The Kitten, the Witches and the Bad Wardrobe - Willow & Tara Forever

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 Post subject: Re: Butterfly
PostPosted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 2:15 am 
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6. Sassy Eggs
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*whistles innocently* now that you've got some spare time.. red's diner all finished and what not.. maybe you could like.. :whistle you know.. do a lil.. *waves her hand about* on this fic :D.. maybe.. if you uh.. wanted :D.... heh.. :blush

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 Post subject: Re: Butterfly
PostPosted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 2:48 am 
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3. Flaming O
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**Looks around and smiles sweetly** Agreed. **Pokes and nudges** Just if you wanna. :bounce

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**And that's how we raise the dead in Ericaland."


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 Post subject: Re: Butterfly
PostPosted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 2:50 am 
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3. Flaming O
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Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2005 9:26 pm
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Location: Land of midnight sun and naked blondes.
Hi,
I'm hoping to get cracking next week, since ths one's insane... Just re-read my last chapter and realised it sucked majorly, so hopefully I'll be able to come up with something good this time...
Love your way of asking for an update and also really like the weird animal which runs around in your avatar!
Thanks for your patience....
RBP

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 Post subject: Re: Butterfly
PostPosted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 2:59 am 
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13. Big Knowledge Woman
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you're gonna update, oh, you just made my day! you're probably gonna makemy week, when you update :-D

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"When you get excited about something, one might imagine you as a small, maniacally grinning rubber ball, which someone throws at the wall in an enclosed room, and goes bouncing off every surface for about 15 minutes."
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 Post subject: Re: Butterfly
PostPosted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 8:25 pm 
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28. Com...plete

Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2005 9:18 am
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Location: Portland OR
yay!!! i so can't wait...and the last update did not suck!
but it does totally call for a follow up, so pleeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaase update!!!!!! :pray

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I hope, we'll have more happy ever after
I hope, we can all live more fearlessly...

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 Post subject: Re: Butterfly
PostPosted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 6:01 am 
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5. Willowhand
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More please? Please? *makes puppy dog face*


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 Post subject: Re: Butterfly
PostPosted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 9:59 am 
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10. Troll Hammer

Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2005 2:08 pm
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I haven't been able to catch up yet but I like the pacing as far as I've gone.

And I like some of the ways you're bringing in the cast in internationalized versions.I like a more functional GLory actually interacting with the others. (Yes of course, I've played with that idea myself, isn't that usually the case with things I praise :blush :ashamed ?)

I like your choice of surname for Harmonia. (Was Biondi just a choice like for the way it sounded or no special reason, or was their a "character reason," either from the show or from you story?) I learned in elementary school that trying to Italianize or Hispanicize "Kendall" doesn't work!

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Snapshots:http://thekittenboard.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=10210 a Love Story
____________________________________________________________
Kim: (breaks off the kissing) I l... (Sue stops her with a hand)
Sue: We don't talk about things like that right after, you know that, no saying those things in The Moment.
Kim: (moves the hand aside) Screw The Moment. I *love* you.


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 Post subject: Re: Butterfly
PostPosted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 4:53 pm 
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3. Flaming O
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Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2005 9:26 pm
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Location: Land of midnight sun and naked blondes.
’Ello, me lovelies!

Yup, I know… Who’s been a naughty Kitten? Well, yes, that would be me…
I deserve to be punished, I know… So I guess you’ll just have to send me Amber Benson in a tiny patent leather corset and high heels to whip me with a soft… No, wait, that was my reward I was thinking about. Sorry, I tend to get them mixed up :smug
Anyways, first: Feedback
Secondly: Ye Olde Story…

Sacinema: Thank you very much!
Yes, terms of endearment are nice, but one must also consider the “boiling the rabbit-factor” of things. I had someone tell me they loved me on the second date. Then I had a stalker that took me two months to get rid of… Yes, I love you’s are good, but I agree with Buffy that one ought to wait a week or two… But I will have nice things in store for you, cross my heart and hope to be spanked by Amber Benson :wink

Willowrulez: So, I guess very soon isn’t quite the word, huh? Sorry about that…
Hope you can still be bothered to read…

Boadecia: Thank you!! Glad you liked the angst for several reasons. Unfortunately, Life will probably be permitting, yes, since my hot girl friend will soon go away to Russia for six months, leaving me all celibate… So I’ll try to channel it into fan fic… :sigh

Edgyqueen: Thank you, sorry for being such a naughty Kitten with updates!

sam7777: Yup, I agree. Coming up!

Willowhand: Hi Anne! Oh, I’m soo sorry you had to hear that! No-one deserves to be subjected to Dame Kiri doing crossover… Well maybe Joss. (Shudders…) Willow as a karaoke singer is of course based on her! Stay the hell away from her jazz records is all I got to say, Girlfriend! They’re toxic… Thank you for your kind words!

CrazyTaraWitch: Blushes, hangs head and hides behind dark blond hai…No, sorry wait, that’s someone else… Anyways, thank you so much and sorry for being such a non-updatey cow!

JustSkipIt: Yet another grovelling apology for missing your other feedback… Thank you for your praise, oh great writer! I agree with you about time lines and so forth. In the show, it was a bit like, huh? But since this is some sort of strange micro parallel to the series, I think it makes sense for them to be at least a little cautious, since they hardly know each other. Except for in the biblical sense :laugh Hope you like the upcoming chapter, which actually has some sort of plot! How’s that for a shocker!?

umgaynow: Sandi, behave yourself! :punish :laugh

Tru2urheart: Thank you!

Guppy: Thank you! Sorry it’s taken ages…

Watty: Totally! Karaoke makes me feel a little like the vomiting lady in Little Britain. I suck at Karaoke, I’d take Rosenkavalier any day.

beanie: Dearest beanie, patience is not your foremost virtue  And speaking of patience, were the hell are your stories nowadays, missy!? And where’s Heather, speaking of nothing!? But you are very right about this being season 4 Buffy. I agree, she had her annoying stints…And it’s always nice to hear that someone shares my love for Anya… Not in the big gay love sense, but just because she’s wonderfuuul… Thank you for liking my drivel!

Tarebear: You know, I kinda did a survey of my friends, to see how soon in a relationship you can say “I love you” without it being scary and somewhere around two months was the consensus. But I guess it tends to be much quicker in fan fiction than in real life… But anyways, I promise that it’s coming up soon!

Artemis: Greetings General! I’m glad I’ve managed to awaken the curiosity of such a seasoned weaver of intrigue! Let’s hope I don’t disappoint…
But, yes, real love is definitely to love quirks as well as graces…
It just seemed logical in relation to canon to let Anya do heavy metal…I also thought it was fairly demony!

Binky: Here comes your pumpkin, darlin’!

Shane: I’m glad I could bring pain and discomfort to your life  Here comes some more… And thank you for your kind words!

Spells42. It will be finished, dammit, I just need to get better at kicking myself in the pants. Why is it so much more fun to write other stories when you’re in the middle of a long one…? But thank you very much, that was high praise indeed, from someone obviously very wise. Anyone who quotes the Tempest must be a good person.

Badkitty: How? Someone kicked me in the pants and told me off…
Yeah, I know, it’s a disturbed idea for a fic… But thank you for reading and saying nice things about it!

Belli Bear: I luuurve your avatar, as I’ve mentioned before, but I’ve got to be repeato-gal! Sorry for being a lazy cow and having RL and so forth!

BigBlueEyes: Hi! Ok… Sorry it took forever.

Thianne: Really sorry it was another week I made, as opposed to the one I was aiming for… Thank you very much!

PancakesInBellies: Ok, then!

DaddyCatAlso: Just the reason you described. I couldn’t be bothered to try to work around Kendall… And the blondness is a big part of Harmony, don’t yah think?

A wee, wee, angst warning for this chapter...
Also, I posted this when I was extremely sleepy, so there might be typo's...

Chapter 14: Non disperar

Tara felt a little silly the following morning when she noticed the dark rings under her eyes from her fitful sleep.

