The next few days Ethan juggled his work obligations with showing Tara around Barcelona. He was seeing it through her eyes, like a child would experience. She bravely tried new foods and drinks, her surprise at the first time tasting vermouth, made him adore her all over again. It was like time and distance hadn't been there at all. Still even with all the wonder around, a dark cloud hovered above her.

To try and cheer her up he took her dancing to one of the hot clubs. Tara had a few drinks and was feeling the alcohol. It loosened her up and gave her the courage to dance with some random guy. Ethan was near by but she didn't want to dance with him. Every time he tried to get close, the guy she'd picked in the beginning, blocked contact. He noticed the guy feeding her booze all night long, but she didn't say no and drank it all. It wasn't until he saw Tara wanting to leave and the same guy not let her go, that Ethan got more involved. He put his body in front of Tara's and got in the guy's face. His height made him more intimidating and the strange guy backed off. That's when it was time to go.

"Since when do you drink so much?" Ethan asked as they got out of the car, back at his flat.

She shrugged, "I'm on vacation. Why do you care, you're not my boyfriend and you're not my dad."

"Tara," he said, surprised she was being so cold.

"I had fun, thanks." Inside the flat, she ignored him and went straight to her room.

As he walked by her door, on his way to bed, he heard her crying. He knocked, but she didn't answer. He waited a moment, not sure if he should go in anyway, then changed his mind. When she was ready, she'd talk to him.

Again, in the morning when he returned from his jog, Ethan heard her crying. This time she was in the bathroom. He didn't ask her if she was okay and didn't let her know he'd heard her. But he wanted to help her let it out, whatever was drowning her in depression. So he decided to invite her to one of his classes, when she came to join him for breakfast.

"You teach?" Tara asked in surprise.

"I have to supplement my income. I pay my own way now."

"What are you teaching tonight?"

"It's an open expression contemporary class. The assignment is making an inanimate object come alive. If a painter can do it on canvas, then so should a dancer be able to do it with steps."

"You sound like Zach," Tara said.

"He's a great teacher, but too stuck on traditional contemporary."

Ethan showed her to the girl's change room and waited until she came out. It felt like they were back in school, when he saw her in the usual dancer's outfit. He took her bag and led her to the studio. She warmed up with the other dancers. He introduced his guest, so the curious whispers would stop.

"Ethan, how are we supposed to give human emotion to a rock? It just sits there."

"I've got this one. Let me show you," Tara said. She whispered her idea to Ethan, who chose some music to go with it.

Tara picked up a plastic bag from her gear and emptied it. Then put it on the floor. Ethan turned on the stereo. As she danced, Tara's story as a plastic bag was told. First she was tossed aside, no longer needed, then picked up by the wind and tumbled around. Only to be plucked by a person for recycling, emerging as a plastic kite. The class didn't understand all of it that way, had Ethan not explained as she went. But they finally got what he was looking for.

"So as a rock, I am stationary, but then someone kicks me. I tumble and fall, before coming to rest in the water." The male dancer named Scott said, as he went through the movement.

Ethan replied, "that's the idea, but with more emotion. When Tara as the bag was being tossed by the wind, what did you feel?"

"Like she was being torn apart, I felt sad."

"So as a rock being kicked and moved, how would you feel?"

"Angry," Scott stated.

"As dancers, the music can help our story, but we have to paint the picture with our movement. The more emotion we draw on, the more we connect with the audience." Ethan sat down near Tara and they watched Scott dance. "You were great," he whispered.

"Thanks, you always were good at putting ideas into motion."

As the class progressed and all the dancers showed their objects. What Tara didn't expect was how Ethan ended the session. "Okay free style time, but use what you learned today."

A blond girl, plugged her cell phone into the stereo's auxiliary port and classical music came out. She had some technical flaws, but you could see her joy in the ballet movements. A few others danced too. And something was stirred in Tara.

"Remember we are human first, artists second and dancers third. Like Mia Michael's said; dancers hide behind steps and dance, instead of letting their true artist come through. When you can do that, you draw the audience in." Ethan reminded them all.

Tara hadn't seen him dance like that since second year, when he had been showing her how he wanted his choreography to go. He was poetry in motion, flowing from the ground and up into the air, using the whole floor. His technique was perfect and she was reminded again why the company had wanted him under contract so badly. She realized then that the free style end of the class, was as much for his students as for himself. When he finished everyone couldn't help but clapping.

"Do you want to have a go Tara?" Scott asked, curious what she'd do compared to Ethan.

