A/N thanks for the reviews. To Bakaman no I'm not going to pair Faith and Tara together. Faith however will be involved with someone else though. If I decide to get Tara a girlfriend it's probably going to be someone not known to the buffy and angel verse. It'll be someone of my own creation. It's also nice to have you back. What was your favorite chapter so far and I'm glad to see that you're still enjoying my story.
Also thanks to my newest reviewer bob the blue and you were right. They are going to Pylea and be prepared for some new players at the end of this chapter.
Also to Darklight, I hope you don't think my idea for Faith sucks. You'll see what I mean later on in the fanfic. anyway on with the newest chapter.
Chapter 22
Over the Rainbow
Everyone was pleasantly surprised when, Over the rainbow led back to California. Actually L.A. to be more exact. As Tara was busy checking everyone into a hotel, Faith took Johnathon to the side so they could talk privately.
"What's up?" Johnathon asked as he looked nervously at Faith. Something about the way she was looking at him, was troubling.
"I just really never got a chance to thank you for saving me in Raccoon." Faith said with a soft smile.
"Don't mention it." Johnathon said meeting her gaze. "Like I said I owed you one, for saving my life."
"Yeah, some big hero I was." Faith said as she dropped her smile. "I almost pissed my pant's, when those things came after us."
"Are we talking about the same person?" Johnathon asked as he stepped closer to her. "Because what I saw was a beautiful girl, who saved my life and tried to help her friends."
"So you think, I'm beautiful?" Faith asked as she got closer to him. They were now only inches apart. As Faith leaned down to kiss him, Johnathon suddenly pulled back.
"Faith it's not like I mind, but what are you doing?" Johnathon asked.
"I'm trying to thank you for saving my life." Faith said with a look of confusion on her face. "What you don't want me?" she asked. Faith looked genuinely hurt.
"Faith it's not like that." Johnathon told her as he held her hand. "We're friends."
"Whatever." Faith said as she jerked her hand free and turned her back to him.
"No not whatever." Johnathon said as he grabbed her by the shoulders and made her look at him. "I care a hell of alot about you Faith."
"Then why don't you want me?" she asked.
"Because you mean more to me then just some easy screw. Faith what do you see when you look into the mirror? Because I'll tell you what I see." He said as he let go of her arm. "I see a beautiful, smart, and funny girl. I can see all of that and I haven't even known you long. I don't know who hurt you this much for you to think that you're some kind of slut, but you're not." He let that sink into her head before he spoke again.
"You're my friend Faith and yeah you're real beautiful, but any guy that just want's to screw you, isn't worthy of you. A guy should get to know who the real Faith is and then one day when the time is right, make love to you."
As he was saying this Faith, started to form tears in her eyes. Almost every guy that she'd been around alway's just wanted her for sex. They never wanted to just get to know her. But every since she had met Tara and her friends, she finally felt a sense of belonging and she had guy's around her that really cared about her.
"You aren't just saying this because you like Ken are you?" Faith questioned with a smile. Johnathon just lowered his gaze and blushed. Faith had alway's seen the way, Johnathon would just stare at Kendra. She often wondered why the two wouldn't just hookup, but now she knew. Johnathon was a gentleman all the way.
"Even if I do like Kendra, I still meant every word I said." Johnathon assured her.
"Hey I got the room's." Tara said as she turned the corner. "You guy's coming or what?"
"Yeah, we're coming." Faith said as her and Johnathon shared a look. With what Johnathon told her ringing in her head, the both of them followed Tara up to their rooms.
"I want to talk about what happened in Raccoon." Tara said to the others as she sat down on her hotel bed. "Since we're in L.A. I think I should just take you guys back to Sunnydale. Following me is just too dangerous."
"Too dangerous?" Xander asked in disbelief. "Tara living in Sunnydale is dangerous too. We risk our lives there everyday."
"Beside's where am I going to go, if you leave?" Faith asked.
"I can talk to Giles. Maybe you can live with him, until after the summer."
"Tara listen." Amy spoke up for the first time. "We knew that we would probably get into some trouble, when we first started this trip. We promised each other that we would see this through to the end."
"You're not going to get rid of us dat easily." Kendra informed her.
"Alright." Tara said as she smiled at her friends. If anything they were loyal.
"So what do you guy's want to do now?" Johnathon asked.
