Nothing gets Crossed Out

by WP

TW Set between season four and five. Lots of Buffy, Xander, Willow, Tara and someone new. Can't explain without ruining the surprise so have a wee read

Nothing Gets Crossed Out

"Nobody puts baby in the corner!"

"Dirty Dancing! Come on, Buff, were you even trying to-" His grin turned into a look of embarrassment. "completely emasculate me. Yeah, ok, I've seen dirty dancing."

Buffy was smiling gleefully as she had accomplished her aim. "And how many times, Xander?"

She got a blush out of him now. "It was Willow's fault!"

Buffy continued to smile as she shook her head.

Xander's voice was now more whiny, "I thought Jennifer Grey was hot?"

She patted his shoulder, "Uh-huh, Xander."

He sighed and looked around the street they were currently walking down. "Where's a vampire when you need one?"

Buffy slapped his arm. "Don't say that! Take it back!"

Xander held up his hands, "what'd I do?"

As if on cue there was growl followed by a low yelp.

Buffy through him a 'that's what you done!' look before taking off towards the noise. Xander shook his head at himself before following at her back.

When they found the vampire she had heard them and threw the guy she was in the middle of making her late dinner to the side. Lucky for him they had been quick enough to save his life as he clumsily got to his feet and took off down the alley. But the Slayer and her friend didn't even notice as they both stared wide eyed at the vampire before them.

She had choppy shoulder length blonde hair with many coloured streaks through it. She wore simple clothes, jeans, a shirt and some pink vans. The abnormal thing about this vamp was that it had Tara's face. It was Tara.

"What? You've never seen a vampire before?" She asked as she looked them over.

This shook Xander from his shock. "Oh god, Tara."

Tara laughed.

Buffy sniffed. She had teared up but she wouldn't cry, not in front of the demon that killed her friend. With that one thought she became so confused. Tara was Willow's friend and then girlfriend and that's what Buffy had always thought she was but as she realised the witch was dead, it hurt. Not because of her affiliation with Willow but because she was her friend. She was a scooby.

Buffy drew her stake and began to walk towards the vampire. She wasn't afraid, she knew she could beat the newbie but she knew that after that, they'd all have to deal with her death and Willow would be so devastated.

Tara lept forward and aimed for the Slayer's chest but Buffy saw it coming and used the vampire's momentum to shove her head first into the wall. As the vampire lay dazed on cocreate Buffy raised her stake and prepared to bore it down into her dead heart-

"Buffy! Wait!" Xander yelled. When she looked at him he was holding some electrical wire he'd pulled out of one of the trash cans. "We can't. At least let Willow say goodbye when there's still a body."

Buffy knew it was stupid but she couldn't just kill Tara and then tell Willow. Maybe that's why Slayers aren't meant to have friends. Buffy snatched the cord and made quick work of tying up the still dazed vamp.

Willow had gotten the cryptic call from Xander telling her to go to Buffy's house. She wasn't sure why but she figured from his tone of voice there was some serious demon action going on. Although she still held out hope of movie night or party at Buffy's as Joyce had gone away for the weekend.

When she arrived she just let herself in and made her way into the living room where she could see Buffy and Xander.

"Hey guys, what's so urgent?" She asked.

Buffy and Xander both jumped to their feet and looked at Willow with sad and scared eyes.

Willow got a severely bad feeling. "What is it?"

"I think you should sit down." Buffy said as Xander then moved and sat beside the red head while Buffy sat on the table in front of her.

"We were patrolling and... Will, I'm so sorry. It's Tara. She's been turned." Buffy explained.

Willow looked between Buffy and Xander as if she was checking they were serious. The tears in their eyes told her they were. But that didn't convince her.

"No, your lying." She stood up and looked down at them both. "Why would you do this to me? I thought you were ok with me being with Tara but... God, how could you do this?" She asked with tears beginning to rim her eyes.

Xander stood up now and tried to take her hand but she pulled away. "I know you don't want to believe this but she's really gone. I'm so sorry, Will."

Willows heart broke as Xander, her best friend for as long as she could remember, told her that. She knew now it was true but that didn't mean she would just accept it. She shook her head him. "No, she wouldn't do this to me. I just saw her last night. She's fine!"

