Fear and Freedom

[grimlock72]

I do wonder how long Willow can keep Buffy's secret, living in a dorm room with the woman of Buffy's dreams and all

Hey Grimmy, Im not sure if im reading this right but Kate allready knows how Buffy feels, ( unless your not talking about that...or.....i wrote that scene perticually bad...Im now really confused)

The scene im talking about is the one where Buffy marks her teritorry( littrally) with the marker on Kates arm.
Let me know if im just crazy,

No you're not crazy. I just thought Kate didn't know how deep/profound Buffy's feelings are for her nor does she know that Buffy appearantly now accepts herself as being attracted to girls. It appeared to me that Buffy coming out to Willow might be something Kate expected to happen eventually, sure... just not this soon

I'm happy for the both of them though, I like Kate so she deserves happynes. Going to be fun if she relays details about her date(s) with Buffy to Willow, Willow will be torn between listening and hiding with ears closed

[sarejester]

Hey guys,
Ive been away for a week and half, reading, hanging out with my best friend and her horses, and LOVING the fact that i could lounge round all day, unfortunatly there was no computer where i was so no update,

I think youll like this update though, its all about tara....
Please let me know what you think, ive never written R before and am a little wairy to post it,all thought Anna has given me the big thumbs up, so if you dont like it, Yell at her because she made me post it....

Disclaimer same as before, but now adding on in brillient neon lights R/ N17 for some D.I.Y fun,
mmmkay with much trepidation here you go....
SPECIAL DISCLAIMER FOR KIMBERLEY!!
Make sure your not using any power tools or using a forklift while reading this update....you have been warned

Chapter eight.


After chatting to Dawn about school, life and her new boyfriend, Willow had sat and watched a mindless comedy on television with the seventeen year old,
Laughing helplessly at the antics of the main characters Dawn noticed that Willow was staring sightlessly at the TV playing with the cordless phone in her hands,
“Willow?…Will?” waving her hand in front of Willow’s face, Dawn began to get inpatient,

“OW! Shit dawn! That hurt!” Willow scowled at the all to smug Teenager while rubbing the slightly reddened area where Dawn had pinched her, “Jez, why d’you do that?”
“Because you’ve been sitting there for the last twenty minutes staring through the T.V, What is wrong with you?”
Willow, still slightly pissed about being pinched mumbled about a phone call and turned back to the T.V, Dawn slouched back into the couch quietly, she hadn’t expected Willow to be so short with her, Willow was always the one who she could tell anything to and was a little upset that apparently that didn’t go both ways,
“Fine” Deciding that she was in fact was slightly pissed herself Dawn did the typical Teenager thing, storming up the stairs as loud as she possibly could, Dawn slammed her door and sulked, not her best work but the point was made,

Willow having years of experience with the “Dawn-o-sulk” added up a total point score for volume, stair climbing efficiency, and the door slam, a grand total of 6.89 points meant Dawn would be over it in say ohh….an hour max,

“Right…now I have an hour to plan and execute a brief but charming phone call to Tara, no pressure…none at all…”
…………………………………………………………………………………………..

The Wiccan in question was at this very moment, lounging in a warm, deep bath, Tara had put in a few kinds of oils, and had gone as far as adding a handful of rose petals, feeling very American beauty-ish Tara sighed and had another sip of wine, carefully tapping the ash from her cigarette into the small ash tray beside the bath before setting it down, Tara fully submerged her head and free arm into the warmth, letting the water drown her long locks, smoking was not something Tara did often, very rarely in fact.
A small habit learnt from her father, possibly the only trait she did learn from him,
The occasional cigarette was a small treat that Tara occasionally indulged in, the woody smell of the tobacco reminded her of the times when her father would actually allow her near him, sometimes after dinner the family would sit by the fire and read or he would play the piano while she sang quietly, He always had a cigarette then and it was slightly comforting to her,

Surfacing again, Tara ran her free hand down her body absently, settling it on her soft belly, her thoughts not on her father now but now on herself,

Tara recognized that the last few days she had not been herself, she had stuttered worse then she had in years, and she had lost the self confidence that had taken years to quietly instill, not liking that she was slipping back into the old Tara,
It all started with the vampire in the ally, ‘Tara don’t lie to yourself, it started with Willow, if you want her you have to show her the real you, not the stuttering, shy wall flower, show her the smart, confident you, the one who knows how to live life, you’ve worked so hard to make her real’
Tara had made a promise to her mother to live, and live she would…the blonde began to focus; on why she was in Sunnydale, on who she was and who she wanted to become, she began to visualize where she had come from and where she wanted to go, gently pushing herself back into the Tara she had worked to hard to bring out.

Finishing her wine, and rubbing her eyes Tara’s thoughts went back to the Redhead who had been on her mind a lot lately, “Willow, Willllow, Will” the name sounded foreign yet so familiar coming out of Tara’s mouth, Taking a moment to visualize the redhead, Tara felt herself get a little warm remembering how sexy Willow looked as she spoke her name that first time; having bed hair and wrapped in a blanket she still looked sexy, Tara was actually glad that Willow had been wearing eye patches that day, Because as soon as Willow had said her name she had shuddered slightly, one of those small convulsion shudders, ‘…like when someone purrs just behind your ear and your back reflexively arches….’

Clenching and unclenching her hands slowly, her mind doing a perfect swan dive into Willow-land Tara’s breathing became shallower, if her eyes were open you would have seen them dilate, The images flicking threw her mind were no longer of Willow with bed hair and blankets, they were of Willow kneeling behind Tara on her bed, dressed only in a shoe string black singlet, with a matching pair of panties, One hand holding Tara against her body, while the other scratched slowly across her belly, moving down to play with the sensitive skin just about Tara’s pubic hair, All the while whispering, nipping and kissing Tara’s oh so sensitive ears and neck.

Now Tara was no stranger to lust, or so she thought, but the erotic images flashing threw her mind were intense, the thought of Willow dressed like that, manipulating her body so skillfully made Tara astoundingly wet, dropping her wine glass over the side of the bath and squeezing her thighs together Tara couldn’t help but squirm slightly,
Biting her knuckle Tara slid one hand slowly up her right leg, slowing and changing her touch from a light stroke to a sharp scratch sporadically, always taking her time, teasing herself a little, reaching her pubic hair Tara slowly spread her fingers threw them and gave them a tug before sliding her middle finger along her outer lips, ‘…Willow…” Tara breathed the Redheads name almost unconsciously,
She was so ready, so wet and so incredibly warm, Tara could feel her whole body thrumming, she could feel herself starting to sweat and knew it had nothing to do with the heat of the bath, sliding her middle finger in the delicious warmth Tara felt them instantly taken hostage by her body, her wetness making her flesh smooth and sensitive, Tara’s hips bucked once, her breath coming in one sharp gasp.

Tara’s mind saw Willow map her folds with one delicate finger so she did the same, Tara moved as the Willow in her mind did,
Soon Tara’s hips could not stay still and she rocked and bucked slightly, her head thrown back against the bath, Tara took her hand from her mouth and moved it down her body to assist.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Willow sat on the Summers porch swing, legs tucked under her chin cordless phone in one hand, note pad and pen in the other,
Written on the pad in several different colours, were topics, in order of relevance and interest, then there were several different greetings; “Tara hey” “Hi, Tara” “Willow Rosenberg speaking is Tara there please” and below where strict guidelines,

1: If you start talking about the weather, your doomed,
2: Don’t choke in the uncomfortable silences,
Don’t try to laugh it of or say “So how bout those…..(group of choice here)
3: No Babbling,
4: No Babbling…
5: If you must clear your throat, do it before getting her on the line,
6: Always have an escape route if it turns to shit, ie-checking on Dawn,
7: Don’t choke,
8: Be prepared to be blown of, act casual!

Armed and ready for anything Willow dialed Tara’s number,

………………………………………………………………………………………

Water was being splashed everywhere, streams of it cascaded down the sides of the bath, Tara’s hair was strewn around her like a shawl of silky blonde lace,
Her hands between her thighs, one rubbing and circling her clit in a familiar rhythm, the other buried deep within her, thrusting and curling,
Tara’s eyes were closed and her expression one of agony and desire, cheeks flushed with a slight sheen of sweat, Tara had never ever felt so good in all her life, sure she had touched herself before but never with this much inspiration, between shallow almost hyperventilating breaths Tara moaned and continued to voice her pleasure, “…ah ah….nhga..” A proper lady would never grunt like a wild beast… but now was definitely not the time to be a lady, In Tara’s mind Willow was lying under her holding her up by a small wrist alone, three fingers speared into the blonde time and time again, and Tara could only drive down onto them harder,

Blue sparks started appearing before Tara’s eyes, her toes started to curl and she knew she was close, Thrusting harder and faster Tara threw her head back and really started to fuck herself, Tara’s knees came up and braced themselves on the sides of the bath and she ignored the cramp that started to run the length of her forearm, “Willow…”
Some where past the swirling blue spots and heady feelings Tara heard her phone ring, instantly disregarding it Tara pushed her body harder, faster.

Tara knew she was there when she felt every. single. cell in her body collectively freeze and tense up, Breath held Tara felt the single second of time where it feels like one is floating, The eye of the orgasmic storm if you will, the glorious second before you tumble head first into an earth shattering orgasm that would split you in two if you held it any longer, and in that second Tara heard it “…Its Willow speaking…” ‘Willow’ Tara exploded, she felt like someone had filled her with T.N.T and just lit the fuse, slamming her head back she slipped under water and could only scream as her orgasm tore threw her, Hearing the voice of her fantasy had taken Tara’s orgasm to a new level of intensity, it burned and clawed at her, and Tara griped her thighs and held on for dear life.

Feeling the orgasm dissipate slowly, Tara floated to the surface of the bath taking a long deep breath in, Tara had never felt so satisfied or sated in her life, grinning slightly Tara wiped the hair from her face, and snickered to herself as she took in what she had done to her bathroom, Water everywhere, wine glass thrown across the room, at least her cigarette was still dry, shaking the water drops from her hands and leaning over to pick up and refill her wine glass, Tara picked up her lighter and re-lit, taking a drag Tara had to sit back and laugh, silently toasting herself,

[cperrins78]

Wow that was hot!!!!!



