Together We Stand Divided We Fall

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Chapter 1
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Buffy rolls out of bed trying not to wake Tara. Walking to the closet she trips over her boots, hitting the wall with a loud thud. "Wow, stealthy slayer," she complains while looking for something to wear. After she dresses, Buffy walks over to Dawn's room to check on the teen. Opening the door quietly, she finds her sister is not there. She shrugs and meanders down to the kitchen to start breakfast for her and Tara.

"Hey Buff you just get up?" The teenager was standing at the counter by the sink. She was putting some ingredients into a mixing bowl. "Tara still sleeping?"

The slayer stood staring at her sister. "What are you doing up...and early?" she formed the words in surprise. ‘I never said anything to her, so how did she know I was here?’ Buffy thought to herself. "Did I miss the weekend again...I mean it is Saturday, right?"

Dawn turned back to the island and placed the bowl on it. "Yes, genius, I thought that we could have breakfast together...you know, as a family," Dawn said with a cute, child-like smile. "You have been gone a lot, and Tara has classes until after dark then she patrols with you and I have my life. We don't get that much time together any more. Plus hunger makes you do the wacky!" the teen babbled her explanation.

Buffy smiled at her sister. ‘Willow-influenced babble,’ she told herself, remembering her old friend. "That sounds great Dawnie...so what is it?" The slayer pretends to sneak up on the bowl that Dawn had just put on the counter.

"Funny," Dawn rolls her eyes with a smile. "I'm making French toast."

Meanwhile, Tara rolls around in bed waking up and finds that Buffy is no longer there. Sad that her lover left without waking her yet again, she gets out of bed and dressed. Walking down the stairs, she can hear the music playing in the kitchen. "Hey! What's going on in here?" Tara asks with a big smile. She walks over to Buffy, taking the shorter blonde into her arms and kisses her. "You didn't wake me up," she pouted as she breaks the kiss. "I was lonely and cold."

Dawn stood watching the two women. "Did anyone want to eat out tonight...I mean go out to eat dinner?" She could feel the red rising up to her face as she stood with a stupid smile.

"Dawnie!" Tara turned to look at the teen, her own face turning red.

Buffy giggles and shakes her head. "Sure, I wouldn't mind...going out tonight." She gives her lover a knowing grin.

"Could we call Xander and Anya?" Dawn questioned.

"Sure if you think they're not busy." Tara's voice was low.

Everyone had all but drifted apart in the last six months. The only time that the gang was together was when it was time to fight evil and even that was few and far between.

"I'll call over there right now. I'm sure they'll make time, Dawnie." Buffy turned to the phone and dialed the number.

"Now everyone can be together...I mean everyone besides Willow, that is." Dawn dropped her head.

"Oh sweetie, you know she would be the first one to come," Tara soothed as she hugged the teen.

Willow had left Sunnydale four months earlier to attend MIT. She used to call every weekend, but after two months, the phone calls had stopped. Dawn knew that Willow was busy but she still missed her redhead hacker.


"They said that we could meet at the Magic Box!" Buffy's voice was low; she had heard Dawn's last statement and felt sad.
Buffy knew that Willow left because it hurt too much to see her and Tara together. They had started dating two months after Willow and Tara broke up. Willow had left shortly after she found out.

"Okay it’s set, we meet the rest of the gang," Tara was interrupted by Dawn.

"No, family...we still are a family, aren't we?" she looked at her sister for the answer.

Buffy turned from her sister, her eyes filled with tears. "Yes we are…and we will always be a family!" The slayer took Dawn into her arms as the tears fell onto her cheeks.

***

The night before, Willow stood in the living room of her apartment, looking over their flight plans.

"Are you going to call them first?" Amie asked from her spot on the floor.

Willow shook her head. "No, I think we'll just go on to my parents and then I'll call from there." The redhead stood looking at the flight plans again. It was a red-eye flight from Boston, with layovers in Kansas City and Phoenix before reaching California. "Or maybe we could just show up. I know Buffy will be mad that I didn't call, but I think she'll get over it. Then again, Buffy can also get mad that I showed up. She funny that way you know, no you don't know because you don't know her," Willow babbled.

