Is This Love? (This is Love)

[Zampsa1975]

Yay for good update-y goodness... I hope Oz stays out of the picture... was nice...

[GrimCityGirl]

Aww, poor Oz. but enough about him, W/T! fuck yeah.

[SJ]

Great update.

[LittleBit]

I think I would have preferred that nothing of the physical nature had of happened between Willow and Tara before Will had a chance to break things off with Oz. I always held this idea that Tara had too much respect for others to be "comfortable" with the idea of being the other woman.

That's not to say I'm not enjoying the story .... please continue!

[tacoda13]

HEHEHE, Oz is leaving soon I hope. Then more WT goodness!!!!!!!!

[lwordemort2]

Well, finally a kiss! Poor Oz, though. But at the end of the day, you know you can't fight Tara and win.

Keep the ups coming!

[love_2003]

I do feel kinda bad for Oz because once Willow met Tara he didn't stand a chance anymore. On the other hand though Willow and Tara always belong together.
Great update.

[DaddyCatALSO]

Well, they didn't know Oz was standing there right then, did they? Well, at least it's resolution.

Altho, nitpick, who was worrying about 2012 back in 1998?

[willow_tara_always]

I love it!
Great update,
I do feel for Oz tho would be a kick in the teeth as he had no idea but it was gonna hurt no matter how he found out!
All hale Faith for her sharp shooting mouth!
Lookng forward to the next chapter

x

[madwriter]

Again thanks for all the feedback Kittens! I'm sort of glad (in a weird writer way) that you all feel for Oz. It was sort of meant to be written that way. At first I thought I'd write a nicer break-up, but then I sort of realized that life just doesn't work that way. Or at least I've never been through a break-up that was neat and orderly and painless. I don't think that even happens in movies (though once on Seinfeld.)


But moving on, the good that came out of the bad is Willow and Tara-love, which I hear is a pretty big deal. So Oz will live and heal in his own time. Still, a little happy that I can (as a writer) pull at a few heartstrings (as a girl I can too, but that's neither here nor there).


As for the 2012 joke, Faith was sort of playing at the long length of time that it would have taken for Willow or Tara to have made a move. And that Mayan 2012 prophecy (and all the other prophecies around the date) was known about for a long time wasn't it? I think it was discovered in 86 or so (definitely not sure).


However I in no way claim that the story is accurate. There are quite a few holes in it, most likely (I think I even have Leo make a Bush joke a few updates back). The reasons for this are 1. that I'm sort of young and in 1998 my main concern was looking cool by the monkey bars and making my way up to the girl by the slide with the cute pigtails and ask her over for some apple juice and 2. I write these updates in 20-minute spurts during my lonely lunch during school and they are all unbeta'd, rushed, etc.


My apologies for that, but hey, they're entertaining right?


Update is coming up right now

[madwriter]

Chapter 8: Could It Be That Easy?



Walking down Sunnydale’s street alone in the night was not how Willow had imagined today going. As a matter of fact, nothing that happened today was how Willow had imagined. First, going to Tara’s and spending those magical hours in the girl’s warm company, then kissing the lips that plagued her dreams with an abandon she hadn’t known she was capable of, then being caught by Oz and all the pain that came in the time after the fact. Could it be all was done now? Would the night get easier? And (most prominent in her thoughts) was it terrible that all she wanted to do was press lips with Tara again?



Oh and how did the girl feel about Willow now? Being left alone after their first kiss and gotten caught up in her drama with Oz when it really had nothing to do with her is just not fun, no matter how you slice it. Her small shoulders sunk guiltily; she might as well have been holding the world’s weight on them. How do I always get everything wrong? Some mad talent you got there, Rosenberg.



The pulsing teenage energy of The Bronze seemed an odd backdrop to her. She made her way through the door past flocks of giggling youths, brushing tears from her eyes and in a paranoid way feeling she was on display—as if her sullen energy were somehow obvious to nosy drama-addicted Bronze-goers. Really, no one was watching for her arrival. Except of course for—



“Whatever you did to her Red; I’m gonna hire a girl of regular strength to beat you up for.”



