All the same disclaimers apply... blah blah blah JW and ME Blah Blah Blah
Enjoy
Chapter 11- Yum…tea
“What time are they all coming?” Tara yelled as she stepped out of the shower. Gently brushing the water from her skin attempting to wrap herself in a fluffy soft towel.
“What, you didn’t check your calendar?” Willow peeked in catching sight of her naked wife. She sprinted forward and grabbed Tara’s hand playfully preventing her from putting on a robe. “So should I punish you for not checking your calendar or should I let it slide just this one time?” She planted a long passionate kiss on Tara’s lips.
“Let… it… slide,” Tara said as the kiss left her breathless. “Please.”
“Okay,” She pulled back placing both hands on Tara’s naked dripping hips, “but you are my wife, and I do write the software, so you should be supporto gal and use the thing.” She grabbed the towel from her wife and draped it over the sink.
“It’s just not going to happen sweetie,” she gasped as Willow’s fingers traced slowly up her sides. “I don’t like that thing beeping at me all day. I don’t want to silence the alarm, because I know you’ll ask me why it’s not going off. I just don’t want that thing. Some people just don’t need that much technology to get them through the day. I happen to be one of those people.”
Willow gasped loudly, “that technology bought this beautiful house, and planned the most beautiful celebration of marriage and just wait ‘til you see what it’ll do for the baby.” Willow’s hands continued exploring Tara’s body, well-charted territory although she was almost always able to find a new freckle.
“Will,” Tara said with a grin, “You did all of those wonderful things. And if I have to hear that Personal damn annoyance beeping at me for the next six months you’ll find the shattered pieces scattered from here to Buffy’s house.”
“Oh,” Willow backed away and looked at her wife, “By the way it’s ‘Personal Digital Assistant’. And I don’t want the shattered pieces. I’ll show you what I did and then I’ll just tuck it into your attaché and walk away. I promise much less beepyness.”
“I’ll look at it,” Tara wanted to support her lover’s enthusiasm. “I’ll look at it but no promises. So what time are they coming?”
“Check your Personal damn annoyance.” Willow said as she turned and walked from the room. “Oh and by the way you look fantastic today.”
A blush of crimson washed over Tara’s face. She was still amazed that Willow could cause that with only her words. Tara finished dressing and moved to lie on the bed. She suddenly found herself laughing at the irony of her situation. She was hopelessly in love with a technology junkie. How would she ever survive?
Tara walked to the kitchen after spending an extra twenty minutes resting. She'd been extremely tired lately and found the little catnaps helped restore her energy. As she entered the kitchen Willow was standing at the sink washing vegetables. She walked up and wrapped her arms around Willow’s waist and rested her chin on her shoulder.
“Did you have a nice rest?” Willow asked.
“Yes,” she said stepping over to pour a cup of tea. “But you shouldn’t wear me out so early in the day. And by the way, this is the first morning without the sickness. Let’s celebrate!”
“No morning sickness?” She turned to face the blonde. “Baby…that’s so wonderful. How do we celebrate something like that?”
“Well I was thinking we could throw away this nasty chamomile tea.” Tara poured her full mug into the sink and reached for the pot to dump it out. “Three months of tea and dry toast, I’m especially happy to celebrate the end of that.”
“Oh,” Willow reached for the toast as it popped the toaster oven switch, “so I imagine you don’t want these.” She felt a sudden rush flow to her head and she dropped the toast. She quickly reached for the sink to steady herself and slid toward the floor. Tara dropped the teapot in the sink and reached to catch her falling wife.
“What,” fear fell across her face, “Willow…are you okay?” The redhead fainted in her arms and Tara worked hard to get her to the kitchen chair. She dampened a cloth and placed it on Willow’s forehead. Tara was remarkably calm as she watched her wife slowly come to. Willow grabbed the cloth from her forehead and wiped it across her entire face. Her skin was searing with heat and she had no idea what was going on.
“What happened?” She asked with groggy speech.
“You fainted, but I’m not sure why.”
“Oh, I think I’m going to be sick,” Willow leapt from the chair and raced to the bathroom. Quickly giving back the contents of her stomach. Tara followed her, making certain she didn’t faint again. After a few minutes they returned to the kitchen. Tara reached for the teapot and poured a mug for Willow.
