I do not own Buffy or the Sons of Anarchy, or any other character that I might use. But will be mainly Sons of the Anarchy. I am also going to play it loose with time-lines and stuff.

Chapter 9

Thirty minutes, it only took thirty minutes to give an edited version of my life, not bad I would say. But I had a choice, and I never did like the easy path.

.~.

Earlier in the day

.~.

I went on one of my 'evening walks', after the initial inactivity, I started to only go out once a week, during a weekday where there is less 'club' activity.

It was on my way back, when I spotted the Police Chief's car. Trying not to get caught, I quickly hid behind a car and waited for them to pass, but luck would have it they drove into a driveway across the road. I watched as the chief helped a lady out of the car and into the house, she doesn't look that good, and was walking very slowly. As I left my hiding place, and walked down the street. I got a fright when I heard a car stop and call out my name.

"Buffy! What are you doing out here so early!" Oh darn, it's Tara.

"Um… I couldn't sleep, so I went for an early run." Thank heaven I was in my running gear, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to back it up. She gave me a skeptical look, but didn't press the issue.

"The town is not as safe as you would like to believe. Really shouldn't be roaming around at this time of morning," Tara started to into lecture mode.

"What you doing up? I thought you didn't have evening shifts this week?" I asked her, as the best way to divert the attention back to her.

"Oh! Um… well you see a friend needed some help so, here I am. I can take you home quickly before coming back." She seemed flustered, there is more to this then it seems. But hey, we all have things to hide.

"Nah, my place is just two blocks over; I will be home in no time if I run. Go ahead, don't worry." I said to reassure her and tried to leave, before more questions could be asked.

"If you are sure…" Tara said a bit uncertainly, but she looked like she really wanted to go. So I bid her a quick goodbye, a promise that I will see her later at the hospital, and walked off. As soon as I rounded the corner, I turned quickly, just in time to see Tara park by the same house that the chief and the woman disappeared into. Deciding to keep this to myself for now, I started on a slow jog home.

It's been a slow morning, deciding that coffee break was in order, I headed out to the café and then went in search of Tara. Hey I can't say I'm not curious. Smiling to myself, I headed down to the wards that she is most likely to be at.

Passing the waiting area I was nearly run over by a patient's cart. Only the people on it and pushing it won't medical personals, they where bikers, and from the looks of the jacket they are SAMCRO. Noting that everyone just ignored them, I decided that it's not my problem and walked on. They must have noticed me, because I heard some whistling, but then again, there were other girls in the area so I carried on walking. Turning the corner, I saw Chief Unser waiting by an examination room; I paid no mind until I saw Tara open the door to let him in. As the chief went in Tara gave a look out as if trying to make sure no one noticed her, but she caught my eye. Giving me a pleading look, she closed the door. Sighing to myself, I figured it is probably something to do with the club, so I turned to leave.

"Buffy," I suddenly heard Tara call me. Turning I saw her walking towards me, I lifted one hand and gave a wave, I am curious, but not going to pry.

"Buffy, I know you're curious. But I don't want to get you involved. I," She didn't get to finish the sentence, as I saw Jax, her boyfriend come towards us. So I decided to change the subject.

"Nah, the run was good. Look I need to go, come by my place later okay? You can bring Abel as well, he is a cutie. Okay? Oh Hi!" Tara looked confused for a moment until I greeted Jax who came to stand behind her. Then she gave me a grateful smile and turned to him. I think this was the first time Tara realized that I haven't actually met him properly, actually I haven't met Donna's' Opie either, but hey I was that bit of normalcy in their lives. Introducing the men to me might bring in issues which they were ignoring.

"Um, Jax this is Buffy. She is a colleague and friend of mine, and your neighbor; you remember the house cross the street?" Tara introduced us. He gave me a look, but seemed to decide that I wasn't worth the effort, so there was a quick hi and can I talk to you Tara, and he started to guide her off. She turned giving me an apologetic smile and said that she will come by later.

