There was much dissention in the Scooby Gang about when it all started, Willow said right after she brought Buffy back to life, Tara said when Buffy died again. Buffy claimed it was when they graduated from highschool, but Anya and Xander thought that the Scooby Gang had finally started to drift apart when the new slayer came into town. That was the day that none of them would forget…
It had been a quiet week in Sunnydale, not a whole lot of vampires deigned to show their ugly faces in the cemetaries and streets, leaving Buffy with plenty of time to work on her issues. Believe it or not, having spent the better part of 4 or 5 months in Heaven, then suddenly ripped out of there by your friends to live on the Earth, that caused some serious mental problems for Buffy. It had also been exactly two months since Willow had sworn off magick all together, she was now attempting to make amends with Tara who had left her. Xander and Anya were still attempting to make wedding plans that grew increasingly more and more complicated, while the evil triumverate of human geniuses who were trying to take over Sunnydale where also laying low for the time being.
The Scooby Gang was hanging out at the Magic Box one Wednesday morning, Xander had been the plentiful provider and gotten the donuts and coffee. They were sitting around the table talking about just stuff, nothing really in particular when all of a sudden the door to the shop opened and a shortish, slender female wearing patched jeans, a tee shirt with chinese writing on it, a flannel shirt and a jean jacket walked in. If Oz had been a girl, this would probably would have been him. She seemed as laid back and accepting as Oz did of everything. "Hey, how's it going?" She asked, her native Kansas accent annoying the hell out of the Californians. "My name's Allison, and I'm the new Slayer, my watcher sent me here to guard the Hellmouth now that Buffy is dead." She sat down next to Xander, plunking her booted feet up on the table and snatching a donut. One of her sleeves was rolled up enough for them to see a wrist guard that an archer or guitarist would use on her right wrist, above the wrist guard was a tattoo of two swords crossing over a crossbow.
Buffy now looked peeved, "Okay, you were called because I died again?"
This shocked Allison who did a double take after looking at Buffy, "You're still alive?" She stuttered.
"Not still, again." Buffy replied, "It's kinda complicated, but short story, I was brought back to life.''
"Wow. Uh, no I wasn't called when you died again, I was called when Faith died. Your replacement had been called 4 years ago, Kendra. Hey, I've got news, the Watcher's Council is sending my Watcher back to England, they say that there is already a whole group of people here who are the equivilant of a group of Watchers. Traverse said: 'Willow Rosenburg: a most powerful spellcaster, she and Tara Mc Clay will do well to help with the magickal aspect of slaying. Xander Harris and Anyaka: Most helpful in the research department. William The Bloody AKA Spike, most useful in interrogating and fighting demons. These people went up against a god and won, they have saved the world from the apocalypse not one or two, but seven times on last count. They will serve you well. Oh, and should Buffy some how come back to life, she will be paid what is due her, over 5.5 billion dollars.' That comes to about a quarter for every single life you saved in each apocalypse you averted." Allison finished, she looked around at the others, "oh, and now you all have watchers' salaries."
Everyone was silent for a while, then the Magic Box erupted in cheers. "We're rich!" Buffy shouted, for now she knew she could take care of all the bills that had accumulated at the Summers' household.
Willow, and Tara were both glad to have the extra income, because Tara didn't speak with her family any more, so they no longer supported her. Willow would rather be free from her familial constraints, because her parents never really approved of her and Tara. Xander and Anya were ecstatic to have extra money because they were getting married, and they had the wedding to pay for.
Once the hubbub settled down, Allison asked, "So, is there some place I can stay here in town, since I'm here for good? Some place relatively cheap?"
Buffy thought about it for a minute then said, "You could stay on our couch, or on an air mattress in the basement, all the other rooms are full."
Everyone agreed, "Yeah, Buffy is the only one of us with an actual house, Willow lives there, Xander and I have an apartment, and Tara, well, where does Tara live now?" Anya asked in her abrupt rudeness.
"I live at the dorm." Tara replied, looking down at a book in front of her so everyone couldn't see that her eyes were tearing.