Amie stood up and walked over to her lover. Putting her hand on Will's shoulder, "Look, you can't just go back and not see them; I mean we are moving into your folk's house in the same town. I do think she would notice you after awhile. So I'm thinking we should just get to the airport and get to Sunnydale before your babbling gets you all worked up again." She lightly kissed the hacker on the check.

***
(After arriving in Sunnydale)

Willow and Amie stood at the Sunnydale airport waiting for a cab. "I hope the damn cab comes soon, it's getting dark and we should be inside," the hacker complained as she looked in her bag for a stake.

"Do you want to go right to your folk's place or what?" Amie asked, even though she had other ideas. Willow should go find Buffy, she thought. Then she saw the stake in her girlfriend's hand. “Maybe we should go see if Buffy is home and that way..." Willow cut her off.

"Don't finish that sentence. I thought about it and that is what we're going to do, right after the DAMN CAB GETS HERE!" Willow yelled.

"I'm glad you changed your mind...by the way, do you know how to use that thing?" Amie pointed at the stake in Willow's hand.

Willow was pensive on the way over to Buffy's. She had the driver stop half a block away. She wanted to walk up in case they were home.

The house was loud and full of life, as the three women got ready to leave for the Magic Box. The music and their voices could be heard all the way to the street. Willow stood on the sidewalk in front of the house with a smile. She remembered how it felt to be inside that loud house. She remembered the fun they would have, the long talks with Buffy on the front porch, and the plans she and Dawn would make curled up on the couch. She slowly walked up on the front deck to the open door but not across the threshold.

Tara ran down the stairs yelling at Dawn. "So where is my shirt?! You had it...oh wow!” Tara stopped in mid-step, her eyes fixed on the redhead standing outside the door.

"Finding you shirt is big fun for you?" Buffy asked as she came down the stairs, narrowly avoiding her girlfriend. She looked over Tara’s shoulder, "Oh." She stood looking at her best friend. "Dawnie get down here!" she yelled for her sister, never taking her eyes off Willow.


"What? I'm trying to get dressed!" Dawn yelled back, running down the stairs. Looking up she saw Willow staring at her. "WILLOW!" The young woman rushed to the hacker only to be stopped by Willow's warning.

"Stop...don't come any closer Dawnie!" Willow begins to cry. She looks at her best friend with hopeful eyes.

"Why are you out there Will? I want a hug come..."

"No! Dawn please don't…I can't come in…you can't...damn it, just don't!" Willow sobbed her warning and cried harder while Buffy walked to the door. Willow saw tears in the slayer's eyes.

Buffy took her best friend's hand. "Willow come in, this is your home!"

"But Buffy, she's a vamp! What are you doing?" Dawn cried, knowing she had lost Willow forever.

"I'm not a vamp silly...I was just about to come in." Willow walked in to the house and Dawn pins her to the wall with a hug. "Don't ever do that again, got it! Fuck! I thought you were dead!"

"Dawn, watch you mouth!” Tara scolded.

"Oh, Will plays like she's a blood-sucker and I get yelled at...guess when we fight evil I have to say 'They want to open the Heckmouth!'" Rolling her eyes, she puts her shirt on. The very one Tara was looking for.

Tara walks over to Buffy, taking her hand into her own.

"So when did you get back...Queen Akasha?" Buffy asked with a smile.

"We got back about an hour ago." Willow took the teen into a tight hug.

"We?" Buffy asked. "We?" Buffy asked again, looking at her lover for some help.

Dawn squeezed the witch even tighter. "Dawnie…breathing…becoming…an issue." Willow looked at Dawn. "I missed you so much sorry I haven't called...but I’m coming home!"

"WILLOW WE?" Buffy raised her voice to get the hackers attention.

Willow jumped and turned to the slayer with surprise. "Oh sorry Buffy. Yes, Amie and I."

Tara's eyes widened with the thought of the only person Buffy couldn't save Willow from.

"Willow, please tell me you turned her b-back into a rat."

"No! Not rat Amy...this girl is from MIT! Rat Amy is gone for good...you’re not the only slayer in the family!" Willow looked around the room.

