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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
Chapter 52
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“Oh, be careful!” Tara called after a group of three boys who ran past her like a rush of wind and almost made her knock the bowl of green Jell-O in her hands.
She was carrying the bowl over to the large table of sugary delights set up in the backyard of their house, right beside the inflated moon bounce that at least seven children were bouncing on and near the near the corner where even more kids were taking advantage of the bubble station that was set up, jumping and trying to catch them as they were sent up into the stratosphere.
She managed to set the bowl down next to the Rice Krispie treats and left an oversized spoon in it for serving, then felt a hand come to rest on the small of her back.
“When he’s a teenager, and slamming doors, and screaming how much he hates us, at least we’ll be able to say, hey, we threw you a kick-ass 6th birthday party,” Willow’s voice came as she reached past Tara for a handful of jellybeans.
“Kick-butt,” Tara replied, looking over to her wife with a pointed glance to the children around them, “And he should know better than to slam doors or scream in this house.”
Willow nodded as she threw another mouthful of jellybeans into her mouth.
“I’m sure he will.”
Tara prodded the Jell-O with the spoon to make sure it was still at maximum wobbling potential before turning fully to her wife.
“Are you going to give my little girl any greens today?” she asked and saw Willow grin and hold up a green jellybean, “Very funny.”
“Lighten up, it’s a party,” Willow giggled, grabbing a rice krispie treat and shoving it in Tara’s mouth, “Here.”
Tara made a quiet choking noise and instinctively bit down on the sticky square, taking the other half from her mouth. She silently chewed until she’d swallowed enough to be able to speak and wiped the side of her mouth.
“Even funnier,” she said as she wrapped the uneaten part of the rice krispie treat in a napkin before her brow suddenly furrowed, “I forgot the paper plates.”
“I’ll get ‘em,” Willow responded quickly, lifting the camera she had on a strap around her neck and handing it over, “Take some pictures.”
She dropped the camera into Tara’s hands and turned to walk back in through the sliding glass doors to the kitchen, where her father was sitting on a stool, lightly massaging his temple.
“Hi dad.”
Ira straightened up in his seat and smiled over at his daughter.
“Hello, Willow. Just taking a small break from all the screaming.”
“Yea, they’re a loud lot,” Willow replied with a laugh as she walked over to the counter and started looking around, “Where did she put those damn plates?”
Ira watched Willow lift various objects in her quest before noticed a stack of white paper plates on the side of the island.
“These?” he asked, picking them up.
Willow spun around and nodded, a look of relief on her face.
“Thanks. She’s so stressed out.”
“Tara?” Ira questioned and got an answering nod, “Well, being solely responsible for 30 children’s happiness all at once is a tall order; it brings quite a lot of pressure.”
Willow frowned and bent the plates back and forth.
“She’s not solely responsible. I’m here. She hasn’t let me do anything; she made all the food, blew up all the balloons, set up the whole backyard.”
“Why do you think that is?” Ira replied softly with a smile towards Willow’s belly, “She’s just taking care of her girls.”
Willow looked down at her bump and rested a hand on top before giving a soft smile.
“What are we gonna do with your Mommy?” she asked her stomach with a gentle shake of her head before looking back to her father, “So, um…I got a letter yesterday. About…my high school reunion. It’s next weekend apparently. Hey, did you know some crazy kids tried to blow the school up?”
Ira’s eyebrows rose for a moment as he clasped his hands together in front of him on top of the island.
“Actually yes, I do recall one of my former work colleagues from the California offices mentioning it a few years ago. His son received a nasty head wound, I believe. Quite a tragedy all around.”
Willow let out an elongated breath.
“Town’s gone completely loco in my absence.”
Ira nodded in agreement, then reached to cover one of Willow’s hands.
“Are you going? To your reunion?”
Willow looked down and gave a small shrug.
“I think so. I was going to book the tickets yesterday, but then I thought I should wait for the weekend to be over to decide,” she said in a rush before lifting her gaze to meet her father’s, “But I think so. I mean, it’s different now. I’m…different.”
