That night, Buffy sat on the sofa with Xander, who had his arm wrapped around her. He was trying to comfort her when he knew it was impossible. Her sister was dead. There was no comfort in that. He looked up at Tara who was pacing behind the armchair where Anya was sitting. He could tell Anya felt uncomfortable. She had felt uncomfortable around everybody after Joyce died, too.

"This makes no sense," Tara said suddenly. Xander nodded his head.

"Death never makes sense in Sunnydale," he said. "I thought you got that by now. You've been here long enough."

"No, that's not what I mean," she responded, shaking her head. "This happened before. I know it did. The demon attacked before. Dawn died before. Then I woke up and it was Monday again."

Buffy looked up suddenly. She sniffed and wiped at her tears. She knew what Tara was talking about.

"This happened in your nightmare," she said. She stood and Tara noticed there was anger starting to spread across Buffy's features. "You knew this was going to happen and you didn't tell me. You stood in my room this morning and told me it wasn't important. I think Dawn's death is pretty damn important. I could've stopped this."

"No, Buffy. I didn't know. I m-mean, I didn't understand it," she replied. "I just th-thought it was a nightmare. A really weird and vivid nightmare."

"Weird and vivid nightmares tend to come true here," Xander commented. "Especially around Buffy."

"You could have told me. Or you could've told Dawn. You could've told her to stay away from the Magic Box," Buffy said. Her anger wasn't subsiding. It appeared to be getting worse. "You know the rules in this house. Better safe than sorry. If something weird happens, we tell each other. Why the hell didn't you tell us?"

Tara knew Buffy was right. She had just been so confused that morning. She truly hadn't known. But that didn't change the fact that she could've told them. She closed her eyes, feeling fresh tears stinging her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Buffy."

"Sorry doesn't bring Dawn back," the slayer said sharply. Tara made eye contact with Buffy and knew she couldn't stay there. Buffy hated her at the moment. It probably wouldn't last, but it wasn't a good idea to be around the slayer when she was the object of her anger.

"It doesn't. If I could, I would start the day over and warn you, but I can't," Tara said, her voice wavering. "I'll go back to live in the dorm. I'm sorry."

She turned and walked out the door, wiping at her tears as she made her way down Revello Drive. She could come back for her things tomorrow. She just had to get away from Buffy and the guilt that resulted from being around her.

The ringing of the Hello Kitty alarm clock startled Tara out of her sleep. She sat up immediately in bed, grabbed the clock and shut off the alarm. She stared at the clock and looked around in confusion.

"What the hell is going on?" she asked aloud. Even though she couldn't remember going to bed the previous night, she knew she hadn't come back to the house. She had gone straight to the dorm. She knew that. But somehow she was back in the Summers' home. She threw back the covers and rushed out of the room. She hurried into Dawn's room. Dawn turned and squeaked in surprise. She offered Tara a grin.

"Hey, Tara. Knock much?"

"Dawn, you're alive," Tara said. Dawn looked confused.

"Uh, yeah. That makes the whole living thing a lot easier," she commented. "What's up?"

"What day is it?" Tara asked frantically.

"What? Tara—"

"What day is it?"

"It's Monday. First day of school over the hellmouth. Buffy's all wigged. Remember?"

"It's Monday," she repeated. She ran her hand through her hair and then she looked to Dawn and spoke with urgency in her voice. "Dawn, promise me you won't go to the Magic Box after school today."

"But the plan was for me to meet you there and we'd go grab some mochas before heading home," Dawn said. "No mochas? How about milkshakes?"

"No, we can still do mochas. I-I just remembered Anya wanted to do inventory today," Tara lied. She was about to tell the truth when she realized what would happen. If she told Dawn that she was going to die in the Magic Box, there was a very strong possibility that Dawn would go to the Magic Box anyway. She wouldn't want Tara there alone when a demon showed up. "It might take a while. I'll call you when we're done and we can meet up at the Espresso Pump."

"Maybe I could help with the inventory," Dawn said. "Three heads are better than two, or something like that."