"What do you mean Willow?” Buffy felt her heart skip a beat. 'Oh gods she killed the rat!' The slayer thought.

"It seems vampires like higher learning. Amy came to me and she said she wanted to stop using magic and asked for my help. We were walking to my dorm when we were attacked. They took her. I saw her about a week later...she was a vampire and I was her staker. I called Giles to tell him, Faith was all with the happy and really worried I left Sunnydale. So where are you going?" Willow asked at the end of her babble.

Buffy and Dawn stood looking at the redhead with big smiles on their faces.

Tara shook her head. "Will, it is good to know some things never change."

"We are going to the Magic Box for dinner with Xander and Anya." The teenager answered. "And you are coming right?" she asked the hacker with wide hopeful eyes.

Willow turned to Buffy. "Sure, if it's ok with everyone."

"Okay? This is family time and you're family!" Tara all but hit Willow for asking.

"Would you think they would mind if Amie came too?" the hacker murmured, still watching the slayer.

"Sure," Buffy said, unsure herself.

Willow knew that Buffy was worried. "Buffy can we talk in the kitchen?" she asked her best friend, snagging her hand and leading her to the far room.

"Okay Will, full spillage," the slayer came right to the point as they walked into the kitchen.

Willow took a seat on the island. "How do you do it? I mean kill someone that you knew?" the hacker asked. "She came to me for help and she really wanted to stop using magic. Why her now? I mean all she wanted was to start over." Willow looked around the kitchen, not once looking at Buffy.

"It never gets easy...I never forget." Buffy said knowing that Amy was important to Willow.

"I know I won't...Amy and I had a good friendship once and I thought I could have that back. I thought I lost you and now I HAVE lost Amy." Willow said as tears fell from her eyes.

"Did you fight her first or just stake?" Buffy walked closer to the redhead.

"No fists just dust...it was like she wanted me to," Willow moaned, beginning to cry.

"Maybe she did...she knew you could do it." The slayer looked away not sure how to explain. Angel had told Buffy once that the demon doesn’t take you fully until after the first kill. She thought Willow might benefit from knowing that right now, so she did what a best friend should do. She explained.

"Why did you let me come home?" Willow asked. “The fight we had was so bad and I thought that you would never want to see me again...not to mention Tara. When I left for MIT I thought it would be forever and that we would never see one another again. But after what happened with Amy, I needed someone and it was Faith that told me that I needed to come home. Well, my parents have moved and offered me their house for a graduation gift...wow I didn’t mean to go on like that.” She shrugged.

"You never do...and to answer your question I let you come home because you’re my Willow!" Buffy took the redhead into her arms using some slayer strength to lift her off the island. Putting her on the floor, she hugged her best friend tight. "I've seen you hurt too many times. And most of the time, it’s because of me." She started to cry with the hacker. Buffy cried for Willow, for her lost friend, and for the hurt she felt when Tara and Buffy started dating. She knew she could never bring Amy back and she could never take back the hurt Willow felt about her best friend and ex-girlfriend.

"Buffy, I love you and I know you worry but I'm going to be okay...I promise!" Willow pulled back so she could look into the slayer's eyes. She knew what Buffy felt because she felt it too.

"I love you too and if you’re not okay you need to tell me...or I'll kick your ass...slayer style." Buffy pulled her old friend back into her arms.

Tara walked into the kitchen, her lips curling up into a smile when she saw the two women hugging. "I hate to break up this love fest but we need to go. Dawn has run the stairs three times. Plus we told Xander we wouldn't be long." She could feel the family coming back together but she knew they had a long way to go.

***************
The five women walked into the Magic Box. Xander looked up from the book he working on. “Holy Hacker! Willow, you’re back!" Xander ran to the redhead, wrapped his arms around the little woman standing before him. "When, how, when?" he asked all at once.

"All good questions, Xander," she returned the hug. "We got back today." She tried to pull away but Xander had a tight grip on his lifelong friend as if he would never let her go again.

"Xander, let her go," Anya said hitting her husband's arm.

