A/N: Just a little chapter so we can see things a bit from Tosh's POV. Sorry this has taken so long! I've literally been sick for ¾ of this month! Ugh! In thinking ahead, I feel like there may only be one or two (at the most) chapters left in this story :) Enjoy! Thank you for reading!

Chapter Three

(Tosh)

"Willow? Can we talk in private?"

It had taken me forever to get my courage up to ask. Silly, it was. Me needing to get courage up to ask my lover if we could have a chat.

She had talked to me about Tara some before. Not to any extent though. For instance, I hadn't any idea that she was dead.

Willow had just said that the relationship had ended very, very badly for everyone involved and that was the end of it.

It hurt deeply that she hadn't trusted me enough to confide.

She looked up at me from her seat behind my desk and nodded. I lead her into the conference room and shut the door, flicking off the outside surveillance cameras on my way.

No one out there needed to see our private chat.

"Willow, sweetheart…I need to know what this means for us."

She stared at me blankly. Her face was even paler than it usually was. The area outside her eyes seemed to reflect a dark shade from where what little makeup she wore, ran.

"What do you mean?"

"You refuse to tell me what happened between the two of you, and it hurts but it's fine, I guess because I understand, but I know how much you loved her. Love her still. I can tell. And now she's here. What does this mean for you and I? Our relationship?"

"Out of everything that's happened tonight, this is what you want me to be thinking about?" she questioned, angrily.

"Honestly? Yes. It is. I need to know, Willow. I'm confused. And scared. I have no idea what's going on. All I know is how much I love you. And how frightened I am of losing you."

She was still for a few moments before rising to her feet and walking towards the door.

"For the record, Tosh, I never told you because it's none of your damn business. As for us? I…..I honestly don't know. I need to be alone."

She slammed the door behind her.

I walked from the conference room back to my desk as calmly as I could, hoping no one would take note that Will and I had had an argument.

They were all still focusing on Tara, with the exception of Jack who was locked up in his office with Buffy. I took note that Willow had sat herself next to Xander and was clutching onto his arm. Alone meaning not with me.

I took the quiet opportunity to slip a small pendant out from it's hiding spot inside my desk.

I had found it in a pile of alien artifacts that needed to be catalogued last year. After a fair bit of research, I learned that it supposedly lead the wearer to read minds. I had tried it out a few times before, just to get the logistics of how it worked down.

I snapped the clasp closed and my head was ambushed by several different 'voices'. I took the pendant off immediately. I took several deep breaths and snapped back around my neck, this time focusing on just Willow.

It was very strange. Instead of the normal hum one would hear, her mind was very…different. Silent but filled with a great electricity that just vibrated everywhere. It was wonderful and terrifying all at the same time.

Suddenly, the electricity stopped…vibrating. Like the link had been cut. I looked over to where everyone was gathered around Tara. I hadn't noticed that Jack and Buffy had re-joined the group. The Doctor, Jack, Buffy and Willow were all staring at me. Well, not at me. At the pendant. Like….like they knew.

"Someone reading minds here? Or is it just me? My psychic paper is all a buzz." the Doctor quipped, pulling a small notepad out of his pocket.

"And where is this bloke from again?" Owen asked. "I mean, we're sure he's not straight out of a hospital, right?"

"Gallifrey."

"…What?" Owen asked again.

"You asked where I was from. I'm from the planet Gallifrey. In the constellation of Kasterborous."

"And he's definitelycrazy." Buffy chimed in. She was still staring daggers at me. "But that's why I love him." she added on with a smile.

"Feeling alright Tosh?" Jack asked. His voice had a curious tone to it.

I was starting to feel a bit suffocated.

"Um, no, actually…I…I'm just going to go up for some fresh air."

I ran out the cog door as fast as it would open.

I didn't notice she was sitting down next to me till she spoke.

In that odd way that she seemed to always speak. Well, not always. Tonight was the first time I had met her. I had only previously known her from tales told by Willow, Xander and Jack.

"Reading minds—not all it's cracked up to be, huh?"

The sentence shocked me.

"How…how did you know?"

"Been there, done that, got the trophy. Okay. Not trophy. More like…a plaque."

"…What?"

"It's Tosh, right? I meet so many people these days it's getting hard to keep track of names."

I just nodded.

"Let me tell you a story."

"I don't really—"

"Oh, no. Trust me. It's a good one. It's got gross monsters, a stunningly beautiful damsel-in-distress, un-requited love….it's got everything."

"Oh, um, okay. I guess."

"Once upon a time there was a young girl, all of eighteen years old. She was special. A heroine. She was cursed with being the only girl in the entire world to have the power to defeat evil. And did I mention gorgeous? Anyway, one night she was out patrolling for said evil when she came upon two ugly beasts. She fought and killed one but it was a tough fight and the other managed to get away. What she did not realize until a day or so later, was that some of the dead demon's blood got on her and soaked into her skin. It was this whole….. 'aspect of the demon' thing. She spent the entire day checking mirrors for horns and a tail, but what she got, well, it was much, much cooler. And a lot less gross. Or so she thought."

