Tara sat heavily on her bed and gazed out of the window. High in the night sky, the full moon shone down across Sunnydale and lit her room in a warm, peaceful glow. Hugging a pillow to her chest, she inhaled deeply, the warm scent of Willow filling her nose and making her smile.

A small knock at the door – one that would have been easily missed during the day but was clear in the silence of the night – caused her to pause and turn.

“Come in.” she said.

Buffy appeared in the doorway, she seemed to have aged dramatically over the past few weeks and Tara worried that she was taking too much on on her own.

“Hey.” she whispered.

“Hey, you ok?” Buffy replied. Tara knew it was a rhetorical question but nodded anyway.

“They tried to kill Spike.” she said flatly. “Giles and Wood!” Tara frowned slightly, not because of the words but the tiny hint of disappointment that tinged them.

As Buffy entered the room and closed the door silently behind her, Tara knew that she was here to offload some of her concerns and so remained silent as she watched the slayer pace the room slowly.

“He doesn’t think I know how to make a sacrifice. It’s all for the ‘greater good!’” The young woman imitated her Watchers accent, normally an action that would reduce Tara to fits of giggles but tonight, one that left her feeling cold.

Buffy spun to face her. “Me?!! I don’t know how to make a sacrifice!?” she said incredulously. “I died… TWICE!! I sent Angel to hell and I loved him Tara, really, really loved him. But apparently that all means ***** all to Mr Tweed!”

Tara rose to her feet and crossed to her closet to fetch her boots. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she laced them tightly as Buffy watched in confusion.

“Tara?” she asked eventually.

“Come on.” the witch told her, gesturing to the door. “All these frustrations aren’t good for us, lets go and kill something.” she said, a smile curling her lips and hinting in her eyes.

With a grin, Buffy followed and in her heart, she knew that going to Tara was the smartest thing she could do. No matter what was going on, Tara always knew how to fix it. She realised that she had missed the blonde more than she had known, only the tiny Tara things that seemed to fill the house since her return had shown her the exact measure of every ones loss and grief. But now, she was back and bigger and better than ever.