She wrapped her arms just a little tighter around her now, gave the snuggles she had promised to entice her onto the bed. Let her mind bask in the come down from euphoria as she sought to find sleep.

“Buffy..?”

The word startled her. She’d been giving in to the pull of tiredness. Relaxing.

“Uh-huh?”

“Open your eyes, doofus… I wanna speak to ya.”

Faith lifted herself up onto her elbow, stared down at Buffy and waited for her eyes to open, waited to speak the words.

“Eyes open, wide awake… now what’s eating ya, baby..?”

And then that stopped her dead in her tracks. She had wanted to be serious, had so wanted to be touching and romantic and all the other kind of things that she imagined Buffy wanted. But how could she let that go? She couldn’t.

“What’s eating me, B..? I was kinda hoping for you…”

She let the suggestion register on her eyebrows, lifting them, let her mouth fall into a smirk, a sexy smile. Buffy rolled her eyes.

“You woke me up for ‘that’?”

“You weren’t sleeping… and so what if I did…”

She used her free hand to trace lazy circles across Buffy’s flesh, dipping lower every time, blazing a trail.

“…you complaining?”

She claimed her mouth in a hot kiss, a wet kiss.

“You had your fill of me..?”

“Never.”

Buffy didn’t need time to consider that question, she knew the answer now. She’d never have her fill of Faith. Never.

“Can I go back to sleep now?”

Faith’s look was unimpressed, she was back with the words she needed to say.

“Sorry…”

“Don’t worry about it, B… just be quiet for two secs, yeah?”

“Ooooo sounds serious…”

“Buffy.”

“Sorry. Quiet.”

She mimed the locking of lips and throwing of key.

“I tell ya, you really know how to mess with a girls moment…”

She looked into Buffy’s eyes, realised the moment was still there, would always be there.

“…I wanted to say B… I guess I wanted to say I love you. I always loved you. From the first minute… god, every minute…”

Her mind remembered all the minutes, each and every one of them.

“…I love you.”

Buffy just stared into the eyes staring back at her. Felt it all click into place. She just finally got everything. All of it. She just got it. Her smile was huge, genuine. Her heart felt bigger.

“I love you too Faith. I do. I love you.”

They kissed, they laughed, they kissed some more. Whispered things to each other they had always wanted to say. Once the first words were spoken all the rest seemed to rush to follow, wanting to be heard, to finally be voiced.

It freed them. The burden of not knowing, always wondering, lifted from their shoulders. Freed them to just ‘be’. To be together.

Buffy was in a perfect place. Still almost fast asleep, maybe just the beginning of morning making her open her eyes. Not a lot. Just a little, just enough to realise where she was. Whose arms she lay in, whose bed she slept in. Faith. Made her smile.

It felt so good, so safe, so warm. Everything she’d ever wanted really, but had never known she would find here. She never wanted to leave here. Would be happy to forsake everything else if it just meant she could stay here. Maybe forever.

She lost herself in the daydream, sleep still close enough to make her truly give over to it. Imagining her and Faith together. Living together, training together, working together. A whole lot of togethers. And she hadn’t even got to the sleeping together yet.

She could still feel the parts on her body where Faith had touched her, it felt like they were glowing, alight… made to feel like never before. It sounded so clichéd… but so true. No-one HAD ever touched her like Faith, had never fucked her in such a beautiful way, made it all feel so special.

She was glad they had finally done stuff. And the going down..? Willow hadn’t told her the half of it!

The sound of the alarm on her phone drew her mind back from it’s wanderings, brought her back to reality, but it felt too early to wake up… felt too comfy to even think about moving. She half heartedly grabbed at her phone, pressed the silent button and tossed it across the room, not hard… not hard enough to break, she’d learnt THAT lesson… but hard enough so as to make the phone far enough away not to bother her.

And then she remembered. And then she awoke.

“Shit!”

She ripped herself out of Faith’s embrace, and sat herself up. Had forgotten. Completely forgotten.

“The plane… what time is it..? Shit shit shit shit shit!”

Faith was confused. Not only was she just sleeping, lost in a pretty nice dream about a certain hot slayer. But she had no idea what the fuck was going on. Buffy was here. That was good. Buffy was awake… not so good. Buffy had a mouth like a sewer… she’d always suspected as much. Buffy was talking about a plane. A plane.

Then it dawned on her. It was tomorrow, tomorrow was today. And it felt like bullshit.

The weight of realisation hit her like a ton of bricks, took all of her happy thoughts and crushed them under the harshness of reality. Buffy was going. Home. To England. Today. And more then anything that made her wanna… cry? She felt like she hadn’t stopped crying lately, like every day gave her fresh reason for tears, more hurt, more crap. It was exhausting, and it was wearing her down. It seemed that wanting happiness was just too much.

She watched as Buffy pulled herself from the bed, started making a mad dash around the room looking for underwear, for clothes, for a hairbrush. She wanted to scream at her, to beg her to stop, to not leave, never leave. But she couldn’t. So she just watched her.

