Author's Note: Thank you so much for the positive feedback.

I know I have a lot to work on, but practice makes perfect right?

Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, alerted or favourited.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Buffy, as sad as it is. (I forgot to include this in the first chapter.)

Although she tried to hide her tears, this was the most difficult thing she'd done. Walking away from the person you love? It broke her heart to see Willow in pain, but she knew she had to do it. It was going to be hard, not waking up with her every day. Not kissing her every day... In fact, she'd have to be sure she avoided her. She already missed her scent, her touch, her love...

Taking a shaky breath, she turned to look up at the bedroom window, but no one was there. Though Willow probably didn't understand, she had forgiven her. But she couldn't forget what Willow had done, and it would take time to repair. All the hardest things always took time. She felt violated, take advantage of. There was no way of knowing how many times Willow played with her mind, how many times she'd lost hours or maybe even days. Had she found out before? Had she somehow found out Willow was violating her mind? It was possible. It was possible Willow had made her forget again.

Despite the fact she badly wanted to believe Willow when she said she'd never do it again, Tara was worried she'd try. As soon as she got home, she'd make sure to do some sort of protection spell. Willow had to learn this the hard way. Magic couldn't fix everything.

Though the campus was loud when she arrived, she hardly noticed. It was as if there was no one else there.

Usually, it was times like this where she went to Willow for comfort, but instead, she was forced to resort to her old technique, her old comfort. As Tara walked into the college library, she found herself unable to meet anyone's eyes. She didn't want the pain on her face to be seen. Nor did she want to risk seeing any couples around her. She froze for a moment, recalling the last time she'd been in here. It'd been with Willow, of course. They'd sat quietly on one of the couches and read. Her chest tightened.

Tara was unable to decide what she felt like reading, and instead, she walked over to one of the computers and sat down. It was a few minutes before she managed to calm her breathing down enough to enter her log-in.

She should have expected it, but when she saw an email sitting in her inbox from Willow, she immediately had to pause to take a few breaths. The inner debate between deleting it and opening it gave her a headache, but eventually, she opened the email.

Tara,

Tara, baby, please. I'm so sorry.

She willed herself not to cry. Willow was in pain. There was a feeling of wanting to do something, needing to do something and fighting back that urge proved to be more difficult than she'd expected. She couldn't. All her instincts told her to run to Willow, to hold her. This wasn't possible.

I know there are no words that can take back what I did.

No, there definitely was no way she could take back what she did. She'd violated her. Painful memories of what Glory did to her came rushing back to Tara. No, there was no forgetting. No taking it back.

But it's over. It's done. No more magic, I promise.

Tara swallowed the painful lump in her throat, wishing to everything that she could believe what she was reading. A part of her wanted to forget. She wanted to forget that she knew this, that Willow had done this to her. But she couldn't. She couldn't let herself be manipulated. In the past couple years, she'd come so far. Being strong was important, Willow had shown her how to be strong. Standing up for herself was something she may not have done then, but she was doing it now.

I just want us to be together again. I love you so much. I need you.

The tears threatened to spill and Tara struggled to fight them back. Her heart hurt, both figuratively, and literally. The pain in her chest, the way it felt like she was suffocating when she tried to breathe...

I can't do this on my own. I need you here. You're my strength. You're my everything. With you by my side, I can quit. I know I can. Just please, please... We need to talk. We can work this out. Strong like Amazon, remember?

This was getting harder by the second. But Willow was right. She was strong like an Amazon. She had to be. This was one of the hardest things she'd done in her life. And she suspected it would be getting harder very soon.

With our strength combined, I know I can beat this. You're right. I use too much magic. Not again, I promise. I'm done. You hear that? I'm done.

Love Willow.

"I love you, too," Tara whispered. Willow wouldn't understand. She was doing this because she loved her. There was nothing else she could do, and with that, Tara dragged the message over to the trash bin and left to go do her protection spell. It broke her heart, that the person that she had thought would protect her from anything was the one she needed protecting from.

Author's Note: Thank you so much for reading!

My first Buffy fic. I don't think it went as bad as I expected!

Hopefully I'll be doing some actual Buffy writing soon.

Thanks again.