Faith had grabbed her by the collar, pulling their faces close and talking in a tone that was low and singularly menacing. Willow could only pout pathetically, “Tara talked to you? She’s mad at me? Well what did she say? She said she’s mad at me? She hates me doesn’t she? I knew I’d mess it all up somehow and now she hates me,” she was sniffling at that point, “Just kill me Faith. I won’t even try to fight you.”



The brown-haired slayer could only gape, letting the girl go immediately and looking around almost sheepishly at the few spectators that had begun to notice them. “Hey now relax Red. She’s fine more or less. Just showed up teary-eyed and then went straight to the bathroom.”



No sooner had the slayer said the words than Willow was off for the bathroom; knowing only that she had to salvage whatever trust the blonde still had in her.



Faith shook her head as she watched the red blur go, “Well I ain’t got a joke for this shit.”



~~



“Tara?” Willow’s voice resounded in the dimly lit empty restroom. It sounded scared and broken to her own ears and she hated it. “Tara it’s me. Willow. You know, your new witchy friend who thoughtlessly assaulted your lips with my lips in a totally--”



“H-hi Willow,” she spoke hidden in a stall.



Her voice was like some vocal caress for Willow’s spirit, even as shaky as it was, “Tara. I’m, where are you? Look I, I just want to explain myself and then if you want me to I’ll…I’ll leave you alone.”



Too many sad seconds passed with no answer.



“Tara please.”



Almost immediately a response, “I-I’m here. The th-third stall.”



Willow scurried to the stall, stopping in front of its door and placing a hand almost reverently atop it. “Tara…look, I know I jumped the gun a little, or a lot actually, when I kissed you back there…but if I told you I regretted it then I’d be a terrible liar, because it was the single most remarkable act I’ve ever been part of and all I keep wondering is when we can do it again and I know that’s selfish, and I know I’m a terrible person but--”



“You’re not terrible,” her voice rang clear from the door, “I just w-wish we could’ve all had time to sit down and discuss it all before w-w-we kissed. Especially you and h-him.”



“Right,” Willow chirped darkly, “Because things so often fit into such polite little packages.”



“It’s just that I c-can’t help but wonder what kind of person it makes me. And I can’t help but worry that our relationship might be—I m-mean I know it sounds silly—but almost forsaken in some way. Like trying to build something good and strong but the foundations are lies.”



Willow bit her lip, her mind immediately flashing back to all the lies she’d told about Scooby stuff, when is this going to get easier on me? “Oh Tara. I’m sorry I lied to Oz, I really am. I should have been honest from the get go with him. I just…I got so caught up in our connection and I just wanted to experience that so badly. I’m not saying this to excuse myself because I know that it was done all wrong. But…Tara, do you think we’re the first couple to ever inadvertently hurt an ex with our…our coupledom? I mean who’s to say Oz wouldn’t have cheated on me somewhere down the line? And either way it was all doomed to begin with because eventually I would have met you and…you know. So I guess, granted, my timing was off but…it’s like trying to fight something incorporeal. I felt that urge to kiss you and I…I just had to. It was all happening, even before the kiss, and I couldn’t stop it.” Willow strained to be understood and feared that her rambling was making no sense at all and that she was losing the beautiful thing she’d only just found. Her lip quivered at the thought.



Alone in the stall, sat atop the toilet seat cover, legs crossed and arms hugged at her middle, Tara shuddered, is she trying to say that she thinks there’s some fated reason for our meeting at the Bronze that night? “W-Willow, get in here please.”



With a relieved sigh she cracked open the creaking stall door and slipped inside, yay she’s letting me in. She wasn’t prepared for the intimacy the small space created. Tara was sat so close to her.



With a smile, the blonde extended an arm to pull at Willow’s belt loop until the girl was close and then hugged her around her middle, succumbing to the softness and warmth she hadn’t gotten enough of during their small embrace pressed against the Bronze’s redbrick wall.



