“What did you hope to gain by bringing Willow here, Spike?”  It was a rhetorical question as Tara kept the tight hold on Spike, rendering him speechless.  “Were you hoping that I’d suddenly let bygones be bygones, and I’d rush into Willow’s arms, leaving Buffy all to you?” 

Buffy stiffened as Spike pushed off the wall, about ready to intervene when Tara slammed him back against the wall. 

“Baby?”  Willow took a step towards Tara, a hopeful look on her face. 

Buffy growled and sent a glare at Willow.  “Don’t even go there!  That was sarcasm, Willow!” 

“But, she…”  Willow flinched at the look of disgust on Tara’s face as she glanced her way.  “I thought you just…” 

“You’re not listening, Willow.”  Tara shook her head.  “You’re only hearing what you want to hear.” 

“But we belong…”  Willow unconsciously took a step back when Tara growled loudly, the anger clearly showing on her face. 

“There was a time I believed that myself, but it will NEVER happen, Willow!”  Tara was exasperated that she couldn’t get that through Willow’s head.  The redhead still harbored hope that they’d get back together, no matter how many times she’d told her differently over the past months.  Hearing a growl and feeling Spike push off the wall again, Tara snapped her head back towards the vamp, tossing him against the wall once again and tightening the hold around his throat.  “And, You!”  She narrowed her angry eyes on him, Willow all but forgotten once again. 

Spike whimpered at the pain of his head bouncing off the wall and the hand now crushing his throat as he clawed at the unseen offender.  If he’d actually had to breathe to survive, he’d be dead by now. 

“Oh, that’s gotta hurt.”  Buffy mumbled as she leaned back into the Wiccan, seeing the woman’s hand used to hold Spike close even more. 

“You like pain?  Or do you just like inflicting it?  Let’s see how you like it, shall we?”  Tara tightened her hold on the Slayer as she released Spike’s neck, shifting her hold down to grab him by the balls.  “What were you going to do, beat her into submission?  Hoping that if you kept beating on her enough that she’d finally submit, and you could have the real thing instead of the cheap imitation of the Buffybot?  She doesn’t belong in your world of darkness, no matter what you seem to think the truth is, Spike.” 

“EEW!”  Buffy shivered, the thought of Spike fucking the robot of her self that he’d had built still gave her the creeps.  She grinned as Spike grunted and reached for his crotch.  “I’m glad that you’re not really touching him, otherwise that hand would never be touching me.” 

Tara chuckled softly at the Slayer’s warning, kissing the side of her head as she dragged her free hand’s nails across Buffy’s abdomen.  “I’d cut my own hand off, if that were to happen.” 

Buffy turned her head and raised a brow as she looked at Tara.  “Was that to the first part, or the last?”  She laughed as Tara growled softly at her and pinched her stomach.  “That’s what I thought.” 

“Smartass!”  Tara gave her a quick kiss before turning back to the groaning Spike. 

Spike tried snarling a retort at her but his voice was no longer working, the only thing he could do is send her a scathing glare. 

Buffy reached out and ran her hand down Tara’s arm to her hand, cupping her hand along the backside of the Wiccan’s and closing their hands a little more, making Spike groan and fall to his knees as his nuts were being crushed.  “She has a point.  And you know, I think I liked you better when you were trying to kill me, rather than trying to screw me.  Either way, its sooo NOT gonna happen.”  Buffy squeezed their hands a little more just to make her point. 

“I’d suggest a change of address, Spike.”  Tara gave him a cold smile.  “This is just a taste of what I can do, and I really don’t think you want to find out what I am capable of doing if you really piss me off.  Stay away from Buffy.  You’ve been warned, Spike.”  Tara slowly increased the pressure, watching as Spike’s eyes bulged before he fell over. 

“Huh.”  Buffy grinned and laced her fingers with Tara’s as she felt her release the spell and open her hand when Spike passed out.  “That had to hurt.” 

“He’ll be lucky if he can cough again without his nuts falling off anytime soon.”  Tara whispered as she kissed the side of Buffy’s head, bringing their joined hands back around the Slayer. 

Buffy snorted softly.  “Let alone get it up at any point in the future.”  She leaned her head back on Tara’s shoulder to whisper in her ear.  “Remind me never to piss you off.”  She gently nipped at Tara’s ear, causing the Wiccan to inhale sharply as she shuddered. 

“Stop that!”  Tara moaned softly and scraped her nails over Buffy’s stomach, giving the skin under her hand a pinch when she heard the Slayer softly laughing. 

