Author: JustSkipIt
Rating: R
Feedback: Please leave feedback on the Survivor - Ash Island thread on the Kitten Board.
Disclaimer: I own none of these characters nor do I own Survivor. And believe it or not, I also don't own any small islands. On the other hand, this island is fictional so let's say I own it. I'm making no money from this fiction and intend no copyright infringement.

"I don't want to go, Willow," Tara pouted.

"You know it was part of the agreement," Willow said.

"I know but I d-don't want to go," Tara argued.

"Am I going to have to get Ariel in here?" Willow threatened, "or do you deserve the finger treatment?" Her fingers delving into Tara's most sensitive tickle spots made it clear that the redhead didn't mean [i]that[/i] finger treatment.

"You and she could go?"

"You want your girlfriend and a 6-year old to pick up your new truck?" Willow sat back down on the side of the truck and playfully brushed a swath of hair from Tara's forehead.

"If it means that I c-c-can stay here, sure. Plus which, it's really hers too."

"Ok," Willow laughed. She crossed the room to the door and pulled it open before walking down to Ariel's room. She knocked on the girl's door even though Ariel was sitting at her desk coloring.

"Willow," Ariel turned around quickly and bounced up and down on her chair. "Are we going now?"

"Well, you and I are ready to go but your mama doesn't think she's going," Willow explained.

Ariel's eyebrows knit together as the thought about it. "She has to go," she said standing up and putting her fists on her hips.

"That's what I said."

"I'll talk to her," Ariel said as she walked in front of Willow down the hall to her mother's bedroom. "Mama, Willow says you don't want to go get our new truck." She stood near the bed staring down her mother.

Tara looked embarrassed at being confronted by her child. "I'm just nervous about it, baby."

"Nervous?" Ariel questioned, again bouncing up and down, this time on the balls of her feet. "Why are you nervous? Willow gave us a truck and we're going to go and get it today. Why are you scared?"

Tara waved for Ariel to come sit with her on the bed as she shot Willow a look that said, [i]you play dirty.[/i] Ariel sat down on the bed and Tara hugged her. "We're going to go get the truck. I'm just nervous because there will be a lot of people there and I don't know if they'll want me to say something."

"But Mama, you are on TV every week and you say lots of really smart stuff."

"That's different," Tara reasoned still not getting up from the bed. "On the show, I'm just out camping and talking with people but this will be different."

Ariel scrunched up her face in a totally adorable way. "But lots of people see you every week and that is more people than will be at the car place" She thought about it for a few seconds. "Are you worried because people saw you and Willow staying together at the cabin and you danced wearing robes?"

Tara's eyes popped open wide. "You were supposed to be out of the room for that."

"Oh!" Ariel's eyes looked just as wide as her mother's. "I was I mean ... what robes?"

Tara answered playfully: "Great. Now I'm nervous to be on TV every week." When Ariel looked dismayed Tara laughed out loud and swatted the girl lightly on the bottom. "Come on, kid. Let's go get our new truck."

Ariel jumped up and clapped her hands. "Yay! Our new truck," she yelled as she ran down the hall toward Willow.

"Don't run in the house," Tara called after her before joining her lover and daughter by the back door.

The Chevrolet dealership was busier than usual and the lot had extra decorations: balloons, clowns, jugglers, a few moonwalks that Ariel wanted to go on over and over. The regional manager welcomed the two women and Ariel to the dealership and told them how thrilled he was to have them at the lot. He repeated many times that no Chevrolet dealership in Ohio had ever been able to deliver the Survivor vehicle, let alone both of them. He hoped that he had managed to get the correct colors but if not, if the women would agree to take their pictures and do the publicity, he would get the correct vehicles as soon as possible.

"Now, Ms. Rosenberg, I believe you wanted the Salsa Red Metallic and Ms. Maclay you wanted the Meander Green Metallic?" both women nodded and began signing papers. Eventually they took turns and the one not signing took Ariel to play on the moonwalk and watch the jugglers.

