummy to point out that it needed some food.

“Willow gave me breakfast,” Tabitha announced squirming away and reaching for her backpack again.

“What cookies? Would I feed her cookies for breakfast? Me? No cookies aren’t a good breakfast. I’d never do that. Well, ok not since last week when you said not to but anyway, that’s beyond the point. We didn’t have cookies for breakfast today. No sirree-bob: no cookies for us.” Willow smiled as she completed her babble.

Now reaching out to ensnare her lover, Tara pulled her to the bed as she had done with Tabitha. Tickling the redhead’s tummy, Tara asked, “ok no cookies. And what did you put in these tummies?”

Tabitha started laughing as she saw her mama tickling Willow. She loved to see them together. The little girl had heard of Willow for years before meeting her. And she had always expected her to be a “grown-up” but she wasn’t. Willow was a little kid, just like her. Well, maybe not just like her but she seemed like a little kid. And mama was much more like a kid when she was around Willow. Tabitha remembered when Tara had come to live with her earlier this year. While the child had loved having her mama so close every day, she hated to see the sadness that she carried with her. But now, it seemed that that sadness was gone.

“So Tab-tab-taby-tabitha,” Willow sung out, “shall we go and get you to school so you can be song leader?” The redhead and child almost made it from the room as they heard Tara’s voice behind them: “frozen waffles? Not frozen waffles…”

The departing pair rushed back in to give Tara a kiss as they answered, “but with Orange Juice and Milk!”

After giving both her “children” a kiss and hug, the vampire collapsed back on the bed muttering to herself: “frozen waffles?” She could hear them clamoring down the stairs sounding like what her mother would have called “a herd of elephants” and beginning to practice the songs that Tabitha would sing today. Tara smiled as she thought of the way that her daughter was really changing Willow in some ways. The redhead hated her voice and hated to sing in front of anyone. Of course, she had good reason for her embarrassment Tara realized but with Tabitha, she seemed to enjoy the playtime aspect of singing. And of course Tabitha, having been reared by April and Tara, loved song. As the door slammed, Tara hoped that Dawn hadn’t been trying to sleep.

Willow and Tabitha walked down the sidewalk holding hands. Tabitha of course knew that she didn’t have to hold hands on the sidewalk, but she liked it. She liked the feel of her small hand in Willow’s larger one. It seemed to give her comfort and the older girl kind of felt like Tara or Aunt April to her. Tabitha knew that Willow was a witch but for some reason she didn’t do magic. She could feel all the energy just hovering around Willow’s skin, trapped. And she knew that that wasn’t how magic should be. When the child held hands with Tara or April, she could feel a flow between them. She could feel the magic flowing into and out of each of them as if it were alive and it felt good to her. Like home. Like love.

The child could feel Willow’s resistance to the magic and something else. The older girl seemed to be distracted. “Let’s walk faster Tabitha,” Willow urged as she speeded up her pace.

Confused by the mixed emotions from her companion, Tabitha decided to ask, “Willow?” The redhead nodded toward the girl as her eyes continued to frantically scan the street. “Why don’t you do the magic?”

Suddenly Willow stopped dead in the sidewalk. She couldn’t have been more surprised if the child had asked whether relativity was a more theological or physical concept. “Magic?”

Pulling at her hand, Tabitha began them walking again as she explained, “yes. Magic. Why don’t you do it? You’re a witch right?”

Willow bent down to look at Tabitha’s eyes as she answered: “I, I, I can’t do it anymore. I wasn’t a good witch. I hurt people. I-I-I hurt your mama.” Seeing the tears in Willow’s eyes, Tabitha instinctively hugged the woman.

With their eyes closed as they hugged, neither girl noticed the van which pulled alongside of them. The door slid quickly open and two men jumped down. Before either Willow or Tabitha could react, they found themselves inside the van as it sped from the curb. Willow’s last thought before losing consciousness was “Tara…”

After her family left the house Tara decided to make herself useful. It was an instinct that was leading quickly to the Summers house being the cleanest and most organized space in town, maybe in the state. Tara had already cleaned the entire house this week including Buffy and Dawn’s rooms. She had done the laundry, cooked meals in advance, ironed all the clothes including sheets and towels, and giving a nod to Willow, alphabetized the music and books. After showering and cleaning up from Willow and Tabitha’s apparent syrup extravaganza, she decided to read a book. Whatever else happened, she was resolved not to begin watching talk shows or soap operas. No matter what Spike said, Passions was not high art.

