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

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 Post subject: Re: Tara and Willow - The Blessed Unrest - Chp 25 - 06/03/15
PostPosted: Tue Apr 07, 2015 4:15 pm 
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Katharyn, The impromptu wedding ceremony was hilarious and sweet! Willow accidentally babbled her way into getting hitched before Tara can say a word. Oops –hahaha! I enjoyed the brief exchange with Buffy in the beginning. I can picture the slayer gasping in horror coz it really is all about the dress. LOL I’m sure Willow will make it all up to Tara when they get married in the “real” world. :wink And.. Buffy can be the wedding organizer to ensure everyone has beautiful gowns and/or suits and sensible yet stylish shoes. Ok, she will fudge a bit on the sensible part but the stylish? She will rock that one.

They’re married!! :wtkiss


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 Post subject: Re: Tara and Willow - The Blessed Unrest - Chp 25 - 06/03/15
PostPosted: Thu Apr 09, 2015 11:46 am 
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Zampsa - Thanks very much :)

Citanul - Hey, glad you liked it. I think - even in a wedding scene for the girls - I can't resist making just a little bit humorous. It's just me. I write the girls to be fun first and sweet second. Maybe I do that too much actually, but it's what appeals to me as a writer. So if that works for you as a reader, great! :)

I see now that people seemed to like the Buffy snippet. Probably should've opened every chapter that way ;)

Thanks!

Kajun - thanks so much :)

This was one of those parts I've referred to before that just flowed in the writing. Aside from using a song as the basis for the dialogue, the rest of it just came out with very little effort. Some things are just inspiring and other things are hard. Doesn't mean that one works better than the other though, so it's always nice to hear it does work for people :)

And yes, they're married!

Though not in 1999 California... which is another story.

Thanks!

Katharyn

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If I wanted a little pussy, I've got my own to play with.

Chance in *Chance*
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 Post subject: Tara and Willow - The Blessed Unrest - Chp 26 - 09/03/15
PostPosted: Thu Apr 09, 2015 11:49 am 
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Title: Tara and Willow – The Blessed Unrest – Chapter Twenty-Six
Author: Katharyn Rosser
Feedback: Absolutely, yes please. That’s why I write for this place, to engage in the discussion about the story.
Spoiler warning: Not sure why I am bothering, really, but nothing much apart from the episode ‘Hush’ in S4. And let’s face it, if you’ve not seen that then… what are you doing here?
Distribution: This story was written for Pens. Pens is its home. No archiving off Different Coloured Pens and the Kitten Board please. No conversion to eBook or other formats please. Enjoy it here.
Story notes: Tara’s background is different to that presented in Family and instead based on a throwaway remark made in interviews around the time Family first aired. (Though I now realise not the precisely terminology used there)
Summary: So… our girls are married.
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the copyrights or anything else associated with BTVS. All rights lie with the production company, writers etc. I am making no money from this series of stories however all original characters and situations remain my property. As this is a missing scenes and alternate reality fiction lots of scenes are new versions of those seen in the show, as such dialogue and situations are taken from the show. I’m sure you can tell which. All credit for those aspects goes to the original writers.
The title ‘The Blessed Unrest’ came from and belongs to Sara Bareilles from the album of the same name.
Rating: Occasional, tasteful, adult situations and contextual bad language. However by and large equivalent to the show.
Couples: Tara and Willow forever, that’s all I’m bothered about.
Text convention: Use of italics denotes either special emphasis if used for a single or a few words in a sentence OR first person thoughts if used for a whole sentence.
Notes: In this story with little to no plot beyond character development, we’ve been to the one place that you knew we were building up to (if you were paying attention in the very first part or I’m not mis-remembering it) but now where to go? Well, at a certain point we will have to deal with that the thing about going home. I’ve been delaying it beyond all feasibility for so long now. Why? Because it’s not difficult. They’re not ‘trapped’ here. They want to be here. Eventually they will want to be back in that other place, but I also wanted them to be able to come back here when they like. So, yes, it’s not difficult to make that transition. As long as you know how… Maybe that’s the last of the ‘plot’? Stick around though, there might be a few little moments, because is really the story of lots of little moments.
Thanks to: All of the people who keep standing up and shouting for and demanding all our rights.



“Mrs Rosenberg.”

“Mrs Maclay.”

They both sat there, trying that one out again. Repeating and reversing. Testing how it felt on the tongue. Both the title and the name. One was definitely weirder than the other.

“Maybe we should, like, double-barrel?” Willow suggested. “How would you feel about double-barrelling? Should we have thought about double-barrelling before we go married?”

There was really no way to say without trying it. “Rosenberg-Maclay,” she said, trying it on for size.

“Or Maclay-Rosenberg? It could be Maclay-Rosenberg. It has alphabetical order going for it.”

“Maclay-Rosenberg,” she tried, taking Willow’s lead. “I don’t know… Rosenberg-Maclay feels better, you know, on the tongue.”

“You said that last night too,” Willow said. “Although, it’s possible you were talking about something else.”

“I know what it was about,” she said, grabbing hold her of partner. Her wife. Pulling her close as they walked so that they were pressed together as tightly as they could be and yet still making progress.

“I’m actually kind of shocked we’re fit for anything,” Willow told her. “I mean, these people – your people, I guess, they really know how to celebrate. And that honey flavoured drink… whoo.”

“Your people too, now. By marriage at least.” That probably wasn’t going to get old any time soon. Back home, she’d never given much thought to marriage because it didn’t seem like a viable alternative given her circumstances and preferences. Certainly not in Montana. And even in California, liberal bastion, it hadn’t seemed like it’d be much closer to being a reality.

And, in fact, they’d had to come to a world she’d dreamed up and created to make it happen. Until now, marriage – for her – had been a political question rather than something she’d contemplated as a serious life option.

But given what had happened yesterday?

And last night.

And this morning.

Twice.

Now, it was a happy truth. A part of her. And, okay, so maybe that didn’t mean the political side was sorted out back home, but the most important part of it – the part the people here cared about – that was just a reality.

They were joined.

That was their reality now. Something they’d always know. Always celebrate and always appreciate. Let the politics work itself out later. They didn’t need anyone else to give them permission.

This is my wife.

“But you do have to admit that they know how to celebrate,” Willow said.

“Sure.”

“Did you know we were drinking the same stuff as that centaur?”

“Really?”

“Uhuh. I’m told it was brewed from papple and honey,” Willow said. “And I’m told that even though Miri never showed us the still, but she was working on it pretty much as soon as she came here.”

“The one thing she never showed us?” she wondered with a smile. “Her bootleg still?”

“Even Miri has some secrets,” Willow agreed. “But that centaur was really drunk. Miri said she thought we were able to handle it better because we’d been eating papple for months now, I mean you created it. But… seems like someone our size should get drunk on papple-honey-rum quicker than something the size of a horse. And a big guy. And - ”

“Don’t.”

“What?”

“I know what you’re going to say – maybe you’re going to ask, but I know what you’re going to say.”

“As if I would!” Willow’s protests seemed quite genuine. But she was a poor liar. There was always a flicker that gave her away.

“But you know what I mean, so that must mean that you were,” she argued. “You can’t hide much from me, love. Especially not when we’re touching. So, really, don’t even try.”

Willow grinned. “So that’s the way it is now, I don’t get to have my secrets?”

“No.”

“And why is that?”

“Because you really suck at lying. Or keeping anything to yourself. That most of all.”

“Oh. So it’s something else that’s not fair?” Willow complained. “I mean, because you’re obviously such a naturally deceitful cow?”

Faking shock, she protested, threatening to pull away and leave Willow there. Like there was any chance of that. “You wait until we’re married to start calling me names?”

“No,” Willow said. “I’ve been calling you names for a while, if you think about it. It’s just that – up to now – they’re only the ones you’ve liked.”

Yes, there was that. A few names had slipped out at the most interesting moments. Willow had her way with words. A way to make you feel even more than you had, by picking the right thing to say.

And if it was the wrong thing to say, well, then you just let it flow over you like the torrent it was a part of and carried on with what – and who - you were doing and…

“Oh. Great. And I thought it was just because you loved me. Anything else you’d like to admit now it’s too late to do anything about it?”

“Well, I’m going to have to get used to not being the hottest girl in my relationship,” Willow said.

“Oh. That. Yeah. I meant something new.”

“You could just pretend to argue,” Willow said.

“I could, but where’s the fun in that?”

“You could maybe say that we’re just as hot as each other. That’s all very egalitarian.”

She shook her head, not forgetting the ‘deceitful cow’ just yet, even though it had just been a tease. “No, you’ve convinced me. I think – yes, I’m really convinced, that in your eyes I’m the most beautiful girl in the world. And since you can look in a mirror when you like… that must make me hotter than you.”

“Oh. Well. I guess, I did say it. And if you’re not arguing, then I guess I was right,” Willow realised. “So, yay me. I like being right.”

“My gift to you,” she said, kissing her cheek. “I know how much you love it.”

They walked on and – for once – the forest wasn’t theirs alone. Dotted around the place were various of their guests from last night in more or less ambulatory states. But there weren’t many with eyes as clear as theirs felt to be.

“Do you feel different?” she asked.

“Do you?”

“I asked you first.”

“And I asked you second.”

“I… I don’t know that anything much changed,” she said. “I mean, that was the point of it – recognising an obvious truth.”

“I do. I feel… Tara,” Willow said, “I like… order. And this feels like order. It feels official. Even if that’s only here.”

“It’s not just here,” she said and pressed a hand to her breast. “It’s here too.”

“That’s not where your heart is,” Willow said. “Not to spoil the moment – just saying - ”

“No. I didn’t mean my heart. That’s where you bit me!”

“Oh… Sorry about that.”

Sighing, she forgave Willow instantly. “I didn’t really complain at the time, did I?”

“Not really.”

“I guess it’d be churlish to complain now then,” she suggested.

“If I knew what ‘churlish’ meant,” Willow said, “I’m sure I’d agree with you.”

“How can anyone spout as many words as you do and not know what ‘churlish’ means?”

“Oh, so now I’ve got a big mouth too? You just couldn’t wait to get married, could you?” Willow was the one to pull away this time, but clearly was intent on not – actually – going anywhere out of her reach.

“Not once I knew we could.”

“Me neither,” Willow said, staring into her eyes once she’d been pulled back to her. Progress was halted there, as Willow pushed her back against a tree and paid some delicious attention to her with both hands and lips.

But it wasn’t too serious, not with their guests stumbling through. And eventually they continued, shortly thereafter finding what they’d come out here for.

“Good morning, Miri. What do you have to show us today?”

The winged-fairy was on the ground, wrapped in her wings and only managed to groan when they woke her. “G’way.”

“I think we broke her,” Willow joked.

