Chapter Nineteen

“If Sunnydale is so damn small then how come we can’t find those damn vamps?” Faith asks and she sounds very irritated. We’ve been patrolling for three hours and we haven’t found anything. It’s like the vampires are invisible or something. It’s not like we haven’t been following the plan. We’ve patrolled every night together for the last week, and for about an hour longer then we normally do and still nothing.

“I don’t know. But we need to find them soon because I really need to kill something.” I’m very frustrated for two reasons. One, four days ago another little girl was taken and she still hasn’t been found. All of these missing girls are drawing a lot of attention from the cops, the press, and pissed off residents of Sunnydale and it’s making patrolling that much harder. Two, yesterday morning I walked into the bathroom thinking no one was in it, but I was so wrong. Faith was naked from the waist down, and Tanner was going down on her.

She had her eyes closed and they didn’t hear me walk in so they didn’t stop. She had this look on her face and I know I’ll never forget it. She looked like she was in pain. It’s like she needs release so bad but he can’t give it to her. I shut the door and ran downstairs. I didn’t look either of them in the eyes all day. It was just too weird, and I never want to see anything like that again. I’m completely traumatized, and it’s their fault. The door has a lock they just didn’t use it.

“I know what you mean,” she says and sits down on a tombstone. “If I don’t get at least one good lay anytime soon I might explode.” That’s not really what I meant. Ok, so it is, but I’ll never admit it out loud. Even though we’ve been getting along a lot better we haven’t talked about anything personal. I’ve been following her lead on the conversations ‘cause I don’t want to hit a nerve and scare her away. If she wants to get personal now I’m not going to stop her.

“Really? But you and Tanner have been…” I need to word it just right or she might get offended or something. “Pretty…active in that department.” She gives me a weird look and I sigh. “Slayer hearing, remember? You two keep me up at night no matter how quiet you try to be.” She gets a little smile on her face, but it’s so not funny. I could have gone my entire life without knowing that Tanner says ‘shazam’ every time he comes.

“He tries but it just isn’t enough for me anymore. I haven’t had a good lay since….” She trails off and her eyes start roaming all over my body. I can tell just by looking at her that she’s turned on, and my body is reacting to her gaze, and the heavy smell of her arousal. So I was right? She hasn’t been satisfied since our night together. Well, that’s good for the ego.

I feel my face heat up as my entire body starts to tingle at the sensation of her eyes on me. I take in a sharp breath and her eyes jump up from my legs to my breasts. My nipples harden against my will and there’s a dampness between my legs. Faith has me wet and wanting her with just a look. She better get some release soon or we’re both going to either go completely insane or do something stupid that will make her hate me and never talk to me again.

“Maybe we should call it a night.” Was that my voice? When did my voice get all throaty and kinda deep? Faith stiffens and takes in a deep breath. She either doesn’t want to go home or she likes my voice when it’s like this. “We’re not finding anything and I have to finish my history paper.” She stands up from the tombstone and gets really close to me. I don’t know if it was on purpose, or if I was standing that close while she was sitting, but we’re almost touching.

“Buffy,” she whispers and the sound of it sends a shiver down my spine. I can feel my blood rushing through my veins, and my heart pumping so fast that I can hear it. Every fiber of my being is telling me to take her. To lay her down on the ground and fuck her until she’s screaming my name. I want to, you have no idea how much I want to, and I know she does too, I can smell her. So you can safely bet that my i.d. is screaming out in anger when I back away.

“Let’s just go home, Faith. I don’t want to do anything we’ll regret later.” I watch in silence as she forces herself to calm down. When she nods we start walking towards the house. She’s walking like she’s in pain, and every once in a while she’ll hiss out a breath. I bet her clit is so…. Ok, Buffy if you’re going to stay sane then you have to stop thinking about Faith’s naughty parts. I wonder what her naughty parts look like? I’ve never seen another girl up close and personal before.

“I’m sorry.” Wait, what? Why is she saying sorry? I don’t remember her doing anything wrong. But I don’t want to look stupid so I’ll just wait until I know what she’s talking about. “I’m the one who keeps saying no, but I’m not making it any easier. First I kissed you, and back there I was gettin ready to jump ya. I know you’re doin your best, and I’m sorry.” Wow. I never thought I’d hear her say sorry. Faith never says sorry for anything.

“It’s alright. I just want us to be friends.” I don’t know if I should bring this up or not but I think I should. I don’t want to feel like an ass. “And I’m sorry too, about what happened at the Bronze.” I can practically hear her muscles tense up, and she sucks in a deep breath. “I never should’ve forced you to go. I knew you were uncomfortable with the whole thing, and I’m sorry.” I hold my breath as I wait for the freak out.

“Ok, we’ve got to do something bad now.” What the fuck kind of response is that? “I’m not tryin to be insensitive.” Oh really, now why would I think that? “But I feel like I’m caught in an after school special.” I watch as she picks up a rock and throws it as hard as she can. It hits the car across the street, goes through the driver’s window, the passenger window, and it lodges itself in the house the car is parked next to. The alarm goes off and a light in the dark house turns on.

“Run!” Faith yells. We take off down the street and she has a huge smile on her face. I can’t believe she did that! Just because she felt a little stupid it doesn’t mean she can go around throwing rocks. On the upside no one got hurt, and watching her boobs bounce while we run is pretty cool. But that person is going to have to buy new windows and those aren’t cheap. We stop when we get to my house and we’re panting at the end of the walkway.

“Some fun, aye Pidge?” she says and winks. The smile is still plastered on her face and her dimples are out on display. Wait a second, when I reference Lady and the Tramp it’s immature, but when she does it it’s ok? That is totally not fair. I could get a little mad and argue my case or I could throw her of by saying something unexpected.

