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

Willow stood over her bed, checking her suitcase one last time. She'd gotten back from teaching the kids at Tara's apartment a while ago, and had immediately gotten down to packing. She was due to leave for LA with the blonde the next morning, and wanted to make sure that she didn't leave anything behind... like when she'd gone to France with her parents on a flight and forgotten to pack her underwear! This time Willow'd made a list of everything she needed to carry, and ticked it off as she put it into her suitcase.

Finally convinced that she had everything she needed, Willow zipped her suitcase, as her mind drifted off to her whirlwind meeting with Tara the previous day...

Thursday.

Willow walked out of her psychology lecture to see Tara standing outside the door, apparently waiting for her.

"Willow! How are you?" Tara asked, her expression transforming into a smile the minute she saw the redhead.

"I'm good Tara! Were you waiting for me?" Willow asked, wondering what Tara had to say to her so anxiously that she couldn't wait till Willow got out of the building.

"Yeah..." Tara began, before clearing her throat and continuing "I'm in a bit of a hurry and just wanted to tell you about the concert before I have to get to work. Do you have a break now?" she asked. When the redhead nodded Tara smiled, "Ok, why don't we start walking out and I'll fill you in?" and with that the two of them started to walk towards the buildings main doors.

Tara continued "Ok, like I told you the concerts in LA on Sunday right? But since the stations handling it I have to be there a day early, and since you're coming with me I thought it would be best that you come with me? Is that cool with you?"

Willow nodded "Yeah that's fine. I'll just make hotel reservations for Saturday instead... ok what did I say that wasn't right?" she finished, noting that Tara was shaking her head in the negative.

"Ok I don't mean to sound too bossy, but that's not an option" Tara stated, still walking. Willow's expression turned into one of absolute confusion, and Tara continued "You're living with my family in LA... and even if you think of arguing with me about that, there's no way you can convince my Mom to let you stay in a hotel while you're in town with me!" she finished, with an amused glint in her eyes as she looked at Willow.

Willow started to voice her objection "No Tara... that's not right... I don't wanna impose on your family..." but Tara cut her off.

"Believe me Willow, you won't be imposing. Mom loves it when my friends come over, and she won't have it any other way. Besides, I'd really like it if you stayed with us" Tara said, looking away before Willow wondered what was up with the hopeful look in her eyes.

Willow paused as they reached the doors, and turned to Tara. "I don't have an option do I?!" she smiled.

Tara grinned, "Not one".

"Ok then... but anytime I get too annoying for someone in your house, feel free to ask me to get out" Willow laughed.

"I'll remember that" Tara joked back, as she and Willow made their way out the doors and into the sunlight. Opening her bag, Tara pulled out a pair of brown shades, and held them in her hand as she said "One more thing... Mom's sending down her plane to pick us up, so I figured that we could meet up at my place at 10:15 and head to the airport, if that works for you?"

"Remind me to thank your Mom!" Willow said, adding "Yeah, that's fine. So 10:15 Saturday morning right?"

"Yup" Tara nodded her head, and then she looked apologetic "Ok Will... I have to head to work now..." she glanced down at her watch "Crap! I'm already late for a meeting! I'll see you tomorrow to teach the kids ok? And if I'm not able to make it I'll see you for sure Saturday morning. Ok I gotta go!" she said in a hurry, but still stood there, her body unwilling to leave the redhead's side.

"Ok..." Willow said, trying to hide the disappointment in her voice due to the fact that the blonde was leaving again.

Tara put on the sunglasses, saying, "Umm... say hi to everyone for me ok?" even as she thought 'Ok Tara, you really have to go now... or you'll get fired... and getting fired means no concert... and no concert means no LA time with Willow'. That final thought pushed Tara into gear, and with a "Take care Will... I really gotta go" she glanced at the object of her affections one more time before taking off in a semi fast sprint towards her parked jeep...

