Author's Notes: Thank you all for reading and for the words of encouragement!

Agilulfa: The story will mostly be Tara's POV (and Willow's obviously). But occasionally I will dip into the heads of Buffy, Xander, Giles, Cordelia, Angel and Oz, with brief peeks into Joyce, Jenny and Kendra's perspectives. I'm super excited to finally get to write scenes with Cordelia that aren't dream sequences or phone conversations. I've always had a soft spot for bitchy popular girls who become genuinely good people over time. Dawn will also be present, though not until next chapter when we get into some Summers family drama.

Chapter Two: The Bat Signal

It happened every time she walked down this hallway. She would feel a pair of eyes follow her, but when she turned her head there was no one there. Tara was getting fed up with it and so decided today would be the day she'd put a stop to it. She stood in the middle of the hall to try and sense the direction the gaze was coming from. The only other people in the hallway were a gaggle of cheerleaders congregated around their evident leader gossiping. None of them were looking her way; she was beneath their notice, as was to be expected.

She traced the sensation of being watched to a trophy case. Tara stepped closer, trying to feel out the source. There was a tiny corona of dark energy coming from a cheerleading trophy. It was like something was trapped, reaching out for a liberator. Before the witch could inspect the emanation further she felt a strong, heavy hand grip her shoulder.

"Hey little sis."

Tara shuddered at the sound of Donny's voice, willing herself not make any sudden movements. Donny followed her gaze to the trophy.

"What, you're not thinking of joining the cheerleading squad? You?"

Cordelia Chase was drifting off, barely aware of what her cohorts were going on about. Something about the football game in two weeks, or one of the football players. Whichever it was, these conversations were getting repetitive.

Her boredom caused her to notice a boy and girl talking in front of the trophy case. She did a quick mental inventory on them. They were the Maclays, a brother and sister a year apart who'd just moved here from Alabama. Their statuses in the social hierarchy were yet to be determined, but the brother (Danny?), was expected to get a spot on the wrestling team.

Cordelia sized the siblings up. The girl had been looking at a cheerleading trophy. She seemed good looking and fit enough for the part, but her conservative fashion sense and the way she curled into herself and avoided her brother's eye contact as he spoke to her seemed to indicate she didn't have the attitude.

The guy could be cute if he lost the beard, but ugh, total hayseed. And does he not get that he's making her uncomfortable? Redneck creeper.

Donny made a bit of small talk about the Sunnydale sports teams for show before he leaned in closer and got to his real reason for talking to Tara.

"I've been hearing weird stories about this place. People eatin' live pigs, bodies falling out of lockers, girls losing their faces. You're gonna be careful and not end up in one of those rumors, aren't you?"

Tara tensed, wanting so badly to stand up to him. But more people were moving through the hallway now, and the last thing she wanted to do was make a scene.

"I'll be c-careful."

"Good girl." Donny said patting Tara's shoulder and taking his leave.

She let out a heavy exhale and took one more glance at the mysterious trophy. Whatever it was, it didn't seem to be doing much besides looking at her. Tara felt a second gaze on her, oddly similar to the first one and whipped her head around. She just caught sight of a girl with shoulder length dirty blonde hair walking away.

…

Monday was a cheerier day. Tara had finished up the small stack of books she'd checked out during her first couple weeks so had an excuse to go see Mr. Giles again. The prospect of chatting with him made the breaks between classes worth looking forward to. Tara called to him as she pushed open the double doors of the library.

"Mr. Giles? I'm done with…" She stopped mid-sentence.

Today it seemed, the librarian wasn't alone. Another student was talking with him across the counter, a miniature tower of texts placed between them. It was that redheaded girl. Suddenly Tara felt like an intruder. Despite her desire to get to know her Tara had yet to even learn the girl's name. Every time their eyes met she had to deal with the tingling. She didn't quite have the bravery to greet her yet.

"… th-these books…" Tara trailed off quietly.

Giles seemed a tad flustered himself and came around the counter to her.

"Ah, yes. Let me help you with those." He offered, taking the books from her.

"I-I didn't mean to interrupt if you're busy." She said guiltily.

"Not at all." He reassured her as he went to check the books back into the system.

Tara thanked him, curling her now free arms around herself out of habit.

"I was just picking up some research materials for my science fair project." The redhead chimed in. "Didn't mean to monopolize our resident Englishman."

Tara looked over the titles in the girl's book stack to avoid getting lost in those emerald eyes again.

