As May began, the Scoobies found themselves unconsciously braced for the disaster that always seems to accompany that time of year. However, it remained quiet and on one particularly sunny day, Tara packed up Olivia and a picnic lunch, calling Willow at the last minute before heading out the door.
"Hello?" she heard across the line as Willow picked up on the other end.
"Hi, Willow," Tara responded. "I was just going to take Olivia to the park and was wondering if you wanted to join us."
"Sure!" Willow agreed immediately. Tara was not surprised; it seemed that Willow rarely had plans, something that concerned Tara when she thought about how busy the redhead had kept herself while they were dating.
However, she continued the conversation without expressing her worry. "Great, you'll meet us there?"
"The one by the high school or the cemetery?"
Tara grinned inwardly, only in Sunnydale. "I was thinking the high school."
"Alright, see you there!"
After hanging up the phone, Tara lifted Olivia onto the counter and carefully dabbed sunscreen onto her face and limbs. Olivia squirmed, but Tara wouldn't let her get away. "You're a red head living in California, sweetheart. Get used to this."
Tara tied a sun bonnet on top of the mop of red hair before carrying Olivia and all her things outside, where she tucked the baby into her stroller and set off for the park.
She crossed paths with Willow about two blocks before the park.
"Hi!" Willow greeted Tara with enthusiasm before leaning over the stroller to kiss Olivia. "Oh, a picnic! Yay!" Willow exclaimed before blushing. "I mean, if it's for sharing. It can just be for you and Olivia, you don't have to feed me."
Tara smiled at Willow's sweetness. "I'd never think to exclude you from a picnic," she teased lightly.
Willow grinned in response and the two fell into step for the rest of the walk. When they got there, Tara spread a blanket out in a grassy spot in the shade and lifted Olivia out of the stroller. The moment she was set on the blanket, Olivia crawled off of it and into the grass where she crawled with careful examination of the new substance beneath her.
"She's not really into the whole playground thing yet, but she loves outside," Tara explained to Willow. "She also loves trying to eat grass." Tara leaned over Olivia as she said this and fished some of the named substance out of her mouth.
Willow giggled and held out her hands to her daughter. "Come here, Olivia." Olivia allowed Willow to help her into a standing position and toddled around while holding both of her mother's hands. Tara felt so happy and content seeing the pair. Over the past weeks they had gotten to know each other better than they ever had, and it was beautiful to see. Stretching across the blanket, Tara laid on her back, watching wisps of clouds move slowly overhead through the leaves off the tree above her.
Although she didn't remember falling asleep, Tara realized she must have when she opened her eyes to see Willow kneeling beside her, a fussy Olivia in her arms.
"Sorry to wake you," Willow apologized. "But I think Olivia's getting hungry."
Tara rubbed her eyes and glanced at her watch, it was indeed lunchtime. Sitting up slowly, she said, "I'll get the food I packed."
"No, I'll do it," Willow volunteered, passing over Olivia and hopping up to retrieve their lunch.
Willow excitedly unpacked the sandwiches that Tara had made that morning, and the cut up turkey and strawberries for Olivia.
"Is this for me?" she joked. "You don't think I can eat?"
Tara smiled back, but broke into full on laughter as Willow picked that moment to take a big bite of her sandwich, causing the slippery vegetables to slide out the other end and fall onto her shirt.
"Maybe I should have cut up your food," Tara teased, laughing as Willow blushed lightly and picked off the bits of lettuce and cucumber and rubbed at the wet spots left behind with a napkin.
"I guess I am not totally an expert sandwich eater," Willow confirmed.
They were able to finish their sandwiches without another incident, taking turns feeding Olivia pieces of her lunch. At home, Tara would let her pick up food by herself, but in the park it seemed a messy hazard. As it was, Tara found strawberry smeared above the baby's ear and down a leg when she wiped her down after they finished eating. Tara changed Olivia's diaper quickly, and then found herself with a baby snuggled into her arms, nuzzling into her chest, and looking up at her with expectant eyes.
Tara found herself feeling oddly shy. She had not nursed Olivia in front of Willow since fleeing Sunnydale weeks ago, and this sunny park felt much more exposed than a dark car or hotel room. However, Olivia was starting to fuss in a way that would lead to a full on cry if her demands were not meet immediately.
Averting her eyes from Willow, she muttered, "she needs her milk," before pulling a blanket out of the diaper bag and draping it lightly over Olivia before pulling up her shirt and moving her nursing bra out of the way.