Christina

[kimberley]

I just popped in here to have a look around and didn't think there would be an update yet...BUT...its 5pm where i am now and i have got to go round my nanas in 10 mins. I just cannot read this now and go round my nans ...so this will be a pleasure deferred because ooh i read the disclaimer baby.

[singgirl]

wow...that was fun! Very passionate, with great description.

[kimberley]

Wow that was so good, i would say hot but that is not enough because Tara was on fire!! aww i can see why you were a bit worried since you really decided to turn up the heat in this one, but you need not have been...this was all kinds of sensual and erotic and i loved your description of the pyhsical act itself...haha i think its called clit power

I was wondering before i started reading on who would be performing the DIY and i guessed right. It somehow seemed right with Tara sexually fantasizing about Will....in my head Willow is lacking in confidence a bit in the sex stakes.

[SerenityStrings]

wow that was amazing! Can't wait for the next update. Kepp up the good work!

[justin]

That was a great update.

I liked Willow making up the list before calling Tara, and scoring the level of Dawn's teenage sulk.

[Irishlassie101]

Hy there,
I just found your fic and liked every bit of it !!!
You did such a good job in describing the girls drifting closer to each other, and Buffy´s "crossing of sides" was really sweet !!!!

MORE PLEASE

[grimlock72]

Tara is definitly not miss Innocent, nope... much to vivid imagination for that I wonder if she'll ever paint those images, heh.. I can just imagine Willow not recognizing herself in those as well....

Willow was being truly Willowish in making that list. If that gives her enough confidence to call her future wife, fine by me . Tara is a bit of a mistery to me, one minute she's all forward/go-getter girl and next minute she's all shy.

Loved the Dawn-sulk calculation btw.

I don't entirely agree with Tara's reasoning in:

if you want her you have to show her the real you, not the stuttering, shy wall flower, show her the smart, confident you, the one who knows how to live life, you've worked so hard to make her real'

The stutering is also the real you, attempting to force it out wont work... pretty much the opposite.

You have a nice way with words, like this line:

her mind doing a perfect swan dive into Willow-land

Poor Tara will be busy for some time fixing the bathroom, hopefully she wont step into glass. That just wouldn't do, nope.

grimmy

[sarejester]

kimberley cheers dude, lol im soooo glad you didnt read the update before visiting your nan, that would have been all levels of wrong,

cperrins78 thanks I was really nervous to post it,

singgirl cheers, Im glad you didnt have to deal with your ex flatmate over this update,

SerenityStrings thank you dude, appreciate the support,

justin cheers dude, yea Its totally somthing Willow would do in my eyse, hell its somthing i do as well if im nervous,

Irishlassie101 wicked cool you stumbled apon my little story, more is deffintly on the way!


grimlock72 lol I have always held the idea that Tara has a quiet front and a intensly passionate side as well, and shes not afraid of feeling,
um Im not sure about painting the images in her head but the idea is now im mine so if it pops up somewhere its a hat tip to you,
the real Tara is someone she is trying to find, she's trying to find a balance in herself, she's what twenty one? life's hard, trying to find the true you under all the layers of bull shit and barriars is confussing and painful exploration, why does Tara get to be the only one who's got it together, Joss in my eye's wrote Tara to....unpasionate, for life, for willow...
and unlike Joss i look after my Tara...so no glass for her poor little footsies,


Okay this is the first part of the update, my computer has the next two parts so i have to bloody write them again, patience...i need to find mine,

disclaimer same as always, back to PG,


Chapter Eight A

Willow sat unseeing just listening to the harsh tone the phone was emitting, ‘The one time I’ve ever got up the nerve to ring someone and she wasn’t even home’ slumping back in the swing Willow let the phone drop from her hands and started to swing the chair slightly, ‘Agh I hate leaving messages on answer phones I usually sound like an idiot…what exactly did I say anyway…’ Willows foot hit the porch loudly as she stopped herself mid swing, “What the hell did I say?”
Willow tried to think about her message but it was all coming up a blank “Not good, not good” dropping her head into her hands Willow began an amazing internal babble, Willow in her slight panic during and after the phone call in question hadn’t noticed that Dawn had come downstairs early from her sulk, Dawn, sitting just out of Willow’s line of sight had a scrunched forehead and was confused as to what she had and was hearing, “Way to do dufus…probably sounded like a…a…probably sounded just. Like. Me. Just like I always do, a spazzie nerd.”

Dawn raised an eyebrow ‘spazzie nerd? What the hell?” scooting closer to the doorway Dawn stuck her head out to see what Willow was doing, head in hands and shoulders slumped Dawn hadn’t seen Willow this bummed for along time,
Even though she was still officially on the clock with her sulk Dawn couldn’t help feel bad for the Redhead.

“ ’Tara hi, its Willow here, Willow Rosenberg Bla bla bla…sorry for barging in today’…bla bla bla…something about amazing eye cream, bla bla bla cant wait to see you, ‘here you paused and then added ‘at the meeting’ in a somewhat panicked manner, and then you said goodbye and rang off, that’s about the jist of it. if it helps at all”

Willow looked up threw the gaps in her fingers “Dawn?” looking around the Redhead was confused as to where the teenager was, “Dawnie where are you?”
A finger poking out and waving from round the doorframe was her answer, smiling softly, Willow got up of the swing and joined the youngest summers on floor in the hallway,
“You were listening?” Dawn winced slightly “Only a little….I came down stairs and you were on the phone so I sat and happened to over hear you, It’s a good thing I was you looked about ready to cry before”
Willow took a deep breath in and took a second to reflect on the two of them, sitting in the hallway, just hanging.
When the gang had found out that Dawn was a Key Willow always wondered if they still sat here because it was a memory they both had or because it was a space in the house where you could sit without being in anyone’s way while watching everything happen around you, This was something they had always done, just the two of them, a lot of time and a heap of important talks had occurred on this very patch of floor, this was their space, a space in the house where they always happened to find themselves to talk, Dawn and Willow had always been quite close, they had never put up with each others shit, having a bad day was not reason enough to get away with anything in both of there eyes, in saying that they could talk freely with each other buy the flip side is they also had whopping great fights, neither held a grudge and the fight was usually over an hour later.

Coming back to the present Willow knew she couldn’t bullshit Dawn, “I was about to cry…I was phoning someone I want to get to know, I really like them” she also knew she didn’t have to show all her cards, not yet anyway,
Dawn nodded, “huh, how long had it been since Oz?” Willow surprised herself by having to actually count out the months, “Um…bout fifteen months now,” “Shit that’s been a while, doesn’t feel that long ago to me, anyway what are they like, where did you meet them?” Dawn had to smile as Willow’s eyes lit up and she wriggled a little, “Well we met kind of… um well they sort of…” Willow was stuck, she knew that Dawn knew about her eyes, and the witch that saved her so she couldn’t say that then a stoke of genius “I met them at the Bronze, I didn’t get to say much to them but they seemed really…powerful,”
Dawn rolled her eyes, She knew when Willow was trying to mislead her in a conversation, to many them’s and they’s in her wording answered a question Dawn didn’t even ask,
Willow was still in her own little world mentally babbling so Dawn decided to bring her back to a level playing field, nonchalantly asking “Oh Will I forgot what was her name again?

Without missing a beat Willow replied “Tara” then after a couple of seconds and a mental double take, Willow looked at Dawn in shock “Hey! You tricked me! No fair…. I…um…crap” Willow pouted slightly as Dawn started to giggle, and then laugh out loud, “Will…. Ha! your to much, why would you hide that from me? Me of all people? Did you have your fingers in your ears when I was telling you about my crush on Faith? Or perhaps my little experimentation with Janice? Willow…for shame” waggling a finger in mock shame Dawn took a big breath in,
“Okay so now all the bullshit is out of the way, tell me what she like!”
and Dawn again had to smile as Willow’s eyes lit up and she wriggled round a bit as she processed to do just that,

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Kate was bored, she was lying on her bed throwing a tennis ball up and catching it, or trying to, ‘doink’ after the seventh time of hitting herself in the head Kate gave up, throwing the ball as hard as she could at the wall facing her she was pleasantly surprise to see it come straight back to her hand, nodding as if to say ‘huh’ Kate began her new game, ……………… Ten minutes later Kate was bored again, eyeing the phone Kate looked down at Kansas, “What do you think Kanz, call Buffy at work?” The dog sneezed and rolled over going back to sleep, “Well what do you know you spend half the day licking yourself clean only to roll in crap again anyway…everyone’s a critic” dragging herself of the bed Kate pulled up her socks as she shuffled along the room stumbling slightly as she reached the phone, settling down in the comply chair Kate dialed the gym, as she waited for the call to connect she inspected her pants for any trespassing lint, “S.D.G, Bob speaking” Kate pulled her head away from the phone at the harsh loud voice, “Hi Bob. Would Buffy be available please?” Putting a slightly pissed off tone into the Bob, Kate rubbed the abused ear as she waited to be connected though to the gym floor,
“Buffy here” Unknowingly Kate’s face broke into a dazzling grin as she heard Buffy’s voice, “Hi Buffy its Ka….” “Kate! Hey!” Kate was touched Buffy knew her voice from four words, “Is this a bad time?” Buffy looked around, two regulars and one woman who Buffy gave a week before she threw it in, glad the gym had cordless phones Buffy walked over to the bench press and sat down, “No…This is a great time, I was thinking about you this afternoon actually…would you like to do something tonight? A coffee maybe?”

Kate snuggled deeper into the chair, “I would love to, where were you thinking?” “Um not sure the Bronze? Or maybe..” “The Bronze sounds great, I’ll meet you at your house…say nine-ish?” “Sounds great, better actually” Now neither girl had noticed but their voices had softened incredibly and both were lost in the conversation, Buffy got a hell of a fright when ‘Bob’ tapped her on the shoulder, telling her to get back to work, Buffy apologized to Kate and got of the phone, walking back to help the woman work a machine all the while mumbling to herself ‘slayer instincts…hello! Where was the warning people? What if that had been a demon?’

