Hey y'all...yes, it's been over a month since I've updated. My apologies for the delay. Tons of life stuff happens when you don't want it to, and so this takes a back seat. I'm not altogether happy with this part, but I gave it my best shot. If it seems subpar, hopefully the next parts will be better. Enjoy and thank you all for your comments and patience. It means a great deal.
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Title: Slipping, Tripping, and Falling in Love
Author: LadyB
Rating: I’m going to say a maximum of “R” for now, but I reserve the right to change it later, if needed.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything but my own thoughts. All characters, quotes, and references to BtVS are owned by Mutant Enemy, Joss Whedon, Fox, UPN, et al. Song lyrics in chapter 4a belong to Basement Jaxx.
Distribution: Pens and my site
http://www.geocities.com/ladybrym/index.htmlSpoilers: I don’t think there are any, really.
Summary: A mostly non-angsty piece of fiction. Pretty much AU…Tara and Willow are University Professors and are not residents of the Hellmouth. The course of love doesn’t always run smooth, especially for the neurotic and accident-prone.
Chapter 4b:
“Got the spoons, Will?” Tara thought for a moment. “You don’t m-mind if I call you that, do you?” The blonde hoped she hadn’t overstepped her bounds.
“Nope, don’t mind at all,” Willow remarked as she sat down on the couch, tucking her left leg under her in the process.
“Cool.” Tara plopped down in a similar fashion at the other end of the loveseat. It didn’t go unnoticed by either woman that the size of the furniture piece left little space between them. The two smiled at each other, neither sharing why, but content nonetheless. Tara broke the brief silence by reaching for a spoon and the carton of Karamel Sutra. “Ok. Sundae time. We can each make our own. Like I said, there’s ice cream, chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and I even managed to scrounge up some rainbow sprinkles.”
“Ooh, sprinkles! Yay!” Willow beamed like a five-year-old. “I love those things. Absolutely no nutritional value whatsoever, but what they lack in vitamins they make up in sprinkle-y color-y fun.” Tara handed the spoon and carton over to the redhead so she could start first. She spooned a generous amount into her bowl and then did the same for Tara.
“Thanks. Now for some chocolate sauce.” With the flair of a professional, Tara spooned a glob of chocolate sauce and proceeded to drizzle an elaborate weave across top of Willow’s ice cream. “I once worked at an ice cream parlor as a teenager. We pretty much learned how to turn sundae-making into performance art. Let’s just say with my coordination, I didn’t stay too long in that job.”
“What do you mean? You seem to be doing a great job with the sauce.”
“Oh, drizzling sauce was the easy part. It was the ice cream, cans of whipped cream and bottles of sauce that weren’t so easy.” Tara glanced at Willow and laughed at the grin the redhead sported, indicating she wanted to hear the rest of the story. “Ok. This one time we were practicing trick scooping.”
“Trick scooping? You’re kidding.”
“No, no. I’m most definitely NOT kidding. The owner of the parlor used to be a bartender at one of those wild resort clubs in Tijuana. He thought it would be cool if his employees did the same tricks with ice cream that he used to do with liquor bottles. Anyway, we were practicing trick scooping. We were supposed to flip the ice cream out of the scoop, twirl once and let the scoop land in the dish. Well, I managed to do the first two parts all right…or so I thought. After I twirled, I went to catch my scoop and well, it didn’t land. Then I heard the scream.”
Willow’s eyes went wide. “The scream?”
“Yep. I kind of ‘overflipped’ the ice cream and well, it k-kind of, landed on top of Janine’s hair.”
“Hence the scream.”
“Yes, the scream, the intense dirty looks, and me being shunted off to whipped cream and sauce duty.”
“Was that easier then?”
“No, not in the least. I’d have to say I was shocked I lasted the two weeks I did. I think Michael, the owner, paid more for the customers’ cleaning bills than he made in profit. I ended up splattering butterscotch sauce all over a man’s suit when I twirled the bottle in the air. Oh and I can’t forget the little crying girl with whipped cream in her eye when I tried to write her name on her sundae.”
Willow held her hand to her mouth to stop herself from laughing. Tara, however, would not allow it. She removed the redhead’s hand as she smiled. “Go right ahead, Willow. Laugh as hard as you want. The day I quit, I sat outside and laughed myself silly. People passing by probably thought I was crazy, but I didn’t care. With that the redhead allowed herself to laugh heartily as she grabbed the canister of whipped cream.
“So, was that your way of asking if I would spray the whipped cream?” Willow grinned as she teased the blonde.
