Chapter Eleven: Sleeves

Donald was angry at Tara for staying out late, but Donny was back even later and managed to distract their father with a shouting match. Part of Tara's obedience to her father had come from fear of repercussions for her mother, who she knew did her best to shield her from the worst of his temper. Now that Eileen was gone Tara found herself caring less about being a dutiful daughter. She was still intimidated by Donald, but now that there was a finite amount of time left she had to deal with him she didn't care so much about staying on his good side. Nothing had ever satisfied him enough to make him stop his behavior before, so pushing his patience a little further didn't bother her. That Donny's worse misbehavior was drawing his focus made her feel more confident about pushing boundaries as well.

Things were quiet on the Hellmouth since Spike and Drusilla had been taken care of, so there weren't any Scooby activities to attend to after school. Tara made a trip to Eileen's grave and to her surprise found a black rose left on it. Beneath the flower was an exquisite pencil sketch of Eileen's garden. Tara couldn't think of who she knew that would have left those offerings, but it felt like a gesture of mourning, not anything ominous. She knew black roses were bred artificially, so she could probably have Willow trace who had bought it if she needed to. If it was just a kind gesture, it was a very touching one.

…

While Tara was visiting the cemetery, Joyce had her much needed discussion with Giles at the school library about her oldest daughter's secret life. Willow stayed by Buffy to give her some emotional back up while the adults talked. She had offered to go with Tara, but Tara had told her that she wanted some time alone at the grave, and that Buffy definitely needed her best friend with her for this ordeal. The redhead had a nagging worry that she had been smothering Tara since she'd been back in school. It was hard for her figure out just what level of closeness the older witch wanted from her right now. Willow had been happy to hold Tara in her arms for a night, but since the blonde had run out the next morning she'd been more restrained with asking for attention. She'd be more annoyed with the hot and cold treatment if she wasn't so concerned for her.

Joyce's expression was one of sympathy as she came over to the girls after finishing her talk with Giles.

"Buffy, I just wanted to start by saying I'm sorry you've been going through this in secret. I had no idea how much you've been dealing with all by yourself."

"I'm not completely by myself." Buffy said, looking at the Watcher as he fiddled with the index cards.

"Right. You've got, Mr. Giles watching you." Joyce shook her head, frustrated. "Maybe I'm supposed to be grateful that there's this whole organization dedicated to looking after you, but that they've been keeping this from me, your mother…" She sighed. "It just makes me angry, that he's had this whole secret relationship with you, behind my back. And it makes me feel disrespected that he didn't think I deserved a say in what happens to my little girl."

Buffy's body loosened, coming back to the empathy for her mother that had pushed her to confess about being the Slayer in the first place. Now that the Summers had cooler heads she could see her mother's reaction had come from a place of caring, not anger. Of course, what Joyce had just said didn't bode well for how she'd feel if she learned about Buffy's secret relationship with an adult vampire.

"Believe me, Giles is a lot better to have around than some other Watcher could be." Buffy said wearily. "There's another Slayer, Kendra. Her parents gave her to her Watcher before she was old enough to remember their faces. She doesn't even have her own last name."

Joyce's frown deepened.

"That doesn't make it right." She turned her gaze on Willow. "And you kids help her. Do any of your parents know about this?"

Willow squirmed a bit. She could only imagine how her mother would react if she found out she spent her free time making a database of demons and dabbling in witchcraft.

"Um, not mine or Xander's, but neither us of really talk with our parents about our extracurricular activities much anyway. They don't show much interest. Or our curricular activities come to think of it."

"Will…" Buffy said warningly.

Willow shook her head to get her brain back on topic.

"So um, not my parents. But Tara's mom, she… she knew. She was a witch, a-and she was teaching both of us…"

She found herself sniffling as she spoke about the recently departed Mrs. Maclay. Buffy took Willow's hand and circled its back with gentle pressure from her thumb. Willow gave her a weak smile before meeting Mrs. Summers' eyes again.

