The Summers Residence, Sunnydale, 1420 hours.
Tara could only look at the face of the man who claimed to be her brother. She couldn't believe it, but she read the letter that was addressed to him; a letter that that had her mother's handwriting, and her mother's signature. The blonde young woman glanced to her side as Xander and Willow were making sure that Buffy was alright before she looked back at Major Sheppard. She had seen what he did with the bullet, she saw him heal Buffy's wound, however she never sensed any magic use from the man.
"John" said Tara softly as she leaned forward and caressed the man's cheeks, "John?"
"Hey Tara" said Xander as he approached the blonde witch after Buffy insisted that she was doing alright, that they need to look to Major Sheppard, "I never knew you had a half-brother."
"Neither did I" said Tara as she looked up at the dark haired man.
"Xander" said Buffy as she straightened her bloodstained shirt while Willow continued to fuss over her "you carry the top half, and I'll get the legs. Put him on the couch in the living room."
"Oh fun" said Xander as he bent down and put his arms under the Major's armpits and brought him up, "this guy is heavier than he looks."
"Yea" said Buffy as she grabbed his legs and the both of them picked him off the ground and carried him up the stairs and into the house. All the while, Tara kept on looking at the man being carried away in shock as Willow came up to the blonde and stood right next to her. The redhead interlocked her fingers with Tara's as they looked at the backdoor close after Buffy and Xander carried the body of the Major into the house.
"Tara?" said Willow softly as the blonde wiped some tears from her eyes, "this man, I mean.. he comes out of the blue and claims to have a letter from your mother. I mean.. I want him to be your brother, but the last brother we met tried to take you away by force. I.. I just want to make sure that this guy is.. you know… your brother."
"The letter was from my mother" said Tara as her voice broke as she looked up at the sky, "her handwriting, her.. her…. oh my God."
"Tara?" asked Willow as Tara let go of her hand and quickly rushed into the house, "Tara?"
Willow followed Tara up the stairs as the blonde slammed the back door open and ran into the kitchen as fast as possible, causing both Buffy and Xander to jump after they put the unconscious body of the Major on the couch. The two of them saw Tara grab the banister before she ran up the stairs, and then saw Willow as she rushed into the foyer at the bottom of the stairs. Buffy and Xander met up with Willow, at the bottom of the stairs, and told them that Tara must have seen, or sensed something in the backyard, that made her go back into the house.
"Willow! Buffy! Xander" shouted a panicked Tara as the redhead, looked at the blonde before they, and Xander, rushed up the stairs and ran into the room that Tara shared with Willow, the same room where the now deceased Joyce Summers used to stay. Rushing in, they saw Tara standing with her back to them as she looked at the window that faced the backyard.
"Tara, baby?" asked Willow as she walked up to the blonde who raised her hand and pointed a trembling finger at the window.
The redhead walked to the window and took a closer look before she gasped and took a few more steps back, putting her hands up to her mouth in shock.
"Oh God" said Willow as she turned and looked at Buffy and Xander before looking back at the window again. Both Buffy and Xander walked past the two witches and then saw what Tara and Willow had seen. There were spider cracks on the glass that spread out from two holes, one at the middle of the window, and the other one at the upper edge. Xander looked up at the ceiling of the room and pointed at a hole. Buffy, on the other hand looked around until she found a hole that was made at the far side of the room, directly across from the window and above a chest of drawers. Willow pointed at where Tara was standing as both Buffy and Xander looked back at her, while Tara turned around and faced Willow.
"She was standing right there" said Willow as Xander walked up behind Tara and looked at the hole in the middle of the window, and then to Tara's back, "she was right there… it.. it… would.. would have gone through and…"
"I'd be dead" said Tara as she collapsed on both her knees as she brought her hand over her mouth and started crying, "if.. if.. John hadn't come when he did… I… Willow…"
"I'd have lost you, baby" said the redhead as she got onto her knees, her eyes red, as she hugged Tara, "I'd have lost you. Oh God, I'd have lost you."
Tara buried her face in Willow's neck as the redhead felt warm tears falling onto her shoulder before she looked up at Xander. The dark haired man, told Willow that he'll let her and Tara be alone for a while.
"Yeah, Will" said Buffy, "we'll be downstairs I'll check his pockets for his I.D, I need to make sure he is who he says he is. I don't think any of us wants a disgruntled Initiative soldier here. That means…"
"I'll find out about him, Buff" said Willow softly as she rubbed Tara's back while she wiped her tears with her free hand, "but I need to… you know."
"Yeah" said Buffy as she stepped back after Willow nodded at Tara whose shoulders were trembling. Buffy placed her hand on Tara's should and spoke to her gently, "Tara, we're glad you're safe. I'm glad you're safe."
