Disclaimers:

These are obviously not my characters, I'm just borrowing them from Joss Whedon and anyone else who owns them. Any dialogue from the series also belongs to him. The idea for the Halloween chapter came from Willow's comment about Buffy's costume choice. Slight crossover with Xena there, which of course also does not belong to me.

Basically if I don't mention it, assume anything from the series happened essentially in the same way. I'll mostly include things that change.

Some mentions of previous abuse.

If you have issues with people of the same sex loving each other, or live someplace where that's illegal (in which case, consider moving) please move on.

Pairing: Willow/Tara as well as other canon

Rating: PG-13

Joyce hung up the phone and sighed. She couldn't help feeling that she should have known, should have done something. Grace's family life had always been strained – she had tried unsuccessfully to get her sister to end her marriage, leave Mr. Maclay, but she had never done so. Then six months ago the terrible news had come: Grace had ovarian cancer. By the time it was caught, it had already metastasized and she went downhill fast. Joyce had barely made it in time to say goodbye. She cursed herself for the years spent apart, seeing each other only rarely, always thinking there would be more time.

Now, only two months after Grace's death, Tara had been taken away from her father. The social worker hadn't told Joyce exactly the extent of the abuse, but she had agreed to take the girl in. How anyone could abuse their children was beyond her, especially the angelic, quiet girl that was her niece.

So Tara was now on her way to the airport to fly here. Like her mother, she'd never been out to California to visit, her father was too strict for that. Joyce sighed again, seeing in retrospect the red flags of abuse. She wondered how badly Grace had been abused, as she now had no doubts that it hadn't just been Tara.

Joyce looked at the clock. 2 pm. Tara's plane was landing at 8:20, so she didn't have much time to get ready for the girl's arrival. Buffy would be out of school in a half hour. She shut down her computer, and notified her coworkers that she would be gone for the rest of the day. There wasn't anything urgent today at the gallery anyway.

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"Hey mom, what'cha doing here?" Buffy said, approaching her mom's car. She usually walked home from school.

"I have some news for you. Hello Willow." Joyce smiled at the redhead with her daughter. She liked the shy girl, and she seemed like a much better influence than Buffy's old friends.

"Hi Mrs. Summers." Willow smiled back. "I'll see you later okay Buff?"

"Yeah, I'll call you. Bye!"

Buffy got in the car. "What's up?"

"Your cousin Tara is coming to live with us." She looked at her daughter to see the reaction. Thankfully, it was rather neutral.

"Why?"
"Social Services has taken her away from her father, and we're her closest relatives."

Buffy's eyes went wide. "Taken her away? You mean like cuz he hit her or something?"

Joyce nodded silently.

Buffy's fists clenched. "I knew there was something not right with him. How could he hit Tara? She's so nice! Weird, but nice!"

"People don't abuse their children because they deserve it, they just do it. In any case, she probably won't want to talk about it, so don't push her."

"When's she coming?"
"Tonight. Her plane lands at 8:20. I thought we could spend the afternoon getting some things for her, getting the spare room ready to move into."

"Oh wow, that soon. Well, I mean it is Friday, I was going to…." She trailed off, seeing the look on her mom's face. "Sure, okay."

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By 8pm they had just finished preparing. They'd moved everything out of the spare room, bought a bed and dresser from Ikea, moved that in, made the bed with a pair of spare sheets, and Buffy had even cleaned out part of her bathroom for her cousin's things. With a shower and change of clothes, they were ready to head to the airport.

"Whew! Just in time!" Joyce said as they pulled into the parking lot. It was 8:18.

It turned out not to matter, since the plane was 45 minutes late, but finally the passengers started streaming out. Tara was one of the last off the plane, walking with her head hung over and a backpack on her back.

"Tara! Over here!" Buffy chirped. The girl looked up and over at her relatives with big eyes.

"Hi Aunt Joyce. Hi Buffy." She said quietly.

"Do you have luggage?" Joyce asked, after hugging her slightly awkwardly.

Tara nodded. "One suitcase. The r-rest is in b-boxes coming later."

"Okay, we'll go get that, and then head home. Are you hungry? We haven't eaten yet."

"Me neither. Just the p-peanuts on the plane."

"Okay then, we'll get dinner on the way."

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Two hours later, Tara sat on the bed thinking about the whirlwind day she had just had. She had been overwhelmed with people, and though it was nice to see family instead of all the strangers asking her questions at the social services, she didn't know her aunt and cousin very well, and she was still shy around them. Finally they'd stopped talking and left her alone in her room to unpack and go to bed. On Monday she'd have to go start at a new school, and meet new people, but for tonight she just relaxed in the knowledge that she didn't have to deal with her father any longer.

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"Well, I hope you won't be as much trouble as your cousin." Principal Snyder said snippily, printing out a schedule for Tara.

"Oh n-n-no sir, I won't be any trouble at all." Tara said with wide eyes. She wondered what Buffy had done. She looked at her aunt, who didn't refute it, as she wasn't really sure what Buffy was supposed to have done now.

The principal turned to Joyce. "By the way, I'm looking forward to speaking with you at Parent-Teacher night next week. Unfortunately I have a meeting in five minutes or we could talk now." Joyce's face tightened, worried about what her daughter was up to.

"Here you go. Welcome to Sunnydale High." He said, standing up and making it clear he was finished with them.

"Don't forget, find Buffy at lunch okay? She'll help you make new friends." Joyce instructed her niece, hugging her. A bell rang shrilly, and teenagers started pouring out of the classroom doors.

