Wow, has it really been almost 10 months since the last update?
I've been such a bad fanfic writer
. But, for those of you who are still interested, I have good news... very good news in fact - I have an update.
I just want to say a huge
Thank You to everyone who has shown their support during the time that I've not been updating.
I'd like to dedicate this update to
Emms, for all of her help, advice, support and encouragement, and for her constant, unwavering enthusiasm - Emms, sweetie, if it wasn't for you, this update wouldn't exist. Thank you
Now, I seem to remember there were Birthday celebrations going on...
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“Happy Birthday to us, happy birthday to us, we’re having a party… Eww, but we don’t want couscous.” Lydia ended her song with a disgusted scrunch of her nose. “Tada, couscous is yucky.”
“You don’t have to eat it Lydie, just put it on the table with the rest of the food.”
“None of our friends like couscous either.”
“Well I do and mommy does, and we might want to eat something other than sticky jelly sandwiches and sugary candies.”
“Candies are yummy.”
“But not good for little teeth, or pregnant Tada’s.” Willow informed her daughter as she walked through into the kitchen. “Oh, couscous, yum.” Willow dipped her finger into the bowl that her daughter was holding to sample the sticky rice-like concoction.
“Mommy! I think someone is here.” Julia called from her look-out spot in front of the window. “Oh, it’s Erin. Lydie it’s your girlfriend.”
“Shut up Julia, she is NOT my girlfriend.” Lydia insisted vehemently as she raced to open the front door before her sister.
“But you like her lots and I’ve seen you holding her hand.”
“So? You hold hand’s with Joshua Bailey, that doesn’t mean that he’s your boyfriend, does it?”
At this comment, Julia blushed a deep shade of crimson and decided that it would be best to stop teasing Lydia about her crush.
“Girlfriend? Boyfriend? Hand holding? They’re only six. They are only six, right? I didn’t fall asleep for ten years and wake up on their sweet sixteenths?” Willow spoke so that only Tara could hear, even though the twins weren’t paying attention to them anyway, having rushed off to greet their friends at the door.
“You and Xander went out when you were five.” Tara reasoned calmly.
“But, that was Xander, and he stole my Barbie. That’s all fine and dandy for Jules, but Lydia doesn’t play with Barbie dolls, how can they break up if there’s no Barbie theft?”
Tara studied Willow for a long moment.
“You do know that you’re over-reacting right? They’re just kids, it’s not like they’re going to run off and get married in a skanky Vegas chapel.”
“You’re not helping.” Willow pouted cutely.
“You’re adorable.” Tara chuckled good naturedly and captured Willow’s lips between her own in a sweet kiss. “Go and entertain the kids whilst I finish getting the food ready.”
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Twenty minutes later, fifteen children between the ages of three and seven were sat on the floor in awed silence as Willow meticulously performed a number of small magic tricks, including making a stuffed bear ballroom dance with a rag doll and turning a torn up magazine into gold and silver glitter which rained down on the children like magic fairy dust.
“Okay kids, that’s enough magic for now, who wants to play musical statues?” Tara interrupted the magic show, and was answered by an excited yell of “YAY!” as she loaded a disk of children’s party songs into the CD player.
The children danced, jumped and ran around the living room animatedly as If You’re Happy and You Know It filled the room.
After a minute or so, Tara pressed pause and a silent stillness descended upon the children. A small boy with short dark hair and glasses had been stopped mid-hop and he wobbled unsteadily on one short, chubby leg, before his other foot dropped down to the floor with a small thud.
“Sorry Billy, you’re out, go sit down.” Willow explained softly.
Billy gave an exaggerated sigh and plodded over to the couch, to the harsh sound of two girls with matching blonde pigtails sniggering teasingly.
“Chloe, Nicola, you’re out too.” Willow told the giggling girls with a disapproving frown.
Due to several past quarrels with the two girls, Lydie and Jules had been reluctant to invite Nicola and Chloe to the party; but they were the cousins of Julia’s best friend, Amy, and so invites had been compulsory.
The game ended with no further incident; Julia and a young boy called Scott were declared joint winners, and both were awarded a box of milkduds as prizes.
“Right, sit yourselves in a circle, we’ll play pass the parcel.”
“Oh, ah, no, uhm, not yet, pass the parcel is later. Uhm, lets eat, yeah? Who’s hungry?” Willow stuttered, as she suddenly remembered that she had forgotten to wrap the parcel for pass the parcel.
“Right, silly me. I forgot that pass the parcel always comes after cake and ice-cream.” Tara covered for Willow.
Lydia and Jules were too busy chatting with their friends to take much notice of the sudden change in plans, and neither girl would put up much of a fuss about cake and ice-cream anyway, even if they had noticed.
There was an excited buzz throughout the room as children hurriedly gathered around the kitchen table. Willow lit the candles on the small round cake with Lydia’s name spelled out in the frosting and Tara lit Julia’s cake.
Tara came behind and between the twins, who sat on identical stools, the glow from the candles reflecting on their rosy cheeks. She kissed each of them on the cheeks.
“Remember to make a wish” she reminded them tenderly.
The twins took deep breaths at the same time, each girl blowing out the candles on her own cake. There was a round of clapping from the children and one boy shouted that they should be spanked six times and pinched just as many.
“I don’t want to be spanked.” Lydie was quick to speak up.
“I don’t want to be spanked, either.” Jules chimed in shortly after.
Tara could tell that they were not as truly concerned about being spanked as they pretended to be.
“No one’s getting spanked.” Willow said, as she placed small slices of cake on tiny paper plates. She set the first two pieces in front of the twins, as tradition dictated.
