Tara stepped out of the cab when it hit the center of town.  Picking up her 
things, she paid the driver and stepped out onto the sidewalk, looking arond 
with a sigh.

*Now what,* she mused.

She was finding it very difficult to think coherently.  Despite the fact that 
she knew this had to be done, that there was no other way, inside she was 
screaming to go back to her Willow, to hug her and apologize and make love to 
her and then everything would magically be all right.

But no.  Her mind was stronger than her emotions.  And she knew that 
magically, everything was all wrong.  She had to go, she had to get away 
before something else would happen that would totally destroy everything.  
Things were bad now.  She had walked out, she had left Willow.  But there was 
still hope, she'd done it hoping that eventually (soon?) she would be able to 
return, that Willow would understand what she was doing, and there would be 
forgiveness, and happiness, and smoochies.

Unfortunately, she had to leave immediately.  She'd called one of the Wicca 
group back at the university, and they said she could stay at their dorm room, 
but not until tomorrow.  So she was effectively homeless for the night.  Time 
to track down one of the local motels and see how much a room cost.

Her box felt heavier in her arms.  She looked over at a cafe.  Food first, and 
some coffee.  Then worry about a place to stay.

She set her stuff down at a table and ordered a coffee and some bacon and eggs 
(about all she felt she could keep down right now).  Then she simply lay her 
cheek against the table and tried not to cry.  It wasn't that hard; she wasn't 
ready to cry yet.  Not the gut-wrenching sobs she knew were in there.  She 
still didn't quite believe it was really happening.  She simply lay there, 
listening to the sounds of the cafe and the few people in there.

"She wants bacon and eggs, Marty, fire it up.  I don't care what time it is.  
You look at her and tell her no."

"So then he's like oh my god, are you seriously standing here and telling me 
this?  And I go yah, weren't you hearing me?  So then he puts on this 
attitude, right?"

"I know, you never want to see me again.  That's fine.  I just wanted to 
apologize... I just needed to apologize... ah, fuck.  Hey, it's me.  I know, 
you never wanted to see me again... SHIT."

Tara paused.  It wasn't that she recognized the voice; she'd never heard it 
before.  But something about it was familiar.  She turned around, looking over 
in the corner at the source.

And froze, seeing the other girl staring right at her.  Faith.  Faith, the 
other slayer.  The one who was supposed to be in prison, but apparently wasn't 
anymore.  She remembered Willow showing her pictures, just in case Faith ever 
broke out and showed up again.  Telling Tara to run and get help.

No one to run to anymore.  No more Scoobies, they were Willow's friends.  And 
Faith was already getting up and coming towards her, with her hands up in the 
air... up in the air?

"Hi.  Don't panic.  Um... you remember me?"

Tara swallowed.  "Faith."

Faith reached slowly into her jacket, and Tara tensed.  But she extracted a 
piece of paper, which she then handed to Tara.  Tara looked down, trying to 
read it while keeping Faith in her sight.

"...exemplary prisoner... no incidents in past year and a half... minimal evidence uncovered besides confession... parole officer in Sunnydale..."

She looked up.  "You're free?"

Faith swallowed and nodded.  "Yeah.  I have parole for 2 years, but Angel 
arranged it so the officer would be here, because the Hellmouth needs two 
Slayers.  I mean..."  Faith trailed off, then squared her shoulders.  "I know, 
you never wanted to see me again.  That's OK, I just had to apol--"

Tara held up a hand.  "Faith, you were doing a lot better before you went to 
the prepared speech."

"Um, well, I wasn't expecting anyone to really listen to the prepared speech.  
Mostly this has played out on people hitting me or running away before I got 
this far."  Faith squirmed; it was clear she hated all this, but was forcing 
herself not to go anywhere.

Tara looked up at Faith.  This wasn't the woman who had taken over Buffy's 
body and belittled her two years ago.  She sighed.  *What a lousy day.*

"Faith, sit down.  I'm not going to run.  You can apologize to me any way you 
like."

Faith seemed to deflate a bit, then crashed down into the opposite booth.  
"Thanks.  I mean, for all this."

Tara nodded, still not really showing any emotion.  Faith was probably lucky 
she was still in a state of shock.

Faith grinned a little.  "Actually, it's probably really lucky that I met you 
first.  I mean, not that what I did to you wasn't really nasty or anything, 
cause it was, and I feel bad about it.  I mean, I was being all cocky, and was 
a little shocked that Red was... well, y'know, and geezus fuck, listen to me."  
The chatter ran off and Faith put her head in her hands.  "So I fucked up, and 
I'm sorry."