"I say we hit the clubs." Faith said as she stood to her feet.
"We can do that later tonight." Tara said as she grabbed her duster. "Come on, I'm going to take you guy's to meet a friend of mine that I have in town, first."
Hyperion Hotel
"Man this place looks creepy." Amy said as they pulled up at the old hotel.
"You'll like it, when you see the inside." Tara said as she stepped out of her car.
"I'm with Amy on this one." Xander said as she saw the shadows casting off of the old building. "I just feel like somebodies gonna jump out at us." he said as she opened the door and three spears were held against his neck. "I rest my case." he said as she looked back at Tara.
"Hey guy's he's with me." Tara said as she stepped through the door.
"Hey T." one of the teen's said as they lowered the spears. "You looking for Gunn?"
"Alway's." Tara said with a smile as Faith, Kendra, and Amy stepped through the door.
"Damn T." another one of the teen's called out. "Who are all of these hot babe's?"
As he said this the girls start to blush.
"You must really be an Angel?" another one of the boy's asked. "Because you just answered my prayer's." he said as he leered at Faith.
"Why don't you guy's stay here and mingle." Tara said as she walked past them and into the foyer. Gunn had really fixed up the place. It was really starting to look like the old Hyperion hotel.
"Hey girl." Gunn called out. Snapping Tara out of her musing's.
"Hey yourself." Tara said as the two hugged.
"Not that I mind the visit, but what are you doing here?" Gunn asked.
"I'm here to find a friend of mine. So I decided to drop by and visit."
"That's cool."
"So where's Alonna?" Tara asked as she took a look around.
"I sent her upstate to live with my Aunt. That way she can get back in school and..."
"Get away from the doom and gloom."
"Exactly." Gunn said with a smirk.
"Speaking of doom and gloom, you guy's have really fixed this place up."
"Yeah, from the money you and the Council gave us, we were able to do this." Gunn said as he waved his hand about the hotel. "And speaking of fixing the place up, I have a surprise for you."
"Oh really?" Tara asked as they started to walk up the stair's. Tara was mildly surprised when Gunn led her to Angel's old room.
"Wait." Gunn said as he stepped in front of her. "Close your eye's."
"Gunn..."
"Come on girl. I said it was a surprise." With that Tara closed her eye's tight. As Gunn opened the door he led her inside. "Okay open them." he told her. As she did, the biggest smile Tara ever had spread on her face.
The room looked simply amazing. The walls had beige wallpaper with little baby cherub's playing together on it. There was a queen sized bed, with pictures of Angel's lining on the quilt. There was also a little teddy bear sitting on the pillow of the bed, that had little white Angel wings on it's back.
"This was the first room that me and the guy's fixed up. Alonna had the idea of making it your room, for when you visit, so one thing led to another and we decorated the room like this for you." Gunn said as he walked up beside her. "I hope you like it?"
"Like it." Tara said as she turned around and looked at him. "I love it." she said as she gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Gunn looked deep into her eye's and slowly pulled her into a kiss. It was a deep and passionate kiss. A kiss that Tara seemed to be into, until she suddenly pulled away.
"I'm sorry." Gunn told her with wide eyes. "I thought..."
"It's okay." Tara said in a low voice. "It's not like I didn't enjoy it or anything. It's just that I have a mission to complete. I can't..."
"You don't have to say nothing else." Gunn said a little dissappointed. "I gotcha." he said as he turned to leave. But then Tara grabbed his arm.
"Maybe after my mission is over, then we can talk." Tara said with a smile. Gunn caressed her hair and then her cheek with his thumb. With a hopeful smile on his face, he walked to the door.
"Oh and Gunn." Tara called out. "Tell my friends, I'll be down in a little while. I just want to get comfortable in my room first." With that Gunn left the room and Tara sat heavily on her bed.
(I think Gunn would be the perfect person for you to date.) Angel whispered into her mind. ( I never wanted for my mission to interfere with your happiness. Why did you tell him that anyway?)
(B...because...I...I think I'm gay) Tara stuttered for the first time in nearly a year. Angel was floored by this news.
(You think you're what?) Angel asked, with a cough. (Why do you say that?)
(Because I keep looking at girls.) Tara answered.
(That doesn't mean that you're gay.)
(And after I look at the girls, I keep imagining that their having sex with me.)
