Author's Notes: Just to give some perspective on how behind I am in meeting my expectations, this chapter was originally supposed to be up before Christmas 2012. I'm going to try and pledge at least one update to each of my stories each week from here on out. There are issues at home that I've been prioritizing, and while I don't see them going away any time soon, I am going to set aside time for myself to write.

This chapter and the next one get pretty dark, so be warned.

I don't know how many of you readers who I'm responding to below are still around, but I'll always respond to reviews. And as always, updates on writing progress are posted to phoenixgau. tumblr. com

Boris Yeltsin: Will do.

Katylyng, first Guest, FifthHallow : Here you go!

Willara4ever: So glad you've enjoyed it this far. After this chapter things take a turn for the positive in Tara's life in a lot of ways. With (at minimum) weekly updates it shouldn't be too long until you get your wish. Lots of other stuff will go down too.

Second Guest: Thank you :D

BizarreBard: Trust me, I'm not going to make Faith evil. She's going to be a big part of the Season Three sequel and I plan to portray her as the complex anti-hero she is. My favorite characters tend to be the ones between good and evil, like Spike, or let's face it, Willow. Glad my portrayal of Dawn works.

ProphecyGirl22: I'll do my best!

Aphrael-08: You're very welcome.

Pauline07: Thanks for the grammar nitpick, I'll see about fixing that. I know how annoying bad grammar and misspellings can be, it's like a little poke in the eye.

The Specter of Silence: I always have thoughts about continuing this, it's the work I'm bad at.

BallisticWeasel: I'll try to keep it from happening again.

Third Guest: Pseudo-cliffhanger is pseudo-resolved!

Rookie-Bee: Sorry I didn't update sooner. Will you still love me?

Richard Oliver: Ack! So sorry, here's your fix!

Chapter Twelve: Yule

It was the day after Christmas, and it was the coldest Tara could remember Sunnydale having ever gotten. The cold brought back memories of Alabama, none of them good. The chill in the air was nothing compared to the chill coming at her from her brother. She and Donny were among the tiny handful of people visiting the cemetery. They had both wanted to come, though they couldn't agree on anything to bring to leave at the grave that wouldn't upset their father. It had been a lonely Yule for Tara, being the first winter solstice without her mother. She had turned down invitations from Buffy and Willow to their families' winter celebrations on the actual holidays, her father being particularly firm that she stay close recently. This afternoon there was an actual Scooby meeting to attend to, Angel having heard news of some mystic trouble he wanted to share with them. As she'd told Willow, Tara couldn't justify the danger of going against her father's wishes without the excuse of some greater good.

Donny seemed even less pleased with having to spend time together than Tara did if that were possible.

"This is all your fault." He said breaking the tense silence. Tara shuddered.

"Donny…"

"This never would have happened if it weren't for you! Growing inside her, twisting her up."

She could feel a panic attack coming on. Her brother's current level of vitriol was usually reserved for when they were alone in their basement. Tara struggled to find words that would help her survive this, pushing down the almost nauseous feeling Donny's accusations arose in her. "We're b-both hurting right now… we sh-should calm down."

He had no interest in that, looming closer into Tara's personal space to intimidate her. "You should be hurting, you damn demon! You're the one who kept doing magic with her, even when you knew it was evil. You're the reason she's dead!"

"Someone could hear..." Only years of conditioning to keep their family secrets safe let Tara focus on something other than crying. Her caution was well deserved, as they were interrupted by a stranger's loud interjection.

"Hey! What's going on here?" The Maclays recognized the man as the gravedigger who had buried Eileen. The gangly man glared at Donny, who shrunk back from his sister with a scowl.

"Nothin'." Donny said in a surly tone, matching the gravedigger's glare.

"Why don't you go cool off son." The man was unimpressed with the boy's attempt to stare him down. Donny stomped off, harrumphing under his breath. "You okay miss?" The gravedigger asked turning to Tara.

