********
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 4 ********
“Alex!”
“JJ!”
The two boys high-fived with both hands as JJ ran into Xander and Anya’s backyard, his two mothers on his heels. The boys instantly ran off to Alex’s sandbox in the corner of the yard and started playing.
“Welcome to our fortress of charcoaled goodness,” Xander yelled from behind the barbeque, an apron that said ‘kiss the chef’ hanging on him, “We offer whatever meaty delights your stomach wishes. There’s also corn.”
Willow laughed as she and Tara walked fully into the yard. They were the last ones to arrive, having been delayed when JJ had insisted on loosening and retying his shoes multiple times to make sure he had it right.
Jesse was standing beside Xander behind the barbeque, a beer in his hand, while Alice was sitting on a lawn chair nearby, baby Ella quietly sleeping in her arms and conversing with Michelle and Becky.
Buffy was holding a paper plate and loading it with some of the salads set up on a small table while Angel and Brian were discussing something that apparently required a lot of hand gestures on Brian’s part.
Ira had gone over to the children, laughing at something they were saying as they played in the sandbox.
The only person missing was–
“Xander, I don’t see why we don’t charge admission to these things. I mean, we host at least 10 a year, if we just charged everyone $10 a head we’d–”
“Anya, for the last time, we are not charging
family to come to a
family get-together!” Xander replied irately as his wife walked out the back door of the house and back into the gathering, holding a bottle of beer, “I mean, god, we’ve been doing this for five years!”
Anya sauntered up to the barbeque, her hands on her hips.
“Yes, five years. 10 people. 10 parties for five years, that’s $5000, Xander. $5000! That could have bought me...”
Everyone else either ignored the bickering couple or just chuckled, quite used to Anya’s suggestion for admission charges being applied to their gatherings.
It always ended when Xander embarrassedly promised some new sex act (which he tried to hide in coded speak, but it was always obvious what he was referring to) or a gift for his wife and the rest of the party would go on.
Willow and Tara both walked towards where Alice, Michelle and Becky were sitting, with waves to the boys on the way and sat in two of the chairs provided.
“Hello everyone,” Willow greeted warmly and smiled when Ella started to stir, “Hello little miss Ella.”
Tara smiled as Willow leant over and started lightly tickling the baby’s stomach. Ella had Alice’s mousy-brown hair – currently tied up with a small red bow – but apart from that, she was identical to Jesse, right down to the way her lips curled just slightly into a smile before a full blown grin landed on her face and her loud laugh, echoing her father’s in both decibel and infectiousness.
“She’s such a cutie,” Willow said, scrunching up her nose as Ella laughed.
“Cutie, yea,” Alice scoffed playfully, “She’s certainly not a cutie when she needs her diaper changed. Oh boy, speaking of...”
Alice held her daughter up and gave a cautious sniff, before groaning.
“I’ll change her,” Willow said quickly, picking Ella up from her mother’s arms, “Is the bag inside?”
Alice nodded and Willow quickly went off towards the house.
“Damn, I wish I married your wife, Tara,” Alice commented.
“Hey, I heard that!” Jesse’s mirth-filled voice called over to them, “I woulda changed her if you asked.”
“Right, right,” Alice replied with a playful hand dismissal, “He’s all about being the helping husband now we’re in company.”
Jesse was about to respond but a loud belch rose from his throat instead, making both him and Xander burst out laughing. Alice rolled her eyes.
“30 year old men laughing about burping. I really do wish I’d married a woman,” Alice replied before looking at Michelle, “Or maybe I should just find an older man. Older men must have some kind of sophistication about them. Does Ira burp and laugh?”
“Well, no,” Michelle replied, furrowing her brow, “But he does–”
“I don’t want to know,” Tara cut her aunt off with a chuckle.
“And hey, it’s not fair having conversations Tara can’t contribute to,” Becky piped up with a grin, patting Tara on the back, “What does she know about having to deal with the horrible habits of living with men? We should stick to something we all know about like–”
“Sex.”
Everyone turned at the sound of Anya’s voice but were stopped from saying anything as Buffy appeared beside her, happily munching on potato salad.
“This stuff is amazing,” she said through mouthfuls, “It’s like creamy, carb-y perfectness.”
Everyone was again stopped from responding as Willow returned, Ella giggling as she pulled at the chain around the redhead’s neck.
“What are we talking about?”
“Sex.”
“Food.”