“Get a grip, drama queen” she said sarcastically to her own image in the mirror. She braced herself before splashing her face with ice cold water to wake up.

She walked very fast on her way to the opera house, feeling the need to be close to Willow like a siren call inside of her.

Arriving at the stage door, she deliberately slowed her steps down so than she wouldn’t come running like an impatient child. Approaching her dressing room, she noticed Willow’s door was open and there was someone moving animatedly around in there. Tentatively, she walked up to the door and froze solid.

Staring at her from within the little room was not only a happily grinning Willow, but a camera crew. A fairly large one. Tara felt completely devoid of coherent though as she tried to process the scene in front of her.

“Tara! There you are! These are the people from the South Bank Show!”

“The South Bank Show…?” Tara heard herself repeat it like a parrot, still not taking it in.

“Oh… I forgot to tell you? Sorry, I guess I’ve been pre-occupied lately…” Willow smiled a saucy, private smile at Tara, who still just stood there like a deer caught in the headlights.

“The South Bank Show is a pretenti…eh programme about the arts” Willow explained patiently, not being able to interpret Tara’s reaction.

“I know what it is. But why is it h-here?” Tara said tunelessly, with the same petrified look on her face.

“Miss Maclay! What a pleasure to meet you! Ms Rosenberg has talked so much about you, we’ve all been dying to meet you! Ms Rosenberg has described you as the next Cecilia Bartoli, you know.”

Tara threw a terrified look at the perky journalist who kept talking at her.

“Willow?” she croaked out, “can I talk to you?”

“Excuse me”, Willow said politely and stepped outside the dressing room and around the corner to escape the camera’s prying eye.

Willow put her arms around Tara’s neck and kissed her tenderly on the lips.

“I missed you yesterday…” she mumbled and kissed her again, brushing her lips over Tara’s.

“Mmm” she hummed against Tara’s lips, goose bumps happening on her arms, her olfactory senses filling up with the scent of her skin.

“I can’t be on television.” Tara croaked out against her lips, still struggling with the chock of finding half of Channel Four in her girlfriend’s dressing room.

“What?” Willow mumbled, becoming slowly aware of the fact that Tara was, for probably the first time, showing no interest in her amorous attentions

“I can’t be on television”. She repeated, which a slight note of hysteria in her voice.

Willow looked at her panic face and remembered that Tara had seemed shy when she first came to the opera house. She had gotten so used to her own Tara, who was anything but shy… She obviously just needed some positive reinforcement!

“Ok, I know that cameras can be a bit scary in the beginning, I was terrified when the BBC did this documentary about me and Buffy a couple of years ago and I just kept dropping things and stumbling over cords, so they had to shoot everything like five times, but don’t worry about it, I promise you’ll get used to it! Well, sort of, I’m still not quite used to it, but fear not, I will protect you! Besides, if you turn out half as well in moving pictures as you do on still ones, then , you know, wow…”

Tara just stood there, listening to the monologue, feeling more ad more trapped. How would she be able to explain…?

“N-no, you don’t understand, Willow, I really can’t be on television. I really can’t.”

“But baby, why? It just takes a little getting used to, that’s all…?”

Tara searched desperately for a plausible explanation. Sure, she knew people perceived her as shy. Could she tell Willow that she was simply too shy? Nope, that wouldn’t compute. She was an opera singer after all. If she had been abnormally shy, she would never have made it through Music College and those constant performances. She thought about telling her the truth for just a nano-second, but shook her head. That was out of the question. That would be insane.

“I suppose you’re right.” She said with mock bravery.

“Right then! Let’s get ready for our close-up, then!”

Willow kissed Tara on the cheek and took her hand.

With a lead-heavy heart, Tara forced her reluctant feet to follow, praying to whatever deities she had abandoned long ago, that this edition of the South Bank Show would have low ratings.

“Right, we’re back!” Willow smiled at the camera crew, who sported curious faces.

The reporter inched closer.

“Secrets?” He pricked up his ears and awaited the answer eagerly, practically sitting in attention on the edge of Willow’s dressing table.

“Nope, no secrets!” Willow declared breezily.

Well, maybe one or two… Tara thought sadly

“What a shame…” the reporter purred.

Tara smiled against her will and despite of her anxieties. The man’s enthusiasm was contagious.

He held out his hand for her

“A pleasure to meet you Ms Maclay. I’m Lorne Greene.”

“Right, so what’s on our plate today, then? Any chance of a bit of costume rehearsal, like you half promised me?

“I’ve actually managed to persuade the infamous Gloria Van Neederwelt to let us peruse of our costumes. I endured a steady stream of invective, of course, so I hope you appreciate the effort, Mr Greene…”

“Lorne, please. Oh, I do, I do! I too have, erhm, survived Ms van Neederwelt. Did an interview back in 2004. That’s where this scar comes from.”

The reporter pointed to his ear, which seemed to be missing a small portion.

Tara envied the ease with which Willow related to people. She occasionally still had to combat the instinct to flee when faced with ebullient strangers. Her childhood had been very quiet. At least socially. Her stutter had made new contacts a source of discomfort and inviting people home to socialize after school had of course never been a possibility. She still remembered with discomfort how she had had to lie to the other children at school, about why they could never see where she lived.

Contrary to what Tara believed, Willow’s grace in handling social contacts had cost her far more to learn than her elaborate coloratura singing technique. Tara would have known this, had she just known Willow a few years earlier.

“Tara, are you coming?”

“What?” she was yanked back from her reveries.

“I believe we have been promised the flower picking duet… Right Ms Rosenberg?”

“Willow. Well, I might sort of have mentioned something about that, yes. You don’t mind, do you? We do that duet so well…”

Mind isn’t the word Tara thought as she had to combat the urge to run. This meant she would definitely be filmed.

Willow inched a little closer just let her fingers run ever so lightly along Tara’s lower arm and wrist.

“I guess I should have remembered to tell you that as well, huh…”

The soprano gave her an apologetic look. Her thumb moved soothingly along the mezzo’s sensitive skin.

Willow smiled at Lorne Greene.

“I’ve had to learn a lot of new things lately. Guess that made me distracted…”

She turned to Tara.

“Do you think it would be ok, ba..erhm, Tara?”

Tara felt suddenly sick of her own reserve, sick of hiding like a mole in a hole. If the woman she loved wanted a duet, she was bloody well going to get one.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather have just Willow?” she said hopefully, just for good measure.

“The more the merrier, Ms Maclay.”

***
Whenever Tara encountered another undiscovered part of the gigantic Royal Opera House, she was awestruck with the sheer enormity of it and the history behind every little thing.

“Ok, so this is like totally irregular, but just crap on the designer, that’s ok, that’s what usually happens, because hey, let’s suck up to the opera singers with fashion senses of dung beetles and never mind my problems, because hey, I’m just like an ARTIST and I just used to work for like Prada!

“Shut your pie hole and cough up my costume, hellbeast”, Willow growled.

Tara tried to fight it, but she liked Lorne Greene a lot. Soon, the mezzo found herself giggling and talking animatedly about favourite operas. She tried to make herself sound as boring as possible and look down a lot, so that the cameraman would focus on Willow, who was her usual high-spirited self, but she suspected that she was failing.

“Oh, that’s beautiful!

Lorne quivered excitedly at the sight of Tara’s costume. The mezzo wholeheartedly agreed. Neederwelt might be hell on wheels, but she sure knew her outfits.

The dove grey silk made her fingers tingle when she ran them over the rich material. She frowned a little when she saw the sturdy looking corset that came with it, but to be honest with herself, she couldn’t wait to wear it.

“May I?” Lorne looked imploringly at her.

Tara nodded.

“Great, I just looove working with amateurs…” Van Neederwelt sighed and rolled her eyes.

The costume was like putting on a really well fitting glove.

“Well, look at that… Miss Hippie Revival actually looks good in that… Who would have though, eh? Just don’t bend over like, ever, or the audience will have your nipples for breakfast, Curves".

Van Neederwelt shoved Lorne Greene to the side and pulled violently at the corset, making Tara gasp from the sudden pressure on her ribcage.

