A/N: Thanks for the reviews, keep them coming!
Chapter Eleven
Willow's legs felt light as air as she looked at the woman who stood before her. Her mouth opened and closed repeatedly but nothing came out. Her head swam with thoughts of Tara singing to her on a bridge, them making up after their big fight and then the gunshot resounded in her ears like a bomb explosion. As she swayed, she felt firm yet comforting hands grab hold of her. Then she slumped in the woman's arms and everything was black.
"Oh my God!" Kennedy shouted and ran to the woman who held Willow. 'What the hell is going on around here?" She shouted angrily as Dani appeared in the doorway. "Who the hell let this look-alike in here? Don't you fools know what this will do to Willow?"
Kennedy's tirade prompted Dawn to open her door and she hit the floor in much the same reaction as Willow had. "Buffy come quick!" Dani shouted as Kennedy ripped Willow from Tracy's arms and ran into her room. "We blew it, she saw her!"
"What in God's name," Giles stopped dead in his tracks and then he glared at Dani. "What do you mean by that statement. We blew it," he echoed as Buffy came bounding up the stairs.
Faith came in and knelt beside Dawn who was slowly coming back to the land of the awake. "Tara?" She questioned and looked at the woman with hope in her eyes. "Tara is that you?" Dawn said in a quavering voice that matched the anguished look on her face.
Tracy stood and watched the varying emotions that gushed from the members of this little group as they entered the hall. Her heart ached for them but she knew that there was nothing she could do about it now. "N-N-No I'm not Tara," she said, as Buffy put her arm around her in an effort to comfort the shaking woman.
"Buffy you knew about this and didn't tell Willow? You knew too Dani?" Dawn howled in a rage, as she jumped up to confront her sister.
"Dawnie, this is complicated. We were afraid to tell Willow just now because of what it might do to her. We had no plans on keeping this secret forever and besides, we have good reason to believe that this is not Tara!" Buffy snapped back defensively.
"Oh my God!" Xander shouted having entered the hall during Buffy's confession. "Where's Willow? Is she all right?" He raced towards her room without giving anyone a chance to further explain the situation.
"I-I-I think I should just go." Tracy said in a low tone of voice but Dawn grabbed her arm a little roughly.
"You are not going anywhere until we sort this mess out! Now lift up your shirt!" Dawn hissed between gritted teeth as she glared daggers at her sister.
"Dawn you don't have to be so rough!" Dani shouted and stepped beside Tracy. "Tracy, Tara was shot in the chest and this will prove to them once and for all that you are not Tara."
Tracy had a horrified look on her face as she lifted her shirt and revealed the scar on her chest. "I had some surgeries years ago, I swear I'm not Tara." Her voice rose a little as she watched everyone look at her in a shocked manner.
Buffy dropped to her knees and began to sob. Her breath was catching and her body was shaking violently as she cried. "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God." The slayer repeatedly mumbled as she struggled to keep her breath at an even flow.
"This is to easy," Andrew offered in a non-caring tone. "Something is wrong here! Tara would not do this to Willow!"
- - - - - -
When Xander got to Willow's room, he found Kennedy trying to get her to breathe correctly by having her blow in a paper bag. He saw that her shirt was soaked with tears and her body was trembling as she loudly wept. The sounds that came out of his friend's mouth were so forlorn and heart-felt that the man could barely keep from crying himself. "What's going on out there?" Kennedy said angrily. "How could they just bring her here without preparing Willow?"
"Why, why, why did they do this to me? Why didn't they tell me that Tara was here?" Were the words that Willow kept repeating as her body jerked violently. "I wanted to die without her and now she's here?" Willow's small frame collapsed onto the bed and she gripped the sheets tight, as if they were the only thing keeping her from going insane.
"Do you know anything about this?" Xander asked Kennedy and stepped to the other side of the bed. He pulled his best friend into his arms and held her tight but nothing was calming her.
"No I had no idea but apparently several of them were keeping this secret." Kennedy added dryly, as Willow's eyes closed and sleep overtook her. She knew this was the woman that she had seen but saw no reason to confess now. If she could find a way to get back in Willow's good graces, she was going to jump at it.
