Author: Sheba
Spoilers: NONE
Disclaimer: All the characters belong to Joss, that lucky man!
Spoilers: None, this is more or less my own story.
Pairings: W/T.
Chapter 1
"New neighbours" she thought, as she sat in the backseat of her Mercedes S Class, and saw the moving van in front of the house next to hers. New neighbours didn't excite Willow as much as they would the normal American 20 year old. That was probably one of the many prices a person had to pay for being one of the most well known faces in the world, she thought to herself, as her chauffer pulled out of the drive and moved towards the mail road, taking Willow Rosenberg, America's Sweetheart, to another day of filminge.
******************
Tara McLay, the heads sports correspondent for the Cable News and More CNM) network, drove into the driveway of her new place! It had taken months of house hunting with that annoying real estate agent by her side, before Tara had finally found a place she could call "home".
The split level red brick home, with the swimming pool and tennis court at the back was all that Tara wanted to make herself comfortable. She glanced up at the house next to her own as she walked up to the front door. All that Tara knew was that the house belonged to Willow Rosenberg, the red head who's picture was perpetually in tabloids, and who had half of the world's population in love with her.
"Well, at least I won't have neighbour hassles, since I'll bet Miss Rosenberg loves her privacy". With that Tara turned the key in the lock and stepped into her new home.
*******************
It really had been a tiring day on location, Willow thought. The shoot had gone on way past sunset, and after a day of facing the camera under bright lights for hours on end, all Willow wanted to do was collapse into her water bed with Mr. Teddy, and go far away to dreamland. She was just about to drift off when there was a loud splash from somewhere outside her window. Turning to look at the clock on her bedside drawer, Willow rose to move onto her balcony, to check out the source of the splashing sounds. Her bedroom, on the
upper floor of her house, was hidden from view by a large tree, which Willow had had transplanted a year ago, so as to block her room from the photographers prying lens'. The tree had been placed cleverly so as to give Willow and unobstructed view of the outside world, while at the same time hiding her from sight.
Now Willow peered out from behind the leaves, and saw someone swimming in the pool in her neighbours' backyard. Although the pool was dimly lit, Willow could make out the grace and swift movements with which the person swam up and down the length of the pool. After sometime, the "night swimmer" as Willow had started calling the person came out, and now Willow could make out that it was a woman with long hair, wearing a one piece black swimsuit. The woman took a sip of something that was on a small table next to the pool, before turning to dive back in, and begin the swift laps once more. Willow turned around and headed back to her bed. "Tomorrow going to be another long day of filming" Willow thought, as her eyes shut. Soon she was asleep, snoring softly, somehow soothed off to her dreams by the soft slashing sounds coming from outside.
*********************
"I don't think my body can take much more exhaustion" thought Willow.
As her chauffer turned into the driveway of her home. She'd complained of a headache, and the shoot had been immediately wrapped up. No movie could afford to have a queasy looking leading lady now, could it? Telling her chauffer to take the rest of the day off, Willow locked the front door, and made her way upstairs. Deciding to take a cold shower before turning in for a while, she headed straight for the bathroom. Ten minutes later she was out, feeling much better, and was about to lie down when she heard a crash from her living room. Willow tensed. "What could that be? A cat?"
Then she heard noises of people talking. "Oooookay definitely not feline language there. What do I do? Aha!" she moved to her bed and pulled out the baseball bat that she'd played with as a child from underneath it, before slowly making her way downstairs. Steadily creeping to the living room, she moved up behind a masked man who had his back turned to her, and was about to swing when...
"Well, well, well...what have we here? it couldn't be THE Willow Rosenberg now can it?" a nasty voice said aloud. Willow turned around to see that she was faced by another masked man holding a knife threateningly in one hand.
"Put the bat down babe, or it won't be good for you." This came from the second man, who had turned around and produced a knife from somewhere too. Willow had no option but to do as she was told.
Chapter 2
"Now all we wanted to do was grab some loot and get out of here ,but you had to ruin things for yourself didn't you? Now what do we do with her mate?" The first man asked. Something clicked in Willow's brain then, and she began screaming for help.
