Title: Coffee Moods
Author: watson (
hiddenwatson@yahoo.com)
Distribution: please email me first
Rating: PG to NC-17, see individual entries for rating
Disclaimer: BtVS characters, concepts and dialog belong to Mutant Enemy, Fox, The WB, UPN and others. The stories contained here are of a personal nature, non-commercial, not for sale or profit, and may not be sold or reproduced for commercial purposes.
Summary: Thoughts and frivolities in a coffee sort of way.
*****
Coffee Moods #5: Juste MilieuSummary: Much needed good news for the Scoobies. Anya in excessively good form. Willow honey please don't freak.
Rating: R
Part 2/3
"Tara, your cooking gets better and better each time," Giles smiled as he graciously helped me with clearing the table after the meal.
"Soon you'll see us here every meal time, craving your food and hollering to get fed," Xander echoed, sitting back in his chair with a hand on his stomach, doing his best not to belch.
"I totally want to eat here all the time, it hasn't been the same since you moved out," added Dawn. "I miss normal, home cooked food." She stuck her tongue out at Buffy, who gave her a helpless look. "Can I come over Thursday night after school?"
I checked with Willow, who nodded back at me imperceptibly, the decision was mine.
Anya chimed in before any words left my mouth. "Tara I think you ought to think seriously about opening up a restaurant or enrolling in the CIA and getting Michelin stars. But when you end up with your own show on the Food Network don't forget us, okay?"
"Tara can't be a spy, she's too nice, she can't even stake vamps unless they're threatening Willow," Buffy remarked. An odd comment until it clicked.
"I can't see myself as a Scully-wannabe either; the CIA is the Culinary Institute of America, it's a cookery school," I explained to Buffy. Turning to Anya. "I love cooking, I just don't see it as a career for me."
"So what are you going to do after you graduate? I bet Willow's already got job offers from every computer firm under the sun," Anya said pointedly, all eyes turned to Willow who didn't dispute the statement and gave everyone a self-conscious smile instead. "But Tara, you haven't even started looking, and no offense but you're not as geniusy as Willow. You don't seem the type to sit at home leeching on your spouse's hard work. It's not right, you're my friend and I don't make friends with slackers."
Willow and I exchanged a meaningful glance. There was a reason why I wasn't in a hurry to look for a job just yet, I raised an eyebrow and she shook her head minutely before jumping up to busy herself.
"Stop harassing my girl, we haven't graduated yet, why are you in such a huff?" she said sharply.
"I'm not in a huff, I'm just saying I can't picture Tara staying at home and not earning money. I know you tend to wear the pants more, but a woman always need an independent income. You won't believe how many vengeance cases are financially related, some women feel scorned because of an imbalance in asset distribution, or her husband spends all his money on cars and gadgets. What if you leave her?" Anya argued.
"What the hell drugs are you on? I'm never leaving Tara!" Willow snapped. I could swear my normally non-violent redhead was going to sock Anya one, and I kind of didn't blame her.
I placed a soothing hand on Willow's and allowed calming energy to flow into her. It came back jarring, so I smoothed and quietened, and when it circulated back to her it had lost its red streak and was a pure blue. I felt the tension ease out of her.
Xander was doing much the same as I was doing, calming his fiancé. Only his method involved physically placing his hand over her mouth while she struggled. After a tussle she stopped trying to speak but her eyes continued to shoot daggers at him.
"Right, um, does anyone want coffee?" I asked, to bring the dinner back to normal.
Nods around the table and 'yes, please's' from everyone. Well, everyone who didn't have someone else's hand over their mouth. Or Willow, who was still fuming over Anya's remarks that she didn't hear me.
"Hot chocolate?" Dawn piped up.
"Sure, one chocolate and 6 coffees. Anya, you're helping," I gestured to her as I took the last of the dishes back to the kitchen. I didn't want the Anya-and-Willow mutual baiting game to start again, besides I wanted to explain to Anya about how this was not the right time to be pushing Willow.
