Disclaimer: I own nothing, except Sophie.

"Don't get too excited yet, Sweetie" said Willow. "Back in town, Warren was beginning to put his evil plan into action.."

--

Warren was sitting impatiently up the back of the town Tavern after it had closed, while Andrew sat beside him having a cup of tea. Eventually, the doors opened to reveal a dark haired man wearing a long black coat. His name was Ethan Rayne, and he was the head of the town's mental hospital. He strode over to Warren's table and sat down, looking annoyed.

"You had better make this worth my while if it was important enough for me to leave the asylum in the middle of the night." In response to this, Warren tossed a small bag of gold onto the table, and Ethan grinned. "Now you have my attention." Lorne glanced over at them from the bar, frowning as he cleaned glasses. He didn't like this sort of business going on in this place, but Warren was just too powerful to refuse.

"Alright Ethan, here's the deal" Warren began. "I have this thing for Tara. But, she needs a little... persuasion."

"She turned him down flat!" Andrew giggled. Warren angrily snatched the teacup from his lackey's hands and smashed it over his head.

"Everyone knows that her Uncle, Giles, is a lunatic" Warren continued. "He was in here earlier tonight raving about some witch in a castle."

"Old Giles and I were once good friends" said Ethan, forcing a sympathetic sigh. "It's sad to see him go downhill like that.. still, I hear he's quite harmless."

"The point is" Warren hissed, "Tara will do anything to keep her uncle from being locked up in the loony bin.

"Yeah, even marry him!" said Andrew. Warren glared at him, so Andrew gulped and smashed the teapot over his own head. Warren nodded, before turning back to Ethan.

"So" said Ethan, fiddling with a coin. "You're saying that you want me to throw Tara's uncle in the asylum unless she agrees to give you her hand in marriage?" Warren smirked, nodding. "That is just despicable!" Ethan faked disgust, but his face soon broke into a huge grin. "I love it!"

--

Back at Tara's house, Giles was just finishing up packing a bag.

"If no one will help me, I'll go back myself, I don't care what it takes" said Giles to himself. "I'll find that castle and get her out, somehow." So, Giles set off on his quest to rescue Tara, just a few minutes before Warren, Andrew, and Ethan arrived to take him away.

"Giles!" Warren called, peeking into the house. "Tara! Anybody home?"

"Too bad, I guess it's not gonna work after all" Andrew chuckled nervously. Warren lifted him angrily by the scruff of the neck.

"They have to come home sometime, and when they do, we'll be ready for them." He deposited Andrew on a snowbank near the front porch. "I want you to stay right in this spot until Tara and her uncle get back."

"But..oh" Andrew sighed, defeated. A pile of snow fell on his head.

--

Sophie glared at Willow, while Tara frowned.

"Are you trying to torture our daughter?"

"No" said Willow. "I can't ignore all the bad parts of the story just because the good ones are starting to happen. Anyway, this next bit's nice.."

--

The next morning, back at the castle, Tara went out and played in the snow with Dawn and Miss Kitty Fantastico the footstool, with Buffy looking on. Up on a balcony still nursing her wounded arm, Dark Willow looked down on them, with Xander and Wesley beside her.

"I've never felt this way about anyone before" the witch said softly. "I want to do something for her, but what?"

"There's the usual things" suggested Wesley, counting them off on his fingers. "Flowers, chocolates, promises you don't intend to keep.."

"No, it has to be something special, something that will spark her interest.." said Xander, pausing to think for a moment. The candlestick's flames brightened as a little lightbulb went off in his head. "I've got it!"

--

Later that day, an excited Dark Willow led Tara the hall that led to the library.

"Tara, I want to show you something" she said when they had reached the door. "But close your eyes for a minute, it's a surprise." Tara did as she was told. Dark Willow opened the door, then gently guided Tara inside.

"Can I open them now?" Tara asked.

"Not yet" the witch chuckled. "You don't want to ruin the surprise do you?" She threw open the curtains, flooding the room with light, and quite a bit of dust because the room had been abandoned so long, but Anya could fix that later.

"Now can I open them?" said Tara, becoming a little impatient.

"Yeah" Dark Willow smiled. "Now you can open them." Tara opened her eyes, gasping when she saw an enormous library with hundreds of bookshelves, every one of them completely filled with books.

"I can't believe it" she said, fascinated. "I've never seen so many books before in my life!"

"Do you.. do you like it?"

"It's wonderful, I love it!"

"Then it's yours" Dark Willow smiled.

"Oh, thank you!" cried Tara, hugging the witch. "Thank you so much!" Dark Willow froze for a second, startled, but then smiled and hugged her back.

"Well look at that" sighed Buffy, as she and the other servants watched from the doorway. "Isn't it beautiful?"

"I knew it would work" said Xander proudly.

"What? What works?" asked Dawn, who was too short to see what was going on.

"Yes, it does seem quite encouraging" said Wesley.

"Isn't it exciting?" said Anya, cuddling up to Xander.

"I can't see anything!" Dawn complained, jumping up and down.

"Come on Dawnie, we've got chores to do in the kitchen" said Buffy, leading the little teacup away.

"But what are they talking about? What's going on?" Dawn whined. "I don't understand!"

"We'll talk about it later Dawn" said Buffy.

--

"That's better" Sophie smiled.