Oh that went well. I might be a bit put off. Seriously! What is it with bad boys and their image issues, a nice ' Hi! How are you?' or a smile would have been nice. Darn it! I am not going to pout. I was taken out of my musing when I saw the clock near by.

Oh crap I'm going to be late for my next appointment. I dumped the coffee and rushed back to the rehab ward. All the while thinking that the conversation with Tara later will be interesting, I'm a sucker for trouble, because I was actually a bit excited at the prospect. Hey! With hardly any demon action I need to put my interest elsewhere plus extra drama would be a nice highlight.

If I only knew how much my view of the world would change in just a few hours, I might not have been as keen for the conversation as I am now.

- 0 -

The rest of the day at the hospital was actually quite busy, so I forgot about the Tara thing. By the time I got home, I was dead on my feet, and I was looking forward to the leftover pasta I made last night and a glass of nice wine.

I was in the process of heating up the food after a nice long shower, when I heard the door bell. Still not making the connection. I went to open the door.

"Tara! Hi, um…" I didn't know what to say until I remembered our earlier conversation, but I was cut short when she came to give me a hug. It was a need for comfort; it wasn't for me, but rather for her. We stood there hugging until I realize there was a little person in the basinet.

"Oh, hello there!" I squealed a bit as I went to pick Abel up. It seemed to have broken Tara out of her daze, and we quickly went inside.

After Tara reassured me that she had eaten, I quickly wolfed down my pasta and opened a bottle of wine. One of the things I learned while in Europe was a genuine appreciation for wine. Hey, I had time and I needed to recover from my bad beer experience. Wine was much more sophisticated, call me a snob if you like, but I like my wine, red, white, or otherwise.

Pouring a glass for me and Tara, I went back to the sitting room. Abel had been having fun with his toys, so I let him be. Passing the wine to her I sat on the opposite couch and waited for her to start. She was staring at Abel, with a sad smile.

"He could have been mine." She said, still looking at him.

"We were high school sweethearts, everyone's envy." She took a sip of the wine.

"But then high school ended, and reality came crushing down. He was never going to college or leave Charming, but I wanted more, and the things with the club scared me. So I ran from all of this, went to study at Chicago, became a doctor. I stayed away for eleven years." Taking another sip she carried on.

"Then I met Joshua Kohn, who was supposedly the nice guy, the cop, the person everyone likes. The man turned out to be anything but, after putting a restraining order on him; I left and came back to Charming. It was partly to sort out the house since my father died, but the other was to run away from Josh. I felt safer in Charming. I was proven right when Jax helped me with the Josh situation." At this she stopped and stared right into me. Her eyes were haunted, and anxious, it was waiting, waiting for my reaction. I can see that she is expecting me to show disgust, to run, to yell, to bail at the thought of what probably happened to Joshua Kohn.

But all I did was raise an eyebrow. I didn't falter; one of the things I realize as the years went by was that there is never just black and white. Not all demons are evil, and not all human are innocent. The things I have seen humans do since the restructuring of the Council is not something I will forget easily. You don't fight as long as I have and not get jaded with life. Faith will probably understand the situation Tara is in much better than me, from what I have been able to gather, she had a history with gangs and bikers. I never asked about her past, she will never bring it up in conversation. But she won't hide it either, if you ask, she will give a straight honest answer. The way this conversation is going, I might give Faith that visit sooner than expected.

I didn't want to be the one to talk first, so I waited for Tara to say something.

Taking a sip of my own wine, I looked up, and nearly laughed. Tara had this confused look; she was definitely expecting me to do something drastic. Anything but calmly drinking my wine.

"Why aren't you freaked?" She asked still looking confused.

Taking another sip, I looked back at her.

"What are you expecting me to do? Run, scream, bail? Give you a lecture on it is not good to involve yourself with gangs and violence?" At this she looked a bit stunned.

