*Author's Notes: I'm sooo sorry this is so late. I had planned on getting this posted before Christmas so I could post a Christmas-y chapter, but now that won't be up until sometime after New Year's. Crap. Oh well I hope you enjoy this chapter. I've been really busy and didn't really get a chance to fine tune it as much as I would have liked to. So it's not as good as the others, in my opinion. Its not one of my favorites but I had to get something done. It's long though. A lot longer than all the other chapters and very Willow/Tara centric. Also, my access to the internet has also been limited *stupid family* so I didn't get to respond to any reviews. Therefore a big general thank you goes out to everyone who reviewed. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas/Hanukah/Kwanza or whatever holiday, if any, that you may celebrate. Ciao for now, see ya'll after New Year's!

Chapter Twenty One

"What time is it?"

Spike lifted his head up from its semi comfortable position in the crook of his arms to glare tiredly at the petite blonde that was currently flittering about the library like a hummingbird on crack. Any sharp retort that may have come out of his mouth was stopped by Tara's hand over his mouth. He turned the exhausted glare on her and then put his head back down. The snoring next to him let all the exhausted teens gathered there know that Xander had given up all pretenses of being awake.

"It's been a total of five seconds since the last time you asked," Willow replied from the foot of the table. "Actually six, seven, eight..."

"We get the point, Will," Tara assured her patting her on the hand. "Relax, Buffy. She'll be here. She said today was the day she was ready to come back and you have to believe that she was telling the truth."

"Do you think she's ready? I mean people here are talking and I don't know if she'll be ready to hear the things they're saying about her."

"If Cordy could handle people's bitchy comments before she even met Doyle, I think she can handle them now."

The doors opened and a brunette girl walked in and paused to look at the Scoobies curiously. She cocked her head to the side taking them all in. "Do you people ever go home? This is the fifth time I've come in here and you're all here."

"She's the second person to ask us that!"

"Yeah and look where the first wound up," Xander pointed towards Giles' closed office door. He and Spike exchanged glances complete with requisite shudders. "So what brings you here, Anya?"

Anya Jenkins tapped a foot on the floor as if what she wanted should have been self explanatory. "I want a book."

"Well this is a library, Ahn, as you have proved every day that you have come in here. Find a book and move on."

Anya huffed and headed into the stacks. Spike narrowed his eyes as she disappeared into the rows of books. "There is something off about that girl."

"The fact that she hangs out with Harmony willingly wasn't the first tip off of that, huh?" Spike shook his head and started to retort when Faith came flying into the library.

Buffy had appointed the younger slayer was a lookout for this little adventure in annoyance. The original slayer's head jerked towards her as Faith panted slightly from her jog down the nearly empty corridors of the school. "Cordelia just pulled her car into the parking lot."

Buffy clapped her hands together happily and all but shoved Xander and Spike out of their seats. Willow and Tara made sure to be as far as possible from her enthusiastic onslaught of emotions and wisely moved towards the doors of the library. Buffy continued to push her petulant boyfriend towards where the two witches were standing. "But, luv, why do we have to be here so early anyway?"

"Because I want to make sure that the first thing Cordelia sees when she gets here is us. So that she knows that we're here for her one hundred percent."

"Couldn't we have sent her a card?" Xander moaned, leaning against Spike. "I'm sure Hallmark makes them by now."

"No, we couldn't send a card!" Buffy snapped. "Look Cordelia is in an emotionally fragile state right now. She needs the love and support of her friends. Chances are she is going to be depressed, confused, hurting…"

"Smiling from ear to ear and dressed to kill," Spike pointed behind the slayer to Cordelia who was sauntering into the library at that moment. "Hey, princess. Looking good."

"Feeling good," Cordelia twirled around with a wide smile. Buffy openly gaped at her best friend. "Close your mouth, Buff. You'll collect flies."

"I don't understand. You're not crying and sad!"

"I told you I would be fine. Honestly, it hurts and I don't know when or if it will ever stop hurting. But he's gone and there is nothing I can do to bring him back. So now I can either wallow in misery or go out and live my life with you guys." She paused for a moment. "Why are you all here so early?"

"I'm going back to sleep," Spike growled. Xander was two steps ahead of him and had already sat back down at the table snoring away.

"Well that was a productive waste of a Monday morning," Faith rolled her eyes and sat down to finish up her first period homework. "Anymore bright ideas, Buffy?"

"Preferably one that doesn't require me to get up at the ass crack of dawn," Spike added. "Cordelia would never be as selfish as to require us to be up before school even opens!"

"Aw you guys did that for me?" Cordelia gushed. "You wouldn't happen to have done my homework for the past week too, would ya?"

"Now that's the Cordelia we all know and love," Willow handed Cordelia her homework with an easy smile. "So how's Angel?"

Cordelia flushed and looked down at the book in front of her. "How would I know?"

