A fic inspired by the TV show Blind Date

[lurker1.0]

Hello everyone, and welcome to my Fic. As you may have guessed, by my total lack of a clever username, that i am a lurker. And a lurker that much apprieciates what you people do on this board. You know, with the writing and such. Anywho. This is my fic. And it is of course a cross-over of apocaliptic proportions, taking the BtVS universe and combining Blind Date and Change of Heart into the mix. I must be insane.

Title: Blind Date
Spoilers: Basic season 6 stuff
Disclaimers: Disclaimers going out to Joss Whedon the genius behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer, who's lovable characters I am borrowing, but do NOT own. And shouts out to the people who bring us Blind Date and Change of Heart, my much appreciated source of entertainment on late night TV.
Notes: This Fic is set on the TV show Blind Date. Although it doesn't directly follow the outline Blind Date does. It's more a cross between Blind Date and another show, Change of Heart. I did this so that it would be possible to have Willow and Tara appear on the show and interviewed by the host.

The camera slowly pans across a dimly lit stage, as corny sub-pop-culture background music begins playing, and finally centers in on the large opening on the right of the stage as the lights go up and the applause of the crowd grows in anticipation for the big moment. And then with the camera closing in inch by painful inch, it happens. Out walks, the magnificent, the fabulous, the totally and completely glamorous, show hostest to put all show hostesses to shame! Buffy Summers!

"Hi everybody I'm Buffy Summers, and welcome to Blind Date! The show where we find two complete strangers and set them up on a once in a life time date they will never forget." By this time the applause of the crowd is deafening, and the sound producers are racing to control the volume transmitted to millions of television screens nation wide to prevent an outbreak of horrifying deafness.

The camera follows as Buffy makes her way towards a very comfortable looking red chair. Sitting down she unbuttons the top button on her dark denim jacket and crosses her legs, revealing just the right amount of skin as her skirt falls around the sides of her legs. The stage manager grins and gives her a 'thumbs up' sign. Mission successful. She has now sent half the male population running either to the bathroom, or searching madly for a blanket, claming that it's too cold.

With a well-timed toss of her long blond hair, Buffy waits patiently for the applause to die down to continue with the opening of the show. As the audience silences the camera moves forward for a close up. The camera man crosses his fingers, hoping he achieves the perfect shot, or he knows he'll be flipping burgers by tomorrow morning. With a signal from the stage manager, Buffy smiles into the camera, squints a little as she skilfully memorizes the queue cards and begins.

"We have a very special show for you tonight. Tonight we have a date that I myself set up, organized and made possible. I have two very close personal friends who broke up not too long ago, but are, of course, still madly in love with each other and just can't bring themselves to work it out, and are now stuck in a horrible 'we're only friends right now, but both of us are dying to be more' stage. So the producers of Blind Date and I agreed that if I could get both of my friends to agree to be on the show, we would set them up and send them out on their first official date since the break up. But of course our dark, ulterior motives would be unknown to them. And they would enter the date all innocent and unsuspecting. And then KABLAMO." Approving chuckles are heard in the audience as Buffy describes the cleverness of her plan with evil, childlike glee. "And therein lies the beauty of this show." Smiling her million-dollar smile, Buffy pauses to check with the stage manager for time. Rolling his fist, the stage manager signals wrap it up and send to commercial break. "So now let us cut to a commercial and when we return. We'll meet our daters and see what fate has in store for them the second time around." And with another perfect smile, Buffy sends the TV audience off. And the screen fades to black.

[Sublime]

oohhhhh I love Blind Date! It's so tacky but at the same time entertaining. I also lurk and am very appreciative of the talented people on this board. Reading their fic (especially the kind with smoochies!) in the morning always puts a smile on my face before I have to go to work, thanks Kittens!!

lurker1.0: Am very much looking forward to finding out how the W/T date goes.

Sublime

[katydid]

This is just too cute. At least I am not the only one who watches those horried shows on my lunch break. lol Sometimes I even have to close the door to the lunch room (there is a patient waiting area right outside the door) cause they are talking so trashy.

There are so many places you could take this... Can't wait to see where you decide to go.