"What am I doing again? You don't need my help to turn the coffee maker on, you can do that by yourself," Anya leant against the counter and started re-arranging the herb jars.
"I'm just taking you away from Willow for a second, don't want deal with any more tension. Why are you constantly pushing her buttons like that?" I stacked the plates at the sink and sat down on the stool by her side. Though Anya and I had become friends, what with being Scooby spouses, she and Willow never got along, even after the incident with Olaf.
"I'm not provoking her, if that's what you're thinking. She's being too sensitive, I never thought I'd see this butch side of her. I bet she tops you more often than —," she rebutted.
"Anya, you're doing it again! You think that talking about her leaving me or making comments about our private life is not tactless?!" I exclaimed.
She looked so baffled I concluded she probably didn't get it. She threw her arms up in exasperation. "You would've thought after these years it gets less complicated, sometimes I just want to scream or puke. To you it's second nature, but I can't tell when is a remark unsuitable, when to say what, it's not that easy," she sighed.
"Try to think about how you'd feel if someone said the same to you," I suggested.
"Okay, if someone told me to squirrel away some money cos I have to save for a rainy day in case Xander leaves me, I'd agree with them. I practice what I preach," she shrugged.
"That may be what you were trying to say, Ahn, but Willow didn't hear that. All she heard was you complaining that I haven't started looking for a job and was going to be a burden on her. Then you came out with that remark about her leaving me, you know that's a wound that hasn't completely healed, and you go and pour salt over it. Do you get how an innocent comment can be taken the wrong way?" I tried another explanation.
"I never meant to bring up the you leaving her thing again, believe me. God, I'm never going to get this being a human thing, ever," she grimaced.
"Listen, not being perfect is a human trait," I said. "It's just, Will's got a lot going on right now, she's doing that taking on the weight of the world thing again, what with school, job offers, patrol. A-a-and other things."
"What other things? Not you two? Can't have trouble in paradise, I don't think the gang can take another knock," she picked up on the hint immediately. She might be brusque and direct in conversation, but I forgot how quickly she could pick up signals.
"No, no trouble. We're doing fine, more than fine," I blushed unconsciously. Oh god, I could feel the blush at the tip of my ears and all the way down my neck.
Her eyes narrowed as she studied me. "So, what other things? You're trying to tell me something, just say it."
I lost my nerve and stood up.
"I'm making the coffee, can you grab the jar?" I said as I went to the cabinet to take out the coffee maker.
And couldn't find it. With a frown I looked around trying to think about when I saw the machine last. It wasn't like Willow or I to have something out of place at our home.
I decided to worry about later and went to grab the french press instead.
"Where's the coffee beans?" Anya asked. "And you're avoiding my question."
"In the jar, where it usually is. I'm not avoiding," I replied, busy taking other glasses out of the shelf where the pot was hidden.
"Jar's empty," Anya reported. "You didn't answer, that's avoiding."
"Huh? Can't be. I just bought a big bag on Saturday," I puzzled. "There should be another bag in the fridge, at the door." I didn't answer the other question.
I heard the fridge opening, then sounds of rummaging. "Nope, nothing."
"What?"
"It's not there, I'll look more carefully in a second. Come on Tara, spill, if things are going so well, why is Willow being so hyper? And why are you so protective all of a sudden?"
I found the french press and went over to the fridge to search for the bag of coffee beans.
"Okay, okay, we have something to tell everybody, it's sort of good news," I said as I looked in vain for the missing coffee. This was very disconcerting.
Anya's eyes were large as saucers. "Oh my god. She proposed, didn't she? She and Xander were huddling and whispering secretly but they stopped whenever I got near. Well? Did I guess right?"
"Um, yes and no," I replied cryptically.
"It's either a yes she proposed or no she didn't. Which one is it? You're killing me," she whined.
I was still looking for the stupid coffee beans, it took me a few seconds to gather my thoughts.
"Well, it all started when we discovered I was —" I said distractedly, then stopped as a bright lightbulb flashed on above my head. The late night antics. "I don't believe it, Will!"
I marched out to the dining room. She was in so much trouble.
*****
TBC