As he pulled away from Willow, Anya threw herself around the hacker's waist. "We missed you so much!" she said into the redhead's shoulder. It was clear that the ex-demon was crying.

Xander walked to his wife’s side, placing his hand on her shoulder. “Come on dear, let her go.”

“Wow, I guess they did miss you Will,” Amie spoke, making everyone look at her. “You told me how close you all were…never mind.” She dropped her head shaking it wishing she never opened her mouth.

“Hello,” Xander turned to the odd girl with pink and black hair. “Can we help you?”

“I’m here with Willow, but maybe I should go.” She turned to the door and opened it.

Before she could walk out Buffy grabbed her arm. “Don’t leave; Xander can be, well, stupid.” She whispered into the girl's ear. “It’s going to be weird at first but it will work out!” She put her arm around Amie’s shoulder and led her back into the shop.

“Okay, dinner. Want some. Now,” Dawn announced to the gang.

“We could go to that Mexican place or we could order in,” Anya offered with a smile.

The gang watched Anya as she talked. “I think it would be more fun to order in, don’t you, dear? It’ll be the old days sitting around eating and doing research...we have food but no research...Xander, we need research!” She turned to Xander.

Xander nodded his head. “Before we do anything though, I think we need to all sit down.” He pointed to the table, a curiously nervous look on his face.

“Wow, this doesn’t sound good.” Tara whispered as Buffy took her seat on Tara's lap.

“I’m glad you called Buffy, because we need to let you all in on something. Things have changed in the past few months,” Xander tried to explain looking at his old friends; he found it easier to put his thoughts into words. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “Anya is pregnant.” He let out a breath in disbelief that he had said the words aloud for the first time.

The rest of the gang sat in silence as the words hit them like a ton of bricks.

“That’s great! Congratulations!” Amie was the first to break the silence.

“Wow, so does that make me an aunt?” Dawn jumped up from her chair and ran to Anya to hug her gently.

“I guess in a way it does Dawnie,” Xander answered the teenager with a smile.

“Xander, you’re going to be a daddy,” Willow spoke in her child like voice. She didn’t move from her spot in fear that the floor wouldn’t hold her. She couldn’t believe that he was going to be a father.

“Wow, Xand, look at you…I mean daddy…wow,” Buffy said the words, but she could still see that weird boy she had met her first day at Sunnydale High. She remembered the first thing Xander ever said to her “Can I have you?” and laughed to herself.

“I called Giles and told him…he was all with the happy and is coming home Friday. I asked him to be the Godfather,” Anya told her family and looked at the floor to find the strength to go on.

“Will the baby be…you know, demon?” Dawn asked looking at her sister then at the floor. She felt bad for asking but she knew there was a chance that the child wouldn’t be completely human.

Amie looked at Willow with a confused face. She didn’t know why the teen would ask such a question. “Will, what is going on here? Why would Dawn even think THAT?” Amie asked in a not so quiet voice.

Willow patted Amie's leg. "I'll explain later at home okay!" She then turned to Buffy. "I think we should eat don't you, Buff?"

Dawn jumped up from her seat and hugged Willow. "You said home...you can't leave yet you just got here...Buffy, make her stay!" Dawn was near tears.

Wide-eyed Willow pulled Dawn into her lap. "Dawnie we're not leaving, we're moving back here. My parent moved to Europe and well, I have the house.” She looked over Dawn’s shoulder at Buffy. “If we’re still welcome, that is.”

Buffy locked eyes with Willow and saw the fear in the witch’s eyes. “Of course you are...like I said; this is your home, too.”

The rest of the gang sat quietly knowing that it would have to be Buffy and Tara to say she could stay. They all knew about the fight that made Willow leave and made Dawn fear Tara.
***

The next morning Dawn sat in her room thinking of how much has changed in the last year. She thought about Buffy and why she died and Willow bringing her back from the grave. Then she thought of Willow being hooked on magic and hurting Tara.. She thought about how Tara and her sister had fallen in love and how they are now like two mothers to her. She then curled up in a ball in the middle of her bed as she thought about the fight that made Willow leave Sunnydale.