“Oh, now you can have the yummy tea,” she passed the steaming mug to her. “Baby, you don’t look very good maybe you should go and rest.”
“I’m okay,” Willow answered, “Anyway you’re pregnant. I don’t want you making dinner all by yourself. That would be wrong.” She attempted to move to the sink but gravity was not her friend. She quickly sat down in the chair. “Is this how your mornings have been for the last three months?”
“Well I guess,” Tara answered, “but not the fainting. Now drink the tea. I’ll start the food.”
“Tara,” she asked with concern, “this isn’t normal. You think we should be worried about this?”
“If it had happened before today,” Tara said, “I would be, but it hasn’t,” she paused. “It hasn’t… has it?”
“Well actually,” Willow bit her lip as she confessed, “this is the third day in a row. Today is the first day that I have fainted but the throwing up, that has happened before.”
“How long were you going to wait to tell me?” She asked angryily. “I mean you have been holding my hand every day for three months and you keep the last three days from me? What’s going on Will?”
“Nothing. I wasn’t hiding it. I just didn’t think it was such a big deal. I don’t feel ill and I don’t feel tired or anything else. I thought it might just be a side affect from the spell. I hardly do magic anymore so I just didn’t worry about it.”
“We’ll have to check the text again.” Tara said as she moved over to her lover, “My thought is that it’s just a coincidence. We’ll check it out though.” She shifted Willow into her arms and held her closely. ”It’ll be okay, I promise.”
“I think I’m going to call Giles. He knows about dinner tonight I just want to make sure he will be here. Will you hand the phone to me? I’m pretty sure I don’t want to move around much yet.”
Tara handed the phone to Willow and continued washing the vegetables in the sink. She was running through all the possibilities in her head. She knew that Willow couldn’t be pregnant, and she wasn’t aware of any ingredient irregularities, and they had been so careful when researching the conception spell. Nothing made sense and she was beginning to worry even more.
“Ask him to come over now,” Tara said as she turned to her lover. “If we have problems I need to know before the rest of the gang gets here.”
“Okay,” Willow nodded as Giles answered the phone.
“Hello,” Giles said.
“Hey Giles, this is Willow,” She said nervously taping on the table. “I was wondering if you could come over before dinner?”
“Certainly. When?”
“I was hoping now,” she asked biting her lip and looking over at her concerned wife.
“Oh, is there a problem?”
“Well we are hoping that you can help us figure that out,” Willow reached her hand out drawing her lover to her lap. She began slowly tracing small circles on the bare skin of Tara’s back.
“I can be there in fifteen minutes, Will that be okay?”
“Perfect,” Willow answered. “We’ll see you then. Thanks Giles.”
Willow switched off the phone and explained that he was on his way. Tara breathed a sigh of relief and moved to get up. She felt the pull of Willow's arms and sat back on her lap.
“Don’t go yet,” she asked. “I could really use your arms around me right now. I feel so terrible making you worry. I should be the one worrying about you.”
“Sweetie,” Tara held her tightly, “let’s not worry too much right now. We’ll talk to Mr. Giles and get some real answers. If we can’t figure it all out then we can worry. I’m going up to get our spell notes and the reference books. If you can, why don’t you try to remember the source of all the spell ingredients. My first thought is that something was mixed wrong and this is a side affect.”
“A side affect?” Willow questioned. “You mean like hairy toenails and nose fungus? Oh Goddess I’m not going to get chest hair or anything. Tara I can handle vomit, but not chest hair.”
Tara chuckled a bit at Willow’s hysterics and kissed her wife as she left to get their reference books. Willow reached for her favorite four colored dial-a-pen and paper and began frantically writing the list of ingredients. When Tara returned she smiled at the quirky multi colored list on the table.
“Okay,” Willow proudly explained, “all the ingredients are in black. The source is listed by color. I made the Magic Box red and the mail order place is green and the things from our garden are in blue to match your eyes.”
Tara smiled at the sentiment and looked over the list. She noticed that almost everything came from the Magic Box. She began to wonder if she should call Anya as well? A few minutes later Giles was knocking on the front door. Tara answered and Giles stood with a little red paper heart in his hand.
