"The prodigal roommate returns," Buffy said, throwing the magazine she was reading on the floor as Willow walked into their dorm room.
"Hey Buff," Willow replied in a small voice, putting her bag on her bed and unzipping it, unpacking the few things she had put in there.
Buffy heard the sad tone in her friend's voice and stood up, going over and putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"If you need to talk-"
"I'm fine," Willow cut her off, then turned with what she hoped was a convincing smile, "Really. Just hard, seeing her, then leaving again."
"But you had a good weekend?"
"Oh yea," Willow grinned, subconsciously rubbing the spot on her neck that Tara had left quite a large hickey on, "I had an amazing weekend."
Buffy seemed convinced and went back to sit on her own bed again.
"Well, good. I wish I was able to see Angel. He took a job in Mexico for the time I'm away. We never really thought about visits."
Willow threw her now-empty bag in the closet and flopped onto the bed.
"Well, only four weeks left. We've got through more than we have left. Oh, oh, before I forget!" Willow jumped up, grabbed her pillow and walked across the room, hitting her friend with it once before calmly going back to her bed, "Tara said to hit you back."
"Aww," Buffy replied with a grin, "You talked about little ole me?"
"We did. Actually…um, there was something I wanted to ask you. It's totally cool for you to say no if you feel uncomfortable or you just don't think it's feasible or whatever, you don't even have to give me a reason, just say no and that's perfectly fine."
Buffy put her legs beneath her on the bed and settled comfortably.
"Well, ask away."
Willow held her pillow to her torso and smiled.
"You wanna maybe come to the wedding? You and Angel?"
"Really?" Buffy asked, her face lighting up, "I'd love to!"
"Yea?"
Buffy nodded enthusiastically, jumping up and down slightly on the bed.
"Cool. I'm really glad. It's just a small one, friends and…well, my Dad is the only family coming from either side…my mom isn't exactly 'yay gay' and Tara's family…well, better not talking about that."
Buffy smiled, feeling an odd sense of pride at the invitation.
"Well, I'm honoured you asked me to come. I've never been to a wedding before."
Willow got a surprised look on her face and grinned.
"Really? Wow. So we'll be your first? So cool."
"Yep. You're breaking my wedding cherry!"
Willow laughed, feeling better than when she had first come in and grabbed her phone.
"I better message Tara so she includes you guys in the numbers. We're having it outside, by the way."
"Ooh, pretty. Anything else I should know?"
"Well, the date. November 24th. I'll get Tara to send you an official invite-"
"Yea, that's probably a good idea," Buffy replied sheepishly, "I'm not so good with the numbers and times and stuff. Notoriously late."
Willow's phone beeped just as Buffy finished speaking and the redhead read the reply quickly.
"Tara says she can't wait to meet you and wants to know if…you're a vegetarian? What the…? Oh, the reception! You eat meat, right? I've seen you devour a steak in the cafeteria."
"Oh I eat meat," Buffy nodded seriously, "I eat meat like crazy. No hippie veggie here. Angel either. Except pork for some reason. Something about 'pigs just not cutting it.' I preferred not to ask for details."
"Good call," Willow agreed with a nod of her head, "We definitely won't have pork anyway. Not like I'm the world's greatest Jew or anything but we're having a Jewish ceremony so the food'll be kosher."
"Oh cool! So wait, does Angel need to buy one of those hat thingies? The, uh, sweet potato one?"
Willow looked completely bewildered for a moment before realisation dawned and a huge grin broke out on her face.
"You mean a yarmulke?"
"That's the one!"
"No," Willow shook her head, still smiling, "There'll be some there if any of the guys want to wear them but by no means is anyone required to. Tara's not even Jewish."
"Oh," Buffy replied, looking slightly confused, "But you're still doing the whole Jewish ceremony thing?"
"Well, I guess technically it'll be inter-faith…Tara doesn't really have any religion. Kinda just generally spiritual but not like with any higher being. Still celebrates Christmas though. Actually, we celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah. She gets all excited lighting the Menorah each year."
Buffy saw the look of sheer love cross Willow's face as she talked about Tara and smiled in response.
"So that means you get eight days of presents, and Christmas? You guys are just holiday whores."
"We only do Christmas presents. And, hey! There will be no calling my future wife a whore of any kind!"
They both laughed again for a minute until Buffy jumped up, seemingly excited about something.
"I'm gonna practice for the wedding, when you step on the glass thing! Shalom!"