"Excuse me but I don't normally interrupt—"

"Yeah, you're right. The fairytale thing kind of lost it's vibe way back in the beginning. Basically, I could read minds. At first, it was super awesome. Well, until you find out that your mother had sex with librarian mentor-types that happen to be very influential in your life on top of a police car. But still, it was pretty neat. Then…not so much."

"What happened?"

"I was in the cafeteria during lunch. The voices….they were all too much. I passed out. I won't go into the side story of that, but let's just say, the next day, after I was all better, I killed two birds with one stone. Literally. Long story short, the mind reading almost killed me. And, no offense, but I'm way stronger than you are. It's a very powerful thing. It's not something to be toyed with or to be taken lightly."

"You talk like you don't have it anymore."

"I don't."

"How? You said it was in your skin."

"Well, my on-again, off-again boyfriend at the time was a vampire and he managed to find the other demon that got away. They cut out his heart and mashed it into demon juice and…..let's not make me remember that, okay?"

I nodded.

"You understand what I'm getting at though? The way to understanding Willow….it's not by digging through her thoughts and memories. It's about asking."

"I did ask—"

"And understanding when she doesn't want to talk about it. You're very keen to know this so I'm going to tell you. And you're going to understand exactly why Willow keeps it…hidden so to say."

"Okay."

"I suppose you know Willow's witchy?"

I nodded. Her power was incredible.

"Well, before she was all super earth-y Goddess-y, witchy, she was just….well, witchy. She practiced and practiced and she got very good. Some alarms started going off though. She was getting too heavy in it. It became her addiction. Literally. She almost killed my little sister by overdosing on magic. Tara noticed. An ultimatum was made, Willow thought she could do it…another long story short…she failed. Tara left her. After that, Willow really started making a conscious effort on, um, I wonder what the terminology would be…..uh, magic rehab, I guess? Anyway, after a few months, her and Tara started talking again and they started to rekindle things. Then….Tara was murdered. Right in front of Willow. She went off the deep edge. Straight down. Her rage ate her whole and she was nothing but a pure ball of hate and power. It was honestly the most scared I've ever been in my entire life. And I've died. A lot. Seeing her lose control like that….and not being able to stop her. We fought. I thought I was going to have to…kill her. She was on a dead war path. Nothing was safe. She's murdered someone. Bet you didn't know that. The puny little weasel that shot Tara. Ripped his flesh straight off. All it took was a flick of her hand. She went from that to deciding the world needed to go bye-bye. In the end, well, in the end, Xander was the only one able to get through to her. Willow doesn't talk about that period of her life anymore for a reason, Tosh. Because it's her past. Her very dark, very complicated, very tragic past. Are you happy knowing all of that now?"

"I…didn't…"

"You didn't know. More like you didn't care."

"I do care! I love her. With everything I have."

"Toshiko, if you loved her as much as you say you do, you would be sitting by her side right now, comforting her in her time of need, instead of fooling around with worthless alien junk."

Before I could stop her, Buffy grabbed the pendant from around my neck and crushed it in her bare hands, reducing it to nothing more than a fine, metallic dust.

We sat quietly, awkwardly, for another moment before I brought up another question.

"Buffy? I was wearing that pendant the whole time we were talking…..so why couldn't I hear your thoughts?"

She smiled. "My mind is protected."

"By?"

"It…..is really complicated Slayer crap." she laughed.

"And Jack? I couldn't read his as well."

"Jack….Jack is a very special man. Very special indeed. But his story isn't mine to tell. There are some things in this world that you're just going to have to accept without knowing the back story behind them. Jack is one of those. Just trust him. In whatever he does. Just trust him."

"And the Doctor?"

She smiled again. "Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. He's just barely over nine-hundred years old. He regenerates when he dies. Just found that out pretty recently. As in, like, a few days ago. His story is even longer than Jack's. Well, at this point. He tells me bits and pieces. What he can live with me knowing and what I can live with knowing. That's the difference between us. You and me. I stopped the kid games long ago. I should get back inside. Just…remember what I said, yeah? Oh God. I'm talking British. I need to go home."

She got up and walked back in towards the Hub. Her seat was almost immediately taken up by Willow.

"The invisible lift is neat." she said, awkwardly, after a few minutes.

"Willow—"

"Tosh, we're through."

"What?"

"We're through. I...needed you real bad tonight and you haven't been there for me one step of the way. Not one. Then you tried to violate my mind?"

"I didn't…violate—"

"So you don't call trying to read someone's mind so you can find out their past secrets a violation?"

"Okay, well, yes, but—"

"It's done, Tosh. We're done. As soon as we figure out this thing with Tara, Xander and I are taking her back to Scotland. Back to the Slayer's Council."