FIC: Hotel Kilo 2-2 part AU/part Buffyverse

[jixer]

Hello Kittens-



Well, all I can say is WOW! Have I told you all recently how much I love getting feedback and how much it means to me to know you've given my story your time?



It makes it all possible.



Now I put in the bad news. I'm working twelve hour shifts for the next few days. I want to make the next few posts clear and start working the story to the next phase. But, since I value my tiny fan base, I want to do it as well as I can. The next post will be smaller in focus than usual, but the story is going on just as soon as I can do it right. Now if I could just decipher my own handwritten notes...



Thank you all for your time and words, kittens.





J

[LeatherQueen]

Wow. These last few parts have been so packed full of emotion and action. I'm really loving this story.

--------------------------------


"But when they're playing your song on the jukebox in Hell, you might as well dance." - K. Simpson


"Futile... like a FOX, baby!" - Tara in The Late Shift by wiccachica

[TromDeGrey]

Oh, WOW!!! How have I missed this fic?? Jixer, this is a killer ride!!! It's so action packed and moving at a break-neck pace! I'm loving it!!!! Can't wait for more!

"Live or die, but don't poison everything..." -Anne Sexton

[jixer]

Hello Kittens-



Thank you all for the way too nice comments. I hope I can keep my purring fan base happy. I'm kind of breaking a rule and getting this up while I can, so I hope it gets through.



And thank you again. Never underestimate how much your support means to me. Of all the things I have been given here, your time is the most precious.



Thank you,



J

[jixer]

Hotel Kilo 2-2

Update #18

Spoilers: Up through the end of Season 6

WARNINGS: Kitten Angst Advisory. This is after Season 6.





Santa Barbara, California

Santa Barbara International Airport





The rain made Beth's non-issue gray BDUs cling to her as the wet balaclava threatened to drown her. She started to shiver as she waited for her team to come up. Randall and Gordon flanked her then moved to the side of the building and a window too high to see in. She and Cordelia watched the entrance of the hanger for a quarter of an hour. Both girls were soaked and shivering, but neither jumped at the repeated lightning strikes that made the lights flicker. Then there was a pair of clicks in her earpiece.



The survey was done. Oz brought her a flat panel with the plans roughed in. She read it and peeked around the corner after the next

flash of lightening to make sure of her bearings. Another pair of beeps sounded in her ear and she moved to the door. She took out the two small bundles Alex had made and placed both of them on the door's locks.



"I so don't like this," hissed Cordelia through her balaclava. "Remember the car he fixed senior year? The fire?"



"Right now, fire is good," Beth whispered back.



"Pyro," huffed the taller girl.



"It wasn't that big a fire," Alex added. Cordelia rolled her eyes.



There was a convenient flash of lightening and Beth pushed the small switch. The thunder didn't drown the pops but it made them less obvious. Then she was up the stairs with a rush. In her hands was polymer riot baton. Cordelia, their best shot, was right behind her with a suppressed pistol full of the cartridges the commandos had promised would stop ULFs. Alex followed them in with a bag over his shoulder and a pry bar in his hand.



The first thing Beth saw was a human in the blue (E) OIS uniform with an automatic shotgun by his side. It stayed by his side as the baton dug into his solar plexus and breathing became all important for the hapless guard. He didn't complain as the taller female attacker put plastic cuffs on him and cinched them tight.



By the main doors a subdued pair of pops seemed to turn off all but the emergency lights. The next figure Beth saw was in a jumpsuit and carrying a clipboard. She kicked him in the shins and shoved the hopping man out of the way. He sprawled and curled into a ball.



They were moving past a roughly set screening wall when Alex stopped. He motioned to Beth. Then he turned his attention to the wall. He set the pry bar against it and pushed. A panel bulged slightly and Beth could see a nervous looking pair of arms holding something to an out of sight shoulder. Beth nodded to Alex who flexed and pushed hard against the drywall.



As the panel popped out Beth lunged forward with the long plastic club. The rifle dropped to the ground and went off with a bang louder than the thunder outside. The girls winced as the sound smashed against their small hearing protectors. The man inside the enclosed building with the rifle had not been wearing any. He looked around stunned for a second, which let Beth hit him in the chest also with the end of the baton. It was hard to be a threat while gasping for air. Cordelia pulled the magazine and chambered round out of the weapon and threw a pair of flex cuffs on him.



"Vampsicles at three o'clock," Alex said as he pulled out plastic boxes and pulled off the double-back tape's protective strip. "Time for Plan Rapid Defrost."



"Less talk, more flaming boomy boxes," Beth said archly.



He put two small packages slightly off line with each other on three of the containers' lids just below the frosted rimed lexan window. At the fourth one he was leaning over the top when the lid opened with inhuman force and he went flying towards the girls. Cordelia held her fire. She aimed her weapon only to have it sail out of her grasp when the thing moved impossible fast. Beth swung the baton at the creature's head. It caught the weapon and tossed her into a chair with such force it shattered.



Alex leapt on the nightmare's back only to go sailing into Cordelia with a force that stunned both of them.



"I love California." the vampire rasped. "You can get anything delivered."



Beth lurched up and grabbed the first thing she could find. It was a ragged piece of the chair leg. She was too short to get a good shot at the head so she did what she'd been doing, thrusting for the solar plexus. This time she aimed past the nerve cluster for the heart. She knew it wasn't possible but she gave it her all as the vampire laughed.



The roaring scream that faded almost instantly caught her off guard.



She helped the others up. Alex shook his head and checked the contents of his bag. He let out the breath he'd been holding in relief. Then he stepped up to the last unit and looked through the glass. The dead eyes of a tech in (E) OIS blue stared up at him through a viewport speckled with darkening red drops.



"This one's gone bad," he said jerking back from the grisly sight. "Way bad, gone dead type bad."



They looked up at the sounds of suppressed gunfire and crashing sounds. Something made Beth step aside just before the light fixture slammed into the floor where she'd been. She looked up at the clatter above her and saw another vampire crawling swiftly for the main doors along the roof. Cordelia aimed and fired. A light exploded near him.



"I shoot expert!" she wailed. "Stupid sights."



"Sights, right," Alex said softly.



"Go blow up something, powder monkey," she hissed.



"Fight later," Beth said as she took off after the monster. She turned a corner to find Oz and Jesse looking back and forth but not up. She was about to call a warning when the vampire dropped between them with his back to her and struck both out of the way. She charged with her chair leg in front of her. Then she hit a wet patch of cement floor where she and her drenched trio had come in and skidded forward.



Time slowed as the vampire turned. It had the beginnings of a muzzle and small claws on its fingers. She didn't know these were marks of an older and deadlier vampire. All she knew was she was sliding forward out of control. She tucked and braced her weapon just as it drove into the creature. It screamed but did not shatter into dust. Then Alex and Cordelia slammed into her as they hit the wet patch too and their weight ended the vampire's screaming in a cloud of mouldy dust.



"Wood?" Randall said unsteadily as he turned a corner and then sagged against a lab table. "You used a piece of wood?"



"It was pointy and weapon-like," Beth said unsure if she had messed up somehow.



"Wood?" Gordon asked as he staggered up with his arm at a most unarm-like angle in his belt. "Just jabbed it with a stick? After how much on palladium alloys and velocity experiments?"



"As much as I like the advancement of knowledge," Cordelia said as she picked herself up. "I'd like to take this moment and say 'and the rest of the vamps are?'"



"Back there, still in the deep freezes with a view," Randall said unsteadily.



"We're making sure," Beth said in a voice that would brook no argument. "Now. Then we burn this whole place."



"What about evidence?" Cordelia asked as she pulled at her balaclava.

"Oh. Right. Never mind."



Beth held the chair leg in front of her as she led them back to the freezing units. Alex looked over his charges and both he and Beth saw the vampires start to move through the viewports. Her comm crackled. She pressed the talk button and pulled her earpiece from the unit.



"Unit One, go," she said.



"Hon-Unit One, there are cars headed your way," Joyce's voice came over the speaker. "They're cutting across the airport. I'm sorry de-Unit One."



"Go to Romeo Papa," Beth answered. "Romeo Papa. Out."



"Let's do it," she said firmly. "But let's keep an eye on it until it goes."



"You could lose an eye that way, Beth," Alex warned. "Or even more important bits."



"Don't try to reason with her," Cordelia said stepping behind the smaller woman as Beth knelt by a file cabinet.



"Or you," she answered with a frown. "Get to better cover Cordy."



"Okay," Cordelia agreed eagerly and ducked behind a large metal desk with the rest of the group.



"Right," Alex said as he knelt by an overturned table. "Fire in the hole."



There were three pairs of sharp claps that buffeted Beth's face. A tiny piece of metal went by her ear singing a song of passing death she'd hear later in her dreams. The small holes in the sides of the three freezing units became brief gouts of fire as the viewports sailed off in geysers of flaming dust. The plastics in the units started to burn and black smoke roiled upwards.



"Nice work, Alex," she said quickly. "Let's go, company's coming."



They all trotted out into the rain. Beth's mouth dropped open as her mother stopped a panel van she'd seen before at the rendezvous point and opened the door.



"Don't just stand in the rain, get in," she urged.



"Mom, what happened to the truck we were supposed to have?" Beth asked anxiously. "And where's Harm?"



"Returning the truck we, ah, borrowed," Joyce answered handing a pair of thermos bottles to her sodden passengers. "And sneaking back to her post. Something's happening out there. Now get down and out of sight."



She started the van rolling slowly down the row of hangars. Two cars tore by sending gallons of water over the van's windshield. Joyce just kept driving slowly until she turned onto the street just outside the airport. Another van pulled up beside them and the driver rolled down his window. A haggard but familiar face leaned over the other driver.



"Nothing at all, Mrs. Summers," Jonathon called out as he wiped his eyes. "Someone must have gotten all of them."



"Thank you, Jonathon," she replied, then she frowned softly. "What's wrong, dear?"



"Turn on your radio," he called out mournfully as the window closed.



She reached down and flicked on her favorite station. Instead of news or 'Mom rock' as her daughter called it she heard a familiar voice interspersed with an unearthly roar and static.



"Hurry," Tara's far away voice cried. "Oh God hurry."



"This is a live feed from the monster world," a shaking voice reported. "Our Eye in the Sky says he's being waved off. What?"



All around them alert sirens went off. Beth's stomach sank as she listened to the sirens and Judith's lover sob for breath. She and the rest of them looked up at a brief silence.



"Judith," they heard just before the world became as bright as a lightening strike for a second. They blinked away an afterimage of an unnaturally bright van interior as the radio came to life.



"One, objective secured, one casualty," an old voice said.



Beth sighed softly and watched her mother scrabble for one of her packets of tissues in the pockets of her neatly ironed BDUs. Beth leaned her head back against the side of the van and closed her eyes.



"Sorry Judi," she whispered. "I lost her. Sorry."



There was a thump on the side of the van, followed by another and another. Beth opened her eyes to see Alex's fist draw back for another blow when Cordelia put her hand over it. She met his eyes and shook her head. Alex dropped his eyes and seemed to shake for a moment. Jesse put a hand on his shoulder while Daniel stared straight ahead rigidly.



"She got me through high school, you know," Alex said to no one in particular.



"She got us all through...stuff," Daniel said tightly.



"Let's go," Beth said firmly. "Ooh, rainbows."



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Assistant Director Walsh tore open the door before the car had completely stopped. There had been no response from the hangar. The video feeds and the landlines had gone down at the same time. Her techs had blamed the lightening. She thought it was a bit convenient for an explanation. The acrid smoke curling in the rafters of the structure confirmed her doubts.



She stooped and examined the wet dirty smear at the front of the hangar. It smelled of graveyards and winter mornings. The thick pall of smoke was filling more space above and the heat was building. One of her guards pushed a comm unit at her. She listened to the last transmission from a far away girl and snapped the unit off angrily as light filled the outside world for a heartbeat.



"Burn the rest of this," she snapped. "Now."



As the men darted about the building she dialed her secure cell. After a pair of rings her party answered.



"Well?" a gruff voice asked.



