"What?" Tara asked, stroking Willow's hair, "What is it?"
"M-my first assignment," Willow replied, her voice shaking, "God, baby, they put me in Buffalo."
"Oh," Tara responded, a flurry of thoughts and emotions going through her, "Oh. Well, um, that's okay."
"But Buffalo is only an hour away from-"
"I know where Buffalo is only an hour away from," Tara snapped, slipping out from beneath the redhead and grabbing her robe before leaving the bedroom.
Willow stared at the door shocked, for just a moment before copying the blonde's motions and following her into the kitchen, where Tara was making coffee. The taller girl made no acknowledgement of the redhead's arrival and continued in her ministrations.
"I'm gonna give you a hug now," Willow whispered, turning Tara around and into her arms, "I love you."
"I love you too," Tara replied, sighing and holding on tight, "I'm so sorry I snapped."
"Don't you worry about a thing, okay?" Willow soothed, "We're gonna figure something out, I can commute or, or something, but I promise you don't have to go anywhere within a four hundred mile radius of him, I promise."
"You can't commute from Boston to Buffalo, Will."
"I could do a Monday to Friday thing or something."
Tara pulled back and shook her head.
"No. No way. So I only get to see you two days a week? Uh uh. Not happening. I promised, wherever, forever. And anyway, I always liked Buffalo. Mom used to take me there shopping."
"Don't hide from me, baby," Willow pleaded, stroking the blonde's cheek, "Please don't."
"I'm not, Will. I was just a little shocked when you said it. And Rochester's eighty miles away. It's not like I'm gonna run into my father getting milk or something," Tara replied, her voice taking on a venomous tone, "He was never one for venturing far anyway. The local church and that was about it."
"I don't know how you got through the things you did," Willow said, placing a tender kiss on the blonde's lips, "It's perfectly understandable if you wanted to leave all that and forget it ever happened."
"I can't forget, Will."
Willow heard the sadness in her fiancée's voice and brought her back for a tight hug, not sure what to say. She was surprised when the blonde started speaking again.
"We're moving to Buffalo, love. It's where we have to go. And you know what? We're gonna be so happy. We're gonna be married and starting our whole new life. Andour marriage will be recognised in New York. It's all about the future now. The past is the past."
Willow pulled back and kissed Tara's nose.
"My beautiful, strong girl. Woman. You're all woman. I have no idea how I got so lucky."
"Neither of us looks where we're going when we walk," Tara joked, "I'm just glad we found each other."
"Well that was always going to happen. We're destiny, baby. We were meant to be."
"I know," Tara replied and brought both of Willow's hands up to kiss her palms, "I love you."
Willow nodded and leaned forwards for a short, sweet kiss before pulling back and holding onto Tara's waist.
"So we're moving to Buffalo?"
Tara gave a slow nod, the initial feelings of dread when she thought of being anywhere near her father again having subsided to make way for a sense of anticipation at whatever her future – their future held for them.
"We're moving to Buffalo."
"Tara, what if he doesn't like me?"
Tara took one of Willow's hands as they walked along the sidewalk and shook her head.
"Of course he'll like you. Honestly, Will, he's super nice."
"But what if he thinks I'm a bad Jew 'cause I don't like, go to synagogue enough? And what if he's just pretending to be fine with me marrying a non-Jew and being gay and-"
"Willow, stop," Tara said firmly, turning so she was facing the redhead, "You're being ridiculous. Rabbi Goldstein is one of the nicest people I've ever met and I'm delighted that he's marrying us. And in about five minutes you're gonna feel the same as well, okay?"
Willow hung her head and kicked a stone on the sidewalk.
"You trust me?" Tara's voice piped up again.
"Of course I do!" Willow replied, her head snapping up, "I just want our wedding to be perfect."
"Willow, as long as you say 'I do', it'll be perfect to me."
Willow gave a small smile and nodded her head bashfully before noticing the large building they were now standing in front of.
"Hey, is this it?"
"Yea," Tara smiled, "Pretty building, huh? If we weren't doing it in the Public Gardens it would've been nice in here too."
"Yea," Willow agreed as they walked up the steps and inside the synagogue, admiring the stained glass windows, "Would've been nice."