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"She practically has 'genuine molded plastic' stamped on her ass.

[nika]

It's an entertaining idea, I'm looking foward to seeing where you take this. Welcome to de-lurkdom btw.

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"Eat lot's of applesauce, preferably fed to you by attractive young lesbians." Amber Benson

[CaptMurdock]

Oooohh...one of my favorite "guilty pleasure" shows that I can only watch when Mrs. CaptMurdock is out of the room...

This is a terrific idea. I'm dying to see where you go with this.

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"Good God, that's a lot of shake!"

[Kittie17]

ohh i just love this idea, is great!

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Todo lo que necesitamos es sentido comun y eso no puede ser enseñado

[lurker1.0]

Welcome to part two. Featuring the infamous dater vid clips. This part was surprisingly very hard to write, as I had a very hard time deciding what Willow and Tara should say in their vid clips. But anyways. Hope you all enjoy this little piece of insanity in the making.

As the last notes of a well-known MacDonald's commercial finish playing, the screen brings the audience back into the plushy, show biz fabricated world of Blind Date. The applause of the studio audience grows as the lights get just a little bit brighter and the camera centres in on Buffy Summers in the same big red chair with a big screen TV sitting just to her left. The corny theme music is cut and Buffy waits for the audience to be silent before she begins. And then, after receiving a signal from the stage manager, and flashing a smile and a wink, Buffy brings the audience back into the drama she is about to unfold.

"Hello again and welcome back to Blind Date. Before the commercial break I told you about the very special date we have for you tonight featuring two of my friends. So before I bore you all to death lets meet our daters and get on with the show." Shifting in her chair carefully, and sitting at just the right angle to allow more skin to be unveiled from underneath her skirt, Buffy turns to face the giant sized Sony Television screen. The camera stays focused on Buffy and the screen while Buffy waits for a picture and a short bio of one of her friends to appear on the screen. And a second later the Blind Date logo on the blue background disappears and is replaced by Willow with a goofy grin plastered on her face that seems to say 'Buffy, just wait till I get my hands on you'. Some appreciative hoots and hollers are heard from the men in the audience, and even some of the girls join in. Buffy once again waits another well-timed second before continuing. Knowing that without certain amounts of release, the sexual tension in the studio could result in some serious unpleasantness.

"First we have Willow Rosenberg. My best friend since high school, Willow is an independent, hacker, wiccan, genius with an order of extra special cuteness on the side. But don't look too much into her innocent appearance this girl can pack a powerful punch. I speak from experience." And then as if to emphasis this fact, Buffy gently rubs her upper arm to sooth away some previously experienced pain. " So let's see what Willow has to say" The camera then focuses in on the screen as a vid cap of Willow's comments begins to play. At first Willow stands utterly still, just staring blankly at the screen, as if she'd just been informed that millions of people would be watching this. Ever so slowly she opens her mouth, and just as you think she's going to say something, either incredibly enlightening, or just some incoherent nonsense, her mouth snaps shut again and she blushes a very deep shade of red. But then seconds later seeming to have decided upon something she straightens her back, clears her throat and tosses a confident and oddly defiant look to someone appearing to stand just behind the camera.

"Hi, I'm Willow Rosenberg. Buffy's very good long time best friend. I like magic, books, mochas and the very cliché 'moonlit walks along the beach'. In a date I look for someone fun. Someone who likes to laugh, and is interesting enough to keep me awake for the whole date." Willow pauses quickly to take a breath, and then continues with a smirk playing across her lips. " And sense I have 15 more seconds left for my vid clip, I'd just like to say. Buffy, you have no idea how much dead meat you're going to be when I get through with you." And then Willow grins and the clip stops playing and the camera stays focused on the TV screen for a few seconds until panning over to include a very nervous looking Buffy in the shot. Grinning very stupidly Buffy turns to face the audience and releases a very nervous sounding laugh that can only be rivalled by a child who'd just been caught stealing from the cookie jar.

