A Witch In LA

Chapter 7

“So scrambled eggs, sausage and toast with a side order of pancakes for breakfast.” Tara rattles off as she turns the sausage and flips another pancake onto the platter.

“Don’t sound bad.” Faith murmurs watching Tara as she halfway pays attention to the buttering of the toast and throwing a few more slices into the toaster.

Tara glances towards the slayer and raises an eyebrow. “What sounds good?”

Faith smirks and eyes the witch silently.

“You need to eat real food, Faith.” Tara blushes slightly and pours more pancake batter in the skillet.

“Maybe. But I’m liking the idea of throwing the food on the table and carrying your ass back upstairs.” Faith eases towards the witch before wrapping her arms around her waist and nibbling on her neck. “Throw you on the bed, rip your clothes off and have my wicked way with you.”

Tara groans quietly and pushes back against the slayer’s body. “I’m the wicked one, remember?” Tara murmurs before shifting around and pulling the slayer in for a heated kiss. “Go finish the toast.” Tara whispers quietly before turning and flipping the pancakes in the skillet frowning as they were slightly browner than she liked.

“I’ll eat ‘em.” Faith sees the look on the witch’s face before chuckling and heading over to the toaster.

Tara smiles in appreciation at the slayer. Quickly finishing the breakfast and putting everything on big plates, she grabs two and puts them on the table before heading back to the kitchen watching as Faith grabs plates and silverware to set the table. Smiling slightly at the coffee pot that’s almost empty, Tara pours what’s left in a thermos and brews a fresh pot.

As the two work together to finish setting the table, Faith makes sure she has Tara’s coffee cup and juice sitting beside her normal seat. “And I’ll rip off anyone’s arms that fuckin’ moves them.” Faith growls to herself as she watches the group come wandering in. Watching as Tara brings out a mug of blood for Angel, Faith smirks.

Angel’s lips quirk up slightly as he looks from one woman to the other before raising an eyebrow at the slayer. “Good night?”

Faith smirks at the vampire and Tara blushes lightly looking down at her plate that now has three pancakes and four sausages on it. Turning and frowning at the slayer she points down to the food “Did you do that?”

Faith looks innocently at the witch and smiles “You need your energy.”

Angel snorts back a laugh. “Yeah, especially since it seems some people didn’t get any sleep last night.”

Tara’s eyes open wide and she looks at the smirking vampire and blushes a deep red. “That is so not fair.” She whispers quietly.

“Who didn’t get any sleep last night?” Wesley questions grabbing a couple sausage links, eggs and toast.

Cordelia is quietly watching the interaction between the two women, how Faith had quickly filled the witch’s plate and filled her glass with orange juice. Shaking her head, not believing this is the same pain in the ass woman that had lived with them for over a year. “I don’t know for sure, but I would assume Faith and Tara.” Cordelia comments grabbing a couple pancakes and the orange juice.

Wes looks up confused. Glancing at the other people at the table he sees an obviously smirking vampire and slayer, a blushing witch, Cordy just calmly eating her breakfast, Fred who isn’t looking or saying anything and Gunn, who looks as if he’s been hit by a two by four. “Okay, what am I missing?”

Faith starts to open her mouth, but Cordelia beats her to it, stating “Seems Faith and Tara are a couple.” Cordy raises an eyebrow slightly at the slayer.

“It could be put that way.” Faith smirks slightly glancing towards Tara. “Seems we totally fucked with Lorne’s visions last night, though.”

Tara at first blushes then laughs quietly. “He said something about not ever trying to read our futures again.”

“Really? What happened?” Angel questions seriously.

“Just the fact that there were too many futures that every decision we made changed the outcome. But the only thing that was a constant through them all was that we were together.” Tara explains quietly glancing up at the other people at the table. Seeing Cordy not really having any reaction, just eating her breakfast while Gunn keeps looking between her and Faith, Wesley almost looking like he was going to pass out to a slightly smiling Fred.

