“Buffy…….”

She fell into what was best called a languorous stupor, and Buffy smiled as she kissed her way back up to her face. She pulled Faith into her arms and covered them both with the sheet, feeling more than a little languorous herself.

“…B…”

“There’s plenty of time. Just sleep now.”

‘Kay.”

Faith snuggled in and drifted off, and Buffy followed right behind.

She awoke two hours later to the feeling of warm, soft lips exploring all around her breasts.

“Mmm…you can keep doing that forever.”

“Wouldn’t mind that. You taste so good, B.”

Her tongue rolled over Buffy’s nipples again and again until Buffy felt like she was going insane.

“F…”

Her voice already had a pleading tone to it that made Faith laugh:

“We’ll get there, just let me get reacquainted first.”

And she had. Her hands and mouth went everywhere, her tongue sliding in and out to savor the taste that was all Buffy. She gently guided her to one orgasm after another, taking all the time in the world and making Buffy feel wild and worshipped and loved.

Everything had changed after that night, something major had been decided and laid to rest between them. They still had problems that seemed to have no solutions, they still had issues they both would have preferred to leave undisturbed, but they knew they couldn’t avoid anything anymore, not if they were going to take this chance and make it count.

Faith’s past came out in halting words that had been buried so deeply for so long, it sometimes seemed they would not be able to make it to the surface. But they did because Faith dug for them, reaching down and ripping them free, flinging them up and away from her every chance she got.

Her past explained so much about their present, and Buffy began to get an even clearer picture of the woman she loved. She understood it now, every thing that Faith had done, and the “why” of it became crystal clear as they looked at it together. They joined forces and dealt with everything, then just let it fall spiraling away from them.

None of that stuff had a place where they were going. They were moving towards a light and open space that needed nothing but the cleanness of fresh air, the warmth of their love and the trust that now infused everything they did.

Buffy had asked for Faith’s promise and she had gotten it without a moment’s hesitation. Faith had sworn she would never leave her again, no matter what, and Buffy knew that she meant it. That belief allowed her to relax, and day by day her fear floated away until it left her for good.

She was roused out of her reverie by a gigantic yawn:

“Guess I nodded off.”

Buffy smiled as she lowered her hands, making Faith quiver and slosh the increasingly tepid water dangerously close to the edge of the tub.

“Well, you don’t hear me complaining, do you?”

“Why would ya? Got the world’s second hottest chick between your legs, life’s good.”

Buffy leaned down, pulling Faith’s head to the side to deliver a loving kiss.

“Life isn’t good, F. Life is great.”’

Faith’s grin was huge as she stood, yanking Buffy up with her.

“Let’s get outta here ‘fore we turn into prunes.”

She stepped out, lifting Buffy with her and sitting her down lightly on a towel that was spread out on the vanity chair. She tossed her another towel, then dried herself off before sliding into Angel’s robe.

“What’re smiling’ at?”

“You. You always look like a four year old in that giant robe.”

“Not my fault Angel was a big freak. ‘Sides, no way he’d want a kick ass thing like this goin’ to waste.”

Buffy stood, wrapping another towel around her wet hair:

“So what was the price for today’s fun? Did Giles stick us on newbie patrol for the rest of the week?”

“Not that I know of. Just said we were off, so I think that means free and clear.”

Buffy wrapped her arms around Faith, rubbing her cheek against the remarkably soft velour.

“Wanna stay in tonight or go out?”

“B, what do ya think? You’re talking to Faith Lehane, party girl since forever.”

“So is that your vote for staying home?”

“Yeah, just me and you all night again sounds like the perfect fucking end to a perfect fucking day.”

Buffy let go and headed into the bedroom:

“I’d rather stay in too. Do we have anything to eat though?”

“Gotta have somethin’. I’ll go look.”

She took off for the kitchen and Buffy slipped on her own robe and headed after her. She smiled as she passed the bookshelf, pausing to lift the snow globe and give it a firm shake.

She stood there watching the snow fall all around, her thoughts drifting off to the man who was no longer with them, but always present anyway.

“Hot fucking damn!”

