There You Are by DarkWiccan

Disclaimers: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all characters associated with the show are owned by Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy and their affiliates. If they belonged to me, none of the horrors of season six would ever have happened, and Willow and Tara would be on their honeymoon by now. But they don't, so for now I borrow and kindly ask the big, scary corporate lawyer-guy to look the other way. Also, even though W/T and the Sunnydale characters don't belong to me, this story does and so do any new characters I have created. Please don't plagiarize.

Feedback: Yes, please. But I have a Fire Extinguisher to put out all flames.

Author's Notes: Takes place three years after "No Matter Where You Go…". It would probably be a good idea for you to read No Matter Where You Go... if you haven't already…otherwise some things may leave you a little lost.

Pairing: Willow/Tara

Summary: A wild series of events force Tara and Willow to face the realities of their daughter's destiny.

"Emily," Tara called out to her seven-year-old daughter across the park, "Stay close! The sun will be starting to set soon!"

"Yes, Mommy," the spunky little redhead replied as she bee-lined for the swings.

Willow and Tara walked hand-in-hand over the grassy knoll and toward the jungle gym, both keeping a close eye on Emily as she played.

"No playing Superman on those swings this time, Missy," Willow warned teasingly.

Taking a seat on one the benches, Willow leaned into her wife's gentle embrace. Tara ran her fingers through shoulder length red hair, making her lover purr.

"Well, I had to do something," Tara replied softly, "you've seemed so tense these last couple of days. Anything the matter?"

Willow's gaze drifted over to her daughter, staying there a moment. "Do you think she gets lonely?"

"What do you mean?" Tara asked, suddenly worried. "Has she said something to you?"

"No," the redhead assured, "I just wonder sometimes… if she ever gets lonely. She hasn't made very many friends at school. And she never invites the ones she has made over. So secretive."

"Hmm," Tara nodded, her lips curling into a half-smile, "Sounds like someone else I know…"

Willow sat up, looking the blonde in the eye, "Are you saying she gets that from me?"

"Like whatever is bothering you right now," Tara answered. "Whatever caused you to start this conversation in the first place." Willow merely held her wife's gaze, unsure what to say. So Tara decided to throw her another bone. "Why are you concerned about Emily being lonely?"

Willow let out a long sigh and slumped against the back of the wood bench. "I just…" she paused then started again, "When I was her age, I used to think it would be really nice if I had a simfurgh…" The last word was deliberately mumbled and Tara sat up and leaned in in an effort to decipher what Willow had said.

"A sister," Tara said, her eyes growing wide, "Willow… are you saying that you want another baby?"

"Who said you had to be the pregnant one this time?" Willow asked, interrupting.

"Is that what this is about," Tara asked, seeking the clarity her mind demanded, "You want to have a baby?"

"Because we can't," the blonde continued firmly, "We asked the Goddess to grant us a miracle with Emily's conception. To have the audacity to ask again, let alone think that she would grant it is just plain presumptuous and not a little ego-centric."

To look at Willow's face you would have thought that she had been struck suddenly by a miniature hurricane only to be left standing seconds later in its wake. Rendered speechless, she could only watch as Tara got up and went to collect their daughter from the monkey bars so that they could start home. A few seconds later the pair stood next to the still seated, dumbstruck redhead.

"It's getting late, Will," Tara said softly, knowing that she may have gone overboard with her little soapbox moment.

Willow slowly came out of her reverie and looked up at her wife, acknowledging her words, and then to her daughter. "Hey, baby-girl, wanna ride on Mama's shoulders," she asked, a little breathless.

Willow only smiled, and stood, hoisting her little girl up into the air, planting the tiny legs firmly on either side her head. Emily placed either hand just above her Mama's ears and held on, even as Willow tightly gripped her diminutive ankles. Emily was a little small for her age, and therefore still not difficult to carry, which was good considering neither of her parents ever seemed to get enough of holding, hugging and cradling her every chance they got.

Tara threw a quick glance to Willow, and then directed her attention back to Emily's curious expression.

"If you could have anything in the whole world…anything at all… what would it be?"

"Anything at all, Mommy? In the whole world?" Emily's blue eyes grew wide at the prospect.

After scrunching her adorable little face into a tight, contemplative knot, she answered, "I would want that nobody was ever lonely."

Willow sent her lover a knowing look. The blonde caught it, but then continued to press, concern momentarily filling her voice, "Do you ever feel lonely, Em?"

"Like Godmommy. I think she's lonely a lot of the time," Emily replied, her tiny red eyebrows furrowing together, "Especially since we moved away. She doesn't have anybody to tuck her in anymore."

When they had lived with Buffy, up until a couple of years previous, Emily had always taken great pleasure in "tucking in" the slayer for bed every night. What this translated to in actuality was Buffy reading Willow and Tara's daughter a bedtime story every night before going on patrol. Buffy loved her goddaughter tremendously, and now with the Wiccans moving into there own place and more recently Dawn having moved to Santa Barbara to live with her fiancée, the Summers home had become nothing more than a place to lay her head down to sleep.

Willow and Tara smiled openly at their daughter's benevolence. They knew that she missed her godmommy's constant presence, but they also accepted that Buffy's home, no matter how welcoming, was always going to be a dangerous place to live as a result of their friend's occupation. Demons had a tendency to try to prove themselves on the slayer's "home court" and finally, for theirs and Emily's safety, the two women had no choice but to move out.

It was true that in a couple more years, Emily would begin her slayer training with Buffy. But in the meantime, Willow and Tara wanted their only child to have as much of a normal childhood as living on the Hellmouth would allow.

Again the two women shared a smile as they turned onto the sidewalk leading up to their small house. Their smile quickly turned to a look of deep concern as they saw the subject of their conversation sitting on their front steps, her face ashen.

The tiny redhead nodded and skipped inside, pausing at the front steps as Buffy patted her gently on the head. "Hey, munchkin," the slayer said sadly, "Go on in, I'll be along. You can tuck me in tonight if you want."

"Yes please!" Emily replied excitedly as she hugged Buffy tightly before running inside. No doubt to pick a book from her vastly growing collection.

"What's up?" Willow asked softly after a moment. "You're all with the long face."

The color drained from both girls' faces. "W-when," Tara managed to ask after a moment.

"Yesterday," Buffy explained, "There was a riot at the prison. She was trying to help the guards, but… They didn't realize that until after…" Her voice trailed off.

"Emily," Tara cried, tears starting down her cheeks. She turned to her wife, "Will, she's only seven… she c-can't…"

"I'll call Giles," the redhead responded, rushing past her best friend and into the house.

"Tara, I'm so sorry," said Buffy, stepping down off the front porch and over to the blonde.

"She's just a little girl," Tara sobbed, falling forward into the slayer's strong arms. "She's my precious baby…"

"Sh," Buffy soothed, running her fingers delicately through Tara's hair, "It'll be…" She stopped; she wasn't going to tell that lie. "We'll figure something out," she said instead, continuing her comforting ministrations.

Several hours later, and Emily had been tucked peacefully into bed by the slayer before she went out on patrol, leaving the two women alone to discuss what had just happened. Willow sat on the end of their king-sized bed, while Tara paced nervously back and forth in front of her.

"Baby, can you stop pacing a moment?" Willow asked gently. "You're making me a little seasick."

"I'm s-sorry," Tara replied absently, promptly sitting in the small chair next to the dresser, her hands now fidgeting nervously. "What did M-Mr. Giles say, again?"

Willow sighed, this now being the third time she would have relayed the Watcher's words to her wife. "He said that he would contact the Council immediately and ask them to delay Emily's activation to Slayer status until she was a little older."

"He said possibly fifteen. That's how old Buffy was when she was called," the redhead explained. "He said that he couldn't promise anything, but given that Buffy is still alive and slaying… the Council will hopefully grant his request."

Tara only nodded mutely. Willow could see that her partner was in a deep state of shock, and there was nothing she could do. What's worse, she knew that she had no choice but to add to the insanity.

"Baby," she said after a moment, "there's something else we need to talk about."

"It kinda has to do with what we were talking about earlier… in the park," Willow tried to clarify.

"Oh, God, Will," exclaimed Tara, suddenly rising from her sitting position. "I cannot believe you want to talk about this now. I already told you, having Emily was a one shot deal. We can't do it again."

"Alright fine," the blonde bit out, her wits at an end, "Say there was a possibility. Now is not the time to discuss it. There are more important things going on…"

"Well, I want to discuss it now," Willow interrupted her, also standing, her temper inadvertently starting to rise under all the pressure.

"Why, Will?! " Tara questioned near the top of her lungs. The blonde didn't raise her voice in anger often, and when she did, it always sent a cold chill running down Willow's spine. "Why can't it wait!?"

Tara stood silently for a moment, her brain frantically trying to wrap itself around Willow's words. She shook her head a little, trying to get the pieces to fall into place. It didn't work. She opened her mouth several times to speak, but no words came out, until finally all she was able to blurt out was, "What?"

Willow paused, taking in a deep breath. For some reason, she didn't want to say it again. But she had to.

Willow had said it, and Tara's ears had registered it, but still the blonde simply could not believe what she was hearing.

"Dammit, Willow, did you do something behind my back?" Tara demanded, raising her voice again. It was just all too much. She wasn't sure how much more of this day she could take.

Willow's eyes widened in shock at her wife's accusation, "What? No! My God! How can you say that?"

The blonde set her jaw in a firm line, her voice low, "It wouldn't be the first time…"

"That is not fair, Tara," Willow replied, her tremulous voice giving away her hurt feelings. "That is not fair! That was over ten years ago! I thought we had put all of that behind us."

Willow paused to collect herself. She knew that her lover was only reacting to the sudden and overwhelming shock of Faith's death and now this news on top of everything else had brought her to the point of breakdown. This wasn't her Tara talking, and she knew it.

"Okay," Willow said calmly, "Let's just stop a minute. We're both upset and we're saying things… that we don't mean…" she stalled a second, waiting to see if Tara was going to contradict her. When, thankfully, she didn't the redhead continued, "What I was trying to say before was… I don't know… I don't know how. I just am."

During Willow's speech, Tara had calmed down considerably. Enough so that she regretted every single word that had come out of her mouth in the last fifteen minutes. She could tell that Willow was telling the truth, and it was time to move onto a new line of questioning.

"Yesterday," said the redhead, "I went to see Dr. Gulliver because I was a couple weeks late. I was worried it might have been symptomatic of something bad… " She looked her wife in the eye, tears brimming in her own, "I guess it was."

Tara instantly caught the terrified look in her lover's eyes and within seconds had her wrapped in a warm and calming embrace. "Oh, Baby, no…" Tara said, tenderly running her hands up and down Willow's back as the redhead's body was now racked with sobs. "Sweetheart, we'll figure something out."

"Tara, I'm so scared," Willow blubbered, placing her face into the blonde's shoulder, her tears dampening the fabric there.

"Sh, Darling," Tara soothed, continuing to hold her wife close. After a moment, she softly questioned, "How far along?"

Suddenly the phone rang, startling both girls, but they did not move from their tight embrace.

"No," Willow replied, gently pulling out of her partner's arms and walking over the nightstand, "It might be important." She lifted the phone from its cradle and answered. "Hello..." Her voice was hollow and distant, "Yes… Go on… Oh… Oh… Okay… We'll be there… Bye."

"11 am tomorrow," the redhead answered, glancing toward the clock, "Oh… I guess that tomorrow is now today."

Tara looked over to the digital display as well. It was very late, and the events of the day suddenly hit her tired bones full force.

"We should probably get some sleep." Tara said quietly, "Emily has school in the morning. One of us needs to get up to take her."

"We both will," Tara replied, offering her support. "C'mon, Will, let's get ready for bed. We'll pick up where we left off tomorrow."

