Return to Don't fear the Reaper Chapter Twenty-Six



Don't fear the Reaper
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: MOMS AND DADS

Author: Useful_Oxymoron
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Well, I don't own Willow or Tara. If I did, I wouldn't have made certain... questionable decisions in the later seasons. In any case, Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy own these characters and I don't intend to make any money off them.
Summary: After getting back home from Seattle, Willow and Tara are getting ready for the big day. Meanwhile, Buffy and Faith move in together.
Note: Thanks go to Inlerf for the wonderful blog idea.
Italics are thoughts.


Willow's Wedding Blog
Hey everyone,

Sorry for the sporadic updates, but, well, standard excuse really, I got very busy what with my new internship, school, etc. But that doesn't mean we're not thinking about not getting married anymore, definitely not. (And, yes Dawn, you still get to be a bridesmaid. Promise!)

We're still looking for the perfect location, so Tara and I spent last weekend trekkin' along, as it were. Check out these pictures we took in the countryside. There's also a wonderful chapel there. Of course, we're not very religious, but you should see the view from the hillside:









Perfect place to get married, wouldn't you say? We're seriously thinking about tying the knot here. Opinions?

Okay, time for the truth. Another reason why I've been so slow to update is because, well... I sorta started this blog so I could keep my friends and family up to speed on our wedding plans. But, as is the thing with public blogs, a lot of other people visited and commented on my blog as well, which was more than a little intimidating at first. But when I got over the initial shock, I was overwhelmed by the, well, overwhelmingly positive comments and well-wishes you have given us. Thank you all.

Oh, and for that mental three-year old that claimed he can 'cure' us with his freakishly large 18 inch penis, let's just say that we're less than impressed. Besides, I'm pretty sure that if we would divide that number by 36, we'd come close to the true size of your tinkywink, mister!

Anyway, as soon as there are new developments, I'll keep you informed. And for those who asked, here's a picture of my Tara:



Isn't she the cutest girl you've ever seen? The sweetest smile, the most gorgeous golden hair, the cutest nose... Wouldn't you want to snatch her up and run off with her on the spot? Well, forget it, cause she's MINE!

I'll try to convince Tara to type a message for you the next time, but I won't promise anything. The idea of this blog makes Tara a bit nervous, you see? But I'll see what I can do.

Until next time.

Willow
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Tara clicked away the website and smiled briefly. At least now she knew why Willow was so adamant to make that picture of her.

And, while it was true that the blog sorta made Tara nervous, she wouldn't deny Willow her excentricities. Though it made her nervous, she'd be giving leaving a message on Willow's blog some serious thought. They were they approached the wedding showed how different they were. Willow wanted every single tiny detail of their wedding planned to perfection. In contrast, the only thing Tara needed to have at the wedding was Willow... all the rest was secondary.

Her thoughts drifted back to last night. It had rained heavily throughout most the night, and Tara always enjoyed watching the water stream over the slanted skylight of their loft. In fact, there is was one thing Tara enjoyed even more than holding Willow while the water rains down on the skylight: making love to Willow when the water rains down on the skylight.

There was nothing in the world quite like waking up Willow with kisses and caresses, to let her hands slide over Willow's body to find her most sensitive and ticklish spots, to tease her with her tongue, to massage her soft belly... And that was only the start of an hours-long session of Tara giving it her all to make love to Willow while the lightning regularly lit up the entire bedroom.

Tara didn't quite know what it was about thunder and lightning that brought out the beast in her, but neither of them was complaining.

But at the moment, she figured she should really be getting her belongings together, like preparing her favorite fishing rod and gather a nice variety of lines and hooks. Tara had talked Willow into joining her on a fishing trip this weekend. Not that Willow needed much convincing. Though fishing wasn't Willow favorite activity in the world, the idea of being with Tara at the idyllic lakeside in a tent was too much to refuse. In fact, Willow was probably one of the few campers in the world who was actually hoping for rain.

Like last time, Tara might not actually catch many fish. Willow's chattiness had a tendancy to scare the fish away, while Willow in bikini proved to be a mite distracting for Tara. Still, Tara was not complaining. Not at all.

So, the tent and supplies were packed, and all she needed to get together were her fishing supplies, but she could do that tomorrow. It was only wednesday after all, so she had plenty of time to see what hooks she'd have to bring.

