Title: The Holiday Fic 2002
Authors: Katharyn and Forrister.
Disclaimer: Neither Katharyn or myself own these characters. Joss does. (Some people don’t appreciate things they own.)
Rating: R WARNING – Parts of this fic contains smut. Yes, real smut. (I’m not responsible – that’s my co-author’s department.) I’ve been told that R is an appropriate rating for the fic as a whole.
Spoilers: Everything up to the end of Season 5. Season 6 does not exist. (I’m still doing the whole refusal to live in Joss’s reality thing.) I guess you’d call this a post S5 alternate universe. I call it a much nicer place to be.
Summary: Christmas Day Fun and the end of the holiday, and this tale.
Thanks:
Katharyn:-Thanks, hugs and much appreciation to Kerry for letting me play in her story. Thanks to Xita for inspiring some of the "hotter" parts. Thanks to all those who read it... Hugs to all those who fed back. Thanks to Celia for keeping me amused and Louise for keeping me well loved. See you with more fic next year (I meant its like a week away!)... Will Kerry say the same?"
Kerry:- My story? This was my story? Nah – the truth is that Katharyn did most of the work on this, I just helped out in spots. Thanks for all the comments and the encouragement. Thanks to Katharyn for supplying all the ‘hot’ bits that you all loved so much. Ok. I admit it, I do have a half finished fic on the backburner, and I promise that when I do finish it, it will be posted here.
Note: This final instalment follows on directly from the previous one, with Tara waking from her dream.
Chapter 11
Tara woke up and she was back in the cabin again. Where were the penguins? Where… where was the hotel room? Where was Officer Rosenberg? No… not just a dream, surely not just a dream… she could feel the effects. She could feel what Officer Rosenberg had done to her. She could… she knew that… she knew that…
Willow was still with her and that was what mattered.
Willow wasn't ‘Officer Rosenberg’ really… but Officer Rosenberg was Willow.
She’d been dreaming of Willow… well that was okay. It was… it was a good dream. It was a dream that her body was reluctant to let go of. It was a dream that was still, physically, very much with her… and not just because Willow’s hand was between her legs. Just as it had been… The details were fading in her mind already, but she knew that there had been the hand. Willowhand.
Was Willow in the dream too? The same dream? Sometimes they’d thought that, maybe via the magic, they shared dreams. But it could be just coincidence, when they were together they experienced many of the same things and that might lead to similar dreams. And now, maybe, she’d dreamed it because of where Willow’s hand was right now. They were together… as they often were when they woke, sort of intertwined, it was just that this time Willow’s hand was… right where she needed it to be. In the dream and here…
Unfortunately with her lover softly snoring there was nothing else going on other than that indelicate touch…
Tara needed and Willow was asleep? That just wouldn’t do. Besides it was time to get up and face the day… after Willow had faced something else. She reached for Willow’s nipple and deliberately didn’t tweak it. She could have woken Willow up then and there, but instead she wanted to tease her lover out of her dream, maybe influence it as she was experiencing it.
They’d done that to each other a few times before and Tara had never been disappointed with the way that had gone – neither had Willow. They had a standing agreement to try to bring it about again and this looked like a good time for that. She ran her finger around the darker flesh that she could make out as daylight streamed through the thin curtains.
It must be sunny. They could make Christmas Dinner… and yes, it was Christmas Day.
Okay, she admitted as she teased at Willow’s nipple with her finger, Willow was Jewish, there was no TV for Charlie Brown Christmas but Xander had set the video, back home, to record it and Tara herself was Wiccan but still… it was Christmas Day. Big for everyone else… and they were going to be celebrating later anyway so… Really she should do something special for Willow. Apart from her gift.
She placed her other hand on Willow’s belly as she shifted from that first nipple to the other, noting the reaction that was already moving through her lover’s flesh. It was too dim to see clear details now that the fire was just a pile of glowing embers, but she could feel the surge of blood through her lovers beautiful breasts and she could definitely feel the way that the point became engorged and stretched out, as if asking for her kiss.
And it wasn't just that one, Willow let out a gentle moan in her sleep as Tara found her other nipple already surging to join the first and ran a thumb over it in a morning greeting. Tara was so aroused… so desperate to show her love again… she wanted to wake Willow now, but this… this would be better in the long run… helping Willow to want as much as she did before she even emerged from her sleep.
The hand on Willow’s belly had been lying flat and now she pushed it gently downwards, skimming the flesh and hovering just above Willow’s pubic hair when it had gone that far. She could feel it, soft, against her palm. She wanted to cup Willow’s pussy, slip a gentle finger through her folds but… that wouldn’t be fair. She was encouraging Willow to want… not violating her trust. They never went so far as that – even if really they would have been quite happy with it.
She knew that Willow would want… and she was helping her with that… but she wasn’t about to take without asking.
Instead she circled continued to brush against the pubic hair as she delivered her kiss to Willow’s forehead, still teasing her nipple with the other hand. And finally… Willow’s reactions were extended to the hand that rested between Tara’s legs. Perhaps there was a sense of purpose, perhaps it was just coincidence as Willow’s hand rubbed against Tara’s pussy and one long finger lay along the parted, swollen lips. Threatening to enter… Goddess… Tara wanted it to slip inside her… but it lay there… just the tiniest, slightest, movements that were never going to be quite enough and still Willow was making her little sleepy noises. It would be ironic, and delicious, if Willow did more to her in her sleep than Tara would ever do whilst Willow slept.
She bent her head and kissed Willow on the lips, more firmly than the brush on her forehead but not enough to wake her in its own right. She wanted that part of her lover’s brain that was still aware to register it and react to it.
But as her finger hovered above the area surrounding Willow’s clit she found that there was very little work to be done there at all… Willow was… still asleep but she was becoming aroused. The scent of their combined desires was in the air. Willow’s lower lips were swelling and parting and her clit… it was already peeking from its hiding place.