“Nah. If you wanted to do something fun you would’ve thrown it at the living room window.” I smile when she gets a shocked look on her face. I’ve never seen Faith look like that. It’s pretty nice.

“Well, well, well. It looks like you’re not such a goodie two-shoes after all.” I laugh a little as she stands up straight and shakes out her hair. My eyes wander down to her cleavage totally against my will. I remember what it was like when I touched them. They were soft, and felt so right in my hands.

“I’m really, really not.” I give her a little look, almost like I’m challenging her. It can’t hurt to flirt a little, right? I know my plan to win Faith’s hand has been put on the back burner because of the vampires taking all of those girls, but a few subtle hints never hurt anybody. “Then again, you already know that.” I give her a little wink and she looks shocked and turned on at the same time.

“We better get inside,” she says and it almost sounds like she’s talking about going to bed with me. I really wish that were true. I really want her to take me by the hand and lead me upstairs to my bedroom. Then she’ll undress me, her hands will softly roam over my body as she gently leads me over to the bed. She’ll pull back the covers, and I’d lay down and wait patiently. I’d watch her undress and I know I’d get even more turned on just watching her.

Then she’d crawl on top of me, and make sure not to hurt me. We’d kiss, soft at first, but then it would build. Her hands would touch me in my most intimate places. She’s tease me, and kiss me, and make sure I’m good and ready before entering me with her fingers. We’d rock against each other building up a rhythm together and just when I think I can’t stand it anymore she’ll-

“You wanna stand out here all night or what?” Fuck! That scared me. I must’ve zoned out. I look over at Faith and she has a teasing smile on her face. “I think you better hit the showers, B.” What? “Whatever you were thinkin about must be hot ‘cause you are all kinds of worked up.” Let’s see, my face is flushed, my palms are sweaty, I’m very wet, my heart is beating very fast, and my clit is throbbing. Yep, I’m all kinds of worked up.

I ignore Faith’s comment and we make our way towards the house. Instantly we both know something is…off. Sam is crying really loud but it isn’t like any of her other cries. It’s not her tired cry, or her ‘I’m so hungry I think I’m gonna die’ cry, or her ‘will someone please just listen to me?’ cry. Faith tenses up and starts walking faster. She looks worried, to say the least, but there was something else in her eyes. Something that I can’t put my finger on.

She practically throws the door open and I’m only two steps behind her. The crying is coming from upstairs, and that’s where Faith heads. I stay down here though. Something just isn’t right. I don’t want to sound like a hippy but I’m getting some pretty bad vibes right now. There’s just all this negative stuff in the air, and I don’t like it at all. I go into the kitchen and the first thing I see is the empty paper bag. The next thing that grabs my attention is the trashcan. It has about seven empty beer bottles in it. I jump a little when I hear a door slam and I look up at the ceiling.

I can hear Tanner’s voice, but I can’t make out what he’s saying. He doesn’t sound too happy and I think it’s safe to say he’s the one who drank all of those beers. So it’s probably safe to say he’s drunk. I’m not liking this one bit. I have no idea what to do. This has never happened, and I’m pretty sure I would normally have my mom lead, but she’s not here. She’s in San Francisco at a conference thing for the gallery. Ok, Buffy, what would Mom do if she were here right now?

I think my mom would try to calm Sam down while the other two fight. She’d give the space, and stay calm. Ok, so that’s what I need to do. I can stay calm and keep quiet. Tanner’s a nice guy, how bad can he be when he drinks? I make my way up the stairs. Sam’s crying is really loud, but their voices are still muffled so I guess she’s in a different room.

“I’m not drunk you stupid bitch!” Oh yeah, he’s a real charmer. I totally get what Faith sees in him. “If I were drunk I’d do somethin like this!” I hear something shatter against the wall. I ignore the impulse to go into the bedroom and see what it was. I go into Sam’s room, and she’s still screaming bloody murder. I’ve never heard her scream and cry this hard before. I turn on the light and I can’t help the gasp that gets sucked into my lungs.

She looks up at me, her eyes are a dark color because of the crying. So if her face, and neck and judging by how hoarse her voice is I’d say she’s been crying like this for a while. Ok so here’s the reason why I gasped, and most likely the reason why she’s crying: she has bruises, big dark bruises, on her chest and stomach and her right side. Her left wrist is a little red and swollen.

She’s coughing now she’s crying so hard. Ok, I need to do something because she’s ere having trouble breathing. I walk over to her kinda slow ‘cause I don’t wanna scare her. As soon as I’m next to her bed she lifts her arms up and starts reaching for me. I carefully pick her up and prop her on my hip. If she weren’t, obviously, beaten I’d be totally grossed by all of the snot coming out of her nose. I need to stay focused here. I need to calm her down.

“And where the fuck were you all night, huh?” I really wish he’d stop yelling so loud. The neighbors might call the cops and if Tanner’s arrested then I can’t kill him. “Were you out on your back getting fucked?! Is’at why you never come, you’re out doin it for someone else?!” Something slams against the door and Sam starts crying harder. Faith is saying something back, but she isn’t yelling and with Sam crying right in my ear I cant hear what she’s saying.

“Don’t you fuckin lie to me you little whore!” Hey, Faith is so not a whore. I should go in there and kick his ass. I would but I have a crying baby in my arms. I walk out of the room and head towards the stairs. I don’t know where I’m gonna go. Maybe the backyard to get Sam away from all of the yelling. But as soon as I step into the hallway I hear: “Would someone shut that fuckin kid up?!” The bedroom door flies open and Tanner is standing there looking really pissed off and also surprised. Why? I don’t know, but he does.

