THE BITCH CLUB

BY

KINETIC-KID

Rating:              NC-17 (XXX - Sex ??  Sex??  NAH!!!)

Disclaimer:       Definitely no money being made.  All characters belong to Joss Whedon and ME.  I own nothing except whatever characters I may make up for this story.  I just like to play with them - I promise to put them back after I’m done!!

Distribution:     Oh yeah, anywhere, anytime.  Just make sure I get credit and let me know where it is. 

Spoilers:           Pretty much everything - if you haven’t watched BTVS - why are you reading the fanfic???  J  This story is, of course, AU!!

Feedback:         Please, Please, PLEASE!!!  I live for feedback.  I get irritable and upset if I don’t get any and I might not continue writing.  Of course, if you don’t like the story and think it sucks you may not want me to continue!

Pairing:            F/T – Everyone else???

Auth Note:        Everything happened as is up to Tabula Rasa…  After that it veers off.  Or maybe does a serious hard right??  LMAO

Summary:         A redemption seeking Slayer released from prison.  An upset Wiccan decides to drown her sorrows.  Two different worlds collide, sparks fly, and an unlikely romance ensues.    

Chapter 1

Faith watches the blonde across the bar.  The woman seemed somewhat familiar, like she'd seen her before but not being able to place her, Faith dismisses it and continues to watch her down another drink.

Having been released from jail for good behavior and some help from the Watcher's Council, Faith had made her way back to Sunnydale.  She'd finally called Buffy a couple days after getting in, to let her know she was here, and not wanting to cause trouble, but figured the Hellmouth deserved to have the slayers here to defend it. 

Buffy had told her in no uncertain terms to stay away from her and her friends.  Shaking her head at the remembrance, Faith had finally contacted the Watcher's Council again, asking them where else they might need her, since she was persona-non-grata here in good ol' Sunnydale. 

When they'd said to stay put and try and help out without hopefully causing anymore tension, Faith had sighed, but done as asked.  They were giving her a monthly stipend that paid for her food and monthly bills, thankful she didn't have to worry about rent, since her condo was still hers and in working order.  Though she was working as a bouncer here at one of the lesser known bars, figuring Buffy and the gang would never come here, even if they knew it existed.

The Bitch Club was definitely not a mainstream bar by any definition and not well known.  It catered to a more... select group of women, and that was one of the reasons Faith's interest had been piqued by the blonde at the bar.  She definitely did not look like a person that would frequent this type of place. 

Frowning and going on her toes, Faith notices one of the regulars heading towards the blonde.  Watching intently as 'Zane' as she liked to be called practically runs her hands all over the woman while whispering something in the blonde’s ear at the same time.  Watching as the blonde shakes her head and reaches for another drink, Faith growls softly as Zane grabs the blonde by the hair, jerking her head back. 

Before she realizes it, Faith's across the bar and has Zane dangling from her hands.  "Leave, now."  Faith snarls in her face, watching the woman turn deathly pale and nod her head quickly.  Faith was paid well to make sure the customers weren't bothered that didn't want to be bothered and that any 'unsavory' types were kept out, meaning the vampires and demons.  All the regulars knew better than to cross her, or they'd end up waking up the next day with more than a hangover making their heads pound. 

Tara purses her lips as she narrows her gaze on the brown haired woman that had saved her from the overzealous Dominatrix.  Blinking to try and bring the woman into focus, Tara tilts her head, smirking as something clicks.  "Well, this is kinda different."  Tara slurs, even as she grabs her glass, downing another shot of whiskey.  "Comin' to the rescue instead of tellin' me I can't speak worth a damn."  Tara nods her head to the bartender for another shot.  "Thought you were more into the threatenin' end of things than the savin' end, Faith."

Faith turns in shock to the woman, her eyes looking at the blonde again, as her words circle around in her head, finally realizing that the skinny blonde woman was the young stuttering woman... Tara, yeah, Tara, that had been at the Bronze with Red when she was inhabiting Buffy's body in one of her worst ideas.

"Yeah, well, people change."  Faith huskily states, looking at Ginny, the bartender and shaking her head to giving the blonde any more to drink. 

"Got that right."  Tara nods her head hard in agreement.  "People that supposedly love you fuck up your mind, like Hell Gods didn't fuckin' scatter shit around enough.  People you consider your family don't want you to come ‘round no more, after all, the girlfriend rapin' your mind ain't nothin'.  Phhhttt...  What're a few memories here and there, right?"  Tara's words slur more even as she slowly starts to slide off the bar stool.

"Oh, shit."  Faith groans, capturing the blonde as she passes out.  Looking up at Ginny, she shakes her head.  "How much did she drink?"

"See that bottle?"  Ginny points to a half drank bottle of Jack Daniel’s Black Label.

"She drank half of it?"  Faith shakes her head at the woman drinking half a bottle of whiskey straight.

"No.  She drank half that bottle and almost a full bottle before that."  Ginny winces as Faith growls at her.  "Don't say it.  I know I shouldn't have served her, but she said she'd get a cab home, that she didn't own a car anyways."

"Fuck."  Faith groans, lifting Tara and moving her to an empty booth, settling the Wiccan as comfortably as she can.  "Where's Dan?"

"In the office."  Ginny answers quietly.  Curious as to the unusual display from their normally keep to herself, bad ass bouncer.

"Keep an eye on her, and make sure nobody fucks with her, or I'll kick their ass and yours."  Faith warns, her eyes glittering with anger before she turns and strides towards the office.

***

“Dan, I got a…”  Faith blinks and unconsciously looks towards where Tara is, though not being able to see the blonde.  “Someone I know, that is in a seriously fucked up state.  She’s down for the count right now, and I’d like to get her outta here.” 

Danielle looks up from where she’s doing the numbers for the week, somewhat surprised at Faith’s words.  The woman never having admitted or even acted like, she had any friends.  Faith had come across as the quintessential loner that didn’t need or want anyone.  Remembering when the ex-con had helped out one night when some… unusual people had tried to cause problems, prompting her to hire the woman on the spot.  Faith had been working with them for almost two months, and other than the dark-haired woman telling her that people didn’t much care for her, and that she was an ex-con with murder on her wrap sheet, that’s about all she knew of the woman. 

Setting down the pen, Danielle leans back in her chair and clasps her hands over her stomach as she considers the brunette for a few minutes.  Something about the woman had made her decide to trust her and hire her back then, and she hadn’t regretted the move.  Their problems in the bar had dropped to almost nothing and they were actually making more money than before, not counting the furnishings that they didn’t have to replace on an almost nightly basis.  Of course the beautiful dark-haired bouncer was a good portion of the draw, quite a few women, both bottoms and tops had tried their wiles on Faith, with no luck. 

Danielle had thought that maybe Faith wasn’t interested in the fairer sex, but she’d caught the bouncer checking out quite a few women at different times, and though Faith may not be strictly lesbian, she obviously wasn’t above playing in the pool, per se.  Looking up at the clock, Danielle notices it’s almost one o’clock and that they were only going to be open for another hour.  “Is Lane still here?”

“Yeah, we had a pretty full place, so she was stickin’ around just in case.”  Faith replies quietly.

Danielle gathers the paperwork, placing it in her desk before locking it to follow the bouncer out of her office.  “Be careful, and I’ll see you on Tuesday.”  Danielle curiously follows the dark-haired woman, to see who she cared about enough to make sure she got home with her own personal body guard.  Looking over the unconscious blonde, Danielle quirks an eyebrow, wondering what it was about the blonde that Faith sees as the woman gently shifts her out of the booth and places her carefully over her shoulder before looking at her.

“Thanks, Dan.  And thanks for the few days off, gives me a chance to take care of a few things around town.”  Faith quirks her lips, usually doing patrols after the bar closes, knowing Buffy will normally do patrols earlier, but wanting to try and get down in the warehouse district and the docks, knowing Buffy normally didn’t get to that side of town, and there was some rumblings of some heavy hitters coming into that area. 

“Be careful.”  Danielle looks pointedly at the woman, though they never discussed it, Danielle was aware of the creepy crawly happenings in Sunnydale, and with Faith around, the weird happenings didn’t seem to happen near as much around the bar, like they used to.

“I will.”  Faith nods as she strides out of the bar without a glance back, one arm wrapped around Tara’s thighs to make sure the woman doesn’t shift, while Faith silently prays that Tara doesn’t decide to get sick on her.

***

Faith sighs quietly, remembering she was out of coffee and was going to stop on the way home from work tonight to pick up a can.  Unconsciously patting Tara on the butt, Faith smirks and shrugs her shoulders.  “Still can, Jackson ain’t gonna fuckin’ care if I carry a woman into the store, probably won’t even fuckin’ blink with some of the shit he sees.”  Faith chuckles and turns at the next corner to put her by the corner store that was a couple blocks from her condo.

Nodding her head to Jackson behind the counter as the man buzzes her into the store, she heads to the right aisle, grabbing a large can of dark roast coffee before grabbing a couple bags of those small powdered donuts for breakfast.  Carrying the items up to the counter, she sets them down and pulls some money out of her pocket. 

“Hey, Faith.  Does that have a scanner code?”  Jackson smirks as he rings up the coffee and donuts, pointing the scanner gun at Tara’s ass afterwards.

“Probably couldn’t afford it, if it did.”  Faith chuckles and winks at the slightly older guy as she hands him a twenty. 

“She okay?”  Jackson questions seriously as he gets Faith’s change, before bagging her items.

“Yeah.  Her and Jack D got intimately acquainted tonight.  And I honestly don’t think this is something she’s used to.”  Faith allows a small smile to cross her face.  “She’s gonna be hurtin’ come the mornin’.”

“Try and shove some aspirin and a glass of water down her throat.  That usually helps me if I take it the night before.”  Jackson offers chuckling.

“Thanks, Jax.  I’ll see if I can get her to take it.  I’m just hopin’ she ain’t gonna puke all over.”  Faith frowns as she heads towards the door.  “Take care.  See ya’ later.”

“You, too, Faith.”  Jackson calls out as he buzzes the woman out of the store, chuckling quietly about how there was no telling what Faith would look like when she came into the store.  Or, now, possibly have dangling over her shoulder.

***

Faith takes the elevator out of deference for the woman still thrown over her shoulder, thinking the blonde probably wouldn’t appreciate the bouncing she would receive when Faith took the steps three at a time up the five flights.

Unlocking the door to her apartment, Faith quickly strides to her small kitchen table, placing the bag on it, before making her way to the bed, stepping up onto the dais, and gently easing Tara onto the bed.  Sighing quietly, Faith shakes her head at the woman, before going back to the kitchen to get a large glass of water and four aspirins. 

Setting the items down on the nightstand, Faith quickly unties the army boots, smirking at the sight before pulling them and the woman’s socks off.  Looking up at the cargo pants Tara’s wearing, Faith tilts her head.  “They ain’t gonna be comfortable to sleep in, but is she gonna be with it enough to even notice?”  Faith sighs quietly, before reaching up to unbutton and unzip the pants, gently easing them down the woman, frowning as she distinctly remembers the woman having curves before.  Plus the room in the pants makes Faith growl quietly at the weight the woman had obviously lost.

Placing the cargo pants over the back of a chair, she shrugs as she works on lifting the woman’s top up.  “In for a penny, in for a pound.”  Finishing stripping the woman of her underwear, Faith digs around for one of her oversized t-shirts.  Finding one, Faith gently eases it onto the woman, before sitting down beside her, gently patting her on the cheek.  “Hey, Blondie!  I want ya’ to take these aspirin and water, can you come back enough to do that?”  Getting a soft grunt and a light snore as an answer, Faith rolls her eyes.  Maneuvering the woman and pillows around, she props her up and grabs the glass of water, placing it to her lips and tilting it so the liquid hits her lips, smiling as Tara reflexively swallows.  Reaching over with her free hand, Faith grabs the pills and pulls open Tara’s lips, popping one of the aspirins into the woman’s mouth before tipping the glass to her lips again.  “Swallow the pill.  It might help ya’ in the mornin’.”  Faith explains to the unconscious woman, hoping she understands.  Getting a mumbled response even as Tara’s throat works, Faith opens the woman’s mouth, seeing the pill was gone, she pops another one in, chuckling quietly as she slowly works on Tara taking the pills and drinking the majority of the water. 

Lifting the woman up and cradling her against her with one arm, Faith pulls down the covers and settles her in the bed, covering her gently.  “Yeah, if they could see the bad assed, murdering slayer now, huh?”  Faith grumbles quietly, sighing softly down at the woman that had seemed so innocent and sweet when she had been such a bitch to her their one previous meeting.  Nodding her head to the fact that Tara had every right to be pissy to her, Faith heads to the refrigerator pulling out a beer.  Tossing the cap into the trash, she plops down on the couch and turns the television on, turning it down so it isn’t as loud before taking off her shoes and socks to get more comfortable.  Propping her feet up on the coffee table, Faith drinks her beer and flips through the television stations, not really paying attention to what’s playing as she thinks about what the blonde had said that night, wondering what the hell was going on around here for there to be such a change, and who the hell fucked with Tara.  Wondering silently if Red would do something like that, or if someone else had.

***

Tara groans quietly as she turns over in the bed, frowning at the feeling of the firm mattress, compared to the somewhat broken down mattress of her dorm room.  Inhaling, she realizes that the pillowcase doesn’t smell like her pillow, but more of an earthy, somewhat spicy smell to it.  Wincing as a shot of pain goes through her head Tara whimpers and lifts a hand to her forehead trying to remember what the hell she’d done the night before.

Slowly memories come back to her.  She’d run into Dawn out with a couple of her school friends, and the teen had pretty much shunned her.  After having been out of the Summers’ residence for almost four months, Tara had hoped the girl had forgiven her by now and possibly understood why she had to move out, but that obviously hadn’t been the case. 

Feeling upset and hurt, Tara had remembered the gay women’s club that some people had been talking about at one of those gay/lesbian mixers.  Deciding to give it a shot, Tara had arrived early, and after realizing it was an S&M club, she’d decided to say to hell with it and stayed.  Sitting up on a bar stool, she had spent the majority of the night getting royally drunk off her ass. 

Slowly dragging her hand down her face, she takes inventory of her body, thankful when she doesn’t feel any soreness or anything else odd, other than her aching head and questionable stomach.  Licking her dry lips, Tara slowly tries to drag one eyelid open, whimpering and closing it shut again as a streak of pain goes through her head. 

Deciding to continue lying here for a little while, Tara tries to remember what happened after she’d pretty much drank herself into a stupor, vaguely remembering some woman hitting on her briefly before someone had come to her rescue.  Rubbing her fingers gently over her eyes, Tara tries to remember what happened after that, having a gut feeling that she hadn’t been exactly nice to the person that had saved her, but for the life of her, she can’t remember what she had said or done.  Feeling a dip in the bed, Tara cautiously pulls her hands down and tries to open her eyes again.

“Maybe ya’ should try some more aspirin and water.”  Faith offers quietly, having heard the quiet groans and whimpers coming from the Wiccan.  “I don’t think opening your eyes is a good thing right now.”  Faith quirks her lip as a bloodshot blue eye tries to focus in on her, before the eyelid slides closed back over it.  “Here’s four more aspirin.”  Faith places the items in the woman’s hand.  “I have a glass of water here, with a straw in it for you to take ‘em.  After that, if you get to that point, maybe a trip to the bathroom and a shower or bath might help ya’ out some more.  I got ice for your head if ya’ want it, also.” 

Tara whimpers at the soft, husky voice talking quietly to her, easing the pills into her mouth and wrapping her lips around the straw that’s placed between her lips, sucking down the life giving fluid, her body feeling dehydrated.

“Want more water?  And do you think you can handle it with some ice in it?”  Faith questions after the blonde sucks down all the liquid in the glass.

“Please.”  Tara croaks out the word quietly, whimpering as she raises her hand to her head again.

“Want ice for your head, while I’m up?”  Faith heads into the kitchen area, opening the freezer to gently place some ice in the glass, allowing a small smile to cross her face at the woman who grunts out a quiet yes to her question.  Grabbing a dish towel, Faith grabs a couple handfuls of ice and wraps it up in the towel, before refilling the glass with water and heading back to Tara.  “Water or ice first?”

“Water, please.”  Tara mumbles sipping quickly on the water after the straw is placed between her lips again, licking her lips after she finishes the glass, starting to feel slightly less dehydrated.  Sighing quietly as a towel is gently placed on her forehead, Tara feels the person get up again and the water running as the glass is refilled.  Silently wondering who her benefactor is, Tara tries to open her eyes again, whimpering and closing them as the pain intensifies. 

“Might be best to keep ‘em closed for a while yet.”  Faith offers as she gently eases down, helping the woman.  When she stops at about halfway through the glass, Faith tilts her head.  “That all ya’ want for now?”

“Yes, thank you.”  Tara places a hand on the ice, shifting it slightly.  “Thank you for your help.”

“Yeah, well, it’s the least I could do.  I’m tryin’ to work on my karmic balance shit.”  Faith admits.  “Will the smell of coffee brewing upset your stomach?  I could really use a caffeine fix about now.”

“Go ahead.  Don’t worry about me.”  Tara waves her hand, surprised when she comes into contact with warm skin, realizing she’s touching the woman’s upper arm.  Gently squeezing the arm, Tara tries a small smile.  “Thank you, anyway, whoever you are.”

Faith snorts softly.  “Yeah, well, when you figure out who I am this time around, I don’t know if you’ll be happy, pissed or ready to fuckin’ run away.”

Tara frowns at the woman’s wording, really curious now as to who it is, the abrupt tones of the woman’s accent ringing a bell in her head, unfortunately the hangover wasn’t letting her connect the dots. 

“Try and go back to sleep.”  Faith pats Tara gently on the shoulder before standing and heading towards the kitchen to make a pot of coffee.

“I should probably go home.”  Tara mumbles, trying once again to open her eyes, whimpering as the sunlight makes her head hurt.

“It’s Saturday and nine in the mornin’.  You got someone waitin’ on ya’?  Or somewhere you gotta be?”  Faith questions softly as she opens the can of coffee.

“No.  No one waiting and nowhere to be.”  Tara admits, relaxing back into the bed, laying her arm over her eyes listening to the quiet sounds coming from the woman as she thinks about what the woman had said. 

“I don’t know what your stomach feels like, and I ain’t a cook, but I do have some powdered donuts I picked up last night on the way home.  Food might help out, if ya’ think you can handle it.”  Faith offers quietly as she waits for the coffee to brew, inhaling the rich, dark aroma, thinking nothing like an extremely strong cup of black coffee in the morning to get the motor revving. 

Tara whimpers as her stomach gurgles, not knowing if she can handle donuts or not quite yet. 

“Yeah, well, waitin’ might be a good thing for right now.”  Faith chuckles as she fills her large mug, turning to sit down at the table, sipping on the coffee as she looks across the room at the blonde lying in her bed.  Thankful the woman hadn’t gotten sick.  Opening one of the bags of donuts, Faith slowly works her way through the bag and the cup of coffee.  Watching curiously as the woman starts to shift on the bed.  “Need somethin’?”

“Unfortunately, the bathroom.”  Tara mumbles, frowning as she shifts to sit up in the bed, her head thumping harder.  Carefully feeling around, she swings her legs to the edge of the bed, surprised when she feels warm hands taking the towel from her hands and helping her to stand.  Cracking her eyes open again, they come into contact with warm brown eyes looking at her curiously.  With the contact the comments she’d made to the dark-haired slayer the night before come flowing back, making Tara groan loudly. 

“Come on, I’ll help ya’ to the bathroom.”  Faith offers as the blue eyes are hidden again.  Wrapping an arm around Tara’s waist, Faith finally just eases her up into her arms and carries her to the bathroom, having seen the flicker of recognition in the blood shot eyes before they’d been closed to her. 

Tara relaxes into the strong arms carrying her effortlessly to the bathroom, able to get enough of a ‘feel’ for the dark-haired slayer to realize the woman had changed a lot from the angry at the world woman that had been here before. 

Setting Tara down on her feet, Faith keeps her hands on the woman’s waist to steady her.  “Do ya’ want to take a shower while you’re in here, or do you just want to use the facilities and come back out?”

