Friends With Benefits

by Electra
Rating: NC-17

Disclaimer: All characters, etc, belong to Joss, M.E., Fox, and whoever else. I just needed to borrow them for awhile. No harm or copyright infringement intended.
Spoilers: None; Post-Chosen.
Author's Notes: I started this fic over a year ago, but only just got the second chapter written. Here's chapter one; chapter two will be on its way soon. If you have some time, I'd love to hear what you think. :)
Dedication: To Dylan, for letting me see another side.

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CHAPTER ONE

The moon shone dimly in the hazy L.A. sky as a bus full of old and new friends alike pulled up to the Holiday Inn Hotel Deluxe.

"Angel said this is the place." Willow said quietly to Giles as she closed her flip-top cellphone, careful not to disturb the slumbering group before her. "He's got about a dozen rooms set aside for us, all we have to do is check in."

Giles pulled the bus to a slow stop on the street in front of the hotel. He stood and faced the people behind him, clearing his throat a few times as to gently wake them from their states of slumber, shock, or awe over the days' events.

After a few moments of stretching and aiding those who weren't able to move well on their own, the large group began to slowly file off of the bus.

Sheer exhaustion kept them from celebrating their earlier victory in Sunnydale. There were far fewer of them than there had been earlier that day; earlier that summer. 'There are always casualties in war' Buffy had said, and the statement rang true into the still of the post-battle night.

Several had perished during the battle. Anya. Spike. Numerous of the inexperienced potentials. No, not potentials. Slayers. They had been Slayers, at least at the very end.

Another group had been dropped off at a L.A hospital to receive proper treatment.

One of the more emotional moments had been when the body of Robin Wood was carried away from the bus on a hospital stretcher as the rest of the group watched on in silence. There was nothing they could do for him on the journey. He lay there, blood seeping from his fresh bandages as he slowly lost his own battle.

Faith had stood emotionless and watched with a fixed gaze as the hospital staff took her one-time lover away. It numbed her even further to know that such a genuinely big fighter on the side of good had been taken. Only when she felt the comforting hand of Willow on her back was she finally able to tear her eyes away with a flinch, crossing her arms over her chest and walking back onto the bus in silence.

The drive to the hotel had been completely silent, save for the soft conversation that Willow had with Angel on her cellphone.

Most of the newly-risen Slayers stood quietly in the lobby of the hotel, stretching their achy muscles as they waited for their room assignments. Luckily, there were only about 25 people remaining now. For the first in a long time, many would have the luxury of sleeping in their own beds that night . . . a big step up from the hastily laid sleeping bags at the Summers' house.

Willow had decided to stay with Kennedy, and Dawn just about clutched to Xander when she saw him crying at the back of the bus over Anya's death. Truth be told, no one really wanted to be alone that night. As the father-figure, Giles agreed to stay with Andrew, the boy visibly shaken from his own personal survival in the battle that he was willing to sacrifice himself for.

When Giles had announced that Faith would be rooming with Rona, the brunette finally spoke up.

"Nope. I'm with B." She stated firm, yet softly at the same time.

No one questioned how or why . . . Giles simply nodded and made a notation on his note pad.

Faith glanced over to Buffy, checking to see if there was any form of protest being displayed. However, there was just no energy for protest. The blonde still had tear stains on her face, unable to deal with the emotions of the day and the implications of what they had done. She was no longer the 'one girl in all the world': she was one of many.

It was the life she had always wanted.

Though no one could really have told the difference, her tears had mostly from happiness, not sorrow.

She gave Faith a small smile before dropping her vision back down to her battle-stained clothing.

Faith, for her part, was almost excited to share the room with Buffy. Since she had returned to Sunnydale, the only time they had gotten to spend alone was when they had been tracking a Bringer through Sunnydale. The air between them had been somewhat tense, but she felt it all melt away when Buffy had thrown her the Scythe as they fought side-by-side in the Hellmouth.

It was as if in that single gesture, they had wiped clear the tainted slate of their past. Buffy had handed over her power of her own free will . . . and Faith felt forever thankful to the girl for giving that to her.

It pretty much removed her belief that her sister-Slayer would never forgive her, even in death.

Still, she had other reasons for wanting to stay with the blonde. Even though she was uneducated, Faith was far from stupid. She saw how close Buffy had become with Spike over the course of the few weeks that she was there. Saw how much Buffy had relied upon him to get through the battle; through life. Saw how emotionally dependent she was on him those last two nights.

And the real kicker was when she had watched the interaction between the slayer and vampire from the entrance at the Hellmouth. Watched as Buffy had told Spike, finally, that she had loved him . . . and how he had basically thrown in back in her face.

Faith swore that, had he not perished in the collapse, she would've found him and staked his ass for being so ignorant.

Truthfully . . . she couldn't really tell if Buffy had loved the vamp. It was apparent that she had cared. That much was perfectly clear. But, the confession as the walls crumbled around them . . . well, she couldn't tell what to make of it.

Still, if there was one thing that Faith was sure of, it was that Buffy was going to be overwhelmed right now. With the sadness of losing her home. With the losses they had suffered. With the joy of the victory. With the happy prospect of a non-Slayer-y future. With the fact that her love, even if not real, had been thrown back in her face.

She knew that Buffy was going to crumble; let her tremendous strength give for a bit, just a night; that the girl would allow herself to breakdown at the overwhelming emotion of it all. She knew that, even if only for a short time, Buffy was going to be weak.

And something about that got to her.

To watch someone who had always been the very definition of 'strong' become suddenly weak . . . it boggled her mind. She didn't like the thought of it.

So, for this one night, at least this one night, Faith would be her strength. She would stay with her, watch over her, reassure her if she needed it, hold her if she needed it.

Someone needed to be the strong one, the one in control, the one with the weight of the world on her shoulders. And for the first time in her life . . . Faith thought that she could finally be that person.

For this one night, Faith would be everything that the blonde had always been for her.

As the hotel staff began to pass out the room keys, Faith eagerly stepped to the front of the line and browsed through the key cards, quickly snatching the one marked 410. She hesitated only for a second before turning and walking towards Buffy, standing before the blonde for a moment to get her attention.

She held up the card and wiggled it a bit so that Buffy could see it clearly, leaning in just a bit to whisper.

"The last time I was in L.A., I found out that all of the deluxe suites in this place are the '10' rooms . . . 210, 310, 410 . . . looks like we've got ourselves a little bit of fine living to be had, B." She said with a smirk, sliding the key card into her pocket and looping her arm through Buffy's, leading her towards the elevator.

Buffy put on a warm smile as she looked over at Faith, wondering why the girl was being so suddenly friendly towards her. They had never had a spectacular relationship before, but Buffy was open to the possibility of a new friendship with the girl. After all . . . she had more than proved herself over the last few weeks. Perhaps even redeemed herself.

Before she could ask why the sudden case of 'nice', Faith jumped in.

"No questions. It's just cos I wanna be, alright?" The brunette said in an almost embarrassed tone, knowing exactly what the girl was going to ask her. Her eyes glance over to the blonde just once as she tried to focus on the elevator door closing in front of them.

Buffy's smile widened just for a moment before she poked Faith in the side with her elbow, their arms still looped around one another's.

*****

"Niiiiiiiiiice." Faith purred as they walked into the suite, looking around excitedly before kicking off her boots and jumping around on the king-sized bed.

"Oh, gross, Faith. Your feet have been sweating inside those clodhoppers of yours all day long, and now you're jumping on my nice clean bed with them. Eww." Buffy said jokingly.

She crossed her arms over her chest, raising her eyebrows and tried to look menacing but wasn't able to get the little smirk off of her face.

Seeing Faith jumping around and carefree . . . it just made her smile. She couldn't explain it.

The brunette did a couple more overly enthusiastic jumps before plopping down on her butt and laying back, folding her arms behind her head.

"Nuh-uh. This isn't YOUR bed, B. It's OUR bed. As in you and me, fightin' over the blankets and me rubbing my stanky feet all around." Faith said, waggling her eyebrows.

Buffy dropped her arms to her sides, her eyebrows raising even higher.

"You're kidding me, right?" She asked as she started walking throughout the suite, looking for another bed but finding none. "I actually have to share my bed with you?" Her voiced raised an octave or two as the reality set in.

Faith smirked.

"OUR bed, B. If you have a problem with it, I can always have them bring up one of those old, foldable cots for you." Seeing the displeased look on Buffy's face, she continued. "Geez, B, relax. Don't worry, I'm not gonna dry-hump you or nothin. Don't get me wrong; you're wicked cute and everything. But you look like you just got outta some kinda apocalyptic battle."

It was impossible for Buffy to keep up the unhappy face she was wearing when Faith was doing the smirk/raised-eyebrow combo.

"Hey, I look good considering what I've been through today, let alone these past few weeks. And I'm having a hard time believing that there'll be no dry-humping. We're post-slay. I KNOW you're feeling 'it'." Buffy stated, putting emphasis on the word 'it'.

Faith sat up a bit and rested herself on her elbows, one eyebrow raised.

"'It'?" She asked, smirking yet again.

"Yes. 'It'. You know what I'm talking about, Faith." Buffy said, crossing her arms across her chest again.

Faith chuckled.

"You're feeling it too, aren't ya? The hungry and horny. Tell me you're NOT feeling it, B."

Buffy fidgeted in her standing position, trying to come across as indifferent. Knowing that Faith wouldn't let the subject move on until she finally fessed up, she finally relented after years of denial.

"Fine." She sighed. "I feel it. Now, let's move on. Do you wanna go to bed now or stay up for a while?" She asked, trying to change the subject.

Faith laughed and pointed at Buffy, quickly jumping up on her feet on the bed again.

"Oh, I KNEW it!! I'm not a freak, B! You've always felt it too!" She said excitedly. She stopped jumping around for a minute, interesting thoughts obviously crossing her mind. Finally, she spoke again. "Man, can you imagine what all those newbie Slayers are going through right now? They're probably scarfing down hotel food and figuring how to get a bit of alone time, if ya know what I mean. And apparently, you do."

Buffy thought about it for a second, ready to act mildly annoyed at being called out, but instead coming to a realization.

"Yeah, you're probably right." She said, smiling. "Speaking of hotel food . . . I think it's time to make a call to room service. What do you say?"

Faith put on a big smile, hopping down from the bed and wandering over to the desk. She picked up a menu and tossed it over to Buffy, heading off in the other direction. "Order two of everything that isn't seafood." She called out over her shoulder.

Buffy just barely caught the menu as it flew towards her, momentarily caught off guard.

"Hey! Where are you going?" The blonde asked, watching Faith walk into the bathroom and close the door behind her.

"You take care of the hungries, and I'm gonna take care of my hornies about 4 or 5 times in the shower!" She called out, her smirk almost audibly apparent.

Buffy scoffed as she shook her head a bit and opened up the menu, her hand reaching for the tableside telephone.

"Just leave some hot water for me." She mumbled under her breath.

"I heard that!" Faith yelled out from the bathroom.

Buffy just shook her head and smiled, pondering just exactly how she was going to make it through the night with the feisty brunette in bed with her.

*****

"That was some high-quality burping, B." Faith laughed as she finished off her bottle of Dr. Pepper.

"I couldn't help it, it slipped!" Buffy whined as she sat back on the floor and rubbed her full stomach, empty plates and bowls littered around them.

Both girls sat there quiet for a few minutes, lost in their thoughts and their overwhelming 'full' feeling from all of the food that they consumed.

Buffy had managed to slip in a quick, warm, and much less satisfying shower than she had hoped for. The food had helped take the edge off, but she was still feeling a little wound up.

As they lay there in silence, lost in their thoughts, images from the past few weeks began to flood Buffy's mind. Memories of Sunnydale. Of friends lost. Of places she would never be able to visit again.

And just like that, her smile faded and a general somber mood filled the room as a result.

Faith had casually glanced over and noticed the change in the other girl. Had seen her smile fade and watched the unshed tears pool in her eyes, only to be blinked back.

"Hey, no sad stuff." The brunette stated, sitting up from her prone position. "This is the party room. No moping, okay? We can rent porn and take some booze outta the mini-bar and just fun it up." She stated, trying to get Buffy to smile more than anything.

Buffy put on a tiny smile, trying to hide her feelings.

"If it's all the same to you, I'm just gonna go to bed. Think I can use some rest." She said quietly, standing up quickly and moving over to the bed.

Without another sound, she laid down on the far side of the bed, her back turned towards Faith and towards the window. After a moment, she finally uttered a few words, her back still towards the brunette.

"That you for being nice, Faith. I really do appreciate it. I'm just tired is all." She said weakly.

The corners of Faith's mouth cracked up into the teeniest of smiled before she furrowed her eyebrows in concern.

"No problem, B." She said just as quietly, deciding that she should probably rest too.

Without another word, she walked over to her side of the bed, turning off the table-lamp and slipping beneath the soft sheets. She wasn't normally an 'edge of the bed' sleeper, but she didn't wanna crowd Buffy by sleeping in the middle like normal. She stayed motionless on her side of the bed, curled up slightly on her side and facing the blonde.

Only after several minutes of silence did she finally feel the bed shake lightly from the silent sobs of the other girl. Had she not been a Slayer, she may not have felt the subtle movement, but at that moment, every shake felt like an earthquake to her.

This was the moment. This was Buffy breaking down. This was her moment of vulnerability.

And, as Faith had promised herself, she was going to be the strong one.

Without hesitating a moment longer, she scooted across the bed and pressed her body next to Buffy's, placing a hand on the other girl's arm.

Buffy lifted her head for just a moment, turning it to the side just enough to meet Faith's concerned gaze.

"No questions, okay? Just let me do this." Faith said quietly, her head nodding as if to emphasize her words.

The blonde nodded her head in understanding before resting it back on the pillow, letting her sobs take over her once again. She was feeling too much. Happiness. Anger. Hurt. Pain. Elation. She couldn't handle the onslaught of emotion that had hit her at once.

Faith let Buffy cry against her, eventually wrapping an arm protectively around the girl and holding her tight.

This was all new for her. She didn't know how to do the comfort thing.

She shut off her brain and let instinct work for a while. Ignored the niggling feeling that she was getting in her groin as her hornies came back. Tried to ignore the soft feel of Buffy's skin on her. Tried to push the need to feel, to touch, to taste. Tried to ignore the warmth that was spreading throughout her body at the feel of another person pressed so intimately against her.

This was not about her, for a change. This was about Buffy. About being there for her for the first time since she had known the girl.

Still, she couldn't help but feel the sexual pulse pumping through her body, calling out for her to give in, to satisfy the urge.

She wondered just how long she'd be able to stay wrapped up against another body without losing control to the call of the horny . . .

. . . but then she felt the steady rise and fall of the breathing of the girl in her arms. And she realized that maybe this once, she would win out over her impulses. Strong? Sure, she could do strong. She could behave.

At least for now.

But it was only a matter of time, she figured, until she needed to act upon her urges. If she wasn't able to get them out elsewhere . . . surely they'd be taken out upon the closest person to her.

She decided that the next night would be about satisfying the urges and the desires; that she'd run out to a local bar and find some random guy or girl to take advantage of.

But for now, she'd just concentrate on being strong. On being good. On her breathing.

And not at all on the fact that her lips were resting upon the warm shoulders of the girl in front of her.

CHAPTER TWO

The night had been going pretty good, or at least better than Faith had expected.

Buffy continued to sleep peacefully, moving only once to pull Faith's arm under her head as a pillow. Since then, she had been resting with ease, her occasional snore showing exactly how comfortable she was with Faith laying beside her.

Faith, on the other hand, hadn't been able to sleep much at all. First, her concern for Buffy was running over and over in her mind. Concern that she'd never be the same person. Concern that she would suffer at having lost her well-defined place in the world. Concern that she, herself, wasn't strong or experienced enough to be a 'best friend' to Buffy in any way shape or form.

And then there was concern that there was something wrong with Buffy, because there was no way that any human head could possibly weigh that much.

Faith's arm had gone numb after about 10 minutes. The tickling sensation that reverberated up and down it every time that Buffy moved a millimeter had Faith biting her lower lip to keep from laughing aloud. However, she pulled it together and stayed strong, noting that it actually felt nice to spend the night just laying next to someone for a change.

The other thing that kept Faith from sleeping was the almost uncontrollable case of hornies that she was feeling. She wasn't sure if it was the size of the battle they had fought, or the fact that she finally had Buffy all cozied up next to her after seven long years.

There had been no doubt in Faith's mind that part of the reason she and Buffy were never able to be friends in the past was because she'd always cut herself off before getting to that point. To have a crush on someone was one thing, but to have a crush on someone she could never have was a completely different story. In the end, Faith had always kept her distance so that she didn't have a chance to get hurt.

Hurt was the only constant in her life, so she tried to avoid situations that led to it at any cost. But that was then, and this was now. Faith had grown up in more ways than one since she first arrived in Sunnydale. Her biggest feat, in her own eyes, was realizing that though she could never have Buffy in the way she wanted most, she could at least be there for her and let the older girl know that she cared.

There were no hidden reasonings in Faith's actions now. She wasn't helping Buffy so that she could get a one-up in Buffy's book or so she could move in and get closer. She just . . . wanted Buffy to know that she wasn't alone.

And hopefully, Buffy would be able to do the same for her; show her that she, too, wasn't alone in this whole deal. That for once, Faith would finally fit in and be accepted as she was: a bit wild, perhaps a bit crude, kind of nutty at times . . . but a part of their group nonetheless.

With that said, Faith wasn't exactly sure what to attribute her extreme hornies too. She'd had a bit of alone time in the shower, but it still hadn't satisfied the itch. Even after the most extreme slays, a few rounds with her digits normally got the trick done. Granted, this was a much bigger battle. But still . . . a part of her was thinking that it was just the petite blonde slayer that was wrapped up in front of her.

At one point, Faith had tried to wake Buffy so that she could go out for a jog or something, just to let loose some energy.

"B?" She whispered.

After a few moments passed and Buffy still didn't respond, Faith had tried again.

"B?" She asked a bit louder, freezing up when Buffy snuggled back further into her, her firm ass pressing right against Faith's crotch.

Faith gulped, using all the restraint that she could muster to stop herself from grinding up against Buffy's ass.

Trying one more time, Faith's voice took on an almost pleading quality.

"Buffy?"

And then the unthinkable had happened.

Buffy mumbled, sniffled a bit in her sleeping state, and turned around in Faith's arms, pressing their warm bodies even closer together. She rested her head higher on Faith's arm and wrapped her arms over the younger girl's waist, making Faith her own personal pillow.

Just when Faith thought it couldn't get any worse, Buffy's thigh slid between her legs. The sleeping slayer murmured incoherently a bit more before falling right back to sleep, leaving a confused and aroused Faith to fight a battle with her inner angel and devil.

Faith lay there completely rigid for a few minutes, wondering exactly how she could get out of her little predicament. In a moment of desperation, she reached her hand out and rubbed the bedside lamp, hoping that a genie would pop out and grant her a wish or two. Alas, no genie appeared, and Faith was left there holding Buffy and fighting her inner demons.

As the hours passed, Faith was finally able to put the concerns and thoughts of sex out of her mind enough so that she finally dozed off. Again, she couldn't help but notice how nice it actually felt to just hold someone, but she knew that she'd never be able to say that aloud.

It wasn't until the early afternoon arrived that the Slayers began to feel one another stirring. Neither girl made any effort to move much at all. Buffy had moved her arm from Faith's waist so that she could stretch her back, but her arm conveniently snuck back into its warm place a moment later.

And though Faith couldn't be certain, she thought that Buffy's arm now wrapped even tighter around her.

"Morning!" Buffy said, a little too chipper for Faith's liking.

"Hey B." Faith responded, letting her nose graze over the top of Buffy's hair.

"How'd this happen?" Buffy indicated their position, yet made no effort to move.

Faith couldn't help but grin a little, knowing that she had to take this opportunity to mess with Buffy at least a little.

"Well, I was just layin' there, all sleepy and quiet, and you rolled over and kept mumbling about how much you wanted me and stuff. And you were all sniffing my hair and gettin' all touchy and feely, but I put my foot down and told you to just behave for a change and let me sleep. Don't worry, B. I kept ya in line."

She could feel Buffy chuckle a little, happy in knowing that she hadn't crossed the line with the older girl.

"Well, then I owe you oodles of gratitude, Faith. If you hadn't stopped me, we might have spent the entire night having sinful, gratifying, wet hot lesbian sex. Really. I'm forever indebted."

Faith groaned, feeling the uncomfortable yet delicious pressure in her crotch get even worse.

"Alright. Okay. I concede, B. You win."

Buffy chuckled, snuggling even further into Faith's arms.

"I knew that talking about a little bit of gratuitous sex would push you over the edge. You're post-megabattle, Faith. A little self-loving isn't gonna do the trick for you this time around."

Faith pretended to act righteous. "Sister Buffy, when did thou lose that stick from up thy ass? Seriously, B. Admitting to the hornies, talking openly about self-loving, playing up my girl-on-girl fantasies . . . have you been taking 'the drugs?'"

Buffy laughed even harder, not surprised at all in how comfortable she was acting with Faith. It just felt . . . natural. Like it was the way it always should have been.

Minus the snuggling, of course.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Faithy. And honestly . . . there was no stick. It was more of a . . . twig of righteousness. Besides, the twig was long gone once I started having sex with Spike." Buffy added with a chuckle.

Faith remained quiet for a moment, wondering when Buffy would start to brood over the unexpected memories of Spike. However, the blonde seemed to be showing no signs of sadness at the moment.

Unable to stop herself from asking, Faith shifted to her side a little so that she could look into Buffy's eyes.

"How did that all come about anyway? It's not everyday that a Slayer makes a boy-toy out of a vamp, let alone two."

"You're telling me." Buffy said with a chuckle, settling her head down again as she tried to collect her thoughts. "Honestly? I was really messed up at the time. Nothing made sense. He was there. It was nice not being alone. Story: end of."

Faith took a minute or two to let Buffy's words sink in, surprised that she actually believed the explanation. But she still had unanswered questions that she was curious about.

"But, with all that's been going on, and then . . . well . . . what you told him when we were tryin' to get out of the school . . ."

"Oh god," Buffy interrupted, "you heard that? Shit, I didn't think anyone was around."

Faith noticed that Buffy looked upset, so she wrapped her arm over Buffy's side and tried to look into her eyes again.

"Hey, B, you're not gonna get a lecture from me. Far be it from me to be all judgment girl. Really, I . . ."

"Wait, don't even finish that," Buffy interrupted again. "Do you honestly think I loved him?"

Faith shrugged. "Didn't you?"

Buffy took a second to think about it, looking off in the distance for a moment before returning her gaze to Faith.

"No. And that doesn't mean I didn't appreciate him though, or that I'm not sad that he's gone. He died because . . . well, he knew it was him or everyone. He went and got a soul for me, and I think he loved me with it. He used that soul to save us all, and for that I'm forever grateful."

Faith nodded, understanding what Buffy was trying to say. Buffy wasn't in love with Spike, but she appreciated him and what he had done for her; for everyone.

Buffy continued. "When I told him . . . what I did . . . I didn't think anyone was around. I didn't think that it would matter if I told him one last lie if it gave him one moment of . . . peace. After what he was doing for us, he deserved that moment. I hope the Fates have been good to him."

Silenced filled the room as the two slayers got lost in their thoughts. Only after a few minutes did Buffy look up into Faith's eyes again.

"Do you think I'm horrible for lying to him?" she asked with a hint of nervousness in her voice.

Faith pretended to take a moment to think it over, hiding her grin when she replied, "Yeah, pretty horrible, B. In fact, you should get down on your knees now and ask Jeebus to forgive you and . . . all that crap."

Buffy tried to hide her smile but failed.

"Funny, Faith. Did they teach you sarcasm in prison, or does it come naturally to you?"

Faith laughed aloud, surprised yet impressed by Buffy's forwardness.

"Nah, B. I only took Comedy 101 in prison. Wes got me out before I could move on to Sarcasm for Beginners. But I'm thinking that maybe you could tutor me for awhile."

The two girls laughed together some more, constantly taking jabs at one another but not letting it affect them negatively whatsoever.

Faith ever-so-discretely reached out and rubbed the lamp again, wanting that genie to appear so she could wish that Buffy and her had started out this way in the beginning. However, as the first time, the genie failed to appear. Making a promise to herself, Faith promised that she would take full opportunity at this second chance she was given with Buffy. Being close to her like they were . . . almost gave Faith a sense of wholeness. Like her life was starting to feel more complete.

But being close to Buffy also brought on other realizations, such as that she was still ultra-horny and getting worse as the minutes passed.

"B, can I ask you a question?" Faith broke their friendly banter, rolling onto her back and looking up at the ceiling.

"You mean besides the one you just asked?" Buffy asked with a grin.

Faith responded by lifting her arm and giving Buffy the middle-finger, then proceeded to ask her question anyhow.

"Is it just me, or are you REALLY horny right now?"

Buffy thought it over for a moment before rolling onto her back as well.

"I'm pretty damn horny, Faith, if you really need to know."

Faith chuckled, rubbing her eyes with the heels of her hands.

"So . . . what do we do about it? Cos if we're gonna be sharing a room, things could get a bit complicated."

Buffy sighed, pondering their options. "Well, I guess there are a couple of options. We could . . . take turns in the bathroom and risk going blind." She looked to Faith, who shook her head as she rubbed her eyes. "Okay, we could . . . ignore the urges and just fill up on sweet and salty foods."

Faith moved her hands and raised one eyebrow at Buffy, causing the blonde to chuckle.

"Okaaaay," Buffy continued, "we could . . . have some of that gratuitous sex together that I teased you about earlier . . ."

This time, both of Faith's eyebrows shot up, causing Buffy to giggle.

". . . or . . ." Buffy finished, "we could just go out to some clubs tonight and see what the night produces in terms of post-slay relief."

Faith nodded at the last option, but her eyebrows were frozen in a permanent raised position from Buffy's second-last option. Buffy noticed the brunette's stunned face and couldn't help but laugh some more.

"Settle down, Faithy, I was just messing with you cos you're so easily messable right now," she laughed. "We'll go out tonight and see what we can come up with. I've never been a casual dater, but . . . I guess our lives are gonna be a lot different now, huh."

"Yeah," Faith agreed. "But that's okay, right? I mean . . . we're gonna be okay, right?"

Buffy looked over at Faith and smiled softly.

"Yeah, I think we will be. We have to be."

