Title: Telling
Author: tellingtouch
Rating: K+
Feedback: Please!
Summary: Up through season 4. A look at how W/T might have gotten together
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They belong to Joss Whedon. (unfortunately)
Notes: I made the ritual up. It is not real.
"Can I hug you?" Willow asked right out of the blue.
"What?" was the response that Tara gave her.
They had been sitting in Tara's dorm room studying for various classes that they were taking. They had read some stuff earlier that day about a ritual that they were going to perform the next day. For this reason they both agreed that Willow should spend the night at Tara's. It had been a wonderful night, and then that question.
"Can I hug you?" the redhead asked again.
"Oh...um, sure," the blonde said a little nervously.
Willow then got up from Tara's desk where she had been sitting and walked over to the bed where Tara was. She sat down next to her and leaned over. They embraced each other. The hug wasn't much, nothing more than you would give your mother, but an element of electricity passed through them in that moment.
When they broke apart Willow started to wonder why that felt sooooo amazingly good.
"So," Tara started meekly. "What was that for?"
"Just had to." Willow stated with a sly smile spread across her face.
"Oh," was the only response that the blonde gave.
"Tara?" Willow asked.
"Yes, Willow?" Tara responded.
"How did you know... That you were, y'know, gay?"
"Oh, ah, well..." This caught Tara off guard. What was she going to say? Why was Willow asking this? She thought for a moment, and then answered as honestly as she could. "Well, I just did. It wasn't a big thing, really. I just started to realize that I was checking out girls a lot, and noticing how good their bodies looked. While guys just never really interested me."
"Oh, so what your saying is that you never, ever thought about boys?"
"No, I'm not saying that. There was this time one b-boy who was really nice to m-me in school so I thought that I-I might have had romantic feelings for h-him, but I found myself daydreaming about his s-s-sister and not him so I-I kinda just figured it out."
"Oh, cool." Willow stated flatly. "Was it hard...to come out?"
"Co-come o-out?" she asked. "N-not r-r-really. Once I c-came o-out to m-myself that is. That was the hardest part."
"Oh." Willow said, and then thought to herself that she really needed to stop saying that.
"Why are you asking?" Tara wondered.
"Ah, no reason really, just curious. You know me once something pops into my head it stays popped. It's just kinda fun that way." Willow calmed herself before she went into full out babble mode.
Tara just kinda giggled it away. She loved it when Willow babbled. It was so adorable.
"Well, I'm going to go to the, um bathroom and then I think we should hit the ha y. Big day tomorrow. The ritual at dawn and then mochas and shopping with Buffy." Willow said with a smile on her face. She loved spending time with Tara.
"Yeah, I'll just hit the light and get ready. Oh, do you music tonight?" Tara replied.
"Ummm, I don't really know, why don't you pick and surprise me, okay." Willow said as she walked into the bathroom.
The redhead looked into the mirror in the bathroom and started to talk to her reflection.
"Well, that really helped." Willow said sarcastically, "She just knew. What should I do? Should I just know? I don't know. Does that mean I'm not? No, cause I have these feelings. But, what do they mean?"
Willow was off in her own little self babble and never heard the knock on the door. She started to turn when she felt a hand on her shoulder. It was such a warm touch. She just wanted to melt into that touch forever. She had to stop herself from moaning from the pleasure of that touch alone. When she finally finished turning around she was staring straight into the bluest eyes she had ever seen in her entire life.
"I w-was wondering if you were actually going to c-c-come to b-b-bed?" Tara asked, a little flustered still from the earlier encounter and from the fact that her hand was resting peacefully on the redhead's shoulder.
"Yeah, ah how long have I been in here?"
"About 10 minutes."
"Oh, well yeah, I'm just going to finish up in here and I will be right out." Willow said with a smile. She could still feel Tara's hand on her shoulder and was greatly sadden when it was removed as Tara started out of the bathroom to give Willow some privacy.
Tara turned and walked from the room. Willow couldn't take her eyes off of the blonde if she wanted to. She only tore her eyes away when the door closed after Tara. When the door closed she turned back to the mirror.
"Okay, it's official, I'm gay!" As those words left the redhead witch's mouth she felt as though a huge wait had been lift off of her. Tara was right, admitting it to herself was the hardest part. She felt so free now. "I'm gay, and I like Tara. No, wait, I Love Tara!"
