W/T Season 3 Y'all by JustSkipIt

Disclaimer: Willow and Tara and any other character that appeared in the syndicated television show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" is property of Joss and Mutant Enemy, I’m only borrowing them and am not making any money off them Thanks.

Author's Notes: You remember how Willow was in a coma and came out of it in Becoming? And how Buffy was accused of killing Kendra? Well, Willow’s parents actually took some notice of those events. That and the fact that when they got to the hospital, she had a boyfriend they had never met: a musician! So they did what any caring loving parents would do. That’s right: stay home more and pay more attention to their daughter right? Wrong! They sent her to boarding school out in the beautiful Hill County of Texas.

Summary: Willow's parents send her to boarding school for her senior year. And guess who's there?

Tara finished putting up the fresh hay. It was the end of the first week of the semester and everything had gone by quickly. Upon their return both girls had to study for all their exams and then complete the tests. The only advantage to that pressure was that they did not have to attend the full schedule of classes during exams and had more time to study.

Then the new semester started. Tara was still trying to catch up on the work hours she missed while out of town. Additionally, she found that no one who might fill in ever did as thorough a job with the horses as she did so there was plenty to be done down at the barn. Her teaching load was slightly increased as more students wanted to try riding in the springtime and four new students who had never ridden before took a lot of attention. Before classes started, she had tried to encourage Willow to make it five new students but the redhead was now embarrassed about her fear and wouldn’t join the class.

On the other hand, while Willow was too embarrassed to take Tara’s riding class, Tara now found herself in the somewhat enviable position of seeing her love teach from the position of a student. Computer skills were a requirement of all graduates and although Tara had put off the course previously, not due to any fear or inability to learn but just due to timing, she now found herself in Willow’s basic computer skills class. After completing exams, the girls had met with Ms. Geller to ensure that the administrator did not see a conflict of interest in the situation. She had felt that as long as the girls acted appropriately and professionally, there was no problem. While they appreciated the confidence, neither girl failed to notice her pointed indication that she "knew" they would act professionally. Of course the administrator’s position was somewhat solidified by the fact that Willow was her only choice to teach with Ms. Benson still out. To this point, reviews of the redhead’s teaching had been glowing and she was aware that it had been a very good choice to involve the girl in putting her considerable teaching skills to use.

As Tara glanced at her watch she headed quickly from the barn, expecting to see Willow standing outside the corral as she had once before. And standing there, she found… no one. Willow wasn’t standing where Tara expected her and the blonde’s heart fell. This was to be the day, the day that Willow would get near a horse, the day that she would touch a horse, the day that she would ride a horse.

It had taken Tara by shock Wednesday night when Willow brought it up. The two women were lying entwined in bed, Tara’s body still trembling from her most recent orgasm as Willow trailed her fingertips over the blonde’s skin. As Tara attempted to regain the ability to breathe regularly and think in complete sentences, Willow had asked, "can I come ride with you this weekend?"

"W-w-wow, I think I came so hard I lost my hearing," Tara gasped. "D-d-did you just say something about riding?"

Willow leaned up on her elbow looking at her lover and smiling: "Well, I’ve been thinking about it and I know you would really love it and we could share it together and everything and more importantly, I’m starting to wonder how scared I should be of horses when you came with me to visit the hellmouth and fight vampires and everything and maybe that’s scarier and ok babbling now and well?"

Tara didn’t push the conversation; she just kissed her lover gently and nodded, hugging her body tightly. But now she wasn’t there and it wasn’t like her to be late. Tara began walking back toward the dorms noting other students she passed on the way. Near the school, she found the redhead sitting under a large tree. Without speaking, Tara sat down next to her and took Willow’s hand in her own.

Tara leaned against the tree and pulled her lover’s body close. Taking a breath, she was about to speak without knowing what to say. And instead heard herself start to sing. The song was one that her mother used to sing when she was a child, about courage and how you can do anything, even the smallest child.

Tara smiled as she answered, "definitely. I’ve been telling her about you. She’d be hurt if I let someone else take us."

The two girls stood and began walking toward the stables. Willow teetered on the edge of conflicting emotions. Part of her felt enthusiasm and excitement for this, her first horse ride and the first time to share this with Tara. The other side battled for supremacy with terror and visions of huge arm-biting horses, ponies, zebras, donkeys, and unicorns floating across her minds-eye. The creatures had flared nostrils and white foam crusted at the corners of their toothy mouths as they rampaged the fields of her mind, crashing and clashing together in bloody battle. Their hooves churned the earth, breaking apart both grass and stone with their powerful feet, feet which displayed torn and tattered skin from the intensity of their battle. Shivering from the power of her vision, Willow clasped her lover’s hand and arm and snuggled closer as they walked.

Tara could clearly feel the conflicting emotions running through her girlfriend. She was tempted to use her magical power to assuage the obvious terror. On the other hand, she wanted Willow to feel that fear so that when she actually interacted with the horses, it would show her that she had overcome that fear. Tara didn’t want to invalidate a fear that the redhead had obviously held for so long. On the other hand, she didn’t want the other woman to be effectively crippled by her fear.

While she was not as vocal or open about it, Tara harbored similar dreams to the one that Willow had so beautifully expressed in her letter. Of course she dreamed of their life together after school. Of a life lived in a small farmhouse like the one Willow pictured, surrounded by animals including horses. And her dream included Willow around and near and on and riding those horses. Although the blonde knew she could not push her girlfriend, she wanted her to learn to accept and even eventually love riding so that they could share the experience.

Fortunately Tara’s teaching experience did supply her with ample opportunities to work with students who held a fear of horses. While Willow was definitely the most severe of these cases that she had encountered, she believed that some of the techniques she had developed in working with other students would be applicable. She began by telling Willow a little about the environment they would encounter: "Chestnut is in her stall as are all the other h-h-horses. She’s been fed and I rode her a little this morning. No one else is down at the s-s-stables today, or at least they haven’t been there yet." Willow nodded and Tara continued, "when we get there, I will go and get her and b-bring her to the corral."

Willow was somewhat comforted by Tara’s words and reassuring energy. She felt enough better that she assumed the blonde was using magic to make her feel that way. Looking up, she realized that they had reached the corral. After giving her a quick hug, the blonde entered the barn. Willow stood there shaking and watching Tara walk away. She couldn’t believe that she was actually doing this: in minutes she might be petting a horse or even riding on one. She was filled with terror and excitement all at the same time. And Tara was walking away from her and into the barn. She watched the blonde as she strode confidently and unmistakably sexily into the structure. The boots, which raised her heel, and the jeans, which displayed her assets, as usual accented her ass and legs. The redhead remembered the first time she noticed Tara’s gorgeous ass in her room and had stared at it losing her breath and rational and thought and had fought to control herself. These days she made no such effort but indulged herself in what could only be described as ogling her girlfriend every chance she could. Of course a more close exploration of that luscious ass would be even better but … Back to the terror at hand.

She took a deep breath to continue to calm herself as Tara walked slowly from the stable leading Chestnut. No expert on horses, Willow had nonetheless seen Tara ride once and had seen enough photographs and drawings of the animal to recognize it immediately. It almost seemed that the horse assessed and nodded toward the redhead as she allowed Tara to lead her closer to the corral fence. Tara loosely looped Chestnut’s lead around the top beam of the surround before lithely climbing over onto Willow’s side. Taking Willow’s hand, she asked quietly, "would you like to pet her love?"

As the redhead nodded, Tara took a few steps backward, closer to the enclosure and the horse standing calmly at the edge of the corral. As Tara moved so did Willow and before she knew it, the redhead was standing within arms’ reach of the horse. Tara gently maneuvered her body so that she stood directly behind her lover, not pressing forward but providing a soft physical contact for support. As she did so, she shifted her hold on her lover’s hands so that her left hand wrapped itself loosely around Willow’s hip while her other held her right hand.

OH MY GOD! I’m standing feet from this horse and OH MY GOD it’s not biting me or trying or anything. Willow’s heart raced wildly and her mind flew at a speed unheard of even for her. Look at the way its hair covers its face and it is looking at me. Oh Goddess, it just moved. Is it thinking of biting me? She almost felt like running but could feel Tara’s body and arms holding her loosely and lovingly. The feel of her hand on my hip and her body pressed against mine is almost worth this. Willow attempted to contend with the conflicting emotions pouring through her as her fear battled the unmistakable excitement coursing through her skin. She could feel Tara’s hot breath on the back of her neck and her breasts pressing just under the smaller woman’s shoulder blades. The fingers on her hip felt like hot iron through the material of Willow’s jeans and she almost moaned into the feeling. The joining of their hands created an electric sensation for both women.

So concentrated was she on the feel of Tara’s body pressed up against hers that Willow didn’t even notice as the blonde raised their hands and began stroking Chestnut on the bridge of her nose. Suddenly, she realized that her fingers were touching the soft hair on the nose of a very large horse. She released the breath that she didn’t even know she was holding as she stroked Chestnut’s face along with Tara. Entranced, the redhead continued stroking the horse as she noted that Tara had released her hand. Moments later she again felt Tara’s hand in hers, this time pressing a small cube into her palm. Tara released her hand and reached hers out toward the horse, flattening her hand and allowing the horse to take a sugar cube from her palm. Willow gulped loudly as she imagined the animal ravaging Tara’s hand, taking the cube, fingers, and bones down to the wrist in one bite, leaving only a bloody stump where her lovely hand had been. Even as she felt the terror of that vision, she watched the horse dart out its tongue to take the cube from the blonde’s hand and quickly retract it.

Tara slowly pulled her hand back so that it rested on Willow’s wrist. Softly she began to raise Willow’s hand toward Chestnut to allow the horse to take the sugar cube. As she did so, she was eminently aware of Willow’s reactions. If the redhead had shown more than the slightest hesitation, she would have stopped. However, the smaller woman surprised her by actually flattening her hand on her own and advancing it toward the horse to allow it to take the sugar from her hand. Feeling the horse’s tongue lapping out to take the cube and brushing her palm and fingers she actually smiled. As she continued looking into the horse’s eyes, she again placed her hand on the bridge of Chestnut’s nose to pet it again. "I love you," she heard Tara whisper in her ear as she dropped her hold on the redhead’s hand entirely.

Turning the redhead to face her Tara looked deeply into her green eyes before asking, "are you ready to ride her love?" She could see the fear in Willow’s face but was reassured as the girl nonetheless nodded. Tara leaned in and kissed her lover softly and was surprised by the passion with which the girl kissed her back. The smaller woman pressed her mouth tightly against Tara’s, opening both with her lips and darting her tongue deeply inside the blonde’s mouth. Tara moaned in surprise as she felt the simultaneous sensation of Willow’s mouth pressed so tightly and forcefully against her own and the smaller woman’s arms wrapped around her, her hands caressing her ass thoroughly. Reacting quickly to the surprising passion with which their kiss grew, the blonde sucked the tip of Willow’s tongue in her mouth eliciting a moan in response.

Willow pulled her lips away from her lover’s mouth to run it along her collarbone and up her neck before nibbling on her ear. She growled into Tara’s ear: "I want you," and heard a whimper from the taller woman in response.

Tara mirrored her lover’s movement along her bare skin, playfully nipping and more roughly biting Willow’s neck at the jugular before whispering in her ear: "and you my love. But patience is a virtue…" With that she pulled away and climbed onto the fence and into the enclosure to untie Chestnut and walk a few feet from the fence.

At Tara’s motion, Willow climbed tentatively onto the fence and relaxed on the top. Tara explained, "I’m going to lead Chestnut over there and I want you to climb onto her back. I won’t let go of her lead. You can sit there for a minute and stroke her neck. Then I’ll climb on behind you. Ok?" This was truly the moment of truth for both girls. If Willow climbed onto the horse, Tara believed the hardest part was over. If not, she would start the next time at a more terrified space than ever before: if there was a next time. Not pushing, Tara waited patiently for her lover to make any answer.

Willow sat atop the corral fence astir in emotions. Here she was, moments from climbing onto the back of a horse. She had already done more than she ever expected by petting the horse and feeding it the cube of sugar. She felt proud of her courage. And somehow, more strongly than that, she was amazed at the way her body felt. She always felt aroused around her lover. But this… who knew that fear could heighten the senses so much? Even as she first saw the horse and felt the terror, she was overwhelmed by the unmistakable wetness flooding her. She knew that her panties were completely soaked from the fear and passion of the experience. Oh Goddess, when she climbed onto the horse, her center would press right into the saddle and the what is that thing called? Pommel? I’m going to come on a horse?

Tara continued patiently watching her girlfriend watching the horse. The smaller woman allowed her emotions to pass across her features as she looked from the horse to the blonde. She’s not scared anymore. Or she is but it’s… That look… Oh Goddess! Tara recognized the unmistakable signs of her lover’s arousal as Willow’s cheeks flushed with red and her nipples strained at her bra and through her thin shirt. I can’t wait to take those in my mouth she smiled to herself. Finally the redhead nodded.

Tara led Chestnut slowly next to the fence so that Willow could reach out and touch the animal. And the redhead did just that; she slowly stroked Chestnut along her neck. At Tara’s direction, she slowly swung one leg over the horse and shifting her weight, found herself sitting on a horse! To her complete shock, the ground did not open up and swallow her, nor did Chestnut turn around and bite a large chunk of her leg off, nor did the animal begin frantically bucking and writing attempting to knock her against the ground before stomping her into the dirt and mud. Rather, Chestnut stood very still and calm as Willow sat in stupefied silence on the saddle.

Oh Goddess! I’m sitting on a horse. Wow! I can’t believe this! she thought excitedly. Had the redhead analyzed her emotions, she would have realized that she wasn’t even feeling fear at the moment, just excitement. Excitement and… well there was that sensation of the pommel pressing against her very wet center. Goddess, this is what it feels like when she rides? Lucky Tara. Lucky horse! Lucky saddle! The redhead felt the color rising in her cheeks as they blushed. She made eye contact with Tara, wondering if the blonde knew what she was thinking and feeling.

Sitting there wondering about her lover’s responses, Willow watched as Tara smoothly lifted one foot into the stirrup and before Willow could even speak, the blonde sat behind her on the horse. She had moved so quickly and fluidly that the redhead could hardly believe that she now sat behind her on the horse, her own center pressed to Willow’s ass. The redhead let out a low groan as Tara leaned forward whispering in her ear: "feels good doesn’t it baby?" As she spoke the blonde trailed one hand slowly along the outside of the redhead’s leg.

"Y-y-yes," Willow choked out, sputtering now not from fear but from excitement. As she concentrated on the sensations flooding her body, she noted that the horse had started to move slowly forward. "Oh Goddess, she’s moving Tara," she blurted out stupidly. Or at least she thought it was a stupid thing to say as soon as the words had left her mouth. So stupid in fact, that she would have slapped her hands over her mouth if she were not holding on to the pommel for dear life as Chestnut moved forward toward the opening of the corral.

"What do you say we take a short tour of the fields love?" Tara asked gently. Tara felt the redhead nod silently as she leaned slightly back against her lover. As the blonde urged her mount forward a little more quickly, she held Willow with the insides of her arms, allowing her to feel the safety and comfort of her loving embrace. After exiting the corral, the two women rode in silence for a while.

Tara was conscious of Willow’s breathing and the tension in her body and she kept Chestnut mostly to a walk, occasionally allowing a trot. She smiled as she felt how Willow’s tension as they entered the trot was quickly replaced by her enjoyment of the vibration of the animal under her and against her center. No stranger herself to the feeling of a horse bouncing under her legs and against her center, Tara smiled as she felt Willow enjoying this aspect of the ride. hey, anything that increases the chance of her coming out here again she smiled to herself.

While Tara allowed her arms to brush along the sides of Willow’s breasts frequently, she resisted the temptation to allow her hand to stray to the certainly damp crotch of the redhead’s jeans. She would have enjoyed loving her girlfriend here and now but also wanted Willow to be fully present for this, her first ride. There was certainly plenty of time later for more adventurous riding for both girls. After about half an hour, she made a wide turn to return to the stable. Willow was doing very well relaxing into the ride and Tara didn’t want to push it. Also, she knew that the redhead would be very sore from her first ride and wanted to minimize her discomfort as much as possible.

If asked, Willow would have had a hard time expressing her feelings throughout the ride. Her initial trepidation had been replaced by a few overwhelming emotions. First was the incredible level of safety and comfort she felt with Tara. The openness and trust she was sharing was perhaps greater than any she had ever shared with the blonde and certainly with any one else. For a few moments, she wondered if this was what it was like for Tara when they first made love. Not that it wasn’t incredibly vulnerable for Willow, but she knew that she had been ready to share that intimacy long before the blonde. But the next emotion, if it could be called that, was the all-encompassing passion and sexual excitement she felt. When the horse started going faster, kind of bumping up and down: oh Goddess! The feeling of that saddle against her soaking wet center made her crazy. A part of her wished that Tara would just reach around, unbutton her jeans, and … At the same time, she could feel Tara’s center pressing into her ass and imagined that it was just as wet as her own. She could feel the blonde’s hard nipples against her back. Each step taken by the horse elicited an almost groan from the redhead.

As they entered the corral once again, Willow could hardly contain her excitement and pride. She had displayed such courage! She had finally ridden on a horse. Not that she was going to be teaching riding any time soon, but she could actually imagine riding both on a horse with Tara and on her own horse but with Tara without being incapacitated by terror. She was almost sorry to end the ride as Tara led Chestnut next to the corral fence and allowed the smaller woman to climb onto the fence once again. Once Willow again sat firmly on the fence, Tara pressed a few more sugar cubes into her palm and the redhead eagerly offered them to the horse. Tara leaned in and placed a long deep kiss on her lover’s mouth before pulling back: "I love you Willow and I am so proud of you." Tara didn’t think that Willow could smile any larger than she did at that moment and the blonde again leaned forward to embrace her lover in a tight hug.

"I’ll go put Chestnut in her s-s-stall and give her some feed and be right back ok?" Tara indicated. Willow nodded and Tara spurred the horse to take a faster trot around the corral once again before heading into the stable. Willow watched the blonde ride awash in pride and passion. that lucky horse! That lucky saddle. Look at her bounce along…

Tara dismounted as she entered the stable. She was somewhat surprised to have not seen any other students today, as usually someone wanted to ride on Saturday. Oh well, that was just as well as it allowed she and Willow to enjoy their experience in peace and quiet. And Willow did seem to have enjoyed it. As she unsaddled the horse and put her in her stall, she felt pride in Willow’s courage. The redhead had done very well with getting close to Chestnut and in riding. Tara blushed as she thought of the other enjoyment her lover had obviously experienced while riding. She could hardly wait to get back to the dorm and explore that reaction more closely. She closed the stall gate and turned toward the stable door. Suddenly she felt hands on her shoulders and a mouth pressing against her own.

Willow was clutching and kissing the blonde with overwhelming passion and lust, her tongue already in Tara’s mouth as the taller woman quickly responded to the surprise attack, wrapping her arms around Willow’s body. Willow moaned as she kissed Tara harder and harder. "I want you now Tara," she moaned between and into kisses. If Tara had not been pressed against the door of the stable, her knees would have buckled as Willow quickly pressed her hand between her lover’s legs. As she did so, she felt warmth and wetness matching her own.

