CHASING DAYLIGHT

BY

KINETIC-KID

Rating:             NC-17 (XXX - Sex?? What Sex??!!!)

Disclaimer:       Definitely no money being made. All characters belong to Joss Whedon and ME. I own nothing except whatever characters I may make up for this story. I just like to play with them - I promise to put them back after I’m done!!

Distribution:     Oh yeah, anywhere, anytime. Just make sure I get credit and let me know where it is.

Spoilers:           Pretty much everything - if you haven’t watched BTVS - why are you reading the fanfic???  This story is, of course, AU!!

Feedback:         Please, Please, PLEASE!!! I live for feedback. I get irritable and upset if I don’t get any and I might not continue writing. Of course, if you don’t like the story and think it sucks you may not want me to continue!

Pairing:            Subject to Author’s whims - B/T Now - Previously  W/T 

SUMMARY:        What happens when two women finally admit their feelings for each other?

Chapter 1

Tara sighs softly as she looks at the small group of friends that had insisted she come to the Bronze with them.  Not knowing why she let them talk her into coming here and being a fifth wheel, literally, Tara sips cranberry juice as she decides to look around at the people there, silently praying that Willow doesn’t show up.

The two women had talked a few times after she moved out after the Tabula Rasa spell, when they both weren’t so sensitive, and they had finally come to the decision that it would be best for both of them not to see each other anymore.  Tara honestly wanted to stay friends with the redhead, but whenever she saw the woman, it made her think of how she’d invaded her mind and stolen her memories, making it hard to be around her. 

“I’ll be right back.”  Tara waves her empty glass, smiling at her friends from college as she stands and walks up to the bar, leaning against it as she looks around.  Seeing Spike lurking in the back of the bar, Tara unconsciously stiffens.  As thoughts of what the blonde vampire had done with Buffy roll through her mind, Tara can’t help but become angry that he’d take advantage of Buffy in her time of need.  While Buffy feels that she’s to blame for what happened, Tara knows the real blame falls on Spike and the realization that the vampire will turn any and all situations to his advantage.

Watching as Buffy strides into the bar, Tara inhales at the sight of the blonde.  She was obviously angry and on the prowl for some reason as the hazel eyes start to canvas the bar, coming to rest on Spike before she made it to where Tara was standing at the bar.  Watching as Buffy quickly makes her way towards Spike, with anger practically shooting off her in sparks, Tara unconsciously eases her way closer to where the two are arguing in a dark corner.

“You will stay away from me, my house and Dawn.  Do you understand?”  Buffy growls angrily at Spike as she pokes him in the chest.

“Oi!  You were singing a different tune not that long ago weren’t you, luv?”  Spike smirks as he runs his hand over his groin.

“And you think by going to Willow and Dawn, telling them that we’re an item, is a way to endear yourself to me?  I don’t love you, Spike.  I could never love you.  You gave me something that I thought I needed.  I needed to feel something, unfortunately pain and anger were the main things that I could feel, and you took advantage of it.  No more.  I’m finished with whatever sick thing we have going on between us.  Why do you think I haven’t been by in the last couple weeks?  Now stay the hell away from me and mine, understand?”  Buffy snarls at the bleached blonde vampire.

“We’re done, when I say we’re done, Slayer!”  Spike’s eyes shade to yellow as he grabs the slayer yanking her in against his body.  “And we’re not done!” 

“Separate!”  Tara waves her hand and strides towards them, placing her body between Buffy and Spike while staring angrily at Spike.  “You don’t force a person that says no.”  Tara stares daggers into the vampire’s yellow eyes. 

“She says yes, often enough.  Sometimes she needs a little convincin‘, she does.”  Spike snarls back, angry at the woman that has balls enough to come between him and what’s his.  “She’s mine, and I’m showing her that I love her.  So I suggest you run back to whatever cunt you’re licking.”

“I can guarantee you, that whoever I sleep with is there because they want to be and they’re going to leave my bed completely satisfied, not bruised and beaten, forced to have sex just for my own pleasure.  Being raped has absolutely nothing to do with love!”  Tara’s eyes spark with anger, the power just below the surface as she shoves the vampire back against the wall. 

“She likes it rough!”  Spike shoves Tara back, wincing as his chip gives a warning spark in his head. 

“Don’t you push her!”  Buffy finally finds her voice after staring at Tara’s back in shock as the woman came to her defense.  Slamming her forearm against Spike’s neck, Buffy whacks him upside the head with her fist.  “Leave everyone alone, Spike.  You’re not wanted.  Do you understand me?  Stay away.”  Buffy quickly turns around, unconsciously wrapping her arm around Tara, urging her away from the blonde vampire.

“I ain’t listened to you yet, why would I start now?”  Spike snarls quietly as he watches the two women leave the Bronze.  Slowly slinking out after them, he follows the slayer and the Wiccan silently.

Tara follows Buffy unresistingly as the slayer practically drags her out of the Bronze, keeping an arm around her while striding down the street.  Finally after about three blocks, Tara braces herself and stops walking.

Buffy turns surprised eyes to Tara, realizing she’d practically kidnapped the woman in her anger.  Blinking the haze of anger from her eyes, Buffy drops her arm from around Tara and looks down at the ground.  “Sorry.”  Buffy shakes her head and sighs heavily. 

“For what?”  Tara questions, tilting her head at the slayer.

“For dragging you out of the Bronze.”  Buffy’s mind trips back to what Spike had said.  “My God, were you there on a date?  I’m sorry, I’ll walk you back.”  Buffy starts to walk back towards the Bronze, when she’s stopped by a chuckling Tara not following her.

“No, I wasn’t there on a date.  Pretty much just the opposite.  I was a fifth wheel with a couple of my friends that were on dates.  They insisted on me joining them, and going out having some fun.”  Tara grins crookedly at the slayer.  “But since we’re out here, would you mind walking me back to the dorm?” 

“Of course I don‘t mind.”  Buffy blushes lightly, nodding her head.  As the conversation runs over in her mind again and again, on a continuous loop, Buffy tucks her hands in her pockets as they slowly make their way towards the college. 

“I’m sorry, Buffy.”  Tara finally states softly after a few minutes.

“Sorry for what?”  Buffy looks over at Tara the confusion obvious on her face.

Tara sighs heavily and looks up at the dark night sky, the stars twinkling merrily.  “Butting my nose in where it doesn’t belong.  But when I saw him grab you the way he did, I saw red and had to do something.” 

“You don’t have anything to be sorry for.”  Buffy shakes her head, a quick smile crossing her face.  “I would have probably knocked him around some, but what you did worked.”  Thinking for a few minutes, Buffy raises an eyebrow at the Wiccan.  “So…  Is it true?”

Tara frowns at Buffy’s question, before turning her gaze on the slayer.  “Is what true?”  Tara blinks trying to figure out what Buffy’s questioning her about. 

Buffy smirks before pursing her lips trying to look seriously at her friend.  “Does everyone you sleep with leave your bed satisfied?”  Buffy raises an eyebrow at the Wiccan.

Tara blushes lightly, while at the same time stopping to look into Buffy’s hazel eyes, before stating softly and seriously.  “Always.” 

Buffy’s eyes open wide in surprise at Tara’s answer, having actually expected the woman to stutter out some response, not answer her that seriously with an affirmative.  Seeing a calculating look crossing Tara’s face and her blue eyes darken, Buffy watches, intrigued at the changes.

Tara slowly lets her eyes traverse the slayer’s features as she considers something that had crossed her mind on more than one occasion since breaking up with Willow.  “Care to find out on a more personal basis?”  Tara questions softly with a raised eyebrow as she slowly closes the distance between their bodies, but not touching the slayer.  As she sees the brief flare of desire in the slayer’s eyes before it’s locked away, Tara nibbles on her bottom lip.  “Maybe not.”  Tara blinks a couple times before slowly backing away from the slayer, calling herself a fool and turning to start walking again. 

“FUCKIN’ BITCH!”  Spike snarls as he launches himself at the blonde, tackling her to the ground, vamping out at the pain from his chip firing, ignoring it as he backhands Tara across the face, howling loudly at the sensors going off in his head continuously. 

Buffy reaches down a split second later, literally yanking Spike off Tara and tossing him about twenty feet behind them as she kneels down, looking worriedly at the Wiccan, frowning as she sees the blood flowing from Tara’s nose and lip.  Swallowing hard, Buffy yanks off her light jacket before literally tearing her shirt from her body and folding it up quickly to press against Tara’s bloody face gently.  “Hold this don’t try to get up, okay?”  Buffy whispers, as she strokes a hand soothingly down Tara’s cheek.  As she sees the understanding in Tara’s eyes, Buffy smiles sadly at her for a few moments before slowly standing and turning back to a dazed vampire, who’s shaking his head from where he’d been knocked semi-unconscious when his head came into contact with the light pole. 

Spike gains some of his faculties back and sees an absolutely livid slayer striding towards him, feeling a sense of self-preservation finally kicking in, he starts to scramble backwards to get away from the slayer.

“Oh, no you don’t!”  Buffy growls as she literally pounces on Spike, Grabbing him by the leather jacket lapels, and slamming his head down into the concrete time after time.  “You hurt Tara.  With the brain pain, you still did it!  Do you think its open season on people I love?  You keep showing me time after time that you’re a soulless vampire, strictly after your own gains, but for some stupid reason I just don’t see it.  Guess what?  You’re finished!”  Buffy yanks the vampire up as she stands, slamming her fist into his face again and again.

Spike tries to fend off the slayer in his weakened state.  Between the unbelievable pain the chip is causing in his head, and his split open skull from Buffy banging it on the concrete to her doing her damnedest to re-arrange his face, he just whimpers between his fangs as he literally dangles from the slayer’s grip.

Yanking her stake from the back of her jeans, she looks at the almost unrecognizable face of the vampire.  “I should have done this when you first came to Sunnydale.”  Buffy calmly stakes Spike, turning to run back to Tara before his dust hits the ground. 

Tara spits the blood gathering in her mouth on the ground beside her as she shifts so she’s on her knees with a hand helping balance her on the ground as she presses Buffy’s shirt to her nose, trying to stop the blood flow. 

Buffy runs a shaky hand up Tara’s arm as she looks into the pain filled eyes. “We’ve got to get you to the hospital.”  When Tara shakes her head, Buffy growls quietly.  “Let me see.”  Buffy looks at Tara’s split lip and her nose.  “You are.  You’re going to need stitches in your lip.  I don’t think your nose is broken, but it needs to be checked to be on the safe side.”

“Jacket.”  Tara mumbles as she grabs Buffy’s jacket, handing it to the slayer.

Buffy glances down, finally realizing she’s in the middle of downtown Sunnydale wearing only a bra on her upper body.  Sighing heavily, she yanks her jacket on, before hooking an arm around Tara, shifting her and putting her other arm around her legs, picking her up to cradle her against her body as she strides towards the hospital. 

“I can walk.”  Tara grumbles.  It comes out more sounding like she’s saying I cwam wakk.

“Tilt your head back and keep pressure applied to your nose.  I almost want that son of a bitch back so I can fucking beat the hell out of him some more.”  Buffy growls angrily as she picks up her pace, starting to run with Tara in her arms. 

Tara wraps her free arm around Buffy’s neck, holding on for dear life as the slayer takes off running, thankful for the smooth running gate, not liking the thought of being bounced around.  Finally closing her eyes, she presses hard on her nose and lip to try and stop the blood flow. 

Buffy slides to a stop as she enters the emergency room, her eyes coming to rest on a wheelchair.  Gently placing Tara in the chair, Buffy pushes the blonde hair back behind Tara’s ear and looks into her eyes.  “How are you?”  Buffy questions softly, looking intently at the Wiccan.

“Been better.”  Tara mumbles, even as her eyes start to twinkle at the slayer.

Buffy breathes a sigh of relief as she sees the humor starting to replace the pain in Tara’s eyes.  Brushing her thumb over Tara’s cheek, it crosses Buffy’s mind quickly that the Wiccan has extremely soft skin before she drops her hand to turn towards the emergency room staff.  “Come on get someone here to look at her, will you?”  Buffy growls angrily at the nurse, who is just standing there staring at them in stunned surprise.

“Bring her back.”  Nurse Richards shakes her head after watching a petite blonde carrying another woman in and placing her in a wheelchair.  Having seen some weird things in her time here at Sunnydale Memorial, it still never fails to make her look twice when something happens.  “What happened?”  She questions as she grabs paperwork while leading the way back to an examining room.

“Mugger decided to get a little violent.”  Buffy growls angrily as she helps Tara up on the examining table.  “He disappeared, but not before he busted her nose and lip.” 

“Do you know this young woman, or are you just a Good Samaritan?”  The nurse makes a note on the chart before glancing up at the small blonde.

“I know her.  We’ve been friends for close to three years.”  Buffy looks questioningly at the nurse. 

“Do you know enough about her to fill out the forms?”  Nurse Richards looks at the young woman.

“I guess so.”  Buffy accepts the clipboard before looking at her bloody hands. 

“You can use the sink.”  Nurse Richards points towards the sink before she turns back to the hurt woman.  “So, what’s your name?”

“Tara.”  Tara mumbles, letting the woman gently ease Buffy’s shirt from her face. 

“He got you good, didn’t he?”  The nurse winces at the swelling and bruising already obvious.  “Here, go ahead and keep this on, let me get a few things.” 

Tara places Buffy’s bloody shirt back against her face as she watches the nurse go over to the drawers pulling out different items. 

Nurse Richards pulls out some gauze pads and antiseptic to clean away some of the blood while pulling out a couple disposable ice packs.  Setting the items down besides Tara, she gently eases the shirt from the wounded woman, turning her gaze briefly towards the other blonde writing the information on the forms, finally noticing the open jacket with no shirt underneath.  Shaking her head, she turns back to Tara and gently cleans her face.  “Well, it looks like your nose has pretty much stopped bleeding.”  Wincing at the swollen, split lip, she dabs gently at the wound.  “You’re going to need about three stitches in your lip, dear.  Let me see where the doctor is.  Put this on your lip and nose.” 

Tara watches as the nurse breaks the ingredients in the disposable ice pack and shakes it up quickly before handing it to her.  Wincing as she places it against her face, Tara looks over at Buffy. 

Buffy bites her inner cheek as she fills out the form, glancing up after a little while to look at Tara.  “Are you allergic to anything, medicine wise?” 

“No.”  Tara answers softly watching as Buffy nods and looks back down filling in the information. 

“I put my name and information down as contact information.”  Buffy explains quietly as she looks back over the form.  “Do you have your insurance card from the college?”  Buffy stands and accepts Tara’s purse as she hands it to her.

“In the wawwet.”  Tara sighs quietly. 

“Why don’t you lay back, until the doctor or nurse comes back?”  Buffy suggests softly as she notices the weariness crossing Tara’s face.  “Here.”  Buffy sets the items down to the side and gently lifts the Wiccan’s legs, turning her so she’s lying down on the examining bed.  Opening the cabinets, she finally comes across a covered pillow and places it on the bed under Tara’s head.  Buffy brushes her hand over Tara’s forehead, smiling softly down at her.  “I guess I should be thankful you don’t have a girlfriend.  She’d probably kick my ass for letting you get hurt.” 

Tara chuckles, then, moans as she feels her lip pull.  “I can kick ath mythef, don’t need thomeone to do it fow me.”  Tara mumbles, her eyes twinkling as she presses the ice a little more firmly against her lip. 

“I saw that.”  Buffy nods her head in acknowledgement.  “So, now I know that you are a kick ass Wiccan that makes sure her lovers are completely satisfied.”  Buffy jokes softly.

“Uh, uh.  Not getting me there, again, Swayer.  That’s what got me in this meth.”  Tara jokes back.  “Think it made him jeawous.”

Buffy blushes and glances away for a few seconds before shaking her head, not able to look in Tara’s eyes.  “That wasn’t it at all, Tara.”  Buffy whispers.

“Buffy?”  Tara questions, frowning as Buffy continues to look away from her.  Reaching her hand out, she grabs Buffy’s arm and squeezes gently.  “Pwease?”

Buffy swallows and slowly drops her gaze back down to Tara’s eyes.  “He sensed something, and I think that’s what set him off.”  Buffy partially explains, unable to admit out loud what the reason was. 

Tara starts to question Buffy again when the Doctor comes barreling in, stopping to yank on gloves.  Sighing heavily at the interruption, Tara watches as Buffy quickly sits back down.

“So, I understand that you had a run in with a mugger.”  The doctor pulls the ice pack away and presses on Tara’s nose, ignoring her wince and grunt of pain.  “Well, your nose isn’t broken.”  He inspects her bottom lip, nodding at the split.  “You’re going to need a couple stitches in that to keep it from re-opening.” 

Buffy quietly growls at the doctor’s insensitive inspection of Tara before her eyes turn towards the nurse as she rolls a tray in. 

“Go ahead and numb her lip, I’ll be back in a few minutes to stitch it.”  He snaps off his gloves, throwing them in the receptacle before striding out. 

“Asshole.”  Buffy snarls after the doctor, her eyes flashing with anger.

“That he is, but he’s good.”  Nurse Richards admits as she looks at Tara’s nose.  “I’ve got some gauze to place in your nose, just in case it starts bleeding again, okay?” 

“’Kay.”  Tara mumbles and winces briefly as the nurse places them in her nose. 

“The shot will probably hurt worse than the split lip.”  The Nurse smiles apologetically at the young woman. 

“It’s ‘kay, got used to it when I wath younger.”  Tara mumbles as she closes her eyes, missing the startled gaze coming from Buffy. 

Gently administering the shot, the nurse tosses the needle into the specially marked receptacle before coming back and gently pressing some gauze against the still bleeding lip.  Waiting a few minutes the nurse smiles at Tara.  “Is it numb yet?” 

Tara unconsciously lifts her hand and taps her finger against her lip, before nodding.  “Yethh, it is.”  Tara mumbles even worse with her mouth not wanting to cooperate.

Nurse Richards chuckles quietly.  “Let me get the doctor in here.  I’ll be back.” 

“I’ll be back.”  Buffy stands up and strides out of the examining room, as certain things cycle around in her head that Tara had said that night.  Practically running out of the hospital, Buffy inhales deeply as she makes it out to the cool night air.  Striding back and forth in front of the hospital, Buffy’s mind shies away from the remembrance of Tara going off when she mentioned rape, and settles on the less horrifying thought of Tara obviously used to pain, shots and stitches from her younger days.  Clenching her hands ‘til they hurt, Buffy growls angrily into the quiet night at the thought of her family, and God knows who else, doing things to that kind woman that no one should have to put up with.

Buffy’s unaware of the passing time until the Nurse comes outside.

“Umm.  Miss?”  Nurse Richards finally catches the attention of the petite woman who’s practically wearing a groove in the concrete.  “Miss Maclay is ready to leave now.  We wrote her a prescription for pain pills, and suggest that she keeps her nose and lip iced as much as possible to help with the swelling.  The best thing is probably rest for a couple days.”

“I’ll see to it.”  Buffy nods her head as she follows the nurse back into the hospital.  “I need to call a cab, that way we don’t have to walk home.”  Buffy starts to dig in her pockets and look around for a payphone when the nurse hands her the phone.  When the nurse hands her a list with the different cab companies on it, Buffy chuckles softly.  “Thanks.”

“No problem.  I’ll go get Miss Maclay and bring her around front.”  Nurse Richards sighs quietly as she walks back to the examining room.

***

Chapter 2

“I’m nwat gonna go wid you.”  Tara mumbles and smacks at Buffy’s hand as she tries to wipe at the drool escaping her numb mouth. 

“Yes you are, so stop arguing.”  Buffy smirks as she manages to sneak her hand in to wipe at the drool on Tara’s chin.  “You’re a pain in the ass, aren’t you?”

“Yetthhh.”  Tara hisses and smacks again at Buffy’s hand as she narrows her eyes angrily on the slayer. 

“Give it up.  If you’d let me just hold it there, we wouldn’t be going through this.  Plus, I want to make sure you take the pain pills, because that shot will probably be wearing off in a couple hours.  And since we can’t get the prescription filled ‘til tomorrow, we need to go to my house and get my pain pills.”  Buffy explains calmly, trying not to laugh at the angry Wiccan. 

“I’d be finn twil twomowwow.”  Tara grumbles, frowning heavily as she yanks the tissues from Buffy’s hand and presses it under her mouth, hopefully to catch any drool that was escaping. 

“Tough.”  Buffy tosses the money to the cab driver as he pulls up outside her house.  Opening the door, she practically has to drag the unwilling Wiccan out of the cab.  “You’re staying here tonight, no matter how much you fight me.  So give it up and get your ass in here.”

Tara growls unconvincingly at the slayer as she slowly allows her to urge her towards the house.  The one saving grace was that hopefully Willow and Dawn would be in bed asleep, giving her a chance to possibly sneak out in the morning before either one became aware of her being there. 

“I’ll carry your ass inside, if you fight me anymore.”  Buffy threatens as Tara had unknowingly come to a stop again. 

Sighing and rolling her eyes at the slayer, Tara stomps up the steps and inside, sighing in relief at the quiet house.  Toeing off her shoes she sits down on the couch, grabbing the blanket on the back, ready to lay down when Buffy stops her.

“What do you think you’re doing?”  Buffy frowns as she looks at Tara. 

“Gowen to sweep.”  Tara mumbles as she looks at the couch.

“Not down here, you’re not.”  Buffy shakes her head in exasperation.  “Come on, Tara.”  Buffy urges her up, before heading into the kitchen.  Grabbing a couple waters, she digs around until she finds the pain pills.  Tucking them in her jacket pocket, she points to the stairs.  “Upstairs, now.”

Tara starts to argue until Buffy turns a hard stare on her.  Mumbling incoherently, Tara quietly eases up the stairs.  When Buffy bypasses her bedroom, Tara unconsciously stiffens, but when she realizes she’s heading towards the bathroom, Tara relaxes again and walks into the bathroom.

“Strip, I’m going to see if I can find something that’ll fit you to sleep in.  You might want to wash up some of the blood, you know where the spare toothbrushes are, use what you want.”  Buffy orders softly as she waves to the bathroom before quickly turning around and leaving Tara staring after her in surprise.

Buffy strides into her bedroom, bending down to quickly untie her boots and pull them off before she opens the closet, pushing her stuff out of the way as she looks for the few items that were left over from Angel.  Coming across the black silk shirt, Buffy chuckles at the thought of Tara wearing black, that definitely not being a color the woman had ever worn, as far as she can remember.  Shrugging her shoulders, Buffy pulls it off the hanger and lays it across the end of the bed before she takes off her own jacket, looking at it quickly, sighing in relief at the lack of blood on it, before hanging it up.  Stripping the rest of her clothes off, she tosses them in the hamper before pulling on the robe and tying it closed.  Grabbing the shirt, she quickly strides back to the bathroom.