Now that she thought about it, she wasn’t sure why she couldn’t work at the Magic Box in the daytime if she could just get there. Sure, if someone shoplifted something she couldn’t chase him or her down the street. But on the other hand, most of the things in the shop carried their own shoplifting curse so that wasn’t a major danger. She would talk to Anya about it soon and see if the demon was agreeable. Maybe eventually she, Willow, and Tabitha would move to an apartment with sewer access so she could move around the city more easily. While she envied Spike’s willingness to race around the town in the daytime, he looked like a fool every time he rushed through a door, tossing off a smoking blanket and trying to regain his composure.

Settling on the couch, she was quickly absorbed in the book she was reading. It was obvious as soon as she started why the novel had won so many awards and although she didn’t consider herself a comic book fan, the book had her completely engrossed. Occasionally she got up to get a drink of juice or blood from the fridge but mainly remained reading the book all morning.

It was late in the morning when the phone rang. The administrator from Tabitha’s day care sent Tara’s world into terror as she spoke: “Ms. Maclay? I’m wondering if Tabitha’s feeling ok today.”

The administrator was obviously puzzled by Tara’s questions: “Well I wanted to see if she was home sick. She didn’t come to school today and her teacher said that she was very eager to be song leader today.”

“She d-d-didn’t come to school t-t-today?” Tara whispered. “I-I-I have to go.”

“Of course, please let us know if we need to do anything Ms Maclay,” the administrator quickly answered.

Tara slumped into her chair in shock. Something had happened to Tabitha between the house and school. Perhaps to Willow too. And what could she do? Even if she knew where to look, she couldn’t go out and find them. Anything could have happened. They could have been attacked by a demon, or hit by a car, or hit by a car driven by a demon, or or or…

“W-w-what? Not now! Where are Buffy and Xander?” Tara shouted into the phone. If she could have, she would have reached through the phone to get to the vengeance demon.

“Ok, no reason to get so testy. Xander’s at the construction site unless he’s off doing some errand for his idol, the slayer,” she lapsed into insulting her former boyfriend for a while until Tara interrupted by again screaming in her ear. “Ok, ok, little impatient aren’t we miss vampire? You can be a demon and still have manners you know,” Anya mused.

“How would you know?” Tara mumbled under her breath as Anya continued, “Buffy’s probably at that house of beef and grease. Call her there.”

Shit, the Doublemeat. Why didn’t I think of that? Tara realized quickly thanking Anya and hanging up the phone. As she dialed she prayed to herself that her family was safe. “B-b-buffy?” she asked as incredibly enough the blonde slayer actually answered the phone.

The slayer immediately heard the panic in her friend’s voice: “Tara? What’s wrong?”

Tara could hardly speak she was so upset but blurted out: “You h-h-have to c-c-come home n-n-now!”

Buffy attempted to calm down the vampire: “Ok, Tara. Tell me what’s wrong.”

Realizing that if she couldn’t speak, there was no chance that Buffy would return to help find Tabitha and Willow, Tara took a few unnecessary breaths and attempted to center herself. After a few seconds she answered, “Tabitha never made it to school today.”

Still attempting to keep Tara calm even as she removed her apron and hat and set them on the counter by the phone Buffy suggested, “maybe Willow took her to the park or the museum or something?”

Even though Buffy couldn’t see her Tara shook her head vigorously saying, “no. That’s not it. Willow has a test this morning and you know she wouldn’t skip that if her head was on fire and Tabitha was going to be song leader today and was really excited about it.” Again starting to lose her composure she pleaded, “please Buffy come home now.”

Waving to her boss that she was leaving Buffy quickly answered: “Tara, I’ll be there in 15 minutes. Call Giles and tell him what’s happened and see if Anya can find Xander.” Thinking for a second she warned, “please don’t do anything stupid, ok?” Not thinking that Buffy couldn’t see her, Tara merely nodded to the slayer’s admonition. “Ok?” Buffy echoed.

“Ok,” Tara quietly answered as she hung up the phone. Not fifteen minutes later she had begun sobbing immediately as the slayer entered the house holding up Tabitha’s backpack and Willow’s books. As she tossed down the objects, Buffy attempted to comfort Tara. Both women knew that finding Tabitha and Willow’s stuff on the sidewalk couldn’t be anything good. Most likely someone had grabbed them and both women began mentally attempting to review their recent enemies as they waited for Giles and Xander to arrive.