"Somebody help me. HELP ME!!!"
This seemed to amuse the two men, and they humoured her for a few minutes, before the second man spoke up "You live in house all by yourself. You haven't had neighbours ever since you moved here. Just who do you think is going to come rescue you?"
"Maybe I will" Tara said, emerging from the kitchen. "For burglars you sure are dumb. You'd left the backdoor open! Now maybe you'll just let her go...I mean, if you know what's best for you!"
"Or else you'll do what Blondie?" said the second man, as he moved towards Willow with his knife pointed towards her.
"This" said Tara, and with lightening speed she pulled a gun out from behind her back and shot him on his left shin. Crying out in pain, the man fell on Willow, who in turn felt the sharpest pain in her ankle as he toppled her over. the first man tried to flee, but stopped in his tracks when he heard Tara taunted "Oh no you don't! You wanna take a look at the medals I've won for my skills as a marksmen???"
That was the last thing Willow remembered hearing before she passed out from thepain in her foot.
*****************
Willow awoke to find herself tucked into the most comfortable bed she's ever slept in. she stretched with her eyes still shut, and then realized that the bed wasn't her own. Mid stretch she opened her eyes and looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings. Then she looked down to see that her foot was wrapped in a pink crape bandage.
"Ooook... where am I?" she thought, before it all came rushing to her. The thieves, the knive... and the blonde.
"So where the hell am I now?" Willow wondered as she considered attemptingto get up. Just then Tara walked in. Willow looked at her and said "You're her!"
Seeming to understand what Willow meant, Tara said "Yeah. I'm her. Tara. Tara McLay."
"What.. what happened? What am I doing here?" Willow questioned.
Tara began to explain "You were being robbed, and were screaming for help. The burglar's didn't expect you to be home I guess. And I doubt they expected you to have neighbours either!" she grinned as she went on. "I heard your shouts, so I just jumped the wall between our houses."
"And where am I now?" asked Willow, who was still pretty much dazed by the entire afternoon.
"My place, which happens to be right next to yours"
said Tara, moving towards the window to pull the curtains aside, giving Willow a brief view of her own house. "I brought you here as soon as I finished locking those two in your basement!"
"How did you bring me here?"
"I carried you. Your ankle is twisted pretty bad, and you live alone. I think it'll be a good idea if you stayed over here till you're better. If that's fine with you that is." Tara finished, looking away.
"Yeah, I'd like that. Thank you. But you didn't have to carry me, you know! I mean you could have called for help."
"Oh, I did! I called the police and told them to come over. but then I figured that maybe you didn't want to face the cops and have everything in the paper and stuff, so I moved you before they came, and said that you were a little disturbed by the entire incident, and would talk to them when you were better. Besides, you're not at all heavy, so it was easy carrying you over to my place." Tara added.
Willow found herself blushing, and somehow the idea of being carried by this blonde deepened her blush.
"Now getting to your ankle, it's pretty bad, and I don't think you should out any pressure on it for some time...I'm talking days. Trust me. I'm an expert on sprains."
For some reason Willow found that she did trust this blonde with the soft voice, even though she was sure that she wasn't a doctor!
"Now if I were you, I'd get some more sleep. I'll wake you up in some time to eat ok?"
Tara said, as she turned to leave the room. Willow nodded her head and shut her eyes, and was asleep in a few moments, with a small smile on her face!
Chapter 3
By the time Willow woke up the sun had set she figured, since the room seemed even darker. "Ok, I guess I'll just wait here for Tara to come...
Tara... that's a nice name..." As if on cue a light came on in the passage outside the room, and Tara popped her head in to check on her guest.
"Hey you're up! Ready to get some grub?" when Willow nodded her head in assent. Tara said "Be right back then" and went out again, only to return with a large box of pizza in her hand.
"I've just moved in yesterday, and haven't really had time to set up in the kitchen, so I just ordered pizza. Is that ok?"
Willow couldn't think of anything else that she'd rather be eating, so she simply nodded her head, as Tara continued " I didn't know what topping you liked either, so just called for a plain cheese. Cool?"
again Willow her head enthusiastically.
