Chapter Eight

(Two Hours Later)

After the group had assembled at his house, Faith had cleaned up and he'd gotten Tanya a clean change of clothes (not to mention a shower and some food), Xander had them all seated in the front room, sitting between Tanya and Faith, both of whom were nursing a cup of real hot chocolate, not the powdered stuff, "Okay, everyone here?"

Buffy asked first, "Why isn't she dead?"

Tanya smiled a little, "I'm I-i-Immortal, Buffy."

Buffy glared, "How do you know my name?"

Xander smiled, "I told her, Buff."

Buffy scowled at him, "Who gave you permission to tell her I'm the Slayer?"

Tanya arched an eyebrow, "He didn't tell me that, Buffy, but you just did." Buffy blushed at the chiding tone in Tanya's voice even as both Faith and Joyce chuckled at it, "More so, I could see it in your aura."

Giles blinked at this, "You're a witch?"

Tanya nodded, "Indeed I am. Wicca, to be precise."

Willow perked up, "Really? Me too!"

Tanya frowned for a moment, her eyes narrowing, "No, you are not."

Xander looked at her, "She isn't?"

Tanya shook her head, "No true Wicca would ever touch the Dark Magics by casting a curse." Tanya appeared to look closer at Willow, who nervously twitched in her seat, and then sit back, shaking her head, "All of her power is borrowed from an older source, from a spirit, and it is waning. Unless she-"

"Willow, my name is Willow," Willow interrupted slightly.

Tanya nodded, "Unless Willow learns how to tap into the true essence of the Earth soon, she'll be unless as far as magical abilities go. T-the borrowed energies a-are burning out her p-potential."

Willow looked worried, Buffy did to, but Giles appeared speculative, "Can you teach her how to do this?"

Tanya looked over at him, he shrugged, "Go for it – if she does it, cool, if not, we'll find her something else to do other than cackling around a cauldron."

Tanya shot him a look, "I h-h-hate that myth. We don't cackle – we laugh, w-w-we giggle, even c-chuckle, but n-not cackle." He gave her a winning smile and she blushed a little as she went on, "Maybe, Mr. Giles, but that would depend on a few things." Tanya looked around and shivered, "The first is the aura that I am feeling in this town – the Hellmouth has a corrupting influence on all magics, and I am n-not sure if a Wicca would be a-able to l-learn here."

Xander nodded, "Makes sense, in the whole 'learning good magics on the Mouth of hell' kind of way."

Faith then stepped in, "So, why were you lookin' for Xand? You want his head or something?"

Tanya blushed, "No, I'm not. I need to disappear and he offered to help me once." She looked over at him and he knew that it was over when he saw the look for help in her eyes, "Please?"

He took a breath and nodded, "Okay, so you need a new ID, papers, the whole deal, I can help with that."

She nodded at him, "Thank you – there are not many men among our kind who would help a woman."

Faith curled herself around his body rather possessively and smiled at Tara, "Not many guys like Xand, here." Faith then looked at him and grinned, "Don't you know any ugly girls, X? Tanya here's a fox!"

Buffy, Willow and Tanya all blushed but he grinned, "Why Faith, I didn't know you swung that way."

She shrugged but the sparkle of humor never left her eyes, "Hey, I don't have any probs with it – makes it easier to find a date on the weekends if you fish from both sides of the pond." She sat down into his lap, wiggled into it, and then grinned, "So … did you bring back anything from your trip for little ol' me?"

"And us too, mister!" He looked over at Willow, who was grinning, "Last time you went on a trip you left us out."

He rolled his eyes, "I got you that pin from Roswell, Willow."

She sniffed, "Aliens aren't real, Xander, and you know it."

Xander just grinned at her as several sets of memories came to mind from the immortal Terakan assassin he'd taken – oh, yes, aliens WERE real, but Willow didn't need to know that, "Whatever you say, Wills." He looked up at Faith, "Can you get off?"

She grinned at him seductively and opened her mouth to speak, at which point Buffy put her hands over Willow's ears, "I don't know, Boytoy – can you get me off?"

Joyce, Giles and Tanya all blushed lightly, Buffy looked like she'd been boiled alive her skin was so red and Willow, who still had Buffy's hands on her ears, looked confused, "Hey, what'd she say?"

Xander looked up at Faith and knew that it would be a LONG six months until her birthday, so instead he went with, "I'm sure I could, Faith, but not in front of the others – that's not something you do in polite company." He gave her a push and sent her into Tanya's lap, standing and going to get one of his bags, "Now, who's been a good Scooby?"

Buffy and Willow both put their hands up, "Mememememememememememe!"

He arched an eyebrow at the both of them and then looked at Joyce, "Here you go, Joyce, something I picked up from an OLD collector."

Joyce caught the box he tossed at her and, when she looked inside, frowned, "You can give this back to Methos, Xander – I won't wear his bulla." She repackaged it and tossed it back, turning to Buffy, who was frowning, "Think of it as a mark of being a child, or unmarried, once used in Ancient Rome with family and children."

Buffy growled even as he pulled out a book and tossed it to Giles, thinking that he'd have to thump the old man for that joke, "From Joe Dawson."

Giles caught the book and opened it, a sly grin pulling at his lips, "Oh, my, I DO think I'll need to thank Joe for this, Xander. Thank you."

Xander shrugged and then looked at the two growling girls, both of whom were looking at the bag he was holding – he reached into his pocket, pulled out a quarter, flipped it and then looked at Willow, "Heads, Willow wins."

Willow caught the bag he threw her even as Buffy growled about 'favoritism' and, once she looked in it, squealed, rushing Xander and crushing him into a huge, "thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouTHANKYOU!" She reached up and gave him a hard kiss on the cheek before she ran towards the door, "Gottagobyenowseeyoulater!"

Xander blinked even as Faith asked, "What was that all about, Xand?"

"I gave her the newest release from Microsoft, their beta-drive OS." Faith blinked at him and he shrugged, "You just saw a Willow geek-gasm, Faith."