Ira smiled and gave Willow’s hand an affectionate squeeze before taking his arm back.
“Well you certainly have plenty to boast about. Beautiful home and family. Working for the FBI, no less.”
Willow chuckled.
“If that doesn’t show Cordelia Chase I’m not a dork anymore I don’t know what will.”
“She made your life rather unpleasant, didn’t she?” Ira asked with a sigh.
Willow rolled her eyes to herself slightly.
“One of the many.”
Ira’s eyes filled with regret.
“I’m so sorry your mother and I didn’t help much. At all.”
Willow quickly shook her head.
“Hey, it’s…it’s okay. I’m…it’s okay,” she said resolutely, “And you’re right, I’ve got a lot to show for myself.”
“You certainly do,” Ira replied before taking a deep breath, “Willow, I don’t have any contact with your mother anymore, all I know is she cashes the alimony cheques, but if you’d like to see her, I’ll do whatever I can to help.”
A look of abject horror fell on Willow’s face and she shook her hands in front of her frantically.
“No, no, no. No, that’s not what I was…no. Facing Cordelia is enough for one weekend.”
Ira accepted that with a reassuring nod.
“We’d be more than happy to take JJ for the weekend.”
Willow let out a breath of relief and ran a hand down the side of her pants to calm herself.
“Thanks, Dad,” she replied and managed a smile again,” I, um, I think it might be good, actually. I’ve grown so much since then. It would be really…good to walk down those halls and not feel like a loser.”
“A cathartic experience I’m sure,” Ira responded kindly, then looked at his daughter seriously, “You were never a ‘loser’, Willow. Anyone who made you feel like that, they were the ‘losers’. Including myself.”
“Stop that,” Willow said with a stern glare before her features softened, “You know, we have the same problem. Tara says I can never forgive myself, even when she’s forgiven me for something. But the issue is never really resolved unless you can both move past it.”
Ira's eyes were filled with vulnerable anguish.
“I’ll always regret how little I was there for you, and how cruelly we treated you when you shared you were.”
Willow looked down momentarily and clenched her back teeth as she too felt a wave of sadness; she figured she always would, the hurt from the past was just too great for her to ever forget. But it was something she had moved past years ago, and it wasn’t something she’d let taint her relationship with her father now, so as ever, she focused on the bigger picture.
“Everything in my life lead me to be right here,” she said, looking up to her father and smiled a sweet smile, “Would you want me to be anywhere else but right here? I wouldn’t. I have everything. A beautiful wife who worships the ground I walk on, and vice versa. The sweetest little boy with the cutest little smile that I’d do anything for. A baby girl who’s going to arrive in two months and turn my life upside down in the best possible way. So many wonderful friends, a father, grandparents for my children. My own home, a job I love. There’s so much love in my life. Be happy that you’re a part of it, not sad about things that happened and we can’t change.”
Ira gave a small smile.
“I am.”
Willow smiled back and held out her arms.
“You might not be able to get your arms around me, but you can try.”
Ira’s smiled widened and he stood to embrace his daughter. Willow closed it as best she could with her bump between them and rested her chin on her father’s shoulder, closing her eyes until she heard the sound of a sliding door and her wife’s voice.
“Willow, did you find the…” Tara trailed off and stopped in her tracks as the door slid shut behind her, “I’m sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt.”
Ira pulled away from the hug, but kept a hand around Willow’s shoulder and smiled.
“You’re not.”
Willow gave her wife a reassuring look and held out the bunch of paper plates.
“We were just talking about Sunnydale.”
“Yes,” Ira nodded, dropping his arm by his side and looking to Willow, “You must to take her to Modena.”
“I think that’s slightly out of our travel path,” Tara said with a furrowed brow as she moved forwards and stood beside Willow, a hand on her shoulder.
“It’s a restaurant,” Willow laughed, “Best porcini mushroom ravioli in the whole state.”
