Feedback is golden and is read, re-read and often used – thanks!!! Title: How I Met Your Mother*
Author: Ariel
Email:
blaziak@yahoo.com Feedback: All feedback welcomed, specific input appreciated, harsh on me via PM
Rating: PG-13 for W/T light love and skinny dipping, ratings can change on various posts
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, but I love to take them for a ride!
Summary: A/U before season 1, the summer after Willow's freshman year with a large dose of Queen Cordelia at her bitchy best and teen-aged angst.
Special Thanks: To Lexi AKA True_Love for beta-ing the Faith/Towanda dialogue – thanks my friend!
*not related to the sit-com of the same name
Quote:
Suddenly a mob of jumping girls was screaming for a chance to drive. Willow and Tara caucused briefly with Faith and decided to allow it since they were in a level field, the speed was incredibly slow and the truck would simply stall without an adult managing the clutch, brake and gas. Nine of the happiest girls in the world got to ‘drive’ knowing that the first rules had been broken and adventure lay ahead.
Part 53: Celebration (continued)The truck pulled up in a curving flourish with Devola at the wheel, yelping with excitement and honking the horn. “Come on, Faith! Take me out! Let’s open ‘er up!”
Faith grinned, “Later kid.” She stopped the truck and pocketed the keys. Meanwhile Devola and Veronica piled out, then Veronica turned to help Mouse down from the truck’s high running board while the other kids clambered off the back.
Then Faith stood absolutely still until every eye was watching her, then she grinned and beckoned, leading them silently to an oak tree on a bluff by the river. She pointed up into the tree’s branches and the girls’ eyes widened with delight, then Faith left.
“A tree house!” No one knew who said it first, but the reality was met by a stunned silence followed by screams of excitement. It was a nest, a huge cargo net swaying slightly and connected to several big branches with canvas tarps for a floor. A moment later Faith returned shouldering an extension ladder and Tara rushed to help her extend it and set it up. Then the whole group tried to swarm up the ladder at once and some safety rules were made. Then they scrambled up into a curving sort of nest roofed with arching branches and fluttering dark green leaves. They babbled and chattered and laughed, learning to walk on the cloth surface while the dappled light seemed to dance and glide around them. After a brief discussion, they named their leafy hideaway ‘The Look-out’.
Then Faith was down the ladder, calling up to assign tasks. “Okay! Towanda, Lisa jump back in and unload everything off the truck. Debbie, Connie, Veronica and Mouse – Sleeping bags, tarps, and stuff over there. Wood and fire stuff,” she pointed, “right there! Betts, get that potty and the blue bag put over there,” she indicated some overhanging branches. “Red, you’re on kid watch. T., you’re with me!”
*******************************************
The tasks were done quickly and the kids contemplated the small standing toilet in all its unconcealed glory.
Kate’s eyes were wide, “I can’t sit there like that in front of everybody!”
Devola brushed past her, “Sure you can!” She twirled around and sank gracefully onto the toilet seat. “I am a Queen on my throne!” Everyone giggled as Willow walked up. “Here, let’s use the twine and sheets to make a private bathroom and a dressing room, too.”
Kate sighed with relief and she was not alone.
*******************************************
Devola was bouncing on the balls of her feet and Tara smiled,
Just like Willow! Then Devola shouted, “Hey, Faith! What’s next?”
Faith smiled, a hint of danger sparkling in her dark eyes. Then she led the way to the edge of a bluff overlooking the river, with nine curious girls following her as if she were the Pied Piper. Then she made a sweeping gesture that encompassed the river and the trees on the other side. “Wanna fly?”
They stared up at Faith. She seemed to crackle with energy and they nodded a little slowly, amazed by the possibility of flight.
Faith gave a quick nod, “Good! Then I’ll check it out.” She climbed back up the ladder to their tree house and was literally walking upright along an overhanging branch while the girls stared open-mouthed. Then she squatted to inspect the rope and fastenings and dropped a rope down to them. A moment later she stood easily, turned and walked confidently back along the branch.