Buffy couldn't take listening to Willow's denial. It was too painful to know that Willow was so upset but she had to know, for sure. She took Willow by the elbow and lead her to the dining room where they had Tara bound securely to a chair and also heavily sedated on the werewolf tranquilizers.

Willow stared at Tara. Maybe Buffy and Xander were just confused cause Tara changed her hair! Yeah, that had to be it even though Willow had known nothing of a new look. She walked toward the still body and put two of her fingers to her lovers neck. She ignored her cool skin and just waited for that strong thump she had become accustomed too.

She waited. And waited. There was nothing. Her heart wasn't beating like it should and that caused Willow's to break.

Then Tara's head shot up as she growled violently at the red head and began struggling in her chair.

Willow fell back onto the floor and continued to stare at VampTara. Her eyes were yellow and evil. Then they turned and they were blue again just like her's. Part of Willow wanted to scratch them out, tell the demon that those eyes were only for a soul as good and pure as Tara's but the rest of her just wanted to wrap herself around that body and never let go. Part of her wanted to die too.

Tara's head fell back down as Buffy had shot her again but Willow hadn't heard. She couldn't hear anything after that growl.

Buffy and Xander were down on their knee's beside her in second. Then she felt herself loosing control of her emotion's as the grief took over and she began to weep. Once again she found herself in the arms of her friends in seconds.

Buffy cried along with her friends but done her best to comfort Willow. She hadn't known how much time had passed when she eventually pulled away, she just knew that it was now or never.

Buffy tucked a piece of red hair out of Willow's face and tried to wipe some of her tears away. "Will?"

Willow could barely peel her eyes open wide enough to see her friend but managed and tried to calm her ragged breathing. "I can't."

Buffy almost lost control again. She put her hand on Willow's cheek. "Saying goodbye... to her... it'll be better than not."

Willow's face began to crumble again and Xander kissed her head. "We're right here." he whispered.

Willow then untangled herself and moved towards her undead girlfriend. She sat at her feet and looked up at her face. It was just like she was asleep. "I'm so sorry, baby." She said as cried into the blonde's knee's. "I should have saved you. I'm sorry, please be ok!" She begged.

The sound of the phone ringing was violent on their ears but it soon clicked onto the answering machine. That's when thing's really got weird.

The voice on the machine spoke. "H-hi, this is Tara, I was just wandering if Willow was there. If you see h-"

"Tara! Baby? Please I'm so sorry!" Willow cried out down the phone. All Tara could hear was her girlfriend's cries and they tore into her. She tried to soothe the other woman but she was beyond comfort. Tara feared the worse: Buffy or Xander.

Buffy felt herself take charged as she pried the phone from Willow and heard for herself that Tara was on the other end. She quickly told her to get over to the house then hung up to get back to her friend.

Willow was hunched over the sink, obviously having thrown up while Xander rubbed her back and tried to calm her down.

Tara ran into the Summers house and straight into the dining room where she saw Willow sitting with her knee's drawn up against the wall staring at a woman in a chair. Willow and Xander were just standing off to the side with the same look on their face.

Tara kneeled down next to the red head who had obviously been crying. Before she could say anything though Willow had thrown her arms around her neck and was hugging her in a vice like grip. Tara didn't try to understand, she just hugged her back. She looked up to Buffy and Xander with questioning eyes but they just looked at her in disbelief.

It was then she cast another glance to the woman tied up in the chair but this time she got a different angle, this time she could see her face. Her eyes widened in shock then immediately began to water. She then pulled away from Willow and stood in front of her look-a-like. After a few seconds she dropped to her knee's in front of the still unconscious girl. "Alex." She whispered.

"You know her?" Xander asked.

Tara nodded. "She's my sister."

"Your twin." Buffy concluded.

There was silence for a few moments until Tara asked what she didn't want to know the answer to. "Why is she tied up?"

Willow could hear the tremble and fear in her girlfriend's voice. "We thought she was you. She's..." Willow reached out her hand to Tara's shoulder. "She's a vampire."

Tara wanted to be surprised. She wanted to shout out and tell them they were wrong but she knew. She'd known for a while that her sister was gone. But it wasn't until now that she let herself believe it. She hugged her twin despite the awkwardness of there positions. "I'm sorry, Lex." She said quietly into her ear.

The only reply was a demonic growl in her ear then a searing pain in her neck as the vampire that had taken her sister began to drink from her.