A comfortable silence passed between the two girls as they lay on their backs, staring up at the ceiling. Thoughts of their exciting but unknown future racing through their minds and keeping them both in an excitable state.

After a few minutes passed by, Buffy rolled onto her side and looked at Faith, who seemed to be lost in some pretty interesting thoughts.

"What are you thinking right now?" she asked.

Faith grinned, looking at Buffy out of the corner of her eyes. "You mean besides, 'If it was anyone else in this bed but you right now, I'd be having me some morning sex'? Umm . . . breakfast would be nice. You?"

Buffy tried not to laugh, but she couldn't stop the smile that was on her face.

"Besides, 'I'm hurt and shocked by your dismissal of me as a sex object'? Breakfast sounds good."

Faith grinned. "Let's go, princess."

The two girls began to get up from the bed, but Faith was stopped at the feel of Buffy's hand on her arm.

"And Faith?" Buffy asked, waiting until Faith nodded before continuing. "Thanks for . . . everything."

"My pleasure, B. My pleasure."

At that, the two girls got dressed and went to meet the others for a very late breakfast.

*****

The day passed quickly as the two slayers found themselves thrown into the chaos that was their new life in LA. Team Angel, along with Giles and Willow, were working around the clock to find a more permanent home for the Sunnydale crew. A few of the potential slayers, now simply slayers, decided that going home would be their first choice. However, the bigger majority of the girls didn't really have a place to call home as it was and decided to stay on with the Sunnydale crew.

Buffy and Faith went through the motions of the day, chipping in ideas or opinions where necessary, but taking on much more of a back-seat position this time around. They had their share of leading in the past, and now just wanted to be able to sit back while the others worked out the major details. Either way, they knew that they were likely staying right where they were, and that was fine with them.

The night found Buffy and Faith, along with a few of the junior slayers, piled up in a taxi and on their way to the first active club that they could find. Most of the clubs were pretty dead that night, as it was a Wednesday night and most people saved their partying for the weekends.

However, as they drove past one club in particular, Faith noticed a group of attractive guys entering the building.

"There's our jackpot, B." Faith said excitedly, tapping the driver on the shoulder to pull over.

"Are you sure, Faith?" Buffy asked. "Maybe we should keep looking for a bit. There aren't many taxis out, so once we're here, we're stuck."

Faith nodded her head, her eyes fixed on the building. "Yeah, B. This is the place. I can feel it in my bones."

With the decision made, the driver collected his fair and let the girls out of the car, chuckling to himself as he drove off. Buffy noticed his chuckle but didn't seem to care; this was her first night out in a long time and she was going to take full advantage.

Faith paid for all of the girls to get into the club, using the 'mad money' that Angel had given her to use for a fun night out. The junior slayers entered first, large X's marked on their hands to show that they were too young to drink. Buffy and Faith flashed their ID's before making their way into the club and heading directly to the bar.

"Two shots of whiskey, my friend." Faith said to the bartender, flashing her most alluring smile at the shirtless man.

"And for your girlfriend?" The bartender asked, indicating Buffy.

"Little Miss Man-eater here will have something girly and fruity, no doubt." Faith joked, ignoring the eye-roll that she got from Buffy. "What do you suggest?"

Faith watched as the bartender looked around the bar, laughing to himself as he saw the junior slayers hitting on a group of men.

"Sugar, you're gonna have to be more specific." He said with a big smile. "This whole place is filled with things that are 'girly and fruity.'"

Faith's eyebrows furrowed a bit before her eyes followed the bartender's gaze over her shoulder. She turned around to look at the dance floor, noticing all of the attractive and shirtless men dancing . . . together. With one another. In the complete absence of any females besides the group of slayers.

"Oh, you've GOT to be shittin' me." She commented under her breath.

"Faith," Buffy began, "wasn't it your smart idea to bring us to this club?"

Faith's shoulder's dropped. "Yep, it was, B."

Buffy tried to hide her huge grin but failed.

"Faith," she began again, "did you bring us to a club for GAY MEN?"

Faith sighed, instantly turning and drinking down her shots of whiskey.

"Yeah, B, I think I did."

Buffy laughed aloud, unable to collect herself as she saw all of the now confused junior slayers wandering around and Faith mentally beating herself up.

"Excellent plan, Faithy. Well done."

"Yeah, yeah." Faith responded, ordering up another round of shots for herself. "At least the night's not a total loss. I can't get me a man, but I can certainly get me some Jack."

Knowing fairly well that it could be awhile before they got another taxi, the group of girls decided to live it up and make the best out of the situation.

Buffy and Faith ordered up a slew of drinks, knocking them back before hitting the dance floor together. The men gathered around them and cheered them on, not a single person in the entire place able to keep away from the undeniable vibe that the two slayers were giving off together.

The junior slayers danced on tables and any other place where they could find enough room, happy to just be out and having a good time.

When the night was finally over, the group of girls left the club as the lights were turned off and the doors locked.

A gaggle of men walked them out, urging them to come back more often, but to bring some male friends with them.

Both Buffy and Faith laughed at the shared image of Xander and Andrew coming with them next time, but they saved the rest of those humorous thoughts for later. They needed to concentrate on getting their slightly inebriated selves and the junior slayers back to the hotel.

Faith hailed a taxi, stumbling into Buffy as she tried to open the door.

The two girls giggled, hopping into the front seat with the driver as the other girls crowded into the backseat. They all smiled when they saw it was the same driver from earlier that night.

"Luis!" Faith exclaimed, latching onto the driver in what was meant to be a hug but quickly turned into a fumbly mess.

"I see you ladies have good time," Luis commented in broken English. "Next time, you tell ol' Luis you go to lady bar and he take you to Pussycat Club. Much more muchachas for your cha-cha."

The entire car-full of girls broke out into a fit of giggles, laughing and joking around all the way back to the hotel.

As they entered the hotel and tried to discretely get up to their rooms, Faith and Buffy couldn't stop laughing.

"That was a total bust!" Buffy giggled, fixing her thoroughly messed up hair.

"You're telling me." Faith laughed, her voice hoarse from laughing and talking all night long. "Tomorrow, we go to the Pussycat Club and find us some muchachas! Feliz Navidad!"

Buffy laughed again but got serious as Faith's suggestion hit home.

"Are you serious? You want me to . . . and with the . . . muchachas?"

Faith laughed again as she danced her way into the elevator. "It's either muchachas, Faithchachas, or blindness, B . . . take your pick!"

Buffy thought about saying 'no' for a moment, but between the alcohol and Faith's influence, the last bit of her sense of righteousness flew out the window.

Dancing her way into the elevator with Faith, Buffy yelled out her best 'ayayayayayay' in the spirit of Luis and muchachas. She collapsed to the ground and pulled Faith into another fit of laughter, both girls knowing that the night hadn't been as big a bust as they had let on.

CHAPTER THREE

Author's Notes: Thanks for all of the reviews on the last chapter. I was fearsome that I'd lost my place in the fic-world, but you all made me feel right at home. Here's the next chapter; I hope you enjoy it, and as always . . . if you have some time, I'd love to hear your thoughts. :p

Surprisingly, both Buffy and Faith made it back to their room without any permanent injuries. Buffy had stumbled a number of times, but Faith was there to catch her at every wobble.

In fact, when it seemed that Buffy was stumbling more than she was making forward progress, Faith stepped in and just picked her up, carrying her the rest of the way to the room. It wasn't to say that Faith wasn't drunk as well; she simply had more experience with drunk-walking than Buffy had.

Plus, she thought it would be a good way to hold Buffy against her body once again. She wasn't sure that their sleeping arrangements would be the same again that night, and she wanted to make sure that she got at least a few minutes to be close to the girl again.

Being physically close to Buffy made Faith feel . . . right in some way. Like their slayer-connection gave her a sense of 'home', for lack of a better word.

Faith wasn't exactly sure why that was the case. Both times she was with the new slayers, in the bus and in the taxi, she didn't get the same feeling. She only got that feeling from Buffy. And as much as her body told her that it was more than just the slayer-bond, she pushed the feelings down and attributed it to the fact that they had been slayers longer than the junior slayers had been.

After all, there's nothing quite like avoidance and playing ignorant to tie up the niggling little questions in a neat little package.

When they finally reached the door to their room, Faith realized that Buffy had the key. She tried to wake Buffy from her alcohol-induced stupor, but all Buffy could do was mumble about needing to pee.

Wanting nothing more than to get Buffy into the room and onto the toilet before being tinkled on, Faith decided that she needed to find the key, and quickly.

Carefully, she braced Buffy against the wall, holding her there with her own body as she searched through the blonde's tight pants for the room key.

Buffy mumbled and giggled at Faith's hands that seemed to be tickling her for no reason. When Faith managed to dig just a little too deep in Buffy's pocket, Buffy's eyes fluttered open and she mumbled, "Hey, not until I'm married."

Faith couldn't help but laugh, the alcohol still making everything seem funny.

After spending just an extra moment or two searching around in Buffy's pockets, Faith finally managed to find the key. With as much skill as she could muster, she continued to hold Buffy up against the wall while fumbling with the keycard, swearing under her breath until she finally heard the little beep of victory.

Knowing full well that Buffy was probably even more likely to stumble now that she was half-asleep, Faith decided to carry her the rest of the way into the room.

She wasn't exactly sure why Buffy was laughing as the crossed the threshold, so she stopped and tried to figure out what was going on.

"You just carried me over the threshold, Fai. I thinks we're married now," Buffy slurred. "Wanna keep looking for more keys?" She asked with a giggle.

Faith laughed as she resumed walking, closing the door behind them before heading toward the bathroom.

"How about you pee first, princess. I'm not exactly into water sports," Faith said and winked, causing a confused look to appear on Buffy's face. Faith chuckled again and shook her head. "Never mind, B. Just do your business and lemme know if you need a hand, k?"

With that, Faith left Buffy in the bathroom and closed the door, barely able to contain her laughter as she finally had a moment to herself.

She couldn't help but wonder if this was really happening to her; was she taking care of a very drunk Buffy who was not at all like the Buffy she used to know? Were they actually having a 'friendship'? Could she really keep being a friend without screwing up?

And did Buffy really offer to let her keep fumbling around in her pockets? Because Faith was pretty sure that if she didn't see some action soon, she was going to cry or burst, and she definitely wasn't a crier.

So lost in her own thoughts, Faith almost forgot that she had left Buffy alone in the bathroom.

She put her ear to the door, trying to make sure that the other girl was okay. When she heard nothing, she tapped on the door.

"Everything okay in there?"

Silence.

"B? You need a hand? I can get Giles . . ." she joked.

After a few moments passed and there was still no response, Faith decided that she needed to make sure everything was okay. Slowly, she started to open the door.

"Cover up, B, I'm coming in. You better not have peed on the floor, cos I'm not . . ." Her voice trailed off as she saw a sleeping Buffy curled up on the bathmat with a towel over her as a blanket. ". . . and you totally passed out, didn't you?"

Faith walked into the bathroom fully and stood over Buffy, noting that she wish she had a camera so she could snap a few photos and show them to the Scoobs the next day.

Her good conscience caught up with her though, and she bent over and scooped Buffy up in her arms. She walked out of the bathroom and toward the large bed, carefully laying Buffy down on the right side and pulling the blankets up over her.

For a moment, it was hard for Faith to catch her breath. Even with her hair all rumbled, even with dragon-breath, even with the little snore that she had going on . . . Buffy always managed to take her breath away. Laying there, sleeping peacefully, trusting Faith enough to be alone with her after all of their bad history; it made Faith need to sit down for a minute.

This was really happening. She was finally on the way to mending one of the biggest screw-ups that she had ever made.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Faith watched Buffy sleep with a little smile on her face. Carefully, tenderly, she reached out and brushed a few strands of hair from Buffy's forehead, letting her fingertips graze the soft skin of Buffy's face.

Slowly, Buffy opened her eyes, feeling the soft touch on her forehead. Feeling Faith's presence over her. Feeling something that she couldn't quite explain.

Their eyes locked and, for a moment, it was as if they both realized they were experiencing that exact same feeling. The feeling that they felt only for one another. Beyond lust, beyond fear, and quite possibly beyond the slayer-bond.

Faith realized that she was closing the space between them, but she couldn't will her body not to move. It was moving of its own accord.

The kiss that she gave Buffy lasted only a few moments, and was barely a kiss at that. Lips pressed together softly, unmoving, but causing a slew of tingles nonetheless.

When Faith pulled back and looked down, Buffy's eyes were already closed, but she wore the tiniest of smiles on her face as she slept.

Smiling, Faith got up and took off her own clothes, throwing on a tee-shirt before crawling onto the bed and under the covers. She kept a bit of space between them, despite the fact that she wanted to be pressed up against Buffy again, their skin warm and soft against each other.

But she didn't dare attempt that.

She was fairly certain that even though Buffy had been drunk, she would remember the kiss in the morning and kick her ass all over their hotel room. They were friends now, or trying to be at least. Taking advantage of a sleeping Buffy while in her own horny state wasn't right, and Buffy would surely agree.

If Faith kept a decent physical distance now, maybe Buffy would forget the brief encounter and attribute the memory to active dreaming. That was only if Faith was lucky, however.

In the meanwhile, she tried to sleep, waiting for the possibly fall-out of the next morning.

*****

Just as the morning before, Buffy and Faith began to wake up at just about the same time. And again, as the morning before, they woke tangled up in one another's arms.

Neither girl was sure when it happened, as they had both slept peacefully the entire night through. However, their bodies found a way to what they both wanted, apparently.

"You alive?" Faith mumbled, feeling the aftereffects of the booze she drank the night before.

"Barely," Buffy murmured back, burying her face against Faith's shoulder to keep the light from her eyes. "You?"

"I'm about 2x2, B. Ask me again once I've had some coffee and bacon."

Buffy groaned. "Don't even mention food. I'll turn inside-out right here."

Faith chuckled, stopping when she felt Buffy wince at the subtle movement.

"Yeah, you defo don't want that taste on your lips, B. Not nice."

Buffy kept her head buried firmly against Faith's shoulder, thus muffling her words a little. "The only thing I taste on my lips now is lip-gloss. Not sure of the flavor though. Let me think on it for a minute . . . oh yeah, 'Lips of Faith.' I'm pretty sure this lip-gloss is called 'Lips of Faith.'"

Faith grinned, unable to help it after recalling their brief moment from the night before. Plus, seeing that Buffy wasn't pummeling her made her rest a bit easier about the subject.

"Oh yeah, that," she recalled. "I was covering you with the blankets and I just slipped, smack-dab on the kisser. Besides, you kissed me back."

Buffy lifted her heavy head from Faith's shoulder, trying to give her a mock look of indignation.

"I do NOT kiss girls." She defended, barely able to contain her grin.

"Lucky for you that I do, huh."

Both girls laughed and settled back down, enjoying the fact that they were able to be near each other so casually again.

"Besides, B," Faith continued, "if we're going out for muchachas tonight, you better get with the kissing of the girls. Or you're gonna be back here goin' blind before the sun is up. We're almost on two days with no . . . ughhh," Faith grunted.

Buffy tried to sit up a little bit at that, but found that her muscles seemed to be made of jello. She opted for rolling onto her back instead.

"About the whole 'muchachas' thing, Faith . . . I don't know how entirely comfortable I am with that, and the ughhh," she looked shyly over at the other girl.

Faith rolled onto her side and proper her head up on her elbow, looking over at Buffy.

"What's up, B? With the way you were teasing me with the 'hot wet lesbian sex' thing yesterday, I thought maybe you found the fun or somethin' while I was locked up. What's the what?"

Buffy shrugged. "I don't know. I mean . . . I can't say I've never exactly entertained the idea. I was a college student at one point, after all. I learned to appreciate the student body," she said with a nervous chuckle.

"So . . . what . . . you strictly dickly then?" Faith joked.

"Not exactly," Buffy answered back, looking a bit confused. "I guess I'm bi-curious at best. But let's not forget that I'm a virgin when it comes to that stuff. I don't wanna go to a club and make myself look like a total doofus. I don't know the rules."

Faith laughed. "There are no rules, B. Go to the club tonight. See what you like. And do what feels right. You get the wiggins and we haul ass outta there before they spin a Melissa Etheridge song. Deal?"

Buffy pondered it for a moment before shaking her head cautiously.

"Really though . . . we can leave if I wig? Cos I have a high-tendency to wig in strange and new places. And wiggy-Buffy definitely does not make with the cool."

Faith smiled. "You wig, we leave. Simple as that."

Buffy took a breath of relief, but was interrupted by Faith.

"Then again, if I come back here alone one more night, I can't be held responsible if I start rubbing up against you when I'm sleeping. I can't control that shit, yunno."

Buffy chuckled at Faith's honesty.

"Right. So, I either find someone to molest, or I get molested by you. Yay! This night is just looking better and better," she said sarcastically before winking at Faith. "Explain to me again why we're sharing a room?"

Faith grinned. "Cos it's meant to be, Buffy. You and me, livin' it up, fun and fancy free. The way it always shoulda been."

"I'll drink to that," Buffy chimed in. "Just, yunno . . . not until I've puked my guts up and swore never to drink again."

"Got it," Faith nodded. "Give you a few hours to rest, then take you out and get tanked again. Can do."

After laughing a bit, Buffy and Faith quieted down again, both secretly noticing the large distance between them on the bed. Neither girl made a move to close the space, but both wanted to.

Faith pondered it for a minute, trying to figure out exactly how she could get closer to Buffy without looking like a loser. She decided to just go for broke and do it in the most roundabout way that she could.

"My shoulder is gettin' kinda cold, yunno."

Buffy looked over at her, amused.

"Well, we can't have that happen, now can we?"

Both girls smiled before Buffy shuffled her way back over next to Faith, getting herself as close as she could before resting her head back on Faith's shoulder.

"That better?" Buffy asked, her eyes already closing.

"Yeah, thanks," Faith responded. "Hey B, my ass is a little cold also. Think you can take care of it too?" She asked, mischief written all over her face.

Without opening her eyes, Buffy reached her hand over Faith's side, giving her backside a nice smack.

Faith's eyes nearly bugged out of her head as a nice warm sting set in. Noting that a spank from a Slayer was about ten times as strong as a normal spank, Faith winced and tried to control herself.

"That oughta warm it up. Sleep now?" Buffy mumbled, trying her best to contain her giggles.

"Yeah, B. Sleep now," Faith answered. "Revenge later."

The two slayers spent a couple more hours in bed, sleeping off the rest of their hangover so they could start the day refreshed and excited about the upcoming night.

*****

"Does anyone have any clothes I can wear?" Buffy shouted down the long corridor. The frantic search was on for an outfit to wear on their night out.

Seeing as that the entire floor was reserved for the Sunnydale crew, Buffy's shouting didn't seem to bother any other hotel guests. It was probably a good thing that they had the floor to themselves, as Faith was currently walking from room to room in her bra and jeans, looking for a shirt to borrow.

"I lay claim to Lexie's black strappy tank," Faith said casually as she walked past Buffy.

"No fair, that thing is gonna be so tight on you. You should let me wear it," Buffy pouted.

Faith stopped and walked back towards Buffy, smiling big as she looked into her eyes.

"Hell yeah it's tight, B, and I'm gonna look good in it. Besides, I don't plan on wearing it for very long."

Buffy rolled her eyes and used the towel that was on her hair to whip Faith's butt as she walked away.

"Fine. I'll just borrow something from Willow," she replied. She almost got angry when she heard Faith laugh loudly at her comment, but she was determined to find a suitable outfit anyhow.

Walking a few rooms down in her bathrobe, Buffy knocked on Willow and Kennedy's door.

"It's Buffy, and I'm here to steal your clothes," she yelled through the door, hopping back and forth on her bare feet.

Willow smiled as she opened the door, holding it open for Buffy to come in.

"I'm not sure I can help you out in the clothes department, Buff. But I think Kennedy has a couple of things that might be user-friendly."

"I owe you big, Will," Buffy sighed as she walked into the room. "Who wouldn't have thought to pack up their clothes during the impending apocalypse?"

"We did," Willow answered with a nod. Seeing Buffy's frown, Willow tried to cover a bit. "But you were all with the big and busy, and we had time when you went for donuts that one time."

Buffy and Willow went through the closet as they made small talk, Willow updating Buffy on the 'permanent home' situation, and Buffy filling Willow in on her past day and a half with Faith.

"So, it seems like you two are getting along pretty good then," Willow commented, looking aside.

"Yeah, we are, Will. But . . . Willow, that doesn't make you any less my best friend, okay?" Buffy added, seeing Willow's slightly worried look.

"I know, Buff. It's just, you know. Faith. Her history with us as a group is pretty spotty. Like a Dalmatian. Or Swiss cheese even. You know what I mean, right?" She looked up and into Buffy's eyes, concern showing on her face.

"I realize that. But she did the right thing, Willow. And she definitely came through for Angel and for us in the end. She just wants to make things better. And she is. She's making me better, Will. Everyone has their own stuff to deal with right now, and she's just making sure that I'm okay. I appreciate it. I appreciate her."

Willow nodded, her shoulders relaxing a bit at Buffy's words.

"Okay, Buffy. I trust you. So long as you know that I'm here for a nice healthy dose of best friend-ness if you need it."

Buffy smiled and gripped onto the shirt and pants she had borrowed from Kennedy's closet. "I know, Will. I can always count on you."

*****

An hour later, Buffy, Faith, two of the junior slayers, Xander, and Andrew were in Luis' taxi, making their way towards the Pussycat Club.

"I look good, right?" Xander asked, adjusting his eye patch.

"Like a million bucks, Xan," Faith answered wearing her trademark grin. "Of course you know it doesn't really matter though, cos we're going to a club for chicks."

"Yes, we are." Xander replied and wiggled his eyebrows. "Who says that maybe Betty and Wilma don't want a little man-wich for their sandwich?"

Before Faith could groan about his comment, Andrew stuck his head into the front of the taxi.

"I don't mean to interrupt, but it was my understanding that we were going to see Return of the King," he piped in from the packed back seat. "Giles said that there was an alternate ending that was only just released."

Faith chuckled. "What Giles meant to say was, 'You're bugging all of the slayers and if we don't get you away from them soon, they're gonna kick your ass.' So, he offered to pay for our night out if we let you tag along. Seemed like a fair deal."

Andrew's jaw dropped open as his eyes widened.

"So what you're saying is, I wore my 'Free Frodo' shirt for nothing?"

"Nah, I'm sure the muchachas are gonna LOVE it, my man," Faith joked.

The taxi was filled with random chatter as Luis drove the group toward the Pussycat Club. As they finally arrived at the front door, they were all dismayed to see the signs unlit and the parking lot empty.

"Oh no, Luis' mistake," the driver apologized. "Wednesday night closed."

"Shit!" Faith exclaimed.

"No lesbians?" Xander whined.

"Typical." Buffy added.

"Does this mean we can go see 'Return of the King'?" Andrew asked.

Buffy and Faith's eyes met, mischief showing on their faces. Faith nodded and Buffy winked.

"Actually, Andrew, we have something even better in store for you. It's not 'Return of the King', but there IS some royalty involved."

A puzzled look crossed Andrew's face. "Royalty?"

*****

The music pumped loudly in the club, the large group of men cheering Buffy and Faith on as they danced to "Hole in the Head" by the Sugababes.

"Oh god. I'm in hell," Xander moaned as he hid in the furthest corner he could find, pulling long sips from his bottle of beer.

"This place isn't so bad," Andrew commented as he looked curiously around the club. "Fancy lights. I don't know what Buffy meant about royalty though."

A bitter smile crept up on Xander's lips.

"Queens, you genius. Buffy was referring to Drag Queens."

"Ohhhh." Andrew replied, looking around. "They certainly don't dress like royalty."

Xander banged his head on the bar, repeating "I'm in hell" over and over.

In the meanwhile, Buffy and Faith were busy dancing up a storm and having a great time with their friends from the previous night. The men gathered around them, forcing them to dance closer and closer to one another.

They were finally pushed completely together, dancing in perfect synchronicity to the music with their arms around each other. For any other people, it would have been hard to keep balanced or to dance with as much ease. But being as attuned to one another as Buffy and Faith had been recently, they danced with ease and grace, causing nearly everyone in the place to stare at them in wonder.

As the music changed to a more grindy song, Faith took the lead and started to grind more with Buffy, their movements becoming more sexual in nature with every beat. Both slayers could feel their hearts pounding in their chests, pumping their blood hard throughout their lithe bodies.

When one of the men randomly shouted for them to kiss, Buffy laughed and Faith just shrugged, looking into Buffy's eyes. Buffy shrugged back and, before they knew it, they were kissing nice and deep. The men around them cheered, causing them to kiss even more enthusiastically.

Only when breathing became an issue did they finally break apart.

"I think I need another drink!" Buffy yelled over the music.

Faith nodded and grabbed her hand, leading her away to the bar. She ordered up another drink for the both of them, smiling at the bartender who gave them the drinks on the house.

"I'm having such a good time!" Buffy shouted again, her voice barely audible over the loud music.

"Yeah, me too, B. Almost forgot what a good dancer you are." Faith shouted, clinking her glass against Buffy's before they both took long drinks.

When the next song started a bit quieter than the one before it, Faith leaned back against the bar and looked at Buffy.

"Hey B, can I ask you a question?" Buffy simply nodded as she sipped on her drink. Faith continued. "You ever hear of friends with benefits?"

Buffy chuckled a bit as she set her drink on the bar.

"No, I live in a cave and only come out to hunt."

Faith smirked, taking another sip of her drink.

"Right then. So . . . what do you think about it?"

Buffy furrowed her eyebrows. "You mean in general?"

"Generally," Faith grinned.

"Generally, I think that with the right person and the right set-up, it's a workable idea."

Faith nodded her head, turning to look out onto the dance floor. She was very careful not to look at Buffy for her next question.

"So, what do you think about it . . . for us?" The slightly scared look on her face wasn't lost on Buffy.

"I think that . . . it's something we need to talk about when I'm not drunk," Buffy added with a laugh.

Faith looked back at her and gave her a wink.

"Fair enough. But for the record . . . that wasn't a no, right?"

Buffy looked up at Faith and gave her a flirty little smile.

"Generally? Right. Come on, Faith, time to dance!"

And with that, Buffy grabbed Faith's hand and led her back onto the dance floor where they were instantly greeted by their cheering friends.

