FF: The Spiral Cage 10/?

[Carol.Clarke@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Title: The Spiral Cage
Part Ten: The Basics
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Joss Whedon owns Buffy and Chris Carter owns the
X-Files. 
Rating: NC -17 
Pairing: Joyce/Dana the rest wait and see
Note: This story is in an alternate universe. It does not follow cannon
story lines. The people are different in places because they have lived
different lives. Dana Scully is a lot happier in this world. Dawn was there
from the beginning. And Buffy isn't the Buffy you know. Also there are many
kinds of vampires and demons, mixing them from the X-file world and BTVS,
and other myths. 
Thanks: I can't believe I forgot this: THANKS TO CHERYL HILL!

The Spiral Cage
The Basics

"There are 3 bedrooms?" Willow asked as she and Dawn returned to the car to
help carry stuff into the cabin. Dana chose not to respond. Joyce was going
to have to make the bedroom assignments and everyone in the car knew she was
clearly not comfortable with the logical solutions.

"Why are you all looking at me?" Joyce replied as she looked at her family
staring at her.

"Because the choice needs to be made by you, honey. Buffy, Willow, help me
get the grocery's in the kitchen." Dana said as she opened the back gate on
their borrowed SUV.

"Fine, Dawn, Willow, you take the room downstairs. Buffy, you and Tara take
one of the bedrooms upstairs. And Dana and I will take the other one. Like
there was another solutions." Joyce said as she grabbed a large box of food
and walked off toward the kitchen.

"Well that went well." Dana said as all three children smirked at her.

"So are you going to tell us what happened or not?" Dawn asked Buffy
impatiently. They still had no idea why they suddenly had to go off to the
mountains.

"Some lady cop came to the house to arrest me. It was some weird set up. She
wanted to arrest Tara too. All I know is Dana called someone back in
Washington and then brought us here to hide out until her friend can figure
out what is going on." Buffy explained.

"So we're really hiding out? Like fugitives? Like as in on the run? Like..."
Dawn stopped Willow's babble quickly by putting a hand over her mouth.

"We'll be back to school in time for you to ace's you math test, Willow,
Ok." Dawn said as she moved her hand away from Willow.

"It will all work out for the best." Tara said slowly. All three girls could
see the crystal around her neck glowing. 

"Yeah and Tara can start teaching you new witch stuff." Buffy said happily.

"Cool." Dawn replied before picking up the last box. The four young women
then all headed toward the cabin. 

&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&

"Kate Lockley?" Asked a young man with the worst puppy-dogs eyes Kate had
ever seen. 

"Who wants to know?" Kate answered as she let her hand slip to her gun.

"Special Agent Fox Mulder." Mulder replied holding out his badge. 

"Fox?" Kate asked completely amused as she carefully looked over his badge.

"My parents had a funny sense of humor. What can I say." Mulder replied.

"So what do you want?" Kate asked cautiously, she still had her hand on her
gun. 

"Right now, how about I buy you a cup of coffee." Mulder said as he pointed
down the street to a diner.

"I doubt you want just coffee." Kate said but she turned and headed down the
street. A public place suited her just fine.

"Coffee and conversation." Mulder stated as he followed Kate up the street. 

They took a back booth and ordered coffee. After the coffee was served
Mulder asked, "Do you know a Dana Scully?"

"Only in a professional capacity. She is an FBI pathologist. I have worked
on several cases that she did the autopsies for. She works with the LA
branch occult unit." Kate said as she watched Mulders' reaction. 

"She is missing. She didn't come into work on Monday?" Mulder stated
watching Kate's eyes carefully.

"Did you ask her partner, Liam?" Kate asked staring Mulder right in the eye.

"Interesting Agent. But most vampires are interesting, don't you think?"
Mulder asked and was pleased when Kate blinked just for a second.

"Vampires are myths." Kate answered lamely.