Buffy lept into action as she pulled Tara out of the vampire's grasp before smacking her in the face. The vampire only laughed as she licked the blood from her lips. "Sweet as ever, sis."

The twins had locked eyes despite the slayer ready to slay and the witch trying to stop Tara's bleeding neck.

Then Buffy was standing in front of her with a stake in her hand. "I have to." She said definitely. She didn't want there to be an argument.

Tara got to her feet to face the slayer. "No, you don't. She's my sister, I'll deal with it."

Buffy felt a new respect for the witch but still knew what she had to do. "She's not your sister anymore. You can't let her go."

"No, I really can't." Tara answered.

As Buffy opened her mouth to further argue her point Tara turned to Willow. "The spell you used to re-soul Angel, you still have it?"

Willow felt like slapping her forehead. Why didn't she think of that before, when she thought it was Tara sitting in that chair. How could she have just given up so easily?

"Will, p-please, I need your help." Tara begged but still couldn't let herself go yet. She had to keep a lock down on all the emotions threatening to overwhelm her.

"Yeah. Yes. I can do it. I need an orb of thesela and some herbs though."

Alex finally spoke up. "You really think you can just cure me and it'll all be alright?" She grinned. "Big sis won't be the same, vicious and cruel murders really weigh on the human soul. And trapped inside a dead body drinking pig's blood? You want that for her?" Her eyes softened and her voice lost it's malicious intent, "For me, Tara?"

Tara stepped past Buffy. "You're going back to hell."

Willow put her arm around Tara's waist and lead her into the kitchen where Xander was gathering all the herbs they had.

"It's too late to get an orb tonight." Willow informed sadly.

Buffy then went over to one of the kitchen drawers and pulled out an orb with a shrug. "I uh... I didn't know what to get my mum for mother's day and Giles said they made good paper weights."

"That's lame, even by my standards." Xander told her.

Buffy shrugged, "At least it's come in handy."

Willow took the orb from Buffy and placed it with everything else. She looked at her best friend's, "Can you give us a minute?" She asked.

They obliged and quickly left the couple in privacy.

Willow turned to the blonde who was looking over everything for the spell. "Tara, why did you never tell me?" Her tone wasn't angry or accusing but there was a hint of sadness.

Tara couldn't even look at her, she knew it'd break her. "I can't just now. I'll tell you everything just please... I need to be strong for her."

Willow knew then that now wasn't the time for her own petty thoughts, it was time to help her girlfriend.

"Ok then, let's get our mojo working." Willow said as they took what they'd need next door, where Alex was. Buffy had tranqt her again as they couldn't risk her getting free.

Tara and Willow were soon set up and Buffy and Xander helped with the spreading of stinky herbs. Tara took charge of the Latin part of the spell, knowing how much Willow hated it while Willow spoke in English.

The spell was surprisingly easy with them both sharing the strain and within moments the orb drew out Alex's soul and returned it to her body.

The two witches stayed where they were trying to catch their breath but it didn't take long for Tara to dive over to her limp sister. She lifted Alex's head, "Alex? Can you hear me?"

Buffy put her hand on Tara's shoulder. "She'll be out for a while, why don't you two go up to my room and clean up your neck and get some rest." At Tara's reluctant look she added, "I'll come get you as soon as she comes round."

Tara looked up at the slayer and gave her an appreciative smile. "Thank you."

Buffy smiled back and gave her a hand up. She shocked herself and Tara by pulling her into a tight hug. "I'm really glad your ok."

Tara found herself overwhelmed by Buffy's sudden and public acceptance of her. She hugged her back and when they broke apart she said sincerely, "thank you, for bringing her back." Buffy could only smile in response.

Willow could see how fragile Tara was at that point. She took her hand and lead her up to Buffy's room. She sat the blonde on the bed then went to get a damp wash cloth and the first aid kit. She kneeled down in front of Tara and tucked her long straight hair behind her ears.

"How's your neck feel?"

Tara shrugged, "I-I I..." She gave up and dropped her head into her hands.

Willow immediately sat up on the bed and held Tara as she gently cried.

"Let it out, baby. I'm right here." Willow whispered as she rocked Tara steadily. And as she said that the devastation she felt earlier that night when she thought Tara was dead was remembered. She tightened her grip on her love and let a few of her own tears silently fall.

