Disclaimer: Nothing is mine, all is Joss' and anyone else who deserves
props but is always forgotten in those seriously annoying 'thanks' at the
awards ceremonies
Warnings: Nothing big, nekedness, smoochies, and my odd fantasies
Synopsis: Kennedy and Willow's romp left it's mark, the return of Tara
leaves it's own scars.
Chapter 3- The Night After
Willow rested her sweat-beaded forehead on Kennedy's equally slick sternum. Using just the tips of her fingernails, she ran loving patterns on the olive skin before her.
"Are you alright?" Kennedy blindly explored Willow's bare stomach with her hand.
Willow examined the scratch marks on her body, wiping a few specs of blood away from a particularly deep one. "Yeah, I'm fine; your back is worse. We should get cleaned up, it's almost time for dinner." Willow stood up, wincing at the stinging pain emitting from her abdomen.
Kennedy quickly jumped to the redhead's side, "No, sit down!"
Willow's eyes went wide, they'd been going at it all day, did Kennedy ever get tired?
Kennedy looked slightly flustered, as if reading the redhead's mind; she gently eased the hacker into a sitting position on the nearby desk. "I'll get band aids, stop moving, you're making it bleed more."
"Ok, you win," Willow stopped fidgeting, "I'll stop breathing"
"Don't be silly Red, just don't move a lot, I'll be back in a second." The brunette grabbed Willow's robe off the back of the door and wrapped it around her body, hiding her state of undress. After tying the cloth belt in a knot she stole a kiss and headed out to the bathroom in search of a first aid kit.
Willow watched her lover leave before hopping off the desk and sulking to her dresser, her hand stopped on a knob she hadn't dared to touch in months. She cautiously pulled open the drawer and ran her hand along its contents: Clothes all a few sizes to big, some crystals, herbs, and a small, dark blue, velvet box. Willow removed the box from its place and dug around in the drawer, pulling out a light blue robe. She had brought the robe not for herself, but for the woman who's eyes shared its color. Willow wrapped her naked body and felt a tear run down her cheek. The redhead put her nose to the cotton and inhaled the scent of her deceased lover. Opening the box she found the gift she had saved up for months to buy, the gift her lover had never been able to see. Willow slipped the gold band on her left ring finger and kissed it lightly, running her lips over the pink dolls-eye crystal at its center. Willow pocketed the box and walked outside, not waiting for Kennedy. She stood on the porch and called to the stars each by name- "Hello Short Man Looking Uncomfortable, Moose Getting a Sponge-bath, the Big Pineapple." Willow trailed off as she felt tears sting her eyes.
"You forgot the Little Pile of Crackers, it feels left out."
Willow whipped around at the familiar voice. It couldn't be true! But it was!
"Hello Love."
"Tara!?"
"I've missed you Willow."
"Goddess, Tara!" Willow rushed into her lover's waiting arms.
A look of ecstasy crossed both women's faces; it felt so good to hold each other, to feel the power that surged when they touched.
Willow looked down to Tara's left breast, where it had been pierced. She looked exactly as she did when she died: her shirt bloody and torn. "Tara, I'm so sorry."
"Willow, you don't have to be sorry." Wiccan embraced Hacker in a passionate kiss, both women lost themselves in the pure power- pure love- that they felt wash over them.
"Mm, you're all corporeal. Are you here to stay?" Willow questioned, praying the answer to be 'forever.'
Kennedy peered out Willow's window, her lover was outside on the porch, but someone else was with her. Kennedy's eyes shot wide when she recognized the woman. She walked to the dresser in a daze and pulled the crumpled photograph from its place, turned, and gazed out the window. Kennedy concluded, after comparing the two, that this woman was indeed, Tara- Willow's dead girlfriend. She flopped down on the bed, defeated. "Damn."
Tara shook her head, "I can't stay long."
"Then why did you come back, not that I'm not glad you're here or anything but. it's just going to be harder to say good bye."
"I never got to."
"Neither did I."
"Not technically."
"What? I never got to say goodbye at all."
"Yes you did." Tara untied Willow's robe and slowly opened it.
"Here?" Willow smirked, trying to hide her nervousness. "Can't say this is my wildest fantasy." Her knees buckled and she almost fell over in her fluster when she felt Tara run a hand over her stomach and ribs.
The redhead's act was in vain; Tara knew what her touch did to her lover. "See?" Tara dismissed the joke and ran her fingers over the swollen cuts. "You said goodbye in your heart."
"No! Never, Tara, I love you." Willow's hand shot to Tara's, clutching it tightly.
"I know."
"No, you don't. I didn't say goodbye, I don't want to say goodbye."
"Shhh. Willow, Sweetheart," Tara crooned in Willow's ear as the hacker cried on her shoulder, "I didn't mean it as a bad thing." She stroked Willow's hair.