(Oh...) was all Angel could say.
(Y...you don't...th...think that I'm a freak now do you?) Tara asked worriedly.
(Of course not.) Angel replied kind of offended. (You're alway's going to be my girl.)
(Can I tell you something?) Tara asked after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, as she sat back on her bed.
(Of course. You know you can tell me anything.) he replied.
(It's just that I've never been with a man before.)
(Yeah, where are you going with this?)
(Well if I'm going to be gay then, I really want to know the touch of a man, first.)
(Tara what are you asking me?)
(I'm asking you if you would make love to me.)
After about thirty minutes Tara emerged from her room and walked downstairs. When she got there, she saw her friends talking animately with Gunn and his group.
"Are you guy's ready to go?" Tara asked with a huge smile on her face.
"Yeah." Kendra said as she looked up at her. "What took you so long and why do you seem so happy?"
"It's nothing...I was just checking out my room and I took a little nap."
"You look like you're glowing." Johnathon said as he looked at her strangely.
"Well I'm not." Tara said defensively. "Thanks for the room." Tara said as she hugged Gunn.
"When I come back to town, I'll be sure to use it."
"You're leaving already?" Gunn asked.
"Yeah, after I get my friend I have to take her home."
"Alright, I'll see you later then."
"Bye Chuck!" Faith yelled as she walked out of the door.
"Bye Faith." Gunn said back as he waved to the others.
"So we're going clubbin' now right?" Faith asked as the Scoobies got into the car.
"After a little side trip to the library, yeah."
Faith was pissed when Tara took them to the so called "Club." The place was full of different kinds of demons. Pushing down the bile that rose in her throat, she watched as a green skinned demon with a yellow Armany suit, red eye's and horns approached their table.
"Welcome to Caritas. You know what that means?" The Host asked.
"It's Latin for mercy." Tara replied.
"Smart and cute. How about gracing us with a number?" The Host asked.
"Alright." Tara said with a huge smile. "Just give me and my friends a minute alone then?"
"Whatever you say sweetcheeks." he said as he walked off.
"Tara what kind of place did you bring us too?" Faith asked.
"Yeah I thought we were going to a club?" Xander asked.
"I must admit, dat I'm feeling a little uncomfortable." Kendra said as she looked at the various demons in the bar. "I'm de Slayer and I'm supposed to kill dese tings."
"Listen guy's, I got to admit that I brought you guy's here under false pretenses." Tara said as she looked at them all in turn. "But like I said I have to get a friend of mine."
"So get them so we can go." Johnathon told her. He had to admit it himself that he was feeling kinda bad about being in a room full of demon's.
"It's not that easy." Tara told him. "Fred's not in this dimension. Okay Lorne's coming back, Kendra when I get up there on stage, just make sure that he doesn't run."
"Are you ready, sweetcheeks?" Lorne asked.
"I was born ready." Tara replied as she got up on stage. After picking out a song, Lorne smiled and started to talk into the microphone.
"Hey everyone, we have a beautiful young woman, who will be singing for us, this is her first time, so lets give her a round of applause." He waited until the applause died down and walked off stage. Tara sat on a stool and waited for her selection to begin. She sang somewhere over the rainbow by Judy Garlend
As Tara first started to sing the song, Lorne began to fidget. He saw images of himself and other's doing heroic things. Things that he wouldn't have ever dreamed of him doing. But everything he saw was conflicting. It was like he was seeing an alternate future. As he was about to get up and leave the room, a dark skinned girl grabbed him and made him sit back down.
As Tara finished her song, she immediately got a round of applause from everyone. Ignoring that she walked up to where Lorne was and sat down.
"So you know who I am?" Tara asked as she tilted her head and stared hard at Lorne.
"I sure do Angelcakes." Lorne replied nervously.
"Then you know what I want?" she asked.
"Not in the strictest of sense, but I got the cliff notes."
"What I want you to do is call that friend of yours, so I can go to Pylea." Lorne almost turned a different shade of green when he heard of his home dimension. "Don't worry I'm not going to make you come."
"Oh thank God." Lorne said in relief. "But I have to ask, do you know what you're getting yourself into?"
"Yeah I got a bit of an idea." As they were talking the gang just looked at the two, as if they had grown an extra head.
"So what was going on back there?" Faith asked as they got back in Tara's car.