Tara raises a hand to settle on Faith’s shoulders to help steady her.  “If I fall in the tub and crack my head open, just throw me out with the trash, okay?”

“Nah.  Can’t do that, they’re startin’ to question all the bodies in the dumpsters around my buildin’.”  Faith jokes quietly, watching as a half smile crosses the blonde’s face.  Noticing Tara’s a little more steady Faith eases her hands away from her waist.  “I’ll be back in a sec.” 

Tara nods, and opens her eyes again, keeping them narrowed, thankful that the pain isn’t quite as bad as before as she watches the woman walk out of the bathroom.  Finally realizing she is wearing a shirt that she knows she wasn’t wearing the night before Tara looks down at herself, blushing lightly in realization that the slayer had obviously stripped her and placed the t-shirt on her. 

“Here.  If ya’ need anythin’ else, let me know.”  Faith sets down a couple clean towels, wash cloth, a new deodorant and toothbrush.  “There’s shower gel and shampoo and shit in the shower.”  Faith backs out of the room and shuts the door behind her, leaving a slightly bewildered Tara in the room alone.

Tara stares at the closed door, before her eyes land back on the items the slayer had gathered for her.  Slowly pulling off the t-shirt, Tara has to chuckle at the incongruity of the woman that the Scooby’s had talked about, compared to the woman being extremely nice, considerate and hospitable.  “Thanks, Faith.”  Tara calls out softly having a feeling the woman would probably hear her, before she uses the bathroom and starts the shower.

***

Faith listens intently to the woman in her bathroom, making sure she doesn’t fall and hurt herself as she finishes off the pot of coffee and decides to make another pot while eating half the other bag of donuts. 

Tilting her head as she hears the shower shut off, Faith sips on her coffee contemplatively, wondering what had happened in the two years she’d been in jail.  Obviously whatever she thought had gone on between Red and the blonde either was over with or never really got started.  Shaking her head, Faith grumbles quietly under her breath.  “Ain’t none of my business no how.  If they are together, aren’t together, never were.”  Faith shrugs as she downs the rest of her coffee and stands to re-fill her mug, walking over to the sliding glass doors, opening them to step out and walk to the edge, leaning against the wall surrounding the small balcony.

Tara slowly dries her hair with a towel, feeling about seventy-five percent better.  Looking at her blood shot eyes in the mirror, Tara groans quietly.  “Whatever possessed me to get drunk… and on whiskey at that?”  Tara slowly shakes her head, the item in question still throbbing before she reaches for a hair brush, silently debating before going ahead and using it.  Finishing brushing her teeth and putting on deodorant, Tara cleans up after herself and puts on the t-shirt she’d been dressed in.  Looking down at the t-shirt ending prematurely mid-thigh wondering what, if anything, the slayer had thought when she’d stripped her.  “Yeah, right, Tara.  Looking at your scrawny assed bag of bones is gonna turn anyone on, especially someone like her.”  Tara snorts in self-disgust as she steps out of the bathroom.

Faith smiles as she hears Tara come out of the bathroom and cautiously make her way through her apartment.  When she feels the woman stop at the doorway to the balcony, Faith cocks her head but doesn’t turn around.  “There’s coffee, orange juice, water, milk and the donuts.  You’re more than welcome to any and all of ‘em.  If ya’ just wanna crawl back into bed and see if a few more hours of sleep might help, you can do that, too.” 

Tara leans against the frame, tilting her head and closing her eyes to the sun warming her body.  “Why are you being nice to me?  I wasn’t exactly pleasant to you last night.”

Faith shrugs, sipping her coffee.  “I figured I had it comin’.  I wasn’t exactly nice to you the first time we met, either.” 

“Does the rest of the group know you’re in town?”  Tara questions softly.

“B does.  I called her to let her know after I got here a couple months ago.”  Faith answers quietly.

Tara blinks in surprise at the slayer’s admittance.  “You’ve been in town for a couple of months?”

“Yeah.  The Council decided it was best for me to stick around here, instead of sendin’ me somewhere else.  Got a feelin’ somethin’ big is gonna go down, and that’s why they’re wantin’ me here even though B don’t.”  Faith runs a hand through her hair as she finishes the coffee, slowly turning to look at the blonde.  “I didn’t escape, they paroled me.”  Faith explains, seeing the confusion on Tara’s face.

“I figured that.”  Tara blinks as she stares at the brunette, having her faculties in better working order she searches the brown eyes seeing calmness in the depths that wasn’t there before.  “You’ve changed.”

“Yeah.”  Faith nods her head, her eyes becoming distant.  “Spendin’ a couple years in a maximum security prison’ll do that to a person.”  Faith shrugs, thinking about the shrinks she’d talked to, the Council had sent in one of their people to deal with her, so she could talk without worrying about slipping up about demons and the like.  The two years dealing with them had been an eye opening experience on both sides.

Tara feels her body trying to drag down again, slowly easing her eyes open she looks at the slayer staring intently at her.  “Do you mind...?”  Tara trails off, waving her hand around.

“Make yourself at home.  I’ll probably be ordering somethin’ to be delivered for lunch in a couple hours, so if ya’ think you can handle somethin’ to eat, better put your two cents in now.”  Faith’s lips quirk slightly.

Tara unconsciously holds her stomach that had flipped somewhat at the thought of food.  “Not just yet.”  Tara shakes her head, watching curiously as the slayer’s lips turn up into a fuller smile, showing a hint of dimples. 

“Go lay back down.  I’ll fill up your glass with water.”  Faith offers quietly, watching as Tara nods her head and cautiously makes her way back to the bed, smirking at the sight of the woman crawling under the covers and pulling them over her head. 

“Thank you for obviously protecting me and making sure I was safe, Faith.”  Tara murmurs quietly, pulling a pillow to her chest as she slowly falls asleep.

Faith stops from where she was picking up the glass, staring down at the lump of covers that is the blonde, slightly shocked at being thanked, not remembering ever being thanked before for something she did.  Blinking a couple times, Faith turns around and steps off the dais to fill up the glass, replacing it on the nightstand before stepping back out onto the balcony, sitting in the lawn chair and propping her feet up on the wall as she thinks about the woman asleep in her bed.

***

Chapter 2

Tara slowly wakes to a quiet scraping noise.  Carefully lifting her eyelids, she sighs in relief as she can look without sharp pains going through her head.  Rolling over onto her back, she cautiously stretches, groaning quietly as she feels a hundred percent better.  Just a low throbbing in her head and that she can definitely deal with.  Looking curiously around the apartment, she doesn’t see her benefactor anywhere, but she tilts her head as she continues to listen to the scraping noise, figuring it’s coming from the balcony.  Throwing her legs over the edge of the bed, she smiles at the sight of a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt lying on the end of the bed.  Shrugging her shoulders, she grabs them and quickly strips off the top she’d been sleeping in and putting the fresh items on.  Quickly making the bed, she notices it has to be late afternoon from the angle the suns at.  Gently stepping out onto the balcony, she smiles at the sight of the slayer being covered in wood slivers as she sharpens stakes.

“Feel better?”  Faith glances up at the smiling blonde, stopping at the surprising sight of the twinkling eyes and unreserved smile.

“Much better.  Thank you, Faith.  Can I do something to pay you back for your hospitality?”  Tara questions softly as Faith goes back to sharpening her stakes.

“Nah.  We’re good, Blondie.”  Faith shakes her head, tossing the stake into a box, before grabbing another piece of wood.  “There’s a couple slices of pizza left in there, if ya’ want.  I can’t cook, and pretty much just pick up to go shit, along with the occasional soups and stuff that I can nuke.”  Faith explains as she points over her shoulder towards the table with the pizza box sitting on it.

Tara’s eyes shift to the box, before coming back to consider the slayer.  Running a hand through her somewhat tangled hair, Tara sighs quietly, turning her gaze out at the low hanging sun.  “What time is it?”

“Probably around four or four thirty.”  Faith glances curiously at the woman, seeing the contemplative look on the blonde’s face. 

“Does your stove work?”  Tara questions softly, turning to look at the slayer.  At the slayer’s cautious nod, Tara smiles softly.  “Are you going to be here for a few hours yet?”

“Yeah.  I was planning on heading out around eight tonight to hit the warehouses and shit, see what’s going on down at the business district.”  Faith blinks as Tara frowns heavily at her words.

Tara looks away from the slayer, knowing she’d overheard Buffy once mentioning that she didn’t go to the warehouses unless she had back up.  There were too many places for the demons to hide and surround a person, and it was the quickest way to end up being a dead slayer, again.  Tara’s jaw clenches at the thought that Faith obviously was going to go down there by herself.  “Is it okay if I come back?”  Tara turns to look back at the slayer.

Faith shrugs, and turns back to her stakes.  “Do what ya’ want.”  Faith mumbles, wondering why the blonde’s words made a shot of happiness shoot through her. 

Tara stares for a few minutes at the slayer, before sighing softly.  Gathering her dirty clothes, Tara heads to the bathroom to brush her hair and take care of the necessities as she plans out what she’s going to do.

***

Toting a couple grocery bags, along with her backpack, Tara juggles the bags and knocks quickly on the door to the slayer’s apartment.  Having done a quick inventory before leaving the apartment, Tara picked up a couple additional items from her dorm room before coming back. 

Faith looks up in surprise at the knock on her door, the first time that’s happened since she came back.  Cautiously opening the door, she stares in stunned surprise as the blonde woman steps in and heads straight towards her kitchen.  Slowly shutting the door, Faith turns back to watch as the woman sets the bags down on her table before pulling off her backpack and setting it in a chair.

“Do you like Mexican food?”  Tara questions over her shoulder as she starts pulling items out of her bags.

“Yeah.”  Faith watches curiously as items start going in the refrigerator while other items are put on the small counter beside the stove.  Curiously working her way closer, she watches as the woman pulls out a fanny pack from her backpack, setting it aside before grabbing out cookware and utensils. 

“Do you like it spicy?”  Tara glances up, smiling at the curious look in the slayer’s eyes, before pulling out some spices from the zippered portion of her backpack.  One thing she cooks in her electric skillet is stuffing for burritos. 

“The spicier the better.”  Faith’s eyes shift to watch as the woman organizes everything to her liking before putting a large skillet on her stove, turning the flame up before opening and putting what must be at least three or four pounds of hamburger meat in the skillet, separating it with a fork in one hand while sprinkling a small amount of seasoning over it with the other.

“I cheated and bought the pre-made burrito shells, but maybe if you like this, I’ll make it more authentic for next time.”  Tara offers quietly as she sets down the fork.  Grabbing up the vegetables to rinse and start chopping, slicing and dicing to go on the burritos, tossing them into containers and putting them in the refrigerator in between browning the seasoned hamburger meat.

Faith stares silently at the woman, shocked at how easily and quickly the woman goes from one thing to the other as she cooks and cleans up after herself.  As she drains the grease from the hamburger mixture into a cup and places the meat back on low heat, pouring more seasonings in it along with a little bit of water, Faith leans against the counter and crosses her arms, staring more at the woman, instead of what she’s doing.  “Why’d ya’ do this?”

Tara glances up at the slayer before shrugging her shoulders and continuing with the other odds and ends she needs to do for their dinner.  “I thought you might appreciate a halfway nutritious dinner, instead of take out.  Plus I wanted to thank you for what you did for me.”  Tara admits quietly as she starts pulling items out of the refrigerator and placing them on the table.

Faith frowns heavily as she thinks about the woman thanking her, and wanting to do something for her, the concept somewhat alien to the slayer with everything that’s happened to her in the past.  Not knowing what to do or say, Faith grunts quietly.

Tara gives the meat mixture one final stir, before turning the stove off.  Pressing the button on the microwave to warm a couple tortillas, Tara places the meat on the table on a towel.  Turning back to the microwave, Tara pulls out the burrito shells, tossing two of them on one plate and the third on another.  Setting her plate aside, she glances over at Faith.  “Is there anything you don’t like that I chopped up here?”  Tara questions softly.

Faith blinks and looks at the items and slowly shakes her head, watching as Tara fills the large shells and expertly flips up an end and closes them, placing the plate in front of a chair before fixing her own burrito.  Faith cautiously sits down at the table, picking up the fork, figuring the over-stuffed burrito shells wouldn’t do well with being picked up.  Watching curiously as Tara pours some salsa over top of her burritos and slides it towards her.  Sniffing the obviously homemade salsa, Faith smiles at the hot smell of peppers, spooning a small amount on a bite of her burrito testing it before grinning hugely and pouring more onto her burritos and digging into the spicy burritos enjoying them immensely.

Tara watches the slayer as Faith practically inhales the burritos, licking her lips and eyeing the meat on the table.  Grinning crookedly as the slayer scrapes up what little bit of mixture was left on her plate with her fork, Tara holds out her hand. 

Faith looks at Tara’s hand and then looks into laughing blue eyes.  “What?”

“Give me your plate, Faith.  I’ll make you a couple more.”  Tara chuckles quietly as Faith smiles and hands her the plate.  Taking a deep breath at the sight of the beautiful dimples flashing at her, Tara blinks to get her mind off the woman.  Standing up and throwing a couple more shells in the microwave, Tara runs a hand gently over her forehead listening as Faith slides her chair back.

“Do ya’ want some more to drink?”  Faith questions quietly as she grabs a couple more sodas out of the refrigerator.

“Some more water would be good.”  Tara pulls out the shells and turns back to the table, quickly fixing the burritos for the slayer, watching as Faith sits back down bouncing in her seat slightly.

“Thank you.”  Faith murmurs as she accepts the plate, licking her lips as she pours some more salsa on the burritos, frowning as she realizes she’s about wiped out the jar.  Looking up at Tara, she starts to open her mouth, but shuts it as Tara shakes her head and smiles at her.

“It’s okay Faith.  I have a couple more jars left at the dorm.  I was… am the only one that eats it.”  Tara settles back into her chair and slowly goes back to finish her burrito.

Faith bites her bottom lip, tapping her fork on one of the burritos as she considers the woman.  “Can I ask ya’ somethin’ that really ain’t none of my business?”

Tara has to smile at the woman’s phrasing.  “Go ahead, Faith.”

Faith taps her foot against the floor as she looks at the blonde.  “I thought you and Red had a thing goin’ on when I first met ya’.”

Tara looks away for a moment, as she thinks about that time, before slowly nodding her head.  “We were… sort of dating.”

“Nobody knew.”  Faith makes the statement, realizing as she thinks about that time, that the way Red had acted surprised when she’d seen ‘Buffy’ at the Bronze that she obviously wasn’t expecting her best friend to be there. 

“No.  No one knew.”  Tara shakes her head gently.

“How long?”  Faith slowly cuts a section of her burrito as she watches the emotions crossing the Wiccan’s face. 

“Before the rest of the group knew?”  Tara clarifies, and as Faith nods, Tara chuckles quietly.  “Altogether a couple months… after you about a month.”  Tara watches as Faith frowns. “You were the first person that knew.” 

Faith rolls her eyes.  “The rest of the group ain’t real quick on the uptake, obviously.” 

“We didn’t…”  Tara frowns as she thinks about it.  “For the longest time we didn’t really interact with Willow’s friends.”

Faith purses her lips at the telling words, wondering if the blonde knew how much she let slip with that simple statement.  “So, eventually you did interact with ‘em?”

Tara smiles sadly and slowly nods her head.  “Pretty much up until about four months ago.”

Faith stares at the woman, realizing that the blonde and Red had been together for roughly two years.  “What happened?”

Tara turns away, and runs a hand over her eyebrows debating on what to say, or how much to tell the slayer.

“Never mind.  Like I mentioned, I ain’t got no right to know, anyway.”  Faith backs off, frowning at the way the woman had seemed to pull away emotionally. 

Tara sighs quietly, looking back at the woman who’s eating her burritos and studying them intently, more than simple burritos deserve.  “She did something I couldn’t forgive her for, and I moved out.  We had moved into Buffy’s home to help take care of Dawn after Buffy had…”  Tara trails off, still hating to think about the time the slayer had been dead, and how hurt, angry and lost everyone had been.

Faith nibbles on her bottom lip as she considers questioning the woman further, but finally decides to leave it alone, taking a different tact.  “You know, most of the group would be warnin’ ya’ to get the hell away from me, don’t ya’?”

“Yes.”  Tara answers simply watching as the slayer finishes the last bite of her burritos. 

“I was a bitch to ya’ the first time we met, and yet you fixed me dinner and are sittin’ across from me like I’m a regular person, or somethin’.”  Faith leans back in her chair, sipping her soda, watching as a surprisingly sexy half grin crosses the woman’s face.

“Well, you might have been a bitch to me the first time we met, but you’ve been the complete opposite this time around.  Plus, I was the bitch this time.”  Tara frowns at the remembrance.  “I’m sorry, Faith.  I would blame it on the alcohol, but it was just me being in a pissy mood.  Anyway, I’m a grown up, and I think I can choose who I want to spend time with without the rest of the group telling me what I can and cannot do.”

“Yeah, you rattled off a few things.”  Faith murmurs softly, looking down into her can of soda. 

“I didn’t exactly leave under the best of circumstances.”  Tara looks at the meat left, figuring there’s probably enough left for two burritos, spread thin, or one very full burrito.  “Do you want another burrito?”

Faith unconsciously licks her lips as she looks at the food.  “Nah, why don’t ya’ take it home.  You can have it for lunch tomorrow.”

Tara chuckles quietly.  “I don’t have room in my little refrigerator for this stuff, Faith.  So, either I’m leaving it with you or I can fix you some more.”

Faith scratches her head, thinking what’s left would probably go down good after patrol tonight.  Standing up, Faith starts placing the lids on the containers.  “I think I’ll save it for later.  It was good, Blondie.  I miss having real food instead of pizza, Chinese and fuckin’ burgers all the time.”

Tara starts placing the items in the refrigerator, smiling as Faith takes the meat mixture and places it in a container, handing it to her, before placing their dirty dishes in the sink, running hot water over them as she squirts dish detergent under the running water.  “I know how to cook quite a few things.”

“Don’t tease me, Blondie.  I’ll kidnap your ass and chain ya’ up in here to have ya’ cook for me.”  Faith’s eyes twinkle as she looks at the blonde, though she tries to keep a straight face. 

“You could ask me to come over and cook instead, you know.  I enjoy cooking, and other than an electric skillet, a microwave and a two burner hot-plate, I don’t get much of a chance at the dorm.”  Tara grins crookedly as she dries the dishes and puts them away as Faith washes them. 

“Why would ya’ wanna come over here?”  Faith frowns slightly, wondering why the blonde woman would be willing to spend time with her.

“Why wouldn’t I?  Other than the somewhat bumpy start, I’ve come to the conclusion that you can be a very nice woman… when you want to be.”  Tara qualifies, winking at the slayer as Faith stares at her.

Shaking her head, Faith laughs at the woman’s comment.  “You’re gonna be bad for my rep, woman.  I’m a bad assed, murderin’ slayer.  I hang out with you they’ll think I’ve gone soft.”

Tara frowns and looks down at herself.  “Why would anyone think that?” 

Faith guffaws loudly as she looks at the serious woman.  “Look in the fuckin’ mirror, Blondie.  You’ve got little Miss Innocent down pat.  People look at you and see an Angel… they look at me, they see the reincarnate of the Devil.”

“Then people need to learn to look below the surface and see what’s really there.”  Tara whispers softly, looking into soulful brown eyes, seeing old hurts and pain in the slayer, but also seeing the calmness and the… acceptance to her life.  “Do you feel like company on patrol tonight?  I’ve come prepared.”  Tara unconsciously tilts her head towards the fanny pack hanging over her chair. 

Faith blinks at the quick change of subject.  “You ain’t gonna go with me on patrol, Blondie.  I ain’t gonna be responsible for you gettin’ killed.”

“I can take care of myself, Faith.”  Tara quirks an eyebrow up at the disbelieving slayer.  Tilting her head, Tara allows a small smile to cross her face.  “Did you ever learn how they found out you had switched bodies with Buffy?”