"I-I'm… I… I don't know." She answered honestly. Donny's words had cut deep, not being far from the worst of her own thoughts when she lay awake at night thinking of her mother's death. Logically she knew her conception and her mother's cancer likely had nothing to with each other, but knowing she was a demon had always made it easy for her to blame misfortunes around her on her dark nature. Tara shifted her gaze between her brother's retreating form and the gravestone. She was far too overwhelmed to even contemplate what to do next. The gravedigger seemed to sense this.

"You just take your time." The man said, and walked off leaving Tara alone at the grave.

She just stood there for a while, letting the cool wind blow over her as her heart rate gradually returned to normal. The young witch tried to imagine returning to her father's house after she was done with her Slayer assisting duties, and she couldn't bear the thought of it. Tara tried to think of what advice her mother might give her, but Eileen never had managed to get away. Who was she to think she was any different?

Tara didn't hear the footsteps until the man was already a few paces behind her. As she turned to face him, she was grabbed and her face covered with a soaked cloth. Her shock almost instantly gave way to drowsiness, and then blackness.

…

Later that afternoon at Giles' home, he, Buffy, Jenny, Xander and Willow waited for sundown and the arrival of Angel. Thanks to frequent nursing visits from Buffy (and his vampiric healing speed) Angel was back to almost full strength since the ritual to restore Drusilla. He had been trying to make up for lost time fighting the Hellmouth's various evils.

"So, what's the big bad this time? More out of town vampires coming to see the sights?" Buffy asked her somber looking boyfriend after Giles invited the vampire inside. The Slayer was a bit concerned Tara hadn't shown up like she had said she would, but given that Angel had called this meeting she figured his news was urgent enough that they should start the meeting without her.

"It's a book, a grimoire." Angel explained. "It was written by a witch named Antonia who was executed during the Spanish Inquisition. The day she was burned at the stake she made every vampire in the city walk out of their hiding places into the sunlight, to punish them for turning her over to the Inquisitors."

"Pretty kick-ass as final acts go." Xander said approvingly. He was in favor of anything that destroyed vampires en masse.

"And her grimoire tells how she took control of them?" Willow asked.

Angel nodded. "Exactly. It came on the mystic black market a couple days ago, and it found a buyer."

"Well, who couldn't use a recipe book for extra crispy vampires?" Xander said, wishing whoever had bought it good luck in their endeavors.

"That would be a best case scenario." Giles said warningly. "No one's seen Antonia's grimoire for centuries, but all the records say her magic could compel vampires to do more than self-destruct. With enough power behind the spell it could be used to create an army of undead."

"And dark magic power and vampires are two things that aren't so hard to come by in Sunnydale." Jenny said, agreeing with Giles concern.

"Do you have any leads on who might have bought it?" Buffy asked.

"Not yet, but I'm going to Willy's." Angel replied. "I'll let you know if anything turns up."

There was some flirting and lingering going on between Angel and Buffy that Willow normally would have found cute, but she was too preoccupied with Tara's absence.

"I'm going to call Tara and fill her in." Willow told the others as she went for the phone.

"I wonder why she didn't show." Buffy said as her friend dialed Tara's number.

"Egg-nog hangover?" Xander offered. Giles and Jenny shared a worried look, both suspecting something less innocuous was going on. The techno-pagan had called CPS after seeing the scars on Tara's arms, but the social worker wasn't going to be checking in on the girl until tomorrow morning. It was some damn unfortunate timing.

"Yeah, who is it?" Donny answered the phone gruffly.

"It's me Willow. Um, is Tara around?" The redhead strategically avoiding mentioning Tara had been supposed to meet them in case Tara hadn't told her family.

"No, she's not."

"Do you know where she went?" Willow asked, starting to feel a chill in her spine.

"How should I know?" Donny said raising his voice in annoyance. "I ain't seen her since I left her at momma's grave this morning. I figured she'd have run off to you or one of her other little freak friends." With that he ended the call.

