The Kitten, the Witches and the Bad Wardrobe - Willow & Tara Forever

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 Post subject: Re: New Fic: Maybe It's Just Me - Update 06/18/2020
PostPosted: Wed Jun 24, 2020 10:26 pm 
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7. Teeny Tinkerbell Light
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Will's redemption wrote:
Dibs! :whip


Woohoo! :applause


Quote:
Awww. I hope they will continue spending the nights together and taking it slow with "just" cuddling. It will be good for Tara to finally get some decent amounts of peaceful sleep.


They're in no rush to speed up this "honeymoon" phase of their relationship.

Quote:
Yay to Willow for rebuilding Tara's confidence with this sweet little pep talk.


It won't be the first, or the last time she's there to lift Tara's confidence and spirit.

Quote:
I loved this little intimate gesture!


:heart

Quote:
So Xander concluded correctly that they are a couple? I'm wondering if he even knew that Tara was gay before? Julian knew of course but I'm not sure if she outed herself to "Harris" too since they don't seem to be friends, just colleagues.
[/quote]

Tara's very much out of the closet and open about her sexuality with her friends/coworkers. Xander's just thrown for a loop, maybe not as bad as Julian was, but still definitely left pondering how the heck Willow & Tara ended up together after being at each other's throats for the past two years.





wickedaddiction wrote:
Aww, the cute and cozy did continue! Loving their sweet interaction and morning snuggles. To bad it had to be interrupted by such horrible news.


I promised it would! lol. Don't worry, soon on down the road they'll have plenty of time just to themselves to have more sweet interactions.

Quote:
Seems like the murderer is escalating


Unfortunately his is. But LA's best detective is on the case :wink

_________________
Alyson, oh, Alyson why don´t you join my band? So you could play the flute like this one time in band camp.
I Am Forever / A Special Christmas of Sorts / Maybe It's Just Me / Honeysuckle Rose /Blackouts and Breakthroughs / When Love Arrives


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 Post subject: Re: New Fic: Maybe It's Just Me - Update 06/18/2020
PostPosted: Wed Jun 24, 2020 10:45 pm 
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7. Teeny Tinkerbell Light
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Tara entered the elevator on the main floor of the Los Angelas Medical Center and pressed the button for the basement.

After leaving the crime scene, she and Harris went straight back to the precinct to continue their research and investigation. Since the victims of the rape-homicide had no similarities in their appearance, the perpetrator could be choosing his victims randomly or targeting them for other reasons which were currently unknown.

Like any other smart detective, Tara began a thorough investigation comparing the background, criminal and medical histories of the two victims. Quicker than she had anticipated, Tara was able to link the two young women together. Although neither of the victims lived in the same county growing up, as well as there being a few years age difference between the two, Tara was able to track down a sleep-away camp the girls attended during their high school years. Further sleuthing uncovered that the sleep-away camp, 'Camp Redwood' permanently shut down three years prior after a lawsuit bankrupted the business. An internet search only brought up snippets of the law suit wherein it mentioned gross negligence and endangering the welfare of minors in relation to another, at the time, active court case.

Much to her annoyance, the case file in relation to the lawsuit was sealed away and the only way to obtain it was through a court release order. Tara had gotten Harris to work on acquiring that form as soon as possible while she dropped by the morgue. She was feeling more relaxed and in-control now that she had at last, found a crucial break in the case.

Tara pushed open the double-door and her eyes instantly landed on the back of a familiar figure. When she noticed that Willow didn’t seem to be aware of her presence, her mischief took over. She slowly approached the redheaded medical examiner, being as stealthy as she could. Just as she was about to spring on her, Tara saw the most outlandish of things when she looked past Willow’s shoulder.

"What are you doing?" she asked incredulously, her facial features contorting in confusion.

Willow was startled by the unexpected voice. She jumped in the metal stool she was sitting on and spun around to face the source, her eyes wide open. In her left hand, she was holding a half-eaten sandwich, a large bite of the tuna fish salad threatening to fall out of her parted lips.

Tara smiled at the half-baffled, half stunned expression looking back at her. "What are you doing?" She asked again, with more amusement this time.

Willow relaxed considerably, her pounding heart slowing down when she took in the sight of the brunette detective. She took her time to chew the half masticated sandwich in her mouth and swallowed before speaking. "What does it look like I’m doing? I’m eating my lunch, Tara," she replied in the most innocent of ways.

"In the morgue?" Tara questioned in utter disbelief, a small chuckle escaping her lips. "Are you kidding me? There’s a dead body lying right over there." She pointed, stretching her arm out wide behind her in the vague direction of the corpse without turning her head. "And who knows how many more in the cold chambers."

Willow frowned at the rather over the top reaction from Tara. "Fifteen," Willow answered nonchalantly, earning herself an open-mouthed stare. "And no, I’ve been eating lunch in the morgue ever since I was an M.E. in training. Is there something wrong with that?" she asked, finding nothing amiss with her own action.

Tara couldn’t believe what she was hearing. "Is there something wrong with it? Isn’t it like a violation against hospital rules or something?"

"Not at all," Willow replied as she dug her free hand into the small lunch cooler resting on the metal slab in front of her. Retracting her hand, a tin foiled wrapped sandwich softly grasped in her hand, she looked up at the brunette expectantly with a warm smile. "See, I even brought one for you."

Tara shook her head, grimacing slightly as she waved her hands in front of her chest. "No thanks, I’m not hungry."

"Suit yourself," Willow replied with a shrug as she placed the sandwich back to its original resting place. "It’s really good though," she tempted, trying to get Tara to give in.

Tara arched a seductive eyebrow as she bent down slightly. "Hmm, I better have a taste of it then."

Willow held a curious expression at the look she was given. She thought Tara was going to grab the bag from behind her when she move forward until she was standing in between the redhead’s legs. Instead, Tara held her face with her hands and bent down to give the medical examiner a deep kiss.
Pulling back from the embrace, Tara licked her lips, a satisfied look on her face. "You’re right, it’s really good."

"Told you," Willow responded smilingly, enjoying the gentle caress of her cheeks. She couldn’t help but notice the brunette seemed to be in a better mood than she was earlier in the morning.

Tara couldn’t help but reciprocate the gesture, her mouth curving into a lopsided smile.

"Anyway, did you manage to find anything on the body?" Tara asked. As much as she would like to continue basking in the heart-warming moment, there was a serial rapist murderer to catch.

"Well, the injuries she suffered were pretty much the same as the first victim, albeit a large gash to her forehead. My guess, she fought back and he smashed her head into the sink before strangling her." Willow replied quickly as she spun herself around on the stool, reaching for her clipboard that was resting near her lunch box. "I ran the DNA test for the sperm sample I collected, and it matched the one we’ve already got." Her tone was stern as she instantly switch back into work mode. "I couldn’t find anythin-"

"Hang on," Tara signaled with her index finger. She stuffed her hand into the front pocket of her pants to pull out her cellphone when she felt it vibrating against her thigh. She glanced at the name flashing on the screen before answering the call.

"Hey Harris," she greeted, wishing desperately for good news. Her wish was swiftly granted. "You got it?! Alright, great, I’ll meet you back at the precinct in about half an hour."

"You got a lead?" Willow asked, sensing the excitement in her girlfriends voice.

Tara nodded as she slid her phone back into the pocket. "Yeah. Harris just got the release order for an old case file that may hold all the answers we need. I have a good feeling it’s gonna help us get whoever did all of this."


888


Tara walked into the detective’s office with Willow by her side. The redhead had decided to tag along, since she didn’t exactly have that much work on her hands. Eleven out of the fifteen bodies in the cold chamber were elderly or DNR related deaths leaving the four remaining cadavers to be inspected by the other medical examiners in the unit. The first thing that caught Tara’s eyes as she stepped into the office was Harris swiveling in the seat belonging to Julian as he read a file in his hands.

She missed him. He was her partner, her best friend and her family. And she hadn’t been in contact with him since the incident in the car, when she had hurt him with the truth. Her heart ached at the mere memory of it, but her face showed none of the pain.

This was the first case in years that they hadn’t worked together.

"Find anything interesting in that file?" Tara asked once she reached the desk. The desk she shared with Julian. The desk Julian should be sitting at; gloating his success, not Harris.

"I did actually. Have a look at this," Harris said as he passed the opened file over to Tara, his eyes alternating between her and Willow as they were standing way to close to each other to be considered ‘just friends’. How did they happen?

Tara took the file into her hands and skimmed through the document, while Willow stretched her neck to steal a peek from over the brunettes shoulder.

"Both the victims testified against a Zachary Bolton for sexual assault charges. Why wasn't his DNA on file then?"

"Beats me," Harris replied with a shrug. "I already lodged a complaint with the sergeant over at SVU."

"How can this be our guy. This here says he was found guilty and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment." Tara read aloud as she scanned through the first page, shifting her body slightly so Willow could read the report easier. "Wait a second," she mumbled more to herself then to the others as flipped to the next page, backtracking to a particular sentence, re-reading it. "His jacket was updated a few months back. It says here he’s already dead, killed in prison by an inmate earlier this year."

When did they happen? Does Julian know?

At Tara’s musing, Harris quickly got himself out of his own head. "I know, but the interesting thing is Zachary Bolton has a twin brother, Chandler, who also worked at that camp. And that's not all, there were five victims in total that testified against him."

"We need to find the other three," Tara said quickly, not bothering to read the remainder of the report.

"One step ahead of you chief," Harris said as he pointed to several names at the end of the page. "This one right here, Riley Mae Pembrook, she got a full ride scholarship to Syracuse and hopped on the first flight out of this sin city as soon as she graduated. This girl," he pointed to the next name in line "not so lucky."

"What happened to her?" Tara asked dubious. "The name sounding vaguely familiar."

"Remember about two years back, that heroin addict Adams and I narcaned three times in one day?"

"The one that kept begging you to let her die?"

"That's the one," Harris replied grim faced. "Seems she finally got her wish."

"I thought you got her into a rehab facility? Didn't Adams pull some strings?"

"We did. She must've relapsed. Not that I fault her, some demons are just too hard to concur."

"That's horrible," Willow interjected softly, heartbroken for the wayward child.

A moment of silence passed over the trio, grieving for the third woman who's life was cut short by a Bolton. The moment was soon broken. "Sarah Vanderbilt." Tara said suddenly, snapping her head up to look at Harris. "She’s gonna be the next target. We have to find her as quickly as possible and get her into protective custody."

"On it," Harris affirmed as he headed of hastily, his cellphone already in hand.

"And get me the location of Chandler Bolton," Tara yelled after Harris’ retreating form.

She set her jaw in determination. Chandler Bolton’s not going to know what hit him until it was too late.

_________________
Alyson, oh, Alyson why don´t you join my band? So you could play the flute like this one time in band camp.
I Am Forever / A Special Christmas of Sorts / Maybe It's Just Me / Honeysuckle Rose /Blackouts and Breakthroughs / When Love Arrives


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 Post subject: Re: New Fic: Maybe It's Just Me - Update 06/24/2020
PostPosted: Sat Jun 27, 2020 7:29 am 
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3. Flaming O
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Oooooh ooh ohh, DIBS!!!


Quote:
Tara arched a seductive eyebrow as she bent down slightly. "Hmm, I better have a taste of it then."

Willow held a curious expression at the look she was given. She thought Tara was going to grab the bag from behind her when she move forward until she was standing in between the redhead’s legs. Instead, Tara held her face with her hands and bent down to give the medical examiner a deep kiss.
Pulling back from the embrace, Tara licked her lips, a satisfied look on her face. "You’re right, it’s really good."

"Told you," Willow responded smilingly, enjoying the gentle caress of her cheeks.


Aww they’re so cute together. Really loving these sweet interactions and I want sooo many more but I can’t help to wonder when the other shoes gonna drop since this has been a pretty angsty story so far.



Quote:
Remember about two years back, that heroin addict Adams and I narcaned three times in one day?"

"The one that kept begging you to let her die?"

"That's the one," Harris replied grim faced. "Seems she finally got her wish."


This is so sad yet so realistic. You didn’t give this person a name but I can’t help but to think it’s Buffy or maybe even Cordelia what with “some demons are too hard to concur” or getting her “wish” I just hope Tara and Xander can find this sicko soon and arrest him before he has a chance to kill Sarah.


Last edited by wickedaddiction on Sat Jun 27, 2020 7:38 am, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: New Fic: Maybe It's Just Me - Update 06/24/2020
PostPosted: Sat Jun 27, 2020 7:32 am 
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Sorry I double clicked the submit button


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 Post subject: Re: New Fic: Maybe It's Just Me - Update 06/24/2020
PostPosted: Wed Jul 01, 2020 7:57 pm 
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wickedaddiction wrote:
Oooooh ooh ohh, DIBS!!!


woop woop! :applause


Quote:
Aww they’re so cute together. Really loving these sweet interactions and I want sooo many more but I can’t help to wonder when the other shoes gonna drop since this has been a pretty angsty story so far.


You're right, this is an angst filled story and it won't slow down anytime soon but there will be plenty more cute interactions to come sprinkled in.


Quote:
This is so sad yet so realistic. You didn’t give this person a name but I can’t help but to think it’s Buffy or maybe even Cordelia what with “some demons are too hard to concur” or getting her “wish” I just hope Tara and Xander can find this sicko soon and arrest him before he has a chance to kill Sarah.


Good guesses. Honestly I couldn't decide which BTVS character I wanted to put there, or potentially use later on in the story, so I left it blank.

_________________
Alyson, oh, Alyson why don´t you join my band? So you could play the flute like this one time in band camp.
I Am Forever / A Special Christmas of Sorts / Maybe It's Just Me / Honeysuckle Rose /Blackouts and Breakthroughs / When Love Arrives


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 Post subject: Re: New Fic: Maybe It's Just Me - Update 06/24/2020
PostPosted: Wed Jul 01, 2020 8:57 pm 
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Tara had a vice-like grip on her gun. Her knuckles were turning white as a result. She had her back pressed onto the wall behind her, beside the front door to Chandler Bolton’s Ranch style home. She turned to look at Harris, who was in a similar position on the opposite side of the door.

After being given a firm nod of the head, Tara signaled for the police officer holding the battering ram to come forward. With a hard shove into the padlock of the door, it flew open with a loud thud.

Tara went first into the apartment, her gun aiming while Harris and the rest of the police officers followed closely behind. The group of highly trained civil servants flocked out in a zippering motion, separating to search every single room of the house for their suspect.

"Clear!" Tara shouted out once she entered the suspect’s bedroom and found it unoccupied. The same word was soon reverberated throughout the house as each room was cleared with no sign of the perp anywhere inside his own home.