Kate hung up the phone with a self-satisfied smile. Looking up at Kansas, smirked “and that ladies and gentlemen is how it’s done”

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Willow and Dawn had been sitting for hours and now they were both paying for it, anyone who was walking past the house would have seen two girls roaring with laughter as they sang ‘the hokey pokey’ at the top of their lungs as they shook out the offending limbs,

“…And that’s what is a all about!….Okay okay, I’m done, I’m all shook out” Willow laughed as she moved into the living room and sank down onto the couch,
Dawn not far behind,
Turning to Dawn Willow put her arms around her and whispered “Thanks” quietly, Dawn merely hugged Willow back,

After watching crap TV and finishing Dawns trig homework both girls went to up to their rooms to sleep, Willow’s old bedroom still had a bed and a wardrobe in it for when Willow did decided to stay over, it was technically the guest bedroom but it was Willow’s for when she wanted it,

Falling into bed Willow couldn’t sleep so she rang Kate,
Kate at that very moment was enjoying a coffee with the woman fast becoming the most interesting person Kate had ever met.

[kimberley]

Woot thanks for the update am glad there are more on the way too! I really had to feel for willow at the start here with all her babbling and panic. I love the irony. If only she knew what we know about tara. And what a lovely scene with dawn, so cute, this is the first time she has really come ino the story and its great to see her character enlarged some. Ha dawn's little trick on will was cool and i especially love how will's eyes light up when she talks or thinks about tara.

Yes kate's contrasting phone call to buffy is exactly how it should be done!!....Keep it straight and simple...Like i'm one to talk though since i am also rubbish when it comes to making these sort of phone calls.

[sarejester]

Hey guys,
the second part of the update, I oppologise for making this chapter come in parts, feel free to yell bloody murder at my computer..it deleted the whole finished chapter so ive had to re-write it,
also Anna has decided its a war on Updates so they will just keep commin untill she's satisfied, so feel sorry for me because I dont even get to sleep well with out being badgerd by the update vilian,
-and the funny thing is you think im joking....

Kimberley-I know exacally what your talking about, faced with trying to make a phone call sound cool, calm and colected when you can feel your heart banging on your rib cage with a baseball bat is something i know all to well,

Disclaimer same as aways,
(kate gets a wee bit large with the butch, and we have a new charater, next update the scoobie meeting, i promise)

Chapter eight B


“And then you take this” Kate held up a straw “And put it here, but watch that you don’t stab yourself…those straws should come with a warning..” Buffy sat back in her chair holding her mocha bowl to her mouth to cover her smile, ‘So cute…’ Kate was sitting opposite her, with her full attention on teaching Buffy how to make an elephant with straws and napkins,

Buffy had finished early at the gym and had changed and walked over to Kate’s dorm room to surprise her, only to find Kate is a state of undress,
Buffy had knocked and opened the door finding Kate pulling a shirt over her head, The slayer didn’t mean to stare but the sight of Kate’s soft belly was to much, wearing low cut jeans gave Buffy a sneaky peak at the top of her lacy panties, Buffy watched the line of her hips turn into stomach which surprisingly enough turned into breasts, the bra…the bra. the bra. A satiny lacy black bra was molded to Kate’s perfect breasts,
Kate pulled the shirt on and looked to the door to see Buffy staring at her, smiling she grabbed her wallet and they were of,
“And the finishing touch…” Buffy was pulled out of her reverie by Kate placing a broken toothpick in the napkins for tusks,
Looking up Kate was glowing, “What do you think?” Looking critically at the ‘elephant’ Buffy bit her lip, “um…um..its very creative?”
Kate’s shoulders dropt, “you think its shit don’t you” Buffy started snickering and could only nod, Kate looked down at her creation and had to agree, pushing the shittiest elephant in the known world to one side Kate asked Buffy about getting into some courses at college, Buffy replied that she had spoken to the dean and a couple of the professors, they were aware of her situation and she was going to start in a couple of weeks, she was studying a variety of subjects, mostly around sports and nutrition,
After a while the two of them got up and had a dance, at first both were incredibly aware of each other and apologized for bumping or touching, after four songs had played through Buffy had taken the lead and stepped right into Kate’s personal space to dance closer with her hands wrapped loosely around her, Kate’s shining smile was catching and Buffy snuggled closer, Kate wrapped an arm around Buffy, the other on her hip.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Tara sat in her room touching up an old painting she was to present to her tutor tomorrow, she was wearing a silk kimono loosely tied around her, and was feeling very sated,
After cleaning up the bathroom, and getting dressed she had listened to Willow’s message over and over, just letting the sound of the Redhead’s voice roll over her,
She considered ringing her back but decided against it, figuring she would see her tomorrow, she did how ever ring an old friend, who she knew would help her make some choices, she dialed the number that was etched for ever in heart and waited, three rings later she heard the voice that made her laugh and cry simultaneously, “Hey Boots,”
Smiling despite herself at the pet name Tara settled down on her bed her legs crossed at the ankle ready for a chat, “Hey sweetie, you’ve got ca..caller ID now?” A soft chuckle reverberated around her ears, “Tare…don’t tease, you know I can still feel when its you, you could never sneak up on me, by the gods you tried but… I always could feel you” after a slight pause the voice continued, “So tell me what up, you haven’t stuttered to me in years”
Tara recognized the change of the subject, and let it slide “Oh where do I start…” Flinging herself down on the soft bed Tara threw her arm over her face, “Oh Hann…Her names Willow…” Tara smiled as she heard the soft chuckle again, “don’t laugh at me…remember I know where you live!” The voice at the other end let the chuckle die down and took a breath in “Okay Tare tell me about her” “Well she’s…” They talked for hours, about Willow, about how school was going and about nearly everything, including the two of them,
Tara sighed as they reminisced, Hannah had been Tara’s first everything, goddess she had loved her, she still did but not the ‘I cant breath with out her’ kind of love,
The two of them had been through everything together,

When the crops had been smashed to the ground by hail one season Tara’s father had decided to get a boarder in to help with the finances, and one morning as Tara was making breakfast for the family there was a knock at the door, Moving swiftly but silently to answer it Tara had opened it to find a soggy girl dressed in her Sunday best, dripping wet and shivering, Tara had never seen anyone more beautiful,

As it turns out Hannah came from a family not so different from her own, a strict religious family that worked the land hard,
The two of them became fast friends, sharing the work load on the farm they worked side by side for two years, Tara’s mother treated Hannah like the second daughter she never had, teaching both of them about magic and about the world beyond the fields they toiled in,
One winter night six months after Hannah arrived, Tara was woken by Hannah sliding into her bed behind her shaking from the cold, Tara turned instantly to embrace her and share her body warmth, they had both stopped moving when they realized how close they were, the cold puffs of air they were breathing out were mingling and swirling together,
Neither girl could move, to entranced by what they were feeling, The rain on the tin roof fading away, they could only hear their own heart beats, Hannah had run her foot down Tara’s leg and Tara had taken a stilted breath in, suddenly Hannah had laughed and put her head under the sheets, Tara looked mortified as she waited to see what Hannah was doing, half excitement half blind panic, Hannah had emerged from the blankets shaking her head slightly, “Tara your still wearing your boots!”
Tara looked slightly indignant, “It’s c..cold!”
The tension broken both girls relaxed and laughed as quietly as they could, trying not to wake the house hold, Hannah snuggled closer to Tara and Tara had welcomed her with open arms,
Hannah then took Tara’s face in her hands and moving slowly to give Tara time to pull away kissed her slowly, Tara had never been kissed before, and she thought that she had just been given her very own piece of heaven, if such a place existed.

Night after night the routine never changed, Hannah snuck in after everyone was asleep, always greeting Tara with a smile and a “Hey Boots”,
They were connected to each other like Tara had ever known, Tara always knew where Hannah was, could sense her and vies versa,
When things were bad, and they often were Hannah was always there for her, Donny never picked on Tara when the odds were against him, and Tara’s father, even after two years always thought of Hannah as a guest was always courteous around her, so Tara was safest when she was with her, or her mother.

Hannah was heart broken when Lillian had died, she had been half way across the country when she heard and it took her a week to get home,
When she got there Tara was stuttering and shaking as bad as Hannah had ever seen her, after dealing with Donny and the lawyers for two days she literally picked up the blonde and carried her to her beat up old truck, put her in and driven her the whole way to Sunnydale, where she was living at the time.
Months later Kate left and Tara stayed, buying an apartment with some of the money Lillian left her and a little she had saved,
Tara and Hannah chatted regularly now, they had not spoken for months after Hannah left, the hurt to much for them both they had never called themselves a ‘couple’ or labeled themselves they had just simply loved, and when Hannah left it felt like their left arms had been ripped off, a piece of each of them was missing and it took both of them months to learn to compensate and eventually live with out each other.