Later that night, Allison had settled in the Summers' house, she would be sleeping on an air mattress in the basement. Allison headed up the two flights of stairs from her 'bedroom' to Willow's. "Hey." She said, knocking on the door gently. "Can I come in?"
"Sure." Willow whispered, she was usually so emotionally strong, but since she gave up magick all together and Tara had left her emotionally wrung out. "Did you need something?" Willow asked the younger slayer.
"No, I was just thinking, maybe you could do a locator spell to find the evil behind all these weird attacks on Buffy, you know, the time speeding up thing, the disappearing demons and such. I think there's a good locator spell in Grant's Complex Magicks." Allison handed Willow an extremely large and musty book.
"While that's a good idea, I don't do magick any more. I can't help you, I'm sorry." Willow replied, handing the book back.
"Oh, I didn't know, I'm sorry." Noticing the pain evident on Willow's face, she asked, "Was there a certain reason you quit magick?"
"I, I got out of control, I started using magick for everything I did, it started to corrupt me, I went to a magickal drug dealer and got high off magick, and I almost killed Dawn accidentally. My magickal obsession is the reason Tara left. So I quit. Permanently, if you really want to do this spell, you should go find Tara, she still does magick when its' needed." Willow lay down on her bed, signifying that the conversation was over. Allison slipped out quietly.
She stopped in Dawn's room to tell her that she was going out to patrol, Willow was home, but she should leave her alone. Allison went downstairs, grabbed her backpack, and loaded it with stakes, a short sword, and Grant's Complex Magicks. She headed out on patrol. Tara had said that she lived in the dorm. So Allison had borrowed Buffy's address book and gotten the address and dorm room number of Tara's room. She set off across town towards the college. When she reached Stevenson hall, she set out in search of room 215. 'Finally, found it.' She thought as she knocked. The door opened. "Hey, is Tara home?" Allison asked the person who opened the door.
"Who's Tara?" The strange person asked.
"Tara, Tara Mc Clay, she lives here."
"No Tara lives here, just me and Chance." The strange person closed the door.
'Not to worry,' Allison thought, there was a certain sense that some slayers developed, the ability to read auras and to sense auras. Allison had noticed Tara's aura, so all she had to do was meditate on that aura and it would lead her to Tara. She headed out of the building to find a quiet area, she sat down cross legged, closed her eyes and stretched out her senses. 'There it is.' She thought to herself. She stood up and started to follow the direction the aura was the strongest. She walked for a while before she stopped in front of a flea bag motel. 'This is where Tara lives?' She thought to herself. Still focused in on the aura, she went to room 18 where the aura was the strongest. She knocked, Tara opened the door.
"How ddd, did you find me?" Tara stuttered, she had been trying to avoid the scoobies because it hurt to much to be near Willow.
"I'll explain, but can I come in, I don't particularly want to become vamp food." Allison explained as she walked inside, closing the door behind her. 'Yep, it's flea bag all right.' "I asked Willow to do a locator spell to find the evil geniuses behind all the new strange stuff in town. She said she didn't do magick any more, but said you could help. I tracked down your address in Buffy's address book, but when I went to 215 Stevenson Hall, nobody there knew who you were, so that was definitely a fake address. So I focused on your aura and followed it here." Allison explained how she got there.
"I just, I didn't want Willow to find me. It hurts to much to be around her. I can't forget what she did to me, how she abused my mind…" Tara started to sob.
Allison hadn't meant to make the witch cry, she extended her arms to the older girl, pulling her into a hug. Tara cried herself out on Allison's shoulder. "Do you want to tell me about it?" Allison asked, Tara nodded her head, not trusting herself to talk yet. Allison led them over to the bed, sitting down, pulling Tara with her. Once seated, Tara tried to regain her faculties, and began the story of how she met, fell for, and eventually left Willow.