Tara glances up as Buffy comes back in.  Finishing drying her hands on the towel, she looks at the silk shirt Buffy hands her with a raised eyebrow. 

“It was Angel’s.”  Buffy shrugs, grinning.  “I forgot I had it, but I figured you wouldn’t mind sleeping in it.  I don’t think it smells like him anymore and honestly it ain’t that much of a big deal.  Over and done with years ago.” 

Tara looks at Buffy for a few minutes in consideration before nodding her head in acceptance.

“Do you want to take a shower or were you able to get the majority of the blood off?”  Buffy questions as she looks over Tara, frowning at the bloody shirt the Wiccan’s wearing. 

Tara looks down at what Buffy’s staring at and sighs heavily.  “Gweesss this is twash.”  Tara waves her hand at the shirt before reaching down to pull it up and over her head without thinking about the possibility of it bothering Buffy. 

Buffy inhales quickly at the sight of the Wiccan’s body coming into view.  Wondering at the muscle tone of the woman’s abs, before her eyes unconsciously trail up to the full breasts clothed in lace that are playing a serious game of peek-a-boo with the nipples straining against the lace.  Sliding her gaze away quickly, before Tara finishes pulling her shirt over her head.  Buffy walks to the bathtub and turns the water on.  “Do you want to take a shower, or just wash up?”  Buffy questions softly.

Tara glances down at her chest, and the faint blood smears on it, before turning to look in the mirror, inspecting her hair a little closer, not seeing any blood in it.  “I’ll wasth up in the think.”  Tara mumbles as she unhooks her bra, setting it aside before grasping the washcloth and soap, washing her chest quickly.

Buffy unconsciously turns her gaze towards Tara, and bites her lip to keep from moaning out loud at the sight of the Wiccan’s full breasts topped with rosy nipples.  Turning back to the shower, Buffy quickly turns the water to cold and yanks off her robe, jumping into the shower.  “I’m going to take a quick shower.  Go ahead and lay down in my bed, I’ll be in there to check up on you and give you a couple pain pills when I finish.”  Buffy grits her teeth to keep from whining as the cold water hits her overly warm body.

Tara turns surprised eyes to the shower stall.  Shrugging as she finishes drying her upper body before pulling off her jeans and socks.  Folding them up, and placing her bra on top of the small pile of clothes, she slides on the long-sleeved silk shirt, moaning softly at the sensuous feel of the silk gliding across her skin.  Quickly buttoning the shirt, Tara grabs her clothes and eases out of the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. 

Buffy whimpers quietly as she hears the door shut and tilts her head against the shower wall.  “What the hell is wrong with me?  First of all, I get extremely turned on at Tara’s offer.  So much so, that Spike smells it at a far enough distance away that my spidey senses didn’t feel him.  Now, she’s bruised, bloody and stitched and I’m practically ready to pounce on the poor woman!”  Buffy stops bitching as she silently considers Tara.  Yes, she had realized not long after Willow and Tara became an item, that she noticed women more often than was strictly normal for a supposedly heterosexual woman.  And after Willow and Tara had broken up, and she’d broken down in Tara’s lap, telling the Wiccan everything, she’d noticed how her heart sped up at the woman’s caring touch. 

Sighing heavily, Buffy frowns as she continues to stand under the cold water streaming over her body.  Even after promising herself, she had actually sought out Spike’s brutal sex time after time, more often than not trying to get the thoughts she was thinking about Tara out of her mind.  Believing it was seriously wrong to be thinking those things about her best friend’s ex-girlfriend.  “I even tried flirting with a couple other pretty women I met, but I always came back to the thought of Tara and her damn eyes and lips.”  Buffy growls quietly as she yanks the washcloth up, squeezing the shower gel on it.  “Hell, they seemed more than willing, but I always backed off.  Not because I was afraid, but because they weren’t Tara.” 

Buffy scrubs her face roughly letting the water rinse away the soapsuds as she quickly washes the rest of her body.  Realizing that her body was turning into goose bumps, and the desire was pretty much non-existent, Buffy adds some hot water and washes her hair.  Allowing the water to warm her cold body back up for a few minutes, Buffy sighs quietly at the thought of the woman’s lips, and the fact that her bottom lip now had three stitches in it, because of her.  Turning the water off, Buffy squeezes the excess water from her hair before grabbing the towel and running it roughly over her body, drying it quickly.  Grabbing a dry towel, she rubs it over her hair until it’s relatively dry, tossing it in the hamper after her other towel.  Running a brush quickly through her hair, Buffy brushes her teeth and gargles before pulling her robe on, tying it loosely before striding to the bedroom.

Seeing Tara sitting on the edge of the bed, makes Buffy grumble quietly under her breath.  Grabbing up the pain pills, Buffy pops off the lid and drops a couple in her hand before grabbing a bottle of water and walking to Tara, sitting beside her.  “Take these, then lie down and sleep.”

Tara accepts the pills and watches as Buffy quickly unscrews the lid to the water and hands it to her.  “PITA.”  Tara growls, before slowly smiling at Buffy.  “You’re going to make me stay here, aren’t you?”

“Hmmm.  Sounds like the shot finally wore off.”  Buffy looks more closely at Tara, noticing that the Wiccan had also taken the gauze out of her nose.  Looking at the swollen nose and lip, with the bruising obvious around the Wiccan’s face, Buffy unconsciously reaches up and brushes a thumb softly over Tara’s cheek.  “I need to get some ice in one of the reusable packs for the swelling.  I’ll be back in a couple minutes.  Is there anything else you need or want?”  Buffy questions quietly as she searches Tara’s blue eyes.

Tara considers telling Buffy what she wants, but figures that telling the slayer she wants her might be a bit much.  Sighing quietly, Tara barely shakes her head.  “I’m okay.” 

Buffy eases her hand away before standing and quickly striding out of the room.  Running down the stairs quickly and quietly, Buffy pulls some ice out of the freezer, wrapping it up in a towel before pounding it quickly with her fist.  Getting the refillable rubber ice pack, she dumps the ice in it with a little bit of water.  Making sure the top is closed tightly, Buffy quickly heads back upstairs.  Smiling softly at the sight of Tara stretched out on her bed, a hand on her stomach with her long silky legs stretched out and her other arm placed over her eyes, Buffy takes a few minutes to actually take in the sight before her.  The black silk of the shirt contrasting quite nicely with the Wiccan’s dark blonde hair and pale skin.  Finally shaking her head, Buffy eases the rest of the way into her room and gently shuts the door behind her.  “Here, your nose and lip would probably appreciate this.”  Buffy whispers softly as she walks to the edge of the bed and hands the item to Tara, smiling at the Wiccan.

“Thanks, Buffy.”  Tara’s lips quirk up briefly as she gently sets the ice pack on her face, watching Buffy curiously as she walks over to the closet.  Frowning as she watches her pull out additional blankets and a pillow, Tara realizes that she’s planning on making a bed on the floor.  “Buffy, you don’t have to do that.”  Tara shifts up in the bed, frowning as she pulls the ice away from her face.  “I’m not going to stay here, if it means kicking you out of your bed.”

“You’re staying here.”  Buffy looks up at Tara seriously.  “No questions or arguments on that.”

“Fine.  Your bed is plenty big enough for both of us, so plan on sleeping here.”  Tara waves to the empty half of the bed.

Buffy unconsciously licks her lips as her heart starts to pound in her chest at the thought of sleeping with Tara.  Not knowing how to tell the woman that it really isn’t a good idea for her to be that close to the scantily clad Wiccan, Buffy slowly nods her head.  Turning back to the closet, Buffy replaces the items she’d just pulled out.  Shutting the door, she steps to the dresser and digs around for a pair of pajamas that she knows is hiding in there somewhere, having gotten out of the habit of wearing the items, Buffy finally finds a pair and heads towards the door.  “I’ll be back in a minute.”  Buffy whispers before walking out. 

Tara’s eyes unconsciously follow the slayer.  “That was stupid, Tara.”  Tara whispers to herself as she shifts further to the side of the bed and lies back down, placing the ice on her face and closing her eyes.  Hearing the door open a few seconds later, Tara doesn’t bother looking towards Buffy.  As she hears the light switch click and the soft dip of the bed as Buffy climbs in, Tara takes a couple deep breaths.  “Thanks for watching out for me, Buffy.”

“It’s my fault you were hurt to begin with, Tara.”  Buffy whispers softly as she stares up at the ceiling. 

“No, it wasn’t, Buffy.  Spike was the one that hit me, not you.”  Tara opens her eyes and shifts her head to look at Buffy in the darkened room, her eyes barely able to make out the slayer’s features.

“He wouldn’t have hit you, if it wasn’t for me, Tara.”  Buffy raises her arm and tosses it over her eyes as the anger works its way through her body. 

“How are you at fault, Buffy?  You didn’t do anything but protect me.”  Tara strains to see if she can make out Buffy’s facial features.

“And a damn fine job I did of that didn’t I?”  Buffy states derisively.  “He could have killed you, if he’d wanted to before I lifted a hand against him.”

Tara pulls the ice off her face and drops it beside her on the bed before turning on her side to stare down at the slayer she can barely see.  “Did he or did he not have a chip in his head that helped to prevent him from hurting humans?”

“He did.”  Buffy whispers as she pulls her arm off her eyes and looks at Tara, searching the Wiccan’s face, being able to make out her features easily. 

“Now, taking that into consideration, none of us would have thought that he’d go after a human.  So, why the hell would you have ever expected him to attack me?”  Tara frowns heavily looking down at the shine of Buffy’s eyes in the dark. 

“I should have known.”  Buffy argues softly while shaking her head. 

“Fuck, Buffy!”  Tara growls angrily and reaches up to run a hand roughly through her hair.  “You are about the stubbornest person I know.  When did you become Psychic?”

“I’m not.”  Buffy shakes her head at Tara watching the agitated movements.

“Then how would you have known?”  Tara questions roughly.  When Buffy doesn’t answer but stays quiet, Tara nods her head knowingly.  “Exactly.  You couldn’t have known, Buffy.  So get off your goddamned soap box and realize that you’re not everyone’s keeper and that you aren’t to blame for everyone that gets hurt.”  Tara plops back down grabbing the ice and easing it back onto her face as she feels Buffy shift in the bed beside her. 

Buffy props her head up on her hand as she looks at Tara.  “You want to know why it was my fault that he attacked you?”  Buffy finally questions after a few minutes of debate with herself while she looked at Tara. 

“It wasn’t your fault, Buffy.”  Tara exasperatedly states, her eyes on Buffy’s indistinct features. 

“Yeah, it was.  He went crazy when he smelled me, Tara.”  Buffy whispers softly as she continues to watch Tara’s face, trying to see her expression over what’s visible to her eyes around the ice pack. 

“Smelled you?”  Tara frowns and pulls the ice off her face trying to understand what the slayer is saying.

Buffy sighs quietly as she looks over Tara’s face.  Reaching up with her other hand, she brushes the back of her fingers softly over Tara’s cheek.  “When you made your offer, you may not know it, but it sent a serious wave of desire through me.  Spike smelled it.”  Buffy finally admits watching as the dawning realization comes across Tara’s face.  “That’s why he attacked, because with one simple little question, you aroused more interest in me than all the times I’d been with him.” 

Tara’s mouth works silently as the slayer’s words work through her brain.  “He smelled your arousal?”  Tara finally questions hoarsely.  Growling at the fact that she can’t see Buffy’s face clearly, Tara shifts her body and whispers the word ‘light‘, waving her hand towards the nightstand lamp.  Blinking at the light almost blinding her, she finally focuses her gaze in on a very worried and slightly scared, slayer’s face. 

“Yes.”  Buffy finally answers as she stares into Tara’s eyes and the comprehension in them. 

Tara blinks a couple times as she assimilates this new, and surprising, information.  “You…”  Shaking her head, she focuses back in on Buffy.  “You’re interested in me?”  Tara finally questions seriously, searching the hazel eyes of the slayer.

Buffy rolls her eyes and states sarcastically.  “No, I get turned on by anyone who offers to show me how good they are in bed.” 

Tara’s lips quirk up, and her eyes twinkle merrily at the slayer.  Sliding her tongue out to lick across her lips, Tara winces slightly as she runs over the stitches.  “Hell of a time to learn this, Buffy.”  Tara bitches quietly. “I look like something the cat dragged in.  My lips are pretty much out of commission for the next week, and Goddess only knows how long it’ll take for me to get rid of the raccoon eyes.” 

Buffy blinks in surprise at Tara as she looks into Tara’s eyes.  “You’re beautiful, Tara.  And honestly, I don’t really even notice the bruises and swelling.”  Buffy states seriously as she looks over Tara’s face, before her eyes land on Tara’s lips, there she hesitates, frowning at the swollen lips and the one stitch she can see on Tara’s lip.  Reaching up to brush her thumb across Tara’s chin, Buffy sighs softly.  “Your lips, however, I do notice.  They’ve been driving me crazy forever, and finding out what they taste like, is very high on my list of things I want to do.  So that… that bothers me.” 

Tara’s eyes watch Buffy intently, seeing the desire flare in the hazel eyes of the slayer, burning brightly, not locked away and hidden like before.  Being this close to the slayer, Tara can feel the body heat that seems to kick up to a higher degree coming from Buffy.  Reaching up with her hand, Tara gently runs her fingers over Buffy’s face before cupping the slayer’s cheek in her palm, smiling softly as Buffy closes her eyes and presses into the gentle caress.  “But there’s nothing wrong with the rest of me.”  Tara whispers softly watching as Buffy’s eyes pop open and the desire burn brightly in the hazel depths, almost as if the slayer was burning up from the inside out. 

“Be careful what you say to me, Tara.”  Buffy whispers as she shifts her face to place a hot kiss on Tara’s palm, before nipping at the fleshy part gently.  As the nurse’s words suddenly pop into her head that Tara needed her rest, Buffy moans and closes her eyes.  Reaching up and threading her fingers through Tara’s, Buffy presses her lips to the middle of Tara’s palm, leaving them there for a few moments before pulling Tara’s hand down between their bodies.  “You need your rest, no matter how much I would love for you to show me what you could do.  And those pain pills will probably be kicking in, in the next ten or fifteen minutes, so you’ll be fighting them also.”

Tara growls quietly in her throat at the slayer’s words.  Unable to resist, Tara leans up and gently presses her lips to Buffy’s, before shifting back.  “If you’re serious about this, we’re going to need to talk.”

“I know.”  Buffy grins goofily after Tara kisses her, her eyes hazy with the desire coursing through her from the simple caress. 

Tara chuckles at the look on Buffy’s face.  “Goddess, you’re beautiful.”  Tara whispers, easing her fingers out of Buffy’s clasp and running her hand softly over Buffy’s face.  “Turn the light off, sweetie.  Tomorrow’s a new day.  I’ll probably be all kinds of pretty shades of colors come then.” 

Buffy shakes her head and leans in to brush her lips softly over Tara’s cheek, then her chin, being careful not to come into contact with the tender lips.  “Would you consider going out on a date with me?”  Buffy questions softly as she pulls away, looking into Tara’s eyes.  “Out to eat, a movie, coffee, anything?”

“Yes.”  Tara answers simply, smiling at the slayer, before wincing at the pulling on her lip.

“Don’t do that.”  Buffy whispers softly, frowning slightly before reaching up to cup Tara’s face in her hand.  “No smiling for you, understand?  Now lie back down, place what’s left of the ice on your face and go to sleep.”  Buffy orders softly, before shifting and turning out the light. 

“Only if you’ll come here.”  Tara lies down and feels around for the ice, placing it back on her face, while grasping Buffy’s hand, tugging her gently closer to her.  Shifting her arm around the slayer as she lies down beside her and urging her to curl up against her.  “Come here, sweetie.  Get comfortable and sleep.”

Buffy smiles quickly as she eases closer to Tara, sneaking one arm across the Wiccan’s waist and throwing a leg over the Wiccan’s thighs.  “This okay?”  Buffy questions as she rubs her face against Tara’s shoulder. 

“Perfect.”  Tara murmurs, hugging Buffy tightly with her one arm, while bringing her other hand up to caress over the slayer’s arm.  “Absolutely perfect.”  Tara murmurs softly again against the mostly melted ice pack.

“I think I could get used to lying here.”  Buffy admits quietly, wiggling in a little more firmly as she feels her eyes getting heavy.

“Me, too.”  Tara admits, smiling.  Reaching up and pulling the ice pack off, Tara lets it drop over the edge of the bed, as she feels the pills slowly dragging her towards sleep.  “Me, too.”  Tara mumbles as she slowly slides over the edge into slumber land.

Buffy smiles as she hears the Wiccan’s heavier breathing, indicating she’s fallen asleep.  “Can I keep you?”  Buffy questions the sleeping Wiccan, smiling before turning her head slightly and placing a kiss on Tara’s shoulder before closing her own eyes, quickly following Tara into the land of slumber.

***

Chapter 3

Buffy smiles in her sleep as she burrows her face more firmly in her pillow.  Feeling warm, loved and protected, she sighs as she shifts even deeper into sleep.

Tara smiles softly and strokes her fingers gently through Buffy’s hair, as the slayer tries to do her best to flatten her breast.  Stroking her other hand over the slayer’s arm, that’s holding her waist captive, Tara allows her eyes to slowly close as she drifts back to sleep.

***

Willow looks at Dawn and glances around the kitchen.  “Buffy isn’t up yet?”  Willow questions, surprised as the slayer is usually already up and drinking coffee by this time.

“Nope.”  Dawn looks up from where she’s eating her cereal and reading the Saturday comics.  “Maybe she got in late.”

“She’s almost always up by this time.”  Willow frowns as she thinks about it.  “Pretty much whatever time she gets in, she’s up by 8:00.”  Willow glances at the clock that shows its 9:30.  Deciding it might be best to check on the slayer, make sure she got in okay Willow quickly walks up the stairs.

Gently opening the door, Willow walks in, before stopping and staring in stunned surprise at the bed.  It takes a few minutes for her brain to assimilate the fact that one, Buffy had company in her bed.  Second that company happened to be another woman.  Third the woman was her ex-lover, Tara.  Fourth Tara had her arms wrapped protectively around the woman as they slept.  Fifth Buffy’s face was buried in Tara’s chest.  Sixth Buffy’s face was buried in Tara’s chest.  As Willow realizes that she’s staring at the sight of Buffy, obviously completely at ease with her face in her ex-girlfriend’s breast, Willow hisses out loudly.  “What the HELL is going on?”  Her voice becoming a high-pitched scream on the word ‘hell’. 

Buffy jumps out of Tara’s arms, rolling off the bed and grabs a knife from under her bed as she looked around for the demon that was obviously trying to attack them.  As she slowly comes to the realization that there’s no demon, she stands from her crouched position by the bed, ignoring Willow and looking into a pair of startled and extremely worried blue eyes. “I didn’t hurt you when I jumped out of bed, did I?”  Buffy questions, easing her hip onto the bed to clasp Tara’s arm with her hand as the Wiccan shifts her body to lean against the headboard. 

Tara shakes her head, before wincing in pain and raising her free hand to her nose.  “I’m okay.”  Tara whispers.

“Except for the fact that some people can’t knock on a damn door before barging their way into someone’s bedroom.”  Buffy growls quietly under her breath, as she reaches for the water and pain pills.  “Time for some more pills, anyway.”  Buffy drops a couple in Tara’s outstretched hand before handing her the water.  “I’ll be back in a few minutes, rest.”  Buffy orders softly, staring at the Wiccan with her slayer gaze.

“Yes, ma’am.”  Tara quirks her lip up at the slayer, chuckling softly as Buffy winks at her.  Sliding back down in the bed, Tara pulls the sheet up over her head and buries her face in the pillow, doing her best to ignore Willow.

Willow stares angrily at the two women, her hands on her hips as she unconsciously rocks back and forth.  When Buffy made her comment about knocking on doors, Willow doesn’t know whether to be embarrassed, or pissed that there was a reason, her ex-lover being the reason, that she needed to knock.

“Out, now.”  Buffy orders as she stands pointing to the door.  Staring at Willow with an uncompromising look in her eyes until Willow finally caved and walked out of the room.  Shutting the door behind Willow, Buffy walks back to the bed and pulls the sheet down from Tara’s face.  “I’m going to have a little discussion with Willow then I’ll be back.  Would you like something to eat?”  Buffy questions quietly as she brushes her fingertips over Tara’s cheek, smiling gently at the Wiccan.  Her breath catches in her throat as she notices the love gazing at her from the blue depths.

“I should probably get dressed and head home.”  Tara murmurs quietly as she looks into Buffy’s loving hazel eyes, allowing a small smile to cross her lips at the look. 

“No.  You’re staying here today and tonight.  Then we’ll see how you’re doing tomorrow, for you to go back to the dorm.”  Buffy raises an eyebrow at Tara before leaning down and pressing her lips softly against her forehead. 

“How about I come downstairs and fix pancakes after you give me the all clear?”  Tara offers softly, not wanting to argue with Buffy.

“That, we can do.”  Buffy grins at Tara.  “I think we may even have all the ingredients for pancakes.  Maybe not much of anything else, but we should have them for that!” 

Tara laughs at the slayer, shaking her head.  “No food in the house, right?’

Buffy looks down guiltily.  “Pretty much.”

“If I’m allowed, maybe we can run to the store and pick up a few things.”  Tara makes the suggestion quietly, catching hopeful hazel eyes with hers.

“You won’t have to twist my arm.  Thank you.”  Buffy murmurs as she leans back down again, placing a lingering kiss on Tara’s cheek.  As she pulls away, Buffy softly whispers.  “Can’t wait ‘til your lips are healed.”

Tara laughs and winks at the slayer.  “Neither can I, to tell you the truth.” 

Buffy groans quietly as she eases off the bed, shaking her finger at Tara.  “Be careful around the slayer, remember?”

“Uh, huh.”  Tara allows a small smirk to cross her face as she watches Buffy blush before she quickly leaves the bedroom.  “Careful, my ass.  I plan on devouring every last bit of you, when my lip is healed!”  Tara growls quietly to the empty room. 

Buffy whimpers quietly as she hears Tara’s comment through the door as she heads towards the bathroom, not seeing Willow in the hallway.  Quickly washing her face and brushing her teeth, Buffy looks down at her pajamas and shrugs her shoulders before she pokes her head into Willow’s room.  Not seeing the redhead she quickly trots down the stairs, raising an eyebrow at Willow who’s pacing back and forth in the living room.  “Where’s Dawn?”