Tara let out a disappointed sigh as she lowered her hands to her side. She had hoped to be able to arrest Bolton and put an end to his vengeance act. This was almost anti-climactic. Returning her gun back into its holster, Tara started looking around the cluttered bedroom for any clues of its occupants whereabouts. She walked over to the partially viewable closet and slid its folding doors the rest of the way open. Several leather belts, similar to those used to strangle the two homicide victims, were hanging on one of the hangers.

A half-closed box tucked in the corner caught her eyes and she bent down to drag it out.

She removed the cover of the box to reveal the contents within. As she rummaged through the box, the detective uncovered cut-out newspaper clips of his brother’s sexual assault case. Underneath the clippings Tara found several snapshots of the witnesses that had testified in open court.Three of the pictures had a red X scribbled over the faces of the deceased victims, while a forth was paper clipped to a printout airline ticket to New York the following week leaving a final Polaroid of the soon to be victim, Sarah Vanderbilt untouched.

The attempts Harris made to contact her earlier in the day were unsuccessful, which was extremely worrying. A BOLO was immediately made to all police officers and patrol cars with photos of both Chandler and Sarah distributed to LexisNexis to better assist the officers with locating the suspect and target.

"Hey, Tara!" Harris called out as he rushed into the bedroom. "One of the patrols just spotted a guy matching Chandler Bolton’s description on the UCLA campus. They are following him on foot."

"What are we waiting for then?" Tara replied as she placed the lid back onto the box. "Come on, lets go."

The two of them hurried out of the apartment with a small group of officer’s close behind them. The remaining officers, lower in rank, stayed behind to watch over the apartment in case the suspect decided to return.

 

888
 


"Where is he now?" Tara asked impatiently once she reached the side of the officer-in-charge.

There were about a dozen police vehicles parked outside the university’s gymnasium, where the suspect had headed into.

"They lost him," answered the Sergeant with a mix of embarrassment and frustration.

"What?" Tara breathed out unsympathetically.

"He could be in there with the girl right now!" Chimed in Harris, his face reddening in anger.

"Willow, stay here," Tara ordered her girlfriend, noticing the redhead stepping forward.

The medical examiner had insisted on following on the hunt for Chandler Bolton in the face of exasperated pleads from a certain brunette detective. She had waited anxiously by the car when they busted into his residence, counting the seconds until Tara reemerged through the front door of the quite neighborhood home. She wasn’t going to be so obedient this time though.

"If Bolton already grabbed her, she's gonna need immediate medical attention," Willow rebutted.

"If that's the case, we'll call for assistance once the threat has been eliminated."

"But..."

"No, stay here, Willow."

"I'm not going to let another girl die, Detective," Willow shot back, her resolve face in full effect. "If he does get to her before you get to him, Sarah's gonna need immediate medical assistance to give her the slightest chance at survival."

Tara gritted her teeth together tightly as she glanced over at her current partner, silently hoping he would chime in and discourage the redhead from following. After several seconds that felt like they lasted for hours, Tara finally relented. "Fine! But stay close to the Sergeant and do whatever he says." With that she ran toward the building with Harris right behind her leaving Willow standing alone by the Sergeant.

The officer-in-charge, Sergeant Seagull, quickly motioned for some police officers to follow him as he rushed after the retreating detectives, the pathologist mixing in with the troops as they headed toward the building. . Crowds of student, faculties and visiting family were being marshaled out of the building entrance at the same time, obstructing their way.

"Move out of the way people!" Seagull yelled as he and his group of officers cleared a path to the entrance, seemingly eager to redeem himself for his men’s earlier failure.

They rushed into the near-emptied building and spread out in different directions to cover more ground. Tara and Harris immediately headed to the staircase to the left of the front door, figuring it would be easier to work their way downwards, as Willow, the Sergeant and a couple officers followed closely behind them. As they reached the third floor, the officers pulled their flashlights and aimed them up and down the darkened hallway, looking for any sign of Bolton. The floor appeared to be deserted, engulfed in complete silence, the only sound coming from their cautious footsteps as it echoed down the hall.

Suddenly, a high-pitched scream filled the air. All heads swindled in the direction of the shriek simultaneously and dashed down the hallway, racing toward the opposite side of the building. When they reached the doorway to the yoga studio, they came upon the sight of an average-build man straddling a thrashing woman as he tried to tear her sports attire off.

"Police!" shouted the first officer to the door as he drew his weapon.

Chandler turned his head back to see a gang of five standing at the entrance, weapons drawn and aiming at him. Gulping audibly, Chandler stared wide-eye, a proverbial deer in headlights look on his face as his grip on the struggling woman’s shirt tighten. He hurriedly got off of his target, pulling her up with him to use as a shield as he backed away from the officer’s.

Frantically, he darted his eyes around the room, looking for an escape. Pulling Sarah tighter to his body, he backed them both to the opposite side of the room as he warned the police not to come any closer. Reaching one hand behind him, Chandler blindly fumbled for the handle of a secondary door which led to another part of the gymnasium. Breathing heavily, the perp casted one last look around the room then roughly shoved the crying student toward the slowly advancing officers, before quickly spinning on his heel and sprinting down the staircase.

Tara wanted to scream at the rookie officer for his idiocy for alerting Chandler to their presence, but she couldn’t waste a second of the precious time reprimanding him.

"You three, stay with the girl," Tara barked out as she looked first at Harris then directly at Willow who was slowly entering the room; the Sergeant in front of her acting like a shield before turning her attention to the other two police officers. "And you two follow me. Hurry!" Without another word, she dashed after the escaping suspect, not exactly caring if any of them were actually following her. She had only one thing on her mind, and that was catching Bolton. She gritted her teeth as she ran, trying to catch up with Chandler who had about a 20 second head-start. Opening her stride up as much as humanly possible, Tara bolted down the dimly lit hallway, determined not to lose this race.

As she slowly gained ground, Tara could see the rapist push through the door to the emergency stairwell at the end of the hallway as she drove herself on. When she had nearly arrived at the door, the detective shifted her body to one side to use her shoulder and her momentum to ram the door open. As the emergency siren wailed excessively, Tara hurried down the stairs, skipping a few steps in between. She chanced a glance down over the railing occasionally to get a glimpse of Chandler’s position. Confidence rose inside her when she noticed that she was closing in on him.

After three flights of stairs, Tara was breathing heavily. Her heart simply wasn’t pumping oxygenated blood through her body fast enough. She could feel her muscles burning and her legs on the brink of giving out. And they probably would have Tara deduced if it wasn’t for the flow of adrenaline coursing through her veins.

Jumping the last few steps, Tara yanked open the closing door. She was using every single ounce of strength in her body to keep herself running. She came to a stop at a T-junction, looking frantically from side-to-side after losing sight of her target. She managed to catch a glimpse of a shadow on her left and immediately chased after it, ignoring the sound of footsteps hurrying down the staircase behind her. The brunette detective turned the corner when she reached the end of the corridor and followed Chandler down another flight of stairs leading to the basement of the building.

Tara slowed down to a walk once she was at the bottom of the stairs, noticing that it was a dead end right in front of her. She drew her gun from its holster and carefully approached the only door located ahead of her which was partially opened. The passage was rather dark. She could only see with the help of diluted lights coming in through the opened door.

Cautiously, Tara stepped through the door, her eyes roaming around to look for any sign of movement. The room was like a warehouse, multiple rows with metal shelves about ten feet high, filled with sports equipment of every kind. Two flood lights, one on opposite sides of the room, sat high on the wall, illuminating the storage room in a dull glow.

Slowly, Tara walked further into the basement, searching for Chandler. Her heart was pounding frantically, her breathing labored as beads of sweat freely dripped down her forehead.

The sound of something rattling made her spin quickly to her right. A second later, a baseball bat was rolling toward her, the metal scraping against the cement floor. Right when the bat hit her feet, she heard a loud pull switch. Before she could react, the flood lights went out instantly, plunging the room and her into darkness.

_________________
Alyson, oh, Alyson why don´t you join my band? So you could play the flute like this one time in band camp.
I Am Forever / A Special Christmas of Sorts / Maybe It's Just Me / Honeysuckle Rose /Blackouts and Breakthroughs / When Love Arrives


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 Post subject: Re: New Fic: Maybe It's Just Me - Update 07/01/2020
PostPosted: Sun Jul 05, 2020 3:04 am 
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7. Teeny Tinkerbell Light

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Dibs! :whip
I'm glad that Chandler obviously just caught his latest victim before he was interrupted by Tara and the others and therefore hasn't raped this girl.
Quote:
The sound of something rattling made her spin quickly to her right. A second later, a baseball bat was rolling toward her, the metal scraping against the cement floor. Right when the bat hit her feet, she heard a loud pull switch. Before she could react, the flood lights went out instantly, plunging the room and her into darkness.

:shock Very mean of you to leave us with this cliffhanger. I fervently hope Tara won't end up needing immediate medical assistance from Willow...


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 Post subject: Re: New Fic: Maybe It's Just Me - Update 07/01/2020
PostPosted: Tue Jul 07, 2020 4:45 pm 
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[quote[Slowly, Tara walked further into the basement, searching for Chandler. Her heart was pounding frantically, her breathing labored as beads of sweat freely dripped down her forehead.

The sound of something rattling made her spin quickly to her right. A second later, a baseball bat was rolling toward her, the metal scraping against the cement floor. Right when the bat hit her feet, she heard a loud pull switch. Before she could react, the flood lights went out instantly, plunging the room and her into darkness.[/quote]

Ohh, that's just mean! Luckily I only have one day to wait to find out what happens next. I hope nothing bad happens to Tara while in the dark or Chandler doesn't get away but I much rather that then Tara getting hurt.


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 Post subject: Re: New Fic: Maybe It's Just Me - Update 07/01/2020
PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2020 1:54 am 
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I really hope you'll post the next chapter this Wednesday - please don't keep Tara and us readers in the dark any longer!


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 Post subject: Re: New Fic: Maybe It's Just Me - Update 07/01/2020
PostPosted: Wed Jul 15, 2020 5:58 pm 
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Will's redemption wrote:
Dibs! :whip


woop woop! :dumbo

Quote:
I'm glad that Chandler obviously just caught his latest victim before he was interrupted by Tara and the others and therefore hasn't raped this girl.


I'm sure they're all happy to that they got there just in the nick of time.

Quote:
:shock Very mean of you to leave us with this cliffhanger. I fervently hope Tara won't end up needing immediate medical assistance from Willow...


Quote:
I really hope you'll post the next chapter this Wednesday - please don't keep Tara and us readers in the dark any longer!


I know, I know, I'm so sorry. I only meant to keep you all hanging for a week (evil I know, but I thought a good cliff hanger was needed) but ended up taking an impromptu trip out of state last week and didn't have a chance to update.




wickedaddiction wrote:


Quote:
Ohh, that's just mean! Luckily I only have one day to wait to find out what happens next. I hope nothing bad happens to Tara while in the dark or Chandler doesn't get away but I much rather that then Tara getting hurt.
[/quote]


Sorry for making your wait a lot longer than just that one day. Hope this next chapter answers your question, enjoy!

_________________
Alyson, oh, Alyson why don´t you join my band? So you could play the flute like this one time in band camp.
I Am Forever / A Special Christmas of Sorts / Maybe It's Just Me / Honeysuckle Rose /Blackouts and Breakthroughs / When Love Arrives


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 Post subject: Re: New Fic: Maybe It's Just Me - Update 07/01/2020
PostPosted: Wed Jul 15, 2020 6:24 pm 
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Location: Maryland
"It’s okay, everything’s okay now!" Willow said, speaking softly as she tried to subdue the thrashing woman who had landed in Harris’ arms. Gingerly, the duo maneuvered the frightened woman to a vacant chair, gently pushing her down to sit before her shaking legs gave out under her.

"Get off me! Get off me! Please, get off me!" Sarah screamed, too far gone to recognize the fact that her attacker had already left. Her arms were flailing about, pushing away the two people who were trying to help her; the trauma of the assault apparently causing a mental breakdown.

Even as she was trying to get the hysterical woman to calm down, Willow kept glancing toward the exit Tara had run off through. She was hoping the brunette detective would just reappear at the doorway with a triumphant expression on her face as she marched a handcuffed Chandler Bolton in front of her, much like a picture of a proud fisherman holding up his catch-of-the-day.

The sound of hurried stomping feet trudging down the hallway indicated the arrival of the EMTs. Quickly, Willow moved out of their way while Harris continued to press down on Sarah’s shoulders to keep her in place as one of the EMTs prepared to give her a shot of valium to help calm her frantic nerves.

"Stay with her, I’m going after Tara," Willow said to the brawny man, after seeing that the medics had the situation under control. She sidestepped around the EMT’s and rushed toward the same door her girlfriend had went through minutes earlier.

"Wait, no! Dr. Rosenberg!" Harris shouted after the redhead as she pushed past him. He removed one of his hands from Sarah’s shoulder and reached out to grab one of hers, but caught hold of air instead. As his hand closed in on itself, Harris cursed under his breath, knowing full well that Tara would most certainly make sure he choked on a donut if anything happened to Willow. Looking up at the overweight Sergeant hovering by the door, "Go after her!"

Once she was out of the door, Willow looked from left to right as she attempted to work out the path to take. With the whole level practically empty, she took off in the direction of the door at the end of the hallway, leading to the emergency stairwell. She had no idea where she was heading to, simply relying on her instincts to guide her way to Tara.

Running headlong, ignoring the sound of lumbering steps behind her, Willow rushed down the stairs until she reached the first basement floor and the sight of a small gap between the door and its frame caught her eye. She pulled it open and ran the straight path ahead of her, coming to a halt at a T-junction. Without a second thought, Willow turned to her left, a nagging feeling at the back of her brain. She couldn’t explain it in her mind, but she just knew that was the way to go.

 
888


Everything around her was dark. Tara thought she had been sucked into a black hole. With her sense of sight useless for at least the next five minutes while her eyes adjusted to the dark, all her other senses were forced into overdrive. She could hear every thump of her heart and every single breath she took. The unpleasant smell of rubber and mold from the sports equipment assaulted her nose. But more unnerving was the fact that she could feel every fiber of her body burning and how the stagnant air seemed to hug every area of exposed skin.

She abominated not having the ability to see what was coming. It made her feel helpless and exposed. Her heart felt like it was beating at 130 beats per minute. Her fear and insecurity were reaching a critical peak.

