Author: Rei and Chris
Rating: NC-17
Feedback: Please leave feedback on the Cats and Bats thread on the Kitten Board.
Disclaimer: We don't own Batman, Catwoman, or Buffy characters. Blah blah.

Willow was not the only one having to remember to breathe as Tara looked her over. Willow wore an ankle length sleeveless dress, one half of the neckline daringly low. The shimmering aqua material seemed to move with fluidity that one does not expect in fabric. Deep blue stilettos and a pearl necklace completed the outfit in a way that was just sublime, the dress was tight enough that it could be seen what Willow was - or rather was not - wearing underneath. Tara looked her up and down, and Willow titled her head to the side, an amused smile on her lips, "you'll start catching flies if you're not careful." On Tara's confused look, Willow laughed, "your mouth, wide open."

Tara blushed and closed her mouth, "y...you're..."

Willow smiled, "oh come now, I think you should look in the mirror before professing the beauty of another." She walked forward, closing the distance and brushing a finger across the gem set in the choker, looking into Tara's eyes, she titled her head to the side and leaned forward for a gentle kiss, taking Tara's bottom lip softly between her teeth before she pulled away. Willow was the first to draw back and she could feel the smouldering lust that she could see in Tara's eyes in her own. She held out an arm, "would you do me the honour of accompanying me to the dance, my Lady?"

Tara looked at Willow with a laugh behind her eyes, shaking her head as she remembered Xander using a phrase very much like that, she placed her hand gently upon Willow's arm, "am I going to have to get used to being called that?"

Willow laughed, "no, but Xander did tell me what happened earlier." The two began to walk down the stairs.

As they reached the door, Tara heard Faith's wolf-whistle and looked up, "I shan't need to bother waiting up then?"

Tara laughed and walked into the darkness towards the waiting limo. Xander grinned at her as he opened the back door and gestured for Tara to get in, Willow was not far behind. She leaned across as the door shut, a smirk on her lips, "I think you might need some help getting out of that."

Tara laughed, "this has been pointed out. Alas, I have yet to find a volunteer."

A touch of mock sadness crept behind Willow's eyes, "oh that is sad, we wouldn't want you to be trapped in that thing."

Tara gave Willow a taste of what she had given Xander earlier, a look out of the side of her eyes, but she could not help the smile on her face, "I w...was hoping that someone special might offer to help."

A curious look crept over Willow's face as the car started to move, "did you have any particular special someone in mind?"

Tara leaned back in the seat as she considered, "I'm very picky over who gets to undress me, you know." Tara was silent for a moment but she could feel Willow's gaze upon her, "she would have to have a blaze of red hair, and green eyes that you feel as if you could fall into."

Willow put her finger on her chin for a moment in contemplation, "hmm, I'm not sure I know of any green eyed redheads in Gotham, not a combination you usually see together..."

There was an exasperated sigh from the front seat, "ooh, ooh, pick me, pick me. I think I know...see, there's this woman I work for..."

"I thought you worked for me."

Xander carried on as if Willow hadn't just interrupted him, "she's going to this party I'm driving towards now...and...she is trying to be coy with her girlfriend and is doing a bad job of it." There was a slight silence for a moment and another sigh from the driver before he continued, "Tara, would you like Willow to 'help' you out of that rather fetching dress?"

Tara laughed, "that's what I was hinting at."

"Good, now, Willow...do you want to help Tara out of said dress."

"I could be convinced." There was a slight growling sound from the front of the car as it stopped at a traffic light, "ok, ok, I would love to, there's no need to get so stressed out about it."

The car lurched forward, "glad we have that sorted out, I'd have hated for there to be arguments or misunderstandings at the party."

"Oh what would I ever do without you, Xander." The sarcasm dripped from Willow's voice causing Tara to laugh despite her blushes.

Xander laughed, "for one, you might not be helping the lovely Tara out of her dress tonight, she's too shy to ask, you're too coy to offer."

"And you're too cheeky by half."

Xander laughed at Willow's half-hearted rebuke, "I try,I try."

While our heroes were laughing in their car, someone else had plans for the night and hey did not involve stripping someone out of her dress, not that he could usually get close enough to do so anyway. It was convenient that Rogers was holding his party tonight, how better to announce his arrival to the world than to steal the neuro-nuclear transmitter he needed in front of their gaping eyes. Fully decked out in his rather garish costume, it was a wonder how Warren thought he would pass by anywhere unnoticed, the pink hair and rather fetching little mask did little to help him in that cause, but then that was what cars were for, of course. Warren picked up a cane, took a hat and a long coat from the rather fetching hat and coat stand and away he went.

