DISCLAIMERS: I don’t own any BtVS character…Joss Whedon and all those other rich folks do. I’m just playin’ round.

I do not own the songs herein contained. Wolfsheim, Peter Murphy, VNV Nation, and Depeche Mode do. So there. =P

NOTES: This idea’s been floating around in my brain for a few days…I hope it comes out okeday. I don’t remember Tara’s dorm room well enough so please pardon any inconsistencies…

TIME-LINE: Before “Family”. Might as well say A/U cuz…well…read on, brave one…

RATINGS/WARNINGS: erm…heh…R to NC-17 for F/F lovin’ and…uh, well, I don’t want to give too much away, but let me just say one thing, a quote, to prepare you: “Chips, dips, chains and whips.” You no likey? You no read-y, okeday?

PAIRINGS: T/W

SYNOPSIS: Tara’s got a secret…will it push Willow away or pull her closer?

“Her Little Secret” by Magenta

~~~~~

As she had so often done before, Willow walked in and made herself at home in Tara’s dorm room. The redhead knew that her partner - Witchy spell type partner, not pulsing, throbbing lesbian lovin’ type partner…YET - would be home soon. She sighed and took in the atmosphere that was distinctly Tara: the lingering scent of Nag Champa incense mixed with vanilla and pacchouli, desktops and shelf space taken up by an odd assortment of books ranging from the classical plays of Euripedes and Shakespeare to Calvin and Hobbes comic strip collections. Well-burned candles were strewn all over the place, as were all sorts of crystals, stones and raw, dried herbs. Tara’s CD collection was as eclectic as her reading material, spanning from Ella Fitzgerald and Stevie Nicks to Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson.

Willow grabbed a small Winnie the Pooh glass from a nearby cupboard and opened Tara’s minifridge to peruse its contents, settling on a dark red almost purple juice in an unmarked plastic bottle. She poured herself a glass and put the bottle back, completely unaware of the blonde’s entrance into the room.

“I d-don’t know if y-you want to drink that…” came Tara’s soft voice as she closed the door behind her. Willow almost dropped the glass in happy surprise. Good thing the redhead’s reflexes are in tiptop shape…have to be after living on a Hellmouth for so long.

“Tara! Hi!” she said, almost sounding like she was surprised that the blonde would be in her own dorm room. “Why wouldn’t I want to drink it? Ooh! Is it a potion?” Willow asked, her voice dropping conspiratorially on the last question.

Tara smiled her irresistible half smile, the one that consistently made Willow melt into a puddle in her shoes, and replied, “No…”

Before the blonde Wiccan could finish, Willow took a sip…and as the taste fully hit her, Willow spat the sip, as daintily as possible, back into the cup and put it down. She then moved far away from the offending liquid by sitting on the bed. She stared it down, like it might come and attack her. “Dear GOD, Tara!?! What the hell is that?!”

The blonde shrugged, trying to hide her smile, and sat in the small papasan loveseat she had by the closet facing her bed, and Willow, with her arms still clutching her schoolbooks to her chest. “B-Black Cherry K-Kool-Aid.”

“You should put a warning label on that: Caution, massive sugary overload! Here, I thought you were an Earthy Crunchy, no badness in the food stuffs kinda gal…” Willow jokingly remanded.

Again Tara shrugged, but her demeanour changed to one of almost sadness. “I g-guess you don’t k-know everyth-thing about me th-then…”

The redhead frowned as she forgot all about the threat of the killer Kool-Aid and sat next to her friend. She pried the schoolbooks away from Tara and sat them on the floor by the bed and wrapped her in her arms, all without thinking about the action.

“W-Willow? I n-n-need t-to t-tell you s-s-something…”

Uhoh…the stutter was getting worse…that meant that Tara was nervous.

“Sure, baby, you can tell me anything,” replied the redhead as she mentally smacked herself at her verbal slip. *Shit, Will…why not let it all slip out when she’s about to tell you something that’s pretty important?*

Tara pulled far enough away from the Hacker to look into her eyes. Willow hoped she didn’t give too much away, but whatever the blonde saw seemed to give her strength enough to say what was on her mind. “Willow…I love you. I’m in love with you. You’re all I think about…all I dream about. I breathe you, you permeate everything I am and everything around me. I-I just needed you to kn-know that and if you’re freaked, I u-understand. There’s no p-pressure. I c-can fade a-away faster th-than you can p-possibly imagine…I’ve d-done it b-before…”

Not knowing what else to do, or to say, Willow reached over and gently pulled Tara to her so their lips met. The blonde kept talking before she realized what was happening, but when she did figure out that Willow’s soft, soft oh so soft lips were pressing insistently against her own, she melted into the kiss, trying to show everything that was in her heart all at once.

