"Hiya, gorgeous," Willow greeted her fiancée as she walked up to her desk, "You ready?"
"Hi, love," Tara replied, typing something on the keyboard, "Just give me two minutes and we can head out."
Willow nodded and leant against the blonde's desk.
"Okay. I bought us sandwiches so we can have your whole lunch hour to find the rings."
Tara smiled as she kept her focus on her computer screen.
"That's my girl. Always thinking ahead."
Willow smiled bashfully and played with a paperclip as Tara finished her work. Once done, they made their way out of the offices and onto the street, where the redhead handed the blonde one of sandwiches, unwrapping her own as she did so.
"So there's four jewellery shops in a three block radius of this street, but the one right up here, it's got a really good reputation for wedding rings."
Tara took a bite of her sandwich and swallowed it before entwining one hand with her fiancée's.
"Well, lead the way, my love."
They quickly finished their sandwiches as they walked hand-in-hand to the end of the street, arriving at the store Willow was talking about in just a few minutes. They went in, both smiling excitedly at the shining and glittering jewellery all over the store as a dignified-looking man behind the counter in the middle of the store noticed their arrival and smiled welcomingly at them.
"Good afternoon ladies. Can I be of any service today?"
"We're in the market for rings," Willow said, walking over to him, "Wedding rings."
"Wonderful. Do you require two sets or is it just one of you getting married?"
Tara let out a low chuckle and held up their entwined hands. The clerk smiled, his embarrassment evident and nodded.
"Of course. My apologies. My name is Serge by the way. Now, do you know what kind of rings you're looking for?"
"Simple," Willow replied, "We were thinking gold bands with some little diamond studs or something in them."
"Well we have a wide range of options available," Serge responded, pulling a collection of rings out from under the glass counter and placing them on top, "What kind of budget are we looking at?"
"Anything up to $3500."
Tara swung her head around and looked at the redhead, wide-eyed.
"$3500?!" she whispered, "Willow, we cannot afford that, new job or not."
Willow turned towards the blonde with a serious look on her face.
"Tara, we're going to wear these for the rest of our lives and they're gonna be a symbol of how much we love each other. We can make ourselves afford the best on this one. Look, I have it all worked out, okay. The FBI are gonna be paying us relocation costs and even if we'll be paying it off for a while, we can afford it. The rest of the wedding isn't even costing that much, especially not in comparison to the standard money people spend. Please, baby. This is important to me."
Tara mulled over the redhead's words, deciding after a moment that the rings were important and nodded her head, bringing Willow's hand up to kiss her knuckles.
"But don't think you can use those puppy-dog eyes every time you want to spend some extortionate amount of money on something."
"I promise. Only ever for super-important things. Or when I'm trying to get out of trouble."
"Agreed," Tara replied dryly, then turn back to Serge with a sheepish smile, "Sorry about that. These all look really pretty."
Willow was about to voice her agreements when she saw the blonde lock eyes with one of rings, her finger coming up to trace it. She looked at the ring, shiny gold with a heart formed in the middle out of diamonds. She nodded at Serge and mouthed 'how much?'
Serge discreetly wrote the figure on a piece of paper and slid it across the counter to Willow while Tara continued admiring the ring. Willow read the number and balled the piece of paper in her hands, dropping it into her pocket.
"Do you like that one?" Willow asked, taking it from it's opening, "It's beautiful."
"Eighteen carat set with eight small diamonds in the shape of a heart in the center," Serge interjected, "A striking ring, one of our best-sellers."
The redhead slipped it on the blonde's finger and held it up in front of them.
"It fits perfectly. If that's not a sign, I don't know what it," Willow continued, "Do you think this is the one?"
"I love it," Tara said in an awed tone, "Is it in budget?"
Willow nodded and lowered her voice to a whisper.
"We can get both for a thousand under."
"And you like it?"
"I love it," Tara repeated, grinning wildly, "I think it's perfect."
Tara slipped it off her finger and carefully handed it over to Serge.
"That's the one then," Willow said, grinning as well, "That took way less time than I thought."
Serge smiled and pulled a form out from behind the register.
"You'd like identical rings, I presume?"
Both girls nodded as the clerk placed the other rings back under the counter before he grabbed a pen and started writing things on the form.
"And would you like them engraved? People generally go with names and the wedding date, but we can do anything. I often think the date is just there so the men don't forget."
The couple laughed and looked at each other.
"I'm not usually one to quote scripture," Willow started, turning to Tara and smiling lovingly at her, "But I've heard one verse and I always thought it was beautiful. And you know, true about us."
"What is it?" Tara asked softly.
"I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine."
"That is beautiful," Tara whispered, her smile radiating around the room and making Willow's smile grow even wider. She then turned to Serge, "Can that fit?"
"We generally say no more than forty characters for clarity's sake, so let me just count that…thirty-eight. It should fit perfectly," he responded with a smile, "When is the wedding?"