“I’m in the kitchen.”  Dawn calls out as she finishes the comics and folds the paper, heading into the living room.  “Why?  What’s up?”

“Well, it seems your sister is fucking my ex-girlfriend.”  Willow snarls angrily as she shoots daggers with her eyes at the slayer.

“Shut the fuck up about something you have no clue about!”  Buffy snarls right back striding towards Willow.  “Did you even notice her bruised and swollen face?  Her split lip that has three stitches in it?  Or did you just notice that she was in my bed?”

Willow backpedals quickly at seeing Buffy’s eyes narrowed angrily on her and her words practically hurling barbs into her chest.  “I… I…”  Willow shakes her head as she thinks over what Buffy just said, it dawning on her that she did see the bruised face, but it didn’t really sink in. 

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”  Buffy growls angrily, shaking her head at Willow.  “And we are not FUCKING, as you so quaintly put it.  I honestly don’t think Tara would know what that is.  Because I can guarantee you, that when we go to bed together to actually BE together, it’ll be about making love, not fucking.” 

Dawn stands there frozen, in stunned silence as her eyes track back and forth from her sister to Willow and back again, her mind not quite keeping up with what’s being said. 

“Last night, after Spike came by here and you so nicely let me know what he said, I went out looking for him.  I found him at the Bronze, and cornered him about it.  Tara was there with some friends, and happened to overhear what was going on.  When he yanked me to him, she intervened on my behalf.  Needless to say, I was walking Tara home, when Spike came out of nowhere and tackled her to the ground, backhanding her.”  Buffy holds her hand up as she looks from Willow to Dawn as she sees the question about to be asked.  “Yes, his chip was working, he thought it was worth the pain to hit her, I guess.  Needless to say, Spike is no more.  Tara’s face is pretty bruised, thank God her nose isn’t broken, but her split lip needed three stitches.  I insisted she come home, so I could make sure she took her pills and rested for at least a day or two.”  Buffy crosses her arms as she turns her body to fully face Willow’s after her comments.  “Now, as for you.  Tara and I are at the talking stage, right now.  But I asked her out on a date last night, and she has agreed to go with me.  If you have a problem with me and her, I suggest you get the hell out of here, because, as far as I’m concerned I can date whomever I want.  And honestly, I want to date Tara.  And for some unexplainable reason, she wants to date me.  God only knows why, but she does.”  Buffy shakes her head before taking a deep breath and looking intently in the green eyes of her best friend.  “So.  Are you going to be civil towards Tara, or are you going to move out?  Because I’m not going to have her feel like she can’t be here, or stop by to see me, if you’re going to be a bitch.”

Dawn finally understands what’s being said, before her eyes open wide and she stares at her sister in stunned surprise.  As the thought of Buffy and Tara circles around in her head, Dawn starts grinning hugely.  Tara had already explained to her a while ago, that she and Willow were definitely not getting back together.  It had broken Dawn’s heart at the thought of Tara not being around all the time.  But she had tried to be understanding and supportive to the Wiccan, especially after the discussions the two of them had had about her own problems, and stealing.  Tara having taken her back to the stores and given back the items she’d taken, or helped her make restitution on the stuff that they either couldn’t, or wouldn’t accept back.  It had been a humiliating and humbling experience, but it had made her love the Wiccan all the more for making her take responsibility for her actions.  As Buffy’s last comments sink into her brain, Dawn snorts and bites her lip to keep from laughing as two pairs of eyes turn her way.  “I’m going to the kitchen.”  Dawn raises her hands and practically runs back to the kitchen.

Buffy turns her eyes from her sister back to her best friend, waiting as she watches the varying emotions crossing the hacker’s face.  Not ever really knowing why the two women had broken up, just the fact that Willow had said it was because of the magic.  Buffy has this gut feeling it was more than just the fact that Willow was using too much magic, or Tara would have been willing to come back to the redhead after she got control of it.  But not wanting to cause problems, Buffy had never questioned either woman about what had happened, figuring that if they wanted her to know, they’d tell her. 

Willow opens and closes her mouth as she continues to stare at Buffy, her mind having a hard time coming to terms with what the slayer had just told her.  “So, you’re telling me, either I need to be okay with this, or to move the hell out of my home?”  Willow finally snaps at the slayer.

“No, what I’m telling you is that you will keep a civil tongue in your head around my girlfriend.  Or you can move out of MY house.”  Buffy stares ungivingly at the redhead.  “Your decision, Willow.  If you don’t want to decide right now, that’s fine.  Think on it.  But I will NOT have you shooting daggers with your eyes at either me or Tara while you’re here, and I will NOT put up with any snide comments or anything else coming from you.  If you can’t keep from doing that, I suggest you make yourself scarce for the rest of the weekend.”

Willow clenches her jaw and stares hard at the slayer for a few long minutes.  Seeing Buffy isn’t going to change her mind, Willow strides out of the house, slamming the door shut behind her. 

Taking a deep breath as her shoulders slump, Buffy drops her chin onto her chest and sighs heavily.  “Nothing can ever go easy.”  Buffy whispers to herself. 

Dawn stands at the edge of the living room as she’d come running in at the door slamming.  Looking at her dejected sister, Dawn frowns heavily.  Glancing up the stairs as she sees movement, she smiles quickly at Tara.  Waving Tara down the stairs, she points towards Buffy before quickly turning and walking back into the kitchen.

Tara watches in stunned surprise as Dawn leaves the living room.  Tying the belt of Buffy’s too short robe around her waist, Tara quietly walks down the stairs and smiles sadly at the slumped shoulders.  Having heard pretty much the whole argument, and yelling match that had went on, as she’d hovered at the top of the landing, Tara knew Buffy’s heart had to just about be breaking after the way Willow had acted.

Buffy whimpers quietly as a warm body presses against her and arms wrap around to pull her in tightly.  Hooking her own arms around Tara’s waist, Buffy buries her face against the Wiccan’s neck as tears slowly slide down her face.

“Shhh.”  Tara hushes the slayer as she gently rocks her back and forth, tightening her grip even more as she feels the slight shudder as the tears fall faster from Buffy’s eyes, soaking her neck.  “Oh, sweetie.”  Tara feels her own eyes fill with tears as she tilts her head against Buffy’s, starting to stroke her hands up and down the lightly shaking back. 

“You know, for once in my life, I would really, really like for something to go easy.”  Buffy whispers after a few minutes, and she finally gets the tears to stop flowing. 

Tara closes her eyes and hugs Buffy firmly, before easing back, to grin crookedly at the slayer.  “My lip’s not healed, but the rest of me is in working order.  I’m sure I could think of something to go easy for you.”  Tara wiggles her eyebrows at the slayer.  Releasing the breath she’d unconsciously been holding as Buffy laughs.

“God, Tara!”  Buffy laughs at Tara’s twinkling eyes.  “I don’t know about that.”  Buffy starts to joke back, a grin crossing her face as Tara’s eyes look questioningly at her.  “I slept with you and didn’t leave the bed satisfied.”  Buffy smirks at Tara.

Tara raises an eyebrow at the slayer before leaning in to whisper softly.  “I believe I said that they wouldn’t leave MY BED, unsatisfied.”  Brushing her lips softly over the slayer’s ear, Tara continues in a husky voice.  “But I would be more than willing to consider the bed upstairs my bed right now, if you want.”

Buffy whimpers loudly as the Wiccan’s words seem to settle deep in the pit of her stomach, even as a heavy throbbing starts a few inches lower. 

Tara chuckles softly after Buffy whimpers and the slayer’s body unconsciously pushes in even harder against hers.  Running her hands down the slayer’s back, Tara allows her fingers to caress teasingly over the starting swells of the slayer’s butt cheeks. 

Buffy groans and nips strongly at Tara’s neck.  “Don’t, Tara.  You’re starting a very hot fire, and if you flame it, it just might burn out of control.  Honestly, I would prefer you to be a hundred percent before we do this, because I don’t think I could keep from kissing you, and I don’t want to cause you any additional pain.”  Buffy softly admits as she gently disengages herself from the Wiccan’s arms, looking into the understanding blue eyes.  “But I will definitely take a rain check.”

“What quantity?”  Tara questions softly, tilting her head and chuckling at the confused look in the slayer’s eyes.  “Figure it out, sweetie.”  Tara smirks as she winks.  “Should I get ready to go to the store, or should I check out the grocery situation first?”

Buffy blinks at Tara, trying to figure out Tara’s code as she plays over in her mind what she’d said.  Something about a rain check…  Eyes opening wide and a blush coming across her face, Buffy whimpers quietly.

“Hmm.  Light bulb.  Should I just put in unlimited?”  Tara chuckles wickedly as Buffy blushes even darker, deciding to give the slayer a break, Tara works her way to the kitchen. 

“Sweet God!”  Buffy whimpers loudly as she works her way to the chair, plopping down heavily as she closes her eyes.  “She’s going to tease me until I’m a damn walking hard-on!”  Buffy growls and throws her arm over her eyes.

***

“Hey, Dawnie.”  Tara murmurs softly to the teenager who’s standing outside the back door.

“Hey, Tara.”  Dawn smiles, before frowning as she looks at Tara’s bruised and swollen face.  “Damn, he did a number on you, didn’t he?”  Dawn winces in commiseration. 

“I’ll be okay in week or so.”  Tara smiles softly.  “How are things?”  Tara questions, subtly hinting to find out what Dawn might think about what happened earlier, in particular what she thinks about her and her sister becoming an item.

Dawn looks into Tara’s blue eyes, noticing the silent question.  “You and Buffy?”  Dawn questions unnecessarily.  Seeing Tara’s slight nod, Dawn grins.  “Personally, I don’t know what you see in her, but I will NOT argue.  You obviously have tapped back into Buffy’s protectiveness.”  Dawn continues seriously.  “I was starting to wonder if she would ever feel anything besides anger and sadness.  I think she was more willing to run away from a confrontation before, than stay and fight, Tara.”  Dawn admits, sighing heavily.

“It’s going to take a while, Dawnie.”  Tara wraps the teenager up in a gentle hug.  “She’s getting there.  You have to remember, what she went through was a major shock to her system.  It’s just going to take some time for all of her emotions to re-appear, and come back to an even keel, instead of switching from one extreme to another.”

“Not so much the extremes, it’s going from being angry to not caring is pretty much it.  I think that was the extreme.  A switch on and a switch off.”  Dawn whispers sadly as she hugs Tara and rests her head against the Wiccan’s shoulder.  “I just hope Willow doesn’t decide to cause problems.”

“You and me both.”  Tara agrees softly, as she sighs, closing her eyes.  “It’ll tear Buffy up inside, if Willow doesn’t come to terms with this.  They’ve been friends for so long…”  Tara unconsciously trails off, as she silently starts to question the advisability of her and Buffy together, if it means the slayer losing one, if not two, of her best friends in the process.  Knowing that if Willow decided to break her friendship with Buffy off, that there would be a good possibility that Xander would stick with the redhead. 

“Don’t.”  Buffy whispers quietly as she watches the obvious emotions crossing Tara’s face, innately knowing what was going through the woman’s head.  As Tara’s eyes snap open to make contact with hers, Buffy shakes her head, her eyes silently pleading with Tara not to leave her, as her eyes start to fill with tears again. 

“Oh, sweetie.”  Tara whispers, realizing that Buffy knew exactly what she’d been thinking.  Unwrapping one arm from around Dawn, she pulls Buffy into her side, squeezing her tightly.  “I’m sorry.  It won’t happen again, I promise.”  Tara sighs in relief as Buffy wraps one arm around her back, while her other arm wiggles between her and Dawn’s bodies to hold her, as if she was afraid she’d let her go. 

Dawn looks up into Tara’s eyes, seeing the pain before glancing back down at her sister trying to burrow herself into Tara.  Realizing that Buffy needed something that only Tara could give her, Dawn raises her eyes back up to Tara’s, silently mouthing the words ‘going to Janice’s until tomorrow’.  Seeing Tara nod in understanding Dawn smiles briefly, she places a soft kiss against Tara’s cheek before wrapping an arm around Buffy’s waist and placing a kiss on the back of her sister’s head.  Quickly heading into the house to gather her stuff together and head over to Janice’s.

Tara shifts and wraps both arms around Buffy as the slayer presses against her.  Running her hands soothingly over Buffy’s back, Tara presses her lips against the slayer’s head, uncaring of hurting her lip.  “It’s just…”

Buffy eases back and shakes her head, making Tara stop in the middle of her explanation.  “I know what you were thinking and why you were thinking it.  But, honestly, the only thing I want right now is you.  You… this… us… feels right.”  Buffy finally whispers. 

“Yes, it does.  More than right.”  Tara agrees quietly, reaching up and softly running a hand through the slayer’s hair.  “Fuck my lip.”  Tara whispers as she leans in, caressing Buffy’s lips softly with hers, pressing gently back and forth, before easing her tongue out to caress teasingly over Buffy’s lips.

Buffy groans deeply as Tara’s tongue starts to caress against her lips.  Not able to resist, Buffy eagerly opens her mouth, darting her tongue out to flick against Tara’s, moaning as they battle gently against each other.  Getting a tantalizing taste of the Wiccan, Buffy forces herself not to press in to deepen the kiss.  Slowly, the two women end the kiss.  “God, that was a fucking tease.”  Buffy groans loudly and drops her forehead against Tara’s shoulder. 

Tara nods her head in silent agreement, as she breathes deeply, trying to control the desire racing through her.  Her mind going in twenty different directions at once, Tara growls quietly before dropping her lips to Buffy’s ear and nibbling hungrily.  “Do you have the slightest idea what I want to do right now?”

Buffy’s body uncontrollably jerks into Tara’s as with her words, Tara reached down, grasping one ass cheek in her hand, digging firmly into the muscle.  While Tara’s sweet, honeyed tones put decadent pictures in her brain of the Wiccan nibbling every part of her body for hours on end.  “What’s going through my mind isn’t going to happen with your mouth out of commission.”  Buffy pants heavily.

Tara moans incoherently, as she clenches Buffy’s waist with one hand, while her other hand continues to dig into the slayer’s muscular ass.  “Maybe you do know what I want to do.”  Tara admits as she shifts her body slightly, sliding a thigh firmly between the slayer’s legs, forcing them further apart from the brief opening that was there.  Reaching down with her other hand, Tara pulls the slayer’s lower body against her thigh, so she’s straddling it.

Buffy moans incoherently as her mind slowly realizes what her body had already come to realize.  The only thing separating her from the Wiccan’s warm flesh is a very thin layer of pajama bottoms.  Not even aware of the slow rocking motion of her hips, Buffy kisses on the flesh of Tara’s neck.  As her lips find the Wiccan’s pulse point, Buffy swipes her tongue firmly over the skin before growling quietly as she feels Tara’s heartbeat pound even quicker.  Latching her lips on the spot, Buffy sucks hungrily as she rocks her body more firmly and faster, at the Wiccan’s urging. 

Tara presses her leg even harder into Buffy before sliding her hands up to the pajama bottom’s waistband, growling as she feels the slayer leaving her mark, Tara slides her hands down the back of Buffy’s pajamas and clasps the slayer’s clenching and unclenching ass cheeks in her hands.  Feeling Buffy buck uncontrollably against her, and her ass starting to clench more frequently, Tara nods her head.  “That’s it, love.  I want you to feel me.  I want to feel you.”  Tara whispers, panting heavily in Buffy’s ear.  “This is about feeling good, enjoying and losing yourself in the feeling and wonderment.  It’s about caring and love, and feeling.”  Tara slides her hands down to the bottom of Buffy’s ass, grabbing each wondrous globe in a hand, pulling gently but firmly, urging the slayer to rock as hard and as quick as she wants, while stroking her fingers over the flesh and between her cheeks.

Buffy groans loudly as she starts to do as Tara’s urging her, unconsciously shifting her body further up and over the Wiccan’s hard thigh pressing her body hard and fast before tilting her head back and moaning loudly as she climaxes.

Tara continues to help the slayer ride out her orgasm, her own body twitching in commiseration with the slayer’s as she feels her own desire escaping her panties to trickle down her thighs.

“Sweet, sweet, Tara.”  Buffy whimpers and moans as she slows her rocking down, unconsciously holding on to Tara for dear life as her body quakes and shivers uncontrollably.

“Oh, my love.”  Tara pants softly, burying her face against the slayer’s sweat dampened neck as she feels the warmth of the slayer’s orgasm damp against her bare thigh.  “So, so lovely.”  Tara gathers the slayer’s body against hers as she shifts back against the house, dragging the slayer partially up her, unaware of the fact that she’s supporting the slayer’s whole weight. 

Buffy whimpers as she feels an aftershock ease through her body.  “Can I stay here?”  Buffy finally questions, her hands stroking over the back of Tara’s neck, from where she’d wrapped them sometime during their lovemaking.

“Always, my love.”  Tara softly rubs her face against the side of Buffy’s face.  “Always.”

Buffy nods and closes her eyes, enjoying the warmth and love emanating from the Wiccan. 

***

Chapter 4

Buffy blushes lightly as she slides down the short distance, easing her aching body from Tara’s thigh.  Having been wrapped up against the woman for a good fifteen minutes after her climax, it had finally occurred to her, that Tara was supporting her body.  “I’m sorry.”  Buffy looks up into Tara’s eyes, moaning quietly at the desire she sees burning in the blue depths. 

“What do you have to be sorry for?”  Tara questions softly as she eases one hand from around Buffy’s back to stroke softly down her cheek. 

“For practically humping your thigh.”  Buffy blushes darkly and looks down, biting her lip as she sees the light shimmering off Tara’s slick thigh. 

“Hmm.”  Tara’s hand drops down to her thigh, her fingertips trailing over the dampness as she watches Buffy’s eyes follow her trailing fingers.  “There was more than just practically humping happening, and I do believe I was the one that more than slightly urged you to that position.”  Tara quietly admits as she tries to gather some of the slickness on her fingers.

Buffy’s eyes widen as she watches Tara trail her fingers over her thigh before she lifts the hand slowly upwards.  Watching in stunned surprise as the Wiccan slowly sucks one fingertip into her mouth, groaning sexily which makes Buffy whimper loudly.  The highly erotic sight of Tara licking and sucking Buffy’s own juices from her fingers makes Buffy ache even more than she did before her climax.

Gently running her tongue over her lips after licking and sucking what she could of the slayer’s essence from them, Tara watches as the obvious arousal flares across the slayer’s face. 

Buffy growls lowly as she watches Tara’s tongue stroke over her lips, feeling a desire coursing through her stronger than ever before to touch, taste, kiss and even nibble and bite every body part on the Wiccan.  Fingers itching to feel flesh Buffy slides her hands from where they’d been clasping Tara’s waist, to slide towards the knot holding the robe closed.  When hands clasp hers gently, keeping her from finishing untying the knot, she looks up into blue eyes.  “Tara.”  Buffy whimpers quietly.

Tara inhales deeply as the fire of Buffy’s desires and wants, so obvious in the hazel eyes, starts to burn her inside.  “For what you’re planning, I think we may want to take this inside.”  Tara explains softly, watching as Buffy unconsciously shifts her head, looking at where they are.

“Damn.”  Buffy shakes her head lightly, coming to the realization that they were on her back porch, and she was about to attack Tara when anyone could walk in the back yard.  “What the hell did you do to me?”  Buffy questions seriously as her eyes land back on Tara’s.  “I have NEVER forgotten where I was.”  Buffy finally admits softly.

“Well, I know that’s not the truth.”  Tara chuckles softly before urging them back into the house.  Seeing Buffy’s frown and questioning look, Tara raises an eyebrow before whispering softly.  “Lowell House.”

Buffy groans and blushes darkly.  “Okay, okay.  But that shouldn’t count, there was wicked, evil things going on.  That was NOT me, normally.”

Tara raises both eyebrows as she blinks at Buffy.  “So, you and Riley going at it every chance you got, wasn’t you, huh?  You’re trying to tell me every time you two disappeared you went on patrol?”  Tara crosses her arms, a smirk crossing her face.

“Tara!”  Buffy whimpers, and looks down at the ground shaking her head.  “One thing I can definitely state, quantity did not make up for quality.”  Buffy whispers softly, her eyes tracking up Tara’s body, as she considers the feelings that Tara had pulled out of her so easily on the porch.  As her eyes finally make contact with Tara’s blue eyes, Buffy shakes her head vehemently.  “NO!  His quantity, Tara.  It would literally take him hours to bring me to the point that you did in a few minutes.”  Buffy explains quickly, trying to set Tara’s mind at ease after seeing the insecurity and worry in Tara’s blue depths. Reaching up to cup Tara’s face in her hands, Buffy ever so softly brushes her lips across Tara’s. 

Tara sighs softly as Buffy explains her comment.  “I’m sorry.”

“Shh.”  Buffy shakes her head and wraps her arms around Tara to hug her tightly.  “I didn’t say it right, Tara.  I could have explained that a little better to begin with, so it wouldn’t have caused you the worry.” 

“It’s okay my love.”  Tara whispers as she relaxes even further into the slayer’s arms.  “He must have been doing something wrong, to take hours to bring you to release.  The only time it takes that long when I’m in control, is if I want it to.”

Buffy whimpers and presses into Tara’s body at the Wiccan’s words.  “I don’t know whether I like the sounds of it taking that long with you in charge, or the fact that you can bring me to completion quickly.” 

“They both have their pluses and minuses.”  Tara smirks as she gently scrapes her short nails down Buffy’s back, chuckling as Buffy groans and presses her body in harder. 

“Tara…”  Buffy whispers softly as she brushes her cheek against Tara’s shoulder as she thinks about last night… well technically early this morning and this morning.  The look in Tara’s eyes and the endearments the Wiccan keeps calling her. 

“What is it, my love?”  Tara questions softly pulling back to look questioningly at the slayer.

“That.”  Buffy nods towards Tara watching her intently.  As Tara frowns at her, not understanding, Buffy lifts her finger to caress softly over Tara’s lips, butterfly touches, so as not to hurt the Wiccan.  “You’ve been calling me ‘my love’.”  Buffy explains, watching as Tara’s eyes soften even more, the love so obvious in their depths, that it humbles Buffy to realize she’d never been looked at that way before. 

Tara gently urges Buffy towards the living room, sitting down on the couch with Buffy pressed up against her side.  Silently considering how to start what she wants to say to the slayer, Tara strokes a hand soothingly through Buffy’s hair as she thinks for a long few minutes.

Buffy tilts her head, so she can see Tara out of the corner of her eye, watching the thoughts crossing Tara’s face as she thinks.  Silently deciding to wait, and let Tara order her thoughts, knowing that the woman has a tendency to only talk after she knows exactly what she’s going to say. 

