Hell Hath No Fury by Amazon Chyck

Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Joss, Mutant Enemy, and whatever other corporate conglomerates have a stake in Buffy own most of these characters (except for the ones that spring forth Athena-like from my damaged brain) and this fiction is not intended to infringe the above powers that be's rights in any way. After all, I wouldn't have killed Tara.
Distribution: The Mystic Muse http://mysticmuse.net
Feedback: Yes please.
Spoilers: Season 7.
Author's Note: I can't promise that this story won't suck since it's both my first attempt at fan fiction and my first attempt at fiction in general. So, any comments you have on the story would be much appreciated. Well, constructive comments anyway ;)
Pairing: Willow/Tara

Summary: Tara and Anya are in the afterlife, but an evil plot is going to bring those two worlds crashing together. Can everyone deal with the consequences of their feelings and actions in time to stop a war to bring hell on earth?

Willow felt time slow around her. Her movements felt sluggish, as if the air around her had thickened. She barely registered Kennedy's exclamation, as the thump-thump of her heart echoed loudly in her ears. At the doorway between the kitchen and the living room, Willow paused momentarily and closed her eyes, focusing inwards. She felt impossibly warm, as if her insides had been lit aglow by a candle. A tingle of electricity started at the base of her spine and traveled up toward her neck, causing all of the hair on her skin to stand on end, as if trying to reach out and touch the source of its excitement. Tara, her body told her. Impossible, her mind replied. No, possible, open your eyes and see for yourself, her soul challenged. Willow blew out a breath, stepped across the threshold, and willed her eyes open.

After her knock, the world came to Tara in a series of flashes. *Flash* The door opened inward. *Flash* Anya squeezed her hand tightly. *Flash* Kennedy stood before her with a look of befuddled terror on her face, mouthing something Tara couldn't hear. *Flash* She saw two unfamiliar people behind Kennedy, stakes in hand, looks of confusion on their face. *Flash* She saw a head of red hair appear over Kennedy's shoulder. *Flash* The face belonging to the red hair opened its eyes, revealing twin green orbs looking at her with a mixture of love and fear and absolute panic.

Tara's world came to a stand-still as she looked into those green eyes. Her breath stilled in her chest and her vision tunneled down to one person – Willow. Tears welled up in Tara's eyes and her breath came back to her in short little gasps, her whole body shaking with the effort. As her tears began to spill down over her cheeks, she smiled a small, lopsided smile at the woman in front of her.

Willow fell back against the wall, her eyes never leaving the sparkling blue ones before her. She felt as if all the air had been forcibly pushed from her lungs and her heart felt heavy in her chest, as if all the blood in her entire body had swollen it to near bursting. Her eyes began to tear up, causing her vision to blur, but she couldn't bring herself to move her hands up to her face to wipe the tears away. Tara. It's Tara. Oh goddess. What if it's not Tara? Like evil, First-like, carbon copy scary mojo jojo Tara? Or Angelus-like, missing my soul so I'm an evil hellion Tara? Or alternate universe Tara from the world without shrimp? Well, the last one would be okay, I mean, uh, what am I saying, they would all be okay, it's Tara, she's here, and alive... wait, is she alive? Can she be? But why and how and, and, does it matter, she's alive and in front of you and gorgeous and, and you need to touch her, I need to...

Willow slowly pushed herself off the wall and closed the distance between herself and Tara, her hands extended slightly in front of her and shaking.

"I need to know," Willow answered simply as she inched closer to Tara, her green eyes locked on the blue ones before her.

"C'mon Red, be smart about this, Buffy's right, we don't know who..." Kennedy said as she tried to grab Willow around the arm. Kennedy withdrew her hand in shock, however, the moment it made contact with Willow's skin. Her hand felt as if it had just touched a live electric current.

"I need to know," Willow stated again, as she came to stand directly in front of Tara. She looked deeply into Tara's eyes, pleading, wishing, hoping, and scared to know the answer. Please let it be you, baby. Please. Willow's hands were held slightly in front of her, trembling, wanting so much to touch the vision before her, but afraid it would disappear if she made contact with it. She saw those blue eyes looking back at her with such gentleness, such compassion, as Tara's fingertips gingerly touched her own. The moment contact was made, Willow could feel an electric current flowing through her cells, starting at her fingertips and traveling down to her toes, warming every cell in its wake. She interlaced her fingers with Tara's and felt a jolt of sensual power coalesce around their intertwined hands. Ohmygod, it's Tara. It's really her, alive, beautiful, not dead, in front of me, Tara.

Willow's hesitant touches immediately grew desperate as she launched her body toward Tara, wanting every inch of her skin to be in contact with Tara's body.

"It's you," Willow whispered as she released Tara's fingers so that she could trail her hands over Tara's hips, arms, and back, patting each bit of flesh to assure herself that Tara was solid and complete. Her hands finally came to rest on either side of Tara's face and she drew Tara near her lips, which began to hastily kiss Tara's cheeks, forehead, chin, and lips.

When her lips met Tara's, Willow felt all of the blood drain from her heart and rush into every nerve ending she possessed, causing goosebumps to rise on her flesh and her skin to become ultra-sensitive. She swore she heard her skin hum. Overwhelmed by the sensations, Willow broke off the kiss and took a step back, her hands trailing down Tara's body and coming to rest clasping Tara's hands.

She's alive, goddess, she's alive. I don't know how or why or what or when, but it's her, it's my Tara, and I just kissed her in front of Kennedy, and oh she's going to be pissed, but Tara's alive, and she kissed me back and I guess that means she doesn't hate me for being a murderer and a dark, evil witch and she's here, in front of me, alive, and she feels and tastes just the way I remember, and oh jeez I think I know what it means to have spidey-sense now and she's here and...and...

"W-willow?" Tara said as she felt Willow's body grow heavy and fall toward her. She tried to release her hands from Willow's grasp in order to catch the falling red-head, but she found her fingers held in a vice-like grip, so she simply fell on her backside and allowed Willow to fall on top of her.

"Holy freaking Wicca," Tara heard Emily shout as she ran through the front door. Tara twisted her upper torso just enough to see the cause of Emily's explanation – the telephone pole across the street from the house was crashing toward the earth. Tara winced as she heard the pole crash into the pavement with a loud metallic clang, the impact sending orange sparks flying in all directions.

"I think you overwhelmed super witch there," Anya's voice said with a snort. "Hope that only happens once. Going to be hard to explain that happening twice to the electric company."

"You know, you're as annoying dead as you were alive," Kennedy's voice said derisively.

"Tara and I aren't dead anymore 'O Observant One,' or did the kissing fest we just witness not prove that to you, Miss About to be Willow's Ex?" Anya shot back.

"That's it," Kennedy's voice said before Tara heard a large crash and the sounds of a struggle coming from inside the house.

Tara heard the hum of a generator. After a few moments, the lights in the house began to light, dimly at first, but returning to their original opalescence after a few seconds.

The scene in front of her would have made Tara giggle nervously at any other time, but at the moment, it just made Tara sad. She saw Buffy standing behind Kennedy, keeping Kennedy's arms pinned behind her back. The two figures she didn't recognize from before, but whom she imagined to be slayers given the stakes in their hands, were looking warily between the ground, themselves, and her. Finally, her eyes came to rest on Dawn, who was curled up against the living room wall sobbing, her arms wrapped around herself.

Willow looked at her hands, still interlaced with Tara's, and then raised her head slowly to meet Tara's concerned gaze. Willow smiled whole-heartedly. She's still here. Yay. I mean, big confusion about to go down, but she's here and she's real and that's all that matters right now.

Willow sat up and tucked her hair behind her ears.. "Um. Yeah, I think so. Except that I seemed to have passed out on top of my up until recently deceased girlfriend, and um, Buffy seems to be restraining my other girlfriend, and um, yeah, this is all a little confusing," Willow said as she knitted her eyebrows.

Tara smiled at Willow's babble and took Willow's hand in her own, rubbing her thumb over the back of Willow's hand. "It's o-okay sweetie, I know you h-have a girlfriend."

"Why don't you shut up?" Dawn said icily, as she picked her head up from her knees.

Kennedy looked at them both with disgust. "Yeah. Got it. I couldn't compete with Tara when she was a memory. I sure as hell can't compete with her when she's anything but. Perfect. I think I'll consider myself officially exed." With that, Kennedy jerked backwards, slamming Buffy into the living room wall, the plaster cracking under the impact. Her arms freed, Kennedy hastily walked out the front door, knocking Anya over as she went.

"Ow. If I were still a vengeance demon, I'd get someone to wish you were a short, bald, ugly, small-dicked man!" Anya shouted from the ground.

"Well, this has definitely made my top ten list for most bizarre evenings ever," Buffy said as she got up, wiping bits of plaster from her pants.

"Yeah," Willow said as she slowly rose from the ground, pulling Tara up with her.

"First things first," Buffy said as she crossed over to Tara and enveloped her in a big hug. "Welcome back, we missed you."

Tara returned the hug whole-heartedly. "I m-missed you guys too. So m-much." Suddenly, Tara felt as if she were about to topple over as Dawn rushed up to embrace Tara as well. "I missed you so much Tara," Dawn sobbed.

"Group hug!" Anya yelled as she too joined in on the hug, wrapping her arms around Tara and Buffy.

"Oof, yeah, we missed you too Anya," Buffy said as she wrestled herself free of the oxygen-limiting hug. "Okay. Now, I think one of us needs to call Xander over here so that we can give him his dose of 'huh?' for the night and then Tara and Anya can brief us all on the what, the when, the why, and the how. Sound like a plan?"

Tara nodded, her body unconsciously drifting closer to Willow's, their hands brushing lightly against each other.

"Xander's coming over?" Anya said with hysteria in her voice. "Oh, oh. How does my hair look? Do my breasts look perky enough?"

"Okay, someone want to tell me what the big emergency is? I'm guessing it has something to do with the fact that the lawn sprouted a telephone pole plant, and holy weirdness, that girl looks just like Tara!" Xander exclaimed as he walked into the kitchen, pointing to the blonde woman standing next to Willow.

"Well, I was going more for scarily freakish," Xander replied, turning to look at Dawn.

Xander's eye traveled from Dawn's face to the face of a short, skinny, black-haired woman standing behind Tara and next to another short, but more round, brunette woman.

"New slayers?" Xander asked, his eye refocusing on the woman he thought was the spitting image of Tara.

"Um. No. You see Xander, the thing is, well, this really is Tara, and, um, it gets more complicated-like," Buffy explained as she crossed her arms and nodded her head.

"Stop. Pause. Rewind. Can we go back to the part where you said, 'This really is Tara?'"

"And that sounded just like...," Xander said as he turned around to confront the voice behind him.

"Ahhh!" Xander shrieked as he backed away from Anya and into the kitchen. Xander looked hurriedly to his left and his right, his eye suddenly getting bigger as he spotted a kitchen knife on the counter. He picked the knife up in his right hand and held it out in front of him. "Alright, you want the other eye, you gotta get by Mr. Pointy here and Mr. Pointy is in a bad mood," Xander said loudly.

"Xander, it's me," Anya said at the same time. She moved toward Xander, who responded by inching away until he was standing behind Buffy, the knife extended in front of him. "You know, your ex-fiancé whom you left at the altar? Don't think that death and resurrection has helped me to get over that, by the way, despite the fact that all I want right now is your manly hands on my perky breasts."

"Looks like someone got magically enhanced within the space of fifteen minutes," Dawn observed with a giggle.

"Not guilty," Willow said with a smile. "Cosmetic enhancements aren't really my specialty." No, memory enhancements would be your specialty, wouldn't they, Rosenberg? Willow sneaked a glance at Tara, who was unsuccessfully trying to hide a smirk. But Tara's forgiven me for that, right? I have a second chance, no, third chance here and I don't know why, but I'm definitely not going to foul it all up this time. Nope, all with the not fouling over here.