"Who are we kidding. I know about your father. I know Liam is a Draco
vampire. I also know he is doing his best not to find Dana. He knows he is
being watched like a hawk. I also know Buffy Summers didn't kill anyone. I
met Joyce's daughters at Dana's wedding. Nice girls, both of them. And I
know you're too good of a cop not to know a set up when you see it. What I
don't know about is this girl Tara. Right now she is the key to working this
out and finding out what the hell is going on." Mulder said frankly.

"You knew Scully before she got married?" Kate asked sizing the man up.

"She was my partner in Washington. We made a lot of enemies. Dana felt it
was unfair to Willow, so she transferred to the LA office. Her sister
Melissa knew Joyce, she introduced them. Dana is my friend and she is in
trouble. I am here to help them." Mulder said quietly.

"You don't have a lot of friends do you?" Kate asked still looking Mr.
Puppy-dog eyes over.

"Dana, that's about it. Well, the Lone Gunmen. You don't want to know."
Mulder said taking his first drink of coffee.

"Tara McClay, that's the girls name. My guess is Tara is with Dana now, so
it might be hard to talk to her. Tara's kind of a sad story." Kate said as
she sipped her own coffee. 

"So tell me." Mulder replied and waited for Kate. 

"She and this other kid named Daniel Osborne were both runaways. Daniel
Osborne, or Oz, is a musician and he is Liam O'Connors love toy. Actually,
Liam treats the boy well. And I think Oz is a werewolf but I don't know that
absolutely. It's just a guess. For all I know Tara is a Were too. But I
doubt it. Like I said, they were street kids. But they were none human
street kids. Or at least they both ended up in the life fast."
"Tara wasn't as lucky as Oz. Like I said, Liam treats him well. Tara ended
up with the living bitch from hell. A Wolfram & Hart Lawyer. One of the
Junior Partners. Lilah likes girls between 14 and 17. She doesn't like them
once they grow up. Tara was about 14 when she ended up in Lilah's bed. And
if Lilah liked human girls, a lot more fuss would be made about it. But she
sticks to her own kind. Well, demon anyway. Lilah is more evil that just
plain demon."

"She roughed up Tara a lot. But she also paid for Tara to be trained as a
healer. Tara has a pretty big practice. Demons can't just go to a local
doctor. Her practice is pretty honest. She treats everyone like a human
doctor would. She does some shady work for Wolfram and Hart, to pay back her
training. They own her. But they are happy 'normally' just letting her heal.
I'm pretty sure either Wolfram & Hart or Lilah has a mystical contract on
the girl. Word is, she was working on a deal that was going to give her back
her contract."

"Why would they want her arrested then?" Mulder asked.

"Here is just my take, and I have been trying to figure that out for days.
Let's say she did whatever she needed to do to get free. Or was about to do
it. Lilah Morgan is never going to let the girl go, and least not without a
price. So they have her arrested. If Wolfram and Hart have to get her off,
well... that's at least that means a new contract for Tara. Buffy said
something to me. She said that someone wanted her to owe them. She said she
knew she would get off but she would have to owe a favor for it. They found
evidence at Tara's apartment. Blood stained clothes. Only Tara spent the
night with Buffy, at Buffy's home." Kate said slowly.

"Did Buffy say who?" Mulder asked as he thought about it.

"Her father, she said her father was starting to really piss her off. Only
Buffy said she was half vampire. And Hank Summers is human. Don't ask how I
know but he is mortal." Kate said slowly.

"Do you think she meant her biological father?" Mulder asked.

"Does she know him?" Kate asked slowly thinking about it.

"She wouldn't have too. She was born a vampire, she would know it, just like
any other sired childe." Liam said sliding into the seat next to Mulder.

"YOU brought him?" Kate said angry. 

"Actually he brought me. We had no idea what you knew." Mulder replied
flashing his best smile.

"I don't work with vampires!" Kate said.

"No, but you do protect the innocent. Tara is innocent. And you know damn
well Buffy Summers is innocent." Liam said before staring at the floor.
Great Mr. Broody and Puppy Dogs eyes, Kate thought looking at the two men
across from her.