Tara held the Smith and Wesson in her hands with a death grip and pointed it out in front of her, her index finger ready to press down on the trigger. The gun gave her a sense of protection that she so desperately needed in her current situation. Her mind instantly clicked back to the training academy she attended years ago upon first enlisting in the police force, as she urgently aimed her weapon from side to side, up then down in front of her. The number of directions to cover appeared endless in the dark.

When she shifted her feet to turn around, she accidentally kicked the baseball bat that was lying by her boot, causing an ear-splitting rattle. She spun back to her original position instantly. With her eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness of the storeroom, she could make out the length of the bat on the floor as it rolled away.

Tara let out a sigh of relief.

As she was lowering her gun, preparing to make another sweep, Chandler pounced on her from behind and wrapped his strong limbs tightly around her, trapping her arms.

Tara let out a surprised yelp at the sudden attack and felt herself being lifted off of the ground. She kicked frantically at the air, desperately trying to make contact with Chandler’s shin with the back of her heel, before her feet found purchase on the floor again.

"Let go of me!" Tara shouted, writhing violently in her assailant’s throttle-hold in an attempt to free herself. Her struggle became futile as the larger man physically out powered her, his arms tightening around her frame.

Rather than trying to wriggle out of his hold, Tara ceased all movement before driving her elbow into the attacker’s abdomen as hard as she could. The action wasn’t easy seeing how she had her arms trapped but proved to be effective nonetheless. As Chandler bowed slightly, his breath catching, Tara was rewarded with a little bit more space to maneuver as the grip around her arms loosened, allowing the detective to ram another elbow into his side.

Bolton grunted in pain upon impact, but still managed to keep his arms encircled around the brunette as he tried to pry the gun out of her hands. Under the sheer impact of a third elbow drive, this time to his flank, Chandler felt one of his ribs crack and stumbled backward two paces.

Once out of his hold, Tara swiftly turned around to point her weapon at Chandler, her thumb cocking back on the hammer. Before she could align her pistol, Chandler recovered from the blow and lunged at the gun, his meaty hands wrapping around the detectives.

Tara desperately tried to pull her hands back, but Chandler tugged them towards his chest as they fought to obtain sole control of the metallic weapon. Its muzzle was pointing dangerously in random directions during the struggle as they vigilantly fought for control. With one hard yank, Bolton took control of the gun, snatching it out of Tara’s sweat slicked hands. As the gun slid past her palms violently, Tara’s index finger hooked around the trigger, disengaging the gun with a deafening boom. As the blast echoed against the cement room, Tara was fairly certain she heard a body drop to the ground with a thud.

The unexpected recoil of the weapon caught Chandler by surprise, his wrist snapping back aggressively at an unnatural angle. As his features contorted in anguish, Bolton grasped his injured appendage with his free hand, the gun held limply in his other. Seizing the opportunity, Tara gave the perp a roundhouse kick to the side of his head, rendering her assailant unconscious. His grip on her gun slackened even further before it slipped out of his hand completely, hitting the ground with a clack of metal. Half a second later, he followed suit. As his eyes rolled into the back of his head, he dropped down to his knees as they buckled underneath him before falling face first onto the cemented ground with a sickening crack.

Breathing heavily, Tara stood hunched over his motionless body, silently daring the perp to move a muscle. This had been, without a doubt, one of the most intense and frightening experiences of her life. As she straightened up her body, reaching behind her for her pair of handcuffs affixed to her belt, a soft whimper made her snap her head to the side. At the sound of the distinctly feminine moan, her blood ran cold.

To her right, a few steps passed the entrance to the storage room; Willow was sprawled flat on her back, one of her hands placed on top of her lower abdomen.

"Willow!" Tara called out in panic, Chandler completely forgotten about as she rushed to her girlfriend’s side. Sliding to a stop on her knees beside the redhead, she carefully took Willow’s hand away from the bullet wound it was covering. Gasping, Tara looked down ashen-faced at the sight of blood rapidly pooling out, soaking the white tank top in a dark burgundy.

Tears began to well up in her eyes as her lower lip began to quiver. "Oh god…" she breathed out when she saw the extent of the injury. Quickly, Tara pressed her hands down onto the seeping wound to prevent the redhead from losing any more blood.

Willow cried out in pain when the brunette applied pressure, her face scrunching up together in pure agony.

"Shhh… it’s okay. You’re gonna be okay. You’re gonna be okay," Tara reassured as she sniffled, her voice breaking towards the end. "Just lie still, okay? I’m gonna get help."

She removed one of her blood soaked hands from off of Willow’s stomach and jammed it into the front pocket of her jeans, pulling out her cellphone.

"Fuck! Come on, Tara," she cursed at her own uselessness, her hand trembling so hard she couldn’t even press down on the right numbers to unlock the cellphone. She looked down at the blood smeared screen of her phone, tears freely flowing down her face, as she attempted to enter the code once more.

"Tare …" Willow mumbled, along with a string of incoherent words. As the garbled words left the redheads lips, her head lolled to the side while her eyes began to flutter closed.

"No, Willow! Stay with me!" Tara yelled at the medical examiner as she pressed the speed dial button on her phone to connect her to Harris. Sandwiching the phone between her ear and right shoulder, Tara placed her hand back over the gunshot wound as she waited impatiently for her partner to pick up.

"Please, just stay with me," Tara pleaded tearfully as she brushed a strand of auburn hair away from Willow’s face, her thumb leaving a trail of blood in its wake.

When Harris’ voice finally came over the speaker, Tara’s heart bloomed with hope. "Harris! Send the EMTs down to the second basement floor right now, Willow’s been shot! Tell them to hurry, she’s lost a lot of blood and can’t hold on much longer!"

To absorbed in the distressing situation with Willow, her attention fully directed on her injured girlfriend, Tara failed to notice Chandler Bolton gradually rising up to his feet behind her. A large forming lump spread across his forehead as his nose bleed profusely from where he hit it on the floor. Totteringly, Chandler clutched his head in pain with his injured hand while the other stretched out to grab the forgotten gun a few feet away from him. Straightening out, he wrapped his fingers around the stock and placed his index finger on the trigger. Unsteadily, he staggered a couple of steps forward, his arm rising as he aimed the muzzle of the gun directly at the back of Tara’s head.

Bang!

_________________
Alyson, oh, Alyson why don´t you join my band? So you could play the flute like this one time in band camp.
I Am Forever / A Special Christmas of Sorts / Maybe It's Just Me / Honeysuckle Rose /Blackouts and Breakthroughs / When Love Arrives


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 Post subject: Re: Maybe It's Just Me - Update 07/15/2020
PostPosted: Thu Jul 16, 2020 12:17 am 
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7. Teeny Tinkerbell Light

Joined: Sun Jan 19, 2014 7:01 am
Posts: 557
Dibs! :whip
I'm sorry to say that I'm not too thrilled with this chapter. I know I should be worrying about Willow's and Tara's wellbeing, but I can't overcome my anger about Willow's immense stupidity! Running after an armed detective who's chasing a murderer who might carry a gun for "protection" as well, wtf?! :fit
I firmly vote that Willow should stay in the morgue from now on because going "out in the field" with her girlfriend obviously doesn't work.

I also think you overdid it a bit with the second cliffhanger. It's obvious that you won't get Tara killed so the "Bang" can only be from a shot directed at Chandler from one of the other cops who followed behind Tara and Willow. Which leads me to the question what took them so long to reach the basement? Even if the cops tailing Tara first chose the wrong turn of the T-section, they should have realized their error after a few seconds and returned much sooner, arriving there almost the same time as Willow, at the latest right after hearing the shot.
I also think Willow couldn't have entered the room without Tara noticing that by hearing the opening door and seeing the light coming through that door, even during her struggles with Chandler. So the description that indicates she didn't notice another person entering the room and just heard a body drop to the ground after the shot seems odd.

And sorry, this description at the end of the fight scene just seems wrong:
Quote:
Seizing the opportunity, Tara gave the perp a roundhouse kick to the side of his head, rendering her assailant unconscious. His grip on her gun slackened even further before it slipped out of his hand completely, hitting the ground with a clack of metal. Half a second later, he followed suit. As his eyes rolled into the back of his head, he dropped down to his knees as they buckled underneath him before falling face first onto the cemented ground with a sickening crack.

I'm pretty sure the momentum of a kick to the side of his head powerful enough to render him unconscius would have thrown Chandler to the ground immediately where he would have landed on the other side of his body. The gradual "going down" from a standing position on his knees and then face down doesn't fit.

I hope you aren't mad about all this criticism. I still like your story tremendously and am looking forward to some mutual love declarations once Willow wakes after a successful surgery and Tara giving her much TLC during her healing process. :wtkiss :flower


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 Post subject: Re: Maybe It's Just Me - Update 07/15/2020
PostPosted: Tue Jul 21, 2020 6:14 am 
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3. Flaming O
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I know Willows not gonna die obviously since this is the Kitten Board but never the less, Tara begging for her to stay awake was so sad. And now with chandler having the gun and Tara’s attention solely fixated on Willow, I’m hoping he’s a lowly shot and misses and the Seargent that was suppose to be watching Willow arrives soon to help.


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 Post subject: Re: Maybe It's Just Me - Update 07/15/2020
PostPosted: Wed Jul 22, 2020 5:50 pm 
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7. Teeny Tinkerbell Light
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Joined: Mon Aug 04, 2008 11:37 am
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Will's redemption wrote:
Dibs! :whip

Yippie!

Quote:
I'm sorry to say that I'm not too thrilled with this chapter. I know I should be worrying about Willow's and Tara's wellbeing, but I can't overcome my anger about Willow's immense stupidity! Running after an armed detective who's chasing a murderer who might carry a gun for "protection" as well, wtf?! :fit


I'm not too fond over this chapter either. Too be honest, I've started to loose interest/focus on this story. No need to worry though, I'm not going to abandon it like I have some of my other stories, but there might be some errors or oversights that might need to be pointed out. But yes, Willow was very stupid to run after Tara ... I guess love makes you do the stupid.

Quote:
I firmly vote that Willow should stay in the morgue from now on because going "out in the field" with her girlfriend obviously doesn't work.


There will be no more police outtings for Willow after this, promise.

Quote:
I also think you overdid it a bit with the second cliffhanger. It's obvious that you won't get Tara killed so the "Bang" can only be from a shot directed at Chandler from one of the other cops who followed behind Tara and Willow. Which leads me to the question what took them so long to reach the basement? Even if the cops tailing Tara first chose the wrong turn of the T-section, they should have realized their error after a few seconds and returned much sooner, arriving there almost the same time as Willow, at the latest right after hearing the shot.


I didn't intend to leave this chapter on a cliff hanger, it was originally much longer (too long actually). When I went back and re-read it I felt like it would be better split up. As for the cops, it's a huge gymnasium with multiple floors that needed to be checked

Quote:
I also think Willow couldn't have entered the room without Tara noticing that by hearing the opening door and seeing the light coming through that door, even during her struggles with Chandler. So the description that indicates she didn't notice another person entering the room and just heard a body drop to the ground after the shot seems odd.


Good point, I didn't think of that.

Quote:
And sorry, this description at the end of the fight scene just seems wrong:

I'm pretty sure the momentum of a kick to the side of his head powerful enough to render him unconscius would have thrown Chandler to the ground immediately where he would have landed on the other side of his body. The gradual "going down" from a standing position on his knees and then face down doesn't fit.


I guess when I envisioned it happening, when Tara's foot caught the side of his temple, Chandler swayed a bit from the impact of the blow but was able to stay on his feet while his brain/body/motor functions started to disconnect from each other before unconsciousness overtook him.

Quote:
I hope you aren't mad about all this criticism. I still like your story tremendously and am looking forward to some mutual love declarations once Willow wakes after a successful surgery and Tara giving her much TLC during her healing process. :wtkiss :flower


Not mad in the slightest. I appreciate your honest feedback and critiques. It actually helps me become a better writer.





wickedaddiction wrote:
I know Willows not gonna die obviously since this is the Kitten Board but never the less, Tara begging for her to stay awake was so sad. And now with chandler having the gun and Tara’s attention solely fixated on Willow, I’m hoping he’s a lowly shot and misses and the Seargent that was suppose to be watching Willow arrives soon to help.


Was trying to tug on some heart strings but hopefully it wasn't too depressing. Don't want to give anything away, but, like you said, this is the Kitten board so there will definitely be a happy ending. :)

_________________
Alyson, oh, Alyson why don´t you join my band? So you could play the flute like this one time in band camp.
I Am Forever / A Special Christmas of Sorts / Maybe It's Just Me / Honeysuckle Rose /Blackouts and Breakthroughs / When Love Arrives


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 Post subject: Re: Maybe It's Just Me - Update 07/15/2020
PostPosted: Wed Jul 22, 2020 6:33 pm 
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7. Teeny Tinkerbell Light
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CHAPTER
Approximately 30 hours earlier…

He didn’t know where he was going. He just kept on driving, one road after another as his best friends words echoed in his head, haunting him throughout the directionless journey. He had spent the last several days doing this, driving while wallowing. Aimlessly maneuvering around the city as he contemplated what his "friend" said to him.

Actually, we’re kind of dating.

The traffic light ahead of him turned red, but it didn’t register in his mind. He simply couldn’t recognize the indication and drove through the intersection. The sharp screech of tires and the sound of roaring horns that followed were completely blocked out. All he could hear was the voice in his head.

We talked about it just this morning. So we haven’t actually gone out yet.

It was a voice he knew so well, the voice of someone he trusted and loved. He wanted it to quit talking and leave him alone, but it was relentless, on a constant loop. There was no escape from inside his own head.

We didn’t fool around behind your back. There was just that one kiss before the two of you went out.

Julian laughed out loud at the ridiculous line of reasoning. The humorless laugh subsided as soon as it came out, quickly replaced by wrenching heartache. He was clutching onto the steering wheel so tightly that both of his arms were trembling.

You have to calm down and listen to me.

He didn’t want to listen. He squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to force the voice out of his head as the things it was saying were too painful to hear. When Julian opened his eyes a moment later, the sight before him made them widen in surprise. He swerved at the very last second, narrowly missing a mother and daughter who were standing thunderstruck in the middle of the crosswalk.

You cannot believe how much it hurts me that I’m hurting you.

The unmarked police cruiser smashed into the fire hydrant on the sidewalk as if reality had crashed into him. Airbags exploded out in front of him like amity being thrown back at his face. Even if what it said was true, it couldn’t possibly compare to how much he was hurting now.

Using all the strength he had left, Julian pushed open the car door and stumbled out onto the street. He bent over at his waist with his butt resting against the door to the back seat, groaning in pain as showers of water that had burst out from the destroyed fire hydrant rained down on him.