Willow nodded her head dumbly in compliance and headed into the bathroom to freshen up. Tara turned down the sheets and went to the dresser, pulling out one of her nightgowns and a set of Willow's pajamas. She quietly disrobed and changed, taking her wife's PJ's with her to the bathroom and joining her lover there.

The two women both felt as though they were moving through thickened air, unable to move freely, unable to breath completely. They silently went through their evening evolutions and curled into bed, wrapping their arms tightly around one another in a desperate need for solace.

The next day, after dropping Emily off at school, Tara and Willow joined Buffy and the three of them headed to Sunnydale Airport to greet the Watcher as he arrived. They were surprised to see Xander and Anya, along with their three-year-old son Joseph, waiting for them when they arrived at the small air terminal.

"G-man is coming back into town," Xander explained, "Have to give him the proper Scooby welcome."

"We didn't think you'd be able to get away from work," said Tara, stepping forward to hug him, then Anya.

"That's the nice thing about being the boss," He beamed, taking Willow into his arms warmly, "You can delegate your work to somebody else."

"Unless there isn't anyone else, in which case you just close the shop," Anya tacked on. "Notice how I'm okay with that? I'm not upset about the loss of lucrative funds because Giles is more important."

"That's good," acknowledged Tara, unable to suppress her smile. After all these years, Anya was still learning what it meant to be human. Having Joseph had helped a lot. Tara smiled at the young boy who was hiding behind his mother's skirt. "Hi, Joseph," she signed to him gently. He waved his pudgy little hand at her in a gesture of 'hello'. Joseph had been born deaf. It was a terrible blow to both his parents, but they all had learned to adapt quickly. After all, this was the Hellmouth. There were far worse things that could have happened and Joseph was an otherwise healthy and beautiful little boy.

"How are you holding up," Xander asked the redhead still in his arms. Willow only shook her head against his strong chest. "That bad huh?" He questioned sweetly, rubbing his hands across her back. She stepped away from him after a moment, wiping aside a few errant tears and moved back to Tara's side, taking her hand.

"We're dealing as best we can. There's a lot to sort through," Tara answered for both of them. Everyone nodded in understanding.

Joseph started tugging on Anya's skirt to get her attention. "What, honey," she spoke and signed to him.

"Grandpa, grandpa," he signed happily, pointing down the hallway to where they could all see Giles approaching.

The Watcher was stumbling down through the terminal, carrying a various assortment of bags and suitcases. He appeared to be mumbling to himself about something and his expression was cross.

Buffy rushed up to relieve him of his burden, taking a suitcase and one of his duffel bags.

"Honestly," he said once he and Buffy had rejoined the group, "How anyone could possibly confuse a book as a bomb is besides me."

"Welcome back, G-man," Xander said cheerily, extending his hand for Giles to shake.

"Oh don't be ridiculous," the Watcher said warmly, drawing the younger man into a hug. "It's good to see you, Xander." He then turned to the rest of them and greeted them in a similar fashion, until only Willow and Tara remained.

He took them both into his arms simultaneously, kissing the tops of their heads in turn. "I have news," he said softly, "the nature of which I am not sure. I think it would be best if we retired to a place more suitable to privacy." He had said the last sentence to the entire group.

"Let's go back to my place," Buffy suggested, "I don't think the old house would mind some attention."

Everyone quickly agreed and started to head out of the terminal, but Joseph stayed stubbornly behind.

"Joseph," Xander signed and spoke. It had become a habit of the married couple to automatically speak and sign everything at the same time. "We need to go now."

Joseph shook his head firmly and his crunched his face into a look of anger and disappointment.

"Oh Heavens," said Giles suddenly, "How awful of me. I didn't say hello to Joseph." Giles walked over to the tiny boy and knelt beside him, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small box that looked to be made of cherry wood. It appeared to be completely solid, until Giles shook it and a gentle pinging sound of metal strings being struck filled the air. To Joseph it only looked like the older man was shaking a block at him. He furrowed his brow in curiosity.

"Wait," the Watcher interrupted. He shook the box again and placed it on the small boy's cheek. Joseph's eyes filled with wonder and excitement, his jaw dropped and he snatched the box from Giles' hand and began shaking it wildly and holding it to his face over and over.

"He can't hear it," Giles explained as he stood and took Joe's free hand, "But he can feel the vibrations of the strings inside when they are struck by the little ball bearings."

Anya gasped in pleasure and ran over to Giles, kissing him firmly on the cheek. "Thank you," she said, her eyes watering.

"It was nothing," he replied tenderly. "Shall we?" He said signifying for them to go. They all nodded and headed out of the airport.

Back at Casa De Summers everyone was assembled in the living room waiting Giles to deliver his long awaited report. He didn't waste any time.

"I was unable to convince the Council to delay the activation of the next slayer," he began, noting as he did that Willow and Tara both looked as if the life had just been sucked out of them. "And the reasons they gave me were inarguable," he continued.

"How can you say that," interrupted Buffy, speaking on behalf of her shell-shocked friends. "She's only seven years old."

"Yes she is," Willow said, suddenly finding her voice, "You were there the day she was born."

"The next slayer," Giles pressed on, "is fifteen years old and has been called to active duty in Savannah, Georgia."

"Why else would Gothragl have tried to sacrifice her," Tara queried, stifling a shudder at the memory. A human child born of pure love the next of the chosen…

"The fact is," the Watcher explained, "That Emily is not listed anywhere in the Council's records as ever being a potential slayer."

"No," he illuminated, "not so far as being a slayer is concerned. But this doesn't mean that Emily isn't A Chosen One."

Giles regarded the girl with a serious look on his face. "That is what I am here to try and find out."

Later that night, after the Scoobies had disbanded agreeing to meet the next day to start researching, Tara and Willow once again sat alone in the safety of their bedroom at home.

"I don't know whether to be grateful or cry," Tara said softly as she brushed out her hair in front of the vanity. "I mean, yay good that Em's not the slayer but now we're faced with an even worse uncertainty."

"I know what you mean," Willow replied from the bed where she was reclined. "At least when we thought she was the slayer, we knew what that meant. We could prepare ourselves and her. But now…"

"Now we're only left with more questions," Tara finished, picking up where her lover had trailed off.

An uneasy silence filled the room for a moment before the blonde spoke again. "How are you feeling?," she asked Willow carefully.

"Okay," the redhead answered. "A little woozy. But I can't tell if that's from everything going on with Emily or from… the other thing."

"Will, I know you're scared," Tara said, rising and moving to sit on the edge of the bed, taking her wife's hand in her own. "But we have to talk about this. We don't know where… I mean, you could be in real danger."

"I don't think so," Willow answered thoughtfully. "I mean, I've been thinking about it a lot and I keep going back to that night."

"I think we made it," the hacker tried to clarify, "I think we made this baby… that night."

"I remember," the blonde said, a smiling forming on her lips as she thought back. "But, darling, despite the fact that we were under the thrall of very powerful forces, we still didn't cast that night. I'm sure you remember how involved a spell it was to create Emily. Weeks of preparation, not to mention the incantation itself requiring total focus and concentration. Neither of which we had that night." Tara noted the concern on Willow's face. "Not that it wasn't amazing," she added with a grin.

Willow smiled in return. "But, didn't you feel it?," she questioned. "That night. Didn't you feel it? Something passed through us. From you to me. It was intense. It was the most connected and intimate moment I have ever experienced. Even compared to making Emily." Willow caressed her own belly absentmindedly. Tara placed her hand on top of her lover's and held it there.

"I think so," the blonde said, as they both thought back to the night in question.

"Open mine next! Open mine," Emily squealed as she ran over to the slayer, dropping a small pink and blue wrapped box on her lap.

"I guess I'm opening Emily's next," Buffy chuckled as she picked up the small gift and examined it.

"She's been dying all week to give that to you," Tara said serenely from her place on the couch reclined in Willow's arms.

"She picked it out herself," Willow added proudly, kissing Tara lightly on the nose as the blonde turned her head to look up at her, smiling.

"I'm sure it's perfect," Buffy grinned, mussing Emily's hair, "Thank you, munchkin."

"Absolutely," the slayer said, tearing into the wrapping paper and pulling out, "Tweezers." Buffy announced, holding them at eye-level, her expression perplexed.

"For when you get splinters from the pointy sticks at work," Emily explained, incredibly proud of herself. "You can get them out now."

"Thank you, sweetie," Buffy beamed, pulling the little girl in for a tight hug, "they're wonderful."

"Oh, sorry," the slayer said, quickly releasing her. "Sometimes I forget my own strength."

Xander entered from the kitchen with a fresh bowl of potato chips. "So, Buff, any news on the new goat boy in town?"

"Xander, it's Buffy's birthday, I doubt she wants to think about how she's shirking her duties and leaving us all in danger so that she can selfishly celebrate her own birth," said Anya, busily bouncing Joseph on her knee.

"You know, if you hadn't said all of that in baby-talk, I might just have been upset with you," Buffy stated.

"Yeah, Ahn," said Willow, "Buffy's dealt with Kakistos type vamps before. She'll stake him before he starts causing any real trouble."

"Yeah," Xander agreed, "And for whose benefit are you using the baby talk for anyway? Certainly not Joseph."

"I don't know," Anya replied, a little blustered, "It's an autonomic response to having small children present. Especially my own. I can't help myself. Someone please stop me."

"I think it's cute," offered Tara. "Anya, you'll get used to your maternal nature eventually."

"I'm sure by the time you're bouncing Joe's kids on your knee, you'll have adapted just fine," Willow teased, only to receive a warning slap on her thigh from Tara. "What?" Tara only gave her a reproving glare. Willow shrugged, "Sorry."

Buffy made a deft attempt at changing the subject. "Hey, is anybody else getting a little warm? It seems kind of hot in here."

"Now that you mention it," said Xander, sitting on the floor next to his wife, "Degree, I think my body heat just turned it on."

"That sounds like a good idea," Anya graciously concurred, "this shirt I'm wearing is polyester and you know how odors seem to cling."

"I'll just get the windows," said Buffy, moving to do so. She crawled onto the unoccupied end of the couch and leaned over the windowsill, undoing the latch and lifting the lower frame open, letting the cool evening breeze drift in.

"That feels nice," said Tara, shifting a little in Willow's arms. The movement of her wife's body against her own caused deliciously sensual feelings to suddenly spark to life inside the redhead. She purred delightfully into Tara's ear.

"I don't know," Willow whispered teasingly to Tara, "I suddenly feel a whole lot hotter."

"Xander!" Anya barked reproachfully at her husband, as she set Joseph down and signed, 'Go play'.

"What?" Xander jumped as his son went over to Emily, who took Joseph's hand to go upstairs.

"Mama, is it okay if Joseph and I go to my old room to play Candyland?" She asked.

"What?" Willow responded distractedly as Tara was discreetly massaging her inner thighs. "Oh… yeah… um sure. Don't… um… let him get the… small pieces."

"Okay," her little girl replied. Quickly signing, 'Come on' she pulled Joe up the stairs.

Buffy turned around to see what the trouble was, and quickly turned away. "Uh, Xander, you want a pillow or something to…uh… cover…"

"Wha?" he began again, confused until he looked down between his legs. "OH!" He bent over trying to disguise his predicament. "Um…"

"That is only supposed to happen for me," Anya berated him, "But it's clear that this is a reaction to them!" She indicated the two women snuggling even closer together on the couch.

So close the even Buffy looked a little uncomfortable, "Uh, guys, don't you think you two are being a little too…uh… demonstrative?"

"Us?" Questioned Willow, "What about those two?" She pointed back at Xander and Anya who were now engaged in a full on make-out session.