The doorbell ringing left Tara to have to decide later on if she'd have to bring her carp-hooks. She checked the clock and wondered why Willow and her dad were back already. The matinee they went to couldn't have been over yet. Tara opened the door and saw the person she least expected to see.

"Dad?"

"Tara."

Silence.

"Can I come in?"

"Huh?" Tara replied. "Oh, oh, sorry. Sure. Come in."

Tara's father passed her. "How have you been."

"Fine, I suppose."

"You didn't expect me at all, did you?"

"Not really, I..."

"I wanted to talk to you... you know, after the tribunal," he said while he sat down on the couch. "But... I never quite knew what to say to you."

"Neither do I, really," Tara replied softly. "I suppose we have a lot to say to each other, but I just don't know where to start."

"Then let's start off with your impending wedding. Colleagues of mine found your fiancee's blog on the internet, and, well... I wanted to give you my congratulations. And, for what it's worth, my blessing."

"That means a lot to me, dad," Tara replied softly. "More than you know."

"I know I haven't been a very good father to you over the past few years, and I know it's going to be hard to make up for it, but... you have to start somewhere."

Tara regarded her father for a while. She could read in his face that this was very hard for him. He had never been well at showing and sharing his emotions, after all.

"I don't even know about the girl you're about to marry," he half-smiled. "That's embarrassing to admit to your friends, you know?"

"Well, if you wait a while," Tara said. "Willow and her dad went out to the theatre today, and they'll be back in about half an hour. While we wait for them we could, um, you know, c-catch up and all that. I mean, if you like."

"I would," Donald replied. "Tell me about my soon to be daughter-in-law."

Tara had never expected sharing silly anecdotes about things that had happened to her and Willow over past few months. How Willow had been chased across town by a Great Dane because it wanted her pastrami sandwich and Willow was to stubborn to give up her sandwich to the hungry and playful dog. How Willow dressed up like Scarface at Halloween but only used kiddie swear-words. Of how she and Willow travelled to Griffith Park in LA and hung out with two old hippies.

Tara and her father enjoyed the conversation. Then Willow and her own father returned from the matinee. It was no secret that Willow was surprised to see Tara's father sitting in her living room.

"Oh, hi, um," Willow said when she let her father in. "I, uh, well, this is unexpected. This, of course, is Tara's father."

Donald Maclay slowly rose from his seat and extended his hand towards Ira Rosenberg. As the two men awkwardly shook hands, Tara couldn't help but notice the two men were like two wildebeests sizing each other up before the charge.

"It's a pleasure to meet someone from Tara's family," Ira said. "I'm afraid Tara hasn't exactly been forthcoming with details. I did hear from her that you, like her, deal in tracking down insurance fraud?"

Donald turned to Tara for a moment, sending her a questioning glare that made Tara look away and blush slightly. "Yes," he hissed through his teeth. "Insurance fraud. And you are... a teacher, aren't you?"

"Associate professor in Psychology at UCLA, tenured, actually," Ira replied, while still shaking Donald's hand.

"Truly? Well, I oversee... insurance fraud... staff over a multitude of regions," Donald replied, taking back his hand.

"Is there really that much insurance fraud?"

"Oh, you find it in all layers of society, all times of the day," Donald shrugged. "In any case, since our daughters will be getting married, I suppose we'll be seeing more of each other."

"Is mom still crying?" Willow crossed her arms.

"That's not fair, Willow," Ira replied. "We were very excited when you told us you were engaged."

"Yes," Willow pouted. "The last time I'd seen mom get so excited was when the kitchen was on fire. Oh, and after that, she got that same look in her eyes Xander gets whenever he sees Faith eating an ice-cream cone. Only less lusty and more in a 'where have I gone wrong'-trance-y sort of way."

"Oh, Willow, be fair," Ira tried. "She's just... worried. You are a bit young to be married, after all."

"It has nothing to do with my age and everything to do with my fiancee's gender," Willow pouted more. Tara immediately took Willow's hand and guided her back to the couch.

"Come on, Willow," Ira tried to remain encouraging. "She'll turn around once you and Tara have broken glass."

Donald blinked. "Excuse me? Breaking glass?"