"Witches…" Joyce shook her head again. "I still can't quite wrap my head around that. It's hard enough believing there are vampires out there." Her brow furrowed for a second before a startled expression came over her. "Oh my goodness, that didn't have anything to do with how Eileen died, did it?"

"Oh no, that was a complication from her cancer treatment." Willow said in a high pitched rush.

She took a minute to calm her heart rate. She'd been so focused on Tara's feelings about Eileen's death she hadn't really taken the time to deal with her own. Discussing vampire attacks with someone outside of the slaying gang also brought up memories she'd never fully dealt with, like the room of slaughtered boys she and Cordelia had found before Prom last spring.

Joyce came closer and took her other hand, and the Summers silently comforted Willow until her breathing returned to normal.

"She really was a quite a woman, wasn't she?" Joyce said softly.

"She was." Willow agreed.

"If you don't mind, would you and Tara tell me more about this… magic you do?" Mrs. Summers asked still holding Willow's hand. "This is all new to me, and it would help ease my mind to know what you're all up to. Just, to know that you're being safe."

"I, sure. I'll call Tara when she gets home."

…

After returning to Revello Drive Joyce brought both of her daughters to the living room to talk about how long Dawn had known about Buffy's identity. Dawn had been to first one to read Buffy's diary, and unlike Hank and Joyce she had believed. She had mostly kept her mouth shut to seem cool to her sister and her friends, but part of her was also worried that if anyone found out Buffy would get sent away again. Her mother was somewhat angry with her, but being the baby of the family the anger directed at her was far less than had been leveled on the eldest child last night.

Dawn's theory about the change in their mother's behavior was confirmed as well. Joyce confessed she was dating someone new, a computer software salesman named Ted Buchanan. She apologized for not telling them sooner, and told them she'd introduce him to the girls on Thursday evening. Neither of the sisters were thrilled. Both of them were still holding onto the slim hope that their father would get back together with their mother someday, though Buffy at least knew her hope was doomed.

The sisters decided to go upstairs to talk about this new development while Joyce talked to Tara and Willow. Neither of them was quite sure what she was going to ask them, but now that things were out in the open with Mrs. Summers they were going to do their best to fill her in.

"So, you girls are both witches?" Joyce began tentatively.

"Kind of. It takes years to become a full-fledged witch, and I'm not quite there yet." Willow replied. "I've just done little things, like floating feathers and mixing potions. Tara's a lot more advanced than me because she's been practicing her whole life."

"I-I'm not that advanced, really." Tara said with a blush. "The women in my family have… w-we're born with a lot of magic potential. My mother taught me how to control my powers and h-how to work with nature, not against it."

"So you're kind of like, the medicine women from tribal cultures?" Joyce questioned. "Or is that not a good comparison?"

"Well, there a lot of ways to do magic. Th-the way my mom taught me is based around Wicca and natural cycles. But basically it's just moving and shaping the energy of the universe into new forms, to cr-create something, transform it, or connect to it from far away." The older woman still looked confused. "S-sorry. I don't know if I'm explaining this right."

"It's not your fault, this all just out of my realm of experience." Joyce said apologetically. "What I really wanted to know is what kind of things you do when you're going out to hunt monsters with Buffy."

"We make her protection charms." Willow offered. "And we made little flames to throw at the vampires last week."

She wished for the umpteenth time her mouth didn't work faster than her judgment. Joyce couldn't be too pleased to learn Buffy's friends went around conjuring fires when arson was what had gotten Buffy kicked out of her last school.

"Oh. What about those little lights? Have they ever come in handy?"

"The first time I met Buffy, actually." Tara said. She decided to use this as an opening to explain her motivations for helping Buffy. "I was being attacked b-by vampires, and she saved me. Another one was about to get her from behind and I sent the lights into his eyes to blind him." She could see Joyce's distress from hearing about her daughter being in danger. "That's why I wanted to h-help her. She does so much good, and saves so many people."

"She's saved me and Xander more times than I count." Willow added. "Well, actually I could but I've never sat down and gone through them all, but it's a big number. She's kind of a superhero, really. You should be proud of her."