Buffy saw Tara nod her head before she, and Xander, walked out of the room and ran down the stairs. Taking a deep breath, the both of them walked into the living room where Major Sheppard was lying on the couch and checked his pockets.
"Got his wallet" said Buffy as she raised her arm which held on to a black object. Xander nodded his head and walked over to Buffy who opened the wallet and looked at his I.D, "I've got a California I.D, San Francisco address."
"Air Force" said Xander as he pointed at the Air Force I.D in his wallet, "at least that part is true."
"Yeah" replied Buffy softly, "but being Tara's half-brother? I don't know, I don't really know what to think.. I mean.. this guy used some sort of magic to save me, and he claims that he's Tara's brother. I mean, we've met her family and…"
"Hey" said Xander as he noticed a piece of paper and a picture on the floor near the foyer. The young man went to pick it up and then took it back to Buffy. Reading the paper before handing it to the blonde Slayer, Xander told Buffy that it was a letter; that Tara must have dropped it when she ran to the backyard. The young man then gave the letter to Buffy to read before he looked at the picture of a young Tara holding a flower.
"This is a picture when Tara was younger" said Xander as he handed the picture to Buffy, who looked at it and then looked at the Major, "if he had all of this with him when he came here…"
"I don't know" said Buffy softly as she looked back at Xander, and then at the stairs, "I want Tara to have a better brother than the ass who tried to take her away; but with this guy being with the military, and the Initiative knowing about me being the Slayer, or the existence of demons and magic… as far as I know. He could have conjured up this whole letter thing on orders of the military to get closer to Tara, and possibly Willow. They're the most powerful magic users we know and… and if the military's involved in this, then it could be bad."
"Think maybe Riley will know something?" asked Xander as Buffy flinched while looking at the Major. Xander then mentally kicked himself for even mentioning the man's name, since he had broken Buffy's heart and she still held some semblance of feelings for him, 'feelings that made her have sex with Spike, maybe?'
"Yeah" said Buffy softly as she turned and looked at Xander, "I'll ask him, if he's not in some far away jungle somewhere."
"Yeah" said Xander as he scratched his head and followed Buffy to the kitchen, "but what are we going to tell Dawn when she comes back from school."
Atlantis, Pegasus Galaxy; the last day of the Siege.
Major Sheppard was conducting sweeps of the lower levels of Atlantis with Teyla and three Marines from the Daedalus by his side. His team, as well as four others, were scouring the lower levels of the city after Teyla claimed that she could still sense the Wraith in the city. After they cleared their assigned areas, the Major and his team headed for the next floor. He knew that they had a job to do, that even though they had tricked the Wraith by switching Atlantis' shield to a cloak following a massive nuclear blast designed to trick the Wraith into thinking that the Expedition had engaged the self-destruct, and destroyed the city.
Once the Wraith fleet had taken the bait, MacKay and the others cheered when they saw the Wraith hive ships breaking orbit, thinking that they had won. Following the euphoria of beating the Wraith, Dr. Weir assigned teams to go through the city and take out any Wraith that remained. He had already heard of one them killing a Wraith that tried to detonate an explosive device which would not only have killed the Wraith and the team, it would have also caused that area of the city to flood; further damaging the city.
As the Major and his team stepped out of the short range transporter, they covered each other as they continued to move through the hallways when suddenly, Major Sheppard signalled all of them to stop.
"Major?" asked Teyla.
"Do you hear that?" asked the Major as he peeked around into an adjacent hallway which was covered in darkness.
"I do not hear anything" said Teyla as she shook her head.
"John"
"There" said the Major as he brought his P90 up and turned on the flash light. He moved into the adjacent hallway and shone the light on his P90 into the hallway, "you don't hear that?"
"Damn it, Tara!" shouted another man's voice own the hallway, "you're a demon.. you'll always be a demon."
"Tara? Demon? What the hell?" asked Major as he walked towards the darkness while Teyla called after him, telling him that she didn't sense any Wraith.
"Major! John!" was the last thing that Major Sheppard heard as he rushed into the dark hallway.
"Tara?" said John as he aimed his P90 in front of him as he used the flashlight to brighten the hallway, "Tara?"
The Major kept on going until he reached a pair of double doors at the end of the hallway. The Major knew that the doors were out of place, that it didn't fit in with the Ancient décor that was evident throughout Atlantis. Putting his P90 down, the Major walked towards the doors and pushed them open. As he walked forward, he found himself surrounded by a bright white light which then faded a few seconds later when he found himself at the foot of a bed where a older blonde woman lay. Putting his weapon down and staring in shock at the sight before him of the woman who had no hair, was deathly pale and seemed to be hooked on to life support equipment.
"Tara" said the woman softly as she looked to her left, which was when the Major noticed a blonde girl who slowly stood up. He could tell that the blonde was crying as she walked towards the older woman and reached down for her hand, "Tara, my sweetheart."