Pushing away from the door, Tara roughly shoved Willow backwards without breaking the kiss. Directly across from Chestnut’s stall was an empty stall with fresh hay and she directed the two girls into it before pulling shut the gate. Lifting slightly with one arm around Willow’s upper legs while pressing into the smaller girl, she felt both of them tumble backwards into the hay and pressed her body down onto her lover’s. Neither girl had broken the kiss for breathing or any other purpose since Willow had taken Tara and their hands fought to remove their clothing as quickly as possible.

Willow gave a hard tug and felt all the snaps on Tara’s shirt give as she rolled over to straddle the blonde. Not willing to take the time or effort to even remove her girlfriend’s bra, the redhead raised the cups before lowering her mouth to suck first one and then the other hard nipple into her mouth. Her mouth now free, Tara moaned and whimpered as she arched her back, pressing her hard nubs into her lover’s mouth. "Now baby," she groaned into Willow’s ear. Immediately she felt the redhead unsnapping the buttons on her jeans and her warm fingers sliding into her panties.

"Goddess baby, you are so wet," Willow growled as she played her fingertips between Tara’s soaking lips. Whimpering Tara raised her hips as she again captured the redhead’s reddened mouth with her own.

"Oh Goddess!" the blonde screamed out as Willow entered her with two fingers, her thumb pressing into Tara’s clit. As she thrust into Tara’s opening, she quickly raised herself onto her knees to straddle above her. Needing no invitation, Tara released the fastener on her lover’s jeans and pressed her hand immediately into Willow’s wetness. Both women moaned their enjoyment and need for release as their matching strokes increased in speed and intensity. With her free hand, Tara reached under Willow’s shirt to throw it over her head and into the corner of the stall. The blonde pressed her thumb into Willow’s clit as she ground her fingers inside of her writhing lover while caressing her breasts with her other hand. Dimly the thought flashed through her mind This has to be a world record for speed. She began to giggle from the incongruous thought and felt Willow joining her, unsure if the redhead was thinking the same thing or just enjoying the feeling of the movement.

Both women stilled their hands as they heard someone enter the stable. Oh Goddess! each thought as they looked at each other in stricken terror. Quickly extricating themselves, the rolled down onto the hay as if trying to hide. If they were lucky, the rider would get a horse quickly and leave the barn. They heard boot steps moving closer and closer to the stall as Willow motioned toward Tara’s shirt and mouthed her own question: "My shirt?" Tara looked around wildly before finding the garment over in the corner and pointing to it in horror.

"Courage. You can do this," the heard a voice murmuring from a few doors down as they heard the visitor open the door to two stalls. Two stalls? That means two riders! Tara realized completely panicked. Willow pointed to the stall door and down the hall as she mouthed: "Who?"

"Michelle! Hey." The identity of their visitor was answered as they heard the second rider enter the stable.

"I thought you were going to wait for me and I’d bring the horses?" Michelle answered.

"Well, I got tired of waiting," the second girl explained. Now it was Tara’s turn to mouth her question: "who?" Willow shrugged her own confusion as the two witches snuggled closer together, attempting to attain some level of respectability if the two other girls should venture to this end of the barn. At least we’re at the end of the stable. There’s no reason for them to come down here except to see Chestnut Tara thought optimistically.

As the thought formed itself and flowed across her brain, she almost slapped herself on the forehead. Everyone knew that a thought like that could do nothing but cause itself to come true. As expected they heard Michelle’s voice: "So uh Eliza, you’ve never been down here. Do you want to see Tara’s horse? She’s beautiful, definitely the best horse here." Now Tara recognized the second voice. Eliza was a sophomore transfer to the school this semester. She was one of Tara’s beginning riders but had shown a real interest in the horses. Moments later Willow and Tara saw the two girls come into sight. Fortunately they had their backs turned as they approached Chestnut’s stall door and looked at the beautiful animal.

Michelle stood slightly behind the other girl as she indicated the horse, "that’s her. Isn’t she beautiful?" As she lowered her hand, it brushed along Eliza’s sleeve. Michelle pulled her hand quickly back as if it has been burned as Willow and Tara watched the scene unfolding with embarrassment and amusement.

Eliza turned to slightly face the other girl as she looked into her eyes, "she’s beautiful but not the most beautiful thing here."

"What? What?" Michelle stammered. By this time Willow and Tara both had their hands clasped over their mouths. Their eyes grew bigger as Eliza casually leaned forward softly kissing the other girl on the lips. The junior’s eyes displayed complete shock as she watched Eliza pull back.

"Well?" Eliza questioned coyly. Both witches felt like voyeurs, albeit unintentional, as Michelle didn’t answer verbally but leaned in to kiss the younger girl back once again. This kiss took longer and she gently stroked the other girl’s hand with her fingertips as she kissed her.

Taking Eliza’s hand in her own Michelle pulled back: "uh, so do you want to go ride?" She started to step forward as something caught the corner of her eye. Willow and Tara realized at the same instant that they were as caught as Michelle, no more caught as the redhead still had not managed to put on a shirt but covered herself by hiding behind Tara. The junior’s eyes bugged out as she took in the sight of the two women realizing instantly what they had been doing and also realizing that they had seen the two kisses between she and Eliza. A blush rose over her face as she looked back to Eliza.

Glancing toward the two witches again, Michelle nodded but answered, "sure. But let’s go and walk the horses around the corral for a few minutes. They think we’re going to ride them now so we really should at least take them out."

As the two younger girls exited the stable leading two horses, both witches rolled on the floor with laughter. As soon as they dressed, Willow pulled her girlfriend toward the back door of the stable: "come on love. Let’s not get interrupted this time." Tara just nodded and smiled widely as they left the barn quickly.

"Oh Goddess!" Willow groaned as Tara pressed her against the door to her room. With one hand, Tara grasped and clutched at her lover’s clothes as she locked the door with her other hand. As soon as she had locked the barrier, she pulled Willow’s shirt over her head, dropping it on the floor as she quickly detached her bra. "Now," she growled under her breath as she took a break from undressing the smaller woman only long enough to turn them and push her lover toward and onto the bed.

Willow’s hands worked to remove Tara’s clothes as desperately as the blonde had done. Already she had Tara’s shirt half-off and her bra detached. With her feet, she attempted to knock Tara’s boots off her feet even as she unsnapped her lover’s jeans. "I can’t believe we got interrupted," she whispered as she lifted her hips to allow the blonde to pull off her pants. Both women were desperately ravaging the other’s mouths even as they so quickly stripped off their clothes. The smell of raw sex permeated the room already. As soon as she had access, Tara plunged two fingers deep into Willow’s wetness.

"Quiet baby, we’re back at home, remember?" Tara teased. "But you are right when you say that."

"Say what?" the redhead moaned. She was having trouble following a train of thought as Tara’s fingers pretty much concentrated her attention in one place. She could feel the blonde’s fingers thrusting in and out of her depths. She moaned incoherently as she rocked her hips up to swallow her lover’s firm fingers.

"Fuck. Fuck baby," Tara explained. "I’m fucking you, you know." She whispered, curious to the response of the redhead to her words. It didn’t take long to discern that response as Willow moaned loudly and thrust her hips more lustily up into the blonde’s hand. Even as she attempted to fuck her lover’s hand, Willow ran her fingers through Tara’s matching wetness before inserting two fingers into her ready opening. Both women moaned and writhed, thrusting up to meet each other’s hands.

Her legs weakening, Tara rolled onto her back. She now faced her lover as they lay side by side, thrusting their hand deeply into the other’s open depths. Although Willow kept her eyes open to watch the passion with which she had captured her love, Tara had hers closed as her head lulled back. Her neck arched upwards and Willow concentrated on the powerful pulse flowing along that smooth skin. Biting down on her lip to keep as quiet as she could, Willow sat forward to press her other hand to Tara’s clit, rubbing in circles. Quickly Tara mirrored the action, pressing the heel of her hand onto Willow’s mound.

Even as she began to press her hand against Willow’s mound, Tara felt herself clench uncontrollably. Biting down on her lip, she kept from shouting out but moaned wordlessly. Amazingly she was able to keep her intention on Willow’s pleasure even as her body was wracked with contractions. Feeling her lover coming so hard and hearing her muffled sounds, Willow felt her orgasm moments later. Knowing that Tara’s climax was receding, Willow pulled her hand from her girlfriend’s clit to press it against her own mouth and muffle her scream. Tara quickly shifted her weight to continue thrusting into Willow’s clenching wetness even as she replaced the woman’s own hand with her mouth. As the redhead’s climax abated, their kiss became a series of small kisses. The two girls snuggled together completely satisfied.

Without answering, Willow leaned forward and took the offered tower of ice creamy goodness from the spoon Tara held out.

"Hmmm, I think you might have mentioned that a time or 300 hundred today." Willow teased. "After you could speak again that is," she growled lower.

"Hey now, I got a little attacked in the stables. Can I help it if b-b-beautiful women find me and my horse irresistible," Tara smiled. Looking a little perplexed she continued, "not that my h-h-horse… oh forget it. I love you."

Willow nodded, "I know. I love you baby. And I enjoyed the ride and the after ride. Although bad timing."

"I’ll believe you," Willow answered. "I haven’t met Eliza yet. Unless watching her kiss a girl while laying a few feet away half-dressed counts."

Taking another bite of mostly whipped-creamed Tara answered, "no that doesn’t c-c-count as meeting. So what’s going on in Sunnydale? Did you talk to Buffy this afternoon?"

"Oh wow, that’s a big question," Willow answered. "Boy am I glad that we got out of Dodge when we did. A few days later, Buffy found these kids dead in the park. Her mother was with her…"

Willow raised her eyebrows as she explained, "she wanted to bond or something. Anyway, the kids weren’t really kids; they were a demon that turns communities against themselves. Joyce and a bunch of moms got all hot about unnatural stuff and decided witches were to blame. They tried to burn Buffy and Amy at the stake. Giles and Cordelia stopped them but not in time."

Willow stroked Tara’s hand as she answered, "oh no. But Amy turned herself into a rat and now no one knows how to turn her back. Buffy’s keeping her."

"Wow, that’s a c-c-crappy demon. I’m glad we w-w-weren’t there baby," Tara said.

"Yeah, although you could have met my mother when she tried to burn us at the stake so that’s something," Willow tried to joke.

"Oh b-b-baby," Tara leaned forward to hug her girlfriend. As she leaned back she saw Michelle and Eliza approaching. "Hey Michelle. Hey Eliza."

"Hey," Michelle answered. Turning to Eliza she asked, "do you know Willow?" The younger girl shook her head before turning to Willow.

"Willow? Hey, you’re Chelle’s computer teacher right? I’m Eliza," she reached out her hand as she spoke.

As Tara waved the girls into the two chairs sharing the table Willow answered, "yeah, that’s me; I’m Willow. Nice to meet you."

As she sat Eliza turned to Tara: "hey Tara we saw your horse today. She’s beautiful."

Willow coughed as she muttered under her breath, "but not the most beautiful thing …" she was cut off by the feeling of Tara’s fingers pinching her through her overalls under the table.

"T-t-thanks E-e-eliza," Tara stuttered completely unnerved by the turn the conversation had taken.

"Hey Tara," Michelle said quietly, "can I talk to you alone for a minute?" Looking to Willow for a second for her approval, Tara nodded and she and Michelle moved to another table.

"So Willow," Eliza began, "you teach computers here huh? That’s pretty cool." Willow nodded, still looking over at Tara and Michelle. "So is there a lot of family here or just you two?" Eliza asked.

Eliza started laughing openly at the redhead, "yeah, we’re at boarding school. And you and Tara are family right? A couple? Gay? Lesbian? Hooked-up? Part of the tribe? Kittens? You get it?"

Willow now looked at Eliza in complete shock: "oh Family. Ok, yeah we’re a couple. I never heard that before. I guess you are too then?"

"Y’all don’t get around much do you?" Eliza teased. Smiling she agreed: "yeah, I’m definitely family. That’s why I’m here."

Eliza now laughed openly as she explained: "No it won’t help. I got expelled from my old school. It’s stupid. This girl’s mother walked in on us. Which wouldn’t have been so bad except the bitch was on the school board and a week later I was expelled. My father sent me up here."

Tara’s color rivaled Michelle’s as she kept in mind exactly what the younger girl had seen and how unmistakable that vision would have been. "N-n-no, I’m sorry. W-w-we… uh … ok." The blonde just trailed off, completely unable to say anything that could resemble anything reasonable for the conversation. "E-e-eliza seems nice…" she attempted to lead the younger girl.

Michelle got a dreamy look on her face as she nodded: "yeah. I like her. I mean I think she likes me too, you know?"

If possible, the younger girl blushed even more furiously looking down at the table. "That’s kind of what I wanted to talk to you about. Are you and Willow going to the homecoming dance?"

"W-w-well I didn’t ask her y-y-yet but I’d think s-s-so," Tara answered looking puzzled, "why?"

Michelle nodded, "I’m glad. I mean, I want to ask her to go with me but I was worried that she wouldn’t … I mean if we were the only … you know?"

Tara smiled again as she nodded, "I’ll definitely ask Will. I can let you know as soon as I ask her ok?" Michelle nodded as the two girls got up to rejoin Willow and Eliza who had continued their conversation as they waited. As they reached the table, Tara suggested, "hey girls-without-cars. Wanna go into the m-m-ovie?"

Willow and Eliza rose from the table. Willow quickly took Tara’s hand as they headed toward the theater hall. Eliza moved toward Michelle but didn’t take her hand as she answered, "yeah let’s go. But I’ve got a car."

All three other girls looked at the newcomer. Willow asked the question they were all wondering, "you have a car? Then why are you here? I mean, not that you shouldn’t be here but well, uh, everyone who has a car goes out on Saturday usually."

Eliza laughed, "yeah I know. But I really like cartoons so I wanted to watch the movie. Maybe some other week we can all go out for a movie or dinner or something?" She glanced quickly at Tara and Willow who shrugged in agreement before looking for a longer time at Michelle and smiling. The brunette just smiled back as they entered the hall.

As she trailed her hand over her lover’s sweat-covered skin, sending electric shocks through both women, Willow spoke: "It’s so amazing."

Getting her second wind Willow sat up: "I mean this afternoon well it was… Ok it was so powerful and raw. I mean I couldn’t get enough of you or get you inside me or me inside you fast enough." Even as she noticed Tara’s deep shade of blush the redhead continued, "but then tonight. We get back from the movie and it’s just… so soft and tender and loving and have I mentioned how I love the taste and feel of you on my tongue?"

Blushing an even deeper shade of scarlet, Tara leaned forward to capture Willow’s lips in a soft kiss. "You’re beautiful Willow," Tara whispered as she pulled back.

Willow nodded before changing the subject: "Eliza and Michelle make a cute couple don’t you think? Both have that dark hair/dark eyes thing going on."

As she rolled over to snuggle into sleeping position Tara agreed: "Yeah they do. Michelle r-r-really likes her."

Willow snapped awake: "I’ll go anywhere with you love but uh baby… It’s January. Isn’t homecoming in the Fall?"

"Oh right, I forget that this is your first year here," Tara explained, "here homecoming is in the spring. It’s in 3 weeks. It’s not so much about football as about c-c-college. Lots of a-a-alumni come home for the weekend and there’s a huge college and c-c-career fair. All the alumni man, or should it be woman? a b-b-booth for their school and talk about their careers."

"So you’re asking me to be your date for a college and career fair?" Willow asked perplexed.

Tara laughed sleepily, "there’s a d-d-dance on Saturday night. Both students and alumni and even some parents come."

Willow smiled as she continued snuggling into her lover: "of course I’d love to go with you love. Will you have a lot of work to do?"

Willow sat at her desk intently studying the screen in front of her. She had her feet up on the garbage can and her face about 6 inches from the screen of her laptop. The tip of her tongue poked slightly out past her lips, which were pursed as she concentrated on the code execution. She didn’t even notice as Tara walked up behind her, brushing her hand over the redhead’s shoulders and causing her to jump: "Hey!"

The blonde laughed as she sat on the edge of the desk: "Hey. I b-b-brought an apple for the teacher," she said pulling the promised fruit from her backpack and setting it on the desk.

Flashing her best vixeny-devious smile, Willow picked up the apple: "do you bring such yummy goodness to all your teachers?"

Tara leaned closer as she answered, "not all of them. Just the ones that…" she trailed off whispering in Willow’s ear and was rewarded as the smaller woman blushed. "The rest g-g-get mochas."

"Hey mochas? Since when are apples a reward for our special times but the other teachers get mochas?" Willow pouted ineffectively as Tara let out a belly-laugh. "What are you doing over here early love?"

"Oh, we got out of Bio today because the teacher had a m-m-meeting or something. And, uh, I didn’t get the assignment done yet. I actually do need your h-h-help teacher," Tara explained.

Willow pulled a chair closer for Tara and passed the mouse and keyboard toward the blonde. As Tara pulled up her file from the server Willow asked, "what’s wrong with your program?"

Willow laughed but not loudly. She didn’t want Tara to think that she was laughing at her but she did point out, "actually, it does exactly what you tell it to do. That’s the great thing about computers."

"W-w-well, then I told it the wrong thing because it’s not w-w-working," Tara answered as she opened the files in question.

Willow pointed at the screen as the asked, "ok then why don’t you explain to me what you were trying to do ok?" Taking another bite from the apple she murmured, "something’s wrong with this apple."

"No, I’m just feeling kind of nauseous. Why don’t you explain about the code baby?" Willow prompted tossing the apple into the garbage can.

Tara pointed at the screen and began to explain her logic. As she did so, Willow listened closely. At times she re-questioned a method Tara had used. The hour before class started passed quickly and Tara had nearly finished her revisions before the other students arrived. She was very impressed with the way that Willow had allowed her to figure out her own program rather than just telling her what to do. She considered it the mark of a good teacher that the teacher lead the student to her own learning rather than spoon feeding her.

"Did Buffy get your birthday present in time?" Tara asked. The two girls were taking a walk after supper to enjoy the uncharacteristically warm winter day. Both needed to study now that the semester was in full swing, but they could take a little while to digest and visit. They held hands as they walked, swinging them back and forth occasionally.

"Yeah. She got it and a big surprise from the Watcher’s council," Willow huffed.

"You feel kind of warm baby; are you feeling ok?" Tara asked before following up on Willow’s previous statement: "what kind of surprise? There’s a whole watcher’s council?"

"I’ll see if I can help it. Do you want to turn around baby?" Tara offered as she started to attempt to give the redhead some healing.

"Let’s walk a little more. I like the feeling of the ground under my feet. Kind of undizzy-ifying. Anyway, yes, there’s a watcher’s council: bunch of stupid British stodges. They’ve got this moronic tradition where if a slayer lives to be 18, they test her on her 18^th birthday." Willow explained. As she spoke she slowed to sit on the ground under their favorite tree.

Tara sat close to snuggle the redhead as she leaned against the tree. It still seemed to her that Willow was very hot but she had done what she could to help. "A test? What kind of test?"

"Idiots!" Willow stood up and started pacing in front of the blonde. "They take away her powers and lock her in the house with a bad vampire. She lives: woo hoo! She dies, oh well! We get a new slayer."

Tara agreed: "yeah super-idiots. Obviously she l-l-lived since you spoke to her. It goes without saying, I’m really glad."

Holding out her hand the redhead pulled Tara to her feet and they began walking back to the dorm. "Yeah she lived but not before the vampire kidnapped Joyce and could have killed her. Also somehow Giles got fired."

