"I just don't get it," Becky said, shaking her head, "I mean, what it is with guys and boobs?"
Alice smirked as she glanced at Brian, whose attention was firmly fixed on one of the waitresses wearing a particularly tight, revealing t-shirt. Her smirk got wider as she saw Willow was staring in the exact same direction.
"Not just guys apparently."
Becky followed Alice's nod towards the redhead and rolled her eyes.
"Tara's not gonna like that."
"Tara's not gonna like what?" Tara asked, putting the tray of drinks she had in her hand on the table as she slipped into the booth beside Willow.
Becky and Alice looked uncomfortable and Tara followed their eye line, chuckling a little when she saw Brian and her fiancée blatantly ogling the waitress.
"I learned not to be jealous of Willow's preoccupation with boobs early in our relationship. We'd have way too many fights otherwise. She's just a breast-gal and I love her for it."
Alice took a sip from her vodka tonic and rested her head on her hand.
"I still don't get the fascination. I mean, what's so great about them?"
"They're wonderful," Willow replied, having half-tuned into the conversation when Tara had returned. She turned back to the table and gave her fiancée a sheepish smile, "And yours are the best."
"Well thank you," Tara replied, managing not to blush, and looking at the redhead with a sarcastic grin, "I love you, too."
Willow stuck out her tongue and took a swig from her bottle of beer, slapping Brian on the head to get his focus back on them. The boy blinked a couple of times before blushing bright red.
"She has a, um, interesting t-shirt. Thanks for the drinks, Tara."
"No problem," Tara smiled at her friend and shook her head, before turning to her fiancée, "Although, Will, you probably shouldn't be drinking too much. You have an early flight."
"Nonsense," Willow replied, her eyes sparkling from the drinks she'd had already, "I'm fine and dandy. Besides, this is the last bit of fun I'm gonna have for a looonnnggg time. Sleeping in dorms. Eating with eighty other people. Getting up at sunrise. No Tara-cuddles. Stupid FBI denying me snuggle time."
"I think you're a little drunk, sweetie," Tara said with a laugh, "It's adorable."
Willow leaned forwards, a twinkle in her eyes and a grin on her lips.
"Adorable enough for a kiss?"
"I think that can be arranged…"
The couple met in a sweet kiss and Becky rolled her eyes once again, playfully this time.
"Do they realise how awkward it is for the rest of us when their lips are constantly attached to one another?"
"Oh leave them alone, they're being separated for nine weeks," Brian replied, happy that his friends were happy, "I think that deserves kissing whenever they want."
"Yea, and taking off work to have sex," Alice said with a laugh, "I've been teasing Tara about it all week. Stomach cramps my ass."
"No way!" Brian spoke up again, his eyes wide, "Tara cut work? She's the most responsible person I know. And how do you know it was for sex? She could've really been sick."
"Oh trust me," Alice grinned, shaking her head, "She called and tried to pretend to be sick. The giggles and moaning kind of gave her away."
Willow and Tara stayed kissing, oblivious to the conversation that was going on behind them.
"Speaking of giggles and moans," Becky said with a smirk, "Where's your girlie, Brian? I thought I told you to bring her."
Brian shrugged, he wasn't quite sure about how things were going with the new girl in his life and she'd flat out refused to meet his friends when he asked her along, not that he was going to admit that to the rest of them.
"I figured we'd be better off just doing the friends thing tonight. Since its Willow's last one and all. Besides, I don't want to scare her off by meeting you lot."
"I wouldn't tease her too much…" Becky said, keeping an innocent face, before a small grin starting playing on her lips, "Just ask if she likes Mr. Big…"
Brian blushed, taking a swig of his beer before shaking the top at Becky.
"And now you'll officially never meet her."
"Aww, Bri…"
Brain shook his head, but a small smile was playing on his face until Willow suddenly piped up, having pulled back from the kiss.
"Singing!"