"Whoa!" The slayer cried out in an attempt to pull everyone to a halt. It didn't work. "Hey! Is there a sign on my front door that says 'Buffy's House of Love'?" she asked exasperated, and a little frustrated. Although not with being unable to stop her friends strange behavior, but more because she didn't have anyone to be "strange" with herself. She turned and stared out the window in a huff. "And who are the gorgeous hunks standing out on my front lawn wearing incredibly inappropriate yet sexy black leather pants?"

Anya looked up from her face-sucking competition with Xander long enough to see what the slayer was talking about. "Oh, that explains the sudden need to copulate," she said matter-of-factly, "Greco Lust Demons. You might want to shut the window."

"Can they get inside," Buffy asked, and from her tone you wouldn't have thought she'd have minded if they did.

"No," the ex-demon answered, "It just stops them from being able to bombard us with their over-active musk glands." Buffy instantly slammed the window shut. "Of course, it's probably too late for us, we've already been given a pretty powerful dosage."

"So," Willow started, trying to speak despite Tara's hand's wonderfully torturous explorations. "So… what does that mean? Are we in danger?"

"It depends on… Xander, a little to the left… on who hired them and what they hired them for… okay, now a little to the right," Anya illuminated, while giving her husband instructions.

Buffy was becoming more and more repressed by the moment. She needed some sort of outlet. "What's the difference?"

"Well, if they're just a distraction… we should be fine… they'll hang around and keep us occupied until whoever hired them is done with whatever they're doing."

"Then they'll stay out there hitting us with 'lust bombs' until it drives us into an orgiastic frenzy and we all drop dead from exhaustion."

"Those sexy bastards," Buffy bit out, "I'm gonna go out there and kick their tight little hineys."

"Why is that?" asked Tara breathlessly as Willow's hands made a move under her shirt.

This enraged the slayer no end. She yanked her jacket from off the hall table and barreled outside, slamming the door behind her as she ran at the demons yelling some sort of battle cry.

Both girls rose from their positions simultaneously with Willow quickly taking Tara's hand and pulling her up the stairs.

Before they could reach their old room at the end of the hall, Tara stopped them.

"We should check on the kids," Tara explained, slightly breathless from her arousal. "Make sure they aren't being affected."

"Um, baby, what could they possibly do?" Willow queried, "Emily is seven and Joseph is three."

"Good point," the redhead agreed. They opened the door to what had been Emily's old room, and Dawn's before that. They found the two children playing with several board games at once. "Hey, Emily," Willow said, "What are you doing?"

Joseph nodded his head excitedly and made several rapid gestures with his hands.

"Oh," Willow replied, "Emily, um, please tell Joseph that your mommy and I are very busy right now, but we'd love to learn sometime."

"Okay, Mama," Emily agreed, before turning and translating to Joseph. The boy's shoulders slumped slightly in defeat.

"We're going to be working in our old room with the door shut," Tara explained, "Please don't bother us unless it's an emergency."

"Yes," Tara concurred, before remembering, "Oh! And don't go downstairs. Stay in here."

"Yes, Mommy," she answered, her face showing a picture of confused compliance as her parents disappeared behind the other side of the door, shutting it tightly. She turned and looked at Joseph, who appeared equally perplexed and shrugging she signed, 'Parents.' The little boy rolled his eyes and nodded his head in vehement agreement.

Willow and Tara stumbled into their former room grasping at one another in an attempt to stay as close as possible. Willow kicked the door shut with the back of her foot, only to find herself slammed up against the smooth wood by her wife who instantly took Willow's mouth into her own with a deep and impassioned kiss. The redhead tugged desperately at the buttons of Tara's blouse fumbling to get them undone.

"I'll get another one," Tara replied in breathless anticipation, bringing her thigh between Willow's legs and pressing up.

Willow didn't need any more invitation, she ripped open the front of her lover's blouse, sending the plastic buttons flying everywhere as she pushed the material off Tara's shoulders and down her back. Tara dropped her arms to the sides to let the shirt fall the rest of the way off, before bringing her hands back to Willow's waist and deftly undoing the button and zipper of her jeans in one motion, slipping her hand inside as she hungrily kissed her way down Willow's neck and to her collarbone.

"Oh, baby," Willow panted as she felt Tara press her fingers up against her soaked panties, teasing her center through the fabric. She raked her fingernails up Tara's back, stopping to undo the clasp of her wife's bra and pulling the straps down the blonde's shoulders, freeing the creamy mounds that had been held captive.

"I want you on the bed," Tara growled, withdrawing her hand from Willow's pants and yanking the girl's shirt up over her head and tossing it aside with her own bra. She smiled as two pert and rosy nipples looked back at her. "No bra?"

"I kinda had made plans to ravage you later," Willow explained through excited breaths, "You know, after the party. Thought I'd create as few obstacles toward nakedness as possible." She smiled her cute little Willow grin as a bead of sweat ran down off her forehead. Tara licked it away and the redhead shuddered in pleasure grabbing the waistband of Tara's skirt and forcing it down and off along with Tara's underwear.

Tara leaned in and captured Willow's mouth in another kiss, teasing the other woman's lips apart with her tongue, they drank in each other's essence. Willow dug her nails into Tara's ass, pulling her hips closer even as Tara hooked her thumbs into the sides of Willow's jeans and panties, sliding them down until the two of them stood naked against each other, a puddle of clothes at their feet.

Willow broke away from the kiss to lick and suck at the blonde's neck. "You said something about the bed?" She mumbled against her wife's sweet tasting skin, now glowing with a light sheen of sweat.

"Yes," Tara drawled out, walking backwards toward the bed and taking Willow with her, the redhead still tasting her neck. Using her bodyweight as a balance, she swung Willow around and onto the bed, landing beside her and instantly replacing her thigh between her partner's legs, pressing firmly into the damp red curls.

Willow threw her head back in pleasure at the contact, arching her breasts against Tara's. "God, I love you," she breathed, wrapping her legs around Tara's thigh and squeezing.

"Mmmm," Tara moaned, "I love you, too." She brought one of her hands up to massage Willow's breasts as her lover dipped her head down and began to suckle at Tara's own.

Tara slowly began to introduce a gentle rocking motion with her hips. Willow quickly responded. It was a dance they both knew quite well.

"Slow," Willow sighed, keeping their movements controlled. "Keep it slow," she continued, "I want to savor you. All of you."

"I don't think I will ever be able to get enough of you," Tara groaned, nipping at Willow's ear lobe. "You taste so good."

"Not as good as you," the redhead answered as she moved to another breast, taking the nipple between her teeth and biting gently.

"Willow…" Tara whispered through an intake of breath, then moaned a deep note causing Willow to shiver in pleasure. Tara drew her wife up into another incredibly passionate kiss, their tongues dueling and pressing against one another as their heads shifted from side in an effort to taste more, drink deeper.

The rocking of their hips continued as Tara shifted Willow onto her back, bringing her leg over to straddle her lover's hip, she rhythmically began to grind down, pushing their centers together sending bolts of white hot electricity radiating through both of their bodies. Willow grasped Tara's hips firmly as the blonde sat up and arched her back, her breasts straining outwards into the air. The redhead was completely mesmerized by her lover's goddess like beauty as she pressed and moved against her core.

Willow brought her hips up to match her wife's movements, her hands still holding Tara's waist, anchoring her there. The redhead could only watch, captivated, as the blonde brought her head out of her arch and back up onto her shoulders, long tendrils of golden locks falling down about her shoulders and teasing her breasts as she looked down into Willow's dark emerald eyes, her own having turned a deep sea blue, and staring deep enough, was able to catch a glimpse of her lover's soul, holding it there.

Willow held Tara's gaze, letting her soul mate keep her there as their hips bucked against one another bringing them, with that mere contact alone, to the brink of release. Tara moved to slide her fingers down into Willow's folds, but the hacker stopped her, grabbing her hand. "No," she said, their eyes still locked, "I want it like this." She thrust her hips up a little more insistently. "Just like this." Tara nodded and increased their pace with Willow moving to match her.

Willow released her lover's fingers and used her now free hand to pull Tara down against her, never stopping their grinding motions, which had now become a little more frantic. Tara met Willow's mouth again in yet another searing kiss, the redhead closing her eyes in satisfying response, as she dug her nails into Tara's back, pulling her closer. A strange and wonderful electrical storm began to take shape and form between the blonde's legs, building in her center, seeming to pull from every part of her being.

"Oh Goddess, Will," Tara gasped at the powerful sensation, pulling out of the kiss and looking down at her love's closed eyes. "Open your eyes…Will… look at me… I need to see your eyes." Willow opened her beautiful green eyes and gazed into her wife's blue pools.

Willow exhaled in wonder as she returned Tara's intense gaze. "Your soul," she breathed, "I can see your soul. I can feel it."

With one last thrust of her hips downward, Tara sent the storm of electricity out from her center and into her lover's body, the intensity of the orgasm causing Willow to arch her back hard up into Tara, her eyes nearly rolling back into her head. "Tara!" She cried out as she fell back. At that moment, Tara came again, hard, crying out Willow's name as she collapsed on top of her wife, entirely spent.

"Willow," she managed to whisper, brushing a few soft red hairs out of her lover's face. "Are you okay?"

"I can feel you… inside me," Willow whispered back, before slipping into an unconsciousness that Tara soon followed.

The next day they had awoken wrapped in each other's arms on the bed. After getting up and checking on the children, who they found curled up asleep on opposite ends of Dawn's bed, they went downstairs to see Anya and Xander asleep on the couch, covered only by a large afghan. They made their way into the kitchen where they found Buffy who told them that she had successfully destroyed the lust demons as well as "goat boy" who had hired the demons not only to distract the slayer and her pals, but also to lure "ten 'ripe' virgins" to his lair where he had planned on devouring them in a ritual that would have made him indestructible. In other words, the Gem of Amara, without the gem.

When asked to explain what she meant by ripe virgins, Buffy answered, "Horny teenage girls." The two women only nodded in response. But the events of the night before lingered in their minds.

"Well," Tara concluded after she and Willow had finished their walk down memory lane, "I think you're right, Will. I think this baby is ours." She paused as she watched the redhead relax some. "But it still doesn't totally explain how or even why. And right now, the first thing we have to do is find out what is going on with Emily."

Willow nodded silently before saying, "We'll figure it out. We'll figure everything out."

Tara drew her lover into a gentle embrace, prior to drawing back and kissing her deeply.

Outside, unbeknownst to the two women, a mysterious cloaked figure gazed at their small house from afar.

"Don't you realize," the stranger spoke to the air, "That the two things are linked? Ah, well… soon enough."

"Emily! Breakfast," Tara called out as she finished cracking another egg into the large bowl of batter in front of her.

It was Saturday morning, and in the Rosenberg-Maclay household, that meant one thing, pancakes and lots of them.

"Funny shapes! Funny shapes! Funny shapes!," Emily chanted gleefully as she came bouncing into the kitchen.

"I think we can handle that," her mother assured, turning back to stir the batter some more. "Drink some of your juice and the pancakes will be ready in a few minutes." Tara indicated to a small stool near the counter and a plastic cup of orange juice waiting near by.

Emily hopped up onto the stool and began sipping at her juice. "Guess what I did in school yesterday," she said.

"What?" Tara replied playing along as she turned on the burner under the frying pan.

"I made a collage for art," the little girl declared, puffing her small chest out with pride while taking another drink.

"Bunnies. Lots of bunnies," Emily explained, "Mama said I should give it to Aunt Anya after Miss Henckle finishes grading it."

"Your 'Mama' thought she was being cute," the blonde replied, rolling her eyes, "You will do no such thing."

"When you get your collage back I want you to give it to me so I can put it on the fridge along with all your other pretty pictures, okay?"

"Okay," Emily sighed, she really did want to give it to Aunt Anya. After all, Mama said that bunnies were her favorite. She took another drink of orange juice.

