"Hello, my darling girl," Ira said, a tear coming to his eye as he took in the sight of his daughter, "Oh it's wonderful to see you."
Willow leapt forward and held onto her father as Ira hugged back, getting lost in being one another's company once again for a few minutes.
"What're you doing here?" Willow asked when they pulled back, "I thought, I thought you were just coming down the night before the wedding. Oh my god, come in, come in."
Ira picked up the duffel bag at his feet and stepped over the threshold into the apartment, smiling at Tara.
"You must be Tara," he said, embracing the blonde in a surprisingly comfortable embrace considering this was the first time they'd met, "It is an absolute pleasure to meet you in person."
"You too, Ira," Tara replied, hugging back, "Did you get here alright?"
"Oh yes, the cab dropped me right at your main entrance. I must say, the streets of Boston are quite alive. I felt almost young again just looking out at them from the car."
"Um, I'm sorry," Willow asked as she closed the door, looking between her father and her fiancée in confusion, "Am I missing something here?"
Both Ira and Tara laughed as they pulled apart and Ira chose to explain.
"I called Tara a few weeks ago to see if I could arrange to come down a bit early. I know you'll both be busy with the final wedding preparations, but I promise not to get in the way and I can help with anything you need."
Willow smiled over at Tara at the explanation and then back at her father.
"I'm just so happy to see you, Dad," Willow replied, grinning from ear-to-ear, before walking over to Tara and placing a warm, loving kiss on her lips, "Thank you."
Tara just smiled and ducked her head bashfully before giving the redhead another small kiss and walking over to the door.
"So, I'm gonna go and let you two catch up."
"Oh, please no," Ira said, "Don't leave on my account."
"Yea, baby, stay," Willow said, walking over and taking one of the blonde's hands, "Please stay."
Tara shook her head and squeezed the hand in hers.
"You two should have some alone time. How about I come back in time for cake?"
Ira and Willow looked at each other before looking back at Tara and the redhead nodded.
"Okay. You have somewhere to go, right? Not just gonna be wandering the streets?"
"Yes, sweetie, I have somewhere to go," Tara replied with a laugh, "Brian's expecting me. I'll see you later."
Tara slipped out the door quietly, leaving Ira and Willow alone for the first time and the two just looked at one another for a moment before ending up in another hug.
"I can't believe you're here, Daddy. I've missed you so much."
"Oh so have I, my beautiful girl," Ira replied, pulling back and holding his daughter by the shoulders, "And look at you. So grown-up. And you cut your hair."
"Yea," Willow laughed, running a hand through her locks, "The 'hair-down-my-back' thing kinda made me look like a big child. I cut it pretty soon after I started college. Do you like it?"
Ira smiled and nodded.
"I do. You've grown into a fine young woman, Willow. I'm so proud to call you my daughter."
"Thank you," Willow whispered, overcome with emotion, "That's all I ever wanted."
Ira dropped his gaze for a moment, shame-faced, before looking back up at Willow, his voice and eyes apologetic and genuine.
"I'm so sorry it took me so long to say it."
Willow shook her head with a small smile.
"It's okay. It really is. Tara and I have a little deal about leaving the past in the past and focusing on the future. So that's what we're gonna do."
Ira closed his eyes for a moment.
"I'm so…thank you for forgiving me. No parent should ever treat their child the way I treated you. The way we treated you. I'm just sorry I couldn't convince your mother otherwise."
Willow nodded her head towards the sofa, indicating they should sit down and once they were settled, she spoke up again.
"I'm sorry too. But I've had a lot of time to accept that my parents weren't going to be a part of my life. It's a huge bonus that I have you back. How, um…how's Mom?"
Ira's jaw clenched for a moment before he spoke.
"She's…fine."
Willow noticed her father was being shifty and put a hand on his knee.
"What's going on?"
Ira sighed and wiped his brow.
"I wasn't going to tell you this until you had settled in Buffalo, but I never could lie to you, darling. In the wake of our…reacquaintance, I realised a few things about my life and what's really important and well…we're getting a divorce."
"Oh," Willow replied, more than a little shocked, "Oh."
Ira let his daughter process the new information for a moment before explaining further.
"It's been a long time coming, Willow. After your first phone call, I tried to talk to her again and she flew off in a rage about...well what was said can do you no good to hear. But we haven't been happy for a while. I don't think any of us were. I owe you the greatest of apologies for not giving you a proper childhood."
"Hey, hey, it wasn't all bad," Willow said, seeing her father was quite down on himself, "I remember when I was little, you taught me how to ride a bike and we used to do that paint-by-numbers thing. Sometimes you'd get the paint and put it on my nose, remember?"
"Oh I do," Ira said, a huge grin coming to his face at the memory, "God, you were so very little then."
"And when I was a teenager…you know, when you guys weren't off on business trips, sometimes we'd sit down and just watch a movie, then talk about it after. I have some pretty nice memories of growing up," Willow said, he mind going to Tara for a second, "And it was certainly better than what a lot of other kids had to deal with. And, you know, whatever experiences I've had, they've made me who I am now. And I like who I am now. I like my life now."