"Our project is over," she said calmly. "The subjects did not survive. We have to spin this carefully, sir. But we can use this to our advantage. Play up that she was an OIS staff member and unconfirmed reports about her being a deviant are just that."



"Good thinking," he answered after a moment. "Our basic goal is still within our grasp. See to it, Maggie."



"Yes, sir," she replied as he hung up. She scowled at the phone. "I'll give you Maggie, Senator Forsythe."



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



A field ambulance tore up to where Ramirez and Prader where stowing the comm gear. A fresh faced medic dashed out looking appalled as the two pulled a small box off of a crumpled body on the ground and walked away.



"Is that your casualty?" he asked as he ran to Meers' body with his trauma bag.



"No," Ramirez said in a voice that made the young man look at him strangely. "That was an objective."



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On the truck near the last known position of the nexus point shields pulled back to reveal a pair of rainbows to the young men and women hugging, laughing, and crying in the targeting section. Amy was one of those laughing through tears. The last thing she'd sensed had been Tara's happiness before Amy's talent had blazed out of existence with the nexus point. The Bravo class sensitives seemed to be fading slowly but steadily. By the time the (E) OIS minders got the truck back to the University, there were no sensitives left on board.



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In the van on the edge of the airport Hotel Kilo 2-3 seemed to nod as one man. The (E) OIS feeds had been down because Randall and Gordon had rerouted the signals with Oz's help. Now the team's commo gear hummed as it stripped the last of the data from the hard drives on the monitoring cameras. Jonathon started to blink and shake his head, slowly at first and then with more vigor. He groaned but smiled broadly.



"The noise in my head," he said looking around the van. "It's gone! I mean all of it. Think something."



A hand reached out from behind him and pulled his cap down over his eyes.



"Finally," 2-3's youngest Omega operator said with satisfaction.



Jonathon pulled his cap off and tossed it at the trooper as the former sensitive started to laugh. He flung open the door to the van and held out his arms as he looked up into the slowing rainstorm.



"Thank you!" he screamed happily into brightening sky. Then he wept. 2-3's team leader stepped out and put an arm around his shoulder.



"Come on, Kid J," he said with a gentle roughness. "I think you can go home now."

[mollyig]

Oh wow all the sensitives losing their "gift". But not before Amy could sense Tara's happiness. I thought the reactions of Beth and the others to the news about Tara was so sad; they've lost another friend.



Walsh saying the project is over. She seemed very nonchalant about it though, makes me suspicious.

Adding up the total of a love that's true, multiply life by the power of two
Indigo Girls

[Grimlock72]

Okaaay.... I got kinda lost with the first part on the Airport . Was wondering what the hell was going on there, but it seems it was some evil VampStorage hangar or such, bit odd.



I'm assuming that will eventually be explained in chapter #34 or so, heh.



So the Sunnydale Nexus/Hellmouth was the last one that needed destroying. I suppose the sensitives are better of without their abilities, being mis-trusted ain't fun, being used as pawns in some political game is even worse.



I'm really looking forward to seeing how Tara will handle being sort-of "all alone" left in other-dimension-Sunnydale. It will take some getting used to, no matter how supportive the scoobies are. (feel kinda sorry for Tara in that regard)



Still mundo interesting though



Grimmy

"Why w-w-would anyone leave Willow?" It was a concept Tara just could not grasp. -- I Dream of Thee by Jomarch

[oneinten]

Wow!!!! I absolutely love this story!!! The pace is amazing and it's so original! (Have I already said this? It bears repeating!!!!) Am wondering what Maggie's objective is though. I love too how Beth still seems to have her Slayer instincts even in a different world. Your imagery is amazing!



I can't wait for more! How are Willow and Tara????



More please!



kath

[jixer]

Hello Kittens-





Sorry for the delay, but real life keeps showing up. How rude of it. Yes, I did start a new fic called Lost Pages. Perhaps it should be called Lost Mind, because there are so many possibilities with W/T fanfiction you'd have to be crazy to start one.



But those possibilities are only there thanks to you. It's the people who administer the board and the ones who take the time to read my small efforts that let me touch that which might be.



Thank you so much for what you give me,



J

[jixer]

Hotel Kilo 2-2

Update #19

Spoilers: Up through the end of Season 6

WARNINGS: Kitten Angst Advisory. This is after Season 6.







A Bridge



Tara sagged onto the span she had started from what felt like years ago. Beside her she felt Judith shimmer into existence. The redhead looked wan and pale.



"This isn't right," Tara said tiredly. "She's safe. You can go on."



"Yours is safe too, but you're here," Judith countered.



"That's different," Tara insisted. "I was supposed to be a guide, and I failed. Buffy doesn't see what's coming or where she needs to go after this. Anya's in danger and Xander's going to be blindsided and Dawn...I made promises and I didn't keep them. I left my family when they needed me. I, I don't deserve to go on. I can't go, not yet."



"Girlfriend, you got shot by a greedy demigod and a sociopath," Judith pointed out. "It's not like you decided to leave them. Besides, I told my girl I'd see her home. She isn't home yet."



"They'll take her in," Tara said with a smile. "They're good people. She'll be home soon enough."



"Then what?" Judith asked worriedly and shook her head. "She doesn't understand your world's magic. I can feel how frightened it makes her. You were supposed to be a guide, my Tara can't do that but she'll try and if someone gets hurt she'll blame herself. She doesn't know your world. I can't leave her."



Judith began to pace and look into the dark currents below them. Wordlessly she looked at Tara with her face a mask of worry and despair.



"I can't leave her and I can't help her," she whispered desperately.



Tara reached out for her and gave Judith the comfort and shelter of her arms.



I knew you'd reach out to me, Judith thought, I know my Taras. I know you wouldn't leave my girl in trouble but I won't leave you to face this alone. I can't. You're my friend, and she's my everything.









Sunnydale California





Buffy knelt by Willow and felt a thready pulse that seemed to grow stronger. Xander looked at her from beside Tara and nodded. Both girls looked drained and battered. Each had the remnants of a bloody nose. Buffy looked into the Hellmouth to see the sullen depths she remembered without the eldritch, shimmering pool of onyx that had been there. Both Willow and Tara started to cough and each tried to sit up. Buffy looked up at the sound of a closing siren.



"We have to get them out of here," she said urgently. "Willow, can you move? Tara, are you okay?"



"I'm fine, except for the ground being all in motion," Willow said as she swayed where she sat.



"Is everyone all right?" Tara called out quietly as she looked around. "Willow? Be-Buffy? There was a girl..."



"We're okay, Tara," Willow said and then she coughed a bit more. "At least all the parts are attached."



"Is it dark?" Tara asked quietly. "P-please tell m-me it's dark."



"It's all night time dark," Xander said gently as he held his hand in front of her face.



"Your hand's kind of light," she whispered. "Is it magic? Are you magic too?"



"Me?" he almost squeaked as he looked suspiciously at his hand.



"Xander?" Anya said shakily. "Not hardly."



"But you are, it's all pretty and glowy," Tara said with the ghost of a smile. "You're all glowing a little bit, but th-that's all I'm, um, s-s-seeing."



But it wasn't all she was sensing. This ULF didn't fit and she (or was this an it?) knew that. There was a sense of being adrift that echoed in Tara's heart. She wanted to say something but she didn't even know where to start. As she hesitated she could almost feel the, the girl and not ULF, retreat behind a mask. Suddenly tension rose in Buffy.



"Let's get out of here guys," Buffy insisted as the police car stopped on the far side of the construction site.



Xander helped Tara up as Buffy steadied Willow. Giles and Anya collected things from the ground as Dawn picked up the heavy rucksack Michael had given Buffy. Tara put an arm on Xander's and looked at him with eyes that almost glowed.



"Xander, not Alex?" she asked. "But you're a f-friend of, of W-w-willow's, right?"



"Yeah, a way back friend," he said gently. "Take my hand. You'll be okay, Tara."



The group headed away from the police as swiftly as they could. Neither Tara nor Willow were very steady and after they had gone a few blocks Buffy called a halt. Willow held her head and moaned.



"Backlash headache?" Giles asked as he patted his pockets.



"More like a backlash whole exploding head," Willow answered through clenched teeth "Xander did you bring a drill, cause I'd like to let out whatever wants out so bad. I think it's got claws and teeth and a whole lot of pent up anger."



"W-where's my ruck, er, rucksack?" Tara asked looking at the glowing shapes around her. One of them came up, brighter than all the rest in her eyes now, and moved like some one taking off a pack she couldn't see. Tara could feel the girl's tension. There was loss and resentment there, directed at her, and it welled from a buried pain that still ached in a heart too young for it. The pain increased as she looked into Tara's face.



"It's right here," Dawn said curtly.



"Dawn," Buffy said in a warning tone unique to older siblings.



"That's a pretty name," Tara observed mostly to herself, then she said sadly, "Dawn, I-I-I'm s-s-sorry. I-I know you're hurting but I don't know what to say to help you. But if you w-want to talk-I'm s-s-sorry..."



The girl stood up and darted to Buffy's side. She glared at her sister.



"Make her stop," Dawn rasped through threatened tears. "She's being all, all-"



"Decent and caring even if she's scared?" Buffy asked firmly.



"Yes, like-" Dawn stopped and looked down, refusing to cry in front of Buffy. "I'll wait with Anya."



"I'm h-hurting her, aren't I?" Tara asked in a breaking voice as Willow walked up unsteadily. "I'm hurting you too. I'm s-s-s..."



"It's not your fault," Willow said gently. "My Tara and Dawn were, well it was kind of like she was a big sister and mom both for her for as long as she's been, um, for most of her life. And I lost her, my Tara I mean, but I got her back and really, really lost her..."



"It's complicated," Xander said flatly. She could feel he wanted to say more, but he stopped. Regret filled him.



"Yeah," Willow said unevenly. "But it's not your fault. What did you need out of the commando pack thing?"



"There's s-some electrolyte solution made j-just for s-sensitives," Tara explained. "It helps with the h-headaches."



"Can I have one, or maybe six?" Willow asked quickly. She took out a silvery packet that looked like a juice container and held it up.



"Um, they taste kind of, you know, awful," Tara warned hesitantly.



"Who cares about taste with rhinos dancing in my head?" Willow said as she took a long pull from the pouch. Tara could see her flickering image grow stronger. She caught a brief image of Willow's face.



"Really awful," Tara added, "Sorry."



"Urulp ewwww!" Willow explained as most of her face tried to get away from her mouth. "What's in this? Old socks?"



"That w-would be an improvement," Tara observed with a small smile. "How's your h-headache?"



"How should I know?" Willow said as she tried to stop making a face from the taste of the solution. "My mouth's so upset with me I didn't notice. Maybe that's the secret. Wow, it is less blinding-"



There was a long second of silence. Tara felt the people around her worrying about her, even the teen. Their Tara must have been someone wonderful to make so many good people miss her, someone far greater than she could ever be. She wondered if she could ever come close to matching her, and knew she couldn't. She nodded in the lengthening silence.



"That's good," she said with forced lightness. "One blind person is enough."



"But you can see something, correct?" Giles asked her gently.



"Yes, s-sir," Tara answered politely. "But I can't explain w-what I'm s-seeing very well. I'm not, you know, magical..."



"I wouldn't say that, Tara," the older man replied. "Now I'd like to try something. Follow my hand and look over there. What do you see?"



"A man on the, I-I think it's a bicycle," she replied.



"Motorcycle, actually," Giles said with a nod. "What's different about your view of him compared to me?"



"The, um, outlines are kind of bright on you," she said after a moment. "The man on the street w-was faintly glowing but it s-sort of trailed off away from his...center?"



The older man nodded and she felt a sad pride well up in him. He took off his glasses and cleaned them.



"Protective spells," Giles said after a second. "Over all of us. Old fashioned ones, not tremendously powerful but they're still working."



"Oh," Willow said softly. Tara looked her way as a wave of loss seemed to trammel the redhead's spirit.



"Explains why I wasn't deep fried Xander at the temple of doominess," the young man said with a sad smile. "Thanks a bit late, Tara."



"Let's get home," Buffy said quietly in the silence that followed.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



The tired group arrived at the Summers home guiding the stumbling women with care. Anya stopped at the door. Xander turned to her and struggled to find the right words. She turned and walked away.