Idly Tara wondered whether it would be possible to bring Willow to orgasm without even waking her, not until the end, but that was something she would never actually do. She liked her love to be with her – not somewhere else that was dreamy. Besides… right now she needed an active Willow for herself. The Willow that, as she finally touched the tiny nub of flesh between the lips of her pussy, came awake with a fluttering of eyes and a groan that might have been part protest and part lust.
“Hi sweetie,” she said very gently and waited to see what the first thing that Willow reacted to would be? Would it be Tara’s hands? Which one? Both? Would it be what her own hand was threatening to do… and where that was? Would it be their arousal or the fact that she’d come out of sleep like that.
What would it be?
Several things went through Willow’s mind very quickly.
Tara.
Tara was speaking to her. “Hi sweetie,” she’d said. Willow’s sleep addled brain wasn't quite up to dealing with that level of complexity. It was like there was a fog of treacle between her and knowing what was going on. It was a nice fog though, it was an actually a Tara fog. It was a desire for Tara fog… Tara was right there, in her face and too inviting a target to miss. She slowly moved and placed her lips against those of the woman she loved.
That movement brought other things to her mind.
The first was that Tara had under compensated when she allowed for that movement and the hand that had been caressing her breast was suddenly pressed firmly against it.
That was fine. That was more than fine. That was good. Willow might have regarded herself as the breast girl, but she knew that Tara had her own, deep, appreciation of breasts. Her breasts anyway.
Maybe Tara was going to appreciate them a little more pretty soon. That would be good.
She moved to snuggle with her lover as she completed the kiss and two other things came to her simultaneously. They both involved hands, but not both of those hands were hers. One was… her hand was between Tara’s legs. Not doing anything now, but if she moved just a tiny bit Tara moaned and pressed herself against that hand. That gave her a practical sense based awareness of the fact that Tara was more than turned on… she was… well Tara was in need and obviously wanted her.
Part of that she had to admit came from the simultaneous awareness that Tara’s hand was between her legs too and that it was actually rather more active than her own was. Tara was gently rubbing her pussy, slipping a finger between the folds of tender flesh and moving it through them as her palm pressed against Willow’s clit that was… somehow… already swollen enough to be exposed to that sort of caress.
“Vixen,” she murmured as she started to press her own hand against Tara.
“Merry Christmas,” Tara said to her with a shy smile as if she doubted whether she really should have but wanted it to go all the same.
So did Willow so that was fine.
Willow smiled. Those words had a meaning that was very personal for them. It came from last year when they’d woken up together and Willow had made a promise… she’d had it her way last year and now… Now it was Tara’s turn, if her lover even remembered. “Merry Christmas,” she responded and very slowly, very deliberately licked her lips. She watched as the memory crossed Tara’s face and there was a slow smile to match the long lingering caress between her legs.
Last year Tara had gladly fulfilled her need, this year it was her turn to return the Christmas morning favour.
She rolled onto her back, scooting down on the bed and waited for her lover. Tara was already moving though.
Tara couldn’t believe that she’d forgotten. Neither of them had said ‘next year its your turn,’ and this was something they’d done so many times since that morning anyway… but somehow the symmetry seemed to be fitting. She let Willow move into place and then, temporarily she lifted her hand from her lover’s wet heat, feeling Willow’s own hand fall away from her as she moved.
“Lick me woman,” she breathed in echo of Willow’s words of the year before and settled over her sweetie’s face lowering her wet lips towards Willow’s lovely mouth but facing her feet rather than the headboard of the bed. She was nowhere near finished with the rest of Willow… oh no. Not yet.
Willow breathed in Tara’s musky scent and then her face was in that place. She felt Tara quiver as her lips whispered apart against Tara’s own. Then she slowly extended her tongue and dabbed it against the wet, swollen, furrow.
A dab turned to a lick.
A lick turned to a swipe.
A swipe turned into long, backwards and forwards, round and round loving before she decided to focus a little more.
And then as Tara shifted a little and brought her clit into easy reach Willow set about pleasuring her baby in the way that she not only deserved but also so obviously wanted - and needed. What had Tara been dreaming about to make her so very aroused?
Maybe she’d just woken up that way – after all Willow herself had, but she thought that her lover had more than a little to do with that. Tara had wanted, needed… and now she was getting it. But Tara wasn’t and never had been a selfish lover in any way. Tara was… oh Tara was starting to take care of her too. Very good care. The best care that she could. Willow reached around and clasped her lover’s breasts in her hands as Tara moved on her face, but she was more and more aware of Tara’s hands at her own pussy. Both of them. One was paying very close attention to her clit and… it wouldn’t be long for her either. The other… the other was probing her lips, caressing the whole length of her pussy and… yes diving within the full folds to take in the depths too. Tara knew just what to do for her.
Just as she knew what to do for Tara.
Tara lifted her hand from Willow’s pussy and she wasn't able to resist… she tasted her lover on her fingers and she… she wanted more of that. So much that she had to say so… “More sweetie,” she said. “Give me sugar.”
Willow couldn’t see what she was doing as Tara rode her face, but she was more than a little aware of the fingers that had left her empty, even whilst those other teased and stimulated her eager clit. “You know where it is… help yourself,” she said knowing she was muffled by… well Tara’s muff. Now there was a chicken and egg thing for you. Was muff the origin of muffled? Or was muffled the origin of muff? Or was neither anything to do with the other?
Oh who the hell cared? Chickens, eggs… pff. If Tara wanted sugar then she was more than welcome to it. More than welcome.
Tara bent over her lover, adjusting her position on Willow’s delicate, yet forceful, tongue to lathe her own onto Willow’s pussy. It wasn’t exactly what Willow thought it would be, a sixty nine, because she knew that if Willow touched her like… oooh that again… then she was going to come anyway.
And she did, hard… bearing down on Willow’s lovely face. Marking and anointing her, seeking the friction she desired to carry her through the orgasm that bled away a night of tension. Exploded it and… and…
“Who were you dreaming of,” Willow asked, muffled again.
