Boris Yeltsin – Glad you think so!
B.B-T.W-FUFFY-Calzona – *Squee* :D
gecoma – Woo! I'm looking forward to writing it but I'm enjoying plodding through this one too :)
Tara leant over the island in the kitchen, inhaling the wafting aroma from the cup of coffee her hands were securely tightened around; her eyes closing for a moment in exhaustion from the early start she'd had that morning to start on some pre-party cooking for their anniversary soiree that afternoon.
She took a generous gulp of the dark liquid, her lids continuing to flutter open and closed until she spotted Willow walking through the doorway and straightened up in an instant; any sense of tiredness or being weary leaving her completely in place of a tingle of attraction down her spine and a thumping heart in her chest.
"Hel-lo," she said, elongating the syllables unintentionally as Willow walked towards her, then taking the redhead's hand when she reached her and spinning her in place.
"Oh!" Willow yelped at the surprise move, then giggled as Tara caught a hold of her waist, "Hi."
Tara held her wife at arm's length and admired her form, nodding in appreciation of the article of clothing she'd opted to don; a wide-strapped, fitted purple jersey dress that had an empire silhouette highlighted by a white stripe around the high waistline with another stripe around the hem, the fabric falling to her knees.
When Tara was finished openly leering, she grabbed Willow's hips and pulled their bodies together.
"You're looking particularly gorgeous today."
"Thank you," Willow replied with a bashful smile, looking down at herself, "Do you like the dress? It's not too early to get into it, is it? The house is all clean and there's not really much to set up. I mean, we're keeping it casual, right?"
Tara took a moment to process the slur of questions before giving a definitive nod.
"Okay, let me see if I can get this in the right order. I love the dress," she started before giving the redhead a crooked smile and lowering her voice, "I can't wait to take it off you."
Willow blushed and smiled before Tara suddenly dropped her hands and started walking away from her.
"In fact, you know I think I might just have something to finish it off."
Willow's face creased in confusion as Tara disappeared into the foyer and returned moments later, carrying a square-shaped box with a bow on top.
"Tara no, we said the spa and nice dinner was our present to each other!" Willow said in response to seeing it, "I didn't get you anything!"
"You're giving me a baby," Tara replied as she walked back towards her wife, "Besides, this is for both of us."
"Ohhhh," Willow replied, a knowing grin spreading on her face as she thought she knew what was in the box, "That kinda present. You probably shouldn't give it to me here in case you-know-little-who walks in."
Tara sniggered and shook her head as she stood next to Willow near the island again.
"Not that kind of present. Get your mind out of the gutter."
"Oh," Willow replied, flushing again in embarrassment, "Well if you say a present for both of us, what the hell else am I supposed to think?"
Tara popped the lid on the box to reveal what was really inside.
"Matching necklaces."
Willow dropped her gaze to the two silver chains, overlapping with each other on the velvet surface they were lying on, with a hollow, heart-shaped pendant hanging off the end of both of them. The heart was covered in tiny, shining gems; a mix of deep red and silver, glinting in the sunlight that was shining in from the glass doors to the backyard. She moved her hand so each pendant was under her palm and traced a finger around the heart.
"Oh my god, these are so pretty."
"The red is garnet," Tara explained as Willow admired the jewellery, "My birthstone. And then the–"
"Diamonds. My birth stone," Willow finished before squealing excitedly, "I love them! Put mine on, put mine on!"
She turned so her back was to Tara and gathered her hair up. A moment later she felt the chain fall around her neck and let her hair fall again when she felt it being secured. She turned back around to face her wife and looked down to make sure it was sitting right before grabbing the box from where Tara had left it on the island.
"Your turn!"
Tara dutifully turned and gathered her hair like Willow so the redhead could clasp the second necklace on her. Once fastened, she turned back around and saw Willow's face instantly break out in a wide smile.
"They're perfect," Willow beamed before throwing her arms around Tara's neck and kissing her soundly on the mouth.
She felt Tara's hands come to rest on her hips and continued kissing her for several moments before eventually pulling back.
"Now, where were we? Ah yes, you were wondering if it was too early for you to get changed," Tara said after a minute, pretending to contemplate, before offering a warm smile, "It is never the wrong time for you to look that beautiful."
Willow's cheeks flushed and she moved her head down to rest on her wife's shoulder to hide them.
"Stop making me blush, you know I hate it."
"But you make it so easy," Tara replied through an obviously grinning voice, "And to finish off your questions, all we have to do is put some food on the table closer to the time everyone arrives, so yes, very casual. I made some finger food and a couple of lasagnes if people wanted something more."
