"If I were her, I'd get out of town post-hastey," Buffy said, with more energy than she felt about the situation. Faith was awake, and Buffy couldn't even begin to decide how she felt about it.
"You're not me." Faith whipped around to see Buffy approaching with a blonde girl at her side. She looked the girl up and down and scowled. It's the same girl Buffy was all cuddled up with at Giles' apartment the previous night.
Faith was far too angry about everything to process her feelings about this new development. It was upsetting enough that Buffy wasn't even with the guy she had almost killed Faith to save - but the fact that it was a woman. Faith was pretty sure her head would explode if she let herself think about that too much.
"Faith… how are you?" Buffy stammered, feeling nervous and unsure of what she should be saying or doing. She hadn't expected to just run into Faith and wasn't sure how to act.
"How am I? Seriously? You tried to gut me! You took everything from me, and now you're asking how I am?!" Faith was a ball of rage, she took a menacing step towards Buffy, but Buffy didn't visibly react. "How the hell do you think I am?"
"Faith." The blonde stranger took a step forward, confusing Faith and distracting her from Buffy. "Do you recognize me?"
Faith looked the girl over, a little curious to how she clearly knew who Faith was - but didn't seem to be afraid. "No. Should I?"
The girl frowned but nodded. "That's OK. I'm Tara. I've heard a lot about you, it's nice to finally meet you." Tara held out her hand for Faith to shake, taking the irate slayer off guard. She almost reached out to return the greeting before she remembered what she was doing and pulled her hand back.
Tara smiled and dropped her hand, then faith turned her attention back to Buffy. The sound of sirens cut through the tension. Faith started to run, but Tara reached for Faith's hand before she could move past her.
"Come to my dorm room tonight," Tara said while gripping Faith's hand and staring into her eyes.
After it seemed like Tara wasn't going to let her hand go, Faith yanked it away and took a step back but didn't try to leave. "Why would I do that?" Faith couldn't make any sense of what was happening. Buffy should be trying to kill her, not standing silently by while she let someone else do the talking for her.
"Because if you do, I can help you get what you want," Tara said with an eerie calmness.
"You're gonna get back the life she stole from me?" Faith said, motioning her chin towards Buffy.
"You don't want your life back," Tara said with certainty.
"What do you know about what I want?" Faith was pretty sure that she didn't even know what she wanted, it was daunting to think that this woman she had never met - might have the answers.
"Come tonight and find out. What do you have to lose? You already have nothing." Tara grinned, she wasn't at all sure where this confidence was coming from. So far, nothing was going how she had expected it to, yet she still believed they would all get through this without anyone getting hurt and everyone getting what they wanted.
Faith was taken aback by the comment and the oddly comforting way it was said. Everything about Tara was very confusing to her. She felt like they knew each other, at the same time - Faith was positive they had never met.
"Stevenson - room 312," Tara called out as she retreated to stand next to Buffy.
The sirens were getting closer, and Faith couldn't wait any longer, so she turned and ran. She was surprised that Buffy didn't chase her. There was a lot about that encounter that didn't make any sense to her. She had a lot to think about.
"Tara? What was that? Do you think you can help her?" Buffy watched Faith running away from the police, very confused by her conflicting emotions. She had spent a lot of time thinking about what would happen when she saw Faith again. Now she wished she'd spent more time figuring out what to say to her.
Tara smiled and squeezed Buffy close, kissing her gently on the cheek before guiding them towards her next class. "I think we can help her."
"What aren't you telling me? What is it that she wants?" Buffy was thoroughly mystified by everything that just happened. Tara didn't seem to be at all afraid of Faith, and with everything she had told her about the troubled slayer, she definitely should have been.
Tara smiled, "you."
"Me? What?" Buffy pulled away from Tara. "What does that mean?"
"You trust me, right?" Tara asked, even though she already knew the answer. Still, she needed the reassurance, especially now that Faith was awake.
"You know, I do. With my everything." Buffy offered easily and honestly.
"OK, then I'll see you after class, and we'll talk. Hopefully, she'll show up tonight."
"You don't know what she's going to do?"
Tara shuddered. "She's too angry and confused to get a good read on. I think she'll come." Tara was trying to control her disappointment at how angry and chaotic Faith's aura was. She had hoped that things would be different for Faith when she woke up. All Tara could do now was push forward and hope that with Buffy's help - Faith would remember who she wanted to be.
Buffy frowned, her shoulders sagging. "She hates me. How can I help her if she hates me?"
"She doesn't know what she feels right now. If she gives us a chance, we can get through to her, I'm sure of it." Tara wasn't quite as confident as she was trying to appear.
