Author's Note: This is the third story in my Somewhere I Belong Series. You can find the rest of the series at my fan fiction archive, The End. It's in the Buffy/Angel section.

Disclaimer: The characters and locations of Buffy the Vampire Slayer are the property of Mutant Enemy Productions. I do this for fun, not for profit.


Tara smacked her hand down on the alarm clock and then remembered it didn't have a snooze button. Her digital clock had died the day before, and Dawn had loaned her a wind-up Hello Kitty clock. She smiled at the pink-bowed cat as she switched off the alarm.

She looked over at a picture of Willow from the first Christmas they spent together. The red-head was holding some ribbon from an unwrapped present for Miss Kitty Fantastico to play with. Sadly, Miss Kitty had disappeared a few months after Christmas. Then Tara corrected herself. She always had to. She was used to saying Christmas, but she and Willow, being Wiccans, had chosen to call it Winter Solstice, considering neither had been raised under the same holiday traditions.

"Good morning, Willow," she said as she slipped out of bed and headed out into the hall. She was almost to the bathroom when Dawn rushed past her.

"Coming through!" the younger Summers girl called out as she slammed the door behind her.

"Dawn," Tara sighed. She had become accustomed to the daily bathroom struggle. She just hoped she would beat Buffy to the shower before all the hot water was gone. If there was one thing the slayer indulged in on a daily basis, it was a long shower.

Having lost the bathroom to Dawn, she headed downstairs and resolved to make breakfast in time for Dawn to eat when she got downstairs. That would leave the bathroom open for her morning routine.

When Dawn got downstairs she smiled at the large pile of pancakes in the center of the kitchen island.

"You are the pancake queen," Dawn said. Then she noticed a bowl of scrambled eggs and a stack of toast. "Okay, what's with the super-sized breakfast?"

"It's your first day at the new high school," Tara said. "From what Willow tells me, it's not a good idea to learn over the hellmouth on an empty stomach."

"That depends on how squeamish you are," Buffy said. She was showered and dressed and Tara sighed inwardly, knowing that her shower this morning would be short-lived. She hadn't realized that she had been downstairs that long. "Sometimes it's a better idea to have an empty stomach. I saw a dead body on my first day at Sunnydale High."

"Wow. Dead bodies and hellmouths," Dawn said. "Something tells me homeroom won't be as boring as I think."

"Remember. I'm going with you into the school," Buffy said. "If I get any hellmouth vibes, I'm yanking you out and sending you to the private school across town."

Dawn looked pleadingly to Tara. "Pray for no hellmouth vibes. Demons are better than uniforms."

"Or maybe home schooling," Buffy mused. "Home schooling would be better. Cheaper."

Tara chuckled and placed the last pieces of toast with the rest. "Well, while you two debate education options for Dawn, I'm going to take a shower." She walked over to Dawn and gave her a hug. "Good luck today."

"Thanks," Dawn said. She grabbed a plate and started loading it with food. Buffy turned and followed Tara, catching her at the bottom of the stairs.

"Hey, Tara," she said. Tara turned and saw the concerned look on Buffy's face. "How are you doing? You haven't really said much about, you know, the lack of Warrens ever since your spell back-fired."

Tara sighed. Truth was she had become pretty good at keeping up a façade, but it was still hard to hide the guilt. The nightmare that had prompted her to change her mind had become a recurring one. Willow was the only person who knew that fact, but Tara hadn't had much opportunity to talk to Willow for a few days.

"I'm trying to move on," she said. Buffy nodded her head, getting the hint. Tara didn't want to talk about it. The slayer knew survivor guilt all too well.

"Well, I know I'm not Willow, but if you ever need to talk," she offered. She was about to go back to Dawn when she paused. "You kept a huge secret for me, with the whole Spike thing. I don't think I ever thanked you for that."

She smiled, and she realized it wasn't just an expression of gratitude. It was Buffy's way of saying that she would be there for her, not just as the slayer but also as a friend. She nodded her head in understanding and Buffy smiled before turning back to the kitchen, leaving Tara to salvage her shower with whatever was left of the hot water.


Anya sat in the diner and paid for the two drinks that the waitress set in front of her and her lunch companion. She had made a new friend. Her new friend had just been dumped by her boyfriend that morning. He had commitment issues.

"Men like him deserve to be punished," Anya said.

"Yeah," Kari agreed, taking another drink. Then she smiled. "My only consolation is that he got hit by a car right after we broke up. Serves him right."

Anya smiled slightly. She could sense that this was going somewhere.

"I wish he could get hit by that car over and over," Kari said. Anya nodded her head.

"Done."


Tara looked up when the bell above the shop door jingled and Dawn came in, a smile on her face as she tossed her book bag on the table.

"Hey, Dawnie," she said with a smile. "How was the first day at school?"

"Buffy was being so paranoid," Dawn said. "No hellmouth stuff happened. It was kind of boring. No demons."

"Well, speaking of demons, we're going to have to wait for Anya to get back before we do the mocha thing," Tara said.

Suddenly, in a bright blue flash, a large robed demon appeared in the shop. Tara instinctively moved toward Dawn.

"I'm here for the key," the demon said, its deep voice resonating in the shop. Dawn's eyes widened in fear and Tara stepped in front of her.

"No," Tara said. She held out her right hand. "Incindere."

A flash of fire burst in front of the demon and Tara turned to Dawn, pushing her toward the door of the shop.

"Let's get out of here," Tara said. Dawn turned and rushed to the door, but she stopped when she realized Tara wasn't behind her. When she turned she saw the demon holding Tara a foot off the ground by her neck. Tara was clawing at his wrist and trying to say a spell in her defense, but he was gripping her neck tight enough so that she couldn't speak.

