Author's Note: This fic is set somewhere in the beginning of season 7. The new highschool is getting ready to open. None of The First/Spike stuff has happened yet. The part that will be confusing at first is that Tara is alive. Willow and Tara are still together and they're both still going to UC Sunnydale. You'll catch on as the story continues. I promise it will all make sense eventually.

***

Buffy, Tara and Willow walked along past Restfield Cemetery on patrol. Buffy smiled at Willow who was happily enjoying a grape Tootsie Pop.

"You know, Will, patrol isn't quite as patrol-y when one of the patrollers is sucking on a lollipop like a little kid," Buffy said with a smile.

"Sure it is," Willow said defensively. Tara took up her defense.

"It says, 'Look, I'm not scared of you. I'm enjoying my lollipop. Evil be damned,'" she said. Willow nodded her head in agreement.

"And you could use the stick to stake a vampire!" she said in realization.

"Actually, those sticks are made out of cardboard, not wood," Buffy said. "Now if you had a popsicle, I could probably manage with that."

"Well, cardboard is paper and paper is made from trees, so technically it is wood," Willow said, defending her lollipop weaponry. But as she chewed the center of the sucker off, the stick bent. "Although, not very sturdy."

"Not that I mind the company, but why did you guys come on patrol with me?" Buffy asked. They walked through the gates of the cemetery and made their way through the tombstones.

"Well, I thought it could be like old times when you first got to Sunnydale, and we would go on patrol with you," Willow said. Then she glanced at Tara. "Except that Tara wasn't here then, but still…"

"Okay, Will, now you're just being weird," Buffy said.

"It's just that it's been so quiet lately," Willow replied. "Three years ago I would've said, 'Yay, quiet.' But now I'm just kinda bored."

"Uh…boredom cured," Tara said, pointing off to their left. At the grave of Michael Montgomery an arm punched through the soil and was soon followed by the other arm and soon a vampire face emerged and caught sight of them.

"You guys stay back. Slaying is a spectator sport for you two," Buffy said, pulling a stake out of her jacket. Willow and Tara obediently stayed where they were as Buffy approached the vampire.

"Hey, Mike, you're really selfish you know," Buffy said. The vampire looked at her, confused. "I mean, here people are, trying to mourn you and you come back from the dead, making it impossible to move on. Why do you gotta do that?"

He growled and charged at her, but she easily deflected him off to her left to the ground. He quickly jumped up and turned, ready to charge again. This time he raised his arm to take a swing at her. She grabbed his arm and flipped the vampire over her shoulder. He did a somersault and then did a spin-kick, catching her in the stomach and sending her stumbling backward into Tara and Willow. The three of them fell to the ground, Tara striking her head on a nearby tombstone.

Buffy flipped up onto her feet and did a flying kick, striking the vampire onto his back. She glanced behind her and saw Willow helping Tara sit up and knew she had to finish this quickly. The vampire stood up and before he even had a chance to react, she staked him and he turned to dust. Buffy pocketed her stake and turned back to her friends.

"Are you guys okay?" she asked. She noticed the cut on Tara's forehead. "Tara?"

"I-I think so," Tara said, cringing and holding a hand to her forehead as Willow helped her up.

"The cut doesn't look that deep," Willow said. She wrapped her arm around Tara's waist. "Okay, I'm not bored anymore. I think we're gonna go home now."

"I'll go with you, make sure you get back safe," Buffy said. "I was going to call it a night soon anyway."

"So, this is patrolling?" Tara asked. She tentatively touched the cut on her forehead with her fingertips.  "I think I'll stay home next time and let the demons come to me."

"No worries about that one," Buffy said. "Pretty much a guarantee."

* * *

Buffy poured herself and Dawn juice. The two of them looked up when Tara walked into the kitchen.

"Good morning, sunshine," Dawn said with a smile. Tara just nodded her head and sat on a stool by the kitchen island. "Or cloudy with a chance of showers."

"Head still hurting?" Buffy asked.

"Only in the intense, literal sense," Tara replied with a half smile.

"Sorry," Buffy said, hating the fact that she was the Slayer got another friend hurt.

"It's not that bad. Hazards of living in Sunnydale," Tara said with a smile, trying to shrug off the throbbing in her head. She was the only one who knew her head injury wasn't the cause of her headache. The head injury truly wasn't that bad. It just gave her something to tell them, an excuse to be cranky because of her headache.

"Are you still going to class today? Maybe you should sit today out," Buffy commented. She started pulling out food from the refrigerator for her lunch.

"If I have a headache, can I skip class?" Dawn asked. Tara smiled and Buffy gave Dawn a stern look.

"No."

"I'm still going to class.  My luck requires that the professors give pop quizzes on days I skip class," Tara said. She stood and poured a cup of coffee. Willow joined them then. She was showered, dressed and ready for the day. She smiled and wrapped her arms around Tara from behind.

"Feeling any better today?" she asked.

"A little," Tara lied. She turned her head and kissed Willow briefly before pulling away. She glanced at her watch. "We better get to campus. We're gonna be late for class."

"Okay," Willow said. She headed for the kitchen door. "I'll go get our stuff."

Once Willow was gone, Buffy turned back to Tara. "Hey, are you sure you're okay?" she asked. "You seem kind of…I don't know…wigged."

Dawn and Buffy were both looking at her with concern, waiting for some kind of explanation. She couldn't tell them the truth, not yet. "I-I just didn't sleep well. I'll be okay."

Tara quickly finished her coffee as Willow returned with their bags. "You ready?" Willow asked. Tara nodded her head.

"Yeah," she replied.

"See you guys later," Buffy said. She had a feeling Tara wasn't telling the whole truth. There was something about the look in her eyes. There was more bothering Tara than her head wound.