Round Robin Chapter 21 (updated version)-AmberBensonFan

["xenaslave2000 <xenaslave2000@xxxxxxxxx>" <xenaslave2000@xxxxxxxxx>]

Chapter 21 (updated version) 
AmberBensonFan

"Shut up."

"I can kill you right now."

"Oooo, I'm scared."

<Growl>

"If you stop bothering me I can get this done."

"Just finish it so I can get away from you."

"Will both of you just shut up," Faith finally snapped in a harsh 
whisper. She stood a few feet from the vampire and nerd as they 
worked on the lines at the Summers' home, keeping a lookout for 
anyone who might spot them. Inside she was going crazy and just 
wanted to get the hell out of there, but she had to make sure these 
two sniveling idiots actually got the work done without getting 
themselves killed in the process. She wondered idly, as they went 
back to work, if she could kill them once they got back to the 
crypt. Once the equipment was set up they really didn't need Warren 
and Spike, well, who would blame a slayer staking a vampire? 

"Done," Warren announced as she closed the utility box.

"Good, lets get the bloody hell outta here," Spike piped up and 
started walking away from the other two.

Faith rolled her eyes and took up step with the vampire, while Warren 
scurried about to collect his tools and catch up, bitching about 
being left behind.

~~~

Kill, Kill, Kill, Kill. Faith paced restless in the small crypt 
wondering over and over again why she couldn't just get rid of these 
two. All they did was argue like stupid kids. Maybe if she were 
lucky they'd wind up killing each other. With a huff, the dark 
slayer took up perch on a large stone sarcophagus. 

"Look, see, there it is," Warren finally announced as the small 
monitors that were set up along one wall flickered to life. Faith's 
eyes narrowed as she took in the images of a life she'd never have. 
People bustling all over a nice home, everyone going through their 
routines as Buffy ushered Dawn up the stairs. Tara crossing by and 
giving Willow a quick peck on the cheek. Xander and Anya were in the 
kitchen piling up plates and tableware. "Looks like it's dinner time 
at the Summers house," the tech-head informed needlessly.

The three of them watched each lost in their own thoughts, desires, 
and conflicts. Faith was consumed with a surge of emotions ranging 
from outright jealousy to a hidden spark of regret. Spike alternated 
between a growl and a purr as he became enthralled in his own 
thoughts of taking down the Scoobies and whatever other lecherous 
fantasy his devious mind held for Buffy. Warren seemed to be 
indifferent, more impressed with himself and his ability to so easily 
infiltrate into the inner sanctum than anything beyond that. He 
watched in utter silence as he took morbid pleasure in knowing that 
he invaded them, broke into a place once thought safe and protected, 
relishing the thought that he was inside them without their knowledge 
or consent.

When they saw the group congregate into the dining room and Tara kiss 
Buffy on the lips a collective gasp erupted in the crypt. "Did?" 
Warren started to ask.

"What the?" Spike tried next

Faith jumped from her seat and rushed to the gear, "Rewind it, REWIND 
IT!" Warren, in his haste suddenly forgot what button was what, but 
quickly managed to replay the scene. It was clearly a kiss of 
intimacy though it last for only a second. "Again!" Faith demanded. 
Her eyes searched the screen and watched in the far corner as Willow 
merely glanced up, smiled, and returned to her busy. Faith took a 
step back, trying to figure out what just happened.

Spike growled a steady rumble, his fists clenching and unclenching, 
as he desperately fought back the urge to shift. He was tossed aside 
for the blonde witch? That couldn't be, the witch was with Willow and 
besides, Buffy wasn't gay. She liked what Spike did for her, the 
freedom he gave her, the release of it all. There wasn't anything 
the little bird could do for a slayer, it took a real man, it took 
him and him alone to satisfy what really was inside Buffy.

Warren watched the interactions, back in real time, as everyone sat 
around the table, talking animatedly over their meal. Buffy sat at 
the end of the table, Dawn across on the opposite end. Willow and 
Tara occupied one side while Xander and Anya sat on the other. They 
looked like quite the happy, albeit unorthodox, family as they mutely 
carried on, completely unaware of the whirlwind emotions this very 
quaint picture caused to those prying. "So, the blondes are 
together. I thought she was with the redhead?" Warren finally spoke 
up.

"So did I," Faith mumbled. 

Warren picked up the phone that sat next to him on the makeshift 
workstation and began to dial.

"Who are you calling?" Spike asked, but the tone was more threatening 
than it was questioning.

"Shhhh," Warren hissed as the line clicked on the other end. "Mr. 
Bester," came his clipped command to the woman on the other end of 
the line that picked up. "Tell him Warren is calling and I have some 
very interesting information."

Faith and Spike both moved forward to listen as Warren recapped the 
events they just witnessed, both straining their supernatural senses 
to pick up both sides of the conversation but it was too difficult to 
get anything more than snippets. The conversation was short and to 
the point and Warren hung up after only spending a moment listening 
to their new instructions. He turned with a wicked grin plastered on 
his face and stared at his two cohorts.

"Oh just spill it," Faith huffed, not in the mood to play the waiting 
game.

"We get the girl," Warren answered.

"Sounds good, when?" Spike chimed in.

"We watch them to see when the blonde is alone, then we take her," 
the tech-head informed.

Spike growled in frustration and stomped off to the other end of the 
crypt. He wanted action now, he was not in the mood to wait this 
thing out. "I at least need to get something to snack on if we're 
going to sit here with our thumbs up our asses all night."

Faith, uncharacteristically quiet, walked over to the bags that sat 
in the corner and tossed a medical bag of blood to the bleached 
blonde vampire. "Don't complain. We can't have you leading Buffy 
straight to us."

The three settled down into a solemn and quiet night while the 
Scoobies went on about their lives blissfully unaware.

