Chapter 4
It was a beautiful day at the park with kids playing and couples having picnics. The sun was high and there was a cloudless sky above their heads. Willow and Tara were walking hand in hand down the sidewalk enjoying the view of everything in front of them. They each smiled at each other and Willow knew this was the time. Willow pulled Tara to a stop and looked into her eyes and took both hands in hers and took in a deep breath of air and let it out slowly.
"Tara, we have been together for so long and we have been through the good times and defiantly the bad times but we got through everything together. The first time I saw you I melted. I know I wasn't sure about my sexuality before, but I knew that I loved you from the moment I first saw you. I would like to spend the rest of my life with you and I hope you feel the same." Willow got down on one knee and put a black velvet box with a thin golden band and medium sized diamond ring in front of Tara. "Tara Maclay, will you marry me?"
Tara just stood there stunned, she knew what to say but didn't know how to say it. After a couple of tries she finally got it out. "No, I can't. This is to fast. I'm sorry but I just can't." Tara ran the other way with tears coming down her face.
Willow stood up. "Tara!" Willow couldn't believe Tara said no. She just couldn't imagine life without her and she thought that Tara felt the same. "Tara, no don't go!" Willow started to cry.
"Willow, wake up. It's a bad dream, I am right here and I would never leave you. Willow wake up." Tara said shaking her lover softly back and forth trying to wake her up.
Willow immediately woke up to the sight of her lover trying to wake her up. She grabbed Tara and enveloped her in a big hug not wanting to ever let go. "Your still here, I thought you would leave me." Willow said with tears coming down here face.
Tara rubbed her girlfriends back. "Of course I am still here, I would never leave you. You are stuck with me for the rest of your life." She pulled back enough to look into Willows eyes. "What was the dream baby?"
Willow shook her head. "One, I don't really want to talk about it and two, I can't tell you yet. I'll tell you later tonight if your still with me." Willow said in a muffled tone.
Tara shook her head. "Sweetie, no matter what you do I will always be with you. I will be with you tonight so you can tell me, ok." Tara said as she wiped the tears from Willows soft cheeks.
Willow nodded. "I love you so much." Willow pulled Tara into another hug.
"I love you too baby, with all my heart and soul." Tara stated. She pulled back once again. "Lets get breakfast, then we need to clean up this room and go back home."
Willow nodded and smiled, she looked around the room and started laughing. "This room does need help."
Tara nodded. "I would say so. Come on." Tara dragged Willow to breakfast in the cafeteria and they both had pancakes with coffee. They went back to the room and cleaned up. The phone rang just as they finished and Tara got it. "Hello." 'Hey Tara, is Willow there?' "Hey Dawnie, yeah she's here, hold on."
Tara gave the phone to Willow. "Hello." 'Hey Will, it's Dawn." 'Hey Dawnie, what's up?" 'Nothing, I told Kennedy and we were wondering if you asked her yet.' "No, but I did have a dream about it." 'How did it go?' "Horrible, I said everything right but no go, I just hope it won't happen in real life." 'Me too, but you don't have to worry because there is no way she will turn you down.' "Yeah I guess your right, have you told anyone else?" 'No, just Kennedy.' "Could you tell everyone else, I don't want to feel the burden of telling everyone but tell them not to do anything because it might not go as I planned." 'I will tell everyone and don't worry, everything will go great.' "Thanks Dawnie, just make sure they don't do anything stupid." 'I promise, nothing stupid. Have a great time.' "Ok, I gotta go, see you later tonight."
"Tell them hi for me." Said Tara.
Willow giggles. "Tara send you guys her love." 'Same here, hope everything goes out great. Bye' "Bye." Willow hangs up the phone and turns to Tara. "Hey baby?"
Tara looks over to Willow. "Yeah sweetie."
Willow goes over to her and puts her arms around her waist. "I say that we take the long way home and walk through the park, what do you think?"
Tara puts her arms around Willow. "I think that is a great idea. It's a beautiful day." Tara leans in and kisses her lover.