Ira turned to Donald. "Yes, that marks the end of the traditional Jewish wedding."

"Je..." Donald started to say. "Like hell! Their marriage will end with the recitation of their vows while they hold their hands on the golden skull!"

"G... golden skull?" Ira blinked.

"My little girl will be having a traditional Reaper wedding, and that is final!" Donald replied.

Ira blinked again. "What is a Reaper? I've never heard of that religion..."

Donald bit his lip. "It's not important what religion it is! What is important is that that's the way Tara's going to marry!"

"Over my dead body!" Ira challenged.

A sardonic grin formed on Donald's face. "My thoughts exactly."

"DAD!" Willow shouted.

"DAD!" Tara admonished.

"We don't even know where we're going to be married, let alone how!" Willow said.

"It's a bit early to behave like two angry roosters, now is it?" Tara smirked, firmly putting the two fathers in their place.

The next half an hour proved to be a bit simpler for the girls and the two men actually chatted amicably for a while. Still, whenever Willow or Tara noticed the conversation was headed towards the details of the impending wedding ceremony, or the Reapers, they deftly steered it into another direction. At the end of the conversation, both men left, and Tara's father promised to visit more often.

A relieved Willow and Tara leaned against each other on the couch, while Tara stroked Willow's hair.

"That went well," Tara smiled.

"Sometimes I wonder who's getting married. Us or our families. Our dysfunctional families. Still wanna get married?"

"I'm still wearing your ring, aren't I?"

"My mother's going to be the real tough cookie to break," Willow sighed heavily. "It would be so much easier if she could just... accept..."

"I know," Tara said. It was the only thing she could say.


Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Buffy was pacing about in her new home. About a month back, Buffy had taken a big step in leaving the parental home. Above her new martial arts school was a large room that used to be rented out for storage space. But it had a lovely view and plenty of room for comfortable living. It was the only sensible thing to move in. That way, Buffy could be close to her school, close to campus and still be in walking distance from her family home.

Besides, a big selling point is that Faith promised to move in with her if she wanted her to.

A few days back, Joyce had finally declared her daughter's new home habitable. Though there weren't any walls, the large room was quite cozy and had been divided in several sections. A queen-sized bed (bought secondhand) stood at the very edge of the room, surrounded by two night stands. A recently installed kitchen block was placed against the east wall, along with a large refridgerator.

Faith's old couch and several seats taken from storage surrounded a glass coffee table above a big white rug. Along with some of Buffy's favorite possessions, including her collection of stuffed animals, Faith had moved in all of her gadgets. Buffy knew that Faith had a thing for gadgets and camp technology, but the sheer amount of strange devices Faith owned baffled her. Also, she never quite caught wrap her head around the logic behind Faith's purchase of no less than five Furbies... Though Faith claimed it was fun to see the five Furbies interact, Buffy only found them incredibly annoying.

Fortunately, Faith had also brought some of her more useful items like a fridge, several lamps, a large TV, a DVD-player and VHS machine and, of course, her beloved Playstation 2.

Though the walls were still a bit bare, Faith and Buffy had adorned them with old posters until they could find a better solution. All in all, it was a nice place to live. A major con for Buffy, however, was that there was no mom with dinner ready on the table when she got home after a long day.

Buffy sighed heavily and checked the clock yet again. Faith was already an hour late. They'd have to start making dinner soon and there was still no sign of her.

Finally, Buffy heard the sound of the lift activating. The only access (aside from the fire-escape) was a large freight elevator to the side of the room, which was now coming up. It deposited an excited Faith into their home.

"Hey, B!" Faith grinned a she stepped onto the floor with a package underneath her arm. "Look what I got!"

"Faith, do you know what time it is?"

"No," Faith replied. "Check this out!"

"What is it?"

"It's a snowboard simulator!" Faith replied. "I picked it up from the gameshop next to the supermarket. See, you hook it up to your TV and then you step onto the board and steer yourself through the halfpipe with your body."

"Faith... where's our food?"

"Huh?"

"The food I asked you to bring."

"Oh, I spent all the money on the snowboard simulator," Faith shrugged. "Who needs food when you can snowboard in your own living room?"

"FAITH!" Buffy replied sharply. "What are we going to eat tonight?!"