"…then I found out that she had done a forgetting spell on me, to make me forget the fight we had about her using too much magick. I told her that if she could go one week with out using magick, I would consider staying. This was right after we found out that Buffy had been in Heaven, not hell like we had imagined. She had been so eager to try out this spell on Buffy to make her forget that she had been in heaven. She also wanted me to forget that I was mad at her, and that she had done the original spell on me. It was botched, and the entire group, including Giles and Spike lost all their memories. We didn't know who we were, well, those of us with id's knew our names, Xander thought his name was Alex and he was dating Willow because she was wearing his jacket, Spike thought he was a guy named 'Randy' and was Giles' son. Buffy had no ID, so she made up a name for herself, Joan. Any way, we got our memories back, and I left Willow, I was just so disgusted that she could do that spell on me again, after all I had been through with Glory sucking my brain and making me insane." Tara finished her story, dabbing at her eyes with a wad of Kleenex. "Do you think I was wrong to leave her? Should I have tried to help her stop using her magicks?" Tara asked the young Slayer.
Allison hesitated before speaking, "I don't know either of you very well, but from what I could see, Willow is suffering just as much as you are; maybe more because she's also going through magickal withdrawal. She's going to try to prove herself to you again, prove to you that she's changed, I think that if an ex-boyfriend of hers were to come back into town and want to get back together with her, she would send him packing. She's that in love with you." Allison was still holding the 20 year old witch in her arms. "Now the question is, would you take her back if she were to prove to you that she wouldn't ever do magick again. Do you want her back in your life?" The slayer posed the hardest questions at Tara.
Tara thought for a while, the silence in the hotel room was deafening, it was so thick you could have cut it with a knife. "I don't know. I think, if she were to prove, some how that she really meant it, I probably would take her back. But I don't know how she's going to prove it to me." Tara replied, she looked down at her hands with feigned intrest.
"I don't think any of us know how she's going to prove it, but the entire gang is rooting for her, and you. They all want you two to be happy." Allison decided it was time to change the topic. "Now, about this hotel room, I think you and me should pitch our first advanced paychecks from the Watchers' Council and get our own apartment. This is no place for you. And I certainly don't want to be living in Buffy's basement. It's flooded for one thing. I have to keep all my junk on the stairs above the water level, and my mattress is actually floating on the water, it's like living in a boat, but with out the boat. What do you say, wanna be roomies?" Allison asked the witch.
Tara smiled, and nodded, "Yeah. That's a great idea."
"Great, we can start looking right now. C'mon, let's go.'' Allison said, standing up and extending her hand to Tara.
"Now? Why now?" Tara asked, taking Allison's hand and standing also.
"Well, that way if we find someplace, we can move in, and I don't have to sleep on the floating mattress, and you don't have to stay in this rat trap one more night. Now come on, I don't have to patrol for another 4 or 5 hours. If we hurry, we can find one and get all our stuff moved over before night fall."
"Lets go." They headed out of Tara's motel room, and in search of an apartment.
After a few dumps, one with police tape still marking the door, and a couple way out of their price range, Tara and Allison found a good apartment. One bedroom, but it had a fold out couch which Allison said she'd take, since she'd be coming in late from patrol any way. They paid first and last months rent, and went and collected all of their stuff. They were moved in rather quickly, because Allison had an old beat up mini van which they loaded up and used to avoid needing to involve the gang. They got all their stuff unpacked, and Allison headed off to get Buffy to do their patrol.
"So you and Tara got an apartment." Buffy said as Allison drove the van to the more unsavory part of town called Cheapside, where vampires loved to frequent.
"Yeah, she was living in this crappy ass motel near Cheapside. I couldn't let her live there any more, and frankly, until you get your basement drained, that is no place fit for man nor slayer to sleep. Did you know that you still have a demon floating around in there that has been dead for at least 3 months?" Allison asked.
"Oh yeah, M'Fashnic. I did forget about him." Buffy replied, still looking out the window. "Hey, slow down, over there." Allison brought the van to a stop and the two slayers jumped out of the van, to attack the vampire feeding on a young woman. A few minutes later, the vamp was dead and the two slayers were back in the van, continuing their patrol. The rest of the night was extremely uneventful, no more vampires showed. Buffy and Allison called it a night and headed towards the van so Allison could drive Buffy back to Casa Summers. After leaving Buffy at her house, Allison headed to her and Tara's apartment. It was still early when Allison had returned to her new accommodations. Tara had made dinner, and the left overs were in the fridge, when Allison entered, she made a bee line for the fridge and chowed down on the left over stir fry. Tara had heard noises and come out of the bedroom wearing her blue plaid pajama pants and a light blue tank top.