Anya and Buffy spoke at the same time and Anya gave a small shrug.
“Food during sex?” she suggested casually and Willow gave a nervous chuckle.
“Maybe not while there’s little ears around, huh?” she said, handing Ella back over to her mother and giving the little girl a quick kiss on the forehead before sitting back down in her seat.
“Ella’s too young to understand what we’re saying,” Anya replied, sitting down on a chair as well, “And the boys are over with Ira.”
Willow kept her voice low and calm, not wanting to cause a scene.
“I know that, Anya, but they could very easily sneak up and hear something they shouldn’t.”
Anya narrowed her eyes and everybody instantly tensed.
“Well, I for one want my son to have a healthy attitude towards sex.”
Willow set her jaw and glared at the petite blonde.
“So do I,” she said tersely, in a coarse whisper, her frustration levels rising, “But that doesn’t mean he needs to know whether his mothers prefer maple syrup or whipped cream when they’re doing it!”
“You didn’t have to be involved in the conversation,” Anya retorted and anger flashed in Willow’s eyes.
“Well he doesn’t need to know about his aunts and uncles either! God Anya, can you not hold a conversation of any magnitude for any amount of time without it involving sex? Jeez!”
Willow stood up and stormed off into the house, surprising all the men, who hadn’t been privy to the argument that had brewed and erupted since the girls had kept their voices low.
“Erm, I’ll...” Tara said, slowly standing, slightly shocked by what had happened, “I’ll just make sure she’s okay.”
Tara went to move off but Anya suddenly stood and put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her.
“No, I’ll go.”
The smaller blonde went off towards the house and everyone else, bar the two boys who continued to obliviously play in the sandbox, stared after them until Buffy piped up.
“Okay. I’ll bite. What the hell just happened?”
[hr]
Inside the house, Anya walked over to where Willow was standing in the kitchen, downing a glass of water.
“I’m sorry.”
Willow spun around at the sound of the other voice and stared at Anya.
“What?”
“I’m sorry,” Anya repeated with a shrug.
She was still, and always would be, inherently Anya.
She liked sex, she liked money and she very much liked talking about her two favourite things.
But if having a child and being part of the large extended family she had been a part of over the last five years had taught her anything, it was that sometimes people didn’t appreciate her blunt nature.
No, that was a lie, she had always been aware that people didn’t like it. But being part of a family made her care when
those people didn’t like it. She hadn’t meant to upset her redheaded friend and since she obviously had, was genuinely apologetic.
“I understand you don’t want JJ to know about sex,” she continued matter-of-factly, “He is very young. So is Alex. And they should be children. So I’m sorry. I won’t bring up sex when they’re around anymore.”
“Oh,” Willow replied, surprised. She’d expected Tara to come rushing after her, not Anya. She hadn’t even meant to react, or overreact as she felt she might have, the way she did, “Well, thank you. I’d appreciate it.”
Anya nodded and there was an awkward silence for a moment before the blonde turned to leave but Willow stopped her.
“Hey, no, wait, Ahn, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have been all pissy with you. I mean, you throw everyone one a barbeque – admission free – and I just go off on one. It’s just...we had to take JJ’s cars away this morning and...”
“Ah,” Anya replied with an understanding nod, “I hate having to punish Alex too.”
“Yea,” Willow nodded back, “And then he learned to tie his laces and, god, he’s growing up but he’s not, ‘cause he’s still just a little boy, you know?”
“Oh I know,” Anya replied with a smile, very happy to be talking about the one thing she loved more than sex and money. Her son, “Alex came home from school the other day reciting the whole alphabet. I cried for an hour.”
Willow laughed.
“So we’re agreed we’re just a bunch of highly-strung mothers who never want their little boys to grow up?”
“Definitely,” Anya agreed seriously, through she was smiling, “So we should...hug now, right?”
Willow just laughed again and moved to embrace Anya.
“Yea. Sorry for being Ms. Grouchy.”
Anya just hugged back for a moment before they both started walking back towards the yard.
“Wait, while the boys aren’t around,” Anya said, right before Willow opened the door, “Do you guys use maple syrup or whipped cream?”
Willow burst out laughing and shook her head playfully.
“Maple syrup.”
They both walked through the door, a curious look on Anya’s face.
“Huh. I always pegged Tara as a whipped cream kind of girl.”
The other eight adult’s heads all whipped around and Tara blushed bright red as the two sat back in the seats they had just vacated.