"He hung up on me!" Willow told the others, affronted by Donny's rudeness. "I have a really bad feeling about this. It's not like Tara to just disappear without telling anyone."

"I don't like it either." Jenny agreed. "We should go look for her."

Xander wasn't so certain. "I know Tara's not really the type to just up and run off, but couldn't she… have gone somewhere to have some alone time? Christmas time, recent family tragedy, that can kind of make a person want to blow off their monster hunting meetings." He was thinking of his own family avoidance strategies. Xander had sensed Tara was similarly uncomfortable around her family and couldn't blame her if that was what she was up to.

"Perhaps. Still, better to be cautious when one lives on a Hellmouth." Giles countered.

"I agree." Buffy said taking her Watcher's side. Her instincts were telling her this whole situation was off, and she had learned to trust them. The Slayer went into leadership mode and began to hand out assignments. "The book hunt is officially on hold until we find her. Giles, you and me will go to the graveyard, see if Tara's still nearby."

"I'll go check the Magic Box." Miss Calendar suggested to Buffy's approval.

"I'll go by the Bronze." Xander offered.

"You really think that's where she'd go to play hooky?" Willow doubted Tara would go to a night club without at least one of the other Scoobies in tow, especially now.

"Even if she's not there, someone might have seen her." Xander reasoned.

"I want to come with you." Willow said firmly to Buffy. "I just feel like something's terribly terribly wrong and she would have said something if she was going off to be alone somewhere and… I just have to find her. We have to find her."

"We will." Buffy reassured her friend. The girls grabbed weapons and spell components respectively to prepare for the graveyard patrol. The adults took the opportunity to talk to each other out of ear shot of the teenagers.

"You know she may be hiding to avoid… trouble at home." The Watcher whispered.

"Then they'll be looking for her soon too. We have to find her first." Jenny said, to Giles' wholehearted agreement.

…

Tara slowly drifted back to consciousness, eyes still shut. She could feel ropes binding her arms together and her legs to a chair, and a cloth gag tied around her mouth. For a moment she thought she had been brought to her house's basement, but she could feel the subtle differences in the shape of the chair. She opened her eyes to see a cramped, unfamiliar room. There were several shovels and work boots stored along the wall, and a small window that had been papered over. There was one door on the far wall, and between it and her was a table with various books, bowls, herbs and other items. The gravedigger was across the table from her, reading over one of the thinner books. He noticed Tara's movements and looked up to meet her eyes. There was no anger or hatred in them, and somehow that only made things worse. The witch had no idea what to expect from this man who had captured her. Her dread mounted as he got up from his seat to come stand by her side.

"Oh, you're awake. You've been out for a while now, longer than I thought you'd be. Honestly expected you to be a bit tougher, or I wouldn't have had to bother with all this binding." The gravedigger picked up a large rubber strip in one hand and grabbed Tara's arms in the other. She tried to fight through her grogginess to break out of his grip, but it was pointless. He stretched her arms over the largest bowl, which already had a pungent mixture of crushed herbs prepared in it. Her adrenaline kicked in as her captor brought the rubber strip to her upper arm and attempted to tie it. Tara tried thinking of some magic she could do without speaking, but her mind was too distressed for her to do more than lightly shake the items on the table with her will.

"Hey now, I'm only going to take enough for the ritual, I'm not going to bleed you dry." The man said almost soothingly as Tara struggled, like she was some kind of nervous patient he needed to give a shot to. "S'not like I'm a vampire or something." After the gravedigger made his tourniquet he stretched out Tara's arms again, making a cut along her right arm with a silver dagger. She whimpered as the blood flowed out.

"There. All done." The gravedigger said and took off the tourniquet. Tara tried to struggle again when he let go of her to pick up some gauze and bandage tape, but even as her drugged faintness wore off it was being replaced with faintness from loss of blood. The wiry man finished bandaging her and went back to sit in front of the bowl. He read aloud from the open book, and waited for some result that never came. "Huh, did I not get enough? Guess we'll have to try again." He grabbed the strip of rubber and got up again. "Of course I can't just let you go, but don't worry, I'll put you back to sleep before I kill you." He told Tara as he began to tie the tourniquet on her left arm. "It'll all be over soon."