“I’m going to go back quite a ways here, so bear with me.”  Tara finally states softly as she tilts her head against Buffy’s.  “I don’t know how much of this you may be aware of, but it might be best for me to explain how I’ve come to the realizations that I have.”

“Okay.”  Buffy whispers as she wiggles her body in closer to Tara’s. 

“You see, it started off with a very insecure girl that had gone through some pretty horrible things in her life.  She came to college, trying to get away from her family and the pain of what she’d been through.  Her second year, she met and fell hopelessly head over heels for a powerful redheaded witch.  Unfortunately, the redhead she fell in love with had just broken up with a young man, who had cheated on her and then practically ran away.”  Tara inhales deeply, changing the phrasing of what she’s saying instead of trying to keep it at a distance she allows it to become personal.  “I slowly came to the realization that Willow cared for me, but for some unfathomable reason she wasn’t willing to let me become a part of her life.  She kept me on the outer edges of it, kept me from meeting her friends and family for almost four months.  Then one day Oz came back.  He was in control of his wolf, and he came to apologize and beg Willow’s forgiveness.  I was positive that she would go back to him, leaving me alone once again.  Pretty much the way I’d been off and on throughout my life, except for my mother.” 

Buffy shifts to watch Tara intently, reaching out to stroke her hand softly over Tara’s cheek in silent commiseration. 

Tara smiles sadly at Buffy.  “Well, you know what happened.  Willow surprised me and chose me over Oz.  Oz wolfing out in the middle of the day and chasing me through the college, cornering me with Riley’s group saving me from him. Eventually I met the rest of you, and became part of the group, more or less.  Then later on a secret I had been keeping makes itself known, and I do a stupid, stupid spell that almost got all my new friends and new lover killed.” 

“Tara.”  Buffy whispers, seeing the self recrimination in the blonde’s eyes even after all this time for the spell she’d done.

Tara smiles softly at Buffy.  “I know, love.  But I was stupid, no matter what you say.”  Taking a deep breath, Tara’s eyes become distant.  “My family showed up, trying to force me to go back home with them, where I belonged.  Then you, this woman that I had almost caused to get killed stared at me with an unfathomable look on your face, before you turned to look at my father, brother and cousin.  The first comment out of your mouth broke my heart.  Even after what I’d just done, I couldn’t help the fact that here I was, my birthday was the following day, I’d just done a stupid spell and almost gotten my friends killed, and I was hurt when you said, ‘If you want her, come and get her.’  My heart literally stopped at that moment.  When you shifted and stood in front of my family and continued, you stole a little piece of my heart with your next words.  ‘You’ll just have to go through me.’”  Tara brushes a tear that was slowly working its way down her cheek.  “And when you said that you guys were my family, you got a bigger chunk of my heart at that moment.”  Tara admits quietly.  “I think, though I never really admitted it to myself, I fell a little in love with you that day, Buffy.  But Willow had the biggest portion of my heart, and I let that love be friendship towards you instead.”  Taking in a deep, shaky breath, Tara plucks at the edge of the robe as she considers the next part.  “When Willow did the spell on me, I almost left her then.  She promised me that she wouldn’t do any magic for a week.”  Tara explains quickly before she’s stopped by Buffy raising her hand.

“Tara?”  Buffy questions hoarsely, her eyebrows drawn together in confusion.  “Spell on you?  You’re talking about the spell she did that wiped all our memories, right?” 

Tara looks away, slowly shaking her head.  “No, Buffy.  I found out from a comment Dawnie made that Willow had cast a forget spell on me.  Dawn had obviously overheard an argument between me and Willow, that Willow had cast the spell on me to forget.  And when Dawn told me how happy she was that Willow and I made up from our argument, it made me realize what had happened.”  Tara turns her eyes back towards Buffy.  “I would have probably left then, but that’s when that whole thing with Sweet happened, and we found out what we had done to you.”  Tara admits softly, her eyes searching Buffy’s sadly.  “Goddess, love.  I am so sorry for what we’ve put you through.  You can get mad at me hate me, if you want.  But I am NOT going to apologize for you being here.  I will apologize for the hell you’ve gone through because of us.  And I’ll even apologize for the fact that I tried to keep Willow from doing the spell, because it went against everything I’d ever been taught about being a Wiccan.  But I won’t ever, ever apologize for you being here when I can touch you, kiss you, love you and hug you.”  Tara explains quietly, looking intently into Buffy’s eyes.

“God.”  Buffy whispers, seeing the love shining from Tara’s eyes as her words slowly sink into her brain.  Understanding and believing with her whole heart what Tara’s saying.  “I want to kiss you.”  Buffy admits quietly as she strokes a hand through Tara’s soft hair. 

“Then kiss me.”  Tara murmurs as she closes the distance between their lips, ignoring the pain as she kisses Buffy firmly.

Buffy groans loudly as Tara presses her lips firmly against hers.  Easing her mouth open to stroke softly over Tara’s lips, Buffy quickly dips her tongue inside the Wiccan’s mouth as Tara invites her in.  Swirling her tongue around for a moment, it slides across Tara’s bottom lip, feeling the stitches Buffy whimpers and ends the kiss quickly. 

“Buffy.”  Tara growls, trying to follow the retreating slayer to continue the prematurely ended kiss.

“No.”  Buffy gently presses her hands to Tara’s shoulders, shaking her head lightly at Tara.  “Your lip isn’t up for this, Tara.  I’ll be more than willing to kiss you for hours on end after its better, but I want it to heal.”  Buffy explains quietly.

Tara grumbles under her breath before easing back away from the slayer, from where they were almost lying on the couch from where she’d followed the lips and tongue she wanted more of.  Reaching up with both hands, Tara drags her fingers through her hair as she tries to cycle back around to where she’d left off in the story.  “Let me finish my explanation.”  Tara finally growls out quietly.  “You know about the big forget spell, and my moving out.  I guess it was about a month later when I spoke with Willow.  We talked and discussed things, deciding that it would be best to break things off completely.  It was more of my decision than hers I think, but she didn’t argue with me.  I just couldn’t be with someone that would do that.  How could I trust her not to do it again?”  Tara shakes her head as it cycles through her mind, like it had done many times before, wondering if that was the only times the redhead had done the spell.  “Eventually you came to me, wondering about the spell that brought you back, questioning me.  After explaining to you that you didn’t come back wrong, you broke down, telling me what had happened.”  Tara hesitates for a second, turning her gaze up to look deeply into Buffy’s eyes, seeing the self disgust evident in her gaze.  “Don’t, love.  Don’t blame yourself, it happened.  He took advantage of you, when you were confused and angry.  He’s had over a hundred years to know how to turn a situation to his advantage, and that’s exactly what he did with you.”

“But I let him, Tara.  I didn’t just let him I joined him in the depravity.”  Buffy whispers in admittance.

“What?  What depravity, love?”  Tara whispers softly stroking Buffy’s cheek.  “He took advantage of you when you needed something.  If you had come to me, we would have talked, and I would have held you and tried to bring you back to the land of the living.  He wanted to drag you into the world of the dead.  You were afraid to say anything to any of us, because of what we had done.  Goddess knows I probably wouldn’t have come to any of us, either, if I were you.”  Tara admits quietly.  “But he never should have taken advantage of you, love.  That’s what he did, he pretty much raped you, when you needed someone to hold you and make the world not so cold and hard.”

Buffy slowly shifts and curls up on the couch, her head in Tara’s lap.  “You’re going to keep repeating it, until I believe it, aren’t you?”  Buffy whispers, understanding what Tara is trying to do with telling her that Spike had taken advantage of her. 

“Yes.”  Tara whispers softly, stroking her hand through Buffy’s hair.  “Should I finish what I started or would you rather curl up and go to sleep, love?”

“Finish, please.”  Buffy rubs her cheek against Tara’s thigh before pressing her lips softy against the warm flesh. 

Tara sighs quietly as she thinks about it for a few more moments, trying to get her mind off the now deceased vampire.  “When you broke down in my lap, crying, you can’t know how hard I had to fight not to tell you that I wanted to show you what love is.  That I loved you and wanted to help you in any way that I could.  I would gladly have walked through the fires of hell for you, if you had wanted me to.  But I knew you wouldn’t have accepted my love, and truthfully, I was afraid of possibly alienating you completely when you needed a friend.  I wanted to be there for you in any capacity that you wanted, but it was at that moment when you captured the rest of my heart.  Your heartbroken sobs begging me, pleading with me not to forgive you, when there was nothing to forgive.  I wanted to wrap you up in my arms and protect you from the mean, cold world.”  Tara finishes explaining softly. 

Buffy allows a soft chuckle to escape her lips.  “That was when I realized that I felt something for you, also.  Your soft, comforting caresses made my heart beat faster and a warmth came to life inside me at that moment.”  Buffy shifts her body to sit beside Tara, facing her with her legs drawn up and her arms wrapped around them.  “If I tell you something, will you promise not to blame yourself?”

Tara looks at Buffy with confused eyes.  “What, love?”

Buffy shakes her head, staring intently at the Wiccan.  “You have to promise me, because if you don’t, I know you’ll blame yourself and you shouldn’t.  Maybe if I had done or said something, things could be a lot different right now, but slayer stupidity made me afraid, as usual.”

Tara sighs heavily as she stares at Buffy.  Seeing that the slayer wasn’t going to give an inch, Tara slowly nods her head.  “I promise.” 

Buffy sighs quietly.  “That night, I had promised myself I wouldn’t go back to Spike.  I kept thinking about you, your soft touches, your understanding… you.”  Buffy smiles softly at the Wiccan.  “I honestly thought there was a good chance you and Willow would get back together, so I didn’t do what I should have done.  I probably should have come to you, asking you if you could possibly care for me as more than a friend.  I didn’t realize what she had done.”  Buffy growls angrily at the thought of Willow taking Tara’s memories from her like that.  Shaking off the anger, Buffy leans into the Wiccan’s hand as Tara caresses her face softly.  “I fell back on doing what I had been doing.  I searched out Spike for a round of beat and fuck each other.”  Hearing Tara inhale deeply at the admittance, Buffy raises her eyes and stares at the Wiccan.  “You promised.”  Buffy states firmly, her eyes boring into Tara’s blue eyes. 

Tara swallows at the realization that Buffy had sought out the vampire, instead of coming to her.  Understanding why Buffy had wanted her promise that she wouldn’t blame herself for Buffy going back to Spike.  “I promised.” Tara whispers and nods her head as she shuts down the thought that things could have been so different for the both of them the last couple months, if either one had taken the initiative. 

“You might chuckle at this.”  Buffy allows a small smile to cross her face as she sees Tara frowning and looking at her questioningly.  “I flirted with a couple different women that I think might have taken me up on a little extracurricular activity, if I had been willing to follow through.”  Buffy wiggles her eyebrows at Tara. 

Tara chuckles softly and shakes her head.  “Why weren’t you willing to follow through?”

“Because they weren’t a blue-eyed, blonde-haired Wiccan.”  Buffy admits quietly as she watches the surprise cross Tara’s face.  “I love you, Tara.  I don’t know exactly when or how it happened, but I love you and I know that given half a chance I could fall deeply IN love with you.  Actually, I’m already in love with you.  But I’ve been fighting it tooth and nail.”

“Still fighting it?”  Tara questions softly watching as a beautiful smile crosses Buffy’s face.

“Hell no!”  Buffy shakes her head vehemently.  “I stopped fighting last night when I admitted that you aroused me.  Hell, it might have been before that when I finally stopped fighting.”  Buffy shrugs, smiling at Tara.  “All I know is that I love you.  You love me, and I want to get to know you better and I want to make love to you.”  Buffy adds the last on softly.

“Oh, Goddess!”  Tara whispers, unwrapping the slayer’s arms from around her legs and shifts both their bodies quickly before kissing Buffy hungrily, pressing the slayer back into the couch.

“Tara!”  Buffy mumbles against the lips attacking hers, groaning as the Wiccan’s weight settles over her and lips and tongue attack her mouth.  Pulling away, panting heavily, Buffy shakes her head.  “Your lip, Tara!”

Tara growls as she licks her tongue over Buffy’s bottom lip.  “Don’t worry about my lip.”  Tara flicks her tongue hard over the slayer’s top lip.

“I have to.”  Buffy whispers, reaching up to brush her thumb softly over the drop of blood that was escaping from between the stitches.  Showing Tara the blood, Buffy shakes her head.  “I’ll be more than willing to do anything, and everything else you want, but your mouth needs to behave.”

Tara whimpers, dropping her forehead on Buffy’s shoulder as she shifts down slightly.  “But I want to lick, taste, kiss and nibble.”  Tara groans unhappily. 

“Sorry.”  Buffy unconsciously rocks her hips up slightly at the Wiccan’s words.  “No can do.  But you can touch, pinch, twist and stroke.”

Tara chuckles quietly.  “What about scrape, insert, curl and invade?” 

Buffy blinks a couple times and whimpers softly.  “Scrape, insert and invade, I can figure out.  But curl?”

Tara lifts her head up to look down at Buffy, smirking softly.  Lifting a hand, she curls her index and middle finger slightly and wiggles her eyebrows.  Seeing the uncomprehending look in Buffy’s eyes, Tara raises an eyebrow in consideration.  “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”  Buffy answers immediately, still trying to figure out what Tara means.

“When you’ve made love, had sex, whatever you wish to call it.  Have you ever had anyone hit an extra sensitive spot inside you?”  Tara questions softly, watching Buffy intently. 

Buffy blushes at Tara’s words and slowly shakes her head.  “Inside me, no.  By that question, I’m assuming you aren’t meaning my…”  Buffy trails off, not able to say it.

Tara chuckles softly.  “Your nub, your launch pad, your pleasure button, your probably extremely swollen, rock hard clit?”

“Jesus, Tara!”  Buffy’s eyes widen in shock at Tara.

“Is it?”  Tara questions curiously becoming sidetracked at the thought.  Unconsciously, she licks her lips, frowning momentarily at the taste of blood, before her mind starts thinking about Buffy.  Shifting up one hand, Tara eases her other hand softly down the side of the slayer’s neck, following the opening of the pajama top.  Watching her hand, Tara drags her bottom teeth over her top lip as she slowly unbuttons the slayer’s top.  Allowing her fingers to play over the newly exposed skin, that was just starting to become a little fleshier, she glances up at Buffy as a deep moan emerges from her lips. 

“I just realized something.”  Buffy whispers softly as Tara’s fingers dip a little further in her shirt, starting to stroke over the swell of her breast.

“What did you realize, sweet one?”  Tara questions softly as Buffy whimpers and closes her eyes as her fingers stroke closer to the slayer’s nipple. 

“God!”  Buffy growls hoarsely, before opening her eyes to look into dark blue eyes.  “This is the first time you’ve touched me intimately.”

Tara shakes her head softly.  “No, love.  I remember grabbing your ass, stroking it, kneading it and playing teasingly down your crack.”

Buffy whimpers as a finger slowly circles her nipple.  “The first time you’ve touched an erogenous zone, then.”  Buffy whimpers louder as Tara continues to teasingly run her fingers over her breast without touching her nipple.  “Please, Tara!”  Buffy begs as she shifts her body around, trying to get the woman to touch her. 

“Trust me, my sweet one, that is an erogenous zone.”  Tara whispers as she moves her hand away from the slayer’s breast, making Buffy growl loudly.  “One moment, you’ll have what you desire.”  Tara continues softly as she looks down to quickly finish unbuttoning the slayer’s top.  Running her fingers teasingly up and down the slayer’s body between the open top, Tara gently brushes against the edge of the top on one side on the way down the slayer’s body, nudging it to show more flesh, while doing the same thing on the other side on the way back up. 

“Tara!”  Buffy growls at the slowly moving Wiccan, her hips shifting and bucking, looking for something to come into contact with, Tara’s body shifted up too far away from her to do any good.  Running her hands down Tara’s shoulders and back, she rests them on Tara’s waist, gently urging the Wiccan to lie down on top of her.

“Not yet, my sweet one.”  Tara murmurs softly, not giving the slayer what she wants.  “The next time you come, it’s going to be at my touch and my caress.  Not riding a body part of mine.  I want to feel your heat grasping me, your sweet nectar flooding over my hand.” 

Buffy moans loudly, her hips bucking even harder at the Wiccan’s words. “Jesus, Tara!  You’re driving me crazy.”  Buffy admits, panting heavily as the desire courses through her. 

Tara slowly drags her eyes up the slayer’s body, from where she’d been watching her hand slowly uncover the slayer’s upper body, the shirt now barely covering each nipple.  Seeing the flare of desire burning brightly in the slayer’s eyes, Tara smiles softly.  “Do you need me, my sweet one?” 

“God!  And how!”  Buffy admits, whimpering with need.  “Please, Tara.  I’ve never been this turned on before.” 

Tara groans at the slayer’s admittance, before asking a question softly.  “Have you ever come just from having your breasts and nipples played with, with no other stimulation?”  Tara watches Buffy intently, seeing the quick headshake and the surprised look on her face.  “Every woman is different, Buffy.  Some can come just from being whispered naughty things in their ears.  Others with their breasts being played with.  Then others have to have penetration to reach climax, some can’t reach it without the penetration, no matter how long you might make love to their clit, without penetration no climax.”  Seeing the surprise on Buffy’s face, Tara grins crookedly.  “We know you’re not like that, but I would like to try different things with you, my sweet one, if you’re willing.”

“Anything you want, but not right now, please!”  Buffy begs, her whole body shaking with want and desire as Tara’s hand continues to play up and down her chest and abdomen. 

Tara finally gives in, nodding her head.  “Not now, my sweet one.  Not this time.”  Tara whispers, shifting her body further down the couch, to gently tug at the bottom of the slayer’s pajamas, smiling as Buffy lifts her hips quickly to help.  Whimpering at the sight of the slayer’s bald mound, with swollen outer lips and the desire coating them and her inner thighs, Tara has to forcefully keep herself from diving into the slayer to lick hungrily at the musky sweet smell emanating from Buffy.  Easing her body gently between the slayer’s thighs, Tara straddles one of the slayer’s thighs, while supporting her body weight on her knees and left hand that she moved back up by the slayer’s shoulder.  Slowly leaning down, Tara moves the rest of the slayer’s top off her chest, before licking firmly over one nipple while dragging her hand up to cup the slayer’s sex firmly.

“Sweet, God!”  Buffy practically jumps a foot off the couch at Tara’s dual touch.  Threading her fingers through the silken mass of hair, Buffy’s hips press up hard into the Wiccan’s touch.  “Now, please!”  Buffy begs softly.

“Yes, my sweet one.”  Tara mumbles as she circles around the slayer’s nipple, flicking her tongue strongly against the hard flesh while she moans at the heat and liquid literally oozing from the slayer’s body.  Sliding two fingers through the wetness, Tara almost collapses on top of Buffy at the extremely swollen, quivering muscle that she encounters.  “Goddess, so hot and swollen.”  Tara drops her head to Buffy’s chest as she quickly strokes over the muscle.

“TARA!”  Buffy cries out, her body bucking uncontrollably as she feels the orgasm flowing through her quickly.

“Yes, yes.  That’s it, my love.”  Tara continues to stroke quickly over the muscle as it continues to flex and twitch under her ministrations, even as she feels the liquid heat drenching her hand.  Feeling Buffy start to buck even harder, Tara presses more firmly against the muscle moaning as another flood of fluid eases out of the slayer.  “Goddess!”  Tara whimpers loudly. 

“Ta-a-a-raaa!”  Buffy whimpers the Wiccan’s name as she continues to buck and grind her body against the pleasure giving fingers, never having felt pleasure like this before.  Groaning as she feels Tara’s fingers leave her body, Buffy starts to complain, until she feels a finger slide gently inside her.  “Oh!”  Buffy squeaks as Tara strokes within her while pressing her thumb almost punishingly against her clit, feeling another climax working quickly through her body. 

“Too hard?”  Tara questions as she shifts her body slightly, her own hips rocking, occasionally bumping against Buffy’s thigh when the slayer would buck up.

Buffy shakes her head at Tara’s question, before brokenly whispering.  “Har-der.  Mo-o-o-re!”  Buffy draws out as the climax eases out of her.

“Fingers or thumb?”  Tara pants in question. 

“Bo-oth.”  Buffy answers after a few minutes, her faculties not working properly as she feels her mind almost going back to her cave slayer days. 

Tara whimpers and quickly adds another finger to the slayer, the ease that it slid in, with the desire literally flowing from the slayer, Tara adds a third finger before pressing and rubbing her thumb harder against the swollen muscle.

“Good, good, good.”  Buffy pants, her body arching to meet each of Tara’s thrusts, urging Tara with her body to stroke within her even harder and faster.  “Yes, yesssss.”  Buffy hisses as Tara gives her what she wants.  Feeling the Wiccan’s heat press firmly down into her thigh as she bucks up a little harder, Buffy shifts her leg and tightens her leg muscles even more than they are, to give Tara the much needed contact that she needs.

“BUFFY!”  Tara groans, grinding her body down into the slayer’s leg as she orgasms, having driven herself to a frenzy of need and desire.  Feeling the slayer’s inner muscles clench hard on her fingers, Tara presses hard up into the slayer’s clit as Buffy climaxes again.   Burying her face in the slayer’s damp neck, Tara presses her body down into Buffy’s while continuing to rock firmly.  Feeling the slayer’s inner muscles flex and clench around her, Tara eases her thumb off Buffy’s blasting hot clit, mentally realizing that it is probably extremely sensitive now.

Buffy’s body shudders continuously as she slowly eases her hands out of Tara’s hair, before running them down Tara’s back and pulling the Wiccan even tighter against her body, clenching against the fingers still imbedded inside her.

Tara whimpers as she feels Buffy clenching and unclenching on her fingers.  Shifting them slightly, Tara curls them as she seeks the slayer’s sweet spot, smirking as she feels Buffy practically buck her off as she strokes over the spot.  Quickly straightening her fingers, Tara chuckles softly. 

“Fuck!”  Buffy shudders hard at the feelings sweeping through her.  “What the hell?”

“Want more?”  Tara questions hoarsely, as she shifts her lightly shaking body, to look down with a lifted eyebrow at Buffy.  When she hears the slayer’s stomach growl loudly, Tara laughs and shakes her head.  “Maybe you need food more than what I have planned.”

Buffy swallows hard as she thinks about the brief touch the Wiccan had done within her, and the almost uncontrollable urge going throughout her body with the touch.  “That felt dangerous, Tara.”

Tara raises an eyebrow high into her hairline in question.  “Dangerous?’