"I'll never say goodbye Tara, see?" Willow held out her left hand so the blonde could see the ring. "It's for you." She took it off and slipped it on the band on Tara's finger. "See Baby? You're my always."
Tears trickled down Tara's cheeks, "And you're mine."
They smiled for a moment, basking in their love.
"Kennedy." Tara broke the silence abruptly.
"What?"
"Kennedy, your lover."
"No, I mean, yes, no, no you're my lover, always, remember?" Willow kissed Tara's ring in hopes of reminding her love.
"Willow, I'm dead. We both need to deal with it. I just need to ask you something."
"What is it?"
"Well, yes," Tara looked like she would say more but she just kept scrutinizing Willow's lacerations, savoring her lover's naked form.
"Lucky it's dark, huh?" Willow made a 'heh' sound.
Tara didn't answer, she just ran a hand over Willow's body, there were swollen pinkish-red lines marring her lover's shoulders, stomach, hips, and thighs. "Did she hurt you?" Tara's fingers grazed the deeper cut causing the redhead to wince.
"It wasn't anything I didn't ask for." Willow looked ashamed, Tara was right, she had said goodbye. "Kennedy's back's a lot worse though."
Tara shuddered a little, remembering the feeling of Willow's sharp nails dragging down her back, pain bringing pleasure.
"Tara-"
"No, it's alright Will. I understand, I'm the Oz."
"Oh Tara, you're not the Oz, you're the Tara, it's totally different." Willow's voice came out rather innocent and child-like.
The sound of her hacker's little-kid voice almost made Tara break down. The sound of all the innocently naughty whispered thoughts they had passed back and forth screamed in her head like nails on a chalkboard. This pain didn't bring pleasure. "I just wanted to make sure you're alright, and to uhh, say uh, g-goodbye. I don't want to, it sounds so final."
"Then don't."
"Death is final Willow."
".Says the friend of Buffy." Willow smirked.
Tara smiled, "What about Kennedy?"
Willow's smile turned upside-down. "I don't know, I think she loves me."
Tara nodded, "She does, I can feel it. Do you love her?"
Willow cocked an eyebrow playfully, "Can't you 'tell,'" she do-do-do-do-ed the Twilight Zone theme.
"Well, yes, but I want to hear you say it."
Willow sighed, anything for her girl, "I think so." "I love you Willow, and it doesn't make you a bad person for falling in love. We'll never be like we were, I'm dead, but Kennedy isn't, she's very much alive, and very much in love. And she's crying on your bed right now."
"What?"
"Go, I have to leave, Kennedy needs you."
"But-"
"No buts, Goodbye Willow," Tara kissed her lover passionately, she would never let go of the two of them together, and she knew in her heart that Willow wouldn't either. She stepped back, "I love you." Tara dissipated into thin air.
"I love you too." Willow stood, shocked, for a moment before retying her robe and sitting down on the porch steps. It had to be at least 11:00pm by now.
Buffy walked outside and took a seat at Willow's side. "Hey Will!" The fake cheer in the slayer's voice poured like rain.
"Hey Buff." Willow's voice came through sullen and depressed.
"Was that Tara?" The slayer quit the perk and tears gathered in her eyes, she knew the answer. Tara was her friend too, and she missed her with a never-ending ache.
"Yeah, but I'm still debating over it just being a dream."
"No, I saw her, and Kennedy did too."
"Kenn?" Willow quickly stood.
"She's okay Will, I just talked to her. She was a little surprised, that's all."
"I have to talk to her." Willow made a move for the door but Buffy caught her arm and held her back.
"Will, wait."
Willow looked back and forth between the door and Buffy.
"Give her a minute, alright?"
Willow caved and Buffy smiled, pulling Willow's arm as a signal to sit. The redhead complied.
"So, how was it? Talking to Tara again?"
"Intense.."
"Like Oz?"
"No," Willow shook her head, "like Tara, not Oz."
"It sure didn't look like you were 'just talking.'"
"Meh-beh." Willow smirked, her mood lightening a little.
"What'd she come for?"
"To say goodbye, that's what she said."
"But that's not what you think? Major subtext?"
"Major Kennedy subtext. I think she came to tell me it was Okay to fall in love again."
Buffy shuddered, "Will, not trying to be grandma, but, I don't like her, she's not good enough for you."
"Really, or do you just say that because you two are so different that you're alike and it irks you to a serious degree?"
Buffy paused to process, "No, It's how she's flirts, and talks about her family."
"You're jealous."
"No! No, I just- I have to support 30 girls with no income, and she always manages to bring up her serious non-lack of cash right when I'm heading off to the supermarket to buy groceries I can't pay off."
