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TITLE: Hacker 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: AU, set in contemporary setting. A lot of W/T fluff and some semblance of a storyline.
SPOILERS: AU fic, so at most minor references or pieces of dialogue
FEEDBACK: Yes please
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Again, nothing about the chapter but happy National Coming Out Day!!!
Earliness today 'cause I have to go out in a sec! See you Wednesday and thanks again to everyone who reads!
Chapter 58********
Previously:before the doorbell rang again and Willow jumped up excitedly.
“More people! Christmas is officially starting!”
“Answer the door, goof,” Tara said, smiling over at her wife.
Willow stuck her tongue out before sauntering out of the room and over to the door, swinging it open and smiling at the arrivals.
“Hey Buff. Hi Angel. Merry Christmas!”
“Merry Christmas!” Buffy greeted, flinging her arms around the redhead in a hug, “Thanks so much for inviting us.”
“It was very nice of you,” Angel added, offering a small but warm smile.
“Our pleasure,” Willow replied as she and Buffy separated and gave a kind nod of greeting towards Angel, who definitely wouldn’t have been comfortable with a hug, “Egg nog?”
“Ooh, yummy,” Buffy nodded.
Willow smiled before looking towards Angel.
“We have blood-orange juice if you’d prefer, Angel.”
Angel gave a grateful nod and Willow gestured towards the living room.
“You can go right in.”
Willow departed towards the kitchen and the couple walked into the living room, where they were greeted by Tara.
“Hey guys. Merry Christmas,” she said, giving Buffy another hug, and smiling at Angel.
“Good to see you two again,” Ira said, standing up and shaking Angel’s hand before giving Buffy a kiss on the cheek, “You’re settling into Buffalo well?”
Buffy nodded.
“Oh yes, thanks,” she smiled before patting Angel on the shoulder, “His broken wrist is the only crappy thing that’s happened since we’ve been here.”
“How’s that doing, Angel?” Willow’s voice appeared from the doorway as she walked in with a mug and glass of orange liquid, handing them over, “Can the cast come off soon?”
“Next week,” Angel responded, taking a sip of his juice, before giving a cautious glance at Buffy, “I can drive again. No more risking my car any time we need milk.”
“I am a perfectly adequate driver,” Buffy retorted, her eyes narrowed, “Sometimes I think you love that car more than me.”
Angel just took another sip of his juice and Willow withheld a laugh before the doorbell sounded again.
“I’ll be on official door duty,” Willow said, giving Buffy a pat on the back before going out to the door and opening it, revealing Jesse, standing there with a box of chocolates, “Hey Jess.”
“Good afternoon,” Jesse greeted, handing the chocolates over, “Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas,” Willow greeted back and closed the door. She was about to say something else when the doorbell rang again and she whipped it open, seeing Michelle, “Hey, Michelle. Come in, come in. Oh, this is Jesse, one of the guys I work with.”
“Delighted to meet you,” Jesse said, extending his hand to the older woman, “You’re Tara’s aunt, right? I can see good looks run in the family.”
Michelle blushed and brought a hand up to her face, flustered.
“Oh well, thank you very much. It’s very nice to meet you, Jesse.”
Willow rolled her eyes playfully at her colleague, behind Michelle’s back and pointed towards the living room. Jesse nodded and guided Michelle towards the room while Willow went off to get more drinks.
“I just met the most fascinating woman,” Jesse said as they entered the living room, “Tara, your aunt, right?”
Tara blushed at the sight of Jesse but regained her composure quickly, not wanting to draw any attention to herself or give the man reason to tell about hers and Willow’s incident at the overlook that he knew about.
“Merry Christmas, Michelle,” she said instead, going over to embrace her aunt, before gesturing around the room, “Everybody, this is my aunt Michelle. Michelle, these are our friends Buffy and Angel, and you’ve met Jesse. Oh and this is Willow’s Dad, Ira.”
Michelle waved around the room before her gaze settled on Ira and she smiled.
“Hello. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Likewise,” Ira replied, extending his hand, which Michelle took.
They both looked down curiously at their hands as they shook, though no one else noticed before separating again, both giving small smiles before the sound of Willow’s loud, panicked voice came from the kitchen.
“Baby?!”
Tara’s head shot towards the door.
“Uh...I’ll be right back. Nobody worry. Keep talking.”
She rushed out of the room and into the kitchen, where Willow was standing at the sink, the tap running.
“What’s wrong, what’s wrong?” she asked, hurrying over to her wife and putting an arm around her shoulder.
“I burnt my finger,” Willow replied in a small voice with a sniffle as she ran cold water over said finger.
“Oh sweetheart,” Tara replied, moving her arm down to the redhead’s waist to embrace her from behind, “Let me see.”