"I would have been a hypocrite, if I did any of that." I smirked and carried on.

"My life is not all sunshine and daisies as you might have liked to think. And I will admit that I haven't really been forthcoming with my past." Sipping the wine again I decided to take a leap of faith and give her an edited version of my life. It just seemed fair after she talked about hers, even if it's not the whole story. I needed to give some before I get more back, especially if I want her to trust me.

"Well, I was a typical Valley girl with all the upbringings of becoming a 'Stepford wife'. I was a cheerleader, popular, stupid and naive." I smiled at that, yep, I will admit what I might have become.

"Then I turned fifteen, my world was turned upside down. I went through a rough patch, my parents divorced, at the time I thought it was my fault, but turns out, daddy dearest was banging secretaries long before things blew up. You know what their solution was? Getting me committed, I wasn't crazy, but no one listened. Was in the loony bin for two months, and I can tell you that it can screw with anyone's psyche to be there. Anyhow, by the time I was released, parents have gone separate ways and we moved to Sunnydale. The town might have seemed like a quaint little place, until you looked closer, the amount of deaths and disappearances was unnatural, but the local police were as bad as it came. So some of us took it into our own hands to help, protect, and in general survive." Giving Tara a sad smile, she has started to listen to me and the more I said the more she seemed to realize something.

"I met two of my best friends the first day at high school, Willow and Xander. Within the first week I was there, they lost their friend Jess. That was the turning point I think, they decided to help me, and with only one teacher on our side we did the best we can. Others joined, and left, Cordy, Oz, Tara, Angle, Spike, Anya. We lost people along the way too, but we survived." Downing the rest of my drink, I stood to go get the wine from the kitchen, but I didn't stop talking.

"The second year in Sunnydale mom kicked me out of the house; I just stabbed the man who I was in love with, I thought I killed him, and Mom found out what I was doing at night. She wanted me to leave it to the police, I laughed at that idea, and she gave me an ultimatum, stop doing what I was doing or leave. I left; I lived on the streets in LA for a bit before working in a dingy dinner to make ends meet. I went back though; I couldn't leave my friends behind. Mom took me back, but it took a long time for us to come to an understanding. Mom died from complications after brain surgery when I was nineteen, 'daddy' was nowhere to be seen. I dropped out of college and worked at a Double meat joint just to pay for food and to keep the social services from taking my sister. Tara was shot that year, she died and Willow went a bit crazy, we managed to get to her in time, but she became an addict after that. It took her years to get over the problem. Xander lost an eye the last year we were in Sunnydale; some crazed psychopath was killing girls, and he was in the way. We all lost something that year." Letting the information sink in with Tara, I poured myself another glass of wine and brought it back to the lounge.

Topping Tara's glass up, I decided to share a bit more.

"You know, one of the reasons I enjoy counseling so much, is that if I can find a legitimate way of helping people, then I will do it, especially kids. Xander never told us about his parents, but the signs where there. Willow - let just say that her parents forgets about her a lot. Then there is Faith, I don't think I want to know. I think my mom and Giles where the only good parental figures they ever had. Giles was our school librarian, but he saw what was happening and supported us as much as he can. This house, my studies after Sunnydale, was all him. He came into some inheritance after Sunnydale, and the first things he did was spoil us." It was true; the first thing he did when the Council funds were released was to set up trust funds for all of us Sunnydale veterans. It was money that no one else apart from us can touch; it is for 'if things go wrong again', then at least we won't be flat broke. He also confided in me that, as much as he is the Council head, he is still wary of the older members that are left, and the money is to make sure that if something happened to him, and we chose to defect again, then we can do so comfortably. Anyways I am getting off the point, hmm Tara hasn't said anything since I stopped, and that could be good or bad.

Putting my glass down, I studied her expression. There was shock, horror, realization, and understanding, it was the last one that I made me relax.

I checked the clock. Hmm it only took me thirty minutes to put my life in a nut shell, not bad. My musing was cut off when Tara started to talk.

