chase the morning p.3

Willow and Tara crouched in the hushed darkness of the small mausoleum, listening carefully for any disturbances outside. After a good five minutes Tara realized that they were still holding hands, Willow had loosely intertwined fingers with her and had unknowingly began to stroke the other girl's hand with her thumb. Tara blushed at the intimate contact, Willow noticed what she was doing and drew away embarrassed.

Willow's other hand reached up to touch her wound, the trails of blood had hardened and were becoming flaky on her skin. She scratched at the layer, trying to remove it. Tara put her hand on Willow's shoulder stilling her movements.

"Hey don't pick at it you could reopen it and start bleeding again" Tara whispered, Willow sighed and nodded her head in agreement.

She couldn't help it, she needed to be doing something with her hands, she felt antsy sitting in the darkness trying to stay perfectly still and quiet. Tara noticed this and placed her hand back over Willow's to comfort her, the spark between them jumped again, but neither said a word.

More time began to pass while Willow traced invisible patterns along the inside of Tara's wrist and palm, she could feel the long columns of root like veins woven just under the surface of Tara's skin. Tara felt like her entire arm was a magnet being pulled into Willow's touch, call it what you may; electricity, magic or attraction, but both girls could feel it. There was a connection that led them to each other.

Every so often they would hear gusts of wind beating against the grass outside and a soft rustling of trees and forest creatures making their presence known. Willow's head rested upon Tara's shoulder, and the only sounds that filled the room was their combined gentle breathing. Willow inhaled the scent on Tara's skin and hair, feeling perfectly content and sleepy.

An electronic beeping noise broke the long drawn out silence, startling both girls. Willow reluctantly sat up and looked around for the source, Tara located it first, it was the white watch on her wrist. It was blinking red and on the screen were the words "5 MINUTE WARNING", it was her alarm that activated whenever her dad was expected to be coming home.

Tara quickly silenced the annoying gadget and opened the secret door to the passageway, deciding to take her chances. She hoped that the people who had been chasing Willow couldn't hear them, she motioned for the red head to follow her in. Tara closed the door behind them and they were swallowed by the thick absence of illumination. She hesitated and bit her lip, she turned to Willow to speak.

"Um... d-don't freak out okay? and please don't tell anyone about this..." she whispered.

Willow gave a silent nod and watched while Tara closed her eyes and relaxed her face, exhaling deeply and then inhaling. She recognized the Latin words that Tara recited and watched her conjure an orb of light, to show the way ahead.

Willow grew excited, she had met another witch, just like herself, "maybe we could do spells together", she wondered.

Willow clutched Tara's hand as she followed from behind until they were able to see a door in front of them, Tara opened it and motioned for Willow to keep quiet. She led Willow up the stairs and into her bedroom.

"Tara?" a voice called from outside her bedroom, Tara listened to the stairs creak while they bore the weight of her father who undoubtedly was wandering up to her room to check on her.

"Hide" Tara whispered to Willow, she pointed to her closet door, Willow obeyed.

She sat down in the limited crawl space, the clothing hanging from a rack obstructed her view, but hid her from sight if anyone were to open the closet door. Willow drew in her knees to her chest and cupped a hand over her mouth to silence her breath. She could hear muffled voices coming from outside the closet door and was able to make out a few words every so often.

Tara's door opened and Rupert walked in smiling, in his hand was a carefully wrapped parcel. He handed it to Tara and kissed her on the head watching her unwrap the package with amusement.

" Hey Tara" he said greeting her warmly, "I got you a new book and a journal, I hope you like them.... I can always return them if you don't and get you something else..."

Rupert said sitting down on her bed, his back felt stiff and he moved his neck, making it crack.

"No dad, they're perfect thank you" Tara replied, her face had lighten up at the sight of an ancient poetry book and a new leather bound journal for her personal use.

She moved over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck and held him close. Rupert got up and cleaned his glasses on his shirt.

"Give me an hour to get dinner started , what do you say to spaghetti and meatballs?" Rupert asked his hand on the door knob.

"Sure" Tara said nodding, Rupert flashed another smile at his daughter and closed the door.

