Paths Diverged/Divulged by JustSkipIt

Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: Guess what, I don't own W&T, Buffy or the rest of the BtVS crew. Any similarity to actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental and fortunate.
Distribution: Littlecrazy80/Romy
The Mystic Muse /mysticmuse.net
Spoilers: Season 6
Author's Notes: Well I think it's always a good idea to start with the important thanks: Thank you to the love of my life: Rachel. Thank you to Joss Whedon who created these characters and the Buffyverse. Thank you to the fictional characters of Willow & Tara and the wonderful actresses Alyson Hannigan & Amber Benson. Finally thanks to all the Kittens who read and enjoy and comment on these fictions, particularly the moderators and Xita!
Pairing: Willow/Tara

Summary: The sequel to W/T Season 3 Y'all.

Tara sipped on her coffee and looked again at her biology book. It was just so boring and there were at least a hundred things she'd rather be doing. Like kissing Willow? her mind, or perhaps a region farther south, suggested. A dreamy smile crossed her face as she admitted to herself that yes, she would rather be kissing Willow or talking with Willow or doing a spell with Willow or just about anything with the enchanting redhead. Her reverie was broken by Scooby's bark, which was quickly followed by a light knock on the door.

Since her leg was still feeling pretty good from the ritual a few days ago at the ranch, she decided to leave her cane at the dining room table as she moved toward the door. "Scooby, stay down," she ordered the excited dog as she pulled open the door.

"Ok, well I should have called I'm sure but I was already in my car before I decided to come see you plus which what if I'd called and you said you were too busy to see me or you had important things to do or you weren't even home. But just stopping by, I could look forward to seeing you and then maybe see you anyway."

Tara giggled as she allowed Willow to continue her babbling greeting. She considered leaning forward to kiss the redhead but allowed her to finish her speech anyway. While Willow took a breath Tara took her hand and pulled her into the house and kissed her softly. "Not too busy," she whispered.

The redhead dropped to the floor to greet Scooby and pet the dog behind the ears. As she stood back up she looked at Tara again. "Look at you with the no cane all the way over here," she pointed.

"It's my favorite spell," the redhead agreed as they walked toward the table. "Oh you were studying. Maybe I should go?" she offered.

Tara snorted a little, "I wasn't really s-s-studying: more like wishing I was doing something else." She quickly changed the subject: "do you want something to d-drink Willow?"

Tara's quick change of subject was not lost on the redhead. "Water would be great." She teased, "so… what were you wishing you were doing?"

Tara handed the girl the bottle of water and took her chair again as she blushed, "I'll take the f-fifth on that one."

Willow continued her teasing as she playfully waved her hands in the air, "taking the fifth. That's got to be good."

Tara laughed out loud at the redhead before leaning forward to kiss her again. "Adorable," she declared not for the first time since meeting the redhead. "What's up Willow?"

"And I need furniture so I wondered if you wanted to go and spend my money with me. I'll take you to dinner after," she offered.

Tara quickly got up from the table as she agreed, "let me go change and w-we can go. Spending your money sounds fun and of course you can take me to d-dinner." While the blonde was in her room Willow picked up the small newspaper on the table and began reading it. Tara re-entered the room a few minutes later so see Willow with a look of consternation on her face. "What's w-wrong Will?" she asked.

Willow held up the Chronicle as she asked, "what's wrong with these people? Here's one: 'You: Anna at the Bostones concert. Me: Mike. We danced and made out for hours. Coffee sometime?' They danced and made out for hours and he didn't get her number?" She looked up to see Tara grinning at her. "Or this one: 'You tight black T-shirt on 6th street. Me, tan slacks and silk shirt. Wanna party?' We don't even know when or who or what gender or anything. It could be anyone." Now she noted that Tara was beginning a full-fledged laugh rather than a giggle-fest. She decided to add one more: "here's my favorite: 'You: white Toyota going South on Mopac. I passed you in a Suburban. You smiled. Wanna drive somewhere sometime? There's plenty of room in my truck.' They were driving down the road? How crazy is that? Like this person even knows her? How does this species even reproduce?"

Tara laughed openly at Willow as took a seat at the table again. "I always love reading those. The best one I ever saw said: 'Running at Town Lake. You: Sandra Bullock. Me: Guy shouting, 'Hey it's Sandra Bullock. It's Sandra Bullock!' Sorry. Can we have coffee?'"

"Hard to imagine," Tara agreed. "So do you have a list of what you n-need for your apartment?"

Willow smiled as she pulled a piece of paper from her pocket: "Bed, Desk or Tables, Chair, Couch, Sheets, Towels, Bathroom stuff, Plates, Silverware, Pots and Pans, Stereo or Boombox. I'm sure lots of other stuff but I thought we could just kind of wander around and fill up the cart. What do you say?"

"I saw w-we better g-go if we're gonna get started," Tara agreed as she picked up her cane from the back of her chair. As they headed out the door she teased, "you can d-drive."

Once they got in Willow's car and started driving toward the furniture store Tara asked, "s-s- since we've got some time … uh …"

Willow glanced across at the blonde. She was obviously nervous but wanted to know something. "What do you want to know Tare?"

Willow took a deep breath as she parked the car. "Wow, that's a long story. I'll try to start at the beginning but sometimes it's hard to know where the beginning is. You know?" she asked. As Tara nodded that she was listening and that she understood the complexity of the story she decided to continue. "Ok. Buffy has a little sister named Dawn."

Willow took a breath: "right. Well the thing is that she didn't always have a sister."

Tara laughed at Willow's story as both women continued walking down the row of mattresses, pressing on them with their hands. "Sure Will," Tara giggled, "she's a l-little sister. So Buffy didn't have a sister till Dawn was born."

Willow lay down on a firm mattress and patted it indicating that Tara should lie down and test it out also. "Try this one sweetie," she suggested.

"No that's what dinner's for," Willow teased back. As both girls went to look for a salesman she plunged into the confusing part of her story. "It's not just that Buffy didn't have Dawn before she was born. Uh… Ok, well you see Dawn was … well… created by monks. She didn't used to be human. She was a mystical energy source called 'the key.'" They sent her to Buffy as a sister so Buffy would protect her. She entered our lives when she was 14 and we were 20." Tara knitted her eyebrows together for a second as they walked to the car to drive to the next store. "So you're saying that D-dawn isn't really human. She's really some mystical thingy? Why did y'all believe that she was B-buffy's sister then?"

Willow nodded her head, "the $100,000 question. The monks didn't just build a sister. They gave us all memories. I remember her interrupting us when we were having Scooby meetings and tripping and ruining Buffy's 16th birthday cake. We all remember her entire life as did she."

"Right, when we found out it was really confusing. I think that actually Tara did the best of all of us. She and Dawn were always really close," she explained.

"But w-why did these monks send her?" Tara asked. She stopped for a minute remembering everything Willow had said before asking, "and then Dawn stayed with Giles after Buffy died?"

Tara laughed slightly as she clarified, "no I mean in this world: Dawn stayed with Giles? And I guess s-she and Faith are a couple?"

Willow's mouth dropped open in shock as she thought about what Tara was asking. Ok, I'm the world's worst story teller. Or explainer or whatever, she thought. "Huh what?" she said.

"Well," Tara started, "I get that Giles is the same person who was Buffy's watcher… I mean as much as I'm the same person as Tara was but you know what I mean. Right?" Willow nodded and the blonde continued, "and you always mention Giles and Faith and Dawn from here so I f- figured that she must be with Faith since you always mention them in the same breath."

Willow laughed at Tara's confusion and particularly at the somewhat twisted image in her mind of Dawn in a relationship with Faith Maybe if she was older she and Faith would look good together, she mused, no still too disturbing. "I'm sorry to laugh baby," she apologized, "it's just that the idea of Dawn with Faith is pretty ridiculous." She saw the puzzled look on the blonde's face and continued, "she's her sister."

"Back up the t-train sweetheart," Tara interrupted as they continued their shopping expedition. "You just said she's Buffy's sister."

"Ok," Willow agreed, "one thing at a time. In that world she was Buffy's sister. In this world she is Faith's sister. "The monks who made her," she looked at the blonde to see that she was following, "sent her to someone to protect her from great evil. In each world that was the slayer." Willow took a deep breath. Before last week she had hesitated to tell Tara about Buffy because she didn't want to go into Buffy's death and resurrection. But now it was more than that. Willow didn't understand exactly about this woman's dreams, her seeming insanity, but it was obvious that she had been through hell and that she knew that Glory had caused it. Willow hesitated explain the role Glory had held in all of this. "Well," Willow started, "before Dawn was a sister, she was a 'key.' She was a grand source of mystical energy."

"What did she o-o-open?" Tara asked. The blonde could feel that Willow was holding back. The more shopping they did and the more the redhead opened up her wallet, the less she seemed to be opening up her story. Tara had a nagging feeling that Willow was keeping something important from the blonde witch--something that had to do with her.

Moving from couch to couch the redhead tried to explain as gingerly as possible, "she opened a dimensional portal. Unleashing Hell on Earth."

The million-dollar question, Willow thought. "There was a hell-god--well a hell- goddess-- she wanted to get back to her hell dimension and she didn't care who died in the process. She needed to use Dawn's blood to open the portal to get home," Willow explained.

"Holy shit," Tara breathed out. She sat heavily onto one of the couches and whispered her last word: "Glory."

Willow sat down by the blonde, ironically liking the couch she happened to have collapsed onto. "Yeah baby," she confirmed, "it was Glory. That's why she did what she did to y'all. She thought Tara was the key. Then she tried to force Tara to tell her who it was and when she wouldn't, Glory stole her sanity."

Tara heard Willow's words as if they were traveling a long distance to reach her. For years she had looked at that period of darkness as an indication of her variable and unstable mental health. But now… In a few days she had found out the cause of her madness and now she had someone to aim her residual anger at. But in addition it turned out that somehow Glory was associated with Willow's best friend's death? The blonde steeled herself for the rest of the story but first she asked Willow, "d-did you pick a c-couch sweetie? We can pay and leave."

Willow was shocked to hear Tara's words. She certainly would have been in shock and crushed to hear this story but perhaps this woman was just displaying that amazing strength Willow admired so and was quickly coming to love. She smiled at the blonde and indicated the couch they were sitting on: "let me go and pay and arrange the delivery and we can continue on our combination spen-a-thon/disclose-a-thon."

After leaving the store the two girls decided that the rest of the conversation might go better at a restaurant rather than another department store. Since they had already gotten all of her furniture, which was scheduled for delivery the next week, they only needed to stop at Target or Wal-mart for the remainder of the household items. Tara gave instructions to reach a restaurant and Willow was surprised as they entered to find that it was in the style of a 50s Drive-in without the drive-in. "Baby, this is a hamburger place. What are you going to eat here?" Willow asked.

Tara laughed at the redhead: "sweetie, you have so much to l-learn about dating a vegetarian." She pointed at the menu explaining, "you can order any burger in beef, chicken, veggie, or buffalo."

Like meat doesn't sound totally gross? Tara thought giggling. Tara ordered a chocolate shake from the waitress and Willow did the same. "Do you want to sh-share some fries?" she asked the redhead. Both girls took a few minutes to look over the menu before ordering some dinner.

"So this skanky blonde hell-god sucked our brains and killed your friend?" she led.

Willow looked at Tara in shock. Who knew she could put it so succinctly or bluntly? The redhead took a drink of her shake and looked up noticing that the blonde was laughing at her. "What?"

Tara leaned across the table slowly and sensually tracing her fingertip over the tip of Willow's nose and pulling it away covered with whipped cream. As Willow's green eyes locked on hers she slowly ran her fingertip over her lips, tracing the sweetness over her red buds before pressing her own fingertip slightly inside her mouth and sucking on it. As she pulled her finger out of her mouth she slowly used her tongue to clean the creamy goodness from her lips. "You had whipped c- cream on your nose," Tara explained unnecessarily and seductively.

"Uhhh huh," Willow answered. You could say something you know. Something. Anything. Something more intelligent than 'uhhh huh.' Something. "Uhhh huh," she repeated as Tara giggled.

"Oh right, Glory," Willow answered. Really this should be the easy part of the conversation: she had already mentioned Glory and that was the part that Tara would be sensitive to, so why did she feel so weird? "To sum up: Glory needed Dawn's blood to open a portal to get back to her hell dimension:

"It's kind of a sick story but … well… Spike had had a buffy-bot built for …well… and I reprogrammed it to fight Glory," Willow explained as an aside to the tale. "One of the things we were scared about was that we knew that if the portal was opened by Dawn's blood, the only thing that could close it was for her blood to stop flowing."

Willow nodded. "That's why Buffy was so dead-set on protecting her sister even if it meant the end of the world."

As Willow told her story, Tara had reached out to take the redhead's hand. It would have been apparent to anyone that Willow was crushed by her best friend's death even without the tears running down her face. For a few minutes the two girls held hands and ate in silence. Finally Willow put a happy face on as she concluded, "the end."

Tara looked a little sidewise at her date. It obviously wasn't the end since she Buffy was alive again but perhaps that story would wait. Finally the blonde spoke: "c-c-can I ask questions." Willow nodded but didn't answer out loud. "What happened to G-g-glory?"

Willow smiled at the question. Of course Tara would want to know what had happened to the creature that had caused them all so much pain. Even this woman in another dimension had obviously been harmed by Glory's cruelty. Briefly Willow wondered if thousands of other Taras in thousands of other dimensions had suffered too. But maybe the connection between her Tara and, well her new Tara was because they had met in high school? "Glory and Buffy fought for a long time. Buffy hit her continuously with a Troll-god's hammer. And well… see … Glory was sharing a body with a 'normal' man named Ben. After all that damage he returned. After Buffy jumped, we found him dead on the ground. I guess the damage Buffy did to Glory was too much for him."

"Good," Tara said with just enough venom for Willow to be glad she had never been the target of one of the blonde's bad moods. After taking another big bite of her burger the blonde asked her next question: "how did Buffy jumping into the portal close it?"

"Because her blood stopped flowing," Willow answered as if Tara just hadn't been paying attention to the story.

"Ok…," Tara responded, "but that means Buffy's blood stopped flowing. What does that have to do with Dawn's blood stopping flowing? Why would that close the portal?"

Willow screwed up her eyebrows in confusion at Tara's question. "Well," she answered, "Dawn told us about what Buffy said before she jumped. She said that Buffy said they shared the same blood so that's why she jumped."

"What about it doesn't make sense?" Willow questioned. "That's the way it happened."

Tara attempted to explain her problem with the scenario the redhead had laid out: "Ok first off, I c-c-can't see how stopping the flow of Buffy's blood would close the portal. Second, didn't Dawn's blood clot and stop flowing pretty quick anyway? Maybe that's what closed the portal and Buffy just jumped for no reason at all."