“Oh, I’ll have to try it,” Tara replied pleasantly before a ringing sound from the doorbell grabbed her attention, “That should be the magician. Will you take the plates out to the table?”
“Yes,” Willow replied with a resolute nod, “I will not get waylaid this time, promise.”
Tara dropped a kiss on Willow’s cheek before she started to leave the room and walked across the foyer to the front door. She opened the door to see a man in a black and white pants/vest/shirt ensemble with a top hat and black cape wrapped around his neck that left no question in Tara’s mind who he was. She extended her hand in his direction.
“Hi. I’m Tara, we spoke on the phone.”
The man reached as if he was going to shake her hand, then did a quick movement and a flower appeared instead.
“Dan the Magic Man.”
Tara took the flower and twirled it with a laugh.
“My son will love you.”
‘Dan the Magic Man’ smiled a little and dropped the pretence of the act for a moment.
“Where’s the party?”
Tara gestured over her shoulder.
“In the backyard.”
The magician nodded and tried to strain his neck back to look around the outside of the house.
“Is there a separate entrance?”
“Sure,” Tara replied, somewhat confused, but going along with it as she stepped out and brought him around to the side of the house, “There’s a gate just around here. It’s open.”
The magician started to move back down the driveway.
“I’ll just get a few props from my car.”
Tara nodded and smiled.
“Okay. Well, I’ll leave you to it.”
She walked back into the house and into the backyard through the sliding doors again, dodging some scurrying tiny humans as she made her way back across to where Willow was standing, her hand once again deep in the jellybean bowl.
“You will turn into a jellybean,” she said as she put her hand on the small of her wife’s back.
“Will you still eat me up?” Willow murmured with a giggle as she turned around to face the blonde, “Hey, where’d you get the flower?”
Tara grinned and twirled it between her fingers.
“It magically appeared.”
Willow’s brow furrowed and her jaw set slightly.
“A daisy. I thought only I knew your favourite flower,” she said with more than a hint of obvious displeasure before trying to look off to the side in nonchalance, “I mean, not that it’s a big thing. Just a flower. I just…I thought that that was something we only shared with each other.”
Tara gave her wife a wry grin and shook her head.
“Coincidence.”
Tara saw the side of Willow’s tongue poke into her cheek, a gesture indicative that the redhead was annoyed.
“It’s just a flower Willow, not a marriage proposal,” she said in a reasonable tone before bending the end of the stem back and tucking the flower behind her wife’s ear, “There.”
Willow glanced over at the orangey hue hitting her peripheral vision
“Okay,” she giggled and got a warm smile in return before noticing her wife begin to look over nervously at where JJ was jumping up and down on the moon bounce. She stood halfway behind the blonde and put a hand on either of her shoulders and started to deeply massage them, “Why are you stressing?”
Tara sighed and didn’t take her eyes off her bouncing and giggling son.
“I want him to have a good time. Things will be very different his next birthday. I want him to have a day that is 100% all about him, all fun, all the time.”
“Does that look like a boy who isn’t having 100% fun?” Willow asked and waited a moment for Tara to turn to her and shake her head with a smile, “Relax. Our son is only going to turn 6 once.”
Tara looked back to JJ again, smiling this time, and Willow pressed her lips against her wife’s cheek in a lingering kiss before she felt a petal from the flower tickle the side of the ear and remembered the source.
“Hey, where’s the mag–”
She was cut off, jumping back in fright as a loud bang rang through her ears and she looked over to the direction of the back gate where smoke was billowing upwards and someone was emerging from.
“Dan the Magic Man,” Tara whispered to Willow with a grin and watched as all the children began to rush and gather around him in awe.
“Dan the Scaring-The-Crap-Out-Of-Me Man more like,” Willow mumbled, holding a hand against her furiously beating heart.
Tara moved behind Willow and wrapped her arms around her waist from behind.
“C’mere, I’ll keep you safe.”
Willow smiled softly and leant back into Tara’s arms, unable to hide a huge grin as she watched her son slap both his cheeks in shock as a walking stick disappeared before his eyes.