"You would know because I called last night, and your mom said you went over to see someone named Angel. Now unless you've been keeping another Angel somewhere, me thinks you went to see a certain vamp last night."

Cordelia gave her a weak glare that was ruined by the grin that was slowly forming on her lips. "It's not what you're all thinking, pervs. We just hung out. It's easier talking to him about everything. He's been through a lot."

"He is over two hundred years old, Cordy. I think it's safe to assume that he's lived through a lot," Buffy pointed out, earning a hard poke in the side. She draped an arm around the brunette and smiled. She was just glad that Cordelia was almost back to normal.

Just then the doors opened again. Spike sat up bleary eyed and glanced over at the young man that had entered. "We're not open yet. Come back in a few hours." He then let his head slam back down to the table.

"Actually I was looking for someone. I'm looking for Willow Rosenburg."

Chills ran down Willow's spine as she turned slowly in her seat to see the one person she never thought she would ever see again standing less than four feet away from her. She rose from her seat as did the only other three people who recognized the stranger.

"When did you get back?" Willow finally managed to form the words.

"Pretty much now."

There was another uncomfortable silence as the group all looked at each other. Finally Xander crossed the room and patted him on shoulder amicably. "Oz, long time no see or hear."

"Xander," he replied smoothly with a nod of his head. Oz continued to look in Willow's direction. The redhead couldn't find any words to express what she wanted to say. So she opted to continue gawking at him in shock. "Buffy, Cordy, and people I don't know."

"Oh," Buffy snapped out of her shock. "Oz, this is my boyfriend, Spike. That's his dad, Giles, and my new Watcher. And Faith, another slayer and Tara, Spike's sister and…. And yeah…"

Tara looked confused at the odd introduction but slowly started to piece together exactly what was going on. The final piece fell together by the low growl that her brother emitted. So this was Oz, Willow's long lost boyfriend. Tara chewed on her bottom lip as she watched the former couple stare each other down.

"Look, Will, I'm crashing with a couple of friends from the band. I just wanted to know if you were free for lunch. So we could talk and stuff."

Willow finally came to her senses and nodded. "That would be okay."

"Alright," he smiled. "Nice meeting you all. See you at lunch." Oz turned on his heels and walked out the way he had come. Willow sat down slowly.

"Who was that?" Faith whispered, loudly, to Spike.

"That was Oz."

Faith nodded. And then paused for a moment. "Who is Oz?"

"Oz, is, was, my… Tara?" Willow trailed off realizing that the other witch was gone.

"He was your Tara?" Faith looked even more confused.

"No where is Tara?" a cursory glance around the room revealed that the blonde had definitely disappeared.

Spike growled. "She always does that! She's gone. When she'll be back is anyone's guess. But she needs some alone time."

"How do you know all that?"

"Because she used to do that all the time when our mother died," Spike replied moodily. "And now someone better explain to me just who this Oz bloke is and fast. Before I feel like taking a bite out of someone."

"Well it would be interesting to see a hybrid versus a werewolf."

Spike's eyes widened. "No wonder he smelled funny."

Cordelia's nose crinkled in disgust. "You can smell other demons and stuff. Ick."

"Oz and I were dating when Buffy moved here back in our freshmen year. He was a junior then and in a band."

"The Dingoes Ate My Baby," Xander supplied as if it were necessary. "Cordy used to lust after the lead singer. All the Cordettes did."

"Anyway," Willow narrowed her eyes. "A year after we started dating, a new girl came to school, Veruca. She was in a band too. And Oz started hanging around her a lot more after school. At first I thought it was just a band thing but then I found out that she was also a werewolf."

"Wait you guys knew along that he was a werewolf?"

"And Doyle was half demon and Angel was a vampire," Buffy pointed out gently. "At what point where we going to be able to discriminate against him because of whom he happened to be three nights out of the month."

"Good point, shutting up now."

Spike ruffled the younger slayers hair and turned back to others. "So what happened after that?"

"Well Veruca thought that Oz should be unleashing his inner wolf more often. One night she broke into the crypt that we had been using to keep Oz contained during the transformations and well, the result isn't pretty."

Willow wrung her hands together fretfully. It was hard remembering the past, especially when she had finally begun to move on and now suddenly her past was back with a vengeance. She lifted her eyes to meet the love of her life's twin. Spike gave her a lopsided smile and a slight nod.

"The next night Veruca went after me. But Oz stopped her. He killed her for me. And after that he left. He said that he couldn't be around us if he couldn't control the beast anymore."

"Coward's way out," Faith shook her head. "Anyone can run away from what they are. It takes a strong person to stay and face it."

"I didn't mean for Tara to get hurt in this," Willow said to Spike.