"Morning," Willow said groggily as she entered the kitchen tying her robe over her pajamas. She moved over to where Tara was standing and embraced her from behind, resting her chin on her shoulder. "Mmmm, morning," she said again, nuzzling the blonde's neck.

"Don't get started with me," Tara said, her tone one of teasing reproach, "You are in trouble, missy."

"We'll talk about it later," she replied, continuing to stir the pancake batter in front of her. "Funny shapes or…"

Willow took one look at the vanilla colored mix and jumped back, cupping her hand over her mouth and racing out toward the bathroom.

"Oh, dear," Tara exhaled, setting the bowl down on the counter and turning the burner off.

"Mama isn't feeling very well today." Tara explained as she drew off her apron, "Drink your juice, I'll be right back."

Emily watched as her mommy disappeared down the corridor. "But I'm out of juice," she grumbled to the air.

Tara found Willow on the floor of the bathroom, hugging the toilet as if it were her closest friend. She quickly dampened a wash cloth before kneeling down and gently pulling the redhead's hair away from her face, placed the cool material on the back of Willow's neck while soothingly stroking her back.

After a moment, the hacker stopped retching and leaned back away from the commode and against the tub. Tara continued her calming ministrations.

"This!" The redhead barked, making a gesture with her hands that indicated her state on the floor. "All of it…" Tara simply waited for her wife to calm down enough to continue from where she had trailed off. "Don't misunderstand me, Tara, please don't. I mean, I want this baby, she's ours, so far as we can tell, and even if for some reason she wasn't, I'd still want her but…"

"I don't want to be pregnant," she stated, her voice hollow, "and I keep thinking that I must be such a terrible person for feeling this way." By now Willow had started to cry, streams of tears cascading down her face. "I know this must sound so stupid," she continued, choking on her words, "but with us it's always been that you're the homemaker and I'm the provider. I know that's a really oversimplified way of looking at our relationship…"

"I feel so strange," Willow continued on, her voice strained by her emotion, "The idea of having a life inside me is so foreign and scary. How did it feel for you with Emily?"

"It was scary at first," the blonde answered, "but, the good kind of scary. Knowing that you and I had created this life that was growing inside of me was amazing and terrifying. But I remember feeling this warm calm feeling because it was you. It was you inside of me…"

"Then why don't I feel calm?" Willow asked anxiously, "If it's the other way around. If it's you inside of me then why don't I feel calm?"

"Maybe because I had been able to prepare for being pregnant with Emily and with you it's been a complete surprise." Tara offered, "Something you weren't prepared for. Something neither of us were."

"Or maybe because I never saw myself as having a baby in the first place," the hacker commented, her tears starting to dry.

"Maybe," Tara agreed. They stayed on the floor of the bathroom in silence for several long moments before Tara found the strength to add what they both feared as a possibility. "Or… maybe we need to find out for sure that this baby is ours."

"Possibly," Tara stated, "I think I may know of a couple of spells that can identify paternity."

Tara smiled sadly, taking the still damp washcloth from the redhead's neck and using it to wipe away Willow's still drying tears. "Will, you're Emily's father," she illuminated gently, "in this case the term 'paternity' doesn't apply to gender. Okay?"

Again Willow nodded and adjusted herself so that her head was resting on Tara's lap. The blonde tenderly ran her fingers through red hair.

"Mommy?" Emily said softly, peeking her head to look into the bathroom. "Is Mama gonna be alright?"

"Oh, sweetie," said Willow, sitting up a little and forcing a smile, "I'm fine. But a hug from you would make me even better."

Emily tentatively stepped into the small tiled room, aware on some level that she had interrupted something important, but needing her parents' assurance that nothing was wrong. She finally made it over to Willow's side and leaned down to wrap her arms around her Mama's neck when Willow grabbed her gently and drew her down into a tight hug, kissing the top of her head.

"I love you too," Emily answered softly. Then even more softly she called out, "Mommy?"

Again, keeping her voice as small as possible she asked, "Can we have pancakes now?"

"Yes, sweetie, we can have pancakes," Tara stated, rising to her feet and lifting Emily out of Willow's arms and into her own. "Funny shapes, right?" Emily nodded an energetic affirmative. "Coming, Will?"

Her wife and child left the bathroom leaving her alone. She turned to the sink and lifted her toothbrush out of its cradle, and started to put paste on it when she paused. She looked up into the mirror to find her reflection staring back at her. She stayed there, looking her self in the eye, not completely sure why, before snapping out of her reverie and proceeding on with the task at hand. Despite what she had said to her lover earlier, a haunting notion seemed to suddenly present itself in her mind. If this baby isn't Tara's, she thought, I don't think I can go through with this…

She rinsed out her mouth and splashed some water on her face, her gaze returning to her image in the mirror, looking scared… and ashamed.

Later that day at the Magic Box, the Scooby Gang had reconvened to begin going through the small store's extensive library of books in an attempt to discover the mystery behind Emily's sudden unknown status.

After several hours of nothing to show for their efforts, Giles finally suggested that Willow and Tara start researching their own family histories for connections to any ancient legends or prophecies.

Willow dove into the net on her laptop finding various genealogy sites and putting them to work sorting through her and Tara's family names as far back as she could remember. Tara meanwhile was discreetly assembling the ingredients for the spell to determine whether or not she was the "paternal" half of Willow's still unexplained pregnancy.

Although she could not deny the definite plausibility of the night of Buffy's party being when the child was conceived, she also had to acknowledge that two women, no matter how caught up they are in the throes of passion, could not "accidentally" create a life. There were too many questions and not enough answers and Tara knew that her own upset was nowhere near the level of anxiety of her lover. Not to mention, she still hadn't apologized to Willow for accusing her of using magicks behind her back, and that thought weighed heavily on her mind. In all honesty at this point, Tara would have rather that Willow had done something without permission, than face the uncertainty they were both now staring at.

"Anya," Tara called to the ex-demon, requesting her presence away from the research table. Anya complied and joined Tara over by the counter.

"A protection spell, then," Tara offered, wanting to avoid the direction of this conversation.

"It's not good for that either," Anya pressed on. "Generally it's used with a combination of mandrake root to determine the sex of an unborn child... Or who the father is." She added on after a thought. "Oh my God, Tara," she gasped, clutching at the other girl's arm, "Are you pregnant?" She had mouthed the last word, in case Willow wasn't supposed to know.

"No, Anya, I'm not," Tara assured her, "I just need some asphodyl for…a spell. Do you have any?"

The ex-demon narrowed her eyes at the blonde momentarily before answering, "Yes, it's over by the dragon's blood."

"Thank you." Tara went over to the shelf stocked with herbs fully aware that Anya had kept her gaze locked on her as she searched out what she was looking for.

Next to Willow at the research table, Buffy tossed another unhelpful book onto the growing pile.

"Buffy, do be careful," chided Giles, "several of these texts are over five hundred years old. Not to mention from my private collection."

"Sorry, Giles," Buffy apologized, "just starting to get a little frustrated." The slayer moved to twist her back in a stretch, her sight landing on her best friend who was clacking away on her keyboard, and looking a little green around the gills.

Willow was doing her best to ignore her lingering nausea, occasionally wiping her hand across her brow, absorbing the light sweat that had formed there.

"Are you feeling bad again, Mama?" Emily inquired from her place on the floor where she and Joseph had been playing "Slap-Hands-Charlie". Emily had been letting the small boy win, and as a result the tops of her hands were turning a bright red.

"It's probably all the stress," Xander offered from the other side of the table. "I know if it were Joseph, I'd be having a hard time keeping anything down too."

"Will, it'll be okay," Buffy soothed, "We'll figure this out. Who knows, maybe Emily's the Chosen Interior Decorator. She alone who can stop the increasingly scary use of chintz in modern homes."

"I don't know, Buff," Willow chuckled, "between Slayer and Interior Decorator, I'm leaning heavily toward slayer." Just then the laptop beeped, recalling Willow's attention. "Dammit!" She said rapidly pounding on the keys.

"Well, I've managed to trace my lineage as far back as the Jews of ancient Egypt," she sighed, "But with Tara I keep getting stuck at around 811-ish A.D. somewhere in the British Isles."

Giles brow furrowed in recognition, "That's around the same time as the Arthurian Legend. Anya…" He called over to the former demon still standing by the cash register. "I had several books in Olde English and Gaelic expounding on the prophecies of King Arthur's time. Do you recall where you saw them during your last inventory?"

"Don't bother," a new, heavily Irish-accented voice said from the front of the store, "I'm sure I can answer any questions you may have. After all, I was there."

Everyone looked up to see a beautiful woman in a dark green velvet cloak standing by the front entrance. The hood of the cloak was down, revealing the woman's light-brown hair, decorated with several small braids in which different colored ribbons had been woven for embellishment. In the center of her forehead near her hairline was a small tattoo of a half-moon pointed upwards so that is looked almost like a tiny bowl. She had piercing blue eyes like the waters of the Gulf and her smile had a warm and calming quality. But still she was mysterious, and mystery to the Scoobies equaled danger.

"My name is Ghaena Faoilteach," she explained, "the last of the priestesses of Avalon." Her gaze shifted to where Emily watched from the floor. "Until her."

The room fell silent. All eyes were on the strange woman before them, all ears tuned to her voice. But the lady now joined them in silence and simply tracked her gaze across the room catching each of them by the eye and holding them for a moment.

"E-Emily," Tara said, her voice breaking the hush, "Take Joseph and go play in the training room."

Emily reluctantly stood and guided Xander's son into the back with her, closing the training room door. She knew something was going on. She knew that the pretty lady in green had been looking at her and she didn't appreciate being ushered out of the room. But that always seemed to happen whenever anything exciting was going on.

Once the children were gone, Giles moved from his place behind the research table to stand defensively between his family and the woman who called herself a Priestess of Avalon.

"Oh really," spoke Xander, not amused, "And what is the 'Prophecy of the Week' for this episode?"

Inside the training room, Emily had her ear pressed firmly against the door. Joseph impatiently tapped her on the shoulder.

'Listening', she answered, before putting her head back to the wood. He tapped her again.

'To our parents talking.' She explained. 'Talking to that lady.' Emily once more trained her focus on trying to listen through the door. Joseph hesitated a moment, before interrupting her again.

Joseph let out an angry sigh and moved over to sit on the stack of mats across the room. Crossing his arms in a huff as he sat down. Emily looked apologetically after him before leaning back against the hard wood of the door, trying to hear the exchange on the other side.

"When good kings fall," she began, "the mists shall rise and Avalon will be no more. Till three score generations from the first chosen, a child, being born of two mothers twice blessed, shall bring about the restoration of Avalon, the return of the Goddess."

"Oh!" said Anya excitedly, "I know this story! My mother used to tell it to me when she wanted to bore me to sleep."

"Ahn, Honey," Xander said quickly, "Why don't you explain what you're talking about before you make the pretty, and potentially dangerous, lady angry."

Ghaena raised an eyebrow at the woman, almost daring her to go on. Anya never was one to back down from a dare, so she continued.

"Well, the story was about how King Arthur died and then this place Avalon was destroyed or something. But this lady, who had some sort of a Yen for lakes, somehow knew what was going to happen before hand and she prayed for a miracle to keep this little island safe and then two of her followers had a kid and the lady had a vision…" Anya paused, trying to recall more. Coming up empty she shrugged, "This is normally where I'd fall asleep."

The Priestess stepped down off of the steps into the main room, her cloak billowing around her. "Allow me to fill in some of the blanks," she said moving to divest herself of her heavy outer garment. Everyone froze, unsure of what she was about to do. "Mind if I sit?" she asked.

"I thank you," Ghaena replied continuing the motion of taking off her cloak, revealing her clothing underneath.

Willow and Tara shared a quick look, as did Buffy and Giles, and Xander and Anya.