"Was Tara about to get her freedom? That was a good guess. Do you really
think Lilah is trying to get her back?" Jenny Calendar asked. Jenny was
dressed like a schoolteacher. There were no traces of Mistress Jenna left.
"Detective Lockley, Liam total me to meet you all down here if I wanted to
help." 

"You know Lilah better than we do. You once belonged to Lilah as well." Liam
replied while he gave Kate a dirty look telling her to move over and let
Jenny have a seat. Kate finally moved over and Jenny took a seat.

"Fox Mulder, this is Jenny Calendar, she is an old friend." Liam said as he
made introductions. 

"And you are exactly?" Jenny asked as she took Mulder's hand and shook it.
She also studied him careful noting his sad eyes and need to believe.

"I was Dana's old partner. She is a good friend." Mulder replied as he shook
Jenny's hand.

"So how exactly does LA's top Dom. fit into all of this?" Kate asked,
looking the woman she had only ever seen in leather up and down. 

"You all know about Buffy, that she is a halfling. And a feral halfling at
that. I was hired to train Buffy; Tara was assigned to me as a healer. That
kind of training, well it's best to have a healer on hand. The thing that
bothers me most is that the training was going well. Buffy was ahead of
schedule. She would have had controlled shifts in the next 6 months. I never
saw this frame up coming. Not at all." Jenny said shaking her head before
taking a sip of her coffee. 

"Dana hired you to train Buffy?" Liam asked slightly shocked.

"Her parents are progressive but not that progressive. Her father hired us."
Jenny said then took another sip. It was clear she was nervous. Mulder
started to ask her about this when Liam put a hand on his leg and stopped
him.

"Tara's contract, what was she doing to get it back?" Liam asked.

"A bit of prostitution really. Buffy's father was worried about her, well,
worried about pregnancy really. Buffy, like most feral, is bisexual. Her
father wanted her to date only women, and I think he wanted some control
over the woman. Buffy is seeing a girl in her high school. A pre-seer. I
think he liked that but he knew it wasn't enough, so he assigned Tara the
job. She was to keep Buffy happy for the next two years. It really wasn't a
stretch; Buffy had a crush on Tara already. And Tara liked the girl. If Tara
stayed with Buffy for two years, gave her a place to live if Joyce and Dana
couldn't handle her, then Tara would be release from her contract." Jenny
explained quietly. 

"Do Joyce and Dana know about this?" Kate asked slowly.

"Not the details, but the basics yes. I don't think they were happy about it
but ... Buffy has needs and Tara would at least be honest about meeting
them." Jenny explained. 

"So Lilah, would she behind the frame?" Mulder asked.

"Lilah is capable of almost anything. She isn't human. She is a Kre'lac
Demon. Completely ruthless. And Tara is useful to her. But freeing Tara
isn't going to stop her being useful. You know how human doctors take a
Hippocratic oath? Healers take almost the same oath. Tara really believes in
that oath, she treats all beings the same. So Wolfram & Hart can still bring
her the scum of the earth and she will continue to treat them. Although she
does charge Wolfram & Hart clients more. And Tara knows how to keep her
mouth shut. Lilah beat that lesson into her well. As much as I want to
believe Lilah is behind this, it doesn't make sense." Jenny replied careful.

"What are you? And what is Tara?" Kate asked suddenly.

"Tara is human, mostly, she is an intuitive witch from a long line of mixed
gypsy blood. She is powerful enough for the government to put her in one of
those camps for magicals that they don't officially have. I am a halfling.
So you can hate me blindly with the rest of the vampire world." Jenny said
sadly. 

"And there is something else you need to know. As powerful as Tara is,
Willow is that much more powerful. She is Sorceress class witch. Amazing
power and control for someone with so little training. And the younger girl,
Dawn, she is an emerging slayer. The power is hot white coming off her. It's
the slayer line, Lothos was after." Jenny said the last part knowing her
death would follow soon. She had given them the last piece they needed.