"No, that's okay," Tara said. "We'll handle it. And Anya's got this system…"

"Why don't you want me at the Magic Box?" Dawn asked suspiciously.

"No, it's-it's not that," Tara said. "I just figured you've got better things to do than inventory. And you could work on your homework, if you have any."

"Is Anya doing her vengeance demon stuff out of the Magic Box? Is that why you don't want me there?"

"Dawnie, I promise, I'd be perfectly happy if you were there," Tara said. "I just figured the whole meet at the Espresso Pump plan would be better."

"Okay, but if school over the hellmouth is as harsh as Buffy says it is, I'm going to need a mocha fast," Dawn said. She pointed at Tara with a mock serious look on her face. "I get to blame you if I'm cranky."

"Sure," Tara said with a smile. Blame me all you want, as long as you're alive to do it.

"Oh! The bathroom!" Dawn exclaimed suddenly. She rushed past Tara and banged on the door, grunting in defeat. Buffy had beat both of them. "Buffy, come on. I have to look good for my first day. Cold showers don't make me look good."

Tara sat at the table in the Magic Box poring over books about time loops in relation to the demon that killed Dawn the last two times this day had passed. So far she hadn't found the demon and she wasn't having as much luck on time loops as she had hoped. She found plenty of facts about time loops but nothing telling her how to break one. She looked up from her research when she heard the bell over the shop door clang. Her eyes widened and she stood quickly when she saw Dawn walk in.

"Dawn, I told you not to come here today," she said. Then she saw Buffy behind Dawn. "I-I mean, we were going to meet at the Espresso Pump."

"You were acting weird this morning," Dawn said. She looked around to see that there was no Anya and no signs of an inventory taking place. "And I knew you were lying about that inventory thing."

"Tara, what's going on?" Buffy asked. She noticed the books on the table. "You're in research mode by yourself. That can't be good."

"I don't know what's going on," Tara said. "All I know is that I've lived this day twice already and both times Dawn was killed here in the Magic Box by a demon. That's why—"

Tara's explanation was interrupted when the same blue flash announced the presence of the demon.

"I'm here for the key," he said. Buffy pushed Dawn back and immediately went on the attack.

"You guys get out of here," she said as she charged the demon, throwing punches that he easily blocked. Tara pushed Dawn toward the door of the shop, but they both fell in a heap as Buffy crashed into them, having been thrown by the demon.

"I'm not leaving until I get it," the demon said.

"Well, you'll have to go through me first," Buffy said as she stood. She grabbed a sword from nearby. She swung at the demon, but he grabbed the sword and rammed it backward, causing the hilt to catch Buffy in the jaw. He took the sword from her and stabbed her in the stomach, running her through to the hilt. Then he picked her up and flung her off the sword, launching her across the shop toward the training room.

"Buffy!" Dawn cried as she stood, rushing toward the demon.

"No! Dawn!" Tara called, trying to hold her back. But Dawn slipped away and Tara watched as the demon ran Dawn through just like her sister. He pushed Dawn to the side and Tara held out her hand.

"Projectus incindere!" she shouted. A stream of fire shot from her hand and hit the demon in the chest. He screamed in rage and pain as the fire engulfed him until he disappeared.

She hurried over to Dawn, checked for a pulse and couldn't stop the tears from falling as she found no pulse. She stood and nearly ran smack into Anya.

"Buffy's dead, too," Anya said quietly. Tara looked from Dawn to Buffy and then wiped away her tears.

"I'll figure out how to stop this," she said confidently as she moved over to the books on the table. Anya looked confused.

"What are you talking about? It already happened," she said, joining Tara at the table. "You can't bring them back. Willow did that once with Buffy and that got her all addicted to magic. Plus it looked really painful with the whole snake out of the mouth thing."

"No, I'm not going to bring them back. I'm going to stop them from being killed," Tara said as she flipped through the pages of one book. "The day's repeating itself, Anya. It's going to reset, and when it does I'll have another chance. They'll have another chance."

Anya looked confused but she decided to trust Tara. She sat at the table and helped Tara look up any information they could find on time loops.