Author: Elizabeth
Rating: A saucy PG-13... cause that's all I can write... and no more, else you'll be highly disappointed with my knowledge thereof.
Disclaimer: I wish I did... but I don't... wish I was one of the official writers, but I'm not... and never will be <sigh>... so, is that good enough to disclaim my non-existent ownership of W/T?

Thunder.

A deep rolling beneath the earth causes even the smallest creatures to stir from their midnight slumber. It is soft at first, a sort of minimal growl. The bass sounds are imperceptible to human ears. But soon it grows, ever so subtly, climbing octaves, rising above each note at a leisurely pace.

Ants scurry - spiders flee.

And the leaves shake with the knowledge, blazoned on every cell, that it is coming.

It will happen.

But for now... a soft, very soft

Thunder.

Imagine a guppy, it's mouth wordlessly open, hanging on its hinges and waiting for the proper moment to close. Had amazons ever been introduced to guppies, or if the small river outside of their tribal territory inhabited them, Tar'airah might have laughed; apparently her two friends from childhood did killer impersonations.

She stood there, arms folded across her chest, leaning against the bedpost. The two amazons were slightly blocked from her view by a petite redhead who was speaking in English, slowly. Tar'airah in turn translated every word while her friends silently took in the story of the girl's mistaken capture, near death, and now friendship with the blonde amazon.

Fa'aith and Buf' just stood there, gawking.

Willow was doing her best not to take that as a bad reaction, and continued in the only form she knew: babbling. However, it was just a blur of sounds to the two warriors in front of her.

Fa'aith and Buf' looked up to Tar'airah for the confirmation of what looked like honesty in the smaller sunset-haired one. She, however, seemed more distracted with the redhead's words than the two amazons for once. But the blonde recovered herself and retold what she had heard.

"She s-says she didn't exactly know where sh-she was, and she never meant to trip upon our 'lovely' tribe, but apparently it's a life or death situation for..." she seemed slightly embarrassed by the words that were slipping out of her mouth, "... f-f-for both of us. A-and she's not about to step aside and..." Gulp. "Leave me..." Tar'airah in a split second of panic added, "t-t-to be banished."

We still don't know if they plan to kill Willow, best not tack on the fact that I'm in love with her.

Silence enfolded the room; Willow had said her part and felt no need to expand on her feelings for the blonde in front of her violently capable companions.

She slowly stepped back next to the body of her only Anglo friend in the hut. Her right hand slipped down of it's own accord and slowly clasped that of the blonde's left. Tara didn't reject the hand.

Fa'aith was having troubles comprehending it all.

First man, then no man.

How a person could suddenly switch their identity was beyond her.

First offensive piece of crap, then nice piece of ass.

Well, there was that one amazon that seemed a little too okay with men, in fact, wanted to be one, but that was a decades ago, and they didn't talk about he - him - any more.

First balls, and now - wait.

It was going to be a long night.

"Tar'airah, what..." Buf' was trying to make sense of... everything. She tried again, "How..." but failed.

Then, luckily, she saw something that she could question.

"Why are you holding her hand?"

Fa'aith seemed to be lost in her thoughts, so Buf' walked a little bit forward.

"What?" Tar'airah immediately dropped Willow's hand, and stepped forward a bit. Willow, however, seemed more surprised than anything. Her face contorted with slight confusion and hurt as she looked up questioningly - but she didn't say anything.

I've said enough for one night. Hell, enough for a week. One wordy week... one wordy Willow week... one worthy wordy Willow week...

Besides, it looked as though the small blonde had to talk to Tara about something important.

"Tar' just I saw you!"

"Buf', I was just comforting her. You know, friendship, comfort?" Tar'airah's resolve was breaking. She still didn't know whether Willow was in danger, and the last thing she wanted was for Buf' to now angrily find out about them.

Was there a 'them,' though?

Every time I've gotten close to... I don't even know if she feels the same way.

For now, she'd have to go from what she did know: keep Willow safe. And Buf'aneah, to Tar'airah's dismay, wouldn't let the small gesture go.