Watched as her flesh was slowly covered, tried to memorise every last part, like a strip tease in reverse. Only this wasn’t teasing, it was real. She watched as she brushed her hair, trying to untangle the knots that had been part of the franticness of the night before, caught her eye in the mirror, caught her smile, her mouthed ‘I love you’. And again she wanted to cry.

But she wouldn’t cry. Not anymore. Not today. Not in front of Buffy.

She would be strong. Buffy knew how she felt now, felt the same. She didn’t doubt that, had felt it… not just last night, but since the moment she had been back. Before the crap, during the crap, after the crap. Buffy loved her. And she believed in that.

Believed that this time, fate wouldn’t fuck them, they would fuck fate. She wasn’t quite sure how yet, or where, but they would do it. They WOULD be together.

Finally Buffy was stood at the end of the bed, fully clothed, hair pulled back in a pony tail. She was looking at Faith expectantly, waiting for an answer to a question not heard.

“Well..? Have you completely zoned out..?”

“Huh?”

“I said… ‘how do I look?’”

She gave a little twirl. She was wearing the same clothes as yesterday, maybe a bit rumpled from being on the floor all night. But that was besides the point. What Faith was wondering was why the fuck was Buffy worried about what she looked like anyway, when all SHE could think about was how her heart was going to be torn from her body at some soon to be met point.

It seemed kinda inconsequential to her. Like who really gave a fuck? Her answer came out harsh, betrayed a little hurt.

“How do you look..? Fucking gorgeous, ok?”

Buffy’s brow furrowed at the response, hadn’t expected anything quite that harsh, didn’t get what the attitude was for. Suddenly had a clue.

“Oh god… are you ok, Faith?”

She stared at her intently, perhaps trying to see her soul.

“… I KNOW this… I slept with you and now you’re gonna go evil, right?”

She couldn’t help but laugh. Faith looked like she was gonna burst on the bed. Like she was so pissed at something and trying to keep it in. Buffy didn’t know why… didn’t have a great deal of time to work it out… but she wasn’t gonna pay it mind. If Faith had attitude, Faith would have to get over it. She had places to go… and she didn’t think Dawn would be too impressed if she was late. The thing that stopped her were the tears. She had been joking, didn’t really think Faith was evil… had no clue what the tears were for. Why.

She softened her voice, rid it of the joking tone.

“Hey what is it..? I was joking… I didn’t think you’d take it so serious.”

“I’m sorry, B… really… it’s just…”

Faith gave it up. She had sworn she wouldn’t cry, wouldn’t pressure Buffy. Wouldn’t do this, wouldn’t do that. But she couldn’t help it.

“…I know you have to go. I get that… I do, really… and I know I’ll see you soon… it’s just, ah… fuck it. I love you Buffy. I’m gonna miss you.”

She looked so sad. So dejected. Even Scoobs had heard her sobs and made his way to the bed, happy to regain his bed buddy spot. It was pulling at all of Buffy’s heart strings. She’d never had such sweet words that meant so much said to her, but it didn’t stop her feeling a little confused. A little bit perplexed.

“Stop me if I’m crazy Faith… but what the hell are you talking about..? I mean, I get it… I love you too…”

She observed Scoobs exuberantly licking Faith’s face.

“…although maybe not as much as Scoobs… and is that hygienic? Cos I don’t wanna catch anything…”

The glare that Faith shot her seemed only to be matched by something similar from Scoobs. Double glaring. By one woman and her dog. Buffy smiled, the glare didn’t take the edge off of her amusement.

“…sorry… joke..? But really, Faith… I won’t be long, a couple of hours maybe.”

“A couple of hours..?”

Now it was Faith’s turn to find confused.

“…how… what?”

“You CAN come too if you want to, in fact I’d like you to. It’ll be nice.”

She could come too? She had past confused. Had left confused about two blocks ago. Was now just totally utterly lost.

“To England..?”

“Huh..?”

Buffy ran the conversation back through her head. Ran a lot of things back through her head. Ran a certain something that she had completely forgotten to mention to Faith through her head. And she cracked up. Realised exactly what was going on, exactly what the confusion was… and she couldn’t help but laugh. A release of everything.

“To the airport you dork!… to say ‘Tally Ho’ to Giles, to Dawn.”

“You’re not going..?”

Disbelief tainted Faith’s tone, she had thought Buffy was leaving. Just like that.

“NO!”

Buffy allowed a very sexy, very searching gaze to travel over the still in bed, still naked Faith.

“As if I could!”

The dog was again pushed aside, again drooped his eyes, again was ignored. Faith couldn’t help it. Buffy was staying..? Did she get body snatched in the night and replaced by someone whose dreams DID come true..? She threw off the covers to crawl down the bed and meet up with Buffy. Allowed her to slide her tongue deep inside her mouth, take her in a kiss which was bursting with carnal desire. Sighed as it came to an end.

“So tell me… you got a place to stay B?”

“A nice place across the beach…”

“You sure you don’t wanna stay with me…”

She eyed her predatorily, ran her tongue out across her own bottom lip, caught it between her teeth, let Buffy know with the intensity of a look exactly why she wanted her to stay there.