Willow stopped chewing to think about what the blonde was saying. "I never thought about that. It doesn't make any sense…" A sadness washed over her again as she realized that maybe Buffy had been wrong: maybe she didn't need to die at all.

"Hey," Willow interjected, "let's change subjects: are you still making me dinner this week?"

"Oh," Tara answered, "about that. C-c-can we reschedule for next week?" She saw the frown that quickly took over the redhead's usually adorable face.

"Why?" Willow pouted, "I want my Tara-time." The blonde laughed as Willow shifted to cave- Willow voice: "me want Tara-time. Not enough Tara-time. Me want!"

By now Tara was laughing her full-throated sensual laugh that just made Willow's soul melt. "Jess called me from the v-vet's office earlier. Her sister had her baby and she n-n-needed someone to fill in tomorrow night. Since we have Michelle's party Friday I thought we could have dinner next week?" Willow's gaze had softened considerably to the point that it was obvious that she was just pouting for fun at this point. "I could m-make it up to you," Tara purred suggestively.

Willow gulped in surprise at the tone of Tara's voice. What does she mean? What? What? What does that mean? Make it up how? How is she going to make it up? Huh? The redhead opened and closed her mouth a few times trying to find the words to answer Tara. Finally she settled on the stunningly brilliant retort: "ok?"

Tara was amused to hear Willow's squeak in response to her flirting. After finding not much success in the dating arena, mostly due to her own disinterest of course, she loved the attention that Willow gave her. It was exhilarating to have such a beautiful and wonderful and magical woman so entranced with her. And the way that Willow reacted when Tara flirted with her was just wonderful. It shocked and amazed Tara that such an overwhelmingly sensual woman could be so caught off-guard and embarrassed by Tara's flirting. The blonde giggled warmly and pulled Willow's small hand toward her to kiss the soft skin on its back. "Adorable," she again whispered.

Tara again erupted in full-throated laughed. "Did you just shout 'l-lamps'?" she asked as both girls noticed the people all looking at them in the restaurant.

Willow took Tara's hand as both girls continued laughing. "For reading and studying," she giggled. "Let's go keep spending my money baby," she told the blonde as both stood up and moved toward the door of the restaurant. Wanting to be considerate Willow asked, "how's your leg? Do you want to shop more or go back home Tara?"

Tara leaned across the car to tell the girl, "you're really sweet Willow," as she pressed their lips together. "But," she continued, "let's go k-keep spending your money."

"I got it!" Eliza shouted since she was nearest the door. Of course, with the volume of the music, who knew if anyone had even heard her? Michelle was in the kitchen cutting more fruit to throw in the punch and Tara had declared herself DJ and was currently inserting more CDs in the 50-disc changer.

"Sinatra, no. Billie Holliday, not tonight. Les Mis, definitely not," she mumbled as she culled the existing discs and inserted new ones.

"The ritas need more tequila," Eliza yelled toward the kitchen, really hoping Chelle would hear this time, and pulled open the door. From the corner of her eyes she noticed one of Chelle's runner friends sip her drink, consider for a minute, nod at the dark-haired girl, and get up to go toward the kitchen. "Happy b…," Eliza announced as she looked at the partygoer on the porch.

The dark-haired girl's mouth hung open as she raked her eyes over the visitor. Shit! Tara's gonna rip my eyes out, was her first coherent thought as she instinctively snapped them shut. All she needs is a whip to complete the ens… She quickly re-opened her eyes since the picture in her head was just as racy if not more so than the sight in front of her. Ok, Tara's gonna have to rip out everyone's eyes, she giggled. As she reopened her eyes, Eliza finally found the ability to speak. "How you doin?" she asked with an exaggerated Italian/Brooklyn accent.

As she waited for Willow's answer she absorbed the redhead's costume. Her pants, if you could justify calling them pants, were so tight that Eliza could imagine neither how the girl had gotten them on nor who might have zipped them. Actually it looked more like her skin had somehow merged with the slick black leather covering which had then shrunken to outline every inch of her body. Ok. What does her already cute ass look like in those? The dark-haired girl wasn't even trying to control her thoughts any more figuring that if Tara or her own girlfriend killed her it might just be worth it. Noticing the heavy black leather boots she wondered how the redhead could keep from sweating. But actually Willow didn't look hot; she looked cool and comfortable.

If her pants looked tight, they were nothing compared to the top the redhead was wearing. Again black leather seemed to entrap the small woman. The top featured a tight bodice that pushed up her assets in a way that Eliza would never have imagined they could be featured. The sleeves of the top were surprisingly long with red frills around the wrists and Eliza idly wondered why the redhead didn't tear those off. Perhaps because they matched the surprisingly innocent red accent to the bodice because they certainly didn't seem to go with the rest of the dominatrix getup.

As Eliza stared at Willow's suddenly abundant chest, she noticed that the girl was paler than usual. Actually paler wasn't a good description: the girl was freaking white! It was as if she had rolled in powder or had all pigment removed from her already light skin. Every bit of exposed skin was equally light with the exception of the makeup on her face. Her lips were outlined in an uncharacteristically bold red while her eyes were expertly made-up with green and yellow eye shadow. The entire effect was so mesmerizing that Eliza barely noticed the slightly longer than normal canine teeth just jutting past the top of Willow's lower lip.

"Aren't you going to invite me in?" Willow purred as she held up a wrapped present.

"Uh…," Eliza stalled as she tried to think of words in actual English. "How you doin?" she again asked.

The witch broke character a little bit as she giggled before answering, "good costume Eliza, very funny." While Eliza had been checking Willow out so thoroughly the redhead had also been assessing Eliza's costume. At first it didn't make sense but eventually she put together the expensive dark double-breasted suit, fedora, and cigar. Combine that with the exaggerated accent that Eliza was invoking each time she found herself able to speak and Willow finally knew that Tara had shared Willow's misunderstanding about Eliza's father's line of work.

"Hey, you're l-l-letting all the cold air…," Tara said as she came over to see what was holding Eliza up. "W-w-willow?" Tara half–stated/half-asked as she saw the woman on the porch. Her confusion was obvious as she stared at Willow, not really even trying to avoid looking like she was staring at the girl's chest. But really, who could help but stare? Simultaneous to her arousal at seeing Willow like this was the overwhelming fear in the pit of her stomach. Although she could feel Willow's essence emanating from the redhead she also remembered the woman, the creature, from so many of her dreams and nightmares. Always this woman, always with this predatory look and the feeling of fear and loss that ran through the blonde as Willow turned toward her.

In all that time, all those years, Tara had never quite identified what was different about this image, what made this woman so scary and terrible. This, she knew, was "her Willow," the Willow from her world, the woman she should have had. But she had never known the truth about this woman. Now it finally hit her. Why did she label the painting "Never" and what was the meaning of the drop of blood on the woman in the painting's lip? Willow from her world was a vampire. That was why Tara never found her.

Willow had enjoyed greeting Eliza at the door. It was apparent that the younger girl did not recognize her as wearing a vampire costume. Perhaps she thought Willow was just wearing a lot of black leather sexy clothes. Expensive black leather clothes, Willow thought. But now Tara was at the door and speechless. Willow couldn't see her face through the blonde's creative costume.

Who would have thought that Tara would incorporate her cane into a costume? While no Star Wars expert, the redhead was pretty sure that you called that an "Imperial Walker" or something like that: basically a big carrier thing on four walking feet. She wore big clunky looking attachments on each foot and on her cane and carried an extra cane to complete the ensemble while the large carrier part was made of some big cardboard or plastic box that had been expertly painted to look just like the device.

Even though Willow could barely see Tara's face, she could feel the fear and discomfort emanating from the blonde. And she began admonishing herself. The choice to dress as a vampire for the party was obviously stupid and inconsiderate. It hadn't seemed to Willow that Tara was afraid of Willow's doppelganger but obviously she was. Willow opened her mouth to speak and reassure the blonde that she was actually herself when she heard Tara ask Eliza, "d-did you invite her in?"

Rather than trying to explain her costume Willow confidently stepped through the doorway and closer to the blonde who appeared to be looking toward the wooden frame as if shocked that it hadn't held better. "I'm sorry baby," she began telling Tara, "I guess I didn't really think enough about this before choosing the costume. I just thought it would be sexy and hot and kind of an inside joke but I didn't really think about how it would make you feel and I'm so sorry about that and I can go back to the hotel and change or I brought some clothes and they're in the car and I can change now or whatever you want and did I mention I'm really sorry?"

As she spoke Willow realized that she could actually see Tara's face through the "mouth" hole in the costume. Not that there was a mouth to the imperial walkers but she had cut an opening so people could hear her speak and so she could breathe and assumably drink. The redhead watched Tara's face through the costume intently wondering if the blonde would relax and forgive her thoughtlessness. She hardly noticed that Eliza was greeting another guest as Tara reached out and pulled Willow slightly to the side of the doorway.

As she heard Willow's speech Tara's face showed a huge smile. No one but Willow could possibly make an apology take that long. For the first time Tara inwardly cursed her costume choice. When she came up with the idea she was just thinking about the prizes given in a few hours for "best costume" and "most original" and her streak of winning some award for 2 years running now. But it hadn't occurred to her that this costume would interfere so egregiously with Willow-kisses. And that wasn't good at all. Gently she reached out her hand to touch her fingertips to Willow's lips. "Let's call that a p-p-placeholder for the ones later," she purred. "When I'm out of this costume," she clarified.

Willow's face lit up in a vixeny grin as she teased, "that sounds great. What are you wearing under the costume?"

"You flirt," Tara called her as she took Willow's hand, moving both canes to her left hand. "Do you want a d-d-drink? There's beer, wine, margaritas, and punch." Both girls crossed the room, which was quickly becoming quite crowded, toward the kitchen.

Willow took in the sight of Michelle mixing margaritas. Tara hadn't exaggerated when she said that the runners apparently took the opportunity to just dress skimpily. Willow guessed that Michelle was supposed to be Cupid but really that was only apparent by the thin white cotton sash that was draped around her body, barely covering her private areas, and the play bow & arrow slung over her shoulder. Without asking the runner handed both Tara and Willow drinks explaining, "I'm Cupid so you need drinks, girls."

Both witches laughed as Willow handed Michelle her present. "Happy Birthday Chelle," the redhead told her as she leaned in for a hug. "What the?" she exclaimed as she took her first drink of the margarita.

Both Tara and Michelle laughed at Willow's expression as they teased the girl, "what's wrong, Willow?"

"That margarita has some kick," Willow explained. "It's like there's something in there I can barely taste."

Cupid reached over to pick up an empty Everclear bottle. "Cupid's secret ingredient," she giggled as she took another drink. "Speaking of which… keys go in the box on the top of the fridge. Shortly we'll go hide them and no one gets them back without a vote that they can drive."

"Democracy in action huh?" Willow asked as she handed over her keys. In truth she was just as glad to be free of them. She certainly couldn't put them in her pocket; as it was she could barely breathe in this outfit. Well, I guess vampires don't actually breathe so that works out well for them, she thought.

Willow looked up to see Tara watching her intently though the mouth/eye holes in her costume. "What?" the redhead asked.

Tara giggled, "looked like Willowbabble in there." She added on teasingly, "too bad for this c-costume getting in the way of fixing that."

Michelle hiccupped as she looked at her roommate: "you're welcome to take it off anytime Tare. You won the last two years and could give someone else a chance you know."

The blonde handed Willow her drink as she took her hand and started from the kitchen. As she did so she looked at the clock. "You know the r-rules," she teased her roommate, "if I keep the costume on until 10:00 I qualify."

Willow giggled at Tara's taunt. Just as the two girls were leaving the kitchen, they heard Michelle taunt her roommate back: "sure Tara but your dominatrix girlfriend may give you a run for your Margarita."

As they moved back toward the living room Willow playfully pouted, "I'm not a dominatrix; I'm a vampire."

"You needed to wear bigger f-fangs and drip fake blood down your chin for people to recognize that sweetie," Tara explained playfully as she reached her fingers up to stroke the redhead's lips and chin.

"Phooey on your big bulky costume," the redhead pouted again. Willow took a look around the room. Tara had certainly been right: Michelle's costume was far from the most revealing to be seen at the party. And if she could judge by muscle tone most of the girls wearing barely anything were runners indeed. Some appeared to be paired up but most were talking to other guests. Of course, quite a few had brought boyfriends or male dates but none of them seemed to think twice about the number of female couples at the party. Willow glanced at the clock on the VCR and attempted to be heard above the music: "so what's the deal on the 10:00 time thing?"

Tara nodded that she had heard Willow's question. "You have to keep your c- costume on until 10:00 to qualify for prizes. After th-that you can change into something more comfortable." Nodding toward a few of the runners she amended her statement: "or less comfortable."

Willow giggled at Tara's comment. "I can't believe none of these nubile little things snapped you up," she teased.

Ok, this costume was the stupidest idea I've ever had. What time is it? 9:25. I can't get a hold of her for 35 more minutes? This was totally stupid. Tara was beating herself up for her costume choice. Sure she would possibly win a prize but in the meantime she was missing out on Willow kisses and snuggles. "W-w-what?" she asked. She had no idea what Willow had just said.

"Well," Willow started, "I said, 'I can't believe none of these nubile little things snapped you up.'" She took a quick drink before continuing, "but it had really great timing and was much funnier the first time. Kind of cross between a flirt and a miffed/jealous girlfriend reaction."

Tara drained her cup to match the one in Willow's hand as she tried to process what Willow had just said. Something about nubile snatches. No that couldn't be it. Girlfriend! Did she just call me her girlfriend? Maybe she just called her my girlfriend? Shouldn't that take at least a conversation or something? Do people just become girlfriends without some sort of announcement? Her head was spinning with confusion and wonderment. Before she could say anything Willow took the glass from her hand and explained, "I'll go get these filled while you ponder my comic genius and perfect timing."

Did I just call myself her girlfriend? Willow wondered as she walked away. Well, she probably didn't notice anyway. She seems really distracted, the redhead tried to reassure herself. Glancing back she noticed that Tara seemed to be staring at her as she walked away. Willow knew that she looked good in that costume. I might not be dressed like a dominatrix but I know my butt looks good in these pants, she smirked as she poured more margaritas into the two cups and returned to the living room.

By the time Willow returned to the living room Tara was sitting on the arm of the couch with Eliza standing by her. Apparently the younger girl had seen the blonde without a drink and brought her one. A few other people stood visiting with the pair as Tara reached out a hand to take Willow's while she continued nodding at a story that one of the guys was telling. Tara waited for a convenient break in the conversation before introducing Willow: "Mark, Cassie, this is my girlfriend Willow. I m-mean this is Willow. Willow this is M-mark and Cassie."