"Fired. Unemployed. Between jobs. The stupid council thinks he’s too attached to her so they fired him." Willow ranted. "He’ll still be librarian but he’s not on the council anymore."

"Wow and wow. I bet you have more action-packed updates from h-h-home than anyone else here," Tara joked.

Willow laughed, "yeah I know that’s why you love me. My never-ending series of interesting stories." As she kissed the blonde she urged, "go get your books so we can study for a while love."

Tara returned a few minutes later having changed clothes, brushed her teeth, and gotten the books she needed for the night. She considered leaving a note for Alyson but the girl was unlikely to return to the room and if she did, she was certainly capable of discerning Tara’s location. Tara knocked lightly as she entered Willow’s room. It was a good thing that she didn’t wait for Willow’s response seeing as the redhead wasn’t in the room anyway. Assuming that her girlfriend was in the bathroom, Tara turned on the radio and opened her biology book to study.

Tara looked up as her lover entered the room a few minutes later. "Goddess baby, you don’t l-l-look so good," she observed as she noticed the green tint to the redhead’s skin.

Willow lunged onto the bed grumbling, "that dinner wasn’t really good enough that I wanted to see it twice."

"Oh baby," Tara murmured, moving next to her lover on the bed. "You are really hot baby," she said after placing her hand on Willow’s forehead.

As she started trying to pull the heat from Willow’s skin Tara smiled, "you know that w-w-wasn’t what I m-m-mean Will." Unable to dissipate the heat, Tara began asking questions as Willow curled up on her lap. "Do you still f-f-feel nauseous? Does it hurt?"

"Yes and yes and …" suddenly the redhead jumped from the bed and rushed out the door. Tara waited worriedly for her girlfriend to return. In the meantime, she cleared everything off the bed and placed an empty garbage can near it just in case.

Willow reentered the room much more slowly than she had left and moved immediately to the bed groaning. As the redhead lay down, Tara placed a cold wet cloth on forehead. "D-d-do you want me to go get the n-n-nurse?" Willow shook her head to the offer and Tara agreed, "o-o-ok. Why don’t you let me help you get into jammers and you c-c-can sleep ok?" Feeling puny and crummy the redhead agreed to let her lover take care of her.

Neither woman got much studying done that evening. Willow refused to let Tara go get the nurse although the blonde could not get her obvious fever to break. In less than an hour, the redhead had sweated through her pjs and soaked the sheets. Regardless of her embarrassment over the need, following Willow’s next two trips to the bathroom, she had relented and just used the garbage can next to the bed. Tara continued attempting to cool her off with cold washcloths but couldn’t seem to make a difference in the fever.

As Willow’s condition worsened, Tara worried more and more. Obviously it wasn’t food poisoning since they had had the same food for dinner and she was feeling fine. Without a thermometer she didn’t know how high Willow’s fever was but it was definitely well over a hundred and the cold cloths didn’t seem to be making any difference. Quickly the redhead fell asleep and Tara made herself a pallet on the floor for studying and continuing to check on her lover and attempting to cool her fever. She hoped that sleep would help and Willow would feel better when she awoke. Eventually the blonde fell asleep on the floor.

She woke up a little later to Willow’s voice: "Becky, where did you go?" Taking a few breaths to steady herself, Tara moved to sit on the edge of Willow’s bed as the redhead continued her series of comments: "reality? Our reality?" The smell in the room was nearly overwhelming even though the blonde had cracked the window before going to sleep. "I’ll go anywhere," Willow groaned as Tara placed her hand on the redhead’s forehead. Her skin was even hotter although she felt clammy to the touch.

Maybe if I get her into a cold shower? Tara thought desperately. "Willow," she shook the redhead lightly.

"Willow. Willow!" Tara now shook her girlfriend, as she could not wake her from her obvious delirium. Without putting on her shoes, she ran out of the room and down the hall, pounding on Michelle’s door as hard as she could. "Michelle! Michelle!"

The blonde was nearly crying as she explained, "W-w-w-willow… I n-n-need y-y-you t-t-t-to t-t-t-to…"

Michelle softly reached for the blonde’s hand, "Tara slow down. What’s wrong?"

Even as Tara finished speaking Michelle had pulled on jeans and a jacket and shoes. She waved back down the hall as she pulled the door shut behind them. "Her room?" Tara nodded and Michelle told her quickly, "go back to her Tara. We’ll be back in 5 minutes ok?" From three doors down the hall she turned to call out, "she’ll be fine Tara." The blonde barely heard her as she re-entered Willow’s room to find her still calling out to people who weren’t there.

Willow attempted to speak but found that almost no sound emerged from her voice as she heard her whisper: "Tara?" She attempted to open her eyes as she choked out a little louder, "Tara?"

At first she didn’t recognize the answering voice, "she went to get your mother at the airport, Willow."

The redhead opened her eyes more widely but found it hard to focus on the room. She vaguely recognized Ms. Geller who looked like she had been sitting in the chair across from her all night and who moved closer. The administrator spoke again, "you’re in the hospital Willow."

"Hospital?" Willow echoed. "Tara?" Her voice sounded tired and her throat felt dry.

"Do you want an ice chip?" the administrator motioned. She had already pressed the call button to alert the nurse that the redhead was awake. "You had your appendix taken out at 4:00 this morning." As Willow looked at her confused Ms. Geller explained, "Tara just left 30 minutes ago. She’s been up all night."

"Left? Picking up my mother?" Willow repeated as she took another ice chip dropping back to the bed.

Addressing the nurse who had entered Ms. Geller motioned to the bed, "Willow woke a few minutes ago." The nurse asked a few questions and took Willow’s vitals. By the time she had finished the redhead was asleep again but not before mumbling to her visitor, "Tell Tara…"

Tara chewed on her nail as she waited at the gate for Mrs. Rosenberg to exit the plane and the skyway. This was definitely not the way that she had expected to meet her lover’s parents or at least one parent. If she really thought about, she had considered it somewhat unlikely that she would meet them for a long time. She somehow doubted that the Rosenbergs would find it important enough to come for Willow’s graduation or that if they did, they probably wouldn’t stay long and she certainly didn’t plan to push Willow to include her in any planned family time if they did happen to show up. Past that point, she was having trouble imagining a scenario that had her meeting her lover’s parents for years. Not that Willow wouldn’t want her to meet her parents, just that when would Willow see them again?

But now here she was standing at the gate to Mrs. Rosenberg’s red-eye flight half-way across the United States. And not looking her best… The blonde had not been to bed since waking around midnight and finding Willow delirious. After getting Michelle to run for the nurse, Tara continued attempting to lower Willow’s fever. The redhead’s mostly incoherent rambling had ranged through such topics as magic, looking for Becky my mother? Tara had repeatedly wondered, an oak tree, college choices, choices in general, forgotten questions and answers, vampires, Buffy, Xander, Giles, and Tara. At times it appeared that she was talking to people who weren’t there and at others she seemed to be trying to tell Tara something.

So here Tara stood in wrinkled dirty clothes. When she arrived at the airport to find the plane running late, at least that had given her a few minutes to duck into a bathroom and wash her face and brush through her hair before putting it in a rubber band. She knew that her eyes were still very bloodshot first from crying and then from lack of sleep. She held a sign with "Rosenberg" printed on it in bold marker although she knew that she would recognize Willow’s mother from the pictures she had seen at the house. But of course, the woman wouldn’t recognize Tara as being from the school. The sign shook both from nervousness and from the caffeine, which pulsed through her bloodstream. She wished that Willow could have woken up before she had had to leave for the airport but Ms. Geller had assured her that the redhead would be fine and she would sit with her constantly. She wondered if the administrator was trying to force Tara’s focus away from her girlfriend.

Once the plane landed and passengers began disembarking Tara saw Mrs. Rosenberg immediately but figured it would be better to allow the woman to spot her than to wave. Willow’s mother glanced around quickly before spotting Tara and the sign. She carried a small overnight bag, which either meant that the woman would not be staying long, she had packed in a hurry, or she had checked her luggage. Tara smiled as she wondered which of the three options sounded most appealing to her. More importantly she kept running through the sentence "Mrs. Rosenberg? I’m Tara Maclay. I’ll take you to the hospital." or something like that in her head hoping that when it came out, it would do so moderately smoothly. Of course the chances of that happening were slim at best. Her interactions with parents usually involved quite a bit of stuttering and she was extra nervous today with this being her lover’s mother and with Willow being in the hospital not to mention the sleep deprivation.

Willow’s mother approached and stopped right in front of the blonde. As Tara breathed in to steady herself the woman spoke quickly, "you’re from the school? I didn’t check any baggage. Can we go?"

Before Tara could answer, Mrs. Rosenberg had started striding through the airport. Tara quickly caught up to her and walked alongside her, motioning toward the exit and the nearest parking lot. As they walked, she reached out to take the visiting woman’s bag and reaching the truck set it in the back. As she opened the door and motioned Mrs. Rosenberg to slide across the seat, the woman looked at her with dismay but followed directions nonetheless. Tara started the truck and pulled into traffic as Mrs. Rosenberg asked her next question: "How long will it take to get there? How is Willow? Do you know anything?"

Tara took a deep breath as she imagined her chances of answering all those questions at once: not bloody likely. She decided to stick with her initial instinct and introduced herself before answering the first question: "I’m Tara Maclay. We’re about 30 m-m-minutes from the h-h-hospital." She breathed out a sigh of relief that at least she made it through her name without sounding like an idiot.

"Thanks Terri," Shelia answered as she breezed into her other questions, "do you know anything? Do you know how Willow is doing?"

"T-t-tara," Tara answered tentatively, "when I l-l-left to pick you up, she was out of s-s-surgery but n-n-not awake."

Tara remained quiet as Sheila began muttering under her breath: "out of surgery. How did this happen? What kind of?…" She could tell that the woman was as tired as she was and obviously upset. Of course, she couldn’t’ tell whether her lover’s mother was more upset that Willow was sick or that her life had been disturbed by the call that Willow was in the hospital and the requisite trip.

Pulling into the parking lot at the hospital Tara exited the truck and picked up her visitor’s bag and began walking toward the building. Attempting some level of graciousness, Mrs. Rosenberg commented, "Terri, I’m sure you have important things to do. Classes to attend? You don’t need to come in with me."

"T-t-that’s o-o-ok," Tara stuttered as she entered the hospital and directed both of them toward the elevators. Reaching Willow’s floor Tara guided Mrs. Rosenberg toward Willow’s room and pointed at the sign reading "Rosenberg" next to the door before moving to take a seat across the hall. She heard Willow’s mother enter the room and quickly greet Ms. Geller before addressing Willow.

Willow vaguely registered the sound of the door opening and closing as she was beginning to awaken. Where am I? she again wondered as the knowledge of her having had surgery and being in the hospital had not yet pierced this waking. She sniffed trying to detect familiar smells, particularly Tara’s scent. Even though the blonde nearly always rose before Willow, her wonderful scent filled their space whether Willow’s room or Tara’s. Taking another deep breath, she was struck by the unmistakably hospital scent and remembered it all: she had been sick, she woke up and Ms. Geller said she had her appendix taken out, and, her mother was coming!

Just as the memory and realization hit the redhead she heard Ms. Geller speaking: "You must be Mrs. Rosenberg. Hello. I’m Ms. Geller. How was your trip?"

Willow scrunched her face closed as if trying to ward off the impending sound of her own mother’s voice. But then just as she thought she could escape it, there it was: "Nice to meet you. How is Willow?"

Through her half-closed eyelids Willow saw Ms. Geller wave toward the bed, "she woke up about 45 minutes ago and fell back asleep." Willow noticed the headmistress winking at her as she had realized that Willow was awake but playing possum. As the redhead eased her eyes completely closed to again feign sleep, she heard her mother cross to the bed. She lovingly brushed her hand across Willow’s forehead and bangs before leaning down to kiss her on the forehead. Willow was surprised by the touching gesture and it almost made her feel badly for not being more eager to see her mother.

"Let’s go talk outside," Ms. Geller answered as she started toward the door. "Is Tara still here?"

"Oh Terri, the girl who drove me here?" Sheila asked, "I think she’s outside."

As they were exiting the room Ms. Geller announced loudly enough for Willow to hear, "maybe she’d like to come sit with Willow while we talk." Willow’s face split into a smile and she realized too late that if her mother was looking, she would know that the redhead wasn’t asleep. But obviously she wasn’t watching because moments later Willow heard the cadence of bootsteps entering the room quietly.

Willow opened her eyes as Tara approached the bed and held out her hand, which was immediately taken by the blonde. Tara leaned over to kiss the back of her lover’s hand as tears pooled in her eyes: "you s-s-scared me love."

"I think I scared me too," Willow whispered, her throat very dry. Tara immediately lifted the cup of ice chips to her mouth and allowed her to take one, which she did before dropping back to the bed. "What happened?" she finally asked quietly.

Tara softly stroked her lover’s hand as she recounted the events of the last 12 hours: "You g-g-got sick after d-d-dinner. I thought it was just f-f-flu or something. I t-t-tried to help but c-c-couldn’t and you g-g-got sicker and s-s-sicker…" Tears flowed freely down the blonde’s face as she became very upset over the danger that Willow had been in, the danger that she blamed herself for.

"Tara?" Willow croaked, "it’s ok baby. You did fine. I’m fine." She attempted to smile finding the even that action tiring.

Tara’s tears didn’t cease as she looked into Willow’s loving green eyes: "I f-f-fell asleep. I s-s-should have stayed awake. W-w-when I awoke you were d-d-delirious. Your fever was 104." This time it was Willow’s turn to expend her energy rubbing her hand over her lover’s skin. She couldn’t believe the guilt Tara was feeling over her being in the hospital. She tried to figure out how to tell the blonde that it was ok, that she knew she did fine but she couldn’t remember how to form the words and then she felt herself sliding into a soft fog.

Willow woke hours later feeling much more alert and awake. She looked around the room before speaking and took in the flowers on the table and big box of candy. I wonder if anyone sent mochas she internally chuckled. Her mother was slumped in the chair by the bed and no one else was in the room. "Mom," Willow whispered.

Sheila sat upright immediately as she heard Willow’s voice: "Willow. You’re awake. How are you feeling?"

As the redhead took the drink of water offered to her by her mother she answered, "better. More awake." Willow looked to the window and noted the dimming light. "Afternoon?" she asked.

Sheila sat back down in the chair before answering, "early evening actually. You’ve slept a long time but the doctor said you should be fine. You can probably leave the hospital tomorrow."

Willow nodded and sat more up in bed as she began to understand the feeling of intense hunger. "Can I eat?" she asked. Once Sheila had retrieved Willow’s dinner tray of broth and jello, a bland meal which the redhead began to eat with relish, Willow asked what she really wanted to know: "is Tara here?"

Sheila looked thoughtful for a moment before she made the connection, "Tara? You mean Terri? The girl who picked me up at the airport?"

"Oh no dear. I’m sure she said her name was Terri," Sheila answered. "She seemed nice: very quiet. I understand she’s a scholarship student. Maybe she’s having a hard time keeping up because she seemed very tired and her clothes were totally dirty and wrinkled. Maybe the load is too hard for her, sad…" she trailed off.

Willow blew air out of her mouth as she felt completely irritated with her mother. This conversation was typical for her. Of course she believed that Tara’s name was Terri; this was the woman who still believed that Buffy’s name was Bunny. Amazing that she got Xander’s name right even if she would never say it, preferring "that Harris boy." So of course she believed that Tara had introduced herself as Terri, as if it were impossible that she just heard wrong. And her conclusions that Tara was in over her head with school because of her appearance. Willow knew from seeing her girlfriend that Tara’s appearance was less than stellar due to her having tried to take care of Willow and then spending the night at the hospital. Too tired to attempt to set her mother straight but resolving to do so later she asked, "mom can you tell me a story?"

Sheila looked up a few minutes later to find that the redhead had fallen quickly asleep just as she started talking about her two-month seminar on "The Sociology of Parenting in the 21^st Century." It was really too bad too. She had a lot of good information and really loved teaching. Oh well, maybe later.

When Willow woke again she recognized by the light that it was early morning. "Mom?" she asked as she was opening her eyes.

Tara leaned over the bed smiling at her lover, "0 for 1 this morning my vixeny-genius. Want to g-g-guess again?"

"Tara!" Willow exclaimed, "how long does this vixen have to go without a kiss?" Tara leaned in immediately to peck her lover’s lips but feeling Willow’s arm loop around her neck stayed longer. As she pulled back, both girls murmured their enjoyment. Willow smiled as Tara sat back into the chair: "I hope to never go that long without one of your kisses again lover."

Tara smiled back at Willow as tears threatened to spill over her cheeks: "me neither baby. Don’t s-s-scare me l-l-like that ok?" Willow nodded.

"Hey! I see a box of candy over there. Can I have that for breakfast?" Willow bounced up and down on the bed.

Tara laughed as she bent over to get the tray of hospital food. "No love, they said you can have this nice bland oatmeal instead. Chocolate in a few days. Chelle, Eliza, James, and Emma sent the chocolate and your other students sent the flowers."

Willow began eating as the two caught up about the days Willow had missed. She could make up her assignments later of course. Michelle had posted signs to cancel Tara’s riding classes the first day and the administration had found a substitute teacher to present Willow’s lesson plans while she was in the hospital. "Where’s my mom?" Willow finally asked.

Tara smiled again: "she had some work to do. She asked me if I would like to come sit up here in the morning when I called last night."

Willow took Tara’s hand as she explained: "it hasn’t been the introduction I was hoping for. I was hoping to say something like, ‘mom, this is the love of my life: Tara Maclay. Tara, this is my mother Sheila Rosenberg."

"The love of your life?" The voice both girls heard was unmistakable but each swirled her head toward the door anyway to take in the rare sight of Sheila Rosenberg struck speechless.

Tara and Willow looked from the woman to each other and back to Sheila. Finally Willow spoke: "mom. I thought you were doing some work?"

Willow’s mother started to move into the room, shutting the door behind her as Tara rose from the chair as if trying to make a stealthy escape. Sheila looked from one girl to the other as she answered Willow’s ridiculous question: "the hotel’s Internet connection was down. I thought I’d come see… the love of your life? What? You’re in love with Terri?"

Turning to look at Tara who was inching closer and closer to the door Sheila informed the blonde, "I thought you said your name was Terri."

"T-t-tara," Tara stuttered. The inanity of the conversation struck the blonde as funny and a smile curled up at one corner of her mouth. Willow glanced at her lover and saw her lop-sided smile. It reminded her of the first time she met her and she started smiling right back.

Dropping to sit in the chair that had been vacated by Tara, Sheila looked back and forth between the two girls. "Why do you both have such silly grins on your faces?" she asked sternly.

Willow nodded at Tara and then at the foot of the bed, indicating that she wanted her to sit with her. First the blonde removed the breakfast tray and noted that Willow had in fact eaten most of the meal before her mother had appeared. She took it as a good sign that not only had the redhead regained some appetite but that she had now been awake for over an hour. After setting the tray on the floor Tara sat on the bed as Willow took her hand. Still smiling Willow took a deep breath before speaking: "mom, this is the love of my life: Tara Maclay. Tara, this is my mother Sheila Rosenberg."

Although she was clearly shocked by the turn this morning’s conversation had taken, Sheila leaned across the bed extending her hand towards Tara who tentatively took it in hers and gave a quick shake. "What happened to the goyim guitar player?" she asked Willow.