"What are you planning?" Buffy was somehow not surprised that Tara had some sort of plan for how to deal with Faith, even though they had never discussed the prospect of Faith waking up.
Tara winked and kissed Buffy again, on the lips this time. "I don't want to say until we know if it has any chance of working."
Buffy groaned in acceptance, "fine. You're lucky I love you so much."
"I know it, believe me." Tara grinned and gave Buffy another quick kiss before heading towards her next class.
Buffy stood, watching Tara go with a smile on her face. She had no idea what Tara was up to, but she really hoped it would work. Buffy wanted more than anything to help Faith. Even though she had never been able to admit it, even to herself, Faith and the way Buffy had treated her was her deepest regret.
"Finally, I thought she'd never leave you alone."
"Ugh," Buffy growled and dropped her shoulders, her happy moment stolen from her. "Hey, Riley."
"I really need to talk to you," Riley said while standing far too close for Buffy's comfort.
"I very much doubt that." Buffy tried to maneuver around him, but he grabbed her arm. "Let me go."
Instead of letting her go, Riley tightened his grip - squeezing what would have been painfully on her biceps if she weren't the slayer. A fact that she was pretty confident he did not know. "I'm serious, Buffy. That girl you were just talking to, she is dangerous. You have to keep away from her."
"What girl?" Riley never hid his distaste for Tara, but he hadn't tried to claim that she was dangerous before.
"The girl with the brown hair and the jean jacket. Her name is Faith, and she's dangerous." Riley moved his hands to her shoulders, pulling her closer and looming over her.
That caught Buffy's attention and caused her to stop struggling. "What do you know about Faith?"
"What do you know about her?" Riley backed off slightly in surprise at the sharpness in Buffy's question.
"I asked you first. You said she was dangerous." Buffy finally moved past her shock that Riley knew who Faith was and managed to pull out of his grip on her shoulders. It wasn't the first time she wondered why she ever agreed to continue to be friends with him. Then she remembered that the reason was to keep him close until she knew for sure if he was trying to hurt Tara. Once she had her answer, this "friendship" would be over - one way or another.
"Yeah, but I can't tell you what I know." Riley crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at her with smugness. She had to resist rolling her eyes - or shoving her fist through his face.
As she did her best to ignore how annoying he was and think about what he was saying - she began to panic. His behavior seemed like more indication that he was working with the soldiers they had been investigating for several months. The soldiers she suspected were collecting demons and using them for who knows what. If they were after Faith, she could be in serious danger. And Tara had told her to come back to campus. This was all kinds of bad. She needed to talk to Tara now. "OK, well. Thanks for the warning." Buffy turned and ran towards Tara's class, hoping that Riley wouldn't follow her.
She got Tara's attention, and Tara quickly got up from her seat to meet Buffy in the hallway.
"What's wrong?" Buffy's energy was more frantic than Tara had ever seen. She briefly wondered if Faith had returned, and there had been another confrontation.
"Riley talked to me after you left. He was warning me about Faith being dangerous."
Tara's eyes widened, quickly putting together the same theory that Buffy had. "You think this proves that he's with the soldiers and that they know about Faith."
Buffy nodded. "What can we do?"
"Does he know that you know her?"
"I don't think so. He saw us talking, but he told me Faith's name like he didn't think I knew it." Buffy shrugged, she now wished that she had chased after Faith just to keep her safe. She knew Faith could take care of herself against anything in the demon world. But those soldiers were a different story.
Tara cycled through possible ideas. She knew that she could use magic to track Faith down, but if she did that, her plan to gain Faith's trust would be ruined. Faith had to come to them, it had to be her choice.
"What would they even want from her? You still don't think he knows who you are, right?"
"No, I don't think so." Buffy frowned, "if they try to capture her, she may kill someone."
"I know - we can't let that happen." Tara thought for a moment, "do you have anything of hers?"
Buffy looked nervous, "why?" She was spinning the ring on her thumb, a ring that Tara had long since guessed belonged to the younger slayer.
"We'll talk more about this tonight." Tara held out her hand, and Buffy slid the ring off her thumb and handed it to Tara.
"Tara… I…" Buffy was ashamed that she had never been completely honest about Faith.
"Don't worry about it, I promise you that I'm not upset. We will talk later, OK?" Tara did her best to ease the shame she could see Buffy was feeling.
"Is this the same spell that you used on Spike?" Buffy was a little unsure of which response she was hoping for. She should be worried about Faith hurting others, somehow she was more concerned that Faith would be hurt before they had a chance to talk.