Faith shrugs and finishes washing the skillet.  “I figured B finally talked Tweed into realizing that I’d done a switch.”

“She was trying… extremely hard at the time.  But I was the one that detected it.”  Tara points out quietly. 

Faith frowns as she thinks about that time.  “I thought the way everythin’ happened that B and you hadn’t met before that night.”

“We hadn’t.”  Tara smirks at the confusion on the slayer’s face.  “I’m a Wiccan, Faith.  Or a witch, as the case may be, but I prefer the term Wiccan.  Your essence in Buffy’s body was all disjointed and not fitting properly.  Like a square peg in a round hole.”  Tara explains watching as the confusion becomes understanding.

“Yeah, well being able to see that somethin’ don’t fit right is a lot different from dealing with the fuckin’ demons on the Hellmouth, Blondie.”  Faith points out, her gaze narrowed.

“Levitate.”  Tara whispers, staring at the knife she’d just finished drying, floating it to the slayer.  “Imagine that being a stake.”  Tara sends it flying across the room to the dart board she’d noticed earlier, watching as Faith spins around to watch as the tip of the knife becomes imbedded into the bulls-eye of the dart board. 

Faith stares in stunned surprise at the knife vibrating in her dartboard, before she turns her gaze on Tara.  “Can ya’ do other things, too?”  Faith hoarsely questions, frowning heavily as Tara nods her head as she looks at her seriously.  Running a hand through her hair, she sighs quietly.  “I’d appreciate the help.”  Faith finally whispers, knowing she’ll have a better chance of making it out of the warehouses alive with someone helping her out. 

“Thank you.”  Tara nods to the slayer, keeping the smile off her face as she heads to the dart board, pulling the knife out before heading back to the kitchen area to finish putting up the cleaned dishes. 

Faith silently hopes that she doesn’t regret letting the woman go with her.  Knowing in her heart that if the rest of the group finds out that Tara had gotten hurt while with the ‘Dark Slayer’, that she could kiss her ass goodbye, whether she was to blame for it or not.

***

Chapter 3

“I’m fine, Faith.”  Tara finally growls at the slayer as the woman tries to practically carry her back to her apartment.  Rolling her eyes at the thought between the two of them, they had taken out one master vampire and about ten minions, for her to twist her ankle as they were leaving the warehouse.

“You shouldn’t be walkin’ on it.”  Faith grumbles, frowning as Tara limps on their way back to her apartment, it being closer than the dorm. 

“Well, you damn well ain’t carrying me!”  Tara smacks at the slayer’s hands again as she tries to pick her up.

“Ain’t the first time.”  Faith growls back at the Wiccan as she finally just scoops her up in her arms and strides towards her apartment.

“FAITH, DAMN IT!”  Tara yells, smacking the slayer hard on the shoulder, whimpering as she pulls her hand back, cradling it against her chest.  “Damn, that hurt.” 

“Don’t fuckin’ hit me, then.”  Faith smirks at the woman, her eyes twinkling.  “I gotta stop and get somethin’ to eat tomorrow for breakfast.”  Faith admits as she walks through the parking lot to the little market she usually hits on the way home. 

“You are NOT carrying me in there like this.”  Tara pinches the slayer on the arm.

Faith smirks, and shrugs her shoulders.  “I stopped in last night with ya’ slung over my shoulder, I could do it that way again, if ya’ want?”  Faith nods to Jackson as he buzzes them in.

Jackson chuckles as he looks at Faith carrying a blonde who’s turning beet red.  “Hey, this one’s conscious!”

“Same one, Jax.”  Faith smirks at the man as she heads towards the donuts again. 

“Don’t recognize her from that angle, only got to see her ass last time.”  Jackson leans on the counter, smirking as the blonde turns a deeper burgundy color.  “How’s your head?”

“Fine.”  Tara grumbles quietly, before continuing to the slayer as the woman juggles her gently.  “Put the fucking donuts down, Faith.  Then put me down and get one of those hand carriers.”  Tara smacks the slayer gently on the back of the head.  “Now, Faith!”

“Bossy bitch, ain’t ya’?”  Faith grumbles, dropping the chocolate coated donuts she had grabbed.  Setting Tara down gently on her feet, watching as the Wiccan gets her balance before hobbling towards the refrigerated sections.  Growling quietly, Faith grabs one of the hand carriers, before groaning quietly at Tara’s next words.

“Grab two.”  Tara smirks as she hears a loud growl and the slayer stomping towards her.  As Faith comes up beside her, Tara puts a gallon of milk and a gallon of orange juice in one of the carriers before hobbling down to grab a couple dozen eggs setting them in the other carrier before tossing a couple packages of bacon and sausage in the cart.  Hobbling down the aisle she grabs Crisco, baking soda and flour, thinking about what else she might need.  Pursing her lips she looks down the aisles, smiling as she sees raspberry jam, placing it in the carrier before working her way to the front of the small store, smiling at the clerk who’s laughing quietly at them.  “I think that’s all we need, right now.”  Tara smiles at the guy, her eyes twinkling merrily as Faith grumbles beside her as she sets the items on the counter. 

“Still don’t see no bar code.”  Jackson smirks as he points the gun at Tara.

“Leave her ass here.  Didn’t know she was gonna be such a fuckin’ pain when I decided to make sure nothin’ happened to her.”  Faith growls quietly, starting to dig for money, snarling at Tara when the woman stops her.

“I’m buying.”  Tara pulls her hand away from Faith’s hand, ignoring the snarling woman as she pulls cash out of her pocket, handing the man the cash.  “Thank you.”  Tara smiles engagingly at the man, quirking an eyebrow as Faith growls even louder.  Turning her eyes to the teeth bared slayer, Tara smirks.  “Have you had your rabies shots?”

Faith snaps at the woman, before taking the bagged items to carry them to her apartment.  “Ain’t a fuckin’ charity case.”

“Good, when we go shopping at the actual grocery store tomorrow, you can buy everything we need to stock your cupboards, refrigerator and freezer.  Then pay for the cab ride back to the apartment.”  Tara winks at Jackson as she accepts her change before hobbling after the slayer.

“God damn it.”  Faith sighs heavily, her shoulders dropping as she sees Tara limping behind her in the windows reflection.  Hunching down part way, Faith looks over her shoulder.  “Hop on, T-Bear.  I’ll give ya’ a lift back to the apartment.”  Faith narrows her eyes dangerously as Tara opens her mouth to argue.

Tara snaps her mouth shut, seeing the seriousness in the dark-haired slayer’s eyes.  Knowing she’s pushed the woman more than she should have, Tara finally nods in acceptance and wraps her arms around the slayer’s neck and as the slightly taller slayer stands completely upright, she wraps her legs around her waist.  “Want me to hold a couple of those bags?”

“No.”  Faith heads out of the store, ignoring the laughter coming from Jax figuring she’ll get his ass back at a later date. 

Tara keeps quiet on the walk back to Faith’s apartment, trying to keep the smile that’s fighting to cross her face at bay.  As Faith walks into the elevator and punches the number five, Tara leans her head against Faith’s head.  “I’ve had more fun today than I’ve had in quite a few months, thank you.”

Faith rolls her eyes at the woman’s comment, stepping out of the elevator she strides to her apartment.  “You ain’t fuckin’ right in the head.  Being around me most of the day, fightin’ vampires and gettin’ hurt is fun?” 

“Hmmm.  Yep.”  Tara admits, nodding her head, smiling as Faith snorts.

Faith walks to the couch, stopping and looking at Tara.  “Settle down, I’ll get ice and a wrap for your ankle.  I don’t think ya’ broke it, since you’re able to get around on it, but I’ll look at it to be on the safe side.”

Tara smiles thankfully at the slayer before easing down off the woman’s back, sitting down on the couch, she leans down and unties her boots, watching as Faith heads to the kitchen and places the items in the refrigerator before cracking ice cube trays and placing the ice on a clean tea towel.  Chuckling quietly as Faith closes the towel and bangs it down hard on the counter before coming back to her. 

Faith sits down on the coffee table after shifting it back a little, gently easing the woman’s foot up and loosening the laces to gently ease the boot off, jerking her eyes up as a sharp inhale of pain comes from the witch.

“Sorry, the boot was keeping the ankle from swelling.”  Tara winces as the boot comes the rest of the way off. 

“Yeah, now it’s gonna swell up like a damn balloon.”  Faith mutters, gently pulling off the sock, frowning at the bruising already showing.  “Maybe ya’ did more damage to it, than I thought.”

“No.  I bruise easily.”  Tara admits quietly.  Tara’s eyes widen slightly as the slayer settles her foot in her lap even as her fingers gently probe the ankle.

“I’ll have ta’ check it again after the swellin’ goes down, but I don’t feel anything outta whack.”  Faith admits before easing the ice onto the ankle.  “We’ll ice it down for a while then I’ll wrap it and ice it down again after this melts.” 

Tara swallows as she looks at the woman who seems comfortable just sitting on the coffee table holding ice on her swollen ankle.  Looking intently over the dirty streaks across the slayer’s face and the light bruising along one jaw to a slight cut over her left eye, Tara leans forward and brushes a fingertip over the bruised jaw.  “You could use some ice yourself, Faith.  Why don’t you go get cleaned up and ice your jaw down?”

Faith looks into blue eyes, having stilled completely at the soft touch on her face.  Becoming confused at the look in the blue eyes, Faith slowly nods and eases out from under Tara’s leg, reaching to grab one of the couch pillows and setting it under Tara’s ankle, propping the item up on the coffee table.

Tara watches as Faith heads towards the bathroom without saying anything.  Closing her eyes, Tara relaxes back into the couch, inhaling deeply to calm her suddenly pounding heart.  Not knowing what had possessed her to touch the slayer like that, but part of her happy she had.  Silently wondering at the obvious confusion having come back from the slayer’s brown eyes, not understanding what confused the slayer.  Silently thinking about the woman, what she knows of her from the short time they’ve been around each other and from what everyone else had said about her.  Remembering pretty much all Willow would say is that Faith was a ‘cleavagy, murdering, slut bomb’, while other comments from the rest of the crew led Tara to believe that Faith was strictly out for herself and her own personal pleasure.  No regard for anyone else, though everything that she’s seen is showing her just the opposite. 

Hearing the bathroom door open, Tara opens her eyes to look towards the slayer, inhaling deeply at the sight of the naked woman striding through her apartment to her dresser.  Turning her gaze back up to the ceiling, Tara can’t shake the sight of the obviously strong, muscular body striding across the room, full round breasts topped with dark brown nipples down a well defined abdomen to a small trimmed triangle of hair at the slayer’s apex. 

Faith quirks her lip at the woman’s inhaled breath before pulling on a pair of tight sweat shorts and a tank top.  Kneeling down beside the bed, Faith pulls out the large first aid kit and grabs out a wrap for Tara’s ankle before closing it back and sliding it under the bed.  Standing, she tilts her head at the slightly flushed blonde’s face, a soft exhale coming from between her own lips as she smells the woman’s arousal. 

Tara’s eyes snap open as warm hands gently lift her leg.  Watching as Faith moves the pillow and sits back down on the coffee table, Tara clenches her teeth as the woman seems to press her foot gently between her legs, almost on purpose. 

Faith holds Tara’s foot between her legs as she tosses the soggy towel across the room into the kitchen sink, before running her fingers over the Wiccan’s ankle and foot.  Gently lifting the foot, she raises her eyes to look into Tara’s blue eyes.  “Let me know if this hurts more than it should.”

Tara nods, watching as Faith gently rotates her ankle, a slight tenderness in the ankle along with tightness from the swelling that had thankfully lessened somewhat.  “Just a little tender, and of course, still swollen.”  Tara allows a small smile to cross her face as Faith grunts quietly.

Faith sets the Wiccan’s foot back in her lap, grabbing the wrap.  Carefully wrapping the foot, Faith looks at Tara after she finishes, continuing to hold her foot in her hand, her thumb unconsciously stroking over the ball of Tara’s foot.  “What did Red do that made ya’ have to leave her?”  Faith finally questions, silently wondering exactly what Willow had done to make Tara leave.

Tara nibbles on her bottom lip, not able to break the eye contact with the dark-haired slayer.  “She did a spell on me that took away a memory of an argument we had.  After I brought up that I knew what she had done, she promised to not do any magic for a week… less than twelve hours later she did another memory spell, that time it backfired and wiped everyone’s memories.”  Tara explains quietly, anger flaring in her eyes at the remembrance.

Faith runs a hand through her hair at the explanation of what the woman had done.  “Why the fuck would she do somethin’ like that?  I mean, I ain’t the fuckin’ brightest person by any stretch of the imagination, but you don’t do shit like that to someone you supposedly love.”

Tara chuckles sadly.  “That’s what I thought, also.  Unfortunately Willow’s first reaction to something that isn’t going her way is to try and fix it with Magic.  And truthfully… I don’t know how many times she might have performed the spell.”

Faith’s eyes flare with anger at the thought.  “Why the hell would…”  Faith tears her gaze away from the sad blue eyes, staring at the wall behind the Wiccan.  “You said somethin’ about Hell Gods fuckin’ with your head?”

Tara takes a deep breath, slowly relaxing back against the couch.  “I can give you the Reader’s Digest version, or, if you want, I can fill you in on what’s happened the last two years?”  Tara offers softly.

Faith turns her gaze back to Tara, studying the woman intently for a few long minutes.  “It’s gonna take a while, ain’t it?” 

“Yes.”  Tara smiles sadly and cocks her head as she looks at the dark-haired slayer. 

Faith gently lifts Tara’s leg and re-situates it on the coffee table with the pillow under it.  “Do ya’ mind if I get somethin’ to eat and drink?  And would ya’ like somethin’?” 

“Some juice would be good.”  Tara smiles as Faith quickly strides to the kitchen, filling a glass with ice and orange juice, finishing what the woman had left of the juice from the other gallon in the refrigerator. 

“Sure ya’ don’t want somethin’ to eat?  I’m gonna fix up what’s left of that stuff ya’ made.”  Faith hands Tara the glass, hesitating for a moment to watch the woman.

“This is fine, Faith.  Thank you.  If you want me to put your burritos together, I can.  There’s only enough meat left for one really large burrito, or two smaller burritos.”  Tara admits quietly.

“I’ll spread it out over two.  I think there’s enough toppin’s left for two.”  Faith finally turns around to walk back to the refrigerator, pulling the items out. 

“Can I ask what you’ve been doing since you’ve been back?”  Tara questions curiously.

Faith shrugs as she throws the meat in the microwave to heat up.  “Ain’t much ta’ tell.  I’ve been doing patrols, working at the club as a bouncer and been tryin’ to stay outta the way of the group.” 

“And you’ve been eating take-out for the last two months?”  Tara frowns heavily at the thought.

“Yeah.  I pick up lunchmeat and cans of soup to have occasionally, but it’s usually easier to just order a pizza or pick up somethin’ while I’m out.”  Faith shrugs, as she tosses the ingredients on the burrito shells, trying to fold them like Tara did, frowning at the shells.  Sighing, she dumps the rest of the sauce over the top and sets the jar in the sink, grabs a fork, tossing it on her plate before grabbing a couple sodas out of the refrigerator and coming out to the couch, settling in the opposite corner, setting the sodas between her legs, popping the tab on one before digging into the burritos.

Tara watches as Faith practically inhales the two burritos.  Chewing on her bottom lip, Tara finally puts voice to what had been rolling around in her head.  “I miss not having a stove to cook on, and just living off what I can microwave, fix on the two burners and in my electric skillet.  Plus the small refrigerator and the fact that I’m cooking for myself.”  Tara shrugs before finally continuing.  “From the sounds of things, you would enjoy some home cooked meals.  If you’re willing to have your apartment invaded frequently, we could split the cost of the food and I’ll cook for both of us.” 

Faith slowly finishes drinking the last of her soda, before turning her head and looking at the witch.  Leaning forward, she sets the plate and empty soda cans on the coffee table.  “I’m not a nice person, T-bear.  I think you’re under the impression I might be.”

“No, Faith.  I’m under no impressions.”  Tara smiles softly at the slayer. 

“I killed, T-bear!  I’m a fuckin’ murderer.”  Faith’s eyes narrow as Tara just nods in understanding. 

“Yes, Faith.  I understand.  I also understand that you’ve paid your debt for what you did.”  Tara points out quietly. 

“What is it?  Ya’ wanna fuck or somethin’?  A little romp on the rough side to get over Red?”  Faith snarls in anger, knowing that she would never have a chance with someone sweet and good like Tara so she lashes out at the woman in her anger.

Tara pales at the slayer’s words and anger even as she leans in and smacks the slayer hard, her hand print bright red on the slayer’s cheek as the two women stare at each other for long quiet minutes.  Clenching her jaw, feeling the tears trying to come to her eyes, Tara turns and pulls her sock and boot back on, leaving the boot loose, since she wouldn’t be able to tie it properly anyway.  “Goodbye, Faith.”  Tara murmurs quietly, grabbing her backpack and fanny pack up before leaving the apartment without a backwards glance. 

Faith watches the witch leave, her hands clenched even as she feels the heat coming from her cheek, the quiet click of the door shutting gently echoing in her head.  “FUCK!”  Faith screams, slamming her hand down onto the coffee table, making it splinter apart.

***

Chapter 4

Faith leans against a tree in the middle of the quad at the college campus.  Arms crossed over her chest, she waits patiently as she looks for Tara to come out of her dorm on her way to the Science building.  It had taken a week before she had started to look for the woman, knowing she was in college, but never being able to find her.  Faith frowns heavily as she thinks about when she’d caught glimpses of Red, but never of Tara.  Finally breaking down after a week of looking for her, she’d gone to the admittance office, talked and flirted with the employee there until she’d finally been able to talk the woman out of Tara’s class schedule and dorm information. 

Now, having been watching Tara for a couple weeks, Faith sighs quietly.  Not knowing what to do or say to the woman that had offered her friendship.  The woman willing to overlook the shit she’d done and take her at face value as to the woman she is now.  And she in turn had bit the hand reaching out and offering her something she’d never had. 

***

Tara slowly approaches the slayer from the back, having noticed about a week ago that she had acquired a shadow.  Silently wondering how long the slayer had been following her, and honestly why she was following her.  Coming to a stop a couple yards behind Faith, Tara hugs her books to her chest as she stares at the strong back of the woman.  “You’re asking to be seen coming here like this.  Willow does go to college here, also.”  Tara points out quietly, watching as Faith stiffens before she slowly turns around.

“Yeah, I saw Red a couple times.”  Faith admits, looking over the woman, frowning at the sight, noticing that if possible Tara looks like she had lost even more weight, with dark circles under her eyes.  Not getting close enough before, afraid of being caught, Faith hadn’t been able to see the changes.  Running a shaky hand through her hair, Faith looks into sad blue eyes, feeling a sharp pain shoot through her heart at the sight.  “Damn it, T-Bear.  I didn’t fuckin’ mean it.  You were being all nice and shit to me, and I ain’t fuckin’ used to it.  Whenever anyone’s been nice to me in the past, they just wanted to get in my fuckin’ pants or wanted somethin’ else.  All I’m used to is fuckin’ and slayin’.”

Tara stares at the slayer, seeing the honesty of the woman’s words in her eyes, feeling her heart get heavy at the thought the woman had never actually known someone that cared for her, for her.  Just wanted her because she was beautiful and a notch on their belt, or because she was the ‘slayer’, no wonder the woman didn’t know any better from when she’d come to Sunnydale originally.  “What do you want, Faith?”  Tara finally questions, Faith’s brown eyes showing her pain.

“In general or in more of a you and me way?”  Faith tries a small smile, that doesn’t quite appear. 

“Either, both.  Whichever you’re willing to tell me about.  I know you’ve been on campus for the last week, but I wonder if you’ve been following me for longer than that?”  Tara half questions.

“I been more or less followin’ ya’ for a couple weeks.”  Faith admits quietly.  “The first week I just ignored things then the next week I tried to find ya’.  But it seemed like I was never in the right place at the right time.  Saw Red, but not you.”  Faith shoves her hands in her pockets as she leans against the tree again. 