Willow had trouble not laughing out loud at the question but she restrained herself, trying against all odds to have a reasonable conversation. As her mind ran through every appropriate and many inappropriate responses, she though of the way she’d heard a court testimony should go: Answer only the question asked "We broke up," she answered.

Sheila exhaled loudly. Yes Willow had answered the question but she hadn’t given any information. This was all very frustrating and sitting there watching the two girls lightly hold hands as if they expected to be facing the Spanish inquisition was almost as irritating. And really she should be getting some work done; if it just wasn’t for the hotel’s Internet connection… "You came to Sunnydale?" she weakly asked Tara.

Tara nodded her head as she worked on getting the words out of her mouth: "y-y-yes ma’am."

Sheila sat dumbly nodding her head in time with Tara’s movement. Looking down at her hands she exhaled loudly before sitting quietly for a few minutes. She looked up, "Maclay?" Tara nodded. "I don’t suppose that’s your stepfather’s name and you’re Jewish?" Tara shook her head side to side as she curled her lips into what she hoped was an appealing smile and shook her head as if to apologize.

As she watched the two women, Willow struggled to keep from breaking into giggles again as she imagined she and Tara at a double bat-Mitzvah. As if Xander hadn’t made enough trouble at her own and when he found out that he not only could drink wine but was supposed to… When he started clapping at the end of her speech, she knew that he had been embarrassed but she had felt really loved.

Still no one spoke for a few minutes. Finally Tara looked over at her lover who was by now leaning back on the pillows. "Will?" As the redhead nodded Tara continued, "you seem pretty tired. Why don’t I go to class and let you get some sleep?" The redhead nodded as Tara stood up from the bed, not wanting to release her girlfriend’s hand. Turning to Willow’s mother she willed herself to speak smoothly, "nice to m-m-meet you Mrs. Rosenberg."

The older woman took a second before answering, "nice to meet you too." She watched as Tara rose from the bed, appearing to give Willow’s hand a soft squeeze before going out the door. Sheila looked back toward the bed to see her daughter watching the blonde go with a look that could only be interpreted as adoration and love before closing her eyes. "You’re tired?" she asked. When Willow nodded, her mother decided to allow her to rest and sat back in the chair, opening a journal to get some work done. She knew there would be time to discuss this situation before leaving.

Willow again woke to the waning light in her hospital room. By now she recognized the space and remembered why she was in the hospital. She was feeling much better and still hoped that as had been offered as a possiblity she could go home today. For one thing, the food in the hospital really sucked. Yes she was up to eating real food, but the food wasn’t very good. Even the food at the school would be better than this stuff. Actually, she had been pleasantly surprised by the quality of food at the school but had figured that with all the spoiled rich kids, the school had to offer quality food or they would get fed up with it and complain to their parents.

Still she was surprised to wake up alone in the room. After Tara had left this morning, Willow went to sleep and Sheila had been sitting in the chair and reading a journal. Willow had woken for lunch and eaten while she and her mother talked about neutral topics like her father’s business trip, current events, and her mother’s session overseas. Nothing about her relationship with Tara, SAT scores, or Sunnydale troubles. Of course she didn’t expect her mother to discuss her own involvement in the mob-mentality events of the prior week back at home. Even if Willow were to bring them up, she expected her mother to have begun actively surpressing the memories so that she could continue to live in her state of denial. Attempting to burn Buffy and Amy at the stake and seeing Amy turn herself into a rat was probably more than she could bear.

Willow giggled to herself as she imagined mother’s competing instincts. On one hand was her overwhelming drive to deny that Sunnydale was anything other than a sleepy normal American community. On the other was the possibility for producing academic research on the phenomenon of mob-mentality and mass-hysteria. Surely the possibility was tempting to the woman as she could hardly ever be deterred from the almighty line on the vitae.

Reaching out her hand, Willow hooked it around the leg of the rolling bedside table to pull it closer. The chocolates had a nice card from Michelle, Eliza, James, and Emma and it looked like everyone in her computer classes had signed the card on the flowers. And glory and hallelujah! The chocolates were the kind with a key on the lid so that you didn’t accidentally bite into coconut or mint or orange chocolate. The center one was milk chocolate around dark chocolate and looked like a very reasonable place to start. "Put that down Willow Rosenberg!" she heard just as she was putting the chocolate to her lips.

Shocked, Willow dropped the candy back into the box as she swirled her head to follow her mother’s path into the room. As she reached the bed, the older woman gently took the box from her daughter and placed the lid back on it before placing the box farther away and offering her a cup of water. "Thanks mom," Willow mumbled before taking a drink.

Shelia set the cup back on the table and sat in the chair. "How are you feeling sweetheart?" she asked.

"Great. Fine. Good. Chocolate worthy. Getting up and walking around worthy. Going home worthy," Willow babbled.

Willow’s mother nodded and smiled as she answered, "no to the chocolate but the doctor said perhaps you can check out after dinner if you eat well."

The redhead looked like her mother had said that she could have a new car for her next birthday. "Great! Did you get a rental car or do you want to call Tara to see if she can come pick us up?"

"I thought that you could stay with me at the hotel tonight and then return to school tomorrow when I fly home," Mrs. Rosenberg explained. When Willow nodded her mother continued, "speaking of Tara, can we?"

Willow nodded. She had been thinking about this in most of her scant waking moments since finding out that her mother was coming. Part of her had been so eager to tell her parents about her relationship with Tara. But the larger part had accepted long ago the lack of interest they took in her life. She had dated Oz for months without ever discussing that with them and the only way they even knew he existed was because they saw him at the hospital when she woke from the coma. It had been so long that they had been such a distant part of her life that she really no longer took any notice of them or allowed them to enter her plans. Sure she would love to have the type of parents who might be interested in her love life but really when Joyce and Giles had accepted her relationship with Tara, that was as much as she had really thought about. It wasn’t that she was ashamed of Tara: not in the least. She just couldn’t imagine that her parents would care about her relationship at all. So really what she guessed she wanted was parents who could not only accept but care about her relationship with Tara; barring that, she just didn’t want a hassle from them.

Sheila decided to start with easy questions or what she hoped were easy questions: "How long has this been going on?"

Willow thought about the question. Knowing her mother, she knew that the woman would have believed that she was asking an easy question: a starter question. And still there were so many different ways to answer. Did she mean how long had her feelings for Tara been going or how long were they a couple or how long was she gay? And was she gay? Or was it just Tara? And really that question was so far outside the current line of questioning and so complicated to really sidetrack them anyway. "We had a connection from the moment we met mom," Willow finally answered, "we’ve been a couple for about three months." As she watched her mother just sitting quietly apparently taking in her daughter’s answer Willow tacked on, "I’m in love with her."

A broad smile filled the redhead’s face as she reassured her mother: "both of us. It’s mutual."

Sheila considered this for a few moments. "People at the school? Ms. Geller, the other students, they all know? Your friends in Sunnydale?"

Willow looked a little down thinking that her mother was so concerned with other peoples’ opinions. "Yeah mom, all those people know. They either don’t care or they’re happy for us." As she looked at her mother she tacked on, "I was kind of hoping that you could be too."

Sheila sat back and sat quietly for a few minutes before again sitting forward. "I was very shocked when I came in this morning Willow. I’ll tell you that right off." As she saw the redhead about to speak, she held up her hand: "let me speak for a little ok? I was shocked but maybe I shouldn’t have been. You’ve had that friendship with Bunny for a few years with all the slumber parties and intensity of everything. You always seemed like everything with her is direly important like the world was ending. And before that, your only friendship was with that Harris boy. I mean most girls have girl best friends."

Not noticing Willow’s combined amusement and exasperation Sheila continued, "while you were sleeping I did some research. Now I want to reassure you. What you are going through is both sociologically and age appropriate. There is a large trend right now toward a blurring of the traditional sex-role and sexual orientation definitions. And while it has always been normal for people of your age to choose to experiment and to attempt to defy what you have seen as traditional, it is even more pronounced in your generation. I myself, published a paper of the characteristics of Generation Y. Yours is a generation with an unwillingness to judge anything or anyone. One with an especially blurry definition of most things."

Finally Willow had to interrupt: "right. But I’m not a statistic. I’m not just part of a generation or an age and neither is Tara. We’re just us."

As the doctor was entering the room Sheila leaned over to patronizingly pat her daughter’s hand: "of course you aren’t. I’m just saying that you don’t have to know everything about what you want from life right now. You can make choices and later change your mind."

Even as the doctor began asking how the redhead was feeling, Willow’s anger was fading. While she was moderately insulted by her mother’s implication that she was going through a phase that would pass, so what? So her mother thought it was a phase. Let her believe that if it was what she needed to believe. Willow knew better. She knew that she loved Tara with all her heart and soul and that Tara loved her the same way.

Tara dialed the phone nervously. This morning had been nerve wracking for her and she knew that it had been so for Willow. Although her girlfriend had handled her mother’s hearing the two of them discussing their love and had smoothly introduced her, she knew that it was more troubling than anyone in the room had let on. Actually she was somewhat impressed with Willow’s mother’s reaction or lack thereof. It seemed that perhaps she just wanted some time to digest the information or that she respected Willow’s condition.

Crap! she thought as she heard her girlfriend’s mother’s voice rather than Willow’s on the other end of the phone. "Mrs. R-r-rosenberg? It’s Tara. How’s W-w-willow?" she stuttered out.

Tara almost dropped the phone as she heard the answer: "oh Tara. I’m glad you called. Willow will be checking out shortly and I’m going to take her to my hotel overnight. Can you possibly meet us for breakfast in the morning?"

"Oh Thank y-y-you Mrs. Rosenberg. I have to w-w-work in the morning," Tara explained. She wished that it wasn’t true but she had missed too many hours during the week and as always, Saturday was the chance to make them up. As often happened when she could not work during the week the horses all needed extra attention. And she couldn’t believe that Willow’s mother was extending this invitation. Maybe she and Willow had talked? "Perhaps we could have l-l-lunch?" she suggested.

"Yes, lunch would be fine. Can you take me to the airport afterwards and ensure that Willow makes it back to school?"

Tara could hardly believe the conversation she was having. "Of c-c-course. Is 1:00 too late?"

Tara almost dropped the phone as she listened to Mrs. Rosenberg’s innocent question. She nodded for a few seconds before realizing that the older woman couldn’t see her over the phone. "Y-y-yes."

"Ok. I’ll look forward to visiting with you a bit. Now Willow is waving her hand at me and giving me a look like I’ve totally embarrassed her so I’ll put her on the phone and go sign the discharge papers."

"She’ll be back in a few minute baby. I’ll tell you all about it later ok?" Hearing Tara murmur her agreement, Willow shifted into her vixeny voice: "so you know the Royal Arms baby?"

Growling back at her lover Tara answered, "intimately my love." Shifting her tone somewhat she told her plaintively, "I miss you in my arms though. It’s hard to sleep without you."

Willow immediately concurred, "I know baby. One more night and then I’ll be home. I miss you too."

Although she missed the redhead Tara still felt concerned, "are you ok to leave the hospital? How do you feel my love?"

Willow chuckled as she answered, "much better. I’ve been walking around some but remind me not to have my appendix taken out any time soon ok?"

Tara nodded vigorously although she knew Willow couldn’t see her: "Absolutely. No more scaring me like that. And no more being away from me either love." Remembering, she informed Willow: "oh, I almost forgot. Buffy called this morning after I got back. I told her what was going on. I hope that’s ok?"

"Of course baby," Willow assured her. "Hey my mother’s coming back in and it looks like the doctor is with her. I better go so I can get out of here. I love you."

"Love you too," Tara echoed before hanging up the phone. Taking a moment to breathe in her surprise over the conversation she spotted Michelle and Eliza sitting on one of the couches in the living room. The two girls had been pretty inseparable since that day in the stables and Tara was very pleased to see Michelle so happy. She’d gathered from Willow that the newest and youngest addition to their group was perhaps the most experienced and had relatively few reservations or doubts about her sexuality.

Michelle waved the blonde over and asked about Willow immediately. Both girls were happy to hear that the redhead was getting out of the hospital and surprised to hear that Tara was having lunch with she and her mother the next day. "So she doesn’t know about you two?" Eliza concluded.

"Actually she overheard us this m-m-morning. She does know," Tara shook her head. The three girls visited for a while as they speculated on what was happening between Willow and her mother and Mrs. Rosenberg’s reactions to Tara.

Tara sang quietly as she drove back to the hotel. So far, it had been a strange day to say the least. She had just dropped her lover’s mother off at the airport and was on her way to pick Willow up at the hotel to return to school. A part of her was amazed that Willow’s mother was so distant that she flew into town for the emergency and now was leaving without ever even visiting the school or seeing where Willow lived. That part was furious in the same way that she had been hurt and angry for her girlfriend at Willow’s mother’s phone call back on vacation. Particularly given that Tara had never lacked for love from her family, she couldn’t believe the distance at which Mrs. Rosenberg held her own daughter. On the other hand, Willow didn’t seem particularly upset and seemed just as glad to have her mother leaving.

Although the redhead had not let on, Tara knew that the visit was hard on her. Certainly coming out to her mother had not been easy although she felt that her lover did it very well. Tara assumed that the two had discussed the matter at some point before she joined them for lunch today. She had been very nervous about the lunch date expecting that the two girls would face some sort of inquisition or something. Actually she had no idea what to expect. Her shock when Willow’s mother had invited her to join them for breakfast and then changed the invitation to lunch to accommodate her work schedule was only equaled by her surprise that they were staying at the Royal Arms. Not that it wasn’t ok; just that she found herself speechless when Sheila had asked if she knew the hotel. Knew it? She would never forget it…

Driving into town she found herself lost in daydreams about their first night together. She thought about how much she felt their love surrounding them throughout the entire magical evening. The tenderness with which Willow had kissed her as she moved toward the bed and how genuine and perfectly timed and stated her declaration of her love had been still moved through her body and mind. Tara knew that Willow loved her before the redhead had spoken but to hear those words was the most wonderful thing that had ever happened. And after that, the feel of skin on skin. Of wetness and excitement and fulfillment and joining. Even with her sleeping and waking dreams of their passion together, nothing could have prepared her for the perfection of the reality of their union. As she pulled to the first light in nearly 40 miles, right across from the hotel, she silently admonished herself and felt amazed that she survived the drive in so lost in her reminiscing.

Tara had returned from an early morning at the barn, showered and dressed in a nicely tailored pair of gray slacks and white silk blouse. Actually it was the same outfit she wore the last time she visited the hotel she reminisced but with the blouse buttoned higher and no gold chain. She found herself very nervous as she drove up to the hotel and knocked on the door, quite sure that her stutter would betray her. The door was quickly opened by Sheila who greeted Tara warmly and invited her into the room. Tara was somewhat surprised but then she hadn’t expected the woman to turn into a demon or anything. That was really more of a Sunnydale thing than a Texas happening she figured. The three of them had lunch in the hotel dining room because Willow’s mother was concerned about the time and didn’t want to tire Willow out walking somewhere else to eat.

The meal had been surprisingly pleasant with no inquisition. By the end Tara was almost dying with curiosity. It was apparent that Willow and her mother had discussed their relationship as the redhead was doing nothing to hide her affection for her girlfriend. While she hadn’t been inappropriate, she had several times held Tara’s hand as the blonde answered Mrs. Rosenberg’s questions or called her "baby" during the meal. It was obvious that Sheila was aware of their relationship in whatever level of detail she wanted to be and didn’t seem to have a major problem with it. Of course, what neither girl had any way of knowing was that part of Mrs. Rosenberg’s acceptance was based on her pragmatic belief that the relationship would not last long given their age and looming college and career choices. Willow’s mother had the good sense not to mention that it was obviously a phase that the girls were going through.

Rather than question the girls on their relationship, as Tara had expected, Mrs. Rosenberg had engaged the blonde in a rather pleasant conversation in the "getting to know you" mode. She had asked Tara about her family, her experiences at the school, riding and teaching riding, college expectations, and other hobbies. By the end of the meal, Tara was even finding that she could converse with the woman without stuttering more than once or twice every sentence. Of course the college discussion was uncomfortable as it still loomed as the Elephant in the middle of the room for the two girls. The blonde was well aware that she was holding up the needed discussion as Willow had repeatedly attempted to engage her about college choices but Tara had found excuses to avoid the conversation. She knew that it was coming and needed to happen soon but it still made for somewhat uncomfortable pauses at the lunch table. Internally she resolved that she and Willow would talk about it as soon as the redhead was recovered.

She knocked lightly on the door, not wanting to disturb Willow if the redhead was sleeping. If so, she would leave a note and take a walk around the town for a while before returning to drive her home. The plan to walk was unnecessary as the door was pulled open the second that her knuckles hit the wood. Willow simultaneously pulled her lover by the hand through the doorway and kissed her on the lips. As they shut the door behind them, she wrapped her arms around the taller blonde to hug her. She pressed her lips to Tara’s neck as she whispered, "I’ve missed you so much baby." Tears pooled in both girls’ eyes as they finally shared the closeness their bodies craved.

Tara reveled in the feeling of Willow’s body pressed to hers agreeing, "me too love." Finally stepping back she smiled as she looked at Willow, "but you are so s-s-skinny now. I’m going to have to treat you like a princess while you recover."

"Yum, princess treatment," Willow smiled back, "do I get to choose what kind of princess treatment?"

"How about I start by taking you h-h-home and ensconcing you in your room before bringing you some dinner?" Tara asked looking around the room attempting unsuccessfully to locate Willow’s bag.

Showing her tiredness, the redhead walked to the bed to sit on the edge while pulling Tara along by the hand. "Yeah, about that: my mother called downstairs about half-hour ago to say that she would need the room for another night and to just add the charge to her credit card." She smiled as she spoke.

Tara looked warily at her girlfriend: "love, your m-m-mother was with me 30 minutes ago. She didn’t make any such call."

Willow smiled leaning forward to whisper in Tara’s ear as she lightly kissed her cheek and neck. "Really? Well someone called from the room and said we’d be staying another night," she punctuated each word with a kiss.

Attempting to still the reaction her body was having to each kiss and caress Tara questioned, "but w-w-won’t she n-n-notice the extra night on her c-c-credit card?"

Willow began laughing as soon as Tara completed her sentence. Seeing the hurt look on her girlfriend’s face she quickly hugged her. "I love you Tara Maclay," she whispered. "She’d never notice something like that. I wrote a program years ago to handle all the processing and payments for all the bills. She never even sees anything unless there is an unusually large charge and then it just e-mails her a notice which she ignores."

Seeing that Willow was obviously getting tired, Tara leaned against the headboard as she asked her next question: "what about the s-s-school? I have the truck."

Beginning to feel herself sliding into sleep Willow answered, "I called Ms. Geller. Told her I was tired and could you bring me back tomorrow. She said sure and feel better." Even in her sleepy state, the redhead continued nuzzling into Tara’s neck placing light kisses all over the soft skin she had missed so much. "Maybe later you can treat me like a princess," she purred.

The sexual inuendo was unmistakable to Tara who reacted with concern: "love?" as Willow nodded that she was listening Tara continued, "I d-d-don’t think that we can… that you can… that we should…" She trailed off as a deep red blush filled her cheeks and neck.

Willow smiled sleepily back at her lover: "no baby. I asked the doctor when mom was out of the room and no..." (she smiled) "… for me for a ten days or more but that doesn’t mean you can’t."

