Chapter Summary: Dawn knows about Buffy being turned, and she is willing to support Spike and Tara. Tara checked out the house, and she picked up Spike to take him and Buffy there. Dawn returned to Revello Drive. Tara gathered some of her and Buffy's clothes to bring to the new house. What is going to happen when Willow realizes that some of Tara's belongings are gone? Will the magic and wards on the house protect her from any spells Willow might do? Is Dawn safe?

Tara just finished showing Spike the rest of the house when she felt a tingle at the back of her neck. It was faint, almost like the feeling one gets when you think someone is staring at you, but it was strong enough that she noticed it. She chalked the feeling up to nerves and hurried up to get the rest of the car unloaded.

Spike already situated Buffy in one of the two rooms that were connected by the master bath. That left Tara free to choose one of the two rooms that were situated on the other side of the house. After deliberating which room would suit her best, and which room would eventually be better for Dawn, she chose the smaller of the two rooms. It had the largest windows. The bay window would be perfect to put a desk by, and the furnishings were spacious enough to give her plenty of room to perform spells.

Spike laid Buffy on top of an extra blanket on her bed. He wanted to wash Buffy, but he needed to unpack her things first. He separated all the clothes that Tara packed in a suitcase into the new drawers of Buffy's dresser. He laid her brush and comb on top of the dresser.

The wood bedroom set was complete with queen-sized bed, end table, and dresser. The vanity on the dresser was missing the mirror usually embedded in the middle of these kinds of hutches. A vampire had no need of mirrors in their furniture. In its place was a landscaped mural of the sun rising over the English countryside and up the back of an English manor. Spike traced the painted rays with his fingertips. "I wonder where she found this. Resourceful gal."

Spike tucked the empty suitcase under Buffy's bed. He tugged a second suitcase up onto the dresser to unpack. After hanging a few dresses and skirts, he gathered the personal hygiene paraphernalia together. Vanilla scented oil and bath salts now lined the shelved edge around the tub. He artfully arranged various decorative bottles of lotion, soap and shampoo from Buffy's collection as well.

Vampires weren't usually into the whole bathing and hygiene aspects of life. One reason was that they didn't sweat. Spike enjoyed showering and bathing. It was one of the few times that his body would be nice and hot again. Based on how Buffy was before, he had a feeling that she would continue to enjoy her heated soaks in the tub. He hoped so. He always loved her scent. It would be a way that she could relax.

The heat would help unkink muscles for Buffy after patrolling. Spike figured that once Buffy was better acclimated to her new life, she would want to patrol again. Vampires needed violence to help satisfy their inner demons. Buffy would be no different in that regard. Her Slayer side already craved that violence almost as much as a vampire did. The crossover of being turned would complete the pull for that need.

Spike finished Buffy's unpacking by tucking her weapons bag in the closet. "Let's not keep the pointy wooden objects too close to the bed for when she wakes up." He half chuckled to himself.

Tara touched the various pieces of furniture in her room. She counted the money in her bank account mentally. She'd have enough to purchase a new desk and lamp. Spike said this was her house. She was starting to get used to that thought. She wanted to add a few touches of her own.

After Tara unpacked the rest of her clothes, she sat on the edge of her bed. It was a nice full sized bed with an intricate lace covered comforter. The rest of the comforter was made of a light material to ward off the chill of a Sunnydale windy night but not be too hot. For the most part it would be decorative.

Tara shook her head back and forth as the niggling sensation at the back of her mind continued. It disappeared again. She headed out of her room and down the stairs. She felt a little hungry.

Spike watched as Tara exited her new room. Her eyes sparkled with delight, and she had lost a bit of the haunted look she had been carrying in her eyes. Spike was glad that she moved in with them. Not only would it ease Buffy into the transition of her new life, but it would also help Buffy cope with the pain. In addition, it would be good for Tara to get away from Willow for a while.

Spike noticed the pain in the blonde Wicca's eyes during Sweet's musical interlude time. He had a feeling that her pain had something to do with all of the magic Willow kept doing. He'd heard Tara arguing with Willow about her magic the day before Sweet showed up. When Tara found him in the crypt, she told him about the spell Willow cast over her to make her forget things.