Tara hugs her books even tighter against her chest as she looks down at the ground so she won’t stare at the dark-haired slayer, the woman’s presence enough to make anyone take notice just like the beauty of the dark-haired, dark-eyed woman.  Sighing quietly, she shifts uncomfortably as she realizes Faith never answered the original question of what she wanted.  “Umm.  I need to go to class.”  Tara finally whispers, turning to head towards the Science building.

Faith’s shoulders drop, having a feeling she’d fucked up again.  Yanking her hands out of her pockets, she trots after the blonde, not caring who might see her, she has as much right as anyone else to be here and honestly she was sick and tired of hiding.  Gently putting a hand on Tara’s shoulder, she pulls the woman to a stop, turning her to face her.  “I’m sorry, Tara.  I almost literally bit the hand that was feeding me, like a damn wild dog.  I ain’t got a fuckin’ excuse and I’m sorry.  Can we maybe try this again?  Please?”  Faith whispers the last word softly, reaching out to gently brush Tara’s hair away from her cheek, surprised when the Wiccan presses into her hand.  Stepping closer to the woman, Faith urges the witch to lift her chin to look at her.  “Are you okay, Tara?”

Tara slowly shakes her head, feeling the tears fall from her eyes. 

“Oh, fuck.”  Faith mumbles, pulling the Wiccan’s books from her, dropping them on the ground and wrapping her arms around the crying woman.  “What’s happened?”

“W-willow’s wanting to get b-back together.”  Tara shakes and wraps her arms around Faith’s waist, hugging the woman tightly.

Faith unconsciously stiffens, before making her body relax again.  “Do you want to get back together with her?”  Faith gently strokes a hand through the blonde’s hair.

“No.”  Tara answers softly.

“Then don’t.”  Faith answers quickly and decisively, frowning as a quiet snort comes from Tara.

“Saying no to Willow won’t necessarily be the end of it, Faith.  She c-could make me, if she really wanted to.”  Tara admits her greatest fear, closing her eyes tightly in realization as she makes the admittance out loud and to herself for the first time.

Faith growls angrily, fire flaming to life in her eyes as she shakes her head vehemently.  “Ain’t no fuckin’ way.  If you’re talkin’ about magic, can’t you do up some kinda talisman, or somethin’ that will negate her magic?”

Tara smiles sadly and brushes her cheek against the strong shoulder.  “I could, but the items I need are expensive, and I don’t have the money for them, Faith.” 

“Fuck the money.”  Faith snarls, easing back to stare into shocked blue eyes.  Moving both her hands to cup Tara’s cheeks, Faith looks intently into blue eyes.  “We’re gonna go get whatever the fuck ya’ need right now.  No if ands or buts about it, understand me?”  As Tara nods her head numbly at her, Faith allows a small smile to cross her face.  Leaning in, Faith brushes her lips gently over Tara’s.  “Then we’re gonna get some food in you, because I have a feelin’ you ain’t ate much since I was a bitch to you… again.”

Tara’s lips quiver as she tries to smile even as the tears start to fall again.  Surprised and heartened as the slayer gently wipes her tears away before she grabs her book bag from the ground.  Following the slayer’s lead as Faith heads towards her dorm, surprising her when she heads straight to her door.  Unlocking it, Tara watches as Faith drops her books on her desk.

“Do ya’ need anything magical wise from here?”  Faith questions as she looks around the dorm room.

Tara nods and walks over to her book shelf, pulling out two books, watching as Faith heads to her closet, frowning in confusion as the woman pulls down a couple pairs of her pants, tossing them on the bed before moving to her dresser and pulling out underwear and a few shirts, putting them on the bed also.  “What are you doing?”

“You’re staying with me.  It’s Friday and next week’s Spring Break.  We’ll come back for more of your shit later, if ya’ want.”  Faith states calmly as she grabs a paper bag with handles out of the closet, tossing the clothes in the bag.  “Anythin’ else ya’ gonna need?”

Tara dumbly shakes her head, letting the slayer lead her out of her dorm room, her strong arm wrapped around her waist and her warm body pressing gently against her side as the woman urges her out of the dorm and towards town.  As they draw closer to the Magic Box, Tara stops and shakes her head.  “Faith, Anya knows who you are, and there’s a good chance Buffy might be there.”

“Yeah, and?”  Faith raises an eyebrow at the woman. 

“You’ve been steering clear of them for over three months…”  Tara starts, before trailing off as Faith raises her other eyebrow at her. 

“Yeah, and that’s three fuckin’ months too many.  I ain’t fuckin’ rollin’ over for anyone again.  Someone recently told me I paid my debts, and I have as much right as anyone else to shop in whatever fuckin’ shop I wanna.”  Faith growls quietly, knowing that if there is any chance of anything happening with the Wiccan, she couldn’t, and wouldn’t, be hid away.  Not after Tara had told her the way Red had treated her, like she was ashamed of her, or being with a woman.  “Come on.  Let’s get what ya’ need for your spell.”  Faith finally calms down, her tones soft as she gently squeezes Tara’s waist, urging her towards the Magic Box again.

Tara can’t help the smile that crosses her face at the slayer’s words.  Straightening more, Tara walks beside the slayer occasionally sneaking a look at the woman as they draw closer to the shop, having a gut feeling that the slayer was doing this more for her, than herself.  As Faith opens the door to the Magic Box, allowing her to precede her in, Tara hesitates for a second in front of the slayer before brushing her lips softly over her cheek.  “Thank you, Faith.”

Faith bites her lip watching Tara walk into the shop.  Taking a deep breath, Faith slowly follows her in.

***

Anya looks up as the bell rings, frowning slightly as the two people hesitate in the doorway, getting ready to complain about the air conditioning being let out, Anya blinks as Tara followed by the evil slayer, Faith comes in.  “Tara, you are welcome here.  But evil bitch is not welcome.  She tried to kill my Xander, and almost everyone else.”

“If she isn’t welcome, then neither am I.”  Tara snaps at the woman, turning on her heel, nodding her head towards the front door as she grabs Faith’s arm.

Anya blinks in surprise at Tara’s answer.  Never expecting the woman to say that, honestly thinking she would give in.  “Wait!”  Anya calls out quickly as Tara reaches for the door handle. 

Tara slowly turns to stare at the ex-vengeance demon.  “Tell me something, Anya.  How many people did you kill while you were a vengeance demon?  How many people did you torture?  Maim?  Hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands?  And yet everyone can overlook that.  But a woman that was treated like shit accidentally kills a man, and then when she feels like she has no other choice but to side with evil because no one understands or helps, she does what she’s asked to do and she’s a murderer, an evil bitch.  I wish just once, once!  Wish that everyone would get off their fucking high horses out of this group and admit we’re all human and we all screw up.  Now, I need these items.”  Tara strides to the counter, flipping open her magical text and pulling out the list of ingredients, having wanted to do the spell, but not having the money.  Handing the list silently to Anya, Tara stares into the woman’s brown eyes, silently daring her to make any more comments.

Anya swallows and accepts the list.  Seeing the fire in Tara’s eyes, along with the emotional smack the woman had given her with her words, admitting to her self that Tara had a serious point.  Slowly nodding her head in understanding, Anya looks down at the list and starts to gather the items Tara wants.

Faith blinks in surprise and shock as Tara stands up for her and defends her.  Slowly following Tara to the counter, she turns her eyes to the door to the training room, her eyes narrowed as Buffy steps out, knowing the slayer had heard what was said.

Buffy runs the towel over her face as she looks from Faith’s narrowed gaze to Tara who’s turning towards her, silently daring her to say or do something.  Somewhat shocked at the Wiccan standing up for Faith, but realizing in a roundabout way that Tara always does see the good in people, and is willing to give them a chance.  Wondering if she, herself, would ever be able to take a page out of the Wiccan’s book and give someone a second or third chance.  “I haven’t seen you in a while, Tara.”  Buffy comments quietly. 

“Yeah, and phones work both ways, don’t they, B?”  Faith growls quietly, unconsciously shifting closer to Tara and slightly in front of her.  “How many times since blondie here moved outta your house, have you called her up to see how she was doin’?  Then tell me how many time’s ya’ called her up when you needed her for somethin’.” 

Buffy snaps her eyes towards the dark-haired slayer, baring her teeth at the woman, ready to let her have it, when Tara steps between them, not even realizing that they all had moved to where there was a very short distance between them.

“Truth hurts, Buffy.  In the last five months I’ve heard from you a total of eight times.  How many times have I called you or Dawnie trying to see if you want to get together and do something?  Dawn won’t talk or even look at me.  And you’ve always got something planned.  And you know I can tell you exactly what those eight times you contacted me were for.  I know we were never close, but I was hoping that there might be friendship there besides the acquaintance type thing, something other than Willow in common.  Obviously I was wrong.”  Tara talks softly, having stepped between the two women, her back to Faith, unconsciously pushing back into the slayer.  Seeing a flicker of pain in Buffy’s eyes, Tara bites her lip knowing that the slayer really couldn’t help what’s happened since she was brought back from being dead, and she was dealing with her own problems.  The last time Tara had any contact with Buffy was when the slayer had broken down in her lap.  Unconsciously reaching out to grasp the slayer’s forearm, Tara waits until Buffy’s hazel eyes lift to look into her eyes.  “I’m not blaming you, sweetie.  Things happened that were out of our control.  If you need me, I’ll be here for you, okay?  But I won’t let anyone do or say something against Faith when she’s trying to do things right this time.  Give her a chance.  Everyone deserves to be forgiven.”  Tara whispers softly, staring into Buffy’s eyes seeing the silent acknowledgement of what she’s saying. 

“What about Wills?”  Buffy whispers quietly, not in anger but just a soft question.  “She deserves to be forgiven, doesn’t she?”

“In time, perhaps. But I’ll never forget, Buffy.  And I honestly can never be with her again.  Willow and I are finished as a couple.  I can’t ever trust her, and I have to have that with the person I’m with.  I value that more than you can know.”  Tara explains quietly, her eyes sad.  “I would rather have someone argue and yell at me, calling me names than lie to me, or… change my perception of things.”  Tara hesitates before changing the last words.  Gently stroking her hand over Buffy’s arm Tara smiles.  “Given time, I’m hoping that we can work on being friends… all of us.”

Buffy looks down and slowly nods, patting Tara’s hand.  Looking back up, she looks into guarded brown eyes.  “I’m not even going to ask how you two came to be here together.”

Tara blushes darkly and looks down.  “Let’s just say that a bar, me and a serious amount of alcohol was not a good combination.  And a knight in shining…”  Tara looks over her shoulder to look into narrowed brown eyes, chuckling quietly.  “Knight in tight leather saved my drunken ass from becoming someone’s butt monkey.” 

“Tara!”  Buffy’s eyes widen at the woman’s comments, never having remembered the woman drinking.  Turning her gaze back to Faith, Buffy stares at the woman for a few long minutes, seeing the answer to her silent question, frowning heavily at the thought of Tara possibly being hurt.  “You need a keeper, Tara.”  Buffy gruffly comments.

“I don’t think you have to worry about me doing that again.”  Tara shakes her head, grinning crookedly at the blonde slayer.  “Are we okay?”  Tara finally questions softly.

Buffy nods her head, surprised when Tara leans in and hugs her tightly.  “Yeah, we’re okay, Tara.  I’m sorry I’ve been out of the loop.  I’ll try to be better, okay?”

“Okay.  But I really do understand, Buffy.”  Tara hugs Buffy even tighter.  “How are things doing with you?”  Tara shifts back to look questioningly at the slayer. 

Buffy shrugs and smiles half-heartedly.  “Day by day.  Just taking it day by day.”

“If you need me…”  Tara offers again, smiling as Buffy nods and smiles a little more genuinely at her.

Faith places a hand on Tara’s hip, squeezing gently before shifting to the counter and raising an eyebrow as she grabs a pen and a piece of paper, silently asking Anya if she can use them.  At the quick nod, Faith smiles at the woman, before scrawling her phone number across the paper.  “If ya’ can’t get ahold of her at the dorm, try my place.”  Faith comments quietly, turning to hand the number to Buffy.  “I’m tryin’ to work out a deal for T-bear to come over and cook for me and her, with me buyin’ everythin’.”  Faith quirks her lips slightly.

“I might have to come over for dinner occasionally.”  Buffy offers the olive branch, accepting the piece of paper, gently folding it to hold in her hand.

“We might like that.”  Faith nods her head to the blonde slayer in acceptance. 

Buffy smiles at the slayer.  “I need to change and head home, getting to be time for me to head to work.” 

Tara smiles as the slayer heads back to the training room, turning to look at Faith.  “Thank you, sweetie.”  Tara grasps the slayer’s hand, gently squeezing it.

“I didn’t do nothin’.”  Faith looks down, slightly embarrassed.  “You got everythin’ on T-Bear’s list?”  Faith looks at Anya, quirking her eyebrow at the quiet shopkeeper.

“Yes, I do.  Is there anything else you ladies need?”  Anya feels unnerved by the brown eyes staring her down. 

“That’s all, thank you, Anya.”  Tara rubs a hand over her face feeling tired and worn out. 

Faith pulls out the cash from her pocket, waiting for the woman to give her the total.

Anya rings the items up, placing them in a bag.  “The total is $215.38.  I gave you a discount, Tara, because we are friends… I hope.”  Anya whispers the last frowning slightly at the thought of losing the one woman that she actually does consider her friend.  Knowing she wasn’t any better than the rest by not checking on the witch, silently admitting that Tara doesn’t look like she’s well.

“We are, Anya.”  Tara smiles at the woman, knowing that Anya felt bad, especially when the items she ordered should have cost over $300.

Faith grunts quietly as she pulls off the bills, handing the cash to Anya. 

“Your change is $4.62.  Thank you and please come again.”  Anya smiles happily as she hands over the change, watching as Faith and Tara leave the shop.

“Did she actually give ya’ a deal?”  Faith questions with a raised eyebrow as they head down the street.

Tara chuckles and nods her head.  “Yes, she did.  It would have normally cost over $300.  And for her to give that much of a discount, she was feeling very guilty.  She NEVER gives a discount like that.  The most she would give on an order like that would be maybe $30 off.”  Tara winks at the slayer.  “I don’t expect you to pay for these, Faith.  I’ll pay you back.  I had a little over $100 saved for them already, which is yours.”

“Nah.  Keep your money, T-Bear.”  Faith gently guides Tara towards the little Italian restaurant that has large servings.  “Feel like Italian?”

Tara sighs quietly, knowing that Faith isn’t going to let her argue the point.  “Italian’s fine.”  Tara stops at the door, turning to look at Faith for a few minutes.  “What do you want, Faith?”

Faith furrows her brows and looks down.  Knowing that the Wiccan isn’t asking her as in a ‘now’ thing.  “Let’s go in, we can talk while we wait for lunch.”  Faith huskily urges, following the Wiccan into the restaurant after she nods her head silently.

***

Chapter 5

The two women sit across from each other in a small booth, sipping on their sodas after the waitress took their orders.  Tara nibbles on her bottom lip as she looks at the slayer, seeing that the woman is obviously having an internal debate with herself.  She doesn’t say anything and waits for the woman to speak on her own.

Faith taps her fingers on the table as she thinks about what to say to Tara, and how much to tell the woman.  Frowning heavily as she thinks about how Tara obviously prized truth and honesty above anything.  Looking up at the Wiccan who’s staring into her soda, Faith sighs quietly.  “I don’t know what to say.”  Faith finally starts, watching as Tara’s head lifts and serious blue eyes make contact with hers.

“Say whatever you want, Faith.”  Tara offers softly.

Faith rubs a hand roughly over the back of her neck, before slouching back into the seat.  “I ain’t ever really had a friend, T-Bear.  And I ain’t ever had anything more than quick fucks.  My ma was a drunken, drugged out whore.  I ain’t real sure that she ever really realized I was there, tell ya’ the truth.  Don’t know who my father was… probably one of her John’s.”  Faith shrugs as she looks down at the table.  “I started runnin’ with one of the gangs in Boston and got into some serious shit there.  Was headed for the same road Ma was on.  I was a willin’ partner when I found out I could get what I wanted by givin’ up a little tail.”  Faith frowns heavily at the girl she had been, looking back up as Tara’s hand covers one of hers to gently squeeze it.

“Honey, you can’t blame yourself for what you did.  You didn’t know any better.  You grew up seeing that, living it every day.  To you, that was the way life was supposed to be.”  Tara searches pain-filled brown eyes.  “You grew up thinking giving your body for what you want was normal.  I grew up thinking I was going to turn into a demon and wouldn’t have a life after I turned twenty.  We’re all a product of our earlier lives, to a certain degree.”

Faith frowns heavily at the blonde at her words, searching her eyes silently asking for more of an explanation.

Tara sighs and smiles sadly.  “My family on my mother’s side are hereditary witches, Faith.  My father believed it was evil and in turn the demon within us that made us able to do magic.  Though my mama told me it was a part of us, and not evil, I ended up believing him.  I let him control me because of it, and I became very… withdrawn.”

Faith grunts quietly at the woman’s words.  “Where’s your ma at now?”

Tara’s eyes become even sadder.  “She died when I was seventeen.  I’ll probably always miss her.  She was my best friend, my mom and my confidante growing up.”

“Did he ever…”  Faith looks up, the worry obvious in her eyes as she looks at Tara.

“Hurt me?”  Tara questions softly and at Faith’s quick nod, Tara sighs.  “He was known to punctuate his words with a hit or a smack.  He caught me practicing magic once when I was sixteen, not long before Mama died.  He put a serious beating on me that time, swearing he was going to beat the demon out of me.  I ended up with six ribs broken.”

Faith growls deeply in her throat, thinking about the woman across from her being used as a punching bag.  Eyes snapping up as the waitress comes with their food, Faith gently eases her hand from under Tara’s so the waitress can place the food in front of them, the woman having continued to hold it as they talked.  “Thanks.”  Faith hoarsely thanks the waitress as she sets the platters of food on the table.

“I’ll be back with some more soda, anything else I can get for you?” 

Tara looks at the food and slowly shakes her head.  “Not right now, thank you.”

Faith shakes her head and watches as the waitress quickly hurries away.  “Eat, Tara.  We’ll talk more later.”  Faith quietly murmurs, watching as Tara smiles quickly at her before starting to dig into her spaghetti with mushroom sauce.  Sighing quietly, Faith grabs a piece of garlic bread, placing it on the corner of her plate before she starts to cut the huge meatballs into bite size pieces before digging into her spaghetti.

***

Tara laughs quietly as Faith finishes eating her spaghetti, having been unable to finish the large plate overflowing with food.  Shaking her head at the slayer as the woman wipes her mouth even as she looks at the empty plates.  “Still hungry?”

“Maybe?”  Faith smirks at the blonde.  “Got room for dessert?  They got a damn fine cheesecake with this raspberry toppin’.”  Faith entices, remembering how Tara had picked up the raspberry jam from the store, the jar still sitting in her refrigerator untouched.  She’d thrown the meat in the freezer and the eggs had gotten thrown out after her failed attempt of trying to cook them.

Tara moans and shakes her head even as she grabs her stomach.  “No way.  If I eat another bite, I’m going to explode.  And an exploding Wiccan is not a pretty sight.” 

“We’ll pick up somethin’ when we go to the store later.”  Faith looks up and nods her head to the waitress, pulling her money out to pay for their lunch.

Tara starts to open her mouth about Faith paying for lunch before Faith turns a raised eyebrow towards her, silently daring her to say something.  Exhaling roughly Tara growls quietly under her breath at the slayer. 

Counting the money out, along with extra for the tip, Faith hands it to the waitress.  “Thanks.”

“You two come back and visit us again.”  The waitress smiles and hurries away.

“Come on, T-Bear.  Let’s head home and maybe ya’ can relax and sleep a little before we go to the store.”  Faith gathers all the items, carrying them out of the restaurant with Tara following her.  As they slowly walk through Sunnydale, heading towards Faith’s apartment, Faith looks up at the beautiful blue sky.  “I don’t know what I want from ya’, T-Bear.  All I know is that I don’t like ya’ bein’ mad at me.  I feel protective of ya’ and I really enjoy being around ya’.  I don’t much talk to people…  Hell I don’t much like people, truth told.  So I guess that oughta tell ya’ somethin’.”

