Part Nine

After Willow had left, Tara sat on the couch debating on whether or not she should go to Buffy and talk about he scene in the front year, before deciding to let the slayer be alone for a while.  Buffy had misunderstood what she had heard but she would know that soon enough, right now it was probably best to let her work things out on her own.

"Where's Willow?"  Tara was startled out of her thoughts by the presence of the slayer standing in front of her.

"S-She went out.  She'll be back s-soon."  A tremulous smile appeared on the girls face as she looked at Buffy.

"Oh."  Buffy stood in front of the witch shifting from one foot tot he other as if trying to decide if she should stay or go.  "I lied to you."

Tara was confused.  "About what, sweetie?"

"Me and him.  That day I told you that there was nothing going on between us and that was a lie."

Tara wasn't sure how she should respond to this.  What exactly did Buffy want?

"I understand why you did it, I think.  Y-You wanted to keep it private."

"Well, yeah, but I also didn't want you all to hate me."  Buffy looked won at the floor finding it difficult to meet Tara's eyes.

"Oh, Buffy.  We could n-never hate you!"  A frown of concern appeared on Tara's brow.

"I only wish that he hadn't told you guys about it.  I-I was going to stop.  Really.  I was just waiting for him to recover first."

Tara nodded her head.  "I understand but Buffy?"

"Yeah?"

"Spike didn't tell us about he two of you."

Buffy's eyes flew back up to stare at Tara in confusion.  "What?  Yes he did.  When I came in I heard you guys talking about it in the kitchen."  Panic made her voice crack slightly.

"Buffy did you hear him say that you were sleeping with him?"  Tara was determined that Buffy would hear her and know that Spike hadn't done what she had accused him of and that the beating he received from her was undeserved.

"N-No, but I heard you ask if I would be mad that he told you something.  What else could it be?"  Her eyes pleaded with Tara to tell her that Spike had betrayed her because if he didn't…

"Spike was talking to us about you looking for a job.  He was determined to find another way to help you and he asked me to come over so that he could talk to Willow and I about an alternative solution that wouldn't involve you having to take another job.  He asked Willow to talk to Xander and Anya since he didn't think that they would be too receptive if he approached them himself.  Buffy, h-he was trying to help you."

Buffy just stared at the other girl unable to thing of what this all meant.

"No…"

Buffy held her hands up in front of her looking horrified. What was she supposed to do?  Abruptly she ran out of the room and up the stairs where she threw herself across the bed.

Willow walked into the house and found Tara sitting on the couch reading a book.  Wearily she sat down beside her and let out a sigh.

Tara closed her book and looked at Willow, "H-How did it g-go?"

"Strange.  I wasn't to clear on my reasons for going there in the first place but the things he said really threw me."

"What did he say?"

"Mostly told me that we needed to take care of Buffy, that she wasn't herself.  He said that we'd al let her down and the worst thing is, he's right.  I guess I expected him to be pissed off at her but it was more like he understood and didn't blame her for what happened."  Willow took a deep breath, "I think he's leaving and if he does I doubt that we will ever see him again."

Tara had to admit that she hadn't thought that he would ever leave.  If he were going to it would have been reasonable to thing that he would have left after Buffy jumped from the tower that night.

"Should I try to talk to Buffy?"  A steady throbbing had begun behind the redhead's eyes and she was not looking forward to dealing with this anymore tonight.

"She was looking for you earlier and I told her you had left but not where you had gone.  Will, I told her that Spike hadn't been talking to us about the two of them.  I felt that she had to know that Spike hadn't betrayed her trust that way and now I think it was a mistake to tell her."

"Tara, she had to know.  It just isn't right for her to blame him for something he didn't do."

"But, Willow, you should have seen the l-look on her face.  I felt so bad for her."  Tears were shining in her eyes.

"I think for now we should just give Buffy some space.  Spike's gone and Dawnie will be in L.A. for the rest of the week, maybe she just needs some time to work it out."  A part of Willow wanted to go to Buffy but she would just let it go for now.

"I'm gonna go now, but if she needs anything…"  Tara gathered her belongings and walked out of the house with Willow on her heels.

"Thank you, Tara, it means a lot having you here."  Willow gave the girl a hesitant smile wondering if maybe reconciliation wasn't as impossible as it had seemed just a short time ago.

"Bye."  With a brief wave she was gone.