"I know, pet. Don't worry about Glenda. She'll come around. She just needed to get away for a few minutes. What good is all that magic if you can't make yourself disappear from time to time? She does that whole dramatic thing because I used to ruin her storming away. Told me that my coming along with her ruined the dramatic effect. So she found a spell to make her vanish at will."

Willow smiled sadly and nodded. The bell for first period rang then and the Scoobies gathered their stuff together and headed off towards their classes. Cordelia paused and gave Buffy a look. The blonde raised an eyebrow and smiled catching on. "Welcome back, Cordy."

"And what a great first day it's been!" Cordelia giggled and followed the slayer to their gym class.

As they filed out the library a lone, forgotten figure emerged from the stacks. "Magic, huh?" Anya smiled. "Looks like I'll be getting my powers back sooner than I thought."

Tara ran a hand over her face angrily. She looked to her reflection tiredly and sighed. "Why are you even crying?" she asked herself. So her old boyfriend, who she never really officially broke up with, is back. That doesn't mean anything. Maybe it's because she didn't even mention me once while he was there. She sighed once again and retreated back into the bathroom stall she had come from.

Suddenly the bathroom door opened once more and she could hear people entering. She closed the stall door and drew her knees up to her chest. "Tara?" Faith's voice met her ears. "Tara, are you in here?"

"Yeah," Tara emerged from the stall and joined her sister at the sink. Faith tucked a stray strand of hair behind Tara's ear and smiled half heartedly. "Is he still here?"

"No, I think he left until lunch. You alright?"

"Yes and no. I don't even know why I'm so upset."

"Because you think that Willow betrayed you. And in a little way, she kind of did." Tara continued to stare at her reflection.

"I'm thinking of changing my look. What do you think of brown hair?"

Faith held up a few locks of her brunette curls and shrugged. "This doesn't have anything to do with the whole Willow/Oz situation? Don't do something crazy just because you're feeling a bit down."

"I won't. You better get to class."

"We can't all be lucky and have a free period," Faith chided. She gave the girl a quick one armed hug and left her alone in the bathroom.

Tara ran her fingers through her hair critically examining the blonde locks. "Blondes really don't have more fun," she sighed. She closed her eyes and when she opened them again. Her dirty blonde hair was now a demure shade of brown. She shook her head and shrugged. "It works."

"I think it looks really good actually."

Tara's eyes widened in surprise. She whirled around to see Anya coming out of one of the stalls. "How long have you been there?"

"Long enough to see that you'll put Clairol out of business," Anya retorted. She caught the deer in headlights look that was on the newly brunette girl's face. "Calm down. I'm not going to squeal or anything. I knew you were a witch but I didn't know you were that powerful."

"I'm not really," Tara looked down at the ground, backing away slowly. "I'm going to just go now."

"Wait. I heard."

"Heard what?"

"All that in the library this morning. It's not fair that she can just toss you aside like yesterday's news simply because her old love finally came back. You should be mad. I mean who does she think she is, right?"

Tara crossed her arms over her chest. "It's not her fault. It's not like she planned for this to happen."

"But then to just ignore you like that." Anya washed her hands and walked around Tara to get to the paper towels. "It's enough to make a person feel positively vengeful."

"Well not exactly vengeful per say. I just, I just wish that everyone could see that there are more sides to me than just quiet, stuttering Tara. The only person who ever sees that is my brother and sister!" Tara huffed. She took one more look in the mirror before reaching a decision. "Thanks, Anya, for the whole venting thing there, but I know who I can talk to about this."

Tara turned on her heels and left the bathroom before she could see Anya's face change. "Wish granted." Anya smiled as the necklace around her neck glowed brilliantly. Suddenly, there was a rumbling behind her. Her face reverted back to human just in time for her to see a glowing portal open behind her. A girl, more accurately a vampire, walked through with a twisted smile on her face. Her blonde hair flowed loosely around her demonic face. Anya's eyes turned as wide as saucers as she recognized exactly who this vampire was. "Oh crap."

Spike kept an extra anxious eye on the clock overhead. It had been almost a full hour and there was no sign of his twin. She hadn't shown up during homeroom and he was past being a little anxious. He was full on worried that the girl had gone off and done something drastic. His eyes traveled back to the hallway and his jaw dropped. Scratch that on the drastic thing, he thought. He gathered his belongings quickly and headed out of study hall after his twin sister.

"Tara," he called after her. She stopped in her tracks and turned with wide eyes to stare at him. He ran up to her and panted slightly. "What's with the clothing? You use your free period to hit up your local S&M bondage shop?"

Tara blinked at him through heavily makeup covered eyes. She was paler than he remembered but he supposed that had something to do with the dark red and black corset ensemble she was wearing. The bodice clung to her top tightly leaving nothing to the imagination and the tight leather pants that she had to have poured herself into that afternoon left Spike wanting to cover her with his duster. Her normal sparkling lip gloss was replaced with a blood red lipstick and she even had a piercing through her nose. Her eyes were heavily outlined with black eyeliner. The only thing that made her really that recognizable as the girl she had been two hours ago was the blonde hair.

