A/N: Don't own anything. Enjoy(=

"'Cause only you can stop the st-st-st-stuttering."

"Stuttering"-Ben's Brother

~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~

Willow Rosenberg sat in her room with an ice pack on her eye. She had helped Buffy slay some vamps the other night… well, at least she had tried. She moaned in agony, for the ice seemed to not help at all.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." It must be Buffy asking for her stake back, I still have it after the whole 'ouch-my-eye' scenario.

But to Willow's surprise, Tara appeared in the doorway.

"Hey," she said, shutting the door.

"Um… err… I mean, um… hi." Nice, Will.

"Sorry to bother you, I j-just realized I left some shirts h-here," Tara said as she made her way over to the closet, still not meeting eyes with Willow.

"Oh, sure, that's… fine."

Once Tara had gotten the shirts she needed, she said, "Sorry again," she finally met Willow's eyes, or eye, and almost gasped. "W-What happened?"

"Late night slaying with Buffy. A vampire punched me right in the eye and…" she trailed off. "Long story short, never slay a vampire unless you're, well, the Slayer."

Tara chuckled. "Here, let me help," she took the ice pack from Willow and placed it gently on the swollen eye.

"Thanks," Willow smiled.

Tara returned the smile, but it slowly faded when she asked, "How are you d-doing?"

Willow shrugged. "Good… well, fine," she chuckled. "It can never be good. Some days I'm fine, some I just feel like I can't go on."

"I know it may seem hard, but it's for your own good. Magic is extremely powerful, and you have so much power that… it's very dangerous; especially for you."

Once again, Willow chuckled. "I wasn't talking about spells or magic… I was talking about us."

Realization hit Tara as hard as the vampire had hit Willow. How could she have been so naïve?

"I'm s-sorry."

"No, don't be. It's just as hard with the majicks. The only reason I went slaying with Buffy last night was to get my mind off magic. It kinda helped. At least I can say someone knocked some sense into me," she said as she pointed to her eye.

Tara smiled uneasily, slowly removing the ice pack from her eye. "I'm sorry you have to go through this."

Willow smiled. "You apologize too much."

Tara blushed and pulled a blonde lock behind her ear. "I'm s--- I mean…" she smiled too. "Yeah, I guess I do."

She cleared her throat. "Um, I s-suppose I should get going."

Willow's face fell. "Okay, thanks for coming."

Tara stood from the bed and grabbed the shirts. "No p-problem. Take c-care of that eye, Will."

She nodded. "I will."

"And Will?"

"Hm?"

"It was nice spending time with you. I'll always be here for you, whenever you need me."

Willow's frown turned into an immediate smile. The blonde didn't even stutter once in the sentence. "Thanks."

Before Willow knew what would happen next, Tara leaned in and kissed her on the forehead and made her way out the door.

Willow blinked, still trying to comprehend what had happened. She rose a red eyebrow.

"I should get punched in the eye more often."

And once again, Willow Rosenberg sat in her room with the ice pack on her eye. But strangely, the pain seemed to have dulled.

And Willow knew exactly why.

A/N: Roses are red

Violets are blue

Sugar is sweet

And so are reviews!

lol, I made that up on the spot(= but really, reviews are sweet.