Tara shrugged, then plugged her phone in. It was set to a compilation she'd created, after a bad fight with one of the dancers in her class. As 'We're No Here' by Mogwai poured forth, she began to dance. The traditional contemporary movement turned into something more sensual, even erotic. Ethan saw some of his class blush and grinned. This is what set Tara apart from other dancers; her ability to draw you into what she was feeling. The dance changed with the music, suddenly aggressive and angry. She was using hip hop and krumping, mixed in with contemporary dance, to get her point across. Suddenly she stopped, even though the music continued to play in a haunting melody. He saw tears pouring down her face and she tried to hide behind her hands.

"Let it out, move through it, " Ethan encouraged. "Leave it all on the dance floor, purge it."

When Tara continued to dance, they could all feel her gut wrenching pain. There was not a dry eye in the room, including Ethan himself. Her dance transitioned into ballet and she kept leaping, like she wanted to escape her own skin. As she curled into a ball at the end of the music, it took a while for everyone to recover. Before they knew it, she was gone. They were raw, having just gone through hell with her and then spit out.

"Wow, Tara is amazing…. What happened to her?" Scott asked.

"That she is and you could be like that too. She's probably gone to have a shower."

Scott shook his head, "that's not what I meant. It's obvious some one hurt her badly."

Ethan shrugged, but he had a feeling he knew who was involved. "She's a fighter and will be fine. Dancing can help heal the soul, just like any form or expression."

"I know, that's why I love it so much. See you Thursday," Scott said and left with the others.

Ethan cleaned up, put his towel around his neck and grabbed his bag. Tara wore a poker face, when she met up with him. In his eyes was not pity, just understanding. Yet she was still thankful that he didn't ask her questions about what had just happened.

"Let's go home, I'll make us some dinner and we'll relax on the balcony. It's a nice night," Ethan said.

When they returned, he gave her a glass of wine, then disappeared to have a shower himself.

"Anything I can do to help with dinner?" Tara asked, before the water turned on in the bathroom.

"Light the barbecue and slice the toppings you want," Ethan called out from behind the closed door.

Living on a farm, meant she knew how to use a barbecue. She found burgers in the fridge, along with tomato, lettuce and pickles. Tara put the burgers on the heated grill and cut the toppings as she waited until the burgers could be turned.

"Look at you being all domestic," Ethan teased, coming into the kitchen in sweatpants and carrying a shirt. He noticed she avoided any physical contact with him and wouldn't look up from the floor.

"You forget where I come from…. although I'm not so good at cooking steak or chicken." She let him take over cooking the burgers after he put his shirt on.

"I found out fast, that eating out was more expensive than just cooking it myself. I splurge once in a while."

"It's nice not to eat fast food or just salad," Tara added.

They ate in silence, then cleared their plates. It was a nice evening, so Ethan put some music on and they sat sipping wine on the balcony. He looked over at her and saw her face, he knew she was about to tell him what happened back in Sydney.

"We had grown closer and …." Tara began out of the blue, not sure where to start. She swallowed hard continuing, "he wanted to take it to the next level. I wasn't ready, but he was right that if I loved him I'd want to be with him in every way. We had a small fight about him spending too much time with Kayla. He'd been giving her ballet lessons in exchange for her helping him teach hip hop at Sammy's Studio. During the fight Christian said I was being a jealous little girl." She paused to take a sip of wine.

Ethan snorted, "you haven't been a little girl since everything that happened with Sammy and then your back."

She nodded and said, "the fight was awful, he said such hurtful things. I went to leave and Christian grabbed my arm… he hurt me. It was the first time I was ever scared of him." Her hand rubbed the arm where he had left a bruise. "But I calmed down eventually and came back later in the night." Tara stood up and walked to the railing, unable to face Ethan. Her voice cracked, "I… I caught him in bed with Kayla. A cold shiver flashed over me and I stood there just staring at them. He saw me and said my name… I bolted. I didn't go back the next day, until I knew he was at the studio. Then I packed and left. But everywhere I go, the image of their naked bodies entwined is branded on my eyeballs."

He stood up and came to the railing. "It wasn't your fault, this is all on him."

She turned to him, once again crying and he took her into his arms. Her body shook as she sobbed. "Why? Why did he do it? Why couldn't he wait, if he loved me so much?"

"Guys are stupid, we don't always think with the right parts. Or maybe he was scared, scared of the commitment. Remember he's run from that before."

"You mean like his dad?" Tara asked, stepping away from Ethan and accepting the offered tissue box.

"I never met his dad. But maybe or that could be just an excuse. I don't know Tara. Have you talked to him since that night?"

"No. I don't want to hear what he has to say. And I don't know if I will ever forgive him. Kissing someone is cheating, being with someone like that is much more destructive."