“Get your fuckin hands off my kid!” He starts walking towards me and this is the first time since I’ve become a slayer that I’ve been afraid of a human being. He looks so angry, like he wants to murder me, and I don’t know what to do. I know I need to move but my legs aren’t listening to my brain even though they’re screaming at them to run. When he’s about two steps away Faith comes flying out of the room and stands in between us.

“Babe, come on. Buffy’s just trying to calm her down so she’ll stop crying. Let’s just go back in the bedroom, ok?” What the fuck is wrong with her? Why isn’t she throwing his ass outside? I’ve never seen her take shit from anybody. In the blink of an eye he slaps her hard across the face.

“Get the fuck outta my way, Faith!” he yells but she doesn’t move. She tries to get him to go into the bedroom, but he’s drunk and stubborn. “You little fuckin bitch, you tryin to take my kid from me?” I take it he’s talking to me now. Before I can answer he keeps talking. “Get your own family, you little slut. This one’s mine and you’re not takin it from me.” What the fuck is he talking about?

“Buffy, just take Sam out of here. Just go!” Faith screams and Tanner his her again. My legs decide to work and I run. I run down the stairs and into the foyer. I grab one of my jackets off the hook and wrap it around Sam. She’s only wearing her My Little Pony underwear and it’s kind of cold outside. Plus I don’t want anyone to se her like this. I can hear Tanner screaming at Faith as I make my way down the walkway. I’m not running because if I fall Sam will get hurt worst. So for now I’m going to just walk really fast.

Where am I going to go? What the fuck am I supposed to do? I need to think of something and fast. If any vampires or demons near by hear her they’ll think her cries are a dinner bell or something. Before I really know where I’m going my legs start pumping as I take off down the street. Everything is starting to fade away as I focus on getting there. Sam’s crying becomes a little buzz in the background as I run faster then I’ve ever ran before.

I get tunnel vision as I see the building, and I slow down before I reach the stairs. I don’t care that it’s really late, I don’t care if Faith gets pissed off at me, and I don’t are what anyone else says. I’m not going to hide this for Faith. I’m not going to let her justify it in her mind and let her think it’s ok. I’ll kill Tanner the next time I see him but right now I have to make sure that Sam is ok. I need to do it because it seems like everyone else has let her down.

Faith didn’t act surprised at all to see Tanner like that, so I can safely guess that it’s happened before. She didn’t do her job as a mother. She didn’t protect her baby, and look what happened. We leave for a couple of hours and when we get back Tanner is drunk out of his mind and Sam is covered in bruises. That is just completely fucked up and no little kid should have to live like that. I repeat that over and over in my head as the door opens because now that I’m really going to reveal this big secret I feel like running away.

Chapter Twenty

This silence is starting to kill me. I mean that seriously, I’m not just being dramatic. I feel like I can’t breathe as I look at Giles. His face is a mix of so many different emotions that I can’t even begin to name them. Well, I can name a couple. Anger is a big one. Shock is another. Disappointment and sadness are tied at number three.

When he first saw Samantha he thought I rescued her from a vampire. As soon as she passed out from all of the crying and stress I told him everything. Ok so not everything. I didn’t tell him about Faith and I sleeping together but I told him about Tanner, and how they’ve been living at my house. I told him what happened we got home from patrolling only I left out most of the things that Tanner said.

I finished talking about forty minutes ago, and I finished crying about ten minutes ago. I can’t believe I just left Faith there. I know it normally takes a lot more then a human to kill a slayer but she wasn’t defending herself. He was hitting her, screaming at her, calling her awful names, and she just let him. She could be dead right now. She could be dead and it’s my fault for just taking off like that. I should’ve put Sam in my room and then I should’ve put Tanner in a grave.

“First things first,” I jump a little at the sound of his voice. It was just over a whisper but it startled me. “We need to take the girl to the hospital to be examined. I think she has a broken wrist.” Oh my God. I’m going to kill Tanner the next time I see him. Wait, we can’t go to the hospital. Going to the hospital would be bad.

“They’ll call the police and she’ll get taken away. We can’t do that. Faith told me Tanner’s parents are rich, and if he goes to jail then they’ll fight for custody and they’ll win because she can’t afford to hire a good lawyer. And if she asks her parents for help then they’ll fight for custody and if they get it they’ll put Sam up for adoption.” He takes off his glasses and pinches the bridge of his nose. He only does that when he’s really irritated.

Before either of us can say anything there’s a loud pounding on the door. Oh God, Tanner killed Faith and now he’s trying to take Sam away! I jump off the couch and stand at the foot of the stairs. If he wants her he has to go through me. I watch silently as Giles stands up and walks towards the door. He puts his hand on the knob but he doesn’t open it yet. He looks back at me, and I take in a deep breath. When I nod my head he opens the door but before he can say anything he’s pushed aside.

“Where is she? Is she alright? Where is she?” Faith says in one breath as she rushes into the room. She starts looking around and I try not to freak out. Faith looks so scared, and completely freaked out. She has bruises on her face and arms, and her lip is cut. It’s already starting to heal but that’s not the point.

“Is Tanner gone?” I look into her big brown eyes and she looks a little confused, like me bringing up Tanner is an insane thing to do. “Because if he’s at my house when we go home I’m going to kill him.” She looks a little scared but I’m so pissed off I can’t force myself to care. Before she can say anything Giles clears his throat.

“Buffy, perhaps Faith should see…her daughter before we start asking questions.” My jaw almost hits the floor, and a cold shiver runs down my back. What the fuck is wrong with Giles? He’s really going to let Faith see Sam after she failed to do her job? A job that’s more important then slaying or anything else in the world. “She’s asleep in my bed. Up the stairs, first door on the right.” She pushes passed me and runs up the stairs. I hope Sam inherited some of Faith’s healing powers because if her wrist is broken she’s going to be in a lot of pain.