“Don’t worry about it,” Willow whispered discreetly to her wife though that did nothing to appease Tara’s embarrassment.
“So, uh, are we all good?” Jesse asked, taking a long swig from his beer.
“We’re good,” Willow confirmed and everyone visibly exhaled.
“Everyone resume normal festivities,” Xander called out, “And come and get some good eats!”
Everyone stood and went to grab plates to put their food on, the boys finally leaving the sandbox.
“I want a hot dog, Dad!” Alex shouted, running over and throwing himself at his father’s leg.
“Me too, Uncle Xander!” JJ said, grabbing onto the other side of Xander’s leg, “Me too, me too!”
“There’s plenty of hot dogs for everybody,” Xander chuckled, “Go and get plates and buns!”
The boys ran off to do as they were instructed and Willow pulled Tara off to the side slightly. Willow put her hands on her wife's shoulders reassuringly.
“Me and Anya sorted things, so don’t be worrying that pretty little head, okay? Just a case of...miscommunication.”
“Was it miscommunication when she said I liked whipped cream?” Tara asked, puffing out a breath, “It’s not true anyway. I prefer maple syrup.”
Willow grinned.
“That’s what I told her.”
Tara glared at her wife and Willow just giggled
“Hey, I yelled at her in her own house, I had to give her something. I am nothing if not a woman of honour.”
“You’re very lucky I’m madly in love with you,” Tara murmured before leaning in for a soft kiss.
[hr]
“Your mommies are always kissing.”
JJ looked up from his hot dog over to where Alex was looking and rolled his eyes.
“I know. It’s so annoying. But don’t tell anyone I said that ‘cause it would hurt their feelings and I don’t wanna hurt their feelings,” he replied before sighing, “I hurt Momma’s feelings this morning. It didn’t feel good.”
“Did you say sorry?” Alex asked, chewing on his own food and JJ nodded, “My Daddy says as long as you say sorry and you really,
really mean it, like super mean it, then it’s okay.”
JJ smiled.
“Your Daddy’s cool.”
Alex shrugged.
“So are your mommies. Aunty Tara makes the bestest hot chocolate!”
JJ’s eyes lit up and he nodded enthusiastically.
“She made me some a few days ago and she put extra marshmallows
and she got an Oreo and smashed it all up and put it on top!”
Alex’s eyes went wide.
“We have Oreos!”
JJ swallowed the last of his hot dog.
“You do?”
Alex nodded and both boys jumped up, dropping their paper plates on the ground and ran towards where Willow and Tara were still kissing softly.
“Mommy, Mommy!”
“Aunty Tara!”
Willow had to grab onto her wife’s waist to keep her steady as the boys attached themselves to each of Tara’s legs.
“What’s up, boys?” Tara asked with a laugh.
JJ took a deep breath and put on his sweetest smile.
“Mommy, will you pretty, pretty please with extra, extra sugar on top make me and Alex some hot chocolate ‘cause Alex has Oreos and we both ate all our hot dogs and everything.”
“Please, Aunty Tara?” Alex continued, using the puppy dog eyes he’d inherited from his father, “Pleeassse?”
Tara smiled and bent down to the boy’s level.
“Do you want...marshmallows with that?”
Both boys nodded and Tara straightened back up.
“I guess I’m making hot chocolate. But only if I have my two little helpers.”
The boys high-fived and started running towards the house.
“Yea!”
“Alright! Woohoo!”
Tara laughed again and started to follow them, only to be stopped by Xander on the way, a smile on his face.
“What are they so excited about?”
“I’m making hot chocolate,” Tara replied and Xander’s face lit up.
“You are?”
“Yes...” Tara replied before giving her trademark half-smile, “Would you like some?”
Xander nodded sheepishly and Tara turned around to face everyone else.
“Would anyone else like some hot chocolate?”
Eight other hands shot up, including Ira who shyly put his up with a blush.
“Okay, hot chocolates all around,” Tara chuckled before turning towards the house again, “Thank god I have my little helpers.”
“I can smash the Oreos,” Alex said excitedly as he pushed the door into the house open and walked through.
“I can help!” JJ said, clapping his hands together as he ran towards the kitchen, “Mommy, come on!”
“I’m here,” Tara replied with a laugh, taking a saucepan from the cupboard and turning the stove on, “Okay, we need cocoa and milk!”
Alex pointed to a cupboard above the stove.
