Hey Kittens … like Rachelle said, "I really don't know what to say but I'll try."
Reading over the feedback and comments, I was thankful and flattered mostly but also … To know that you've written something that stirs emotions in a reader is to me, a great compliment, if not the greatest, that an author could receive. I do not have the words to describe it. (ironic coming from a writer huh?)
Compliments always leave me at a loss for words, as I always feel like I respond inadequately and far less grateful then I actually am – which is why I always give group responses and thanks. I'm talking to much and not saying anything, so here is the next part, dedicated to those of you who patiently waited for some W/T goodness through all of the angst. PEACE … Dix
PART 12
The doorknob turned softly and the door opened even slower. After creeping for long moments, there was finally enough space for a blonde head to peek into the room.
The room was dark, the only light came from the cloudy, rainy night that filtered in through the window. Buffy's well trained eyes covered the small dorm room quickly and she spotted the redhead asleep in the bed. The slayer frowned, Willow was naturally small, but lying alone in the large bed, the redhead looked absolutely tiny.
Buffy searched her friend's barely visible face for a long moment before she finally pulled back and shut the door quietly.
"Anything?" asked Giles.
Buffy stood upright and turned around. "She's sleeping."
The watcher frowned, "I know what Dr. Daniels said, but are sure she's asleep and not…" he trailed off not wanting to finish the sentence that he didn't even want to start.
The slayer leaned against the wall next to the door, "No, she's asleep."
"And she appears to be all right otherwise?"
"She looks good Giles. Too good." She added softly.
Immediately alarmed, "What? Buffy, what do you mean?"
"Easy, easy." Calmed the slayer. "I just meant that she looks so happy, so content. She's dreaming of Tara, Giles." The slayer looked up with teary eyes, "She's dreaming of Tara and when she wakes up…"
"When she wakes up … She's going to feel the pain of loosing her all over again because Tara is alive in her dream." Supplied the watcher. "I have had the experience before."
Buffy nodded, "Me too." She said quietly, looking at her feet, "I almost don't want her to wake up. I almost wish she would sleep forever … never have to wake up to the pain and suffering." Buffy smiled sadly, "I wonder where she is?"
Unseen to the slayer who was still studying her shoes, Giles' snapped his head up quickly, "Willow or Tara?" he asked evenly.
"Both."
{QUICK NOTE: The section below is a dream sequence and would normally be italicized, but I thought it would be easier to read if it wasn't – it's kinda long. Okay, that's all. Happy reading.}"Hey." Said Willow cheerfully as she walked into the living room.
Tara sat on the couch, her attention divided between the television and the large textbook and class work that she had resting on her crossed legs. The blonde finished the sentence she was writing and looked up to smile at her lover, "Hey you, how's the bot?"
Willow glanced at the TV as she crossed the room and stopped directly in front of her partner, she leaned down and captured a quick kiss. "Upstairs, recharging. Watcha' working on?" she asked as she peeked at the work on the wiccan's lap.
Tara held her place in the book and flipped it closed so that her girlfriend could see the cover, "World Literature."
"Hmm," the redhead nodded knowingly as she reached out and ran her fingers through Tara's blonde tresses. She glanced back at the TV, "Watcha' watching?"
The blonde looked curiously at her partner, "The news." She answered slowly, trying to figure out what the slender woman wanted cause she was defiantly up to something.
"The news." Willow parroted, almost offended.
Tara nodded, "What's wrong with the news?"
The redhead huffed, "It's completely fictitious for one. Not realistic at all. They take liberties with events and twist things to fit into their stories, it's completely ridiculous. In fact, it's so ridiculous, you should change it. Here," she grabbed the remote control, "I'll change it."
Tara looked on with amusement as her lover flicked through channel after channel looking for something to watch.
"There," Willow said triumphantly when she finally decided on a station, "That's better, much more realistic."
The blonde wiccan looked at the television and then up at her lover. With a lopsided grin and amusement in her eyes she asked, "Xena?"
"There's more truth in Xena then in the news." Willow countered.
Tara tucked her notepad in her textbook and set then both aside. She dropped her legs to the floor and leaned back into the couch. "Is that so?"
"Definitely," affirmed the redhead who moved to share the couch with her partner. Willow dropped down on the couch, she piled a couple of pillows in one corner and laid back against them. Shoes were kicked off and slender legs were tossed across the blonde's lap without thought. Willow relaxed into the couch and got comfortable.