Rupert threw his jacket on his unmade bed and walked swiftly into the bathroom across from his room. He locked the door to insure no disturbances, he looked at himself in the mirror inspecting his face. On his neck were a few stray drops of blood from his last job, hopefully Tara hadn't noticed. He removed his vest, glasses, and button up shirt discarding them on the floor and began to wash his face and neck removing any hints of grime or blood from sight.

Tara set her new books down on her bed and opened the closet to let Willow out.

"Sorry about that" Tara said, while Willow climbed out and straightened her clothes.

"Tara?... Is your name Tara?" Willow questioned, she had listened in on the conversation and had caught her name.

"Oh uh.... yes it is" Tara said, she had forgotten her name for a second, it sounded so much different when Willow said her name, rather than when her father said it, on her lips it sounded so beautiful.

"I'm Willow" she replied, she looked around Tara's room growing accustomed to where everything was. Tara smiled, the name suited the red head.

"Um... d-do you want to take a shower?" Tara asked, she finally noticed how beaten up Willow looked under the light, her jeans were all muddy and caked with grass stains and dirt, her hair was ruffled and her shirt was ruined, and still Tara couldn't help but notice how alluring she looked.

Willow looked down at her jeans and shirt and nodded, "yes please... I mean only if it's okay... I don't want to impose or anything..." she babbled blushing, Tara must have thought she looked ridiculous.

Tara shook her head "Willow your not imposing,don't be silly" she said reassuringly, she gathered up a few different size towels for Willow to use.

"I'll get some clothes for you to change into" Tara said, she opened the door to the bathroom and started the shower for Willow, then walked out.

Willow nodded and closed the door, she paused feeling slightly uncomfortable taking a shower in the house of someone she hardly knew, but after letting her hand test the temperature, a shower sounded amazing. She peeled off her clothes and stepped into the tub and began to scrub at the dry blood on her neck.

Tara could hear the sound of the water running and blushed immediately at her inner thoughts. Willow, the adorable redhead who had clung to her hand for a good hour or two, was now naked in her bathroom. Tara tried to distract herself by pulling out a pajama top with and some old loose fitting jeans. She then looked through her desk drawers for a first aid kit, so she could clean Willow's wound more thoroughly.

While waiting for Willow to finish her shower Tara opened up her new journal to the first page and began to scrawl an entry about her day so far. Soon enough the entire page became full, the majority of it about her experience that morning when she had encountered Rack and of later on how she had met Willow.

She sighed and plopped down on her bed, she stared up at the ceiling and felt her eye lids getting heavy, before succumbing to a nap Tara spoke softly to her mother, hoping she could hear her.

"Mama?... I met someone today... I don't know allot about them, but there's something between us... like a connection... I get the feeling that if I told her my secret she may not hate me for being a demon, like dad always said people would..." with that Tara's breaths grew deeper and she drifted off to the sound of the shower running.

Willow felt her tense muscles relax under the soothing stream of water, here she was able to stretch time out, here she could think. She picked up the bar of soap and began to cleanse her body of the dirt that still clung to it, while she did this she couldn't help but think of Tara.

Why had Tara told her to hide from her father? Why was there a secret passage way from a graveyard into Tara's house? Willow wanted to know so much more about the mysterious girl who resided just outside the door.

Tara seemed to be a very kind and loving person to Willow, she had saved her from the vampires who had chased her down the streets of Sunny dale, she had trusted Willow enough to use her magic in front of her, she had let Willow into her home before she had even asked her name.

Willow wrapped her arms around her slick waist and warmth emanated into her core, oh how she wished it were Tara holding her. But what would a sexy dark haired blonde like Tara, possibly want with a babbling red head nerd like herself?

Her mind and body ached for the contact she hungered for, she closed her eyes and steadied her breathing letting the feeling fill her up, yet remained unsatisfied. She needed a release and by now she was sure only Tara could supply it.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Later on Willow emerged from the bathroom, the room let loose steam as it was opened to the cold contrast of air in Tara's bedroom. Willow wrapped her frame with the fluffy towel and walked over to the side of the bed where Tara lay napping.

She looked down and spotted the clothes Tara had meant for her to wear, feeling brave she let the towel fall entirely from her body exposing every inch of her naked being.

She gazed over at Tara's form, her breaths flowing in and out of her still body, her eyelids twitched in frantic movements, but remained closed while she entered into the R.E.M dream stage of sleep.