Hannah was expressing some concern over Tara’s state of mind at the moment, “Its not such a good thing to be all over the show, up and downing will only make you sick, have you still got your doll’s eye crystal?” Tara sat up and retrieved the crystal from her dresser, “Of course I’ve still got it, do you still have yours?” Tara could hear Hannah shifting threw her room, mumbling about needing a cleaning woman, “Got it…okay here’s the plan we both get of the phone and meditate on them for a while.
After ringing off, Tara sat on the floor and concentrated on the energy the crystal was emitting, relaxing and breathing steadily Tara became aware of Hannah’s energy mixing with hers, smiling she mentally thanked Hannah for the support and then felt the other girl leave her, focusing more intently Tara let the meditation rejuvenate her and bring her a sense of peace.
…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Buffy was walking Kate home when she felt rather then heard the vamp sneak up on them, Touching Kate’s hand in warning she spun with Mr. Pointy at the ready, a witty quip on her tongue…and didn’t even bother when she came face to face with Mr. Tall, peroxided and lurking, “Spike”
Kate watched with interest…so this was spike…’funny I always though he’d be…bigger’
Spike approached the two with a definite strut that Kate couldn’t help but want to beat out of him,
“Evening ladies, My my a wee bit late for you pets to be out id’nt it?”
Buffy was about to give spike a piece of her mind when Kate stepped up to the pitch, verbal bat at the ready, putting a hand on Buffy’s arm she put on her best innocent face, “Why Buffy, you didn’t tell me spike was this…. He’s gorgeous!” Buffy looked like she wanted to throw up, “Kate…I mean….I…um…” Spike looked like he had just won the Passions sweepstakes, “See slayer at last a woman so can appreciate me!….so pet how’s about you and me..” spike pursed his lips and gave Kate the ‘look’ Buffy couldn’t believe what was happening, she was a very confused slayer,
Kate’s smile spurred Spike on, “Cos I’ve got a lovely crypt just a few hundred yards that way, I could give you the tour…” Kate nodded and ‘ohhed and ahhed at the appropriate time while she sought out and captured Buffy’s hand giving it a squeeze, “trust me”
Squeezing the hand back Buffy let Kate know she did, Kate then stopped Spike to ask oh so innocently “Now I have to ask this, would you want to be on the top or the bottom…” Spikes eyes lit up, “Oh definitely the top with you pet..” Kate’s look of horror deserved an Oscar “Me? God you thought that I…With. You….oh god no I was thinking about setting you up with my friend……Hayden, you are… aren’t you?” The look of horror on Spikes face was worth carrying a camera around with your for years to get, “I….Wha….Bloody hell, No! I like Woman!” “Funny…so do I” Kate’s smile turned cold, “so William the Bloody… Stay. Away. From. Mine” Kate turned and walked away with Buffy walking beside her, their arms linked and hands clasped together,

[kimberley]

Woot school is now out for the day and the next part is here!! Well i think you know i love your kate and buffy storyline and this was a lovely addition to that. Especially the parts where Buffy was perving on kate in her underwear, the great dialogue, the close dancing and finally kate telling spike to screw off.."Stay. Away. From. Mine"...haha i loved that....Its also good to know that Tara has someone else to rely on since Willow currently has ALL of the scoobies.

[singgirl]

Heya! Great updates, I liked the fact that there were two when I checked in, that's always a pleasent suprise. The ignorant roomate is gone, today was her last day to get her crap out! Wooo! Now I can read your fic without fear! Cuz, uh, she actually did interrupt me when I was reading that last update...she's talented...

[justin]

That was a great update.

I liked Kate putting Spike in his place by making him think she was interested in him, and then saying she was thinking about setting him up with Hayden A better way to put him in his place would have been with a stake through his heart, but Kate's way works as well.

I'm looking forward to the meeting, though ptobably not as much as Willow and Tara. So will they spend the meeting staring at each other dreamily or will there be a deep ccnversationa nd maybe even some ?

[sarejester]

Hey guys,
sorry I havent updated in a while, this one's a bit longer though so i think its a bit of a compremise,
Im going to be updating sort of once a week now, so you guys can get nice long updates..hope thats all good with you

firstly, ANNA is a legend!, shes not well and still has the time to look over my update and ever so kindly show me where ive made random mistakes,
so go anna go...!!!

kimberlery-enjoy dude, im really glad your liking the buffy/Kate aspect cos their first kiss is in this update, ( I swear Willow and Tara are going to get there!)


Singgirl

Cuz, uh, she actually did interrupt me when I was reading that last update...she's talented... woohoo she's gone and left you in peace...just to be sure though take the phone of the hook...you never know...as i said before a nice long update so I hope it works out for you,

Justin- Thanks Im glad you liked it, I personallay have nothing against spike he just happens to be in the right place at the right time,
...woops...


OKay, update..
disclaimers in chapter one,

Chapter 9,


Kate’s heart was pounding and the adrenalin running threw her body was setting her on fire,
She had been so abrupt, and why had she near enough branded property of Kate McCloud on Buffy in front of that vampire,
Walking swiftly away, Kate was aware of three things, one her heart slamming into her chest, two the heat licking its way down her stomach, and three Buffy’s hand held tightly in her grip,

Crossing the road and turning the corner, Kate stopped dead her back against the wall, panting with all the adrenalin coursing threw her veins, Buffy who wasn’t paying attention was swung round by the sudden change of direction and found herself within inches of Kate’s face,
Eyeing Kate’s lips Buffy found her heart working over time, her breathing all but stop and her legs deciding it was their night off,
Kate put her hands on Buffy’s hips to steady her and looked between the slayer and where they had come across the vampire,
“Is that wha…is that what it feels like to come face to face with a vampire…. My heart is…its …….god I feel like I could fly!”
Buffy mesmerized by Kate looked up, eye to eye and Kate saw just how dilated Buffy’s pupils were and how stormy her blue eyes had become, her breathing hitched, Buffy spoke slowly as if talking to herself, “Then fly”
The kiss was instantaneous, a searing of mouths, tongues and moans, Kate reacted on pure instinct, Her arms thrown round Buffy’s shoulders, hands in hair,
Buffy had one hand against the wall and one around Kate’s waist as she leaned into Kate, her body trying to press deliriously closer,
There was no analyzing, no comparing between both sexes’s, Buffy’s whole world was Kate, her body, her mouth and those dammed moans, Kate had never been kissed like this before, hell compared to Buffy she had never been kissed at all, She gave as much as Buffy wanted, completely at the slayers mercy, but getting utopia in return, moaning her appreciation into Buffy’s kisses Kate felt her hips start to buck into Buffy as the kiss grew in intensity if that was even possible,
Buffy felt her whole body hit a new high as she felt Kate react to her she instinctively she pushed her jeaned thigh between Kate’s and held it taut,
Kate’s eyes slid open and her head lulled back, a hiss was issued from her kiss-swollen mouth when she felt Buffy’s jean covered leg come into contact with her center, Buffy licked up Kate’s neck and blew lightly on the cooling patch, “ah…fuck” Hearing Kate Buffy felt her senses kick into overdrive, Kate’s tantalizingly soft skin, the smell of shampoo, perfume and the unique smell that was all Kate was driving her crazy, she had never felt so alive, Buffy mouth was at Kate’s ear biting her soft lobe, she whispered “Flying yet?” Then sucking on Kate’s pulse point Buffy felt rather then heard her whimper slightly and hiss “…Yesssss”
Kate pulled Buffy closer and thrust herself against the muscular thigh in almost a drunk desperation, her composure on a flight halfway across the world, hands tangled in Buffy’s hair winding tighter and tighter, her mouth half open sucking down lungful’s of air she heard her own voice cry out and whimper at the same time.
Needing to see Buffy’s eyes, Kate pulled with the hand wound in the slayer’s hair, now eye to eye with Buffy Kate saw her own reflection deep within them, and an almost carnal look that almost scared Kate in its intensity.

Three girls stumbling back from a night in town, rounded the corner and snickered and laughed as they came across the preoccupied pair, “Oi, Look Mollz itzzz a pair’a dykes….thez spoosed to be endangerd speesies aint dey?….Looks like theys on the mating program..”
Hearing the comment and snickering both girls stopped there movements, and after a long moment Buffy broke her gaze first, looking to their left at the drunken trio, Kate dropped her head onto Buffy’s shoulder silently cursing the girls timing and unwound her hands from the slayers hair, Buffy dropped her hands from Kate and looked from her to the threesome, trying to understand what she should be doing, “Kate?”
Kate recognized one of the three as a girl in her trig course, ‘Marla…the bitch’
Turning her attention back to Buffy Kate looked into still stormy eyes, but now seeing hurt, anger and confusion in them, sighing she thought ‘this is all so new to you…this is what it takes to love someone like me’ The snickering girls walked drunkenly of, loosing their interest in the pair, off looking for their next victim no doubt,
As both girls stood, catching their breaths, Buffy was lost ‘That is what you have to deal with? That is how you live? …. at least I get to stake the ones that hurt me…’
Understanding Kate a little more, Buffy moved forward to kiss her, a soft gentle kiss, a kiss of reassurance and promise,

Buffy was walking Kate back to her dorm when suddenly Kate spoke
“I'm sorry that I got all butch with Spike…I…he…he just rubbed me completely the wrong way I felt like I was covered in grease when he came over…. I’m not explaining it well anyway the way he was leering at you God I wanted to hit him! I’ve never done that before your not cattle that I have branded, and I'm sorry….” Buffy’s eyebrows were in her hairline…. “God Willow’s turned you!”
“A babbler? I. Do not. Babble… I may speak for a very long time about absolutely nothing with out taking a breath…but I don’t babble, got me slayer” Kate made her point by poking Buffy with her index finger, Laughing Buffy held her hands up in mock surrender, “I got it I got it Jezz, give a slayer a bruise why don’t you” Then turning more serious Buffy took Kate’s hand and started to walk again, “Kate…” Kate heard the ‘I need talk to you about something but don’t want to say it’ tone in Buffy’s voice, Taking a breath Buffy continued “Does that happen a lot to you? With the laughing and the horrible comments?”
Kate wiggled her hand, “I'm not gonna lie to you, it does happen but usually its by people just like that, drunks, small minded bitches and people who enjoy bulling. The people who know about me are mostly really supportive, my mum nearly made banners when she found out, but then you get stupid people who will never understand or want to, so you either live with it, or hide.
And I don’t know about you, but I will not hide, I’ve not done anything wrong so why be ashamed, you know?” Kate took a moment to compose herself “What ever you want to do… is completely up to you, I will support your decision either way, I just want you to know that I really like you…”
Buffy walked for a good ten minutes thinking things through, she was quiet for so long that Kate had started panicking, “I'm really sorry, but you not saying anything is really starting to freak me out I mean I’ve been really quiet and kinda waiting for ten minutes for you to speak up and I’m a pretty patient person but this is killing me…did I mention how sorry I was about the whole Spike thing? Seriously babe I just…. its just…….I…….see NOW I’m babbling…” having finished her spiel, Kate remembered to breath, bright red at her out-burst Kate was quiet again, Buffy smiled, and slipped her hand back into Kate’s “three things…one, I love that you took Spike down a few pegs, we have…history and…you were perfect, two…..I understand that its not an easy road being with another woman, I was just thinking about how many minorities I can possibly fit myself into, I'm now a bread winning, sister sitting vampire slaying, world saving woman lover… ” Kate chuckled softly at Buffy’s self description and waited for her to finish her list and when Buffy stayed silent Kate prompted“…and number three is….” Buffy squeezed Kate’s hand “….Call me Baby again..”
Kate laughed and hugged Buffy to her, kissing her nose “Baby, walk me home”
The rest of the trip to Kate’s dorm was uneventful and Kate was glad, she had had quite enough excitement for one day. A soft kiss was her goodnight and a beaming smile that warmed her to the tips of her toes, “Night” “Night night”
As soon as Buffy had closed the door Kate frightened Kansas by leaping onto her bed and thrashing around with giddiness, settling finally Kansas jumped up to investigate, “Kanz, baby girl, today was a good day” Absently touching her fingers to her lips Kate smiled and floated in the memory of Buffy’s lips against hers.