Tara tapped Willow on the shoulder as the blonde reentered the manager's office. "I think they want us to s-say something, baby," she whispered.

"Yeah. I kind of figured they might."

The manager ushered the two women out the door as Tara held tightly to Ariel's hand. He stepped up to a podium which was surrounded over a hundred spectators and cameras from all the local television stations. "Thanks to everyone for coming out today," he said authoritatively into the microphone. "At Reynoldsville Chevrolet, we're excited to be the first dealership in Ohio to ever hand out the keys to the vehicles won on the television show Survivor." He waited a few seconds for the clapping to die down before turning to Willow. "Willow, you definitely outwitted, outlasted, and outplayed your competitors last week to win this new Chevrolet Equinox." He handed her the keys to the truck as flash bulbs went off and spectators cheered.

Willow shook the manager's hand as she took the keys and turned to wave to the crowd. Next was Tara's turn. "Tara, we're so proud to have a local girl making good on this show. Kick their butts and bring home the million dollars to go with this new Chevy Equinox." He handed a blushing Tara her keys and shook her hand. "Now girls, are you ready to answer a few questions for the crowd here?"

Both girls nodded although Tara looked quite nervous about the entire thing, looking at her feet and picking some imaginary lint off the sleeve of her shirt. "Willow," the first press member said after introducing herself and her paper, "you live in Atlanta but you are picking up your truck here. Do you want to explain the reason for that?"

Willow smiled warmly at the reporter who had asked the question. "I don't think it's any great secret that I enjoyed spending time with Tara while we were on the island and I'm still enjoying her company greatly."

"Does that mean the two of you are in a romantic relationship?" the same reported followed up Willow's answer.

"Yes."

"Are you living together, Tara?" the same reported now asked.

"We've b-been spending time t-t-together," Tara answered, shaking as she spoke.

The redhead reached over to take her lover's hand and stroke it gently as she allowed Tara to finish her sentence. "Tara and I would both love to thank CBS and Chevrolet for this generous prize. We're looking forward to driving the vehicles and enjoying their quality." A big cheer went up for this bit of PR and Tara breathed a sigh of relief as Willow deflected the attention from their relationship and from her own inability to answer a simple question.

"Can you tell us how the two of you ended the game?" an audience member asked.

"We really can't disclose that," Willow said with a sweet smile.

"Did either of you vote against the other?" the first reporter now asked.

"Again," Willow said, "we can't disclose that. You can continue to watch Survivor at 8:00 on Thursday nights to see how we did."

"PR wonk," Tara whispered jokingly to her lover.

Seeing that the two women as well as Ariel were getting antsy the manager called a halt to the conference. "Willow and Tara," he said in a booming yet friendly voice, "thank you so much for taking a few minutes for your fans." He again shook their hands and told them, "Enjoy your new Chevrolet Equinox trucks!" A cheer went up from the crowd which Ariel clapped along with. After a few minutes the crowd dissipated to enjoy the hot dogs, entertainment, and moonwalks or to shop for vehicles.

The manager turned to the two women. "I really appreciate your making a few comments and I'm sorry that the questions turned too personal."

"It's something we're growing used to," Willow assured him.

"Thank y-you," Tara said as Ariel pulled on her hand. "We must be g-going."

"That's quite fine," he said, "good luck to both of you on the remaining episodes."

"We appreciate it," Willow assured him before leading Tara and Ariel from the dais.

Once they had descended, they walked over to where their trucks were waiting. Tara let Ariel into the back and buckled her into her booster seat before walking around to her side of the truck. Both women started up the vehicles and then Tara drove from the lot, waving from her window as cameras clicked away. Willow followed her from the lot and continued down Main Street.

Tara's phone rang before she had driven a block. "Well that was harrowing wasn't it? Are you ok, baby? Do you want to stop and I'll drive? Is Ariel ok? I'm really sorry that happened."

Tara's gentle laughter sounded in her ear. "The babbling is just adorable, sweetie. Have I said that before?"

"A few times."