“Wow,” Debbie said in an awed voice, “She’s like our cat.”
Faith was back on the ground. “Get me the smaller cargo net in the back of the truck with the board inside it.”
Towanda, Devola, and Lisa raced to the truck and ran returned with the requested items.
Faith connected the net with the board inside to the rope so that the net was suspended about three feet off the ground.
She wiped her forehead and grinned in triumph. “Who’s first!” Then she caught Tara’s look. “No worries, T. Carly’s Dad helped me set it up and tested it himself! The carabineers and rope can handle 5,000 pounds, net can take a lot more.”
Tara folded her arms. “I don’t c-care. No one is going on that swing until I say it’s safe!”
Faith rolled her eyes.
Tara stepped forward, “So I h-have to go first. I’m the heaviest.”
Faith nodded, confident of the rig’s safety. “Lay on this board,” she jerked her chin in the direction of the orange bucket, “Gimme those carabineers.”
Tara nodded and lay down as instructed.
“Wait!” Willow stepped forward, green eyes glittering with fear, “If she goes then I go, too!”
Faith smirked, “Sure you wanna risk death, Red?”
“Death?” Willow squeaked. Faith nodded solemnly and placed a hand over her heart; then Willow frowned, realizing that she was being teased, and strode over to the board and lay down next to Tara. “Go ahead!” she challenged, “I’m not all afraid-y gal!”
Faith laughed then tightened the net around them both, noticing that they each had an arm around the other’s waist.
“Okay, I’ll use the slack of the rope on this end to pull you back and let you go. Get ready for a wild ride!”
Both girls tightened their one-armed embrace and wriggled as close as they could, bound tight by the net fastened around them and the board beneath them. Then they saw the ground just beneath them moving back in stages as Faith tugged the swaying net backwards.
Tara’s face flushed with excitement. “Are you ready?”
Willow gulped and nodded, “Ready,” she said breathlessly.
Faith continued tugging them as far back as she could then let go.
They soared over the edge of the bluff, the river sparkling beneath them.
Willow’s initial scream of panic transformed to a shout of exhilaration as they flew up, seeing trees and sky first flying then floating for a brief magical instant before swinging back. It was swooping, glorious ecstatic flight.
When they were unfastened, their legs were weak as if unused to mortal locomotion and their faces flushed and glowing with excitement.
“Great!” Willow panted, “The best! Amazing!” Tara nodded agreement, her blue eyes shining.
Further experimentation showed that three littler girls worked best, so Devola, Connie, and Towanda were the first group with Lisa, Kate and Debbie next.
Screams, gasps, and babbling rants of amazement split the evening air and finally it was time for the last group.
Veronica knelt by Mouse, “Do you want to go?”
Mouse looked troubled, “My head wants to go by my tummy isn’t sure.”
Willow stepped up and gave her littlest friend a squeeze. “It’s okay, Mouse, you don’t have to do it.”
“I’m going!” “Mouse announced firmly,
Willow was surprised, “How come?”
Mouse looked up at Willow, “Because I’m a big girl!” Then she climbed in between Bettina and Veronica and they heard her initial screams change to piping laughter as the swing was finally hauled back.
Everyone got more turns until Faith said it was time for dinner and they scampered off to find the roasting sticks in the truck while Faith made the fire and Tara set up the condiments on the back of the truck, buffet style and Willow helped slide hot-dogs onto sticks.
*******************************************
Towanda sighed with satisfaction. “Hotdogs taste best when you make ‘em over a fire.”
There were nods and murmurs of agreement.
Debbie chipped in, “My mom puts hot-dogs in macaroni and cheese and she calls it ‘Fettuccine a la wienie’. Then she always laughs.”
A brief silence.
Towanda spoke truth, “Parents are weird.”
There were more nods and Connie shifted the topic to the day’s game.