"Mr. Giles told me that too. Knowing that she's saved your lives, of course that makes me proud, but I hate that any of you have had your lives in danger in the first place. It's not fair that you all have to take this on before you're even grown up, it's too much." Mrs. Summers said in an impassioned voice. "I understand now that Buffy can't help what she is, but I still don't like it."

"She wishes she could be normal too." Tara said softly.

"I know." Joyce paused, her face softening. "I am grateful to both of you, and Xander. Just please, don't take on more than you can handle."

…

Willow had been purposely not bringing up the subject of when she and Tara would resume their regular spell lessons, figuring that could be anywhere from weeks to months. It turned out to be Tara who brought it up. Between her impulse to cast the resurrection spell and her meetings with Joyce, she had been spending a lot of time considering what her future as a witch would be. The first conclusion she came to was that it would just be tempting fate to keep practicing at her house. Since she'd started teaching Willow, she hadn't even been casting on her own, so there was no more reason for her to keep her hidden stash in her room.

They stopped by the Maclay house on Wednesday afternoon to pack Tara's things up before Donald got home from work. Willow bit her lip when she found herself about to suggest Tara pack some things for an overnight visit. Once they got to Willow's room they spent hours talking about the history and uses of all the different books, herbs and artifacts. Willow caught Tara checking the clock and felt the urge to ask her to stay rise up again. She did her best to suppress it.

Tara noticed the redhead shuffling her feet. She knew Willow's moods well enough by now to tell what was bothering her. Willow had offered to let Tara stay over if she needed to several times already since their first sleepover, and at some point she had gotten the idea that she was making a pest of herself to Tara. Tara didn't mind being invited of course, but Willow was always very concerned with not doing anything to upset her. She hoped she wasn't overly sensitive; she couldn't think of any signals she was giving to her friend that would indicate she was annoyed with her, but Willow didn't really have the greatest self-esteem when it came to interpersonal relationships.

"I know what you want to ask Willow."

The girl's green eyes widened in alarm.

Ohmygod ohmygod, she didn't figure out that I want to ask her out did she? Oh damn, I know that look. The "Sorry, but I don't feel that way about you look." Hold on brain, Tara's still talking. We need to listen… no no no, I don't want to hear it… oh god, why did I ever think she would say yes?

Willow only heard the second half of Tara's words.

"… and Donny's already got him mad enough… so I was thinking I could save my long nights out for when there's Scoobyage afoot. I wish I could though."

"Huh?"

What was she talking about? That Tara's dad would get mad at her for going out with her? But she wanted to?

"Stay over tonight." Tara answered, a little surprised at the flurry of emotions Willow's aura was rushing through over something as simple as turning down a sleepover.

The younger girl's panic turned to embarrassment.

The other thing I wanted to ask her, right. Stupid Willow. She chided herself.

"Oh." Willow said calmly, before getting disappointed for a new reason. "Are you sure? You really think your dad would get mad at you just for staying over at a friend's?"

"I'm not sure, I mean, before you I'd never spent the night with anyone."

The statement hung in the air, turning the normal flow between the girls awkward. Something was being left unsaid, but neither was ready to confront it right now.

"But I-I don't want to give him more reasons to be angry if I can help it."

"Well, I don't want to get you in any trouble. Just… I know you don't like being around them. If you need, ya know, a safe space." Willow hung her head for a second before throwing it back with a sigh. "And there I go again, being pesky girl."

Tara gave her a soft smile.

"I'd love to stay the night."

I'd love to stay forever.

"I promise I'll come over more often once things have… settled a little."

That seemed to reassure Willow, but Tara wanted her to know that she didn't find her pesky. She took Willow's hands in hers, leaned over and kissed the opposite cheek from the one she had last time. She didn't really mean for it to, but this kiss lingered a moment longer than the previous one. Tara was more conscious of the taste and texture of Willow's freckled skin, and had to stop herself from going back for a second helping.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" She asked as she pulled away to head for the door, praying she hadn't freaked out her friend and student. If her reaction to the last kiss was any indication, Willow wouldn't mind.