Suddenly the door was violently pushed in, breaking the deadbolt right out its wooden frame. "You're right about that."

The bursting door and the sound of a familiar voice helped jolt Tara to greater alertness. Her heart pumped faster than ever in anticipation. Angel was here.

The vampire had found the identity of the grimoire's buyer after leaning on Willy the Snitch. He was extremely relieved he hadn't gotten to the wannabe warlock too late to save his victim. The gravedigger lost his composure as the tall vampire stalked over to him. "What the…? What the hell are you doing here?"

"Stopping you." Angel growled roughly grabbing Tara's captor by the throat and hand.

"It, it's not what you think." The gravedigger said desperately. "She only looks like a girl, she's really a demon." That explained why the man had chosen Tara, he must have overheard Donny's tirade. Part of her worried that Angel wouldn't want to save her now that he knew what she really was. The souled vampire for his part wasn't convinced.

"Says the kidnapping murderer. Is that her blood?" Angel asked tilting his head towards the liquid filled bowl. The gravedigger nodded. The vampire leaned over to sniff the blood. His lip curled in disgust. "There's no demon in there. Trust me." Angel pressed their faces close together and revealed his true visage. "I would know."

Any semblance of calmness or control the gangly kidnapper had had earlier was good and truly vanished. "Shit, shit…"

"Well this is what you wanted right?" Angel asked. "Getting friendly with vampires?" The vampire slammed the gravedigger's head into the table and began tying him up. The man was still sobbing as Angel untied Tara. The girl was still too overcome to speak when Angel took off the gag. The vampire took the witch in his arms and hugged her while he softly repeated, "You're going to be all right, you're going to be all right."

Angel grabbed the grimoire as he led Tara out of the building. She began to nod off, all the stress finally overpowering her adrenaline. A man was approaching the building and saw Tara collapse in Angel's arms. He flashed a detective's badge as he walked over to them. The vampire briefly explained the kidnapping and handed over the unconscious girl while the detective looked at the scene past the broken door. The detective called for backup, and when he glanced behind him Angel had already disappeared into the night.

…

Buffy and her companions had been making a circuit of the woods and grounds around the graveyard looking for their missing friend for close to an hour with no success when they heard an ambulance's siren. They followed the sound and saw two police cars and the ambulance stopped in front of a small white building near the cemetery. As they got closer they could see a blonde girl being lifted onto a gurney. Willow ran towards her, fearing the worst.

"Tara? Oh god, Tara!" Willow called out, her fears confirmed.

"Miss, stand back." A paramedic said as the redhead tried to reach her wounded mentor.

"She's my friend!" Willow protested. "Oh god, is she, is she going to make it?"

"She's lost a lot of blood; we have to get her to the hospital."

"Can I ride with her? Please? I have to make sure she's okay."

"Just give us room to work." The paramedic acquiesced. Once the gurney was loaded into the ambulance Willow hopped in after them. Her mind raced to find a solution for this disaster. She thought of offering her blood but knew the medics would have to type it first. The young witch flinched at the sight of the cuts on Tara's arms. Willow pleaded with Tara in her mind as the paramedics tended to her injuries.

Please hang in there, please. I just found you. There's so much I still have to learn from you, to do with you. So much I still have to tell you. You have to be okay Tara, please.

Buffy and Giles watched Willow run off ahead as the police led a handcuffed man out of the white building. The Slayer saw a black coated figure in her peripheral vision and turned to see her boyfriend. "Angel."

"I'm sorry. If I'd have gotten here sooner…" The vampire apologized, watching the ambulance speed off to the hospital.

"What happened?" Giles asked. Angel filled them in on the kidnapping as the warlock was put in the back of the police cruiser.

