COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER: Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Willow, Tara, Xander, Giles and all other characters who have appeared in the syndicated series Buffy The Vampire Slayer, together with the names, titles and back story are the sole copyright property of Josh Wheldon, Fox and Mutant Enemy. No copyright infringement was intended in the writing of this fan fiction. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the authors. This story cannot be sold or used for profit in any way. Please contact the authors for permission to reproduce this story on any other fanfiction site.

NOTE: This story is set within the episode Superstar after Tara has been attacked by the 'evil Greek letter 'creature. There are no real episode spoilers within the story as we’ve written this missing scene completely to exist between those in the story.

FEEDBACK: All feedback is welcome at rainbowwriters@hotmail.com. All flames will be properly laughed at and ignored, with the proper witchy block of all bad black and green aura disposed of promptly.

RATING: PG-13

By: The Rainbow Writers

Willow looked down at the balled up sleeping figure on the bed. Pacing around the room she found herself full of a flood of emotions.

‘Why hadn’t Jonathon protected her?’ She looked back to the blonde on the bed for the first time ever feeling a stab of distrust and hate towards the man that everyone held in such acclaim. ‘Why did he let her down? Couldn’t he see how important she is to me?’ Pacing back around the bed the redhead tried to figure out her own feelings. Sure her and Tara had gotten closer over the last while, sharing time with the Scooby gang, sharing fantasies about Jonathon, but there was something else going on and she knew it. Though in all her strength and confidence she couldn’t even admit it truly to herself but here looking at the very embodiment of it all things rushed forward demanding to be cleared.

"I won’t let anything hurt you again." She whispered as she slid gently down onto the open edge of the bed and ran a gentle hand over blonde hair. "Never again."

Pulling her hand back Willow almost gasped at her own boldness. It wasn’t like she had any right to do this, after all they were just friends and not friends who had really known each other that long to be honest. Still, she couldn’t fight this feeling inside her that she’d known Tara forever and was meant to be and do all these things.

‘You are so messed up Willow.’ She chastised herself as she retreated to the window. Her mind fluttered back to an ill fated conversation she’d tried to start with Buffy late one night, the sum and total of her desperate plea for help ending in the Slayer reminding her that Oz had hurt her so much it was okay to be confused. But that was the problem wasn’t it? She wasn’t confused, she knew exactly what she wanted and it scared her to death.

"Willow?" Tara opened her eyes, the side of her head throbbing painfully. The young witch was surprised when the redhead’s face was not the first thing she saw. The last thing she remembered was Willow dampening her forehead with a cloth, urging her to close her eyes and rest, and yet it appeared that Willow had gone.

"Right here." Willow rushed feverishly back to the bed, perching herself on the end again. "Are you okay? Do you need something?" Her words were fast and panicked both out of fear for the blonde’s injuries and guilt about what she’d let her mind wander to.

"N-n-no I don’t need anything." Tara tried to push herself up a little, fighting the screaming muscles that wanted her to remain as still as possible. "Do you think Buffy will be all right?"

"She’ll be fine." Willow smiled and moved to help her sit up. The feel of the slim woman’s waist under her hands as she lifted her momentarily made her heartbeat speed up. "Jonathon will be there too, they’ll stop whatever it was." She felt the familiar phrasing leave her lips without really believing the words.

"I didn’t mean to be such a bother to you." Tara apologised, letting her damp hair fall over her bruised face. She didn’t know why, but part of her felt bad that Willow had to see her like this, another part of her however, recognised that she was with exactly who she wanted to be with.

"You are never a bother. You are my number one priority." Willow reached up to moved the strands of hair back away from her face, stiffening a little when her own soft words sounded in her ears. "I’m your friend, you could never be a bother." She stressed the word friend trying to back-pedal her way out of saying too much.

"I think this proves I could never be like you." Tara tried a smile, deliberately electing not to comment on the hacker’s phrase or apparent difficulty with her last statement.

"Never be like me?" Willow stammered as her insides froze. "Like me how?"

"Be a Scooby, enjoy all that fighting with monsters stuff." The blonde looked at the redhead slightly concerned that her comment had made the hacker hesitate.

"Oh that." She breathed a silent sigh of relief. "You don’t so much enjoy it as just put up with it." She smiled brightly. "So I could never entice you into being a Scooby then?"

"I would worry about you all the time, that is I-I-I would worry, about it, all the time. The monster fighting." Tara tried to bring clarity to her statement.