Tara swallows at the slayer’s admittance.  “We really barely know each other, Faith.”  Tara points out softly wondering silently if Faith realizes she cares for her more than as a friend.

“Yeah, and ain’t that a fuckin’ trip.”  Faith shrugs.  “But I wanna be honest with ya’.  I’m a fuckin’ bitch and you have some experience with it, but I’ll try and keep it to a minimum.”

Tara reaches out to pull the slayer to a stop.  Searching brown eyes for a moment, Tara shakes her head.  “Don’t change, Faith.  I want you to say what you think and feel… but maybe you could tone it down a bit?  Right now I’m kinda sensitive and easily upset.”  Tara explains softly, knowing her own emotions are all over the board from what’s happened.  Gently reaching up she caresses the cheek she had smacked.  “I’m sorry for smacking you.  I never should have done that.”

Faith closes her eyes at the soft caress, her heart pounding in her chest at the gentle touch.  “I deserved it, T-Bear.  I never shoulda said what I did and the way I did it.”

“No, Faith.  You never deserve to be hit.  I don’t know what possessed me to do it, but I never, ever should have raised a hand to you.  And I never will again.”  Tara sighs quietly feeling tears coming to her eyes.  “I don’t want to become someone that just lashes out, Faith.  I’ve always been calm and controlled, that was so out of character for me, and I don’t want to EVER be like that.” 

“Yeah, well I have that effect on people.”  Faith admits, shifting everything to her left hand to reach up and gently brush the tears from Tara’s cheek.  Seeing the bone weary tiredness in blue eyes, Faith gently pulls Tara to her and kisses the woman’s forehead, not even paying attention to the fact that the move was a totally alien move for her.  “Come on, let’s get ya’ into bed and get ya’ some sleep.” 

“Okay.”  Tara allows Faith to urge her towards her apartment.  The slayer keeping her arm wrapped around her waist protectively.

***

Faith runs a hand through her hair, staring down at the sleeping Wiccan.  The woman had curled up in her bed at Faith’s insistence and had been sleeping straight for the last six hours without moving a muscle.  Faith had gone to the store and picked up a bunch of stuff, hoping Tara would know what to do with it, stocking the refrigerator and cupboards with different meats, vegetables and canned goods.  Faith debates with herself as to whether or not to let the woman continue to sleep or wake her to tell her she was going to work. 

Faith eases down to sit on the bed in front of Tara, running a gentle hand over the woman’s cheek.  Deciding she couldn’t just leave without telling the woman, though she could leave a note but not liking that option.  “T-Bear, I gotta go to work.”

Tara unconsciously presses into the warm hand caressing her cheek.  As the slayer’s words finally make sense, she drags her eyes open.  “Thought you worked at night?”

“I do, T-Bear.”  Faith quirks her lip up.  “Its 7:30, I need to be there at 8:00.”

Tara blinks as she turns her head to see the time on the alarm clock, groaning quietly.  “I can’t believe I slept so long.”

“Shhh.”  Faith gently holds Tara down as the woman tries to sit up.  “Go back to sleep.  I’m workin’ till close tonight then I’ll come pretty much straight home.  I’ve kinda been on a tear through the demon community these past few weeks, and they’re kinda far and few between so it won’t hurt for me to not patrol.” 

Tara reaches for Faith’s hand, pulling it to her chest, pressing it gently against her.  “Be careful, Faith.  Even if you aren’t patrolling…”

“Yeah, I got ya’.”  Faith smiles at the woman being worried about her. “I left the number for the club by the phone, if ya’ need me.  There’s some stuff here, hope ya’ can figure out what to do with it.”  Faith’s surprised when Tara reaches up, pulling her down to softly kiss her.  As the Wiccan releases her, Faith blinks a couple times, surprised at the flare of desire shooting through her from the simple caress.  “Umm.  Work.”  Faith finally mumbles, standing up to quickly leave the apartment, snagging an extra stake on her way out the door.

Deciding to use the bathroom, Tara hurries to the bathroom, taking care of necessities before washing her face and brushing her teeth, noticing Faith had set items out for her.  Smiling softly at the thoughtful woman’s actions, Tara makes her way back to the kitchen.  Opening the refrigerator Tara stares in stunned surprise at the packed appliance.  Gently sifting through the items, she smiles at all the salad fixings, along with a couple large roasts, a pork butt roast and a standing rib roast.  Tilting her head at the rib roast, Tara pulls it out, smiling at the thought of making the slayer prime rib.  Figuring that it would probably be perfect by the time the slayer came home, after cooking for a couple hours before turning off the oven for the warmth to continue to somewhat cook the item, keeping it relatively warm but leaving it tender and medium rare.

Searching through the cabinets, Tara chuckles at the sight of the large bag of potatoes along with all the cans of vegetables and soups.  “Oh, Faith, honey.  We’re going to have to get you used to fresh vegetables.  Canned are okay, but fresh are so much better, and better for you.”  Tara murmurs quietly, deciding that she should maybe invest in a large crock pot so they can throw the roast in it without heating up the apartment with the oven all the time.  Plus it’s something Faith could throw together without a problem if she couldn’t ever be there to cook for the woman.

Pulling out the obviously new pots and pans, Tara starts preparing the food for the early morning dinner, knowing Faith will probably be hungry when she gets in.

***

Danielle leans over the bar watching Faith curiously.  Turning her gaze to Ginny when she gently rubs her lower back.  “Is it my imagination or does grumpy bitch over there seem happier tonight?”

“She is.”  Ginny chuckles quietly.  “Were you ever able to get her to talk about whatever was bothering her?”

“Nope.”  Danielle lifts her leg and rests her foot on the shelf under the bar, tilting her head.  “She had that friend of hers here that night then when she came back she was almost spoiling for a fight.  Now I swear I can almost see a smile on her face.”

Ginny snorts quietly, nodding her head in agreement.  “And she actually just quirked an eyebrow at Zane when she was being her usual obnoxious self.”

“Yeah, but after Faith practically threw her out of here when she came back, Zane’s been a little more cautious with her.”  Danielle chuckles quietly.

“Practically?”  Ginny stares incredulous at her partner.  “She picked her up by the back of her neck and her pants and literally tossed her out the front door.  There was no ‘practically’ about it.  I don’t know why you don’t just ban Zane.” 

“Can’t do that.”  Danielle looks knowingly at Ginny.

“Yeah, you can.  She may be my sister, but she’s a bitch, Dani.”  Ginny pats her lover on the butt before heading down the bar to help the customers.

“True.”  Danielle sighs quietly watching her bouncer curiously, wondering at the woman that was something of an enigma to everyone that comes to the club. 

***

Faith practically runs up the stairs to her floor.  Nose twitching as the smells assail her senses, Faith hurriedly unlocks the door.  Entering the apartment, she quickly locks it behind her, before tossing her keys and stakes on the table by the door before looking around the apartment, not seeing Tara.  Frowning heavily she glances towards the door to the bathroom, noticing the light’s off and the door’s open.  Worriedly sliding the doors open to the balcony, Faith sighs quietly in relief as she looks at the Wiccan sitting in a chair sipping on some orange juice.  “You may be five stories up, but it ain’t necessarily safe to be out here at night.”  Faith points out worriedly.

Tara turns and smiles at the slayer.  “It is now.  I put a little protection spell around your balcony so no uninvited guests could be here.”  Quickly standing, Tara pats the slayer gently on the hip as she eases by the woman.  “Dinner’s ready, I just need to serve it up.” 

“Dinner?  It’s like two in the morning.”  Faith points out following Tara curiously.

“Did you eat before you went to work, or later?”  Tara questions with a raised eyebrow.

“No.”  Faith admits.  “I’ll go wash up.”  Faith points to the bathroom before jogging towards it.

Tara chuckles quietly at the slayer, before pulling the meat out of the oven.  Walking over to the refrigerator, Tara pulls out the large salad and a couple of the salad dressings, setting them on the table, having already placed plates and silverware there earlier.  “What do you want to drink, Faith?  Water, soda or a beer?” 

“Soda is good.  I usually only have a beer when I relax in front of the television.”  Faith calls out from the bathroom, washing her face and arms, knowing she smells like smoke, one of the downfalls with working in the bar.  Having quit smoking after getting out of jail.  “Can I take an extra five minutes and shower?  The smoke is in my hair and bugging even me tonight.  There were some serious smokers in the club.”

“Go ahead, Faith.  It’ll give the meat a little more time to rest before I cut it.”  Tara calls out to the slayer, turning the gas burners on under the other food on top of the stove, helping keep it warm.  Slicing the loaf of bread Faith had bought, Tara’s eyes widen as she hears the shower shut off.  “Don’t look, don’t look, don’t look.”  Tara repeats quietly to herself, realizing that Faith would probably end up coming through the apartment without any clothes on, since she didn’t take anything in with her again. 

Faith smirks as she hears Tara.  Rubbing the towel over her hair, she strides through the apartment to her dresser.  Glancing out of the corner of her eye, Faith chuckles quietly as Tara shifts and makes sure her back’s to her.  Half tempted to stay unclothed Faith shakes her head at her thoughts.  Pulling on a pair of shorts and one of her many tank tops, Faith takes her towel back to the bathroom and tosses it over the shower rod before brushing her damp hair. 

Tara whimpers quietly as the one quick glance towards the slayer confirmed the fact that the woman wasn’t wearing any clothes when she came out of the bathroom.  Determinedly keeping her back to the woman, she works on finishing slicing the meat, placing it on a large platter.  Grabbing extra pot holders, she sets them on the small table and places the pots and pans on the holders just as Faith comes out of the bathroom.  Inhaling deeply at the sight of the beautiful brunette, Tara drags her eyes back to the food.  “Hope you like prime rib.”  Tara points to the sliced meat.  Grabbing the smallest pan, Tara dips out some juice into a small container she’d placed up above her plate along with a bowl for her salad.  “Here’s the juice to dip the meat in, if you like to.”  Tara offers the pan to the woman.  “Be careful, the pots and pans are still hot.”

“Prime rib?”  Faith frowns heavily looking down at the meat on the platter, having to admit it looks like prime rib but knowing she didn’t buy it.

“The rib roast you bought?  You can use it to make prime rib.”  Tara explains, a soft smile on her face as Faith’s eyes widen in surprise.  “Eat, Faith.” Tara orders softly, pulling a small piece of the prime rib onto her plate before filling her bowl with salad and placing mashed potatoes on her plate, pouring some gravy over the top and scooping out some steamed carrots along with green beans onto her plate.  Realizing if she keeps eating at night like this, she’ll gain back what weight she’s lost in no time. 

Faith hands a piece of bread to Tara even as she grabs one of the large pieces of meat, placing it on her plate, her mouth watering at the enticing aromas coming from the food.  Quickly filling her plate with everything else she can cram on it, she scoops out some salad into her bowl and pours some Country French dressing on it before cutting the tender meat, realizing she could cut it with her fork it’s so tender.  Dipping it in the juice, Faith groans quietly as the meat practically melts in her mouth.  Licking her lips, she tries everything else quickly, having to admit she hasn’t ever had a meal that tasted so good.  “Damn, girl.  This is excellent.  I ain’t gonna be able to go back to take-out.”  Faith grumbles quietly.  “Guess I gotta keep ya’ around.”

Tara chuckles quietly as Faith looks at her and winks.  “You may end up regretting that comment.”  Tara points out as she relaxes and starts to eat.

“Nah.  Don’t think I’ll ever regret ya’ being around.”  Faith whispers softly, before settling down to eat the food Tara had fixed.

Tara stares at the slayer for a few minutes, before going back to eating. 

Faith licks her lips after she finishes her first plate full of food, watching as Tara slowly works her way through her food.  “Did ya’ do the spell thingy to block Red from being able to do any magic on ya’?”

“Yes, I did.”  Tara admits quietly, pulling out the two necklaces from under her top.  Pulling one of them over her head, she hands it to the slayer, seeing the confused look on her face, Tara smiles sadly.  “Humor me, Faith.  Just in case Willow freaks and decides to do something to you, just because we’re…”  Tara trails off, not really knowing what they are.  “Just in case, please wear it.”

Faith accepts the leather corded necklace.  Putting it on, she tucks it in her shirt.  “Can ya’ make it more like a choker type necklace?”

“I certainly can.  I didn’t know if you would want it to be visible or not.  After all, you don’t wear any jewelry that I can tell.”  Tara explains softly.

“I don’t usually bother.  It gets lost or broken most of the time.”  Faith admits, pressing the small stone against her chest, surprised at the warmth coming from it. 

“I know you’re still hungry, Faith.  Eat.”  Tara orders chuckling quietly as Faith narrows her eyes at her.

“Eat, she says.  I want to see you eating more, too.”  Faith points to Tara’s plate.  “You lost more weight that ya’ couldn’t afford to lose.  I remember curves and…”  Faith snaps her mouth shut at what she was about to admit as Tara’s eyes look curiously at her.  “Yeah, well, you need to eat.”  Faith finishes lamely.

Tara sighs quietly and puts a small amount of potatoes and cuts a small piece of the prime rib from one of the larger pieces and sets it on her plate.  “I can’t gain all the weight back in a couple days, Faith.  It literally took me months to lose it.”

“Yeah, well, ya’ better be eatin’ three meals a day from now on.  I’m gonna want… never mind, got it.”  Faith mumbles, realizing she was going to tell Tara she wanted her class schedule so she can make sure the blonde ate lunch, before remembering she already knows it by heart now.

Tara quirks an eyebrow at the slayer as Faith becomes real interested in the food on the table, pulling another large slice of prime rib on her plate and more of the potatoes along with different vegetables.  “Where do you keep your extra sheets?”  Tara questions after she finishes the additional food she’d placed on her plate. 

“Ummm.  In the bottom right dresser drawer.”  Faith frowns as she watches Tara nod and stand to go to the dresser.  “Whatcha’ doin’?”

“I’m going to make up the couch for me to sleep on.”  Tara explains as she walks over to the couch.  Noticing for the first time that the coffee table was a different coffee table, looking from it to Faith, Tara raises an eyebrow at the slayer. 

“Yeah, the other one had an accident.”  Faith mumbles looking down at her plate poking at her food.

Tara sighs quietly before setting the couch pillows on the coffee table.  Snapping out the flat sheet, Tara tucks it around the couch. 

“You ain’t gotta sleep on the couch.  It won’t be comfortable on ya’.”  Faith comments softly as she watches Tara finish tucking the sheet in.

“Last time I checked you only have one bed.  And I have already kept it from you in the past.”  Tara points out as she settles the pillows back on the couch. 

“I didn’t plan on havin’ you here and makin’ you sleep on my shitty couch.  I hope I’ve learned a few manners in the past couple years.  You don’t make guests sleep on the couch.”  Faith growls quietly. 

“And I could have said no to coming here to stay!  The couch is better than my thin useless mattress in my dorm room, so don’t worry about it.”  Tara growls back. 

“Yeah, well, it’s a big fuckin’ bed, we could share.”  Faith waves her hand towards her bed, but keeps eye contact with the witch.

“Like that’s a wonderful idea!  That’s all we damn well need.  You already drive me crazy when you decide to walk around your apartment in the nude!  Goddess only knows that you probably sleep the same way.  So just to give you a hint, in case you haven’t figured it out…”  Tara takes a deep breath and points a finger at her chest.  “ME LESBIAN.”  Turning the finger towards Faith, Tara growls even louder.  “YOU SLAYER.  YOU ARE HOT, SEXY, AND EXTREMELY FUCKING DESIRABLE!  I’M ONLY FUCKING HUMAN!”  Tara yells loudly, her hands waving around her head by the time she’s done.

Faith’s lip quirks and her eyes start to twinkle as she stares at the blonde.  “So maybe I was partially right before.  Maybe you were looking for a little bit of me, but it wasn’t to get over Red.”

“GRRRRR!!!”  Tara growls loudly and storms off to the bathroom, slamming the door shut on Faith’s laughter.  “Damn bitch!”  Tara snarls, stripping her clothes off before turning the shower on.  Stepping into the shower, Tara shivers as the cold water hits her overheated body.  “Damn know it all bitch.”  Tara mumbles quietly as she waits for the cold water to calm down her overly excited body, silently wondering why the hell arguing with the slayer excited her so much. 

Faith grins as she finishes eating her dinner, the smell of arousal coming from the witch making her extremely happy.  Laughing as she hears the water turn on and the low whimper that Tara probably wasn’t even aware she made.  As the blonde calls her a know it all, Faith laughs uproariously.  “Yeah, I may be.  After all, I don’t remember you stopping to get towels outta the hall closet.”  Faith continues to chuckle as she starts to put the food in containers and clean up from dinner.  As she hears the water shut off, she hurries over to the closet, grabbing a towel.  Leaning against the wall facing the bathroom door, she holds the towel dangling from her index finger.  Smirking as she hears the witch start cussing up a storm as she realizes she doesn’t have a towel to dry herself off with. 

“Damn, damn, double damn.”  Tara mutters, barely stopping herself from stomping her foot in annoyance of her own stupidity.  “Stupid bitch can’t even remember to pick up a fucking towel before coming into the bathroom.  No… have too many other things on her stupid brain.”  Tara finally yanks the door open, whimpering quietly at Faith leaning against the wall across from her with a towel dangling from her finger.  “Fuck me.”  Tara mumbles, feeling the blush slowly working its way through her whole body. 

Faith waves the towel in front of Tara, allowing her eyes to look at the blushing witch, smirking at how the whole body of the woman becomes red, the smirk turning into a frown as she notices the prominent ribcage and the concave abdomen and stomach, practically no hips on the woman whatsoever.  Surprised the woman still has breasts, though knowing those have to have shrunk, also.  “Damn it, Tara!  You’re nothing but fuckin’ skin and bones.”  Faith quickly wraps the towel around the woman and picks her up to carry her towards the bed.  “Don’t fuckin’ argue with me.  I’ll sleep with fuckin’ clothes on, or I’ll sleep on the couch.”  Faith gently dries the woman, bitching quietly the whole time about how could she let herself go like this.  “Shirt like before, or do ya’ want shorts also?”

Tara doesn’t make eye contact just looks down at her body, running a hand over a too thin thigh, finally seeing what Faith sees.  Frowning heavily at the sight, Tara takes a deep breath before finally answering the slayer.  “Shirt and shorts, please.”

Faith quickly moves off the bed to the dresser pulling out a pair of sweat shorts and a t-shirt.  Moving back, she lays them beside Tara.  “Put these on, I’m gonna get my brush.”  Faith explains softly as she grabs the towel, heading back to the bathroom.

Tara lifts her head to watch the slayer stride angrily away.  Standing, Tara pulls the shorts on, shaking her head at the realization that if it weren’t for the slayer’s penchant to wear clothes that fit like a glove, they would be falling off her body.  Not having thought about the fact that all her pants she’s had to cinch tight with a belt to keep them from falling off, she’d just automatically done it.

Faith gives the Wiccan a few extra moments, as she washes her face and brushes her teeth, running the hair brush a couple times through her own wavy mop of hair.  The woman had been skinny the last time she was here, but this time it’s like she’d lost another twenty pounds and looked emaciated.  Faith frowns heavily at the thought the woman looks like a good strong wind would break her in two.  Mentally making a note to be extra gentle with the woman, Faith finally heads back towards her bed.  Setting the hair brush on the nightstand, she hurries to finish putting away the food, placing the dirty dishes in the sink.  Walking back to Tara, Faith growls quietly.  “I’ll wash the dishes, so don’t even think about trying to do them later, okay?”

Tara glances up at the slayer, quickly dropping her head back down.  “I understand.”

Faith grabs the hair brush and maneuvers to sit at the head of the bed with her back against the headboard.  Spreading her legs, Faith leans forward and taps Tara gently on the shoulder.  “Come up here and sit so I can brush your hair for ya’.”

