by sabina » Mon Jul 12, 2004 6:49 pm
Hi everyone
Yes, it is true. I’m finally posting chapter eighteen
Once again sorry for taking so long to update.
Chapter eighteen is a huge chapter and I apologize in advance for the double post.
Now just a few individual replies before I post the update:
Tempest Duer
Don’t worry I’m not planning on giving up on this story
It just that sometimes RL gets in the way of writing and well some other times I can’t seem to find my muse… But I do promise to finish this story, and hopefully I’ll be able to update this story more often from now on.
It’s good to know that you’re still reading my story
. Here have an elephant
xenamungrrr
Thank you very much
This fic is the best AU you’ve ever read? Wow
I think you have just made my day
Put a leash on my muse? Now that’s an idea…
thesongwriter
Ah… maybe our muses did go on vacation together… Mine is kind of temperamental and independent and most of the time I have no idea what she is going to do next…
I hope your muse has returned to you
Thank you
I’m happy to know that you like my fic.
I’m sorry for taking so long to update… I hope you’ll like the new chapter
everbreeze
Thank you
I hope you’ll like chapter eighteen
• Title:
The Artifact
• Author:
sabina
• Feedback:
Yes, please. I crave it.
• Distribution:
Anywhere. Just please ask me first.
• Spoilers:
No spoilers whatsoever. This is an AU fic.
• Rating:
It is going to get to NC-17.
• Pairing:
W/T
• Disclaimer:
The “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” series and its characters are the property of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. The “Tomb Raider” videogame is the property of Eidos Interactive and Core Design. This fic is not meant to infringe any copyrights.
• Summary:
Willow and Tara are two strong and independent tomb raiders who are both hired to find the same artifact. Trapped inside a temple they realize that not everything is what it seems and they have to work together and fight side by side for their lives as they try to find the way out.
• Note 1:
I want to thank my beta reader TKOLove, who has supported this idea and put up with all my questions and doubts since the beginning without ever complaining.
Your work makes this fic a better one, so thank you TKOLove.
• Note 2:
I love Tomb Raider and this fic was something that had been in the back of my mind for long. Now I finally decided to write it. I hope you all enjoy reading it.
• Note 3:
Thoughts are in
italics
Special note
I want to send a special thanks to my beta reader TKOLovefor the effort she put in betaing this chapter. You are the best
Previously
The room where the tomb raiders found themselves was completely empty; a square chamber with bare stonewalls. Across the room there was corridor -- one meter wide and three meters long -- that ended at a metal door. On the right side of that door there was a visible indentation on the wall that they both thought probably functioned as a lock.But there wasn’t any sign of the key or of where a key could be hidden.
Neither one of them said anything until Tara’s voice pierced the silence.
“Another room…another puzzle.”
Chapter eighteen
“Uhm, you know, I think this is my punishment for complaining about the lack of a door and lock in the other room.I just had to go and complain and now look; there’s nothing here besides a door and a lock.I wonder...do you think if I asked for a million dollars they’d appear in the next room?It’s not like I need the money, but ooh!A coffee machine wouldn’t be a bad idea right about now.Or, wait.I know!A stack of pancakes...or maybe lasagna.Hmm, then again, after your description of the way you’d feed lasagna to me, I think any kind of food would be too much of a temptation.”
Tara smiled when she heard the redhead’s endearing babble. The hardest part of solving a puzzle is always getting started, and she was glad to have Willow by her side, easing her worries, giving her strength, loving her.
The blonde turned around and swiftly pulled the other girl into her arms, cutting her off in mid-babble. Tara stared into surprised green orbs before she leaned in and brought their lips together in a soft kiss. They pulled their mouths away after a few seconds but remained in each other’s arms, each enjoying the simple feeling of holding the woman she loved so close.
A still-dazed Willow was the first to speak.
“Not that I’m complaining honey, because I’m so not, but what was that for?”
“Because I love you...and because I thought a good luck kiss was the best way to prepare for the search of a new room.”
“Oh, is that right? In that case I think I need another one to hold me over.You know...since there isn’t anything obvious to search and we’ll probably be stuck looking at bricks for the next few hours,” Willow said while pouting.She then leaned in and once again pressed her lips to Tara’s.