“Does this mean you don’t hate me?”



Tara’s heart reeled at the smallness of her whispery broken voice, “I never have Willow, and I don’t think I ever could.”



The redhead’s soul soared in the dank little room, even more so when she felt Tara pull her into her lap and embrace her tightly. She buried her head into that soft chest and breathed in the girl’s scent, some rest at last. “I could lie like this forever.”



“Well we could do that a-and it’d be wonderful, but there’s some green puddle streaming from the fourth stall our way so--”



“Ew! Okay! Moving now!”



~~



They walked towards the Scoobie’s table with weary smiles on their faces, and arm in arm.



They were met with three wide, expectant gazes. Buffy, Faith and Xander quiet for once? Must be the apocalypse for real this time, Willow thought sardonically as they approached, “Hey guys.”



“Hi.” They spoke in awkward uniformity.



“Okay…we’ve had a pretty emotionally draining night and I’d like to establish that right away,” Willow spoke quietly.



Xander nodded, “Yeah we heard. Or uh…we heard the gossip-tree version. The Dingoes all saw you kiss.”



Willow slumped into a chair, laying her moping face in her hand, “Oh, great.”



Tara sat next to her and rubbed her hand up and down her back, “S-So what happens now?” the question wasn’t really meant to be spoken aloud, but somehow it made its quiet way out of her thoughts.



“Um, in a week the school will have forgotten about it, in a few months Oz will have gotten over it and in a few years you’ll probably bear a buncha little freckled red-haired kids. And god help us when those sickeningly adorable things are on the loose.” Faith spoke with her usual smiling frankness.



The tactless joke was exactly what the group needed to finally relax and everyone laughed harder than they would have in any other occasion. But there was something else to the joke; something that rang true to Willow, could it be that easy? “Well we would make cute kids,” she mumbled distractedly.



Faith shook her head, “Y’see that? Not even on their first date and already talking babies. I’m telling ya, these lesbians these days can’t wait to propagate.”



“Well you should know…” Xander spoke.



Buffy laughed gleefully, “Ha! Go Xand!”



As she watched her friends high-fiving Willow couldn’t help but feel herself slipping back to normal, no way is it this easy. If it won’t be easy for Oz, isn’t it wrong for it to be easy for me? But the ribbing and the laughter and Tara finally at her side the way she wanted her to be all calmed her soul even when she felt undeserving of it. “I guess I’m not the only girl to ever kiss her girlfriend before breaking up with her boyfriend.”



Xander smiled wryly, “Happens every 3.5 seconds, statistically.”



“Okay, okay, it’s a little rare,” Willow conceded, “But I can’t be the only one!”



“You’re not,” Buffy assured her friend.



Willow’s brow cocked before her attention was captured by Tara’s sweet voice, “S-So I’m your girlfriend now?”



“Well um, I was wondering if you weren’t busy for the next rest of your life, ya might wanna?” Willow hoped she sounded half as cute as she was trying to sound.



“Oh, I think I could spare the time for you,” and for the second time that night her lips were caught in Willow’s, giving herself up to their softness.



“So this is gonna get pretty nauseating for us, huh?” Faith told them.



“It’s the sacrifice we make as friends.” Xander smiled.



“Psh,” Buffy spoke up, “Faith thinks sacrifice is something you only do if you’re a virgin living by a volcano.”



“Jesus B, what’s with you today? First you high-five Xander’s little dig at me and now you’re takin’ shots at my character?”



Buffy crossed her arms around her chest and pouted, “You know why I’m mad at you Faith.”



Looking at the cuddling witches and bickering slayers Xander could only shake his head, “What is this? Sunnydale or West Hollywood?”

[tacoda13]

This is adorable and cute. WTG, Buffy!!! Awesome update.

[lwordemort2]

Ha ha!

Such a great update!!