It was several minutes before they parted to catch their breath, but the parting came too quick in their most humble opinions.

“Do you realize that I’ve been wanting to do that ever since I saw you at that Wicca meeting?” Willow asked, her cheeks flushed and her lips craving more Tara, and more of her than just her lips.

The question seemed to perk up the blonde’s attitude. “Really?” And when Willow nodded in the affirmative, Tara was emboldened to continue with her confession. “I have more to tell you, but I…uh…c-can you meet me at Resurrection House? at nine tonight?”

Willow blanched. “Resurrection House? The Go-”

Tara put a finger to Willow’s mouth. “Please say yes and please come alone. No one will hurt you there, I promise. No one would dare.”

The blonde seemed so sure, but Willow’d heard about the Resurrection House. But if Tara was going to be there, she didn’t want to leave her there all alone…but she wanted Willow to come by herself… “No Scoobies?”

Tara half-smiled again. “No Scoobies.”

After a sigh, the redhead replied, “I’ll be there.” Those three simple words brought such a smile to Tara’s face, a smile Willow vowed she would make sure she saw more of. The Hacker thought for a few moments while gazing deeply into the soulful blue eyes of her…what is she now?

“Does this…make us…girlfriends? Like lover type girlfriends?”

The blonde ducked her head shyly, but then looked up at Willow. “It’s what I want more than anything in this world…but it’s up to you…”

Willow nodded enthusiastically, making Tara’s face blossom into that wonderful full-fledged smile again. They leaned forward and kissed once more as the blonde’s supple and strong fingers entwined themselves in red tresses and pulled Willow on top of her as she lay back in the papasan.

Surprised though she was by her now-girlfriend’s confident dominance of the situation, Willow was vowed and determined to bring Tara out of her shell and into the world where she belonged. Tara deserved to have the world, even if the world could never be good enough to deserve having Tara.

Willow sighed as Tara moved her hands underneath her shirt and moved from kissing the blonde’s lips to kissing her neck, something she soon discovered was her second favourite thing to do to Tara…the first being to kiss her.

Within moments, Tara had Willow’s shirt partially off and was working on her jeans. The redhead never really thought about it before, but now she thought that button-fly were incredibly sexy…at least, when Tara was purposefully fumbling with the buttons. Willow herself had already pushed Tara’s skirt up and out of the way, but was distracted by the blonde’s mouth on her pulse point and fingers working her button-fly jeans.

“W-Willow…look at me,” Tara said, her voice raspy with building passion. With great restraint, the redhead tore her mouth away from a delectable earlobe to look down at the blonde. What she saw stole her breath away: blonde hair was tousled and fair skin was flushed with arousal from far beneath her shirt collar clear up to her hairline and beyond. Tara’s blue eyes had deepened to indigo and Willow noticed that she had unwittingly left several marks on the blonde’s tender neck. Willow smiled at them. *Those mean you’re mine…and the ones I have mean I’m yours…*

“We c-can stop th-this now…if y-you’re unsure or it’s t-too soon for you…” the blonde said, trying to give Willow a way out should she want it. Tara prayed to anyone who would listen that she wouldn’t want out.

The Hacker shook her head. “I want this…I want you. I love you and have for so long that I can‘t remember NOT loving you…” she replied.

The blonde seemed unsure. “B-but…there’s more to me that you don’t know…that’s why I want you to meet me at Resurrection House…”

Willow smiled at her, a smile full of promise and love. “Hey…I love YOU. Everything about you…all good and any bad. All of it is you and you is who I love…so you‘re stuck with me, no matter what..”

Tara nodded, almost shyly, before pressing her lips to the redhead’s again. The kiss was shy at first, but quickly picked up the steam of passion and love. Suddenly, Willow felt a breeze below her waist and gentle fingers ease their way between her legs. She tried to keep her eyes open, to watch Tara, but it was all too much. All the love and passion she felt was overwhelming her. Besides, there would be the rest of their lives to watch her as they made love, right?

