Willow stood on the porch of her girlfriend's house, a small bungalow, trying to manoeuvre the two bouquets of flowers in her hand so she could ring the doorbell. She had picked up the flowers on the way here, not wanting to rise any suspicions from her parents by leaving the house with them. She looked down at her outfit; a simple skirt and blouse ensemble that she hoped would give a good impression without seeming too showy.
Balancing both bouquets on her left arm, she reached out and pressed the button, hearing the ringing sound reverberate from inside the house. A couple of seconds later, Willow was looking up at a smiling dark-haired woman. She was surprised to see the woman had the exact same shade of vibrant blue eyes that her girlfriend had. She opened her mouth to try and speak, but nothing came out. Quickly clearing her throat to try and get some of the moisture back that had been lost from her nervousness, she tried to speak again and thanked every deity known to man that actual sound came out at this attempt.
"Um, hi."
She quickly retracted her thanks to the gods and inwardly kicked herself for not being able to come up with anything better than 'hi'.
"Willow, right?"
"Yeah. Yes. I'm Willow. Um, Rosenberg. It's very nice to meet you, Ms. Maclay," Willow said nervously and thrust the slightly larger bouquet, filled with lilies, into her hands.
"Oh, wow, Willow, these are beautiful, thank you. Come in, come in. And please, call me Jen," Jen said, ushering the redhead inside the door.
Willow walked into the Maclay's hallway, the soft lighting and burgundy walls giving off a peaceful atmosphere. She looked at Jen again and marvelled at how similar she was to Tara, they had the same shaped face, same body movements. They even walked the same way. The only notable differences she could pinpoint were age and hair colour – Ms. Maclay's was slightly darker. At the same moment she was comparing the two, Tara came up from the side of her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
Willow spun around at the contact and gave her girlfriend a winning smile.
"Tara! Hi. I, um, brought you flowers. You said you liked daises in Biology earlier this week so I got you daises. And I got your Mom lilies, 'cause you told me that earlier that they were her favourites when I spazzed out about my socks. And your house is really nice, I meant to say that to you, Ms. Maclay," she said, turning to Jen, "Very beautiful house, like your daughter, and its all relaxing, like I feel when I'm around your daughter. And, um, did I mention I like your daughter?"
"Once or twice. And I'm very glad to hear it. Does she do that a lot?" Jen asked her daughter, an amused smile on her face.
"Usually just when she's nervous. Either that or she says nothing at all, like when she kissed me in the locker rooms."
"Um, standing right here! And, could we not talk about my moment of insanity please," Willow huffed, but had a small smile on her face.
"Sorry, honey," Tara said, genuinely apologetic, "I love my flowers."
She brought the bouquet up to her nose and inhaled their scent.
"Why don't you put them in your room, Tara. I'll have dinner ready in ten minutes," Jen offered, figuring Willow would be more comfortable if she had some alone time with Tara.
"Thanks Mom," Tara replied, taking Willow's hand and leading her down the hallway towards her bedroom. She held the door open for her girlfriend, who walked inside the room.
"Hey, I love your room!" Willow gushed, taking in her surroundings, the lilac walls softly illuminated by the string of fairy lights hanging above Tara's desk. Her double bed was pushed against the far wall, just under the large bay windows and there was an armchair beside the desk, facing towards the bed. She walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, jumping up and down slightly when she felt how bouncy the mattress was. Tara giggled at her.
"I'll be back in a second, sweetie," the brunette said, going out of the room.
She came back a minute later, the flowers in a simple glass vase. She put them on her desk, smiling at them fondly for a few seconds before joining Willow, sitting beside her on the bed.
"Your Mom is really nice," Willow ventured, relaxing, "I mean, I knew she would be to raise someone as great as you, but, you know. She seems great."
"Well I'm glad you think that. I really want you two to get along," Tara said shyly.
"Um, is it okay… Can I kiss you?"
"You know you don't have to ask…"
"I mean, here. With your Mom just down the hall…"
"It's not like you're trying to jump my bones, honey. But I find it incredibly sweet that you would ask."
"Good. So I'm just gonna go ahead and…" Willow started, leaning forward to meet Tara's lips, inadvertently bumping her nose against the brunette's, "Ow."
Tara stroked the other girl's cheek, not able to help the small smile on her lips as she saw Willow start to pout. She put a kiss on the top of her girl's nose then one on her jutting-out lower lip.
Willow smiled sheepishly.
"My nose still hurts. I think it needs to be kissed better," she said with a grin.
"Oh really?"
"Yes. And it's your duty as my girlfriend to provide said kisses."
"Duty? Oh no. What was it you said last week? Girlfriend privileges. Kissing you is definitely a privilege. Your nose hurts?"
Willow nodded, full puppy dog eyes and pout in effect.
Tara leaned forward and put another kiss on the redhead's nose.
"Better?"
"Hmm…maybe. But now my cheek is jealous."
Tara saw where this was going and grinned broadly.
"Well we can't have that. I've heard those zygomatics can be prone to bursts of rage," she joked, placing two kisses on each cheek.
"You know your bones," Willow giggled, impressed.
"Uh huh…and I think your clavicle is looking a little lonely too," Tara replied, dropping her head and kissing up Willow's collarbone.
"Uh…yeah…was lonely," Willow sighed, loving the attention, "Not just bones though. Joints…muscles…arteries…"
Tara let her lips follow up to the smaller girl's neck.
"Like the carotid?" she breathed, placing a light kiss on Willow's pulse point, feeling it move beneath her lips.
"Oh carotid is definitely good," Willow almost moaned as Tara started sucking on her flesh.
The sound of something falling outside of Tara's room broke them away from each other. Tara looked at where she had paid quite a bit of attention to her girlfriend's neck and bit her lip, looking at the redhead apologetically.