Spike thought of Dawn. He was glad that she handled everything so well. He loved the little Nibblet. All four of them had their own needs and crosses, no pun intended, to bear. Together they would all be able to help each other and heal the damage that Buffy's rape, Willow's betrayal, and Buffy's death inflicted. He hoped that the four of them would eventually form their own tight knit family unit. It had been a long time since he really felt a part of a loving and close family.

Tara rummaged through the refrigerator. She wasn't sure just what she was in the mood to eat, but her stomach rumbled again to remind her that she hadn't had anything since her early lunch. She'd been so focused on Spike and Buffy that she forgot to pick up something to eat before her bookstore errand.

Spike trotted down the stairs into the living room. He turned left and headed into the kitchen. He was just about to open his mouth and ask Tara if she wanted him to make her something when a flash of pain crossed Tara's face. Concerned for the blonde, he hastened across the kitchen to where Tara was standing. He gently touched her shoulder. "Are you all right, Glinda?"

Tara looked up at Spike and smiled weakly. She rubbed her temples with her fingertips. "Sure, Spike. Just a bit of a headache." She turned back around to face the refrigerator, but instead she ended up unconscious on the floor at Spike's feet.

Spike panicked for a moment. He looked around the room. He wasn't sure why Tara collapsed, but he faintly smelled the taint of magic in the air. "What the bloody Hell is going on here? This house is warded big time, and Tara added her own protection spells as well." He was confident in Tara's magical abilities. She was a true Wicca of light. He always felt that when he was around her. "How could anything get through?"

Spike scooped Tara up into his arms. He laid the unconscious woman on the couch. She lay there unmoving. It unnerved him to see how much she looked like she was dead.

Spike shivered. He needed help, but he wasn't sure whom he could trust at this point. He made a decision, picked up the phone, and called the one person that he knew would help him, even if it was only because he paid her to. "Valerie, I need your help."

Valerie shifted in her car seat, replaying the conversation with Spike in her mind. They would have to move fast to get everything accomplished and be able to help Tara before his Childe awakened. Spike felt he had until tomorrow night before she would awaken, but he had other plans that still needed to be taken care of.

Valerie was surprised at the worry she heard in the vampire's voice when he spoke of Tara's condition. He seemed genuinely concerned for the young woman. His worry tainted voice nearly quivered when he mentioned the teenager named Dawn, the sister of his Childe. He wanted the young girl safe at all costs. She wondered why he had such a strong bond with the girl named Dawn.

Valerie sighed in relief as 1630 Revello Drive came into view. She was still quite nervous about the whole plan. It was true that she would have two mages flanking her with powerful glamours and protection spells, but Willow Rosenberg was a powerful witch in her own right. Frankly, she felt the woman was out of control.

Wolfram and Hart had considered recruiting Willow Rosenberg for their special operations team, but her unpredictability was a serious deterrent. They feared that they wouldn't be able to control the witch. If Wolfram and Hart was worried about controlling Willow, Valerie had every reason to be scared. The sooner this was over, the better.

As Valerie knocked on the door, she felt the mages protection spells solidify. She would be safe from any form of magical control that the redhead could attempt. The mages would also act as muscle in case it was needed to take care of what she needed to do.

The first part of Valerie's mission was to conduct reconnaissance. All that Valerie was required to do was touch Willow, and she would instantly be able to tell if Willow was the person responsible for the attack on Tara. If Willow was innocent of any wrongdoing then they would leave the house without further communication. If she was guilty, however, then the lawyer had been instructed to get Dawn out of the house and into a safe location. Spike was insistent that Dawn not be left with someone who had brought physical harm to Tara.

After a short while a young redhead answered the door. "Hello," Valerie started the conversation with a fake southern drawl. "My name is Susan Parker, and I am here with social services. Are you Buffy Summers?"

Willow looked surprised and hesitated briefly. "Buffy is not here at the moment. I'm Willow Rosenberg, Dawn's babysitter."

Valerie presented her hand for a handshake and held her breath. As soon as Willow touched her she would know the truth. "Nice to meet you Willow."

They spent the entire summer Buffy was gone prepared with stories for Social Services. She slipped easily into their preconceived stories. "Is there something that I can help you with?" She extended her hand to return the handshake.

Valerie gasped as visions of Willow and her spell casting assaulted her. One of the mages at her side wrapped his hand on Valerie's arm in support. He felt the young witch's power saturating the house as soon as they'd walked up the porch.