Faith was happy with the way things had just gone. The idea was out on the table, and it hadn't been shot down right away. Granted, she had no idea what made her ask the question. Had she not been drinking, she was fairly certain that the question would have remained hidden away forever.

But she was happy that she asked. And she was even happier that Buffy hadn't jumped on her about it in the more familiar 'righteous' way that she was so used to seeing Buffy respond.

For the moment, she just concentrated on the way her body moved in perfect time with Buffy's, and on the way their bodies would move perfectly together if Buffy would consider her earlier question.

CHAPTER FOUR

Xander had managed to sneak out unnoticed, taking the junior slayers with him. Buffy and Faith didn't notice though, as they had been too busy dancing and just having a good time.

They loved the feeling of finally being able to live. For Faith, it was mostly because she was out of prison and on her way to a better and brighter future. Angel promised that he'd find a way to take care of her legal matters, and she trusted him enough to not give the subject a second thought.

For Buffy, however, it was a bit different. By closing the Hellmouth and activating all of the slayers, she'd basically given herself a new lease on life. She was no longer the one in charge; life and death no longer lay cradled in her hands. Sure, there were slayers to train and work to be done, but . . . it didn't matter. She had never been able to plan her future, because it was too hard to see past this week's apocalypse or next week's disaster.

Now . . . it didn't all rest on her shoulders. There were other capable people, or at last there would be soon.

The thought of being able to live a normal life . . . to get a job, and go out to movies and dinners and dancing . . . it gave her a sense of power and control that she had never had before. More than that, it gave her a sense of elation she hadn't felt in ages.

She'd deal with planning her life and mixing her slaying with normalcy at a later time. But for right now, she wanted to celebrate. She wanted to live. She wanted to dance.

And she wanted Faith there with her, because the brunette always seemed to be able to bring the fun. She always had been able to.

But this time, she was doing it in a more adult and responsible manner that had Buffy wanting to be around her even more and more.

Of course, Buffy could hang out with Willow and Xander and the rest of the Sunnydale crew. But at this time, she knew that Faith was likely feeling the same things she was as far as freedom and the future went. She knew that both she and Faith could relate on a more personal level, as they were more alike than either girl cared to admit.

So hang out with Faith she did, and having fun she definitely was.

As the night before, Buffy and Faith ended up closing the club and walking out as the lights were being turned out for the night. When they noticed that Xander and the junior slayers were gone, they relaxed and realized that they could get back to the hotel at their own leisure.

Instead of hailing a taxi straight away, they stumbled across the parking lot and to the 24-hour diner next door to get some food.

Before they stumbled into the diner, they noticed Andrew walking across the parking lot with a group of men.

"Andrew!" Faith yelled, chuckling as he turned towards them, startled.

"Oh, hello Faith. You're looking quite . . . wobbly. Is gravity the newest big bad?"

Faith tried to keep her balance, laughing as she wobbled around.

"Nah, the gravity is fine, Andy ol' boy. It's the whiskey and tequila that are playing the role of the big bad tonight. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but am I seriously seeing you walkin outta here with a group of fa . . ."

"FAITH!" Buffy interrupted, giggling and elbowing Faith in the ribs. "Let Andrew tell us about his friends."

"This is Butch and Steve. Fellas, this is Faith and Buffy, acquaintances from my former home. They're intoxicated; ignore any lies they may tell. Faith, Buffy . . . the guys were just taking me to an all-night cinema to show me their theories on why Aragorn's true love was not, in fact, the lovely Arwen."

"Let me guess . . . it's the blonde elf, right? Cos they're both pretty-boys." Faith said, holding onto Buffy for balance. At this point, they were pretty much holding each other up.

"Don't be silly, Faith." Andrew said, annoyed but confused at the same time. "Anyhoo, my new pals and I are off. Be steady, dear slayers."

And with that, Andrew went off into the night with his new friends, leaving two giggling Slayers behind in his wake.

"He's in for a world of surprises." Buffy said with a chuckle as she started to walk towards the diner.

"You've got that right, B. Little guy is gonna be scarred for life. If he doesn't end up liking it, that is."

The two girls stumbled into the diner, ordering up both breakfast and dinner cos they couldn't decide which they wanted. After chowing down their food and barely sobering up even just a bit, they decided to flag down a cab and head back to the hotel for the night.

They would have went out and partied more, but the sun was starting to come up. Unless they wanted to dance to Celine Dion at the local convenience shop while sipping on slushies, their evening was done.

Somehow, they managed to give the cab driver the correct fare, plus a nice big tip. After all . . . he could have driven them all around LA and they wouldn't have known, seeing as how they were both passed out all over one another in the back seat. But he actually took them right to the hotel, dropping them off safely at the front entrance so they could stumble up to their room together.

After taking a brief nap in the elevator, the two slayers stumbled down the hall and to their room, not even noticing the curious junior slayers sticking their heads out of their rooms to see what the commotion was.

Somehow, they actually managed to end up in their room, flopping on top of one another on the bed.

"Ouch, don't lay on my stomach," Buffy mumbled. "It's all full and . . . squeaky. I don't think breakfast and dinner was such a good idea. Either that or I ate a mouse."

Faith groaned and rolled off of Buffy. Not noticing how close she was to the edge of the bed, she flopped right onto the carpeted floor, landing with a loud thump.

Buffy sat up and gasped, quickly covering her mouth to smother the giggles that were escaping.

"It lacked grace, but the landing was superb. I give it . . . an eight!" She laughed, holding up seven fingers to her hand as if she was judging a diving competition. After laughing to the point where it hurt her stomach, she flopped back onto the bed and continued a giggle/whimper hybrid.

Faith lay still on the floor, trying to figure out exactly what happened.

"You pushed me!" She mumbled, sitting up and rubbing the back of her head. "I can believe you pushed me off the bed!"

Buffy gasped, a look of indignation on her face. "I did not! I think you may be under the affect of alcohol, Faith . . . Secretlastname," she slurred. Suddenly, her brows furrowed and she looked down at Faith again. "Do you even have a last name?"

Faith completely ignored the question, struggling to get up from her spot on the floor while rubbing the back of her head.

"You fight dirty, Summers. And you need to learn a lesson."

Buffy kept giggling, not seeming threatened at all by the way Faith was getting up from her spot on the floor and glaring at her.

"Aww, whatcha gonna do, Faithy? Toss me on my ass? I'm already laying down, genius."

Faith grinned. "Nah, you can stay where you are, B. You gave me an eight on my ass-first dive onto the floor, but you still haven't judged my belly-flop."

Buffy barely had time to register what Faith said before she saw a mess of brown hair flying at her. A split-second later, she felt Faith's body flop onto her, instantly pinning her to the mattress.

"Ughhhhh!" Buffy cried out, feeling quite smushed by the other girl's now dead-weight on her. "I can't believe you did that, cow!" She struggled helplessly, not able to budge Faith at all, especially now that she seemed to be snuggling up and clinging to Buffy's body. "Ugh. I so owe you one now."

"Nah, consider us even, B." Faith mumbled as she nuzzled her face against Buffy's upper chest. "How could I charge you for my services when I get to conveniently rest my head on your chest? We're more than even."

It only took Buffy a second to forget the crushing weight on her as a tingle began to run through her body. She suddenly remembered how horny she was, and how good Faith's body felt against hers.

She had felt it both nights that they had spent together since they arrived in Los Angeles. A tingle that ran through her body like a soft electric current, pulsing constantly every second that their bodies touched.

Buffy had wondered why she felt it, and if Faith was feeling the same thing. Sure, she could take the easy way out and blame it on the slayer bond, but . . . that couldn't solely explain it. This was a feeling of freedom, of anticipation, of comfort . . . of lust.

And she was definitely feeling the lust at the moment.

Her fingers started to unconsciously stroke up and down Faith's back, causing Faith to look up into her eyes.

Faith flicked her tongue over her lips, suddenly noticing how dry they were. She knew that this could blow up in her face. She knew that Buffy had asked if they could talk about it when they were sober. But . . . the moment felt right. It felt like it could happen if they both wanted it enough.

And damn, did Faith want it!

Both Faith and Buffy looked deep into one another's eyes, waiting for the other to say something or make a move.

Faith finally went for broke and spoke up.

"B . . . do you wanna do this?"

Buffy was sure that she had never heard Faith sound so . . . timid. She knew that Faith didn't want to ruin the friendship that they were building, and frankly, neither did she. But there was no denying that they were still horny from the big battle, and that there was something between them that just couldn't be denied.

Sure, she could go out and find someone random. She hadn't done that before, but . . . how hard could it be? Still, sex with a stranger could be unsafe, as well as just more trouble than she wanted to go through. Besides, their previous two nights had yielded no answers to their little problem.

When all was said and done, having a friend with benefits seemed to be the best possible option. It was either that, a stranger, or having a mental breakdown from the constant hornies.

And Faith was, as hard as it was for Buffy to believe, her number one choice. Of all of the gang from Sunnydale and even LA, Faith was the only person that Buffy believed a 'friends with benefits' situation would work with. The brunette understood how it worked, and best of all . . . she was the one who had suggested it.

Having made up her mind with her silent reasoning, Buffy bit her lower lip and hesitantly nodded her head as she looked deep into Faith's eyes.

A small smile crept onto Faith's lips. She leaned forward and brushed her lips quickly over Buffy's before pulling back and looking into her eyes again.

"Yeah?"

Buffy copied Faith's move, leaning in and giving her a quick kiss on the lips before pulling back a few inches and looking into her eyes.

"Uh-huh."

Faith grinned, repeating the gesture again but letting the kiss linger a moment longer this time.

"You sure?" She asked as she pulled back again. "No take-backs and no do-overs. We do this and we're committed to the cause: friends with benefits. Sex with no commitment, no crying, no gettin upset cos of un-returned phone calls, no jealousy, and no . . . I repeat, NO doing the girly clingy thing. You down, B?"

Buffy pondered it for a moment, chewing on her bottom lip.

"So, we have the sex but I don't get chocolate and flowers afterwards?"

Faith chuckled, kissing Buffy's lips quickly again as they remained as close to one another as possible.

"Yeah, B, that's about right."

Buffy grinned and held out her hand to Faith to seal the offer.

"Flowers make me itch and chocolate makes me fat. Sounds like a solid plan to me."

Faith took Buffy's hand and shook it, flashing her a huge grin as they inched closer together.

Buffy's breathing quickened, her nervousness at the new situation quite apparent. She wasn't scared of doing this with Faith; she was nervous of doing it with Faith. You know . . . IT. Not only had she never had sex with another woman, but she hadn't even seen it on a video. She'd blushed and turned the channel when the sex scene on Bound came on while she was watching TV with Willow one time, and that was her closest brush with lesbianism that she had ever had.

She vaguely remembered the mattress being on the floor, and Gina Gershon's hand between Jennifer Tilly's . . .

. . . and enter the panic.

Buffy suddenly realized exactly what was bout to happen. Sex with Faith. Faith, who was a woman, and owning of the girly parts. Girly parts of which Buffy really didn't know exactly what to do with. Of course, she wasn't prude enough to try to act like she had never masturbated. She was a slayer, and slayers had certain needs and desires.

And if she was totally honest with herself, she couldn't deny having thought about women in a sexual way before. While masturbating.

Even that wasn't entirely true, though. It wasn't women that Buffy had thought about; it was Faith. Who, of course, was a woman. God, was she a woman! But in the last couple of weeks before the collapse of the Hellmouth, Faith had brought a rush of old memories back to Buffy's mind. Memories of long nights together when they had first met, slaying and dancing and flirting. And memories of what she'd do to her tight little body the second she'd hop into the shower when she got home from her quasi-dates with Faith.

Everything aside, Buffy knew her own body, and what exactly made it feel good. She didn't know what type of experience Faith had, nor did she have any desire to learn of her past misadventures in the realm of lesbianism. She just decided to go with the flow, try to read Faith as best as she could, and do things to Faith that she, herself, would like.

Faith watched, entertained, as Buffy seemed to have some type of quiet mental breakdown. Buffy's had spaced out as soon as Faith had started to lean in closer to her, so Faith had to sit back and watch the inner struggle that Buffy was going through.

She smiled as Buffy's eyebrows furrowed, then as she blushed, and then as a look of determination crossed the blonde's face. At that point, Faith decided to help end Buffy's inner turmoil. Without any further hesitation, she placed her fingertips under Buffy's chin, waited until Buffy met her gaze, and leaned in and began to kiss her.

Their kisses were chaste at first, allowing them time to adjust to the new sensations. As it turned out, the kissing was great foreplay, as they both began to get bolder with every kiss.

Faith was surprised to feel Buffy taking initiative, running her tongue over Faith's bottom lip so that she could kiss her deeper. Faith obliged accordingly, parting her lush lips to let Buffy's tongue explore her moist, warm mouth.

Buffy sighed a bit into Faith's mouth, even letting a moan escape as Faith began to suck on her tongue.

Pulling back for a moment to catch her breath which seemed to have been ripped from her chest, Buffy grinned and looked into Faith's eyes.

"That was . . . hot."

Faith grinned, letting her fingertips run from under Buffy's chin, across her collarbone, and down her arm.

"You like?"

"Oh yeah." Buffy purred in her still drunken state, leaning in for another kiss.

Her judgment, however, was still a bit off, and she forgot exactly how close she was to Faith until their foreheads clonked off of one another.

"Ow! Jesus, Buffy, are you trying to knock me out? We can't have sex if we're unconscious." Faith joked. "What the hell is your head made of anyways, lead?" Faith asked, remembering just how heavy Buffy's head had been on her arm the last two nights in a row.

"Sorry!" Buffy apologized, embarrassed. She rubbed her forehead, instantly noticing the goose-egg that was slowly appearing. "I didn't mean to . . . I was just . . . there was kissing, and there should have been more, and I . . ." she rambled, not noticing the amused look on Faith's face.

"Relax, B . . . there's still sex to be had. Why don't you just lay back a bit and let me . . . get things started?" She asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

Buffy smiled, leaning back onto her elbows and watching Faith with a seductive look on her face.

Faith hovered over Buffy, making the older girl shiver as she trailed her hair over the length of her arms. She lowered herself gently onto Buffy's body, only letting part of her weight rest on her so that Buffy could feel free to respond in whatever way felt good.

Buffy felt her heart beating hard in her chest as Faith's lips brushed over hers again, instantly remembering how incredible it felt to even be simply kissing the girl. Her whole body responded in a way that it never had before with anyone she was sexually involved with. This was new. This was different. This was good.

Faith's kisses became more determined, their tongues soon sliding over and around one another. Buffy wrapped her arms around Faith's back, allowing Faith to rest more fully on her.

This was making out. This was good. They were slowly getting more comfortable with one another and with what was going to soon be happening.

When kissing was no longer enough, Buffy let her hand slip under the back of Faith's shirt, letting her fingertips roam over the soft skin of Faith's back. She had obviously hit one of Faith's more pleasurable points, as the brunette moaned softly into her mouth.

Encouraged, Buffy's touches became more intent, caressing the spots on Faith's back and sides that made her moan or breathe in a different way. The good kind of way.

She suddenly began to think that this whole 'sex with girls' thing wasn't as hard as she was thinking it would be.

And that's when she hit Faith's bra clasp.

Buffy wasn't sure exactly what to do next; should she unclasp Faith bra so that she could get a look at her surely gorgeous breasts, or did she leave it be and let things progress at Faith's speed? And if she unclasped Faith's bra, what then?

Deciding not to get too wrapped up in what-if's and how's, Buffy went for broke and let her fingers snap open the clasp to Faith's bra. It took her a moment or two, as her alcohol-induced haze made even the simplest task much more difficult.

She knew it was the right move when she felt Faith smile against her lips.

And then Faith's lips were gone from hers, and it took Buffy a moment or two to realize that Faith was now straddling her waist with her fingertips under the hem of her own shirt.

Faith wiggled her eyebrows at Buffy before lifting her shirt up and over her head.

Or, at least partially over her head.

Buffy managed to move her gaze from Faith's loosely bra'd breasts up to her face, which was currently obstructed by her inside-out shirt.

"Shit!" She heard Faith mumble.

"What?" Buffy asked, her eyebrows furrowing.

"The tag is tangled up in the back of my hair. It's stuck." Faith answered, her voice muffled through her shirt.

"Well, can't you just pull it free?" Buffy asked, confused as to why this was such a big deal. Faith's half-clad breasts hung only two feet in front of her face, teasing her ever so subtly as the unclasped bra threatened to fall and reveal them at any moment.

Buffy began to hope that Faith would have a violent sneeze that would jolt the bra down.

"Sure I can, Einstein, so long as you don't mind me having a huge bald-spot on the back of my head from where the tag ripped it out."

Buffy suddenly understood exactly how stuck Faith was in her shirt and realized that she needed to help. ASAP. Because they needed to be having sex. Like, now.

Without thinking first, Buffy immediately sat in an upright position, not realizing what her movement did until it was too late.

A small high-pitched scream escaped Faith's throat as she was tossed off of Buffy and onto the floor, yet again.

Buffy's eyes widened at the spectacle before her.

"I . . .shit . . . oh god . . . sorry! " She rambled, doing her best to get up from the bed so that she could help Faith up and out of her tangled mess.

However, she failed to notice that her right foot had become tangled in the bed sheets. As soon as she tried to stand, her foot missed the floor for being tangled in the sheets and she fell right over onto the already displaced Faith. She landed with a loud thud, causing Faith to yell out.

"Holy shit! You made me bite my lip, B! Are you cursed or something?"

Buffy struggled to get free from the mess of blankets that trapped her on Faith, scoffing as she answered Faith.

"Do NOT even joke about curses. I'm like fly-paper for curses, and everything else icky, gross, and smelly. Do NOT jinx it." She answered, finally getting to her feet.

Faith just lay on the floor and whimpered, her pride and libido temporarily deflated by the series of events that had occurred in the past ten minutes.

"Do you think you can just . . . go get the scissors from the bathroom and help me out here, B?" Faith asked from within the confines of her tangled shirt and the bed sheets.

"Uh, yeah," Buffy answered, finally defeated.

She stumbled her way to the bathroom and fetched the scissors from the toiletries basket, fixing her rumpled hair in the mirror before returning to help Faith. She knew that the sex idea was over for the night, but there was no reason that she couldn't still look presentable.

Making her way slowly back into the main room, Buffy froze in place as she saw that Faith's bra had slid down her arms, revealing her full, round breasts. Taken aback by the sight, Buffy took a step forward, only to trip over one of her hastily discarded shoes from when they had returned to the room.

She tried her best to steady herself as she fell, keeping the scissors as far away from her body so that she could avoid injury. As she landed, she felt the scissors penetrate something tough that was laying on the floor. A large tear sounded through the room as the metal penetrated what seemed to be a tough, sturdy material.

Buffy kept her eyes closed, not wanting to look at what she knew was something truly horrifying. She kept completely still with her eyes clenched shut, listening to the gasp from across the room as Faith scurried up to look over the bed.

"Nooooooo, not my boots!" Faith yelled as she poked her head out the bottom of her shirt, her arms flailing around in an effort to free herself from the tangles mess she was in.

Buffy cringed, opening one eye enough to see the long metal scissors sticking right through the top of Faith's famous black boots.

No, there would be no sex tonight. There would be mourning over boots and over what was now the most embarrassing night of both of their lives.

They might not have any jobs lined up for the immediate future, but at least both girls knew that they could always fall back on clown school.

CHAPTER FIVE

Buffy was surprised that Faith had only mourned her boots for about an hour before she went to sleep. Actually, she more passed out than fell asleep. Massive amounts of alcohol and dancing will do that to you.

As Faith had cursed, moaned, and grumbled, Buffy did her best not to fall asleep in the plush armchair near the bed. She had apologized profusely and offered to buy Faith a new pair, but Faith had mumbled something about 'not going to the pound to buy a puppy when your best friend dies.'

Buffy had managed to fall asleep for a few minutes in the chair, ignoring the general fuss that Faith was making as she lay on the floor with her mauled boot. When she woke from her five-minute nap, she realized that Faith, too, had fallen asleep while cradling her boot in her arms.

She stumbled over to the sleeping girl, smiling at how small she looked curled up on the floor. Buffy also realized how much hell she was going to catch in the morning for the maiming of an innocent boot. It wasn't just any old boot. This boot was a celebrity. It had been around as long as Buffy had known Faith; she didn't want to even think about what Faith had to do or what demon she had sold her soul to in order to keep the things from reeking.

And then Buffy started to get a little bit scared. What if they woke up in the morning and things were different? No, they hadn't had sex. But they had done things that were slightly more than friend-ish. Had they not been so clumsy and uncoordinated, they most likely would have finished what they started.

In fact, Buffy was almost happy about the boot-maiming incident, as it might draw some of the attention away from the almost-sex that they had.

Still, they had never established firm rules. Sure, Faith spat out a few guidelines . . . no jealousy, blah blah blah. When Faith brought up the notion of friends with benefits in the club, Buffy immediately thought that it could work if they were both on the same page. She knew that after all that had happened, there was likely no chance that neither she nor Faith were up for big new relationships.

But that didn't change the fact that they both had basic needs, and seeing as that her life was much less complicated now, she was ready to act on said needs. For the first time in . . . well, a long time . . . she was ready to be a little selfish and put herself, and her own needs, first.

Going out to a club to find a random bedmate hadn't really appealed to Buffy, but she decided to try it out just to say that she had. When Faith had thrown out the idea of the two of them together, it almost made perfect sense to her. Granted that she had never been with a woman before, the idea didn't squick her out. That had to count for something.

And the best part was that she knew that neither she nor Faith would get attached to one another, as they had always been like oil and water together: fine while separate, but unmix-y when forced together. At least for long periods of time.

So maybe that analogy wasn't the greatest. But she knew that there would never be any earth-shattering relationship between herself and Faith, so she didn't mind leaping in. At least it would be easy to walk away when all was said and done, and that in itself was a big relief for Buffy.

But now she wasn't exactly sure of where they stood. Had she ruined their friendship and their chances of friends with benefits with her general clumsiness and the maiming of the boot?

Buffy, of course, was willing to give it yet another attempt, but she had to be sure that Faith wanted to as well before she would act on it again. However, she was perfectly fine leaving well-enough alone if Faith dropped the subject. She'd suppressed her needs in the past . . . surely she could do so again. This time seemed especially difficult, but Buffy was adamant about beating the urge if that was the case. If Faith turned her away, she'd just . . . repress, repress, repress.

It was nothing that a few years of therapy down the road wouldn't be able to fix.

Or at least a small investment in a very durable vibrator.

After much internal debate, Buffy used the last of her strength to pull Faith up and onto the bed, collapsing on it herself after she had situated Faith near the center. Carefully, she pried the boot from Faith's arms and tossed it onto the armchair, wincing slightly as it bounced off the chair and landed on the floor with a loud thud.

She stole a peek at the sleeping girl beside her and, realizing that she was out like a light, relaxed back into the pillow and temporarily put the memory of the boot and the embarrassing evening out of her mind so that she, too, could sleep.

*****

Buffy awoke to the bright L.A. sun only to realize that she was alone in the bed. She peeked one of her eyes open, taking a peripheral glance around the room to see if she could spot an angry slayer with a pair of scissors and a taste for revenge. Seeing only the mess that they had made of the room the night before, she sat up and glanced more fully around the room.

Faith's boots, as well as her jacket, had disappeared.

Sighing as she flopped back down onto the mattress, Buffy realized that she had gone and finally driven Faith away. No goodbye note, no goodbye revenge, and not even a goodbye kiss. She couldn't believe that Faith would leave over something as silly as a pair of boots, but she couldn't even focus on that right now. The loud banging in her head from her previous night of drinking and 'debauchery' was finally catching up with her.

Knowing fully well that sleep was the best thing to clear her head and take the pain away, she rolled onto her side and curled up with the pillow Faith had been resting on, taking in a deep breath and she tucked it under her chin.

She'd deal with the missing slayer in a couple of hours. Maybe by then Faith would come to her senses and make her way back to the hotel.

*****

After another few hours had passed, Buffy awoke this time not to the bright sun, but to the feel of someone yanking the pillow out from her arms. A small grunt escaped her throat as she clung to the pillow, finally letting go as she felt herself being pulled by it towards the edge of the bed.

"Cut it out, Summers. First you kill my boot and now you steal my pillow. What next . . . are you gonna clean the toilet with my toothbrush?" Faith asked sarcastically but without even a hint of malice in her tone.

Buffy knew that Faith was trying to act pissed off but was, in actuality, not.

"Maybe after I use it to clean the lint out of my bellybutton." Buffy answered with a yawn, trying to pull the pillow out of Faith's arms.

"That . . . is pretty sick, B. You're nastier than I thought." Faith commented as she pulled off her jacket and climbed onto the bed in her tank and jeans.

She slid underneath the covers, fumbling underneath them to pull off her jeans and kick them off to the side. Faith had never quite been a modest person, so Buffy was somewhat surprised to see her acting so reserved while getting undressed.

"Where'd you go anyways," Buffy asked, "and why didn't you say you were going?"

Though Faith was now resting back with her head on her pillow, Buffy kept trying to steal it back, knowing fully well that she rested more comfortably with her arms around something.

Faith was amused with Buffy's actions for a moment, but quickly became annoyed when she couldn't explain her absence for trying to defend her pillow. In a quick move, she grabbed Buffy's arm and tugged the girl closer, wrapping Buffy's arm over her stomach so that she was using Faith like she had been the pillow.

Buffy smiled and rested her head back down on her own pillow, tightening her arm around Faith's waist just a bit as Faith began her explanation.

"I just went for a walk, B. Needed some air, some time to unwind. And I borrowed a hundred bucks from Big A so that I could get some new boots. No big."

Buffy frowned a little.

"Did I mention that I'm sorry?" She asked, cringing a little as she said the words.

Faith smiled a little, using her right hand to play with the arm that Buffy had draped over her stomach.

"Yeah, ya did. Don't worry `bout it, B. They've been through worse. Maybe it was time for a change. Besides . . . it was an accident. We were drunk and clumsy, and . . . yunno." Faith said, trying not to look directly at Buffy but focusing more on the way they were now playing with one another's hands on her stomach.

"Yeah." Buffy agreed nervously. "We were pretty . . . drunk."

"Yep." Faith agreed, the conversation a bit awkward but both girls at ease as their fingertips met again and again.

"That was some crazy string events, huh? With your shirt, and the bed, and the . . . scissors." Buffy said with a nervous chuckle. "I guess that was our sign right there, huh."