The other four stared at her confused and the redhead pointed at a small stage that was set up in the corner of the bar.
"Karaoke. Singing," she explained, turning to Tara, "Let's sing!"
Tara looked back at the stage, then at her fiancée, puzzled.
"Willow, you hate singing."
Willow leapt up from her seat, rocking on the balls of her feet excitedly.
"But I wanna sing with you! Pretty please?"
Tara laughed at the redhead's childlike behaviour, before smiling and nodding.
"Sure. Why not?"
"Yay!" Willow exclaimed, clapping her hands together, "I'm gonna go pick a song!"
Tara chuckled as Willow bounded towards the stage and started flicking through the song options.
"I think she's being overly-cheerful so she doesn't get upset about leaving you," Becky remarked, "There's no way she's this happy the night before she leaves for nine weeks."
"I agree," Tara sighed, a sad smile extending towards her fiancée, "But if she wants her last night to be full of fun and high spirits then that's what she's getting. I for one am happy to stave off the sadness too."
Alice reached across the table and took one of Tara's hands, giving it a comforting squeeze.
"We'll all be there for you."
"It's not me I'm worried about," Tara replied, turning to her friends as lines of worry appeared on her brow, "I have you guys. I have the wedding plans to work on. She's gonna be thrown in this whole new situation with whole new people-"
"And a whole heap of new things to learn and work with. This is Willow, she'll be in her element analyzing information and utilising all those awesome computer skills," Becky said with a reassuring smile, "Just focus on the end goal here. You're gonna be married and have great jobs and a fantastic life."
Tara nodded and blinked a couple of times to stop the tears that had started to form in her eyes. She smiled as she saw Willow giddily jumping up and down and waving her over.
"I'm being summoned," she said with a laugh, standing up, "This should be…interesting."
The other three chuckled and Tara walked over to her smiling fiancée.
"And what song are we delighting all these people with?"
Willow pointed to her selection and the blonde couldn't help but smile as the redhead handed her a microphone and jumped on stage. Tara followed and took the smaller girl's hand as the opening bars of Marvin Gaye's and Tammi Terrell's 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough' started.
Willow sang the first couple of lines, her tone slightly off-key but the blonde didn't care and she sang the answering lines back. The redhead got more and more into it as they continued, doing hand motions to accompany the words and twirling the taller girl around.
They finished with another kiss and there were a few claps from some of the other patrons in the bar.
"That was so much fun!" Willow said with a giggle as she bounded off the stage and back to their friends, "More drinks for everyone!"
Tara watched her go for a moment, internalising her sadness, before following her, a big smile on her face, fully intending to give her fiancée a fun night since she knew tomorrow would be one of the hardest days of her life.
Willow rubbed her eyes to try and wake herself up as she walked out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. She smiled when she saw Tara already in there, standing over a frying pan. She walked up and wrapped her arms around her midsection from behind. Tara leaned back into the touch and tilted her head to the side as the redhead placed a kiss on her neck.
"Last night was incredible," Willow whispered, still smiling, "You were incredible."
Tara grabbed a spatula and moved around the food in the pan, smiling.
"The singing?"
Willow chuckled and continued to kiss the blonde's neck.
"That was certainly fun…even if I'm a bit embarrassed now I'm not drunk…but I meant after that…when we got home…just you and me…"
"Well..." Tara started, her smile getting wider, "I wanted to give you a night to remember…"
"Oh baby," Willow gushed, licking over her fiancée's pulsepoint, making the blonde shudder, "You certainly achieved that. I'm not gonna forget last night as long as I live. I don't even know how you managed to twist your tongue into that shape…"
Tara blushed and flipped the french toast she was cooking in the pan.
"I've been doing exercises," she joked, "Go sit down, I made your favourite breakfast."
Willow inhaled the combined aroma of the french toast and the vanilla scent emanating from Tara.
"You are the absolute best."