“Don’t start,” he says before I can say a word. Wow, he really does know me. “Keeping Faith away from her daughter will only make matters worst. They’ve been through a lot tonight. Let’s not add to the stress.” I’d say they’ve been through more then a lot. I could kill Tanner, but I can’t leave. Faith is always saying how evil the Watcher’s Council is, and now that Giles knows about Sam there’s every chance she’ll run.

“Ok. I don’t think she should be left alone with Sam.” Before he can say anything I’m walking up the stairs. I told Giles about Faith’s fear of the Council, and he confirmed that the Council doesn’t want slayers to have children. He didn’t tell me exactly what they’ll do to Sam, but I could just tell by the look on his face that it’s not good.

I stop when I get to Giles’ bedroom. The door is open and the hall light is spilling inside so I can see Faith is sitting on the bed next to Sam. She isn’t touching her, she’s just looking at her. The way she’s looking at her…I can’t really describe it. It reminds me of this show I watched on National Geographic. A lion killed some baby cheetahs and when the mom found them lying there dead she kept trying to wake them. It’s like she didn’t want to accept reality. That’s what Faith looks like. She doesn’t want to accept what happened but she has to.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers so softly that I barely hear it. “I’m so, so sorry.” Her voice s really shaky and I think she’s going to cry. I can’t help but feel angry. There’s no way she didn’t know about this. There’s no way Tanner hasn’t done something like this before. She didn’t look surprised to see Tanner like that. She looked…scared, but she looked far from surprised. She leans down and leaves a very gentle kiss on Sam’s forehead. Then she stands up and walks into the hallway and closes the door behind her.

She’s standing right in front of me, close enough to reach out and touch, but she’s not looking at me. She’s looking down at her hands. They didn’t have any bruises on them. They’re probably the only part of her that doesn’t have a bruise. She looks so…broken is a good word for it, but that’s no quite it.

“What the hell were you thinking?” I don’t sound as mad as I feel, mostly because I’m forcing my voice to stay low so I won’t wake Sam up. She finally looks into my eyes and now she looks surprised. “He’s done this before, hasn’t he? Had just a little too much to drink, and everyone around him becomes a punching bag.” She tries to talk but I don’t let her. “He’s been living with us for weeks, and you didn’t say anything. What if my mother had been home? You really think he would’ve help back because she’s been nothing but nice?”

She takes in a big shaky breath and she’s trying not to cry. A part of me wants to take her in my arms and protect her, but a much bigger part wants to hell at her. I hate conflicting emotions. I wish I could feel one thing at a time. Things would be so much simpler. I wait very patiently for her to speak because I want to hear what she has to say for herself.

“He promised he was gonna change. He said once we moved n with you guys he’d stop drinking.” They all say that! God, hasn’t she ever watched the Lifetime channel? “He never laid a hand on her before. He always just took it out on me. But we were out late, later then normal.” Oh God, here comes the excuses. “I never thought he’d hit her.” She’s crying now and she’s trying to talk but she can’t. I can just tell by the look in her eyes that she’s telling the truth. She really did think he’d never hit their daughter, and I can’t be mad at her anymore.

“It’s ok, Faith,” I say and gently caress her bruised face. “It’s alright because I’m here now.” I slowly pull her into my arms, and hold her gently but firmly. She probably has bruises all over and I don’t want to hurt her. “He’s never going to touch you guys again. I won’t let him.” I carefully pick her up and carry her into Giles’ spare bedroom. This is where he keeps most of his books, and there is no bed, just a really uncomfortable couch, but Faith’s crying is getting pretty loud and I don’t want Sam to wake up.

“I promise. I promise he’s never going to hurt you again.” I sit down on the couch, and she’s sitting across my lap. Her arms are wrapped around my neck and she’s crying so hard. But I know she can hear me even though I’m talking softly. “I love you. I know you don’t want to hear it, but I do. And I’m not going to let this happen. I love you, Faith, and I’m going to take care of you. Just let me take care of you.”

She starts crying even harder, and I kind of want to question her on it. I want to ask her if she’s crying harder because she doesn’t want to hear that, or because she’s glad I’m going to help her. But as much as I want to ask I don’t. I just let her cry. I hear the door creak open and I look up. Giles is standing there with a worried expression on his face. I get it completely. I’m worried too. I’m worried that I won’t be able to protect her. If a judge decides Sam is better off Tanner I won’t be able to stop it.

I don’t want to think about that right now. I need to focus all of my attention on Faith because if I don’t I might run my hand through a wall or something. I gently rub the back of her head as she sobs so hard she can barely breathe. I kill her temple every few seconds and she’s starting to calm down. I have no idea how long we’ve been like this but I have a feeling that it’s late, like really, really late. I just need to close my eyes for a second. Just for a few minutes then I’ll get up and deal with everything.

Ok, this is weird. I’m in a bed, but I can tell it’s not my bed. And there’s something warm pressed against me. I open my eyes very slowly and wait for them to adjust to the light. Why is there light? I only closed my eyes for like, two minutes. I glance around the room and I can just tell I’m in Giles’ bedroom. But how did I get here? I look over to the other side of the bed, and what I see makes me smile.

Sam is the warm thing pressed against me. Her little butt is pressed into my side, and she’s facing away from me. Her other half is snuggled up to Faith. She has her little arms wrapped around her, and they look peaceful. I frown though when I see Faith. She has bruises all over her face. Most of them have already faded to almost nothin, but a couple are still a little dark. Her arms are even worst though, and her hands have cuts on them.

