Title: Especially For You (Part 3)
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I don't own them (Joss does, whatta lucky guy), I just love them and I’m borrowing them. But I do own this story, I think. The song “Eyes On Me” is Nobuo Uematsu’s.
Note: revised and most errors have been corrected.
Part 3
Willow looked over at Tara.
Still Out. She couldn’t help but inwardly giggle at Tara’s reaction when she sprung the first surprise. They’ve traveled over 8 hours. Tara was still sleeping. She had slept through breakfast, snacks and lunch so far. Willow put a hand gently on Tara’s shoulder, then slowly moved up to push away a lock of Tara’s hair that had fallen over her face. She had never seen someone as beautiful as Tara. Even after 6 years (counting tomorrow, their anniversary), Willow never had anyone who was more precious as life itself to her than Tara. They had been through a lot and their relationship had survived.
Tara reacted to Willow’s touch with a contented sigh and smiled with her eyes still shut. Then slowly opening her eyes to see Willow’s sparkling emerald eyes looking lovingly at her.
“Hey…” she softly greeted Willow. Just that one word brought a wide smile from Willow’s lips. She sat up and looked around. There weren’t many people in First Class.
“Hey.. Want something to drink? You’ve been out of commission for almost 9 hours, baby.” Willow said with a grin while she pressed the button on the armrest to call a stewardess. In less than a minute, a stewardess came to attend to them.
“What can I get for you and…” the stewardess saw that Tara was awake and smiled at her. “..Miss Maclay? Ahh…Welcome to flight MH202 bound for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This flight will make an hour’s stop in Singapore then will continue on to Kuala Lumpur International Airport.” She paused a while and smiled. “May I say something?”
Willow and Tara nodded uncertainly.
“I’ve really never seen someone pass out so long after a surprise.” She said, her voice full of amusement. “What may I get for you to eat? Here’s the menu. Maybe a drink first?”
“Um.. I-ice water, p-please.” Tara blushed furiously and smiled shyly at the stewardess. The stewardess smiled again then walked away to get the order.
“Do they always serve us like that? They’re so polite.” Tara turned to ask Willow as she made her choice of a meal and put away the menu.
“Only in First Class. Baby, I’ve never seen you sleep so long before.” Willow teased, knowing very well why Tara and herself rarely even slept long. Tara’s blush was gradually getting redder. “Awww… you look so cute when you’re blushing.” Willow pulled up the armrests separating the two seats and snuggle closer to Tara. Both felt tingles of electricity as their bodies made contact.
Too many questions were swimming around in Tara’s head. While they were comfortably in each other’s arms, the stewardess came with Tara’s water.
“And what may I get for your meal order, Miss Maclay?”
“Um… C-chicken sandwich in pita and a Caesar salad, thanks.”
“Good choice, Miss Maclay. Please wait a while.”
Tara snuggled back into Willow’s arms. The seats were much broader when the arm rest were pushed up, almost similar to a very small bed.
“Willow?”
“Hmm?” Willow answered as she stroked Tara’s golden blond hair.
“Were you planning this for the past few months?”
“Yes, I was. I want this to be perfect. Plus, we probably won’t have financial problems for a long while.” Willow answered, still stroking Tara’s hair. Tara turned to look up at Willow, her slate-blue eyes were glistening with tears of joy and utter love for the woman who was stroking her hair ever so gently.
“Thank you. I’ve never felt so loved in my life since Momma died and you came along.”
“Don’t cry, baby. You did the same for me. I just want to show you how much being together after all these years means to me. And I thought long and hard, and this is going to be the best anniversary ever.” Willow kissed Tara and soon they were both so engrossed with each other that when Tara’s meal was served, Willow had to force Tara to eat, as Tara hadn’t eaten since leaving Sunnydale.
After Tara finished her meal. It was snuggle time again. Willow was lightly caressing Tara’s forearm, which was draped across her tummy. The blond had leaned her head on Willows shoulder and she was softly asking Willow questions.
“…How about clothes?”
“Um...remember all those window shopping trips we made for the past few days? I wanted you to look around and try out clothes?”
“Yeah?”
“Well, I bought most of those that you said you liked. All the clothes were packed and checked in before we went to the airport.”
“Oh Willow..” was all Tara could say. She was beyond happy. She looked up at Willow and gave her a long kiss before settling back down.
Willow was so proud of her plans and now knowing that Tara was happy about things so far. Willow did something, which she didn’t do normally. Since Tara always sang to her back home, she would now sing to Tara away from home. She had a song in her head. Though Willow had a sweet voice, singing didn’t quite agree with her. She tended to sing a little off key at time and for someone who wasn’t academically challenged, she couldn’t remember the complete lyrics of the song she wanted to sing to Tara now. But she started humming first and she felt Tara snuggle closer to her. She wrapped her arms around the beautiful blond and softly hummed till she came to the part of the song where she always could remember.