"Anya," he said in a pleading tone. "You can come in, or I can you know, go with you, if you want."



She turned to him in her demonic guise and stared at him. He met her eyes and kept walking towards her in the moonlight.



"Not gonna work this time," he said levelly.



"It's never going to work," she said sadly. "I have to go. I'm sorry."



She shimmered out of his sight. He stared at the place she'd been for a while in the night.



"Stupid," he said to no one but himself.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Tara didn't smell the cooking scents that always seemed to greet her at Beth's house. There was no pair of paws and a happy yip at her knees. Beth didn't live here, Buffy did. And Dawn, she was sure. Their interactions had screamed siblings.



"There's a couch behind you," Willow said gently.



"I can't, I'm filthy," Tara said hesitating. "I can just s-sit on the floor."



"Yeah, I think showers are in order," Willow agreed tiredly. "If the water heater is working."



"So far," Buffy said tiredly.



"If it's too much trouble I could..." Tara started to say. Then she wondered what she could do. She was blind and surrounded by strangers with familiar voices. She could feel their pity and the pain she was bringing them. When they grew tired of her she'd be alone in a strange, dark world full of monsters. She wanted to run away, to take away the pain she'd brought them with her but all she could do was reach out and try to find her way to the floor.



"Don't," Willow said firmly.



"Don't w-w-w-w-" Tara struggled with her words as she pulled her arms around herself and dropped her head.



"Don't worry, don't be afraid, don't try to hide 'cause you're too much trouble," Willow said more gently, touching her cheek. "I'm here, and I'll always be here."



"I'm n-not h-h-her," Tara warned with a quaver in her voice. "I could never be h-h-"



"I know," Willow said and Tara knew the redhead's heart was broken as she said it. "But you're you, Tara."



"It's not enough," Tara whispered.



"Yes it is," Willow pleaded.



"I'd say we're stronger with you," Giles said in a musing tone. "You have abilities that translate well into our world."



"You helped break the bad Hellmouth," Buffy pointed out. "Now that's an unpleasant couple of words."



Then something brushed up against her shin and meowed plaintively. Willow reached down and picked up Miss Kitty and held her out. Tara reached out for the cat. She too glowed with the outlined form that the Englishman had described as a protective spell. The cat sniffed her and she felt a rough tongue on her chin and heard a throaty purr.



"You're staying," Willow said surely.





Santa Barbara California





Assistant Director Walsh looked at the four men across the table from her and gave them a wintry smile.



"I'm afraid the laws of the Pacific Confederation are quite explicit," she said politely. "I've been hearing that often enough. This so-called evidence is not admissible in any court in the Confederation. When we come to trial in the United States of the Americas I shall call upon all of my resources and records for my defense."



"Those are classified," Carruthers sneered.



"There are other records," she replied smoothly. "And many people and their records will have to be subpoenaed. My attorneys will, of course, have to file papers in the court's public record why it's necessary to call these people. I'm afraid this will take up years of my time and drag on in the public eye. How unfortunate for myself and those involved in this case."



Carruthers glared at her. She smiled blandly. The other men at the table were impassive. After a moment the Director stood up.



"I have to get to work," he said tightly. "Please escort Miss Walsh back to her quarters."



"Please be swift, Director," she interjected. "Your authority to detain 'dangerous' suspects is one of those things you'll be losing when you're finished destroying a vital part of American security."



"It's not vital anymore," Carruthers snapped.



"Are you sure?" she asked coldly.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Beth entered her house to see her mother talking animatedly to the handsome man in his early thirties Beth only knew as Riley and Tara's commander. He stood as she entered.



"This is Michael," Joyce said as he held out his hand. "He's-"



"Riley's boss," Beth answered coldly. "Tara's too until..."



"Yes," Michael answered politely. "I'm here to say thank you, but not for me and not for the governments involved."



"Then who?" she asked.



"Miss Maclay," he answered carefully.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



"She'll walk," Martino said as Delacroix adjusted his motorcycle's shocks.



The rest of Hotel Kilo 2-2, except for Riley who remained in Cottage Hospital, stiffened at the news.



"How?" Ramirez growled.



"The Director might be tarnished in his run for office," Martino said flatly. "Forsythe already has announced he's considering running. The loyal opposition won't be calling for an investigation that could damage their golden boy, so no one in Washington is going to look too closely."



"Washington isn't the answer," Prader said angrily. "And neither is Eugene. If NAC has a tiff then China or France is going to make a move in the Third World. She figured this all out ahead of time."



"So what is her plan?" Talbot mused.



"She wants to fix things," Ramirez answered. "But how?"



"A crisis," Delacroix said calmly. "One carried on WNN and across every faxsheet in the world."



"How?" Martino asked reluctantly.



"Alpha sensitives," Michael answered. "The only ones that might still work. Meers said they wanted ova."



"The Gunderson method?" Doc asked in a horrified tone. "Those clones died in weeks and weren't stable."



"It's quick," Prader said softly. "And I just wonder who's going to be the evil mind monster they pull out of the vat."



"But he said they wanted ova, right?" Martino asked frowning.



"Or they wanted more," Michael answered.

[mollyig]

I love the image of Willow's Tara and Judith guarding over their respective girls.



Tara instinctively trying to put Dawn at ease, its so like her.



My mouth's so upset with me I didn't notice. Maybe that's the secret I love Willow's explanation.



I hope Tara's concerns have eased somewhat with Willow's and Giles' statements.



What the hell is the Walsh woman up to now I wonder.

Adding up the total of a love that's true, multiply life by the power of two
Indigo Girls

[xita]

ok, i thought i knew where you were going and now I am not all together sure. I mean i thought au tara and willow would find love but.. hmm who knows.

[LeatherQueen]

Oh wow... things are getting really hairy in the AU world. And poor Tara and Willow. This whole thing has to be terribly hard and confusing for them.



Love this story.

--------------------------------


"But when they're playing your song on the jukebox in Hell, you might as well dance." - K. Simpson


"Futile... like a FOX, baby!" - Tara in The Late Shift by wiccachica

[Grimlock72]

What's with Tara being blind ? How did that happen ?? Seeing protection spells, heh... sounds awfully familiar .



I still don't get what Warrens mission was, it doesn't make much sense. He can't possibly have wired those shield-emmitters himself so whoever helped him had some motive. It sure as hell wasn't just to bring Willow back, they didn't even know they were gonna meet her in the first place.



Blowing up that hellmouth was standard work for any HK team I'll guess, so what was Warren supposed to accomplish ? (an awfully elaborate way to kill an HK team??)



Still kinda puzzled here, hopefully eventually all will be clear .

"Why w-w-would anyone leave Willow?" It was a concept Tara just could not grasp. -- I Dream of Thee by Jomarch

[jixer]

Hello Kittens-



Sorry for the delay, it's been a bad week. For the record 'Just To Be Sure' is totally stand alone. Just trying to change reality a tiny bit.



Besides thank you and glowing in the feedback I'm kind of out of words now. I'm amazed at how easily the story ideas come with W/T. I just hope to do some of them justice, and make sure your time is well spent.



Thank you all for the kind words and the gifts of time,



J

[jixer]

Hotel Kilo 2-2

Update#20

Spoilers: Up through the end of Season 6

WARNINGS: Kitten Angst Advisory. This is after Season 6.





Sunnydale California





Tara ran to the bridge. She was back in Monet's Garden and Judith was on the bridge. Everything would be all right if she could just get there. As she came up she saw her love step aside and herself step forward. She somehow knew this was Willow's Tara, a witch no doubt used to the intricacies of magic and this thing called 'the Sight'. It hurt to see her close to Judith. She stood taller and Tara knew the witch was prettier.



Both of the girls on the bridge looked up and Tara followed their gaze to see the moon riding like a galleon in the daytime sky. A silvery streak started toward it with a glinting arrowhead at its point.



"When you see this, Anya will be in danger," the witch said. "It's the only sign that's remained constant. She'll need more protection than my spell gave her. You can enhance it by touching your power to her spell's focus."



"Spell?" Tara asked with a startled tone. "Power? Focus? I'm n-not magical. I can't do w-w-w...."



"I think you're magic," Judith said gently.



Tara reached for her but Judith shook her head.



"It's too tenuous," she said sorrowfully.



"Please, you've got to listen or we'll lose Anya," the eldritch Tara said.



"She'll die?" Tara asked in a hushed voice.



"She'll stay a Vengeance Demon forever," Judith explained.



"W-W-Willow..." Tara tried to reply as panic swept over her. The strange girl was a vengeful demon!



"She's strained her power almost to breaking," Judith said as the Tara on the bridge looked away with tears in her eyes. "Anya's needed and she wants to get away. You're her only hope, love."



Tara felt her chest get tight. She tried to make sense of what the two women said to her but she kept hearing her father's voice. She was being asked to assist demons with magic. But that wasn't the worst part. Judith had reached out to touch Willow's Tara while the girl tried to compose herself. The prettier version of her could touch Judith. For a second she looked down angrily. Then she chided herself. She didn't own Judith, and if she could be happy...



"What do I need to do?" she whispered.



Her answer was an image of a small piece of green cloth around something secured with a wrap of twine. A confused image of Willow and the other girls in dresses of the same color made her think of the time she'd been a last minute substitute for a bridesmaid for her cousin's wedding. The talisman was in a box in the basement with other things of the slain girl's.



"Hold it and channel your power through it when you feel the danger," the now red eyed witch said carefully. "You can do this."



YOU can do this, Tara thought bitterly. Judith could do this. I'm not magical, and I never will be.



"Love," Judith said urgently. Tara looked up to see Judith reaching for her as her love held the other Tara's hand to anchor her to the bridge. Their eyes met as they touched for an instant and then Judith and the bridge were gone.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Tara awoke with a start. She had a crick in her neck and a headache that went somewhere past screaming. She also had two warm spots on her as she sat on the couch. She blinked and saw a red haired girl and a black and white cat sharing her lap. She sighed happily as she traced the pattern on the cat's fur. It started to purr. Willow whimpered in her sleep. Tara gently ran her hand through red hair and felt the woman relax.



Slowly she recalled Willow balking at the stairs. She'd come downstairs after a blessed shower on Buffy's arm to talk with Willow, trying to help with her pain. They'd spoken for a minute before both girls just sat 'for just a second' on the couch. Now it was light outside. Enough light to tell the differences between Willow and Judith. They were slight but there. For the most part Willow looked older than Judith, more careworn even in her sleep.



Tara reached for the sheet draped over Willow to cover her a bit more. This disturbed the cat, who stretched out and pressed her paws over Tara's bladder. The woman let out a tiny gasp and tried to shift both cat and girl and not wake either.



"Frogs..." Willow whimpered.



"There's no frogs here," Tara said gently as the cat dug in her pins just a little to her borrowed nightgown. The cat started to slide off her lap and Tara tried to hold Miss Kitty and untangle her. Willow woke up and smiled at her shyly, then saw the tangle of Tara and cat. She started to laugh and helped to hold the struggling Miss Kitty.



"Hey, you can see!" Willow said with sleepy happiness. "Sorry about the sleeping arrangements, but you did get our best cat."



"And it's a very fine cat, too," she replied with a shy look. "I'm so glad to see her. Um, w-where's the, um-"



"Through there," Willow said pointing. "I'm kind of glad somebody else got the wake up push. Usually it's me."



Tara laughed but hurried. A little while later she was looking through the kitchen and trying to find things she knew. Willow was trying to help.



"No, pizza is not breakfast in either place," Tara admonished. "Graham and Riley...damn, it was my turn, too."



"Your turn?" Willow asked quizzically.



"After a mission we'd have a breakfast and debrief session," Tara said in a far off tone. "Doc was all healthy, Ramirez makes-made omelets, Michael did these wonderful crepes but he took forever. The boys and Howard cheated all the time and I..."



"You made pancakes and bacon," Willow said surely. "And they ate it all up. Did you make funny shapes?"



"Yes," Tara said shaking her head. "Graham loved them. My father and brother always wanted rounds. Willow is, is your Tara's mother, you know, alive?"



"No," Willow said tightly.