Willow was not a moaner…at least not with Oz, but Tara brought the songbird out of her. Everything was Tara…and Tara was everything. Willow was completely comfortable with that fact. Perhaps that’s what made her vocal as she and the incredible woman who was now her girlfriend made love on the creaky papasan. The blonde drew out the Hacker’s pleasure for as long as possible, intentionally missing her target or passing over it so quickly that if Willow weren’t hypersensitive she wouldn’t have noticed.

In a moment borne of frustration, Willow sat back off of Tara long enough to take her shirt off completely to bare more skin to the blonde’s mouth. The redhead gently opened every button of Tara’s top so she, too, could have more of her girlfriend as she repeatedly thrust her pelvis down and against the blonde Wiccan’s centre.

When Tara bucked, arching her back and pressing more of her flesh to Willow’s, the redhead found the power to open her eyes, to take in the sight of the blonde in the throes of passion. As if feeling the emerald gaze, Tara opened her own eyes to meet it. They craned their necks to kiss each other once more before Tara whispered two little words into Willow’s ear. Two little words that shifted the world and the future into a brand new focus, one that was sharper, clearer and brighter.

“I’m yours.”

And it was those two little words that pushed Willow over the edge, screaming Tara’s name into the afternoon then finally collapsing on the blonde. Tara herself succumbed to their passion when she came to fully realize what had happened and her name on the redhead’s lips was left ringing in her ears. After a few moments wherein she relished the feel of Willow, she gingerly pulled her hand from between the hacker’s legs and wrapped her in a very comfortable embrace.

“Forever?” the redhead asked, then pushed herself up to look into slate blue depths, into which tears pooled, ready to roll down Tara’s soft, flushed cheeks.

“For as long as you’ll have me…” came the reply, the tears freeing themselves of her eyes. Willow nodded and silently mouthed “Forever” as she promptly kissed the tears away, then kissed tender, kiss-swollen lips.

The fires of passion were stoked between them again and again they made love.

*****

At around six, Tara unwillingly kicked Willow out of the room, disregarding how badly her body burned for the lithe redhead, reminding her that they had a date later that she had to get ready for.

“But, we’re together now…so why do we have to go to the Resurrection House?” Willow asked, trying to disguise her disappointment and her fearfully snide attitude towards the nightclub Tara wanted to meet at.

“Because it’s im-important, Willow.” By the resolved expression on Tara’s face, Willow knew there should be no more argument.

“If it’s important to you, baby, it’s very important to me… So, what should I wear to this important thing?”

The blonde thought it over for a moment and said, “C-Can you g-get away with raiding B-Buffy’s wardrobe?”

The Hacker blew out her cheeks. “I suppose…”

Tara smiled. “Good. Wear l-leather.”

Two red eyebrows jumped up in surprise. “Leather?” Her girlfriend nodded shyly. “Your wish is my command, love…” she replied before leaning in and giving Tara a thorough kissing in another attempt to change her mind. The blonde wished she could change her mind, but the Resurrection House was part of an earlier commitment. She couldn’t back out now.

They separated with several smaller kisses as follow-up, then the blonde said, “Tell J-Josh, at the door of R-Resurrection House, that you’re with m-me…that way you can get in f-free and get the best s-seat in the house…” With that, Tara kissed Willow again then gently pushed her out into the hall and closed the door with a cautious, shy “I love you…”

Willow, her heart all a flutter and clothes asunder, though fastened shut and publicly acceptable, sighed heavily and spun around clouded in happies. When she stopped her twirl, she noticed a couple of guys had stopped to watch her, but she didn’t know how long they’d been there…had they seen she and Tara kiss?

By the lustful grins on their faces, the answer was yes. *Ah well,* she thought. *Might as well get some fun out of it.*

“You saw that?” she asked. The guys nodded, trying to not look over-excited. She slowly walked up to them, gently pushed them aside so she could walk between them, and said, “Well, you should have been here earlier… I think everyone in this building is deaf…now.”

And with an evil smile, Willow walked away from the guys, fully aware of their lascivious stares so typical of most men. They eventually pried their jaws off of the floor and headed to their dorm to chat like school girls about the possibilities.