Faith shrugged again. "Chill B. I'll order some pizza."

"We had pizza yesterday and the day before that," Buffy replied. "You might be able to eat like a pig and stay thin, but I have to eat some heathy food too."

"Low-fat pizza?" Faith shrugged, and then cooed to her approaching pooch.

"BUFFY!" Faith greeted her dog. "BuffyBuffyBuffyBuffyBuffy," she said while bending down and grabbing hold of her loving mastiff.

Buffy, the human, crossed her arms. "And another thing. If that dog's gonna be living with us, we have to make sure you don't mix us up."

"How are we gonna do that?"

"Me Buffy," Buffy pointed at herself. "She Comet."

Faith shook her head. "No, no, she doesn't listen to Comet anymore. Hey, I got another idea. She Buffy One. You Buffy Two."

Buffy blinked. "What?"

"She Buffy One..."

"I heard you the first time," Buffy said. "So I'm number two? It's nice to know where I stand with you, Faith. Why do I have to be Buffy Two?"

"Hey, don't get all iffy," Faith replied. "It's just because I knew this Buffy before I knew you."

"Yeah, but I was called Buffy before Buffy was called Buffy," Buffy replied. "So if I was called Buffy before Buffy was called Buffy, shouldn't I be called Buffy One instead of Buffy Two?"

Faith blinked. "Huh?"

"And another thing," Buffy mentioned to a cardboard cut-out of Columbo, which was used as a stand in a store to hold the Columbo DVD's and which Faith had 'liberated' from said store and now used it to store her Columbo collection.

"What's wrong with my Peter Falk display?"

"Why is he aimed towards the bed? I don't want Columbo looking at us when we're sleeping... or worse, when we're making love!"

"Look, B!"

"Look, Faith."

The two girlfriends stared at each other for a moment.

"Are we having a fight?"

"I think so."

"Can we stop it?"

"Yeah, sure," Faith replied. "Sorry... Guess I should have brought some food, huh?"

"This is actually the first time we've had a fight, I think. It's, um, not of the fun."

"Ditto."

"In every tv-show and book, the protagonists have make-up sex after a first fight... but I really don't feel like that at the moment."

"Same here," Faith sighed. "I'm feeling too guilty. Sorry, B, I should think before opening my mouth... and before buying an electronic snowboard."

"'s okay," Buffy shrugged at the two sat down together on the edge of their bed. "Dawn'll probably love it when she comes over."

"Yeah, I, uh," Faith carefully wrapped and arm around Buffy's waist. When Buffy didn't pull away, Faith relaxed slightly. "Thinking isn't my strong point, B. I, uh, am ashamed to say I said some pretty bad things to Tara when we were younger. But she always forgave me later, thank Death. I don't think I would have had much of a life without her."

"Tara? I can't imagine what'd make you yell at her."

Faith lay her head on Buffy's shoulder. "It's, uh, not that she said anything bad, it's just that... well, she tried to get me to open up. Felt I was bottling things up, you know? Well, maybe that's true, but I just didn't want to tell anyone about what happened between me and my dead-beat parents, B."

"Your girlfriend is listening if you wanna talk," Buffy whispered. "But you don't have to if you don't want to."

"Maybe I do want to get this off my chest," Faith said. "You don't know how lucky you are, B. You've got a family and friends who love you. Me, I... Okay, I'm gonna keep this short. You know how I told you that we Reapers treat Death differently than the average mortal? Cultural thing, right? Well, it's not always true, and the Head Office don't want that coming out. My dad was a Collector who couldn't handle the whole philosophy. He used to get drunk after work and rant about it... then he used to beat up on my mom. And then... mom'd come to my room and take out her frustration out on me," Faith closed her eyes. "Because I was weaker than her and I couldn't fight back."

"Oh, Faith," Buffy took her girlfriend's hand. "That's so horrible."

"Tell me about it," Faith replied softly. "It started when I was five and went on till I was eleven... that was the time when I started fighting back. Anyway, someone at the Head Office caught wind of our nice little dysfunctional nuclear family... They sent my dad to a special facility for 'behavioral modification', and reassigned my mother to another country. And they made me an offer I couldn't refuse."

"What was that?"