Tara sniffs quietly and does as ordered, settling between the slayer’s legs, her back towards the woman.  As Faith gently starts to brush her hair, taking extreme care to work out each knot before continuing on, Tara looks at the woman’s strong, tanned legs, the muscles shifting slightly whenever the slayer moves.  Trailing her eyes down to the woman’s feet, Tara sighs quietly as she realizes even her feet look strong and sexy, pouting slightly as the cute toes wiggle occasionally.  Closing her eyes, Tara pulls her knees up to her chest and wraps her arms around her legs.

Faith gently works out all the knots in the blonde’s hair, before continuing to brush it gently as the woman finally rests her face on her knees.  Feeling Tara relax, Faith places the brush on the nightstand and softly runs her fingers through the silken mass before trailing her fingers over the woman’s shoulders and back.  When Tara leans back into her, turning slightly, Faith wraps her arms around her, urging her to get more comfortable. As Tara snuggles her side against her and her face gets buried in her neck, Faith brushes her cheek over the top of her head, softly stroking a hand up and down her body, trying to ignore the bones protruding until she hears the deep even breathing of the witch having fallen asleep.  “What am I going to do with you?”  Faith questions the quiet apartment, frowning heavily.

***

Chapter 6

Faith quietly eases back into the apartment after glancing up to see Tara still sleeping in the bed, frowning at the sight though knowing that the woman hadn’t been sleeping properly either.  Setting down the bag of vitamins and muscle builder, along with appetite enhancer, Faith bends down to untie her boots, kicking them off before walking over to Tara, brushing her fingers gently over the woman’s cheek, looking intently at the prominent cheek bones, thankful at least that the dark shadows under the woman’s eyes are somewhat lighter.  Looking at the clock, Faith debates on whether to wake Tara up to insist she take the vitamins and stuff she’d bought for her along with eating breakfast, or to let the woman sleep. 

“Where’d you go?”  Tara mumbles half asleep, unconsciously curling her body around the slayer’s body where Faith had sat down on the edge of the bed.

“To the store to pick up a few things.”  Faith sighs quietly as Tara buries her face against the side of her leg.  “How about ya’ get some food in ya’ then you can lie back down?”

“Not hungry.”  Tara mumbles, wiggling a hand under the slayer’s thigh, exhaling quietly as she falls back asleep.

“Ah, hell.”  Faith grumbles looking down at the lightly snoring blonde.  “Two hours, max.  Then your ass is getting up whether you want to or not.”  Faith warns the sleeping woman.  Gently running her fingers through the blonde strands, Faith chews on her bottom lip considering Tara.  Even with the obvious weight she had lost, the too thin woman was still beautiful.  “Why would Red treat ya’ like that?  From what little bit of time we spent together, even the arguing and stupid shit, you’re a wonderful woman.  You deserve to be treated kindly and with love.”  Faith murmurs softly, stroking her thumb gently over Tara’s cheekbone.  “You deserve someone that can give ya’ the world, T-Bear.  Worship the ground ya’ walk on and say ‘how high’ when ya’ ask ‘em to jump.”  Faith chuckles quietly at the thought. 

Faith continues to sit on the bed, gently running her fingers through Tara’s hair to occasionally stroking a finger down her cheek.  Not realizing with every thought and caress, she’s falling in love with the Wiccan.

***

Faith quirks an eyebrow and crosses her arms over her chest as she stares at the blonde. 

“Damn it, Faith.  You’ve been making me eat non-stop for practically the whole week I’ve been staying here.  I’ve gained back ten pounds, and you’re making me exercise with you.  What else do you want from me?”  Tara growls deeply in her throat. 

“I want you to gain at least fifteen more pounds…  Then we’ll see where you’re at as to how much more I want ya’ to gain.  At least your fucking stomach ain’t caved in no more.  Keep taking the vitamins, muscle builder and shit I bought.  Your body was starting to resort to your muscles for sustenance, and they’re about wasted, so we got to get ya’ in shape.”

“Did anyone ever tell you that you’re a bitch?”  Tara growls as Faith points to the floor and holds up her ten fingers.  Lowering her body to the floor she slowly works on doing ten pushups.  “Hate pushups, and you won’t let me do women’s push ups.”

“Because they’re fuckin’ useless and for wimps.  Are you turning into a wimp on me?  Because if ya’ are…”  Faith trails off as Tara snarls at her and works even harder at doing her pushups.

“If you make Buffy get on my case one more time, I’ll stick your ass to the ceiling!”  Tara warns, not believing that Faith had actually gone and talked with Buffy about her.  The other slayer incensed had come and bitched her out about letting herself go like that.  What had shocked Tara even more was when Dawn had come in remorsefully behind Buffy and said she was sorry for the way she had treated her.  When she’d snapped her head around to look at Faith, Faith had quirked an eyebrow at her daring her to say anything.

Still not having gotten the full story from the dark-haired slayer, all she’s been able to figure out is that Faith had went off on both Buffy and Dawn about their treatment of her and got even more information on the happenings and what all went on from the two Summers’ women from their viewpoint. 

Tara sighs quietly thinking about it.  As far as she knows, no one had said anything to Willow about where she was or even the fact that Faith was in town.  Though how Anya kept her mouth shut and didn’t tell Xander, no one understood. 

“If you’re a good little girl, maybe I’ll take ya’ out for ice cream before I have to go to work tonight.”  Faith smirks and hops back away from Tara as the blonde swipes at her with her hand.  Yelping, Faith’s hands fly out from her body as she finds herself three feet off the ground floating.

“Maybe if you’re a good little girl, I’ll let your ass back on the ground.”  Tara mimic’s Faith’s tones as she stands crossing her arms to look at the slayer.  “How’s the weather up there?  Ohhh… I think I see a cobweb, while you’re up there.”  Tara smirks as she moves Faith to the corner of the ceiling.  Chuckling as Faith starts to cuss under her breath. 

“I said no fuckin’ with me after the last time!”  Faith growls, trying to be serious as she looks into the laughing blue eyes of the Wiccan.

“I thought you liked standing on your head.”  Tara chuckles.

“Walking around for two hours on my hands, because you fucked with me ain’t my idea of fun!”  Faith swipes the cobweb out of the corner while she’s there.  “Tryin’ to fuckin’ explain to B that I couldn’t flip around to walk on my feet was a bitch!” 

“Teach you to forget to tell me that you invited her here for dinner.  Two slayers eat more than a football team does, Faith!”  Tara points out, her eyes narrowed.

“I forgot!  It ain’t like I did it on purpose.  Plus she’s only come over for dinner the once.”  Faith pouts as she looks down at the Wiccan.  “Come on, T-Bear.  Let me down, I was just pickin’!”

Tara has to laugh at the slayer’s pouting lip, the woman had been acting more like an adorable, cuddly teddy bear lately, than an angry, bad assed slayer… at least to her.  Tara had finally talked her into letting her go out on patrol with her the night before and the way Faith ripped through the demons made her thankful that the slayer was on their side.  “You know I’m going to need to go back to the dorm tomorrow, don’t you?”

Faith growls quietly, even as Tara floats her back down to the ground, releasing the spell.  “Yeah.”  Faith washes her hands of the cobweb stuck on them.  “I want ya’ to come over every day when your last class is through.  Leave me a list of what food ya’ want me to pick up, and I’ll make sure I get it from the store.  Plus you’re gonna make yourself some pancakes and other shit that you can heat up to eat in the morning.  Maybe buy ya’ some bagels and other shit to keep in your dorm room.  I want ya’ to keep eating three meals a day and snacks.  If it looks like you’re losing weight instead of gainin’ it, I’ll drag your ass back here and you won’t ever fuckin’ leave my apartment, got it?”

“Practicing your bossy attitude, are you?”  Tara quirks an eyebrow inquiringly at the slayer, though she has to admit, the woman worrying about her makes her extremely happy on a certain level.  Though somewhat at a loss as to why the slayer seems to have taken her under her wing.  Faith had done everything humanly possible to make her feel at ease and comfortable while she was here the past week.  She had even stopped walking through the apartment naked after taking showers, though Tara had to honestly admit that she missed the slayer doing that.  The woman had even toned down the sexual innuendos and had pretty much been a perfect ‘gentleman’ while she’d been staying here.

“Yeah, I am.  And what of it?”  Faith growls with narrowed eyes on the Wiccan. 

“If you’re not careful, I’ll stick you to the ceiling and leave you there.”  Tara warns, narrowing her gaze on the slayer, silently daring her, before the two women break down laughing.

Faith chuckles and gently squeezes Tara’s shoulder after they stop laughing.  “I like havin’ you around, T-Bear.  You make me realize there’s more to life than slaying.  Thank you for that.”  Faith states seriously, surprised when Tara hugs her tightly.  Closing her eyes and gently wrapping her arms around the Wiccan, Faith inhales deeply of the woman’s scent, the light lavender scent she always seems to smell of with that earthy smell that’s all Tara. 

“I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, Faith.  You’ve turned into a wonderful friend and confidante… even when you’re being bitchy.”  Tara chuckles hugging the woman tightly around the shoulders enjoying the feel of the strong, warm body against hers.  “Are you going to let me go to work with you tonight?  I really don’t want to sit around the apartment.”

Faith groans quietly and drops her head down onto Tara’s shoulder.  “Tonight’s dress-up night, T.  I’m even havin’ to go in costume or Dan was threatening to fire my ass.”

“Costume… as in Dominatrix and Slave type thing?”  Tara’s eyes twinkle as she gently eases away from Faith. 

Faith narrows her gaze on Tara.  “Yeah.”

“You were going as a Dom, weren’t you?”  Tara chuckles as Faith blushes lightly.  “I can’t see you being a Sub to tell you the truth, Faith.”

Faith eases away from the Wiccan and heads over to her closet, shaking her head.  “For the right person I would be.”  Faith murmurs not realizing she spoke loud enough for Tara to hear. 

Tara blinks in surprise at the serious note in Faith’s words.  Studying the slayer for a few minutes, she sighs softly.  “I guess I’ll study some more tonight.  I’ve worked so far ahead in all my classes that I could probably just show up for the tests and be done.”  Tara plops down on the couch rolling her head to watch as Faith digs around in her closet.

Faith nibbles on her bottom lip as she hears the note of sadness in Tara’s voice.  Knowing that the woman was wanting to spend more time together, having always been awake when she got home from working and patrol, the two women staying up until the morning light eating, talking and joking around until Faith insisted on them getting some sleep.  More for Tara’s need than herself, since she didn’t need much sleep.  After curling up in the bed, not long after Tara had fallen asleep the woman always ended up shifting to where she was practically draped across her.  The first time Tara had buried her face in her neck and her arm and leg had come across her, Faith had been a nervous wreck, slowly calming down and holding the woman while she slept after a few hours.  She had quickly become used to the woman snuggling up against her and knows she’ll miss it when Tara goes back to her dorm room. 

Sighing quietly at her wandering thoughts, Faith runs a hand through her hair as a heavy weight settles in her heart.  “Damn it.”  Faith mutters realizing she cares more for the blonde than she ever thought possible.  Silently wondering when the woman wiggled her way under her defenses and into her heart.  Finding a pair of leather pants that she had shoved into the back of her closet, realizing after she bought them that they weren’t sized right and never got around to taking back, she takes them off the hanger and puts them over her shoulder.  Pulling out an old silver studded black leather belt, Faith places it over her shoulder before glancing over at Tara considering the woman for a minute.  Looking back through her closet she scratches her head wondering what to grab for a top.  Sifting through the clothes, she smiles as she sees the pale blue silk blouse.  Grabbing it and a pair of her black boots, she sets all those items on the bed. 

Tara watches Faith curiously as the woman goes back to her closet pulling out another pair of leather pants and a couple more belts, silently wondering what the slayer is up to. 

Faith sets the other items on the bed before going to her dresser drawers.  Digging around she pulls out a leather bra, a smirk crossing her face.  Though knowing they were built somewhat differently, hoping that it might fit Tara.  Pursing her lips she stops to think about what she is going to wear as a top.  Chuckling wickedly, Faith heads back to the closet, remembering a wider belt that she bought that she can only wear with one pair of pants.  Eyeing the length of the belt, she nods her head, figuring it’ll work, though she’ll have to wear a jacket over her outfit until they get to the bar.

Tara frowns as she watches Faith grab another belt and place it with the other items on the bed, what really worries her is the chuckles coming from the slayer. 

“Oh…”  Faith’s eyes light up as she remember the black leather leash she’d come across one night while out on patrol.  Not knowing why, she’d picked it up and brought it home.  Heading over to her chest, she digs around until she finds it, pulling it out.  Tilting her head as she sees a metal u-shaped hanger on the end of one of her knives, she grabs it and quickly pulls it off.  Never understanding why the knife came with it, unless people tied it to them somehow so they wouldn’t lose it.  Turning, she catches sight of questioning blue eyes.  Smirking wickedly at Tara, Faith wiggles her eyebrows.  “Come on, Mistress.  Let’s see what we got.”

Tara’s eyes widen at the slayer’s words.  “Say… huh?”

“And you’re goin’ to college?”  Faith chuckles and heads back to the bed.  “I noticed it looks like we wear the same size shoes, and we’re pretty much the same height.  Of course, your scrawny ass ain’t up to par yet, but I think we can make it work.”  Faith waves to the items spread out on the bed.  “Get over here.”  Faith orders.

“Faith, I don’t…”  Tara trails off as Faith looks at her with a lifted eyebrow.  Sighing quietly, she wonders exactly what the slayer has in store for her.

“Don’t worry, nothin’ major for you.”  Faith waves her hand in the air urging Tara closer.  “Here’s your clothes, I want you to try ‘em on and make sure they fit relatively well.”  Faith points to the soft black leather pants, the black leather bra with silver accents and the pale blue silk shirt. 

“Faith…”  Tara shakes her head as she looks at the leather pants. 

“Either that, or you can stay here again.”  Faith shrugs her shoulders.  “I thought ya’ wanted to come with me to the bar.  That’s gonna be relatively mild to what most people are gonna be wearing.  You’re gonna see some serious stiletto heels, and lack of clothes.”  Faith gather’s the items and hands them to Tara, along with one of the belts.  “Go.”  Faith orders waving her hand towards the bathroom.

Tara whimpers quietly, looking into brown eyes silently daring her to change into the clothes.  Groaning quietly, Tara nods her head and turns to go to the bathroom and get changed.

Faith chuckles quietly as she quickly strips everything off her.  Sliding into her own pair of black leather pants, she takes the wider belt and wraps it around her chest, buckling it in front, whimpering at her breasts being squished, but realizing it will work, wondering silently if it would look better with being buckled at her back.  Looking down at her chest, she tilts her head at the sight.  Shrugging she pulls it off and sets it back on the bed.  Taking up the older leather belt, she places it around her neck holding her hand in place to where she needs to punch another hole in the leather. 

Sitting down on the bed, she grabs out her multi-purpose knife and pulls out the leather hole punch, placing one where her hand is and one a little further in and one a little further out, between the silver studs, thankful for slayer strength as she pushes through the leather easily.  Flicking the hole punch back in, she flips out the knife portion and carefully cuts the belt.  Standing up she strides over to her chest and pulls out her leather cleaner, knowing it’ll darken the leather from where she’d just cut it.  Pouring a small amount on the rag, she runs it over the edge of the leather, glancing up as she hears the bathroom door open and a blushing Tara walk out.  Grinning at the sight of the leather pants fitting not perfectly, since they’re a little loose, but not bad.  Looking up to the snug blue shirt buttoned up and covering the leather bra.

“Nope.  Ain’t gonna work like that, T-Bear.”  Faith shakes her head nodding towards her chest.  “Unbutton down past the bra.”  Faith orders softly.

Tara blushes even darker and shakes her head.  “I can’t, Faith.  I’ve never…”  Realizing the slayer is standing there without a top on, Tara moans quietly and tries not to look at the full round breasts. 

Faith quirks an eyebrow at Tara.  “You got it, flaunt it.  If you’re gonna be my Mistress you’re gonna have to play the part.  I want attitude from you, and I want you to flash those babies around.”  Faith waves a hand at Tara, chuckling quietly as Tara whimpers loudly.  Looking back down she finishes with the edge of the altered belt, glad that the belt is only an inch wide but thick.  Knowing she’ll be able to put the hook into the middle of the leather.  Putting the belt up around her neck, she growls as her hair gets in the way.  Pushing her hair to the side, she feels for the holes, realizing the first one is too loose.  Working her way inward she finally finds the second hole.  Fixing the belt, she runs a finger around the edge nodding her head that there’s a little play in it. 

Tara watches as Faith strides back to the bed, her eyes wide as the slayer picks something up from the bed and walks by her winking at her as she heads into the bathroom.

“Unbutton.”  Faith calls over her shoulder as she walks into the bathroom.

Tara’s shoulders slump as she looks down at her chest, silently wondering if she really wants to spend the time with the slayer badly enough to do this.  Realizing that, yes, she does, Tara slowly unbuttons the top, blushing at the sight of her breasts being pushed up and swelling over the cups of the leather bra.  Almost stopping before the bra shows, Tara knows Faith will gripe.  Unbuttoning a couple more, and easing the shirt out a little bit so it gapes showing more of the bra, Tara takes a deep breath.  “You can do this.”  Tara nods her head as she slowly stiffens her back and walks towards the bed.  Sitting on the edge, she picks up the boots and slides them on.  Pulling the leather pants neatly over the top of the snug boots she stands and strides around the room.  Admitting they feel pretty good on her feet. 

“Strut, Tara.  Act like you own the place.  Act like you own me.”  Faith calls from the bathroom doorway watching as Tara jerks her head towards her.  “Come on, girl.  Act like your God’s gift to women.  Sway your hips, tilt your head up slightly and walk like you mean it!”

Tara growls at the slayer, shooting her a glare.  “Put some fucking clothes on, Slayer!” 

“Ooh…  There’s the attitude!  Now use it when you walk!”  Faith grins hugely as Tara strides towards her, a light amount of sway in her steps and a glint in her eye.  “That’s it.  Just like that.”  Faith nods her head smirking as Tara comes to stand in front of her.  With the slight heels on the boots she’s wearing, making her slightly taller than her right now, until Faith gets her boots on. 

“Hopefully you’re not going topless.”  Tara taps the slayer on the upper chest, trying to keep her eyes from taking in the slayer’s body.  Having noticed the scar previously on the woman’s stomach, taking a while to realize where it had come from, feeling a sadness and heartache at what the woman had gone through in her life.

“Nope, not completely.  But I do need your help with it.”  Faith wiggles her eyebrows at Tara, brushing against her on purpose as she walks by her, chuckling wickedly.

Tara moans softly as Faith’s breasts brush against her as the woman moves by her, silently calling the slayer every name in the book, along with a few in Ancient Sumerian and Latin while she’s at it.  Following Faith, she stops when the slayer hands her the wide belt.  Raising her eyes she looks at the slayer. 

“That’s gonna be my top.”  Faith wiggles her eyes.  “It’s gonna be snug and I want ya’ to try and get the buckle as close to the middle of my back as possible.” 

Tara holds up the belt and looks at Faith, her eyes widening as she realizes the slayer wants this to cover her breasts.  Groaning deeply and closing her eyes at the thought, Tara shakes her head.  “You’re going to kill me, Faith.”  Tara mumbles, taking a deep breath.

“I have to go as a bottom, T-Bear, if you’re gonna be my Mistress.  Bottoms usually wear a lot less than what I’m gonna be wearing, especially there at the club.  You were probably a little too wasted the one time you were there before, but if I told ya’ that a lot of the bottoms didn’t wear anything coverin’ their sex, it wouldn’t be a lie.”  Faith quirks an eyebrow at the Wiccan.  “You sure you still wanna go?”

Taking a deep steadying breath, Tara slowly nods her head.  “I’m already dressed, and…”  Shaking her head, Tara smiles quickly deciding not to admit that she didn’t want Faith to go with the outfit she’s wearing without being by her, silently admitting that she’s jealous of the thought of other women hitting on the slayer.  “Can you hold the belt to where you need it?”  Tara watches as Faith nods and turns her back towards her.  Lifting the belt over the woman’s head, she waits for Faith to grasp the belt gently.  Adjusting it slowly to where the buckle should be in the middle of Faith’s back, she looks over the woman’s shoulder.  “Ready for me to latch it?”