"Yeah, totally." Faith agreed. "That was definitely someone's way of telling us to stop."

"Yep." Buffy agreed, trying not to be too obvious as she snuck a peek up at Faith's face to see if she could gauge what she was thinking.

Faith had taken the exact same opportunity to glance over at Buffy's face, both girls freezing a bit as their eyes met. Buffy chuckled nervously as she tried to move her gaze away, but she found that she couldn't. She was lost in the deep brown eyes that were looking at her with confusion and desire both at the same time.

"So . . ." Faith hedged, ". . . it was a mistake then, right?" Her hand never stopped playing with Buffy's during the whole conversation, but now her fingertips slowed down so that it seemed as if they weren't moving at all.

"Oh, totally." Buffy agreed again, though her head seemed to shake 'no' as she said the words. "It was just a mistake, and we were just . . . mistaken," she continued. "We should totally just forget about it, right?"

"Right." Faith said with a bit more certainty, not even noticing that her fingertips started moving again and that her fingers seemed to have locked together with Buffy's now.

"Good. Great." Buffy said, finally able to move her gaze away from Faith's. She let a large breath out, almost relieved that the conversation went the way it did.

That was that. What had happened wasn't meant to, and the whole crazy idea of 'friends with benefits' was now thrown out the window.

"Or maybe we shouldn't." Faith suddenly added, squeezing Buffy's hand a little bit as it still lay draped over her stomach.

Buffy had just about realized what Faith said when she felt her body being moved back a bit and Faith's lips pressed softly against hers.

The kiss took them both by surprise; Faith because she didn't actually know what her body was doing, and Buffy because she genuinely thought that they had missed their chance.

But as their soft lips pressed together once and lingered, it was almost impossible to stop them from moving again, lips parting further to taste and feel more. Their slow kisses remained soft but the urgency behind them increased even more as both girls began to fill with excitement.

This was it. It was now or never. Do or die. Hot wet sex or a trip to the sex toy shop.

The choice was apparent as Buffy parted her lips, allowing Faith's tongue to enter her mouth. It wasn't their first kiss. They had kissed in the club after being spurned on by the group of men, and there was that time that Faith had kissed Buffy on the forehead before running off to the Mayor.

And through all that time, Buffy had never quite forgotten exactly how soft Faith's lips were, and how she had secretly yearned to feel them as they were now, soft yet insistent against her own.

It didn't take long before the slayers were breathing heavy into one another's mouths, all of the days of sexual frustration coming to a head now. They kissed as if they had done so a hundred times before, yet their hands roamed each other's bodies as if it was their first time touching. Like they were desperate to feel more, to know every curve and secret that their clothes had hidden for so many years.

Buffy found herself scooting up a bit more to be even with Faith, raising her arms up over her head so that Faith could finish pulling off the shirt that her hands had been so busy roaming under. She heard Faith snigger a bit as she pulled the shirt off of Buffy without a hitch, reclaiming some of the cool that she had lost the night before.

The blonde slayer couldn't help but smile at Faith's reaction to her seemingly simple feat. Before Faith could lean in to kiss her again, Buffy lowered her arms from above her head and held Faith's face in her hands, stroking her thumb over Faith's dimples before leaning in to kiss her soft lips yet again. There was no doubt that a moment had passed between them as the two girls had made brief eye-contact, both Buffy and Faith feeling a tiny flutter in their stomach before Buffy ended the moment by leaning in for another kiss.

There would be time to ponder the flutter later. Now was time for sex. Sex that seemed to be getting closer and closer to happening as Faith pulled back to lift off her own tank top. She tossed it across the room before taking a moment to sit back and appreciate Buffy's nearly-naked form, grinning as she watched Buffy doing the exact same to her.

"Not bad, right?" Faith asked with a grin.

"Nothing I haven't seen before." Buffy responded, trying to hide her own grin as she pretended to be unimpressed.

Faith scoffed. "Don't make me put the shirt back on, B."

Buffy laughed and put her arms around Faith, pulling the girl down with her so that she laid half on top of her body.

"You better not. If you do, how am I gonna do this?" Buffy asked as she gently cupped Faith's breast in her hand, letting her thumb roll ever so lightly over Faith's hardened nipple.

"Right." Faith answered as she peppered small kisses over Buffy's lips, down to her neck, and across her collarbone. "Shirts are definitely of the bad right now."

Buffy smiled and let out a small laugh which was quickly followed by a moan as Faith began to suck and kiss over her pulse point. That was it . . . Faith had found her weak spot. She'd never let Angel kiss there after he had drank from her, Riley was too busy slobbering over her to notice her neck, and there was no way that she was even going to let Spike there. Her sweet spot had gone unloved for so long, and now Faith was focusing all of her attention on it as Buffy moaned in appreciation.

Faith continued to kiss and suck on Buffy's pulse point as Buffy held her loosely against her neck with a hand tangled in the back of her hair. She loved that Buffy actually seemed into this . . . was actually enjoying herself. She found that she had to pinch herself once or twice to see if this was really happening, but she didn't wake up from some hot and horny dream. She was very much awake, with a very hot and horny Buffy playing with her nipple.

Faith kissed her way over Buffy's neck, up behind her ear, and then she finally kissed the shell of Buffy's ear softly, loving the small gasps and moans that the girl was making.

"B," she whispered against Buffy's ear, "I want you to come for me."

Buffy moaned at Faith's words, and then again as she felt Faith's wandering hand stop between her legs, letting a single finger trace upward once over her already moist panties.

"I don't think that will be a problem," Buffy responded, turning her head to the side so that she could capture Faith's lips with her own. They kissed yet again, their lips becoming more insistent as the moments went by. Buffy pulled back after a few moments, just enough so that her lips brushed against Faith's as she spoke: "But I want you to come for me too. With me. I want you to come with me, Faith."

Faith smiled against Buffy's lips before kissing her with everything that she had been holding back up until that point. They kissed hard now, deep and quick as Faith's hand began to fumble with Buffy's panties.

She fumbled for a moment or two, even trying to rip the side of the panties for easy access. The panties, however, refused to tear, a seemingly quiet oath to protect the goods that lay underneath. Undeterred, Faith simply slid her fingertips underneath the side of the steadfast panties, almost losing herself when she felt exactly how wet Buffy was.

Buffy shuddered with the contact Faith made with her, her shaking body giving up the cool façade that she was trying to keep on at all costs. This was good for her, but it was also a bit scary. It was new, and . . . she didn't want to screw up. She didn't want to let Faith, or herself, down.

Faith must have felt Buffy shaking after the initial shudder and she pulled back from the kiss so that she could look into Buffy's eyes.

"Are you okay?" She whispered.

Buffy nodded, trying to shake off her sudden unease. "Yeah, just . . . new at this. Big with the intimidation." She had no doubt in her mind that she was blushing now. She almost wanted to crawl off somewhere and be embarrassed when she saw a warm smile spread on Faith's face.

"Don't be intimidated. We're friends, B. Adult friends. And we're giving each other what we really, really need." She said with a small chuckle. "Yeah, it's new. But just go with it. Who knows . . . ya might like it."

Buffy smiled at her, feeling her inhibitions shed almost immediately.

"Besides," Faith continued, "if it's not feeling `right', just say the word and we stop. End of discussion. `Kay?"

Buffy nodded her head, then brought her hand up to Faith's cheek again as she looked into her deep brown eyes. Faith smiled and leaned her head into Buffy's hand before turning to kiss her palm. Neither girl had planned on tenderness, but it was there, no matter how you at it.

Without hesitation, they started kissing again, eager to finish what was started the night before. They kissed a bit softer now, lips and tongues touching and tasting and enjoying every moment.

Throwing caution to the wind, Faith began to move her fingertips, sliding them around Buffy's wet folds within the confines of her tight panties. They basked in the slick heat, feeling as if they belonged there. As if they had been there before. As if they would never leave. She teased her fingers softly over Buffy's hardened clit, teasing Buffy's tongue with hers in the exact same way.

Buffy gasped at the contact, her hips involuntarily bucking so that she pushed right against Faith's eager hand. She didn't care that it was Faith's hand. In fact, she was rather enjoying that fact. She hadn't felt this wet . . . this excited in longer than she could remember. It felt a bit risqué and a bit . . . naughty, at least as far as the 'history of Buffy' went. No, she didn't mind that it was Faith's hand in her panties at all.

And she certainly didn't mind that she'd be coming all over it soon if Faith kept circling hard over her clit like she currently was doing.

"Oh god." Buffy moaned as Faith's mouth left hers and began to kiss a hot wet trail to her neck. The brunette made her way to Buffy's pulse point and began to lick and nibble on it again as her fingers expertly circled over and around Buffy's clit. Buffy's hips began to move in time with Faith's motions, causing Faith's center to press down against Buffy's thigh again and again.

It didn't matter that Faith was wearing panties. It didn't matter that she was coming into contact with Buffy's muscled thigh only now and again. The fact remained that her panties showed the evidence of her need, leaving a slight hint of juices on Buffy's thigh.

Buffy was intrigued. She hadn't thought that she could ever make that happen to someone. Men were different. Show them a picture of a nipple and they're ready to go. This was different. This was Faith. And Faith was dripping wet and waiting to be fucked by her.

Slowly, with much curiosity, Buffy ran her hand down Faith's side, loving the soft feel of every inch of her skin. There were no rippling muscles, or unruly body hair. It was soft, and tantalizing, and Buffy suddenly felt the need to chart every curve of Faith's body. But that could wait. Now, she wanted to make Faith feel as good as Faith was making her feel. She wanted her to come . . . she wanted them to come together.

She felt Faith's lips pause for a moment on her neck as she cautiously slipped her fingers into her panties, taking a moment to feel the liquid heat of Faith's arousal.

Faith moaned a little as Buffy's fingertips gently made contact with her hard clit. She began to kiss Buffy's neck again, trying hard not to pin Buffy's hand underneath her so that she could slip and slide all over it until she came nice and hard.

But Buffy didn't give her that chance. Her fingers already coated in Faith's juices, she cautiously slid one long finger into Faith's dripping hole. She wasn't exactly sure of herself. She wasn't stupid . . . she knew the female anatomy, and she knew what she liked herself. She just . . . wasn't sure that it was what Faith would like.

Faith, however, made no secret that she liked what Buffy was doing.

"Yeah, that's it, B." Faith whispered into the crook of Buffy's neck, closing her eyes tight as she tried her hardest not to start riding Buffy's hand like crazy and scare the girl away. She wanted the experience to be mutually satisfying.

This was, after all, about mutual satisfaction.

Buffy became more confident as Faith's gasps and moans became louder and more strained, knowing fully well that the brunette was probably as close to coming as she was herself. She had two fingers in Faith's pussy now, sliding them in and out of her tight hole as her palm was trapped quite hard against Faith's clit.

There was no more uncertainty about it now. Faith was going to come for her, and she was going to come for Faith.

Buffy began to shake, her hips thrusting hard against Faith's hand as she felt herself succumbing to her orgasm. Spurned on by the shuddering girl beneath her, Faith's gasps turned into muffled moans as she moved her lips back to Buffy's, their mouths meeting in a flurry of soft but deep kisses.

Buffy came first with Faith trailing right behind her, both girls breathing hard into one another's mouths as they recuperated from their much needed release. After a few moments, Faith was going to roll off to the side of Buffy, feeling like she couldn't hold herself up much longer. Buffy, however, pulled Faith down fully on top of her, using her free hand to brush a few stray hairs away from Faith's sweaty brow.

Faith smiled and caught Buffy's thumb between her lips, kissing it softly before leaning down and giving her a heart-stoppingly tender kiss on her lips. Buffy tried not to smile into the kiss, but she couldn't help it. The tension was gone. The frustration was gone. Her body was buzzing in a way that she didn't realize was possible, and Faith was treating her in a way that Buffy didn't know the girl was capable of.

Faith smiled too, finally breaking the kiss and resting more fully down onto Buffy.

A few moments of comfortable silence passed between the two slayers as they tried to calm down and rest a bit.

"So . . ." Faith began.

"So . . ." Buffy responded with a smile.

" . . . are you a big raging bull-dyke now?" Faith asked tongue-in-cheek, ducking her head down into the crook of Buffy's neck as the girl grabbed a spare pillow and clunked her on the back of the head with it.

"Your powers are strong, Fai, but not that strong." Buffy giggled.

They settled back down again, basking in the pleasant warmth they were currently sharing.

"Seriously though," Faith began, "are you okay? Was that . . . okay for you?"

Buffy tilted her head to the side a bit, resting her cheek against the top of Faith's head.

"I'm good. That was good. We're . . . good. Right?" She asked.

Faith chuckled. "We're five by five, B, and then some. No guilties then?"

Buffy thought about it for a moment, feeling out her emotions as best as she could.

"Hmm. Nope, no guilties. Sleepies. Hungries. Maybe even some more hornies. But definitely no guilties wandering around in the Buffy-psyche." She stated matter-of-factly.

Faith looked up at her and smiled.

"Good. How about . . . we get some sleepies," she stopped and kissed Buffy's forehead, "take care of the hungries," she kissed her nose, "and if you're still up for it later, maybe we can have another go at those hornies." She grinned before giving Buffy a soft, languid kiss that seemed to go on for hours.

Buffy broke the kiss with a smile, nodding as Faith rested her head back on her shoulder.

"I think that sounds like a plan." She said, closing her eyes and succumbing to the tiredness that quickly washed over them both.

CHAPTER SIX

Author's Notes: Thank you everyone for the feedback, and for being patient with my updates. Here's another; I hope you enjoy it, and that you'll let me know what you think if you can spare a moment or two to do so. :)

Buffy awoke to the feel of soft caresses on her stomach. She smiled and stretched her back before opening her eyes, basking in the way her body was humming as the warm sun shone through the window.

"Hey," she said with a smile, looking down at Faith who had her head rested on Buffy's upper stomach as she rubbed her fingertips over her soft skin.

"Hey back," Faith answered quietly, looking into Buffy's eyes and smiling as she continued to caress her stomach.

"Whatcha doing?" Buffy whispered, feeling completely . . . content. Carefree. Free.

"Watchin' you sleep." Faith answered with a little smile, showing no signs of embarrassment at her display of girly-ness.

"Why, am I drooling?" Buffy asked, running the back of her hand across her mouth to wipe away any offending liquid.

Faith chuckled and shook her head slightly. "Nah, you're drool-free, B."

Buffy laughed quietly, resting back down comfortably as her hand moved of its own accord to play with Faith's now unruly hair.

"Then why are you with the whole `watching of the Buffy show'? Was I snoring, or talking in my sleep, or was my stomach making some kinda weird noises? I am slightly hung over, you know. I can't be held responsible for . . ."

"Shhhhh." Faith interrupted Buffy, closing her eyes now as she continued to rest her head on Buffy's stomach. "I'm basking, B. Gimme a few minutes, kay?"

Buffy chuckled to herself, not exactly sure what was going on with Faith, but deciding to grant her the few minutes that she asked for anyhow. It was the least that she could do for her fellow slayer.

After several minutes of comfortable silence passed, Buffy finally had to find out what was going on.

"Is it time for explaining yet?" She whispered.

Faith smiled and looked up, then shimmied up so that she was laying alongside Buffy's body, her hand still able to caress Buffy's stomach.

"I dunno," Faith began, looking shy suddenly. "I guess this is just kinda new for me. Yunno, waking up with someone the morning after. Not wondering who the hell they are or why they're there. Being able to do the whole `laying together' thing. It's just . . . I'm basking."

Buffy laughed, but she stopped when she realized that Faith wasn't laughing with her.

"What . . . really? You've never woken up with someone before and done . . . the morning snuggles? Or the post-lovin' chat, even?"

"Nope." Faith shrugged. "Never really had the chance before. Didn't know most of the people. I mean . . . I don't usually make it a habit to have sex with my friends, B." Faith said with a chuckle.

Buffy grinned.

"You're forgetting Xander, you hussy." She elbowed Faith gently so the girl knew that she was just playing around.

Faith gave Buffy a small, almost wry smile.

"I said I don't have sex with my friends, B. I never mentioned yours." Faith explained and then winked to lighten the mood a bit.

Buffy tilted her head to the side.

"Xander was your friend, Faith. We all were." There was no malice in her voice. She simply wanted to know what Faith meant; where she was coming from.

"Nah," Faith began, "we were acquainted, but we weren't friends. Not really, anyways. Besides . . . friends don't do to friends what I did to you guys. I wasn't right then, yunno? I was just . . . a different person. A bit screwy, a bit wild. And, I mean . . . I'm still screwy and I'm still wild." She laughed, then shrugged. "But I'm trying to be a better person now. I wanna be friends with you guys."

Buffy smiled and turned on her side a bit more so that she could be face-to-face with Faith.

"Well, you are our friend, Faith. You came back when you didn't need to; you made things better . . . all when you didn't have to. You lent us your strength, and I think that was one of the reasons why we won. Why we're all here today. And partially why we're both naked now." She chuckled.

Faith laughed as well.

"Yeah, how `bout that." She looked into Buffy's sparkling eyes and smiled. "Thanks for . . . everything. For giving me another chance."

Buffy smiled at her, letting her hand creep over Faith's side so that she could pull her a tiny bit closer.

"And I especially thank you for this morning," Faith added. "That was wicked. I feel a hundred times better."

Buffy laughed again. "Yeah, me too. Thanks."

Both girls were laughing now, even more so after they gave each other a high-five to signal their victory from the morning.

They settled down again, just enjoying the comfortable silence. They were pressed stomach-to-stomach now, Buffy with her eyes closed as she just relaxed, and Faith trying to be as discreet as possible about watching her.

She'd never seen Buffy so peaceful. So at rest. And for reasons she couldn't comprehend yet, she couldn't take her eyes off of the other girl.

When Buffy opened her eyes and started to stretch again, rolling onto her back so that she could do so more easily, Faith was pulled from her reverie and back to the day that was ahead of them.

"So . . . what's the plan for today then, B?"

She hoped that Buffy would say that she wanted to go out again tonight, because she definitely wanted to spend more time with her. It was nice to finally have a friend in Buffy, and she wanted to keep having fun with the girl. Plus, if they went out, it was pretty much a 100% chance of getting some again. If they lucked out and found someone in the club to sex up, fine. Even if they didn't, they had their arrangement now. Friends with benefits. In the event that no one else was around, they could count on each other to satisfy their hornies.

Buffy finished her stretching and moved to sit on the edge of the bed, grabbing a tee-shirt from the floor and putting it on carelessly.

"Well, Wills said something about a meeting. We need to figure out what we want, where we're going, what we're doing. I think that she mentioned food too, so I'm guessing dinner time, which . . ." she looked over at the alarm clock, ". . . is in about two hours."

"Okay, so . . . we figure out the what, the where, the when, and then . . .?" She looked expectantly at Buffy.

Buffy grinned and looked back at Faith over her shoulder.

"And then we dance our asses off wherever they'll let us stay the latest."

Faith smirked and raised her eyebrow.

"You mean you're planning on closing some place out with me again tonight? I dunno, B. Seems like you're already banking on dancing it up and then bringing me back here and having your wicked way with me."

Buffy laughed and turned to face Faith more fully.

"And you have a problem with that?"

Faith shook her head.

"Nah B, just making sure we're on the same page." She winked. "So . . . you gonna hit the shower now?"

Buffy stood up and stretched, her tee-shirt riding up to reveal the bottom of her perky little ass.

"No, I'll probably shower before we go later. Willow doesn't mind if I stink. I kind of just feel like staying in the room and oooompfh . . ."

Before she could realize what was going on, Buffy felt herself being tugged backwards and Faith crawling up over her so they were face to face, stomach to stomach.

"So we have some free time for . . ." Faith began, wiggling her eyebrows as she cocked her head to the side.

Buffy giggled before running her fingers through the sides of Faith's hair, smiling before she pulled her down for yet another kiss.

There were no words that needed to be said.

*****

Buffy and Faith walked into the conference suite of the hotel with about two minutes to spare before the meeting. Seeing as that the hotel had a conference suite area on every floor, the manager had no problem reserving the room on their floor solely for the Scoobies to use, especially since they had the entire floor rented out.

Not all of the girls were there; the younger ones were off being `babysat' by Angel and his gang, Angel taking on a somewhat fatherly role in protecting the young girls.

The faces in the room were all familiar . . . Giles up front, Willow and Kennedy sat alongside him, Andrew and Dawn fiddling around with diagrams on a chalkboard, the older Slayers loitering around the snack table, and good ol' Xander sat reading a comic book on a two-seater sofa.

Seeing as that was the only sitting space available near Giles and the gang, Buffy and Faith made their way over.

Faith grinned and plopped down next to Xander, startling him from behind his comic book.

"Hey!" He exclaimed as Faith stole the Superman comic from his hands. "I was reading that. Gotta keep the one eye entertained or it'll pop out and run away," he joked.

"I won't let it, Xan." Buffy commented with a smile just before plopping down onto his lap. It was a move quite unlike Buffy, and it took Xander by surprise as he lurched forward with a loud grunt.

"Ughh. Have a seat why don't ya, Buff."

Buffy laughed. "Don't mind if I do. So Xander," she began, "did you enjoy yourself the other night?" Buffy asked, bringing up the night when they took Xander to the gay club with them.

Xander scoffed.

"You mean when you took me to the very large gay bar with the very large gay men and tried to turn me into a very large homosexual? Yeah, I had a blast, Buffy. Thanks for taking me." He answered sarcastically, then moved his hands to Buffy's hips and lifted her over to Faith's lap. "The two of you can stick together until you've won me back with your most sincere apologies and promise of gifts and love."

With that said, he snatched his comic book back from Faith and shifted on the couch so that his back was turned towards the two slayers.

Buffy laughed, knowing fully well that Xander was not actually mad, but more that his pride was hurt. Faith chuckled along with Buffy, glancing down at the paper cut on her thumb where Xander had yanked the comic book from.

"I guess I deserved that." Faith responded, shaking her sore thumb a little.

Buffy noted the gesture and took Faith's hand in hers, inspecting the small paper cut before giving it a small kiss.

"There. All better, ya big baby. Buffy kisses heal the soul."

"Or remove them." Xander added under his breath.

Buffy tried to act shocked but ended up joining Faith and Xander in laughing.

Willow watched the three of them from her perch across the way, taking special interest in the way Buffy handled Faith's paper cut. She and Buffy had been friends for seven years. Seven years of late night research and book reports. Not once through her hundreds of paper cuts did Buffy ever give Willow `healing kisses'.

No, she had saved the healing kisses for Angel, and for Riley. For the men that she had been involved with. Loved, at least at the time.

Willow made a mental note to keep an eye on Buffy and Faith, not because she didn't trust them, but because she didn't want to see either of them hurt. They had hurt each other in so many ways in the past and made it through just fine, but the hurt they could experience from being . . . too close . . . was something Willow wasn't sure they could handle. Especially now.

Her thoughts were interrupted as Giles cleared his throat from the front of the room, trying to get everyone's attention. Once the junior slayers sat down and settled, Giles began.

"Yes, I'd like to thank you all for coming here tonight. I understand that the new sense of freedom is overwhelming, so I commend you all for sticking to your responsibilities. Shall we begin?"

Giles received a few nods from around the room, so he decided to get started.

"Good then. It has been brought to my attention that, as lovely as this place may be, and as plentiful as the clean towels are, we cannot stay here forever. Some of the girls have families that want them back, some have no families whatsoever. Some of us are committed to the fight, and some are ready to . . . live. Or retire. I suppose it would be wise to discuss what we'd like for ourselves, and for one another."

The room was mostly quiet, everyone waiting for someone else to start speaking.

When it was obvious that no one wanted to go first, Giles spoke again.

"Perhaps it would be more conducive if I offer some choices, and you may add ideas of your own, of course. As for myself, I'd like to return to England. The Hellmouth is closed so there is no reason for me to remain in the immediate area, but the fact remains that there are other Hellmouth's, and there is always some archaic evil lurking around and waiting to destroy the world."

"Well that's a bright and shiny outlook. Did someone eat a rainbow for breakfast?" Faith asked under her breath, earning several laughs from around the room.

Giles smiled. "Thank you, Faith. However, I'm afraid that's the truth. And as much as I'd like to say that I'd enjoy a nice quiet life in a flat in London with a cuppa every night, I'm afraid that I'd be . . . completely and utterly bored."

A few giggles arose from around the room, and Giles continued.

"Thus, I've decided that I'm going to do what is familiar; what I believe I'm meant to do. The Watcher's Council needs to be rebuilt. I've been in contact with other Watchers who remain after the recent events, and they are in agreement with me. Once we're settled in our decisions, I'll be heading back to England to rebuild the Watchers Council."

"And the girls? All of the new slayers?" Buffy asked from her place on Faith's lap, back in business mode.

"That's gonna be their decision, Buff." Willow answered as she stood up from her seat. "Giles and I have talked to a handful of the girls. Some just want to go home. For those girls, Angel has agreed to give us funds to send them back. But there are quite a few girls who want to help. They have this power in them now and they hear the call of the slayer, like one of those dog whistles. Once Giles gets the Council running, we'll be able to assign the girls Watchers and send them where they're needed."

Buffy nodded. "They'll need training."

"Definitely," Willow agreed. "Preferably by someone experienced. Someone who can help them. Someone who has been in their shoes. I think that . . ." Willow hedged, clearly meaning that it should be Buffy who trained the girls.

But Buffy knew she couldn't. She interrupted Willow.

"Wills, I agree. It would be great to have someone experienced. Someone like . . . me, for example. But I think it's time I start thinking for someone beside myself at this point. Like . . . Dawn. We were forced to stay in Sunnydale because it was my job. But that job is over, and now it's time for Dawn to shine."

"I like the way you're thinking, Buffy." Dawn added with a huge smile.

"So," Buffy continued, "I can't answer yet as to what we're gonna do, but I promise that as soon as Dawn and I sit and have a sisterly chat, you all will be the first to know what our plan is."

Buffy waited for backlash; to be told that her duties didn't die in Sunnydale. However, all she received was warm smiles from all of her friends. They understood. They knew where she was coming from, and stood behind her.

All it served to do was to make her smile even more so.

The meeting went on for about an hour, everyone discussing their plans. Andrew would return to England with Giles and study to be a Watcher. After a bit of traveling, Willow and Kennedy offered to move to the other Hellmouth Giles had mentioned in Cleveland and keep things under wraps there. Giles had mentioned that maybe some of the new Slayers could find a home there as well, and Willow almost beamed at the thought of being a teacher and mentor to them.