Cami leaned closer to the couple, eyes never leaving the man on the floor.  “Is he dead?” 

Buffy couldn’t resist the opening.  “Yeah, but that’s normal.”  She laughed as Tara pinched her again. 

“He’ll regain consciousness… eventually.”  Tara smiled wickedly at her friend.  “He may never walk the same again, but he’ll come to.” 

Cami laughed softly and shook her head as she smiled at Tara.  She nodded in Willow’s direction when she saw the shocked looking redhead staring at the unconscious man. 

Tara turned her head to look where Cami was looking, sighing softly that there was more to deal with. 

~HLM~

Tara tilted her head as she looked at Willow, her fingers unconsciously stroking over the Slayer’s skin as she considered her ex-girlfriend, eyes shifting to glance at Amy.  “How are you feeling?  Still queasy?” 

Amy frowned and nodded.  “How did you know?” 

Tara smiled sadly at the former rat.  “Power drain.  Not to mention the whole unsettling feeling of being teleported here from wherever you two were.  Willow’s house, I’m assuming.” 

Amy nodded again, somewhat surprised at the woman’s knowledge of things. 

“I’m feeling better.”  Willow tossed in happily, frowning when no one looked her way. 

Tara dropped her eyes for a moment before raising them back to Amy. 

Amy couldn’t quite figure out the look in the woman’s eyes as they met hers again.  She saw sadness overall, but there was something else there as well, possibly regret or guilt. 

“I’m sorry, Amy.”  Tara held the woman’s eyes, willing her to see the truth within her own.  “I should have changed you back when I first met you, but…”  Tara trailed off, ashamed of herself for not standing up to Willow, eyes dropping to the floor guiltily.

Buffy slowly turned her head to look from a shocked Amy to Tara, she and Amy both questioning softly at the same time.  “What?” 

“I…”  Tara hesitated a moment her eyes flicking from the floor to Willow. 

“Tara!”  Willow squeaked, her eyes wide, knowing what the Wiccan is more than likely about to say. 

“No, Willow!”  Tara's voice is a growl as she glared at Willow.  “I should have changed her back!”  Tara’s eyes go back sadly to Amy’s.  “Willow wanted to be the one to change you back her self.  She didn’t want me doing it.  I’m sorry.  I should have done it anyway.” 

“You could have…”  Amy’s stunned as she stares wide eyed at the woman, her eyes finally turning to Willow. 

Willow dropped her head when Tara told them, fidgeting as she looks at her feet when she feels eyes on her. 

“I could have…  She could have…  You…”  Amy struggled to comprehend that her friend left her a rat for two more years when she could have been changed back.  “Why?”  Amy shook her head, not understanding why Willow would leave her that way.  What color she did have in her face draining, quickly turning and running for the restrooms. 

“Amy!”  Willow called out as they all turn when the woman took off. 

“I’ll go.”  Cami put a restraining hand on Buffy’s shoulder as she shifted in Tara’s arms, about to go after the woman.  “I could use another drink.”  She mumbled as she headed for the bar to grab a bottle of water before following the woman to the bathroom, and order more drinks while she’s there. 

“Thank you.”  Both Buffy and Tara called out to the retreating waitress, getting a wave off of the thanks from the woman as she doesn’t look back and heads for the bar. 

Catching two of the bouncers chatting on her way to the bar, Cami sends them over to get rid of the unconscious guy on the floor.  “Dump his ass out in the alley… and you don’t have to be gentle about it.”  She tacked on the end with an evil smile as she passed them. 

The bouncers look at each other and shrug.  “You heard the Boss.”  One of them grinned at the other as he clapped him on the shoulder and headed off to do Cami’s bidding, the other smiling and following happily behind. 

~HLM~

Willow turned angry eyes back on Tara.  “She didn’t need to know that!  You shouldn’t have told her!” 

Tara and Buffy both turn back to find a snarling Willow glaring at her ex-girlfriend. 

“Yes, I did.”  Tara calmly replied to the anger.  “I’ve felt guilty for the past two years that I could have changed her back and didn’t, all because of your…”  Tara trailed off as the two bouncers passed between them, all eyes except Willow’s furious ones turning to watch the two men. 

“What are you doing?”  Buffy curiously asked as the men roughly grabbed Spike by the shoulders, not really caring what they were doing, just curious. 

