Dr. Maclay DVM

by Jennifer

Copyright © 2002-2003

willowtaralove@netzero.com

Rating: NC-17
Uber Setting: Contemporary
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. This is solely for my entertainment. Please do not copyright this story.
Distribution: The Leopard's Lair: http://www.angelfire.com/wizard/wtkissage/theleopardslair.html 
The Mystic Muse:  http://mysticmuse.net
If you would like to archive this somewhere, please ask my permission first!
Feedback: Please, give me feedback. Good or bad. Feel free to tell me what you think.
Author's Notes: Click here for the Author's Notes...
Pairing: Willow/Tara

Summary: Willow is the Hospital Director of the Sunnydale Veterinary Hospital; Buffy is her Assistant Director. The Veterinarian at the clinic has left for work elsewhere, leaving a new Dr. to take his place.

Chapter 1    Chapter 2    Chapter 3    Chapter 4    Chapter 5    Chapter 6


Chapter 1

Willow pulled up into the parking lot, eyeing an empty space; she pulled in and parked her Ford F-250, pushing the emergency brake into place before removing her keys from the ignition.

After un-snapping her seat belt, she reached over and grabbed her small black backpack. Slipping her keys into the front pouch, she zipped it up and looped the bag over her arm and onto her shoulder.

Grabbing her briefcase and a yellow, modem computer wire, the redhead flipped the door lock down and walked into the pet store.

The door she went through was adjacent to the main facility entrance. It leads into the Grooming Salon, which was built in front of the Veterinary office. It was also a shorter walking distance to the Clinic then going through the main door would be.

Upon entry, Robyn, the grooming manager, greeted Willow. She was seated behind the front counter, confirming appointments for the afternoon.

"Hey, Willow," the brunette greeted the other woman cheerfully. Pushing her glasses back up onto her nose, she smiled at her.

"Hi, Robyn." Grumbling under her breath, the hacker pushed her bag back up onto her shoulder, as it was sliding down her arm. She looped her other arm through the free strap to keep it in place on her back.

Setting her briefcase and the modem wire up onto the top of the counter, she walked over to the small door that led into the back of the Salon. It was off to the right side and pushed open from the outside.

"Where's, Brownie?" Willow asked with a grin. As soon as the words left her mouth, two paws barely latched onto the top of the door and a nose poked over the rim, sniffing the air. "There you are," the redhead looked over the top of the door and down at the puppy. Its nub of a tail was wagging from side to side wildly, making his butt wiggle in the process.

When Brownie saw who was greeting him, he barked lightly. Pawing at the door, he started to lick the air with his tongue, trying his hardest to reach his friend's face.

Laughing softly, Willow reached over the door and picked up the squirming puppy.

Over-exciting himself, the pup left a tiny puddle of urine on the floor, his little bladder not having full control yet. He grunted happily and started to lick the girl's face.

"Happy to see me, handsome?" the hacker chuckled when her ear was suddenly bathed with happy kisses.

Brownie pushed with his back legs upwards and hooked his paws onto Willow's shoulders. Pulling himself up the rest of the way, he rested his chin on her shoulder. His tail was still wagging, although not as wildly as before.

"I missed you too, boy." Rubbing her fingers through the soft fur on his back, the redhead cooed at the puppy.

Robyn just shook her head, looking back down at her appointment sheet. "He sure does like you. You should take him home."

Holding her right hand up in protest, Willow disagreed. "Oh, no! My house is not puppy proof-able right now." She smiled and then added, "… But if it were, I would do it in a heartbeat. He's so cute." Hugging the puppy close, she kissed the back of his head.

The Australian Shepherd lifted his head and began to bath his friend's face in kisses again. He lifted his right paw and tried to paw at her face.

Intercepting the appendage, Willow kissed the top of the pup's head and then lifted him back over the door and put him down. "Go… go play," she shooed him away.

Brownie took off in a dash and slid across the floor. He lay down and picked up his rope toy in his mouth, chewing on it happily.

"I can't believe how big he is getting." Watching him play, the redhead remembered back to when the ball of fluff was big enough to fit in one hand. He was the smallest out of the litter, the other four puppies dominating his size.

Robyn had decided to keep him, hoping to maybe show him one day. She was optimistic though. He was growing more everyday, but he was still smaller then his other brothers and sisters. 'Oh well,' she had thought. 'If I can't show him, he'll just be a house dog.'

Interrupting Willow's train of thought, the groomer spoke. "The new Dr. seems nice."

Smiling, the younger woman looked away from the pup and to the brunette. "Really? Good… I was hoping she would be. I can't wait to meet her."

Robyn was somewhat taken aback by this. "You haven't met her yet? I thought you hired her?"

Walking back over to her stuff, she picked up her case and the wire and dropped her arms to her sides. "No, not yet. Dr. Washington interviewed and hired her. When she came by for the Hospital tour, I was away at a meeting."

Dr. Washington was the Clinic's owner. He currently lived in L.A. managing one of his other Hospital's, although he does stop in about once a month to check on business and things.

Nodding, the groomer understood. "I see. Well, she's nice, so I think you'll like her."

"Great," Willow smiled and walked over to the door to leave the Salon. "Well, I'm gonna head that way. I'll see you later."

"Have fun," Robyn said, grinning.

"I will." The redhead looked over the counter at the puppy, who was happily keeping himself entertained with his toy. "Bye, Brownie," she cooed.

Hearing his name, he looked up, his rope still in his mouth. Brownie tried to bark through the material, but it only came out as a muffle.

Laughing, Willow pushed the door open and left the room, heading for the Clinic.


Willow paused to look at the puppy one more time through the glass of the window, just to the right, outside of the entrance to the Veterinary Clinic.

The Grooming facility, being encased in a long rectangle of windows, was designed as such so customers could look in and watch their pets or other people's pets, while they were groomed and pampered.

The Clinic and Salon were both housed inside of a Pet Store, which was large enough to be quite comfortable, as a home to the other two occupants. It was more or less advantageous this way. Customers could go into the store to buy their pet supplies and discover the Pet Clinic or Salon and bring in even more business if they decided to use one or the other or both.

The window Willow stood at now, made up the end of the rectangle, connecting the panes of glass. She had turned her head to the right when she heard a noise, but was startled when Brownie let out a loud yap to remind her of his presence.

Looking back in at him, he laid his head down on his paws, his stubby tail moving back and forth. It made his whole body move with its fierceness.

Tapping the glass, the redhead watched as he barked again, making Robyn look away from her task at hand and over to him.

Smiling, the groomer gave a small wave when she saw who had her puppy excited.

Chuckling softly, Willow turned away and walked through the open entrance to the Vet. The buzzer on the left wall beeped to alert her presence. The sound came from a small black box anchored to the wall, to aid in the alert of customers, if you didn't happen to be right there to greet them.

The redhead cursed the device, inwardly for its noise. Even though it WAS a good thing to have, that didn't make it all the less annoying.

Hearing Buffy's voice, she smiled.

Walking ahead, she passed the reception desk, throwing a smile at her best friend who was currently on the phone talking to someone.

Once you walked into the facility, the reception desk was one of the first things that greeted you. It was tall in size; the top of the counter reaching up to the top of your chest, while standing in front of it.

To the left, against the wall, in front of the front desk, was a scale to weigh the pets on. Occasionally it served as a convenience for the clients or employees as well, if they wanted to weigh themselves. And to the right of it, if you are facing the scale, was the start of two benches for the customers to sit on. The second sat adjacent to the first, against the opposite wall, so it looked much like the top of a triangle.

The two benches were mostly enough, but on those busy days, sometimes metal folding chairs had to be brought out from the back of the Clinic. It was a somewhat rare occurrence, but it did happen.

Rounding the corner of the reception desk, Willow walked past the printer on her right, resting on another short desk. It was much like that of the front desk, except it was shorter and smaller in size. Pushed up against it, was another small table like the one the printer sat on. On top of it was an appointment book.

There was another desk about a foot away from it, pushed up against the wall, on the right side. The computer screen faced the front of the clinic and was encased in an open area that looked like a box. The table connected to it, to the left, served as an exam table if needed.

She walked around to the back of the counter, looking out into the store from the door to the clinic. Setting her briefcase down and unhooking her arms from the straps of her bag on her back, she placed them both down on the floor, modem wire still in hand, the redhead waited for the Slayer to get off the phone.

"Okay, Mrs. Morgan, we'll see you tomorrow morning at 7:30 A.M. … Have a nice afternoon. Bye." Buffy set the receiver back into its cradle and finished typing in some notes on a patients file into the computer; having saved them, she turned towards Willow and greeted her.

"Hey, Will," she said, smiling.

"Hey, Buffy. Surgery for tomorrow?"

The blonde confirmed the question with a nod.

"That computer still giving you trouble?" The hacker looked at her briefly, before looking back to the screen of the computer. Running her finger over the mouse pad on the keyboard, she exited out of the current file and went to the main windows screen, double clicking on the MSN icon.

"Yeah, it's been acting kinda wonky all day. It'll start to dial up, then give you an error message." They watched intently as it started to dial up to the Internet service, but just before it made a connection, a little box popped up. "See. Just like the one it gave you now." Letting out a sigh, Buffy scrunched up her nose at the machine. "Stupid junk."

"Buff, it's probably just the modem wire. I bought a new one today. See?" Willow brought her left hand up into the air and showed the other girl the new wire. "I'll just replace it and see if that works. Is the new software being, "Stupid junk," too?"

The Slayer smiled and stuck her tongue out at the other girl. "Mock my insults." Making an over exaggerated sigh, she said, "And yes… it's being stupid, too."

"I think Corporate's almighty, genius new software needs the kinks worked out." Rolling her eyes, her opinion was quite clear. She clearly wasn't impressed. "Why don't you go ahead and take down the other computers and we'll reboot the whole software. Take down the ones in the back too, including the office." The hospital director knelt down on her knees, placing the wire onto the top of the desk and crawled into the open space below the system.

