Summary: In the past two years since Glory's defeat and Buffy's death, Tara's feelings for Spike have  developed into something she never imagined she could feel for a man, and she resigns herself to mooning  after the vampire. However, one winter morning, she discovers that things have taken a change for the  better...and stranger... Set in an AU post-S5 world. Spike/Tara. *COMPLETED, December 2003 - January 2004* NC17

Author's Note: A Merry Christmas to Jypzrose! Sorry I couldn't get this finished before Christmas, but lookee! I'm writing a short Spara mini-series! This story is entirely Jypz's fault, of course, for writing and reccing such damn good Spara and making me want to write it, too. So all blame can be put strictly on her. ~_^ This story is set in a world where Buffy stayed dead after 'The Gift', and the Scoobies continued to fight the good fight without her. Hope you enjoy as it's my first Spara attempt...

“Watch out, dove!”

Tara looked up just in time to see a ball of fiery magical energy heading straight for her. Before she could duck, Spike had followed up his warning with a lunge and his weight crashed into her, sending them both tumbling to the dewy cemetery grass.

Spike had somehow managed to twist their bodies in mid-air so that he landed on the bottom, and Tara let out a startled gasp when she suddenly found herself atop his hard, lean, masculine body. A mental voice which sounded oddly like Willow reminded her Gay now! even as her body responded to his touch.

And then their opponent struck at them once more, and Spike quickly rolled them over, pulling her along with him behind a nearby crypt. And this time he came out of top, using his body as a shield for hers.

Tara knew that there was a big fight going on – apocalypse big. She knew that she was needed and that she didn’t have time to dwell on such trivial matters. But she’d only felt a man on top of her once before. That had been back home, one of her brother’s cruel friends, who’d decided one day that he’d have a bit of fun with the “cow.” She’d screamed and struggled and had been eventually forced to use her magic against him. Her father and brother’s response had been to call her whore for tempting poor Jimmy and to punish her with more chores for having done “the devil’s work” in using magic. So it wasn’t really a big surprise that she’d been turned off of men early in life. Now, however, she was discovering that some of the less-fair sex were quite comfortable after all…

“You all right, luv?” Spike’s whispered accent sounded like honey in her ear, and he pressed down even tighter against her when another blast struck the crypt that protected them, sending flying shards of stone in their direction.

“F-Fine…” Tara managed to gasp out. In truth, she was more than fine. She’d never imagined that she could feel pleasure from touching a man’s body, but Spike was hard without being sharp, heavy but not crushing, strong and powerful but always so tender…at least, with people he wasn’t trying to kill.

Sensing that their attacker’s attention had turned elsewhere, Spike rolled off Tara and peered around the corner of what remained of the Amberson crypt. Their Velatrix Demon had gotten caught up in a hand-to-hand battle with Rona – the newest, if not best, Slayer. That meant that the nasty projectile magic was gone until the Slayer lost her distracting power.

“’m going in,” he turned back to where Tara was just now shakily rising to her knees. “See if I can buy you more time to get that neutralizin’ spell done.”

Tara nodded and leaned against the remains of the stone wall beside him, a pang of anxiety resting deep in her stomach. Those pyrotechnics were powerful. If Spike got hit – which he most likely would, given his foolhardy plan – he’d be dust in an instant. She squeezed her eyes shut tight for a second to fight back frightened tears.

“You ready?”

Her eyes snapped open at the nearness of his voice. He face was only a few inches from hers, his deep blue eyes looking into hers intently. A thought flitted through her mind: This might be the last chance you ever get… Her eyes dropped shyly to his lips, and she hesitantly leaned forward…

And the sounds of the fight caused him to snap his head to the side, completely missing her intentions. “’m off,” he whispered before he leapt back out into the line of fire, leaving Tara panting and cursing at herself for the missed opportunity.

Pushing aside the thoughts, as she’d become so skilled at doing over the past months, she sat up in a lotus position, closed her eyes, and put herself into a meditative trance. Concentration was difficult what with the explosions and cries that sounded all around her, but Tara managed to find that deep, quiet place inside her and gently embraced it, feeling a sense of calm take over her body. Slowly, she reached out, feeling the earth around her first, sensing life and taking comfort from it. Carefully reaching further, she found the combatants, brushed lightly against their awarenesses as she sought out her target. For one brief moment, her mind and Spike’s met in a brief caress, and she almost cried aloud at how right he felt against her… She wanted to stay there, with him, forever, but she had important work to do, and…

There! She found the Velatrix Demon and eased her own magic through its shields, like a wedge in a door. She applied gentle, repeated pressure, building up an opening in the shield. It was a painfully slow process at the moment, especially when she felt Spike’s telepathic scream of pain, but the demon never spotted this most gentle of attacks. Several small nudges – more suggestions, really – and the shield snapped open, and—

Tara barely had time to pull back before the dark, powerful magic struck. She quickly retreated back into her own head, her shields at their highest as Willow bombarded their opponent with every dirty trick she knew. Tara heard the beast’s final cry of agony as it melted under the white-hot waves.

