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TITLE: Lessons In Love
AUTHOR: Laragh
CHAPTER RATING: PG-13
DISCLAIMER: Joss, UPN, FOX, ME and anyone else associated with the television show Buffy The Vampire Slayer own the characters of Willow and Tara and anyone else who may appear, I am simply a lowly viewer, trying to write some happier situations for, who I consider, the greatest TV couple ever.
SUMMARY: Highschool fic! You guys know I'm bad at summaries, so I’m gonna go with my standard 'happy, light reading.'
SPOILERS: Completely AU, so I doubt any. At most, the odd reference or piece of dialogue. Not supernatural, no way am I smart enough to write a magic fic
FEEDBACK: I love it.
Chapter 21 ********
Previously: Quote:
Jen shrugged and walked out of the living room, towards the front door. She opened it to reveal a shuffling redhead with a bag on her back, eyes red and swollen from crying, cheeks tear stained with some tears still flowing.
“Is Tara here?”
Jen heard Willow’s voice break when she said ‘Tara’ and seeing even more tears begin to flow down her cheeks, she quickly pulled her into a hug, inside the house.
Willow burst into deep sobs at the loving gesture and hugged back, until she felt herself being slowly turned and was in a set of arms she was much more familiar with.
Tara, who had come running when she heard her girlfriend’s voice, held the crying redhead to her and nodded to her mother, who had motioned that she would be in the living room if she was needed, not wanting to impose on the couple.
When Willow’s sobs hadn’t eased off a few minutes she slowly started walking them forwards.
“I’m just gonna take us to my room,” she whispered in the crying girl’s ear.
She moved them down the hallway and into her room, walking them over to the bed and encouraging Willow to lie down. The redhead did and Tara lay beside her, softly stroking her hair as the sobs began to subside to quiet sniffles. A few minutes later, the smaller girl spoke up.
“They kicked me out.”
Tara couldn’t stop the gasp that came out at the revelation.
“They what!?”
Willow looked up at her girlfriend with sad eyes.
“They were so mean, Tara. They said that they wouldn’t have a lesbian for a daughter and that they were horrified I’d let a goy into my bed.”
Tara winced at the term ‘goy’, but regained herself enough to listen to the redhead’s story.
“And I told them, I told them you were the love of my life and that you were the most amazing girl. But they said you had influenced me, turned me gay, which is ridiculous, ‘cause I wasn’t turned gay, and besides I knew before I ever even met you. Hell, I came out to Buffy and Xander before I ever even met you, and I told them that and that I couldn’t tell them because I was afraid of their exact reaction and then they said that there were places I could go to get better. Better, like I have an illness. And I said like hell I would, that nothing would stop me being who I am and being with you and they said that if that was the way I felt that I should just get out, ‘cause I wasn’t welcome there anymore. So I packed a bag and when I was leaving, Dad just threw a couple of hundreds at me and they both looked like they were disgusted by me. Baby, what am I gonna do?”
Willow burst into a fresh set of tears as she finished and Tara felt her own eyes well up at her girlfriend’s pain. The redhead wiped at her eyes and in the process saw the small clock on Tara’s beside locker.
“I have to go soon,” she added on quietly.
“Go? Go where?”
“The motel. I need to check in before 5pm, otherwise sometimes they’re out of rooms.”
“Motel?” Tara replied, shocked, “Willow, not a chance. You’re staying here until we figure this all out.”
“I can’t imp-”
“You’re not. You shared your bed with me, honey. Let me share mine.”
“I’ll sort something out, I promise. I have a bank account with money saved up, it was for college, but-”
Tara placed a finger on the girl’s lips to stop her speaking.
“Lets not even worry about that right now. It’s been a very exhausting day. Wanna just sleep for a little bit?”
Willow nodded gratefully.
“Yea,” she said with a sad smile, “That’d be nice.”
Tara stood up and pulled both of their shoes off, before closing her bedroom door and closing over the curtains. She walked back to the bed and took off her jeans, shaking herself free from the material.
“Um, baby? It’s, uh, not that I don’t want to, I’m just really, really-”
“Just don’t want to sleep in my belt, Will,” Tara chuckled, pulling the blanket from under the redhead and slipping in beside her, pulling the fabric over them, “It’s bulky and uncomfortable.”
“Oh. Right. Sorry. Benefit of wearing sweats.”
Willow turned so her back was to Tara and the brunette adjusted herself, spooning her girlfriend. She placed a soft kiss below the smaller girl’s ear and tightened her hold.
“Things will look better after sleep, love. Just rest. I’ll be here when you wake up.”
“Promise?”
Tara’s heart melted at the vulnerable tone and she flashbacked to the last promise she had made earlier that afternoon, promises of never-ending pleasure that were so different to the one she was about to make, yet even more important.
“I absolutely promise.”
Willow seemed to accept this and cuddled in closer.
“Love you, Tare.”
“With all my heart, Will,” Tara finished.
Willow let that flood her entire being, forgetting her parents and everything else, as best she could for now, just concentrating on her love for Tara and the love she got back. The sense of security she felt quickly lulled her into sleep as the brunette just held onto her.