That had been yesterday. As it turned out Tara had been unable to make it to teach the kids, and Willow had sat teaching them in her apartment, missing the blonde. She'd spoken to Buffy the previous night, and her friend had told her about how hard Tara had been working on the concert. Willow's heart swelled with pride when she heard Buffy talk about how much everyone at work liked and respected Tara. No one knew that it was Tara who had recommended Buffy for the job of Gabrielle's assistant, so the petite blonde filled Willow in on what everyone said about the senior writer.

"Apparently you should watch her at meetings. When she speaks people twice her age keep quiet and listen to what she has to say. Jasmine was telling me that there's talk that Tara's being groomed to head the station in a few years" Buffy had said. "Isn't that just so cool?"

Willow smiled as she thought back to the conversation. There was no doubt that Buffy was in complete awe of Tara, and why shouldn't she be? Willow thought. The girl could have gone so wrong with her father bailing out on the family, and living away from her mother. Even now she chose to work instead of living off her mothers earnings, and all those qualities just made the blonde more endearing. 'Ok Willow... could you BE more into her????' her mind said, as Willow picked up her suitcase and placed it near her door.

"Probably not" she murmured, a small smile gracing her lips as she whispered that aloud. Willow sighed contentedly, 'A whole weekend with Tara... Belinda Carlisle was right... Heaven is a place on earth!'

Two hours later Tara walked into her house, exhausted after a long days work. Looking at her sofa she thought 'Willow was here', remembering Melody telling her that the redhead was over to help them with their schoolwork. Tara was feeling bad enough that she wasn't able to make it in time to teach the kids the last few days, and made a mental promise to herself that once the concert was out of the way, she'd schedule her work so that she was there to help them out with their school work.

Making her way to the couch, she collapsed on it, even she thought 'Willow was here... probably sitting right here... ' she sank further into the couch, somehow convincing herself that she was getting closer to Willow that way.

All day at work she'd been nagged by the fact that she would be spending the weekend with the redhead, and was just praying that she didn't do something stupid. 'Just because she's split with Oz doesn't mean anything... she probably dumped him because he was being a jerk, and that's all there is to it... no need to get my hopes up high' she kept repeating in her head.

"Don't think about the future right now... try and figure out if she might have a thing for you too... take it from there... if she's not in the least bit interested then there's no point in you trying to woo her... first we need to establish how she feels about you..." Cordelia had said, when Tara had taken a break that afternoon and called her two best friends on a conference call.

"Yeah" Anya had agreed. "And then if she shows even the slightest bit of interest, we'll figure out how to get her to fall in love with you. Considering all the men that seem to fall for you, making one girl fall head over heels for you shouldn't be too hard!"

"Guys!!!!" Tara had blushed, even as Cordelia said, "True"

Tara had had to firmly put her foot down when the two girls had offered, and then insisted that they come along to LA, just "to make sure Tara didn't miss out on any of the signs"!!! Tara knew how obvious her friends could be, and the bottom line was that no matter what, she didn't wanna scare the redhead off and lose her as a friend.

"I won't miss a thing" Tara had stated, hoping to God that she didn't. The last thing she wanted was for Willow to be actually interested, and to miss out on any signals the green-eyed beauty might give out.

After many more promises to take a chance with Willow if an obvious one came her way, Tara finally hung up on her friends, swearing to call before taking off the next day. Going back to work she'd worked for hours before finishing all that needed to be done, and realized that she was the only person left in office. Locking her office she bade the security guards a good night, made her way to the car, and fifteen minutes later she was home. Now here she was, thinking of Willow... something she was doing a lot lately.

Sighing, Tara realized that she still hadn't packed for her trip, and rising from the couch she did a full body stretch. 'I hope the weekend isn't a TOTAL disaster' she thought, making her way to her closet to figure out outfits that she hoped would get the redhead to notice her. 'Amen' she muttered quietly, before starting to pick out her wardrobe for the weekend.