Steed parked his car in front of Tara's apartment, his self-loathing intensifying as he looked up towards her open window and saw her shadowed figure pacing restlessly in front of it. Why was he doing this? Why was he allowing her to do this? He wasn't going to. He was going to talk her out of this. There had to be another way. They had a few hours yet. Just a few more hours to think of any other way but this. He would not allow her to become some sort of sacrificial lamb.

"Tara, we need to talk." Steed said firmly as he came through her door. Tara looked up at him and sighed. She knew what he wanted to talk about. They had already gone over this, argued about this very same thing for the past two days.

"Steed, please. Let's not go over this again. I'm ready for it. I have to do this."

"No one could be ready for what Mother has asked of you. Now come on. Let's sit here and see if we can't think of another way."

"No one asked this of me. I volunteered. John...there is no other way. I know it and you know it and so does Mother. I have to go John. I...we..have to stop them before anyone else dies." Tara stood close to him now, her hand laying gently on his shoulder. She hoped that by using his given name he would pay a little more attention to what she had to say and would understand what she couldn't say out loud and tried not to think about to herself.

"You do realize what they will do to you?" Steed asked almost sullenly.

"Yes and that's one advantage that I have that no one else has had. The fact that I know and am prepared."

"How can any one be prepared for this? Tara, you're too young, too valuable.." Steed started and then stopped when she shook her head.

"I'm sure Broadneck felt the same about his daughter Steed. She was too young, too valuable to go through the hell she now has to live with the rest of her life. I went to see her. She's closed down. That brilliant, beautiful young girl now just sits and stares out of a window, day in and day out. She's the reason why I volunteered for this. As long as I live, I'll never be able to put that blank face out of my mind, nor the hopeless look of her mother's as she sat and cried next to her."

"But what about your health? You've just started getting well again." Steed said as he looked at the still slightly too thin face. She was starting to gain back some of the weight she had lost, but she was still fighting an up hill battle yet. Tara simply smiled gently and then reached up to kiss his lips softly.

"I'm as fit as I ever was. We have a few hours yet. Let me prove it to you." she whispered almost seductively as she kissed him once again.

"Something to remember you by?" Steed asked wryly.

"No. Something to pick back up on when I return." She deepened the kiss this time and was pleased that he responded.

"For when you get back then." Steed said softly as he led her into her bedroom.