"Jonathon and Buffy do most of the monster fighting." Willow smiled and brushed another strand of hair back off her face. "So if you’re good a worrying then the Scooby gang is right for you."

"I am not sure I would fit in." Tara admitted, she had never really fitted in anywhere in her life, so this was a fairly safe statement to make.

"Oh course you would." Willow’s voice was firm. "Why would you think you wouldn’t? You’re smart, beautiful…" Her mind went a bit faster. "And caring and did I mention smart?" She smiled softly.

Tara’s face turned the colour of the reddening patch just below her eye.

"I think you mentioned the smart yes." She managed to nod. "But it strikes me that the Scoobies all have skills, you are the computer whiz, and powerful witch, Mr Giles is a very clever man. Xander is so versatile, and Buffy is so strong. Well and Jonathon, he’s just Jonathon."

"Yeah, but we need you too." Willow was adamant. The last thing she could do was to have Tara feel like she didn’t belong in the gang. "In that whole list there was no smart, beautiful, caring powerful witch."

"Yes there was, she was first." Tara looked away before Willow could reply.

Willow blushed a little and smiled, shaken when the blonde looked away so quickly at the end of her words. Something leapt inside her at being called beautiful by this gorgeous creature, but she tried to keep all of her reactions in check as the comment could easily be explained away.

"Naw, I’m not beautiful." Her natural self-doubt was given freedom as the rest of her mind was busy trying to reign itself in.

"Of course you are." Tara shook her head, regretting the move instantly as pain shot to her temple. She grimaced, wishing for the hundredth time she had not been attacked.

"It’s okay, I know I’m more a girl next door cute in a stretch." The redhead smiled. "Girls like you and Buffy are gorgeous."

"Riley certainly thinks Buffy is." The blonde witch agreed. "Have you two been friends long?" She leaned back a little as she felt the pain and discomfort of the last twelve hours begin to catch up with her.

"For forever really, since sophomore year in high school." Willow thought back to those awkward times when Buffy had been the new girl with something to hide and she’d been the class nerd. "She’s been my bestest bud the whole time."

"That’s nice." Tara didn’t know what else to say on the subject. She knew that Willow didn’t mean for this to happen, but suddenly she truly felt like the outsider all over again.

"Are you sure you don’t need anything?" Willow felt the brief wall come up between them. "Ice, heat pack? Drink? Munchies?" She frantically tried to think of some way to tell this woman just how much she meant to her without coming right out and saying it.

"I think I probably just need to stretch out and then try to rest." Tara said honestly. "The janitors closet wasn’t exactly roomy." She tried a smile.

"Oh I’m so sorry." Willow didn’t see the vague humour in the reference and instead focused on the pain in it. Her head hung forward a little as her eyes found it hard to keep those of the blonde’s. "I’m sorry I wasn’t there."

"There is no way it was your fault." Tara shook her head. "And with the great night we had had before it happened, who am I to complain."

"I just can’t bare to see you hurting." The redhead looked up at her through the bars of hair that obscured her vision. "I don’t know what I would do if something happened to you."

"T-T-There’s no need to worry about that." Tara moved her hand towards Willow to move her hair aside, but stopped not having even half of the confidence that such a move would require.

"Yes, there is." Willow didn’t know what possessed her as she looked up and patted the leg under the thick blanket that ran by her hip. "You are so very special and nothing should ever hurt you." She felt her confident flare ending as she felt herself melting into soft brown eyes.

"No, Jonathon is special and Buffy, you are special, not me." Tara shook her head.

"Jonathon is a fraud." Willow stood up a bit angry and surprised by the well of her emotion. "If he was half of what he claimed he was this wouldn’t have happened. And you are special, if there was a special scale invented years ago they would have had to change it just to have a high enough reading for your specialness, as you are the most special thing in the world." She turned back to the blonde her voice going softer. "The most special thing to me."

"That’s lots of special." Tara couldn’t help but smile at Willow’s outburst.

"Yeah, it is." The hacker’s swell of outward emotion retreated. "And you are."

"I think I have the special prerogative though." Tara moved slightly to get into a more comfortable position. "As I told you that you were special only the third time we ever talked, and that was really the first time we had talked as the other times we were talking without voices." She rambled.

"I don’t think it’s the same kind of special." Willow’s voice was quiet as she moved back to sit on the end of the bed slightly turned away from the blonde.

"What do you see the difference as being?" Tara frowned tilting her head a little.

