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Disclaimers: I own NOTHING but my odd CD collection, a computer, my Ernie mini-beanie-baby from McDonalds, and the Latin noun declension charts duct-taped to my ceiling. Joss is great, Joss is good, Joss won’t kill me for borrowing his girls... or the dialogue I borrowed... Set at the very end of "New Moon Rising."

Content and Rating: I’m sticking with PG-13 for this one, folks. Girl/girl loving, but you don’t get to see it. Use your imaginations, I know you can, will, and want to. ;-)

Feedback and Archiving: Feedback to ressick@yahoo.com and archiving is okay for all the people who already have my permission. You guys rock, all of you.

DEDICATION: to The Kitten, The Witches, and the Bad Wardrobe posting board. You folks are awesome. Oh, and this idea was suggested by april. Hope y’all like it.

Watching the Sun Rise

by Ressick

~~~

It was dark, Tara decided, and chill without power. Or maybe it was the chill in her heart, at the idea of Willow returning to him. She wasn’t really sure, so she hugged the sweatshirt she was wearing closer. It smelt of Willow, perhaps it would be the last thing the hacker would let her borrow. Maybe, back with Oz, she wouldn’t want to be reminded of their passionate friendship, that could have been so much more. The thought made Tara choke up, and tears threatened to spill down her cheeks.

A knock at the door sounded, and she hesitantly rose to answer it. The fear of un-dead Sunnydale denizens warred within her against the fear that Willow had come to share her decision. Finally, though, she opened the door and gasped in adoration as she did every time she caught sight of Willow.

"No candles? Well, I brought you one. It’s extra flamey." She paused, and the blond wiccan’s heart constricted. "Tara, I have to tell you..."

"No, I -- I understand. You have to be with the person you l-love."

"I am," she said simply, gracefully, a smile in her eyes.

"You mean?" Tara replied, unable to believe her ears.

"I mean. Okay?"

"Oh, yes," she said, her heart swelling with hope and joy and a thousand other happy emotions.

"I feel horrible about everything I put you through. And I’m going to make it up to you, starting right now." A slightly wicked glint shined in the hacker’s eyes, and made Tara’s toes curl.

"Right now?" she asked coyly, then blew out the candle Willow had handed her.

"Yes, right now," answered Willow in a low voice, entering the room and gently shutting the door behind her. "Tara... I - I love you. And I very much want to show you. Is that... is that okay?" she asked hesitantly, her nervousness returning.

Though the hacker couldn’t see it, Tara’s smile reached the thousand watt level. "Yes, very," she replied, moving forward in the darkness to circle Willow’s waist with her arms. The hacker smiled happily, and leaned into the embrace, linking her hands behind Tara’s head. Slowly, ever so slowly, they moved forward for that first tentative contact of lips.

****

Willow awoke slowly, content to be wrapped in warm, loving arms and gently spooned from behind. There was a certain beauty in waking up in the embrace of a gorgeous, kind, wonderful woman.

Tara, awake already, pulled her hacker close, nuzzling the gentle slope of Willow’s neck. She had woken up thinking she would wake from the most wonderful of dreams, and instead had found her dream to be reality. The faint light of false dawn was creeping over the earth, and she watched as they highlighted her love’s hair, and graced the curve of the redhead’s beautiful, compact body. She could not believe her good fortune, and began to thank every deity she knew for the gift of Willow’s love.

Turning in her lover’s embrace, Willow moved to snuggle even closer, until there wasn’t room for a single molecule of air between the two of them. She rested her head on Tara’s shoulder, and wrapped her arms tight around the wiccan’s waist.

"Love?" came Tara’s husky voice, thick with sleep.

"Mmm, yes?" she replied.

"Are you willing to get up? I have something I want to show you," Tara murmured.

"For you, I’d go to the ends of the earth."

She laughed gently at that, and kissed the auburn head pillowed on her shoulder. "Get up sleepy-head, or we’ll miss it." When Willow sleepily raised her head, the wiccan boldly moved forward and kissed her. It was a leisurely, content exploration and expression of love.

They moved from the bed languorously, dressed slowly as to be able to watch the other, letting their eyes roam freely over the other’s body for the first time. Both blushed, embarrassed, but were soon dressed. Tara took her love’s hand and led Willow from her room. Confidently, with little hesitation, she moved towards the stairs and climbed upwards, until they reached the top floor and the hatch to the roof. Though it was locked, Tara merely spoke a few unintelligible words and it opened for her.

Leading her love onto the roof, she spread the blanket she’d carried in her free hand in a corner of the room, and settled down, motioning for Willow to lean up against her. Snuggled together, she whispered in a close-by ear.

"When I first got here, I was so alone and miserable that I used to come up here, just to escape from all the people and troubles and worries I had. I used to cry that I’d be all alone. And then one night I fell asleep up here, huddled in this corner. When I woke up the sun rose, and it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. It gave me hope. I went downstairs, and got changed, went to class. That afternoon I went to a meeting of the wicca group. I met you that day. And somehow, I knew I would never be alone again."

"Oh, Tara," sighed Willow, turning to give her love a gentle kiss.

"Look, Willow," Tara said as they broke apart. "The sun is rising."

~ finis ~