When they arrived at the coffee shop Willow asked Tara what she wanted to drink then instructed the blonde to claim an empty corner booth while she waited to be served. Moments later the redhead joined Tara with a mocha, a caf� latte and two bagels.
�Thanks sweetie. Mmm.� Tara savoured the aroma of her drink.
Idle chatter about everything and nothing soon followed.
�So he was stood there all like �No weapon forged can harm me� and Buffy grabs the rocket launcher and goes �That was then, this is now�. He didn�t know what was going on, �cos he�d been all separated for centuries and hadn�t kept up with technology, so he saw the rocket launcher and just went �What�s that do?�. So Buffy showed him and it was like, BOOM, big broken blue guy. It was really cool.�
As they sat drinking their coffee Willow animatedly relayed one of the many tales of life as a Scooby.
�What about Angelus?�
�Oh, Buffy went after him and she could have killed him right then and there, but she was still pretty upset and it just wasn�t the right time.�
�It must have been so hard for her.�
�Yeah. We were there for her though, Xander and I, we helped her through it. Well not so much Xander, �cos he was all with the �I told you so�s� but she got through it and managed to kill him when she had to. But then she disappeared for the entire summer, so, we couldn�t do anything except worry about her, and miss her.�
�I�m sure she missed you too Will. She just needed time alone.�
�I know, I understand why she did it, I just, I wish she would have felt like she could have talked to me about it. She didn�t say anything, to anyone. Giles had to be all sneaky and pretend there was a spell that he needed the details for; otherwise she never would have told any of us.�
�She would have talked about it eventually; Mister Giles just gave her that little push.�
At this point Willow started giggling. Tara knew that this wasn�t really appropriate considering the conversation they were having, and suddenly became rather nervous and self conscious, thinking that the redhead was laughing at her for some reason.
�W-what�s f-funny?�
�Oh, sorry.� Willow picked up on the change in Tara�s tone and quickly set about explaining her little giggling session. �I wasn�t laughing at you, well, no, I was, but not �cos of something bad.� This explanation didn�t do anything to ease Tara�s distress so Willow decided to try again. �It�s just, the way you call Giles, mister Giles, it�s really sweet. We�ve never called him mister Giles, he�s just Giles, or G-man, which he hates so only Xander calls him that. So see, when you say mister Giles, it�s absolutely adorable and endearing, and it makes me happy, �cos you�re my sweet, adorable, endearing girlfriend. So, see, it�s a good giggle.�
Tara wasn�t sure how to respond to Willow�s sweet words so she just smiled and gave the other girl a small kiss.
A comfortable silence ascended on the pair, both content with just being close to one another. The silence was soon filled when Tara softly began singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow to herself. Willow closed her eyes as she listened to the sweet voice, her hand reaching across the table to locate that of the blonde.
�I don�t know where you got the idea that you�re not very good at singing Miss Maclay, but it�s not true. You�re voice is amazing, it�s like birds singing, and humming bees humming, and crickets chirping, and every other beautiful sound in the world.�
Tara hadn�t realised that she�d been singing out loud and Willow�s words caused her to stop, which earned a disappointed pout from the redhead.
�The pretty singing stopped.� Willow noted as she rubbed her thumb over the back of Tara�s hand.
�I d-didn�t� C-could p-people hear me?� Her innate shyness kicked in as she blushed and tried to make herself disappear.
�No, no baby. Only I could hear, I promise. Nobody heard.� Willow reassured her girl as she pushed soft blonde hair behind sweet pink ears. �Aww, your ears blush.� The redhead pointed out before placing tiny kisses to the top of each ear.
�Y-you�re sure nobody heard?� Tara�s voice was small and uncertain and she was still desperately trying to hide.
�Tara, baby, look at me.� Finally baby blue eyes turned to look at Willow�s smiling face. �I promise you nobody else heard you singing. Okay?�
�Okay.� The blonde nodded. �But my ears don�t blush.�
�Oh yes they do. They�re very cute.�
�Ears can�t be cute, they�re just, ears.�
�Your ears are cute. Trust me, I can see them and they�re very cute.�
�You�ll make them blush again.�
�That was the plan.�
Willow grinned as Tara rolled her eyes and playful dismissed the girl with a wave of her hand. �It�s so dark.� The redhead observed. A quick glance at her watch revealed why.
�Oh, we must have been talking for hours it�s past midnight. Good job this place is open twenty-four hours.�
�W-we should probably m-make a move.�
�Yeah I guess we should. Come on, I�ll walk you home.�
