Author: Glendaofoz
Rating: PG-13 to NC-17.
Disclaimer: I do not own Willow and Tara or the rest of the BtVS gang that may appear in this story. Everything else comes from my imagination and from my own personal life experiences.

"Here are the coffees!" Tara said as she Willow and her mom had finished talking trying to make it look like she hadn't been standing there the entire time.

"Oh yeah. Tara didn't want you to think that we forgot to get your coffee so she went out to the car and got it." Willow said as she moved away from her mom and towards Tara.

"That was very sweet of you Tara, thank you!"

"No problem Mrs..." Tara was interrupted by a stare from Sheila. "Sorry, no problem Sheila. It's the least that I can do."

"So I hear that you and Willow work together?" Sheila said trying to break the tension that she felt between Willow and Tara.

"Yeah I have worked there for about a month or so now."

"How do you like it so far?"

"I love it. A little different from what I was doing before but a much better working environment for sure." Tara said as she looked over at Willow and gave her a little wink.

"Well that's good to hear. I know that Willow has taken a lot of pride into her business and I am glad to see that you two are getting along good."

"Yeah me too!" Willow said as she looked at Tara and smiled at her.

"Well, if you ladies will excuse me, I am going to go track down that doctor and see if I can find out when we can take Ira home." Sheila said as she walked over to Tara, gave her hand a squeeze and then walked out of the room.

"Your mom seems so cool!" Tara said looking back from Sheila to Willow.

"Yeah she is. Sometimes I forget just how cool she is." Willow said as she walked over towards Tara. "Tara?"

"Yeah?" Tara said as she turned around to face Willow just as she walked up to her and gave her a kiss.

"What was that for?" Tara said with a little bit of shock that Willow had just kissed her.

"It was just a proper thank you for everything that you have done for me today and even since the first day I met you."

"Willow, you don't have to thank me."

"Yes I do. You didn't have to come with me but I didn't really give you a choice when we were at the airport." Willow stopped to take a breathe before she started again.

Willow went to start again but was interrupted by Tara's full lips against hers. "I came with you because I wanted to." Tara said as she ran her fingertips down the right cheek of Willow and smiled.

Just then Sheila came back into the room with a smile on her face as she cleared her throat to let them know that she was in the room. "So what did the doctor say mom?"

"He said that you dad should be able to go home in a few days but for now he just needs to get some rest. He should be back from the recovery room any minute now." Sheila said as two nurses came walking into the room wheeling Ira on a gurney. Ira was sleeping. "Why don't you two head over to our hotel and get some sleep cause you really can't do anything else here today. He is going to be asleep for probably the rest of the night. You can come back to see him in the morning." Sheila said as she looked at Willow and smiled.

"Are you sure mom cause we can stay..."

"No I am sure. You go get some sleep. We have a room at the Sheridan Hotel and Suites on Ferndale Drive."

"As long as you're sure."

"Yes I am so just go and have a good night ladies. I will see you in the morning."

"Ok mom. If dad wakes up tell him that I love him and that I will see him in the morning."

"I will honey." Sheila said as she walked over to Willow and gave her a hug and kiss before Willow and Tara walked out of the room and to the car.

Tara and Willow went to the hotel and to the room. When they walked in, they noticed that the room only had one king size bed. They both just stood in the doorway looking back and from from the bed to each other.

"I will call down to the front desk and see if they have another room." Tara said as she started to make her way over to the phone on the end table next to the bed. She was stopped by hands on her arm. Tara turned back around to see Willow standing next to her with her hand on her arm.

"No!" Willow said as she brought her arm up Tara's arm, past her armpit and to her cheek. Willow started to stroke Tara's cheek and looked into Tara's eyes.

"What?" Tara asked.

"I don't want you to go." Willow said as she grabbed Tara's hand and lead her over to the bed. "There are so many things that I have wanted to say but have been too scared to. So many things have happened to me in my past in terms of relationships that make me very leery to get into another relationship. A lot of that has to do with a relationship that I got involved in with someone that I was doing work for."

"You don't have to tell me about what happened if you don't want to."

"But that's the thing Tara, I want to. I want to tell you everything about me and my past cause I always want to be open and honest with you. You remember when I told you before that I was burnt really bad by someone that I worked with?"

"Yeah!"

"Ok well her name was Kelly. She worked for a really big Law Firm back in Chicago where I used to live. At the time I was working for a graphic design company out there before I moved to California. This was almost 4 years ago." Willow stopped and started to think back to that time. 'Wow it has been so long since this happened.' Willow thought to herself as she looked over the the wonderful and sexy woman sitting next to her on the bed.

"I met her through a client of ours that got into some legal trouble from an advertising campaign that they did. I was attracted to her from the start. I was just coming out and no one really knew that I was gay yet so I was very careful I got involved with. Well, she came on to me so hard and after about a week of asking me out, I finally gave in and we went out to dinner. We fell into the typical stereotype for lesbians of two dates and a uhaul. After about a week of dating, we had moved in together." Willow stopped and looked over at Tara who was sitting there with her total attention on what Willow was saying.

"How long were you together?"

"2 years."

"So what happened that caused you to break up?" Tara asked trying to help a very obvious struggling Willow.

"Well, one day she came into my office to talk about another case that involved one of our clients. We starting to talk about the case and then all of a sudden she was sitting on my lap in my chair. Before I knew it we were kissing and then all of a sudden someone came walking into my office and saw us. It was my boss. He started freaking out and was calling us all kinds of names."

"Oh my god Willow. I am so sorry." Tara said as she grabbed Willow's hand and squeezed it. "What did Kelly do?"

"She just got up and started to say that I had pulled her on top of me and that she tried to get away but couldn't."

"That is horrible!"

"Yeah then when my boss fired me without having any other reason but for the fact that he was a homophobic asshole. But that wasn't even the worst part. When I got home that night, Kelly was trying to say that she was sorry for what she said to him when we got caught but she had to. She couldn't let anyone know that she was with a woman cause it would affect her professional reputation. Then she tried to say that she loved me so much but she wasn't sure if it was going to work out because she couldn't chance that someone else found out and it started to affect her job."

"But what about your job and your professional reputation?"

"I guess she didn't care about that."

"I guess not. So you guys broke up over that?"

"Yeah and I haven't talked to her or seen her since." Willow said as she placed her hand on top of Tara's and started to move her thumb over the back of Tara's hand.

"I totally understand where you are coming from but I would never hurt you like that Willow."

"I know it's just that I am very comfortable with who I am. It has taken me so long to get to where I am in my life and I refuse to go back."

"I would never want you to go ever go back. I want you go forward." Tara said as she turned her body to face Willow's.

"I would like to go forward with you."

"Huh?"

"Tara, I love you. I have loved you since the first time that I saw you and I don't want to go another day without you knowing that. I have spent so much time trying to protect myself from love that I didn't let myself admit that I couldn't protect myself from something that was already there." Willow said as she placed her hands on Tara's legs as she sat Indian style on the bed in front of Willow.

"I know what it means to protect yourself from that cause you don't want to get hurt."

"But there also comes a time when you have to realize that getting hurt is a part of life. If you never allow yourself to get hurt then you will never allow yourself to be happy either." Willow brought her hands up to Tara's face again and cupped her cheeks. "And I want to be happy. You make me happy!"

"I love you too Willow but I don't want you to feel like this is a rush. I will always be here for you and I will wait for you to be ready."

"I am ready now!" Willow said as she leaned into Tara and started to kiss her. "I am more than ready."