"She was in the closet," Tara said to Becky, Alice and Brian as she and Willow, both fully dressed, walked into the kitchen.
Becky snorted and put her mug of coffee down on the island.
"I thought you came out of that year-"
"Tara already made the joke," Willow cut her friend off as she poured coffee from the pot into the largest mug they had and brought it up to her mouth.
"Oh," Becky replied, dejectedly slouching against the counter, "Well isn't Tara just wonderful?"
"Yes," Willow replied without missing a beat, "She is."
"She's also standing right here," Tara spoke up with a quirked eyebrow.
"Ugh," Becky responded, sipping on her coffee too, "I'm much too hungover too be tactful."
Brian started chuckling and Becky looked up with a glare.
"Don't you laugh at me, Green. I don't put out when I'm cranky."
"Okay," Willow stepped forward, resting her hands on the island, "Before I learn anymore things about my friends that I really just shouldn't, you all go get ready and get your bags packed. I'm making breakfast and then we'll take you to the airport."
"Eugh," Becky groaned again, "Plane. Turbulence. Don't remind me."
Alice put a hand on her friend's back comfortingly and stood up.
"Come on, I've got a face cream that'll make you feel like you've spent all day at a spa."
Becky seemed pleased at that and followed Alice out of the room and up the stairs. Brian skulled the last of his coffee and went upstairs as well, leaving just Willow and Tara in the kitchen. Tara sat on one of the stools that had just been vacated and the redhead reached across the counter and entwined their hands.
"And what would my beautiful birthday girl like for breakfast?"
Tara smiled.
"Whatever her beautiful wife would like to make."
Willow blushed and shyly took another sip of her coffee.
"Well I think carbs might be in order to soak up all the excess alcohol that seem to be floating through everyone's systems. Would you like...waffles?"
Tara brightened and nodded.
"Only if you make cherry sauce to go with them."
"Cherry sauce it is," Willow grinned and walked over to the refrigerator, "Do we have cherries? Aha, yes we do."
She took the basket of cherries along with the orange juice out of the refrigerator and turned on the stove, retrieving a saucepan and sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon, the rest of the ingredients for the cherry sauce.
"Can I help?" Tara asked as she watched Willow put everything into the saucepan and begin to stir it.
"Nope," Willow responded, stirring for another few moments, "This breakfast couldn't be easier. I can let that boil and make the waffles! Now, I need flour and milk and butter...eggs...baking powder and...sugar!"
She grabbed the sugar from where she'd taken it out before and started humming as she measured out the ingredients and started mixing them all together in a large bowl.
"You're very cheery considering how awful you felt when you woke up," Tara commented with a fond smile as she watched her wife mix, "What happened to your hangover."
"You kissed it outta me," Willow replied cheerfully, "I'd be happy not to see a beer for the next month, but your lips have magical healing powers."
Tara grinned.
"Maybe I should market it."
Willow looked up, horrified.
"No way. I have exclusive rights. Your lips belong to me."
"You're very right," Tara replied sweetly, "Yours for whatever necessity you want."
Willow stopped stirring the now-smooth waffle mix and walked around the island to Tara, resting her hands on the blonde's shoulders and leaning in to kiss her softly. Tara smiled against her wife's lips and moved her hands to the redhead's waist until the sound of Becky's voice broke them apart.
"Ugh, stop. My weak stomach can't handle any kind of kissing right now."
"It's true," Brian piped up from beside her, "She slapped me when I tried for one this morning."
Willow placed a final gentle kiss against the taller girl's lips before separating with a grin and looking at her friends.
"Can your stomach handle waffles?"
"Ooh, the Eggo variety?" Brian asked as he walked over to the island and sat on a stool.
"The Willow variety," Willow answered as she opened the waffle maker and brought her batch of mix over.
"Do I smell cherry sauce?" Becky asked cautiously, sitting on the stool beside Brian.
"You do," Willow smiled as the first of the waffles started to cook and she tended to the sauce, "Where's Alice?"
"I'm here," Alice's perky voice came from the doorway as she walked into the kitchen, "Bags are all packed and ready to go. Did I hear something about waffles?"
Willow spun around with a plate of two waffles and a small jug that had the rich red sauce in it.
"You did indeed."
Becky let out a small moan and reached out without even realising she was doing it but Willow snatched it away from her.
"Don't even, Rebecca Hardy," she said, putting the plate down in front of Tara, "My gorgeous wife gets the first batch."
Becky scowled.
"Why?"
"'Cause it's her birthday!" Willow replied indignantly, turning back towards the waffle iron, "You are so not cute when you're hungover."
"Excuse me?" both Brian and Tara exclaimed at the same time and Willow giggled.
"Not cute like that. I'm just wondering how I survived living with her during college."
"Also known as 'The Perpetually Drunk' years," Becky spoke up with a small laugh, "Well if I remember correctly, the few times you got drunk, Willow, you whined so badly when you were hungover I had to leave our room. Thank god you found Tara to take over."