Faith grins broadly “Oh, don’t forget the little matter of soul-mates, babe.” She wiggles her eyebrows slightly before running her hand down Tara’s thigh. “Seems that might have somethin’ to do with it also.”

“Really?” Angel questions looking from one woman to the other and seeing them both nod and smile, he starts laughing quietly. “Do I need to order lunch in for this crew so you can get some sleep?” He stops, frowning for a moment, before catching their eyes. “And maybe we should move you to a different section of the hotel.”

“Why?” Tara questions looking at the slightly frowning vampire.

Angel starts chuckling. “Because I do like to sleep occasionally.”

Faith snorts back a laugh and as she sees the confused look on Tara’s face she leans in and whispers in the witch’s ear “I think he’s tryin’ to say we’re a little noisy.”

Tara looks up at a smirking vampire and smacks him on the arm. “It isn’t nice listening in.”

“Couldn’t help it.” Angel grins while unconsciously rubbing over the spot where the witch hit him.

Cordelia narrows her gaze at Angel “You were listening in on them?”

Faith chuckles loudly. “He probably got a hell of an ear full, too.”

“Faith!” Tara hisses at the slayer before smacking her across the thigh.

“It’s the truth. You did make me scream” Faith mumbles quietly before deciding to behave.

Gunn shakes his head in disbelief before chuckling quietly. “I should have figgered something was up.”

Faith looks up and makes eye contact with the man. “Yep. We cool?”

“We’re cool.” Gunn nods his head looking at the two women before grinning. “I didn’t have the right equipment no how.”

Tara blushes and quickly finishes her breakfast before heading into the kitchen with her dirty dishes.

“I think you two make a great looking couple.” Fred explains quietly as she follows Tara in with her own dirty dishes.

“Thank you, Fred.” Tara smiles softly at the woman. “I was thinking about seeing if Faith wanted to go for a walk after breakfast, would you like to join us?” Tara thinks about the past month, and the fact that Fred was slowly becoming more friendly and interactive with everyone, but still shied away from going out in public. “You couldn’t have much better body guards than a slayer and a witch?”

“I, umm. Don’t know.” Fred fidgets quietly thinking about it.

“Come on, Freddy. Keep us out of trouble.” Faith walks forward from where she had been standing by the doorway to the kitchen. “We’ll stop at that taco stand you like. Sit out in the sun and enjoy the morning.”

Tara smiles appreciatively at the slayer. “I think that sounds like a wonderful idea. What do you say, Fred?”

“I guess…” Fred glances up smiling shyly. “I’ll go get cleaned up.”

Tara and Faith watch’s the woman leave the room. Tara turns to Faith and gently walks up to stand in front of her, wrapping her arms around the slightly taller brunettes neck. “You’re wonderful.”

“Nah. She just needs to get back out there with people. She can’t be spendin’ the rest of her life living in this place.” Faith smiles at Tara while wrapping her arms around her waist, pulling her in snuggly against her. “And I know you have this sense of always wanting to help everyone out. Look at me.” Faith grins before leaning down and kissing the witch gently.

“Okay guys. None of that. The rest of us people that aren’t getting any don’t need to be reminded of what we’re missing.” Cordelia grumps as she comes into the kitchen.

Tara pulls out of the kiss before grinning wickedly. “Well, I would think Angel would be more than willing to kiss you whenever you wanted.”

Cordelia looks up in surprised shock. “NO. No kissing or anything else is allowed for Angel. He’s not allowed to get his happys.”

Tara frowns slightly. “Why not?”

“You didn’t hear all about the perfect night of happiness with Buffy and him turning into Angelus killing dozens of people?” Cordelia asks stunned.

“Well, yes. But I’m pretty sure his soul is anchored now.” Tara looks up and see’s Angel standing in the doorway. “If you like, I could do a spell to check and see. If not, I’m sure there’s something to make it so it doesn’t leave again.”

“What do you mean by it’s anchored?” Angel growls walking into the room.