"Fa'aith," she said to her companion who was still in deep thought, "Fa'aith," she tried again but no avail.

"FA'AITH," this time she added a slight thwack on the brunette's arm.

"Ow!"

"Then try listening, Fa'aith," she growled.

"Buf,' please, Willow's just an innocent here, don't get angry. We haven't done anything-"

"I know that look, missy! That, won't-you-two-please-leave-us-alone-so-I-can-make-out-with-my-capture-of-the-day, look!"

"BUF'ANEAH!"

"Hey, I remember that! I did walk in on something!" Fa'aith had seemed to get back into the conversation, this time with a slight grin on her face.

"I KNEW it!" Buf' almost screamed. Tar'airah's mind was going into meltdown.

Not good, not good, not good, not good!

"Tara, what are they jumping up and down about?" Willow asked behind the blonde. The wild-eyed look in the smaller blonde was starting to scare her, especially since it was constantly being directed at her.

"So how long has this been going on?" Buf' had steamrolled over the redhead's words.

"Nothing's going on!"

"Oh come ON, Tar'!" Buf' yelled incredulously.

"Yeah, who do you think we are? Idiots?"

Tar'airah looked back at the brunette with an answering look. It didn't take long to get a response from Fa'aith.

"Shut up, Tar'."

"Tar'airah, at least give us the credit to notice when you're more friendly than usual with a girl," Buf' said angrily.

"It's insulting to think you wouldn't tell us."

"Not if you plan on tearing her apart!" Tar'airah almost yelled.

"What?" Buf' asked after a few moments. It was always weird when Tar'airah raised her voice; something must be wrong.

Tar'airah slowly drew herself up, with a menacing look Buf'aneah and Fa'aithlia had luckily never been the target of before.

It's now or never.

"I won't let you hurt her," she said very softly, "I love you both, you know that," she said apologetically, "But if either one of you come a foot near her in anger," her face turned hard, all kindness leaving the eyes they had known for so long, "you'll regret it."

"Tar'," Buf'aneah said slowly, finally understanding where Tara's anger was coming from, "We wouldn't hurt her."

"Why? Why should I trust you? You two were about to kill her because you thought she was a man no less than then thirty minutes ago!" Anger started to bubble within the blonde.

"Yea, but that's different!"

"HOW?" the girl yelled.

"Well, it just is okay?" Fa'aith was getting angry now. Why the hell should I have to explain to her the history of our people all for the sake of making it clear that if her girlfriend happened to be a man and not a woman, I might be violently inclined to kill her?

"Fa'aith! Tar'!" Buf' said getting tired of the confusion, "Let's try to be calm. Your 'friend' looks a little pale," she nodded towards the redhead.

Willow, who at the time was more concerned about Tara's raised voice, had the look of a little kid lost in a zoo, waiting for someone to explain Why?

Tar'airah tried to give her a comforting look before shooting back at the smaller blonde, "We're not-"

"Whatever," Buf' tossed the thought away.

"Buf', I'm serious," Tar'airah's voice rose again to a deadly level, "If you come near her..."

"Tar' we wouldn't harm a hair on her head!"

"Yeah, what do you think we are? Ruthless killers?"

Again with that look.

"Shut up, Tar'."

"Tar'airah we won't hurt her."

"Oh, and why is that?"

"Because you love her," Buf' said simply. After the words were spoken, the realization of what that meant caused Fa'aith's mouth to turn upward every so slowly. She stood there, grinning like a jaguar having found a baby gazelle with a sign on it saying, 'please eat me.'

"Tar'airah," came the brunette's voice, "The warrior to be feared, known for her deadly skills in combat and weaponry," she snickered, "Is. In. Love," she finished laughing and pointing.

And so the relentless mocking begins.

Tar'airah just stood there, wordless. Laughter between two young girls enveloped the room, only to broken by a frustrated voice.

"Okay, seriously now, what did she just say? Cause this whole 'Willow doesn't know any Amazonian so let's just all talk in it' thing is starting to get old."

I liked it better when they thought she was a man.