[Zampsa1975]

Yay for great update-y goodness... Good that Tara accepted Willow's apology and agreed to become her girlfriend... I wonder if there is something of the naked snuggles kind of thing going on between Buffy and Faith...

[willow_tara_always]

Great update!
I love Faith, the image of Willow and Tara babies is so cute
It is true tho, 1 lesbian year is like a dog year seems more like at the pace we go! oh they joys

x

[Nue]

great! they´re girlfriend and girlfriend now!

I kinda feel sorry for OZ, but no one can beat true love ^^

[GrimCityGirl]

bloody brilliant!

[SJ]

Great update.

[LittleBit]

Hey great update! The story needed some fun and this update certainly provided!

[madwriter]

Chapter 9: The Initiation Part 1



Willow wondered if such joy was really fair for one person to feel. Surely she was taking more than her fair share in this wild world. Frankly though, she could care less; here she was lain on her belly atop Tara’s snug comforter, grinning up at the girl from where she was sprawled by her pretty feet, painting her toenails purple, “I’ve decided this is going to look…at least very interesting.”



Tara cocked her brow, lain on her back with a bowl of chocolate ice-cream balanced on her belly, she shot Willow the same humoring look she’d been giving her since the redhead had first began her quirky little project with Tara’s feet, “Where interesting really means funky.”



“Funky can be good!” Willow defended, “Frankly, I think funky’s just fantastic. Greg Brady was funky and he was, like, the coolest Brady, a-after that hottie Marsha of course.”



The redhead couldn’t stop the smile that spread on her face as she felt the beautiful body above her shake as she giggled, “That deserves a reward huh, baby?” Willow motioned with the tip of her nose toward the ice-cream, her upturned legs swinging happily in air.



“It certainly does, honey,” Tara twirled the spoon in the bowl until it was laden with cream then fed it to her eager little chocoholic. “They need to start a program for people like you.”



“Mmn, oh no Tare…no one breaks the chocolate habit,” Willow spoke around a mouthful of deliciousness, “It’s harder than breaking crack-cocaine.”



“I’m sure if they’d ever invest in that study those would be the findings,” the blonde nodded as she smiled, my baby has such a way with hyperbole.



Willow smiled as she looked up, and then gaped, not expecting the sensual show Tara was (knowingly or unknowingly) putting on as she wrapped her luscious lips around the spoon and closed her eyes. Wow. And then as the spoon slid out of that mouth leaving a smidgen of cream at the edge of her lower lip. And wow. And then as her tongue slipped out to try and wipe it clean, but missed most of it. Yeah, wow. How I wish I could just kiss that off. Or lick that off. Or even—



“Willow? Did you hear what I said?”



Auburn brows rose to frame gaping green eyes, “Um…yeah.”



“Oh, really?” The blonde asked, visibly skeptical, “Then do you have an answer for my question?”



Oh wow…okay. You can do this. Just say maybe. Maybe can mean anything. “Um…maybe.”



“Maybe you have an answer or maybe is your answer?”



“Maybe…”



“Willow!”



“…Is my answer.”



“Oh.”



Oh no you idiot! Maybe can mean everything too! “Do you love me Willow?” “Maybe.” So dumb! Well, what the frilly heck did she ask? I can’t very well just ask her that now; I’ll look like such a—



“Willow, baby, come up here,” Tara placed the now-melting bowl of ice-cream on top of her nightstand and summoned Willow over with a hooked finger.



The redhead put the funky-colored nail polish down on the floor and crawled up to cuddle with Tara, covering the girl’s lush body with her own.



“Want to know a secret?” The blonde whispered into a pink, freckled ear.



Willow nodded into the crook between Tara’s neck and shoulder, suddenly at rest.



“I didn’t really ask you anything,” Tara admitted, with a coy smile, “I knew you were checking me out and decided it was a good time to toy with you.”



Willow looked up, her face almost comically scandalized, “Why Ms. Maclay! I’m appalled at you! Apologize now or suffer the wrath of Willow…which is pretty darn wrathful, a-and not at all something you want to experience.”