“You, only ever you my love,” Tara replied and as her pleasure started to subside she was determined to make the first gift Willow would have this Christmas as special and fulfilling as she could.
****************
They’d arrived at the big cabin mid afternoon. Tara was a little concerned that they could have arrived hours earlier but in Willow’s opinion the time had been very well spent indeed. They had struggled a little with the uphill portion of the trip, each carrying packs filled with gifts and the last of the fresh food they had with them as their contribution to the feast. Willow had argued against adding the cucumber . . . their cucumber, to the collection, but as Tara had pointed out, they were obviously not going to eat it and it would just go to waste. Once they’d reached the top of the hill they could see the other cabin clearly and they headed on down the slope, briefly commenting on the rather clever topiaries they passed on the way.
Buffy had opened the door and was nearly bowled over by the enthusiastic hug from Willow. For the next few minutes it was all greetings and hugs. Willow even found herself hugging Anya. A situation that occurred quite suddenly and didn’t last long beyond their realization of exactly who they were hugging.
“You brought laundry?” Anya asked, inquisitive at their full packs and hoping that her gift was near the top.
“No silly, presents.” Tara replied cheerfully. Anya knew full well what was in the packs, and Tara knew she knew. They grinned at each other with the bond of shared knowledge.
“We’re not too late for present openings?” Willow asked.
“Not at all.” Giles said as he handed them mugs of hot eggnog.
Buffy glared at Anya. “We were going to wait for you.”
Dawn positively bounced. “Can we? Can we? Can we?” She kept up this litany until Buffy suppressed her by throwing one of Xander’s pillows at her.
“I see we got here just in time then.” Tara was glad that the sisters were in such a good mood.
“Oh, by the way,” added Willow. “Here’s the last of the fresh food, we thought we’d better bring it over.” She pulled out bags containing the last of the fruit, some sausages, and some vegetables.
Buffy unpacked the goods into the refrigerator. “Thanks.” She stopped as she pulled out Willow’s pet vegetable. “Er . . . is that a cucumber?”
“Surely you’ve seen one before.” Tara replied primly, trying her hardest not to look at Willow.
Dawn giggled. “Once or twice – at a distance. Lots you can do with a cucumber and a little ingenuity.”
Buffy elbowed her sister in the ribs and she subsided into muffled chuckles. Willow gave her a sharp look, not really knowing what to make of Dawn’s remark.
Giles was blissfully oblivious to all the undercurrents as he brought out a pile of gifts from his room. This sparked a general rush for gift giving and the next half hour or so was spent in the excitement of unwrapping them and showing them off. There was no particular order, it was more of an all in affair.
Giles had made things simple this year by giving everyone books. Novels for Dawn, martial arts books for Buffy. Financial management for Anya, graphic novels for Xander, and books on magic for Tara and Willow. Dawn had given everyone small decorated photo-frames, with photographs of them she’d taken during the holidays. Buffy gave everyone toiletries, except Giles who received a matching set of argyle socks and tie. Xander and Anya gave joint gifts. Cuff links in the shape of scarabs for Giles, which Anya assured him were not the real thing and therefore could not be cursed. The girls got sets of linen, handkerchiefs, table runners and such, with various floral embroidery.
Willow handed out her gifts as well. A calculator for Anya, a Roger Ramjet T-shirt for Xander. A tweed Deerstalker style hat for Giles. Dawn got a set of artist paints and brushes to encourage the artistic streak she’d shown during the year. Buffy was the hardest one though, Willow just wasn’t sure what to get. She toyed with a few ideas but finally settled on a good pair of ankle boots, flat heeled, perfect for her to wear on the job so to speak.
Finally it was Tara’s turn. Willow got her to close her eyes as she fastened her gift around her love’s neck. Tara looked down to see a chain interlinked with small garnet beads, and a heart made of amber hanging from it. There were huggings and kissings, which the rest of the scoobies studiously ignored as they folded paper, inspected gifts, or just looked at the ceiling.
When they had remembered that they weren’t alone they stopped, a little embarrassed but defiant to the end. Tara went to her pack and pulled out Willow’s gift. It turned out to be a small chest decorated with decoupage in a forest theme.
“This is wonderful. Oh look, there’s little animals looking out from behind all the foliage. There’s a deer!” Willow burbled happily.
“You still have to look inside.” Tara prompted gently.
“There’s more?” Willow got excited all over again.
Tara took her arm and moved her away from the others who were still busily exchanging presents.
“Oooh, sweetie.” Willow was incapable of saying more. Tara moved to block the view of the others, wanting to keep this present private.
Willow held up a red silk satin negligee. “You made this for me?”
“Well, I certainly didn’t make it for anyone else!” Tara whispered in her ear in tones that made Willow wish they were back alone in their small cabin.
Willow put it back in the chest. “It will keep for later, but I love it. Not more than I love you though.” She emphasised her words with a long, deep kiss.
Anya was about to go over and find out what the two were doing in the corner, until saw this and gave out with one of her prize grins. She was about to tug at Xander’s sleeve so he could enjoy the view too, but then thought better of it. Xander didn’t need too much excitement in his recovery phase, and besides, if there was any exciting to do she wanted to be the one to do it. She began to get definite plans for the evening.
It wasn’t long until the girls returned to the group and continued with the gift giving. Since Tara had waited so that her first gift was to her sweetie, her gifts to the others were the last to be unwrapped. Giles’ was largish and so obviously not a tie or socks that it got everyone’s attention. It was the only thing she’d bought, and that was at the last minute. She’d made him a leather glasses case and a set of cloth bookmarks, but she would give them to him for his birthday. He was surprised at the coffee grinder, and even more surprised when he read the card which said ‘To Giles from Tara and Anya.’
Anya herself was more surprised than he was and was about to say so when Tara elbowed her and gave her a quiet ‘Shhh’ out the corner of her mouth. Anya didn’t know what was going on, but Giles seemed to really like it so she decided to take the glory now and ask questions later.