The rest of the adults gathered near Willow and Tara as the children sat in rapture around the magician, gasping and screaming in joy and surprise at the illusions. The women chatted amongst themselves but the men all had their eyes keenly on the magician as well, all but getting down to sit on their knees in the grass amongst the children.
“How is he doing that?” Jesse asked in disbelief as he watched a pen pushed through a dollar bill repeatedly only for the magician to pull the bill back into perfect shape.
“He should be careful, he’s potentially ruining a perfectly good dollar bill,” Anya added, shaking her head in the magician’s direction.
“It’s just the way he’s moving his hands,” Willow interjected, “The pen isn’t actually going through the bill, it just looks that way. Like a fancy ‘I’ve got your nose’.”
Jesse turned to Willow and scowled at her.
“Damn, Willow, ruin the illusion.”
“You asked!” Willow responded defensively.
Jesse rolled his eyes like a petulant child.
“Yeah, you gonna tell your kids there’s no Santa when they ask too?”
Alice harshly dug her elbow into Jesse’s side then and hissed.
“Keep your voice down!”
Jesse had the decency to look regretful at that and looked around to make sure no one under the age of 7 had heard him, but they were all too preoccupied with watching the magician ‘magically’ pull a string of multi-coloured ribbons out from JJ’s ear.
“Let me guess, hand movement too?” he murmured to Willow, but she only had a chance to give him a half-second glare as she suddenly felt a swift kick against her bladder and fell forwards slightly.
Tara pulled her back and kept her steady as she brought a hand to Willow’s stomach with a fond smile as she felt another, less intense movement against her palm.
“She’s kicking.”
Both Alice and Xander’s head shot towards Tara; Alice’s eyes wide and Xander spluttering on the beer he had just taken a sip from.
“She?!” they both exclaimed in surprise.
“Oh, right,” Tara replied apologetically but with a smile, “It’s a girl.”
The adults all remained in a state of surprised silence until Becky finally spoke with an exasperated sigh towards Willow.
“You blabbed?!”
“No!” Willow defended herself before frowning, “Well not on purpose.”
“She didn’t know I was in the house,” Tara added in support, “And I couldn’t be happier.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me,” Alice said to Tara with a wide smile.
Tara smiled apologetically and rubbed her hand over Willow’s stomach.
“Sorry, I was kinda of caught up.”
“Congratulations,” Alice replied warmly, “So have you thought of any names?”
“I’ve always liked Alexandra,” Xander interjected.
“I’m sure,” Willow scoffed before turning her head towards Tara, “We haven’t talked about it, yet. We should.”
“We will,” Tara replied, leaving a small kiss behind Willow’s ear but didn’t get a chance to say anything else as there was suddenly a loud bursting sound and everyone looked over to see a shower of balloons everywhere, with shrieks of delight coming from the children.
They watched as the magician plucked two of the oblong-shaped balloons that had fallen to the ground and started twisting them together, resulting in a circular base with the other balloon standing up straight, forming a hat, which he placed on JJ’s head.
“Do you think he could make a lion!?” Jesse asked excitedly, his deep voice not offsetting the child-like nature of his question, but didn’t wait for a response as he rushed off to see for himself.
As he hurried off, JJ came at the same speed in their direction and excitedly leapt into Tara’s arms.
“Mommy look, I’m a unicorn!”
“You sure are!” Tara replied with equal enthusiasm before tapping his nose affectionately, “I told you birthdays were full of magic.”
JJ gave a toothy grin.
“I believed. I wanna be a magician!”
Tara shot a wry grin in Willow’s direction.
“You know, your Momma knows a trick or two,” she said, knowing well her wife’s penchant for the amusing and mystical illusions she learned in her study of all things science.
JJ looked over to Willow wide-eyed.
“You do?”
Willow grinned and nodded.
“Oh yeah. I can hold fire in my hand and float a magnet! And we could turn water all the colours of the rainbow.”