Willow politely shook the couple's hands but she was concentrating on Tara. She couldn't see the girl's face but somehow she suspected that she was blushing that adorable Tara-shade of red. She was sure that it turned even redder as Eliza decided to tease the couple: "girlfriend? When did you two get upgraded?"

Tara started stuttering as she explained, "we d-d-didn't… I mean w-w-we … it just s-s-slipp…" but her stammering was interrupted as Willow took her hand explaining, "it was really recent." "Yep, really recent," she repeated victoriously.

"Well," Eliza announced with a flourish, "it's something to celebrate." She took a long drink of her margarita and Willow noticed, not for the first time, that the younger girl appeared to have a lot to celebrate today. Glass houses, her mind sung at her as she looked down at her own glass, realizing that it was empty yet again. Plus which at that point, Tara had had one more glass than she had and Willow didn't know if she had started drinking before the redheaded witch had arrived.

Deciding that Eliza had teased the two witches enough Cassie addressed Tara: "come on Tare? Please?" Willow could only imagine that the two had been involved in a conversation before she had returned with the drinks. Willow was somewhat surprised as both Mark and Eliza joined in attempting to cajole the blonde: "come on Tare? You know you're the best and we need you."

Willow giggled as Tara shook her head and with it the entire carrier part of her costume. "Hey," the blonde announced obviously, "look at that my d-d-drink's empty. Willow's t-t-too. We better go…"

She was cut off by Mark who quickly took both glasses from the witches. "Well," he countered her excuse, "I should be a gentleman. Let me get these for you girls, I mean women, and y'all can stay right here and visit with Eliza and Cassie." He was gone quicker than either woman could protest, leaving Tara to Eliza's machinations.

Blowing out a dramatic exasperated sigh Eliza turned to Willow. "Willow, my friend," she purred as she draped one arm over the girl's shoulders.

Actually she was only half-way joking but she realized that Tara was laughing uncontrollably under her costume. "She's got your number Liza," Tara teased the younger girl.

Everyone laughed as they heard the dark-haired girl's mumbled pout: "shirt's too tight to see down it anyway. Jeez." Recovering her focus she again addressed Willow, "you're her girlfriend. You should have some influence. Tell her." Cassie nodded along with Eliza who was still waving her unlit cigar around as she tried to convince Willow to join in.

By now Mark had returned to the conversation, handing out the drinks he had retrieved. Apparently he had decided that everyone needed refills and found a pitcher in the kitchen and bringing it to add to all the glasses. "What did I miss?"

"I have no idea," Willow answered while Cassie explained. "Eliza wants Willow to use her influence to convince Tara."

"Uh…" Mark thought quickly, "I'll keep both of your glasses full all night." "And I can bring y'all snacks when you want something," Cassie added. "And I'll make y'all breakfast," Eliza quickly chipped in.

"I'll buy y'all breakfast," Eliza quickly argued. "Everyone knows I can spend money."

Willow appeared to be to be considering all their offers for a minute as she tapped her finger on her chin and looked up at the ceiling muttering, "hmmm drinks and snacks and breakfast. Although the chances that any of us will want breakfast are pretty slim but still…" She glanced over at Tara to see the blonde giggling under her costume and winked at her. The redhead took a deep breath before telling Eliza, "well I've thought about your offer. And… I have no idea what the hell y'all are talking about!" Both Willow and Tara broke into laughter at the astonished looks on the other three friends' faces.

Eliza puffed to express her exasperation as Michelle walked up and draped her arm over her girlfriend's shoulder. Turning back to Tara she continued her pitch: "we really need you Tare: Thelma or Roxie?"

Again Cassie joined in attempting to convince the blonde: "Come on Tara. You and me headlining?"

"Arrrggghhh!" Tara exclaimed startling everyone as she waved her canes through the air. "Totally dancing. Remember?"

"Ok ok Tara. I'm hearing you," Eliza answered, "how about Mama Morton? She doesn't need to dance, just sing?"

Tara looked at the runner like she had just saved her life. Wordlessly she took Willow's hand and pulled her toward her bedroom. The redhead followed willingly albeit a little shocked. Tara was taking her to her bedroom? And wanted her there while the girl changed clothes? Something about that seemed off. As Willow thought about it she realized that she had only been in the blonde's bedroom twice: once the night she arrived when she used the bathroom attached to the bedroom and the night of Eliza's niece's christening when she had put Tara to bed.

Sighing loudly Tara pushed the door closed behind them and leaned on it. Willow laughed as she took in the sight of the blonde resting more on her costume than on the door since it stuck out so far behind her. "You're l-laughing at me," Tara playfully announced.

Taking a final drink before setting down her empty glass Willow ignored Tara's statement. "Are you going to take off that costume so I can kiss my girlfriend?"

"C-c-can you shut your eyes?" Tara asked. She felt embarrassed to be asking but knew she'd be more embarrassed for Willow to see her. Especially in her sweaty/nasty state.

For a second Willow was disheartened but she quickly told herself that when Tara was ready for Willow to see her body, then she'd be ready but not before. The redhead already knew that there was no way she would find the blonde anything but wonderful and beautiful and perfect. "Absolutely," she nodded. "What do you want me to do?"

"Grasp right here," Tara demonstrated with her hands, "and on the count of three we can both lift it off." As she saw that Willow was in place she counted, "one, t-two, three." The headpiece came off easily and Willow turned to set in on the floor.

As soon as she had, she straightened up she reached out with her hands for Tara's body, feeling a little embarrassed as her left hand hit on a soft, round mound. "Oops, sorry," she apologized quickly as she wrapped both arms around the blonde's body and brought their lips together.

Even as she felt embarrassed at being so sweaty and stinky Tara clasped her hands to Willow's cheeks as the two girls kissed deeply and passionately. Their tongues wrestled and twisted moving from one mouth to the other. They could each taste the sweet lemon-lime taste of their margaritas on the other and the alcohol only served to heighten their awareness of their mouths and bodies pressed together. Willow wrapped her left hand in Tara's hair, noting the moisture saturating it as she moved her right hand lower to stroke the blonde's bottom. It was the first time she had made so bold a move and she momentarily wondered if Tara would stop her but heard only the moaning intake of breath as she brushed her hand over the area. She had expected that Tara was wearing jeans under her costume and wasn't prepared for the shock of the blonde's bottom covered only by a thin pair of boxer shorts, also soaked with sweat. No wonder she wanted me to close my eyes, she thought.

Tara couldn't believe the way she felt as she nearly melted in Willow's embrace. What had she been thinking wearing a costume that kept her away from this woman all night? Insane clearly. Her hands wandered to wrap around Willow's back and she stroked the soft leather, reminding herself once again of the way the smaller girl looked in the sexy outfit. All those years she had felt uncomfortable with this appearance: who knew it could be so sexy? Finally Tara pulled away. "I n-n-need to shower real q-quick," she explained, hoping that Willow still had her eyes closed.

Willow agreed, "sure but don't take too long." Wanting to tease Tara as the blonde so frequently did to her she suggested, "unless you want me to join you?"

"Gotcha," Willow announced. "You always make me speechless." She leaned in for another quick kiss, which became not so quick. "My turn to make you speechless," she giggled. "I'll await your return eagerly," she announced in what she hoped sounded vaguely like an English Knight's voice.

Willow turned to leave before asking, "but can I come back in here and change my clothes? These aren't really for breathing which I guess isn't a problem for vampires but since I do need to breathe…"

Tara giggled as she heard Willow's mini-babble. "Of course," she agreed, "you just h-have to find your k-keys to get your other clothes."

"Oh crap," Willow responded, "I forgot that. Ok. I'll be back in a minute." Ten minutes later the redhead had changed her clothes into something much more comfortable. She now wore jeans with a brightly-colored T-shirt. It actually hadn't taken her as long to find the key box but getting her keys was another matter. Finally Eliza had escorted her to her car to get her clothes before taking the keys back from her. What would make her think I would want to leave this party? Tara's here? Willow wondered. After folding the leather clothes and stowing them under Tara's desk chair the redhead knocked on the door to the bathroom: "Tara?"

"I need another two m-minutes, Willow," Tara answered immediately, "do you want to wait for me or go b-back out?"

"I'll wait," Willow answered happily as took a chance to look around Tara's room. The room was a typical style student room but with very nice furniture. The blonde slept in a double bed and had a large table, obviously for studying, with two chairs. A large drafting table took up one side of the room and had various sheets of drawing paper tacked to it. Two easels were also jammed in the corner with canvases on them but as they were faced toward the wall, Willow didn't want to be nosy. The dresser was covered with photographs of Michelle and Eliza and Tara's family.

As Willow was looking at the items on the dresser, the door to the bathroom opened and Tara stepped into the room. She saw Willow looking at her pictures and came up behind her, wrapping her arms around the redhead's waist and leaning her chin on Willow's shoulder. "That one was at Eliza's high school graduation," she explained as she pointed at the picture.

All three girls were squinting in the bright sun, their arms wrapped around each other's waists. "Only Eliza could look like that in a graduation gown," Willow laughed as she indicated the sexy look the dark-haired girl was giving the camera and way she was wearing her gown.

"They almost didn't let her w-walk across the stage," Tara agreed. "But then… well… student of the year, big money from dad, star of the musical, salutatorian, they kind of had to."

Willow turned into the blonde's embrace. "What? Eliza was salutatorian and student of the year?" She shook her head. "In our world she flew to California so often to see Chelle that she almost didn't graduate." As she spoke she nuzzled into the soft skin of Tara's neck and began to place light kisses along her jugular and across her collarbone. "Mmmm," she whispered, "not that I care about that at the moment."

Willow could feel Tara's pulse rate increasing under her lips as the blonde moaned and pressed her body into the smaller girl's. Grasping Willow's cheeks she pulled her face away only to press their mouths together again. As the redhead thrust her tongue into Tara's mouth she began sucking on the tip and was rewarded by the moan which she felt as much as heard reverberating through Willow's body. Both girls knew their breathing was becoming more erratic as their mouths melded together and their hands roamed over the other's body.

Suddenly a knock at the door interrupted them. "Hey Tara, Willow," Eliza shouted, "there's a whole party out here you know?" She added on, "and people want to use your bathroom."

Tara and Willow giggled at the interruption. "I knew there was something going on here," Willow joked, "I just forgot what that might be." Each girl took a few seconds and some deep breaths before pulling open the door and stepping out to take the drinks Eliza was holding from her but not before the younger girl could note their flushed appearances and smile knowingly at them, causing Tara to blush bright red.

Both girls' attention was grabbed immediately by the shout from across the room: "Tara!"

"Oh great," Willow mumbled under her breath as she saw Elizabeth, dressed like a princess, of course, making her way through ridiculously crowded house.

The redhead's mood was considerably improved as Tara leaned over to whisper in her ear, "play nice sweetie and I'll make it worth your while." As she finished speaking she trailed her tongue just barely along the top of Willow's ear and felt the redhead shudder.

"Tara!" Elizabeth again exclaimed as she grasped the blonde in a hug. "I heard you were hiding under a bulky costume. I'm so glad to see you dressed like this instead." She leaned close to let the blonde know, "you look really wonderful Tara. Very fresh."

I cross dimensions to find all my friends are dead here but this skank is exactly the same? How does that work? Willow wondered as she observed Elizabeth through narrowed eyes. Immediately Tara took a step back from the older girl to wrap her arm more securely around Willow. "Elizabeth," she stated, "this is my girlfriend Willow Rosenberg. Willow, this is Michelle's sister Elizabeth."

Both Willow and Elizabeth shook hands stating, "nice to meet you," although any observer could tell that they didn't really find it nice at all. Elizabeth looked the redhead up and down before sneering, "nice costume Willow."

"Gosh," Willow said overly sweetly, "you too, Bethie. Nice to see the classics never go out of style." Turning to Tara she told the blonde, "I just saw little Joey over there. Do you want to go and see if that furry costume is as huggable as it looks?" She turned toward Elizabeth again to note, "isn't Little Joey just the sweetest?" She left the rhetorical question hanging as she and Tara started across the room after Tara made a hasty goodbye. It hadn't been hard for Willow to spot Little Joey, dressed in a huge bear suit. Willow wondered if he might just be the hottest person at the party now that Willow and Tara had divested themselves of their costumes. Eliza appeared to be dropping clothing as she consumed more alcohol and now just wore the suit pants with her shirt half-way unbuttoned and her tie around her pony-tail.

As they crossed the room Tara giggled at the way Willow had handled Michelle's sister. She wasn't directly rude but she had certainly turned Elizabeth's game back on her. Taking a look at Joey and Eliza and noting that they were obviously playing a drinking game, Tara stopped momentarily to ask her girlfriend, "please don't play with them, Willow."

Tara stopped and looked into Willow's eyes as she explained, "they're playing a d-d-drinking game. If you play with them you'll end up p-passed out in a corner and sick as hell tomorrow."

Willow's eyes shined as she thought about her girlfriend's concern but she wanted to tease her: "you don't think I can hold my liquor?"

Tara giggled at the obvious joke, "yes but they have a l-lot more experience than you unless there's something you haven't shared with me." She leaned in to place her mouth just barely touching the redhead's ear as she whispered, "and I want you … conscious later."

Even as Willow gulped down her shock at Tara's teasing words she returned her own, whispered into the soft skin at the base of Tara's throat: "oh there are quite a few things I've never shared with you." As she finished speaking she pressed her lips to Tara's flesh and flicked her tongue lightly against the sensitive area. Tara whimpered quietly and squeezed the redhead's upper arm.

Suddenly Willow felt large furry arms wrap around her from behind and lift her up. "Hey!" she shouted laughing, "let me face you for this massive bear hug." Joey quickly set her down and allowed her to turn to face him before picking her up again.

As he set her down the second time Willow was relieved that he was much more gentle with Tara, merely leaning down to hug her. "Hey Tara, I hear I missed another great costume from you." The blonde blushed and waved her hand at his own and he continued, turning toward Willow, "and I hear you were pretty hot as a dominatrix."

"We've been d-d-drinking, Joey; we'll just watch you a little," Tara responded as she and Willow sat watching the game.

Within minutes Willow was glad she wasn't playing. She couldn't quite figure out how the game worked and wondered if perhaps her demon-fighting life hadn't left enough room for these types of pursuits. As far as she could figure the game had something to do with not saying certain words or numbers and not making certain movements. The participants took turns telling a ridiculous story and every few seconds everyone burst into laughter as one person had to drink. She shook her head repeatedly as she tried to understand the seemingly random rules. Even though they weren't playing Tara and Willow were enjoying the party. They were still drinking lightly and surprisingly enough Mark kept them supplied with full glasses even though Willow had not fulfilled her part of the bargain.

