There were generally two schools of thought regarding the long game when living the Scooby life: one, favored by Slayers for obvious reasons, you won't live long, don't make promises you can't keep, don't bother planning on a future; and two, life is short regardless, grab your honey if you find her and live it to its fullest no matter what. They aren't completely divorced philosophies. Both stem from the assumption of a significantly shortened life expectancy that naturally came from hunting demons and fighting evil for a significant portion of one's waking hours. The differences between them have to do with personal conceptions of responsibility with respect to the ego (the individual and the family) and to the society at large.
Being more or less thrust into the family situation with Kera, they had both grabbed hold of each other's hand and jumped together into option two without a lot of deliberation. What made it odd (or odder than it already was), in the process of jumping they realized that this new status as now being a component of something much larger was one they both individually and as a tandem wanted more than anything, and would make even without the pressure of suddenly and unexpectedly being responsible for the life of a child.
But planning beyond the immediate was difficult, when the implementation, besides the practical concerns (such as the years-long Recession and slow economic recovery they suffered through along with everyone else who wasn't uber rich), also had to navigate through the mystical to happen. It had always been something of a fundamental conflict for Willow, who tended toward the empirical and scientific and logical—except, it seemed, when it came to Tara and the magic they made together.
The master bathroom renovation had been their anniversary present to each other—their legal supporting documents anniversary, when they finally finished, with the help of their family attorney (one of Ira's college friends he had stayed in contact with who Willow thought more of as an uncle than her lawyer), setting up the matching sets of POAs, living wills, and insurance policies, legal guardianships for Willow, joint accounts WROS, etc. It was the most they could do since Willow had literally been in Hell during the few months marriage was a legal option in California before Prop 8 passed.
The re-shuffling of rooms was also a sign they'd be staying here in their present home for the foreseeable future. A big part of option two was optimistically deciding they wanted a big family. It was something both had missed out on themselves with their own childhoods, but now, with the accidental gift of finding each other through having Kera, seemed the most natural thing to want. Yes. Yes, of course. Let's have more kids. It will be you and me and our babies, always.
After deciding early on that they wanted to have a big family of undefined size, staying in the technically 3-bed/2-bath starter they had bought just after Tara graduated with her BA and teacher's certification had since been open to debate on and off, since squeezing more than three kids in the house while Willow worked from home just wouldn't work.
The debate was on when they realized they could replicate the ill-researched spell used to magically conceive Kera, and did with Lily. The debate was off when Willow returned from Ban-Ghot hell stripped of her magic. Back on when the demon she'd given her power to in exchange for Faith's and her return went crazy with the white magic and hunted her down to punish her and ended up giving it back to her, a little blacker for the borrowing. Off after they had Dani.
Dani's birth had been difficult, early and after a harrowing series of complications, ended with an emergency Caesarian and partial hysterectomy. Then when their doctor gave them the mixed news, the baby was small but was healthy but would also be their last after the damage to Tara's uterus…
"Hey pretty lady. What's going through that pretty head of yours?" Willow's arms encircled her waist from behind again as she returned from the door where she'd seen Xander and her daughters back to his car.
Tara quickly shifted gears to prevent her perceptive lover from picking up and being affected by her pensive mood. "Three coats; one primer, two paint."
Willow groaned. "You were serious? You're really going to spend the day painting?"
"Will, that was the point of Xander taking the girls a couple of days during the school break." Tara gently extricated herself and started upstairs, her shoulder hiding her smile as she threw a parting glance at the pouting redhead. "But you did promise to help, so that should cut down the time it takes to a couple of hours. The rest of the day…?"
Willow grinned and scampered to follow Tara upstairs.
Or not. Tara frowned. She had not taken into account the possibility Willow helping might actually add to the time to finish the task.
Her brainy lover was measuring everything from the paint coverage specified on the cans (with 20% overhead to cover the typical manufacturer's over-promise) to the area of the walls including the closet, pre-scoring painter's tape, mixing for a full ten minutes with her power mixer, and insisting on prepping the entire room before picking up a brush.
Tara knew she should be grateful, that the careful preparation would save time later on, at the end of the chore during cleanup, but for all her earlier coyness, she really wanted to finish to get back to the naked smoochies part of the day.
