Kathubs sent me "Close your eyes." + Tara/Willow

This one takes place in a post-series AU where Tara didn't die (but basically things happened more or less the same in season 7, mostly, except for the obvious – no Dark Willow, no Willow/Kennedy, etc). It's a little shorter than I thought it would turn out, but that happens. Specifically, it's set shortly after the California Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in 2008 (but before that stupid Proposition 8 BS)

I'm a little hesitant on if I got Tara's voice right, but I did my best.

"Close your eyes." Tara told Willow. Of course, Tara knew her girlfriend well enough to know that simply telling her to close her eyes wouldn't be enough to keep her from peeking, so while Willow had her eyes closed, Tara took a cloth from her pocket and tied it quickly around Willow's face, covering her eyes so she couldn't peek.

"Tara…?" Willow asked slowly, not sounding concerned so much curious. Willow trusted her enough to not be worried, Tara knew.

"Just keep the blindfold on until I tell you to take it off." Tara told Willow. She stepped away from her girlfriend and walked over to the desk on one end of the room, opening a drawer and silently undoing the spell of concealment she'd cast on the drawer's false bottom. Once she had it lifted, she removed the small, square box with, walking over to Willow slowly, her breath catching in her throat, her heart starting to race.

Why am I… it's not as if she's going to say no, right? She loved Willow and Willow loved her… Tara wanted this. Had someone told her five years ago, after they'd left Sunnydale, that she'd be the one to… to ask Willow this question, she'd have stammered out her disbelief and then hidden. Even by then, she'd been a lot more confident than she had once been, but still…

But now… it was very different.

Tara forced herself to take a breath, letting it out slowly, and then she dropped to one knee. "You can take off the blindfold now." She opened the box as Willow removed the cloth and let it drop to the ground. Willow's eyes widened and her mouth opened in shock as she saw what was in Tara's hands.

"The first time I saw you, I thought you were beautiful," Tara started, wishing she'd actually rehearsed something, even in her own head… she didn't know if she could get through this without her throat closing entirely on her as her nerves continued to fire off wildly. "The first time I held your hand, I fell in love. The first time we kissed, I felt the world vanish away and it was only us. And the first time we made love… I knew then that you were my soulmate." She could feel tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes, blurring her vision a little, but she could see hints of glistening wetness in Willow's eyes as well.

"It hasn't been an easy road, for us to get here. But we did. I love you – more than anything or anyone else in the world. We have so much ahead of us both, and I want to face whatever the world throws at us by your side. Willow Danielle Rosenberg, will you Marry me?"

A tear sliding down her left cheek, Willow nodded, her voice soft, as if she was afraid it would break if she spoke any louder.

"Yes." Then she said again, more firmly. "Yes." Afraid to say anything now, happiness threatening to explode within her, Tara slipped the ring onto Willow's hand, rising to her feet as she did so. The moment she was standing up straight again, Willow threw her hands around Tara's neck and pulled her in close, pressing their lips together.

She wrapped her arms around Willow's back, their bodies automatically molding to each other as they had so many times before. But this time, they did it not as girlfriends, but as fiancés.

Tara kept the kiss going for as long as she could, unwilling to separate from Willow, but eventually they both needed air, and Willow pulled back, but they stayed close, their foreheads touching.

"I love you," Willow's voice was barely above a whisper.