********
TITLE: Family Confidential
AUTHOR: Laragh
CHAPTER RATING: PG-13
DISCLAIMER: Willow, Tara and any other characters from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise belong to Joss Whedon, FOX, ME and a whole host of other entities, none of which are me.
SUMMARY: The promised sequel to
Hacker Confidential. How are Willow, Tara, JJ and all their family getting on 4 years into the future?
SPOILERS: Perhaps minor references to the show or stealage of dialogue, but mostly just spoilers for all of
Hacker Confidential . If you haven’t read that...well, you really will have no idea what’s going on lol.
FEEDBACK: Yes please
AUTHOR’S NOTE Hi guys! This chapter is
long, I was going to split it in two, but I figured if I didn’t finally get to the damn reveal, y’all would come at me with flaming pitchforks
So I hope you enjoy and thanks for reading!
Chapter 39 ********
JJ was very happily licking his fingers free of the blackberry jam from the toast he’d all but wolfed down and was giggling along with SpongeBob and Patrick when he suddenly found himself sandwiched on the sofa with a mother either side of him.
His eyes went wide with fear.
“I didn’t do it!”
Willow and Tara exchanged a look and Tara looked down at the boy enquiringly.
“Didn’t do what?”
JJ held his hands up and shrugged.
“I don’t know ‘cause I didn’t do it!”
“You’re not in trouble, buddy,” Willow laughed as she picked up the remote from between JJ’s legs and turned the television off, “We just wanted...to read a book with you.”
Tara held up the book in indication and JJ reached for it, examining the cover.
“Is it for school?”
“Nope, not for school,” Willow replied as casually as she could, “Just for...fun.”
JJ shrugged.
“Okay. Reading’s fun.”
“Isn’t it?” Willow responded enthusiastically, forgetting for a moment the purpose of this particular reading session, “Don’t you just love seeing how a story unfolds and learning a bunch of new words?”
JJ looked up at his redheaded mother innocently.
“I like the pictures.”
Willow noticed Tara shooting her a crooked grin at her small outburst and pulled JJ onto her lap, shuffling over on the sofa to Tara so they were squashed up close together.
“Well they’re great too,” she agreed with her son, pointing to the cover of the book, “And look at this little guy, isn’t he cute?”
“It’s a chickie!” JJ exclaimed, slapping his hands against the book, “They come from chickens!”
“Well, yes,” Willow started, seeing an opportunity to start the lesson, “They come from chickens, but some, sometimes they don’t have a chicken as a mom.”
JJ looked bewildered at that seemingly bizarre statement and Willow swallowed a few times and turned to Tara, who just smiled encouragingly and wrapped her arm around the redhead’s shoulders. Willow felt a comforting squeeze on her shoulder and reached down to turn the cover of the book over.
“Let’s read the story,” she said, turning to the first page, depicting a baby chick, alone amongst strands of grass, “Choco was a little bird, who lived all alone. He wished he had a mother. But who could his mother be? One day, he set off to find her.”
JJ seemed instantly captivated by the quest of the chick to find its mother, first in a giraffe, then a penguin, then a grumpy walrus who all denied him, before finally finding Mrs. Bear, who hugged, and kissed, and sang with him just like a mother would and brought him home to her other children, a baby gator, a baby hippo and a baby pig.
“Mrs. Bear gave all her children a big, warm bear hug,” Tara read the last page, having taking over the reading halfway through, “And Choco was very happy his new mommy looked just the way she did.”
Tara finished reading and JJ held onto the book, flicking through the pages to look at the pictures again.
“Cool story, huh?” Willow asked, trying to hide the fear in her voice of the conversation that was to follow.
“Uh huh. I’m glad the chickie found his Momma Bear,” JJ nodded before flashing a toothy grin up at Willow, “Like you’re my Momma Bear.”
Tara saw Willow’s face start to crumple and quickly plucked JJ into her lap to distract him, while holding Willow’s hand firmly off to the side and squeezing in comfort.
“Exactly like your Momma,” she said to JJ as she looked down at him, “You see, the little chickie was adopted into the bear family. That means that even though he didn’t come from the bear, the bear was still his mother.”
JJ nodded, understanding the premise of the story and Tara seized the moment to push ahead.
“We wanted to read this story with you, JJ, because you see, you’re like the little chick too.”
JJ peered down at the baby chick on the pages on his lap and back up at Tara.
“I’m Choco?”
“Because you didn’t come from me or Momma,” Tara explained softly and slowly, “But we’re still your moms.”
Tara could see JJ was struggling to understand and pointed to the book.
“We adopted you like Mrs. Bear adopted Choco because we love you so much.”
“Oh,” JJ replied easily, the concept becoming clearer in his mind, “Was I lost in a forest? I don’t ‘member.”
Willow finally found her emotional build-up that was stopping her from speaking cleared in that moment and wiped the few tears that had formed from her eyes with a laugh then moved her hand down to brush some hair from the boy’s forehead.
“Well, you were kind of lost. At a hospital. And Mommy found you. And then she brought you home so you could be our son.”
“Oh,” JJ replied again, casually, “Cool.”
“Do you understand what all of this means?” Tara asked.
JJ nodded and looked between his two mothers.
“I’m Choco and you love me like Mrs. Bear loved Choco.”
“Yes. Yes, exactly,” Willow replied, feeling another surge of emotion and picking JJ up, hugging him to her front, “We love you to the moon and the stars.”