"My own place, legal emancipation from my parents, guaranteed admission to Harvester training... everything I wanted. They only wanted one thing of me. I had to keep my mouth shut about what happened in my family. The Head Office doesn't want it publicly known that some Reapers go off on the deep end, B. They said that if word got out, they'd take everything away from me in a heartbeat. But trust me, at the time, I wasn't in a hurry to tell anyone. Well, that's the story of Faith Lehane's crappy family. Do with it as you please."

Buffy kissed Faith's shoulder. "Don't even joke about that, Faith. You never talked to your family again?"

"Never," Faith replied. "I don't care where my dad is. My mom used to send me a birthday card, but those stopped coming long ago. Fuck'em, I don't need them. I had some lonely years, but then I had Tara as a friend... and now I have you as a lover. I guess I'm lucky after all."

"I love you, Faith," Buffy whispered. "I want you to be happy."

"Uh," Faith blushed slightly. "I, uh, don't wanna sound like a wuss or anything, but, uh, could I just... hold you for a while?"

Buffy slowly pushed Faith down to the bed and let the other girl embrace her tightly. When she looked at Faith, she was treated with the most beautiful smile she had ever seen.

"Love ya, B."


Sheila Rosenberg grabbed her bathrobe and headed down the stairs, suppressing a yawn. The doorbell had rang, and after glancing at the clock, she saw it was past midnight. She looked through the little peephole in the front door and saw one of the Summers girls standing in front of the door. It looked to be Bunny's little sister Fawn. Wasn't she a little young to be out at night?

Sheila opened the door and saw Fawn standing there with a determined look on her face, holding a piece of paper.

"Young lady," Sheila said. "Do you know what time it is? I shall be calling your mother first day in the morning."

"Do that," Fawn replied coldly. "But read this."

Fawn shoved the piece of paper into Sheila's hands and stomped off. The puzzled woman looked at the paper, which turned out to be a printed internet page. It seemed to be part of an online diary and had a whole string replies underneath the main entry, mostly words of support from people with odd handled. The main entry consisted of a single sentence which read :

"Willow's Wedding Blog

Why doesn't my mother love me?"


"Hello Lara, is Willow in?"

Tara was flabbergasted to find Willow's mother standing in the door opening. "Uh, s-sure, I, uh... It's Tara, by the way."

"Sure, Lara," Sheila replied and found Willow standing in the living room.

"Mom?" Willow asked, equally flabbergasted. "What are you doing here?"

"I've never been to your home," Sheila commented absentmindedly. "It's nice... as homes go."

Instantly, Tara became aware of the rising hostility between the two women in front of her. Willow and Sheila always seemed to be two unstoppable forces... and right now, they were on collision course. Freeman Dyson once stated that if two indestructible and unstoppable forces would collide, it could potentially annihilate the entire universe.

Or at least the apartment.

"I read your blog, all of it," Sheila said, making a less militant spectacle of herself than she usually did. "Your friend Fawn brought it to my attention."

"It's Dawn," Willow corrected. "Your read my blog? I-I didn't think you'd... I mean... Dammit, have you come here to tell me to take it down? That you don't want it any more publicly know that your daughter is a dyke?! Well, it ain't gonna happen, that's for sure! And another thing..."

Sheila sighed. "No, no, not this time. I came over to say that it's not true. I do love you, Willow."

"Oh?" Willow replied coldly. "Since when?"

"That's unfair, Willow."

"Is it?" Willow replied. "You never loved me when you thought I was straight and you certainly never started loving me when I was gay. I never got an ounce of support from you when I was... troubled and confused. I had to go to somebody else's mother for love and understanding. Don't you get that? When I told you I was gay, you told me I was just saying that to draw attention to myself! Four years ago you stabbed a dagger in my heart and you've been driving it deeper every single time we talked... which isn't really all that much, thank god!"

"Look, Willow," Sheila sighed. "I... I always had big plans for your life, from the moment you were conceived. We want you to be a success, Willow."

"Oh, and Tara doesn't fit into your plans? And you decide for me what a successful life is? There's a little thing called free will, mom. Perhaps you've heard of it?" Willow replied.

Tara sighed heavily. This is not going well. I have to do something. While Willow and her mother continued arguing, Tara moved along the room, gathering some things.