"Sure thing, boss." The blonde mock saluted the other girl and turned toward the back, taking time to take down the three other computers in use.

The exam room machines were acting fine, but the system used for printing out labels for the medications, which was setup on the back counter to the left of the room beside the door, leading into the back of the clinic, had been acting up as well.

Buffy shut it down and then went through the door to the back, letting it shut behind her.

Willow went to work, unplugging the computer and trying to remove the old modem wire. When it wouldn't come out, she mumbled under her breath. Giving it another pull, she pulled too hard and hit her hand on the side of the wall.

"Ow!" Shaking her hand and rubbing her injured flesh, she glared at the culprit. "Dumb wall." Giving it a final death glare, she went back to the wire that was currently giving her grief.

The hacker gave it another attempt and was finally able to pull it free. "'Bout time."

Throwing the old wire behind her, she heard someone come behind the counter. Turning her head slightly, she called out behind her. "Hey Buff, can you hand me that wire on top of the desk? Please?"

Glancing at the voice briefly, the blonde turned around and found the wire she was talking about. Picking it up, she placed it in the hacker's out stretched hand.

"Thanks," Willow said, taking the connector and hooking it into the computer.

"Mmm, hmm," the blonde replied.

Once it was all set up and the machine was plugged back in, she backed out of the cubbyhole and stood back up. Stretching her back, once on her feet. The redhead turned the system back on and waited for it to boot up.

Backing up a step, Willow turned around and was about to address her friend, when she collided with a woman she had never seen before and knocked her off balance.

Tara lost her footing and her arms flailed out beside her.

Reaching forward, the hacker grabbed her around the waist and tried to steady her, but when the blonde grabbed onto her arms, they both fell.

The latter fell onto her back on the mat, with Willow falling directly on top of her. The redhead tried to brace her weight with her arms, so she wouldn't hurt the other woman.

Once settled, they were nose to nose. Tara had a somewhat stunned look on her face as she stared into the pools of green above her. Her breath that had been ragged from the tumble, now started to calm. As she took in the contours of Willow's face, she swallowed. Her eyes glanced briefly to the ruby lips of her companion, before coming back up to rest on her eyes again.

The hacker didn't know what to say. She was well aware of how close her face was to the other woman's, but yet, she couldn't seem to move. Or did she just simply not want to? Staring into Tara's blue eyes, she smiled shyly and licked her lips. Finally pulling her face up a little, she let out a heavy breath.

Quirking her mouth into a half smile, the blonde squeezed the other girl's waist with her arms, which had fastened on when they both fell to the mat. In a sultry purr, she whispered, "You gonna lay here on top of me all day?" She finished with a raise of her eyebrow.

Opening her mouth, Willow's eyes grew as big as saucers as she tried to push herself up with her arms. "Oh gosh, I'm so sorry."

Tara laughed at the other girl's sudden panic.

Stilling her movement, the redhead looked down at the other girl, perplexed. "What?" she asked, confused.

"Nothing," was her response.

At that moment, Buffy decided to come back into the room. She walked over, to look at the appointment book and that's when she saw it: her best friend, on top of the new Dr., on the floor.

Smacking a hand over her mouth, the Slayer let out a hearty laugh.

Turning her head away from Tara, Willow looked up at her friend, and glared.

"Geez Will… talk about falling for a girl." Buffy reached down and helped the other girl stand up. After doing so, she offered a hand to Tara and helped her up as well.

After brushing off the back of her lab coat, the Dr. readjusted herself and smiled warmly at the Slayer. "Thank you, Buffy. We had kind of an accident there." Looking into the redhead's eyes, she extended her hand. "I'm Dr. Maclay, by the way. You must be, Willow."

Blushing, the hacker suddenly found the floor amusing. She did however take the offered hand and gripped it firmly.

"Nice to meet you," the blonde smiled.

Letting go of a huge breath, Willow nodded and met the other woman's gaze. "You too, Dr. It's nice to finally meet you." Her shyness seemed to be slipping away, the more business-like Willow returning. She tried to let go of Tara's hand, but the blonde gripped hers firmly.

"Thanks," the other woman said, giving her hand a final squeeze and letting go.

Buffy looked at Tara and cleared her throat. "Dr. Maclay, should I go ahead and get the dog in the back ready for its exam?"

Raising her eyebrows and meeting the Slayer's eyes, the young doctor spoke, "Sure, that would be good. Thank you."

"No prob., Doc." Buffy was about to walk away, when she heard her friend's voice speak to her.

"Actually, Buffy, can I talk to you for just a second?" The tone of the hacker's voice was beckoning for a best friend moment.

The blonde couldn't possibly ignore that silent request, now could she? "Uh… sure, Will. I'll be back there in just a second, Dr. Maclay." She turned and addressed Tara, with the last part of her sentence.

Nodding, Tara silently agreed. Turning around to walk towards the back, she stopped midway and turned back around. Her eyes seeking out those of the redhead's, whom she found staring back her, watching her walking away. "You know, if I may say so…" she paused, determining silently if she should really say what her brain was thinking.

Deciding to do so, she spoke again. "Beautiful woman don't usually fall for me…" Smirking, she looked directly into the redhead's eyes. "And I do mean literally." That having been said, she turned back around and finished her walk to the door. As she pushed it open, she looked back at Willow and found her open mouthed, somewhat shocked look, enough of an answer to her statement.

Winking at the other girl, Tara disappeared into the back of the clinic.

Buffy crossed her arms over her chest and smiled. "Way to go, Will. Did I interrupt something when I came up here?"

Willow didn't say anything in response to her best friend's question. Instead, she turned towards her and whimpered. "Buffy, what state did she move here from? The, 'Oh goddess, she's sexy as hell,' state. Not that, hell is sexy cause… EW! That's just, ick and not to mention disgusting, which she is totally not. It's just…"

"Will!" the Slayer interrupted, before the other girl went into a full-blown babble. "Breathe." She smiled.

"Sorry," the redhead apologized.

"She is beautiful," Buffy agreed and smiled at her friend.

Throwing her hands up in the air, Willow walked around the other girl and towards the door to go out into the store. "I so don't need to be thinking this. I can't. We work together and that is wrong. Can't happen." As she walked out of the clinic, she stopped suddenly and walked back in. Looking at Buffy, she said, "I'll be back in a minute."

"Okay. I'm just gonna go help the Doc. I'll open the door so I can hear." The blonde started walking backwards toward the door.

"'Kay," the hacker replied and walked back out the front. The buzzer beeped when she walked through it.

Shaking her head, Buffy turned around and pushed open the door to the back, wedging the doorstop under it before going to help with the dog that Tara had already started to examine.


Chapter 2

Willow's chin was firmly resting on top of the dog's head. Her right arm, which was currently hugging him around the neck to keep him from biting if he became too excited, was gently petting the Sheltie behind the ears.

"Good boy, Ricky," she whispered calmly to him.

He tried to turn his head to look back at her, but Willow kept her hold around his neck, her bicep hugging under his chin.

The rest of her body was leaning over his back, her chest keeping him laying down on the exam table, while her left arm was resting over his back and holding Ricky's left leg behind the elbow.

Willow's thumb rolled over the top of his leg above his elbow, pulling his vein more tightly in place as a cotton ball wet with alcohol, wiped over the area just below her thumb.

Buffy gripped the dog's leg just on the other side of the redhead's hand with her left and used the index finger of her right to feel for the vein. The syringe cap holding the syringe in her mouth, made a slight whistling noise as she sucked on the cap, keeping it between her teeth.

Once the blonde was confident she had found a good spot on Ricky's vein, she pulled the syringe itself, from the cap and brought it down to his leg, gently pushing the needle under his skin beside the vein as she held it still with her right index finger.

Ricky groaned slightly from the poke, but settled down, as Willow cooed in his ear.

"Shhh, handsome. You're okay," she said, kissing the soft hair on the top of his head.

"What a trooper you are," Buffy smiled and looked up at Willow. "Let up," she whispered.

The hacker slowly removed the pressure from her thumb that she had used as a tourniquet and lifted it completely off his leg, as Buffy covered where the needle had entered with her own thumb and quickly pulled the needle out of his skin.

Willow covered the blonde's thumb with her own as the Slayer pulled hers away and took the syringe cap from her mouth, placing it back over the needle.

She moved away from the exam table and turned around to the counter behind her, setting the syringe containing Ricky's blood, down on the check-in sheet.

The redhead slowly removed her digit, caressing it over the small wound to make sure it wasn't going to bleed. Satisfied that it wasn't, she let go of his leg and righted her body to stand, letting the dog stand up as well.

"You were a good boy," her voice smiled.

Turning his body toward her voice, the Sheltie happily licked the woman on the face several times.

Willow laughed and pulled her face away from his range. "You want a cookie for being such a good patient?"

Buffy heard her best friend's words as she set the timer for Ricky's Heartworm test. Walking a short distance to the right, she lifted the lid off the dog biscuit jar and pulled one out.

Turning back to the table behind her, she held her palm out to the dog, who happily took the treat from it and contentedly munched on the cookie.

"Here you go, mom," Willow said to Ricky's mom, who was sitting in a chair behind her. As she gratefully stepped up to him, the redhead moved away from the table to go to the sink and wash her hands.

A few minutes later, while Buffy was typing some notes on the computer in the Sheltie's file, the timer went off. She turned around to the test and seeing that it was negative, she smiled and hit the off button on the timer, walking back to the monitor.

"I'll get the Doc, Buffy."

"Thanks, Will," the Slayer said, not taking her eyes away from the computer screen. She finished typing and turned towards her client. "The Doctor will be right up, Mrs. Wolfe."

Taking that as her cue, Willow finished drying her hands and threw the paper towel away in the trashcan beside the sink. Stepping to the left, she opened the door to the back of the clinic and walked to the computer in front of the Surgery room, where Tara was typing some notes on a patient's file.

"He's all ready for you, Dr. Maclay. His temperature was normal and his Heartworm test is negative."