“And back again,” Tara continued softly, rubbing a hand down her son’s back, “Honey, do you have any questions? Are you confused about anything?”
JJ seemed to think for a few moments, then shrugged and shook his head. Tara leant over and pressed a kiss to his forehead.
“If you ever do have questions, you can ask me or Momma. Anything.”
“Okay,” JJ agreed before looking over his shoulder at the TV, “Can I watch SpongeBob now?”
“Um, in just a few minutes. There’s one more thing we wanted to talk about,” Willow responded before giggling when JJ looked terrified again, “And it’s nothing you’re in trouble for.”
JJ looked between the women expectantly and Willow and Tara suddenly realised they hadn’t discussed how to approach the baby reveal. They communicated silently for a few moments before Tara gestured for Willow to take the lead. Willow’s mouth formed an ‘o’ shaped as she tried to form the right words before eventually speaking.
“Well, we...me and your Mommy...and well, you as well...we’re...
Willow trailed off feebly and looked to Tara for help. Tara nodded that she’d take over and smiled at the other two.
“We’re... going to have a baby.”
JJ looked like he was waiting for the punch line of a joke and there was a silence before Tara spoke.
“A baby,” she repeated, then further explained when she was met with the same blank look, “You’re going to be a big brother.”
“Really?” JJ asked, excitedly droppings his ‘r’.
“Really,” Willow confirmed with a wide smile, “How do you feel about that?”
JJ bounced up and down in Willow’s lap.
“Cool! Where’s the baby??”
“Well it’s not here yet,” Willow started to explain but couldn’t continue as JJ starting firing questions.
“Is it lost like I was? Is the baby gonna be alockted too? Do you need me to help you find it?”
“Adopted, honey,” Tara corrected gently with a smile, “And that’s very sweet. We don’t need you to help find the baby, but we will need your help when he or she gets here. ‘Cause right now, it’s in Momma’s belly.”
JJ looked down at Willow’s stomach and turned his head in scepticism.
“How’d it get in there?”
“Um, well…” Willow started, at a loss for words for a moment before venturing with, “Mommy put one of her eggs in me.”
She looked to Tara for confirmation that that was an okay explanation who just shrugged; it was accurate, even if JJ was going to interpret a little different than reality.
“Mommy put an egg in you and now there’s a baby in there?” JJ asked in uncertainty, continuing to stare at Willow’s stomach, “I don’t see it.”
Willow looked down at her stomach and contemplated for a moment before pulling at the sides of her dress so it stretched out across the bump, enabling JJ to see the pronounced outline easier. The boy continued to stare down for a moment before placing both of his small hands on his mother’s stomach and feeling around. Willow let him investigate for himself for a minute or two before speaking.
“It’s a teeny tiny little baby right now, but it’s in there. Your little brother or sister.”
JJ looked like he was trying to figure out the size before giving up and asking.
“How big?”
Willow spaced two fingers about 3 inches apart and JJ’s eyes widened.
“That’s very small,” he said, matter-of-fact, “Does it have a head?”
“Wait right there,” Tara replied and quickly rushed over to the other side of the room where her purse was lying on the floor. She rooted through it for a few moments until she located the picture of the scan from their latest ultrasound and went to sit again, handing JJ the print-out.
“That’s the baby,” Willow explained and started to point out different areas, “That’s the baby’s head...and the little legs...and can you see the little fingers?
“Oh yea,” JJ replied, holding the scan picture up close to his face and turning it at different angles, “They can take pictures inside your belly?!”
“They use a special machine to see inside,” Tara explained, “It's not like a regular camera, that's why the picture is fuzzy.”
JJ seemed impressed by that latest piece of information and continued to examine the scan before another question came to mind.
“Is it a boy or a girl?”
“Uh, we don’t know yet,” Willow replied, holding her hands to her stomach, “It’s still too tiny to tell.”
“Oh,” JJ replied, a little disappointed that he didn’t know whether a brother or sister was coming his way, “When is it coming out of Momma’s belly?”
“A long time,” Tara answered with a look of regret on her face. “6 months.”
JJ began to pout.
“That’s forever.”
“I know. I really wanna see the baby too,” Tara replied, looking down lovingly at the print-out in JJ’s hands, “But it has to grow big and strong first.”
JJ seemed to resign himself to the long wait ahead but had another question.
“Will it play with me?”
“Not straight away,” Tara shook her head making JJ scowl, “Remember when Aunty Alice had Ella? How little and tiny she was? But now she plays blocks with you and Alex sometimes and with Play-Doh.”
JJ rolled his eyes and cross his arms over his chest; Tara plucking the scan photo from him so he didn’t crumple it.
“She tries to eat it.”
“And you stop her,” Willow replied, lovingly tapping her son’s nose, “You’re gonna be the best big brother.”
JJ gave a pleased grin then and Tara patted his hair.
“You know something, we haven’t told anyone else about the baby. You’re the very first one.”
“I am?” JJ asked, his eyes wide.
“Uh huh. We’re gonna tell Grandpa and Grandma and everyone else later at the party. So until we say so, you have to shush okay?” Willow said, holding a finger over her lips in indication, “It’s our secret.”
JJ mimicked locking his lips with a key before shaking his head.
“Not a party though.”
Tara smiled lovingly, thinking the boy didn’t understand the reason for their party.
“Yes, it is, honey. For our anniversary.”
