Disclaimers and Warnings: This is exclusively Willow and Tara. Its an incredibly sappy story that poured itself onto the paper despite myself, so be warned of some nudity, some necking, some minor-hurt comfort, all in the PG-13 range (or maybe R, since its two women. :P).
Feedback is ultra-desirable.
Spoilers for the 5th season (Willow and Tara are dating and have a cat!).
Willow and Tara are exclusive property of Joss Whedon and his bosses, but I'm using them for free and for fun under the Fair Use Act. So there. ::squeaky voice:: Please don't hurt me.

 

Sacrifices

by Rysler

Willow slept soundly, curled up around Tara's body, under the festively colored quilts that Willow had come to recognize as symbols of home. She was wearing Tara's shirt, unbuttoned and tangled. Tara was naked in her arms, but Willow needed to be closer to her than that. Their very skin was a barrier. The scent from the cotton shirt enveloped her like a security blanket. Coupled with the quiet sound of Tara's breathing and the thud of her heartbeat, her senses were mesmerized, and Willow rested peacefully.

The third blaring ring dragged Willow from her dreams into the murky state of half-wakefulness. Still wondering why ferrets had such loud bells, she pulled the telephone to her ear and murmured a disoriented "Hello?" A second too late she hoped it wasn't Tara's family on the other end of the line. Luckily, it wasn't.

Giles explained the demon attack on the other side of campus that his research was stalled on, and Buffy was out there fighting without the knowledge she needed to kill.

"I'll be right there," Willow said firmly, entrenched now in reality, the ferrets vanquished forever from her mind. She crawled away from the nest, trying not to wake the girl.

Tara woke up only after Willow answered, not a light sleeper like her partner was due to years of waiting for that phone call to tell her the Slayer had lost, but instantly alert, always, to the tone of Willow's voice. She had been trying to ignore the words and go back to sleep, to conserve Willow's privacy, but she was still awake as she watched her friend's form get dressed in the dark.

"Do you need any help?" She spoke softly, trying not to startle the peaceful quietness that still surrounded them as Willow buttoned up the blouse and pulled on her jeans.

"No, no, I'll be fine." She knelt next to the bed, touching Tara's head gently, looking for the half-lidded eyes she couldn't see in the darkness.

"Go back to sleep." She pressed a kiss to Tara's temple, then slipped out the door.

Tara slipped over to Willow's side of the bed, cuddled into the lingering warmth in the quilts, and began to worry.

* * *

Tara did not see Willow all the next day. Their class schedules kept them at opposite ends of the campus, but when lunchtime came and went without Willow, Buffy, or Riley, concern started to twist her stomach.

She tried to ignore it. The Scooby gang was out doing something important, saving the world. She used to feel such pride and admiration, thinking of Willow out fighting to protect them and all that. But now, as she knocked on Willow's door for the third time, she felt... annoyance. Even though she'd been useful, and friendly, to the gang, she knew deep down that they didn't really need her. She saw how they treated Anya, too, with compassion, but always with the sense that she was really just a girlfriend. Orbiting loyally, sure, but never creating enough of a gravitational field to affect the core.

When she told Willow she didn't mind being a separate, private part of Willow's life, she'd meant it, but... Now, as she watched the 6 o'clock news for stories about possible mysterious deaths of college students, she wondered how far she was willing to accept the danger in Willow's life.

Now, exiled from the lounge because of a football game, rubbing her kitten's belly as it playfully batted her fingers, she realized just how serious Willow had been when she'd used the phrase "ritual hiding." The hacker's utter confidence and nonchalance won Tara over at first, but her belief in her lover's strength was starting to falter.

The cat paused in its examination of the ring around Tara's thumb and looked up at her with serious, pale blue eyes. Tara stroked its nose and thought. She'd only noticed the sadness in Willow's aura the day Oz showed up. Tara thought it wasn't just Oz as an ex-boyfriend that brought that sorrow, but Oz as a werewolf.

