Chapter 4

"Amy, what's up?" Tara asked into the receiver. She'd never had a personal call at work before, so she figured it would have to be something really important.

"Well, I finally got through at Michael's house. He's in the hospital!" Amy said, sounding very upset.

Tara gasped, "Oh my gosh, is he – is he okay?"

"Well, his dad says he should be fine, they're releasing him tomorrow hopefully." She drew in a breath and let it slowly out. "He was beaten, last night I guess. He made it all the way home on his own, luckily nothing was broken, he was just cut and bruised, and his ribs were slightly fractured. Whoever did this to him also knocked out one of his teeth, so he has to be fitted for a replacement. He'll be okay, he didn't even need any stitches, but my god, that was Michael!"

Tara was unsure what to say. This was one of her friends; she felt pretty much the same way Amy did about the young Goth. "Well, I'm glad he'll be okay. We can go visit him when he gets out, right?"

"Yeah, he should be back in school pretty quickly, too, they said." Another sigh. "Well, I just thought I should fill you in on how he is, and I didn't think leaving a message at the apartment was the right way to do it."

Tara nodded, grateful she'd called. "Yeah, thanks so much for calling, Amy. I'll talk to you in the morning."

~~

Later that night, Tara flipped the sign on the front door of the Espresso Pump to "Closed" as Mary lowered the blinds. "Are you sure you don't need a ride home, Tara?"

"No, I'm going with Buffy," she explained. "We'll be fine, but thanks for asking."

Mary smiled down at the shorter woman. "Any time. It's probably a good idea to have Buffy with you."

Tara tilted her head curiously, she thought no one else know the petite blonde was … 'special.' "Why do you say that?"

"Well, you hit your head today. I mean, you don't have any signs of a concussion or anything like that, but it's better to be careful. If Buffy wasn't going to be here, I'd definitely make sure you weren't walking home on your own." The waitresses walked into the back room to clock out, and Tara put her jacket on after removing her apron. They then headed out the back door, Mary bidding good night to Buffy and Tara and heading to her Ford Escort.

"I take it you managed to talk Xander and Willow into staying home?" Tara asked with a half-smile.

Buffy nodded, grinning. "Willow seemed to want to come along pretty badly, but I finally got her to stay at home this time." She led the way out of the parking lot and around to the street.

Willow wanted to help, Tara beamed. "How come she wanted to come so much, you think?" she asked quietly.

"You know, I'm really not sure," the Slayer admitted. "She's just kinda protective of her friends. I guess she'd like to give a piece of her mind to whatever nasty scared you last night."

The pair walked down the still streets, Buffy's pace matching Tara's slightly longer strides easily. The tinsel-covered window displays still looked slightly creepy, especially the fabric and clothing stores with their mannequins in the windows. They turned to cross the street, a lone pickup rumbling past as they waited for the crosswalk light to change. Alert Slayer hearing picked up a sound from behind, but they continued onwards without casting so much as a glance behind.

Further down, near the bakery, Buffy caught another noise. "All right, that's the second one I've heard. I'm pretty sure we're being tailed. I'll go check it out, but keep your stake handy, and keep heading for your building." Tara nodded, reaching for the wooden spike in her pocket and holding it tightly. Buffy turned and jogged back along the path they'd followed, shadow-silent. Tara watched for a while, but then continued walking toward the apartment building as Buffy had asked her to.

She was a little hesitant to cross the alley that the cats had fought in last night for some reason, but sucked in a breath and forced herself to go on. Just as she passed it, a long shadow fell across the ground into Tara's range of vision. She whipped the stake out and turned on her heel, bringing the weapon to bear, and looked up, up, up into the face of a pale man with dark, spiky hair. He wore a long overcoat, also dark, and black pants with equally black leather boots.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa there," the man said, holding both hands up before him and taking a step away from Tara and the stake. "I'm not gonna hurt you. Just put the stake away."

"How do I know that?" Tara said, clutching the stake firmly. "You could be just saying you aren't gonna hurt me, then drag me off and kill me!"

The tall man nodded his head back towards where Buffy had disappeared. "I saw Buffy go, figured you'd need protection if she was walking you home. Where'd she head off to, anyway?" He stepped towards Tara, who stepped back involuntarily at his closeness.

"She, she said she heard something. And exactly why should I believe you're here to protect me?" the petite young woman nearly growled.

The older man smiled disarmingly. "We haven't been introduced yet. My name's Angel."

~~

Buffy, meanwhile, was closing in on the mysterious noise-maker. Whatever it was, it kept a good pace, and she'd been chasing it for about three blocks, past the Espresso Pump. The dark figure ahead dashed into an alley, and the Slayer followed, turning and springing onto the shadowy form. The two went down in a heap of limbs, Buffy struggling to hold the stalker's frame down beneath her. It was strong, but actually kind of smaller than she would have expected.

A black-gloved fist flew up towards the Slayer's face, but Buffy agilely dodged the blow, catching the arm and twisting it around so no further punches came her way. The whatever-it-was bucked, attempting to throw Buffy off it. "Come on, already, let me go!" it cried. And the voice was familiar.

Buffy didn't release the arm yet, but leaned down, brushing dark hair away from the person's face, revealing a fair-skinned feminine countenance. "Faith! What was I chasing you for?" Buffy exclaimed, finally letting the dark Slayer's arm free.

"I have no idea, girlfriend, but now whatever I was chasing has a lot of ground on me." She leaned up, propping her upper body upright with her strong arms. Buffy was still seated, stunned, on top of Faith's hips. "You wanna get up, B, or are you just enjoying this position?"