"Oh, November 24th…" Willow replied, "Will they be done by then?"
"Most certainly. What's the name for this order?"
"Rosenbe-"
"Macl-"
Willow and Tara looked at each other and grinned as they both spoke at the same time and the redhead let out a low laugh.
"I guess its Rosenberg-Maclay. Willow and Tara Rosenberg-Maclay."
"Wonderful. And a phone number I can contact you on when your rings are ready?"
"Oh sure, it's 5-"
"We should give my cell, honey," Tara interjected, "You're not gonna be here, remember?"
"Oh right, yea, of course."
Tara gave Serge her cell phone number who dutifully wrote it down.
"Great. Now, can I just quickly measure your ring sizes?"
"Sure, I think I'm a six. That's what I got for the engagement ring," Willow replied first, taking her engagement ring off and holding her hand out, then turning to Tara, "Yours is a seven."
Tara smiled and took her own ring off in anticipation as Serge produced the ring sizer, a set of steel gauge-rings, from behind the counter and flicked to the size six, putting it over Willow's finger, then flicked to the next ring and tried that one, which fitted the redhead slightly more snugly.
"Six and a quarter," Serge smiled, writing it down on the form, before turning to Tara and copying the action, "And a seven."
"I always knew you better than I knew myself," Willow joked, slipping Tara's ring back on her finger, "Always."
Their eyes locked on each other and Serge watched them smile at each other for a few moments before clearing his throat to get their attention again. They both blinked for a second, as if they'd forgotten they were in the middle of a store and not alone before turning back to Serge with apologetic faces.
"Sorry," Tara spoke up, blushing slightly, "Um, what else...?"
"Just payment," Serge smiled, grabbing a calculator from beside the register, "Including sales tax, that comes to a totally of…$2603."
Tara went to grab her wallet and handed the credit card from their joint account - one they'd set up when they moved into their apartment after college - over to Serge.
"We'll probably have to just pay minimum payments for a while," Willow whispered quietly.
"What's new?" Tara asked with a smile, keeping her voice low as well, "It'll be worth it. Besides, we haven't used the card in ages. The balance is pretty low."
Willow nodded and squeezed the hand in hers, as Serge ran the card through the register before returning it a moment later with a receipt and a small card that had a picture of the ring they had chosen.
"In case you want to show anyone the design," he explained, then pushed the form he had been filling out towards them, "If I could just get both your signatures on this..."
Willow picked up the pen and scribbled her name at the end, before handing it over to the blonde, who wrote her signature beside her fiancée's. Serge took the form back and stapled his copy of the receipt to the top, then placed it in a drawer under the register before looking back up and smiling at the two girls.
"Thank you very much for your purchase and good luck with your wedding plans."
"Thank you," Willow replied, smiling from ear-to-ear, "And thanks for all your help."
"My pleasure."
They both waved at the man as they walked towards the door, then back on the street where Willow turned to Tara with a mischievous grin.
"You know…you could take the afternoon off…"
Tara chuckled and swung their hands between them.
"I really can't…"
"I'd make it worth your while…give you a massage…feed you fruit…"
"That sounds amazing…" Tara said with a small sigh, before she started to think about the offer seriously, "It really does..."
"Then I'd just have to have my wicked way with you…"
"Okay," Tara said suddenly, "Let's do it."
"And we could – wait, did you say okay? Really?! I was just joking and I mean, of course I wanted you to say yes but I didn't think you would and – really?"
Tara smirked and nodded, her eyes glinting.
"I'm losing you for nine weeks in a few days. I don't see why I shouldn't maximise the time we have left."
Willow stopped walking and looked the blonde straight in the eye.
"You're not losing me, baby. You'll never lose me."
"I know. But I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you, too," Willow sighed as they started walking again, "But hey, it'll be like that stint you spent in Paris our senior year, remember? We got through that just fine. And we're even stronger now. I mean, we're getting married. Heh, in twenty years we'll probably be delighted to spend nine weeks away from each other."
Tara smiled a little, but it turned into a frown.
"Wait. You don't really think that, do you?"
"Hmm?" Willow asked, then began shaking her head frantically, "No, god no. Every moment of the next sixty years or more spent with you are gonna be the happiest of my life."
"Even when we're old and wrinkly and have screaming grandkids all around us?"
"Oh yea," Willow nodded with a grin, "You'll be the hottest grandma ever. Total GILF."
Tara snorted and bit her lip as they walked straight past her offices.
"I'm really playing hooky," she grinned, "I feel so naughty."
Willow grinned and grabbed Tara's hand, pushing her against the wall of the building they were passing and held onto her hips as she kissed her hard.
Tara was taken aback by the sudden manoeuvre but couldn't help but respond and started caressing the redhead's neck. She was absently aware of some loud whistles being aimed in their direction but couldn't bring herself to care, Willow's lips providing an ample distraction until the smaller girl pulled away, her voice a hoarse whisper.
"Let's go home and be really naughty."