“I’m not sure if it’s possible to s-sing in this…” she said gingerly.

“Oh, geez, I’m really interested in your problems, I mean really but like hello, it’s called STYLE, yah know, Cleavage?”

Tara sighed. Van Neederwelt had a point. It was much more comfortable than it looked. And it was by far the most beautiful thing that Tara had ever worn. The wrap-around frock that came with it was covered in an abundance of finely embroidered pink cherry blossoms.

“Sometimes, I wish I had your job instead of mine, Ms Maclay.”

Lorne stroked the fabric of the garment lovingly.

“Oh and by the way, Nature Girl, I’ve made it quite clear to hair and make up that that ‘look’ has go to go, ok?" Van Neederwelt tugged at Tara’s uncombed and hair product-free hair disapprovingly and gazed at her makeup-less face with a look of distaste.

It wasn’t really a question, so Tara said nothing, resigned to her fate.

When she turned around, there was Willow, glaring at Van Neederwelt, eyes glistening like dark and angry embers. Her skin was shockingly reflected by her jet black frock, scattered with fiery poppies. In the heavy corset, the soprano looked fragile. Until you looked up into the furnace heat that burned in her eyes.

“You’re beautiful…” The soprano’s voice was low and filled with restrained emotion.

Tara noticed how Willow’s eyes raked over the exposed skin of her chest, pausing to take in the generous swelling of her breasts. The mezzo felt her desire on her skin as physically as if touched by warm hands.

“Y-you too.” Her mouth was dry and the words came out like a whisper. She wished she could have said more, but she was afraid that she wore her heart on her sleeve. She wondered briefly if these emotions really weren’t visible to anyone who looked.

Willow shook her head and tried to snap out of her Tara-induced coma.

No touching, she told herself sternly, resisting the impulse to press the mezzo’s skin against her own. Not to mention the impulse to run her tongue over the creamy skin of the oh,-so-tempting cleavage served up in front of her like a delicious human breakfast.

She chatted companionably with Lorne Greene on the way down to make-up, paying no attention to what she was saying; the sound of Tara’s crackling silk steps causing her to look over her shoulder frequently.

Tara tried to keep a straight face, but a smile threatened to break out at the corner of her mouth, as always when Willow was in a good mood.

***
Lorne Greene hovered excitedly around them in make-up.

Tara stared in wonderment at the mirror as she was transformed. Someone different looked back at her. Someone beautiful, with an exciting, harrowing face.

“Honestly, Tara, I’ve worked with a lot of faces in my days, and yours is a make-up artist’s dream. You have bones to die for!”

Tara looked at the make-up artist with a dropping jaw. No-one had ever commented on her bones before, let alone called her face a dream.

She cast a glance at Willow, who looked back at her with such pride and desire that Tara got a mental image of what it would be like to have Willow here, on the dressing table. Left to her ministrations, Tara would have made sure that none of that poppy red lipstick would have stayed on. And that frock wouldn’t have been so pristinely pressed either… She took a deep breath and returned to reality. Later, Tara…

The wig was surprisingly comfortable. As with the rest of her outfit, it was a lighter shade than the jet black mane that came with Willow’s ebony costume.

The mezzo was ready a few minutes before the soprano. When Willow saw her standing there, her eyes bright in the unforgiving light, she froze. The mezzo was Peking opera extreme, the upper part of her face made up with icy blues and cheekbones and lips in frosty pink. The outlandish brownish purple of the hair looked curiously right on Tara. The soprano’s body reacted without thinking, not living with self-censorship as a second nature the way Tara did. Swiftly, she closed the distance between them and put her cheek against Tara’s, lightly, just to feed the need for skin on skin contact. They stood motionless for a few moments. Tara said nothing, but Willow could feel her, feel how she was reaching out, as certainly as she could feel her breath on her neck.

The warm and comforting touch of Willow’s cheek made the sharp corners of Tara’s world smooth out and the lights to soften. She noticed that the cameraman looked surprised when they stepped apart. Lorne’s expression was inscrutable. Tara was grateful for every moment of tenderness from Willow, but she was surprised by her openness.

Just generally, there was something different about Willow today. She always had a lot of energy, but today she was buzzing, electrified, soaring. Something in her smile was new to Tara. She hoped she would be able to figure it out.

***
Down by the stage, Sir Rupert was waiting for them with the same slightly harrowed look as usual. The accompanist was their old bad-tempered friend. Without waiting for consent, he struck up the music for the flower-picking duet.

An intense activity erupted, as cameras were moved and microphones showing up out of nowhere.

So quickly had singing with Willow turned into her comfort zone that she only glanced at the cameras a few times before being able to focus whole heartedly on her singing. She felt a little guilty for stealing Willow’s thunder like this, but she also thought that she knew why Willow wanted her there.

The first reason was probably that she had never had any hang-up about the flower duet. Singing together with Tara gave her an excellent excuse not to sing “Un bel di”. Maybe she was still afraid that her problems with it would return under pressure. Tara still felt all warm and fuzzy inside at the thought of Willow really needing her.

But she also strongly suspected that this was Willow’s way of forwarding her career. Darling Willow, how was she to know that the last thing that Tara wanted was a career? It was bad enough as it was, with her in the public eye like this…

Unexpectedly, it was… well, fun actually, to sing in the empty opera house with just the appraising look of Sir Rupert and the enraptured face of Lorne Greene watching. And she couldn’t take her eyes off Willow. Despite what the soprano thought herself, she was Butterfly on stage. She was one of the few opera singers in the word who were truly believable as a fifteen-year-old geisha. To be honest, it was a little frightening as well. Willow’s intensity on stage made Tara feel lacklustre as a performer and had her wondering if she was even close to knowing this woman? But that had always been one of the most alluring things about Willow: the double nature of her sweetness as a person and her almost demonic quality of her stage presence.

Tara had always felt clumsy, so she tried to keep a keen eye on cables, mikes and wires. They sang very well, as always when they were together.

Lorne Greene thanked them profusely when they had finished.

“Ladies, I see spectacular careers in your future!” he sad magnanimously.

Willow was convinced that he shared her view on the superior quality of Tara’s voice. Tara was of course equally convinced that he was impressed only with the lyrical genius of Willow.

They were still holding hands. Tara laughed at something Lorne Greene said and Willow’s eyes fell shut and she breathed in carefully not to reveal what that sound did to her. She could feel the vibrations going through her body through her firm grip of Tara’s hand. Tara-laughter. Was there ever a better sound? Maybe… She smiled.

Tara let out a sigh of relief now that it was over. She pictured herself in a t-shirt with an “I survived the South Bank Show” print on it.

As it turned out, she was not out of the woods yet. She tensed up when she realised that Lorne expected to get to interview them both.

As expected, she liked the interview situation far less than the singing. She focused so hard on not stuttering that her body ached with the effort. Willow stroked her back lovingly when feeling her tension, which made her even more nervous. What if they showed that on television?

The mezzo felt like throwing up when the journalist asked about her childhood and background. She talked briefly about her mother’s singing talent and waited patiently in silence until Greene dropped the subject and moved on. Sensing that he was running out of questions, the stiffness in her shoulders let up a bit.

Until the bomb dropped.

“Before we conclude this, might I be so bold as to ask if your relationship is… erhm… official, or not?"

Tara froze and gave Willow a panicked look out of the corner of her eye. To her surprise, the soprano smiled.

“Sort of. It’s very new, so we haven’ gotten round to being official yet”.

“But friends and loved ones know?”

Willow took Tara’s hand.

“Some of them.”

Her thoughts drifted back to that morning.

Buffy had been freaked, no doubt about it. But on the whole, it could have been much worse…

“Will, I’ve been thinking”, Buffy had said thoughtfully, hugging her coffee cup.

“Isn’t it about time you got out there? Back in the saddle so to speak. I know that you and Osbourne had a bad break up, but honestly, Will, I think the best way to get over him is to get out there and meet new people.”

“Erhm” Willow didn’t know how to begin. She hesitated and swallowed to try to get rid of the lump which suddenly lived in her throat.