"Life cycles of dipterans", "Effects of electro-magnetic spectrum exposure on insect cytology and morphology", "Scientific method and invertebrate animal husbandry"… Wow, do they really take the science fair that seriously here?

"Oh. I-I thought that sign up for the fair w-wasn't for another two weeks." Tara said worriedly. "Should I be getting s-started?"

"What?"

Willow realized she'd inadvertently made the girl nervous. She hoped she wasn't the cause of that stutter; it was kind of cute but she hated to think she was making her uncomfortable. Willow knew how hard a big school could be on the shy and bookish.

"Oh don't worry about that. All the sane people haven't started their projects yet. I'm just trying to keep ahead. Bit of an over-achieving nerd if you couldn't tell." She said gesturing to the book stack.

Tara felt a small smile threaten to break out on her face. This girl had a high-paced breathy way of speaking that she'd never encountered before. She could tell that the girl was making an effort to soothe her with self-effacing humor, so she mustered her courage to try and keep the conversation going.

Just try not to sound like an idiot. She's clearly the brainy type.

"Wow. I mean, I haven't even picked out a topic yet." Tara glanced around, and saw that Mr. Giles had gone into the stacks to reshelf her returns, leaving them more or less alone for the moment. "You probably c-come in here a lot, don't you?"

Willow nodded.

"You too." She decided to see if she could get the girl to tilt her head up so her face wouldn't be so hidden. "I'm surprised we haven't bumped into each other in here before. I've seen you in class. You're new this year, right?"

Willow's smile broadened as the blonde lifted her face to meet hers. The prickling from earlier returned when she saw the blue of the girl's eyes.

"What's your name?"

"Tara."

"I'm Willow."

Tara giggled quietly.

"What?" Willow was a little self-conscious about her name, but this girl didn't seem the type to poke fun.

"Willow, that was the name of the m-main street through our old town."

Ooh, your town had a street named after a tree. That's unusual. Say something else before you bore her to death. Tara berated herself.

"I-I think it's pretty."

A spike of panic shot through her.

Not that, stupid!

Willow's smile stayed wide, warmed by the unexpected compliment.

She's sweet.

"Has your family been here long? Where did you move here from?"

Willow didn't know what was causing the prickling she continued to feel, but she figured it was a sign she should befriend this girl.

Tara's panic was swiftly replaced with relief that Willow didn't seem bothered by her unintentional forwardness. Even if Willow's questions were just her being polite to someone new, she was grateful that she wanted to talk to her.

"A l-little over month ago. We're from Alabama."

"I'm a lifelong Sunnydale girl myself."

Giles had finished putting Tara's old books back and was bringing her a copy of Walden. He stopped and watched the two students for a minute. They had gotten absorbed in discussing the differences between Alabama and California and he was loathe to interrupt. The Watcher simply went to stamp the book's card while the girls talked.

Their conversation moved onto the merits of beaches versus forests, dry heat versus humid heat, favorite books, and favorite school topics before the bell rang. Tara almost blushed realizing she'd forgotten the reason she'd come to the library in the first place.

"Th-thank you Mr. Giles." She said taking her book from the counter. She looked back to Willow, who was loading up her own considerable haul. "I-I'd better get to class."

"Can I see you again later?" Willow asked hopefully. "If we run into each other again? We can talk some more about the Transcendentalists?"

"Sure."

…

The girls saw each other again several times the next day, but didn't get a chance to chat. Willow was occupied by her friends during their breaks and Tara was still too shy sit closer to them in class. Finally they met up during last period in a class they shared but Buffy and Xander didn't. Willow saw Tara come in and motioned for her to sit beside her.

They were the only juniors in the college prep class besides a boy named Chris Epps. It actually felt more comfortable to Tara to be around other students who'd chosen to be in a class rather than taking it as a requirement. She surprised herself by answering a question for the first time since she'd started at Sunnydale. Maybe she was drawing some courage from the braver redhead.

Willow was surprised too. Without really thinking about it she walked beside Tara as they left. They chatted about their class schedules and what led to them choosing the college prep course, ending up in front of Willow's locker.

"That's the first time I've heard you speak up in class." Willow commented as she sorted through her textbooks.

"Y-yeah, I kind of l-like to keep quiet." Tara said brushing a lock of hair out of her eyes. "Sometimes if I try hard enough I feel like I can t-turn invisible."

Tara was almost giggling, something she was only just starting to get used to from being around Willow, but she stopped when she saw Willow's eyes widen in horror.