Tara looked up from the screen and smiled at the hacker. "Thank you. You did the test already?" she asked, her right eyebrow raising somewhat.

"Oh, was I not supposed to do that before your exam? I'm sorry, it's just… the last Doctor I worked with liked to have everything that could be done by his Tech's, completed ahead of time and I kind of do it that way out of habit now." Willow frowned, hoping the new Doctor wasn't angry with her.

"No," Tara quickly jumped in, reassurance seeping from her words. "It's fine; great, actually. I like it when people think ahead."

Willow felt her heart rate increase when the blonde stood up and squeezed her shoulder gently.

"Thank you," she said, one more time. Pulling her hand away from the warm shoulder, she took her stethoscope off from around her neck and turned for the door. It was time to meet Ricky.

The Hospital Director looked expectantly at the young Doctor when she turned back around.

"W-will you help me, Willow?" Tara's voice was somewhat hopeful sounding.

"I'd love to, Dr. Maclay," her heart pounded in her chest, as she walked to the door that the other woman was holding open for her.


"Hey, Will… think fast," Buffy, said as she tossed a pen at her friend from the door.

"Thank you." Willow caught the pen in mid-air and immediately started writing something down on a note pad.

"Is that the closest Clinic from here?" Tara asked, from her position beside the redhead.

"Yes, ma'am." Willow was finding herself somewhat distracted by the closeness of the other woman. She was standing close enough that the hacker could feel her body heat caressing her skin.

"They should have some in stock. I can't believe we ran out. I'm sorry about that." Finishing up the Clinic Transfer Form, the hacker put the pen down and tore the sheet from the notepad.

"It's okay. I like the Heartgard ® Plus the best, so it's kind of my fault. I've been sending it home with clients all day." The blonde felt kind of bad for allowing them to run out of certain sizes of the Heartworm Preventative, but she wouldn't back down from her favoritism towards the product.

Willow turned to her, looking into her soft blue eyes and had to force herself from becoming lost in them. "I'll just have Buffy order more next time."

"Good."

Physically tearing herself away from Tara's gaze, Willow stepped around her to get her keys. Walking past the other woman, the faint smell of flowers passed through her nostrils from the Doctor's hair and she almost swooned. Damn, if she didn't smell good.

The young Doctor watched the hacker walk over to the counter, adjacent to the door leading to the front and grab her keys.

"I'll be back as fast as I can, Dr. Maclay. If you need any help, just ask, Buffy."

"Thank you, Willow. I appreciate your help." She smiled at the Hospital Director as she walked through the door. Tara almost slapped herself when she realized she was starring at the other woman's butt, as she left the room.

Thankfully, the redhead hadn't noticed.

Turning around, she walked into the office. "I think I'm going to love this place," Tara said for her own ears.

Walking towards the front desk, Willow stopped as she rounded the corner to walk out of the clinic.

"Buffy, I'll be back shortly. Will you help, Tar… um, Dr. Maclay, if she needs anything?" She blushed as she caught her mistake and quickly turned to leave before her friend could comment on her slip-up.

"Sure. I'll be glad to help, TARA… I mean, Dr. Maclay, if she needs any help." The Slayer snickered when Willow stopped walking and turned back towards her with a whimper.

"Shut up," the redhead squeaked, her cheeks as red as her hair. She stuck her tongue out at Buffy and continued on her way, turning the corner by the grooming salon and walking out of sight.

"Uh huh. She's hopeless." Buffy grinned and reached for the phone that was ringing.


Grumbling, Willow pushed open the door and walked into the back. "That was a really stupid thing to do," she chided herself. "Dumb."

The redhead had just turned on the water to the sink, when the door opened again and Tara walked through it. "Willow, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she answered, looking up into the concerned face of the blonde.

Stepping over to her, Tara looked at the hacker's hand. She grimaced when she saw the blood trickling down from the wound. "Oh, Willow… that looks bad. Here." She reached up into the cabinet beside the sink and pulled out two glass containers. One was filled with Betadine/Water solution and the other, peroxide.

Reaching back into the cabinet, she pulled out a package of gauze and set it down on the counter top. Taking the lid off of the Betadine mix, she looked back to the redhead, who was still running her hand under the water.

"Give me your hand," she spoke softly.

Willow turned off the water and shook her hand a little, letting some of the water drip from her flesh as the other woman took a couple of Betadine soaked gauze squares from the jar.

"You don't have to help me. I can do this myself, if you have a patient up front…"

"I don't. Buffy is finishing up," the blonde Doctor interrupted her and took Willow's hand in her left. She gently took the gauze and scrubbed it over the wound. "Sorry," she apologized, when the other woman flinched.

"It's okay." Her green eyes locked with blue ones for a moment, just holding them, before she looked down to her hand once again. "That was a really stupid thing for me to do. Sorry."

"Willow, we all make mistakes. I've done that a couple of times myself. The problem is, cats can be so temperamental at times. You never know." Tara took another fresh gauze square from the jar and gently scrubbed the scratches again. "Just be careful next time."

Looking up again, the hacker nodded and smiled at the Doctor.

Throwing the used gauze in the trashcan under the sink, Tara turned the water back on and washed off her hand. She kept a hold of Willow's. She couldn't help, but notice how good it felt to hold her hand and how powerful it felt at the same time. It was like there was an instant connection as soon as their hands had touched. The blonde wondered if her companion had felt it, too.

Turning the water off again, she reached over and took some gauze that was soaked with peroxide and dabbed it on the scratches.

"I'll probably have scars once these have healed." Inhaling deeply when the gauze stung a little, Willow looked up again and watched Tara's face. She had a look of deep concentration on her features. Willow thought it was very sexy.

She averted her eyes quickly, when she noticed the blonde looking up.

"That looks a little better. Let me just…" Tara's voice trailed off as she turned toward the cabinet again and reached into it, grabbing some band-aids and some Panalog from the shelf. Then, taking some dry gauze from the paper package, she blotted up the moisture on the other woman's hand.

"I'm just going to put these on, okay?"

Willow nodded and smiled at her. "Thank you, Dr. Maclay."

Looking up, Tara locked eyes with the other woman's again before softly saying, "You can…c-call me, Tara if you like." She blushed and looked down.

"And you can call me, Willow. 'Cause, that's my name. Um… and you already knew that." She rolled her eyes at her own stupidity. "Stupid," she whispered to herself.

Giggling, the blonde smiled at her. "You're cute," she said, looking away.

"Thank you, so are you… and my foot just continues to live in my mouth today." Sighing, the redhead was relieved when Tara didn't pull her hand away from hers.

"Thanks." Tara smiled inside. Willow had no idea how adorable she was or how fluttery her stomach became when she called her, "Cute." She decided to keep that information to herself, however.

"Well, Willow, I think that's the best I can do with that." The young Doctor finished fixing the band-aids, treated with Panalog, into place and squeezed her hand gently, before reluctantly letting go.

The redhead felt the loss of Tarahand immediately and almost whimpered. Her hand just felt so good in Tara's. She had felt the instant connection when their hands met, just as Tara had, but she wasn't sure what that meant or if she wanted to know what that could mean; for the moment, anyhow.

"All set." The blonde turned away to clean up and put things away.

"Thanks," Willow said, again.

"No problem," the Doctor finished putting things back where they belonged and then turned towards her companion.

"I'm just gonna go check on, Buffy." Turning to go, she started to walk away, but quickly spun around again when she heard a voice speaking to her.

"Willow?"

"Tara?" she smiled, cheekily.

"Can you try not to use my first name in front of clients, though? I don't want to appear unprofessional." Tara stood her ground and stuffed her hands into her lab coat pockets.

"I promise," Willow said, walking backwards towards the door.

"Thank you."

The hacker blushed the color of her hair once again, when she bumped into the refrigerator beside the door and almost lost her balance. She laughed, hanging her head and as quickly as her feet could carry her, she was out the door.

Laughing, the blonde looked at the counter to make sure everything was clean, before smiling and heading back into the office. She wondered if she would be able to think about anything other then the gorgeous redhead for the rest of the day.


Chapter 3

It was Thursday morning. A week had passed, an extraordinary week if she had anything to say about it. She had said as much, too, just that morning. If someone were to ask her again, her response would be the same.

A week ago, she met Tara Maclay. A week ago, the life she never knew could happen, began.

It was starting and she liked it.

She liked it very much.

"She's amazing, Buffy." Willow's eyes twinkled with adoration. She was sitting at the Reception Desk, keeping her best friend company.

Buffy was pre-checking in surgery patients for that morning. In thirty minutes, the first patient was scheduled to arrive.

Smirking, she turned her head to look at her boss and almost laughed. Almost. "I know that, Will. In fact, I remember you saying that very same thing the first 20 times you told me."

Looking at the Slayer with a stunned expression, Willow playfully pushed her. "I did not!"

This time, Buffy DID laugh, as she shielded her body and prepared herself for any more pushing she might receive. "Okay, so I over exaggerated," she said, clicking on the print button on the computer, smirking again as she did this.

The hospital director rolled her chair the short distance to the right, reaching up to the printer and grabbing the warm sheet of paper that had just printed out.

"Yeah, you did!" Willow defended herself and then sheepishly added, "I only told you, um… five times." Her voice whispered the last part, her cheeks turning a deep shade of red from embarrassment.

"Thanks." Buffy took the check-in sheet, setting it on the desk. She laid a rubber square tag on top of the paper, which was marked with the number 7. The tag would be hooked on the cage of that patient for identification purposes.

Turning away from the computer, the blonde looked at the other woman. "It's okay. I know you like her. She's a good doctor." She winked at her friend.

"She is," Willow agreed and then got up from her chair, turning away from the desk and walking towards the computer on the right, at the back of the room.

She then whispered what she thought was only for her ears, "She's a beautiful doctor, too."

Apparently, she wasn't the only one who had heard her statement. When a voice suddenly met her ears from the left, she almost jumped out of her skin.

