Author: Shai
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Unfortunately neither Tara nor Willow are mine. Neither's anyone else in this fic for that matter!

Willow woke the next morning to the sound of her cell phone ringing. She answered the phone, still half asleep. "Hel- Hell- O?" she mumbled into the mouthpiece.

Tara had never heard anything quite as adorable in her life, and couldn't stiffle the giggle that escaped through her slightly parted lips. The sound managed to completely awaken Willow, and opening her eyes she quickly sat up in bed, frantically looking around for her alarm clock. "Tara???" she asked, her eyes still searching for the time piece.

"Uh huh" Tara said, the sound of Willow's voice bringing a smile to her face.

"Hi... what's the time? I'm late aren't I? I'm so sorry Iover slept..." Willow began to apologize, just as her eyes found the alarm clock. "Hey... wait... it's still 9:30, and I don't have to be there till 11... is everythng alright?" she asked, now worried that something was wrong with the blonde.

"Umm, Willow?" Tara spoke her first words of the conversation, her voice sounding amused. "Are you still in bed?"

The minute Tara asked the question, she regretted her choice of words. Now she had visuals of Willow sitting up in bed, doing a full body stretch of rid herbodyof it's fatigue, and that wasn't really helping Tara's plan of not thinking of how absolutely hot she thought Willow was!

"Umm, yeah..." Willow said, as she couldn't help but smile herself at the merry ring to Tara's voice.

"O-Okay..." Tara said, shaking her head fast and getting back to doing what she'd called for. "Well, see, it's raining outside, and we were supposed to take the kids to the movies right, but there's been some sorta electrical problem there, and there won't be any shows all day. Anyway, since it's raining, I can't take the kids out... I mean bowlings an option, but I spoke to the kids, and they decided that they'd rather just come to my place and we'll rent out a few movies, make popcorn, play some board games, you know, nomal stuff... .so yeah, I was just calling to let ya know about the change in plans... I mean I'd understand if you'd rather just do something more fun with your other..."

Willow cut her off, almost laughing out loud at the flustered tone that Tara had delivered thatincredibly long speech in. "Tara?"

Tara stopped. "Yeah?"

"I'd love to come... still 11 o'clock?" the red head asked.

"Yeah... yeah Willow... 11 o'clock" Tara said, her heart doing a happy dance.

"Alright then... I'll see you then, ok? You need me to get anything on the way?" Willow questioned, wanting to be useful.

"No Willow... just bring yourself!" Tara laughed.

"That shouldn't be too hard!" Willow laughed back. "Hey... What are you doing up so early anyway?"

"Oh, I have to go pick up the kids in about 15 minutes, so well, I'm up!" Tara said.

"Okay..." Willow said, not wanting to hang up, because she knew that the minute she did she'd miss Tara's voice. "Do you want me to pick them up instead?"

"Nah... I'll do it... you get some more rest... .I shouldn't have woken you up so early... ." Tara began to apologize.

"Heyyyyy... hey Tara, no... . no it's ok... I was gonna get up in 5 minutes anyway... my alarm was set... .honest" she tried to reassure the blonde.

"Really?" Tara asked, hoping that Willow wasn't lying to make her feel better.

"Of course really dummy!" Willow laughed. "So how long will you take to pick the kid up?"

"About 20 minutes... I should be back by about 10:30 at the latest. Why?" Tara asked.

"Just asking" Willow said. "Ok then, I'll see you at yours at 11 right?"

"Cool. See ya then Willow... Bye" Tara said, hanging up with a wide smile gracing her features.

"Bye" Willow said, as she put the reciever down and started moving at the speed of light.

Just a little over an hour later the red head was standing underneath Tara's building, buzzing her apartment. A child's voice answered the buzzer, and asked who it was. Willow gave her name, and the door was immediately unlocked.

2 minutes later she was facing Tara as the blonde swung the door to her home open. "You're early!" she said, grinning from ear to ear.

"Yeah..." Willow said. "For some reason I couldn't wait to see you" she thought to herself, but what she said aloud was "Is that alright?"

"Of course it is doofus!" Tara said, moving aside to let her in. She motioned towards the kids, who were all looking at Willow, some smiling, he rest giving her small waves, "You know everyone, so just settle down!"

The rest of the day was spent playing the simpler children's Pictionary, Uno, watching Lilo and Stitch, munching on pop corn, ordering lots of Pizza for lunch, eating candy bars, playing team scrabble, and ended with everyone sipping on hot chocolate while theyall watched Tom and Jerry. Of course, they did less watching and more arguing since Tara said that she felt sorry for poor Tom, since Jerry was always getting him into trouble, while the poor cat was only doing his job! No one else agreed with that, and a friendly argument ensued!

Finally at 6:30 Tara said that she thought it was about time that they wrapped up, since it was a school day the next day. Willow offered to go home on her own, since she didn't see how everyone would fit into one car, but Tara insisted that Willow stay at her house, while she went to drop the kids, and then she'd come back and take her home. Everyone sliped into their rain coats, and Willow was left with no option but to listen to the adamant blonde!

"Make yourself at home" were Tara's parting words, as she watched some of the kids go to hug Willow before they left, drawing promises that she'd be back before they left.

So Willow made herself at home. She went through Tara's amazing CD collection, and popped in the Sheryl Crow greatest hits album, before setling down on the sofa, and closing her eyes. She was surprised at how at home she felt at Tara's place. Somehow it smelled of her, and that smell seemed to soothe Willow's senses.

15 minutes later she heard keys in the door, and opened her eyes, but didn't bother to sit up. Tara walked in, and imediately her eyes connected with Willow's, as they had been doing all day long. And just as she had been doing all day, she quickly looked away, fearing that she'd drool otherwise!

Willow had noticed her doing that all day too, and didn't quite understand why Tara was doing that. She loved looking into Tara's eyes, and didn't like it when the blonde looked away.

"Hey... ." She said, rising slowly, as Tara walked in. "Everything go ok?"

"Yeah..." Tara said, her voice soft, "I just had to drop them off and watch them till they got into their houses..."

Willow started to rise, thinking that she should probably go, when Tara suddenly asked, "Willow, you have any dinner plans tonight?"

For some reason Willow's heart beat sped up, as she shook her head 'No'.

"Ok... well, I'm not really doing anything either, so ... well, you wanna hang here for a while?" Tara asked, trying not to sound too hopeful, even as she was asking herself "What the hell am I doing? Bad plan! Bad plan!"

Willow's speeding heart now soared, as she smiled and nodded her head. "I'd love to Tara...!"

"Cool!" Tara said, her smile lighting up the room, as her blue connected with greens. "Cool!" she repeated, liking the light she saw shine in the red heads orbs.