"Don't!"

It was almost a shout and a few kids turned to look at them. Tara pulled her textbooks in front of her chest like a shield, frightened by the sudden attention.

"Don't- feel like you have to be invisible." Willow hurriedly added, trying to cover up her outburst. She still didn't take her eyes off of Tara, scared she'd vanish if she looked away. "People here aren't that bad."

"O-okay."

The girls glanced around nervously, the momentary interest they had held for their fellow students already fading. They both exhaled in relief. Tara wasn't sure what to make of Willow's exclamation. She wouldn't go so far as to say the girl was… insane, but she was definitely quirky.

Tara didn't want to press her luck, but so far Willow had been nothing but pleased with her company. She knew it would be a long time before they could get close enough for Tara to ask Willow if she knew about magic, but for now she could try to build a friendship talking about other things.

"Would you w-want to go to the library? We could study or, talk some more…"

Willow almost agreed before remembering Buffy and Giles were going to be training there that afternoon.

"Um, this afternoon isn't great. There's a kind of, private study group meeting at the library. It's a group thing, and I'm a part of it, the group that is." She could see Tara's posture sinking, trying to hide disappointment. "But tomorrow it's free. I mean, I'm free, because no group. If that works for you?"

Tara agreed and they parted ways. Tara wasn't sure what to make of her new acquaintance. Willow seemed interested in getting to know her, but kept saying odd things like the "Don't!" and the babble about the study group. Even so, Tara couldn't help but enjoy having someone to talk to after so long on her own. Not to mention that the impression of Willow's aura had yet to fade from her mind's eye. It was only fitting that someone with such a powerful spirit would have a larger than life personality.

…

The next day the girls ran into each other in front of the soda machine during break. Several minutes after they'd gotten past their greetings they were joined at their table by the dark haired boy Willow always sat with.

"Hello ladies. Who do I have the pleasure of bugging today?" He asked as he leaned his arms on the back of one of the chairs.

"Xander." Willow said looking up at him. "Xander, this is Tara. Tara, Xander."

"Hi." Tara said with a little raise of her hand that she hoped would pass for a wave.

She realized as she gestured that her fingers were barely even poking out of the ends of her sleeves. Tara had decided from the start the benefits of long sleeves outweighed the downside of looking weird for dressing too warmly. She swallowed a little, hoping this first meeting with Willow's friend wouldn't go badly.

For her part Willow was watching Xander watch Tara as he took his seat. For the umpteenth time she sighed as she watched her lifelong crush check out another girl. He wasn't ogling, but his gaze was appreciative. She could understand why; Tara was much better endowed than her and had womanly hips rather than Willow's practically boyish frame.

"Tara? So you're the one who's stealing Will from us this afternoon!" Xander declared with an accusatory finger point. "We were going to pull off a daring jewel heist and now we're a man down."

Tara grinned a tiny bit, nerves somewhat calmed by the boy's boisterous humor.

"Oh. W-what was the plan?"

"I wouldn't know," Xander said holding up his hands helplessly. "Willow's the evil mastermind. Buffy's the muscle, and I'm the get-away man."

"Because you h-have a car?" Tara asked, playing along with his game.

"Well no, not as such." He admitted. "But I'm the best at getting away."

"Definitely. He's won ribbons." Willow said with a nod. "You uh, want to join us? We were going to work on our science fair projects, maybe talk about Robert Frost."

"As wild and fun as that sounds, I think I'll pass." Xander answered. "I'm just gonna do something simple, like, the effects of gasoline on fire."

Tara felt her shoulders lower in relief. She wasn't quite ready to spend a whole afternoon with someone as outgoing as Xander seemed to be.

"Not sure how you'd set up the display for that."

Willow was glad to see Tara was still smiling.

"I could set it up in Snyder's office." Xander offered as the bell rang. He scooted his chair back and the girls followed suit in a gentler fashion. "Good to meet you Tara."

"It was nice meeting y-you too, Xander."

The three went to class together, Willow and Xander bantering with obvious comfort.

…

Over the course of the day Tara noticed Willow's eyes lingering on Xander when Willow thought he wasn't looking. There was something there, but Tara didn't want to assume things. After they'd been in the library a while she tried to bring it up casually.

"So um, you and Xander. Are you going out, t-together?" The words sounded skeevy the moment Tara spoke them. There were so many false (and true) ulterior motives that could potentially be inferred from her question, none of which she wanted to convey.