“Taking out the trash.”  One of them answered as they lifted the man off the floor.  “Boss’s orders.”  He shrugged and nodded to the women as they dragged Spike through the parting crowd towards the back door. 

Buffy shrugged.  “Works for me, saves me from having to drag his ass out of here.”  She smiled as she watched them ram Spike’s head into a pillar, both men having tried to go around opposite sides of it, laughing as the men just grinned at each other before finally making their way around the post, only to slam Spike’s head into the door before they opened it and stepped out.  She had no illusions that he would be gently placed out of harms way somewhere in the alley, more likely he’d be roughly tossed against something or buried under the pallets and crates that seemed to be found in all the alleyways of Sunnydale.  “Between his head, neck, and nuts, he’ll be lucky if he can crawl into the sewer by sunrise.”  Buffy chuckled softly as she turned amused eyes on Tara. 

“And that would be a bad thing, how?”  Tara raised a brow and smirked at the Slayer before the smirk turned into a crooked smile and she softly kissed her. 

“That would save one of us from staking his ass.”  Buffy squeezed the arms around her as she sighed and leaned back into the Wiccan. 

“You won’t have to if he leaves another bruise on you.”  Tara growled softly and kissed the Slayer’s temple. 

“Can I be there to watch what else you do to him?”  Buffy laughed softly, having enjoyed watching Tara deal with the vamp just a few minutes before. 

“It won’t be pretty.”  Tara smiled as she tickled the Slayer’s stomach before sliding her hands under the strips of cloth, stroking teasingly over the soft skin. 

“I’m sure it won’t, but I still want to be there for his demise.”  Buffy moaned softly as the agile fingers played over her skin, once again forgetting that they weren’t alone as her body reacted to the light touches and the soft lips pressing against the crook of her neck and shoulder.  Only to stiffen and open half closed eyes as she heard a loud growl from beside them. 

“Damn!”  Tara sighed and dropped her forehead to Buffy’s shoulder for a moment, gently patting the Slayer’s abdomen as she reluctantly removed her hands from under the thin material. 

They both turned back to the red faced, snarling redhead. 

~HLM~

Cami pushed open the door as a toilet flushed, glad to see the woman she was looking for stepping out of one of the stalls.  “Are you okay?” 

Amy grabbed a paper towel to wet, nodding before she wiped the sweat from her face and neck.  “Dry heaves.  Thankfully I’ve been too nervous to eat much of anything.”  She grabbed another paper towel to dry herself off. 

Cami handed her the bottle of water after loosening the cap.  “Here, sip this and rinse your mouth out.”  She then pulled a box of Tic Tacs from the pocket of her small apron.  “This should help with the bile taste.”  She flipped open the cover, shaking a couple into the woman’s hand after she’d rinsed her mouth. 

“Thank you.”  Amy finally looked at the woman, not recognizing her other than having been out with them in the bar.  “Who are you?” 

Cami smiled, gently patting her on the shoulder as she led her from the bathroom.  “I’m Cami, waitress, and friend of Tara’s.” 

“Amy.”  Amy nodded as she stepped through the door the woman held open for her.  “So that’s Tara.  She looks different than I remember.” 

Cami laughed and caught up to walk beside the woman.  “That she does.  She’s a knockout when she loosens up some.  Hell, I was surprised when I saw her tonight.”  Cami grinned at the women as she laughed softly.  She’d been shocked when she’d first seen Tara sitting at the bar talking with Mike. 

Amy nodded as they cut through the crowd.  “I’ve only seen a couple of pictures, along with vague memories from beady little eyes.”  She shrugged.  “I didn’t recognize her until Willow said her name, that, and seeing her with Buffy.” 

“How long were you…”  Cami trailed off, not really wanting to call the woman a rodent. 

“A rat?”  Amy finished for her anyway. 

“Umm, yeah.”  Cami gave her a smile of embarrassment. 

Amy just shrugged.  “Three years, from what I was told.”  Amy shook her head, still not believing that Tara could have changed her back long ago.  “It was my own fault.” 

“Ah, so you’re a witch, too.”  Cami connected the dots.  Shaking her head that she’d never met a real witch before, and here she’d met two tonight, three, if her dot connecting was correct, and Willow was also a witch.  Cami used a hand to guide Amy as she led them to the bar, she had drinks to retrieve. 

“Not something I want to get into again any time soon.”  Amy mumbled as she nervously followed Cami towards the bar. 

‘After your experience, I don’t blame you.’  Cami thought to herself as they neared the bar. 

~HLM~