AUTHOR'S NOTE:  Timeline is Season 6 pre-Seeing Red.  Just a little vignette I thought'd be interesting, what with Tara being mother confessor and all…

DISCLAIMER:  All characters herein are owned by Joss, ME, and whoever pays him for it.  Not mine, not mine, not mine.

RATING: PG

FEEDBACK:  Sure, ya, you betcha.

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She spots him just outside the cemetery on a bench absorbed in a book. "Buffy asked me to tell you, she'll be an hour late for patrol tonight."

"Shit!  How dare she!" Spike slams his book down with force, causing the pages to fly out of the well-worn book.

Helping him to retrieve the pages of text, Tara says, "Don't be angry!  It's just an hour…even less now." Her face shows her perplexion at his intense reaction.

Pages gathered, Spike sits back down on the bench assuming a sulking posture and starts to reassemble his book. "Its not the first time she's made a fool of me."

Sitting next to him she attempts to mollify him, "It's not serious."

Looking up at her Spike scoffs,  "What would you know? Have you loved someone who hates you…who hurts you everyday?"

Tara ingests this with raised eyebrows. "It's my fault really.  She forgot that I couldn't take Dawn to her study group today."

"You're not to blame.  It's me.  I want to end this addiction to love, but I'm too weak." Spike returns to reading.

Tara gets up, "I'd better be going."

"Whatever."

Pausing, "What are you reading?" she inquires.

"Dostoevski."

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It's a quiet evening and dusk has just fallen.  The crickets chirp as the cherry trees shake down their blossoms.  Two figures are walking towards downtown.

"Try this it tastes great."  Tara holds out a piece of candybar to Spike.

He puts up a hand to decline, "Won't do me any good."

"Feeling sorry for yourself?"

"No, dead here."

"Oh, yeah, forgot about the whole no tastebud thing. But, that's not all it is."

Tara's struck something, and Spike's face twists with pain, "Love is suffering, right?  I know she truly loves me at heart."

Surprised, Tara inquires, "Has she EVER said she loves you?"

Stopping in the middle of the sidewalk, Spike turns to her demanding, "If she doesn't why is she torturing me?"

"That's not love!  You hardly know each other…don't even talk together.  When did you last have a real conversation...about your feelings, about life?" Tara says this with conviction and passion, her face full of expression.

Shaking his head, Spike says quietly, "I can't remember.  It's such a blur."

Closing her eyes, Tara takes a deep breath and then pronounces, "Your love is a blur!  True love is being with someone who lets you express your feelings, around whom you feel free to talk."

Through narrowed eyes, Spike says, "I feel free to talk about my feelings around you.  Is that true love?"

Laughingly Tara answers, "Don't be silly!"

Spike lights another cigarette and the duration of the walk continues in silence. It's not until the lights of the parking lot emphasize the pallor of his skin that she really looks at him. He holds the door open for her and they walk into the Doublemeat Palace.