"Me and Xander? Oh no. Not since we were five."

Willow's answer was followed by an almost imperceptibly quiet sigh.

Oh, so it's unrequited. Tara thought.

She wasn't stupid, she knew that the feelings she were developing for Willow included attraction. She had also known for a long time odds were that any girl she met would prefer boys. There was no reason to expect anything would come of a crush. That meant not letting attraction get in the way of having a friend. Tara had been prepared, but still, she was more disappointed than she thought she would be.

Willow declined telling Tara that Xander was single, not wanting to encourage any interest Tara might have in getting together with him. Willow felt a little guilty, but the last thing her chances with Xander needed were competition from another gorgeous blonde.

They didn't bring up Xander again that day.

…

Next Thursday the sign up for the Science Fair finally arrived. Tara was making her way towards the table with the sign up clipboards when Eric, a boy with wavy ear length hair stepped in front of her and held up a camera.

"Smile for me honey."

She didn't have time to block her face before he clicked the shutter. He winked at her and went off to find other prey. The photographer took a shot of Willow before becoming distracted by a leggy blonde. Tara continued to the table, still shaken. Willow had started up a conversation with Chris after he came to protest Eric's rude behavior. From what Tara had seen of Chris, he was almost as wrapped up in his own inner world as Tara was in hers. She wondered idly if Willow made a habit of befriending lonely introverts. It didn't seem out of pity. The little scholar just had that big a heart. Tara joined her classmates as Chris read over Willow's project title. The redhead waved to her with a smile.

"'Effects of sub-violet light spectrum deprivation on the development of fruit flies,'? That should do the trick." Chris told Willow.

Tara was about to speak when the head cheerleader strolled up to them.

"Okay, I'm doing this under protest. It is not fair that they're making participation in this year's science fair mandatory." Cordelia complained. "I don't think anyone should have to do anything educational in school if they don't want to."

Willow looked down at what Cordy had written on the clipboard.

"'The tomato, fruit or vegetable?'"

That surprised Tara. Cordelia didn't seem stupid from what she had seen of her participation in class. Was she really that stubbornly lazy?

"I wanted to do something I could finish in a weekend, all right?" Cordelia said defensively. When she turned around Eric had popped up to snap another photo. "Stop it, what are you doing? We are under fluorescent lights for god's sake."

Cordelia shielded her face from any further shots. Tara felt envious of the girl's confidence. It would be such catharsis to tell someone like Eric off. The boy didn't seem too intimidated though.

"The camera loves you."

"I didn't think the yearbook nerds came out of hibernation until spring." Cordy taunted him.

"It's for my private collection." Eric said giving her that sleazy wink.

"Eric, will you quit it?" Chris said tensely.

Eric ignored him and scoped out more girls. The next one to enter his field of view was none other than Buffy Summers, stepping her way through the clusters of students to the little group.

"Coming through. Sorry." Eric snapped Buffy's picture and she just blinked before continuing towards Willow. "Uh, sorry to interrupt Willow but it's the Bat Signal."

"Okay, sure." Willow looked at Tara, feeling like she was blowing her off even though they hadn't made any plans for the day. "Um, emergency study group meeting. I'll talk to you soon, Tara?"

Wheels were spinning in Tara's head. She had a notion that "study group" was a euphemism. If it meant what she thought it meant, she didn't want Willow to feel guilty about going.

"Of course. A-another time."

Willow beamed in relief.

"See you later Chris. Thanks for the tip."

"Okay."

Buffy and Willow snuck off to the library, leaving Cordelia alone with the shy kids. Cordy knew she could ask either of them for help with her project, but she'd never even spoken a word to the new girl. As for Chris, that just brought back too many painful memories.

"Ugh…"

Cordelia left the nerds behind and started a mindless chat with some guys from the football team about tomorrow's game. Painful memories… She'd tried talking with her circle about Daryl's death in the past, but the people she usually hung around had all the emotional depth of a muddy boot print. Cordelia lied to herself about her intentions as she went to the library to ask Willow for help.

Tara said a quiet goodbye to Chris and headed for home. That night she contemplated Buffy and Willow's "study group". By the next morning she had decided she was going to ask. The worst they could say was no.

…

While Tara was in contemplation the Slayer and her crew were checking out graves. Willow and Buffy were chatting as Xander and Giles dug up the first cheerleader's coffin, to see if her body had been snatched like their fellow car crash victim Meredith. None of them were quite sure if an empty grave or an occupied one was the outcome they were hoping for. Neither result would bode well for whatever had become of Meredith.