She ran her tongue over Tara’s lips, teasing them open with lazy strokes. Tara was sure this was a bad idea, but she couldn’t help but tilt her head to the side and open her mouth wide, accepting Willow’s tongue in her warmth, and lifting her own to duel with its mate.
This wasn’t a soft, chaste good luck kiss; it was a hungry, thirsty exploration that left them both panting when the need for oxygen made them pull away.
They gazed deeply into each other’s eyes and saw -- mirrored in dark pools of green and blue -- raw, hungry desire burning deep and starting to consume them whole. Feeling that it was her fault they’d become so wrapped in each other that they’d forgotten everything else, Willow willed herself to pull away from their embrace and take a few steps backwards, all the while taking deep breaths to try to steady herself.
She was so distracted that she never saw part of the floor sliding under another section just behind her feet.She’d accidentally triggered a trap by pressing a specific brick, and was headed right for the large, newly opened hole and the water filling it. With her balance completely lost she had no way of holding herself up, and she felt herself helplessly falling. From sheer reflex she drew her guns, and in a fluid motion threw them aside, safely away from the water. Willow had time to cry out a single word before she disappeared under water and the passage over her head closed.
“Tara…”
***********************
Willow found herself immersed in a passage full of frigid water, an underwater corridor with a severe right turn just a few strokes away. For a second she felt like bouncing up and down with joy, for now they at least had a lead on where the key could be, and she was just about to start swimming to the end of the corridor when she remembered the gravity of her situation.
With the hole through which she’d fallen now closed over her head she had no way of telling Tara of her plans to travel the corridor, nor did she have a chance of returning through that hole.She decided to wait a little longer to see if her girlfriend could open the passage again.
Jeez, it’s cold! I’m such an idiot. Why did I have to kiss Tara like that? Why do I keep teasing us to the point that neither of us can think straight? And look at me now.Not only am I separated from my beautiful, sexy girlfriend, but I’m also kind of trapped under water.And let’s face it, I might have great lungs but I’m still going to run out of oxygen like everyone else and drown if I don’t breathe in the next couple of minutes.At least I was able to throw the guns aside before they got wet, so that just leaves the shotgun to be dried and cleaned after I get out of this mess...after the passage is opened again.Assuming it
will
open. How did I open the thing in the first place? I didn’t do anything...I was just stepping back.It could be triggered by pressure, opening only when somebody steps on the right brick.Yeah, that’s got to be it.Maybe I could swim to the end of that tunnel and see what lies after the turn.Okay, so that’s probably a pretty bad idea.If Tara opens the passage and doesn’t see me there she might let it close again.Or, even worse, she might get down in here with me and then, if I’m right and the passage only stays open as long as someone’s applying pressure to it, we’ll both be trapped down here.That would definitely be bad. How long has it been since I fell? A minute maybe?
Just as the redhead was starting to wonder how much longer she’d be able to hold her breath, the passage above her head opened and she was able to come to the surface.
***********************
Tara was thankful that Willow had the strength to pull away because she wasn’t sure she could do it this time. It was becoming more and more difficult to resist the allure of Willow’s body regardless of the continued threat of a crazed skeleton attack. Tara was still trying to cool down her over-heated brain and body when she saw Willow begin to fall into a large hole filled with water.It was a hole that -- even through her hazy, clouded-with-desire mind -- she could swear hadn’t been there before.
Then everything seemed to happen in slow motion.She saw Willow draw her guns and throw them aside as she was falling, and she heard the redhead call out her name, the sound hitting her ears as if it were traveling from a long distance.
Then the loud clang of metal hitting the stone floor brought her back to reality, and in a flash the hole was gone and Willow with it.The only evidence of the event was a small puddle of water that had splashed up when Willow’s body hit the water.
Tara felt the panic rise in her body as she ran to the place where she’d last seen Willow, and she looked frantically for a way to open the passage. After a few seconds of futile searching she stopped and willed herself to calm down.
Okay, think.Willow’s all right; she has lots of experience with diving and swimming and she can hold her breath for a couple of minutes.So just calm down and think.What did she do that opened this passage? She was walking and then bang, she fell.That’s all she did, simply walk.That has to be the way to open this hole; I’ll have to walk on the right spot...wherever that is. Ooh, water’s splashed over there so it has to be just about…here.Hang in there, my love.