"You meant ‘hey you’re a witch, we can do cool spells and talk about Jonathon’ special." She tried to keep some volume in her voice as she tried to carefully chose her words but found that nothing kept her from framing her true muddled feelings.

"Actually I think I meant, you were special as in lovely red hair, deep, deep eyes, and all the other things you said." Tara defined for the hacker.

"Yeah." Willow looked at her briefly but talked herself out of the belief that the blonde’s appraisal of her appearance meant anything more than she was trying to be nice. "That’s the usual kind of special."

"It is?" Tara frowned. "I didn’t know there was a usual kind of special. Willow…" She dropped the tone and tempo of her voice. "I don’t think there is anything usual about your specialty. I believe you are unique."

"No, you’re the unique one." Willow found the courage to look back at her finally. "I’m just good old Willow, but you’re…" She hesitated. "You’re magic."

"Tara the Slightly Odd Stuttering Witch?" Tara frowned. "I don’t think that says ‘magic’ to most people."

"Well if it doesn’t then most people are blind." Willow’s voice was soft but confident. "And I love that you stutter, it shows how much you feel things, how deeply effected you are by them. Your voice is beautiful." The witch looked away again shyly. No matter how much she though she should keep quite there was no way she could stand by and let the blonde put herself down for such a beautiful trait.

"Willow, why do you look away from me every time you mention the word beautiful?" The blonde asked.

"Because…" The small word escaped her before she could completely edit the sentence she was about to say. "Sorry, I won’t do it anymore." She looked back at the blonde holding her eyes as her mind screamed the answer. ‘Because you are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.’

"Won’t say the word beautiful or won’t look away from me again?" Tara smiled a shy smile.

"Won’t look away again." Willow smiled shyly back. "I think cutting the word beautiful out of my vocabulary would leave me scrambling."

"Do you get to use it a lot?" Tara asked surprised. "I would have thought in the Scooby line you would get far more usage out of words like, gross, ugly, demony, that kind of thing."

"I never used to have too much use for it." Willow forced herself not to waiver, she didn’t know why but she felt slightly challenged by Tara’s line of questions to keep things going. "But recently I’ve had someone beautiful around and it’s become a very important word."

It was Tara who looked away this time, her mind racing. Had Willow meant her? There was little evidence to suggest that the redhead felt anything for her. They had messed around with spells for sure, and talked until the early hours, but that was all. If anything, Tara was pretty convinced Willow had a thing for Buffy.
 

Willow watched the blonde painfully turn away and realized she’d gone way over any imaginary line they’d set up between them.

"Sorry." She whispered standing up and walking back over to the window a few feet away. "Do you want me to go so you can rest?"

"NO!" Tara could not stop the simple word blurting out. "That is, if you have to meet with Mr. Giles and the others to talk about the monster that…" The witch’s voice trailed off as she remembered the horror, fear and pain she had so recently been through.

"No, I don’t have to go." Willow shuffled her feet and hesitantly moved closer to the bed. "Jonathon will make sure I’m found if they need me."

"Of course he will." Tara cursed herself for missing the obvious. "But do you have things you need to do?" She didn’t want the hacker to be staying with her just through a sense of duty.

"Making sure you’re okay and getting you anything if you need it is the only thing I have or need to do." The redhead sat down again on the edge of the bed.

"So I can selfishly keep you for hours." Tara gave Willow a rare grin.

"You can keep me for as long as you like." Willow grinned back.

"I’d like you for a long while." Tara looked up through locks of blonde that she had allowed to fall forward.

"I have forever open if you want me to pencil you in?" The hacker shifted up the bed a little before she could stop herself and again moved blonde locks back off the other woman’s face. The edges of her fingers gliding over the blonde’s cheek.

"Er Will," Tara pulled her head back a little, somewhat unsure exactly how to take the Hacker’s latest move.

"Sorry." Willow immediately moved back.

"No reason for sorry." Tara insisted. "I was just going to ask, do you think you could do that thing you were doing earlier? The cooling my brow with a cloth thing, it helped."

"Of course." Willow moved to pick up the abandoned cloth from the side table and rinsed it in the ice water before beginning to wipe Tara’s brow. "Feel better?"

"Definitely, though I guess my injuries aren’t severe enough to warrant me staying in bed like this all day huh?" The witch let her eyes flutter closed as Willow passed the damp material over her forehead again.