"So you and Tara have been hanging out a lot lately." Buffy said, trying to draw out some details on the new girl from Willow, and maybe to distract herself from thinking about corpses.

She was a bit curious about the witch's intentions, even if so far the girl didn't seem dangerous. The Slayer knew better than to assume Tara was as sweet as she appeared. Anyone with magic could turn out to be trouble.

"Yeah. She's really smart and, insightful?" Willow said, pondering if wise was the right word to use.

She'd never met anyone who had such interesting perspectives on literature or mythology before. Her own interests had always leaned more to the scientific side of academia, but talking with Tara had awakened a curiosity about the humanities in her.

"I like hanging out with her, but I kind of feel bad lying to her about the Scooby meetings."

"Don't sweat it. Everyone has stuff they don't tell to just anyone." Buffy reassured her. "I'm sure Tara has things of her own she keeps to herself."

Willow hoped that Tara wouldn't always think of her as 'just anyone'. It might still to be too early to call her a friend, but hopefully they'd reach that point soon.

"I guess so."

Willow thought back to Buffy's earlier reluctance to call or talk about Angel. Hopefully by now she was in a chattier mood with regards to the subject. Talking with Buffy about her vampiric paramour always gave Willow some vicarious thrills to liven up her own romanceless life.

"Like you're keeping our little grave digging field trip a secret from Angel."

Buffy groaned.

"Not a secret, exactly. I don't need to tell him about every little thing I do. Especially not when he's all, eargh."

Willow raised an eyebrow.

"What happened with you guys?"

"We had an argument the other night. I couldn't believe Angel. He was acting all jealous and he wouldn't even admit it…"

…

Mustering all the resolve she could, Tara Maclay set out to confront Buffy. This was perhaps the boldest action she had ever taken. She'd spent the better part of the night wrestling with the pros and cons and had come through determined to try. Her biggest fear was that news of it would get back to Donny, but she felt it was worth the risk.

Tara caught sight of long red hair and confirmed that Willow was with Buffy before approaching them. Xander and the girls had been acting strange since the day began. Mid-morning break afforded Tara an opportunity to speak to them alone. They exchanged their greetings, Buffy a bit distractedly and Tara took a deep breath.

"W-willow, I was wondering if I could t-talk with you and Buffy?" She lowered her voice a little, moving out of the path of foot traffic. "About your s-study group?"

Tara swallowed, bracing herself for whatever reaction was coming.

Willow could feel beads of sweat forming on her palms.

"Oh. Well, it's kind of a specific crowd. We um…"

She glanced nervously at Buffy, silently begging her for back up in creating a plausible lie.

"I-it's okay. I know Buffy is… different." Tara said softly.

The surprise of that statement was only exceeded by the surprise of Tara opening her jacket to reveal the stake Buffy had given her the night they met. Buffy and Willow looked at one another and back to Tara as she hid the weapon. Willow was taken completely off guard. She wanted to explain how she'd never intended for this to happen but was speechless with shock and confusion.

Buffy seized control of the situation.

"Let's go somewhere quiet."

Buffy led them to an empty classroom and closed the door behind them. She wasn't sure what Tara was getting at, and wanted as little interference as possible if something bad went down.

"What do you want?" Buffy asked pointedly.

"I want to help, y-you guys. With the 'study group'." Tara said with a light tug on her sleeve.

Willow nearly winced. Buffy was going to be so pissed at her. She'd come on too strong with her new acquaintance and somehow spilled their secret. Tara was way too sweet and sensitive to get involved with the slaying. And where did she get a stake?

"You mean my job, right?" Buffy asked Tara rhetorically. "Sorry, that's kind of a one woman gig." Hence the chosen 'one'.

Tara sighed. She'd come this far, she couldn't back down now.

"Willow and Xander help you out though, d-don't they?" The girl in question looked at her shoes guiltily. "It's just… I owe you my life. I want to help people. Plus… I think it's safer kn-knowing what really goes on in this town."

"You don't owe me anything." Buffy said honestly. "It's what I do. Besides, the way I remember it, you saved me too."

"What?" Willow was more confused than ever. "When did this happen, how did it happen and why didn't you tell me about it?" She demanded of her super-powered friend.

"V-vampires…" Tara said.