"Joyce?" Tara asked so quietly and hopefully Willow felt her heart ache again. She just shook her head.



"Oh," Tara said softly. "I-I'm s-s-sorry..."



"You're doing it again," Willow said carefully.



Tara smiled weakly and went back to work. Even with Miss Kitty's and Willow's help she was making pancakes using an old recipe since she didn't know the odd brands when Dawn walked in. She glared at Willow and took a glass of orange juice.



"W-would you like some pancakes?" Tara asked the girl.



Dawn looked briefly at the kind of star shaped pancakes and ran out of the room with a choked sob. Tara dropped her head for a moment. When she looked up Willow saw tears streaking her face.



"I can't stay here," she said calmly. "I'm hurting you. You all buried it and tried to go on and I'm just tearing every one of you up."



"We didn't deal with it," Willow said gently as she touched her shoulder. "We never really deal with it. And Dawn's a teenager on top of that."



"You're all hurting so much," Tara said with ragged sureness. "And I don't know h-how to h-help. And then that w-w-weird dream-"



"Weird dream?" Giles asked as he entered the kitchen quietly.



Willow saw Tara stiffen and lower her eyes almost by reflex. She looked at Giles and saw him nod very slightly to her. He sat down and lowered his head a bit, letting the strain show. Tara looked up, relaxed and stepped closer.



"W-would you like some tea or coffee, sir?" she asked hesitantly. "I've made some, um, other s-stuff for breakfast, if you'd like..."



"Tea would be lovely, Tara, thank you," he replied with a tired smile. "And if it's not too much trouble I could take one of those griddle cakes and some bacon off your hands."



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Buffy found Dawn crouching at the head of the stairs, her attention given fully to trying to catch scraps of conversation from downstairs. The teen gave a start when she sat next to her.



"Wanna talk about it?" Buffy asked softly



"No," Dawn said shaking her head. "I don't want to talk about it, or her, or anything."



Buffy just nodded.



"I mean, who does she think she is?" Dawn asked hotly. "Just walks in and starts asking if she can help and petting Miss Kitty. I mean, sure, she's all brave and shy and nice, but does that give her the right to, to make breakfast and smile at Willow and make funny shapes? And to look like her and be all hurt and helping anyway?"



Buffy stroked Dawn's hair gently as the girl put her head on her older sister's shoulder. Dawn scrubbed away a tear.



"I'm a butthead, aren't I?" she asked with a sigh. "She hates me."



"No she doesn't," Buffy answered.



"She should," Dawn replied with another sigh as she buried her face in her hands. "But she won't. She's gonna blame herself because I can't deal, but I don't know how to deal with this."



"None of us do," Buffy said after a second. "We'll have to do it together."



She took Dawn's hand and they walked down the stairs. The Slayer felt her sister's hand tremble.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Giles found he had no trouble pretending to be older than he looked and very tired. He pushed away old memories of other blue eyes looking at him for acceptance. You took what you had and tried your best, and right now he had a pair of powerful but drained witches. And he read the shy girl as not being able to accept her new status in this world.



"Thank you, the tea is marvelous," Giles said gratefully. He saw her smile and give a tiny bob of her head. That made him think angrily of his Tara and her troglodyte family. He stopped himself. This girl was his Tara now, and he thought the lost one would say the same thing. He found himself doubting her upbringing had been any kinder.



"Tara, here dreams can be very necessary," he started without looking at her directly. "But only if we know about them. We've all dismissed small warnings and paid for it, usually more than we could afford."



"But I'm just w-w-wishing," Tara answered quietly. "I mean, Judith talks to me on a bridge..."



"A bridge?" Willow asked tightly.



"Was it a pretty bridge?" Dawn asked from the doorway. "With flowers and an arch?"



"Yes," Tara said thoughtfully. "And Tara, the pretty Tara, s-she said something about a s-sign and a power to a spell or Anya would be lost. They said s-s-she w-w-was a, a..."



"Vengeance demon," Giles said mildly.



"But she doesn't want to be one," Buffy said distantly.



"Tara, this is important," Giles said trying to hold back his intensity. "Tell us everything about your dream."



For a few minutes Tara gave a detailed description of her dream under his guiding questions. Giles' eyes narrowed as he listened to the images and watched the young woman. She became more confident as she shifted into describing things. That confidence faded quickly as she came to the end of her report.



"There's more, I think, but I'm probably wrong," she said. "It's not about the dream but, last night, I think, I mean..."



"It's okay," Willow said with a smile. "Just tell us."



"The ULF, Anya, she's, w-well, sh-she feels lost, you know?" Tara said hesitantly. "Like she doesn't fit anywhere, and I didn't say anything..."



"Let's find the talisman," Giles said evenly.



"I know where it is," Xander said flatly as he stepped into the kitchen. "I put in a box with the rest-"



Tara looked up at him and tried to find her way through the conflicting emotions that suddenly swelled from everywhere. She had to push away the young man's as they threatened to overwhelm her. She looked at Willow and hoped she would say the right thing.



"He's lost too," Tara whispered.



"I know," she said.



"We'll h-help?" Tara asked with just a bit of hope.



"Damn straight," Willow said as she nodded and tried to smile.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Dawn glared at her sister as Buffy used inhumanly fast reflexes to slam on her brakes. The younger girl rolled her eyes.



"If I did that in Driver's Ed," she started.



"Which will be next year sometime, maybe," Buffy interjected.



"Later this year," Dawn plowed on. "I'd be watching roadkill movies again. You know, the ones that say don't drive distracted."



"I'm not distracted," Buffy insisted. "I'm just dealing with a lot of things at once."



"And everyone knows that's not distracting," Dawn said drolly.



"Maybe a little," her sister reluctantly agreed.



"It's okay, Buffy," Dawn said more softly. "I don't think I could have handled seeing Tara's things again. I...thanks, for taking me to school, I mean. But is Willow going to be okay?"



"She has Xander," Buffy said staring straight ahead. "And Giles and, and the other Tara are going to do the looking through the box."



Dawn was silent for few moments. Then she looked at Buffy with an unhappily thoughtful look.



"What are we supposed to call her?" the teen asked.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Tara looked at an intricately knotted string around a small blue piece of cloth. Its scent reminded her of Willow. She looked at the other objects and had no problem assigning a person to each of them. The care with which they'd been made spoke of time and love. She handled them almost reverently and Giles did the same.



"She really was coming back here," Giles said holding a tiny, leather bound book wrapped with both black and white twine.



"Looks like," Tara said pulling out a picture of all of the people upstairs and Joyce. There was a Christmas tree in the back of the photo. She looked at the image of Willow and her Tara in the midst of their friends for a long moment.



"Here," Giles said taking out the talisman she'd seen in her dream. "This is what we'll need for Anya. Do you feel anything when you touch it?"



Tara took it in her hand and tried to concentrate. A feeling of displacement and despair seemed to sweep up her arm. It felt like an echo of emotions. She saw Anya packing a small bag and putting an envelope on a desk in an apartment. But the clock she could barely see was wrong. It was hours ahead. It showed 12:00.



"She's getting ready to leave," Tara said in a rush. "Or will be, I think. She doesn't w-want to go."



"Will be?" Giles asked evenly. "Did you see a time?"



"It just turned noon," she answered nodding.



"Very well," he replied as he stood. "Let's get the others."



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Willow looked at the heavy waterproof bag that had fallen out of Tara's rucksack when she'd picked it up. There were others much like it in there and an odd pistol in a holster just inside the pack.



"I'm thinking you ever put this together expected her to be bothered," Xander said. "It's been a while but I don't think I've ever seen cartridges

like this either."



"Just leave it alone!" Willow snapped.



"Okay, Will, it's down, we're good," he said placating tone.



"Sorry, but I, I don't like those things," Willow hissed.



"W-what things?" Tara asked as she entered the room.



"Guns," Willow started to explain then stopped.



"I'm sorry, Willow," Tara said gently.



Xander was struck by the dichotomy of the scene as one of the gentlest people he'd ever known cleared an automatic and broke it down for storage with an efficiency that spoke of hours of training.

When the weapon was stored the young woman picked up the waterproof bag and weighed it in her hand.



"It's too heavy," she mused out loud.



"So are the rest of them," Willow pointed out as she struggled to put the rack on the table.



"The rest of them?" Tara asked with a puzzled frown.



She pulled out eight packets and an odd shaped bundle of the same material. She opened the bundle and shook out a pair of blouses and skirts that made her smile.



"I guess the cleaners are done w-with them, Graham," she whispered with a smile as she brushed away tears. "What's in the rest of them?"



Willow picked one up and pulled on the plastic zipper. It wouldn't budge. Xander pulled and shook his head. Tara looked at it and pushed and then pulled the zipper. It opened to reveal more bundles. She opened the first and saw a small plush stuffed cat on top of a cylinder of gold.

She pulled out the cat and touched it while Xander looked at the roll of gold coins. Other packets slipped out with maps, small radios and odd small tools.



"You're an heiress!" whistled Xander.



"It's an escape kit, but there's only supposed to be five eagles in each kit," Tara said picking up the roll.



"I'd say you weren't going back to your base no matter what," Giles observed.



Tara looked through the kits and opened them quickly until she came to a wrapped flat object. They saw her touch it gently and unwrap it with care. Her shoulders started to shake. Willow stepped over to her and pulled her into an embrace. Xander picked up the ordinary looking sign and blinked quickly. Giles looked over his shoulder and then took off his glasses.



All it said was "Maclay/Rosenberg".



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Xander looked at his watch and then the stairs. He sighed.



"She's got all of two choices," he groused. "How long could it take?"



"Well, actually she's got more choices than that," Willow said distractedly. "If you give each of the units a label of a, b, c, and d-"



"You can put me to sleep in seconds," Xander interjected.



"Yeah," Willow whispered as she looked up the stairs. Xander followed her gaze and swallowed.



Tara had chosen a skirt and blouse that looked comfortable and seemed to soften her look. Her hair was pulled back in a simple braid and she'd worn her well broken-in boots. She glanced down, embarrassed by the attention.



"We have to go," Willow said roughly. Tara looked at her as the sensitive felt the redhead's discomfort.



"Could w-we call?" she asked.



"She's not answering or she's turned off the ringer," Giles said as he grabbed his coat. "But Willow's narrowed down the possibilities."



"Huh?" Willow said and then nodded quickly. "Yeah, possibilities. Just for the time of year and the moon's phase I was able to correlate both astrological and astronomical databases for an arrow shaped intersection with the moon, given the time of day and visibility. That brought up a couple but the one that rings more true is a reference in an old book to 'Persephone's Arrow' which is a reference to a seasonal shift in the stars which, and this is the good part, only a witch can see when the moon 'rides the daylight sky'. That's a quote, by the way."



"I think you make this stuff up," teased Xander. Then he realized she hadn't heard him. Tara had smiled at her.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



The four split up at the Magic Box. Xander and Giles walked back towards Anya's apartment on the route she took to get to the store. Willow and Tara tried the door and found it locked. Willow looked at her watch and looked up the street longingly.



"What is it?" Tara asked.



"The Espresso Pump," Willow answered.



"Espresso, as in mochas?" Tara asked with a touch more enthusiasm, then she shook her head. "Judith taught me about them."



"And it was one of our places, Tara's and mine," Willow said softly.



"W-we should wait for Anya," Tara said hesitantly. "It's, um, ten thirty."



"It's later than that," Willow said still looking up the street.



"Willow?" Tara said after a minute. Willow turned back to her and had a wan smile.



"Miss Maclay, we have some time, so would you like a mocha and a muffin?" Willow said with a small, real smile. "I know I'm not Judith, but I want to know about her, if you feel like talking about her."



"I, um, w-would like that," Tara said nodding. "All of it. I, oh, I don't know what to say about her though. It's still raw and, and I may cry a lot..."



"I know," Willow said holding out her hand. "It gets better, kind of, well, not a lot, but friends can help."



"They were," Tara admitted sadly.



"They will," Willow replied surely.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Xander looked around Anya's apartment with a growing unease. He looked at the envelope with his name on it on the table and tore it open. He looked up at Giles with a shocked look.



"She's going," he said looking at the letter again. "I mean, I mean really not coming back going."