JJ shook his head in defiance, refusing to call the gathering later that evening a ‘party’ as his joy over the prospect had been swiftly diminished when he found out there was no fun laser-tag-type activities, no party hats and much to his disgust, no cake.
“Not a party if there’s no cake.”
Willow laughed and she pulled JJ to her, plastering kisses all over his face.
“You know what, sweetie pie, you are a very important part of this family and you’re a part of our anniversary. So if you want a cake, we’ll have a cake.”
JJ’s whole face lit up and he leapt from the sofa, jumping around the room and throwing triumphant punches in the air.
“Mommy will bake one!” Willow continued, giggling at her son’s antics but stopped and cleared her throat when she got an ‘are-you-kidding-me look’ from her wife, “I will go to the store and buy one!”
Tara mouthed the word ‘better’ while Willow mouthed ‘sorry’, flashing a cute smile until she saw the blonde’s eyes soften in forgiveness and threw a wink in her direction before scooting forwards on the sofa and trying to get her son’s attention.
“JJ. JJ. Jake. Jakey, calm down,” she said, pulling him to a halt as he bounded past her. She waited for him to give her his full attention before speaking in a clear and tender tone, “You know, the baby, and you, we love you both the same? We love you both more than anything. You’re both our children. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
JJ gave a definitive nod.
“Like Mrs. Bear’s other children, Hippy and Allie and Piggie! They’re Choco’s brothers! And if Mrs. Bear had a baby bear, they’d all be brothers too!” he exclaimed proudly that he had been able to think of a scenario fitting of his new animal friends before he jumped at Willow’s feet, “Can I come to the store with you?”
“You sure can,” Willow replied warmly, “Go brush your teeth and pick out the clothes you want to wear and I’ll be up in a few minutes to see if you need any help.”
JJ jumped up and down in place as Willow was speaking then dashed out of the room once he had the clear instructions in his head. Willow waited until she heard pounding feet on the staircase before grabbing her surprised wife’s cheeks and planting a firm kiss on her mouth. She pushed Tara’s cheeks in so her lips puckered and pulled away for a moment with a gleeful grin.
“You are perfect.”
She pursed her lips against Tara’s puckered ones again with a loud ‘mwah’ before slapping her hands against her knees in delight.
“This book is the best thing you ever purchased,” she gushed, picking up the book from alongside them and turning it over to read the back, “Who’s the author? I could totally find their home address so we can write them and say th–”
“Okay, sweetie, let’s talk about imposing on people’s personal freedom later,” Tara cut the redhead off and took the book from her, and leaned over to slide it onto the coffee table, then put both of her hands in Willow’s ,“That went well.”
“It really did, didn’t it?” Willow replied, keenly lifting Tara’s hands up a bit in her lap and squeezing them before her brow creased in thought, “I thought he’d have more questions.”
Tara nodded gently.
“He will. When he’s older and understands the process more. Or...if other children tell him things. Or even in a day or two when he starts to think more about everything we told him. As long as he knows he can come to us for the right answers.”
Willow looked slightly troubled.
“We don’t have all the answers. It’s not like he was a standard adoption case.”
“No. But...” Tara trailed off before one shoulder shrugged, “We’ll just be as honest as we can. Age appropriately.”
Willow smiled and gave a short nod of agreement before dropping Tara’s hands and pulling her into a hug.
“You’re the best mom,” she whispered and heard her wife whisper back a moment later.
“It’s a tie.”
Tara felt Willow squeeze her tighter and started to squeeze back but heard Willow speak up first.
“You’d be sexy as hell in a tie.”
Tara sighed but couldn’t help a small smile.
“We were having a moment.”
“Right, sorry,” Willow replied quickly, “Best mom...”
Tara chuckled and finished the squeeze she had started before. She felt Willow kiss her ear before they separated and the redhead clapped her hands together.
“What kinda cake do you want?”
Tara gave her wife a pointed look.
“As long as I’m not baking it, I don’t care.”
“Heh,” Willow laughed nervously and cleared her throat, “I’ll let JJ decide. I better go help him reach his underwear so he doesn’t go commando and we almost have a pee-pee-in-the-zipper scenario again.”
She stood up and started to walk towards the door, but Tara grabbed her hand as she passed and made her stop in place.
“Look at the time.”
Willow glanced over at the clock above the fireplace worriedly, thinking she maybe didn’t have enough time to get to the store before people were due to arrive and would have to disappoint her son but it only read 12:20pm, hours before even the first guest would ring the doorbell.
“Baby, we have a bunch of ti–” she started to say before she realised why her wife had told her to look, “12:20. That, ah...that sounds right about the time...”
Tara just smiled and nodded and wrapped her arms around Willow’s waist as the redhead climbed onto her lap. Willow rested her palms flat beneath the blonde’s shoulders and smiled widely.
“Well then, my sweet, I offer you our...incalculable numbered kiss exactly 11 years after I gave you our first.”
Willow was just about to lower her head when Tara spoke up.
“
I gave
you our first.”
Willow sat back, affronted.
“Well I initiated the whole thing.”
“And I thank the universe for my gutsy girl every day,” Tara replied and pulled on the redhead’s hips, “Now lay some sugar on me.”
Willow stayed stoic for another moment before grinning goofily.
“Okay.”
She dropped her head and pressed her lips warmly against Tara’s, lingering for the next minute before starting to pull away, but Tara put a finger under her chin to keep her close, whispering through a grin.
“We used tongue during our first kiss.”
