To answer your question BAKAMAN this is going to be the beginning of season 2 so all of what happened in season one is over with. After this chapter I will start with the episode "When she was bad."

I promise you one thing though this fanfic will be very interesting. And wait until you see who the big bad will be for this season.

On with the chapter

Chapter 9

Tara woke up with a smile on her face. She had another bad dream, but Angel was there at the end to kill off the bad guys. After he ran the bad men off he would hold her and tell her how special she was.

Snapping out of her happy musings, she glances outside. She frowns though as she looks out into the night. She can sense all of the evil that's barely contained in this place. Her scowl quickly turned into a look of confusion as the bus slowed down and pulled to the side of the road.

Looking around the bus she see's that it's almost empty. When she first got on the bus however, it was almost full, so she had to sit in the back.

"God, how long have I been asleep?" Tara muttered to herself. As she looked down at her watch, she noticed that her Dragon Gaunlets were gone. Before she could jump to conclusions that someone might have stolen them, they reappeared on her wrists in golden and white lights.

"What the...."

"Hey kid......it's the end of the road." the bus driver said as he stood to his feet. Tara glanced up at him and then she noticed that all of the other passengers were gone. With a sigh she gathered her bag and got off of the bus. Before she got a mere five feet from the bus, she looked up and saw a sign that told her that she was in L.A.

Sending an accusing glare at the bus driver he quickly explained.

"The bus was running out of gas. It'll be awhile before it's ready to be back on the road. Meet me back here in about thirty minutes." he said as he dissappeared into the bus and drove off.

Tara found the nearest payphone and called Mr. Giles (Chris gave her the number). As she explained to him that the bus was delayed, he offered to come and pick her up. As she declined the offer she heard a scream. Quickly excusing herself she hung up the phone and ran into the direction of the scream.

As she arrived on the scene (she was lurking behind some bushes to see what was going on first), she saw a teenaged girl on the ground with a large black demon standing over her. Quickly reaching into her bag for a weapon, she only pulls out a stake.

Cursing herself for not bringing better weapons, she walked out from the bushes and was about to jump in the fray, until she heard an inarticulate growl. Looking up she see's a man with a machette in hand, running towards the demon. He had short brown hair and he wore tight blue jeans. All in all he looked like a cowboy.

Putting her stake down to her side, she watches the guy as he starts his assault on the demon. With a few viscious slashes from the machette, the massive beast falls down to the ground, dead. As the guy slowly walks over to the girl to see if she's okay, Tara notices another one of the demons running up behind the boy.

Seeing that the boy wouldn't be able to turn around in time, Tara taps into her vampiric speed and football tackles the demon. As they roll on the ground struggling, Tara manages to get on top of it and snaps it's neck.

Letting the dead demon fall fully to the ground, she turns and see's that the boy is staring intently at her. As the girl they had saved fled the scene the guy walks over to Tara with a smile on his face.

"Thanks for the help." he said as he glanced down at the now decaying demon body. "My names Pike." he said as he extended his hand.

"Tara." she said simply as they shook hands.

"Well Tara are you from around these parks?" Pike asked, making conversation.

"No, but I'm heading to Sunnydale."

"Sunnydale huh..." Pike says as he wipes his blade off on the grass. "That's about two hours away, do you need a lift?" Tara seemed to think about that before she replied.

"Well seeing that I missed my bus." she said as she looked down at her watch. "I think I'll take you up on your offer."

"Your chariot awaits." Pike said with a little bow as he walked her to his motorcycle.

As Tara got on his hog a thought struck her.

"Hey before we go to Sunnydale, do you mind taking me to see an old friend?" Tara asked.

"Not a problem." Pike replied as he started up the engine.

Pike was mildly surprised when Tara directed him to the warehouse district of down town LA. Shrugging it off he watched As Tara knocked on the door of an abandoned looking warehouse.

"What!" a young white kid growled as he opened the door.

"Yeah is Charles Gunn here?" Tara asked. The kid looked at Tara suspiciously at that.

"There's no Charles Gunn here." he said as he started to close the door, only for Tara to wedge her foot in it.

"Oh but I think he is here. Tell him that an old friend wants to see him." Tara said, with her voice almost commanding him to do it. The boy let out an audible sigh as he walked back into the warehouse. A moment later a tall, bald, black kid stood at the door.

With Angel looking through Tara's eyes, he didn't see a boy at all. He saw a man. Someone who gave his life for a cause few even knew about.

"Yo, what the hell do you want?" Gunn asked already agitated.

"Are you Charles Gunn?" Tara asked.

"Yeah, now what the hell do you want?" Gunn asked with a scowl.

"I just... I just wanted you to know that there's a higher power watching you." Tara replied lamely. Angel told her to come all this way, but he couldn't tell her a thing to say.

"Listen, I don't need some uppity white bitch coming down here telling me about God. I don't believe in all of that stuff no mo'."

"You should, because he believes in you." that only seemed to get Gunn madder.

"You don't know a damn thing about me. Now get the hell out of here." Gunn shouted dismissively as he turned to leave. Seeing his opportunity to get Gunn as an allie fly out of the window, Angel begins to whisper into Tara's mind.