"I'm going to get to the bottom of this," Xander said as Willow's door opened and Dawn dragged the woman into the room with shouts of disagreement from Buffy and the others behind her. "You have some explaining to do." Xander barked at the woman angrily.
"I can't explain anything that I don't know anything about." Tracy insisted sadly as she looked at the redhead who seemed to be waking back up.
"Tara," Willow said softly in a high-pitched tone that signified she would break apart at any moment. "Could you come to me please?" Willow outstretched her hand in a frail voice as the tears fell.
Tracy looked at Buffy who had just entered the room and then walked over to Willow. She took hold of her hands gently. "Willow, I'm so sorry. If I knew I was going to cause you so much anguish," the blonde woman allowed the tears she had tried to hide to fall from her eyes. "I just don't know how to fix this. I am so very sorry."
Willow removed one of her hands from Tracy's grip and wiped the tears from her eyes. "I love you so much Tara. That's all right if you don't remember me because I know you will. When Glory sucked your mind and we got you back, I promised that I would always find you and I will." Before Tracy could move Willow leaned up and placed a gentle kiss on her lips.
Faith, who had stepped into the room behind a still shaky Buffy, felt a strange energy ripple in the air at the time of the kiss. She wasn't big on energy happenings and decided that it was the energy that came from the two women. "D," Faith went over and put her arms around the woman who was crying uncontrollably. "It's all right, we're here for you sweetie."
Buffy watched Tracy's features as Willow kissed her. She saw no recollection there, no overwhelming realization of love or remembrance, only compassion for the broken redhead. She tried to come up with all sorts of reasons as to how this may not be Tara but realized that she had allowed her emotions to cloud her better judgment. "Will," she said softly and stepped towards the two women. "I'm so sorry that I chose to keep this from you. I wanted to make sure and not cause you any unnecessary pain."
"Tara do you know me, did that kiss help you in any way?" Willow asked with pleading eyes.
"I-I-I'm sorry Willow," Tracy stood quickly and ran out of the room which caused Willow's heaving sobs to start over.
"Dani," Buffy shouted in a rushed tone. "You go stay with Tracy. We can't allow her to be alone just now." Buffy wasn't sure why she said that but did. She knew that she felt for both her friend and Tracy and figured that she was just trying to protect them. Only Kennedy saw the slight change in Buffy's eyes but didn't know that they matched those of Cordelia Chase confident looking eyes. "Faith and Dawn, see what you can dig up and do it now!" The eyes went back to a classic Buffy look as she finished speaking.
- - - - - -
Harmony had driven for several hours and was in an empty parking garage. A man approached her truck. "Miss Kendall," he said with a smile. "I'm Terry Andrews and I have something for you."
She motioned for him to get in the truck from the back and he did so without question. He also didn't ask why a thick curtain separated the back seat from the front, as he climbed in to the snazzy looking extended cab vehicle. "This will cost you," he said and got an evil glint in his eyes. He hadn't been told how beautiful his buyer was and decided to cash in for a little afternoon romp.
"I thought you might be a good employee but I see this is a one time hook up. David told me that you were good at your job and I guess you are. What did you have in mind as payment?" Harmony asked the obviously not so smart man.
"A little fun of the sweaty kind." The man replied and leaned forward to capture the vampire's lips with his own.
Harmony's fangs came out and she shoved the man back on to the seat. "You know I don't want to get my truck dirty." She hit the man hard and then searched him for the gem of Amara. Once she found it, she put it on a chain that hung from her neck. She then lifted the man out of the truck and proceeded to drink.
As Harmony stepped out of the garage to bask in the cool daylight air, she smiled to herself. The first part of her plan had been a success and now on to the second part. She looked at the man's credit card and walked across the street to an ATM machine. After a couple of rejections due to insufficient funds, she hit the jackpot and withdrew $1,650 from his account then destroyed the card. "Dave," she said into her phone. "Have you got the meeting set up to hand Angel's holdings over to me?"