Tara answered quietly as she stroked her hands through her lover’s hair, "we’ll see love. You know I prefer to share our l-l-love fully." By the time she finished speaking, it was apparent that Willow was asleep and she followed her quickly.

Willow woke hours later feeling the wonderful and missed sensation of Tara’s body against hers. Breathing in deeply she could again smell her lover. It was like home again finally and she almost started crying with the depth of how much she had missed the other woman. Opening her eyes slightly she noted the green glow emanating from the bed, specifically from Tara’s hands held over her stomach. The sensation felt like a mixture of heat like warm water and tickling at her scar. "mmm that tickles but I’m afraid you’ll tire yourself out my love," she mumbled as she slowly became more awake.

Tara didn’t move her hands as she whispered, "I took a long r-r-ride yesterday and walked in the creek East of campus. I’ll be f-f-fine." She was quiet as she continued her healing on her lover’s scar, attempting to not only influence the physical appearance of the skin but the internal damage and healing. Finally finishing she pulled the winding green energy back into her hands before leaning over and touching the floor to ground herself. "How do you feel lover?" she asked gently returning her hands to stroke Willow’s red hair.

"Better," Willow answered as she moved into the luxury of Tara’s arms, "Thanks."

"Let’s order room service so we can take my mother up on her generous hospitality," Willow winked.

Tara giggled as she leaned in to kiss her girlfriend: "you are really something Willow Rosenberg." Extricating herself from the bed, she moved toward the bathroom as Willow picked up the menu to look over the expensive entrée choices.

Even though they couldn’t be as romantic as they would have liked, the two girls decided to make it a romantic dinner. They lit the fireplace and had room service bring candles with dinner. Of course they couldn’t have any alcohol with Willow recovering from surgery but that was fine with them. The food was exquisite as expensive meals bought with someone else’s money always should be and they took turns feeding each other bites from each plate. Willow’s restrictions were still in place so she had to eat mostly a pasta dish while Tara had a juicy steak. But they had the chance to share desert.

As they ate Tara watched her lover’s eyes sparkling in the firelight. "I really m-m-missed you Will," she said.

Willow nodded, "I know. Me too although I know I shouldn’t have missed you so bad. I mean I was asleep most of the time. But every time I woke up, I missed your scent so much. I’m used to waking up without you but not without any trace of you. But the hospital smelled like hospital and not Tara and I need my Tara every day." By the end of her babble the redhead had gotten up to stomp like a child and pout before sitting down on Tara’s lap.

Tara hugged Willow to her noting how her hipbones really jutted out and resolving to make sure that the redhead ate extra good for a while. "I guess I h-h-had it easier. I slept in your room so I could still smell you there when I f-fell asleep and woke up." Leaning forward to kiss the smaller woman’s neck she nuzzled in: "but nothing is like the feeling of you in my arms lover."

"Speaking of which," Willow asked, "I’m getting tired. Can you put this stuff out and we can lie in bed and talk until we fall asleep?" Tara nodded and after a few minutes joined the redhead under the covers. Even without making love, the feeling of their naked skin warming each other was perfect. She felt as if they were flowing together and knew that her body was reacting to the presence of her lover even as they chastely cuddled.

"How are the homecoming preparations going baby?" Willow asked, wanting to catch up on the days she had missed.

"G-g-good. It’s a lot to do but it should be a really good fair." Willow nodded as Tara spoke. "Oh, I forgot to tell you earlier. Chelle is taking Eliza," Tara began.

Willow giggled, "big surprise there. Are you sure it’s not the other way around?"

Tara smiled as she thought about it: "you could be right there. Anyway, they want to know if we want to go out to d-d-dinner with them beforehand. They asked for a recommendation and of course I said Hannigans. What do you think love?"

"Of course," Willow answered, "that would be fun. But only on one condition, ok two conditions, ok a condition and a preference…"

"What’s that?" Tara asked, her hands never stopping their gentle movement over Willow’s skin.

She was surprised as Willow leaned over the side of the bed, hooking a finger in the belt loop on her pants and pulling them onto the bed. From the pocket she pulled a wad of money—a few hundreds and assorted other bills—throwing them onto the bed. "Mom thought that she would be staying longer but she needed to go review an article," Willow explained a little bitterly.

Tara pulled the smaller woman close as she whispered, "of course you can p-p-pay my love. I’m s-s-so sorry though." Neither woman commented further on what Tara said and they just sat for a few moments. Finally she asked, "what’s the second condition or preference?"

Willow turned around as she began kissing Tara’s neck lightly, particularly her pulsing jugular. "I want to take your beautiful dress off you and make love to you all night when the dance is over," she purred punctuating each word with her lips and tongue as Tara shivered under the attention.

"uh huh…" Tara moaned, wrapping her arms around the smaller woman to hold her still so they could rest. Much more of this and she was going to have trouble using her common sense to resist Willow’s advances or teasing. She didn’t know which word would more accurately describe what the redhead was doing but knew that they couldn’t make love so soon after the surgery.

Just as the blonde was starting to get her thoughts to form coherent and will-powered-laden sentences Willow whispered in her ear, "I can smell you. I missed that smell so bad." Tara bit her lip and shut her eyes trying to deny the arousal she felt. "I missed your taste too," Willow teased. Tara gave an incoherent groan before standing from the bed and grabbing a shirt and panties. She pulled them on without comment as Willow gave her a sad-puppy-dog look and climbed back in the bed. As she leaned back into her lover again Willow pouted: "phooey on clothes on my baby in bed. I like the feel of your skin."

Tara giggled at Willow’s feigned innocence. "Maybe you should try to b-b-behave a little young lady," she admonished playfully. "You know if you weren’t injured, this would be the perfect occasion for me to tickle the nonsense out of you," she teased as she waved her fingers in the air.

Waving right back Willow answered quickly, "if I weren’t injured there wouldn’t be anything to tickle me about." Tara laughed as Willow spoke in a low sexy voice: "but you could still put those wiggling fingers to good use." After the two girls relaxed together watching the fire for a little while Willow asked, "after the dance will you be less busy love?"

"W-w-well, I won’t be working on the dance but t-t-tryouts for the Spring Musical are the next week. If I get a part, that will take a l-l-lot of time," she explained.

Willow bounced on the bed as she turned to look at her lover: "a part in the musical? That’s so cool. What musical? What part are you going to try out for? Have you been in them before? Who else will be in it?"

Tara smiled at Willow’s enthusiasm. She knew that the redhead would never try to stop her from doing something that she loved but at the same time she was a little worried that Willow would feel jealous of the time the production took. "I’ve been in three so far although last year I left before the show and the understudy took my part," Tara explained sadly. Willow took her hand to attempt to comfort her sadness over the cause of her missing the show. "F-f-freshman year was Guys and Dolls. I was one of the Alley Cats girls. Sophomore year was Annie get your Gun. I was a town kid and a performer. Last y-y-year would have been the best: I was Anita in West Side Story."

"You played a Puerto Rican? Who was Maria?" Willow giggled. She figured that whoever it was would be Tara’s main competition for the lead this year if she had been Anita the year before.

"Chelle’s older sister. She g-g-graduated," Tara explained understanding why Willow had asked. "This year is Into the Woods. We all lobbied to do Rent but they wouldn’t even consider it. It’s too bad. That show has some fantastic parts both for singing and dance."

Willow nodded as she listened. She was amazed at how absent Tara’s stutter was as she talked about the show. She had never heard her girlfriend speak this long and this smoothly even about riding or art. "I don’t know it. What’s the lead?"

Tara considered for a moment, "I’d say the witch but there are a lot of really great singing p-p-parts. I’ve got it in the truck if you want to listen to it later."

Willow leaned forward to kiss the blonde: "do I tell you how proud I am of you? You are the most amazing woman I’ve ever met." She hugged her tightly as if Tara were a treasure that she’d never let go.

Tara leaned back on the headboard again as she snuggled the smaller woman. Their fingers were entwined and she drew circles on Willow’s palm as she spoke: "you’ve said that. Thanks. W-w-would you want to d-d-do something for the s-s-show."

She felt the redhead’s panic immediately, "what? Do something for the show? Something like what? Like stand on stage looking insane? Like forget all my lines? Like sing off-key? Oh Goddess, it’s that dream. The one that came true Freshman year and and and…"

Realizing that Willow was starting to hyperventilate Tara stroked her hand. "Baby, not something in the show. There are lots of things to do that don’t involve b-b-being on stage. You can paint scenery or run the light board." She considered for a minute before saying, "actually you would be great at the l-l-light board. The guy who did it graduated last year. You could make up all k-k-kinds of charts and schedules," she ended teasing.

"Well you know how I like charts and schedules," Willow agreed. The two girls talked for a long time about the musical and the upcoming career fair and dance. Eventually they fell asleep as both were very tired and they needed to return to school early the next day.

Willow walked toward the cluster of trees. She knew this area to hold powerful magical energies as it was the spot where Tara did her monthly ritual and the spot where they had shared their floating rose spell. It had been over a week since she had been released from the hospital and she was healing well but she wanted to heal faster. She had returned to her academic responsibilities almost immediately and of course had no problem keeping up there. But she still felt extremely tired, was eating a very bland diet, and couldn’t really challenge herself with any physical activity. Not that she was Ms. Physical Activity normally, but she was missing Tara or at least missing Tara in "that way."

Even if Willow had been feeling better, she was not sure that this would have been the best week for her and Tara. The blonde was obviously exhausted with all the extra duties she had to perform for the upcoming homecoming weekend. Willow had never known a school to go so all out for a college and career fair, but then she had never attended an exclusive prep school so that stood to reason. She and Tara had to really take advantage of their limited time together during meals, between classes, and as they were getting ready for bed, as both were so tired that sleep came fast every night.

Both girls could feel the topic of college and career choices bearing down on them like an oncoming train. Willow wanted to discuss it so that at least everything would be in the open. She knew that she could solve the problem no matter what. As she saw it, worse case scenario read her attending ANY school that Tara chose. But a better case scenario had them sitting down to discuss choices, cross-reference colleges, and apply to a variety and then take the best offers jointly. She had no doubt that both girls would have a variety of both acceptance and scholarship offers. It was obvious that this was not the ideal week for the discussion since they were both so preoccupied with the fair this weekend but she hoped that it would happen soon.

Willow reached what she would always think of as the "floating rose" spot. She knew that something magical and powerful had happened that day. It was just days before their two-month anniversary and she knew that during that spell, something had broken free and open between them. That she had been finally able express and give her love and that Tara had accepted it and returned it. Their connection that day was more overwhelming than anything she had ever experienced before.

After placing the blanket on the ground, she pulled the five crystals from her pack and placed them in a circle. Keeping in mind the instructions Tara had given her for this self-healing ritual, she carefully entered the circle before casting it. She recited out loud and then quietly inside her head the words Tara had prepared for her to allow her body to become calm and nurturing. Tara had explained that she hoped that Willow could develop her ability to nurture herself. Not that she would ever develop healing abilities for others (although she was a natural amplifier), but that by doing rituals and mediations she could regenerate her energy and possibly facilitate her own healing process.

The repetition of those 5 simple syllables put the redhead into a light trance. She was aware of the feeling of the wind passing around and sometimes through her and the sound of the rustle of the leaves on the trees but little else. Imagining herself to be a tree, as Tara had suggested, she could feel the power and nutrients of the earth rising through her body and into her limbs. As she breathed in she felt the air fill her lungs and imagined those molecules creating fresh clean red blood to pass through her body. On each exhale, she imagined herself blowing the remnants of her illness and the resulting injury out through her mouth and simultaneously allowed that injured energy to pass into the earth. As she became more and more grounded in the movement of energy through her body, she began to imagine that blood as it reached each part of her body. At her abdomen, she took a long time just allowing the energy to infuse her scar tissue and damage with healing.

Willow noted the angle of her shadow on the ground and realized that she had been out here casting for hours. Surprisingly she didn’t feel tired and in fact felt energized by this work. Wow that really worked well she happily concluded as she though of Tara and how much she always felt she owed her lover. And here was another lesson to thank her for. After she uncast the circle, she again allowed her gaze to wander to her shadow. It was amazing to her that this representation of her held everything and yet just a fraction of what made her up: as if the shadow were a portion of her soul. A smile crossed her face as the shadow of a bird crossed her own shadow, creating the illusion that the creature had smoothly flown through her chest. Lying back on the blanket, she looked to the skies to track the bird’s path.

Birds had always fascinated the redhead. Her feelings about animals were understandably mixed with her fear of horses and frogs offset by her love of kittens and puppies even if her parents wouldn’t ever allow her to have a pet (other than her ill-fated fish). In the dream future that she shared with Tara, she imagined a home filled with love for their animals. A bird entered her field of vision and she sensed that it was the same animal which had passed seconds earlier. Watching its gentle and smooth flight she wondered what it would be like to be a bird, to feel the wind under your wings. Would the air get in your eyes and make them dry? It must not or evolution would have invented a mechanism to resolve that problem. Could you smell the air and the scents on the air? Would it be tiring or exhilarating?

Closing her eyes, she imagined a birds-eye view. Is that what it means? she wondered. Probably not but it was what she was imagining. Opening her eyes again she followed the flight path of the beautiful creature. As she did so, she felt that she could actually feel the wind on her face and her arms. Her hair flew back from her face and she lifted her head even higher. Whenever she closed her eyes, she imagined that she could see the view that the bird had. At times she would see the view of the school fields, the trees throughout campus, a stream, the stable. What was really strange was that her imagination was seeing things that she had never seen. She was seeing areas of campus where she had never visited. When she looked down on the stable, she saw Tara bringing in Chestnut from their ride and then her view glided away from the stable and across the fields to the cluster of trees.

Her eyes snapped open as she recognized her own form lying on the blanket getting closer and closer. As they did, she saw the bird approach and land lightly just at the edge of her blanket. She watched the bird carefully, looking into its intense eyes. Her heartbeat slowed as she stared into his eyes. The trance was broken by the arrival of another bird and yet another. With each new addition to the group, she stared into its eyes as if they were getting to know each other.

The sharp retort of a breaking twig sent all the birds but one quickly to their wings as they rose from the blanket and took off. Willow looked up to see Tara approaching slowly, her mouth hanging open in shock. "W-w-will?" she questioned.

"Come here my love," Willow whispered as she extended her hand without breaking eye contact with the original bird, the one with whom she had taken flight. Tara approached slowly and quietly as she took Willow’s hand and dropped to sit next to her on the blanket. "I saw you finish with Chestnut a little while ago love," Willow whispered.

"Isn’t she beautiful?" Willow asked before nodding at the bird. As she moved her head she raised her hand toward the bird that lifted off and flew away. Both girls let out the breaths they were holding.

Tara looked shocked from her girlfriend to the bird now soaring above them before finding the ability to speak: "I d-d-didn’t know you c-c-could…" She waved toward the bird still looking to Willow in shock.

Willow smiled broadly as she answered, "me either." Suddenly she flung herself across the blanket to embrace the blonde, hugging her tightly. As Tara squealed in surprise Willow pressed her body on top of the blonde’s, pushing her onto her back and beginning to place kisses on her lips, cheeks, nose, eyes, and neck. Merging their mouths, she tentatively darted her tongue first to trace a gentle trail along Tara’s soft lips and then within her mouth. The kiss deepened as both girls traded the passion building between them since Willow’s illness.

Finally pulling away Tara leaned against the tree, pulling Willow to her and said, "I guess you’re feeling better?"

"Mmm, much better lover," Willow purred entwining their fingers and wrapping their arms around her stomach as she leaned into the softness of Tara’s breasts. "I could see what he saw!" Willow exclaimed, knowing that Tara would know she was talking about the bird.

Tara laughed as she thought about the way her girlfriend’s mind worked. At times having a conversation with her was like visiting a subway station. You might be riding one train and as one passed on another track, you just had to jump onto it or you would miss everything. "Is this the f-f-first time? Have you tried Calling any others?" Tara inquired.

Willow closed her eyes as she remembered the freedom of her flight: "yes first time. Is it lunch time? It was amazing."

"Tee hee," Tara giggled, "you are so cute sweetie. We can call Grandmother for some b-b-books. We never have the gift so I guess she didn’t even test you. You should try with other animals too. D-d-do you have any idea what time it is?" Tara finally asked.

Willow thought about it; she had come out to do her ritual about 9:30: "11:30 or so?"

"Yes lunch gone," Tara confirmed as she wrapped her arms more tightly around her lover. "We can get you extra nummies for d-d-dinner to put in this skinny tummy ok?" Willow nodded and Tara began speaking in a casual tone. "I thought you would be in your room so I went looking for you after I finished w-w-working. No Willow but the mail was in. I wonder if we g-g-got anything interesting…"

Willow turned and began kissing her girlfriend’s collarbone. That was one area that she could never resist. Tara’s body was just so sexy and it was starting to drive her crazy that they hadn’t made love in over a week. "Nothing good comes here. All the interesting mail goes to the PO Box," she whispered as she trailed her lips up the side of Tara’s neck, interspersing light nips with her teeth with kisses and heard Tara groan in response.

"R-r-right n-n-nothing goooooooddd…" Tara moaned out as she pulled two envelopes from her pocket. Willow pulled back suddenly to look at the envelopes her lover held as Tara teasingly exclaimed, "hey what happened to my lovin?"

Grabbing the envelopes Willow shouted, "our SAT scores! You’ve had these for how long and you didn’t say?"

Tara laughed as she grabbed her envelope back from the redhead. "Well," she explained, "kind of busy. My lover can Call animals and w-w-was having a conversation with a falcon when I arrived and then her lips have been distracting me since then."

Willow poised her finger by the flap to her envelope. "You want to open them together?" As Tara started to nod, Willow changed her mind: "wait. I know you open mine and I’ll open yours and if I’m a complete moron you can just get up and walk away and never see me again and write off your initial bad taste in women who are too stupid to really ever tie their shoes correctly…" Tara kissed the redhead silent as she traded envelopes.

"On Three ok?" Tara asked. As Willow nodded the blonde started counting: "One. Two. Three." Both girls opened the envelopes and pulled the computer forms from them. "Oh Baby!" Tara shouted as she waved Willow’s scores in front of the redhead.

Tara smiled as she teased, "well, I don’t think I’ll have to get a n-n-new smarter girlfriend so that’s a good thing." Seeing that Willow was about to burst from curiosity she decided to go easy on the redhead. "Verbal looks pretty good: 760. But Math, I just don’t know baby. It looks like you missed two questions. I mean only 790?"

Willow’s jaw dropped open as she heard the scores: "760 Verbal? 790 Math? I made a 1550?" She grabbed the score sheet to look for herself before flinging her body against Tara’s once again and pressing her back against the tree and hugging her tightly.

For a moment Willow considered teasing the blonde. She considered pressing her body against Tara’s, running her hands over her lover’s soft breasts, running her tongue up the other girl’s neck and whispering into her ear that she would find out her scores after they had caught up on some other things. But she didn’t tease her. Ok, maybe a little. "You’ve been holding out on me," Willow whispered.

"You’re not the girl I thought you were," Willow continued. Seeing the look on her girlfriend’s face, she couldn’t keep up the charade. Laughing she apologized, "I’m sorry baby. I’m teasing you. But 720 math? Who knew you were such a braniac? And 710 verbal is not to shabby. 1430 total although you could have added that yourself with your big Math ability." Her final words were muffled by Tara’s lips against hers and her arms squeezing her body in a tight and excited hug.