~~~

"Are you going on patrol tonight?" Willow asked as she took a pile of 
plates from the table.

Buffy grabbed the glasses and followed the hacker into the kitchen 
were Tara and Dawn were busy gossiping and washing the dishes that 
were stacked up next to them. "Yeah, I figured things have been just 
a little too quiet lately but those guys? things? whatever, they had 
a purpose. That disk might not be the only thing they're after."

"Be careful, Buffy," Xander chimed in. "Anytime a big bad is out on 
a treasure hunt it's generally not of the good."

Buffy smiled at her friend and nodded, "I know, I've got all the 
usual protection."

Willow wiped her hands on a dishtowel and went back into the dining 
room to set up her computer, the slayer following behind. "I haven't 
really had a chance to look into this, but I figured I could search 
the net while you were patrolling," the witch explained as she set up 
her Internet connection.

"Do we have even a clue about this thing?" Buffy ventured.

With a sigh, Willow sat down at the now cleared table and began 
opening browsers and databases. "Not so much," she answered, pouting 
in the process.

Buffy couldn't hold back the chuckle or resist the urge to kiss those 
pouting lips. She leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on the 
hacker's lips and pulled back with a blush, still fairly new to all 
of this. Willow couldn't hold back the blush either and sucked in 
her bottom lip, biting on it before ducking her head to look at the 
screen. Buffy shook her head, realizing that was a Tara trait the 
redhead must have picked up on and adopted as her own.

~~~

CRASH! SMASH!

"OUCH!" Warren cried out as the vampire rolled over on top of him and 
landed a punch. The two of them were rolling around and fighting 
like a bunch of kids who were fighting over who got to play in the 
sandbox.

Faith rushed over to the two of them and grabbed Spike by his 
collar. She tossed the vampire away from the nerd and before Warren 
could make any comment, he found himself lifted off the ground and 
suddenly being pushed toward the workstation. "Rewind it."

"What? You want to see the two blondies again?" 

"No, you ass, rewind it back a few minutes."

With a groan he did as he was told until he noticed exactly what 
Faith was looking for. Spike jumped to his feet ready to being a 
tirade that would likely launch into a fist fight but his mouth 
snapped shut with an audible smack. "What in the bloody hell is 
going on?" He snarled and came over closer to the image that was now 
paused.

Faith's eyes narrowed as she took in the frozen sight of Buffy 
leaning over Willow as they shared a kiss in the dining room. 
Something very weird was going on, that was for sure. All that time 
she spent overtly seeking out Buffy for something more than Slay-
buddies and the blonde never relented, never gave even the faintest 
hint they could have been more, but here she was now openly with not 
just the other blonde, but Red too. "Neither of you knew about 
this?" she accused.

"No way," Warren practically whined.

Spike was seething, it was bad enough Buffy was screwing around with 
the witch, but now she was messing with the hacker as well. It stung 
deep, wounding and bruising the vampire's pride more than losing a 
fight to the Scoobies ever could do. 

The walls built up, were reinforced, the already dark eyes of the 
slayer growing darker, deeper. What purpose was there to even try? 
Why bother fighting against what was surely her true nature? Buffy 
was obviously quite content giving herself to everyone but the dark 
woman, why bother trying. The darkness swarmed and blanketed her, 
taking solace in the unfeeling emptiness that beckoned her. No 
point. No reason. No love.

Faith stormed out of the crypt and into the night.