“G’way!”

---------------------------

“We’ve made a lot of plans,” she said.

“I guess,” Tara said, sitting cross-legged on the bed in front of her. Having her nails trimmed and buffed by a naked woman – a naked Tara – was probably the very height of luxurious living.

Plenty of people around the world would probably pay a lot of money for a similar privilege.

None of them would appreciate it as much as she was right now. Plus, practical benefits. Now she had… additional, practical uses for neat and tidy nails.

“Seems to me that… we can’t go through with a lot of them here.”

There. She’d said it.

More than a month since they’d married – or joined as they called it here. And every day had been as glorious as the one before. This had been a very special year for them. At least it seemed like a year, seasons didn’t seem to work the same way here. But in terms of how many times they’d been to bed and gotten up again…

A year. More, in fact.

And for the last week or so, no longer than that, she’d been really, seriously thinking about when they’d have to go home. All that would mean.

In a way they’d been thinking about it for much longer than that. Nearly all of their plans – nothing like a wedding to make you think about the rest of your life – had revolved around that other place, the one where they’d met.

Lovely and paradisical as this one was –

Wait – was paradisiscal even a word? Well, it was here. Because Tara got to shape reality and – as Tara’s wife – she ought definitely be able to have a word in the right ear about getting it put in the dictionary. Yay, I can make words official.

But… Their plans had been about their families, their friends. How to celebrate their love with them – or just how to reveal it as well as living arrangements back in college but…

There they got into practical issues.

It’d been a year.

People would certainly think they were both dead by now.

Coming back from the dead was a little bit of a trope in Sunnydale, she supposed, but usually those who did were… well, they weren’t usually welcomed back with open arms. And they either needed to be staked or bits tended to fall off.

So… there was that.

And the whole gay thing… Yeah. Not that she was worried about Buffy’s reaction – not after the initial surprise. But anything that was dramatically different from the Willow she’d known a year before would… Well, she might treat it as evidence that she wasn’t the ‘real’ Willow. Because there was another trope.

There could be slaying involved. When in real doubt, when faced with a situation of that kind, Buffy’s default was pretty much to jump to the slaying and ask questions later.

That would be bad.

But… it wasn’t going to get better by being away longer and… Maybe it’s a tiny bit selfish, but I actually want to graduate. I want a career. I want to share my successes with the woman who just moved on to giving me a naked pedicure. But I want all that and her and this whenever we want to come back here.

Is that really that selfish?

Wanting it all?


Niamh had made it clear enough that it would be possible for Tara to come and go almost as she pleased.

And to bring her too.

Because… Well, there was the whole ‘kids’ thing. One day, they might want that and… here, they could make it happen. Tara was the living proof.

Wanting it all wasn’t a bad thing. It was actually realistic. Because who wouldn’t?

But the question was whether Tara was ready to go home? That they were talking about what to do when they got home meant that Tara certainly didn’t consider that they’d emigrated, but that was a different thing to saying ‘let’s go.’

Tara had – perhaps – a little less waiting for her. She’d gone away to college, not stayed in the same town. Her friends there were only a few months into that friendship and – well – they’d think she was dead or gone by now. They’d have mourned her and moved on. She had less family left too and –

Maybe Tara would want to stay longer.

“Oh, finally,” Tara said.

“Huh?”

“I was wondering when you’d realise we needed to go.”

“You were wondering? I was wondering!”

“I thought I dropped enough hints,” Tara said.

“No. I was the one dropping hints,” she said. “But I didn’t want to push it. You seemed so happy”

“No. That was me, dropping hints I mean.”

“Careful, woman of mine. I’ll push my foot in your face,” she said, holding it up threateningly and wiggling it.

“No. You won’t.”

“You just see if I won’t,” she said, pushing it nearer, actually flicking the tip of Tara’s (very cute) nose with her big toe.

“Because you know what I’ll do in return,” Tara threatened, sitting very still and looking at her. Exercising remarkable self-control too because if this undignified pose of hers had been reversed, she wouldn’t have held off taking a quick look… Well, she’d been a lot closer than this to everything she could possibly have been interested in.

But still. It gave her a tiny thrill anyway.

“Ravage me?” she asked, hopefully. Her foot really was in imminent danger of going where Tara – apparently – didn’t want it to be.

Tara shook her head. “Ravage - ” Laughing, causing some delicious jiggles, Tara managed to get the rest of her point out. “Ravage you? What sort of punishment would that be? There’s not many things you love more than a good ravaging.”

Quick as a flash – quick as Miri – Tara caught hold of her foot and immobilised it. “No, lover, I’m going to tickle you.”

“No!”

The first move was for Tara to drag the knuckle of one finger along the arch of her foot.

And even that… Oh, hell, it made her squirm so much she was all over the bed, but her foot was still in Tara’s hands.

“No!!”

“There are always consequences,” Tara said. “Always. That’s just something you need to understand.”

She was soon thrashing that much that she nearly fell of the bed and barely able to stop laughing enough just to catch her breath.

“Careful!”

“Then stop! Stop it! – Stop tickling me!!”

“Apologise.”

“Nnnno.”

It was a point of pride. They were married and if there was anyone she ought to be able to push her foot in the face of, it was her wife. Of course Tara might say she ought to be able to tickle her but –

“Stop it!!”

This time she managed to contort herself enough that Tara had to let her foot turn over and she was face down on the bed.

And then Tara did let her go.

Sitting across the backs of her thighs instead.

It was a very interesting position, all things considered. There were all sorts of places a hot, queer woman like Tara could have gone. All sorts of positions. All sorts of interesting ‘punishments’ that actually she’d have volunteered for with a great deal of happiness and enthusiasm.

But…

“No!” she cried as Tara’s finger tips went to sides. More specifically up and down them from her hips up past the sides of her stomach and to the pits of her outstretched arms. “Stop! Police! Tickle attack!”

But it didn’t stop.

It just went on and on until she was crying with laughter and delicious discomfort. “Stop! Please! I’m going to pee if you don’t stop!”

And… that did it.

A threat to remember then.

“I’m sorry,” she gasped, struggling to take one good breath. “I’m sorry.”

“Turn over,” Tara said, lifting up just enough she could do that.

“You won’t tickle me again?”

“Not unless you deserve it,” her wife promised her.

“I’ll be good.” And she did turn over, looking up at a woman who could torment and love her at the very same time. A beautiful woman, even when you were – partially – looking up her nose.

Or would’ve been, had it not been a visual feast both lower and higher than that.

Not Tara’s most flattering angle, they could both probably admit. But… one she’d quickly found she was very fond of. Who wore the trousers in their relationship? No one, if they could both get away with it. But who was on top – literally and figuratively – quite often Tara Maclay.

Excuse me, Tara Rosenberg-Maclay.

My wife. My name’s in there. She reached up, accepting the silent warning from Tara not to try again. But she wasn’t trying to tickle her. No, she was just going for what was – part – hers.

At least one of these boobs.

But which?


Best to test them both and decide later.

“You always know how to get around me,” Tara sighed.

“We do need to go home,” she said. “I love it here, I do but – you sounded like you were ready to leave too?”

“We have lives to get back to. This has been nice but mmm.”

“Mmm?”

“Yes, you can keep going,” Tara said, not wanting to play that game at least.

“Good.”

“High marks,” Tara promised her as there was more visual and tactile evidence. “We can come back, though? Visit?”

“You think you have to ask?” she asked, running her thumbs around – but not directly over – Tara’s stiffening nipples.

“I like to – I like to be – ooh!”

“Sorry, didn’t mean to - ”

“Of course you did,” Tara reminded her.

“Fine. I did – but really, you know you don’t have to ask – if anything I have to ask you. You’re the one who can bring us here. And… hey, free vacation home. Like, a whole forest and mountains and rivers and lakes and papples and… Of course we’re going to come back.”

“I… honestly, I don’t know whether I’d want kids,” Tara said cautiously.

And that was fine, because she didn’t know about that either. But they had all the time in the world to find out.

“Well, as a friend of mine would say, ‘it’s a bloody good job fooling around can’t cause any accidents then,’” she replied, grinning and doing a little more of that fooling. “Look, neither do I. But one day, if we do… Who else gets that kind of option?”

“Well, most straight couples,” Tara pointed out.

“But we’re not a straight couple,” she reminded the one person who shouldn’t ever need it. “See?”

And she proved it.

************************

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If I wanted a little pussy, I've got my own to play with.

Chance in *Chance*
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 Post subject: Re: Tara and Willow - The Blessed Unrest - Chp 26 - 09/03/15
PostPosted: Thu Apr 09, 2015 12:18 pm 
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Dibs-y Goodness! :banana

Yay for great update-y goodness... I guess humans have a bit more tolerance to papple juice... Big lol for the very hungoverd Miri... I'm glad that they figured out the surname thing and decided that they need to get back to Sunnydale...

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 Post subject: Re: Tara and Willow - The Blessed Unrest - Chp 26 - 09/03/15
PostPosted: Sun Apr 12, 2015 2:08 am 
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Location: Beyond the orbit of Mars and accelerating...
Heh heh, nice.

I could just hear Giles' voice
Quote:
'it’s a bloody good job fooling around can’t cause any accidents then,’

Magic puts a new spin on the 'safe' part of being gay.
And you thought there was one thing you didn't have to worry about? Uh-uh.

I'm just glad we're dealing with lesbians here, because if this was a pair of gay guys... ouch.
Yeah, there's no way that could end well.

And the aftermath of the reception was funny.
i suspect that the girls were unaffected by the papple moonshine because the papple is Tara's, and there's no way she'd let anything of hers hurt Willow, or herself.

Well, when they get back they should have no trouble convincing Buffy what happened, for starters Willow will have an entire year's worth of outdoorsyness, so she might even have a tan (nice, safe forest-magicy-sun) and tougher feet, and generally be fitter and stuff.

If i was Willow, i couldn't help but see how many *thump* moments i could get out of Buffy.
I guess i'm just evil that way.

I figured they'd be going home with a little bundle of joy, once we discovered they'd been there longer than nine months.
Oh well, i'm sure Willow can find something to make Buffy go thump.

Roll on the next bit! :banana

R :flower

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 Post subject: Re: Tara and Willow - The Blessed Unrest - Chp 26 - 09/03/15
PostPosted: Sun Apr 12, 2015 3:37 am 
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Zampsa As ever, my thanks :) I do like Azirahael's idea that Tara made papple so she was better able to cope, but that doesn't explain Willow... I don't get the idea she holds her drink well.