Defeated, Julian slumped down onto the rough surface of the road, too exhausted and crushed to be standing on his feet. Slowly, his body started to sway to the side until he was laying sideways, his back leaning against the tire as his eyelids began to droop. He heard mumblings of incomprehensible words and saw worried faces looking down upon him through the slits of his closing eyes.
The last thing he remembered, before darkness consumed him, was everything spinning in a rapid pace around him.
 

888


Julian found himself staring up at a white-colored ceiling when he regained his consciousness. His hand shot up instantly toward his face, fumbling with the oxygen mask uncomfortably placed over his mouth. His efforts were thwarted by a firm hand gripping his wrist. Slowly, Julian turned his head to the side, barely making out the two figures sitting close beside him. As his surroundings became cleared to him, Julian realized he was in an ambulance.

"He’s coming around." One of the paramedics said before delivering a reassuring squeeze onto his patient’s upper arm. "Sir, you’re gonna be okay. We’re taking you to the hospital right now … actually, we’re here."

Julian scrunched his eyebrows together when the blinding afternoon sun hit his eyes as he was wheeled out of the ambulance through the double-door at the back. The throbbing in his head was becoming increasingly agonizing and the clamor around him wasn’t helping his situation at all. Reaching a hand up, Julian pulled at his hair, hoping to somehow relieve some of the pain. The next thing he knew, he was being lifted into the air before being settled back down onto a soft foundation.

"Can you not do that?" he asked irritably, pushing away the hand that was holding a small flashlight directly in front of his left eye, while the other hand pulled his eyelid upward.

"You just had a car accident," the ER doctor replied, his deep voice surprisingly soothing. "I have to make sure you don’t have a concussion."

"I have a killer headache, but I don’t have a concussion," Julian snapped as he sat up, removing the oxygen mask from his mouth.

Pulling the device over his head, his hair sprouting in every direction, Julian glared disapprovingly at the dimple chinned doctor standing by his bed.

"Are you a doctor? If not, stop resisting and let me have a look at you," the man shot back, stubbornly shining the penlight into Julian’s eyes again.

Julian leaned all the way back onto the inclined bed with a frustrated sigh, too tired to argue.

"Do you know what day it is?" The doctor asked as he clicked the light off and scribbled something onto the chart board.

Julian looked at the man incredulously. "Are you serious? I don’t have a concussion. I know what day it is. It is exactly five days since I found out my best friend has been lying to me and dating the woman I’m in love with behind my back."

"In other words, Tuesday," Julian clarified when he saw the bemused expression on his attending doctor’s face.

He nodded thoughtfully and sauntered toward the end of the bed, hooking the chart he was holding back onto the rail of the footboard. "Okay, I’m still going to order a head CT to make sure there’s no swelling or bleed in your brain." The doctor then turned and made a move for the door, stopping when his feet hit the threshold. Twisting slightly, so that he was looking back into the room, he added, "you’re gonna have to stay overnight for observation as well."

"Great," Julian mumbled to himself as he flopped his hands down beside him on the bed.

The nurse that was still standing in the room, recording vitals, gave him a sympathetic look. Walking up the length of the bed, she reached out and adjusted the morphine drip hanging above Julian’s head before checking the bandage on his forehead. Looking down into soulful brown eyes, "I’m sorry about what your best friend did," she said softly as she moved away from the sulking man.

Julian gave a halfhearted, tight lipped smile to the nurse in lieu of a response. He sat there with an impassive face, even though he could literally feel his chest tightening by the second.
 


888
 


Julian got himself discharged as soon as he could the next day, since there was no abnormality found in the CT scan of his head nor any evidence of a concussion. During his short stay at the hospital, he had been looked after throughout the night by the blonde haired nurse who originally recorded his vitals. His doctor, who he later learned during his stay, was Dr. Erickson, head of Neurology, had stopped by his room a few hours prior to go over his recommendations for recovery and prescribed pain medication before signing off on his discharge paperwork.

Now, standing out in the crisp air, Julian turned on his cellphone that had been placed in a large plastic bag along with his wallet and blood splotched button down shirt that had been hastily removed by the paramedics. Looking down at the display screen, he noticed that he had 21 missed calls in addition to a dozen unread text messages. As he scrolled through the notifications, he realized that more than half of the combined total was from Tara.

He clicked his phone off, not bothering to check any of the voicemail messages or texts, and glared at his watch. It was almost 04:30 in the afternoon. Huffing a sigh, he yanked his dishevel shirt out of the bag, fastening the few buttons that remained. Once appropriately clothed, he waved over the nearest cab and got into the backseat, telling the driver to take him to the closest bar. He needed to settle down and sort out the mess in his mind.

Once at the bar, Julian ordered a glass of whiskey from the bartender as soon as he sat down on one of the stools. Resting his elbows on the sticky counter, Julian buried his face into the palms of his hands as he waited for his drink to be delivered. As much as he tried, he simply couldn’t focus his thoughts.

"Here," grouched out the bartender as he placed the glass on top of a folded tissue, sliding the drink mere inches away from Julian’s bowed head.

Peeking out through bloodshot eyes, Julian gave the bartender a brief smile before lifting his head. Grabbing the chilled glass, Julian swirled the brown liquor around before taking a generous gulp. He knew the alcohol would hamper his ability to think, but he didn’t care. The need for comfort was overwhelming and he figured the only way he could get a source of warmth, and to push aside his nagging thoughts, was to get drunk.

As he took another sip of the whisky, memories of him and Tara ran through his mind. The images switched rapidly from the day he first met Tara at the police academy to the day he found out that they were going to be crime-fighting partners to an assortment of memories throughout the past nine years. His heartache intensified as the mental images of those remembrances flashed across his eyes.

Tilting his head back, Julian downed the rest of his drink and gestured to the bartender for another. He had liked Willow from the first moment he saw her and couldn’t fathom why Tara had disliked her so much. Fast forward to nearly two years later, the two women were dating each other and 24 months of hostility between them gone in a snap of the fingers.

Julian recalled back to the events that transpired on Friday, how Tara had walked into the office that morning prior to breaking the news that she was seeing Willow. She was glowing. He had never seen her genuinely happy before, let alone emitting that kind of radiance.

Just as he was about to take another swig from the glass placed in front of him, his phone vibrated in his pocket. Julian let out a noisy breath in irritation as he leaned back on the stool to fish the small electrical device out of his pants pocket. Looking at the blank screen, he debated internally for a few moments on whether or not to see who texted him, before pressing down on the button at the bottom of his phone to open up the home page.

Pressing on the text icon at the upper left hand side of the display screen, he noticed that he had a new text message from Harris. Pressing on the detectives name, he read the short message informing him that a break had been made in the case and that they were heading off to Los Angeles Southwest College to try and catch the vindictive killer. He stared at the screen for a long moment, wondering what he should do next.

Before Julian knew it, he was racing out of the bar and flagging down a cab.

It took him almost an hour to reach the campus. The entrance to the College’s gymnasium had already been sealed off and there were about a dozen police vehicles parked just outside; numerous officers’ standing by. Julian quickly paid the driver and got out of the cab, his hand digging inside of his coat pocket for his badge as he sprinted toward the building ahead.

"Detective Wallace, you’re he-"

"Where’s Tara and Harris?" He asked briskly, cutting off the officer who was greeting him.

"They’re inside. Chandler Bolton was spot-"

Julian didn’t wait for him to finish his sentence. He ran toward the building at breakneck speed the instant he heard that his partner was in there with the killer. Once inside the three story tall gymnasium, he looked left and then right frantically, not knowing which direction to go. His nerves were on edge as his heart thudded erratically against his chest. He caught the square sign of a stairwell not far to his left and rushed towards it, running like he never ran before. Skidding to a stop, Julian yanked open the metal door and stepped through.

As soon as he crossed the threshold, he heard the distinct sound of a gun going off below him.

_________________
Alyson, oh, Alyson why don´t you join my band? So you could play the flute like this one time in band camp.
I Am Forever / A Special Christmas of Sorts / Maybe It's Just Me / Honeysuckle Rose /Blackouts and Breakthroughs / When Love Arrives


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 Post subject: Re: Maybe It's Just Me - Update 07/22/2020
PostPosted: Thu Jul 23, 2020 12:09 am 
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7. Teeny Tinkerbell Light

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Dibs! :whip

Until now I always liked Julian. But now I'm quietly fuming in front of my work computer and thinking "what a self absorbed idiot!" Seriously, wallowing in self pity like this DAYS after his ill fated talk with Tara and mindlessly driving a car in this state, endangering countless lives, wtf?! :fit He should be immensely thankful that he didn't run over the child and / or mother on the crosswalk!
But instead of realizing how lucky he is that he didn't kill or seriously injure himself or others, he's whining at the hospital as if he had found out that his wife or girlfriend and his best friend cheated on him for a long time. If that were the case I could still sympathize with him (allthough it still wouldn't excuse his reckless, mindless driving through the streets). But he and Willow never were in a relationship and never would have had a relationship even if Tara and Willow hadn't started dating because Willow is GAY!

And then at the end of the chapter he is all worried about Tara after ignoring all calls and messages the last days. She and Xander could have already been in a shoot-out with Chandler without him knowing anything about it. Good for Julian if you let him be the "hero" in the next chapter who shoots Chandler and saves Tara's life, but in my opinion it's much more important that he apologizes to Tara for totally overreacting the last days and accepts that she and Willow are a couple.


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 Post subject: Re: Maybe It's Just Me - Update 07/22/2020
PostPosted: Wed Jul 29, 2020 6:22 pm 
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7. Teeny Tinkerbell Light
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Joined: Mon Aug 04, 2008 11:37 am
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Will's redemption wrote:
Dibs! :whip

Until now I always liked Julian. But now I'm quietly fuming in front of my work computer and thinking "what a self absorbed idiot!" Seriously, wallowing in self pity like this DAYS after his ill fated talk with Tara and mindlessly driving a car in this state, endangering countless lives, wtf?! :fit He should be immensely thankful that he didn't run over the child and / or mother on the crosswalk!
But instead of realizing how lucky he is that he didn't kill or seriously injure himself or others, he's whining at the hospital as if he had found out that his wife or girlfriend and his best friend cheated on him for a long time. If that were the case I could still sympathize with him (allthough it still wouldn't excuse his reckless, mindless driving through the streets). But he and Willow never were in a relationship and never would have had a relationship even if Tara and Willow hadn't started dating because Willow is GAY!

And then at the end of the chapter he is all worried about Tara after ignoring all calls and messages the last days. She and Xander could have already been in a shoot-out with Chandler without him knowing anything about it. Good for Julian if you let him be the "hero" in the next chapter who shoots Chandler and saves Tara's life, but in my opinion it's much more important that he apologizes to Tara for totally overreacting the last days and accepts that she and Willow are a couple.


He definitely acted like an idiot, both with the reckless driving and with his self-centeredness, but he does take responsibility for his actions and try to make amends.

_________________
Alyson, oh, Alyson why don´t you join my band? So you could play the flute like this one time in band camp.
I Am Forever / A Special Christmas of Sorts / Maybe It's Just Me / Honeysuckle Rose /Blackouts and Breakthroughs / When Love Arrives


Last edited by mmmh-Hot-Sauce on Wed Jul 29, 2020 7:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: Maybe It's Just Me - Update 07/22/2020
PostPosted: Wed Jul 29, 2020 7:35 pm 
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Bang!

Tara jumped at the sudden booming sound of a gun blast. She turned half of her body around in an abrupt motion, causing the phone she had sandwiched between her ear and shoulder to slip. It bounced off the cement floor a few times before coming to a stop about an arm’s length away. Harris’ anxious voice could be heard coming through the speaker, but she was unable to grasp the meaning behind those apparently familiar words.

With wide reddened, tear-stung eyes, Tara stared at Charles Bolton. He was standing just a couple of steps away from her, his arm raised with her gun clutched in his hand, the barrel aimed directly at her face. Blinking away the initial shock, Tara dropped her eyes to his chest where blood was rapidly spreading out around a Nickle size hole. With his tensed up features relaxing, his maniacal eyes rolling back into his head, Charles exhaled his last breath. Like before, the gun clattered to the floor as his grip loosened around the handle before his burly body crumpled to the ground.

Tara’s eyes followed Bolton as he collapsed and continued to stare at his lifeless body with disbelief as it lay on the floor, a puddle of blood seeping out from under his armpits. She remembered him being in a rather similar position a few moments ago, just much further away from her current spot. Her brain shut down as she tried to come to terms with the fact that she was almost killed without even knowing.

She should have been. Tara didn’t know how she could still be breathing. She snapped her head up when she noticed a silhouette standing near a door at the far end of the storage room, in a straight line behind where Charles Bolton was. Her jaw dropped once she managed to make out the face of the newcomer; the dim glow from the hallway back-lighting the newcomers features.

She knew then, how she was still breathing.

Julian stood in place panting heavily with his glock pointed ahead of him. He could smell the smoke that was billowing out from the muzzle of his gun which he had just fired.

As soon as he heard the sound of a gun going off in the stairwell, he had dashed down the stairs toward where he assumed to be its origin. His instincts led him to a closed door of what looked like a storeroom and opened it as slowly and quietly as possible, drawing out his gun at the same time. He prayed hard that he wasn’t too late.

As the diluted light from the hall collided with the darkened room, the first thing Julian was able to make out as he entered the room was Tara's silhouette kneeling beside a body that was lying on the ground in front of the adjacent hallway. He froze for a split second, his eyes widening in shock when he recognized who the prone body belonged to. He was brought out of his stupor when his eyes detected movement from Chandler Bolton, who was stumbling forward with his empty hand clutching the side of his head. His trained eyes instantly flickered to the suspects other hand which was holding a gun, the arm rising to point directly at the back of his partner’s head.

Bolton sealed his fate with that move.

Julian immediately lifted his gun and aimed the muzzle at the upper left section of the killers back, the location of his beating heart. He pressed down on the trigger without the slightest of hesitation and with a thunderous bang, the bullet shot out at a blinding speed towards the target.

Julian continued to stare at Tara as waves of emotion surged through him. It seemed like such a long time to him that he had last seen her, even though it was less than a week. Julian realized then, that his childish behavior had nearly cost Tara her life and that the last memory he would have had of his best friend was of a fight that now seemed irrelevant.

Holstering his gun, his fear weakened legs pressed forward toward his partner. Julian could barely believe he had made it just in time to save the two people he loved.

Or at least one of them.
 