"I can smell the oregano," Willow responded, looking over Tara's shoulder to the array of covered plates sitting on the countertop, "And lots of other things too. Our house smells like a delicious blend of spices and pastry."
"That about sums up what I cooked," Tara answered before pulling Willow away from her again and looking her up and down, "That really is a dazzling dress."
Willow gave a shy smile and started a slow spin in place. Tara admired her wife's turning form until the redhead stopped again and for the first time noticed the pulling in of the fabric at her waist made the baby bump stand out, a distinct contrast to everything else Willow had been wearing recently to cover it up. She grinned and put on a southern accent.
"Why, Mrs. Rosenberg–Maclay, do I see that you're with child?"
"Why, yes, Miss Tara, I am," Willow replied in the same accent before giggling and going back to her normal voice, "I was gonna wear a sweatshirt and then when we told everyone, I'd take it off and be like 'hey, surprise!'"
"Surprise indeed," Tara responded and was about to lean down to pop a kiss on her wife's lips when the shrill sound of the doorbell thwarted her efforts, "Will you get that?"
"Yep!" Willow replied cheerily and started to bounce from the room.
Tara watched her leave with an adoring smile before moving over to pick up the cup of coffee she'd abandoned when Willow had first walked in the room. She didn't register the lack of heat against her hands through the ceramic as she picked it up and took a sip, only to gag as the ice-cold coffee got stuck in her throat.
"I'm pretty sure the mailman was checking me out," Willow's voice rang throughout the room as she walked back in, looking through the collection of envelopes she'd just been given, using a flat brown package at the back to hold them against.
"Can't blame him," Tara replied as she poured the offending liquid from her mug down the sink, "As long as he was just looking."
"No, I let him have a quick squeeze before he went next door," Willow replied deadpan, looking up from the mail, "I don't think we'll need to tip him next Christmas."
Tara rolled her eyes playfully.
"You're hilarious, you know that?"
"I know, I should pack in this whole FBI business and become a comedian," Willow responded as she set the mail down on the island and picked up a long, brown envelope from the top, waving it between her hands and continuing in a sing-song voice, "Look what I have..."
"A brown envelope?" Tara asked with mock enthusiasm, "Gee, wow!"
Willow folded her arms over her chest, holding the envelope under them.
"You know something, you need to learn to communicate without the need for sarcasm."
Tara's lips quirked into a half-smile.
"I love you," she replied in a tone that somehow managed to be both sarcastic and genuine at the same time.
She watched as Willow tried to stay firm but it only took a few seconds for the uncontainable grin to break out on her face, her arms dropping, the envelope in one hand as she dropped her gaze. After another moment, she raised her head and Tara could see her cheeks were flushed, making her grin that she could fluster her wife so much just by saying those three little words.
"I told you to stop making me blush," Willow tried to warn but her tone lacked the cautionary conviction it needed since she was still trying to hide a grin.
Tara held up her hands in surrender before gesturing towards her wife.
"Okay, then, tell me about this envelope. What's so special about it?"
Willow pushed herself onto a stool and turned the packet in her hands.
"It is special because it's an envelope that I'm pretty sure contains..." she started, pausing for a moment as she tore the top off and pulled the papers inside out; beaming when her suspicions were confirmed and turning them around to show her wife, "The deeds to our house."
Tara's eyes widened and she moved over to stand in front of Willow, scanning the front of documents her wife was presenting to her, her face lighting up as she saw the culmination of all of the formalities they'd gone through, though relatively quickly, had still been arduous. She went to lean her head down to kiss the redhead in celebration but found her lips met with paper.
She pulled back in confusion and saw Willow covering the lower half of her face with the documents, her eyes peeking out above them.
"Say sorry."
Tara exhaled and offered a soft smile.
"I'm sorry."
Willow seemed to accept that but made no move to lower the papers.
"Say you'll never make me blush again."
Tara just grinned and shook her head 'no'.
Willow's eyes shone with defiance.
"Well then no kiss for you."
"You sure?" Tara asked sweetly, "Because I'd really like to kiss you."
"Yes," Willow replied stubbornly, "I won't give in."
Tara moved her hand behind Willow's, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. Willow closed her eyes and shook her head.
"Futile effort, Tara."
She felt her wife's hand drop away from her face and was about to voice a sound of triumph but had to quickly shut her mouth to stop a moan from coming through when she felt lips brush over the curve of her ear.
"I'm serious."
Her voice was starting to crack and her hands were dropping, little by little.
"I'm not...I won't..." she tried to protest but her resolve was crumbling in a matter of nano-seconds until she finally dropped the papers onto the island and grabbed the back of Tara's neck, pulling their faces together, "Kiss me."