Willow’s head hurt and she felt like someone was pouring fire through the slits in her still-closed eyes. As she started to enter the dark world and open her eyes, they were filled with even more painful light, forcing her to clamp them closed again. The redhead struggled to remember what was happening. Surely if she just thought about it hard enough she would understand where she was and what was happening. But it hurt her head so much. Feeling a trickle of something warm on her forehead, she lifted her hands to brush at it and found that she could not move them. She opened her eyes and looked down to see heavy metal shackles on her wrists.

Pain shot through her head from the light which pounded in through her open eyes. The searing pain did provide her with one advantage: her head cleared immediately and she began to remember the morning TABITHA! as she took in her surroundings. She lay on a cot with her hands and feet bound to the cot with metal shackles. On a cot to her left the child lay curled around a brown teddy bear. Willow was relieved to see that at least she did not appear to be tied in any way. The two girls were in a room, which was about 12X16 with no decorations. The only objects in the room were the two cots on which they lay. The windows were covered with boards that appeared to be securely fastened in place. A bare overhead light created the light that was hurting her head so badly.

Tabitha raised her head looking confusedly around the room before seeing Willow. “Willow!” she called as she jumped from her cot to Willow’s to snuggle the shackled woman.

The redhead groaned even as she did her best to return Tabitha’s hug. The child lay down by Willow and spoke: “the mans brought water. Do you want a drink?”

“A big man. Old not like Uncle Xander. Like Uncle Mr. Giles,” Tabitha explained.

Tabitha nodded as she played with Willow’s hair: “and he talks funny too like Uncle Mr. Giles.”

“He said they wouldn’t hurt either of us but they needed me to spend some time with them and then I could go back home,” the child explained.

“Ok Did they bring anything to eat sweetie? Do you want a snack?” Willow asked. As Tabitha got the goldfish and cheese chunks to eat while sitting on Willow’s cot, the redhead thought about the situation. Ok, this is crap. They’re not taking her back home but they didn’t want her upset either. I’ve got to get her back home to Tara. Oh Goddess, Tara. She’s gotta be freaking by now. Ok, think about this. Buffy and Tara will be here soon. She tried to logic through it further but her head hurt and she couldn’t keep her eyes open.

Tara and Buffy moved through the cemetery slowly looking for any vampires or demons. The day had been not entirely fruitless. Giles had made continued phone calls to pull in any favors he might still hold with the demon population. Finally though he had made a connection that had borne fruit. Giles called Travers at the Watcher’s council and asked if he knew anything that might be going on in Sunnydale. After a few more minutes of general questioning, Giles made to hang up. As he did so, Travers assured him that he was sure the little girl would be fine. Only that was just the thing: Giles hadn’t mentioned Tabitha.

Giles had gone to the university to attempt to make contacts there. Xander and Spike hit the demon bars and the bronze and Tara and Buffy were patrolling the cemetery. They hadn’t killed a vampire yet as they attempted to trade mercy or money for information. Anya and Dawn waited at the house relaying information between everyone. Finally Tara and Buffy ran into Clem.

After greeting him, the girls quickly questioned him about if he had seen anything strange. “Oh you mean the English guys?” he asked innocently.

It was all Tara could do not to grab Clem and throw him against the wall of the nearest crypt. But she knew that he wasn’t trying to be difficult, he just was kind of slow on the uptake. “Clem,” Tara snarled, “where are the English guys? When did you see them?”

The demon smiled cheerily, “oh they are staying in a hotel on the other side of town. They bought a bunch of blood earlier. I don’t know why. Very rude. Not demon friendly.”

Buffy grabbed him by the arm even before he stopped talking, “come on. Show us.”

Willow woke again feeling the darkness through the boarded up window but at least the light from the overhead bulb still burned brightly. “Willow?” Tabitha asked. The hacker merely nodded her head at the child.

“No thanks kiddo. But why don’t you get the bowl and come eat them over here and maybe we both won’t be scared?” Willow patted the bunk by her and the small blonde brought over her snack and sippie cup.

“Willow?” as the hacker again nodded painfully, Tabitha asked an unexpected question: “how does a lock work?”

Willow thought about it for a minute. “Well,” she explained, “I guess inside there is a tube and it has little things that stick out and the key smushes them back into a line so it releases.”

“Ok,” Tabitha smiled. As Willow watched the little girl closed her eyes as if concentrating on something. Willow let her sit without interrupting and was surprised as both cuffs around her wrists snapped open. “I can’t get the other two. Can you help me?” Tabitha asked.