~~~

"See what you can do, I'm going to patrol. Maybe I can find 
something out on the grapevine," Buffy informed as she walked away 
from the table, heading toward the old, battered chest where the 
weapons were readily available.

Willow, already engrossed in her search and find mission, merely 
nodded. Her fingers danced over the keys as she tried a series of 
databases they frequented, hoping to get a hit on the object they now 
had in their possession. She didn't hear Tara come in until the 
blonde pulled up a chair close beside her and looked at the screen.

"Success, baby?" Tara asked, her eyes squinting slightly as she tried 
to read and understand information that flashed across the screen.

Resting her head in one hand, Willow looked over to her lover and 
gave her a weak smile, "If you define success as the complete lack of 
anything, then sure, plenty."

"Awww," Tara put her arm around Willow, "you'll find it. You're 
Willow: Super Computer Girl."

Willow's smile broke into a full one as Tara's playful words made her 
realize how she really needed this woman in her life. The smile 
wavered at the thought of how she pushed Tara away and ran off, but a 
quick shake of her head threw out the thoughts and she once more 
concentrated on her searches. "Know what I could go for right now?" 
the hacker questioned as she navigated deeper into her resources.

"What's that?" Tara inquired, sitting back in her chair to watch the 
redhead.

"Mooooocha's," Willow practically moaned.

Tara couldn't help the burst of laughter that broke through upon 
hearing the pleading tone of her lover. "I get the picture," she 
said standing up. "I'll make a Pump run."

Willow checked the clock, "You sure? I could go with you if you 
wanted to wait a few minutes." 

"I'm sure, honey. Buffy's out on patrol, I'll be fine."

"Be sure to take?"

"I know, already have a cross and stake in my pocket," Tara 
interjected with a smirk.

Willow smiled and relaxed a little. "Be back soon?"

"In a flash," Tara reassured and stepped out of the house.

~~~

"Where the hell is she?" Warren complained. "The blonde just left by 
herself, this is the chance we need and that bitch is off who knows 
where."

"You're staying here," came the sharp order from the crypt door.

Spike and Warren both spun around, surprised to see Faith standing 
there, a deep scowl etched across her face. Spike threw on his 
duster and couldn't resist the `na-na-na' smirk he sent at the nerd 
as she charged up the steps. The door slammed shut behind them and 
Warren slumped in his chair muttering a series of curses, some even 
in Klingon.

~~~

Slayer and vampire made their way silently through town, keeping to 
the shadows and alleys as they worked their way toward the Espresso 
Pump. "No biting," Faith hissed as Tara's form leaving the coffee 
shop came into view. "We'll go up ahead to the next alley and get 
her there."

Spike nodded and the two of them used their preternatural skills to 
easily get ahead of the blonde, position themselves at the mouth of a 
dark alley that the witch would have to pass on her way back home.

