Author: Shai
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: All the characters belong to Joss, that lucky man!

"Now all we wanted to do was grab some loot and get out of here, but you had to ruin things for yourself didn't you? Now what do we do with her mate?" The first man asked. Something clicked in Willow's brain then, and she began screaming for help.

"Somebody help me. HELP ME!!!"

This seemed to amuse the two men, and they humoured her for a few minutes, before the second man spoke up "You live in house all by yourself. You haven't had neighbours ever since you moved here. Just who do you think is going to come rescue you?"

"Maybe I will," Tara said, emerging from the kitchen. "For burglars you sure are dumb. You'd left the backdoor open! Now maybe you'll just let her go... I mean, if you know what's best for you!"

"Or else you'll do what Blondie?" said the second man, as he moved towards Willow with his knife pointed towards her.

"This," said Tara, and with lightening speed she pulled a gun out from behind her back and shot him on his left shin. Crying out in pain, the man fell on Willow, who in turn felt the sharpest pain in her ankle as he toppled her over. the first man tried to flee, but stopped in his tracks when he heard Tara taunted "Oh no you don't! You wanna take a look at the medals I've won for my skills as a marksmen???"

That was the last thing Willow remembered hearing before she passed out from the pain in her foot.

Willow awoke to find herself tucked into the most comfortable bed she's ever slept in. she stretched with her eyes still shut, and then realized that the bed wasn't her own. Mid stretch she opened her eyes and looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings. Then she looked down to see that her foot was wrapped in a pink crape bandage.

"Ooook... where am I?" she thought, before it all came rushing to her. The thieves, the knive... and the blonde.

"So where the hell am I now?" Willow wondered as she considered attemptingto get up. Just then Tara walked in. Willow looked at her and said "You're her!"

Seeming to understand what Willow meant, Tara said, "Yeah. I'm her. Tara. Tara McLay."

"What... what happened? What am I doing here?" Willow questioned.

Tara began to explain. "You were being robbed, and were screaming for help. The burglars didn't expect you to be home I guess. And I doubt they expected you to have neighbours either!" she grinned as she went on. "I heard your shouts, so I just jumped the wall between our houses."

"And where am I now?" asked Willow, who was still pretty much dazed by the entire afternoon.

"My place, which happens to be right next to yours" said Tara, moving towards the window to pull the curtains aside, giving Willow a brief view of her own house. "I brought you here as soon as I finished locking those two in your basement!"

"How did you bring me here?"

"I carried you. Your ankle is twisted pretty bad, and you live alone. I think it'll be a good idea if you stayed over here till you're better. If that's fine with you that is," Tara finished, looking away.

"Yeah, I'd like that. Thank you. But you didn't have to carry me, you know! I mean you could have called for help."

"Oh, I did! I called the police and told them to come over. but then I figured that maybe you didn't want to face the cops and have everything in the paper and stuff, so I moved you before they came, and said that you were a little disturbed by the entire incident, and would talk to them when you were better. Besides, you're not at all heavy, so it was easy carrying you over to my place," Tara added.

Willow found herself blushing, and somehow the idea of being carried by this blonde deepened her blush.

"Now getting to your ankle, it's pretty bad, and I don't think you should out any pressure on it for some time... I'm talking days. Trust me. I'm an expert on sprains."

For some reason Willow found that she did trust this blonde with the soft voice, even though she was sure that she wasn't a doctor!

"Now if I were you, I'd get some more sleep. I'll wake you up in some time to eat ok?"

Tara said, as she turned to leave the room. Willow nodded her head and shut her eyes, and was asleep in a few moments, with a small smile on her face!