NMR might have been the culmination of the romantic rise of Willow and Tara, but it's not the end of the story. There is a little more to tell, since season 4 isn't over yet.
Read on.
TITLE: Outside and In
AUTHOR: Kirk Baldridge
E-MAIL: KirkBwriter@juno.com
FEEDBACK: Yes, please. The more the better.
DISTRIBUTION: You want it? Take it. Just let me know where it is.
SPOILERS: Nothing, really. I mean come on. The show is over. What's left to spoil?
CONTENT: W/T B/R X/A
RATING: PG-13
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of these characters. If I did, I'd treat them better than...some people.
SUMMARY: A look at some of the college years, through the eyes of an outsider who ended up being the heart and soul of the Scooby gang.
NOTE: This story is told, obviously, from Tara's point of view. Hopefully I will be able to describe the events of season four in a way that you will be able to recognize individual episodes.
**
As much as they both admitted they wanted to, they didn't try to do anything more than kiss that night. They just lay in bed holding one another until they fell asleep.
When Tara woke the next morning she was still in Willow's arms and she smiled. "Goddess." It was still hard to believe. She and Oz had been in a sort competition for Willow's affection. Somehow, through some twist of fate,
she had won. They were together. Willow was her...girlfriend. The realization brought both a smile and a blush to her face. Girlfriend. She had a girlfriend. Willow. "I love you."
Beside her, the redhead yawned and mumbled, not quite awake yet. "Mm...love you too."
"Hey you." Tara leaned in to kiss Willow. First on her forehead and cheek then finally on the lips as the redhead opened her eyes. "Good morning. Sleep well?"
Willow sat up and stretched. "Perfectly." She stole a kiss from the blonde. "What time is it?"
"Umm..." Tara glanced at her watch. "...about nine-fifteen."
The redhead slid off the bed. "Oh man, I gotta go. I've got class in like fifteen minutes."
"Are you sure?"
"I don't want to...Goddess I so do not want to. But I have to. We have a test, and it's going to be like one third of our grade for the semester." She crawled back on the bed and kissed Tara, then kissed her again, and continued to do so until Tara finally pushed her away. "Hey!"
"Go to class," said the blonde. "I'll meet you for lunch in the cafeteria, okay?"
"Okay. But I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you too. Now go on. You don't wanna be late."
Willow blew her a kiss and then headed for the door.
Tara lay back on the bed and sighed, a huge grin on her face. "I love you."
As they were sitting down to lunch Amanda showed up. They talked for a few minutes, then Amanda's father got there to pick her up. She introduced them, hugged Tara and told Willow good-bye, then left. The witches finished eating and went back to the blonde's room to look through course catalogues. Willow actually spent most of that time playing with the little black and white kitten they had rescued from the pound.
"I keep thinking, okay, that's the cutest thing ever, and then she does something cuter and completely resets the whole scale."
Tara knew exactly how she felt. "Did you see her yawn earlier?"
"Yes! I thought I was going to die." Willow held the kitten up. "I love you, Miss Kitty Fantastico."
Willow had been calling her that since that got her. "We've got to get her a real name."
"It's so cool she's all ours--yours. That she's yours is cool.
Tara smiled. "She can be ours if you want." That was a little bolder statement than she was used to making, so to fend off the uncomfortable fluttering in her stomach she turned back to the course catalog. Her eyes scanned the page. "You still need an elective. How about...sophomore level psychology?" She was shaken by the huskiness of her own voice as she said the last three words.
"Oh. Kind of psyched-out after Professor Walsh. Maybe something fun, like drama. I could be dramatic." Again she held Miss Kitty Fantastico up. "You cannot have more catnip! You have a catnip problem."
Tara beamed. Willow was just so incredibly cute. "Definitely drama."
"I haven't even dealt with the housing forms yet," Willow said with a tired sigh. "Have you done anything? I hear there's some off-campus places that are way cool for, you know, a group to go in on."