"Hello, Tara, nice to see you again."
Willow turned as the sound of a new, distinctly male voice reverberated loudly against the walls and smiled at the man who was standing there, shaking Tara's hand.
"And you must be Willow."
"Yes, that's me," Willow replied, wiping her hand on her jeans before extending it, "I mean, I am her."
Tara bit back a giggle and wrapped an arm around the redhead's waist.
"She's got a way with words, my girl."
Willow blushed and glared at the blonde but Rabbi Goldstein just laughed and put a comforting hand on Willow's shoulder.
"It's very nice to meet you, Willow. I've heard a lot about you. Would you both like to follow me to my office?"
The girl's nodded and followed the rabbi into his office, sitting in the chairs provided there, holding hands.
"So, Tara's already told me what you want for the ceremony in terms of Jewish rituals and the more secular traditions, so I thought today we could just walk through the ceremony and then, if I could, get to know you more as a couple."
"Sounds great," Tara nodded, glancing at Willow who nodded as well.
"Cool."
"Wonderful," Rabbi Goldstein said, clapping his hands together and pulling a journal from his desk and flipping through a few pages, "So I'll of course start by welcoming everyone and speak on how special a day it is, etc, before moving on to the Ketubah. I have a version here for interfaith couples, you can have a look. There's a variety of texts you can choose from, but that's our most popular."
He handed over a stunningly decorated piece of paper with the marriage contract written within it and both girls read it to themselves, smiles on their faces as they did so.
"That's beautiful," Willow spoke up when she'd finished, "I'm definitely happy signing that."
"Me too," Tara agreed, "Definitely."
"I'm glad. So you know that you sign that before the ceremony, as well as two witnesses of your choosing, though they can't be blood relatives and it is then read out under the Chuppah…do you have a wedding party?"
"Uh…no actually," Willow said, glancing at Tara, "We wanted it just us."
"And we didn't want to choose between our friends," Tara added, "Is that a problem?"
"Of course not," the rabbi smiled, "I just wanted to make sure I have all the details for the ceremony. So after I read out the Ketubah, you can recite any personal vows you might have, including the exchanging of the rings."
"Our rings should be ready tomorrow," Tara interjected, smiling at Willow, "Serge called me this morning."
"I can't wait to put it on your finger," Willow smiled back.
Rabbi Goldstein smiled and let the couple have a moment until both girls turned back to him, blushing slightly and Willow cleared her throat.
"Sorry. Um, yea, that's sounds great. After that I step on the glass, right?"
"I'll allow a small moment of silence for the guests to say their own personal prayer or well wishes beforehand, but yes then you step on the glass. You know, there's many interpretations of why the breaking of the glass is included but my personal favourite is about the creation of the world and the shattering of it. Our task, our mission as humans is to find the broken pieces and collect them with others to restore the "Eden" we dream of. A broken glass reminds couples not to hold their love in an ivory tower but to use their relationship to strengthen each other as they go into the world to pick up some of the pieces."
"Wow," Willow started, "That's really…"
"Beautiful," Tara finished, "I know I haven't heard the others but I think that's my favourite too."
"I think it shows that marriage can help to better the world," Rabbi Goldstein said, looking off in contemplative thought for a moment, "Back to your ceremony. Traditionally the newly married couple would spend a few minutes alone after the breaking of the glass before rejoining the rest of your guests for your reception. Where I'm sure the night will be filled with celebrations."
"That sounds…awesome. Just awesome," Willow gushed, her smile beaming, "Honey?"
"Perfect," Tara nodded her head, "It really does sound perfect."
"Is there anything else you'd like to add to the ceremony? I know you decided against readings, but you could use a poem you both like instead."
"I didn't think of that," Willow said, biting her lip excitedly, "Baby, what about that poem you read to me, remember right after…uh, that night?"
The redhead blushed and looked at the taller girl pointedly, hoping she'd remember without needing an explanation. It took Tara a second but she quickly remembered the poem Willow was talking about, one she'd recited when they'd been lying together after the first time they'd made love.
"Right," she said, blinking a couple of times as the memory inadvertently pushed itself to the front of her mind, "Right. I can write it down for you."