“Well, actually, Buffy, I sort of already have…”

She waited for an eruption.

“Will, you sneaky woman!! Tell, tell!”

“I’ve started seeing someone.” She could hear the hesitation in her own voice and took a deep breath.

“Tara. I’m seeing Tara.” She tried to sound no-nonsense about it.

“Oh, come on Will! I don’t mean work! Spending a massive amount of time on voluntary rehearsals, which is slightly insane, by the way, does not replace dating! I’m talking about meeting guys again, Will. I’m sure Tara’s a really nice girl and very rewarding to work with, but no girlfriend time can replace dating.”

“Actually, it can… Buffy, I mean that I’m seeing Tara. Like seeing seeing.”

She held her breath and waited.

“How do you mean?” Buffy looked puzzled.

“Well, you know…” Willow blushed a little and shrugged.

“You mean that you and Tara…? Like seeing seeing? Oh.”

Buffy became quiet and suddenly very interested in the contents of her coffee cup.

“Buffy, are you freaked?”

Her best friend had said that no, she wasn’t freaked. But Willow could tell that she was.

“I think I love her, Buffy…. No, I know that I love her.”

Buffy walked over to her suitcases and got ready to leave. In the doorway, she turned around.

“It’s great, Will. Really. Just need some time to get used to it, that’s all, Will. So, it’s love, huh…?”

Willow nodded slowly. There it was. She was officially in love…

“Have you told her?”

Willow shook her head.

Buffy smiled a funny smile.

“Well, I guess you’d better, then.”

“You said that it had to be two months, or it was creepy…”

“That’s just silly, Will, never mind that. Just tell the…girl how you feel.”

“I know…”

Buffy sounded a little nervous. But she would come round, Willow knew she would. Buffy always came through in the end.

Finally having told someone made Willow feel as if she could suddenly breathe freely again after holding her breath. It felt great.

***
Some of them!? Some of them!? Tara’s mind screamed inside her head and waved its arms excitedly.

“Tell you what ladies, mum’s the word. I’ll just let you get to that in your own good time. But if I can be so frank, I don’t see how anyone could miss it. And might I add that you make a lovely couple.”

Willow felt drunk from her own boldness as she caressed Tara’s hand and replied:

“Yes, I know.”

She told people about us? She told people?

Tara’s heart beat so fast it was uncomfortable. Unconsciously, she had probably never thought they would be a couple in the eyes of the world. In her head, she only saw them tucked away at restaurants or in her hotel room. Her fears seemed like nothing now, compared to the hugeness of Willow having told someone. Questions remained, of course: Were they girlfriends? She doubted that it was possible that Willow would love her they way she loved Willow, but did she love her? She thought that she might, but who was she to know? She would have given anything to get to know what Willow had said about them… She thought it had to have been Buffy that she had told. To the best of Tara’s knowledge, she was the only person Willow had seen for any length of time after leaving her outside the pub.

That’s big, Tara… The best friend…

She realised that her grip on Willow’s hand was vice-like, so she let go a little. But just a little.

***
The afternoon saw ordinary rehearsals and by that time, it was as if the camera crew had always been there. Tara would never have suspected that being in love and having good sex would do so much for the quality of your performance. William Bloodsworth actually snapped at her for being too perky. Not something she was used to, but she just couldn’t keep the smile off her face…

Willow came to her dressing room in the break.

“Are you still on for Anya’s concert tonight? As awful as she is, she a brilliant singer. Afterwards, we could go to my place…Buffy’s in Berlin, so we’ve got the house all to ourselves…”

The soprano smiled a smiled that promised a thousand delights and pulled the mezzo closer.

Tara could hear from the tone of Willow’s voice that she expected no answer, so she just nodded and kissed her.

She was glad that they both had their lipstick removed, otherwise they would have looked a mess. Flushed and short of breath after their passionate kissing, Tara broke away.

“Eh, Willow?”

“Yup?”

“Did you and Buffy have a good… talk last night?”

“Yup.”

Tara sighed in exasperation. Willow took pity on her.

“We talked about dating. Buffy thought it was about time I started dating again”

“I see.” Tara tried to keep her voice neutral.

“So I said that I already had.”

“And what did Buffy say?”

Willow hesitated.

“Well, it’s understandable that she’s, you know, surprised.”

Tara, the empathic one as ever. Willow stepped back into her embrace and kissed her on the lips, feather light. This was love, she was certain of it.

***
The mezzo walked toward her hotel to change and collect some things.

The many wonders of this day was almost too much to bear: She had survived an interview, sang well despite the spying eye of the camera and most importantly: Willow had told Buffy…

She hummed contentedly to herself when she caught an image in the corner of her eye. She whipped her head round in a panic, but it was gone.

Had she really seen it? The grey coat? That coat? But surely…? It was gone now, but she had seen it, hadn’t she?

“Not now…” she whispered to her self “Not already, please…” She didn’t know who she was talking too. Something started to trickle down from her nose. She reached up and touched it. With a sinking feeling of horror, she saw her hand being covered in blood.

TBC

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 Post subject: Re: Butterfly
PostPosted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 5:14 pm 
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Yes!!!


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 Post subject: Re: Butterfly
PostPosted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 5:33 pm 
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You really know how to get a girl with those cliff-hangers, you know? This is a brillant update, but I really hope we don't have to wait so long for another update. Please?


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 Post subject: Re: Butterfly
PostPosted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 6:24 pm 
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Wow what a day. Updates to Relinquished Symetry and Butterfly? That's so wonderful. Your descriptions are, as always, so wonderful and sensual. Every time you describe a touch between the two of them I feel warm inside from it. It's fantastic. Poor Tara having to do TV but the host was so wonderful and asking about their relationship. So nice and beautiful. I'm glad Willow & Buffy talked and Buffy seemed only mildly freaked out so that's good. You know?

But bloody hand? That's not good at all. I hope we don't wait months and months for an update after that. (hint, hint,)

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 Post subject: Re: Butterfly
PostPosted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 10:48 pm 
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Wow! Surprise! Surprise!

Good to see an update on this. It looks like things are progressing even more for Willow and Tara, but it seems trouble is on the horizon.

Who is the mysterious grey coat person?

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 Post subject: Re: Butterfly
PostPosted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 12:04 pm 
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:pinky ok where have I been and why havent I had my head put on strait this is HOT :thud :thud :thud :thud :thud understatment much how did I miss this all this time? There mind was saying wait don,t say I love you but there bodys were screaming it. I won,t even tell you how it affectied me :blush You also have me worried why must Tara leave what kind of secret is there hmmmm please more :kgeek

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 Post subject: Re: Butterfly
PostPosted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 12:31 pm 
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*narrows eyes* you better not make me wait months for an update again. i want to know what happes next! *cries*

and yes! willow told buffy! i'm so happy for tara...*dreamy sigh*

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 Post subject: Re: Butterfly
PostPosted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 3:00 pm 
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Oh my god. You are back. Actually it is so wonderful that some of my favourite stories are back. Woo hoo. Thanks a lot to you.

Willow in the Madame Butterfly outfit and she is not freaking out. How nice is that. I totally love the playful being in love thing between her and Tara. And Lorne is right. The way you describe their relationship nobody could be able to not see that they are in love. Young love is so sweet. Between those two it's equally innocent and really hot. In a way I nearly expected them to step over the boundaries and forget about anything. Come on both in hot dresses? How were they able to restrict themselves?

I wonder if Lorne will use the revelation in his show. It was a very bold move from Willow to admit them being together. Even surprised Tara.

The end? No good can come from people in grey coats. I suspect there will be a lot of angst before our heroines can start the happily ever after. And you really made me curious about Tara's past. It's been a while since I've read the rest of the story. So I'm not sure if we already no something about the past. Ok, you already convinced me I have to start reading it again.

Thanks for the lovely update. And hope to read more soon.

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 Post subject: Re: Butterfly
PostPosted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 8:17 pm 
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RBP:

Non disperar, you say? How could we not? You come back, for which I'm glad and gratful, but then you leave us with that cliffhanger?? Non disperar indeed!