As she gasped for breath, mind contracted to shield herself from the pain, she could have sworn there was one moment of complete, perfect silence. One of those moments of clarity that come only so often in a lifetime. She rose to her feet shakily and spotted Willow gasping in agony, held up by Xander and Anya. And she felt sorry for her former lover. But, for once, there was no pang of hurt as she looked at Willow.

The darker magics that Willow now commanded had been what had initially broken them up. Tara had felt the danger in them and, indeed, Willow had strayed more than once. But Willow was still fighting for the right side, so Tara had been unable to figure out just what kept her away from her fellow witch for so long. But she’d just felt it now.

Their magic was…different now. Not compatible as it used to be. They’d grown apart, Willow to the casual dating scene of UC Sunnydale and Tara to…

In marked contrast to her sympathetic wince at Willow’s pain, Tara swore she felt her heart stop for an instant when she saw that Spike was injured. Breaking into a run, she was at his side in an instant, just as Rona reached him as well.

“What happened?” she asked the Slayer anxiously, pulling the handkerchief from her pocket and dabbing at the blood on Spike’s brow.

He groaned and tried to push her away. Never one to be pampered. When his eyes flickered open and he recognized who was doing to wound-tending, however, he gave it up. No use protesting when the Good Witch wanted to make things better, he’d long ago realized.

“He caught the tail-end of that thing’s…tail,” Rona explained, helping Tara to lift Spike to a sitting position. He gave her a dark scowl, and the young Slayer instantly backed off, leaving him to Tara’s tender mercies. “That was one huge mother,” she added, shuddering slightly.

“You’ll find bigger’n that,” Spike retorted with an irritated scowl that only a good head hit can bring on. “Best learn not to fuss ‘bout the size of your opponents.”

“Yeah,” Rona sounded less than enthused, “I’ll be sure to do that.”

Tara gave Rona a sympathetic smile for what the poor girl had to put up with in having Spike as a trainer. Rona gave her a wink in response before going over to help Willow. At least the Watcher-in-training accepted help when it was offered, unlike certain pigheaded vampires.

Tara sighed at that and slung Spike’s arm over her shoulder, even though that vampire healing already miraculously made him able to walk without trouble. She knew only too well that he was faking it, though, pretending to be better off than he actually was. She’d only seen him do it a thousand times.

“My car’s parked in the east lot,” she commented softly, guiding him from the battlefield.

He snorted at that but offered nothing else.

Tara bit her lip. He’d been known to put himself intentionally in danger in the past. And, while his recklessness had lessened over the past two years, she still couldn’t bear to think that he still wanted… “You need to be more careful,” she commented, almost to herself, as she left to him enter the passenger side of her car by himself.

He let out a little grunt. “Not gonna abandon my Bit,” he promised with a sigh, watching her profile as she started the car.

All too aware of his gaze, Tara kept her expression neutral. She couldn’t help but feel a pang of disappointment deep inside, however. He’d never pretended that he had any other reason to live but to keep his final promise to Buffy to protect Dawn. Two years later, he was still keeping that promise…

And, of course, it was all Dawn’s fault that Tara was in this predicament in the first place. In fact, she had composed a neat list of the Top Five Things That Dawn Did To Make Me Fall In Love With Spike. Dawn thought the list was hilarious. Tara was amused by it as well, although she felt a pang of sadness at how Willow-like the list was. Sometimes she longed for the days when her life had been simple, and she’d been a lesbian witch in love with another lesbian witch. And it was quite a testament to how bizarre romance was on the Hellmouth that that was an easy relationship…

“Just take me to the crypt,” Spike broke the comfortable silence that had settled between them. “Don’t wanna worry my girl.”

Tara shook her head at that. “You know she’ll be over first thing in the morning with bandages,” she teased lightly.

A distant, fond smile lit up his face. “That’s my Bit,” he agreed proudly.