Willow looked around the room; a confused expression marring her beautiful face. She didn't quite understand what was happening. She thought things were going great between her and Tara. Now all of a sudden Tara was mad at her again. This time she had no idea what for. She hadn't done anything terribly magical lately that Tara would remember, and she was too good of a witch for the memory spells to have broken. What would have caused Tara to not only sleep on the couch last night, but to avoid her all day, and then sneak her stuff out of the room? It didn't make any sense.

Willow decided that she had to get to the bottom of their newest problem as a couple. Willow gathered her magical supplies. While casting the circle she thought back to the discussion that had occurred the last time her mother had made the entire family go to therapy. 'The only way to solve relationship problems is to sit down and talk it out. Moving out is never the answer because the incentive to solve the problems is lost and the communications break down.' The thought didn't cross her mind that forcing someone to return to you wasn't the best way to open up communication again.

Making her decision, Willow performed the spell to make Tara decide that she wanted to move back into Revello Drive. Everything that was missing of Tara's made Willow believe she'd moved out. She thought that once Tara was back under the same roof Willow would figure out what was wrong with Tara. It couldn't be too serious. She'd have some way to fix it. They were perfect for each other.

After the flashbacks, Valerie let Willow's hand go. She'd experienced enough of the magical world to understand what now occurred when Willow performed the spell. Under normal circumstances the spell would have worked. It would not have influenced Tara's memory or normally harmed her in any way. It would have simply created a nagging sensation in Tara's mind that she had made a mistake to move out and that she should return to Willow.

The spell would have worked, if Tara had been anywhere else other then the warded house. Instead of the spell influencing Tara, however, the house viewed it as a magical attack against its occupants and retaliated. The clash of the magical forces fighting had caused Tara the initial discomfort. As the magical battle waged over her mind, the pain eventually grew to be too much and caused the girl to pass out.

The spell had not meant to physically harm Tara, but the houses defenses were correct. Influencing Tara's mind in any way was an attack. Spike would be very upset to find out what occurred. She knew she had to get to Dawn out of there. She wasn't sure where they teenager would stay, but she was willing to offer her own home if it got the teenager away from this woman. She nodded to her associates.

Valerie's voice cooled when she spoke again, and her fake southern accent turned icy, "Well Ms. Rosenberg, it was a pleasure to meet you. However, this is not really a social visit." Her eyes narrowed into thin angry slits. "I am afraid that social services has looked over Ms. Summers record, and we feel that it would be in Dawn's best interest to be removed from the Summers' residence and placed into foster care at this time."

Willow gasped, and her eyes started to turn dark. The mages, however, were prepared and blocked the young witch's attempts to enter their minds. Willow's eyes widened when she felt her magic blocked. She stared at the three people confused.

Valerie glared at Willow. She felt the magic from Willow beat at her defenses. She was furious at what Willow did to Tara. She was also peeved that she tried to influence them as well when Willow wasn't happy with the situation. "Gentlemen, please stay down here with Ms. Rosenberg while I inform Ms. Summers of her change in status." She brushed Willow to the side of the doorway. "The Summers residence is not fit for a young girl to grow up in."

Dawn inwardly moaned over the argument she'd heard going on downstairs. 'I won't let them take me away.' She was worried that Spike wouldn't be able to find her if she was taken away. She had to watch after the Scoobies' actions for Spike and Tara. She headed down the stairs.

Valerie ascended the stairs, but she met by a hostile and defiant teenager only halfway up the stairs. "I'm not going anywhere away from my sister."

Valerie leaned close to Dawn. She whispered in her hear, "Shhh, it's okay. Spike sent me to get you." She put a hand on Dawn's lower back to nudge her back upstairs. "Just grab whatever you need, and let's get out of here. I will explain in the car."

Dawn looked panic stricken. "Is Buffy okay?" Had something already gone wrong with Buffy? Did she already wake up and stake Spike? So many thoughts worried around in her head.

"Buffy?" Valerie hadn't been told the identity of Spike's Childe. The name Buffy nagged at the back of her mind as a name she should know. "If that is his Childe, then no she hasn't woken up yet." She didn't want to worry the girl, but they had to get her out of this house quickly. She felt Willow's power as it grew while they spoke. "It's Tara, Dawn. She's been hurt, and Willow is responsible."

They'd made it back to Dawn's room by now. She already stuffed several changes of clothes into a duffel bag. She gasped, threw her journal, and her make up into the bag. She picked up her backpack with her schoolbooks in it. She ran around her room to gather a few other important things to her, including a necklace from her mother and her stuffed animal. "Let's go." If Willow was working the mojo again, Dawn had no desire to stick around.