Tara placed the box on the bed, smiling "Don't worry about stains and crumbs. Sheets and blankets can be washed."
Willow found herself reciprocating the smile as she helped herself to a slice of cheesy delight! For a couple of minutes they ate on in silence, before Willow suddenly remembered "Oh Tara, I completely forgot to thank you for....for saving my life today. You have no idea!
Tara cut her off by raising one hand and speaking " I'm sure anyone would have done their best to help you Miss Rosenberg. It was just fortunate that my best was good enough today."
"Miss Rosenberg????" Willow though, before saying "It's Willow. Willow, Tara, Willow. Just plain old Willow.." stopping before she launched into babble mode on that Willow went on "And your best was way better than good enough. It was more like Woo Hoo! At least what I can remember of it." she finished. Seeing Tara smile, she ventured on "So where did you ever learn to shoot like that?"
"Well I always had a thing for toy guns, then when I was old enough I took up rifle shooting as a hobby, and it turned out that I was pretty good at it. then on my 18th birthday my grandpa bought me my own gun. Of course it's registered and I do have a licence "Tara added quickly.
"I'm sure you do" Willow reassured her, smiling.
They lapsed into silence for a couple of minutes before Willow said "So you're my new neighbour, huh? Where are you from?"
"Oh I'm pretty much from around here. I just moved places `cause my last place was in an apartment block, and I guess I just wanted my own swimming pool!" she grinned.
"So you're the mysterious night swimmer" Willow said aloud.
"Huh?" Tara questioned.
"I saw you swimming last night. Your splashing kind of attracted me... I mean, it made me wonder where the sounds were coming from." Willow finished hastily.
"Oh, I'm so sorry... I had no idea" Tara started, before Willow cut her off.
"No, no...it was kinda nice, knowing that I wasn't in the middle of nowhere anymore."
Tara smiled and took another slice of pizza. Willow found herself curious to know more about her new friend, and asked "So you alone here? I mean family, husband...a boyfriend maybe?" and waited anxiously for an answer.
"No I live alone... my folks moved to New Zealand earlier this year. I'm an only child, and I'm currently unattached. Work takes up most of my time and energy really."
Willow released a breath that she didn't even know she was holding, before venturing on "So what is it that you do?"
"I'm a correspondent with CNM."
Willow froze. "A showbiz correspondent? Oh please don't let her be one."
"What is it that you specialize in?" she asked, staring at the pizza box.
"Sports. I'm a sports correspondent. The head of the correspondent actually."
"Oh that's great" Willow exclaimed. "For a minute there I thought you were one of those showbiz journalists. I mean, no offence, but..." she let off.
"I know what you mean" Tara said. "People prying into your personal life must be pissing off. Don't worry. That isn't me. Poking my nose into other peoples lives just isn't my kind of thing. Now a good match between Hingis and Davenport, or a game of ball between Man U and Liverpool... That's more like what I'm interested in."
The both looked up at the same time, and locking eyes for a minute smiled, before both simultaneously looked down at the box of pizza, that seemed to be getting more interesting by the moment!
*********************
After finishing the pizza and clearing up, Tara took the crape off Willow's right ankle, to examine the sprain. Willow almost fainted again when she saw the size of the swelling. It looked like someone had stuffed a giant potato up her foot!
"Are you sure it isn't broken?" she asked in a shaky voice.
"I'm sure. I've had my share of sprains, and this one isn't even half as bad as some of mine have been."
Somehow the idea of the gentle blonde in even more pain than she herself was in right now sent a shiver down Willow's spine.
Tara went on "I think the swelling should start decreasing in about two or three days, but to be on the safer side I don't think you should put too much pressure on it for about two weeks. I mean, let it heal completely, or you may have recurring problems, especially since I'm guessing that in your line of work you wear a lot of stiletto' s and stuff, right?".