“…I kind of liked it your way, how you shyly placed your eyes on me.
Oh~ did you ever know, that I had mine on you?
Darling~ so there you are, with that look on your face.
As if you're never hurt, as if you're never down.
Shall I be the one for you, who pinches you softly but sure,
If frown is shown, then I will know that you are no dreamer.
So let me come to you, close as I want to be.
Close enough for me, to feel your heart beating fast.
And stay there as I whisper, how I loved your peaceful eyes on me.
Did you ever know, that I had mine on you?
Darling~ so share with me, your love if you have enough,
Your tears if you're holding back, or pain if that's what it is.
How can I let you know, I’m more than the dress and the voice.
Just reach me out then, you will know that you're not dreaming.…”
“Willow?”
“Yes?”
“That’s so sweet. My Willow, serenading to me above the clouds.” Tara looked up into Willow’s face and gave Willow a smile that was only meant for one person. Willow could only smile back, losing herself in Tara’s clear blue eyes which were filled with faith, trust and above all, love.
“I know, I practiced but never could get it perfect. I love you.”
“I love you, too. And Willow?”
“Hmm?”
“You went a little out of key along the way, but I still love you for it.” Tara smirked.
“Come on. Lets catch a show, I think there’s a nice romantic rerun on in a couple of minutes.” Willow grinned as she shifted slightly in the seat noticing the present that Dawn had passed to her in her pocket for the first time since
“Okay”
Soon they were both watching a romantic movie on the personal viewer and before the show was over they were both sleeping peacefully. Hours passed quickly. Willow always noticed that no matter how boring things got, as long as Tara was with her, it was nothing. Even if they were only sleeping together or just lying in each others arms talking. After skipping another meal. They woke up to the final meal before reaching Singapore.
Willow checked the time and adjusted her watch to the current local time.
“Happy Anniversary, baby.” Willow softly greeted her blond lover.
“Happy Anniversary, honey.” Tara replied pulling Willow closer to her for another hug and kiss. The stewardess had come over to take orders for the meal. Willow had ordered something called Nasi Lemak while Tara had Hainanese chicken rice. Both of which are Malaysian cuisines, which were highly recommended in the menu. When the stewardess left, Tara bent down to retrieve her purse which was tucked underneath her seat. She pulled out the little box from her purse and gave it to Willow.
“Here, honey. Happy Anniversary.”
Willow slowly flip open the box and saw the most beautiful antique pocket watch, all restored and it had a picture of Tara and herself fitted nicely into the cover.
“It’s...it’s… perfect! Is this 18th century? And it’s still working! Wow! You’ve gotten it polished up, too. It’s all nice and shiny. The carvings on them are so intricate! It must have cost you a lot! Oh Tara! I love it! I love you!” Willow’s burst of excitement and stream of babble stopped as sudden as it started when she suddenly planted a long passionate kiss on Tara. Though Tara was expecting something like this she was caught off guard with Willow’s sudden kiss, but soon she closed her eyes and returned the kiss.
When the food came, Willow carefully placed the watch back into the box and kept it in her backpack, then she opened the platter cautiously and saw a small pile of rice cooked in coconut milk, anchovy sambal, chicken curry, fresh cucumber and some roasted groundnuts surrounding the rice.
That doesn’t look so threatening. She looked amusingly around the platter and took a piece of anchovy and stuffed it into her mouth. Tara almost knocked over her food laughing when she saw Willow’s reaction to the spicy sambal. Willow’s face was now as red as her hair and she was sticking out her tongue. An absolutely priceless scene.
“Hot! Hot! Water! Water!” Willow called out hoarsely. She had already downed both Tara’s and her own cup of juice and water. Tara had already ordered a jug of water for Willow. She tried to calm Willow down while trying to suppress the giggles that was going to burst out anytime.
“Here. Water’s here, honey.” She smiled as she poured water into Willow’s glass. After drinking the whole jug of water, Willow lay back and surrendered to the Nasi Lemak.
“Argh! They should put a miniature fire extinguisher on the tray with this dish.” Willow’s face was still red.
“Here honey. Let’s share mine. It’s actually quite tasty and not spicy at all. I thought all food on the plane was terrible. But this is seriously edible.” Tara said as she took a spoonful of rice and chicken and feed Willow.
“Mmm.. That’s nice.” Willow smacked her lips. “ Hurts a lot less than the Nasi Lemak, lips and tongue still smarts.”
