Clauxx – I'm glad you enjoyed it :) Good things happened all around!

Won't be around next week because I'm going on vacation tomorrow, but should be back the week after :)

Willow sat on the floor in the apartment, with an Xbox controller held firmly in both hands.

Every so often her hands had momentary separation from the device so she could swig some afternoon beer or crunch a few potato chips into her mouth. Mostly they were snatched and scoffed quickly, to avoid too much time away from the controller.

Brian was sitting on the other side of the bowl of chips, engaging Willow in the game of Halo 3 he'd brought over on his way home from his shift at work. It was on his way and saved Willow the transport costs of getting to Brian's place, so they'd shifted their gaming sessions to Willow and Tara's place and Brian just brought some games along to play on Willow's console.

They were both focused on the screen, but had been chatting throughout too.

"Been seeing any girls?" Willow asked.

"I have no time for that kind of stuff between work and school," Brian replied, somewhat shyly, "It takes too much time and emotion."

"No flings?" Willow asked chirpily.

Brian just shook his head, a short and embarrassed shake.

"I don't really do flings."

Willow nodded.

"I get that. I wasn't either. Tara was always my one and only."

Brian smiled; his attitude to relationships and personal dislike of one night stands was usually a source of teasing amongst his other friends. He appreciated someone who would not only refrain from making jibes, but who understood as well.

"You guys are pretty sweet together," he said, then clarified with a scrunched nose, "I don't mean that in a surfer bro 'sweeeet' kind of way."

Willow looked at him with an arched eyebrow and Brian made a motion with one hand.

"You know what I mean…Californians."

Willow smirked.

"Did I ever mention I'm from California?"

Brian's eyes went wide, but Willow reprieved him with a smile.

"It's okay, I get what you mean. Luckily I never encountered too many surfer dudes in my time there."

Brian was blushing and his eyes bored into his on-screen actions to distract himself from his embarrassment.

"Do you go back?" he asked, with a slight crack in his voice betraying his discomfort about his faux-pas.

Willow just shook her head.

"My parents weren't on board with the lady lovin'."

Brian's face softly creased and he lowered his controller to offer Willow the genuine solemnity he felt.

"I'm so sorry."

Willow shrugged a shoulder.

"We weren't ever super close so it wasn't the biggest blow…once I got a new family in the form of Tara, that hole was pretty much filled."

Brian got as close to a salacious look on his face as he would ever get and Willow fixed him with a scandalized look.

"You perve!"

Brian was shocked; both at himself and that he'd been caught out. His lower lip trembled as he fought for some excuse.

"I…I…"

Willow finally laughed and threw a potato chip in her mouth.

"You and Becky must get on great."

Brian's smile softened and there was a hint of a wistful look in his eye.

"She's a really nice girl."

"Yeah, once you get to know her," Willow agreed with a nod, "Tara took a little while to warm, but they're besties now. Don't tell her I'm playing this game by the way, she can be sensitive about violence."

Brian shook his head.

"This isn't violent…really. Not compared to other games."

"Like I said, sensitive," Willow replied, then jumped up when she saw an enemy come onto screen and aggressively pressed buttons on the controller, "Die, die, die!"

She pumped the air victoriously when it died, then had to scramble to drop down and pause the game when she heard the rustling of the key in the door.

She put her finger to her lips to signal a shush motion and Brian gave a conspiratorial smirk and nod.

Tara came through the door with a plastic bag swinging off her wrist and had warm smiles for them both as she strode across to make her way over to the kitchen.

"Hi you guys."

"Hi baby," Willow greeted.

"Hi Tara," Brian added, returning the smile, though shyer.

"Having fun?" Tara asked, making a nod towards the screen without paying too much attention to it, "I royally sucked when I tried to play that hedgehog game with Willow. Now I let her play and cheer her on."

Brian nodded.

"Yeah, we were having fun," he replied and grinned at Willow with the back of his head to Tara, "Lots of peaceful fun."

Willow shot him the evil eye but Tara was busy taking out the fresh fruit and vegetables she'd bought on the way home to notice the exchange.

"I hope you didn't ruin your appetites with those chips."