"Tara," Willow said quietly, "You know you don't have to cover up in front of me." Her voice then took on a lighter tone. "Besides, would you really want to eat with a blanket over your head? I know I wouldn't. I struggled enough with that sandwich as is. I can't imagine the results if someone had put me under a blanket."
Tara was embarrassed, knowing that Willow was right. She pushed the blanket aside, but kept gaze focused down on Olivia. Her body could sense that she was being stared at, and she didn't have to look up to know where Willow's eyes were glued.
Olivia finished, and Tara covered herself once again before snuggling her for a few minutes as her blue eyes fluttered opened and closed as she was drawn towards sleep.
"She fights it so hard," Willow observed in a low voice.
Smiling indulgently, Tara affirmed, "She just doesn't want to miss a thing."
However, Olivia quickly lost her battle and once her eyes stayed closed, Tara carefully laid her down on the blanket.
"She's so beautiful," Willow murmured as she watched the sleeping baby.
"I can see where she gets it from," Tara responded, staring openly at the gorgeous woman sitting next to her.
Their eyes met, Willow's filled with a curious mix of uncertainty and passion. They had both consciously avoided moments like this since the almost kiss nearly two weeks before, though they had been together most days.
Willow blinked slowly and her lips parted slightly, making Tara unconsciously lick her own before leaning in and brushing their lips together gently.
The kiss remained soft for only moments before they both were clinging to each other, their mouths falling open and tongues reaching out as they tried to get as close together as possible. Tara remained conscious of where Olivia was sleeping, and made sure she shifted them away from her as they fell backwards, never breaking the kiss, and settled with Willow's slight weight on top, her legs spread on either side of Tara's.
They were lucky to be the only people in the park that day, for surely others would have stopped to stare at the two women in a passionate embrace next to where their baby slept peacefully. The kisses continued, the passionate desperation giving way to tenderness, as Tara pushed Willow's hair back from her face and dropped kisses all over her face. But then their lips found each other once again and refused to end the contact. The only constraints existing were Olivia and perhaps the public location, though Tara doubted that that alone could have proved deterrent enough.
When Willowhand started to roam across her body in ways that Tara couldn't resist for long, she gently broke the kiss, whispering, "We can't here, Willow." Though she didn't voice it, Tara also knew that location was not the only thing that would make her stop this. It was too soon. Too risky. They both needed more time to get used to each other again, and now that Olivia was in the equation as well, Tara was not going to do anything to jeopardize their renewed relationship.
"I know." Willow dropped a quick kiss to her lips and then started to move away. Tara held her tight as they sat up, capturing her lips again in an effort to communicate everything that was in her heart. Her joy that they had had this connection, that she shared the unwillingness to restrain themselves, how deeply she needed it to happen again and often.
The smile that spread across Willow's face and the way she cuddled in against Tara's side was enough to demonstrate that the message had been conveyed.
Tara squeezed the redhead close before checking her watch with a sigh, "I should get going. I have class this evening."
"Oh," the surprise was evident in Willow's voice. "But Olivia is sleeping. Won't that make her wake up? And do you bring her to class with you? Because she's just a baby and she could cry or something."
"Well…" Tara started with Willow's first point as she adjusted the seat of the stroller so it was laying flat. "Olivia takes after someone I know and waking her is near impossible once she's out," Tara teased.
Willow giggled, and Tara had to turn to see that beautiful smile even as she gathered Olivia into her arms and moved her into the stroller. "Does she talk in her sleep too?" Willow asked.
"Not yet, but, um, sometimes she makes yummy eating noises," Tara explained, making Willow laugh harder when she tried to demonstrate. "And, no, I don't bring her to class. Dawn loves babysitting." Tara tried to read the expression on Willow's face and kept talking on a hunch. "But on Wednesday I, um, have a meeting in the afternoon. Would you maybe want to take Olivia? You could pick her up in the morning and make a day of it?"
Those beautiful green eyes went wide at the suggestion. "You mean like me taking care of her all by myself?"
Tara quirked her lips and kicked off the brakes on the stroller to start walking home. "Yeah, all by yourself. I think it would be good for you both."
Tara wondered if Willow's eyes could possibly get any wider. "Well, maybe. You really think I'd be ok?" The vulnerability in her voice broke Tara's heart and she knew she was doing the right thing. Willow needed to have time with Olivia. Now that she was doing better with the magic she needed to find a place in her daughter's life.
"Yes, Willow." Tara tried to communicate all her trust and love in the answer.
"Ok, I guess I could do that. Wednesday, yeah, I'm free then." Willow nodded adorably.
"Great!" Tara grinned. "You two can have a date."