“Oh, I don’t know about that,” the blonde bit her lip up at Willow, challenging.



“Um, uh,” she could only open and close her mouth, every now and then involuntarily releasing a sound, as Tara tangled her hand in her hair; her fingernails raking her scalp.



“I love when you get all…frozen.” Tara murmured through a cheeky grin before promptly leaning up to slide her lips on Willow’s.



Willow sighed at the feeling, not yet used to the way the room tilted and grew warmer whenever Tara kissed her. The girl’s mouth melted onto hers like it was made for her; every nook and cranny crafted perfectly for Willow’s own mouth. And her tongue too—“Mmmmmmmn.”



Tara pulled back, giggling, “Wow, that was a uh, pretty long moan I got outta you, Ms. Rosenberg.”



“Yeah well, you know, I wasn’t prepared for the uh, tongue right then is all.” Willow could actually feel her face reddening.



“Oh I see,” she smiled, gleeful and smug, “Well you think if you have some prior warning you might be able to handle it?”



“Hey now missy! I’m always able to handle it, all right?” And she proved it by capturing that smug grin in her mouth, kissing her lips softly, and then not so softly; slowly intensifying the pressure to leave her girl breathless when she finally pulled away.



Tara always had a hard time letting go of Willow’s lips-always nibbling them and running her tongue across until the redhead couldn’t help diving back down for more. But not this time.



“No no, baby. Come on, I have something to show you remember?”



“There’s plenty you can show me here.”



Willow gaped, “Do you know how much I love your cheeky side?” And what else could she do but claim those lips again for what might’ve been the millionth time that night. She couldn’t even remember a time when Tara’s lips didn’t belong to her anymore—they’d been kissing since school let out.



The blonde smiled into the kiss, I wonder if it’s always going to be this easy to get what I want?



“All right, now we’re heading for some real danger as far as time is concerned and what we have to go do requires a certain promptness and also there’s a certain importance involved, and I’m not trying to be cryptic baby, I just don’t want us to miss what I want us to do--”



Tara wondered at the girl’s ability to kiss and babble softly against her lips at the same time, my talented baby. She grazed her tongue fleetingly against the roof of Willow’s mouth before pulling back and slipping out from underneath the other girl, getting up off the bed and moving toward her dresser mirror, “Well you wouldn’t have wanted to miss what I wanted you to do either but…you’re right, we don’t want to be late for your thing.”



Willow could only lie shell-shocked as she watched Tara brushing her long, blonde hair, “W-Wait, Tare…um, I actually think my watch is fast so you might be surprised what we actually have time for…w-what was your idea?”



“No, no. We should leave now—really don’t want to be late do we baby? Plus, my toenails are finally dry.”



“No baby really, there’s plenty enough time for--” but the blonde had finished slipping on her shoes and was out the door, the faint sound of girlish giggling all she left in the room—well, that and a frustrated Willow, “Okay, what just happened?”



~~



As Willow led Tara through the cold night streets, they leant against each other; their bodies warming each other’s.



Tara frowned as she realized where they were headed, “Are we going where I think we’re going?” And yes, the redhead was indeed opening the gates to Sunnydale High.



Willow only squeezed her shoulder, a little nervous now that she was so close to finally revealing the last big secret she had been keeping from Tara. I was kinda hoping I could do this throughout a long period of time, give her little me-increments so there’s less chance of her leaving me…but, Faith was right. She needs to at least know about these things. And maybe the fact that she’s a witch might make her more open-minded; maybe she really won’t run away screaming…



“Willow?” Tara asked, “Not that I don’t love watching you slip into convoluted thought baby, but do you mind telling me why you’re leading me into the school library at 8 PM?”



“Because I want to be completely honest with you…no secrets,” Willow grabbed her hand, squeezed it, and led her through the library doors.



“And…you’re secretly a librarian?” Tara smirked, looking through the dimly lit halls of bookshelves Willow was leading her through.