When Willow nodded Tara finished "So I've made my point. Now I'm just going to ice your ankle a bit and rub in some ointment, and in the meantime I want you to write down a list of stuff you want me to get from your place." Tara handed her a sheet of paper and a pen, and waited till the redhead began writing, since she didn't want Willow to concentrate on her foot, because she was sure to feel a lot of pain when she started icing the swelling. Sure enough when Tara touched the ice to the lump Willow's entire body jerked. Willow couldn't believe the amount of pain she felt, but when she heard a soft voice say "Concentrate on the list... please" she tried to ignore the shooting sensations up her leg, and soon was in the flow of remembering what her essentials were. "Toothbrush... my strawberry scented shampoo... car keys in case someone runs off with them... Pyjamas... Lingerie... How the hell can I tell Tara to go through my lingerie drawer??? Well it's not like I have much of a choice now do I?" Willow thought as she wrote that down. "What else... Mr. Teddy? No, I think he'll be better off at home. Money? I doubt that Tara's going to take any of that from me, even if I offered..." Suddenly Willow was aware of the softest fingers gently massaging her ankle. She looked up from what she was writing to see Tara's hands moving on and around her swollen foot. Lifting her gaze upwards Willow saw that the blonde had her head bent in concentration, and her hair cascaded over her shoulders, hiding most of her features. Willow looked back down at the way her hands were working on her foot, and she thought that Tara had the most beautiful fingers that she's ever seen. Suddenly Tara looked up.
"Have you finished the list?" she asked, as her fingers continued to move on Willow's ankle.
"What?" Willow asked, before she realized what Tara was asking her. "The list? Oh yeah. I'm done. Here." She handed Tara the sheet and the pen. Tara stopped massaging, reached for the stuff, glanced at it, and then went back to Willow's foot, this time picking up the crape to wrap it up again.
"You'll have the stuff in a while. Now just one more
thing. What are your favourite movies?"
"Huh?" Willow questioned. "Where did that come from?"
"Just tell me, I'll explain later" Tara said, as she finished clasping the hold around the crape.
"Oooook... There's `A walk In The Clouds' which I just love..." Tara looked up at that, but quickly went back to looking at the sheet of paper that she was writing this down on. "Umm.....'The Matrix', `The X-Men', `Jerry McGuire', `The Truman show'...Umm...'The Sixth Sense', `Grease', `Gone In Sixty Seconds', 'Forest Gump'...that's all I can think of for now. Why?" she asked again, as Tara finished writing all of that down.
"I'll explain later. For now I have to go finish clearing up in the kitchen" Tara said as she got up.
"Could I help maybe?" Willow asked hopefully.
"Nah, you just lie back. You've had a hard day" Tara stated, as she left the room. When she got back fifteen minutes later. Willow was fast asleep again. Smiling to herself, Tara quickly moved to the bed, tucked the blanket in around the sleeping girl, and stood there staring at her for a couple of moments, before turning to leave, switching the lights off on her way out.
Chapter 4
The next morning Willow awoke bright and early, and this time she was quicker to figure out where she was! She lay in bed for a few minutes, waking up properly, before she finally pulled herself up, raising her body with the strength in her arms. Immediately she noticed a single sheet of paper on the bedside table, bearing her name on it. She picked it up and saw that it was a note from Tara.
"Good morning. I've already left for work and won't be back till later this evening, so here's some things I thought you should know. The Sony remote next to you is for the TV, and the Panasonic is for the DVD player. I already have three DVD's in the player. Disk 1 is `A Walk In The Clouds'. I had that one lying at home because it happens to be my favourite movie. Disk 2 is `Girl Interrupted', and Disk 3 is a new movie called `Shrek'. I've seen it and it's really cute if you like animated movies. There's no need to move for anything. The movies can be completely controlled with the remotes.
The paper bag at the side of your bed contains all the stuff you wanted from your place. There's a pair of crutches to your right that you should use if you want to move around. If you move out of your room, the kitchen is to your left. I have a bowl of spaghetti already made. It's in the microwave. Heat it for two minutes when you get hungry, and feel free to raid the fridge. There's a phone next to the remotes. I figured
that you'd want to make a couple of calls.
If you need anything else buzz me on my cell. The numbers on the back of this sheet. I've also jotted down my office number, just in case. Call if anything at all.