Faith snorted, "I'm sure she'd rather have a screaming-"

Buffy cut off Faith's obvious comment, "What'd you get me, Xand?" He tossed her another bag and she looked into it with glee, but then frowned and pulled out a book, "How to Improve Memory? Are you trying to tell me something, Xander?"

"That I'm tired of remembering your phone number for you, Buffy, and getting you to remember your cell, your keys, thing like that." Buffy glared at him and he just grinned at her a little, "Hey, the worst that can happen is that you actually remember when a report or something is due, or you show up for patrols on time – just think of how happy that'll make Giles."

"Oh, yes, you can tell I'm just bouncing with joy, Xander," Giles deadpanned, which got a giggle out of Joyce and Tanya, a snicker out of Faith and a wounded look out of Buffy.

Faith stopped snicker enough to get out, "Sarcasm from the G-man, you KNOW it's a bad day when that happens." She then looked up at Xander and grinned, "So, what'd you get me, Xand?"

He winked at her, "I'll show you later – I think Joyce would gut me if she saw I gave you something better than she got."

Faith arched an eyebrow, "You're scared of Mrs. S?"

"He has good reason to be, Faith," Giles chipped in, a slightly smug look on his face. That smugness was lost as Joyce turned to him and leveled her 'Mother' look at him, "I-I mean that he's … that is to say…"

Buffy saved him, "Mom has both him and Giles whipped with food and The Look, Faith." Buffy looked around and then down at her book, "Well, if that's it, I'm out of here. Later Xand, Faith, Tanya. Mom, Giles?"

Both parents were up and said their goodbyes to the group, all three leaving the house and leaving the three of them alone – Xander took Tanya up to the other bedroom in the house, "It's yours, as long as you need it, Tanya."

The Immortal woman smiled and embraced him in a manner that could only be described as warm and trusting, "Thank you, Alexander."

He somewhat awkwardly patted her on the back and they released, "We'll start on your new ID tomorrow, and we'll go and get you some clothes, okay?"

She nodded and went into the room, stripping off her borrowed shirt and what was left of her dress as she did, "I will see you in the morning, Alexander." She shut the door and left Xander in a startled state for a moment – Tanya was most definitely put together in all of the right places.

He shook his head, "Don't look, you idiot – you're with Faith." He'd known Tanya for less than four hours and, already, he felt this … BOND with her, something he couldn't explain right off of the top of his head – it wasn't the bond he felt with any other of 'his girls', it was on an entirely different level. With Buffy, the bond was of friendship, like several pieces of woven twine, with Willow, braided nylon rope, also woven, Jenny and Joyce were somewhere in between, and with Faith it was like the ropes used in the old Galleons of Spain, tough, thick, almost unbreakable under normal means. But with Tanya it felt… unlike anything else, so he knew to be careful.

"You bet your ass you're with me." He turned and saw Faith standing there, her arms crossed but with an odd smile on her face as she uncrossed her arms, "Thing is, is that I'm not as possessive as B or Red – if you want to invite her in, I'll share ya."

He shook his head and walked over to her, kissing her fiercely for a moment before he released her, "No, I think I'll have you and you alone."

She smiled up at him and licked the end of his nose, "Okay, but don't blame me if she tries to take your head over lack of sleep after we go through a marathon fuck session."

He grinned and reached down, grabbed her waist and picked her up high enough so that her thighs went around his own waist, "Now, Faith, for your present."

She smiled as he walked them to her bedroom, "I ain't legal, Xand, remember?"

He nodded and then, suddenly, threw her back onto the bed, her hair fanning out slightly as she bounced, "I know." He went over to his bags and pulled out one other bag, noticeably smaller, "Now, for your present…"

(Next Day)

Xander and Tanya were in the backyard of his home, both dressed in sweats and running through a mostly meditative routine together that had somehow spawned out of asking if she wanted sugar in her coffee – Xander, for the life of him, couldn't figure out how they had gotten from asking if she liked sugar in her coffee to running through a Tai Chi exercise, but he had to admit that he hadn't felt this good in a while.

When they came to a stop, though, Tanya turned to him and bowed, "Two spoons of sugar, please."

He arched an eyebrow and ran the back of his hand across his forehead, "Are we going to have to do that every time I ask you something?"

She gave him a slightly amused look, "No, but I needed to work out and I hate doing it alone." They walked back into the kitchen and she sat down at the bar, "If I may ask, how long have you been an Immortal?"

He poured them two cups of coffee and put two spoons of sugar in hers, taking his straight, "A little over a year now. I'd ask you your age, but it'd be considered impolite."

She gave him a slight grin as she took her cup, "I'm secure in my age, Alexander-"

"Xander."

She nodded, "Xander. I'm two hundred and fifty three years old, next Ides of March." She looked down at her cup as she stirred it, "Do you know who killed you?"

Xander nodded, "Yeah, I do – vampire, Angelus, wanted to break Buffy's spirit so he captured me and tortured me until he drained me to death."

She winced, "What happened to him?"

"Sent to hell, given his soul back and now is working in LA towards regaining his humanity." Xander felt that old nugget of anger begin to grow a little as he sipped his coffee, "Can't say that I hope he ever gets it back, but if he does, I'll be there to send him right back to hell."

"I was burned as a witch in F-France, two hundred and thirty years a-ago." He looked up and saw a look of black amusement on Tanya's face, "One of the few they actually got right, from what I hear, but none the less I was burned w-while my Coven were all dunked or h-hung.." She pulled her borrowed sweatshirt up to show him an ugly scar that exploded out from between her breasts, "They hung a satchel of black powder around my neck and when the fires hit it, it went off, killing me as I burned."

He winced, "Fuck." She blushed a little and he winced again, "Sorry."

She shook her head as she pulled her top back down, "Don't be – it's just I'm not u-used to t-talking with a man like this a-anymore."

Xander didn't want to push the issue, so he didn't, though it didn't matter as Tanya went on, "Jebidiah and I met while he was stationed in Norfolk, on the Enterprise, and I was then running a small herb store that supplied many of the local w-Wicca . He made me all kinds of promises and I-I fell for him – when we moved to Darneyville, we weren't in love, like I thought, but he u-used me."