The hackles on the back of Tara's neck started to rise as she walked 
down the street, her instincts screaming that something in the air 
was foul and dangerous. She didn't have a chance to alter her course 
into a better lit path before her arm was gripped in a steely grasp 
and she was yanked into the alley. Her startled scream prematurely 
cut off when a hand harshly clamped over her mouth, the tray of 
mochas dropping to the ground, all but forgotten. She struggled 
desperately against her captor, her body shaking and squirming every 
which way as she fought to get loose. 

Her struggles froze and her eyes widened when she took in the sight 
of the small, darkly clad woman. A woman she only knew to be Buffy 
once before, but this time she knew the person in this body was 
nothing but trouble. Her vision was filled with a fast flying fist 
and any further attempt at escape was lost as blackness took over 
her, the blonde slumping in Spike's arms.

With a grunt, Spike hefted the now dead weight of the witch over his 
shoulder as they made their way deeper into the shadows of the 
alleyway, leaving behind the puddled mess of mochas in their wake.

~~~

Willow yawned and stretched before she moved the mouse over to the 
taskbar and noted the time. Her brows furrowed as she realized that, 
even if the Espresso Pump was busy, it shouldn't have taken Tara this 
long to get back. Alarm shot through her as she slammed the laptop 
closed and jumped to her feet. "Xander?"

Xander perked up at the call of his name and paused the movie he, 
Anya, and Dawn were enjoying in the living room. "What's up, Will?"

Willow rushed into the room and then spun around to go back into the 
foyer and grabbed for her jacket. "Tara went for mochas and she 
isn't back yet. Something's wrong."

Anya, knowing the drill, sat up so that Xander could stand. She rose 
after him, Dawn following their lead. "Take it easy, Will, maybe 
she's just chatting with a friend she saw there or maybe she met up 
with Buffy." Despite his attempt to calm his friend, Xander still 
moved forward to put on his own jacket, knowing that no matter what 
he said, the fiery redhead would not be satisfied until she could see 
for sure that Tara was indeed safe and just otherwise occupied.

"No, something isn't right. She said she was going to come right 
back, she would have stopped to call or something if she was going to 
take this long. This is Sunnydale, Xander, she knows better," Willow 
blew out in a frantic blur as she threw open the door and charged 
outside.

"Ahhhh, Anya, can you?"

"Go, I'll hold down the fort," Anya waved in dismissal.

Xander leaned forward and gave her a quick peck on the cheek in 
appreciation as he rushed out the door, struggling to get his keys 
from his pants pocket. "Hold up, Will, I've got the keys."

Willow danced nervously from foot to foot next to the passenger door 
waiting none-to-patiently for her friend to unlock the car and get 
in. They hit the road, tracing the most likely route the witch would 
have taken to the Espresso Pump. As much as the redhead would have 
preferred to just speed there, they took the trip at a snail's pace 
to make sure they could see Tara if she was already walking home.

They parked close to the coffee shop and began walking back, Xander 
taking one side of the road while Willow covered the other. 
Periodically they'd call out for the witch, but they knew that the 
chances of her responding would be nil. 

Willow came up to the first alley and called Xander over. No way was 
she going to explore a pitch-black alley without having some type of 
back up. The stray thought of finding Buffy passed through her mind, 
but if Tara was hurt the redhead didn't want to waste any valuable 
time. Sensing her friend at her back, Willow took slow, cautious 
steps, Xander close behind her, both kept their eyes darting back and 
forth for any sign of Tara or unwanted visitors.

SQUISH

"Ewww," Willow groaned out and looked down to see what she stepped 
in. Paper cups with the Espresso Pump logo clearly marked on it. 
Willow bent down and touched the tip of her finger into the liquid 
and then stood up, "Tara!" 

"What is it, Will?" Xander asked, his face showing confusion.

"It's still warm. Whatever happened didn't go down too long ago, 
maybe we can catch up," she explained, hope lining her voice as she 
took off down the alley. 

Throwing up his hands in resignation, not happy to be charging into a 
situation unknown without more protection, Xander chased after his 
friend. "Just hope we run into Buffy before we run into something 
else," he groused.

~~~

"What about the magic?" Warren asked as he studied the limp form tied 
to the chair.