"I don't think she means to do it."
"Who knows how her mind works. you should prolly." Buffy nodded towards the door.
Willow got up and walked into the house, "She is strange."
~fin ch. 3~
Chapter 3- The Night After
Willow rested her sweat-beaded forehead on Kennedy's equally slick sternum. Using just the tips of her fingernails, she ran loving patterns on the olive skin before her.
"Are you alright?" Kennedy blindly explored Willow's bare stomach with her hand.
Willow examined the scratch marks on her body, wiping a few specs of blood away from a particularly deep one. "Yeah, I'm fine; your back is worse. We should get cleaned up, it's almost time for dinner." Willow stood up, wincing at the stinging pain emitting from her abdomen.
Kennedy quickly jumped to the redhead's side, "No, sit down!"
Willow's eyes went wide, they'd been going at it all day, did Kennedy ever get tired?
Kennedy looked slightly flustered, as if reading the redhead's mind; she gently eased the hacker into a sitting position on the nearby desk. "I'll get band aids, stop moving, you're making it bleed more."
"Ok, you win," Willow stopped fidgeting, "I'll stop breathing"
"Don't be silly Red, just don't move a lot, I'll be back in a second." The brunette grabbed Willow's robe off the back of the door and wrapped it around her body, hiding her state of undress. After tying the cloth belt in a knot she stole a kiss and headed out to the bathroom in search of a first aid kit.
Willow watched her lover leave before hopping off the desk and sulking to her dresser, her hand stopped on a knob she hadn't dared to touch in months. She cautiously pulled open the drawer and ran her hand along its contents: Clothes all a few sizes to big, some crystals, herbs, and a small, dark blue, velvet box. Willow removed the box from its place and dug around in the drawer, pulling out a light blue robe. She had brought the robe not for herself, but for the woman who's eyes shared its color. Willow wrapped her naked body and felt a tear run down her cheek. The redhead put her nose to the cotton and inhaled the scent of her deceased lover. Opening the box she found the gift she had saved up for months to buy, the gift her lover had never been able to see. Willow slipped the gold band on her left ring finger and kissed it lightly, running her lips over the pink dolls-eye crystal at its center. Willow pocketed the box and walked outside, not waiting for Kennedy. She stood on the porch and called to the stars each by name- "Hello Short Man Looking Uncomfortable, Moose Getting a Sponge-bath, the Big Pineapple." Willow trailed off as she felt tears sting her eyes.
"You forgot the Little Pile of Crackers, it feels left out."
Willow whipped around at the familiar voice. It couldn't be true! But it was!
"Hello Love."
"Tara!?"
"I've missed you Willow."
"Goddess, Tara!" Willow rushed into her lover's waiting arms.
A look of ecstasy crossed both women's faces; it felt so good to hold each other, to feel the power that surged when they touched.
Willow looked down to Tara's left breast, where it had been pierced. She looked exactly as she did when she died: her shirt bloody and torn. "Tara, I'm so sorry."
"Willow, you don't have to be sorry." Wiccan embraced Hacker in a passionate kiss, both women lost themselves in the pure power- pure love- that they felt wash over them.
"Mm, you're all corporeal. Are you here to stay?" Willow questioned, praying the answer to be 'forever.'
Kennedy peered out Willow's window, her lover was outside on the porch, but someone else was with her. Kennedy's eyes shot wide when she recognized the woman. She walked to the dresser in a daze and pulled the crumpled photograph from its place, turned, and gazed out the window. Kennedy concluded, after comparing the two, that this woman was indeed, Tara- Willow's dead girlfriend. She flopped down on the bed, defeated. "Damn."
Tara shook her head, "I can't stay long."
"Then why did you come back, not that I'm not glad you're here or anything but. it's just going to be harder to say good bye."
"I never got to."
"Neither did I."
"Not technically."
"What? I never got to say goodbye at all."
"Yes you did." Tara untied Willow's robe and slowly opened it.
"Here?" Willow smirked, trying to hide her nervousness. "Can't say this is my wildest fantasy." Her knees buckled and she almost fell over in her fluster when she felt Tara run a hand over her stomach and ribs.
The redhead's act was in vain; Tara knew what her touch did to her lover. "See?" Tara dismissed the joke and ran her fingers over the swollen cuts. "You said goodbye in your heart."
"No! Never, Tara, I love you." Willow's hand shot to Tara's, clutching it tightly.
"I know."
"No, you don't. I didn't say goodbye, I don't want to say goodbye."
"Shhh. Willow, Sweetheart," Tara crooned in Willow's ear as the hacker cried on her shoulder, "I didn't mean it as a bad thing." She stroked Willow's hair.
"I'll never say goodbye Tara, see?" Willow held out her left hand so the blonde could see the ring. "It's for you." She took it off and slipped it on the band on Tara's finger. "See Baby? You're my always."