"It's going to take more than some nummy treats to make me forget that you're a non-corp, er, corpo, non-crap-real, oh whatever, a not solid figment of hell's imagination," Xander said shaking the knife at Anya over Buffy's shoulder, but keeping his eye firmly directed toward her chest.

Anya rolled her eyes. "If I were the First or the Second or whoever you seem to think I am, could I do this?" Anya grabbed Buffy's hands and placed them on top of her breasts.

"Hey!" Buffy said, pulling her hands away as soon as she got over the shock of what Anya had just done. "Is it possible that you've gotten more inappropriate since you died?"

"Yes," Willow and Tara replied in unison, smiling at each other shyly when they noticed they had both said the same thing at once.

Xander dropped the knife and stared at Anya. "Ahn?" he asked, disbelief coloring his voice.

"Yes, Xander. Me. Alive. Human. Oh great, now I get to die all over again. Mortality sucks," Anya said with a frown.

"Yep. That's Anya alright," Dawn said. "I don't think a demon could get the petulant attitude down so well."

Willow and Tara giggled, but everyone else in the room just turned and stared at Dawn with confused looks on their faces. "What, I've been doing those PSAT flashcards. Petulant – it means, um..." Dawn paused when she caught the glare Anya was giving her, ". . . it means, er, direct and to the point. Yeah. Petulant," Dawn said with a nervous smile.

Anya craned her neck to the side. "Petulant, huh? I like that. So much shorter than saying direct and to the point and always right. Petulant."

"Speaking of petulant, how come Tara gets kissing and hugging and telephone-pole demolition for being alive and I don't?" Anya said with a pout in Xander's direction.

"I passed out and the telephone pole was being all sympathy-y," Willow explained with a nervous look.

"Hey everyone," Buffy said, clapping her hands to get the room's attention. "I've got a new flashcard word for the group. Resurrection. Perhaps Tara or Anya could help me out with this one?" Buffy asked, pinning each girl with a no-nonsense look.

"Okay, let me see if I'm understanding this," Buffy said as she gestured toward Tara, who was standing next to the kitchen table, "you were in the Summer, er, Place, Anya came to pay you a girls'-night-out visit, you ran into the Fates, they decided to send you back to Earth free of charge with Enid in tow, you were resurrected by Willow's coven in Devon, then transported over here where you met up with Emily, and then you all just decided to come knock-knock on my door?" Buffy's face held a puzzled expression.

"M-more or less," Tara said with a nod. Please don't ask why, please, please. What would she think of me if she knew? Tara stole a glance at Willow, who was seated at the table, with her face cast downward and her eyebrows crinkled, obviously puzzling something out.

"Yeah, well Buffy was always better at reading the book jackets than the actual books – she's good at being summary-gal," Dawn said with a smile.

Buffy looked at Dawn pointedly, then dropped her eyes to the ground for a moment, before raising them up to meet Tara's. "I'm missing something here – the why."

"The w-why?" Tara repeated. Oh boy. Stall. Talk to Willow alone about this. Not in front of everyone. Not now, not after, not after I found her again.

"Yeah. The why. Why would the Fates be so interested in sending you back now, I mean, it's not like Willow hasn't tried before... in a totally non-zombie, non-dark magic kind of way of course," Buffy added after catching the withering look Willow sent her way.

Tara turned to look quizzically at Willow, who had found something interesting on the kitchen table to focus on.

"Oh, well, the Fates think that Willow is going to lose something, get reacquainted with her dark and veiny side, and cause another fiery apocalypse of death," Anya stated matter-of-factly from the other side of the kitchen table.

Willow raised her eyes and stared at Anya, her mouth falling open in surprise. She then turned her head toward Tara, dark green orbs meeting crystal blue ones. Is that what you think of me? Willow couldn't hold Tara's gaze and so she dropped her eyes back down toward the table, her fingers tracing grooves in the wood. Guess I can't blame her really, it's not like I don't have it in me. I just thought... no, why should she forgive me? Part of me is a monster, the one thing Tara always feared most about herself, being part demon. Well, she's not, she's the most beautiful soul I know, she just ended up having the misfortune to date someone who really was part ugly demon. She deserved, deserves, better.

Tara met Willow's gaze uncertainly. "Is that what you think of me?" Tara heard in her head before she saw Willow's eyes turn away and her connection to Willow close down like a steel trap. Oh goddess, that look of disappointment in her eyes. No, Yes, I don't know what to think. I don't want to believe that, my heart doesn't, but my mind remembers what you've done, what you did to me, what you did to others. Damnit, why does this have to be this difficult? I love you, why can't that just be enough? Tara shot Anya a dirty look. Of all the ways to say something, why does Anya always have to find the worst way to say it!

"What? What did I do? I told the truth. Everyone was going to find out sooner or later, especially with all the exploding glass and crashing telephone poles, it's not like Willow is trying to be particularly secretive about losing it," Anya replied heatedly.

Willow looked up at Anya. Exploding glass? They were at the club, they saw, oh fuck, they think I did that. It really does look like I'm going back to dark roots.

"The things that come out of your mouth Anya, it's like you have this disease where nothing but poison drops off your tongue," Dawn spat out

"I'm the petulant one. It's not my fault that no one else in this stupid gang has the guts to tell the truth. That's my job, only I don't get paid for it and it isn't any fun," Anya retorted.

"You know what petulant means, you stupid cow, it means irritating and disagreeable."

"I lied," Dawn shouted. "I lied because unlike some people in this room, I don't enjoy hurting other people's feelings. Because unlike some people, I haven't forgotten that Willow was there for you when Buffy wanted to kill you for slaughtering an entire frat house. She put her ass on the line for you, and you never even thanked her. And now you repay her by telling her you're here to kill her or stop her or whatever when she hasn't even done anything lately but good."

"No, it's not, you don't deserve this after everything you've been through and you said weren't responsible for the thing that happened at the club and they assumed that you were, and..."

"Dawnie," Willow smiled sadly, "I really appreciate you being supporto-gal, but we still don't know what happened at the club, I mean, I could have been the cause of it and just..." Willow sighed and rubbed her temple with her hand. "I don't know. Tara and Anya aren't wrong in what they think about me Dawn, I'm a murderer and I tried to once turn you into a ball of energy, so I think all in all, me helping out Anya once doesn't really tip the scales in my favor."

Tara gave Willow a sad look , tears forming in the rims of her eyes. She wanted nothing more than to take Willow in her arms and tell her it would all be alright. But I can't because I'm the cause of it all. I never realized just how much Willow hates herself. I always thought she was the strong one. How much did I let her bear on her shoulders? Goddess.

Willow looked back toward the kitchen table, not wanting to meet anyone's gaze. "Look, um, I'm going to go see if I can find that spell to figure out whether I did inadvertently, um, lose it at the club, and we can go from there. Besides, it's kinda late, I'm sure some sleepy time will be good for the recently resurrected." Willow stood up. "Good night everyone," she said as she left the kitchen and headed up the stairs.

"No, give her a few minutes alone, Xander, she's, well, she just needs some time to process. We all do," Buffy said.

"I'm sorry Buffy, it's just that Tara hasn't exactly been around to see what Willow's dealt with while she's been gone. She just up and leaves when it's get too hard and then she comes back, telling all of us how Willow is going to be." Dawn turned to look Tara in the eye, "Well, I don't care who or what told you what's going to happen to Willow, but I believe in her. And if all you're going to do is make her feel worse about herself, maybe you should just leave. The both of you," she added as she looked disgustedly at Anya. Dawn headed toward the stairs, stopping on the first step to look at Buffy, "I'm going to bed now, I'll check on Willow." She then proceeded up the stairs and out of sight.

"Passionate little one, she is," Emily remarked with a nervous smile. "She ever consider studying law?"

Tara finally broke down and started crying, taking a seat at the kitchen table for fear that she would otherwise collapse on the floor. I think I may have lost more in coming back than in staying dead. I'm so sorry Willow, Dawn.

Buffy took a seat next to Tara and rubbed Tara's back. "C'mon Tara, it's not your fault that you weren't around. I mean, it's not like you asked Warren to please shoot you, you know? Dawn's just angry with you for dying, even though she knows it's not your fault. She really missed you. We all did and it's just kind of a shock to see you again and then to hear about Willow... emotions are just running high. Sprinting, actually. Dawn didn't mean it. I bet in the morning, she'll be bringing you mochas in bed to make up for it," Buffy said with a smile.

Tara smiled through her tears. "Buffy, I-I don't know what's g-going to happen, and I d- don't know what to believe, but more than anything, I wanted to come b-back just so I could be near her again. I didn't want to hurt her or Dawn or you..." Tara's voice trailed off in sobs.

Buffy put her arms around Tara and pulled her in for a hug. "I know. And given enough time, Willow and Dawn will know that too. I'm just quicker on the uptake because I'm a member of the resurrection club. By the way, you know there's an initiation to be in this club. It involves feathers."

Tara laughed into Buffy's shoulder and then straightened up to wipe the tears from her face.

Enid smiled. "Ahh…that must be why, I mean, that takes a great deal of power."

"Right. Well, perhaps Willow was right about sleepy time for the recently resurrected being a good thing," Xander interjected. "Do you think everyone will fit in the basement, Buff, or well, Anya and Tara can stay at my place if that would be more comfortable for everyone?"

"There's enough room in the basement and there are plenty of sleeping blankets left over from Sunnydale slayer slumber parties," Buffy replied.

"I w-want to stay here, I mean, if that's okay?" Tara asked. I need to be near her, even if she doesn't want to talk to me. Maybe tomorrow, I can make her understand. Understand what? That my presence on earth just serves to remind her of everything she's done wrong? Ugh. I really need some sleep. Think good thoughts Tara, I mean, it can't get any worse than it is now, right?

"What about you, Anya? Maybe we could, um, talk?" Xander asked hopefully, as his eye were drawn down toward Anya's breasts.

Anya looked between Xander and Tara and then she nodded to herself. "I would like that Xander, very much, but not tonight. Tonight, I already have plans to walk around and pout until Tara forgives me for being, well, petulant, and then later, I thought that reading the dictionary cover to cover would be a good use of my time." Anya stated as she looked at Tara with a guilty pout.

Tara smiled sadly. "Apology accepted Anya. Willow was going to f-find out sooner or later, I was m-maybe just hoping it would be more like later." Like never. Or with lots of smoochies to distract her.

"And perhaps more delicately than a box of hammers hitting Willow over the head?" Buffy added.

"I get the point, Buffy," Anya said, obviously annoyed. "I am not a delicate flower."

"Ding ding, we have a winner folks – the biggest understatement of the year award goes to... Anya Jenkins!" Xander said in a mock-emcee voice.

"Oh, that's great. Well, now that you all have cleverly used me as an excuse to make yourselves feel better about an uncomfortable situation, I'd like to go to bed and dream that you are all helpless bunnies and that I am the extremely competent and perky-breasted hunter that will send you all to bunny hell. Good night."

"Um, she didn't get resurrected as a vengeance demon again, did she?" Xander asked worriedly.

"Good, just want to make sure I'm not going to wake up tomorrow morning with a fuzzy, cottontail butt."

Willow heard a knock at her door. She turned to look at the door and narrowed her eyes in concentration. Nope. Not her. Of course not her dummy. Willow sighed. Maybe if I just say nothing, whoever it is will go away. After a few more seconds, she heard another knock. Guess not.

"Willow? I know you're in there, I just want to talk to you," she heard Dawn's voice say from the other side of the door.

Willow sighed again and dropped her hands into her lap. She was sitting cross-legged on the bed, magical tomes scattered across the sheets. "Not really chatty right now, Dawnie." Not really anything right now.