"The stories might be a
little inaccurate, but the love between Xena and Gabby is truer then any news broadcast I've ever seen."
"You do have a point." Said Tara as she reached out and grabbed one of the feet on her lap. The blonde used her fingers to hold the foot in place while she massaged Willow's instep with her thumb.
"And, the show also- unh that feels so good." Groaned the redhead whose green eyes closed in bliss.
Tara smiled, "You deserve it after a long night of slaying and protecting the world."
Willow waved her hand dismissively in the air, "All in a days work." She said with forced casualness. "I suppose I'm like the next generation Xena. Fighting for good, beating up the baddies, kicking godly ass. I am such a warrior."
Tara laughed, "Vampires beware, it's Willow: Warrior Wiccan."
The redhead poked her girlfriend in the thigh with her foot, "Hey," she said with mock offense, "I can do warrior
ness."               
"Honey…" The blonde wiccan started as she looked down at her girlfriend, in her jeans and 'Hello Kitty' t-shirt. The ensemble hardly resembled Xena's warrior gear. Tara just shook her head 'no.'
Willow sat up and looked challengingly at her girlfriend, "You dare question my warrior
ness, woman?" She stood and moved to the center of the living room, grabbing the fire poker on her way.
Tara looked up as Willow started using the poker as a makeshift sword, swinging it in wide arcs and amateur twirls. The blonde looked on with worry and from the way her lover was acting, she knew that a caffeine overdose was to blame. "Um, honey, sweetie, I don't think-" she inhaled deeply when one of Willow's twirls barley missed the flower vase on the mantle. "Okay, you're a warrior. Put the poker down now please." She said quickly, trying to avoid any furnishing causalities.
"She was Xena, a mighty princess, forged in the heat of battle." Sprouted Willow as she swung her sword, nearly dropping it, but undeterred even so. "The power, the passion, the danger. Her courage will change the world."               
Willow gave a good impersonation of Xena's battle face as she swung the makeshift sword with renewed vigor, "You dare to patronize the Warrior Wiccan? You've got spunk. Grab the shovel, you can be my sidekick."
Tara stood and moved away from the couch, giving Willow and the poker a wide berth, "Willow-"
"Watch this," announced Willow. "Ssshheeeeeee YA!
The stunned blonde witch watched with shock as Willow tore across the living room and attempted to do a cartwheel with the poker in her hands. It would have worked too if the redhead had just a little more room. But since she didn't; the back of her knees ended up hitting the coffee table, causing them to buckle, and Willow to fall back on the table, flipping it over, and sending the warrior wiccan crashing to the floor.
Overall, the end result was the coffee table laying on its side, Willow, arms and legs askew, being trapped between the couch and the table, and the poker crashing through the earlier mentioned flower vase. All in all, it wasn't a very successful warrior move.
Tara walked over and laid her hand on a tousled Willow's shoulder, "Are you all right?"
Willow nodded and blew her bangs out of her face, "You want to laugh don't you?"
The blonde held her lips squeezed tightly together, her chest shaking with barely contained giggles, shook her head 'no.' And then promptly burst out laughing.
The redhead gave her girlfriend an insincere glare, "I take it back, you can't be my sidekick anymore. Gabby never laughed at Xena."
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Said Tara, even as she continued to laugh.
"Whenever you're finished laughing at me, would you care to help your poor, pitiful girlfriend off of the floor?"
"Willow," consoled Tara as she pushed the overturned coffee table out of the way, "You're not pitiful. You're just not Xena, Joxer maybe, but not Xena." The blonde witch leaned down and dropped a kiss on the redheads lips, "But I still love you."
"I'm only not taking offense to that, because you kissed me." Said Willow as she reached up. "And I did end up on the floor in a very Joxer-
esque style.
The blonde reached down and grabbed her lovers hands and pulled her to her feet. Willow winced and as she stood and moved all of her weight to her left ankle, "Okay, ouch."
Tara frowned and immediately wrapped her arms around her lover and nudged her back towards the couch, "Here sit down."
"Tara, I'm okay. Really." Said Willow as a hand on her shoulder forced her to sit.
"No, you're hurt."
"I'm not hurt, I'm injured."
