Chapter Three:
"You're being pretty quiet," Tara remarked tossing a pillow off the bed and climbing in.
Willow finishing combing her hair and joined Tara in the bed. "Did the spell tire you out?" Tara asked curling herself around Willow's body.
Willow looked pensive for a moment, and turned her head to look at Tara. "No, the spell was fine. I just…umm…well, what did you feel when you saw the cat? And as a side note, she's really going to need a name soon," Willow finished quickly.
Tara considered her words for a moment. "Well I was scared Will. I mean, giant meat-eating cat in the living room. Not something you see every day." She looked questioningly back at her girlfriend. Knowing full well that Willow was looking for something other than the obvious, she added "Why? What did you feel when you saw her?"
"Fear was definitely a big part of it, but I felt something else. It's hard to explain, but when she walked into the room it felt like, well, a mental weight." She looked up at Tara hoping she understood. Not getting a response she continued, "Like all of a sudden the air was heavier than it should have been, but it wasn't the air, it was like when you stay up all night studying and your brain is really full but you want to study more, but you can't because your head hurts. And in a last ditch effort you try to read one more page, but you physically can't…" She paused for a moment reflecting on her words. "Yes, it was like that. A mental weight and I don't know about you but…" The feel of lips on hers stopped her mid-phrase.
"I get it Will," she said before stealing another kiss. "I can honestly admit that I was pretty freaked out and didn't notice anything unusual, but maybe once the shock wears off tomorrow I'll be able to sense it".
Satisfied with the response, Willow flicked off the light, moved her body closer to Tara's and grabbed one last kiss. "It was just a weird feeling, probably nothing to get too concerned with," she added.
"You're probably right. Love you Will."
"Love you too Tare."
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A few minutes later…
"What about Bojangles?"
"Or Cats-Gone-Wild?"
"Or Ms. Meow-Meow?"
"Or…."
Tara suddenly rolled on top of Willow and pinned her down. "How about we think about the big cat later and right now we just focus on each other?" Tara asked, taking a definitive authoritarian voice. Willow gulped in response. "We might as well use all of this energy for something productive…" Tara began laying a trail of kisses down Willow's neck.
"Sure thing…no more naming of the giant pussy downstairs…" Willow replied gaining a playful nibble from Tara and a long night of being worn out.
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Feeling satisfied that the spell was completed, Buffy left the living room to do one last sweep around the house; she made sure everything was locked up. She grabbed a glass of water from the kitchen before heading back to the living room. The cat was still lying next to the TV on its side, breathing deeply. Buffy studied the form for a while, still dumbfounded at her sheer size.
Seeming to sense being watched, the cat rolled over onto its stomach and sat up facing Buffy. The cat let out a giant yawn as Buffy said "umm…Hi," and waved her hand at the creature. Still completely unsure how to communicate with it, or even knowing if she even understood, Buffy just continued talking. "If it's cool with you, you're going to sleep down here, in the living room…" she started. "We can try and sort everything out in the morning but for now I'd ask you to stay in the living room," she emphasized.
Buffy watched the form looking for any sign of comprehension or recognition. The cat just sat there, looking at her, until finally lying down again and going back to sleep.
I'll take that as a 'Sure, no problem Buff'. I'll stay in the living room' Buffy thought as she turned to head upstairs. A slight sound behind her caused her to turn and look at the cat once more. She seemed to be sound asleep so Buffy headed up the stairs, said goodnight to Dawn and headed to bed.
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Saturday - The next morning…
Heading downstairs with her school bag in tow, Dawn hummed to herself.
Breakfast, then studying, then movie night! She thought smiling to herself. It will be a good day, well, despite the math she added frowning. Dawn reached the bottom step and headed into the living room to throw her school bag on the couch.
"Oh…." She said stopping suddenly. She looked cautiously around the room. "I guess we forgot to turn off the TV last night…" Dawn turned off the TV, threw her bag onto the couch and headed into the kitchen for some breakfast.
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The scene in the kitchen that Dawn walked in on was one she would never forget. The smell of batter and pancakes filled the room. Willow stood behind Tara, with her arms wrapped around her lover's waist; both of them covered head-to-toe in batter.
The counter, the sink, the floor, the stove, the walls, the fridge… Dawn thought looking around. The ceiling…! She let out a smirk finally catching their attention.
"Oh, hi Dawnie! Good morning. How'd ya sleep?" Willow quickly asked. Dawn opened her mouth to answer, but was cut-off: "We had a bit of a fight with the mixer this morning," she said looking around the room. "Okay maybe a big fight," she finished.
Dawn just smiled at the witch, and looked over her shoulder at Tara who was quietly singing to herself. "Rounds or funny shapes this morning?"
"Definitely funny shapes" Tara answered definitively letting out a chuckle of her own. "We got a little carried away after I spilled some batter on the stove".
"Meh, no worries. I won't tell." Dawn said taking a seat at the island, as Willow picked up a cloth and started to wipe down the kitchen. "Hey Will, I think you missed a spot" Dawn said pouring a glass of orange juice and then pointing over at Tara.
Willow raised an eyebrow at Dawn and then walked over to Tara who had her back turned to them. "Dawn, don't you know? This particular job doesn't require a cloth," she said licking a patch of batter off of her girlfriend's shoulder.
"Okay I'm not sure if I should response with 'Awww Cute' or 'Ewww Gross' to that one!" Dawn exclaimed laughing.
"Well I would go with an 'Ewww' Dawn, unless you want a good talking to after breakfast," Buffy responded coming into the kitchen. "As much as I appreciate the Saturday morning food you guys," Buffy started looking around, "I really need to know how you got batter on the ceiling," she finished by eyeing the two women, simply receiving sheepish grins in response.
Tara finished stacking pancakes on everyone's plate before taking a seat next to Willow.
"So dare I ask what happened with our new pet this morning," Buffy asked, taking an enormous bite of pancakes. "She seems to be missing". She looked up when she received no response.
"Ummm, well about that," Willow started, "when I went to get some orange juice this morning, she sort of followed me out and headed off down the street. I wasn't too sure what to do, so I just let her go," she looked up awaiting a response from the slayer.
Buffy simply shrugged. "No biggie. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with her anyways, it's not like we can walk a 200 pound cat on a leash. Just makes our day easier, plus I can keep an eye out for her again tonight. No one has to cat-sit, so we can all spend the day at the Magic Box doing some research."
"What! You said I could go over to Brianne's to study today. We were going to do some math, work on our art project and bake cookies!" Dawn exclaimed sullenly.
After receiving disapproving glares from both Willow and Tara, Buffy agreed to let her go. Of course with the very clear understanding that there would be no making out with vampires. After dropping Dawn off for the day, the three women headed over to the Magic Box for a much needed Scoobie meeting.
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