"Thank you," Tara replied, bringing them up to her nose to inhale their scent, "I've never gotten flowers before."
"Well that's just silly. You deserve lots and lots of pretty things," Willow responded, grinning, before standing and pulling the brunette up with her, "You ready for the park?"
Tara nodded and smiled as they started walking hand-in-hand down the gravelly streets.
"It gets really snow-y here around winter," Willow said as they walked, pointing to the many pointed arches on top of the buildings around them, "I've only ever seen it coming to and from the airport at winter break, but it's really pretty. Like something you'd see in a postcard. Maybe we could come out here one day before we go home for the holidays or something, if it's snowy. We could take pictures! I have a camera stuffed away in one of my drawers somewhere."
"Sure," Tara agreed with a small smile, "But, um, I'm not going home for the holidays. I'm staying at the school. My father doesn't want to pay for the flights. But if it snows before you go, then I'm in."
Willow frowned as Tara said that. She didn't want her girlfriend alone for the holidays, especially not alone in their school.
Maybe she could come home with me? No, there's no way she'd let me pay for the flights. Oh I'll figure something out.
"Great," she replied, deciding she'd think about things later, "Hey, wow, Tare, look at this!"
Willow walked them into the entrance of the park; trees scattered everywhere with lush green grass surrounding them, and a small man-made lake just ahead of them. The sky was cloudy, but the sun was peeking out through them, casting a warm glow against the water.
"This definitely beats walking around the school grounds!" Willow said happily as they walked towards the lake, "I'm so glad we're seniors!"
Tara laughed and smiled as Willow bent down at the lake and ran her hand through it, before looking up and ahead.
"Hey, there's ducks. We should've brought some bread or something. Next time we come into town we should grab some bread rolls at breakfast and bring them with us. Do you think – Ahhhhhhhhh, shit!"
Tara watched as Willow fell backwards, then quickly scampered off, running full-speed towards the other side of the park.
"Again?" Tara asked aloud, bewildered, "Did she really just run off again?"
She blushed when she saw a few people off to the side stare at her, thinking she was talking to herself. She looked around and saw nothing out of the ordinary; a duck was swimming along quietly, a little kid nearby was poking his toe experimentally in the water and a frog was just about to jump onto a lily pad from the bank of the lake.
She looked up and saw Willow was leaning against a tree, looking like she was struggling to catch her breath. She walked over, slightly peeved, but more concerned at what was wrong and put a hand on the redhead's arm. The action made Willow's head snap around and her eyes widened as she saw Tara.
"Oh god," she said, breathless, "Shit, baby, I'm so sorry. I wasn't running from you, I promise, it's just, there...there was...there was a frog..."
Willow trailed off lamely and Tara just raised an eyebrow.
"I'm afraid of frogs," Willow said quietly, ducking her head and kicking her shoe against the grass, "I don't know why, I just always have been."
"Oh," Tara replied and pulled her girlfriend into a hug, "It's okay."
"You don't think I'm a massive baby?"
Tara pulled back and shook her head, handing the redhead her roses.
"Of course not. Can you hold those for me and sit down, sweetie, I'll be back in a second, okay?"
Willow complied and sat with her back resting against the trunk of the tree, putting the flowers down beside her and watched as Tara walked back to the lake and then back to her, something between her hands. The brunette sat down beside the redhead and gave her a small kiss on the cheek.
"What's that?" Willow asked curiously, tapping the top of her girlfriend's hands.
Tara removed her top hand and Willow yelped in fright when she saw the same frog she had just run away from. She started to back up but Tara grabbed her shoulder and kept her in place as the frog calmly sat in her hand.
"Tara, let me go," Willow whimpered, terrified, "Please let me go. And what the hell, I tell you I'm scared and you just bring the little slimy green thing to me? That's like something Cordelia would've done, I didn't think you were like that."
Tara winced at the harsh tone, but moved her hand down to take the redhead's.
"Do you trust me?"
"I did," Willow spat, eyeing the frog with pure hatred before looking back up at Tara, whose face had fallen by her response, "No, baby, I trust you. Of course I trust you."
Tara smiled again and looked down at the frog.
"There's nothing to be afraid of, sweetie. He's just a creature, like all of us. He won't do you any harm."