Really great update, RBP. You build up Tara's tension but you ease it with Willow's ebullience at discovering that she is in love so that their happiness is not quite drowned by Tara's fears and doubts. Well done. I look forward to reading who this coated creature is entering stage right to threaten Willow and Tara.

Thanks for updating and sharing,

Safuega

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 Post subject: Re: Butterfly
PostPosted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 4:07 pm 
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Been a fan of this for a while, finally decided to leave feedback now that it's been updated (hooray!).

I actually recently got into opera for a non-related reason...okay, because I'm a total musical theater geek (listening to West Side Story as I type this), and decided that I should investigate opera if I'm going to continue being a total snob fan of what is essentially the ostrasized freak-cousin OF opera. So's I've been listening to more opera, still working my way through the classics. But I like that it helps with the references in this piece. Because of this fic, however, I did get a recording of Der Rosenkavalier. It's lovely, albeit very waltz-y.
Okay, all side exposition aside, this is perhaps my favorite fanfic on the board. Music (along with food and art) is one of the best metaphors for love/sex. Your prose is so lyrical and image rich, and the playout of the Willow/Tara romance is fantastic.

Well, now Willow is out to Buffy? And in a flashback? I'm almost surprised at that. I was really expecting a whole canon type mirror of "Oz comes back and freaks out Willow" thing. Oh, and this is where I feel an urge to make a "Baron Oz/Ochs walks in on Willow and Tara" pun. Let's leave it at that, it's atrocious enough of a wordplay. That and the one where "Willow and Tara get busy/Bizet".
And grey coat guy with Tara? Her father? Did he wear a grey coat in "Family"? Whatever. I just hope he's not coming to drag her back to the Scottish Highlands because she's some kind of opera phantom like all the women in her family. I was actually confused about the nosebleed that just happened...is Tara ill or is it some kind of physical stress cue about her father? Is she going to be one of those horrible people who sing despite consumption? (which angered me in both La Boeme AND Mulan Rouge...stop singing if it makes you cough blood, dammit!)

So, to sum up what must be one tangled rant...love the story, keep writing PLEASE, can't wait to see what happens next.


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 Post subject: Re: Butterfly
PostPosted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 6:33 am 
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I'm glad you've decided to revisit this wonderful work. Things are looking up for the kittens, many quality fics being updated recently. Very nice update, shows how easy they feel in the other's company. But, and here I'm going to be a devil's advocate ... I feel like walking up to Willow and shaking her. She didn't seem to display a lot of sensitivity towards Tara this chapter. First the SBS interview.
Quote:
Willow looked at her panic face and remembered that Tara had seemed shy when she first came to the opera house. She had gotten so used to her own Tara, who was anything but shy… She obviously just needed some positive reinforcement!

No. No. No. There is a deeper reason and Tara's discomfort isn't only shyness. I can forgive Willow for making the partially wrong assumption that Tara is shy. But she ought to know better than putting words and actions into Tara's mouth and ... (whatever the equivalent for action is). It's like if I'm out with my friends and I say I don't like sushi, and my friends assume that obviously I just need some positive reinforcement, ie have sushi forced down my throat. Okay, that's may be a little extreme. :P

Second Willow-transgression is outing Tara in front of Buffy. Newsflash Willow. You.do.not.out.people.without.their.consent. May be my values are different, since Tara was on too much of a Willow-induced haze to seem to mind. Good for her.

Okay, whinge over. They are so sweet together, that it doesn't matter about these small hiccups. I'm glad Tara managed to warm to Lorne, she deserves the attention that the performance and the media exposure will give her. I think they have made a friend and perhaps even champion in Lorne. I bet he's tempted to reveal about their relationship on the show, I hope he has sufficient journalistic integrity not to. And finally, Tara as Butterfly? Yum yum. Scary grey coat man? Eeeep.
[br]

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 Post subject: Re: Butterfly
PostPosted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 6:45 am 
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Scary grey coat man (tm watty) has me worried. And also showing my excessive geekiness, seeing as my first thought was that Tara's a rogue telepath and the Psi-Corps are after her. I'm thinking that's probably not it. It's very much like she's on the run from someone, though - and it seems like she's given in to the inevitability of it catching up with her eventually, and just wants to enjoy life as much as she can until that happens. Hopefully all will be revealed in time, and - with Willow's help, no doubt - it'll turn out to be something Tara can stand up to and defeat.

There's so much going on in this chapter, building on what's gone before, and broadening into new characters and ideas - have I mentioned how giddy I was to see a new chapter? I was - but what really stood out for me was Tara's quiet exultation at how Willow was open and proud about being with her. That just seemed to strike all the right notes, and draw on everything going on in this story - how in love Tara is with Willow, how she idolises her almost, even how she's got her own worries and thus there's a part of her that's worried she's not good enough for Willow, so it's such a happy surprise when Willow seems to contradict that. I'm eagerly looking forward to more.

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 Post subject: Re: Butterfly
PostPosted: Sat Feb 10, 2007 11:49 pm 
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wow, i can't believe how behind i've gotten in my fics...i didn't find this update till last night, and it had been so long since the last chapter i had to re-read, and then i didn't finish the new post till just now...i'm a very bad kitten.
i am so glad this story is back!!! i've really missed it(despite the lateness in my reading :blush). i really love this story, but i'm really worried about tara. more soon, pleeeeeeeeeease? :pray

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 Post subject: Re: Butterfly
PostPosted: Sun Feb 11, 2007 2:46 am 
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Yeay!!! I LOVE this fic..and pretty much all of your stuff...hehehe that came out waaay more brown nosey than intentioned.
Anyway, i look forward to the impending drama and angst :p...and hopefully very good smoochies before, during and after lol

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 Post subject: Re: Butterfly
PostPosted: Sun Feb 11, 2007 1:39 pm 
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I'm so glad you updated this again. Great update. I loved the interaction between Tara and Willow throughout the prep and interview. So cute. Love the style. I can't wait for the next update to find out more about Tara and what she's so nervous about.

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 Post subject: Re: Butterfly
PostPosted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 1:02 am 
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This story is great, and I'm glad to see you revisit it. I like that you have made a potentially ordinary theatre story with depth. It's also nice to get inklings about Tara's history, and see more exploration of their differences in stature (Willow as established, Tara as a newbie.) Fascinating stuff. Very much looking forward to more.

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 Post subject: Re: Butterfly
PostPosted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 8:33 pm 
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speaking as a huge maria callas fan, i have to say that this story is incredibly interesting, on top of being well written. it's captivating, and i hope that you'll update soon.


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 Post subject: Re: Butterfly
PostPosted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 10:57 pm 
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FoxInTheSnow wrote:
speaking as a huge maria callas fan, i have to say that this story is incredibly interesting, on top of being well written. it's captivating, and i hope that you'll update soon.


I don’t know if you are aware that Maria Callas lived in the US for a time when she was child, in a small town called Tarpon Springs, just up the road from where I live and if you talk to some of the older Greek residents they can still remember her.

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Last edited by Second Fig on Mon Jul 16, 2012 8:32 am, edited 2 times in total.

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 Post subject: Re: Butterfly
PostPosted: Tue May 29, 2007 7:16 am 
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I read this a while ago, totally fell in love with it. And going over it again just made me love it more. I love how you've managed to work a good deal of the Buffy cast into it (nice one with Lorne, by the way), and I'm also fond of how you haven't just completely ignored the rest of them and focused solely on Willow and Tara - you're developing the others too, like William and Buffy's relationship, and Anya's past, which I'd love to learn more about. I suspect she was like a 'rogue avenger', being the Robin Hood of scorned lovers or something. -pause- Okay, I am SO doing an AU fic on that.

Anyway, I just want you to know that this story is magnificently written, and I'm more than looking forward to an update soon. Especially if it's about Tara's past - I'm a sucker for Tara (or Anya, or Cordelia) past-type stuff.