Tara turned down the appropriate street to Restfield Cemetery. She was sure Spike could hear her heart pounding a mile a minute and – while she was at it – he could probably smell her excitement at being alone with him as well. Neither of these were good things, given that he was a vampire in love with a dead woman. In order to distract herself from this hopelessly embarrassing situation, she quickly ran over the list in her head again, ready to give Dawn a mock-lecture as soon as she got home about pointing out the sexy features of taken vampires.

1) Dawn had Spike for a de facto guardian.

Ever since Tara had become Dawn’s legal guardian after Buffy’s tragic death, this meant that Spike would spend hours in the evenings in her home, hanging around and spending time with Dawn. Thus, it was Dawn’s fault that Tara had first learned to see Spike as a person with real feelings, rather than just a neutered vampire.

And no one in their right mind could see the tenderness with which he treated his “li’l sis” and not feel their heart melt just a little bit…

2) Because Dawn was Spike’s nearest and dearest friend (and, to be honest, Tara had to admit that she was his closest friend after Dawn…), whenever Spike was injured, he inevitably turned to the Maclay residence for help.

This meant that Tara had stripped Spike out of virtually every item of clothing he wore, bathed nearly every inch of his body, and cared for him when he was at his weakest and most vulnerable. In particular, he’d gotten in a rather nasty scrape with a dozen or so demons the week after Tara had finally called it off with Willow for good. It really wasn’t healthy for a girl to be contemplating her newly-found singleness while bandaging and tending to one of the most beautiful male bodies in the world.

And he was beautiful. Even when she’d still insisted she was firmly gay, she’d allowed herself to appreciate his body abstractly. The way she would appreciate any fine work of art. The fact that this particular work of art moved and breathed (although only when he chose) and felt only made her heart melt faster her when those passionate blue eyes focused on her…

3) Supposing she’d managed to remain thoroughly oblivious to his looks while she cleaned him up, it was rather impossible to remain oblivious to his charms when Dawn pointed them out every five minutes.

In retrospect, Tara guessed that Dawn had caught a couple of Tara’s more appreciative looks at Spike’s body and had played off of the interest she saw. Actually, it wasn’t unlike the way Dawn had reacted when Spike’s interest in Buffy had become apparent. One parental figure develops feelings for the other… What teenager in the world wouldn’t start pushing for a full family life, complete with her ‘parents’ finally getting together? Especially after the trauma Dawn had suffered after her own parents’ divorce.

Two long summers had been spent now, girl-talking the night away. Tara was convinced they’d examined every inch of Spike’s body in their more lustful talks, and somehow Dawn had managed to steer every conversation so that Tara came away wanting nothing more than to taste every inch of that body. Typical questions like: “What’s more gorgeous: Spike’s eyes or cheekbones?” Or, “How good a kisser do you think the Spike is?” The ever popular, “Isn’t that thing he does with the tongue the sexiest thing in the whole world?” And, of course, “Doesn’t the smell of his shirts just make you want to lick him all over?” Those just didn’t help matters. And, inevitably, the conversations turned more and more towards Dawn posing a question and then Tara sighing for hours about whatever aspect of Spike they’d chosen to discuss that night. She still blushed sometimes at some of the naughtier things she’d said during those conversations…

4) But it hadn’t been enough for Dawn to get Tara to talk about how much she wanted Spike. Oh no, the conniving little Key had to start sending subtle little hints Spike’s way, too.

Dawn had decided that spring when they went shopping together that Tara’s wardrobe needed a bit of ‘sexification’. Tara had blushed at that, but some of the new outfits Dawn had suggested weren’t hideous. She’d even gotten herself a short, black leather jacket that Dawn had insisted she looked hot in. Dawn had then promptly made Tara model it for Spike, who had licked his lips and pronounced her “good enough to eat.”

Tara had always been under the distinct impression that men didn’t find her type attractive. She knew only too well that she’d never have a model’s build. And she just wasn’t the type that drew male eyes. But Dawn’s alterations had drawn Spike’s eyes more than once. And each time Tara had blushed and felt her heart beat just a little bit faster. Damn that clever girl and her clever seduction techniques, giving Tara even the slightest of hopes that Spike would ever…

Tara shook it off, earning a curious look from Spike. She waved one hand in the air dismissively, letting him know she was just thinking. Her cheeks tinged slightly that he’d caught her thinking about him. Not that he was ever far from her thoughts lately…

5) Dawn’s most evil campaign of all. The one where she secretly set Tara and Spike up on ‘dates’ and then left them alone together, hinting oh-so-not-subtly that Tara should make her move.