"When you were a little kid - in a shelter on Plummer Street. The second floor was all rotted out. - You used to dare kids to cross, and of course you were the best at it, because you were the - you were the bravest. Your sister Alonna wanted to be like you so bad, so she went up, and the floor gave out. She would have broken her neck, but - you'd been watching her the whole time. You were standing right below - and you caught her."

When she finished telling the story Gunn stopped dead in his tracks. Turning, with his eyes dancing with fury, he grabbed Tara roughly around the arm.

"How the hell do you know about that?" he demanded. "How the hell do you know about Alonna?"

"Like I said..." Tara started as she jerked her arm free. "You have people in high places watching you."

"Like I'm supposed to believe that?" Gunn asked. "I got people in there starving to death and getting killed off by vamps and you want me to believe that God loves me. What a joke."

"Listen I know this isn't much..." Tara replied as she reached into her pocket and wrote a check. "But this should help with the food situation, for awhile." she said as she handed him the check. His eyes almost bugged out of it's sockets as he saw that she had given him over five thousand dollars.

"I'll come back here hopefully on the weekend and maybe we can talk about your vampire problem."

"Yeah I think I'd like that." Gunn said totally confused as he put the check in his pocket.

"I'll see you then, Charles." Tara said as she gently kissed him on the cheek. Turning to leave Gunn called out to her.

"Wait, who are you?"

"My names Tara, but hopefully one day I hope you call me your friend." Tara replied as she walked away.

Gunn just looked at her until she walked out of sight. With a look of confusion he walked back into the warehouse.

"Hey Gunn!" Alonna shouted out to him. "Who was that at the door?"

"Nobody, just.... a friend." he said as he sat down and wrapped an arm around his sister. Looking up at the ceiling he idly wondered if God was really watching over him.

"So did you get to see your friend?" Pike asked as Tara got on the motorcycle.

"Yeah we had an interesting chat." Tara replied.

"Okay next stop Sunnydale." Pike replied.

-

The two drove in silence until they reached a restaurant. Getting a quick bite to eat that got back on the road and continued driving until they got to the apartment , Tara told Pike about.

"Thanks for the ride." Tara said as she got off of Pikes bike.

"Hey it was the least I could do for you saving my life."

"Alright you know where I live, so if you want to stay in touch...." she trailed off at that.

"Yeah definately." Pike replied. "Goodbye Tara."

"Bye Pike." Tara said with a wave as he took off into the night. Steeling herself, she hefted her clothes bag on her shoulder and knocked on the door in front of her.

After a few minutes a middle aged man with glasses opened the door.

"Y...yes may I help you?" he asked in a thick british accent.

"I'm Tara Maclay, I...I was looking for a Mr. Rupert Giles."

"Ahhhh Tara." he said comprehension dawning. "I'm Rupert Giles please...." he said as he stepped aside to let her in. Tara noted that he really didn't invite her in and she became instantly suspicious of the man. That was until Angel whispered some information into Tara's mind, telling her a little about Giles.

"I'm terribly sorry about your Aunt, Tara." Giles said sincerely as the two sat on his couch.

"Thanks." Tara replied glumly.

"Oh... ahhh...um..." Giles started off feeling a little uncomfortable. Why Megan wanted Tara to stay with him was beyond him. An older man and a young girl living together was just unseemly.

"I was ahhh busy cleaning up a room for you. If you're tired...."

"I am a little tired." Tara interrupted.

"Come this way then." Giles said as he grabbed her bag and the two walked upstairs. As he opened the door Tara peered inside and saw that the room was kind of dusty, but other then that it looked rather homely.

"I'm sorry for the mess." Giles replied as he sat her bag on the floor. "As I said earlier I was in the middle of ....."

"I love it." Tara said tiredly. And she did, love the room. It was better then her hole in the wall of a room with her father.

"Ah, splendid." Giles said as he turned around to leave the room. "If you need any....."

"You play the guitar?" Tara asked cutting him off. She eyed a guitar leaning up against the wall. Giles looked at her sheepishly. He had been using this room for storage and he forgot to put his old guitar away.

"Oh, ah yes, when I was younger." he said as he took off his glasses to polish them. Relieving his old days in his mind.

Until he started to hear Tara pluck a few chords.

"Tara that's quiet good. Who taught you how to play?" Giles asked, enjoying her music.

"My father did." she replied glumly as she stopped playing. The one good thing her father did do for her. Tara thought to herself.

Giles saw her reaction towards the mention of her father. Just what did that ponce do to this girl? Giles silently wandered.

"Well I'll let you settle in then." Giles said as he moved towards the door. "Goodnight Tara."

"Goodnight Mr. Giles." Tara said as she layed down the guitar.

"Please just call me Giles. Everyone does."

"Alright Mr.....Giles." Tara said with a smile. Giles put on a smile himself and then left the room. After a few minutes Tara layed back on the soft bed and feel asleep. Her dreams were the same as always. The monsters of the night tried to get her, but her Angel was there to save her everytime.

TBC......

To anybody that was wondering, yes Pike is the guy from the Buffy the vampire slayer movie.