Out of the corner of her eye Willow had been noticing flashing lights at irregular intervals but hadn't thought anything of it. Finally she noticed that the lights were coming from a camera and turned to look at the photographer. It took her only a second to recognize James, whom she hadn't seen since high school. He was dressed, quite obviously, as Jimmy Olsen and moving freely around the room taking pictures one-handed while drinking with the other hand. The redhead was just drunk enough not to think about it as she stood and practically ran across the room to give him a hug. "James, god I haven't seen you in three years!" she shouted as she pressed their bodies together.

At first she thought that he just didn't recognize her after all this time as it took him a minute to return the exuberant embrace. But as he let go to look curiously at him she blushed red. "Right birdie," James said slowly, "and you would be? Not that I mind beautiful women throwing themselves at me." Conspiratorially he whispered, "especially at one of Chelle's parties."

By this time Tara had caught up to her embarrassed girlfriend. "No such luck James," she teased as she wrapped her arm around Willow's waist. "James, this is my girlfriend, Willow Rosenberg. Willow," she stressed, "this is James. He went to high school with us." Tara was surprised as Willow failed to recover from her confusion for a few seconds. When she realized that the redhead was not going to recover so easily she hastily explained, "Willow and I thought we'd play a little joke on you. Chelle has said so much about you that she practically felt like she knew you." Turning to the redhead she prodded, "right Willow?"

Still shocked at her major faux pas, Willow recovered badly, "uh, right. Playing a joke. Ha ha."

James laughed at Willow's overwhelming embarrassment. "Willow as in the Willow?" he asked. "The Muse?" he whispered quietly.

The redhead watched as Tara blushed furiously to James' question. "One and the same," she smiled.

"Well then," James started, "we are like old friends." He hugged the redhead more closely this time before stepping back. "Hey Tare, is Helen here? I have my portfolio in the car and she wanted to see what I have that's new."

Tara made a snorting sound to James' question. "Right, Helen at Michelle's birthday party? Are you s-stoned, James?"

"Right then," James agreed, "I'll stop by and see her tomorrow while I'm in town."

Both James and Tara laughed at Willow's question. "Helen runs three g- galleries," Tara explained.

"Yeah," James told her, "I don't show at Women's Work but she likes my work for the other two." He turned to Tara and smiled his most seductive smile. "Guess what else I have in my car?"

Recovered from her initial embarrassment and stupid question about showing James' work at the Women's gallery and emboldened by her liberal application of alcohol Willow decided to guess first: "Hallie Barry, Jennifer Garner, and a case of whipped cream?"

"That's two whos and a what," James deadpanned, "I only said I have a what in my car."

Tara giggled at Willow's silly guess. "Maybe later sweetie," she teased whisperingly. Turning to James she told him, "go get it and we'll m-meet you in the yard, ok?"

Tara took Willow's hand and smiled at her as they went back toward Tara's bedroom. The redhead tried to figure out why they were going to the bedroom if they were meeting James in the back yard and why were they meeting him in the back yard anyway? Entering Tara's room they found a few couples making out leaning against walls or snuggling in the corners. A few girls appeared to be passed out on Tara's bed and Willow noted that the blonde didn't even flinch at the invasion of her privacy. Apparently this was something that always happened at their parties?

Her curiosity was answered as Tara quickly but gracefully and quietly moved to the head of the bed and lifted a guitar case from the corner. She took a step toward the door and held the case out toward the redhead. "Can you take this, sweetie?" she asked.

Willow smiled excitedly as she took the case from Tara's hand. Her lover had always said that she was going to learn to play the guitar. Tara remembered an aunt who played and said she always felt an affinity for the instrument. But with fighting demons and working to pay for college, she just hadn't gotten around to it by the time of her death. Willow could feel her pulse quickening at the thought that Tara was going to play and sing. Every time she saw her lover performing, it had taken her breath away and she found herself blushing uncontrollably at the thought of the song her Tara had performed for her and the conclusion of that song. Talk about complete… The redhead felt momentarily guilty as if she were cheating on her current girlfriend by thinking of her ex-lover. Goddess! This is so confusing! she inwardly cursed.

Holding Willow's hand as she led her through the house and to the back door, Tara noted Willow's confused emotions. For one thing, the redhead had certainly had enough to drink like you can talk? and Tara vowed that she would get the two of them some water for the rest of the night or morning? Tara enjoyed the familiar sensation of excitement and arousal that flowed through their linked skin but she was confused by the other feelings flowing through her girlfriend. Guilt and confusion? Shaking her head, Tara decided that she was spying too much and needed to trust Willow to tell her what was going on whenever she was ready.

As they stepped onto the back deck, Willow took a look around and was stunned. The yard was very large with a wooden deck attached to the house. There were chairs scattered around including a bench built into two sides of the deck. Climbing vines covered the trellises on the structure and she identified honeysuckle and jasmine by their scents immediately. Easily half of the back yard was taken up by a huge garden and suddenly Tara's conversation with the cook at the Allen ranch made more sense.

"Hey," Willow said, "you have a back yard. I never knew. I mean I never looked. Why do I always take Scooby for a walk if you have a back yard? And where is Scooby anyway? I haven't seen her all night. And can I go look at your flower? I mean flowers? Garden?" She sputtered in embarrassment over her unintentional sexual innuendo. Drunk much Willow? Attempting to recover she amended her statement: "over there?"

Before she could step from the porch she felt Tara's hand tighten in hers and the girl pulled her closer. The blonde bent her head slightly to brush her lips across Willow's first tentatively and then more forcefully as she thrust her tongue between Willow's surprised lips. At first the redhead was shocked at the passion from her girlfriend but she quickly melted into the embrace feeling the intense sexual energy tingling on both of their skins. When she felt the blonde sucking on the tip of her tongue she was thankful that she had changed from the leather pants. They were simply too expensive to, well ruin, and of course they had been too tight to allow panties. The rush of wetness might have surprised her if she didn't already know what this woman did to her body.

Hearing someone clearing their throat from the doorway Tara slowly pulled back. "I've m-missed you with all these people around," Tara whispered.

"Uhh huh…," Willow answered. She knew that she was having trouble forming coherent thoughts and didn't know whether it was more the effect of the alcohol or that amazing kiss. As James stepped onto the porch and waved his guitar case, she pulled away, "so your garden…over there…" "Argh!" she exclaimed to Tara's deliciously full laughter as she stepped from the porch to look at the garden.

Willow could hear the two friends tuning their guitars as she began to slowly move through yard toward the garden. Looking up, she noticed a nearly full moon, which cast good light into the yard in the clear night. The garden was truly impressive to her. It was probably a good 40 by 20 feet. The area was set off from the rest of the yard by a short barrier of oddly shaped rocks, some of them quartz or limestone, which gave off a faint magical buzz. She smiled as she thought that Tara must come out here to meditate and recharge sometimes and hoped that she could share that with the girl. The garden was crisscrossed with pathways of stone that were so subtle that they practically blended in with the plants. No expert on gardening, she noted numerous herbs used for magical reasons or cooking and many vegetables and fruits.

Tara watched Willow appraise the garden. She had noticed that Willow always took the dog for a walk and assumed that she never realized the house had a back yard. Her plan was to serve dinner out in the yard when they had their now-twice-delayed dinner date and show her the deck and garden. It was something she was very proud of. Although she hadn't been able to do the heavy lifting or digging, she had done everything else for the garden herself, from picking each stone to planting every single plant. At the center of the garden were two flat stones just the size for two people to sit and meditate and she could tell by the energy flow that Michelle and Eliza had never so much as set a foot on either stone.

Without asking, the younger girls knew that it was Tara's space. She didn't know that Michelle and Eliza had frequently worried about Tara's placement of two stones and discussed the possibility that her living in a fantasy world was keeping her from meeting anyone real.

"I'm going to get another drink before we start," James announced and Tara asked him to bring back water for herself and Willow as she kept her eyes on the redhead.

Slowly Willow turned to see Tara watching her and a broad smile immediately spread across her face. Acting like a child Willow ran across the yard toward the steps of the deck to quickly kiss her girlfriend. "Oh Goddess Tara," she exclaimed excitedly, "it's wonderful. I mean the stones have so much power and the plants and can we meditate in the center sometime? I mean if it's not too private or …"

Tara gently placed her fingertips on the redhead's soft lips. "I put two stones in the center and have a cushion for each of u-us," she answered hoping that it would make sense to Willow.

Still smiling like a joyful child the redhead quickly pivoted to sit next to Tara on the porch. She took a deep breath and looked up at the sky. "It's wonderful," she said, meaning the moon and stars and yard and garden and everything. Before she could monitor herself she asked, "is your cycle aligned to the moon? Oh Goddess, did I say that out loud? That was probably the most inappropriate and nosy thing I could possibly say." Willow gently whacked herself on the head with the heal of her hand. She attempted to recover: "changing subjects now: so where is Scooby?"

Well she'll know eventually, Tara's mind teased her as she blushed. "Yes," she whispered before answering more confidently, "she's at Joey's. Too many people here and someone could g-give her alcohol or let her out accidentally."

Willow took a second to realize that Tara's first word answered her nosy question about her cycle, assimilated that information and listened to her explanation about Scooby. "That makes sense, but I miss her," Willow explained.

"We c-can go get her in the morning," Tara answered, "I m-mean not that you are spending… or that you … I mean if you w-want to stay… and if you want…"

Willow gently kissed her girlfriend on the lips before whispering in her ear, "I'd love to sleep with you in my arms tonight and every night you'll have me, Tara Maclay." Both women could feel the shivers that ran through their bodies as the words were spoken.

"Hey, look who I found inside," James interrupted as he handed each girl a bottle of water. They looked up to see that Eliza, Michelle, Joey, and a few other partygoers had come outside.

"I moved some of the bodies out of the way," Joey explained as he sat down on the bench. He had removed his bear costume and now just wore shorts and a T-shirt, which Willow thought might make him look even larger than the costume had. He didn't reek of sweat so she wondered if he had taken a quick shower as Tara had.

"Where's Elizabeth?" Willow asked, trying to sound polite but hoping that the girl had left the party early.

Eliza started giggling as she stood and pulled Little Joey to his feet and started waltzing him around the deck, "gone, gone, gone home. Couldn't stay and jealous besides," she sung as the others laughed.

Willow glanced at Michelle to see how the runner took the teasing about her sister. In her world Michelle had loved her sister but at the same time, knew how difficult others found her. Certainly there was no love lost between Elizabeth and Eliza. Not that the older girl had any problem with her sister being gay, she just was always suspicious of Eliza. And Willow could have danced a little jig herself as she rejoiced that the jealous little tramp had decided to leave.

As Willow was remembering this, Joey started beating on the bench with his fists chanting, "music, music, music!" Raising his cup, he shouted, "let the festivities begin!" To which James and Tara looked at each other and both launched into a rocking version of "Proud Mary." It was apparent that the two had played together many times to start with the same song and Willow wondered if it was a tradition or if they were that in synch.

The redhead listened happily as Tara and James transitioned smoothly into a Bob Dylan song, "Tangled up in Blue," next. Her heart felt full and warm as she watched this woman singing so intently and with so much joy and she wanted to enfold her in her arms and never let go. Gently she moved behind Tara to lean on the post and allow Tara to lean on her. Willow rested her hands on the thighs of Tara's jeans out of her way and just allowed their magical energy to pass through the cloth barrier. She could tell that Tara was feeling the same effects that she was by the warmth flowing up and down her arms. Closing her eyes, Willow allowed herself to concentrate on the sound of Tara's beautiful voice.

After a few songs, Willow's eyes snapped open as she heard Eliza singing one of the songs from Into the Woods. It was a song she had heard the girl sing many times in the last few years but never like this. Apparently she had been developing her voice considerably and Willow was impressed and a little shocked at her beauty and power. As the song neared the end Eliza nodded to Cassie and the two started singing one of the numbers from Chicago and staring at Tara.

Tara wasn't particularly surprised to hear Eliza and Cassie taunting her with music from Chicago. Both girls knew that she loved that musical but she just couldn't go on the stage, even in one of Eliza's productions. She had a stern set to her jaw as she looked both girls in the eye and shook her head. Understanding that they were pushing their luck, the two girls looked away and finished their number.

"Hey Will," Eliza called, "are you still awake?" The redhead lifted her chin from Tara's shoulder as she nodded. "Ok," Eliza continued, "so what does the little tree want to sing? We're taking requests." "Well, ok, they're taking requests," she amended pointing to Tara and James.

Willow's heart almost stopped as she realized that Eliza was singling her out. By now every person still awake at the party was on the deck, easily 20 people and she knew that there was no way she could sing in front of even one person let alone 20. Tara didn't even know yet. She'd never heard Willow's voice. Looking around for some support she finally locked eyes with Michelle and looked pleadingly at the runner. No! Please! her mind shouted as she tried to think of something to say to take the focus off herself.

"No! Please!" Tara heard Willow's plea clearly in her mind although she wasn't trying to hear and didn't know if Willow was trying to transmit. She reached down to take the redhead's hand to strengthen their connection and answered her. "It's ok sweetie," she told her as she spoke out loud: "How about this one?"

She launched into "Southland in the Springtime," which had nearly everyone on the porch singing along even as Willow wondered how she had managed to send one message to the redhead while speaking another. Willow had tried the technique a few times but never mastered multitasking in that way. By the time the song had finished everyone on the porch was in a quiet and content mood. All the couples were snuggling and looking generally relaxed. Those not in couples leaned against the porch railings and looked at the stars.

"Tara," Eliza asked quietly, "will you sing it? Then we'll all go to bed or home happy."

Tara felt a little embarrassed as Eliza asked, not that it was a surprise. She always asked. Everyone always asked. Over the years Tara had played with writing music, particularly when she was laid up in bed for all that time. But nothing she had written had captured the attention of her friends and acquaintances like this one. But how could she sing it now with Willow here? It had come to her in a dream of this red-haired goddess and the ending of the song… Well it always… At perhaps no other time did she ever feel so connected to Willow as when she was singing this song.

Willow wondered what song they might be talking about. Perhaps a sixties folk song, kind of a group sing to end the night on a close point? Whatever it was, she just hoped that Tara would just get on with the cumbayays so they could all sing and then go to bed. She prayed that Little Joey had moved the bodies from Tara's bed so they could enjoy it while she wrapped her arms around this beautiful woman and never let her go. She leaned forward and whispered in her girlfriend's ear, "please baby. Sing the song so we can go to bed." She punctuated her request by almost imperceptibly tracing her tongue softly along the blonde's neck. Feeling Tara shudder in her arms Willow wrapped them more tightly around the woman, eager to be alone together as her now excited nipples pressed into her girlfriend's back. Even with all she had learned in the last few weeks she couldn't have been more surprised than when Tara started quietly singing:

Willow's jaw dropped open as she listened to the blonde singing. She felt shock but mixed with that, a sense of "of course." She already knew from the paintings and drawings that Tara had been connected to her Tara in their dreams. Of course she would have known that song. She blushed as she realized that all those drawings of her in erotic poses didn't come from Tara's imagination or subconscious. They apparently came from Tara's vision of Willow's life with the other Tara. It was both mildly creepy to think of being watched like that and a little arousing to think of this woman, dreaming of them being together, of their fit already existing before they had ever made love in a physical sense.