Tara wasn't disappointed. Willow didn't let go of Tara's hand until their arms were stretched as far as they would go.

"Okay." She said softly.

Willow did her best to lose herself in her computer, trying to push thoughts of Tara's tender lips out of her head. It half worked, until she overheard her parents talking at a volume she'd normally grumble about for interrupting her studying. Tonight however, she found the sound comforting. It reminded her that she still had both parents. Like Buffy, Willow had been worrying about her relationship with her mother after Eileen's death. While she didn't want to come right out and say she practiced the dark arts, she did feel like she could make more of an effort to spend time with them. It had been years since she'd bothered, and she was braver now. At least she could try. Willow went downstairs, ready to try and build a bridge.

"Hey mom?" She asked. "Do you think we could do something on Saturday? Like, together?"

…

Sheila did agree, and Willow hoped things would go as well for Buffy and her mother on Thursday. She, Tara and Xander were all going to Buffy's house to meet this famous Ted after an evening at the Bronze. Things ended up being slightly awkward. The teens were home earlier than Joyce had been expecting and Buffy walked in on her kissing Ted, much to the Slayer's disgust. Dawn was already enamored with her mother's new boyfriend. He had made mini-pizzas and started a new batch for the teenagers, though Buffy and Tara declined. Although she was coping in other ways, Tara's appetite hadn't been great lately and she just nursed a glass of water.

Buffy was very obviously not warming up to Ted. Tara didn't really sense anything one way or the other about him, but he seemed polite and nice enough. She was more perplexed by Willow and Dawn's behavior. They were giggling and acting much more hyper than usual, which even gourmet pizza and the prospect of free computer components didn't seem to warrant. It was odd, and while Tara wanted to be happy for them, and Joyce, it left her unsettled. She chalked it up to still dealing with own family issues and let it go for the evening.

…

Buffy on the other hand, wasn't willing to let her misgivings go, grousing about Ted as they walked through the school halls the next morning. Xander wasn't willing to let the magnificence of Ted's culinary skills go either. Willow agreed with the Xander's opinion that Buffy was just upset because someone who wasn't her father was getting close to her mother. And Tara pointed out she couldn't be happy this was all happening while Joyce was still getting used to her oldest daughter being a Slayer. It was three against one, and Buffy partially relented.

"Okay, I admit it's weird. Seeing my mother frenching a guy is definitely a ticket to therapy-land, but it's more than that. I'm pretty good at sensing what's going on around me and there's definitely something wrong with this… Ted." She didn't even like to say the name.

"Ted!" Xander said, looking over Buffy's shoulder.

"Of course Ted. Who'd you think I was talking about?" Buffy grumbled.

"Hi Ted. Ted who's here." Xander repeated, not looking away from the man who had just walked up behind Buffy.

"Hello kids." Ted greeted them. Tara couldn't really agree with Buffy's assessment. The salesman seemed pretty innocuous to her, if trying a bit hard to ingratiate himself to them all.

"What are you doing here?" Buffy asked, tensing up.

"I'm updating the software in the guidance office. Which reminds me. Your upgrades." He handed over the hardware he had promised last night to Willow.

"Oh what a day! Thank you!"

Tara had never heard Willow's voice go so high pitched and dreamy, though it had come close when she'd been gotten a new spell to work. She observed Willow far too often not to notice she was being a bit odd today, or rather hadn't stopped being odd since she'd started acting weird in the Summers' kitchen.

"Think nothing of it." Ted said kindly. "Buffy, do you like miniature golf?"

"Who doesn't?" Xander jumped in.

"Well your mother and I were thinking maybe this Saturday we'd drag the four of you and Dawn out to the course… spend time swinging the iron with the stuffy old people."

"Well…"

Buffy was flustered. She knew her friends could use fun diversions with the stress their lives were full of surviving the Hellmouth, and the grief Tara was still going through. That didn't make the prospect of quality time with this intruder into her personal life any more appealing.