Buffy blushes lightly.  “It felt like everything in me would go into melt down.”  Buffy whispers.

“Hmmm.  Could be.”  Tara smirks at the slayer.  “It’ll feel like nothing you’ve felt before, sweet one.”

Buffy whimpers slightly, shaking her head.  “Maybe we should save that for the future, then.”

“Oh, my sweet slayer.  There are a lot of things we haven’t done yet.”  Tara smiles gently down at Buffy.  “And I can guarantee you, that when my lip is healed, I’ll be spending a lot of time making love to your body with nothing but my mouth, lips and tongue.”

Groaning at the thought, Buffy closes her eyes at the arousal shooting through her body.  “How can you do that?”  Buffy finally questions as she opens her eyes to look at Tara.

“Do what, my love?”  Tara gently eases her hand away from the slayer as she feels the muscles relax a little more. 

“Make my body ache with arousal so easily.”  Buffy admits softly as she searches the Wiccan’s soft blue eyes.

“It isn’t me, my sweet one.  It’s us.”  Tara whispers quietly as she strokes her fingers gently through Buffy’s wetness, being careful not to brush against her clit.  “You probably need a bit of a breather, if the heat blasting from certain body parts, is any indication.”  Tara cups her fingers and slides them through the desire still heavy on the slayer.

Buffy inhales deeply at the gentleness of the Wiccan’s touch as she strokes over her body.  Blushing as her stomach growls even louder and longer than before, she looks at a quietly laughing Wiccan.  “It isn’t funny.”

“Yes it is.”  Tara smirks wickedly as she slowly raises her dripping fingers to her lips, suckling hungrily on the slayer’s nectar.

“OH, GOD!”  Buffy groans, her body bucking at the sight of Tara’s fingers slowly disappearing one by one inside the Wiccan’s mouth as she sucks the fluid from them. Carefully shifting out from under Tara, Buffy urges her to lie on her back on the couch.  “You have teased, touched and caressed my body, giving me pleasure unlike anything I’ve ever had before, and it is so my turn to feast upon your body.”  Buffy growls hungrily at the thought of tasting Tara, the smell of the Wiccan having unconsciously imbedded itself in her body. 

Tara moans loudly as she sees the hunger in Buffy’s eyes.  “Buffy…”  Tara quietly whispers, before the slayer’s stomach growls again.  “Oh, love.”  Tara shakes her head, capturing the slayer’s blushing and embarrassed looking face between her hands to pull her down to gently kiss the slayer’s pouting lips.  “We have all day, my sweet one.  Let’s get some real food in you, before you decide to devour me, okay?”

“It’s so not fair, Tara.”  Buffy whimpers, blushing even darker.  “You have, like, made me explode more times than I can count, while I haven’t done anything for you.” 

“You weren’t the only one that received pleasure from our encounter, Buffy.”  Tara whispers softly, stroking her fingers through the slayer’s damp hair.  “Giving you pleasure pleases me.  Not counting my own releases.”  Tara grins crookedly at the slayer.  “I’m sure after we get cleaned up and some food in the house for you to eat, that you’ll be more than ready, able and willing to get up to all kinds of naughtiness.  But, just to let you know, it isn’t a thing we’re going to keep track of, my sweet one.  I don’t work that way.  I truthfully do enjoy and receive pleasure at the fact that you are happy and pleased.”

Buffy smiles shyly at Tara.  “But I want to try…”  Buffy whispers, her eyes searching Tara’s blue eyes.  “I want to taste, lick, suckle and give you pleasure, also.  I haven’t ever…”  Buffy trails off.

“Oh, my lovely, beautiful slayer.”  Tara smiles gently at Buffy.  “Anything you wish to do, will please me, my sweet one.  If you wish to just stroke your fingers over my stomach for hours and hours, I will be happy.”

Buffy’s eyes drop down to the Wiccan’s chest, shaking her head slowly.  “It won’t be your stomach I’ll be stroking for hours.”

Tara chuckles at Buffy before wrapping her arms strongly around the slayer and pulling her down against her body.  “I’m just saying, that whatever you want to do, do, my sweet one.  I am more than willing to experiment and try anything you would like.”

Buffy’s eyes widen in surprise as she shifts to look up at Tara.  “Anything?”  Buffy blinks in astonishment. 

“Anything.”  Tara strokes her fingers gently down Buffy’s cheek.  “Now, before we get sidetracked, let me up so I can see if I can fix something to tide us over, before we get cleaned up and go to the store.  While we‘re out we can stop by my dorm and let me get a couple changes of clothes.”

Buffy inhales a shuddering breath looking down at Tara for long moments.  “Anything?” Buffy questions again, softly.

“What do you want to try, my sweet one?”  Tara tilts her head, smiling encouragingly at the slayer. 

Buffy blushes and shakes her head.  “How about we save that for later?  Because if I say it, and you’re more than willing, I don’t think we’ll be eating anytime soon.” 

Tara raises an eyebrow at the slayer, considering her for a few moments.  “You aren’t going to make me hang from the ceiling light while you try and screw me in, are you?”  Tara wiggles her eyebrows as she jokes.

“I might want to screw you, but you won’t be hanging from the ceiling light.”  Buffy growls playfully, before nipping at the Wiccan’s neck. 

“I like the sounds of this.”  Tara smacks Buffy on the ass firmly.  “Now, get off me, Slayer.  I need to find something for you to eat.”

“Yes, ma’am!”  Buffy jumps up off the Wiccan, grinning down as she helps her to stand.

“I believe the proper word would have been Mistress, Slayer!”  Tara winks at Buffy as she leaves a stunned, mouth hanging open, slayer behind her as she sways towards the kitchen.

Buffy stares after the Wiccan, before snapping her mouth shut.  Grinning hugely, Buffy finally reaches down to grab her pajama bottoms, sliding them on.  “I will be more than willing to call you Mistress, Tara.  More than willing.”  Buffy shudders as a strong bolt of desire courses through her at the thought. 

***

Chapter 5

“Tara!”  Buffy whines quietly, as she watches the Wiccan pick up different items around the grocery store.

“You are going to eat healthy, filling foods.  Not junk.” Tara states adamantly as she puts back the box of Zingers that Buffy tried to sneak into the cart. 

“But I don’t know how to cook.”  Buffy pouts and flutters her eyelashes at the Wiccan. 

“Then I’ll stock the cupboards with canned foods that all you have to do is heat up in the microwave.  I’ll even make you dinners and casseroles to put in the freezer to heat up during the week to eat.”  Tara looks exasperatedly at Buffy.

“Nuh, uh.  You gotta come and fix it for me.”  Buffy tries to keep the grin off her face as Tara sighs and rolls her eyes.  “I don’t know how to turn the stove on, so if I go anywhere near that appliance, the house might blow up.”  Buffy tries to weasel Tara into coming to the house frequently.

Tara growls lowly in her throat at her conniving, sneaky lover. 

“What would be better is if you gave me a key to your dorm.”  Buffy tries to look innocent, smiling softly at Tara as the Wiccan narrows her gaze on her.  Buffy’s smile turns to a smirk.  Even with the bruising and swelling, the Wiccan looks beautiful to the slayer.

“Why do I have a feeling it isn’t because you just want to sneak into my room at odd hours?”  Tara questions quietly as she reaches out for two loaves of bread.  “You do know how to throw lunchmeat together, right?”

“Uh, huh.”  Buffy nods her head, as she looks into the cart that’s slowly filling with meat, salad fixings, bread, potatoes and other staples to help fill the empty cabinets.  As Tara grabs a couple different cans of coffee, placing them in the cart, Buffy winces.  “Uh, Tara?”  Buffy questions softly as she looks around the crowded grocery store before stepping off the front of the cart, from where she’d been trying to get Tara irritated by acting like a little kid.  Not having any luck as the Wiccan had just smirked and pushed her around the grocery store, occasionally banging the slayer into things for meanness.  “I don’t have enough money to pay for all this.”  Buffy finally whispers softly in Tara’s ear as Tara looks at the different flavored coffees.

Tara closes her eyes, sighing quietly before leaning down the short distance to whisper back in Buffy’s ear.  “You aren’t paying for this, my sweet one.”  Placing a soft kiss on Buffy’s ear, Tara looks back, debating for a few minutes before deciding on the chocolate raspberry flavored coffee, placing the small container in the cart along with the two cans of regular coffee.

“Tara…”  Buffy starts to grumble, stopping as blue eyes turn to look at her with an eyebrow raised. Growling quietly under her breath, Buffy shoves her hands in her pockets and hunches her shoulders.

Taking a deep breath, Tara reaches for the slayer’s arm, gently tugging on it to get Buffy to pull her hand out of her pocket.  Threading her fingers through the slayer’s Tara waits for Buffy to look up.  As Buffy’s eyes slowly rise to look into hers, Tara smiles softly.  “I have money put away, so please let me do this.”  Tara whispers watching Buffy intently. 

“It isn’t your responsibility to feed me.”  Buffy quietly bitches, as she shakes her head at Tara.

“I’m not feeding just you.  I’m feeding me, also.”  Tara explains softly.  “I miss being able to cook and eat real food, my sweet one.”  Tara reaches up with her other hand to stroke her fingers over Buffy’s pronounced cheekbones, sighing at the thinness of her lover.  “Please, Buffy.  It isn’t that much and I want to, okay?”

Buffy takes a deep breath before slowly releasing it and nodding her head.  “Okay.  But this isn’t going to become a habit.”

Tara hums softly in answer as she runs her hand down to cup the slayer’s neck.  “Go play on the cart, love.”  Tara smiles as Buffy starts to grin and runs back to the front of the cart, stepping on the brace.  “How are you on the necessities around the house?”

Buffy blinks as she thinks about it, shrugging her shoulders.  “I haven’t a clue to tell you the truth.”

Tara bites her lip, nodding her head.  Working her way down the aisles, she picks up assorted cleaning supplies, toilet paper, paper towels, laundry detergent, fabric softener, and other items. 

Buffy’s eyes grow big as she watches Tara fill the cart to overflowing, feeling guilty at the sight.  “Tara…”  Buffy starts and bites her lip as Tara turns serious blue eyes on her.

“Don’t, Buffy.  Can I ask a really stupid question since I have a feeling I already know the answer?”  Tara unconsciously runs her tongue over her bottom lip, feeling the stitches.

“You can ask me anything.”  Buffy watches Tara seriously. 

“Does Willow help with the bills?”  Tara questions extremely softly, watching as Buffy shifts her eyes away.  Sighing, Tara shakes her head.  “I didn’t think so.  She gets quite a bit of money from her folks, Buffy.  And I don’t think it’s asking a lot for her to help pay her fair share.  You don’t have to support her, you know.”

Buffy shrugs her shoulders and looks down, stepping off the cart, not feeling like playing anymore.  “What can I say?  Hey, Willow, you know I have to make payments, and you’re staying here, so why don’t you help out?  That’s kind of rude.”

“No, it’s not, Buffy.  In all fairness, she should be paying a third of all the bills.  If you split it up that there’s three people living there, looking at it that way.”  Tara sighs quietly, pushing the cart up, and wrapping her arm around Buffy.  “I’m sorry, sweet one.  I didn’t mean to make you feel bad.”

“I know you didn’t.”  Buffy eases her body into Tara’s side.  “I know you’re trying to help me out, but it’s kind of hard to bring it up to her.”

“I know, sweet one, I know.”  Tara murmurs quietly as she maneuvers the shopping cart with one hand towards the checkout line.  “Let’s get this stuff home, and I’ll throw a roast in the oven with all kinds of vegetables for dinner tonight, how does that sound?”

“Sounds good.”  Buffy breathes out, trying to relax as they go to pay for the groceries.

***

Tara smiles softly as she watches Buffy finish folding the load of laundry.  After they had gotten home from the grocery store, Buffy had quickly put everything away while Tara fixed the roast with the potatoes, carrots, celery and a couple small onions surrounding it.  Both women had gathered the laundry to sort and had alternated putting it in the washer and dryer as they cleaned the rest of the house, Tara silently bitching at the thoughtlessness of her ex-lover, knowing Willow didn’t bother to lift a finger to help around the house.  Remembering the few times she, herself, had said something to her when they lived there. 

Finishing dusting the living room’s knick-knacks, Tara feels eyes on her.  Slowly turning around, she smiles as Buffy blushes and raises her eyes from where she’d obviously been staring south of the equator.  “See something that you like?”  Tara questions, her eyes twinkling.

Blushing even darker, Buffy whimpers quietly.  “Not nice picking on me.”  Buffy grumbles grabbing the last stack of clothes to trot upstairs quickly. 

Tara chuckles and tosses the dusting rag to the side, quickly following the slayer up the stairs.  “You know, if you want to take a break from cleaning, I’m sure we can think of something else to pass the time until dinner’s ready.”  Tara’s lip curls into a knowing smile as she watches Buffy drop her clothes partially in the dresser drawer and partially falling out as she turns and gaps the distance between them hurriedly. 

“Thought you’d never make the suggestion.”  Buffy growls hungrily as she nips gently down Tara’s jaw line before working her way down the Wiccan’s neck, sucking hungrily on her pounding pulse point.  Her fingers quickly sliding the buttons from the holes of Tara’s shirt, Buffy whimpers quietly as the flesh that has been teasing her slowly comes into view.  “I want to taste every inch of you.” Buffy whispers softly as her lips caress over the skin, her lip snarling as the Wiccan’s bra impedes her progress. 

“You’re easy.”  Tara laughs softly at how quickly Buffy started to eagerly attack her and was disrobing her.

“Always, when it comes to you.”  Buffy sighs softly as she slides Tara’s shirt off her shoulders, letting it drop to the floor before her hands reach around to unhook her bra, dragging the straps down the Wiccan’s arms, whimpering softly as the flesh comes into view, allowing herself to stare and enjoy the sight of Tara’s breasts.  “You can’t know what your stripping your shirt and bra off last night did to me.”  Buffy admits quietly as she lets the bra drop onto the shirt before her fingers stroke softly over Tara’s breasts, circling the nipples without coming into contact with them. 

“Goddess…”  Tara moans quietly as Buffy finally strokes over her sensitized nipples.  “Is that why you hopped in the shower?”

“Cold shower… ice cold shower.”  Buffy whispers, her eyes mesmerized by the sight of Tara’s nipples hardening down into tight nubs.  “Kept thinking about the fact that you were hurt, bruised and stitched because of me, and here I am ogling you and wanting to kiss, touch, taste, lick…”  Buffy inhales deeply before dipping her head down, finally capturing one of Tara’s nipples between her lips as her own words make her want to taste the Wiccan.  Hearing the throaty groan come from Tara as she suckles at the Wiccan’s breast, makes Buffy moan softly before flicking her tongue firmly over the flesh as she becomes more adventurous.

“Goddess, yes!  Just like that, my sweet one.”  Tara moans loudly as Buffy alternates sucking strongly, to flicking her tongue over the tip of her nipple to nipping gently on the flesh.

Buffy growls hungrily as she drags her tongue around Tara’s breast before dragging her tongue up Tara’s neck, capturing the Wiccan’s ear between her teeth, biting gently, before releasing the flesh to bathe it with her tongue.  Feeling Tara’s weight coming more into her body, Buffy wraps both arms around the Wiccan to help support her.  “Can we move this to the bed?”  Buffy hoarsely questions, urging Tara to the bed after she nods her head quickly. 

Tara pulls on Buffy’s top as Buffy gently eases her back onto the bed, smiling as Buffy stops and yanks her clothes off before following her.  “Beautiful.”  Tara whispers as her eyes caress over the slayer’s body.

“Uh, uh.”  Buffy captures Tara’s hands kissing each one firmly in the middle of the palm before placing them outward on the bed, urging Tara to the middle of the bed.  “No distracting me, Tara.  Let me do this, please.”  Buffy looks deep into Tara’s accepting blue eyes.  “Thank you.”  Buffy leans down to softly capture Tara’s top lip between her two lips, sucking softly before releasing it to kiss across Tara’s cheek and jawline, slowly making her way down Tara’s neck.  “You taste so good.”  Buffy whispers into Tara’s neck, as she drags her tongue strongly over her lover’s pulse point. 

“I’m not allowed to touch you at all?”  Tara breathes out the words, her eyes closed as Buffy makes her way to the starting swell of her breast, capturing the flesh in her mouth to suck strongly.

“Nope.”  Buffy releases the flesh, her tongue tracing the light red mark she left, her eyes looking over Tara’s neck and upper chest, seeing other marks she’d left on the pale skin.  “What is it about you that makes me want to mark you?”  Buffy questions rhetorically, not really expecting an answer.  “I’ll try to stop, but I don’t know if I can.”  Buffy admits quietly.

“You’re fine, love.  I don‘t mind.”  Tara inhales deeply as she hears a loud growl come from Buffy at her words before the slayer captures the flesh under her nipple in her mouth, sucking voraciously. 

Buffy suckles hungrily at the flesh in her mouth as she trails her shaking hands down Tara’s body, unbuttoning and unzipping the Wiccan’s skirt.  Trailing her fingers over Tara’s abdomen and stomach, Buffy whimpers quietly as she releases the flesh, as Tara bucks uncontrollably up into her hand.  “Clothes off.”  Buffy mumbles as she shifts her body beside Tara as she carefully removes the Wiccan’s skirt, being certain not to tear or rip the fabric, even though that’s what she wants to do to get at Tara’s body.  “Easy, easy.”  Buffy speaks quietly, talking to herself as she slides the fabric down Tara’s legs, tossing it towards the other pile of clothes, thankful that Tara had taken her shoes and socks off when they’d come home.  Smiling at the thought that Tara seemed to enjoy going barefoot whenever possible, as she remembers other times around the house that she didn’t wear socks or shoes. 

Looking back up Tara’s body, Buffy’s eyes light on the soft strip of silk covering Tara’s nether regions from her eyesight.  Surprised at the miniscule piece of red cloth, Buffy unconsciously licks her lips as she notices the dark wet spot. 

“I can’t make up my mind whether I want to continue exploring your body now, or dive in to finally taste what has been invading my senses and driving me crazy, then coming back to explore the rest of your body later…”  Buffy finally slides her hands firmly up Tara’s thighs, urging her legs together as she hooks her fingers under the scrap of cloth on each side of her hips.  Looking up into desire-filled dark blue eyes Buffy’s surprised at the intense look of arousal on the Wiccan’s face.  “Which are you, Tara?”  Buffy questions as the Wiccan’s previous comments about how different women react flares in her brain.  Seeing the slight confusion crossing Tara’s face, Buffy slowly slides the panties down Tara’s legs, moaning at the thin strip of blonde curls she uncovers.  “Can you come just from being told naughty things?”  Buffy’s voice deepens as she lifts Tara’s panties to dangle the almost non-existent piece of cloth off one finger.  “I didn’t know you liked g-strings also.”

Tara whimpers quietly as she watches Buffy bring the strip of fabric to her nose and inhale deeply.  “Won’t take much right now to tip me over, so it’s possible.”  Tara hoarsely admits.

“But, if I hadn’t been kissing, stroking, and sucking your various body parts…”  Buffy raises an eyebrow at Tara in question as she tucks the underwear under her pillow, grinning wickedly down into Tara’s eyes.  “Those are mine now.” 

“You’ll have to try and see.”  Tara’s lip curls up slightly, her eyes starting to twinkle with mischief. 

“That sounds like a dare… I love dares.”  Buffy bites gently on Tara’s shoulder. 

“Then you can consider it a dare.”  Tara whimpers loudly as Buffy makes her way down her chest to lick her tongue strongly over the flesh, flicking the tip of her tongue over her aching nipple.  “Please.”  Tara begs, wanting to touch the slayer’s body.

“Please what?”  Buffy questions hoarsely before she finally captures the hard flesh between her lips, starting a steady, firm sucking motion.

“Want… Goddess, feels so good.”  Tara gets sidetracked, as she arches her body under Buffy’s while clenching the bed covers in her hands tightly.  “Touch you.”  Tara finally whispers, jerking hard as Buffy bites her nipple gently. 

Buffy lifts her eyes to look at Tara for a moment before releasing the flesh in her mouth, laving it gently with her tongue for a few minutes.  “Are you going to let me continue?”  Buffy smiles as Tara nods her head quickly in answer.  “Fine, you can touch.”

Tara quickly buries one hand in the blonde hair, while clenching the slayer’s shoulder with the other, digging her nails in gently as Buffy starts to work her way determinedly down her body.

“Smell so good.  Want to taste.”  Buffy inhales deeply every few seconds, finally reaching Tara’s belly button.  Dipping her tongue firmly into the area, Buffy presses her lips around the small body part and sucks hungrily.

“BUFFY!”  Tara cries out quickly as it seems like Buffy has a direct link from her belly button to her center almost making her climax right then and there. 

Buffy chuckles wickedly as she finally releases the flesh, raising an eyebrow at the light red marking around the outside of the belly button.  Pressing another kiss, Buffy finally works her way further down, letting her body wiggle it‘s way between the Wiccan‘s thighs, growling as Tara shifts her legs further apart.  Hesitating for a few minutes as she comes to the strip of hair, Buffy brushes her lips over the blonde curls, smiling as they tickle her lips.

“Your turn to torture me?”  Tara finally questions roughly as she tries her damnedest not to try and shove the slayer down her body.

“Turnabout.”  Buffy licks her lips as she gathers the dampness that she’d had pressed there from Tara’s body, getting just a hint of the rich, musky taste.  Feeling Tara’s fingers clench into her shoulders, Buffy looks up Tara’s body, seeing the Wiccan’s quivering body and her arched neck as she pants quietly between slightly opened lips.  Buffy bites her lip as she realizes she’s never seen anything quite so beautiful before.  Closing her eyes, she mentally burns the picture into her brain, swearing she’ll never forget this moment, or the look on Tara’s face.  Shifting her body further down, Buffy runs her hands over Tara’s thighs, enjoying the twitching of the muscles.  Stopping for a moment, Buffy considers her options.  “Tara?”  Buffy swallows as her throat is extremely dry.

“Yes.”  Tara lifts her head, blinking her eyes as she tries to fight back her own desire, to let Buffy do what she wants.

“Would you be more comfortable with your legs up?”  Buffy blushes lightly.  “I was kinda planning on spending some time becoming acquainted…”  Buffy nibbles on her lip as she looks at Tara.

Tara growls quietly, her eyes narrowing on Buffy.  “I’d be more comfortable if you would suck on…”  Tara shakes her head, taking a deep breath.  “I’ll shift around, trust me.” 