Looking around, the redhead realized the effect the song was having on the others at the party. Eliza and Michelle were in the "get a room" category, as were quite a few other couples. Joey looked like he was in a hurry to leave suddenly and Willow wondered if someone was waiting at home and James had a dreamy look on his face as if he wished he had someone waiting at home. As she surveyed the crowd, Willow began running her hands lightly up Tara's thighs and to her hips. She cupped them in her hands as if imagining holding this woman much tighter and loving her body thoroughly. Slowly she continued her exploration, using the backs of her hands to trace their way up Tara's sides, just missing her breasts and stroking her back and shoulders before tracing her fingertips lightly along the blonde's neck. She felt Tara shudder with the attention and retraced the route her hands had taken in the opposite direction until she reached the girl's hips. Keeping her hands on the blonde's hips she lightly stroked them as if beckoning Tara to her.

Applause accompanied the end of the song and Tara took a deep breath as she glanced around at her friends. Never had this song sounded so real to her, so genuine and perfect as it did now. To have the woman for whom she had written the song wrapped around her while she sang it was absolute heaven. Her skin tingled with bursts of electricity and it was all she could do to keep from moaning out loud as she leaned back into Willow's center, feeling her heat through her jeans. She leaned further back and arched her neck, wrapping her hands lightly around the back of Willow's head and felt the redhead tracing her tongue along her jugular. "Do you think Joey moved the bodies from your room?" Willow whispered in her ear.

Tara turned to look her girlfriend in the eye. Her voice was husky and Willow felt her heart skip a beat when Tara answered, "let's go and see."

James had apparently heard the two as he stood and held out his hand to help Tara to her feet, placing a kiss on her cheek. "I'm going to head out. Call me tomorrow if you want," he suggested. He hugged Eliza and Michelle both goodbye and again wished the runner a happy birthday. Joey also made a quick departure although some of the other guests took a few minutes as everyone voted on sobriety before distributing keys.

Finally everyone but the birthday girl and her lover and Willow and Tara had left the house. Walking through the house, Tara looked around and groaned, "why do we d-do this?" She gestured to the mess scattered around the house: cups, plates, furniture moved, basically the aftereffects of a party.

Michelle walked over to the bar to pick up something in each hand and quickly returned with them. "You two were outside." She handed each girl an object with a pout on her face. Tara's was a common screwdriver with a tag on it. Willow leaned over and twisted the tag to see that it said, "Best adaptation -- Tara." Her own was a bottle of Astroglide lubricant which caused her to blush bright red as she read the tag: "Sexiest costume -- Tara's dominatrix girlfriend."

Tara leaned over to capture Willow's bottom lip between her lips. Slowly she kissed it before sucking it into her mouth and trapping it lightly between her teeth. "Come to bed with m-me," Tara whispered, "my sexy girlfriend."

Michelle giggled as Eliza pulled her toward their bedroom: "see? Never underestimate the power of Cupid armed with Everclear margaritas."

Willow could feel the sexual energy flowing through the connection of their hands as she and Tara entered the blonde's bedroom. Hell, she could feel it pouring off their skin. She was as turned on as she had ever been and was beginning to question her own decision to change out of the leather outfit without showering.

Tara closed the door to her room slowly and turned to find Willow waiting for her. The redhead quickly embraced her, kissing her passionately and hungrily as she pressed her into the door. Their tongues tangled and twisted as they each took the opportunity to trace the inside of the other's mouth. Tara's hands were clutched to the back of Willow's neck, tracing the downy wisps of hair she found there until she began stroking them up and down the redhead's back. She could feel the girl's muscles tensing under her hands. Feeling bolder than she had before she gently cupped Willow's smooth bottom in her hands and felt the redhead inhale, almost collapsing against the other girl.

At the same time, Willow stroked her hands up and down Tara's arms, reveling in the feeling of the soft hair on her amazingly strong forearms. While her Tara had strength throughout her body from riding, this woman had that muscle tone but even more strength in her upper body from her reliance on her arms while rehabilitating from her injury. The redhead imagined how those arms would feel as they held her in every way possible. When her hands reached Tara's shoulders again Willow shifted their pressure slightly so they rested above the girl's chest. She slowly moved her hands down so they passed very lightly over Tara's breasts, avoiding the nipples but still hearing Tara moan at the contact.

"Mmm hmmm," Tara answered. "Bed?" Even with Willow's body pressed against hers, holding her to the door she could feel her legs and her whole body shaking. She knew that they needed to get to the bed soon.

"Yes, my Tara," Willow whispered as she slowly broke the kiss. Her eyes met Tara's eyes and she recognized the dark blue tint reflecting back at her. Without breaking the gaze she slowly backed toward the bed while keeping her arms under Tara's elbows. She could feel the blonde shaking and didn't want anything to happen. As they reached the bed she slowly pivoted their positions so that Tara was sitting on the end of the bed while she was standing between the blonde's legs, leaning down to kiss her. Both girls were breathing heavily, their thinking becoming muddled as they thought of only one thing. Willow's hands snaked under Tara's shirt, stroking the skin of her stomach.

Suddenly Tara felt Willow's hands still on her skin. The redhead pulled away as Tara began to panic. Why was she pulling away? What was going on? Tara opened her eyes to see Willow looking down and away from her. "W-w-willow?" she asked, terrified of what the redhead was thinking.

"Oh," Tara answered as she heard the redhead's words, "I'm s-s-sorry. I d-d- didn't m-m…,"

"No," Willow interrupted. "That's not what I mea…" She kneeled down in front of the other girl. Tara wasn't looking at her and her eyes glowed with unshed tears. Softly Willow tilted her chin to try and explain: "I want to make love with you, Tara."

"Yes, but," Willow again interrupted, "I want to make love with you. But I don't want to rush. I don't want the first time I make love with you to be at," she looked at the clock by Tara's bed, "3:00 in the morning." She smirked, "I mean sure if we start and are still making love by 3:00… But we've both been drinking." She saw that Tara was finally smiling as if she agreed with her. "A lot," she continued, "and I … it means more to me than that." The redhead stopped. She could have said so much more but she didn't think she'd need to.

Now it was Tara who looked down. "It means m-more to me too," she whispered. Taking a deep breath she added, "that's why I've n-never…"

"Why I've n-n-never…," Tara emphasized. She looked up to see the shocked look on Willow's face. "That is why I've never m-made love with anyone before."

"But, but, but," Willow stammered. "But you… How can that be? I mean not that you have to … but you're so … and I mean who wouldn't … and what? And also what? And I mean, what about Michelle? In high school? And not since then? I mean ok, not my business but what? And how or how not?"

Tara finally smiled again at her girlfriend's ludicrous babble. "Michelle and I never made love in h-high school," she explained.

"No," Willow answered. She knew that Tara was teasing her now but she just couldn't believe this conversation. "I don't mean with Michelle since high school. I meant at all."

Tara looked at the redhead softly. She traced her chin with her hand. "Willow," she gently asked, "how many women have you made love with who you weren't in love with?"

The redhead crinkled her eyebrows as she tried to understand the question. It's like math dummy, she admonished herself. "I've only ever made love with one woman and I was in love with…" It hit her what Tara was saying. The blonde was telling her that she hadn't made love with anyone because she hadn't been in love with them. But wait a minute, was she going to make love with Willow even though she wasn't in love with her or because she was? Tara watched understanding flicker across Willow's face, quickly followed by confusion. Did I just tell Willow that I'm in love with her? I mean I guess not but if she knows logic at all, then she'll get that but it'd be nice to say it rather than having her guess. "W-w-we should change for bed. Did you bring p-p- pajamas?" she asked keeping her eyes averted.

She's in love with me! She's in love with me and that's why she wants to make love with me, Willow's mind shouted. "I brought a bag," she pointed to her bag stowed in the corner. "You can take the bathroom first," she offered. As she caught Tara's eye she smiled at her and leaned forward to lightly kiss her. "Tara snuggles," she whispered, "I can't wait."

A few minutes later the two girls were snuggled in Tara's bed under the covers. Both wore pajamas and Willow recognized Tara's yummy vegetable pajamas. Willow wore her flying pig pajamas again but with the short bottoms. Willow lay on her back with Tara nestled against her, her arm draped over the smaller girl's stomach. Neither girl was fully ready to go to sleep and lose the wonderful feeling of being in each other's arms yet but they weren't ready to do more than kiss or run their fingers over the other girl's arms, hands, or stomach either. Both felt completely content and happy to be just there.

"Did you hear that?" Willow asked suddenly as she started hearing noises from elsewhere in the house. Living on the Hellmouth had trained her to be aware of strange noises in the night, particularly living with the slayer. You never knew when a demon would come by to visit or disembowel the residents of Revelo Drive. Her question quickly turned to giggles as she realized the source of the sounds. Apparently Eliza and Michelle weren't as tired as either had seemed to the two witches. Tara and Willow both tried to ignore the sounds coming from the other room as they snuggled and tried to fall asleep but it became increasingly difficult.

Not only did the louder and louder moans and mumbled, "Oh God" pronouncements keep them from sleeping but their giggles quickly turned to full- fledged laughter. When Willow's laughter became too intense Tara playfully covered the redhead's mouth with her hand as she continued giggling.

"You think this is b-b-bad," Tara whispered, "you should have shared a suite with them at school."

By now the other girls were practically shouting their pleasure. "Wait for it… wait for it…" Tara coaxed. Finally both witches burst out laughing as they heard Michelle's shout: "Happy Birthday!"

"Every y-year," Tara commented as Willow continued laughing. As quiet quickly filled the air, both girls fell deeply asleep, happily wrapped together.

Willow wiggled her nose as she began waking. The foreign smell assaulted her senses in a way that was simultaneously unpleasant and somewhat comforting. Without completely leaving the embrace of sleep she wiped her hand across her nose as if trying to dispel the strange scent still assaulting her small nose. Finally opening her eyes she focused first on the shiny green apple just inches from her face. A smile spread across her features as she took in the sight of the offering resting on Tara's nightstand. Closing her eyes briefly Willow breathed deeply and was surprised to find little trace of a hangover despite her late night and the heavy drinking at Michelle's birthday party.

Finally she opened her eyes again and took in the sight in front of her. She was incredibly careful to avoid moving and attracting Tara's attention. The blonde was intently focused on her work as she moved fluidly in front of the canvas and easel. Her easel was turned sideways to the bed so that Willow could not see what Tara was painting but neither could she see Tara fully. The blonde wore a pair of hospital scrubs from the waist down and it was obvious that she had painted in these before as they were liberally splattered with dried paint. Surprisingly she wore a button-down denim shirt which was unbuttoned completely. A wicked smile crossed Willow's face as she realized that with each stroke of the brush Tara leaned forward exposing a portion of one beautiful milky white breast.

The redhead suddenly wondered if she had intruded onto the blonde's private moment. It was hard to imagine that she intended for Willow to see her like this, exposed in a way that they had never been together and she wondered if she should turn away or make some "waking up" noises but she just couldn't tear her eyes from her blonde goddess. Willow had seen images of painters before and they always seemed to be holding a flat thing, she thought it was called a pallet, with paint smeared on it in one hand and a brush in the other. Tara wasn't using this technique. A pallet was obviously stationed on the stand next to the wall and the blonde held two brushes, one in each hand. The brush in her right hand was large but the one in her left hand was small and Willow watched in fascination as the blonde painted what seemed like large strokes with one hand, quickly adding precise touches with the other.

Her hair was pulled back with a rubber band, nonetheless it had flecks of color at the tips as if Tara had allowed it to trail through her paint as she turned her head or bent to the pallet. A large smear of paint stretched from her forehead to the tip of her nose and Willow could imagine the blonde attempting to scratch an itch and trailing color along with her fingers. Most intriguing was a splash of blue paint which highlighted the valley between Tara's breasts, its color so bold that she might have been attempting to put focus on her eyes. Willow began to giggle as she thought that no one who could see that splash of paint would be looking at the girl's eyes.

"Are you spying on me, Willow Rosenberg?" Tara teased as she was finally distracted by the sound of Willow's giggles.

The surprising sound of Tara's voice pulled Willow's eyes from their current focus up to the blonde's face. She looked, in a word, wild. Strands of hair had escaped from their binding and framed her face, most of them tinged with brightly colored paint. She still held a brush in each hand, hands which Willow now saw where coated with paint splatters. Her eyes danced with excitement and Willow couldn't tell if that was due to her passion over her creation or at realizing that the redhead was awake and in her bed. Her button down shirt swayed gently, continuing to tease Willow as it exposed only the smallest glimpse of Tara's soft flesh. Rather than answering Tara's question Willow decided to tease the artist: "too bad you're ruining your clothes. Seems like there should be someway to avoid getting paint on them…"

It was obvious that Willow was in a flirtatious mood this morning, which Tara definitely wanted to return. But she was nearly finished with her painting. She had been working on it for a few hours while Willow slept and if she could spend a few more minutes finishing the work, she could see if Willow wanted to go to breakfast. She knew that if she left the work undone it would haunt her until she could return to the canvas. She wouldn't give her girlfriend the attention she deserved until the painting was complete. "Well," Tara drawled, "you wouldn't believe where I g-g-get paint when I try that…"

Willow swung her legs over the side of the bed as she escalated her flirtation: "oh I would believe it. But maybe if you had someone to help you…" She noted the look in Tara's eyes before continuing, "you know, someone to help you reach those 'hard to reach' places in the shower."

Tara's blushed furiously and Willow was fascinated to see the color affecting her areas other than her face. Tara watched the redhead's eyes and followed the path they were traveling, only then realizing that her shirt was unbuttoned. "Oh Goddess," she panicked looking for a place to set down her brushes. "I d-didn't realize…I mean … I f-f-forgot," she stuttered trying to figure out how to button the garment.

Willow quickly reacted to Tara's panic. She wasn't sure why Tara was getting so flustered. After all, they were girlfriends and very close to being lovers. Last night had been wonderful and Willow knew that she was ready to make love with this woman when the time was right and when Tara was ready. In truth, the blonde was a paradox: so confident and aggressive when flirting but so vulnerable too. The redhead stood quickly and bridged the two steps separating her from the blonde as Tara continued trying to negotiate the brushes and watched her with shock in her eyes. Although tempted, Willow kept her hands from even touching or teasing Tara's flesh as she gently buttoned the central button first before adding a few more to ensure that the blonde's modesty would be preserved. "There," she whispered as she finished, "better?"