"A friend of mine was taken to another dimension, where they call people cows and treat them like slaves."
"Is this actually a friend that you know?" Xander asked. Tara just gave him a wide smile.
"Listen I can't make you guy's come with me. If you want you can go on to a club."
"No way." Amy said as she climbed into the backseat. "Like we said earlier there's no way you're getting rid of us."
"Yeah we were just dissappointed that we weren't going to a club." Johnathon informed her. "We're not going to abandon you now and we're definately not going to let you go and do something dangerous by yourself."
"Alright, Xander you drive." Tara said as she got in the passenger seat.
Twenty minute's later
"Here. Stop here." Tara told Xander. He stops the car.
"Here." Faith asked as she looked around. "Isn't this a movie studio?"
"This is where Lorne's friend said the hotspot is. I have it on good authority, that she's never wrong." Tara said as she looked back at her. "And Kendra, hold that book tight. It might be our only way to get back home."
"Right." Kendra said as she opened the book. "Here goes. - Krv Drpglr pwlz chkwrt strplmt dwghzn prqlrzn lffrmtplzt!"
They all stare as the portal begins to form in front of them.
"Everybody buckle up." Tara told them, after she switched places with Xander. After they all follow her advice Tara guns the car for the portal. As the car disappears into the swirly hole the book drops onto the street behind it, smoking ever so slightly.
Tara's convertible lands on the grassy ground between some trees on sunny Pylea, the screams of the passengers resonating through the air, then comes to a screeching halt.
"Is everybody okay?" Tara asked as she turned around and looked at her friends.
"If you call crapping my pant's okay, then yeah I'm okay." Xander said as he got out of the car, followed by Amy and Kendra.
"Thanks for the visual, Xan." Faith said as she stood beside Tara.
"Anytime." he replied with a lopsided grin.
"Alright listen guy's we don't have much time." Tara said as she moved to the trunk of the car. "Xander did you keep those gun's you had in Raccoon City?"
"Yeah I kept two shotgun's and a couple of glock's. Why?"
"Because for our part of the mission, we're going to need it." she replied as she told them her plan. Covering the car with tree branches and huge leaves, the crew leaves to handle their mission.
As Kendra and Faith keep walking through the forest, they see a clearing. Walking to it they enter a quaint, medieval looking village. Keeping low to avoid being seen, they approach a barn looking structure.
As they look in the open window, they see a cute, thin woman with long raven hair. She was wearing some ragged indigenous clothing, in a stable shoveling flehegna manure and talking to herself. As they were about to walk into the stable, a green figure emerged. Ducking back down they watched as he started to talk to the woman.
"Stupid cow!" the green demon yelled as he backhanded Fred on the face. "I thought I told you that I wanted this place ready before I came back?"
"Th...that's what you said." Fred said nervously as she began to shiver.
"Then I guess I'll have to make sure that you work faster." the demon said as he raised a whip. As he prepared to bring it down on Fred, a voice spoke from behind him.
"Hey asshole." Turning he was met with a fist to the face.
"Did you see what that prick did to her?" Faith asked from her position by the window.
"Yeah." Kendra said with a grim look.
"Well I'm going to do something about it." Faith said as she stood to her feet and sprinted off.
"Faith...Faith." Kendra whispered out to her as she stood and ran after her.
"Then I guess I'll have to make sure you work faster." Faith heard the demon say as she walked up behind him.
"Hey asshole!" Faith shouted out as she grabbed the demon's whip. As the demon turned she punched him in the face. Not having much of a effect on him, the Pylean rears back to punch Faith only for his head to leave his body.
As his now headless body falls to the ground it's revealed that Kendra is behind him, with a battle axe in hand.
"Faith how many times, have I told you neva' to rush into anything without a plan?" Kendra asked as she lowered her Axe.
"Only all the time." Faith replied with a smile. "Now come on, we have to get back to the car before some more of these things show up."
"Alright. Let's get Fred and... Where did she go?" Kendra asked as she looked around the room.
Fred runs through a wooded area, past a boulder. After tracking her Faith and Kendra slowly make their way along the boulder and into a cave. They find Fred, now wearing a pair of crooked glasses, busily adding to the carved symbols covering the walls of the cave.
"Hello?" Kendra said as she walked into the cave. Fred hesitates for a moment then continues to write.