"Lothos is Buffy's father? You know what you have just done by telling me?"
Liam asked carefully.

"No one lives forever. I carry his child; I may have a chance. He likes to
let his children reach adolescence. He also likes taking woman without their
consent. Kate will have to be careful. She is just his type." Jenny said as
she stood up to leave. She was so far out of bounce she couldn't imagine
anything she said would help. 

"Jenny, flee to your people, they may protect you. Do you need any money?"
Liam asked. He knew she had signed her own death warrant if they didn't get
to Lothos first. 

"I am fine but thanks for asking. Just stop him, Angel. I don't think Buffy
is the only one in trouble. Angel, Tara can handle the rest of her training.
When you see them together, they just belong. I honestly think Buffy can
make Tara happy." Jenny said slowly before she turned and walked away.

"I take it you can explain what the hell just happened?" Kate asked as she
stared out the door that Jenny just walked through.

"Not here, we need to move." Liam said as he tossed several bills on the
table.

&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&

"So do you know when Tara is coming back for her cats?" Oz asked Angel as he
came through the door followed by a man he didn't know and Kate Lockley. 

"Not anytime soon. Take them over to Devin's tomorrow for the full moon."
Angel explained to his lover as he waved Mulder and Kate into his living
room. 

"Let me guess you want me to make coffee?" Oz asked looking at their guest.

"Actually I want you to make a blood run. And I need you to be careful.
You're being watched." Angel said before handing the younger man some money
and kissing him on the top of his head. 

"Ok," Oz replied before getting his coat. 

"So now can you explain what the hell is going on?" Kate asked impatiently.

"I asked Jenny to come because she was working with Tara. That much I knew.
And I knew Jenny once belonged to Lilah. That bitch hasn't changed her MO in
years. And I have been around a long time. Jenny is ok. I know you don't
like vampires, Kate, but Jenny is a halfling, which means half human. I have
always liked Jenny. She had it rough like Tara and Oz did. I figured if Tara
was in danger Jenny would find a way to tell me. I didn't expect her to
commit suicide." Angel said nervously as he paced.

"That's the part we are not getting. We need the spaces filled in. Detective
Lockley and I don't understand why, Ms. Calendar is in great danger" Mulder
said patiently.

"You have no idea how vampire hierarchy works. Some vamps are just humans
with a blood thing. Some are down right evil. Most are somewhere in-between.
Buffy is a feral vampire. Or Half vampire. Half vampires are born. And in
some ways they are actually stronger than made vampires. Buffy can pass for
human, she can daywalk, she has a soul, a soul is a huge deal among
vampires. Without a soul, you're nothing more than a killing machine, with
no conscience, no morals and no forethought. Buffy can even pass some
medical tests. She is warm-blooded. Dana nailed me right away because I am
only room temperature. The advantage of creating halflings is so much
greater than siring a childe by blood exchange. Only not all vampires can
have children. Even if your subspecies can have children in the biblical way
it's still tricky. But children tend to side with their vampire parent, they
have the same sire / childe connection with there vampire parent. Buffy
already hears his voice. It calls to her."

"And worse, Buffy's father is Lothos. He is not just any vampire. He has
been around for a long time. Evil SOB too. Lothos had been trying to breed
an army of children. He had mixed his blood with all kinds of bloodlines.
Always after a better offspring. The fact he sired a child with Jenny isn't
that strange, she is a strong halfling with roots to at least 3 major Gypsy
families. Tara must have looked good to him too, but there is a way Buffy
might be able to have children with Tara. Tara's a strong enough healer to
be able to do the spell. And two years for her contract would allow for that
to be made real." Liam said excitedly as he paced. "And Jenny said Dawn was
an emerging slayer. So Buffy's mother comes from a slayer line. And that
would make her really important to his plan. There is this crazy prophecy
about a halfling slayer. If he is mixing his blood with slayers bloodlines
then he is after that prophecy. So Lothos being evolved with Buffy, well
that makes sense. Only, why the hell is Buffy up on charges?" Liam asked as
he paced violently across the room.