Tara walked by the teenager’s room and saw her sitting on her bed. “Hey you, what are you doing sitting in here all alone?” She walked over and sat on the end of the bed. “You okay?” Tara questioned. She could see that Dawn was troubled by something but she didn’t want to push.

“Tara, did you love me before I was human or was I just a job to you?” She knew the question was harsh and could see it hurt Tara, but she needed to know.

Tara felt her heart jump at the question. “How could you ask me something like that?” She shook her head. How could Dawn think she had never loved her?

“I just thought…you know, everyone was trying to protect me from Glory…I mean how could you love something that wasn’t real?” Tears filled Dawn’s eyes as she spoke. “If it wasn’t for me and what I was…” she couldn’t finish her thought. Just saying the words brought back the pain of Buffy dying.

“You w-were a gift and no one th-thought you w-were a job!” Tara stuttered for the first time in months. She could feel herself getting angry. The thought that Dawn never knew that she was loved!

Dawn curled up to Tara and asked the question that she never knew she needed the answer to until now. “Why did Buffy die?”

“What…I mean Dawnie, this is something that I can’t explain alone. I need help to give you the right answer.” She turned her head from Dawn and out of character, she yelled at the top of her voice. “BUFFY GET UP HERE!”

Buffy was in the kitchen with Xander when she heard her lover yell. They jumped to their feet and were in a mad dash up the stairs. They fought to fit through the teen’s door at the same time. “What…what did it look like?” Buffy asked, out of breath as she flew to the two girls.

“We need to talk. NOW. I’m calling Willow.” Tara was clearly upset; not with Dawn but at all of them. They were so mixed up with their own lives that they forgot about Dawn and her thirst for the truth about herself.

Tara left the room slamming the door behind her. She ran across the hall to her room, snatching up the phone to dial Willow’s number.

Willow answered to phone. “W-Willow,” Tara sobbed into the phone.

“Tara what’s wrong?” The hacker asked, worried something had happened to Buffy.

“D-Dawnie…she…Come over!” She was crying so hard that she couldn’t talk.

Without saying goodbye Willow slammed the phone down and ran out of the house. As she drove to the Summer’s house she thought about how Tara sounded on the phone and how she said the teenager’s name. Willow pulled up in front of the house and jumped out of her car. She ran inside; Tara was sitting in the living room crying.

“Tara,” Willow pulled her ex-lover into her arms. “Baby…what’s wrong?” She rubbed Tara’s back trying to calm her enough to talk.

“Buffy died…” Tara sobbed the words trying to explain.

“WHAT…BUFFY…WHAT!” Willow started to shake as the now familiar words pierced her heart. Tears filled her eyes as she remembered seeing her best friend’s lifeless body lay on the ground. After the battle with Glory, she was the one who went to L.A. to tell Angel. Her heart still broke when she remembers the look on his face and the levels of pain when he said, “It’s Buffy.”

“Dawn asked why I died.” Buffy stood in the doorway of the living room her voice low and bitter. She was also upset that no one, not even herself, had taken the time to tell Dawn the truth. Buffy walked to the couch and sat down next to Tara.

Tara had calmed down and she curled up into Buffy’s arms. “Dawnie asked me if we loved her before she was human or if we just saw her as a job.” Tears filled her eyes again.

Willow all but fell to the floor when she heard the words. “How could she think we didn’t love her?” Tears fell from the hacker’s eyes. “Did someone…tell her that we…” She didn’t want to think someone could say such a horrible thing.

“No. She just thought we couldn’t love something that wasn’t real.” The Wicca let her tears fall, moving closer to Buffy.

“I think we need to have a talk with Dawn!” Buffy moved Tara off her lap and pushed herself up. “I mean now.” She walked up the stairs to get her sister.

Willow called Amie. “Hey; I’m coming to get you…we all need to have a talk. Dawn is really upset and well…just be ready!”

Buffy knew this was going to be hard for the teenager, but she needed to know that what Buffy did was for her. It was true that Buffy died saving the world but Dawn needed to know that she gave her life for her and that they all loved her.

Dawn walked into the living room. Her eyes were still wet from crying as she sat on the floor next to Buffy’s chair.