There had been that night when Dawn had invited Spike over for the kung fu movie marathon, only to slip out halfway through, leaving the two adults to keep each other company for the next three hours.

And then there had been Xander and Anya’s wedding where Dawn had practically shoved them into each other’s arms for the dance.

And, of course, the infamous ‘aborted lunch date’ where Dawn had agreed to meet with both of them at the corner coffeehouse for lunch and then had cancelled on them both so that they were left to eat with each other.

Not that Tara hadn’t enjoyed all three ‘non-dates’. She’d been afraid that she wouldn’t have anything to talk about with Spike at first, but then she’d discovered his interest in poetry and, well… Emily Dickinson had been thoroughly mocked by both parties, Keats had been analyzed from cover to cover, and Shakespeare’s sonnets had become a bit of a game with them, each trying to stump the other.

Tara had seen his heart and body before, and found them breathtaking. What she hadn’t realized was that there was a talented mind hidden beneath all that bleach and leather, as well…

“Thanks for the lift, luv,” Spike spared her a small smile when she pulled up against the cemetery wall that was just a quick jump from his crypt.

“You want me to come in and help stitch you up?” she offered, parking the car. She frowned when she noticed his forehead was bleeding again and quickly readjusted the makeshift bandage she’d made of her handkerchief. He squirmed slightly like he always did, and one hand caught in his hair to hold him steady while she examined him. She tried not to dwell too much on how soft it felt – like silver-spun silk…

“’S not bad,” he countered. “I’ll be fine.”

She bit her lip in disappointment. One of these days, she was just going to have to accept the fact that he didn’t go out of his way like she did to spend time together.

An unreadable expression crossed his face when she pulled back as if slapped, and an apologetic smile curved his lips. “‘O never say that I was false of heart…’” he began in peace offering.

She smiled shyly at that. “‘…Though absence seemed my flame to qualify’,” she countered.

He pouted and hit the dashboard playfully. “Bugger! There’s just no way you can know 154 sonnets…”

She laughed at his display. “Try me,” she challenged.

His eyes seemed to darken, and he leaned in for a moment so that he was dangerously close, and she could smell that musky Spike scent she’d come to love against her lips. “Might just try that some day, pet,” he practically purred.

Her eyelids drifted shut, savoring the moment, but then he was gone, shutting the car door behind him with a bang. Tara watched wistfully as he vanished over the cemetery wall before taking a deep breath and restarting the car.

It required all her focus to keep her eyes glued to the road on the way back to the apartment she shared with Dawn. She found that focusing on the mundane details could almost block out the memories that she’d been close enough to kiss Spike twice that evening. Stop. 30 miles per hour. School crossing. Slippery when wet. When are roads ever NOT slippery when wet? She wondered. And wasn’t Spike hot when he wet his lips right before—Argh!

She didn’t allow mental screams of frustration much, but then she’d never felt like this, either. He wasn’t her usual type – all primal sexuality, while she was more quiet and subtle – but being around him seemed to bring out the passionate elements of her personality. Passion she hadn’t even been fully aware she felt before…

With a relieved sigh, she pulled into her and Dawn’s apartment complex. The second floor light was on, indicating that Dawn was still up. Tara pursed her lips and checked her watch. Okay, so it was the last school night before Christmas break, and Dawn probably didn’t have to be all that awake for tomorrow. She’d let it slide this once…

When she entered the apartment, however, she was surprised to hear Dawn’s worried and slightly frightened voice on the phone. Dropping her keys on the table, she hastened to her ward’s room, frowning.

Dawn breathed an audible sigh when she saw Tara. Willow, she mouthed before turning back to the receiver. “Tara just came in. Here she is, bye!”

Before Tara could even react, the phone was thrust into her hand, and Dawn was leaping back as if the thing were toxic. Over a year ago now, Willow had had a little magical accident, and Dawn had come away hysterical and with a broken arm. The two had never really patched up their relationship after that, and Dawn had promptly chosen Tara as her guardian in the subsequent weeks.

“Willow, what’s up?” Tara asked anxiously. Had Willow been more hurt in the fight that night than she let on? Tara really hadn’t been paying too much attention to her ex, she realized guiltily…

“What took you so long to get back?” Willow asked instead, sounding a bit huffy about it. She’d been rather bossier around Tara ever since she’d finally given up on their relationship and had picked up other girlfriends.