Xander reached out instinctively and laid two fingers on her now-clenched fist, which unclenched as she sighed, "He u-used me to cover debts, t-to amuse his f-friends, and he s-spread h-h-horrible rumors about me." Tanya looked up and he was surprised to see tears in her eyes, "He knew I was Immortal, and that o-our ceremony was b-binding to me."

Xander snarled an oath that came to mind, one that was so vial that the Ancient Babylonians had considered it an open declaration of war – for not the first time, he was thankful that he'd listen to Methos' mutterings and swearings as Tanya smiled a little, going on with her story, "M-many of my friends in Darneyville f-feel the same way."

Once he calmed down, she continued, "I-I was never able to bear children, l-like all I-Immortals, so he slept around – finally, I c-couldn't take any more and…" She looked down at her cup of coffee, a single tear falling down her cheek, "May the Goddess forgive me for breaking my vow."

"Oh, I'm sure she will, Tanya, as soon as she's done kicking Jebidiah's ass for a few centuries." They looked up to see Faith standing in the doorway to the kitchen, dressed in a pair of his black silk boxers and her tank top, her hair a mess and a scowl on her face, "And if I knew a way to bring him back, I'd kick his ass, too."

Tanya smiled slightly, "T-thank you, Faith."

After she walked over and gave him and kiss, he asked, "What's up, Faith? You're not out of bed for another two hours, generally."

She scowled, "I know, but nature called." She fixed herself her own cup of coffee, cream and a lot of sugar, and sipped at it, "So, what's going to happen now?"

Xander shrugged, "We start Tanya's new ID work, we take her shopping-"

Faith arched an eyebrow, "What's this 'we' business, Xand? I mean, yeah, she's hot, but I'm not shopping for another chick."

Tanya blushed even as he arched an eyebrow, "Okay, I will take her shopping and you can start reading those books I laid out for you."

Faith snorted, "What do I need those books for, anyway? It's not like I'm gonna see old age, and don't get all uppity on me, Xand." She looked up at him and the look in her eyes told him to be quiet, "Point is, is that I'm a Slayer – we don't live that long and even if we did, it's not like I'm going to be able to grow old with you."

He reached over and pulled Faith into his lap, hugging her close and, almost forgetting that Tanya was there, kissed her deeply for several seconds before he pulled back, "Faith, we knew this going into our relationship – one night one or both of us would go out and not come back."

Faith nodded and rested her forehead on his cheek, "I know, love."

Xander knew just how special that word was – Faith didn't 'love' people, she just hung around them, tolerated them, even screwed them, but he knew that, at that moment, Faith meant that she actually loved him and that she was at peace with herself over everything that had and would happen.

"It's amazing that you two can coincide with one another, given what your destinies are." They looked at Tanya, who blushed a little, "I mean, you're so different, yet you're the same."

Faith looked at him oddly for a moment and then asked, "Is it screwed up that she actually made sense?"

He shook his head, "Not really – what's screwy is that it took us as long as it did to figure it out, really."

Faith shrugged, "We always were kinda slow on the uptake."

Tanya looked at them both oddly for a moment, "Are you m-making fun of me?"

Faith grinned, "Yeah, just so we can hear that sexy stutter of yours, Tiger."

Tanya blushed at this statement, stuttering again for a bit before she managed to get out, "Sexy?"

Xander nodded, doing his best to ignore that Faith was wiggling around in his lap in a very alluring way, "Yup, it is, and Tiger, Faith?"

Faith shrugged and got off of his lap, "Yup, I can see a tiger in her, one just lookin' to get out and eat up any man or woman she finds, and then have her wicked way with 'em."

They looked at Tanya for a moment, her face flaming, before they broke into chuckles, Faith snickering out, "C'mon, Tahn, its okay, laugh with us."

Xander nodded, "Come to the Dark Side, Tanya, you'll find you like it here."

Tanya stopped blushing and shook her head, "James Earl Jones you are not, Xander."

Xander sniffed indignantly even as Faith cracked up, "I think of myself more as a Palpatine than a Vader." This cracked Faith up even more as he took one last drink of his coffee, "So, ready, Tanya?"

Tanya nodded, "And I have my name now … it's Maclay, Tara Maclay."

Xander snapped to and saluted, "Very good, double-oh Wicca." Faith really lost it at this and the newly-minted Tara giggled – yes, his work was done.

(Later)

"I'm almost afraid to ask where you're hiding your sword, Tara," Xander said to her as she walked out of the dressing room.

She arched an eyebrow at him as she spun in her 'flower child' dress, a kind of dress she had LOVED back during the Sixties, and then looked at him again, "You'll never find out while the lights are still on, Xander."

He leered at her in a playful manner, "Is that an invitation?"

She blushed a little and shook her head, "N-no, not really."

He winced, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound like-"

She held up her hand, cutting off his rushed and very sincere apology – it felt nice, really, to know that with Xander, what you saw was generally what you got and that he really was sorry that he'd been making a slight joke, "I-it's nothing, Xander." She then looked down, "So, what do you t-think?"

He grinned, "I think you're gorgeous."

She blushed lightly as she went back into the dressing room and called over the door, "You're just saying that because I showed you my scar."

She heard him shrug slightly, "Once upon a time I wouldn't have seen the scar, rather I would have been appreciating that the Goddess was kind to you."

She blushed even more as she changed back into her other clothes, feeling her heart beat just a touch faster than normal – oh, yes, Xander was quite the charmer, "You speak of the Goddess – do you believe?"

Xander snorted and she could tell it was a sore subject, "I tolerate the talk of any divine being generally because Willow will babble me into submission if I don't." When he spoke again, she could hear the emotion in his voice, one of anger, yet another emotion was there, one of … sadness, "As for believing … no, I don't think so. I've seen and done too much to believe in anything, really, Tara."

Tara slipped the shirt she had borrowed from Xander back on, tucking it in, "I see. Tell me, how far has Willow come in her magical training?"

Xander again sounded as if he was shrugging, "Rituals, mostly, but she thinks herself a Wicca even though Giles, Jenny and myself have all told her that, at best, she's a sorceress."