JJ started bouncing up and down in Tara’s arms, unable to control the excitement coursing through him.
“Will you show me?”
Willow nodded again.
“I sure will. I can show you all sorts of things. But why don’t you go play with your friends now and enjoy your party?”
JJ nodded diligently and then jumped down, returning to the group of to the other children. Willow looked at Tara excitedly and she too started bouncing on the balls of her feet.
“I can get him a junior chemistry set!” she exclaimed, only to get a worried look from Tara, “They’re safe. They’re for kids!”
Tara shook her head with a pointed look.
“I trust the kits, I don’t trust a certain Momma to not try and ‘enhance’ the tricks with some obscure, dangerous gas.”
Willow began to pout slightly. She’d been known to have more than one mishap in Chem lab during college, once even coming home with a black eye from an errant explosion.
“I messed around with the hard stuff in college, Tara,” she said with a small, joking smile before adding seriously, “I’d never put even the smallest risk on our children.”
Tara’s brow creased.
“I know you wouldn’t. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply that.”
Willow gave a forgiving smile and held her pinky finger up. Tara smiled back and linked hers in with her wife’s, pulling her in for a sweet kiss until a loud rumbling from Willow’s stomach broke them apart. Willow cleared her throat, embarrassed, but then flashed her teeth at Tara in an expression of hope.
“Little bean says it’s cake time.”
Tara silently chuckled and put a hand on Willow’s shoulder to give it a quick squeeze.
“I left the frosting to set this morning, so just give me a few minutes to decorate it and I’ll bring it out.”
Willow nodded, then started looking around herself.
“I’ll have the camera ready. Where did you leave it?”
Tara gestured over at the table of food.
“Somewhere between the gummy bears and the Hershey’s kisses.”
“Sounds like a scavenger hunt I’ll enjoy,” Willow giggled in response and threw a wink in Tara’s direction before making her way over to the table.
Per Tara’s directions, she found the camera sitting behind the bowl of gummy bears and picked it up. She turned it on and flicked through a few of the pictures she’d already taken with a fond smile before switching it back to camera mode and started to walk around the back yard, capturing more smiling faces and exuberant joy.
She caught Tara’s eye as she spotted her wife starting to emerge through the sliding doors a few minutes later, holding the birthday cake on a flat, wooden chopping board. She smiled and walked over to her, mouthing a countdown before they both burst out in a cheerful rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’.
JJ’s eyes shot towards the source of the singing from across the yard and he sprinted across the grass like he was being chased by a rabid dog. More voices were added to the singing as the cake was carefully brought across to the table and JJ grabbed the edge with both hands as it was placed in front of him, the dancing flames from the candles flickering in the white of his eyes.
Happy birthday to JJ…Happy birthday to you!
He looked around in surprise as the yard went silent, too engrossed in the wonderful spectacular that was his birthday cake to have registered the song coming to an end.
There were two layers to the cake; the bottom a rectangular shape with a perfect square sitting on top, perfectly aligned with each other and covered in bright-red frosting, which started the allusion to the fire truck it was trying to depict. On each of the bottom corners was an Oreo, depicting a wheel, with yellow M&Ms in a straight line across the front acting as lights. Red and yellow gum drops sat on the front of the top layer acting as emergency lights, and moving down the slope of the top layer to the bottom were black Twizzlers, cut and arranged to resemble a ladder. A gummy worm completed the ensemble, curled at the side to represent a hose.
When JJ seemed too in shock to say or do anything, Tara bent down to his level and put a hand on the small of his back.
“Blow them out and make a wish sweetie.”
JJ looked into his reassuring mother’s face, then back at the cake. He stood on his tippy-toes to get some height on the candles and deeply filled his lungs with air before exhaling and extinguishing all six flames in one go.
Everyone started clapping loudly and JJ grinned giddily before reaching out and making a grab for the front left wheel. Tara laughed loudly and wrapped her arms around her son as he munched on his cookie, whispering ‘happy birthday’ in his ear and dropping a series of kisses on his face before straightening up and picking up the knife sitting alongside the cake.