I very slowly sneak out of the bed. I don’t want to wake them up or anything. But they stay asleep, which I’m grateful for. If Faith knew what I’m going to do then I don’t think she’d let me leave peacefully, and she’d probably take off. Once I’m out of the room I go into the bathroom and look in the mirror. Things aren’t too bad, which his good. The goal this morning is to look intimidating not clinically insane.

I think it’s pretty safe to say that Giles is the one who put us in his bed. I am pretty grateful because sleeping on the couch like that would’ve been really uncomfortable. Anyway, he didn’t take my shoes off, which I’m glad because I can just leave without having to wait. That’s exactly what I do. I go down the stairs and I’m out the door before Giles can say a word. As soon as the door is shut behind me I start running as fast as I can.

I run up the stairs, and down the sidewalk. Passed al of the houses, and the driving cars. Passed all of the kids on bikes and skateboards, and rollerblades. I barely look at the as I run by, and al I can really focus on in the anger building up in my body. As much as I want to I can’t kill Tanner. He’s a human, and even though he’s a worthless one who doesn’t deserve to live it’s not my call to make. So I can’t kill him, but there are a lot of ways to hurt someone without killing them.

I slow down to a fast paced walk when I get to my house. His truck is still here, but that’s no guarantee that he’s inside. Still I have to find out. When I open the door the smell is the first thing that hits me. Not literally, but you get the idea. It smells like vomit, and alcohol, and piss. Oh yeah, it’s going to be fun cleaning that up. I ignore it the best I can and go upstairs. That’s probably where he is since that’s where Faith’s bedroom is. Notice how I said ‘Faith’s bedroom’? Yeah, he’s as good as gone in my mind.

When I see him laying on the bed in nothing but his boxers my stomach tightens. Just looking at him is painful because I want to run over there and rip his throat out. But I don’t do that. Instead I run over to the bed and grab onto the sheets. I pull as hard as I can and he goes flying off the bed. He crashes to the floor, and when he hits he lets out a loud yell. I walk over to the other side of the bed, and kick him in the ribs.

“What the…fuck, bitch?” he breathes out as he grabs his ribs. I don’t say anything though. I reach down, and grab a fist full of his stupid sandy blonde hair. I pull up and he yells out in pain. Even though he’s on his feet I don’t let go of his hair. “Let me go you fucking bitch.” Ok, I’ll let you go. I let go and punch him in the face. He stumbles back, and slams into the wall. His mouth is bleeding and he looks pretty pissed off.

“You shut up, and just listen,” I say and I get right in his face. He looks a little scared and I’m glad. I want more of it, and I know I have to be careful. “You like beating up on women, huh? It makes you feel tough, and manly. Is that right?” He tries to say something so I punch him in the face. “I said just listen.” He’s already getting a black eye and I want to smile but I don’t.

“You made a big mistake doing this shit in my house.” I wrap my hand around his neck and slam him against the wall. My grip is tight, but not too tight. He can still breathe…a little. “Faith won’t go to the cops because she’s afraid of the Council, but trust me if you ever come near her again you’ll wish you were in prison.” I tighten my grip a little more, and now he’s starting to turn funny colors. I need to make this quick.

“You are going to leave, you’ll get the fuck out of Sunnydale, and you’ll never come back. If you try to take Samantha away from Faith, if you even think about taking her to court, or kidnapping Sam you will be a footnote in history. I won’t kill you, Tanner. I’m a slayer, that’s not what I do. But I have nothing against breaking your legs and leaving you in a cemetery for the vampires to find.”

I let him go and he falls to the floor. He’s coughing, and gasping for breath. Maybe I shouldn’t have held on so tight. Then again he did beat his baby so I really don’t care how uncomfortable he is right now. I wait and watch while he stands up. He looks at me with nothing but hate. Man, I really want to kill this guy. I don’t move though. I just stand here, staring him down.

“They’re my family,” he says and coughs a little bit. Right, they’re his family. If they were really his family he wouldn’t beat on them. “And I’m not gonna let some little blonde whore take it away from me. You wanna fuck her, is that it?” My jaw clenches and my back tenses up. “I’ll let you fuck her.” I punch him hard in the face and he falls down. I kick him really hard in the stomach and he groans in pain.

“Faith is not a whore. She’s not your property that you can loan out to someone else.” I grab him by the back of the neck and pick him up. “You know about demons, right? I mean, Faith is a slayer so she must’ve told you about demons.” When he doesn’t say anything I squeeze even harder and he nods his head yes. “Demons are really big fans of rituals, and most of those rituals require human body parts. All I have to do is take you downtown and I can sell you to some nasty creatures, and by the next day there won’t be any body parts for the police to find.”

I let go of him, and he stumbles away from me. He looks pretty scared even though he’s trying to hide it. I don’t take my eyes off of him for a second as he goes over to the closet and grabs a duffle bag. He starts tossing clothes in it, most of them are probably dirty since he’s grabbing them off the floor. He goes to pick up a black t-shirt from the corner of the room, but he stops.

He gets this sad look on his face for about five seconds. He picks the shirt up, and tosses it on the bed, and now he looks even more pissed of then before. He puts on some clothes, grabs his wallet and keys off the dresser and he leaves. He stomps down the stairs, slams the front door, and gets in his truck. I hear him slam the door, and he peels out of the driveway. I just pray he takes my advice, because if Faith loses Sam after all they’ve been through I don’t know what she’ll do.

Chapter Twenty One

We got home about half an hour ago, but it feels like we’ve been here for days. There’s so much tension in the air right now I feel like I can’t breathe. I don’t even want to imagine what Faith is feeling. Giles finally convinced the both of us to take Sam to the hospital. We drove to one in LA and used fake names. Giles paid for everything, and Faith kept insisting that she’ll pay hi back but I know he won’t let her.

