Buffy sat across from Riley, trying desperately to listen to whatever it was that he was talking about. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't manage it. Her mind was anywhere, but here.

"Why is that girl staring at you?" Riley's gruff question finally got her attention.

"Huh?" Buffy looked over to see the girl that Riley had motioned to. Buffy had never seen her before, she had straight blonde hair, and she was definitely staring at Buffy. Her gaze didn't waver when she was caught. She smiled at Buffy, and the slayer was mesmerized. She hadn't felt drawn to anyone quite like this before.

Well, maybe once.

Riley snapped his fingers in front of her face. "Buffy!"

"I don't know who she is or why she's looking at me." Buffy jumped in surprise at Riley's behavior. They had only gone out a few times, and up until this moment, he seemed to be incredibly sweet. His behavior and her reaction to the stranger was confusing her, and she wasn't sure how to react.

"I'm going to go talk to her." Riley moved to stand up, and Buffy reached for his hand - pulling him back towards their table.

"Don't, she's not bothering anyone," Buffy replied, her attention again being drawn to the blonde stranger staring at her.

"She's bothering me!" Riley shouted, and Buffy had to stop herself from rolling her eyes.

"Why do you care?"

"Shouldn't I care if someone is lusting after my girlfriend?" Riley barked at her.

Buffy was surprised by the comment for several reasons. The biggest one being that she hadn't really considered herself as being Riley's girlfriend. They had gone out a few times, and he was nice enough… but she just didn't feel anything. She wanted to, he was normal, and she had convinced herself that his rugged, farmboy good looks were appealing to her.

They talked about things that had nothing to do with demons or vampires. When she was with him - she wasn't the slayer. She was just Buffy, and there was definitely some part of her that wanted to be just Buffy.

But she wasn't sure she actually enjoyed any of the time they spent together.

Riley's pager went off before she had a chance to make sense of his behavior and come up with some kind of response.

"I have to go. I'll walk you back to campus." Buffy fought her instinct to roll her eyes at his statement.

"I'm supposed to be meeting Willow," Buffy argued, it wasn't true, she just didn't want to leave. And she didn't want to have to pretend that she needed Riley to protect her.

"You know it's not safe for you to be walking alone at night," Riley argued, standing up and attempting to pull Buffy to her feet, but she resisted. Buffy hated Riley's tough-guy, protective attitude. She was not a damsel in distress and did not need his help with anything.

Buffy grit her teeth and hoped she didn't sound as impatient as she felt. "I'll be fine. I have the mace you gave me. I told Willow I would be here."

"Fine." Riley paused, "you could at least try to pretend to care that I'm leaving." He stormed off before she had a chance to say anything.

She watched Riley walk away, trying to decide if she cared. She did care - in that she was relieved that he left, which made her wonder why she ever agreed to go out with him in the first place.

She sighed and sank into her chair. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again, the girl who had been watching her was now sitting across from her.

"Hi, I'm Tara." The girl smiled, and Buffy instantly felt at ease - all thoughts of Riley were gone from her mind. She sat up straighter in her seat, finding herself leaning towards the stranger.

"Buffy," Buffy replied, loving the way the girl was looking at her.

"Was that your boyfriend?" Tara asked, nodding her head towards Riley, who was still trying to work his way through the crowd.

Buffy shrugged, not taking her eyes off of Tara. "I guess."

"You're not sure?" Tara's lips curved up in a grin - completely captivating Buffy.

Buffy shrugged again, she didn't want to talk about Riley.

"Why were you here with him, then?"

Buffy sighed as she accepted that the subject of Riley couldn't just be ignored. "I don't know. He's… normal."

"Normal?" Tara asked, leaning back in her seat, with a reproachful grin. "Is that what you're looking for?"

Buffy frowned at Tara's apparent disappointment in her, "I'm not sure."

"You shouldn't have to pretend to be something you're not."

Buffy tilted her head at the stranger. What could Tara have meant by that? She couldn't know that Buffy wasn't normal.

"I'm sorry, maybe that came out wrong. It's not any kind of judgment. I'm not exactly normal myself." Tara paused and looked around the room as if she was about to reveal a secret, "I'm a witch."

"A witch? Do you ride around on a broomstick and cast spells in a cauldron?" Buffy raised a skeptical eyebrow, which was pretty absurd considering how aware she was that magic was real. But still, what were the chances that this girl was really a witch?