Buffy laughed as Faith’s voice came booming in from the kitchen:

“Our girl’s sure excitable, isn’t she?”

She sat the globe down and made her way into the kitchen:

“So what’s the good news?”

Faith was half hidden in the refrigerator, but when she straightened up she was holding a bottle of pancake syrup.

“Plenty of stuff for a million pancakes! Sit down and keep me company. I’ll have’em goin’ in a sec.”

Buffy sat down and watched the master chef at work. She was almost dancing as she worked, her body bouncing and swaying to a tune only she could hear. She cracked the eggs with a flourish, tossed the discarded shells across the room into the trashcan, then raised her arms to signal a homerun or a touchdown or a basket. Buffy wasn’t quite certain, but she knew it was some sports thing that meant something good.

Her sleeves kept sliding down and Faith kept swearing as she shoved them back up and concentrated on not tripping over the bottom of her way too long robe. She glanced back at Buffy with her patented dimpled smirk and started talking about something, but Buffy wasn’t listening, not to one single word.

She could feel the tears stinging her eyes, and she let them fall. It was a weird concept, the way human beings cried over all kinds of things, good and bad. The woman in front of her had always made her cry, one way or another, and Buffy knew she always would. Obviously it was their destiny.

It was a good destiny, a happy destiny, a destiny that she was eternally grateful for. The woman in front of her: “Caution: Hot Stud Inside” was a miracle, and Buffy wouldn’t have traded her for anything. She began smiling somewhat wickedly as she stood and silently took off her robe.

Faith grinned as she felt Buffy’s arms encircling her from behind.

“Keep your pants on, B. Made’em a little bigger, so they gotta cook…”

Buffy reached around and turned off the burner, then slid the robe down Faith’s body, letting it pool on the floor. Faith tried to turn, but Buffy held her in place, her lips grazing along the muscle of her shoulder.

“Okay…wanna do that instead? All for it.”

Buffy’s lips slowly worked their way up to Faith’s ear as her hands worked their way down her front.

“Faith?”

“Yeah, B?”

“I love you.”

“Know that. I love you too.”

Faith could feel Buffy’s smile against her cheek.

“Well, aren’t we the lucky ones.”

“Can’t be any luckier.”

“Can’t be any hornier either.”

“Thought you were hungry?”

Buffy lifted her up into her arms:

“I am, but there’s a saying that perfectly covers this sitch.”

“What’s that?

“’Isn’t it crazy how slaying always makes ya hungry and horny?’”

Faith laughed and wrapped her arms around Buffy’s neck.

“But B, you haven’t been slaying.”

“That’s just a minor detail, F”

She laid her down on their bed and followed right along:

“Now where was I?”

“Think you were gonna fuck me.”

“Yes, I was.”

Buffy stayed on top of her, gently caressing Faith’s hair back from her face and saying nothing:

“B?”

“I couldn’t possibly love you more than I do.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I don’t know how I ever got so lucky.”

Faith laughed:

“Think you got that shit all turned around, but who am I to disagree?”

“Wow, I wish I had a recording of this moment.”

“But ya don’t, otherwise I wouldn’t have said it.”

“No wonder they call you ‘The Rogue Slayer’.”

Faith rolled them over and glared down at Buffy:

“Nobody calls me that ‘cept when Andy starts slingin’ his bullshit.”

“Ooh, touchy.”

“Well it’s fuckin’ stupid. If you were gonna call me anything it’d be, ‘The Hot as Hell Slayer’ or ‘The Wicked Cool Slayer’. What’s with this ‘rogue’ shit anyways? I haven’t danced on the dark side in fucking forever now.”

“I was just kid…”

“Oughta kick his ass, then we’ll see how much he likes my dark side.”

***********************************************

The sex was over for now, and the pancakes had been made and devoured. The Slayers decided to watch some TV and made their way casually to the sofa...if pushing and shoving each other and leaping over furniture could be called “casual”.

Buffy managed to shove Faith to the floor, but then Faith hooked her leg, bringing Buffy down to her knees. She struggled to rise, but Faith shoved her hard and then leapt over the couch like it was a high hurdle. Buffy followed just moments later, but it was too late.