888
 

"Come on, Willow," Tara pleaded, even though it was highly unlikely that the redhead could hear her since she had already lost consciousness by the time the EMTs arrived at the scene of the shooting.

She was holding onto Willow’s hand tightly as she was being wheeled toward the OR in Centinela Hospital Medical Center, the closest emergency room to the campus. On the opposite side of the gurney was Julian, rushing along with the brunette and a couple of nurses as they navigated through the hall swiftly.

Tara’s heart broke when she looked down upon the medical examiners ashen face. She remembered teasing the smaller woman about her bizarre habit of eating lunch in the morgue just earlier today and her stomach lurched at the thought that that would be the last time she ever got to joke around with the redhead. Things had taken a complete 180 degree turn over the last few hours and Willow was now lying unmoving on the bed, barely breathing as life slowly bled out of her.

"You can’t go in there," one of the nurses said when they reached the entrance to the OR, her arms spread out wide as she blocked the brunette from entering the sterile room.

Tara reluctantly released her hold on Willow’s hand and caught one final glimpse of her girlfriend before the double-door closed completely. She felt as if she had let go of a part of herself and she hated that there was nothing she could do to get it back, except wait. Covering her mouth with a dried, blood caked hand, Tara swallowed back a heart wrenching sob.

Julian moved to stand behind her, placing his hands on either side of her shoulders as he gave them an encouraging squeeze. It pained him to see her in such anguish. He looked up at the double door, worried sick for Willow as well.

Tara turned in his grasp and threw her arms around Julian’s neck. As soon as she sunk into his embrace, Tara’s final barrier broke and she let loose, crying uncontrollably on her best friends shoulder.

"She’s going to be okay. Everything is gonna be okay," Julian said, his voice barely above a whisper. He shushed the brunette and patted her back, trying his hardest to comfort the distraught woman.

"I’m sorry. I’m so sorry," Tara breathed out in between sobs as she clung onto him. She was overwhelmed with guilt for hurting Julian and also for letting harm befall on Willow.

Julian shook his head at hearing the heart rendering apologies. "It’s not your fault, Tara."

"Yes, it is!" Tara shouted as she pulled away from the embrace, her yelling attracting the attention of the entire floor. "If I hadn’t been so selfish, none of this would have happened! If I hadn’t betrayed your trust and gone out with her, s-s-started dating her, she never would have followed after me in the gymnasium and she would never have been shot. I should have protected her."

Tara cursed after her own one-mindedness, chasing after Chandler Bolton without regards to anyone. Without any regard of Willow. She should be the one in the OR fighting for her life, not Willow. As tears started to tickle down her cheeks once more, Tara closed her eyes in exasperation. She couldn’t even begin to think about the possibility of the redhead not making it out alive. The quirky medical examiner had come to mean so much to her.

"You couldn’t have known that was gonna happen. If you want someone to blame, blame me," Julian shot back, not bearing to let Tara beat herself up over something he was responsible for. "I was the one who left you in the lurch. I should have been there; protecting the both of you. I should've done my job and apprehended that sick bastered before he had a chance to hurt anyone else. "

"No, Julian, I..."

"Listen Tara, this isn't your fault," Julian said in a stern tone, his eyes narrowing. "I dropped the ball on this one all because I let my emotions get the best of me. I was hurt that Willow didn't want me, I was angry that you kept your relationship hidden from me, but mainly, I'm just pissed with myself for making you feel like you couldn't tell me in the first place out of fear of how I'd react. And to be honest, I acted like a asshole with the whole 'woe-is-me' thing and the whole disappearing act. I let my ego get in front of our friendship and it nearly cost you your life ... and ... I'll never forgive myself if it costs ..." he trailed off suddenly, unable to finish his line of thought as tears slowly pooled at the base of his eyes.

"I’m sorry," Tara said in a cracked whisper, her own tears sliding freely down her cheeks. She didn’t know what she was apologizing for this time, but she had nothing else to say that could make things better. And in truth, there was none. Tara wished there was something she could do to help Willow and she would do anything for her at this point.

"Come on, you need to sit down," Julian said soothingly as he wrapped an arm around the brunette’s shoulder, leading her to the waiting area where he guided her down onto one of the couches.

Tara sank heavily onto the cushioned seat, thoroughly worn-out by the day’s event.

Sinking down on the cushion next to her, Julian wrapped his arm around Tara’s shoulders once more, pulling the crying woman close to him so that she could rest her head on his chest. Tenderly, he brushed strands of honey brown hair away from her face and noticed for the first time that she had stains of blood all over her skin. He tried to wipe them away with his thumb, but they had already dried up and were caked to her pours. He slowly flipped her right hand over, the one that was clutching his shirt, and saw the blood on her palm as well.

Tara looked down and saw the evidence of her sin. She had Willow’s blood on her hands, the darken red stain mocking her and her failed attempt to protect the medical examiner. A wayward tear fell from her cheek and landed on her palm, resurrecting dry blood.

"Close your eyes and rest, Tara." Julian ordered, his tone soft as he leaned back on the couch, pulling the brunette with him.

Tara did as she was told, too tired to protest.

Julian continued to run his fingers through her hair absentmindedly and after a few minutes, he felt Tara’s breathing even out. Placing a tender kiss on his friend's temple, "I'm sorry," he spoke softly into her hair so as not to disturb her, "I'm so so sorry." Rotating his face so that his cheek rested against the crown of Tara's head, Julian stared at the clock that hung on the plain wall ahead of him, watching as the seconds ticked by at an agonizingly slow pace.

_________________
Alyson, oh, Alyson why don´t you join my band? So you could play the flute like this one time in band camp.
I Am Forever / A Special Christmas of Sorts / Maybe It's Just Me / Honeysuckle Rose /Blackouts and Breakthroughs / When Love Arrives


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 Post subject: Re: Maybe It's Just Me - Update 07/29/2020
PostPosted: Thu Jul 30, 2020 6:04 am 
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Dibs! :whip
Now I like Julian again, I'm glad he came to his senses.
Yay that he saved Tara from getting shot by Chandler!

Quote:
"I’m sorry. I’m so sorry," Tara breathed out in between sobs as she clung onto him. She was overwhelmed with guilt for hurting Julian and also for letting harm befall on Willow.

Julian shook his head at hearing the heart rendering apologies. "It’s not your fault, Tara."

"Yes, it is!" Tara shouted as she pulled away from the embrace, her yelling attracting the attention of the entire floor. "If I hadn’t been so selfish, none of this would have happened! If I hadn’t betrayed your trust and gone out with her, s-s-started dating her, she never would have followed after me in the gymnasium and she would never have been shot. I should have protected her."

I hope Tara doesn't get the stupid idea that she should break up with Willow to protect her from harm in the future. As long as Willow doesn't go "out in the field" with Tara in the future they'll be fine, I trust.

Quote:
"You couldn’t have known that was gonna happen. If you want someone to blame, blame me," Julian shot back, not bearing to let Tara beat herself up over something he was responsible for. "I was the one who left you in the lurch. I should have been there; protecting the both of you. I should've done my job and apprehended that sick bastered before he had a chance to hurt anyone else. "

"No, Julian, I..."

"Listen Tara, this isn't your fault," Julian said in a stern tone, his eyes narrowing. "I dropped the ball on this one all because I let my emotions get the best of me. I was hurt that Willow didn't want me, I was angry that you kept your relationship hidden from me, but mainly, I'm just pissed with myself for making you feel like you couldn't tell me in the first place out of fear of how I'd react. And to be honest, I acted like a asshole with the whole 'woe-is-me' thing and the whole disappearing act. I let my ego get in front of our friendship and it nearly cost you your life ... and ... I'll never forgive myself if it costs ..." he trailed off suddenly, unable to finish his line of thought as tears slowly pooled at the base of his eyes.

Good that he realized his faults, but even if he had been with Tara on the scene instead of Harris, Tara probably would still have run after Chandler alone, demanding that he and Willow care for the victim. And if he instead of Harris had to "struggle" with the traumatized victim, Willow would have run after Tara alone, too.

I hope that in the next chapter they will immediately get the good news that the surgery was successful and Willow will make a full recovery and that we'll hear mutual love declarations from Tara and Willow at her sickbed.


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 Post subject: Re: Maybe It's Just Me - Update 07/29/2020
PostPosted: Wed Aug 05, 2020 5:43 pm 
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7. Teeny Tinkerbell Light
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Will's redemption wrote:
Dibs! :whip


:banana :eatme

Quote:
Now I like Julian again, I'm glad he came to his senses.
Yay that he saved Tara from getting shot by Chandler!


haha. He let his ego get in the way but overall Julian's a good dude.

Quote:
I hope Tara doesn't get the stupid idea that she should break up with Willow to protect her from harm in the future. As long as Willow doesn't go "out in the field" with Tara in the future they'll be fine, I trust.


Nope, definitely not going to break up with Willow but maybe some light scolding for acting so recklessly.


Quote:
Good that he realized his faults, but even if he had been with Tara on the scene instead of Harris, Tara probably would still have run after Chandler alone, demanding that he and Willow care for the victim. And if he instead of Harris had to "struggle" with the traumatized victim, Willow would have run after Tara alone, too.


I believe if Julian was there, he too would have taken chase and left Willow behind with the Sargent to care for the victim. With both detectives after Chandler, he wouldn't have been able to get the drop on Tara like he did.

Quote:
I hope that in the next chapter they will immediately get the good news that the surgery was successful and Willow will make a full recovery and that we'll hear mutual love declarations from Tara and Willow at her sickbed.


Good news all around for this chapter.

_________________
Alyson, oh, Alyson why don´t you join my band? So you could play the flute like this one time in band camp.
I Am Forever / A Special Christmas of Sorts / Maybe It's Just Me / Honeysuckle Rose /Blackouts and Breakthroughs / When Love Arrives


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 Post subject: Re: Maybe It's Just Me - Update 07/29/2020
PostPosted: Wed Aug 05, 2020 5:44 pm 
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Willow opened her eyes, but squeezed them shut almost immediately when shafts of bright light shone through the small slits of her eyelids, stinging her retinas. She hissed at the burning pain caused by the light, her face scrunching up together. As the flaming sensation of her eyes began to subside after a few moments, she let out a soft sigh and relaxed her features along with the tensed muscles in her body. Having learnt the painful lesson, Willow brought a hand up to shield her eyes from the bright florescent light before opening them for the second time.

Everything around her was blurred, her vision obscured by a thin layer of fog. She could barely make out the shadowy figures that seemed to float past the glass walls some distance away. Her mind and body were still trying to find their way back to the state of consciousness.

The pungent smell of disinfectant in the air and the high-pitched sound of rhythmic beeping in the background gave her a pretty good idea of her current location. The only sense failing her at the moment was her sight. She tried blinking away the fuzziness, but the smoke screen in her eyes stubbornly refused to recede. She moved to her next plan of rubbing it away with her hands.

Willow was startled briefly when she attempted to move her arm, a tight grip at the back of her right hand stopping her movement instantly. The beeps of the heart-rate monitor increased substantially in response to her sudden racing heart. She turned her head to the side and looked down at her hand, sighing in relief once she came upon the object of restraint. An unconscious smile spread across her face, although it was rather weak.

She softly traced imaginary circles on the hand that held hers and used her other hand to brush chestnut brown hair away from the peaceful undisturbed face. Willow then chuckled softly to herself when she noticed the little puddle of drool on the bed, right below where the mouth was located.

Her chuckling in amusement quickly turned into her cringing in pain. Releasing her hand which was petting Tara’s, she groaned in pain as she clutched her abdomen with both hands, gradually curling herself up into a ball.

Tara shifted in her seat, murmuring a string of garbled and no doubt disgruntled words when an abrupt shifting of the mattress interrupted her sleep. Lifting her head up slightly, Tara rubbed at her tired eyes before wiping the corner of her mouth with the back of her sleeve. She felt a body-wide ache, starting at the base of her neck, seep throughout her body as she sat up straighter. Once she became aware of her surroundings, the first thing Tara saw was the way Willow had curled up a tad on the bed and then the contorted features on her face.

"Willow! Wh – oh god," Tara breathed out as she swayed to her feet. She placed one hand on her forehead and another on the bed for support.
She had gotten up so fast from her seat just seconds after waking up; her mind wasn’t able to catch up with her body, resulting in a nasty occurrence of light-headedness. Her extreme concern for the woman writhing in the bed next to her provided an almost instant remedy for the dizziness.

"Just hold on a sec, I’m gonna go get the nurse," Tara said quickly as soon as she recovered from the giddy spell.

She had only whirled half of her body around when a clammy hand gripped her wrist, preventing her from moving further away. Instantly, Tara turned back to face Willow, whose agonized expression appeared to have softened considerably compared to just a few seconds prior.

Beads of sweat trickled down her forehead as she peered up into scared cobalt blue eyes. "Don’t go, I’m alright," Willow husked out in a breathy whisper, even though she could still feel the throbbing pain from the bullet wound in her lower abdomen.

"No, you’re not. You’re obviously in pain, I’m gonna go get the nurse," Tara said again, more determinedly this time. She managed a single step forward before being tugged back once more.

"Tara, I’m fine now, I promise. Just stay here with me, please?" Willow asked beseechingly, her eyebrows turned upwards to give a pleading look.

"You could have pulled your stitches. It’ll only take a few seconds for the nurse to check," Tara replied austerely. "You’ve already lost a fair amount of blood; I don’t want you bleeding out on me again."

She stood stock still with her head turned back over her shoulder as she stared frowningly at the redhead lying on the hospital bed, Willow’s ghostly white hand still gripping her stretched out arm. In spite of the stern expression she was donning, Tara was already feeling herself melting inside at the adorable look her girlfriend was giving her.

"I didn’t, I’m okay. Look," Willow insisted as she rushed through her words and tried to sit herself up, but was too weak to do so.

"That’s really convincing," Tara commented sarcastically with a roll of her eyes as she turned back to the bed to assist Willow in lying back down comfortably on the cot. "Lie back down," she demanded as she pushed the ‘up’ button on the remote control to incline the bed.

Once in a slightly upright position, Willow pushed off the blankets that was loosely wrapped around her upper torso and opened her gown enough to reveal the bandage covering her abdomen. With a steady hand, Willow reached for the rectangular bandage, her fingers grazing over the darkened, dried blob of blood peeking through the top layer of the gauze, before pulling on the tap securing the dressing to her skin.