Tara laughed and moved forward again, leaning over the table and motioning for Buffy to come closer so she could whisper. When there was only about a foot between them, Tara gasped. Completely overwhelmed by Buffy's power. Buffy noticed the reaction but didn't understand it.

"Are you OK?" She reached for Tara's hand, hoping to comfort her. Tara didn't pull away, she couldn't even if she had wanted to.

"What are you?" It was barely a whisper. She hadn't meant to ask.

Buffy pulled back, devastated that she upset Tara or caused her any distress. "I should go. I'm sorry if I upset you."

"No, please don't go." Tara reached for Buffy this time, groaning at the overload in power once again. "I've never felt anything like you before. You are amazing."

Buffy was startled by Tara's words, no one had ever said she was amazing before, at least not in a way that didn't seem condescending. She didn't know how to take it. Buffy pulled her hand out from under Tara's, and then frowned at the loss of contact. She was tempted to reach back across the table, Tara had left her hand laying there.

Buffy wasn't sure what was happening, but the way this witch was looking at her made her feel seen in a way she hadn't felt before. "I'm a slayer." She whispered. As soon as she said it, she wanted to smack herself. Even though some people knew, it was supposed to be a secret identity. Even though she hated lying to Riley about who she was, she had never really felt compelled to tell him the way she was with Tara.

Tara's smile widened, and she stretched her hand out, hoping Buffy would reach for her again. She tried to contain her reaction when Buffy did. "What do you mean, A slayer? I thought there was only one."

Sadness crept over Buffy's face, "yeah… there's only supposed to be one. I died for a few minutes a couple of years ago."

"So a new slayer was called? Have you met her? Is she here too?" Tara was excited to meet another magical person and was not quite tuned in to Buffy's reactions to her questions. Buffy's aura was intense, but it was too muddled for Tara to make any sense of it yet. The mix and swirls of colors surrounding the slayer made it difficult for Tara to identify the tell-tale signs on Buffy's face.

Buffy's sadness intensified, "she was here… but she died. The slayer after her...she's here in Sunnydale."

"Where is she? Do you work together?"

"We did… she's in a coma."

"Oh." Tara frowned, and she started to acknowledge how upset Buffy clearly was. She decided she didn't want to push this subject any further, at least not tonight. She rubbed her thumb over Buffy's and tried to soothe her as best as she could. She watched as Buffy's energy reacted to her touch. Smiling as she thought she started to understand how a more content Buffy's energy looked. She was determined to get closer to the slayer and learn everything about her.

Buffy took a deep breath and composed herself. Kendra and Faith were in the past. If Faith ever did wake up, she would do what she could to help the other slayer. Until then, she just had to live. Buffy noticed the time and realized she still had to patrol. She really didn't want to leave Tara.

"Well, I think it's time to head out. Would you like me to walk you back to your dorm?" Buffy asked, worried that Tara would say no.

Tara smiled, "I would feel much safer with my own personal slayer escort."

Buffy felt a warmth inside her at Tara's comment.

They slowly walked back to Tara's dorm, Buffy did a great deal more talking than Tara did. Mostly Buffy explained about Sunnydale and how she had ended up there. Tara had only been in Sunnydale for a few months, and she was not all that surprised to find out there was a Hellmouth that explained the excessive demon activity in the area.

"What the hell is this?" Riley's voice called behind them when they were almost back to Tara's dorm. Buffy stopped and sighed, dropping her chin to her chest. All the happiness and comfort she had felt only moments ago, was completely wiped away by Riley's oppressive presence.

"What does it look like?" Buffy asked, not even raising her head to make eye contact with Riley.

"It looks like you're walking the girl you claimed to not even know - home." Riley huffed out with his hands on his hips.

"You didn't say he was such a genius," Tara whispered for only Buffy's ears, which made her have to stifle a giggle.

"Buffy? What the hell!? Did you lie to me?"

Buffy had raised her head to look at Tara, trying to control her laughter. She sighed and tried to answer Riley's question. "No, I didn't lie to you. She introduced herself after you left."

Riley stood back with his arms crossed, peering down at the two women. Tara easily returning his glare, a small smirk which was making him even more furious.

"You're supposed to be my girlfriend! You shouldn't be sneaking around behind my back!" Riley was yelling now and had taken a menacing step towards Tara.

With that, Buffy had had enough. She stepped between Riley and Tara. "Firstly, there's no sneaking. Well… no, that's not firstly. Firstly is that I am not your girlfriend and never was. We went out a couple of times. That's it."

"So you're dumping me for her?" Riley was incredulous and his voice raised two octaves.