Sam’s wrist is broken like Giles thought. Nothing too serious though. It’s just a hairline fracture. She’s in a splint, or something I can’t remember what the doctor called it, and it can come off in a couple of weeks. She freaked out when the doctor tried to touch her so they gave her a sedative. She’s still asleep, which is good because Faith is having a hard time dealing and she needs some quiet. She hasn’t said a word since we left the hospital, and that was a little over two hours ago. Sam is on the couch, she hasn’t been upstairs yet.

She’s taking her time cleaning up the mess down here. I offered to help but she just shook her head no. So while she’s in the kitchen cleaning up all of the cans, and puke I’m in here keeping an eye on Sam. The doctor couldn’t say exactly when the drug would wear off, I guess it’s different for everyone, and I don’t think Sam should be alone when she wakes up. She’ll probably be groggy and in pain. Her wrist is the only broken bone, but the rest of her is going to be sore.

God, I don’t know how I should explain all of this to my mom. Should I do it or should I let Faith explain? It’s her life, her boyfriend that did the damage. I don’t know if she’d want me telling my mom or not. I guess I’ll have to talk to her about it. But that can wait. I’m not going to bother her about it tonight. I don’t think she would talk to me if I tried anyway.

I turn around when I hear footsteps and I see Faith walking towards the stairs. She stops at the bottom and just looks up. I would give almost anything to now what’s going through her mind right now. She slowly walks up the stairs just one step at a time. Faith usually takes the two at a time. But there’s nothing usual about tonight. She keeps going but she looks, I don’t know, scared I guess. It’s really weird seeing her like that. Faith’s usually the opposite.

When she’s out of sight I stand up. My first instinct is to go up with her. The room looks really bad, and I don’t think she should be alone. She might think a murder happened or something, but it’s not true. Sure I wanted to kill him, but you were there and you saw that all I did was smack him around and told him to get lost. But I don’t want to leave Sam down here all by herself. She might wake up and look around and freak out because she’s alone.

So I walk over to the couch and I gently pick Sam up. I cradle her in my arms, and smile down at her. She looks so peaceful and really cute right now. She twitches around a little bit but she doesn’t wake up. I very, very slowly head upstairs. I really don’t want to wake her up because I’m pretty sure Faith would kill me. When I get to the top of the stairs I stop and wait. Even though I was going slow there’s still a chance she might wake up……….ok, we’re good.

I walk into my bedroom and gently put her down on my side of the bed. My side is the most comfortable side because the mattress is broken in just right. I grab one of the extra blankets from the closet and cover her up. She moves around a little bit, and makes the cutest little whimpering sounds. I lean down very close to her little face and I softly kiss her on the forehead. Her little eyebrows knit together and I can’t help but smile. Everything about her is just so tiny and cute.

“What I said to your mom goes double for you cutie. He’s never going to lay another hand on you. I promise.” I give her another little kiss, and watch her for just a minute longer. How can someone hurt something so…defenseless? I just don’t get it. Why would he do something like that? I don’t think I want to know. I don’t really care about the why. All I truly care about is making sure it never happens again.

I walk out into the hall and look over at Faith’s door. It’s wide open and I can see perfectly inside. Well, I would be able to if she wasn’t standing in the doorway and just staring into the room. I really want to know what she’s thinking. I want to know how to make it better. It isn’t going to be an easy thing. There’s no wound to wrap up, no bruise that will fade in a few hours, and no booboo to kiss all better. I’ve been hanging around Sam just a little too much, that’s for sure.

I take a couple of steps towards her, but I guess she can hear me, or maybe it’s just a coincidence but before I can get near her she walks into the room. She doesn’t shut the door, or say anything or even turn around to look at me. She just looks around the room. I see her shoulders tense up when she looks at the bed. There are some bloodstains on it, most likely from last night when Tanner was beating her. But I don’t think her reaction has to do with the blood. I think it’s because of the other thing.

She sits down at the foot of the bed and picks u the t-shirt that Tanner threw on the bed before he left. The way she’s holding it, and the way she’s looking at it it’s almost like the shirt is the more fragile thing on the planet. After just looking at it for a couple of minutes she slowly brings the shirt up to her face and smells it. Tears instantly well up in her eyes and seeing her so sad, so……broken makes me want to cry.

I can’t just stand here and do nothing. She’s in so much pain, and I love her way too much to just walk away, or keep standing here. So I go into the room, and sit down next to her on the bed. Now that I’m in here I don’t really know what to do, but I don’t know if that would be the right thing. So I just sit, and watch as she pulls at a little string on the shirt.

“Did you…” she says just barely above a whisper but then she stops. I turn a little bit so I’m facing her but she won’t look at me. She can’t take her eyes off that old, very worn down shirt. “You didn’t hurt him too bad, right? Is he gonna die if he doesn’t get to a hospital?” I wish that were the case. I sigh and think about holding one of her hands. That’s what I really want to do, but I don’t.

“He’ll be ok.” It isn’t fair that he will be though. Someone real needs to put him in the ground. “There was a little bit of hitting but nothing fatal.” She nods her head and the tears fall down her face and land in her lap. Ok, I have to do something. I can’t just sit here. I gently rest my hand on her back, and she starts to shake. I guess she’s trying not to cry.

“He wasn’t always like this,” she says and her voice has a tremble to it. I start to gently rub her back because it’s all I can think of at the moment. I think it’s pretty clear I have no idea what to do. “He used to be so…..gentle, and he would never do anything to hurt me. But one day, like almost a year before I became the slayer, he got home from work and he was so pissed off. I don’t even know why.” A sob escapes her throat, and I put my other hand on her knee.