“But I wanted the one with the blue flower.” Lydie said politely eyeing the blue flower on her sisters’ cake.
“I’ll trade with you.” Jules said, sliding her plate across to her sister.
“Thank you.” Both girls giggled and began eating their cake. The rest of the children found their own seats around the table. A happy buzz of excited chatter began, extending from the kitchen all the way to the nearly deserted living room.
Willow, with only a wink in Tara’s direction left the kitchen to go and wrap the present for the game of ‘pass the parcel’.
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“Chloe, you have to pass it on! Mommy, Chloe is holding on to the parcel, and she already has a prize. That’s not fair!” Julia whinged crankily, as she rubbed her eyes and twirled her hair around her fingers. The birthday girl was obviously beginning to get tired.
“It’s okay Jules, I’ll make sure that everyone gets a prize, I promise.” Willow explained patiently.
Julia sniffled a little, and gave a small pout, too tired to shake off the indignation.
Lydia could tell that her sister was on the verge of tears, so she shuffled herself out of and around the circle to sit next to Julia, and then gently wrapped her hand around Julia’s fingers. Jules gave Lydia’s hand a grateful squeeze and gently rested her head on the younger twin’s shoulder.
“Are we nearly done sweetheart? Parents are gonna be here soon.” Tara asked, directing Willow’s attention to the clock.
And so the game was brought to an end, party bags were handed out and slowly, one by one, the children were collected by their parents and taken home; until only Julia, Lydia and Ryan remained.
“Okay little ones, who wants to have a little lie down?”
“Tada, we’re six, we’re too big for naps.” Lydia chuckled good naturedly, her hands on her hips and her head tilted to one side.
“Oh really? Well, I think Jules might disagree with that.” Willow smiled, lifting her sleeping daughter off the couch and making her way towards the stairs.
“Come on Lydie, you can watch a DVD for a while and, if you want to you can have a little nap. Unless you’d rather help us to clean up?” Tara raised her eyebrow sceptically, as Lydia stood in quiet contemplation.
“I am kinda sleepy.” She decided, allowing a small, sleepy yawn to escape, before taking Ryan’s hand and leading him up the stairs.
As the children slept, Willow and Tara set to work straightening out the living room and kitchen in preparation for the slightly more sophisticated dinner party for the Scooby gang.
“Do you have two parties every year?”
“Just the past two years.”
“How on earth did you do this on your own last year?” Tara enquired, as Willow added a pile of plastic plates to the already mountainous pile of dishes that she was washing.
“Buffy and Dawn helped. And when I say they helped, I mean they argued all afternoon, made a huge mess in the kitchen, and burned the blueberry pie.”
“Well, can I make a suggestion for the next time we do this?” Tara offered, as she used the back of her hand to push a wisp of hair from her face.
Willow smiled, noticing the tiny soap-sud bubbles resting at the tip of Tara’s nose. She took a clean dish towel from the drawer and gently wiped the bubbles away.
“What’s that, love?”
“Use paper plates.”
“What? And miss out on seeing you all soapy and sexy?” Now why would I do that?”
“Only you could find washing the dishes sexy.”
“Everything you do is sexy.”
“Really?” Tara raised her eyebrow mischievously. “Are you sure that’s what it is? It’s not some little fantasy you have, involving a French maid’s outfit and rubber gloves?” The blonde teased, her suggestive half smile turning to a playful giggle as Willow began to nervously twist the dish towel around her fingers.
Tara turned and reached to dry her hands on the towel, gently pulling it from Willow’s hand and using it to enticingly swat her blushing girlfriend’s thigh.
“Hey!” Willow protested weakly, reaching into the drawer to take another towel, which she twisted and flicked towards Tara’s shapely ass.
And so, the dishes were abandoned, as the flirtatious game of towel whipping led way to a soapy water fight; the rather pleasant consequences of which, were tight, wet blouses, and playful kisses.
“You are my fantasy Tara, everything that you do and everything we do together.” Willow smiled and gently pressed her lips against Tara’s.
“Do you know what I think we should do together right now?”
“More kissing?”
“Yes, but also, we should get out of these damp clothes…”
“I’m liking that thought.” Willow interrupted, her lips wandering down her love’s neck.
“…and finish cleaning up before everyone gets here.”
“Can’t we skip that part?” Willow flashed pleading eyes at Tara.
“The gang will be here in two hours, and we need to finish the dishes and cook dinner.”
“The gang won’t care if the dishes aren’t washed. And we can just order pizzas, then we won’t even need plates. It’s not like they’ll be expecting a gourmet meal, and Lydie and Jules love pizza so they’re not gonna object. We threw out all the trash while the kids were opening their gifts and it is still the girls’ birthday, so the decorations can stay up. There’s really nothing else that needs doing, and Ryan and the girls were exhausted, so I’d say we have at least an hour until they wake up.” The red head used teasing kisses and wandering finger tips to further aid her persuasive case, which left Tara unable to do anything more than moan and nod her head.
So, the two women hastily made their way up the stairs and, after ensuring that the children were all fast asleep, removed each other’s wet clothing and melted together behind their securely closed door.
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If nobody minds, I'm gonna end Lydie & Julia's birthday there, and get to work on an epilogue. & I promise I won't leave you waiting so long.
hugs
Jeanne
. 
soon this will be such a wonderful ending
i dont have a lot to say other than please continue 
I love this story, and think there needs to be more of it. Soon. Yes, very soon. With 
OK IF WE HAVE TOO!!!!!!! please soon it is so hard waiting for you this is such a wonderfull story . the 
Awesome story 
I read the story in one sitting (well... almost).
thank you for the dedication! 