“Maybe I can cure that.” Tara said as she leaned over to kiss Willow.
“I’m sure you can.…” she said as her lips met Tara’s.
After about an hour, the captain of the flight made an announcement.
“This is your captain speaking. We will be landing in Changi International Airport, Singapore, in ten minutes. The flight will then continue to Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Please stay in your seats and buckle your seat belt when the sign turns on. For the passengers who are getting off at Changi International Airport, thank you for flying with MAS…..”
Willow pulled off the blanket that was covering Tara and herself from head to toe and looked around the plane, then looking back down at Tara who was breathless from their little curricular activity under the blanket.
“Tara? We’re gonna land soon. But THIS was fun.” Willow grinned and pointed at the blanket and then at themselves.
“Come on, baby.” Willow sat up, pulled Tara up and helped readjust their seats back to the original position. “We’re gonna land in Singapore for about an hour. Buckle up!”
Tara felt under around her seat for the seatbelt and buckled in. Willow had leaned over to double check the blonde’s seatbelt, her arm accidentally brushing against Tara’s breasts, the action had caused them both to close their eyes and take a sudden deep breath because their hearts were racing and temptation was great. It always took a lot of effort to not start with the hot kisses every time they touched intimately on purpose or by accident.
Settling back into their seats, they held hands as the plane landed. The First Class passengers were allowed to disembark the plane first. Willow and Tara were the first to get to the lounge; Willow collected the temporary boarding pass from an airlines officer who was announcing and handing out the passes to those who were continuing their flight to Kuala Lumpur.
**********************************************************************
In the lounge, they picked a place to sit where they could have some privacy. The lounge chairs were very spacious so Willow sat in one and made Tara lean against her. Willow then pulled out the little box that Dawn had given her.
“Tara? Um… This is from the gang. They wished us a happy anniversary.” Willow handed over the little box. “Here… you open it. I was so curious to see what is it but I think you should have the honor of opening it.”
“No…we should open it together.” Tara said and she placed Willow’s hands on the box. They both opened the box together and gasped.
“Oh goddess!” they both exclaimed. Willow lifted out two bracelets whose designs complemented each other, just how Tara complimented Willow and vice versa. One bracelet had Tara’s name etched into a long, matte silver cylindrical panel with pink Tourmaline beads to complete the bracelet. The other had Willow’s name also etched into a similar silver panel, but with blue Tourmaline beads. Both bracelets’ panels had a diamond encased in one end of it. A little note accompanied the gift. Tara read the note out to Willow. It was a little difficult to read as Buffy didn’t really have good handwriting.
“Hey you lovebirds.
Happy anniversary from all of the Scoobies. This is our gift to you, two bracelets. Will, you’re supposed to wear the one with Tara’s name. And Tara, you wear the one with Willow’s name. We made this specially for you. Giles said it was supposed to um… make your already long and stable relationship even longer! Hope you like the gift.
Love,
Buffy, Dawn, Xander and Giles.”
“Oh wow! Tara… these are so…you gotta love the gang for this.” Willow for once had no way of wording her feelings.
“Yeah… I know. I mean, they’ve been the family I had all these years.” Tara said thinking about her abusive father and brother. “We’ve really gotta thank them when we get home.”
“Let’s put them on.” Willow took the blue bracelet and working from behind Tara, she hooked it into place. “Never looked better on anyone else.” She said as she kissed Tara’s hair.
“Doesn’t look too bad on you either” Tara said as she put on the pink bracelet on Willow’s wrist and kissed her hand.
After another 15 minutes of quiet time together, the announcement calling passengers to board the flight to Malaysia was made.
***********************************************************************
After collecting their luggage and going through the customs, they both headed out. Willow was looking around.
“What are you looking for?” Tara asked curiously.
“Not what…who. I’m actually looking for a guy named Luc. He’s supposed to bring us to the hotel.” Willow answered, still looking around, then she spotted a tall good-looking guy holding up a “Willow and Tara. Welcome to Malaysia” sign. “There he is!” She pushed the trolley towards the guy pulling Tara with her. Tara could only smile at the cuteness that was Willow.
After a short conversation, Willow and Tara followed Luc to the car park and were soon on their way into the heart of Kuala Lumpur where they were to stay at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Tara had slept a little more in the car as the trip from Sunnydale to Kuala Lumpur was a little tiring. While Tara was napping, Willow had to whisper whatever she wanted to ask Luc and had received relevant documents and tickets for the next part of her big anniversary plan She had also paid Luc the balance of whatever she owed and sent Oz her regards via Luc.
