Just a very short piece, set sometime during the time Buffy is dead. Semi-fluffy, every-day kinda moment of W/T.

Birthday Goodies

It had been hard, adjusting to life with Buffy gone. Willow had to fix Buffybot, and work on her constantly. Willow and Tara had to move into the Summers home, to take care of Dawn and keep the Buffybot there so people wouldn't know Buffy was gone. Xander and Anya helped while they could, but Willow and Tara had been the ones to do the most. Willow took care of Buffybot, Tara took care of Dawn. It was hard at first, but it felt normal now. They had their odd yet happy family of a teenage girl who had been the Key, two involved witches, and a robot. Things were starting to work well.

Dawn was sitting in the living room, eating chocolate ice cream and watching TV. Buffybot was upstairs, charging. Tara and Willow were in the kitchen, trying to make cookies and cake for Xander's birthday party the next day.

"Tara, these cookies don't look very appetizing," Willow said with a frown. She grabbed an oven mitt, and took the cookie sheet out of the oven. Round charred blobs sat where the chocolate chip cookies should have been. Tara looked up from stirring a bowl of cake batter to Willow's cookies, and giggled. "Baby, how long did you leave those in the oven?" she asked. "Only a few minutes! I checked my watch when I put them in, it was three forty-eight! And look, the clock says three fifty!" she exclaimed, pointing at the oven.

Tara looked to the oven, and collapsed onto the floor in hysterics. "What!?" Willow demanded. "Check... your... wa... tch..." Tara said between gasps for air, and continued to laugh. "Four fifteen!?" Willow exclaimed, "The clock on the oven lies!"

"Oh goddess," Tara said, nearly out of breath. "That's the oven temperature, dear."

Willow dropped the cookie sheet in her hands, and it fell to the floor with a loud clatter. "Oven... temperature?" Tara nodded, and attempted to get up off the floor, but knocked down the bowl of batter in the attempt, and the batter landed right on her shirt, the metal bowl sliding off her and hitting the floor. Willow forgot about the cookies, and started laughing at Tara's state, and Tara started laughing again.

As Dawn sat in the living room, she heard Tara suddenly burst into laughter. A few seconds later, there was a loud clanging noise, then a quieter one, followed by both witches busting out laughing again.

Dawn quietly got up, and peeked into the kitchen. On the floor was a cookie sheet with very burnt cookies, and Tara was standing, laughing, with cake batter all over herself, and Willow pointing and laughing. "Should I even ask?" she thought aloud. "No, I shouldn't," she quickly decided, and shook her head, walking back to the living room.