"Really," Ghaena inquired haughtily, "You know how a Priestess of Avalon dresses?"

"Well," Tara said, picking up where her wife had left off, "the cloak makes sense. B-but, the blue jeans and Alice Cooper t-shirt don't."

The priestess let out an exasperated sigh. "Oh these," she said, tugging at her shirt, "I thought they'd help me blend in. I've never been to California before. I guess watching Valley Girl for research was a mistake."

"Fashion faux pas aside, perhaps you would now be willing to enlighten us further as to your sudden presence here," Giles pressed on.

"Certainly," Ghaena complied, "I am Tara's great-great-great-gre… an unmentionable number of greats… grandmother. It is because of me that she even exists. For that matter, it is because of me that you exist as well." The priestess indicated to Willow.

"Are you saying that you're my grandmother too?" Willow asked, a thousand naughty thoughts all to do with incest running through her mind.

"No I'm not," the priestess replied, sensing Willow's unease, "And even if I were, it wouldn't be wrong for you and Tara to be together. Goddess sake, there's more than sixty generations separating us. All of us are related to one another at some point in time."

"I'm only saying that if it wasn't for me than this young lady's ancestors would never have come together and the chain of events that led to her being here would never have happened," Ghaena finished.

"I don't understand what all this has to do with Anya's bedtime story," Xander said finally.

Ghaena let out a long sigh before continuing. "I'm going to attempt to make a very long and epic tale as short and simple as possible," she began, "As Anya said, with the death of King Arthur the mystical isle of Avalon disappeared seemingly forever into the mist. But before this happened, Vivienne, the Lady of the Lake and High Priestess of the Goddess at Avalon…"

"The watery tart!" Xander blurted. Everyone turned and stared at the young man, their faces holding looks of confusion. "What," he asked, "You guys have never watched Monty Python?" They regarded him blankly. "Sorry to interrupt. Carry on."

Ghaena eyed him carefully a moment longer before picking up again. "Vivienne suffered a vision where she was foretold of the King's death and Avalon's fate. She prayed to the Goddess for protection to keep Avalon safe from destruction. It was not soon after that my lover, Dwynn, was found to be with child. My child…"

"What?" Ghaena questioned, chuckling, "Did you think we lesbians didn't exist until the twentieth century? My girl, we are as natural as the rain. One soul meets another and they match. It doesn't matter what is or is not between their legs." Willow nodded and took Tara's hand, her wife smiling back at her. "The day that Dwynn gave birth to our Adrianna, Vivienne had yet another vision and that vision became the prophecy I first told to you. That the descendant of my daughter would be born of two women, twice blessed, and that this child would restore Avalon."

"That's all very well and good," commented Giles as he cleaned his glasses. "There's just one problem."

"You keep using the term 'twice blessed'," the watcher continued, "I'm assuming that means that these two women would have to have been gifted with more than one child?"

"Aye, two children total," Ghaena concurred, "A blessing from the Goddess of their union."

"Well as you can see," said Buffy, stepping forward, "Willow and Tara have only got the one. So, um... best go try your prophecy out somewhere else."

"Um…" It was taking everything the slight redhead had to muster up the courage to say it out loud. Not only to her best friend, but also to a room full of friends… and one stranger.

Willow took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. "I'm, um… gonnahaveababy."

"What?!" Buffy cried out, not sure she just heard what she thought she just heard.

Willow tried again, slower this time. "I'm… I've been feeling a little pregnant lately." For some reason she hated that word. The "p" word. She didn't like the way it sounded, she didn't like the way it was spelled, she just didn't like it. It was too naked. It made everything too real. And despite the huge sigh of relief it was knowing that the baby was definitely Tara's, this whole situation was a reality check she still wasn't ready for.

"Are you sure?" Asked Giles. He watched as she nervously nodded yes. "Well, I assume congratulations are in order." He moved over to Willow, taking her into his arms in a warm hug. She allowed herself to relax a little in the older man's embrace. After a moment Giles gently released her and she returned to Tara's side. The blonde placed a light kiss on her temple, her quiet way of letting her wife know that everything would be all right.

Buffy also went to give Willow a hug, but the redhead shied away, stepping a little behind her lover as if seeking protection.

"I'm sorry, Buffy," Willow apologized, "It's not you. I'm just not feeling very…touch-y… right now."

"Buffy," Tara interjected, "Willow is having a really difficult time dealing with this pregnancy. Believe me… and believe her… when she says that it's not you. "

"Willow?" Xander said softly. The hacker looked over to him with large, almost wounded, eyes. "This wasn't planned, was it?" He asked, though it was really more of a statement than a question.

"Well it's really understandable that she's so upset by this," said Anya in a rare show of support for the hacker. "I mean she's always been the man in her and Tara's relationship. I'm sure Xander's reaction would be the same if he woke up and the stick was blue."

"Oh, Honey," Tara said softly into her lover's ear. "Not in the traditional sense, no. But you do kind of wear the pants. Even you said so this morning."

Back in the training room Joseph was once again over by Emily's side, trying to get in on what was going on.

"Okay," said Tara, turning back to the priestess, "So if Emily is this child. What does that mean?"

Ghaena looked to the blonde, her face serious and solemn. "It means that she must return to the mists with me to begin her training."

"No!," Emily cried out, bursting through the training room door and running to her mother, wrapping her arms around Tara's leg. "No, Mommy, no! I don't want to go!"

Willow swiftly lifted her daughter into her arms, the small girl tightly locking her ankles and arms behind the redhead's back. Holding on as if for dear life.

"It's okay, baby-girl," Willow said soothingly, "You're not going anywhere." The hacker sent a look of pure detest at the priestess.

Buffy swiftly moved to put herself between the woman and her goddaughter. "Looks like you just wore out your welcome," the slayer said menacingly. "And seeing as how there is no way you're totally human, being immortal and all, I can get as rough as I like with the kicking you out."

"Now hold on," Ghaena tried, throwing her hands up in surrender, "I didn't come here for a fight."

"If you think for one moment that we are just going to stand here and let you take this precious child away from her…" Giles started, also stepping forward.

"Now just listen to me for a moment," Ghaena interrupted, "just listen to me. I have no intention of taking the young girl away with me now. She's only a wee babe. I would never think of committing such an atrocity."

"That she must return with me, yes," the priestess agreed, "But I don't recall saying she had to come now, did I?"

"To offer my services as a teacher and a protector of the child until such a time comes as we must return to Avalon for her to fulfill her destiny."

"Only she will know when she is ready," Ghaena answered, "But it will take time. Years."

Ghaena's eyes softened as she looked to the blonde. "Your daughter is very special and there are great and terrible forces out there who would want her for their own purpose. A very long time ago I was given a choice between giving up my immortality or taking an oath to protect a child I was not even certain would ever exist. Believe me, at the time I wanted nothing more than to be able to live out my days and die. But I recognized the importance of this little girl to my people and I took the oath, even without understanding what it meant."

"How do we know that you aren't one of these 'great and terrible forces'?" Xander queried.

"You don't," Ghaena answered honestly. "You only have my word which I give to you as a solemn vow, that as long as I breathe I will do everything in my power to keep your child safe."

"Provided you're even breathing right now," Buffy sniped. "Just how is it that you came to be immortal in the first place, Priestess?" The slayer made no attempt to hide her continuing distrust.

"My immortality was given to me as a punishment by the Goddess for tampering with her work. I wish to say no more than that."

"I am over twenty-two hundred and forty years old." The entire group's eyes bulged. "I've lost track of exactly the year. You tend to stop counting after the second millennia. That and… time tends to move faster in the fairy realms."

"I shall leave you now." Ghaena said, picking up her cloak and slinging it over her arm. "I'm sure you have much to discuss and would rather I wasn't present. I shall walk about the town and seek out a place to rest. If you need me, simply whisper my name, and I will come running." By this time the priestess stood by the front door of the shop, her hand gently resting on the doorknob.

"Because it is all I need to hear," she answered simply, before opening the door and walking out into the sunlight. Her way of proving that she wasn't what they might have thought she was.

"Mama, I want to go home," Emily whined into Willow's shoulder. It was not like the little girl to whine, and it caught the attention of both her parents and the slayer. Willow sent Tara a worried glance.

"Okay, Em," Tara said, stepping over to run her fingers through Emily's hair. "Are you alright?"

"Why are you tired, baby-girl?" Willow pressed, massaging Emily's back with one free hand, the other still busy holding her daughter up and against her.

"Because I was scared and when I get scared I get tired from being scared," she answered, nuzzling her face even deeper into the crook of Willow's neck.

"Will, don't you think we should discuss what just happened?" Xander asked, confused by his best friend's sudden need to depart.

"We can discuss it later," the redhead replied, "Emily is tired. We're taking her home."

"Buffy, we're going," Willow said, her tone softening a little. "Emily's tired and truthfully I'm not feeling well."

"Here," Tara offered, lifting Emily down from her wife's arms. "You're a big girl and you can walk home. Mama's tired too, she shouldn't have to carry you."

Tara sighed, normally this would have worked. But not today. "No I'm not, but even so you can still walk with Mama and I. It's not that far."

"Yes," Giles agreed, "Do what's best for your family tonight. I'll take home several of the texts I mentioned earlier and go through them, see if I can find anything of use. Buffy, you should patrol, keep an eye out for our priestess. See that she isn't up to anything. Xander, Anya? Would you mind if I joined you for dinner?"

"Sure thing, G-man," Xander smiled, "Let me just get Joseph from the back and we can go."

"C'mon, Will," said Tara, putting one hand into her lover's and grasping Emily's with the other, "Let's go."

The trio left the Magic Box and headed down the street toward home, unaware that above them a single raven was flying overhead watching them, its beak twisting into a menacing smile.

"How is she?" Asked Willow as Tara re-entered the living room where the redhead was reclined on the couch.

"Asleep," Tara answered, joining Willow on the sofa and lifting her lover's feet into her lap rubbing them lightly. "How are you?"

"Better now that we're home," Willow sighed, sinking into the cushions as Tara massaged her feet. "I'm sorry if I was acting all…"

Willow chuckled, "I guess…," she trailed off, hugging her arms around herself. "I'm glad it's yours."

"I don't know what I would have done if somehow it wasn't," the redhead continued on. "For the past three days I have felt so guilty for something I couldn't possibly have done."

Tara sighed and slid up the length of the couch, resting her head on Willow's abdomen, her fingers drawing light circles on the redhead's taut stomach in front of her face. "I'm so sorry that I said what I did the other night," she whispered. "I'm sorry that I even allowed myself to think that for a split second. I know that you never would have done anything without talking to me first."

"It was a really crazy day," Willow said, her tone making it clear that she had already forgiven her wife. "I should have told you as soon as I knew… but I was scared."

"I understand," Tara answered. She really did. "And I'm going to make it up to you."

Willow's ears perked at the all too familiar phrase as Tara extracted herself from the couch and stood over her lover with one hand extended in invitation. "Tara?" She asked, taking her lover's hand.

"Starting right now." The blonde replied, pulling Willow up off the sofa and toward the bedroom.

Willow allowed herself to be led into the familiar and comforting space, her breath catching in her throat as she surveyed the room to see how her lover had transformed the scene with a myriad of candles and several sticks of light and airy incense to set the mood.

Tara quietly shut the door behind them and crossed in front of Willow, placing her hands on the top button of the redhead's blouse and beginning to undo it.

"Tonight," she said her voice barely above a whisper as she stepped in a little closer parting the fabric from on top of her wife's chest, "Tonight we bring the end to any doubts. " Tara leaned in as placed a soft kiss on Willow's neck. "Tonight we completely claim this child as our own." Another kiss now lower on the collarbone. "I am going to show you how much I love you." A peck between the breasts. "How much I cherish you." Tara now raised her hands up from the last freed button and placed them on Willow's shoulders sliding the fabric down and off. "How you complete me."