On the short walk home Buffy met little trouble, a stray vampire here and there but they were nothing compared to Buffy tonight, she was on top form, after her third slay, Buffy got to thinking Kate was good for her slayer skills, she was being incredibly productive, must tell Giles to put that in the Watcher hand book, ‘If one wants a productive slayer, find very attractive lesbian to temp said slayer into relationship and/or fling, improved kill count or your money back….’
Snorting at the absurdity of it all Buffy jogged the last few blocks home,
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Buffy curse slightly as she drove the jeep into the curb, turning of the engine and jumping down the Slayer ran up the stairs to Tara’s apartment,
Buffy was as per usual running late, she was slightly cranky for two reasons this morning she had only been able to see Kate for fifteen minutes before work and two the coffee machine had been broken so no mocha’s for the blonde,

After showering and changing at work Buffy had realized the time and remembered she had offered to pick up Tara for the Scoobie meeting today,
Half way down the street she had remembered that she hadn’t filled out her time sheets and had to drive the whole way back, thus the sprinting up two flights of stairs, two steps at a time.

Knocking loudly on Tara’s door Buffy hopped from foot to foot slightly impatiently,
Upon hearing footsteps walking towards the door, Buffy took a step back and waited a little more patiently, As Tara opened the door Buffy had to admit that Tara had style, Dressed in old army cargo pants and a white singlet, a knee length black leather jacket, her hair pulled out of her face by two braids Tara was definitely a hottie,
Realizing with horror that she had just looked Tara up and down… Buffy quickly looking back into Tara’s face turning bright red as Tara silently raised one questioning eyebrow, mortified Buffy turned and let the way down to the car with out speaking.

After her chat with Hannah and their combined meditation the other night, Tara was feeling better, she was feeling calmer and surer of herself,
This morning she had woken from the most beautiful dream about certain redhead with a smile on her face, and the smile graced her face most of the day because she knew she was going to see that certain redhead tonight at the meeting,
Tara was more concerned about the whole ‘prophecy’ thing; she had looked up a few spells and had researched a few books to take to the meeting, she desperately wanted to be of some use and marginally prepared so she had used the laptop Hannah had given her, all be it not willingly, Hannah had almost brought it as a joke, She knew how much Tara disliked computers, it was more of a personal protest of sorts, ‘The spelling…. why do people have such horrendous spelling! It’s just depressing!”
But in the interest of not looking like a complete idiot Tara had stuck it out, shuddering every now and then, she had found some really interesting sites which were incredibly helpful, book marking them for more in-depth reading later, Tara had written down the sites, and was just disconnecting from the internet when she heard Buffy knocking,

Grabbing her satchel and sweater, Tara had opened the door mentally making sure everything was locked, turned of and safe when she had glanced at Buffy, and saw the blonde look her up and down, now Tara had nothing against being checked out, goddess knows she had been checked out by worse….far worse but it was the way Buffy didn’t even seem to be doing consciously, Raising an eyebrow Tara waited, The second Buffy looked back up she looked like a deer caught in the headlights going as red as Willow’s hair, Following Buffy back down the stairs Tara had to laugh out loud, if nothing else this was going to be an interesting night.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Willow was sitting in an almost fetal position in her seat a look of misery on her face, Kate sitting next to her clutching a pillow to her stomach in a protective manner while Kansas sat on the floor her attention split between her owner and the crumbs under the couch.
“…. Xander…..make it stop” Xander set down his crackers and walked over to where Anya was apparently trying to play six degree’s of separation with Willow “So I'm engaged to Xander who ate bugs for Dracula…a strange little man, but boy could he dance…where was I?…oh yes, who was cousins with Vlad the impailer….Oh he was a sweetie too, that man had such a nose for torture…” Xander watched in horror as his fiancée went into her happy space, “and might I add ew…Ahn…. AHN! Why don’t you give Willow a break…go play it with Giles” Giles sitting across the room shot Xander an extremely dirty look, “Xander I would appreciate it if you didn’t…”
The gang looked up to see Buffy and Tara enter taking of there jackets at the door, “Like I said before that fence was already broken I just nudged it…moving swiftly along…this is Giles’s house where most of the Scoobie meetings are held, Guys for those of you who haven’t met, This is Tara, Tara, guys”
Waving a hand Tara looked at the crew chosen to save the world
Buffy pointed to each, “Giles, Xander, Anya and you know Kate and Willow…and that’s Kansas, Kate’s puppy” Willow looked almost relieved at the pair had entered, she smiled and shuffled over on the couch so they could sit, Kate held up a hand in greeting, Anya waved ecstatically, Giles half stood and nodded, Xander looked at Tara and went of into a happy space before being hit by Anya.
Tara smiled and quietly regretted having her hair up, her security blanket was still the curtain of hair she could hide behind, ‘ah well’ her coat hung up Tara took the offered seat next to Willow taking a silent breath in as she felt Willow’s hand brush her thigh as she sat,

After a few quiet seconds Tara had to ask, “So what exactly d..do you all do?”
Giles took of his glasses and moved to clean them as he explained, ‘Well you see Tara, er….we all have pivotal rolls in…” about here Buffy interrupted as she perched herself on Kate’s arm of the couch, “Slayer…”
Xander piped up, “fixer of all things wooden, and axe man extraordinaire”
Anya came next “ Ex vengeance demon now shop owner”
Giles.. still cleaning his glasses ventured, “…er….Watcher, ex librarian”
Kate looked down the line and realize they were all waiting for her to speak up “um…. pep squad?””
Tara turned slightly and after a few tries managed to look Willow in the eye “A..and you?” Willow looked a little dazed for a second, “Oh me? I'm research gal, and Witchy gal…. Sort of…Well learning to be, cos you see I only found out about the craft about eight months ago I mean of course I knew about it cos we live on a hellmouth and all but I only started learning a little while ago so I’m still…er….. learning. so mainly research girl at the moment” as Willow finally wound down her babble, Tara caught Kate looking at her watch and writing something down in a little notebook
Tara smiled and ducked her head out of reflex but realized once again her hair was tied back, “o..oh, and she’s…..” nodding at Kansas “..Just a dog right?” Kate laughed out loud and gave Kansas a scratch “yup, just a regular canine”
“Tara if you don’t mind me asking…but what exactly is it that you do?
How did you learn and effectively use the sunlight spell to get Willow out of danger?
I don’t mean to pry its just I’m aware of how taxing that particular spell can be, and how advanced it is” Tara looked at Giles, the oldest and seemingly the matriarch of the group, the slight look of curiosity and the kindly smile on his face assured Tara that she was not being accused or investigated so she started to explain, looking at everyone evenly but her body always faced towards Willow.

“Ours is a long line of witches, we pass the gift onto our daughters, I started learning the craft when I was four and I um I’ve been a practicing Wiccan since I was about eight… My mo..mother was my mentor and my guide, and she taught me from when I was old enough to understand, she..” As Tara spoke she looked around the group, Anya and Xander sat together with Xander’s arm around Anya in a protective and supportive gesture, Giles sat slightly outside of the ring of friends keenly interested and attentive, Kate sat back with one arm casually leaning on Buffy’s leg, while the slayer sat a little straighter and was absently rubbing Kansas with her foot as she listened,
Willow was playing with her hands as she listened, her eyes unfocused as if she was imagining what Tara was saying, “ Mom thought it was important that I was able to protect myself in most situations so she taught me a variety of spells that give me time to get away, an example the sunlight spell, it was hard to learn but I’ve never been happier to have put the hard work in then the other night” the words slipped out of Tara’s mouth before she could stop them, looking shyly at Willow blushing slightly at Willow’s bright smile,

Giles stood and took of his glasses wiping his forehead with his sleeve “remarkable, well Tara I suppose Buffy has explained to you the circumstances of your being here…not to say that your not very welcome off course” Breaking eye contact with Willow, Tara spoke “Yes, basically, Buffy explained the prophecy and how you think that it relates to me, do you have a copy of it so I co..could read it through?”
“Certainly” Walking to the desk hidden in the corner of the room Giles flicked threw a folder until he found what he was looking for, walking back to the group he set a piece of thin fax paper on the table and slid it to Tara,

As Tara leaned forward to read, Willow noticed the small white tattoo on her lower back, its placement meant that she couldn’t see it fully as the bottom of Tara’s sweater came down to cover the majority of it, but the simple white design was beautiful, what she could see of the image was laid so flowingly over the curves of Tara’s back, Willow had to hold her hands between her knees so she didn’t lean over and run a finger along the skin where the tattoo raised it slightly,

Tara, feeling someone looking at her intently looked up, Xander was in conversation with Anya, Giles was reading another fax, Kate and Buffy were petting Kansas quietly, that left…Looking over her shoulder Tara saw Willow looking at her back, realizing that Willow was looking at her tattoo Tara subtly moved forward and leaned over the paper giving Willow a better view,
As Tara moved Willow’s eyes shot up looking guilty, Tara was once again reading the fax on the table but a tiny smile crossed her face as Willow looked up panicked,
After assessing she hadn’t been caught staring Willow couldn’t help but looking back down at the newly reveled tattoo, she realized it was an intricate design consisting of knot work and a few words worked into the knots in a dialect Willow didn’t recognize,