Her hair was spread out all around her face, her hair and skin shone with ghostly highlights, "she looks like a sleeping mermaid" Willow thought.

She blushed as the cold air tickled her wet skin, making the tips of her breasts stiffen and her skin prickle with chills. She quickly began to dress herself, feeling naughty and embarrassed at the idea of Tara waking up to see Willow naked, caught in the act of watching her sleep.

Once dressed she sat down on the side of Tara's bed, careful not to disturb the sleeping beauty. In Tara's hand was a leather bound journal pressed into her chest protectively, to the right of Tara's head was the other book her father had just given her.

It was a red poetry book of colleceted works, Willow picked this up and began to flip through the pages, a few poems looked famliar to her such
as; "The Jabberwocky, Song of Myself, Dream Within a Dream" and so on. A particular poem caught her eye, the title was "Ophelia" by Arthur Rimbaud, It was unfamiliar to her but the title caught her attention.

Ophelia was the name of the girl who drowned herself in Hamlet, Willow recalled. Tara stirred and awoke slowly, she sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"Oh hey Willow, you got the clothes..." she noticed.

Willow nodded, she scooted over to sit next to Tara on the bed and handed her the book still open to the page of "Ophelia".

"Tara? Can you read this to me?" Willow pleaded, much like a small child at bedtime.

Tara smiled at the odd but adorable request, she took the book and felt Willow's warm body snuggle closer to hers, both of their bare feet grazed slightly, Tara swallowed nervously and began.

"On the calm black water where the stars are sleeping

white Ophelia floats like a great lily;

floats very slowly, lying in her long veils...

in the far -off woods you can hear them sound the mort."

Willow looked on with Tara as she read the first stanza, sparkling images flashed on the yellow pages of text before her vivid imagination. She saw everything as if it were a Monet water color; there Tara lay before her, arms spread out wide, her white nightgown flowing outward in the water on which she floated.

Her hair tangled free like sea weed all around her head with stray flowers caught in the knotted strands. Tara's body was surrounded by lily pads and a still lake, reflecting the lush and vibrant forest that painted the background. The silhoutted trees stretched out their roots into the lake's watery depths and all became poetic silence and calm within Williow's head.

She listened intently on, realizing that Tara probably began reading poetry to try and deal with her stutter.

"For more than a thousand years sad Ophelia

has passed, a white phantom, down the long black river.

For more than a thousand years her sweet madness

has murmured it's ballad to the evening breeze.


The wind kisses her breasts and unfolds in a wreath

her great veils rising and falling with the waters;

The shivering Willows weep on her shoulder,

the rushes lean over her wide, dreaming brow..."


Tara shivered at the imagery, she too saw herself floating on a lake a Ophelia, but Willow stood beside her floating form, gazing fondly back into her eyes.

She watched while Willow unlaced the ties on the front of her white nightgown that was becoming translucent from the water, betraying her skin to the eyes of her lover. She trembled with delight as Willow reached the last lace and gently opened the front of Tara's dress exposing her chest to Willow's mercy.

She heard herself moan softly as Willow's cold hand reached out and cupped a breast which flushed a rosy pink from the glorious contact.


"Tara, Dinner's ready! Come on down!"

The two teen's were ripped from their day dreams by the words of Tara's father. Tara groaned inwardly at the interupption, she'd definetely have to revisit that fantasy some time tonight, she thought to herself. Tara put a slip of paper between the pages to keep their place for when she returned.

"I h-have to eat dinner now, but I'll be right back, p-please don't leave? You c-can stay here t-tonight, it's too dangerous to go out alone...",

Willow listened to Tara's pleading and thought for a moment, Drusilla had probably ransacked her apartment by now as payback, she might as well stay.

"Ok I'll stay, but only as long as you want me to" Willow said.

"I'll bring you s-some dinner, just stay in here" Tara said and she slipped out the door.

Willow sighed and flopped down on Tara's bed smushing her face into the soft pillow, she wished the pillow were Tara, or other particular parts of Tara.


Tara wandered down the steps with haste, to greet her father at the round, wooden kitchen table. A steaming pot of spagetti noodles and another with red chunky sauce had been placed in the center next to a jug of dr. pepper.