Willow rubbed at her wrists to ensure that the circulation was fully restored as she answered, “I, I can’t Tabitha. Mama and Aunt Buffy will be here soon and we’ll go home ok?”

Tabitha looked around the room and shook her head. “What if they can’t find us?” she worried. “You have to help me and we can find them.”

Willow stroked the girl’s head as she explained, “I can’t do magic sweetie. I know it doesn’t make sense but I, well I am um addicted to the magic. I can’t control it.”

This time it was Tabitha who stroked the older girl’s hands as she spoke: “No Willow. YOU can make choices. You are stronger than the magic.”

Willow considered what the child was saying for a few moments. It did make sense. Sure she had a problem with magic, but really wasn’t it a problem with judgment? Magic was just the tool that she used to make bad choices. Looking at it that way, wouldn’t using magic to get she and Tabitha out of here be ok?

She nodded at the girl and took her hands. Both girls closed their eyes and began muttering the incantation. As she began, Willow realized that she and Tabitha were completely attuned. Obviously both had been trained to complete joint spells by Tara and they seemed to share a connection through the blonde witch. Willow found that Tabitha’s magical energy was very similar to Tara’s. Although it was less well developed, it was more powerful. The energy resonated perfectly with the redhead’s magical soul. As they completed the incantation, the bounds surrounding Willow’s ankles snapped open.

Willow picked up Tabitha and ran for the door only to find it locked from the other side. Again the two figures clasped hands and began their incantation. Before they could complete the incantation, Willow heard a noise from just on the other side of the door and dived to the side of the doorway, carrying Tabitha with her just as the door exploded inward. Hiding Tabitha behind her Willow turned back toward the door, ready to attack their captors with anything that was handy.

“Willow? Tabitha?” Tara cried as she saw her family huddled by the door. She grabbed both of them in a hug before picking up the child. “Come on,” she commanded as she indicated Buffy standing behind her and holding off the two men who had kidnapped Willow and Tabitha.

Willow waited for Tara to come back into their bedroom. Everyone was overjoyed to have Willow and Tabitha back home. Giles had spoken to Travers and had his assurance that the man understood that he had made a bad choice and that the council would stay away from Tara and Tabitha in the future—until their contact was necessary of course. He had tried to justify his team’s actions saying that they were concerned about a future slayer being raised by Tara and Willow. In particular they had felt that given Tara’s condition, she was completely inappropriate to raise a slayer. Giles had had to truly monitor his language as he told off the other man regarding the ability of Tara, Willow, and for that matter Buffy to raise and train the child.

Everyone agreed that it was Tabitha’s turn to choose dinner and the pizza had already arrived by the time they walked in the front door. Willow and Tara both laughed as the child managed to get only most of the pizza inside her tummy and the rest all over her face and hands. Tara had taken Tabitha up for a bath which Dawn offered to help with and Willow had taken her own long shower. It had taken about 30 minutes to get over the skungie dirty feeling that room and that cot had given her. Her head still ached from the knot. Tabitha had explained that although the men had put a cloth over Willow’s face to make her go to sleep, she had thrashed while fighting it and that was how her head got hurt.

Tara came into the bedroom closing the door firmly behind her. “You look like you took the bath baby,” Willow laughed.

Tara shook her wet hair as she giggled her agreement. “Tabitha went a little crazy with the suds. Dawn egged her on.” Sitting on the bed and taking Willow’s hand in her own, Tara whispered, “I just couldn’t stop her. Not today.”

“I know baby,” Willow answered running her hands through her lover’s hair. Placing her hands on Tara’s cheeks, she began gently kissing the blonde.

Through the loving kisses Tara whispered again: “I don’t know what I would have done if…” She was cut off by Willow’s continued kisses as the redhead attempted to express: “you won’t ever have to.”

Tara’s hands came up to mirror Willow’s, stroking her cheeks and pulling her in for kiss after kiss. Her lips quickly warmed as the redhead crushed her lips to the blonde’s. Willow pressed against the vampire’s body as she darted her tongue into her mouth. As Tara lay back Willow stretched her body against her lover’s, feeling their lengths mesh together through their clothing.

Tara rubbed her hands along the terrycloth robe on Willow’s sides attempting to warm her palms before gently sliding them into the opening of the garment. She knew that her effort had worked when the redhead purred and leaned into Tara’s hands rather than shying away from them. Softly she stroked her palms over the redhead’s breasts feeling the buds tighten under her attention.