“Yeah, baby! Check it out!”

She held the remote control aloft triumphantly, trash talking the whole way:

“Damn, must be rough bein’ the oldest and slowest Slayer. Don’t worry, B. I’ll go half speed from now on so you can keep up.”

“Just so you know: I’m about five seconds from beating the shit out of you and taking the remote.”

Faith’s dimples grooved her cheeks as she smirked cockily:

“Wow, so you’re old and a sore loser? Lucky thing you’re so sexy with all of them strikes against ya.”

“Shut up and sit down. I know it’s hard, but try to act like you’ve won before.”

Faith dropped down onto the sofa, her feet already making themselves comfortable on the coffee table.

Buffy sat down next to her, as close as she could get without being on Faith’s lap. Faith was still grinning as she turned on the set and began her usual rapid fire clicking of the channels.

“Faith, could you slow down a little?”

“Why? No sense wasting our time on crap.”

“But I think I saw a good movie and you…”

Faith rolled her eyes as she kept spinning through the shows.

“No, what you saw was one of your stupid chick…Hey, look at this! And it’s just starting!”

“Faith, we are not watching ‘Die Hard’ again.”

“But B, look!  It’s the first one, it’s a classic!”

“That we’ve already seen fifty thousand times. I want to watch the ‘chick flick’ you passed by like fifteen channels ago.”

Faith looked at her pleadingly:

“B, this is the ‘Die Hard’ with: ‘Yippee ki yay, motherfucker’! C’mon, no way we can pass that up for some woman gettin’ shit on, then finding true love and a cure for her kid’s epilepsy.”

“Well sorry, but watching Bruce Willis running around in his undershirt doing impossible stunts while he says the lamest quips I’ve ever …”

“Okay, let’s flip a coin.”

“’Flip a coin’?”

 Faith leaned up and grabbed a quarter out of the catch all dish on the coffee table.

“Yep, winner take all.”

“Okay. Toss it and I’ll call it.”

Faith flipped the coin and Buffy called out ‘heads’.

“Damn. Okay, two out of three.”

“Faith, I won, fair and square.”

“Yeah, the first toss, but everybody knows it’s always two outta three.”

“Fine, toss it.”

Faith did and Buffy again called out:

“Heads.”

“Fuck! B, can’t just keep sayin’ ‘heads’.”

“Why not? I won, so just hand over…”

“Look, if you’re gonna cheat, it’s gotta be three outta five!”

“How was I cheating? There’s no rule that you can’t call…”

Faith threw the coin in the air:

“Call it!”

 “Tails.”

“Jesus fucking Christ! Why ya callin’ ‘tails’ now?”

“Excuse me, you were the one screaming at me not to keep calling the same…”

“This shit’s fucked up!”

Buffy’s smile was downright wicked:

“Put the chick flick on.”

“B…’Yippee ki yay, motherfucker’. Runnin’ barefoot through glass.”

“’True love, finding the cure for epilepsy…”

“Okay, four out of seven.”

Buffy rolled her eyes as she laughed:

“Just how many chances do you think I’m going to give you?”

“Just as many as I need. C’mon, Buffy…Please?”

Buffy couldn’t stay strong when faced with the “pitiful” look, and she kissed the tip of Faith’s nose, then dipped her tongue into one of the dimples that appeared.

“Okay.”

“Yeah?!”

“Yeah. Yippee ki yay.”

Faith kissed her and turned up the volume.

“Here, baby...”

She grabbed a plush couch pillow and placed it on her lap.

“…you can lay down on me.”

Buffy never hesitated, she loved laying on Faith.

She moved around for a few seconds, then when she was comfortable and settled, Faith pulled the blanket off the back of the couch and covered her up. 

“Case ya drift off.”

“Right, Faith. It’s only 10:00, I think I can manage to stay awake for the whole movie.”

“Hey, don’t be so touchy. Just takin’ care of my girl.”

“Shhh, this is my favorite part.”

“What? When his bitch wife’s bustin’ his balls?”