"And that was Willow Rosenberg. My very dear friend." Buffy laughs nervously again and briefly covers her face with her hand in embarrassment. But then from the back row two very jock-sounding type men stand up a yell out an encouraging 'we'll protect you'.
Her embarrassment and nervousness forgotten by the very open display of audience devotion, Buffy blows the two jocks a quick kiss and yells out a 'thank you'. Through all this back and forth, Buffy, audience interaction, the camera man keeps the shot locked on Buffy and the TV screen. And with the audience now patiently waiting for her to continue, Buffy turns back to face the camera as a picture and short bio of Tara comes up on the screen.

"And next we have Tara Maclay. Tara's an independent, wiccan, dependable, pancake maker extraordinaire who also happens to be one of the nicest people I've ever met and I am very lucky to call her a friend. And sense she's such a nice person hopefully she won't make any unseemly Buffy-death-threats in her vid clip." Buffy glares in the general direction of no one as she expresses her displeasure for Willow's little outburst that she could have sworn the editors said they'd cut out of the clip. "Now let's see what Tara has to say" The camera once again focuses on the giant screen as the vid clip begins to play. The clip starts off with Tara taking a few calming breaths as she begins to toy with the necklace hanging around her neck. Gathering up her courage Tara begins making her comments. Very fast.

"Hi I'm Tara Maclay. Um, what do I look for in a date? I look for someone who's giving, caring, funny, and smart." And smiling shyly, Tara looks down at her feet for a second then looks back into the camera. "And that's all I really have to say." The clip comes to a stop as Tara smiles a very awww worthy smile. Some of the producers even had a bet going that Tara's vid clip was the shortest and most to the point in Blind Date history. And as the giant screen returns to the Blind Date logo, the camera moves in to focus on Buffy once again, who appears to be flirting with one of the jocks who has mysteriously been moved to the front row. Returning suddenly from the land of flirtage, Buffy smiles innocently into the camera and gets the signal from the stage director to send to commercial break.

"And that was Tara Maclay, making with the no death threats, yay Tara" Buffy cheers Tara's vid clip with a short pumping of her first above her head. "And now that you've met our daters when we return from commercial break we'll follow them on their date and see what happens. And hopefully when we return I'll have a date for Friday night" Buffy winks at the jock in the front row and smiles into the camera once again for good measure. And the screen fades to black.

[xita]

Oh this is cute, and I too am ashamed to admit a certain affinity for this show especially when they show the blind dates from hell.

[nika]

This is a really fun read, the way you write Buffy I can reaaly see her as the perfect game show hostess.

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"Eat lot's of applesauce, preferably fed to you by attractive young lesbians." Amber Benson

[Kittie17]

i'm enjoying reading this

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Todo lo que necesitamos es sentido comun y eso no puede ser enseñado

[Quill]

Ah, what a fun read this is. I can really see Buffy's mannerisms. Keep it up!

[Rane]

hehe... i even have the blind date cd. i got it from owrk and it's hilarious! comes with a cdrom we used to pop in when things got slow.

i love the show, even know someone who was on a dte, and this is a very cute fic! Hugs to lurker! i like how you're splitting it up like a show. how in the world will you be able to do the pop ups?

[tommo]

Funny thing is, I've just finished watching Blind Date on UPN (wondering at the channel's daytime shows actually, but hey, I can ignore that in favour of Buffy-goodness...).

The setup on Blind Date in the US is different to that in the UK, but thankfully, this means no Cilla. Phew.

This is fun and sweet. I like it!

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"Bitter, party of one. Bitter, party of one." she muttered... ~ Four Months After by Capt. Murdock

[lurker1.0]

Hehe thanks everyone it's good to see you're all liking this fic as much as I'm liking writing it, you have no idea how fun it is to write this just makes me all tingly inside.

Rane: Oh yes the pop ups.. believe me I have something very creative in mind for that. Seing as how I've kept the point of view for the story mostly from what the camera sees and not what the audience or anyone else sees. It's all very possible for me to insert very hilarious side comments.

[lurker1.0]

eek! Had to go back all the way to page three to dig up this fic. It's taken me a long time to finally write part 3. Working and going back to school after the holidays really cut out my free-time I usually spend on writing. But I finally got this part out. And I hope it's alright, because writing with very little sleep is a very challenging thing to do. And hey, if I spelt most of the words right I think I'll have done a good job. Now I need more caffine.