“Nah, nothing that weird,” the redhead told her, “But there is a weird factor.”



“I think the weird-factor was established when you interrupted smoochies for an impromptu library visit,” the blonde murmured, stopping to inspect a William S. Burroughs novel, “Reminds me I have lot of books I need to return.”



“Yeah, I saw ‘em on your dresser,” she smiled, “I’ve read all of those books actually.”



Tara grinned wryly, proudly, “Is there a book in this library you haven’t read, Willow Rosenberg?”



“Well, I’m a bit of a litterateur.”



“I know…and it’s totally hot.”



Willow smiled, how lucky am I that I found a girl this beautiful who’s actually turned on by my above-average IQ? She sidled up to the blonde and again she let the feel of those soft lips sliding on hers, that curvy body yielding to hers, wash over her body; electrifying it.



“Crikey!” the girls were startled apart by an exceptionally crappy Australian accent, “What we have here is the mating ritual of Willow and Tara—quite a wondrous spectacle.”



It was Xander, standing in between Buffy and Faith; all three wearing matching shit-eating grins. Faith piped up, “Oi, we should catalogue this, mates. The Discovery Channel would pay big bucks for this little documentary.”



Buffy didn’t even attempt to fake an accent, but said, “We could tie tracers to their ankles and follow their progress throughout spring.”



As the three laughed, Willow turned to Tara with a sardonic eye-roll, “What very funny little friends we have, dear.”



Tara nodded solemnly, “Those were the worst Australian accents I’ve ever heard.”



“So I guess you must be pretty curious right about now huh?” Buffy asked Tara after the laughter had subsided, a sympathetic look on her face, how many good people am I gonna drag into my orbit o’ doom?



“Curiosity is definitely one of the emotions I’m feeling currently.”



“Tara baby,” Willow took the initiative, “In all your peaceful Wicca-study did you ever happen across any text concerning um, well vampires and the uh, the slaying of them, and/or by whom…and/or anything specifying some little-known Californian town as the uh, the Hellmouth…you uh, you ever come across anything like that, baby?”



For a time Tara could only look at Willow as if she’d just told her they were living in a reality crafted by some mad college freshman, but slowly she started to think back; biting her lip and furrowing her brow, “Well, not really about v-vampires, but I read some tiny blurb about a Hellmouth while studying demons. I d-didn’t think it was a literal place. B-but s-sorta metaphorical—some demonic energy out-put location m-maybe?”



Xander cleared his throat, “Well, you’re standing on it! Surprise.”



“Oh.”



“Lightening the mood was a bad move right then huh?” The boy asked, to no answers save for a terrifying glare from Willow.



“Baby! It’s not…well, it’s bad but—okay, Buffy and Faith are slayers; the one girl, or well, the two girls in all the world, etc. Their job’s to save the world and Xander and I, well we help and we’re all, well we call ourselves the Scoobies and we’re uh…sort of a big deal.”



Tara’s brows rose in awe, looking to Buffy and Faith, “So you’re some sort of vampire killers?”



Buffy’s eyes gaped, “Whoa there miss! Slayers. We like slayers. Killers imply they’re alive.”



Willow nodded emphatically, “And that’s not something we like to imply!”



Xander picked up, wanting to be helpful, “A-And we’re led by a dry-witted Englishman you’ll meet later.”



“You mean Mr. Giles?” Tara asked, recalling the librarian fondly.



Xander’s smile fell slightly, “Or that you’ve already met seeing as…you’d come to the library even if you weren’t a child of secret society.”



Tara nodded at the boy, “I met him when I came by to borrow a few books, he was very kind and helpful.”



“And he can wield an ax like a pro,” he informed her.



Faith broke in, “So how you doing T? Your mind ready to explode or what? Ya even believe it?”



“Baby,” Willow asked nervously, “Are you freaked at all?”



The blonde only smiled reassuringly, kissing Willow’s cheek, “So my girlfriend is like this cool monster-fighter girl that saves the world in her time off from maintaining a beyond perfect GPA…and I’m supposed to complain?”