Tara scrunched her nose up in victory and closed the small gap, her hands moving to Willow's waist so her fingers splayed out across her lower back through the fabric of her dress. She sucked Willow's bottom lip between hers and felt the arms tighten around her neck.
When they pulled apart, Willow inhaled deeply and slowly puffed out the breath.
"I don't know how I feel about you having so much control over me."
Tara grinned.
"You love it."
Willow grinned as well.
"Oh yea."
"Oh yea," Tara giggled before dropping another quick kiss on her wife's lips, then picking up the papers to look through them, "So much paperwork and signatures and figures for this. We had to fill out more forms to buy this house than we did to get JJ."
"Took a lot less time though," Willow responded, her voice becoming coy, "And I may have...persuaded the county system to want to process things a lot faster."
Tara shot her wife a look saying 'I don't want to know' before clapping her hands excitedly and spinning around, gesturing around herself.
"It's all ours. Officially."
"Technically, it's the bank's for the next 15 years," Willow replied before Tara shot her another look and she clapped as well, "I mean, yay, it's ours!"
Tara just smiled and moved to wrap her arms around Willow's shoulders.
"C'mere, you," she said lovingly, placing a kiss on top of her hair before giving a small laugh, "You know, we found out about the baby on our wedding anniversary and now the house on this one."
Willow nodded into Tara's chest before sighing.
"Damn, we're gonna have a lot to live up to next year."
Tara laughed again, louder this time and squeezed her wife just a little harder.
"Happy anniversary, baby."
Willow took a moment to enjoy the fluttery sensation in her heart and the pit of her stomach at the rarely-used pet name before replying softly.
"Happy anniversary, baby."
They embraced warmly for several moments before Tara pulled away and looked at the redhead curiously.
"You haven't had any morning sickness in last week or so, have you?"
"Um, no," Willow shook her head and put a hand on her stomach with a laugh, "The little one's getting more comfortable I guess. Why?"
Tara moved her hands back to Willow's hips and tried to act nonchalant.
"So, if I picked you up and spun you around the room right now, you wouldn't be sick?"
Willow looked terrified.
"I want to say no just so you won't but I don't want to lie to you."
Willow gulped as Tara got a mischievous smile on her face and yelped as she was picked from the stool and held by her butt, her feet hanging off the ground as Tara twirled them around the room.
"Put me down! Tara, put me down!
Tara just giggled and shook her head, feeling an elated buzz going through her. She had no intention of stopping despite her wife's now-dwindling objections as her infectious high until a quiet voice piped up from the doorway.
"What are you doing?"
Tara stopped but didn't release her wife and looked over to her son, still in his pyjamas and looking thoroughly confused. Tara thought for a moment before offering a simple and true explanation.
"Spinning."
JJ regarded his mothers as if they were insane before shrugging.
"Can I have some toast?"
Tara smiled and nodded.
"I'll bring it in to you."
"Thanks!" JJ beamed and scurried off to continue watching his cartoons.
Willow watched him leave before turning her head back to her wife.
"Can you put me down now?"
Tara gave a cheeky smile and squeezed Willow's butt for several seconds before lowering her hands enough for the redhead's feet to hit the floor.
"Thank you," Willow replied and brushed some invisible lint from her chest while Tara moved towards the toaster.
"Do you want some toast?"
"No, I'm ok–" Willow started before her stomach rumbled in argument, "Yes, please."
Willow retook her seat on the stool and watched as Tara bounced between the refrigerator and the toaster. She couldn't help but smile and moved to rest her head on her palm, her elbow against the island.
"What is with you today, Miss giddy?"
Tara pushed the lever down on the toaster and turned back around.
"I'm happy," she said, sauntering back over to stand by her wife, "I'm deliriously, ecstatically, quite literally jumping-for-joy happy. And it's all because of you."
Willow smiled softly.
"And JJ. And the baby. And the house."
Tara tapped the top of Willow's nose affectionately.
"Wouldn't have those if I didn't have you."
"Well, I'm deliriously, ecstatically, quite literally...jumping-against-my-will-but-still-with-joy happy too," Willow replied before shrugging, "But I'm not able to lift you in demonstration."
Tara put her hands on Willow's knees.
"You can kiss me."
"Yes I can," Willow replied with a giggle and cupped the blonde's cheeks, pulling her down for a warm smooch until the 'pop' of the toaster pulled them apart.
Tara brushed her lips against Willow's for another moment before squeezing her knees.
"Crunchy peanut butter and sliced banana?"
Willow flashed her teeth in a smile and nodded.
"Love you."
"Love you too," Tara replied with a kiss to the bridge of her wife's nose.