As Willow tossed the blanket back, Tara’s breath caught in her throat. She stared stunned as Willow deftly moved for the string of her gown, exposing smooth skin right down the middle of her torso with the sides of the gown just about hanging off her breast. She would have swallowed if her mouth hadn’t suddenly dried up. It wasn’t her proudest moment, but Tara almost wished that the gown would slide off the porcelain skin a bit more to end the innocent, yet torturous teasing, but the inappropriateness of the setting and situation managed to keep her hormones in check.

Willow frowned at Tara, who was silent and was simply staring down at her body. Following the detectives line of sight, Willow quickly realized that the brunette’s eyes weren’t even close to looking at the bandaged wound. Blushing profusely, Willow made a move to cover herself up out of self-consciousness as well as embarrassment, shrinking deeper into the bed at the same time. Her breath hitched when Tara stepped closer to the bed, her hands stretched out, only to realize moments later that the brunette was merely going to help her re-wrap the gown around her waist.

"Happy now?" Willow asked, hoping the proof of a clean perfectly stitched wound was enough to convince Tara that she didn’t need attention from the medical staff. Not waiting for an answer, she concentrated on smoothing out her gown, avoiding eye contact the whole time.

"Yeah, kind of," Tara replied, a suggestive smirk on her lips.

Willow snapped her head up, looking at Tara with her jaw hanging slightly. She could feel her cheeks beginning to burn again as warm blood rushed up into them, having just cooled She diverted her eyes away and stared at her blanket-covered feet, suddenly finding them rather interesting.

Tara flashed her patented crooked smiled when she saw the flustered expression. Smoothing the blanket out, Tara carefully sat down on the bed beside Willow with one of her knees bent, while the other leg hung off the side of the mattress. She raised her hand to Willow’s reddened cheek and slowly turned the medical examiners face to meet her own.Leaning forward slightly, making sure not to jostle the bed and inflict any pain onto the redhead, Tara slowly brushed her lips against those of her girlfriend. Pulling back from the subdued yet passion filled kiss, Tara released a soft sigh. Looking deeply into seafoam green eyes, Tara felt an array of emotions course through her entire body, the hair on the back of her neck standing upright causing a shudder to wash over her body. She realized then just how much she had missed the redhead.

After Willow had been wheeled into the OR, she had already lost about thirty percent of her blood and required an immediate blood transfusion to keep her alive as the surgeons removed the bullet fragments embedded inside her body. Due to the complications of surgery and the severe blood lost, the doctors had placed Willow into an induced coma. An endotracheal tube had been placed down her trachea and attached to a respirator to assist with the redhead’s labored breathing.

Julian had waited in the waiting area with his partner for approximately six hours before the operation, and their torment, finally ended. When the leading surgeon finally emerged, he informed the duo that Willow was not yet out of the woods and would need to be closely monitored over the next few days.
They both stayed by her side for the first 14 hours before Julian was summoned back to the precinct to fill out a Stars report detailing the shooting for internal affairs.

Begrudgingly, Julian left the ICU only after Tara reassured him that she would contact him right away if anything was to change in Willow’s prognosis. For the next 48 hours, Tara sat vigilantly by Willow’s side while the latter was unconscious, her attention focused solely on the redhead’s heart monitor as she whispered words of affirmation to the sedated woman.

Throughout those two days, Julian, who had reclaimed his position on the opposite side of Willow’s bed, urged his partner to go home to get herself cleaned up. He tried his best to assure the brunette that he would stay behind at the hospital while she got some rest, but the offer had been rejected each time. She was too worried about her girlfriend to be able to take her eyes off her for even a second. She wanted to be there, at Willow’s side, when she woke up. In the end, she was the one to convince Julian to go home.

"Do you know how much of an idiot you were for coming after me? What were you thinking?" Tara asked in a quiet voice as she tenderly caressed the soft skin under her thumb.

"I guess I wasn’t," Willow answered, whispering her confession. "I just ... I was worried, and I got scared for you and ... and ... and I guess all logical sense kind of just left my head. I'm sorry."

"I would have done the same if I were you," Tara replied honestly, purposely leaving out the part about her having had a gun pointed at her head and almost getting killed. She didn’t want Willow to feel guilty for something that never happened, no matter how close it had come.

"It's my fault anyways, so don't apologize. I shouldn’t have let you come along," she continued in self-blame, lowering her head slightly. Her hand dropped off from Willow’s cheek to rest on her own lap. "I was supposed to protect you."

"Hey, the only way you could have prevented me from tagging along was to lock me up in jail," Willow said jokingly in an effort to lighten up the mood.

"I probably should have done that," Tara joked back, leaning into the soft grazes of Willow’s fingertips as they brushed across her face to gently tuck strands of brown hair behind her ear.

With her eyes focused on the unblemished face in front of her, Willow took in the dark circles that were shadowing impressive teal eyes. Tara’s features seemed to be hanging heavy, an obvious sign of fatigue and sleep-deprivation.

"You should go home and get some sleep," Willow said, her hand sliding from Tara’s face down to her neck.

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" Tara asked, staring at Willow with wide, doe eyes.

"I was hoping you would just take the hint," Willow cantered good-humoredly, playing along with the brunette upon hearing the playful tone behind her question. "Besides, you look like crap."

"Well, so do you," Tara responded, shooting back the light-hearted insult.

"Then why were you staring before?" Willow questioned. She was determined to win the round of banter.

"I wasn’t looking at your face that time," Tara answered bluntly. She smiled cheekily in triumph when Willow simply gawked at her with an open mouth.

"That was mean," Willow said through a pout before finding herself being infected by the impish smile. "But I’m serious, you should really go home and get some rest. I’ll still be here when you come back. It’s not like I’m going anywhere with a hole in my stomach."

"I don’t want to leave you alone," Tara replied while shaking her head, fearing something else might happen to the redhead while she was away. The last time she had left her behind, Willow ended up here in the hospital with a tube shoved down her throat, fighting for her life. "I don’t wanna leave you alone again. Ever. So, I’m not going."

Willow was about to utter her protest when she was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"She won’t be alone I can stay here with her," Julian said as he stepped into the room. "Go home, Tara. This is already like the millionth time I’ve told you."

Tara turned her head and saw her partner standing near the sliding glass door leading into the isolated room. She dropped her gaze to the floor before looking back at Willow, who shifted in the bed and appeared to be as uncomfortable about the current situation as she was. The three of them had never been in the same room together since the brunette admitted to Julian that she was seeing Willow, at least, not while all of them were conscious.

Julian noticed the awkward silence and decided to address the elephant in the room.

"It’s alright, really. I’m okay with the two of you being together. I’m still trying to come to terms with it, you know, frail male ego and all, but I’m okay, really. I’ve been watching you two from outside for the past few minutes and seeing how you comfort and make each other smile … I really don’t want to be the person who stands in the way of your happiness," Julian proclaimed as he smiled reassuringly.

They had spoken briefly about their short lived fallout while in the waiting room, and Julian had already apologized for his rash behavior several times, but Tara still couldn’t believe what she had just heard as tears of joy welled up in her eyes. She felt as if the tons of emotional burdens she had been carrying around for the past few days had lifted right off her shoulders. Swiftly, Tara shot off of the bed and rushed toward Julian, engulfing the larger man in a bear hug.

Julian laughed out loud when his best friend threw herself onto him and wrapped her arms around his neck. The hug lasted all of three seconds before he pushed her away with a grimace.

"What?" Tara asked in a nervous whisper, wondering if Julian had changed his mind as dread began to spread throughout her body.

"God, you stink."

_________________
Alyson, oh, Alyson why don´t you join my band? So you could play the flute like this one time in band camp.
I Am Forever / A Special Christmas of Sorts / Maybe It's Just Me / Honeysuckle Rose /Blackouts and Breakthroughs / When Love Arrives


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 Post subject: Re: Maybe It's Just Me - Update 08/05/2020
PostPosted: Sun Aug 09, 2020 11:55 pm 
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Dibs! :whip

Quote:
After Willow had been wheeled into the OR, she had already lost about thirty percent of her blood and required an immediate blood transfusion to keep her alive as the surgeons removed the bullet fragments embedded inside her body. Due to the complications of surgery and the severe blood lost, the doctors had placed Willow into an induced coma. An endotracheal tube had been placed down her trachea and attached to a respirator to assist with the redhead’s labored breathing.

Julian had waited in the waiting area with his partner for approximately six hours before the operation, and their torment, finally ended. When the leading surgeon finally emerged, he informed the duo that Willow was not yet out of the woods and would need to be closely monitored over the next few days.
They both stayed by her side for the first 14 hours before Julian was summoned back to the precinct to fill out a Stars report detailing the shooting for internal affairs.

Begrudgingly, Julian left the ICU only after Tara reassured him that she would contact him right away if anything was to change in Willow’s prognosis. For the next 48 hours, Tara sat vigilantly by Willow’s side while the latter was unconscious, her attention focused solely on the redhead’s heart monitor as she whispered words of affirmation to the sedated woman.

Willow's condition was even more dramatic than I feared it would be! I'm glad that Tara was obviously able to take a personal leave so she could stay at Willow's side the whole time.

Quote:
As Willow tossed the blanket back, Tara’s breath caught in her throat. She stared stunned as Willow deftly moved for the string of her gown, exposing smooth skin right down the middle of her torso with the sides of the gown just about hanging off her breast. She would have swallowed if her mouth hadn’t suddenly dried up. It wasn’t her proudest moment, but Tara almost wished that the gown would slide off the porcelain skin a bit more to end the innocent, yet torturous teasing, but the inappropriateness of the setting and situation managed to keep her hormones in check.

Willow frowned at Tara, who was silent and was simply staring down at her body. Following the detectives line of sight, Willow quickly realized that the brunette’s eyes weren’t even close to looking at the bandaged wound. Blushing profusely, Willow made a move to cover herself up out of self-consciousness as well as embarrassment, shrinking deeper into the bed at the same time. Her breath hitched when Tara stepped closer to the bed, her hands stretched out, only to realize moments later that the brunette was merely going to help her re-wrap the gown around her waist.

"Happy now?" Willow asked, hoping the proof of a clean perfectly stitched wound was enough to convince Tara that she didn’t need attention from the medical staff. Not waiting for an answer, she concentrated on smoothing out her gown, avoiding eye contact the whole time.

"Yeah, kind of," Tara replied, a suggestive smirk on her lips.

Quote:
"Then why were you staring before?" Willow questioned. She was determined to win the round of banter.

"I wasn’t looking at your face that time," Tara answered bluntly. She smiled cheekily in triumph when Willow simply gawked at her with an open mouth.

:laugh Yay that Willow is well enough now for Tara to stray into some flirty territory.

Quote:
Julian noticed the awkward silence and decided to address the elephant in the room.

"It’s alright, really. I’m okay with the two of you being together. I’m still trying to come to terms with it, you know, frail male ego and all, but I’m okay, really. I’ve been watching you two from outside for the past few minutes and seeing how you comfort and make each other smile … I really don’t want to be the person who stands in the way of your happiness," Julian proclaimed as he smiled reassuringly.

They had spoken briefly about their short lived fallout while in the waiting room, and Julian had already apologized for his rash behavior several times, but Tara still couldn’t believe what she had just heard as tears of joy welled up in her eyes. She felt as if the tons of emotional burdens she had been carrying around for the past few days had lifted right off her shoulders. Swiftly, Tara shot off of the bed and rushed toward Julian, engulfing the larger man in a bear hug.

Julian laughed out loud when his best friend threw herself onto him and wrapped her arms around his neck. The hug lasted all of three seconds before he pushed her away with a grimace.

"What?" Tara asked in a nervous whisper, wondering if Julian had changed his mind as dread began to spread throughout her body.

"God, you stink."

So great that Julian set Tara at ease by giving "his blessing" to her relationship with Willow. :applause
I had already been thinking that Tara must smell awfully "ripe" - Willow's nose doesn't seem to be at full capacity yet. :wink


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 Post subject: Re: Maybe It's Just Me - Update 08/05/2020
PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 6:15 pm 
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Beads of sweat trickled down her forehead as she peered up into scared cobalt blue eyes. "Don’t go, I’m alright," Willow husked out in a breathy whisper, even though she could still feel the throbbing pain from the bullet wound in her lower abdomen.

"No, you’re not. You’re obviously in pain, I’m gonna go get the nurse," Tara said again, more determinedly this time. She managed a single step forward before being tugged back once more.

"Tara, I’m fine now, I promise. Just stay here with me, please?" Willow asked beseechingly, her eyebrows turned upwards to give a pleading look.

"You could have pulled your stitches. It’ll only take a few seconds for the nurse to check," Tara replied austerely. "You’ve already lost a fair amount of blood; I don’t want you bleeding out on me again."


I don't know whats more heartwarming, Willow's need to for Tara to be close or Tara's overwhelming need to make sure Willow's okay. Even without saying it to each other (yet) they're both head over heels crazy for the other. I can't wait for the big 'I love you's' to be exchanged.


Quote:
Julian laughed out loud when his best friend threw herself onto him and wrapped her arms around his neck. The hug lasted all of three seconds before he pushed her away with a grimace.

"What?" Tara asked in a nervous whisper, wondering if Julian had changed his mind as dread began to spread throughout her body.

"God, you stink."


I love the friendly banter between these two, it's very realistic. I'm glad they talked things out and made up. Would have been hard to read if they had an indefinite falling out or if Julian turned into a real dick.


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 Post subject: Re: Maybe It's Just Me - Update 08/05/2020
PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 6:59 pm 
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Will's redemption wrote:
Dibs! :whip


:grin :bow


Quote:
:laugh Yay that Willow is well enough now for Tara to stray into some flirty territory.


know that Tara knows Willow is in the clear and on her way to recovery, there's nothing stopping her from being flirtatious.


Quote:
So great that Julian set Tara at ease by giving "his blessing" to her relationship with Willow. :applause


Julian knows better than to stand in the way of true love. Besides, all he wants from his friend is for her to be happy, and he can see as clear as day that Willow is her happiness.

Quote:
I had already been thinking that Tara must smell awfully "ripe" - Willow's nose doesn't seem to be at full capacity yet. :wink


The strong smell of disinfectant must have made her nose blind. Either that, or she didn't care how awful Tara smelled, she was just happy to be next to her.

_________________
Alyson, oh, Alyson why don´t you join my band? So you could play the flute like this one time in band camp.
I Am Forever / A Special Christmas of Sorts / Maybe It's Just Me / Honeysuckle Rose /Blackouts and Breakthroughs / When Love Arrives


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 Post subject: Re: Maybe It's Just Me - Update 08/05/2020
PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 8:06 pm 
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"Okay, is there anything else?" Tara asked as she stuffed clothing into her already overflowing backpack. She turned her head to the side to look at the redhead beside her, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, swinging her legs from side to side.