"I saw her in trouble the night I got back from L.A., so I went to slay. She helped me out by…"

Tara shook her head no, and Buffy took the hint. Tara wasn't ready for Willow to know about the magic yet.

"Distracting one that was going to ambush me."

"And then Buffy g-gave me the stake." Tara bowed her head, her voice becoming smaller. "I just want to be useful, to you, to someone…"

Buffy tapped her hip, contemplating how to deal with this. There was no going back as far as Tara's knowledge of Buffy's identity and the supernatural. That and Tara was a supernatural being herself. If push came to shove she would probably be safer out in the field than Xander and Willow. Plus she wasn't in it for the thrills like Owen, she genuinely wanted to help.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Buffy asked. "The kind of stuff we see, you can't really unsee."

"I've already seen it." Tara replied darkly.

Willow and Buffy exchanged another look.

"Okay, maybe you can kind of, ease into it? Right now we're looking for Chris and Eric." Willow told her.

Tara's brow wrinkled in confusion.

"Oh. W-why?"

She was almost sorry she asked.

"They're going to m-make a girl? L-like with a spell?"

"More dark science than dark arts." Willow explained, not seeming to read much into Tara's casual mention of magic. "Chris is getting into some Dr. Frankenstein level quackery here."

The idea was shocking to Tara. Chris seemed so quiet and gentle. But things were rarely what they seemed in Sunnydale. Underneath his shy exterior was apparently a boy who would stop at nothing to make the perfect girl.

"Just keep an eye out for them." Buffy told her. "We'll meet up in the science lab after school's out."

"Shouldn't we take her to the library, tell Xander and Giles?" Willow asked.

"M-mr. Giles is part of the group?" Tara asked.

That made sense. She had suspected he was involved since the 'study group' met in the library.

"Oh yeah." Willow confirmed. "He's Buffy's- well, first of all, the reason Buffy can do all those crazy flippy fighty moves and break people's faces with her fists is because she's something called…"

"The Slayer." Tara finished for her to both Willow and Buffy's surprise. "'Into every generation…'"

"'… a Slayer is born.'" Buffy completed the quote with a nod. "That would be me. Giles is my Watcher." She passed on elaborating when Tara nodded in recognition of the term. "We can grab Xander and go see him and Giles at lunch."

…

"Tara's going to do what now?" Xander said in bewilderment after the girls made their announcement to him and Giles in the privacy of the library.

"I think you'll be quite helpful actually." Rupert said to everyone's surprise.

His initial worries about bringing Tara into the fold were quelled when he considered how much more useful she'd be than Xander at research. That and she was charming and well mannered, unlike some other ungrateful teenagers.

"It'll be nice not being the only one who can read the Latin books."

"You can read in Latin?" Willow asked with wide eyes. "For how long?"

The more Willow learned about Tara, the more impressed she was with her.

"Since I was little. My mom taught me."

While Tara had yet to tell Willow about her mother's illness, she had shared how her mother had influenced her interest in things like folklore and history.

"All right guys, we should get to the cafeteria. They still haven't shown up yet." Buffy said to bring them back to the task at hand.

…

School ended and the corpse snatching boys were nowhere to be found. Willow had been trying to puzzle out how they could reanimate the body and Tara was amazed at the pace the girl's mind ran at. They speculated that Chris and Eric had completed their experiment, but Giles's had found that all three of the missing cheerleaders' heads were accounted for by the police. Unfortunately acquiring a suitable head was the boys' last step before they'd have all the materials for a complete girl.

They moved from the science lab to the library and Willow took the helm of the computer, checking the obituaries for any recent deaths that could have supplied a head. Then she had an unnerving realization. Brain cells couldn't last in formaldehyde as long as other organs. Chris and Eric would need a fresh brain, as fresh as possible.

"Y-you don't think they'd really…?" Tara said, trying not to shake in fear. This was her first mission, she'd didn't want to look weak. "C-chris?"

"I think anyone that cuts dead girls into little pieces does not get the benefit of any doubt." Buffy said with a harsh edge. "I want to end this thing now."

This hard side of Buffy was something to behold; it was wholly different from the vivacious and sarcastic girl Tara was used to seeing in class. Tara hadn't witnessed her like this since the night they met. She wondered which was closer to the real Buffy and which was the mask. Probably with all that being the Slayer put her through, they were both real on some level.

"I second that." Giles agreed with Buffy's declaration.

"Fine, we can go to Chris's, you can go to Eric's, and we can meet up." Buffy said handing out their marching orders.