"That's okay, I can do all the talking," Dawn said as she opened the door and entered the room. "And the hugging," she added, noticing the sad and distant look on Willow's face.

Willow smiled, in spite of her annoyance at Dawn's unwelcome intrusion. "Hugs are nice."

"Yeah, they are, especially from me, I'm told," Dawn said with a smile as she sat down next to Willow and drew her in for a solid hug.

"Oh yeah? And who told you that?" Willow said with a laugh over Dawn's shoulder.

I bet Dawn's face is all blushy right now. Willow withdrew from the hug just enough to look at Dawn’s face. Yep. Blushy. "You know, it's been a while since I've been in high school, but I didn't usually get that look on my face for just friends," Willow said with a smirk.

"What look? This look?" Dawn smiled nervously as she pointed to herself. "This is just the 'My friends are too cool and you wouldn't understand anyway' look. See? You don’t understand."

"Oh, I guess not, because it looked more like the 'Oops, I let something slip and now I'm busted and being all evasive' look," Willow said with a giggle and raised eyebrows.

"C'mon Dawn. Spill. I want to hear all about your vicarious smoochies, er, huggies. Wait, were there smoochies?"

Dawn looked positively horror-stricken at Willow's question, all of the color draining from her face and leaving only pale white skin to cover her cheekbones.

Okay, that would be a check on the smoochies. Hmm...how far should I press? Maybe just a little guilt, just a little. "It's okay, Dawnie. If you're not comfortable talking about it, that's fine. It's just nice to get lost in someone else's problems for a few minutes. You know, problems that don't involve resurrections or apocalypses? I've almost forgotten what it's like to have normal teenage problems, I mean, not that you have problems, smoochies are good, well, unless you're smooching the wrong person and well, his girlfriend, who is totally wrong for him, catches you, then it's a problem, but..."

"Huh? Yeah it was, it was Xander, oh wait a minute, we're not talking about me anymore, are we?," Willow said slowly. "Brain...mouth...not friendly," Willow said as she pointed first to her head and then to her mouth, which produced an awkward smile.

"Oh yeah, hmm, Xander, well, yeah, that whole incident was pre-gay and formal wear fluke-y to boot," Willow explained.

"But, Dawnie! Oh, okay fine, you win," Willow said with a mock glare in Dawn's direction. "It's a short story anyway. I had a crush on Xander since forever, or at least since grade school, but he never really noticed me in that smoochies kind of way until our senior year in high school, when I was with Oz and he was with Cordelia, for reasons I still don't understand, and anyway, we had this whole formal-wear incident where we kissed, and well, we had this secret kiss-fest for a while until Cordelia and Oz caught us and then we decided to end the kissing right then and there, and well, Xander eventually decided he was into vengeance demons and I decided that I was into girls and we have remained friends ever since. The end."

Willow rolled her eyes. "You know, you dress up, you look hotter, or not hotter per se, but more fantasy-like, like you're in a fantasy, you know, and the normal rules don't apply?"

"Oh. Yeah. Like that," Willow said in a whisper as she looked down at the bed, remembering the song Tara had sung while under Sweet’s spell, and the double-edged meaning it had for their relationship. How could I have been so stupid...messing with someone who loved, who trusted me that much? Because she believed in you, Rosenberg, and you didn't want to lose that, you didn't want her to see you for what you are – weak. Everyone else who had seen that left, right? My parents, Oz, poof! But that wasn't really fair and square, was it Rosenberg? To really love someone is to give them to chance to see who you really are, to give them the power to reject you, and to know that they won't, and at some point you just stopped giving that to Tara, didn't you? And now, well, too little too late. You’re not exactly Tara’s Willow tree anymore. A tear trickled down Willow’s cheek.

Dawn smacked herself in the head and then clasped Willow’s arms lightly. "Yeah, I'm great about being sensitive-girl. Sorry Will," Dawn said with sincere regret. "Let’s change the subject and talk about Melissa."

"Melissa, huh? That name means 'honeybee' in Greek; is she sweet?" Willow said with a small giggle, her mood lightening.

"Dawnie!" Willow said with a mock-horrified look, playfully slapping at Dawn's knee. "So, um, when did you know that you liked girls, I mean, obviously no judging from this side of the bed, hello gay, it's just that last time I saw you paying attention to boys, well, they were boys."

Dawn laughed at Willow's choice of terms. "Well, it's not that I don't like boys, just that, well, I like looking at both," Dawn said hesitantly.

"Yeah, and well, um, Melissa's the first girl, well, that I've done more than look at, and she's really nice and fun to hug, and well, um, share lip gloss with..." Dawn said with a shy smile.

"But, I don't know if I'm feeling that zing, you know, and I don't know whether that's because maybe I'm not as into girls as I am into boys or whether it's because she's not my Tara, you know? Oh jeez...there I go again, I'm sorry," Dawn said, obviously flustered.

Willow smiled, "Don't apologize Dawnie. That's really sweet, actually. And, um, when you're ready, I think you should tell Tara that, I think she'd be really flattered that you think that highly of her."

Dawn took a minute to compose herself and then looked Willow straight in the eye. "I know that. But she left you before that and we missed all that time together, and I know that she and I still hung out, but, but...it wasn't the same. And well, maybe if she hadn't left in the first place, then what happened wouldn't have happened and..." Dawn’s voice trailed off as her throat began to constrict with emotion.

"C'mere you," Willow said as she drew Dawn into her lap, soothingly stroking Dawn’s hair. "We can't play the 'what if' game, Dawnie. Trust me, I tried, and it only made me mopey and gloomy girl. Warren would have still happened regardless of whether Tara left the first time or not. Would the result have been the same? I don’t know. Who knows what's fate and what's choice, but listen to me when I tell you that Tara had every right to leave me, okay? I violated something that was very important to Tara – the sanctity of her mind - and more than that, I violated the trust she had in me because I was...I was scared that she would see me for who I really am and run away. And if anyone ever did that to you Dawn, I would be really upset and I would consider dressing in black leather and veiny makeup to go scare the pants off of them because no one deserves that, sweetie. Especially not Tara. So don't be mad at her, okay? You wanna be mad at someone, be mad at me." I certainly am.

"Oh yeah, I remember now. I think I tried to block it out," Willow said with a small smile. Wait, you know, I never asked… "Um, Dawn, why did you decide to forgive me, you know, after everything?"

Willow returned the smile. There are no words... "Okay, how about we put aside the maudlin for the rest of the night?"

"Hey guys!" they heard from the doorway. They both turned their heads to see Emily standing in the doorway with a tray full of mugs. "Sorry to interrupt, it's just that Enid made some tea, and well everyone seemed so tense, I thought some nice relaxation in a cup would do everyone good for the night!" Emily said with exuberance.

"Well, I'll take anything that'll make me feel as bouncy and happy as you seem to be," Dawn said with a laugh. "Want some?" she asked Willow.

"Sure thing! Now, let me get this right, um, this cup is for Willow," Emily said as she extended toward Willow a Halloween cup decorated with broomsticks and pointy black hats. Willow took the mug and smiled at Emily a bit uncertainly. "And I think this one is for you Dawn," Emily said, extending toward Dawn a mug decorated with various colored keys. Dawn frowned a bit at the mug and looked at Willow, who shrugged her shoulders.

"Oh, it's a tradition in my family – everyone has their own mug. I suggested to Enid that the witchy mug would be cute for you Willow, given that, you know, powerful witch and all, and well, Enid just picked this mug for Dawn from the cupboard," Emily explained.

"Does Buffy get one with little stakes and fangs all over it?" Dawn asked with a laugh.

"Err...didn't see one of those. I was going to give her this Bugs Bunny mug, but Enid said this one was for Anya."

"Oh, I think I’m liking this Enid already," Dawn said, her voice full of mirth.

"Abelmosk – a hairy plant from tropical Asia with yellow flowers and musk-scented seeds that are used in perfumery. Hmm. That doesn’t sound like it smells good. Well, maybe to a Polgara demon. Oh well. Check. Aberrant - deviating from the proper or expected course or deviating from what is normal. Okay, Giles’ worst nightmare. Check. Abet – to encourage, incite, or help, especially in wrongdoing. Fun word. Two checks. Abeyance – the condition of being temporarily set aside, suspension. Hmm…so when D’Hoffryn took away my power to grant wishes, I was in abeyance. Bastard. Check."

Tara listened to Anya read the dictionary from the sleeping bag she was using as a bed in the far back corner of the basement. Anya was laying on a cot that was set up on the same side of the basement as Tara, but in the opposite corner. Tara tried hard to focus on what Anya was saying, for fear that any distraction would cause her mind to wander to the subject of Willow. When Anya got to ‘abfarad,’ however, Tara’s mind gave up its impromptu vocabulary lesson and wandered away. Maybe I should go talk to her? And what would I say? Well, what Anya said is true, and I’m not sure I trust you, but I love you and can you just be kissing me now? Might be too little, too late for that speech. I just can’t bear the thought that I’m the one who hurt her, I just wish I could take that pain away, I wish...

"Yeah, I didn’t know that an abhenry was an electromagnetic unit of inductance either," Anya replied.

"Huh?" Tara said as she turned to look at Anya. "Oh, no. I was, um, just talking to m-myself."

Anya raised both her eyebrows. "Oh good. The first stages of dementia are setting in already. I think that would qualify as an aberration – a disorder or abnormal alternation in one’s mental state. I skipped that one earlier. Check."

Tara shook her head. Anya thinks I’m an aberration? She’s a former vengeance demon who’s reading the dictionary for Gaia’s sake! Wait a minute, vengeance demons grant wishes. Hmm… "Hey Anya?"

"Abhor – to reject vehemently or shun. I abhor Enid. Three checks. Yeah?" Anya said, finally looking up from the dictionary.

"W-when you were a vengeance demon, did anyone ever w-wish to undo something they had done?" Tara asked curiously.

"You know Tara, I think that you too could benefit from a few evenings spent with this book here." Anya looked back down at the dictionary, flipping through the pages as if she were looking for something in particular. "Ah ha. Vengeance – the act of punishing another in payment for a wrong or injury he has committed. Check with a happy face," Anya said as she nodded and smiled to herself.

Tara sighed. "Yeah. I guess that w-would be more about the inflicting and less about the repenting.

Anya shuffled through the dictionary some more. "Inflict – to cause or carry out by physical assault or other aggressive action. I disagree with this definition; sometimes I just drove them insane so that they would do all the assaulting and aggression to themselves, especially when I had a busy night. Stupid book," Anya said as she threw the dictionary to the ground with a thump and looked at Tara. "Sometimes, the men would wish forgetfulness on those who had invoked my wrath."

"Well, for one thing, I wouldn’t have lasted long as a vengeance demon if I let every offer of jewelry, indebted servitude, and flocks of sheep detract me from my solemn vow to make the men of the world suffer, but for another, to wish yourself out of a situation you created is selfish."

"But w-what if you just want to make some-someone feel better, take away the p-pain you caused them?

"Tara – if humans could all just wish away the pain they caused others, they’d never learn anything. They’d all just be a bunch of conscience-free manipulators and it’s not like you humans are so far from that as it is."

Tara thought about this for a minute. "Easy way out?" Tara asked as she tilted her head to the side.

"But isn’t that w-what you did when you became a vengeance d-demon? Took the easy way out so that you wouldn't have to deal with the pain?" Tara asked with an eyebrow raised.

Anya's eyes bulged a little bit and Tara could sense Anya’s tension and defensiveness begin to rise. "It is most certainly not..." Anya trailed off and shook her head before she let out a nervous laugh. "Humanity is weird. It takes humans over a thousand years, death and resurrection to even begin to understand what it means to be human. If those sanctimonious asses that call themselves angels spent half the time on earth as demons did, it probably wouldn't have taken human men millennia to find the clitoris!"