On the other hand a) Miri is smaller than they are (despite having a faster metabolism) and b) suspect everyone else was taking the excuse for a party for much longer than the girls who probably slipped away. You know, cos... :)

Azirahael - See above about the papple :)

And yeah, I definitely wanted there to be a 'risk' to being lesbians in that world in terms of 'accidents' because... it's comedy gold. :D But I didn't really think through the gay guy side LOL. My bad! Maybe there's a pouch or something ;)

We will see a lot of reactions to the girls and the wedding and thing in the final (aftermath) post of this story... Not all about Buffy :)

Next part later today.

Thanks

Katharyn

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If I wanted a little pussy, I've got my own to play with.

Chance in *Chance*
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 Post subject: Re: Tara and Willow - The Blessed Unrest - Chp 27 - 13/03/15
PostPosted: Mon Apr 13, 2015 10:01 am 
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Topics: 5
Title: Tara and Willow – The Blessed Unrest – Chapter Twenty-Seven
Author: Katharyn Rosser
Feedback: Absolutely, yes please. That’s why I write for this place, to engage in the discussion about the story.
Spoiler warning: Not sure why I am bothering, really, but nothing much apart from the episode ‘Hush’ in S4. And let’s face it, if you’ve not seen that then… what are you doing here?
Distribution: This story was written for Pens. Pens is its home. No archiving off Different Coloured Pens and the Kitten Board please. No conversion to eBook or other formats please. Enjoy it here.
Story notes: Tara’s background is different to that presented in Family and instead based on a throwaway remark made in interviews around the time Family first aired. (Though I now realise not the precisely terminology used there)
Summary: Going home and the aftermath…
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the copyrights or anything else associated with BTVS. All rights lie with the production company, writers etc. I am making no money from this series of stories however all original characters and situations remain my property. As this is a missing scenes and alternate reality fiction lots of scenes are new versions of those seen in the show, as such dialogue and situations are taken from the show. I’m sure you can tell which. All credit for those aspects goes to the original writers.
The title ‘The Blessed Unrest’ came from and belongs to Sara Bareilles from the album of the same name.
Rating: Occasional, tasteful, adult situations and contextual bad language. However by and large equivalent to the show.
Couples: Tara and Willow forever, that’s all I’m bothered about.
Text convention: Use of italics denotes either special emphasis if used for a single or a few words in a sentence OR first person thoughts if used for a whole sentence.
Notes: So, unless I add something very late, this will be the final – official - part of this story, but not the final part that’s posted. As is my custom, I’ll be adding some (not entirely necessary) ‘aftermath’ scenes. Just for the fun of it.
So, as we’ve said, this whole story was pointless in many ways outside the development of the characters. Pointless unless you accept that the point just… is. The girls ARE the girls. This story IS the girls and that’s the point for me. I love writing them and anyone who stuck around to read this presumably enjoys reading them too. So it’s a character exploration.
I’ve had fun with this, it was a story that came to mind as I was about to start Nanowrimo for 2014 and just demanded to be told. That I had other stories, even Tara and Willow stories, already in progress or needing to be written didn’t matter in the slightest. I needed to tell this and I can only hope that you enjoyed reading it even a little part as much as I enjoyed exploring it. Sometimes writing has to be forced, sometimes it works like this. This is the best way, even if the end product isn’t up there with some of previous stuff (and I freely say it’s not), the process itself was the way it was supposed to work. Almost effortless, and that hasn’t been the case since Sidestep – in many ways.
Because this was writing at its purest and most fun. And that’s what’s easiest with the girls for me... Easier than anything else I choose to write outside fanfic. Because that’s the way they’re supposed to be. And it’s why I keep coming back to them after such a long time.
Facts and figures: I’m somewhat less motivated by numbers than I was, but even this ‘short’ story has turned out to be around a hundred and twenty thousand words, including all these headers and notes. That’s a reasonable sized novel. I think the days of the million-word tomes are firmly behind me now, but this… I can do this. It was written between first November 2014 and the redraft being completed on 20th January 2015. Yeah, there’s a final polish to do to every part as I post it, but the real work is all done now. So two and a half months – not even writing every day – for a novel length T/W story? Not bad even by my old, prolific, standards.
Thanks to: Oh, it’s traditional. The moderators, owner and readers here at Different Coloured Pens. For giving me a place to show this off and – hopefully – in some cases for liking it. At least a little. If you didn’t… well, what are you still doing here? Some kind of masochist or something?
Cos writers know all about masochism. Even when things are fun, we know about masochism.




“We were wondering,” Willow prodded.

“Yes?” Niamh asked.

“Willow’s being – Willow,” she explained.

“She means I’m always asking unnecessary questions,” Willow clarified for Niamh’s benefit who – in some good taste – didn’t seem to understand. “At least, that’s what other people think, sometimes. They’re not so unnecessary to me. Actually, they’re pretty much necessary questions. Or I wouldn’t ask.”

“Even when we know the answers,” she said.

“Even then.”

“And what is this question?” Niamh asked, very obviously now even more confused than she had been a moment before.

“Go on,” Willow prodded again.

Sighing, she turned to her sister. “Willow wants to make sure that – one day – we can come back. If we leave now. She’s worried that you might take offence at us leaving.”

“Tara’s Mom, well, she didn’t come back a lot did she?” Willow said. “That’s why I wondered.”

“She had a life. A family. Perhaps in time you’ll find out how much of your life that will take up.”

“Perhaps,” she agreed, before Willow could prod her about that too. They knew where they stood. They knew that where they stood was where they’d need to be when – if – they made that choice. But it was a choice for another day.

Another year.

Quite possibly another decade. Because they had time for all that and…

Right now they were going home.

And that meant hugs. It occurred to her, that even during the welcome to this place she’d never hugged her sister. It hadn’t felt strange at the time, since it was more like looking in a mirror than at a sibling, but now? Now that she knew her, hugs were definitely required.

Not that Niamh seemed to mind. In fact the hug lingered longer than you might have thought.

While Willow, similarly, lingered over watching them.

“Keep going, please,” Willow said, drinking in the visual.

“You’d love that wouldn’t you?” she teased.

“Actually… yes. But, please, don’t tell my wife.”

“Oh, your secret is safe,” she promised.

“What is she talking about?” Niamh asked.

“You… probably don’t want to know,” she said.

“Ah. Then it is a Willow-thing.”

She nodded.

“Wait a minute,” Willow objected. “What’s Niamh talking about?”

What? Willow thought that no one else noticed? That someone who’d been around her for months wouldn’t have realised what sort of person she was? About all those – many – quirks? Making that sort of assumption wasn’t giving Niamh anywhere near enough credit.

“Things that are just… you. Often something a little spicy.”

Willow considered that for a moment. “Yeah, I can see that. You’re right, it’s a Willow-thing.”

Then Willow was the one hugging Niamh and she really didn’t have the same reaction. Of course, she wasn’t watching Willow with a virtual twin which – apparently – had kind of existed when a different parallel world had overlapped with Sunnydale.

So… there was that, maybe. One day. Skankiness not withstanding.

“Do you know where Miri is?” she asked as Willow and Niamh parted.

“In the glade,” Niamh said. “She knew you would be leaving.”

Of course, there were no secrets from Miri. She had her ways of finding out. “Oh. Well, will you walk with us?”

“Of course.”

“So it really isn’t a problem if we come back?” Willow asked Niamh as they walked, perhaps so slowly because there was a part of them that didn’t want to leave paradise.

“I have a better question that might answer yours,” Niamh said.

“Oh?”

“Do you mind if our people come here? To live in your place?”

The question took her by surprise. “My place?”

“All this is yours. Of course.”

“But – you came? And the others for the wedding?” she asked.

“A visit. But… this is a pleasant land, I think I might like to stay here awhile. So will others. But it is yours.”

“Ah – of course, so…?”

“There will always be a place here for you, Tara. And for your mate. Always.”

“Thank you.”

“I will wait here,” Niamh said as they reached the glade, seeing Miri.

Oh… “Good morning, Miri. Have you anything to show us?”

“Tears,” Miri said, blinking but unable to help herself. “My tears. They are a gift, because I don’t want you to go – but I know you will anyway.”

“One day, we’ll come back,” Willow promised.

“And you will come with me when you do? To see things and places?” Miri asked hopefully.

“Why else would we be here?” she asked with only a little exaggeration. “You’ve shown us so much.”

“Perhaps we’ll tell you more about the places we’ve seen in our world?” Willow suggested to her. “We could bring you photographs.”

“Photographs?”

“Moments in places and time,” she explained. “Like a painting but… not.”

“It sounds strange, when you could go there and look?”

“But how would we show them to you?” she asked. They already knew that Miri – unlike Niamh – could not safely come to their world. She’d get herself in trouble and… it would be bad. Certainly in Sunnydale.

What with all the bad guys there.

And a Slayer who sometimes slayed first and asked questions later.

But perhaps there was somewhere, maybe the redwoods up north – though they seemed much less impressive after this place. But there might be… somewhere. One day. Somewhere they could show her.

“Bring your moments,” Miri said. “And you can tell me about them.”

“We will. Good bye, Miri.”

“Good bye, Tara. Willow. I wish you exciting things to see and do.”

“Thank you, Miri,” she said.

“And Willow told me the thing she likes to do most is you, Tara,” Miri said, pleased with herself.

“Did she now?”

“Yes. But – since Willow does you here, so why do you need to go home?”

“We have friends and family there,” she explained.

“But don’t worry, I’ll still do her. I promise you both that I will,” Willow said.

She looked over. “I can’t believe you said that. Now. You… You’re just bad.”

“I’m wicked,” Willow corrected her. “There’s a difference.”

“Wait till I get you home,” she said. “Talking of which… Umm, how do I do - ”

But then, between blinks, they were back in the quadrangle at UC Sunnydale.

Right where they’d been huddled and left in terror more than a year ago.

It was daytime.

Morning, in fact.

And the world was… still here. One less thing to worry about.

----------------------


“Well,” she said, looking around. “The world hasn’t ended so we can rule out any successful Apocalypse in the last year. Who knows how many almost ones there might’ve been but – Wait, does that mean that Buffy doesn’t need my help to avoid an Apocalypse?”

Tara shook her head, unsure. In fact she seemed a little unsure of her surroundings altogether.

Despite the fact that they’d basically been living on a version of this campus for the last year, it’d been a very different campus and nature had been all around them. Now, here, despite the fact that UC Sunnydale wasn’t exactly in the middle of the city it was disorientating to be surrounded by metal and cut – rather than growing – wood and brick and colours…

There were so many unnatural colours.

Or at least, colours that didn’t go with green and brown.

Garish, when they weren’t the reds, blues and violets of flowers and blooms. The human hand was so… unnatural. That was the word she just kept coming back to.

And it had to be worse for Tara.

“I… I don’t even know what day it is,” Tara said.

“Not the weekend.” After all there were plenty of people around and that was a little overwhelming too. Apart from their wedding day, they’d not really seen more than two people a day - and each other - in that whole time.