“…maybe get to know each other a little better… someone to ‘snuggle’ with at night..?”

“I uh…”

She leant forwards and grabbed the front of Buffy’s shirt, pulled her in close, kept her there trapped.

“I think the answer your looking for is ‘yes’.”

The phone which was still laying on the floor began to ring loudly, flashing Dawn’s name across the front. Faith let go of the shirt, let Buffy go to the phone. Watched her as she spoke to Dawn and confirmed plans to drive them to the airport… raised her eyebrows at the thought of Buffy driving. Rose from the bed and started to get dressed.

By the time the call was ended Faith had slung on some old jeans and a tee and had her car keys in hand.

“You decided to come see them off then, yeah?”

“Course B, although I don’t think we’re gonna all fit in the Cobra.”

“Cobra..?”

“My car… the one you smashed?”

“Oh. Right… you still going on about that then..?”

She offered a cheeky smile.

“…and don’t worry, I’ll drive the jeep, that was the plan.”

“That’s the part that worried me… I only just got you back, ya know…”

“Not funny.”

“Not joking!”

She held out her hand, waited for Buffy to relent and give over the keys to the jeep. It didn’t take much. A look. A promise.

They left in a hurry, not wanting to be late. Wanting to be home.

It was closing in on sunset, the day coming to an end. A day of farewells, but also a happy day. Their first day. They were laying out on the porch, snuggled together under a blanket, Scoobs resting down by their sides. It was a happy scene, one they didn’t want to leave, one they wouldn’t have to leave. The silence that surrounded them wasn’t awkward, it was peaceful, gave them the time to enjoy the moment, to let their thoughts just rest with where they were, who they were with. It was Buffy who eventually broke the silence, missing the sound of Faith’s voice.

“It was nice of you to say Wills could stay at the house.”

“Well you won’t be needing it B, no point in the place staying empty… and it’ll be cool with Red, me and her have had some times, found some fun. I need some fun.”

She released a bitter sweet laugh. She wasn’t lying, finding the fun again was high on her list of priorities… only this time she had Buffy to find it with her. A whole new type of fun.

“I don’t know if she’s ready to find the fun, Faith. I’m sure when she is, you’ll be her first port of call… but for now? I think she might just need some time, friendship.”

“I can do that too, I’ll be her ‘fun’ friend. You can do the ‘angst’, and I’ll do the fun. We’ll be a winning combo B… get her smiling again in no time.”

Buffy didn’t answer, didn’t know the answer. She hated to see Willow in pain again, see her losing someone she loved again. She vowed she would be there for her. Do her best to help her through.

Faith pulled Buffy closer in towards her, wrapped her arms just a little tighter around her, felt the rub of naked flesh, felt her answering hum. Spoke the thought that was most on her mind.

“Ya know, I was kinda surprised… I mean, I’m STILL kind of surprised…”

Buffy turned herself in Faith’s embrace, looked up into eyes, wanted to know what the surprise was.

“…I really thought you were going, thought I was gonna have to go be an English lady to claim your hand, take ya for tea at the Ritz… or whatever it is they do over there. Maybe a scone or two…”

She thought to herself for a moment.

“…and what the fuck IS a scone..?”

“Not a clue.”

“Right. Well I guess the scones out then.”

Buffy waited for her to continue, seemed like she was still pondering on the scone.

“Is that it… is the ‘no scones’ the surprise?”

“Huh..? Oh, no , not the scones. You.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. I thought you were going. Thought you would’ve gone. With Dawn, with Giles, gone home.”

Buffy allowed her gaze to leave Faith’s eyes, to glance at all the colours in the sky, painting the clouds, a welcome for the moon. It was all so pretty, all so right. She had thought about leaving, about recuperating in England, with Dawn and Giles. Letting the fresh country air replenish her strength. But then she had thought about all that she would miss, everything she had found, everything she had remembered.

She felt the pull and turned her eyes back to Faith, drew the blanket a little tighter around them, cocooning them together, enclosing them.

“I am home Faith. You’re my home.”

Faith answered with a smile, a mirrored truth, a shared feeling.

“And besides… if Wes is wanting you to head up W&H with him..? I’m thinking maybe you might need to get yourself a little secretary…”

Faith arched her eyebrows, interest raised by Buffy’s suggestion.

“You wanna be my secretary B?”

“I wanna be your personal secretary.”

“Oh ya do, do ya..?”

She loosened her grip, allowed Buffy to fully turn, face to face, body to body.

“…and just how personal do ya plan to be?”

Buffy could feel the hunger rising up in her, could feel every point of contact, skin touching skin. Pulse racing, heart thumping. Her words were weighted with desire.

“Very. Fucking. Personal.”

She closed the gap, brought mouth to mouth, lips to lips. Slow at first, every time a brand new hello, but then as night came upon them and their senses awakened, so did their lust. It rose up, took over them, kept them enslaved as they made love on the porch, the moon rising above them, and a dog sleeping beside them.

It seemed the sun had set quickly that evening. Not needing to hold on, not worrying about the safety of tomorrow. It was night time now. The moon’s time.

A slayers time.