“Cocoa is up there!”
Tara opened the cupboard and took down the jar of cocoa while the boys both got the milk from the refrigerator, handing it up to her.
“Thank you, boys,” Tara said with a smile at the children as she went about making the hot chocolate, “How are you liking school, Alex?”
“It’s cool,” Alex replied with a shrug, “The other kids are nice and my teacher, Ms. Brady, she says I’m really smart!”
Tara looked down at her nephew.
“Your Mom told me you learned the alphabet.”
Alex nodded enthusiastically and took a deep breath.
“A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y and Z!”
Tara clapped appreciatively.
“Well done!”
Alex blushed and looked down at his feet and JJ tugged on Tara’s pants.
“I know the alphabet, too, Mommy.”
Tara bent down and kissed her son on the forehead.
“I know you do. ‘Cause you’re my special little guy,” she said before lowering her voice so only her son would hear, “But Alex is a little younger than you, remember? So he just learned the alphabet even though you’ve known it for a long time.”
JJ looked contemplative.
“Like how I just learned to tie my shoes?”
“Exactly,” Tara smiled before turning and pulling both boys into a hug, “You’re both very, very smart.”
“It’s cool you learned the alphabet,” JJ said to Alex as Tara returned to making the cocoa, “Want to play the alphabet game?”
Alex looked at his friend wide-eyed.
“What’s the alphabet game?”
JJ started gesturing around the room with his hands.
“It’s where you go through all the letters and find something in the room that starts with that letter.”
Alex nodded his understanding.
“So, like...apple?”
“Yea!” JJ replied, punching a hand in the air triumphantly, “Okay, my turn. Um...bowl.”
Tara quietly listened to the boys play their game as she stirred the hot chocolate until they got to ‘o’ and she heard a simultaneous gasp come from both of them before the two exclaimed loudly at the same time.
“OREOS!”
“You’re worse than your mother sometimes,” Tara chuckled, ruffling JJ’s hair, “Okay, okay, here are the Oreos. You can use your hands to smash them up but keep it in the bowl, okay?”
She handed a pack of Oreos from the cupboard down to Alex and gave JJ a bowl. Both boys sat on the floor and started crushing the cookies into the bowl and Tara searched around for a moment before locating a circular tray and got down enough mugs for everyone, pouring the hot liquid from the pan into each of them.
“How’re those Oreos coming along, boys?”
Tara looked down and sighed when she saw both children had stuffed the cookies into their mouths and there were only a few crumbs in the bowl.
“Boys...”
“Sorry Aunty Tara,” Alex replied, dropping his head as he swallowed the cookie in his mouth.
“Sorry, Mommy,” JJ echoed, “It’s okay if you say sorry and really mean it, right?”
Tara bent down and put a hand on each of the boy’s shoulders.
“Yes, it’s okay. But I want you to smash up the rest of these, okay? We have to share with everyone.”
Both boys nodded and Tara returned to putting marshmallows and whipped cream on top of the cocoa while JJ smiled at Alex.
“Your Daddy was right.”
“My Daddy’s always right,” Alex replied, puffing out his chest in bravado, “That’s why I’m gonna be a cop for Halloween, like him and Uncle Jesse!”
“I’mma be a fire fighter!” JJ replied, crushing the cookies into the bowl, “My Momma says we can go trick or treating together!”
Alex’s face lit up.
“Really?”
JJ nodded before tugging at his mother’s trousers.
“Mommy, when’s Halloween?”
“Three weeks, little man,” Tara answered from above.
Alex’s face lit up.
“That’s not a lot!”
“I know,” JJ beamed before looking down at the bowl, “Mommy, we’re done!”
He stood up and handed the bowl up to his mother.
“Thank you, JJ,” Tara replied, taking the bowl and sprinkling some on top of the two plastic green mugs she’d set aside before crouching down with them, “Now these are hot so let them cool, okay? And be very careful not to spill.”
Both boys carefully took the handle of the mug and Alex licked the whipped cream from the top.
“Mmhh, thank you Aunty Tara!”
“Thanks, Mommy,” JJ said, slurping some of his own cocoa, “Can we drink these outside?”
“Uh huh,” Tara replied, “But be careful carrying it. JJ, can you send your Momma in?”
JJ nodded and the boys ran out to the yard looking for Willow, who was chatting with Becky.
“Hey, Beck, you know those cabins you went to with Brian last spring? Do you still have their number?”