Tara finished reading the fax and had a few questions of her own, paper in hand she directed them mostly to Giles who was re-reading a copy of the same prophecy,
“Um..a couple of things don’t make sense to me here, I do..don’t want to assume to argue with your theory but I have t..to be sure your not making a mistake with me” Giles said nothing just nodded and waited,

“U..um first thing is ‘Can not been see by sight’ and ‘be strong of heart, be strong of mind’ here its not just talking about me, its talking about me and Wi..Willow. I think”
Giles frowned slightly and looked down to read the prophesy through,
“How do you reach that conclusion?” Buffy was leaning over Kate to read the fax, Tara pushed the page over slightly so Buffy could get a good look, “You see how it says can not be seen by sight” Tara pointed to the line “well when Willow had eye patches on she recognized me with out seeing me or ever having met me before” Turning to Willow who hadn’t spoken Tara continued “How d..did you decide the prophecy involved me?” Willow frowned slightly trying to remember the exact reasoning “Um, the flaming pillar, your magical energy looks like a pillar of fire…that mainly, what makes you think I’m in the prophecy?”
Tara pushed an invisible strand of hair behind her ears, “Well the prophecy is a riddle right?” Getting nods all round Tara moved on “I l..looked up Prophecy’s and riddles on my computer just to get to know what I’m looking a..at a bit better, and from what I read and from what you’ve told me about how this riddle was displayed in the dream, It has to be read two different ways”
Giles looked up nodding, “Your right I remember now, quite clever Tara”
Xander looked from Tara to Giles in quick succession, “Okay and for those of us that don’t speak watcher or witch that means?” Giles looked at Xander, “It means Xander that the message written on the wall tells us both what we are fighting, and how we should go about it.
Tara is quite right, I think we should rule out anyone or anything else before we declare Willow part of the prophecy though just as a precaution”

[singgirl]

A long, uninterrupted update...life is good... So, if the prophecy is talking about Willow and Tara, that means they'll just have to spend more time together, right?

[kimberley]

What a great and very long update, thanks so much i really enjoyed it. WOW what a kiss between kate and buffy!!! Do i ever wish that i had been kissed like that?.....HELL YES....Carnal intensity at its best, that was crazy hot.

Ha i loved that bit about how if you want a productive slayer you should find an attractive lesbian for her. Also with buffy checking out tara as well, she seems to be getting quite a roving eye for the girls now isn't she? Or am i reading to much into it?

Loved the first big meeting of all the scoobies at the end..Wow this part seemed just so warm and familiar to read with all the gang together. I had a big smile on my face all the way through this part. Cant wait for the next one now too.

[sarejester]

Hey all,
Its a really late update, im weally weally sorry, Been really busy,

singgirl uninterupted...gotta be a good feeling,
Yes they are finnally going to spend some time together...alone...with out any distractions, life is good when your on Willow-Tara-time...(happy space)

kimberley go the Buffy/kate kiss! haha, cheers dude, this one not so long but its mostly Willow Tara, hope you injoy,

Thanks for putting up with me not posting, Im only able to write a little a night now, Im trying though...bear with me,

(Tara is my interpritation of Tara, She's mostly based on the BTVS Tara but with a little spunk mixed in)

Chapter ten,
Disclaimers..same as always,


After hours of discussion, debate and endless researching Tara realized that this rag-tag group who normally you would never expect to hang out…really were saving the world on a weekly basis,
Tara also had to admit that they were an extraordinary team, and as a team they were a force to be reckoned with
Absently rubbing her shoulder where hours of researching was taking its toll Tara looked to her left where Willow was completely focused on the book in her lap,
Tara smiled at how at home Willow looked, she’d snuggled down in her seat, her feet propped up on the corner of the table, knees up with a book leaned against her thighs,
The slight frown and the way Willow was worrying her bottom lip slightly was what got Tara, Looking to her own book but not really seeing the page Tara plucked up what little courage she could find,
“Wi…willow?” “Hmmm?” Willow looked up from her book, her slightly tired but attentive eyes focused on Tara,

“I..um I got yyou message yesterday, I was….out I'm sorry I missed you..your call, I um was wondering if your not busy or already doing something…If you’d like to maybe get together and do some spells?” Willow’s eyes lit up “Really? That would be…I mean, I really wanted to ask before but I didn’t want to impose on you, I mean you’ve learn so much….and I’ve only just sort of started, Wow I….um..” Willow stopped her mini babble, looked down for a second to compose herself then looked back into Tara’s patiently waiting face, “Tara I’d be honored”

Tara let out the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding, “Great, um maybe tomorrow? I mean…If your..” “Tomorrow would be perfect, Should I come to you? What should I bring? I have this great spell book that…. well you’ve probably got it or read it but its amazing and I could…why are you laughing?” Tara felt almost giddy at the excitement Willow was showing, ‘she wants to hang out with me, do spells with me…. with ME!” hiding her smile behind her hand she could only wave a hand at Willow, “Nothing nothing I um….I'm not laughing at you, I would never…Tomorrow at my place sounds great, you don’t need to bring anything but if you want to bring some spells or books you want to work from….feel free, about tw..twelve-ish Okay with you?” “Twelve-ish is perfect for me, I can’t wait” Both girls couldn’t stop grinning, Willow raised her book and rolled her eyes as if to say ‘gotta get back’ and even as two sets of eyes went back to their respective books, two sets of identical smiles graced the faces of the two witches sitting side by side, neither really seeing what they were reading.

Twenty minutes later Giles put down his book with a resounding thud, which everyone took as a signal to drop the book they had all been blankly staring at for the last half and hour, “Well everything we researched tonight has strengthened your theory Tara” “Wills welcome to the scintillating world of prophecy’s…population you…and Tara” “Yes, thank you Xander, very poetic of you” Giles took of his glasses and rubbed his eyes,
Kate sat forward slightly looking the picture of innocents, “Xander I’m just impressed you put the word scintillating in the correct context…. pray tell what does it mean?” Xander opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, “I…. um…it…” Kate bit her lip and teasingly raised her eyebrows a couple of time at the gob smacked Xander, “Thought so” Sitting back looking rather smug Kate put her hand on Buffy’s leg drawing on it with her fingers, Buffy looked down with absent affection and Anya who had been sitting quietly was now watching the two like a halk, “I…she…. alright who invited her…. out! out I say!…Buffy please escort Miss McCloud to the door, she’s given my fragile masculinity a beating and my testosterone needs to regroup…”
Laughing Buffy mockingly grabbed Kate by the scruff of her neck and pretended to haul her up and to the door “Sorry Kate what the man wants the man gets” Giles rolled his eyes and stood, “Tara please excuse the shenanigans of the children they get a little boisterous without hourly doses of caffeine or MTV…Thank you for coming tonight I'm sorry the meeting ran so late”
Tara who had until now has sat and chuckled at Buffy’s antics sat straighter and gave Giles her full attention “That’s fine Mr. Giles I’ve enjoyed mys…myself” “Until next meeting then” Tara smiled in response, then took a look round the room,

Kate had wiggled her way out of Buffy’s stronghold and now was trying to get Buffy to release her grip on her sweater, Xander and Anya stood and began to get their jackets on, Xander listening as Anya whispered secretively to him while eyeing Buffy and Kate,
Willow yawned and stretched out like a cat, her arms pulling her top up slightly giving Tara a perfect view of her delectable tummy, ‘willow-tummy- willow-tummy- willow-tummy- willow-tummy’ Tara’s eyes glazed over as she fell helplessly into her happy space, finishing her stretch Willow let out a self satisfied sigh and glanced over at Tara, seeing her eye’s glazed and a decadent look on her face, Willow had to wonder what she was thinking about ‘…she looks so….’ The thoughts sexy and gorgeous filed into Willow’s head but she settled on ‘sultry and completely….lickable, she’s probably thinking about her boyfri….’ And then it occurred to Willow, while she had been in Tara’s house she hadn’t seen one picture of a male…not one poster, no trinkets that looked like they were given by a guy…not that she had any idea what a guy given trinket would look like, but that was neither here nor there, no posters, no photo’s……and then as if she were watching the last five minutes of ‘Murder she wrote’ the pieces of the puzzle were reveled to her, ‘kd lang…. Melissa Etheriege…the rainbow suspender’s…’ Willow would swear years later that at that very instant her eyes turned into big dollar signs and a ‘chi ching’ sound echoed round the house,

………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Willow’s foot was shaking absently as she sat with her hands clenching and unclenching between her thighs, Her eyes were set on the clock and she was literally counting down the minutes,
“Eleven forty three…Eleven forty……four”
Kate having sat threw this since Ten thirty threw a pillow at Willow…slightly amused as she realized she was rhyming,

The meeting last night ended later then anyone had expected so Buffy had dropt Tara off and Xander had offered Kate and Willow a lift as they were going in the same direction,
After saying good night to Tara, and reaffirming there spell date Willow had been on cloud nine and only Kate’s quick thinking had convinced Anya that Willow hadn’t been hexed or drugged, Kate had half dragged Willow back into their dorm room, sat her down and the two of them had a much needed catch up session, Kate gushing about how things with Buffy were going,
Willow felt bad that she hadn’t really caught up with Buffy properly lately, but conceded that Kate was distracting her just as much as Tara was distracting Willow…. albeit not knowingly,
It was lucky, Willow thought that the three of them, the original Scoobies Xan, Buffy and herself had such a solid base friendship that they didn’t really need to live in each other’s pockets, they all knew they had other priorities and responsibility’s now and that was accepted and respected.