Back in the dorm room, Tara smiled to herself, having heard the confrontation in the hall. *She does have a certain mischievous streak about her…maybe this won’t freak her out too badly…*

With that, the blonde gathered her things to get ready for that night…

*****

Willow tried to muster up as much confidence as she could as she went to the head of the long line of Goths trying to get into the night club. She felt uncomfortable in a cropped skin-tight black top, tight black leather pants and a black leather trench coat, but she kept reminding herself that Tara requested all of this. That gave her strength to go near the Gothic crowd, and to also try to be a part of them for a few hours.

She spied Josh, a short man in an elegantly ripped leather shirt and tight black jeans, at the door and scooted her way through, much to the protests of the kids in line.

“Are you Josh?” she asked, receiving a nod in reply. “Tara told me to tell you I’m with her.”

The doorman looked her up and down, sizing her up. “I.D.” he said as he put a neon entrance bracelet on a tall gangly Goth girl in thigh-high super shiny shit-kickers, black vinyl hotpants and a tight mesh shirt. Willow pulled her I.D. from Buffy’s trench coat pocket and handed it over. Josh examined the I.D. then looked Willow over again and laughed softly to himself.

“I hope Tara knows what she’s doing,” he said as he handed her I.D. back and put a bracelet on her. Willow thought she saw the barest hint of fangs within his mouth, but knew the difference between homegrown fangs and those made for someone or bought in a store…his were bought. He turned to a thick bald man in bondage straps and leather pants. “Tony, this girl goes to Tara’s table.”

Tony nodded and opened the door to usher Willow through in front of him. The building was remarkably well-soundproofed as one couldn’t really hear the music outside as you walked towards the club. The pulsing electronica of VNV Nation’s “Standing Still” reverberated around and through Willow.

“Tara’s table has been empty since she started, we were starting to get concerned,” he said in an attempt to make small talk with the redhead who really was completely out of place in the club. “Can I get you anything?”

“A, uh…cherry Sprite?”

Tony looked at her and smiled. “I was afraid there were no more people out there who enjoyed a good Mickey Mouse…I’ll be right back.”

Willow moved to get money out of her pocket, but Tony made a gesture that told her it wasn’t needed. She looked around the club and found that it was a lot like the Bronze, but much less normal light and much more flashy dance-y lights, black lights and strobes, lasers and rainbow orbs. Okay, so it was nothing like the Bronze, but she was trying to tie herself to something familiar. Finally Tony came back to her table with the cherry Sprite in hand, and sat next to her.

“Tara asked me to not leave you alone, just in case you were nervous or anything,” he informed.

Willow smiled at him. “Thank you, Tony…and for the drink. But you said that the table’s been empty since Tara started…she works, uh…here?”

Tony smiled, but didn’t answer - that was another request of the angelic Tara: to not tell Willow anything.

Just then, the song wound down and the DJ took the mic. “Well well welcome to Tuesday night here at Resurrection House. Our Lady of Blesséd Pain will be out in a few moments, but we just wanted to thank all of you for coming out here on a Tuesday of all nights, to see her. It was a special request of the Overlord and it really means a lot that we’ve had such a great response. And now, Resurrection House is proud to present to you, Our Lady of Blesséd Pain…”

The lights dimmed down to reveal a small circle from the spotlight to the side of the stage. Willow looked around intently, as she had since she walked into the club, waiting to see if Tara came out as a waitress or something. Tony tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention, then pointed to the stage. From behind the side curtains walked someone whom Willow assumed was the Lady of Blesséd Pain and she was right, but when it dawned on her who their Lady of Blesséd Pain was, her heart trip hammered in her chest and arrows of arousal shot through her bloodstream.

The shy Wiccan herself slowly strode out onto the stage, her body ensconced in a tight black bodice with a long vinyl skirt, long black vinyl gloves and a spiked choker. Willow could just barely spy her lovebites as they peeked over and under the collar. Tara’s blonde hair was done up in a tight bun with her bangs separated to frame her face and gel-dyed black. Her luscious lips were also painted a very shiny black and her eyelids were black with sparkles, bringing out her drop-dead gorgeous blue eyes.