"Glenda, what did you do to yourself?"

"Spike?" Tara finally broke her silence and put her hands over his face. "You're here?"

Spike looked at her confused. "Where else would I be? Oh right, in class. Well I was until I saw you walking around dressed like, well like a wanna be Gothic hooker!"

"I thought you were dead. I thought that bitch killed you," Tara smiled as she touched every plane of his face. Spike swatted her hands away annoyed with the examination.

"What are you talking about? You saw me this morning. Nothing's changed since the library. Well except your accent which is apparently all gone. I thought we agreed to fight assimilation!" He held onto one of her hands. "You're cold, Glenda. Where have you been?"

"I've been in Hell since we've been apart," Tara flung herself into his arms. Spike grunted under the sudden weight and fell back onto a set of lockers. He winced as the locks came into contact with his back.

"What the hell are you on today…?"

His words trailed off as Tara's face loomed in closer to his. Her eyes were closed softly and her lips were puckered, it was almost as if she were going to….. Spike instantly jumped away from her. His eyes were wide with surprise, and disgust.

"You were going to kiss me!"

"Well of course, lover. It's been so long so I held you," Tara moaned walking towards him.

Spike's eyes widened further than he thought possible. "But I'm your brother! Your twin brother and I don't know what you've heard about States, pet. But we don't do that in California!" he paused for a minute. "Unless they do and they suddenly changed the laws but no. We don't do that. You and me, no." He continued to backpedal away until he was in a full breaking sprint down the hall. He was gone before he could see the pout on Tara's face or hear her hushed comment.

"I really don't think I like this place."

"Right and this is …."

Buffy chewed on her bottom lip and examined the crystal Giles was holding up. "Used in demon mating rituals as an aphrodisiac?"

"Correct again," he put the crystal down. "You're uncannily good at this. No other slayer has been able to get this right without extensive studying." He paused taking in the girl that was currently trying to balance her pen on the tip of her nose. "It's obvious you don't do that. So how do you know these things?"

Buffy snapped her attention to her watcher and smiled again. "Blame Angel and Doyle. Back in LA, they used to hang out in demon bars all the time. I learned a lot. And then of course there was Doyle's grandmother. Nice lady for a demon."

Giles shook his head. His slayer was unconventional to say the least but perhaps that is why she was one of the oldest. He could only hope that he could keep Faith going along the path of second oldest living slayer. But at seventeen and slowly approaching eighteen, they were already setting records. Most didn't make it to their sixteenth birthdays. He smiled again at the girl opposite from him. She almost didn't either. If it hadn't been for her friends. Maybe having friends is what made kept her going. He saw the visible change in Faith after she had come to Sunnydale. She was happy, alive. He made a mental note to write that down in his Watcher Journal later.

Right now, he wanted to deal with his son who had barreled into the library and was currently cowering underneath the circulation desk. Buffy leaned over the desk and looked at her boyfriend curiously. Her hair swept the tips of his shoes as she hung upside down in his face. He barely gave a sign of recognition at the odd position she was in. He was instead curled into himself rocking back and forth. Buffy raised an eyebrow.

"I know you have a good reason for this right?"

"Dad," he motioned for his father to come closer. "Tara and I are twins right? I mean you haven't been lying to us all these years have you?"

Giles' blinked in confusion before kneeling by the shell-shocked teen. "I was there the day you were born. Tara came out first and then you. I have the pictures. You've seen them. Why? What happened?"

Spike shuddered and if possible turned paler. "Then please explain why my twin sister just hit on me!"

Buffy nearly fell off the desk in shock and would have if hadn't been for Faith, who had just walked in. Giles sat in horrified silence still staring at his son. Faith joined them on the floor and waved a hand in front of Giles' face.

"The lights are on but no one is home," she shook her head. "So what happened to shock the unshakable dad here?"

"Tara made a pass at Spike," Buffy replied, feeling a bit queasy. It didn't help that in Spike's heightened panic he was broadcasting the memory quite clearly. Anyone with even latent psychic energy could pick up on the scene. Buffy definitely could deal without having the sight branded into her mind. She shuddered and continued to stand with her brow furrowed in confusion. Xander narrowed his eyes at the strange scene upon walking in.

"Um, hey what's going on?"

Giles suddenly snapped to life at the sight of all the teenagers in the library. "Don't any of you have classes?"

The group looked to be contemplating this and then shrugged in unison. "What can I say, the library it calls to us it does." Xander was met with several blank stares. "That's it we're all going to watch the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy until you people get some damn education."

"That's nice," Faith patted him on the head. "Now what was this about Tara?"

"Ew!" Xander suddenly gasped. He met Spike's gaze. "That's sick man."