"Ariel's hungry," Tara said, "do you want to go have lunch?"

"I could do that. Where does she want to go?"

"Cappellis. Do you want to follow me?" Tara looked into the back seat to see Ariel giggling and winked at the child.

"Sure," Willow agreed.

The two trucks pulled into the parking lot one after the other and both women emerged from their vehicles and helped Ariel down. Willow took the child's hand as they walked toward the door. "What are you grinning about?" she said as she tousled Ariel's kinky hair with her hand.

"Nothing," the child grinned. Willow looked at her for a second and then to Tara who was attempting to suppress a smile.

"You're very silly," Willow kidded the child.

"Nope," Ariel said with a big smile on her face, "I'm very hungry." She let go of Willow's hand, opened the door, and dashed through it.

Willow looked at Tara as she caught the closing door. "Your child is a goof," she teased with a smile.

"Takes one to know one."

Once inside Willow had to wait a few minutes for her eyes to adjust to the semi-darkness in the restaurant and then attempt to locate where Ariel had gone. As she did she smiled seeing a corner table was hung with a banner reading, "Happy Birthday." Sitting at the table under the banner were Kent, Ariel, and Faith who held up a mug of beer as Tara and Willow walked over to the table.

Willow smiled at the group as Ariel giggled openly. "We surprised you," the child said triumphantly.

"You did," Willow agreed with a smile as she walked around the table. Faith stood up and greeted her. "Hey, Red," she said as she hugged her fellow Survivor. After a long hug the two women took a step back and assessed each other. "You're looking good, Red."

"You too, much better than the last time I saw you." She gave a wink to the brunette as she moved back around the table to sit by Tara.

"I had heard that you got the girl," Faith said teasingly. "Nice to see it's really true."

Both Tara and Willow smiled and Tara of course blushed. "You too," Willow said just as teasingly, "Not the girl but I heard you picked this one out of a lineup." She nodded her head toward Kent as she spoke.

"Couldn't pass him up," Faith agreed as she snuggled into the large man and took another drink of her beer.

Karri arrived and gave Tara and Willow drinks and asked Ariel, "Ariel, my father is tossing the pizza. Do you want to come watch?"

"Can I?" Ariel turned excitedly toward her parents. "Mom? Dad?"

As usual, Kent allowed Tara to answer their daughter. "Yes, but Karri's working so if she needs to wait on anyone you come back here ok?"

"Yes, mom," Ariel said and jumped up to grab Karri's hand.

Just as Willow was about to take a drink of her Tea, her phone rang. Seeing that it was Joan she excused herself from the table and walked toward the back of the restaurant. She pressed the talk button and immediately heard her best friend singing "Happy Birthday" loudly and off-key.

Willow laughed and listened until Joan finished singing. "Hi sweetie," Joan immediately said, "I'm sorry I couldn't make it up for your party. You know I'm swamped at work."

"I know you are. Plus which we went out on my real birthday."

"Right," Joan said with what Willow could imagine was a roll of the eyebrows, "but apparently without all the hot steamy sex that you're having now."

"I'm pretty sure whoever called to invite you didn't mention sex, hot and steamy or otherwise."

"Since Tara dialed the phone for Ariel, I would hope not," Joan laughed. "Who is there anyway?"

"Tara and Ariel and Kent and his girlfriend."

"Kent? Ariel's dad? Mr. Tall Dark and hottie?"

"Yeah."

"Is that weird? Actually I guess not since they're close enough friends for him to come on the show. Of course some people have their sisters on rather than their best friends." Before Willow could respond to Joan's taunt, the brunette asked, "What's his girlfriend like?"

Willow saw that Tara was waving a menu at her to let her know that the others wanted to order and decided to get off the phone quickly. "It's not weird because he and Tara are really good friends," she explained. "And his girlfriend is ... hmm... kind of bold and hot?"

"Your kind of bold and hot?" Joan asked a little confused by Willow's answer.

"Not my kind," Willow corrected, "his kind." She saw Sarah walk in and made it short. "Hey sweets, everyone wants to order and they're waiting on me."