Not a sound was heard in the normally bouncing nightclub. Not a cough, not a shuffle, nothing. Everyone there was under Tara’s spell…figuratively speaking, of course. Those intense indigo eyes scanned the audience, stopping on Willow’s shining green briefly before resuming their examination of what was essentially the meat. Tara then brought up her right hand and snapped, signaling to the DJ to start playing the song he had cued, a Depeche Mode multimix of “Master and Servant” and “Set Me Free”.

Slowly, she descended from the stage and, like a feline hunting her prey, Tara stalked her audience looking for willing captors.

Part of Willow was scared that she would pick her, but the rest, an amazing majority to the seemingly vanilla Hacker, was desperate to see, and feel, what Mistress Tara, Our Lady of Blesséd Pain, would do to her.

The blonde glided up behind her and whispered oh so gently in her ear, “I’m not going to pick you. Tonight, I want you to watch.” And with a quick and on the other side of gentle bite to Willow‘s neck, Tara sidled away into the crowd, her smile and eyes predatorily glittering.

Willow was a little let down, but was, all the same, relieved that Tara only wanted her to watch. Watch. What interesting implications were held within that as well… The blonde picked a few of the more willing-looking patrons, both male and female, and the redhead felt her cheeks burn with jealousy. As if sensing this, Tara turned in her direction and slipped almost imperceptively out of her Blesséd Pain character to mouth the word “Yours” to her. Willow smiled and relaxed. *Well, this is something I didn’t see coming from her, with the Winnie the Pooh glassware and super-strong Kool-Aid…but I like…*

No words were needed as Tara guided her four captives to the stage and directed them on where to stand and sit. An assistant appeared from the rear of the stage wheeling out a tray with different utensils and candles on it.

“It’s a short show tonight,” Tony said. “One it’s Tuesday, and two, you’re here.”

“How does my being here affect the length of the show?” Willow asked, almost disappointed that it wasn’t going to last very long.

The bouncer smiled forlornly then looked at the redhead. “She’s afraid you’re going to freak out and leave her.”

Willow looked up at Tara on the stage and convulsively swallowed. *My first thought when I saw her tonight was ‘Damn, look at my hottie…’ not ‘Oh dear, I must get away from the leather and discipline.’ Surely, Tara knows that…I love her, no matter what she does. She does know that, right?*

The first one of her volunteers to receive her attentions was a tall blonde guy who reminded Willow a little of Spike, except for the whole stringy British vampire thing. Tara looked up into his eyes and stood so close that nary a hair’s breadth of space was between them. She pointed to the ground and down he went to his knees so that he was looking up into her eyes. She motioned for him to turn around, and he did so. While his back was turned, she grabbed a suede cat o’ nine tails and tested it against her hand a few times before turning it onto the blonde man’s back leaving welts that were almost artistic, in the Jackson Pollack sense of the word.

He arched on the first contact of suede-to-skin not in pain, but in pleasure. Willow squirmed in her chair, herself not out of sympathy pains, but anticipation of the pleasure. Her mind has been thrown into overload.

“Tara told me to make sure you’re okay. Are you okay?” Tony asked. “I mean, seeing that your significant other is a top, and a really, really good one, has got to be a shock.”

Confused, Willow tore her hungry emerald eyes from the scene and turned towards Tony. “A what?”

“A top…the dominate. She’s a dominatrix. The guy she’s whipping, and the others gathered on stage, are the bottoms - the submissive. Normally, this is very much about sex, but in a fetish show, it’s fantasy, desire and fulfillment. Tara has never taken any of her bottoms to bed. She informed me that she never would. It’s play that fulfills something primal for her…and gets her through college. The bottoms usually respect that and her methods. She’s incredibly clean, incredibly responsible, and incredibly fun. That’s why she’s one of the best I’ve ever been to, best I’ve ever seen.”

Willow looked at Tony again, who’s rapt attention was on the stage, and said, “But she’s not from here…”

Tony looked at the redhead and smiled. “Word of a good dom travels fast in the Community… I traveled to see her once. Amazing.” With that, both of their attentions returned to the stage where Tara was no longer whipping the blonde, but she was pouring hot candle wax onto the chest of a buxom young woman with lust in her eyes. Willow tensed up, seeing that look, but when Tara caught it, she stopped with the wax, minutely shook her head, and went to the next captive.