“Who wants cake?” she asked cheerily and instantly got a gaggle of children surrounding her and pulling at her pants leg.
She started to cut the cake into equal portions, giving JJ his first with two of the gum drop lights and the gummy worm hose, before distributing the rest around. Willow helped with passing plates around, handing the last slice to Alice.
“Where did you get that?” Alice asked as she broke off a piece of the red velvet cake with the plastic fork she’d been provided, “It’s impressive. I’ll go to them for Ella’s next birthday.”
Willow grinned.
“Well they’re pretty exclusive, but I’m sure if you ask my wife really nicely, she’ll make you whatever you want.”
One of Alice’s eyebrows rose in surprise; she knew Tara was a good cook but the decoration of the cake seemed professionally done.
“Tara made that?”
“Well not by herself,” Willow answered before giving a wry grin, “I cut the Twizzlers into shape.”
Alice laughed and nodded approvingly as she brought the fork to her mouth before Ella pulled her attention away as she crawled over and started clapping her hands and saying something akin to ‘cake’ over and over again. Willow left them sharing the slice and made her way back to Tara who was gathering the larger crumbs leftover from the cake in her hand and dropping them into the bird feeder nearby.
“Nice cake,” she said as she approached, looking over to JJ who had red frosting smeared all over his face, “He loves it.”
“He’s 6, of course he loves cake,” Tara laughed before reaching behind a bowl to hand Willow a hidden slice of cake, “I got you a slice.”
Willow gratefully accepted the paper plate, but then noticed Tara’s hands were empty.
“You not having some?”
Tara shook her head.
“I spent the whole morning looking at it, I don’t think I could stomach it,” she said before gesturing over Willow’s shoulder, “I’m going to go seal off the moon bounce. Cake and bouncing children does not a good mix make.”
Willow gave a mock salute with the plastic fork.
“Good thinking, Yoda. I can try and help if you want but I don’t know if I can bend down far enough.”
Tara adopted a solemn look on her face.
“Do or do not. There is no try.”
Willow grinned wildly at that as she put a forkful of cake into her mouth, dragging the plastic fork back out coyly before dropping her head and blushing, giggling like a schoolgirl.
“You are so sexy.”
Tara grinned and threw a wink in her wife’s direction.
“I’ll look after it. Cake good?”
“Cake great,” Willow confirmed, indicatively taking breaking off another large chunk.
Tara smiled and moved off to pull the zipper across the arched entranced to the front of the moon bounce, but none of the children seemed to mind as the magician had started face painting.
A couple of hours later, the last of the guests left with their goodie bags full of piñata candy, mini-sets of magic playing cards and a Chinese finger trap and JJ was bouncing a rubber ball he’d received from one of his school friends as a gift and giggling each time the impact caused it to illuminate and flash bright lights at him.
“Whaddya think, now?” Willow whispered to Tara as they watched from across the yard.
Tara grinned and nodded before making her way over to JJ as Willow disappeared around the side gate. Tara grabbed JJ from behind as she reached him, making him squeal and jump round in fright before bouncing up and down with a giddy grin when he saw he wasn’t under attack.
“I’m a lion,” he announced, in reference to the orange face paint and black and white strips running across his cheeks, “Rawr!”
“Rawr!” Tara replied with a growl, throwing her hand out as if it was a claw, “Did you have a good party?”
“Uh huh, uh huh,” JJ replied enthusiastically before his eyes went wide with hope, “Can we have pizza for dinner?”
“Is your tummy not filled with cake and cookies?” Tara asked, grabbing JJ by the middle and tickling his stomach.
JJ squealed and giggled as he tried to squirm out of Tara’s touch, but to little avail. After a minute or two she finally released him and started to straighten out the collar on his shirt.
“We can have anything you want for dinner,” she said with a warm smile before her eyes twinkled and she grinned, “Guess what?”
JJ’s eyes lit up with the kind of pure and innocent anticipation only a child could have and he began to bounce on the balls of his feet again.