“Yeah.”  Faith closes her eyes as warm fingers brush against her back as Tara latches the belt.  Adjusting her breasts slightly under the tight belt, Faith takes a shallow breath, realizing she won’t be able to take too deep of breaths with this around her. 

Tara walks around the slayer, groaning quietly as the belt covers the woman’s nipples, but the flesh is flattened under the belt to where it bulges out above and below the belt.  “Oh, Goddess.”  Tara mumbles, running a hand across her eyes.  “Please tell me you’re going to wear something over that at least until we get to the bar.”  Tara begs softly, turning to walk away from the slayer, the woman’s perpetually tanned skin, with her muscled abdomen flexing and the breasts on display almost too much for Tara to handle. 

“What, you don’t think I should walk around Sunnydale like this?”  Faith smirks as she looks down at her breasts.

“No!”  Tara growls, heading towards the couch and sitting heavily in the corner.  “Where the hell are you going to put a stake in that outfit?”  Tara groans loudly as Faith just chuckles wickedly.  “Goddess help me!”  Tara looks up at the ceiling, silently praying for the strength to keep from attacking the laughing slayer and learning how all that warm flesh feels and tastes.

Grabbing one of her lighter black leather jackets, Faith tucks away a couple stakes in it and double-checks to make sure that the knife she usually keeps strapped inside is still there before tossing it on the bed.  Grabbing her boots she yanks them on before pulling the jacket on, zipping it up to cover the majority of her naked flesh.  Grabbing the leather leash, Faith folds it in half and walks over to Tara.  Kneeling beside the blonde, Faith tilts her head forward.  “Mistress, your leash.”  Faith holds out the leash to Tara, her whole manner subservient.

Tara whimpers quietly as she reaches out for the leash.  “Faith…”  Tara runs a hand through her loose hair.  “What should I call you?”

“Mistress, if you wish to call me Slayer, you may.  No one will know, and if anyone asks, we can just say it’s a pet name, Mistress.”  Faith explains softly.

Tara groans deeply.  “If you keep this up, you may end up finding out what kind of Mistress I can be.”  Tara warns jokingly, knowing there’s no way she’d ever be able to become that.

Faith fights the grin crossing her face.  “Yes, Mistress.  Whatever pleases the Mistress, Mistress.” 

“Ah, hell.”  Tara taps Faith gently on the shoulder with the leash.  “Come on, Faith.  Don’t be playing on the way to the bar, please!”

Faith chuckles and slowly stands, holding her hand out for Tara.  “I’m just getting into character.”

Tara rolls her eyes at the slayer, accepting her hand as she stands from the couch.  “Please tell me I don’t actually have to play at being a serious Mistress tonight.”

Faith shrugs and grins.  “You may have to.  There’s no telling what Dan and Gin has planned.  Though I doubt it’ll be anythin’ too bad.”  Faith winks and reaches for the leash.  Rolling it up, she tucks it away in one of her pockets.  “Come on, Mistress.  I don’t want to be late for work, now do I?”

Tara groans deeply and follows Faith out of the apartment, silently wondering what she’s getting herself into this time.

***

Chapter 7

Danielle grins as she looks over Ginny, knowing her lover hates it when they do the dress-up night, though the customer’s seem to enjoy the sight of the employees in ‘costume’.  Ginny loved the bedroom games, but hated it to be public, but twice a year she dressed up like everyone else. 

“Why the hell did we open this bar again?”  Ginny bitches quietly as she bends over showing her ass to perfection with the open chaps, though she is wearing a leather g-string, not willing to put her wares completely on display.

“Because all our lesbian friends wanted somewhere they could go without worrying about dealing with smart-assed comments.  It kind of snowballed from there.”  Danielle chuckles at the evil look her lover gives her.

“It was that fuckin’ whip and riding crop that you nailed above the bar.”  Ginny looks at the two items.  “After that people started to dress in leather and wanted to play.” 

Danielle shrugs, grinning.  “We’ve done well, though.”

“Yes, we have.”  Ginny grins back at her lover.  “And for some odd reason, I enjoy it here.  The cops don’t even bother the bar, which is really weird.” 

“They have enough weird shit to worry about than a little fun-time bar.”  Danielle looks towards the side door when she sees movement, as they haven’t unlocked the main door yet.  Not opening for another half hour.  She watches Faith strut in smirking at the thick silver studded collar around her neck, but not noticing anything else different until the dark-haired woman peels off her jacket placing it over her normal seat.  “Damn.”  Danielle whispers at the only thing keeping Faith’s upper body from being on display is a leather belt.

“Is that the blonde Faith carried out of here over a month ago?”  Ginny questions narrowing her eyes on the blonde, looking her over intently, Ginny slowly nods her head. “I’ll be damned, it is.”

Danielle looks at the blonde, blinking in surprise at the beautiful, though skinny, woman with her chest on display, striding towards them beside Faith.

Faith hands Tara the leash as they reach Dan and Gin.  “Dan, Gin.  This is Tara.  Tara this is my bosses Danielle and Ginny.”  Faith waves her hand at the two women as she slides behind the bar and grabs a couple sodas for her and Tara to drink. 

“Hi.”  Tara blushes lightly and nods her head at the two women.

“Faith, she is the one you made Zane piss herself over, ain’t she?”  Ginny questions curiously, looking at the bouncer.

“Yeah.”  Faith nods her head as she hands the glass to Tara. 

“And she’s topping you?”  Danielle grins wickedly at the dark-haired bouncer.

“The only one that’ll ever top me.”  Faith growls, her eyes flashing. 

Tara unconsciously rests a calming hand on the slayer’s tense shoulder.  “Faith…” Tara looks at the two women.  “Is there somewhere we can talk privately?”

“Use my office.”  Danielle waves towards the hallway that leads towards her office, surprised when Tara spins around heading that way with Faith slowly following her. 

Faith growls quietly as she follows behind Tara, surprised when she watches Tara step into the office, shutting the door after she follows her in.  Turning around, she starts to say something to Tara, her mouth staying open in stunned surprise when Tara finishes unbuttoning the last couple buttons on her shirt before unbuttoning and unzipping the leather pants, pulling the shirt out and pulling it off to set on the shelf beside the door. 

Tara shakes her head as she quickly strips off the shirt, placing it and the leash aside before reaching up to unhook the leather bra, placing it with the items.  Stepping forward, Tara reaches around the slayer and undoes the belt around her neck, nibbling her lip as she thinks about the necklace around her own neck not going with the ‘outfit’, but shaking her head as she isn’t willing to take it off.  Thankful that Faith had left hers on under the collar.

Faith blinks as she watches Tara fumble for a moment as she puts the make-shift collar on.  “What the fuck are you doin’?”  Faith hoarsely questions, trying not to look at Tara’s breasts as she clenches her hands at her side.

“You’re going to be the Dom.”  Tara explains the obvious, as she looks at the ‘top’ Faith’s wearing, remembering how Ginny’s breasts weren’t covered at all and the leather chaps with just a g-string barely covering her sex.  “Can you make a couple holes in that belt?”  Tara finally questions as she steps around Faith and unhooks the belt, frowning at the red indentions left on the slayer’s skin from the too tight belt.  “I knew this was too tight.”  Tara growls softly, running her fingers tenderly over Faith’s back, not even wanting to see what the woman’s breasts look like.

Faith groans and closes her eyes as Tara’s fingers stroke over her back.  Enjoying the feeling for a while, Faith swallows hard before shaking her head at the desire coursing through her from that simple touch.  Remembering Tara asking her a question, Faith finally answers.  “Umm.  Holes in the belt?  Yeah, I got a knife with me.  It’s in my jacket but I can get it.”

“Go ahead and dress.  I’ll wait here.”  Tara waves to the bra and top as she runs the belt between her fingers.

“T-Bear, you ain’t gotta do this.”  Faith whispers turning to look at Tara, sighing at the stubborn look crossing Tara’s face.

Tara can’t help but see the creases in Faith’s breasts from where the belt had practically cut into them.  Wincing as she knows that’s got to hurt the slayer, Tara starts to reach out before snapping her hand back in realization of what she was about to do.  “Get dressed.”  Tara orders quietly, turning and walking over to another shelf, acting like her attention is taken with the books lying there. 

Faith stares at Tara’s back for a few minutes, before finally turning and yanking on the bra and shirt.  Unbuttoning and unzipping her tight leather pants, Faith tucks the ends of the shirt away before zipping and re-buttoning them.  “I’ll be right back.”  Faith growls as she strides out of the office, pulling the door closed behind her. 

Tara’s shoulders slump after the door shuts and she moves to sit in a chair, silently wondering what is possessing her to do something she never, ever would have contemplated with her past experiences.  Running an unsteady hand through her hair, Tara closes her eyes in remembrance of the beatings she had received growing up from her father, and eventually her brother.  Being touched roughly, let alone the thought of being abused, even if it isn’t meant as abuse, unsettling her.  Knowing deep in her heart that’s part of the reason she’s gay, not wanting to take the chance with a man, and hoping that the women she does decide to be with will be gentle.  Not understanding why she’s drawn to the dark-haired slayer, especially with the woman’s violent calling and her obvious strength.

Faith unconsciously rubs a hand over her breasts as they ache from the belt being around them, nodding her head towards Dan and Gin, she grabs her jacket and spins back around heading back towards Dan’s office.  Frowning at the sight of Tara’s posture, Faith moves to kneel beside the Wiccan, reaching up to stroke a finger over her cheek.  “You ain’t gotta do this, Tare.  I got some spare clothes I keep here just in case.  It’s only a tank top, but it’ll probably be more comfortable than what I’ve got on and definitely more comfortable than the belt.”

Tara smiles tremulously at the slayer.  “It’s just this isn’t exactly my scene, Faith.  I’m not one for this type of thing in any way, if you understand what I’m trying to say.”

“Yeah, I know, T-Bear.  Let me get ya’ a tank top.”  Faith starts to stand, surprised when Tara grasps her hand and shakes her head.

“No, Faith.  It’s obviously dress up night and I’ll stick out like a sore thumb if I’m dressed.  I’m sure it’s bad enough by wearing the leather pants I’m wearing.”  Tara sighs quietly looking down at the item. 

“Don’t care if ya’ stick out or not.  If ya’ ain’t comfortable, you ain’t gonna do it.”  Faith growls her eyes flashing. 

Tara closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.  “How about a compromise, I’ll start off like this and if I have a problem, then I’ll put on the tank top.” 

Faith lifts Tara’s hand and presses a soft kiss on the knuckles.  “Okay, for now.  What’cha wantin’ me to do with the belt?”  Faith questions nodding her head towards the belt on Tara’s lap. 

Tara grins crookedly at the slayer.  “Cut out holes where my nipples will be.”

“FUCK NO!”  Faith growls, shaking her head vehemently.  “Ain’t fuckin’ happenin’.  Your tits ain’t gonna be on fuckin’ display like that.  And we ain’t fuckin’ discussin’ it or arguin’ about it.  No.”

Tara blinks and stares at the slayer’s words practically flying from her mouth.  “Ummm.  Okay.”  Tara finally whispers after a little while.  “Will you at least buckle me up?”

“Yeah.”  Faith stands and grabs the belt from Tara as she watches the Wiccan stand and turn her back towards her.  Placing the belt around her, Faith let’s Tara hold it where it needs to be before frowning as she buckles the belt, having to put it on the second hole just to be snug enough to not fall off. 

“Is this going to be tight enough?”  Tara questions as she wiggles the belt.  “Someone comes up and tugs on it, it’ll slide down.”

“Someone fuckin’ touches you they’ll be answerin’ to me.”  Faith growls deeply, her eyes flashing dangerously.  “I want ya’ to stay close to me, Dan or Gin, ya’ hear?  If any problem children come sniffin’ ‘round I’ll take care of ‘em.”

“Maybe I should have stayed at the apartment.”  Tara mumbles as Faith urges her out of the room, her warm hand pressed against her lower back. 

Faith just grunts softly as she snatches up one of the padded bar stools with a back and moves it over to her area, ignoring the curious looks coming from the employees as everyone gets ready for the bar to open.  “Here’s ya one of the more comfortable seats in the place.  I’ll grab your drink.”  Faith heads back to the bar where they had placed their glasses before heading back to the office.

Tara nibbles on her bottom lip as she stands by the chair, watching Faith while trying to ignore the looks they’re receiving, silently wondering at the looks Faith’s generating.  “Faith, can I ask you a question?”

“Yeah.  Ain’t gonna guarantee I’ll answer, though.”  Faith quirks her lips in a half smile. 

Tara rolls her eyes before looking at the bartenders, waitresses and the person she assumes must be another bouncer that all keep glancing curiously over at them.  “Is this the first time you’ve brought someone here?”

Faith quirks an eyebrow at Tara, before turning around to stare at the rest of the crew, chuckling wickedly as they all find something else to entertain themselves with.  Turning back to Tara, she just nods her head and leans against the wall beside Tara and crosses her arms over her chest as she stares out over the bar.  “We do get some regular lesbians and bi-sexual women that show up here just to be able to dance together without shit from the other bars in town.  Usually they’ll stick to that area of the bar and dance floor.”  Faith nods her head to the area she’s talking about.  “I don’t know what tonight’ll be like, though.”  Faith shrugs as she watches a couple of the regulars come in, knowing with it being Saturday night that it’ll probably be a rocking place.  The DJ already set up and playing music quietly in the background and will crank up of the volume as the bar fills. 

“Do they actually end up…”  Tara trails off, blushing lightly as her hands wave around.

Faith quirks her eyebrow and turns her gaze on Tara.  “End up what, T-Bear?  I ain’t a fuckin’ mind reader.  You gotta say it for me to understand it.”

“Do they end up having sex here?”  Tara hisses finally, blushing darker.

“Oh, yeah.  They got four private rooms downstairs, though the rooms are hooked up with multiple hidden cameras and the monitors are under the bar so the bartenders and waitresses can keep an eye and ear on what the fuck’s going on down there.  But that hitchin’ post over there is well used.”  Faith points out the long wood rail that’s a little below waist-level

Tara blinks at the long, obviously well taken care of wooden post with supports going down and hooks at alternating intervals.  Closing her eyes as it occurs to her how the women were bent over the item and then attached in some way to the hooks.  Shaking her head at the thought, Tara sighs softly.  “How did you end up working here?”  Tara questions curiously as the bar fills and the music starts getting louder, wanting to get her mind off some of the possibly weirder happenings in the bar.

“Followed a vamp in here.  There was four other’s of ‘em looking for an easy meal.  I took ‘em out and Dan offered me a job.  I knew I didn’t have to worry about the old group comin’ in here and I can always use the extra cash, so I figured what the hell.”  Faith shrugs, her eyes continuously moving while she listens to the different conversations going on looking for any problems, though usually problems don’t happen till around midnight.

“They’re aware of the things that go bump in the night?”  Tara looks in surprise at Faith.

“Yeah and no.”  Faith quirks her lip at Tara.  “They know what they seen, but they don’t talk about it.  They just know that since I started workin’ here that the occurrences and the worse of the problem ‘people’ has went down and they’re able to keep their employees alive.” 

Tara finally shifts around, settling onto the stool, sighing quietly as she admits to herself that her body definitely has lost what muscle tone it had. 

“You okay?”  Faith shifts to look at Tara intently.  Not liking the fact that Tara seems to get tired so easily, though knowing with the way the woman had gotten to the point of not eating and only going to classes had taken a serious toll on her.  Pure stubbornness was the only thing that had kept the Wiccan going.

“I’m fine, Faith.  Thank you.”  Tara takes a deep breath and relaxes into the chair as she looks around, surprised at the number of women in the bar and the lack of clothes the majority of them are wearing.  “How different is the attire tonight?”

Faith continues to look over Tara, before shifting to stand beside her so she can look at the crowd, actually paying attention to what the women are wearing.  “Not a lot, tell ya’ the truth.  A few of the more ‘casual dressers’ are showing more, but it ain’t that different.”

“Do you know any of these women on a more personal level?”  Tara finally gets up the nerve to ask after a while of the two women enjoying the companionable silence.

Faith fights back a smile.  “Are ya’ asking me how many of these women I’ve fucked?”

Tara groans and buries her red face in her hands.  “Okay, yes.  That’s more or less what I was asking.”  Tara grumbles.

“Nope.”  Faith answers, wondering if Tara will understand it was actually an answer to her original question about if she knew any of them on a more personal level.

“No?”  Tara questions confused, looking at Faith as the slayer’s lips twitch.  Narrowing her gaze, Tara thinks about their conversation, surprised as it finally sinks in what Faith was saying.  “Why not?  You could probably have your pick of any of the women in here.”

“Well, the majority of ‘em have hit on me at one time or another.”  Faith admits softly, her eyes zeroing in on Zane, noticing the small arsenal the woman is wearing around her waist.  Knowing she’s on the prowl for a woman or multiple women to abuse and fuck. 

“That’s a given, Faith.  But that honestly didn’t answer my question.”  Tara points out as she grabs her soda and sips on it.

“No, I guess it didn’t.”  Faith sighs and leans gently against the woman.  “I’m tryin’ to change, T-Bear.  I ain’t wantin’ to be the ‘want, take have’ stupid bitch that I was before.”

Tara unconsciously presses against the slayer, sighing quietly as she thinks about what the slayer said.  “What is it you want?”

“Somethin’ I probably ain’t ever gonna have.”  Faith whispers softly.  “I see trouble brewin’.  I’ll be back in a few.”

Tara follows the slayer’s quick movements, watching as the other bouncer heads in the same direction as two women start to fight over another woman.  “Starting to wonder if there’s more testosterone here than at a normal bar.”  Tara murmurs her eyes serious as she watches Faith grab the bigger woman and push her towards the exit. 

“I didn’t fuckin’ start it!”  Debbie growls as she looks down at the woman pushing her towards the exit.

“Don’t fuckin’ care who started it.  Ain’t no fuckin’ fightin’ in this here bar and anyone that does is kicked out.  You argue with me or try and come back in tonight you’ll be banned for a month.”  Faith growls angrily at the woman.  “Now get the fuck outta here.” 

Debbie bitches under her breath as she leaves the bar, but knowing better than to fuck with the smaller woman, having seen her manhandle and toss other women out of the bar without even breaking a sweat.

Faith turns and narrows her eyes on Lane, watching as she argues with the other bull dyke trying to get her to leave.  Faith sighs as one of their other problem children argues back instead of leaving.  Striding towards Sherry, Faith stops beside her and crosses her arms over her chest, staring at the woman.  “Leave, now.”  Faith warns her voice deep as her eyes start to narrow. 

“I didn’t do anything!  I was here with my woman and Debbie tried to fucking horn in where she wasn’t wanted.”  Sherry tries to explain.

“She ain’t your woman, you tried pickin’ her up at the same time Debbie did.  You two need to fuckin’ take your shit elsewhere.  Now get the fuck outta here before I carry your ass out.”  Faith snarls her lip and takes a threatening step towards the black haired woman. 

Sherry pales slightly, knowing what it feels like for the brunette to toss her out of the bar.  Waking up the next day bruised and aching from landing a good ten feet from where she was tossed shoots through her memory. 

Faith smirks as Sherry hurries from the bar without another word.  Turning to look at the little bit of nothing that the two women were fighting over, Faith shakes her head.  “If it happens again, you’re gone.  Don’t fuckin’ pit people against each other ‘round here, understood?”  Faith warns the small woman, never having seen her in there before.  “That’s the only fuckin’ warning you get.”

Lane nods to Faith, letting her know she’ll keep an eye on the small woman before turning her gaze back to the petite dishwater blonde.  “You best listen.  She isn’t joking.”

Chrissy nods her head and quickly disappears onto the crowded dance floor, the rest of the bar having gone back to what they were doing when the bouncers had appeared to break up the fight.