Willow held her finger up, a noticeable slightly reddened area at the tip. Tara gently held the finger in her hand and ran the pad of her thumb on the skin below the small burn.
“It’s okay, honey. I don’t even think it’ll blister. We have some burn cream here.”
Tara reached over to a nearby drawer and rooted through it for a second before producing a small tub.
“I’m such a baby,” Willow said with another sniffle, “I’m a grown woman and I can’t even handle getting a tiny little burn on my finger.”
Tara brought the redhead’s finger up to her mouth and lightly kissed the reddened area.
“There’s nothing babyish about said woman wanting her wife to kiss it better.”
Willow smiled as Tara pressed her lips against her sore skin before applying a light amount of the ointment over the tip of her finger. The cool cream eased the sting of the burn completely and she turned completely in the blonde’s arms, placing a loving kiss on her lips.
“Thank you.”
Tara just brought her hand up to cup the smaller girl’s cheek and pressed their lips firmly against each other before pulling back and walking over to the stove, where the pot of egg nog was sitting.
“I will handle the ‘nog,” she said, ladling the liquid into the two mugs Willow had set out, before moving the saucepan to the back burner of the stove, “And that should prevent any more unnecessary burns.”
Willow took one of the mugs in her hands while Tara took the other.
“Back to entertaining,” Willow smiled, giving her wife a quick kiss on the cheek before they returned to the living room.
Jesse and Angel were discussing something and Willow handed Jesse the mug in her hands before going over to Buffy while Michelle excused herself from the conversation she’d been having with Ira and pulled Tara into the foyer by themselves.
“Here’s your egg nog,” Tara smiled, handing the mug in her hands over, which the other woman took gratefully, before taking a deep breath.
“I just wanted to give you this is private,” Michelle replied, rooting through her handbag and producing a small box, “I thought you should have it.”
Tara lifted the lid off the box to reveal a silver charm bracelet, quite a few charms already hanging off it.
“It was your mother’s,” Michelle said softly, making Tara’s eyes widen as her picked up the bracelet, “She was wearing it when...well, I collected it from her things at the hospital before you father got to it. She had it since she was a little girl; I thought it was only apt that her little girl should have it too. Not that you’re all that little anymore.”
Tara slipped the bracelet over her wrist, her hands shaking slightly before looking up at her aunt with shining eyes.
“Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“My pleasure,” Michelle smiled, before the shrill ringing of the doorbell disturbed their moment.
Tara wiped her eyes with a small laugh.
“I’ll get that.”
Michelle nodded and made her way back into the living room just as Willow came out, intending to open the door.
“Oh, I didn’t know you were out here – hey, nice bracelet!”
Willow walked out her held the piece of jewellery between two fingers, twisting it around her wife’s wrist.
“Michelle gave it to me. It was my mom’s.”
“Really?” Willow asked with a smile, “It looks beautiful on you.”
She raised her hand to cup the blonde’s cheek, giving her a sweet kiss before the doorbell rang again. They both laughed softly before walking over to the door and swinging it open to reveal Xander standing there with a petite blonde woman, both of them arguing.
“Anya, give them a chance to answer before you attack the doorbell!”
“I waited over a minute, Xander, the standard amount of time given until you can presume the ringing either wasn’t heard or the doorbell is broken. And don’t yell at me.”
Willow and Tara looked at the bickering couple for a moment before Willow stepped forwards.
“Hey, guys, uh, sorry about the delay. Merry Christmas.”
They turned at the sound of Willow’s voice and Xander brightened, holding out a bottle of wine.
“Merry Christmas, Willster. Sorry we’re late.”
“We were having sex,” Anya added nonchalantly, before narrowing her eyes at Willow and looking her up and down, “Are you really a lesbian?”
“Um...”
Willow could only manage making that sound as Xander hissed between his teeth.
“Anya!”
“What?” Anya asked, shrugging her shoulders, “She doesn’t look like a lesbian. And if she’s not then I don’t want you working with her!”
Xander slapped a hand against his forehead.
“Anya!”
“Are you the wife?” Anya asked, looking at Tara before turning back to Xander, “She doesn’t look like a lesbian either. And she’s pretty. You never told me you were hanging out with a bunch of pretty girls!”
Tara could see the situation was starting to get out of control as Xander held his head in his hands and Willow kept opening and closing her mouth in a shocked fashion, so she did the only thing she could think of and grabbed Willow by the waist, kissing her warmly and deeply for a few moment before pulling back with an audible pop and fixing her gaze on Anya.
“We’re definitely lesbians. And, um, for the record there’s no real way to ‘look like a lesbian’.”
Anya kept Tara’s gaze for a moment before a smile broke out on her face and she nodded.
“I like you. You’re Tara, right?”
“That’s me,” Tara replied, extending her hand, which Anya took and shook, “And you’re Anya? Xander’s told me a lot about you.”