"Hey, great place." Faith says sarcasticly as she looks around the cave.
"You don't have to be afraid of us . Really. We'd never hurt you?" Kendra say's. Fred glances back at them, then quickly turns back to her carving.
"So, ah... So, you don't wanna talk to me?" Faith asked.
"I can't?" Fred said quietly.
"Why won't you?" Kendra asked, after her and Faith shared a look. Tara knew the strangest people.
"Because - you two ain't real. Or I'm not real. Somebody here isn't real and I suspect it's you two. So if you're not real, that means that I was beaten to death back there and that I'm dead now. Dead. And with me being dead and you two not being real, I can hardly be expected to have some big conversation with you two at the moment, because it's just a little too much pressure, alright!" Fred babbled.
"Okay. Okay." Faith says as she holds her hands up and backs away. Fred nods and turns back to her writing.
"What's dat you're doing?" Kendra asks.
Fred looks up at the stuff covering the walls. Some of it looks like the words from the book that opened the portal, other stuff resembles mathematical formulas.
"Uhm, I think I saw it in a dream." Fred supposed.
"You've been here a long time." Kendra commented.
"Always. - Not always."
Faith spots something and picks it up. It's a California drivers license for one Winifred Burkle, living in Los Angeles, brown hair, 5'6", 114 pounds, expiration date 03-01-98.
"I had a dream. I had a name." Fred says as she turns around and smiles.
"Winifred." Faith says as she reads the license. Fred hurries over and pulls the license out of her hand.
"What?" Fred asked confused.
"Dey called you Fred. You were studying to be a physicist." Kendra said as she approached her.
"That's my dream." Fred said looking up at her.
"You disappeared from a library in Los Angeles two years ago." Faith said as she approached her.
"Stop it." Fred says as she shakes her head. It's as if the new ladies are reading her mind.
"It's not a dream, Fred." Kendra informs her.
"It's not?" Fred asked in a child like whisper.
"No."
"And my head's still on?"
"Yeah." Faith says as she gently pushes her glasses back up the bridge of her nose.
"You two are real?" Fred asked. Faith and Kendra smile and nod.
Fred's smile melts into a frown and she starts to shake her head as she moves a few steps away from the two.
"No. No, I don't want you to be real." Fred says frantically.
"Why?" Faith asked in confusion.
"Because!" Fred started as she turned back to face them. "You're nice, and you saved me. And bad things will happen to you here." she then shakes her head and looks down, twisting her fingers together "Bad things always happen here."
"No, no, no. Nothing bad's gonna happen." Faith informed her. "I-It's gonna be okay. We-we can take you out of here."
"We?"
"Yeah. Me and my friends. We have a way to get out of here. We can take you back."
"Can't get back. There is no back."
"No, dare is." Kendra cut in. "If we can open de portal..."
"The portal!" Fred shouted out as she grabbed Kendra by the shoulders. "Then you found the book?"
"Yes." Kendra said as she gently pushed Fred back. "Now come on, let's go. We have to get back to de car and wait for de others." With that Fred gathered her few meager possessions and walked out of the cave with her new friends.
Pylean Castle
A red-robed, red-faced demon named Silas is walking down a corridor. A priest hurries up behind him.
"My lord, rebels have breached the castle!" the demon priest informed him.
Xander, Amy, Johnathon, and Tara then run into the corridor.
"Hello Silas. Long time no see." Tara says as she raises her sword.
"How do you know my name, cow." Silas asked as he looked at her with a creul smile.
"I know alot of things. Like how you're going to free all of the human slaves on your world."
"Stupid cow." Silas said as he starts to back up. "I'll eat your insulant tongue on a silver platter by the end of this day." with that said Tara's group charge at Silas but are intercepted by some palace guards.
As they sword fight with the guards, Tara see's Silas slipping through another room.
"Guy's do you think, you can hold these guards on your own?" Tara asks as she looks back at Xander. Xander only nods. "Good because I'm going after Silas." Wading through the army of Pylean soldiers, Tara ran into the room that Silas was in.
"Okay where's the book?" Faith asked once they got back to the car.
"I thought you had it?" Kendra asked as she looked at Faith strangely.
"Oh crap." was all Faith could say.
As Tara enter's the room, she see's Silas by a huge console. As he pulls a cloth off the console, he lets his hand hover over the outline of a hand set with jewels in the middle of it.