Tara dropped down at Willow's feet and gently pulled the right ankle onto her lap, removed the sock, and began an inspection of the appendage, "And the difference is what exactly?"
The redhead leaned back into the couch cushions and allowed her girlfriend to continue her inspection, after all, it wasn't like she had a choice or anything. "Hurt is worse then injured. Well it is unless I was severely injured. But it's not the word 'injured' that makes me sound like I'm really hurt, it's the word 'severe' added to the word 'injured' that makes me sound more then just injured, it makes me sound hurt. You can recover from an injury, but not so much from hurt, cause hurt is usually more then one injury. Not minors, majors. Injuries that is. Cause major injuries are equal to a hurt. So, hurt is worse then injured, understand?"
Blonde eyebrows wrinkled in confusion as blue eyes stood wide, "Did you hit your head?"
"Why?"
"What are you guys doing down here?" asked a sleep tousled Dawn from the doorway as she took in the mess in the living room.
"Dawnie," Tara addressed the teen, "We didn't mean to wake you sweetie, we were just-"
"I am Willow: Warrior Wiccan!" Interrupted the redhead from the couch.
The blonde witch closed her eyes and reached up to rub her forehead. "Caffeine." She explained.
"Xander gave Willow caffeine after midnight? He completely ignored the Gremlin law? Slow night?" asked Dawn as she looked closer at the redhead who was trying to peek down Tara's blouse as the blonde worked on her 'injured' ankle. The teen just shook her head, "You know what, never mind, I'm going to bed. Night Tara."
Tara looked up from Willow's ankle and smiled at the teen, "Goodnight Dawnie."
"Night Dawnie." Willow added distractedly, never moving her eyes from her girlfriends chest.
"Goodnight Super, Wonder Willow … whatever. You guys are so strange," the teen mumbled as she climbed the stairs and went back to her room.
Tara watched the teen walk back up the steps and disappear upstairs, before turning her attention back to her girlfriend who was high on caffeine. It was then that the witch noticed that the redheads focus was elsewhere. Tara just sighed, "Willow."
Nothing.
"Willow." She said louder.
Still nothing.
Sighing again, Tara reached out and cupped her girlfriend's chin and lifted the hackers face. A moment later Willow's eyes finally joined her head and Tara smiled with infinite patience, "Hi."
Willow's eyes trailed up from Tara's cleavage, along her neck, past the soft lips, and onto the bluest eyes she had ever seen. The redhead reached out and touched her lovers lips with her fingertips. "So soft." She whispered, almost reverently.
"Will," Tara spoke around the fingers against her mouth, "Give it to me."
The hackers face transformed into a sly smile and she leaned forward and replaced her fingers with her lips, locking into a passionate kiss with Tara. Willow felt a hand trail up her thigh, around her narrow hips, and to her buttocks. Encouraged by the action, the redhead moaned and leaned in to deepen the kiss even further.
Hands roamed, tongues collided, moans escaped, and a hand slipped into a back pocket grabbing the stash of extra sugary pixie sticks hidden there.
Tara, more flushed then she expected to be, pulled back from the embrace brandishing the 'verboten' package. Willow, who was deeper in the passionate mist took longer to regain her senses. Finally, focused eyes fell on the package in Tara's hands and the redhead pouted.
"This is too much sugar Willow," admonished Tara. "You haven't even blinked once since you've got home. You have class tomorrow morning."
"It was a slow night," defended the hacker. "The Espresso Pump was closed for some reason, I don't know and I needed something to stay awake."
"Well good," Tara said as she stood, "Cause now you'll be awake for the next three days."
Quickly following suite, Willow stood and she wrapped her arms around Tara's waist pulling the blonde closer, "I won't be if you take me upstairs and tire me out." Willow mumbled, as her face was buried in Tara's neck, working on the pulse point there.
"Go take a shower, you have vamp dust on you." Tara pulled back, but had desire written all over her face. "I'm going to clean up the living room and make sure the house is locked up. I'll be up in a few minutes."
"And we can finish?" Willow asked suspiciously.
Tara leaned in and kissed Willow within an inch of her life, "Definitely finish."
"You sure you can wait for me to take a quick shower?" asked Willow. "The fastest shower ever, but still. You gonna wait?"
Tara brushed her lips over Willow's once more, "I'll wait for you forever."
TBC…