"Hey." Tara said as a greeting. "Is it still good when it's been sitting in the fridge for a couple hours?"
Allison quickly gulped down the mouthful she had now, and then replied, "Even better. You are quite the chef Tara." She poured herself a glass of milk to wash down the leftover homemade Chinese food with. "Well, I'm going to go to bed, although there weren't many vamps tonight, tomorrow they may all attack at once. So I needs to get some sleep. Night Tara." Tara also said good night and headed back into her bedroom. Allison changed into her pajamas, unfolded the couch and crawled into bed. Several hours later, Allison's slayer enhanced ears heard something coming from inside the bedroom where Tara was. Her training kicked in instinctually, she jumped out of bed, grabbed a stake and crept into the bedroom. She saw a figure twisting and turning on the bed, moaning, and sobbing. Tara was having a nightmare, nothing slayage worthy, but friend worthy. Allison walked over to the bed, and gently shook Tara.
"Tara, wake up, you're having a nightmare." She gently whispered, suddenly, Tara shot straight up in bed, her arms flailing wildly, one of them whacked Allison in the back of her head, driving her forward and knocking her forehead into the corner of the nightstand. Luckily, Tara also awoke at the same time. She turned to Allison, saw what happened, and freaked.
"Allison, oh my God, are you alright?" Tara helped the slayer sit up, there was a nasty gash on her forehead.
"Yeah, you have quite a right cross Tara." Allison tentatively touched her forehead, brushing the gash, she winced. "I'm alright. Really, with Slayer healing and everything, I'll be fine tomorrow. I'm more worried about you. What was that nightmare you were having? You woke me up."
"oh, just the same dream I've been having ever since I moved out of Buffy's house." Tara looked down at her hands, trying to avoid a very touchy subject.
"What was it about?" Allison pressed on gently, "you can tell me, anything you tell me, will die with me."
Tara looked up, "Why are you doing all this stuff for me? I mean, the apartment, helping me, why?"
"Before I was a Slayer, I wanted to be a Psychologist, I wanted to help people with their emotional and mental problems. While I was in highschool, I took the psychology classes, I read everything I could get my hands on. I was going to go to UC Berkley to get my degree in Psychology. But then I was called, I decided that I could slay vampires and still try to get my degree, but that didn't really work, so I dropped out of college, and moved to the Hellmouth. I decided that I was going to try to help people with their problems still, if that meant just starting small, helping vampire victims cope with what happened, or just trying to get you and Willow back together, I was going to do that." Allison finished, "Now, what was the nightmare about?"
"Willow and I are… well, intimate, and right in the middle, Willow is attacked by this great demon thing, and it kills her. Then I usually wake up." Tara looked in to Allison's eyes. "What does this mean to you?"
Allison thought for a few minutes, her eyes closed to aid in her focus and concentration. "I'm thinking that you are completely made for Willow, that's what the, intimacy, symbolizes, and the demon coming and attacking Willow is her over use of magick, letting it get the best of her. You are afraid that by using all this magick is going to eventually kill her."
"What do you suggest we do?" Tara asked, hope flared inside her briefly.
"If you are still worried about Willow using her powers, you could perform a binding spell on her, one at doesn't let her use her powers at all unless the need is necessary and you BOTH agree that she'll use them. Like, for instance, you need a second for a spell, or you and her are attacked by vampires, she can use her powers to fight them off. But first I think you should talk to her, talking helps most things." Allison finished her analysis of Tara's psyche. "Now come on. You have class in the morning, and I have to get a job. It's two in the morning for God's sake! Night Tara." Allison stood and headed out the door.
"Allison?" Tara called after her.
"Yeah?" She said, sticking her head around the door jamb.
"I would appreciate it if you would stay. I'm not sure I could sleep after that nightmare." Tara stuttered.
Allison hesitated, then nodded. "All right, but just tonight. I don't want Willow to get the wrong idea." She crossed the room again, and slid in the opposite side of the bed next to Tara. "Night Tara." She said as her eyes closed.