“So we did,” Willow giggled and let her lips be pulled back down and pushed apart by an eager tongue.
She played with her wife’s tongue with a lot more boldness than she had during that reminisced kiss eleven years ago until she felt Tara’s hands start to fall behind and take a squeeze of her rear. She pulled away from the kiss and took Tara’s hands away with a shake of her head.
“You didn’t touch my butt for at least two, three weeks.”
“Is that how you want to play it?” Tara asked with a grin, then shrugged, “Guess we’re not having sex for the next two months then.”
“Let’s not get crazy,” Willow giggled and dropped another sweet kiss on her wife’s lips, then nuzzling their noses together, “Happy anniversary.”
“Hey Willow, nice sweater,” Buffy called out to the redhead on her way towards the dining room where the food was laid out, “Where’d you buy?”
“Banana Republic,” Willow called back, moving towards the front door, the doorbell having rung a few moments before, “40% off.”
“Ooh,” Buffy replied in admiration, turning her head to nod at her friend in approval before spotting the array of food on the table, “Mini quiches!”
Willow laughed and at rolled her eyes at her friend before continuing to the door, opening it to see her father and Michelle standing in their porch, holding a bottle of wine in her hands.
“Dad!” she greeted warmly, embracing the man for a moment before doing the same to Michelle, then standing aside to let them in, “Come in, come in.”
The two walked in and Ira offered a wave to Buffy who was walking back into the living room, where music was playing from and sounds of talking and laughter were billowing out of.
“The gang’s all inside,” Willow said, motioning in the same direction, “Uh, Dad, Brian said he wanted to talk to you about some merger or something? I’ll be honest I kinda zone out whenever you guys start with the business talk.”
“Yes, I know what he’s talking about,” Ira replied with a smile, “Our whole company is taking over–”
Ira paused for a moment as he noticed the look on his daughter’s face.
“Ah yes, I see the glazed over eyes now. I’ll just go find him.”
He started towards the living room as Michelle turned towards Willow.
“Where’s Tara?”
“Upstairs. JJ knocked some of the plates of food by accident and she was all in a flurry trying to make more in time and was only jumping in the shower when people started arriving. I was just gonna going up to see if she’s ready,” Willow replied, pointing her thumb over her shoulder towards the staircase, then smiling at the woman, “There’s drinks, and food...help yourself.”
“Thank you, dear.”
Michelle went towards the sounds of people and Willow made her way up the stairs and down the hallway.
“Tara, everyone’s here, are you almost ready?” she called as she rounded the door into their bedroom and grinned as she saw her wife bending over the bed, her butt elevated and hugged by tight black pants, “Mmhh, baby, that ass in them–”
Willow cut herself off as an indistinguishable noise rose from her throat and she found herself clutching the door to keep herself upright as she watched Tara straighten up, affixing an earring she clearly lost in the blanket of the bed into her right ear and wearing, to Willow’s shock and delight, a skinny red tie against a loose white blouse and a black waistcoat hanging open off her shoulders.
The outfit Willow had seen before.
The tie she had not. At least not on Tara.
“Hi, honey, sorry I took so long, I lost one of my earrings,” Tara replied as she sat on the edge of the bed and starting pulling a pair of black boots that were alongside the bed onto her feet. When Willow just continued to gape at her, she looked down self-consciously and flapped the end of the tie upwards, “Is it not as sexy as you were thinking?”
Willow managed push the door closed, with her back flat against it, and felt her jaw shake as her eyes bore into her wife.
“I-I feel like I should be dropping to my knees in awe of your sexiness.”
“Oh,” Tara replied with a pleased and somewhat smug smile, “Well then it had the desired effect.”
Willow made another indistinguishable sound, though it did bear resemblance to a whimper, and balled her fists at her sides for a moment before rushing across the room and jumping on top of Tara, her eyes dark with lust.
“Let’s screw.”
Tara’s eyes widened as she was pushed back onto the bed and felt Willow start to pull at the collar of her shirt and drop her head into her neck. She allowed herself a few moments of butterflies as the redhead’s lips caressed her skin before pushing lightly on her wife's shoulders.
“As romantic an offer that is, sweetie...”
Willow pulled away and looked like she was desperately searching for a reason to keep them right where they were before grinning in victory.
“I brought you flowers home from the store!”
Tara blinked a few times as she tried to follow the Willow-logic-train, her eyes narrowing as she finally did so.
“You’re using the romantic gesture from earlier as a trade-off for sex now?”
“Yes,” Willow stated in a clear and altogether possessive tone before taking the opportunity of being pushed into a straddling position to start to pull Tara’s belt buckle open, “I will rock your world.”
Tara grabbed Willow’s hands from her belt and pushed herself into a sitting position.
“I know you will,” she said before adding pointedly, “Later.”
“Or,” Willow replied in what any other time would have been a helpful tone, “Now.”
Tara tried and failed to suppress a giggle as Willow honed in on her neck again but quickly pushed at her wife’s shoulders when the redhead's hand pushed past her opened belt buckle and brushed against the front of her panties.
“Everyone is downstairs.”
Willow moved her hand up and tried to slip it behind Tara’s tie and under her blouse.
“They have music, they have food, they’re good!”
Tara moved her hands to Willow’s cheeks to pull her head up so she could look her straight in the eye.
“You know I want you. I cannot wait to rip that dress from your perfect body and have you beneath me all night,” she started and saw Willow nod and grin in approval so shook her head slightly, “But we’ve got some important news to share.”