“I can swear when I look at you Angel, I see your soul without any weakness’ in it. Usually curses that have clauses in them there’s a weakness that will unravel for lack of a better word when the clause has been activated.” Tara explains quietly, hoping they understand what she’s trying to say.

“But Willow used the Romanii curse to re-soul me. It would have used the same clause, wouldn’t it?” Angel questions not wanting to believe that it could be true.

“Not necessarily Angel.” Tara shakes her head. “A lot of curses have to do with intent when it’s placed. If she didn’t intend to put the clause in it, it won’t be there. She just wanted you to be re-souled if I remember what they told me about that time.”

“Is there some way you can check, to make sure?” Angel questions quietly feeling a surge of hope working through him at the thought, glancing quickly towards Cordelia, seeing a slight glimmer of hope on her face.

“I think I remember reading a spell in one of the books. I’ll research it and let you know, if you want.” Tara offers tilting her head slightly. “If it’s okay, I’ll actually delve deeper into your aura, if you would like. I only usually get the surface readings off people. I can’t block that out completely. But I don’t like to read any deeper unless I have a very good reason.”

Nodding his head towards the witch he answers quietly “Please.”

“Would this afternoon be okay? I kind of already talked Fred into going out on a walk with Faith and I.” Tara looks apologetically at the vampire.

Chuckling quietly Angel shakes his head. “It’s waited all these years, Tara. A few more hours isn’t going to hurt.”

Angel and Cordy watch as the two women quickly leave the kitchen and Angel turns to look intently at Cordy. When the door to the kitchen opens with Wes and Gunn bringing the rest of the dirty dishes in, Angel speaks up. “Guys, Cordy and I’ll do clean up.”

The two men glance at each other and nod. “See you later Angel.” Gunn grunts out and leaves, quickly followed by Wesley.

Cordy walks over to the sink, quickly running water to wash the dishes in while thinking about what Tara said. Not daring to look at Angel, she slowly starts washing the dishes watching in surprise as Angel grabs a towel and starts drying and stacking them on the prep table.

“Cordy.” Angel starts almost silently.

“Angel, I want to make sure what she says is right before I even consider the possibility.” Cordelia glances at the vampire as she starts scrubbing the silverware and skillets. “I don’t want to get my hopes up.”

Angel nods before turning to look more at the woman. “Fair enough.” Angel smirks slightly. “So Tara seemed to pick up on the fact that there could be something between us.”

“Damn witch.” Cordy smiles slightly. “You know until you mentioned it yesterday, I didn’t realize that Faith hadn’t been her usual bitchy self lately. How’d she do it?”

Angel looks questioningly at Cordelia. “Do what?”

“Tame the wild child.” Cordelia finishes the dishes and starts wiping down the stove.

“From what I can figure, she was just talking to Faith. Being around her and being friendly. Tara has the natural calming influence and with the soul-mate thing going on it actually ties them together and probably helps calm Faith.” Angel frowns slightly, then starts chuckling. “And that probably means she’s given Tara some of her attitude. Definitely interesting times ahead.”

“Oh, God. That’s all we need, two Faith’s in the place.” Cordelia groans, before smirking slightly. “Even though it would be good for Tara. She seems almost too easy going most of the time.”

Angel chuckles and shakes his head. “Sorry she may be easy going, but she isn‘t going to let anyone treat her badly again. She called me on what I did to her with Lorne. Told me in no uncertain terms not to do it again.”

Cordelia stops for a moment thinking about what Angel said, concentrating on one particular part. “Treat her badly, again? What are you talking about, Angel?”

Angel stops and frowns. “Cordelia, I don’t know that I should talk to you about it. It’s personal and I just know what Buffy told me.”

Cordelia watches Angel silently and nods her head. “Okay, Angel. Maybe she‘ll want to talk about it sometime.”

Angel shakes his head silently. “If she talks to anyone I’m sure it will be Faith. As a matter of fact I would bet that Faith knows everything by now. And Tara probably knows everything about Faith. From what I know about soul-mates is that they can’t keep secrets from each other and are almost compulsive in talking to each other about everything. Part of being connected at that level.”