It seems like ages since the show cut to commercial break. And the audience breaths an audible sigh of relief when the theme music picks up again, the applause sign lights up and the cameras resume their dutiful job of capturing everything that is Blind Date. As the picture returns, the stage lights go up and the camera focuses in on a very pleased looking Buffy Summers. The audience silences their applause on key to the dimming of the applause sign, and the stage director signals for Buffy to start.

"Hi and welcome back, I hope you all enjoyed that latest bombardment of advertisements. And now with the suffering and torment over with, thankfully you all survived, let's get back to the show." Buffy smirks a little as the stage manager continues his self-induced physical assault on his forehead, as an assistant hands him a notepad that's sure to read 'NO MORE IMPROVISATIONS. STICK TO THE QUE CARDS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PLEASE STICK TO THE QUE CARDS'. Still smiling, although now a look a pure innocence is held in the smile, Buffy quickly glances at the que cards and memorizes them in a second. "Before we left we met our daters, and I met my date for Friday night. So now that I'm happy, we're all set to see if there's happiness in store for Willow and Tara as we take a nice little backstage look at their date. And of course if everything goes well on the date we'll have them visit us in the studio and we'll all be able to make fun of them and laugh at them for being the unobservant yet lovable fools that they are. I mean you just gotta love someone who'll fall for a set up this perfect." Buffy smiles a little to emphasise her strong belief in her statement. "And now let's all sit back, relax, and enjoy the human peep-show that is Blind Date.

The camera once again focuses on the giant TV screen as the Blind Date logo disappears and is replaced first by black and then by rolling footage of a petite redhead walking down a sunny sidewalk dressed very casually but it's enough to cause more than one person in the audience to voice their approval, which is quickly cut out as the sound technicians realise they left the microphones in the studio on and therefore hastily turn them off. As Willow walks towards the camera, light mumblings can be faintly heard and to the trained ear sound something like 'Must kill Buffy. First poke eyes out with long, sharp painful stick, then trample with nice sharp football shoe thingies or whatever they're called'. The camera remains stationary as Willow walks right up to it, gives a little wave to the camera man, and quickly glares as the shadow of a hand motioning her to turn the corner is seen on the pavement. Willow turns the corner and is followed by the camera as she comes up to an apartment building and searches for the right room number, previously deciding that getting the wrong room number would be very embarrassing and therefore a bad idea. The camera follows as Willow, gives a little excited jump when she finally finds the right room number on the second level off the two story apartment building, gathers up her courage and knocks very quietly on the door. Placing himself strategically, to prevent any nervous Willows from making a run for it, the camera man waits patiently to capture the big moment, as the truth is revealed and realization of how perfectly they had been set up hits the two unsuspecting women.

A seemingly endless moment passes, before the doorknob begins to turn a little and the door is opened very quickly, the owner of the door seeming to want to make the moment come and go as fast as she possibly can. As the door opens, the camera closes in on a very shocked looking Tara who's is staring disbelievingly at an equally shocked looking Willow, who now more than ever seems like she's thinking 'it isn't a very far jump to the ground'. But as the camera focuses in on Willow, an extremely goofy grin appears on her face as she takes a deep breath.

"Hey Tara. Looks like we've been set up. Guess this isn't a very blind type of date after all hey?" Stopping to take another breath to calm her nerves Willow slowly gives Tara's appearance a very appreciative once over. "By the way, you look absolutely beautiful" At the comment the camera focuses in on Tara just in time to see a light blush creep up the blonde's face. "So do you wanna go on this date? You know, we can really show Buffy if we actually go through with this. But if you don't want to that's perfectly alright with me. Because I know this is a very kind of complicated situation. I mean, we've been talking about this for a while now, but if you're not ready I totally understand." Willow's babbling suddenly halted as she finally registered the smile on Tara's face.

"I think we should go on this date for three reasons. One: It's free. Two: We have to do this so Buffy can't get on our cases for chickening out. And Three: I'm ready for this." The camera moves back to include both of them in the shot as Willow smiles at Tara's last comment and tentatively reaches out for her hand.