Buffy raises an eyebrow as Tara stops what she was originally going to say.  “Is there something you would like to say?”  Buffy smirks as Tara growls deeply at her.  “Never mind.”  Buffy settles her body more comfortably between Tara’s thighs while running her hands over Tara’s upper thighs, gradually working her hands closer to their destination until her thumbs brush over the silken, hot, swollen outer lips.  “Sweet, God.”  Buffy breathes out at how soft Tara’s flesh is.  Brushing her thumbs over the wet flesh, Buffy gradually works the thumbs inwards to where she’s separating the outer lips, opening the Wiccan’s body to her perusal. 

Groaning quietly as she feels one of Tara’s hands grasp the back of her head firmly, pulling gently on the hair in her hand, Buffy takes the not so subtle hint and finally closes the distance between Tara’s body and her mouth.  Tentatively dipping her tongue in the wetness at the bottom of Tara’s slit, Buffy draws the tongue back in her mouth, closing her eyes at the flavor and humming in appreciation.  Sliding her hands down under Tara’s butt cheeks, Buffy drags her tongue up the Wiccan’s slit, delving into the folds and creases, wiggling her tongue around as she learns the Wiccan’s body.  Capturing one outer lip and suckling on the flesh, Buffy shifts with Tara’s gyrating body, keeping in contact with the Wiccan.  Releasing the flesh after a few minutes, Buffy strokes her tongue firmly over the flesh before shifting her head and nibbling on the other lip.

“Buffy!”  Tara growls Buffy’s name in warning as the slayer continues to play around her body, without coming into contact with her aching clit, and her clenching center.  Tara whimpers loudly as the slayer shifts her hands and she strokes a thumb between her ass cheeks brushing tenderly over her rosebud.

Buffy eases her lips and tongue from where she’d been stroking around the Wiccan’s body as she hears the whimper, smiling softly, Buffy files that little nugget of information away for later.  “Taste so goooood.”  Buffy growls as she licks firmly up Tara’s body, stroking her tongue over the quivering flesh of her lover, whimpering quietly as she feels it flinch and contract under her tongue.  Shifting one hand from under her lover, Buffy strokes her fingers through Tara’s desire, watching as her fingers glide over the muscle she’d just dragged her tongue over.  Watching Tara’s body jump and shift under her caresses, while listening to Tara’s low whimpers of pleasure. 

Not even noticing the hands gripping her almost punishingly, Buffy looks intently at the swollen flesh barely poking out from the hood it usually nestles within.  Feeling her own heart pound even harder in her chest at the realization that she, Buffy Summers, made Tara want and desire her, Buffy closes her eyes at the love flowing through her body at the thought of loving and being loved by this woman.  Stroking her fingers over the flesh and gently pulling the hood back to uncover the swollen muscle in all its glory, Buffy gives in to her desire, leaning forward to wrap her lips around the flesh, suckling gently.

“Sweet, Goddess!”  Tara cries out softly as Buffy finally gives her what she wants and needs.  Clenching her hands in the slayer’s hair, she pulls her tightly to her body, rocking her lower body into Buffy’s mouth as Buffy continues to suckle while flicking her tongue over the tip of the sensitive flesh.

Buffy growls and wraps her other arm under Tara’s thigh and holds on as the Wiccan literally starts bucking under her.  Suckling stronger at the muscle and flicking her tongue firmly time after time, Buffy whimpers as her mouth is flooded with Tara’s orgasm, even as Tara cries out her name.  Continuing to lap eagerly at her lover’s body, gathering all the liquid she can find. 

“BUFFY!”  Tara cries out Buffy’s name again as the slayer tips her over the edge a second time.  As she bucks and shifts under the slayer’s talented mouth, Tara whimpers loudly as Buffy doesn’t let up, but continues to alternate licking and suckling at her body.  As she feels Buffy slide a finger inside her, Tara screams out Buffy’s name as another orgasm rips from her body.

Buffy growls and holds on for dear life, her finger buried deep within Tara, as Tara literally lifts her body up off the bed as the Wiccan’s muscles contract tightly around her finger.  Wiggling the finger within Tara, Buffy nibbles her way down Tara’s swollen outer lips as Tara finally collapses back onto the bed, both of them bouncing slightly.  Listening intently to the heavy panting breaths coming from Tara, Buffy feels the muscles clenched around her finger loosen slightly.  Gently easing her finger out to where just the tip is inside her lover, Buffy slides it back in, closing her eyes and moaning at the wet heat wrapped around her.  Easing it back out again, Buffy shifts her middle finger and curiously presses gently against Tara’s opening, biting gently on Tara’s inner thigh as Tara’s body accepts both fingers, practically clenching around them, dragging them within her body.

“Buffy!”  Tara whimpers loudly at the fuller feeling inside her.

“Too much?”  Buffy hoarsely questions, lifting her head to look up at Tara’s desire flushed body, the dark blue eyes gazing back at her full of desire, want and love. 

“Goddess, no.”  Tara shakes her head, her hips reiterating the fact as they jerk into Buffy’s stroking fingers. 

“God, you feel so good.”  Buffy admits, inhaling deeply at the feeling of being within her lover’s body, the hot, velvety walls clenching and unclenching on her fingers.  Dropping her head back down on Tara’s thigh as she immerses herself in Tara’s body.  Allowing all her senses to watch, feel, hear, smell, touch and enjoy the Wiccan’s body.  Stopping the slow stroking of her fingers within Tara’s body after a long time, smiling softly at the quiet whimper at her actions, Buffy curiously shifts her fingers within Tara.  Learning the crevices and flesh with gentle fingers, watching Tara’s body as it shifts, flinches and jerks while listening to the whimpers, groans, shuddering exhales of breath coming from Tara as she strokes over different areas of her lover.  Finally curling her fingers slightly to stroke over the upper inner wall, Buffy growls as she feels her fingers slide over a slightly different feeling area of flesh even as Tara cries out loudly and bucks hard at the caress, her muscles clenching uncontrollably around her fingers. 

“Bu-Bu-Buffy…”  Tara groans loudly as Buffy strokes tenderly over her g-spot, the slayer’s continued loving of her body bringing her to the pinnacle of desire, keeping her teetering on the edge and as her lover continues her loving caresses it makes her reach a higher plateau, one she never knew was possible as her whole body starts to quiver and shake as the orgasm works through her.

“Give it to me, Tara.”  Buffy begs softly, feeling the tension gathering through Tara’s body.  At Tara’s guttural cry and the arching of her body as Buffy feels the muscles lock down on her fingers even as she feels, sees and smells the warm flood of liquid literally come exploding from Tara.  Buffy whimpers loudly at the smell, realizing it was different from the other as she dips her head down to inhale deeply of the sweeter smelling fluid.  Cautiously gathering some of the liquid on her tongue, Buffy cries out softly at the sweet, delicious flavor even as she eagerly tries to gather every bit she can find.

Tara whimpers as her body continues to shudder with her release, her eyes clenched shut as a sparkling rainbow of colors shoot off behind her eyelids even as she hears her lover grunting, lapping… and slurping?  Tara can’t help but chuckle, causing another small orgasm to work through her body.

“You’re laughing at me.”  Buffy nips playfully on Tara’s inner thigh, realizing there’s liquid there and starts to drag her tongue eagerly along the flesh.

“Buffy!”  Tara cries out, trying not to laugh as the slayer’s tongue starts to tickle.  Squirming around on the bed as Buffy starts to place little nips along her flesh.

Buffy chuckles as she hears the laughter coming from her lover as she tickles her legs, enjoying the play of muscle under her lips and tongue.  Slowly easing her fingers from within Tara, Buffy unconsciously suckles them clean as she shifts her body up to lie beside Tara, looking over the flushed Wiccan, enjoying the sight of sparkling blue eyes watching her.

“Goddess, you’re beautiful.”  Tara shifts onto her side, running a hand through the damp hair, looking into the happy, smiling face of her lover. 

Buffy captures the hand, bringing it to her lips and kissing each finger tenderly, before threading her fingers through Tara’s and pressing their hands to her chest.  “You make me happy, Tara.  I never realized…”  Buffy shakes her head, grinning from ear to ear.  “I think I understand a little better what you said earlier today.”

“What’s that, my sweet one?”  Tara moans softly as she shifts her leg to throw over Buffy’s thigh, her body still aching and pounding with the releases she’d had. 

“Are you okay?”  Buffy looks worriedly at Tara after she moans, looking down her lover’s body, seeing the swollen flushed flesh, frowning heavily as she wonders if she’d gotten too carried away in their lovemaking. 

“I’m fine, love.  If I get anymore fine, you’ll have to throw the covers over me and let me sleep for a week to come back to earth from where you sent me to the moon.”  Tara grins crookedly at Buffy, watching as the frown eases from Buffy’s face. 

“I was starting to worry.”  Buffy smiles and lets out a controlled breath of air as she thinks over what they were talking about.  “I was talking about where you mentioned you received pleasure from giving me pleasure.”  Buffy explains, looking over Tara’s features, not even noticing the bruising and swelling, just noticing the beautiful woman that she’s fallen in love with.  “I didn’t think it was possible to feel complete and sated just from giving someone else pleasure, without receiving any myself.”  Buffy admits softly, realizing as she says it that she doesn’t feel the need for release… not that she wasn’t extremely turned on at this moment, but comfortable to just be with Tara, hold her and be close to her lover.  On that thought, Buffy eases onto her back, urging Tara to snuggle up with her. 

Tara sighs contentedly as she wraps her arm around Buffy after Buffy releases her hand, stroking her fingers lovingly over Buffy’s side while rubbing her leg gently up and down Buffy’s.  “I love you.”  Tara murmurs as she allows her body to relax against Buffy’s.

“I love you, Tara.  How long before dinner’s ready?”  Buffy questions looking at the clock surprised that they’d been up there for a couple hours. 

“Hmmm.  Probably around six-ish.”  Tara closes her eyes and rubs her face over Buffy’s breast, placing a soft kiss against the flesh. 

“Take a nap, my beautiful one.”  Buffy urges, feeling Tara relaxing heavily against her.  “I’ll wake us up in a little while to eat dinner before I have to go out on patrol.”

“I’m going with…”  Tara trails off as she falls asleep against Buffy.

Buffy chuckles softly, running her fingers up and down Tara’s back as she considers the woman that has captured her mind, body, heart and soul.  “I don’t know how or why, but I’m extremely grateful to you for coming into my life and loving me.  I’ll do my damnedest to never disappoint you.  And if it wasn’t so soon, I’d ask you to move back in right this minute.”  Buffy whispers, placing a kiss on Tara’s head as she leans forward, closing her eyes and enjoying the love she feels emanating from Tara even as the woman sleeps.  Hugging her gently, Buffy smiles and lies there as she silently contemplates the woman in her arms.

***

Chapter 6

Buffy pouts sadly as she sits down at the island, listening as Dawn comes in the house, Tara having insisted on going back to her dorm room to study and to work on a paper that’s due later in the week.  Allowing a small smile to cross her face as she remembers her lover insisting on her stopping by while she was on patrol to visit with her for a while before coming home.

“Where’s Tara?”  Dawn questions hesitantly, looking at her sister that seems to switch between having a sad to a happy look on her face. 

“She went back to her dorm.”  Buffy sighs heavily.  “She put a lasagna in the oven for us, and made a huge salad before she left, though.” 

“I thought she might decide to stay.”  Dawn sits down across from Buffy watching her sister.

“She had some studying to do.  Plus I think she was a little leery of being here in case Willow came back tonight.”  Buffy admits looking sadly at her sister.  “Thanks for giving us some time, Dawn.”

Dawn shrugs off the thanks.  “When did you two…”  Dawn waves her hand around curiously. 

“This weekend.”  Buffy allows a small smile to cross her face.  “But we’ve had feelings for each other for a while, but both of us, for obvious reasons, pushed them to the background and never let each other know.  Are you, okay with us?”  Buffy questions hesitantly.

Dawn nods her head enthusiastically.  “Buffy, Tara’s like so cool.”  Dawn gushes eagerly.  “I never would have thought you would have hooked up with each other, but in a weird sort of way, you two work.”  Dawn shrugs, grinning hugely.

Buffy sighs quietly in relief, the happiness coming from her sister definitely not faked.  “I was afraid you’d hate me.”  Buffy admits quietly, relaxing.

“Huh?”  Dawn blinks at her sister.  “Why?”

“I was afraid you’d think I was trying to take Tara from you.”  Buffy explains softly. 

“If anything, this will hopefully make her come around more.”  Dawn shakes her head at her sister’s words.  “Tara didn’t like coming here because she never knew when she’d run into Willow.  Now she has a reason to come here more frequently.  That in turn means I get to see her more often, and that’s definitely a good thing.”  Dawn explains her thinking on the matter.  “Buffy, she told me after her and Willow broke up, that she’d never go back to her…  I honestly thought there was a good possibility Tara might end up leaving Sunnydale.”

Buffy reaches across the island and grasps Dawn’s hands with one of hers.  Slightly surprised to realize her younger sister’s hands are bigger than hers.  “I think she’s with us for the long haul, Dawn.  We’re her family now, and that’s something that means a lot to her.  She won’t give us up willingly.”

“No, she won’t.”  Dawn smiles at the realization.  “When are you going to get her to move back in?”

Buffy grins wickedly then the grin turns into a frown.  “I don’t think it’s going to happen anytime soon.  We have the whole Willow angle to work on.”  Buffy points out, frowning even heavier as she thinks about the redhead.

“Have you heard from her this weekend?”  Dawn questions hesitantly as she looks at her worried sister.

“No.  Not since she left yesterday.”  Buffy admits quietly.  “I’ve thought about calling her house to see if she’s home… but I don’t know what to do or say to her.” 

“Maybe it’s best to let her come to you.”  Dawn’s serious eyes watch as Buffy nods her head. 

“Maybe.  I don’t know what to do, Dawn.”  Buffy offers softly.  “I want Tara here with me… us.”  Buffy winces slightly. 

“That’s okay, Buffy.  I understand.”  Dawn chuckles quietly at her sister.  “So, how long have you liked Tara as more than just a friend?”  Dawn questions curiously.

Buffy blushes darkly and looks down at the counter.

Dawn’s eyes widen in surprise at her sister’s reaction.  “Buffy?”  Dawn makes her sister’s name sound like a question, watching as Buffy slowly raises her head, a slightly guilty look on her face.

“Longer than I’m going to admit to anyone.”  Buffy admits gruffly, not wanting to let anyone know that she had thought about Tara since they had talked the first time when her mom had died.  The woman’s soft explanations and honest words making her look at Tara in a different light.  She became more than Willow’s girlfriend at that moment.

Dawn blinks in surprise at Buffy’s answer.  Shaking her head at her sister, wondering silently how much Buffy keeps locked away deep inside her that she never lets anyone see.  “I need to do some reading for one of my classes.  I’m assuming Tara went on a cleaning spree while she was here?”  Dawn comments, having seen the clean and vacuumed living room and dining room on her way through to the kitchen.

“Yeah.  We also did the laundry.  So you have piles on your bed, please put them away.”  Buffy comments looking at her sister, smiling at the teen.  “Tara also insisted on stocking the house.  She made up some kind of sausage stuffed pepper things that she put in the refrigerator with explicit directions on it for us to bake for dinner tomorrow night.”

Dawn unconsciously pouts, mirroring Buffy.  “She isn’t coming over tomorrow night?”

Buffy shakes her head and rests her chin on her hand.  “She doesn’t want to push things too much, in case Willow comes home today, to give us a chance to possibly work through anything.”  Buffy sighs quietly, easing off the stool as the oven’s timer goes off.  Pulling out the large glass dish of lasagna, inhaling deeply even as she looks at the bubbling cheese and sauce.  Setting it down on the potholder, Buffy adjusts the temperature on the oven and pulls out the Cole’s garlic bread and reads the directions on it.  Adjusting the temperature a little higher, she opens the bag and pulls the bread out and splits it open to put on the pan Tara had left out for her.  Gently sliding it into the oven, she sets the timer and sighs quietly. 

Dawn watches, as Buffy seems to be thinking heavily about something as she leans against the counter.  Easing up from the stool, she heads up to her bedroom to put her clothes away, knowing it will be another ten or fifteen minutes before dinner is ready.

***

Tara runs a hand through her hair as she stares at the phone, silently debating with herself whether to make the phone call or not.  Having worked on her paper for the last hour before finally setting it aside as her mind wasn’t on her work.  Taking a deep, calming breath, Tara finally walks to the phone.  Punching in the phone number, double-checking to make sure she’s remembering it correctly, she sits down as it rings. 

***

Willow paces her bedroom, not surprised that her parents weren’t home when she came home yesterday morning.  Having been royally pissed when she’d first gotten home, Willow had immediately gone to some of her magic texts looking through them, before she realized what she was doing.  Immediately tossing the books to the side, she strode out of her room to the bathroom, staring at herself in the mirror. 

Looking at the angry eyes staring back at her, hinting to blackness Willow had collapsed and curled up on the floor realizing that she didn’t have control of the magic as much as she would like to think she did.  Her first reaction was to look for a magic spell to get what she wanted.  To make things right in her world again.  Seeing the darkness swirling in her eyes from the magic just begging to be let out, Willow had stiffened her resolve and went to her bedroom, gathering everything magical in her room, including texts, crystals and herbs among other items.  Boxing everything away after combing through everything five different times, she’d finally carried the two boxes to the Magic Box.  Telling Anya that this was stuff she’d had at her parents’ house, to do what she wanted with it, before turning to leave, bumping into Xander outside the shop.  Remembering that conversation, Willow slows her pacing and finally collapses back on her bed, tears slowly falling from her eyes.

“Whoa.  Where’s the fire?”  Xander chuckles as he grabs Willow to keep her from hitting the ground after bouncing off his chest as she hurried from the Magic Box.  Surprised when the redhead collapsed in his arms crying.  Wrapping his arm around her, he opens the door into the shop and looks worriedly at Anya.  Seeing the confused look on his fiancée’s face, he gently urged Willow back into the shop.  “We’ll be in back.”  Xander murmurs quietly as he practically carries the sobbing redhead into the back training room as Anya nods her head.

Settling them on the mats, Xander holds Willow gently as she cries into his chest.  Gently running his hands over her shaking back, he frowns at the hard sobs coming from his best friend.  “What’s wrong, Wills?”  Xander questions roughly half an hour later as Willow slowly calmed down.

Willow wipes her face and shakes her head.  “More like what isn’t wrong.”  She hiccups as she frowns heavily.  “I’m a total screw up, Xan.”

“No you’re not, Wills.  You’re a wonderful, caring woman.”  Xander placates softly, stroking a hand gently over Willow’s head.

“I am!  I’m a total screw up.  I almost did something horrible, Xan.  Really, really, really horrible.”  Willow curls up into a tighter ball on Xander’s lap, clenching his shirt tightly with one hand.  Slowly explaining about Buffy and Tara, the words almost choking in her throat as she tells Xander about the two women being together now.

“WHAT?  What the hell is she thinking?  Jesus, I know Tara was going to come back to you, why the hell did Buffy stick her nose in there?”  Xander spouts out angrily, getting ready to fly off again, before Willow shifts quickly and puts a hand over his mouth, effectively stopping him.

“NO!  No, Xander.  Calm down, please.  Tara was never going to come back to me, I lost her love and her trust.  Let me go back and tell you what I did… that way you can be mad at the right person.”  Willow’s eyes are sad as a tear slowly works down her cheek again.  Slowly explaining about how she’d spiraled deeper and deeper into the dark magics.  The arguments she and Tara had had, the ones Tara remembers and the ones that she doesn’t.  Softly admitting to Xander that she’d taken away Tara’s memories of three different arguments they had had about her use of magic. 

Looking in shock at his best friend as she slowly admits the things she’d done, up through what she knew transpired between Buffy and Tara.  Admitting he felt a shot of happiness at the thought of the bleached blonde vampire being dusted, though feeling bad at the thought Tara had gotten hurt. 

“I don’t know how, when or why they came together.”  Willow finally admits, her eyes on the floor as she sighs quietly.  “I never really understood what I had done to Tara, Xan.  Not until I caught myself looking for a spell to get rid of Buffy and Tara’s memories of what happened and to make Tara come back to me…  That…  Goddess!  What does that make me, Xander?”  Willow looks up her eyes haunted as she looks at her best friend.  “I stole from her, I made her memories different to make things easier for me.  How sick is that?  That’s no better than rape!  I took without her permission, changed things to make things go my way.  I’m worse than Glory…”  Willow finally starts to sob again, covering her face with her hands as the hot tears flow down her face.

Xander holds Willow tightly to him, not knowing what to say.  Realizing that Willow is right.  If he had been in Tara’s place, how would he feel if he found out what his ‘everything’ had done to him?  Knowing how the two women felt about each other, but also knowing if he was in Tara’s position there would be no way he would ever be able to come back to Willow.  “Oh, Willow.”  Xander sighs out quietly, squeezing her tighter to him.  “If there was something I could do, I would.”

Willow sniffs hard and shakes her head.  “There isn’t anything we can do, Xander.  We just got to go on, and maybe if I’m lucky, Tara will accept my friendship some time in the future.  But I have to admit… I don’t have control of the magic.  I felt it rolling through me, and I’m afraid something will trigger it and I won’t have any control whatsoever.  I’m going to have to do something about it.  And I’m really, really afraid to tell Tara about wiping her memories more than the once and the aborted attempt.”

“You need to, Wills.  You need to come completely clean about everything you did.”  Xander whispers softly, tilting her chin up to look into sad green eyes, swollen red from her tears.  “Clean slate, Willow.  You have to take the good with the bad, and if you want a chance to make things right you better get everything off your chest.”

Willow swallows hard and slowly nods her head. Smiling tremulously at Xander as he gently wipes the tears from her cheeks.  “You know I love you, Xander?”  Willow whispers, hugging him tightly.  “When did you get all smart?”

“Bound to happen surrounding myself by all these beautiful smart women.”  Xander smiles, hugging Willow back tightly. 

“Now I have to pray that Buffy won’t end up knocking me into the next century when she finds out what I’ve done.”  Willow inhales a deep, shaky breath. 

“Maybe talking to Tara first, then have her there when you tell Buffy?”  Xander suggests quietly.  “If you want, I’ll be there for moral support also.” 

Willow chuckles sadly.  “Thank you, Xander.  But I think this is something I need to do myself.  It’s time I took responsibility for my own actions.  You aren’t going to freak too bad about the thought of Buffy and Tara being together, are you?”