"How do you stop a witch from casting?" Faith asked, turning to the 
nerd. This was outside her area of expertise that was for sure. All 
she had to worry about was who to beat up to keep them quiet, but 
somehow she figured that wouldn't work in this case.

"I don't deal in this stuff," Warren supplied, not so 
helpfully. "That was usually Jonathon's job."

"Who the hell is Jonathon?" Spike snarled.

"Call him," the slayer ordered.

"Oh, yeah, sure," Warren intoned, his voice dripping with 
sarcasm. "Hey, Jonathon, I need you to come by a crypt where I'm 
hanging with a vamp and a slayer so you can cast a spell on this 
witch we just kidnapped. Yeah, I can just see that happening."

"Then we just make it known that it's in his best interest to help us 
out," Faith concluded with a crack of her knuckles.

Warren nodded with a hit of a smirk tugging at the corners of his 
lips. He could care less what happened to either Jonathon or the 
witch, as long as Best came through in the end with his promises, the 
psychotic, misogynistic man had no problems roughing up a few people 
along the way. 

~~~

"Hey, ow, awright," Jonathon whined as he was rough handled and 
shoved into the crypt. "Jeez, ya know if you kill me I can't help 
you," he informed.

Spike growled and grabbed the short man roughly by his 
shirt, "Doesn't mean we can't have some fun. I think I'm getting a 
little peckish," he informed with a lick of his chops, his visage a 
grotesque display of his demonic form.

"Ah, ah, ah," Jonathon stuttered, his mind shutting down in the face 
of such a threat.

Rolling her eyes and expelling an exaggerated sigh, Faith pulled the 
man from Spike's grip and dragged him down the steps. "Make sure she 
can't cast anything on us, got it?"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it." When he was released from her steely grip he 
dropped his bag and began to pull out the items he'd need, grumbling 
the entire time. He tried not to wonder what Warren was into with 
these two and especially tried not to worry about if he'd really get 
out of here alive once his job was done. He looked at the leather-
clad slayer and similarly clothed vampire and wondered if it was 
worth it to install some type of failsafe into his spell. Something 
that would be a bargaining chip for him to get out of this crypt 
with. Sizing them up he decided that if they found out about it or 
if something went wrong in the process nothing would save him from 
their cold-blooded wrath.

"Hurry up, she's starting to come around," Spike barked.

"I can knock her out again," Warren volunteered.

Faith stepped forward with a growl of her own, warning him away from 
the blonde. Spike quirked a questioning eyebrow at her and she 
shrugged it off. "What? If she's unconscious all the time how are we 
going to get any answers?"

"W-Willow?" Tara's voice came in a broken, hoarse whisper. Her head 
lulled as she fought to climb back to a conscious state.

Jonathon was sitting in a quickly drawn circle and chanting when the 
trio looked over at him. He pulled out some supplies from a bag and 
tossed them into the tiny fire that sat under the small bowl. "Are 
you done yet?" Faith demanded. Jonathon ignored her, his 
concentration completely on the spell as the smoke began to transform 
from a regular white cloud to a rust color as it swirled in front of 
him. Slowly opening his eyes, he looked up to see Tara's blue orbs 
open lazily and try to focus ? they're eyes locking. He tried to 
show her an apology with his gentle stare as the smoky mist blew 
towards Tara, wrapping itself around her and then dissipating.

By the time her senses caught up with her consciousness and Tara 
realized she was being held captive and that the little man in front 
of her was binding her powers it was too late to conjure up a counter 
spell. She tried, though, and immediately grunted when the spell 
backfired. She looked around frantically and pulled against the 
ropes they held her wrists firm against the chair. 

~~~

It didn't take long to get through the standard `Why' and `Where' 
questions and the obligatory pleas to Spike about how they were 
always nice to him, most of which were simply ignored. In fact, 
Spike used their time together when he was neutered to torment and 
tease the blonde. She bit and chewed on her lower lip as she fought 
back the urge to cry, refusing to give the vampire who was constantly 
in her face any satisfaction.