She was a natural leader. It was easier for Tara to keep herself together knowing that.

"I'm supposed to be at the big game…" Giles said, surprising Tara. He'd never shown an interest in school sports before.

"Fine, go ahead. We'll take care of this." Buffy acquiesced, wanting to get a move on.

"Yes, but shouldn't I-I-I…" He was clearly torn between his duty and whatever motivation he had for going to the game.

"Okay, then why don't we all meet there?" Buffy compromised.

"Fine, yes."

Giles made his exit and Buffy was left to instruct her remaining allies. Willow quickly moved closer to Tara before Buffy could rework their assignments.

"I can go with Tara, you know, show her the ropes." Willow offered, hoping her best friend would approve.

It had been interesting to talk with Tara about the slaying, but she was looking forward to some one on one time with her. There were so many things Willow wanted to ask her, and shy Tara was so quiet in group settings.

"Sure. Xander and I will take Chris's and you two take Eric's." Buffy looked at their newest member. "Be careful, okay?"

Tara nodded.

"I will."

Xander and Buffy were turning to leave when Willow called out to her.

"Buffy?" Willow asked, taking a step towards her. "Don't be too hard on Chris. I mean, he's not a vampire."

"No." Buffy agreed with an eerie coldness. "He's just a ghoul."

…

Willow led Tara through the Sunnydale suburbs to Eric's house. It gave the former plenty of time to babble, much to the amusement of the latter.

"I hope you didn't mind me asking to go with you. I-I don't want you to think I'm making decisions for you. Just you know, you're new at this and I thought I could-"

Look after you?

"M-mentor me?" Tara offered.

"Yeah. Not that I'm an expert or anything, but I haven't died so far, so I must be doing something right."

Willow didn't like bringing up the dying, but there was no point in hiding the dangers of the job. Apparently Tara had known what she was getting into, and she was taking to the Scooby life surprisingly well. Willow could tell that the idea of chopped up bodies being experimented on made Tara queasy, but who wouldn't be squicked?

"Well, you can be the mentor, and I'll be your s-sidekick." Tara said with a warm lop-sided smile.

"Oh no, you can't be my sidekick," Willow protested, gesturing wildly, "I'm Buffy's sidekick and that would make you a sidekick to a sidekick. We can both be Buffy's sidekicks, you're just in training for now."

They had reached Eric's house and Willow rang the doorbell.

"Hmm. So w-what does the training consist of?" Tara asked while they waited.

It didn't seem anyone was coming. Willow looked around sneakily and began to inspect the planters in front of the door.

"Well for starters, know where to look for spare keys."

After a few minutes' search Willow pulled out a tiny bronze key and held it up triumphantly. She unlocked the front door and gently pushed it open, checking once again that no one was home. They couldn't be sure the house was empty until they took a look inside, so Willow took the first step in and waited for Tara to follow her.

"So, what do we do if w-we find him?" Tara asked in a near whisper.

"Report back to Buffy. We're not here to engage, this is strictly recon." Willow saw the blonde giggle quietly at that. "What?"

"You said recon."

Tara couldn't help but grin. Scooby Willow was a hard-nosed customer, so much tougher than her petite frame let on. Again Tara could see how the girl had such a dazzling aura.

"You guys are like c-cool monster fighters."

Willow flushed a little at the admiration, trying to keep focused on their inspection. So far the house was a kind of bland Americana affair, if covered in more catalogs and magazines than average.

"Well, Eric isn't a monster, he's just a creepy pervert playing with dead girls."

"Just because someone is human doesn't mean they can't be a monster." Tara said with a low seriousness.

She knew that Chris and Eric were meddling with life and death, one of the most inviolate laws of nature. Buffy was right; they needed to be stopped as soon as possible.

Upstairs they found the room had to be Eric's. Only a teenage boy would have such a prodigious collection of VHS porn and skin mags. Tara was almost embarrassed for him. At least Donny had the courtesy to keep his porn hidden. Willow studiously avoided the smut and went for Eric's personal computer. It had multiple monitors, a scanner and a very expensive photo printer. She cracked his password and Tara watched her, once again impressed with the breadth of Willow's skills. Tara knew Willow was taking a programming elective, but seeing the hacker in action solidified how beyond her it was.

"Wow." Tara leaned in over the other girl's shoulder as Willow decrypted one of Eric's folders. "Do you d-do this often on m-missions?"

