Author: Cath
Email Address: CathyTombs@aol.com
Rating: R to NC-17
Pairing: W/T
Time frame: Set around season six time
Feedback: Would be much appreciated
Distribution: Sure, just please ask first
Spoilers: None
Disclaimers: All characters belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and UPN
Author’s Note: This is a sequel to “Halfway across the world”; you may have to read that to understand this fic.
Summary: Back from Switzerland, the girls prepare for a large change in their lives.
~*~*~*~*~ Chapter 1
Baby. Baby, baby, baby. A little foetus in my – no, wait, it could be Tara’s – stomach. Baby. Baby, baby, baby. Shut up! Can’t. Won’t. You’re going to be a mother. Yup. Mother of a baby. B- no! Stop repeating that damn word. But I’m going to be a mother. I’m going to have a b – child. Daughter? I hope so. Wonder whether Tara’s serious about calling her Viroqua. A wart on the bottom of a foot? No, no, no way. Not gonna call my baby after a wart. Wait. Our baby. Yup. Am gonna be a wife as well. Cool. No, better than cool. Tara and I will be bound together forever. Goddess, I never even imagined having something like that happen to me. No way am *I* going to leave my Tare-bear at the altar. Nope, I’m all ready. I’m ready for a proper family. Wonder if we’re going to move out? Hmm. Probably. But we’re kind of broke. Not broke. Well, yes, broke, but people sometimes have trust funds. Maybe we’ll get lucky. Doubt it. I’m babbling in my brain. I’m talking to myself in my head. Hope I’m not the only one. I’m so bo-ored. Wish Tara would wake up so we can… get up. Or something. This is getting serious. I wonder if I should do an Ally McBeal and see a therapist. Nope. I don’t need a therapist, because I don’t see dancing naked b- shit! What the hell is that thing over there? Goddess, don’t let it be a baby, not a dancing naked baby… wait. Nope, just my shirt. I think. Yeah, my pink shirt. Phew. I’m not as loopy as Ally. Hang on. She’s not real. So if I had seen a dancing naked baby then I’d have been even loopier than her because that didn’t really happen in real life, it’s just a television programme and – oh, thank the Lord. Tara’s stirring. I can stop talking to myself in my brain now.
“Stop talking to yourself in your brain, Willow.” Tara murmured, leaning on one elbow and gazing at her fiancée sleepily. The redhead’s startling green eyes widened.
Crap. Can she read my thoughts?
“No.” Tara retorted, and sat bolt upright. “Uh-oh.”
“No, baby, this can’t happen to you.” Willow shook her head frantically. “Because when it happened to Buffy she could read everyone’s thoughts and it almost deafened her brain and she ended up almost going crazy so don’t try and read everyone’s thoughts, please!
Buffy’s psychic?
“No…” Realization dawned in Willow’s eyes. “Okay, I didn’t think that.”
“And I didn’t say that. I – I, uh, thought it.”
We’re in trouble.
Yuh-huh. Dancing naked babies alert.
Tara raised two perfectly plucked eyebrows. “Dancing naked babies?”
Yeah, like – okay, gotta stop think-speaking to you. Because then we’ll just get lazy and have all these private conversations in our heads and not speak and then our lips will freeze together and we won’t be able to eat and we’ll end up in hospital with all these tubes feeding us liquid foods while they pry our lips apart and-
“Willow!” Tara couldn’t help but grin as she heard the familiar babble leave Willow’s – well, brain. “Stop brain-babbling. Heh. Brain-babbling. I’m sure there’s a perfectly obvious solution to this.”
Willow rolled over, tangling her legs up in the sheets, and rested her chin on her hands looking grumpy. “Research?”
You – “I mean, you love research.”
“It could be kind of cool, being able to talk to each other with our minds. Because then, we can make fun of the Scoobies and they’ll never know.”
Fun? Knowing each others intimate thoughts? Uh-oh.
“But, we don’t hide any secrets.” Willow slapped a hand to her forehead. “Sorry. Reading thoughts again.”
“It’s not your fault.” Tara smiled weakly as she swung her legs around the side of the bed. “Goddess, we’ve only just gotten back from the Alps and already we’re being stalked by a thought-stealing demon.”