Willow stood in front of her lover, her knees going weak with each touch, each small kiss, she fought to keep herself from falling forward into Tara's arms. "Tara," she whispered, her voice breaking slightly with the feel of cool air on her bare skin. "Sh," Tara replied as she lifted her lips to greet Willow's mouth in a warm and inviting kiss. Wrapping her arms around the blonde's back, Willow drew her love closer, running her fingers up under Tara's shirt, caressing the soft skin there. Tara ran her hands over her wife's smooth back, bringing them to rest on the clasp of her bra, deftly undoing it and pulling the straps down and off. Willow gasped into Tara's mouth as the tips of her bared breasts grazed against the rough material of the blonde's shirt.

Willow drove her hands up higher onto Tara's back, aching to feel more flesh even as they deepened their kiss. The Wiccan's arms encircled the redhead's shoulders, tangling her fingers in soft red hair. Then, Tara did something she rarely ever did. Willow could count the number of times this had happened on one finger. The blonde swooped the other girl up into her arms and carried her to the bed, all the while continuing their kiss that had now reached epic proportions.

Finally they broke apart as Tara set Willow gently down onto the bed, hovering over her, the two of them breathing heavily, recovering from the lack of oxygen. They stared into each other's eyes as they continued to catch their breaths. A wicked gleam sparkled in the redhead's emerald eyes and she couldn't stop herself from the saying the line that so quickly jumped to her lips. "Oh, Ret," she sighed, laughing lightly.

Tara laughed too, aware that her bold maneuver in getting her wife to their bed was a little cliché. She started to play along, "Frankly, Scarlet…" But then she stopped. She stopped because that line, that famous line that she was about to quote, that everyone knows by heart, was a lie. It was a lie because she did give a damn. She gave a damn so much that sometimes it hurt. But hurt so good.

Tara slid up the bed to lay beside Willow, her head resting on one hand while the other sat tenderly on Willow's naked waist, stroking the skin there. "Do you know how much I love you?" The blonde questioned seriously.

"Tell me," Tara probed as she slipped her hand down to begin casually undoing Willow's jeans.

"The same amount as I love you," Willow replied, raising her hand to her love's face, re-memorizing the familiar shapes and textures she found there. "Which is infinitely." Her mental mapping of her wife's face now done, Willow dropped her hands to the hem of Tara's shirt, tugging up slightly, indicating she wanted it off.

Tara complied, stopping her work on Willow's pants zipper. She leaned in to kiss the redhead briefly, before shifting just enough that the other girl could peel her shirt off up over her head. Tara than reached her hands behind her back, unclasping her bra and letting her bosom fall forward, free of its confinement.

"You're so beautiful," Willow whispered, trailing a finger over the top slope of Tara's breasts. "It always amazes me how beautiful you are."

"We aren't going to play this game tonight," she went on, moving closer to Tara, running her hand down her wife's bare side, bringing it to rest on her hip.

"Game?" Tara questioned, her voice high and breaking slightly at her lover's proximity, unsure of the meaning of the word.

"The 'you're-so-beautiful-no-I'm-not-you-are' game," the redhead stated, "We've been together for more than eleven years now. That's definitely long enough to know that when one of us tells the other that they're beautiful, it's the truth. And you, Tara, are beautiful. You are the most beautiful woman I have ever known in my life."

Willow's voice had dropped to a deep and lusty note, her mouth mere inches away from Tara's. The blonde's breath hitched at the closeness. Her lips aching to kiss and be kissed, taste and be tasted.

"We're beautiful together," Willow said, completing the distance and capturing her wife's lips, teasing them apart with her tongue, seeking entrance and when accepted engaging in an oral tango of passion and love.

Tara pressed Willow into the soft mattress, carefully laying her weight on top of her so that their breasts pressed firmly against each other. Willow gasped into Tara's mouth as they kissed, the sensation of her lover's body melding into her own was intense and breathtaking. The familiar buzzing between her legs that had presented itself the second Tara had offered her hand in the living room chorused suddenly louder at the sensual contact.

Raising her hips a little, Tara slid her hands to Willow's waist, hooking her thumbs into the belt loops of her jeans and pulling them, along with her wife's purple panties, down her thighs, past her knees and finally off so that the hacker lay completely naked beneath her. The blonde then brought her own still denim-covered leg to rest between her lover's thighs and pressed down and up into the waiting warmth, feeling Willow's wetness soak into the fabric of her leg.

Tara pressed her upper body once more against Willow's, curling her arms up under her back and resting her hands on the hacker's shoulders, drawing her even more near as the two began to rock their hips in synch. Tara dipped her head to her wife's chest and began to greedily nip and suckle at her small breasts. Willow threw her head back in ecstasy, arching her upper body into her lover's mouth.

"You know," Tara said between playful licks, "pretty soon you'll be giving me a run for my money."

"Wha…huh?" Willow questioned, her brain no longer functioning on the higher levels of cognizance as her blood flow had redirected itself to her loins.

"I wonder if I'll be as big a fan of your breast-milk as you were of mine," Tara continued, moving to the other breast and carefully taking the tight nipple between her teeth and biting down gently.

Willow found herself incapable of responding as the rough texture of Tara's jeans massaged firmly against her moist center, sending staggering bolts of electricity through her veins.

"I've been…" Willow started, before a ragged exhale interrupted her thought. She tried again, "I've been…th…"

"You've been," Tara prompted through panting breaths. Her own core now pressing firmly against the crotch of her jeans, setting off its own small fireworks display at the back of her mind.

"No thinking, Will," Tara soothed, sliding one of her hands from under Willow's shoulder and moving it between their bodies and into the slick, molten folds of her love's sex. "No thinking tonight."

Willow let out a small whimper at the feeling of Tara's fingers massaging her most intimate place. She brought her hands up into blonde hair, pulling their faces together in another deep and searching kiss. Tara allowed her fingers to freely explore Willow's soaking folds, bringing her thumb and forefinger together around her lover's engorged clitoris and pinching lightly. Willow's body leapt at the touch, her teeth sinking carefully into Tara's lower lip and sucking on the meaty flesh. Tara let out a low groan of pleasure at the sensation even as she maneuvered her fingers to discover the inner lips of her wife's hot core, while continuing to press on Willow's tight bundle of nerves with her thumb.

Willow's breaths were coming in short, panting gasps, her hips now rocking with a more wild abandon as Tara moved with her.

"We should probably wait," Tara breathed, slipping her lips down the hacker's throat, kissing the sensitive place behind her ear, "Until you start to show." She said between sloppy kisses as she moved up to nibble at Willow's earlobe. "Until it's something she can see… she'll understand it better that way…"

"That's a… good…I…ngah," Willow gasped as she felt her lover enter two fingers up inside of her. Tara groaned with passion at the velvety soft feeling surrounding her immersed digits. "Idea," the hacker finished, her voice a mere squeak. She dug her nails into Tara's smooth and lightly sweat-covered back, feeling herself drawing achingly close to release as her wife's fingers pumped in and out of her to the knuckle, Tara never stopping her now almost urgent kneading of the redhead's clitoris with her thumb.

Tara was right there with her, her own center being rubbed and pressed against her pants and Willow's thigh bringing her nearer to an inevitable climax.

"Tara!" Willow cried out as her center exploded into an overwhelming orgasm, her insides clenching at Tara's fingers with almost bone-crushing intensity.

"Will…" Her wife's name catching in her throat as she came as well, the feeling of Willow's pleasure pouring into her hand sending her even farther over the edge.

The two lovers clung to each other as they rode out the quaking aftershocks of their powerful lovemaking. After a few moments, the tremors subsided and Tara gently extracted herself from Willow's core, sliding off from on top of her love and pulling her into a comforting embrace, kissing the top of her red hair as they continued to try and catch their breaths.

"Aaaah! Mommy!!" Emily's blood-curdling scream filled the air from down the hall.

Both women sat instantly bolt upright. "Emily," Tara stated needlessly as they quickly disentangled themselves from each other and the bed. Willow swiftly threw on her robe and was the first out the door and toward her daughter's bedroom followed close behind by Tara who was pulling her shirt back on.

"Emily, what's wrong!" Willow cried out as she burst through the door into the young girl's room ready to face anything she found on the other side.

Emily was huddled up against the back of her bed hugging the sheets tightly up to her chin. "Mama," she sobbed, frantic tears streaming down her little face; she extended her arms to her mama, pleading to be lifted and held.

Willow rushed to Emily's side, raising the girl up into her arms as her eyes scanned the room for intruders. Tara arrived into the room and quickly hit the switch by the door, flooding the room with light. There was nothing, no one, not a thing out of the ordinary.

"I don't know" Willow answered as Emily clutched and grabbed at her, clinging on. "She's terrified."

"Baby?" Tara quested softly, smoothing away the anxious lines on her daughter's face, "what scared you? It's okay. You're Mama and I are here now."

"Big Bird…outside my w-window," the little girl explained, tightening her grip around Willow's neck.

"Emily," Willow soothed, massaging her daughter's back as she spoke, "It's okay. There is no Big Bird in your room…"

Tara moved over to the window and looked out, scanning the view. She turned back to her lover and shook her head. Nothing.

"Or outside," Willow continued on, "You're safe. Your mother and I are here and we would never let anything happen to you."

"That's right, honey," Tara affirmed, looking into her baby's tear-stained eyes.

"Yes we do," Tara pressed ardently. "We always believe you. We're just saying that whatever was here…"

"Is gone now," the hacker finished. "So your Mommy is going to fix you a nice glass of warm milk and you're going to be a big girl and try and go back to bed."

"No, no please," Emily pleaded, her grip tightening to that of a vice. "I don't want to go back to bed here. Please! Can I stay with you and Mommy?"

Willow and Tara looked into each other's eyes, sharing a silent communication. After a moment Tara sighed, "I'll take her to get her milk if you could change the sheets?"

"Sure," Willow agreed, gently handling Emily to her wife. "We both need showers," she added after a moment.

"Go ahead and do that too," the blonde replied, heading for the door, "I'll take mine after she's settled in."

Willow nodded and followed her lover and child out of the room, clicking off the light switch as she went.

Outside the house, from where it was perched on a tall lamp post, a jet black bird blinked its slate eyes before flapping its wings and flying off into the dark night.

Tara was awakened the next morning by the sharp slap of an object hitting her eye. She jumped at the sensation as it struck her, carefully opening her eyes after a moment to find that Emily, snuggled safely in her arms, had swung her little hand out in her sleep; Tara's eye the unfortunate mark.

The blonde tenderly moved the small appendage back down to her daughter's side, rubbing her eye gingerly and looking across to where Willow should have been sleeping. But was not. Tara's brow furrowed in confusion until she heard her wife in the bathroom, sick again.

Tara exhaled resignedly and carefully removed herself from the bed, so as not to wake Emily, and quietly entered the bathroom that she and Willow shared.

The redhead was just in the process of applying paste to her toothbrush as the blonde entered the small room. "Sorry," Willow apologized, "Did I wake you?"

"No," Tara assured, "No… I received my wake up call courtesy of our little karate kid."

Tara only chuckled in response. Silence lingered for a moment. "When's your next appointment with Dr. Gulliver?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" Tara asked, her voice slightly tinged with perturbation.

"Baby, I was going to," Willow stressed quickly, beginning to brush her teeth as she spoke, "But things got so crazy so fast. I mean, with Emily and that Ghaena person, priestess, whatever… and me and the not knowing… and then last night I was going to tell you… but you and 'Gone with the Wind' and your lips … which were very nice by the way… but then Emily was scared and… I wasn't trying to keep it from you…"

"Willow!" Tara ordered, bringing her lover out of her babble-fest. "It's okay. I believe you… What time is the appointment?"