“Yeah,” Willow couldn’t help her proud smile, “Well, except I don’t really do much of the fighting. Mostly I handle the uh, falling down and the screaming while frantically running away…fighting’s not as much my forte as it is my last pathetic resort. But you’re uh; you’re really okay with this Tara?”



“Well, the idea of you risking your life on a constant basis in the fight against evil isn’t particularly uplifting, but…it’s not like you’re putting your life on the line for some frivolous thrill Will…if you feel a c-call to this, then there must be a grander reason for it and I can’t keep you from that, a-and honestly I can’t say that I can know that there’s evil like this constantly threatening to disrupt the balance of things and n-not try to s-stop it. Especially when I know there’s something I can do. A-and the fact that I know you’re in this fight now…it makes it even more imperative t-to t-try to be useful…if I can.”



Emerald eyes glazed over at the sight of her infinitely strong girl, “C’mere,” she couldn’t resist pulling her into a very firm embrace, “You’re just so perfect it’s…unbelievable, more unbelievable than vampire-towns.”



Xander eyed them suspiciously, “I bet this is why they were so late.”



“And so kiddies,” Faith drawled, “If we’re done with the touchy-feely, can we get to the fun part of initiation?”

[Zampsa1975]

Yay for good update-y goodness... Good that Tara accepted the vampire's are real deal very quickly...

[tacoda13]

Very kool update.

[LittleBit]

Hey great update!!! Really enjoying this story!

[willow_tara_always]

Great update!
Im glad Willow has told Tara of the scoobies
Cant wait for more

x

[love_2003]

Glad to see that Willow was completely honest with Tara and that Tara didn't freak out when she got the news. Looking forward to see how she will react when she encounters her first vampire.
Keep updating. Love the story.

[SJ]

Great update.

[lwordemort2]

Great bit, please, please, pretty please update soon??

[mixxie]

Wow! I just read the entire thing, from the start to your latest update, and all I can say is... wow! Excellent story! I can't wait to see where you take this.

[guitar_girl]

Hey, this is a wonderful story! Please update soon! I have been waiting

[madwriter]

Sorry for the long hiatus, kittens! I've been very busy, transferring universities and moving to a new city. I hope you still like the story and haven't given up on it as I do plan to finish. Enjoy!


The Initiation Part 2


Tara's brows furrowed, "The f-fun part? There's a fun part?"


"She means the part where she gets to hurt things," Willow spoke over a cynical snort and a wry grin.


"No, I mean the part with the balloons and chocolate cake," Faith scowled at her.


The brown haired boy's ears perked up at that, "Cake?"


"Can we go," Faith enthused, "If I don't get my violence-fix I get real fucking cranky and ya don't want to see that."


Buffy's thin blonde brow rose as she smirked, "We've never not seen that."


Xander's head turned back and forth to stare quizzically between them, "I swear I heard cake."


"Okay troops," The blonde Slayer spoke up with a decisive nod, "Let's get to it. Tara--stick to Will for now, if...well, just remember that this isn't your--there's no obligation to--"


Tara nodded quickly and flashed her a reassuring smile, "I know."


An esoteric look passed between the two before Buffy could regain her voice, "All right, let's get it moving then!"


As the girls shuffled out the doors purposefully Xander grumbled behind them, "There...isn't going to be any cake is there?"


---


"See there's uhh, a lot of well lurking and laying in wait in the shadows, a lot of watching," Willow whispered excitedly into the night as she, Tara and Xander watched Faith and Buffy battle two vamps apiece with relative ease.


Xander rolled his eyes, "Wills stop trying to make us sound exciting, we're basically a glorified cheering section--congrats on making the squad Tare."


Tara watched with wide eyes as Faith swiftly snapped one vamp's neck; his disfigured face twisting in pain before fading to dust, "N-not exciting at all."