As Tara stepped on the trigger the floor once again slid open and exposed the underwater passage. A second later Willow’s head appeared.
***********************
Fearing the cover would close and strike Willow, Tara didn’t move from her place as her girlfriend climbed back up.She waited until Willow was standing in front of her, then flung her arms around her and hugged her fiercely, burying her head in the girl’s neck.Drops of water cascaded from Willow’s hair and neck, mixing with the warm tears of relief Tara shed.
Willow returned the hug with equal strength and desperation, and for a long moment they just stood there. They let the fear fall away with each drop of water that left Willow’s body. They finally pulled away when they felt that comfort was beginning to turn into desire. The women looked at each other for a long moment and only then did Willow notice that their hug had left its mark on Tara’s clothes. Thinking only of breaking the silence and easing the tension a bit, she started nervously talking.
“I’m sorry, Tara.I got you wet.Uhm, I mean...with the hugging and the water that’s running down my body and soaking my…my clothes.I guess that’s obvious right? My jumping into the water fully clothed would tend to have that effect.Soaking my clothes, that is.And then I hugged you and made your clothes get wet too…which was what I was trying to say in the first place.I swear I’m going to stop talking now.”
Good grief! “I got you wet?” What was I thinking? I just wanted to say something, anything, to fill the silence.I didn’t mean for it to sound so lascivious.Our hug made her wet...made her clothes wet, not her.So, okay I can tell that my panties are soaked with more than just ‘watery water.’ Just the way her wet shirt is clinging to her breasts now, my god.But I can’t start thinking about whether she got wet from the hug too, because if I don’t stop teasing us both we’ll probably lose our minds soon.So how about we try to keep the Freudian slips in check, please, brain of mine.At least until we’re in a skeleton-free zone.
“Uhm, it’s n-no problem. I’m just glad you’re okay.”
You most assuredly did get me wet, but gosh, couldn’t you find anything else to talk about? You just had to keep saying ‘soaking’ and ‘wet’ as if I wasn’t feeling frustrated enough already.I want you so much, Willow.Idiot skeletons.
An uncomfortable silence fell over them as both girls tried to hide their blushing faces and hammering hearts. Willow was the first one to gain control of herself, and she decided it was time to discuss the trap before they lost all self restraint and devoured each other on the spot.Skeletons be damned.
“Tara?”
“Hmm?”
“I was so happy to be back up here with breathable oxygen...and you...that I forgot to tell you something. The hole I fell into isn’t just a hole.It’s like this long corridor with turns and everything.Well, at least one turn.I didn’t really see the rest of it.I guess we should still search this room to see if we find anything else before we try the tunnel, but I think the key is probably hidden somewhere in that corridor… hopefully at the end of it, ‘cause that would really make the search easier.”
Tara didn’t answer immediately.She thought for a while about what Willow had just revealed.
So there’s a passage under there, and it’s possible that getting the key depends on navigating it; the same underwater passage whose exit only stays open as long as someone’s putting her weight on the right brick. Of course that means only one of us can go through the tunnel and search it and face whatever dangers lie ahead...while the other can do nothing but wait. And I bet that since it involves water and swimming Willow will want to be the one to do it, while I’ll be sitting on a brick not knowing what’s happening to the woman I love.Okay, once again, calm down and think about one thing at a time.First she’s right.We should search the room and then…and then we’ll see.
Willow saw the concern etched on her girlfriend’s face and she knew Tara already understood what it meant if they decided to search the underwater passage – Willow would have to go alone and risk herself.So she prepared herself for Tara’s reaction, guessing it would be something along the lines of offering herself up for the job instead of Willow. She was surprised and at the same time relieved with Tara’s next words.
“I suppose we should start searching then.”
Willow looked deep into the azure orbs that had captured her heart and soul and saw the worry they so clearly expressed.She knew Tara was postponing the inevitable discussion until she was sure the underwater passage was the only way to go.
Sensing Tara’s line of thought, Willow was more than happy to follow Tara’s lead and face the problems as they presented themselves. So instead of trying to turn the conversation back to the hole trap, she answered Tara.