Tara stepped out of the dressing room, the dress in her hands, "Jenny?"

Xander nodded, "Romany Techno Pagan, mostly a ritualist but I think she may have had power once."

Tara blinked, "Romany? Truly? It's been many years since I have come in contact with the Romany, so I guess I'll have to meet her." They went to the cashier and Xander paid for her purchases before she could stop him – it was sweet, really, but after nearly twenty years of not touching her accounts, she had quite the little nest egg built up. Once they were out into the mall proper, she asked him, "What do you think of Willow's ability?"

She didn't have to wait long for his answer, "It scares me."

Tara stopped and looked at Xander, "Why?"

Xander rolled his eyes, "First, her opening spell wasn't a spell, it was a curse meant to bind a soul to the animated corpse of a vampire; I'm not exactly up on all of the mojo working around here, but even I know that's SERIOUS black magic working there and the fact Willow's used it scares me."

Tara shivered, "As it should. I take it this is where the empowering spirit came from?"

Xander nodded and went on to tell her the entire situation at the time, about Angelus and how he had originally had his soul restored and why it had been necessary, but when he got to the end, she was puzzled, "From what I understand, though, the soul never hit Angelus, but instead it went to his Childe, Drusilla, so Angelus was sent through the portal soulless, yet when he came out, he had his soul."

Tara blinked as they approached the food court, "Who in their right mind would damn a soul to fight against a demon for all eternity?"

Xander shrugged at her and didn't sound at all surprised at her question, "The Romany, Clan Kalderash to be precise, but while I'm not exactly supportive of their methods, I don't blame them for wanting revenge."

They walked up to a small stand that was offering cold lemonade and corn dogs, which Xander partook of, and then went to another venue that offered Tara the chance to try out a meatless hamburger and baked potato wafers, and they then took a seat in the seating area. Tara noticed that he looked at several places and nodded, "What?"

"They covered the damage well." She arched an eyebrow at him and he chuckled, "Sorry, forgot that you weren't here when it happened. Angelus managed to get all of the parts of The Judge together and they went on a rampage here at the mall."

Tara felt herself blanch and dropped her meal, "The … J-j-j-judge?"

Xander nodded, "Yup – ugly, blue-skinned, wore lots of leather, looked like a Dom, only not as friendly."

She mumbled, "No weapon forged by man …"

Xander snickered, "Yeah, we read that, but my contribution to the group solved the problem." He took a bite out of his corndog and washed it down with his drink, "We used an AT-4 rocket launcher on him, blew him into kibble."

Tara blinked for a moment and then picked up her meatless hamburger again, "Somehow I don't think I'll like the answer to the obvious question."

He gave her a grin that was just as home on his face as it was on the face of a five year-old who had just pulled off a HUGE prank, "Aw, come on, you know you want to ask."

Tara swallowed her bite of sandwich and shook her head, "No, I want to ask who is Drusilla?"

"Dru? Half-sane vamp, childe of Angelus, now a Kindred of Clan Capadocian, supposedly somewhere over in San Francisco if her last letter was any indication.

Tara sighed, "Why do I get the feeling that every time I get an answer out of this group I'm going to end up learning just how crazy this world really is?"

He reached over and patted her on the top of the head, "Because you've been around the block a few times and know that the world is rarely as simple as it may seem to be?"

She growled at him, "That was a rhetorical question, Xander."

Xander took a bite of his corndog, "No such thing on the Hellmouth." She threw a wafer at him and he caught it in his mouth, grinning the entire time, a grin that made her grin in return – this could be fun.

(Later)

"So, this is the elusive Tanya I've heard so much about," Jenny purred a little even as Tara and he walked into the house. Jenny was situated on the couch, several books in front of her and dressed in a pair of snug jeans and a loose blouse for a top, "I have to say that I was expecting someone more… wizened."

Tara looked at him and then at Jenny, "Firstly, my name is now Tara, Tara Maclay, and Xander, should I take offense to that?"

Xander shook his head as he played to Tara's lead, "Nah, don't – Jenny likes to play games with people's heads."

Jenny smiled at him in a way that, while teasing, in high school, would have made him die of blood loss to the brain, "Why, Xander, I never play games with people's heads, just their bodies."

Tara smiled and walked over, sitting next to Jenny and pulling Jenny into a side-armed hug, "Mmmm, manipulative, just how I like my women."

Xander withheld a bark of laughter as Jenny blushed at how the tables were being turned against her, instead he went with, "Hey, Tara, if I'm good can I watch?"

Tara gave him a secretive look and managed to stutter out, "I-i-i-if you're r-r-r-really good, Xander."

He sat on Jenny's on the other side of Jenny and pulled her away from Tara, knowing that Faith was watching in the door of the kitchen around the corner by way of the mirror, "And if I wanted to join in?"

Tara pulled Jenny away from him, doing her best to not break out into a smile even as Jenny turned as red as Willow's hair, "No, s-she's m-mine."

Xander, seeing Faith's reflection and that the Slayer had her fist stuffed in her mouth to keep quiet, pulled Jenny again but this time not away from Tara, "Maybe we can share? You, me and Faith can work out a schedule of some kind, perhaps?"

Tara gave him a speculative look and, apparently, that was all Faith could handle as she fell to the ground, howling in laughter, which made Tara and himself break into laughter.

Jenny, apparently determined to not be taken the best of, caught onto the joke and made an attempt to get back at him by draping her arms around his neck and pulled him close enough to whisper into his ear, "I'm game is you are, Alexander."

Xander, though, wouldn't let himself fall for the rebuttal as Faith got up and walked over, firmly planting herself into his lap (wiggling just to make sure she was in GOOD and tight), "I think that having you and Faith would kill me, permanently, Jenny, so I'm going to have to decline."

Jenny gave him a mock pout but looked surprised as Tara pulled her into a hug from behind, the blonde's hands roaming up and down Jenny's stomach, "Good, which means more for me."

"I concede defeat, Xander," Jenny said in an oddly neutral voice as Tara let her go. "Obviously you've gotten better at flirting than you used to be."