"So. Do you wanna drive or am I being put in charge of a very expensive Jeep brand lethal weapon?" Feeling just a little more comfortable knowing that Tara's ready to take this step Willow gets into the Blind Date provided Grand Cherokee as the camera man slides comfortably into the backseat. The camera is positiong just to the right and behind of Willow's seat to get a good look as Tara gets into the drivers seat, closes her eyes and takes a slow, deep breath before placing the keys in the ignition to drive off to a local petting zoo, the first destination on their date, where who knows what awaits them. The rebirth of true love? Or just a short lesson in barnyard animal petting 101. And the screen fades to black.

[Rane]

teehee how cute! i love this. MORE!

and btw, it's cue cards not que.

[xita]

sniff, my girls set up! WE know they'll hit it off!

[lurker1.0]

ack. see now that's the down side to writing when you haven't had very much sleep, you end up staring at the screen while stupid microsoft word insists on underlining all you attempts at spelling cue, and you can't figure out why it's doing that.

bah, funny funny thanks for the correction tho, it's very much appreciated

and woohoo, i suddenly find myself flooded with time due to the very unfortunate breaking of my toe. so more writing coming soon. And muahaha more TV show parodies too

[Jessie]

Really enjoyin' this fic ... I'm seein' the Willow and Tara's mannerisms. Good job!

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"And how long have you known your girlfriend's Tinkerbell?"

[wiltar]

Will there be more soon???

I know, impatient much....

Patricia

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"What are they looking at?"
"The hotness of you, doofus!"

[lurker1.0]

There will be more up likely tonight. I've just been really swamped lately with final exams and all that. Sorry to keep anyone waiting.

[Kittie17]

Yay more update soon
I'll be waiting...

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Todo lo que necesitamos es sentido comun y eso no puede ser enseñado

[lurker1.0]

And here we are with an update. I dunno it seems kinda short. But still, an update is an update. And with each update I write and you read, we grow nearer and nearer to a very special moment I'm very much looking forward to writing. So here you go and enjoy.

The commercial ends and the camera focuses in on a very worn, mouldy looking wooden sign reading " Welcome to Sunnydale Petting Zoo", simple and to the point, the true key to successful business ventures. Shifting focus from the sign, the camera pans across the landscape to finally settle on Willow and Tara. The two girls are huddled very close to a pen filled with little white fluffy bunnies. As the camera closes in, the sounds of muffled giggles and jokes directed at a certain ex-demon can be heard. Silence settles in as the laughter dies and the camera focuses in more closely on Willow, who seems to be deeply contemplating the white ball of fluff in front of her.

"I like how they're so soft and fluffy." Running her hand lazily over the back of the particularly fluffy bunny, Willow begins her first official babble of the date. "And I like how they hippity-hop all around like there's nothing wrong in the world. Not even living here with all the icky hellmouthy business can scare these bunnies." Willow pauses in her babbling to briefly contemplate something. "You know maybe we could make them honorary Scoobies or something. You know if we're ever in a tight situation surrounded by a bunch of baddies, we could sick our army of bunnies on them. They sure seem like they wouldn't hop away in fear." The camera closes in on Willow as her eyes begin to sparkle as her 'Army of Bunnies' plan blossoms in her head. Moving back slightly, the camera includes Tara in the lens' view as she covers her mouth with her hand trying to suppress her laughter as the unique hilarity of the thought of an 'Army of Bunnies' brakes through her self-control.

"I think the only way an 'Army of Bunnies' could help us is if we were somehow surrounded by an 'Army of Anyas'." Tara scrunches up her brow as she realises what she has just said. "And an 'Army of Anyas' is suddenly a very disturbing thought and I think that we should forget it." Shrugging off the unpleasantness of her previous thought, Tara turns and looks into Willow's brightly smiling eyes and smiles back. "But should that situation ever arise, all we'll have to do is run to the petting zoo and set all the little hippity-hoppity bunnies loose." Willow nods in agreement and giggles with glee as an even fluffier bunny hops its way over to her and begins to nuzzle her hand.

After both girls say goodbye to the bunnies the camera follows them as they walk hand in hand to another pen in the petting zoo containing a few pigs and some very irate, dirty looking sheep, obviously not enjoying their pen-mates complete disregard for hygiene.