Tara shook her head, "no - I wouldn't want to leave her defenseless. This spell will keep her hidden from anyone who means her harm."
Buffy watched with apprehension as Tara performed the spell and then returned the ring.
"Keep wearing it. I'll see you after class." Tara smiled and kissed Buffy goodbye before returning to her class.
Buffy shrugged as she watched Tara walking away. Feeling immensely guilty about… well, everything. She trusted Tara entirely, though. She believed the witch had a plan that would keep Faith safe.
Buffy paced inside Tara's dorm room, waiting with knots in her stomach for Tara to return from her last class. She had told Giles and Willow that she'd run into Faith, but she didn't think she would hurt anyone. They had agreed to give Buffy the time and space to work things out. Buffy only hoped that it wasn't a terrible mistake. If anyone, especially Faith, got hurt because she didn't act fast enough, she would never forgive herself.
"Are you OK?"
Buffy had been so lost in her thoughts that she didn't hear Tara come in. "I'm really worried. What if…"
"Shhh… It's OK. It's going to be OK." Tara wrapped Buffy in her arms and did her best to believe that what she was saying was true. If this went wrong, it could have very dire consequences for everyone involved.
"You don't understand." Buffy frowned, she had told Tara a lot about Faith, more than anyone else had known. But she wasn't sure anyone could really understand how terrible she felt about what happened between the two slayers.
Tara pulled Buffy so they were sitting side by side on the bed. "Can you try to explain? I know you told me a lot about Faith, but there must be something more you aren't saying."
"I… let her down. I should have welcomed her into my life… instead, I pushed her away." Buffy winced as she remembered the final fight with Faith. She could still feel Faith's warm blood spilling out and coating her hands. A vision that haunted her on a nearly daily basis.
"You've said that before." Tara tried to gently probe, hoping that if Buffy could fully admit to her feelings - that they would stop causing her so much pain.
Buffy sighed, "I know… but… I don't know if I can talk to you about this." The real problem wasn't in telling Tara. It was that Buffy had never let herself think about Faith enough to process her feelings.
"Why not? You can talk to me about anything."
Buffy stood up and walked to the window, looking out into the night and just decided to let it all out. Tara deserved to know everything, even if she ended up hating her for it. "I was so jealous of her when she first showed up. I think… I think I hated her."
Tara waited for Buffy to continue, she was a little surprised that Buffy could have ever really hated Faith.
"She was just so… Faith. So happy - so carefree - so much better than I was."
Tara considered arguing with Buffy on this point. From Buffy's and everyone else's stories of Faith - she was sure that Buffy believed the exact opposite was true. Tara opted to stay silent, hoping that Buffy would finally let herself work through what had happened. Tara had her suspicions of how Buffy actually felt about Faith, but she had no real proof and strongly suspected that Buffy had never even admitted the truth to herself.
"I let my jealousy drive me crazy, I acted like I was better than her. I acted like she wasn't special or needed. I ignored the truth, I ignored how sad and lonely she always looked when she didn't think anyone could see. I ignored her hurt when she was excluded from things."
Buffy's whole body was shaking, "secretly, I was happy when she screwed up. Instead of telling her I understood - that I knew it was an accident - I just latched on to her telling me that she didn't care. Even when I knew that she did. If I had just been even slightly human to her… none of what happened would have. If she ever just once knew that I was on her side..." Buffy trailed off, she was losing the battle with herself to not start crying.
"How can she ever give me a chance now? How will she ever believe that I'm not that same selfish asshole who was so scared and confused by how I felt that I pushed her away? When I should have…" Tears were streaming down her face, and Tara moved to hold her.
"Why would she even listen to me? She hates me, and she should. I messed everything up, and then I tried to kill her! I don't deserve for her to give me a chance."
"Of course you do. You were young and scared. You didn't understand what you were feeling." Tara was fighting hard to keep her composure. Buffy's emotions were swirling wildly, and it was making her slightly dizzy. She knew she had to stay strong - for all of their sakes.
"I understood it fine. I was petty and jealous. I thought I had outgrown what an awful person I was in LA - but it all came back with a vengeance once I met Faith." Buffy pulled out of Tara's arms and covered her face with her hands. She didn't feel she deserved Tara's comfort.
Tara reached for Buffy, forcing her to look in her eyes. "That's not true." Tara wiped Buffy's tears away.
Buffy shook her head and backed away from Tara.
"Even if it is true, even if you were mean on purpose, just to be mean. Would you do that again? Would you ever hurt her now?"
"No!" Buffy was horrified at the idea that she could become that person again.