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 Post subject: Re: Butterfly
PostPosted: Tue May 29, 2007 1:02 pm 
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oh god dammit. :| i HATED that cliffhanger (in a really good way) the first time i read it and now its all bumped so i think 'heey! maybe its been updated!' but i cant remember the last update i read so i read the last one posted and BAM i experience all the horror and confusion and intrigue and other describing words of that thing the first time i was subjected to it.

*just... huffs!*

IN SHORT! That is without a doubt the bestest most cleverest cliffhanger i have ever read. It causes me to go all spazzy and ramble like a crazy person and TO GET TO THE POINT... update soon??? :aww pease? :aww pease and ham? :aww...

aaand one more time...

pease :aww..

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 Post subject: Re: Butterfly
PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2007 10:18 am 
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Hi,
Really sorry about the long wait, but I have been totally caught up in RL in the last few months... I’ll try to better myself. Not many chapters to go now, so hopefully I’ll be able to make it a little more snappy...
Just a note about the story: Forget what I said about it following canon. I sort of realised that I wanted to take it in another direction. There will still be canon-like elements and lots of ‘em, but no Oz and so forth...
On a more personal note: I haven't been able to spend too much time on fan fic lately, but it seems to me that updates and new stories are becoming kind of scarce. It would be a shame if Willow & Tarafic dies out. Come on, it's FUN! I'll promise to better myself if everyone else does the same ;)
Thank you all for your patience!
RBP


Emsaunt: Thank you? Sorry for taking ages...

Pancakes in bellies: Erhm…. Sorry about that…

JustSkipIt: Thank you yet again, and sorry for the abysmally long wait.

TheRose24: Yup, can’t deny it! But it will fix! Don’t worry, I’ll tell soon…

DiannesWillowtree: Thank you!!

Thianne: Oups…What can I say… Sorry… RL has been really pesky lately…

Sacinema: Thank you very much! Sorry for being a non-updatey bitch. Well, I’m not sure pornography would go down too well with the South Bank Show, so hence the restraint… Alas, one cannot copulate constantly, or else the gods know I would! :)

Safuega: I know, I know… Actually, I’m curious as well! Any suggestions as to whom it might be would be very welcome! Sorry, just a bad joke… Thanks for being patient and keeping up with my lateitude…

Shaucker: Thank you very much! It warms my geeky heart to know that I am not alone! I’ve found, with Rosenkavalier, that it grows on you immensely, once you get passed the Überwaltz, so keep at it! Fear not, there will be no tuberculosis sing-along in this fic… I agree totally about love/sex and music. Music is sex, sex is music…

Watty: Very interesting points you’re making.
A: Frankly, I don’t see canon-Willow as particularly sensitive to Tara’s needs. Eventually, yes, but in season 4, not so much. So I thought I might toy a little with how Willow’s puppy dog-like enthusiasm can be both a good and a bad thing. As much as season 4 Willow endeared me to her, she also annoyed me a little.
B: For me personally, that isn’t a problem. My girlfriend outed me to a lot of people back when I was still officially “sexually confused” but I really didn’t mind. Actually, it was somewhat of a relief. And secondly, I never assumed that Willow cleared it with Tara before telling Buffy about them in NMR, it seemed to me to be a spur of the moment kind of thing, so I wanted to use that. And one of the reasons I chose this flashback was that I had originally imagined that moment later in the story, but I've gotten a big pile of e-mails and general comments about why Willow won’t come out/ tell people about her and Tara, so I thought maybe it was about time now, just to make the story move forward.
Thanks for giving me something to think about!

Artemis: Of course that’s it! Darn your sinister and cunning deduction skills! :) Thank you for hanging in there, the story will be finished within a foreseeable future and fixed. My ridiculously hot girlfriend is on her way home from Siberia soon, so right now I’m a firm believer in happy endings!

CrazyTaraWitch: Very Bad Kitten! You must be severely punished! Might I suggest Amber Benson in skimpy underwear, some whipped cream and carrying a very soft cat o’ nine tails? :)

Boadecia: Thank you! Hopefully both the smoochies and the angst will be to your liking! There’ll be lots of it!!

Guppy: I’ve only just realized what your avatar is. I saw Loving Annabelle the other day and that is a very hot girl... Or should I say woman. Don’t you just love how they made all the schoolgirls very womanly and most likely well over twenty so you don’t have to feel guilty for fancying school girls? Excellent.

Ringwaldoevre: Thank you, sorry about taking ages…

FoxInTheSnow: Well, no matter how melodramatic I make this story, it will still never be a patch on Callases life, now will it? One of my friends played in the orchestra of La Scala during her heydays, so I’ve been treated to some fascinating anecdotes!

Second Fig: Not sure if you’re addressing me or Fox… but for myself, yes, I did know that. One of my friends is a huge Callas fan, so I’ve picked up a lot of stuff through osmosis.

MiniShrink: Thank for all those pretty words. Really like your avatar, big HP-fan. (geez, can I get any more geeky!?)
And, as I keep banging on about, I luurve Anya and could never write an Anya-less Buffyfic.
I’m looking forward to your Robin Hood-Anya!!

BelliBear: Yeah, sorry, I know it was a bit sudden and I’ve had some very disgruntled e-mails about it, but I just couldn't help myself. Sorry to make you wait forever for the rest...



Chapter 15: Som inget her pa jorden

“Are you alright!?” George the doorman called out as Tara hurried past him, covering the lower part of her face with her hands to stop the blood.

She didn’t stop; all that was on her mind was getting to her room and being alone. She slammed the bathroom door behind her and started to wash her face with freezing cold water, to bring some sense of reality back into her life.

“This is not happening” she said through gritted teeth to her mirror image as she held a wet towel painfully tight against her nose.

“A pity you’re not a soprano, you could have done Traviata instead” she added scathingly and made a face at herself.

Then she couldn’t hold back anymore. Wretched sobs shook her body as she leant against the wall.
It was rare for Tara to let herself wallow in self-pity like this. But then again, she had nothing to lose before. And now she had everything…
She rocked back and forth slowly and waited for the moment when she would run out of tears.When that finally happened, she looked at her mess of a face and sighed; red nose, bloodshot eyes, hair a mess.

“Crybaby.” she said sternly to herself as she set out on her task to look at least reasonably normal before meeting Willow at the Wigmore Hall.
She cursed as she looked at the bathroom clock. She was going to be late…

Willow waved excitedly as she spotted Tara approaching. When she saw the pale, strained face of the mezzo, she stopped. Her love looked absolutely wretched.

“Hey baby. Something wrong?” she soothingly caressed Tara’s back and tried to look her in the eyes to gauge a reaction.

“N-no. Why do you say t-that?” Tara avoided her probing gaze. Her voice sounded brittle and forced.

“You look a bit sad, that’s all. You sure nothing’s wrong?”

”I said no, didn’t I? Let’s go find our seats” Tara tried to sound breezy and casual.

Willow flinched at the brush-off. Guilt embraced the mezzo like a pair of clammy, restraining arms.

Poor Willow, she’s an innocent in this and you can’t even behave decently toward her...

As they waited in line for the wardrobe, Tara took Willow’s hand and squeezed it encouragingly. When she regained control she would make it up to her for being so snippy. She just needed to get her focus back…

She hadn’t spared a single thought for the music on her way there, concentrating too hard on bringing her wildly beating heart back to normal pace; forcing herself not to cry. When Anja walked out onto the stage, she felt almost surprised that there was going to be singing, having been so wrapped up in her own problems. The soprano looked fabulous in a huge crimson dress, with a sky of blond hair surrounding her head. She was singing an all Nordic program and started out with Carl Nielsen. Tara closed her eyes and let herself drift away, trying to make music the healer it usually was. She loved these songs…

Willow was uncharacteristically unable to concentrate. She glanced sideways at Tara, who seemed enraptured by the music, but there was no denying the frown on her usually smooth forehead. And besides, Willow was pretty sure that she had been crying. Why would Tara be crying? Had something happened during the day and she had missed it? And why didn’t she want to talk about it? She decided that she was going to try again when they got home. No Buffy, so there would be plenty of opportunity to talk on their own, if privacy was what Tara wanted. But it still gnawed at her how Tara had dismissed her, like an annoying child.

