Tara felt consciousness begin to seep into her and sighed softly, still half-asleep as she pulled the warm body that her arms were wrapped around closer to her.
"Mmhh, Willow..."
Willow cracked one eye open when she heard her name being called softly and smiled when she saw Tara with her eyes still closed, trying to bring their bodies as close together as possible. She helped her along by burying her head into the blonde's neck, inhaling her scent. Tara finally opened her eyes at that and kissed the top of Willow's head when she was met with a flurry of red hair.
"Morning sunshine."
Willow said something in response, but it was muffled by the taller girl's neck and opted to start kissing the skin there, trailing her lips between her wife's jaw and her ear a few times before nibbling on her lobe. Tara sighed again at the sensation, before pulling the redhead away and kissing her gently on the lips.
"We have to get up."
Willow pouted and shook her head.
"No we don't."
Tara raised an eyebrow and gestured to the room.
"We've barely even begun to unpack. We were supposed to get this finished yesterday, but someone distracted me."
"But, but!" Willow said with a sulk, protruding her bottom lip, "You promised when we moved, that no matter how many boxes there were, we'd spend the time in bed. All naked, all gay, that's what you said, Tara!"
"I said that we'd spend our first weekend in our new place in bed. It's only Friday morning. But..." Tara replied, a grin tugging at her lips, "If we happened to get everything finished before then...we could start our weekend early..."
She trailed off suggestively and Willow's face brightened at the prospect, she all but jumped up in the bed.
"Okay, so we should really have a system in place to maximise our time so we can get this done as quickly as possible. How 'bout you take downstairs and I take upstairs since you've already started stuff down there. Oh but first, breakfast. You, my angel, are getting breakfast in bed. I'll be right back."
Tara grabbed the redhead's arms as she went to leap out of the bed and pulled her back down.
"Unpacking isn't the only thing we didn't get around to last night..."
Willow's brow crinkled in confusion before she realised what her wife meant and sighed.
"Groceries. We have no food in the house."
"And we haven't eaten since yesterday lunch time."
Willow grinned and placed a hand on the other girl's thigh.
"We both ate plenty last night."
Tara blushed and lifted the smaller girl's hand off her, knowing she wouldn't be able to resist her advances if she kept them up and wanting to get the house in order as soon as possible. She threw her legs over the side of the bed and walked over to one of the suitcases filled with their clothes that she'd dragged up the stairs when Willow had been returning the trailer and bent down, opening and rooting through it.
Willow's eyes lit up as she watched the blonde's unintentional show, her breath hitching as her wife's naked form arched over the suitcase. Tara turned her head around and the sound and blushed once again.
"It's rude to stare you know," she said good-naturedly as she pulled panties and a bra from the bag and onto her body.
"It's not when your super-hot wife is all naked and bendy."
Tara rolled her eyes as she pulled a pair of black pants over her legs and buttoned her shirt up, before turning back and sitting on the bed next to her still-very-much-naked wife.
"My turn," she said playfully, pushing Willow off the bed, "If you get a show then so do I."
Willow giggled and waggled her eyebrows as she slipped off the bed, making a point of swaying her hips as she walked around the room and bending over to reach into her suitcase. She heard Tara sigh softly as she snapped her bra on and dragged her panties up her body in an obviously slow and mischievous manner before pulling a t-shirt over her head and walking back over to the blonde, climbing onto her lap and wrapping her legs around her waist.
"You're not wearing pants," Tara said, holding onto the redhead's hips.
Willow brought her lips down so they were only millimetres away from the blonde's, teasingly pretending to go in for a kiss on a couple of occasions before Tara took the task upon herself and closed the gap between them.
"Too hot for pants," Willow muttered as their lips met again and again.
"It's November," Tara replied in a murmur, before pulling back completely, "In upstate New York. You need pants."
Willow just grinned.
"You get me plenty hot."
Tara exhaled slowly and let her hands slip around so they were cupping her wife's butt.
"You're plenty hot all on your own."
Willow leant forwards and captured Tara's lips passionately, the force making them fall back on the bed. Their tongues began clashing until the redhead's hand started trailing up her wife's chest and she pinched the blonde's nipple through her shirt, which made Tara moan for a moment before she pushed the smaller girl off her completely and closed her eyes as her breathing came in heavy gasps.
"We have to unpack."
"But...Okay," Willow replied reluctantly with a sigh, going in for a last kiss before getting off the bed and walking back to the suitcase, finding a pair of jeans, "I'll go stock us up on some food and stuff, okay?"
Tara raised an eyebrow from the bed.
"You're getting really good at disappearing places and leaving me to do the unpacking."
Willow pulled her zipper up and slipped into her shoes, shooting her wife a thousand-watt smile.
"You don't know how to work the GPS and if you get lost trying to find a grocery store, I won't be able to find you since I don't know my way around yet without the aid of advanced technology. And I don't want to have to live in this big ole house all on my own 'cause you've vanished into some unknown backstreet of Buffalo."