Xander pulled Faith closer to him and felt her start to purr, "Oh, not better, I've just had more practice as of late. So, what brings you here, Jenny?"

"I brought all of the things that I may need to teach Willow how to be a Wicca, a true Wicca, but I fear that my own lack of skills may cause a problem with that." Jenny looked at the books and then sighed, "I don't want her to go down the same road I did and have to have the majority of her power bound."

Silence filled the room for a moment and then Tara spoke, "You lost your way?"

Jenny nodded, "I started practicing Wicca at ten, like my mother before me, but while I had the Intelligence to learn the spells, I fear that, like Willow, I didn't have the Wisdom to learn the correct way to use them, so my Clan bound my powers."

Xander shook his head, not being able to imagine what that had to feel like, and quite honestly he never wanted to find out, but from the look on Tara's face, he suspected that it was possibly a fate worse than death, "Okay, let's just say that, if worse comes to worse, Willow can't be a Wicca – are there any other options open? We need a magic-user around here, someone other than Tara… if she decides to stay, that is."

Tara nodded slowly, "I think I will stay, as one is o-obligated to, to a student." She looked at the books and picked one at random, "W-we need to test her, to see what she can do, and t-then we can make decisions."

Faith stopped her purring long enough to speak up, "So, what now? Sure, Red's taken care of, but don't you and Xand need to finish your ID, Tiger?"

Tara shot Faith a glare at the nickname even as Jenny snickered, "Yes, we do, Faith, b-but it will take t-time."

Faith nodded, "Cool. So, is that it?"

They all looked at one another and nodded – that, indeed, was it.

(A Week Later)

"Do you feel it, Willow?"

Willow frowned a little as she meditated, just as both Jenny and Tara had instructed her to, in order to find her magical core, but so far she had come up empty, "This would be easier if you told me what I was looking for, Tara."

Tara opened her eyes and Willow could not only see the patience there, but also the wisdom, "There is no easy answer to that, Willow, because everyone I have ever taught to connect to the Earth has had a different experience."

Willow sighed, "This would be easier if you let me do it my way."

"It's better to break bad habits when they're new, rather than when they're old." She looked over at Jenny with a wounded expression, but the Romany woman didn't budge, "The way you went about petitioning and summoning the power was all wrong, Willow, and it was doing more harm than good."

Willow growled a little, "I wasn't hurting myself."

Jenny smiled in a slightly nostalgic manner, "That's exactly what I said, Willow, and look where I am now?"

Willow sniffed as she felt her pride clamor for attention, "I'm smart, Jenny, I won't fall into that trap!"

"Intelligence has nothing to do with magic, Willow," Tara said, her voice now disapproving and slightly stern.

"I beg to differ," Willow said, her pride now swelling. Damn it, she was smart enough to do this!

"And I've been doing this for over two hundred years, CHILD, so be quiet and listen to someone who has made the mistake you have made and has seen others make it." Willow, from her seated place, reeled back at the sudden jolt of power she felt form Tara, whose eyes flashed a dark color before they went back to normal, "It's a line that, if you c-cross it, it's n-n-not easy to get back a-across."

This stopped Willow in her mental tracks – she'd never really met anyone who'd talk to her about what they'd done wrong, but Tara had told her that she'd gone wrong and had come back from it. Was there something else that wasn't being said? "What happened?"

Tara shook her head, "That's a story for another time, but for now, find your magical center and we'll go from t-t-there."

(Two Hours later)

Tara looked at Willow, who had the most amazed look on her face, and had to repress a grin from forming on her own – it had taken two hours, four breaks and some rather inventive usage of the Hebrew language to get Willow to focus herself to find her magical core, "What is it like?"

"It's … it's like I'm in the shower, under the water but its not hot, not cold, it's just right." The sparkle in Willow's green eyes intensified a lot as Tara felt a rush of Earth Energy pulse through the area, something that happened a great deal on the Hellmouth as a way to combat the damaging effects of said portal, "Cool."

From the side, Tara heard Jenny snicker, "How very Oz of you, Willow."

Willow apparently didn't even hear that, "It's like … a puppy licking you, or kittens curling up and purring, only no dander or smelly stuff."

Tara blinked at this revelation – that was definitely one of the stranger descriptions she'd ever heard, "Now, Willow, pull away from that core, as f-f-far as you can, and find it again." She felt the source of power fade from Willow for a moment, dwindling to almost nothing, and then come back to full force, this time quicker, "Good – now do that one thousand times, or until it becomes second nature."

Willow's eyes shot open as she squeaked, a trickle of sweat running down her forehead, "A thousand times? Ican'tdothatathousandtimesI'llpassout!"

"Then you'd better get started," Jenny chipped in smoothly as she stood up and stretched out, a movement that caught Tara's eye for a moment before she returned her attention to her student. "Well, this has been fun, but I have an Englishman to go tease."

Tara grinned, "I thought that you had said that you were not pursuing Giles anymore?"

Jenny smiled, "Oh, I'm not, but as Xander will attest to, there is nothing wrong with teasing or flirting."

Willow looked up at Jenny then, her face set into a frown, "Don't break him and Faith up."

Jenny gave her an odd look before shaking her head, "I'd never dream of it, Willow. Alexander and I tease only, as do Faith and I." Jenny looked up at her and, for a moment, Tara could see something else in Jenny's eye, "I'm not sure if anything could break those two apart, given how perfect they seem to be for one another." With that, the Romany woman left and Willow went back to her practices.

Tara, however, frowned slightly – what had that been in Jenny's eye?

(Xander's House)

Buffy looked up at Xander from her position on the ground and glared at him as he slowly twirled the boken around in his hand, "No fair."

He gave her a bland smile, "Did you not just fall for a blatant trap?"

She glared even harder, "Okay, so what?"

He gave her a look and he nodded, "Okay, let's do that again." She got to her feet and readied her boken as he did the same, "Go."