"Tara!" Dawn shouted.

"I'm here for the key," the demon said. "It's here. I know it."

Dawn picked up a sword and moved toward the demon.

"You want your key? Let her go and I'll give it to you," Dawn said, holding the sword up defensively.

The demon threw Tara aside, sending her crashing into the display case. She fell to the floor amidst the broken glass, gasping for breath. She watched in horror as Dawn charged the demon with the sword and the demon grabbed it away from her. Dawn fell to the floor and the demon jabbed the sword downward, stabbing down into her chest. He watched as her eyes fluttered closed and she collapsed.

"Dawn," she said, trying to shout but only managing a whisper. The demon approached her with the sword and raised it in a back swing, ready to chop off her head. But suddenly he cried out and dropped the sword. He fell over onto his side and then disappeared in a blue flash. Tara looked up to see Anya standing there with an axe.

"I'm sorry I was gone so long," Anya said as she knelt beside Tara. "Are you okay?"

"Dawn," Tara said, her voice beginning to return. She crawled over to Dawn and Anya followed her. Anya reached over and checked for a pulse on Dawn's neck. Her eyes were filled with sadness and sympathy when she looked up to Tara.

"She's dead."


Tara switched off the Hello Kitty alarm clock when it rang at 6:30 and picked it up, staring at the cartoon cat. A lump formed in her throat as she focused on the pink bow, thinking about Dawn. She didn't even think about the fact that she didn't remember getting ready for bed the previous night or setting the alarm. The last thing she remembered was comforting Buffy.

She had only seen Buffy cry twice before, and it wasn't for her mother's funeral. When Joyce died, Buffy had been cold, almost robotic. It was only later, when she was alone with Dawn, that Buffy had finally broke down. But Tara didn't witness that. She witnessed the slayer's tears under very unexpected circumstances. Buffy's admission that she was sleeping with Spike and that Spike could hurt her had caught Tara very much off guard. And when Buffy broke down into tears, crying in Tara's lap, she had been even more confused.

The previous night, there was no confusion, only pure sorrow. Everyone had gathered at the Summers' home. Of course, 'everyone' was only comprised of four people now, with Giles and Willow in England. Buffy had cried longer than Tara had seen anyone cry before. Tara cried with her. Even Xander cried. Anya hadn't cried, but Tara didn't find that suspicious. She just assumed with Anya being a demon again that kind of stopped the tears. She wasn't really sure, and she didn't have time to think about it. All she knew was that Dawn was dead, and there was no way to bring her back. She had failed in protecting Dawn at the Magic Box. She felt there had to have been something else she could have done. Now she had to make up for it. She would look after Buffy, and she would be there for Buffy. That's what she would do.

She forced herself out of bed, ready to make her way down the hall to check on Buffy. She glanced at the picture of Willow. God, I wish you were here.

She assumed Buffy had eventually made her way to her bedroom. Her memory of the events of the previous evening was fuzzy at best. She assumed that was because of her emotional state at the time.

As she was just about to pass the bathroom door, she felt someone push past her.

"Coming through!" Dawn said as she rushed into the bathroom and closed the door. Tara froze in her place.

"Dawn?" she whispered, now thoroughly confused. She stood there for a moment, trying to decide if she really had just seen and heard what she just saw and heard. She knocked on the door lightly. "Dawnie?"

"Yeah, I know," Dawn called through the door. "I'll be fifteen minutes tops."

Was that a ghost? Tara wondered. She had heard of ghosts being able to touch things, but never this soon after death. She couldn't understand what had just happened. It was definitely Dawn. She just had to figure out how. She moved toward Buffy's room and knocked on the door before opening it.

"Buffy?"

She stepped into the room to see Buffy sitting up sleepily. When she saw Tara she offered a slight smile.

"Good morning," Buffy said. "What's up? Did I oversleep?"

"Oversleep?" Tara asked. Buffy didn't seem sad at all. It was like her sister had never died. That certainly seemed to be the case, but Tara wasn't sure how. "No, you didn't, but Dawn…"

Tara trailed off and Buffy stood, stretching her arms above her head. "She got to the bathroom first, didn't she?" Buffy noticed the confused expression on Tara's face and her smile faded. "Are you okay?"

"I just…I guess I had a nightmare," Tara finally said. That was the only thing that could explain it. Perhaps it was just a really vivid nightmare. It would explain why she couldn't remember the events of the previous night after a certain time. "It felt really real."

"Was it the Warrens?" Buffy asked, thinking that was the most plausible nightmare for Tara to have.

"Uh, no. It was something else," she replied. "It's not important I guess. It was just a nightmare."

"Are you sure?" Buffy asked. "What was it about? Sometimes my nightmares come true."

"It was just this thing…with Dawn. It's not important," she replied. She shrugged off the uneasy feeling she had and forced a smile. "I'll go make breakfast."

"Oh yeah, you promised Dawn pancakes for her first day at the new school," Buffy said. "I'm still not comfy with her going to school on the hellmouth. Do you think she'd object to going to that private school across town?"

"First day? That was yesterday," Tara said, the confusion returning.

"Yesterday was Sunday," Buffy said. She was really concerned about Tara now. She could tell something wasn't right. "Today's Monday. Are you sure that nightmare wasn't important? You seem…lost."

Tara shook her head. "I don't know. I guess it was just so real."

"Maybe you'll feel better as the day goes on," Buffy suggested. "If anything from your nightmare starts happening, give me a call. Better safe than sorry."

"Sure," Tara said absently. She walked out of the room and headed downstairs, trying to understand what was going on and coming up empty.