"Who's beautiful, Willow?" Tara frowned when she noticed the startled expression on the redhead's face. She had just come through the door on the girl's left that led to the front of the clinic. The only thing she had heard was Willow's attempt at whispering to herself.

Covering her heart with her right hand, Willow tried to calm her breathing as her mind searched for a quick cover up. "Um, you know… that doctor on Emergency Vet's on Animal Planet. The blonde doctor?"

"Dr. Knor?" Tara grinned at the obvious disguise, wondering whom Willow had actually been referring to. Dr. Knor was just a guess. She knew she found her beautiful, even though she usually had a thing for redheads'. She could make one exception.

Pushing the power button to boot up the computer, the hospital director looked at the young doctor and nodded. "Yep… that's the one. Dr. Knor, that's her."

Tara was about to say something in response, but was interrupted by Buffy.

"Dr. Maclay, can you look at something on this patient's file, please?" The Slayer smiled at her, trying to take the attention away from her best friend.

"Sure. What do you have?" Tara began and started her walk toward the front desk.

Willow gratefully smiled at Buffy and then went about booting up the two other computers in the room, eventually leaving the room altogether.


A loud crash was heard. It sounded like something metal clambering to the floor.

Willow's head whipped around at the noise. She was leaning over the exam table at Exam Room 3 taking a cats temperature. What she heard next caused her to quickly remove the thermometer from her patient, spin around to the counter behind her and lay the thermometer down on a paper towel.

"WILLOW! We need help!"

Her ears perked up at Buffy's voice and she immediately excused herself, offering a quick apology to her client, before she pushed open the door to the back of the hospital and hurried through it.

What she found was Buffy, Tara, and Julie on the floor trying to restrain a Rottweiler that just needed a simple nail trim. The simple nail trim had turned into a full out war for superiority.

The Slayer was at the front end of the dog. Her left bicep was hugged tightly underneath the Rottweiler's neck, her upper arm hooked around the dog's head, holding him tightly to her body so he couldn't bite. Her upper body was lying on top of the dog above his shoulders, keeping him on the ground, while her right arm rested on the floor in front of her.

Tara was trying to hold the back end of the dog down to keep him from trying to get away. She wasn't having very much luck however, seeing as she wasn't as strong as Buffy.

Julie was just standing by with the nail clippers in her hand, waiting for Dr. Maclay's instructions on when to start on the dog's nails.

As Willow looked on, she tried to access the best way to help. She couldn't fit in between Buffy and Tara to hold the middle half of the dog down, so she did the only thing she knew to do.

Walking over beside the doctor, she squatted down to the floor and prepared to help. "Tara, please forgive my invasion of your personal space here. It's the only thing I know to do." She couldn't believe she was about to do this and wondered to herself if she really should. She didn't want to piss the other woman off or do anything intrusive.

Turning her head to the right the best she could, the blonde looked up at Willow. "It's okay. Just help us please."

Swallowing nervously, the redhead did as asked. Moving closer to Tara, she squeezed her right shoulder to kind of let her know what she was doing and sucked in a lungful of air as she started to position herself.

She swung her left leg over Tara's back, scooting her body up a little more to the dog at the same time. She kept her right knee on the floor, hugging it to the doctor's ribs and let her left knee meet the floor, mirroring her other on the left side of the other woman's ribs.

Leaning down, she let her upper body rest on top of Tara's upper back, pushing her down a little bit more on top of the dog. She relaxed her hips a little, but didn't let her lower half lay fully on top of the other woman.

The blonde had inhaled deeply when she felt the other girl's knees on the sides of her body. When she felt Willow's breasts press into her back, she thought she might faint. This wasn't what she expected the girl to do at all and if she were honest with herself, she kind of enjoyed it.

She had to close her eyes for a brief second to calm her nerves before she even attempted to speak.

Willow kept her right arm on the floor to try and keep her balance and so as not to squash the woman underneath her. Her left arm she lifted up beside Tara's on the dog's back to help hold the dog down. She didn't know what to do with her head, so she let it drop down beside Tara's, her chin resting on the dog and her right cheek resting against the back of the other woman's head.

"Julie, go ahead and start with his back feet," Tara instructed of the Receptionist.

"Yes, ma'am," the brown haired girl answered, as she reached for Rocky's back right foot and started in on his nails.

"Good boy, Rocky. Stay still and I'll give you a cookie when we're done." Buffy moved her right hand down and scratched his neck, trying to calm him as she made soft murmurs in his ear. "Shhh."

The Rottweiler didn't make much of a fuss through the rest of his nail trim. He growled once when Julie cut his nail a little too close to the quick, but other than that he was a good patient. His growl was more of a warning than a threat.

Nail trimming accomplished, Willow got up first. When her upper body was upright, she squeezed Tara's shoulders to let her know she was moving. Standing up, she moved her foot away from the blonde's left side.

The young doctor slowly started to get up. Once she had pushed herself up onto her knees, she gripped the redhead's extended hand to help pull herself to her feet.

She looked deeply into the other girl's eyes, smiling at her. "Thank you." Tara held on to Willow's hand a little longer than necessary, but neither girl seemed to notice or if they had, they didn't protest the contact.

Finally pulling her hand away, Tara blushed.

Buffy was up and playing with Rocky by the time her co-workers snapped out of their trance.

The Rottweiler was leaning into the Slayer's legs, his head tipped back as he looked up at her with his tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth.

"That wasn't so bad, now was it? You were being a big baby. Want a cookie?" Her voice purred excitedly with the last of her words.

Rocky barked at her and tried to jump up onto her, but was immediately told he couldn't do that. So, he settled for following the Slayer up to the front of the clinic so he could go back to his owners, but not before he got his cookie.

Willow handed Buffy the dog treat as she passed her to leave the room. Smiling, she watched her go and then started to straighten out her scrub top, which had become ruffled in all the excitement.

She almost jumped when she felt someone squeezing both sides of her waist. She twirled her head around to the right and came face to face with Tara.

The blonde smiled at her and squeezed her hands against Willow's waist, as she moved around her to follow in the direction Buffy had gone. Her left hand brushed over the girl's back as she moved.

When she got to the door, she looked back at her companion and winked at her.

Blowing out a lungful of air, the hospital director felt the butterflies fluttering around in her stomach as she soon followed.

Julie was right behind her after the brunette had finished picking up the metal tray that had fallen to the floor earlier. She put the handful of nail trimmers back in the container and placed it back on the counter top, practically running after her co-workers.


A disgusted moan could be heard in the back room of the Veterinary clinic. An annoyed right foot tapping up and down echoed through the air.

Willow's hands were pressed flat against the counter top, her arms straightened out and her shoulders tense. She hung her head down even with her shoulders as she grumbled.

"Ugh!" She breathed; an exasperated sigh escaped her lips.

Buffy observed from her position beside the counter. Her right hip was pressed into the edge, her hands resting on her hips. Her breathing was controlled, but the air around her – disturbed.

"I have scratches from all her brittle!" she exclaimed. "That woman irritates the snot out of me."

"Ew, Buffy. Nasty mental images." Willow lifted her head up, but she didn't move. Her posture was still very much the same as it had been for the last 10 minutes.

"I have to agree though." Finally, she turned around. She leaned the crest of her buttocks against the counter behind her, while crossing her arms over her chest.

"She was drunk again," Buffy stated matter-of-factly, her words summing up the whole of the woman's actions. "I hate it when she comes in here. You try and do everything for her pets, which she only brings in if they are sick and when they're ready to leave, she acts like you didn't do enough!"

Turning her body to the right, the Slayer gave a healthy kick to the side of the cabinet.

"Ah, Buffy!" Willow yelled in a high pitch squeak. "Stop it. You're gonna break my clinic. Any damages come out of your paycheck, missy!" She walked over and squatted down, investigating the wood for any trauma, her fingers rubbing over the outer surface.

"I didn't kick it that hard, Will." She looked down at her friend, a smile tickling her lips. Her predictability was cute sometimes and always expected.

When Willow stood up, she surprised herself and the other woman by doing something that she never imagined herself capable of or the certain need to do.

She kicked the cabinet.

Hard.

She quickly regretted it though and started hopping up and down, clutching her shoe in her hand.

"Ow, ow, ow!" The hospital director hopped the short distance back over to the counter she had been at before the, "kicking incident," and collapsed into the black rolling chair.

Her big toe throbbed in her shoe as she closed her eyes. Her teeth pressed tightly together in her mouth and Willow had to almost bite her tongue to keep the, very colorful, words that were flitting on the tip of her tongue from surfacing.

Although it wasn't really funny, Buffy had to turn and walk away to keep herself from laughing. She knew good and well that if she were in her friend's shoes and someone had laughed at her, that they would be sorry. Being on the redhead's shit list was not appealing in the least.

Keeping her back turned to the other woman, Buffy focused herself by looking at her schedule, which was hanging on the wall opposite to the first row of animal cages to it's direct right.

Her attention was quickly averted however, by the sound of the door opening and boot heels tapping on the tiled floor. When she turned around, she spotted Dr. Maclay standing there, her eyes curiously looking over at Willow.

"Is she gone, Doc?" Buffy curiously pressed.

"Yes. She finally left," Tara responded, without taking her eyes off the object of her increasingly developing attraction. She frowned at the hospital director's posture and the way her forehead was resting on the counter top.

Truth was, Willow's foot was fine now. Her toe was still somewhat tender, but it wasn't being a nuisance any longer. No. Now, she was more embarrassed than anything.

So, she hid her face.

Buffy smiled, glad that Tara had taken care of Mrs. Brown. She despised that old woman with a passion. She did feel kind of guilty for leaving the new doctor the task of dealing with their most difficult client, but Tara had insisted.

"Great." The smile on the Slayer's lips practically engulfed her whole face. "Thank you, Dr. Maclay. I'll go check on the appointment schedule."

Tara did turn her head this time to nod at the other woman. "You're welcome and thank you, Buffy."