“How come you know so much about it?” Cordelia questions quietly.

“Angelus’ favorite past time was searching for soul-mates. He found two couples, the first couple was by accident, and let’s just say it wasn’t pretty.” Angel turns and starts putting up the dried dishes. Smiling slightly as Cordelia helped.

“So you knew about those two?” Cordelia questions putting up the glasses.

“Had a feeling, wasn’t positive until yesterday.” Angel starts to reach out a hand toward Cordelia but jerks it back before touching her. Growling quietly under his breath he heads towards the door. “We’ll talk later.”

Cordelia watches Angel stride out of the room and looks up at the ceiling. “God, I hope you’re right, Tara.” Shaking her head and taking a deep breath, she finishes wiping down the table and quietly heads back to work.


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

“You really do like the tacos here, don’t you?” Tara asks with a laugh.

Fred blushes slightly as she eats her sixth taco. “They are good.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you like Mexican food?” Tara tilts her head questioningly.

“Didn’t want to be a bother.” Fred answers quietly glancing up to Tara then Faith. “Umm, why did you two want me to come with you today?”

Tara shrugs her shoulders and smiles softly at the woman. “You need to get out into the world again, Fred.”

Fred looks down eating the rest of her taco before glancing back up. “I really don’t know what I want to do now.”

“You don’t have to make a decision any time soon. But being cooped up in the hotel or your room all the time really isn’t healthy.” Tara explains quietly. “If you’re up for it, maybe every day we can spend a short time walking around town and gradually spend more and more time outside, if you want.”

Fred nods her head in silent agreement.

Tara smiles glancing at her lover and at Faith’s wink she feels a hundred percent better. “Now, is it just tacos you like or do you like all kinds of Mexican?”

“I grew up in South Texas near the border, I lived on Mexican food.” Fred explains smiling shyly.

“So everything, right?” Tara grins. “Well we have more in common than I thought. I grew up in a small town in Texas but northern Texas. Since you had tacos today, would you like me to make Mexican tomorrow or maybe Saturday?” Tara offers and scoots closer as she feels Faith wrap her arm around her waist.

“You don’t have to go to the trouble.” Fred shakes her head before eating her last taco glancing around now bustling shack. Starting to feel a little antsy she bounces slightly in her seat.

Faith watches as Fred starts getting worried and stands quickly. “Why don’t we head back to the hotel?”

Tara nods her head noticing Fred’s change in demeanor. “Come on, we’ll talk on the way back.” Tara quickly gather’s up the wrappers and trash to throw in the trash can as they stroll back to the hotel. “I’ll fix a big Mexican meal Saturday for lunch.” Tara let’s Fred know, since she obviously isn’t going to get an answer from the woman.

Fred looks up starting to argue the point when she sees the determined look on the woman’s face and smiles slightly whispering “Okay.”

“Good.” Tara nods her head squeezing Faith a little tighter into her side as they walk into the hotel. She watches silently as Fred scampers up the stairs heading towards her room. Sighing quietly she turns and wraps both arms around Faith.

“She did good, babe.” Faith whispers quietly hugging the witch, lightly running her hands up and down her back. “It’s gonna take time and we were gone for a good forty-five minutes. That’s damn good considering we haven’t even been able to get her out of the hotel before now.”

“I know.” Tara smiles as she pulls back placing a quick kiss on the slayer’s lips. “I think I’m going to cheat today and put a couple of those frozen lasagnas in the oven for lunch that way we can shift you into my room.”

“If you want, I can go put them in the oven.” Faith offers quietly, smirking slightly. “That way you can hunt out that book to help Fang.”

Tara smiles appreciatively at Faith, leaning in and brushing her lips softly over Faith’s before deepening the kiss, wrapping a hand in the hair at the nape of her neck groaning as she wraps her tongue around the slayers.

“What did I tell you two?” Cordelia grumbles walking into the lobby.

Tara blushes and shakes her head slightly. “Sorry, Cordelia. I’m not normally this demonstrative in public places.”