"Tell me about it." Spike had finally moved from underneath the desk and began to relay the story to everyone. Giles nodded grimly once the story was over.

"You think this whole thing with Oz drove her over the deep-end?"

"Could be," Buffy agreed with Xander. Spike was shaking his head.

"No, your girlfriend's ex showing up is not cause for trying to shag your brother in the middle of the hallway!"

"Why doesn't one of you see if you can find her and bring her back here?" Giles suggested. "And Faith you said that she was talking about changing her look this morning?"

"But I didn't think she would go that far," Faith rolled her eyes. "I'll go look for her. Seems like Spike is going to be out of commission for awhile."

They all turned to see that the hybrid had crawled back into his hiding spot. Buffy took Giles' place in trying to coax him out, while Xander just sat on top of the desk shaking his head. Giles turned to Faith.

"And do hurry."

"Will do!"

"Alright, if I were a grief stricken hormonal teenage witch who just hit on my brother where would I go?"

Faith paused and thought her mental question through. "Well first I wouldn't hit on my brother." She walked to the bathroom that she had seen Tara in that morning, figuring that would be the best start. Her luck paid off as she found her pushing against the wall. Faith entered just in time to see Tara punch a whole through the wall. She gasped at the sight.

Tara turned around with rage in her eyes. "You."

"Me. It's nice when we can recognize each other, isn't it, Tara? Although I must say that look doesn't make it too easy to recognize the real you." Faith walked over to her sister. "So Spike told us what happened. You want to tell me why you thought hitting on our brother was such a good idea?"

"Our brother?" Tara spat. "I'm related to you?"

Faith looked at her hurt. "Okay, so I know we're not blood but you told me that wasn't important."

"Blood is always important, slayer," Tara grabbed the girl and held her against the wall. Her hand was like a vice around her neck. Faith clawed at the hand which was steadily growing tighter around her neck. "I'm hungry. I'm bored. And this place sucks!"

"You're really going for this Goth thing after all huh? Good for you, Tara," Faith managed to choke out. "But it would be really nice if you let me go. Please?"

Tara's eyes narrowed and the slayer couldn't recall ever seeing the normally warm eyes so cold and hateful. She frowned knowing she was in deep trouble. This was only solidified when those eyes were replaced with feral yellow eyes and the face to match. She felt like she was in another one of her nightmares. This couldn't be happening. Faith pinched herself and winced at the sharp pain in her arm. This was real. She locked eyes with Tara. "You're a vampire?"

"Oh like you didn't know," Tara rolled her eyes and tossed the girl to the floor. Her heeled boots hit the ground inches away from where Faith's face used to be. "You killed him back home. And you're trying to take him away from me here."

"What are you talking about?" Faith rolled away again as Tara resumed trying to step on her. The vampire didn't reply. She simply kept attacking. Faith rolled as far away as possible and jumped to her feet. She turned around to find that Tara was gone. Faith took a deep shaky breath and started to head towards the bathroom door when she found Tara right in front of her. She barely registered this as she was sent flying across the room and crashed heavily into the wall that the blonde had been punching when she walked in. Faith tried to pick herself up and winced at the pain in her back.

"This ends now!" Tara picked the girl up with one hand once again choking her. Faith tried to get loose but she couldn't. Her vision was getting blurry around the edges and she could feel her lungs screaming for the air that wouldn't come. Her eyes closed. The last thing she wanted to see when she died was not face of her murderer, the girl she thought of as a sister. Suddenly Tara's eyes rolled into the back of her head and she slumped to the ground. Faith coughed as the pressure as air was reintroduced into her starved lungs and looked at the hand of her savior.

"Very interesting first day back," Cordelia helped the younger girl to her feet. "Are you okay?"

"How?" she made a gesture with her hand. Cordelia winced at the bruise forming on the slayer's neck.

"I heard struggling and I came in here to make sure it wasn't something icky and demonic. But then I saw Tara trying to kill you. What happened? You steal her shirt again?"

"That's not Tara anymore. She's a vampire," Faith couldn't even look down at the vampire Tara had become. "She was normal this morning. I don't understand. How could this, when did…."

"Come here, sweetie," Cordelia hugged the girl and turned her away from Tara. From where she stood holding Faith, she could get a good look at the girl slumped on the ground. Something was off here. They had all seen Tara that morning, very much alive. Something was off here and she was willing to be that once they figured out what that was they would have the answer to their problem.

Willow tried to absorb the news that he had just laid on her. "So you've found a cure?"

"Not exactly," he shrugged. "But I can use herbs, and chants and stuff to curb the transformations. Last night I drove into town on a full moon night." he looked so proud that Willow couldn't help but give his hand a light squeeze. "That's why I'm back, Will. I missed you. I tamed the beast. Now I can be what you need."