Xander received a new wallet, made in leather, which smelled of the wax and rosemary Tara had rubbed into it to waterproof it and get rid of that leather smell. Anya herself got a small box, decorated like Willow’s in decoupage but with a motif of moneys from all over the world. Inside was some bath oil. Both Buffy and Dawn had received similar boxes, Buffy’s with pictures of weapons and armour, and Dawn’s with roses in many colours. Inside though were the really special gifts. Tara had taken prints of the best of the pictures of Joyce taken during the days before Christmas last year, and put them in small frames that could be kept by their beds.
“I know how you’ve been feeling, and I know that only time can lessen that – and it won’t ever really go away. But I thought you might like something to remind you of the happy times you had.” Tara had explained in a gentle voice. Both girls were too choked up to speak, but the tears in their eyes weren’t sadness, they were joy, and love. Buffy hugged Dawn, then they both hugged Tara. Anya and Giles joined in and finally Willow and Xander, completing the family. Dawn and Buffy knew that they were loved and cared for, and more importantly that they weren’t alone in the world.
It was a long time before anyone wanted the hugfest to end, but end it did some time later when Xander commented, “When do we get to eat? For some reason I’m really hungry.”
Anya gave a little squeal and hugged him harder provoking a sneeze that for once didn’t bother her one little bit. “You’re feeling better, you want food, that’s a very good sign.” She rushed to the kitchen and cut him a slice of the fruit cake that they’d saved for Christmas day.
“I guess that means we ought to start cooking dinner.” Tara remarked as she started clearing away the paper and ribbons from the table.
Giles gave Buffy one last squeeze and headed off to the kitchen, suggesting to Anya that she help Xander who may need some assistance in putting the gifts away. To his amusement Anya fell for this and left the kitchen for the folk who could actually cook and the preparations for Christmas dinner began.
*******************
“Careful sweetie,” Tara said as Willow threatened to slip in the steadily melting snow but caught herself just in time. The progress of the melting of the snow was even better than when they’d gone out – even though night had fallen and the temperature had dropped there were still drips falling from trees as they passed under them, nor did it seem quite as deep or as firm.
They were still following the reflective strips that the man on the sleigh had pointed out to them, but they were also stepping in their own footprints where they could do. It made things easier and they knew that they were safe enough from the walk out hours earlier. Now wasn’t the time for either of them to disappear in a big, snow filled, hole. Not after such a wonderful afternoon, evening and night.
It was cold, ‘bracing’ was probably the best description, but it wasn't still technically freezing. The best indication of that, apart from those drips, was that the moisture from their breath wasn’t freezing to their hair when it blew back at them as it had been on the way up to the gang’s cabin. A clear night, a lovely, open, star-spattered sky and a bright moon, but whilst it was above freezing conditions would keep getting better. Hopefully it would stay that way for the next couple of days until they left and went back to Sunnydale. Especially as Mr Giles still wanted her to drive his car out of here for him.
With the exception of him she was the only person who’d driven in snow before they’d got up here and she thought that he appreciated her caution because of that. He could have driven it himself, but that would have left her driving Xander’s car which she wasn’t even familiar with. Better if it was the same arrangement as it had been coming up the mountain. No picnics on the way back though – at least not in the way that there had been on the way up. Now that winter was here, even back down the mountain, it was likely to be a little too chilly for that. They’d been lucky that afternoon. Besides things that the others had said at the party hinted that maybe, just maybe, they knew what had been happening back then.
Maybe…
Comments about cucumbers from Dawn and strange looks from Buffy that shut her little sister up pretty quickly.
“That was nice,” Tara said as they rounded the side of the hill and could see more than just the smoke from the chimney of their cabin. Not much further to go now.
“It was kind of strange” Willow said and paused trying to decide why. Somehow, despite being glad to see their friends, it had felt weird to her, being there. “It was like this whole big culture shock,” she said finally.
Tara nodded. “It was strange being there with them after days where it was, you know, just us - alone together.” And with no TV or anything. Tara wasn’t a big TV watcher but TV was like an optional person being in the room, you could have them there just by turning it on. She could understand how people who lived alone valued it so much, or the radio. The feeling of another person being there was important. Without it, there had been no human presence, voice or sight other than their own, and later on yesterday, for just a few minutes, the man on the sleigh. “Two less perfectly matched people would have gone crazy,” she suggested – waiting for Willow to feign that state as a joke. But she didn’t. Perhaps she was too cold for that sort of sense of humour. Maybe it just wasn’t funny and Willow knew it.
Willow just smiled but then had to admit it… “Actually I thought the shock was wearing, you know, clothes again baby.” Looking at Tara and seeing her all dressed up, after several days of being nearly naked together – or just wrapped in a blanket it was cold. That was what had been the culture shock to her.
“Oh,” Tara said, and thought about that. Willow was right. It was very different.
“You were right though – it was definitely strange – and good – seeing the gang again,” Willow admitted and took her lover by the hand.
“They’re family,” Tara told her simply. They both had sisters and a brother and an eccentric uncle who always dressed in tweed - even at Christmas. Willow, an only child with largely absent parents, could appreciate that as much as Tara did.
Willow smiled. “Not that…” she continued, “… it isn’t good to be having these next couple of nights… here… alone with you again.”
“Well, you know, when we get in we can get these clothes off,” Tara suggested not feeling very subtle, but not really intending to be either. That was what they’d both appreciated so much… not having to be subtle, or careful. And it had set them thinking about what it would be like, one day, to have a place of their own. Much as they loved their friends, there were times you just wanted to be alone in a house that was yours.
Willow laughed and gestured with the bag that was in her other hand, “You just want to get me into my gift,” she said thinking of how that present, hand-made and silky, would feel against her skin. Of how it would feel when Tara pressed against her. Naked wasn’t as attractive as it had been before. Now she wanted to be all silky… and so obviously did Tara who’d made the nightdress for her.
In secret. The Minx.
“Is that a bad thing?” Tara teased her lover.