His membership in the Scoobies, for true demons were accepted more readily than extraneous dates, was full-fledged and he had been able to be a full partner to Willow. At the same time, Tara mused, he reminded her daily of her commitment against evil, the one that had pulled Giles and Buffy into an abyss that had stripped them of the possibility of a normal life. Tara realized she was jealous of the Slayer, because it meant a kinship that could only be broken with Willow's death. She shivered at the thought.

Willow couldn't stand being torn between her duty and her personal life, thats why she was slowly pulling Tara into the Slayer's circle. Tara wasn't sure she could make that sacrifice. If it meant giving up her drab college life, she could handle that. But if it meant giving up Willow... Willow was so much stronger than she was. Tara wasn't sure if she could make the right choices when it came to Willow's dreams anymore.

* * *

Tara was gazing through the curtains at the crescent moon, half-meditating, half just trying not to think, when she heard a knock at the door.

She stood up as Willow slipped in. She could feel the silly grin on Willow's face radiating even through the dark, and warmth washed through her belly. "H-Hi," she whispered.

"Hey," came Willow's smiling voice. "Um, can I turn on the light? I need to...um..." Seeing Tara's dark form nod, she flipped the switch, squinting in the half-illumination that came from the shrouded lamps.

"Oh my goddess!" Tara was rewarded with the image of Willow with her cheek half-covered by a gauze bandage.

Willow grinned sheepishly, wincing as the movement of her face pulled at the wound. "Its nothing." She took Tara's hand when the blond reached up to touch her face. "Stuff like this hardly ever happens. And hey, at least I'm not in a coma like last time," she smiled. Disturbed by the stricken look on Tara's face, she was trying to make a joke, but the effort backfired as Tara turned white and froze.

"Its okay, really." She rubbed Tara's hand in her own. "Whats wrong?"

Tara looked back up her, seeing Willow as strong and alive as ever, and tried to smile. "I was just w-worried. You were gone for so long, and I k-knew you were with the gang..." She tried to smile again, but ended up looking down at her feet.

Concerned, Willow pulled her friend to the bed, and sat next to her. "I've been doing this stuff since you've met me... its dangerous, yeah, but... I thought you thought it was cool." Willow peeked shyly at her.

"I did! I mean..." Tara squeezed her hand. "That was before I knew you, before I really c-cared about you." She looked soulfully at Willow. "Ritual hiding... you meant that, didn't you?"

Willow nodded seriously. "Look, my life isn't all sunshine..."

"Its not that." Tara looked alarmed. "I don't expect, I mean... You do a lot of good. You help people. I admire that..." She cast her eyes away. "But now, if something happened to you, Willow..." Her eyes were drawn back to the bandage.

Tara's words touched Willow and she felt herself melting. Taking Tara's face in her hands, she leaned forward and gently kissed her, trying to soothe her with love.

Slipping her arms around Willow's neck, conscious of her damaged cheek, Tara sank into Willow's mouth, returning the kiss with equal parts passion and comfort.

Suddenly happy again, Willow pulled back and looked into Tara's face, searching those pale eyes, hoping she was happy too.

"Nothing is more important to me than your safety," Tara said determinedly.

Willow smiled. "I love you." Tara's countenance lit up like a thousand candles, and Willow, absolved of her guilt, drew her closer and kissed her again with seductive intent. "I'm going to make it up to you," she murmured against Tara's lips.

Tara willingly opened to her lover's kisses, letting Willow's tongue slip between her teeth before capturing it with her own and starting a duel. She won. Breathless, she pulled Willow down to the bed and began to tug her shirttails out of her jeans. "You know," she said, slipping her leg between Willow's thighs, "You say that a lot."

Willow buried her head in Tara's neck, sucking with a voraciousness that would have amazed any vampire. Tara groaned, and she smiled against the tiny nips. "I guess I really," nip, "really," nip, "mean it."

Tara was too speechless to agree.

End.

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