Tara sat down in her chair that she always used, her fingers traced the fork indents on the table that she had left when she was five years old, she had carved numerous silly doodles into the old table and never once had she heard father complain.

Rupert came into the room to join her, he gave her a fork and knife and scooted his chair closer to the table, they both folded their napkin over their lap and began to fill up their plates.

"How was work today, did you have to perform allot of surgeries?" Tara inquired starting up their usual dinner conversation.

Rupert would have frowned if he could, but kept on his stoic mask of skin. Today he had to kill an old woman he had caught practicing magic two blocks from his house, it made him queasy at the sight of his slimy noodles on his plate.

The old woman had beckoned him over and had offered to tell his fortune with the use of banned tarot cards. He had half listened while she told him things he did not want to hear.

She had said that his daughter would meet two strangers and bring one of them home with her, that she would fall in love with this stranger and that they would make Tara stop trusting him. Rupert had waited until she had finished and then sadly did his job, he slit her throat and opened up her insides to gather her blood, with every slice he had let a tear fall.

Never, not once in the past few years had he cried for his victims, he used to be so detatched and cold, so merciless and cruel. Sometimes he would even sing or laugh while he bled them, but that old woman had cracked into his shell and it was haunting him.

He told himself that the lady was a liar as he gathered up the fallen tarot cards, they were still in his pocket blood stained and sticking together. Tara would never betray him, never leave him she wouldn't do that.

"But she has every right to, I've taken away her life from her, I've made a ghost out of an innocent child" he thought to himself.


"Dad?" Tara asked, catching her father's attention.

"Hmm? oh sorry, I was lost in a thought... uh today was... you know, pretty good, I had about five surgeries and nothing went wrong" he replied maintaining his act.

Tara hadn't noticed his lies, she had never been given a reason to believe anything different. Rupert cleared his throat and took a sip of his drink, before getting up and bringing his untouched plate to the counter.

"Not hungry?" Tara wondered aloud watching her father wrap the plate in tin-foil and stick it in the fridge.

Rupert returned to the table but remained standing, "Nah, I'll probablly just make a sandwich later on or something, you done?" he asked pointing to Tara's cleared plate.

Tara finished off her drink and nodded, she rose from her chair and brought the plate over to the sink to rinse it off.

"I'll do the dishes tonight dad, you go watch the news" she offered, her dad nodded and wandered into the living room and turned on the TV.

Tara cleaned off the rest of the table and then opened the fridge, she removed her father's untouched plate and headed quickly up the stairs without getting caught. She opened the door and found Willow sitting on her bed fiddiling with her watch.

"Hey I brought you some dinner", Tara handed the warm plate to Willow and gave her a fork.

Willow looked hungrily at the plate Tara gave her and grinned affectionately digging in. Tara joined Willow on the bed and located the first Aid- kit she had put aside.

"Hey ohm nom nom girl hold still..." Tara giggled as Willow made yummy noises with her mouth full.

She opened the kit and sat behind Willow, she pulled back the girl's damp copper hair and put it to one side. Tara poured a few drops of hydrogen peroxide onto a swab of cotton and began to tenderly apply it to Willow's wound.

Willow flinched and crinkled her nose at the smell of the alchohal, "that's not the stuff that bubbles and stings is it?!" she whined.

Tara withdrew her hand, "I think it bubbles, I'm not sure if it stings, but we have to clean it so hold still silly"

Willow squeezed her eyes shut and curled her toes readying herself for the pain.

Tara noticed his and laughed, "Where did you get this humungo hickey anyway?"

Willow frowned, "Drusilla" she murmured.

"Oh" Tara's face fell, maybe it really was a hickey, from a girlfriend or even a boyfriend? Who was she kidding a girl like Willow would already be taken by someone else, before she'd get a chance.

Willow noticed the drop it Tara's voice and turned around to face her, "No. no it's not like that! I mean Drusilla is the person I work for, well her and her brothers and The Master... it's uh not a hickey... it's kind of how they keep me in line, it was punishment for being late" she explained.

"Oh" Tara repeated, this time in a sympathetic tone, she quietly threw the cotton swab into her trash can and looked for a big band -aid.