Xander, too, decided that he wanted to see the world a bit, but that he knew he would always return to what was familiar to him: the oogy and the weird. He promised to be of use to the new Watcher Council once he had some time to himself.

Faith, for the most part, had been mostly quiet during the meeting. She wasn't sure where she was going to go. She briefly pondered staying in LA to help Angel, but she knew that she had some of her personal demons to face first. When asked where she was going to go, she simply smiled softly and said, `home'.

When the meeting wrapped up, the gang agreed to meet back in one week to finalize their plans. In the meanwhile, Angel would work on returning girls to their families and on training the others who wanted to learn.

This meant, pretty much, that Buffy had a week to decide what was best for her and Dawn, and that she still was able to take a breather while others worked on getting things done. She thought that she should feel bad about it, but she really didn't. She needed this time to just rest and think, and to enjoy life as it was: with her friends, and her family, and all of those she held close before they had to go their separate ways.

*****

When Buffy and Faith had returned to their room, they didn't speak of the meeting. Faith had never been a very responsible person, so she didn't feel much like dealing quite yet with something as significant as plotting out her future. A couple of months prior, she didn't have to worry about any of that. Her future consisted of jail, more jail, and possibly a period of probation when she was too old to walk without a cane. Prior to jail, she had pretty much planned on dying young. The whole slayer gig put a damper on her future, so she didn't plan one.

Sure, in one week, she'd finalize her plans to go back to Boston and try to make amends with her past. But for now, she wanted to live. Live hard and play hard. And she was pretty sure that Buffy was feeling exactly the same way.

They took turns in the shower, filling the silence with small banter, and then with even more laughs and jokes as they put their future on hold and fell back into fun mode. They had a week to live it up, and they were going to go all out.

By the time 10:00 rolled around, Buffy and Faith were hailing down a taxi in front of the hotel, setting off for another night of fun. They were both familiar with the bar they had spent the last couple of nights at and decided to head back that way. However, when they passed by the girl bar that had been previously closed, they found that it was open and pumping loudly, so they decided to make it their home for the night.

Faith sauntered right up to the place, handing the bouncer money for the cover for both her and Buffy. Buffy was less sure than Faith was, realizing that she was actually going into a lesbian bar now.

Faith smiled when she turned back to see Buffy walking up with trepidation in her eyes, her feet barely moving. She grabbed Buffy's hand and began to pull her gently along.

"Don't worry, B, you just stick with me. We'll have some drinks, we'll get our dance on, and if any scary bulldykes ask you to dance, we'll just say you're with me."

Buffy looked from the packed club over to Faith, who gave her a smile and a wink. Buffy felt a small wave of relief wash over her, and she decided right then and there to go in and just . . . have fun, as she had been doing the last couple of nights.

She trusted that Faith would be there for her in any case.

All eyes turned to Buffy and Faith as the duo walked into the club, Buffy clinging tightly to Faith's arm, Faith managing to smirk as cockily as she could. She knew she had the hottest girl in the place on her arm, and she couldn't help but strut proudly. Even if the small gesture of Buffy clinging to her arm marked her as unavailable, she didn't care.

Cos she had Buffy on her arm.

They made their way over to the bar, Faith ordering a round of drinks for them.

"See? It's not so scary, B. Just a bunch of nice ladies, all picturing you naked and straddling them." Faith teased.

"Gee, thanks, Fai. I feel much better now." Buffy said with a smile as she shook her head, taking her drink from the bartender and sipping it down slowly. "It's really packed in here. Anyone catch your eye yet?" She asked as she looked around the large room.

Faith smiled as she looked down at Buffy.

"Just one." She said quietly, so quiet that Buffy was just about able to hear it over the music.

Buffy turned and smiled at Faith, stepping closer so that they were pressed together a bit more intimately.

"You're quite smooth, yunno that?" Buffy asked, breathing in Faith's intoxicating scent.

Faith grinned. "Yeah, and freshly shaven too."

Buffy raised her eyebrows and took another step forward, closing any visible space left between them.

"Guess I might be able to find that out later for myself, huh?"

"If you play your cards right, hell yeah." Faith answered, her grin getting wider by the moment.

Buffy smirked and let her lips brush softly over Faith's, a quick and soft kiss.

"Dance with me?" She asked.

Faith simply smiled and put her hands on Buffy's hips, turning the girl around and wrapping her arms around her stomach as they made their way towards the dance floor.

There was definitely something going on between them. They both felt it at that point. Just a week before, they were battling for their lives and still sharing uncertainties about one another. Then Faith was there for her, comforting her, and just being everything that Buffy needed. The bonds of friendship grew, but something else came along with those bonds. It was more than friendship, and more than something between slayers, but neither girl could place a finger on it.

Sure, the crazy thoughts of something friendlier than friendship had crossed their minds, but they immediately dismissed the thoughts. They were only friends, and new friends at that. This was too much, too soon, and they just wanted to enjoy one another's time without having to complicate things by talking about their feelings and trying to make heads or tails from them.

Still, it didn't change the fact that the feelings existing, and that both girls were struggling to keep them under wraps.

The hours went by and the girls danced one song after the next, stopping only for drinks and to catch their breath. When a slow song finally came on after about an hour or two, Buffy threw her arms around Faith's neck and rested her head on her shoulder, basking in the sweet harmony that their bodies seemed to be sharing with one another.

The slow song ended and the next one quickly picked up the beat, but Buffy and Faith remained in their peaceful dance, clinging to one another and to all of the feelings that were coursing between them.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Author's Notes: So, there's lots of stuff going on in this chapter. I apologize if it seems jumbled, but I needed to get it all done and over with. THANK YOU to everyone who has read and reviewed . . . you guys are awesome and make the baby jeebus happy. *grin* Anyhow, enjoy, and I'd love to hear your thoughts as always. :)

The night hadn't gone exactly as expected. Rather, it hadn't gone quite as the previous nights had. Two a.m. came around and the slayers found themselves sat at a corner booth, Faith with her back against the wall and one leg rested up along the seat, and Buffy resting back against Faith. Faith had one arm up on the table, holding her beer bottle, and her other arm was snug around Buffy's waist.

"I can't believe I crashed this early," Buffy said with a yawn, watching the women on the dance floor with a glossy gaze.

"Yeah, me too. I musta had a good workout this afternoon or somethin." Faith answered, resting her chin on Buffy's shoulder.

"I'll say." Buffy said with a grin, wrapping her arm gently over Faith's.

They sat in silence, nursing their drinks while watching the hubbub of the club around them.

"Do you find it weird that all of these women are dancing and getting drunk and getting lucky, and we're back here yawning and getting all snuggly?" Buffy asked with a little smile.

Faith thought about it for a moment or two.

"Nah, I don't find it weird, B. To be perfectly honest, if I had come here alone any other time, I probably would've left with someone by now. I woulda danced and got tanked and got laid too." She chuckled.

Buffy suddenly felt bad. She looked down at her hand as it played with Faith's fingers and tried to hide the apprehensive tone in her voice.

"So . . . you're basically stopping yourself from having fun because you're here with me?" she asked, unsure and feeling rather self-conscious now.

Faith answered quickly, not wanting Buffy to think even for a moment that she had any regrets about where they were right now.

"That's not it at all, B. I've been going out dancing and drinking and getting laid for more years than I care to share. But never have I gotten `lucky'. Right now, being here with you, just chillin' and being close to you . . . I've finally gotten lucky."

Buffy turned and smirked at Faith.

"Oh, you are SO smooth. You're good at this, you know that? And you'll definitely be getting lucky again later, Smooth Operator."

Faith smiled softly. "Yeah?"

Buffy looked her in the eyes, losing her smirk and suddenly feeling self-conscious again.

"Well, if you want to, I mean. Cos I'm not much into using force these days, and I . . . ."

"Shhhh," Faith interrupted. "Yeah, I want to. A lot."

Buffy smiled at Faith, instantly relaxing again. "So . . . you wanna get out of here then?"

At that, Faith took Buffy's beer bottle from her hand and placed it on the table, helping the girl up from the booth before standing up herself.

"After you."

*****

Faith and Buffy lay panting on the floor of their hotel room, their naked bodies hidden under masses of disheveled bed sheets.

"That was . . . that was . . . well, I didn't think we'd quite get to that yet." Buffy said through deep breaths, her face flushed. She couldn't hide the satisfied smile that crept up on her lips.

Faith poked her head out from under the sheets near Buffy's feet, rolling onto her back as she was panting just as hard.

"Well, B, it's my firm belief that sixty-nining is something that everyone should know and master. Honestly, no one likes to be left out. It's the perfect solution." Faith responded with a grin.

Buffy laughed, then shimmied down under the blankets and turned around so that she was lying alongside Faith, her head poking up from under the covers to come face to face with the grinning girl.

"So tell me, Professor Faith: do I get a passing grade for my first venture into the sixty-nine-verse?" she asked, nuzzling her nose into the crook of Faith's neck.

"Nuh-uh-uh, B. Yunno that good professors don't release grades until the end of the semester," Faith joked. "I, however, am NOT a good professor and can be bribed pretty easily."

Faith sighed happily, tilting her head to the side a bit as Buffy began to kiss and nibble her neck softly.

"Bribes, you say?" Buffy mumbled against Faith's neck as she started to kiss and nibble more enthusiastically. "So, would you tell me my grade if I do something like . . . oh, I don't know . . . this?"

Buffy chose that moment to slide her fingertips slowly down Faith's still naked body, teasing them ever-so-softly around and over her sensitive clit as she continued her ministrations on the girl's neck.

"Oh fuck," Faith whispered, licking her lips as she closed her eyes and began panting again.

She had already come just a few minutes before with Buffy, leaving her extra sensitive. Not to mention the fact that she could still taste Buffy's juices on her lips. The circles that Buffy was now rubbing over her clit, which began soft but increased in pressure and speed as the moments went by, slowly began to make Faith unravel.

Faith raised her hips off of the floor, pushing against Buffy's hand as she neared her climax.

"Oh fuck, oh fuck," she chanted again and again, hardly able to contain herself anymore.

When Buffy decided at that very moment to bite slightly harder on Faith pulse point, Faith jerked upwards, coming hard all over Buffy's hand.

Faith laid fully on her back again, temporarily spent after coming so hard. She was breathing heavy; her eyes clenched shut as Buffy began to nuzzle her neck again. Buffy slid her fingers from Faith's wet folds and rested her hand on the girl's hip, pulling their bodies together even closer.

After a few minutes passed and Faith's breathing returned to normal, Buffy kissed her neck softly again, kissing up to her ear before whispering, "So, about that grade . . ."

Faith wrapped her arm over Buffy's back, clinging tightly to her so that Buffy could feel her chuckle.

"B, I'm thinking about giving you a full scholarship."

Both girls laughed aloud as they wrapped around one another again, prepared to spend yet another night in each others arms.

It was the only way either of them could sleep now.

*****

Dawn smiled as she walked down the hotel corridor, three large mochas in a carrying tray in her hands. Mornings weren't normally her favorite time of day, but that day was different. She was to have a big discussion with Buffy about her future, and for once, she actually had a say in it.

She hadn't actually told Buffy that they'd be having the meeting that morning, but she had been so excited the night before that she wasn't able to sleep. As soon as they could have their chat, she could start to plan and maybe even sleep again.

When she got to Buffy and Faith's room, she knocked on the door, cautious not to spill the tray of mochas in her arms. After a few moments passed and there was no answer, she moved to knock again, this time forgetting to be as cautious of the scalding hot beverages in her hands.

Just as one of the disposable cups was about to fall, a maid stepped over and grabbed it, putting her hand on Dawn's arm to steady it.

"Careful, niña, you don't want to burn yourself. Here, I'll open the door for you."

The chubby little maid reached into her front apron pocket and pulled out her key card, sliding it easily into the lock.

Dawn thought about telling the nice maid that it wasn't actually her room for a moment or two, but in the end she remained quiet about it as she knew that it was her easy way in. She flashed the maid a smile and said thank you as she backed into the room, giving a tiny wave before closing the door shut quietly.

She closed her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief before steadying herself again and turning around to wake Buffy and Faith . . .

. . . who happened to be sleeping naked together on the floor among a heap of blankets, seemingly unaware of their unannounced visitor.

Dawn gasped involuntarily, her right hand flying up to her mouth to muffle the noise. Her hand, however, smacked the side of the tray on the way up to her mouth, catapulting the three cups of mocha across the room and against the wall.

"Dawn!" Buffy sat up quickly, pulling the sheet up to her neck to avoid exposing herself even more.

"Buffy!" Dawn yelped, using both of her free hands now to cover her eyes. "I'm blind now! I have no more eyesight, and I'm blind!" The teenager whined as she tried to back her way to the door.

"You are not blind." Buffy said, her voice even.

"Yes I am!" Dawn said, moving her hands from her eyes and peeking over at the floor again.

"Why do I smell coffee?" Faith mumbled from behind Buffy, sitting up without realizing she was still naked and that they had a guest in the room. She stretched and rubbed her eyes, then looked up to find Dawn glaring down at them. "Oh shit!" She yelped and pulled the sheet up to her chest, not realizing until it was too late that it was the sheet covering Buffy's lower half.

Buffy made a loud `gahhhh' sound as she frantically grabbed for something to cover herself up with, playing tug-o-war with Faith over the last remaining sheet.

"I am not seeing this!" Dawn screeched as she tried to feel for the door handle with her eyes clenched shut, trying hard not to stumble over the mess of shoes near the doorstep. "You guys are paying for my counseling!" Dawn yelled as she finally found the door handle and let herself out of the room, the door closing quietly behind her.

Buffy sighed and fell back onto the floor, the sheets tangled between her and Faith.

"Is counseling expensive?" She asked with a chuckle.

Faith shrugged. "Dunno, it was free in prison. Maybe we could send her there," she joked.

Buffy rubbed her eyes and sighed again, finally peeking one eye open to look over at Faith. "Well . . . at least she didn't stab your boot."

The two girls laughed a little at the joke, then let silence fall around them again. Buffy was surprised to find that she wasn't freaking out about Dawn seeing what was going on between her and Faith. It was the least of her problems, she thought. In fact, she wasn't even too worried if anyone else found out. She was an adult, and she could make adult decisions.

And whether or not she slept with Faith was definitely an adult decision; one she didn't regret making, at that.

After a few moments, Faith got up and tossed on some clothes. She began straightening the sheets up, the smell of the mochas making her thirsty for her morning coffee. Buffy remained on the floor in her single blanket now, not wanting to start her day yet.

She was roused to reality when she heard Faith grumbling from across the room.

"You Summers chicks really need to take some coordination lessons or something."

"What?" Buffy asked, confused.

She sat up to find Faith holding up her new leather jacket she had just purchased, mocha dripping off of it as it dangled in the air.

Buffy covered her mouth to hide the laughter that was coming out of her. "Oh, that's classic," she laughed.

Faith snickered. "Yeah, well, I'm taking the money out of YOUR scholarship to replace it, Blondie." She tossed the jacket into the bathroom and walked over to Buffy, holding out her hands to the girl. Buffy grabbed onto them and let Faith pull her up. She welcomed the hug that Faith gave her, wrapping her arms tight around her in response.

"Coffee, shower, then salvaging what's left of your sister's innocence. That's today's plan. You get in the shower, and I'll get the coffee." Faith mumbled against Buffy's shoulder before kissing her cheek softly.

Buffy watched as Faith walked to the door and put on her shoes, then as she walked out of the door. She bit her lip, then yelled out, "So I'm guessing this means we can't pretend that we were playing naked slumber party?"

*****

Buffy knocked tentatively on Dawn's door, freshly showered and ready to take on the day. She laughed to herself when Dawn answered the door wearing a very big, dark pair of sunglasses.

"Who is it?" Dawn asked, feigning blindness. "I would have looked through the peephole, except, yunno . . . BLIND now."

Buffy raised an eyebrow at her. "You are not blind. Scarred, maybe. But definitely not blind. And before you ask, you CANNOT have a seeing-eye dog."

Dawn scoffed and closed the door behind Buffy, taking off her sunglasses and placing them by the entrance table.

"I see you naked and you can't even give me five minutes to be blind? Typical." She crossed her arms over her chest and stared off into the distance.

Buffy sat down on Dawn's bed, trying hard not to give in to the teenager's tantrum.

"It's not typical, Dawn. There's no use fighting over it; it's over and done with now. Time to move on."

Dawn pouted a bit and sat on the bed opposite Buffy, realizing that her sister was right.

"So, what . . . being a slayer wasn't enough to make you different, so you have to be gay now too?" Dawn asked, still pouting but keeping a light-hearted tone to her voice so that Buffy would know she wasn't too upset over the whole thing.

Buffy laughed a little, though she was trying to be as serious as possible.

"Gay? No. Willow is gay, Dawn. Kennedy is gay. I'm just . . ."

"Having sex with Faith in a very `non-gay' way?" Dawn finished for her, making a face as she said it. "Buffy, I'm not five anymore. Two girls having sex equals GAY."

Buffy thought about it for a minute.

"No, I . . . I don't really know how to explain it. We just . . . I mean, it just happened."

"Like you and Spike `just happened?'" Dawn asked, genuinely unsure of what Buffy meant.

"No, not like that." Buffy answered, her brows furrowed as she recalled that time in her life. "Definitely not like that."

Buffy took a few moments to collect her thoughts before continuing.

"Dawn, after slayers fight, we get this huge . . . burst of adrenaline, of sorts. The bigger the fight, the bigger the burst. And you have to do something to take the edge off. Yunno, exert energy, eat . . ."

"Hungry and horny, right?" Dawn interrupted again, trying to get her sister to stop rambling.

Buffy laughed again. "You know, sometimes I forget that you used to read my diary when you were younger."

Dawn shrugged, "Yeah, well I didn't get an allowance, and it was cheaper than reading Cosmo."

Buffy smiled, suddenly feeling proud of her sister and of the person she was turning into.

"So, yes. Faith and I have been . . ."

"WAIT!" Dawn interrupted. "Listen, I don't need to know the dirty details. Therapy is expensive and I STILL don't get an allowance. As long as we still get to, yunno . . . plan the future and stuff, you can keep . . . doing what you're doing."

"Of course, Dawn. What Faith and I are . . . doing . . . isn't going to change the fact that it's time for you to finally get something that you want."

"Well, good then." Dawn responded, relaxing a bit more.

"Great then." Buffy said back, also relaxing a bit more. "So," Buffy began, moving so that she was sitting Indian-style facing Dawn, "what exactly is it that you'd like to do?"

Dawn smiled big and faced Buffy, mimicking her position, the last few moments seemingly lost in her mind.

"I don't suppose that you'd let me give up on the whole `school' thing to travel, right?" She asked hopefully.

Buffy raised an eyebrow. "Don't even think about it," she said plainly.

"Right. So, maybe we can't travel. But that doesn't mean that we can't go someplace new and exciting, does it?"

"I guess not," Buffy said after thinking about it for a moment or two. She looked over and noticed a book sitting by Dawn's pillow, so she reached over and pulled it onto her lap, casually thumbing through it. "Loving Italy," Buffy read aloud from the title page. She stopped and looked up at Dawn. "Is this where you're getting your ideas from?"

Dawn smiled. "It may have aided in my search," she said casually. "Between the book and the internet, I've been a total research junkie since last night. See," she scrambled across the bed and sat next to Buffy, flipping the book to a dog-eared page, "Rome has these really good semi-private schools that are really liberal and cool. You can make your schedule so that you only have to go to class like three days a week."

Buffy pushed the book flat onto the bed and gave Dawn a stern look.

"Dawn, we are not hauling our butts all the way to Italy so that you can have a 3-day school week."

Dawn laughed, excited. "No, that's not the only reason. I mean . . . hello, big perk. But still . . . you can pick areas of focus to study. You still have to take all of the regular classes to graduate, but you can put a focus on History or Literature, stuff like that. I figure that if I take a focus in History and do really well . . . I dunno, maybe some day I could be a Watcher. And . . .pizza, Buffy. You love pizza. Italy is the mother of pizza!"

Buffy smiled at her sister, feeling a bit excited herself at the prospect of a whole new start on life.

"Well, I do love pizza. And I think you'd make an excellent Watcher, Dawn. So long as you're fray-adjacent, I'm okay with that idea."

Dawn beamed, jumping up and down as she sat on the bed.

"Does that mean we can go?!?"

Buffy smiled. "I'll talk to Giles and Angel about it, see if we can swing it financially. As long as there's no problem there . . . I foresee us eating lots of spaghetti and lasagna in the near future- gahhhhhh!"

Buffy couldn't even finish her sentence for being tackled by a very excited Dawn.

It was almost official; the plans were set. Now all she had to do was finalize things with Giles and Angel and she could set things in motion.

Freedom had never been so exciting yet so scary at the same time.

*****

An hour later, Buffy found herself walking into Angel's office where he was having a meeting with Giles.

"Ah, Buffy, you're up earlier than usual." Giles greeted while sipping from his obligatory cup of tea.

"What can I say?" She began. "I was mobbed by an excited teenager who's dead-set on going to some `great' school in Italy. There's no sleeping through that. The screeching is a really haunting sound."

"Italy?" Giles questioned. "I have to agree, there are some excellent schools in Italy. Not to mention that you happen to love pizza." He gave Buffy a little smile.

"Anyhow," Buffy continued, "I told her that so long as we could manage the financial aspects, it sounded like a good plan. So . . . is it a good plan?" She asked, a small grin on her face.

"Buffy, if it's what the both of you want, you know you have my full support. I don't have the funds to give you from my own pocket, but I'm sure that the accounts of the old council remain intact. I'll make a few calls and see if we can't make a few withdrawals to set us all in the right direction."

"Thanks, Giles." Buffy said gratefully. "Speaking of the right direction, when do you leave for England?"

"I was just discussing that with Angel, actually. It's best that I get on my way soon. Angel is going to run things here while I'm gone, at least until I can arrange where we'll be sending the new slayers, etcetera. I assume that I'll be heading back within the next few days, sooner if needed."

Buffy smiled, "I know you're going to do a great job with the Council, Giles. It should have been you from the beginning. I know that the girls will be safe under your watch."

In true Giles fashion, he removed his glasses and cleaned them with his hanky, clearing his throat. "I appreciate that, Buffy. Thank you."

Angel finally spoke up.

"You're going to love Italy, Buffy. I'll make sure that everything is tended to here. The girls that remain can have room and board until the new council decides where to send them, and I'll make sure to continue their training and education as best as I can with the resources I have."

"Thanks, Angel. I don't mind staying around for a bit though if you need my help. Dawn can put up with another few weeks . . ."

"No, it's okay, Buffy." Angel interrupted. "You deserve some time off. Make your plans, and I'll take care of things on this end."

Buffy smiled. "I guess I should tell Dawn the good news then."

With that, she left Giles and Angel to their meeting. She'd stop by Dawn's room to let her know that she could finalize her plans, and then she'd find a way to tell Faith.

Her stomach suddenly lurched and she wasn't exactly sure why. Part of her, however, was sure it was because she wasn't quite ready to leave yet.

Rather, she wasn't yet ready to leave behind what she seemed to have with Faith.

*****

Buffy entered her room to find Faith on the telephone. She paused at the doorway, not knowing if she should give the girl some privacy.

Faith looked up at her and smiled, waving her into the room while giving her the `one minute' signal.

"Yeah, I will. I know, Grams, I'll be careful."

`Grams?' Buffy thought. She had always been under the assumption that Faith didn't have any family, and now there was suddenly a Grams?

"I'll give you a call a day before I leave, and don't worry about finding a ride for me; I can take a cab from the airport . . . . okay, take care, and I'll talk to you soon."

With that, Faith hung up the phone and swung her legs up over the side of the bed so that she cold rest back properly.

"Sorry about that, B. Just trying to get some things taken care of while you were out." Faith apologized as she scooted over on the bed, leaving some space for Buffy to join her.

Buffy kicked off her shoes and walked over to the bed, happily taking her spot at Faith's side. Faith pulled her close so that they were lying with their stomachs touching and their legs tangled up together.

"So . . . Grams, huh? I didn't know you had a grandmother." Buffy hedged, not wanting to be too full-on.

"Oh, she's not actually my real Grams, B. She just took me in when the wolves abandoned me at her doorstep." She grinned and looked down at the now blushing Buffy before kissing the top of her head. "Of course I have a grandma, B. I even had two at one point. After my Dad split and my Ma died, she pretty much took me under her wing."

"I never knew that." Buffy said, looking up into Faith's eyes. "How come you didn't . . ." her voice trailed off.

"Go back to her after I got into trouble? Well . . . I guess I didn't wanna bring my shit on her, B. She's a sweet lady, yunno? I was a real handful for her those last two years or so. Figured she wouldn't want me back cos I was a screwed up and junk."

Buffy nodded, trying to understand.

"So . . . why are you going back now then?"

Faith smiled sadly, looking over Buffy's shoulder.

"I have a lot of stuff I need to fix, B. I didn't exactly leave a clean trail in my wake, yunno? I hurt people, left some high and dry. If I wanna get on with my life, I need to clean up my own mess and try to build from there. And come to find out, Grams has been trying to find me for some time now. She thought I ran away cos she grounded me or some shit like that. She's happy I called."

Buffy chuckled. "I foresee lots of oatmeal raisin cookies in your future."

Faith laughed, "Yeah, something like that. Anyhow, Grams isn't in the best of health . . . she's legally blind and needs a cane to get around. I figure she can use a bit of help, and I'm all about the good deeds these days."

"She's lucky to have you," Buffy said softly, looking into Faith's eyes.

"You just wanna unload me on someone else," Faith said and laughed as Buffy pinched her butt. Once they settled down, Faith spoke again. "So, how did it go with Dawnie?"

"Fairly well, I suppose. She found a school she wants to go to, and I think it will be good for her. We'll probably leave after Giles can send us some funds. Probably a week or so."

Faith smiled.

"Wicked, B. Hey, where ya headed to? Maybe we'll be able to visit if you're . . ."

"Italy." Buffy interrupted, saying the word with a bit of a sigh.

". . . not across an ocean." Faith finished, trying to smile despite the fact that her stomach had just dropped.

Buffy tried to sound lighthearted. "Hey, what's a couple thousand miles and a fortune in airfare between friends?"

Faith smiled slightly. "Right, I'll just put that on my Platinum Visa card they gave me in prison."

