Author's Rambling Pre-Fic Mumbo-Jumbo: This is set just after No More finishes, as Tara first arrives in Sunnydale. In the Buffyverse timeline, A New Life falls roughly between Revelations and Lovers Walk in Season 3. At the time I wrote this fic, it was before Tara's birthday as shown on her headstone in S7's Help was revealed, so I was working off the original air date for Family, making her birthday in the second week of November. (And I prefer to have it my way, so Tara's birthday is decidedly NOT October 16th.) Yes, if you're a stickler for timelines, this is important. If not, then ignore me and read on!

Chapter 1

Tara's eyes fluttered open as the bus squeaked to a stop in front of a bus station about the same size as the one back home. No, not home any more. Now this is home. "Sunnydale station!" the driver announced as Tara pulled the headphones off her ears, letting them loop around her neck. Lisa Loeb still strummed through "Jake" in the tiny speakers, and Tara rose and stretched, yawning, her lower back giving a quiet pop. She reached for her carry-on bag from the overhead compartment and headed for the front of the bus before stepping into the morning sun.

Hours of being confined on the series of busses made the fresh air and sunshine all the more wonderful, and she took a deep breath, waiting for the driver to retrieve her belongings from under the bus. Taking the hand-truck, Tara grinned and took a good look around the near-desolate parking lot and surrounding area. The first order of business would be to get a place to stay. Probably the lady behind the counter in the station would know of at least one place.

She went inside and stepped up to the counter, asking the middle-aged woman inside if she knew of an inexpensive place that someone new to town could get a small apartment. The woman seemed very nice, and directed her to the Court Street apartments, which were only a couple of blocks away. Tara thanked her, and headed over to check it out. The bus was already rumbling back out towards the highway, the young sorceress being the only passenger being dropped off here.

The place doesn't look that bad, she thought hopefully as the building came into view. It wasn't falling apart or anything, like she'd half-expected it would be. The building was three stories high, brick, and pretty old looking. It wasn't covered in graffiti, which the fair-haired girl took as a good sign. She slipped inside, cart trailing behind her, and followed the arrows on signs directing her to the landlord's office.

Though somewhat hesitant at first, she took a deep breath and knocked at the door. "Come in," a harried sounding voice replied. Opening the door, Tara saw a short, dark, balding man who seemed to be somewhere in his forties seated at a desk that was buried under a small heap of papers. Another tenant had vanished. This was happening with alarming frequency, and he was no longer surprised at how eager the building's previous owner had been to sell. Unaware of this, Tara gave a hesitant smile to the man, and he brightened a bit and smoothed his hair down. "Hello there, young lady, and what can I do for you?"

"I, I'd like an apartment. Just a small one, I, I heard that this w-was a good place to go." She smiled shyly again, fighting the urge to let her hair fall across her face. A new town, a new Tara, right?

"And I take it from the luggage there that you'd like to move in immediately?" he chuckled, and Tara nodded. "By the way, my name's Gil Dickinson. And it so happens, little lady, I have a studio that just opened up on the second floor. Would you like to take a look at it?" Poor girl probably had no idea what she was in for, but he'd try to make it easy on her. All on her own, she'd need someone to help her out, anyway.

Tara nodded again eagerly. "Y-yes, sir!"

The man smiled and opened a cabinet with one of the many keys that dangled from the right side of his belt. "Let's see, two twenty-seven, here we go." He took a pair of keys from the cabinet and turned back to Tara. "You can leave the cart right here in the office if you'd like. I'll lock the door once we leave; it'll be perfectly safe here. Now the stairs are to your left," the man directed. Tara turned and headed up the stairs, and the landlord followed her up and took the lead once they reached the second floor.

The floors were covered with worn-looking but clean black and white tile, and doormats sat in front of most of the apartment doors. After a short walk and another left turn, the salt-and-pepper-haired man unlocked apartment 227, the green painted door swinging in to reveal a compact, sparsely furnished dwelling. "Like I said, it's a studio, you have your living room right here, the kitchen/dining area right over there." No walls separated this space and the couch was nearly butted up to the side of the fridge, but there was a narrow doorway on the right side of the main room, which Mr. Dickinson led Tara towards. "Then the bedroom's in here, and the bathroom is on the left. Take your time and look it over."

Tara smiled and did just that, walking slowly around the bedroom, which had room for little more than a bed, and checking out the minimal closet space and the bathroom. Everything looked well used, but obviously cared for and, most importantly, clean. The living room area was pretty much the same, a soft yet rather shabby couch and an old television.

"Everything you see here comes with the place, last tenant left a lot behind, but you can feel free to get more furniture on your own." Tara nodded and walked through the kitchen, peering into the cupboards, which seemed perfectly adequate for one person. "Now, there are a few rules. We've got a lot of people on a lot of different schedules here, so you need to keep it quiet most of the time. No blasting music, no parties, that kind of thing. You get reported for too much noise, and you won't see me looking this happy when I have to come up to talk to you about it. Just be considerate of your neighbors, and they'll be considerate of you." He gave her an appraising glance and winked. "You don't look the type, but I figured I'd let you know anyway.

"We've got our own laundry in the basement, the machines run on quarters. No pets. Right now it's past the 15th of the month, so what you pay today will cover you 'til the first, it's $100, if you decide to take it. I'll also need a $100 deposit. After this month, it's two hundred a month 'til you clear out. If the place is still in this good shape, you'll get the full deposit back. If not, I'll keep it; if it'll cost me over a Franklin to fix what damage you did, you'll get a bill from me. And again, I won't be smiling." Gil raised his eyebrows, making sure this girl knew he meant business but wasn't totally unapproachable. "So what do you think, young lady? Any other questions?"

"Um, are the utilities included?" she asked. "And what about the um, the phones?"

Gil smiled. "Utilities are included, but the phone's up to you. You can call from my office to set up a time to get them to hook your line up, but I'm sure not paying for it!" he grinned, liking this girl already.

Tara nodded eagerly. "Sounds r-reasonable. And it's, it's okay for me to move right in? Now? A-and, is cash good?"