A/N: This story is a series of one-shots based on the lyrics to the song 'That I Would Be Good' by Alanis Morissette. I've assigned each line to a different character (the lyrics of the song will form the chapter titles), and written a piece based on the fear that the line describes. Hopefully that makes sense, and hopefully you guys enjoy it! :)

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1. Tara

You say you want something that's just yours. And I am yours, I'm yours completely. But Willow, there's so much more to me than just that part of me, the part that's so eager to be with you and so accepting of the fact that there's parts of you I can't know, sides of you I've yet to see.

There are parts of me that are mad at you. It's so hard to tell you this, but there are. I feel so… extraneous. Like a third limb. And don't get me wrong, I would love to be a limb of yours, just not an extra one. I feel useless, Will. And I know that's not your fault, I just…

Okay. Listen. There was an accident, once, when I was little. I must have been five or six. I was tiny as a child, all wispy hair and sleeves that were too long. Every day, I had to walk home from school past the convenience store. It was run by this lovely old couple, Mr and Mrs James. They always used to wave at me when I walked by; I guess because they knew – or suspected – that I was lonely. It was part of my afternoon ritual: walk out of the school gate, avoid the older boys that liked to pull girls' hair, walk past the store, wave at Mr or Mrs James.

But this one afternoon, as I walked past, no-one was there. I'd had a pretty bad day at school, and I really wanted comfort, so I thought I'd go inside and buy some candy, or something, so I could talk to someone and they could make me feel better. What you have to understand, Will, is that I was a really lonely child. Getting waved at by an old couple was about all the friendship I had in the world, and without it I was lost.

The inside of the store was magical. Everything was perfectly neat and tidy; everything was ordered, everything had its place. There were so many colours, and lots of them were coordinated, and there were bright lights and shiny floors and coloured advertisements on the walls. I could have stood in that store for hours, just staring at the décor. Like I say, lonely child. I did sometimes stop off at the store on my way home, just to look at all the packets of things I didn't need. It made me happy, I guess, looking at things and imagining a time when I might need them, when I'd be old enough and smart enough to have my own house.

This particular afternoon, I was happy enough just walking around the store, taking everything in, when I heard a strange noise coming from behind the counter. I can't compare it to anything – it wasn't animalistic, it was distinctly human, but it didn't sound like anything I'd heard a person say before. I was scared, but also curious, because what six year old kid isn't? So I poked my head around the side of the counter, me and my wispy hair and my hand-me-down backpack, wearing pink tracksuit pants.

Mrs James had fallen off a ladder. She must have been fixing a shelf or something, I never found out, but she was lying on the ground and her body was twisted up in funny angles, and she was crying out in pain, trying to get someone to hear her, because there was no-one around except me. I looked at her face and that was what scared me, Will, her poor lovely face scrunched up in agony, like some kind of demon, except her eyes were so desperate and so human that I felt like they were looking straight into my soul.

I didn't help her. I didn't do anything. I couldn't. I was frozen in place for a moment, and then I ran out of the store and didn't stop running until I was safe at home, and I buried my head under my pillow and tried to forget what I'd seen. Someone found Mrs James, and she was okay, but she walked with a cane after that. I found a different route home, because every time I saw her leaning on that cane it was like someone was driving it into my heart.

And Willow, I feel like that now. Sometimes. Because there's this whole other side of you, a whole other side of everything, that I know is there, but I can't do anything about it. When you talk about what you've done with Buffy, all the demons and vampires you've encountered, I feel like I'm staring down Mrs James again. I know I can help, and I hope you want me to be a part of your… your group of real friends. And I want that too. Being separate, being your special secret, is fine, really, until you leave me, and then I'm just as alone and helpless as I was that afternoon in the store.

I want to be part of your life, Will. I need someone to make me feel like a real person. I would love you to be that person. I would love you to love me even when I'm worthless, even when I do nothing, even when I'm no better or stronger than a little girl in long sleeves and pink tracksuit pants. I would love you to love that girl.