"Thank god I found her is right," Willow smiled, turning back with another plate of waffles, "Fight amongst yourselves."
Neither Brian nor Alice were about to try and take the waffles from Becky, who started inhaling them down her throat straight away. Willow whipped up enough waffles for the rest of them quite quickly and they all enjoyed their breakfast leisurely.
As the last plate was being loaded into the dishwasher a little while later, Willow glanced at the clock in the room and sighed.
"We better head out. Your flight leaves in two hours."
"Oh yea," Brian replied, looking down at his watch, "We're supposed to be there like an hour and a half before the flight."
"Stupid domestic flights not going out on a Sunday," Becky grumbled as they all made their way to the car, bags in tow, "We really didn't think through getting a flight in the early afternoon after the night of a party."
Alice held the door of the backseat open for Becky and Brian to get in, then climbed in after them, fastening her seatbelt.
"Well I have to be home tonight anyway, I'm on call tomorrow at the DCF offices. And I have like 5 adoption applications that I need to have ready for submission by office hours Monday."
"Yea, I have papers to grade," Becky agreed, holding her stomach as the car started moving, "God, we're all such adults."
"I'm not," Brian piped up cheerily, "I'm still a student and working at Starbucks."
Becky patted her boyfriend on the knee.
"Maybe don't remind me of that when I'm not my usual sensitive self."
Brian snorted.
"Ha. If a sensitive girlfriend is what I wanted, we would not be together."
The rest of the car burst into laughter and Becky scowled for a moment before playfully hitting Brian on the shoulder and smiling at him.
"You're lucky you're cute."
Everyone chatted amiably for the 20 minute ride to the airport until they arrived outside the large building and Willow pulled up along the departures building. They all jumped out and got the bags from the trunk before the hugging started.
"It was so good seeing you all again," Willow said as she hugged Alice, then Brian.
"Thanks so much for coming," Tara added as she hugged Becky, then moved onto Alice.
"Thanks for having us," Brian replied as he wrapped Tara in a warm embrace.
"Great to see you guys so happy," Becky said as she hugged Willow.
Willow pulled back and looked between her friend and Brian.
"It's great to see you guys happy too."
Becky grinned.
"Who would've thunk it, huh? That I end up with this lug?"
She playfully punched Brian and he wrapped his arm over Becky's shoulder, a goofy smile on his face.
"Right, we're going before I start crying," Alice said, hoisting her bag up, "Bye. Love you guys."
"We love you too," Willow replied sweetly and waved as the three started going towards the building, "Call us and let us know you land safely!"
Becky turned her head back and waved.
"We will! Bye!"
Willow and Tara waved again until they saw their three friends all enter the airport and hopped back in the car.
"Thank you so much for bringing them out here," Tara said as the redhead started driving, "It was great seeing them again."
"You're more than welcome," Willow replied with a smile, "It really was great, wasn't it? And Becky and Brian being together, it's so cool. Alice is our only single friend now."
Tara smiled and thought about Alice's impromptu hook-up with Jesse. She was sure her friend wouldn't mind if she told Willow about it, but she had said she wouldn't tell anyone, so decided not to bring it up, also knowing Willow would understand if she ever found out.
"We don't need to worry about her. She's okay. She's happy too."
"Yea," Willow nodded, taking her own interpretations from her friend's general demeanour over the couple of days, "We've got good friends. Here and in Boston. We're really lucky."
Tara smiled.
"The luckiest."
Willow reached over and gave her wife's leg a warm squeeze before turning on the radio. They both sat in comfortable silence for the rest of the journey home, smiling at each other when they stopped at traffic lights and occasionally leaning over for a quick kiss until they arrived back at the house.
"And the post-party clean-up begins," Willow sighed as she peered into the living room and saw the plates and glasses everywhere, as well as the abandoned decorations.
"I'll go get some trash bags," Tara said and went to move towards the kitchen but was pulled back.
"You will do no such thing," Willow replied indignantly as she turned the blonde towards the stairs, "You're gonna go upstairs and have a nice, hot bath."
Tara stayed rooted to the spot and shook her head.
"Willow, let me-"
"Let you listen to your wife, yes," Willow cut the taller girl off with another push towards the stairs, "Now go. The birthday girl does not clean on her birthday."
Tara gave her signature half-smile.
"You're very demanding."
"You knew that when you married me!" Willow replied in a sing-song voice as she skipped off into the kitchen, hearing Tara go up the stairs and the sound of the pipes running a few moments later.
She grabbed some trash bags and went back into the living room, gathering the discarded streamers and banners from the floor and walls and making small holes in all of the balloons to let them deflate before throwing them into the bag.
When she had collected everything, she brought the bag into the dining room and swept up everything from there as well, walking outside with the full trash bag when she was finished and throwing it into the dumpster.
She then went back inside and brought all of the dishes that were lying around into the kitchen and transferred them into the dishwasher, turning it on when she managed to fit the very last glass in.