Make yourself at home.
Tara.
Willow finished reading the note, which was more like a letter, and realized that she was grinning from ear to ear. "What a way to start the day" she thought, smiling!
**********************
Tara pulled her car to a stop outside her house, and just sat there for a minute with her head resting on her seat. Today had been a hard day.
"Who would've thought that Martina would sprain her ankle now, when she was in probably the best physical form she'd ever been in. Poor thing...she's been putting in so much time on her fitness of late..." thought Tara. Sprains reminded her of Willow. Actually just about anything that day reminded her of Willow: A look at Gillian Anderson's interview while it was being edited in the studio, with her red hair standing out so clearly, Brad Pitt, who co-starred with Willow in her last movie... why even catching Seth Green on the tube that afternoon reminded her of Willow for some strange reason!!!
"It must be just `cause I never expected to have Willow Rosenberg living in my house, much less asking me to call her by her first name!" Tara thought, as she got out of her car and moved towards her front door. Letting herself in, she immediately went towards Willow's room. "Wait, wait, wait!!! did I just think of that as `Willow's room'???" Tara thought, correcting herself, "Guest room, guest room." Willow was at the end of `Shrek' when Tara walked in, and she smiled at Tara as she walked in.
"Hey. How was your day?"
Tara wasn't used to being asked that question, and at the back of her mind she realized that she liked it. "Fine. A little tiring though. You?" she questioned Willow.
"Oh great. I made myself at home" she grinned at Tara before going on, "The spaghetti was yummy! You make it?"
Tara nodded, before asking "How's your leg?"
"Pretty much the same I'd say. Boy, it's tough moving around on those things" she said, pointing towards the crutches.
Tara smiled "Tell me about it. As a child I was so used to using them that sometimes I thought of them as two extra feet that I'd been born with!" Anyway, you hungry yet? No? Ok ten, I'll just go take a quick dip before we eat, ok?"
With that Tara left the room, with Willow gazing after her till she was out of sight.
Chapter 5
Twenty minutes later Tara was back, fresh from a swim and a cold shower, waiting with Willow for the Chinese take out that they'd ordered. Willow was explaining how much she like `Shrek' when the food arrived. Tara quickly paid the delivery, tipping him nicely in her rush to get back to willow, and took the containers back to the room. While they ate willow filled Tara in on how she's called her director, and how sympathetic and understanding he'd been. "Of course tomorrows papers will probably read `Willow Rosenberg Narrowly Escapes Death' since Steve will probably already have his think-tank working on a way to get the movie some free publicity with this incident" she added dryly. "Anyway, he said to call him as soon as I was up to working again. And oh, Tara, I called a close friend to tell her what had happened, and she wants to come see me. Is that ok?"
"Is that even a question? Of course your friends can come see you! Actually, there was something that I wanted to talk to you about."
She looked directly at Willow and Willow noticed that she has beautiful blue eyes. "I have to leave town for two days day tomorrow. So I thought that it'd be helpful if you had a friend come over and stay here with you."
Willow said "Hey! Tara it's cool if you have to go. I mean, I could leave too. I don't have to stay here. I mean, I could go back home and have Buffy or someone come take care of me."
"No!" Tara said firmly. "Please don't go. I made you an offer to stay here till your foot healed, and I really want you to stay. I'm feeling bad enough that I have to leave town, and I'll only feel worse if you leave."
Willow saw the look in those blue eyes ("Oh so blue" she thought) and knew that Tara meant every word she said. "Ok" she conceded. "I'll stay right here, and I'll make sure I have someone come and stay over with me".
"Great" Tara smiled. "Whoever comes can stay in the room across yours. And if there's more that one person, they could use my room upstairs, since the other rooms aren't really furnished yet."
"What are you going for anyway?" Willow asked.
"Oh, you know Martina Hingis, the tennis player?" When Willow nodded her head Tara went on, "Well she sprained her ankle pretty bad, and CNM got the exclusive to shoot her in recuperation. Since this is a biggie, the network wants me to take this one up personally, since I'm the head orrespondent. Orders right from the top I believe."