The camera follows Willow and Tara as they continue to walk around the petting zoo at a leisurely pace. The conversation is relaxed and easy and the time they spend at the zoo quickly comes to an end, due to the editing of the Blind Date video crew, and suddenly we are returned to a view of the front seat of the Grand Charokee. The camera focuses in on Tara when she starts to speak.

"That was a pretty cool petting zoo. And bonus with the no horses part hey?" Smiling slightly, Tara glances over at Willow, who is currently preoccupied with staring very shamelessly at Tara's features as the sunlight plays across her face through the window. Realising what she had just been doing, Willow blushes a deep red and quickly faces forward sitting ridged in her seat.

"Yea no horses. Definitely a good thing. No horses makes for very happy Willow shaped people." Already sensing that Willow was headed into a full-on nervous babble of some kind, Tara gently reaches over and slides her hand along Willow's leg, palm facing up, until she reaches Willow's hand and gently entwines their fingers. The camera focuses in on Willow as her face reacts first in surprise, only to be washed over with relief as the warmth of the contact with Tara spreads through her. Breathing in deeply Willow collects her courage and looks over at Tara, who in return looks over at her and smiles, giving her hand a gentle squeeze as an exclamation point to her smile.

"And happy Willow shaped people are definitely a good thing." Tara smiles again and holds onto Willow's hand just a little tighter as she continues to drive.

"So where are we headed to next?" Playing gently with Tara's fingers, Willow looks over at her beloved's face expectantly. Knowing that at any time this could all be over. The camera shifts over to focus in on Tara, as if the camera man knows the importance of her response, that the whole date rests on what Tara will say.

"Next. We go Bronzing."

And the screen fades to black.

[xita]

awwwwwww that's cute. Will we have smoochies

[CaptMurdock]

"Hippity-hoppity bunnies." Hee-hee-hee-hee.
Oh, this is too cute. I can imagine what kinda graphics the Blind Date post-prod crew would put on the screen during that little scene.

Bronzing? Dancing? Then maybe a more intimate location? Ahhhh, to be young and romantic again...

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"Good God, that's a lot of shake!"

[lurker1.0]

Yikes. Ok, well I seem to have some explainng to do before you even attempt to read this. For this part I changed how I've been writing. And really I don't even know how to describe the view point in this part or anything. This is just the way it had to be written. And that's probably all because I was listening to the song featured in this part the whole time I was writing it. And this song just does things to me. So for this part I've dropped the blind date type style, and yea just imagine there's cameras and all that junk. I guess I wanted this to be a moment in time kinda viewpoint thing or something. But anyways... don't kill me
btw, the song is Change by Good Charlotte.

It's the kind of lighting that makes you feel like you're in a dream. Everything just seems a little closer to perfect, the right mood, the right place the right person. And you sit in wonder just starring at everything around you, expecting at any moment to be pulled away from this dream. And you know you're heart would break if you lost this chance at perfect bliss. But it's not a dream. The feeling is real. And maybe you're heart's just a little to scared to admit it. Waiting for something so long and finally having it so close, so attainable. Sometimes it's just too hard to reach out and grab it. When all you can hear is the beating of your own heart and all you can see is heaven.

The Bronze is filled with the customary mix of people. All lost in their own lives and purposes. Some dancing to the sound of the music played by the band on stage, and other's just sitting and talking. And then there's the exception. The couple. The only two people in the entire building completely lost in each other's eyes.

All through the night they sit. Nursing drinks that aren't getting paid enough attention to warrant their being purchased. They sit and talk. Stealing glances when they think the other isn't looking. And then blushing when they know they've been caught. It's a silent game. Seeing how long one can stare at the other before they've been caught and they have to hide their eyes, only to look back up into the other's eyes above the rim of their glass.

It's a game of feeling. Playing against your own nerves. Fighting down the fluttering feeling in your stomach. The feeling you get when you know you've never felt this right before. And the moment you're in is the only moment you want to exist in for the rest of time. But as the night wears on you know you'll get bolder. And shy, stolen glances will turn into hesitant, electrified touches.