“What?”
Tara smiled a secretive smile.
“Me and Momma have another present for you.”
JJ started to excited jump up and down.
“Really?”
They’d already given him a basketball and a dinosaur Lego set that morning, as well as Tara giving him a set of toy cars to add to his collection and Willow, a Spiderman figurine, but they had a bigger present they had wanted to wait until the excitement of the party was over to give to him.
“Really?”
“Really,” Tara confirmed with a wide grin, “Would you like to see?”
JJ nodded eagerly and Tara straightened up, taking his hand as she lead him into and through the house, opening the front door at the other side to reveal Willow standing in the driveway, over a brand new, electric blue bicycle. She rang the bell on the side of the bike as she saw JJ appear and stop short in surprise while Tara bent down to his level behind him.
“How would you like to start learning without training wheels?”
JJ looked to Tara wide-eyed for a moment before making a running leap towards the bicycle, on hand on the bars and the other on the saddle, feeling everything in admiration.
“Blue’s your favourite colour, right?” Willow asked as she watched her son take his present in.
JJ nodded in silent awe and began to move around the bike, inspecting the different parts.
“Can I ride it?” he asked eventually, looking up to Willow with hope.
“You sure can,” Tara answered the question, having followed him over, “It’s a little different without training wheels. You’ll have to learn how to balance. I’ll help you.”
“Okay,” JJ replied enthusiastically, throwing his leg over the bike and sitting firmly on the saddle with a hand on each of the handle bars and a foot on either pedal.
The bike remained still by the brake lever by the back wheel and Willow picked up the matching blue helmet hanging off of one of the handlebars.
“Hey, hey. Helmet first.”
JJ grabbed the helmet from his mother’s hands and keenly strapped it under his chin. Willow adjusted it securely on his head before clapping her hands excitedly.
“Okay wait right there, I’m gonna get the camera!” she instructed him before moving around and pulling Tara off to the side, “Don’t let go.”
Tara shook her head.
“I won’t.”
Willow kept a firm grasp on Tara’s upper arm.
“I’m serious. Do not let go. My dad let go and I broke my arm.”
Tara put her two hands on Willow’s neck and looked at her intently.
“I’m not going to let go.”
Willow closed her eyes for and nodded to herself before turning on her heels and heading towards the house. Tara went back to JJ and showed him how the brakes worked while making sure again the helmet was securely on his head.
Willow appeared again a minute later with the camera in hand and Tara put her hands on JJ’s shoulders.
“I’m going to hold on to your shoulders and you just pedal like you would with your other bike. You might feel wobbly, but I’ve got you, okay?”
JJ nodded in understanding and Tara was about to push the lever down to release the bike, but Willow’s voice stopped her.
“Let me take a shot first!” Willow called out, “Say bicycle!”
JJ grinned towards the camera.
“Bicycle!”
Tara heard the shutter of the camera click a couple times before seeing Willow drop it again and smiled at JJ.
“Ready?”
JJ bounced up and down on the saddle.
“Yeah, yeah!”
Tara slowly kicked the lever up as she held onto JJ’s shoulders and felt him begin to sway straight away.
“I’ve got you, honey. Just pedal like you always would. Nice and slow.”
JJ tentatively pushed one foot forward on the pedal and let his other follow. He turned to Tara with a pleased grin that he was doing it before realising that made him wobble again and looked forward, his fists firmly clasped around the handlebars.
They gently rode up and down the block with Willow calling out encouragements and taking photographs until JJ piped up, speaking to Tara but keeping his focus ahead on the road.
“I can do it by myself!!”
Tara kept her firm steady on her son’s shoulders as they continued to push ahead.
“Why don’t we just keep going for another few minutes?”
JJ didn’t argue and they turned around at the end of the street. When they reached the top again, he repeated himself assuredly.
“I can do it, Mommy.”
Tara exhaled for a moment, then nodded. JJ wasn’t going to learn if she held him every second of the way, and he seemed to have a good idea of the mechanisms down.