"You are not getting out of bed young lady." The hacker instructed sternly. "It’s horrible enough you got hurt at all, so that means lots of bed rest and being tended on for you." She brushed the cloth over pale cheeks gently.

"Then do you think I could push for a salad sandwich. I used spell power yesterday so I should top up the reserve tank." The blonde smiled hoping the hacker would appreciate her attempt at ‘Scooby lingo’.

"One salad sandwich for a full tank coming up." Willow laid the cloth over her head. "I’ll dash down to the cafeteria and be back like a flash."

"I feel spoiled already." Tara grinned.

******

"Here we go one extra special salad sandwich…" Willow stopped her words as she closed the door and turned to see the blonde on the bed was sound asleep. She only hoped her words so far hadn’t woke the sleeping beauty as she moved to lie the wrapped lunch down on the side table.

‘You look even more beautiful when you sleep." The hacker conceded as she picked up the cloth that had fallen off the blonde’s forehead and draped it over the back headboard to dry. ‘I wish I could tell you just how much.’

Tara was vaguely aware that the door opened and that the visitor to her room had closed the door. Something in the witch’s brain stopped as she registered a form beside her, or was it above her? Covering her, moving towards her, possibly attacking her. The image of the large flesh coloured demon baring down on her filled her mind. Pushing her feet hard against the strangely soft floor, Tara pushed backwards, calling out and adding her hands to the fight for her escape.

"Tara…" Willow watched the sudden play of curiosity and then fear break on the sleeping woman’s face but her attempt at comfort came too late as possessed legs shot out and kicked her off the bed. She landed on the floor in a surprised heap, knocking the small chair nearby over with a large bang.

A deep sound resonated in Tara’s head, which made her mind catch up with reality. Her eyes snapped open and she sat upright, looking from side to side for the only thing that was likely to have been in her room.

"Willow?" She called, for one hysterical moment wondering if her unconscious vision had been a reality in as far as the monster was back, but that is might have accosted the redhead.

"Right here." Willow scrambled up, ignoring the dull ache in her hip that she’d landed on and knelt by the bed. "Everything’s okay, you were just having a nightmare."

"Everything is okay?" Tara checked. "Then why were you on the floor?"

"You sorta kicked me off by accident." Willow’s voice was soft and she tried to stress that the event had been an accident. "I guess me being on the bed didn’t help your nightmare. I was moving the cloth." She pointed to the striped square over the headboard.

"By the Goddess I am sorry." Tara apologised, appalled that she could hurt Willow in any way. "I thought…" She didn’t like to admit that the monster had returned to her mind to hurt her.

"No, no." Willow shook her head against the forced memory and the apology. "It was an accident. Try to settle down and let the nightmare melt away." She reached up and ran a comforting hand over the blonde’s arm. "I got your sandwich, with extra sprouts for energy." She smiled softly.

"I-I-I used to have a lot of nightmares when I was a child." Tara recalled, relaxing under Willow’s touch.

"I always had this repeating one about being in Madam Butterfly but not being able to know the words or even sing." The hacker kept up the stroking of the other woman’s arm without thought. "Then this crazy demon came to life through this little boy in a coma and it came true. Very frightening, but he’s okay now so don’t worry about any of them coming true."

"They always used too come true, that’s why they scared me." Tara blinked. "But my mother used to help me with them."

"What kind of nightmares?" Willow asked the question softly hoping it wasn’t too much to ask.

"Thing I would see happening and not be able to stop. I knew before it happened that something terrible would happen in Sunnydale last year. One of the reasons I enrolled here was to see if my dream was wrong or to see if I could stop it." Tara hoped she wasn’t saying too much, and that Willow would not back away from her terrified. Deciding to try and move away from this topic she looked up at Willow. "Then of course there were the dozen I had about my goldfish dying, and it did."

"Oh Tara." Willow’s face was pained. "Buffy has premonitions dreams all the times, they are so horrible." She ran her hand down over the blonde’s hand again. "But you don’t have to face them alone anymore, we can face them together."

"Thank you." Tara knew her short words did not adequately express her gratitude for the very fact that Willow had not run off.

"None needed." The hacker smiled. "So you still hungry or do you need your brow wiped again?"

"Hungry." Tara nodded enthusiastically.

"Well then." Willow reached for the package and undid the wrapping. "I hope this is okay."

"It smells great." Tara twitched her nose.

"It does." She laid out the sandwich at the side of the bed. "I got apple and orange juice cause I didn’t know what your favourite was. I’ve seen you drink both."