Giving a brief nod of her own, Buffy moved past Tara and went into the front of the clinic, leaving her co-workers to themselves.

Watching the door close, the blonde doctor turned back to Willow, who was sitting a little differently now, but still hid her face.

Willow had turned her chair slightly so her left side was facing Tara, while her face was concealed in the bend of her elbow. Her left hand was resting on her knee.

Walking over to the sink beside the computer, Tara gripped the arm of the other black rolling chair and pulled it over and sat down close to Willow, their knees almost touching.

"Are you okay?" she asked, her voice tinged with worry. Looking down at the other girl's knee, the blonde inspected her co-worker's hand. Her eyes traced each finger slowly, taking in every line and curve. She came to one conclusion: Willow had sexy hands.

"Yeah," was the redhead's simple reply.

As the blonde's eyes mapped the creamy skin, they came to settle on the still present bite marks from the week before. Although healing and fading, you could still tell they were there.

Boldly, Tara reached over, her right hand brushing forward onto warm skin. Gingerly, her fingers ran the length of the hacker's hand before coming back down and wedging their way underneath, gripping onto the smaller woman's flesh.

Willow tensed at first and then felt a shiver follow as she finally lifted her head and looked down at her hand. She watched as Tara's thumb glided over the bite marks and squeezed her own fingers around those in her grasp.

Lifting her eyes, the redhead found a beautiful smile and soft blue eyes staring back at her. She opened her mouth to speak, but changed her mind and just licked her lips.

Fixating her eyes on the wet pink tongue, the doctor watched with great interest as she allowed her voice to speak. It came out as a whisper of breath.

"Your hand is healing nicely, Willow." Her thumb never stilled its movement, only now it slowed, gingerly tracing the skin.

"I-its thanks to y-you," Willow stuttered. Her flesh was humming from the other woman's caress. Her knees were now touching Tara's. How they had moved an inch closer, she didn't know.

Boldly, Tara squeezed the hand in hers again and felt her upper body start to move forward on its own accord, while her mind was screaming – no. It was in that moment though, something decided to squash her intentions and she pulled her body back and looked at the door in slight surprise.

Buffy pushed her way through the squeak less door to the back room of the clinic, phone in one hand and pressed to her ear, while the other held a thermometer.

"Next patient's ready, Dr. Maclay." The Slayer froze somewhat when she saw the doctor snap back into her chair. She was alarmed by the startled look and didn't understand what had just happened.

Willow did though. "Uh…" she started and quickly pulled her hand from Tara's and pushed herself backwards, standing up from her chair.

"I'll just… go help, Buffy." Her voice practically squeaked the last word's as she hightailed it out the door, Buffy following in step.

"Why in Goddess name did I do that?" Tara cursed herself, shocked at her own behavior. Had she almost tried to kiss, Willow? Not that there was anything wrong with that, but had she almost done that?

Blowing out a big breath of air, emptying her lungs, she stood up and straightened her jacket. Now was not the time to be paranoid; that was her last thought as she proceeded to go up front to see her patient.


Buffy practically skipped out the back door, moving out of the way so Willow could lock up for the night. It was finally time to go home and she was ecstatic. She had been looking forward to hugging her daughter again, all day.

When she and her best friend walked out the door to the parking lot, the Slayer spotted Tara waiting beside her car, which coincidently was parked right next to the redhead's truck.

Tara had a look on her face – a somewhat nervous grace to her features.

Focusing her attention back on her friend, Buffy looked at Willow just as she started to speak.

"Give Bre a hug and a kiss for me, okay? I need to stop somewhere on my way home, so I'll see you there?" The hospital director's eyebrow raised, her inner voice wondering why she had lied to her friend. Why couldn't she just have told Buffy that she wanted to talk to Tara? That she hadn't really talked to her since earlier that afternoon when she thought the doctor was about to try and kiss her? Truth was, Willow was worried.

She wasn't quite sure how she felt about what may have been close to happening. If that was fact, which she wasn't even positive about, then why had Buffy had to interrupt? It's not like she hadn't thought about Tara's lips before that day. She had wondered numerous times what they would feel like pressed to hers.

"Sure," the Slayer replied, purposely interrupting the inner babble she knew was going on in the other woman's head.

"Thanks." Stepping over, the redhead hugged her and then stepped away, turning to walk over to her truck and talk to Tara, who was currently staring at the ground.

As if sensing her, the young doctor looked up just in time to see Willow rounding the corner of her truck and walking over to her.

"Hey," Willow smiled sweetly; her voice was very calm and soft.

"Hey. Was it okay that I waited for you? I just wanted to…" Tara's voice trailed off when the other woman stepped closer to her, their bodies about two inches apart from each other. Any other words that she had been about to speak, escaped her and she just stared into the other woman's eyes.

"Tara, I don't want things to be weird between us." Shifting her weight to her right foot, the redhead held her arms down at her sides.

Smiling and looking down briefly, Tara tilted her head slightly when she looked back up. "I don't either."

"So…" Willow started, moving her weight back to both of her feet. "Friends?" she asked, hopefully.

Beaming a brilliant smile, the blonde nodded. Although, she was somewhat disappointed that the other woman had said, "friends." She wondered if she would ever have the pleasure of knowing this girl as more than just a friend. That's what she longed for. She liked Willow very much.

Smiling brightly herself, the hospital director stepped closer and held her arms out. She sighed a sigh of relief, when the other woman stepped into her arms and they embraced.

The embrace felt like heaven to Tara. She gently ran her hands over Willow's back before crossing them and giving her a healthy squeeze. She felt the embrace returned and quickly realized that she didn't want it to end.

The same thought was playing around in the redhead's mind. She didn't want their hug to end, but she knew it had to. With great sadness, she started to pull away, but decided to be bold and she turned her head, leaving a soft kiss on Tara's cheek.

When she pulled away, she smiled at her friend. "Goodnight. I'll see you tomorrow," she breathed as she started to back away.

"Goodnight, Willow." The blonde's cheek was buzzing from where the other girl had kissed her. That was something that she hadn't expected. It was a wonderful surprise though.

Turning completely around, Willow walked around to the other side of her truck and hopped up into the driver's seat. Starting the engine, she waved at her friend outside the window before buckling her seatbelt and pulling out of her space.

As she watched the truck pull away, Tara couldn't help but feel saddened by Willow's use of the word friend. It was just a painful reminder of what she didn't have – someone to call her own.

She longed for it and hoped that one day she would find someone. She just hoped it would be Willow.


Chapter 4

Willow groaned, setting her drink back on the counter. "Those pills better work." She eyed the small bottle of Advil on the shelf above the sink. Her headache was showing no mercy and it was making her very cranky. Very cranky and very tired.

Leaving the sink, she slowly made her way over to the computer by the surgery suite. Turning her body so her back was facing the wall, she placed her hands on the edge of the counter, one on each side of her body. She scooted herself upward, her legs dangling off the side of the counter top as her shoes lightly hit the cabinet underneath.

Bringing her right hand up, she started to massage her forehead in hopes that she could soothe away the soft pounding behind her eyebrows.

Applying slight pressure to her flesh, she squeezed her eyebrows together, rolling her fingers in a circle. It might not have been helping to rid her of her headache, but the action DID feel good.

So caught up in what she was doing, she never heard the door opening or closing behind its trespasser and she almost jumped out of her skin when she felt someone lightly touching her knee.

Looking up in surprise, her forehead forgotten, her eyes focused on those of Tara's as the woman looked at her with a look of concern.

"Are you okay?" The doctor's voice was gentle, wrapping around the other woman and pulling her close.

"Headache." Remembering her hand, she started to rotate her fingers again, closing her eyes.

Willow's eyes didn't stay closed for long, however. They flew open when her hand was being lightly pulled away. The slight grip around her digits made her skin start to tingle.

"Can I do that?"

The simple question fluttered in her ears and she felt her head start to nod in a silent yes.

Smiling compassionately, Tara moved a step closer, her lower stomach pressing into Willow's knees. Achingly slowly it seemed, her hands started to lift and reaching inward, they cupped around red hair.

Tara was amazed at how soft the other woman's hair was. Her fingertips leisurely acquainting themselves as her thumbs settled on either side of Willow's temples.

Taking a deep breath, the blonde moved the pads of her thumbs in delicately light, but strong circles. "Just keep your eyes closed and let yourself feel the rotation of my thumbs."

Tara's voice was like an Angel, beautiful and kind.

The redhead wanted to open her eyes, but if she did, she feared she would ruin whatever trance she was sure her body was succumbing to. How could this woman actually be here, making her skin hum and her stomach do flip-flops?

She could feel the heat radiating into her knees as she held them perfectly still.

Finally, Willow did open her eyes, but only when she felt something permeating her skin - a heated energy, perhaps? Whatever it was, it was doing wonders.

Tara had her eyes closed, concentrating on her co-worker's forehead. She was channeling her energy and sending it into Willow's skin, centering on the source of her pain.

It seemed as if, as soon as the feeling had begun, it was melting away, along with her headache – it was gone. Now all she felt were small circles again as she looked at the blonde, wanting nothing more than for her to open her eyes.

As if feeling what the other woman wanted, Tara opened her eyes, focusing and immediately claiming the hacker's vision. Her thumbs stilled, but she didn't remove her hands, nor did she move her body. She was content to let her closeness remain.

If Willow had any objections, she certainly didn't let them be known. Her body seemed drawn to the young woman as she scooted a little closer, opening her knees so one rested at each side of Tara's body. She didn't touch her, just simply waited to see what would transpire.

The doctor's eyes fluttered downward as she lowered her head and looked at Willow's right knee. Tentatively, she lowered her hands from Willow's face, hearing a small whimper at the loss of contact.

Boldly, she placed her fingertips on the tops of the other woman's knees and gingerly began to drag them upward. Slowly, as slowly as possible, her eyes began to trace, too. Only, they traced the rest of Willow's body as she began to look upward once again.