"Sorry, baby, I lost track of time," Willow replied quickly, happy for a change in subject, "I meant to have dinner ready for you."

Tara dismissed her with a hand wave.

"It's okay, you've cooked all week. Do you want to stay for dinner, Brian?"

Brian stood up and dusted himself off.

"I better go. I have an assignment to work on. It's so tempting to call in here after work now that Willow has the Xbox. I always end up scribbling the last hundred words and practically drinking some ramen to get food into me."

"How's the master's going?" Tara enquired, popping a grape into her mouth as she set them into the fruit bowl.

Brian made a so-so motion with his hands.

"It's hard but it's good. There's so few jobs out there, I really had no choice but to try and give myself more of an edge."

Tara nodded along, then pointed the tip of the knife in his direction. She'd become quite fond of Brian in the time they'd spend together, after their initial unsureness. She found his humour quite like Willow's and his easy-going nature quite relatable.

"We never did that poker night we talked about."

Willow suddenly popped up excitedly.

"Hey! Brian and I were talking about Halloween earlier…what if we threw a poker themed Halloween party! Just the gang so it's not really expensive. Beer and chips. Potato and poker variety."

"Sure, why not?" Tara replied, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear, "Maybe we could pick up a proper kit cheap online?"

"You can borrow mine," Brian offered.

"Great, thank you," Tara replied sincerely, then rooted in the fridge for a moment and produced a Tupperware container for him, "Here, take this leftover lasagne. It was only cooked last night. Three minutes in the microwave."

"Take it, she'll be offended if you don't let her take care of you," Willow replied, her tongue poking out between her teeth.

Brian was blushing slightly but accepted the container.

"That's really kind, thank you."

He put his jacket back on, said his goodbyes and left with his game and dinner tucked under his arm. Willow closed the door behind him, and turned back around to Tara, the wheels already clearing turning in her mind.

"Well now I know what my next unemployed project is – cracking out a super Halloween party!"

"If anyone can, it's you," Tara encouraged.

A big smile broke out on Willow's face.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

Tara looked up for a moment to smile over.

"I really love seeing you have some social life."

"So Brian gets the thumbs up now?" Willow asked hopefully.

Tara lifted her hands and gave two thumbs up. Willow lifted herself on the balls of her feet happily.

"Great. I know I pick odd friends but they're always good in the end!"

"Does that include me?" Tara asked as she brought some spinach under the kitchen tap to wash.

Willow grinned.

"You'd have to be a little bit strange to be attracted to me."

Tara's eyebrow flicked upwards, accompanied by a playful smirk.

"I must be the strangest gal in the country."

Willow absolutely beamed and quickly joined Tara in the kitchen.

"Let me help. I took chicken out but I hadn't contemplated what to do with it yet."

"Let's keep it easy," Tara suggested, "Garlic chicken with some greens and mashed potato."

Willow nodded, then turned Tara to her and pulled her into a hug.

"I didn't give you one of these."

Tara turned her head into Willow's neck and inhaled softly.

"All I want. All I need."

They embraced for a moment, met for a kiss, then Tara turned back to continue preparing their dinner.

"Tell me about all these poker party ideas you have. I know that mind has started whirring…"

Willow's eyes flashed with excitement.

"Whizzing and whirring and humming and buzzing…you just wait and see the monster list I make for this!"

Tara peered at a picture Willow had on the screen of her laptop and compared it to Willow's face.

The laptop was sitting in the bed, right beside Willow, and Tara was standing in front applying copious lipstick to Willow's mouth and surrounding face.

The lipstick was becoming blunt and flaky as she continued to use it.

"I think this is the end of this lipstick."

"Sorry, I couldn't find red face paint," Willow said apologetically, already with heaps of white face paint all over her face and deeply black eyes, "Much obliged, Queen of my Heart."

Tara paused and adopted a dramatically stern look on her face.

"It's Queen of ALL Hearts. Get my name right or it will be off with your head!"