“But you’re gonna be from now on.” Faith growls out before smirking. “’Cause I ain’t gonna go without smoochie action.”

“Faith!” Tara frowns slightly at the slayer before quirking her lip up. “I don’t think I’ll be able to help myself anyhow.”

“I’ll go get the lasagnas in the oven. Meet you upstairs?” Faith questions shifting back from Tara, running a hand down the witch’s arm.

“Yes. Thank you.” Tara smiles as she watches Faith walk away. Turning she looks at Cordelia, seeing her looking with disbelief at Faith. “What’s wrong, Cordy?”

“I would never believe it if I didn’t see it.” Cordelia shakes her head looking back towards Tara. As Tara raises a questioning eyebrow Cordelia laughs. “You taming the wild child. I wouldn’t think it was possible.”

“I didn’t tame her, Cordy.” Tara slowly walks towards Cordelia. “She will always be the Rogue Slayer, or Dark Slayer as the case may be. But she’s learning to love and care about life again. Or maybe I should say for the first time.” Narrowing her gaze staring off into the past, Tara tilts her head slightly, thinking for a few long moments. “Neither one of us had a very good life growing up, hell life period. We understand each other and take each other as we are. I don’t want to change her. I love her the way she is.” Tara nods slightly towards the brunette before heading to get the book to research a spell to check on Angel’s soul.

Cordelia stares after the witch in disbelief.

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

Faith runs down the stairs quickly opening the freezer and reading the instructions, turns the oven on and pulls the outer plastic off the containers grabbing a big sheet pan she sets both lasagnas on it and slides them into the oven, checking the time, seeing that they’d be done around 12:30 she smiles and heads quickly back upstairs.

Stopping at the main floor, catching the tail end of Tara’s conversation with Cordy, Faith feels her heart jump at the obvious love and support in the witch‘s tones. Watching Cordy shake her head slowly and head behind the counter, Faith slowly follows her into the room.

Cordelia sits down heavily in front of the computer, tapping her nails on the desk thinking about what Tara said. The woman obviously loves Faith completely, it’s in her words and on her face. Wondering what could have been so bad in both women’s past she doesn’t realize Faith has walked into the room.

Faith watch’s Cordelia for a few moments seeing the emotions crossing her face. Deciding to forgo being a bitch this once to the woman, Faith walks up to lean a hip on her desk. “What’s got you so confused, Queenie?”

Cordelia jumps and snarls at the slayer “I really wish you wouldn’t do that!”

“Sorry.” Faith shrugs slightly, not really sorry in the least.

Cordelia watches the woman for a moment and bluntly asks “What happened to you two growing up?”

Faith pales slightly looking at Cordelia, even knowing Cordy’s habit of being blunt and to the point, she wasn’t expecting that question.

Cordelia’s surprised to see Faith pale at her question and wonders if she shouldn’t have asked, when Faith tucks her hands in her pockets and hunches her shoulders slightly.

“Let’s just say I had a drug-addicted whore for a mother that tried to bring me into the trade and Tara had an abusive brother and father and leave it at that, okay?” Faith growls out quietly before turning on her heel and leaving a stunned Cordelia sitting in the office alone.

Angel listens to the brief conversation from his office shaking his head sadly, hearing the unspoken pain and grief in the slayer’s voice. Thinking to himself that that explained the two women’s attitudes to a certain degree, even though he’s surprised at Tara being as strong as she is if the abuse is as bad as his guts telling him it is. Faith’s abuse equally horrifying, if not worse, in its own way, if he heard the undertones correctly. Leaning back in his chair he silently contemplates the two women.


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

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. And this is definitely a twosome you don't see too often. I am working on getting the chapters on here to where I was at another site. So you'll have a lot to read to begin with, then I'll work on keeping one chapter a week posted until it's finished.

I will also be adding my other stories to the site as time permits. Thanks to all who are reading the story - and I hope to get plenty of feedback regarding them!! Thank you!!