The next morning, the sunlight streamed in the windows, illuminating two women sleeping side by side. Tara's head had found it's way onto Allison's shoulder, and was essentially using her as a pillow. Tara's right arm was flung over Allison's waist. The Slayer started to wake up first, gently stirring. "Mmhph. Willow." Tara muttered into Allison's shoulder. "Pass the cheese please."
This statement woke Allison up completely. "Tara, I don't have any cheese. Wakey wakey." She gently shook the blonde witch, trying to disentangle herself from the older girl. Tara jolted awake. She shot straight up in bed. "Hey." Allison said in greeting.
"What time is it?" Tara asked frantically.
"Uh, 7:30. Why?" Allison replied with another question.
"I have class at 8:15!" Tara jumped out of bed and rushed around getting dressed and getting herself put together.
"Calm down, I'll give you a ride to class." Allison got out of bed and went and put on her same patched jeans from the day before, and a tee shirt with a rollerblading Kokopelli, and another flannel shirt before lacing up her boots. While she was calmly getting dressed, Tara was frantically rushing around. Allison started making omelets while Tara was still dressing.
When Tara finally made it out to the kitchen area, the omelets were done and orange juice was poured. The witch sat down at the table and hurridly drank her jice and ate her omelete. "Come on, let's go!" Tara said as she rushed out the door. Allison bolted behind her, car keys in hand. They hurried down to the car, and Allison jumped in and started it, pulling out of the parking space with a lurch. She drove carefully but hurridly towards UC Sunnydale. She pulled up as close to the art department as she could, for Tara's class was history of art.
"Bye, I'll come and give you a ride if you call. I should be at the shop or at home." Allison said as Tara climbed out of the car.
After dropping Tara off at class, Allison headed to Casa Summers to offer Buffy and Willow a ride to the Magick Box. She pulled up outside the house, and walked in the front door. "Buffy? Willow? Do you guys need a ride to the shop?" Once she was inside, she saw the destruction that had obviously been wrecked by a demon or something. Slayer now at full alert, Allison pulled her short sword out of her backpack. Moving into the living room, she saw Willow sprawled out on the floor, blood gushing from a head wound. She dropped to her knees and started whispering a healing spell that had been taught to her by her Watcher. Slowly the wound started to heal, the blood was replenished, and Willow woke up to find her head in Allison's lap. "Shh, lay still. What happened?" Allison asked, checking the redhead for broken bones, or other injuries.
"A demon, like the one who I went to for a magickal high, wanted payment. I think he took my powers." With that, Willow passed out again.
Allison was satisfied that Willow hadn't sustained any other wounds, so she carried her out to the van, laying her in the backseat before going back into the house to look for Buffy and Dawn. "Buffy?" Allison called into the house, she checked to see if Buffy was there, Dawn was probably at school, it being 8:30 and all that. Buffy wansn't anywhere in the house, so Allison took that as a good thing, and headed back out to her van. She drove carefully and slowly to the Magick Box where she knew the rest of the gang would be. She pulled into a parking space close to the shop, the closer the better because it would look funny for her to be carrying an unconscious Willow. Allison stopped the car, and gently carried Willow into the Magick Box. "Xander? Anya? Buffy? Is anybody here?" She called into the shop, she didn't hear anyone, but she saw a note on the table.
It read: 'Slayer, We have your friends, meet us at the crypt in Shady Hill Cemetary called "Dulac," at midnight. Bring the Hammer of the Troll God. If you don't do this, your friends will die.' Allison didn't panic, a plan was already formulating in her head. She called the highschool and asked for them to release Dawn to come straight to the Magick Box. The school didn't ask why, they did, and about 15 minutes later, Dawn walked into the Magick Box.
"What's happening?" Dawn was slightly freaked out because she hadn't ever been pulled out of school.
"Some demons or vamps, I think demons captured Xander, Anya, and Buffy. I have to trade the Hammer of the Troll God for them, or else their lives are forfeit." Allison explained.
Dawn interrupted, "Hang on, what about Willow and Tara? Why didn't they capture them?"