Willow started to flick through the other mail they'd received, leaving the bills to look at later and pushing any unsolicited envelopes to the side to trash when she got a chance.
She gave Tara a smile when a plate with her peanut-butter-and-banana-topped slices of toast was placed in front of her and watched the blonde disappear towards the living room with a another plate of toast covered in blackberry jelly.
She picked up the first slice and took a bite from the corner, licking her lips as the mix of sweet and salty hit her taste buds and munched down with a satisfying crunch. She finished sorting the mail and picked up the packet the envelopes had been resting on and recognised the '' logo emblazoned across it.
She heard Tara come back into the room and held the package up in the air.
"Hey, what did you get from amazon?"
She felt Tara's hand come to rest on her back and the package being plucked from her hand.
"Oh. Oh, wow. I didn't think this was going to come in on time."
Willow took another large bite of her toast and spoke through a mouthful.
"What is it?"
Tara swung her legs onto the stool beside Willow and held the package in both hands.
"Something I need to talk to you about."
"Sounds serious," Willow joked but her face faltered when she saw Tara look at her in confirmation, "What the hell is it, Tara, you're making me feel like they're divorce papers or something."
Tara couldn't help a wry grin at that.
"From amazon?"
Willow threw her hands up in the air, obviously flustered.
"Well they do everything else!"
Tara reached across and took one of her wife's hands.
"Willow, I promise you, you will never have to know what divorce papers even look like," she assured before taking her hand back and tearing the top of the package open, "This is a book. A kid's book. That someone in work recommended."
Willow's eyes went wide.
"I swear if it's another damn frog..."
"It's not a frog," Tara replied with a playful roll of her eyes as she slid the book out and pointed to the animal on the front, "It's a chicken."
"Aww cute!" Willow replied, then picked up her toast to continue eating, her worry lessened from before, thinking her wife was just being over-cautious with her, "Tara, I know I freaked out about the frog, but you don't need to run everything our son reads by me."
"Right," Tara nodded before clearing her throat, "That...of course. The same goes for me. But this...it's a chicken...who gets adopted by a bear."
Willow nodded and looked over the cover of the book.
"Sounds cute."
Tara reached across to take one of Willow's hands and looked at her intently.
"Adopted, Willow."
Willow spluttered on her toast and dropped it back to the plate as she registered what her wife was saying, while Tara moved to rub her back. She grabbed the book from Tara's hands to have a closer look. Tara watched her eyes dart around the pages and continued to rub her back.
"We said we were going to tell him about the baby today, before the others."
"Yea, definitely," Willow said absently as she flicked through the pages, "He should know first."
Tara waited for her wife to stop reading, but when she didn't after a moment, continued anyway.
"It will raise questions. He'll want to know if he grew in your belly too."
Willow's head shot up, her eyes wary.
"You wanna tell him he's adopted on the same day we tell him about the baby? Isn't that information overload?"
Tara moved her hand up to Willow's shoulder and gave it a squeeze.
"Well, Willow, he's still so young, we can explain the adoption for what it is and not have it be some big shock when he's 16. And we said we'd never lie to him about this. The issue is just coming up early with the baby."
She watched as Willow looked down at the book, then back up at her, her eyes filling with tears.
"What if he doesn't think I'm his mother?"
Tara opened her mouth to speak but felt a ball of emotion in her throat stopping her so she stood and pulled Willow into her arms, embracing her softly and swallowing until she found herself able to speak.
"He knows who his momma is," she whispered, kissing her wife's ear, "He knows exactly who his momma is."
Willow quietened after a few moments, then suddenly pulled away from her wife, wiping at her eyes with the heel of her palm.
"Oh god, I don't want him to hear me."
Tara moved around the island to a drawer on the other side and opened it, retrieving a pocket pack of tissues and handing one across, which Willow gratefully took. She walked back to the redhead and cupped her cheek softly.
"If you're not ready for this, we can–"
"No, no, we said, we always said we'd be honest," Willow cut the blonde off as she wiped away at the last of her tears, and took a deep breath, "He's been my boy since the day he was born, nothing can take that away."
Tara took the used tissue and pushed it into her front jeans pocket before moving her hand up so she was cupping both of her wife's cheeks.
"Nothing will ever change the fact that we are his mothers."
Willow managed a small smile at the love shining at her through deep blue eyes.
"We changed enough diapers."
Tara laughed and moved to press her lips against her wife's forehead.
"That's my girl."
Willow took strength from the warmth of the kiss and gave a definitive nod to herself.
"Okay then. Let's go talk with him."
Tara still looked concerned.
"Do you need a few minutes?"
Willow shook her head and gave a semi-confident smile.
"If we're gonna do it, let's do it now."