Disclaimer: None of the characters in this story belong to me. They belong solely to Joss Whedon. I just borrow them and toy with them a bit.

Characters: Willow and Tara

Other: More femmeslash to come, not for da little kiddies.

Finally getting Dawn out of the house, Tara placed a shaking hand to the wound on her head. After it healed, Dawn's eyes fluttered open. Her expression went from confusion, to undersanding, then to fear, and she sat bolt upright. Tara pulled her into a hug, and said, "Everything's fine Dawnie. We need to get out of here though. Willow told me to ask you how to get to Vanessa's house."

Dawn fought to keep the tears back. She couldn't get the image of Spike biting Buffy out of her head. "Umm... She lives on Jackson, I know where it is..."

"Okay, good." Tara said, relieved. "Now... Who's Vanessa?"

Dawn shifted uncomfortably. "It's a, a-a mutual friend between Will and Kennedy."

"Oh, I see." Tara said, showing no emotion.

"Yeah, so let's go." Dawn said, and walking down the street rather quickly. She didn't like talking about Kennedy to Tara, nor did she want to be anywhere near the fight that was raging beneath her house. Although she was rather curious on how it was coming along. Oh well, she'll find out sooner or later.

About a ten minute walk later, they arrived at Vanessa's house. Dawn knocked on the door, and it was Vanessa that answered. "Hey Dawn, what's going on? What happened? Who's this?" Vanessa was always askign questions. She had to know everything, and anything she could. A very curious person, she was. Not a bad thing, but definately not always good.

"Well, it's a rather long story. Can we come in?" Dawn asked, gesturing to Tara and herself.

"Ofcourse." Vanessa said, stepping aside.

They walked in and sat on the living room couch, Tara feeling very umcomfortable. It was very small. Tara assumed a one bedroom, one bathroom. It smelled like cigarette smoke, and old people. Tara unwillingly scrunched her nose at it. But tried to hide it, so as not to seem rude, or ungrateful. Dawn just smiled at her.

After closing the front door, Vanessa came into the living room and sat down in a chair across from them. Looking at Tara, she smiled. "Please don't mind the smell. We can't seem to get it out, no matter what we do. It's from the old couple that used to live here, before I moved in. They died here too. It was neat to find that out." Then she turned her attention to Dawn. "So. You gonna answer my questions, kiddo, or what?"

"Yeah, sorry. First, this is Tara Maclay. Tara, this is Vanessa Lang." Dawn said, gesturing to each woman in turn.

"Nice to meet you, Tara." Vanessa said, extending her hand.

Tara took it and nodded in compliance. She wanted to hear what Dawn had to say. She wanted to know what the hell happened just as bad as, if not more, than Vanessa.

"Okay. So, Buffy, Xander, and I were all sitting in the kitchen eating, when Angelus broke down the door and attacked us. He whacked Xander across the face and knocked him out. Then Spike came charging in and attacked Angelus, knocking him in the basement. Everyone traveled down there, except Xander, because he was still knocked out. When we got down there, Angelus was already standing up again, and Spike was getting ready to punch him. Buffy ran up beside him, and Spike punched her instead. That's when Faith came in. I have no idea why, though... It's kind of weird... But anyway, Angelus went after er, and she slammed him into a table. It splintered into bits, and a piece came flying at me. That's all I remember, up until Tara woke me up."

"Interesting story. How's your head?" Vanessa asked.

"It's fine. Tara healed it. She's wiccan, like Willow."

Vanessa looked at Tara with a twinkle in her eye. "I've always found the entire wiccan religion rather fascinating. How did you get into it? Are you good?"

Tara smiled. "My mother practiced too, so I started at a young age. And I don't know about good... Willow is so much better. I base my craft around defensive spells, and practical stuff, like repairing broken things, and healing. Although I do know some offensive spells that pack quite a punch."

"Was your mother good? And how do you know Willow?" Vanessa was leaning her chin on her hands, which were resting on her knees, and stared at Tara with intensity.

Dawn cleared her throat. "Umm, hey, Vanessa, do you have any food, I'm really hungry."

"You know where the kitchen is, honey, I'm talking to someone." She returned her attention to Tara. "You were saying."

Tara opened her mouth to answer Vanessa's questions, but Dawn interrupted once again. "No really, I don't think we should talk about this right now."

"It's alright Dawnie. I'm not ashamed. You know that." Tara said softly, giving Dawn a loving pat. Then she looked at Vanessa again. "Willow is my girlfriend. And my mother was perhaps one of the most skilled witches that I've ever known."

Vanessa's eyes widened in understanding. "Oooohhh, youre that Tara. DUH!" she said, slapping herself in the forehead with her right palm. She was curious, yes, but not the brightest crayon in the box. "You're the one that stole Willow from Kennedy."

Tara's anger rose quick, but she composed herself. "I didn't steal her, it was her own choice. Besides, Will was mine first, she never stopped loving me, even when I was gone." she said through clenched teeth. Then she relaxed slightly, curiosity taking over. "How do you kow that anyway?"
"I just happen to be Willow's replacement. And all Kennedy does is rant and rave about how you stole Willow, and that it would have been perfect if you hadn't come back to life. It's annoying really. I don't see what her problem is, though, I think you seem okay. Not evil, in fact, almost saintly." Vanessa sat back again, and got comfortable once more.

After almost an hour and a half later, and many, many more questions, Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Faith all walked through the door. Tara and Dawn both jumped up as soon as the door opened, Tara bolting for Willow, Dawn bolting for Buffy. When everyone was done greeting, and making sure there was no extensive injuries, they all went back into the living room to settle down.

Then Tara, Dawn, and Vanessa all started shooting out questions all at once. Vanessa being the expert, she got more questions out per minute than the other two combined. "HEY!" Faith shouted over them. "EVERYBODY QUIET!" The room fell silent.

Then Buffy spoke up. "Spike and Angel are both locked up. They'll be fine, until we can figure out what to do with them."

"What happened?" Tara, Dawn, and Vanessa all said at once.

But before anyone could reply, the door opened once more. Seven heads all turned to see Kennedy walking through the door, carrying her jacket, and an iced cappuccino. "Hey vanessa, I'm ho-" she broke off when she saw all of them staring at her. Willow's heart was pounding. And Tara recognized Kennedy from the embrace her and Willow shared after she was reincarnated.

"Hey babe." Vanessa said, but Kennedy ignored her. Her gaze kept shifting from Willow to Tara, and back again. Fire lit her eyes, he was beyond angry.

Willow cleared her throat nervously, and squeezed Tara's hand tighter. She knew Kennedy's temper all too well. Don't piss Kennedy off unless you're willing to pay the price. And Tara had done that without even trying. Willow prepared herself to protect Tara as fast as she had to.

Kennedy looked down to see the hand squeeze, and that sent her temper over the edge. She walked over to the two women sitting on the couch, and poured her iced cappuccino all over the red-head. Willow squealed as the cold ran down to her very soul. Jumping aside to avoid getting hit with anything, Tara's temper flared this time. Reaching out, she struck Kennedy hard across the face. Shock struck everyone in the room, including Tara. She'd never hit another creature out of rage, with her hands. It had always been to protect herself or someone else, but Kennedy just crossed the line.

Kennedy stormed into the bedroom in a huff, as Willow ran into the bathroom to clean herself up. It's been a very interesting home coming for Tara. It's bean a very interesting day for everyone...

--

First off, I apologize for taking so long to put up another chapter... Life's been hectic... And my father insists on doing recoveries quite often, so I lose what I have so far whenever he does... It's insane. XD Please forgive me, and don't forget to read, rate, and review. Enjoy!!