Giles looked at the VCR and saw the blinking 12:00.



"Damn," he growled. "Get Willow on your phone, now!"



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



"Banana and chocolate chip?" Tara asked happily taking another bite of the muffin. "Isn't this and a mocha kind of decadent?"



"Well, yeah," Willow said after sipping her own mocha. "We're a decadent kind of world, that's it."



"Tara?" a passing brunette said in a shocked tone. "But, you, I mean, are you...Rosenberg, what's going on?"



Willow looked at the girl and tried to remember her name. All she could remember is that while Tara had considered her just a friend, this girl had had plans for her Tara. Even now Willow felt a cold jealousy building.



"H-hello," Tara said softly as she stood and held out her hand unsurely. "I'm Cat. Did you know my cousin? Do we really look alike?"



"Cousin?" the girl said looking at her closely. "I'm sorry, but it's amazing, uh, Cat. I'm Karli, I was a friend of Tara's. A close friend."



"Oh," Tara said shyly.



"Karli, nice to see you," Willow said with a brittle smile. "Cat, we need to get moving if we're going to make that lecture."



"Oh, you're going to school at UC Sunnydale?" Karli said as she smiled at Tara. "That's wonderful. See you soon. Call me."



Willow led Tara away as Karli gave the shy girl another smile. Tara looked a bit dazed as she followed Willow towards the Magic Box.



"Was she, um, you know, like us?" Tara whispered.



"A girl?" Willow asked in a confused tone. "Yeah, only less nice. Sorry, more green eyed than usual."



"You're jealous," Tara said amazed. "Was she a rival for her?"



"No, but she thought she was," Willow said with some heat. "I'm sorry, Tara. I'm sure she has nice qualities, none of which come to mind right now. Sorry. It's just that, that she wanted what we had and didn't understand it at all."



"S-s-so people, um, knew about..." Tara said unbelievingly.



"Oh yeah," Willow said with a broad smile. "We..."



Tara's heart sank as the redhead's face froze and then crumpled into tears. Willow looked away and searched her pockets quickly for a tissue.



"I think people were lucky to have seen w-what you had together," she said sincerely.



Willow looked at her and was about to speak when the phone in her purse went off. She pulled it out and snapped it open with some force.



"Hello?" she snapped. "I'll ask her. Tara, do you have VCRs at home? Which is a stupid question because you're from a place with all sorts of techie-"



"What's a VCR?" she answered.



"Uh, Xander?" Willow said worriedly. "We may have a 'Mirror Mirror' type problem here."



"You have Star Trek?" Tara said as she gaped at Willow.



Willow looked up hurriedly and tried to use her power to see Persephone's Arrow. Something was blocking her, something metal and plastic far above her. She opened her eyes and saw sunlight wink off a cargo jet high above in the sunny Southern California sky as it left a contrail behind it.



"Oh no," Tara said beside her as she too looked up to see the billowing trail behind the bright delta winged craft. It almost looked like it could strike the pale moon herself.



Without another word they both ran for the Magic Box.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Anya was clearing a few things up on the books in the Magic Box when she felt a gust of air sweep past her and knew she hadn't heard the bell over the door. She didn't look up until she'd made her last entry. Then she looked up with a shopkeeper's smile.



"How can I help you?" she asked brightly.



"Droll, Anyanka, I do hope you can recover your wit as well as your spine," D'Hoffryn said dryly.



"I thought you said two nights," she said querulously. "It's kind of light out."



"Be glad you got the one with your little human pets," he snapped. "After the trouble you caused I should be dropping you off in a hell dimension for a century or three."



Anya looked at him and tried to come up with a retort, but nothing fit the maelstrom she felt in her very soul. He glared at her and she dropped her gaze. She had to go. This place hurt too much. And yet as she looked at the restored shop she felt memories shout at her in soft echoes of belonging and acceptance. D'Hoffryn grabbed her by the shoulder and shook her.



"Stop woolgathering and come along," he snarled as she looked at him, startled by his outburst.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Willow saw the OPEN sign hanging in the window as she stopped and peered in. Part of her knew Anya's inner shopkeeper wouldn't let her not open the Magic Box, even on her last day there. Then she saw D'Hoffryn grabbing Anya. Beside her she heard Tara take a quick breath. She turned and saw anger on her face. They both made for the door in a rush.



Tara pushed her hand into her borrowed bag and clenched the talisman as she and Willow tore into the shop.



"Leave her alone!" they both yelled at the same time.



"The dead witch returned," D'Hoffryn hissed. Power swept over Anya and she froze in place.



"Mithra-" Willow began only to fly backward and crash heavily to the floor.



Tara focused on the frightening demon in front of her and pushed what power she had into the talisman. She did it carefully, precisely as she'd been taught to use her talent as a sensitive. Anya stirred. D'Hoffryn swept his hand out and caught Tara across the arm sending the bag and the talisman flying. Anya fell to the floor. Tara reached behind her for the pistol that wasn't there. Her heart froze as her hand closed on nothing. Then everything went very bright and painful. She seemed to fly into darkness.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



D'Hoffryn chanted briefly and a small ball of red flickered angrily in his hands. He stepped up to the still forms of Tara and Willow with a grim satisfaction.



"The 'dead witch returned' had such a nice ring," he said with a grim smile. "Pity I'm going to have to add 'and was sent back COD', but I'm sure someone will sign for her."



"NO!" Anya shouted her plea. "She's not the witch! She's a leaker, a glitch, she's out of her world and stuck here. Please, master."



"That would explain the pitiful use of her power," he sneered. "Not the witch, well, just goes to show prophesy isn't what it's cracked up to be these days. I blame Hollywood. They never get it right."



Anya wondered about his words as she crawled quietly to the downed girls. D'Hoffryn's blow had split Tara's lip badly and Willow's fall had left her with a cut on her scalp that bled profusely. She shuddered to see them both so still.



"Allow me to mend them so they can tell the tale of your anger," she said without looking up.



"Now that's the Anyanka I remember," he said in a satisfied tone. "She knew the value of a bit of terror. Of course, having one wake up to the other lover dead is a classic way to emphasize a point."



"They're not lovers!" Anya blurted out. "Not this one and the witch."



"Pity," he said with a sigh. "Well, patch them up a bit then and let's get moving."



Anya traced the small bloody wound on Willow's head and watched it fade. Then she did the same for the crimson split in Tara's lip. She was shocked to feel something warm and gentle where the power she had spent in healing had been. It added to her confusion and seemed to hurt as she looked into D'Hoffryn's smug smile.



"Let's go," he ordered. "I'm late for a meeting."









Santa Barbara California

Cottage Medical Center





Riley shifted his weight in the hospital bed. He tried to look healthy. He was expecting a visitor he had to impress. He looked over at a very soft snoring sound. Beth was curled up in one of the big therapy chairs fast asleep. She seemed to shiver in the room's cold air. He got up slowly, waited for the floor to stop spinning, and pushed his med pod to her side. He pulled one of the spare blankets from the bed and placed it over her. He bent down slowly and kissed her.



"She's been here every minute she's not on duty or at class," Michael observed behind him.



"Not the way I'd like to spend my last days here with her," Riley said looking back at Beth. "Where are they shipping me for recovery, sir?"



"The climate here seems to agree with you," Delacroix said evenly.



"It's going to be hard enough to leave," Riley said tightly. "If I stay here I might not make it back to O-ville."



"You're not coming back," Michael said firmly. "Your reenlistment was denied due to an (E) OIS recommendation."



" What?" Riley almost shouted. "They're going out of existence in twenty seven days."



"And until they do the emergency powers they wielded are in place," Delacroix replied. "You're out. I'm sorry Finn, but your record shows you abetted deviant behavior. Graham, Prader, and Talbot are getting reprimands placed in their records."



"The dance," Riley said softly.



"Yes," he said softly.



"What dance?" Beth asked from the chair. "The one where Judith and Tara got to dance together to what, four whole songs?"



"Hidden by members of their teams," Michael explained. "All of whom were active duty US forces and under obligation to report deviant behavior to their civilian and military commanders."



"You can't do this!" Beth snarled as she stood up and stalked over to Riley's team leader. "He's the best young operator you have. He's worked for this all his career. And you're going to let some frightened or jealous idiots take him away from you?"



"Yes," Delacroix said gently as Beth narrowed her eyes.



"Do you know how much you're losing if you don't get him back?" she asked angrily. "How much it's cost to train him? What he can do? Because if you don't we'll find him a place. You'll lose him to the PacConFed military and never get him back."



"I know," Michael said and nodded to both of them. "You're papers will be over in the morning, Finn. Good luck."



Beth glared at his back as he left. She turned back to see Riley staring out the window. She stood by him and wrapped her arms around him carefully. She looked up at him and tried to read the expression he wore.



"I'm sorry, Riley," she said softly. He looked down at her and smiled and draped an arm festooned with IVs and sensors around her shoulders.



"I'm not," he said. "Not for any of it."





A Bridge



Tara looked at the golden glow in the stream of time below fade away to a roiling dark mass. She caught glimpses of Buffy sliding down the upstairs hall wall with a jagged stake through her chest. Xander writhed in agony as he turned pale, his femur sticking out through his blood soaked pants. Dawn lay still on her bed, unmoving and turning gray. Willow and Anya were consumed by green fire as Tara tried to pull away the power that fueled the fire. Instead she joined them in agony. D'Hoffryn smiled and started to grow in strength.



And then something grabbed D'Hoffryn and pulled his power into a darkness so complete she had no name for it. The darkness grew, spreading out from the HellMouth. It did not stop. The stars themselves were going out. She started to fall.



"Tara!" Judith screamed.



She was back on the bridge. Judith looked into her eyes worriedly. Tara couldn't find any words.



"Come back, please!" Judith begged as she started to cry. "It's so lonely here, don't leave me. I can't do this without you."



"I failed them," Tara whispered. "I failed all of them. I'm no guide. I failed my family."



Judith held her and tried to be strong as they both wept in the forever twilight of the bridge.

[xita]

Man I just don't know what to think here. What is going on with the bridge, and what is going to happen. I just can't decide what I want ... to happen. But I am here reading and intrigued

- - - - - - - - - - - -
Tara and Willow

Accept NO subsitutes

[Grimlock72]

I don't get WHY d'Hofryn is recalling Anya. Two drained witches going up against head of Vengance Deamons... not the brightest idea ever .



Tara can see again, thats good. Dawn is being annoying, understandable but it's *still* annoying. Not as if Tara doesn't have enough to cope with.



Willow is holding together remarkably well. Likely means she holding it all in to help Tara through.



I thought I had that bridge figured out but now the aliveTara is also on that bridge at times ?? Thats confusing, to say the least... you do that on purpose ??



If the scoobies are smart they get the bullets/weapon of Tara analyzed. Would make a usefull addition to their weapon-chest. Same goes for that electrolyte stuff for witchy recovery.



Sad to read about Tara/Judith having to be shielded to only dance together in the 'new no-so-brave world'. Yech.



Grimmy

"Why w-w-would anyone leave Willow?" It was a concept Tara just could not grasp. -- I Dream of Thee by Jomarch

[mollyig]

Oh poor Judith's Tara, it must have been hard for her seeing Judith like that, and her feelings of inadequacy compared to Willow's Tara were so touching. I think it makes sense for Judith's Tara to visit the Bridge whilst not fully consicous. She is a Sensitive - a highly skilled empath - after all.



I was also very moved by Tara's awe that people knew that Willow and Tara were a couple, that the love they shared wasn't something that had to be hidden.



Good that Buffy is spending time with Dawn, trying to help her come to terms with the "other" Tara.



D'Hoffryn's little comment about prophecy is most intriguing. I'm hoping that the something warm and gentle Anya felt while healing Tara was to aid Anya, and will negate what Tara and Judith on the Bridge saw.



Great update.

Adding up the total of a love that's true, multiply life by the power of two
Indigo Girls

[jixer]

Hello Kittens-



I must say I'm looking forward to sitting in front of the computer and writing W/T fanfic. The fact that I have such wonderful readers is an unexpected bonus.