Tara nodded unable to believe how insightful and gentle this woman could be with her, particularly given Tara's penchant for teasing the redhead. "Thanks," she shyly answered.

"My pleasure," Willow answered as she leaned in for a good morning kiss. Well ok, my pleasure would have been taking it off, but…, she thought. After a much longer and intense kiss than she would have expected she pulled back. "Can I look?" she asked. As she saw the look of confusion in Tara's eyes she clarified: "the painting. Can I look at the painting?"

Tara giggled as she understood what Willow was asking. Wouldn't really make much sense to button my shirt and then ask to look would it? she thought, giggling again. She nodded her head at the canvas, "yes you may. I'll be done in about 30 minutes. If you d-d-don't have anything else to do we could go have breakfast?"

"Holy god!" Willow exclaimed as she looked at the painting. Even having seen her girlfriend's art before, it still shocked her. The intensity and colors were amazing enough when the painting was finished but with the paint still wet, it was simply overwhelming. It was as if she started by painting the subject's soul and then added to it to make it jump from the image. Eliza was in her most undressed state of the party last night—slacks and shirt mostly unbuttoned with the dark tie around her hair—and her body was taut with the tension of her dancing. Each leg looked tensed as if about to jump from the bench on the deck and her mouth was open as she sung. If she hadn't known the painting was wet Willow would have reached out her hand to trace the sparks coming off the girl's body as she danced. "I didn't know if you saw it," she explained indicating the sparks.

"Can she cast?" Willow asked, very intrigued by this conversation. She had noticed Eliza's magical energy on first meeting this woman. She had never noticed the Eliza from her world having a signature at all but this Eliza broadcast the energy of a natural but completely untrained witch. Since Tara had never mentioned it, Willow had also never brought it up.

"Does she let you drain it?" Willow asked. She had been wondering how the girl regulated her energy without seeming to cast. It was apparent that someone was managing it for her to keep it from becoming noticeable or overwhelming.

Trying to keep her hands from rising to make just one change to the painting Tara nodded and quickly explained, "she f-finds that if she doesn't meditate with me once a month, she goes a little wonky." She gave Willow a slightly conspiratorial smile.

Willow noticed Tara was almost unable to keep her eyes off the canvas. "Why don't you work on that and I'll go take a shower, ok?" The brush had touched the canvas even before Willow had finished speaking. She wanted to give her girlfriend another kiss but it was apparent that she was involved with the painting and wouldn't be able to give Willow her full attention until she was done. Willow only hoped that her estimate of 30 minutes was accurate.

Knowing how much Tara liked it, Willow left her hair wet when she finished in the shower. She dressed quickly in her jeans from the night before and a fresh T- shirt before opening the bathroom door. "I'm just finishing," the blonde called without looking up from the canvas.

"Take your time," Willow answered, not wanting to distract her girlfriend. The redhead wasn't hungover but that didn't mean she was ready to face the day without some caffeine. "Uh… can I make coffee?" she asked.

Tara giggled at the question: "I made it when I got up. I knew if I brought it when I b-brought your apple it would have gotten cold."

"All is forgiven," Willow announced with mock seriousness as she pulled open the door, "as long as there's coffee waiting." She returned a few minutes later with two mugs and set one down on the nightstand nearest the blonde while sitting on the edge of the bed to enjoy her own drink.

As Tara put the finishing touches on her painting Willow watched her work. She could see the streaks of paint which had multiplied on her face and hands as if she were wiping her face more and more often as she worked on the painting and Willow wondered how many times she would have to wash her beautiful blonde hair to get all the paint out of it. Her energy poured off her skin. Willow had never been very good at reading energy, but even she could see the golden sparks flying from the blonde's fingertips and the tips of her ears as she worked. The blonde slowed before setting down both brushes in a tin which Willow assumed contained some kind of cleaning fluid and closing her eyes. As Willow watched her lips moving she knew that the blonde was thanking the Goddess for aiding in her creation.

"I need to shower," Tara announced quietly as she opened her eyes. "Do you have t-time for breakfast? Are you hungry? Thanks for waiting."

Willow giggled as she listened to Tara's babble. Maybe it was contagious. "Yes you should. Yes I do. Yes I am. You're welcome," she answered teasingly. "But since you are so 'untouchable,'" she announced, "I want double good- morning kisses later."

The blonde got an evil smirk on her face as she held out her paint covered hands. "Who says I'm untouchable?" she asked as she wiggled her fingers at the redhead.

"Ok, you're right," Tara agreed, "I wouldn't." As she went toward the bathroom she responded to Willow's earlier flirt: "definitely double l-later." At the door to the bathroom she turned around. "Hey baby?"

"Why don't you go and pound on Chelle's d-door and wake them up so Eliza can buy us breakfast?"

Tara laughed at Willow's assumption. "Michelle was up before me. She already r-ran this morning and has been studying for hours." She continued explaining: "they will either want to go with us or you can cajole Eliza into giving us the money."

"How long does it take to refill a cup of coffee?" Eliza grumbled an hour later as they waited for the waitress to return.

Eliza shot the other three girls nasty looks as they giggled at her bad mood. Seeing that the younger girl was particularly vulnerable, Tara decided to take her shot too: "I'm not sure why you are in a bad mood, Liza. We have it on good authority that the two of you had a 'Happy Birthday' last night." Both witches burst out laughing as they remembered the shouts coming from the other bedroom. Michelle blushed as she dropped her head into her hands.

"Hell yes," Eliza agreed, "it was definitely a happy birthday and I'm not ashamed of it."

"She wasn't last year either," Tara mock-whispered to Willow as the waitress refilled all their coffee cups.

"Like you two weren't making with the smoochies," Eliza pouted, refusing to be embarrassed.

"Well not like the two of you," Willow teased back. She wondered if the other two girls really needed to know that much about their sex life or lack thereof. She definitely didn't see the look that passed between the two roommates as Michelle looked at Tara with a mixture of exasperation and sympathy. The blonde quickly ducked her head to avoid looking at her best friend.

Feeling her girlfriend's discomfort through their linked hands Willow decided to change the subject. "So Eliza," she started, "what were you cajoling Tara about last night and why do you owe me breakfast this morning?"

"Huh? And also the what again?" Willow asked. Eliza's answer was approximately what Willow had gathered last night but she still felt lost in the conversation. While it seemed that the younger girl wanted Tara to perform, Willow felt confused about where this performance would take place. Was Eliza studying theater at college? Did she have a place to put on shows? What was going on?

"We're doing Chicago next and Tara doesn't want to be in it," Eliza again explained wondering a little bit if Willow was completely dense. Even an idiot should have been able to tell that Eliza wanted Tara to perform in her production from the conversation last night. Turning to Tara she began to plead once again, "come on, Tare. You know you are the best and you'd make a great Mama Morton and Willow's never seen you perform so you could impress her." She was hoping that the last part would make an impression since Tara was being so stubborn.

"Eliza Maria D'Angelo," Michelle admonished her girlfriend, "what have I told you about playing nice with the other kids?" She tried to sound like a stern school teacher or mother but came off sounding like a teasing girlfriend.

Eliza appeared to think about the question for a minute. "That I should only play nice with you," she suggested with a smirk.

"That's a given," Michelle agreed, "but why don't you leave Tara alone? She said no."

"Actually she said, 'I can't dance,' and 'I'm too busy,' and 'I don't have the right voice,'" Eliza argued, "she never actually said 'no.'"

Michelle leaned over and began playfully pounding her head on the table, nearly trailing her hair in her plate of pancakes and syrup. Although she wished Tara would just fucking say "no" she wasn't going to push the girl. Maybe Tara really did want to do the play but she was scared of something. There was really no way of knowing. She was relived when Tara abruptly changed the subject: "did Debra and Rachel show up last night? I never saw them."

"I thought I did," Willow commented, "but then they weren't there so I wasn't sure."

"They stopped by and brought a present and said Happy Birthday," Michelle explained.

"I didn't see them," Eliza commented, "that must have been one quick stop." She added, "how is Rachel feeling?"

"She said much better," Michelle explained, "the morning sickness is mostly over but she's pretty tired. That's why they just dropped by and left."

The other girls nodded and everyone began eating with more attention to their pancakes. As they finished with the breakfast Tara and Michelle both said they needed to use the restroom and they got up and left the table, leaving Willow and Eliza. Willow thought back to her first visit with the Eliza from her world and how that girl had come on so strong. Really, Willow realized, Eliza was the first "out" person she had ever met. But she was still confused about the performance thing. "Ok, Eliza," she said to get the dark-haired girl's attention.

"Well, ok," Willow started, "I don't want to get either of our girlfriends mad or anything and I'm not trying to be dense but I'm confused."

"What performance? Are you a theater major or directing a play or what? What's up with this whole Chicago thing?"

Eliza started laughing as she started to understand Willow's confusion both last night and this morning. "I'm an English major with a minor in philosophy," Eliza explained, "basically that's pre-law." Ok, that's the same in my world, Willow thought, so what's the deal with the play? "Look," Eliza started, "I don't know what Tara's told you about her recovery but I kind of performed for her and stuff…"

"Right," Willow agreed to let the younger girl know that Tara had told her this. "She told me all about it and it sounds spectacular. I can't believe how much both of you did for her."

Both girls looked up and noted their girlfriends returning to the table. "Well," Eliza continued, "I really liked doing it and I think it helped her. So I started a performing group. We put on 3 musicals a year. We go to all kinds of nursing homes, hospitals, rehab centers, schools, whatever. All free and all for fun."

"She's really not," Tara interrupted, "she's doing a pretty wonderful thing. Basically she had started two non-profits by the time she was 20 years old."

"Oh yeah," Michelle explained, "the other group goes and does storytelling or story reading at the same places. They've even had stand-up comics go."

"Wow," Willow responded completely impressed with the girl. "That's pretty amazing." Suddenly her face lit up. "What about other stuff?"

"Well what about computers and stuff? E-mail access, basic computer literacy, stuff like that. Not that everyone would want to do it but I bet people in the hospital don't have access to computers and maybe people in nursing homes would like to communicate with their families. They could send pictures or whatever."

Tara leaned back as she watched Willow's mind working. Eliza apparently liked Willow's idea and the two girls began brainstorming how to improve people's lives through technology. The blonde witch enjoyed being a spectator for the conversation. Rather than feeling left out she was excited at the possibility of Willow finding something to do with her time and energy. She sometimes felt guilty that the redhead had so little in her life that she cared about besides Tara. Sure she was available anytime that the blonde wanted to see her, but what if she was relying on Tara too much? Tara had so much to do and Willow needed interests of her own too. Obviously she hadn't brought her demon-fighting hobby with her and she wasn't enrolled in school yet. Tara had no idea what she did with her days besides work on her computer and drink a lot of coffee, but she sounded so excited about this that Tara was definitely intrigued. After half an hour, Eliza pulled her cell phone from her pocket, dialed a speed-number and had a quick conversation.

By now Tara and Michelle were discussing their friends who had been at the party and filling each other in on what was happening with different people. "Hey there, hot stuff," Eliza interrupted.

"Yes," Tara and Michelle both answered, teasing Eliza. They knew that she was really talking to Michelle but it was an old joke and one that they enjoyed dusting off from time to time.

"I just talked to Daddy and he wants to hear about this from Willow and me. Can we drop you off at the house and run over there?" Tara and Michelle both nodded. They knew enough to know that there would be no "running over there." Willow and Eliza would be at Mr. D'Angelo's for hours as the three of them pounded out the entire plan.

As they arrived at the house Willow and Eliza walked their girlfriends to the door. Each couple lingered kissing and hugging for a few minutes. "Is this ok?" Willow asked. "I mean did you want to spend the day together?" She was suddenly worried that she had ruined Tara's plans.

Tara smiled as she tucked the redhead's hair behind her ear. "It's fine," she answered, "I need to clean the house and s-study and I may go with James to visit Helen later." She whispered Helen's name, aware that Michelle was standing just feet away. Not that the girl was irrational but there was no reason to incite a rant.

Willow could hardly keep the excitement from her voice. "Ok then," she answered, "this is really cool. I mean I could set up a wireless hub at all these different places and get refurbished computers and take them to the different rooms and… " Her voice trailed off as she realized that she was getting carried away with her excitement. She noticed Tara smiling lovingly at her as if entranced by her plans.

"Right, " Willow agreed, "I'll call you tonight, ok?" The blonde nodded and they kissed again quickly before Willow and Eliza left.

Entering the house to find the mess looking exactly the same as when they left, Tara frowned at the place. "Well," she started, "I'll get started out here."

"Tara Maclay," Michelle said in an admonishing tone. Tara had seen Michelle's look when Willow said that they didn't share the same kind of smoochies and she didn't want to discuss it.

"Michelle," Tara answered, "I've got your birthday present in my room but it's not dry." She started pulling her roommate by the hand toward her room. Michelle looked at her suspiciously resolving not to drop the topic of what was taking so long for Tara and the other witch to become intimate.

Willow smiled as she drove toward Tara's house. Everything about the blonde made her smile. Well, ok, she would definitely like to see the blonde more often. But she understood that Tara was very busy. Even Willow had been busy this week preparing for her move and doing a lot of consulting work. In addition she was completely excited about the possibilities of her work with Eliza's group to incorporate more technology access for those recovering from injuries or illness or those living in nursing homes.

After Willow and Eliza had dropped their girlfriends off at their house on Sunday, the younger girl started driving. Not until they had been driving about a half-an-hour did Willow think to ask how far away the senior D'Angelo lived. Eliza started laughing as she explained that her father still lived in San Antonio and that it would take about an hour and a half to get there. The visit had gone exceedingly well, with Mr. D'Angelo excited about Willow's idea and willing to bankroll at least the first phase of the project. The two girls hadn't left his house until after 10:00 at night. Willow had to borrow Eliza's cell phone on the way home to call her girlfriend. She knew that Tara had an early class the next day and wanted her to have a chance to get some sleep.

As Eliza dropped Willow off at her hotel the younger girl boldly asked, "Willow, are you staying?"

Willow felt shocked by Eliza's question. It was so direct and so simple. "I…" she faltered. "I don't know yet," she admitted, "I mean I think so. I hope so."

Eliza looked at her slightly askance and then told her seriously, "she's been my friend for three years and I love her more than just about any one on this planet."

"If you're gonna break her heart," Eliza started with emotion bubbling through her voice, "do it now and then leave so we can pick up the pieces." With that she gave a slight smile before driving off, leaving Willow standing on the curb watching her taillights disappear around a corner.

The redhead has spent a lot of time thinking over that question over the next few days. Was she staying? Was she going to break Tara's heart? No, that wasn't even a possibility any more. She could no more break this woman's heart than she could stop the beating of her own. The past two months were like sliding down a rabbit hole wouldn't Anya be upset about that? with no idea where she would land. Her original plan, so ill thought out and optimistic, had long been discarded. How could she have thought that this Tara would be a carbon copy of her own? That she would instantly love Willow and want to return with her to a world she had never known -- a world where everyone thought her dead?