“Nooo…” Willow said, still caught in the thoughts about how it was going to feel. It would be even more special as it hadn’t come from a shop. Tara had made it for her – there wasn’t another one in the whole world that was like it. Just as there was no one like Tara in the whole world. The unique woman she loved had given her a unique gift. Still… “But do we have to, you know… right away?” Willow asked her. She could wait a while, if Tara could and would.
“We don’t have to do anything” Tara responded and kissed Willow on the cheek. Cold cheek, hot woman. Burning passion. Star-bright love.
“Oh we’ll do something,” Willow told her, “but I’d just like us to sit out for a little while.” She looked up into the clear sky. Stars did what they did as she watched… twinkled? Like the light in Tara’s eyes. Oh… she was starting to think all romantically. Well that would lead to what they both wanted too so that was fine. “Together you know?”
“I know,” Tara told her and she really did. Even when they were really busy, saving the world, sitting exams… or perhaps because of being so busy, they always made the effort to be together as much as they could. Together was how they needed to be and how they wanted to be. Up here, away from everything else, it was no different. Being with Willow was the most natural place in the world. Together didn’t have to be out in the cold though. Together could be inside, warm and comfy. “Stargazing again? It’s freezing,” she pointed out to Willow.
“No not stargazing, even though it is lovely,” Willow turned to her. “I just want to, you know, Taragaze for a while.” And she did, meeting her love’s blue eyes with her own and, as always, she felt their bond strengthen and deepen still further. There were oceans that were shallower than their love.
Tara considered that. Taragazing, or in her case Willowgazing was something that they generally did whilst at least one of them was in bed. Often both of them, just lying there and looking at each other – sharing the moment. At peace. Sometimes gazing didn’t involve the visual. It could be… well just being. But here… Well again she came back to the cold, which was still pretty biting even though it was an improvement on the last few days. “Wouldn’t you rather do that inside? Where its warm?” Tara suggested to her.
“We’ve been inside long enough,” Willow told her by way of response. Change was something that was good - as long as it was always with her baby. She stopped them and turned to face Tara. “Do you think we can stay out for a little while?”
Tara wasn’t sure about that, there was nothing – on a cold, if pretty, night – that would be so attractive to her to keep her out in the cold. Apart from Willow herself. Where would they sit? How would they keep warm? Practicalities intruded into the happy space in her mind. How to keep warm was a silly question maybe, two girls in love and all that… but still they were asking for trouble.
They’d already heard what had happened to poor Xander when he’d unloaded the car in cold weather. Tara wasn't quite sure what had been up with Buffy and the others when they’d arrived, he’d looked ill even the night before they left. But that seemed to have really knocked him for six taken together with the cold.
She didn’t want either of them getting sick. Not spoiling the next couple of days – the last two days of the vacation. Nor for when they got back and had to get on with their college work. But then… Xander had already been ill when he stayed out in that snowstorm unloading the car…
As long as they hadn’t caught it from him…
“Can we? Can we? Can we?” Willow’s face moved closer and closer as she asked the question over and over in what she knew was a passable interpretation of Dawn when she was really trying to annoy Buffy. She was pretty sure that her baby wasn't going to take that much convincing. Tara liked the crisp weather. She liked the snow, as long as she wasn’t hip deep in it. “Can we?” she asked again, right in Tara’s face. Then Willow kissed her, which was pretty much cheating and Tara knew it, rolling her eyes in an ‘Oh Willow,’ way before kissing her in return.
Still cheating could be fun too. There’d been a kiss after all. Kisses were worth a bit of cheating. It wasn't like she had a reputation or anything.
“Can we?” she asked one last time, knowing that she’d already won.
“Anything you want sweetie,” Tara finally said. How could she say no to Willow over something like this? Anything that saw them together.
“We’ll get to that later,” Willow promised her and gave her a final peck on the nose before she then led her off again, clutching their bag of presents in the other hand. She was delighted that Tara was already wearing the gift that she’d given to her. The way that her lover’s eyes had lit up when she’d open it was another of the treasured memories that would stay with her forever. And, well, it would kind of be nice, later, to be just wearing their gifts to each other. Just being the keyword.
Tara’s present to her offered rather more coverage than hers did for Tara. She had to smile. Tara just wearing her necklace to bed? Sounded like perfect nightwear – very film star.
When they got back to the cabin Tara took the bag off her and went inside, as Willow stayed outside and found them a clear spot at the edge of the porch to sit down. She wondered how lovely it would be up here in the summer. It was lovely now… just cold. Maybe… maybe they could think about coming back then. It probably wouldn’t be free, but it would definitely be special… it would be them, all alone again.
Plus warmer, which would mean that nights sitting on the porch… well they could involve fewer clothes which could often be fun. If they wanted nights like that and she was pretty sure that they would if they came back here.
It was something to think about in the few minutes that it took for Tara to come back to her though. Willow would have wondered where she was but, aside from the thoughts of the future, Tara had been right about the stars. They were so very pretty, and out here - away from all the city lights - they were so very clear as well. She could see things that she wasn't sure she’d ever seen before up there.
A galaxy of stars… literally. But none quite so bright and pretty as Tara.
Tara had been right about the cold too though, even where they’d cleared the snow from the step the wood was, obviously, cold. Sitting there, waiting for Tara, had definitely started to get a bit chilly. Or possibly freezing. It seemed like all the heat, or lack of it, was going one way – out of her. Still, there would come a point where she wouldn’t even be able to feel it.
Not that it was probably a good thing when that happened - and if her butt froze to the step… well that would be embarrassing. She’d never hear the end of it from Anya. Everything she ever did in the future would be tainted by ‘At least I didn’t freeze my butt to a wooden step.’
And she wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.
Tara eventually emerged from inside, closed the door behind her and offered her a steaming mug. “Chocolate?” Willow asked as she smelt it. “We only had two sachets left.” What were they going to do now? No shops around… no other chocolate in the cabin and they’d forgotten to ask Xander for the loan of any from the gangs store secret supply…
“And here they are sweetie,” Tara told her. Willow did like her chocolate, but there had seemed no better time to have the last of it than here, outside, where they needed to keep warm and to round off a pretty near perfect day. Besides which, any other hot drink was going to keep them awake… longer than other things that might keep them awake would have done anyway.