"So who would want to stop Lothos?" Mulder asked as he watched the vampire
pace.

"Stop Lothos?" Liam said as he took a seat in a chair.

"It just seems to me that everything is going the way Lothos planned. Buffy
and Tara are getting along. And the contract wouldn't really matter to
anyone but Tara. It's not going to stop their control of her?" Mulder asked.

"You don't think Tara did murder the couple to get out of this stuff?" Kate
asked suddenly.

"Tara can't kill. That's why they control her so easily. Threaten to kill
someone and she is yours." Liam said dismissing Kate's question totally.

"I don't believe she could either." Kate said slumping down in the corner of
the couch. 

&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&

"Joyce, honey, come to bed. The walls are so thin you can hear them from the
bed just as well from outside their bedroom door." Dana stated from bedroom
door.

"I know it ridiculous but I can't help it. I'm her mother. What would you do
if she were in there with Willow?" Joyce asked.

"Oh, I would have shot her before that ever happened." Dana said with a
smile. "Honey, it will be Willow someday. And then it will be Dawn. We just
have to hope we taught them well." 

"Buffy has been very honest with us. I should feel better about all this.
And I really do like Tara. She is still too old for Buffy, but other than
that I don't have any complaints." Joyce said as she shut the bedroom door. 

"They are kinda sweet together." Dana said as she patted the bed beside her
for Joyce to come and sit down. 

"I know, I think so too. Which makes it all worse. At least with Cordelia
Chase I knew Buffy was still mine. This woman has a job, a car, and a place
of her own. If Buffy wanted to move out, how would I stop her?" Joyce said
as she hugged Dana. 

"Buffy needs to finish High School first. But Joyce, honey, that's less than
a year away. Come May and Buffy and Willow are both out of school." Dana
reasoned.

"Willow is going to college. She has early enrollment from every school with
a stamp. I don't know if Buffy will pass math. As far as you know Willow is
still a virgin. Buffy is having sex down the hall. I want to treat them both
the same, but face it, Dana, they aren't. My god they aren't even the same
species." Joyce said with a sigh.

"Willow has her problems as well. I still don't know about letting Tara
teach her. And I still plan to first kill my sister for teaching her
witchcraft behind my back, and then I am going to find someone I trust more
to teach Willow. I like Tara, I just don't trust her yet." Dana said slowly.

"And that leaves us with Dawn. You have been watching her too. Her powers
are emerging like crazy. Her senses are all over the place. She has no clue
normal people don't smell people and sense them outside the room. Then she
has Willow and Buffy as models so I am hoping she doesn't figure out how
different she is for a while. Wishful thinking at best. Then I worry I am
leaving her in danger. I put a call in to a friend of my mothers. But hiding
out, he can't call me back." Joyce said quietly. 

"Maybe that woman was right; we should just let them protect us. I think
they could do it better than we can." Dana said but was interrupted by a
scream from the next room. 

"FINALLY!" Buffy screamed.

"Honey, that was a private conversation. Most people don't realize you can
hear them like you're standing in the same room." Tara said load enough that
both Dana and Joyce got the point. Both women just looked at each other and
burst out laughing. It was laughter long over due. 

&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&

Dana and Joyce were the last up. They went down to see what the children
were doing. That's when reality took a huge step to the left. 

Willow and Tara were sitting quietly outside, 6 feet off the ground Indian
style. There were seven or eight objects from the cabin floating around the
two women in a pattern that defied logic. Willow's eyes were glowing purple
in purple while Tara's were glowing green within green. 

And if that wasn't enough to startle them, then Dawn being chased by a black
panther had to put them over the top. Dana reached for her gun but Dawn and
the panther were leaping and jumping all over the area at amazing speeds. 

"No you don't. Ha!" Dawn screamed at the panther before leaping out of the
way of the cat.