Becky grinned.
“Planning a little dirty weekend, are we?”
Willow blushed but didn’t drop her gaze.
“Planning a
wifey weekend. Me and Tara just need some ‘us’ time.”
“Hey, you don’t have to explain yourself to me,” Becky smiled, whipping out her phone, “I have their number here. They’re really, really nice cabins.”
Willow smiled to herself.
“Great.”
Becky smiled back and closed her phone.
“Okay, number sent. If you need someone to take care of JJ, me and Brian are free.”
“Thanks, Beck,” Willow smiled before her son ran straight towards her.
“Um, Momma, Mommy would like to see you pretty please.”
The two boys ran off again quickly, over Alex’s swing set and Willow chuckled.
“I’m being summoned.”
“Make sure she puts extra whipped cream on mine,” Buffy said from the side as the redhead stood.
Willow just chuckled again and made her way into the house and into the kitchen.
“You know, I’m pretty sure you could convince anyone out there to run away with you just on the promise of your hot chocolate alone.”
Tara turned and peered over Willow’s shoulder, through the glass door out to the yard.
“Really? ‘Cause I’ve had my eye on...” she trailed off with a grin and turned back to Willow, “Oh wait. Just you.”
She leant down and placed a kiss against the bridge of her wife’s nose making the redhead smile.
“I was told you needed me?”
“Just to help carry,” Tara replied, gesturing to the now two trays of mugs, “If that’s okay.”
“Of course,” Willow responded, moving over to the countertop, “Buffy wants extra whipped cream.”
Tara pointed to a red mug that had cream topping it higher than the others.
“She always does.”
Willow smiled a bashful smile at her wife.
“Does that mean I got extra sugar?”
Tara got a cheeky smile on her face and pulled the redhead to her by her hips.
“I’ll give you some extra sugar.”
Willow giggled and threw her arms around the blonde’s neck and brought their lips together in a series of short, sweet kisses.
“If you’re going to have sex, I suggest the laundry room,” Anya’s voice broke them apart a moment later, “The vibrations from the dryer really help things along.”
Willow blushed and dropped her arms.
“We weren’t going to have sex.”
Anya shrugged.
“It’s away from the children, right?” she said before peering over both of their shoulders, “I came for cocoa. I was told there was cocoa.”
Tara picked up one of the mugs and handed it to her friend.
“Thank you,” Anya replied with a nod of her head, “May I also suggest bringing the rest of the cocoa outside? Tantrums are beginning to be thrown and it’s not by the children. Unless of course you did want to have sex. We have plenty of rooms. I can bring Xander in to help me carry the cocoa.”
“Thanks for the offer, Anya,” Tara replied with a blush, “But we’ve got it. Thanks.”
Anya turned on her heels and Willow took a deep breath.
“Don’t, Will,” Tara said gently when she saw her wife was about to say something, “Anya is Anya and she’s been a wonderful friend, despite her thinking we’re always trying to have sex. She always takes JJ when we need her to, she’s great at listening and offering a fresh prospective on situations and it was her investment advice that means we have enough savings in the bank that we were able to afford the car you love so much and how we’re going to be able to afford to...”
She trailed off and put a hand on her wife’s stomach to indicate what she meant. Willow covered the blonde’s hand and grinned.
“I was just gonna say we should take her up on that offer of the laundry room,” she said and got a matching grin in response, “I know she’s a great friend. They all are. Now come on, let’s bring the cocoa out. Before they get too rowdy.”
They each grabbed a tray and brought them outside, everyone crowding around them instantly as they made a grab for each of the mugs.
“Hey, that’s my one!” Buffy yelled when Angel took the red mug, “Give it back or sleep on the couch tonight!”
Angel paled even more than he already was, which was quite a feat as the man never seemed to have any colour in his cheeks and quickly handed the mug back, taking another one from the tray.
“Women are crazy dude,” Brian whispered from beside him before taking a sip from his own mug, “Damn this is good.”
Everyone took their mugs and drank their hot chocolate, chatting amongst themselves until the boys decided they were going to start a game of football with Buffy taking Ira’s place as the older man decided to sit the game out and helped push JJ and Alex on the swings.
“Come on ladies,” Jesse called out as he held the ball, “Girls can play too!”
“Hell yes we can,” Buffy puffed out, tackling Jesse to the ground despite the fact that the game hadn’t started yet.