You were what I needed, Willow wanted to say. Instead she closed her eyes and leaned back against the tree. "Oz, things have changed."

"Is there a new guy in your life?"

Willow laughed and shook her head. She opened her eyes to look at him. "No there isn't a new guy in my life. You were the last guy in my life."

"Well good," he lifted her hand and smiled.

"But."

"But, those are never good ways to start of a sentence. But what?"

Willow finally allowed herself to really look at the young man opposite from her. Nothing about him had changed outwardly. He still had the same short spiky hair and quirky smile. He was still the man she loved. But then again what about the woman she loved. Her hand toyed with the pendant that Tara had given her for her birthday a month ago.

"Oz, there is something I need to tell you. You see the thing is…."

Willow was cut off by Buffy running top speed across the campus towards her. Willow didn't even have time to realize that the slayer had been using her full on slayer speed in plain sight of others before she saw the tears in her friend's eyes. The slayer was shaking slightly as well. Oz was on his feet in an instant offering her a seat.

"No, we have to, Will, you need to," Buffy trailed off. She choked back a sob and bit her bottom lip. "It's Tara."

Willow didn't think anything could ever make her move that fast and nothing ever would again. She practically flew to the library and felt her heart stop at the scene that greeted her. There was Tara, her Tara, locked in the library cage. She looked different though. The bondage wear was a definite plus but the sneer and demonic face were not. She back away from the fierce gaze.

"Wh-what happened?"

Spike turned his own feral glare on her and then went back to staring at nothing. He blames you, Willow told herself. Xander approached his sullen friend and the two were communicating almost wordlessly with one another. Giles was holding onto Faith, who looked like she was trying to keep it together and failing miserably. Giles was watching the vampire, his child, with sadness, fury and pity. Buffy was sitting quietly next to Cordelia, who also seemed to be in shock from the whole scene.

Willow turned her wide eyed gaze on Tara once more and sank to the floor in grief. Oz tried to comfort her but she pushed him away. This was all her fault. Tara wouldn't have done whatever it was that caused her to be changed it she hadn't upset her. She drew her legs up to her chest and started to rock back and forth.

It was this moment that the library doors opened once more. This time letting in Angel and a brunette that none of them bothered to even glance at. Angel and the girl exchanged confused glances. He walked over to Cordelia. He tilted her chin upwards so he could look into her eyes.

"Cordy, what happened?"

It seemed like the question broke through the emotional walls that the cheerleader had built to protect herself from just such an occurrence. She threw her arms around him and sobbed into his coat. He looked to Buffy, who was sniffling back tears. His eyes silently pleading with her to tell him what was wrong.

"She got turned," Buffy pointed to Tara.

Angel let go of Cordelia after while and walked up to the cage in shock. The female vampire's face lit with recognition as he came closer. She clapped her hands together with delight. She placed her hands on the bars of the cage trying to reach out to him. "Oh you're here! You have to save me, Angelus. This place is horrible! I want to go home."

Willow looked confused at the strange words coming out of her girlfriend's mouth. She was even more confused when the brunette stranger that Angel had walked in with knelt by her side and had wrapped her arms around her. Feeling somewhat comforted by the strange girl, she leant in and inhaled a scent that was decidedly Tara. It was the cinnamon sweet smell that she associated with her Tara.

She pulled back with a sharp gasp. "Tara?" she held the girl's head between her hands. It was unmistakably Tara. Of course now with darker hair but as she glanced the girl over, she found she rather liked it on her. "But how?"

"How what?" Tara was still confused. Willow pointed shakily to where Angel still stood in shock. Tara approached the vampires slowly. "Oh my goddess, she looks like…"

"She is you," Angel finished. "She smells like you, only she is a vampire." He looked at the stunned witch. "This doesn't make any sense."

"Tell me about it," Tara shook her head. "I don't understand. What's going on?"

Giles quickly recanted as much of the story as he knew before pulling his child into a tight hug. "Oh thank god," he whispered holding his very much alive daughter in his arms. Tara hugged him back feeling the desperation there. She noticed the sad look on Faith's face and motioned for her to come closer. The slayer hesitantly stepped into the embrace.

"It's really me," Tara smiled as comfortingly as possible. "Not going to push you around or try to beat you up. Unless you take my shirt again and then it's on!"

Faith laughed softly and released her sister. The other Scoobies stepped up to welcome her back. 

Spike's eyes darted between the caged Tara and dark haired one less than three feet away from him. His real sister approached him and he took two steps back. She arched an eyebrow. His eyes continued to shift between the mirror images. "One of you two hit on me. I just want to make sure you're the real Tara."

Tara put her hands on her hips and thought for a moment. "Just remember you asked for it. You got the nickname William the Bloody when we were ten. You wrote a poem about this girl named Cecily, stupid little bint that one. But anyway, you wrote the poem and read it to her. She laughed and so did most of the class. They all told you they would rather have railroad spikes shoved through their heads than listen to another poem from William the Bloody Awful Poet. Then that's when you got the nickname Spike, but we can save that for another time when you don't recognize your own twin."

