Ooo! And just looky at the time. 5:25 pm. Not too shabby. It's 'cause I have nothing but love for you all...that just must be it...
Title: Contentment
Part: 5&6/?
Email address:
mtnlaurels34@hotmail.comDistribution: I just like to write...but it would be fun to know if this shows up somewhere else.
Feedback: This is my first fic, but I already think I'm going to be a feedbackaholic...your insights will help me steer some of the "fun" aspects of the W/T relationship *wink,wink*
Spoilers: This is completely AU! No spoilage here.
Rating: PG -13...at least for now.
Disclaimer: Yeah, so I just thought it would be fun to play with the Willow/Tara relationship. I have no rights whatsoever...most of the other characters in this fic are new, so that should be fun.
Authors note: Like I said earlier, this is an AU fic. There's no magic (per se), so don't get upset with me. It's just a love story...that's all. Hope you enjoy reading as much as I have enjoyed writing!
Real quick: To my heart...Travis, I know you're lurking somewhere around here, thank you for bringing the wonder of love to my life, and for teaching me all that can be said through silence. And MC. Lady, you rock! I'm checking the board for some SC additions!
Laurel
Ch. 5
-Willow,
I only just realized that we’re not all with the whole company car thing around here so I’m leaving you the keys to my Jeep—sorry about that. I’ll draw a map of town for you and put it in the glove compartment well as cell phone from the office in case you need to reach me for anything. Ed has set up an account with the computer store in town and they know you may be stopping in (there’s only one computer store, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find)
I have to work on some stuff away from camp this morning, but I’ll leave directions on how to get there as well. In fact, I’d love it if you stopped by and had lunch with us. Rachel and Micah will be helping, and Ed will be there with his family, too. Please come and join us!
-TaraTara read the note one last time on as she climbed the stairs to the loft. It was still dark outside. Early. Willow wouldn’t be awake for another couple of hours and Tara wanted to say so much more than the almost curt words of her letter expressed.
Oh, ‘Please come and join us’… what is this, an invitation to a birthday party?Tara folded the stationary into a simple rectangle and placed the note on the nightstand beside the bed Willow occupied. My bed. The director thought as she straightened, her eyes never leaving the dark form outlined by the blanket she used to sleep under herself.
The darkness didn’t allow Tara to really make out Willow’s features, but in the quiet room she could hear every soft breath the redhead took.
Life. Breathing indicated life, and what beautiful life Willow Rosenberg turned out to possess.Willow mumbled something in her sleep and Tara smiled at the sound.
Even when she’s sleeping she can’t stop talking. And then her smile turned to a soft chuckle when she understood the garbled words “because they are evil.”
Wonder if she’s talking about the horses or the frogs. Tara stood and listened until Willow’s breath evened out one again, a sign that she’d fallen back into restful sleep.
All right Maclay, you’ve got work to do…and what if she woke up? How are you gonna explain standing here? Oh. The note. But you have work to do…turn around and walk down those stairs.The director grudgingly followed her own instructions and moved to start her busy day.
--
“Hey Willow!” Ed Harrison shouted and waived as he noticed the green Jeep come to a stop nearby.
Before the driver could even open the door well enough to step out, she found Ed pulling her into to a warm embrace.
“Glad you could make it! Tara’s off with the kids clearing a trail…why don’t you come meet my wife and two youngest children.”
“I’d love to meet your family, Ed. How have you been? I haven’t talked to you since that phone conversation a couple of weeks back.”
As they moved toward Ed’s waiting clan, the two chatted easily over the events of the past weeks.
“Willow Rosenberg, I’d like to introduce you to my lovely wife, Beth and our three year old twins, Devon and Deanna.”
As Willow and Beth were moving to shake hands, Ed noticed that Tara and her band of workers appeared at the mouth of the trail.
“Hey, here they come, now! We’ll give’em a chance to clean up and then we can all settle for lunch. Come on, you two.” Ed growled as he hefted his boy and girl over his shoulder. “Ladies?” the large man called out over his load as he made his way to the blankets they’d placed under the trees.
Willow and Beth followed Ed’s lead to the picnic spread. As they approached the rest of the group, Willow heard Tara laugh at the teenager’s antics and the sound made her stop just to listen.
