Oh, my kittens! You are too nice to me!
mtnlaurel: Dude, drive carefully. I look forward to more of
your fic!
snuggle79: Okay, I love all my feedback, but I really adore when readers try to figure out what's gonna happen ...
KathleenWolf:Update coming right up! (We're getting there ... first things first).
Shinnen: Buddy, pal ... I knew I could count on you to say nice things (the check is in the mail)
hellmouthhottie20, Karzia and
Mollygig: Thanks for the feedback ... more is coming up!
Tommo:
If you keep saying such nice things, I don't know that I'll be conscious to post more. Great Obi Wan of Fics ... maybe I could be a Jedi Ficcer too?
frogfear: 
Me? Up there with Ruth a-a-and Lisa a-a-a-a-and MC
and Sasso. Oh to belong in the heavens with such stars! Thank you ... so much. You made my day.
***Without further doo-doo .... part III***
The Espresso Pump was overly crowded for a Monday afternoon. So far, the two witches watched three SpongeBob SquarePants' adventures that Willow taped, gone to Buffy's to make pancakes and perused several magic stores. They both seemed to be trying to fit a week's worth of time into one day.
"The line's so long," Willow whined and furrowed her brow. "I need my mocha! Don't these people have jobs, or kids to pick up from school?" Her eyes narrowed as her smile turned into a pout.
An image of a much younger Willow popped into Tara's mind. The vision of Young Willow standing in front of a candy display pointing and pouting, exclaiming that candy was a necessity for her growing up big and strong, made Tara giggle.
"Oo!" Willow exclaimed, bringing Tara back to reality, "Table! Empty! Get it, get it!"
Willow was expertly making her way through the crowded coffee shop before Tara could manage to utter a word.
When Tara arrived at the table, she was greeted with a triumphant smile. "I got it," Willow said, raising her eyebrows with pride. She looked back at the line and frowned again. The aroma of coffee was so rich that Willow could almost taste it. She turned back to Tara and smiled impishly.
"I see," Tara replied, with a shy smile. "Uhm, before we get in that line, I wanted to give you something." Willow's eyes lit up at the prospect and Tara grinned widely, "It's, well, you might think it's silly."
Willow shook her head, reached out and took the blonde's hand and whispered, "Never."
"Uhm, okay," Tara said, gathering her courage. Willow watched as Tara slowly took her hand back, and reached down to dig into the deep side pockets of her cargo pants.
Tara's shy half-smile only made Willow's grin widen. "It, uhm, two things, really," she started to explain, "and they aren't, uhm, wrapped or anything?"
Willow ears perked at Tara's words not only for their meaning, but also the inflection her shy friend often used when she was nervous. She couldn't help but find it adorable when Tara's shy statements came out as nervous questions. Willow often thought it was Tara's way of saying "if that's okay."
"Wrapped schmapped … wait, two?" Willow's eyes grew and Tara once again caught a glimpse of Young Willow. "For me? What's the occasion? Not that there has to be one, because I never look a gift horse in the mouth, not that I'm equating you to a horse, not that horses are bad, y'know, because you've told me horses don't like arm and that's why I was scared of them, and maybe ponies are different from horses, I don't know, but I just want you to know that I don't think that you, uhm, are a horse and can I have my pressies now?" The faces Willow made as her words came rushing out caused Tara to giggle, as they often did.
There it is again, Willow thought when she heard Tara's giggle. Willow couldn't help but wonder why her babbling brought that out of her shy friend. As she wondered, she kept her eyes expertly trained on the blonde.
"Uhm, okay, this," Tara said. Keeping one hand in her lap, she used the other to place a small notebook in front of Willow, "is, uhm, it's really, kinda corny, I guess." The small notebook was black with a gold foil moon and silver foil stars on the cover. Blue pastel powder served as stardust, trailing behind each star. In small, gold foil letters were the words
Book of Shadows. "It's all the spells we've done. Uhm, since you like green, I
attached a green fountain pen and there're extra pages in the back. Y'know for spells we try later." Tara didn't let her eyes wander from the book.
"Tara," Willow breathed, "it's perfect." She lifted the front cover and turned the pages slowly. "Not corny … so beautiful," she whispered as her eyes scanned every page, remembering each spell. She smiled when she found the floating rose spell and squinted when she noticed an illustration in the margin. It was a graphite rose with a few petals from their rose expertly placed atop its lead stem to bring the sketch to life. "Did you," she said slowly, "Tara, did you make this?"
"Well, I did the cover and, uhm, drew some stuff," Tara replied with a wide smile. "It was nothing really. A little foil and a few sketches, y'know, the bulk of it, the spells, we both created."