“Okay. I’ll count down from three,” she said, slowly easing her grip on the boy’s shoulders, “Three…two…one!”
She stopped in place as her hands left JJ’s shoulders, and he ambled ahead for about a foot before promptly toppling over to the side. Tara anticipated the fall and caught his upper body before it impacted, but swiftly found him ripped from her grip as Willow yanked him close to her, having come running when she saw her let go.
“Dammit, Tara, I told you not to let go!”
Tara put her hands on JJ’s head and gently stroked his hair until they were covering his ears.
“Do not talk to me like that in front of him, or ever,” she hissed, the severe tone making Willow pull away from JJ in shock.
Tara focused her attention back on her son, who was looking forlornly down at his lightly scraped knee, visible just under the shorts he was wearing.
“Did you get an owie?” she asked gently and got a meek answering nod in return. She fished in her pocket for a moment, before pulling out a small blue Band-Aid with a flash of pink across it, “It’s piglet.”
JJ gave a small sniffle.
“I like piglet.”
“I know,” Tara replied kindly, dropping her head to JJ’s knee and kissing it tenderly before covering it with the Band-Aid, “All better.”
JJ looked down at his knee and gave a small nod, fully believing his mother’s kiss could cure anything.
“Do you want to try again?” Tara asked, only for JJ to look towards the toppled bike in front of him warily, “You don’t have to. But I think you should give it a try. Sometimes we try something and it hurts the first time, but we get up, and we try again and we keep trying until we get it right. You can do anything and be anything if you just keep trying and never give up.”
JJ looked over to Tara and lifted his chin up with a resolute nod.
“I wanna try again.”
“That’s my boy,” Tara beamed, helping to get both him and the bike into an upright position.
She didn’t notice Willow standing as well until JJ was back on the saddle and she felt a hand brush lightly against her cheek. She looked over the bike to her wife who was wearing an expression of deep regret and her eyes were creased in a way that told Tara she was trying not to cry.
Willow’s mouth opened but no sound came out for a moment before she finally silently mouthed ‘I’m sorry’.
Tara offered a smile of forgiveness and brought her hand up to slip into Willow’s sideways, turning her head in to kiss her wife’s palm before taking a hold of JJ’s waist and turning them both towards her.
“Smile for Momma. Bicycle!”
“Bicycle!” JJ repeated dutifully.
Willow looked at Tara adoringly for a second before lifting the camera a taking a snapshot of the two of them.
“Ready?” Tara asked and JJ nodded with a focused look ahead.
They slowly ambled off again, repeating the same route along the street until JJ once again voiced his confidence in trying to do it by himself. Tara counted him down again before releasing her hold on him and let out a loud cheer as he stayed balanced and moving down the block.
“I’m doing it!” he called at the exact same moment as Willow called ‘He’s doing it!’
JJ, somewhat shakily, but still balanced, slowly pedalled forwards in Willow’s direction, grinning at her wildly as he approached and moved past her.
Willow clapped loudly with a proud smile on her face until she felt Tara’s arm wrap around her waist and give her hip an affectionate squeeze, telling her the moment of harshness from earlier had indeed been completely forgiven and forgotten, and she forgave herself in that moment too, taking her own advice to her father earlier.
They watched their son build in confidence as he zipped up and down the block, falling once, but jumping back on the saddle before either woman either had a chance to react or run to him. Willow leant her head into Tara’s chest and gave a content sigh.
“He’s the best thing we ever did.”
Tara brushed her fingers against the side of Willow’s bump.
“One of the two.”
at Willow blowing up at Tara. Glad they were both able to move on.
) and also of teaching my little guy how to ride, too. So real warm feelings there. Well done with showing both the fear and the wild jumping joy of it!
It'd would be worth learning how to drive just to use that feature.
Willow.
Finally resurfacing after real life insanity.
at Tara dumping punch on Percy. He deserved it.
Awesome! Great chapter. You write the best sex scenes. 