Now Tara's eyes bulged. "I didn't know there were angels responsible for, um, that."

"Well, see, that's the problem! There are sex demons, so why shouldn't there be sex angels? I mean, you can't leave it up to a succubus to properly instruct a man! For one thing, they only have sex with sleeping men and for another, succubi don't have clitorises," Anya stated knowingly.

I don't want to know how Anya knows that. No, definitely not. "That seems a little unfair, some men must, I mean, Xander surely..." Tara stopped speaking, unsure she wanted to continue the rest of that thought.

"Do you want to know how many instances of copulation it took before Xander was able to appropriately locate and stimulate my clitoris?"

"Yes, I'm quite fond of my tea too!" Emily said with a full-fledged smile as she reached the bottom of the basement stairs, a tray with three mugs on it held in her hands.

Anya turned to look at Tara and narrowed her eyes. "I don't think that Tara was praising your stupid tea," Anya said with a scowl in Tara's direction. She then turned toward Emily, "Why is it that no one will ever discuss sex with me? I know that Tara's had sex, it's not like she and Willow were quiet about it, but can you get her to discuss orgasms and clitorises? No. Do you have a tea that will make her less uptight?"

Tara blushed bright red from the roots of her hair down to the tips of her toes and lowered her head in hopes that her hair would block out the world.

"Well, peppermint tea is supposed to help with stomach cramps," Emily offered helpfully.

"Actually, I have issues with n-neither," Tara said as she raised her head and shot a warning look in Anya's direction. Two can play at this game. "Unlike some people," Tara finished with a smirk. "Tea sounds great, t-thank you Emily."

"Okay, let's see here, this cup is for Anya," Emily said as she extended a Bugs Bunny mug toward Anya. "And here's yours Tara," Emily continued, extending toward Tara a mug decorated with cartoon captions of the words "Kaboom," "Zing," and "Kapow!" on it. Both Tara and Anya frowned at their mugs and then at each other. They then both looked at Emily, who was sipping tea from her own mug, which was decorated with a Cathy cartoon.

"I think I'll just l-let mine steep for a while," Tara said, setting her mug on a nearby shelf. "Anya, don't you like your tea stronger too?" Tara asked pointedly.

"Well, I usually like it less surrounded by evil bunny," Anya replied, still frowning at the mug she held in her hand.

"We can switch m-mugs then after you let yours steep," Tara said as she attempted to pull the mug from Anya's hands. Subtlety not working here. Surprise surprise.

Anya began to tug back on the mug as Tara attempted to pull it away. "It may be evil, but it's still my mug Tara, you have your own."

Anya looked at Tara with some shock and let go of the Bugs Bunny mug abruptly, causing the tea to splash all over Tara as Tara pulled Anya's mug toward herself too hard. Tara and Anya glowered at each other briefly and then Tara set the bunny mug on the shelf beside her own mug.

"Oh, okay. I'm g-going to get ready for bed. Anya, be sure to brush your teeth and w-wash your face before you go to bed," Tara said as she headed up the basement stairs with a smirk.

"Okay," Anya replied. After a few seconds, Anya face contorted and she screamed, "Hey!" as she ran up the basement stairs after Tara, leaving Emily alone in the basement, sipping her tea.

Willow awoke with a start, drenched in sweat and with a pounding headache. She quickly held her hands up to her ears, sticking her fingers inside, but feeling nothing unusual. She looked down at herself, and noticed that she was wearing the pink cow pajamas she had fallen asleep in earlier. As the sound of her heavy breathing subsided, she noticed that music was still coming from Dawn’s room.

"Tara!" Willow said aloud as she rushed to the door. As she pulled the door open, a dizzy spell overcame her, and she clutched the door handle to keep from falling over. After a couple of seconds, the spell passed. Oof. My head’s all scramble-y. Must be from getting up so quick. Willow shook her head to clear it and then proceeded down to the basement. Need to make sure that Tara’s okay. Need to make sure Tara's Tara.

Tara's eyes snapped open to reveal Willow hovering over her and shaking her shoulders. "You're having a bad dream, sweetie," Willow whispered as she caressed the sides of Tara's face.

Tara immediately crawled backwards and away from Willow. "D-don't touch me," she said breathlessly.

Willow cast her eyes downward, looking at her hands momentarily and then dropping them to her sides. She stood up, her face a mask of shock and heartbreak. "Okay," she said, turning toward the basement stairs.

Tara took a few calming breaths. Calm down Tara, it was a nightmare, it wasn't really, at least, I don't think it was really Willow. It couldn't be, did you see that look? C'mon Tara, fix it, otherwise, she's going to think...

Tara looked around and noticed that Anya, Enid, and Emily all appeared to be sleeping peacefully. "I'm sorry, my dream was just...I just had a r-really bad dream," Tara tried to explain.

"About me," Willow said without turning around. It was more a statement than a question.

Willow turned around, a thoughtful look on her face. "I had a dream about you too. It was awful." Willow moved closer to Tara and knelt beside Tara's sleeping bag. "Are you really my Tara?" Willow asked, extending her fingers toward Tara's hand.

Tara fought back her initial impulse to pull her hand away. It was just a dream. When Willow's fingers made contact with her hand, she felt the familiar tingle of electricity begin to warm the skin of her hand, then her arm, moving up slowly through her shoulder and chest until it settled into the core of her very being. Just a dream Tara, Willow didn't feel like that in the dream. Nothing has ever felt quite like this. Tara smiled slowly as she looked at their touching hands. "Y-yes. Really me. Really you. You can f-feel it."

Willow gave a half smile. "Yes," she admitted. "But the things I see when I close my eyes..." Willow trailed off as another blast of dizziness swept over her. "Whoa." She removed her hand from Tara's and used it to steady herself on the concrete floor. She closed her eyes tight, the room in front of her beginning to swim.

Willow didn't answer, as her dizziness subsided only to be replaced a cacophony of voices inside her head. The phrase "Really me. Really you." began to echo repeatedly inside her head, as if the phrase were bouncing off the walls of her brain. Willow stood up and backed away a few paces, placing her hands over her ears and shaking her head. "Stop it!" she yelled. As if responding to her order, the echoing subsided, leaving only the sounds of a pounding headache and ringing ears in her head. Willow gingerly touched her ears and head. "That's better. I don't know what..." Willow stopped speaking as she caught the horrified look on Tara's face.

Willow turned around, her mouth dropping in shock at the scene before her. Enid was laying on the floor, hog-tied and gagged. Emily was also bound and gagged, but she was propped sitting up against Anya's legs. Anya was standing behind Emily, holding a knife held to Emily's throat. Emily's eyes were bulging in terror.

Willow backed up toward the far wall, disbelief coloring her features. "No, I didn't..." They were all asleep when I came down here.

"She's making me," Anya said pleadingly toward Tara, as she drew the knife slowly across Emily's throat, making a shallow, bloody cut.

Tara stood up and crossed over toward the foot of the basement stairs, putting herself halfway between Willow and Anya. "S-stop it W-Willow." It's just like my dream.

Willow looked at Tara with hurt in her eyes. "But I'm not..." Willow said in a small voice before she was cut off by another attack of echoing in her head. This time, "S-stop it W-Willow" began reverberating loudly in her head. "Ahhhhh!" Willow screamed, tears escaping freely from her eyes as the sounds caused a painful throbbing in her head. Then, just as quickly as they had begun, the sounds stopped, leaving Willow with a throbbing headache, sore ears, and a sickly stomach. She grasped the wall to keep from sliding down it.

"Ow! That hurts," Emily said. Tara turned around and saw that Anya had carved a new, deeper cut across Emily's throat. The wound began to seep blood down Emily's neck and the front of her shirt. Anya looked at her hand wide-eyed, as if it were not actually attached to her body.

Suddenly, Tara was distracted by the sound of the phone ringing upstairs. She looked up the basement stairs, but could see nothing in the hallway above. The phone stopped ringing after three rings, and Tara could only assume it had been answered. When she looked back toward Anya, Emily, and Enid, she noticed that Anya's knife-hand had dropped to her side and that Enid appeared to be completely untied. Must have broken her concentration. Tara then looked in Willow's direction and noticed that Willow was now righted against the wall and staring at Anya, Enid, and Emily with a confused look on her face. Tara then saw Willow's eyes widen, and when she turned back around, she saw that Enid was once again bound and gagged and Anya was pressing the knife against Emily's throat.

"Willow," Tara said pleadingly as she backed up the basement steps toward the floor above. If I can get a clear view of everyone, I think I can do a spell to stop this.

Willow pushed herself off the wall with some effort and started to approach Tara slowly. "It's not me, I swear, I don't know..." Willow trailed off and her eyes got huge as she looked up over Tara's shoulder. She saw Kennedy appear in the doorway above, an angry look on her face and a scythe in her hands. Time slowed down considerably and the only sound Willow heard was the beat of her own heart. She shook her head and said, "No," but she couldn't hear if any sound came out. She watched as Kennedy stepped down the stairs cautiously, raising the scythe higher as she approached Tara. Kennedy's intentions were now clear to Willow. She had only a moment to think and in that one moment of clarity, all she could think about was protecting Tara. She motioned her hands out in front of her and shouted, "Protect." A shimmery ball of white light coalesced in her hands and headed speedily toward Tara.

Tara was running through all the spells she could think of to stop the scene below her, when she noticed that Willow was fixated on her with a wild, fearful expression. Tara's heartbeat began to drown out any sound in the room as the images in her dream ran through her mind repeatedly. She closed her eyes for a moment, drawing up her strength. I need to be able to stop her. I have to. It can't be like that dream where I just let everyone...where I let everyone die. Tara opened her eyes and grew fearful when she saw Willow extend her hands out in front of her, her mouth beginning to form the words of a spell. Tara had only a split-second to decide what to do and the simplest spell she could think of sprang to mind. "Counter," Tara shouted, a black force field erecting itself directly in front of her.

The second after she cast her counter spell, the meaning of Willow's incantation finally sank into her mind. She cast a protect spell on me? Protection from what? Tara turned around just in time to see Kennedy standing behind her, a raised scythe in her hands. I think I made a...Tara didn't time to finish that thought as a huge explosion rocked the basement, knocking Tara up and over the staircase bannister.

The moment after she cast the protection spell, Willow heard Tara invoke a counter-spell and erect a barrier in front of herself. She thought I was going to hurt her, Willow thought sadly. Willow shook her head. I don't care, I need to stop...Willow never finished that thought, as her protect spell crashed into Tara's barrier spell, causing a large explosion that threw Willow backwards and into the far wall of the basement. She heard a sickening crunch as her back hit the concrete wall, her body sliding down limply and coming to rest in a rag doll position on the floor. She was still conscious, and now very aware of a sharp, stabbing pain in her lower right side. Willow winced and laid her hands over the pain. She looked up toward where the explosion occurred, trying to find Tara. Instead, she saw a blindingly white orb floating on the staircase.

Tara was able to get her hands underneath her before she landed face-first on the basement floor. Her knees and elbows took the brunt of the fall, bruising upon contact, and causing joint pain to shoot up her arms and legs. The fall also knocked the wind out of her, causing her to panic for a minute, until she felt breath being sucked back into her lungs. She sputtered a bit and then stood up quickly, ignoring the pain in her joints. Where's Willow? She looked in the direction of where Willow had been prior to the explosion and saw her lying limply against the back wall of the basement. Ohmygod. No. Tara started in Willow's direction, but stopped when she noticed a pulsating and blindingly white sphere on the staircase.