She made her best effort to concentrate on Anya’s glorious singing, but to no avail; she couldn’t tear her gaze away from the mezzo’s profile. Her love for Tara borderlined on obsession. She was going to find out what bothered her and fix it, she decided as her features slowly morphed into her Resolve Face. She drifted back to her conversation with Buffy. Was her friend right? Should she dare to tell Tara how she felt about her, even though their relationship was so new?

Tara’s eyes were open now, focused like sapphire laser beams on Anja, relieved to have something else to fill her aching head with. Her concentration was too intense to notice Willow’s scrutiny and the pensive look on her face.

The answer was becoming clear to Willow. Sure, ‘love’ was a big word, one of the biggest. But as she studied the woman by her side, close enough to the stage to be bathed in warm lime light, she knew that if Tara didn’t deserve the big words, no-one did.

Anja was singing Grieg now. It was a song that Willow herself had sung from time to time and she knew it well. The text was included in the program…

Hesitating for several minutes, she finally lifted Tara’s hand from her lap and put in her own. Trembling, she then folded all the fingers, bar the index finger, took a deep and shaky breath and used Tara’s own digit to underline the words Anja was singing:

I love you like nothing on this earth

Then she put Tara’s hand over her heart, praying that she wouldn’t feel just how frantically it was beating, as she forced herself to look the mezzo in the eyes.

As Willow’s meaning sank in, Tara froze. She looked back at the soprano with wild eyes.

Love? Are you trying to say you love me? You, Willow?

She hoped that Willow couldn’t feel how unsteady her hands were as she imitated Willow’s motions and let the soprano’s slender finger slide along another phrase of the song.

I love you for all time and eternity

Only her body was insecure. Her heart and her mind steadfastly meant every letter.

Willow hadn’t appreciated how nervous she was about Tara’s response to her bold manoeuvre until she answered. Willow’s head filled with starbursts. Her palms felt sweaty and her breath uneven as she squeezed Tara’s hand back, hard. Probably too hard, but she couldn’t help herself. She sat still for the rest of the concert only moving her thumb slowly on the side of Tara‘s hand, caressing it. She relished the opportunity to recover her equilibrium.

When Anya had finished the Grieg songs, Willow cat-called and whistled loudly, never having felt more magnanimous toward her annoying colleague. Her heart was filled up to the brim, flowing over, making her love sugar coat everything around her. Tonight, on this night of miracles, not even Anja could do wrong.

Tara thought she would explode. There was too much going on inside her head; swirling thoughts in gold and lead fought for dominance as she tried to get her mind around Willow having chosen this night, of all nights, to talk about love. How funny it was, and how sad, that this day had given her life a new foundation to stand on, one of inconceivable happiness and relief, while taking an axe and smashing the pillars holding the roof up with its other hand.

None of them quite knew what to say as they left the Concert Hall. They walked close together, joined by the unspoken words. Willow had kept on holding Tara’s hand and she couldn’t have cared less if anyone saw it. Her need to be close to her love seemed only to increase exponentially every minute they were together.

Still, something nagged her. It was as if Tara was sending out some unknown signal that Willow couldn’t read, or there was some third party present, like a shadow. She tried to shake the sensation and concentrate on the happiness flowing through her, headed for the waterfall of Tara’s consciousness. So what if there was still a long way to the ocean? She promised herself that she would study Tara even more closely. Figure her out, be a translator of her language, so that she would one day be able to read the score of Tara’s soul harmonics as easily as there were played out.

Tara tried to make the thoughts hopping around in her head like mad monkeys calm down, so she could summarize and make sense of everything that had happened. But at least she knew for sure that she needed to hold Willow’s hand in a firm grip and that it was important to keep touching Willow’s shoulder with her own.

“So, I guess we should find a taxi, then…?”

Willow’s voice sounded hesitant and small.

Tara realised that she hadn’t make a single reference to the event during the concert. Declaration-wise, the ball was in her court. Willow couldn’t be blamed for the madness of her day…

“It was beautiful, Willow.”

“What?” She needed confirmation. sayitsayit

“What you didn’t say back there.”

Willow giggled a little, feeling a little foolish for doing so.

“You too...”

Then a thought struck her.

”You didn’t have to, you know, just because I…?”

“No, it wasn’t like that, not at all. I-I m-mean it.”

”Really? I mean, no pressure or anything, no strings attached, you know…”

“Willow?”

”Yes...?”

”I do.”

Tara held her arms out and Willow stepped into her embrace, just as a taxi drove up to the sidewalk.

***
Tara was surprised at how soon Willow and Buffy’s home had started to feel like her home as well. When she threw her coat on a chair and turned to look at Willow, her smile was genuine. The threatening horrors already seemed more remote.

“I wouldn’t mind something to drink, actually…”

“There’s a nice bottle of wine if you’d like to open it…”

“To be frank, I wouldn’t mind something a bit stronger. It’s been kind of, you know, a stressful day…”

“Giles got me some single malt thing for Christmas, it’s in the cupboard above the fridge.”

“Some single malt thing”? Tara teased.

”Well excuse me; miss Scottish Person, if I’m not Big Knowledge Woman with the beverages indigenous to your country!” Willow pouted theatrically.

Tara smiled and reached out to touch her cheek.

“Would you help yourself? I really need to powder my nose”

Tara poured herself a large whisky and committed the sacrilege of pouring it straight down her throat. She almost moaned with pleasure as the drink scratched her vocal cords and made a warm, hot puddle in the pit of her nervous stomach. She poured herself another one and added a few drops of water, shook it and watched as its peaks made lovely rivulets down the side of the glass, showing it due reverence.

She sat down in a comfortable chair, feeling like she was on her way back to herself.

In the bathroom, Willow looked at herself in the mirror. Maybe this distance she had been sensing was because of what had happened this morning. Looking back, it really wasn’t very considerate of her to make Tara participate in a televised interview without asking her opinion. She probably needed to learn to be more sensitive. Yeah, that was probably it. She smiled a pleased smile at herself in the mirror.

She walked out of the bathroom and found a considerably more relaxed-looking Tara sitting tenderly nursing a large glass of dark amber whisky.

“Look, I’m sorry about this morning. I should have remembered to tell you that the TV-people were coming. And I shouldn’t have gotten you involved without asking. It was inconsiderate.”

”What?”

Tara gave Willow a confused look. That wasn’t what she had expected at all. Suddenly it dawned on her that Willow must have interpreted her earlier snippy as an expression of displeasure with the events of this morning.

“Willow, don’t. It’s one of the things that I… (she tentatively shaped the unfamiliar word with her lips and lustfully rolled her tongue around the virginal syllables) love about you, your enthusiasm, the way you challenge people. The way you challenge me.”

“So you’re not mad?”

A big smile spread slowly over Willow’s face, thawing her anxious features. A slight portion of her brain recognized that this might not be a good thing. This meant that she still didn’t know why Tara had seemed so upset earlier. But she would think about that later. Tara looked so beautiful and enticing in the soft light. From Willow’s angle, you could see down the mezzo’s dress quite well, thank you… Willow felt herself almost salivating as she felt the omnipresent longing for Tara’s body get back into the conversation.

“No, Willow. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for being rude to you and for being late. There was really no reason for it.”

Tara carefully put the whisky down before pulling the soprano down onto her lap and kissing her in one fluent motion.

She tasted like fire and peat from the whisky, mixed with the irresistible musk that was Tara.
To Willow’s surprise, she kept whispering I’m sorry into her neck and her lips and behind her ears. She didn’t know why Tara thought she needed to apologize so profusely but if this was her way of saying she was sorry, she wouldn’t complain.

“I’m sorry (for being who I am), I’m sorry (for bringing you into this mess) I’m sorry (for what I will have to do) She kept supplementing the whispered apologies in her head as her hands kept moving over Willow’s skin, increasingly firm and demanding. She smiled as she felt the diffident body comply.