"And, yes, I do believe you're too young to get married. You're nineteen, Willow, and way too young to make a well-informed decision about these things. And what about Tara? How fair is it to her when you find out you're not gay after all and you're already married?"

"What do you mean, 'when'?!" Willow shouted. "I am gay! I have always been gay and I always will be gay! God, this is just... At least dad is trying to make things better, but you are just making things between us so much worse!"

"Why? You suddenly decided to be gay, so you might suddenly decide to be straight again someday. It's been know to happen."

"You mean you hope it's going to happen," Willow narrowed her eyes. "Look, why don't you just..."

"ALRIGHT!"

Willow and her mother both looked at Tara, who was standing with her arms crossed. "Which one of you is going to be the one that gives the other one a break?"

"Tara?" Willow asked. "Y-you aren't taking her side, are you?"

"Sweetie, I'm not taking anyone's side. Goddess, look at what this is doing to you both. Willow, you have such anger towards your mother, and that's not good for you. You're such a loving person, and it's scary to see you this angry and cynical. And you, mrs Rosenberg, you are so knee-deep in denial you're going to drown in it! Look, you two have to at least try to start talking things out or this'll continue to drag on."

That said, Tara headed to the door. "I'm sorry, Willow, but you're going to have talk things out."

"Tara?" Willow asked when Tara closed the door. Curiosity turned to panic when she heard a snick. "TARA!"

"Willow, what's going on?" Sheila asked.

Willow leaned against the door slightly and let out a heavy sigh. "She locked the door. And since my keys aren't on the coffee-table anymore, she must have taken those too."

"Your girlfriend locked us in here?" Sheila bit her lip. "How rude."

"That's the first time you ever acknowledged Tara as my girlfriend." Willow said as she quickly checked her sachel. "Buffy has our housekey, freedom is just a phonecall away... Oh, poopy. Tara took my cellphone too," Willow paced frantically between a few cupboards to see if she had hidden it. "Nope, it's not here, she definitely took it."

"I left mine at home as well," Sheila sighed after checking her handbag. "I didn't want to be called from work while we were... talking."

Willow perked up. "Hold on, I'll send her an e-mail! She's bound to be at the Martial Arts school right about now and... Oh, wait," Willow froze, and quickly ran to the window, where the pushed aside the curtains. "Yeppers, Tara took the cable-modem too."

"At least your girlfriend has all her bases covered," Sheila sighed.

"Well, there's another idea. I might have enough components, and it'll take me a while, but I could..." Willow suddenly froze and shook her head. She slowly moved back to the couch and plopped down with a sigh.

"What is it, Willow?"

"Apparently," Willow avoided her mother's gaze, "I'm so desperate to avoid talking with you, that I considered building a short-wave radio from scratch."

Sheila blinked. "What use would that be?"

"I helped Dawn build one for a science project," Willow shrugged. "She still uses it. Her circle of friends now include a couple of burly truckers."

"Fawn, she's a plucky one, alright," Sheila sighed. "I suppose we could talk."

"Talk is good. I suppose."

Silence

More silence.

Even more silence.

Yet more silence as mother and child sat next to each other.

"Mom. All my life I have wanted your complete attention, if only for a little while, so I could talk to you and you would actually listen to what I'd have to say. And now that the moment is here, I... I don't have anything to say to you at all. Ironic, isn't it?" Willow whispered softly.

"Talk is good for the soul."

"Then why do you hardly ever talk to me?"

"You know how it is... always busy, always something to do, work, study... and you were a very self-sufficient child. I know that's not an excuse, but..."


Tara took a sip from her mocha and checked her watch again. And yet again, she worried if she still had a fiancee after this little escapade... or worried that she might come home to find both mother and daughter dead with their hands wrapped around each other's necks. Luckily, she'd ran into two friends to help her pass the time.

"Relax, Tara," Phaere smiled while sipping from her teacup, while her partner Laska was doing a study of her bagel.

Laska and Phaere were two colleagues from the computer company where Willow was interning. They were a lesbian couple that had been together for the past ten years, and the oddest pair. Phaere was a senior sales manager and, as such, was constantly delving in numbers, figures, charts and financial statements. A shrewd businesswoman who saw opportunities and took them whenever they presented themselves. She was a gorgeous woman and almost always wore a grey business suit.