"Well, that makes sense," Tara smirked, her lopsided grin in place, "Normal business hours and all… You want me to come?"

"Of course," Willow stated emphatically, "Why wouldn't I? I don't ever want to go there alone… It felt so wrong being there without you the last time. I was so scared. I still am."

"Yes, and I'm the one having it," Willow cut her off. "Not exactly on my list of things to do."

"Is that why you're so upset about this?" Tara asked, her voice filling with concern, "Because it doesn't fit into your… your grand design of our life?"

"No!" Willow hastily replied. "I want this baby. I had even been thinking about talking to you about having another child… but I wanted it to be you… I didn't think it could be done magically either, so I was going to talk to you about adopting… or maybe artificial insem--… I'm explaining this all wrong… I just wish I could have you be me for a minute so you could see…"

"Willow, you live your life by lists and multicolored pens and charts and diagrams," Tara expounded. "You make a living by creating programs to solve mathematical equations for technical design firms. Science. Math. Logic. Order. Control."

The redhead only gazed at her wife, her expression indicating that she should go on.

"Now you're faced with a situation where you don't have control… at least over your own body. But that alone, the fact that the one thing you should have control over at all times is now suddenly uncontrollable…it terrifies you." Tara concluded, "Right?"

"Oh, Tara," Willow sighed, her heretofore composure starting to break, she enveloped herself in the safety of her lover's arms.

"But I'm here, Will," Tara spoke softly into Willow's ear, "And I'll always love you, even if you're not in control. We're a team. We work together and this not about us swapping roles. You're still the provider; I'm still the homemaker. It's just now you're providing our little family with another miracle."

"How do you always know what to say to make things better?" Willow sniffled into Tara's shoulder.

"Probably because it's hungry and so is the other stomach you are currently responsible for." Tara looked Willow deep in the eye.

Willow let out a long breath. This was going to take a lot of getting used to. A lot. "Well… maybe something mild… oatmeal… or something."

"Okay," Tara responded, moving to the door. "Emily's still asleep. We need to get her up soon so that we can make it over to the Magic Box."

The next day Willow found herself nervously fidgeting in one of the chairs facing Dr. Gulliver's desk inside her office. The previous day's Scooby research time had met an abrupt end when Joseph twisted his ankle while playing Tarzan on the climbing rope in the training room. Tara was in the other chair watching her wife go through the various levels of anxiety as they waited for the doctor to join them. After several moments the blonde finally took Willow's hand in her own, holding it tenderly. The hacker looked up into her love's eyes and found nothing there but warmth and support. Willow allowed herself to smile timidly in return.

"Do you th—" Willow started but was cut off by Dr. Gulliver's abrupt entrance into the room.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," she said, moving swiftly from the door to the chair behind her large desk, setting down a patient folder as she sat. "Busy today."

"Okay," Dr. Gulliver chuckled, "Now I know you're nervous because you just called me by my title and not my name."

"Sorry… Renee," the redhead amended. She and Tara had been patients of the OB/GYN almost since the beginning of their marriage. Renee insisted that anyone she had known that long should be able to set formalities aside and work together on a first name basis.

"Now that we've got that out of the way," Renee continued, "let's skip ahead to the meat and potatoes. Tara, do you know the reason Willow has asked you to join her here today?"

"Yes," Tara answered quickly, then hesitated, "I mean… I think so. It is just that she's pregnant… right?" The blonde threw a worried glance in Willow's direction only to see her lover nodding a vigorous affirmative.

"That's right," the doctor confirmed, "Given Willow's reaction to her condition this last visit, I wasn't exactly sure whether or not she would have told you. I'm glad to see that she has. It certainly puts my mind at ease on several points."

The blonde continued to watch her wife, noting the sudden defeatist slump in her shoulders. Tara swiftly recognized what Dr. Gulliver was insinuating on Willow's part, and moved to deflect.

"Oh," she said with her best look of humorous surprise, "You thought this wasn't planned."

"No, no," the blonde continued, "Willow was just surprised you see…uh… because we had been trying to get pregnant…er…using the methods we had before for Emily… and since with me we had known so quickly that I was pregnant… when we didn't know right away with Will… we assumed it didn't take… so naturally when she found out that it had, it was a…"

"I see," Dr. Gulliver replied, her eyes narrowing a little. "Please forgive me for asking… but exactly what 'methods' have you been using? I still don't know the details behind Emily's conception and I am equally lost with this new pregnancy. Not to mention mildly hurt that for the second time you two have sought outside help from a… friend? Physician? Clinic? Essentially behind my back. Without a word or a hint that you might be looking to have a child in the first place."

"Dr. Gulliver," Tara countered, "I'm sorry, but it's really none of your business. I can understand your curiosity, but your feeling hurt or betrayed by us is vastly unwarranted. You know that I myself prefer holistic methods over western medicine and if we, as a couple, choose to adopt those methods in the conception of our children then that is our decision."

"You are absolutely right," Renee agreed, although she was still confused as she didn't know of any holistic techniques for artificial insemination. "I'm sorry. Forgive me my little outburst. Shall we continue?"

"Willow, I am sorry if I inferred anything," Dr. Gulliver offered, "You and Tara are my best patients. I care about you both. I just wanted to make sure that everything was alright between the two of you."

"Baby, are you not feeling well?" Tara turned back to Renee, "She's been having a lot of trouble with morning sickness." She explained.

"She should get started on prenatal vitamins," Renee suggested, "Also having ginger snaps or saltines around is a good idea."

"No, I'm fine," the redhead insisted. "I just want to go." Willow started to rise from her seat.

"Okay, we'll go," Tara soothed, trying to calm her lover down, as she stood also.

"Before you leave," the doctor cut in quickly, opening her desk drawer and pulling out a business card, handing it to Tara, "take this. It's for a midwife here in town. Given Willow's first examination I have no reason to believe that this shouldn't be a normal pregnancy, but it's best to continue to see… someone… throughout. Even if it isn't me."

"Thank you, Renee," Tara answered, tucking the card into her pocket while moving to the door of the office, trying to catch up with the hastily retreating redhead. "We'll be in touch." And with that they were out the door.

Tara caught up with Willow in the parking lot. "Will," she called out, jogging up to her wife. The girl was unresponsive. "Will!" She tried again, gently grasping the hacker's arm and pulling her to a stop. Willow looked up into Tara's eyes. "What happened back there?" The blonde asked.

"She thinks I cheated on you, Tara." Willow explained, her expression sullen. "She thinks I cheated on you… with a guy."

"I just couldn't sit in there knowing that every time I come here I'd have to deal with her thinking that," the redhead carried on, tears starting to form behind her eyes, "doesn't she know that I'd never do that to you? Can't she see how much I love you? I must be doing something wrong if she can't see that…"

"Darling," Tara pacified, pulling her wife into her arms. "If she can't see it then she must be blind… But I see it and that's all that matters."

"God," Willow grumbled to the air, "I really hate these stupid mood swings!" Tara couldn't help herself and chuckled in response, holding Willow even more tightly. "I mean," the hacker continued, "Look at me… I'm all blubber-y." Willow paused, a horrifying realization suddenly dawning on her. "And soon I'm gonna be all blubbery." This made her cry even harder. Fortunately, this time Tara managed to suppress her laughter. She knew that despite her lover's modest demeanor about herself, she was really quite proud of her lithe figure and losing that, even temporarily, had to be a difficult notion to bear. "Will you still love me when I'm fat?" Willow sobbed into Tara's shoulder.

"Honey," Tara assured, pulling back to look Willow in the eye, "If something happened and tomorrow you woke up as the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal I would still love you. And besides, you won't be fat, you'll be pregnant… and you aren't the only one who finds pregnant women sexy." She added with a raise of her eyebrow and a return of her lopsided grin.

"Not women," Willow sniffled, playfully indignant, "Woman. I found one pregnant woman sexy."

"Just like I find one pregnant woman incredibly sexy," Tara smiled, "right now."

"Like twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week 'right now'." The blonde clarified. She waited a moment for Willow to absorb this before switching gears. "So, do you want to check out this midwife?"

"Well, not this second," Tara illuminated, "But before Emily gets out of school."

"But… you… with the… sexy…and the…24/7…but… why not tomorrow," the hacker stammered out.

"Because we made time for this today," the Wiccan went on, pulling out the business card to look at it. "And maybe we'll get lucky and she won't be that busy. I'm kind of curious to meet this… Jaina Wintersend," she said, reading, "Especially if Dr. Gulliver recommended her."

"Will, Renee is right. You're going to need some sort of medical supervision. It's the safe thing to do… for both of you."

"According to this business card she's down the street and around the corner from the Magic Box," Tara explained.

"Let's investigate before we condemn," the blonde stated firmly. "C'mon, she's just a little ways away."

Willow finally nodded her assent and the two of them made their way through the tree lined streets of Sunnydale and over to the center of town, which wasn't so tree lined. It didn't take them long to find the small office space that the midwife occupied. The outside of the place was plain, the only indication of what was inside was a small, delicately carved plaque that read:

"I guess this place is invitation only," Willow stated, looking amusedly at her wife.

"Well, childbirth doesn't always run on a set schedule." Tara surmised, "She must occasionally keep odd hours."

They tried the door and, finding it open, wandered inside. The waiting area was slightly bare, but homey none-the-less. The small receptionist's desk was empty of its charge. Willow and Tara glanced about, a little confused and unsure what to do next. Should they wait or come back later? Was anyone even here at all?

As if on cue, a familiar voice permeated the air from the back office. "Ah, I was wondering when you'd arrive," the midwife said, stepping forward into the waiting room. "I've been expecting you."

"Alright now, hold on a moment," the priestess called out, stopping them momentarily. "Don't get yer knickers in a twist."

"My knickers are just fine," Willow retorted, "It's you that gets me in a twist."

"Threat?!" Ghaena balked. "Whenever did I make a threat? 'Twas you putting the words in my mouth. As I recall, I made it very clear that I was NOT to take your child until SHE decided. That I am here as protector and friend. No, there was never any threat and I am quite insulted that you should say that there was."

"Alright, fine," Willow replied, "say you are a 'friend' and say that, whether we like it or not, you're a part of Emily's life…What makes you think we'd let you be part of this baby's?"

"Knowing that the birth of this child ensures the fulfillment of the prophecy and the return of Avalon from the mists." The priestess stated plainly. "So I have no reason to harm her, and every reason to make sure her safe passage from your belly and into this world."

"That is for you to decide," Ghaena answered, "She is your daughter and you will raise her as you see fit."

"So… she isn't chosen for anything? Not a slayer…. not a… priestess…" Willow inquired.

"Just a child" the brunette assured them. "Her only duty to this world is to be born."

Ghaena paused as the two women absorbed this. She watched as Tara stepped forward and took Willow's hand, looking into her eyes, a silent communication.

"Step into my office a moment," Ghaena gently urged. "Join me for tea. We can discuss whatever you like."

Again the lovers looked to one another before Willow nodded mutely her concession, and they followed the priestess into the back.

Similar to the waiting area, Ghaena's office was free of decoration, but held a comforting warmth that enveloped the women as they entered it. There was a small, comfy looking sofa and two matching chairs near the front of the room and a sink and several cabinets in the back next to a twin-sized bed.

Willow and Tara sat down on the sofa, unwilling to let go of each other's hand, as Ghaena set about making a pot of tea using a hotplate next to the sink. Willow's eyes alighted on an object tucked in the corner, and she studied it intensely. Tara followed her wife's gaze, noting the concentration of it, but was unable to see what she found so interesting.

"That is the weirdest child booster seat I have ever seen," Willow commented. "I mean, either it doesn't have a back, which would be really uncomfortable, or it doesn't have a bottom, which doesn't make sense if it's supposed to…ya know... boost. And why are the sides so wide?"