“We started screamin at each other and he hit me. It happened all the time after that, but then he got better. Things were going good, he got a better job, and Sam was sleepin all through the night. And then he started drinking. I was gonna leave him, I wanted to but I didn’t have anywhere to go.” I run my fingers through her hair, and even more tears cascade down her face. “One night I told him if he didn’t stop I’d go to the cops, and he said if I did that he’d just make bail, and take Sam away from me.”

She starts sobbing, and I carefully wrap my arms around her. There’s a line here that I know I can’t cross but I don’t really know where it is. I don’t want to make her feel uncomfortable, and I don’t want her to think that I’m…taking advantage or something. I just want to comfort her, and maybe I can. She rests her head against my shoulder, and her crying is getting worst. Ok, maybe I can’t comfort her.

“Faith, he’s never gong to touch you again. I swear to God he won’t. I’d die before I let anything else happen to you or Sam.” I hug her a little tighter and just let her cry. I know she’s crying partly because she’s sad he’s gone. I know that sounds like it can’t be true, but they were together for a really long time, and at one point she did love him. It might take a long time but eventually she’ll move on and then maybe…no. I’m not even gong to think about that right now.

“How did it get so fucked?” she asks between her sobs. I just rub her back, and run my fingers through her hair. There’s no use trying to answer the question since this is something I don’t have the answer to. “What did I do wrong? Why did he stop loving me?” Ok, so I didn’t say anything to the first question, but I can’t let her think that. It’s not right. None of this is her fault.

“You didn’t do anything wrong. Tanner is the one to blame, not you.” I’m whispering right in her ear. My lips are lightly brushing up against the shell. Her ear is so red, and so hot because of the crying. “I don’t know why he doesn’t love you, but that’s his loss. You’re not worthless, you’re not lower then dirt.” Those are some of the things he said to her. “You deserve a million times better then him. You deserve someone who will treat you like a princess. And don’t even let anyone convince you that you don’t.” I know I probably shouldn’t but I leave a little kiss on her ear.

She just keeps crying, and I keep holing her. I’m not going to leave her while she’s like this. That would be a total dick thing to do, and I try not to be one of those. I don’t know how long we’ve been sitting here, but when I glance over at the clock I see that it’s two in the morning. Luckily I don’t have school tomorrow or that would be a big problem.

A few minutes goes by and Faith’s body shaking sobs are now just little hiccups. I think it sounds kind of cute, but I force myself not to smile because I would totally seem like an ass if I did that. Especially if she saw me. When the hiccups become few and far between she sits up, but I don’t let got of her completely. I put a hand on her knee, and I use the other to wipe away some of her tears.

I’ll admit I’m being a little selfish right now. I got to hold her for a long time, but I don’t want to lose the contact. I know I probably sound like a total perv, wanting to touch her while she’s in so much pain, but I can’t help it. I’m not doing this just for me. I want to try and make her feel better.

“Sorry,” she says and gently touches the shoulder she was leaning on. There’s a lot of moisture there from her tears, and another more disgusting bodily fluid. I just look into her now very red eyes and try not to frown because of all the pain in them.

“It’s ok. It’s just a shirt. Nothing a washer and dryer won’t fix.” She smiles a very tiny smile that only lasts about half a millisecond. Then she sniffles very loudly and I have to force myself not to gag at the sound of her swallowing. Ok, that was one of the grossest things I’ve ever heard. Oh well. “Do you want me to get you a tissue?” She shakes her head no. She grabs a towel off the floor and wipes her nose with that.

When she’s done she drops the towel to the floor and just stares at her feet. I wonder if she wants me to go. I don’t want to leave. I’ll stay by her side forever, but if she wants me to go there’s nothing I can do about that. Just when I’m about to say something she looks up at me. She looks…….different then she did a minute ago. The look in her eyes has changed.

I hold my breath as she leans in. She stops right before she touches my lips. She looks into my eyes and I look right back. I have no idea what’s running through her head, and I can’t read her expression. Then she kisses me, and the whole world fades away. I close my eyes and very slowly kiss her back. I feel her hand on the back of my neck pulling me a little closer.

As soon as her tongue touches my bottom lip things start to get a little…out of control. I’m keeping up with her the best I can but it’s like she’s trying to devour me and I’m too weak to stop it. She does this little thing where it’s like she’s rolling her tongue and I can’t help the moan that escapes the back of my throat. I lean my body towards her a little more when she puts her other hand on my side. Then I feel her trying to lay me down.

“Faith, wait.” I put my hand on her chest to push her away a little. She looks so confused and turned on that I want to kiss her again but I don’t. “Not like this. I know you’re hurting really bad right now, but things will just get really weird between us, and things have been weird enough lately.” She looks so sad again and I feel like an asshole. “I’m not saying never. I’m just saying we should wait awhile so we do it for the right reasons.” She nods her head a little and sighs.

“Ok,” she says and sighs again. Then she gets a different look on her face. She looks kind of…shy. “I don’t wanna be alone right now, you know? Do you think you can stay in here tonight?” I nod my head and give her a little kiss on the cheek. “I need to put Sam to bed.” She tries to get up but I stop her.

“I put her in my room before I came in here. She’ll be ok.” God, I hope so because I will kill that little creep if she isn’t. “I just need to change and I’ll be back.” I lave a little kiss on her lips, and then I get up and leave the room. I know I should keep my lips to myself but I’ve missed the feel of her lips on mine. I can’t believe I’m going to share a bed with Faith. I hope I can control myself or things will get very…interesting.

Chapter Twenty Two

I’m startled awake when I hear the door open. What the hell? Where am I? This totally isn’t my bed, or my bedroom. My room smells way better then this. I open my eyes and take a look around. Ok, I’m in Faith’s room. Hers is the only room in the house with that creepy Rob Zombie poster. It takes a couple of seconds but last night starts rushing through my mind. I remember taking Sam to the hospital and her crying really hard when the doctor touched her. I remember talking to Faith and letting her cry against me. I remember that we kissed, and that I had a really hard time falling asleep because she wanted to snuggle. Faith snuggles, who knew?