The rest of the girls laughed but all shook their head as they sat around in the lawn chairs and watched them
“I’m on Aunt Becky duty,” Becky called out, Ella sitting on her lap, “Can’t do it.”
“And I’m tired from having held the baby all day,” Alice offered with a laugh.
“I just don’t understand the game,” Michelle said with a shrug.
Willow held up her conjoined hands with Tara.
“And we’re not letting go.”
Jesse rolled his eyes and pushed Buffy off of him before standing back up.
“Alright, guys,” he said, then continued off a glare from Buffy, “And
girl. We ready? Okay. Hut. Hut. Hut. Hike!”
Jesse threw the ball back to Xander, who ran forwards with and threw it back to Jesse, but he was tackled straight to the ground by Buffy again, causing the rest of the girls to cheer.
“Yea, you get ‘em, Buffy!” Becky called out before cooing at Ella and bouncing her up and down in her lap, “Yea, your Aunty Buffy is kicking your Daddy’s butt. Yes she is. Yes she is.”
Ella looked wide-eyed for a moment before giggling and cuddling her head into Becky’s side.
“Aww,” Becky continued, placing a kiss on top of the baby’s hair, “You’re such a cutie.”
“Still don’t want any of your own, Beck?” Willow asked as she observed the interaction.
Becky scoffed with a laugh.
“Not a chance.”
She and Brian had made a decision when they established the seriousness of their relationship that they wouldn’t have children. Neither felt a longing to and Becky reasoned that she worked with kids enough as a teacher that it would be her idea of hell to have to come home and deal with them as well.
They’d also decided, that while they were quite certain it was each other they intended to spend their lives with, they weren’t going to get married either. That was something that came more from Brian, who had seen his parents – both of them – go through a series of failed marriages and didn’t want to follow in their footsteps.
Buffy and Angel had taken a similar route, though not quite as definitive. They were open to the idea of getting married and having children someday if they decided that’s what they wanted, but as they were, they were happy in their relationship and saw no reason to change it.
The married couples of the group, being the parents as well, couldn’t talk enough about how wonderful marriage and kids were, but they respected their friends decisions to live their lives and have their relationships as they saw fit – and everyone was happy so that was really all that mattered.
“Nope,” Becky continued with a grin, shaking her head, “No marriage, no kids. I’m quite happy to coo and cuddle all over my adorable little niece and my wonderful nephews...and then hand them back.”
She handed Ella back over to Alice at that with a grimace.
“Diaper situation.”
Alice went to take her daughter but Willow was quickly on her feet again, swooping the little girl into her arms.
“Come on, little miss, let’s get rid of Mr. Stinky Diaper.”
Alice watched as Willow walked her daughter into the house before turning to Tara.
“Is she for hire?”
Tara laughed.
“I kinda need her myself.”
“No fair,” Alice replied with a mock-scowl, “You don’t have a baby to take care of.”
Tara gave a small smile.
Not yet.“Uh huh,” she replied with mirth, “Wait until she’s 5 and she won’t stop asking ‘why’ and learns to backchat. You’ll be envious of the baby days.”
Alice just laughed as well and patted Tara on the back before being pulled into a conversation with Becky about a sale in their favourite store that was happening the following weekend which reminded Tara of her own pre-emptive weekend plans and she turned to her aunt.
“Hey, Michelle, can I ask you something?”
Michelle took her gaze away from where she was watching Ira interact with the children and nodded.
“Oh course, darling. What’s up?”
“Feel free to say no, it’s really fine,” she started, smiling at her aunt, “But could you and Ira take JJ next weekend? Myself and Willow were thinking of going away. You know, just for a short break.”
“Oh, well, we’d be delighted,” Michelle replied with a warm smile, “You know how Ira adores your little boy. I do too.”
Tara reached over and embraced her aunt.
“Thanks, Michelle. We really appreciate it.”
Michelle hugged back until an excited voice disturbed them a moment later.
“Mommy, Mommy!!”
Tara pulled back just in time for her son to jump into her lap, wide-eyed.
“Mommy, Grandpa says he can get me a fire fighter costume for Halloween!”
Ira followed JJ, slightly red faced from having run around playing with him and Alex.
“One of my clients, his son owns a costume store,” Ira explained as Alex sidled up beside him too, “I’m sure I can get the boys whatever they want.”
“Oh well that’s wonderful,” Tara replied, ruffling JJ’s hair, before looking at her father-in-law, “Thank you, Ira.”