Tears trickled down Tara's cheeks, "And you're mine."
They smiled for a moment, basking in their love.
"Kennedy." Tara broke the silence abruptly.
"What?"
"Kennedy, your lover."
"No, I mean, yes, no, no you're my lover, always, remember?" Willow kissed Tara's ring in hopes of reminding her love.
"Willow, I'm dead. We both need to deal with it. I just need to ask you something."
"What is it?"
"Well, yes," Tara looked like she would say more but she just kept scrutinizing Willow's lacerations, savoring her lover's naked form.
"Lucky it's dark, huh?" Willow made a 'heh' sound.
Tara didn't answer, she just ran a hand over Willow's body, there were swollen pinkish-red lines marring her lover's shoulders, stomach, hips, and thighs. "Did she hurt you?" Tara's fingers grazed the deeper cut causing the redhead to wince.
"It wasn't anything I didn't ask for." Willow looked ashamed, Tara was right, she had said goodbye. "Kennedy's back's a lot worse though."
Tara shuddered a little, remembering the feeling of Willow's sharp nails dragging down her back, pain bringing pleasure.
"Tara-"
"No, it's alright Will. I understand, I'm the Oz."
"Oh Tara, you're not the Oz, you're the Tara, it's totally different." Willow's voice came out rather innocent and child-like.
The sound of her hacker's little-kid voice almost made Tara break down. The sound of all the innocently naughty whispered thoughts they had passed back and forth screamed in her head like nails on a chalkboard. This pain didn't bring pleasure. "I just wanted to make sure you're alright, and to uhh, say uh, g-goodbye. I don't want to, it sounds so final."
"Then don't."
"Death is final Willow."
".Says the friend of Buffy." Willow smirked.
Tara smiled, "What about Kennedy?"
Willow's smile turned upside-down. "I don't know, I think she loves me."
Tara nodded, "She does, I can feel it. Do you love her?"
Willow cocked an eyebrow playfully, "Can't you 'tell,'" she do-do-do-do-ed the Twilight Zone theme.
"Well, yes, but I want to hear you say it."
Willow sighed, anything for her girl, "I think so." "I love you Willow, and it doesn't make you a bad person for falling in love. We'll never be like we were, I'm dead, but Kennedy isn't, she's very much alive, and very much in love. And she's crying on your bed right now."
"What?"
"Go, I have to leave, Kennedy needs you."
"But-"
"No buts, Goodbye Willow," Tara kissed her lover passionately, she would never let go of the two of them together, and she knew in her heart that Willow wouldn't either. She stepped back, "I love you." Tara dissipated into thin air.
"I love you too." Willow stood, shocked, for a moment before retying her robe and sitting down on the porch steps. It had to be at least 11:00pm by now.
Buffy walked outside and took a seat at Willow's side. "Hey Will!" The fake cheer in the slayer's voice poured like rain.
"Hey Buff." Willow's voice came through sullen and depressed.
"Was that Tara?" The slayer quit the perk and tears gathered in her eyes, she knew the answer. Tara was her friend too, and she missed her with a never-ending ache.
"Yeah, but I'm still debating over it just being a dream."
"No, I saw her, and Kennedy did too."
"Kenn?" Willow quickly stood.
"She's okay Will, I just talked to her. She was a little surprised, that's all."
"I have to talk to her." Willow made a move for the door but Buffy caught her arm and held her back.
"Will, wait."
Willow looked back and forth between the door and Buffy.
"Give her a minute, alright?"
Willow caved and Buffy smiled, pulling Willow's arm as a signal to sit. The redhead complied.
"So, how was it? Talking to Tara again?"
"Intense.."
"Like Oz?"
"No," Willow shook her head, "like Tara, not Oz."
"It sure didn't look like you were 'just talking.'"
"Meh-beh." Willow smirked, her mood lightening a little.
"What'd she come for?"
"To say goodbye, that's what she said."
"But that's not what you think? Major subtext?"
"Major Kennedy subtext. I think she came to tell me it was Okay to fall in love again."
Buffy shuddered, "Will, not trying to be grandma, but, I don't like her, she's not good enough for you."
"Really, or do you just say that because you two are so different that you're alike and it irks you to a serious degree?"
Buffy paused to process, "No, It's how she's flirts, and talks about her family."
"You're jealous."
"No! No, I just- I have to support 30 girls with no income, and she always manages to bring up her serious non-lack of cash right when I'm heading off to the supermarket to buy groceries I can't pay off."
"I don't think she means to do it."
"Who knows how her mind works. you should prolly." Buffy nodded towards the door.
Willow got up and walked into the house, "She is strange."
~fin ch. 3~