The front door opened. Amie and Willow walked in talking. “I don’t know why I have to be here. She doesn’t even know me,” Amie said to her girlfriend.

“Dawn I wanted everyone here to clear the air,” Buffy looked at her sister but she was talking to everyone.

“Do you remember when I told you that we have the same blood?” she sat down next to Dawn as she talked.

“Summer’s blood!” Dawn put her hand on her sister’s shoulder like Buffy had when she told her.

“Right, well when your blood opened the portal, I knew that my blood could close it. It was then that I understood, what the first slayer meant when told me death was my gift. I gave my life to you so you would become human.” Buffy stood up and walked to Amie. “You’re here because we are a family and we don’t hold secrets in this family. They only get us into trouble.” She then turned back to Dawn. “I don’t know how it happened but I think that Willow and Tara could fill that part in.” She looked to her best friend once again for the answers and Willow was happy to help.

Willow moved over to Dawn and took her hand. “You see Dawn when Buffy went to the desert with Giles, she saw the first slayer in a vision and she told her that death was her gift. Buffy didn’t understand what it meant but…Tara help.” She looked to her ex-lover.

Tara joined Willow. “Death was…Okay death was Buffy’s gift to you…you see when she died her essence replaced the energy that was the key. Her blood caused the portal between the world and the demon dimensions to close.” She looked to see if Dawn understood her. “And you became human. Do you understand?” She hoped that the teen would. She didn’t know how to explain it any other way.

“Willow, maybe you can show her with pie charts,” Xander said, his usual sarcasm muted with an undertone of loving care.

“Funny Xand! But I don’t think a pie chart would help me understand any more,” Dawn said with a smile.

Amie moved more into the room. She raised her right hand a little. “I think it might help me out some.” She looked at Buffy and said, “So you’re the Slayer and Willow and Tara are witches and Xander is…well Xander. So if I’m going to be part of this family, what am I going to be?” She let out a small giggle.

Buffy looked to the gang and said, “Well, you can be one of the Scoobies!”

***

Everyone sat in the Summer’s living room waiting for Buffy and Xander to return from patrol. Dawn had called Willow and Amie when she came home to an empty house. Tara had been at school finishing up some papers and Anya was working late.

There was a loud knock at the front door. Dawn pushed up to answer the door when she heard a man‘s voice. “Dawn let me in now!” the voice called to the teen. “Dawnie let me in. I have Buffy, she’s hurt.” Dawn grabbed the door and ripped it open. “Dawnie quick, invite me in!” Angel all but yelled at the worried teen.

Dawn shook her head and quickly invited the vampire in. “Oh sorry, Angel, come in, hurry…is she bad?” Dawn asked the older man.

“Yes. But she’s going to live…thanks to Xander and Spike.” He laid the slayer on the floor and ripped off her shirt.

“Willow, is that…?” Amie murmured as she ran back into the room with the metal box of medical supplies.

“Yes it is…Angel what happened? Where’s Xander?” Willow threw her questions at her old friend.

“Xander is coming he wanted to take care of Spike.” He turned to the group with a knowing look. They had all seen that look before; in fact too many times than any of them wanted to admit. Xander walked into the house carrying a metal box.

“Well, what happened?” Willow opened the supply box and started to clean Buffy’s side.

“We were attacked…and Spike tried to help but it turned out to be a human so…” Xander stood looking at the floor, unable to go on.

“He couldn’t fight and was pinned down…I got there too late.” Angel took Dawn into his arms not just to comfort her but also for his own need to touch. “Spike was beat pretty bad, worse then what Glory did to him.” Xander shook his head in disbelief. “Buffy tried to fight the man but he had a big knife…and you see what happened next,” Xander summed up the events of the patrol, still clearly torn up over Spike. The young man never let on before that he had come to care for the vampire, and now he only hoped to get the chance to tell him. “There was something on the silver stake the man staked Spike with…we may lose him.” Xander walked to the front door.

Amie looked at Xander with a confused look. “Isn’t Spike a vampire...so isn’t he already dead...how could we lose him?” she questioned, but no one answered her. She decided to ask Willow later.