"Yes Miss Kendall," the smiling man replied. "He's worth a pretty penny. I guess you were right and Miss Chase invested his money wisely. You will need to come and sign the papers at 4:30 pm at the attorney's office. That is assuming you have the gem."
"Of course I do and being outside is wonderful!" She exclaimed with a smile. "You won't need to cut the man a check though so give yourself his payment." The vampire finished her conversation and walked a little further down the street as her phone rang.
"Harmony this is Andrew. Willow is in trouble and needs someone's help." He spoke in a quick brisk voice. He didn't believe the vampire cared but thought he'd give it a shot for Willow's sake.
The vampire scrunched up her face, she had pressing business to attend to and Willow was not on the agenda at the moment. "What's wrong now?" She said coyly having no intentions on running back to Cleveland today.
"Everything's screwed up and Giles is losing control of the situation. Someone looking like Tara showed up and now Willow is in bad shape. The woman rejected her, which made it worse. She says that if that's not Tara, she'd rather just die but then I heard her asking for you in her sleep so dialed you up." Andrew stated in a panic-stricken voice that matched the look on his face. "The fact is, nobody has got any sleep and we're running out of ideas to keep her settled down. I'm afraid of what she may do to herself because her love for Tara is practically thee most undying love that I have ever seen." The geeky man finished his speech with realization that he had probably said far to much.
The vampire didn't look to pleased at hearing the news that Tara may possibly be back. "Let me take care of a few things and I will be there as soon as I can. Andrew, don't let them talk her into anything before I get there and you will be well rewarded."
- - - - - - -
It was after 9pm when Harmony made it to the headquarters. "I never thought I'd say this but I hope that you might be of some assistance," Giles said and stepped aside so she could enter. "I want to talk to someone about the happenings of last night and everyone is in such a sad state that nothing is going to get done. I fear we're going to lose this battle if we don't get a handle on the situation."
"You all aren't my problem," the vampire said and rushed to Willow's room. She sat down next to the still trembling woman who lay on the bed. "Willow," she said softly and stroked her fingers over the redhead's cheek. "Willow come here," she pulled the woman up into her arms. "Talk to me Willow. Willow," harmony lifted the redhead's chin up to meet her gaze. She saw eyes void of any emotion and a face that had appeared to have aged many years.
"They all knew that Tara might be alive and kept it from me." Willow said as the tears began to fall again. "She kept telling me that she wasn't Tara and then when I went to sleep I had a dream. I saw Cordy and she was smiling at me and then you were there and you helped me be strong but I don't know what I had to be strong for. Tara should be the one helping me be strong but she's not, you're the one here trying to make me be all right. Why isn't she here Harmony?" Willow's voice was in the tone of a lost little girl who couldn't find her way home and it touched something within the vampire.
"I can't answer that Willow but I'm here." She wiped the tears from Willow's cheeks and placed a gentle kiss on the tip of her nose. "Maybe the woman is right and she's not Tara Willow. I believe that Tara loved you and would find her way back to you if she were alive."
"That's what Buffy said and now she's gone off to sit with the woman while the others do whatever they're doing. They all left me because they couldn't help me. They all lied to me!" Willow's voice was bitter and full of anguish as she spoke.
"They still try to protect you as if you are that geeky schoolgirl." Harmony said more to herself than Willow. "What do you want me to do Willow? Would you like me to go check this woman out?"
"No," Willow said as she laid her head tiredly on the vampire's shoulder. "I just want someone to love me unconditionally like Tara did. If that is Tara, I want her to know me and remember what we had. The only one who wants to help me can never love me. I'm so afraid that if I don't make her see who she is that I will never be loved. Could you just bite me and end my sorry excuse for a life? Just make sure that I don't come back as a vampire." Harmony smiled evilly at the thought of turning Willow. It had been something that she occasionally pondered since her failed attempt a few years back and now Willow was asking her to do it.
"I have a plan Willow," the vampire said in a whispered voice as she wiped the tears from Willow's face. "You have to follow my lead and protect your mind at all cost."