She doesn’t do that enough. Laugh. Willow thought. The sound made every nerve in her tingle and felt so alive!
Just being near the woman makes me feel alive. The moment Tara caught sight of Willow approaching with Beth, her eyes filled with pleasure, and Willow was warmed by the look.
“I’m so glad you came, Wil!” Tara exclaimed as she made her way over to Willow’s side. “Did you get a chance to meet everyone?”
“Well, I met Beth, and the twins…and I got to talk with Ed a few minutes, so that was good.” Willow replied.
“Oh, well, there are two more that you have to meet…Colin, Annie! Come here for a sec. I want you to meet someone.”
“Dev and Deanna call me Aunt Tara all the time, but with these two,” Tara continued as she wrapped her arms around the young teens, “we’re on a strictly first name basis. Guys, this is my friend, Willow. She’s going to be working at Contentment this summer.”
Willow turned to greet the two shyly smiling teens, and they returned the greeting warmly but were soon called away by their mother to get cleaned up.
Tara turned an excited face to Willow. “My family… At least as far as I am concerned. Do you like them?”
“Yeah, but then, I just felt so comfortable with you and Ed all along. Makes sense that your family is great, too.”
“Well, I should go get cleaned up a bit, as well, before we eat. Sit with me at lunch so we can talk?”
The redhead began to nod, but stopped short in indecision. “Hey, Tara?”
“Yeah?”
“Are we friends? Not just like I work with you?”
“I only tell very special people that they are stars, Wil.” The blonde deadpanned as she turned and walked away from the sound of Willow’s laughter, which caused the corners of her own mouth to twitch with mirth.
--
“Watch Devon…he’s such a curious kid and I love to watch him discover new stuff.”
Willow was having a hard time concentrating on anything but Tara who was sitting close by her side just observing the children play.
Willow finally did turn her attention to the adorable boy as he chased, what appeared to be, a grasshopper. His sister, Deanna, was hot on his heels crying that he wasn’t supposed to hurt anything.
As soon as he captured the prize, he turned to show it to his sister, who immediately saw the bug and ran in the opposite direction screaming.
“Looks like you!” Tara taunted.
“See, it’s probably blocked memories like that that make me the way I am today.” Willow returned.
The pair watched as Ed caught his daughter and son and spoke softly to them. Willow looked on in fascination as the man took Deanna’s small hand in his own and brought it to touch the creature Devon held.
Little brown eyes filled with awe when the bug was placed in the palm of her hand, and the girl’s small frame only flinched minutely as the grasshopper flew away. The smile she sported nearly split her face.
“The joy of discovery.” Tara whispered softly.
Willow nodded slowly in agreement. “It’s like magic.”
Ch 6
After the day of the picnic, Willow was determined to learn the layout of the camp. Tara gave her a map of the developed area of camp as well as the trails nearby. Usually, Willow just found Rachel or one of the guys to talk to as they worked. She’d listen to their stories, help them with their work sometimes, but return to her own work after a while. Occasionally, she’d even venture out to explore a little on her own.
One particular evening, Willow came back from one of her excursions wincing in pain. Tara noticed the new hiking boots the smaller woman was wearing and quickly deduced the cause of the discomfort. After dinner, Tara led Willow to the sofa and quickly disappeared into the bathroom, soon reemerging with a large square container, a towel, some kind of powdery looking stuff, and warm water.
“Your feet are going to be tender for a while,” Tara consoled the woman “I’ll get some mole-skin to cushion the ‘hot-spots’ as much as possible, but this should take some of the sting from the blisters.”
Tara carefully removed the boot and sock from each foot. Willow grimaced a little at first, but soon became engrossed by the feeling of the blonde’s hands on her feet… it was such a tender, thoughtful act, and wholly something the kind woman kneeling before her would do for another person.
She’s so beautiful! She should be the one taken care of—not me.Tara ached over the sores on Willow’s feet. Willow noted the pained looked on Tara’s face and questioned it. “I’m just sorry that you have to hurt over this. I’d do anything to keep you from feeling pain.” Willow was more than a little touched at her fervent words.
“Tara? Can I ask you something?” Willow began hesitantly.
“You just did.” Tara replied with her head still bent, concentrating on the tiny foot in her hands.
