Chapter 5: Tara's Secret
"We have to tell the others," Willow said sadly.
The four of them were seated around the dining room table, Willow and Tara on one side, Xander and Dawn on the other. They had gotten home from the hospital around midnight. Emotionally drained, they had fallen asleep quickly, although their sleep was, for the most part, not particularly deep or peaceful. They had all slept late, and moved sluggishly through the house for a few hours, trying to keep their minds occupied.
"Oh man," Xander said. "Giles. Anya."
"I'll call Giles," Willow volunteered. "Let's just be careful not to call at some horrible hour."
"Thanks Will," Xander replied. "I'll tell Anya. She's probably at the Magic Box now."
Xander got up to go, and Tara rose as well, moving around the table to put a hand on his arm. "Wait," she said. "I'll come with you." He looked surprised and curious, but not as if he minded. But there was still that look in his eyes–that look she had seen before at the hospital. It frightened her, but she didn't look away. She knew she was right.
"I have to go there anyway. I want to restock my supplies." She turned to Willow. "You don't mind, do you, baby?"
Willow looked up at her in surprise. "Oh no, of course not!" she said. "You, you should have your supplies, you know, in case we ever need them. Don't wanna get massacred 'cause we haven't done our shopping." Willow knew she was starting to babble, and tried to reign in her errant tongue. "I mean, you don't have to worry about me. I won't use it or anything, I promise."
Tara smiled at her. "Thanks." She went to grab her coat, and Xander's too. Dawn's voice halted her in her tracks.
"What about Spike?"
"Oh no," Xander said angrily. "I will not let him anywhere near her."
"But–" Dawn protested.
"No!" Xander said, cutting her off. "The guy's an evil, soulless thing. There's no telling what he'd try to do."
Tara blinked at Xander. This looked like more than his usual hatred of Spike. She frowned and tilted her head at him. He and Buffy had been fighting about Spike, and Willow had said she thought Spike might have hurt Buffy. That frightened Tara–she had thought Spike genuinely cared for the Slayer, in his own twisted way. Looking at Xander, she decided that guilt was probably a very active motivator for not letting Spike near Buffy.
"Xander," Willow began, "he should know. Whatever's been going on between the two of them...we should tell him. He'd find out soon anyway, and then he'd just be angry we didn't tell him."
Xander looked from Willow, to Tara, and to Dawn. "Fine," he said, grabbing his coat from Tara, "but if he touches her, I swear I'll stake him myself." He pulled his jacket on and walked out the door, Tara following behind after exchanging glances with Willow and Dawn.
---
When they reached the Magic Box, Xander approached Anya behind the counter, waiting impatiently for the customer to leave. Finally, the young woman was gone. Anya's attention was on him. And boy, was she laying the anger on thick, he thought as she glared stonily at him.
"What now?" she snapped, looked down at the cash register as she checked the money.
He swallowed. "It's Buffy. She's been shot."
Anya froze, money in hand. She looked up at him in shock.
"Warren shot her. She's in a coma." His voice sounded so calm, so detached. It almost frightened him.
Anya put the money back and closed the cash register. Her eyes remained on her hands as she processed this. Then she looked up at him suddenly, a question in her eyes.
"What happened to him?"
Xander scowled as he met her gaze. "Nothing. He took off. Tara told the police. She and Willow saw it. But god do I wish I could get my hands on that son of a bitch." He leaned against the counter as his voice filled with bitter sarcasm. "It's not that I don't trust the Sunnydale police force–actually, it is that I don't trust the Sunnydale police force."
"Someone's got to do something," Anya said, horrified at the prospect of a free Warren. "He can't just hurt her and get away with it."
"And in no way is this left over from your days as a vengeance demon."
She looked away. "Not left over."
He stared. "Oh."
---
Upon entering the Magic Box, Tara moved away from Xander as he went to talk to Anya. She glanced nervously at them over her shoulder, but the customer was taking up Anya's attention for now, so Tara had some time to do what she needed to do. She walked towards the back of the shop, pausing to shoot a pensive look at the black arts books on the balcony. She did not want to ever have to use those, but she was terribly afraid that one day that would truly be the only choice. But for now, she had another, much better, choice.
She ran her fingers along the spines of the books opposite the counter. Finally, she found the book she wanted, as she sat between the shelves and the stairs. She pulled the book off of the shelf, and sat down on the floor. The stairs offered her the most privacy she could get here in the shop. There were only a few customers, but no way was Anya going to let Tara walk out of there with the book. She'd demand to be told what Tara was planning to do with it, and the witch really didn't want anyone to know. She didn't want to get their hopes up.
She sighed with relief as, glancing through the contents of the book, she discovered that it did indeed contain the necessary spell. She hurriedly pulled a pen and a small notebook out of her purse. She copied down all of the relevant information about the spell of entry, then put the book back on the shelf. Remembering her reason for coming, she happily perused the shelves, picking out supplies. She hadn't been lying; she really had needed to stock up. When she was done, Xander and Anya were waiting for her. The two were oddly quiet as Anya rung up the purchases for her, but Tara put it down to post-non-wedding stress, combined with comatose-Buffy stress. Although there was nothing Tara could do to help them work out their complicated emotions, there was something she could do about the other problem. The witch hid a smile as she and Xander left the store.