Xander had dropped Willow and Tara off down the street, hardly the norm, but then when was life ever conventional? They walked down the block hand in hand, silent for a moment as they could see the crowd in front of them growing, Willow could feel Tara's hand shake inside of hers and gave it a gentle squeeze. "You'll be fine, just smile." Willow smiled herself and traced her finger across Tara's lips, "I fell in love with that smile the first time I saw it. Rosey had said something that had made you laugh, just as I was coming down the stairs." Tara blushed, not knowing what to say, "just smile and people will love you, which is ok...as long as they're not the ones leaving with you."

Willow winked at the last and Tara did indeed smile as they made it to the front of the building, cameras flashing around them as she slipped her arm into Willow's. She held back the urge to hide her face behind her hair as she could feel people's eyes on her and what she was wearing, rather revealing as it was. The two walked through the crowd as it parted to let the pair through. Willow walked up to Rogers, the host of the party, "good evening, my kind sir. Thank you for the invitation."

"Willow!" Rogers had the type of voice that boomed genially by default, "and this young lady must be your girlfriend, Tara? You look smashing, my dear!"

Willow smiled, "she is, I feel lucky to have her."

"Good, good! Where is young Mr. Mears tonight?"

Willow shrugged her shoulders, "he said that he had other business to attend to tonight and asked me to send his most sincere regrets."

"Well, we cannot let people who don't show up ruin the party for the rest of us, no! I hope you two have a good night." Rogers took Willow's and Tara's hand by turn and ghosted a kiss on the back of them.

They were all going in, lambs to the slaughter. Soon there was going to be a wolf among the flock, maybe he would have just a nibble tonight. Hurt someone just because he could, maybe that skiv. He had warned her, warned her! It had been a nice warning as well, comparatively, some people just don't know when they're well off. The Riddler gave a low cackle, this was going to be fun.

As the pair walked into the room, the crowd pouring in behind them, Willow and Tara couldn't help but look around. Rogers was known to be more than a little eccentric, but not many would have had each wall painted a different vivid colour just for the event. And there, in the middle of the room, was a sparkling red gem, light hitting it bouncing off all over the place. But there was little time to stare, the band quickly started up with a "five, six, five-six-seven-eight!" and music pulsed throughout the room.

Willow turned to Tara and gave a small gesture with her head, "shall we dance?" Tara blushed and nodded her head until Willow brought her in close to her body, the bare flesh if Willow's cleavage brushing against the leather of Tara's corset, the touch arousing her. Tara found herself intoxicated with the scent Willow was wearing on her throat, lowering her head to her shoulder as they danced in time with the beat and taking a deep breath. For what felt like the longest time, there seemed to be nothing but the two of them and the beat of the music, even as other couples poured around them.

As the pulsating beat came to a stop, both Willow and Tara lifted their heads and looked into each other's eyes, feeling almost lost in the gaze of the other. The spell was broken by a hand laid on a shoulder of each and a high pitched squeal, "don't you two look gorgeous!"

Willow smiled as she turned to look at Sarah, herself dressed in a rather fetching pink leather catsuit, complete with ears and a tail, "I hope you put a little on to the price for yourself, I nearly dislocated my jaw when I saw Tara."

Sarah laughed, "look around, dear, you're not the only one." Indeed, there were a lot of eyes drawn to the couple that had gravitated towards the centre of the floor, "anyway, I'm going to get me some grub. I'll catch you two lovebirds later."

There was a shift in the shadows as the thugs, now dressed in green with small question marks all over, materialised out of the darkness next to the Riddler. He looked over his shoulder, putting on his falsetto voice, "you all know what to do." It was a statement, not a question. There was the general nodding that always meets such a statement. The Riddler gave one of the thugs near him the Box, "do be a darling and hold that for me, I must make my entrance, stage up." He gave a self satisfied laugh, "they would never guess the wolf among the sheep, not a clue who makes them weep. Our acts tonight will go down in history, oh lord what fools these mortals be."

