AN: So here's the continuation of the cliffhanger. It is pretty short, but I thought a short update now would be better than waiting for something longer. The next one will definitely not be up quite this fast, but I'll try my best to be prompt so we can see how Tara's feeling about everything.

Please enjoy and review!

The guilt was overwhelming, and before she could stop herself, Willow found that she was saying, "Tara, there's something I have to tell you."

It seemed to Willow that Tara had missed the seriousness in her tone. Tara had graced her with an open expression clearly intended to encourage Willow to continue talking, but then had been distracted by Olivia squirming to get down from her arms.

"What is it, Willow?" Tara asked.

The question made Willow realize how long she had been silent, and she scrambled to regroup her thoughts, her immediate resolve diminished by the delay.

"It's just that…well…" Willow continued to hesitate as once again she realized she had lost Tara's attention as the blonde bent over to rescue a piece of cereal that Olivia had found while crawling around on the floor before it made it to the baby's mouth.

"Tara! This is important!" Willow found herself saying, though immediately she wished she could reach out with both hands to shove the words back into her mouth. Why did she have to keep pursuing this? With Tara's distraction she easily could have gotten away with a 'nevermind' or a question about Olivia. Because she deserves to know.

It was too late to turn back anyway because her exclamation had certainly earned her Tara's undivided attention.

"What's wrong?" Tara asked gently after Willow remained silent for several long moments once again. Willow's breathe caught as Tara stepped into her personal space and touched her cheek with a gentle hand. "Sweetie, you're making me nervous."

"Ok, alright, I'm just going to say this." Willow leaned into Tara's warm hand for a fraction of a second, before taking half a step back, knowing she couldn't go through with this with Tara quite so close. "It's just that earlier, when you told Olivia to call you Tara, that's not exactly correct. Well, I mean, it is correct in the literal sense because you are in fact Tara…" Willow silently cursed her tendency to babble along and suddenly just spit it out, "Tara, you're her mother."

The soft expression on Tara's face was not at all what Willow had expected, but she realized that her point had been missed once again as soon as Tara started speaking. "That's really sweet, Will. And I do love her like my own daughter. I always will. But you're the one she should be calling Mama."

"You don't understand." Willow felt her frustration rising. This conversation had not been going the way she intended from the very beginning. "You are actually her mother."

"Sweetie, I'm always going to be there for her…."

"No!" Willow cut her off. "I mean, biologically, you are her mother. She's yours."

Tara's eyes finally filled with the confusion that Willow had initially been expecting. "I don't see how that's p-possible. You gave birth to her. And she-she looks, um, just like y…" Tara's voice trailed off and she focused on Olivia as if seeing her for the first time. Willow followed her gaze over the baby's eyes, cheekbones, hands. Those features which she had undoubtedly inherited directly from Tara.

Willow watched them both for a moment before speaking in a more subdued tone. "She's your daughter. Well, ours, really."

Willow was forced to take another step back as Tara rounded on her, her blue eyes flashing dangerously with anger. "What. Did. You. Do?"

"Ah, um, a spell?" Willow shifted her weight nervously, having never seen Tara quite so angry.

"I'm aware," Tara informed her testily. "I just want to know which conception spell you manipulated to use without my consent." Tara practically spit out the last word and Willow was assaulted with unpleasant memories of the other spells she had performed on Tara.

"This wasn't my intention. I didn't know this…" she gestured helplessly at Olivia. "…would happen."

Her defense seemed to fall on deaf eyes. "I want to know exactly what you did."

Willow closed her eyes. "It wasn't a conception spell. I was trying to get you back."

Tara said nothing, but her stony gaze caused Willow to gulp and continue talking. "It was a spell to make you want to be with me, but I changed a few elements and I guess it threw it all off."

"You didn't get it at all, did you?" Tara's voice was filled with disbelief. "Sometimes for someone so smart…"

The sentence didn't need to be repeated for Willow to understand.

"Tara…"

Her desperate plea was stopped short as Olivia once again claimed Tara's attention, pulling on her legs and stretching her arms out to be picked up. To Willow it looked like she was slightly distressed from the tension in the room. Tara's expression immediately softened as she lifted the baby and murmured assurances in a low, soothing voice.

"Can we just talk about this?" Willow felt her voice crack in the middle of the sentence and it had reached an unrecognizable pitch by the end.

"Do you not see how this is upsetting her?" Tara practically hissed. "You need to leave. Now. And then I need you to show me exactly what spell you performed."

Willow felt herself start to panic and she opened her mouth to inform Tara that she had researched the spell extensively upon finding out she was pregnant and that, despite the unexpected result, it wouldn't harm any of them. Before she could speak, though, she noticed the way Tara was shaking her head and knew it would be useless. Hanging her head, she started to back out of the kitchen when her eyes fell on the diaper bag. Olivia. Their day together. Why she was here in the first place.

However, Tara had noticed what she was looking at, and spoke before Willow could. "No, you are not taking her today."

The simple sentence, spoken in such a level tone drove a stab of pain through Willow's chest. It seemed whatever trust Tara had had in her was now gone, all due to a horrible mistake she had made so long ago.

"I need to be with her right now," Tara was explaining. "And I'm going to need some space from you."

Willow nodded, trying not to cry. It wasn't that she was surprised, the opposite in fact. This conversation had gone the way in which she had expected. But the timing couldn't have been worse.

"Maybe another time then." A couple tears leaked out as she found herself wondering if there would ever be another time. It wouldn't shock her if Tara decided to take Olivia as far away as possible now that she knew the truth. "I'll, um, drop off the spell tonight."

A tight nod was the only response she got.

"Ok, well, I'll just go then." She had almost reached the front door when she turned around. "Can I say goodbye to Olivia?" The tears were running freely down her face now.

"Willow…" Tara's expression shifted slightly into something that Willow couldn't quite read as Olivia was immediately passed into her arms. "I'm not going to keep her from you. You're her mother. B-but today, I, um, just c-can't."

Willow immediately felt some measure of relief and she kissed Olivia on the cheek before handing her back to Tara. "I get it. I'll go."

This time she actually left, and as soon as the door slammed behind her, she broke into a run toward her parent's house. It was all too much. She had broken Tara's heart, again. Betrayed their daughter. Ruined the beginning of a relationship with the woman she loved. She was worthless and not to be trusted. For the first time in a week, she began to seriously consider what it would take to break Tara's binding spell.