Buffy rushed forwards, doing the same thing that she did last time in charging his blatantly loose and open stance, and like before he deflected her wooden blade, dropped under her and flipped her over onto her back, but this time he spun around and slammed the tip of his boken into the ground next to her head, close enough that she could hear the slight cracking of the wood as it entered the ground, "What was I supposed to see?"

He arched his eyebrow and pulled his sword away, "That you're dead now."

She shot him a glare, "But I deliberately fell for that trick again."

He nodded, "And I thank you for it, but this is how it could have gone down the first time."

From her spot on the ground, she pouted, "You still cheated."

He arched an eyebrow at her, "'Matters of honor only burden themselves unto the victor'."

"Huh?"

Xander sighed, "It's only cheating if you lose, Buff."

She got off of the ground by herself, having already tricked Xander into helping her up once and then using surprise to throw him to the ground himself, "So, tell me again why we're doing this? I mean, Slay Chick here."

Xander rolled his eyes at her and she felt mildly irritated as he said, "Because you may have the information in your head, but if you don't access it, it's as useless as a brain in the Sunnydale PD. Besides," he went on with a slight cough, "Giles isn't getting any younger and you beating him up all the time is taking its toll."

Buffy sniffed slightly, "I told him to wear the padded suit!"

Xander gave her a LOOK, "Do you REALLY think that helps against a Slayer, Buff?"

She nodded, "Point made, but why you and not Faith?"

Xander shrugged, "Not sure, even made that point myself – he said something about 'Alpha Females' and 'Terror beyond imagination', so I left it alone."

Buffy sniffed, "I could take her."

Xander shook his head, "Hence the 'Alpha female' thing, Buffy – it's not a question of who is dominant between you and Faith, it's how you work off of the other's strengths."

She stopped at this and looked at Xander for a moment before asking, "Where are you getting all of this stuff, Xander? Did Willow get you a calendar full of quotes like she got me last year?"

Xander shook his head, "No, she made that mistake a few years ago and paid the price when Jesse and I spent two months solid quoting the quotes." He put away his boken and then looked at her, "It comes from not wanting you and my girlfriend fighting, Buff, because I don't want to choose."

Buffy blinked, "Faith's your girlfriend?"

He nodded at her slowly, "Yeah, don't sound so surprised."

She blushed at the slightly scathing tone he gave her and did her best to backpedal, "But Faith doesn't date, she only-" She winced as his eyes narrowed a little and tried another approach, "I thought you and Amanda were, you know, together."

Xander shook his head, "Not in the traditional sense, Buff – Amanda and I are friends, with benefits, but Faith and I are the real deal."

"How do you know? How do you know that she isn't using you?"

Xander froze in his spot and Buffy knew instantly that she'd crossed a very blatant line – he turned and his eyes were dead, "The same way you knew that a vampire was your supposed 'soul mate', which is rather odd given that when you fucked him the first time he LOST his soul." He advanced on her and Buffy found herself stepping back as he did, "Listen, Buff, I know I gave you flak over your supposed love for that thing, but given what he was, that shouldn't have been unexpected – don't start throwing stones at my relationship with Faith."

She stopped and bowed up, "What's so different between you and Angel, Xander? What makes you better than him?"

"The ability to tan, the fact I have a pulse and that I'm not hiding SHIT from Faith, not like that vampire did." Xander closed the gap in two quick steps and Buffy felt her heart stop as he hissed, "I'm trying to be civil about this, Buffy, so don't start poking your nose in where it isn't wanted or needed."

"Well excuse me for trying to be a good friend and keeping you from getting hurt," she huffed.

Xander pulled away, his eyes no longer dead, but now they were mocking, "Funny thing, when I did that, I was accused of being jealous – imagine that." With that, Xander turned on his heel and walked into his house, shutting the door and then locking it.

Buffy looked at the door for a long time, how long she wasn't sure, but it was long enough for Faith to walk up on her and scare the shit out of her with a shouted, "YO B!"

Once Buffy was able to get her heart back down from her throat and stopped gasping, she asked Faith, "What was that for? Are you trying to scare me to death?"

Faith shrugged at her, "Nah, I don't scare people to death, I generally knife 'em that way. You ready to go on patrol? X got me this new toy and I've been itching to try it out."

Buffy arched an eyebrow as she looked down at the glove that Faith was wearing, "What is it?"

Faith grinned, "Proof that X is a geek at heart, B." Faith squeezed her hand and from the inside of her jacket sleeve shot a long knife that sailed right into her hand, and from the other jacket sleeve a stake shot out, "Xand said it was his little Slayer who wanted everything that he could give and I thanked him for it."

Buffy snorted as her mouth ran off without her brain, "So you screwed him?"

Faith, apparently, was expecting that as she shook her head and reset the two weapons into her sleeves, "Nah, we're holding off on that for another few months, so I just told him I'd put it on his tab." After a second, her sister Slayer looked at her, "So, you ready, or are you going to sulk about the ass-chewing Xand gave you?"

Buffy winced, "You heard?"

Faith nodded and shrugged, "Got the story from G, Red and Xand, pieced a few other things together and figure that if he's tearing into you, that ya opened your mouth and stuck your foot in it."

Buffy followed Faith for a second before asking, "Does the fact I just insulted you not faze you in the least?"

Faith shrugged, "Been put down a lot in my day, so you bitching about how life isn't fair and running your mouth off isn't anything new." Faith looked back at her and grinned a grin that Buffy wasn't sure she liked, "Besides, you know the old saying – Karma's a bitch and she has a long memory. Ya might want to remember that, B." With that, Faith took off to get to their first cemetery for the night, leaving Buffy to wonder and worry for a bit.

(Later – Harris Home)

"Aw, don't worry, Xander – it won't bite," Jenny teased the younger Immortal as he shied away from the computer a little bit. For the past two hours they had been finalizing some of Tara's new documents, along with a few other odds and ends, and every step of the way the computer had been fighting Xander. She, on the other hand, had been doing anything rather easily.

Xander just growled at the computer even as Tara looked at it warily – apparently the older Immortal did not like computers at all, often making motions to ward off evil, and Jenny repressed a sigh as the Immortal stuttered, "I-i-i-its okay, X-x-x-x-xander."