Willow smiles. "That it is." She grins.
"Buffy!" Dawn yelled out for her sister.
"What!" Buffy yells back.
"Come here for a minute, I have something totally amazing to tell you!" Dawn and Kennedy go into the living room waiting for her sister.
Buffy comes down the stairs and into the living room. "What is it?"
Dawn gave a big smile. "Willow is going to ask Tara to marry her at the park."
Buffy went slack jaw. "Oh my god!" She screamed. "When?"
"Will is taking her to the park now to ask her." Kennedy said.
"Well, shouldn't we be there to see how it goes." Buffy asked.
Dawn shook her head. "She said we can't do anything stupid, that would be stupid."
"Fine." Buffy said with a pout.
Willow and Tara were walking hand in hand down the sidewalk in the park just looking at all the little kids playing and the people sitting down to have picnics with their loved ones. Willow knew that it was now or never so she took in a breath and touched the box in her pocket. She was about to say something when someone got there first. "Tara!"
Tara looked over to where her name was called and she went wide-eyed. "Lisa! Oh my god!" Tara screamed as she ran up to hug Lisa. She pulled back and looked her up and down. "How have you been, what are you doing here?"
Lisa laughed. "Well, we moved back here a couple months ago and I found a job at a diner."
Tara smiled. "Oh where's Tommy?"
Lisa pointed over to the play set. "Tommy, guess who I found!" She called over to him.
The little boy about three years old looked over to his mom. "What is it mommy?" He looked over and saw Tara standing there. "Tara!" He jumped off the play set and ran over to her jumping in her arms as she swings him around in the air never letting him down.
Tara smiled. "How have you been? You have gotten big."
"So have you, you were shorter." Tommy giggled.
"You have gotten big since the last time I saw you." She looked over to Willow who was just standing there smiling. "Oh look at me I forgot my manners. Lisa, Tommy, this is my girlfriend Willow, Willow, this is my closest friend Lisa Gray and her son Tommy."
Willow put out her hand. "Nice to meet you."
Lisa nodded and shook her hand. "Same here." She looked at Tara. "Girlfriend, well I am proud of you Tara, you have finally found someone. How long have you been together?"
Tara looked over at Willow and smiled. "Over two years now. It's been great."
"Hey Tara, do you want to go play in the sand box with me?" Tommy asked.
Tara smiled. "I would love to, come on." She put him down and they both ran to the sand box.
Lisa looked over to Willow. "Please, sit down with me, we can talk."
Willow nodded her head and sat down on the blanket. "How long have you known each other?" Willow asked.
Lisa shrugged. "Ever since middle school. We have been the best of friends ever since."
Willow smiled. "Wow, that's a long time."
Lisa nodded. "Yeah, it is. She's like my big sister, ya know."
Willow nodded. "Yeah I do, I have so really close friends of my own that are becoming Tara's close friends too."
Lisa looked over to Tara and then to Willow. "So what's going on with you guys? Any wedding plans in the future?"
"Well, I am hoping to ask her to marry me today." Willow said.
"Really, do you have a ring?" Lisa asked.
Willow nodded and brought a black velvet box out of her pocket. She opened it up to reveal a thin golden band with a medium sized diamond. "What do you think?"
"I think she will absolutely love it." Lisa said.
Just the Tommy came over to Willow. "Willow." He said.
"Yeah." Willow smiled.
"Tara wants to know if you want to go dancing tonight?" Tommy asked.
Willow giggled. "Only if she wears that blue dress I like."
Tommy ran over to Tara and told her. After a couple minutes Tommy came back over. "She says ok, but only if you wear that black one she likes."
Willow got an idea. "Why don't you tell Tara that we need to celebrate tonight and then we can go dancing tomorrow."
Tommy ran over and again came back with a response. "She wants to know what you guys are celebrating?"