Spike just stood there resembling a rather odd looking tomato. Tara smiled mischievously and he narrowed his eyes. "It's her." He quickly pulled her into a tight hug. "Don't ever scare me like that again."

"I don't intend to," she grinned.

"But what I don't understand is who she is," Xander pointed at the caged Tara. "And where were you?"

"I went to go see Angel. I just needed to get away and talking to Angel seemed like the best bet at the time," Tara shrugged. "But I never expected this to happen."

The caged Tara finally seemed to notice the other Tara. More appropriately she seemed to notice the arm that Spike still had draped over her shoulder. Her eyes narrowed and objects started to levitate around the siblings. The twins ran and hid in what was quickly becoming Spike's new spot, underneath the circulation desk. "Well that answers that question," Spike turned to his twin. She arched an eyebrow. "What happens when you make a witch a vampire?" he nodded his head towards Vampire Tara. Tara nodded.

"You know I gotta say, sis, this is definitely one side of you I could have gone without seeing," Faith joined them in hiding.

"Yeah," Tara agreed before suddenly remembering something. "Sides of me. Oh crap!"

"Let me get this straight," Giles took his glasses off and rubbed them carefully. Tara winced at the too familiar gesture. Faith squeezed her shoulder sympathetically. "You made a wish around someone who used the word vengeful?"

"I wasn't really thinking very clearly at the time," Tara sighed. "I was just getting stuff off my chest. And Anya was listening and I just said it. How was I supposed to know that would happen?"

Giles walked away and seemed very likely to bang his head into the wall if Jenny hadn't wrapped her arms around his middle at that moment. She winked at the two girls and they nodded in understanding. Tara then turned back to her vampire twin. She cocked her head to the side regarding the girl. "Do you think I look good with a nose ring?"

"Don't even think about it!"

Faith and Tara exchanged glances. They were saved anymore comments from Giles by Buffy, Spike and Xander making their triumphant return with a struggling Anya held between them. The vengeance demon frowned when she saw the two Tara's in the same place.

Giles noticed the necklace around her neck and started to reach for it. Anya's eyes widened and her struggles intensified. "No, please, no. I just got my powers back. Please don't take them away."

He hesitated a moment. The watcher in him taking over for the slightest moment. He motioned for Spike and Buffy to let her go but also made sure that Anya understood should she try to run, she would be stopped. Anya sat down heavily in her chair.

"You lost your powers, how?"

Anya sighed. "D'Hoffryn is what you would call the boss of all vengeance demons. That is what I am. Or rather was. He bound my powers."

"Why?"

"Because I reversed a wish. It shouldn't have happened like that," Anya shook her head. "That poor woman didn't do anything to deserve the vengeance."

"A vengeance demon with a conscience," Spike muttered under his breath. "Only on the bloody Hellmouth."

"Who was it?"

"Mrs. Crenshaw's husband wasn't it?" Xander asked suddenly. "That is why his secretary's head exploded. She made a wish and you did it. But you reversed it. That's why she's still alive, right?"

"How did you know?" the demon looked up at him. He shrugged. "Well yes, I retracted the wish and D'Hoffryn bound my powers. He said unless I found some serious vengeance to wreak I would never get them back. And then in my lap falls a witch. A witch with a lot of power and I knew that would be all it took. But then something went wrong and she came out!"

The exasperated demon pointed to the caged vampire who had long ago given her attempts to escape and was instead sulking in a corner. Though every now and then Spike caught her winking in his direction. He shuddered and moved closer to Buffy.

"You don't know what its like to be this way," Anya said through clenched teeth. "I'm not eighteen years old. I'm over a thousand years old. I'm older than the vampire over there! I am older than everyone in this room combined! But now I am stuck in this hormonal barely adult body not even able to buy a beer and flunking math! I'm flunking a system that came into existence after I was born!"

"We have to send her home. If there were some other way that we could," Giles hesitated for a moment. "But there isn't." Something in him felt for this girl, eh, demon. She glared at him before ripping the necklace off her neck and handing it to Buffy. The slayer looked confused before Giles made a crushing motion. She nodded and closed her fist tightly over the pendant. Instantly the caged vampire disappeared and a quiet settled over the library.

Anya stood up and concentrated hard on teleporting herself out of the library. A frown marred her features once she realized the futility in such an action. She finally settled on storming out the room.

"Someone explain to me when we started feeling sorry for the demons?" Xander shook his head in annoyance.

"Probably around the same time that Spike started writing poetry," Angel replied with a teasing grin. Spike narrowed his eyes. He turned his head sharply towards Xander, who was trying to seem innocent. Trying being the keyword. That failed about two minutes after Cordelia burst into a fit of giggles. "I can just imagine little Will in front of the classroom reading his poem."