The mezzo undressed her lover swiftly and deftly, touching her intimately all the way, being left with a naked Willow on her still fully clothed lap. She could see that Willow was very aroused by the way the chest and face flushed red and how she kept inching closer to her hand and lips all the time.

When she took a dainty nipple in her mouth, she pushed Willow’s hips against her and heard the soprano gasp at the soft caress of Tara’s silk clad thigh against her sensitive flesh. The mezzo ran her warm hands everywhere, following the spine down from the nape, cupping her lover’s shapely rear end.

She was in no hurry to get undressed. She loved seeing Willow like this: naked, sweating and exposed, oblivious to everything but the hands controlling her responses. It made Tara feel strong and powerful to know that she had this effect on the woman she loved.

The soprano was already breathing heavily when Tara slid her hand through the auburn curls and into her soft heat. She sighed contentedly and pulled Tara closer fiercely. When she was entered, she threw her hand back and gasped. The mezzo took her time, not caring if her hands got tired. Slowly, patiently she moved inside of Willow, exploring her soft moist walls and letting fingers slow dance over her sweet places. She felt clearly how the soprano’s climax built inside of her, increasing the tension until Willow was wound tight as a coil; only then did she change pace and method. Her love crashed over the edge, crying out and cresting intensely before collapsing in a sweaty exhausted pile in Tara’s arms.

“I’ve made a mess of your dress. I’m sorry…” Willow’s deliciously sated voice sounded slightly worried as she looked down at the stains that her passion had left on Tara’s raspberry red lap.

“It doesn’t matter” Tara reassured her as she tenderly held her close and nuzzled her neck.

“But it was a really nice dress…”

“It’s just clothes, Willow”.

Tara felt much better. Reborn.

“I guess I’ll just have to not wear it if it’s ruined, then.”

Willow stood up on shaky legs as Tara shrugged out of the dress and continued with her underwear, leaving them in a pile on the floor.

“Sex makes me really hungry. You want a snack?”

Willow watched Tara move toward the refrigerator with her mouth open, salivating. Her lover’s uninhibited way of walking around naked simply drove her crazy.

The mezzo sighed as the cold from the fridge hit her skin and made goose bumps in its wake.

“Do you mind if I finish this?”

Willow shook her head and watched wide eyed as Tara shared her graces between left-over chocolate mousse and fresh pineapple. Nakedness was one of Tara’s favourite luxuries. Saying that it had been a no-no when she was a child was an understatement, so she took every opportunity to make up for it as an adult.

Willow just sat there watching Tara eat for several minutes. When the mezzo was finished, her girlfriend crossed the distance between them and pressed Tara to the fridge. On impulse, she licked Tara’s neck from clavicle to the soft spot behind her ear, enjoying the salty and sweet flavour of human skin.

“Yes. Sex makes me hungry too” she mumbled as she dropped to her knees and rubbed her cheek against Tara’s stomach, slowly, eyes closed. She breathed in her scent deeply and moved down to let her cheek be caressed by the soft pubic hair. Swiftly, she crouched lower and buried her lips and tongue in Tara’s sex, tasting her hungrily, licking up her essence and mapping out the rosy folds.

Tara hadn’t realised how turned on by Willow’s actions she was until her tongue, that unbelievably agile tongue, entered her surprisingly; deeply. Instinctively, she reached for the wall as her legs became unsteady. She could hear her own rasping breaths reverberate through the kitchen. All the tension drained out of her body as she responded to the urging motions.

“Willow!”

“Yes?” the soprano mumbled half audibly, only removing her face from Tara’s sweet spots for a brief moment before resuming.

“Standing up-issues.” Tara gasped.

Willow pulled her toward the soft rug under the coffee table and lovingly placed a pillow under her head before continuing her relentless attack on Tara’s senses.

Overheated and flushed, with no will left of her own, Tara threw her head back and nearly screamed, as her climax removed the last of the reserved tension from her body.

She turned and embraced Willow’s equally slick body.

“Tara?”

“Mm?”

“We really need to have sex every day. I mean, really. Not having sex with you makes my head go all strange and fill up with naughty thoughts instead of scores. I almost had to attack you right there in make-up. That outfit is seriously hot on you, have I told you that?”

“Thank you. I sort of gathered that you liked it from the way you looked at my boobs instead of my face during the duet...”

Willow playfully pinched Tara in retribution.

“You looked absolutely gorgeous and I readily confess that I too looked at other parts of you than your face. And as for sex every day? I am very much in favour. Preferably several times.”

“Tara?”

“Mmm?”

“Erhm.. What I was trying to say at the Wigmore, wasn’t just that I, you know, am in love with you, even though that hardly a ‘just’, nooo, not at all, but I also meant that I want us to... or rather I wonder if you... Oh to hell with this! I want us to be together, Tara. Properly, in it for the long haul. I guess I’m trying to ask if that’s what you want too?”

“There’s nothing I would want more than to be in it for the long haul with you, Willow.”

At least that statement was completely true. Tara embraced Willow and buried her face in the crook of her neck. Her stomach was suddenly back to its earlier state of unrest. There was a bad taste in the back of her mouth.

“I’m sorry to be a romance killer, but I kind of need to use the bathroom.”

Smiling, not looking Willow in the eyes, she extricated herself from the tight embrace and walked away on unsteady feet.

Washing her face and cleaning the last of Willow’s essence off her hands, she looked down and saw the clear water change colour , as crimson droplets of blood fell from her face. She bent forward and let her salty tears follow them, making a potion of shame and sorrow.

She loves me. She loves me, this sensational woman. This woman I will have to hurt and deceive...

TBC

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 Post subject: Re: Butterfly
PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2007 11:43 am 
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3. Flaming O
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Joined: Sat Oct 07, 2006 8:16 am
Posts: 82
Location: England
Quote:
“I wouldn’t mind something to drink, actually…”

“There’s a nice bottle of wine if you’d like to open it…”

“To be frank, I wouldn’t mind something a bit stronger. It’s been kind of, you know, a stressful day…”
Too many elipses there. Otherwise, I pretty much LOVED this chapter. Tara's dealing with le stuff, and Willow's all with the damn-giving. Wonder what's up. Still hoping for more on, well, obviously W/Tage, but could the next chapter also have some stuff about Xander and Anya? I really want to know about her possibly crimeful past. Bet she was protesting or something... or, again, robin hood.


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 Post subject: Re: Butterfly
PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2007 12:02 pm 
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3. Flaming O

Joined: Sun Dec 17, 2006 11:05 pm
Posts: 79
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Hooray! Butterfly is back! And after leaving us on such a cliffhanger, too.
And it's so fun to find other opera/musical theater geeks. There are less and less everyday(on the topic of opera, I went to see the Metropolitan do La Boheme in Central Park last night...but it got cancelled due to rain. Le sigh).

Onto the story!

Quote:
“A pity you’re not a soprano, you could have done Traviata instead” she added scathingly and made a face at herself.

Muahahahahah.

Quote:
Hesitating for several minutes, she finally lifted Tara’s hand from her lap and put in her own. Trembling, she then folded all the fingers, bar the index finger, took a deep and shaky breath and used Tara’s own digit to underline the words Anja was singing:

I love you like nothing on this earth

What a great way for Willow to finally declare her love...all with the "awww". Also, the conversation that followed later, about what wasn't said, and meaning it all.

Quote:
Tara poured herself a large whisky and committed the sacrilege of pouring it straight down her throat. She almost moaned with pleasure as the drink scratched her vocal cords and made a warm, hot puddle in the pit of her nervous stomach. She poured herself another one and added a few drops of water, shook it and watched as its peaks made lovely rivulets down the side of the glass, showing it due reverence.


I found this interesting. Are hard spirits bad for the throat? Plus, Tara is some kind of scotch whisky expert...this is not the first time it has been mentioned by her in the fic. I'm going to assume that it's because she's Scottish, and not for any darker reason.

Oh, and there seems to be more talk of sex between Willow and Tara, not dirty talk, but just discussing. And the walking around naked--which is awesome, go ahead--it seems like the two of them are so comforable around each other.

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