"Honestly, it's a wonder why any Immortal ever does this on their own," she sighed as she finished another document and sent it out amongst the Internet.

Xander snorted, "Don't blame us, Jenny, because it was you mortals who came up with the damned things to begin with." She glared at him and he gave her a cheeky grin in return, "Now, pen and paper, THAT is the way to do things."

Jenny scoffed at him in mock horror even as Tara nodded quickly, "I-it's the best w-way to d-do things, r-really."

Jenny then just shook her head and sighed, "Well, that's it for now – Tara Maclay is a solid citizen as far as the computers are concerned."

"Groovy," Xander drawled as he sat down into a seat, soon joined by Tara so that they formed an equilateral triangle. "So, how'd Willow's lesson go today?"

"O-once her pride w-was taken o-out of the way, she did well enough," Tara conceded to Xander even as she reached down and picked up a book.

Jenny nodded, "It's a shame she will never be Wicca, she could have done well in it."

Xander arched an eyebrow, "Uh, huh? I thought she was Wicca already?"

Tara shook her head, starting to leaf through a book, "I-it's more than a religion, Xander, it's a way of l-life that Willow can't go through."

Jenny then cut in, "What I am afraid of, and rightfully so, is that Willow's pride will not let her see that we're trying to help her and she'll go back to harming herself with magics, albeit unintentionally."

Xander groaned and leaned back in his chair, "Willow's possibly the second most hard-headed non-Slayer on this planet, so you may want to watch her very carefully. When she had it in her head that she's right, nothing short of ripping her apart will show her she's wrong – trust me, Jesse and I were the last two to do that and she didn't talk to us for a week."

Tara looked over at him as he cast his mind back to that day, remembering just how STUPID the argument had been between the three of them over who was more dangerous, Wonder Woman or Batman, "I don't want to discourage her, Xander, but she needs to understand that her way is a p-path to darkness."

Jenny then spoke up, "You said second most hard-headed, Xander – who is the most hard-headed?"

He gave her a slight grin, "Why, me, Jenny, didn't you know that?" Jenny stuck her tongue out at him and he snickered, "Don't show that unless you intend to use it, Jana."

Heat exploded into Jenny's cheeks even as Tara choked on something, but after a moment Jenny's blush faded and she looked at him in a way that would make even the most jaded male porn stars sit up and beg for more, "I'm game if you are, Xander."

Now it was Xander's turn to blush, and to one-up Jenny he gaped a little even as Tara choked some more – this had not been part of his plan, "I … we … that is to say …"

Jenny smiled sweetly at him and pinched his cheek, "So much like Rupert used to be, it's quite sad, really."

Even as Xander shouted an indignant, "Hey," Tara finally stopped choking enough to get out, "H-he's not th-that bad."

Jenny nodded, "Point. So, Tara, might I ask you a question?" Tara nodded and Jenny asked, "Why is it that you only occasionally stutter?"

Tara blushed at this and looked down, "Its part of the act, Jenny, part of Tara Maclay, and as she's so new, sometimes I forget."

Xander finally recovered enough to shake his head, "No need to, Tara – you're cute enough without adding another adorable factor to it." She shot him a death glare and he looked at Jenny, "That wasn't nice, comparing me to Giles."

Jenny shrugged slightly, "True, but it got the response I was looking for." It was his turn to shoot her a death glare but she ignored it in favor of looking at Tara, "So what do we do with Willow now, Tara?"

Tara frowned for a moment and then tapped her finger on the end of her nose, "I'm not entirely sure, Jenny. She has the intelligence to find a way to cast many spells, but I fear for her lack of wisdom on when to use them – it's not uncommon for someone to go too far, too quickly, and to burn themselves out."

Xander chipped in his own two cents from what he deemed the 'magical peanut gallery', "Is there any kind of limiter or restrictor you can put on her?"

Tara shook her head, "No, nothing that wouldn't be physical."

"What would they be, just out of curiosity?"

Tara looked at Jenny and they both shrugged, "It would need to be something that would be difficult to remove, so we used to use piercing."

Xander blinked, "Uh, ear rings are easy to remove, Tara."

She gave him a slight grin and winked, "Who said they were in their ears, Xander?" Xander felt blood rush from his brain as the meaning registered, but even as Jenny giggled, Tara went on, "We also used magical metals that burned anyone who touched them excessively."

Xander coughed a little, suitably embarrassed, "Ah, I see."

Tara rolled her eyes, "No, we didn't pierce them THERE, Xander – just their eyebrows and such."

The trio lulled into silence for a bit, the tension and emotion that had built in the room fading a bit, and all was serene for a while – Xander had laid his head back and appeared to be napping, Jenny had taken to looking over something she had printed out, but Tara was calmly studying Jenny; there was something about the woman that puzzled her, something that, more to the point, caught her attention and that was very rare.

"Yes, Tara?" Jenny looked up at her and smiled a little, "What is it that you're studying so closely? Do my earrings not match?"

Tara blushed lightly as she ignored the snickering from Xander's direction, "No, I was just wondering why you flirt with Xander like you do, when it's obvious you have no romantic interests in him."

Now it was Jenny's turn to blush lightly even as Xander's snickering stopped, "Well, first of all it is fun to verbally spar with him, even though he folds quickly when flirted with." Jenny put down her papers and leaned back, "But, honestly, I'd have to say it's because Xander's the closest thing to a male friend I have who isn't wanting to get into my pants." Jenny turned to Xander and smiled, "And I thank him for that, I truly do."

Xander mock-bowed to Jenny, then the woman went on, "Honestly, I can't think of another man, recently, who was like that and it's rather new for me, hence why I flirt with Xander." Jenny then snorted slightly, "Though it's not like I ever had a chance with him, given Faith and what I have heard about Amanda."

Tara blinked, "You … you wanted to …"

Xander, it sounded, was in the same level of shock, "Jenny?"

Jenny, on the other hand, just shrugged, "It was a passing fancy, really, given my age and the relative chance of me ever finding someone. Nothing too spectacular."

Tara looked at Xander, who looked to be alternating between pale and flushed, "Xander, did you know about this?"