"Well, I'll miss you" Willow said softly, and she knew that she meant it.
*************************
"So some stranger, even though she IS Tara McLay, tells you to stay over at her place, and you just agree? Why the hell didn't you just call me up and tell me to come and stay with you instead?" Buffy almost yelled at her oldest friend.
"Buffy she saved my life? What was I going to say?
`Oh, no thanks. I'll just hobble around till Buffy comes. In the meantime could I borrow a pair of crutches?' " Willow finished sarcastically. Ever since Buffy had arrived an hour ago she was acting like she's completely lost it. Tara had left early that morning, before Willow had even woken up, leaving behind a note that simply read...
"Didn't want to wake you, so this is good bye. Take care,
Tara."
Now Willow was feeling bad enough that she hadn't been up to say goodbye, and she really didn't need Buffy telling her about how she shouldn't have agreed to Tara's offer. "Look Buff, Tara really saved my life. The way cowboy's used to in those old western movies. I trust that she wouldn't want to hurt me. Don't ask me why. And I also believe that she isn't being so nice to me just because I'm her famous neighbour. Can't you just trust my judgement?"
Buffy stared at Willow's solemn expression for a moment before she gave in. "Oh, alright. I trust your judgement Will. But look, if you expect me to stay here then you better be prepared for the raid on your clothes, since you didn't have the sense to call me and tell me that I was going to be staying here!"
Willow smiled and nodded her head, before sticking
her tongue out when Buffy asked her "Were your brains in your ankle by any chance? Kidding! Ok now how about some grub? I'm famished!"
"Well Tara's just moved in, so nothing really set up. Take out sound ok?"
Buffy nodded her head. While they were going through the menu cards that Tara had on her fridge, Buffy remarked "So she saved you like in one of those movies you say? You mean like one of those knight in shining armour flicks?"
Willow nodded her head, thinking " I couldn't have put it better myself!"
Chapter 6
Two days later Willow and Buffy were sitting in Tara's kitchen sipping coffee, when Tara walked in. "Hi!" she started, before stopping in amazement and looking around at her perfectly set up kitchen. She turned back and looked straight at Willow who shrugged her shoulders and said "Well, take out can really ruin your appetite you know?", before she went back to sipping her coffee, as if that explained everything!
"Tara? Hey I'm Buffy!" Buffy stood up and put out her hand, smiling when Tara shook it. "It's great that your back. I mean, it isn't that Willow isn't loads of fun to take care of "she said sarcastically, "but for the past two nights all I've heard are complaints that I can't massage a sprained ankle as well as you do!"
Tara turned to look at Willow, who was as red as a beetroot! "How is your foot?" she asked in a slightly amused voice.
"I think the swelling a little less, but it's still very sore and even the slightest movement sends a shooting pain up my leg." Willow said, still not looking at Tara.
"Sounds normal to me." Tara said, and Buffy nodded her head with a wise expression on her face.
"Yup it does. I know about this stuff too" she explained. "I'm a karate instructor you see. Pains part of the game!"
Tara smiled "I guess I'd better go and unpack. I'll be down in about ten minutes. By the way guys, thanks for setting up the kitchen." She turned to walk away, but stopped when she heard Willow ask "Tara? You want some coffee?"
"Yeah, I'll have some when I get down, ok?" With that she smiled and went out of the kitchen. Willow stared after her, and came back to reality only when she heard Buffy say "You know what? I like her!" before she sipped her coffee.
"So do I!" the thought never came to her tongue.
**************************
Tara, Willow and Buffy had just finished dinner, and Buffy had headed for a dip while Tara and Willow sat talking in Willow's room. Tara had decided that while Willow was staying with her, it was natural to call it just that. Right now Tara was filling Willow in on her trip.
"Martina was as co-operative as ever. She's always been that way, at least with me. Right now she's a little worried about her ranking. She's sure to lose her top spot to Jennifer Capriati this week, and she's not really used to being anywhere besides the top. I had a chat with her, and told her not to worry about that right now. She was bound to lose the ranking anytime now anyway, since she's been losing
to all the poser players. She has to come up with
a game plan to beat them. I told her to just concentrate on that, and getting back to top form right now."