Both Tara and Willow watched with a mixture of curiosity and dread as the white sphere pulsated, alternating between a blueish-white hue and a yellowish-white hue. They both then heard a sharp crack from within the sphere, as if lightning had touched down inside the orb. The white ball then began to dissipate slowly, evaporating into a mist and revealing its contents.

Both Tara and Willow had the same disbelieving thought as they stared in shock at their new visitor. Glory.

"Glory," Willow whispered disbelievingly, shock written across her face. But Giles said he killed her...

Glory looked at Willow and smiled. "You know, I just never tire of hearing my name said in awe. The only thing better than that is hearing it gurgled in terror through a mouthful of blood, but let's get to that in a bit, okay? Right now, I kind of want to hear me talking." Glory raised her hand and gestured toward the basement door. The open door slammed shut and fused with the frame, leaving only a solid expanse of wall with a door handle sticking out in the middle. "I would just hate it if our girl chat was interrupted," Glory added with a smirk.

Oh hell. Willow looked at Tara across the room and saw Tara looking back at her, disbelief and fear etched on her face. She didn't know. Of course she didn't know, she would never, but what and how and...

"Enid," Glory said as she snapped her fingers twice in Enid's direction. Willow turned and saw that Enid was no longer bound or gagged, but was standing up unharmed with what appeared to be a red shimmery dress and stiletto pumps in her hands. But she was... and Anya and Emily were... Willow looked beyond Enid to see if she could find Anya and Emily, but from her vantage point on the floor she could only see that two pairs of legs were sticking out from underneath fallen bookcases. Oh god, Anya. No, she's okay, she has to be. She's just unconscious and I can help her out just as soon as I figure out how to help myself. Ow. I think that rib's broken. Or maybe all of them.

"As good as I look naked, I'm feeling a bit chilly here," Glory said as she looked at her chest. "It's been a while since I've been on Earth and I'm feeling the need for something red and sexy," Glory purred.

Willow's eyes widened as she finally noticed that Glory was naked. I guess she really is standing there in all her glory, no wait, c'mon Rosenberg, useful thoughts, um, okay, Glory's back. It has something to do with magic and how do we not get dead?

"Of course, mistress. I have just what you require," Enid replied, as she bowed her head and walked over to Glory, extending the dress and shoes before her.

Glory took the offered items, dropped the shoes, and shook out the dress. Her eyebrow raised in displeasure. "Enid, I hate high-necked dresses, they really don't do enough to show off my godly cleavage," she said with a frown.

"I'm sorry, mistress, it's all I could find" Enid said calmly, her head still bowed.

Glory turned to look at Willow, "This is what I get for letting a witch with a penchant for black shop for me..." Glory trailed off as she looked at Willow's pajamas with a look of disgust. She then focused on Tara and her simple black cotton pants and top and raised both her eyebrows. "Not that you two could have done any better." Glory sighed. "Should've raided Buffy's closet. Slayers dress better than witches," Glory grumbled to herself as she stepped into her dress and pumps. When she was finished, she looked down at herself appraisingly, "Well, still damn good for a supposedly dead god, huh my little snapdragons?"

Willow once again felt overwhelmed with dizziness, the words "little snapdragons" echoing loudly in her head. She covered her ears and shut her eyes, tears welling up in them from the pounding in her head. "Ow! Ow! Ow!" she repeated as she rocked back and forth, the pain in her head eclipsing the pain in her side.

Tara heard Willow cry out in pain and took a step in Willow's direction before Glory cut off her path. "Ah ah ah, now where do you think you're going?" Glory asked. Tara looked at Glory defiantly, anger behind her eyes. I could probably get by her with a spell, but I'm not sure I could reach Willow in time and what if she decides to hurt Willow worse because of it and damnit I can't lose Willow now that I've just found her again. Think Tara, think.

"Ooh…someone got spunky since I last saw her," Glory said with a grin. "I like spunk. I like distributing it in little tiny pieces across the front lawns of loved ones. How many pieces do you think you would break into, darling?" Glory said, her grin never fading.

"Leave... leave her alone," Willow croaked from her position on the floor, her face pale and wet from her recent bout of dizziness.

"Actually, I was thinking I could throw up all over your skanky dress," Willow said as she slowly stood up, propping as much of her weight on the concrete wall behind her as possible.

Tara smiled at Willow's defiance, but her smile faded when she saw Glory cross the distance between her and Willow, grab Willow by the neck and slam her backwards into the basement wall. No!

"You know, it's not nice to insult deities. I think you need to learn some manners," Glory said with a snarl as she slammed Willow against the concrete again, causing a crack to appear in the wall.

Tara bowed her head and focused on channeling as much energy into her core as she could. When she felt as if a furnace had ignited in her gut, she raised her hands as if she were holding an imaginary ball and started an incantation, "Cre-" A hand clapped over Tara's mouth before she could finish.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Not very nice to cast behind someone's back," Enid said with a smirk as she slowly released her hand from Tara's mouth. "Sshh now," Enid said as she raised her finger to her lips, "I like to watch a good neck-snapping in silence." Enid smiled slowly and turned back around.

"The only neck that's going to get snapped around here is yours!" Tara yelled as she pushed Enid face-first to the concrete floor. She quickly drew her arms toward her torso and shouted, "Cremitas!" A small fireball ignited between Tara's hands and she threw the ball at Glory's back. The fireball hit its mark, but instead of causing any damage, it simply dissipated on contact.

Tara looked at her hands in shock. That should have... that should have done something. She didn't even notice.

Enid picked herself up off the floor and smirked. "Interesting," she said as she walked up to Tara and backhanded her across the face. Tara reeled from the contact and lifted her hand up to cover the already-forming bruise.

"What's all the hubbub back here, huh?" Glory shouted at Tara and Enid. Tara could see that Glory had released Willow, who was now lying on the floor with her hands over her ears, writhing in obvious pain. I'm so sorry Willow. Tara started to get choked up. C'mon Tara, that's not going to help anyone, not you, not Willow. Be strong. Get it together. Break down later.

"Well, in that case, can you undo whatever it is you did to Red here? It's not any fun to crush the windpipe of a loony," Glory said as she looked at her nails.

Tara looked between Willow, Glory, and Enid. Amazon-mode. "What did you do to her?" Tara asked Enid forcefully.

"Who? Me? Nothing. Emily's the one who gave her the tea," Enid said with mock innocence.

Tara approached Enid and grabbed her shirt. "What did you do to her?" she repeated in a louder voice.

"Not much of a witch if you can't tell what it is. Do I have to spell it out for you? Belladonna, of course. The symptoms are textbook. And if you don't mind, I was just about to fix your little friend there," Enid said as her eyes looked down at Tara's hands.

Tara let go of Enid's shirt and shook her head. "Belladonna?" she mumbled to herself. A hallucinogen. Of course. Willow was hallucinating, and I thought, I thought she was... stupid Tara. Stupid. Of all the times to have trust issues... but wait, that explains what Willow saw, but I didn't drink the tea, why did I see Enid bound and gagged and Anya... Tara quickly turned around, her eyes seeking out Anya's form. Tara could only see two pairs of legs sticking out from underneath a pile of books and concrete rubble. Neither pair of legs was moving. She then looked at the stairs and saw Kennedy's crumpled form, blood seeping from a wound on her head. Okay, calm down Tara. Let's work on figuring out how to keep Willow and me alive and then we'll check on the others. They're alive. Have to be. Just unconscious. Sleeping. Yeah.

The voices inside Willow's head finally calmed down. Further apart, but, worse. Ugh. It's like my head is giving birth. Bile crept up Willow's throat, but she forced it back down and opened her eyes. After blinking a few times to clear her blurred vision, she saw Enid standing in front of her.

All of a sudden, Willow felt all of the blood in her body rush toward her stomach, filling it to capacity. She doubled over and grasped her stomach as it cramped painfully. Unable to fight the urge any longer, Willow heaved and threw up a purple liquid onto the basement floor. After a few dry heaves, Willow wiped her mouth and looked at the pooled liquid. Willow looked up at Enid. "Belladonna," she whispered hoarsely.

Enid raised an eyebrow and giggled. "Well, look who's a smart witch. Guess you win the prize."

Willow crawled away from the liquid and backed up against the basement wall. Her head had now cleared and the throbbing was subsiding, but the heaving had considerably worsened the pain in her side and her throat felt like it was on fire. I'm too weak. I can't, I can't do anything to stop Glory. I'm so sorry Tara, I'm sorry.

Tara's eyes were searching the basement floor for weapons she could launch at Glory. She didn't see any within reach. Think Tara. Willow can't take much more.

Tara looked up and noticed that Glory was looking at the base of the stairs in a confused manner.

"Something just occurred to me. Why am I the only god here?" Glory said as she pointed forcefully at the floor.

Tara's eyes widened as something clicked into place. Ohmygoddess. Three of them. Three Fates. The red hair in the cloak – Glory. That was Glory. It wasn't the three Fates, it was Glory and two... gods. Hell gods. She meant to bring all three back, but, but something happened. What happened?

"Mistress..." Enid said, holding her hands out in front of her in a calming gesture.

"No! No excuses. I hate excuses!" Glory said angrily. "It's like when someone is told to get something red and sexy and they bring back a high-necked dress!" Glory pointed at Tara and continued, "Little missy here was supposed to be laced with enough mojo to bring all three of us down... why am I the only one here?" Glory shrieked as she advanced menacingly on Enid.

"Mistress, please, she was laced with the appropriate amount of magic, but she only threw a counter spell to Willow's protection spell. It didn't create enough energy for three, I would guess," Enid said as she backed into the same wall Willow was resting against.

Glory stopped advancing on Enid and looked incredulously at Willow. "Wait a minute, wait a minute, are you telling me that the same girlfriend that you mourned by turning into a quite admirable replica of a hell god comes back to Earth because she thinks you're a complete psycho, spurns your affections, and accuses you of trying to commit murder and you throw a protection spell at her?" Glory looked absolutely beside herself. "Is this a lesbian thing?" she shouted to no one in particular.

Enid looked down at Willow in disgust. "Not that I would ever do something as unnatural as you two, but if it had been me, I would have ripped my freak girlfriend's spine out, tailbone first."

Willow looked up at Enid. "Well, you're not me." Willow then turned her attention to Glory. "And I'm not you. Not ever again," Willow said with her jaw set.

"Wanna test that theory?" Glory said as she shot a bolt of electricity at Willow.

Willow convulsed as the bolt hit her, her skin crackling and stinging from the hit.

"What is it that you said to me once? Oh right, I... owe... you... pain," Glory stated slowly and evenly as she shot another bolt at Willow. Willow convulsed again. I will not, I will not, I will not.

Tara was frantically running through different spells in her mind. "Gelate!" "Discede!" "Nectate!" None of them had any effect on Glory. Damnit Willow, protect yourself! Panicked, Tara looked around for something, anything, to wield as a weapon. Wait a minute - Kennedy! Tara turned to look at the stairs, where Kennedy was still splayed out and unconscious. Tara saw the object she was looking for resting next to Kennedy's prone form – the scythe. Tara quickly ran up the stairs and retrieved the weapon.

No sooner had she picked it up than she heard Enid giggling behind her. "I see you," Enid said playfully.

Tara turned around, scythe in hand. "T-Take a good look," Tara said as she launched herself into a full run down the stairs, barreling over the stunned Enid and heading directly for Glory. Tara focused all her anger and desperation on her target, raising the scythe and burying it as far in Glory's back as she could manage. "Stay away from her!" Tara shouted as she let go of the scythe's handle and moved in between Glory and Willow.

Glory stopped launching lightning bolts at Willow and looked over her right shoulder to determine what was lodged in her back. She then withdrew the axe from her back with a squish and threw it on the floor. "Listen spunky, I may not have been in love with this dress, but that was no reason to ruin it! What is it about you two, you're always attacking the fashion first. Well, that's just fine, I was going to give you a pass since you were the one that freed me and all, but you want to get in on the action, no problemo," Glory said coolly as she let another thunder bolt fly.