Stalked? Thought-stealing demon? I’m going to die and we’ll never get married and have a baby and then they’ll take our brains and dissect them to see the two people that managed to find a completely different way of communicating and – somebody help me!
“Sweetie, calm down.” Tara reassured the redhead. “I was only joking about being stalked by a thought-stealing demon. We haven’t even come across any. It could have been the pregnancy spell we cast last night.”
“Oh – it probably was.” Willow realized. She reached for her clothes on the back of the stool. “So, we’ll go get Buffy and the others and be all research gals, yeah?”
“Yup.” Tara nodded.
She way overreacts.
“Hey!”
Tara looked sheepish. “Sorry. Didn’t mean it.”
Bet you did.
Didn’t.
Did.
Didn’t. You’re just melodramatic.
Am not.
Are.
Am not.
Look, this – “Look, this isn’t getting us anywhere.” Tara reminded herself to stop the conversations in their heads before they got out of hand. “Let’s get dressed, have breakfast and leg it down to the Magic Box before we end up thinking something we regret. Actually, until then, try not thinking at all.”
Not thinking? Easy for you to say. You don’t have a babble-brain.
~*~*~*~*~
“So, what, you can, like, read each other’s thoughts?” Dawn asked as she flipped through one of the hundreds of demon books they had in the stacks. All the gang, apart from Anya who was dancing around behind the counter waving dollar notes in the air, were gathered around the circular wooden table in the center of the room, scanning for the spell that Willow and Tara cast.
“Anya, you were the one that found the spell. Where’d it go?”
“I can’t remember. It was a brown book.”
She’s so bloody helpful. Almost every book in this store is brown. How the hell are we supposed to figure this out?
Just calm down, sweetie, and everything’ll be okay. Try not thinking at all.
“Would you guys quit having thought-conversations?” Buffy lost her temper as she saw Willow and Tara exchanging glances. “It’s really annoying and incredibly personal.”
Geez, someone fell out of bed.
I think you mean someone got out on the wrong side of bed, Will.
Right. Right, right, right. She’s all bad moody.
“Stop it!” Buffy bellowed, slamming a book shut and glaring at them.
“We can’t help it, Buff.” Willow defended them both. “It’s just natural. Remember when you were all thought-reading gal?” Buffy rolled her blue eyes and looked distressed.
“Don’t remind me. That was hell.”
Across the other side of the room, Giles cleared his throat and hastily cleaned his glasses as the Slayer stared at him. “Stevedore.” She said, making him choke on his tea. “But I couldn’t have conversations with someone.” Buffy said. “It wasn’t all personal.”
“It was. You knew exactly what everyone was thinking. That’s unfair. It’s invading our privacy.”
“What about you two invading each other’s privacy?”
Tara slipped an arm around Willow’s waist. “We can be private together. We hide no secrets.”
Except that I accidentally threw out her favorite perfume while we were in Switzerland.
“What?” Tara mock-glared. “You threw out my perfume? How dare you?”
“STOP IT!”
Irritated, Buffy got to her feet and stomped into the training room, most likely to beat up the punch bag. Dawn snickered.
“Don’t mind her. She’s just all bad moody because I used up the hot water in the shower.”
“You know what?” Xander shut his own research book and leant back in his chair, stretching his arms above his head. “This research stuff is boring me out of my skull, and you two have barely talked about Switzerland. So, come on, un-boredom me and spill.”
Buffy bounded back into the room, a wide grin on her face. “Yes! All the details!” She scrambled onto the bench like an eager puppy running for a treat. “Every single detail.”
Thank Goddess we haven’t had the photographs developed yet. Tara thought.
I think I might destroy that one of us skiing. Willow replied.
I’ll help.
They looked at each other, and Willow began. “Well, we met this couple there, Destiny and Grace, and we decided to go on this New Year’s adventure thingy…”
To Be Continued
Tara: No, I-I understand. You have to be with the person you l-love.
Willow: I am.
I'm sorry that updates aren't so frequent. I'm having a lot (and I mean a lot) of trouble with AOL meaning I can't access many ezboard sites, including the Kitten and my own. 
It's just about sorted... so, update.
at: 1/13/03 8:14:10 pm
Or something...
Pax! -Bev