After a few minutes Tara spoke up but her voice was still thick with tears, "I'm sorry I never told you. It was so hard, my mum had just d-died and things at home were so hard and we both just got so out of control and my father was so harsh on us. She said she would leave, she said it so much and I thought she was just angry but one morning she just wasn't there anymore and..." Tara wept into Willow's shoulder.

"Shhh, baby. It's ok." Willow kissed her head. "Come on, let's get you fixed up."

Tara tried to calm her breathing as she sat up and wiped her eyes. She stared intently at Willow as she cleaned up her neck and put a dressing on it. Willow was always so careful and precise. She had a flashback to earlier that night when she had spoke to a distraught Willow on the phone. She traced a finger down the side of her face.

"Are you ok?" she asked.

Willow took Tara's hands into her own. "I am now. I kinda freaked earlier. I thought that you were gone and I lost it." She kissed Tara's hands. "I love you."

Tara brought her forehead to rest on Willow's. "I love you too."

Willow couldn't hold it in any longer, "Tara, I don't deserve you, I let you go without putting up a fight. I didn't even think of the spell, I was just going to let Buffy stake you!"

Tara cut Willow off with a chaste kiss, "Shh, don't think like that. You were upset." She kissed her again. "Don't you dare blame yourself for something that never happened." she ordered.

Willow let out a breath. "I'm going to be here for you through all of this. Whenever you feel sad or overwhelmed or you just want a hug, you tell me or I'll be really really mad."

Tara couldn't help but smile at Willow's resolve face. "I promise. I need my Will."

"Good." she said as pulled her into another embrace.

"Will?"

"hm?"

"I'm scared. It's been over a year since she ran away. What if she was like that this whole time?" she asked.

Willow pulled back to look Tara in the eye. "Then we'll help her deal. Maybe Angel could help her out too."

"Yeah." She hesitated for a moment before continuing. "I never meant to keep her from you, I just couldn't talk about her. It hurt so much when she left. She was the only thing keeping me sane at home and after my mum died, things were horrible but I still had Alex. Then she left. She left me there alone and I didn't blame her, she'd tried so hard to make me go to but I couldn't, I was scared of what my father would do. She told me she'd find me. I always thought she would and I guess she did. I'd been accepted by UC Sunnydale but I wasn't going to go. Her leaving made me take the step to come here."

Willow had known that Tara's home life had been hard but she had know idea just how complicated it had been. She felt horrible that Tara had kept so much pent up but she couldn't focus on her own feelings. She tried to put on a brave face for Tara.

"Well, I'll have to thank her for that." Willow said as she brushed Tara's hair from her face and kissed her forehead. She gave her a comforting smile. "So, what's she like? You guys are identical outside but what about inside?" She kept her tone light and was pleased when Tara smiled as she seemed to remember.

"She's great. She can always make me laugh. And she's confident, she always has a come back. But I can always have serious conversations with her. She's a good shoulder to cry on. She was the first person I came out too and she was so good about it. She didn't make it a big deal."

Willow smiled. She sounded nice which wasn't that big a surprise since she was like half Tara. "So does she have any witchy power?" Willow asked again getting a small smile out of Tara with her wording.

"She never really learned much. It was just me and my mum for the 'witchy stuff'. Alex was mostly with my dad. When we were younger he wasn't as bad, it was towards the end and after she passed that he got unbearable and Alex took it the worst because they'd always been so close." She explained.

"So you guys look the exact same and that about it?" She said playfully.

"Yep, pretty much." She smiled. "I can't wait for you to really meet her." The sparkle in her eye soon left as she seemed to remember that the great person she was talking about was now the undead - or a soul bearing member of the undead.

The sudden change didn't go unnoticed by Willow so she gently stroked the blonde's hand in a hope to comfort her.

Tara looked at Willow's hand stroking her's. "Can we go back downstairs? I want to be there for her as soon as she wakes up."

"Of course, sweetie." Willow replied as she lead her downstairs. When they entered the dining room they were once again met with Alex tied to a chair, unmoving and Buffy leaning against the wall waiting.

"Hey." She greeted. "Xander went to the butchers to get -" She cut herself off as she realised just how insensitive her sentence was. "We thought she might be hungry when she wakes up." she explained.