“You know what I mean.” Willow responded with a smile.
“Go ahead.” Tara said, giving the redhead her full attention.
“Will you teach me to ride? Horses I mean? Like, eventually…not tomorrow, or anything. I just don’t want to be afraid of them anymore.”
“Are you sure you want to learn? I really wasn’t going to force you.” Tara said kindly.
“I know you wouldn’t make me…I just want, I just want to learn…everything!”
“I bet you’d make a great teacher, you know that? A passion for learning…you can’t force that.”
Tara smiled brightly at Willow. “I’m willing to teach you whatever I can. But we have to make this an even deal. You have to help me learn to operate that foldy thing with pretty lights and colors in my office. I fear that monster!” The blond feigned a shudder. “And to think, I sleep in the same room with it every night.”
Willow laughed again at Tara’s absurd humor.
After a while, when the water began to cool, Tara gently dried each foot with the towel she held. Willow couldn’t help but react to feel of Tara’s slightly calloused hands on the delicate skin. Tara heard the quick intake of breath and apologized for the pain she was sure she had caused.
“You haven’t hurt me at all,” Willow assured her.
“I was just a bit surprised…and it tickled…your hands I mean…they’re all scratchy kind of…um, yeah, so what time do you actually get up in the mornings any way?” Willow finished in a rush, effectively changing the subject.
Tara grinned at Willow, and wondered yet again at the woman’s train of thought. She was such a delight to be around. “Six” Tara replied.
“Huh?” Willow responded still fixated on Tara’s care, until she realized that the blonde had answered her query.
“Oh…well, what do you do that early in the morning. No one else gets here until 7:30.”
Tara shrugged a little as she continued her ministrations on Willow’s feet. “I usually go for a walk. During the camping season it’s one of the only quiet times I get. Another one of my habits I guess. It helps me focus”
“Can I come along with you sometime? Maybe Thursday morning?” Willow asked.
“You sure you want to get up that early?”
Anything to get more time alone with you… Willow thought.
“Yeah, six sounds just fine. Um, can you wake me up though? The alarm won’t even phase me at that time.” Willow finally continued.
“You got it. Six o’clock.” Tara replied smoothly.
“We’ll keep an eye on these to make sure you’re healing well.” Tara made another cursory check of Willow’s feet before standing. Willow slowly rose from her place on the couch and an attentive Tara waited to help the sore woman up the stairs to the loft.
--
A gentle breeze moved through the leaves of the trees that surrounded the two women. As promised, Thursday morning Tara stole up the stairs to a sleeping Willow and gently woke her with a few nudges. She left a cup of steaming coffee on the nightstand and then patiently waited for Willow to join her downstairs. Soon, they were walking through a tunnel of rhododendron branches and Willow made a remark about the sweet smelling blossoms that surrounded them. Tara stopped short with some piece of interesting information, causing Willow to slightly bump into her. Tara turned and all thoughts were lost on her lips. The brown and bright green of the foliage around Willow seemed to blur, and she was mesmerized by the way the other woman’s eyes seemed to glow with the same light as the beauty around her.
Willow noticed the warm look in Tara’s eyes prompted the other woman to explain.
“It’s just that you have really gorgeous eyes. You know, I thought that they were beautiful before but…” Tara forced herself to continue her explanation. “See, I love taking these early morning walks because the leaves are always so green; on the hills all around, and in the trees above…they just take my breath away. Your eyes kind remind me of the morning, and probably one of my most favorite features about this place.” Tara said finished quietly, never actually speaking to Willow, but instead anything that wasn’t Willow.
When Tara finally turned blue eyes to gauge Willow’s reaction, she found the beautiful woman staring at her in contemplation.
“I shouldn’t have s-said that…S-sorry, I j-just…” Tara began to stammer her apology, her hands clenching in nervousness, but was cut short when Willow placed her fingers over her lips.
Even if she had wanted to continue, Tara wouldn’t have been able. The soft skin of Willow’s hand left her speechless.
For several heartbeats, neither spoke, they just stared at each other in wonder.
When Tara didn’t immediately shy away from her touch, Willow grew more bold and slowly, as if asking permission, allowed her hand to travel from lips to the flushed skin of Tara’s cheek.