"Roses are red, violets are blue, Cecily is sweet, hey I really like you," Giles recited from memory. Spike turned wide eyes on his father. The elder Giles shrugged. "When you can't beat them, join them."

"Well if anyone wants me," Spike sighed. "You know where I'll be." He then crawled into his hiding spot loudly declaring never to come out again.

"A really, really interesting day back," Cordelia giggled again leaning against Angel's shoulder.

Later that night, Willow sat in Oz's van with a rather uncomfortable silence hanging in the air. "So."

"So."

"Here we are."

"Yeah."

Willow tapped her fingers on her bouncing leg. "So that was pretty crazy this afternoon, huh? I guess you missed all that stuff."

Oz turned so that he was facing her. He held one of her hands in his gently. "I missed you." He looked down at their joined hands. "You love her don't you?"

Willow looked surprised but wouldn't deny it. "Yes, I love Tara very much."

"Guess it was pretty stupid of me to come back thinking I could you just have you back, huh?"

"A year ago, maybe, but its not a year ago. I met Tara and she makes me happier than I ever thought I could be. I love her and she loves me. Well maybe not so much after today but I'll make it up to her."

"She'd be crazy to let you go. Trust me, I speak from experience."

Willow gave him a soft smile. "So are you sticking around?"

He shook his head, returning the smile. "Nah, I think I'll travel some more. I know there is more I can learn about the wolf. Maybe one day I'll come back to the 'Dale but for now…. I go where the road takes me."

 "Keep in touch this time?"

He squeezed her hand lightly. "I promise." He kissed her on the cheek softly. "She is a lucky, lucky girl."

"Thank you." Willow opened the door to the van slowly and stepped out. She felt as though she was leaving a piece of herself behind in that van and in a way she was. She was leaving the shy young girl that had fallen in love with the older guy in a band. And as she turned to walk up the driveway she was walking to her future as a confident young woman who had a lot to explain to her girlfriend.

As she rang the doorbell, she heard Oz's van taking off. Giles opened the door with an exasperated smile. "Finally, maybe you can get them to stop."

"Fighting again?"

"When aren't they?" Giles huffed allowing the girl to enter. Willow stopped short at the scene in front of her. Several of the chairs in the living room had been overturned and had one or more teenagers hiding behind them.

"Just give me the book back and your precious Blinks won't get hurt!" Spike growled from behind the couch. Xander's head appeared over the top and promptly disappeared when a pillow was thrown at his head.

"Give Blinks back or I swear I will deliver the book straight to Angel!" Tara shouted back.

"How did this even start? Who took what first?"

Giles shook his head. "I don't know. I don't care. They've been like this since they got home." He stepped into the war zone and was assaulted by various pillows and cushions. All motion ceased. Giles calmly turned his head towards Tara. "Willow is here to see you." Tara nodded with wide eyes and motioned for Willow to follow her upstairs.

"I definitely don't want to be around to see what will happen next," Tara shook her head with a frown. "I think that falls under the child abuse category."

Willow smiled at the joke. Tara flopped down on her bed and nodded her head towards the cushy chair by the window. Willow sat down and started to twist her hands together nervously.

"So what did you want to see me about?" Tara asked nonchalantly.

"You look really good as a brunette."

"It's my natural hair color really. I've been dyeing it as long as Spike has." Tara paused taking a good look at Willow. "I know you didn't come here to tell me my hair looked good so what did you really want?"

"I wanted to say that I'm sorry about everything that happened today. I'm sorry that I didn't tell Oz about you to begin with. I'm just sorry that you felt hurt."

Tara patted the bed beside her and Willow joined her. "Will, I love you. And I want you to be happy. So that means I want you to be with the one you really love."

"And I am," Willow tilted Tara's chin upwards. "I'm with the one I love and the one I want." She moved closer. "And I want to make it up to you."

"Really?" a tiny smile curved her lips. "When?"

"I'm thinking starting now." Willow leaned over and kissed Tara softly.

"Now is good," Tara smiled into the kiss. "I love you."

"I love you," she whispered back. They knew eventually their peace would be disturbed by their immature friends and family but for the moment they were just going to enjoy being with each other and being in love. Willow smiled as she cuddled closer to Tara. Yeah, life was very good.

*Um, blame that whole Tara/Spike thing on a very whacked out conversation between my brother and myself. Suffice to say that is the last time I ever ask my brother for plot pointers! Also I know the Anya situation was left rather unresolved, but that's not the last we'll see of Anya. Look for her to make her triumphant return in the next chapter, I think…. Maybe. Oh well. I'm off to South Carolina for a week and a half. Hopefully I'll be able to write that Christmas chapter and post it, after Christmas! Ciao!