The next bottom was another woman, the Goth chick from earlier when Willow approached Josh at the door. Tara smiled a wicked and predatory half-smile as she grabbed the front of her mesh shirt and dragged her upstage to where and X-frame was set up replete with leather and faux fur snap cuffs. Tara took the shirt off and secured the girl to the frame. She then sauntered over to the tray and picked up a silk whisk. Briefly, she looked up into Willow’s eyes and smiled briefly before returning to her fun.

The redhead noticed when the patrons of the bar, and the lustful, wax-covered bottom on stage, turned to see who their Lady of Blesséd Pain kept looking at. The redhead was too self-conscious about the attention to ignore the looks and squirmed in her chair again.

The bottom Tara left after the waxing gave Willow the look of death, which the Hacker returned with equal fervour. *Ha…mess with me, will ya…? My girlfriend’s your dom. So there.* The redhead giggled at herself, then fell back into the intensity of the scene.

Tara had finished lightly whipping the Goth chick’s abdomen and was smoothing ice onto the reddened areas. When that was done, she moved to the next bottom, a dorky young man whom Willow, even with her untrained eye, could tell was a newbie to the Game.

Sauntering over to the young man, Tara cracked her knuckles, but winked at the kid, to let him know that everything would be okay. She then pointed towards the floor, signaling for him to fall to his knees, which he did. Then she pushed him over so he was on his hands as well. She dragged the tray over and picked up a black plastic comb and started to drag it over the young man’s back.

“She really knows how to read someone, y’know?” Tony said, awe tingeing his voice. “This guy is new to the Community and he’s been around here for months asking questions…really sweet fellow, you know, very curious, too. The Overlord, he owns Resurrection House, arranged this night for him because it’s his birthday, but he didn’t want people to know. Shy and all that.”

Willow nodded and watched Tara’s skillful and gentle, yet firm, hand with the young man. She’d always wondered what the blonde was like in bed and in her private life and now she knew what physical magick’s were in those delicate hands that she’d cast spells with on numerous occasions.

Tara finished raking the comb over the man’s back, then grabbed a peacock’s feather from her tray and passed it over the welts. The man’s eyes closed in pleasure and his back arched. When the feather had finally reached the waistband of his vinyl pants, Tara pulled a hand back and sent it sailing in a resounding spank that the current bottom most certainly enjoyed. The blonde smiled.

He then said something to Tara to knelt by him to reply. Willow knitted her brow in curiosity. Finally, with a smile and a soothing caress of his shoulder, Tara stood and sauntered to the tray and grabbed a candle. She then walked back to the bottom and gently, sparingly, poured the melted wax onto his back. He rolled his back repeatedly in demonstration of the pleasure he received. Then, while she poured the wax with one hand, the other grabbed for a bowl on the tray that contained ice. Tara simultaneously applied the hot wax and cold ice to the guy’s back.

At the end of the song, Tara stood all of her bottoms up and had them kiss her boots. The buxom one, the one with lust for Tara clearly evident in her eyes, set-about to do more than kiss her boots and started to climb up her leg.

Calmly, the blonde put her hand on the woman’s head, stopping her, then pulled her leg away.

“Stay,” Tara commanded, but the woman wouldn’t listen - being a naughty bottom she wanted her punishment.

Instead, Tara bade the blonde man and the geeky young man hold the woman as the Wiccan crossed the stage and unsnapped the cuffs keeping the Goth chick on the X-frame. She then sauntered off-stage to much applause from the audience.

“Thanks go out to Our Lady of Blesséd Pain for coming here on such an odd night to share herself with us and our patrons, even the not-so-cooperative ones. Thanks go out to all of you, too, for coming to Resurrection House. Have a great rest of the evening here at ResHouse. Drive safely, play safely, live honestly.”

With that, the DJ played a remixed version of Peter Murphy’s “Surrendered.” Suddenly, the buxom woman tore herself from the two men and made a beeline for Willow. Tony saw her coming and stood, moving in front of the redhead to block the angry bottom from hurting her. So, too, followed the blonde man and the geeky newbie, both of whom grabbed on, not willing to risk Tara’s wrath if they let go…

“Let me go, dammit. The scene’s over. Tony! No dom has ignored me before…not like this…” she shouted above the music. “If you’re jealous of her work, then you shouldn’t have come here.”