Willow’s eyes watched the clock hand tick over in almost slow motion…. eleven forty five…
“That’s it, so what if I’m a little early…I can’t wait any longer it’s driving me mad!” Willow bolted upright and grabbed the neatly packed bag that had waited patiently for a good part of the morning, heading out the door with bravado that was more adrenaline then anything Willow waved a hand at Kate and was gone,
Kate rolled onto her back and went back to studying, shaking her head slightly as she sucked on the end of her pen.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Tara had always thought of herself as somewhat of a multitasker, that theory was coming crashing down this morning, It all started when she woke with a start, all night long she dreamt she had cleaned the apartment, worked out which spells she should use, and worked on her art of seduction, upon waking and discovering that none if it had had actually happened she panicked,
Now running round the house wearing the bare essentials, (knickers and a bra…both black and slightly spicy…just incase) Tara was working like a demon,

‘Bathroom…check,
Kitchen…check,
Floor…swept,
Paintings…hidden
Space to work…. made comfortable…yet casual…check’

Now back in the kitchen sitting on one of the stools at the small bench Tara realized her mistake almost immediately, so intent on moving quickly and getting everything done (Tara had been brushing her teeth, making coffee while writing herself a quick note to remind herself that she had an appointment later in the week) the deadly mistake had occurred when she had absently taken a sip of coffee…. coffee and peppermint toothpaste…not the best combo,

Screwing up her face Tara ran to the sink to spit out the concoction, deciding coffee was a bad idea Tara rinsed her mouth with water, now standing over the sink watching the crystal above the window Tara took a moment, leaning on her elbows letting the heat from the sun spilling threw the window soak into her skin she closed her eyes and let the warmth spread and expand threw her body, the shudder that past threw her woke her from her blissful state, realizing the time Tara walked to her room to sort out clothes for the day.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Willow stood outside Tara’s door, a bag slung low over one shoulder and two piping hot mocha’s in her hands, knocking on the door Willow took a deep breath and waited,
Tara looked up frowning only just hearing the quiet knock, rummaging round the room she found and pulled on a pair of old jeans and a singlet, and tied up her hair before she opened the door,
“Willow! Come in” Kicking the door wide open she waited till the redhead walked past her, she surreptitiously checked out Willow’s butt as she absently closed the door behind them,

Willow walked into the sitting room and set the coffees down on a table, “Sorry I’m early, I was kinda excited about doing spells and I was clock watching…which come to think of it I do a lot I’ve noticed but hey better early then late right? I hate being late I think it’s rude and looks like you don’t care enough to be on time to the person your supposed to be meeting…you know?”
Tara stood a little shell shocked, “u…um…yea …I.I.I’m not big on the lateness either” she gave Willow a nervous half smile, then turned to grab a book of her bookshelf…completely missing Willows pupils darken and her mouth open slightly ‘Oh goddess, Tara-lips….Tara-smile’
Willow quickly re-focused and picked up the two coffees “Um… I got us coffees, well mocha’s…I didn’t know if you wanted coffee or hot chocolate so I got the best of both worlds, you want?”
Tara looked up from the book she was holding, “Oh…th..thanks, for a second there I thought you were a coffee-fiend and I was going to have to confiscate one of those…” Eye’s sparkling Tara reached over and took one of the offered coffee’s, Taking a sip she closed her eyes and bit her lip “mmmm that’s so good…thanks, I had an ac..accident with my morning coffee….”Tara grimaced and continued “…was trying to multitask and was brushing my teeth while making coffee, I took a sip…”
Willow winced “ouch…” Tara raised an eyebrow and nodded “hmmm, Ok so what would you like to do today?” raising a hand to the seats Tara sat on one end of the couch tucking her legs up under her, Willow followed suit and sat on the other end of the couch while pulling out her books, “I brought the spells that I’ve been learning and thought you could look over them and kinda tell me what you think?”

[grimlock72]

Owie owie... I'm soooooo late with feedbacking to all the wonderfull stories. Can't believe I haven't read Pens in almost three weeks, eeks!

It's good to see you continueing with this story, it certainly has potential. Kate has a busy job, grounding both Willow and Buffy into a somewhat normal reality . I could very well imagine Kate jumping onto her bed after her night (out, heh) with Buffy. Kansas will just have to get used to it .

I very much liked that Tara had somebody supporting her through difficult times. I'm not sure why she and Hanna split up though, don't think the reason was mentioned ? Just "months later Hanna left"... poor Tara, poor Hanna. Good to know they are now speaking terms, everybody needs somebody to talk with at times.

I don't get the riddle yet, but I'll work on it

P.S. What soooo icky about toothpaste and coffee ?? Granted it's not a great mix but it wakes you up with nice shiny teeth

Grimmy

[singgirl]

Oh joy! You updated. Those are few and far between, you know. I love it anyway! I like the fact that your Tara is spicy. Nobody EVER has any of the main characters as smokers, or ever smoking, or smoking with a drink... I mean, it seems kinda taboo, like if they started smoking pot. I like that ya did it. period.

[kimberley]

Hey thanks Sare that was a long enough update for me. its great how willow and tara are gelling better together in each of your updates. Haha ive also been repeating that phrase in my head "willow-tummy, willow-tummy"....how yummy ...I'm also loving the scenes where all the gang are interacting. You write it so well.

[sarejester]

Kimberly, Thanks man im working on building bigger updates so there further apart but hell longer,

Singgirl, dude I know exacally what you mean, "Nobody EVER has any of the main characters as smokers" Im a smoker and as often as I tell myself that its a horrible thing to do I think Tara would look kinda hot with a smoke... (but dont tell no one....)

Grimmy, "P.S. What soooo icky about toothpaste and coffee ?? Granted it's not a great mix but it wakes you up with nice shiny teeth" truth be told I dont drink coffee, Ive had maby a grand total of six cups in my whole life but I do drink juice...and milo and those concoctions are a very unplesant experience..but if coffee and tooth paste sounds gets your tummy rumbling mores the power to you....haha

Kay a HUGE thank you go's to Anna, My S-B-R who gets all of the update in paragraghs at a time sometimes, Thanks!!!
Your a legend...

and story..

Chapter eleven

Disclaimer bla bla bla youve heard it before,


Tara leaned over and took the well thumbed book Willow was holding, her fingers tingling as she came into contact with the redheads long slim digits, “oh um…sorry…” a slight blush crawled up Tara’s neck as she apologized, “So tell me a b..bit about where your at”
Willow looked up slowly from examining her fingers as if she had never noticed them before “Oh…well to tell you the truth it’s a bit of a non event, I…. well…. Okay I have always been computer gal right?” Tara nodded for her to continue, “and all of a sudden I'm magic gal so…I spent about a thousand years on the net looking up spells and Wicca and such and as I was researching I realized that I’m not really a Wiccan…I know almost nothing about the day to day stuff, I’ve researched the history and a lot about rituals and spells, but a lot of it doesn’t quite make sense and a heap of it is almost contradictory….so I'm a little….er..stuck…. But I have been practicing small things like floating pencils, the way I figure if you can float a pencil you can float a stake, if you can float a stake then bye bye vampires from a safe distance, less injuries you know? “
Tara nodded again in understanding, “That’s really practical of you, I'm not sure that it’s a fantasic idea though…” Willow frowned slightly, her ego a little bruised, shifting in her seat slightly she challenged “Really?….but if its helping people what so wrong with it?” Tara opened her mouth to speak and then closed it to arrange her thoughts cohesively “Well you know how there’s the ‘Bigger picture?’” “mhh” “Well that for you would be ….helping the world by killing vampires, and evil things right?…well for me there’s even bigger picture….Wicca. By being Wiccan and following its beliefs I know that by using the craft to say manipulate a stake to kill a vam…vampire would violate the basic tenant of "Harm None." Its kind of a tricky ‘what came first the slayer or the vampire’ gig…. But that’s for me personally”

Willow sat back to digest what Tara was telling her, looking down at her hands she realized Tara brought up an extremely good point, “…But in saying that…when you dusted the vamp that was after me you….” Green and stark blue eyes met and locked “Harmed something….I know” Tara took a breath still not breaking her eye contact “and by doing that I deliberately broke my own rules, and will get my own back three fold….” Willow bit her lip and her eyebrows furrowed slightly “I'm sorry I made you break your code..I….um..” Willow’s guilty look down made Tara aware that the conversation had turned very solemn and serious, trying to lighten the mood she teasingly looked Willow up and down, “ohhh…I don’t know….it was worth it…..you…are w..w..worth it”

Willows breath caught, looking back up her face was a mixture of emotion, “I….thank you…” Tara nodded once and opened the book in her lap, she needed a distraction from the intensity of the moment, Willow’s eyes Tara realized were incredibly expressive, and she was in all honesty completely drawn to the redhead; the slight flicks of yellow and brown in the ever changing colour of her eyes, the way they constantly changed, reminding Tara of the shadows clouds made as they ran across the surface of the sea adding depth to the areas they touched, the beautiful long lash’s that framed eyes perfectly, that mouth….oh holy goddess that mouth, Tara unconsciously rocked forward and clenched her thighs as she looked down at Willow’s perfect mouth, so subtle…so endearing…they were dangerously kissable….
Finding herself leaning towards Willow, Tara realized her bodies intention and quickly redirected her attention to the book on her lap, focusing her eyes on the page she began to flick threw the highlighted sections to keep herself from crossing an extremely tempting boundary….’Close Tara…to close, watch yourself.

