The telephone was ringing when Willow entered her house and she made a dash for it, shouting "Hold on!" as she went.
"Hey," she said breathlessly as she picked up the receiver.
"Hi."
She felt a brief moment of disappointment that it was Tara's voice, and not Buffy's, echoing down the line and then a huge swell of guilt at that thought.
"Hey," she said again, slightly more subdued this time.
"Uh, hi," Tara repeated. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I just . . . just had to run for the phone. How are you?" Willow asked, trying not to sound guilty. There was nothing, really, to feel guilty for, she tried to tell herself. After all, it was only natural that she would miss Buffy. They had lived together for a year so of course she would feel lonely in a big house on her own. It was quite silly to feel disappointed - after all they had spoken a few hours ago so it was unlikely Buffy would be calling already. And the guilt . . . that was also silly and unneeded. The hacker suddenly realised that Tara had asked a question and she had not heard a word of it. "I'm sorry, uh, could you repeat that?"
"Are you sure you're ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Nothing to worry about. No siree. I've probably been out in sun too long. It does funny things to the brain sometimes and induces babble. See? I'm babbling."
"You only babble when you're excited or nervous. What's wrong?"
"Nothing! Nothing's wrong."
"Well, that's good." There was a pause and Willow crossed her fingers and hoped Tara believed her. Because there was really nothing wrong, was there? "How's your holiday so far?" the blonde girl finally asked.
"Good. The holiday's good. Of course, it's only been a few days so I can't judge yet, but so far it's good. No big evil so we're hoping for an evil free holiday."
"I'm glad. What have you been doing? Have you spent much time with Buffy?"
"Uh, Buffy? Yeah, and the whole Gang. You know, all of us. We had a sleepover a couple of nights ago, and we hung out at Giles' yesterday. All of us. And we went shopping today, in a nice crowded mall. It's been fun."
"That sounds great. You're having fun."
"Yeah. What are you up to?"
"Oh, you know. Hanging out. I've been reading this really fascinating book on witchcraft in the Middle Ages."
"That sounds interesting." Willow stopped, trying to think of something to say that would not come out as nervous babble.
"You know I l-love you," Tara began hesitantly, "and I don't want you unhappy. You deserve to be with someone you love with all your heart."
"Tara, would I be with you if I didn't love you?"
"I know you love me," Tara said.
Willow was sure there was 'but' there, but she decided not to pursue it for now. "So, uh, we're ok?" she asked instead.
"Y-yes, we're ok."
"Do you know when you're coming back yet?"
"N-no, not yet. I'll know in a few weeks."
"We can go house hunting when you get back."
"Yeah, we can." Willow heard a muffled shout over the phone. "Sorry, I've got to go. I'll talk to you soon."
"Yeah. I love you."
"I know."
The line went dead and Willow stared at the phone thoughtfully for a while before she put it down.
*finis*