When the setting is right, the moment shifts from the giddy carefree laughter of daytime. When the setting is right the moment becomes charged. And if you've been secure and bold in touching and handholding during the daylight hours, the game turns when the moon rises, and the intensity builds. It's as if your mind, body and soul are waiting. Expecting. When the setting is right and the moment becomes charged, it becomes harder to just reach out and grab the moment. And everything around you is waiting. Waiting for the moment to change again. It's a game of feeling. Playing in the moment. When the setting is right. Things get serious.

"I'm happy you decided to come tonight. I mean even though Buffy did set us up and everything. It's been really fun." Willow sat staring into her glass, nervously fiddling with the edges. When conversation had been focused on anything but the date, and particularly the moment they were in right now, things had been easy. It was easier to look at the blond sitting across from her. But suddenly, as the moment got a little more serious, she'd been finding it hard to speak. Hard to breath.

"I'm happy I decided to come tonight too. I've missed this Willow." Reaching out, Tara tenderly peeled Willow's fingers from around her glass and began playing with them. Simple contact seemed a lot easier earlier, but now she was finding it hard to keep her head clear.

"I just wasn't sure you'd be ready for this. I mean things have been going really well between the two of us. And I didn't want to push it or anything." She sat transfixed. Staring at her hand being softly caressed by Tara's loving touch, the simplest touches stirring up so many emotions. Looking up, the redhead's gaze locked with a pair of piercing blue eyes, the beauty of them taking her breath away.

"Sometimes you need to push a little bit. You know. When you want something bad enough." Smiling shyly, Tara slowly stood up from her seat, keeping Willow's hand firmly in hers and keeping their eyes locked on each other's. "And now I'm about to say something very cliché." Breathing deeply to still the tingly in her body. Tara reached out to grab at the moment. "May I have this dance?" The answer is a pair of shinning eyes and a grin playing across a speechless mouth as the redhead twists in her seat and places her free hand on the back of the chair to steady herself as she rises to follow Tara to the dance floor.

And the moment is perfect. The world seems to fall away as the band plays the first notes of a slow song. And that one perfect couple is at the centre of the dance floor. The moment seeming to exist solely for them, the words of the song, written to speak only to them.

The dance begins as all dances begin, with the dancers slightly apart. But as the dance floor settles and the moment sets in, the distance between disappears, and eyes stare intensely into eyes.

I am lost in the see-thru, I think you lost yourself too,
Throughout all of this confusion, I hope I somehow get to you,
I practiced all the things I'd say, To tell you how I feel,
And when I finally get my chance, It all seems so surreal,
'Cause from the first time I saw you, I only thought about you,
I didn't know you, I wanted to hold onto, The things you'd never say to me,
'Cause you said

You can't change the way you feel,
I could never do that, I could never do that,
But you can't tell me this ain't real,
'Cause this is real
And you would see right through that,
In the end it's all I've got, So I'm gonna hold onto that,
So I'm gonna hold on and on and on and on,

Staring deeply into someone's eyes, it's a connection often lost to the fumbling confusion of words. A graceful link between souls.

Now you've got me watching your eyes,
Got me waiting just to see, If it goes the way it never will,
Your eyes are watching me, and now you've got me thinking 'bout,
The first time that I met you, Standing in a crowded room,
But I could only see you, And I hope my words will get through,
'Cause now I can't forget you, I want to tell you,
If only I could reach you, And make you feel this way,
But you said...

The world seems to fall away, and the only thing keeping them anchored to reality is the feeling of holding, being held. Lost in bliss. And as the song ends the moment disappears. And all that remains is a memory. A memory of attained perfection, and a promise for the future.

[This message has been edited by lurker1.0 (edited January 19, 2002).]

[TL983]

Great update! Keep up the good work

~*~Tamara~*~

[katydid]

I think the change in perspective was good. I really liked this chapter. Keep up the good work.

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"She practically has 'genuine molded plastic' stamped on her ass.

[ForeverPiper]

This story is HYLARIOUS. This chapter was so sweet but I want more...it's been like 6 days. Finish the story!

[xita]

Oh, I like the way you switched and it's more like narrative. Sigh... it's lovely.