“Hey, Veronica,” Connie waved to get her attention, “That was some double play! How didja do it?”
Veronica blushed but smiled back, “Sometimes you feel kind of bigger than you are, you know? It’s like I knew where the ball was going and I just had to be there.” She looked shyly at Connie, “I threw kind of wild, but you made a great catch!”
Connie laughed, “I sure did! Lucky I do gymnastics, too; I was practically doing the splits reaching out to grab that throw!”
The two girls grinned at each other and Veronica said softly, “But you caught it.”
Connie patted her hair smugly, “Yeah, I’m ‘mooning’ dynamite!”
Towanda cut in, “What about Betts tagging out Kelly Leblonski!”
Debbie shuddered, “Glad it wasn’t me! That Kelly creeps me out!”
Kate, Lisa, Debbie and Mouse agreed loudly, the others tried to pretend otherwise.
Bettina spoke, “It was funny,” she said thoughtfully. “I wasn’t scared. All I saw was her, nothing around her. I just kept thinking, ‘make the tag! Make the tag!’ I didn’t have time to be scared!”
Debbie laughed, “I sure did! I was scared every time I batted with the Tizz-Monster staring at me! What a ‘moon’ – she’d give a nightmare nightmares!”
Devola laughed loudly at Debbie’s joke and gave the smaller girl a good natured punch in the shoulder, “Yeah, but we sure psyched her out! You and Connie and me!”
Lisa jumped in, “What about Mouse?” She winked, “Nobody knew that Mouse was a slugger.”
Mouse walked in looking particularly small in a flannel nightgown and grinned in proud surprise at being part of the big girls’ talk.
Veronica patted a spot next to her and smiled when Mouse sat down, “She played mighty!”
Debbie giggled, “In her nighty.”
“Hey,” Devola’s hand started tapping and she chanted:
Mouse won the game! (clap)
Mouse won the game! (clap)
She played mighty in her nighty!
Mouse won the game! (clap)
Devola’s dark eyes flashed with excitement as the other girls took up the victory chant and clapped along:
Veronica turned two! (clap)
Veronica turned two! (clap)
She played mighty in her nighty!
Veronica turned two! (clap)
And suddenly they were up, feet stomping, hands clapping; a tribe doing its victory dance:
Towanda slammed it home! (clap)
Towanda slammed it home! (clap)
She played mighty in her nighty!
Towanda slammed it home! (clap)
The girls whirled and leapt as the flickering firelight lit them in crimson and gold. It was mad, joyful and primitive with girls jumping in to chant each other’s triumphs then whirling back into the darkness. Everyone had verses shouted about her and the pulse-pounding rhythm of clapping hands and stomping feet shook the ground beneath them. They were screaming and laughing and the chant continued until it came full circle:
Mouse won the game! (clap)
Mouse won the game! (clap)
She played mighty in her nighty!
Mouse won the game! (clap)
Then they broke into triumphant yells of excitement before finally collapsing back down by the fire, panting for breath and intoxicated by victory fever and firelight.
Devola’s head popped up, “What’s next!”
Faith was ready, “S’mores and hot cocoa!” Then cheers resounded and everyone gathered around to grab their share of graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate squares to make their s’mores while Tara balanced a pot full of water for cocoa on a wire grill to heat over the fire.
By now, all the girls were old hands at roasting marshmallows and putting them into a sandwich of graham crackers and chocolate. Willow helped Veronica with Mouse’s s’more and Tara kept an eye on Devola who seemed more interested in making marshmallow torches than s’mores. Then there was the contented sound of munching and finally silence.
Faith threw another log on the fire and the light flared up.
Tara laughed, “You look like painted warriors, only with chocolate and marshmallow! It’s still warm out, let’s walk down and wash your faces in the stream.”
Devola yipped excitedly. “I bet it’s against the rules to go to the river at night! Come on!” She pranced down the path to the river and skipped across a row of stones, promptly falling in the shallow river and laughing. “I’m in the river! I’m in the river!” An instant later she flung off her clothes and shoes and was naked. “I broke another rule,” she chanted, “broke another rule!”