"I'm making a picnic basket." The salesman added, trying to sweeten the deal.

"With mini-pizzas?" Xander asked, voice trembling with excitement.

"And cookies." Ted confirmed. Xander could only gasp in delight.

"Oh, I can't make it." Willow said, looking at Buffy apologetically. "I already have plans with my mom."

"There you have it, Will can't come." Buffy said, trying not to smirk in triumph. "The rest of us would love to go, but unfortunately we have that thing on Saturday."

She gave Tara a meaningful look.

"R-right. That thing." Tara agreed.

Xander wasn't so amenable.

"Hey, we can do that thing anytime. I'm tired of doin' that thing. We're on."

"Great!"

Buffy groaned as Ted walked off to finish his work.

…

There were indeed cookies at the Saturday outing, and once again everyone happily indulged except the two teen blondes. Tara had never played mini-golf before so was doing fairly poorly, and it seemed it wasn't an activity that Slayer powers helped with either. Buffy's first swing sent her ball out of the hole's little setup and Ted insisted she play through properly. Things were only getting worse between them, Ted making passive-aggressive comments about Buffy's suffering grades, and both her mother and little sister taking his side about the game. She went off after her ball and Ted followed. The Slayer looked disturbed when she came back to them. After Tara took her turn Buffy pulled her aside out of earshot of the others.

"There is definitely something wrong with him." Buffy whispered to her. "He just threatened to hit me over not taking putting seriously." She looked back at the adults, making sure they weren't being watched. "Can you look at his aura?"

"I-I can, but it's a very subjective impression. I don't know how much I could tell you from it." Tara focused on Ted, and she had to refocus on Xander to make sure her power was working properly. As far as she could tell, it was. "Th-this has never happened before…"

"What's never happened?" Buffy asked.

"H-he… he doesn't have an aura."

"Like, he doesn't have a soul?" The shorter blonde said, looking something close to horrified. "So he's some kind of demon?"

Tara tried not to quake at the hatred in the Slayer's voice at the word demon.

"N-no, demons have auras. This, I-I don't know what it is. There's just nothing there."

"Once we're done here, we're going into research mode."

…

The cavalry congregated at the library that evening. Buffy had decided to stay home to keep anything from happening to Dawn if she and Ted ended up alone after he and Joyce came back from their date. Giles was covering her patrol for the night, giving the teenagers the run of the library. Willow arrived last after visiting a museum and a restaurant with her parents. Tara was almost surprised to find Cordelia had shown up as well. Almost, because it seemed the cheerleader had been sticking around to help them out more and more lately.

Tara checked through Giles' books for something that looked human but had no aura. She wasn't sure it would even be in any of the books. Meanwhile Willow was looking up Ted's criminal records to see if he had committed any past misdeeds they should be worried about him repeating. Neither of their searches was bearing fruit, to the point that Xander had stopped his attempts at assisting Tara and was eating the cookies left over from the day's picnic.

"Ted's got no criminal record. Damn, this guy's like citizen of the year!" Willow exclaimed in frustration.

"Don't sweat it. It'll be fine." Xander said in an extremely mellow tone.

"Don't sweat it?" Willow asked, annoyed at her friend's calmness.

"Yeah, cute buddy!" He ruffled her hair with his free hand. "We'll work it out. No worries!"

"What happened to 'we can't leave them alone with a soulless monster'?" Cordelia asked, parroting Xander's words from a couple minutes ago.

"Worrying isn't gonna to solve any problems."

All three girls put two and two together as Xander munched. Willow grabbed the cookie from him mid-bite.

"It's the cooking; it makes people act all loopy. That's got to have something to do with what's wrong with him." Willow stood up. "I'm gonna go make a microscope slide from this."

"But you'll still have enough left for me to finish eating, right?" Xander asked as the redhead left for the science lab.

…

By the time Willow's slide was ready Tara had yet to find anything of use in the stacks. Cordelia was printing out copies of all the personal records Willow had been able to dig up on Ted, hoping they'd at least be able to find his address so they could check out his house.