Willow reluctantly dropped her hands and sat back on her heels.
“Okay,” she agreed grudgingly before placing one hand on the knot of Tara’s tie and moving it side to side, “But later, you’re not allowed to wear anything but this.”
“Deal,” Tara responded as Willow continued to play with the tie.
“Where did you even get it? There’s no way you had time to go into the city and buy one while I was at the store with JJ.”
“I found it in the Halloween box,” Tara answered with a small chuckle, “Remember from that year you thought it would be funny to go as Ask Jeeves since everyone at work calls you Google?”
Willow started to nod, then frowned at her wife’s wording.
“It was funny.”
“Of course it was, sweetie,” Tara replied in a placating tone before seeing the redhead’s eyes crease and amending it to a more reassuring one, “It was very funny. The bald cap just freaked me out.”
Willow seemed to accept that before looking as if she suddenly realised something.
“Is that why you wouldn’t have sex with me that night?!”
Tara looked at the redhead as if to say ‘really?’ and sighed.
“You wanted to keep the bald cap on.”
Willow shrugged one shoulder.
“I thought it would keep my hair out of the way.”
Tara twirled the ends of Willow’s hair in her fingers.
“I like your hair in the way,” she replied with a small tug of indication, “Now c’mere and give me a smooch so we can go downstairs.”
Willow eagerly took Tara’s lips between her own and after a moment, started trying to push the blonde back down onto the mattress. Tara pulled away from the kiss and patted Willow’s cheek with a grin.
“Nice try,” she said as she slipped off the bed and walked over to the mirror to adjust her clothes.
“Worth a shot,” Willow mumbled as the stood too.
Tara turned back around and moved towards her wife.
“You creased your dress,” she said as she pulled at the ends of Willow’s dress until she was satisfied it was crease-free and smiled, “Beautiful.”
“Thank you,” Willow replied and held out her hand for Tara to take, which she did.
They walked hand in hand out of the room and towards the stairs, but Tara stopped short when she heard noises from the opposite end of the hallway.
“The kids are in JJ’s room,” Willow explained, “Alex brought over all his Lego and they’re combining it with JJ’s to make ‘the greatest Lego land in all the world.”
“Ah, I see,” Tara replied, walking them over to the door, poking her head through the door and seeing Alex and JJ sitting on the floor with an array of Lego pieces around them and a plate with just a few leftover cake crumbs between them, while a fold away crib near them had a quiet and sleeping Ella inside, “Hi boys.”
Both boys looked up, momentarily stopping their assembling.
“Hi Mommy.”
“Hi Aunty Tara.”
“Having fun?” Tara asked and got two wide grins and nods in response, “Okay, well make sure if Ella wakes up to tell one of us and not to take her out of her crib, okay?”
“Uncle Jesse told us,” JJ replied absently, his attention focusing back completely on the task at hand as he looked to Alex, “Gimme the silver piece!”
“JJ...” Tara warned.
“Please,” JJ added, rolling his eyes slightly though not enough for his mother to see.
“Okay, well good luck with your Lego city–”
“Lego world,” both boys interrupted Tara who stifled a laugh.
“With your Lego
world. Come downstairs if you need anything.”
She got two affirmative nods and turned back to Willow with a smile. They continued the rest of the way down the stairs and stopped in the foyer.
“Drink?” Tara asked.
“Yes, please,” Willow nodded, “Um...”
“I got that apple cider you like. You know, the sweeter one.”
“Perfect,” Willow grinned, “Hey and grab me some of those baby carrots and that awesome hummus you made. And a few cheesesticks. Oh and couple of those garlic-y chicken finger things.”
Tara turned her head at her wife.
“Did you eat all the food while you were putting it on the table?”
Willow was silent for a long moment before answering.
“Not all of it.”
“Mmhhmm, alright,” Tara replied in a dubious tone, “Anything else?”
“One of those mini muffins,” Willow replied enthusiastically before adding sweetly, “Please.”
“Chocolate chip or blueberry?” Tara asked before realising she knew the answer already, “Both.”
“It’s because you know me so well, that’s why we work,” Willow giggled as she put her hands on Tara’s cheeks and popped a kiss on her lips, “See ya on the inside.”
She spun around and moved towards the living room while Tara turned to go into the dining room, offering a small wave to the only other two in there, Anya and Buffy, apparently unable to stay away from the culinary delights the room offered.
“Hi guys,” Tara said as she went to the far end of the table and took two champagne flutes, filling one three-quarters full with an opened bottle of sparkling wine.
“Hey Tara,” Buffy greeted, as she looked between the plate of pigs in blankets and devilled eggs, “
Great food.”
“Why thank you,” Tara replied as she twisted the lid on the bottle of apple cider off and filled the other glass.
She secured the lid back on the bottle and retrieved one of the paper plates from the stack on the table, looking around at the array of items. She was just spooning some of the hummus onto the plate when Anya piped up.
“Are you being the man today?”
Tara calmly started to arrange the food Willow had requested on the plate and shook her head.
“Anya, we’ve had this conversation before. Neither Willow nor I are, or take turns being, ‘the man’. We are both women and it’s one of our favourite things about each other.”
“You don’t really get the whole ‘lesbian’ thing, do you?” Buffy asked through a mouthful of pastry.
Anya gestured towards Tara defensively.
“She’s the one wearing a tie.”