For those kittens wondering where this is going, just remember I have no vision nor do I know what you need. I'm just writing a story, and you're giving it your time. That last part helps keep me on track.



Thank you all for your time and comments,



J

[jixer]

Hotel Kilo 2-2

Update#21

Spoilers: Up through the end of Season 6

WARNINGS: Kitten Angst Advisory. This is after Season 6.









Willow knew somebody was screaming at her even with her headache. She looked up at the blurry figure and scowled. She tried to lift her head but it seemed unwise after the sparkles in front of her eyes started to dance. She settled for opening her eyes in the overly bright light. Xander looked down at her.



"Quit shouting," she said groggily. "I've got to stop getting knocked out. Everybody shouts like it's supposed to help."



"Tara's hurt too," Xander said anxiously. "She's out cold."



Willow rolled up and crawled to Tara's side. Giles was looking at her and checking for injuries. Willow reached out a hand to her face and caressed it. When the other girl didn't open her eyes Willow felt a surge of panic build in her.



"TARA!" she shouted.



"Willow, please!" Giles said quickly.



Tara groaned and opened her eyes hesitantly and winced at the light. Then her eyes opened wide and she looked around quickly. She struggled to sit up.



"Where's the girl?" she asked urgently. "Did you see the creature? Is anybody hurt?"



"She's gone," Xander snapped. "Her demon boss got her."



"No!" Tara insisted as she swayed upright. "We've got to find her. She didn't want to go." She turned to Willow and the redhead saw her eyes get wide. "Willow, there's blood in your h-h-hair. Are you all right?"



"I'm fine," Willow replied gently as she helped steady Tara. "Well , except for the sticky hair and the headache after bouncing off the floor. Other than that and the spots, I'm just perfect. What happened?"



"He hit me," Tara said looking down. "I went for my s-sidearm but I left it at the h-house."



"So why didn't you use magic?" Xander asked harshly. "You beat the leftovers of a Hellgod and a demon in the Hellmouth itself and you can't stop-"



"Xander!" Giles barked.



"S-s-s-s..." Tara backed up and cringed. She could feel his anger and pain. The nice older man was filled with loss and disappointment with undercurrents of anger. Even Willow was disappointed, hurting in her head and heart with anger suddenly flaring. Tara could tell it was directed at her old friend. Would defending her cost Willow his friendship? She was costing them all more than she was worth.



She tried to step farther back and bumped into the wall. Willow reached out a hand for her.



"Tara, it's okay," she said glaring at Xander quickly. "Tell her it's all right, Xander."



"Tara, I'm-oh God, don't cry, I'm sorry, please," Xander said as he sagged. He reached out to her. Tara took his hand without meeting his eyes. Suddenly she saw a woman crying and cringing with a bleeding lip as a huge man turned back to a young Xander and raised his hand. She smelled old booze and felt fear and anger battle shame. Then she saw herself cringe away from him. She looked into his troubled eyes.



"That isn't you," she said quickly. "You won't do that. You'd never do that."



"I'll just use words instead," he said looking down. "Until I can get up the guts to hit defenseless women."



"No, you won't," she said firmly. He just shook his head and looked away.



"Xander, check the back door, make sure it's locked," Giles said. "I don't want any interruptions. Willow, get the orb of Telos out of the display case."



"It should hold images of demonic activity!" she almost chortled, then she held her head. "At least more than I remember after going up against a senior demon."



"Sensibly brave is still a work in progress," Giles said patting her shoulder. He turned to Tara and lowered his voice. "Tara, please talk to Xander a bit more. I think it's helping."



Tara just nodded. She wondered if Alex had the same awful memories. Thinking of him brought back her own memories of the rest of those she had left behind. She wondered if Beth was safe, and if Joyce was making hot chocolate for Judith's friends who'd accepted her. Had her vision left any of them hurt, in jail or worse? Was her father all right? The not knowing ate at her.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Xander checked the back door twice. He tried to find a reason to get out of the store, but couldn't think of one that would let him leave two hurt girls and a tired Giles on their own. He slowly returned to the sales floor. Giles was speaking with Willow as they looked at an ugly green streaked chunk of rock that had reminded him of a demon's baseball. Giles waved him over.



"Talk to Tara, keep her occupied," Giles said quietly.



"After shouting at her?" Xander asked incredulously. "She needs me like she needs something else absolutely useless."



"She was more eager to defend you than herself," Giles pointed out. "Just keep her focused on something."



"This is magic stuff, right?" he asked hesitantly.



"Very much so," Giles replied. "I don't want her to tap her power until she's healed. Go on."



Xander crossed the intervening space with a growing sense of dread. He hesitated near her. Tara looked up at him and gave him a weak smile.



"I w-won't bite," she said shyly. "Xander, what's going on?"



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



"Ow," Willow said as she looked at the image on the small mirror next to the orb. "He didn't even flinch. And, oh damn it!"



"What is it?" Giles asked quickly.



"Tara went for her gun," Willow said bitterly. "The one I didn't like so she left it home."



"And perhaps wisely at that," Giles mused. "California's laws are quite firm about concealed firearms and Tara's is fitted for a sound suppressor. That's a state and federal felony charge. And as she has no identification papers here she could end up in jail for quite some time."



"Yeah, but you saw what those bullets did to vampires," Willow pointed out. "I bet they could've given us at least a bit of time to get Anya out of here."



"Perhaps," Giles said unconvinced. "I'd like to see that weapon at work

again before we start depending on it. What's that?"



"What's what?" she asked looking at the image of Anyanka touching both of them carefully, almost tenderly.



"It may be nothing," he said distractedly.



"Or?" she asked hopefully.



"Look at Anya's face," he said evenly.



Willow saw the demonic visage change to Anya's human face as she touched the two still girls in the image. D'Hoffryn could not see the change from his angle but the orb caught it clearly in profile. Willow remembered old tales of sacrifice and blood.



"She touched our wounds, and the blood," she said looking at Giles as if he could make all things right. "Does that mean something?"



"Wounds taken in freely given defense of her, with no expectation of reward," Giles said sounding like he was reciting from an old lesson. "With no bond past that of friendship or family. And she healed the wounds with the permission of the one she took her power from. We may have a chance, but I'm not sure how much."



"I'll take it, I mean, it's a chance, right, so there's a good chance or, well maybe not good but-" Willow said breathlessly.



"Yes," Giles said firmly, then he looked at Tara and Xander. "And maybe a better one than we had hoped for."



Willow looked worriedly at the two talking near the table. Xander was shrugging and looking down. Tara had a hand on his and was listening intently. She smiled, then sighed and looked away.



"How are you two doing?" Giles asked gently.



"It's...complicated," she said looking up at him with a pained expression. "I mean, I know she's not Tara, but she is in so many ways. And she's scared, Giles. All of this is new to her - the magic, the world, all of it. And in the midst of all that she's trying to help. It's just..."



"About her magic," Giles asked carefully. "Have you ascertained what style she's using?"



"No, she...isn't a family tradition witch," Willow said with a wince. "I'm sorry, Giles."



"No, I'd suggest she's an empath," he said looking away. "One with magic and the Sight both."



"But Tara wasn't an empath," she replied quickly, then she looked thoughtful. "But she came back when we were all ripped up about Anya and Spike and I was feeling so helpless about everything that was happening. But you said that emotions and magic are dangerous and an empath is all about feelings. And you think this Tara has the Sight too?"



"Our Tara was trained by her mother in the old traditions so she approached everything she considered magic carefully, and with respect," Giles said with an undercurrent of pain in his voice.



"Unlike some people we could name," muttered Willow bitterly.



"Because she always took care she never had problems with her possible empathy or Sight," Giles said ignoring her. "And if this girl has been trained by people unused to magic's variations, then she may be doing things the way other novice magic users did."



"Going carefully so you don't drain your power, not hiding your focus in a fight, that sort of thing," Willow said nodding. "She's seen and felt the enemy but never zapped 'em."



"Yes, but I wouldn't have put it quite that way," Giles said dryly. "In any case she needs to be trained quickly. Her power is going to attract some unsavory types and she needs to be able to stand on her own."



"On her own," Willow said distantly. "But, you know, not yet."



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



"You saw yourself, um, kill her?" Tara asked uncomfortably. "But you never told her that's why you left her at, you know..."



"The altar," Xander finished. "I couldn't, I mean she'd try to tell me it was some faked thing, and I couldn't do that to her. But, but what if it was true underneath? I mean my dad must have loved my mom once but he-and..."



Tara felt his turmoil. She saw another image. This time a harder looking Xander swigged on a beer as Anya, or Willow, or another girl picked up her clothes and slunk out of the room with her eyes down and a red palm print on her cheek. She saw this angry version of himself look at a child that must have been Xander years ago.



"What are you lookin' at?" the hard eyed Xander said with an evil smile. "That's how you got here, boy. It's what they're good for."



"That is not you," she said in an angry tone. "How could you even think that?"



"How?" Xander asked in a whisper.



"I don't know," she said tersely. "It doesn't matter. What matters is that's not you. You won't be that, that thing."



""Yeah, there's always freezing guy," he said bitterly.



"W-w-what?" she said as another wave of self-anger filled him.



"I saw the gun, the one that killed her, and I froze," he said blinking rapidly. "She looked so...broken. I never told her anything I should have."



"Like what?" she asked softly.



"Like, thanks for being there for Will, or it's nice to have you around, or I know I can trust you," he said shrugging slightly.



"You could trust h-her?" she said leaning forward.



"Tara?" he asked. "Absolutely. She was more grown up than the rest of us put together, no thanks to her family. She was there when you needed her. She was always going to be there. Except one day a guy froze and she wasn't there anymore."



Tara could barely concentrate against the crush of doubt that swelled up from him. She could see it was already working harshly against him on a level he couldn't see yet. She hesitated, then made a decision that frightened her to her core. She reached out with her talent and eased his pain just a little.



"What would have happened, I mean really happened, if you hadn't froze?" she said as she marshaled her power.



She saw him wrest the gun away from Warren's analog. There was a pair of sharp reports and both men fell. Then she saw herself look out the upstairs window as Buffy looked down at him. The image darkened. She concentrated and remembered how fast her teammates had moved. She slipped that knowledge into the memory. The image changed. He moved as swiftly as he could and almost made it. Now there were three bodies on the ground. No one called for help. Buffy died, Willow ran rampant and...Tara arched in her chair and the image snapped.



Xander looked at her with a stunned expression. She stood up and kissed him gently on the forehead. The more realistic outcome became reality in his mind, the other a hopeful fantasy as it had always been but now without the power it used to have. She wrapped her arms around him and felt his shoulders shaking. She eased but did not take away the last of his pain.



"I'm s-sorry," she whispered. "You need to do the rest."



Wordlessly he stood up and wrapped her in his arms. She could feel the pain easing its corrosive hold. It felt odd for her to be the strong one at this moment.



"Typical," a harsh female voice snapped out. "You've already got your hairy arms around some other girl."



Willow and the rest looked up to see Halfrek with her arms crossed and glaring at Xander and Tara. Willow tried to summon power but her reserve was nearly exhausted. Xander pushed Tara back behind him as Giles stood up and walked toward the demon.



"I don't believe we've had the pleasure," he said evenly.



"Oh, don't try the real name gambit, Watcher," she said with a flip of her hand. "Just know I'm here for that worm," she said pointing at Xander. "Not the little bit...behind...him. Oh hells, it's the dead witch, er, formerly dead witch. My mistake. Gods, what is it with the touchy feely witches these days?"



With that Halfrek tossed up her hands and shimmered away.



A small sheet of paper fell where she'd been. Giles picked it up and frowned.



"A rubbing of some sort," Giles said studying the paper. "Cuneiform, Sumerian, late period, fair grammar though the rhyme is forced."



He made a few quick notes when there was a loud pop and a furious Halfrek appeared. She slapped the paper out of Giles hand and lifted him off the ground.



"The prophecy is none of your concern!" she growled.



With that she tossed him away and disappeared again. Giles frowned as sat up. He spoke a language none of them recognized and jotted a few notes down. Then he held it out and squinted. Willow did not mention bifocals. Finally he cleared his throat.