Instead she had found an entirely new woman to love. And there was no uncertainty in her mind or her heart that she loved Tara. It was as if this woman had taken every quality that she had loved in her own lover and then supplemented them with greater power, strength, determination, and passion than Willow had ever experienced. Even without making love with Tara she knew that when they did it would be perfect and passionate and beautiful. Yes, there was no doubt in her mind that she loved this woman completely. But would Tara believe that? Would she believe that Willow loved her for her and not because she was a reminder of Willow's first love? And how could the redhead convince her if she didn't believe it?

More importantly: did Tara love her? Willow thought so but Tara had never said those words. Obviously she had waited for her for all these years but even if she was in love with the redhead, was she truly in love with her or just with an idea of her? Was her girlfriend in love with a ghost and could Willow live up to the image Tara had created in her mind? It was mind-boggling and weird and amazing that both Taras had such a strong psychic link and that this woman had dreamed of Willow for so long. And the artwork she had created of her "muse" was spectacular. But if she was in love with Willow, who was she in love with: Willow or her image from Tara's dreams? What if Willow could never live up to the version of herself that existed in her girlfriend's imagination?

At the same time the redhead was torn about what to do. She knew now that she loved this Tara without a doubt and without reservation. She would stay if Tara would have her. But what about Buffy and everyone else? She had left them so suddenly and with so little explanation. At the time it had never occurred to her that she would never be back but now that was exactly what she suspected would happen. Were they worrying about her? Did they miss her? Was she missing a major battle or apocalypse that she should be there for? If Tara loved her and she stayed here, was there any way to get word to Buffy and the others that she was ok and happy?

She had completed her transfer application a few days ago and hand-delivered it to the admissions office. That gave her a chance to tour the University of Texas campus. It was pretty overwhelming, actually. The college had about 50,000 students whereas UC Sunnydale boasted around 6000 students. Heck, the entire population of Sunnydale would have fit into the football stadium 2 ½ times. She had even sat in on some lectures and was very impressed with the instruction at the university. One seminar on chaos theory was spectacular. True to her nature, she was becoming excited and intrigued at the possibility of the educational experienced offered by a superior university.

And enrolling at the university would have another benefit. Willow knew that she was too focused on Tara. She still knew few people in Austin or in this world. She had visited a little with some of the people she met at computer or coffee shops but hadn't really struck up any lasting friendships. Eliza and Michelle were nice to her but she felt like they were still holding back somewhat; it wasn't like she could just call them up to do something without Tara.

Willow had been in contact with Giles and the others in Sunnydale since she had seen Tara's artwork. Each piece of the puzzle was intriguing not only to her but to Giles who wanted to understand alternative universes better. Willow only wanted to know what caused the bleed-through between dimensions in Tara's dreams. Although the watcher had had no answers, Willow had enjoyed visiting with him, Jenny, and even Faith. As the only other people she knew in this dimension she hoped to go there for a visit someday, taking Tara with her, of course.

Thinking of taking Tara with her on a trip to Sunnydale or anywhere put Willow in an even better mood and she was actually whistling as she approached the door. Before she could knock the door was pulled open. "I thought from your b-begging the other night that you couldn't sing," Tara teased as she grinned sexily from the doorway.

"Oh believe me," Willow giggled, "this is as close to singing as you want me to do." She handed her girlfriend the red rose she held but continued holding the bottle of wine as she stepped into the house. "I'll bring this into the kitchen, baby," she offered.

"Not yet," Tara replied huskily as she moved closer to the smaller woman. Gently she ran her free hand down Willow's cheek before softly pressing their lips together. The kiss was soft and gentle and as she pulled back she whispered, "I m-missed you."

"I'm sorry," Willow told her as she pulled the blonde into a hug. For a few moments she stroked Tara's back as she felt her starting to shake. "What's wrong, baby?"

Tara looked down embarrassed as she explained, "this m-morning I dreamed that you were just a d-d-dream." She continued, "it was the worst nightmare I've had in two months."

"Oh, baby," Willow continued stroking her girlfriend as she told her, "I'm here, I'm real, and I'm not going anywhere." She again pressed her lips to Tara's as if the simple act of feeling their connection would tell the blonde how permanent she was, how real. As she felt the blonde beginning to relax she got a familiar glint in her eye: "You know the solution for nightmares?"

"Drink more," Tara suggested laughingly as she pointed to the bottle of wine in Willow's hand and began to lead the girl toward the kitchen.

"Mmm," Tara answered, "that's a good idea but sometimes Michelle likes to stay at Eliza's." She waited to see the look of shock cross Willow's face as she took in what Tara was saying. Finding a dishtowel conveniently on the counter she picked it up and lightly swatted her girlfriend's behind. "What?" Tara asked with mock-innocence as she turned to face Willow while leaning on the kitchen counter.

Willow approached slowly allowing her eyes to drift over her girlfriend's body. Until now she hadn't taken the time to really look at the girl. The only other time she had seen Tara in a dress was when they went to the christening. A smile crossed her face as she thought of that magical evening including their "first" kiss and simultaneously took in the sight in front of her. Tara wore a long summer dress that left her shoulders bare. Since they were advancing into October, Willow wondered if the blonde witch would grow cold and need a sweater during the evening. Of course, the idea of warming up the other girl herself was a good one too. The dress was tightly fitted over her chest and hips and fell into pleats as it continued to the floor. Apparently the blonde had noticed how much Willow liked to admire her long supple neck so she had put her hair up in a bun. Either that or she just liked it that way. Either way, Willow was completely entranced.

Tara began opening the bottle of wine while watching Willow. The redhead's eyes roamed lustily over Tara. Deciding to break the silence she poured each girl a glass of wine and held one out toward Willow. "Willow," she called in a singsong voice, "if you're not too busy maybe you'd like a glass of wine."

Willow started as she heard Tara's question. Busted so busted. Or is it breasted so breasted? she thought. Deciding to tease the blonde back she purred lustily, "oh, I'm very busy actually."

Tara giggled at Willow obvious leering and decided to egg her girlfriend on. She handed Willow her glass and allowed their fingers to brush against each other slowly, languishing in the intense energy that passed between them. Then she tipped her head back ever so slowly lifting her wine stem to her lips while keeping her eyes locked on Willow's deep green ones. Taking ever so small a sip of wine she allowed the red liquid to tint her lips before pulling the glass away and then slowly tracing her tongue over her lips to savor the wine. "Good wine," she whispered.

"Uh huh," Willow groaned, her throat feeling suddenly dry. Glancing around the kitchen she searched for something to say. "Are we going to eat out?" she asked. Then she quickly tried to take back her blunder: "Food I mean. Outside with the eating and definitely food because … hey, is dinner ready?" She finally stopped talking with her ears and cheeks burning. Looking up with embarrassment still all over her face she saw Tara giggling at her. She took two steps toward the blonde and reached out her hand to cup Tara's hip in her hand before leaning almost close enough to kiss. "It's all your fault," she whispered.

Tara could feel Willow's warm sweet breath on her lips. She wanted to capture them in her own and never let them go but at the same time she wanted to tease the redhead a little more. Willow was just so cute when she was embarrassed and flustered that it was truly irresistible. "Dinner's not quite r- ready," she whispered, "did you have something else in mind?"

Willow opened and closed her mouth quickly as she tried to hear and understand Tara's teasing. Screw it! she thought as she set down her glass on the counter without looking and grasped the girl's face in her hands. As she pressed their lips together she wrapped one hand around the back of Tara's neck and the other went around the girl's slim waist. Feeling Tara open her mouth Willow immediately thrust her tongue into her girlfriend's mouth and pulled her even closer with her arm.

Tara moaned as she set down her own glass winding the fingers of one hand into Willow's curls. She was overwhelmed with passion and felt that her legs might give out any second if it weren't for the solid countertop at her back and the redheaded witch holding her fast with her hands and arms and body and mouth. The fire building throughout her body was like a living thing that needed a time and place to release. Building and building and building until she felt that she couldn't go another second without release. Her thoughts were muddled and erratic punctuated only by the words "I love you" floating over and over and over through her brain and tempting her mouth. But she couldn't do that. She couldn't say those words. Words that she could never take back and never undo. And much as this felt so right, so perfect and now and always, fear built of years of wanting and never having told her that saying it would make this woman disappear.

In the midst of perhaps the most passionate kiss she had ever experienced, Willow became slowly aware of her girlfriend shaking in her arms. At first she thought she was just overwhelmed with the passion of the connection. Willow certainly felt overwhelmed and she was having trouble forming coherent thoughts. Her body was talking and screaming and shouting for attention and she knew that she was close to tipping over into eternity. But gradually she realized that Tara was shaking not from passion but from emotion. Just as she was realizing it she noticed the strange salty taste touching her lips and pulled back suddenly. Tara was not only shaking, she was crying and the redhead immediately pulled her girlfriend into a tight hug, stroking her back and cooing affectionately.

After a few minutes she noted that the shaking had lessened and she pulled back to look into Tara's glistening blue eyes. Softly she raised her hand to brush at the wet trails on the other girl's face and whispered, "what's wrong my love?"

"I…I…," Tara started, "w-w-what …i-i-if…" She stopped and took a deep breath. "I just…what if you g-g-go?"

"Go? I'm not going anywhere," Willow attempted to comfort her. "I just got here and it's like I just met you and now you're worried that I'm going? I'm not going anywhere at all. Well ok, eventually we'll both need coffee and chocolate and to go to class and stuff like that but I'm not going anywhere else, baby." She knew that she was babbling but she just couldn't stop herself. It hurt so badly to see Tara afraid and to know that it was because of her. She leaned forward and gently kissed the girl again before asking, "do you know that?"

Tara pursed her lips for a second as she nodded weakly. She wanted so badly to believe that this was for real. That Willow wouldn't leave her now that she had finally found the redhead. But she had been alone for so many years and she suspected it would kill her or at least kill her soul to lose this woman again. Just as she was about to speak the timer on the oven began to sound. "I n-need to get that," she explained as she attempted to extricate herself.

As she started to turn toward the oven she felt Willow's hold over her. Quietly the redhead whispered, "you can get it in a second but I meant what I said: I'm not going anywhere without you."

Tara nodded her head silently and hugged the redhead. As Willow stepped away she pulled the casserole dish from the oven and set it on the stove. "What are we having?" Willow asked.

"Well," Tara explained, "I didn't know what you like so I hope this is ok. I m- made a salad, lasagna, garlic bread, and broccoli. Do you like?"

Willow got a smile on her face so like a little kid that Tara had to laugh at it. "Yep," the redhead spoke, "I like all that." She leaned closer to the oven and told the blonde, "it smells great."

"Good," Tara smiled. "We're eating out," she smirked, "I mean outside l-like you asked earlier." She was pleased to see the other girl blushing furiously at being reminded of her embarrassing slip-up or was it a Freudian slip? She handed the plates to Willow and picked up the glasses of wine. She made a note that someone would have to come back in for the bottle shortly but didn't worry about it for now. Following Willow she had a chance to really observe the redhead for the first time. She wore a thin black skirt and a white blouse. Simple really but elegant and the blonde was busily admiring the way Willow's bottom looked in the skirt. Mmm, she thought, that looks so nice. My hands… her bottom…oh yeah… MY LOVE? Did she say MY LOVE? What the? her mind raced with confusion even as she admonished Scooby for attempting to jump on Willow as the redhead opened the door to the back yard.

"Hey, this is great!" Willow shouted as she took in the sight on the deck. Tara had set up a table and chairs on the deck, or she had asked Michelle or Eliza to do so; Willow couldn't imagine that the girl could possibly have moved the furniture. I can do whatever she wants for her soon, she thought happily. The table was already set with silverware and water glasses on placemats and cloth napkins. Tara had strung fairy lights around the deck and it almost looked like stars. Scooby was hopping around the deck with a ball in her mouth as if she thought the girls were there just to entertain her. Willow giggled and sent the dog the message, "not right now Scoobs. We're busy with grownup stuff. Ok human stuff."

She looked up to see Tara watching her with a confused look on her face. "What did you j-just say, Willow?" she asked. "I mean I could hear you, but I couldn't understand."

"Really?" Willow asked excited. "You couldn't understand really? That's so cool." She glanced at Scooby who had curled up under one of the chairs and dropped the ball.

Tara giggled, "Why are you so excited that I c-couldn't understand, Will? Trying to keep secrets from me?"

Willow set down the plates on the table and began doing a little happy dance around the table. She danced over to her girlfriend and kissed her, continuing to dance around her. "What, Will?" Tara asked as she watched the excited redhead.

"You couldn't understand because I was speaking to Scooby. I spoke Doglish or whatever," she twittered.

"Really?" Tara asked growing just as excited. She glanced at Scooby. "That's so c-cool, Willow," she praised her as she kissed the dancing redhead, stilling her entirely.

"I should speak to dogs more often," Willow breathed as she absorbed the kiss. After a few seconds she pulled back to take the wineglasses from her girlfriend and set them on the table. "I'll go get the bottle of wine from inside," she explained as she pulled open the door. "Anything else we need?" Tara shook her head and Willow quickly retrieved the bottle, returning a minute later to find that the blonde had taken her seat and lit two candles in the center of the table.

As they took their seats Willow told the blonde, "this looks and smells really fantastic. I can't believe you made me dinner."

Tara smiled back at the redhead and picked up her fork. "Well try it," she told the excited redhead. "So tell me about your week. I haven't s-seen you in a few days."

Willow giggled as she tasted the salad. "And we haven't spoken on the phone at all either?" she teased.

"Well yes," Tara agreed, "but I've been busy and…" she blushed. "it's not the same as seeing you."

"I'd rather see you too," Willow agreed with a broad smile. "I've been busy this week," Willow explained. "Things went really well with Mr. D'Angelo." Tara listened and observed the redhead as she told her about the project and her plans for extending the digital highway. She spoke with obvious excitement and enthusiasm. The blonde was excited to hear everything Willow had to say. It seemed to her that the more invested Willow was in staying here, the better. The more invested, the more likely she was to stay with Tara.

Willow stopped her conversation to watch the blonde. She was looking at her with such fascination and amusement. "Goddess baby," Willow praised, "this is fantastic. What kind of cheese is it?"

"Tofu," Willow choked on her mouthful. Attempting a graceful recovery she added, "I mean it's great. Tofu. Wow, how delicious."

Tara giggled as she watched her girlfriend's reaction to the surprising ingredient. "It adds p-protein and tastes like cheese, sweetie," she explained.

"Are you trying to turn me vegetarian?" Willow asked. "It's un-American you know," she teased, obviously joking, "no one says 'It's as American as Tofu-dogs.'"