Willow. Caffeine. Before bed. That was just a recipe for a sleepless night.
“Thank you,” Willow said as she took the mug. She had to admit the logic, even if it meant that she was going to have to do without hot chocolate for a couple of nights. It wouldn’t have lasted anyway though and this was the right time. How did Tara always know when the right time was? She was so good at reading things like that. It must be a natural gift.
“You’re my pleasure,” Tara told her with a smile and once Willow had taken the mug she stroked her lover’s cheek before she dropped the sleeping bag from under her arm into Willow’s lap. “Now unzip that would you sweetie?” she asked and made moves to sit down next to Willow on the edge of the porch.
Willow grinned even before Tara reacted to the temperature, pretty much as she had. With a sharp sucking in of her breath. “I’ll warm your butt for you later,” Willow promised as Tara made contact, waited a beat and then the cold started to eat into her backside.
“Howch,” Tara said but she stuck it out thinking that it would get better – and as she sat there the original sharp bite was transformed into a long, dull and very cold, ache. “Sweetie, this was your idea, so maybe you should have let me sit in your lap instead.”
“You want to do that?” Willow asked as she threw the opened sleeping back around them like a blanket, snuggled up to Tara and then picked up her mug again, holding it in both hands to warm them up. Tara, for her part, hugged the bag around them both and sipped at her own chocolate as she encouraged Willow to rest her head on her shoulder. It was like Willow’s head fit there… so naturally.
There was only one other place that she could think of that was as natural as that.
“No,” Tara decided with a laugh, “it’s okay. I’ll just make sure that you make good on you’re promise to warm me up later sweetie.”
They sat there, warming each other – but still with cold butts – until long after the chocolate was all gone and the mugs had gone cold. Most of the time they weren’t even speaking and as much as Willow might have wanted to Taragaze there wasn’t much of that going on visually.
It was just so peaceful. There really were no sounds out there apart from the occasional shifting of snow and some far off animals. And it was so dark, even if it wasn’t quite pitch black. The snow was reflecting the bright moonlight and their eyes, used to the darkness after the walk from the other cabin, could pick out the shapes of the trees, the skyline and the other, far off, snow-covered peaks.
During the day it was spectacular but by night it was… kind of serene.
Even if it was freezing their butts off. Pretty much literally.
And there were the stars too.
There was no narration of the names of the constellations, but it was hard to stop their eyes being drawn to them. So tiny and delicate, yet so eternal and powerful with it.
“It seems a word away,” Tara said eventually as Willow wrapped her arm around the front of her, pulling herself in tighter to the embrace that secured the sleeping bag around both of them. It was all that was keeping them warm but the cold wasn’t really what was top of their minds at all.
“Yeah,” Willow agreed quietly. Then she thought about that statement. “What does?” she asked. There was no point in just blindly agreeing was there?
Tara smiled. It was easy, in this quiet vastness that included the whole universe above them, to get lost in the moments. “Everything. Everything seems so far away – except for you my sweet.”
Willow shivered involuntarily. It might have been the cold, but equally it could have been her body’s reaction to Tara’s endearment. Tara was so good at making her shiver, quiver, gasp and moan.
Tara felt that shiver rattle through her lover and she was surprised that Willow’s teeth weren’t chattering – after all she’d been out here those few extra minutes. “Time to go in love,” Tara told her firmly. They were going in now. No arguments. It would still be pretty tomorrow and they might even be able to borrow some chairs from the other cabin.
Maybe.
Willow just snuggled up. This was… cold but just too nice.
“Before we get stuck here,” Tara continued.
Willow looked at Tara skeptically, but it was possible she guessed that Tara had realized her own concerns about that. Besides… going inside had its attractions. She stood up, flexing the muscles in her butt to try and get a little feeling back into it, and offered Tara her hand to lead her lover back into the warmth of the cabin.
Tara took their coats once the door was closed and hung them up, coming back to find Willow already sat in front of the fire holding her hands up to it. Tara smiled to herself and went and stood behind her, stroking her hair. “Is it your hands that are cold?” she asked. Because if it was then…well warm hands were pretty much a requirement unless they were going to spend some time seeing to that. Cold hands were no fun at all. She teased Willow’s hair over to one side and Willow responded by turning her head to rub her cheek against Tara’s hand.
A warm hand. Tara had kept hers warm holding the sleeping bag around them. Willow had been gently stroking her thigh much of the time, which hadn’t offered much shelter to her own poor fingers. “That and my butt,” Willow admitted.
Tara slipped down beside her and stretched her hands out to Willow’s, rubbing those fingers gently, stroking a little way up her arms too, as the fire roared and the heat reached them.
“Will you do that for my butt too?” Willow asked, knowing that she was the one who’d promised Tara that treatment. Hopefully she’d be reminded of that and asked to make good.
“If you really want me to,” Tara told her.
Where was the reminder? Why hadn’t Tara told her to do that for her? Instead Willow’s lover ran her fingers slowly up her arms and found her face, taking it in both hands and leaning forwards to bring their lips into gentle contact. And then, that was when Willow got it. Tara was thinking ahead… and no doubt thinking of a certain silky nightdress too.
“Do you want me to get undressed?” Willow asked when their lips parted. “And then, maybe, dressed again?”
“That might be nice,” Tara admitted. “If you want to,” she added quickly. Was there anything wrong with making Willow something that she wanted to see her in? That she wanted to feel for herself against her lover’s soft, smooth skin?
Against both of their skin…
No, surely, there was nothing wrong with that at all.
“I think that…” Willow teased, “I want to feel something silky against my skin… but your gift will do nicely for now.” This time she took Tara’s face in her hands, which were warmer now – feeling as if they were burning actually – and kissed her lover long and deep. When they eventually parted they were actually short of breath.