“I was thinking that maybe, if you were okay with it, you could search alone for a little while.It’s just that I need to clean and dry my shotgun, otherwise it’ll corrode and rust really fast.And I’ll also have to change the shells out because the ones that were in it when I fell in the water are useless now.Fortunately, I always have Haley with me –”
“Uhm, excuse me for interrupting, but...Haley?”
That’s okay.I may have forgotten to mention that Haley’s my nickname for my “Parker Hale” cleaning kit.It goes with me on every trip now...ever since that one time I didn’t have it and, well, to make a long story short, I fell into a river and spent the next two days constantly on the run...from...from... wolves, lions, snakes…and uhm…frogs.”
Since Willow was safe and sound in front of her, Tara knew it wasn’t rational, but she couldn’t help but worry as she heard her girlfriend list the animals she had to face and flee from when she’d been deprived of her guns. But when she heard Willow mention the last animal, worry turned into puzzlement and she had to ask.
“Frogs?”
“Uhm, yeah, so maybe a frog wasn’t going to kill me…and then again maybe it was.Could have been a poisonous frog.And...and even if it wasn’t, it was hopping after me, all green and… yucky…and...and I…I kind of have frog fear.” Willow stopped for a second before adding, “You must think I’m nuts.”
Willow looked more nervous talking about frogs than she had when she’d mentioned the lions or the wolves, and Tara couldn’t help but smile warmly at her girl before reassuring her.
“Actually, I think it’s cute.You’re cute.And I love you.”
Willow smiled as she took a step closer to Tara, embraced her, and leaned in to give her a soft kiss.Their lips opened and closed in time with each other for a long moment.
“I love you too,” Willow whispered tenderly against her girlfriend’s lips.She then pulled away to resume their earlier conversation, trying hard to distract herself from Tara’s ruby lips. It was getting unbelievably hard to pull away.
“So would you mind searching alone for a little while?”
It took a moment for Tara to understand what the other girl was talking about; she was feeling a little lightheaded from their kiss and had forgotten all about the temple, the room, and the search.She could only focus on Willow.
“Uhm, no, of course not. I’ll call you if I find anything even remotely interesting.”
Willow nodded, and without adding anything else both of them concentrated on their tasks.
Willow retrieved her guns from opposite sides of the room where they’d landed after she threw them.She inspected first one then the other.Happy to see that both of them were undamaged, she put one of them back in its holster and placed the other one over the brick that opened the underwater passage. This way, even if the bricks around the entrance dried off they could still easily locate the entrance to the tunnel.
Only then did she remove her backpack, sit down, and start to pick up the things she’d need to tend to her guns.She placed her gear on the floor.
Tara walked to the door through which they’d entered and started to search the walls from there.
She once again followed the search procedure she’d used countless times before. First she would look intently at part of the wall, trying to see irregularities in the bricks, then she would touch, pull, and push the bricks. If that search revealed nothing interesting, she’d move on to a new part of the wall and start all over again.
Usually Tara was fast and thorough while searching, but this time she just couldn’t seem to focus; flashes of red caught her attention from the corner of her eye, distracting her from the task at hand. She was mesmerized by the sure but somehow tender movements of Willow as she cleaned her favorite shotgun piece by piece.
I wonder what it would be like to be that shotgun now.To feel Willow running her hands all over, reaching inside as far as she can go -- Oh, for god’s sake, stop the lusty thoughts...the woman’s cleaning a lethal weapon!
Tara decided it was a good idea to stop looking at Willow before the rational part of her brain lost the battle against her heart and she ended up going to the redhead, pushing her down, and having her way with her.Tara shook her head twice and resumed her search, this time shutting out the alluring visions of the girl in the middle of the room.With some effort, she focused solely on the wall and on her search.
Willow was also having trouble concentrating on her task. She couldn’t help but notice the way Tara was stealing glances, and the longing in those gorgeous blue eyes was making her heart race and giving her the urge to forget the gun and go kiss her girl senseless.