"Seen me drink both?" Tara twisted open the top of the apple drink. "When?"

"Well I saw you drink the apple after the Wiccan meeting." The hacker moved one leg up under her. "And the orange once when you were in the student centre."

"Only because they were out of apple." Tara smiled, strangely happy to have been noticed. "Though I am surprised you think the sandwich smells good, I have never seen you touch the salad department!"

"I do salad occasionally." Willow blushed slightly to know she’d be noticed as well. "It’s just with all the Scooby stuff, high calorie low fuss is usually the only thing we get around to eating."

"Hey I have noticed you steal the odd apple, I know you aren’t just a junk food freak." Tara loved the blush in Willow’s cheek.

"Naw, just a big weakness for sweet things." The hacker felt her own mind wander and a deeper blush graced her face. "What about you?" She tried to turn things around. "What is your weakness?"

"Magic." Tara replied honestly without a second thought.

"A little easier on the hips then chocolate." She laughed. "So how is the sandwich?" She’d waited to give the blonde long enough to truly make a decision on the meal.

"It’s good, very good, want a bite?" Tara reached out a slightly shaking hand with the sandwich in it, dangling lettuce and bean sprouts from the bread.

"Sure." Willow nodded as she bent forward slightly and took a mouthful of the sandwich presented to her. As she bit down her hand reached up to steady the sandwich and her fingers sprayed over those of the other woman. "It’s great." She nodded again as she chewed.

No matter how she might have wanted to, Tara could not move. Not that she did want to she reflected, but if she had, she couldn’t.

"Feel free to have more." She managed to say.

"Just one more bite." Willow smiled for a millisecond before she leaned forward and took another small bite. "Though I don’t want to deprive you of witchy energy."

"Well technically we both need that." Tara moved her mouth a little closer to the snack. "So feel free." She took a bite of the disappearing bread.

"This sandwich could be in trouble then." Willow breathed as she leaned forward her heart quickening as their faces got close together and she took another bite. "Should I have gotten two?"

"Don’t you think sharing is more fun?" Tara nibbled the corner.

"Things always taste better shared." Willow smiled as she bit off a stray bit of lettuce that was in jeopardy of falling out of the bread.

"I really like you Will." Tara grinned innocently as she took a fairly large bite, narrowly missing the redhead’s fingers

"I really like you too Tara." Willow grinned back, her face glowing as she moved her hand to cover more of the blonde’s as she too took a big bite. Her lips passing though the bread close enough to graze Tara’s fingertip. The move was one she hadn’t really planned, she’d only intended to come close but the small electric touch made her heart leap.

"Will…" Tara’s words disappeared in an exhaled breath.

"Yes?" The redhead’s voice was a nervous shake.

Tara suddenly had nothing to say, so instead she moved her hand completely over Willow’s.

"Your hands are soft." The redhead abandoned the sandwich, but held herself in the spot unable to turn back though part of her knew that she was letting things fall into a dangerous territory she might be misinterpreting.

"Are they?" Tara asked, her voice dreamy, her thoughts distant.

"Yeah, just like satin." Willow whispered as her thumb rubbed gently down around the inside webbing of Tara’s thumb.

"Willow, what are you doing?" The blonde asked, not moving her hand, but not responding either.

"Oh sorry." The question snapped the redhead out of her distracted thoughts and a deep embarrassed blush flushed her face. "You should eat the rest, need witchy strength." She pulled herself back to sit upright, dropping her hands in her lap in an attempt to restrain the offending limbs.

"Don’t apologise Will." Tara shook her head and put the sandwich down. "It was…" The shy witch paused. "Nice." She concluded.

"Was it?" The redhead looked up through widening eyes as she felt the hot flush of embarrassment turn to something more like anticipation as she felt them step up to a moment she though would never come. Though her logical mind reminded her this might be all her imagination, and that she must not get too excited. "I don’t want to ever make you uncomfortable." As her mind tried to figure itself out she wasn’t quite sure where her words came from.

"You don’t, you never have. It really did feel nice." Tara’s voice dropped in tone and pitch. She looked at the hacker through golden locks.

"Yeah, it did." Willow whispered as one hand tentatively moved out of her lap and sat palm up on the bed. She started to say a thousand other things but they all babbled through her head and were quickly labelled as stupid, childish or just far to revealing.