"Ok, Happy Birthday and tell Tara I said hi," Joan said before hanging up.

Willow arrived back at the table and Sarah quickly said Happy Birthday. Just then Ariel came back and told the others that Joey had actually let her toss one of the pizzas. The group ordered their pizza and visited as Ariel told everyone all about the moonwalks and jugglers and getting the cars. "And the man - ager wanted Willow and Mommy to talk to the people but Mommy didn't want to."

Sarah patted the blonde's hand. "You're going to have to get used to it," Faith predicted.

"I know. I just kind of p-panicked."

"Hey," a strange voice said, "aren't you on Survivor? Yeah, you're Faith," the guy said as he focused only on the brunette.

"Yeah," Faith said attempting to be as friendly as she could and still get rid of him, "do you want an autograph?"

"Sure." He handed her his address book and pen and suggested that she put her phone number down too.

Faith jerked her thumb over her shoulder at Kent. "I'm staying with him. How about I just put his number down?"

"Maybe just the autogra...," he trailed off as he finally looked around the table. "Hey, is this some kind of reunion? Is anyone else here? Buffy or Kendra or that Robin guy? Are you having a party to get ready for the big weekend next week?"

"Actually, it's kind of a private party," Kent said in his deepest voice.

"Oh," the intruder said, "I didn't really want to interrupt you all. Maybe if you two can sign my book too, I'll just get my pizza to go?" Tara and Willow nodded and took the book quickly to sign for him. Willow even asked his name and wrote a note advising him never to give up his optimism. "Well, thanks so much," he said, "good luck." He stopped and looked at Kent with trepidation before telling Faith, "I'm rooting for you to win it all." Then he quickly walked toward the cash register.

Karri came up to tell everyone that their pizzas would be ready in a few minutes. "Was Henry bothering you guys?" she asked. "He's really a sweet guy, and he comes in every Thursday to watch the show."

"It's f-fine," Tara said, "actually it happens a lot."

"Really?" Kent asked.

"Really," Faith and Willow both agreed simultaneously and smiled at each other.

"Strange guys come up and ask for your number?" Kent said again.

"Oh yeah," Faith said.

"All the time," Willow said, "I mean not so much strange guys because ‘hello gay and out' but women everywhere. I mean at the airport, at the gym, at the office supply store... and I'm getting stupider and stupider," she trailed off as she looked at Tara. "But I just tell them all, ‘nope girls. Off the market I am. Yep, off the market.'"

Seeing Willow's consternation Tara decided to have some fun with her girlfriend. "Well apparently I'm not out enough because both m-men and women come up and ask for my number."

"What?" Willow sputtered, "women are asking for your number? Which women? Where? When?"

"Here's your pizza," Karri said as she set down the pies on the table.

Tara patted her lover's knee and whispered something in her ear which brought both a smile and a blush to her face.

"So," Sarah said with a conspiratorial look at the other women, "it seems to me that we've got three of the last five Survivors at this table. So odds are good that the final two are sitting right here."

"Three in ten," Willow said around a bite of pizza.

"What?" Faith said.

"Three in ten, the odds of the final two being at this table."

"But the odds of one of you being in the final two are three in five," Kent said.

"So which of you is in the final two?" Sarah asked.

"Here's the thing," Kent said to his non-mother-in-law, "Tara said that either she'll be going to New York next Thursday after the show if she's voted off or for the weekend and the reunion show on Sunday. She asked me to pick up Ariel early if she gets voted off and to come with her as a family member if she doesn't."

"Me too," Sarah said, "she actually said that if she doesn't get voted off next Thursday I should plan to bring Ariel on Saturday."

"Interestingly enough," Kent continued with a smile, "Faith told me a similar story and while I don't need to do anything if she's voted off Thursday, she wants me to come for the weekend if she's in the final four."

"Well, Joan and my sister are on hold too," Willow pouted playfully.