Xander sighs heavily, thinking about Buffy, knowing that he’ll always love her, but that it was time to let Buffy have her own life, admitting some of the things he’d done in the past he isn’t too proud of.  “It’s her life, Wills.  I was angry for you at first, but after you explained…”

“She deserves happiness just as much, if not more than the rest of us, Xan.  I’m not going to act like it won’t hurt to see the two of them together, but I can’t begrudge either of them being happy.  And if they’re happy together…”  Willow shrugs her eyes showing her pain, but knowing it’s something she has to deal with.  She’d hurt Tara to the point of the Wiccan never being able to trust her again, and she had no one to blame but herself. 

“Want to come to the apartment?  We can pick up a couple movies and pizzas to take there?”  Xander offers, wanting to hopefully pick up Willow’s spirits some.

“No.  I have some more thinking I need to do, and some decisions to make.”  Willow smiles sadly at her best friend.  “Thank you, Xander.”  Willow hugs him tightly again, before releasing him and slowly standing.

Xander groans as he slowly stands.  “I’m getting old.”  He grumbles, rubbing his butt. 

Willow chuckles softly.  “Come on, old man.  Go hug and kiss your fiancée while I go home and work things out.”

“If you need me…”  Xander trails off, looking seriously at his best friend.

“Thank you.”  Willow smiles and leans up to place a soft kiss on his cheek.  “Let’s get out of here.”

Willow brushes the tears from her face as she looks at her phone.  Sighing quietly as she looks at the information on the notepad beside the phone.  That gives her two months until the end of the school year to get things straightened out before flying over to England and spending the summer with the coven in Devon.  Having talked with Giles and admitting everything was even harder than her discussion with Xander.  Giles had immediately offered to pay for the plane ticket out there, Willow having explained to him that she’d take care of it, having her mom’s credit card she could book the flight early and save a small fortune.  Silently sighing as she thinks about the money in her bank account another remembered argument between her and Tara niggling her brain about how Tara had went off on the fact that she hardly ever helped to pay her share of things at Buffy’s house while they were living there taking care of Dawn. 

Standing, Willow walks over to her calculator and slowly starts punching in numbers, wanting to make things right in every way possible.  Knowing how much Buffy’s mortgage payment is, she figures her share of the amount, writing it down as she figures the electric, water and food.  Swallowing at the amount, silently wondering how Buffy’s able to make the payments on her measly check from the DMP…  It hitting her finally that Buffy probably isn’t making full payments, that she’s probably just floating things along making minimum payments.  Dropping her head into her hands, Willow feels her eyes get hot as they fill with tears again.  “I’m a selfish bitch.”  Willow moans loudly to the empty room.

Realizing that Tara had probably taken a small chunk out of the money she’d received from her mother’s insurance policy to pay the bills to keep things going, since the majority of the money from Joyce’s policy had gone to pay the additional hospital bills that her insurance hadn’t covered.  Knowing the Wiccan had been trying to save the money to buy a house with, or at least have a good sized down payment on, when she got out of college and found a job.

Lifting her head up, she slowly re-checks her figures, knowing she can give Buffy what she owes her, but there was probably no way she would be able to give Tara back her portion of the bills that she should have helped with.  Figuring what she owes Tara, she writes it down and circles it with Tara’s name above it.  Promising herself that she’ll pay her back with interest.  Slowly standing, Willow strides into the bathroom, washing her face and placing the cold wet cloth to her eyes to help with the swelling.

Finally making her way back to her bedroom, she debates on what to do.  Not knowing if she’s really welcome back in Buffy’s house or not, she falls onto her bed to stare at the phone.  She doesn’t know how long she lays there staring at the phone, jumping as the phone rings.  Cautiously picking it up, she takes a deep breath.  “Hello?”

Tara licks her lips as Willow’s voice comes over the phone.  “Hi, Willow.”  Tara finally speaks, taking a deep steadying breath to try and calm her racing heart.

“Tara.”  Willow whispers, closing her eyes at the sound of her lover’s… ex-lover’s voice coming over the phone.  “Umm.  Hi.”

Tara has to smile at the shaky hi.  “I think maybe we need to talk, if you want.”  Tara states calmly.

“That might be a good thing.  I have some things I need to tell you.”  Willow offers softly, her eyes shadowed.  “I think it might be best to talk in person…”

Tara sighs, hearing the sadness and worry in Willow’s voice.  “Where do you want to meet?”

“Wherever you’re more comfortable.  In public, if you want.  This… this isn’t going to be easy for me to talk about and I’ll probably break down, but it needs to be done.”  Willow finally gets out as her throat wants to close as the tears try and gather again.

“I’m at my dorm right now, Willow.  I don’t want to make this more difficult, so wherever you want to meet and however you want to do this.  I just want you to understand that this thing between me and Buffy wasn’t planned.  We didn’t want to hurt you...”  Tara whispers softly into the phone.

“I know that, Tara.”  Willow almost chokes, as the tears start flowing, knowing that no matter what, Tara would follow her heart.  She wouldn’t do something out of spite or hatred.  Honestly thinking the woman couldn’t hate anyone, it just isn’t in Tara to be like that.  “I’m going to need to talk with Buffy, too.” 

Tara sits quietly on the phone, afraid to make the suggestion, thinking it may be too much for Willow to deal with both of them at the same time. 

“Do you… do you think Buffy can keep from beating me up to let me say what I have to say?”  Willow questions, only half joking. 

“She wouldn’t hit you, Willow.  She’s your best friend and loves you.”  Tara looks sadly across the room, feeling her heart break at the serious note in Willow’s voice.

“Well, when she hears what I have to say, I won’t be too sure about that.”  Willow admits, taking a deep breath.  “Can you meet me over at Buffy’s?  And… and can you call her to let her know I’m coming over.  I won’t stay, but I think it might be best for me to go ahead and do this in one fell swoop.  I don’t think my nerves can handle going over all this four different times.”

Tara blinks at Willow’s words.  “Four times?”  Tara questions hoarsely.

“Yeah.  I’ll tell you when we get together over at Buffy’s, okay?  I’ll wait for a while before heading over there, give you time to get there.”  Willow takes a deep breath and tries a small smile.  “Thanks for being willing to talk to me, Tara.  I’ll see you in a little while.  ‘Bye.”  Willow hurriedly babbles out before quickly hanging up the phone.

Tara stares at the phone, as the dial tone sounds in her ear, wondering what’s going on.  Slowly hanging up the phone, she takes a couple minutes to get her thoughts together before she picks the phone up to call Buffy.

***

Chapter 7

Buffy opens the door and pulls Tara in to hug her tightly.  “No idea?”

“No.”  Tara hugs Buffy back, enjoying the warmth and strength coming from her lover.  “I’m a nervous wreck.”  Tara admits quietly into Buffy’s neck, pressing her lips gently against her neck, knowing Buffy’ll bitch at her if she makes her lip bleed again.  

“You’re not the only one.”  Buffy strokes her hands gently up and down Tara’s back.  Shifting back after a few minutes, Buffy strokes a thumb over Tara’s cheek, smiling softly at her lover.  Brushing her lips softly over Tara’s, Buffy winks at her.  “We’ll see what’s the what here in a little while.  Do you want something to drink?  Or maybe some of the lasagna we have leftover from dinner tonight?”

Tara chuckles quietly and nods her head.  “I’ll take some water.  I had a sandwich earlier at the dorm.”

Buffy grunts quietly as she waves Tara to sit down as she jogs into the kitchen to get a water for her lover.  Wondering for the hundredth time what it is that Willow wants to talk about, knowing that it’s more than just the changing dynamics of their group.  Tara having explained that Willow had said something about not wanting to go over it four different times.  Silently wondering who Willow’s been discussing things with.

Shaking her head out of her musings, Buffy strides quickly back into the living room, handing the bottle of water to Tara as she settles beside the Wiccan.  Nervously running her fingers over Tara’s strong thigh as she waits for Willow to show up at the house. 

“Buffy.”  Tara warns, after Buffy’s hand reached further up her leg than decent.  Grabbing the offending hand, Tara chuckles at the look of surprise on Buffy’s face.  “You weren’t even aware of where your fingers were playing, were you?”

“No.”  Buffy blushes lightly.  “Sorry.” 

Tara winks at Buffy as she gently squeezes the slayer’s hand.  “Any other time…”  Tara chuckles as Buffy groans quietly. 

“Don’t tease the slayer.”  Buffy mumbles leaning in to kiss Tara gently on the cheek, before resting her head against her shoulder. 

“Don’t ask, sweet one.  We’ll find out when she gets here.”  Tara murmurs, feeling Buffy tense up.

“Damn.  When did you start to read minds?”  Buffy grumbles, brushing her cheek over Tara’s shoulder. 

Tara laughs softly.  “You were tensing up, and I kind of figured out what you were going to say.”

“You did good.”  Buffy sighs heavily.  Turning and nipping gently on Tara’s shoulder, Buffy stands and eases her hand away from Tara’s as she starts to pace the living room.  “I’m going to go nuts not knowing what’s going on.”

Tara starts to bite her bottom lip, whimpering quietly as pain shoots through her lip.

“What did you do?”  Buffy hurries to Tara, kneeling on the couch beside Tara, seeing the pain in her beautiful blue eyes.  Looking down at her lip, Buffy sighs quietly as she sees the red.  “Damn it, Tara.”  Buffy reaches back for tissues off the coffee table and pulls a couple out to press gently to her lip.  “Need to put up a protective spell around your lip so you don’t keep hurting it.”  Buffy frowns heavily.  “Want me to get a little ice?  That might help stop the bleeding and the swelling.”

“Please.”  Tara smiles softly at Buffy, closing her eyes as Buffy brushes her lips quickly over her forehead before heading out of the living room towards the kitchen.  Holding the tissues to her lip, she hears a light knock on the front door.  Going to stand, she settles back into the couch at Buffy’s yell.

“I’ve got it!”  Buffy finishes wrapping the ice in a towel and jogs back to Tara, handing her the towel.  “Put that on your lip.”  Buffy orders with a narrowed gaze as she opens the door, swallowing as an obviously nervous Willow shifts from foot to foot.  Easing back from the doorway, Buffy looks sadly at her best friend.  “Wills.”

“Buffy.”  Willow swallows hard and steps into the house, glancing over at Tara, wincing at the swelling and bruising on the Wiccan’s face.  “Damn Spike.”

“I’m pretty sure he regretted it deeply before Buffy finally dusted him.”  Tara shrugs a slight twinkle in her eyes. 

“Good.  I hope you hurt him, and hurt him bad.”  Willow grumbles quietly, slowly sitting in the chair across from Tara, sighing quietly. 

“She did.”  Tara mumbles around the ice, watching as Buffy gingerly sits down on the couch, keeping a slight distance from her.  Winking at her lover knowing that Buffy would rather be in contact with her but not wanting to push things in front of Willow.

“Willow, you know we didn’t do this to hurt you.”  Buffy starts, frowning heavily as she looks at Willow.

“Shhh.”  Willow shushes the slayer and slowly shakes her head.  “You didn’t do anything wrong.  Neither one of you did.  I finally realized that I have absolutely no one to blame but myself.”  Willow takes a deep breath and looks from one woman to the other, her eyes finally settling on blue eyes.  “I owe you so much…  I treated you more like a possession than a partner, and when things weren’t going the way I wanted them to, I changed things.  I know I can never take back what I did, but I can tell you what happened, and hope that one day you can maybe forgive me.”  Willow looks down for a few minutes before slowly starting to explain the other two arguments she and Tara had had about her use of magic.  Admitting softly that when they had their first fight when the Fair was happening, she’d went to the Magic Box and researched the forget spell, planning on using it.

Buffy inhales deeply, unconsciously scooting next to Tara, the two women threading their fingers together as they continue to listen to Willow.

Willow looks briefly at the two women, before sighing quietly, continuing her explanation.  How it was a moot point at that time, because of what happened to Tara, but she kept the Lethe’s Bramble and memorized the spell.  A quiet sob escapes her lips as she admits while Buffy was gone that she and Tara had a blazing row about the amount of magic, especially the dark magic that Willow was using while they were fighting demons.  Luckily Dawn had been staying over at a friend’s house for the weekend when the argument took place.  Tara was to the point of breaking up with her then, had even went to sleep on the couch but Willow had done the forget spell and acted like Tara had fallen asleep watching television.

Buffy unconsciously growls at the redhead’s admission, leaning forward as she stares at Willow.  “How could you?  How would you have felt if some…”  Buffy stops as Tara grasps her shoulder pulling her back. 

“Let her speak, Buffy.  Please.”  Tara whispers softly, her eyes sad as she looks at Buffy.  “She didn’t know what she was doing…  And didn’t realize the consequences of her actions.  She’s explaining what happened so I’m aware of everything that she’s done.”  Tara brushes her fingertips gently down Buffy’s cheek. 

Buffy unconsciously presses into the soft caress, nodding her head as she keeps her mouth shut.  Slowly easing back against the couch and placing a hand on Tara’s thigh, not caring if Willow freaks because of it or not, she turns to look at Tara as the Wiccan pats her hand but doesn’t make her move it.

Willow bites her bottom lip as she watches the tender display, tears coming to her eyes at the obvious love and caring the women have for each other.  As the two women calm down and look at her again, Willow sighs quietly.  “You know about the other spell, where Dawn overheard us.  We argued over my magic usage again.  You were angry and were just going to go to sleep and I placed the spell on you making you forget our argument again.”

Buffy tenses slightly before Tara squeezes her hand, slowly making herself relax she sits there waiting for Willow to continue.

“You know about the big forget spell that about got us all killed.”  Willow looks at the two women, looking apologetically at Buffy and Tara.  “Tara of course moved out and I had my major downfall with Rack and Amy, hurting Dawn.”  Willow shakes her head, clenching her hands together tightly.  “I didn’t change anything else, but I do need to tell you about what I almost did yesterday.”  Willow’s eyes look haunted as she glances at the two women.  “My first instinct was to run home, dig through my magical texts for a way to put a spell on both of you and make things the way I wanted them.”

Buffy jumps up growling loudly as she takes a step towards the redhead, stopped when she has two arms wrapped around her thighs pulling her back into Tara, literally having her sit in the Wiccan’s lap.

“Don’t make me stick your ass on the couch so you can’t move.”  Tara warns seriously. 

Buffy frowns as she looks over her shoulder at Tara.  “You can do that?”

“And more.”  Tara nods her head.  Easing back against the couch, she pulls Buffy so she’s lying against her front.  Keeping her arms around the slayer’s middle, Tara looks at Willow.  “For now, this might be the safest bet.  If she goes off, I’ll put her in a protective bubble or something so that way she can’t hurt you.”  Tara squeezes Buffy tightly.  “I’m serious, Slayer.”  Tara whispers softly in Buffy’s ear.

Buffy drops her chin onto her chest.  “I’m sorry.  I just got this shit floating in my brain and I’m going into protect mode.”

“Shh.  I know, sweet one, I know.”  Tara hooks her chin over Buffy’s shoulder and watches Willow, her eyes serious.  “Go ahead, Willow.”

Willow swallows hard as she looks into Tara’s sad and worried gaze to Buffy’s angry eyes, knowing that Buffy would do whatever she deemed necessary to protect Tara, both from physical and mental harm.  Nodding her head as she understands that means even from her best friend.  “Needless to say I did go home and started sorting through the books looking for something when it hit me exactly what I was doing.  I realize I don’t have control of the magic, it was literally right there at my fingertips wanting to be let out, and I could have so easily given in.  I broke down as I realized exactly what I had done, it finally having hit me right between the eyes.  After I spent many hours crying, I gathered up every book, every crystal, every candle and every herb I had in the house, boxed it up and took it to the Magic Box.  I told Anya to do whatever the hell she wanted to with the stuff.”  Willow runs her hands through her hair as she takes a deep breath to try and calm down.  “When I practically ran from the shop, I literally ran into Xander.  Needless to say I broke down.”  Willow looks from Buffy to Tara and back again, keeping her eyes on Buffy.  “I started off by telling him that you and Tara were together.  He went ballistic and was going to say something to you, when I made him listen to me, and I told him everything.  Everything that I told you, without the details about the fact I’d done the spell twice on Tara, then the one failed time, along with everything I knew about how you came to be together.  By the way, I think he was extremely happy about Spike being dusted.”  Willow turns her eyes to look at Tara.  “And he was upset that you were hurt.  Needless to say, he told me I had to come clean about everything, that if I ever wanted the chance to possibly have both of your friendships, I had to get everything out in the open.” 

Tara brushes her cheek over Buffy’s shoulder, sighing quietly.  “Your first reaction is to do magic when something happens that you don’t like.  You have to change that, Willow.”  Tara offers quietly, her eyes sad as she looks at her ex-lover.

Willow nods her head in agreement.  “That’s why I called Giles and told him what I had done.  At the end of this school year, I’m going to the Coven in Devon.  If I have another major problem before then, I’m hopping the first plane I can to England.  I’ve realized I don’t much like myself anymore.”  Willow’s eyes fill with tears as she looks at the two women.  “You’ve both done so much to help me and be there for me, and I realized I have been a selfish bitch in so many ways.”  Willow shakes her head as both women start to open their mouths.  “No, don’t say anything.  I have been.  Tara, I can’t even up with you right now, but I can with you, Buffy.”  Willow stands and opens her purse, pulling out the check to hand to Buffy.  “I promise I’ll pay you back, Tara when I get the additional money.  I know you dipped into your inheritance money to pay for everything when we were here taking care of Dawn.  I didn’t really use any of my money except for the occasional food that I bought and the magical supplies, so I made out this IOU.”  Willow hands another slip of paper to Tara.  “I’ll pay you back that amount, plus interest as I can.  I’m hoping that I figured the amounts close to what they would be.  I was guesstimating, because I really don’t remember how much everything cost.”  Willow shifts quickly towards the door.  “I’m sorry for everything.  Maybe one day you two can forgive me, even if you don’t want to be my friends anymore.”

“Willow, wait!”  Buffy calls out quickly, Tara letting her go.

“No, Buffy.  I think I need to go home.  I’ll come by one day this week and gather my stuff.”  Willow shakes her head at the slayer, tears starting to fall from her eyes.  “I…  I can’t deal with anymore right now.  Keep her safe, please.”  Willow hurriedly leaves the Summers’ residence, knowing she’s going to have a seriously long crying fit again.  Knowing it will be for the best if she goes home where she can be by herself and let her emotions run the full gamut.

Buffy silently watches as Willow practically runs down the street, fighting her own tears.  As Tara wraps her arms around her waist, pulling her back against her, Buffy sighs quietly as the tears fall.

“She really understands now, Buffy.  I hate that everything hit her like this at the same time, but I honestly believe it’s for the best.  That way she can take responsibility for her actions and move forward with her life.”  Tara explains quietly, holding Buffy loosely in her arms as she tilts her head against the slayer’s, closing her eyes as she tries to get control of her rolling emotions.

Buffy silently agrees with Tara, leaning more into the Wiccan.  “Should I give her a few days then try to call her?”

“That would probably be best.  I don’t know if she’ll want to move back in here, or end up moving back home.”  Tara admits softly brushing her lips over Buffy’s shoulder. 

“Stay tonight?”  Buffy hoarsely questions, reaching up to brush the tears from her face.

“I…”  Tara starts to say she didn’t bring anything to wear for the next day, before hugging Buffy tightly.  “Yes, I’ll stay tonight.”

Buffy runs her hands gently over Tara’s arms.  “Thank you.” 

“I’ll have to get up early tomorrow, though.  My first class is at 8:30.”  Tara warns softly, loosening her arms as Buffy shifts, smiling down into hazel eyes.

“I’ll walk you.  I have to be at work at 10:30.  I’ll see what kind of mischief I can get up to in between.”  Buffy leans up and kisses Tara on the forehead.  “Let’s go tell Dawn what’s going on, if she didn’t park her ass at the top of the stairs and listen to most of the conversation.”

Tara chuckles softly.  “Got that feeling too, huh?”

“Uh, yep.”  Buffy nods her head, her eyes twinkling.  “Dawn?  Do I have to tell you what went on down here, or did you get the majority of it?”

Dawn groans quietly at having been caught.  “I got it.”

Tara hesitates for a minute before questioning the teen.  “Is there anything you want to talk about or discuss?”  Tara watches as Dawn steps down on the landing and hesitates at the top of the stairs.

“I…”  Dawn tucks her hands in her pockets as she thinks about what was said.  “I kinda think I just want to think about what was said right now, if that’s okay.”

“That’s fine, Dawnie.  If you need to talk, we’re here.”  Tara smiles sadly at the teen.

“Thanks, Tara.”  Dawn allows a quick smile to cross her face.

Tara groans quietly as she watches Dawn disappear back upstairs.  “This is a lot to take in.”  Tara admits softly turning to look at Buffy.

“I’m still not happy with what she did to you, Tara.”  Buffy admits quietly, stroking her fingers gently over the Wiccan’s cheek. 

“Neither am I, sweet one.  Neither am I.”  Tara admits, tears slowly filling her eyes as she allows the hurt she was feeling at what Willow had done to her to surface. Burying her face in Buffy’s neck as her lover pulls her into a gentle hug.

Pressing her lips to Tara’s head, Buffy moves them to the couch.  Picking the Wiccan up, she sits down on the couch with Tara sitting across her lap.  Gently rocking her lover, Buffy strokes her hands gently up and down Tara’s back, arms and legs as the Wiccan quietly cries.  “I love you, Tara.”  Buffy whispers quietly after she calms down.  “This has been a hell of a weekend for you.”

“For us both.”  Tara murmurs, wiggling her hands beneath Buffy’s shirt.

“What are you doing?”  Buffy questions curiously.

“Need to feel you.”  Tara admits, sighing quietly as she feels the slayer’s warm skin under her hands.  Brushing her lips softly over Buffy’s neck, Tara presses her forehead against her lover and closes her eyes in contentment.

Buffy smiles softly as she continues to gently stroke her hands over her lover, enjoying the feel of the woman against her and under her hands.  As Tara’s breathing evens out and the woman settles even more into her body, Buffy chuckles softly.  Wiggling slightly, Buffy gets more comfortable as she closes her eyes and slowly follows Tara into a healing sleep.

***

Chapter 8

Buffy gently brushes her fingertips over Tara’s cheek before kissing her softly on the lips.  “Have fun.”

Tara rolls her eyes and chuckles.  “I’m sure I’ll be questioned all week about my new beauty statements.”  Tara points to her face, sighing quietly, though her eyes are twinkling.  “Have you decided how you’re going to spend your time before you have to be at work?”

“Walking around.”  Buffy shrugs before wrapping Tara up in her arms and hugging her tightly.  “Bring some clothes and stuff to the house.  I’d like you to stay there.”

“Buffy, honey…”  Tara starts, sighing quietly as Buffy’s arms tighten more around her, before releasing her slightly to look at her.  “I don’t want you to feel like you have to rush into a relationship with me.”  Tara admits quietly. 