She’s so beautiful and she looks so sexy running her hands over the wall.Hmm, actually Tara’s sexy, end of sentence.It really doesn’t matter what she’s doing.Oh god, she’s looking at me again.Maybe I could just forget about the shotgun.It’s not like I’ve needed it a lot lately...well, except for the whole statue coming to life thing.But it was just that once and we’ve been in here for days, so it almost doesn’t count.And I still have my other guns, so it’s not like we’d be unprotected if I left the shotgun here to rust.Uh huh, that’s a good idea...just go to Tara and forget everything else.Yeah, I can see this plan working.For a whole five minutes before we lose ourselves in each other and a skeleton pops up to kill us.Come on, focus, Rosenberg.
Willow was still debating in her head whether she should give in to her desires and just go to Tara, when from the corner of her eye she saw her girlfriend shake her head twice, turn her back on her, and focus on searching the wall. Tara’s movement was enough to make Willow finally decide that she should also concentrate on finishing her task, but not before she flashed a smile in Tara’s direction. She was thankful for Tara’s impeccable timing, and wasn’t sure if she’d have resisted going to the blonde if they’d kept stealing little glances at one another.
Both girls focused on their tasks for a while until Willow was satisfied that her shotgun was as good as new. She then strategically placed her cleaning kit in her backpack, knowing she’d probably need it again before too long.She picked up her things and safely wrapped her backpack and shotgun around her shoulders. Only then did she look in Tara’s direction. Seeing her girlfriend still engrossed in her search, Willow couldn’t prevent the smile that reached her lips.
I love ‘focused Tara.’ She’s just too cute for words.And sexy.No way could I forget the ‘sexy,’ especially when it’s me that she’s focusing on.Okay, I think it’s time to think about something else.Maybe even walk up to her to tell her I’m finished.
Tara felt her girlfriend approach and she turned around before Willow had any chance to speak or announce her presence. As soon as blue met green the girls felt their breath catch in their throats as if it was the first time.
Her eyes are so blue.How is it possible that every time I look into her eyes they seem bluer than I remembered them?
How come she gets more beautiful every time I look at her? Her eyes are the most amazing shade of green, like grass on a sunny spring day.
Willow was the first to realize that they couldn’t spend the rest of the day gazing into each other’s eyes.
“So, how has your search gone so far? Have you found anything interesting? That was probably a stupid question.I’m sure that if you’d found anything out of the ordinary you’d have told me, right? I’m not saying you had to tell me right away.I mean, you’re of course free to tell me anything anytime you feel like it, so if you wanted to wait and tell me later, of course that would be fine, too.”
Tara could tell by the nervous babble that Willow was beginning to panic, and even though she loved to listen to Willowbabble, she couldn’t just stand there and watch her girlfriend worry over nothing. So she did the only thing she could think of to stop Willow’s nervous rant, she leaned forward and captured Willow’s mouth in a soft, quick kiss that made Willow instantly forget whatever it was she was about to say next and just focus on the feeling of Tara’s lips against her own.
Not wanting the kiss to escalate, Tara pulled away after a moment and answered her girlfriend.
“Willow, of course I would have told you if I’d found anything important in the middle of all those bricks,” Tara said gently, looking directly into the green depths in front of her.
Willow blushed and smiled, feeling a little embarrassed by her display of insecurity. She took a moment to calm down and then spoke again, this time without babbling.
“So I take it you didn’t find anything interesting. How far along the walls did you get?”
“I searched almost the whole left side of the room.I was just reaching the exit door when you came to me.”
Willow seemed to be deep in thought for a couple of seconds before responding.
“You know Tara, I think maybe we should search the floor too. We know there’s one entrance to the tunnel where I fell, but maybe there are more passages under there waiting to be discovered.”
Tara nodded her agreement before answering verbally.
“I thought about that, too. Do you want to search the floor while I keep searching the walls?”
Willow nodded while she smiled at how in tune they were with each other. Sometimes it was as if Tara could read her mind. For a second she just stood there, lost in Tara’s blue eyes, smiling at the woman who held her heart.It finally dawned on her that they had a temple to get out of, so she spoke again.
“Okay, then. I’ll go search the floor and you search the walls.”
It took a moment for Willow’s sentence to register in Tara’s brain since she’d been completely lost in her girlfriend’s smile and eyes, and their search had been far from her thoughts. When she finally realized she’d completely spaced out, she blushed and responded.
“O-okay. Just please be careful,” she said seriously.