“Baby? We’re here.” Willow gently woke Tara up. “I’ve checked in. Our room has a Jacuzzi. Wanna have a dip in it with me?”
“Mmmm…” Tara smiled, her eyes still closed, she stretched and put her arms around Willow’s neck. Willow couldn’t help but grin.
“Tara? Baby? Come on. Lots of privacy waiting upstairs.”
“Sigh… Okay.” Tara opened her blue eyes to look at Willow and she hopped out of the car with a little assistance from her redheaded lover.
Within a few minutes, Willow and Tara were both in their suite’s Jacuzzi. Willow never felt so loved, she loved every part and every curve of Tara that she could get her hands on and in the Jacuzzi, she had her hands on every part of Tara. Tara was enjoying Willow’s touch. The constant movement of the water along with Willow’s hands massaging her, Tara was left very stimulated. About half an hour of relaxing in the Jacuzzi, Tara turned around to face Willow.
“Let’s go relax in the bed. It looked really soft and comfy.” Tara gave Willow a sensuous smile, then lifted Willow’s hands to look at her fingers, “And look, your fingers are already starting to resemble raisin.”
“Sure. Anyway, it’s lunchtime in an hour. Snuggles?”
“Oh yeah!”
They quickly dried off and hopped into bed just wearing bathrobes. Willow set the alarm and then on to the snuggles.
Snuggles never felt better away from home. This time in Malaysia is so much better than the 4 days I was here. Tara’s with me now. I’m complete. Willow thought happily as she fingered a lock of Tara’s blonde tresses.
The hour went by quickly and before the girls knew it, the alarm went off. As they picked out clothes to wear, every piece of garment that Tara picked out from her suitcase had brought out a little gasp from the blonde.
“Willow! You didn’t! All these…oh my…” Tara lifted out dresses and blouses that she had really liked from the various shops in Sunnydale.
“I did. Oh and there’s more.” Willow walked over to Tara and gave her a from behind. “Look underneath that flap” Willow freed one hand and pointed to the bottom of the suitcase.
Tara did as she said and to her delight, a dress, the most beautiful sundress she has ever seen. In fact, she had never seen a dress like it. The patterns and design of the dress wasn’t American.
“Wow! Where did you get this?” Tara lifted out the dress to get a better look.
“Oh…I’ve been meaning to tell you since we’re here already. I bought this here in Malaysia…um…ya know…those 4 days I went M.I.A.?” Tara felt Willow body fidget a little against her body.
“You were here? I knew I had forgiven you for a good reason.” Tara smirked. “This is the best anniversary I ever had.”
“There’s more to come. But come one, we’ll hop down to the shopping center, KLCC, which is connected to this hotel. I think they have some pretty good restaurants there.” Willow pulled on a light blouse and denim shorts.
“Mmm… or we could just have lunch in here…” Tara looked at Willow’s slender legs.
“Tara!” Willow laughed, sometimes her girlfriend really had a single tracked mind. Willow looked at the little pile of clothes that Tara had taken out. She picked out a light floral blouse and a flowing skirt.
“Thanks…I couldn’t decide on what to wear anyway. How come I can’t wear that dress now?” Tara pouted. It was too much for Willow to bear. She had to kiss away the pout from her lover.
“Because, baby. That dress would be for tonight. The big date.”
Soon the girls were out in KLCC, walking around looking at the various shops that sold souvenirs, local Malaysian material and a mixture of various other cultural and non-cultural items and clothes. They had lunch at a place called “Stone Grill” where the food were served on a hot stone, where the customer had a chance to cook their own meal in the comfort of air conditioned environment. Tara had enjoyed every moment so far.
After that they walked out into the park behind the shopping center and hotel. It was hot.
Thank the goddess Willow had made sure we had light material clothes to wear! Tara thought. As though reading her thoughts, she heard Willow reply. “Definitely! I was here last week, light clothes were the best. If we had to wear our regular clothes, I’d be hugging a rather well tanned Tara tonight.”
They sat underneath some palms in the park and watched the various activities going on around them. There were some pools with metal sculptures that were also fountains and many people milling around the sidewalk cafes at the KLCC building. Lots of trees and lovebirds around. Though the weather was hot, most didn’t mind as many walked around with umbrellas. Very colorful. The people who ran the park had installed a very unusual looking drinking fountain. It was also a metal sculpture and had four different corners for people to drink from.
They lazed around until 4:30pm and then they walked back to the hotel. Willow had dressed up in a new blouse and slacks that she bought for the occasion and helped Tara get dressed as well.
“Turn around!” Willow said excitedly. “Oh wow! Tara… you sexy babe!”
