Chapter 4. The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars.

Tara freaked out about her being a witch. Will Xander and the others find her before something evil finds her first?

In Dawn's room, Buffy moves over on the bed that she is sharing with Dawn and then realizes that the bed isn't her own queen sized bed and falls to the ground. Dawn quickly wakes up as she finds Buffy on the floor.

"Buffy, are you okay?" asks Dawn.

"Yeah," replies Buffy. "The carpet broke my fall. Ouch." Buffy gets up and heads over to the bathroom, but the door won't budge. "Willow, it's me. One bathroom, three girls. Come on, open up."

Willow comes out of her room and sees a sleepy Buffy knocking on the bathroom door. Buffy then turns her head and sees Willow and then she turns her head back to the bathroom door.

"Buffy, don't you remember," says Willow. "It's probably Xander."

"Oh, right," says Buffy still asleep. The bathroom door opens and Xander comes out of it. "Where did you get the pajamas? Never mind." Xander is wearing some green, silk shirt and pant pajamas. Buffy walks by him and enters the bathroom.

"She's a morning person," says Xander sarcastically.

"How are you doing?" asks Willow.

"Oh, I'm good. A little achy, but I'll live." Xander waves his arm and he then was changed back to the clothes he had on last night.

"Is that the only outfit you've got?" asks Dawn.

"Dawn," says Willow.

"No, it's the less conspicuous outfit I got," replies Xander.

"Can we do that?" asks Dawn. "You know, change outfits and stuff?"

"Yeah, conjuring," replies Xander. "But I think that's a little too advanced for you."

"Ah come on, I did that spell yesterday. I know I could pull it off." Buffy comes out of the bathroom and she is a different woman. She has her hair put up in a pony tail and seems to finally be awake.

"Buffy, Xander here is going to teach us how to conjure up stuff. It's going to be so cool."

"What?" asks Buffy glaring at Xander.

"I didn't say that," says Xander feeling a little afraid of Buffy.

"There will be no more talking about spells, magic, or any of the sort."

"Fine," the others say in surrender.

"Now, we are going to go downstairs and eat a nice, normal, healthy breakfast. Okay?" Buffy heads downstairs.

"Can I help?" asks Xander as he catches up to her on the stairs.

"With what?"

"Breakfast."

"Um." Buffy turns to him. "Do you know how to cook?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Follow me." They arrive downstairs and head over to the kitchen.

Back upstairs, Willow enters the bathroom. Dawn walks over to the stairs to see if she hears what's going on down there. Willow then comes over to Dawn.

"I think he's got a little thing for Buffy," says Dawn knowing that Willow was behind her without looking.

"Me, too," replies Willow knowing what Dawn is talking about. The two wait a while, until they head downstairs also. They walk into the kitchen and see Xander staring at Buffy as she is explaining to him what he should be doing. She has her back to him and Xander is beating the eggs in a bowl with magic. Dawn enters the kitchen with a smile and watches as the beater is stirring the eggs alone.

"Are you listening to me?" asks Buffy as she turns around. Xander quickly grabs the beater and stops it. He smiles at her. "Oh, I didn't hear you guys come down."

"Buffy, what are we going to do about the wall?" asks Willow.

"I don't know," replies Buffy. "We need to call a construction worker to fix it."
"What do we tell them when he asks what happened?"

"The wall is not a problem. I can fix it," says Xander.

"You can fix it," says Buffy putting her hands on her tiny hips.

"I'm a wizard, aren't I? Besides, it's my fault." Xander heads over to the living room. Buffy follows him as do the others. "Construction is pretty hard. It's a level three in witchcraft. But for us wizards all we need is…" Xander concentrates and spreads his hands apart. A bright light hits the wall and the wall transforms into its normal state.

"Wow," says Willow and Dawn.

"I guess you're kind of handy," says Buffy.

"Thanks."

Meanwhile, a couple houses away, a dark haired woman wakes up her daughter. The young woman wakes and sees a worried expression on her mother's face.

"Where have you been all night?" asks her mother.

"I…I'm sorry," says Tara as she gets up.

"I've been worried sick. What happened?"

"I lost track of time."

"Lost track of time? What time did you come in?"

"I don't remember. It won't happen again, I promise." Tara gets off of her bed and heads over to the bathroom. She looks at herself in the mirror and sees something strange. It's like she is seeing a panoramic view of a beautiful land in the mirror. She then sees a frog in a pond and it jumps out of the mirror and into her arms. Tara screams and her mother runs over to the bathroom door.

"Tara, are you okay?" asks her mother. She drops the frog on the floor and heads over to the door.

"I'm fine," replies Tara. "It's just a bug. I got startled by it."

"Don't scare me like that."

"I'm sorry." Tara leans on the door and looks at the frog on the floor. She nods her head and starts to walk back and forth in the bathroom. Then she notices that the frog has a little necklace around its neck. She bends down to take a closer look and the frog sticks his tongue out at her. "Ewww, gross." Tara falls back against the wall and wipes her face.

"I'm sorry," says someone. "I didn't mean to do that." Tara looks around the room. She gets up and walks over to the shower and then looks inside.

"Who's talking?"

"You can hear me?"
"Of course I can hear you. Where are you?"

"I'm down here."

"Where?"

"Next to your feet." Tara looks down and sees the frog look up at her.

"Are you speaking to me?" Tara lowers herself down to the frog's level.

"Yes, you must be a witch or some magical being if you can hear me."

"How's this possible?"

"It's a little thing called magic. See, I was turned into a frog by an evil witch."

"If I'm a witch, how do you know that I'm not evil?"

"You can't be. You're so pretty and if you were evil, you would have stepped on me the moment you saw me."

"Oh."

"Tara, are you coming out of that bathroom today?" asks her mother.

"I'll be right there," says Tara. "I have to go."
"But please, could you help me?"

"How can I do that?"

"You could help me by finding the witch who turned me or you can undo the spell."

"I don't know. I just dab in a little stuff but…"

"Please. My life depends on it."

"Okay. I'll try." Tara picks up the frog. She takes a peek out the bathroom and sees that the hallway is clear. Then she rushes into her room and closes the door. She puts the frog on her bed. "I have to change first."

"Who are you talking to Tara?" asks her mother who surprises her.

"No one," replies Tara trying to cover the frog with her blankets. "I'll be at the shop soon."

"Eat breakfast before you come."

"I will."

"Love you."

"Love you, too." Tara gives her mom a smile as she heads down the hall and down the stairs. She quickly turns back to the bed and takes the blanket off of the frog.

"It was way too dark in there," says the frog.

"Sorry. My mom's not so thrilled about animals, especially frogs that talk."

"I'm not just any frog. I happen to be a Prince."

"Oh, like the fairy tale."

"What fairy tale?"

"Never mind." Tara starts to take off her shirt when she realizes something. "I'm going to change in the bathroom."