Tara frowned and pursed her lips. “I had to drop off Spike,” she said simply. Dawn raised an eyebrow and gave Tara a little grin, causing the witch’s lips to twitch into a smile. “Now, what’s happening?” she demanded firmly.

“Xander and Anya are leaving.”

Willow’s proclamation puzzled Tara for a second. “Leaving…how?” she inquired.

“Leaving town, leaving,” Willow clarified. “Xander got a higher-paying job up in San Francisco, and they’re going to move away.”

Tara bit her lip. This was news, indeed. “What about Anya and the Magic Box?” she wondered.

Willow let out a bark of laughter. “It’s San Francisco,” she repeated. “Probably the biggest magic market on the West Coast. She’s already rented a store up there and everything.”

Tara sat down on the edge of Dawn’s bed, stunned by the surprising news. Dawn sat beside her and squeezed her hand, obviously moved by it as well.

“W-Well, good for them,” Tara smiled softly. “It sounds like a great opportunity, and they can start their family away from—”

“Did you not hear me?” Willow cut her off. “They’re leaving!”

Tara winced at the anger in the other witch’s voice. “Yeah, I heard you…” she began hesitantly.

“How can they just leave?” Willow began to rant. “I mean, this will throw all our patrolling plans into complete disarray! Don’t they understand that I need them here? They can’t just go away!”

Dawn winced in sympathy, and Tara gathered that this sort of wrath was what had had the teen so disturbed in the first place. Willow had turned into a bit of a control freak the past couple of years, and it got very trying at times.

“I-I’m sure we can manage without them,” Tara tried to soothe Willow. “It’s not like they ever did much of the fighting, anyway.”

“It’s not about that,” Willow brushed her words aside. “It’s about numbers and patrol routes a-and…” Her argument seemed to deflate with weariness. “My best friend’s leaving town and might not ever come back,” she finally admitted numbly.

Tara sighed at the glimpse of the Willow she had once loved. “I’m so sorry, sweetie,” she said sympathetically.

A sniff on the other end of the line. “I-I’m sorry I called you. I probably shouldn’t have, but…”

“It’s okay,” Tara quickly reassured her. “I’m always available to talk if you need it.”

“Thanks.” Tara could almost see the brave smile Willow was forcing on her face.

“Maybe you should just get some rest,” Tara advised. “It’s late, and I’m sure things will seem clearer in the morning.”

“You’re right,” Willow agreed reluctantly.

Tara fiddled nervously with the silver bracelet around her wrist. This was always the hardest question to ask. “You’re not going to try any magic, are you?” she blurted out nervously.

“Oh, god, no!” Willow insisted vehemently. “After that fight tonight? I’ll have a headache into next week. My nose is still bleeding.”

Tara sighed. “You really should lay off more,” she suggested.

A pause. “I leaned my lesson about memory spells,” Willow insisted. “I’m not going to try to change Xander’s mind magically, if that’s what you’re worried about.” There was a bit of irritation at her voice.

“I wasn’t worried about that,” Tara insisted. But deep in the back of her mind, she still didn’t entirely trust Willow and had felt the need to ask.

“Yeah, well, I know you have classes tomorrow.” Willow’s voice was now more distant, as if she’d abruptly remembered this wasn’t her faithful lover anymore. “We’ll meet tomorrow at the usual time in the Magic Box to plan?”

“See you at eight,” Tara promised.

“Right then, bye.”

“Bye,” Tara repeated right as the receiver went dead.

“She got mad when you mentioned the big mind-wipe spell, huh?” Dawn guessed, noticing Tara’s drawn features.

Tara nodded before shaking her worries off. It was Willow’s life, after all, not hers. “She can live with a good reminder every now and then,” she insisted, getting up to leave.

“Hey, wait a minute!” Dawn protested, a wicked little smile on her lips. “You’re just gonna leave without telling about this mysterious drive you gave Spike home?”

An equally wicked smirk curved Tara’s lips. It was so easy to think about this and not about the problems with all their friends. “It is almost one in the morning, missy,” she retorted in the Stern Mom Voice that always made Dawn laugh. “And you have school tomorrow. But, if you go to bed right now, I might be persuaded to tell you how close my lips got to those of a certain sexy and completely nameless vampire after I get back from work.”

“Ooh!” Dawn’s eyes widened at the scent of gossip. “Did you—?”

“Tomorrow,” Tara insisted before flicking off the light.

Dawn took advantage of the sudden darkness to stick out her tongue before humphing and lying down in bed.