In the background Warren and Jonathon were arguing over the most 
inane details of the set up they had in the crypt. Faith couldn't 
really follow it as they blathered on about specs and stats in terms 
that only a geek could understand or even want to. Fed up the slayer 
jumped to her feet with a shout of, "Enough!" Instantly four pairs of 
eyes turned to her. "Jonathon, get lost. Warren, go do something, 
anything, just get out. Spike, go get something to eat. I'll handle 
blondie here."

"But?" came from all three men in unison.

Her narrowed eyes and clenched fists told them to just shut up and 
move it along before bones were broken and dust piled up. Grumbling 
like scolded children, the two nerds left the crypt, slamming the 
door behind them on the way out. Spike, however, detoured and nudged 
his head, indicating that he wanted a word in private. Rolling her 
eyes, Faith followed him to the corner.

"What?"

"Why not just kill the bitch?" Spike snarled, licking his lips at the 
thought of sinking his fangs into the witch's neck.

"What part of `keep her alive' don't you understand?"

"Apparently the part about her living," Spike shot back, his voice 
rising.

"Hey, I'm not making the rules here. The boss said we need to keep 
her to trade for the First Gift of Exodus so that's what we're gonna 
do," Faith snapped.

Neither realized their angry words carried enough for the blonde to 
hear them and the Wiccan made a mental note of the name, hoping it 
was the very same disk they were trying to research back home.

"Fine," Spike huffed, shrugging on his duster, and bounding up the 
stairs, slamming the door for a second time.

Faith watched him leave, but her thoughts were not on his departure, 
but rather a moment in time a few years back where she once again 
held a Scooby prisoner in exchange for a vital item needed by her 
boss. The dark woman couldn't help but wonder if the outcome would 
be the same this time as well. Blinking away the memory, Faith 
slowly stalked around Tara, who suddenly decided it might have been 
better to have the guys back. 

"Faith, why do this?" Tara tried.

Stopping in front of the woman, Faith cocked her head as though 
trying to understand what the witch just said. "So, what's the deal 
with you and B?"

Tara blinked in silence for a moment, the question being the last 
thing she expected. From her position she couldn't see the 
electronic set up, but piecing together bits of the stray 
conversations and debates between Warren and Jonathon, she was able 
figure out that they had been spying on the gang. For how long, 
though, she wasn't sure. Deciding to turn the tables on the slayer, 
hoping to distract her enough with her own questions so as not to 
reveal anything further to the rouge, Tara shot back with her own 
inquiry. "Why do you care so much, Faith?"

Snarling and easily snapping back into the role she knew how to play 
by heart, and backhanded the witch across the face. Tara's head 
snapped back and she gasped in pain, tasting the copper tinge of 
blood from the corner of her mouth. "You're hurting, Faith, I can 
see that," Tara started again. "You hurt inside so you make others 
hurt on the outside, but look where that got you the last time."

"Shut? up," Faith ground out and slapped the witch again.

Tara's head swam as she tried to fight back the pain that was 
throbbing across her cheek. "Faith, this isn't the only way, you 
know. "

The slayer lunged forward and grabbed a fistful of hair, pulling hair 
and getting right in the witch's face, her hot breath come in pants 
against Tara's skin. "Shut up or I'll kill you right now," came the 
warning.

Tara knew she was on thin ice, knew full well that the slayer could 
easily kill her. But she also sensed that if the dark woman was 
truly as untouchable and heartless as she led on, she wouldn't be 
reacting so viciously. "Faith, listen to me, please," Tara started 
and grimaced with the rough tug on her hair. "Please, Faith. I know 
you don't want to do this, why else would Angel say how much you 
changed?"

"You don't know anything! He was a fool, a damn fool," Faith growled.

Tara saw the sudden waver in the dark eyes, the split second moment 
of self-doubt, before it quickly vanished. The witch held on to that 
and kept charging ahead. "What about you, then? You know there's 
something better, why else turn yourself in? Why try for a second 
chance?"