She left the kitchen and sat at the table, Tara joining her just a minute later with two plates of french toast. She put it in front of the redhead who took a bite and moaned.
"Oh this is so good. I'm not gonna get food like this for a while."
Tara took one of Willow's hands and gave it a squeeze.
"How're you feeling?"
"Excited," Willow said with a smile, which faltered a little, "Scared. Missing you already."
"I think those are all normal feelings. I felt like that going off to Paris as well. But it was worth it."
Willow nodded, trying to smile again to lighten the mood.
"And you didn't fall in love with any hot Parisians…"
"And you're not gonna fall in love with any hot fellow geeks," Tara shook her head with a grin, "And I'll email you every day."
"Promise?"
"I promise."
Willow nodded again before another frown graced her features.
"We're not even gonna be able to have phone sex like we did when you were in Paris."
Tara giggled and squeezed the redhead's hand again.
"Well just think how amazing it'll be when we're together again."
"You're being very optimistic."
Tara pushed her finished plate into the middle of the table and scooted her chair around so she was next to Willow.
"If I don't think positively then it's gonna be so much harder to be without you. So we're both gonna be happy and you're gonna focus on work, I'm gonna focus on the wedding and there will be no bad thoughts. At least not any that last long. Okay?"
"Yes, ma'am," Willow said with a nod, "Thanks for breakfast. It was delicious."
"You're very welcome. What time is your cab booked for?"
"Eight," Willow replied, then glanced at her watch, "Twenty minutes. Wanna snuggle before I go?"
Tara sighed, fixing the redhead with a saddened gaze.
"Will, I would love to, but I don't think twenty minutes is enough time and then we'd be all-"
She was cut off as Willow held up a hand and suppressed a grin.
"I meant actual snuggling. Sitting on the couch, arms wrapped around each other, having the occasional smooch kinda snuggling."
"Oh," Tara replied, blushing and clearing her throat, "Then yes. Yes, I would like to snuggle."
Willow chuckled and stood up, taking the blonde with her as she walked over and sat on the sofa, pulling Tara down beside her and throwing the taller girl's legs over her own before leaning over for a kiss.
"See?" she said when they pulled back, "Snuggling. Can't beat it."
"Definitely not," Tara murmured and went back to capture the redhead's lips once again, "You're so beautiful."
They stayed leisurely kissing and whispering words of love, enjoying just being with each other until Willow's cell phone starting ringing. She jumped up and answered it, talking to the person on the other end for a moment before hanging up.
"Cab's downstairs. I guess it's time."
Tara nodded and stood up.
"You sure you don't want me to come to the airport with you?"
"I'm sure. No point in you being late for work."
Tara walked over to the redhead and gave her a hug.
"Okay. I love you, Willow."
"I love you, too, baby," Willow whispered, holding on tight to the blonde, "Never forget you're my girl."
"Never forget you're mine," Tara whispered back, "And have fun. As much as you can, anyway. I hear the FBI make you work your ass off."
Willow smiled and placed a final, loving kiss on the blonde's lips before grabbing her bags and making her way over to the front door.
"Oh, wait!" Tara said suddenly and rushed into the bedroom, coming back a moment later with a small gift-wrapped box, which she handed to the redhead, "Open this on the plane."
Willow shook the box, shrugging when only a small sound was made and hugged her fiancée once again.
"Thank you. I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you too," Tara replied, her voice beginning to break, "But I'll think of you every day."
"Me too. Okay, the cabbie's gonna be mighty pissed I've made him wait. So, bye, baby."
"Bye, Will. I love you."
Willow blew a kiss to the blonde as she went out the door with her bags. Tara stared at the closed door for a minute, quietly gathering her thoughts before blinking a few times. Grabbing her phone, she quickly typed a message and sent it before deciding she should start getting ready to leave for work.
Willow had just sat in the taxi when she heard her phone beep again and pulled it out, smiling when she saw the message.
Ain't no mountain high enough. Be together soon, honey. Love you.