"I guess that's the end of first period, so you can just go to second. I'll see you after school." Joyce said brightly before leaving.

Tara stood staring at all the kids in the hall. This school was much bigger than her school, which had been a tiny school in a tiny rural town. She looked at the map in her hand and made her way to her second period class.

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By lunchtime, Tara was starting to get the feel of her new school, and trying desperately to blend into the walls. Luckily most of the kids ignored her. She walked into the lunchroom and looked around. Buffy was sitting in the middle of the room with a tall boy and a redheaded girl. Just then the girl looked over and they locked eyes. To Tara it was as if the world stood still. The girl was the most beautiful person she had ever seen. And something in her gaze made Tara feel like she was looking into her soul. All too soon the moment was broken.

"Will, what are you looking at?" Buffy followed her best friend's gaze. "Oh hey, Tara! Tara, over here!" she said loudly, noticing her cousin.

Tara was torn out of her reverie, hearing her name called. She made her way to the table, hugging her arms to her chest.

"Hi Buffy." She said quietly.

"Tara, these are my friends Willow and Xander. You go get some lunch and come join us okay?" Tara just nodded, trying not to stare at the girl. Willow. Her name was Willow.

"That's your cousin?" Willow asked, watching her walk away. "Cool!" She didn't explain why she thought it was cool. She couldn't really articulate it to herself, but she felt a pull to the blonde girl and was glad she'd be spending time with her. "Is she going to be a Scooby too?"

Buffy's eyes went wide. "I hadn't thought about it. I guess it would be easier if she knew, huh. It's hard enough hiding it from my mom."

"Yeah but how are you gonna tell her?" Xander said, crunching an apple.

"Come on, if she hangs out with us at all she'll see something suspicious. Even Cordy knows." Willow put in.

"True but look where that got her, last week she was almost killed for her head, remember?" Buffy pointed out.

"That wasn't because of you. But it was the reason we saved her and she is still here." Willow said quickly, wanting to make sure that Tara became part of the Scoobies.

"Good point. Okay here she comes, be nice guys, she's really shy."

Tara's heart pounded as she approached the table. She wasn't used to eating lunch with people. At her old school she always ate alone. Besides that, Willow was having an interesting effect on her. Despite that, she sat down next to the redhead.

"Hi Tara, I'm Willow. Buffy said you're shy, that's cool, me too, well more nerdy than shy but shy too…did I mention I tend to babble a lot? From the shyness, I think, since it gets worse when I'm nervous."

"Or there's just too much going on in your head. That's my theory." Xander put in, trying to stop his friend.

Tara smiled hesitantly. "I d-don't mind, at least it's better than s-stuttering." She said. God how pathetic, I can't even say stuttering without stuttering!

"Oh, don't worry, I barely noticed!" Willow said, patting Tara's hand. The girls' eyes met again and they shared another long look.

"I know, I know, worst night of the year I always say." Willow heard Xander say.

"What's that?" she asked.

"Parent Teacher night. Buffy was just saying how worried she is about what they're going to say about her."

"Especially Snyder." Willow said sympathetically. "I'm not worried, my parents don't really care about what the principal says as long as the teachers say good things."

"Well yeah but I'm not brainy girl like you, the teachers aren't going to say good things either!" Buffy lamented.

"Hey but now your mom will have to spend half of her time talking to Tara's teachers. Less time to talk to yours!" Xander pointed out, then frowned. "You're not in our classes, right?" he asked the newcomer.

Tara shook her head as Buffy brightened. "No, she's a senior. That's right, good point Xand!"

"You're a senior?" Willow asked. "Are you applying to colleges yet?"

Tara looked down at her food. "Um, my father wouldn't…and I don't have any m-money…"

"Well he let you come live with Buffy's family right? I'm sure he'd let you go to college. And I bet that you could get aid, I'll help you look! I've already done lots of research on schools." Willow said excitedly.

Tara looked over at Buffy, who was busy looking everywhere else.

"Y-you didn't tell them why I'm h-here?" she said in amazement.

"You're here because it's better for you to be here. I didn't think you'd want it broadcast around school exactly why." Her cousin said quietly. "Besides, I hadn't even heard it from you yet, just what my mom told me."

Willow and Xander looked at each other.

Tara was impressed that her cousin had done that for her, but she didn't want to start off what she hoped would be friendships on a lie. "He h-hit me. A lot. Until I told a teacher, and they t-took me away. I had to leave, I had to." She stumbled over the words, as if still trying to convince herself, and said the whole thing staring at her lap.

Willow's eyes went wide. Sure, her parents left a lot to be desired, but they would never physically hurt her.
"Hey, of course you did, nobody thinks you should have stayed." She put her hand on Tara's again, and this time left it there. "We're glad you came." Her eyes went wide. "I mean, not glad that that happened to you, no siree, but glad that you left and that you are going to be our friend!"

Tara looked up. "Your f-friend?"

"Well of course silly, you're definitely going to be a Scooby!"

Just then the lunch bell rang, cutting off Tara's unspoken question of what a Scooby was.

"Oh, boo, class time." Buffy pouted. "Don't you just hate the class part of school, Tara?"

"A-actually I like classes." Tara said, ducking her head and hiding her face again.

"Me too! What do you have now?" Willow walked off with Tara without a glance back at her other friends.

"Uh-oh, looks like Will found a new nerd friend, and now we're going to fail all our classes again as she forgets all about us." Xander quipped.

"Well, I'm glad Tara's found a friend so soon. She's so shy!" Buffy said.