“Have you ever woken up in the morning and put on one of Xander’s shirts?” Tara asked and Anya nodded, “And yet you’re still a woman.”
Anya seemed to contemplate and accept that, but had another question.
“Well who spoons who?”
Tara laughed and threw a baby carrot into her mouth.
“That we take turns in,” she replied with a twinkle in her eye as she held the plate of food in one hand and one of the glasses in the other, “Will you help me with this? The last thing I need is a hummus stain on my shirt.”
Anya picked up the other glass and looked down at the plate in Tara’s hand.
“Hungry?”
“Willow is,” Tara answered as they both started walking from the room.
Anya nodded approvingly.
“Did she burn a lot of energy giving you anniversary orgasms?”
Tara pressed her lips together to hold in a grin as they walked through the doorway into the living room.
“A lady never tells,” she replied reservedly and spotted Willow by the fireplace. She went over and handed her the plate and glass to a grateful smile, then gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, “Back in one sec.”
She went back and retrieved her glass from Anya with a ‘thanks’ before saying her hellos to the rest of the gang, then returned to Willow, who had devoured every scrap of food that had been on her plate.
“You can stop cooking dinner every night, I can totally survive if you just make appetisers,” Willow gushed through a mouthful of food, “So good.”
Tara frowned.
“Not very nutritious.”
“Who needs nutrients?” Willow scoffed as she put her paper plate on the mantelpiece before Tara gave a pointed look down to her stomach, “Oh right.”
“Speaking of,” Tara replied, lowering her voice and gesturing quietly around them, “When do you want to...?”
Willow looked around the room and shrugged.
“Now?”
“Uh, sure,” Tara nodded, slightly surprised, “No, let’s definitely...ready when you are.”
“All set,” Willow beamed excitedly and swung her hand between them to interlock her fingers with Tara’s as she turned to face the room of people, “Um, everyone, can I get your attention for a moment?”
She waited for the chatter to simmer down and for everyone’s attention to be on her before continuing.
“Hi,” she started and tapped a finger against her glass as she thought of what to say, “Um, thanks for coming today. To the party we were forced to have lest Anya sue us for loss of entertainment.”
Everyone chuckled and Anya held her glass up with a pleased smile that she’d been mentioned.
“But seriously,” Willow continued after a moment, “Thanks for coming. To celebrate 11 wonderful years I’ve been blessed to have this beautiful lady by my side.”
She looked over to Tara giving her a bashful smile and squeezed her hand before continuing.
“And uh, some of you I’ve known all those 11 years and some came in at various intersections between then and now. But regardless of when you came in to my – our – lives, it’s all of you together that we call family. And it’s all of you we’re so very happy to be sharing our special day with.”
Everyone smiled and a couple raised their glasses in a gesture of support as Willow started to speak again.
“So since we’re all here today, celebrating, we wanted to share some news,” she said before pausing for a moment, “Uh, actually, two pieces of news!”
Tara shot the redhead a confused look before realising what she meant and nodding at her to continue. Willow held her glass up high and used her fingers to gesture around.
“We bought the house.”
Everyone was silent until Becky piped up.
“Which house?”
Willow gestured around herself again.
“This house.”
Becky looked confused and surprised.
“You didn’t already own the house?”
“Uh, no,” Willow shook her head, “No, this house was rented. But the landlord decided to sell and we bought. And we got all the final papers this morning. So...yay.”
“Well, congratulations,” Alice offered first, “I bet it’s nice to know you own all the walls.”
Willow nodded in agreement and both her and Tara smiled around the room as everyone else extended congratulations.
“So the other thing...”
Willow trailed off and looked to Tara for help who just smiled in encouragement.
“I believe you had a way you wanted to...”
Willow’s brow creased in confusion before she remembered the conversation in the kitchen earlier when she proposed a particular way of going about the ‘big reveal’.
“Oh. Yea. Well, okay,” she said, stifling a giggle as she bent down and left her glass on the coffee table, then turned back to Tara, “Will I just...?”
Tara shrugged and nodded while everyone else in the room wore an expression saying ‘what the hell is going on?’
Willow inhaled deeply as she undid the ends of the shawl-style sweater she had crossed over her front before swatting them completely out of the way and pushing her stomach out through her dress.
“Surprise!”
Everyone’s eyes widened but they seemed completely unable to process as the room fell into an eerie silence. Willow held a hand either side of her stomach and cleared her throat uncomfortably when the silence just continued.
“Uh, I haven’t eaten too many mini muffins,” she ventured before quickly adding, “And no Anya before you ask, I’m not bloated because I’m on my period.”
“Valid assumption,” Anya murmured, though a knowing smile was on her face.
Everyone else however remained speechless and unmoving until Buffy, who hadn’t been the in the room and Willow had forgotten to account for her in the excitement to tell all, came back in, chewing loudly.
“What’d I miss?” she asked as she gnawed on a chicken wing before dropping it, half-eaten to her plate when she saw Willow’s stomach, “Holy crap! You’re pregnant!”
“Eureka, somebody gets it!” Willow beamed, before dropping her tone to a softer one, “I’m pregnant, guys. We’re having a baby.”
Willow watched as complete comprehension dawned on everyone’s faces before jumping in place in fright when Becky let out a loud and shrill scream and rushed over to grab Willow, almost lifting her with the force of her hug.
“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!”
“There’s the kinda reaction I was looking for!” Willow giggled before gasping for breath as Becky squeezed extra tight, causing Tara to try and pull her back.