Something in Willow's voice suprised Tara. It almost sounded like the redhead was fishing; checking around to see if she wanted them to move in together. Of course it was way too soon for that though, so she just chalked it up to wishful thinking on her part. "Oh. I figured you'd be dorming it up with Buffy again."
"We haven't really talked about it. I used to just assume we'd be roomies through grad school and into little old ladyhood. You know, cheating at Bingo together and forgetting to take our pills."
Tara nodded. "But...?"
Willow shrugged. "But, I don't know. It hardly feels like we're roommates now. She's all busy with Riley, and I'm gone a lot too." This time there was definitely something in her voice. Tara stared at her. "I guess I should ask her." She absently petted Miss Kitty Fantastico, who mewled.
Tara decided to do something to take the redhead's mind off whatever she was feeling. "Hey, I know. Why don't we forget about next semester for a while?"
"Okay. What'd you have in mind?"
"Well..." Tara slid the books aside and crawled onto the bed. "...there is the little matter of what we talked about the other night. You know, us?"
Willow smiled as Tara stopped with her lips just inches away from her own. "Oh yeah. Now that's a subject I am really interesting in studying. Do you, umm, think there's still room in the class?"
"Well, I happen to be really close with the instructor. I think I can, um, make room for you."
"Is that right?" Willow put Miss Kitty gently on the floor. "Go take a nap, sweety. Your...mommies, need a little alone time." She smiled at Tara's blush. The kitten mewled and went under the bed while the redhead put her arms around Tara's neck. "Now then, where we we?"
Tara pressed her lips against Willow's, and the two of them fell back on the bed.
**
Their first attempt devolved into a fit of tickling and laughter.
Their second ended with throaty moans and the two of them gasping for air.
But as it turned out, the third time really was the charm. The people in the rooms on either side of Tara's ended up pounding on the walls, demanding they keep the noise down.
Basking in the afterglow, their arms and legs entertwined, Tara lay her head on Willow's chest and sighed. "That was...was...Goddess."
"What?"
"I don't know. I'm not sure I have the words to describe it."
"Let me. Glorious? Spectacular? Splendiferous? Wonderful?"
Tara nodded. "All of the above. Except, maybe, splendiferous? Is that really a word?"
"Just call me Mrs. Thesaurus."
"There are a lot of things I could call you," said Tara. "But I'm not sure that one would be on the list." She leaned in to kiss the redhead. "I'm just glad my first time was with someone so generous."
Willow shrugged her shoulders. "I like to think I'm a quick study."
"Did you, um, want to..." Tara turned her head as the phone rang. "Oh no." She slid out of bed and answered it. "Is it important? O-Okay, just a second." She put a hand over the receiver. "It's Mr. Giles. He says he's in urgent need of your computer expertise, and he wants you to come over as soon as possible."
The redhead sat up. "Computer and Giles? Those are two words you don't usually...okay ever, hear together. Let him know I'll be there as soon as I can."
Tara nodded. "Okay." She moved her hand. "She'll be...what? All right. Yes. Good-bye." She hung up. "He says to make sure you bring your laptop with you."
"Okay. I'm officially freaking out now." Willow looked around. "Hey. Where is my underwear?"
Tara went along with her. It turned out Giles needed Willow to decipher some disks that Spike was supposed to be bringing back from the Initiative, though the Watcher had his doubts.
While they were waiting Willow told her about Spike. She had mentioned him before, but not in any detail. His presence in their lives seemed to be something the redhead wasn't entirely happy about either. It was a strange to think about--a vampire who helped the Scoobies because of a chip in his head. She was also shocked to learn of a secret government lab underneath Lowell House.