“I think – do you think something happened?” Tara asked her. “I know you said the world was still here and – well, it is – but… look at everyone?”

Yeah, this didn’t seem like happy-go-lucky day on campus. People seemed to be… wary? Relieved though. Two couples, walking across the quad and meeting up seemed both happy to see each other, but concerned too. Something had happened.

Maybe Buffy didn’t do quite so well without her.

“It is Sunnydale,” she said. “We say that a lot – Or we did – I mean, I will again, now I’m back – we, I think we should probably go find Buffy.”

Tara didn’t seem to have any better ideas, but she did have a good point. “Might she have moved rooms? I mean, if she’s even living on campus it’ll have been a year…”

“Good point. The solid, reliable kind of point a wife would make. But – I think we could try? Since we’re here? If not, then we can go to Joyce or Giles. And a phone, we need a phone so you can call your Dad.”

Of course Tara knew who Giles and Joyce were, at least in the telling of what had happened in the last few years.

Moving across campus, it became more and more obvious that something serious had happened here. And very recently too. All around them were people who were glad to be alive, she’d seen enough of that sort of reaction over the years. As well as how fast it went away again so that the campus – like the town – was just like the brochures put out by the Publicity Office.

But asking what had happened – well, it seemed like it would belittle what these people had obviously been through. And – by now – most of them would be explaining away what they’d known just last night as something… more normal. That was something that just happened too.

No one really discussed it, but most people thought they knew what the world was and – even when they were shown something very different – they just needed to explain that away in order to go on with their lives in the way they had before.

Here in Sunnydale, that sometimes meant just… forgetting.

But Buffy…

Not Buffy. And not Xander and Anya either.

Think of the devil – or a certain type of demon – and she… appeared. Could she be a vengeance demon again? “Anya?”

“Willow.” The other girl looked her up and down and… there was no concern there at all.

Of course, Anya had never liked her much because of the alleged threat to the burgeoning relationship with Xander. Not entirely without – historical – justification. But considering she’d been away for a year…? She’d really have expected more reaction than this.

Did she mean so little? Actually, to Anya… probably she didn’t.

“Miss me?” she asked.

“No.”

Then Anya looked at Tara. And back at her. Then to Tara. Her eyes narrowed for a second and then a remarkable leap of empathy for… well, Anya. “So you’re a lesbian now?”

“Uh… Good guess – I mean, yes? I mean – how did you know?” All Anya had done was… look?

Was it a vengeance demon thing? Woman scorned and all that. Women could scorn women and girls could scorn girls. Lots of scorning going on there, it was only obvious that Anya might’ve known how to read the signs. Wait – there were signs? Were there signs?

Or was Anya a demon again? Was that what had happened? Had Anya gone bad? Or at least worse?

Could this be a bizzaro-world?

Instead of any of that being answered, all Anya said was, “Good.”

Then Anya started away from the building. “Wait – wait!” She grabbed Anya’s arm and tried to turn her back.

“Get off me.”

“Sorry – but – didn’t you wonder where I was?” she checked.

“Why? I only saw you yesterday. Buffy killed the Gentlemen. Xander and I spent the night having a lot of sex. Why would I wonder where you were?” Anya looked back at Tara again. “But… I can see maybe I misjudged you. It’s possible I might’ve even been harsh. I approve of this. You two should go somewhere and have lots of sex too. To bond you. But not here. I have to get back to Xander. I left him cuffed to the bed.”

Shocked into silence, she looked at Tara too.

“The cuffs are lined with pink fur,” Anya expanded.

The shock wasn’t going away, was it? Still… Anya hadn’t been sex – or Xander – mad while she’d been a vengeance demon. So there was that.

But more importantly… The Gentlemen.

That had been… yesterday?

They’d left here just last night?

But they’d fallen asleep and woken up hundreds of times since then.

Together.

And they’d already had lots and lots of sex. Before and after the wedding…

So, mission accomplished there then. But, yesterday?

Could it be true?

And if it wasn’t, how – why – would Anya say that?

Tara plainly didn’t know and… neither do I.

“Just a night?” Tara sounded… horrified.

And she knew exactly why. Because a night made it sound like a dream. Like it wasn’t – couldn’t be – real.

But if it wasn’t real then… us wasn’t real.

“No. Not for us,” she promised Tara. “It was just as long for me as it was for you. All of it happened. All of it.”

It was all real. They’d both lived through it. They both remembered it.

“This is how things work in those other places, time passes at a different speed. Buffy’s seen it before, she got stuck in another world for a few hours a couple of years ago – no time at all had passed out here. If she’d stayed there as little as over the night – our time - then a century would’ve passed for her.”

“Really?” Tara sounded like she wanted to believe, but didn’t quite dare. Because the alternative was…

Unacceptable.

“It’s the sort of thing we deal with…” She tried to make that sound reassuring, which was the opposite of what that sort of conversation usually made you feel. In this case though…

“Oh.”

“You probably want to start getting used to it now,” she said. “I mean, you are Mrs Rosenberg-Maclay.”

Because that was real.

They were real.

She held up their hands, looked at Tara’s. She knew every part of it. Knew how it looked, know how it would feel and in some very specific places. Doing some very wonderful things.

Knew how Tara snored.

Knew how she liked to… make her toes curl and her back arch.

It’s real, because when I left here… I had no idea how any of that really worked. And now I do. When I left here, she was just a nice girl who came to help out and now she’s… my Tara.

My wife.

And I’m hers.


“Way to change the subject, love,” Tara said, kissing her.

“Kind of changes things, doesn’t it?” she wondered.

“How do you mean?”

“Well… for them, nothing’s happened but we come back here, they’ve never met you and now you’re my wife? I mean, we knew it’d be a shock, but at least some time had passed – for them. But now, last they knew I’d never even looked at a girl that way and now… Well, I’ve done much, much more than look.”

“Which, if you want to do more than look anytime soon, you won’t be saying to Buffy. Not right away.”

“Understood. I get it. Baby steps.”

“You’ve, never thought about pink handcuffs?” she wondered as they stepped into Stephenson Hall, both of them composing what they were going to say.

“No. And neither have you.”

“Understood, baby. Definitely understood.”

“Bet you a dollar she’ll be fine,” she said.

“How’s that fair, I don’t even know Buffy.”

“Well, I have confidence in my friend but – maybe you should do the talking?” she suggested.

“She doesn’t know me, either.”

“Oh… right. It’ll be fine. Bet you a dollar.”

“You already did that…”

****************************

The End – but there’s one more post to come with the Aftermath.

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If I wanted a little pussy, I've got my own to play with.

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 Post subject: Re: Tara and Willow - The Blessed Unrest - Chp 27 - 13/03/15
PostPosted: Mon Apr 13, 2015 10:15 am 
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Dibs-y Goodness! :banana

Yay for great update-y goodness... I guess "few" Scoobies will have a nice headache after Willow & Tara explains what has happened to them since "yesterday"...

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 Post subject: Re: Tara and Willow - The Blessed Unrest - Chp 27 - 13/03/15
PostPosted: Thu Apr 16, 2015 11:57 am 
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Thank you, Zampsa - You both dibsed and were dibsed in turn LOL :)

We'll soon see what some of the reactions were to what's being on. I will post the collected 'aftermath' snippets tomorrow which will complete this story :)

Thanks again
Katharyn

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 Post subject: Tara and Willow - The Blessed Unrest - COMPLETE - 04/17/15
PostPosted: Fri Apr 17, 2015 11:49 am 
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POST 1 OF 2

Well, this is the last 'part' of this story. As I suggested the actual 'end' was in part 27, but along the way I'd had enough ideas about what happened after - and written a few of them - that I didn't want to throw them away so added some extra bits. But I'll leave that for the notes in the story.

Been a pleasure, as always, to share this with Kittens and to hear back from some of you who've enjoyed it.

For anyone who cares, I'm currently early in the redraft of the 3rd (and final) part of the Raiders trilogy featuring our favourite archaeologist and secret agent... So we're not that far away from that being ready. Months, but not lots of months...

So, it's been a blast kittens :) Drop in if you enjoyed it and say hi!

Due to what the board will accept, this post is split into two for length.

Katharyn

------------------

Title: Tara and Willow – The Blessed Unrest – Epilogues and afterthoughts
Author: Katharyn Rosser
Feedback: Absolutely, yes please. That’s why I write for this place, to engage in the discussion about the story.
Spoiler warning: Not sure why I am bothering, really, but nothing much apart from the episode ‘Hush’ in S4. And let’s face it, if you’ve not seen that then… what are you doing here?
Distribution: This story was written for Pens. Pens is its home. No archiving off Different Coloured Pens and the Kitten Board please. No conversion to eBook or other formats please. Enjoy it here.
Story notes: Tara’s background is different to that presented in Family and instead based on a throwaway remark made in interviews around the time Family first aired. (Though I now realise not the precisely terminology used there)
Summary: A whole slew (I’ve been waiting to use the word ‘slew’ for something) of endings to this story.
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the copyrights or anything else associated with BTVS. All rights lie with the production company, writers etc. I am making no money from this series of stories however all original characters and situations remain my property. As this is a missing scenes and alternate reality fiction lots of scenes are new versions of those seen in the show, as such dialogue and situations are taken from the show. I’m sure you can tell which. All credit for those aspects goes to the original writers.
The title ‘The Blessed Unrest’ came from and belongs to Sara Bareilles from the album of the same name.
Rating: Occasional, tasteful, adult situations and contextual bad language. However by and large equivalent to the show.
Couples: Tara and Willow forever, that’s all I’m bothered about.
Text convention: Use of italics denotes either special emphasis if used for a single or a few words in a sentence OR first person thoughts if used for a whole sentence.
Notes: Like Lord of the Rings, this could have many ending scenes that you don’t really need but everyone seems to like at least one of them in that movie so, all in all, better to include them all. Right?
More accurately, I had more than one idea along the line for what happened when they got back so I wanted to use rather than waste those. Perhaps if we’re thinking of movies to compare it to then this final chapter could be based on the old Burt Reynolds films. If anyone remembers ones like Cannonball Run and Smokey and the Bandit then what you used to get was the outtakes running alongside the credits. Yeah, that would probably be a better model. So what follows is – mostly – just the outtakes, strung together with a sort of theme in a sort of logical order and presented as what happens when the girls get home.
Will they go back to the woods? Will they have kids of their own? Who knows, that’s for you to decide. But this is just about those first days after they get back and have to deal with friends, family and overly helpful fairies who just like to show people things. Even things that they really shouldn’t.
After all, the starting point of this is really the first day of the rest of their lives. Literally.
Thanks to: All of you who’ve come this far. Even more so for those who were along ‘live’ for the ride and doubly more so for those who broke cover and let me respond to your feedback. Doubly more so? Triply?




