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| �What the hell are you playing at?� I asked angrily. �I want you back,� she said baldly. �I should have told you that I loved you before. You didn�t have to go off and find someone else just because I didn�t.� �It�s not just a matter of saying it, it needs to mean something.� She lost her patience. �What do you want from me? I want you, you want me, and I gave you what you wanted. Why aren�t you happy?� �It�s not enough.� �I love you, okay? That�s as good as it gets. I missed you, and I want to be with you.� She looked at me earnestly. There was desire in her eyes, and need, and even affection. �You want to be with me?� She nodded. I grabbed her hands in mine. �So we�ll march on back to your house, and call all the Scoobies over, and tell them that we�re in love, that we�re together.� She pulled her hands away. �I can�t do that. They wouldn�t understand. They�d be so disappointed in me.� Her eyes filled up with tears. �Just like you�re disappointed in yourself,� I said flatly. �Of course I�m disappointed in myself,� she said angrily. �You�re a demon. You�re evil. You�re not...� She broke off. �I�m not worthy of you,� I finished. I cupped her face in my hands and looked down at her. �If it makes you feel so wrong, so terrible, that�s because it is wrong. Wrong for me. Wrong for you.� �But you�re the one I want,� she said. Her face was so soft, so open, and I knew it really was the truth. �But not the one you need,� I said firmly. �What we had is over. It�s done.� �Because you don�t need me now?� she said, furious. �Because you found some whore, someone who likes all your kinky little games, who gets off on all the perverted things you like to do?� I turned my back on her, and she threw me to the floor. She straddled me and held me down. �I don�t want to hurt you,� I said, �but if you don�t get off me, I will.� �Tell me all about her,� she said bitterly. �Your little girlfriend, who likes to be used, who likes to be hurt.� �What we have isn�t like that. I don�t have to play games to get her attention. She loves me, and I love her,� I said harshly. �You love her?� Her eyes widened. �I love her, Buffy. Not you. Not anymore.� I didn�t want to hurt her, but she needed to understand. She slammed her fist into my jaw. �You�re a liar! You love me,� she said, as she plowed her fist into my eye. �Get off him,� said a cold voice, and Tara stepped out of the shadows. Buffy scrambled off me. �Don�t you ever hit him again,� she said fervently. �Tara,� said Buffy, �I can explain.� �I know that you beat him before,� she said. �I patched him up, I fixed the damage you did. I won�t let you do it again.� She came over and helped me up. �Let�s go home.� �You�re taking him home with you?� asked Buffy. �I�m taking him to my home, where he belongs. As you so tastefully put it, I�m the whore,� said Tara, her eyes hard with anger. �Now get out.� �This can�t be real,� said Buffy in disbelief. �This can�t be happening.� She turned and left. �Are you okay?� said Tara worriedly, as she gently touched my eye. �I�m fine now that you�re here,� I said softly. �I looked everywhere for you. I didn�t know where you�d gone.� �I walked and thought and pulled myself together. I came here to apologize, to make amends for the spell,� she said. �For making you fall in love with me.� I kissed her. �Tara, I never told you why I came to you the night that you healed me.� �You wanted me to do a spell,� she said. �I wanted to be free of Buffy. To not love her, to not need her so badly that I�d do anything, take anything just to be near her.� �And I was so lonely and so sad. I wanted someone to share my life with,� she said. �We both got our hearts desire,� I said, �The spell is gone. The love is forever.� -TBC- |
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