Tara was the first to awaken the next morning, the sunlight streaming through the window always had the uncanny knack of reflecting from the small mirror above the sink and directly into her face.
Bringing a fist to her face, she wiped the sleep from her eyes forcefully. Carefully, she rolled over to face Willow, the redhead was still sleeping peacefully, her chest rising and falling evenly.
Allowing herself a guilty moment to watch her lover sleep, Tara smiled. Her mind filled with the memory of the one time she had met Faith.
***FLASHBACK***
The Bronze, it was crowded and people were dancing and generally having a good time. Willow had taken her there for the first time and her hand had reached out for Tara's as they moved through the crowd. Willow had seen Buffy amidst a large group of people and had introduced her. Almost immediately, Tara knew there was something unusual about Willows friend but chose to keep quiet about it. As it turns out, Faith had somehow swapped bodies with Buffy and Tara had told Willow of this after they had returned to her dorm room.
Together they had cast a spell that had transported Willow to the 'Nether Realm' where she had learnt the truth, not only about Buffy and Faith's body swap, but of her own sexuality. After they had recovered from their magical experience, they had gone over to Giles' where Tara had met Faith's body, with Buffy's spirit in it. It had been a generally surreal and odd afternoon.
*** END FLASHBACK***
Tara managed to refocus her eyes on the room around her and saw Willows emerald eyes sparkling back up at her. "Morning." the blonde said sheepishly, slightly embarrassed about being caught so much off her guard. Willow beamed at her knowingly, from the flush in Tara's face, Willow could tell that she had been thinking about something a little more sexually charged than breakfast.
"Whatcha thinking about?" Willow asked, her voice husky with sleep. Tara's eyes filled suddenly with sadness, she had been originally thinking of Faith but somehow she had managed to turn that thought into her first sexual experience with Willow. "Faith… kinda." Tara replied, her cheeks burning slightly.
Willow sat up, her eyes darting around as if at any moment she expected the dark Slayer to burst into the room.
Snuggling in close to the suddenly nervous redhead, Tara wrapped her arms around her waist, kissing her neck softly. "It's ok Will. I'll always look after you!" Tara whispered. In Tara's arms, Willow knew she was safe.
"I know baby." Willow replied softly.
"Willow? Tara?" Buffy's voice burst into their quiet snuggle time, "Are you up yet?" It was clear from the volume of her voice that she was stood outside the door. Willow and Tara shared a grin, Buffy had walked in on them in the throws of passion more than once, so her reluctance to enter the room without giving them plenty of warning was understandable.
"Willow?" Buffy called again, knocking loudly on the door.
"Come in Buffy!" Tara told her with a giggle. Almost as soon as the words were out, the blonde Slayer was in the room and bouncing on the end of the bed like a small child at Christmas. If Buffy had been upset about Faiths death, then she had clearly gotten over it and was obviously looking forward to their trip. "Morning ladies!" she beamed as she settled down and regarded them with a childlike innocence.
Buffy never failed to be surprised by how much her heart filled when she saw Willow and Tara wrapped up in each other, the love they shared was clearly meant to be and she could only hope that one day she would be so lucky.
"Good morning Buffy." Tara said, snapping the Slayer back to reality. Willow mumbled her pleasantries as she got up and went to the bathroom.
"Giles called." Buffy said, a little too loudly for Tara but so that Willow could also hear. "He wants us to meet at the Magic Box to discuss the trip."
"When do we leave?" Tara asked, the trip was a lovely surprise but no one had told her when they were heading off for a summer on the open waves. Buffy opened her mouth to reply and then realised that she didn't know and frowned.
The sound of the shower was the only clue as to Willows excitement, normally she liked to return to bed for morning snuggles, which often lead to morning sex before getting up again and showering, but this morning she appeared to be ready to get going.
Reaching for her robe, Tara wrapped it around her warm but naked body and slipped from under the covers. After a quick trip to the bathroom, she returned to Buffy was had resumed her bouncing on the bed.
"I'll start breakfast then." she said as both she and Buffy headed downstairs.
After everyone had eaten and showered, they headed off for the Magic Box, eager to learn more about their fun summer.