They should really have figured that out by now. Breathing. They’d had enough practice.
Willow slipped away and went to the bed where all the presents, including the lovely chest, had been left as Tara took the sleeping bag and stretched it over the floor in front of the fire. This time there would be no cramped conditions. It was there as a rug, something to keep them off the floor and to let them lie in front of the fire together until, eventually, they went to bed together. And when she’d finished straightening that out and turned back towards the bed, wondering if they needed the duvet as well to make their ‘nest’ more comfy, Willow was already stood naked.
Her lover was facing away from the fire, straightening her quickly shed clothes and reaching into the chest for the nightdress. Tara watched as her lover ran her fingers over the fabric, stroking it and she wanted to do that herself. She wanted to run her fingers over it, but with Willow wearing it. Inside it.
She watched as Willow bunched it gently and lifted it over her head. She could see the sides of Willow’s small breast from this angle – just the one. She watched as Willow lowered the nightdress and once that was over her head and her arms were through the delicate straps she just let it fall under gravity’s spell.
Tara continued to watch as the silk slid gently over Willow’s breast, catching only momentarily on what seemed to be a nipple that Tara couldn’t see from here but that she knew very, very well. Down the silk traveled, light as a feather to drape her baby in the fabric Tara had stitched together with her own hands.
Willow turned her head and saw Tara watching her, and she just loved the enthralled expression on her baby’s face. Tara could wait for the benefit of this gift just a little longer – for the full effect of what she had created and so obviously desired. It seemed cruel, but well she could wait. Just a little longer. “Close your eyes love,” she said gently and Tara didn’t wait to think. She didn’t argue and Willow knew that she wouldn’t get impatient and cheat either. She knew that she could turn her head back and Tara wouldn’t open her eyes.
She ran her own hands over the nightdress from the spaghetti straps that barely touched her shoulder down over the delicate trim at her chest and lower to the shadow that her nipple, covered by the material, cast in the flickering light. Then firmer, but still slowly, down her body until her hands were down in front of her and she was so very sure that Tara’s loving touch was going to feel… even more wonderful whilst she was wearing this.
All the more because Tara had created it herself.
She turned around and Tara was still there, sitting on the spread sleeping bag by the fire, with her eyes closed. Willow just wished that she could see herself in a mirror before she revealed herself to her lover. She’d liked to have seen herself in this lovely garment first, but she’d just have to make do with Tara’s reaction. She went over to her, right up in front of Tara and Tara knew that she was there. Willow was sure of that.
Tara could feel Willow’s presence before her. The way the air moved, the delicate sweet scent of her perfume. The tiny sounds, no more than whispers of silk against skin. The sound of her soft breathing. Everything except for her closed eyes told her exactly where Willow was.
And Willow was moving, moving behind her. She turned her head but kept her eyes closed and she felt her lover take up a place between her and the fire on the sleeping bag. For a few moments nothing happened and she was about to ask Willow if she could open her eyes, if she could turn around and look at the nightdress that she’d never been able to hold a fitting for.
But then Willow touched her. Willow was reaching for the edges of her clothing that could only be to undress her. There was no urgency. There was no rush. There was just a slow, controlled, series of movements which undressed her layer by layer. Her shirt, then a click as Willow’s fingers unsnapped her jeans and those were gently pulled down her legs. And she wasn’t at all cold as she was brought to near nudity – only moving as she needed to so that Willow could accomplish her goal.
It seemed to be getting warmer. The fire had been burning the whole time they were out and they were right next to the fire… besides Willow made her warm. The idea of Willow. The reality of being her true love and all that meant to them.
She hardly even felt the pressure on the clasp of her bra that released her breasts but the hands that stroked the straps from her shoulders were as delicate as ever they were before. And then…
Willow left Tara alone. Instead of taking the chance to caress her lover any more she knew that it was time to give Tara what she wanted. Tara wanted to see her wearing the gift. Just as, apart from her panties, the necklace was now all that Tara was wearing. The amber heart at her throat was the smallest indication of their love – but she adored it. Willow leaned forwards and kissed Tara’s ear before whispering to her, “Take them off and then turn over baby.”
There wasn't a chance in the world that Tara would disobey. She straightened herself out, pushed the underwear off and then rolled over to face Willow, her breasts lolling under the caress of gravity. And Willow said the magic words to her. She obeyed the instruction and opened her eyes. Her lover lay on her side before her, in the silk nightdress, head propped against her hand.
“It’s lovely,” Willow told her.
“You wear it so well,” Tara told her – eyes sweeping over her lover. She’d really made that? Oh god… it was better than she’d ever dared to dream. “I was worried that I might have got it wrong, being as you couldn’t try it on.”
“It’s perfect,” Willow reassured and lazily drew her hand back up from her thigh, stroking the silk. The feel of that against her fingers and the flesh beneath… It was a sensual pleasure just wearing it. Let alone moving… or being touched. “Touch me?” Willow asked.
Tara reached out and she surprised herself with how hesitant and cautious she was as she neared Willow’s thigh. She paused and Willow didn’t fail to notice.
“What is it?” the red haired woman, who was waiting for a loving caress, asked her.
Tara sighed. “I guess I – well I suppose I feel a little guilty. You gave me this lovely necklace, with the heart and…” She touched the necklace.
“And?”
“I made the nightdress,” Tara said as if that should explain it all.
“The necklace wasn’t that expensive,” Willow confided. “And I love the fact that you’re talented enough to make things like this.” What was bothering Tara? Surely it wasn't something as simple as the cost? Because the time Tara must have put into the nightdress… That had to eclipse the necklace. And the chest… that must have taken as long again.
“No, its not that,” Tara confirmed. “Its that… I think I made that nightdress for me as much as I made it for you. I wanted you to wear it and that’s just a little selfish sweetie. I’m sorry.”
“Selfish?” Willow said as she started to laugh. She could feel her breasts jiggling in the cool silk and it was feeling pretty nice actually.