Tara smiled softly at Buffy's adamant response. "I think she'll see that. I think she'll see that you want to try and repair the hurt you've caused each other. That you truly want to help her."
"I really do. I don't know what the council will do to her. We can't let them take her. Even if she hates me, we can't let that happen. Promise me that you won't let them take her." Buffy felt slightly better, now that she had worked through some of her feelings. She was more able to focus on the reality of the situation. Faith was going to have people after her, and she was going to need help.
"I promise." Buffy's emotions were finally beginning to settle, and Tara was regaining her confidence that her plan would work out.
"I'm serious, I know you don't like to use your magic on humans - but this is different. She doesn't deserve whatever they might do to her."
"I will do everything within my power to keep her safe. I promise." Tara was solemn in her words. Tara was more committed to the idea of keeping Faith safe than Buffy could have known. When she had first learned that Faith was awake, she was more than a little concerned that she might have to fight Buffy on how to handle Faith.
Buffy let out a sigh of relief and wiped her face free of tears. "Thank you. I should go, it might be easier for you to help her without me here."
The door opened before Tara could respond.
"You trust me alone with your girl?" Faith asked as she entered. Her demeanor was a little hard to read. Her aura was not quite as chaotic as it was when Tara first saw the slayer - but it was not as whole as she had hoped it would be.
Neither Buffy nor Tara had moved. Faith was surprised that Buffy hadn't attacked her immediately or at least tried to get into a more defensible position. The other slayer didn't even look ready for any kind of fight. Her face was red and puffy from crying, and Faith was struggling to keep hold of her anger.
"Are you still planning on using that?" Tara motioned towards Faith's pocket and watched with apprehension as Faith pulled the magical item out. Faith held the small metal device in her hand for a few moments before throwing it to the ground and stomping on it.
Tara was relieved that she had included magical item detection along with the other protections she had added to her room. She was also encouraged by Faith's reaction. It served as proof that, even though Faith hadn't remembered everything, she was not nearly as evil as everyone seemed to believe.
"What was that thing?" Buffy asked, moving a little closer to examine the remnants of the device.
"The mayor left it for me." Faith was ashamed as she looked down at the broken device, "it would let me switch bodies with someone."
"What were you going to do with it?" Buffy asked - she was more confused than worried at this point.
Faith looked up and locked eyes with Buffy, "I was going to switch with your girl. Get close to you."
"Then what?" Buffy barely forced the question out, her confusion was turning into anger that Faith was considering hurting Tara.
"I hadn't really thought that far ahead." Faith shrugged and backed away.
"It doesn't matter now, though, right?" Tara said, pointing at the remnants of the device on the floor.
Both slayers nodded, though neither relaxed much. Until seeing that device, it hasn't even crossed Buffy's mind that Faith might hurt Tara. She fought through her anger and focused on believing that Tara had some way to keep Faith out of danger, without anyone getting hurt.
"So, what's the plan here? How are you going to help me get what I want?" Faith stood with her arms folded over her chest. Trying to appear calm and confident - even though she was definitely neither.
"First, you have to decide if you're going to trust us enough to let us help you." Tara took a cautious step towards Faith and watched as Faith's aura reacted. Faith's aura had been rapidly changing since she had entered the room. It was almost like it was fighting with itself.
"I'm here, aren't I?" She held her arms out wide, getting more irritated by the moment. She didn't know why she thought coming here was a good idea.
"You are, but that doesn't mean you're ready to listen. That you're willing to believe that Buffy really does want to help you."
Faith scoffed and re-crossed her arms over her chest. "Like all I overheard was supposed to make happen? Do you think I really believed any of that shit?"
Buffy frowned and moved in the direction of the door, "I told you she wouldn't trust me. I'll just go and let you two talk."
"No way, how do I know you're not going to call the council or the cops when you leave?" Faith moved quickly to bar Buffy's path to the exit.
"What can I do then? How can I prove to you that I want to help?"
Faith was annoyed with herself. She had decided to come here, and despite what she said, she had believed everything she'd heard. Everything in Buffy's reaction to her so far fits with Buffy genuinely trying to help her. Even if Buffy had been planning something, no way would she leave Faith alone with Tara if she thought that Faith was dangerous.
"Whatever, can we just get on with this? If people are after me, I'm not sure how long it's safe to stay here."
Tara was relieved that Faith was at least somewhat agreeing to cooperate. Then she began to worry about her plan, "I have something to explain to both of you."
Buffy looked at Tara, "what is it? Do you have some way to stop the council and those soldiers?"
"I've dealt with them for now. No one who means Faith any harm will be able to find her."