“Please stop before you squeeze the child right out of my wife.”
Becky let herself be pulled away and used the opportunity to throw her arms around Tara with just as much excitement.
“You’re having a baby!!”
As Tara took the brunt of Becky’s squeezing and the room filled with sounds of surprise and congratulations, Ira calmly walked over to Willow and placed a silent, elongated kiss against her forehead.
“Congratulations, my sweet girl.”
Willow grinned as her father wrapped his arms around her warmly.
“You’re gonna be a grandpa again.”
“The proudest one in the world,” Ira replied as he pulled back with a wide smile, “And the proudest father.”
He pressed another kiss to his daughter’s temple before stepping aside to let an eager Michelle embrace her and moved towards Tara, who had finally been released by Becky.
“I feel I ought to be shaking your hand.”
Tara offered her hand, which Ira took and shook, then used to pull her into a hug.
“I’m so very happy for you.”
“I’m so very happy for us too,” Tara replied as she hugged back, “Thank you Ira.”
They went through a slew of hugs and best wishes from everyone until Anya approached Tara, arms folded over her chest.
“And you still say you’re not the man?”
Tara just shook her head and resisted rolling her eyes and Willow, whilst hugging Xander but close enough to hear the exchange, looked bewildered.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said over Xander’s shoulder, “But trust me, she’s a woman.”
“Yea we all saw her boobs on New Year’s, remember?” Xander jokes only to receive death glares from Willow, Tara and Anya, making him cower slightly, “Xander go sit now.”
“Good idea,” Willow replied with narrowed eyes and watched as he and Anya returned to their seats, Xander getting a slap on the back of his head along the way, making her smirk.
She didn’t have much time to react to that though, as she noticed a very-bouncy Buffy throw herself into Tara’s arms with an excited squeal and much to Willow’s surprise, felt Angel wrapped his arms around her.
When Angel felt Willow stiffen, he instantly pulled away and cleared his throat.
“Sorry. Should I not have...?”
Willow looked stunned for a moment before quickly shaking her head.
“No, no, hugging is...great. You just haven’t. Ever.”
Angel looked uncertain with himself.
“It felt appropriate.”
“Very,” Willow answered with a lot more ease, and leant up to embrace the man again, “Thanks Angel.”
When they pulled apart the next time, Angel offered a little smile but it faltered when Buffy wrapped an arm around his waist and spoke.
“He told me once he finally understood what family meant the day you two made him ‘Uncle Angel’.”
Angel averted his gaze uncomfortably but focused it again when he heard Tara speak.
“It’s okay, Angel, I understand. I felt that way when I first met Willow.”
He shared a look of understanding with Tara for a moment before both of their attentions were pulled away when they noticed Buffy playfully punching Willow’s arm.
“He gives good hug, huh?”
Angel resumed his uncomfortable shuffle and Willow laughed.
“Well no one hugs quite like my woman, but yes, that was definitely a great hug.”
“Tara does give the best hug,” Buffy agreed seriously before looking up at Angel apologetically, “Sorry, honey. She’s just got this way she squeezes...”
“Oh yes, a Tara-squeeze is a squeeze like no other,” Willow replied before turning to Tara and holding her arms out, “Demonstration, please.”
Tara slipped her arms around Willow’s waist and pulled their bodies together. There was a collective smile of happiness for the couple around the room as Willow grinned giddily and popped a kiss on her wife’s lips, feeling Tara smile against her in response and put her hands below the blonde’s shoulders, pulling on her waistcoat to pull her closer.
The air of joy among the other started to turn into awkward staring as Willow and Tara made no effort to stop, even letting things heat up as they apparently forgot they weren’t the only ones in the room.
“There goes the tongue,” Becky commented casually, then made a sound akin to a cackle when she watched Willow’s hands drop, “I’ll take an ass grab for 400, Alex.”
The rest of the room turned to stare at her and Becky just laughed, by far the most used to the constant pull on each other her friends had.
“This is just like college when we’d have girl’s nights and they’d make out in the corner and I’d have to pretend to watch the movie and not be a perve,” she explained and held up her hands in a gesture of power, “Don’t worry guys, I got this. Hey, Willow, if you don’t stop, I’m gonna take pictures and email them to your professor!”
Willow kept her mouth on point but her eyes darted across the room to give Becky what could only be described as a ‘what the fuck?’ look before she eventually pulled away from Tara to regard her friend with utter bewilderment.
“What?”
Becky’s eyes narrowed in thought as she considered what she’d just said.
“Right, not college anymore. Change that to boss.”
“Um, we’re her boss,” Xander piped up, gesturing between himself and Jesse across the room.
Jesse looked down towards Becky and grinned.
“You have my email, right?” he asked, promptly receiving a slap on the chest from the back of Alice’s hand, “Ooff. Jeez, a man can’t even make a joke around here.”
“Okay Aunt Becky and Uncle Jesse,” Willow started sarcastically but was cut off as Jesse groaned and dropped his head into his hands.
“Full House theme,” he muttered with a sigh as the tune ran around his mind, “Every time.”
“Anyway...” Willow continued, holding up a hand apologetically, “We’re done.”
She moved so one arm was wrapped sideways around Tara’s waist and threw a wink in her direction.
“For now.”
Tara blushed but gave the redhead a crooked smile and moved over just slightly to sit in the free armchair. She pulled Willow into her lap and secured her hands over each other on the redhead’s bump. There was a split second of silence before Xander piped up.