"I didn't realize; I mean, Donna said that you sometimes have this look that reminded her of War vets, it actually reminded her of some of the guys from the club. But it makes more sense now." Tara started to respond, but I got surprised when she made some revelations.

"Huh? Donna made the observation? Wow I need to give her more credit, who would have thought." I started to muse to myself, it actually made sense, SAMCRO women did not interfere in club business, but it doesn't mean they don't know what's happening, they needed to learn how to read their men. My respect for these women just went up, because the crap they have to take sometimes is probably a lot more than I thought.

"It also made more sense, when we explained some aspects of Charming to you; you didn't seem fazed at all." Tara actually seemed a lot more relaxed, and I have a feeling that this conversation would be repeated to Donna, and their visits would become more frequent.

"Oh well what can I say, it takes a lot to surprise me these days." Giving Tara a bright smile, I proceeded to check on Abel. He seemed to have fallen asleep during the conversation.

"I should probably tell you what's going on…" Tara trailed of as she closed her eyes and leaned back into the sofa.

I gave a shrug, "It's up to you really, I told you my story, because it was bound to come out sometime, and I would rather you hear it from me then some random person." She was the first person that I told this to in Charming, I'm not trying to hide my past, but I won't volunteer it either. Nevertheless, for Tara and Donna to trust me, they needed as much truth from me as I am able to give without the weird. Plus with similarities between my old Sunnydale crowd and SAMCO, however small it was, I am hoping to know a bit more about the situation with the club.

Yes, I am doing exactly what Giles asked me not to do, getting involved, but I can't help it. I don't like not knowing about a situation; and Tara looks like she needs someone to talk to.

Drinking more of the wine, I waited for Tara to make the next move. The ball is in her court now, she needs to decide to trust me or not. I wonder if I should order some pizza, I'm going to need food if I drink more wine. Alcohol always makes me hungry. My thoughts were cut short. Tara took her glass and downed the wine, I raised an eye, but she just held the glass in front of me asking for more. So I dutifully poured more.

She took one more sip of the wine, and she let herself go. For the next two hours, I heard things that will make some people run to hide. I heard about the people; her drunk dad, Jax, Clay, SAMCRO, Wendy and Gemma. I heard desperation, uncertainty, fears, hopes, and most of all how the incident from the morning had rattled her. It wasn't only her though. I've never dealt with sexual assaults on this level. The thing with Spike was the closet I have come to relating to the subject. But it was never carried through, we talked about it and the subject was buried. Gemma was gang raped, to serve as a warning to SAMCRO. Shit this is screwed up, I might have bit off more than I can chew, but I am not going to run, they need help. Mostly on an emotional level, and Gemma will be jumpy, she won't want to talk with anyone, it's too soon. But eventually, she will need to let go.

Fuck, I need to go see if I can clear a couple of days leave, the visit with Faith will needs to happen sooner rather than later. Faith will give me an honest view of the gangs and bikers. She might also be able to know more about the streets more than anyone else. I need more information, and Tara can give only so much. Another opinion is needed.

Making up my mind, I finished my wine and went to open another bottle. By then Tara had stopped talking, but neither of us wanted to talk about what had happened. It's still too fresh for Tara, and I needed time to absorb the information. I had no illusion that one of the reasons that she told me everything was so that I could help Gemma when the time comes. But if anything Tara said about Gemma is true, then we had one stubborn woman on our hands. It will take time and a lot of careful planning for her to trust me enough to talk.

Looking back at Tara, I had a feeling that I have just jumped into a whole new world, and for the first time since Sunnydale, I was apprehensive of what is to come.

Yes there are things I didn't include in Buffy's story, but I need to leave some things for later, and yes I practically skipped the last few seasons of Buffy. It would have been too much to do all without at least going into the supernatural. Hopefully it was a good summary

Thanks to my two betas La and TexanFicWriter