What Tara didn't tell Willow was that she had searched every magic shop in Sunnydale and on-line for the right book to record their spells in, but none of them were special enough. Or that she spent hours on just the lettering for the cover. Willow didn't need to know that Tara had stayed up until the early morning hours thinking of the right illustration for each spell, and went through an entire box of charcoals and fourteen pencils practicing each sketch. The only thing she wanted Willow to know was that she treasured every second they spent together.
Willow's eyes caressed the cover again and then she looked up at Tara in awe. "This is the best present anyone's ever given me, Tara," she said gently.
Tara smiled, not making eye contact. "Uhm, this next thing isn't really a present as much as, well, something I want you to have while you're away."
She brought her hand out of her lap, and held it over the table with fingers curled into a ball. "It's very special and I'm giving it you with the understanding that you will bring it back to me safe and sound," Tara said. Her stutter was gone. She looked deeply into Willow's eyes and Willow could hear the seriousness in Tara's voice.
Willow slowly put her hand out, placing it under Tara's. Her green eyes were soft with understanding as she allowed herself to drown in the deep pools of blue in front of her. She felt something tickle her open palm and her gaze was forced downward.
Between Tara's thumb and forefinger was a chain from which an amber pendant dangled, lightly brushing against her palm.
"It was my mom's. She gave it to me,' Tara explained. "It was my 'promise necklace'."
"Tara," Willow's eyes were huge, "I can't, I mean, it was your mother's."
"You have to," Tara said in a tone Willow never heard before. It was almost urgent, not carefree like she knew her friend's spirit to be. "C-can I tell you a story?"
Willow nodded as she felt the necklace drop into her hand. She closed her thin fingers around it and her smile grew along with her anticipation for Tara's story. She loved hearing Tara make up stories about princesses or about lonely kittens finding the perfect family.
Nothing was as soothing to Willow as Tara's soft voice. Often, after a grueling night on patrol or a particularly bad day, all Willow wanted was to fall asleep listening to one of Tara's stories.
"One upon a time there was a little girl in a tree …”
"Tara? Sweetie, I know you're out here, Gideon told me," the woman's voice was soft as it wound its way through the trees where the young girl was hiding. "Baby, come on out, it's okay. Everything is okay."
Blue eyes peeked out from the treetop and a small voice floated to the ground, "Promise?"
The woman looked up with the same blue eyes and smiled. "Tara, baby, come down. Come sit with me."
A pair of blue Keds fell to the ground with a thud. The woman smiled sadly as she saw her daughter's form appear, clinging to the thick trunk of the tree. She carefully lowered herself from her hiding place, and once close enough, she let her six-year-old body fall the rest of the way to the ground.
"Hi," she said quietly, pulling a leaf from the back of her shirt. Her eyes focused on the young horse behind her mother. "He didn't really tell you, did he, mommy."
"Oh, yes he did. Gideon was very worried about you," her mother said with a smile, gathering the young girl into her arms. She sat on the mossy ground and used the tree to support her back. She felt a tug around her neck and sighed.
"Baby, your father's not angry at you. He just wants us to be safe. That's all. He can't keep us safe from the things he doesn't understand. But it's not you," she said soothingly.
"No," the young girl whispered as she played with the necklace her mother wore. "I make him angry all the time. He always yells and turns red." The tears in her eyes made it hard for her to focus on the intricate patterns frozen in the amber pendant she was holding.
"Baby," her mother coaxed, "it will be okay."
Tara's pony tail that, earlier in the morning, was pulled together neatly, was now threatening to spill golden tresses across her tiny shoulders. Delicately freeing the strands and running her fingers through it's softenss, she could feel her daughter soften in her hands.
"Here," she took her necklace off and held it in front of the child. "See this? This is amber. It's very special. This piece especially." She watched her daughter give her a dubious look. "You know the rhymes you help me with?" Tara nodded, remembering the smell of burning incense and the soft, chalky powder her mother used to make pretty designs. "I made a rhyme before I came here. A rhyme for you."
"For me?" She looked at the necklace in awe. "Special for me?" Her face fell, remembering her father yelling at her. "I don't deserve anything special, mommy."
"Tara, baby," her mother breathed out. A sadness fell over her as she heard her daughter's hope turn backward on itself. "Baby, you deserve everything special, you hear me? Everything." She lifted her daughter's chin to look into her eyes. "Did you know that there's only one thing more special than this amber on the entire earth?"
Tara shook her head, moving her eyes back to the pendant.