“And I know you just stuck your tongue out at me,” Tara’s teased from the hallway with a laugh, before heading to bed herself.

With a yawn, she reluctantly walked past the oh-so-tempting bed and settled down in the magical circle she’d sown into her carpet. She’d found it was much faster to just have a permanent one at her disposal, especially on nights when she was this tired. She really was sorely tempted to head straight to bed, but she knew that if she didn’t do her meditation routine tonight, she’d end up with a headache as bad as Willow’s in the morning.

It took her longer to center herself that evening than it usually did. Weariness combined with all the stresses of the day made it well nigh impossible for her to allow her mind to go blank. When she finally succeeded, however, she felt her entire body relax as she fell into the rhythm of the world around her. Flickers of calm, green life brushed her consciousness, replenishing her strength and offering her their comfort.

And, before she realized what was happening, she felt herself drifting away into thought, finally able to process all that had happened during the day in her more composed state…

Willow’s getting too controlling again. Someone needs to give her another talk…

The group’s falling apart. I bet if Buffy were still here, Xander and Anya would’ve stayed…

Rona’s not taking to the Slayer role very well. If something doesn’t change fast, she might not make it…

Am I being too lenient on Dawn? Am I not enough family for her?

And, of course, the ever-persistent:

Goddess, I want Spike. If only he wasn’t still in love with Buffy…

And, in a moment of clarity, the common thread came to her: I can’t handle all of this. I’m not Buffy. I’m not a Slayer or a sister or a leader or a best friend or a lover. Why can’t I be these things and fix everything? If only…

With an abrupt start, she realized she’d drifted off right in the middle of her meditations. Shaking herself, she pulled back into her body and made ready to go to bed. It always shook her up a bit whenever that happened, and it wasn’t often. She knew it could be dangerous to let her mind drift like that while in a magical trance. Fortunately, all the forces she dealt with were benevolent. She shuddered to think of what would happen if Willow were to drift in a similar matter, given the magics she’d taken to.

Yawning and slipping under the covers, Tara flicked off the light and rested her head on the pillow. It had been a rather clever conclusion she’d come to, however. She’d never really thought of herself as envious before, but now she realized that Buffy had absolutely everything Tara wanted, even in death. It was a silly ideal, of course. She could never be Buffy.

But one image stuck clearly in her mind. Buffy had been beautiful in life, and that alone was enough to make Tara pale in comparison. But at that moment when Buffy leapt off the tower, the first rays of dawn catching her hair as she made the ultimate sacrifice of life and love… She had been breathtaking, a goddess. And more than even Buffy in life, Tara didn’t have a chance to compete with the shinning image of Buffy in death. Really, it was no wonder that Spike would always be in love with the former Slayer after a spectacular exit like that. Always Buffy’s and never hers…

And, despite the depressing turn of her thoughts, weariness fully overcame her then, and she drifted off into sleep.

Thus it was that she didn’t see the shimmer of green and white light spark into existence in the magic circle she’d just vacated. Didn’t sense the friendly spirit that approached her, surrounded her with its comforting glow. Didn’t hear the spirit’s thoughts as it watched her sleep.

Poor, lonely child, it reflected upon the thoughts it had felt from this kind creature while she was meditating. This will make things better for you…

A moment’s thought, and then streams of mystical energy flitted out into the night. One smoke-like filament drifted into Tara’s body, suddenly hardening her form, making her stronger, more warrior-like. A dozen or so other streams vanished through the walls, moving towards the necessary targets and effecting subtlest changes of memory, making this kind soul’s unspoken wish come true.

Asleep, the Scooby Gang were as oblivious as Tara as the changes took place, each of their minds refitting to the new reality. The sole outward sign of any change occurred in a dark crypt where an injured vampire was tossing and turning the night away in fitful nightmares. The green energy filtered into his body, and suddenly his thrashing stilled and instead a small smile lit up his sleeping features, and a moaned name slipped past his lips: “Tara…”

Satisfied with its work, the spirit gathered its forces once more. Be well, sweet child, its mind brushed Tara’s before, in a flash, it vanished, leaving a strange new world in its wake.

Hee. Oh, isn't this an interesting twist of fate? ~_^ I did little things like make Rona the new Slayer solely because she annoyed me the least of the SITs in S7. And I stuck Dawn front and center again. Whee, I love Dawn. She's such a great matchmaker. And, for all who are curious about where this will go, well, more's on the way soon. ^_^