“Stop laughing,” Tara told her after long seconds of listening to it.
“I’m sorry baby,” Willow explained, “You, of all people, haven’t got a selfish bone in your body. You think that I hate that necklace? And how it looks on you?” she asked, reaching to touch it and the using the proximity as an excuse to move her hand to Tara’s breast. “I wanted to see you in that just as you wanted to see me in this… and I adore it.”
Tara thought about that. It did make sense. She didn’t have to feel bad? That meant that she could feel good? As Willow ran a thumb over her nipple, she completed her earlier gesture and placed her hand on Willow’s thigh.
Oh… It felt as good as she’d always imagined it would do. She moved her hand upwards and it felt even better.
“See?” Willow told her. “All good… you like it… I,” she paused as Tara’s hand jumped to her breast, “I like it. All good.”
“Good,” Tara repeated then released Willow and lay back. “Kiss me?”
Willow didn’t need a second invitation. Oh no. She moved to Tara and initially held herself up above her lover, dipping her head as Tara raised hers so that their lips would meet and a gentle kiss would be given and received. “Kiss me,” Tara said again.
Willow moved over her, one knee between Tara’s slightly parted legs breast against breast as she rested atop her. The tinniest movement and they slid by each other – and still it almost felt as if she was naked. So light, so delicate was the material. Tara’s hands dropped to her and held her gently, roaming over the naked skin of the scooped back as well as the silk that led from her lower back to her buttocks.
And they kissed.
Lips met, took and gave ground. Tongue flicked and tangled. Dancing.
Lips were pulled and tongues were stroked.
“How much do I love you?” Willow asked her when they finally broke the kiss, Willow was still resting atop her lover’s body.
“This much?” Tara suggested to her with a gentle stroke of her arm.
“More,” Willow said.
“This much?” Tara tried again as she stroked Willow’s butt, clasping it in her hands and feeling the silk slide over it.
“More,” her lover told her.
Tara took a hand to her lover’s breasts and teased the stiff nipple through the silk. Before she could speak though Willow said “More even than that baby.”
Tara gently raised the bare leg that was between Willow’s and brought it right up against silk covered flesh. Warm flesh… She moved gently sure that Willow would like that.
And she was right, but still her sweet love said “More.”
“Oh,” Tara said as if just realising it, “This much?” She pressed Willow’s face back to hers and kissed her tenderly whilst her thigh kept up the pressure between Willow’s legs, sensing the heat there and pushing up against it – moving back and forth and stroking the silk against that place. Once the kiss was started then her hand was freed to caress her lover in those ways that she’d already demonstrated. One on her breast, the other stroking her back – stroking all over her really.
“More than that,” Willow gasped eventually. “I love you more than all of that.”
“Really?” Tara asked, happy to play along with this game.
“Really,” Willow promised kissing her love’s nose and then the amber heart that she’d given Tara. So much more than that. “I can show you,” she suggested.
A little sound emerged from Tara’s throat. It sounded to be a positive one. Willow smiled.
“Do you, do you think that you can really show me how much?” Tara asked.
That was a very good point, Willow had to admit. It was so difficult to demonstrate something that was unquantifiable and without boundary. “I can try,” Willow said.
“By all means then my love,” Tara told her. “By all means.”
************************
Tara coaxed Giles’ car up the hill, going carefully until she could gauge the grip that she had. It would probably, actually, be worse out on the roads which might be icy, than it was here in the snow.
“We didn’t leave anything behind?” Willow asked for the third time. They’d already stopped and gone back once. Checked the place over again. Better now though than when they were a hundred miles away.
Tara knew that they’d picked up everything.
She was sure of it. “Everything is packed in one of the cars sweetie,” she reassured her love.
Willow thought about that. She had supervised it, and she was sure that the others had cleared their cabin too as she’d checked that as well. “We didn’t leave anything in the fridge?” she suddenly wondered. That could be bad, if they had, it would be all furry and ugghh before anyone else used the cabin.
Not nice.
“No,” Tara said. “I took all the food up the others – apart from what we had for breakfast. Mr Giles wanted to make some sandwiches.”
That stirred something in Willow’s mind. She’d seen something. What was it… Giles making sandwiches… Buttering bread and… oh.
Ohhh.
“That was our cucumber?”
Tara looked at her and blinked.
************************
“What’s in the packet Giles?” Buffy asked as she sat next to the Watcher. The car was all packed, Anya and Xander were in the back seat of their own car along with Dawn. Giles was driving and he had put a small, wrapped package, on the top of the dashboard.
“Just some sandwiches,” he said. “I can’t stand the things that you American’s find to eat at your drive through windows.”
“Oh. Okay.”
They set off home.
***********************
As the cars pulled away they each allowed the snow to finally fall from them. The rustles contained what might have been called language. If anyone had bothered to analyze it for a few hundred years.
And if they’d ever allow anyone to study it.
Rustles that might, as snow fell to the ground, have formed a conversation.
Maybe.
“Finally.”
“I thought they’d never go.”
“Did you see the way that they were butchering that wood?”
“They were burning the pieces too.”
“We should have killed them all.”
“We gave that up a lot of summers ago.”
“Yeah,”
A leaf trailed over the branch of the other. It had no eyes, but there would have been a look. “Hmm?”
“Well we have been trimmed to look like rabbits and we know what they do.”
“I suppose.”
Whether Anya would have any more impressed with what they did then was debatable.
The mountain was once more still. Only the sounds of rustling branches and the occasional bird could be heard. That and the distant sound of sleigh bells in the twilight.
*************************
THE END (for this year)
Volumus hilarem festum,
Volumus hilarem festum,
Volumus hilarem festum,
Et Bonum Annum.
(We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
And a Happy New Year.)
, but the way they are with each other in their tenderness and devotion is so beautiful - it was just lovely to read - thanks. 
Officer Rosenberg. LOL. How come when I get pulled over, it’s some geeky cop that forgot to wipe his mouth after his last trip to the donut shop?
*hugs and goes to read*