"The least wield the key

The dead witch returned

She sees the way

They make the change

Vengeance to Justice

The greatest lose most"



"This isn't a prophecy," Giles snapped. "It's a bloody Sumerian fortune cookie. Someone's jumping to conclusions to call this drivel a prophecy."



"Um, I'm not really a w-witch," Tara said meekly. "H-h-he didn't take h-her because of..."



"Mistaken identity?" Xander asked in stunned voice.



"No," whispered Tara. She drew back. Xander sagged back into the chair. Giles stared at his notes and spread them out. Willow looked at the orb again for and then smiled.



"Neither is dirty politics," Willow said suddenly. "Halfrek shouldn't have had that paper. We know she wants to be known as a justice demon. What if there's more to this than semantics and she's using it to rally support for her cause..."



"You mean Anya's in the middle of some Vengeance demon power struggle?" Xander said worriedly.



"And somebody's just using you for an excuse to start the shoving," Willow said turning to Tara.



Or where Tara had been just a moment before.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



"Buffy, it's all my fault," Willow almost wailed in the cell phone. "She thinks she's the reason Anya's gone."



"Anya's gone?" Buffy asked. "Will, did something happen to Tara too?"



"Oh God, Buffy, she doesn't know about Sunnydale," Willow answered unsteadily.



"From the beginning, Will," Buffy ordered. "You can do this."



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Tara reassembled the pistol with quick movements. She lifted the cat off her BDUs, then her tactical vest, and finally out of the rucksack. She put her gently out of the room as she finished changing into her operational uniform. She pulled the shorty version of her side arm out of a covered over bottom section of the pack and secured it in the small of her back. She patted her gear to make sure the scavenged equipment from the escape kits was in place. She pulled her hair back into a hasty ponytail and opened the door.



"I'd say you need to leave your hair down to soften your look in that outfit," Buffy advised brightly.



"H-how?" Tara said with wide eyes as she stepped back.



"If you mean the sneaky part, I have a teenaged little sister, " Buffy explained easily. "If you mean the being here, I just asked myself what I'd do if it was 'all my fault' something bad happened. I'd go all Slayer so I thought you'd be going Commando Girl. I expect they'll be coming to the same conclusion in a couple of minutes."



"I have to go," Tara said with more resolve than she felt and tried to push past the smaller woman politely.



"And rush off to rescue Anya and make everything all better," Buffy added stepping in front of her. "Are you coming back or are you just going to keep on wandering so you won't hurt anybody because you're basically just human and not perfect?"



Tara just looked at her for a second and felt her hasty plan start to unravel in her mind. The sureness she felt just moments ago slipped away like a fever dream.



"Um," she started and looked down. "Really s-stupid, huh?"



"I should know," Buffy said ruefully.



"You?" Tara said shocked. "But you're...you know, you keep back the evil."



"And I never make a mistake or get played for a sucker," Buffy said tiredly.



"Played?" Tara said softly. "I sensed her, but I didn't get much. She was angry, then s-scared and angry both. I don't know if s-she w-was faking. I'm s-sorry."



"So she may have been there really looking for Xan and the prophecy is real, which is too weird, I mean how can a bunch of scribes with no Internet access know about you?" Buffy said leading her back into the living room. "Or some demon is hoping the girl with the demon killing bullets goes off and tries to rescue a, well, yet another demon. So, what was the plan? There was a plan, right?"



"Um, I kind of, uh, you know, was going to the nexus point and try to get a fix on her," Tara said looking down. "Then I was going to get h-her out..."



"Jumping into the Hellmouth all by yourself, to get to a dimension with hundreds of demons," Buffy said evenly. "With guns blazing no doubt. I've gotta say I'm not really big on the plan so far,"



"I w-was going to sneak in," Tara said hopefully. "And I w-wasn't going to shoot anybody unless I really, really h-had to, you know, I mean, um, not all the ULFs here are bad. It's...weird here."



" So much better, very polite," Buffy said shaking her head. "How about sending this plan back and trying on a new one?"



"Like w-what?" Tara asked hesitantly.



"We get tonight's patrol done and then figure out our next move," Buffy said with a smile. "Thinking our way through and not reacting. I'm still working on this thinking before doing, but the ouch factor is way better. Looks like a winner."



Tara just nodded.



"And as for weird and Sunnydale, this is about average," Buffy said with an embarrassed smile.



"Average?" Tara asked in a small voice. "Oh dear."







Free City of Odessa

SGenCorp Laboratory #3







Margaret Walsh peered at the monitor and nodded. The timetable fit her plans. She smiled at the thought of both candidates facing a new crisis at the end of their campaigns. The rhetoric and fear would be more than enough to sweep away any resistance to the return of more powerful government agency for internal security.



Forsythe would win, and this time she knew better. She wouldn't fight to be in control of the agency. There would be spectacular failures until she was begged to be the head of the new organization. Then she'd ask for more powers and she'd get them. The soft citizens would give away their illusions of freedom for safety. She knew what they needed.



She changed the site and looked at the tiny vials frozen in the locked cubicle. She smiled at the thought of Maclay and Rosenberg doing one last duty for their country. Their last act for her would be so much better than the growing movement against the Deviant Statutes. She fumed as a nearby technician's vidset showed WNN's coverage of a licensed march in New York. Yesterday's had been perverts, today's was foreign churches. She cringed at the images of nuns in saffron and in black and white.



Her country was in danger and the yapping fools on the vid refused to see it. She could see it here on the coast of the Black Sea, and she was going to save it.



"What about the standard method's production?" she asked her host. "How is our reserve tissue supply doing?"



The portly man smiled and brought up a view of a small garden and a tiny but tidy apartment. The wall around the Garden was two and a half meters tall, too high for the obviously pregnant woman in a chair in the garden to climb despite her evident health.



"Unfortunately we had to tell the peasant she was carrying fraternal twins," he said with a shrug. "She's becoming very protective about the product."



"She does know they're not hers?" Walsh asked. She was always amazed at the blindness of most people.



"She said it did not matter," he replied with a frown. "If she gets to be a problem we will simply eliminate her personality. The tissue sources will not be harmed."



"Good," she said shortly. "Those are the last I'm getting. I'd prefer full term, but I'll take what I can get."

[mollyig]

Tara using her empathy to try to help Xander overcome his fears. I actually like Xander here; he regrets that he never told Willow's Tara that he appreciated her. I also liked that when Halfrek arrived he instinctively stood in front of Tara.



Its understandable that Tara ran off, she was already so concerned about endangering Willow and the others. Glad Buffy was able to dissuade her. I did get a giggle out of Buffy lecturing on thinking before reacting!



Walsh I see is even more despicable than I'd previously thought. Evil woman.

Adding up the total of a love that's true, multiply life by the power of two
Indigo Girls

[Tulipp]

Wow, I have just caught up on a LOT of chapters, and it just gets more and more intriguing. I found the prophecy VERY reassuring; it suggests so much. There is so much going on here on so many levels...Riley and Beth (I love seeing their interactions, by the way)....Tara and Judith on the bridge....other Tara and Willow trying to get a sense of one another...Anya....Dawn and Xander and Buffy trying to get a sense of this new Tara.



I read through all this, these frenetic action scenes and the dizzying but satisfying pace with which you switch from one set of interactions to another, and frequently, I am slowed down by moments of real insight that ring true...with the characters and with me right now as I deal with season severed.



Things like this:

Quote:

---

"We didn't deal with it," Willow said gently as she touched her shoulder. "We never really deal with it.

---

And I get a lump in my throat and want so desperately for these Taras and Willow and Judith--in whatever plane, in whatever universe--to find one another. And at the same time, I see you bridging gulfs between other characters as well...Dawn and Willow, Xander and Anya.



Thanks.

***************

"Run, flee, maybe skedadlle. We're not here to engage. This is strictly recon." Willow, on season seven, in "This Year's Girl"

[Grimlock72]

I must say I'm really disliking Maggy by now. I'm not really sure that her world will ever be nice to live in for Judith&Tara though, lesbian/gay love being outlawed and such. Maggie is just a power-hungry psycho, hmm... thinking about a certain season4 episode, can newWillow knife her? Wouldn't be a big loss to the world.



Don't really know what's she planning with those two babies, cloning Judith and Tara perhaps ? That would explain both of their missions being sabotaged. But their starting at baby-level...that would take years. (and lots of conditioning of course, since Tara & Judith are born good ppl of course )



Heh... I can just SEE Willow storming into the house all worried about Tara.



Buffy lecturing anyone on thinking before acting, heheh...priceless. I almost like Xander in this fic, even though I really want to hate him. I understand most of Xander's reasons for what he did at the wedding, I just don't agree with how he handled it. Imagine that, I felt sorry for Anya...



Aaaaanywayz... I assume those gold-eagle thingies in the rescue-kit are money. Bit useless in current Sunnydale I guess . Probably lotsa other nifty/usefull goodies in that kit as well. I just hope they don't use up all the stuff before they can replicate it. (hey, I can dream can't I ??)



Grimmy

"You hurt Tara," Willow said too calmly. "The last one who tried that was a god. I made her regret it." -- Unexpected Consequences by Lisa of Nine

[CaptMurdock]

Grimlock: Double-eagles are gold coins, as in made out of gold (at least they were at the turn of the century). Even if they aren't valid currency -- legal tender -- the gold in them would get a nice price.



This story is great, not only the plot and themes but the characters. I wish Xander would express some of those regrets about Tara-prime in Season Severed...

______________________

"I love you all. I love you more than life itself. You're all f***ing mad." -- Ozzy as "The Dad," THE OSBOURNES.

[jixer]

Hello Kittens-



Well, this is going to be a shorter update than usual. Things got too big for one and way too complicated, so I'm taking it a bit slower and trying not to be too confusing.



Thanks for all of the replies and the good wishes. I am getting quite spoiled.



Thank you,



J

[jixer]

Hotel Kilo 2-2

Update # 22

Spoilers: Up through the end of Season 6

WARNINGS: Kitten Angst Advisory. This is after Season 6.





A Bridge





Tara had learned exhaustion had a different meaning here. Under the clear twilight sky that changed only when someone, from what she thought of as the living world, came to them exhaustion etched the very soul. She slumped to the bridge with Judith beside her in no better shape.



"We can't get through," Tara wailed softly. "We can't warn them."



"What about your Buffy, her dreams?" Judith panted.



"Slayer dreams are prophetic," Tara explained wearily. "They're not always clear."



"There has got to be a way!" Judith whispered shakily.



"No," a clear voice said.



Tara looked up, mostly out of instinct. She did not need to see this entity to know the power radiating from...her. The power before the witch appeared to be a woman with dark, aged skin and gray hair pulled back. She leaned on a cane. The cane was as the night sky, dark and full of stars that shifted as she moved slowly.



"There is no way now, Judith," she said firmly. "They may come here, they may not. There may be but one chance."



"What do we do, ma'am?" Tara asked with a small bow. Judith just stared wide eyed.



"If there is to be only one chance, what would you do for them?" she answered.



Tara thought for a moment as Judith tried to come to grips with the power in front of her. Tara met the old woman's bright eyes.



"My best," Tara replied with a sad smile.



"Then I suggest you be ready, both of you," she said with a nod. Then she was simply gone.



"She-I mean, any form-but, but-" Judith sputtered.



"Yes, all that and more," Tara nodded, then looked with concern at Judith. "Are you all right?"



"I'm fine, great, good to go," Judith said in a strangled voice.



"We need to know as much as we can about the futures," Tara said reluctantly.



"We've got to be ready for her, er, them," Judith replied softly. She looked away for a long moment. "They may come here just once?"



Tara just took her hand and held it as Judith took a while to compose herself. Finally she looked up at Tara.



"Let's get studying," she said with a forced brightness. "Our girls need us to be ready."



Tara just nodded. She kept her thought of if they make it back to us to herself, but she knew Judith was thinking the same thing.





Sunnydale California





Willow was the first to arrive, but only because she raced out of the car before Giles had it stopped. She saw Tara in her tactical uniform, sitting on the couch and looking embarrassed. The redhead let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding.



"Are you all right?" she asked breathlessly.



Tara looked up to answer her when the front door slammed open again. Xander barreled through, shaking and out of breath.