Tara had felt Willow drift off and continued to lie there, contemplating everything that had happened. After about twenty minutes, confident that her girlfriend was sound asleep, she carefully extracted herself from the smaller girl and went to her dresser, quietly pulling out a pair of pyjama bottoms and putting them on before just as quietly going out the door and into the living room.
“Tara,” Jen said from her position on the sofa when she saw her daughter enter the room, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Tara nodded and sat down in the armchair, “She’s sleeping. They kicked her out, Mom.”
“They what?!”
“They kicked her out. Said that if she wasn’t willing to like, take hetero lessons that she couldn’t live under their roof.”
“You told her she could stay here, right?”
“Yea,” Tara said, grateful it was okay with her mother, “She was talking about getting a motel tonight and then about her college fund, using it to find somewhere…God, Mom, she doesn’t deserve this. She’s got such a beautiful soul and…and…”
“And if the Rosenbergs can’t see that it’s their loss.”
“But it’s hers too. She’s seventeen, just, and her parents, who were never really there for her anyway, just cut her off. It’s not fair.”
“No it’s not, baby girl. But she has you. And all your friends. And I’m here if either of you need anything.”
Tara smiled gratefully and stood up.
“I better get back. I told her I’d be there when she woke up and I don’t think she’ll handle it well if I’m not.”
“I’ll cook some dinner. She likes my lasagne, right?”
“Yea. That’d be great. Thanks.”
“Come here,” Jen said standing up and wrapping her daughter in a hug, “Go be strong for your girl.”
“I will, Mom,” Tara said, leaning into the embrace, “I will.”
They broke apart and Tara took a deep breath, and with one last smile towards her mother she left the room and went back to her bedroom, happy to see Willow still soundly asleep. She slipped her pyjama bottoms off again, not wanting the redhead to think she’d left at all and softly got back into bed, resuming her previous position, spooning her girlfriend from behind.
An hour later, the brunette had fallen asleep as well and was only pulled from her slumber when she felt the redhead turn in her arms.
“Hey,” she said, a sleepy smile on her face as she looked into green eyes, “How’re you doing?”
“Bit better,” Willow replied, leaning over for a quick kiss.
“We will figure this all out,” Tara said with what she hoped was a reassuring smile, but truth be told she had no idea how they would.
Willow was about to say something but was stopped by her own stomach rumbling. She smiled sheepishly.
“Mom’s making dinner,” Tara said when she heard the rumble, “We haven’t eaten since that fruit we scoffed down for breakfast.”
“We were busy getting busy,” Willow replied, but Tara saw her eyes fill with tears as she said it, “It’s not right. They made me feel so dirty for loving you.”
“I felt like that too,” Tara whispered.
Willow looked equally shocked and hurt at the revelation and averted her gaze. She went to stand up, leaving Tara confused.
“Willow? What’re you doing?”
“If it’s so…dirty and disgusting loving me then maybe I shouldn’t be here either,” the younger girl spat out.
Tara grabbed the redhead’s arm and pulled her back so they were lying next to each other again. She fixed the girl with a steady gaze.
“Listen to me, Willow,” she said, her voice starting to break with emotion, “There is nothing more right or more beautiful in my life than us, our relationship,
all aspects of it. What I meant was that I felt ashamed right after your father came in and I never want to feel that about us. It was just automatic reaction, but my Mom made it very clear to me that we did absolutely nothing wrong. I just needed to hear it to believe it, okay? Nothing we do could ever be disgusting or, or…dirty.”
Willow took in all that Tara had said and instantly felt bad for snapping. She knew the brunette loved her and was proud of that fact, she’d demonstrated it enough times. She didn’t know how to apologise for her outburst, so opted to go for a joke to ease the tension instead.
“What if I wanted us to be dirty?” she asked, waggling her eyebrows.
Tara chuckled, happy the redhead had been reassured by her words and wrapped her arms around the girl’s waist.
“Then it’ll be our kinda dirty and decided by us, not any outsiders who have no idea what our relationship is like, okay?”
“Mmhh, looking forward to it,” Willow cuddled into the embrace before they were interrupted by a stomach rumbling again, this time Tara’s.
“Mom made lasagne.”
“I love your Mom’s lasagne,” Willow said, her voice a bit perkier.
“Well come on then, let’s go eat,” Tara replied, getting them both up off the bed.
“That’s what got us into this whole mess in the first place.”
Tara smirked and pulled her pyjama bottoms back on as Willow started speaking again.
“Tara? Thank you for everything.”
Tara smiled as she took her girlfriend’s hand. She brought it up to her mouth and kissed each knuckle.
“No need to thank me, beautiful. Remember our first movie date?”
Willow nodded, smiling at the memory and squeezed the hand in hers.
“You’ll always be there to hold my hand.”
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Great update!
(but good for the story I guess... not that it's bad now or anything... God, open mouth, insert foot. Hope you'll get what I mean 
)
Willow's parents didn't kick her out did they? Cliff hangers are just mean 
I love Tara's mum! She reminds me of my mum 
I have a feeling Willow's parents probably wont be all that supportive of her, but I could be wrong 
Poor Willow and she was acting all cool for Tara. 