Tara twirled in her black and white poofy dress that she'd sewn felt hearts onto and had added a short black jacket, fishnet stockings and an up-do to finish her costume for her portrayal of the Queen of Hearts. Willow, as The Joker, completed their card-themed tag team couples ensemble for their poker night. Much thought and preparation had been put into their outfits and the evening.

"Not a chance," Willow scoffed, though it was terrifying with the Joker smile Tara had painted on her, "You'd miss it too much."

Tara stood back and held the handheld mirror in front of Willow's face.

"Enough red?"

Willow did her best scowl into the mirror, then looked up with a smile and nodded.

"Thank you! I'm almost done!"

She jumped up and dashed into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. Tara went into the living room to arrange the snacks and get the table ready for them to play, for whenever their friends arrived.

There was a general black and red theme, with a few special decorations Willow had researched and put together thoroughly but cheaply to suit their budget.

She had two sets of sixteen white balloons, blown up and carefully stuck together in a rectangle shape to resemble a life-size playing card, with one black balloon in each corner of one and one red balloon in each corner of the other. A cut out heart on red cardboard and cut out spade shape on black sat in the middle to identify them clearly.

It had taken about a hundred balloons to get the finished effect and many jumps of terror as they burst, but Willow had been quite proud when they were completed; it coming as close to art as she'd ever accomplished.

She'd also strung a deck of cards along some string and hung it from the ceiling with falls, like a streamer. As well, she'd used the felt covering meant for the table-top, etched with card markings, to make a feature wall behind the table where they were set to play.

Alongside chips and beer, and a promise for pizza as the night progressed, Tara had decorated cookies to look like poker chips and they'd made strawberry vodka Jell-O shots with blueberries suspended in them to complete the look.

Tara noticed the life size cards swaying a bit and closed the window to stop them from falling over.

There was a knock on the door as she was gently stabilising them, and she took a minute to make sure they were okay before answering.

Alice was on the other side, wearing a tan-coloured adult onesie with black spots, with the hood up and pointed ears on top. She extended a bottle of red wine towards Tara.

"Happy Halloween!"

Tara let her in, but peered after her in confusion.

"Did you leave your costume to the last second?"

"I'm a cheetah," Alice proclaimed proudly, in a full Bostonian accent to emphasise her gag, "Get it? Cheater?"

Tara silently snorted.

"The night is already off to a wildcat start," she quipped as she walked into the kitchen to open the wine, "Nice play on the accent. Willow will appreciate it."

Willow appeared from the bathroom, her hair a metallic green from emptying the contents of a can of hair spray on it. Tara gave her the thumbs up that she'd pulled off the Joker look perfectly and Willow smiled shyly back, then gave Alice the same look Tara had.

"What will I appreciate?"

Alice opened her mouth, but Willow jumped on the spot before words came out.

"Wait!" she said, grinning from ear to ear to have worked out the pun, "You're a cheater!"

"That's what I said, I'm a cheetah!" Alice retorted in her near-perfect accent.

Willow threw her head back with laughter, though it was far creepier than intended with her costume.

"Wicked cool," she said, offering Alice the thumbs up too.

"Thanks, Joker," Alice replied with a wink, nodding in appreciation to Tara as she returned with a glass of wine for her, "And to you, your highness. Great costumes. And this place looks great. Where'd you get all the decorations?"

"Willow made them," Tara replied proudly.

"I got the idea off the internet, I didn't make them up," Willow replied bashfully, "Not like I've much else to do."

"Well I'm impressed," Alice replied cordially and lifted her glass in a salute.

She took a seat on one couch and Willow sat opposite. Tara joined her moments later with a glass of wine for herself and a cold beer for Willow.

They all chatted together for a short space of time until there was a second knock at the door and Willow answered it to Becky and Brian, who had shared a cab over.

Becky was dressed as a generic vampire and Brian had a sheet over himself with two eye holes cut out, though he had drawn different suites of cards and poker chips on it too.

"Boo!" he said as he jumped over the threshold.

Willow's eyebrow arched.

"Who're you supposed to be? Casper the cardy ghost?"

Brian wiggled his fingers 'spookily'.

"I'm the pokergeist," he said in a ghostly voice.

