Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me, they belong to Joss.

((My first stab at a Willow/Tara fic, even though I've loved the coupling for years and have read plenty of fics about it. Just never tried one on my own, so here goes. If you read it then do me a small favor and let me know what you think - because feedback is heavenly, even if it's criticsm. It's set after 'Hush', but will become AUish))

Tara Maclay brushed back a lock of blonde hair, eyes widening in surprise as she saw what she had written in her notebook. It was not the Biology notes that she could have sworn she copied from the overhead, but rather a single name over and over. She brushed a finger over the name, a half-smile forming on her face as the image of the one whose name was doodled all over the paper came to mind. "Willow," she breathed. Tara was completely unable to get the red-haired woman out of her mind, no matter what else she tried to put in there. Not that she minded, she rather enjoyed having Willow on her mind. It definitely beat out Biology.

Glancing at the clock Tara let out a frustrated sigh. There was still over half an hour left until Biology let out and she could go wander about campus with the vain hope of stumbling across Willow. This class never goes by fast enough, the blonde Wicca thought to herself, tapping her pen against the now-blank page in front of her. Then, before she could register what she was doing, the end of the pen was to the paper and she was writing a letter to the green-eyed woman who had invaded her thoughts.

Willow,

You're probably going to think it's weird that I'm writing a note to you when we've hardly spoken at all. I find it weird too, but not in a bad way, in a good way. A very good way, because it's never happened before. (A) I've never ran away from monsters and linked magic with another person to stop them from ripping our hearts out

(B) It's been a little over a day since that happened and you're still floating around in my mind, causing me to doodle your name instead of taking notes like a good little college girl, and

(C) I've never wanted a class to end just so that I can wander around campus and then town with the sole purpose of stumbling across you.

I was just wondering if maybe you wanted to get coffee with me sometime? Or get together and try some spells, I know a few that you'd like, and they might even come in handy someday. You seem to be big on the whole fighting evil, so a few more spells couldn't hurt.

I feel the need, for some reason or other, to tell you something. You told me about Oz leaving, so I think I should tell you how I fall in the relationship area. I don't have one, plain and simple. Last one I did have didn't end very well, but it did end and good riddance to it!

Ahhhh, I don't even know why I started writing this! I'll never work up the courage to give it to you, I'll only play out what might happen if I did and smile about it, until I realize that it won't really happen. From what I've heard, you're still getting over your boyfriend, so you don't need someone like me hanging around. Although I would make a really good friend, or even - no, I'm stopping now. And as soon as I get back to my dorm, this will be fine ash in one of my candles. Oh how I wish I could work up the nerve to give it to you! Just for the hope of seeing you smile at me...

Tara

Sighing, Tara folded the note up neatly and slid it into the front of her notebook. She could feel her stutter starting up even without saying a word. Giving a note to Willow was not something that she should do, especially not with some of the thoughts that were beginning to run around in her mind. Willow was a nice, no, a wonderful girl, but Tara had severe doubts that the red-head would ever be interested in her as anything other than a friend and spell-buddy. Doing her best to pay attention, Tara admitted to herself that she would rather be friends with Willow than nothing at all. And if she happened to want more, well, that would stay between her and her diary.

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She should have been studying. Since when had anything proven enough of a distraction to keep Willow Rosenburg from studying! Since never, that's when, not even Oz had been able to interfere with schoolwork. So who was this blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl with a smile to die for to be interupting her thoughts? She's sweet, Willow replied to her own question, tapping the end of a pen against her lips. Gentle and shy, yet with a quiet sort of confidence. A smile spread across her lips as she remembered the way that the girl, Tara, had smiled at her as they said goodbye the previous night. "And she has that smile..."

"Daydreaming?" a surprised voice broke into her thoughts, causing Willow to drop her pen. "Really Will, you aren't the sort to think about anything but the class when you've got the book in your lap." Willow looked up to find a very familiar face smiling at her, her best friend, Buffy.

"Oh, Buffy, hi!" Willow said, doing her best to hide the blush that she knew was forming. What would Buffy do if she knew that the thing occupying Willow's mind happened to be a girl the slayer had never even met? "I was just, ummmm, thinking."