Tara blushed and dipped her head down and her blonde locks fell and covered the view of her face. Willow remembered how Tara first looked like when they met for the first time. It was so long ago, but it felt like yesterday, at the Wicca group in college.
“Y-you think so?” Tar asked, mentally slapping her forehead for stuttering.
“I KNOW so and don’t you go all shy on me. It’s me! Willow! The person who you don’t have to be shy to, not that I don’t like that. It’s really sexy and appealing and well, that’s also why I can’t get my hands off you and can’t take my eyes off you…” Willow was stopped by Tara’s passionate kiss that filled them both with love and if Willow didn’t stop it, there would be another long delay, which they couldn’t afford.
“Come on. We’ll do this later.” Willow gasped for breath as she unwillingly broke off from the kiss. “We’ve gotta go down and meet Luc. He’s getting the car for us.”
“Car, baby?” Tara said breathlessly. Willow swore that sometimes Tara could make any sentence sound sexy.
“Oh yes! Car! We’re going for our big anniversary date.”
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Outside the lobby, Willow saw the very car she had asked Oz to rent for her, a Toyota Camry and she was caught by surprise when she saw who was closing the car boot.
“Oz!” Willow managed to say. Taking hold of Tara’s hand she walked towards the car. “Oz! You said you weren’t coming, but you made it!”
“Hey, Will.” Then quietly turning to Tara, he smiled and lifted his hand in a gesture of greeting and more importantly, friendship. “Hey, Tara.”
“H-h-hey, Oz!” Tara was a little afraid of Oz and had pulled back a little to hide behind Willow.
“Baby…it’s okay…” Willow comforted Tara. She turned back to Oz. “How’s everything with you. You seem very calm,” She said as she gave him a warm hug.
“I am. I’ve been thinking. After all it’s been so long and I know where your heart lies. I understand. You still love me and I still love you, but in a different way. Kinda like how Buffy and Xander love you. But as I said before, I’m happy and me appearing here is a gesture of my friendship to Tara.” He turned to look at Tara. “I’m really sorry about what I did to you last time. I’ve learnt to let go.”
“T-thanks. I’m g-glad you think so too.” Tara cautiously put out her hand to shake Oz’s, only to be pulled in for a tight hug. When Oz let go of Tara, they both saw that Willow was already inspecting the car.
“Better go see what she’s up to.” Oz laughed as Tara nodded her head in agreement.
“Wow! Oz! How did you managed to rent one so new?”
“Connections. I’ve been here for a while. I know people. Um… shall I show you the stuff in the car boot?” Oz said as he nodded slightly towards Tara who was looking lost.
“Sure” Willow smiled as she led Tara over and held her hand. “It’s “reveal the surprise” time.”
Oz opened the car boot to reveal a huge picnic basket, a small stereo all packed with batteries for portability, a few cushions, a tube of mosquito repellent and an icebox.
“All the stuff you need and...here” Oz said as he took out a CD casing. “My anniversary gift to you and Tara. It’s not much, but it’s one of the original CDs from Dingoes At My Baby.”
“Oh Oz! But it’s your most treasured CD!” Willow went wide-eyed.
“It was a milestone in my career, and you were a part of it. I’m giving it to you and Tara for 2 reasons. One as an apology to Tara for almost killing her,” Oz went really quiet for a moment, hardly daring to look Tara in the eyes. “And two, I want Tara to share in something that was part of you before you met her. There’s also a three… but it’s not relevant.” He grinned.
“W-what is the third?” Tara gently asked.
“Three, my band was really good and for every song on the CD, an event happened. I don’t know if Willow told you, but every song had a Scooby event tied to it.” Oz grinned from ear-to-ear.
The three of them laughed out loud.
“Thanks, Oz, for letting me have a chance to experience Willow before I met her.” Tara this time initiated a hug. Willow came over to give Oz a hug also and whispered her gratitude to Oz.
“Come on, Tara. It’s a 45 minutes drive to this wonderful place. Might as well get started now. Thanks, Oz.” Willow waved to Oz as her got into the drivers’ seat of the car. Tara had already got in and was buckling in. Willow looked once at the map with the route marked out, started the car and turned out of the hotel, leaving Oz waving goodbye.
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She Looks at the world in a special way, and I feel special because I'm part of her world. She gets my jokes. She understands. It's Magic.
Edited by: Shinnen at: 4/27/02 8:38:26 am
Check out the beta readers thread at the top of the board, because having your work proofread by someone who isn't the writer gives a great perspective on what you've written.
And I have it all up in my noggin'
....so sweet...! 
your story! Keep writing!