Laska, on the other hand, was the mirror opposite of Phaere. Laska was a tall woman with long black hair tied into a pony. In her free time, she preferred jeans and tank-top. She served as the company's Head of Security. Though that sounded impressive, Laska always added the entire security department consisted of herself, the night-watchman Bubba, and two old Dobermanns called Cheech and Chong.

"It's just her... this thing between her and her mother," Tara sighed.

"Hey," Laska replied. "Willow told us all about her mom. She sounds like a parent with all the typical 'oh, my god, my child is gay'-qualifications. We know all about that, don't we?"

"Oh, yeah," Phaere giggled. "Almost gave my dad a heart-attack when I brought home Laska. Not only did I bring home a girl, I brought home a white girl. It was almost too much for my ex-black panther dad."

"Hm-hmm," Laska grinned and changed her voice to sound like Phaere's father. "Damn, girl, so many fine-ass sisters out there, and you bring home one of them."

"Dad grew to like Laska. Took a bit of time, but he did," Phaere smiled. "Don't worry, Tara, you're a very likable person. Your in-laws are going to adore you."

"I'm more worried about Willow, really."

"I wish they sold brewski's here," Laska broke in. "I could use a nice frosty cold one right about now."

"They've got tea and coffee," Phaere replied. "Excellent pricing, I might add."

"What are you talking about? Starbucks is cheaper," Laska replied.

"I'm talking about pricing from a financial standpoint, Laska."

"Heh, you're the only woman in the world who admires people who rip her off," Laska grinned. "And I love you for it."


With trembling hand, Tara unlocked the door, expecting to find just about anything. To her pleasant surprise, she found Willow and her mother quietly talking.

"Am I interrupting anything?"

"Hey!" Willow smiled and embraced Tara. The two lovers brushed lips briefly. When Tara broke the kiss, she saw that Sheila was embarrassed by it and looked away.

Oh, well, won't change the world in a day, Tara thought and sat down next to Willow on the couch. "Well, how are you doing?"

"I got a lot of things off my chest. Things I've been wanting to say for the longest times. I feel so liberated, Tara," Willow smiled. "Mom actually listened to me today."

"I too have had a similar feeling on enlightenment," Sheila replied. "It seems I have been quite deep in denial. It's fascinating, really. I've been trained to recognize the five stages of acceptance, but I've failed to notice them in myself until Willow shared her observations with me. It's a very fascinating form of psychological myopia. I should do more research on the subject."

Sheila took a deep breath. "My daughter is a lesbian... There, I've said it. And it's so easy. My daughter is a lesbian. I admit I am still not happy about it, though."

Willow turned to Tara. "It took her four years to get this far, I suppose we can't expect a full conversion in a day."

"Yes," Sheila said as she headed towards the door. "My daughter is a lesbian. My daughter is a lesbian. My daughter is a lesbian. I never expected this to be this easy. Hmm, must do research. Willow, honey, we'll talk later, okay."

"Okay, mom, bye," Willow replied and turned to Tara. "Tara, baby, I swear, this has to been the weirdest hour of my life."

"You okay, sweetie?"

"More than okay," Willow said. "When my mother's talking about doing research it's a good sign. I can hardly believe it, but I think my mother and I actually communicated with each other. I don't dare hope thing'll actually improve between us, but... wow, we actually talked to each other today!"

"I'm happy for you, sweetie," Tara embraced her fiancee.


Willow's Wedding Blog
Hi everyone. I'm Tara. Willow strongarmed me into writing in her blog. I'm pretty much new to this internet diary thing, so I hope you'll forgive me if I make nettiquette mistakes and all that. I'll promise not to write in all caps of use that silly l33t speak. I don't have much to say, really, just that Willow and I are fine and we hope you are too.

It seems our coming wedding has brought our families closer together. I had dinner with Willow and her family and things went so much better than the last time. And, shock upon shocks, Willow's mother actually remembered my name! I also had a long talk with my dad the other day. We sorta started clearing up the air between us, which is a good thing.

I'm afraid this is all the time I have to write. I have to buy my friends Faith and Buffy a housewarming gift for their party tonight.

Thank you all for your well wishes and kind words. Willow'll do the next blog again, but I sorta like it, so I might write more. Until then! And thank you!

Tara
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