Willow makes sure that Tara has her back to them and she gives Tommy the ring. "I want you to go over there and get on one knee, open this box facing her and ask 'will you marry me' ok." Tommy nodes and runs over. Lisa and Willow both watched as Tommy did everything as he was told. Tara quickly turned around facing them and started running toward them. Willow also got up and ran toward her and they both met in the middle in a huge hug with Willow spinning Tara in the air a couple of times before setting her down and kissing her. "So, I am taking that as a yes."
Tara nodes. "You can defiantly take that as a yes."
Willow looked over to Tommy who was sitting there watching. "Tommy, can I have that box please?" Tommy brought the ring over and gave it to her. Willow took it and slipped the ring on Tara's finger. "I love you Tara Maclay." She said before taking possession off her lips for a long lingering kiss.
Tara broke the kiss to look into her fiancés eyes. "I love you Willow Rosenburg."
Lisa started clapping. "If that was not the cutest engagement ever, then I don't know what is."
Tara nodded. "It was pretty cute. I don't think I have ever seen a three year old boy propose to anyone before, especially to me."
"Well as long as you know that came from me and not him then I am ok with it." Stated Willow with a grin.
Tara nodded. "I know, and I love you for doing that. That was so cute."
Willow agreed. "Yeah."
Lisa cut in. "Umm, if you guys want to be alone you can go. I am just about to get a babysitter for Tommy, I have a date with a hot brunette tonight. We need to get going."
Tara frowned and looked at Willow. Willow knew what Tara was frowning at and jumped in. "No, Tommy can stay with us free of charge for the whole night, we would love to have him around. You can never trust those babysitters and since you know Tara very well, who else could take better care of him besides you."
Lisa shook her head. "No, you guys need to celebrate your engagement."
"Nonsense, we have the rest of our lives to do that, how often do I get to hang out with my godson. We would be happy to do it, please." Tara pleaded.
Lisa giggled. "Ok, fine."
Tommy went to hug her. "Thank you mommy, I like hanging out with Tara."
"I know you do, why don't we get home and we can drop you off when I need to pick up Janet." Lisa said. She looked up at the other two women. "Where do you live?" Tara gives her the address, Lisa and Tommy leave soon after that so they can get ready. Willow and Tara decide to walk a little more before they went home.
Willow and Tara were walking hand in hand up the sidewalk to the Summers house and went inside. They walked in and saw Buffy, Faith, Dawn, and Kennedy sitting on the stairs waiting for them to get home.
Buffy raised her eye brow. "Well?" She asked.
Tara brought up her left hand to show them the ring. "Yes, we got engaged, and you will not believe how."
Dawn ran up and gave both of them a big hug followed be everyone else. After about five minutes of gawking over the ring, they all sat down in the living room talking. Tara told them how they got engaged and they all talked about the wedding. They wanted to do a wiccan wedding instead of a regular one because they wanted the goddess to approve also.
Tara looked over to Willow. "When are we going to tell your parents?" She asked. She has met them before but it was not a pleasant time.
Flash Back
They walked up to the front porch and Tara gripped Willow's hand tight. She had been worried all day about meeting her parents for the first time but she knew it had to be done. Willow had told her not to worry and that everything would be ok. They arrived at the door and Willow gave her a reassuring smile before she opened the door and went into the living room.
"Hello, sweetheart." Willow's mom said as she went over to them and gave Willow a quick hug and stepped back. Willow gave a quick wave to her father who was sitting in a chair on the other side of the room reading a newspaper. He smiled and nodded his head.
Willow took an deep breath. "Mom, Dad," Willow said getting their attention. "This is my girlfriend, Tara. Tara, these are my parents, Ira and Sheila Rosenberg."
Tara extended her hand to Willow's mom. "Nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Rosenberg."
"Please, sit down," Sheila said after shaking Tara's hand. Willow led Tara to the couch and sat down really close to her. "Would you two like a drink?"
"Water." Willow said with a smile.
Tara nodded her head. "Water is fine."
She looked at Willow and then back at Ira before leaving. Shelia came back in and gave them both their drinks and went to sit down in one of the chairs. They were both looking Tara up and down to try and take in her appearance.