"Willow got jumped at your house, the same demon who gave her the high came and stole her powers, he hurt her pretty bad, but she'll be alright. Tara was at our apartment, and then I drove her to school. Okay, here's the plan, I'm going to go get Tara, I want you to stay here with Willow until I get back. I put her in a healing trance that she shouldn't come out of for a few hours. Okay?" Allison headed out the door without waiting for a reply.
She broke almost every possible traffic law known as she drove to UC Sunnydale. She pulled up into an empty parking space and sprinted, using Slayer strenghth and endurance as she made her way to the art department where Tara was having class. Since she didn't know what classroom she was in, Allison focused on Tara's aura and headed in that direction. When she was outside room 101, she peered in the window and saw Tara sitting in the middle of the classroom. Not wanting to risk a scene, Allison used a spell she had read about but never had the chance to use on a person, a mind touch. She sat down on the floor, cleared her mind and stretched her consiousness out to touch Tara's mind. Once inside Tara's head, she sent a simple message, "Scooby Trouble."
Inside the classroom, Tara was listening half heartedly to the professor lecture when she distinctly heard a voice in her head say, "Scooby Trouble." She looked to the window of the classroom door and saw Allison staring back at her. She stood up quietly, collecting her things and headed out the door. "What's the matter?" Tara asked, she was worried, nobody had ever pulled her out of class for a Scooby matter.
"I'll explain in the car, c'mon." Allison headed out the door, sprinting back to her car, she slowed down when she remembered that Tara couldn't run as fast as she could. When they both arrived at the beat up old van, Allison jumped in and started the engine, she barely waited until Tara was in before she gunned the engine and peeled off. "long story short, Xander, Anya, and Buffy have been kidnapped by demons, or vamps, I'm not sure which. Willow was attacked by a demon who took her powers, the demons want the Troll God's Hammer, they'll trade the guys back at midnight if I give them the hammer. Problem is, that hammer is to powerful to give to them. Dawn is staying at the shop with Willow." Allison kept a careful eye on the road as she drove, still driving crazy.
When she heard that Willow had been hurt, Tara's breath caught in her throat. "Willow, is she okay?" Tara choked out.
"She was pretty banged up, she thought the demon took her powers, that was all that she was able to tell me before my healing trance took effect. Don't worry, she'll be fine in a few hours." Allison pulled up in front of the Magick Box, Tara and Allison jumped out of the car, sprinting towards the door, both for different reasons, Allison was hurrying because as the Slayer, she had a responsibility to all of these people to get their family and friends back. Tara because she was worried about Willow.
Tara got inside first, and she made a bee line for Willow who was laying on some of the practice mats laid out on the table.
The Healing trance had eliminated all external signs of the struggle, but Willow had yet to regain consiousness. "How's she doing?" Allison asked Dawn who was sitting at the counter doing her homework.
"She still hasn't woken up, I hope that isn't a bad thing." Dawn replied, looking up from her massive Biology textbook.
"Not necessarily." Allison replied, checking Willow out more thouroughly. "I'll give her another half an hour to wake up, then I'll wake her." She headed over to the bookcases, hoping to find a more advanced healing spell or something to help with their dilemma. She had been looking through books with Tara and Dawn for about twenty minutes when Willow woke up.
"Oh, my head." She groaned as she tried to sit up on her makeshift bed. "Did anyone get the license plate of that truck?"
"Hey, don't try to get up quite yet." Allison said, rushing over to check on Willow's condition. "You've been in a healing trance for the last two hours. I want to make sure there weren't any lasting repercussions." Willow rolled her head to the side, and saw Tara standing next to Dawn. "What's up? Where are Buffy and the rest of the gang?" She asked, her eyes pleading.
Allison wasn't' sure if she should upset Willow in what could be a delicate state. "Uh, we believe that they have been kidnapped by demons, and are being held in ransom for the hammer you guys pulled off the Troll God some time ago. But, I believe that this hammer is too powerful to give to ordinary demons, or demons of any kind, so we need a plan."
Willow looked terrified when she found out that Buffy, Xander and Anya had been kidnapped, but Tara could see the wheels cranking in her head almost instantly, trying to come up with a decent plan.