“So there you have it,” Willow said. “Are you sure you’re feeling okay? You hit the ground pretty hard there. Sorry, yeah, we’re not talking about that are we… Big, touch Slayer knocked on her ass by the fact her roommate’s married to a girl. I’m really shutting up now.”

Buffy looked at them. Looked at them both.

She nodded, feeling like she ought to lend some weight to it all. A nod felt like it might be the right way to do that. Especially since – until now – she’d only known Willow’s best friend by reputation. Seemed like anything more than a nod might seem… presumptuous. And that was one thing no one had ever said about her.

Plus the passing out. That had taken Willow by surprise too.

“Umm,” Buffy said finally.

“That’s all you have to say? It’s not a concussion is it?”

“Not it’s not a concussion. Just – Look, Will, what do you want me to say? I mean, I just had a pretty big night too,” Buffy said, a little more expansively. “I did the town saving thing again and that’s not so big a deal but there was stuff with Riley and you know I’d have told you everything but now you tell me that I didn’t have a big night, I had a night that lasted you a whole year?”

“It’s not your fault,” she said. “There is no fault. There’s no bad - It just… sort of happened. It happened to us.”

And I really didn’t seduce your roommate.

Much.


But she did get Buffy’s point. They could’ve been in trouble and in a much worse place. They could’ve needed help and… no one here would’ve given it to them. Or even known they were missing until… what? Three or four years had passed? That was making Buffy feel… useless. And this obviously wasn’t a girl who often felt that way.

After all, for her, saving the town – or even the world – was just another night.

So feeling helpless? That wasn’t something she was used to.

“It’s okay, Tara,” Buffy said. “I get it. I do. Sometimes… sometimes I’m not the hero of the story. I think I am, but I know that sometimes something else is going on and I find I’m more like the bit-part player, there for the day while the big story is going on another stage and – I think I ran out of movie metaphors.”

“I told you she’d be okay about it,” Willow said. “Aside from the – you know – passing out thing. But she was probably just tired. You were tired, right Buff? Saving the town and then everything with Riley… Okay, yes, shutting up again.”

“Of course I’m okay. If you’re okay, if you’re both okay, then I’m okay. And… Tara’s a nymph then?”

“Yes – but, just to be clear. Not a nympho. That’s a whole other thing. And there’s no slaying required of nymphs. At all. Ever.”

“Willow! How can you think – or say – that I’d slay your girlfriend?”

“You wanted to slay my ex-boyfriend,” Willow pointed out, but then turned to her and tried to be reassuring. “Only when he’d dumped me for another werewolf. A skanky ho of a werewolf too. Not even a pedigree. There was probably butt sniffing involved and – I mean too much butt sniffing, I guess and - ”

She pulled a face. It wasn’t something she needed to hear. In her world there was no scale to denote when you’d reached ‘too much’ butt sniffing.

“And nothing. That’s where I need to shut my mouth.”

“I’m not going to slay your girlfriend… Wait, you said – she’s not your girlfriend! Why did you let me call her – you – your girlfriend? She’s your wife. You said she’s your wife.”

“Maybe not in the eyes of the state of California,” Willow admitted. “But… I said ‘yes’. And she said ‘yes’. We both said ‘yes’ and so, we are. As far as we’re concerned.”

“So do… you want me to move out?” Buffy suggested.

“What – why?”

“Well… I figure you’d want to – umm – sleep together now?”

Willow shook her head, blushing. “We’ve been doing that. A lot. But here – you mean here – Well, Tara has a… big bed.”

“On campus?”

She nodded.

“And no roommate?”

“No.”

“No one you drove away with annoying tics? Or maybe singing Cher? A lot?”

Cher? It seemed to mean something to the two of them anyway. Personally she’d never minded Cher, but that might not be the thing to admit right now. It sounded to be something of a test.

The sort of test she needed to pass if wanted to get on with Willow’s friends.

“No.”

“So how did you get a big bed to yourself?” Buffy asked.

“Oh no,” Willow said. “You don’t need more than a single, Buffy.”

“You got married – why can’t I have a big bed too?” Buffy complained. “I really think it might be going somewhere with Riley we shared secrets and - ”

“Buffy. Every time you go to bed with someone… Every. Single. Time. Bad things happen. Every single time. Maybe you need to… not be in a bed. With anyone. You know what I mean.”

“I’ll have you know I go to bed with myself all the time – wait, that came out… well, right, I guess – but also wrong. I should just give up though? You found the person you want to spend your life with and I should keep… going to bed with myself?”

Feeling sorry for Buffy, she felt like she needed to make a suggestion. “You could say ‘stay single’.”

That’s what I meant,” Buffy confirmed. “You think I should stay single, though… that has meant going to bed with myself… umm. Sorry – Tara – we – I’m not usually like this. This whole thing has kind of knocked me out of the park. With good – it’s all good.”

“Maybe you could find a nice girl,” Willow suggested, also trying to help Buffy out.

“I don’t - ”

“It worked for me,” Willow reminded her. “And I didn’t think I was either.”

“I’m not - ”

“I really didn’t think I was – I really didn’t think at all,” Willow said. “If I had thought, maybe I’d have figured it out sooner. Might’ve saved on all that flea powder.”

Flea powder? Was Willow joking? If so Buffy didn’t react and… that made it an old joke or the truth.

“Or maybe you were just waiting for Tara,” Buffy said, apparently as eager to get off the flea powder. “But – and this isn’t a negative thing – I’m not like you guys. Girls. I’m not like – I – girls aren’t my thing.”

“Really, Buffy? Really?” Willow asked.

“No!”

“Well, I guess someone has to be straight. But give it some thought. I mean, Tara’s the best thing that happened to me and that’s not just because she’s a girl – but… Buffy. Seriously. Boobs.”

“Boobs?”

“Boobs. You have – look, you think you know, because you have them yourself and if you’re… going to bed with yourself, you might well appreciate them more than just the whole fashion thing but then there’s someone other boobs and it’s a whole different thing.”

“Willow – I’m just not - ”

At this point, she had some sympathy for Buffy. Although, the ‘boobs’ point was a powerful argument. Even straight girls must admit that much. Right?

Willow wasn’t done though. “Except, knowing you – Buffy, honey, I love you but knowing you it’d probably be Drusilla if you ever fell for a girl.”

And that was a name she didn’t know. Buffy, apparently, did. Because her reaction was pure shock.

“Willow!”

“Or Faith. Everyone knows you always had crazy chemistry with Faith.”

“Faith?!”

“Oh, come on. Tell me you didn’t know and I’ll call you liar-liar-pants-on-fire. That’s sort of why I hated her so much… And I probably said too much for all of us, right?”

Moving to her girl’s side, she laid a calming hand on top of Willow’s. “I think that’s a safe bet,” she said. “In fact, I’ll take that dollar now.”

********************

“So… This could be home, huh?” Willow asked, mostly looking at the bed.

For her part, she’d not really thought about that big old bed much until Buffy and Willow had been talking about it.

Single dorm room. Queen sized bed.

So, yeah… Maybe she had been living in the bachelorette pad. Maybe, in the past, it might’ve seen more use than just for sleepiness. Until now, until Willow was the first person other than a friend to come in here, she’d really not been living up to that legacy.

Nor, on the other hand, was she a bachelorette anymore so that was okay.

Now a big old bed was just a matter of… practicality.

All the same, it seemed like more than just a bed right now.

“We are married,” she reminded her wife.

“And don’t I[/] know it?”

She smiled. “What does that mean?”

“Oh, just that we keep telling everyone that we’re married. Like it was this big, important thing or something. You know, being married is not the only important thing about us, Tara. Do you remember that?”

“Oh?”

“There are other interesting facts,” Willow assured her, testing the edge of her bed by sitting on it experimentally. Almost nervously. Like it might break. Or she could sink down into the depths and never be seen again.

“Name some?”

“B - ”

“ - Other than boobs,” she interrupted. Just to clarify.

“Oh. Really? Other than boobs? Umm, well, let’s try this. Speaking personally, I have a new interest in a) who – or what – is on the other side of that wall,” Willow said, pointing towards the head of the bed, “b) whether the springs in this bed squeak and c) whether you can get certain personal items we may have half-jokingly discussed by mail-order or you have to go to a store.”

“Oh.” Those were interesting facts – or questions really – Willow was right so far. “But… I think in terms of what we [i]tell
people, ‘married’ is probably enough. We don’t need to mention that other stuff, right?”

“That’s fine,” Willow promised her. “Just so long as we know there’s more about us than that.”

“Oh, I know. But… mail order? Really?”

“Tara, I’m a curious girl. You knew that when you married me. And you’ve shown me that hands on curiosity is absolutely the best kind of curiosity there is… So, in the hands on curiosity spirit, there are things I want to try. You seemed to want to as well… So, think about it. Now we can do that mail order from the comfort of our own – big – bed. Or we can find and go down the store. Together. And I don’t think either of us wants that, do we?”

Really, it didn’t take much thinking about. Mortifying was going to be the only word. From their bed, much better.

“That’s what I thought. See, Tara, some things wood is not the best for. No. Wait. That came out… wrong. Just – very wrong.”

“I think I get what you mean anyway,” she promised, taking the easier way out.

“Oh, good. Because we have about a year there to make up for.”

******************************

CONTINUED IN THE NEXT POST

_________________
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If I wanted a little pussy, I've got my own to play with.

Chance in *Chance*
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 Post subject: Tara and Willow - The Blessed Unrest - COMPLETE - 04/17/15
PostPosted: Fri Apr 17, 2015 11:50 am 
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Joined: Sun Apr 24, 2005 1:23 pm
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Topics: 5
POST 2 of 2

Split from the previous post due to length. Go back to that one first!

K

--------------------------------

“Okay. I’ve got to ask,” she finally said. It was on something that had been bubbling under as a question for almost as long as she’d known Tara.

It was just that other things always got in the way.

Lips.

Boobs.

Hair.

Boobs.

Hands.

Yes, boobs again.

But now? Tara was pulling on her boots and it was tough to decide which was more intriguing. Barefoot or booted. Both did have their appeal and she’d lived with both – and Tara had no other shoe choices – for so long that…

Now she couldn’t decide which she preferred.

But the question, definitely time to get that out of the way.

“Ask what, sweetie?”

“The boots.”

Tara paused, looking at her own feet. “What about them?”

Are they a lesbian thing?” she asked.

Tara lifted her legs – also intriguing in that skirt – and wiggled them. “Don’t think so. I think I just… like them?”

She nodded. That had seemed overwhelmingly the most obvious answer. “But see, here’s my follow up question.”

“Because, of course there’s a follow-up question,” Tara teased.