"Are you sure?" Tara questioned when she saw Willow shake her head, a skeptical eyebrow arching high onto her forehead. She swiftly zipped up the
bag and threw it over her shoulder once she received an enthusiastic nod of the head from the medical examiner.

"What is up with you?" Tara chuckled; thoroughly amused by the childlike responses she was receiving.

"I’m just happy that I finally get to go home," Willow answered with a bright smile, slowly getting off the bed.

After Julian was able to convince Tara to go home and shower, he had sat down with the redhead and filled her in on the incident that took place, leaving nothing out. He relayed what happened at the gymnasium and how he killed Chandler Bolton mere seconds before he had a chance of shooting Tara. He then informed her that she had been in a coma for nearly three days after having flat-lined on the operating table which required immediate incubation. How the respirator kept her breathing until her vitals picked back up a day later and was successfully removed. And when she questioned the stitches on his forehead and gash along the bridge of his nose, Julian informed her about the car accident he had been in.

Since her one on one with Julian, and her brief berating to a certain Detective who left out almost being murdered, Willow spent the following nine days recouping in ICU, wanting nothing more than to leave the bland room she had spent most of that time in. She didn’t know what she would have done if Tara hadn’t taken time off from work to keep her company. And she really didn’t know what she would have done when it became time, three days ago, for her to get up and walk around a bit to prevent blood clots from forming. Tara had stayed with her every step of the way; encouraging her, motivating her, and above all loving her.

Before she could delve deeper into her thoughts, a tentative knock on the door broke her from her musing.

"Am I interrupting anything?" A familiar voice asked as the door creaked open slightly.

"Oh, no, come in," Tara called out, mixing in an audible laugh. She shared an embarrassed look with Willow at the recollection of being caught in a rather compromising position the last time that same person barged in.

Julian poked his head past the small opening of the door to check on the situation before stepping into the room fully. He remembered stumbling upon the two women in bed a couple of days ago when he simply walked in without knocking, setting off a mass panic and a flurry of limbs as Tara swiftly hopped off the bed, tugging the sides of her button down shirt to cover her exposed chest.

"How are you feeling today, Dr. Rosenberg?" Harris asked as he followed Julian into the room, closing the door securely behind him.

"I’m feeling better, thanks for asking," Willow replied, smiling appreciatively.

"Do you guys need a ride? I can give you a lift on our way back to the precinct," Julian offered.

"No, it’s fine. I have my car in the parking lot. Did you come here just to ask us if we needed a ride?" Tara asked, frowning puzzlingly.

"Actually, we have a case. We were down at the morgue, so we figured we should drop by and see how everything’s going," Julian explained with a soft shrug of his shoulders as he stuffed his hands into the front pockets of his pants.

"You have a case? Do you need help? I could-"

"It’s okay, Harris and I can handle it. You just focus on taking care of Willow, don’t worry about anything else, " Julian interjected quickly, cutting Tara off.
He knew his best friend too well, knowing full-heartedly that she wouldn’t be able to concentrate on work if she had to leave Willow alone in her current physical condition. After almost two weeks, he was already beginning to get used to the idea of them being together, even though there was still some level of awkwardness, especially after having stumbled upon them making out in the hospital bed .

"Alright. But if you need any help, just give me a call," Tara said before turning to Willow who was standing close by. "You all set to go?"

"Yeah," Willow breathed out, a grateful smile etching across her lips as she linked her hand with Tara’s
 

888
 

Tara was hugging a huge grocery bag close to her chest in addition to the backpack that was hanging on one of her shoulders. They had decided to go grocery shopping on their way back to Willow’s apartment from the hospital and Tara insisted that she carry everything up the two flights of stairs so that Willow wouldn’t have to stress her still recovering body.

When they reached the front door, Tara swung the backpack forward and unzipped it before stuffing her hand inside one of the many compartments. Her hand wandered about aimlessly inside the pocket as she searched for the ring of keys which had been buried deep within piles of clothing. She struggled to hold onto the brown grocery bag with her other hand and it was coming dangerously close to slipping down to the ground. A frustrated groan soon escaped her lips when the search for the keys kept coming up futile.

"Are you sure you don’t need any help?" Willow asked with a chuckle. She was standing beside Tara with her arms folded across her chest, watching in amusement. As touched as she was by Tara’s protectiveness, she doubted carrying a bag of groceries for a few moments would cause any serious damage to her abdomen.

"Nope, I have everything under control," Tara replied in a strained voice, stubbornly refusing any assistance.

"Yeah, I can clearly see that," Willow deadpanned, moving forward to grab the grocery bag from Tara.

Tara quickly turned away from the advancing woman, shielding the brown paper bag with her back as she continued to rummage around inside the backpack for keys she was beginning to suspect had been left behind at the hospital. Her annoyed expression soon became animated when her hand felt something jagged near the bottom of the bag. Wrapping her fingers around the serrated object, Tara yanked it out of its confinement.

"Ah-ha! I got it. See, I told you I’ve everything under control," Tara said smugly as she turned back around to show Willow the key ring.

Tara wore a self-satisfied smile on her face as she dangled the keys in front of the redhead, who rolled her eyes playfully in response. Thrusting the key into the keyhole, Tara unlocked the door and held it open, letting Willow step inside first. She then bent down to allow the backpack to slide off her shoulder when she was inside the apartment, kicking the door close with her heel at the same time.

"Why don’t you go get some rest? I’ll wake you up when lunch is ready," Tara offered as she made her way to the kitchen.

Willow made a face at hearing the suggestion. She had been lying in bed almost the entire time she was in the hospital; she didn’t want to be doing the same thing now that she was back in her own home. Instead, she followed Tara into the kitchen with every intention of helping the detective prepare lunch.

"I’m thinking that maybe I can help you make lunch," Willow replied, leaning her hip against the kitchen island. "I’ve been lying in bed for the past week or so, I’m tired of resting."

Tara, who had started unpacking the groceries as soon as she sat them down, turned to give Willow a disapproving look but it dissipated when her eyes gazed upon a pouting face.

"You know, there’ll come a day when you pouting will no longer have any effect on me," Tara quipped defiantly, even though she knew in her heart that day would never arrive. She would forever remain defenseless against Willow’s adorability.

"But until then, I will be using it to get what I want," Willow responded in a sing-song voice, gently nudging Tara away from her spot and began to unpack the groceries. "And right now, I wanna help you make lunch."

Tara grinned at Willow’s playfulness, and then whirled around to take out a pot from under the kitchen counter. She placed it on the stove after washing it clean in the sink.

Willow turned to look at Tara, who had her back toward her. She ditched the task at hand and approached the oblivious woman from behind, slowly wrapping her arms around the brunette’s waist and resting her cheek against her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Tara asked hesitantly. She was pleasantly surprised when she felt hands on her hips before they slid around her waist.

Willow planted a soft kiss on Tara’s shoulder. "I’m more than okay. How long can we stay like this?"

"As long as you want. Actually, my leave ends after tomorrow ... so two days," Tara answered, wrapping her own arms around Willow’s.

"Can I ask you something?" Willow asked in a rather solemn voice, feeling Tara tense up in her arms.

Tara swiftly turned in the tight embrace to face Willow. "What is it?" she asked concernedly, bringing her hands up to cup Willow’s face.

Willow bit down on her lower lip. "Remember that case we had with the high-powered exec? Margarette something."

"Margarette Thatcher?" Tara deduced. "Yea, of course, but why are you bringing her up?" She frowned in puzzlement, not quite sure where Willow was going with this.

"I have been meaning to ask … what did she mean when she said you’re trying to numb yourself with the idea of dying by surrounding yourself with death?" Willow queried, looking up at Tara expectantly.

Tara heaved a sigh as she brushed auburn hair away from Willow’s face. "My mom passed away when I was seventeen. Before that, I had to watch her suffer through her illness for years, slowly withering away to nothing before she finally just … died. It was horrible, having to see her struggle to get through each day. I guess I just never really wrapped my head around it," Tara admitted, her voice low as she spoke from the heart. "My dad and I grew apart after that. He never said it, but I know it’s because I reminded him too much of her and I don’t blame him. Each time I looked in the mirror, I see the image of my mom staring back. I’m afraid I’ll end up like her."

"Tara …" Willow said softly, tenderly caressing the brunette’s cheek.

Tara smiled reassuringly even as tears formed in the corner of her eyes at the painful memory of how her family fell apart. "I’ve never let anyone get close to me, because it hurts too much when they leave, whether by choice or not. The only one who ever got through to me was Julian … but that was before I fell in love with you."

At the brunette’s words, Willow pulled Tara toward here for a kiss, pouring her affection into it. As her lips parted, tongue sneaking out to meet Tara’s, the detective reciprocated with just as much emotions.

"I’ve fallen in love with you too," Willow said breathlessly once she pulled away. "And you never have to worry about me leaving you."

Tara leaned in for another passionate lip-lock, pulling the redhead close to her. She was about to deepen the kiss when Willow practically jumped backwards, breaking the kiss.

"Do you realize something?" Willow asked, staring at Tara with wide eyes.

"That I managed to make someone who hated me fall in love with me? Yeah," Tara replied with a haughty smile as she tried to lure Willow back into another kiss.

"No, not that!" Willow exclaimed, bouncing in the embrace only to stop seconds later. "Wait a second, you were the one who hated me. I was just defending myself ... in a mean way sometimes."

"Umm ... err, various sounds of hesitation," Tara replied as she chewed on her bottom lip. "I didn't so much hate you but was jealous. Eventually, I just became sinicle, thinking that the more I annoyed you you'd eventually quit."

"Why were you jealous of me?"

"I thought you liked Julian ... that he would ditch me for you." she replied glumly.

"You're insane, you know that," Willow said as she reached up her right hand, cupping the brunettes cheek adoringly. "Julian would never ditch you. He loves you."

"I know, I was just .... I was being childish."

"You wanna know something?" Willow asked as she maneuvered the detectives face slightly so that they could look into each other's eyes. "When we first met, I thought you were mean to me because you had a crush on him. That you were so angry he kept hitting on me in front of you."

"What?!" Tara proclaimed through a snort. "I'm as gay as a unicorn pooping rainbows."

"I didn't know that at the time," huffed out the redhead with a soft shrug of her shoulders. "My gaydar's not the greatest. And it wasn't until the whole neighbor thing did I realize. The whole entire time, I just thought you were in love with your partner which then, I guess, made me jealous ... and sinicle to use your words."

"So we were both jealous of each other?"

"It would appear that way," proclaimed the medical examiner.

"For no other reason than our own naive stupidity." Tara added.

"Again, it would appear that way."

"Huh," Tara said as she arched an eyebrow. "Interesting."

"You wanna know what else is interesting?" Willow asked with a smile. "For two people who are in love, we’ve never actually gone out on a date."

Tara cocked her head to the side and looked disbelievingly at the woman in her arms. "Seriously?" She let out a hearty laugh when Willow bobbed her head like a kid. "What about tomorrow night?"

Willow frowned censoriously, "is that how you ask a woman out?"

Tara let out a noisy breath before straightening out her posture and putting on a sincere look. "Will you, Dr. Willow Rosenberg, go out on a date with me tomorrow night?"

Willow beamed. "Absolutely."

_________________
Alyson, oh, Alyson why don´t you join my band? So you could play the flute like this one time in band camp.
I Am Forever / A Special Christmas of Sorts / Maybe It's Just Me / Honeysuckle Rose /Blackouts and Breakthroughs / When Love Arrives


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 Post subject: Re: Maybe It's Just Me - Update 08/12/2020
PostPosted: Fri Aug 14, 2020 2:50 pm 
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Dibs! :whip
Quote:
"I have been meaning to ask … what did she mean when she said you’re trying to numb yourself with the idea of dying by surrounding yourself with death?" Willow queried, looking up at Tara expectantly.

Tara heaved a sigh as she brushed auburn hair away from Willow’s face. "My mom passed away when I was seventeen. Before that, I had to watch her suffer through her illness for years, slowly withering away to nothing before she finally just … died. It was horrible, having to see her struggle to get through each day. I guess I just never really wrapped my head around it," Tara admitted, her voice low as she spoke from the heart. "My dad and I grew apart after that. He never said it, but I know it’s because I reminded him too much of her and I don’t blame him. Each time I looked in the mirror, I see the image of my mom staring back. I’m afraid I’ll end up like her."

"Tara …" Willow said softly, tenderly caressing the brunette’s cheek.

Tara smiled reassuringly even as tears formed in the corner of her eyes at the painful memory of how her family fell apart. "I’ve never let anyone get close to me, because it hurts too much when they leave, whether by choice or not.

I'm glad that Tara opened up to Willow about this deep hurt she has carried around for such a long time!

Quote:
The only one who ever got through to me was Julian … but that was before I fell in love with you."

At the brunette’s words, Willow pulled Tara toward here for a kiss, pouring her affection into it. As her lips parted, tongue sneaking out to meet Tara’s, the detective reciprocated with just as much emotions.

"I’ve fallen in love with you too," Willow said breathlessly once she pulled away. "And you never have to worry about me leaving you."

Yay for the love declarations! :bigkiss :flower

Quote:
"What?!" Tara proclaimed through a snort. "I'm as gay as a unicorn pooping rainbows."

:lol Funny imagery coming out of the mouth of the tough detective!

Quote:
"You wanna know what else is interesting?" Willow asked with a smile. "For two people who are in love, we’ve never actually gone out on a date."

Tara cocked her head to the side and looked disbelievingly at the woman in her arms. "Seriously?" She let out a hearty laugh when Willow bobbed her head like a kid. "What about tomorrow night?"

Willow frowned censoriously, "is that how you ask a woman out?"

Tara let out a noisy breath before straightening out her posture and putting on a sincere look. "Will you, Dr. Willow Rosenberg, go out on a date with me tomorrow night?"

Willow beamed. "Absolutely."

Awww! I'm absolutely looking forward to it!

Tomorrow I'm going on vacation for two weeks and probably won't find time to read and comment on the next chapters until I get back home.


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 Post subject: Re: Maybe It's Just Me - Update 08/12/2020
PostPosted: Tue Aug 18, 2020 10:10 am 
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squeeee, they finally admitted they love each other :heart :applause Now for their first official date and hopefully more declorations of love :wtkiss


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 Post subject: Re: Maybe It's Just Me - Update 08/12/2020
PostPosted: Wed Aug 19, 2020 10:57 am 
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Will's redemption wrote:
Dibs! :whip


:dance

Quote:
I'm glad that Tara opened up to Willow about this deep hurt she has carried around for such a long time!