Making a path up and over her stomach and stopping to linger on two breasts, which were enclosed behind the blue scrub top that the director wore, Tara was entranced.

Her eyes remained, starring openly at Willow's chest for a moment longer, before completing their journey. They traveled up the long creamy neck and came to rest on green orbs, orbs that reminded her of sapphires.

Blinking once, she smiled seductively as her palms now ran up and down the redhead's thighs. On their last trek upwards, Tara surprised the other woman by letting her hands and arms encircle the small waist and she pulled her forward as she stepped more fully in between Willow's legs.

When her body met Tara's, she bit off a moan in surprise, her eyes wide with wonder as she searched the doctor's, trying to decipher what she was planning.

Their faces now were inches apart, the blonde grinned and wet her lips with her tongue, her voice purring when she spoke.

"Well, would you look at that? How did that happen?" Tara's features feigned innocence as her face leaned in closer, her eyes fixing on their target.

"W-what are you doing?" Frankly, Willow didn't care. All she wanted was for the blonde not to pull away. To prove that point, her arms moved quickly, enclosing around the other woman's neck.

"Do you really need me to answer that, Willow?" Tara's eyes flicked upwards, watching Willow's briefly as she watched the redhead shake her head. "I didn't think so."

Her baby blue's moved downward again, looking at ruby lips once more, as she asked one more question.

"Do you want me to stop?" Tara asked, her mind needing assurance that she wasn't overstepping her boundaries. When Willow didn't physically answer and all she did was hug her neck tighter, making no sign of pulling away, she knew she was not in the wrong.

Before her brain could think twice again, she completed her journey, moving her face the last inch closer and lightly brushing her lips against Willow's. Moving back far enough, so only her mouth separated from her companion, she waited.

She waited to see if Willow would take the bait.

The hospital director had closed her eyes when she sensed Tara moving in to close the space between them. Now, she briefly opened them, looking directly into the doctor's as she tilted her head a millimeter to the right and let her lips whisper across the other woman's.

Feeling Willow respond was the only encouragement that she needed. Pressing in closer, she let her lips fully claim their prey. Her kiss was soft and gentle, yet firm and precise. She knew what she wanted and had every intention of making sure she got it.

Willow inhaled deeply when the doctor pulled her even closer, her mouth being claimed - becoming Tara's possession. She opened her mouth a slight fraction and sealed her lips to those covering her own.

Her tongue teased the blonde's lower lip, lightly tapping it. When her gentle probing was not answered right away, she grew impatient and extended her tongue, running it over the length of Tara's lower lip.

"Mmmm," the doctor moaned appreciatively and snaked her tongue out to meet the redhead's. Feeling them brushing together, Tara smiled.

"Tara," Willow murmured into the other woman's mouth, her lips closing around the doctor's tongue as she lightly sucked it into her warm, silky mouth. Her right hand stayed in place, her fingers slithering into the blonde's hair. Her left hand took a completely different path, as it started to move downwards over Tara's back and settling on her lower back.

She could feel the waistband of Tara's pants through the lab coat that she wore.

The blonde's hands wandered as well, her right hand smoothing its way under the scrub top that Willow wore. Her hand stilled once it met flesh, her fingers gently caressing the skin it found there.

Letting go of Tara's tongue, she closed her mouth and then reopened it again, pressing her lips over the other woman's firmly. Her hand hugged her lower waist as she felt Tara begin to slowly pull away.

Moving, so only their lips separated, the blonde leaned their foreheads together and took a deep breath.

"I…" Willow attempted to speak, but the words just wouldn't come. So instead of trying to say anything further, she just let her head drop and she hugged Tara to her. Her left cheek rested on Tara's shoulder.

"It's okay," the blonde breathily whispered, turning her head to the left, kissing the back of red hair.

"You… you're a good kisser," Willow complimented. "Very good." Her voice smiled with the last words.

"So are you," Tara agreed, pulling her hand away from the redhead's skin and smoothing it up her back, squeezing her gently.

Sighing happily, Willow pulled her head up, her eyes set on Tara's. She didn't say anything. She just leaned in a second time and placed a tender kiss against the doctor's inviting lips.

Not wanting the kiss to end, Tara pressed in again, her lips claiming the redhead's before she could completely pull away.

Her heart pounded in her ears, the beating felt like a bass drum. It drummed loudly three times, and then grew silent. Then again, it pounded. It seemed louder this time. On the third round, a voice accompanied it?

"Will! We're going to be late. Get up!"

As Buffy's voice registered, the hospital director bolted upright in her bed. Her covers were tangled around her legs. Her hands, well, her right hand was clutching the covers on top of the bed, but her left had some how found its way in between her legs.

It was firmly wedged underneath her underwear, which was now soaking wet from her excitement.

Grumbling, she pulled her hand away and fell backwards onto her bed. "It was a dream. A wonderful, beautiful, lovely dream."

"What did you say, Will?" Buffy asked through the door. Her voice sounded impatient.

"Uh… nothing, Buffy," she lied, not ready to tell her best friend about her dream, no matter how wonderful it had been.

"We're late. I'm going to go ahead and go to the clinic. I'll see you there, okay? I'll tell Tara you're running a little late 'cause you were too busy moaning her name!"

Smirking devilishly, the Slayer turned and hurried down the hallway. She was out the door before Willow could stumble out of her bed.

"Oh my God! I'm gonna be late. What will Tara think?" Her voice squeaked as she tried to get out of bed. Her feet however couldn't move, due to being tangled in her sheet, so instead she just fell off the mattress. Her body met the floor with a loud thump.

"OW!" was the only word heard before the scrambling for clothes began.


Tara awoke with a start. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest as she tried to take in her surroundings.

She wasn't at the clinic, locked in a sweet embrace with Willow. She was at home, lying in bed. Her covers were plastered to her naked body, held there by her perspiration.

Quickly rotating her head to the right, she eyed her clock before practically jumping out of bed.

"Oh Goddess! I'm late!" were her only words, as she grabbed some clean clothes and ran to the bathroom to take a quick shower.

When she thought of why she didn't want to wake up to begin with, all she could do was smile. She was falling for Willow Rosenberg and there wasn't a thing she could do about it.

Even if that were possible, she didn't want to change anything.

Her heart was claiming Willow and she just hoped that it would be reciprocated.


Chapter 5

The first thing that presented itself when Willow walked in the back door to the clinic was the ringing of the phone. She had every intention of answering it, but as soon as she picked up the handset, the red flashing light that indicated the phone call, disappeared. Most likely, it had been answered.

Replacing the hand set in the cradle, she sighed. "Thanks, Buffy," she whispered to herself.

Letting her bag fall down her arm, it ungracefully plunked down on the floor beside her office computer as she leaned over to push the ON button to boot up the machine.

Pulling out the metal chair from under the computer desk, she closed her eyes once, sat and sucked in a deep breath. She tried to calm her nerves.

To be perfectly honest, she was nervous about seeing Tara. She knew she shouldn't be. What happened that morning had just been a dream, she knew that. However, acknowledging that factor didn't make the now any easier.

When Tara walked through the door, she knew she would tense up and probably become a jumpy mess.

Exhaling loudly, Willow opened her eyes and was met with the smiling faces of her two best friends. She had decided on that particular photo of Buffy, Xander, and herself for her computer wallpaper, as a reminder or a focal point for her long or horrible days.

She loved her friends and didn't know what she would do or where she would be without them in her life.

With a bright smile, matching that of Xander's in the picture, she cupped her palm around the base of her computer mouse and moved the pointer over to a small icon on the desktop.

Double clicking the small picture of a black paw print, she watched as a pet door suddenly appeared at the bottom of her screen and a few seconds later, a black and white cat walked through it.

With the mouse still in her hand, she left clicked with her index finger and waited for the small-computerized hand to appear over Felix. Keeping the button pushed in, she moved the hand with her mouse over Felix's back and watched as the animated feline crouched down and lifted his backside up in the air, scratching at the ground as he was petted.

"Hi, Felix," the redhead cooed.

This was her morning ritual. The cat kept her company whenever she was working on something and spent long periods of time at her desktop.

With her computer booted up and Felix petted, she rose from her seat and walked over to the other office computer, booting it up as well.

Stretching, she headed for the office door. It was time to start her day.


Walking through the door to the front of the clinic, Willow was almost pounced on by a small, hyper ball of gray, black, and tan fur.

"Brownie!" she squealed, excitedly. Taking a small step backwards, the hospital director bent down and petted the puppy.

Brownie was over-excited, his little body twitching every which way, as he licked his friend's hands.

Luckily, Willow hadn't gotten very far from the door. Reaching up to her left, she grabbed a few paper towels from the dispenser and leaned back down.

"You silly puppy," her voice purred, as the Australian Shepherd puppy tried to bite at the paper towels she was using to wipe his small puddle of urine up from the floor. His tiny bladder just couldn't stand all the excitement that he found his world blessed with.

After doing so, she threw the soiled napkins in the trashcan and lifted the puppy up.

Grunting happily, Brownie squirmed and pawed at the girl's face as he tried his hardest to shower her skin in kisses.

Laughing, Willow made kissing noises at him, which only excited him more. She finally flipped him over onto his back, hoping he would calm down.

The new position worked almost immediately, as the puppy calmed and just looked up at Willow's face with two expressive blue eyes. He lifted his little head up and licked her face once.

Cuddling the puppy close, the redhead hugged him to her body and kissed the back of his head.

"Hey, Will. Finally made it, huh?" Buffy teased, hanging up the phone she had been talking on. When she received a playful glare in response, she smiled.

"That was the, Doc. She's on her way," the blonde explained the phone call.

"Is she okay?" Willow slightly panicked, turning around and looking at the clock on the wall above the door, before she spun back around and almost dropped Brownie in the process.

"She's late!" she squeaked.

Snorting, Buffy crossed her arms over her chest. "Uh huh. I seem to recall someone else being late, too. Hmmm, I wonder who that could be?"