“Actually, that’s not a bad idea. You mentioned something about drawing earlier, didn’t you?” The redhead blushed and nodded, realizing the blonde actually had heard what she’d said in the store. “All right then. Why don’t you do the honor of drawing a little smiley face on our sundaes, and I’ll put the sprinkles on the top.”
“O-o-kay.” Willow shook the canister and flipped off the lid. After inverting the can, she depressed the nozzle and drew a smiley face on Tara’s sundae. She shook it again and started on her own. Tara watched the redhead’s face and giggled slightly at the look of determination. Her brow furrowed and her tongue poking out, which led to altogether different thoughts, Tara surmised that everything Willow did she did intensely.
Tara grabbed the sprinkles as Willow finished her smiley face. “Hey Will, you want a lot of sprinkles or a little?” Tara’s words broke her concentration and turned her body around in mid spray.
“What?”
“Hey! Willow! Stop!” Tara thrust her arms forward knocking the can out of Willow’s hands.
“What?” She looked at Tara and gasped. “Oh Goddess, Tara! I’m so sorry!” So intent on what she was doing, when Willow turned around at Tara’s question, she never stopped depressing the spray can nozzle. The consequences of that action left Tara’s neck and face awash in a sea of white, foamy, whipped cream. As the substance started to drip from Tara’s chin, Willow jumped off the couch and ran for the dishtowel. “Hold on! I’m getting a towel.”
“Uh, Will? Hurry? It’s kind of drippy over here.” Tara tried catching the drips off her chin, but only managed to make a mess of it on her hands. A moment later, Willow arrived, towel in hand.
“Tara, oh geez. I’m soo sorry. Guess I concentrated a little too hard.” She gently began wiping the whipped cream from Tara’s face. The blonde giggled as Willow set out on her task.
“So, do you concentrate this hard on everything you do?” Tara asked as she locked eyes with Willow, smirking.
Willow stilled her towel-clad hand on Tara’s cheek and without missing a beat replied, “Well, when I get involved with something, I never go in without my whole heart and mind.” She moved her hand again, continuing to wipe the cream off, yet not moving her gaze.
“Everything?” Tara’s heartbeat sped up slightly as Willow’s hand passed under her chin and over to her other cheek.
“Everything,” Willow repeated. Willow stopped and put the towel on the coffee table. “There, I think I got all of it.” She looked again and saw a couple spots. “No wait. I missed a couple spots.” Willow leaned forward.
“Aren’t you going to get the towel?” Tara asked as her heartbeat steadily increased its pace.
“Nope. I don’t think I need it for this.” She breathed and moved her hand up to cup Tara’s face.
“Oh, ok.” Tara leaned into the redhead’s palm. “Where are these spots you missed?” She closed her eyes, her body knowing what was coming. She could feel Willow’s breath brushing over her skin.
“Right here.” Willow finished closing the gap and lightly kissed the left corner of Tara’s mouth. “Right here.” She kissed the right corner of her mouth. “Oh, and can’t forget the little tiny drop…here.” Tara shuddered lightly as Willow’s mouth grazed the center of hers ever-so-slightly. She opened her eyes only to see Willow’s looking back, silently asking permission before going any further. Tara’s answer was as silent as Willow’s question as she moved her hand under the redhead’s chin, demonstrating her approval to continue by moving her lips to the ones that so lightly brushed against hers. The two pressed themselves closer together as the hands that cupped each other’s chins slowly moved their way back to grasp behind their heads, locking them in place. Tara moved her other hand to Willow’s back, massaging in circles as Willow placed hers on Tara’s leg, softly moving up and down her knee.
After a few minutes Tara broke away. “Oh Goddess. Wow.” She leaned against the backrest, trying to catch her breath. Willow did the same meanwhile glancing at the coffee table.
“Most definitely wow, Tara. Uh, Tara?”
“Yes, Willow?”
“Uh, where’s that towel?”
“What? The towel?”
“Yeah. Um, we, uh, kinda lost track of time. And, uh, well, the ice cream kind of well, uh, lost it’s frozen-ness.” Willow pointed at the melted ice cream, chocolate sauce and whipped cream stream that pooled on the surface of the coffee table.
“Oh no! Crap. Where is that towel?” Tara felt around the couch, but couldn’t find it. Willow saw the corner of the towel poking out from under her seat.