“So...how...?”
Angel spoke next, asking the question most of the others were thinking but didn’t quite know how to phrase, uncharacteristically doing so without considering his wording.
“Whose stuff did you use?”
Buffy turned to Angel, wide-eyed in disbelief.
“Do I need to make it a trifecta of hitting the men today?”
“I think there’s been probably been enough of that,” Tara replied quietly, rubbing one hand against her knee before bringing it up to gesture around her, “It’s okay, you can ask questions. We used an anonymous donor for that.”
Everyone nodded and Jesse gestured in front of him.
“How do they actually...?”
Willow looked to Tara, who indicated for her to answer, so she did.
“Well, it’s just like would happen if it was happening...another way, except outside the body. They take the sperm and the egg and put them together, then they put that in me and it stuck.”
“So you did IVF? Not insemination?” Michelle asked, knowing the differences in the processes from friends of hers who had had trouble conceiving before looking apologetic, “I’m sorry, that’s too personal.”
Willow shook her head to indicate it was all right.
“No, no, it’s okay. Yes, we did IVF instead of insemination.”
“What’s the difference?” Buffy asked.
“IVF, they did what I just said,” Willow started to answer, “Insemination is...”
“The turkey baster method,” Anya finished helpfully.
Willow looked slightly grossed out but nodded.
“Well, basically.”
Looks of understanding crossed the room but Buffy looked slightly puzzled.
“Why did you do the UFO thing? Turkey basting seems much easier.”
“It’s IVF. In-vitro fertilisation. And we did it,” Willow replied, moving one hand over Tara’s, “Because I, we, wanted us to use Tara’s eggs. So I could carry her baby.”
“So, wait,” Alice asked, following the train of thought in her head, “They took the egg from Tara...and put it in you?”
“Yes,” Willow nodded definitively, “And there was a lot of injections and poking and prodding and a whole helluva lot of doctor’s visits, but it was totally worth it because...”
She slipped from Tara’s lap and walked over to the coffee table, placing her glass down before pulling open the drawer and excitedly holding up one of the numerous copies of their latest scans they had.
“We have our little bean.”
“Oh my god, lemme see, lemme see,” Buffy gushed, moving forwards to grab the picture, “That is the cutest foetus I have even seen!”
Both Anya and Alice shot Buffy a momentary scornful look but both of them couldn’t help smiles of glee when the scan picture was passed over to them, the memory of their own pregnancies coming back to them.
“Is this recent?” Anya asked, seeing the dates printed on the bottom, “How far along are you?
“It’s from last week,” Willow answered as she took her seat on Tara’s lap again, “I’m 14 weeks as of Wednesday.”
Jesse seemed to be staring at Willow’s belly and shook his head with a whistle.
“I cannot believe we haven’t noticed that bump.”
Willow looked down lovingly at the bump.
“Well I only popped in the last couple of weeks. We wanted to wait for it to be passed the 3 month mark and this seemed like a good opportunity since we’d all be together.”
Alice traced the outline of the baby in the picture, somewhat in awe.
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell us you were doing all of this.”
Tara gave a wry grin.
“Did you tell us when you and Jesse were trying?”
“Well no, but that’s differ–” Alice started to reply before stopping herself with a cleared throat as she saw both Willow’s and Tara’s eyebrows raise, “I’m so happy for you.”
Tara squeezed Willow’s swollen stomach and quickly kissed her cheek.
“We’re happy for us too.”
“I always thought you guys would adopt again if you had more kids,” Brian commented as the scan was passed to him and he took in the sight of the growing life, “Wow.”
“Don’t you go getting broody,” Becky commented and saw her boyfriend just shake his head with a smile, indicating he was more than happy to be ‘Uncle Brian’ and not ‘Daddy’.
“Well, we could still adopt if we wanted more,” Willow spoke up in reference to the previous comment, before smiling over at her wife, “Or Tara could get pregnant. But this is just the way we wanted to do it this time.”
“I think it’s incredibly sweet,” Michelle commented as the scan reached the end of the line of people with her and Ira, “I remember when your mother was pregnant with you, Tara, she kept all of your scan pictures. They were a lot fuzzier though.”
“They were in her diary,” Tara replied softly, “I have them.”
Michelle smiled a somewhat sad smile but it turned more joyous as she looked on at the scan and passed it over to Ira. He looked up and held it over his heart.
“May I?”
“We have a bunch of copies,” Willow nodded with a smile, “You can keep it.”
“Thank you,” Ira replied, holding the picture between himself and Michelle and looking at it in wonder before clearing his throat in a bid to quash the swell of emotion and holding his glass up, “A toast! To my beautiful daughter, her beautiful wife and their beautiful family.”
Willow grinned and raised her glass.
“To my growing belly.”
Tara clinked her glass against Willow’s and looked at her adoringly.
“And our ever growing love.”
by leonhart17 » Thu Nov 03, 2011 6:08 am 
I was wondering when the house issue was going to pop up. I couldn't believe that they were still renting after five years, but that's the logical reality side of me, lol. 
very cute! And hurray for house buying goodness! How exciting for both of them, owning their first home and having their second child.
)
at your fortune. Very appropriate considering where you were and who you saw. 
I’m excited for them buying the house too 
Yes I know; it's a sickness.
Hilarious image!
I forgot to feedback on your last post! I feel like a bad kitten as I totally meant too and some how forgot!
on Tara's outfit.