"Okay, okay," Tara conceded with a smile, "Bye. Love you."
"And my heart, as ever, is eternally yours," Willow grinned, "I'll be back soon."
Tara watched as Willow left the room with a wave and go down the stairs. She heard the front door bang and the car reverse out of the drive way, letting herself say seated for another moment, closing her eyes and imagining the redhead's lips on her own as she still felt the tingle go through them before deciding she'd let enough time lapse and left the room as well, going downstairs to start on the unpacking that had supposed to have been done the day before.
"Well that didn't take long," Tara said to herself as she put the final dish into the cupboard and looked around the kitchen, smiling to herself when she saw everything put away or in its place.
She'd decided to start with the kitchen and move onto the foyer and living room after, figuring the kitchen items would probably be the most essential to get unpacked. It had taken surprisingly little time to get through the boxes of kitchen items once she'd gotten into things; the music in her ears from Willow's Ipod, which she'd found on the hallway table when she'd gone downstairs, helping to move swiftly.
I'll have everything done before Willow even gets back from the store at this stage!
She gathered all the empty boxes and placed them in the corner, figuring they could deal with them later and popped the earphones out of her ears when she felt vibrations in her front pocket. She went to answer her cell automatically before seeing it was just a text message and opened it instead, her smile widening when she saw it was from Alice.
Work's not the same without you. Hope you're settling well into Buffalo. Give us a call whenever you've finished setting up house. Or, you know, whenever you and Willow find a moment where your hands aren't all over each other!
She quickly typed out a reply, reassuring her friend she would call and was about to put the earphone back in when she heard a short, shrill knock on the front door. She made her way towards the door, thinking that it was Willow, too weighed down with bags to find her keys. Then again, she hadn't heard the car pull up. But she had been listening to music...She shrugged to herself and opened the door to reveal a trio of perfectly-groomed, smiling women, each holding a dish or basket of some variety.
"Um, hi!" she said brightly, smiling back at the women.
"Hello," one of the women, the tallest of the group, in her mid-forties Tara surmised with wavy, brown hair, replied, stepping forward slightly, "We just wanted to welcome you to the neighbourhood. I'm Barbara Jones. And this is Jackie Young and Helen Mackenzie."
Barbara extended her hand, expertly cradling the basket she had in her other and Tara shook it firmly, before taking the other two hands that were offered to her. Jackie was younger that Barbara, probably in her mid-thirties, with straight, jet-black hair and Helen was a similar age, her blonde hair cut short with loose curls.
"Please, come in," Tara said, stepping aside to allow her new neighbours in, pushing one of the boxes in the foyer to the side with a blush, "Sorry about the chaos here. Still getting everything in order."
She led them into the kitchen, extremely thankful she'd managed to sort out at least one room and gestured for them all to take a seat on the stools set up around the island that separated the kitchen.
"We brought some welcome-to-the-neighbourhood gifts," Barbara said with a grin handing her basket, filled with a variety of soaps, candles and herbal teas, "I make the soaps and candles myself. Sort of a little hobby of mine."
"A little hobby that has her supplying products to six stores around Buffalo," Jackie spoke up, making the older woman blush slightly, giving Tara her own small basket which was filled with a variety of muffins, "Freshly made this morning."
Tara smiled her thanks before picked up one of the candles, one with a soft lilac colour and brought it up to her nose, inhaling its lavender scent.
"They're beautiful," she said, smiling at the women, "Oh, I'm sorry; I never told you my name. It's Tara. Tara Rosenberg-Maclay."
"Well, welcome to the neighbourhood," Jackie smiled, handing over the dish in her hand, "It's just a chicken and mushroom casserole. I was going to call over with it last night but all the lights went out pretty early."
"Oh, yea," Tara replied, trying to contain the blush, "It was a long drive from Boston so we crashed early. Thank you for this, I'm sure it's wonderful."
Tara turned to put the dish into the refrigerator and could feel eyes boring into her.
"So you're from Boston?" Helen ventured after a moment as Tara turned back to them.
"Well not originally," Tara said, opting not to reveal where she grew up, "But I've lived there since college."
"Oh really?" Jackie asked, leaning forwards in interest, "And you moved out here with...your sister?"
Tara's brow crinkled in confusion and Jackie opened her mouth to explain.
"We weren't spying or anything, just noticed that another woman's been in and out a few times since you first arrived on the street."
"Oh. Oh, right," Tara nodded, "She's not my sister."
Barbara was about to question further when Helen grabbed Tara's hand, surprising her, and eyed the ring on her index finger.
"Nice ice," she said, before realising how hasty she had been and dropped her hand with an apologetic smile, "Sorry. I'm a jeweller, I get a bit crazy around jewellery."
"That's okay," Tara smiled down at her ring, "This thing has sent me a bit crazy too."
The other three women exchanged a look and Jackie leaned forwards
"So you're married?"
"Newly-wed," Tara replied, a shy smile forming on her face.
"You can tell," Helen grinned, "Has your husband moved up yet?"