For a few minutes the witches hugged and traded computer sheets looking over the details for their scores. Both very happy and content with their results, they leaned again against the tree enjoying the day and their success. Finally Willow asked, "baby?" Taking a deep breath she dove into the breech: "where are we going to go to college?"

"W-w-well I’m probably going to g-g-go to A&M and you’re going to g-g-go to Harvard or Y-y-yale or RPI or MIT or s-s-somewhere," Tara answered.

Willow turned to look into her lover’s eyes but Tara had her head leaned forward so that her hair was hanging in front of the beautiful blue. Brushing her hand along Tara’s jaw she raised it until she could look into the eyes she loved so much, "there are those beautiful eyes I love so much," she whispered. "You’ve said that before baby and we’ve been avoiding this conversation for a long time. But it’s time to have it." Tara nodded and Willow continued, "I love you Tara Maclay and I’ll go to school anywhere I need to to be with you. If you are going to the school of VCR repair, I’ll go there or across the street. If you want to go to Cosmetology College then I’m looking for good shears and if you choose Clown College then I’m looking for good grease paint." Tara smiled at the thought of Willow as a clown. "But don’t tell Xander because he’s not a big fan of clowns," the redhead stated as an afterthought.

Willow sat back and smiled. Now she was in her element. "I’ve been thinking about that a lot. I know that you have had your heart set on A&M for a long time. But here’s what I think: first of all, I did some research on schools with good programs. Do you want to major in Biology or Zoology or what before Vet school? Well either way, I got a list of the best Biology and Zoology undergraduate programs in the country. Then I cross-referenced the best computer programs in the country. Then I put finances into the model with the cost of tuition and books and housing and the level of financial aid we would probably both get and scholarships depending on final grades, SATs, class ranking, and of course school prestige. Oh and also, Planet Out did a study on the most gay friendly universities so I’ve got that list in the model."

By this time Tara was laughing out loud as Willow outlined her research methods. "we’re going to n-n-need charts and graphs for this c-c-conversation aren’t we?" she teased.

Leaning in to tickle her already laughing girlfriend Willow huffed, "hey! People pay good money for computer modeling like this."

Getting a vixeny look on her face Willow whispered, "you can show your appreciation later." Adopting a normal tone she explained, "anyway, I was saying about financial aid: I assumed that your family wouldn’t be able to contribute to your expenses in the model but I can change that if I’m wrong."

Willow adopted a stern tone with her lover as she again raised the blonde’s chin to keep her hair from obscuring her blue eyes: "you keep hiding your eyes and it’s going to be tickle time for you young lady."

"Oh no not tickle time," Tara shrieked in a falsetto. "Seriously, I’m guessing you h-h-have some research on your computer and we could go up to your dorm room to look at it?" As she spoke she stood and held out her hand to Willow who took it so they could gather her belongings and move toward the room.

As they walked across the field they continued to discuss college preferences and Willow’s research. Reaching the room, they dove right into the research on which colleges would offer the best possibilities. By dinnertime they had narrowed the search to 20 universities and decided to go to the movie after dinner to relax. They agreed that tomorrow would bring more research and set the goal of narrowing their choices to 5 or 6 universities by the next weekend so they could visit those booths at the fair.

After the movie, the two girls sat with Michelle and Eliza and Emma and James for a little while having some coffee. The two younger girls reminded both Tara and Willow of themselves early on in the relationship. It was nearly impossible to have a conversation with either of them because they were so wrapped up in each other. After her initial trepidation about Eliza’s forthrightness, Willow had really taken a liking to her. Her honesty was refreshing in a way that Cordelia’s never was. It wasn’t that Eliza was tactless; she just wasn’t willing to tell lies to make other people feel that the world wasn’t the world.

Another thing about Eliza that made Willow like her was that like the redhead, she had a hobby about which she was truly passionate. Her seemingly tossed-off comment a few weeks earlier about liking cartoons was an understatement. The girl was an apparent connoisseur of cartoons having brought a large library of videos with her to school. She did some very good drawing and was into something called "anime" that Willow had never heard of but which apparently was a big movement in the animation industry. Willow encouraged the younger girl to begin to learn computers so that she could incorporate computer graphics into her work and Eliza had started coming to visit the computer lab outside of class hours just to try it out.

Tara and Willow lay in bed in Willow’s room having returned after their visit with the other couple. Their make-out session had quickly turned passionate, as would be expected given their level of frustration with the past week. The first time that Willow had inhaled sharply it had gone unnoticed by Tara but the second and third inhalations had been noticed by the blonde who quickly pulled back to see a grimace of pain on her lover’s face: "B-b-baby? Are you ok?"

Willow nodded as she pursed her lips. Realizing that it wasn’t possible to hide her discomfort from Tara she changed her response: "no. It was hurting and I was tensing and that hurt more."

Tara wrapped the smaller woman in her arms and began petting her stomach as she answered, "I’m s-s-so sorry baby. Let’s snuggle and sleep, ok?"

Willow leaned into her lover’s soft caress as she pouted, "but I really wanted to make love with you. And I could still make love to you baby. Couldn’t I?"

Tara continued her soft motion over Willow’s trim stomach as she exhaled softly, "don’t think it’s not t-t-tempting my love. I w-w-want you so badly. But I also know that it would just be more f-f-frustrating for you." Softly she whispered, "and we have plenty of time."

"Are you still awake baby," Tara asked. As Willow nodded her head and lifted their entwined hands to show that she was, Tara continued, "I need to ask you something."

Tara explained seriously, "when you were sick, d-d-delirious, you were calling out to Becky. You couldn’t find her. Also, you were t-t-talking about an oak tree. Does any of that sound familiar to you?"

Willow stared at Tara as if in a trance for a minute. "Oh Goddess," she finally breathed out.

"I just remembered some of … I don’t know. I don’t know how I know this. Your mother: I met her. She liked me. I mean she likes us. She likes us together. She asked me a question. I met her under an oak tree but she’s not there now."

As Willow spoke Tara nodded. Tears streamed down her face as she explained, "the tree’s on our land. I dreamt of her s-s-sitting under the tree with me. But she wasn’t her anymore. She was someone else but someone we know. Or will know. Or will have known. I don’t know. It f-f-fades in and out."

Now it was Willow’s turn to hold her girlfriend. "Oh baby, I’m so sorry. I know you miss her so much. I think I’ve visited her more than once. I’m so confused though." Tara nodded through her tears and Willow continued, "I don’t understand though about her being someone else. And someone we know. We don’t know any babies."

As both girls were starting to fall asleep Tara whispered, "I know that d-d-doesn’t make any sense but that’s one thing I know for sure. She’s coming back and we know her."

Friday came quicker than either girl could have predicted or would have liked. Willow and Tara were extremely busy. Tara was still getting things ready for the weekend and the school had borrowed 15 extra horses for the weekend. Since one of the things the school was famous for was its stables and riding, the administration always ensured extra availability. That meant much more extra work for Tara as she now had more animals to care for. It also meant that her weekend would be extremely busy to get horses ready for all the riders. She had convinced Ms. Geller to allow Michelle and Emma to help out over the weekend for both class extra credit and some spare money. James had turned down the offer since his family was coming to the fair. He was part of the third generation of his family to attend the school and they were prominent supporters in addition to being high-profile business people, doctors, and lawyers.

Willow had also been extra busy working on both girls’ college application materials as she had volunteered to take on the difficult task. Additionally, on Tuesday Ms. Geller had asked if she could work on a project for the upcoming weekend to develop a webpage to allow the visitors to register for an online newsletter. She didn’t expect a finished project but wanted an initial outline to display to interested visitors. The redhead had worked late into the night every night that week. The only thing that even allowed her to get to sleep before 2:00 was Tara’s insistence that she needed the extra rest to heal up from being sick. The blonde had repeatedly considered telling Ms. Geller that Willow wasn’t up to doing the project in such a short time frame but knew that her girlfriend would see that as a breech of trust rather than her trying to care for her.

With such a busy week the subject of their continued sexual frustration had not come up again in conversation although both women were feeling the strain. Willow knew that her body was nearly entirely healed and hoped that her earlier description of how they would spend the night after the dance would come true. That hope and vision had allowed her test out her healing a few times and she was deeply satisfied with her body’s response if not fully satisfied from the experience.

Willow awoke Friday morning to find bright sunlight streaming through the window. Tara had obviously opened the shades and cracked the window to allow her to hear the birds in her sleep. The blonde had also brought some fruit and biscuits from the cafeteria and left them on the desk so that Willow didn’t have to head down to breakfast. As she ate the meal, she marveled once again at how thoughtful her girlfriend was and how lucky they were to have found each other. Classes were cancelled on the Friday and the fair was scheduled to begin at noon.

After showering and dressing, she didn’t know what to do with herself and decided to call Buffy for an update. The update was action packed as usual.

"It was pretty touch and go with me, Giles, and Angel fighting this monster. But we stopped apocalypse #3," Buffy explained sounding very tired.

Willow looked to the calendar on the wall before asking her next question: "where was Oz?"

Buffy thought about it for a moment before she understood the question, "oh yeah. It was a wolf moon. We moved him to the basement for the night. He was fine. A few injuries for the group but the world didn’t end so we’re considering it a success." She continued, "but that’s not the big news. Guess who showed up this week?"

Buffy giggled, "no. But he is a pain in the ass. You remember Giles. Mr. ‘the council says’ and ‘can we stick to the subject’?"

"Oh no. He wants reports of each patrol and gives me orders. I think he starches his underwear and his hair."

Willow giggled as she thought of the starched watcher. "What does he think of you and Faith? Better yet, what does Faith think of him?"

"I think her exact words were ‘screw this,’" Buffy explained. "Anyway, Giles and the new watcher: Wesley got themselves kidnapped by this blob demon this week. Had to go and kick it’s ass. And um… oh never mind."

"Nothing," Buffy answered. She was getting quieter and quieter and Willow felt very uneasy about it.

"That wasn’t a nothing never mind. That was a something never mind. You have something tone. What’s going on Buff?" Willow asked.

"Nothing Will. You’ve gotta believe me. Hey, I gotta run ok? I’ll talk to you later this week ok," Buffy abruptly got off the phone. Willow sat on her bed holding the receiver in her hand and wondering what could be wrong. It made her miss Sunnydale and her friends all the more.

Glancing at the clock, she realized that the fair had started while she sat talking to Buffy on her contraband phone. She giggled as she thought about the ways she was breaking the rules this year—having a phone, passing notes—compared to last year’s damage to the Sunnydale mall.

Willow entered the crowded auditorium and blew out a long breath as she took in the scene. The room was packed with students and visitors. It was far more people than she had ever seen in one place at one time, well ok, with the exception of the crowd at the mall but that didn’t last for long. Also, looking at the crowd she began to think that maybe the kitten t-shirt and pink overalls weren’t exactly the dress code for the gathering. Most of the visitors were dressed in suits or at least spring dresses and a "business casual" look. They all looked very professional at their booths.

At first she looked around frantically trying to spot Tara or even Michelle or Eliza in the crowd, but she quickly realized that the room was just too crowded for that. Becoming logic-girl for a minute she decided that the best tactic would be to just start moving through the fair and that she would find her girlfriend eventually. In the meantime she could visit some booths and visit with other computer people for a feeling about the industry. Willow found everyone at the booths to be extremely helpful and even found a few people who had brought their laptops. She was quickly drawn into a conversation with three recent graduates concerning network security and the holes inherent in most firewalls. Of course, her interest was not just setting up but hacking those holes and she suspected that theirs was similar.

Willow turned to see Eliza standing behind her. Smiling and moving toward her she nodded, "yeah. Same here. I’ve been here over an hour without seeing anyone else I know."

Eliza looked puzzled for a minute before speaking: "but don’t you know a bunch of these graduates from the last few years?"

"Oh," Willow quickly explained, "I just transferred here this year. I guess you didn’t know that with just arriving this semester." Eliza nodded looking less puzzled. "Are you visiting the booths?" Willow asked her wondering why the sophomore was even visiting the fair.

"Yeah, it’s really cool. I’ve been thinking about the whole computer animation stuff you were talking about so I brought some drawings," Eliza held out a small portfolio. "Of course I can’t find any one to talk to about drawing and the computer folks don’t seem into it so I’m not sure who to visit with." She looked down at her shoes as if she had just realized that it was a stupid idea to begin with.

Willow answered, "well, I’m not surprised. It might be a more obscure thing than you would find here. I need to visit a few more booths though and I’m trying to find Tara in this mess. Want to continue with me?" Eliza agreed and the two girls continued their search. Surprisingly as Willow found more people to visit with about programming and security, Eliza found a few kindred spirits who knew about computer animation and who recommended some websites and publications to help her get started. Just as both girls were starting to give up hope of ever finding their girlfriends, they rounded a corner and saw Tara and Michelle both caught up in animated conversation with a tall brunette with long hair. The three girls stood in front of the University of Texas table with a large Longhorn painted on the banner hanging over it.

"I thought Tara wanted to go to A&M," Eliza questioned. "Why would she be visiting the UT table?"

Willow wondered about that too as she watched the interaction between the three girls. The UT representative seemed very friendly with both girls and was particularly touchy-feely with Michelle although Willow was starting to feel like she was a little too proprietary with Tara too the third time that the graduate reached out and ran her hand down the blonde’s arm. Both Willow and Eliza stopped to watch for a moment.

"Maybe we should turn around?" Eliza offered weakly. Willow turned to look at the sophomore. She always seemed like such a tough-guy, so experienced and seasoned but right now she looked like someone had punched her in the stomach.

Willow tried to lighten the mood: "hey it’s nothing. I mean she doesn’t look that great you know?"

"Sure, I mean what would Chelle want with a tall gorgeous woman like that right?" Eliza pouted.

Still trying to make Eliza laugh Willow offered, "maybe she’s not hitting on Michelle. Maybe she’s after Tara."

Willow grabbed the younger girl’s hand urging her forward as they both began to move toward the booth: "come on let’s go rescue our women from the nymphomaniac Longhorn"

"Seriously though Tare, you would do so well in pharmacy. It’s just chemistry but with lots of money when you finish school," the visitor was urging as Willow and Eliza walked up.

Before the redhead could answer or interrupt the conversation, Michelle turned and spotted them. She smiled excitedly as she reached her hand out to grab Eliza’s: "we finally found you guys!"

"Huh?" Michelle asked confused. She continued, "well we found you now. Eliza, this is my sister Elizabeth. She graduated last year. Bethie, this is Eliza." As Michelle spoke, Willow glanced over and noticed Eliza’s face showing mixed feelings. Definitely a mixed bag there. On one hand, Ms. Tall-dark-beautiful-and-touchy-feely is not a competitor for your girlfriend. On the other, Chelle didn’t introduce her as her girlfriend so that kind of hurts. Wait a minute! She’s touchy-feely with Chelle cause she’s her sister. Why is she so freakin touchy-feely with my Tara? Willow’s mind was beginning a full-fledged ramble. Hey, she had green eyes too. How rude is that? I’m the only women with green-eyes around here. Ok, not the only women with green-eyes but I know Tara loves green-eyes and hey! I’m right here!

Willow’s insane reverie was broken by Tara’s voice: "Willow! Willow!" The redhead snapped her head toward Tara’s voice. The blonde was looking at her with surprise and some level of frustration. Reaching out to take her girlfriend’s hand Tara stroked the skin lovingly as she spoke, "hey baby. This is Michelle’s sister, Elizabeth. Elizabeth, this is my girlfriend Willow Rosenberg."

Elizabeth reached out to politely take Willow’s hand, "nice to meet you Willow." Willow echoed the same phrase, substituting Elizabeth’s name for her own of course, and quickly retracted her hand to take Tara’s again. Addressing Tara Elizabeth teased, "wow Tara. I always knew you wouldn’t stay single forever. Too bad I never knew you were interested in women…" She left her flirtation hanging, oblivious to the jealousy and anger ensconced across Willow’s face.

Ok, how obvious would it be if that banner falls on her head? Oooh, and what if one of those thumb-tacks gets stuck in her eye? That would probably hurt. Of course those pamphlets flying across the room might bother her too and she could just chase them. Too bad she’s not a vampire, then a little fire spell would definitely get her attention. Actually, maybe she is a vampire. There’s no sunlight in here and I don’t have a mirror or any holy water. Maybe a little spark of fire could test it out? Just to protect us all. And the whole school really. It is my duty as a good student if you think about it. Willow barely noticed Tara continuing to stroke the back of her hand as Michelle and Eliza chatted with Michelle’s sister. "Baby?" Tara whispered, "why don’t we go and l-l-look at the A&M booth? I haven’t been over there yet. I thought I’d wait for you."

Lips pursed together Willow nodded her agreement. Tara made some polite good-byes to the other three girls as they moved toward the A&M table. As they got a few booths away, Willow felt someone grab her hand from behind. She spun ready to yell at anyone who bothered her today and saw Eliza smiling. The younger girl looked like she had a speech to deliver but instead pulled Willow into a hug before darting back toward the UT booth.

Seeing the look still on her lover’s face, Tara pulled Willow through a door to enter the bright sunlight outside the auditorium. Before she could say anything, the redhead began a patented ramble: "You don’t even care about money anyway. I mean maybe you do but I never knew that because you don’t have any. Not that it’s a problem that you don’t have any because you know that I don’t mind and I’m not trying to be rude about it but I never thought you cared about money. And plus which, don’t veterinarians make good money? I mean they’re like doctors right? And I’m going to make lots of money in computers. Or I can I mean if I want to. And who says you want to be a pharmacist just because you’re good at chemistry?"

Her ramble was cut short by the sound of Tara’s giggle. The blonde leaned in to place a loving kiss on Willow’s lips before pulling back. "And h-h-here we have the Texas entry in the world-championships of Willowbabble," she teased as she sat down on the step.

Plopping onto the blonde’s lap Willow pouted, "and you hardly even stuttered when you were talking to her."

Tara nestled her nose into Willow’s neck beginning to place light kisses along the skin as she responded, "you’d rather I sounded like a s-s-stuttering idiot m-m-more?"

Willow continued her pouting: "no but you talk best with me or people you’re comfortable with. I don’t want you to be comfortable with her."

Tara raised Willow’s chin to look into her eyes, "sweetie. I understand that you’re upset but I went to school with her for three y-y-years."

Willow stood to start pacing as she thought about what Tara said and what she had heard over the past few weeks: "wait a minute. You went to school with her for three years. That’s right. And she’s into science and she rides horses and she was the lead in the musical last year. And I don’t do any of that stuff. You have way more in common with her than with me."

As the redhead passed by, Tara reached out and grasped her hand pulling her closer. "My love: look into my eyes," Tara requested. "Yes, I have lots in c-c-common with her and we went to school t-t-together for three years. But do you want to know why I d-d-didn’t get together with h-h-her?"

Tara smiled, "n-n-no. I always t-t-thought I was gay." Willow looked puzzled at Tara’s answer. "I never got together with her because she w-w-wasn’t the one for m-m-me. I knew that just like I knew y-y-you are." Willow leaned into the contact as she began to wrap her arms around her girlfriend. "You’re my always," Tara whispered in her ear.

"Uh yeah. I think obvious would be a g-g-good description," Tara agreed. "Eliza too. Boy she looked r-r-relieved when Chelle said Beth was her sister."

Finally relaxing Willow nodded, "oh yeah. Although I think an introduction as girlfriend would have helped too."