Even as she luxuriated in the feeling of Tara’s hands gliding over her breasts and nipples, Willow wanted to feel her lover’s skin. She suddenly felt that she couldn’t get enough of the blonde, that she would never have enough of her. Her fingers fumbled at Tara’s buttons, the shaking making progress impossible. “I, I, I need…” she gasped desperately through the kiss which neither woman wanted to break.

“O-o-ok sweetie. It’s ok Will,” Tara whispered as she took matters into her own hands, standing to strip her clothes from her lithe body. Bending over, she lifted Willow from the bed to pull off her robe and drop it on the floor. As soon as both women were naked, she smothered Willow’s body with her own. The redhead moaned loudly into the contact as she reveled in this needed feeling. The feeling of perfection, of their flesh merged as it should always be.

Immediately Tara had her hands back on Willow’s breasts. She always loved those breasts, from the first time she had touched them and forever. As she stroked the soft flesh with her palms she could feel the sensory memory of every time she had ever touched them. She could feel their connection streaming in through the nerves of her hands as she circled them over Willow’s hard nubs. So entranced was she by the melding of their energy through her hands on her lover’s globes, that Willow’s hands working their way down her back and cupping her ass took her by surprise and she gasped suddenly. “Mmm,” she moaned into the contact even as she shifted to allow both women’s legs to separate the other’s. Both women could feel the amazing wetness on their thighs with the first contact.

Finally Tara broke the kiss to begin to trail soft kisses down Willow’s jaw line and neck. As she passed over her neck she could feel and smell the blood pulsing just under the surface. The sweet scent was intoxicating to her as she stopped to suck lightly at the surface of her lover’s jugular. Before she could become too entranced she continued moving her lips along the redhead’s collarbone and slowly down her breast. Worshipfully she placed kisses around Willow’s aureole in decreasing circles until she reached the tip of the very hard nipple. The redhead moaned, arching her back as Tara finally took her bud into her mouth and sucked lightly at first and then more deeply.

As she switched her attention to the other nipple, Tara twirled the first in her fingers. She could feel the wetness coating every fiber of her being and growing as she sucked her lover’s flesh and felt as well as heard the pleasure it was giving Willow. Suddenly the redhead grabbed Tara by the cheeks pulling her mouth to capture it with her own, thrusting her tongue into the vampire’s warmth.

Dropping her hands from Tara’s face Willow ran them along her lover’s sides, brushing the edges of her round breasts. She began to kneed the soft globes with her fingertips before scooting down the bed to lift her head slightly, placing a loving caress with her lips on Tara’s nipple. The blonde moaned quietly as she felt the soft kiss and more loudly as Willow sucked her nipple deep into her mouth. As Willow flicked her tongue over the tip of Tara’s hard bud she ran her fingers through her lover’s wetness. “Oh Goddess,” both women moaned out simultaneously as Tara’s hand traced a similar path through Willow’s pool.

Continuing her progression along Tara’s skin, Willow kissed a trail down her stomach until she found herself lying under the blonde, her nose nestled lovingly in her lover’s wetness, appreciating and absorbing the wonderful scent of Tara’s arousal. Raising a hand, she brushed her fingertips along each soft lip before following her hand with her tongue. “aaauuuuhh,” Tara groaned with the first contact of her lover’s mouth. The redhead continued to stroke Tara’s lips with her tongue, drinking in the sweetness of her essence. Softly she caressed her clit with her fingertips before spreading the blonde’s lips to allow her tongue to trace the path of Tara’s inner lips. Suddenly she thrust her tongue into Tara’s opening, curling it forward to rub the front wall of her lover’s center. The blonde moaned out with the intensity of feeling as her juices poured into Willow’s mouth.

Willow welcomed the sweetness of her lover’s juices flowing into her mouth and through her soul. Lovingly she stroked her tongue along Tara’s inner lips until she reached her magical bud, softly enveloping it in the depression of her tongue. She raised her fingertips to Tara’s opening as she intensified her attention to her sensitive nub. As she kissed and licked at her lover’s clit, she slowly inserted one and then two fingers inside her opening. Tara’s hips rocked gently with the motion of Willow’s hands and mouth as she bit down on her lip to keep from screaming out. The redhead poured the intensity of her love for Tara and the danger of the day into her attention to her lover’s pleasure. As she sucked and licked at Tara’s center, curling her fingers inside the blonde, she willed her mouth to pull the climax into itself. The strength of their connection was so overwhelming that she knew her lover’s climax better than she knew her own body at the moment that it arrived. As Tara bathed Willow’s mouth with her juices, both women screamed in muffled pleasure. When the contractions receded, Tara rolled onto her side to lay by her lover. She trailed her hand over her lover’s body as she willed her body to still its residual shaking.