"Uhhhhh... I've only got harry potter band-aids is that okay?" Tara asked, Willow snorted at the thought, Tara a real witch using Harry potter bandages, but nodded.

Tara removed the back of the bandage to reveal the sticky part and carefully positioned it over Willow's wound.

"Wait what's the picture on it?" Willow asked examining the carboardbox it came in.

"Oh uh I gave you the Hedwig one, you know Harry's owl..." Tara replied.

"Oh they have ones with Hermione on it" Willow announced showing the back of the box to Tara.

"I remember when I started reading harry Potter, I always kind of had a crush on Hermione..." Tara said trailing off and blushing, she realized she had indirectly confessed her sexual orientation to a person she had met several hours ago.
Willow made her feel comfortable, it just felt natural to tell the truth to her.

"Did you?" Willow asked grinning.

Tara nodded bashfully, "Yep, I have a thing for smart girls..."

Willow's heart skipped a beat, was Tara flirting with her? Willow got excited, eager to keep with conversation going.

" I'm more for the shy girl type you know?" Willow replied studying Tara's reactions.

Tara's face flushed more and her hair fell into her face veiling her eyes, was Willow flirting with her? They sat in awkward silence for awhile until Tara got up to put away the first -aid kit and books on her desk and throw away Willow's now empty plate.

"Uh, should I sleep on the floor?" Willow suggested hugging her knees studying Tara's back.

Tara squatted down to open a bottom cabinet and pulled out a tang top and some shorts to wear to bed.

"No, we can uh b-both s-sleep on the bed... I mean t-together if that's okay?" Tara suggested keep her back to Willow while she stepped out of her boots.

"Sure, I'd like that, I mean not just because I like snuggling up next to people in their beds, but today has me a little freaked out to be alone..." Willow babbled fumbling with the ends of her shirt.

She heard Tara smile and watched sheepishly while she began to undo the back zipper to her dress.

"Do you want some help?" Willow offered, getting up off the bed, Tara gave no reply but held her hair back for Willow to get easier access.

Willow placed her hand on Tara's shoulder, her finger tips lightly touching Tara's collarbone. Tara gave a small gasp, and Willow shivered at the melodic sound.

"Cold hands" Tara explained, Willow's other hand slowly unzipped Tara's dress, unmasking her layers.

Willow stepped back when she finished and watched while Tara let the dress fall limp off of her body to pool at her feet. Willow swallowed and turned around to give Tara some privacy, she respected Tara too much to oogle at her like any other person would. She wanted Tara's permission before she would be allowed to gaze at her bare skin.

Tara turned after dressing and noticed Willow had moved facing the bed to be polite.

"Or maybe she doesn't like you like that" her mind suggested.

She shook off the thought and gently blew on the back of Willow's neck making her jump and turn around startled.

Tara giggled and got onto the bed, she pulled the covers over stomach and moved over to the side to make room for Willow. Willow joined Tara on the bed, eager to be warmed up by the covers and Tara's hot breath. She faced the opposite direction of Tara and rested her head on the pillow. She listened to the ruffling of the sheets while Tara sat up to reach the light switch to turn it off.


"Tara?" Willow asked into the shadowy room hoping Tara was still awake.

"Y-yes Willow?" Tara's silky voice replied.

"C-can you hold me?" Willow requested speaking more quietly.

"Ok, why are you afraid? T-They won't come here I promise" Tara said stroking Willow's arm.

"I know that... it's just... I'm kind of afraid of the dark... and what I use for a night light is at my apartment..." Willow admitted.

"Awww that's so cute" Tara whispered back, "What kind of night light is it?" she asked curiously.

Willow felt Tara's arm from under the blankets encricle her waist, Tara's front snuggled closer to Willow's back, her nose pressed into Willow's neck breathing in the smell of her skin, damp red hair tickled her nose.

"well It's actaully a string of fairy lights I hung on the wall one day" Willow explained.

"That sounds really cool actually" Tara commented closing her eyes, her head rested gently into Willow's back.

"mmm, it is....... Tara?" Willow whispered getting more sleepy with every second.

"mmhm?" Tara's muffled voice answered back.

"Thank you, for everything" Willow said and with that she began to drift off.

Tara lay awake snuggling against Willow's warm skin until sleep found her.