"Is she here?" he asked Willow. "I figured- oh, thank God. Are you all right?"



"I'm s-s-" she started.



"Is she here?" Giles called out from the open door, then he sighed. "Are you all right?"



"Guys!" Buffy said forcefully as she came out of the kitchen with a pair of sodas in her hands. "She's all right. Give her a minute."



"Yeah," Willow snapped. "Give her a minute. You are all right, aren't you?"



"I'm fine," Tara said softly. "I'm s-sorry I frightened all of you."



"Just don't, you know, do it again, okay?" Willow said with a tremble in her voice. "I mean, this is a dangerous place and you might get hurt, I mean hurt worse, the bad kind of hurt and I don't want that to happen to you."



" We don't want that to happen to you," Xander added, then he looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "It's kind of early for Halloween."



"I'm afraid that's not the answer, Tara," Giles said as he sat down. "You can't get Anya back on your own."



"I know that now," Tara said looking at Buffy. "S-somebody explained that to me."



Tara didn't understand why Giles suddenly wiped his glasses. They hadn't seemed dirty. Willow sat down next to her and Buffy handed her a soda. Tara knew they weren't angry with her, they were worried for her, not her as a replacement for their lost Tara, just herself. It was almost frightening to have these people she'd just met be so concerned for her. She caught a glimpse of a framed picture of their Joyce on an end table. It wasn't the first time she'd felt this way.



"Why is the door open?" Dawn asked with a puzzled look. "It's a bit early to taunt the vampires."



Tara felt a sudden wave of resentment from the teen. She was puzzled until she realized all of the others were clustered around her. Dawn stormed up the stairs. Buffy sighed and turned but Giles put his hand out and took hers. She looked at him with a plea in her eyes.



"You four plan this evening's patrol," he said gently. "I'm not feeling up to it tonight."



"Thank you," Buffy whispered.



As Giles climbed the stairs Xander looked at Tara's stricken expression and Buffy's weary stance. Willow looked at both of them worriedly. He didn't understand a tenth of what was going on, but he knew the shy girl could feel things, and not just good things.



"Why don't we plan over pizza at my place?" he suggested too brightly.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Dawn sat on the edge of her bed and stared at a picture of herself and Tara. Her Tara, the proper one, the one she'd found cold and dead just months ago. She hadn't looked at the picture for just as long.



"You said you'd always be there for me," she whispered to the smiling young woman in the picture. Something brushed against her leg. Dawn reached down and picked up Miss Kitty.



"It wasn't her fault," Giles said quietly. "Wasn't yours either."



"I know," Dawn said tiredly as she looked up at him. "Giles, what's wrong with me? I know she didn't want to die. And this one, she's, she's-if I found Miss Kitty hit by a car and I found another black and white cat that looked like her later wandering..." Dawn struggled for control. She stroked the cat and went on. "I wouldn't expect her to like a certain catnip mouse or know my old cat's tricks, if she ever learned any. I'd just take her in and take care of her, wouldn't I?"



"Yes, you would," Giles said sitting by her. After a long moment he said, "I heard about the birthday party and the wish."



"You had to leave," Dawn said steadily. "And then you had to take care of Willow."



Giles nodded and looked at the picture. It was a snapshot, taken outside by coats and bushes in the background. On the floor in front of Dawn he saw Joyce's old jewelry box sitting open with a teen-aged girl's treasures showing. There were two other photos of them together.



"You didn't cry at the funeral," he said softly.



"Willow was almost hysterical," she said flatly. "You and Buffy had your hands full. Xander and Anya were miserable already."



"So you were brave for them and held it all back," Giles observed. "And Buffy's had a rough time of it of late, so you keep holding back. Then she shows up. You've already lost Tara twice and you never mourned her the last time."



"I can't," Dawn said raggedly as she fought a losing battle against tears.



"You can't mourn her and you can't accept this one because then the real Tara won't come home," Giles said looking away.



"She isn't coming back, is she?" Dawn whispered with a resigned sureness that told him she already knew the answer.



"You don't have to be brave for me," Giles told her.



"Yes I do," Dawn said shaking as she held back the sobs that threatened to escape. "You're hurting too."



"I'll heal," He said as he circled her with his arms.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



"The United States of the Americas, the Pacific Confederation, the North American Commonwealth and you still had pizza?" Xander asked in wonder.



"Maybe pizza is a cosmic food," Buffy said as she bit into a slice.



"Pizza as a universal constant," Willow observed brightly. "Maybe it's the key to a working unified field theory."



"I think Dempsey and Chung w-would have something to say about that," Tara said with a smile. The smile faded as Buffy and Xander looked at her with quizzical expressions. Willow at least looked suddenly animated.



"Do you have a unified field theory?" Willow asked eagerly. "Well, not you personally but where you came from? A real one?"



"They were still debating the last part w-when Judith...w-when Judith and her old advisers w-w-worked on closing the nexus point," Tara explained carefully. "I didn't really, you know, follow much of what they said when they..."



"Oh, well," Willow said with a sigh. "I don't suppose it was something simple and catchy like E=MC squared or other classics."



"It kind of took up four black boards and a computer," Tara said with a wince. "S-sorry."



"Stupid physics," Willow pouted.



Tara took a deep breath and held it until she looked at Buffy and Xander. Then the three of them dissolved in laughter.



"What?" Willow asked petulantly.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Dawn stood up shakily and brushed her hair out of her eyes. She looked at Giles, then looked away until he had dried his own tears. She took a deep breath and bent over the jewelry box. She put Tara's picture in gently and closed the lid. She touched the top gently. As she put it on the dresser.



"I'll always have a place for you in my heart," she whispered. She turned back to Giles and met his eyes. "We need to call the others and find out where we're patrolling," she said steadily. "And I need to let Buffy know I'm okay."



"Patrolling?" Giles asked carefully.



"Yeah, you know, walking tour of Sunnydale's most occult spots, all the vampires you can stake," she replied with a small smile. "You wanted to go and check out...Tara and her equipment."



"Eavesdropping is a very bad habit," Giles said sternly.



"I just happened to over hear you like once," Dawn protested.



"Are you okay?" Giles asked more gently.



"I'll get there, besides," she shrugged. "I feel a lot safer with all of you around. Being alone in the house is creepy."



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



"Are you sure this is your SOP?" Tara asked hesitantly. "I wouldn't want to put you out."



"We're not wet," Buffy said wrinkling her brow. "Or on fire."



"Standard Operating Procedure," Xander explained.



"How else would you patrol on a cold fall evening?" Willow asked as she picked up her mocha from the counter of the Espresso Pump.



"Yeah, we might get frostbite," Dawn added, then she glared at her cup. "Why do I have to have a decaf mocha?"



"Because you have class in the morning," Giles pointed out.



"Thanks for reminding me about summer school," Dawn groused.



"You will need to get to sleep sometime this evening," Buffy added as Dawn rolled her eyes.



Tara listened as she sipped the hot drink. The girl wasn't as raw inside, but she was still a veritable minefield of emotions. Tara wondered briefly if she should help her, but decided rapidly against it. It seemed it would be like juggling knives and balancing a porcupine at the same time.



"Are you worried about her?" Willow asked quietly.



"Yes, " Tara said quietly as she wondered if it was right to talk about the girl and her emotions to another person.



"I wouldn't want to be an empath around a teenager," Willow said with a shake of her head.



"Cat?" Karli called out of the crowd. Willow put on a brittle smile as the brunette strode over to them with her eyes firmly on Tara.



"Cat?" Dawn asked Buffy with a thoughtful look. Buffy shrugged her shoulders.



"Cat, we have to talk, and soon," Karli said looking uneasily at Willow and the rest of the Scoobies. "Could I borrow you for just a moment?"



"We w-were just going-" Tara started as Karli smiled at Willow with an equally insincere smile and took Tara by the elbow. She edged them away from the only people Tara knew here.



"Cat, weird things happen around those people," Karli said quickly. "If Tara hadn't gone back to that bunch she'd still be alive. I would have been much better for her."



"Karli, I'm not, you know, with them, any of them, not like that," Tara said nervously. "Bad things happened, um, at home. I learned to take care of myself."



"You're not with Rosenberg?" Karli said with a relieved smile.



"No," Tara said roughly and turned away. Karli was taken by surprise by her move and waved at her retreating back.



"Call me," she yelled.



Willow and the rest saw her face as she returned. Dawn looked angrily at the waving girl.



"My sister can beat her up if you want," she said angrily.



"For free," Willow added.



"Thank you, but no," Tara said tightly. "Can we go?"



"Are you all right?" Willow asked worriedly. "If she said something I'll, I'll-"



Giles looked at her and crossed his arms. Willow deflated.



"I'll deal with it in a non-violent and non-magical way," Willow said shakily. "I'm okay."



"I'm s-s-sorry," Tara started.



"Wasn't your fault," Dawn said still angry. "She used to but in on our movie and milkshake nights too. Bi-ad person."



When Buffy looked away Dawn mouthed the word 'bitch' at Tara. Tara nodded and gave the teen a weak smile.



They started to move off down the street. Tara sensed a trio of vampires and the unnerving presence of a large demon with a taste for meat of any kind. She told the group where she felt the presences and the Scoobies made very educated guesses about the actual locations of the monsters. As they made plans Dawn came up beside her and matched her pace.



"Why Cat?" Dawn asked. "Is Catherine your middle name?"



"No, it's s-short for Mama Cat," Tara explained.



"Because you raised orphaned kittens?" Dawn asked quickly with a smile.



"Yes, their mother was run over by an Army truck," she said with a sad smile. "They were too young to be weaned. I didn't lose any of them."



"Cool," Dawn exclaimed. "Where are they now?"



"They're living in a veterans' home and being spoiled," Tara replied with a smile. Dawn nodded.



"That's a good ending, Cat," Dawn said easily.



Tara noticed there was an easing of tension in the girl. At least towards her. But as they got close to the cemetery where she felt the vampires everyone had become much more alert. Tara looked around for police cars and then pulled out her weapon. Dawn faded back quickly.



"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Giles asked uneasily.



She just nodded as Buffy went over the wall with the grace of a dancer. The rest of them followed with less grace except for Dawn. Tara took the point as she narrowed her focus to a single vampire. But as she closed the other two vampires closed also.



"They're getting together and coming up in front and on both sides," Tara said tightly. "About fifty meters. They're rushing!"



She had a quick view of a fast moving humanoid figure. She sighted and pulled the trigger. The weapon bucked, the crack of the faster than sound bullet echoed off gravestones and the vampire stopped and flinched.



"OW!" it bellowed. "That stings!"



Tara ducked as it leapt at her and tried another shot. The vampire snarled and limped for a second.



"I'm making yours slow," he hissed and spread his arms. Then an axe stopped his threat display as it passed through his neck. Tara looked over to see Giles rubbing his shoulder.



"I'm going to have to go to a lighter axe or lift weights," he said with a sigh.



"It-it-it," Tara said as she looked down at her pistol.



"I was afraid of that," he said gently. "I fear it's back to the drawing board."



"GILES!" Buffy screamed from nearby. "It's Dawn!"

[mollyig]

Glad Giles was the one to talk to Dawn. He didn't offer platitudes, he just let her talk, which is what she needed. She seems better able to cope with Tara's presence now, which will ease the burden from Tara as she won't have to feel so much of Dawn's pain.



I thought Willow's interest in the "unified field theory" was so typical of her.



So Tara's gun doesn't work any more. I'm sure there's some scientific reasoning for it. I think it will please Willow though that it won't be used again.

Adding up the total of a love that's true, multiply life by the power of two
Indigo Girls

[TromDeGrey]

Hmmm, what's up with Tara's weapon? And I'm pretty lost with the whole Anya vein. Basically, that means I'm LOVIN' this story! Update soon I hope!!

The ultimate lesson all of us have to learn is unconditional love,which includes not only others but ourselves as well." -Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

[jixer]

Hello Kittens-



I'm just going to say thanks for your patience. I'm still not sure I broke the story in the right place, but here goes.



For some reason the old line "Fasten you seatbelt, this is going to be a bumpy flight" comes to mind.





Thank you all for your time,



J