"You put a spell on me?" Faith wasn't sure what to feel about this news, her first instinct was to be angry at the intrusion.
"Only to protect you. Only to make sure no one could hurt you while you decided what you wanted to do." Tara explained, and Faith didn't really seem to calm.
"She would never hurt you, Faith. She wants to help you." Buffy added, and Faith gave her a strange look.
"Why? Why would you want to help me with anything? You don't even know me and anything B told you should make you want to lock me up." Faith had met people who wanted to "help" her before. There was always a catch.
Tara sighed, "I'm going to explain. But I need both of you to promise you'll let me finish before you react."
Buffy wasn't sure why she would need to keep that promise, but she nodded. Faith didn't respond at all, only standing stoically as she waited for Tara to start talking.
Tara sat down at her desk and rubbed her temples, "I've known for quite some time that you were seeing her." Tara looked at Buffy, and Buffy frowned in shame.
"Seeing me?" Faith asked, not yet following what they might be talking about.
Buffy swallowed hard, completely ashamed of what she had been doing, and that she tried to hide it from Tara. "I visited you while you were in your coma."
Faith was shocked by this news and slid to the floor against the wall. Her complete confusion at what she was hearing disarming her distrust and anger for now, at least.
After a few moments of silence, Tara started up her story again. "At first, I was upset. I didn't understand, you didn't really explain what had happened between the two of you. Everything I heard about Faith..." Tara shook her head, not wanting to re-open old wounds. "I knew she was more important to you than you were willing to admit. I had to find out what really happened. So I started visiting her too."
Buffy gasped and sat down on the bed.
"You know I can see things about people... I generally don't, unless I think it's needed. With this... I.." Tara took a few calming breaths. "I entered Faith's mind… I had to know what happened between you two."
"What the fuck!" Faith quickly stood back up and took an aggressive step towards Tara, she was surprised when neither Buffy nor Tara moved to stop her. Their complete lack of reaction caused her to hesitate and gave her the opportunity to think things through.
"I only looked at things I knew about from what Buffy told me. I had her perspective. I needed yours too." Tara was looking into Faith's eyes, and Faith was completely drawn in. No one had ever looked at her like that before. Faith knew in that moment that Tara saw her - saw everything about her - and unlike everyone else in Faith's life - Tara wasn't disgusted by what she saw.
Faith backed down, she was too confused to focus on how angry she was.
When neither slayer spoke, Tara began talking again. "I used a spell to allow us to communicate. Eventually, she began to trust me, and we would talk almost daily. I had gone through all your shared experiences, and I tried to get you to talk through them with me too. You were so guilty, so ashamed - I thought I was helping you come to terms with what had happened."
Buffy nodded, remembering the oddly pointed conversations they would have about Faith. "You were helping me." She acknowledged. It had helped her deal with her guilt about Faith and the betrayal she had always felt. Tara helped her understand Faith's perspective and see that they were both just terrified girls, who were put in an awful and complicated situation.
"No matter how much we talked, you were still so filled with guilt. I wanted to help you more. I knew Faith needed to wake up. So I started to do more, trying to heal her. Trying to help her find her way. Over that time… things started to change. I started to see who she really was…. And I …" Buffy looked up as Tara explained, as she watched the other woman looking at Faith - she knew exactly what Tara was going to say next. "I fell in love with her," Tara admitted quietly. Buffy's eyes darted to Faith, and she saw the transformation.
Whatever it was that Tara was feeling, Faith felt it too.
Buffy felt her chest tighten, and she stood up. All those fears and resentments that she was afraid were still inside her started swirling around.
"I started to wonder if there was some way…" Tara hadn't been able to tear her eyes away from Faith. The slayer's aura was changing rapidly, and Tara was sure this meant that Faith was remembering all that had transpired between them.
Before she could finish her thought, Buffy had opened the door. She looked back into the room, "I hope you two are very happy together." Then she was gone.
Faith stood in total confusion. Memories of Tara began to flood in, months' worth of conversations with the woman she'd never met before. Tara knew everything about her, and Faith felt like she knew everything about Tara.
"I remember you." Faith was still sorting through her memories - she had no idea what any of it meant yet. All she knew was that this witch wanted to help her.
Tara nodded, she had tears in her eyes - but she couldn't let herself cry. Things hadn't gone at all according to plan.
It hadn't been her intention to confess everything right away. But she had been overwhelmed by the presence of both slayers and lost control. She hadn't even managed to get Buffy to realize the truth of why Faith weighed on her so heavily.
Now she was worried she had lost them both.
"I'll go get her." Faith said, and then she was gone too.