"No," Tara said simply. If I move, it'll hit you. Tara closed her eyes and braced herself for the impact. It never came. Tara opened her eyes and saw a shocked Glory in front of her.

Glory looked at her fingers and shook them out. "What's wrong with you?" she asked her fingers. "Maybe you're just rusty," she said as she threw a bolt of electricity at Tara's head. Tara forced her eyes to stay open this time, following the electricity all the way to her head, where it dissipated on contact with her skin. I didn't feel anything, just like Glory didn't feel anything when I hit her with the fireball. What the...

Enid was busy looking between Tara and Glory with a confused expression. "I, I don't know, mistress." Enid looked at Tara and narrowed her eyes. "Incursiate." Before Tara could react, she felt a ball of energy hit her and throw her against the wall hard. She slid down the wall and came to rest next to Willow.

"Tara!" Willow exclaimed worriedly, reaching out to touch Tara's face. She stopped just shy of actually touching her, though, quickly withdrawing her hands and looking down. Wait…Glory came back when we threw spells at each other, touching her might be bad, might open another portal, might I don't know, I don't know.

Tara quickly hid a hurt look as Willow withdrew her hands. Can't blame her Tara. Talk later, get us not killed now. Tara pushed herself off the wall, and once again stood in front of Willow.

Enid smirked and opened her mouth again to cast another spell, but stopped when she heard a loud thunk behind her. Willow and Tara looked up at what used to be the basement door and saw a large axe head lodged in the wall.

"It's the pesky Slayer. She's big with the axes." Glory started rubbing her temples with her fingers. "You know, this all started out a good day, going to get sent back to the mortal plane with my two sisters, raise a little hell on Earth, and kill the Slayer and all her friends as a little resurrection present to myself. And now, this day officially sucks – Val and Regina aren't here, which leaves me without any power to rule this realm, and all because these two witch-bitches decided to get all freaking touchy-feely with each other. And to top it all off, I can't even hurt one of them to make myself feel better. I'm getting circles under my eyes from all this stress!"

Another loud thunk was heard, and a chunk of plaster fell inwards, disintegrating on the basement stairs. "Willow?!?," Buffy's voice yelled through the wall.

Glory stopped rubbing her temples and looked appraisingly at Enid and then at Tara. "No. There's a reason I can't hurt her and I want to know what it is. Maybe it's the key to getting the other two down here. And if not, it's not like anyone in this house can stop us from making them all dead and bloody whenever we want."

"I suppose so, mistress," Enid replied with a displeased look, obviously upset that she wouldn't get a chance to hurt Tara again.

"We'll be seeing each other soon. Kisses until then," Glory said to Willow and Tara as she disappeared in a swirl of smoke.

Enid curled her lip and looked at Tara. "Bu-buh-bye," Enid said coolly as she too evaporated into smoke.

Tara stood there in silence for a moment before another loud thunk brought her out of her trance. She turned around and looked down at Willow, her heart breaking at the sight. Willow's hair was plastered to her head in clumps, she was breathing shallowly, and a line of blood was trickling down her chin. Tara fell to her knees and instinctively brought her hands up to Willow's face.

Tara dropped both her hands and eyes immediately, a sob working its way up her throat. I'm so sorry, Willow. So sorry.

"Hey... I didn't mean it... the way it sounded. Glory came when our magic... interacted. Trying to be... safe," Willow managed to get out slowly, having to take breaths in between every few words.

Tara couldn't keep from breaking down and crying. That's my smart girl, no, not mine, not after, damnit Tara. Sometimes I wish there was a demon inside me. At least then I'd have an excuse.

"Tara," Willow said, but got no response. "Tara," Willow said louder. Tara finally raised her eyes to meet Willow's and saw only compassion there. "I'm fine... need you...to check on the others. Kennedy. Anya. O-okay?" I just need to rest for a little bit. Like a few lifetimes.

Tara nodded and slowly stood up, surveying the room around here. It's all such a mess. All of it.

Tara carefully worked her way through the broken bits of concrete and shelving covering Anya's body, her shoulders convulsing involuntarily every time she heard Buffy's axe make contact with the basement wall.

"I'm almost there guys!" Tara heard Buffy yell behind her. Tara didn't acknowledge Buffy's voice, but simply concentrated on unearthing Anya, afraid that any distraction from the task at hand would lead to her breaking down completely. Willow's hurt and I can't do anything. Glory's back and it's my fault. Don't think about. Don't think. Dig. Dig. Help Anya. And Emily. That you can do. Then what? Then nothing. Just help Anya.

Tara finally managed to uncover Anya's face and torso and saw that although Anya's skin was dusty, bruised, and scratched, there were no puddles of blood or gaping wounds. Well, that's a good sign. "An-Anya?" Tara asked tentatively as she shook Anya's shoulders. Anya's head rolled to either side slowly and her torso lifted off the ground slightly as she groaned and then coughed. "Anya," Tara said with a sigh of relief, as she placed the flats of her palms against Anya's shoulders and squeezed slightly.

"Well, I guess I'm not dead since I don't remember heaven being such a pigsty," Anya said sarcastically as she grasped Tara's upper arms and allowed Tara to help her into a seated position.

"Got it," Tara heard Buffy yell behind her. Tara turned around and saw Buffy climbing through a boulder-sized hole in the basement wall, Rona and Vi following closely behind. All of them were armed with weapons.

"Well now, that was a lot…," Buffy stopped mid-sentence as she saw the devastation in front of her. "What the hell happened to my basement?" Buffy asked Tara wide-eyed.

Tara opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out and she instead lowered her eyes to the ground.

"That's not…," Buffy said as she shook her head in an attempt to process the information. "Ohmygod Will, are you okay?" Buffy asked as she took in her best friend's condition. She quickly descended the steps, but stopped when her foot bumped into Kennedy's prone form. "Kennedy?" Buffy asked as she bent down and turned the Slayer over gently.

Kennedy groaned and her eyes fluttered open as Buffy shifted her body. "Ow, knockout," Kennedy whispered as she brought her hand up to her head and felt the dried blood.

"Yep, you're okay," Buffy said to Kennedy reassuringly. "Rona? Vi? Help Kennedy up," Buffy instructed as she continued down the stairs and toward Willow. When she reached Willow, Buffy laid her axe down and kneeled next to her best friend, putting her hand on Willow's cheek. "You look like you've been through hell, Will."

"In a manner of…speaking," Willow said slowly with a chuckle at the end. "Ow," she added as she winced and grabbed her side. "No more…funny puns."

"Willow?" Kennedy yelled from the stairs, where Rona and Vi were helping her to a standing position. She shrugged them off and quickly ran down the stairs and knelt down next to Willow and Buffy.

"How did this happen?" Kennedy asked angrily as she took in Willow's various injuries, running her hands gingerly over Willow's hair and face.

"Long story…tell later," Willow said as her eyes pleaded with Kennedy to calm down.

"She did this, didn't she?" Kennedy said loudly as she pointed at Tara while quickly standing up.

Tara took a step back without realizing it. Okay, one very pissed off Slayer. At me. Not good. Not undeserved, but not good.

"You're not Tara, Giles told me what you are," Kennedy said as she advanced menacingly toward Tara, stopping to pick up the scythe that Glory had dropped on the basement floor. "You're some evil, resurrected freak!" Kennedy yelled as she charged at Tara full speed.

Tara's eyes grew wide in shock as she saw Kennedy run toward her. A hundred different spells ran through Tara's mind, but she was unable to settle on any one of them. Instead, all she could think about was Willow and how much pain she had caused her in the short amount of time she had been back on earth. She turned her head toward Willow, her eyes locking on Willow's as she mouthed the words "I'm sorry" before giving Willow a sad, lopsided smile.

Willow didn't think. She didn't think about whether Tara would cast a counter-spell. She didn't worry about whether her spell would cause another cosmic bomb once it was cast. All she saw was Tara looking at her with that lopsided smile, an apology on her lips. The words came to Willow's own lips without thought. "Protect," Willow whispered as she concentrated all her reserves on keeping Tara safe from harm.

An iridescent, spherical shield erected itself around Tara just as Kennedy was within striking distance. Kennedy ran directly into the shield, and was bounced backwards about ten feet. She landed on her backside and the scythe skittered out of her hands. Kennedy shook her head and sat up to look at Tara. When she noticed the bittersweet look Tara had on her face, she turned to look back at Willow and saw that Willow's eyes were black.

Willow ignored Kennedy's outburst. "Buffy…I can't hold…this. Don't…don't…let her…It's not…her fault," Willow whispered before her eyes rolled back in her head and her eyelids closed.

Tara saw Willow's eyes close and felt the magical energy around her dissipate. "Willow?!," Tara yelled as she started moving toward the unconscious woman.

"Don't even think about touching her," Kennedy said as she stood up and blocked Tara's path.

Buffy checked Willow's carotid pulse, assuring herself that Willow had simply passed out. Willow's pulse was faster than normal, but strong. Nodding to herself, Buffy stood up, walked over to Kennedy and grabbed her by the shoulder, turning her around forcefully. "You're going to knock off the tough chick in leather routine right now, Ken," Buffy commanded, the tone of her voice leaving no room for argument.

"Have you seen Will, Buffy? Did you see what she did to her?" Kennedy asked angrily.

"Willow just spent whatever tiny amount of energy she had left protecting Tara. Do you really think she would have done that if Tara was the one who leveled all of us?" Anya asked impatiently.

"Yeah, I think she would. I think Willow would protect anything that looked like Tara," Kennedy said as she looked Tara up and down.

"Enough!" Buffy yelled as she rubbed her temples. "Kennedy, I want you to go upstairs and call Xander, tell him to come over, it's an emergency."

"I'm going to take care of Willow, okay. Not…Tara. Please just do this," Buffy said with her last remaining ounce of patience.

Kennedy looked angrily at Tara, and then at Buffy, but she nodded her head and climbed up the stairs and out of the basement.

"Rona, Vi, I want you with Kennedy. Keep her calm and all pointy objects away from her. Give her some tea and scones or something."

"Where we gonna find scones at three in the morning," Rona said to Vi as they walked up the stairs together.

"Oh, right, sorry, I forgot we have a magical cupboard that just tosses out British delights on demand," Rona said crossly.

"My, my, we are a tad touchy without our beauty sleep, aren't we?" Vi asked as the two Slayers reached the door to the basement.

"I swear, ever since all the Slayers got activated, I don't feel like 'the Slayer' so much as 'mama Slayer' who would like to beat the living crap out of her children." Buffy said with a grimace.

"But then you remember that the modern legal system has taken all the fun out of corporal punishment?" Anya asked.

"Er…no. Usually, I just organize massive amounts of sparring, but right now seemed like an inappropriate time."

Buffy looked at Willow, then at the rubble in the basement, then at Tara and sighed. "Look, I know this is difficult for you, but I really don't know what's going on right now and I don't know who to trust, so I'm asking you, please stay down her and help Emily while I take Willow upstairs and get her to bed. Then we can all have the pleasure of trying to sort this mess out at an ungodly hour of the morning on not enough sleep, okay?"

Tara looked at Willow longingly for a minute before meeting Buffy's gaze. "I d-didn't, you know," Tara said in a small voice. "Hurt her," Tara added when she noticed Buffy's confused look.

Buffy approached Tara and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Will seems to believe that, and that's what I'm trusting right now." Buffy said as she squeezed Tara's shoulder.

"Well, Willow always was the smart one of the group. Homicidally insane at times, but always smart," Anya noted.