Tara watches as Faith and the other bouncer quickly break up the fight.  A small laugh escaping from between her lips as Faith’s eyes twinkle and a small smile plays around the slayer’s lips.  As Faith gets closer, Tara laughs louder.  “You enjoy that don’t you?”

“Knock a few heads together, toss a few people out on their asses and the majority of ‘em can be intimidated without much problem.”  Faith wiggles her eyebrows as she allows the smile to cross her face. 

“And you enjoy the hell out of it.”  Tara smiles back at the slayer. 

“Yeah.  Better than beatin’ the hell outta ‘em and getting my kicks that way.”  Faith shrugs as she grabs her drink, downing it. 

“Take your frustrations out on the demons, right?”  Tara finally understands the slayer a little better and the viciousness of her fighting makes a little more sense to Tara.  Realizing the slayer was taking out all her frustrations on the demons, even the frustration of her sexual desires being released that way.  

“Safest thing to do.”  Faith looks down into her empty glass.  “Would ya’ like some more drink?”

“Some water would be good.”  Tara watches as Faith nods and heads to the bar. 

Ginny draws another beer, looking curiously at Faith before letting her eyes look at Tara for a moment before coming to rest again on Faith.  “So, who is she, Faith?”

Faith growls quietly as she pours herself another soda and grabs a bottle of water for Tara.  “Someone I met once a few years ago before I went to jail.”

Ginny stares in surprise after the dark-haired bouncer as Faith heads back to the blonde.  “Once?  Huh.”  Ginny shakes her head before taking the next order for drinks from one of the waitresses.

***

Chapter 8

Tara turns wide eyes on Faith as the slayer chuckles.

Faith had been watching Tara as the Wiccan’s eyes had been drawn time and time again to the hitching post that now had three different women laid over it and their hands and feet hooked to it.  One was been whipped with a paddle, another had the more personal touch of a hand being brought down time and time again on her butt cheeks while the third and most interesting one was being rode hard by a woman wearing a strap on. 

“I can’t believe…”  Tara’s eyes are inexorably drawn to the woman pounding away in the other woman.  From the sounds coming from the woman, she was obviously enjoying every minute of it.  “Is it really that enjoyable?”

Faith quirks an eyebrow at the blonde her eyes going back trying to figure out what of the three things the woman is talking about.  Finally deciding she has to be talking about the strap-on, considering her comments about her earlier childhood.  “Like anything, it’s what you like and how it’s used.”  Faith shrugs.  “The angle with bein’ over the post like that, and being entered from behind, it’ll hit the hot spot each time.” 

Tara blushes darkly at the thought of doing something like that in front of a bar full of people.  “I’m sorry, but that’s something I think should be done in the privacy of a person’s own home.”

Faith smirks as she looks at the woman.  “You ain’t ever wanted to have at it in a dark corner, alleyway or the back room of somewhere?”

Tara’s eyes snap to Faith as she blushes even darker.  “That’s different from being on display with a hundred people watching while having that type of orgasm!  Goddess, a quick fumbling and a small climax is one thing… especially when you’re in a dark corner.  But, but that is just…”  Tara shakes her head at the thought.

“So, you wouldn’t be opposed to some public fun, just not in front of everyone?”  Faith’s eyes twinkle as she looks at Tara.

Tara groans and closes her eyes.  “Why do you always want to twist my words around?”

“’Cause it make’s ya’ turn all kinds of interestin’ shades.”  Faith chuckles as narrowed blue eyes open and stare at her.  Leaning into the Wiccan close enough that her hot breath caresses over her lips, Faith wiggles her eyebrows.  “So, would ya’ be up for a little quick fumblin’ in a dark corner?”

“Are you offering?”  Tara comes right back, staring at the slayer.

“FAITH!  Could be a problem in three!”  Ginny calls to the bouncer after double-checking the sound and video to be sure.  “Has to be a full moon.”  Ginny grumbles.

“FUCK!”  Faith growls taking off towards the door on the other side of the bar that leads down to the private rooms.

Tara stares as Faith disappears, before her eyes turn worriedly to Ginny.

“She’ll take care of it.  It doesn’t look serious right now, but we try to get it taken care of before it does become serious.”  Ginny admits quietly watching the monitor as Faith comes barreling into the room, groaning as she notices who the Dom is.  “That’s it, Zane.  No more.”  Ginny growls angrily, pressing the button under the bar for Dani to come out of the office.

Danielle growls and comes running out of the office, heading straight to her lover.  “What is it?”

“She’s barred permanently.”  Ginny nods her head towards the door to the basement as Faith literally drags Zane out by her hair.

“When someone fuckin’ safewords, you fuckin’ stop.”  Faith snarls down at the woman, yanking her hair as she pulls her towards the front exit.

Tara heads towards Faith, watching as the other woman that had obviously been downstairs, shakily makes her way out after them.  “Are you okay?”  Tara questions softly.

“Yeah.  She came in before it got too bad.”  Pam wraps her arms around herself, surprised when the blonde hugs her gently. 

“That’s my knight in shining leather.”  Tara murmurs, smiling after Faith.  “Come on.  Let’s see if we can get you something to drink of the non alcoholic variety.”  Tara urges the woman towards the bar as Faith, Danielle and Ginny take care of Zane.

“Thank you.”  Pam smiles as the blonde urges her over to the bar.  “I thought Zane would be okay, I know her from where I work…”

“Knowing someone as an acquaintance and actually knowing them on a personal level is different, sweetie.”  Tara comments softly, her eyes worried.  Since there wasn’t anyone behind the bar with Ginny out front, Tara slides behind and snoops through the items, smiling as she comes across a couple packages of cocoa.  “Do you like hot chocolate?”

“Uh… yeah.”  Pam blinks and watches as the woman grabs a mug and opens a packet, dumping it in before turning behind her and pulling a bottle of water from one of the coolers.

Tara whispers a soft incantation to heat up the water as she grabs a stir stick and swirls it in the mug to mix the cocoa, not having seen a microwave to heat it up with.  Setting the mug in front of the woman, Tara smiles and is surprised when one the waitresses asks her if she’ll grab her a couple beers.  Shrugging her shoulders she grabs two mugs and pours the requested beers and sets them on the tray. 

“Thanks for your help.  My name’s Pam.”  Pam smiles as she sips her cocoa as the blonde glances at her in between fixing drinks for the waitresses and bar patrons, having to ask on a few of the drinks what went into them.

“Tara.”  Tara smiles as she finishes making a Sex On The Beach with the help of one of the waitresses.  Making notes of the prices of the beers and drinks as she questions the women. 

***

Ginny stares at her sister shaking her head in disbelief.  “You’re gone Jennifer.  You’re not welcome back and if you do, I’ll call the police… Or maybe I’ll just let Faith knock some sense into you.”

Faith smirks at the woman she’s got pressed against the wall about three feet off the ground.  Pressing a finger into the fleshy part of her side until Zane cries out, Faith growls deeply.  “I can hurt you in more ways than you can imagine, Zane.  You may be Ginny’s sister, but it looks like ya’ just cut all family ties.  Don’t come here again, and don’t hurt nobody, understood?  You know I can hurt ya’ bad, so don’t push it.”  Faith removes her hand from Zane’s upper chest, letting her drop to the ground. 

Danielle shakes her head at her partner’s sister.  “Do us all a favor, Jennifer.  You want to play at being ‘Zane’… you have to find somewhere else.  But to let you know, all our friends are going to get the word that you don’t play by the rules.  You’ll have a hard time finding someone now.”

“Bitches.”  Zane growls at the three women, before crying out as Faith picks her up and grasps one of her nipples twisting it viciously. 

“Like that Zane?  You like to dish it out but not take it.  Don’t fuck with ‘em.  Or with anyone else, simple as that.”  Faith twists a little more, knowing the woman’s breast will be sore for at least a week.

Zane cries out tears coming to her eyes at the pain.  Quickly running to her vehicle after Faith let’s her go, peeling out of the parking lot.

“She’s gonna be a bitch.”  Faith comments quietly, watching the brake lights come on as Zane turns the corner down the street before looking back at Dan and Gin.

“We’ll keep our eyes open and if she gives any problems, I’ll contact the cops if I have to.”  Ginny runs a hand over her face.

“How the hell did ya’ end up with her as a sister?”  Faith questions curiously.  “You two are like night and day.”

“I haven’t a clue.  I sometimes wonder if she’s the mailman’s kid.”  Ginny grins at the bouncer.  “Come on, we better go back in.  Your girlfriend might be getting hit on by everyone in there.”

“Better not be!”  Faith growls angrily, her eyes flashing as she hurries back into the bar.

Ginny raises an eyebrow at the bouncer’s quick departure as she looks at Dani. 

“She didn’t deny that Tara was her girlfriend.”  Danielle smirks as the two follow the bouncer back into the bar, surprised to find Faith just standing there a couple yards inside staring over at the bar.  “Huh.” 

Ginny laughs at the sight of Tara fixing drinks and laughing with the waitresses and patrons alike.  “You gonna kick everyone’s ass, Faith?”

Faith narrows her eyes as she looks at Ginny over her shoulder.  “Don’t think I can’t.”

Danielle chuckles and hurries after the bouncer as they head over to help Tara out.

***

“Come on guys… stop with the weird shit!”  Tara laughs out loud as the group starts naming all different kinds of odd drinks for her to make.  “Beer or regular mixed drinks, that’s it until Ginny gets back!!”   Tara groans as someone yells out they want a Kissed Buttery Nipple.  “Is there even such a drink?”

“Yeah there is.”  Faith growls quietly, wrapping her arms around the Wiccan and pulling her out from behind the bar.  “Fun time is over ladies.  Find someone else to pick on.”

Ginny and Danielle laugh and slide behind the bar, making the drinks as the majority of the women grumble and move away after their entertainment was broken up.

“Thanks, Tara.”  Pam calls out, smiling as the taxi driver comes into the bar, his eyes wide at all the women and their clothing. 

“Be careful.”  Tara smiles and waves at the woman as she leaves the bar.

“You okay?”  Faith questions softly, looking over Tara intently.

“Yes, Faith.  I’m fine, sweetie.  Actually that was kind of fun even with a bunch of the women trying to come up with very odd drinks just to see me getting frazzled.”  Tara grins crookedly at Faith.  “How did things go?”

“She’s gone and banned permanently.  She’ll be a bitch and try to get back in, since she’s Ginny’s sister, but it ain’t happenin’.”  Faith reaches up to brush Tara’s hair from her shoulder, letting her fingers linger on the pale skin. 

Tara moans softly at the warm fingers caressing over her shoulder, before Faith growls and pulls her hand away, shifting to move to the bar.  Tara’s eyes follow the slayer as Faith grabs a bottle of water downing it before grabbing another.

“Would you like to dance?” 

Tara’s head snaps around and looks into smiling light blue eyes.  “I… I uh…”  Tara turns back to look at Faith whose back is to her as she talks to Ginny.

“Nothing else, I promise.”  Linda raises her hands and smiles softly.  “I’d rather not be torn limb from limb by the bouncer, but I feel like dancing.”

Tara turns back to the woman, sighing quietly as she looks at the light blonde hair and pale blue eyes, the woman’s clothes relatively conservative compared to the majority of the women there that night. 

***

Ginny purses her lips as she looks over Faith’s shoulder after the bouncer had questioned her about what the hell she should do about Tara, finally admitting she likes the woman but that Tara was a sweet woman and deserved better than a murderer.  “Faith, you like her, obviously.  And from what I’ve seen tonight, I would say the feeling is mutual.  Maybe you should intercept Linda before she dances Tara right out of your hopeful arms.”  Ginny nods, as she watches Linda lean in obviously trying to work her charms on Tara.

“WHAT?”  Faith growls, her eyes narrowing as she spins around. 

“Easy, Faith.  You know Linda’s one of the good ones.  She won’t hurt Tara, that ain’t her style.  She comes here more for the dancing and being able to enjoy herself than for the actual S&M scene.”  Ginny holds Faith’s arm as she talks to her. 

Faith unconsciously growls louder as she sees the two women quietly laughing together, knowing Ginny’s right, but hating the sight of how easily Linda slid in to talk with Tara.  Clenching her jaw, Faith watches the two women for a few minutes, not knowing what to do.

“If you like her, tell her, Faith.”  Ginny gives Faith a gentle shove after she felt the bouncer’s muscles finally relax under her hand. 

“Don’t like her.  I’ve fallen in love with the damn woman.”  Faith growls softly, before striding towards Tara and Linda, unaware of the shocked woman she leaves behind.

***

Tara laughs and shakes her head at the entertaining woman, having to admit she’s pretty and obviously smart, but she wasn’t interested in her.  “I don’t think so, but thanks Linda.”

“Can’t blame a woman for trying.  If you ever change your mind, I’m usually here on Saturday nights.”  Linda smiles hopefully at the blonde, before groaning as her eyes catch the bouncer heading their way.  “Don’t let her kick my ass.  I just wanted to dance.”

“Hmm?”  Tara turns and looks at Faith practically prowling towards them, her eyes widening as she notices a predatory gleam in the slayer’s eyes, something she doesn’t remember seeing before.

Faith wraps her arm around Tara’s waist, nodding towards Linda as she practically carries Tara out on the dance floor.  “Mine.”  Faith growls possessively into Tara’s ear, pulling the woman tight against her as she slowly moves to the music.  “I just realized I’m a very jealous person, T-Bear.  I don’t like the idea of sharin’ you with anyone.  And as for your question earlier, yeah, I’m offerin’, but not a quick fumble and not just a one time thing.  If I’m finally gonna do this, I wanna do it right.  Will ya’ go out on a date with me tomorrow?”

Tara whimpers softly as Faith’s growled ‘Mine’ sent reverberations through her whole body, making her pulse rate pick up speed.  With the slayer’s body pressed intimately against hers as they slowly dance to the music, Tara unconsciously raises her hands to run over Faith’s shoulder, one burying itself in the slayer’s hair while the other one caresses the nape of the brown-haired seductress as Faith sends her heart soaring with her words.

“I’m a murderer, T-Bear.  I’m a bitch and I’ll be damn lucky if I live to see my twenty-fifth birthday.  I’m completely fuckin’ wrong for you, and there ain’t no denyin’ it.  But I care about ya’ more than I have ever cared about anyone else, I feel fuckin’ protective and jealous as hell about ya’.  I ain’t usually a possessive person, and I don’t like that feelin’ but I can’t help it.  Ya’ put a stamp on me, heart and soul, that says I belong to you, and I’d like to know if there might be a chance that eventually you might feel the same way about me.”  Faith finally finishes, afraid to look at Tara almost expecting the woman to jerk away from her and slap the hell out of her again.

Tara inhales deeply at the woman’s words, at first feeling a slight tremor of unease with her possessiveness, but as Faith finally explains in her own way that she loves her and already feels like she belongs to her, Tara slowly relaxes and shifts her head back to look intently at Faith.  “Look at me, Faith.”  Tara orders quietly.

“Ya’ gonna smack me?”  Faith questions hoarsely, still not turning her eyes to the woman.

“No.  I want to look into your beautiful brown eyes and see what you’re feeling.”  Tara bites her bottom lip as Faith slowly raises her eyes to look at her.  Seeing the fear of being rejected in Faith’s eyes, Tara gently moves her hand from the slayer’s neck to her cheek, brushing her thumb softly over her cheek caressing the slight dip where one of the slayer’s gorgeous dimples appear.  As the fear slowly recedes and the slayer’s eyes light up with love and caring, Tara smiles softly.  “I’m not one for being possessive either Faith.  But if it’s a mutual possessiveness, I think I might be able to deal.”

“You…  You care for me?”  Faith hesitantly questions, afraid to hope.

“Stupid slayer.  How could I not?”  Tara whispers softly, pulling Faith in for a soft kiss.  Groaning as Faith’s warm hands stroke over the skin of her lower back, the slightly scratchy, weapon roughened hands sending a serious bolt of desire through her body.

Faith growls into the kiss at the warmth and softness of Tara’s skin before sliding her tongue out to trail it gently over the Wiccan’s full lips, silently urging Tara to open to her.  As Tara whimpers and eases her lips apart, Faith gently slips her tongue inside to tease and cajole Tara into a soft, tantalizing kiss.  Dragging one hand up to bury in the back of Tara’s hair as the Wiccan presses harder into her, matching her stroke for stroke in the soft kiss, gradually gaining in heat and desire.

Tara groans deeply as they finally break apart, both women panting heavily.  Burying her face in Faith’s neck, Tara tries to get control of her racing heart.

Faith gently kneads Tara’s back as she feels the Wiccan’s hot breath caressing over her neck.  Closing her eyes at the feel of the woman pressed against her and the soft feeling skin under her fingers.  “Damn.”  Faith finally murmurs when she can finally speak again. 

Tara chuckles softly.  “My thoughts exactly.”  Pressing her lips against Faith’s neck, she allows her lips to caress slowly up the column of skin, smiling at the soft moans she’s getting from the slayer. 

“God, T-Bear.”  Faith moans deeply as Tara’s teeth scrape gently over her neck before she swirls her tongue gently around the flesh.  “Gotta stop that, T.  I ain’t strong enough to fight me and you both.”

“Who said anything about fighting?”  Tara questions roughly before sucking some of the flesh into her mouth, sucking gently.

“You ain’t in no shape to be gettin’ physical, T-Bear.  We’ll go out together and see each other until you’re better.  Get to know each other a little better.”  Faith explains quietly, easing back from Tara, brushing her fingers down the blonde’s cheek. 

“We’ve been getting to know each other better the entire past week, Faith.”  Tara points out, smiling at the slayer. 

“Yeah, I know.  We’ve learned quite a bit about each other, but I ain’t gonna just hop into bed with ya’, T-Bear.”  Faith growls softly.

Tara grins crookedly at the slayer, her eyes starting to twinkle merrily.  “But you have already jumped into bed with me, on more than one occasion.” 

Faith shakes her head and runs her hand through Tara’s hair, loving the silky soft feel of the dark blonde strands.  Cupping the side of Tara’s head, Faith presses her lips softly against Tara’s.  Easing back after a few seconds, Faith whispers softly against Tara’s lips.  “I ain’t gonna just have sex with ya’, T-Bear.  I want this to be a proper relationship.  And I want ya’ back up to proper weight and strength before hand, so I ain’t afraid I might break ya’ by huggin’ ya’.”

Tara sighs heavily as she looks into Faith’s serious eyes.  “No wiggle room whatsoever?”  Tara questions roughly, her eyes sad.

“Nope.”  Faith raises both hands to cup Tara’s cheeks gently, looking intently into blue eyes.  “Let me do this right, T-Bear.  I fucked up so much of my life and people I dealt with, I don’t wanna fuck this up.”

Tara nods her head, not able to argue with the honest sincerity in Faith’s eyes.  Knowing that arguing with the woman isn’t going to do a damn bit of good, and might actually have the opposite effect of chasing the slayer off.  “Okay.  The way you want to handle this, but under protest.”  Tara whispers, leaning in to kiss Faith softly.

***

“Damn.”  Danielle whispers, watching Faith and Tara out on the dance floor and the obviously serious conversation interspersed with hugs and kisses.  “I think they like each other.” 

Ginny snorts and smacks her lover on the ass.  “Faith admitted she’s in love with her.  Don’t know how or when it happened, but it’s pretty obvious it did.  I’m also pretty sure that Tara was the reason Faith was a total bitch the past month.” 

“And probably the reason why she’s been so happy this past week.”  Danielle smirks as the two women kiss in the middle of the dance floor, completely oblivious to the women around them watching the tender display. 

“You noticed the half smiles on her face too, huh?”  Ginny laughs and leans against her lover. 

“A happy Faith scared me.  So I was paying attention.”  Danielle admits, chuckling as she leans in to press a kiss on Ginny’s cheek. 

“I can understand that.  A growling Faith is more the usual.”  Ginny wraps her arm around her lover’s waist and smiles softly at the two women as they finally make their way off the dance floor, Faith practically plastered against Tara’s side as the woman settles back on the stool.  Chuckling quietly, Ginny squeezes her lover before making the drinks the waitress needs.

***

TBC - Chapters 9-16

TBC - Chapters 17-Epilogue

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