Slowly and shyly Tara slid her hand over to where the redhead’s lay. She stretched out her fingers until the tips touched.

"I tried to say it a minute ago Will, I really like you." Tara knew that her voice was going to let her down any minute.

"You did say it a minute ago." Willow felt her heart quicken up. "I like you too." She moved her fingers a little more so that they slid under the fingers of the blonde’s. "Really like you." The words came in a quiet exhaled breath as she felt herself just let go and speak without stopping herself.

"Willow I’ve never…" Tara stopped. ‘Goddess how stupid did that sound.’ She let her head drop forward.

"Never what?" The hacker jumped on the abandoned words immediately. Her hand sliding up to entwine their fingers together in her panic to get an answer.

"Never shared this kind of moment with anyone." Tara tried to use a phrase that didn’t sound remotely dumb, as far as she was concerned, she failed miserably.

"It’s an…" Willow smiled softly trying to get a grip on the ever increasing pounding in her chest and ears that was threatening to deafen her. "It is an incredible moment, I didn’t think would happen." She looked down at their entwined hands. "I mean…" She looked up again feeling a little trapped by the admission, still petrified that Tara would bolt away.

"You wanted it to?" Tara asked her voice incredulous.

"I…" Willow looked up into deep blue eyes about to back down, her mind searching for some way to take her words back but she just couldn’t do it. Not sure where she got the strength from, her heart in her throat and her courage in her hands she decided just to be honest. "I did. I can’t get you out of my head. I think about you all the time." She smiled and looked down at their hands trying to find the courage just to keep up this babble she’d begun. "Find myself noting all this little stuff. Like that you drink apple juice, don’t like wearing white socks, but do like wearing green ones. That you always look up into the tree branches for birds when you walk through the quad at school and that you never forget to hold the door open for the people behind you." She knew her voice was racing along and she couldn’t think to stop it. "And that you look so beautiful when the lights of the campus walkways dance in your hair. I’m horrible, I could go on forever."

"You’re not horrible Will." Tara squeezed her hand. "You’re special, very special." Looking up from behind the wall of blonde, Tara gave the hacker another rare smile. "I wear the green socks because you commented on them after Wicca that time." She admitted shyly.

"You do?" Willow looked up in time to see the blonde’s happiness. "I forgot to mention how beautiful your smile is."

"I’m n-n-not beautiful Will." The blonde’s voice finally stuttered. "That would be you." She added quietly.

"No, no." Willow reached up her free hand and brushed it down the blonde’s face. "You are so beautiful Tara, sometimes…" Her voice went tenderly soft. "Sometimes I just get lost in it when I look at you."

"That happens most of the time when I actually get the courage to look at you." Tara gave a little chuckle at her admission.

"Guess we’ve been doing the same thing and not knowing it." Willow laughed lightly with her before she went silent again. "When I said I liked you Tara, I really meant it." Her words finally came again fast but soft. "Not the way you like it when you find a sweater you think you lost but more the way you like a rainbow after a warm rain or the way you like the sunrise or the way you like the most precious thing in your life." She laughed again squeezing the hand that was still in her own. "Am I making any sense at all? Or should I go see the campus nurse?"

"Perfect sense. Isn’t this the part in movies that the stars kiss?" Tara gave the redhead another smile.

"Yeah, do you feel nervous?" The redhead was honest as she smiled back softly.

"More than." The blonde admitted with a nod. "I’ve never kissed a …" She stopped and then looked up giving Willow a stunning grin. "A witch before."

"Hey neither have I." Willow’s face lit up completely and then with a deep breath she slid closer on the bed. "But I’ve so wanted to so many times."

"The graze doesn’t put you off?" Tara lifted her free hand to the still reddening patch on her cheek.

"I think it makes you look even more beautiful and brave." Willow reached up and covered the hand over the mark. "But if you want to wait till you feel better?" She couldn’t bare the thought of causing the blonde anymore pain.

"Not at all." Tara shook her head just a little. "Though do I have to get chased by a big ugly every time we do this?"

"Oh no." Willow shook her head and laughed. "Please no more being chased by big uglies, I thought my heart would stop." She squeezed the hand within her own. "I can’t remember which of the leads usually starts the kiss." She blushed slightly.

"I don’t think the injured does, aren’t I supposed just to lie back and respond at just the right moment. Kinda like Princess Leah in The Return of the Jedi." Tara knew she had an inane grin.