"Do you know what this is, cow?" Silas asks as he stares hard at Tara.
"Yeah." Tara replied grimly.
"Then drop your sword or I'll kill every cow on this planet." As Tara was about to throw down her sword, a guard came into the room. Using it as a distraction, she tapped into her magical abilities and created an invicible force that flung Silas into a wall and away from the console.
Turning, Tara stabbed the guard in the chest and cut off his head. Moving over to the console, she quickly destroyed it with a fire attack.
Just as she was about to stab Silas, she heard Kendra whispering in her mind. Listening to what she's saying she doesn't sense the guard behind her. As he lifts the axe up to take off her head, a shot sounds out.
As Tara looks up, she see's Xander with a smoking twelve guage in his hands. Amy and Johnathon are right behind him.
"Watch your back." Xander said with a smirk as he came fully into the room.
"I don't have to watch it, because I know you'll alway's be there to do it for me." Tara said causing Xander to blush."What about the other guards?" Tara asked.
"Amy turned them into rats." Johnathon said with an amused grin. Amy just shrugged.
"You hear that Silas?" Tara said as she put the tip of her sword under his chin. "This little slavery camp is over."
"The Wolf, Ram, and the Hart will not allow this." Silas informed her.
"I'm sorry, but they kind of don't have a choice." Tara said as she leaned in close. "And FYI, I would leave the palace if I were you. You see I went to the rebel camp, before I came here and I told them what I was going to do." As if on cue, the sound of fighting could be heard in the halls. Along with the screams of the dying.
"Be seeing you Si." Tara said as she slapped the demon on the chest and walked away from him.
"What are you?" Silas asked as Tara and the others walked up to the door.
"I'm the Seraphim." Tara replied as she and the others kept walking, until they were out of sight.
"Man you guy's stink." Faith said as Johnathon, Amy, Tara, and Xander approached the car.
"We had to go through the sewer's to get into the palace." Johnathon informed her as he sat down beside them in the car. Both Kendra and Faith scrunched up their noses and inched away from him.
"Hello Fred." Tara said as she approached the very thin woman.
"Hi." Fred said with a worried smile. "H...how did you know my name?"
"I know alot about you, Fred." Tara said as she smiled at her and handed Kendra the spell book. "Now come on, let's get you home."
A slight wind tinkles the glasses in a deserted Caritas. The curtain behind the stage starts to billow. White spots of light appear and coalesce to form a portal. Tara's convertible comes barreling through with Tara, Xander and Amy in the front, Faith, Fred, Johnathon and Kendra in the back, all of them screaming. Tara manages to stop the car as it rams into the bar after crashing through the tables in front of the stage.
"Yo, that portal jumping is a fun ride." Faith said as she steps out of the car. "We sell it to a theme park we could get paid!"
"You know I've been thinking about remodeling the bar." Lorne said as he came in from the back room. "Who's up for a nightcap? That is after somebody showers." he said as Tara and the others smell came down wind.
"Lorne I don't know how much you know about me." Tara said as she approached him. "But..."
"I don't know much." Lorne told her. "Your mind is like none I've ever read. It's like you have two minds and the images I got just didn't make any sense."
"It's probably best if you couldn't get an accurate reading off of me." Tara said thanking God that he couldn't. "But one day I might need another favor from you."
"Hey as long as you grace me with another number, then feel free to ask me anything." he had to do another reading on her and soon. He had to know why he felt compelled to help her and why he himself was in her visions.
Day's Later
Texas
"Are-are you sure about that?" Fred was asking as they turned down a familiar street. Tara bought her some new clothes and stayed with her, once the guy's went out to party, when they were still in L.A. The two were getting pretty close. Luckily, Fred wasn't as crazy as when Angel had found her in his timeline. That's all because they had gotten to her, three years ahead of time.
"Trust me." Tara said with a smile. "Tacos everywhere - and - soap!"
As Tara stopped the car, Fred stopped her endless babbling. Looking up at a house she grew up in, she saw two people step out of the house and she immediately put a big smile on her face.
"Mom. Dad." she said not believing it. "This can't be real."
"Fred!" Mr. Burkle shouts out as he see's her.
"Dad?" Fred says as she steps out of the car.