“Be mine.” He laughed as he handed the paper to her. “I found this on the front lawn.”
Tara just smiled and let him enter. “Hello, Mr. Giles,” she said wrapping her arms around him. “Thanks for coming so early.”
“Well hello to you Tara. I must say you are looking rather lovely this morning. And Willow, is she here?”
“I’m right over here,” she waved from the kitchen. “Come in here Giles I’m not very steady on my feet this morning.”
Oh,” he responded with concern. “Would that be the reason you called me here?”
“Well it’s one of the reasons,” Willow began to explain as she pulled her wife closer. “First the good news. Tara and I are pregnant.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful,” He smiled standing to hug and congratulate them. “That’s so wonderful. I’m very happy for you both.”
“Well we’re pretty excited about it too,” Willow answered.
“How far along are you then Willow?” He asked.
She smiled and looked at her wife, “Oh… not me. Oh…Goddess not me. Tara… she’s the one, I’m just the… well I’m not the…” Tara interrupted the shocked redhead.
“Three months,” She said placing her hand to her tummy. “I’m three months and I think you’ve just sent Willow into spasms. Will…sweetie take a deep breath it’s okay.” Willow gulped two sharp breaths to calm herself.
“Oh, dear lord,” Giles jumped up to pour a cup of tea filling one for the redhead. “I just assumed, she said she wasn’t steady on her feet, I just thought Willow.” He placed the cup of chamomile tea in front of Willow and she winced at the smell.
“It’s okay really,” she finally calmed herself and began to explain. “Tara has the patience for pregnancy not me. There is just no way I could do what she is doing.” She pulled Tara onto her lap as they sat around the kitchen table.
“That’s wonderful,” Giles said. “Not that you aren’t pregnant but that Tara is. So am I to presume that this was a magic conception?” Giles pulled the thin wire frames from his face and began to vigorously wipe the near pristine lenses.
“Actually yes,” Tara began, “Which is the reason we wanted you to come early. We know you have extensive knowledge when it comes to magic and we seem to be having side affects.”
“We,” Willow answered. “I seem to be having her morning sickness. Have you ever heard of such a thing? Is it even possible.”
“Well I don’t have much experience when it comes to conception spells,” he cleared his throat. “But I do know someone that could quickly answer the question. Might I use your phone?”
“Absolutely.” Tara reached for the phone handing it to him. She smiled at Willow and they both seemed to relax, just a bit in his presence.
Giles dialed the phone and began to speak. His conversation seemed to go on endlessly as the ladies tried not to listen, but felt the need to hear everything, even if it didn’t make much sense. Giles motioned for a pen and paper. Willow handed him her four-colored dial a pen and the note pad from earlier. He smiled and began to quickly take notes. He turned off the phone and began to explain.
“Well my friend offered a few suggestions. First do you have a list of spell ingredients?”
“It’s on the pad you have there,” Willow said. “See I have them sorted by color.” She flipped the pages to reveal the list. Giles flipped between his notes and hers until he found a common ingredient.
“Well I see here that you used
Musa Sapientum to enhance fertility, and I also see that it came from a mail order source. Do you have a catalogue?”
“Sure,” Tara grabbed it from the pile of books on the table. “What are you thinking? We were very careful when we researched this spell and we double checked everything.”
“Well,” Giles began his explanation, “this leaf is very powerful when used for fertility.”
“Yes,” Willow answered, “we met with a friend to discuss the spell and she suggested that we use it for a conception like ours.” She felt a warmth flush over her face. “We were very careful when we prepared everything.”
“So I need to ask then,” he paused briefly as he paged through the catalogue suddenly distracted, “Oh the prices in here are quite competitive.”
“Yes we know,” Tara answered. “My mother used this place all the time, I trust the quality of all of their products. Of course if we weren’t trying to be discreet I would have gotten that particular ingredient at the Magic Box.” Tara was trying to be diplomatic about using a catalogue when she knew she could get almost anything she needed from his store. Willow was a bit thrown by the sudden casualness of their conversation. She cleared her throat loudly forcing them back to the point of the conversation.