"No, mommy, nothing is more special than this. It's been rhymed," she said, smiling shyly at the woman. "You rhymed it for me." Tara grinned widely and reached around her mother's neck and hugged her closely. She gave her a kiss on the cheek and settled herself into her mother's lap again, leaving one hand to play with the long golden locks that fell across her mother's shoulder. After a few minutes of staring into the pendant, Tara let out a contented sigh.
Her mother kissed the top of her head and placed the necklace around her daughter's neck. "I'm giving the second most special thing on earth to the most special thing, but you have to make me a promise." She held the pendant up so they could both look into it. "See that?" she asked, pointing to a fleck in the amber. "That is a piece of something that was here long before you or I. This amber holds it, protects it. If you make a promise to me, it will hold it. It's 'promise stone' now, baby. It already holds a special promise I made for you. Now, can you make me a promise?"
"Anything, mommy," Tara said, her blue eyes glowing with wonderment.
"Promise that you won't let him, or anyone, change you." She tried to choose her words carefully.
She saw a face so much like her own looking back at her. "Promise me that, even when it gets bad, you won't give up that beautiful light in your eyes. Promise me, baby, that you'll be strong and you won't change for him, for anybody, " she whispered.
"Mommy?" Tara wanted to cry but she didn't know why exactly. "I promise." She rubbed the amber with her little thumb. "I promise, mommy." "And did the little girl keep her promise?"
"Everyday," Tara replied.
"So, uhm, will you make a promise to me, Willow?" She almost couldn't bring herself to look at Willow.
"Of course, Tara, you name it," Willow said, looking down into the amber.
"Okay, promise that you will be careful on your trip," Tara said, feeling a slight blush creep across her face.
"… and," Willow prompted.
"And, uhm, and that's all." Tara finished with a giggle.
"Oh, okay, I can do that, I promise to have a safe vacation with the folks," Willow said, raising her left hand and holding her right hand, still clutching the necklace, over her heart.
"Good, uhm, I'll go get in line. But first," Tara said as she got up and took the necklace from Willow's hands. Her hands shook as she placed the necklace around Willow's neck.
With her right hand, she held the ends of the necklace together and used her left hand to moved Willow's hair out of the way. Willow shivered when she felt Tara's soft fingers brush the sensitive skin on the back of her neck. As she fastened the chain, Tara slowly let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.
"Okay, uhm, I'll be right back," She stated quickly, needing to put a little space between her and the redhead. "There's no need for us both to have to stand there. Besides, you need to keep the table for us. Uhm, the usual?" She was already moving toward the counter.
Willow nodded and smiled widely. She reached up and touched the necklace once more, noticing that under her hand her heart was pounding like it was going to explode. Willow began to play with a napkin to take her mind off of her racing pulse. She looked at the Espresso Pump logo emblazoned across the napkin and smiled. Taking the fountain pen from the book she was just given, she turned all the humps of the "p"s and the "o" in the name to hearts.
She looked over to the line and saw that Tara had only moved forward about three feet. Tara felt someone watching her and turned around to see Willow. She smiled and gave her a quick wave. Willow's smile quickly turned into a grin that would make the Cheshire Cat jealous.
Dearest Tara,
I will cherish this book forever. Not because I need reminding of our spells, but because it's a history of our friendship. Everything is here, right down to a petal from the kamikaze rose. You have handed me every moment we've shared and it's the most wonderful gift I could ever get.
Looking at it, I see you. The gold lettering, your hair. The blue powder, your eyes. The little crescent moon, that half smile that melts my heart. The paper, your pale skin. . And all of the wonderful things inside are all from somewhere inside of you.That's the part I will treasure the most.
And the necklace, Tara, I can't even put my feelings into words. It's so magnificent. Your story was so beautiful, more beautiful than the amber itself. What did I do to deserve your friendship, or even a small piece your pure, sweet heart?
Why can't I just tell you? Why does it have to be so hard? I am just so scared to lose this. I can't lose the one person that makes my stomach jittery while all the while makes me feel so calm. I can't lose waking up with a smile from the simple knowledge that I will be seeing you sometime during the day. Just having you in my life is so crucial that it doesn't matter if it's only as a friend.
There are three words I want to whisper to you over and over: 'forever and ever.' Because, if you knew how I rush to see you everyday or hate leaving you, if only to go to class and come right back, the fact that I love you would be painfully clear." Willow looked at the napkin again. Her words surrounded the coffeehouse logo and left only a small empty space at the bottom. In her best script, Willow filled the space with large letters, each hooking into the next. With a satisfied smile, she slipped the napkin into her jacket pocket and waited for Tara to arrive with her mocha.
*End Part III*
"I smell the smelly smell of something that smells smelly!" (SpongeBob Squarepants)
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at: 12/15/02 11:30:40 pm
can't wait for the next update.