"I think that might leave a mark."
"Really?!" Willow asked, jumping up to examine herself in Tara's full-length mirror.
"Sorry," Tara said, hanging her head.
"What?" Willow asked, turning around to see her girlfriend looking shamefaced, "Are you kidding, Tara? You gave me my first hickey! I'm gonna wear it with pride! I mean, I might be hide it a bit around your Mom, but other than that…"
"Speaking of Mom…" Tara said, relieved she hadn't done anything to upset the redhead or jeopardise their relationship.
"Oh yeah, dinner! I'm so excited."
"I thought you were nervous?"
"I was. But now I've met your Mom, albeit briefly, but still. And I dunno, I feel really…at home. I always feel like that around you."
Tara got up from her place on the bed and wrapped her arms around the smaller girl's waist, leaning in for a chaste kiss. She pulled back and took her hand, leading her out the door and towards the kitchen. Jen looked up as two smiling girls entered the room, hand-in-hand.
"So what were you two talking about in there?" she asked.
"Facial structure," Tara said easily.
Willow tried to stop the blush from rising in her cheeks and pulled at the collar of her shirt.
Jen smiled at the girls and picked up the glass dish she had just taken out of the oven.
"I hope you like lasagne, Willow," she said, bringing it over and putting it in the middle of the table.
"Oh, I love it," Willow reassured, taking a seat at the table, Tara sitting beside her, "Thank you, Ms. Maclay."
"Please, call me Jen. Only my boss calls me Ms. Maclay and I don't like him very much," Jen said, winking at Willow.
"Well thank you very much, Jen," Willow said, feeling at ease with calling her girlfriend's mother by her first name, surprising herself as she still couldn't call Buffy's Mom anything but Mrs. Summers and she'd known her for over two years. She put it down to that calming effect the Maclay women seemed to have on her.
Jen walked back over to the counter and came back with a bowl of salad and some garlic bread.
"Dig in," she said, taking a seat opposite the couple and cutting the lasagne, placing a piece on each of their plates.
"This is delicious, Mom," Tara said after she'd taken her first bite.
"It really is," Willow agreed, putting some salad on her plate.
"So Tara tells me you're a math whiz," Jen started the conversation, "Well, from how she goes on, an everything whiz really."
"If ever a whiz there was," Tara said with a smirk.
"I'm, um, okay," Willow said with a blush, "I like school."
"Well that's a good thing. School is important."
Willow nodded at the older Maclay, stopped from speaking by the food she was chewing. She swallowed and took a sip from the glass of water laid out in front of her.
"That's what I tell Buffy and Xander, they're my friends…our friends," she corrected herself, "They call themselves 'school unfriendly'."
"I've heard about them," Jen said with a smile, "And Xander's girlfriend…Anya?"
"Yeah…We didn't really get on when they first started dating, about six months ago. She can be kind of…"
"Refreshingly honest," Tara interjected.
"But she's a nice girl," Willow continued, smiling at Tara for helping, "And if Xander's happy, I'm happy."
"Well I'm glad you all seem to be such a close group. It's nice to finally see Tara with some friends."
"Mom…"
"Well it is, sugar. You've been lonely for far too long."
Tara closed her eyes in embarrassment and felt a hand move to entwine with hers. She smiled and squeezed Willow's hand, before moving the conversation to more neutral ground, talking about the teachers in school.
An hour later, all three plates were cleared and they had managed to avoid any awkward or embarrassing topics, both Willow and Jen satisfied that they'd learnt a bit more about each other.
"It was very nice meeting you, Willow. You know you're welcome here anytime," Jen said from the doorway as Willow was getting set to leave.
"Thank you, Jen. It was very nice meeting you too. I know where Tara gets her great personality from," Willow replied.
"That was really cheesy, Will," Tara laughed, leaning against the open doorway.
"Oh shush, it was very nice of you to say, Willow," Jen said, shooting Tara a scolding look.
"I'll walk you to the gate, sweetie," Tara said, talking her girlfriend's hand, "I'll see you inside, Mom."
She said the word 'inside' with emphasis, and Jen chuckled.
"Right. Kissing in front of your mother is not cool."
"Mom…"
"I'm leaving, I'm leaving," Jen finished and turned on her heels, closing the front door behind her.
Tara pulled Willow beside her so their shoulders were touching as they walked down to the small gate that separated the Maclay household from the main street. They stopped in front of it.
"I'm glad you came over tonight," Tara said softly.
"Me too," Willow said as quiet before putting her hands on Tara's hips and leaning up for a kiss.
The brunette met her halfway and swung her arms around Willow's neck, pulling her in closer. She ran her tongue over the redhead's bottom lip and Willow instantly opened her mouth, letting her in, in what was now a well-practiced rhythm. They stayed locked against each other until a passing car beeped their horn, and the back window rolled down.
"Hey, ladies, want a real man to join? Whoooo!"
The car was down the street before either girl had even registered what happened or had a chance to respond.
"Assholes," Willow muttered under her breath.
"Forget about them," Tara said, leaning down for a final peck and letting her arms fall to her side.
Willow opened the gate and walked through it.
"See you soon?" she asked, closing it behind her.
"Of course. Text me when you get home, let me know you're safe. And, um, hide your neck from your parents."
"Oh right, yeah," Willow replied, adjusting her collar again, "Thanks. Bye, baby."
"Bye, honey."
Tara watched Willow walk down the street until she turned the corner and was out of her sight. She then turned and walked back into her house, going into the living room where he mother was sitting on the sofa, flicking through a magazine. She plopped down beside her, grinning from ear to ear.
"She's a keeper, sugar."
"I know she is, Mom. I know."