"Now," Sarah said, "It seems to me that we could all plan better for our week and weekend if we knew who would be voted off next Thursday."

"Gosh doesn't it," Faith deadpanned.

"It's not any of you," Ariel declared authoritatively.

"Really?" Tara prompted her. "How do you know that?"

"Because," Ariel explained, "if you don't vote against each other, no one can vote you off because three is bigger than two."

"The kiddo has a point," Faith agreed.

"And did the math," Willow said, "I should know since I'm really good at puzzles."

Everyone laughed and continued eating. When they finished, Ariel announced that it was time for presents. "Mine first," she said and pulled a wrapped package from under the table.

Willow opened Ariel's present to find a picture frame the child had decorated with dried macaroni and glitter. Inside the frame was a picture of she and Willow playing in the backyard. The shot was completely candid and seemed to really capture Willow's childlike enthusiasm. "Hey," the redhead said excitedly, "I didn't even know you guys were taking pictures." She turned to Ariel and told her, "This is so great! Thank you." She gave the girl a big hug and Ariel smiled at everyone at the table.

"Mine next, Red." Faith handed a small package to Willow.

"You didn't need to..." Willow tore off a corner of the package and quickly pushed it under the table, out of Ariel's sight.

"Ok," Tara said as she took the package of silk thongs from her lover and shoved them into her purse. "We'll just o-open that one later I think."

"You were the one who asked," Faith smirked.

Kent handed the redhead an envelope. "I didn't really know..."

"Gift certificates for five car washes," Willow said admiringly. "Cool. Very cool."

Sarah's present was a nice map of Reynoldsville and a booklet showing all the interesting sights and stores she might want to visit. "Thanks, Ms. Maclay," Willow said.

"Sarah," the older woman reminded her.

"Sorry," Willow said, "I'm from the South. We can't call someone by a first name there. It's either Ma'am or Ms. Maclay. I'm pretty sure my first-grade teacher would pop out of the woodwork to ask for my autograph and then hit my hand with a ruler if I called you by your first name."

"Well, you'll have to work on it. Try saying Sarah."

"You can have my present later," Tara whispered in the redhead's ear.

"Speaking of which," Kent said, "Faith and I were going to go to the pool. How about we take Ariel and bring her back before bedtime?"

"Yeah, Mommy," Ariel said as she turned quickly in her chair, getting up on her knees, "can I go swimming with Daddy and Faith?"

"Are you sure?" Tara asked the other couple.

"Yeah," Faith agreed, "it will be fun and you two can spend the afternoon all alone. Gosh how will you ever spend the time?"

"Excuse me for a minute," Sarah said as she stood up and went to the restroom.

"You guys will need to stop and pick up her swim stuff. Sure baby girl you can go but come snuggle with me a little first,"

"Ok," Ariel agreed as she climbed in her mommy's lap. After a few more minutes spent relaxing, the group decided to leave the restaurant.

Everyone came outside to admire the new trucks. "Very butch, Red," Faith said as she looked at the vehicles.

"Jealous?" Willow winked at the brunette. Knowing that Faith was leaving in few days, the group shared hugs all around with some vague references to seeing each other soon.

Arriving at the house fifteen minutes later, Tara and Willow parked their matching trucks in the driveway and went inside. Once Ariel had retrieved her swim stuff and Tara had again confirmed that Kent and Faith didn't mind taking Ariel for the day Willow asked, "Do you want to go get your car since we left it at the dealership?"

Tara stepped closer and whispered sexily in her lover's ear. "Actually I had some other ideas about a rather pleasant way to spend a few hours. Maybe we could get the car after dinner?"

"Mmm," Willow moaned, "are you asking me on a date?"

"Something like that," Tara agreed as she began kissing a line down Willow's neck, unbuttoning her shirt as she went. "First, I'd like to demonstrate what a true birthday should be like."

"But it's not my real... Oh God!" Willow screamed as Tara cupped her mound through her jeans and engulfed her nipple with her lips.

That scream was far from the last scream the redhead gave in the next few hours...