…

Much to her consternation Willow had to separate from Tara once they got to the emergency room. Over the next couple of hours Willow couldn't get into see her, and she had to stand by while the hospital staff went in and out, getting more frantic by the minute. Once Tara had been conscious for a few minutes the police medical examiner went in to make note of Tara's injuries. Giles chatted with the police officer while the examiner checked out Tara and learned why a detective had arrived at the gravedigger's building. Apparently Donald had overheard Willow and Donny's phone call and placed a missing person's report with the police. The detective had been going to interview Craig the gravedigger since he worked at the last place Tara had been seen. The police had tried calling the Maclays since finding Tara, but no one had answered the phone. Jenny suspected they had gone out to look for their missing daughter on their own.

Buffy called home, having agreed to keep her mother more in the loop about her nightly activities since revealing herself as a Slayer. Soon Joyce and Dawn had joined the others at the hospital. When the nurse gave the all clear for the group to go in and see Tara they agreed it was best for only a couple of them go in until they knew what Tara's comfort level was. And everyone knew who the first in line should be. Buffy was right behind her.

Willow knelt by Tara's bed and gently took the taller girl's hand in hers. The blonde witch felt the exchange of their magical energies and stirred.

"Tara?" Their eyes met and Willow started to cry. "Oh Tara, I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry…"

"Will, stop it." Buffy gently berated her. After all that Tara had just been through she didn't need her friends' sadness over her troubles directed back at her creating some kind of infinite pain loop. "Are you awake?"

"S-sort of." Tara sighed, taking in the welcome feeling of Willow's power to distract herself from the horrors of the day. "I've been back and forth all day."

"Angel told us what happened, what he knew at least." Buffy said, letting her friend know she didn't need to go through the discomfort of rehashing her capture to them.

"Thank goodness he got there in time." Willow said, resolving to prepare an elaborate display of gratitude for Angel before the New Year.

"I-is he here?" Tara asked softly. "I'd like to see him." She also wanted to thank the vampire, also well as clarify what he had said about her to the warlock. It still hadn't quite registered with her that what she had believed about herself for her entire wasn't true. She desperately hoped Angel was right.

"Well no, I think he vanished off to the shadows again. But everyone else is here. Are you up for more visitors yet?" Tara nodded, for once feeling like being surrounded by people could be a pleasant thing. Buffy let the others know, and Joyce, Dawn, Giles, Jenny and Xander came in leaving the room with hardly any empty space left. Tara was surprised and a little concerned to see Dawn in the group.

"Dawn, d-did, they tell you what happened?" She asked, knowing Dawn had been exposed to more violence than many children her age, but hoping the girl had been spared the gory details of today.

"Yeah." Buffy and Joyce exchanged a look. Neither of them had been explicit with the youngest Summers. "Well okay, I heard Giles and Xander talking when they thought I wasn't listening." Dawn admitted. "I don't get why that guy thought you were a demon though."

Tare tensed up. So Angel had told them all that part as well. She had dreaded the moment her friends found out the truth about her, but it turned out what she had thought was the truth was wrong. She thought carefully about how to explain it all.

"Because he heard Donny say I was. Because until today… I thought it was true."

There was a moment of collective stunned silence. Xander was the first to break it.

"Okay, that confession wins the most surprising reveal award, not an easy feat in this town."

Buffy looked at Tara, taking in the full implications of her statement. She had a small feeling of betrayal at the deception, but it was hard to find something legitimate to be angry about. The witch had agreed to fight demons alongside the Slayer, even when she thought she was one herself. She could only imagine how frightening that must have been. "All this time?" The wounded blonde nodded. "And you still wanted to help me?"

Tara took a moment, trying to put her words together in way that would help her friends understand what had happened as well as herself. "All my life, my father told me that I was a monster. Th-that that's where the women in our family got our magic from. He said he had to control us, so that we didn't hurt people."

"Is that why he hurt you?" Jenny asked, putting the pieces about Donald Maclay's abuse together. All of them but Giles looked at Miss Calendar in surprise.