"I'm glad that y-you're so excited about the project, Will," Tara explained. By now the two girls had finished eating. "Do you want to go and sit in the yard?" the blonde offered as she pulled a blanket from a storage unit under the bench.

"Definitely," Tara agreed, "definite snuggles." As they lay down on the blanket Willow looked up at the moon clear in the night sky. She thought it was two days past full and was aware that even if Tara decided they were ready to move forward in their relationship physically, this was probably not the night that would make her most comfortable. Ok, I have too much information, the redhead realized giggling.

"What are you g-giggling about Willow?" Tara asked as she lay back with her arm around the redhead. Willow gave her a feigned shocked look and the blonde burst out laughing before running her fingertip down the girl's face. "Your face is so expressive. I c-can tell when you are thinking or p-puzzling something out," she explained.

Willow smiled at Tara's explanation. It seemed interesting that the girl used that technique to read her girlfriend, particularly given her empathetic gift. Really if she wanted to know what was going on with Willow, she could have just used her powers. In a way, the redhead liked that she just asked. "Uh… well…," Willow started. She wanted to answer Tara's question but found it way too embarrassing and felt pretty confident that the blonde would be just as embarrassed if not horrified by the topic. "Can I just take a pass on that subject?" Willow suggested. "But it wasn't anything bad, I promise," she added. Tara nodded and Willow asked something that had been bothering her: "Tara?"

Tara was by now running her fingertips slowly over the skin of the redhead's forearms as the smaller girl leaned against her. Both were looking at the sky and Willow knew that Tara was spotting her own constellations. "Yes sweetie?" the blonde answered.

"Why don't you want to be in Eliza's play?" As she spoke, the redhead flipped over onto her stomach to face her girlfriend.

Leaning in for a kiss, Willow pressed their lips together savoring the softness of Tara's lips against hers. She idly wondered if she had ever felt anything so soft or so perfect in her life. Gently she lay her head on Tara's hip and felt the blonde begin running her fingers through her hair. "Really, Tara," she persisted, "why?"

Willow argued, "but Eliza said that you could have that other part and wouldn't even need to dance."

"That's not the right p-part for me," Tara responded, "Queen Latifah is going to play that part in the movie. Do I l-look like Queen Latifah?"

Willow leaned up on her elbow for a second. "Not unless I squint really hard." Both girls giggled as she lewdly looked at her girlfriend's chest: "or I just haven't been noticing those enough." She continued, "which doesn't seem likely given that I'm a breast gal." With Tara's blush she continued, "or …. Queen Latifah is very different in this world."

Tara giggled for a few minutes before she explained, "Nope, sounds like you know who Queen Latifah is h-here too." She tried to derail the conversation with her flirtation, "so you're a breast gal huh?"

"Well," Willow faltered, "you know what I … I mean … well … Hey! Where's Eliza when you need her?"

Tara giggled as she again kissed the redhead before laying back to enjoy the night. "Are you staying tonight, Willow? I m-mean will you stay tonight?"

"Definitely," Willow stated triumphantly, "I want to sleep with you every night that I can." She sealed her statement with another kiss before pulling back. "But you're changing the subject: why don't you want to be in the play?"

"Because of your leg?" Willow asked. When Tara nodded slowly Willow attempted to reassure her: "sweetie. No one cares about your leg. I mean, that's not what I mean. People care that you're hurt or hurting. But no one thinks differently of you because of it." She cupped the blonde's face and forced her to look into her eyes intently. "You are beautiful and you have an incredibly healing loving soul. Everyone around you loves you and is luckier because you are around."

Tara wanted to hear the words Willow spoke but somehow it was hard to believe it. "You haven't ever s-seen it," she whispered.

"Well no I haven't," Willow agreed, "but I've seen your face and your eyes and your soul and they are beautiful. I'm sure that every part of you is just as beautiful." Her lusty Willow-mind interrupted her touching speech to tease her every part, tee hee sounding very much like Bevis and Butthead.

Tara giggled as she flirted back, "Have you been th-thinking about my every parts, Ms. Rosenberg?"

"I think about every thing about you, my love," Willow whispered before again kissing her girlfriend.

My love? Tara heard and thought again. It was unmistakable now really. Twice she'd heard that phrase. But maybe that wasn't it. Maybe it wasn't like that though. Maybe it was just a pet name like sweetie or baby or honey. "All good I hope?" she offered.

"Everything about you is all good," Willow agreed as she again kissed the girl, this time deepening the kiss by tracing her tongue along Tara's lips and quickly gaining entrance.

This time the kiss went on and on as each girl luxuriated in the feel other girl's lips and tongue and mouth. Finally Tara pulled away breathlessly, "did you get your application t-turned in?"

Willow smiled, her heart pounding in her chest and she could feel the blonde's heart doing the same. "Yep…," she answered feeling smug. The blonde's eyes were dilated and her breathing was heavy. She might not be ready to make love, but Willow didn't think she was far from it. Not that the redhead wanted to pressure her girlfriend; but she wanted to show her how much she loved her. She wanted more than anything to share something special and magical with the girl. And since Tara had admitted a few days ago that she had never shared it with anyone else, Willow treasured the chance to be her first and show her how wonderful it could be to have someone who loved you with all her heart make love to you, make love with you.

On the other hand, it wasn't like Tara knew that Willow loved her. Sure she should be able to tell but what if she couldn't? What if she still thought that Willow was in love with her other Tara. "Subject change," the redhead suddenly announced.

"You know," Willow started babbling, "from that movie where Sylvester Stallone wakes up in the future and he's a cop and Sandra Bullock is his partner and they listen to jingles on the radio instead of music and say 'subject change' if they want to change the subject and that wasn't really my point." She almost faltered as she realized that the blonde was laughing at her intense movie- babble.

As soon as Tara could restrain herself from laughing she leaned forward pressing her soft lips to Willow's. "Sometimes I worry that you will run o-out of oxygen," she whispered.

"Your vixen," Willow answered. Taking a deep breath she continued: "but we're off track. I was saying or going to say before my off-topic babble…" she trailed off and began pounding her forehead lightly into the blanket.

Tara abruptly stopped laughing at her girlfriend. It was obvious that the girl was frustrated and Tara certainly could sympathize with anyone who had trouble expressing themselves verbally. Maybe that's how they got together: Tara couldn't talk and Willow couldn't stop, she mused but kept herself from giggling. She stroked her fingertip along Willow's jaw to her chin, allowing her magical energy to warm the surface. "I'm sorry sweetie," she whispered, "you were trying to say something and we got sidetracked." She left the opening hoping that Willow would proceed with whatever she had been going to say.

Willow could feel Tara sending her magical energy through her skin. The connection was nearly overwhelming to her. "Argghh!" she suddenly growled, "I was going to say that I love you and I've known that for a while but I didn't say it until now and I really do and here we are in the backyard all with the nature and the stars overhead and nearly full moon and how romantic would it be but then I start babbling about Sylvester Stallone and Sandra Bullock and mouth-to-mouth." She finally stopped talking when she ran out of breath.

Tara lay stunned for a few seconds as she watched the expression of frustration streaked across the redhead's face. Finally she stuttered, "d-did you just say you love me?"

Willow felt like continuing to pound her head into the ground until she heard Tara's question. Slowly she looked up locking eyes on the other girl's and allowed a smile to spread across her face. "Among other things," she whispered back.

The blonde placed her hand gently behind Willow's head as she pulled their lips closer together. As their lips were just about to touch she spoke so that her breath caressed the smaller girl's lips: "would you like to t-try again?"

"Over and over again," Willow whispered, "I love you." When their lips came together they contained passion and love but also restraint as each girl savored this kiss as much as their first.

After a few minutes kissing tenderly Tara drew back looking into Willow's green eyes. She stroked her hand down the redhead's face as she explained, "I h-have an early class."

Willow glanced up at the moon noting how much of the clear sky it had transversed. "Yeah," she smiled, "it's late and we should go to bed." Suddenly she felt unsure about what she had just said. "I mean if you still want me to stay, not that I have to stay. I mean if you'd rath…"

Tara giggled as she once again demonstrated her clearly proven method for stopping Willowbabble. "Of c-course I want you to stay," she whispered.

"Well good," Willow beamed as she helped Tara up and folded up the blanket, "because if you wanted me to go I'd be a sad witch and no one wants a sad witch around." She giggled as she thought of the implications: "Kleenex bursting into soggy messes, Sarah Maclaughlin music playing in elevators, people's clothes turning black…"

The redhead beamed as she looked up to see Tara clearing the table and giggling at her musings. "You make me happy, Willow," the blonde said honestly and Willow noticed that she had no trace of her stutter.

As she picked up the plates and glasses the redhead leaned in for a quick peck. "I'm considering it my job as of now," she grinned. Within a few minutes the two girls had the deck and kitchen reasonably cleaned up and Tara allowed Willow to use the bathroom first before following her to get ready for bed.

Tara smiled at her girlfriend before turning off the lights and climbing into bed. The moonlight slanted slightly through the windows and she could just make out the glint of the redhead's teeth and the highlights in her hair. As they snuggled closer she ran her fingers again through Willow's soft hair, unable to believe that she was real. "Is this real?" she suddenly asked.

Gently guiding her body on top of Tara's Willow answered, "this is the only real thing: our love." The words escaped her mouth before she could stop them, too fast to take them back. It wasn't that she doubted that Tara loved her, just the opposite. She was convinced that this woman loved her, had always loved her. But something was holding her back from expressing it. No not from expressing it, from saying it. Everything she did, the way she looked at Willow, the passion of her kisses shouted, "I love you." And suddenly Willow knew just as surely that it didn't matter to her if Tara couldn't say that she loved her yet. "I love you," she repeated as she wound her fingers through long blond hair allowed their entire lengths to press together.

Willow could feel the heat off her girlfriend's body. They were so close that the only thing separating them was the thin material of each girl's pajamas. She was so aroused that she knew that Tara could detect the signs. She could have detected them from across the bed if she had paid any attention at all. "Really," the redhead confirmed with as much a whimper as a statement.

Tara leaned her head close to Willow's ear and whispered, "is this ok?" Her hands were already stroking up and down the smaller girl's sides and she could feel her shaking. It didn't take a genius or even Eliza's level of sexual experience to detect that the other witch was very aroused and Tara certainly shared the reaction. Her nipples were growing harder by the second and she was starting to feel a distinctive wetness making her thankful for the panties and pajamas she wore.

Rather than answering Willow raised her head slightly to capture her girlfriend's lips in her own. She delved into her welcoming cavern quickly, darting her tongue around and hearing the girl moan in response. Even as her arms rose to stroke Tara's back moving up to her neck and down to her bottom, she felt the blonde growing more and more bold with her explorations. Willow gave a moan as she felt Tara's hands teasing at the sides of her small breasts. Wanting nothing more than to feel the comfort of Tara's soft skin Willow gently eased her hands under the waist of her top and began stroking her skin directly, shifting her top slightly with each pass.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, a little voice warned Tara that she needed to stop. But that voice was outvoted by the ones controlling her hands and legs. One leg raised slightly to divide Willow's and the redhead moaned again, causing the lone voice to shut up completely. Tara could feel her girlfriend's heat and wetness through the flimsy material barrier and it felt better than anything she could ever remember feeling. Slowly and tentatively she found the first button on Willow's top and began to unbutton it, pulling away to look questioningly at the redhead first.

"Please," the smaller girl whispered as she began earnestly pulling her girlfriend's top up and over her head.

"Oh Goddess," Tara breathed out as each girl managed to strip the other from the waist up and she felt the press of flesh on flesh. Dazzled she pulled back a second to look at her lover in the slight moonlight coming through the sheer drapes. "Beautiful," she whispered as she trailed her hands slowly over Willow's body.

Willow watched her girlfriend's eyes roaming over her body and the dark-blue hue they had taken on. They sparkled in the moonlight and Willow was entranced with watching them. She wasn't even watching her hands, hands which now cupped her lover's soft breasts. Without knowing that she was going to say it she exclaimed, "perfect."

Tara giggled slightly at Willow's interruption of the moment and the connection. "That's what I was thinking," she answered just before raised her head to the smaller girl's chest. Slowly she caressed the girl's breast with her cheek, enjoying the feel of her soft skin and the hard nipple that pressed against her skin. Finally she turned her head to gently kiss around Willow's soft flesh, moving inward until she kissed her hard nipple. She smiled in pure joy at the tremors that ran through the smaller girl's body, tremors which seemed to center on that nipple and against her leg.

Willow allowed her hands to caress her girlfriend's beautiful breasts even as she enjoyed the wonderful feeling of Tara's mouth on her own. As the blonde moved to the second breast Willow arched forward calling, "Oh Tara, oh Goddess." Tara pulled back for a second before ensuring that it was indeed a good cry and returning her attentions to her lover's soft breasts. As she did she was simultaneously aware of the incredible feeling of Willow's hands on her own breasts and nipples as the girl circled her hard nubs with her fingertips. As the redhead moved one leg, it fit perfectly between Tara's and only then did the blonde realize just how aroused she truly was.

Willow now ducked her mouth to suck one of Tara's nipples into her mouth. As she did she heard the girl moaning and could feel her pressing herself into the redhead's leg. Unable to resist, she switched her attentions to Tara's other nipple as she continued caressing the now wet one between her fingertips. Now it was Tara's back that arched as she let out a moan.

Feeling the wetness and heat emanating from both their centers Willow knew that they could make love. But should they? She also knew that this was not something that they could just fall into. It was something that should be special, not just something that you did because you got too worked up to stop. Gently she stroked the blonde's cheek and smiled at her, "my love?"

"I want you and I love you," the redhead began, "but I can wait too." She watched Tara's face attempting to read her emotions before saying, "ok. I'm a doofus. That was a completely stupid thing to say. I mean you probably are completely fine with making love and want to and here I am ruining the whole spontaneity of the mood. What a doofus." She hid her face playfully in the blonde's side.

"You're a sweet doofus," Tara answered as her hands stroked Willow's back. "I l-l-love doing this … but I was g-g-going to say 'can we stop?' soon," she explained. Suddenly she wondered if she had broken some code. Was there some rule about not getting girls totally and completely turned on and aroused and then saying stop?

Willow didn't seem to be upset though. A vixeny smile came over her face as she asked, "soon?" Tara nodded and Willow confirmed, "but not now?"

Seeing where Willow was going, Tara again smiled and shook her head as the redhead again bent her mouth to take in her lover's nipple. Yes, we'll stop soon, Tara thought. Only after a long time enjoying not stopping did the two girls fall asleep with Tara's naked breasts pressed to Willow's back, her arms wrapped around this woman she loved with all her heart and soul.

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Paths Diverged/Divulged

by JustSkipIt

Copyright © 2003