"Oh yeah, sure," Buffy replied, a knowing smile beginning to form. "I think that some lucky guy has finally caught your eye." Oh if only you knew what had caught my eye... "But hey, that's good for you, to get your mind off of things and all. I know how it feels, it's why I'm glad that Riley-"

It was too much. She could not sit there and listen to Buffy go on about another guy that was helping her get over the last. Not now. "Yeah, right," Willow muttered, shoving her book and pen into her backpack. "I'd love to chat, Buffy, but I know that you have Psychology soon, and I'm going to go to the library. That should help me actually study." Instead of seeing that half-smile everytime I so much as blink! It was such a gorgeous smile... And at that moment, Willow's heart fell. What if someone else saw just how wonderful Tara looked when she smiled? What if someone else already had noticed, and had taken action because of it? Her green eyes wide with alarm, Willow whirled and starting walking quickly towards the center of campus. "See you later!" she called over her shoulder, giving a distracted wave, not even hearing Buffy's confused goodbye. She had to find Tara, to find a way to ask if she was involved with anyone.

"Wait..." Willow said aloud, her pace slowing. "Why does it matter? It isn't as though a boyfriend would stop her from being my friend, or even a girlfriend for that matter!" But the mere thought of someone holding Tara's hand, as she had done only two nights ago, caused Willow's stomach to do angry flip-flops. She remembered that last time that her stomach had done anything like that. It had been when she found Oz with another woman. "But I only just met her," she protested weakly to absolutely no one. "And we aren't dating, she probably doesn't even think of me unless she happens to see my face!" Which set her stomach off on another round of flip-flops. Only these weren't angry or jealous, they were sad. She wanted Tara to think of her, to know that she was invading the blonde's thoughts just as much as her own were being invaded.

The red-haired Wicca sighed and shifted her backpack. "I'm being silly again," she whispered, leaning against a nearby tree. "There's no reason to think that she's even interested in me." Her eyes slid shut at the same moment that Tara rounded the corner. The other woman looked as though she were about to call out, but thought better of it when she saw Willow's lips moving. "There's no reason for me to be so interested... I hardly know anything about her, no, wait, a part of me feels like I know so much just from touching her hand." A smile flickered across Tara's lips as she drew nearer, able to hear every word that Willow was babbling to herself aloud. "If only I could actually ask if she had someone she was seeing, if I didn't think it was being too forward. It is being too forward, I should wait until I get to know her better." She rubbed her hand against her forehead. "If she even wants to spend more time with me. After what she said last night, about me being something special, I can't help but think that she wants to, but she could have just been being -"

A finger brushing gently against the back of Willow's hand caused her eyes to shoot open. She gasped as her eyes met with a smiling Tara's. "Tara!" she cried, her face paling. Say something! Her mind screamed at her, anything, just say something and stop staring. "How umm... how long have you been standing there?" No, stupid question to ask! Ask how her day is, how she is, not that, anything but that. "Wait, what I meant to ask was how are you?"

The half-smile that Tara gave her was almost enough to make Willow's knees turn to jelly. They were definitely feeling a little shaky, making her grateful that she was already leaning up against a tree. "I-I haven't been here for v-very long," the blonde witch said quietly, her stutter very slight. "I'm a-alright, very glad to s-see you, Willow. I came out w-walking in the hopes of c-catching you somewhere." Her fingers were fiddling with something. Willow tilted her head a little, trying to make out what it was. Looks like a piece of paper. "Ummm... you l-look like you're going s-somewhere, so I'll give you this and b-be on my way." Tara reached out to take Willow's hand, a small jolt running up Willow's arm at the feel of the blonde's warm, soft skin. The piece of paper that Tara had been playing with was slipped into Willow's palm. "I'll s-see you later!" Tara said, flashing another smile before she turned and walked off.

Willow stared after the blonde, her hand still tingling. It took several moment's for her mind to register that Tara had left a piece of paper in her hand. "This is insane," she informed herself as she unfolded the paper and began to read the note within. As she read a slow smile spread over her face. "That answers my question..." Refolding the paper carefully she started towards the library, a new bounce to her step.