"So, are you Jewish?" Ira asked.
"Um, no. I'm Christian." Tara stated. She prayed that they weren't going to get into a theological discussion.
Ira looked over to Willow and gave her a disapproving glare. "She's not Jewish, all though she's not a man either so I'm not getting anything I expected."
"Dad!" Willow yelled at her dads rudeness. She made her parents promise to be open minded with Tara .
"Ira, don't be so stubborn. Willow is an adult and she can make her own decisions. I think it's good that she would make such a big statement in this day and age." Shelia commented.
"It's not a statement mom, it's just us." Willow said taking Tara's hand and squeezing it.
"You should be proud, honey." Sheila said smiling.
"We are proud" Willow said defensively as she brought up Tara's hand in front of her parents. "We're very proud. We're just not walking around with signs saying 'hey we're gay' just to make people notice us."
"People should notice you, you're part of a minority group. You should stand up and be noticed." Shelia said proudly.
"We don't really like to be noticed." Tara finally said. She smiled at Willow, who returned her smile.
"Have you two had sex yet?" Ira asked suddenly.
Both girls breath hitched at the sudden question. They both looked at each other and thought that the theology discussion was extremely appealing right about now. Willow was trying to catch her breath so she could tell her father that that was completely inappropriate but a bell went off from the kitchen.
"Dinner's ready." Shelia said with a smile as she left the room. Ira stood up and followed his wife into the kitchen. Once they were gone Willow turned to Tara to see how she was doing. She'd never seen Tara so pale in her life, even when she was about to get bitten by a vampire.
"Are you okay? You look like you're about to pass out." Willow said rubbing Tara's back.
"If I did, could I leave?" Tara asked.
"It's not that bad," Willow said trying to sound convincing.
Tara raised her eye brow. "Not that bad? Willow, your dad just asked us if we've had sex yet."
"It can't get any worse then that?" Willow said.
Tara sighed and she and Willow stood to go to dinner. "Will, I will love your parents because they gave you to me but I don't think I could take it if they ask us anything like that again."
Willow laughed and started walking them both into the kitchen. "Fair enough."
End Flash Back
Willow also remembered the last time they had an encounter with them. "Well, we could have lunch with them sometime. I would say somewhere private like last time."
Tara nodded. "Defiantly, I don't want anyone with us if your parents are going to talk about the same thing they did last time."
Buffy furrowed her brow. "What did you talk about last time?"
"Umm, I don't think…" Willow stopped herself.
"Oh come on Will, it couldn't be that bad." Buffy said putting her hands in the air.
"They asked us if we've ever had sex yet." Tara came in.
Buffy's eyes went wide. "Really?"
Willow nodded. "Hopefully that won't happen again."
"When" Tara asked looking back at Willow.
Willow shrugged. "We could do it tomorrow. Get it done as soon as possible."
Tara nodded. "Ok, umm, do you wanna call them now?"
Willow sighed. "Ok, yeah, what the hell, I can do this." She walks over to the phone and called her parents. A few minutes later Willow came back into the room. "Well, we are going to have lunch at my house tomorrow afternoon. What do ya say." She went over to Tara and put her arms around her waist.
Tara sighed and put her arms around Willow. "Yeah, it's either now or never. I am just glade we aren't doing this with my family."
Willow nodded. "The only thing they did right was give birth to you and keeping you alive so I can have you. I love you but I don't ever want to see them again."
Tara shook her head. "Neither do I."
Dawn raised her hand to emphasize. "Uh, neither do the rest of us."
Kennedy furrowed her brow. "What's wrong with them?"
Faith nodded. "Yeah, I mean they can't be that bad."
Buffy nodded. "Oh yes they can." She looked to Tara. "Do you mind if I tell them or is it to painful to bring up?"