Giles and Xander were there waiting for them when they arrived After exchanging their 'good morning's' and handing out coffee and doughnuts, the ladies sat down and all attention turn to Giles.
"I'm sure you all are eager to learn about our vacation." he began, receiving cheers and whoops of delight in response. "Well, our flights leave on Friday…."
Willow cut in suddenly; "Friday? As in the day after tomorrow Friday?" she asked, drawing giggles from her friends.
"Yes Willow." Giles told her before continuing. "I know its short notice but I have sorted out all the paperwork and documentation that you will need so all you will have to do is pack and turn up." he told them jubilantly.
The girls took a moment to look horrified, they had less than 48 hours to pack for the summer. Giles smiled at them, despite the look of fear and dread that had spread over their features, he knew it wasn't quite as serious as they were making it look. "I have brought the sunscreen provisions too." Giles continued as the girls mentally went through their clothing, trying to decide what they wanted to take with them. "The only thing you have to sort out is food and drinks, but we can go food shopping when we reach Miami!" he said, putting much emphasis on the 'food' part of the sentence.
With the final plans sorted, the Scoobies left the quiet shop, giggling and making plans.
Giles called his friend in Miami to confirm that the yacht they were going to borrow was ready for them and to once again, thank him for his generosity before busying himself with business.
It had been a bold decision to decide to close up shop for four weeks and one that he hadn't made lightly. For him, the rest of the day flew by and he welcomed the arrival of closing time.
Buffy, Willow and Tara had spent most of that afternoon shopping. With their purchases, Buffy's being much more substantial than both Willow's and Tara's combined, returned to the Summers' home and Xander ordering pizza, the friends settled down to discuss their lack of maritime knowledge.
While they busied themselves fetching plates and glasses, Xander snuck into the kitchen, a mischievous grin lighting up his handsome face. Willow was the only one to see his arrival, even Buffy with her Slayer senses was too excited to notice.
As Buffy turned towards the cupboard, Xander threw a full glass of water over her. "Slayer overboard!" He hollered before sprinting off. Both Willow and Tara fought to control their laughter as Buffy flapped and flustered at her surprise drenching. "Oh, he is so dead!" she told them, a huge smile spreading over her face as she filled a jug with ice cold water.
"I'm going upstairs!" Tara announced suddenly, trying to stand but finding Willow holding her back. "C'mon, it's funny. Xander makes the best girlish squeals!" the redhead told her.
With Willow holding her hand tightly, Tara knew she wasn't going to get out of the line of fire and resigned herself to the fact that, she too was more than likely going to get soaked.
Tip-toeing into the hallway, Buffy closed her eyes, her Slayer senses firing and pinging in search of her friend. She realised someone was approaching from behind her and spun, throwing the water before she had locked onto her target. "Arrrgggghhh! Buffy!" Willow squealed as the icy liquid hit her.
"Oh god, Will. I'm sorry!" Buffy giggled. From the kitchen they both heard Tara burst into laughter. Turning to her girlfriend, Willow tried her best to look hurt.
"What? It is funny!" Tara told her.
"That's it!" Willow announced, running into the kitchen to find herself a large water containing vessel.
"Will, sweetie." Tara rose quickly from he seat and began backing towards the back door as Willow turned and fixed her with a predatory grin. As the blonde witch pulled open the back door, Willow grinned. Xander was waiting on the other side with a hose pipe. Nodding at her oldest friend, Willow rushed towards Tara who turned and tried to make a hasty escape, only to find herself running headlong into a torrent of water.
Before the spontaneous water fight had a chance to get out of hand, the door bell rang loudly, startling the group noticeably. "Pizza!" they all cheered together and fought to get to the front door as one.
Pulling back the large door, they all giggled at the reaction of the pizza boy. On witnessing the group of soaked, grinning people, some of them having a severe case of 'wet t-shirt competition' clothing, his mouth dropped open, the pizza almost falling from his grasp.
Xander pushed his way through the group to rescue their meal before gravity took control of it. Handing the young man a mixture of bills, the ladies flashed him a collective huge grin before pushing the door closed and chasing after Xander who had taken the opportunity to begin eating.
Still sitting in their wet clothes, the gang tucked into pizza and discussed their impending trip, all totally unaware of what they were going to face on the open ocean.