There was a certain energy to the party, if it were one full of teens, there would be someone swinging from the chandelier (there is always one). But, this was a party for adults, there would be no such frivolity, instead, the champagne flowed like orange juice, though there was wine and soft drinks for those that did not like such things, alas, there was no mocha.

Still, it went as parties do, which may be why no one had the slightest inkling that something might be the tinsiest bit wrong. In Willow's mind, however, something was setting off her spidey senses...or rather her bat senses. As the tango pulsated around them, Willow steered Tara towards the edge of the floor. Suddenly, there was a sound of shattering glass and the tinkles that come from a thousand shards raining down like overly enthusiastic hailstones upon the revelers. Suddenly, there was a burst of green as a man, for lack of a better word, skidded down the the links of the chandelier, managing a rather graceful front flip before he landed on the floor, twirling a cane in his hand, "no body moves and nobody gets hurt! Ooh how I've always wanted to say that." The man gave a high-pitched cackle as the crowd looked at him in shock. He nodded to a group of men, a lot of them having a very heavy suggestion of guns about their person. "I do hope that no one is going to try anything heroic, that would be boringly cliché." The strange man started to direct traffic, sending a couple of men through the hall.

Out of sight of the men, Willow nudged a certain candlestick and a panel of wall moved just an inch. Looking around to make sure they hadn't been spotted,Willow pulled Tara out of the gap with her and they found themselves near the entrance-way, Willow hissed into Tara's ear as she dragged her outside and left her by a wall near the front gate, "Stay here until Xander gets here, I will keep a lookout from over there and call him and the police."

Tara nodded her head, as Willow walked towards the side of the house where she herself shouldn't be seen, she reached into her handbag, taking out her phone. First she called Xander, telling him where Tara was and where to wait, then she phoned Giles. "Giles, I'm going to need the suit and help out of this damn dress."

It seemed that the Riddler, as he had now introduced himself, was having the time of his life, out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone head for the phone on the sidewall, he pointed his cane at the phone and tripped a switch, sending out a powerful laser that fried it, "now what did I say about acting the hero?" He tutted and raised the cane again, only a shadow in the door caught his eye, "Ah, Bats, here to 'save the day', no doubt! Come, join the party."

As one, a dozen guns pointed at Batman, his batarang flicked out on a chord and wrapped around the chandelier, he swung upwards, avoiding a barrage of gunfire before removing a link and causing the crystals connected to it to cascade down upon the gunmen. He landed softly and dropped a smoke pill, quickly enveloping the room in thick smoke, using this, he grabbed a gunman around the throat, the gunman jolted as his body was hit by a bullet and then was thrown forward into the closest of his compatriots.

Turning, Batman moved towards Riddler just as another of his thugs ran into the room and threw him a box, holding out something else for him to see. Riddler turned to Batman and shot the laser at him, putting him off his stride. Riddler practically skipped across to the thug and placed the box on the floor. He made a couple of movements with his cane, pointed it down and twisted the head. There was a bright flash and more acrid smoke from the box and a burst of flame from the cane as the Riddler and his thug flew out of the gap in the ceiling and into the night. Batman was quick with his batarang, it thudded into the ceiling allowing Batman to swing onto the roof...Riddler was already gone.

He sighed and keyed on his radio, "Lost him, he's gone for the night, apparently with whatever it was he came for."

"I understand, I shall have the computer try and locate where he might stop."

"Don't bother, it isn't programmed to take into account jet propelled canes...yet. How are the two that got out?"

"They are quite fine."

Willow put a hand on the cowl and exposed her face to the cool night sky, "I'm coming down."

Willow walked up to the car she had left Xander and Tara in, dressed back in her party dress now. She had seen the police storm into the Manor but apart from the body, all of the thugs had managed to leave in the confusion. She walked up to the car and wrapped Tara in a fierce hug as she stepped out to meet her. "Will you and Xander be ok here a while longer? I saw Buffy going in, there might be something I can do to help her. Coding whiz and all that."

Tara nodded her head, but before letting go, closed the distance between her lips and Willow's, catching her in a passionate kiss. Willow drew away first after a long moment and caressed Tara's face with her thumb, speechless, before walking into the building.

As Willow walked back into the main reception room, she was greeted by Buffy holding a box, a large question mark on each side, he top of it open. From the inside had risen a tree, the branches of which holding a piece of paper. Buffy nodded at Willow as she took the paper in her latex glove covered hands, "mother will call for Batman in the morning to collect this, he's God knows where now. I thought you might like to look though."