Willow was quick to try and ease the uncomfortable air. "Well, that was good thinking cause y'know we all have to eat. Some of us might eat different, icky things but hey, no ripped out throats."

Buffy put her hand to Willow's mouth to shut her up but thankfully Tara seemed oblivious to anything that had been said. She was too preoccupied with her sister.

Her voice cracked as she spoke. "Untie her." It wasn't a command but a plead.

"Tara, I can't she could-"

"Buff, it worked, I felt it and she's waking up." Willow informed.

Buffy nodded but her slayer awareness was still on full. There was no way she was letting Alex hurt any of them. She quickly untied all of the ropes and piled them off to the side while Tara went to support her unsteady sister.

Alex let her eyes refocus and saw her sister at her side, arms around her propping her up. "Hey. What's going on?" Her mind was so fuzzy like she was missing something. She seemed to remember being on her own and trying to find Tara.

Tara opened her mouth to talk but she couldn't get any words out. Then Alex threw her arms around her neck and all she could do was savour the moment.

"I found you! I knew you would be in Sunnydale. I missed you so much." She told her as she remembered that she had come to Sunnydale to find Tara. She didn't now how exactly she found her or got this house but she figured she must have hit her head and someone Tara knew found her.

Tara tightened her grip. "I missed you too."

Alex rubbed her sisters back, she could sense just how upset she was. "Hey, it's ok."

Tara shook her head. "I have to tell you something." she said as she pulled back.

Alex nodded, "you can tell me any-" She trailed off as her face suddenly contorted into a frown then unmistakable horror. "Oh god. Oh god." She pushed away and backed up with a hand over her mouth. Tara slowly approached her, it was horrible seeing her sister so distraught.

"No, stay away from me." She was now backed into the wall. "I'm a monster. I'm exactly what he said I'd become." She said with tears beginning to streak her pale cheeks.

"No, he was lying. What happened to you was... but you're going to be ok. We gave you your soul back."

Her eyes widened in rage, "You gave me my soul back? Doesn't mean I'm not a demon, a killer!" A whole new level of horror registered on her face. "Their families..." She looked Tara in the eyes for only a second before she let her gaze fall again. She couldn't be around her sister knowing what she'd done.

"Alex, it wasn't you it was the demon. You can't blame yourself." Tara told her.

"It was me! It's in MY head! I can -" For a minute it looked like she was going to be sick. "I can feel them in my hands, their blood in my mouth, their screams in my ear."

Tara once again tried to move towards her sister, it was unbearable to watch her talk like that but Alex side stepped her and headed out of the room. "I can't." was the only explanation she gave them before she pulled open the front door.

Dawn had already arrived and as the early morning California sun grazed her skin she yelled out as it burned. Instinct told her to move out of the sun light but she didn't.

Buffy had seen what was about to happen and was quick to jump into action. She dived into Alex and drove her clear out of the light while Tara slammed the door shut and rushed to her sister to check she was ok.

"Alex?" She asked as she brushed the hair from her face. She was expressionless, her eyes fixed on the floor.

"It's real." She mumbled quietly as she remained on her side on the floor.

Tara looked at Willow who knew what her girlfriend needed her to do. She silently took Buffy by the arm and lead her out of the living room, giving the twins privacy.

Tara repositioned herself, she lifted Alex's head into her lap and preceded to stroke her hair.

"I don't know what I am."

"You're you. It's just there's some limitations." Tara tried to keep her tone positive.

"Sunlight, crosses, garlic."

"Well... I don't think the garlic thing's true."

"Good, You know how much I like garlic bread with my pasta. Or is that blood now?"

Tara couldn't believe the mix of feelings she was getting. She actually enjoyed her sister's sarcastic comment because she'd missed her sense of humour so much. Even though it was such a morbid subject matter.

"Animal blood, from the butchers. I know it seems horrible but it's what you have to do."

"I can't live like this, as this. I'm a monster, a danger."

Tara grabbed Alex's head in her hands and forced her to look at her. "You are a good person. Something horrible happened to you and you have to deal with that."

Alex knew her sister's resolve face when she saw it. "You'll help me?"

"Of course I will. And my friend's here, they're good people who know a lot about this, they'll help you too." she promised.

Alex felt an overwhelming amount of guilt well up inside her. She didn't even know her sister's friends or how she'd come to know about vampire's. She left Tara there alone and now she didn't know about her life.