"Oh my god." Willow said, finally understanding why her friend was so ill at ease around her male family members.

"Did you tell the police medical examiner? About the burns?" Jenny asked the girl gently. She wanted to make sure Donald wouldn't be able to pass those off onto the kidnapper. Tara nodded again.

"You are not going home with them." Buffy said firmly. Tara's burn scars were somewhat obscured by the bandages around her cuts, but they were still evident. There was no way the Slayer was letting her go back to someone who could hurt her like that.

"No question." Joyce agreed. "You can stay with us." Dawn's heart swelled with hope.

Giles was nearest the door and could hear footsteps in the hall outside Tara's room. "Speak of the devil." Several of the women in the rooms shot angry looks at him. "Sorry for the unfortunate phrasing, but I'm afraid we have unwelcome company." Donald Senior and Junior were approaching.

Buffy was the first to file out of the hospital room to confront Mr. Maclay. She was followed by all of the group except Willow, who didn't want to let go of Tara's hand.

"Out of my way, my daughter's been injured." Donald said curtly.

"Oh we know." Jenny said as they formed a protective human barrier between Tara's father and her room. "And for once it wasn't by you."

"What on Earth are you talking about?" Donald said, growing angrier.

"We know you've been hurting her." Giles replied coolly.

"That's bullshit." Donny yelled. His father held up his hand, signaling him to be quiet.

"Did she tell you that?" Donald asked, receiving steely glares in return. "That girl is a disobedient little liar. She's just acting out because of her mother."

"That's not what the police medical examiner had to say." Joyce replied, having overheard some of Tara's conversation with the examiner. Xander noticed Donny becoming visibly distressed at the accusations being thrown his way.

"That's right, someone finally caught you." Xander said.

"Our private matters are not your concern. I'm going to see my daughter." Donald still wasn't backing down.

"If you want to get to Tara, you've gotta to go through me." Buffy said planting her hands on her hips.

"And me." Dawn added.

"Is this a joke?" Donald asked incredulously. "I'm not going to stand here and be threatened by two little girls."

"You don't want to mess with us." Dawn said crossing her arms to match her big sister's resolute stance.

"She's a hair puller." Buffy agreed, amused and touched by her sister's show of solidarity.

"And… you're not just dealing with two little girls." Giles said darkly, pushing his glasses more precisely into place.

"You're dealing with all of us." Xander affirmed.

"This is insane. You people have no right to interfere with Tara's affairs. We are her blood kin." Donald said, his voice raising in frustration. "Who the hell are you?"

"We're family." Buffy stated simply. Joyce looked at her daughter with pride. In the room Tara and Willow overheard the Slayer's declaration and smiled at each other. Tara was so moved she actually began to cry. She had never imagined she would be shown this much love, and by this many people. The little redhead beside her squeezed her hand, so glad that they were all here to support Tara. She had some choice words of her own for Tara's abusers, but intimidation was definitely something she could count on the Slayer to handle.

"Dad? You're gonna let' em just…" Donny objected. His father didn't move, so the boy took it upon himself to try to shove past the blockade.

"Don't make me break something." Xander said to him, shoving him right back. Watching the altercation Tara came to a decision, the support of her friends giving her the courage to finally do the thing fear had paralyzed her from doing all her life.

"I want to let them in." She told Willow.

"What? Are you sure?" Willow asked, hating the idea of them getting anywhere near Tara.

"Yes. I want t-to talk to them before the police get back." The medical examiner had left with an officer to file for an emergency protective order, and this could be her last time to talk with her father and brother openly about all that they had done. "Let them in."

Willow reluctantly accepted and called to others to let them know. The Maclay men came in, Donny looking a bit smug. Tara knew he must think letting them in meant she was going to go along with what they wanted. She steeled herself to prove to him that wasn't the case.

Donald took a moment to look at the leads attached to his daughter, and the redheaded girl who was still holding her hand.

"This is a private moment." He told Willow.