Spike paced back and forth through his new living room. Valerie, Dawn and two other blokes had shown up to take a look at Tara. Seeing Dawn had crystallized his fears. He knew it meant that Willow was responsible for the attack. It made his heart ache for the young girl in his living room. Dawn had already lost so much. She shouldn't have to deal with Willow being responsible for hurting another of Dawn's friends. Although he wasn't terribly surprised at the witch's abuse of power, he did realize that this would break Tara's heart when she woke up.

In the middle of the mages working on Tara, Spike smelt a familiar scent. He raced to the front window. He noticed a man swagger down the middle of the street. Spike growled low. He wanted to follow the man, but he needed to stay with Tara and Dawn until Tara was okay. He tightened his hands into fists.

"What's wrong, Spike?" Valerie walked behind Spike. She rested her hand on Spike's shoulder in a friendly manner.

Valerie blinked. The anger that radiated off the vampire was so thick it was palpable. She moved around the side of Spike to look at his face. "Buffy Summers is the Slayer, isn't she?" She changed the topic of conversation.

Valerie nodded. "Not until Dawn mentioned Buffy's name in reference to your Childe." She rested back against the wall with a hand on Spike's arm. "This could go very bad for you."

"I know." Spike nodded. "I love her." He picked up an envelope from a table by the door. "If she dusts me, so be it." He handed the envelope to Valerie. "This is all of the paperwork you needed me to sign to transfer all rights of my wealth to Tara upon my death."

Valerie opened the envelope. She double checked all of the paperwork to be sure it was in order. "I hope you know what you are doing."

"Now you know why I wanted to get things set up for Tara to take over." Spike eyes narrowed on the woman. "I trust you to keep this a secret, Val. Your bosses better not find out."

"You have my promise, Spike. You're going to have enough problems to deal with, without that added to it." Valerie patted Spike's arm in assurance. "Good luck."

Dawn watched Valerie and Spike interact. She could see that they were more like friends, but she still wanted to remove Val's hand from Spike's arm. She hoped Buffy didn't let Spike get away this time. If only Buffy admitted to herself last year that she liked Spike too after Drusilla came to town, maybe some things would be very different right now.

Several hours later, Tara sat on her new porch, swinging gently while she let her feet dangle. There was so much to process, and she was having trouble comprehending it all. Willow tried to manipulate her again. She tried to control her and take away her free will. Even though it was just to get her to come back to the house, Willow still tried to make Tara do something she didn't want to do.

Tara knew in her heart that things could never be the same again. Willow would never stop manipulating her, making her into the perfect girlfriend. She couldn't, no she wouldn't, be able to live through the manipulations and still retain her sense of self. Unfortunately that didn't stop the pain she was feeling over the loss of her girlfriend.

When Tara woke up the mages told her that if she was anywhere else other then in the house she would not have been able to resist the magical suggestion. Just knowing that if she had been outside, or in a store, or even at school that she would have gone back to Willow and not realized why she had done so, made her mad. The magic would have bypassed her protection spell, one because of Willow's strength and power and two because she wasn't trying to alter Tara's memories, just implant a suggestion.

Shaking her head, Tara thought about everything else that happened. Dawn was devastated at the current turn of events. Her world was crumbling, and there was not much Dawn could do to stop it. Her sister had been killed twice and now turned. Willow, who was like a big sister to her, had been abusing magic. Now Tara, who she thought of as a surrogate mother, had been manipulated and attacked by Willow.

Spike decided the safest place for Dawn would be at Valerie's house. None of the Scoobies knew Valerie or would think that Spike had a lawyer. However, just in case that Willow decided to go after "Susan Parker", Valerie and Dawn would still be safe within a magically protected house.

'I really don't want to see Spike's attorney bill this month.' Tara sighed. She wished that Spike would hurry up and return from wherever he ran off to. He had paced back and forth for hours after everyone left. Finally he broke down and asked if she could stay with Buffy while he went out to pick up "supplies" for when Buffy woke up.

Tara assured Spike that she would be fine in the house, but she hadn't pressed for details. The look is his eyes chilled her, and she didn't think she really wanted to know. His steps were determined and sure when he tromped out of the house. She wondered how long he would be gone.

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