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“Well, that was fun.”
Tara looked at her girlfriend and lifted and eyebrow. “Really?” she asked. “You’re not just saying it?”
Willow shrugged. “A bunch of yummy food, all my friends together… Yeah, I think I enjoyed it.”
“Oh. It’s just, you know. With you hating Christmas and all...”
Willow rolled her eyes. “You’re quoting me out of context here, okay? It’s not that I hate, hate Christmas. I just don’t celebrate it. And I’d love it if people would just stop shoving it down my throat all the time.”
Tara nodded in understanding.
“It’s like,” Willow continued. “Like when people say that we hate men because we’re lesbians, you know? I don’t hate men. I have friends who are men!”
Tara giggled. “I’m no misandrist, but...” she said in a mocking voice.
“Yeah, pretty much,” Willow agreed.
Tara sighed in contentment, tightening her grip on Willow’s arm. They had both just left Buffy’s Christmas party and were now walking back home, taking a shortcut through the currently very well-lit and busy park. It was a cold night as expected, and Tara wanted to maintain as much body heat as possible. It was a good excuse, at least.
“Oh, wow, look at that thing.”
Tara turned her attention to where Willow was indicating, that being the colossal Christmas tree located at the very center of the park. It was beautiful, really, with the hundreds of tiny lights hanging from its branches. All around it, Tara could see people of all ages having the time of their lives. Kids were having snowball fights, couples were sharing loving kisses and old friends were sharing drinks and laughing at each other’s stories. She couldn’t help smiling.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” She turned to Willow, who had the start of a smile in her face.
“Yeah,” she agreed. “That part I like.”
They spent the rest of the walk back home recalling the events of the night. Giles got drunk off of champagne after one hour of the party had passed, as was expected. Spike brought in a live turkey, and then proceeded to make a fool out of himself by chasing off the bird for several minutes of painful failure, and Xander managed to free an ancient spirit in the living room and they all had to make a pause from the gift-giving session to banish it to its rightful plane.
Generally speaking, it all went pretty normal.
Willow brought up Dawn’s new girlfriend, who they all met that night, and Tara recalled with exacerbated nostalgia the time Dawn came out to her in her senior year in high school.
“Wow, those were the times,” Willow said. “Hey, remember when your life was nice and boring and banishing a spirit to the underworld wasn’t an everyday thing for you?”
“No.”
“Me neither.”
Once they were home, Willow dramatically threw her coat in the couch, with a triumphant “Home, sweet home.”
Tara rolled her eyes. “Thought you said you had fun back there.”
“I did,” Willow agreed, a sly grin making its way to her face. “But now I’m more interested in the cuddly, alone-together type of fun.” She wrapped her arms around Tara’s waist, pulling her closer. “Know what I’m saying?”
“I think I do,” Tara replied, bringing Willow’s face closer and giving her a soft kiss on the lips. The kiss soon got more demanding, but as soon as it did, Willow pulled back suddenly, much to Tara’s disappointment.
“Hold on, hold on a second,” Willow said, suddenly looking nervous. “Oh my Goddess, I almost forgot. Oooh, my Goddess, how did I forget this?”
Tara frowned, worried. “What’s wrong, Wil?” She tried to caress her girlfriend’s cheek, but she pulled away, which only served to make Tara more worried.
“Willow…?”
“Nothing! Nothing’s wrong!” Willow said abruptly. “I just. I...”
“You’ve been hiding something from me ever since that elf gig of yours,” Tara pointed out. “Willow, you know you can tell me anything, right? What is it that you’re so afraid to tell me?”
Willow raised her hands in an ‘I need some time’ gesture. She drew a deep breath, and looked like she was about to start talking, but then she just let out her breath and started again, frustrated. That happened about three times before she said:
“Okay. Tara.” She drew in another breath. “I have… a present. For you.” She looked up, seemingly trying to remember what she was going to say. “You know. Because it’s Christmas.”
Tara blinked. “Is that it?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you—” Tara shook her head. “Willow, is that what you’ve been trying to hide from me?”
“Yep.” That said, Willow turned her back to Tara, hurriedly walking towards their bedroom and returning with a box. A big one.
A really big one.
“Wow, that’s… big.”
“Yeah,” Willow agreed, excited.
“O-kay.” Tara started tugging at the ribbon, wondering how Willow had managed to hide something so big from her for who-knows-how-long. She opened the flaps and looked inside to see…
Another box.
Tara felt heat rise to her head, and she took a deep breath before saying: “Willow, tell me you didn’t do what I think you did.”
Willow had a stupid grin spread wide in her face. “I don’t know, did I?”
Tara sighed heavily as she took the new box from the outer one and opened it. Soon enough, she had another, smaller box in her hand.
Tara clenched her teeth, looking at Willow, whose grin seemed to have gotten even wider, if that was even possible.
“Just so you know, you’re sleeping on the couch today.”
Willow shrugged. “I can live with that.”
Tara then proceeded to keep opening box after box, each layer leaving her more aggravated. By the tenth box she was already considering just giving up and going to sleep, which she decided wouldn’t include Willow for at least three months or so.
“That’s the last one,” Willow informed once she got to the seventeenth box. At this point, the box was barely the size of her hand.
“Willow Danielle Rosenberg, this present better be something to die for, or I’m leaving you,” Tara threatened, and she could see how Willow had been getting gradatively nervous with each box since the seventh.
It wasn’t for the reason she thought, though.
Because once Tara got done with opening the last box, what was inside it was…
Yet another box.
There were three reasons why Tara didn’t just strangle Willow right then on the spot: First, because she loved her, of course. Second, because that one box was different from all the other ones, which tipped her on the fact that Willow was telling the truth. And third, because that was a ring box.
“Oh. My Goddess.”
“Welp,” said Willow. “I guess that’s when I come in.” She delicately reached out and retrieved the box from Tara’s hand, who was probably gonna drop it soon enough anyway, since suddenly her whole body started feeling wobbly.
“Okay.” Willow took a deep breath and got down on one knee. “Tara, I love you. Let’s just, get this out of the way. I love you. More than anything. More than anyone. I am so lucky to have you.”
At this point, Tara’s eyes started to fill with tears, her hand clutching at her chest, fearing her heart might just jump out.
“The years I’ve spent with you have been the best years of my life.” Willow continued. “Nothing before that has ever compared. I want the rest of my life to be just like that. I wanna spend the rest of my days by your side.”
By now, Tara’s tears were freely running through her face, her occasional sobs cutting Willow’s declaration here and there.
Willow couldn’t help smiling, as she stumbled over a few words in her carefully rehearsed speech. “Tara Maclay.” She opened the box and extended it until it was within Tara’s arm’s reach. “Will you make me the most happiest woman alive?”
Tara couldn’t help giggling when she saw the realization on Willow’s face.
“Did I just say ‘most happiest’?”
“Willow...”
“No no, I got this,” she said in a desperate tone. “I’m just gonna start all over—”
Before she could, Tara grabbed her by the shoulders, shutting her up with a kiss, which Willow happily accepted. She easily allowed for Tara’s tongue to have access to her mouth, and let out a content sigh when she felt her girlfriend’s arms close tightly around her.
Or rather…
“Is that a yes?” Willow asked, breaking the kiss.
Tara smiled. “What do you think?”
“I’m thinking I might not hate Christmas so much from now on,” she answered, before her lips met Tara’s again.