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**February 1st, 6:17 a.m.**
"Sweet Brigid, its Imbolc already?"
"And would you have remembered that if we didn't have a Goddess of the day calendar?" The blonde asked.
"Well no, but I had not ripped off any pages since I got it. And so I ripped a bunch off all at once and suddenly it's all 'hey its Imbolc.' And you know how it is with holidays around here. I mean we celebrate them all, from at least three different religions and it just gets to be a lot... So forgive me if I forget a few..." Willow started trailing off because Tara was giving her that smirk. The one that says, 'keep talking dear, it's adorable.'
Willow continued anyway just to see the blonde smile, "So we should have a feast right? Get the gang together. Celebrate?"
"You mean like we do every Wednesday?"
"Exactly."
"Can you get home early and help, perhaps?"
"I think it's actually going to be a busy day," Willow said.
Tara stuck out her bottom lip in a pout, a relatively new trick in Tara's arsenal to get Willow to do things (not like it was that hard but it was a game they liked to play.)
"Really?" Willow asked of the pout, also part of the new game.
Tara pouted even more (which Willow never thought was possible but she did it every time.)
Willow was forced to get closer and capture the pouty lips in hers.
"I'll try to get home early." She mumbled as she went in for another kiss.
**Sometime around noon**
"Dawnie, why do we need to stop at the bookstore?" Tara asked.
They were out running errands. It was a really nice day for February, especially since the week prior had been overcast and gloomy.
"The University bookstore was out of copies and I wanted to get it sooner rather than later. I am actually surprised that no one has a copy already. I mean hello, our family circle has a significant amount of bookish people, and people who like history or have lived it. You think someone would have a copy of The Divine Comedy."
"Well, Giles did have his Easton Press edition but you knew it wouldn't survive your backpack."
"That is why I am looking for a paperback. It will be torn up by the end of the semester, but so would a hardback that costs three times as much. And especially a leather-bound gold-plated edition."
"Very smart."
"And that is why I *is* in college!"
Dawn and Tara entered the bookstore. They were stopped short by a long line of people weaving throughout the entry.
"What the?"
"Wow, that is quite the line," Tara spoke at the same time as Dawn.
"Maybe we should um, get your book and quickly," Tara added.
"I wonder what is going on?" Dawn wondered aloud.
They squeezed along the back careful to avoid breaking the line. As they edged around they got a better view. It was a table, sitting behind was a person and the table was stacked high with books.
"I wonder who is here signing?"
They got a little closer to a poster posted up near the table...
"Dan Simmons." Tara read.
"Who?"
"Uh, some author. That name seems familiar though."
"Come on let's go get my Dante on... Wait, that sounds wrong."
"Well, we can wait for Virgil to give us the tour? Or maybe this is just the first circle of Hell?"
"I don't like those jokes either, but then again I might get it better after I've read it."
They wove through the stacks headed towards the sign hanging from the ceiling that said "Classics." It didn't take long for Dawn to find her selection. They walked towards checkout and near the line of people when Tara spotted a flash of red. The exact tone of the color was one that always made her heart skip a beat, ever since she first started seeing it around the college campus so many years ago.
So she was surprised and not surprised to see that it indeed belonged to her Willow.
"Willow?" Tara asked as she got closer, not so much a question but to make the redhead aware of her presence. The slight lilt hinting to her surprise.
The redhead turned, wide-eyed. She recognized that voice, and the way it made her heart race ever since the redhead introduced herself and the blonde replied "Nice to meet you Willow." on the college campus many years ago.
"Tara... uh Hi." It was nervous Willow, the one that got caught with her hand in the literal cookie jar. You know because eating a cookie before dinner was the extent of Willow's badness. Which, the redhead did and was caught fairly often. Those exchanges went fairly similar to the one about to take place.
Tara didn't have to say anything to launch the poor woman into full-on babble mode full of over explanation. All she had to do was quirk her eyebrow.
"So I was at work, of course as you know because you called me like a few hours ago, and I was sitting there and Peter came in and was all 'Hey guess who is at the bookstore today.' Because we had a discussion not that long ago actually about how Hyperion is one of my favorite sci-fi books of all time and so we came here..." She trailed off not exactly happy with her explanation.
"Busy day huh?" Tara smirked.
It was the smirk that let Willow know she wasn't in trouble, because I mean why would she, but she was totally going to be teased about it for a while.
"Yeah, actually, hence the here on lunch break."
Dawn paid for her purchase and headed back to campus for a later class that the book was required for. Willow and Tara did as they do during cookie incidents... they shared and enjoyed the moment together.
**Later that evening**
"Make sure Runt has a water dish down. Last time they were here the poor thing panted half to death." Tara yelled from the kitchen as a group entered the front door.
The happy dog came bounding into the kitchen and slid across the linoleum, crashing into Tara to say hi. Xander and Anya came following shortly after.
"Hi Runt," Tara said petting the dog.
It had started as a joke. Anya had wanted an expensive papered dog, one that spoke volumes of being made of money and possibly be used to make more as a show dog and then bred for even more money. That's like money-money-money. She had found the Great Dane advertised on Craigslist but by the time she got to see the dogs, there was only one left. As the runt, the poor pup was doomed to never show but was purchased at a discounted price. She was still papered with a ridiculous name that was like Athena's Blue Runner (or something like that). They all decided to call her Scooby and then proceeded to never call her that again.
Even Anya, who at first, had protested the name change with "That is not her name!," had come into the kitchen and said, "Runt, you know better, out of the kitchen."
The nickname was also hilarious because even as a runt, she was huge, easily staring above the belly button on the tallest of the pack of humans she knew as her family.
They prepared the feast, as was typical of a Wednesday evening and sat down together to enjoy it.
"So Will, what are we celebrating?" He had heard from Buffy who had heard from Dawn who had talked about it with Tara when they were out running errands together.
Willow was torn between ignoring what she knew was a smart ass remark from a teasing Xander or telling him to shut up.
She went with the former. "Today we celebrate Imbolc." She left it at that.
Xander looked to Giles for an explanation but the older gentleman had learned to stay out of situations like those. If Willow wasn't going to tell Xander, he sure wasn't going to.
"Hey Dawnie, what circle of hell did you get to today?" Tara asked.
"Actually, our professor wants us to read Paradiso first."
Giles and Willow practically spit out their food. “Bloody Hell!” and “What!” could be heard respectively.
"I know, like weird right?"
Willow just shook her head.
Xander took the opportunity to tease some more.
"So Will, I heard you got your nerd on today and went to a book signing, how'd that go?"
"Shut up Xander or you won't get that extra signed copy I got for you!"
He looked sheepish and excited at the same time. He had read those books when Willow convinced him. It proved most useful that she had something to relate to him when they read The Canterbury Tales back in high school.
"So, tomorrow we get to find out of we have six more weeks of winter from Pucks-and-honey Phil," Buffy asked.
Willow mouthed 'Pucks and honey?' And Tara mouthed back 'Don't worry about it.'
"We will have six more weeks," Tara said nonchalantly.
"And how do you know that?" Xander asked, not in a rude way but it was enough to have Willow glare at him for daring to question Tara. So he backpedaled. "I mean not to doubt your witchy prowess, I am just curious." he squeaked.
"The same way Phil does."
"So you saw your shadow tomorrow?"
Tara just smiled and said, "Something like that."