Willow shook her head playfully, a smile on her face.
"It's Mazal Tov, Buff, but I gotta appreciate the enthusiasm."
Tara looked up from her position on the sofa when she heard a small knock on the front door. She walked over and opened it, surprised to see Becky standing there with a cupcake in one hand and a bunch of papers in the other.
"Is, um…am I disturbing…?"
"Willow's gone," Tara said with a small smile, "Just an overnight visit."
Becky visibly exhaled before handing the cupcake forwards.
"Um, peace offering?"
"Peace offering?" Tara questioned, taking the cupcake and standing aside to let her friend in, "Why do you need a peace offering?"
Becky turned in place as the blonde closed the door and shuffled from foot to foot.
"You know, yesterday? Walking in on you and Will, you know, going at it. Accusing you of cheating. I figured you'd be furious with me."
Tara let out a low laugh and shook her head.
"You weren't to know Willow was home. I didn't even know until she arrived."
"Yea but I-" Becky paused as she realised the glow surrounding the blonde and nodded her head, "I'm apologising at what is probably the best time ever 'cause you're still all post-crazy-monkey-lovin' happy."
Tara blushed and took some of the icing from the cupcake on her finger, licking it off.
"To be perfectly honest, Beck, I don't remember much from the past twenty-four hours that's not just me and Willow. So, we agree to never talk about it again?"
"Oh, very much agreed," Becky said, exhaling slowly in relief, before grabbing a chair from the table and sitting on it, "Now, what I have in my hand here is going make you love me in all kinds of ways, so I just want you to picture Willow in your head to remember not to jump me."
Tara chuckled and pulled up a seat beside the brunette.
"Right. Imagining her. I'll try to control myself. What have you got for me?"
Becky flattened the papers she had in her hand and pushed them across the table.
"This," she said, pointing to the one on top, "Is your reception room."
Tara looked at the glossy photograph on the paper of a beautiful room, chandeliers and glass ornaments lighting it brilliantly with just a few small tables set up and an area to the side that could be used as a dance floor. The photo was relatively small, just filling the top half of the page, but it showed the room with a great radiance. The blonde ran her thumb along some of the features in the room before seeing the name of the webpage along the top of the printout and sighing.
"It's…just beautiful. But there's no way in hell we can afford the Four Seasons. We already spent a small fortune on the rings and my dress wasn't exactly from Target either. I know Willow has the new job and everything but she hasn't even started it yet and I don't want to start our married life in huge debt."
"This is the part where you're going to love me," Becky said excitingly, pointing to a figure in the bottom corner of the page, "How does that look?"
"What, is that per person?" Tara asked, sighing dejectedly, "Definitely can't afford that."
"Tara, that's for the whole room, including, wait for it…the chef they have on staff to provide a whole buffet of food and one of their bar staff for the night for the small bar set up in there."
Tara looked at the figure again, then at Becky, then back at the page, shaking her head in disbelief.
"Becky, that can't be right. I was on a comparison site a few weeks ago and I saw the Four Seasons prices. This is barely a fraction of it."
"That is because you're wonderful and illustrious friend teaches the asshole son of the manager of the hotel. Anyway, the kid went from failing to getting a B average and the father was so happy, he came in to thank me, we got chatting-"
Tara cut the brunette off by holding up her hand.
"You flirted with him, didn't you?"
"Maybe," Becky shrugged with a grin, "Regardless, we chatted and he mentioned where he worked, I said a couple of my best friends were getting married and well, he offered me the 'family and friends' rate. And threw in the chef and barmaid for free."
"You definitely flirted."
"Tara!" Becky sighed exasperatedly, "This is for real. And by the grace of God, the day of your wedding they had this room free. Normally you have to book like two years in advance. There was a cancellation of some sort. Anyway, I need to let him know like tomorrow. So can I tell him yes?"
Tara rested her head on her hand and looked at Becky seriously.
"You're telling me we can get this room, at this price and I don't need to worry about caterers? And this isn't some weird punk'd kinda thing?"
"You know I hate Ashton Kutcher," Becky responded, equally as serious.
"You were right," Tara replied, her face lighting up, "I do want to kiss you. The Four Seasons is literally around the corner from The Public Gardens. This couldn't be more perfect."
"Well, I am amazing."
Tara put her head in her hands and laughed for a moment.
"I can't believe this. That's like the biggest stress literally gone out of my life now. You, Rebecca Hardy, are my personal saviour."