A moment later Lisa, Towanda and Bettina shucked off their clothes while Connie, Debbie, Veronica and Kate remained clothed. Mouse was undecided.
Lisa raised her arms, “I’m a moon maiden.” She began to twirl slowly, using her hand to fling drops of water, like liquid moonlight, into the night sky.
Devola simply laughed, enjoying the cool water on her warm skin while Bettina and Towanda wrestled and played like a pair of young bear cubs. Then Mouse tugged and struggled her way out of her clothes and stepped into the water, “oh,” the little girl said softly, “There’re stars in the water. It’s like the magic night.”
The other girls continued to look undecided and their counselors reassured them that it was fine to keep their clothes and stay in the water or go sit by the fire.
Faith spoke up, “I got this. You two sit by the fire. Water is only about two feet deep.”
The two lovers nodded, knowing that they were only seconds away if they were needed.
Tara’s voice was soft music in the firelight, “They’re so innocent; ’They know the Eden secret of being naked and unashamed’.”
Willow’s grin was tender, “That’s beautiful, baby.”
Tara nodded, “I read it in a book by L.M. Montgomery. It always stayed with me.”
Willow slid an arm around her waist, “In two days we’ll be dancing.”
“Will we?” Tara answered musingly, “Strange; stars and water and breezes fluttering make that other stuff seem so far away.”
Willow spoke, “Don’t be too far away, baby. I want to dance with you.”
“Me, too,” Tara ducked her head and Willow fell in love with the arch of her neck all over again as Tara spoke, “I’ve daydreamed about dancing with you, Willow, kind of swaying in your arms.”
Willow’s answer was a flutter of breath that seemed to fill Tara’s body with warmth, “I’m kissing you right now, baby.”
The two lovers locked eyes and Tara’s breath caught as her face flushed and her eyes dilated. Her full lips parted, “I feel you.”
A moment later, they heard the voices of their girls and knew it was time to help them dry off and change to pajamas.
*******************************************
The girls lolled and talked, with the firelight in their eyes and s’mores laying happily in their tummies.
Lisa turned curious, “Towanda, do your two moms kiss and stuff?”
Towanda nodded in exasperation, “All the time!”
“Ewwwww!” Devola exclaimed, “Kissing is disgusting!”
“You’re disgusting,” Connie shot back, “All that talk at the game about ‘spreadable spit’ I thought I was going to barf!”
“That’s all kissing is!” Devola insisted, “Just spreading spit all over each other’s mouths!”
Tara and Willow exchanged amused glances and resolutely clamped their jaws shut. Faith on the other hand, laughed so hard that she slid to the ground, but she clamped a hand over her mouth so that she could hear the rest of the conversation.
“Devola,” Connie whined, “Kissing is romantic and you make it sound disgusting!”
“It IS disgusting!”
“You’re disgusting! I bet your Mom thinks so, too.”
There was an odd silence and Devola answered quietly. “Yeah. She does.”
Mouse’s mouth opened in pained surprise, “Your mommy doesn’t like you?”
Devola’s chin lifted, “My mom always says, ‘no child of mine would’ and then she goes on to say the exact same thing I just did. I guess she wanted somebody else but she got me instead.” She looked hopefully up at Tara, “Do you think maybe the stork dropped me off at the wrong house?”
Towanda giggled, “’The STORK’! Don’t you know where babies come from?”
“No!” Mouse stood up and ran over to Towanda and grabbed her shoulders, “Tell me! Tell me! Tell me! I wanna know!”
Devola jerked upright, her sadness forgotten, “Me, too! I wanna know!”
Tara stepped in, “Um, it’s up to your parents to tell you when it’s the right time.”
Devola stared back at Tara, “But I won’t see my Mom. I’m signed up for the next session of camp, too!”