The rabbi handed Tara over a notebook and pen and the blonde started writing down the details.
"When would you like it read out?"
The couple glanced at each other and Tara shrugged, nodding at Willow that she should decide.
"Maybe at the beginning? When you're welcoming everyone and stuff? You know…set the mood?"
"That sounds great, love," Tara added as she continued to write.
"And do you just want the one poem? I have a few books here you could browse if you didn't have any specific ones that come to mind."
"What about one to end the ceremony as well, baby?"
Tara nodded with a smile and Willow accepted two books of poems that the rabbi had taken from one of his shelves, just as the blonde finished writing and handed the notebook back.
"Very nice poem," Rabbi Goldstein smiled as he read over it, "Can't say I'm familiar, but it's always nice to read something new. I wonder now if I could ask you some questions about yourselves?"
"Shoot," Willow replied, handing one of the books to Tara as she leafed through the other one.
"Why don't you tell me how you met?"
"We crashed into each other," Tara replied, "In college. Our second year. We were both rushing and ended up walking into each other. She spilt coffee all over my favourite shirt."
"Hey, I paid for the dry cleaning," Willow said defensively, "It came out good as new."
"Anyway," Tara said with a roll of her eyes, "We studied together and consumed a ridiculous amount of coffee, generally just hung out for the next three weeks or so. I was pretty shy but she made me feel so alive. Still does."
The couple exchanged a sweet smile before Tara started speaking again.
"Then when we were in the Public Garden's one day and went on the Swan Boats. When the ride was over we were sitting together and that's when we had our first kiss."
The rabbi leaned forwards in his seat, nodding.
"Ah. That certainly explains your choice of location."
"We were inseparable after that," Willow continued, "We did everything together. Then at the start of the summer we moved into a dorm together and we've lived together ever since. Apart from a couple of months our senior year Tara was in Paris, but I was still in our dorm."
"Was that difficult?" the rabbi asked, curious.
"Very," Willow said solemnly, "I missed her like crazy. But it wasn't all bad; I managed to surprise her by visiting her one weekend for our anniversary. Nothing like being in Paris when you're in love."
"I've never been," Rabbi Goldstein replied, "But my wife and I did visit the South of France and it was quite beautiful."
"We have to go back some day," Tara said with a smile, "You didn't get to see much of it that weekend."
The blonde's eyes widened in embarrassment as she'd realised what she'd said and Willow quickly changed the subject.
"So yea, that was college," the redhead said with a nervous chuckle, "We moved into the apartment we live in now after college."
"And Tara told me you're moving quite soon after the wedding…"
Willow nodded.
"Two days after actually. My FBI assignment came through, so we're moving. My friend Buffy lucked out, she got to stay in Chicago, where she lives now. But still, we're excited about moving."
"To Buffalo," Tara added, "Kinda close to where I grew up."
"Oh well," the rabbi replied, "You must be excited about that."
Tara forced a smile and Willow squeezed her hand.
"We'd, um, prefer not to talk about that," the redhead said, "Past is the past."
"Of course," Rabbi Goldstein said with an apologetic smile, remembering suddenly that Tara had said she did get on well with her father on their first meeting, "My apologies. And apart from your move to Buffalo, do you have any other future plans?"
"Oh well I just got a new job. I'm a technical analyst within the FBI," Willow replied excitedly and Tara perked up as she watched the redhead's eyes sparkle, "I'm really looking forward to starting that. Oh and we both want kids, so I guess they're in our future as well and…"
The three conversed at length for the next hour, Rabbi Goldstein learning more about the couple as well as a finishing poem being decided upon and the ceremony details being finalised before Willow and Tara had said goodbye to the rabbi, knowing they wouldn't see them again until their big day. As they left the synagogue, Willow took the blonde's hand and swung it warmly between them.
"You were right. He really is an awesome rabbi."
"I told you," Tara replied, bumping her shoulder against the redhead's playfully, "You were worried for nothing."
Willow smiled as they continued walking, a distinct skip in her step.
"I'm so excited, baby. Twelve days. Twelve little days and you're officially gonna be mine forever."