Anya beamed at this before walking into the house.
“Thank you for inviting us over. Xander says it’s polite to show gratitude when people do that, even though I figure if they didn’t want us over they wouldn’t have asked, so why thank them?”
“I suppose you have a point,” Tara said, suppressing a grin, “Why don’t we get you a drink? Do you like eggnog?”
Xander and Willow watched their respective other halves disappear into the kitchen and Xander gaped after them.
“How did she...? I’ve never seen someone handle Anya that well. I can’t even handle Anya that well.”
“That’s my girl,” Willow said with a thoughtful smile, “I have the psychology degree, but she understands people better than anyone I’ve ever met.”
They both smiled at in the direction of the kitchen for a moment before Willow held up the wine.
“Thank you for this. Can I get you a drink? Everyone else is in the living room; dinner should be ready in about half an hour.”
“That’d be great,” Xander said, finally stepping inside and closing the door behind him, “And hey, thanks again for inviting us over. We probably would’ve ended up ordering in Chinese food or something. Neither of us are the world’s best cook.”
“No problem,” Willow smiled, “We’ve only ever had the two of us for holidays, but I gotta admit, it’s really nice having a few people around.”
They walked into the living room and Xander went over to Ira, sticking his hand out.
“You must be Willow’s Dad. Hi, I’m Xander.”
“Oh, hello,” Ira greeted back, shaking the other man’s hand warmly, “You’re the other agent, right?”
“I’m the one that’s not Jesse,” Xander confirmed before frowning, “That was confusing.”
Ira just laughed.
“I understood.”
Anya and Tara returned then with more mugs. Tara handed one to Xander before bringing Anya over to introduce her to Michelle.
“Anya, this is my aunt Michelle. Michelle, this is Anya, Xander’s wife.”
“Hello,” Michelle greeted warmly, shaking Anya’s hand.
“Hi,” Anya greeted back, before looking at the other women curiously, “Is is true that women reach their sexual peak when they get into their fifties? Because if it’s true, I want sufficient notice to make sure that Xander’s penis will be able to keep up. I'm sure there are exercises or dietary restrictions we can implement now.”
Michelle looked horrified and almost choked on the egg nog in her mouth. Tara herself winced as she didn’t want to think about her aunt and sex in any kind of combination and tried to steer the conversation somewhere else.
“So how about the weather, huh? That wind chill certainly has a bite. Or, um... the economy?”
“Oh, the economy!” Anya replied brightly, “Isn’t capitalism wonderful?”
Tara relaxed as Anya started talking about capitalism and something she called the ‘dance of capitalist superiority’, which apparently she enjoyed doing on a nightly basis. Willow slipped out of the room and checked on the food, seeing the turkey was browning nicely, along with the potatoes. She checked the various saucepans of vegetables and gravy and saw everything was just about each to go so returned to the living room and clapped her hands together to get everyone’s attention.
“Dinner’s ready, guys, if you wanna go sit in the dining room.”
Everyone started to make their way towards the dining room to take their seats while Willow returned to the kitchen, hearing her wife’s voice a moment later.
“I’ll help you dish up.”
“Thank you, gorgeous girl,” Willow replied, taking various different-sized dishes and placing them on the counter, “I will handle the veggies, can you take care of the turkey and potatoes?”
Tara nodded and bent down to retrieve the turkey breasts from the oven, placing them together on one of the oblong plates, then surrounding them with the roast potatoes that had been cooking with them. She then scooped all of the mashed potatoes into a large bowl and put the gravy into the gravy boat, before glancing to the side and seeing Willow had set the carrots, greenbeans and brussels sprouts into separate bowls.
“We make a good team,” Tara smiled as she picked up the dish with the turkey.
Willow picked up the mashed potatoes and carrots, smiling back.
“We make the best team,” she replied before bumping their shoulders together, “Come on, we’ve got hungry masses to feed.”
They brought the dishes into the dining room and placed them in the middle of the table. Willow went to get the remaining dishes and placed them down wherever there was a spare place before sitting down beside Tara.
Everyone pulled the shiny-blue, snowflake-decorated Christmas crackers that were sitting on each of their plates, putting on the hats that fell out of each of them and telling the cringe-worthy joke that accompanied them before food began to be plated up and everyone started tucking in.
“Here, honey, let me...” Buffy reached her knife and fork over to her boyfriend’s plate and started cutting things up, since his arm was still in its cast, much to his embarrassment.
“Buffy, I’m fine,” he replied tersely, hitting her hand out of the way.
“What?” Buffy asked, staring at him strangely, “You’re fine when I do it at home.”
“Oh, maybe it’s one of those things that you’re not supposed to do in public,” Anya spoke up, trying to be helpful, “Like the time I tried to get Xander to-”
“Who wants gravy?” Tara asked, not knowing where that story was going, but figuring it was best not to find out.
