When the Hello Kitty alarm clock jangled her awake, Tara almost didn't shut it off. She quickly slipped on a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and black boots, twisting her hair up in a loose knot before grabbing her jacket and heading out the door. She made it to the campus in record time and hurried up the stairs to the fourth floor of Stevenson Hall. As she walked down the hall, she saw the young man she was looking for leaving room 423.

"Derek Mitchell," she called. He turned and appeared to be searching his memory for how he possibly might know her. "You don't know me, but I need to talk to you."

"Who are you?" he asked, not really in the mood to talk to some girl he had never met before. He had bigger problems to deal with that day.

"My name's Tara, and I'm here to help you…with your girlfriend, Kari," she said.

"Oh, so you're a friend of Kari's, huh?" he asked, rolling his eyes. "Typical of her. She sent you here, didn't she?"

"No, she didn't," Tara said. "I don't even know Kari. What I do know is that you're going to meet her today, she's going to press the marriage issue and you're going to break up with her because you have problems with commitment."

"How the hell could you know that?" he asked, starting to walk away. Tara stepped in front of him.

"I really, um, can't explain that, but you can't break up with Kari," she said. "You need to stay with her."

"I'd love to, but she wants a wedding ring," he said. "I don't want that."

"Don't you?" Tara asked. "You're scared of-of commitment because your parents got divorced. Your issue isn't with Kari."

"What are you? A psychiatrist?"

"No, just a-a concerned citizen," she said. "Just answer one question for me. Why did your parents get divorced?" Derek scowled at her and didn't answer her. "Come on. Tell me why."

"My mom was a junkie," he said sharply. He turned to go back to his room, but Tara stepped in his way again. "This is none of your business. I don't even know you."

"Are you or Kari junkies?" Tara asked.

"No, but—"

"And do you love her?" she continued her questioning. Derek sighed and the angered expression on his face faded. "Do you love her?"

"Of course I love her," he admitted.

"So much you'd do anything for her?" Tara continued, her urgent tone softening a little. He was opening up and she was prepared for that.

"Yeah," he said quietly, a small smile curling his lips.

"Then stop being scared," she said. "Go out right now and buy her a ring…a nice ring. Then when you see her at lunch, ask her to marry you. Don't even let her say anything. Just ask her."

"I can't," he said, a little bit of his insecurity surfacing.

"You are not your parents. Nobody is their parents. God help me, if I was my parents…" She trailed off and shook her head. "But that's not important. Just because your parents got divorced doesn't mean you will. So marry that girl. If you want to be with her, marry her."

Derek gave Tara a confused look. He had no idea how this girl knew so much about him or why she was so concerned about what happened between him and Kari. But she had a point. His parents were the reason for his commitment issues, and he wasn't them.

"How do you know all this stuff about me? I mean, why do you even care?" he asked.

"I have my ways," she said. "And as for why I care…let's just say I have a special appreciation of the future and I value happy endings."

"So I need to get a ring," he said. He started walking down the hall and this time Tara let him, walking alongside him. "I know you said you don't know Kari, but maybe you could help me pick one out. I don't have a whole lot of girl friends who would know what she might like."

"Sure. I'll help. As long as you promise to propose," she said.

"If I'm laying down the money for a ring, I'm definitely proposing," he commented. He looked over at her, still confused about her involvement here. "You're a very strange person."

Tara smiled and decided to take that in a good way. "Thanks."

She helped him pick out a very nice ring, and he even asked her if she wanted to watch the proposal. She sat at a corner table in the diner at lunch as he got down on one knee. Kari squealed her answer so loudly and with such delight, the entire diner stopped what they were doing and stared. She and Derek hugged, and Tara decided her work was done. She left the diner and headed to the Magic Box to work her shift for that day for what she hoped would be the last time.

Tara and Buffy sat at the counter in the Magic Box while Tara told the story of Derek, Kari and the time loop. The slayer was confused to say the least. But she was glad that everything had already been resolved. The two of them looked over when Anya entered the shop through the back door.

"You used the door," Tara observed. "No teleporting?"

"I no longer have that ability," Anya said. Tara offered her a confused look. "I quit. I just came from a meeting with D'Hoffryn."

"Well, you're still alive and you don't look hurt," she said. "How did D'Hoffryn take it?"

"Rather well, actually," Anya said, a tone of surprise in her voice. "I think when I came back he was being sentimental. He said that after my first few vengeance jobs even he realized my heart wasn't in it."

"How do you feel?" Tara asked. She was happy that Anya was no longer a vengeance demon, but she knew it had been a big part of Anya's life. It was hard to deal with giving something like that up.