Tara was afraid to even blink. The only real contact their bodies had at the time was Willow’s hand, tracing the line of Tara’s jaw as her green eyes followed the movement her hand, but the touch was enough to bind them.
She’s studying me! The thought came to Tara as she watched the profound look of concentration on Willow’s face.
Like Deanna’s awe-filled touch at the picnic days before, Willow fingers studied Tara’s features with excitement, trepidation, and…something else.
The blond refused to do more than breath during the exploration, and she even stopped doing that when the soft hands made their way to the sensitive skin of her neck.
Silence, why won't she say something?. Willow thought as she dropped her hands to her side, and turned questioning eyes to Tara.
Slowly, giving the woman plenty of time to move away if she chose to, Tara lowered her head and Willow met her halfway. Their lips met briefly, and then again with more intensity.
For the first time since their initial contact, Tara unclenched her hands and brought one hand up to caress the soft skin at Willow’s neck, stroking with her thumb a spot just below her ear while the rest of her fingers splayed in fine red hair.
The almost scratchy feel of Tara’s work roughened touch on her neck nearly drove Willow mad. And, while the kisses they shared remained gentle and undemanding, Willow could not help slipping her hand up the edge of Tara’s shirt, slightly digging her nails into the skin she found there. Tara inhaled sharply at the touch, surprising them both into breaking contact.
About that same time, they could hear car doors closing nearby indicating that John, Micah, and Rachel had arrived for work, but did not seek to leave immediately.
Instead, Willow took one of Tara’s hands into her own, ran smooth fingers over the calluses and delighted in the different textures.
“The joy of discovery.” Willow murmured as she continued the touch.
Tara looked at their hands as Willow’s fingers entwined with her own, and nodded almost imperceptibly. As green eyes turned to lock with blue, Tara was reminded of Willow’s response when she’d first made the comment
“Like magic.” She whispered before slightly tugging Willow in the direction of the waiting staffers.
--
Micah was the first to notice the couple emerging from the woods beyond the pond. While the other students were chasing one another water guns, Micah watched Tara and Willow try to walk in a straight line, not trip over one another, and not lose eye contact all at the same time.
Please don’t let her get hurt…Tara deserves to be loved completely. She loves others so much, but she always holds something back from everyone else. Maybe she’s just been waiting...Micah refused to wipe the smile from his face, even when his companions seemed to miss the entire exchange and had to inquire as to what he was thinking.
“Hey guys.” Tara said with her slightly forced gusto. “Ready for a long day?”
All the teens groaned in reaction yet they each inwardly rejoiced. Cleaning the cabins was one of the final chores to be done—an indication that the rest of the staff was soon to be arriving and the summer ready to begin.
Tara listed tasks yet to be accomplished and with an encouraging word, sent the trio to the shed for supplies, “I’ll be with you in a minute!” the blonde director shouted.
She turned to Willow and they began to walk towards the office. “We’re going to be kind of late getting in, but tonight, after dinner…think you could clue me in on the new system we’re using? While you teach the Leadership staff the program next week, I’ll be with the rest of the staff.” She smiled her usual bright smile and added, “ I might need to know how to run my own camp.”
Silently, Willow bemoaned not discussing what they’d just shared, but smiled in spite of her thoughts. “It’ll be completely ready by dinner—I promise. And, you can see what I’ve done to the website.”
As they reached the office door, Willow was pleasantly surprised by the quick kiss Tara placed on her cheek and the wink she shot her as she turned away to meet the work crew waiting for her at the bottom of the hill.
Well, now…what was that all about? Just leavin’ me here all alone with nothing but my work and my computer, even if I do happen to like my baby. Just wink, wink, wink… ‘See you later.’ What does she think I’m going to think about all day, huh? “All I seem to do anymore is grumble because of that woman,” Willow said as she opened the office door and then realized, “See, I’m doing it again…” and the quiet tirade continued even as she seated herself for work.
Kittens! Hope this tides you all over for at least a little while! So much fun, so much FUN!--Laurel.
Edited by: mtnlaurel at: 5/17/02 2:53:19 pm
by mollyig » Thu May 16, 2002 10:04 am 
*runs off laughing* 
at: 5/17/02 4:04:32 pm
at: 5/17/02 9:27:19 pm