"Momma" said Tara as the Major saw her shoulders tremble, "dad and Donnie are…. Are out.. outside. I.. I… can get.. get them."
"Sweetie" said the woman that Major Sheppard guessed was Laura Maclay, "I need to talk to you alone."
"O.. ok" said Tara as she nodded her head.
"I am so sorry, my Tara" said Laura as Tara shook her head, "you have to stand alone for now. I will watch over you but.. but once you come of age. I want you.. I need you to make your own way."
"Momma" said Tara as her voice broke, "I.. I…"
The Major walked slowly to the other side of the bed as Laura continued to talk to Tara.
"Remember what I told you, Tara" said Laura, "don't believe what they tell you. You are my light and while Richard and Donnie may try to tarnish that light, I know that you will shine even brighter. You will shine as bright as the sun, my little Tara."
"Momma" said Tara as she tightened her hold on Laura's hand, "please… don't.. don't say things like... Like that."
"Don't tell your father, or your brother" said Laura as she started to pant, "I… I have kept an account for you. They don't know because if they.. if they did.. they would take it away from you. The… the.. the music box you got me… inside… side.. drawer…. Everything you need. For you… when.. when you come of age.. leave.. find yourself. Understand?"
"Momma" said Tara as tears ran down her eyes while the Major could only look on helplessly, "don't go."
"I'll be always watching you" said Laura as she looked at the ceiling before she looked directly at Major Sheppard who took a few steps back in surprise, "there will always be someone watching over you."
The Major saw Laura give him a small smile on her face before she closed her eyes and the machines around her started to beep wildly.
"Help!" shouted Tara as she tried to shake Laura awake before she looked behind her, "daddy, Donnie!"
The Major saw the doors on the other side of the room slam open and in ran two nurses and a doctor, followed by a young man and an older man. The Major saw the doctor gently pull the crying Tara away before he saw the older man, who he guessed was Tara's father grab her arm roughly and pull her to one side.
"What did you do?" hissed the man that the Major guessed was Richard Maclay, "what did you do?"
"She used her demonic powers to kill mom" said the one that the Major guessed was Donnie who looked at Tara with anger on his face, and then at Laura's body, and back at Tara, "she killed mom."
"Two demons" said Richard as he roughly pulled Tara closer while the Major raised his weapon at the man, telling him to let her go. However, no one heard him since Richard pushed Tara away and told her to get back home.. that she'll be dealt with later on.
"Daddy" said Tara as tears streaked down her face while she looked at Laura's body, and then at Richard again, "please, let me stay."
"Leave, demon" hissed Donnie as he walked closer to Tara, "if you get emotional here then your demon half will come out and kill everyone. Is that what you want? Huh? You want to kill everyone… you know very well that we're the only ones who can prevent it from coming out.. so go home. Go home and wait for us there… we'll conduct a cleansing tonight."
"No" said Tara as she shook her head, "no… please."
"I'll beat you again if you don't go" said Donnie to the shock of Major Sheppard as he saw Tara looking at Laura and then at the men in her family before she was roughly taken by the arms again and pushed out of the door by Richard; all the while she was shouting for her mother, and apologizing to Richard and Donnie, begging them to let her stay.
"Tara" shouted the Major as he ran through the doors that Richard just pushed Tara out of when he was suddenly surrounded by a bright white light. Once the light faded away, the Major found himself in the living room of a house. Looking around, he saw that both Donnie, Richard and another girl were commanding Tara to do all sorts things around the house, while at other times they were putting her down. They kept on saying that she was a demon who would kill everyone and that she shouldn't go out anymore, that they were the only ones who could keep the demon in check.
'Demon' said the Major as he looked around the house, 'won't be surprised if strange things exist on Earth, hell… we're dealing with space vampires every week. Hell, I'll laugh if there are actual movie vampires on Earth.. that would be a change.'
The Major saw another flash of light as everything changed to him being in Tara's room. He saw her packing a few bags just as a car started honking from downstairs. Walking over to the window, the major saw that there was a cab waiting at the front lawn as Tara headed to the same window and told the driver that she'll be right down.
"Ok" said Tara as the Major turned around to face Tara, "I.. I've got everything…. Now, as long as they.. they don't find me, I'll be alright. A… a new life… away… away from daddy, from Donnie, from Beth… I… I.. momma, stay with me.. please."
The Major saw Tara walk out the door with two large bags in her hand just as there was another bright flash of light. Slowly the Major started to feel that he was lying down on something soft and comfortable. He then started to remember that he used strange abilities to save the life of a young woman. Hearing voices in the distance, the Major slowly opened his eyes. However, he found himself looking at another pair of eyes that belonged to a young brunette girl who was kneeling on the floor, and facing him.
"Hi" she said, "I'm Dawn, and you're hot."
TBC.