Being vulnerable is not easy but she's learning that she can trust Willow with her 'baggage'.

Quote:
Yay for the love declarations! :bigkiss :flower


I had originally intended to hold off on the mutual declarations of love until after the date but thought this felt more natural.

Quote:
:lol Funny imagery coming out of the mouth of the tough detective!


:grin

Quote:
Awww! I'm absolutely looking forward to it!


I hope the next chapter doesn't disappoint, I've never actually wrote an official first date scene so it might not be the greatest.

Quote:
Tomorrow I'm going on vacation for two weeks and probably won't find time to read and comment on the next chapters until I get back home.


Not a problem in the slightest. Have fun and enjoy your vacation!




wickedaddiction wrote:
squeeee, they finally admitted they love each other :heart :applause Now for their first official date and hopefully more declorations of love :wtkiss


:blush :blush it took a bit but they finally got there. Now for the first date ... I hope it doesn't disappoint.

_________________
Alyson, oh, Alyson why don´t you join my band? So you could play the flute like this one time in band camp.
I Am Forever / A Special Christmas of Sorts / Maybe It's Just Me / Honeysuckle Rose /Blackouts and Breakthroughs / When Love Arrives


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 Post subject: Re: Maybe It's Just Me - Update 08/12/2020
PostPosted: Wed Aug 19, 2020 11:33 am 
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Tara smiled to herself as she walked down the hallway toward the apartment near the end of the corridor. In her hand was a bouquet of fresh white lilies, which was releasing a pleasant floral fragrance in the air. Her silly smile widened with each inhale of the sweet-smelling oxygen. She stopped a couple of steps away from the door labelled "J" and promptly looked down to check on her outfit, smoothing out every noticeable crease. When she was satisfied with her appearance, Tara blew out a long breath to settle her nerves. Hiding the bouquet behind her back, Tara nervously knocked on the door.

"Hold on!" Willow shouted from inside her apartment.

Shifting from one foot to the other, Tara waited anxiously for her date to answer the door. She hadn’t seen her since she was laughingly chased out from the apartment earlier in the morning. She could barely contain her excitement amid the pterodactyl size butterflies flapping their wings inside her stomach. A few agonizing moments later, the door flew open and the sight before her was literally breath-taking. Tara swore, right then and there, that she would give every breath she had left just so she could continue to stare at the extraordinarily beautiful woman before her.

Willow stood at the threshold of her apartment, brandishing a smile so bright it could rival Christmas lights. She was wearing a figure-hugging black evening dress and her vibrant auburn hair was tumbling freely over her silky-smooth bare shoulders.

"Wow," Tara breathed out as her heart palpitated in her chest. She had a series of fantastically worded phrases to comment on how gorgeous Willow was, but all of them meshed into one simple word once they came out of her mouth. She stared agape at the redhead, struggling to mold herself back in shape after having been melted by the intense glow of the medical examiners beauty.

Willow lowered her head to hide her flushed cheeks, gingerly tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Her lips were stretched to their limits as she grinned from ear-to-ear at the flattering response she received from Tara, secretly pleased that the past few hours she spent on herself hadn’t been a complete waste.

"You clean up pretty nicely yourself," Willow said in a phony nonchalant manner as she looked up at the detective, just as taken by the stunning brunette standing at her door.

Tara was clad in a charcoal gray pair of dress pants and a form fitting white button down shirt, the neckline plunging down to the swell of her breast. Her lustrous brown hair was brought forward to cover parts of exposed tanned skin, tortuously teasing her. The thing Willow loved most about Tara’s attire was how everything seemed to compliment her dazzling azure eyes, which were twinkling with adoration as they set on her.

"Seriously?" Tara asked incredulously, her facial expression turning from one of admiration into one of feigned annoyance. "That’s what you have to say to me about how I look? I clean up well?"

"It’s a compliment!" Willow defended; chuckling when she saw the look of uncertainty she was given.

"You could have phrased it better. That sounded as if I’m a spruced up beggar who had been dragged out of the gutter," Tara replied, twisting her mouth to one side.

"Hmm, you would make a good-looking beggar," Willow said, smiling innocently as she cocked her head to the side, casting an approving glance up and down Tara’s body. She earned herself a playful roll of the eyes in response. "What are you holding behind your back?" she continued, having just noticed that Tara appeared to be hiding something from her with the way her arm was awkwardly bent behind her back.

"These are for you," Tara said quickly as she revealed the bouquet of white lilies, enthusiastically thrusting them forward toward Willow. "It was just lying in the dumpster so I thought, why not?" She smiled in part contentment and part self-satisfaction when Willow’s face brightened up at the sight of her favorite flowers.

"Tara … they’re beautiful," Willow said as she took the bouquet into her hands, putting her nose close to the flowers and inhaling deeply, savoring the aromatic floral scent. Pulling her face back from the flowers, she peered up through lidded eyes at the detective, "And so are you."

Tara stared into the sparkling green eyes when they looked up into hers in amazement, finding herself lost within their depths. Unconsciously, Tara began to lean in toward Willow. Just as their lips were about to touch, a hand was brought up at the last minute to act as a barrier.

"Uh-uh, no kissing before the date’s over," Willow said as she firmly shook her head, her eyes closing as she internally sighed in relief that she managed to catch herself in time.

"What? Why not?" Tara exclamation of dismay came out muffled as Willow’s fingers pressed against her mouth.

"Don’t you know? It’s a rule for first dates," Willow answered, biting down on her smile at Tara’s horrified yet adorable expression. She slid her hand down, off of Tara’s chest in order to hug the bouquet closer to her chest with both arms.

"Says who? There are plenty of people who kiss before their dates are over. There’s no such rule," Tara contended, trying to argue her way to a kiss.

"Says me. And if there isn’t one, I’m making it up right now," Willow replied defiantly. "Besides, if we kissed, we probably won’t make our dinner reservation."

As soon as those words left her mouth, she felt her cheeks began to burn at the implication.

"Well, I prefer staying in anyway," Tara smirked, knowing without a doubt that they could be doing something so much more enjoyable.

"Come on, Tara. It’s our first date. I’ve been waiting for this ever since we made up, just go along with me," Willow pleaded, taking Tara’s hand into her own before swinging their joined hands from side to side.

Tara narrowed her eyes at Willow playfully. "Fine, I will not kiss you until the date’s over," she said, not able to resist giving in to the redhead. Tara contemplated stealing a peck, but decided against it as she figured it would be worth the wait.

"So, are you ready to go?" Tara asked with a charming smile.

"Definitely," Willow replied back breathlessly.
 


888
 

Willow gazed out the window of Tara’s yellow Wrangler, watching the bright orange lights on the streets and colorfully illuminated buildings zoomed past. She could see the brilliant white lights emitting from the majestic dome of the Los Angeles City Hall not far away.

"Where are you taking me?" Willow asked as she turned in her seat to look at the brunette.

"Someplace interesting," Tara answered in an enigmatic manner, smiling cheekily as she focused her attention on the road ahead.

Willow raised an amused eyebrow. She couldn’t deny that the way Tara was being so reserved about their destination was making her heart flutter with anticipation.

"We’re here," Tara announced excitedly, driving her car into an empty parking space by the road.

Willow ducked down a little in her seat to take a peek out the driver side window. "Indigo Restaurant? That’s what you’re so secretive about?"

"Of course not. It’s what’s below it," Tara said, flashing a grin at Willow as she unbuckled her seat-belt. She quickly exited the car and walked briskly around the front of the vehicle. When she reached the passenger side, Tara chivalrously opened the door for Willow to step out and held out one of her hands for her to take.

"Thanks," Willow responded as she took Tara’s outstretched hand, smiling gratefully.

Once Tara had closed the door and locked up the car, they walked hand-in-hand toward Indigo Restaurant with their sides pressed close to each other’s’.

"So, what’s below it?" Willow asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"You’ll find out soon enough," Tara replied in the same mysterious style as before.

When they entered the restaurant , Tara led Willow to a stairway with a life-sized banner hanging up on the opposite window panel that wrote ‘opaque – dining in the dark’.

Ever since that unforgettable moment in the basement of the college gymnasium, Tara had been struggling with the dark both in the literal sense and in her sleep. For the first few nights, while housed up by Willow's hospital bed, the brunette would find herself jerking awake, beads of sweat running down her forehead as her heart hammered in her chest. The dreams were always the same, Chandler always got the best of her and Willow slowly bled out as she watched.

After the forth consecutive night, and Julian's persuasive insistence, the detective requested assistance from Crisis Intervention, a unit designed to help Officer's cope with mental trauma they sustained on the job. Begrudgingly, the brunette opened up to her therapist, describing in vivid details her encounter with Chandler, blaming herself for shooting Willow, and the reoccurring nightmares.

The therapist had diagnosed the brunette with PTSD almost immediately, empathizing with her over her traumatic experience and the reason why she was having panic attacks. When the therapist offered up a solution to gain control over her fear by spending time in the dark with Willow, Tara had initially laughed. The thought sounded absurd. She was a seasoned detective who's been in worse situations. But the more they spoke about it, Tara realized an evening spent in the dark with her girlfriend, in a controlled, safe environment, didn't seem like a bad idea. Especially if it meant the nightmares and panic attacks would subside.

Not breaking stride, Tara immediately turned to face her date, wanting to get the first look at her reaction.

Willow had her eyebrows turned up in surprise.

"We’re gonna eat in the dark? Doesn’t that mean I won’t be able to see you?" She questioned tentatively, her eyebrows slowly moving downwards into a small frown. As fascinating as the idea was, the thought of not seeing Tara throughout the whole dinner didn’t seem appealing.

"That’s why it’s gonna be so much fun," Tara responded as she pulled on Willow’s hand, gently guiding her down the flight of stairs.

Her original intention bringing Willow there was to replace the awful memory of that fateful day when they were both in the dark with Chandler Bolton, but now, the intention had become a mere undertone. Willow shook her head and chuckled at the eagerness that Tara was showing. She couldn’t help but be swept along with the enthusiasm.

Before they could enter the dining area, they had to turn off their phones and hand over their purses to the hostess at the lounge for safekeeping. When they had finished placing their orders for each of their three courses of the prefixed meal, the two of them were guided into the pitch-black dining room.

Willow held onto Tara’s hand tightly as they made their way into the dining area, surrounded by nothing other than darkness.

Blinded by the dark, their other senses were considerably heightened. The wonderful mixture of different aromas from the food in the room hit their noses instantly and the excited chatting of other patrons rang in their ears.

They were led to a booth after a seemingly endless walk.

Willow bent down with her hand stretched out to feel for the cushioned seat. She sat down and scooted in quickly once her hand came in contact with smooth furry material, pulling Tara along with her.

"You doing okay?" Tara asked, her head turned in the direction where she assumed Willow was. The question, although aimed at Willow, was also a reminder to herself that everything would be okay. Prior to picking Willow up for the date, she had had some apprehension, wondering if she was making the right decision as she didn't want to go into a full blown panic attack in front of the pathologist over something as silly as sitting in the dark. But the feeling of the slender woman's hand in her own erased all the fear and doubts she may have had.

"Yeah, but it feels kind of scary," Willow whispered with a slight tremble in her voice. On top of not having the ability to see, she was finding it difficult to make out Tara’s voice among so many others around them.

"Why are you whispering?" Tara asked, laughing at the amusing behavior of her date. Yes, all her fears and doubts were quickly erasing. She made a mental note to stop by her therapist office and apologize for laughing at his idea. She had to give it to the tweed clad man, he was right, she needed to face her fears head on.

Willow was glad for the darkness at that moment as it was hiding her reddened cheeks. Despite merely reacting naturally to being in a darkened environment by lowering her voice, she was still rather embarrassed that Tara had caught her out.

"I feel like we’re doing something sneaky being in the dark," Willow replied, her voice rising back to her normal volume.

"We’re not …. But we could be," Tara responded cheekily. This time, it was her who had her voice lowered.

"Tara! We’re in public," Willow chastised. She felt her reddened cheeks burn even further upon hearing the playful, flirtatious, suggestion.

"It’s not like anyone can see us," Tara teased, softly bumping her shoulder into Willow’s.

Willow bit down on her lower lip, smiling broadly at the same time as she thought about how right Tara was when she had said this was going to be so much fun. It had taken her a while to reach a comfortable level in the dark, but she was starting to become more attuned to her surroundings or more specifically, to Tara. She was starting to regret making the rule that they couldn't kiss before the date was over.

The warmth emitting from Tara beside her was heartening, the distinct vanilla scent she emanated was intoxicating and the feel of her smooth, slender arm grazing against her own was stimulating. She could hardly wait till she was able to once again lay her eyes on the brunette.

One of the trained waiters of the restaurant interrupted their frolicsome moment by serving up their appetizers. It was pretty challenging for the two of them to eat in the dark, considering the fact that they couldn’t even find their utensils. After a couple of minutes of blind searching and amused giggling, they found their cutlery and began to dig into their food.

The whole dining experience was one of a kind. They were able to identify each ingredient and taste each explosion of spice as it touched their palates, stirring their senses in an almost intimidating way.

Being in a playful mood, they attempted to feed each other with disastrous yet comical results. Once they had finished fooling around and were done with their meals, they were led out of the pitch-black dining area into the mood-lighting lit lounge.

"Hi," Tara greeted with a smile, fighting the urge to pull the redhead into a fiery lip-lock.

"Hi back," Willow said, smiling brightly. She too, was trying to resist closing the distance between them.

"Come on, let’s take you home," Tara spoke in a whisper as she moved toward Willow to interlace their fingers. As they were close to the end of their first date, the brunette was hoping she would be able to get her kiss at last.

Any maybe something more.
 

_________________
Alyson, oh, Alyson why don´t you join my band? So you could play the flute like this one time in band camp.
I Am Forever / A Special Christmas of Sorts / Maybe It's Just Me / Honeysuckle Rose /Blackouts and Breakthroughs / When Love Arrives


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 Post subject: Re: Maybe It's Just Me - Update 08/19/2020
PostPosted: Thu Aug 20, 2020 6:14 pm 
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Location: Mid-Atlantic USA
MMH-Hot-Sauce, ANOTHER great update,...Not that I'm surprised!
I have to begin with an ENORMOUS apology. I have not been keeping up with responses and adulation for ALL the authors who continue to provide me with excellent Willow/Tara reading material and stories to become engrossed in. It is a SORELY needed escape, especially now, and I CANNOT thank you enough.
THANK YOU,...and keep up the GREAT work.
Stay Safe & Well,
Blessings

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Open Mind...True Words....Charitable Heart


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