Her sarcasm wasn't lost on Buffy.

"Hey," Buffy began, trying to squash the suddenly somber mood in the room, "it's not like we won't be able to still be friends. We can call and email, and I'm sure that we can make trips now and again to get together with everyone."

Faith smiled, trying as hard as she could to make it look genuine despite the fact that she was feeling suddenly miserable.

"Yeah, you're right, B. We'll still be friends. It'll be . . . good."

"Definitely." Buffy agreed, trying to sound convincing.

"Great."

Faith and Buffy lay in silence after that, both pondering what would happen to them between now and their trips, and subsequently what would happen to them after that.

Despite being in one another's arms, for the first time since they got to LA, they both felt suddenly alone.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Author's Notes: Sorry for the long wait between updates. I got totally brainblocked, but I think I may have fought my way through it. Anyhow, more to come soon, as well as a new fic, a virtual Season-8 that is currently being planned and plotted out. This chapter may read a bit awkward because it's somewhat transitional, but please bear with me. And as always, I'd love love love to hear what you think. :) And for those who are reading . . . 10 cool-points of you can spot the cameo by a member of Dylan's Yahoo Group.

Several hours had passed since the morning. It was nearing dinner time, and the two slayers still hadn't made any efforts to leave their room or do anything productive. The news that they would soon be leaving one another didn't push them apart as one might have thought it would; in fact, it made them cling even more so to one another.

They lay together in their very large bed, the blankets cocooned around them as if trying to shield them from the outer world. Their hotel room was their safe haven. No one could touch them while they were in there together, and not even their uncertain future could pull them apart.

Faith was laying behind Buffy, propped up a bit with a pillow under her head as her free arm wrapped over Buffy's side. Buffy had her arm over Faith's, keeping it tucked warmly against her stomach as they watch nothing particularly fascinating on TV. As far as both girls were concerned, the TV didn't even need to be on. As long as they were laying together in their current position, a nuclear war could be going on outside and they wouldn't have even noticed.

They were even able to drown out the ringing of the telephone as it had tried to disturb them every half hour or so. They couldn't ignore, however, the sound of someone now knocking on their door.

Neither girl wanted to get up to answer it. They had already discussed their plans for the evening and had decided together that neither one of them wanted to go out that night. Not when they knew that they would only end up coming back together. Not when they realized that neither one of them was actively looking for a `date' anymore. They wouldn't waste their time getting ready and going out when they could just stay in their room and relish the time they had left together.

After a few moments of whispering and tickling one another to see who would get up, Buffy finally sat up from the bed and walked to the door.

She opened it up to find Willow and Kennedy stood on the other side.

"Hey Buff!" Willow greeted with a small wave. "Sorry for the surprise visit, but . . . you should really call maintenance about your phone. It must not be working."

Buffy's eyebrows furrowed, then she realized that it had been Willow trying to call her most of the afternoon.

"Oh, that. Right. I'll have them fix it for us ASAP."

She smiled and stood to the side, allowing her best friend and Kennedy into the room.

Willow and Kennedy stepped in, instantly realizing what they had likely interrupted.

"Holy shit, I knew the two of you were all shacked up in here," Kennedy said with a big grin. "This `slayer hearing' thing is amazing. Willow didn't believe me at first when I told her you guys were scr. . ."

Willow began to stutter, feeling embarrassed and not quite knowing what to say.

"Well, I just didn't think that . . . I mean, Buffy and I have been best friends for years, and . . . well, hello . . . GAY here. No pings on my gaydar! That's what it's there for! To find gay! No blips, no nothing. It's disappointing, really."

Buffy couldn't help but laugh at her best friend. It was true, after all. Never before had she given any hint that she could appreciate a female just as easily as a male; at least not until Faith came around. Their mutual attraction from the very beginning was undeniable. Things, however, had just never acted in their favor. Buffy was always attached to someone, or she was too self-conscious, and Faith was always attached to anyone BUT Buffy.

And then there was that whole evil phase.

Things were different now, though. Buffy didn't feel bad about acting on that undeniable attraction she had always felt, and Faith didn't seem to feel bad about it either. Buffy was sure that had she roomed with anyone else, she would have been relieving her hornies in the shower whenever she got a chance. Fate, however, had other plans for her. Faith had stepped up and made the first advance by asking to room with her, and then she had taken the second advance again by suggesting the friends with benefits idea. All Buffy had to do was say yes and the stars began to align.

"Sorry Wills, but I've heard that the gaydar can be a bit unreliable. But really . . . . no pings? Ever? Not even in our last year at Sunnydale High? Long nights at the Bronze, a Slayer that I couldn't seem to stand but couldn't keep my eyes off of . . . ?" Buffy asked, a mischievous smile on her face.

Willow thought about it for a moment before grinning. "Ohhhhh. In that case . . . ping! So, it wasn't just any girl then. It was always just one."

At that, Faith shuffled back on the bed so that her back was against the headboard. She crossed her arms over her chest and put on her patented smirk.

"What can I say, Red? I'm just that good."

She smiled as Buffy approached the bed and crawled onto it, positioning herself so that she was resting back against Faith's chest. Buffy then pulled Faith's arms around her stomach and looked back up to a semi-surprised Willow and Kennedy.

"You have NO idea," she responded, her own grin popping up now.

"Well, I'd like to think that maybe I helped that along." Willow said, taking a seat on the plush armchair. "I mean, I was gay first. Maybe you caught it from me. Ooh, and I brought Faith back to Sunnydale. You guys wouldn't be all snuggly wuggly right now if not for my spreading of the gay and convenient transportation."

The girls all chuckled at that, the room growing much more comfortable as the minutes went by.

"I'll give you that much, Wills. I guess we owe you one." Buffy said with a laugh.

"Yep, you do. And I'm cashing in." Willow began. "There's this little coffee shop down the street . . . will you guys come with us? It would be nice to get a chance to hang out a little before we all have to go our separate ways."

As much as Buffy didn't want to leave the room and despite the fact that she and Faith had decided to spend the night in, she also felt that her friends deserved some time too.

After all, they had given her seven years. Seven years that she may not have made it through if not for them. The least she could do was spend a bit of quality time with them before they all began new chapters in their lives.

Before they left everything, and each other, behind.

"Well, I can't answer for Faith, but I'm in. I could so totally use a mocha. I've been feeling pretty wiped out lately." Buffy said, a small grin forming on her lips as she said the last part.

"Can't imagine how you got tired out, B." Faith answered, lowering her head to nibble on Buffy's shoulder a bit. "I guess I could use some sugary goodness too, though. Might need to build up the energy reserves for later. Count me in, Red."

She winked at Buffy, who had looked back at her with a grin.

"Great then. We'll meet you guys down in the lobby in about twenty minutes?" Willow asked as she stood up and grabbed Kennedy's hand, leading her towards the door.

"We'll be there."

The girls said goodbye, Willow and Kennedy closing the door behind them and making their way toward the elevator.

"Do you think that they're still blaming their whole hook-up situation on the hungries and hornies?" Kennedy asked casually as she walked alongside her girlfriend.

Willow laughed softly.

"If I know Buffy and Faith at all, they'll blame their hook-up on flying toads before either one of them can admit that they have feelings for one another."

Kennedy frowned.

"I don't get it. Why can't they just grow a pair already and admit that they're hot for each other? Maybe then they can stop pussyfooting around with their future and try to be together."

Willow shrugged, almost looking a bit sad. "They have to figure things out for themselves, Kennedy. They're both stubborn, and they're both pretty blind. I think that they know it's not because of the H&H's now; one of them just has to say something. You know, get the ball rolling."

"Are we allowed to help with that?" Kennedy asked anxiously, a smile forming on her face when she saw the nervous look that her girlfriend gave her.

"Kennedy, you will not handcuff them together and lock them in the basement."

Kennedy laughed at that, bringing up their joined hands so that she could kiss Willow's hand.

"You know me too well, baby."

*****

The four girls approached the café in true slayer style. Halfway down the street, Kennedy had made a comment to Faith about walking too slow. Faith, in turn, commented that she could walk faster than Kennedy even if she had Buffy on her back. What resulted was the quickest slayer piggyback race in the world.

Before Willow could protest, Kennedy had swooped her around and had the witch up on her back. Buffy complied as well, willfully hopping up onto Faith's back and whispering some encouraging words in her ear.

On the count of three, Kennedy and Faith took off down the road, weaving in and out of pedestrians all while trying not to dump their passengers onto the sidewalk. Buffy hooted and hollered, taunting Kennedy while Willow held on for dear life, partially blocking Kennedy's view.

When Faith made it to the front door of the coffee shop just a split second before Kennedy did, Buffy hopped off her back and gave her a high five, rubbing the victory in Kennedy's face.

"Not fair," Kennedy complained, "Willow had one of her hands over my right eye and was choking me with the other. I so woulda had you."

Faith smirked, stretching out her back.

"Careful junior, you've got lotsa growin' up to do before you can challenge a real slayer. Challenge me again once you've lost your training wheels." Faith teased, giving Buffy yet another high-five.

Kennedy pouted as Willow grabbed her hand and pulled her into the café, leaving the gloating slayers standing there.

"We owned them." Buffy whispered, smiling at Faith.

"Hell yeah we did, we're a great team." Faith answered back. "Now let's go in there and out-drink them, then leave them with the tab."

She winked at Buffy again, then walked into the café, Buffy following right behind her.

When they entered the café, they found Willow and Kennedy situated at a small table near the corner. Faith turned a chair around and straddled it the wrong way, looking at the small flyer with the daily special on the table. Buffy sat beside her, peeking over her shoulder at the small cardboard flyer. Willow and Kennedy had already decided what they wanted having frequented the café several times since they had been in LA.

"I'll have a small mocha with an almond biscotti," Willow told Kennedy who happily memorized her order.

"'Kay," Kennedy said with a nod, then looked to Buffy and Faith, "and you guys?"

Faith took a deep breath before answering.

"I want a tall Irish Cream steamer, a piece of triple chocolate cake, two sugar cookies, and . . . ah, fuck it, I'll have an almond biscotti too. Oh, and a bottle of water in case I scorch my mouth."

Kennedy just raised an eyebrow at Faith, who was still looking at the flyer and ignoring the amused look on Willow's face. She then looked to Buffy, who looked up at her sweetly and said,

"Make that two."

Kennedy grumbled, realizing that no one was going to help her with the order.

"When do I get to stop being the mule?" Kennedy said quietly to herself as she shuffled off towards the counter.

"When you can ask for a hand, kiddo." Faith responded loud enough for her to hear, causing Buffy and Willow to laugh.

"You two seriously need to stop antagonizing her. I can't promise that she won't tie the two of you up while you're sleeping and do some un-friendly things." Willow said, trying to hide her smile.

"No worries, Red." Faith said. "Besides, we're all outta here in a few days anyhow. We'll just keep the door locked nice and tight `til then."

The three girls made small talk while they waited for Kennedy to come back. When Kennedy finally returned with a huge tray and an attractive male employee carrying another tray behind her, they began to laugh. The un-amused look on Kennedy's face was priceless.

"Laugh it up, girls." Kennedy said menacingly. "Just wait `til you're sleeping."

The guy walked up behind Buffy and started unloading cups and plates from the tray he was carrying, careful not to spill anything on her lap. Faith was too wrapped up in her cake to notice the way the guy was smiling at Buffy and trying to get her attention.

Buffy almost hadn't noticed that he was there either, at least until he had brushed his arm against hers to get her attention. She turned her head towards him, smiling politely when she realized that he had been helping Kennedy out. It was a self-serve place; there were no waiters or waitresses. He was only helping so that he could come over and check out the table full of girls.

He smiled back at her, looking directly into her eyes for several moments until she was uncomfortable enough to look away. After she diverted her attention back to her friends, the guy walked away and back behind the counter, but kept glancing over in Buffy's direction.

"What's up with stud giving you the moon eyes, Buffy? You must be working some killer mojo." Kennedy commented around a mouthful of muffin after witnessing the display.

"Hey, you're the one who brought your little friend along, Kennedy. I was just being polite. That's me, good ol' polite Buffy," she responded, trying not to make a big deal out of it.

Faith attention, however, was already drawn to the matter, and she grinned as she finished off a bite of cake.

"Aww, you have a boyfriend already, B?" She teased, elbowing Buffy slightly.

Buffy tried hard to keep her composure, but it was difficult, especially now that Kennedy and Willow were making kissy-faces at her.

She took a sip from her large cup, trying to hide her flushed cheeks.

"Yes, I have a boyfriend now. Apparently, as in kindergarten, he brushed his elbow against mine. If he didn't give me cooties, I may indeed be pregnant with his love child." She answered sarcastically as the other girls continued laughing and making fun of her.

"Oh, that's it, B. You're so outta the club," Faith teased some more, really getting into it now. "You're gonna have to start hanging around with Giles and Xander and all the other `straights'. You can't hang out with us dirty lezbots if you're all loved up with the coffee guy."

"We'll just have to find someone else to round out our foursome." Kennedy said before taking a big sip of her cappuccino.

"Yunno, after our last visit to the club, I think we may be able to pull Andrew into the club. I think we could gay him up real nice." Faith said with a laugh, causing all of the girls to laugh with her.

The four girls continued to laugh and pick on one another as they sat there enjoying their drinks and desserts, not one of them taking a single bit of offense to the way they were picking on one another. It didn't matter what they said or how much they teased . . . they knew that they were among friends and that all would be laughed over and dismissed.

After about an hour, Kennedy and Willow got up to make a trip to the restroom. Faith picked over the bits and bobs remaining on the table as Buffy ran her fingers through her blonde hair, pulling it up into a loose ponytail.

"So whatcha wanna do tonight? Still wanna stay in?" Faith asked, watching with a smile as Buffy fussed over herself.

"Yeah, we can do that," Buffy began. "But if you wanted to go out or do something, I'm fine with that too. Whatever you want, really." She finished her ponytail and looked at Faith, giving her a small smile.

Faith smiled even bigger, a bit of mischief hidden there.

"Well, I'll tell you what I really wanna do," she began, getting a few inches closer to Buffy. "I wanna fill up our nice big bathtub with lotsa nice hot water and bubbles. And I wanna strip you down naked and pull you into it with me. And then I wanna taste every inch of your skin. And then, I'm gonna . . ."

"Excuse me . . ."

Faith stopped and turned around, interrupted from her little fantasy by the guy from behind the counter. He looked right past her and to Buffy, a dreamy smile on his face.

"Hi, I'm Richy." He said, his English accent softening up his tone. He smiled charmingly, still not taking any notice of Faith who could only raise an eyebrow at him.

As put off as Faith may have been by the intrusion, she knew that Buffy couldn't be swayed by a charming smile and an English accent. If that ever had affected her, she would've ended up with Giles. Or Spike.

Oh boy.

Faith grimaced as she realized that the charming smile and English accent could be a deadly combo in the world of Buffy.

Buffy laughed nervously, looking back and forth between a weirdly-grimacing Faith and the guy who was awkwardly standing there.

"Umm, hi Richy. I'm Buffy," she said through a fake smile.

"Buffy? Really? That's . . . nice. I quite like it."

Buffy continued to smile as she raised her arms up and shrugged.

"What can I say? You can thank my parents for that one. I had nothing to do with it."

Richy laughed, his perfect smile a-gleaming.

Faith rolled her eyes and stood up.

"I'm Faith, Richy, thanks for asking." She said, taking his hand and shaking it hard. He finally looked away from Buffy and to Faith, who had now moved her attention back to Buffy. "I'm gonna get another drink."

With that said, she went back up to the register and ordered another drink, leaving Buffy and Richy alone as she sat on a barstool at the counter.

Buffy tried everything she could to get Faith's attention and get out of the awkward conversation, which was now about coffee shops in London, but being as polite as she was, she sat there and smiled through it until Willow and Kennedy came back from the restroom.

Willow and Kennedy looked between Richy and Buffy, and then to Faith who was sat at the counter, shredding a paper napkin into a million tiny pieces.

Kennedy sighed loudly when she noticed that Buffy had only sat there as Richy was hitting on her, leaving Faith to stew across the room.

"Oh Jesus, buddy," Kennedy began, "check out the hickeys on her neck and the brooding brunette that's at the counter." She watched as Richy looked at Buffy, then to Faith, and then back to Buffy.

"I'm sorry," he said with a stutter, "I didn't know. I do apologize."

And with that, he scampered back behind the counter with his tail between his legs and his ego in shattered pieces in his apron pocket.

"Buffy?" Willow started, a worried look on her face as she looked between Buffy and Faith.

Buffy sighed, shaking it off with a chuckle.

"Don't worry Wills, I'm on it."

She stood up and pulled a few bills out of her pocket, tossing them onto the messy table before slowly making her way over to Faith. She stopped next to the girl and stood there silently, giving Faith time to realize that she was stood there.

"Hey." Faith said with a smile, her eyes focused on the paper napkin that she was shredding onto the counter.

"Hey, Faith. Umm, I . . . it was . . . I was . . . are you okay?" She asked, tilting her head so that she could better make out Faith's features.

Faith shrugged a little as she smiled, still not making eye contact. "I'm five by five, B. You?"

Buffy smiled softly, taking a step closer and laying her hand on Faith's arm.

"I'll be better when you can look at me," she said softly, quietly.

Faith nodded her head a little and finally turned so that she could look up to meet Buffy's eyes. She tried to keep smiling, but Buffy could see that she seemed a bit distressed.

"Talk to me," Buffy said as gently as possible.

Faith sighed. "I hate that I'm jealous cos that guy was talking to you." She looked as if she felt guilty, as if she had no right to have those types of feelings.

Buffy smiled softly, stepping even closer to Faith so that they were almost touching.

"You have no reason to be, just so you know." She looked almost shy then, stood there as if she was baring her very soul.

Faith smiled softly at that, a breath of relief escaping her lips.

Buffy took a step back and held out her hand to Faith.

"Take me home?"

And without another word, Faith stood and took Buffy's hand, leading her slowly out of the restaurant and back to their sanctuary.

CHAPTER NINE

Author's Notes: We all knew it would get angsty at some point, right? *chuckles* So, here goes. Oh, and please note that I haven't used my Spanish skills in many many years. I apologize to any Spanish- speaking people for butchering your language, but then again . . . I butcher English pretty badly too. :p I'd love to hear what you think, if you can spare the time. :)

The days passed by faster than anyone could have anticipated. Before everyone knew it, Giles was off on a plane to England, ready to start the Council anew and get the ball rolling for all of the new slayers. Everyone else was abuzz with making their own plans, booking train and plane tickets, arranging rides to and from the airport, and placing all of the last minute phone calls that they could manage.

Buffy and Dawn had done much of their own planning, most of it over the internet. They took virtual tours of apartment buildings and, with a bit of finagling, managed to find and rent a really nice apartment. They would work on getting Dawn into the school of her choice when they got there; it wasn't exactly as if they could contact Sunnydale High School and have her records sent over.

Dawn had been bopping around excitedly for days now, ever since she found out that they were going to Italy. She even coaxed Angel into buying her a "Learn to Speak Italian" CD, which she played constantly in her CD player.

Buffy, on the other hand, found herself becoming sadder and sadder as the days passed. Sure, the prospect of having a nice and normal life sounded good to her. But in having that, she was pretty much leaving everything she knew and had become accustomed to behind.

Her home, even though it was buried underneath a million pounds of rubble. Her friends. Her father-figure. Her calling.

Her Faith.

And that was where it seemed to hurt the most . . . the fact that she was leaving Faith behind.

She wasn't sure exactly when or how it happened, but she had really grown close to Faith. After years of pretending that they had been friends, they finally were. But it was so much more than that. So much stronger than could be attributed to any friendship or slayer bond.

In fact, she was pretty sure that it had something to do with her heart, but she could barely begin to let herself think about that, let alone say it aloud. She had spent some alone time with Willow and Xander one night, just hanging out like old times while Faith and Kennedy did some type of job for Angel. Willow didn't want to come right out and ask Buffy how she felt, but she had hinted and insinuated as much as she could without making it seem like she was pressing.

Xander, on the other hand, basically sat there with a big grin on his face, lost in his own fantasies.

Buffy told Willow that yes, she was pretty sure that she felt something stronger than friendship for Faith, but that she couldn't really put her finger on what it was. She explained that it wasn't like what she had with Angel, or Riley, or even Spike.

And that's when Xander finally chimed in with something useful and mentioned that maybe it was because she actually loved Faith; it wasn't some teenage infatuation or her pretending to feel something just to be normal.

The conversation freaked Buffy out more than she could say; still she was more than grateful for having such open-minded friends. They didn't jump on her back, or scold, or even act overly-surprised. But she didn't dwell on the conversation.

She couldn't dwell on it. She knew that in a few short days she'd be leaving, leaving everything behind, and she couldn't do so with a clear conscious knowing that she was leaving something that had the potential to be so good behind in her wake.

And now, after several days of planning and over-thinking, and perhaps not thinking enough where it counted the most, the group of friends was getting together for what was their last night in LA.

Buffy and Faith tried to pretend that everything was okay. That it was just another day, another stage in their lives. That they hadn't spent the last several days feverishly making love at every chance that arose because they knew that they were going to lose what they had.

They went to the final get together, held in the same room where they had had their previous group meeting, side by side. It was almost as if they were trying not to touch. Trying not to remember what their skin felt like when they touched, as it caused their hearts to flutter yet drop at the same time.

Still, they couldn't fight what their bodies were trying to tell them. What they both wanted so badly. As they walked across the threshold into the conference room, they clasped their hands together and didn't leave one another's side for the rest of the evening.

There weren't that many people left on that last night. Many of the slayers had already been sent home, others were busy training with Angel and his gang, leaving only the older, familiar slayers to attend the shindig. Willow and Kennedy were there, as well as Xander, Dawn, and Andrew.

Andrew was supposed to have left with Giles, but Giles found that he didn't think he could stand a 13 hour flight with the boy. Instead, Giles booked him on a flight with a few of the younger slayers bound for England as well; told him that his first job in training to be a Watcher was to . . . watch over the girls.

Shortly after everyone had arrived, the catering staff brought in several trays of hot food, letting the group of friends eat and drink and enjoy the night at their own pace. Dawn spent half of the night trying to teach Andrew the Macarena, and Andrew spent half of the night complaining that he was rhythm impaired.

Buffy and Faith sat together, silent for the most part, just watching everyone have fun around them. They tried to have some fun too, of course. Faith had fun flinging peanuts at Xander from across the room, and Xander had fun trying to protect his remaining good eye. When a rogue peanut thwapped him on his forehead just above his good eye, he panicked and called the game off, truly worried that Faith might maim him with her slayer-strength peanut flicking skills.

Buffy tried to be active in conversations, tried to voice enthusiasm about the big changes that were coming up in her future, but she found that her heart just wasn't in it. She was too focused on the way her hand felt in Faith's, soft and warm and safe.

She never wanted to let go.

Faith, too, found herself almost completely distracted from the festivities that were going on around them. With the exception of the peanut-flinging incident, she sat back almost the whole night, only half-listening to the conversations going on around her. She focused instead on how she felt sat next to Buffy; content, and happy, and . . . as if she had finally found her place in the world. Her home. Her self.

As the night began to wind down, people started making their way back to their rooms one by one. Mostly everyone was leaving pretty early in the morning, save for Faith who had a late afternoon flight. Kennedy and Willow were the first to leave as they had an exceptionally early flight. They wanted to make sure to get some good sleep to be rested properly for their travels.

Buffy and Faith, however, made a pact the night before that they wouldn't sleep on their last night together. `I'll sleep when I'm dead,' Faith had joked, earning a smack on the butt from Buffy. Instead, they agreed that they could sleep on their respective flights.

They didn't want to waste their last night together sleeping. Not when there was so much else that they wanted to do, needed to do . . . needed to say.

Hand in hand, they made their way back to their room, dragging their feet the whole way. They knew that once they entered that room, the next time they would leave it would be to walk away from each other, and that thought was almost unbearable.

Faith took her keycard out of her back pocket and opened the door, standing back so that Buffy could enter first. Buffy turned around and walked in backwards, hooking her finger in Faith's belt-loop and pulling the girl along as she treaded slowly into the room. Before the door even had time to close behind them, Buffy had wrapped her arms around Faith's neck and pulled her close. And just like that, they were kissing, soft and slow and deep.

Buffy whimpered softly as she tasted what was distinctly Faith . . . cinnamon and spice and everything that she had grown to love.

Faith kissed her more passionately yet still soft and gently, hoping to push down the tears she knew they were both fighting now. She didn't want there to be tears; tears could come when they were all alone. She wanted their last night together to be memorable, and beautiful, but most of all happy.

She slid her hands up Buffy's sides, over her shoulders, and to the sides of her face, holding it gently as they continued to kiss. After a moment she pulled back so that she could look at Buffy's face. She wanted to remember every inch of it. Every dip and every curve. She traced her thumbs over Buffy's kiss-swollen lips, over her cheeks, softly over Buffy's closed eye-lids and over her brow before leaning in and kissing her gently.

Her forehead. Her eyebrows. Her eyelids. Her cheeks. The corners of her mouth. Her chin. Her upper lip. Her bottom lip.

Buffy's breath caught in her throat, her eyes still closed as she memorized every single one of Faith's kisses. Every press of her lips to her heated flesh. She waited for the moment when she felt Faith's lips press softly to her own, and then she kissed back, with everything that she had.

Still gentle, yet more insistent now. She wanted more. She wanted more than just Faith's kisses. She wanted her touch, her body . . . her very soul, if it was possible.

And Faith was feeling exactly the same way. She walked them toward the bed, her fingertips pushing under the hem of Buffy's shirt as they walked along slowly. She traced her fingertips along Buffy's sides, earning a small giggle from the girl. Faith smiled against Buffy's lips, her heart beating hard in her chest.

She had never felt like this before. So much emotion . . . she was so happy, so excited just to be touching Buffy, yet she wanted to fall to the floor and cry at the same time. She wanted to scream about fairness and the lack of it in her life, yet all she could do was continue to kiss Buffy, to touch Buffy, to slowly free Buffy of her confining shirt.

Buffy, too, was trying to undress Faith, her fingers fumbling as a rush of emotions passed over her again and again. She managed to pull off the offending shirt just as she felt the back of her knees hit the bed, sending them both toppling onto the soft mattress.

They laughed as they landed in a heap, Faith sprawled over Buffy, and Buffy clinging to her as if she were the most precious item in this world.