Veronica sat up, “You are? Me, too!”
Mouse looked sadly at Veronica, “Doesn’t your mommy like you?”
Veronica looked down, tugging at the skin around one of her cuticles. “She died. I had two step-moms but they’re not around and I’m glad.”
Tara slid an arm around her shoulders and squeezed Veronica close, “I’m sorry, sweetie. My mom is so special to me. She’s always been there.” Tara swallowed, “When I didn’t feel like I had anything, I always had her. I don’t know what I’d do if—“ She buried her face in Veronica’s cinnamon colored hair until the little girl squirmed and Tara opened her arms.
Veronica patted Tara awkwardly on the shoulder. “It’s okay. I don’t remember her much, but there are a couple of pictures of her holding me.” Veronica blinked quickly, “And I like them, like to look at them sometimes,” she said softly then leaned against Tara’s side, now welcoming the comfort of an arm around her.
Tara smiled, “My mom is my best friend.”
Bettina spoke up, resentful of the attention being given to Veronica, “I thought Willow was your best friend!”
Tara turned and met Willow’s eyes. There was another of those moments, a humming energy; something glowing and golden, warming the air between them.
Tara jolted back to herself as Bettina continued tugging on her sleeve.
“Tara, I said ‘I thought Willow was your best friend’.”
“Willow,” Tara said softly, “is my special friend.”
*******************************************
“Let’s dog pile,” Debbie suggested.
“What’s that?” several girls asked at once.
“You kinda lay in a big pile with everyone using everyone for a pillow and look at the stars.”
“Tickle fight?” Devola asked hopefully.
Debbie hesitated, “Maybe.”
The group lay a bit away from the firelight where they could see the stars and cuddled into a big pile.
Towanda was disappointed. “Come on, Faith! Lay down with us!”
Faith shrugged, “Not my thing, kid.”
Mouse gave Towanda a reassuring pat, “It’s okay. We’re down here and Faith is up there watching us like our Guard Angel. My Mom eh-splained it to me,” she said importantly.
“Guardian angel,” Lisa corrected gently.
“That’s what I said!”
“Okay,” Lisa agreed, and Mouse smiled again.
They took turns singing and listening to each other’s tummies make music under their heads, told jokes until everyone’s ‘pillow’ bounced with laughter, then tried to count the stars.
Mouse’s voice piped up, “Can I make a wish on a star?”
Tara spoke, “Sure you can, Sweetie.”
Mouse hesitated, wanting to make her wish good enough to work, “Then I want my mommy to not be lost any more.”
Towanda spoke, “You’re mom is lost?”
“Uh huh. My daddy went away and she said she had to find herself so I guess she got lost.”
There was a pause and they instinctively cuddled closer as a wave of homesickness washed over them all.
Then Tara sang a lullaby, “Distant Melody” and the sadness of the lovely little song comforted them somehow and they were ready to get up smiling and go brush teeth, go potty, and climb the ladder up to bed.
Lisa grumbled, yanking in vain at the zipper, “It doesn’t zip up! This camp sleeping bag is busted!”
Tara found the same problem with hers as did Willow and Bettina.
“Hey,” Lisa said, “Let’s put them all together and have covers like the giant bed in Peter Pan that the Lost Boys slept in!”
Everyone agreed and even those with working zippers unzipped them.
Tara and Willow were side by side, knowing that kisses and touches were out of the question, but glad to be close when Mouse came crawling towards them. With the unerring instinct of small children, Mouse found the center of greatest loving energy and put herself right in the middle of it, squeezing happily between Willow and Tara who grinned and cuddled the little girl.
Bettina saw her chance, “Dibs on Tara!” Then she cuddled next to Tara, sighing with happiness and soon their nest was almost ready.
Towanda called down to Faith, “Are you gonna sleep in the look-out with us?”
"Naw, kid. Gotta keep an eye on things. I’m staying down here.”