Xander shook his head, "No, I didn't." He got up and walked over to Jenny, kneeling in front of her, "Jenny-"

Jenny shook her head, cutting him off, "Forget it, Xander – you're with Faith now, and I'm not going to break you two up." She pushed away from him and went back to her files, "Now, what else do you need, Tara? Do you want anything else?"

Tara paused, knowing that the issue had only been tabled for a moment and then shrugged, "I always wanted to be an astronaut – can you make that happen?"

Jenny sighed, "Certainly couldn't be any worse than Buffy's so-called 'driving'…"

Anything else that Jenny was going to say was cut off by the front door slamming open and a pair of feet storming in – Xander and Tara were both immediately on their feet, swords drawn, ready to repel an attacker when they saw that it was Faith, and her face was as black as a thundercloud, "Blondie better never show her face around here again or I'll fucking cave her skull in!"

Tara looked over at Xander, who looked overly-worried himself as he asked, "Faith, CALM DOWN!" He carefully walked over and held her in place long enough to establish eye contact, "What happened."

In response, Faith held her right arm up and Tara could see several things looked to have been snapped off, "She broke it, Xand."

Xander's head dropped and he sighed in a defeated tone, "Slayers and their fucking toys. I KNEW I should have bought her one, too, but noooooo, I had to only think of Faith." Tara winced in sympathy for a moment but when he raised his head again, she almost felt sorry for Buffy, "I'll get you a new one, Faith."

Faith looked at him, her lower lip now trembling, "Promise?"

Xander kissed her on the end of her nose, and then licked it, "Promise." Faith smiled at him and he pulled away, turning towards the front hallway, "You can stop skulking, Buffy – you suck at it."

Buffy shuffled in at this point, looking both embarrassed and ready to cry, but Tara could also see that there was a large petulant streak in her even as Buffy spat out, "She started it!"

Faith was quickly on the defensive, "I told you no and that Xand gave it to me!"

"You just didn't want to share!"

"Why would I want to share with someone who has problems with it herself?

The pair bickered back and forth for a bit, both of them picking at one another, and Tara felt a headache forming even as she noticed Jenny had walked over and was patting Xander on the back of his head, muttering, "There, there," while restraining a grin. This act made Tara also restrain a grin of her own until, a moment later, Xander erupted.

"ENOUGH! SIT DOWN, THE BOTH OF YOU AND BLOODY WELL BE QUIET!" The Chosen Two sat down, right there on the floor, Jenny sat down and Tara found that she too had sat down at the shouted command – this wasn't good, especially with the way that vein in his head was throbbing.

Xander calmed himself for a second and then glared at Buffy, "You are going to apologize to Faith for breaking her gift – that is non-negotiable, and once that's over you're going to learn how to understand that No means No." He turned to Faith, who was smirking slightly but then quickly stopped, "You should have already learned that Buffy's spoiled rotten, so her taking your weapon, or trying to, shouldn't have come as a shock – I'll replace this one, but that's it."

Faith nodded even as Buffy whined, "Hey," and then hung her head, muttering to Buffy, "Now look what you've done." Buffy glared at Faith but a glare from Xander quieted it, and it was too much for Tara as she broke out into a bout of giggles.

The giggles, it seemed, were infectious as Jenny soon broke out into giggles of her own as Tara fell backwards, her giggles evolving into full-blown laughter. Soon, she and Jenny were laughing so hard it hurt and even Faith was snickering even as Buffy's lips were quirked, but Xander stood there, stone-faced. It wasn't until, a few minutes later, and gasping for air, that Tara got back up into a sitting position and looked at Xander, "Keep that up and your face will stay like that."

He arched a single eyebrow, but Jenny was then on his case, "Aw, look at the frowny no-fun face." She stood up and walked over to Xander, well, in Tara's opinion, glided over to him and poked her finger into his cheeks, "Turn that frown upside down."

Xander, in response, only snorted, which prompted Faith to get up and walk over to Xander – she leapt up into his chest and wrapped her arms around his neck, her legs about his waist, and her lips crushed themselves against his. After a few seconds she pulled back, "Better?"

Xander's arms went around Faith's waist, a well-hidden grin quirking at the edges of his lips, "I'm not sure."

Tara flushed a little as Faith kissed Xander again, harder, and with tongue, for several more minutes before she pulled back – Jenny had busied herself by looking at her watch and Buffy was making faces at the pair, but it appeared both Xander and Faith were ignoring them, "How about that?"

Xander grinned at her in a way that Tara knew, instantly, that he'd set her up, "I'd say that passes muster."

Faith, for her part, apparently smelled a rat, "You set me up?"

He shrugged, "Faith kisses are always worth the set-up."

Faith smacked Xander on the back of the head, "Jerk."

Xander pinched Faith on the ass, "Harpy."

Tara sighed as the pair started to go back and forth, looking over at Jenny, "Are they always like this?"

Jenny shook her head, "No, but Xander and Cordelia were occasionally like this, when they were dating."

Buffy chipped in, "Yeah, but these two don't need to go look for a broom closet to go make out in, they have their own house."

Faith looked over at Buffy, "You say that like it's a bad thing, B."

Tara deadpanned, "It is when you live with a third person."

Both Xander and Faith had the good grace to blush and mutter, "Sorry, Tara," which she preened at for a moment before the former put the latter down and asked, "Okay, now that the hostilities are out of the way … what's next?"

Tara looked at Jenny, who shrugged, and nodded happily, "Girls night in." Buffy and Faith both grinned and Xander looked like he was ready to cry, "Don't worry, Xander – we need a cabana boy."

Xander paled and looked to make a break for the door, but Faith jumped on him, quickly followed by both Buffy and Jenny, the dark Slayer speaking, "Nuh-uh, Xand – you're wearing that loincloth."

Tara cheerfully ignored the pitiful whimpering from Xander – yes, tonight was going to be fun.

AN: Alright, that's the end of this chapter – one more to go … but be warned, it's going to be a LONG chapter (cursing self for leaving so many loose ends to tie up). What do you think? Reviews, please.