Now all she had to do was to go tell the blonde goddess in the other room how she felt. Ever butterfly that had just left her stomach were now back with about 50 friends each.
She walked out of the bathroom and had a worried look on her face.
"Are y-you alright?" Tara asked when she saw Willow's face.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Are you ready for bed?" Willow asked and hoped that Tara would just let it go.
She was in luck, Tara did ask her anything else, "Yeah, I'm ready. I'll get the lights." Tara said. She got up and went to the wall and hit the light switch off. The only sound in the room was that of the radio playing some random love song about how you find love in the most secret of places. Tara walked back over to the bed and got under the covers and prepared to go to sleep.
Willow was laying in bed as Tara climbed back in. She kept thinking that if she didn't tell Tara how she felt now she might never be able to do it.
"Tara?" Willow asked to get her attention.
"Yes, Willow." Tara responded meekly.
"Can we talk?"
"Sure." The blonde witch sat up and turned off the radio so that she could hear Willow clearly.
"Tara, I don't know exactly how to say this but..." Will started.
"Willow, you don't have to be nervous. It's only me. You can tell me anything." Tara said trying to assure Willow that she would listen to anything she had to say.
"Okay," Willow said suddenly calmer. "I really care for you. What I mean by that is that I think I love you. Well, no, I do love you."
Tara sat there stunned silent. She didn't know if she had actually heard her correctly. She had imagined this so many times. "D-d-did you just say that you l-love m-me?"
"Ah, yes." Willow managed to squeak out.
She started to think that she had done something wrong. She was about to start backtracking when she suddenly felt Tara-lips on Willow-lips. It was the best feeling in the world. It was her to turned to be shocked now though. So much that it took her a few seconds to clue into what was actually happening. When she finally realized what was happening she joined into the kiss.
What seemed like a lifetime, but was more likely a minute, later they parted.
"That was..." Willow started
"Wow." Tara finished.
They both smiled at each other. Neither sure of what to do or say next. Finally, Tara spoke.
"I love you, too." She said without a hint of a stutter.
With that they leaned in and began to kiss again. When they finally broke apart they decided that it was time to go to sleep. Tara reached up and turned the radio back on. They laid down and rapped themselves in each other's arms.
In the background the radio was playing the Alison Kruss song "When You Say Nothing At All."
"Goodnight Tara."
"Goodnight Willow."
In the morning when Tara woke up she had a smile on her face that couldn't be wiped away for anything. She had woken up in Willow's arms. Last night hadn't just been a wonderful dream. It had really happened. Willow was there in her arms still asleep. She was enjoying watching her sleep when Willow woke-up.
A smile just spread across Willow's face when she saw the blonde witch watching her.
"Hey." Willow said with sleep in her voice.
"Hey." Tara answered her, all her love pouring out in that one word.
Tara leaned down as Willow sat up, and their lips met in a morning kiss.
"How'd you sleep?" the blonde asked.
"Better than ever before, you?" responded the redhead.
"Great!" Tara was so happy. "You ready to get started. Sunup is in a little while."
"Yeah. You get the herbs and I'll get the candelas."
As they got the stuff for the ritual in order they bumped into each other a couple of times. Each time they would share a quick kiss. Soon everything was set up for the ritual. The point of the ritual is to welcome a new relationship of any kind. They both thought that is would be to welcome a new friendship. They were even happier to be welcoming a new love. They felt more into perform this after last night.
They sat in a circle of light and started to chant: "Goddess bless this relationship with trust and love. Let our hearts and minds be open to one another. We wish it so. So mote it be."
It was a simple ritual, but it spoke volumes. After this was done they cleaned everything up to get ready for their day. After they showered they went about picking out their outfits. Tara chose a multi-blue tie-dye T-shirt with a fitted pair of blue jeans. Willow chose a pink peasant top and tight blue jeans. Then they head out to meet Buff for shopping and of course, mochas.
They were holding hands as they walked down the street of Sunnydale downtown. When she saw Buffy, Tara dropped Willow's hand.
"What? Why did you do that?" Willow asked obviously hurt by the action.