Tara coughed awkwardly before biting her lip for a moment.
"Uh...actually..."
Before she had a chance to continue, the sound of a loud door banging from the other side of the house made them all jump and a voice echoed throughout.
"I hope you like Cheerios, Tara 'cause they were on sale so I bought six boxes. Oh and I got some mixers 'cause you promised you'd make me cocktails."
Willow entered the kitchen, carrying two plastic bags in one hand and balancing the six boxes of cereal in the other, obscuring her view. She dropped everything carefully on the floor before leaning forwards and kissing her wife softly, then pulled back after a moment when Tara didn't respond and was about to pout when, for the first time, she noticed their guests sitting there, all now wide-eyed.
"Oh. Hello. Sorry, I didn't see you there."
"Right, um..." Tara fumbled over her words, the awkward tension in the air palpable, "Willow, this is Barbara, Jackie and Helen. They're from the neighbourhood. And, uh, this is Willow. My wife."
Willow wondered for a moment what she'd stumbled in on, why everyone in the room seemed uncomfortable until Tara said the word 'wife' and a look of realisation crossed the features of the three women across from her.
"Well that makes more sense," Helen said after a moment, smiling at the couple, "Probably just as well, if Jackie had any more man-candy to ogle, her libido might just explode."
"There's nothing wrong with admiring God's handiwork," Jackie scoffed, "Besides, my husband quite likes where my libido is at."
Willow and Tara exchanged a look between them at the playfully-bickering women, but were happy that they seemed to be accepted without much issue. By these neighbours at the very least. Barbara rolled her eyes at the pair to the side and smiled at the couple.
"It's nice to see a new couple on the block. The people who've been in this house for the past little while have all been professional men, never really acclimated to the neighbourhood very well. Do you both work...?"
Tara resisted the urge to chuckle at the older woman's veiled attempt at subtly and nodded her head.
"I'm a social worker and Willow works with the FBI."
"You're an agent?" Jackie asked, her interest piqued, "You know, I've been suspicious of our mailman lately. I think he's stealing mail. That's a federal crime, isn't it?"
"Um, I think so," Willow replied, trying not to shrug her shoulders, "But I'm not an agent, I'm an analyst. And I'm only starting Monday."
"Oh," Jackie responded, disappointed, before she perked up slightly, "Well maybe you can pass it on."
Willow almost laughed but opted instead to just nod her head.
"Uh, sure. I can pass it on."
Jackie brightened at the prospect of possibility being involved in an actual investigation and clasped her hands together.
"Wonderful. So Tara said you were newlyweds, how long have you been married?"
"Four days," Tara replied with a small smile, "We got married on Tuesday."
The three neighbours all gaped at them.
"And you're not on some beach somewhere?" Helen questioned for the group.
"We're kinda under pressure from Willow's job," Tara answered honestly, before glancing at her wife, "We'll have a honeymoon at some stage."
They all lapsed into silence for a moment before Willow piped up.
"So, do you guys have any children?"
Tara paled as she realised the reason behind her wife's question and gulped when they all nodded, all reaching for their wallets to retrieve pictures.
"Mine are all grown up," Barbara said with a smile, showing a picture of a teenage boy and girl, "Chris and Stacey. Stacey's in her second year at Columbia and Chris just graduated with honours from Yale."
"Smart kids," Willow said, Barbara grinning proudly in response.
"Mine's only seven months," Helen said, a shot of a small baby being produced, "Susie."
"She's adorable," Tara cooed, tracing a finger over the picture.
Helen smiled at the picture for a moment before closing her wallet and putting it back in her pocket and Jackie thrust her own picture forwards. Tara's eyes widened as she saw the same little boy she'd seen the night before and slyly grasped Willow's hand behind the counter, squeezing it to let her know.
"Hey," Willow started, trying to remain casual even as her heart was beating out of her chest, "I think I might've seen him around. Right, baby? When we were...unpacking yesterday?"
"Yes. Right," Tara nodded weakly, "I remember."
"Oh yes, he did say he saw 'a new blonde lady' yesterday, his ball bounced into your yard or something," Jackie replied, with a fond smile before frowning, "He didn't cause any trouble or anything did he?"
"Oh no, no," Willow said with a relieved sigh that all her saw was the colour of Tara's hair, "Not at all."
If only you knew.
"Well, good," Jackie smiled, moving to get up, "Well, we should probably leave you to finish getting your things sorted. I live right next door if you need anything."
"And we're right across the street," Barbara said, pointing between herself and Helen, "Always available for a cup of coffee or a chat."
"More like gossip," Helen smirked.
"It's not gossip," Barbara replied stoically, "It's simply spreading news of the community."
The couple walked their neighbours to the door and waved them off, hearing Barbara saying something to the others about an article she'd read in USA Today about same-sex couples increasing property values in neighbourhoods, before closing the door.
"So..." Tara said after a moment, "Those are the neighbours."
Willow chuckled and nodded her head.
"Like I said before, baby. Welcome to suburbia."