The cut ran from the slayer’s underarm to her waist, wide and deep. Willow could see Buffy needed stitches and that she was losing a lot of blood. “We need to get her to the hospital now!”

“I’ll call Cordy, she can take us,” Angel started for the phone.

“Angel we have cars to take her,” Xander told the vampire.

“I don’t care how…just get us there!” Willow all but screamed her demand.

Tara walked into the house to find everyone, even Angel, standing in the living room. She heard Willow screaming at the group. Tara stood in the middle of the living room with tears of shock rolling down her face. Dawn took the Wicca’s hand and led her to the car where Willow was waiting with Buffy.

“Who’s going to drive?” Angel asked when Xander took off for the hospital without him.

“I’ll drive,” Dawn jumped in the driver seat and took off before anyone could argue with her.

Tara, still in shock, watched as her lover was taken from the car into the emergency room. She sat in the waiting room with the rest of the gang. Looking around Tara realized that she was in the very same chair she sat in the night Buffy’s mother died. “I’ve never done this,” Buffy whispered in her remembered conversation. “I have.” She put head into her hands and cried.

Angel walked back into the waiting room. “I called Cordy she’s on her way.” He sat next to Willow and Amie.

Xander came in with Anya. They sat in their usual spots across from Willow next to Dawn.

They all sat in silence waiting for news about their friend. Buffy had gotten hurt badly before, but never by another human. Faith was the only one that had come close to doing any real damage but never like this.

A few minutes later Cordelia ran down the hall into the waiting room. “Angel, what happened? Is she going to be okay?” she hugged Angel as she asked her questions.

“We don’t know yet Cordy,” Xander stood beside their old friend.

“Well, what happened? Did you get whatever did this? Do we have to go back out after it?” she bombarded the others with her questions.

“Hold on Cordelia, one at a time,” Willow said trying to calm the girl down.

“I will explain everything, but first let’s get everyone calmed down,” Angel announced.

“First off, who is she?” Angel asked aloud, looking at Tara.

“It’s a long story,” Willow said, using Buffy’s line to keep from explaining.

“Tara is Buffy’s girlfriend…as in lover,” Dawn interrupted in a very sarcastic tone.

“Okay, maybe not so long,” Willow gave Amie a weak grin.

Angel and Cordelia stood in complete silence as the words hit them. Neither one could believe that Buffy was gay.

“Oh, so how did this happen?” Cordelia asked.

“Well, Willow and Tara were dating and then they…” Anya started to explain.

“No, how did she get hurt!” Cordelia gave the ex-demon a snarl.

“Come on Cordy, let’s go get something to drink and I’ll explain everything.” Angel clearly wanted to leave after finding out the news about his old lover.

“Okay, but wait.” Cordelia sat next to Tara, taking her hand. “I know she’s going to be okay; she knows you’re here.” She stood up took Angel’s arm and they disappeared down the hall.

The rest of the gang sat in silence as they watched Cordelia give comfort to Tara. This was not the girl that cut them down every chance she got in high school; she was now giving Tara soothing words without a snappy comeback.

“I can’t do this…I can’t lose her…who was that girl?” Tara babbled through her sobs.

“That was Cordelia…she’s kind of…well Cordelia.” Willow tried to explain the girl they all once knew; but her words failed. She realized she didn’t know Cordy anymore.

About an hour after Cordy and Angel had returned the doctor appeared in the door of the waiting room. He was the same doctor that told Dawn and Buffy the sad news about their mother. “She’s going to be fine. She lost a lot of blood, but we got it under control. She is in stable condition and will have to stay a few days,” the doctor said with real hope in his voice.

“You said my mother was going to be fine too,” Dawn cried into Xander’s shoulder.

“Can we see her?” Willow asked.

“One at a time. But right now she is asking for Tara and Dawn.” He looked at the two girls. “You can only go with an adult.” He placed his hand on the teenager’s shoulder.

“Thanks.” Dawn pulled away from him, giving him a glare before Tara and she disappeared into the back.

Tara and Dawn took turns staying with Buffy all night.