Walking over to her best friend, Willow just looked at her. "I'm sorry, Buffy. I know I've never been late before. I mean, I'm usually here like an hour before we open. I can't believe I overslept. It was just… this dream I was having. I didn't want to wake up from it a-and…"

Unfolding her arms, the Slayer grabbed the other girl by the shoulders, interrupting her ramble. "Hey, it's cool. We don't have any patients in the back or anything, so it's fine. Okay?"

Her voice was calm, trying to soothe away Willow's panic. "All's forgiven." She squeezed her shoulders and gave her a soft smile, sliding her left hand down the hacker's arm to pet the puppy, which was panting happily from being held.

"Thanks," Willow replied, gratefully. "I-I wonder why Tara's late though?" she spoke aloud.

"Well, funny you should mention that. Apparently, she overslept as well. Maybe it's contagious." Buffy smirked at the redhead.

"Tease," the director quipped, lightly pushing the blonde with her puppy filled arms. Seconds later, her eyes widened and she really had to contain herself from jumping up in down with glee.

"I have to tell you about my dream," she began.


Buffy was leaning against the freezer, occasionally glancing through the door to up front, watching for customers as she and Willow were talking in the back, waiting for Tara to get there.

The blonde was having fun teasing Willow about the juicy details she had been privileged to, regarding her friend's dream.

"You're not going to let this go, are you?" The hospital director leaned her head back, resting it on the cabinet. She was sitting on top of the counter beside the surgery computer. Her arms were crossed over her chest while the backs of her shoes tapped the cabinet below occasionally.

It was going to be a long day.

"Nope. Not at least for… a week!" Buffy teased, drumming her fingers against the tiled surface. Her palms cupped over the edges of the freezer top on either side of her body.

Hearing the back door opening halted their conversation, as both sets of ears perked up at the noise. They didn't have to wait long until they could match the noise to a face.

"I-I'm so sorry, I'm late. I can't believe I overslept…" Tara's voice trailed away towards the end, as she looked over at Willow. Her heart started to sing immediately at the sight of her crush, her dream coming back to her full throttle. What she found ironic however, was the fact that the redhead was sitting on top of the very same counter, in practically the same position as in her dream.

She would have blushed, but when she noticed that the other girl hadn't even looked at her, she frowned in confusion.

"Hi, Dr. Maclay. Don't worry about it. Willow overslept, too," Buffy confessed and received a glare from her best friend. She gave her an apologetic look and smiled lightly.

"Oh," Tara whispered and then noticed the slight tension from the redhead when she looked at her again. She turned her eyes to Buffy and motioned towards Willow with her head.

"Is everything okay?" she inquired, pensively.

"Yeah. We're cool." Smiling, the Slayer looked at her friend briefly before turning towards the front and leaving the room.

Frowning once again, Tara wondered why Willow was being so quiet. It definitely wasn't something she would expect from the other girl. She was always so outgoing and smiling about everything.

Turning away, she walked back into the office to put her stuff down.

Willow blew out a breath when the doctor left the room. "Rude-o," she said to herself, wondering why she couldn't even bring herself to acknowledge the other woman. She would have to talk to her eventually.

Steeling herself, she tried to push aside her unease and she actually did look at Tara when she walked back through the door.

Chancing a smile, she tentatively spoke. "Hey," her voice was soft, almost inaudible.

"Hi," the young doctor offered back with a smile. Taking this as a good sign, she walked over to where Willow was and leaned against the side of the sink, her body facing the redhead's.

There was about four inches between them.

"You okay?" Tara's question was filled with concern.

"I'm good," Willow immediately answered with a smile, noting for the first time that she felt comfortable and once she had allowed herself to actually look the other woman in the eyes, she really didn't feel weird at all.

"You?" the director held the blonde's eyes.

"I'm good," Tara opted for Willow's use of words. They were safe.

Her attention was pulled elsewhere when a voice spoke to her from the door.

"Doc, can you look at something for me, please? I had a client call earlier, wanting us to refill her dog's medication. It's been almost a year since we've seen her though."

Buffy wondered to herself if she should have interrupted, but she felt better once Tara started to walk towards her.

Willow smiled at Tara as she walked away, watching her go through the door.


The redhead was sat up on the counter top again. She was bored. The day had been so unbelievably slow, which was odd for a Friday afternoon. They chalked it up to the weather, which was very beautiful.

The sun was shining brightly and there was a nice breeze outside.

Buffy was up front doing something on the computer and Tara, well; she was walking through the door as Willow eyes looked up from their study of the floor.

The blonde was headed straight for her, a firm smile gracing her features. She paused when she was a step away from the director.

"Um, I need up in that cabinet. G-gauze… we n-need more," she stuttered, knowing it was Willow's presence that caused it. She felt nervous around her at times. She really hated it.

"You want me to move?" The redhead immediately wanted to smack her forehead. That was a dumb question to ask. She was surprised however, by the response.

"No. You're f-fine. I-I just need to reach around you." She felt a certain deja-vu when she stepped closer and actually ended up standing between the other woman's legs, reaching with her right hand up into the cabinet. Her left hand planted itself on Willow's knee, helping with balance.

Taking in a sharp breath, the redhead froze. The familiarity of this position was fresh in her mind and she found herself wondering briefly if Tara would kiss her.

Their faces about two inches apart, Tara looked down at Willow when she heard the intake of breath and she froze herself. She couldn't believe that she had actually done this. It's not like she couldn't have gotten to the cabinet if she had stood to the side of the director.

Pulling her arm down, package of gauze in hand, she closed the cabinet and stood still for a brief moment, her eyes still locked on sapphire ones. Finally, squeezing Willow's knee, she smiled and backed away.

"Thank you," her voice whispered, as she found herself leaving the room in a hurry.

Groaning, the hacker closed her eyes and let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.


Chapter 6

Some days are non-stop. You find yourself running here and there, but no matter how fast or how hard you work, you realize you haven't really gotten much completed.

That was normal, but normal wasn't today.

They had three patients in the span of the last four hours. Appointments were scheduled, they just weren't showing up or clients were calling and canceling. So, in Cases like this, the two best friends did what they always did.

Enjoyed themselves and the free time.

Buffy was sitting in a gray, metal folding chair. Her feet were propped up on an exam table in the front room of the Veterinary clinic, as she read her magazine.

Willow was sitting in front of the surgery suite computer, her head turned downwards as she scanned through old files that she had been meaning to sort through.

She wasn't enjoying her free time as much as she could be. There were obviously other things she could be doing. The responsible adult in her however, was spoiling her fun.

So caught up in what she was doing, she didn't hear someone walk up beside her.

Tara had been sitting in the office, catching up on some patient's notes. Once she had caught herself up though, she quickly grew bored. Not having brought any reading material with her, she decided to turn the down time into, getting to know your co-workers better time.

She decided to start with Willow.

"Need any help?" she asked softly, not wanting to startle the other woman.

Looking up from the file, Willow smiled gratefully at the offer. "Oh Gods, would you?"

"Sure." Pulling the other rolling chair over beside the redhead, Tara sat down and grabbed a file from the stack on the counter.

"What am I supposed to be doing exactly?" she inquired, sheepishly.

Blushing lightly, Willow apologized. "Oh, I'm sorry. I accept your offer for help and then don't even tell you what to do."

Tara reached over and squeezed the hacker's knee. "It's okay. I could have asked," her voice laughed.

Smiling brightly at Tara's touch, Willow had to control her breathing. She had almost taken a sharp breath when the blonde touched her. Tara sure did like to keep in physical contact with people. Willow wasn't complaining though.

Shifting her gaze back to the stack of files, the hospital director spoke softly. "Um, I was just looking through old files and hard copies of print outs and seeing which pets hadn't been in within the last year. If I find any, I've just been checking to see what they actually came in for."

Tara nodded, understanding the other woman's actions.

"If they didn't come in for anything severe or a surgery procedure, say like they just came in for a Rabies vaccination or something, I'm just putting the file in the, "to be shredded," pile. The others, I'll re-file and keep active."

Looking back up into the doctor's eyes, Willow searched them. She kept their line of vision focused for longer than she probably should have and by the time she looked away, her body was shivering. Excitement and curiosity ran through her veins.

It was becoming harder and harder to hide her attraction for her companion and that's what scared her. Tara was her boss, essentially, and that was forbidden territory. Wasn't it? An employee and their employer could never become involved, could they?

Willow was pretty certain that she wasn't the only one being attracted in this scenario. She knew by the way the other woman looked at her, acted around her. Plus, the intimacy of the blonde's touches was becoming more frequent and lingering as the days passed.

To be honest, what she felt happening kind of scared Willow. It had been a long time since she had been happy and her last relationship wasn't heartwarming, to say the least. She had been hurt badly. She didn't want to experience that again.

Sensing a change in the redhead's demeanor, Tara frowned slightly, leaning forward in her chair. "Are you okay?" She had to restrain herself from reaching over and taking the other girl's hand.

"Uh… yeah," Willow hesitated, trying to lie herself out of the situation. "I was just… did you know you have the most gorgeous eyes?" she heard herself blurt out before she could stop herself.

Grinning hopelessly, Tara didn't bother to check her words either. "Thank you," she said sincerely, before adding, "Yours aren't bad themselves."

Blowing out a deep breath, Willow finally made herself look away, distracting her thoughts and her fluttering heart back to her files. "So, files?" she asked, lamely.

Tara was somewhat disappointed by the change in subject, but allowed herself to follow the redhead. "Yes, files."

The telephone chose that exact moment to ring and Willow felt her insides sing from the distraction. Quickly, she got up from the chair and beat Buffy to the phone.

"Sunnydale Veterinary Clinic, this is Willow, how may I help you?" She smiled at the other voice on the other side of the phone. "Oh, Hi Mom."

Buffy walked into the back room, smiling when Tara looked at her from her chair.

"I'm doing okay. How are you?" Willow nodded. She somehow thought the woman on the phone could see her. "Buffy, she's right here. Hang on a second."