"My own little Sleeping Beauty?" Willow grinned back as she leaned in closer. Though her movement might have looked confident, the truth was she was shaking so much she’d stopped again. "It always was one of my favourite films. Do you think I can pull off the Prince role?" She stopped when their faces were close together again.

"You could have been his stunt double, if cute cartoon characters had stunt doubles." Tara moved forward to show the redhead that she was prepared to risk as much as she was.

"I think Mr. Disney should have used the cartoon you for the movie." Willow whispered feeling her breath reflect back onto her skin off the blonde’s face. "Is this when I should stop babbling and just kiss you?" The question came in the breathy voice of anticipation.

"I believe so." Tara whispered. "Please." She added the soft word of encouragement.

"I could never refuse you." With those words, Willow gave up any speech as she closed her eyes and in what seemed to take forever moved herself forward to bring her aching lips against those of the blonde’s. The instant they met she squeezed the hand within her own.

Tara’s world stopped turning the instant she felt the other woman’s lips on her. The warm, scent and taste that was ‘Willow’ filled her senses. Nothing hurt, nothing even remotely ached. Tara moved her free hand tentatively to rest on the hacker’s body, not even sure where it landed.

The resting pressure of the hand that landed on her hip sent a shot of lightening through Willow’s body like none she’d ever felt before. The other times Tara had touched her, brushed up against her had given a hint to this. But now, knowing that this touch was coming during a kiss made it so much more. Softly exploring the soft lips against her own with innocent want, she moved her free hand up and gently ran it into blonde hair. As the feeling of completeness within her ebbed higher, she tentatively opened her mouth to explore the taste of the woman she’d been wanting from afar for so long.

Feeling the lips beneath hers part caused Tara to panic a little, though the feelings of want and desire that Willow’s move caused inside her drove the panic down and instead of pulling away the blonde opened hers in return, letting the hand on Willow’s hip squeeze the soft body slightly.

The hacker felt her body moving without her mind, which was too busy trying to feel all that the kiss between them had to offer. As her thoughts finally focused in on the sounds of blood rushing fast in her ears and her own ragged heartbeat made her pull back slowly out of the kiss. She softly placed light quick kisses to show how much she hated parting.

"Wow." Willow only pulled back far enough to take a few quick breaths as her heart thumped loudly.

"Oh yeah." Tara amazed herself that her reply had come out almost a growl.

"Does that mean I can kiss you again?" Willow bit her lip softly as she felt the tone reverberate through her. That the hand on her side was still holding her made it even harder to wait for an answer before she dove back into bliss.

"Oh yes." Tara moved forward, the first to initiate the second kiss.

The sudden return of the warm, soft lips against her own made Willow moan lightly. Needing the contact more than anything, she pushed into the kiss faster then before. Her hand snaked down out of the blonde’s hair to her neck and for the first time her fingertips explored the soft flesh of her neck, careful not to aggravate any of the blonde’s injury.

Tara moved her hand up and down over the other woman’s hip while losing herself in the kiss. She briefly remembered all the past kissing experiences she had had, and none of them came even close to this. The very feel of Willow’s body near hers made her head spin.

Willow didn’t know how long they’d been kissing. Time as a concept had become obsolete as everything centred on the contact between them. A natural line of progression had risen without discussion as kisses remained deep and long and hands were happy to roam over sides, stomachs and backs without seeking for more. As the touches between them slowed a little, the hacker’s mind reminded her just what had happened to put them in this position and she became very worried for the blonde.

"You need to rest." Willow was surprised to hear her own breathy, deep voice. "You are far too precious to take chances with just cause I’m selfish and can’t stop kissing you." She pressed their lips together for a moment more.

"Will?" Even after the fabulous kissing session that had just happened the blonde Wiccan was hesitant to ask the next question that came to her mind.

"Yes angel?" Willow blinked slowly as her head cleared from the heady passion, her clear eyes held the blonde’s.

"I know you probably have lots of things to do this morning, b-b-but…" Tara swallowed hard and lost her nerve.

"Nothing more important than taking care of you." She rubbed her hand over the blonde’s side, having not moved her hand from where it had come to rest at the end of the kiss.

"Would you stay with me then?" Tara’s eyes sparkled once more with hope.

"I hoped you’d ask." Willow grinned brightly and with a bit of new confidence she moved forward to kiss the blonde quickly.

"Do you want to bring up a chair?" Tara glanced around for a moveable chair in the area.