“Of course. Do you like them because you’re a lesbian or because you just like them? See, there’s the thing I’ve been wondering.”

“I… don’t know how to answer that. I’d probably need to ask another lesbian.”

“Go right ahead then,” she said, with a big grin.

“Do you like them?” Tara asked.

“That’s the thing. I like them. I like them plenty. But mostly on you. But before I knew who I was… I’m not sure I did. So the circumstantial evidence might suggest it’s the lesbian thing? Or – more accurately – a ‘realised-lesbian’ thing?”

“Or maybe,” Tara said, “you just never paid so much attention to anyone else’s feet before? Hmm?”

“Or that. Could definitely be that. The only things more intriguing than your feet, baby, is what’s above them.”

“Which bit do you mean?”

“All of them. All the bits. Some more than others though.”

“You mean, you don’t like my footsies?” Tara asked, sounding disappointed.

“Oh, no, I like them plenty. But come on… they’re not anything beginning with ‘B’.”

Was it any wonder she was so happy? Look at what she had to work with.

***********************

“Actually, I have to say that I really find the whole thing quite fascinating,” Mister Giles said.

“That’s what she said,” Tara replied. She had to admit that – strange as some of them might seem at first glance – she was already finding that she liked Willow’s friends.

Which was good, since getting new friends any other way was probably harder than getting a new girlfriend.

Though maybe not harder than getting a wife. Somehow, that just seemed to happen. Not that I regret that choice even the tiniest bit.

“I’m sure Willow was probably talking about something else,” he said, obviously teasing her with that very British sarcasm he had. Luckily PBS TV shows as a kid had partially prepared her for that. But it was still a little difficult to tell when he was joking.

Difficult, but never impossible. He never seemed able to resist grinning at his own jokes, which defeated the object of sarcasm when you thought about it. Maybe it was just the national way of thinking.

“Oh. Maybe.”

“What is it you’re worried about, Tara?”

Did she confide in him then? Well, if not him, who else? Even Willow was… Talking to her would kind of defeat the objective here. For tonight at least.

“I’m – she and I – when we were away,” – ‘away’ was what he’d found so fascinating – “there were maybe three main topics of conversation. We did talk about lots of things – everything – almost, but three things that came up again and again…”

“You’re afraid that one or more of those three thing might come out tonight?”

“Yes. Yes, I am.”

It wasn’t a question of what to talk to Willow about, after all they’d talked and talked and talked and – well, then they’d discovered something better than talking but they’d still talked anyway, in and around that beautiful distraction.

But he was right about her fear. Tonight, they couldn’t talk about those three things even though two of them had been all that they’d talked about to everyone else since they’d gotten back and had to explain where they’d been and for how long.

The other big topic… Well, not something to share with others. For more obvious reasons.

“And that they’d be ‘inconvenient’ if they did come up?”

“Very,” she said.

“Well, what topics would those be then?”

Well… the place we were in when we were ‘away’ and also what I… am.”

“I agree. Both of which would certainly be things you wanted to avoid mentioning,” he confirmed. “And besides, explaining the experiential temporal differences between two realms of reality isn’t really a topic for a nice dinner unless you’re having dinner with a theoretical physicist or… well, someone like me. But, on balance, I really don’t think some of the other guests could keep up.”

She wasn’t she could keep up. Knowing something that had seemed obvious had gotten more confusing when he’d tried to explain it to her.

“Then there was what was building between us,” she said.

“Tara,” he said, “This isn’t my field of expertise but… I think it’s safe to say that the reason that we’ve all gathered tonight is because people want to know you. They actually want to know you and Willow, together. You have rather sprung the marriage thing on everyone. Clearly you will have to address it at some point.”

She sighed. “I know. It just… to us, everything seemed to take a long time.”

“Ah.”

“I didn’t mean – I didn’t mean that everything.”

“Quite.”

“Even though it did… sort of there. It did. We didn’t - ” She sighed again, well aware of what was happening. Very well aware. “I’m starting to sound like her, aren’t I?”

“It’s only natural,” he promised. “Every so often, after so long around you colonials, I will find myself calling something… ‘cute’ that really isn’t ‘cute’ at all, not in any sensible definition used across the rest of the world.”

That one made her smile.

“And just last week, I caught myself referring to aluminum. Aluminum of all things. A-lu-min-ium.”

So did that.

“And, I have to say that there’s something about you that Willow has picked up too.”

“Really?”

“A maturity, I think. She takes you seriously, she doesn’t want to disappoint you. I can see that – I’m sure the others can, or will if they don’t already.”

“Surely Willow never wanted to disappoint anyone. Ever.”

“I suppose not,” he agreed. “But that was more of a slightly childish competitiveness to be seen as the most grown up. This… It’s more like she’s living up to you.”

“But I’m no one,” she said, not convinced. “I’m no one special at all. Not like her – She’s a genius and helps people and she’s beautiful – I’m not really anyone.”

Mister Giles put his hand on her shoulder. “Well, that’s obviously not the case. After all, you are her wife. And whether she want to call it new maturity or competitiveness, you must’ve been quite the prize to make that happen. Hmm?”

“I… suppose so.” It seemed rude to argue.

“Good. Now, shall we go and face your in-laws?”

Yeah. That.

Given any sort of choice… Gulp.

**************************

Gulp.

It’d seemed like it might be a really good idea. Everyone had been keen to spend time with Tara. Everyone wanted to know about the new person-girl-woman in her life.

And so… some bright spark had suggested dinner.

Some bright spark who should remain unnamed and unidentified. To protect their identity after making such a blunder. Some bright spark who might not be a million miles away from sitting in this very chair.

Some bright spark who’d had a stupid idea, wanted to show off the shiny and lovely Tara and then – to compound her bright spark mistake – doubled down on it by asking her parents to host it.

Why stupid?

Well, getting the obvious out of the way first, it was certainly partly because the last time her Mom had gotten in any way involved with the supernatural world it’d resulted in a certain witch (who’d been her daughter) being burned at the stake. Or at least seriously threatened with it.

If you called actually lighting the pyre being ‘seriously threatened.’

And now at the table… Now there was a vampire Slayer, a watcher from a secret society of tweed-wearers, an ex-vengeance demon and her idiot boyfriend (Mom’s words for the latter, not hers) and a nymph.

A nymph who happens to be my wife.

Just because they weren’t talking about the supernatural – everyone had been warned very specifically about what would happen if they ended up on pyres (she’d light them herself, except for Tara’s) – that didn’t mean that things were going… Well, they weren’t going exactly what you’d call ‘smoothly.’

Oh. And there was Dad too.

Ira Rosenberg had barely said a word about most things as long as she’d known him. Dad’s strategy had always been to leave the talking to his much more verbose wife most of the time. It was an arrangement that had served them well in keeping that marriage going as long as it had.

So…lots of stuff going on around this table.

Everyone knew about the burning at the stake thing for a start, which was why everyone was being so studious in keeping away from the topic (except for Anya overcompensating and picking on every little – innocent – word).

Several people here had counted themselves friends of her ex-boyfriend.

None of them really knew Tara.

So, yeah, there was all that too.

Then Mom and Dad were… Well, they’d probably made the grandparent assumption a thing in their minds and just because she and Tara could have children anyway as two girls (not polite dinner conversation – certainly not as long as Anya was at the table) and they knew an even better, easier way… That wasn’t something they could really admit was it?

‘Oh, don’t worry Tara’s a wood nymph and we can go to another world and conceive a child out of pure love.’

No need for either turkey basters nor for expensive treatment.

Just love and will and… Tara could’ve been pregnant already on that basis.

From Mom and Dad’s point of view, for right now, their prospects of grandchildren had probably decreased. Not that I made them promises before. But I hadn’t exactly said ‘no way’ either.

In fact it had really never come up except in fairly specific assumptions.

After all, how often had Mom’s lectures started or ended with ‘when you’ve got children on your own’?

Lots.

And lots. It was one of her favourite phrases.

Even after all that, there was lingering tension between her and Anya. Even Tara had picked up on - and correctly ascertained the reason for - it. Because no secrets.

What should’ve been a bright point in all this… She wasn’t so sure it was. Not in the long term. Tara and Anya ‘got on’. Anya thought Tara was great. But probably mostly because it stopped Tara’s wife from running off with Anya’s boyfriend.

As if?!

Plus… they seemed strangely compatible as friends too. In ways you’d never, really suspect. And that was why, long term, she wasn’t sure it was so great. Strange brews and all that. Witches had to be cognisant of the strangeness of the brew.

Then there were the things going on with other people at the table.

Buffy and Mom? Still tied up in the – back of the subconscious – stake burning thing.

And Giles? He was a man - an unemployed English man – who was closer to her parent’s age hanging out with a bunch of college kids after hanging out at a high school that burned down due to explosives in his library.

These were facts that were sort of undeniable and public domain. Even of the collective Sunnydale delusion was at work, you couldn’t one hundred percent say that those events were unrelated to him.

Mom and Dad were well able to leap to the wrong – but not unsupported – conclusions. They did it all the time.

So whoever the newly married red-head was who came up with this idea should’ve been shot down at the first… umm, hurdle. To mix sporting metaphors. She should’ve bitten off small chunks, not tried to deal with everyone at once. This was a dumb idea and it was tough to see how it would get any worse. Even with Tara’s charm and attempts to get things going…

How could it get worse?

Well, there was one really obvious way. Not even a surprise really, more a question of ‘when’ and ‘what’ than ‘if’. Meaning, what would happen when Anya spoke up? Anything from that forthright, ex-demon mouth generally made things worse and she wasn’t taken by surprise this time.

At least not at the effect. The words… The words still shocked.

“Steaks?” Anya asked when told what they were having. “I thought lesbians only ate - ”

“Anya! Don’t you dare,” she said quickly, cutting Xander’s girlfriend. That wouldn’t win her any points. But she wasn’t having Anya sat here, talking like that in front of Mom.

Mom who was still getting used to the idea of ‘lesbian’ – let alone what ‘lesbian’ might be doing. Something no parent should be thinking about. Gay, straight or anything else.

“What?”

“Honey, no,” Xander warned. He got it too. Everyone got it. Everyone but Mom and Dad.

At least hopefully. They may have been young once, but that had been a long time ago.

Maybe Giles didn’t know what Anya was referring to, but he was their age and British besides. He probably didn’t know. But he didn’t need to. It really didn’t need to be explained.

Definitely not by Anya.

“What?!” Anya demanded. “Why can’t I say ‘tofu’? What’s wrong with saying ‘tofu’?”

“Tofu?”

Okay. Maybe she’d been a little… paranoid.

Maybe. But it didn’t feel like paranoia, not when Anya really would’ve said what they’d all expected her to.

“I… like this,” Tara said, cutting into it. “I like meat.”