"Just remember baby," Willow told her, raising her thin arms to awkwardly pantomime a cheer, "5, 6, 7, 8 better run or you'll get ate."


Xander smiled widely, "That's the official Scooby cheer."


The blonde witch could only shake her head disbelievingly at the two friends. They were so obviously desensitized to the scene. To the monsters, the violence, the foggy graveyards in the dead of night. "S-so this is all we'll do?"


Willow nodded, "On a good night, yeah. But sometimes there are emergency situations such as--"


Her voice was cut off as a punch to the back of her head knocked her to her knees. A tall, pale boy clad in leather sneered at them, "Such as me." The vamp, an apparent figurehead, raised his fingers to his lips and whistled clearly; a bevy of bloodsuckers appeared from the shadows at the sound, assuming offensive stances.


Xander turned to Tara who was helping a dizzy Willow to her feet, "And this...is not good."


"Somehow I managed to piece that one together myself."


"That's enough talking now." The lanky boy's smooth young face morphed into something atrocious; twisted up with a deadly smirk, but only for a second before it was wiped off by a hard fist snapping him in the jaw.


"You're right," Buffy smiled at him, "That's more than enough talking."


The two launched into a flurry of combative moves as the gaggle of vampires hurled themselves at an unflinching Faith. Xander latched himself onto one's back and tried recklessly to wrestle him to the ground.


Tara could hear a soft murmuring to her left and recognized it immediately, she turned to see Willow frowning in concentration, the air around her tossing her red tendrils as she attempted to manipulate it. Wordlessly, Tara took her hand and instantly three vamps were hurled into the air--two were impaled on tree branches while the third landed on the ground and scrambled himself up, sprinting pell-mell into the night.


The vamp Xander had been trying to hold down slipped away with an elbow to the boy's gut, he dashed in the opposite direction of his comrade.


Faith had driven her stake deep into one last vamp's heart just as Buffy delivered a flying kick to the leader's chest, hurling him hard against a tree trunk where his chest was left exposed and vulnerable. He had barely landed there before the blonde Slayer's stake was in his heart and his undead body dissipated in a cloud of dust.


"Jesus, there were a lot of them!" Xander coughed out, holding his aching stomach.


"Two of 'em got away, too," Faith twirled her stake in her hand and pointed it left and right, "Opposite directions."


Buffy muttered a 'damnit' before addressing her friends, "We could split up, find the stragglers--kindly inquire as to why the sudden vampy camaraderie."


"Beat 'em to a pulp?" Faith smirked, "Good plan. T and Xand could go with me, Red with B."


"Wait, what!? No, no way," Willow crossed her arms over her chest decisively, "We've tainted this innocent girl enough, I'm taking her home now."


Tara smiled at the redhead's outburst, "Oh Will, it's okay. I want to help. And besides, I'm no more innocent than the rest of you, just s-sorta shy."


"No, you are!" She reached a freckled hand to Tara's immaculately white one, "You're pure and innocent a-and--"


Faith's snort interrupted the girl's babble rudely. Willow turned slitted green eyes to the dark haired Slayer before her face was caught between immaculate hands and she was staring into two pools of that singularly blue hue, "Not that I don't love when you get all 'knight-in-shining-armor', baby. But really-- I can handle this."


"You sure?" The redhead pouted.


Tara smiled, "Mhm."


"Really sure?" Buffy asked, then smiled at Tara's nod, "Just checking."


"Really, really--"


"Oh for Christ's sake!" Faith blurted, "Those vamps are halfway to LA by now."


Xander pouted, "I just felt left out, is all."


Willow turned to Faith with as menacing a look as her pixy-like features could pull off, "If anything happens to her Faith, I swear--"


"Yeah, yeah," the brunette waved her off, "I'm shaking in my Doc Martens."


"You should be," Willow murmured self-righteously before wrapping her arms gently around Tara's waist, "Just please be careful."


"I will, I promise. You too, okay? You be careful too."


Faith rolled her coffee brown eyes as they kissed, "I say we leave 'em here to die."