"You're holding on pretty tight there, B, you can ease up if you want. Don't worry, I won't let you fall off." Faith said with a chuckle, holding herself up so that she could look down into Buffy's eyes.

Buffy's smile faded into a much more serious look as she finally admitted, her words shaky and uneven,

"I don't wanna let go. I . . . I don't wanna let go, Faith."

Her eyes began to well up with tears, but before they could fall, Faith was kissing her again. Kissing her with everything she had. With everything she felt.

"Don't let go, Buffy," she said breathlessly as they shimmied up the mattress, pushing off their remaining clothing as they struggled to find the center of the large bed.

When they finally found themselves naked and in a suitable position, Faith propped herself up above Buffy and looked down at her, just staring into her eyes and lightly brushing her hair away from her face.

"You're so beautiful," Faith whispered, her warm breath tickling softly over Buffy's flushed skin. "I . . ." love you, she thought but her voice caught in her throat so that she couldn't finish her sentence.

"Shh," Buffy interrupted Faith, shaking her head slightly, "I know . . . I know, Faith." She moved her hand up to Faith's cheek and looked deeply into her eyes, giving her a small nod so that Faith knew she understood.

Almost hesitantly, Faith leaned down and pressed her lips to Buffy's, afraid that if she didn't occupy her mouth, the words that she was dying yet terrified to say would come flying out.

Slowly, she moved her lips to the corner of Buffy's mouth, over her cheek, down her jaw, and began descending her body, placing soft, lingering kisses on every inch of Buffy's skin along the way.

Buffy closed her eyes and braced herself, not because of Faith's unyielding lips, but for the tears that she knew were dying to fall from her eyes.

*****

The sound of a vacuum running in the next room over stirred Buffy from her slumber. She lifted her head from the pillow and glanced at the alarm clock, noting that she should really be up and getting herself situated. She stretched for a moment as she lay on her stomach, working out all of her sore muscles, then rolled partly over . . . and then completely over as she realized that she was alone in the bed.

She closed her eyes and sat up, straining her ears to hear over the buzzing of the vacuum cleaner. Upon hearing nothing, she called out into the room.

"Faith?"

A few moments passed before she opened her eyes and allowed herself to survey the large room.

No boots. No leather jacket. No black duffel bag.

And most importantly, no Faith.

Buffy furrowed her eyebrows, barely able to believe that she was waking up alone. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stood up, grabbing a crumpled tee-shirt from the floor and hastily threw it on.

With one last ounce of hope that maybe Faith hadn't really taken off, she made her way to the bathroom and, after pausing a second to listen, pushed the door open gently. Alas, there was no Faith to be found, but there was a piece of hotel paper left on the vanity. She picked it up and read it aloud.

"Never was one for goodbyes, guess that never changes. Take care of you, B. Thanks for giving me a second chance; I'll never forget it. –Faith."

Buffy sighed, trying hard not to let it bother her as much as it was. She and Faith had no commitments. Friends with benefits. She never should have expected a teary finale or even a kiss goodbye. Still, it didn't stop her from bringing the note up to her face and breathing in deep to take in any last remaining traces of Faith.

After a moment, she walked across the room and held her arm out, letting the note fall like a feather into the garbage bin. She sat there and looked at it laying in the pale-colored bin, noting in truly dramatic Buffy fashion that she may as well have thrown in her heart.

However, her dramatic thoughts finally caught up with her and she chuckled aloud before stripping off her shirt and making her way to the shower.

"Drama Queen much, Buffy?" she said aloud to herself. "Get a grip . . . you have a long day ahead of yourself."

With that said, she shook her head and focused, determined to tie up the loose ends that needed to be tidied before they left for the airport. She couldn't be losing her head at a time like this; not when Dawn was depending on her, not when she had a whole new future to be looking forward to and planning.

She stepped into the shower and let the warm water beat down on her, letting it wash away the last remaining traces of Faith from her body, but not from her mind.

*****

Buffy made her way down the hotel corridor, her simple red duffel bag slung over her shoulder. She stopped at Willow and Kennedy's room and knocked, knowing fully well that they had already left, but taking her chances anyhow. After a moment, a stout little cleaning lady opened the door, a feather duster in her hand.

"Umm, hi!" Buffy said, a bit surprised. "You're not Willow. I guess she's gone too, then."

The short lady smiled and shrugged, obviously not understanding a word that Buffy said.

"Right, you don't speak English," Buffy commented, feeling a bit foolish. "I guess it's better that way." Then a thought crossed her mind: Maybe the cleaning lady had seen Faith leave. Maybe it had just been a while ago, and maybe Faith was still in the hotel somewhere. Her eyes grew wide.

"Umm . . . I'm looking for my friend . . ." she fumbled, trying to recall the Spanish lessons she took when she was in middle school, but came up completely blank, ". . . my friend-o? She's about this tall," she held her arm up just a bit over her own head, "brown hair . . . umm, el brunetto . . . mucho attitude-o . . . nice butt . . . nice-o butt-o?"

She paused to see the stout woman giving her a bewildered look.

"Yeah, you're not getting any of this, are you?" She asked, looking around the hall to see if there was anyone that could help her translate. She all but froze when she saw Dawn watching her with a very amused look on her face.

"Freak much, Buffy?" Dawn asked with a grin, watching how uncomfortable her sister became upon realizing that Dawn had witnessed the interaction. "Yunno, the Spanish language consists of more than just adding `o' to the end of words."

Buffy sneered at Dawn and gave her a fake laugh.

"I thought you were the expert on Italian, Dawn." She paused as a thought crossed her mind. "Hey, you took Spanish this year . . . ask her if she's seen Faith."

Dawn frowned.

"Buffy, I took Spanish in a school that closed down early because demons kept popping up out of the basement before it, you know . . . imploded. I hardly think I'm capable of . . ." she trailed off when she saw Buffy's desperate face. ". . . oh, fine."

Dawn turned to the stout woman who now looked both confused and slightly scared. She put on her best smile and, after choosing her words carefully, asked the woman the question in her best Spanish.

After a moment of trying to understand Dawn's bad and broken Spanish, the woman shook her head and nodded.

"Si, vi a su amiga. Ella dejo temprano esta manana. Ella parecia muy triste."

Dawn smiled at the woman. "Gracias," she said, then grabbed Buffy's arm and pulled her down the arm so that the frightened woman could go back to her job.

"Okay," Dawn began, "she either said that she saw Faith leave early this morning and that she looked really sad, or that Faith's a DJ with a bad temper and a thirsty parcel."

Buffy thought it over.

"Well, she does have a bad temper sometimes."

Dawn chuckled, then began to slowly walk alongside her sister as they made their way down the hall toward the elevator.

"So, she didn't say goodbye then?" Dawn asked, trying hard not to open up what was possibly a painful wound.

Buffy smiled wryly.

"I got a letter. At least that's something."

Dawn stopped, her mouth open wide.

"She Dear John-ed you?"

Buffy stopped and turned to look at her sister. "It's not a big deal, Dawnie. Whatever happened is over now, just as we planned from the beginning. It was a good solution to a persistent problem, and . . . the problem is over now. No need to linger."

She was trying really hard to convince herself of that as well.

Dawn stared her sister down for a good minute, then rolled her eyes before starting down the hallway again.

"Keep telling yourself that, Buffy. Denial isn't just a river in Egypt. We all saw the schmoopy-ness between the two of you. Call it what you want, but don't play like it didn't mean anything. You're only fooling yourself."

Buffy stood for a moment or two before following after Dawn.

"Oh, this is gonna be a really fun 14 hour flight," she mumbled under her breath.

*****

The bumper-to-bumper ride to the airport in the incredibly smelly taxi didn't help Buffy's mood at all. She kept fluctuating between sadness, frustration, and sadness again. A few times she felt herself close to tears, unable to believe that she actually had to leave. That Faith had actually left.

But this was the path that they had chosen. This was what they had to do.

Still, that didn't mean that they couldn't have had some closure. That they couldn't have said goodbye with respect, as two adults should do.

Then again, she wasn't sure what she would have said had they found themselves in that position.

What exactly do you say to the person that you l . . . lust after . . . when you know that your lives are leading in two separate directions?

Maybe things were better as they were now. Maybe Faith was smarter than Buffy had given her credit for.

But she didn't have any more time to mull it over in her mind, as the taxi finally pulled up to the bustling airport and was dropping them off at the curb.

"Dawn, make sure you have everything," Buffy called out from inside the cab as Dawn jumped out, taking a huge breath of fresh air. Buffy stepped out of the cab too, situating herself as she looked for her sister. "You don't want to leave anything . . ." she paused as her eyes landed on Faith, leaning against the building and wearing a pair of dark sunglasses, ". . . behind."

She did her best to appear unaffected, but couldn't help the small smile that appeared on her face as Faith smiled sheepishly and began making her way over.

Dawn intercepted Faith first, who pulled her into a big hug.

"Be good, ok kiddo? Take care of your big sis, and watch out for those Italian guys, they think they're all kindsa smooth. Remember: kick first, ask questions later."

Dawn hugged Faith tight and replied, "I will. Take care of yourself too. Alright, Faith? I mean it."

She pulled back and looked into Faith's eyes, happy that the girl had decided to come and do the right thing after all.

"You know it," Faith said with a smile, then watched as Dawn grabbed her bag and made her way into the building. After a moment, she dragged her eyes back to Buffy, who stood watching the scene with a small smile on her face. Hesitantly, she took a few steps until she was finally face to face with the girl.

"Hey," she said, shoving her hands deep into her pockets.

"Hey back," Buffy answered, trying hard not to let her emotions take over.

"I may have mentioned that I'm not too good with goodbyes," Faith began with a nervous chuckle.

Buffy smiled, trying to offer Faith a bit of comfort so she wasn't so tense. "Yeah, you may have."

A moment later, Buffy saw Faith take a step forward, and then she felt a pair of strong arms holding her tight. She surrendered to the hug, resting her head snugly on Faith's shoulder.

Faith breathed in deep, inhaling Buffy's scent. It intoxicated her, making her forget herself for a moment.

"God I'm gonna miss you," she said before she could censor herself. She stiffened up, but realized that it was too late to take back. Instead, she ran her hands up and down Buffy's back, caressing her gently.

"I'm gonna miss you too," Buffy admitted, lost in the scent of Faith's perfume mixed with her shampoo. Unconsciously, she let her lips press to Faith's neck, just tasting her skin lightly. One last time, she thought.

Faith shivered, then brought her arms up to Buffy's face and held it softly in her hands before leaning in and giving Buffy a soft, chaste kiss on her lips. She rested her forehead against Buffy's and closed her eyes, allowing herself just one more moment to bask.

"It's always been you, Buffy." Faith whispered before she stepping back and allowing herself one more look at the girl. A moment later, she turned and walked away down the busy sidewalk. It only took a few moments before she disappeared within the masses of people getting into and out of taxis, as if she had never been there at all.

Buffy held her fingertips softly to her lips, overcome with such emotion that she could barely stand it.

And finally, she let the tears come that had been waiting so long to fall.

CHAPTER TEN

Author's Notes: One chapter down, and only one more to go. Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who has been sending feedback and encouragement; it means so much to me. I hope you enjoy this, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts if you can spare the time. :)

Buffy sat on the floor with her back against the couch, looking around her very empty apartment.

Her very empty and lonely apartment.

Sure, it was in a beautiful part of Rome. Sure, they were quite lucky to have snagged it at the rental cost that they did. Sure, it was exactly perfect for her and Dawn.

Except for the fact that Dawn wasn't there, and Buffy was going stir crazy with looking at the same four walls day in and day out. Alone.

The plan was for Buffy and Dawn to move to Italy so that Dawn could begin her schooling there the following school year. They had the summer to do the touristy stuff and explore the city and surrounding areas, and they had their share of visitors in that time. Willow and Kennedy, Xander, Andrew . . . even Giles.

But the one visitor that Buffy had been looking forward to the most was never able to make it.

When Buffy and Dawn began to look into the local schools, they realized that all of the `great' schools that Dawn had read about online were, in fact, not in their neighborhood. Of the three schools that Dawn had narrowed it down to, the closest to their apartment was over 100 miles away.

"Dawn, that's not exactly walking distance, and I'm pretty sure we'd kill your moped if you tried to trek that every day," Buffy had told her.

They went back and forth about it, Buffy trying to reason with Dawn to choose a local school, and Dawn begging Buffy to get an apartment closer to the school of her choice.

They had signed a year-long lease though, and Buffy wasn't sure that they could afford to get out of it and pay for the move as well.

After much argument and debate, they finally found a middle ground. Dawn would go to the school of her choice and dorm there, but would come home on the weekends. Buffy would find a job during the week, leaving her free time to spend with Dawn every weekend.

But as most teenagers do, Dawn always found excuses to stay at school for the weekend. Buffy was sick of hearing about Angelo's birthday party, and Paolo's poor stuffy nose and need for nursing, and Gina's uncle's mother's funeral, and the other hundred excuses that Dawn always had in store.

After about two months, Buffy finally gave up hope on Dawn coming home for a visit, save for holidays and special Scooby occasions.

And just like that, she found herself utterly alone. Her sister at school, her friends scattered around the world, her parents and family long gone, and the missing half of her self in Boston.

She worked, of course. With a bit of finagling by Willow, Buffy managed to get a job in a school-like setting, teaching English as a second language. She enjoyed her job and found it pretty rewarding, but that only took up eight hours of her long and lonely days.

Opportunities had come her way, of course. One of her fellow teachers, a woman from England, was always trying to get Buffy to go out and do things. Buffy had gone to a few clubs and met a few people, but her heart wasn't in it. She was living in Italy, but she may as well have been living on the moon; she felt that isolated from everything that she knew.

Most evenings were spent in her apartment feverishly cleaning the place, always prepared for surprise visitors which never seemed to come anymore. She'd taken to sitting on the balcony with a glass of wine and a book, but the weather began to change in the fall and she had to switch to indoor activities again.

When she wasn't cleaning or reading, she'd spend time on her computer, writing to Dawn, to Willow and Xander . . . and to Faith. They exchanged emails back and forth and had even chatted using an online messenger a few time. Their conversation was always light and friendly, but it always seemed to leave Buffy with a heavy heart. Like she knew she was missing out on something, but had let it slip past. That Faith had moved on.

Of course, she had convinced herself that had Faith ever showed up, she never would have let her leave. Conversely, she knew that if Faith called and asked her to come to Boston, she would be there in a minute. For a visit, for a year . . . for however long Faith asked her to stay.

Because she knew that's where her heart was; with Faith.

Sure, it had taken her a long time to come to terms with that. The long summer of exploring and traveling with Dawn had served as a distraction, but once she was settled, it was pretty much all that she could think about. Buffy had put her feelings aside so that she could get Dawn settled, and now that Dawn was gone, it was time for Buffy to focus on what she wanted.

It was about damned time.

As any other Saturday evening, she was sat in her living room, watching TV, gazing around the room on occasion and noticing how cold and empty it felt. And as always, she had her cordless phone in her hand. Ready to dial. Ready to answer. Waiting for something inside of her to spark; to gain the courage that she needed to dial the number she had committed to memory.

After hesitating for a few minutes, she took a big gulp of her red wine, finished the glass off, then stared at the phone in her hand.

It was time.

Biting her lip gently, she turned the phone on and dialed the long number, waiting as the international operator connected the call.

One ring. Two ring. Three rings. Sigh. Four rings. Five rings. Sigh.

"Yeah?"

Buffy smiled and held her breath, almost elated to hear the voice that she hadn't heard in nearly five months.

"Hello?"

Finally, Buffy realized that she should probably speak. That was what people did on the phone, after all.

"Hey," she said softly, the smile on her face apparent in her voice.

The voice on the other end softened up too as soon as it recognized Buffy's voice.

"Hey back," Faith answered. "Was just thinking about you."

Buffy smiled even more.

"Oh yeah? What about?" She asked in a relaxed tone, falling easily into the all-too-familiar banter..

"Well, first I was wondering what you were wearing and if you were naked. But then I remembered that I'm pissed at you for not answering me on messenger, and then I switched to thinking about giving you a nice kick in your non-message-answering ass, mostly."

Buffy was almost sure she could hear Faith grin as she spoke, and it made her heart flutter. She stood up and walked over to her computer, then pulled out the chair and sat down on it.

"You never stop thinking about my ass, do you?" Buffy teased. That's when she definitely heard a grin on the other end of the line.

"You know it, B." Faith answered. "So . . . did you get the messages or what?"

Buffy woke her computer up from sleep mode then to see about seven messages from Faith.

"Just reading through them now," she said as she perused the messages. She read through them quickly one by one, noticing that they were all friendly and teasing, until she came upon a link. She clicked the link and was redirected to a page for an airline service.

A confused look crossed her face.

"Were you trying to send me porn and got the link screwed up?" She asked, unsure of what she was looking at.

"Yeah, that's exactly what you're looking at, B. Porn. Ignore the flight confirmation info while you're feverishly searching for hidden T-and-A."

Buffy rolled her eyes at Faith's comment, but then she realized what Faith had said.

"Flight confirmation . . . you're coming to see me?" She asked as she studied the page more intently.

Faith chuckled.

"We really need to work on your reading comprehension skills, Buffy. For real. Continuous passage from Italy to Boston . . . you're coming to see me."

Buffy smiled. It was all the invite that she needed.

"When do I leave?"

*****

Three weeks and a seven-hour flight later, Buffy stepped off of the plane onto tired legs. She was glad that she didn't have to make the trans-Atlantic trip ritually, knowing fully well that she'd never be able to tolerate a flight so long that often.

Then again . . . she knew that if Faith asked her to come back again in the near future, she'd be on the first flight that she could find.

Of course, she'd be sure to spend the extra bit of money the next time and buy first-class tickets. Listening to little Tommy and Katie Paininthebottom, -- 10 and 8 years old respectively -- fight from across the small aisle for seven hours while their parents slept or wholly ignored them earned coach class a particularly angry red mark in Buffy's book.

She chuckled to herself as she walked along the passageway from the plane to the terminal, realizing just how ahead of herself she was getting. She hadn't even seen Faith yet, let alone got to see what lay in store for them, and she was already planning repeat visits.

Buffy shook her head and cleared her thoughts. There would be no thinking about the future, or planning next visits or any of that. She was just going to let events unravel as they would, and she'd play it by ear.

If Faith wanted to see her again after their visit . . . she was sure that it was something that they could arrange.

Buffy followed the crowd of people, not exactly sure where she was going, but confident that they would eventually lead her to the baggage claim area. She kept telling herself that she wasn't nervous about their reunion, yet she still managed to stumble onto the moving walkway and cause a big scene.

Tommy and Katie Paininthebottom giggled and laughed at her, but Buffy did her best not to let them bother her. She smiled politely at them, and as soon as their parents looked away, she graciously stuck her tongue out at them and made a face.

After about five minutes, Buffy finally arrived at the baggage claim area. It was very crowded and busy, several planes having landed at just about the same time. Masses of people swarmed the area, reuniting with their loved ones as they awaited their luggage. She looked around anxiously, eager to find a familiar face, but all she found were the grinning faces of Tommy and Katie.

"Are you lost or somethin?" Tommy asked in his Boston-accent, his finger planted firmly in his nose.

Buffy grimaced.

"I see the Scarecrow is still searching for his brain," she responded sarcastically, watching Tommy really digging away now. She was sure that if he dug any further, he'd poke his brain out. "Not lost. But I can't seem to find Toto, and I've come such a long, long way!" She said in her best Dorothy voice, laughing when the reference went right over Tommy's head.

"Are you calling me a dog, B?"

Buffy turned around to see Faith stood there grinning, a pair of sunglasses still on her face. She had her hands deep in the pockets of her blue jeans; it looked as if she was keeping them there to stop them from picking Buffy up and spinning her around.

"Will you kick my ass if I am?" Buffy responded with a mischievous smile, feeling the tension melt away.

Faith chuckled. "No, but I might jump up on you and lick your face." Both she and Buffy laughed, and then she took one of her hands out of her pocket and held it out toward Buffy. "Come here, ya nut."

Buffy smiled and closed the distance between them, letting Faith pull her into a hug with her extended arm. She melted against Faith, forgetting how much she missed being against her. How much she missed being held by her.

After a moment, Faith withdrew her other hand from her pocket and wrapped it around Buffy, holding her even closer and she pressed her face into Buffy's hair and breathed in deep.

"I'm glad you came," Faith said quietly against Buffy's ear.

"I'm glad you invited me," Buffy responded, closing her eyes and just basking in the feel.

They were pulled from their reverie when they heard small giggles behind them. Both Buffy and Faith turned their heads to see where the giggling was coming from.

Tommy and Katie stood there, pointing and giggling as their parents waited for their luggage.

"I think they're lexbeans!" Tommy said to his sister, making her giggle even more.

"What's a lexbean?" Katie asked innocently.

Faith raised one of her arms up to her face and tilted her sunglasses down, looking over the top of them at the two children.

"It's somebody who calls Santa and tells him where bad little kids live," Faith answered with a mock glare. "Now shoo," she said, and the kids ran anxiously back to their parents, standing there on their best behavior.

Buffy chuckled and un-wrapped her arms from around Faith before straightening out her clothing.

"Nicely handled. I might need to borrow you the next time Dawn gets out of line. That is, if she ever decides to come home from school."

"Is that an invite to visit?" Faith asked with a wink before leaning over and picking up Buffy's carry-on bag.

"You bet it is. An open invite. Dawn's gone so much, it's like living alone. Which, though liberating, can be insanely boring."

"I hear ya on that," Faith answered. "It's why I got a dog. All I've gotta do is feed him twice a day and take him for a few walks, and he loves me unconditionally. It's a pretty good deal." They made their way over to the baggage conveyor and grabbed a spot where it would be easy to grab Buffy's bags. "Of course," Faith continued, "if I don't hold up my end of the bargain, he poops on the floor, so . . . it's a really good motivation to keep in line."

Just then, the buzzer went off and the luggage carousel began to move. Both girls turned their attention to the conveyor, anxiously awaiting Buffy's luggage. They were quite anxious to get her bags as quickly as possible and escape the chaos of the airport.

Faith chuckled when, after about five minutes of waiting, two bright pink suitcases plopped onto the carousel.

"I don't even have to ask; I already know those two that look like they were dropped in Pepto-Bismol are yours."

Buffy smiled, "Does the pink really give me away?"

Faith grunted as she lifted one suitcase off of the conveyor belt, then the other. She wasn't sure how long Buffy was staying for – part of the beauty of an open-ended return ticket – but she knew that by the weight of the suitcases, she was prepared to stay for at least a year. Maybe two.

"You're such a girl," Faith commented with a laugh.

"Just the way you like me," Buffy beamed before leaning down and grabbing the bigger of the two suitcases. She turned to Faith, waiting with a smile to be led away.

Faith couldn't seem to wipe the smile off of her face. Things weren't awkward or weird . . . they had fallen right back into step as if they had never parted ways.

She just hoped that the rest of the visit would go over just as smoothly.

Grabbing the other suitcase, Faith led Buffy through the crowd and toward the exit to the parking ramp, their free hands clasped together so that they wouldn't lose one another. Not again.

*****

The ride from the airport to Faith's apartment wasn't very long at all; it would have been even shorter if not for the airport traffic. Buffy and Faith kept casual conversation while in Faith's Jeep . . . about the weather, and the Scoobies, and Dawn, and even about Angel and the LA gang.

And in a roundabout way, they managed to bring up the fact that they were both single.

Surely, that would make the visit much more interesting.

The short drive came to an end when Faith pulled up to a large red-brick building that stood two stories high. There was a large bay in front with an old white metal door that lifted up on hinges.

"You live in a fire station?" Buffy asked as she peered out the window at the very cool-looking building.

"Well, I live above it. The bottom bay is used mainly for storage now; a few of my boxes and stuff, and a bunch of old fire department records. It's cool though . . . basically means that I can be as loud and annoying as I want and I don't have any neighbors to yell at me for it."

Buffy admired the old building, noticing that it had been kept up and preserved really well. She looked up to the second floor, to Faith's apartment, and reasoned that it had to be pretty big inside, especially if it spanned the length of the building.

When she felt the back hatch open up, Buffy turned and realized that she was alone in the jeep. Faith stood chucking as she unloaded Buffy's luggage from the car, amused with Buffy's interest in the building.

"Don't worry B, it's not shitty inside or anything. And honestly . . . can you think of a safer place to live? How many times have you heard of a fire at a fire station?"

Buffy stepped out of the car and closed the door before joining Faith at the rear, grabbing one of the suitcases to make herself useful.

"None that I can recall," she answered. "I was just thinking that you must have tons of room up there. It's a far cry from the old motel room."

Faith slammed the hatch shut and grabbed the other suitcase, then led the way to the small white door around the side of the building. She talked casually as she reached in her pocket and pulled out her keys, fumbling with them to find the right one for the door.

"It worked out pretty nicely," she began. "The guy that was fixing the place up after the last tenant moved up was doing some work on my Gram's house. He told her about the place about two weeks after I arrived, which was just about a week after I got a job. I checked out the numbers to make sure I could cover the rent and it all added up, so . . . I got lucky."

She twisted the key in the lock and turned the door knob, then pushed her knee against the door to shove it open.

"It sticks sometimes," she said to Buffy, who watched her in amusement. "Anyhow," she continued as she began to make her way up the stairwell, "it's got two big bedrooms, a pretty big kitchen with a breakfast bar, a nice living room and a killer bathroom with a jet-tub and everything. And I had so much room left over that I was even able to make a work-out area with a few free-weights and stuff."

They finally reached the top of the stairs and Faith jangled her keys again, finding the one she needed to open the second door. She opened the door easily and stood back on the landing, giving Buffy room to step in first.

Buffy smiled and walked by Faith and into the apartment. Her jaw pretty much dropped when she caught her first glimpse of the place, noticing how big and spacious it was.

"You could fit my whole apartment in your living room and workout area," she commented as she looked around in awe.

Faith had it decorated nicely, but in quite a minimalist manner. The walls were painted, there was decent furniture around, and a few decorations were scattered here and there – a wall with a few daggers hung on it, a magazine rack, a bit of wall art – but it still managed to have the same `empty' feeling that Buffy's apartment in Italy had.

She thought that maybe it was because Faith never felt really at home there, just as Buffy had never felt completely at home in Italy. Not when such a big part of her was missing.