“I will.” Willow gazed deeply into the blue gems in front of her as she spoke, letting Tara know that she would indeed be careful. Then she leaned forward and kissed Tara chastely on the lips before taking a step back.
“For good luck,” Willow explained, even though she knew she didn’t have to.
Tara smiled her lopsided smile, and for a second she thought about grabbing Willow by the waist, pulling her body tight against her own, and kissing her deeply...but she quickly and sadly dismissed that idea, knowing how easy it was for them to lose control. Instead, she closed her left hand around Willow’s right one and gave it a loving squeeze before turning and walking to the wall to continue her search.
Willow took her cue from her girlfriend, and walked to the place where she would begin her own search, near the left wall of the room.
As Tara fell comfortably into her search routine, Willow developed her own system.It was a very simple and fast one in which she took tiny steps in order to be certain she didn’t miss a brick, and paused with each step to ensure that each brick she stepped on supported her entire weight for a couple of seconds. This way if there was another passage hidden in the floor she was bound to find it.
After an hour Tara finished her search of the walls without finding anything hidden in them. The only thing out of the ordinary was an indentation in the wall to the right of the exit door. It looked like it was designed to accommodate a small pyramid, presumably the key to open the door.
Too bad there aren’t any spare pyramids lying around here.I didn’t find anything, and since Willow’s been quiet I can guess she hasn’t found anything either.So it must be that the only way to get to the pyramid is through that damned underwater tunnel.Willow… Okay, I can’t freak out.I still have to discuss this with her.
Tara turned around so that instead of facing the last part of the wall she probed, she faced the middle of the room, and she immediately saw that Willow was almost finished with her search. She breathed deeply to steel herself for the impending conversation, then rapidly made her way to Willow.
Just as Tara had an hour before, Willow felt her girlfriend approach before she announced herself.The redhead happily lifted her gaze from the ground and let her eyes greet Tara’s.
“Hey baby. You’ve finished with the walls? I guess you didn’t find anything, huh? I’m almost done with the floor; just a couple of bricks away from finishing...uh, which you can probably gather from my nearness to the right wall, since I started near the left.And it’s about time, too. I’m starting to get sick and tired of looking down at the floor. After a couple of minutes these stupid bricks all look the same. You’d think they’d at least have different colors.Wouldn’t that have been cool, different colored bricks? But no, they’re all identical.I think that shows a lack of personality and originality,” she said with mocking anger before pouting.
Tara couldn’t help but laugh and let some of the tension leave her body when she witnessed Willow’s outburst and childish pout. Her girlfriend’s quirky sense of humor was just one of the things she loved about Willow.
Willow was happy to see Tara relax a little.She knew they were about to have the talk about which one of them should go investigate the underwater tunnel. That was one of the reasons she’d started babbling about the bricks; she’d seen the trepidation in Tara’s blue eyes, and had wanted nothing more than to ease some of the worry and tension away. Besides, she just loved to make Tara laugh.
After a moment Tara’s chuckles died down and she became serious again as she stared straight into her girlfriend’s eyes.
“Willow, we need to talk.”
Willow sighed, knowing they couldn’t postpone it any longer.
“I know,” she answered in the same serious tone Tara had used.
They were silent for a couple of seconds, simply gazing at each other until Tara took a deep breath and got right to the point.
“Willow, I think I should be the one to go through that damned hole in the floor.”
“Why?” Willow asked calmly, surprising the other girl.
Tara had been expecting a passionate response from Willow, perhaps nervous babble or ranting, and for that she was prepared. But she was caught off guard having to face a calm and rational Willow, so she decided just to let her heart speak for her.
“Because...because you were stabbed just yesterday…and because I’ve just found you and I couldn’t stand losing you…and because I’d rather put my life in danger than risk yours…and because...you’re my everything.” Tara stated the last part almost desperately, as a single tear ran down her cheek.
When Willow saw the tear rolling down her girlfriend’s face, she just couldn’t stand still anymore. She’d willed herself to be quiet and not move during Tara’s passionate speech, even as her heart was screaming at her to throw herself to the other girl’s arms.But she only showed that restraint because she felt she should listen to what Tara had to say until the end.However, she could no longer stand to see her girlfriend distressed...she had to do something to try to ease her pain, so she took a step forward, snaked both her arms around the other girl’s waist, and pulled their bodies together, hugging Tara tight against her heart. A beat later she felt Tara’s arms close around her neck, pulling them even tighter together.