"HEY! focus people."
“Yes, well I can understand the need for privacy,” he replied. “anyway according to the catalogue it can be ordered two ways, broken or cut. Do you remember how you ordered it?”
“Well yes, we ordered it broken.” Willow answered. “We were told that cut was very powerful and if we used that we might both conceive. And you already know how I feel about that.” Tara softly traced the thin bones of Willow’s hands. She remembered every bit of preparation that went into their spell.
“Right,” He looked at them, impressed by the amount of time they had taken to plan this event. “So you checked the packaging? The leaves were broken?”
Willow and Tara just looked at each other. Individually they hadn’t looked that closely. Neither could remember looking that closely.
“I didn’t check the packaging,” Willow answered. “Honey, did you?”
“Actually I only looked at the package invoice. I never compared the two. I never do. I have never had a mix up before. Although we hardly use the catalogue with the magic box here and all.”
“Well did you use all of it?” He asked. “Do you have any that we might take a look at?”
“Well we used it all,” Willow answered. “We only ordered enough for the one spell. We didn’t want to have something that powerful laying around. You know making someone accidentally pregnant or sick or something like that.”
Giles just grinned at Willow. He was suddenly very proud of her attitude toward magic. She had certainly changed from the woman he knew a few years earlier. She seemed to have a genuine respect for Wicca and was practicing more of the religion and focusing less on the spells.
“I think from the conversation here that you may have used the cut leaves,” he explained. “It is the easiest explanation. We should be happy that all you are is sick Willow.”
“What,” Willow said stiffening with panic. “Oh… there is no way that I am pregnant. I am certain of that. I would gladly vomit for the next six months rather than be pregnant. Sorry Honey.” She squeezed Tara tightly.
“It’s okay sweetie,” Tara grinned. “I’m happy to hand the morning sickness over to you. In fact, you can have swollen ankles and stretch marks and back aches and itching and anything else I can thin of.”
“Thanks for sharing,” she smiled.
“Yes,” Giles cleared his throat and got up to leave the room. “I believe too much information has been shared in my presence. I think you ladies have very little to fear at this point.”
“Giles,” Willow asked. “Is there a reason this is starting now? It has been three months.”
“Well Tara have there been any changes in your pregnancy lately?” he asked.
“My morning sickness seemed to start fading a few days ago,” she explained. “Today is the first day I haven’t had any.”
“My thought on this,” he said as he moved to the front door, “is that the timing is not a coincidence. Willow… you may want to do the things that Tara has been doing for the last three months. I’d expect you would figure out a way to deal with this. I wouldn’t worry too much though. It shouldn’t last beyond the length of the pregnancy.”
“Great,” Tara replied as they stopped in front of the door.
“Great?” Willow looked at her in shock. “It’s great that I have your morning sickness?”
“That isn’t great,” she explained with a smile. “It’s great that it isn’t more serious and it’s great that you are okay.”
“Oh great,” Willow kissed her wife’s cheek. “Yes a small glitch. Great. So Giles are you going to leave then?”
“Actually yes,” he answered. “ I left my apartment rather quickly, but I will be here four o’clock sharp.”
“Four o’clock, Perfect.” Tara looked at her wife with a satisfied grin. “We’ll see you then.”
Tara closed the door behind Giles and walked into the kitchen. She reached in the cabinet and dribbled a bit of honey into Willow’s teacup. Willow sat down at the table. Tara gave the cup to her saying, “drink.”
She looked with pleading eyes, “yum tea.”
TBC
Urn of Osiris
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"The delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses..." J.K. Rowling
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and 
to you all today. 
Who knows?
. Like I said before I thought everyone did the room christening thing. 
Ohh and little Tara’s well how about one for now? Would that work for you?
at: 9/15/02 8:20:17 am
will suffice for the moment, thank you! In most fics, they seem to have redheaded blue-eyed children. I want a blond one! The eye colour I leave to you 
at: 9/15/02 2:05:14 pm
I just thought it'd be a sweet change of pace. Thanks for reading.
But then 
, too! 
so I'm very blue and feeling quite deprived. So to compensate I might just update twice. Cause it could bring cheer!