“Maybe this dom isn’t interesting in fucking you, Vera,” the doorman supplied.

The woman, Vera as Tony called her, fought harder against her restraints. “This is ridiculous! She‘s rejected me every single time!”

Just as suddenly as Vera’s advance on Willow, the crowd behind them parted and an angry Tara spun the bottom around. “That’s because I don’t want you. If you can’t learn that, then I suggest you stay home. I bend the rules for my Scenes for no one. Everyone else accepts that, they applaud it, why can’t you?”

“But-”

“No. Leave.” The blonde nodded to the two bottoms who let go as fast as they could. With another nod, they were dismissed.

Vera, knowing better than to argue with her dom - former or not - took up her things and left. Tara then took Willow’s hand and dragged her willing girlfriend through the crowd to the performer’s stage door with Tony following behind just in case.

In the dressing room, also amazingly well insulated, Tara soundlessly let go of Willow’s hand and started to sterilize her tools and props. She didn’t look at the redhead, the shy blonde having returned as soon as the show was over.

“Tara, baby? Are you okay?” Willow asked as she moved to hold her girlfriend.

Still, the blonde didn’t look at her and even moved out of the embrace. “Yeah. I’m f-fine. How a-are you?” she asked flippantly, but they both sensed the deeper meaning behind the question.

Willow, undaunted and unhurt by Tara’s spurning moments ago, stopped her frantic rushing about by wrapping her arms around Tara’s waist from behind and replied, “I’m fine…a little hot, maybe, but you still have some of that ice, right?”

The blonde turned in the embrace to look deep into Willow’s eyes. “Really? You’re r-really fine with th-this?”

“Of course I am, you goofball. I love you. It would take much more than some kink and vinyl to make me run off. Even if you had a Barney fetish, I would still love you…I’d be totally freaked out, but I’d love you.”

“Well, n-now that you m-mention it…” Tara started before dissolving in giggles at her girlfriend’s expression of fright. “So, really? You’re n-not mad at me for k-keeping this a secret?”

Willow smiled tenderly. “Not at all, baby. You hardly kept it a secret, I mean…we weren’t lovers before today, in the physical sense of the word. We weren’t even lover-type girlfriends before today so I would have to say we’re of the good.”

The blonde sighed in relief. “Thank you, Willow.”

“Thank you, baby,” the redhead whispered as she kissed the top of her girlfriend’s head. “But wouldn’t this make Xander’s head explode?” she asked conspiratorially.

“Oh, no…d-don’t tell Xander, p-please! I can barely t-take the looks he g-gives us N-NOW. No Scoobies…no…”

The Hacker giggled. “No Scoobies. Not until you’re ready, if at all.” Willow then bent down for a gentle kiss, but Tara stopped her.

“Too m-much make-up…must w-wash it off…”

“No…I like it. I like all this, too…maybe…sometime…I can borrow the vinyl…?” she asked, tense anticipation in her eyes.

“Really? Oh, Willow…oh yes…” Tara replied. “You’re the only one I’ll ever take to my bed…” The blonde smiled, a glimmer of Our Lady of Blesséd Pain in her eyes.

Willow shivered. “Good. Let’s go.”

The blonde gathered few of her things and started to walk out with her girlfriend when the redhead stopped and asked, “Hey, shouldn’t you bring some of this stuff with you?”

“Oh no…these are the show models. My personal kit is b-back at the dorm.”

Willow smiled. “Vixen.”

Tara smiled back. “And proud.”

The two of them then walked out of the club though the back door, after handing a note of instructions to Tony of course, and into a new day of possibilities, to be faced together…

~~~~~~~~~~FiN~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR’S END NOTE:

I’m not large with the BDSM, but this story begged, if you’ll pardon the expression, to be told. I went to a “fetish show” once, at the behest of a friend who happened to be working the bar that night, and it was actually pretty lame… Ah well. If you’re into BDSM, please pardon my attempts to tell such a story. If you’re not and you read through anyway, I applaud you. If you weren’t before, but you might be now, may I suggest that you read this FAQ so you learn a little more? This is where I got a few ideas and did some very, very basic research for the story.

Please keep in mind that it is an adult FAQ about adult situations. Thank you for reading!

*hugs*

Magenta