Becky rolled her eyes behind him, and the other three all groaned. Brian threw his hands up.

"Come on! That's funny!"

Becky clapped a hand over Brian's shoulder from behind.

"Sorry dude. Cringe city."

Willow closed the door behind them and turned to Becky.

"What's your excuse?"

Becky suddenly grabbed Willow, swooped her down and made a motion as if to bite her neck.

"I vant to suck your bank accounts dry," she said in her best Transylvanian accent before releasing Willow and making a theatrical jump away, "And avoid the high stakes."

Willow wiped at her neck and scrunched her nose in Tara's direction as she passed to get the new guests drinks.

"We have the punniest friends," she said mockingly, "And sorry, but there'll be no sucking tonight."

Becky smirked.

"Speak for yourself. I have an after party to go to."

A bottle cap suddenly flew through the air as Willow's hand slipped popping it off.

"Of the bank accounts!" she clarified, eyes wide, "Money! We're not playing for money! Jeez!"

"No fun," Becky replied and sat at a chair at the table so she could cross her legs at the knee, which were well below the hemline of her skirt, "But I have no money to lose anyway, so for the best."

"None of us do," Alice added in.

"Winner gets the first slice of pizza!" Willow announced, shoving bottles of beer at both Becky and Brian, then going back to hide in Tara's shoulder.

"I can get behind them odds," Becky replied, taking a long glug from the beer, "Only thing better than a cold one in the hand is a hot one in the–"

"Cookie!" Willow interjected loudly and jumped up to find the plate, "Tara made us special cookies. We should try them."

Becky leaned forward, intrigued.

"'Special' cookies? I thought once was enough for you."

Willow was turning red and getting quite flustered.

"Not special cookies. Just…just cookies! With chocolate chips and frosting and they look like poker chips and please shove one in your gob now okay?"

She all but shovelled one into Becky's mouth and then offered the rest around.

Tara brought up a new conversational piece by discussing a Halloween party she'd been at, at a group home that day and all of the children's creative costumes.

That detoured the conversation onto their own childhood Halloween memories and everyone relaxed with their first drink to listen and share.

When refill time came about, everyone gathered around the table and Tara produced the tray of shots. Becky excitedly grabbed the first one.

"Jell-O shots. Now it's a party!"

They all toasted their plastic cups and took the shot before finding seats around the table.

"Texas Hold 'Em all 'round?" Becky asked, flicking the cards between her hands and shuffling them.

Alice nervously scooted her chair inwards.

"Am I the only one who has no idea how to play?"

Willow shook her head.

"I read the rules but I'm in virgin territory with you."

"Maybe we could buddy up as one?" Alice suggested.

Becky eyed her, narrowly.

"She's trying to be a cheetah already!"

"I think we should let them play together," Tara intervened with a smile for her colleague and girlfriend.

"Whatever the Queen says," Brian added with a playfully obedient smile.

Willow moved a chair around to sit by Alice and Becky started to deal them out. Brian split each denomination of the chips into four equal piles and they each threw in a 50 chip to get things going.

Everyone discreetly peered at their cards and they all called. Becky dealt the first community cards and Brian accidentally smiled at his hand.

"What have you got Mr Green?" Becky asked upon seeing it, "What's your middle name anyway?"

Brian mumbled something, then eventually sighed.

"Ignatius."

"Ignatius?" Becky asked through a snort.

"It's a family name," Brian replied awkwardly.

Becky pursed her lips to stop from laughing but she didn't succeed.

"Wait, your initials are B-I-G?"

She winked at him.

"Hello Mr. Big."

Brian blushed and immediately, reluctantly, folded.

Willow kicked Becky under the table to stop teasing Brian and then had a hushed discussion with Alice about whether they would call or not. Eventually they did, as did Tara and Becky.

The next card was laid out and Tara bowed out. Willow was pumped up in the excitement of the game, so she raised. Becky, a born competitor, called it.

She threw in the chip and showed her hand.

"Flush."

Willow had to think for a moment, then got even more excited.

"Ha!" she said, revealing her cards, "Full House!"

She smugly gathered the chips in.

"I remembered that one because of the TV show."