A moment later Willow pulled away just enough so that she could look into Tara’s eyes. There, in those bottomless pools of blue, she saw the confirmation of everything Tara had just said to her; she saw a love strong enough to last forever.
“Oh, Tara.I love you so much.You’re my everything.” Willow’s response came by way of a voice choked by emotion just before she tightened her hold on Tara’s body and mashed their mouths together in a deep, desperate kiss.
They kissed passionately, then pulled away and rested their foreheads together.With their faces so close that they breathed the same air, they took a few moments to calm themselves and reign in their emotions. After a couple of minutes Willow moved her head just enough to focus her eyes while she gazed at Tara.She then spoke calmly.
“Tara, remember when I didn’t want you to be the one to climb that pine tree to go get the monkey’s mask? Well, you said climbing fell on your side of the designated tasks list and that my role was to complain about the awful protein balls and be the one to face the challenges that involved water.Remember that?” Willow asked softly while tightening her grip on Tara’s waist.
Tara could see very well where Willow was going with this conversation, but as she heard her own words from a few days ago being repeated she couldn’t do anything other than nod her answer; yes, she remembered.
At the nod, Willow lifted her hands up so that she was cupping Tara’s face.She tenderly caressed her cheek with her thumbs while she resumed talking, her voice as soft as her touch.
“Baby, you were right then. We’re stronger when we work together, and sometimes that means we have to rely on the other to be strong enough to face whatever dangers she may have to face on her own. So, and at the risk of sounding not-so-original and copying what you once said to me, this challenge belongs in the ‘Willow’s tasks column,’ and I think I’m the one who should do it.”
Oh god, she’s right. I did say I’d handle the climbing and she’d handle anything that involved water...and she stood back and let me take the risks while she could do nothing more than just watch.And now it’s my turn to trust her...to trust her with the most precious thing in the world to me.Her life.
Willow waited in silence while Tara took in everything she said. She could see that Tara was deep in thought and she wished her girlfriend would agree with her and let her go find the key without any further discussion.
A minute passed and Tara made up her mind.
“Willow...just be careful, all right?”
Willow’s only response was to once again lean forward and kiss the full lips in front of her. She pulled away after a minute and smiled. She was happy to see that even though the blue eyes in front of her still carried a lot of worry, they were less troubled than before. Curiously, Tara was the first to recover from their emotional break and turn her attention back to the challenge they were about to face.
“It’s probably better if you get going. We don’t know how long it’ll take for you to find the key, and it would be better if you searched for it during the day.”
Initially, Willow was a little surprised by what Tara said, but she rapidly caught on to the logic behind the words. Tara was right of course; it would be easier to search for the key during the day, and it was already mid-afternoon.
And of course the sooner I start searching, the sooner I’ll find the key and make it back to Tara.
"I know I was born and I know that I'll die.
The in between is mine.
I am mine!" - Pearl Jam
sabina 
,
Poor 
and 
! They are so horney and they can't do anything about it because the second that they start a skeleton is going to pop up and stop them by trying to kill them. 
That is just so wrong. 
Not to mention the more worked up they get and the more a cold shower looks good to me. 
Oh and I'm with 
Glad that they got to the next room. Can't wait to see what the puzzle is for this room. 
Can't wait to read more. Update soon, please? 
So I’m hoping to be able to post it sometime soon. In the mean time here are the (long overdue) replies to feedback:
They are looking for the next piece of Goddess Shamia’s star. The legend says that if you can reconstitute the star you’ll have the Goddess powers. And the pieces of the star are scattered in the temple where W/T are trapped together.
Damn… now you got me thinking of summer vacations and I still have loads of exams to do before finally going on vacations 
I promised they won’t keep being interrupted forever 
No more skeletons.
I'm firmly coming against it. I can't imagine if this way just the first keys what will happen when she has to find the rest. *whines again*
You gotta hurry up and get that next chapter to me!!!! *wonders* Will they actually, FINALLY make love?? Guess I'll have to wait... But hurry pleeeeease??? 
what an update. Will they be interrupted this time? I can't wait to find out!
)
