When Tara woke up, she was wrapped in Willow's arms. Willow was sound asleep. Tara's mind felt a bit clearer, so she disentangled herself and headed out to explore the compound.
She didn't know where they were, exactly, but she was pretty sure they weren't in Sunnydale. She came to a room where girls were practicing fighting.
"The Slayers are something, aren't they?" A voice spoke from behind her. She turned and found Spike watching her. She felt a small smile creep across her features.
"Spike?" Again, she saw something very different, but with Spike, it was more obvious what the difference was. He was human. "When did this happen?" She looked him up and down, hoping he'd get what she meant.
"Very recently. Red said you were out of it, but you seem better." Tara nodded.
"I just sort of...woke up. Hang on, did you say Slayers? As in...ALL of them? How does that work?" She turned back to the girls in the room.
"Red and Buffy, they did a spell...well, to explain I guess I'd have to go back further, though." Tara shook her head.
"I don't understand...Willow said she was better. That she had stopped using the magic." Tara shook her head, confused.
"That was years ago. After Warren killed you, Red went nuts. She destroyed the Watcher's shop, killed Warren, and very nearly ended the entire world. If it hadn't been for Xander, she would have. Afterwards, she came to London with Giles and studied how to control it." They started walking.
"So this is London then?" Tara looked around. "It looks a lot like how Willow described the Initiative tunnels."
Spike smiled. "Well, after the spell, they needed somewhere safe for the girls to train. But that's getting ahead of myself. See, after Red left, a big nasty known as the First came after Buffy and was killing the Potential Slayers off one by one. So Buffy and Red decided that the only way to fight it was to turn all of the Potentials worldwide into full-blown Slayers. It was a bloody brilliant idea. And it worked. But the First still had them beat." He shook his head at the memory.
"So how did you all make it out of there?" Tara had noticed that Spike had stopped walking.
"We...we didn't all make it out. Angel brought a bauble, an amulet that had been sent to him that would save the world. It had to be worn by a vampire with a soul. A champion. And...well, I had gone to get mine around the time Red went dark. So I wore it into the fight." He shuddered at the memory.
"When the fighting had gotten especially bad, I started feeling an odd burning sensation. The amulet burned me from the inside out, and took the Hellmouth with me. Sunnydale is nothing but a crater now."
Tara studied his face, convinced briefly that he had to be joking. But she saw the seriousness in his eyes. "Okay, how did you get back?"
"Well, it turned out that Captain Forehead was being used by the law firm Wolfram and Hart. My...soul got trapped in the amulet. When I was finally freed, I was incorporeal for a few months."
Tara burst into a fit of giggles at a mental image of Spike walking through walls. It took her a few minutes of him glaring ferociously at him before she stopped. "If looks could kill...okay, go on."
"As I was saying." They started walking again. "I teamed up with the big Poof for a while. We fought another apocalypse, and survived. He had been in line for a prophecy, but he signed his chance away. And for some reason, the Powers that Be deemed me fit to receive it. So I'm human now. Which has been...an adjustment to put it mildly." They came to Buffy's room. "Look, everyone is really happy you're back. I know you might feel lost. But maybe jumping back in will help? And if you need someone to talk to, I'm here." He smiled at her before waving and slipping back into Buffy's room.
Tara shrugged, still feeling utterly confused. She decided to make her way back to Willow's room, and found the red-haired witch absolutely distraught.
"Tara! I was so...I thought...Oh. You're up?" Willow studied Tara's face.
"I am." Willow threw herself at Tara, sobbing as Tara held her. They moved back to the bed, and spent several hours reconnecting, undisturbed by the others.