Her suspicion was confirmed when Xander smiled at her gratefully and held his hands out.
“Xander wants gravy!”
The rest of the meal went off without any drama, everyone talking and eating comfortably, the evening taking a relaxed and happy tone. When everyone had finished and settled for a little while, Jesse, showing a surprising amount of good grace, insisted that he, Xander and Angel do the dishes – apparently having being raised by his single mother, he’d been taught manners above all else.
Everyone else settled into the living room; Michelle and Ira sitting on the sofa and discussing crime-thriller novels, something they’d discovered they had a shared interest in, both having a particular passion for James Patterson and the girl’s standing around the Christmas tree, just chatting.
“Ugh, I think I ate too much,” Willow said, putting a hand over her stomach, “There’s some serious grumbling going on in there at the moment.”
“Want me to rub it?” Tara asked, setting her glass on the mantelpiece and moving to hug her wife from behind, replacing the redhead’s hand with her own and starting a light rubbing motion.
Anya looked at them curiously for a moment, before speaking.
“Is that like a sex thing? Rubbing someone’s stomach?”
Buffy and Willow internally groaned, but managed not to show their uneasiness at the question, having gotten quite used to Anya’s train of thought and speaking, even if they had only known each other a few hours. Tara, however, took it all in her stride.
“No. It’s like a comfort thing.”
“Oh,” Anya nodded, before understanding crossed her features, “Like when Xander hugs me? I get no sexual gratification from it, but it still makes me feel good. He has quite large arms.”
“Exactly.”
Tara smiled, and Anya seemed pleased that she’d been able to deduce things for herself, before Willow decided to change the subject.
“So Anya, Xander says you’re a lawyer.”
“Oh, yes,” Anya said, lighting up at the mention of her job, “I was in corporate law for a while, that’s how I met Xander, I was defending one of the guys he’d caught for fraud. But I’m in civil law now.”
“What made you change?” Buffy asked.
“Money,” Anya answered simply, “Generally people earn more in corporate law, but I figured if I was able to take on more minor cases than one or two big ones, I’d earn more in the end. Plus, I don’t have to deal with all those dull business suits. They always bored me.”
The other three all smiled at that, before turning the conversation to other subjects until the boys came back in and Buffy and Anya went over to their respective partners. Jesse walked over to Willow and Tara.
“Hey, I just wanted to apologise again for sending you up to that overlook. I had no idea it had been restricted, I never had a problem there before.”
Tara blushed bright red and Willow forced a smile at her friend.
“It’s okay, really.”
“Okay, good,” Jesse replied, before getting a cheeky grin and waggling his eyebrows, “You weren’t like naked or anything, were you?”
“Jesse!” Willow scowled, hitting him on the shoulder, before speaking in a more embarrassed tone, “Not completely.”
Jesse burst out laughing and Tara dropped her head onto Willow’s shoulder.
“Jesse, if you tell anyone...” Willow started in a threatening tone, but Jesse held his hands up in defence.
“I get it, mum's the word. And, uh, no need to be embarrassed, Tara. Just adds to your street cred.”
Tara groaned into her wife’s shoulder and both Willow and Jesse grinned before Jesse was called over to settle a debate between Angel and Xander about who the best drummer of the past fifty years had been; Angel proclaiming that it was undoubtedly John Bonham whereas Xander was arguing that it had to be Keith Moon. During the half-discussion, half-argument it came out that Angel played guitar, though he seemed embarrassed by the fact, even though Buffy attested to the fact that he was actually quite good.
The rest of the evening passed by relatively quickly until it got late and people began leaving. Angel drove himself and Buffy home as he had stuck to his juice and not drank any alcohol because of his pain medication; Jesse, who had stuck to soda after his eggnog, wanting to enjoy the evening without being hindered by alcohol, drove himself, Xander and Anya to their homes and Ira and Michelle shared a cab, since they lived on the same side of town. Just before they all left, Anya pulled Tara into a surprise hug.
“We’re friends now, right?” she asked when she released the other blonde.
“Yea, Anya,” Tara nodded, holding onto Anya’s shoulders, “We’re friends. We’re definitely friends.”
Anya appeared pleased at this confirmation as she gave a small wave and left with Xander and Jesse. When everyone was gone, the couple collapsed on the couch, their bodies naturally melding together, exhausted but happy from the day.
“Tara?” Willow asked after a moment, the blonde softly stroking her hair making her feel completely adored.
“Yes, my love?”
“That was the best Christmas I’ve ever had.”
Tara smiled and cuddled her body in closer to the redhead’s, enjoying the warmth.
“I know, honey. Me too.”
Loved it, Laragh!
and raise a glass of 
to our ladies.
As I tell my mom when my dad's acting nuts: "You married him. You knew what you were getting into."