“Oh.” Anya seemed surprised at the revelation. “Xander tells me I shouldn’t just talk about stereotypes. That it’s considered rude. Was that a stereotype?”

“It sort of was, yes.”

“Oh.”

“And I’m sorry,” she said, wanting to look like the bigger… umm, woman. “I shouldn’t have jumped on you.”

“No. You shouldn’t,” Anya said primly, but then appeared to be quite happy.

Dinner went on. But not for long. Not beyond a few more bites. Not before –

“But lesbians like eating pussy too, right? Of course she does, they both do. After all – lesbians.”

Was it too late to head back to the vacation spot of the decade? Another world where time passed so fast and she might be able to forget about how bad this was going to be before morning?

***************************

“My daughter has… colourful friends,” Mister Rosenberg said.

“I only just met them too,” Tara explained, looking at the door he’d closed behind them.

Why was the door closed? The door didn’t need to be closed did it?

“A man more given to conspiracy theories might’ve thought that Anya was invited to distract attention away from you?” He waved away her protests before she even had chance to make them. “But I’m not a believer in conspiracies. People are people.”

She nodded. People were definitely people. She felt she was on safe ground there, about the peopleness of people. Having a private interview with Mister Rosenberg after dinner? That all felt a bit rockier.

Did the door have to be closed?

“Ah, then you must feel the same way. Please, Tara, have a seat. Believe it or not I’d prefer you to be comfortable?”

A seat? Do I need a seat? I don’t want to need a seat… But she sat down all the same. “Thank you,” she said.

“So, how are you coping? I mean, this is all new to you too?”

“Well, I think. Thank you for asking. I suppose… Coming to college is about meeting new people,” she said. She’d met more new people here than any time in her life. Far more than High School in a small town.

“Thinking in new ways,” he said.

“Yes. I suppose.”

“Accepting things that you never thought you’d need to even think about?” he suggested.

Umm. Where was this going? Because it was certainly going somewhere… “Yes, Sir.”

He raised an eyebrow, already having warned her about the ‘sir’ thing.

“So, Tara?”

“Yes – Yes?”

“Am I right in thinking my Willow is now… your Willow?” he asked.

It seemed to encompass a whole lot of different ways he could’ve phrased a similar question.

“Umm - ”

“Here’s a hint. Your answer should most certainly be ‘yes’ if you want to make the best impression,” he said.

“Well, yes.”

“Please don’t sit there like a frightened rabbit. Don’t mistake me, Tara. I’m surprised to hear that - but then she dated a musician there for a while. You’re considerably less surprising than that.”

“I am? I mean – oh.”

“My wife is…” he left it hanging, considering how to put it perhaps. “She’s my wife. And it may take her a little while to get used to the idea but don’t take that as anything personal. I doubt anyone is ‘right’ for Willow in her eyes. Once she gets past that… I’m sure the two of you will get along okay.”

‘Okay’ was as good as it was going to get?

On the other hand, ‘okay’ was bound to be easier to get to than ‘great’.

“I hope so, Sir.”

“One more time then. It’s Ira. I mean… if you’re my daughter-in-law, it should be Ira.”

“Daughter in law?” she asked. The ‘in law’ part was… not the case. Not in California anyway. They hadn’t even chosen to use the word ‘wife’, or suggest that they were married. That did seem like an introduction too far for Willow to expect her parents to get over.

‘Dear Mom and Dad, since I saw you last weekend I found what I should always have known, that I was a lesbian, found a girl, slept with and married her. Oh, no, you weren’t invited.’

If Sheila Rosenberg needed time with what she’d heard so far, that would’ve been a little too much.

“I have ears that hear what others are saying,” he explained. “And eyes that see how you two look at each other. So tell me it’s not true?”

“Umm - ”

“I’m guessing it wasn’t so fast as it seems?” he asked.

“Umm – no?” What else could she say? She certainly didn’t want to start off their relationship by lying to him, but she couldn’t very well tell him the whole truth either. So they’d shied away from timeframes, just giving the impression that it might’ve been after the musician boyfriend had left the picture but not as recently as all happening in the last few days either.

That all had the benefit of being true. But the way he phrased his guess? What did he know?

“This is a strange town, Tara,” he said.

“It really is.”

“I sometimes think we… never quite understand how strange.”

“That’s probably fair,” she said. “I think it’s easy to ignore what we sometimes don’t want to see.”

“Like Willow?”

“No! I didn’t mean – I didn’t mean that at all.”

Ira shook his head. “No, I don’t suppose you did. But all the same. You, my girl, are hardly the strangest thing happening here tonight. Are you?”

You might be surprised.

“Nor your relationship with my daughter. Does that surprise you to hear me say it?”

She smiled, wondering where he was going.

“You thought, perhaps, we’d be devastated and fight against it. Reject you – or her – and curse your name for corrupting our little girl?”

She couldn’t deny she’d thought and worried about it. “Umm… maybe?”

“Then I can only say one thing to you, Tara.”

“Right. What is that, sir – Sir Ira – Ira?”

“You and I are going to have to get to know each other a lot better. Do you happen to like to fish?”

***************************

“Fishing?”

“Next weekend,” Tara confirmed for the third time.

“Fishing…”

“Yes. Why – is that – it’s not a sign of the apocalypse is it?” Tara seemed serious about the question, which meant she was thinking about Sunnydale in just the right way.

She did consider for a moment whether it might be such a sign. Dogs and cats lying together. Thirteen crows flying backwards. Ira Rosenberg taking someone off on his solitary pursuit, the one he used to get away from – well – everyone else…

But, on reflection, probably not. That wasn’t the way the apocalypse typically manifested itself

Rain of toads? Maybe. ‘Gone fishing’? Not so much.

“Maybe not an apocalypse,” she said. “But I might have to give serious thought to this being an alternative bizzarro dimension.”

“What? But – we’re home, everything like it was at home,” Tara objected.

“Except my Dad wants to take you fishing.”

“Why is that really so strange?” Tara asked.

She shook her head. “Ira Rosenberg, to my certain knowledge, never took anyone fishing. Not his wife. Not his buddies. Certainly not his daughter. Now… you come along and one weekend later… fishing? Something smells… fishy?”

“Or…” Tara prompted. “If that’s door number one?”

“Or he likes you.”

“Can I pick door number two?” Tara asked. She was obviously really, really hoping for that.

“Well, you are really likable. Everyone seems to like you. People who don’t like me seem to like you.”

“That’s not fair,” Tara said. “Anya likes the two of us. Together. With no room for a Xander shaped third. She told me. She used those actual words.”

“Oh. Well, that’s still you. You are very likable, though,” she said. It was true. Get to know her, now that she’d found her confidence, and who could resist?

Note to self, never take Tara to a lesbian hook-up bar.

Second note to self – find out if there’s such a thing as a lesbian hook-up bar.


“Thank you, sweetie,” Tara said.

She gave her girl a kiss. Because likeable. “My pleasure. Talking of which, what time do you think we can go home?”

“They’re your parents,” Tara reminded her. “And your friends.”

“You’re right! I can end this just as soon as I like. And we can get back to my pleasure. Maybe yours, if you’re in the mood. But definitely mine.”

Tara’s eyes rolled. “I think maybe I married someone who’s insatiable.”

“No,” she corrected. “You’re just not found that threshold yet. You’ll just have to keep trying until you do, won’t you?”

*********************

When everything else had gone much better than either she or Willow had assumed, how had this happened?

Was it really as simple as someone saying ‘It would’ve been good if there was a picture from the wedding’ while Sheila had been out of the room?

Really?

No… this wasn’t a world where things just happened because she wanted them to be so. That was another place.

Another place she’d much rather be right now.

I want to curl up and die.

And not like the cleverly named hair salons either.

Die.

Like, not live.

To be anywhere but right here, right now.

Last time I wanted that we just vanished and ended up in that other place.

This time? Why isn’t it working?


“It’s - ” Mister Giles started to say, then fell back into silence.

“What?” Buffy asked, like she was trying to help. Like she was trying to get them to talk because at least talking wouldn’t be looking. Even if they were talking about that, then talking would be – marginally - better than looking.

“Nothing,” Mister Giles said and took his glasses off to give them a wipe.

Absolutely.

Buffy gave her a look. One that said ‘I tried.’

And she had to give her wife’s best friend that much, she had tried. Which was more than anyone else here had.

Anyone else?

Everyone else.

Everyone was here.

Everyone.

Apart from Daddy, there wasn’t another single person here that she could think should’ve been.

This… their first, extended, family gathering. It’d been going great. It’d been going really well all through dinner. Ira had invited her fishing – which might involve shopping first because… what did you need to wear for fishing? But then… they’d left the Rosenberg family dining room for a while, clearing up before coffee and everyone had pitched in with the dishes.

The whole family.

And yes, she thought of these people as her family now. By marriage, perhaps, but… every one of them. Mister Giles and Buffy, she’d gotten to know quite well since they’d gotten back. One way or another.

Anya and Xander too.

Mister Giles was most interested in her heritage and Buffy was interested in their wedding.

All the details.

Even the naked details. Yes, they’d admitted it to them. But not to Ira because… that would’ve been too much. Sheila… well, they’d avoided the whole ‘wife’ thing until she got used to ‘girlfriend’ for a little longer.

But now?

They might’ve mentioned the whole naked wedding thing. But there was a difference between hearing about it and seeing it.

Those were very different things.

Someone – and she was pretty sure she knew who – had come over from that other place and, very helpfully, hung a picture. Between dinner and coffee.

A picture of their wedding.

Perfect timing, obviously. Just after someone had mentioned a wedding picture. Was this how it was going to be? Was someone – a friend – going to keep being… helpful? Or was this just unfortunate coincidence?

It wasn’t even like this was their place. Someone – Miri she was certain – had popped over and hung the picture right over the Rosenberg’s dining table.

A beautiful painting, to be sure, using pigments this world had probably never considered or had available. She’d certainly never seen the like and this was the sort of thing she studied.

It was a picture that captured the essence of her memory of it all perfectly.

Right down to the blush in her cheeks. Down to the awkward placement of her other hand, the one that wasn’t linked with Willow’s.

Right down to her nudity.

Because… that was the way it had been. True enough. And some people here had known that already. Others, well they were perhaps still struggling a little with how Willow had uncovered her sexuality and found a wife in such a ‘short time’ but they’d made her feel welcome all the same.

Welcome enough that this – very detailed – picture caused more embarrassment than actual consternation. No one even thought to question how it had got here.

Did they think it was her?

Did they think she was some sort of flaunter? Or a nudist?

“It’s…” Ira coughed. “It’s very detailed.”