"Are you two close?" Willow asked.
"Well we go back a long way. I took an interest in her game even before she made a name for herself. We actually play together whenever we have time. I advised her on her game at the start of her professional career.
She thinks that helped her. She also calls me up
if there's something she needs to talk about. So yeah, I guess we are close." Tara got up and sat down back down near Willow's foot, which she hadn't checked on since she's gotten back. She was taking the crape band ofslowly when Buffy walked in, refreshed from her swim.
"Hey" Willow said, "Have a nice dip?"
"Yup! Tara it's so great having a pool to yourself. Now if only Willow would make sure that hers was cleaned more often..." she let off as she glared at Willow!
"Well you can come over whenever you want. Not only for a swim, even of you feel like dropping by" Tara offered.
"Thanks Tara, I'll be sure to take you up on that offer! Anyway, how's her foot?" Buffy asked.
"Hmm... The swellings gone down a little bit. Buffy could you do me a favour and me some ice from the freezer?" Tara questioned.
"Sure" Buffy nodded, disappearing out the door for a few moments before coming back with a bowl full of ice cubes.
"Thanks" Tara said, as she took a large cube of ice and began gently icing Willow's swollen foot.
"So..."
Buffy began, "did I tell you that I watch your news broadcast every evening?"
In reply Tara just smiled, while Willow suddenly
realized that Tara was a well known face too! "Why didn't I think of that?" she wondered. Buffy went on "Tell me, how the hell did you know that France would win the World Cup, even before the championships had started?"
"I don't know" Tara said, looking up for a second, "It was just gut instinct".
"Do you rely on your instincts a lot?" This came from Willow, who up till now had been biting down on her lip because of the shooting pain going up her leg every time Tara put a bit of ice on her ankle. Tara looked up and help Willow's gaze for a moment, "Most of the time, yeah."
Buffy yawned. "Well guys, I'm dead tired. You have no idea how tiring it can be taking care of a movie star with an almost broken foot!" she grinned.
Willow stuck her tongue out at her and said " `Night Buff!"
"Good night Buffy."
After watching Buffy leave, Willow turned her gaze back to Tara, and saw the blonde squeeze some ointment onto her fingers from a blue tube. Willow suddenly realized that those fingers were going to be on her skin in a moment, and her entire body shook in anticipation. Tara caught the movement, and looked up at Willow. Thinking that her foot was giving her trouble she asked "Does it hurt that bad Willow?"
"Oh! That's the first time she's said my name. She says it so beautifully!"
"Willow?"
"Hmm...that sounds so nice...Wil-low..."
"Willow?"
Suddenly Willow realized that her name was being phrased as a question! She snapped out of her dreamy state and looked at Tara, seeing the concern in the blue eyes of the woman across the bed.
"No ,no I'm fine. Just a little fatigued I guess." The truth was that Willow was more awake then she thought she had ever been, but she couldn't explain that to Tara right now could she? She needed to understand it herself for starters!
"Oh ok! I'll just finish rubbing your foot, wrap it up again, and then you can go off to sleep. I don't want to keep you up."
Willow didn't want Tara to go, but she couldn't think of anything that would be a logical excuse to keep her here now. Five minutes later Tara was done. Saying good night, she got up, turned the lights off and left the room. Willow found that she couldn't sleep just yet, and kept tossing her head from side to side on the pillow. Every time she closed her eyes she saw Tara. Ducking her head, smiling, wrinkling her brow in concentration, speaking in that oh-so-soft voice...
Splash! "She must've gone for a swim" Willow thought. "Wonder if she's wearing that black swimsuit again....Stop that Willow Rosenberg." she scolded herself. "Why am I thinking like this?" Closing her eyes, Willow was soon soothed off to sleep by the soft splashing sounds. Her last thought before drifting off was whether she would've gone and watched had her ankle not been sprained..
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Edited by: Willow wtch 
at: 4/21/02 2:44:59 am
at: 4/7/02 1:36:41 pm