Debbie giggled and turned to Mouse, “Well we’re up high in heaven and our ‘Guardian Angel’ is stuck down by the fire.”
Mouse blinked back at Debbie. “Guardian Angels can go wherever they want,” she said firmly.
Towanda’s imagination took off. “Yeah, standing guard near the campfire.” She wriggled out of her sleeping bag and threw it unceremoniously over the side of the nest. “I’m gonna help her!”
She got a nod from Willow with agreement from Tara, and headed down the ladder, eager to stand her first watch.
*******************************************
Faith had banked the fire and a warm glow bathed their faces. She sat and Towanda edged as close as she dared.
“Faith, do we have a lot of camp left?”
“’Bout a week.”
Towanda sighed, “I miss my moms, but I like camp!”
Faith remained silent.
“Do you miss your mom, Faith?”
Faith shrugged.
“Even a little bit?”
Faith turned to face the little girl. “Kid. My mom/your mom, your life/my life. No comparison.”
Towanda was clearly confused, “What do you mean?”
Faith shut her eyes for a moment then opened them again. “On my own since I was twelve.”
“But you need a mom! Moms love you and take care—“
Faith cut her off, “I live in the ‘Now,’ kid.” Then she softened her tone and patted Towanda’s shoulder, “And right now I’m happy. End of story.”
Towanda looked up and saw Faith smiling in the shifting firelight and the little girl smiled in return.
*******************************************
Willow felt herself drifting then heard an annoying buzz in her ear.
Mosquito! She tried to relax again, but it flew back by her ear and she sat up with a jerk, swatting and missing.
Oh ‘moon’! ‘Moon’? Hey, I can swear in own mind if I want to! Damn mosquito! They always find me! She sat, hand raised to attack position as the minutes ticked by.
My hand. She shook it experimentally.
It weighs about a thousand pounds. Okay, not literally but— She began moving her arm, loosening the tight muscles.
My bicep was burning, too. So, weight lift-y Willow is a no-go. I’ll have to find another way to impress girls— Girls? As in lesbian gay-type girls? No. Just one girl. Tara. Willow felt her own smile curve up in the darkness.
And she loves me already.Willow turned her head and saw Tara sleeping, the moonlight changing her light golden tan into a marble-like smoothness.
But she’s alive. All warm-y goodness. Her eager gaze dropped lower,
Tara boobs. Going up. Going down. Going up. Going— Willow had begun leaning closer and closer to the magic motion and started to topple across Mouse, barely catching herself before falling.
Then she checked the luminous dials of her watch.
12:06? It’s Friday. FRIDAY! Less than nine days and we’re leaving! NINE DAYS! Probably no more than 8 days and 16 hours, probably less! Tara! I can’t walk away. I mean, how can we be apart? She felt tears starting,
How can I sleep without my Tare-bear? Without my cheek against that soft spot on your shoulder or on your breast? How can I be all beautiful-y lover-girl without seeing myself in your eyes? Wait! We never named our furry places! Her eyes were drawn back to her lover’s face, the arch of pale brow and—
Mosquito! On Tara’s face! Oh no, you blood-sucking vampire of the insect world! She raised her hand,
Prepare to die! Then she raised it the final distance and Tara’s eyes opened to panicked wakefulness. “Don’t h-hurt me!”
“Tara! Tara, it’s me, Willow.”
Tara’s breath rasped in fright, then Willow saw understanding fill her lover’s eyes and replace the terror with a different kind of fear.
Willow caught Tara’s hand in hers, kissed it lovingly and brushed a tendril of hair back behind Tara’s ear. And Tara smiled, sleepy again, looking at Willow’s face until her eyes closed; but Willow couldn’t sleep. A twisting pain, some evil unknown, kept her staring at Tara’s face.
We never told all our secrets. I mean I did, but you didn’t. Let me in, Tara! Please, before it’s over, let me in! Willow’s fists clenched and the lovely dappled moonlight swam in a blur of tears.