Dammit! Tara cursed mentally. She approached the door and whispered back. "Beth? W-what's wrong?"

"I need to talk to you, Tara, open up please?" her cousin replied in a hushed tone. She sounded really desperate, but Tara was getting desperate, too! She briefly considered diving out one of the windows.

Kicking herself, Tara mumbled, "Just a m-minute." She hurriedly set the truck down in the closet and tossed her jacket and bag in with them, returning to the door and pulling the blanket up off the floor, wrapping herself in it. Thank the God and the Goddess she didn't have her shoes on yet. She kept the light off, then opened the door and pulled Beth in. The door closed again behind her.

"I'm sorry, I heard you going back to your room, and I wanted to talk to you. You aren't still sick, are you?" Beth questioned quietly.

Tara shook her head, almost imperceptible in the darkened room. "No, I'm, I'm okay. W-what do you need?" Her heart was pounding in her chest, almost to the point where she was sure Beth would be able to hear it.

"Well, it's my mom. Like I said at dinner, she's not doing very well lately. I know you've been through the same kind of thing with your mom, and I don't feel like it's something I can talk about with Donnie. I was sure you'd understand about why I really had to come here early. It's just that it can be so hard to be at home, to see Mom keep getting weaker." Beth sat down on Tara's bed and heard a slight crumpling noise. She reached behind her, shifting her weight as she pulled the note up. "Oh, I'm sorry!" she apologized, peering blindly at the paper in the darkness. "This wasn't too important, I hope. Do you mind if we have some light? It's kind of hard to talk about this when I can't see you." Beth reached for the nightstand, flicking the lamp on even as Tara opened her mouth to protest. Beth moved to hand the paper back to Tara, then hesitated and looked closer at it, tilting her head to the side. "Wait a second, what's this?"

Tara snatched the paper away quickly, her face flaming and her pulse pounding. "That's, it's n-n-nothing. I mean, it's something, but, but it's a p-private something."

Puzzlement was written all over Beth's face. "Then why is it addressed to Uncle Steve and Donnie?" Realization dawned on her, her eyebrows raising. "Oh! That's not about - I mean, Tara, Donnie told me…." Her face turned about ten shades of red, and she paused in thought before she continued. "Tara, I'm pretty sure they already know."

"They d-do?" Tara's pulse beat even more rapidly, and her stomach felt all churn-y, like the spin cycle on the washing machine. Only not in a happy, clean clothes way. She gulped and felt suddenly weak in the knees, taking a seat on the bed next to her cousin.

Beth nodded, her shining blonde ponytail bobbing. "Donnie does, anyway. But I want you to know that I think it's perfectly okay. And I'm sure they will still love you, even after you tell them you're a lesbian."

Tara wanted to laugh out loud with relief, but managed to control herself and only grinned like a moron for what felt like endless moments. You know, Beth is cooler than I thought, she mused. She sees a lot of stuff that I wasn't sure she would. The witch nodded and sighed, her voice full of emotion. "I'm so g-glad that you understand, Beth. It means a l-lot."

Her cousin continued to smile supportively, and leaned over to give Tara a hug. "I should let you go to bed now. We can talk about my mom tomorrow, when we go shopping. I'm so glad you feel better, this means we can spend more time together while I'm visiting." She headed for the door and had her hand on the knob. "Good night!"

"Wait, Beth? Can I ask you a f-favor?" Tara inquired, thinking quickly. "To k-keep a secret for me." Please Gods let this work!

Beth dropped her hand from the doorknob and faced Tara. "Sure, anything. You name it."

Tara tucked a strand of hair behind her right ear, letting the blanket fall to reveal her fully dressed. A cunning grin spread slowly across her face. "I w-was gonna, um, sneak out tonight. To see m-my girlfriend? I really missed her today, w-when I was, um, sick. She wanted to give me my birthday present, and I'm, I'm n-not ready to have them m-meet her yet."

"Oh, that is so sweet!" the younger blonde squeaked. "You can count on me, Tara. I'll look the other way and keep it quiet. What time were you going to go?" Beth asked.

"Um, in about h-half an hour?" Tara said. "I still have to f-finish this note. For, for Dad and Donnie." She waved the note, making sure the actual words remained unclear. A delay, but she would still have plenty of time to make the bus. Maybe it was enough time for Beth to doze off, too. And if she heard a noise, she most likely would just assume Tara was off to see her 'girlfriend' and not bother to watch her leave.

"Perfect. Have fun tonight!" Beth said with an enthusiastic smile, still fortunately keeping her voice down. "Don't stay out too late! And happy birthday!"

Tara nodded, and gave Beth a sympathetic smile, rising and putting a hand on the younger girl's arm. "And I'm really sorry. About your mom, I m-mean. I know that it's r-rough to go through it all, but I'm glad you told me. A-and trusted me enough to talk about it."

Beth held a stoic expression throughout her cousin's speech, then crumbled, tears running down her cheeks. "I just knew you'd understand, Tara. Thank you so much." She hugged the witch briefly and tightly, before stepping back to the door. "I should go, I know you've got things to do. And I could use some sleep. Night."

"Bye, Beth," Tara mouthed, flicking the light off as Beth opened the door to leave the room. Mixed feelings washed over the young Wiccan, and she fell back onto her bed, emotionally exhausted. So that was why Beth had needed to come early, it explained a lot.

Still, she'd nearly had a heart attack when her cousin had the note in her hand. That had been such a close call, but thankfully there had been a convenient and even honest diversion from the note's true purpose. Except, you know, the part about having a girlfriend, Tara grumbled to herself.

It was kind of good to know that at least Beth accepted her for who she was, but it made her feel even worse to be lying about where she was really going. These last moments she'd spent with Beth had really shown a different side of her. It was kind of a shame that she finally felt close to one person in her family, now that she was leaving. It wasn't even a family member she got to see every day, but still, it was someone she had a blood tie to who didn't loathe her. She decided she would stay in touch with Beth, when she got to Sunnydale.