"Winifred!" her mom shouts as she runs up to her and engulfs her in a hug. "We haven't heard from you in over two years. The police said that you were missing...we looked... My God where have you been?"
"Mom." was all Fred was able to say, as she fell weakly into the embrace of her parents. Looking up from hugging his daughter, Mr. Burkle saw a group of teens in a black convertible watching them with interest. Steping away from his family, he slowly approaches them.
"I don't know who you folks are, but thank you for bringing me my little girl." he said with tears in his eyes.
"It's not a problem Mr. Burkle." Tara said as she looked up at him. "We're from a detective agency called Angel Investigations. It was a pleasure to bring Fred back to you."
"I don't know how to repay you."
"Just take care of Fred. She's been through alot and she's fragile right now. Just promise me that you'll take care of her and your debt to us is repaid."
"You have my word." he vowed. "Did you get the folks that kidnapped her?"
"Yes sir, they've been taken care of."
"Well why don't you folks come on in. We were just about to barbeque and we'd love to have you."
"I'm sorry sir, but we're on a tight schedule."
"I understand. Well goodbye then." he said as he went back to his wife and daughter.
"Goodbye Fred, take care of yourself." Tara said as she and the other's drove off. The Burkles stood their and waved until, Tara's car was out of sight.
(Angel are you sure that Fred shouldn't have stayed with us?) Tara asked after a few minute's of driving.
(Yeah, I'm sure. Being with her family is probably the best thing for her) Angel replied. He had brought Fred nothing but misery every since he brought her from Pylea. He should have immediately took her to her parents in the original time line. He had alway's felt guilty that he didn't do that. And it almost killed him to just watch her fade away when Illyria possessed her body. It was almost like losing a little sister.
"Tar'!" Faith shouted out. Dropping out of her mental conversation, Tara looked back at her friends, only to find them all staring at her.
"What?" Tara asked.
"You kind of spaced out on us there, are you okay?" Johnathon asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine, now what did you ask me?"
"We asked, where are we going next?"
"Well I promised Kendra on the beginning of this trip that I was going to help her train." Tara said as she made a turn and got on the interstate. "But with all of this craziness, we haven't been able to do that right?"
"Right." Kendra simply stated.
"Well I was just thinking, instead of me training you, why not just get my master to do it."
"I tink dat would be a great idea." Kendra replied happily.
"New Mexico it is." Tara replied.
Wolfram & Hart Building
L.A.
Sametime
A man in his late fourties, is sitting in a plush chair, talking animately with two fresh faced lawyers. His name is Holland Manners. As he reclines back in his seat and laughs at one of his new lawyer's jokes, a thin man suddenly enters the room panting heavily.
"Mr. Manners..." the man said in between gasps.
"Don't we knock anymore, Thomas?" Holland asked.
"I'm sorry sir, but we have trouble."
"Well what is it?" Holland asked as he turns and looks at him.
"The Chamber of command in Pylea has been overturned sir. The human's are reported to have been seen, killing off their captives and are..."
"That's impossible." Holland interrupted. "The collars..."
"Have all been destroyed sir. And get this, our informants say that the person responsible for all of this is the Seraphim."
"The Seraphim?" Holland asked. The grapevine had been going nut's for months. All of them telling tale after tale of an Angel walking the earth. "Well it seems that this meeting is over." Holland said as he turned back around to his newest employee's.
"Thomas do you mind taking our newest lawyer team to the research room? I would like them to research everything we have on the Seraphim and where it might be located."
"Yes sir." Thomas said as the newest lawyer's stood to their feet.
"Oh where are my manners." Holland said as he turned to look at them. "Lilah, Lindsey welcome to Wolfram & Hart."
A/N I was going to introduce a new power that Tara has called the Dreamscape. It's when Tara goes into a dream like state and she can visibly see and touch Angel. It's sort of like a parralell universe or a meeting place for the both of them. But because of the NC-17 rule I skipped their love scene. And I know what you're all thinking, but I was planning on Tara and Angel making love much later in the fanfic and then she was going to start a relationship with a girl. But because I'm cutting the fanfic shorter than expected, I decided to do it now. That's also why I'm doing so many crossover's.
I'm also going to do a Spike interlude in the next chapter. And there's going to be a special guest star too. Oh and Lorne wasn't able to read her fully. He just got bit's and pieces of what her destiny held for her.
TBC...
Please review...