Willow nodded as Buffy unrolled the parchment to read the following verse.

There is a certain kind of tree
Very much like you and me
Not rooted down but it moves free
Look around, can you see?

Willow thought about it for a moment, she had an inkling but shrugged her shoulders, "bad poetry, maybe Batman will make something of it."

"If you had to guess though?"

"I'd say he's talking about me."

Buffy nodded her head, "Go home, Will, get some sleep. I'll call you in the morning."

Willow nodded her head and walked back towards the car.

As the car pulled up to Rosenberg Estates, Tara looked across at Willow and could see a certain fatigue in her eye. She didn't know what could be causing this, though she had told her about the riddle, "you l-look l-like you could use some company."

Willow turned to Tara and looked her in the eyes, she nodded her head. "Besides, I believe I made a promise to help you out of that dress."

Tara raised an eyebrow, "I d-don't have any other c-clothes."

"I have too many."

Tara nodded her head, "I'll call Faith, she'll worry if she sees the news."

Willow nodded as Xander set about getting them into the Estate. He gave the two a look out of the side of his eye, "I had better try to get to sleep now before I find I can't."

Willow nudged him and he stuck his tongue out before heading off up the stairs, taking them two at a time. Tara laughed and Willow caught herself staring at the smile that could brighten a room. She led Tara up the stairs at a rather more sedate pace and into her luxurious room, a Queen-sized bed immediately drawn to the eye.

Willow drew Tara into the room and kicked he door shut. She turned Tara around and turned her back on her, "unzip me."

Tara nodded her head and unzipped the back of the silk dress, slowly revealing Willow's back. Willow smirked as she turned around, the fabric sliding free of her breasts, her hardened nipples and her already soaked pink silk panties showing her arousal.

She did not give Tara much time to stare at her, turning her around and toying with the laces that kept Tara's bodice in place. With a lazy finger, she undid the string from the top straps, leaning forward as she did and tracing kisses along the back of Tara's neck and shoulders, her breasts rubbing against the leather still drawn around Tara's back. She undid the second set of holes, this time nibbling the back of her neck, drawing an aroused moan. As the third set of laces were undone,Tara's breasts popped out of the bodice and Willow began to caress them, rubbing her own breasts against Tara's bare skin. Willow's breathing was hitched in her throat and she could smell Tara's arousal. Tara pulled at the bottom of her bodice, murmuring to Willow to undress her. Willow made quick work of the last two sets of laces and tapped Tara's armpits, Tara lifted her arms obediently and Willow lifted the skirt over her head.

Tara turned around to face Willow, hiding her face behind her hair as Willow stared at her breasts. She moved in towards Tara and raised her head, softly kissing Tara's lips, a soft kiss that became more passionate, more needy. She hooked her thumbs into the lining of Tara's blood red g-string, inching them down Tara's legs as Tara's fingers found the laces that kept Willow's underwear up, the two disrobed each other. Tara stepped over her wet panties and Willow took a gentle hold of Tara's breasts, pushing Tara towards the bed. As the bed hit the back of Tara's knees, she sat and inched up the bed, Willow following her along the way, her breasts and Tara's touching all the way.

Willow uttered a low moan as Tara gently latched her teeth onto Willow's pulsepoint, suckling on it in a way that was bound to leave a mark. Willow's hands caressed Tara's body, her shoulders, her breasts, they lingered on her stomach before moving down to her thighs. Willow settled herself down, her thigh between Tara's two, and sought Tara's hand, her own teasing open Tara's soft centre as she drew Tara's fingers to her own. The two kissed slowly as Willows finger entered Tara's hot mound, the shock buckled Tara's hips upwards and she started to set a rhythm with her hips, matching it with her own finger inside of Willow. Willow's free hand stroked Tara's hair, pulling her head towards her breast, moaning in reply to Tara's pulsating moan into her flesh.

The two were in perfect harmony, their heartbeats thudding in time with the other, both unable to control their breathing, yet their moans rising in harmony until they shook the very foundations of the room. Tara was vaguely aware of hot pools of liquid spreading around her as she and Willow both gushed around each other's fingers and then, the movement slowed, Tara fell limp against the bed with the almost dead weight of Willow on top of her, the warmth like a cocoon. She felt...safe.