When Spike arrived, Tara realized she had seen him before. He was the mysterious Englishman who'd saved her from a vampire some time ago. She'd never learned his name, and at the time had no idea he was a vampire. It was also obvious he didn't recognize her, so she put it aside and watched Willow work. The redhead sat at Giles' desk, her fingers flying across the keyboard of her laptop. Tara had no idea what she was doing, or what anything on the screen meant, but she loved watching Willow work, and absently stroked the redhead's hair. She got a feeling she was being watched, and glanced up to see Spike staring at her. No, she realized, them. Tara turned away, disturbed by the intensity of his gaze, while he went to talk to Giles.
"I coulda gone straight to the Slayer, you know. I cut you in. Let you pretend you're actually in charge. Now you gotta wait for Red's permission to finish the deal?"
"As soon as we see what's on the discs," Giles replied icily.
Tara heard all this but didn't say anything. It wasn't any of her business, after all Then her attention was drawn to the laptop. The seemingly random symbols confused her. "It looks like gibberish."
Spike came up to the desk. "Gibberish?"
"They're encrypted," said Willow.
Giles turned and walked down the hall. "Wonderful."
"Well, why did·can you fix them?" Spike asked.
"Crack a government encryption code on my laptop? Easy as...really difficult pie."
Tara smiled. She loved the way Willow's mind worked.
"You're not exactly the whiz these days either. God, I'm never getting paid."
Willow seemed hurt by this. "I am a whiz!"
Tara stood up for her girlfriend. "She is a whiz." In a lot of ways, none of which she was going to tell him about, but that wasn't the point.
"If ever a whiz there was," Willow grumbled. "I just need some time."
"No, I just heard you weren't..." Spike sighed. Tara found this curious, because she knew vampires didn't need to breath. "Your mates said you weren't playing with computers so much. Into the new thing."
Tara blinked. 'Uh oh.' Something was going on with the vampire, she just couldn't put her finger on it.
"What new thing?" Willow asked.
"You know--you two," Spike continued. "The whole...Wicca thing."
Willow and Tara were both stunned, for different reasons.
"They were talking about that?" Willow asked.
Spike had no aura Tara could detect, but she still got the feeling Spike was lying. She just wasn't sure if she was really sensing something from him or whether it was just a vampire thing.
"Can we get back to business here? I got a deal at stake."
"What'd they say?" Willow asked.
Spike grunted, as if he was feeling frustrated. "Talking about, you know, it's a phase, you'll get over it."
"What? Who said that? Was it Buffy?" Willow sounded almost frantic as she turned to Tara. "'Cause you know what she means by that."
The vampire shook his head. "She was defending you. 'Cause Xander said you were just being trendy."
"Trendy?"
"I didn't see why they were going on. Person wants to be a witch, that's their business."
Willow was trembling. "I knew Buffy was freaked."
Tara could feel her lover's pain. "You should talk to her, 'cause I'm sure..."
Spike interrupted her, and Tara frowned. "Pressing business, ladies." He gestured at the the computer. "Let's not get sidetracked. Still got your monsters to fight."
"Willow." Tara put her hand on the redhead's. "Your aura is flaring. You have to calm down."
"I need to go for a walk." Willow got up. "Giles, I'll be back in about an hour."
The Watcher looked up from the bottle whose contents he was pouring into a glass. "Very well."
"Come on." Willow grabbed Tara's arm and dragged her out of the apartment. "Goddes. That...guy, frustrates me so much sometimes."
"Who, Giles?"
"No. Spike. He thinks just cause he's like two hundred years old, he can talk to me like a child."
"Willow, I-I don't think..."
"Though now that you mention it, Giles wasn't being much help either."
"Willow..."
"Let's just forget it." Willow stroked Tara's cheek. "Can we go back to your place?"
"Of course, but..." The blonde saw a familiar surging in the redhead's aura, and smiled. "Oh."
**
Kirk B
Life is much too serious to be taken seriously.
Willow is a tree that weeps, but Tara is firmer and will hold.
You also fill so many holes in the relationship that we missed on the show that made beautiful perfect sense! 
I've never seen it approached in that way, but it makes a lot of sense.
--HOPE SO!!
xx 