A/N: This is a little idea I decided to go with. Could be interesting. Not sure how far I'm going to continue it.

Beth scowled at Tara. "Well, I hope you'll all be happy hanging out with a disgusting demon."

Anya raised her hand. "Excuse me. What kind?"

"What?" Beth asked, not understanding why Anya would ask that question.

"What kind of demon is she?" Anya repeated. "There are many different kinds. Some are very, very evil, and some are considered to be useful members of society." She shot Xander a huge grin and he returned her smile.

"What does it matter?" Beth asked.

"Evil is evil," Mr. Maclay added. He was becoming infuriated with these people, sticking their noses in where they don't belong.

"Well, let's just narrow it down," Anya continued.

"Oh," Spike said with a smirk. He walked toward Tara. "Why don't we make this simple?"

He tapped Tara on the shoulder. She looked over and he quickly threw a left jab at her nose. She cried out in pain and grabbed her nose. Spike was prepared to cry out in pain too, but he felt nothing. No blinding shock running through his brain. Nothing.

"Hey!" Willow shouted angrily toward Spike. Then she turned to Tara to see how bad he hurt her. Then she realized what everybody else in the Scooby Gang realized. She looked over at Spike again.

"Hey, that didn't hurt," he said. He smiled and chuckled. "She is a bloody demon. I thought he was making it up."

"Tara, I'm going to say this one last time..."

"Mr. Maclay," Giles interrupted, trying to ignore his curiosity over Spike's confirmation of whether or not Tara was a demon. "I don't believe anything has changed in the past two minutes. If Tara wishes to stay, your business here is finished."

Tara's father and brother looked angrily at everyone in the group before they turned and walked out the door. Beth was only angry with Tara. Finally she turned as well, leaving Tara's life forever. That left all the Scoobies to turn to Tara.

"She doesn't look like a demon," Dawn said, confused.

"Tara, do you know what kind of demon you are?" Giles asked, now very curious. "Did they ever tell you?"

She shook her head. "H-he just said I would change tomorrow."

"Well, I'm off. Unless you lot are gonna let me thrash the girl some more," Spike said. He saw them all glaring at him and he backed away. "Right then."

Once he was gone everyone moved over to the table and sat down. Tara was amazed that Willow sat close next to her and took her hand. She had thought Willow wouldn't want to be near her after what Spike proved.

"Is your nose okay?" Willow asked with a sympathetic smile.

"I-I think so," Tara said quietly. "Why aren't you..." She trailed off, not sure how to phrase the question.

"Why aren't I what?" Willow asked. Tara offered a small smile.

"Running away screaming?" she completed her question. Willow smiled and squeezed Tara's hand.

"Have you forgotten that I dated a werewolf?" she asked. "Oh, and an evil robot."

"Vampire," Buffy added, raising her hand.

"I'll see your vampire, werewolf and evil robot, and I'll raise you a giant praying mantis, an Incan mummy and an ex-vengeance demon," Xander continued the 'let's compare our weird date experiences' game. Tara chuckled and felt a little better.

"Wow. When I start dating, remind me not to ask any of you guys for advice," Dawn said. Buffy lightly hit her on the arm and gave her a sharp look. "What?"

"Well, I am intrigued. I've never heard of any instances where a person changes to a demon on their 20th birthday," Giles said. "Is there anything more you can tell us, Tara?"

"I don't know," she said. She truly didn't know much. All she knew was what her father had told her, which wasn't much at all. "All I know is that he said m-my mother was a demon, too. But she always looked human. I just thought she was a witch. She-she practiced Wicca."

"But as far as you know, she never killed anybody, right?" Buffy asked. "I think the important thing to find out is if your demon side is dangerous."

"Buffy's right," Giles said. "Contrary to what your father believes, not all demons are evil."

"How do we figure it out, though?" Xander asked. "Is there a test for this or something?"

"There could be a spell or potion that could help determine that," Giles said. He grabbed a book and started flipping through the pages.

"Can't we just wait till tomorrow?" Anya asked. "She's going to change no matter what kind she is. Might as well wait and see."

"We may have to," Giles said as he continued going through his book. "I'm going to venture a guess and say that the change would occur at the exact moment that you turn 20. Do you know what time of day you were born?"

"Uh, in the afternoon, I think," Tara replied. "Around 3 o'clock."

"So we all get a good night's sleep, come back tomorrow to watch her turn into a demon and then we go to the Bronze and party, right?" Xander asked.

"Sounds good to me," Buffy agreed.

"There isn't much we can do tonight," Giles said. "I'll do some preliminary research, but it may be best to meet back here tomorrow."

"I wanna stay and help research," Tara said. Giles nodded his head in approval.

"I'll stay, too," Willow said. She and Tara exchanged a smile as Buffy stood.

"I should get Dawn home," Buffy said. "We'll all meet back here by 3, right?"

"Sounds like a plan," Xander said. He and Anya stood to leave. "Don't worry, Tara. I'm sure you're not an evil demon."

"But if you are, please don't kill me," Anya said. Xander pulled Anya along. "What? We don't know that she won't be evil."

Once the others had left, Tara and Willow picked a couple of books to start researching in. Giles went to the other side of the store for a particular book and Willow turned to Tara.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked, not so much angry as confused.

"I wanted to, but I was afraid," Tara explained. "I was afraid that you wouldn't want to be near me or look at me."

"I'm looking at you now," Willow said. Tara made eye contact with her and smiled. "Whatever it is that's inside you, I can't believe that it's evil at all. I trust you. I love you." Tears started to form in Tara's eyes and Willow smiled. "It doesn't matter what you are, as long as we have that."

Tara sniffed and wiped at her happy tears. Willow leaned forward and took her in her arms, the two of them just finding comfort in each other. Whatever happened on Tara's birthday seemed unimportant. They knew they'd get through it, as long as they did it together.