Joyce put her hands gently on Dana's shoulders. "That's Buffy." Joyce
whispered. 

"Are you sure?" Dana asked putting the safety back on the gun. 

"Even like this I know my own daughter. She is beautiful." Joyce said slowly
as she watched the wondrous cat move gracefully chasing Dawn. 

"Fine, but I need a time out!" Dana announced as she put her gun up and
walked out into the center of the yard waving her arms. The panther shot
forward and rubbed against Dana's legs then moved over to her mother. Joyce
bent down to pet her daughter and was impressed by the girl's loud purr.

"Isn't it cool. She got mad at me for teasing her and shifted. Tara said
this is her first shift." Dawn explained excitedly. 

"Can she shift back?" Dana asked worriedly.

Tara and Willow landed on the ground slowly. The object they were moving
around landed beside them. 

"Tara, can she shift back!" Dana asked more desperately. 

"Breathe Dana, just breathe slowly. And, yes, she can shift back. But it's
going to take some... Or not. Hi Beth." Tara said as a nude Buffy stood up
next to her mother. 

"Mom, it was amazing. Everything smelled differently; tasted differently.
The water in the creek was beyond description. I could so get used to being
a cat full time. Only I still knew you all. Even Tara. You all belonged to
me. I belonged to you. I knew you as my family. I knew I had to protect
you." Buffy said in awe. 

"Dana, breathe, that's all you have to do now." Tara replied touching Dana's
arm. 

"I'm fine." Dana said pulling away and grabbing Buffy by the wrist.

"Mom! You're so not ok; I can feel you too. It's ok, it's really ok." Willow
said carefully touching her mother's shoulder gently. 

"Adrenaline! I smell it." Buffy said as her feral cat eyes looked at Dana. 

"Buffy ... Ok, I am not ok." Dana said as she pulled Buffy in close and
began checking her arms and legs. Buffy just let Dana look her over.
"Nothing, you body is back to normal." Dana muttered as she felt her
stepdaughter over carefully. 

"Your father isn't expecting you to be able to shift for another year. It's
going to give you at least one weapon that he doesn't know about." Tara said
carefully. She was hungry, and she guessed Willow was as well. 

"I think we have 4 weapons he doesn't know about." Dawn said while she
picked up Tara and Willow's objects.

"4 weapons?" Dana asked.

"Tara and Willow have to eat, I'll explain over breakfast." Dawn said as she
carried items back into the cabin. 

Breakfast was quickly made and Tara and Willow had eaten enough to be
comfortable enough to think beyond their energy loss. And Buffy had had
dressed are returned to the kitchen.

"Ok, 4 weapons, what are they?" Buffy asked as she refilled Tara and Willows
coffee cups.

"Well, nobody knows you can shift yet. That's one. Willow is one bad ass
witch. That's two." Dawn said with a smile.

"Dawn!" Joyce said going into mom gear.

"And I am number 3, I finally figured out what a slayer is. And mom, I can
hear you talking to Dana in your room at night just like I am in the room
too." Dawn said this part with a huge smile. 

"She hums too when you make love so she doesn't hear, just like I do. Hey,
mom, you two know the honeymoon has got to be over by now." Buffy said as
she reached out for another muffin. 

"Hey! I don't hear anything, much." Willow said feeling left out. 

"Investing in sound proofing." Dana muttered

"And you said 4?" Willow asked staring at her stepsister. 

"Well actually it's more like 4, 5 and 6. Mom and Dana can be really tough
when it counts. I wouldn't piss either one of them off. And as bad as Buffy
pretends to be, she is more afraid of disappointing you than I am. And last
is Tara, I don't think she likes being used any more than we do. If she can
just teach Willow a few more things, and she can help Buffy learn her stuff
too. And Dana can teach me, cop stuff. I don't think I am ready for a gun
yet. Anita Blake move over, so not going to happen. But hand to hand stuff."
Dawn explained looking at Tara.