Faith's whispers were almost lost on the witch and if it wasn't for 
there extremely close proximity to each other the blonde was sure she 
wouldn't have been able to make out the mutterings of the slayer. As 
it was, Tara heard "Shut up, you don't know anything," repeated over 
and over like a mantra as the dark woman slowly backed away, 
releasing her hold on the woman.

Faith backed up to the wall, her eyes unfocused, cloudy, and 
darting. Her lips moving, though no more sound came forth. She slid 
down the wall until she crouched, her hands tightly clasped in front 
of her, making it look like the rouge was almost praying. The 
silence was thick, almost deafening as it weighed heavily upon both 
women.

Tara watched the small woman closely, studying her, reading her. 
Though her powers were bound, she could still read the aura around 
Faith and it spiked and rolled out of control. The struggle was 
clearly evident to the witch who could tune into this astral 
aspect. "Does she know?" Tara's gentle voice broke the oppressive 
hush. When blank orbs looked up at her, Tara continued. "Did she 
ever know how you felt about her?"

Faith chuckled and it slowly rolled into a full laugh, but it sent 
chills up Tara's spin. It was not an expression of glee, but rather 
something chilling and cold. As it slowly died down, Faith looked 
straight into Tara's cerulean gaze and shook her head. "You are a 
trip." Faith stood up and brushed her hands against her thighs, 
wiping away the dust, or was it something else? Something a little 
closer to home?

With purpose in her steps, Faith strode forward and Tara couldn't 
help the need to back away, but she gathered up her resolve and held 
her head up as she faced down the woman who stalked her way. Halting 
in front of the blonde, a leer graced Faith's lips as she leaned 
forward, very much aware of how her breasts pressed against the other 
woman and the slight hitch in Tara's breath. Reaching around, Faith 
worked her fingers through the knots of the coarse bindings until the 
witch's limbs suddenly relaxed, but neither made a move. Faith 
enjoyed the sensations of the woman she was against, the warmth she 
found there inviting, something in her needing more ? needing that 
sense of home and comfort. Tara froze, fighting the urge to push 
away from her captor, afraid that it would incite her when things 
suddenly seemed to be going her way. The blonde could sense a shift 
in the dark woman, a subtle change in the aura, but the need to get 
out, to get away, was more overwhelming.

Steeling her face into a calm and almost bored visage, Faith backed 
away and crossed her arms over her chest. "Be sure to give my love 
to B and Red," she said, her lips curling into a smile that was 
anything but warm and comforting.

Unsure for only a split second, Tara hastily got to her feet and 
stumbled up the steps to the door, sending furtive glances back to 
the slayer before she dashed out to the main cemetery. A stray 
thought that the others were still out there crossed her mind, but as 
she left the tomb the witch could feel the binding spell break and 
knew that she could defend herself against them, if absolutely 
necessary. 

Sending another glance over her shoulder as she raced down a row of 
headstones, Tara screamed when she crashed into a body, sending both 
sprawling to the ground. The witch was immediately sitting up, her 
hands outstretched as she began to chant.

"Tara?"

Halting mid-way through the spell, Tara let her mind focus through 
the haze of fear and noticed the small blonde slayer sitting across 
from her with a perplexed expression. "Buffy?"

"Tara are you okay? What are you doing?" The question broke off as 
she took in the sight of the Wiccan's bruised cheek and cut 
lip. "What happened?" she cried out and scurried forward to get a 
better look.

"Can we just go home?" 

Nodding, Buffy stood up, pulling the witch with her, and wrapping her 
arms protectively around the taller woman. Neither of them spoke as 
they cleared the graveyard and began walking down the street.

"Buffy? Tara, is that you?" the worry in the redhead's voice was 
clear as day as she and Xander practically killed themselves getting 
out of the car that came to a screeching halt close to them.

"Will," came Tara's only response, a breathy plea as the two witches 
practically crashed into each other and hugged.

Xander and Buffy stood to the side, his eyes asking a question to 
which Buffy merely shrugged and shook her head.

"Come on, let's get you home, baby," Willow soothed, putting her arm 
around the woman and leading her back to the car where Xander and 
Buffy quickly followed suit.