Tara nodded her agreement, "yeah. I’m not sure what Chelle was thinking. I m-m-mean, I’m pretty sure Beth is going to notice her d-d-dancing with Eliza tomorrow n-n-night."

Willow stood up and took Tara’s hand. "Do you want to go back in and check out the A&M booth baby?" Tara nodded and they went inside walking past the UT table on their way. When they were a few tables away they turned toward a sudden commotion as Elizabeth attempted to right a stack of pamphlets as they fell to the floor. Tara turned to give Willow a look but the redhead shot back such a look of innocence that she could do nothing but giggle.

Willow put the finishing touches on her hair and makeup as she waited for Tara. Both girls had had a good but long day. Willow woke early (for her) to find that Tara had again left her breakfast. She was starting to suspect the blonde of trying to fatten her up and based on the way her dress was fitting, maybe that was a good plan. She knew that Tara had spent the day at the stables with Michelle and Emma getting horses out and putting them away after visitors took their rides. At lunchtime the redhead, along with Eliza, had taken sandwiches and fruit to the girls to give them all a break. They had asked James but the junior was busy with his family and asked them to tell Emma that he would see her tonight. While the five girls sat on the blanket having lunch Elizabeth had come up looking for a horse. Willow had stiffened immediately as she heard her voice: "Hi y’all, I need a horse. Tara can you get me one?"

Before Tara could move Emma jumped to her feet. She glanced at Tara and Willow as she started moving toward the stable, "come on Beth. I’ll get you a horse. I know what you want but she’s not available."

The other four girls looked awkwardly at each other as they took another bite of their lunches. After a few silent minutes, Willow was surprised as Michelle spoke: "Willow?" Seeing Willow nod she continued, "I’m really sorry. She’s, uh, used to getting whatever she wants. You know?"

Emma returned to plop down on the blanket and heard her roommate’s girlfriend’s whisper. "Definitely an acquired taste," Emma agreed. Everyone laughed loudly at her choice of words and at the fact that she knew instantly who they were talking about when she returned. "So what is everyone wearing tonight?" Emma tossed out.

"I’m not sure we’re supposed to say," Willow posited. "I mean is it bad luck?"

"That’s b-b-before a wedding sweetie," Tara explained. "But maybe everyone wants it to be a surprise?" Surveying the nodding heads around her she concluded that her guess was correct. "Emma: where are you and James going for d-d-dinner?"

Eliza spoke up, "us too. I called and made reservations last week. Tara said it was the only place to be and you know how we like to hang with the happening crowd."

Everyone smiled at the sophomore as Tara asked, "d-d-did you make the reservations in your n-name or mine?"

Eliza looked puzzled and a little caught off guard: "mine. Why? Isn’t that ok?"

Gathering the wrappings from lunch Tara nodded: "oh it’s f-f-fine. It’s just that I know the owner."

As Willow and Eliza walked back to the dorm, the younger girl asked, "Willow. Is it true that you have a phone in your room?" Willow nodded. "Can I possibly use it? I need to call my father today and I’d rather not do that in the common. I can pay you for the long distance if you want." Willow agreed understanding the necessity for a private conversation.

After letting Eliza into her room, she had spent the day taking a long walk and then reading. Tara had returned from the stables very tired, spending just a few minutes with her girlfriend before excusing herself to take a very needed shower and get ready for the date.

The knock at the door coincided with Willow’s finishing her makeup and she moved to open it eagerly, expecting to find her girlfriend waiting on the other side. Rather Eliza stood in the hallway. She waved her hand: "hey. We’re meeting here right?" Willow nodded and let the sophomore in. "You look beautiful Willow. Tara’s really lucky," Eliza complimented her.

Willow smiled, "no I’m the lucky one." She looked Eliza up and down for a minute, "speaking of lucky. Has Michelle seen you in that?"

Eliza grinned as she shook her head. "She doesn’t know. I just don’t think a dress is quite my style."

"Well the tux is very Marlena Deitrich," Willow agreed. As she finished speaking the knock on the door was followed seconds later by Tara and Michelle coming into the room. After hugging and kissing their respective dates, everyone took a few minutes to check each other out and oh and ahhh appropriately. Willow wore a straight black dress that would have shown off her hips if she had any. Tara wore the blue dress that she had worn on Willow’s birthday. Willow recognized it and didn’t mind the recycle at all. Michelle was wearing a pink formal but the hit of the room was definitely Eliza in her tuxedo. Michelle ran her hand along her girlfriend’s collar as she whispered in her ear and everyone laughed when their resident tough girl blushed bright red.

Taking Eliza’s hand Michelle urged them, "come on. James said he’d take some photos of us but he doesn’t want to do the whole school so he wants us out front now." After James had taken photos of each of the couples and a few group pictures, Michelle used his camera to take a few shots of him and Emma. Then Eliza and he went to get their cars.

A few minutes after James and Emma drove off in his corvette, Eliza pulled up in a black Volvo sedan. After letting Tara and Willow into the back, she seated Michelle in the front seat and walked around to get in the driver’s side. Everyone was caressing the soft leather seats as Willow asked the question on everyone’s mind, "you drive a Volvo?"

The sophomore laughed as she took Michelle’s hand and pulled from the curb: "yeah not the height of cool but daddy wants me safe." The drive into town was pleasant. The girls in the front seat visited quietly while Tara and Willow took advantage of their back-seat position to explore each other’s lips and necks in close detail. The road was crowded with cars taking couples into town for dinner before the dance and Eliza had to pay attention to driving. After a little while she shouted into the back seat: "hey guys, if we can’t make out while driving you shouldn’t be able to either. How about visiting with us?" Both Tara and Willow noticed Michelle’s bright red blush but they settled back to snuggle in the plush car and visit with the younger girls until they arrived at the restaurant.

Once they arrived Eliza gave her car to the valet and everyone went inside. The restaurant was extremely crowded. "Reservation for 6:30. D’Angelo," Eliza informed the matre’d.

"Of course Ms.D’Angelo," he agreed as he escorted them to a table near the corner. All four girls waved inconspicuously at James and Emma, Elizabeth and her date, Alyson and Lexi, and other friends and acquaintances scattered throughout the restaurant. The matre’d quickly seated Tara and Willow but Eliza held Michelle’s chair for her before being seated herself. Both seniors were amused and pleased to see how taken the younger girls were with each other. After looking at the menus for a few minutes a waiter came over to take drink orders and promised to return quickly.

Just after the girls finished ordering their dinners, steaks for Tara, Michelle, and Eliza, and chicken for Willow who still was having some tenderness about her stomach, Mr. Hannigan approached. Tara stood to hug him and he placed two kisses on her cheeks, next turning to kiss Willow’s cheeks as well: "Tara and Willow. It is so wonderful to see you again." As he spoke a waiter brought two glasses of wine and set them down in front of the two girls. "Enjoy this wine please." He looked to the younger girls, "I’m sorry but your friends seem a bit young for it."

Tara spoke quickly, "Mr. Hannigan, these are f-f-friends from school: Michelle and Eliza. Girls, this is Mr. Hannigan. He’s the owner."

The younger girls and Mr. Hannigan quickly greeted each other. The owner appeared thoughtful for a moment. Then his face paled a little as he asked: "Eliza D’Angelo? You’re father is Joey D’Angelo?" The sophomore nodded as the others looked on puzzled. Turning quickly he waved over their waiter and whispered into his ear before turning back toward the girls.

Eliza looked at her confused date for a moment before standing and addressing Mr. Hannigan: "Mr. Hannigan. Can I speak to you for a moment?"

He nodded and the two moved away from the table as the other three girls looked from each other to the two figures whispering a few feet away. "W-w-what was that about?" Tara finally asked Michelle. As she was finishing the waiter set two glasses of wine down in front of Michelle and Eliza’s place settings.

Michelle looked again to her girlfriend and to the wineglasses now gracing their table. "I have no idea," she pleaded just as Eliza returned.

The sophomore took her date’s hand and kissed the back of it gently as she whispered, "sorry about that honey." The foursome glanced at each other and appeared to agree to not mention the strange start to their dinner. They ordered their meals and began to enjoy the salads.

Willow and Tara enjoyed the dinner immensely, stealing knowing looks at each other throughout the evening. Both girls knew that this would always be a special restaurant for them due to its prominent role in their anniversary date. As the blonde looked over she saw color rising in Willow cheeks. She leaned in asking, "what are you thinking about my love?"

Willow was snapped out of her trance but Tara’s question, "what? Thinking about? Nothing I mean uh. Hey, tease much?" She leaned across the table and kissed her lover as her red color deepened.

Tara kissed Willow’s hand as she rose from her chair, "excuse me. I’ll be back in a minute." Michelle indicated that she would come too and the two girls walked toward the back of the restaurant.

Both Eliza and Willow watched them go with smiles on their faces. Willow was surprised to hear Eliza’s next comment: "she’s really something isn’t she?" As Willow nodded at her, the tough girl continued, "I mean of course she’s something. She’s just so sweet and energetic. I feel like… like I can’t go wrong around her, you know?"

Willow nodded understanding what she thought the younger girl was trying to say. "Did you get through?"

"Oh sorry. Sometimes my train of thought switches tracks," Willow explained. "Did you reach your father today?"

Eliza let out her breath as she answered, "oh yeah. Thanks again for letting me use the phone. I really appreciate it."

"It had highs and lows," Eliza answered. Realizing that she hadn’t really said anything she elaborated, "I told him all about Chelle and our date tonight and how excited I was and everything."

Willow couldn’t believe that Eliza could be that open and honest with her father. Especially given her mother’s recent discovery of her relationship with Tara and the mixed reaction she had had toward it. "Wow," Willow exclaimed, "I can’t believe you can say all that to him. What did he say?"

Seeing their dates returning Eliza spoke quickly: "quote ‘Sembra carina. Non farti beccare a scoparla. Non ho il tempo di trascinare il tuo culo in un'altra scuola.’

"Uh, my Italian may be a little rusty since I don’t know any," Willow responded.

Eliza smiled as she spoke, "even if you took high school Italian you probably wouldn’t know ‘she sounds nice. Don’t get caught fucking her. I don’t have time to get your ass into another school.’"

Willow’s mouth was still opening and closing from the shock as Tara and Michelle took their seats. "Hey Will," Tara teased, "what’s up? D-d-did Eliza just tell you some fascinating piece of computer animation gossip?"

Michelle kissed her girlfriend on the cheek as she took her seat again. Before Willow could answer Tara’s question, dinner was served. Damn good timing. she thought. How was I even going to answer that question? The rest of the dinner was relatively without event. Everyone enjoyed the meal and complimented Mr. Hannigan when he came by to check on them. After finishing their meals and splitting two deserts between the four girls, the check arrived. Willow and Eliza engaged in a little verbal wrestling match over who would pay as Michelle and Tara looked on amused. Willow contended that she should pay since Eliza drove them to dinner and Eliza attempted to explain as sensitively as possible that there was no way someone else was paying for her first real date with Michelle. Finally she offered that she would pay tonight and the group should go out in a few weeks with Willow paying that night. Willow agreed to the compromise.

"Hey girls?" Michelle finally spoke up as everyone turned to look to her shocked. "Not to interrupt your butch little financial battle but do you want to ask your dates if we want to go out in a few weeks?" Tara began laughing as she realized that she and Michelle were thinking the same thing but that the younger girl was much quicker to point it out.

Willow immediately turned to Tara, "I’m sorry baby. We were being silly. Would you like to go out with me in few weeks?" She stared into Tara’s blue eyes worried that she had really made her lover mad with her immature display.

Tara thought about putting Willow on that she was in trouble but the truth was that she was just amused about the little tiff. She leaned forward wrapping her arms around Willow’s neck and placing her lips against the smaller woman’s ear. "Anywhere, anytime with you my love. Always," she whispered punctuating her response with a soft lick up Willow’s earlobe where she knew their companions couldn’t see. Willow whimpered in response as she felt Tara pull back looking contented.

While Willow and Tara were sharing their moment, Eliza had turned to ask Michelle, "Chelle, I’m really sorry we were being jerks. Will you go out with me again? Please?" Everyone at the table could hear the sincerity in her voice and breathed a sigh of relief when Michelle just whispered "yes" before leaning in to kiss her girlfriend quickly.

The bill taken care of the foursome got up to leave. Most other students left about the same time and they expected the dance to be mostly full when they reached the auditorium. As the valet brought her car Eliza turned to the others, "do either of you want to see how it handles?"

Tara teased the sophomore, "you j-j-just want to see how the back seat h-h-handles."

"What? No. I didn’t mean. I mean. I just thought you might like…" she trailed off looking to Michelle and seeing that the junior was not upset about the implication. Shifting gears she agreed, "sure. Let’s go with that. Do you want to drive us back?"

Tara nodded her agreement: "yeah. I bet it’s different from the school truck." Willow and Tara got in the front seat as the younger girls got in back for the ride to the school. A few times the older girls tried to interrupt the smoochies in the back seat, but mostly just enjoyed each other. As the blonde drove, Willow stared at her amazed at her good fortune. She softly traced a circle on Tara’s hand and was rewarded as the blonde shivered from the attention. She could feel her nipples tightening in anticipation of the dance and after the dance and staring at Tara’s chest saw a similar response from her lover.

Willow was really enjoying making Tara uncomfortable. She knew that the blonde was a great driver and that she wasn’t putting them in any danger. "What makes it hard?" She began to whisper: "Is it the way I’m tracing this circle on your palm?"

Leaning a little closer Willow continued her questioning: "or is it the way I’m watching you and thinking about what I’d like to be doing, like running my tongue up your neck and sucking on that pulse point?" Seeing Tara blush Willow went on: "or is it mostly that you’re thinking about what you’d like me to be doing?"

Before Tara could answer both girls heard a voice from the back seat: "Hey! Did y’all know we can hear you back here?" Eliza turned to Michelle teasing, "and we thought the back seat was the place to be?" All four girls were amused.

Once they arrived at the school Tara was going to drop off the others and go to park the car but none of the couples wanted to be separated from each other. So they all parked the car and walked across the lot to the auditorium. It was decorated very differently from the last time they had seen it, when it was teeming with college fair booths and people. Now it was decorated for a dance with streamers and balloons and a stage for a band. Willow breathed out a stunned "wow" as she took in the overwhelming press of people in the room. Taking her hand Tara led her across the space over to the side of the room and Eliza and Michelle followed.

For a while both couples watched the dancing and visited with other students and friends. None of them were saying it but they were obviously not sure if it would be ok to dance together. Sure most of the students knew about Willow and Tara if not about Eliza and Michelle, but that didn’t mean that the alumni and families did. As they waited, Tara noticed that Michelle was looking more and more uncomfortable. She realized that this was exactly part of the reason that the younger girl had asked if the seniors were attending the dance and decided to lead the way. Turning to Willow she extended her hand as a slow number came on: "Will, would you like to dance with me?"

"Of course my love," Willow answered as the two moved onto the floor to enjoy the music. The floor was not as crowded as it had been for the faster songs but now many of the dancing couples were older. The two girls moved together with Tara placing her hands on Willow’s hips and Willow wrapping her arms around the blonde’s neck. As they danced they stared into each other’s eyes. They barely noticed Michelle and Eliza arriving to join them nearby and swaying to the music. They enjoyed a few more songs before the music changed.

All four girls were standing at the side listening to the Garth Brooks song when James and Emma walked up. James greeted everyone before turning to Michelle: "Chelle, Emma still won’t learn to two-step. Will you dance with me?" Michelle turned to Eliza who waved her approval and the two friends took to the floor.

After watching them for a minute, Eliza turned to Willow and Tara, "ok. There goes my date. Either of you want to take a few turns?"

Willow was still watching the array of dance steps and turns from all the couples. She answered absently, "no idea how. Tara?"

"If it’s ok w-w-with you love?" Tara responded. Willow nodded and Tara and Eliza moved onto the dance floor. After whispering together for a few seconds they began dancing as Willow and Emma’s jaws both dropped to hit the ground.

At the end of the song Tara and Michelle switched places and the two couples continued their intricate footwork impressing everyone in the room. Finally as they returned Emma and Willow clapped playfully. Willow hugged Tara, "wow. That was great baby. How’d you learn to do that?"

Tara answered in an exaggerated drawl: "Ah shucks. We done l-l-learned us some dancing moves early on h-h-here’n Texas." Everyone had a good laugh.

Shortly Willow went to use the bathroom and found a long line and waited for a while. When she finally got into a stall, her hair stood up on the back of her neck as she heard Elizabeth’s voice coming from the stall next door: "Why didn’t you tell me?"

Although she tried not to listen she couldn’t help it as she heard Michelle answer, "I didn’t know how to say it. You know now."

"Ok, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you right off Bethie," Michelle pleaded, "but now that you know, what do you think? Isn’t she great?"

"I’m not sure," Elizabeth disagreed. "Do you know why she’s here?" By now Willow knew that she should leave but she felt weirdly and voyeuristically drawn to the conversation.

"She got in some trouble at her old school," Michelle said, obviously proud that she knew the answer to her question.

"Yeah. She got in trouble," Elizabeth agreed. "Think about it Michelle, why does someone transfer here for their senior year or in the middle of the year. What kind of trouble?"

"I, I don’t know. She said it wasn’t anything bad," the junior lamely explained. At that point, Willow decided that she had heard enough. Obviously Michelle didn’t know what Willow knew about why Eliza was at the school but even if she did, that didn’t give Elizabeth any right to browbeat her younger sister. Willow flushed her toilet and then made a lot of noise before leaving the bathroom to disturb their conversation and hoped that that would be enough.

The redhead rejoined Tara and Eliza who were now standing by the drink bowl watching others dance, grope, and generally make-out. "Hey sweetie," Tara greeted her girlfriend, "Alyson and Lexi and Emma and James all s-s-stopped by before they took off."

"Hmmm, I wonder what they are doing leaving so early," Eliza mused sarcastically.

Seeing the girls loosening up Eliza teased some more: "and what the two of you wish you were doing right now?"

Both seniors were surprised by the look Eliza got and the quiet sound of her voice: "it’s early yet." Suddenly she changed her serious tone asking, "but where is my girlfriend anyway? I haven’t seen her in I don’t know how long."

Willow tentatively answered, "uh. I heard her and Elizabeth talking in the bathroom."

"Oh, I can imagine that conversation," Eliza muttered. The younger girl looked back and forth between her friends before deciding to go and check on Michelle: "look I’m going to go and find her ok?"

"D-d-do you want us to c-c-come with?" Tara asked concerned, reaching out to stop Eliza by touching her arm. As she did, she attempted to read the younger girl’s emotional state and send some healing her way to keep her calm. She was pleasantly surprised to find an absence of anger radiating from the girl as she seemed to be concerned for Michelle and just wanted to find her and make her feel better.

Eliza looked thankful for the offer but turned it down anyway: "no. Thanks a lot though guys. I’ll go find her and we’ll be just fine." She started to turn away but stopped to hug both Willow and Tara. "I had a really great time tonight and I’m glad Michelle and I doubled with y’all. Thanks for everything," she stated genuinely before turning and walking toward the bathroom.

"Yeah, I’m s-s-sure they’ll be fine," Tara answered. Leaning over she whispered directly in Willow’s ear: "anyway, wasn’t there s-s-something else you wanted to do tonight?" As she felt Willow’s sharp intake of air, she continued, "something you w-w-wanted to do all night?"