"I'm so sorry." She said as she hid her face against her sister's leg and let the tears that had been building up inside her go.

Alex hadn't taken long to regain her composure. She felt indescribably remorseful and evil for what her vampire self had done to those people but she had turned her focus to her sister as she couldn't do anything about it, not yet.

They sat closely on the sofa and Alex told Tara she wanted to know everything that had happened since they had last seen one another.

"I left about 2 months after you. I didn't tell him, Beth or Donny, I just left. I came here and moved into my dorm. I was one of the first to arrive so I got a single room. I joined the Wicca group on campus, although they weren't actually Wiccan, they just had a lot of bake sales." Tara said with a confused frown. "But I did meet Willow there... kinda."

"Willow is?" Alex said with grin.

Tara matched her grin. "My girlfriend. The red head that you saw."

She nudged her sister. "Someone's in love!"

Tara shoved back. "I am. She's amazing. I can't believe that she's mine, Lex. She's so beautiful and smart and funny and powerful. She's developing the magicks way faster than me."

Alex was so happy to see Tara so excited and out of her shell. "So, you're still practising?"

She nodded, "Yeah. Willow and I kinda help the group with magick." At her sister's confused look she continued. "There's some other stuff that's happened. When I met Willow it opened up a whole new world. There was this thing where the whole town couldn't talk. So, I'd seen Willow at Wicca group and I knew she had power so I thought we could have tried some spells to figure out how to get our voice's back. On my way to her dorm, these... monsters, like fairytale monsters, started chasing me and basically Willow and I ended up in the laundry room. As soon as we made a connection I was in love. But Sunnydale's high death count made a lot more sense too."

"High death count? Doesn't sound like a very good place to stay, lover girl here or not."

"Well, it's on a hellmouth so evil's kinda drawn to it. Buffy, the blonde girl?" Alex nodded. "She's the vampire slayer." When she saw her sister's eyes widen in fear she was quick to go on. "She won't hurt you. She only kills demon's that are actively killing. She has her own unwritten rules. Plus, there's quite a lot of demon's who don't actually hurt people. Anyway. Willow and Xander, he's been her best friend since kindergarten, they found out about Buffy and vampire's and started to help her fight them."

Alex was captivated hearing about the world she never knew existed. Tara told her everything, about the scoobies, about the watchers council and Angel. Even Spike and the Initiative. But through it all her face would light up at the very mention of Willow. Her love for the girl was obvious.

"Are you happy?" Alex asked once Tara had caught her up.

Tara thought about it for a moment then smiled sincerely. "I am. Happier than I ever thought I could be."

Alex hugged her. "You deserve it."

Tara happily returned the gesture. "You will be too. I know it doesn't seem like it but there are good people here and you could be a great help to them." She pulled back. "Will you stay? Fight the good fight with us?"

Alex shrugged, "Not like I've got much else to do."

Behind the joke exterior, the deeper meaning was not hidden to either of them. Alex would stay and fight the forces of evil because it was the only way to even start on her road to redemption.

There was a resounding growl and it took them both a second to realise it was Alex's stomach.

Tara took her hand and pulled her up. "come on." She lead her to the kitchen where the gang was now spread out. Buffy, Willow and Xander all looked at the twins. It took a few moments but Willow eventually moved forward.

"Hey." she smiled hopefully and breathed a sigh of relief when Tara returned it. The red head then turned her attention to Alex. "Hi, It's so good to meet you. Well, meet you, you - the ensouled version and all. Although, really feels like I already know you because, hi, you and Tara have the same face! that's amazing by the way, you really had me fooled and I'd be the hardest to fool."

"Sweetie, you're babbling." Tara said trying to hide her amusement. Willow was quickly turning red.

Alex shared her sister's bemused expression. "Hey, Willow. It's good to meet you too. Thanks for... before."

"Hey, anytime. I'm getting good with that spell and with Tara around, nothing can go wrong."

Alex nodded in a grateful way again.

Buffy soon appeared at Willow's side. "Hi. I'm Buffy."

"Hi, umm... thanks for the not slaying me."

Buffy shrugged it off, "No biggie."

Alex let out a nervous laugh.