Still, at the end of it all, it was so predictably Willow. She smiled fondly as her partner methodically numbered in pencil the baseboard mold pieces she had painstakingly removed so she would be able to paint them separately and reinstall them later in the correct order. When Xander had helped with the remodel after they'd bought the house six years ago, Willow had asked him to use wood screws instead of finishing nails to install the base molding. The tip paid off on occasions like this, even if it was slightly obsessive. Willow did look cute in her coveralls and handyman's belt, though. It struck Tara then, that it was enough, just having this extra, unexpected day with Willow. Tara smiled unconsciously. She adored Willow. The world was wonderful because this woman, her woman, was in it. With her. That was the amazing part. Willow was Tara's, and she was completely Willow's.
Willow frowned at Tara's bemused expression. "Okay, what? Do I already have paint on my face? It can't be that. I was careful not to spill a drop." Willow picked up a clean stir stick. "This is the last room, right? Do you think one can of primer is enough? I can run to the hardware store and pick up another, but then we might end up with too much—?"
"It's fine, Willow. Let's get this over with."
Willow's prep work really did cut down on the project time by the end, especially clean up, as they hardly had any touch-ups due to the careful tape application and the removal of the baseboards. They squeezed in lunch before the final coat and kept the clean up to the bare minimum before they were back in their bedroom, Willow on her back on their bed with Tara on top of her, straddling Willow's hips. Willow was again donning the harness and dildo so Tara was literally riding her toy cock. Tara liked it like this. She was full of her lover whose hands were free to roam up and down her torso while she set the pace, heavier, quicker, deeper. They had seemed to find a new groove.
Willow watched her with wide eyes, her lips slightly parted as she panted as Tara's thighs tightened and relaxed, pushing and rubbing the bright purple rubber toy in and out of her very wet cunt and through the extension, her own throbbing clit beneath.
They had tried it the other way around at first, Tara topping her missionary style, but Tara found the stimulation on her clitoris with the base of the toy less than satisfying. It might have been better with Willow on her hand and knees as she had been, but Tara doubted it. She needed to spread her legs wider for the dildo to hit her clitoris right. Plus, part of her pleasure was looking at Willow's face as she made the other woman cum. Willow, frankly, found she didn't miss the penetration. What did appeal to her was the way Tara moved her hips with the toy sheathed inside her. When Tara's fingers started to rub at her own clit in sync with the dildo pulling and pushing into her, sliding deliciously inside Tara's stretched pussy lips, Willow just about came herself.
Still, she felt a little possessive about Tara's pleasure. Before either came from the toy, she sat up so that Tara was in her lap then gently lowered the blonde onto her back. It made the dildo slide wetly out where it popped up and wagged obscenely after clearing her entrance. Tara giggled despite the urgency of her situation and Willow quickly unbuckled and removed the harness, tossed the apparatus aside, and used three fingers instead.
Tara seemed just as appreciative and moaned just as loudly as her fingers continued to dance over her wet clit. There was nothing in the world like the feeling of Tara's soft, smooth walls around her fingers, squeezing and hot and wet all at the same time. She reached for and easily found the rougher spongy patch that would make Tara gush. She bent her head down, nudging Tara's hand away with her cheek, then promptly sucked Tara's exposed clit into her mouth, and gently began to pull.
Tara's hands were almost immediately in her hair, smoothing the damp bangs from her face. Willow looked up as Tara eyed what was going on between her legs and their eyes locked as Tara came, her mouth forming a silent "O" as if to convey, "Oh fuck, that's good, Will."
Willow climbed up Tara's body as her lover came and lay on top of the other woman to feel her orgasm make her whole body shake. It was enough to make her cum, too, and she did, cunt to cunt, face to face, breast to breast, hip to hip. Tara very helpfully bent her leg and let Willow ride it, holding the other woman close to her through the fore-gone conclusion of their rare afternoon alone. Then Willow collapsed on top of her, and they were one sweaty heap of satisfied witch.
They were happy. And tired. But incredibly happy. They took a nap, mindful that they had not eaten yet, and their precious day still had some hours left.