Willow sat slightly shocked, her head was screaming at her ‘WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED!!!’ and the truth was she didn’t know, ‘Tara went against her beliefs to save me….. and then she told me I was worth it… Oh goddess those eyes….those eye…..oh holy emac…those eyes Willow felt like she could swim in Tara’s eyes, and that she very nearly did…until Tara looked down, Now sitting quietly waiting for Tara to finish reading Willow discreetly looked round Tara’s apartment, this time looking for anything that would give her solid proof that Tara was ‘family’

A framed picture hung on the wall, it looked to be quite old, the whites in the picture were now a faided coffee brown and there were a few tears threw the image, a horse and rider were crossing a river, the rider leaning back on a palm as she held the reins in one hand, a very casual air about her, the horse was stunning, a jet black coat that gleamed in the sunlight, the horse had no saddle and the rider looked quite comfortable as she lazily enjoyed her ride, ‘…no help there’ Willows mind continued its search along the room, A few photo’s sat on a shelf, of Tara when she was younger, most were black and white and looked very professional, Tara seemed unaware of the photo’s being taken in them, most had a woman in them, or another girl, ‘mother and sister possibly?’
Willows attention was brought back to Tara as she heard the blonde close the book, Looking up Tara evaluated Willow quietly, “um… a lot of what you’ve been studying has been quiet advanced” Willow shrugged slightly “over achiever” she said dryly,
Tara chuckled as she brought both feet out from under her, “I was thinking, how about we do some basic spells today…it might be a bit ..you know boring compared to what you’ve been doing but its good to get a solid foundation, maybe we could meditate and maybe try a simple incantation to get started”

Willow’s eyes lit up and she shoke her hands a little, “Sure!” shuffling of the couch and onto an open space on the floor Willow hooked her ankles across her knees, Tara smiled at Willow’s enthusiasm and seated herself opposite the excited redhead, “o..okay now give me your hands” Willow immediately complied and was amazed at the slightly electric feeling she got as Tara’s hands came into contact with her own, Willing her heart to settle and her breathing to even out Willow began to breath deeply and quiet her mind,

Tara let her mind slip into a relaxed state of nothingness, focusing on her own breathing and her steady heartbeat, after a while Tara realized that Willow energy was still dancing around the Redhead restlessly, peaking one eye open Tara smiled as she watched Willows eyebrows furrow in concentration, ‘she’s over thinking this…’ squeezing Willow’s hands Tara waited as Willow’s eyes fluttered open, “Hi” Willow bit her lip as she observed how peaceful Tara was, “I cant….I mean….” Sighing Willow tried to form her words cohesively, “Its kinda busy up here you know?” motioning to her head with their still connected hands,
Tara nodded, “Wait here a sec kay” Giving Willow another squeeze she got up remarkably gracefully for someone sitting lotus style and disappearing into her room Tara stood for a few seconds staring at her dolls eye crystal which was sitting peacefully on her dresser, making a decision she picked it up and walked quietly back into her small sitting room, Reseating herself she set the crystal down in between them,
“wh..when I first started to meditate I had trouble settling my mind so my mother told me small story, you want to hear it?”
Willows eyes were glued to the crystal Tara set between them, “ah ha” “…think on a black crow…holding a silk scarf in his mouth, once a year he fly’s over Mount Everest, the scarf dragging in the snow behind him….think on how long it would take him to erode the whole mountain away…”
Willow let Tara’s voice calm her mind, hearing the end of the story Willow’s mind went blank;
Tara noticed the change immediately, grasping Willow’s hands again she spoke softly, “Close your eyes Willow, it had begun”
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The next few days past in a blur for Willow, she visited with Tara everyday and was slowly building a friendship with her, The two had talked on the phone the last two nights and were getting more and more comfortable with each other, each day the two would first meditate then work on their spells, Yesterday after sweeping up the colored sand they had used Tara pulled out an old faded book with a soft leather cover, Willow was an astounding fast learner and Tara wanted to try something harder, just as a small test.

Floating the rose Willow reflected had been amazing, Tara had given her instructions and while she quietly read through them the blonde had gotten up and retrieved the blood red rose, To perform the spell both girls would need to be completely focused and in sync Tara had explained as she reseated herself,

Willow eyed her hands as she remembered the distinctive metallically aftertaste and tingle of energy that had past threw her as she reached for Tara’s hands, was it the magic that made her body arch and invoke the involuntary gasp that had brought Tara’s eyes to her own?

Deep blue eyes. Almost purple in the flicker of the candles surrounding them, had focused intoxicatingly on her, all barriers down and unarmed…was that the magic to?
Willow’s expression of focus and slight surprise had melted into one of complete vulnerability, her body responding to the Blondes openness, Willow still felt an airy calm in her mind,

The rose had lifted effortlessly of the carpet between the two women, turning slowly it’s petals began to separate and fall to the floor, Tara’s eyes never left Willow’s and in that instant Willow had begun to trust.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Buffy was beginning to do extra training sessions with Giles to get her skills as sharp as possible, Willow had sat in on a few of the training sessions and felt tired just watching,
Buffy had also taken special care to make Willow, Xander and Kate start self defense again,
Willow was still a little riffled that the first lesson was to show Willow how to break a choker hold over and over…after practicing for hours Willow was now fairly confident that if she was attacked again she could at the very least break any hold and get a sneaky elbow to the crotch…Xander vehemently assuring her it would give her more then enough time to get away,

Willow has asked Tara if she wanted to come and learn self-defense with them and had been surprised to learn that Tara was trained in an old Korean marshal art, its focus was exclusively defensive moves, never attacking. Willow had been highly impressed that Tara had found a way to physically protect herself without breaking Wiccan code. Tara had stuttered a little as she accepted Willow’s complements ‘Th…than..k you, I….I had um…some problems at home whe..where the need to defend myself arose…”
Willow remembered the burning sensation crawling up her throat as she thought of anyone hurting Tara,
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Willow was now sitting in the blondes kitchen, her feet dangling of the high cane stool she was seated on, She knocked and let herself into the blondes apartment earlier to the intoxicating smell of baking, Walking in further she had yelled for Tara and followed her nose to the kitchen, sitting here now it seemed ironic to Willow, it seemed like such a familiar routine to be sitting in the kitchen chatting to Tara as she shuffled around her getting various utensils,
Tara had stopped and given Willow her full attention as she vocalized this point,
Every time Tara looked at her Willow’s stomach ached and it felt like someone was pushing against her lungs, forcing the breath from them, those blue eyes looked so concerned, realizing she sounded rather bitter and sarcastic Willow elaborated “My mother was always working, she never baked with me, or coloured in with me…or…well lets just say money cant give hugs..”
Willow let her worlds resound in her head for a few seconds tasting them, “She was never there, If I fell…or if I cried I had to bandage my own knee, I had to dry my own tears….” And suddenly Willow’s voice caught, her shoulders dropped and she became small again, the six year old who didn’t understand why,

Tara’s heart broke, sitting before her was the small child that hid behind the grades, the achievements and the knowledge, this was the glimmer in Willow’s eyes when she looked up after completing a spell, The ‘did I do good’ eyes…Tara had come to call them,

“Willow…” Tara had crossed the small space between them and Willow felt strong arms embrace her, a audible sob and Tara felt the wet tears land on her skin, “Ohh Willow” The words were muffled but the gentle breath in her ear soothed Willow visibly, Tara felt Willow’s arms reach our and wrap around her and the redhead tuck her head into the crook of Tara’s neck, “Willow, I'm sorry” Rubbing her back soothingly Tara felt rather then heard the sigh come from the redhead.
Laying her head against the fiery red hair Tara began to hum a tune she had learnt many years ago, Willow had quieted and was entranced by the beautiful voice, feeling lethargic and heavy she snuggled closer and smiled at Tara rewrapped her arms tighter,
Tara finished the tune and sighed, on the very edge of her hearing she caught a tiny “thank you” and then her whole body froze as she felt warm lips kiss her collarbone,

Willow froze as she realized she had just kissed Tara, well part of Tara, a Tara part….
Feeling the heartbeat next to her ear quicken, she wondered if Tara could hear her heart, its frantic beating was deafening,
Trying to gently pull herself out of Tara’s now loose grip Willow stood, her eyes on the ground and pulled backwards slightly.
‘Stupid stupid stupid!! Why would you go and do that! Way to put her on the spot…god you’re a JERK!! Your such a j….’ Willow couldn’t pull out of Tara’s grip, frowning she pulled back a little harder…Tara’s grip tightened and held her still. ‘Huh?’

Eyes raised as slowly as possible, preparing for the look of horror or anger of the face that she had only just gotten to know,

‘She looks so defeated…’ Tara’s hands were still wrapped around Willow and she was not about to let Willow get away that easily,
Stark blue eyes met wary green ones, “Willow…”

...did I forget to mention the clif hanger....woopsies,
(sorry I really did forget..Im not a nasty bugger, and the laughing devil was so cute I had to add him....)

[hin768]

yay, great update. loved the mental babble both girls were having. They can't hold back any more right? ...right? damn cliffhanger. inquiring minds want to know what happens.

[singgirl]

You know, putting a cliffhanger warning doesn't deter me from reading, I can't resist. I just think "oh that's gonna suck," and continue on my merry way. Great update though, I was excited to see it posted. I eagerly await the next one. And, if it's not too much trouble, can it be sonner rather than later?

[grimlock72]

Heh...well what could Tara possibly say that's bad? It's mostly Willow fearing a bad reaction, it's unlikely to come though. It's sad how Willow so easily assuming someone will react badly to her breaking down and/or showing feelings. Clearly that wasn't encouraged during her childhood, sad.

I'm rather protective of Willow (read any of my other feedback and you'll see;-) so her describing her growing up was very sad . I like to think Willow at least liked studying and getting good grades. It's sad that grades were pretty much her only means of communicating with her parents though .

I don't agree with Tara that harming or killing a vampire goes against any sane rule. You can't purely defend indefinitly, eventually you'll have to take out the threat. The Wiccan Rede reads more like a warning than a reality to me, think about it... comes back threefold, that would have been a LOT by now in 2005 . It's a nice rule to live by, as long as it doesn't leave you vulnerable to evil people.

Does Tara practice Akido by any chance ? Sounds like that would be the type of sport for her, why hurt the enemy if you can let it hurt itself ?

Both Willow and Tara have a different approach to magic/wiccan or however you call it. It does puzzle me a bit why Willow uses the term 'wiccan' already. That would indicate she has looked into it at least. To me Willow uses magic like any other tool, this just happens to be one she's good at (as opposed to the 'phyical thing' ). Never had a problem with that approach really. Nothing wrong with Tara providing Willow with a more solid foundation to work her magic from, just as long as her ideas don't hinder 'normal' vampire slaying in Sunnydale
(I'll spare you the 'pacifism speech' )

Tara seems fairly 'normal' now, though we know she has some (stormy) issues of her own. Not exactly a happy childhood for either of them. Ah well, I guess they'll have to make up for that right about now then . Does Tara even know her own power or has she been told to keep it under control and out of the way or she would hurt people? It's hardly surprising she has better control, LOTS more practice

Tara comforting Willow was sweet.

she had just kissed Tara, well part of Tara, a Tara part….

Cute Willow babling .

P.S. Been re-reading this story, lots of humor in it...

Grimmy