Tara smirked.

"Willow had a crush on D.J."

Willow looked up, wide-eyed.

"Tara!"

Tara stuck out her tongue and Willow returned the gesture.

"Ladies, flirt in your own time," Becky said as she set up the next round, "There's pizza on the line here. Anywhere around here do one of those jumbo pies?"

"I'm not sure," Tara replied with a shrug, "We've never gotten one."

Becky flicked her head in a nod.

"Google it."

Tara glanced over to her girlfriend.

"Willow, can you check on your phone? Mine doesn't do the internet thing."

"You don't have a smartphone?" Brian asked in disbelief, "What do you do it bed?"

All four women stared at Brian with arched eyebrows, and he almost disappeared behind his blush.

"She reads," Willow answered wryly as she tapped on her phone, "How many inches do you want?"

Willow received the next set of stares and she pushed her phone away, embarrassed.

"Oh, screw it! We're getting normal pizza! Somebody deal."

Over a couple of hours, they played their hands, alternating who was the dealer. Willow was pretty impressed with how well Tara played and admired her growing pile of poker chips.

Brian and Becky were decent players too, though Brian seemed to have extra luck on his side that night. He and Tara had the biggest pots, followed surprisingly by Willow and Alice, which frustrated Becky greatly.

Tara offered to give up her prize to Becky, as she had the biggest pot at that point and that, along with another Jell-O shot, seemed to placate her. Willow offered to order the pizza, but as she reached for her phone, some cards slid out of her sleeve.

Becky gasped and stood to point dramatically at both her and Alice.

"Lie! Cheat! Steal! A plague on both your houses!"

Brian shook his head, smirking.

"She lured you in with her cheetah ways."

Willow snatched her arm back and held her sleeve close to her.

"It was your own lousy faults for taking a beer break and leaving the table and us with the temptation!"

Alice turned around to shake her butt and the tail coming out of it.

"Never trust a crafty cat."

"Everybody calm down," Tara said in a stately manner, "Willow and Alice can forfeit their pot if they would like to continue to play."

Willow pouted but agreed and they all took another break to go to the bathroom, order the pizza and get new drinks. The table was manned this time and everyone had to empty pockets and shake sleeves before sitting back down.

Pizza arrived and they all ate from paper plates as they resumed the game.

After another stretch, by which point people were getting to the tipsy point of not being able to play properly, the last round was down to Tara and Willow, since Alice still had little clue what was going on.

"Raise you 50," Willow said, throwing in yet another chip and eyeing Tara defiantly.

"Raise you 100," Tara countered and Willow's smile almost faltered.

She had a lousy hand but she considered herself the master of the bluff and she thought she could outsmart her girlfriend.

Willow had one single 100 chip left, and she knew Tara had challenged her with that on purpose. But she liked a challenge.

"Call," she said, lifting her chin confidently, "Whatcha' got?"

Tara turned her hand over.

"Three of a kind."

Willow's brow creased and Tara wiggled her fingers towards the cards.

"Show 'em."

Willow tossed her cards and grumbled.

"What was that?" Tara asked, grinning.

"Pair of sixes," she repeated grumpily.

"You raised twice on a pair of sixes?" Becky asked in disbelief.

Willow kicked the leg of the table.

"I thought she was bluffing!"

Tara blew a kiss across the table.

"I know your tell, Willow Rosenberg, just like I know everything else about you."

Willow couldn't help a little smile, but still tried to appear sulky. Everyone disbanded for another toilet break, as the alcohol swam through their bloodstreams and landed in their bladders.

Tara poured herself a glass of water to counteract all the wine and Willow came in to have a moment with her in the kitchen.

Willow put her arms around Tara's waist and pulled them close.

"How did you know my tell?" she asked in her sweetest voice.

Tara rubbed her thumb over Willow's lips and spoke quietly.

"Because you get the same look on your face when you're horny. I know that little nose wiggle means you think you're onto something."

She plugged Willow's nose affectionately, who scrunched it up in delight.

"Am I in for a happy Halloween?"

Tara leaned in and offered a slow kiss.

"Play your cards right and you just might be."