“Do you love me?”  Buffy questions softly, watching as Tara’s eyes snap up to her and her head nods sharply.  “I love you.  We may not know each other really well, but I do know that when we’re together I’m happier than I ever thought possible.  And I feel like being selfish and want that feeling to happen frequently.” 

“Goddess, the things you say…”  Tara allows a small grin to cross her face, pulling Buffy to her to hug her tightly.  “Then that will make both of us being selfish, because being with you makes me extremely happy and I would love for it to happen as frequently as possible.  But not all week long, no argument.  But I will stay tonight.”

“Good.  Go before you’re late.”  Buffy urges Tara.  Smiling as Tara hurries towards the building, hesitating to smile at her before heading inside.  “Do you have any idea how much I’ve come to care for and love you?”  Buffy whispers, before considering her options and slowly working her way to another building on campus with a slight bounce to her walk.

***

Buffy whistles happily as she practically floats home.  Opening the door, she smiles as she smells food cooking.  “Tara?” 

“In here, honey.”  Tara calls from the kitchen, smiling as Buffy hurries into the kitchen.

“Kiss.”  Buffy orders quietly, gently pressing her lips against Tara’s before easing back and brushing her thumb softly over Tara’s lip, taking in her lover’s wounds.  “So, how many people questioned what happened to you?”

Tara rolls her eyes and groans.  “Almost everyone.”  Tara quirks her lips at her lover. 

“And what was your explanation?”  Buffy questions worriedly.

“That there was an attempted mugging on my way home Friday, and that a friend happened to scare off the mugger, took me to the hospital and made love to me all weekend long.”  Tara fights the smile trying to cross her mouth, her eyes twinkling as Buffy’s mouth drops open and she blushes.

“Think you screwed up there.  More like you made love to me all weekend long.”  Buffy growls and runs her fingers down Tara’s neck.  “I need to clean up.  Got good news to tell you.” 

“You could tell me before you shower.”  Tara’s eyes twinkle in response to Buffy’s happy smile. 

“Nope.  I stink and need a shower.  I’ll get cleaned up and be back in a few minutes.  Dawn home?”  Buffy questions, as she heads out of the kitchen, hesitating for a few minutes.

“Yes, she is.  She’s working on her math homework.”  Tara smiles as Buffy nods and quickly heads out of the kitchen.  “Goddess, you’re beautiful.”  Tara shakes her head, laughing quietly before checking the sauce simmering on the stove ready for the Chicken Alfredo she’s fixing for dinner.

***

Buffy hurries up the stairs and sticks her head into Dawn’s bedroom.  “Dawn, I know dinner’s going to be ready in a little while, if the smells coming from the stove is anything to go by, so can you go downstairs to help set the dining room table while I get cleaned up?  I have some good news.”

“What good news?”  Dawn turns to look at her sister, the happy smile on her face making her smile in response.

“I want to tell you and Tara at the same time.  Let me get cleaned up.”  Buffy laughs as she heads across the hall to her bedroom to gather clean clothes before heading towards the shower.

***

Tara smiles as Dawn grabs the silverware to finish setting the table for dinner as she hears Buffy come pounding down the stairs, chuckling as strong arms wrap around her, hugging and lifting her as a pair of warm lips attach themselves to her neck.  Giggling, Tara reaches behind her and pats Buffy firmly on the thigh.  “What’s gotten into you?”

“Happy.”  Buffy admits, gently setting Tara back down the couple inches to the ground before letting her hands stroke softly over Tara’s stomach.  “How much longer before dinner’s ready?”

“About ten minutes.”  Tara chuckles as Buffy nips softly on her neck. 

“Let me get our drinks.  Soda?”  Buffy smiles as Tara nods her answer before she pulls the chicken out of the oven.

Tara smiles as she listens to Buffy whistling softly as she gathers the drinks for them and takes them to the dining room.  Mixing the Alfredo sauce with the drained pasta in a bowl, Tara places the baked garlic chicken breasts on a platter and carries them into the dining room, smiling at the sight of Buffy slicing and buttering the loaf of French bread.  Setting the bowl and platter on the table, she runs a gentle hand over the top of Buffy’s head before settling in the chair beside her lover, and across from Dawn.

Tara purses her lips and watches Buffy intently as the slayer fills her plate without saying anything.  Waiting for a few minutes as Buffy starts to eat, Tara growls quietly and taps her fork on her lover’s plate.  “NEWS!”  Tara grumbles forcefully.

“Ooops.”  Buffy grins while blushing lightly at her lover.  “It just smells so good…”

“Buffy…”  Tara warns with narrowed eyes then grins as Dawn giggles before she smiles softly at the teenager.

“Boss speaks, hop to it.”  Dawn ducks the half-hearted smack her sister sends her way.  Grabbing the noodles, she places some on her plate before grabbing one of the smaller breasts and placing it on top.  After handing the platter to Tara, Dawn pours some dressing on her salad waiting for Buffy to start speaking.

Buffy sits back and grins.  “Starting Monday I have a new job.” 

“What?”  Tara’s eyes widen in surprise as she looks at Buffy, stopping her hand’s movement from where she was getting ready to place a chicken breast on her plate.

“I visited the Administration building at the college, and they had a few jobs posted on the board.  I applied, and they were in desperate need for people to work cleaning the college.  I’ll be working during the day three days a week and I will be working from noon until around nine at night the other two days.  I figure those two days, I’ll just go straight to patrolling on the way home.”  Buffy grins and accepts the hug she gets from Tara.

Hurriedly setting the plate down, Tara pounces on Buffy hugging her tightly.  “That’s wonderful, honey.  No more stinky, greasy Buffy.”

“Well… no more greasy Buffy at least.”  Buffy laughs as Tara sits back down.  “I don’t always smell like a rose when I come in from slaying.”

Tara waves her hand dismissively.  “That’s wonderful news.  What days are you working late, or is it not a set schedule?”

“Actually it is.  Thursday and Friday nights I’ll be working the late shift.  Which Friday’s is usually one of my heavier days for patrols, so…”  Buffy shrugs and smiles.  “But that means I get weekends off now, except for anything special they have going on at the college.  Also, it’s only for the next two months that I have to work the later shift.  After the classes are finished at the end of the school year, I’ll be daytime all the time.”

“Does a pay raise come with the new job?”  Dawn questions curiously.

“Leave it up to Dawn.”  Buffy grumbles, narrowing her gaze on her sister.  “Yes, but that doesn’t mean you get to spend it.  I have some serious bills to make up for, and it’s going to take a while.  So do NOT ask for stuff, understand?”

Dawn pouts and looks down at her plate.  “But there’s this shirt I’ve really, really been wanting at the mall.”

Tara shakes her head and smiles softly at the teen.  “I’ll make a deal with you, Dawnie.  If you do the dishes this week, I’ll take you to the mall and buy you the shirt.”

“Tara…”  Buffy starts, looking at her lover.

“Deal.”  Dawn interrupts quickly, grinning. 

Buffy grumbles under her breath but keeps from saying anything out loud. 

Tara grasps Buffy’s hand, squeezing it gently to smile at the slayer as she looks up at her.  “It’s okay, Buffy.  I kind of want to talk to you about something later, anyway.”

Buffy furrows her brows at Tara in question, but Tara just quirks her lips and winks at her.  Sighing quietly, already recognizing the look in her lover’s eyes, Buffy nods before pulling Tara’s hand up to kiss it quickly, before releasing it so they can eat dinner.

Dawn quickly looks back down at her plate, trying to hide the huge grin on her face.  Surprised at the way Buffy’s acting with Tara, but knowing it’s hard not to love the Wiccan.  Knowing she loves her completely, but SOOO not in the way her sister does.  Shivering slightly at that thought, Dawn starts to eat dinner.

Buffy moans as the flavor of the food bursts on her tongue.  “This is wonderful, thank you Tara.”  Buffy smiles at Tara as she grabs another bite of food.

“Thank you.  And you’re welcome.”  Tara grins crookedly as she cuts her chicken into small bite-sized pieces before eating her dinner carefully. 

“When are you going to move in, Tara?”  Dawn questions, deciding she’ll push it since she knows Buffy is a little leery of saying something to her.

“Ummm…”  Tara blinks and looks nervously at Buffy.  But seeing the same questioning look in Buffy’s eyes that she sees in Dawn’s, Tara sighs quietly.  “That’s something that has to do with the discussion I want to have with Buffy later.”  Tara finally admits quietly.  “With Willow deciding she’s going to move out, I wanted to pass something by you.”  Tara looks deeply into Buffy’s eyes.

“You can move in right now, and I’ll be fine with it.”  Buffy explains softly, her eyes serious. 

“There’ll have to be some ground rules first.”  Tara whispers, blushing lightly.  “We’ll discuss it later.”

Buffy growls softly, before finally nodding her head.  “Okay.  When I come back from patrol, we’ll have a talk.”

Tara slowly works on eating her dinner, watching Buffy and Dawn as the two sisters pick on each other, smiling at the sight of Buffy seeming to have relaxed a lot and being more like the woman she used to be.  Surprised at the thought of this caring, beautiful woman being in love with her, Tara catches hazel eyes darting her way.  Winking at her lover, Tara’s eyes widen as she feels a foot slide over hers and slowly rub up and down her shin.  Blushing lightly, Tara breaks contact with mischief filled hazel eyes. 

Buffy chuckles quietly as she works on eating her dinner, but continuing to play with Tara’s leg, noticing the blush on her face but the woman not moving her leg away.  Wondering if she should clue Tara in to what she’s really getting into by being with her, Buffy decides she’ll save that for later.  Having someone to love and make love to something she’s really missed.  Though having to admit it was different with Tara.  Feelings running a lot deeper than she’d ever imagined for the blonde Wiccan, especially compared to her past relationships.  Licking her lips at the thought of what she’d like to do to Tara, Buffy wiggles slightly in her chair.  Surprised at the arousal she already feels building.  Mentally berating herself, Buffy tries to put those thoughts aside as she works on filling her plate again.

***

Buffy grumbles as she limps home, not believing that damn little troll looking bastard bit her.  Hoping the critter enjoyed it, since it was the last time he’ll ever bite anyone again, Buffy shakes her head. 

“Stupid little monster.”  Buffy unlocks the door and lets herself into the house, turning to lock the door behind her before turning the light off in the living room and heading towards the kitchen.  Reaching into the refrigerator, planning on grabbing a couple bottles of water, she chuckles at the sight of a large sub sandwich sitting beside two bottles of water with a note on it stating it was a late night snack for her.  “God, I love you.”  Buffy whispers as she thinks about Tara’s thoughtfulness.  Grabbing the sandwich and waters, she works her way quickly up the stairs.

Tara looks up from where she’s working on her paper.  Smiling at the sight of Buffy until she notices her limping.  “What’s wrong?”  Tara looks down and frowns as she sees the holes in the jeans and blood on Buffy’s thigh. 

“Believe it or not, a damn demon bit me.  I’m going to go shower before I clean it up.”  Buffy waves a hand down at the wound before setting her stuff on the nightstand.  “Thank you.”  Buffy whispers before kissing Tara softly on the lips, a barely there butterfly touch. 

“Bring the first aid kit back with you and I’ll clean it while you eat.”  Tara offers, quirking her lip as Buffy nods her head and grabs her robe before heading back out of the bedroom.  “Can’t much blame him for wanting to take a hunk out of her.  She is damn tasty.”  Tara chuckles at the thought, before going back to writing. 

Buffy groans softly as she hears Tara’s comment before shutting the bathroom door.  “Never would have believed Tara is like she is, if I didn’t see and hear it myself.”  Buffy admits, chuckling at the thought of her obviously very sexual girlfriend.  Shivering slightly at the thought of what Tara might get up to when she’s healed.  Groaning as the desire floods her panties, Buffy laughs.  “Damn body.  Need to teach you to behave while I’m at it.” 

Turning the shower on, Buffy strips and looks at her jeans, sighing at the holes and blood on them.  “I guess I can always see if Tara would mind putting some patches on them.  It’s getting expensive replacing my clothes.”  Buffy rubs a hand over her head at the thought.  Setting the jeans on the back of the small chair in front of the vanity.  Quickly brushing her teeth, Buffy hops in the shower, quickly washing her hair and body, scrubbing the bite on her thigh thoroughly.  Wrinkling her nose at the sight of the deep holes, but they are spaced out so much, that they probably wouldn’t be worth trying to stitch. 

Shaking her head, she finishes with her shower before hopping out.  Toweling her body off, she grabs another towel and rubs it over her head thoroughly.  Tossing it in the hamper with the other towel, Buffy grabs her hairbrush and brushes her hair.  Tossing it back on the vanity, Buffy runs her hands through the damp strands, smiling at the thought of Tara just across the hall from her.  “Yeah, and like an idiot you’re standing in here thinking about her, instead of going in there to be with her.”  Buffy grumbles quietly, yanking on her robe, grabbing the first aid kit and her jeans.

Tara stands by the door, shutting and locking it after Buffy grins at her as she hurries in.  “Do you want me to fix your jeans, honey?”  Tara questions curiously as she holds her hands out for the item.  Looking at the small holes, she realizes it won’t take much to fix them.

“If you can.  I’m running out of clothes and it’s getting expensive replacing them.”  Buffy admits quietly, frowning slightly.  “I thought I remembered seeing you using mom’s sewing machine a couple times.”

“Yes, I sewed a lot of my skirts.”  Tara admits, frowning.  “I didn’t think about it, but I hope you didn’t mind my using it.  When you…”  Tara trails off swallowing hard as she remembers when she’d been using it.

“Shhh.”  Buffy reaches for Tara, gently pulling her to her and hugging her.  “You’re more than welcome to anything I have Tara.  And I’m here now.  I think mom would be happy to know that someone that she liked and knew was using the sewing machine, than me trashing it or selling it.”  Buffy frowns as she hears the quiet sob escape Tara.  “Tara?”

“I… I hate thinking about you being gone.”  Tara whispers, her fingers clenching Buffy’s waist tightly, almost digging into the slayer.  “Then that damn robot was a mockery of the person you were.  I can’t tell you how much I wanted to blast that damn thing into the atmosphere.  The relief I felt when you came back and Willow admitted that the robot was past repairing…  I felt that the world was finally right again.”

“You really did miss me while I was gone.”  Buffy whispers, it finally hitting home what Tara had previously told her.  “You were never going to say anything?  Hell, I don’t ever remember seeing you look at me as more than a friend.”

Tara brushes her cheek against Buffy, wrapping her arms tightly around her waist and hugging her.  “I was serious, Buffy.  I buried those feelings for you and treated you like a friend.  I wouldn’t allow anything else to get through while I was with Willow.”

“You’re probably stronger than I would have been.”  Buffy sighs quietly, before shaking her head.  “Or maybe not.”  Buffy thinks about how she thought about Tara before the woman’s poor mind had been sucked by Glory. 

Tara has to smile.  “Something you’re not telling me?”

Buffy grunts quietly and nips on Tara’s shoulder.  “I’m pleading the fifth.”

“Hmmm.”  Tara chuckles softly.  “So, maybe you telling me you started caring for me when you broke down in my lap might not be quite true?”

“Fifth…  Very, very seriously the fifth.”  Buffy grumbles, smacking Tara gently on the butt.  “Fix me up so we can have some play time before you have to go to sleep.”

“Nice change of subject.  And don’t think we won’t be coming back to it.”  Tara warns, narrowing her gaze on Buffy as the slayer shifts back and settles on the bed.  Grabbing the first aid kit, Buffy had set down, Tara groans deeply as Buffy lets the robe slide open, showing her from the waist down. 

Buffy smirks as she reaches over to grab her sandwich and one of the bottles of water, purposefully spreading her legs part way open. 

“I’m going to kick your ass, Slayer.”  Tara grumbles, grabbing the edge of the robe and covering Buffy’s sex with it.  “I’m cleaning your leg, not other body parts.”

“Why?  Does seeing me upset you?”  Buffy chuckles as Tara smacks her firmly on the leg. 

“Fine.  I’ll clean your wound then fix your hornies while you take care of your hungries.  But we won’t be discussing what we put off earlier tonight.”  Tara warns, before she settles beside Buffy, trailing her fingers gently over the wounds on her thigh.  “He must have had thin, long, sharp teeth.”  Tara murmurs, looking at the pierced flesh.  Sighing quietly, she opens the kit and pulls out the antiseptic.

Buffy tilts her head as she thinks out loud.  “Hornies… talk.  Talk… hornies.  Damn, decisions, decisions.”  Chuckling she unwraps the sandwich and takes a bite out of it.

Tara glances up at the chuckles, shaking her head at the merriment dancing in Buffy’s eyes.  “I never knew you were so rotten.”  Tara murmurs before going back to cleaning the wounds.

Buffy finishes chewing and swallowing before commenting.  “I never knew that you were such a sexually adventurous person.”  Buffy grins at her lover as Tara blushes lightly. 

“You haven’t seen anything yet.”  Tara wiggles her eyebrows, giggling as Buffy whimpers.  Looking back down, Tara grabs the antibiotic ointment out of the kit and gently spreads it over the teeth marks on Buffy’s leg.  Running her fingers gently over Buffy’s leg after she finishes treating the wound, Tara sighs softly.  “We need to work on you gaining some weight, Buffy.  You’ve about wasted away to nothing.” 

Buffy watches as Tara looks up at her with sad and worried eyes.  Holding up the sandwich that she’d managed to eat half of between picking on Tara and just talking with her, Buffy grins.  “It won’t be long, if you keep feeding me like you have this past weekend, along with leaving me snacks like this.”

“Just make sure you eat my snacks.”  Tara winks before standing to set the first aid kit on the dresser.  Sliding her shorts and tank top off, she folds them and leaves them on the dresser, fighting the smile that’s trying to cross her face at the deep groan coming from Buffy.  Flipping the overhead light off, Tara works around to the other side of the bed and eases under the cover, chuckling at the glazed look on Buffy’s face and the sandwich frozen midway to her mouth.  “Eat, Buffy.”

Buffy turns her head to stare at Tara.  “I don’t mean this to sound tacky, which I have a feeling it’s going to… but I enjoy sex, Tara.  I really do, but I never got turned on as easily as I do with you.  And we’ve only been together for three days now!  I can just think about you and…”  Buffy waves her free hand down her body.

Tara looks down Buffy’s body, smirking as she sees Buffy’s nipples poking insistently against her lightweight robe.  “The girls are happy.”  Tara murmurs, reaching up to trail a finger around a hardened nipple.

“That ain’t all.”  Buffy grumbles, shifting slightly, the dampness between her legs becoming worse with Tara’s husky voice and teasing touch. 

Tara eases her finger away as she hears the quiet growl coming from Buffy.  “Eat.”  Tara finally orders, easing down in the bed and lying on her side as she watches Buffy.

Buffy shifts her sandwich to her left hand and uses her right to slide the sheet down and uncover Tara’s body to her hips.  “By the way, when did you become all sleek and lightly muscular?  Or was I just not that observant?”  Buffy questions curiously, trailing a finger over the lightly defined abdominal muscles. 

Tara chuckles and flinches as Buffy’s finger tickles.  “Stop that.” 

Buffy grins and looks up into twinkling blue eyes.  “Come on, talk to me.”

Tara sighs and shifts slightly to fold the pillow under her head while she watches Buffy start to eat again.  “After I moved out, I had a lot of spare time on my hands.  To begin with I wallowed in self-pity before I forced myself to get up and join the land of the living again.  One of the girls on my floor likes to run and she’d been trying to talk me into going, saying it was a great stress reliever, especially once you built up your stamina.  I think I called Andrea every name in the book the first few weeks I went running with her, even considering the fact that she was taking it easy on me.  After a while I realized we were going further and faster and before long I was up to running roughly ten miles a day during the week.”  Tara shrugs at the surprised look on Buffy’s face.  “She even signed me up as a family member at the local gym and I go in there a few times a week also.  It doesn’t cost that much and I actually had to argue with her to let me pay.  She was just happy to have someone go with her to work out.”

Buffy frowns slightly as she looks at Tara.  “Does she like you?”

Tara quirks an eyebrow in surprise at the deceptively calm voice, hearing the underlying jealousy behind the question.  “Hmmm.  She might, if she was into blue eyed blondes.”  When Buffy frowns even harder while looking at her, Tara chuckles and shakes her head.  “She’s got a hard-on for one of the girls at the gym.  Toni’s got black hair and dark brown eyes, she stands almost six feet tall and Andrea practically swoons every time we go to the gym if Toni’s there working out.”

Buffy snorts quietly and slowly relaxes from where she’d unconsciously stiffened.  “Hard-on?”  Buffy wiggles her eyebrows and looks down her body.  “We’re missing something serious to have that.”

“Oh, you think so, do you?”  Tara grins mischievously while gently scraping a short fingernail slowly from Buffy’s knee up her thigh.  “I bet you that it swells and becomes hard, begging for release.  What’s your definition of a hard-on, Buffy?”

Buffy whimpers deeply, cramming the last bit of the sandwich in her mouth while spreading her legs slightly to give Tara easier access to her body as she starts to do teasing little circles on the flesh of her inner thigh. 

Tara trails her fingers over the desire coating Buffy’s thighs, lifting the wet digits up to show the liquid glistening on them before she slowly sucks each finger clean to Buffy’s low groan.  “You might want to finish your water and take your robe off.  I’m going to give you a little anatomy lesson.”

Buffy’s eyes darken and her clit starts to pound at the absolutely wicked look in her lover’s eyes.  “We haven’t had our talk.”  Buffy breathily whispers, though not really giving a damn about the talk right now.

“Your choice, Buffy.  Anatomy lesson or talk.”  Tara offers the slayer, trying not to smile fully, knowing it’ll probably cause her lip to bleed again, though she’d been good all day. 

“Like my brain is working at this juncture of the game.”  Buffy growls, rolling out of the bed and stripping her robe off tossing it into the corner.  “The little brain has all the blood.”

Tara laughs at the slayer’s comment, thinking how truer words have probably never been spoken.  Knowing that some of her friends like to comment about their boyfriends thinking with certain parts, realizing that sometimes it happens to her, also.  “Get in bed, Slayer.  First lesson is going to start tonight.”

“Oooh.  And teacher will make me stay after school and do it over again and again until I learn it properly, I hope.”  Buffy’s wicked grin answers the one crossing Tara’s face.  “Goody.”

Tara laughs softly as Buffy pounces on the bed and starts to kiss her way up her body, deciding that next time Buffy can be the model as she groans and lies back.

***

Chasing Daylight 9-16

Chasing Daylight 17-24

Chasing Daylight 25-Epilogue

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