Buffy refused to answer and the movie rolled along. By the time all hell broke loose ten minutes later, she was sound asleep.

Faith looked down at her, a smile on her face. The same thing happened almost every time, and as far as Faith could tell, it was just like taking candy from a baby. The second she got Buffy down and tucked in, she always played with her hair.

That was a total relaxation thing for Buffy, and that coupled with a “boring” movie always knocked the Princess out cold. Sometimes Faith let herself drift off right with her, but that wasn’t going to be taking place tonight. Nope, tonight she was wired and wide-awake.

She started flipping between the good parts of the movie and the lesbian porn channel. Buffy hated it when she watched porn, but Buffy wasn’t conscious at the moment, so Faith decided to take advantage of her absence.

It was grown-up time now. The kids were all safe and snug, and Faith was busy trying to figure out how anybody could get into that position and stay there for so long. It couldn’t be a turn-on, at least not for the one doing the handstand, although it looked pretty hot for the one taking advantage of the sitch.

She wondered if she could get Buffy to give it a shot. Maybe if she charmed her just right or got her drunk when she was really horny. Hmm…the girl was still doing her thing and how the hell could she even come in that position?
She had to be faking it, but she sure looked legit, even when you factored in she was a pro just doing her job.

Buffy stirred and Faith quickly hit the “last channel” button. Bruce Willis was taking out some of the bad guys, and Faith tried to look relaxed, like she’d been watching the movie all along instead of some woman eating out another in the funkiest position she’d ever seen.

“Mmm…Faith.”

Buffy never opened her eyes. She just nestled in closer and began snoring.

Faith grinned. Usually Buffy sawing logs was a surefire way to get her to fall asleep too, but no way was that going to be happening tonight. She popped the porn channel back on and watched two new girls going at it in a position Faith considered herself an expert at.

“Dumb bitch shouldn’t pull her legs so far apart.”

It was pathetic that she was watching a supposed pro get it all wrong. It was like nobody took pride in their work anymore, and Faith shook her head in disgust. Cripes, if she went at it like that, Buffy would probably slug her.

The snoring was louder, but Faith was still not the least bit sleepy. She looked down at the woman on her lap and wondered again how she’d gotten so lucky. How Buffy could love her like she did would always remain a mystery to Faith. She just couldn’t figure it out, but that didn’t really matter.

Because Buffy did love her, and Faith had never been more sure of anything in her life. She’d given up trying to understand how and why it had gone down like it had. When you got a miracle you didn’t keep questioning it, you just went along for the ride.

She slowly eased her hand under the blanket and rubbed along Buffy arm. She was so silky and soft, and Faith didn’t get how that was possible either. She laughed quietly under her breath, obviously she was still a dumb ass who was completely clueless about most things.

But what she did know was this: she was never leaving Buffy again. She was staying right by her side until one of them drew their last breath, and she was gonna make sure that didn’t happen for about a thousand years. She knew Buffy felt exactly the same way.

Who would have ever guessed it? Not Faith, she had always been positive it was a one-way street. It took a vampire to get her to see it for what it was:

“Hey, Faith?”

“Yeah, Soulboy?”

“You know how much I’ve liked having you here.”

“What’s with the ‘liked’? Not going anywhere.”

He smiled and sat next to her on the couch.

“Yeah, it’s time.”

“Time for what?”

“You can’t keep hiding here.”

“’Hiding’? What the hell are you…”

He reached for her hand and she let him hold it.

“I did the same thing, Faith, but I did it because I had to. You don’t.”

“No clue what you’re talking about. Did you hit your head or somethin’?”

“You need to go back and see what you can have. Maybe it’s too late, maybe you can’t even be friends, but you have to be there to find that out.”

She stood up then, trying to look calm yet only managing frightened.

“Angel, if you’re talking about B, that ship sailed a long time ago. I’m not getting sucked back into a fantasy again.”

He got up too and placed his hands on her shoulders, making her face him:

“So don’t. Be a realist this time. Look things right in the eye and deal with whatever comes up. Give her a chance, give yourself a chance and let things play out like they’re meant to.”