"Relieved," Anya replied. "I had lots of guilt. When D'Hoffryn gave me my job back, I thought everything would be like before. But the guilt didn't go away like before. It stuck around like a leech. A big, sucking leech."

"Stinks, huh?" Buffy asked with a smirk.

"It does. But I'm done with that. I'm moving on," Anya said with a resilient smile plastered on her face. Tara returned the smile, glad to hear that. Then she got a curious look.

"There's one thing I still don't get, though," Tara said. "Why didn't the wish work on me? Why was I the only one who knew the day was repeating itself?"

"Because I set it up that way," Anya confessed. Tara and Buffy were visibly surprised. "I set all of this up. I needed a way out. I was too afraid to go to D'Hoffryn directly. I thought if a human managed to undo one of my vengeance curses, he would see that failure as a good enough reason to let me go. Hopefully, without disembowelling me in the process. I didn't tell you about my plan before because I was afraid D'Hoffryn might hear something."

"So once the day stopped repeating, he'd let you go," Buffy said. "Pretty good plan."

"D'Hoffryn didn't know the day was repeating. So he wouldn't have realized it if the day stopped repeating. But he would know if I intentionally tried to reverse a vengeance spell. That's why you had to keep the guy and girl from breaking up thus keeping the girl from wanting vengeance."

"But why me?" Tara asked. "Why just me?"

"For one thing, D'Hoffryn would have noticed it if I let you all realize what was going on. You're very smart and logical, and you're good with magicks. You were the best choice. I don't trust the rest of them," she explained. She saw the glare Buffy was giving her. "No offense."

"Some taken," Buffy said.

"Xander broke my heart, Dawn stole from me and Buffy tried to kill all of you last year."

"I was under the effects of demon poison," Buffy said defensively. Anya shrugged her off.

Then she looked down, appearing slightly embarrassed. "And quite frankly, Tara, you're the best friend I've got in this crazy mortal world I've chosen to live in. If I can't trust you, then I'm just screwed now aren't I?"

Tara didn't know what to say. She was touched that Anya felt that way, and even more proud that Anya had managed to express her feelings in a way that wasn't her typical jarring, abrupt way. Anya noticed the look on Tara's face and scowled.

"Say something. You look like you're going to cry," she said sharply. Buffy and Tara smiled.

"No, I'm not," Tara said with a chuckle. "I'm just…happy to hear you feel that way. I'm glad you trusted me with something so important."

"Well, you've taken very good care of the shop during times I've been away," Anya said, trying play it off. "I figured I could trust you with this as well."

"I'd say you picked the right person," Buffy said, shooting a proud smile at Tara. She always found it satisfying when someone other than herself saved the day. Tara noticed Buffy's proud smile and knew exactly what the slayer was thinking. Buffy hopped off the stool she was sitting on and grabbed her bag. "On that note, no more instant replay day means I have to go to work now. If the day was going to repeat, I'd skip."

Buffy left Anya and Tara to go about their usual shop business. Mid-afternoon rolled around and Dawn entered. She tossed her backpack on the table.

"Hey, Dawnie," Tara said with a smile. "How was the first day at school?"

"Buffy was being so paranoid," Dawn said. "No hellmouth stuff happened. It was kind of boring. No demons."

"No demons," Tara repeated. Then she looked at Anya with a look of remembrance. The word demon had triggered an important memory in both of them.

"Oh no, I forgot about him," Anya said. Tara turned fearfully to Dawn.

"Dawn, you have to get out of here now. Go through the training room," she said, grabbing Dawn's arm and trying to lead her out.

"What do you mean? What's going on? Forgot about who?" Dawn asked, confused and concerned by the alarm in Tara's voice.

"A demon's going to be here any minute and he'll kill you if you're here," Tara tried to explain quickly. "It happened other times but the day repeated so you were safe. Please go."

But it was too late. As Tara moved Dawn toward the training room door, a blue flash appeared in their path, causing them to jump back and shield their eyes. When they could see again, a tall, robed figure stood in front of them. When it spoke, its voice was deep and resonated in the shop.

"I've come for the key," it said. Dawn's eyes widened.

"Key?" Dawn asked. Tara stepped between the demon and Dawn, ready to do whatever she had to in order to keep him from hurting Dawn.

"We don't have any keys," Anya said nervously. "There's a locksmith just down the block."

"Locksmith!" the demon repeated angrily, his voice causing the windows to rattle. "This is a special key. No locksmith has it. I know you do."