The blonde had barely finished speaking as Willow began moving toward the door still holding her hand. "You don’t have to ask me twice," she joked as they left the auditorium.

The two girls walked slowly through the dorm to Willow’s room. The halls were mostly deserted as most residents were still at the dance or hadn’t gone out at all. They enjoyed the leisurely pace at which they covered the journey, each woman enjoying the feel of the other’s hand in her own, the soft feel of skin on skin. Their magical connection echoed in small sparks that traveled along their palms and fingers and up their forearms. Neither spoke but felt content to concentrate on the other’s breathing, the sound of their shoes kissing the carpet and the swish of their dresses as they brushed together with each step.

At the door Willow turned and hugged Tara whispering in her ear, "someday you can carry me across the threshold like you offered that first day." She softly kissed her lover’s cheek before turning to unlock and open the door and waving her hand to indicate that Tara should precede her into her room. Gently closing the door behind her she crossed to her radio and turned it on. As the sensual music of Enigma began playing she walked back toward Tara and extended her hand. "Dance with me lover?" she asked.

Tara gave a soft lop-sided smile as she took Willow’s hand in her own and stepped closer to wrap her hand around the redhead’s hip. Her other hand still held her lover’s smaller one as if they were dancing formally. Staring into each other’s eyes they began to sway gently to the music. Tara could vaguely hear the notes in the room, could hear the soft vocals drifting toward her but it was if they were far away. All she could feel was the deep green of her lover’s eyes, eyes that glistened as if filled with the stars both women so loved to sleep under. Her concentration drifted to the feel of Willow’s slight hip under her hand. The bones were more pronounced than they used to be and Tara’s heart caught in her throat as she thought of the scare they both had. She knew that she could never bear to lose this woman. Her fingertips gently stroked and traced a pattern on Willow’s body through her dress.

Feeling the shift in mood as Tara felt her thin hip, Willow leaned in to nuzzle Tara’s neck. As she released a soft breath against Tara’s skin she whispered, "I’m fine my love. We’re fine." Tara released once again into their connection and Willow wrapped her arm around her lover’s neck as they moved to the music. Time passed slowly as the two figures swayed softly to the music in the privacy of their room. As Willow felt Tara’s lips pressed to her own, she couldn’t say who leaned in to start the contact. And it didn’t matter. In fact, who started it mattered less than perhaps anything in the world at that moment. What mattered was the perfection, the comfort and love, in that contact. Each movement of lip against lip elicited a magical spark of energy that radiated from the merged flesh outward along her skin. She could feel heat rising in her cheeks as she desperately breathed through her nose to prolong the kiss for as long as possible.

The redhead raised her hands to stroke Tara’s cheeks and found the same heat along the surface that she felt in response to their passionate kiss. Still swaying to the music, she softly extended her tongue to just lick the soft lips against her own. Gently she traced a path along her lover’s mouth, finally focusing her entry on the opening forming in front of the point of her tongue. Tara’s mouth conformed to the softness of her lover’s tongue as it wrapped itself around Willow’s gentle intrusion. Surrounded by Tara’s soft wetness, Willow could do nothing but rest for a moment before slowly rotating her tongue along Tara’s teeth and into her mouth. Enjoying the contact Tara found herself sucking on her lover’s tongue and did not even consciously realize what she was doing until she heard Willow’s soft moan in response.

Tara’s hands dropped to embrace the redhead’s hips, grasping to pull her closer and closer to her body. Softly she began to trail her hands up and down Willow’s sides. Each pass brought her hands higher and lower until the upper movement allowed her to brush her thumbs against the edges of Willow’s soft breasts. Just as Willow became used to the sensual contact, Tara’s hands were gone again. The redhead moaned out as she thrust her tongue more passionately into Tara’s mouth. Suddenly Tara wrapped her tongue around her lover’s and moved both into Willow’s waiting mouth. As she flicked the tip of her tongue against the tip of Willow’s and into her wet opening the redhead grasped her head more tightly.

Enjoying the motion of her hands over Willow’s slight frame and the soft material of her dress, Tara allowed them to stray to Willow’s back pulling her tighter into her body. Her nimble fingers gently unfastened the clasp at Willow’s neck and began to lower the zipper. Willow moaned as she felt the cool air brush against her upper and then lower back. Stepping from her dress, she took a step backwards toward her bed as she never broke eye contact with Tara’s beautiful blue ones. Moving to join the smaller woman on the bed, Tara realized that Willow had likewise unfastened her dress as they danced and she gracefully stepped from the garment before moving closer to her lover.

Kneeling in front of her lover, the blonde softly took Willow’s face in her hands. "I’ve missed you my love," she whispered before leaning in to trace her tongue along Willow’s lips. Pulling back she ran her fingertips gently along the garter belts holding the smaller girl’s stockings in place. "I n-n-never knew," she attempted to explain.

The redhead got a decidedly vixeny look on her face as she leaned forward to whisper in Tara’s reddening ear: "no panty lines. I hoped you’d like."

Tara gulped a few times before answering, "I do. But I w-w-want to feel all your skin." Pinching the snap between her fingers she quickly detached the nylons from their placement. Softly she inserted her fingertips under the edge of one stocking and began to torturously slowly pull her fingers down Willow’s thigh, knee, and calf to remove the thin material. She was rewarded by a soft moan by the redhead as she passed along the sensual areas before repeating her action on the other side.

Raising up Tara clasped her lover’s face in her own hands and pressed their lips together. Willow’s arms came up to embrace the blonde instantly as she pulled both bodies onto the bed. No sounds of discomfort escaped her lips as she reveled in the missed and needed blessing of their bodies together. Their lips moved softly and vigorously with and against each other. Running her hands down Tara’s back Willow found a soft trail of sweat lining the valley along her spine.

Feeling no rush Tara drew back to rest on one elbow for a moment. She ran her other hand through Willow’s red wavy hair and along her cheek and jawline, rewarded when the smaller woman pressed her skin into her soft palm like a kitten enjoying the petting. As the redhead closed her eyes and relaxed to enjoy the contact, Tara passed her hand softly over her entire face, sensually tracing her eyebrows, hair line, nose, lips, even eyelashes. Slowly she lowered her hand to caress Willow’s neck and collarbones. The redhead’s breathing became labored as Tara traced her fingertips along the lace edge of her bra. "This is beautiful lover," she whispered allowing her breath to flow hotly over Willow’s breasts. Lowering her head, the blonde nuzzled her face into her lover’s breasts, murmuring her contentment.

The smaller woman enjoyed this contact, the loving gentle touch of Tara worshiping her soft breasts. She had missed this so much in the past few weeks. Stupid appendix she giggled at the stupidity and inappropriateness of such a thought racing across the every busy Willowbrain. She began to allow her hands to roam over Tara’s smooth silky skin, meeting and unfastening the closure of her bra. Playfully she whispered, "not that I don’t love you in lingerie my love but I want to feel your skin." Dutifully the blonde raised herself quickly onto her arms to allow the covering to drop down her arms before tossing it onto the floor. Moaning in appreciation, Willow raised her hands to brush the palms across Tara’s soft breasts. Allowing her motion to create circles on the flesh, she was entranced as the nipples grew hard and pressed themselves into the center of her hands. Hearing her lover’s soft purr she closed her fingers around those hard nubs to rub them between her fingertips.

As she rubbed she again captured the blonde’s lips in her own kissing more hungrily now, darting her tongue into her lover’s mouth as Tara moaned with the contact. Suddenly the smaller woman pivoted to straddle her lover as she lay on the bed. She continued caressing the blonde’s breasts, occasionally pinching the nipples between her fingertips before lowering her face to rub it against the soft flesh. Her words, "you are so beautiful my love," created a humming vibration that Tara could feel through her nipples and her entire chest. Although she still wore panties, the blonde knew that they were soaked and both women could smell their mingled and sweet scents in the small room. Softly Willow brushed her closed lips across the tip of Tara’s hard nipple, just barely making contact before moving her mouth to repeat the motion on Tara’s other side. Finding it increasingly difficult to form coherent thoughts or voluntary movements, Tara reached around Willow’s back to unclasp her bra and throw it to the floor leaving the redhead entirely naked. Her wet center dripped onto the blonde’s trim stomach as she moved her mouth back to the first nipple placing a loving kiss on the tip.

"Willlloooo," Tara moaned out as her lover’s mouth dropped kiss after kiss onto her firm skin. Unable to form the words to communicate her need, she pulled the back of Willow’s head toward her chest. Unwilling to deny her lover any longer, the redhead eagerly opened her mouth. She first licked and then lightly sucked Tara’s hard nipple into her hungry mouth as the blonde clutched desperately at the back of her head. Realizing that she was clutching, Tara softened her grip to entwine her hand in Willow’s long copper curls.

"mmm," Willow purred as she alternated sucking first one nipple and then the other into her mouth. Scraping her teeth over Tara’s nipple she was rewarded as the blonde arched her back, pressing her stomach into Willow’s dripping center. Releasing the nipple Willow again pressed her mouth to the blonde’s as their repeated moans were swallowed in each other’s bodies.

The luxurious sound of her lover’s voice startled the redhead for a moment as she heard Tara’s gentle request: "baby, lay on your stomach for me." Willow complied immediately, pressing her form onto the bed and waiting for any contact. She could feel her hard nipples making a dimple in the smooth cool bed sheet and her wet mound against the material. After a few seconds, she felt Tara slowly lower her body onto her smaller one and realized from the sensation of warm wetness on her leg that Tara had removed the last piece of clothing separating them.

As she stretched her form over her lover’s Tara ran her hands softly up and down Willow’s sides. Each movement elicited a reaction, as the redhead’s flesh seemed to jump into her palms. Stroking Willow’s neck to move her hair to the side the blonde began lightly trailing kisses over her spine, occasionally nipping at the fuzz-covered skin. Willow moaned with each gentle kiss or bite to her sensitive skin. She felt like an erotic sandwich with the bed pressing into her mound and Tara’s mound pressing into her ass or leg. She enjoyed the thought of the juice that ran along her flesh from both sources.

As she liberally and gently showered her lover’s back with kisses, Tara murmured her love: "you are so beautiful Willow." Kisses rained on Willow’s shoulder blades. "Your body is so smooth and sexy." Tara’s lips trailed to the sides to barely brush her lover’s slight breasts. "I love you so much." The soft lips placed loving almost imperceptible impressions along Willow’s spine. "I’ve missed you my love." Her hands grasped Willow’s hips as she heard the redhead groan out her need. "Rollover lover." Tara raised herself up onto her arms while Willow immediately complied.

Lowering herself quickly Tara again pressed kisses into the redhead’s waiting mouth. Their skin meshed and slid with sweat and the mix of their arousal. Aware that she was skipping a large portion of Willowskin but unable to wait any longer to join with her lover, Tara positioned herself between the redhead’s trembling legs. "I love you so much," she murmured into the silky soft skin of the smaller woman’s thighs as she trailed kisses along the already wet expanse. Recognizing the tensing in Willow’s body and more than amply aware of the wait both women had endured, Tara softly kissed Willow’s mound inhaling her sweet scent.

"Oh Goddess! Baby," Willow gasped as she felt the blonde’s lips kiss her softly before her fingers softly separated her wet folds. Almost tentatively Tara guided her tongue through Willow’s wetness, following the path the smaller woman’s inner lips led her along. Slowly she licked along her lover’s inner lips reveling in the missed smell and taste of her lover’s liquid warmth. Tara could feel Willow’s hand gently massaging the back of her head as she slowly drank in her juices. With each stroke of her tongue, she felt Willow’s body tense further. In spite of Willow’s thighs pressing lightly against her ears she could hear her lover’s moans increasing with each stroke of her tongue.

Spurned on by Willow’s increasing movements and sounds of passion, Tara slowly licked forward to rub her tongue gently over her lover’s hidden nub. The intensity of Willow’s responding moan caused Tara a momentary concern: "Will? Are you ok?"

She returned her attention to that tight muscle as soon as she heard Willow’s answering plea, "d-d-d-onnnnn’tttt stopppppp…" Gently at first and then with increasing intensity the blonde flicked her tongue over her lover’s clitoris, encouraged by the wondrous taste of her lover and the pressure created by Willow’s erotic thrashing against her face, her hand on the back of Tara’s head. Understanding her lover’s need for release as her own wetness pooled between her legs and flowed hotly onto the bed, Tara began to flick her tongue from side to side, brushing firmly against the redhead’s engorged clitoris as she murmured her love into the action.

Willow floated through the sensation of being loved by Tara. It was a knowing. A permanence. This was all there is in the world. This here. This now. This senation of taking and being taken. Of giving and being given. Of sharing everything we have with each other. With each stroke of the blonde’s tongue she felt herself grasping at her head, at the sheets, within her body for something to grasp -- anything that she could hold onto as her soul slid into thousands of separate crystals. The approaching climax beckoned to her almost teasing with its proximity. Feeling the fall into the abyss of inarticulation beginning, she ground her own wrist against her mouth as she screamed with the power of her climax. Every nerve ending in her body joined the revolution as her body writhed and trembled with Tara’s continued lapping at her center. After an eternity of pleasure she noted that the blonde’s tongue had stilled to allow her to ride out her climax. "I c-c-can see again," she gasped.

Tara recognized the line from the movie they had watched at Willow’s house and grinned at the redhead’s quirky sense of humor. Feeling the redhead relax with completion, Tara smiled before again latching her mouth onto Willow’s clit. "Oh Goddess!" the redhead screamed out as the surprise contact brought her to another climax. Pleased with her lover's immediate response to her returning tongue Tara gently inserted one finger into her lover. Although she usually used two or even three fingers inside the redhead’s slight frame, she was worried about the surgery and recovery period.

"Tara, Tara, Tara!" Willow moaned as she felt the dual pleasure of her lover’s finger filling her depths and her tongue assaulting her clit without ending. Just as one climax would end, another would start and she could no longer count or determine any division between the peaks of pleasure. Over and over her lover brought her to climax, allowed her to relax, and then grasped her body again in pleasure. Finally unable to take any more, the redhead cried out, "baby. Please come hold me."

Tara instantly moved up the bed to gather her exhausted lover in her arms. The two women nestled together in the love, their bodies slick with sweat and arousal. As she absently trailed her fingertips over Willow’s body, Tara asked, "Willow?" Willow nodded that she was listening and Tara continued, "are y-y-you o-o-o-k?"

Recovering from her repeated climaxes Willow responded, "not really," a smile curling up at the edges of her mouth.

Tara moved immediately to look down at her lover, "what? What h-h-hurts b-b-baby? Oh Goddess." Not seeing the smirk growing on Willow’s face, Tara jumped up from the bed panicking: "I s-s-should go g-g-get the nurse. Oh Goddess." She was stopped by Willow’s hand firmly holding her own as the redhead pulled her lover back. Seeing the smile on Willow’s face she realized the redhead was teasing her. "That wasn’t nice baby. I was really w-w-worried about you," she pouted.

Sitting up to wrap her arms around Tara’s waist as the blonde stood facing the bed Willow nuzzled her flat stomach. "I didn’t mean to scare you love. I’m sorry." As she whispered her apology she allowed her hands to caress the blonde’s ass and felt her stiff demeanor begin to melt. She could still smell Tara’s wonderful arousal and see the liquid on the insides of her thighs. Beginning to kiss her lover along the base of her stomach she explained, "I wasn’t hurting. But you asked if I was ok and I wasn’t. I haven’t gotten to make love to you yet." Each word was punctuated by a kiss or lick along Tara’s body, the final 5 delivered onto Tara’s glistening curls.

As she began to run her fingertips along Tara’s soaked lips she heard the blonde moan and knew that her joke was forgiven. Continuing to play along, however, she whispered quietly, "I shouldn’t have teased you. Maybe I can make it up to you?" The redhead left her suggestion hanging as she extended her tongue to probe between those wet lips. Tara’s hand gently caressing the back of her head caused her to smile as she knew that her little joke was forgiven, not that that was ever in doubt. Goddess I missed this. This taste. This smell. Wrapping one arm around Tara’s lower back she pulled the blonde closer even as she attempted to spread her legs slightly with her own hanging down over the side of the bed.

With Tara’s legs parted Willow had ready and eager access to glide her tongue through her wetness. The redhead was unable to restrain herself from immediately thrusting her tongue into her lover’s opening. "Arrrhhhhh," Tara moaned as she felt Willow’s warm tongue taking entrance into her waiting depths. Willow passionately thrust her tongue into her lover as she softly touched the other woman’s clit with her fingertips. She felt her lover shiver at the contact and held her more firmly with her arm around her back.

Withdrawing her tongue, she ran it along Tara’s lips drinking her flowing juices. She could not believe the level of wetness bathing her face but smiled as the way Tara had made love to her so ardently and patiently. Wrapping her lips around her lover’s shy clit, she softly kissed it before sucking the bundle of nerves into her mouth. As she sucked, she used her tongue to flick at the tip of Tara’s clit. Hearing the blonde moaning wordlessly turned her on even more but she needed to be inside this woman who she loved so much and so well. Without breaking the contact of her mouth on Tara’s clit, she slid two fingers easily into her opening. "I love you," she whispered as she began to wiggle her fingers inside the blonde’s tensing depths. Finding a rhythm she moved her fingers in time with her tongue and attempted to press them against the same area.

Sucking licking Tara’s clit furiously, Willow began to thrust her fingers inside her love more forcefully. She had some very good idea of how much the blonde needed this release and wanted to give it to her fast. As she felt the hands entwined in her hair tightening she knew that Tara was close. Flicking her tongue over Tara’s clit she felt the blonde’s depths pull her hand deeper inside as her climax stiffened her entire body. Even as Tara moaned wordlessly, Willow would not let go of the climax continuing to pump her fingers and hand inside the blonde as she quivered and shook with release.

Although she knew that she could not lift her girlfriend Willow hoped that Tara would take the hint as she pulled against her with her arm. As hoped, the blonde immediately shifted her weight and turned to lie down on the bed. Without breaking her hand’s contact, Willow pressed her body down Tara’s as she captured her lips in a gentle kiss. As she stilled her hand’s movement she was surprised to hear her lover’s voice. "Don’t stop baby," Tara pleaded needing more.

"Of course my love," Willow whispered as she began to move her hand once again within it’s wet, warm, home. Tara’s body tensed almost immediately as she thrust her hips up to meet each motion of her lover’s hand. She bit down on her lip as she attempted to keep from screaming out. "I love you Tara Maclay," Willow whispered as she passed her thumb lightly over the blonde’s clit and felt her release burst forth in a torrent of warm juice on her hand. Kissing the blonde deeply she continued to move her hand as she drew out her lover’s climax.

As Tara stilled her body Willow hugged her tightly before raising up to brush her fingers along her face. As she did so, she saw tears pooled in the blonde’s eyes and spilling down over her cheeks. She leaned forward to kiss the tears away knowing that Tara would explain when she was ready. Wrapping her arms around her smaller lover, Tara pulled Willow down to lie on her chest. "I d-d-don’t know what I would d-d-do if I ever lost y-y-you," she stuttered.

Tilting Tara’s face by placing her fingers gently on the taller girl’s chin Willow reassured her: "you won’t ever have to find out my love. We’re always." Tara nodded as the two figures hugged and slid toward sleep.

Drifting into oblivion Willow questioned, "I know I said all night but it’s only 3:30 my love. Is that ok?" Getting no answer was answer enough to the question.

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W/T Season 3 Y'all

By JustSkipIt