Tara bit her lip to stop herself from saying anything.

"I'm not 'dumping' you. We were never together. And just because a girl was looking at me and now we're walking together, that doesn't mean we're dating either."

Riley huffed, "I'm not letting you break up with me."

Buffy's mouth dropped open and looked at Tara. Riley's pager went off before they got a chance to say anything else. He gave them both one last nasty glare and stormed off.

"Did that really just happen? Was I speaking English?" Buffy gawked at him as he walked away, thoroughly confused by his behavior.

"Seemed like you were. I understood you, I think." Tara turned away from Buffy to head into her building.

Buffy stood for a second before she realized Tara had left. She registered hurt in Tara's voice and couldn't quite understand it. She quickly followed after her, not willing to let her new friend get away. "Tara? Did I do something wrong?"

"No, you didn't do anything," Tara answered honestly.

"I did something, you were disappointed, and then you just left." Buffy frowned and tried to make sense of the night. "I know Riley is a bit much, I hope he doesn't bother you about this."

Tara moved closer and touched Buffy's hand, then forced herself not to react to how it felt to make contact with the Slayer. "You didn't do anything. I just misread things. I'll see you around campus?" Tara had a lot to think about, she knew she wanted Buffy in her life - she just started to doubt that Buffy wanted the same things that she did.

Buffy once again started to watch Tara walk away for a moment before reacting and chasing after her again. "Wait. What did you misread?"

Tara sighed, she should just let this go, but she had never felt anyone like Buffy before and as much as she was worried about scaring Buffy off - the thought of not being honest wasn't something she could do. "I thought we had a connection. I thought you understood why I was looking at you and why I introduced myself."

Buffy adorably scrunched her face. "You weren't just being friendly?"

Tara chuckled at how cute Buffy was, "Friendliness was part of it."

Buffy frowned, "I don't understand. Did I do something that made you not want to be my friend? Is it the slayer thing? Cause I get that." Buffy smiled sadly. She hadn't felt this connected to anyone in a long time - but she definitely understood how Tara wouldn't want to risk being her friend. "So, yeah. I'll see you around campus. Try not to be out after dark."

This time Buffy walked away, and Tara watched her for a moment before stopping her. "I never said I didn't want to be your friend."

Buffy stopped and turned back to Tara.

"I want to be more than your friend."

"More than…?" It took Buffy a few more moments, and then she finally put it together. "Oh."

"Does that upset you?" Tara asked, fighting with herself to not just read Buffy to find out what the girl was thinking.

"No, I'm not upset." Buffy looked at Tara again and tried to decide how she felt. Just in the hour or so she'd spent with Tara, she'd laughed and had more fun than she did with anyone she'd ever dated before. Could she date a woman? She let herself think more about what that would actually mean. The more she thought about it, the more she didn't hate the idea at all. "Huh." She finally said to herself as she started to accept the idea.

"Was that a good 'huh' or a bad one?"

Buffy laughed, "it was an I have a lot to think about 'huh.'"

"Thinking about things is good." Tara smiled and took a step closer to Buffy.

Buffy considered Tara again, "you have to think about things too. Dating a slayer is not going to be easy."

"Oh? What's the problem with dating a slayer?" Tara couldn't help but grin, seeing that Buffy was not entirely off the idea of them dating.

"There are all kinds of problems. But mostly, we get hurt - a lot. I already died once, there's a very good chance I will again."

Tara did not like the sound of Buffy dying at all. She considered pointing out how helpful she might be but sensed that would lead to Buffy pushing her away to protect her. Buffy was entirely selfless and would willingly endure suffering so that others wouldn't, this is something Tara could tell without even having to read her. "I am confident that it will be worth having you in my life, no matter what you decide."

Buffy smiled, "OK… it's late, and I still have to patrol. Maybe we could have lunch tomorrow?"

"I'd like that." Tara offered with a smile.

Buffy waited for Tara to enter her building and disappear up the stairs, before heading back out into the night to patrol.

Patrol ended up being quite uneventful, which was a good thing because Buffy was very distracted. The more she thought about being in a relationship with Tara - the more excited she became.

She'd only dated one other person who knew who she was, and that wasn't exactly perfect - but Tara wasn't Angel. Angel had been secrets and hidden agendas and of course soul-stealing curses. Tara wasn't any of those things. And Buffy wasn't the same naive girl she was then either.

When Buffy slid into bed after a boring night of slaying, she closed her eyes with a smile on her face. For the first time, in as long as she could remember - she was looking forward to what the next day would bring.