"But..." Willow protested, scrunching her nose up, "He's all slimy and croaky and eats bugs."
"Well," Tara replied with a laugh, "I bet he thinks it's weird that our feet aren't webbed or that we don't like bugs."
Willow looked down at the frog again, still suspicious.
"See, he's not hurting me or doing anything," Tara continued, bringing their conjoined hands up, "Look..."
Tara turned Willow's hand in hers and held each of their fingers out, moving it towards the frog. The redhead stiffened but Tara just calmly continued, eventually using her hand to let Willow stroke the frog's back. It let out a loud croak and Willow jumped back in fright but the brunette just laughed.
"That's just him saying he likes it," she grinned, giving the frog a final stroke and bringing him near her face, "Thanks for helping me show my girlfriend you're nothing to be scared of, Mr. Frog."
Willow gulped but brought her hand up, stroking the frog of her own accord this time.
"It's not so scary," she whispered, smiling at Tara, then back at the frog, "You're not so scary."
The frog croaked again and Tara held her hand out, letting it leap from her, getting hidden in the grass.
"How did you do that?" Willow asked in awe, turning to Tara, "I've been afraid of those things since as long as I can remember."
"My Mom taught me to love everything in nature," Tara replied softly, "That we're all connected in the web of life. You've only really ever been afraid of the idea of frogs, Will. In reality..."
"They're just living their lives like we are," Willow finished, smiling happily, "Your Mom sounds amazing. Tell me about her?"
Tara smiled and wrapped her arm around the redhead's shoulder, her smile getting wider when Willow cuddled into her side.
"Well, okay, um...Her name was Elizabeth. Smith. Elizabeth Smith until she became Elizabeth Maclay. And um... well, she looked like me, except she was pretty."
Tara heard her girlfriend sigh and decided to amend her statement, still quite unsure of herself but trusting that Willow hadn't been anything but genuine when she said how beautiful she was earlier.
"She looked like me."
Willow beamed and threw her arm over the brunette's waist as Tara began to softly stroke her hair.
"Well, she grew up in England. In London. An only child. She used to tell me how she practically lived in this bookshop, Prose I think it was called. It was near where she lived anyway and apparently she spent all her free time there from when she was like 6 years old, she always loved books. She worked there from when she was 15 until she was 17. She left London then, when her parents died in a car accident. I've always wanted to see the city she was raised in."
"I'll take you someday," Willow piped up, happily and genuinely, "We can see Big Ben!"
Tara closed her ideas in joy for a moment at the thought.
"I'd love that..." she said with a sigh, knowing it could never happen, before shaking the thought off to go back to the story, "So, she was a teacher. An English teacher. Or at least she was until she married my Dad, then she became a stay at home Mom. But she still taught me things. We used to read Shakespeare together. Well, she read Shakespeare to me until I learnt to read, then we read together. And we used to go on nature walks, every Saturday morning. We lived on a farm near a forest so there were loads of places we could go. We'd play a game where I tried to name all the different flowers and animals I could see. We did that every weekend right up until..."
Willow turned her head and kissed the brunette's neck.
"How did she...? Unless you don't want to talk about it."
"No, it's okay," Tara replied softly, "She had a brain aneurysm. Went to sleep one night and just didn't wake up."
Tara sighed for a moment; she'd often thought that her mother had just given up, not able to take the beatings her husband inflicted on her every day. Tara, of course, hadn't known about the beatings until her mother had died and her father had made it very clear she was taking her place, but a larger more hopeful part felt that her mother wouldn't have left her had she had any choice in it. She was pulled from her thoughts as Willow spoke up.
"That's terrible, baby. I'm sorry."
"Thanks," Tara replied sincerely, "But at least she died peacefully. She didn't suffer."
Not anymore than Daddy already made her. Thank God we're both away from him...even if my escape is only temporary.
Tara shook her head, not wanting to think about that. Of how her happiness was sure to be short-lived, how she'd be forced back to Alabama as soon as the school year was over. She shook her head again and kissed the top of Willow's head.
"You're the only thing that's made me happy since she died."
Willow raised her head to look in Tara's eyes.
"I'm sorry you went through so many years of unhappiness. But I promise I'll keep making you happy for as long as you let me."