He reached into the pocket of his robe. Tara turned to push Dawn out of the way, thinking the demon was about to pull a weapon. Anya grabbed the nearest heavy object, a large marble statue. She moved toward the demon, ready to bludgeon him to death, when he pulled the contents of his pocket out for them to see. Anya stopped moving, and when Tara and Dawn both realized they were still alive, they turned back to face the demon.

In his large dark hand, the demon held a small wooden box. It was about three inches square in size and was made out of light wood. Designs were etched all over the surface. Anya recognized the designs and was noticeably both relieved and surprised.

"That's a Box of Marachek," she said. The demon nodded its head.

"Yes, I was told this shop had a key that would open the box," he said. His deep voice had taken on a very cordial tone. Tara and Dawn glanced at each other, still somewhat nervous. "I would like to purchase the key."

"Um, yes, of course," Anya said, finding her bearings and moving across the shop to a cabinet behind the sales counter. She unlocked the doors to the cabinet to reveal various items. She looked through them all, pulled out a key and handed it to the demon. "I believe this is what you're looking for."

"Yes, precisely," the demon said. They couldn't see his face within the hood, but his smile of satisfaction could be heard in the tone of his voice. He produced a wad of cash from his other pocket and handed it over to Anya. "I believe that is exact."

Anya quickly counted the money and nodded her head. "Yes, exact change. Thank you for shopping the Magic Box."

The demon gave one nod to her, pocketed the key and the box, and then he disappeared in a similar blue flash to the one he had arrived in. Anya put the money in the cash register and then looked to Tara.

"So, when he said he was here for the key, I automatically assumed it was Dawn he had come for," Tara said. "If I hadn't used that spell on him the first time, he wouldn't have killed her and we would've, um, known that from the beginning."

"Yes, looks like it," Anya replied. "Good thing the day was repeating or Dawn's death would've been all your fault."

"Gee, thanks," Tara said. "How was I supposed to know he was a friendly demon?"

"You could've asked what he wanted," Anya said. "A good salesperson always seeks to help the customer."

"I didn't know he was a customer," Tara said. "Most of our customers use the door."

"Let that be a lesson to you then," Anya said. "Everyone who enters this shop should be considered a customer. Even demons."

"You know, Buffy was all worried about sending me to the high school, but she's not the least bit worried about me coming here," Dawn said. "I think maybe she needs to re-evaluate her logic there."

"We can bring that up to her tonight," Tara said with a smile. She sighed. "So I've lived this day about six times. I think I'm in desperate need of a mocha. What do you say?"

"I say yay," Dawn commented with a smile. She and Tara collected their things and Tara turned to Anya.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Anya."

Anya nodded her head, but just as Tara was going to leave she grabbed her arm. When the witch looked at the ex-ex-ex-demon, there was sincerity in her eyes that was rarely seen.

"Thank you," she said. Tara smiled, nodded her head and then left the shop with Dawn, satisfied with the connection she and Anya had just made.

The Hello Kitty alarm clock jangled at 6:30 and Tara quickly switched it off. She threw her covers back and rushed down the stairs, hurrying out the front door to retrieve the newspaper without any concern for the fact that she was wearing only the red, satin nightgown Willow had given her for their anniversary. She read the date on the paper.

"It's Tuesday!" she cried out happily. She didn't notice the weird look she got from Mrs. Henderson, the next door neighbor. She turned back to the house to see Buffy and Dawn standing in the front door, which she had left wide open. They both still looked a little sleepy. "You guys, it's Tuesday!"

"We noticed," Buffy said with a smirk. "We also noticed your modesty kind of flew out the window."

"What?" Tara asked. Dawn pointed casually to Mr. Henderson, who had joined his wife in staring at Tara. His stare wasn't one of disgust like his wife's. Tara suddenly realized what she was wearing and hurried back into the house. "Oops."

"At least if things don't work out with Willow, you know Mr. Henderson's interested," Dawn joked as Buffy closed the door.

"Ew," Buffy and Tara said at the same time.

"Okay, well, I call shower," Dawn said, turning toward the stairs.

"Hey! No!" Tara yelled, following after Dawn. "I had to take a cold shower yesterday. And I lived it six times. So that's six cold showers in a row."

Buffy watched as the two of them went upstairs and smiled. She knew Tara hadn't completely forgotten about the Warrens. She doubted she ever would, but the situation with the repeating day had given Tara a distraction, something to help her get back to her normal life. As normal as a repeating day could be in their world. It was enough to help her cope, and Buffy knew that was the most important thing.

THE END