Tara smiled despite herself.  "Now that's a much better apology."  She 
pointedly didn't say that she accepted it, and figured Faith would notice 
that, but forgiveness wasn't high on her to do list.

Faith looked up and shrugged.  She had noticed it.  She also seemed to have 
run out of things to say.

Tara really didn't want to be doing this.  She had resigned herself to 
leaving, to leaving Willow and everyone else behind.  And now not half an hour 
later she was running into Faith, one of the Scoobies' biggest problems.  With 
Buffy being so out-of-sorts, the timing was even worse.

Still, she couldn't simply abandon them totally.  And Faith was claiming to be 
reformed, and looked sincere.  If she'd been in a better state of mind, she'd 
examine Faith's aura, but she couldn't think straight.  She decided to go for 
conversation instead.

"So, I guess my first question is, what now?"  She tried to sound non-
threatening and yet interested.  In fact, she was interested.  Faith was a 
huge part of not only Buffy's life, but Willow's.  After the body-switching 
episode, Willow had told Tara Faith's entire history with the Scoobies.  Tara 
had been horrified at the things Willow had gone through, but secretly felt 
some sympathy for Faith.

Faith was playing with a straw wrapper, not looking at Tara.  "I don't know.  
I wasn't planning to run into any of you.  I mean, this isn't a hangout that 
you guys go to, I figured dinner here was safe.  I'm just sitting tight, 
waiting to see how things are before I try anything."  She twitched hard, and 
her knuckles whitened.  "I'm not even slaying."

"Because she'd know?"  Tara asked.

Faith shrugged.  "I dunno, but I don't want to take any chances.  We always 
used to be able to sense each other back before... everything.  Haven't had 
much chance to try it lately."  She then looked pointedly at Tara.  "So what 
are you gonna tell them?"

Tara took a deep breath.  She had decided not to tell the others anything.  
Faith seemed sincere, and wasn't even planning on revealing herself.  It was 
probably best for now to let her make the moves.

To her horror, when she opened her mouth to tell Faith this, all that came out 
was a cracked sob.  She put her hands to her mouth, but now another one 
emerged, and she was having trouble seeing...

And then the dam broke, and she collapsed on the table in despair.  The last 
three weeks just piled on top of her, and Faith, the cafe, everything else 
just faded away, to be replaced with Willow, her Willow betraying her, abusing 
their love with magic.

It seemd as if she was crying for hours and hours, reliving every horrible 
second.  And then there was cool air on her face, and hard brick at her back.  
She tried peering through watery eyes and saw Faith kneeling down beside her, 
looking worried and upset.

"Look, I'm really really sorry, I didn't mean to dump all this on you, what 
the hell did I say, was it the Scoobies thing or something about that time in 
the club, you gotta give me some clues, blondie, cause I'm not good with all 
the tears."

Tara was shaking her head, but apparently her body decided if now was the time 
to cry, she'd cry it all out.  "Willow," she managed to get out.

There was a crunch next to her head, and she turned to see that Faith had put 
her fist against the brick wall.  She stood up quickly.  "Don't move, I'll be 
right back."  Then she slipped back inside the cafe.

Tara was beginning to feel dizzy, probably from the heaving breaths she had 
been taken.  She wondered if every day would be like this from now on, moving 
through life with a huge hole in her heart where Willow once lived.

Faith was suddenly back, carrying the box with Tara's things in it that had 
been left at the booth.  "Come on, I'm taking you back to my place.  We can do 
all the retribution and shit there, and you can cry as much as you want."  
Faith reached down, and somehow managed to wrap one arm around Tara while 
juggling the box at the same time.

Tara nodded, trying to keep herself moving enough so that Faith wasn't 
dragging her.  In about 3 minutes Faith was digging for a key, with Tara 
leaning herself against the wall.  The sobs were lessening in frequency, 
though the tears still seemed to be dripping from her face.

Finally she was sitting down in a comfortable chair, with Faith pressing a 
glass into her hand.  "Here.  Drink up.  I dunno what the hell I did..."

Tara waved a hand to cut her off.  "It wasn't you," she croaked.  "It was 
probably bound to happen sooner or later."

Faith looked confused.  "Huh?"

Tara swallowed.  "Willow and I broke up.  I just left the house; that's why I 
have the box."

Faith's jaw dropped.  "You're shitting me!  But... I mean, Dawn always talked 
about you when she wrote.  She said you two were her ideal couple.  Well, 
except I think she's looking for a guy, but you know what I mean."

Tara clenched the glass, hoping it wouldn't shatter in her hand.  "That's what 
I thought too.  I really did."