"There’s the one in the far corner." Willow looked over her shoulder quickly. "Though I could…" She stopped and bit her lip again as she chastised herself for being so bold, after all it had only been one kiss.

"Stay right where you are?" Tara flickered her eye’s Willow-wards before looking away again, unable to believe she had suggested it.

"Only if you want." Willow’s voice was sincere and soft. "We need you to be resting."

"There is room." Tara shifted over a little and showed that there was ‘wicca room’.

"Just enough to two." Willow turned and let herself settle down into the open area. "Would hugging be anti-resting sleep?" She asked shyly.

"I wouldn’t think so." Tara’s voice was hopeful as she inched closer to the red head.

"I never thought I’d ever be so lucky." Willow rested her arms around the blonde and drew her in closer. She closed her eyes as she felt Tara settle in against her.

"Thank you." Tara whispered as she snuggled close and closed her eyes.

"Sleep tight now sleeping beauty." Willow kept her eyes closed and held a bit tighter for a moment. One hoped flashed through her mind that when the blonde awoke again, she wouldn’t have to deal with the horror that all this wasn’t real and her dreams had never come true.

******

Willow followed Tara into the blonde’s room, a huge amount of anticipation and impending doom sitting heavy on her shoulders.

"Isn’t it so unbelievable that the whole Jonathon thing was a spell?" She dropped down into an overstuffed chair trying to be natural. "And that we’re going to slowly forget everything about that universe. I’m not too sure I like that part." She looked down at the hem of her shirt and pulled at a stray string.

"It does explain a lot of things." Tara moved straight over to her bookshelves and started looking at the spines of the books.

"Explain what things?" Willow looked up to follow her movement.

"The monster, Mr. Giles owning what was basically a male model calendar!" Tara replied with a smile.

"Oh yeah that." Willow laughed at the memory. "And Buffy acting like a weak fluffy bunny." She smiled to herself. "Though I don’t think it explained all things." Her voice went quiet as she sifted in the chair and looked out the window.

"I am surprised it even fooled you and I." Tara pulled out the book she had been searching for. "What doesn’t it explain?" She asked though her head and heart screamed at her for doing so.

"Just…" Willow tried to find a way to say this. The only memories of the other Jonathon universe that were staying sharp and clear in her mind were the moments they’d spent together and especially their wonderful first kiss. "Just that I don’t think everything that happened was supposed to be forgettable. Unless you want them to be." She forced herself to look up, searching for the blonde’s eyes.

"Will, I wanted to talk to you about what happened after the attack." Tara took a breath and put her book down.

"Yeah?" Willow turned herself back in the chair a little too anxiously as she waited for her to continue. That very event had been on her mind since the moment Buffy’s idea that they were in an alternate universe first had taken shape.

"It was just the world that was different wasn’t it?" Tara carefully asked.

"If you mean just the world and not the people." Willow went back to toying with her shirt. "Cause I don’t think the people were different."

"Neither do I." Tara nodded emphatically to Willow’s thoughts.

"Does that mean…" The redhead felt herself breath a sigh of relief though she wasn’t completely at ease yet. "You don’t regret the…?"

"How could I regret something, that was by it’s own definition, magic." Tara gave Willow a shy smile.

"Neither do I." Willow’s voice was quick and immediate. Smoothing out her shirt she stood and slowly moved towards the taller blonde. "It was magic wasn’t it? Bigger and more important than any spell Jonathon cast." She held out her hand letting it hang empty in the air.

"Willow it was bigger and stronger than anything." Tara instantly placed her hand in that of her new girlfriend.

"It was." She clasped her hands around the blonde’s tightly. "I was so afraid of losing you." Her voice wavered a little as the worry and tension seeped out of her to be replaced again with the warm and comforting feelings of how much she liked the blonde. "Even if I’d lost the memories I’d have felt so empty."

"Talking of losing the memories." Tara moved closer to the redhead.

"Yes?" Willow mirrored her movements to bring them closer together.

"P-P-Perhaps we should make ones that the spell can’t steal." Tara suggested suddenly shy.

"I’ve been waiting for this chance all day." Willow moved steadily closer as her hands ran up the blonde’s bare arms. "But I was too afraid that I was losing you."

"Not losing me," Tara’s hands reached for Willow’s hips, a place that they were getting more and more fond of. "Goddess you are beautiful." She breathed.

"I thought beautiful was my new favourite word?" Willow smiled as she leaned in and kissed the blonde before she could answer the playful question.

The End.