"Yeah, I guess it's a bit more than I need," Faith responded, closing the apartment door shut behind her. She walked further into the apartment and put the suitcase she was carrying down on the kitchen floor, which was somewhat connected to the large living room. "I think maybe I was planning on having visitors and stuff . . . I dunno, wishful thinking, I guess."

Buffy smiled and trailed after Faith, stopping alongside her in the kitchen.

"Well, here I am, a guest and all . . . do I get the grand tour, or shall I explore on my own and get lost in your gargantuan living space?"

Faith smiled.

"Guided tour it is." She held her arms open and indicated the room around her. "Kitchen," she said.

Buffy grinned. "Never would've figured that one out."

"I'm thinking someone wants to explore alone," she said with her eyebrow raised, the playful tone in her voice evident.

"I'll behave," Buffy said with a shy smile.

Before they moved on to the next area, Faith opened the refrigerator and pulled out two cans of Pepsi, casually tossing one to Buffy. Buffy smiled and thanked her, then carefully opened the can over the sink, where it fizzled all over. She grabbed a paper towel from the dispenser and wiped the can clean before turning to face Faith again.

Faith smiled.

"Make yourself at home, B," she commented as she watched Buffy easily make her way around the kitchen. She couldn't help but notice how good it made her feel that Buffy seemed to be fitting in already.

She then led them through the living room and work-out area, which had several types of free weights, along with a punching bag and several mats for floor exercises.

The apartment then became more divided; the open flow of the previous three rooms ended at a corridor, which led to three other closed off rooms.

They made their way into the spare bedroom, which was currently serving as Faith's computer room. Besides the computer desk and chair, there was barely anything else in the room except for a metal-framed futon and a tall lamp in matching metal.

Buffy wondered if that's where she would be staying, but she didn't want to bring it up yet.

Faith then took her into the bathroom, which was really large and spacious. There was a long round-ish jet-tub in the middle of one wall, surrounded by black tiles. Several types of lotions and bath products surrounded the tub, and instantly Buffy realized that the bathtub was probably Faith's favorite part of the apartment. A glass-enclosed shower stall was in the corner near the bathtub, and the toilet and sink sat on the other side.

Buffy couldn't help but smile thinking about the trouble that they could make in the bathroom.

But before she could ponder it too much, Faith was walking into the last room in the corridor . . . Faith's bedroom.

As the other rooms, it was also really spacious. And again, like the other rooms, it was sparsely decorated. There was a large bed against the back wall, covered with dark purple blankets. A large dresser with a mirror stood against one wall, and there was one of those contemporary half-sofas on the other wall, covered with Faith's clothes.

"Now, that was one of my impulse buys," Faith said as she pointed out the sofa. "I saw a similar one on TV and I said, `I have to get one of those.' I barely sit on it, but . . . it makes a really nice clothes-horse."

"Very nice," Buffy said with a smile. She leaned back against the dresser and looked around, taking a deep breath before having a sip of her Pepsi.

She waited for Faith to say something . . . for the next logical progression . . . but they sat in silence for a few moments. Faith sat on the small sofa, picking lint off of the clothing that lay on it.

"So," Buffy finally broke the silence, "where exactly will I be putting my bags?"

Faith shrugged and stood up, taking a few steps toward Buffy.

"Wherever you want, I guess," she said, not taking her eyes from Buffy's.

Buffy laughed nervously.

That wasn't the answer she was looking for. Faith had asked her to come visit; no, Faith had told her that she was coming for a visit. She had to have had something in mind when she asked . . . she had to have planned something for them. Was it a simple friendly visit? Or was it for something more.

Buffy took a few steps away from the dresser and toward Faith, looking up at her through her eyelashes.

"Well, should I leave them in the kitchen? Or did you want me to put them in the guest room? Or," she paused, fighting back her nerves, "should I put them in here?"

At that point, they were only separated by a couple of feet. Both girls looked quite nervous now, as if they were both waiting for the other to make a move. To decide their fate.

"I think that, maybe, you should bring them in here," Faith said quietly, taking another step forward before stopping. Leaving Buffy to take the final step, if she wanted to.

Buffy smiled.

"I think that maybe I should," Buffy said just as quietly before taking a final step forward. The final step to finally bring them together.

Faith smiled and moved her arms to Buffy's, letting her fingertips trace down her arms. She took Buffy's hands in her own and held them as she slowly leaned in, their lips finally coming together in a soft kiss.

Buffy shivered, all of the anticipation in her building up in a perfect crescendo. This is what she had been missing; this is what she had been waiting for.

They kissed softly, slowly, their lips barely moving against one another.

But before the kiss had the chance to turn into anything more, the girls heard the door opening up in the living room.

"Fai? You here?" A young voice called out from the living room, followed by the sound of feet scampering around the floor and heavy breathing.

Faith and Buffy chuckled, both of them used to having their moments disturbed. Just as they pulled apart, a large dog came running into the room, instantly running to Faith's side.

Faith leaned down and began to pet the dog, laughing at his excited whimpers and cries.

"Yeah, Joey, I'm in here. Thanks for looking after him for me!" She yelled.

"No problem," the young boy answered from the living room. "I'm out, Faith, gotta get back home. See ya tomorrow!"

And with that, the door closed and Buffy was left with Faith and a very excited golden retriever that suddenly noticed there was someone else in the room.

"B, I want you to meet Harper. Harper, this is Buffy. She'll be sharing the bed with us."

Harper took that opportunity to shuffle over to Buffy, anxiously sniffing her hands for any sign of hidden treats.

Buffy laughed as she pet him, instantly falling for the friendly dog.

"I have to warn you, Harper," Buffy began as she scratched the top of his head, "I hog the blankets. You might want to sleep in the other room."

Faith laughed too.

"It's true, buddy. We may have to kick you out every now and again."

They laughed as the dog seemed to get the hint and scampered off out of the room, leaving them alone again.

"So . . ." Buffy began again, not exactly knowing what happened next.

Faith smiled and held out her hand.

"Come on . . . there's something I wanna show you."

Buffy obliged and took her hand, letting Faith lead her out of the room and out of the apartment onto some yet unknown adventure. There was so much that still needed to be said, still needed to be talked about, but she put all of that on hold until later. For now, she just wanted to enjoy the feeling of being whole again, of not feeling so lonely, and to bask in the excitement of the unknown.

She wasn't sure what was in store for them for the next couple of days, but she was surely enjoying the anticipation. And when the time came to make decisions or part ways if the need be, she promised to keep an open mind and listen to whatever her heart told her.

She just hoped that Faith's heart was on the same track as hers.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Author's Notes: And that's all she wrote. Thank you to everyone who has been so supportive with feedback and emails while I've been writing this fic. It's definitely my feel-good fic, so now I'm gonna try something new and dark(ish). But really . . . you guys rock my rainbow socks. Thanks for reading along. :) Oh, and: A girl who doesn't like sports (besides hockey . . . Go Sabres!) can only do so much sport research before she loses interest. Please keep that in mind when you stumble upon errors in my baseball facts. ;) For instance, I don't know if the game really happened in Boston, but for the purpose of this fic . . . it did. :D

Faith took her time driving to no place in particular, hoping to buy a few extra minutes as she formulated her thoughts.

When she had invited Buffy to come and see her, she figured that it could have gone one of two ways. Either Buffy would come there intent on preserving their friendship and friendship only, or she would come because she wanted to restore what they had in LA. Faith honestly wasn't sure if Buffy would want to keep their sexual relationship a part of their past and continue being friends as with the other Scoobies, or if she would want to revisit the past.

And there was no doubt that Faith wanted to revisit the past with Buffy.

The thing was . . . she didn't want to have a casual `friends with benefits' type of deal with Buffy. It wasn't something that she had ever thought about with anyone else, but after the time they spent together in LA . . . she couldn't think of anything that she wanted more. She wanted the whole enchilada . . . the hand-holding and sweet stuff, and the romantic stuff, and the happy stuff, and of course – the sex stuff.

She wanted it all.

But while she had been planning Buffy's visit, she refused to let herself work out any speeches or thoughts that she wanted to give to Buffy. She didn't want to assume that Buffy would automatically say yes to being together, then have her own heart break in half if Buffy gave her a different answer.

So, she tried to put it out of her mind. She planned things that they could do together, as friends would, that would pass the time during Buffy's visit. Shopping on Newbury Street. There was a restaurant near there named Charlie's that Faith was sure Buffy would love. Boston Commons. Faneuil Hall. Clubbing on Lansdowne Street. And of course, there was Fenway Park. What kind of Bostonian would Faith be if she didn't take Buffy to the home of the Boston Red Sox?

In fact, it was a pretty big time in Boston at the moment. The Red Sox were one game away from making it to the World Championship. They had been down three games but in a sweep, they tied it up by winning the next three games.

And in a stroke of pure luck, Faith had won two tickets to game seven in a contest on the local radio station. She had picked up the tickets just before going to pick Buffy up at the airport, and they were stowed safely away in her inner jacket pocket.

Faith figured that she could take Buffy to the big game that night, and then out to celebrate a possible victory. If the Sox won, there would be pandemonium in the streets, and as a native Bostonian, Faith was obligated to participate. However, if the Yankees beat the Red Sox . . . well, Faith didn't even want to think about that. Buffy would have to nurse her back to life over the next days of her visit, and as tempting as Buffy in a nurses uniform seemed, she would have rather spent their time together in a better way.

And now, as Faith was driving down some random street in her neighborhood, she was trying to put her thoughts together in a way that would neither scare nor push Buffy away.

"So, what's this big surprise?" Buffy asked as she stared out the window, taking in all of the local sights and sounds. She turned and looked to Faith for an answer, and that was when she noticed that Faith was looking kind of nervous. She looked down at Faith's hand; her knuckles had gone white from gripping the gear-shift so tight.

"Uh, funny thing about that surprise, B. It's kinda not until later tonight," Faith began. She figured that she could use the baseball game as a surprise, seeing as that it was a pretty big event.

"Oh?" Buffy asked, and Faith nodded. "So, what are we doing now, besides burning gas and wearing out your tires?"

Faith was silent for a moment, and she hesitated when she tried to speak. Buffy could see that Faith was struggling with her words, but she was so proud that Faith was actually trying to sound out her feelings.

Casually, Buffy moved her hand from her lap and laid it atop Faith's hand on the gear-shift, interlacing her fingers over the tops of Faith's.

Faith smiled softly and turned to look at Buffy through her tinted sunglasses.

"Thanks," she said softly as she gripped Buffy's hand gently. "I think that . . . with the way we were headed in my bedroom . . . things might have gotten a bit x-rated before we had the chance to talk."

Buffy smiled.

"You're probably right."

"And the thing is, I dunno . . . for like, the first time in my life, I guess I wanna talk things through before jumping into something. Cos I don't wanna be thinking one thing and then find out we're not on the same page and end up feeling like a major asshole," Faith explained, her eyes on the road in front of her.

"It's okay, I know what you mean, Faith," Buffy said, smiling softly at how far Faith had come along as a person since she first met her so many years earlier. "Talking is a good thing."

A few moments of silence passed as Faith continued driving down random streets, passing by several quaint ethnic restaurants and small shops and corner stores along the way. Finally, she gathered her remaining thoughts and questions and began to lay them out.

"I guess that my first question is . . . what is this to you, Buffy?" She asked, holding up their joined hands. "Is this like, something you're gonna be able to walk away from in a week and leave behind? Cos I don't know if I can do that."

Buffy took a deep breath and looked out the window, trying to organize her feelings into words. After a moment she looked back to Faith who was still looking quite nervous.

"I've been in Italy for almost a half of a year, and . . . well, I was never able to leave it behind, really. It's hard for me to understand, I think, because I don't know exactly when or how it happened. All of the big events in my life, I can pinpoint down to single moments. My calling, my past relationships . . . they all came down to one moment where I had this realization. But with us . . . there's not a moment where I can say, `okay, that's where you fell . . . umm, that's where it all began.' I feel like we just eased into this . . . relationship . . . back in LA. Like it was the most natural thing ever. And yeah, I know we went into it saying that it was a friends with benefits type of deal, but when it came time to leave, I felt like I was being torn up inside. Like I couldn't stand the thought of walking away from what we had. But . . . I had to. I promised Dawn, and I promised myself that I would give a new life with her a try."

"And now you're here," Faith said and turned her head toward Buffy to give her a quick smile.

Buffy caught her eye and smiled at her, "And now I'm here," she echoed Faith. "And the thing is . . . I don't want to walk away. I know it'll tear me up again if I have to leave, and that I'll go back to my life in Italy where I think about you . . . about us . . . every day. I don't know if I can do that. If I can walk away again."

Faith nodded her head.

"But you also don't know that you can stay," she said matter-of- factly. "And I mean, I get that, B. You've got a little sis that you're raising, and you're being all responsible and wearing big sister's clothes and stuff."

"Yeah," Buffy agreed. "But Faith . . . that also doesn't mean that I *won't* stay." At that, Faith glanced over at her, a hopeful look on her face. Buffy continued, "I don't know how that would work, and I don't know how I would drop everything else, but . . . the fact that I have some other things going on doesn't necessarily mean that I won't stay."

Faith smiled gently, mostly to herself. She couldn't help it. Sure, things weren't wrapped up in a neat little package. There were things that needed further thought and discussion, but at least she knew that now they were on the same page.

She brought their joined hands up to her lips and kissed the top of Buffy's hand, letting the soft kiss linger for a moment or two. Buffy smiled, wanting nothing more than for them to be out of the jeep so that she could crawl into Faith's arms and hold her, but settled for the small kiss until they were at least pulled over.

"So . . ." Faith concluded, "we're on the same page then. We both want this, and we're both willing to see how the visit goes and what we can do from there?"

"Sounds about right," Buffy said with a nod. "We'll just do what comes natural. And I guess that when it comes time to book my return flight . . . we have the big talk."

Buffy couldn't help but laugh when she saw the grimace that Faith made when she mentioned the big talk. Faith chuckled too as she hadn't even realized she had made the face until Buffy was laughing at her.

"We have a plan then?" Faith asked, her eyes focused again on the street before them.

"Yep," Buffy agreed with a firm nod.

"Good, cos I really need to do this right now," Faith said, causing Buffy to look at her in confusion. At that, Faith had pulled the jeep over to the side of the street and put it in park. In a flash she had unbuckled her seatbelt, leaned across the seat, and was kissing Buffy passionately while holding the sides of her face in her hands.

Buffy responded just as enthusiastically, placing her hands atop of Faith's on her face. Only when they heard a fire truck pass by with its siren on did they stop to look into one another's eyes. Faith smiled and rested her forehead against Buffy's, just taking a moment to let it all sink in. Buffy ran her thumbs over the top of Faith's hands, not wanting to lose physical contact with her for even a moment.

"You hungry?" Faith asked suddenly, interrupting their moment. She knew that she needed to break their momentum or they'd end up naked in the back seat.

"Starved, actually," she answered, listening to the sounds of her stomach rumbling quietly.

Faith smirked.

"The plan just got even better, B. We're gonna go back to my place and do the girly get-freshened-up-and-change-outfits-five-times thing, then I'm gonna take you downtown for the best steak sandwich and fries you've ever had, and then – and here's where the surprise comes in – we're gonna walk over to Fenway Park for the big game."

Buffy smiled, excitement written on her face.

"We're going to a football game?"

Faith's only reasonable response was to raise her eyebrow at Buffy, sigh with a big smile on her face, and pull away from the curb with a loud chuckle.

*****

Four hours, three outfit changes, and two steak sandwiches later, Buffy and Faith made their way down the busy streets of the city. It was nearly game time and, unlike most of the other inhabitants of the city who had been partying around the ball park all day in anticipation of the big game, the two slayers were casually strolling up to the front entrance in hopes that the lines to enter wouldn't be too long.

Buffy couldn't help but smile as she observed how excited Faith was about the game. The Red Sox baseball cap that Faith was wearing had remained firmly on her head since they had left her apartment. Of course, no one in the restaurant cared that she was wearing a hat indoors; half of the other patrons were wearing their hats and jerseys as well.

Faith had tried to explain the pride Boston had in the Red Sox, despite the fact that they hadn't won a world championship game since 1918. Despite their bad luck and the so-called `Curse of the Bambino', the Red Sox Nation stood strong and always supported their team.

She also told Buffy that years earlier, her first Watcher had revealed that the Curse of the Bambino was an actual curse, put on the team by a Vengeance Demon with a chip on her shoulder. The curse was set up in such a way that the Red Sox wouldn't win a Championship game again until some huge cosmic event had happened.

And for Faith, this seemed to be the year of big cosmic events. She was sure that the Sox were going to make it to the final round. The way that the Scooby gang had shut down the Hellmouth? Faith believed that since she was from Boston, the goodness that was due to her would be spread to her home town.

Buffy just laughed to herself and smiled as Faith had explained it all.

She couldn't help but notice that between Faith, and her silly baseball cap, and Harper who couldn't seem to stop wagging his tail whenever he saw Buffy, and the awesome steak sandwiches, and the lore of the city . . . she was quickly falling in love with it all.

And as beautiful as Italy was . . . it just never had the feel of home. It wasn't home.

As the crowds got thicker the closer they got to the entrance, Buffy started to feel a bit overwhelmed. The thought of getting lost in the crowd of rabid fans . . . well, it scared her almost more than any vampire ever had.

Just as she was about to enter panic mode, she felt a hand clasp around hers and looked up to see a smiling Faith looking back at her.

"Don't worry, B. I won't let you go."

From that point on, they were barely able to say more than two words to each other as they were herded through the crowds and up towards the seats. As Faith had said, she never let go of Buffy's hand for a single second. At one point they had almost been separated when Buffy fell behind a few steps and someone tried to walk between them, but Faith had pulled Buffy closer to her and yelled at the guy who was trying to carry his six plastic cups of draft beer back to his seat.

Buffy couldn't help but feel happy with how protective Faith was being of her. How every time she'd fall a step or two back, Faith would be pulling her closer and holding her hand tighter. How Faith would look back at her every few steps to make sure that she was okay.

How Faith wrapped her arm around Buffy's back so casually as they waited in line for the restroom.

It all made Buffy feel so content, so safe. She couldn't remove the smile from her face as much as she'd tried.

When they had finally made it to their seats along the third base line, they decided that to avoid being separated, they wouldn't leave their seats at all. When the vendors began to walk around the stands with their drinks and snacks, Faith made sure to order up two huge cups of beer and the obligatory bag of peanuts. Because, as she explained so carefully, you had to have beer and peanuts at baseball games.

To be perfectly honest, Buffy didn't care that they were at a baseball game. She didn't keep track of sports, nor did she ever really take time to learn much about them. If she didn't learn it in Phys. Ed. class, she didn't know it. Faith had teased her mercilessly about thinking that Fenway Park was a football stadium. In fact, as they sat and watched the first inning of the game, Faith kept turning to her and asking if she was enjoying the `foosball' game. A la The Waterboy film starring Billy Madison.

Yes, Buffy had seen the movie, and no, she didn't think she was as bad as the lady that called football `foosball'.

She had explained to Faith over the loud cheering of the crowd, "In my defense, I've been living in Italy since May. I can't be expected to keep up with American sports," to which Faith had replied, "And before you lived in Italy, were you living on Mars?"

Their light and playful mood remained in place for the first few innings, but when it became clear that things might not end up the way Faith was hoping, she instantly became much grumpier. Even though Buffy knew that Faith was probably pretty pissed off, she couldn't help but find the way that Faith was reacting to be pretty endearing.

She watched out the corner of her eye, trying not to make it too obvious, as Faith shouted out random obscenities and razzed on fans of the other team. At one point, Buffy was pretty sure that there would be a brawl between the Red Sox fans and the Yankees fans, led by her very own companion. However, after placing a calming hand on Faith's knee, Faith took a deep breath and tried to mellow out. Faith placed her hand over Buffy's and squeezed it gently.

Neither one of the girls made any effort to move their hands after that.

Buffy chuckled. Faith would just have to show her disapproval with one hand now instead of both.

As the teams entered the final inning of the game, Faith had already pretty much given up hope. Apparently, saving the world from the opening of the Hellmouth wasn't enough of a cosmic event to kick the curse. What it was that would be big enough to do so, she had no idea.

When the scoreboard lit up with the final score and the Yankees fans cheered as if there was no tomorrow, Faith slumped lower in her chair than she already had been and crossed her arms over her chest in disappointment. There would be no World Championship game that year. Just another year of disappointment.

Buffy and Faith remained in their seats as the fans slowly began to filter out of the ball park, disappointment weighing down their spirits. Buffy couldn't have actually cared less if she had tried, but she wanted to be supportive of Faith, who was busy moping away like someone had run over her dog.

"You okay?" Buffy finally asked, once again placing a comforting hand on Faith's knee.

Faith just shrugged and tried to hide under the rim of her cap.

"Yeah, just pissed off a bit, I guess. I really thought this was our year."

As upset as Faith may have been, it didn't stop her from reaching down and taking Buffy's hand in hers, taking what little comfort Buffy could offer her.

"Ah well," Faith said, standing up from her seat and stretching her sore limbs. "I guess there's always next year. Just woulda been really wicked to see it this year . . . yunno, with everything that's happened in the past six months and all."

Buffy stood from her seat and stretched as well, then happily followed as Faith led her out of their row and up the aisle, their shoes crunching over hundreds of peanut shells as they walked.

Out of nowhere, something suddenly hit Buffy.

Between the steak sandwich and the peanut shells and the grumbling brunette leading her out of the ball park, she didn't want to go back to Italy. Dawn was a young woman; she didn't need big sis trying to fill in the role of a mother. She needed to live, and experience things, and be happy.

And Buffy needed the exact same thing.

She wanted to be happy. Somewhere between the big implosion in Sunnydale and the time spent in LA, someone had taught her to be happy; to just sit back and enjoy what you have. Without a doubt, Buffy had enjoyed what she and Faith had in LA. Somehow, she thought she could find happiness by going out into the world and trying to be normal.

The fact was, though, that she wasn't normal. She was far from it. She was a slayer, and a semi-retired slayer at that. A college drop-out. An ex-employee of a fast-food chain. She had dated a tragic vampire, a secret soldier, and an obsessive vampire. She'd saved the world more times in seven years than she could even count.

And somewhere along the line, she fell in love with what used to be her unfortunate enemy.

No, Buffy was far from normal. She couldn't understand exactly why she thought a normal life would work for her, but she knew now that she didn't want it.

She wanted Faith. She wanted to be with her and laugh at whatever life and the Powers That Be threw at them. And for some reason, she knew that, together, they could handle whatever was thrown at them.

Her sudden realizations caused Buffy to stop moving, her feet taking a last few steps before she came to a stop just outside the front entrance of the ball park. The slight feel of Faith tugging on her arm roused her from her thoughts. She looked up with a soft smile to come face to face with Faith who was watching over her carefully.

"You okay?" Faith asked her, taking a step closer so that she could inspect her properly.

Buffy couldn't help but smile, a nervous laugh escaping her.

"I am," she began, "I really think I am."

Faith gave her a slightly confused look and tilted her head to the side. She began to think that maybe Buffy had had a bit too much to drink.

"You wanna sit down, B? I can get you some water, or I can carry you if you're wobbly and stuff . . ."

Buffy laughed at Faith's concern. She tentatively took a step closer to Faith, closing up the remaining space between them. After a moment of hesitating, she looked up at Faith's face and smiled, letting both of her hands rest on Faith's upper arms.

"I loved dinner," Buffy began nervously. "And Harper's so smart, he makes me smile. And I have peanut shells wedged in the bottom of my shoes, and my small supply of vacation money is gonna run out soon, but . . . I don't care."

Faith still looked confused; Buffy really wasn't making any sense to her.

Buffy couldn't help but laugh, both at how little sense she seemed to be making and at how confused poor Faith seemed to be. She tried to clarify herself as best as she could.

"No, I mean . . . I haven't even been here for a full day yet and . . . I love this place. I love the air, and the atmosphere. I love how you know so much about it without really having to know it. I love how you're making me feel, like you really want me here, like you really just want me. But most importantly, I love how I feel like I'm at home after only a half a day."

Faith listened with her brows furrowed, trying not to be too distracted by Buffy's proximity and the way her simple touch affected her. After a few moments of silence, sharing each other's gaze, Faith finally got it. She understood Buffy's rambling.

She grinned, feeling her whole body relax but tense up in anticipation all at the same time.

"How long are you gonna stay for, B?" She asked quietly, dipping her head down a bit to bring her face closer to Buffy's.

Buffy smiled and, very carefully and slowly, lifted Faith's cap from her head and put it on her head backwards so that the rim wouldn't get in the way.

"Well," Buffy began, "I guess I have to give my notice to work, and cancel the lease on my apartment. It may take a while to get settled, but . . ."

"How long are you gonna stay, Buffy?" Faith asked again with a little smile, her head dipping down that last inch so that their lips were nearly brushing together.

Buffy smiled, Faith's warm breath tickling over her lips almost enough to render her unable to speak.

"'Til the Red Sox win the Championship?"

"So, forever then, huh," Faith said with a wink.

The chuckle that they both shared was cut short by their kiss. It was soft and deep, both girls trying their hardest not to smile too big into the kiss. Faith wrapped her arms around Buffy and pulled her close, actually lifting her up about two inches and taking a small spin around with Buffy in her arms.

After a few minutes, Faith set Buffy back down on her wobbly legs. They smiled at one another, Buffy trying to fix Faith's hair under the backwards baseball cap.

"So, does this mean you want me to stay?" Buffy asked with a playful grin.

Faith grinned back and took the hat from her head, putting it carelessly on Buffy's head and laughing as it nearly covered her eyes.

"I'll make a proper Bostonian of you yet, B."

She took Buffy's hand in her own and led her down the street they had been down earlier, not at all fazed by the crowds of people pushing and arguing in the streets trying to find a way home.

They had already found their own way home.

*****

One Year Later . . .

Buffy and Faith lay on the couch in their apartment, surrounded by empty beer bottles and crumpled packets of peanuts. They stared at the TV, almost in shock, as it was formally announced that the Boston Red Sox had won their first World Championship since 1918.

"So, when you said that you'd stay until the Sox won a Championship . . .?" Faith began and let her voice trail off, unable to take her eyes from the TV which showed the pandemonium in the crowd.

"Oh no, you're not getting rid of me THAT easy."

Buffy and Faith chuckled as they continued to watch the TV in amusement, both knowing fully well that their `forever' would last much longer.

The End