"Okay…" Willow said, having somewhat identified the chemicals in the cookie.

"What do we know?" Xander asked eagerly.

"Well, apparently the secret ingredient is not love." Willow answered.

"But you know what it is?" Tara questioned nervously, worried about the quantity of Ted's food her friends had eaten.

"I'm not positive, but I think it's dematorin. It's like a tranquilizer. Keeps you all mellow and compliant. It also shares a few components with ecstasy."

"So Buffy was right! Ted's been drugging up Joyce to make her sweet on him. But you caught him. Willow, you are the best human ever. I adore you!" Willow smiled as Xander pointed at her to emphasize his praise. "That's the cookies talkin', but you rock!"

Cordelia returned with several folders full of papers.

"Well, your search finally hit pay dirt. I got personal records, marriage certificates, and an address."

"H-He's with Joyce now, we could sneak in while he's out." Tara suggested.

"Right on." Xander agreed. "We've got to shut him down before someone gets hurt."

…

Xander punched through the window next to Ted's front door to the reach the lock. They looked around with their flashlights while Willow looked over the records.

"So far I've found four marriage certificates." She said.

"Are there any records of him getting divorced?" Tara asked.

"Not a one."

"So either our boy was a Mormon, or…" Xander began before Willow interrupted him, startled.

"Whoa, whoa! 1957? Ted must have married young. Like, pre-school young."

"Nothing interesting back here." Cordy said rejoining them after a quick look through the back rooms of the building. "Doesn't look like anybody worked here let alone lived here."

"Something's missing here. This doesn't seem like Ted at all."

"Yeah," Cordelia agreed with Xander. "And this rug, it doesn't go with the rest of the décor."

Xander lifted up the rug and revealed a trap door. He went down the ladder steps first then helped Cordy down. When he turned on the lights a record player started up, playing some classic Jazz.

"Feels like home… if it's the fifties and you're a psycho." Cordelia said checking out the retro furnishings of the room.

Willow opened the blinds on the window to reveal nothing but bricks on the other side. Tara felt a sinking in her stomach when she reached the bottom step. Something here was very, very off. The room had a dark resonance that was similar to but not identical to the battlefields she had visited with her mother. She pushed through the sick feeling and tried to sense the direction the resonance was coming from. It seemed to be strongest from the closet. Xander followed her gaze and went to inspect it.

"What you got in the closet Ted?" He only looked inside for a second before shutting it suddenly. "Let's go."

"But we need to figure out what he is." Cordelia protested. Xander just kept urging the girls out.

"He's something to be slayed. That's all we need to know." He was so solemn it was beginning to freak Willow out.

"What's in there?" She asked.

"His first four wives."

…

It was a difficult slaying, but Ted wasn't the first killer robot Buffy had faced down. Xander and Cordelia returned to Ted's house to look for more answers while the others consoled Joyce.

"I just can't believe it." She said sitting between Buffy and Willow on the couch, Dawn on the floor in front of her and Tara in the chair. "He was a robot all along? But… he seemed so kind, and… human."

"It happens." Willow said sympathetically. "We've all been there. Last year my internet boyfriend turned out to be a demon that got uploaded into the school's computer network and then installed himself into a robot."

"And Xander was dating Ampata." Dawn offered. "She was a mummy." She added, seeing her mother didn't understand the significance.

Joyce's level of shock went up slightly at the new information, but she was already near the upper limits what she could take in.

"Do you think there's more than one of him?" Dawn asked. "I mean, if they could make one why wouldn't they make more?"

"I hope not. One Stepford boyfriend was creepy enough." Buffy said.

…

Monday morning the gang discussed the info Xander and Cordy had uncovered on their second trip to the robot's lair.

"The sad part is, the real Ted must have been a genius." Willow said wistfully. "There were design features in that robot that predate…"

"Willow, tell me you didn't keep any parts." Buffy cut her off, sensing the hacker's admiration was more than what was healthy.

"Not any… big ones." She admitted.