“We can go shopping next weekend,” Michelle suggested, tugging at Ira to sit down next to her, “Willow and Tara are going on a little break so I said we’d be delighted to take JJ for the weekend.”
“Oh, of course,” Ira beamed, “Would you like that, Jacob?”
JJ looked around from where he’d been pulling faces at Alex behind his mother’s back, confused.
“Like what?”
“To stay with Grandma and Grandpa next weekend?” Tara asked, “Me and Momma have to go away for a couple of days.”
JJ looked contemplative.
“Can Alex stay over too?”
“Well,” Ira started with a nod, “If his parents say it’s oka–”
“Yes!” Anya’s loud voice came from a few feet away from them, where she was cleaning the barbeque, “It’s definitely okay.”
Tara grinned and gave JJ a squeeze before he jumped off his mother’s lap and high-fived Alex before running off. Tara turned back to Ira and Michelle.
“Thank you. We really appreciate it.”
Ira just smiled and gave a wave of his hand.
“Our pleasure.”
Willow returned with Ella a moment later and handed her back to Alice.
“All clean.”
“Thanks, Will,” Alice replied, dotting the top of her daughter’s nose with her finger, “She really loves her Aunty Willow.”
“Well her Aunty Willow really loves her,” Willow replied in a baby voice, tickling Ella’s stomach again.
Tara watched, feeling her heart burst with happiness that Willow would soon be doing the same thing to their own baby but was pulled from her internal musings by a shrill scream from off to the side.
“Where?! Where are they!? Get behind me boys, I’ll protect you!”
The guys stopped playing their game at Anya’s yelling and ran towards her, Xander’s eyes widening in fright when he saw his wife had picked up the large knife he’d used when he was barbequing and was brandishing it about quite wildly as she kept the two boys behind her protectively.
“Ahn, honey, put the knife down.”
“Not until the evil creatures are gone!”
Everyone was quite bewildered by what the hell was going on and Anya narrowed her eyes as they darted all around her.
“JJ said he saw bunnies.”
JJ stepped forwards at this and shook his head but Anya pushed him back behind her.
“I told you to stay back until it’s safe!”
Tara saw her son look at Alex then back up at Anya, petrified and a thought occured to her. She rushed over and bent down to JJ’s level.
“Did you try to tell Aunty Anya about your laces?”
JJ just nodded, his bottom lip trembling and Tara pulled him into a hug as she looked up at Anya.
“Anya, don’t worry, there’s no bunnies,” she said as she rubbed her son’s back soothingly, “It’s just a song about learning to tie your shoes.”
Anya looked unconvinced and Tara nodded at her to bend down which she did.
“Will you show Anya your song?” Tara asked JJ gently.
JJ looked up at his mother and gave a sniffle and a small nod before bending down and pulling his laces free.
“See, it’s... Bunny ears, bunny ears, playing by a tree. Criss-crossed the tree, trying to catch me,” he recited as he diligently tied his shoes, “Bunny ears, Bunny ears, jumped into the hole, popped out the other side, beautiful and bold. I just learned.”
Anya’s mouth formed an ‘o’ shape as she realised what she’d misinterpreted and she smiled at the boy.
“That’s very impressive, JJ.”
“Thanks,” JJ shrugged, looking back at Anya, “Can I go play with Alex now?”
Anya nodded and JJ ran off while the two women straightened back up and Anya glared at everyone.
“What?! I thought there were bunnies! Get back to football!”
The men scarpered off, no-one wanting to face the wrath of an embarrassed Anya and the girls quickly got back to their own conversations.
“Thanks for trying to protect JJ,” Tara said, patting Anya on the back, “You know, when you thought there was danger.”
Anya shrugged diffidently.
“Any mother would.”
“No,” Tara shook her head, “Only the good kind. And you’re the best.”
Anya smiled widely at that and Tara gave her a quick wink before going back to sit beside Willow, retaking her hand and giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.
“You’re quite amazing,” Willow said as they settled into their seats.
Tara smiled.
“I’m surrounded by amazingness.”
She looked around the yard and felt a sense of pure joy and pride as she took in all the different faces of her family members.
And she couldn’t help but think that soon there would be another little face to add to the mix.
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I really hope you are going to write their weekend away because they need it! (and us too to 
)
That means a lot, especially after reading how sweet and tender you made their first time in your fic 