"I wasn't sure if you wanted your friends to know. I don't want to push you into telling them." Tara answered sorry that she had hurt the redhead and wanting her to understand.
"Of course I want to tell them." Willow answered taking the blonde's hand in her own and bringing it to her lips to kiss it. "I want everyone to know. I want the world to know that I am totally head over heels in love with Tara Maclay."
"Oh, that is so beautiful." Tara said with a tear in her eye. "I want the world to know that I am head over heels in love with Willow Rosenberg."
They both leaned in, to share a very passionate kiss. At that moment Buffy walked up to them.
"Hey guys, what's the up?" she asked not even fazed by the display of affection going on between the two in front of her.
"Hey Buff. Nothing just kissing 'MY GIRL'." Willow said daring her to say something.
"Cool." Was all the reply that Buffy gave. "Ready to go shopping?"
"Wait, your not shocked. I'm kissing Tara and calling her 'my girl' and your not shocked. This is a good thing, but why aren't you shocked Buffy?" Willow was the one in shock over this.
"Please," Buffy as if it were a stupid question. "The way you two have been acting around each other for the last couple of weeks. The Scoobs have a pool going on how long it would take the two of you to hookup. As it is I have this whole week picked, so I guess I win."
All the witches could do is laugh. All their friends knew. They knew before they themselves really knew. This just made the day even better.
Later that day after much more talking, and a lot of shopping and mochas, the three friends made their way to the Magic Box. When they walked in everyone was there just sitting around and talking.
"Hey guys," Buffy shouted, "I won the pool, hand over the money!"
"Hey!" Tara and Willow both yelled with mock anger.
"Oh come on, you're the ones who wanted everyone to know. I'm just spreading the word while collecting my money." She said this last part looking at the rest of the Scoobies with her hand held out.
After paying up they all looked at Willow and Tara, and then went about giving them word of congratulations and hugs. They welcomed a new Scooby relationship into the fold.
That night they had put up the stuff that they had brought while shopping with Buffy. Then Willow looked at the woman she loved. "And you were worried about me telling my friends about us." Willow said with a bit of a laugh in her voice. "Looks like they could have told us about 'us'.
Tara couldn't help but to laugh at that. "Well, how was I to know that we were that obvious to everyone but ourselves?"
"I don't know, but I'm glad we finally figured it out."
"Yeah, me too."
They stepped closer and started to kiss. It started out as a very chaste kiss, and then turned very passionate. Tara took hold of Willow's bottom lip and started to suck on it. She sucked on it for a minute and then ran her tongue along it. She then started to ask for entrance to Willow's mouth with her tongue. Of course Willow gladly accepted this. They started to duel for leadership in this kiss. Neither wanting to give it up to the other. Finally they fell into a shared leadership. When they finally broke apart from the kiss it was because of the desperate need for oxygen.
"Mmmmmmmmmm, I think I'm going to like this." The redhead said with the biggest smile you've ever seen plastered on her face.
"What?" Tara asked happily, still a little short of breath.
"Us being girlfriends." Willow answered.
"Oh yes, it is going to be fun." The blonde said. She then let a yawn slip out. "Ah, I must be more tired than I thought."
"Me too." Willow said as a yawn escaped her lips as well. "Lets get some sleep."
They both got their P.J.'s on, which took awhile since they kept grabbing, tickling, and kissing each other. Finally they were ready for bed. They turned off the lights and climbed in under the covers.
"Willow, I love you." Tara said as she snuggled up to Willow.
"I love you too, Tara." Willow replied and snuggled herself that much closer to Tara.
"Can this be forever? I don't ever want this to end."
"Oh yes! You are my forever and always baby! I will never let you go. You are stuck with me for the rest of eternity."
With this they kissed. It wasn't a very passion filled kiss, but it let each know the love and passion each had for the other.
"Mmmmmm, I think we should really go to sleep. We have class in the morning." Tara said as she stared at Willow with love.
"Ah, yeah, class. Okay, sleepy time now. Night love." Willow answered.
"Night sweetie."
They shared one last short, sweet, tenderly warm kiss before they hugged and snuggled close together to go to sleep. They had pulled the blanket up to their chins and started to drift away to sleep. It really had been a perfect day.
The End