"Okay, Mr. Hoover, you're up," she said to herself as she walked into the laundry room and retrieved the vacuum cleaner.
She hummed to herself as she vacuumed the entire lower half of the house, sucking up all of the dust and errant glitter from the floor until she was happy with its cleanliness and returned it to the laundry room before deciding to check in on Tara to see if she needed anything. She walked up the stairs and over to bathroom, popping her head through the door.
"Hey baby, do you want any..." she trailed off as she saw that no one was sitting in the bath, though further inspection showed it had been emptied recently, some bubbles still gathered around the sides.
She walked across the hall and opened the door of their bedroom, smiling when she saw Tara lying in the bed on her side, reading a book.
"I thought you were having a bath."
"I did," Tara smiled over her book, "I had a very relaxing bath and now I'm having a very relaxing lie-down. I'm even considering a quick power nap before we go out."
"Ooh, a nap," Willow replied, walking further into the room, "A quick nap sounds good. I know I slept in late, but god only knows what time we all actually went to sleep."
Tara patted the bed beside her.
"Hop in."
Willow loosened her belt and snapped the button of her jeans open, shaking herself free of the fabric and holding up the blanket on the bed, slipping under it and wrapping her arms around the blonde's waist from behind.
"Is your book good?"
"Just some chick-lit," Tara replied, "Nothing too hectic."
Willow placed a small kiss behind her wife's ear.
"I won't disturb your reading."
Tara folded down the corner of the page she was reading and put her book on her nightstand before turning in the redhead's arms.
"You're not."
Willow smiled and leaned forwards to place a small peck against the blonde's lips. She pulled away and was about to settle her head beneath her wife's chin when a look passed between them and they were suddenly kissing each other ravenously.
Willow pushed her tongue into the blonde's mouth as she felt Tara grab the back of her neck and pull their bodies as close together as possible until they separated, gasping for air.
"I have, uh, serious plans to ravage you later," Willow said breathlessly as she put her hand on her wife's waist and pulled their hips together, "But I wouldn't say no to a quickie right now."
"It is my birthday," Tara grinned, pulling her wife on top of her and whipping her t-shirt over her head.
Willow grinned back and sat up slightly, taking the blonde with her so she could rid her of her t-shirt as well, leaving them both in just their panties, which were quickly rid of before both sets of legs tangled together and their lips crushed together; kisses only interrupted by both girls giggling and squealing.
Willow brought her hands up between their bodies and let out a moan as she cupped her wife's breasts, pushing her hips down against the blonde's and circling them to try and get some friction.
Tara entwined her fingers in her wife's hair as she opened her mouth to allow the redhead's questing tongue to explore her before grabbing one of the smaller girl's hands and thrusting both of their hands between their bodies.
Willow groaned into the kiss as she felt familiar, long fingers start to slide against her intimate flesh and let her own digits copy her wife's actions, the pad of her thumb starting to circle the blonde's clit.
"Ahhh!" Tara gasped, her lips quirking into a pleasure-filled smile as she strained her neck back against the pillows, "Yes..."
Willow dropped her forehead against the blonde's shoulder as she felt her wife's fingers run along her lips and hit against her pleasure nub a few times in quick succession before jerking when she was suddenly entered.
"Yes, Tara..." she groaned as she thrust her hips against the invading fingers and quickened her motions over her lover's clit.
She heard the blonde moan loudly in her ear and started kissing the skin under her lips, trailing down Tara's chest before taking a taut nipple in her mouth. Tara arched her back and moaned again, her eyes shut tight and mouth panting as she felt indescribable pleasure start to mount inside her, starting in her lower stomach but shooting everywhere.
Part of her wanted to wait, to feel what she was feeling until she didn't think she could possibly bear it any longer but her hormones were controlling her much and they were telling her to just let go.
And so was Willow.
"Tara, come," Willow moaned as she tugged the blonde's nipple between her teeth, "Oh right now, please, 'cause I'm...I'm...yes, yes, yes!"
Tara felt her body burst in ecstasy, her toes curling as she watched through her fluttering eyelids as the redhead threw her head back and shuddered above her. They collapsed into each other a few moments later and Willow started giggling wildly as she placed warm, wet kisses all over her wife's chest.
"Oh wow. Oh wow. That was incredible. That was wonderful," she gushed before moving off the taller girl with a slow exhalation as Tara's fingers left her body in the process, and jumped out of the bed, "Oh man. I gotta go shower before we have to go, but you, you just stay there and enjoy your afterglow and totally have a little nap and I'll be back and I'll wake you and...mmhh, you're just amazing."
She leaned down and placed the warmest of kisses against her wife's lips before pulling back with another jovial giggle and practically skipping out of the room. Tara happily watched her naked, retreating form and a wide smile formed on her face as she heard the shower start and the sound of Willow's voice singing 'I'm Walking On Sunshine' echoing out from the bathroom.
She stretched her relaxed body out on the bed and folded her arms beneath her head comfortably with a happy sigh and a small chuckle.
"She really likes quickies."