"My stuff is complicated. Teaching Beth is part of what I was hired to do.
The other stuff, I told Beth everything I knew. All of it. Most of it isn't
nice. Dawn, I am not a nice person. I am not the good guy; I was hired by
Beth's father. On the other hand, no one told me not to teach Willow. I'll
help as much as I can, but remember I am still owned by Lothos. He has my
contract. He can whisper a word, and I lose my mind, literally." Tara said
lowering her shirt collar to expose a tattoo on left shoulder. 
"This is my marker. As long as I wear this I am a slave. I was owned by
Wolfram & Hart. But Lothos bought my contract. I was supposed to sleep with
Beth for the next two years. I am to entertain her, to have sex with her,
that's one thing I was paid to do. If I can keep Beth happy for the next two
years, I would be allowed to buy my contract back. This is the closest I
have ever been to getting it back." Tara said sadly. 

"And you think it will be that simple?" Dana asked.

"No, but it gave me hope. Hope is important. And I liked Beth, and I was
honest with Beth. I have done a lot worse in my life." Tara said as she got
up from the table and left the cabin. 

"She'll be ok." Joyce said stopping Buffy from going after her.

Buffy, You knew about this?" Willow asked confused.

"Yeah, I knew, Tara doesn't lie. Maybe I've done worse things too." Buffy
said as she began looking for Tara with her magic. 

"Like what, Buffy? We have let a lot go on faith. I know you haven't hurt
anyone. But how deep are you?" Dana asked plainly. 

"I am my fathers daughter. I like blood. I even like human blood more than
animal. And I know the difference by taste and smell. I like pain. I mean I
really like pain. Some days I would go crazy until I could get back to
Jenna. She never did anything with me, that I didn't want. If I thought she
would tolerate it, I would have begged. Jenna doesn't like begging. And if
we go back to life as normal, then I will seek out another Mistress. I don't
think I could handle life without it. I am not up to live donors, but I
watched Jenna with donors. She wouldn't let me, not yet, but someday I know
I'll be at some Goth club looking to get fresh blood. I really am a vampire,
not a wannabe. Jenna wouldn't let me play with live food yet because I would
kill the person. And I would. The hunger is insane. Tara kinda understands
it. She can pull so much energy out of her body; it leaves her hungry,
really really hungry. So hungry you can't think about anything else. Tara
robbed a grocery store once. That's how she got her contract to Wolfram and
Hart. She did some magic, got too hungry. She didn't mean to rob it. She
didn't even run from the cops, she just stood in the middle of the store
eating. She has some demon blood so she really does get out of control
sometimes." Buffy confessed.

"I know what kind of life I am going to lead. And it both scares me and
excites me. The thing with Tara is cool, we understand each other. And if I
have a mistress on the side, or she has one on the side it's ok, Tara likes
pain at times too. Can you see me with Cordy; she would never understand it.
And I can never really be monogamous. And the blood clubs, its scary stuff.
But it's consensual. I have limits I won't cross. There are parts of my life
I don't want you to know about... ever. Tara is a part of this world, in a
way you all can't be." Buffy said then wiped her eyes. They were ferel and
strong but her tears were human. 

"Honey we all like Tara. But you don't have to settle. I wish I could make
your life better, but I can't. Only you can. And if you and Tara work
something out, like I said, we like her. But don't settle. I settled for
your father. Ok, Dawn's father. Dawn I love you so much, but your father is
a greater asshole than Buffy's rapist demon father. I used to try and hide
all this from you girls. I can't anymore, it's not safe for any of us to
live on lies." Joyce said while pulling Dawn and Buffy in for a hug.

"Beth!" Tara screamed as she rushed in the Cabin door.

"Dawn, take mom up stairs! NOW!" Buffy screamed as she stood up.

"What is it?" Dana asked.

"My father is here. Dawn, keep mom in her room. And you stay there too.
Willow!" Buffy ordered.

"Shields at ready." Willow said as she grabbed Joyce and headed her up the
stairs.



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