Both Tara and Buffy's eyebrows rose to their hairlines. "The fact that I don't think anyone could be quite as annoying as Anya except for Anya herself is also working in your favor," Buffy added with a wink.

"This from the person who's specialty is the 'everyone sucks but me' speech,'" Anya retorted.

"Takes one to know one," Buffy replied as she turned back to where Willow was slumped against the basement wall. Buffy crouched down and scooped Willow into her arms, lifting her up with relative ease. "C'mon Will, bedtime for wiccas," Buffy said as she carefully carried Willow up the stairs.

"Takes one to know one what?" Anya yelled at Buffy's back. When Buffy didn't answer, Anya turned to look at Tara. "I hate all the speaking in riddles humans do – why can't you all just say what it is you mean."

Tara quickly wiped away the few tears that had trickled down her cheeks as she turned around to begin the search for Emily's body underneath the basement rubble.

Not a half bad question, Anya…why don't we? Maybe if I had just told Willow the truth when I first got here, none of this would have happened. And now what do I tell her? That I didn't mean to hurt her. How can I? When it came down to it, I didn't trust her and all she did was try to protect me. What does that mean?

Tara's inner monologue was broken by the feel of Anya's hand squeezing her own. She looked up and Anya gave a half-smile. "She'll be okay. She's tougher than a Planaria demon."

"Willow. Planaria demon. You know, you can try hacking it into tiny little pieces in order to vent your frustration, but it just regenerates itself with no problem as if to say, 'Screw you.' It's very annoying…yet life-affirming."

"Okay, pep talk over, let's find what's left of Emily," Anya said quickly as she withdrew her hand from Tara's and began pushing rubble to the side.

Willow regained consciousness as Buffy was setting her down in her bed. "Hey," she managed to whisper.

"Hey yourself," Buffy said as she smiled down at Willow. "I hope I didn't jostle you too much."

Buffy traced her thumb lightly over the dried blood on Willow's chin. "What the hell happened, Wills?" Buffy said more to herself than anyone else.

Willow reached out and lightly grasped each of Buffy's hands in her own, raising her eyebrow upwards in question. Buffy turned to face Willow and nodded. Willow began to slowly draw Buffy's strength into her own body. Buffy's energy felt warm as it flowed out of Buffy's fingers and into Willow's own being. Willow concentrated and drew the warmth up her forearms, elbows, and shoulders and then directed it down to where one of her ribs had collapsed into her lung. Pulling on Buffy's energy just a bit more, she threaded it around her rib and slowly pulled the offending bone back into place with an inaudible snap. She then re-focused the energy on the small hole in her lung that was leaking blood and pleural fluid. She directed the energy to the cells surrounding the hole, infusing them with life force, causing them to multiply and divide, creating a new expanse of pleural lining. Satisfied that her most dire injury had been addressed and unwilling to further weaken Buffy, Willow ceased to draw any more energy and now concentrated on reversing its path, threading the energy back up her torso, up and over her shoulder, down her arm, forearm, and hand, through her fingers and back into Buffy's being. Willow squeezed Buffy's hand to let her know she was finished. Buffy opened her eyes, her face a bit ashen and her breathing labored.

Buffy smiled slightly. "Anytime, Will, you know that. Must have been mega-damage, though, that took a lot out of me," Buffy said as she flopped backwards on the bed.

Sorry, Willow communicated as she frowned. My insides weren't too happy with the whole interrogation by wall slamming technique. I need to rest before I can put the rest of Willow-Dumpty back together again though, Willow said as she closed her eyes.

Buffy propped herself up on one arm. "Will, I'm only going to ask you this once. Are you sure it was Glory, not…not the person who looks like Tara," Buffy said as she looked compassionately at Willow.

Buffy gently put her hand on Willow's knee. "Look, I know you want to believe it, I mean, we all do, but this can't be a coincidence."

Willow nodded. No, it's not. Something happened down there and I can't wrap my brain around it yet, but I know that Tara didn't mean for it to happen. If it weren't for her, you'd be carrying me to the morgue, not my bed, Willow communicated to Buffy in a deadly serious tone.

Buffy nodded. "Then why did Kennedy go all Jerry Springer?" Buffy asked with a puzzled expression.

Willow shook her head. I don't know, Buffy, but I think we all need to talk about this.

Buffy adamantly shook her head. "Talk? Will, you're not even really talking to me. You're hurt and you need sleep."

Willow looked at Buffy seriously, her eyes open and pleading. What I need is kinda secondary right now. You know we need to get to the bottom of this. Glory's out there and she's more powerful than I've ever seen her, okay? It'll be short and you can have everyone come up here, but I have my resolve-face on. See? Resolve-face.

"Yeah, and this is my resolve-face Will - the minute, no the second I see you crashing, end of meeting, no ifs, ands, or big, pleady eyes, okay?"

Tara and Anya managed to clear the bits of concrete and plaster from Emily's body. Emily had a thin strip of dried blood on her neck and her left arm was lying at an impossible angle, but the rest of her body appeared intact.

"Think she'll be able to clap backwards when she wakes up?" Anya asked with a snort.

"That's n-not funny," Tara said with a serious tone of voice. Tara noticed that Emily's hands were not tied and that her feet only had loose ties around them. Maybe the blast loosened them? Did I see her hands tied?

"Anya, what do you remember f-from before the explosion?" Tara asked with a confused look on her face.

Anya turned to look at Tara, her face pale and obviously upset. "You mean between when we went to bed and when the basement exploded in a blaze of Glory?"

Anya frowned. "I remember you waking me up, only when I opened my eyes, it wasn't you, it was Enid, and she was inside my head, telling me do things. It was just like when Willow made me release her from that containment spell…oh right, you were dead," Anya said as she noticed Tara's eyebrows crinkled together in confusion. "Well, anyway, it was just like that and she told me to stand behind Emily and cut her, but not deeply. And I tried to tell you, but I didn't have enough control to get out a name."

"Yeah. I noticed. Not exactly a bad guess, but then again, not exactly the right guess either."

Tara sighed and looked toward the basement door. I know. "I saw Enid and Emily b-b-bound and gagged…I just a-assumed," Tara tried to explain.

"But Enid wasn't bound and gagged, she was just standing there smirking like a demented witch at a Beltane Bash." Anya paused and pursed her lips together in thought. "And I don't remember if Emily was tied-up. I was too busy being Enid's little marionette. Why do the witches always pick on me? Do I look easy to you?"

Tara eyes opened wide as she pondered how to answer Anya's question. "Umm…I t-think we should fix Emily's arm b-before she wakes up."

Anya crossed her arms in anger. "Oh that's just great. I'm alive all of a week and I already have a reputation among the Wiccan community."

Tara leaned over Emily and noticed that the woman's eyes had opened. "Hey." Tara said warmly.

Emily responded to Tara's greeting by screaming. "My arm. Ow. What the hell happened to my arm?" Tara looked down at the misaligned extremity and grimaced. Could I fix that? That's either a dislocation or a break and I've never healed something like that before, I wouldn't want to screw it up. But maybe I can…

Tara laid her hands on Emily's shoulder and concentrated on numbing the area. After a few moments, Emily stopped wailing and calmed down.

Anya, who had put her hands over her ears when Emily began to scream, looked at Tara gratefully.

"Thank you," Emily said slowly as she tried to turn her head around to look at her arm. Tara stopped her, however.

"Probably b-best not to look," Tara said with a thin smile. "I didn't fix it, just n-numbed it. We n-need to get you to a hospital."

Tara shook her head. "I've, I've never d-done something like that before. Maybe I could help heal it once it, it's set, but I don't want to d-do something wrong."

"Do y-you remember anything?" Tara asked as she removed the rope loosely binding Emily's ankles.

"No, nothing. I was asleep and then I was awake and in a lot of pain. What the hell fell on top of me?"

"Concrete, plaster, and a garden hose," Anya replied as she held up a garden hose she had removed from the top of Emily's legs.

"It's a l-long story," Tara said. "We should g-get you up and to a hospital before that spell wears off."

Emily nodded and then carefully rolled herself onto her side and pushed up with her good arm, while pushing off the ground with her feet. Tara helped to steady her as she rose.

"Ahh good. All present and accounted for," Buffy said from the top of the basement stairs.

Buffy looked at Emily's arm and made an "ew" face. "Right, Rona and Vi can take her. The rest of us are going to have a little chat in Willow's room."

"Not good, but she's got her resolve-face on, and well, you know," Buffy said as she threw her hands up into the air.

"That's not the resolve-face, that's the 'I'm an only child and I get what I want face,'" Anya said with a snort.

"What? I make that face all the time, it's just that no one ever pays attention when I do it."

Tara, Anya, and Buffy entered Willow's room. Tara saw Willow look at her briefly as she entered, and then look away just as quickly, her eyes darting between the surface of the bed, the blinds, the other faces in the room. Tara noted that Willow's face was pale and she had dark circles under her eyes. She must be in a lot of pain. Unable to look at Willow any longer, Tara simply stared at the ground until Buffy motioned for her to take a chair in the far corner of the room. She sat down with Anya next to her, while Kennedy and Xander occupied chairs on the opposite end of the room. Tara met Kennedy's eyes and noticed that while there was still anger flashing in them, there was also a bit of curiosity. Tara broke eye contact with Kennedy and looked back toward the bed as Buffy took a seat on one side of it. Dawn was on the other side of the bed, her hand interlaced with Willow's.

"Okay, time for an impromptu bedtime story. How about we start with Tara and the mystery of the evil hell god in the basement?" Buffy said as all eyes in the room turned to look at Tara.

Tara looked down and blushed at the sudden attention on her, her blonde locks falling forward to cover part of her face as she started. "W-Willow w-woke me up, b-but so-something was w-wrong." Tara stopped, upset at herself for stuttering so badly. She looked up to see Willow looking at her. Willow gave her a half-smile and nodded her head, enough of a gesture to give Tara the confidence to continue. Tara nodded, cleared her throat, and started again.

She relayed the whole story to the room as she had remembered it – Willow waking her up, but something obviously being wrong with her; the vision of Enid and Emily bound and gagged with Anya drawing a knife across Emily's throat; Tara's suspicion that Willow was to blame; seeing Willow begin to cast a spell and reacting by throwing a protect shield up; noticing Kennedy coming at her with a scythe just as Willow's spell hit her own, causing a massive explosion that somehow released Glory into the basement; Glory and Enid's torture of Willow, including belladonna poisoning; and Glory's strange imperviousness to Tara and vice-versa. When she was finished, everyone in the room had their eyebrows raised to their hairlines with shocked looks on their faces.

Tara shook her head. "No, not with her m-mind anyway. And my sp-spells had no effect. They just, just dissipated."

"I think I speak for the whole room when I go, 'holy Batman!" Xander said, a wide-eyed look on his face.

"You've been hanging out with the little monkey, haven't you?" Anya asked sharply.

"Andrew, the little monkey. His references to fictional superheroes seem to have rubbed off on you in a very annoying manner."

"You know, I had forgotten how nice it was to not be insulted every five seconds while you were gone," Xander retorted, his voice raising a bit.

"Guys!" Buffy interjected. "Have make-up arguments later. Willow? Do you remember what happened in the basement?"

Willow nodded. "It was just, just like Tara said. Only…" Willow paused and looked at Tara, her eyes open and sorrowful. "Only I cast the protect spell because I saw Kennedy and I didn't, didn't have time to tell you…"

Tara's eyes started to tear up and she once again dropped her head and looked at her hands as she rubbed her thumbs over each other in a calming gesture.

"That brings us to question number two. Kennedy? What's with the attempted slayage of Tara? I know we've relaxed some of the rules of slaying now that we have all these activated potentials, but I'm pretty sure beheading humans is still a no-no," Buffy said as she fixed Kennedy with an icy glare.