Even as her muscles shook with release and relaxation, Tara’s hands and fingers moved actively over Willow’s smooth skin. The redhead moaned as Tara twirled her fingers around and through her wet curls. As she played with the softness she again bent her mouth to take Willow’s nipple in her mouth. Softly she caressed the dimpled flesh with her lips and mouth, circling the nub with the tip of her tongue. The blonde shifted her weight to press her body against her lover’s while Willow arched into her flesh again and again. Slowly Tara kissed her way along her lover’s body toward her wet curls.

Willow’s scent pulled Tara closer and closer to its sweet source. As she lay between the redhead’s legs, she wrapped her arms around the smaller girl’s legs and pressed her mouth to her soft wet curls. “Oh Goddess!” Willow gasped as she first felt Tara’s breath on her center. The sensation of Tara’s tongue grasping her clit without first caressing her lips or mound took her by surprise and she arched up into the stroke. Hungrily the blonde began feasting on the ample juices of her lover’s arousal as she stroked her tongue and lips repeatedly through Willow’s wetness, coating her outer lips and thrusting her tongue into Willow’s soft opening.

The redhead thrashed under Tara’s energetic attention to her center as Tara licked and kissed and sucked her clit. Softly she stroked her teeth over Willow’s tight bud as Willow clutched the sheets in one hand and used the other to muffle her own screams. Feeling her orgasm approaching she whispered, “Tara baby. I want…” Gently the vampire pressed two fingers into her lover as Willow arched up to envelop the contact. “No…I …want…you …mine …yours…” Willow desperately attempted to communicate with her lover. As her muscles clenched powerfully around Tara’s fingers and into her mouth, the smaller woman gasped, “…now baby…now …”

Even as her fingers continued their movement inside Willow’s clenching muscles, Tara pulled her mouth from her lover’s clit to lick the inside of her thigh. As Tara’s teeth pierced the skin, she tasted Willow’s juices just before the warm blood flooded her mouth. Tara slowed the flow to taste the first pulse of her lover’s life blood. In that pulse she tasted everything that Willow was and everything that she felt. Her mind was flooded with the intensity of their love and their connection. She could feel Willow’s climax around her fingers and into her mouth as the second pulse filled her. Her eyes snapped open as she tasted the tint of magic, the knowledge that Willow had cast in the last day shocked her.

Her gasp of shock pulled a flood of blood into the vampire’s mouth and she had to consciously slow the flow again. She could feel the intense pleasure radiating through Willow’s body as her climax peaked again and again. Magic? Even while questioning Willow’s use of magic, she was infused with love and understanding. At once she understood the nature of Willow’s problem. It wasn’t the magic that was the problem; it was the power. Her insecurity and her quest for power. The magic was just the tool she had used.

As another heartbeat pushed a pulse of blood into her mouth she felt and understood and accepted that Willow could and would use magic. The joy of their union was complete and absolute as Willow crested once again, screaming Tara’s name as the blonde felt her own climax crash through her. With one last pull she took the final drink of her lover’s blood and pulled away before placing loving kisses on the red bite mark as her face returned to its normal countenance.

Crawling up to lay next to Willow, Tara placed soft loving kisses all over the redhead’s chin, jaw, and eyes, finally embracing her lips with her own. Relaxing to Willow’s side, she draped her arm over the smaller woman’s stomach as both women lay exhausted recovering from their repeated climaxes. “Wow…,” Willow breathed out. “I love you baby.”

Nuzzling into the redhead’s neck Tara answered, “mmm, I love you sweetie.”

“No,” Tara answered, “that’s ok. I-i-I understand. Tabitha was r-r-right.”

Willow giggled as she answered, “sure, it takes a four year old to understand the power and meaning of magic.”

“No, it takes a four year old to understand the power and meaning of family and love,” Tara responded as she shifted to her back to hold the smaller woman in a loving embrace before sliding into a peaceful sleep together.

Main What's New Fiction by Author Fiction by Pairing eBooks

Subject Index Submissions Gallery Forums Links Awards Contact Us

If you find problems on these pages please email your host.

Turned

By JustSkipIt