"Willow stays." Donald looked surprised to hear Tara speak up against him. He let her have her small moment of defiance, probably wanting to get this over with as swiftly as possible.

"I hope this has taught you how foolish it is to…" Donald began, interrupted almost instantly by Tara.

"Stop. Just, just stop. You lied to me." Her father's nostrils flared as she continued. "You lied to me, and mom for years. Made us think that w-we were evil, that we deserved all the h-horrible things you did to us." Tara took a moment, trying to speak as clearly as she could for her mother's sake. Eileen had suffered under her father's "demon quelling" longer than Tara and the injustices she had suffered needed to be acknowledged. "Did you even tell her the truth before she died?" Her voice still cracked a little.

"What are you talking about?" Donny asked.

"Everything I did was for your own good." Her father said simply, without a hint of remorse.

"But it was all a lie!" Tara nearly shouted, squeezing Willow's hand as her anger rose. "We were never demons. Was it, was it just something you made up to keep us under control?" She noticed the look of genuine confusion on her brother's face. "Did you know Donny?" Tara asked in a small voice, a part of her hoping it was the case so she had some tiny sliver of a chance at being able to forgive him.

"No. Dad, what the hell is she saying, they're not demons?" He asked their father again.

"That man who took me, he tried to do a spell with my blood, but it wasn't demon blood." Tara explained, watching Donald's expression change as he realized he had been found out. "And you knew."

"Dad, is that true?" Donald looked at the ground, not meeting his son's eyes.

"Demon or not," the older man said finally, "The women in our family have magic. And evil is evil."

"But… she's just a person. And mom was…" He was clearly reeling from what he had done to his own mother. Willow for her part found it hard to sympathize with him. Even if Eileen and Tara were demons it wouldn't have made what Donny did to them right. "I didn't know."

"Tara, for seventeen years your family has supported you, and taken care of you." Donald said, still trying to get Tara to obey his wishes. "If you want to turn your back on that…"

"Dad… just go." Tara had said what she needed to say. If the man in front of her felt no guilt for the tortures he had put his own wife and daughter through, then there was nothing else to be said. Donald glared at the girls and turned away.

"I didn't…" Donny said as they left, his voice almost apologetic.

"Donny…" Tara said shaking her head. There was nothing he could say, nothing that would make it right. At least for now, he'd just have to live with that.

Giles kept an eye on the Maclay men as they left the immediate area of Tara's room to talk about what to do next. Donald looked furious with his son, and they were arguing when the police officer arrived to tell them they were no longer permitted within 100 feet of Tara.

Willow looked at Tara's weary expression, wondering what a person was supposed to say in this kind of situation. "How are you feeling? I mean, did it help at all?"

"Not, not a lot." Tara admitted. "But I had to say it." Probably another person would have gone on for some time yelling at her abusers for all the pain and self-loathing they had caused, but she was too tired to go on for that long. At least she had let them know she wasn't going to be controlled by their lies any longer.

"I just wish I could have given them a few good smacks to the face. After what they did to you… and your poor mom." Willow shut herself up quickly, not wanting to bring up Eileen's suffering needlessly. Instead she decided to let Tara know how proud of her she was. "That was so brave of you."

"I just wish it hadn't taken me this long to be brave." Tara said, wondering if things could have been different had she started questioning her father earlier.

"That's not your fault!" Willow protested. "You, you were living in hell basically. And to have come out of it the person that you are… it's amazing."

Tara flushed a little at Willow's praise. It didn't seem real to think that it was really over after just one confrontation from a hospital bed. "… I'm out? It-it doesn't feel like it yet."

"You don't have to live with those assholes anymore. If you can't stay with Buffy's mom forever then you can stay with me." She squeezed Tara's hand again. "No one's ever going to hurt you again. I won't let them." Willow promised. She would do everything in her power to make good on that.

The exhaustion of the day began to catch up with Tara again, and she thanked her friends for standing by her as they left for the night. Willow was the last to leave, staying by her side until she was good and asleep.