"So, I get back from, you know, leaving earlier when I wasn't wanted, and the phone's ringing, only nobody's answering it."

"I, I heard a phone r-ringing when I was in the b-basement," Tara confirmed as she nodded at Kennedy.

Kennedy simply fixed Tara with the same look of anger and curiosity that she gave her earlier and continued. "So I pick it up, and its Giles calling from England and he's talking ranting and raving and I can't understand him."

"Whoa…Giles? Ranting and raving? Did we somehow all get transported to an alternate universe where dead girlfriends, vanquished hell gods and alternate Giles' exist?" Xander interrupted.

"Yeah, I know, it was weird, and I told him to calm down, you know? Cuz I had had a few to drink and I couldn't really understand him. So he started again, and all I could catch was that an evil coven had brought Tara back to life and he was pretty sure that the coven was interested in going after Willow. That's all I needed to hear. I dropped the phone, picked up 'Betty,' and tried to protect Willow. Then Willow protects Tara and boom, I'm out like a light."

"Oh. I thought only men were silly enough to name their weapons. Always figured it was a penis extension thing. Guess you don't need a penis to have a penis extension."

All of the eyes in the room turned to look at Anya, from most a look of discomfited horror, from Kennedy a look of anger, and from Buffy, a look of exasperation.

Buffy turned to look at Kennedy. "You know, regardless of what Giles told you on the phone, we don't just run off and behead people without asking questions first," Buffy said in a chastising tone.

"Well, actually, you kind of do," Anya retorted. "Well, when they massacre an entire frat house, anyway, and aren't one of your better-liked friends," Anya added.

Buffy pinned Anya with an angry look, but bit back whatever was on the tip of her tongue. "Well, we don't do that, anymore," Buffy added through clenched teeth.

"Whatever. I'm not going to feel bad about protecting my…about protecting Willow," Kennedy retorted.

"That's not my fault. That's her fault," Kennedy said as she stood up and pointed at Tara. "Things were fine until she got here."

"No they weren't, and besides, Willow only cast her spell to protect Tara from seeing the not-so-soft side of 'Betty,'" Dawn said as she jumped into the mix.

"Well, is it my fault that Tara didn't trust Willow enough to protect her? I mean, Willow's only been pining for her ever since she died, you'd think she'd give the girl the benefit of the doubt!" Kennedy yelled at the top of her lungs.

Willow turned to look at Tara, and saw that her head was hanging, her hands clasped together in her lap. She looked at Buffy. Enough, she communicated to Buffy's mind. We need to end this for tonight.

"Alright, that's it everyone, bedtime stories are officially over!" Buffy said in a no-nonsense tone. "Everyone outside, now!" Buffy said as she emphasized the last word. Everyone began to file out of the room, pausing to look and nod at Willow on their way out. Finally, Buffy and Willow were alone in the room.

"Try to get some sleep, Wills," Buffy said, obviously frustrated at the situation.

Willow nodded and smiled. I'll try, but having a hell god on the loose makes me jumpy gal.

Buffy directed the group down into the kitchen, where they wouldn't disturb Willow. "Okay, here's how it's going to work. We're going to patrol in two-hour shifts. I'll take the first shift, Dawn you take the second, and Kennedy, assuming you can keep your 'Betty' in your pants, can take the third. That should allow us all to get some sleep, while the rest of us try to figure out how mojo plus mojo can equal hell god."

"You and Tara should go over to Xander's house, work on research there in Giles' library and get some sleep," Buffy replied.

"I'm n-not going to leave W-Willow," Tara replied as she raised her eyes to meet Buffy's, her gaze demonstrating the conviction of her statement.

"No," Tara said as she shook her head. "Anya can g-go, but I'm staying. Kennedy can watch m-me if you don't trust me, but I'm n-not leaving."

"That makes sense, actually," Kennedy said as she looked at Tara and then at Buffy. "I mean, blondie here is the only one who's, like, not touchable by this Glory person. Might be helpful to have her around. She and I can take the first shift, let you and Dawn get some shut- eye."

"And I'm not going anywhere Tara's not," Anya stated simply, her foot stamping on the floor to emphasize her statement.

Buffy threw up her hands. "Things were so much easier when I was the only Slayer. No democracy, no voting, just pure, simple dictatorship. Nice, clean, simple," Buffy said, obviously frustrated.

"Look, why don't Anya and I retrieve some books from my place and bring them over here and we can try to call Giles in England, and go from there," Xander said.

"You're comfortable doing a shift with someone who wanted to make you the headless Wicca not half an hour ago?" Buffy asked Tara sincerely.

Tara turned to look at Kennedy and saw no malice in her features, only curiosity mixed with standoffishness. Tara nodded.

"Maybe we are in an alternate universe," Buffy said as she shook her head slowly. "Okay, fine, you guys are both adults and I trust you not to do anything to hurt Willow. Or I am going to be a…very…grumpy…Slayer when I wake up. We clear?"

Kennedy said, "Crystal," with an icy glare in Buffy's direction. Tara merely nodded her head.

Tara smiled at the informal usage of her name. "Umm…counter-spell b-books, maybe, and any books on dormant magic…magic that's in-inert until activated."

Anya grasped Tara's hand before she turned to go. "I'll be back, you know. I will not have sex with Xander. We have an important job to do and I won't let the thrilling thought of being handcuffed to Xander get in the way of our friendship."

"I mean, not that I've ever seen it, you know, kids talk in school and all, and well, I'll just be going to bed now," Dawn said quickly before she turned and ran up the stairs two flights at a time.

An hour or so later, Tara was watching Willow sleep from the doorway of Willow's room, her shoulder resting against the doorjamb. Willow was lying on her back, her arm clutching a pillow tightly to her side. Every so often, she would whimper in her sleep and tighten her hold on the pillow. She's having bad dreams. I haven't seen her have those since, well, since Buffy died. Tara smiled ruefully. I used to be able to make her feel better, but now I'm probably the one hurting her in her dream. Tara sighed and looked down.

Tara turned around to find Kennedy leaning back against the wall opposite the doorway, her hands in her pockets and her eyes focused on the sleeping form in the room.

"B-bad dreams," Tara replied softly, not wanting to wake Willow up, but unwilling to leave her position.

"It's my f-fault," Tara whispered as she turned back to look at Willow, a tear rolling down her cheek.

"You dying," Kennedy said as she gave Tara a 'what did you think I was talking about?' face. "That's what Willow's nightmares are about. Hell, she told me what happened, certainly not a pretty picture. I could see how that would get, you know, trapped up here," Kennedy said as she tapped her temple, "but she's never let it go. Still dreams about it. Sometimes, she cries out your name." Kennedy kicked an imaginary rock on the floor and added in a lower voice, "She doesn't think I know that."

Tara looked at Kennedy, whose eyes alternated between the floor and Willow's sleeping form. "Why d-did you, you know, change your m-mind about me?" Tara asked.

Kennedy's eyes lifted and met Tara's directly. "There's a lotta things a person can fake. Bein' happy, bein' fine, content," Kennedy paused to chuckle mirthlessly for a second before continuing, "but you can't fake love. That look, you know. When I see how you look at her, well, I'd be pretty blind to not notice what that look is, and even if you were pure evil sent from hell, I don't think you could hurt her, not the way you look at her," Kennedy said with hostile sincerity.

Tara searched Kennedy's eyes and found sorrow, understanding, and a bit of anger, but also a shared understanding. Tara nodded. "No, I couldn't. B-but you look at her t-that way too," she added.

Kennedy shrugged again. "Doesn't matter. I thought once that if I stuck around long enough, she'd…not forget, but deal, you know, with you being gone and she could move on…with me." Kennedy blew out a large breath. "It was a silly thought to begin with; now, it's just plain ridiculous."

Tara looked down at the ground once, and then met Kennedy's eyes, a lopsided and apologetic smile on her lips. There's nothing I can say.

"Look, blondie, I want you to do something for me, okay? You owe me, consider this a way of settling that score. I want you to tell Willow that I've never been really good with the bein' friends bit, but um, that if she needs anything, she can call me in LA and I'll be here, no questions asked." Kennedy nodded to Tara and pushed herself off the wall.

"Yeah, well, Faith's been buggin' me to visit her in LA, and now seems like a good time. No one here needs me," Kennedy looked down and frowned before she continued. "Maybe in LA, that'll be different."

Kennedy looked at Tara and smiled a bittersweet smile. "Willow needed me to forget, she needed me to remind her that she could feel something, anything. She doesn't need me the way that she needs you."

Tara turned briefly to the sleeping form in the room, before turning back to Kennedy and shaking her head. "I d-don't know about t-that, not after, not after what ha-happened."

Kennedy looked at Tara impatiently. "Look, blondie, I ain't gonna make this a habit, so listen up. When Willow looks at you, she's got that same look that you do in her eyes. You two get each other in other in a way, hell, in a way I can't even imagine getting someone. But if I ever did get someone like that," Kennedy swallowed before she continued, "if I had ever had Willow look at me the way she looks at you, well, it would take a fuck lot more than hell gods and guilt to get in my way. You're a fool if you let it get in yours."

Tara nodded at Kennedy, genuinely touched by her statement. Kennedy nodded in return, and turned down the stairs, her form disappearing around the corner. Tara heard her walk down the stairs, stop to pick up something, and then quietly open and close the front door.

Tara looked at the empty stairs for a few moments. She deserved so much better, but she chose someone who had nothing to give her. Tara smiled sadly and once again focused on Willow's sleeping form. Willow was now lying on her side, the pillow clutched tightly to her chest. Are you really still all mine, love? Mine to win? Mine to lose? Tara quietly stepped into the room, stopping as she reached the side of Willow's bed, and looking down at the twitching figure. Because after everything, I'm still so totally and completely yours, sweetie. Tara knelt down and cautiously brushed a few strands of hair away from Willow's eyes. I do need you. I need to trust you, to trust myself with you, to have you trust me.

Willow whimpered in her sleep and clutched violently at the pillow. "No," Willow's mouth whispered.

"Ssshhh," Tara said as she ran her hand gently over Willow's hair and face, down her shoulder and arm, trying to provide some measure of comfort to Willow in her sleep. Tara's hand stopped when it reached Willow's, Tara's fingers gently tracing patterns on the back of Willow's hand.

"That's right, sweetie, I'm right here," Tara replied, though she was fairly sure Willow couldn't hear her.

"Now," Willow murmured as she released the pillow and suddenly grasped Tara's hand. The minute their hands made contact, Tara felt Willow begin to pull magical energy from her, as if she were casting an enhanced spell. The shock of the contact woke Willow up, but she didn't release Tara's hand, her gaze fixed on their intertwined fingers and a look of awe and confusion on her face.

Tara, herself, felt very strange. She felt her energy roll out of her and into Willow, but instead of feeling drained, as she would normally, she felt cycles of energy and power working within her to replenish that which Willow was taking. She looked down at their intertwined hands, and saw that the skin of both their hands was glowing and somewhat transparent, as if a light had been switched on inside their skin. They both watched as the glow moved up Willow's forearm and arm, beginning to pour into her neck and chest cavity, her skin seeming to pulsate with energy.

To Willow, it felt as if liquid warmth were covering her body from the inside out, making everything in its path stronger and better. She felt her rib re-cementing itself as good as new and was vaguely aware that she could no longer feel any pain whatsoever.

Tara gasped as she saw the bruises on Willow's arms and face fade into pink, healthy skin, her eyes looking at their intertwined hands in shock and wonder. Willow slowly separated her hand from Tara's, her fingers trembling as she did so. Tara's own hand was shaking as well.

Willow and Tara looked into each other's eyes, and then back down at their hands.

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Hell Hath No Fury

by Amazon Chyck

Copyright © November 2003

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