“Think that already happened when she shoved a knife in my crazy ass.”

She walked away and hopped up to sit on the bar that divided the living room from the kitchen. He followed her, determined to make her hear him:

“That wasn’t you, it wasn’t her either. Those were roles you forced each other to play, don’t do that this time around.”

“Yeah okay, let me go make a play for your girl, buddy.”

He laughed and his hand reached for hers again:

“She’s not mine, Faith. I don’t think she really has been since you showed up.”

“Yeah right, B’s just wild for me.”

“Maybe she is, maybe she isn’t, but you won’t ever know if you stay here.”

She jumped down and began pacing:

“C’mon Soulboy, we got us a good thing here.”

“Yes we do, it’s almost the best. But you’ve got a life to live.”

“So do you.”

“And I’m planning to live it. I’m better now, Faith, thanks to you. I know I can never repay you for…”

She snorted with laughter:

“Shut up, that’s my line.”

He laughed again:

“Boy, we are definitely two sides of the same coin.”

“What’s that mean exactly?”

“That we’re just alike.”

“Yeah, I’ve fucking noticed that.”

They were quiet for several minutes while Faith thought it over:

“Gotta give it a shot, don’t I?”

“Yeah, you do.”

“Okay, so what if it goes bad?”

“Then you just come back here, but at least you’ll know for sure.”

She looked him in the eye:

“I get nailed, I’m so gonna kick your ass when I come back.”

“I know you’ll try.”

“Oh please, I can so take you.”

“No you can’t, but if it makes you feel better…”

The moans from the television pulled her back to the present.

He’d been right of course, Buffy had been hers all along. A vamp with a soul had been the only one who’d seen it, a vamp who’d loved both Slayers with everything he had. She really did owe the guy, more than she could ever repay.

“Thanks again, Soulboy…But I could so totally kick your ass, and you fuckin’ know it.”

She leaned her head back to watch two more women going at it, not the slightest bit tired as she sat playing with Buffy’s hair.

She was really snoring now, Faith couldn’t even hear the hot girls going at it. All she could hear was the annoying, grating noise rumbling out of Buffy so loudly it was ridiculous. She cranked the TV, Buffy wouldn’t hear a freight train roaring through the room now.

Faith grinned because she was breaking one of their rules right under “Little Miss Uptight’s” nose. She’d have been so pissed if she knew, but fuck, watching was what porn channels were for. How was she hurting anyone?

Still, it was for sure not a debate she wanted to have with a pissed off Buffy, so she’d definitely switch back to the movie when she got sleepy. No point in starting trouble, plus it was way more fun to get away with something. What Buffy didn’t know couldn’t hurt Faith, not in the slightest.

Damn, Buffy was really letting it fly, and how fucked up was it that Faith found it nothing but sexy and cute?  She lost complete track of the hot chicks 69ing each other and found her attention focused on the tiny woman on her lap.

She really was beautiful, like something out of a dream. And man, she was so damn sexy and so damn cool, well Faith couldn’t have loved her more. Oh great, now Buffy was starting to drool and……

******************************************************

Buffy awoke as the sunlight began peeking in through the open living room window. She heard moaning and groaning, clearly someone was having sex just a few feet away from her. She knew it couldn’t be Faith, she felt her underneath her head right where she’d left her.

As consciousness fully returned to her and her head cleared, she opened her eyes to the sight of three women going at it on her TV screen. She tilted her head trying to figure out how it was possible to contort one’s body into that position and not only hold it, but somehow be able to manipulate your tongue…

“Faith!”

Faith barely budged:

“…Huh?”

“Why are there women having sex on the television?”

“’Cause the radio’s too small.”

Then she was sleeping again and Buffy had to laugh.

She stood and stretched, then turned off the TV. She scooped Faith up and headed to their bed, stripping off their robes and getting them both under the covers. Faith mumbled something about fucking her upside down, then fell quiet again.

Buffy snuggled up against her and listened to her heartbeat. God, Faith was so warm…and she felt just like home. Buffy was asleep in seconds.

THE END