Before she could hand over the phone, she addressed the caller one more time. "You, too. I'll see you soon. Here's Buffy." Laughing gently, Willow handed the phone over to her best friend, whom was waiting patiently. "It's your mom."

"Oh," Buffy cautiously took the receiver, wondering why her mom was calling her at work. She only ever called if she had an emergency or needed her daughter to bring home something from work for her.

"Mom, let me switch phones, okay?" After receiving a reply, the blonde hit the hold button and hung up the receiver before leaving the back and going up front to finish her call.

"That was Buffy's mom," Willow stated the obvious as she sat back down in her chair.

Tara was slightly confused. "I was thinking it was your mom from the way you greeted her?

"Nope. I mean… sure, she's like a mom to me and she did tell me that I could call her Mom, but… she's not. Does that make sense?" Willow looked wide-eyed at her friend, hoping her explanation was understood.

Smiling, the doctor nodded. "It does."

Feeling the need to say more, the director elaborated. "Buffy and I have known each since sophomore year of High School. I wasn't and am still not close to my mom. I-It's kind of sad, really. We hardly ever talk and when we do, we argue. She still wants me to be more successful in my life and doesn't understand that this is what I want to do. I love working with animals. I just wish she could understand." Willow's voice trailed off, saddened.

Tara's features fell and she couldn't help but want to reach out to the other girl. Gingerly, her fingers wrapped around Willow's and she squeezed her hand. "I'm sorry, Willow."

Looking down at her hand, seeing the doctor's secured around her digits, her heart felt heavy. She was being touched again and the attention felt wonderful. Her hand fit so well with the blonde's. In return, she squeezed back, looking into blue eyes.

"It's okay. It's not your fault. I just wish things were different." For some reason she felt the need to re-adjust her hand's position and she moved it so her fingers interlaced with the other woman's.

Smiling, Tara scooted her chair a little closer. The flirt in her wanted to scoop Willow up in her arms and sit her on her lap, but she was content just to hold her hand and pray that she wouldn't pull away anytime soon.

She was quite aware as well, that this wasn't normal friend behavior. You didn't just hold your friend's hand whenever you wanted to, not in this fashion anyway. If you were just friends with someone, your heart didn't feel the way Tara's felt either.

Willow's thumb started to move back and forth over the exposed flesh of the blonde's hand as she just looked in her eyes.

Lifting her own thumb, Tara let her's caress over the director's and when the other girl lifted hers in the air, the pads of their digits met and brushed together.

Closing her eyes briefly, Willow could feel every pore in her body being filled with warmth. Her body was humming, coming alive from this woman's touch and damn if it didn't feel good. It was soon spoiled though, when a slight slam of a phone and a soft grumbling could be heard from the front of the clinic.

"Grrr Argh!!" Buffy's voice steamed, aggravated, before she stormed into the back of the clinic, her arms crossed over her chest. If steam could come out of your ears, her hair should have been singed by now.

Frowning, Willow squeezed Tara's hand one more time before regretfully letting it go. She took a step towards Buffy, but stopped herself and just let her hands rest beside her thighs.

"What's up?" she asked tentatively.

Looking over at her boss, the Slayer's nostrils flared once before she started to speak in a somewhat over-controlled manner. "Just your everyday disaster, is all."

"Uh… care to elaborate? Is Brittany okay?" Willow started to panic, forgetting about her standing still, as she started to walk closer to Buffy.

"Bre is fine," the blonde assured, light touching the other girl's upper arm before stuffing her hands in her pockets and turning to face Willow. "I do have some bad news though."

Her eyes widening, the hacker whispered. "What's the matter?"

Looking at the floor briefly, Buffy tried to calm her emotions before slowly catching her best friend's eyes and holding them as she explained. "It's about tonight. I'm not going to be able to go." She sucked in a shallow breath and waited for a response.

"What! That… that's not…" Willow's voice was raised and beginning to fume.

"I'm sorry, but Mom…" Buffy tried to explain, but was cut off by the irate redhead.

"Buffy, we've been planning this for weeks now and now you just tell me that you can't go! Do you know how not cool that is? I even broke the clinic rules and scheduled the appointments lighter tonight so we could leave early. How can you just tell me that you ca…"

"If you'll stop for a minute, I'll explain. That's what I was trying to do a second ago," the Slayer interrupted, trying to gain back the floor. She knew Willow would understand why, if she could just get the words out of her mouth.

Her features resolving, the redhead took a few steps back until she was leaning against the counter again.

Tara just sat silently in her chair, wondering if she should leave the two of them alone. She chose to stay however and just hoped that her presence wouldn't be a problem.

Seeing that her friend was going to cooperate and let her explain, Buffy nodded her head. "Thanks, Will. Now, what I was trying to tell you is that, the reason Mom called was to tell me that she has to stay late at work and she won't be able to watch Bre tonight."

Head dropping back down from it's stare at the ceiling, Willow blew out a heavy breath and pushed her body up onto the counter, the back of her head leaning against the cabinet once she was settled.

She waited a moment before she spoke again and when she did, her voice was somewhat heavy. "Well…what about Xander?" she suggested. If anyone would be willing to watch the small child, surely he would volunteer.

Shaking her head, Buffy clarified the obvious question. "He's taking Anya out, remember? He's been planning it for days and I'm not going to spoil it for him." She hated that this had to transpire, but she didn't know what else to do. Their plans just weren't meant to be. To be honest, the blonde had already started thinking of a devious plan of her own.

It would involve Willow still following through with the evening, just not with her by her side.

"Giles?" the hospital director threw out another name, hoping it would be favored upon.

Smiling, Buffy couldn't believe how incredibly stubborn the other girl could be sometimes. I mean, couldn't Willow see that she was trying to do her a favor? Why couldn't she just settle for Plan B. Of course, it might help if she actually told her about her imaginative Plan B.

"Willow, he's still in England. You know that," the Slayer regarded, walking over to her boss and hopping up on the counter beside her. "I did have another idea though, if you want to hear it?" her voice lightly singing the last few words, adding a little spice to her voice.

"Sure, I'm listening gal. What did you have in mind?" Willow was starting to become excited with the prospect of a new plan.

Leaning over to whisper in her ear, Buffy told her of her thoughts, knowing that once she expressed them, they would be favored upon.

Oblivious to what was going on, Tara had occupied herself with the stack of charts that had been abandoned. Her head shot up though, when she heard a happy squeal from the counter beside her.

"Why didn't I think of that before?" Willow cursed herself silently for not thinking of that on her own. She liked the way her best friend's brain worked.

Teasingly, the Slayer lifted her right hand to the top of red hair and tickled her scalp. "Willowbrain was thinking too hard. You should really rest it every now and then." Her lips smiled happily.

"Pfft! Yeah, right," the hacker demolished, before making a joyful noise and reaching over to hug the other girl. She put so much force behind the hug that the both of them almost fell off the counter.

Buffy's quick reflexes kicked in however and she jumped off the counter before either of them could fall. "I take it you like what I said?"

"Well, duh!" Willow looked at the blonde like she had lost a few of her marbles, wondering how she could be so smart and yet, so oblivious all at the same time.

"Great!" Buffy exclaimed and turned away, grinning happily as she made her way back up front. Her best friend needed some alone time with her, "friend."

Willow almost jumped out of her skin when she felt a soft hand touch her arm.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. Is everything okay?" Tara wondered, concerned, as she brought her hand back down and rested it on top of the file on her lap.

Not thinking or not bothering to think about what she was about to do, the redhead let a smile engulf her whole face and she bounced up and down on her heels for a second before lunging and grabbing on to Tara, pulling her into a bone crushing hug. She rocked their bodies side to side, her happiness taking over her actions.

The doctor sat still, shocked from the turn in events, but eventually she softened and wrapped her arms around the warm body, closing her eyes and just basking in the moment.

Unaware to a certain extent of what she had just done, her brain chose that moment to awaken from the spell it had succumbed to and Willow allowed the hug to last for another few seconds before she slowly pulled away and stood back up.

Immediately feeling the loss of the other woman's embrace, the hospital director took a step back and willed her heart to stop beating so erratically. Her voice was a little jumpy when she finally spoke again.

"Um… tonight, my plans that Buffy and I had are obviously not going to happen, but… I-I wanted to ask you something?" Willow looked at her friend nervously, her heart still jumping in her chest.

"Yes?" Tara answered, confused by the nervousness that she could sense flowing from her companion.

"Okay, this would be where I just come out and say what I was going to say and you answer with whatever response you want to and hopefully it will be a good response. Not that you're second choice or anything, that's not why I'm going to ask you what I'm going to ask you. It's just that, Buffy's mom can't and Xander is busy and Giles is out of town and I'm babbling. Why didn't you stop me?"

The hacker blew out a breath, looking at Tara with wide eyes.

Laughing gently, the blonde just looked at Willow, amazed at how many words she could fit through those tiny lips. "You're cute when you babble. I didn't have the heart to interrupt."

Her heart melted at the half grin that developed on Tara's mouth, wanting nothing more than to just kiss it, but that would be inappropriate. So, the redhead just smiled bashfully at the comment and continued with her speech.

"What I wanted to ask you was…" her voice trailed away, looking at the other woman expectantly as if she could read her thoughts.

"Yes?" Tara repeated again, waiting patiently.

"Would you like to go with me tonight to this seminar? The seminar is going to be about animal massage therapy and how it can be applied to the work place." There, she had said it. Now all she had to do was wait and see if her invitation would be accepted.

The young doctor didn't even have to think about her answer. Her lips fluttered with the words, "I would love to go with you."

Smiling goofily, Willow's mouth opened several times to speak before an actual audible word was heard. "Yay!" her voice whispered as she turned around toward the front of the clinic and practically skipped away.

"Oh, Goddess," Tara whispered to the empty room, wondering what she had just allowed herself to get into. "This should be interesting."

To be continued...

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