"You always were wise beyond your years," Ira replied, cupping one of Willow's cheeks, "You know, the moment you were born, when I saw you for the first time, I knew you'd be special. That you were destined for great things. Even then, you looked all around the hospital room, trying to take in everything at once. Always so inquisitive. So curious. It didn't surprise me for a second when you said you wanted to do a degree in psychology. Wanting to understand people so wholly."
"I really enjoyed doing it. But you know, I'm glad my job worked out the way it did. Honestly, I never wanted to be an actual psychologist. I don't know whether I would've been able to detach enough to do the job properly. And you know, Tara kind of has the same problem," Willow said with a joke in her voice, "She gets all attached to the people she helps, if there were two of us in the house dealing with everyone else's problems as well as our own we'd never make it."
Ira let out a low chuckle and shook his head.
"You know, I've never heard someone speak with as much love as she did when she spoke of you. I have the utmost faith that you two will certainly make it."
"That means a lot, Dad," Willow smiled, "Thank you. So, do you wanna order some food? I would cook but it's kind of antisocial…and hey, you're staying with us, right?"
"If that's alright. Tara insisted."
"Of course it's alright. I'll make our bed up for you later."
"Nonsense," Ira said with a wave of his hand, and a stern look at his daughter, "I've been told this is a very nice sofa bed."
"Well alright," Willow relented, getting up and going over to the phone, "If you're sure."
"I am, definitely."
"Cool. Is pizza alright? There's a great place around the corner that deliver."
"You know, I don't think I've had pizza since you were still living at home. I'd love it."
Willow smiled happily and dialled the number, ordering a pizza for the two of them. It arrived less than twenty minutes later just as they were discussing the move to Buffalo, with Willow showing her father the pictures of the new house. They ate as they continued to catch-up and reminisce, falling into a natural flow of conversation until the door opened quite a few hours later and Tara walked through.
"Am I back too soon?" she asked as she closed the door, seeing father and daughter laughing about something.
"No, no, not at all," Willow said, jumping up and dragging Tara over to sit next to her on the sofa, "Dad was just telling me when I was first learning to walk, I kept falling over and pouting."
"I figured the famous Willow-pout had been around for a while," Tara grinned, "I bet you were an adorable baby."
"Oh I have pictures," Ira piped up, reaching into his pants pocket for his wallet, "Would you like to see?"
Tara's eyes lit up and she nodded enthusiastically, while Willow paled.
"I don't think that's necessary…"
"Come on, Will, please?" Tara asked with puppy-dog eyes.
Willow just nodded quietly and watched as her father handed over a few photographs he'd taken from his wallet.
"So adorable," Tara said, smiling at the photos, "Look at your little freckles."
"Yea, yea," Willow blushed, "So not funny."
"I said adorable," Tara replied, not taking her focus away from the pictures, "Not funny."
Willow gave a small smile and Tara kept looking for a few moments before handing them back to Ira and kissing the side of Willow's head.
"You were gorgeous then and you're gorgeous now," she whispered before standing up, "Who wants cake?"
"Yes please," Willow nodded, smiling goofily and Ira echoed her sentiment.
Tara went into the kitchen and quickly iced the cake she had left to cool when she'd left earlier, hoping to herself that it turned out okay. Willow had been right, she never baked since they'd been together, and hadn't since Home Economics class in high school but as she broke off a piece and tasted it she decided it worked out that time. Willow and Ira seemed to agree as they devoured their slices, lapsing back into conversation.
Some more time passed; Tara and Ira getting to know each other a bit better in the process before an errant yawn from Willow started off a series and everyone decided to was time for bed. Willow got the sofa bed ready for her father before getting ready for bed herself and slipping in beside Tara so they were facing each other and wrapping her arms around the blonde's waist.
"And here I thought you'd be in much need of some sympathy sex tonight," she said with a grin.
"Oh really?" Tara asked, raising an eyebrow, "You were gonna have sex with me 'cause you felt sorry for me?"
"No, no!" Willow replied, her eyes widening, "No, I meant to comfort you but it was just a joke and-"
The redhead stopped abruptly when she saw Tara struggling to keep in her laughter and punched her lightly on the arm.
"Almost five years and I still can't tell when you're joking."
Tara smiled and started running her had along the redhead's shoulder.
"You panic too easily," she replied and gave her fiancée a quick kiss, "You happy your father's here?"
"Delighted," Willow grinned, but her smiled faltered slightly after a moment, "He's divorcing my mother."
Tara's hand motion stopped and her mouth opened and closed a few times in surprise.
"Oh," she managed after a moment, "Oh. Um, how do you feel about that?"
"Now who's psyching who?" Willow asked with a small smile, "It's…very weird. Even in our little dysfunctional family it was always 'Mom and Dad', you know? But on the other hand, Dad's never seemed so…free. Like we just talked tonight and he wasn't all worried about someone walking in and putting him down or tell him off for wasting time when he tried to talk to me about something, like just a chat. You know, now that I really think about it, Mom was a total bitch to him. At least now he's got a shot of being truly happy. Maybe even find what we have."
Tara smiled and traced the redhead's features with her thumb.
"We're really lucky, aren't we?"
Willow smiled back and gave a small nod of her head.
"We really are."