"Baby," Tara replied trying very, very hard not to burst out into laughter, "That isn't a booster seat…"

The blonde's shoulders were now shaking with suppressed chuckles. Her wife could be so blissfully unaware sometimes. "It's a… it's a birthing chair."

"Oh," the hacker replied, her eyebrows pinching together, "Well, why didn't you use one when Emily was born?"

"Because hospitals don't regularly use them. And because of the complications that arose during my pregnancy, we didn't really look into any holistic birthing options," Tara explained.

Tara sighed, she hoped that her answer wouldn't cause Willow to think that she had somehow let her down. "Honestly, yes. I would have preferred having Emily at home with a midwife."

"Don't," Tara cut her off. "I'm the one who took away that option. I made the decision to put myself in danger when we fought that destruction demon. I got hit. But, giving birth is still the most amazing and wonderful thing that I have ever experienced. It could have been in the back of a dumpster and it still would have been beautiful."

"Here we are," Ghaena said returning with a small tray with three teacups perched on it. "I hope peppermint is alright."

"It's wonderful, thank you," Tara said graciously, taking one of the cups from the tray. Willow quickly followed suit.

"Well, let's see," the priestess said, rubbing her chin as if trying to stoke out old memories, "I graduated from nursing school a little over sixty years ago. I got my certification, oh, about thirty-five, forty years ago. But, I've been practicing midwifery since I learned the art. I must have been eighteen years old at the time."

"So you've been a practicing midwife for over two thousand years?" Tara asked, flabbergasted at the notion.

"Wow." It was all the redhead could muster. Then curiosity struck. "Then why bother even getting a degree in the first place?"

Ghaena took a long sip of her tea and regarded Willow with her wise eyes. "Picture this," she began, "You have eternity. You'll never die. What are you going to do? The cheap thrills run out pretty quickly and suddenly you're two centuries in and bored out of your mind. But you learn something new everyday. That doesn't change. So, seeking out knowledge is a worthwhile endeavor. It quells the boredom. Gives you something to work for, even if it's just a small bit of paper."

"A lot," she answered simply. "I have degrees in science, literature, business, the arts… I even studied Christian Theology for a few decades. That was interesting. I had a hard time biting my tongue you see because I was actually alive during the time of Jesus. I was already over two hundred years old in fact."

"I did." Ghaena replied, "I remember thinking, 'Young idealist, pity his message won't be heard.' I was right."

"But Christianity is one of the largest religions in the world," Tara countered.

"I'm not going to get into a religious debate," Ghaena stated firmly, but gently and almost wearily. "I've had enough of those to last me several immortalities. Just allow me to put this in your perspective… you ever play the telephone game?"

"So you know how the communication gets a little muddled as the message moves down the line?"

"Well, imagine a two thousand year old game of telephone that's still going on."

"Now," Ghaena said, shifting positions in her seat while at the same time switching gears, "What's say we have a little chat about the impending blessed event."

Tara, noticing her lover's vacillation, decided to move things along. "What services do you offer? I mean… as a midwife."

"You name it," the priestess chuckled, "Holistic prenatal care including nutritional guidance, a variety of birthing options… I personally am a huge fan of the at home water birth. I do have my own portable spa tub, which I can tote about. I find that the motion of the jets and the weightless feeling that comes with being in water helps to relax the laboring mother and makes for an easier and quicker labor and delivery."

Tara nodded thoughtfully. Willow regarded both her and Ghaena with a look of apprehension. She raised her hand as though she was in her health science class at Sunnydale High.

"Hi," she said needlessly, but it was an automatic response she couldn't stifle. "Um… this is all moving a little fast… for me. Can we back up a little?"

"Honey, I need to think about this," Willow anxiously illuminated. "I'm not sure… I mean… we haven't even decided if we're going to use... uh... accept…"

"Perfectly understandable," the priestess replied. "If you need time to discuss, please do. But, in the meantime… if I may… how far along are you?"

The redhead once again shied away. "She's eight weeks," Tara responded for her, sending her love a worried glance.

Ghaena leaned forward out of her chair and knelt in front of Willow raising her hand in an indication that she wished to feel the redhead's belly.

Ghaena laid her hand tenderly on the hacker's stomach, massaging it just lightly. "Hmm," she noted, "Your belly hasn't even begun to swell. You're going to be a late show-er." The priestess removed her hand and sat back on her heels. "You should start eating hearty meals with vitamin rich foods. Particularly foods with a high content of iron like beef, lamb, liver, organ meats… also beans, lentils… peanut butter. Try to combine the iron-rich foods with other things high in vitamin C…"

"Yes," Willow interrupted her softly, "I know… Tara…when she was um, with Emily… we learned all this."

"Good," Ghaena commended. "You have the knowledge, now apply it. You need to start gaining weight."

"I know," Willow replied almost tersely. "I'm sorry but we need to go. Emily's going be getting out of school soon. We need to pick her up." Willow stood and was joined by Tara and Ghaena as she made her way to the door.

"Ah, yes, Emily," the priestess stated, "Another subject we should discuss at length sometime in the very near future."

"Yes, we will," Tara agreed as they stepped out the front, "But Will's right, we do need to hurry if we're going to get to her school in time."

"Come by my office before the end of the week and we'll talk," Ghaena presented.

"Sure, fine," Willow answered absent mindedly, taking Tara's hand into her own as they started down the street.

"Until then!" Ghaena called after them receiving a dismissing wave from the hacker's free hand. She watched them go, turning the corner and into oblivion. Letting out a long sigh, she turned to go back into her small place of business, but a flutter of black caught the corner of her eye. She looked across the street and up in the trees she found it. A single black raven, looking down on her with its beady little eyes, it let out a squawk of disapproval.

"Oh, it's you now is it?" Ghaena asked the bird, her tone menacingly calm. "Go on. Shoo. There's nothing for you. Shoo now. You let them alone."

The bird blinked at her once, twice, then batted its wings and took off into the afternoon sky, away from the direction of the girls.

The two women hurried along the streets toward Sunnydale Elementary school. Willow was moving so fast that she was practically dragging Tara along behind her. Finally the blonde came to a halt, planting her feet firmly in place and causing Willow to stop suddenly in front of her. The hacker looked over her shoulder to her lover with a confused glare.

"No, I don't understand how you can just trust her like that. We hardly know her, Tara and already you're talking about holistic care and water tubs like we're all old friends!" Willow's tone was accusatory and sharp. Fire blazed in her green eyes and her nostrils flared with her anger.

"Willow…" Tara started then stopped. "I don't want to fight. There is only so much that we can blame on mood swings and this… behavior… is not the result of a hormonal imbalance. You're scared. I know this. But you have to get over this fear and accept the fact that you, Willow, are pregnant. That you are carrying a child… our child."

"Then stop trying to live in denial!" Tara paused, taking a breath so that she wouldn't raise her voice again. "I trust her, Willow. I trust Ghaena. There is something about her that makes me want to trust her, so I do. And if you think for one iota of second that I am going to just stand here and let you neglect yourse… let you neglect our unborn child because you are afraid, you are sorely mistaken."

"Oh my God," gasped Tara, rushing to her lover's side, "When? When did you find out?"

"Uh," Tara was lost, "Will, your mom was still alive when you were twenty… she was still alive last week for all that I knew, I saw her in the grocery store. We talked… Emily was with me, remember, I told you?"

"I found out when I was twenty," Willow tried to explain, "She died when I was born."

"Remember when I came out to my parents." Tara nodded. "And how my parents got divorced a few months after and my dad moved to Germany?" Again, the blonde nodded. "My dad got really upset, you know, that I was gay and he kind of… he threatened to disown me…"

"But then he said, 'Why bother, you were never mine anyway.' " Willow stalled a moment, the memory difficult to recall. "That's how I found out that I was adopted. My birth mother had died during delivery and she was um, a single mom, and she was giving her baby up for adoption anyway so…"

"I mean, I had always wondered why there were never any pictures of me like as a newborn or… of my parents in the hospital… or why I didn't look like them." Willow's voice was now breaking, her breath coming in staggered gasps.

"I don't know," the hacker breathed, "I just always kind of felt it was my burden. And I know it upset my mom… I mean… you know…Sheila… for me to know. So I just kind of tried to forget about it. But now that I'm… I can't help but think about it because I don't want…" Willow somehow found it in herself to gather her bearings and stepped away from Tara so that she could look into her yes. "I don't want to leave you."

It was the blonde's initial urge to grab Willow and pull her into a passionate kiss, but she quelled that, feeling that the last thing her wife needed right now was any more coddling. She needed direction, and by goddess that is was Tara was going to give to her.

"If that's the case," she began, "then the best way for you to stop that from happening is to take care of yourself and this baby. Take Ghaena's advice. Take mine. I promise you, that won't happen. You aren't going anywhere. The woman who gave birth to you, who ever she was, had decided for whatever reason that she didn't have room in her life for a child. It was her right to make that choice… But she probably didn't take very good care of herself and that may have been what led to her… So if you do right. If you stay healthy. Then everything should be okay? Okay?"

"So we are going to go pick up Emily," Tara said, her voice taking on an almost jovial quality, "and we are going out to dinner to the Green Mill Buffet so that you can eat until you have broccoli coming out of your ears. Deal?"

"Well, counselor, we'll just have to see what kind of a case you present." Tara coyly replied, her mouth falling into its signature lopsided grin.

"And then guess what happened?" Emily cheerfully quizzed her parents over dinner.

"Miss Henckle asked me to do the problem on the board!" The tiny redhead was practically bursting with excitement.

"Yeah!" The little girl's blue eyes went wide with pride as she continued, "And I did it! I divided a whole three numbers by a whole two numbers! And I got it right!"

"Well of course you did," Tara replied, "You're a brainy type, just like your Mama."

Willow grinned from ear to ear. "I think I'm going to visit the buffet," she announced, standing.

"Yeah, actually I really am," she replied, a little bewildered, "I just hope I don't hate myself in the morning."

"You'll get used it." Tara smirked knowingly, patting Willow's behind as she headed for the buffet line.

"So then," Emily continued now that she once again had her mother's attention, "Carrie Peters came over to me at lunchtime and asked to trade sandwiches, but I said 'no' because you make the best sandwiches and Carrie's mommy doesn't. Hers taste like cat food."

"Emily," Tara said, interrupting, "That isn't very nice. You didn't say that, did you?"

"No, Mommy," Emily answered, clearly finding her mommy's worry to be silly. "I only told her that I didn't want to trade."

"Oh, well that's good," the blonde sighed in relief, then noticed Emily's untouched vegetables. "Eat your carrots, please."

This caught the blonde a little off guard. Normally this ploy worked. She paused a moment to rethink her strategy. Willow returned to the table in time to observe her wife looking perplexed and her child looking far too pleased with herself.

"Emily," Willow stated, her voice gentle but firm, "Eat your vegetables or you won't get…"

This caused the redhead pause. She looked Emily in the eye. The girl seemed to respond with a look that said, "Check…Mate." Suddenly it dawned on Willow, she never should have taught her daughter chess. But, the game wasn't won just yet.

"Emily," Willow began again, her voice taking on a mellifluous quality, "Do you know why your mommy wants you to eat your carrots?"

Alright, negotiations are now off, Willow thought as she went back to her original tactic. "Mommy wants you to eat your carrots because she loves you and she knows that carrots are good for you." Willow explained, "So you can show her you love her back by eating them and growing into a big strong girl with perfect eyesight."

Emily considered this for a moment. If she didn't eat her carrots, did that mean that she didn't love her mommy? Well, that just wouldn't do. With a renewed sense of determination to now eat the orange colored vegetables in front of her, rather than not eat them, she heroically lifted her fork and spiked one of the small bits and placed it in her mouth, chewing it with focus.

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There You Are

By DarkWiccan

Darkwiccan23@yahoo.com