Xander sensed it was a good time to chime in. "I'm Xander, I come baring fresh blood. yum." he said as he held up a tub of dark crimson matter.

Alex unconsciously took a step back. She thought she was going to throw up but the vampire stomach and lack of actual food seemed to prevent that.

He looked between everyone then slowly put the tub down as everyone gave him angry eyes. "Sorry about Xander, he's not the smartest guy around." Willow apologised.

"I am!" Xander argued.

"Because you're the only guy. If anyone else was here, you'd lose, Xan." Willow explained.

Xander feigned hurt as he hunched over the breakfast bar. "Why don't you just tell her I'm special and she should watch out for the drool."

Willow turned back to Alex and leaned in closer, "You probably should watch out for the drool."

Alex couldn't help but laugh. Xander appeared to not be so depressed as he was suddenly part of the group. He looked between all the women and grinned. "What viral young man wouldn't drool in the company of so many beautiful young women. Especially a super powered blonde, sexy vampire, two lesbian witches and set of twins." As the mental images increased his grin was replaced with a slight slack jawed look. "I have to sit down."

Willow smacked his arm. "Stop being so horny or I'll tell Anya."

Xander quickly stopped and resumed his place at the breakfast bar. Buffy and Willow soon followed taking seats on the stools.

"So hot or cold?" Tara asked.

Alex frowned then realised what she meant. "Neither. I can't drink that."

"Well, human would be kind of a bad move. But Buffy is probably the best choice if your going down that road. Those crazy vamps just can't get enough slayer-y goodness, huh Buffy?" Xander asked.

"Oh yeah. I get a paper cut and I have to barricade the door." She said joking along.

"I don't wanna eat you." Alex exclaimed in horror.

Xander giggled.

"Lex, their joking. Very inappropriately and badly joking." Tara said reassuringly.

"Sorry, I just... I need a little time to think about everything." She looked to Buffy. "Is it ok if I go upstairs?"

Buffy nodded sympathetically. "Of course. I'm sorry if we freaked you out."

"No. It wasn't you guys this is all just... insane."

They all agreed but by now they were used to the insanity. Alex headed out of the room when Tara looked to follow her but Willow held her arm.

"She needs some time."

Tara watched her sister disappear round the corner. Willow was right but she just didn't want her sister to feel alone.

"She'll be ok." Willow promised.

Tara nodded. "Guys, thanks for being so nice to her."

Buffy reached over and rubbed her arm. "She seems like she deserves some nice. Can't be easy being her right now."

"Yeah, least we can do is be friendly."

"Just not over friendly, Xander." Willow warned.

Xander put his hands up in defense. "Hey, I can't help we have similar taste in women. Not like you should be surprised."

Tara blushed furiously and Willow put a protective arm around her girlfriend. "Just you be careful mister. If I see you 'accidentally' coming on to the wrong twin, I'll kick your butt."

Buffy interrupted, "Ok guys, I think we've made Tara uncomfortable enough." Tara threw her fellow blonde a look of gratitude.

Willow kissed her girlfriend. "Sorry baby."

Xander pounced and kissed Tara on the cheek. "Yeah, sorry sweetie."

Tara couldn't help but laugh. "You guys are way too energetic on no sleep." She informed them.

"We kinda got used to the sleepless nights by Buffy's second month here." Willow told her.

And on cue, Xander yawned causing everyone else to yawn. "Ok, so bed for a few hours?" Buffy stated. Everyone nodded. Xander volunteered to take the sofa so the girls all headed upstairs.

Tara and Willow were in the spare room. It had taken a while for Tara to relax enough to fall asleep but Willow had tried every trick she could think of to try and sooth the blonde. Eventually exhaustion overtook her and she fell asleep in Willow's arms.

But Willow couldn't sleep. She couldn't tear her eyes off of her girlfriend. Just hours before she'd lost her and now her mind was racing with so many thoughts but all of them were about the fact that she could not lose Tara. She wouldn't know how to survive that.

The second she saw Alex tied up in that chair she felt her entire world just crumble. Then she found out that it was Alex and not Tara and to her surprise she only felt a tiny bit better. Alex had an undeniable likeness to Tara not only on the outside but little things like her mannerisms and her tone of voice were the same and Willow felt compelled to help her. She knew that the run in she had with her vampire self gave her a different perspective on it. She wanted to help her and she didn't even have a soul so helping Alex, not only did she want to, she could.

