~no spoilers for season 5 or any actually
~rated: g... i need to get racier... maybe the next installment may have some smoochies in a spiritual way and place.
~plot- ROADTRIP! hehe...
~notes: umm, first chapter in a bigger story. i suck cause as much as i despise not reading the fics when finished as a whole i always post in chapters. i'd hate me if i wasn't me.
hope you like... feedback welcome...
***
It had been two hours since the last rest stop and Willow was beginning to feel her bladder reaching its full capacity again. She looked over to the passenger seat where Tara was sleeping soundly against the car’s window. Her legs pulled underneath and her head was resting on her Snoopy doll all curled up by her neck.
Willow smiled as she recalled the time she’d thought all her dolls breathed as she did and if she ever slept on them they’d suffocate. She’d do that with any plush toy. Kiko the bear Xander gave her for her seventh birthday; BB the dolphin; Sunshine that that could be curled up in a ball but never was.
The redhead saw Tara wrinkle her nose and sneeze. The blonde quickly woke up and appeared disoriented for a second. “Wha?” she asked straining her eyes in the sunlight that streamed in the car.
“Bless you, sleepy head.” The redhead smiled.
Tara’s blue eyes connected with Willow, “Will?”
“We need to make a tinkle stop soon.”
“Where are we?” the blonde asked stretching her upper body.
Willow grinned. “We’re at now, now.”
Tara quickly caught on. “When will then be now?”
“Soon.”
“How soon?”
Willow’s laughter began to bubble up inside. “We missed it.”
“When?!” Tara asked, pretending her surprise.
“Just now.” Willow giggled at having been able to reference some of her favorite “Spaceballs” unquotable scene.
Tara smiled at her and looked out the car window. It was pure desert. “We’re still in California.”
This surprised the driver. “Yeah, how’d you know?”
Tara shyly smiled and shrugged her shoulders. “What time is it?” she asked as she looked to the counter clock.
“You mean you can’t look out the window and tell by the shadows?” her girlfriend kidded.
Tara smiled again and quickly kissed Willow’s cheek. “Silly billy.”
Willow reached out and caressed Tara’s upper arm. “Is Mr. Snoopy ok?”
Tara reached down for the plush toy that had since fallen to the car floor and replied, “ I think he got a tan. A half tan.”
Willow chuckled and then noticed the big sign ahead, “Ooh! Look! Arizona, 20 miles! I sure hope there is a piss stop before then.”
Tara chuckled at her lovers trucker speech. “I’m sure there is, but if it gets too bad just go on the side of the road. I’ll cover for you.”
“And get my bum bitten my a scorpion? I think not.”
“Scorpions don’t bite.”
“What?”
“Scorpions sting. Snakes bite.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, my girlfriend the crocodile hunteress.”
Tara grinned as she reached for the bottle of water and took a long sip. As she returned it to the mini cooler in the back seat she asked, “Are you sure you want to go, Willow?”
Willow’s eyes left the pavement. “Of course I do. Don’t you?”
Tara nodded. “I just wanted to make sure you wanted to go and you’re not doing this cause I wanted to go.”
“Well, I am doing this cause you wanted to go. But, I’m also doing this cause I want to go.” Willow smiled at her, her eyes filled with adoration. “I go where you go.”
Tara was touched as she reached over and lifted Willow’s hands from where it was resting on the automatic clutch. She softly kissed it and held it against her cheek.
*****************
“And two bags of Corn Nuts. Yeah. Thanks. Tara? Want anything?” Willow asked from the counter of the convenience store.
“Wanna send a postcard to Xander?” She asked, looking at a rack of postcards.
“Be right back.” She smiled to the young girl behind the counter and walked over to Tara, “What do they have?” Tara handed her one. “Tara! That’s gross!” she laughed. “We can’t send him that. We’ll send that one to Buffy.”
Willow began to peruse the rack as Tara walked over to the display of Native American artifacts on display next to the rack.
Willow chose a couple more postcards and returned to the counter. “These too, please.”
“What about your girlfriend?” the young girl asked her.
Willow’s eyes widened. “What?” ‘Was it so obvious?’, she asked herself.
“Your friend.” She motioned her head to Tara. “She getting anything?”
Willow exhaled, “Oh. I don’t know. I guess we should wait.” She proceeded to nervously flip the pages of the Arizona magazine laid out on the counter.
Tara moved from the main room to one further in the back. It was cone shaped, set up like the inside of a teepee, with lots of different displays and pictures.
She was staring at a photograph of a young Hopi child during the turn of the century when an old voice behind her spoke, “You like it, my child?”
Tara quickly turned around, “I-I…”
The old woman’s smile calmed her. “That is me. I was four.”
Tara shyly smiled at her. “You’re beautiful.”
The woman shook her head with a grin. “Many moons have aged me. I am no longer what I used to be.”
“You’re still b-beautiful.”
The old woman smiled as she moved past Tara and touched her younger self in the picture. “The day after this picture was taken our land was confiscated and we were forced to the Reservation.” Tara didn’t know what to say. Her eyes simply darted to the floor. “My mother and father got sick. Lot’s of diseases ran thought the Reservation.”
“I-I’m sorry.”
“Oh, no, darling. I’m not saying this for your condolence. I’m sorry.”
Tara shyly smiled at the woman again.
“Tara? Are you in here?” Willow asked as she entered the room. “Oh.” she said when she saw the older woman, “Hello.” Willow stared at her and Tara.
The old woman smiled at Tara after gazing at Willow, “She’s excellent for you.” She told the blonde.
Tara looked at her a bit confused, as did Willow.
“Energy doesn’t lie,” the Hopi woman revealed as she walked up to Willow. She gently cupped the redheads face with her soft, aged hands, “Keep her unharmed, scarlet hair.”
Although she felt she had a knot in her throat, Willow heard herself say, “Always.”
The woman nodded and smiled. “Good.” She glanced one more time at Tara and walked out. “Be safe and blessed be.”
Willow watched her go and then turned to Tara. “You know her?”
“N-no.”
Willow noticed Tara was as dazed about the whole thing as she was. “Well…”
“We, we should go.”
“Yeah.” As Tara walked past her Willow reached out and held her hand “Hey.” She pulled the blonde close. “Always. You hear me?”
Tears began to swell her eyes. “Always.” Tara whispered back.
***
end for now...
Edited by: xita at: 3/23/02 10:11:23 am