“Ooh. Here it is! It uh, must’ve gotten lost during the rest of our, um, clean-up.” She blushed a bit as she launched a thousand-watt grin. Willow pulled the towel out and immediately began sopping up the melted concoction as Tara ran to get a couple more towels and some cleaner. Within a few minutes, the table was clean and the stickiness gone. After the clean-up, the two decided to abort their efforts at making sundaes and settled for brewing a pot of coffee. Once Tara filled their mugs, she gave Willow the tour of her apartment. It wasn’t huge, yet wasn’t tiny. The two-bed room homestead allowed plenty of room for both Tara and Anya, giving each woman privacy since their bedrooms were on opposite ends of the house.
“You’ve got a great apartment, Tara.” Willow stated as she placed her mug on the kitchen counter.
“Thanks. I was lucky to find it when I did.” She glanced at Willow’s mug and saw that it was empty. “Did you want more coffee, Willow?”
Willow frowned at the question as she looked at Tara and shook her head. “As much as I’d love some more and as much as I’d love to stay and talk for hours, unfortunately I have an early morning appointment.”
Tara glanced at the clock. “Oh! I didn’t realize it was past midnight. You probably should get home if you have early plans. Let me grab my keys and I’ll drive you back to the supermarket.” Willow brushed her hand against Tara’s as the blonde walked past her to get her purse.
Ten minutes later, Tara arrived at the supermarket parking lot and pulled into the spot next to Willow’s car. “We’re here, Will.” Mimicking her earlier movements, she brushed her hand against Willow’s face, gently stirring the redhead from her dozing.
“Huh?” Willow opened her eyes and rubbed them. “Oh gods, Tara, I must’ve been more tired than I thought. I’m sorry for falling asleep on you…again.” She blushed slightly as she stretched her arms out.
“Nothing to be sorry about, Willow. You had a long day. It’s not every day that you fall into a meat refrigerator case, get elbowed in the stomach, hit your head on the car and created melted ice cream sundaes.”
“You forgot to add ‘kiss a beautiful woman.’” Willow took Tara’s hand and smiled.
Tara turned beet red. “Uh, well, there’s that too.”
“And all that was worth it, Tara…because it all ended up at that last part. I got to talk to you, get to know you, spend time with you…ok, all that meant the same thing, but well, you know what I mean.” Tara nodded and the redhead continued. “I had a great time, Tara and I want to more of that.”
Tara laced her fingers with Willow’s. “So do I.”
“Can I see you again?”
“Yes.”
“Really?” The redhead beamed.
“Yes, really. I was about to ask you the same thing.” Tara grinned and squeezed Willow’s hand.
“Great! Wonderful! Yes! I’m so happy! Oh this is just so great, and I’m rambling again. Sorry.”
“It’s ok, Willow. It’s cute.” She blushed. Willow leaned over and hugged her. Tara moved back slightly and kissed Willow’s cheek. Willow held her close and proceeded to gently kiss her lips.
“I’d better go.” She brushed her lips against Tara’s forehead. “Can I call you tomorrow?” Willow looked at the blonde with so much hope in her eyes.
“I’ll do you one better. How about lunch?”
“You’re on!” Willow gathered her things, getting ready to leave Tara’s car. “Tara. I really did have a wonderful time. I hope you did, too.”
“I did. And I can’t wait to get to know you more, Willow Rosenberg.” She gave one last kiss to Willow’s cheek. “Call me when you’re finished with your appointment and we’ll meet wherever.”
“Ok.” She opened the door. “Good night, Tara.” She stepped out of the car.
“Good night, Willow. See you tomorrow.” Tara smiled as Willow closed the door. She waited until the redhead had safely started her car and locked her door. As they exited the parking lot and waited at the traffic light, they took one final look at each other and smiled. It seemed that there are such things as happy accidents.
End Part 4b
~LadyB~
"I am just your ordinary...average, everyday, sane, psycho, super-Goddess." - Liz Phair, "Extraordinary"
by bluewillowwitch » Tue Sep 16, 2003 4:13 pm 
LadyB. 
,
I can't wait to see what happens on 
and 
date. I can't to 
more. Update soon, please? 
) And Tara slipping about the date thingy.....
...especially after slipping....
I love this story, and I am glad you are able to update.
(there is no monkey) 
SMOOCHIES!!!
hehe i'm a sucker for smoochies...awesome 
at: 11/2/03 8:29 pm
and some of the 
but I have a huge smile on my face....Thank you
) The meat freezer rendezvous, the elbow to the unsuspecting tummy, and the vehicular head-banging had me in stitches. Thanks so much for taking the time to write this! 