"Oh, Will, you're supposed to use your powers for good." Buffy lamented. She turned to Tara. "She's a good witch, right?"

"She's a good witch." Tara agreed. "But she might be an evil scientist."

"Hey!" Willow shoved Tara playfully with a laugh. She was glad of the teasing. Little by little, Tara's mood was brightening up. "I just want to learn stuff."

"Like how to build your own serial killer?" Cordelia said sarcastically.

They were planning to hang out in the library, but after seeing Giles and Jenny kissing they decided it would be more prudent to give them some privacy. Buffy was glad that unlike her mom, the man closest to a father figure in her life had decided to hook up with someone cool and trustworthy. Didn't mean she needed to stick around to watch them play tonsil hockey.

…

It was the last day before Christmas break, and Jenny was finishing grading the final exam of the term. She was just completing the last one when Tara came into her classroom.

"Hey. Are you taking a break from monster research?" She asked the shy girl.

"Not a break exactly, since there's nothing to research right now." Tara answered. "Mr. Giles left some books here and sent me to get them."

"Oh I can take them to him. I was going to meet up with him once I was done here anyway." Miss Calendar said getting up from her desk. She picked up her coffee mug, which she had just refilled a couple of minutes ago to de-stress from grading Harmony's exam. "It's cute how you still call him Mr. Giles…"

One of her shoes wobbled as she went around the desk and the hot liquid spilled out of the mug onto Tara's sweater. The blonde gasped in pain and Jenny set aside the mug to help her. Half the sleeve was soaked in the scalding drink, but the girl was making no motion to take off the sweater.

"Tara, I'm so sorry! We need to get that top off of you and put your arm under some cold water."

"N-no… I-I-I can t-take it off in the bathroom." She protested.

Jenny was having none of that.

"Don't be silly, you'll be burned worse." The teacher didn't want to pull at the sweater without the girl's compliance, but more than that she didn't want her to be hurt needlessly. "You have to take it off."

Tara was nearly whimpering from the pain, and reluctantly pulled off the offending garment. She crossed her arms over her chest, but she wasn't quick enough. Jenny saw the marks, neatly lining both her arms from the inside of her elbows to about three inches short of her wrists. They looked like burn marks, not much older than a day.

"Cold water Tara." She led the student to the nearest bathroom and watched as Tara ran her arm under the water, looking ashamed. "Do you need to go to a doctor?"

Tara shook her head. That took care of the immediate problem. The pre-existing one however…

"Tara, what happened to your arms?" Jenny asked gently but firmly.

She thought she could hear tiny sobs as the blue-eyed girl stared into the sink, arms wrapped around her so the scarred sides were hidden. The techno-pagan thought back, and realized she'd never seen Tara without long sleeves on. The girl was so withdrawn and nervous unless she was with her friends, and even then she was the most quiet. It was no secret Tara wasn't on good terms with her father and brother. Then her mother had died only a few weeks ago…

"Tara, did you hurt yourself?"

The witch shut her eyes tight and shook her head as tears began to fall.

"No."

"Can you tell me who did?" Jenny asked cautiously. The evidence on the girl's skin seemed to indicate this was a long ongoing trauma, not just something recent, however fresh the topmost burn marks were. Tara just stayed silent. "Was it your father?"

The sobs that had been small became larger until Tara's face was in her hands, her body hunched over the sink. Jenny let her cry for a minute before speaking again softly.

"There are people who can help you. You don't have to face this alone."

Tara turned to stare at her in disbelief.

"I do."

She pushed her way past Miss Calendar, who tried to call her back with no success.

Jenny went to see Rupert, who looked up at her in pleasant surprise.

"Jenny. Did Tara come to your classroom? I sent her to fetch some…"

"I did see her Rupert." The dark haired woman interrupted. "She had burn marks going up her arms. Lots of marks, intentional ones."

"Dear lord." She could see him fighting his neurotic urge to reach for his glasses and wipe them. "How…?"

"Her father." Jenny said, anger shaking in her voice. "We have to do something Rupert."