“Yes,” she groaned. She could see how very detailed it was. It was almost like impossibly small hands, working on what must’ve seemed like a giant canvas had captured it. Detailed enough that you could almost pick out every individual hair on her head.

Or the numerical scarcity of them in… certain locations.

There was – she realised in a horribly personal way – a level of ‘decency’ that had been applied to classical art that had covered the naked body. Most of it, anyway. A level of decency that had completely escaped beings that regarded nudity as the simple, natural state of things and for whom clothes were a convenience for the outsiders.

A level of ‘decency’ that was almost entirely missing from the picture.

Not that it was ‘dirty’. In fact it was quite beautiful. In the right circumstances she could’ve gazed on her wedding ‘photograph’ for hours and been transported back in her memories to that special day and all it had meant.

But it was… detailed.

Willow would probably have a better perspective on just how detailed. But… ‘very’ seemed like it would’ve been an understatement.

Sure, Willow’s figure hugging dress and the way the light had played across it didn’t leave much to the imagination either but at least there was a dress.

Tradition? That was one thing… This felt like…

“I’m going to kill Miri,” she murmured.

“No,” Willow told her, slipping a hand into hers under the table. “You’re really not.”

No. I’m not. Miri hadn’t been making mischief. She hadn’t done anything but be helpful and tried to share a moment of genuine beauty with this, her friends’ family.

It was just… unfortunate.

And it wasn’t like I told her not to.

Miri simply loved to show people things.

Or… everything, in this case. To everyone.

“Great – umm – bushwork,” Xander said. “Brush! Brush! I meant brush!”

Anya slapped his arm anyway.

She groaned, letting her head fall into her hands. This wasn’t the introduction she’d had in mind.

***************************

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 Post subject: Re: Tara and Willow - The Blessed Unrest - COMPLETE - 04/17/
PostPosted: Fri Apr 17, 2015 2:12 pm 
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9. Gay Now
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Yay for excellent update-y goodness... Big yikes for the first family meeting and even bigger yikes for Miri's wedding picture...

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 Post subject: Re: Tara and Willow - The Blessed Unrest - COMPLETE - 04/17/
PostPosted: Fri Apr 17, 2015 8:53 pm 
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9. Gay Now
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Well, i'm sad that it's ended, but it ended well.

The family dinner was funny, and i like the wedding picture :)
No sense hiding now. Not that there's anything to hide behind :P

Bravo!

Poor Buffy, no snuggles for her. Though the Faith thing could work :P

Anyway, thanks for a fun story.

R :flower

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 Post subject: Re: Tara and Willow - The Blessed Unrest - COMPLETE - 04/17/
PostPosted: Sat Apr 18, 2015 4:48 am 
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A fun way to end this story. The little scenes, or outtakes, worked very well as an epilogue. So, does Tara, now that she's back in this world, have to go back to being clumsy? Maybe it's the boots. Good for Ira for being so open-minded. What better way to bond than over a trout stream? Tara will be good at fishing; she knows how to be quiet. Willow, not so much.

For a story that's basically light-hearted, you did cover some serious philosophical topics. Your discussion of how marriage works is right in line with traditional Christian teaching -- marriage is the one sacrament that is performed by the participants, not by the officiating clergy. In other words, the priest doesn't "marry" you, you marry each other.

Also, near the end, a comment that compares our society unfavourably to that of the other world:
Quote:
beings that regarded nudity as the simple, natural state of things and for whom clothes were a convenience for the outsiders.


That would be called "sanity."

All in all, a very enjoyable read -- thanks!

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 Post subject: Re: Tara and Willow - The Blessed Unrest - COMPLETE - 04/17/
PostPosted: Sat Apr 18, 2015 10:13 am 
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Katharyn, The girls sure didn’t waste any time telling all those closest to them about the wedding. It’s news too good, and important, to keep secret and any peeps daring to disapprove can go pound sand! I had to smile when Ira asks Tara if she likes to fish. Now I’m trying to recall how many of your stories include the Ira and Tara fishing adventure.

When they brought up the desire for a wedding photograph I immediately thought about the lack of technology in the fairy realm making it improbable such a thing existed but then Miri delivers a painting of the nuptials and I’m like –oh duh! It’s nature based.. not the stone age! LOL I don’t think I’d leave the painting with the parents though. Or anywhere Xander can ogle it.. LOL :grin

This was a fun little alternative to a night spent in the laundry room hiding from monsters. Plus.. Tara is a wood nymph!! Well done! They live on because of dedicated authors like you. I’m grateful and I’m sure everyone posting and lurking feels the same. Thanks so much for the ride!


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 Post subject: Re: Tara and Willow - The Blessed Unrest - COMPLETE - 04/17/
PostPosted: Sun Apr 19, 2015 3:42 am 
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Zampsa - Thank you very much, as ever but for the last time in this story! I am not supposing that picture will stay up very long. Or - like the catholic church in the past - someone might go around and paint some clothes on ;)

Azirahael - I'm sort of sad it ended too, but you know what I was sad when I finished the redraft, that's really the most fun time in writing for me. First draft is usually a fair amount of work (though sometimes, like Sidestep, it can just flow and be perfect and wow to write) but redraft is where I add most of the 'fun' no matter how serious the story. Fleshing out the bones. After that the posting draft is a little tedious and posting is only great from you all having chance to read and respond. So... I think what I am trying to say is I left my sadness behind a while ago :)

I could take your comment about hiding as suggesting Tara should go nudist LOL Not happening in my realities...

Buffy? No, she always gets a raw deal from me. It's not her show anymore ;) Of course I have actually put Buffy and Faith together and am writing part 3 of that now ;)

Thanks!

Russ - Hi and thanks! I am considering always having some 'outtakes' to post at the end of a story, they're usually fun but hard to make fit into the actual plot... To answer your questions, this Tara was always quite alright at moving through trees and forests etc, I referred to it a little in the text (blink and you'll miss it) from when she was back home. So she was never quite as clumsy as canon. On the other hand, she'll never be as good in the modern parts of any world as she is there.

I love Ira - who we never see in canon - actually being supportive and open. More so than 'burn her!' Sheila. It's also my experience (and just mine) that mothers often do have that little bit extra of a hurdle to get over as they are sometimes (but not always) more invested in the grandchildren idea. Maybe that is unfair, but happened that way for a few people I know who are now absolutely supportive.

Fishing was a throwback to my former stories, I like to make those little links where I can even though this was the first time I'd written something that (theoretically) couldn't be linked to the same universe as my other stories since Sidestep (they're not explicitly linked, but could be with very little work)

I really didn't think a lot about 'philosophy' but then I've been doing this long enough that it probably seeps in just by virtue of me writing it! I must try an exercise where I try to do the very opposite of my own beliefs... Or not. :)

Thanks

Kajun - TBF - the 'aftermath' wasn't like 'right must go visit everyone this afternoon. Did take a little time LOL. On the other hand, you know how Willow would want to show Tara off :)

Tara and Ira fishing... Hmm, your memory is probably better than mine. Not sure if they actually did that in Sidestep 2 or not - even though they were very close. Certainly in Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda. Like I said above, I do like to link the universes. As with the girls themselves, some things are just supposed to happen :)

Now, did I decide to give them a picture first or did I decide I needed nude Tara? Well, I am sure you can guess... That is also somewhat traditional for me now!

And yes, think the picture will find it's way to their place. So Willow can ogle it. Maybe use it as a wallpaper for her computer. Phone, once they are invented... :)

Yeah, all of that just because I didn't do the laundry room for once LOL.

EDIT - Holy crap... next week it's 10 years since we came to this board (account set up date). Let alone the fact I was here for two previous boards before that LOL. Wow... Very impressed that so many kittens are still here after all that time.

Thanks very much

Katharyn

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 Post subject: Re: Tara and Willow - The Blessed Unrest - COMPLETE - 04/17/
PostPosted: Wed Apr 22, 2015 6:50 pm 
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Great story. I have to say I loved the whole aspect of them wondering how to return for so long and then when it came down to it nothing more was needed than "Okay we're re... Oh crap we're here!"

As for Buffy's poor taste in men translating into poor taste in women I can just imagine Drusilla wandering around in a daze while Buffy chases after her crying out "Honey, don't eat the townspeople!"

Though the fact that the names of certain "Big Bads" didn't come up all the while they were in the "woods" was surprising. I wasn't expecting Willow to rattle off an encyclopedic list of foes fought. But the one vamp that killed one of the three Slayers she's actually met might be noteworthy.

Anya's blunt nature and perceptiveness was a delight and I'm sure their reactions to the former demon were tempered by time spent with Miri and her own brand of bluntness.

All in all fine work and I'm sorry to see this one end.

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 Post subject: Re: Tara and Willow - The Blessed Unrest - COMPLETE - 04/17/
PostPosted: Mon Apr 27, 2015 12:07 pm 
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Thanks, Citanul.

I could say that ''Oh crap we're here" was a clever idea, but actually it was me being lazy :) Just happens that laziness sometimes works out.

Buffy's poor taste... I don't think that's a man/woman thing and bleeds over into my other stories.

That's a good idea you have there. Putting Anya and Miri together would have been it's own kind of fun. And even more so with more wedding pictures LOL. Shame I didn't get to it. Still, maybe Miri will show up somewhere else sometime. I often have stories all link together (though this one was off it's own canon) so it's always possible.

Thanks very much for the support

Katharyn

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 Post subject: Re: Tara and Willow - The Blessed Unrest - COMPLETE - 04/17/
PostPosted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 12:55 pm 
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Oh, I absolutely LOVED this.

That damn Miri!!!!

So, can't wait for the sequel when the girls return to have their little one :grin .

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 Post subject: Re: Tara and Willow - The Blessed Unrest - COMPLETE - 04/17/
PostPosted: Tue May 30, 2017 9:12 pm 
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I'm feeling nostalgic after the Buffy 20th Year Anniversary.

So, I'm gonna read this and my All-time favorite fic, Sidestep, again.

I absolutely love your storytelling and hope all is well with you.

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 Post subject: Re: Tara and Willow - The Blessed Unrest - COMPLETE - 04/17/
PostPosted: Tue May 30, 2017 9:34 pm 
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Hey, wasn't there gonna be a part 3?

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 Post subject: Re: Tara and Willow - The Blessed Unrest - COMPLETE - 04/17/
PostPosted: Tue May 30, 2017 9:57 pm 
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I was just thinking about this fic a few days ago...must be contagious.

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 Post subject: Re: Tara and Willow - The Blessed Unrest - COMPLETE - 04/17/
PostPosted: Fri Jun 16, 2017 10:27 pm 
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"Of course skanky-vampire Willow would’ve done naughty things looking in a mirror so… not much of a comparison there."
Excellent,........really excellent!!
This is a very fresh take on our girls story and I love where it is going. Keep up the great work.

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