Willow smoothly untangled herself from Tara and made her way silently to Buffy's room where Alex was. She gently knocked but didn't wait for a response before pushing open the door. Alex was sitting cross legged on the bed. She looked up at Willow and gave a silent hello. The red head fully entered and closed the door, the click resounding off of the walls. They both remained silent for a few moments after Willow sat on the corner of the bed.

"Can't sleep?" Alex asked feeling overwhelmed by their silence.

Willow shrugged, "Too much going through my mind to sleep yet."

Alex nodded in agreement. "Tara?" She asked not missing the fond curl of the other woman's lips at the mention of her sister.

"She's asleep, took a while and some persuading. She's worried about you."

Alex sighed, "So am I."

"I'm not." Alex looked the red head in the eye, slightly shocked at her statement. "You will be ok. You've got your sister and you've got us. I know we don't really know each other but your her family and that pretty much means we'll do everything we can for you. And if anyone can deal with this, we can."

"What if doesn't come down to you? What if I'm not strong enough to live like this."

Willow angled herself more towards Alex. "I may not know you yet but it's obvious - you're strong. You left home, you made a life for yourself away from everything you knew."

The blonde shook her head, "You're mixing me up with Tara. She made a life, I just ran away from mine... and her."

"You done what you thought was best at a really hard time." Willow paused for a second making her final decision. "A while back there was a dimensional disturbance and me from another dimension ended up here. She was a vampire. And I couldn't let Buffy stake her. I knew that she wasn't me, she was a soulless killer but it didn't matter because she had my face, she'd been me at some point. So I started thinking about it and i had all this guilt about the lives she'd taken and the lives she would take after i sent her back there. What if she hurt Xander? Or Giles or even Tara? But really, it's nothing to do with me. It's the actions of a different person from a different world. All I can do is try and live my own life right."

Alex had heard everything Willow said and once she got past her astonishment of Willow's tale she heard what she was really saying but it was comforting to hear her say it.

"You must understand that two people who are alike in so many ways are still completely different people capable of different things. I guess now you have two twins."

Alex tilted her head, "Yeah, I guess I do."

"How would you feel about a little road trip?" Willow asked.

Alex raised an eyebrow, "Where and why?"

"L.A. and because I think that after the weirdness of today wears off your going to need someone who understands a lot more than any of us. Angel, he's the only other person like you and he could probably help you to adjust."

"Ok. But only if you promise me something."

Willow nodded. "You look after Tara and make sure that she doesn't take my problem on as her own. She's not going to be open with me but she will with you."

Willow squeezed the blonde's hand. "I promise you I'll take care of her."

Alex breathed in deeply and smiled at her new found friend. "thank you."

Willow stood up pulled Alex up with her. "Time to make the first move. You've got to eat. Then we can get some rest before the trip."

Alex groaned. "Just be thankful vampire you was in a different body." Then she went to face the horror that was her breakfast.

Alex slid down the wall till she was sitting with her knees drawn up. "I'm a vampire, right? How could that ever be ok?"

As Tara sat against the wall beside her sister Buffy put a hand on Willow's shoulder and signalled that they should leave. Willow gave a final sad glance at her girlfriend before reluctantly following Buffy from the room.

"I'll help you. Every way I can. And there's someone else like you who might help. I just... I couldn't kill you. I'm not going to lose you, not again."

Alex let her head rest against her sisters'. "Tar, you gotta tell me what happened. I got her like a 2 weeks ago and some guy... he bit me and then I'm waking up in a crypt and drinking people's blood."

Tara was almost happy. "You've only been- You got turned two weeks ago?"

"Yeah. At some club, the Bronze I think." She looked Tara in the eye. "I killed them. I didn't even care. It was... it was fun and..."

Tara put her arm around Alex's shoulders and held her until she calmed down.

Alex broke the silence. "This is so weird. I never thought vampire's were actually real and now..."

"I know. You don't deserve this."

"Don't I? I ran off and just left you there, maybe this is my punishment cause now I'm never going to leave, am I? Vampire's are immortal."

"Don't dare go blaming yourself for what happened. You got attacked by a demon, there's nothing you could have done. And yeah, you left but you had to, I get that and I just wasn't strong enough to have left with you. I'm glad you got out when you did."