Tara sighed. "My dad use to beat me. When my mom died he started to beat me if I didn't do exactly what he wanted or if he was just drunk and my brother Donny would either join in or watch laughing. Everyone else met them when they came looking for me to bring me back home so I could do the work for them." She stopped to smile at the others. "But, these guys stood up for me and kicked them out. We haven't seen them since."
Faith went wide eyed for a second. "Wow, I'm sorry."
Tara shook her head. "Don't be. I am ok with it and so is everyone else."
Willow blew out a breath of air. "We better get ready for Tommy."
Dawn furrowed her brow. "Tommy, the little boy that proposed to Tara."
Tara laughed. "Yeah, the little boy that proposed to me."
Willow looked at her watch. "He should be here in a half an hour. We better get ready."
"Were are you taking him?" Buffy asked.
"Out to dinner and a movie." Tara said.
Buffy giggled. "What, are you taking him on a date."
"Yes, I am taking my fiancé and her godson out for a date. Am I something or what." Willow said sarcastically.
"You are something." Tara said seductively before giving Willow a deep kiss.
"Umm, me and Kennedy will be downstairs the whole time if anyone needs us." She looked at Buffy. "Don't worry Buffy, we're only going to talk and hang out. We might go out ourselves."
Buffy nodded. "Well, me and Faith have to get out and patrol." She looked over to Willow and Tara. "We'll see you guys later." Buffy and Faith both walk out the door ready for a fight. Dawn and Kennedy went downstairs and just sat on the bed and talked about everything and anything that came into their head.
About a half an hour later the doorbell rang. Willow went to go get it while Tara was still getting ready after a deep make out session between the two that turned out to get Tara half naked. Willow opened the door and saw Lisa and Tommy with another brunette standing there. "Hey guys, come on in. Tara's still getting ready."
They each came in and Lisa looks at Willow. "Willow, this is my date, Janet. Janet, this is my friend and fiancé of Tara."
Lisa shook Willows hand. "Nice to meet you, I have heard so many good things about you and Tara."
Willow shook her hand and smiled. "Nice to meet you too." She looked up the stairs. "Tara, there here!" Willow yelled up to Tara.
Tommy jumped up into Willows arms. "Hi Willow."
"Hi Tommy, are we going to have fun tonight or what." Willow said playfully.
Before he could answer Tara walked down the stairs and smiled. "Hi everyone." She looked over to Janet. "Hi, I'm Tara. I am trusting you have met Willow already."
Janet nodded. "Yes, I'm Janet." They each shook hands and smiled.
"So what are you guys going to do tonight?" Lisa asked.
Willow smiled and looked at Tommy who was still in her arms. "Dinner and a movie, how does that sound?"
"Yeah, I like that!" Tommy said excitedly.
Lisa laughed. "Well, you be good and I'll be back around ten in the morning at the latest."
Tara nodded. "That's fine, I'm sure we can find something to do till then that will be fun."
Lisa nodded and went over to Tommy and kissed his cheek and saying bye to everyone else. When they left, the other three went out to get some pizza and then went to see a movie. It was about nine when they got back and Tommy fell asleep in the car ride home so Willow carried him to their bed room and let him sleep. Willow and Tara watched TV with the volume down low so they didn't wake Tommy for a while to relax. After about a half an hour later Willow and Tara decided to go off to bed. Buffy and Faith came home and went down to the basement to see if Dawn was still there. Dawn was asleep with Kennedy wrapping her arms around her, since they did have their clothes still on Buffy let them stay there. Buffy and Faith went to bed after talking about how they are going to tell everyone about their relationship that is progressing nicely.
Willow and Tara got married about five months later and had a beautiful ceremony. They kept babysitting Tommy while Lisa and Janet became girlfriends. Everyone found out about Buffy and Faith and after a few screams everyone started to get use to it and thought it was perfect since they both were slayers. Tommy has gotten to know everyone and has become great friends with them all and likes to hang out with them all the time. Dawn and Kennedy have made love and everyone accepts it after a little freak out moment. They sleep together in the basement and they made Dawn's room into a spare room for Tommy or anyone else that sleep over.
The End…