"Yup. It's how I earn my keep. It comes in handy more often than you'd think, even if it's just the little stuff. Of course, they might just need me around because Giles doesn't know how to use the internet."

Willow's last statement was only half flippant.

"Oh. I-I don't know much about computers. I go online sometimes but, everyone's s-spelling is really bad. It's, kind of depressing."

The decryption finished and Willow browsed the folder. There was the expected porn, but there were also digital copies of the photos Eric had been taking at the Science Fair. She scowled.

"Oh he is so going to pay for this."

After checking that the computer didn't hold any information relevant to the body snatching case, she wiped the hard drive.

…

They met up with Giles and Miss Calendar and sat with them to watch the game as they waited for Buffy and Xander. However it wasn't either of those two who came to find them; it was Chris.

"Chris, what are…" Willow started, anger seeping into her voice.

"There's no time." Chris said desperately. "Please, he has Cordelia. He's going to…"

He couldn't get out the last words.

"Eric has her?" Giles asked as they all stood.

Chris shook his head, eyes heavy with grief.

"Daryl has her."

There were so many questions the group wanted to ask. All of them but Tara knew how bizarre the idea of Daryl having anyone was.

"We have to hurry before he does it." Chris pleaded with them.

Their questions were left for later as he led them to where the final body part was going to be harvested.

As they neared the old science lab they could smell the gas fire burning. A cry carried down the hallway.

"Xander! Get me out of here."

When they reached the room they saw Buffy gripped in a bear hug by a hulking man in a Sunnydale football uniform. Tara could see the unnatural greenness of his skin, the unhealed suture wounds and gasped.

"Daryl…" Willow said in recognition. Tara tore her gaze away from Buffy's fight for a second to look at her. "Chris's brother." Willow explained. "He was dead. But now…"

Buffy wasn't the only one in trouble. Xander was trying to get a hospital bed out of the way so he could push the one Cordelia was tied to out of the room. Giles and Willow went inside to drag Eric's unconscious body into the hall. Xander finally cleared a path for the bed and shoved it towards them, hopping on as it rolled. Tara and Jenny caught it and pulled it away from the flames. Xander was panting as he got off the bed. He hadn't managed to undo Cordy's bonds and now the girls were straining to get them off.

"A-are you okay? Are y-you h-hurt?" Tara asked Cordelia, concern overcoming unfamiliarity.

"Not hurt, just freaked the hell out." Cordelia rubbed her wrist as Tara got the knots undone. "I was almost the bride of teen Frankenstein!"

Xander would have laughed if he wasn't panting so hard. Cordelia glared back at the room where Buffy was still fighting Daryl.

"I am so kicking Eric's ass when this is over."

"I think the police can handle that." Miss Calendar said, already dialing 911 on her cellphone.

…

The gang waited for the emergency crews to show up, splitting off into smaller groups as the various sirened vehicles arrived. Tara was clutching her arms tightly around herself, Xander and Willow on either side of her. Willow had kept a friendly hand on Tara's shoulder since they left the lab.

"So, was it too much? Have we scared you away yet?" Xander asked, half joking and half worried.

Tara shook her head, and they were surprised to see her smile.

"Y-you saved someone's life Xander. No one died. You guys w-won."

"Yeah, but it was just Cordelia. She gets kidnapped like, every other week." Xander said dismissively.

Willow saw an ash smudged Cordelia approaching from behind him and smirked, wondering if she'd overheard.

"Xander?" For once Cordelia's voice was almost tender. "I just wanted to thank you for saving my life. What you did in there was really brave, and heroic and I just wanted to tell you if there's anything I could ever do to…"

"Do you mind? We're talkin' here." Xander interrupted her, ignoring her display of gratitude.

Cordelia huffed in indignation.

"Fine, be a jerk, loser."

She looked at Tara, whose eyes widened at for once being the subject of the queen bee's attention.

"Tara, right? Take my advice and get out of this nerd pit while you can. You have way too good manners to be hanging out with them."

With that Cordelia stomped off, leaving Willow and Xander amused but Tara unsettled. However big a bitch the cheerleader might be, Xander's taunt felt cruel to throw at a girl who had nearly been decapitated. The boy didn't seem perturbed at all.

"So where were we?" He asked.

"Tara was just saying the good guys won."

Willow had noticed Tara say "you guys" instead of "we". She guessed Tara still felt like an outsider. It was understandable, she had only been on one mission so far. But there would always be more. Willow hoped that it wouldn't be long before Tara considered herself one of the good guys too.