I glance over at the door and see Sam standing there looking very tired, and a little upset. Maybe leaving her in my room wasn’t such a good idea. I don’t think she knows I’m awake otherwise she might’ve said something. I watch as she tip toes across the room. She’s headed for Faith’s side of the bed. Faith is still asleep, so I think I better stop Sam from waking her up. She didn’t get a whole lot of sleep either. I very slowly sit up and as soon as Sam sees me she freezes.

“Hi,” I whisper and she waves. I smile at her and she very slowly walks over to my side of the bed. I roll over so I’m facing her, and she looks a little sad. She starts messing with her splint and that’s not a good thing. “No, sweetie, don’t touch that. It’s going to help make your arm all better.” She stops touching it and now it looks like she doesn’t know what to do.

“Can I have some Coco Pops?” she says in a little whisper. So I guess she’s hungry. Makes sense since she didn’t want to eat yesterday. She was so sore, and in so much pain. All she wanted to do was sit in Faith’s lap. Anyway, back to what’s happening right now.

“You mean Coco Puffs?” I ask and she nods her head and she has this look on her face like ‘duh, that’s what I said’. “Yeah. But you have to be very quiet ok? Your mommy is still asleep and we don’t want to wake her up.” She just nods her little head and takes a step back so I have room to get up. Her curly hair bounces a little bit around her shoulders and it’s the cutest thing.

I very slowly get out of Faith’s bed and I freeze when she starts to move around. I watch as she grabs onto my pillow and snuggles up to it. Who knew Faith could be such a cuddle monster? ‘Cause I didn’t until last night. But I already told you about that. I know Faith would probably kill me if I said this to her but she’s really cute when she’s sleeping.

Anyway, Sam very gently holds onto my hand and we leave the room. I make sure to close the door just in case any sound does drift up here. I put the little cutie in her high chair and she yawns a very wide yawn. I look out the kitchen window and groan a little bit. The sun is just starting to rise.

“Can I have my Coco Pops now?” Sam asks and it snaps me back to reality. I’m glad she did. I was about to go all emo and think about all of the bad things that have happened since Tanner and Faith moved in. I need to look on the bright side. At least now I know that he isn’t perfect, far, far from it actually. And he’ll never come in here again.

“Yeah, just a second,” I say and walk over to the fridge to get the milk. Now that I’m thinking about it I have no idea what to do. Not with the cereal, I know how to do that. I mean, what do you talk about to a three-year-old? I’ve never actually spent any alone time with her before. So what the hell am I supposed to do? I think I’ll just wait for her to talk. She’s a chatter box once she’s a little more awake.

“Thank you,” she says when I put the bowl down and hand her the spoon. I tell her you’re welcome and she starts eating. Hmmm, what do I want for breakfast? Oh, I know. I’ll make breakfast for Faith and me. A classic too. I’m thinking toast, bacon, eggs and two tall glasses of orange juice. Sounds good to me. If only I knew how Faith likes her eggs. I think I’ll just go with scrambled.

“When is Gram coming home?” she asks and takes another bite of her cereal. Yeah, she calls my mom Gram, sometimes Grams. We gave up trying to tell her hat my mom isn’t her grandma. Faith and I even made a little family tree to try and show her how the generations work, but she just called us silly and walked away. Her mind is made up and there’s no changing it. My mom is her Gram and that’s final.

“She’s coming home tonight.” How scary is that thought? I have no idea how I’m going to explain everything to my mom. And I still don’t know if Faith wants to do it or not. I didn’t bring it up because she had enough on her mind without having to worry about that too. “But she’s not getting back until really late so you won’t see her until tomorrow.”

“Well I can stay up late and see her.” She sounds so…determined. Yep, she really is Faith’s kid. No doubt about that. “I can. I can see her and say goodnight. Because…” She takes a small bite and chews really fast. “Because that’s what people do. They say goodnight and go to bed. But they don’t go to bed first. They don’t do that. No. They say goodnight then they go to bed.” Ok. Well I’m glad I got that cleared up.

“You’re really smart, Sam,” I say and she just nods her head. “And you’re modest about it too.” She gets a confused look on her face but she doesn’t say anything because she’s too busy chewing. It’s nice to see she has manners. I guess she isn’t exactly like Faith after all. I’m definitely not complaining. One Faith is plenty enough.

“My daddy’s smart too.” And that’s where I have to disagree with her. I don’t say anything though. I just keep an eye on the bacon so it doesn’t burn. I want Faith to have a nice breakfast, not a charcoal one. “He can make stuff out of wood. He made me a pretty toy box.” Even though I don’t like Tanner I have to agree that he is good with his hands. He just causes pain with them too.

“I know. It’s a very pretty toy box.” Until the other night I would’ve described Tanner as the perfect dad. He made a toy box for Sam and they painted it together. He worked so much that they didn’t’ get to spend a lot of time together. But when they did he always did something worth remembering. If I hadn’t seen it for myself I would’ve never believed that he could lay a hand on her in a bad way. “You’re mommy is really smart too.” She just nods her head a little bit.

Ok, I guess that conversation is over since she’s not talking anymore. I guess I’ll just focus on breakfast then. Ok, the bacon is done. I put it on a plate and then put it in the microwave to keep it warm. Now that the bacon is done I’ll start cooking the eggs. You know, I can totally see myself doing this some of the time. Getting up with Sam to take care of her, and then making breakfast for Faith. While I’m down here cooking she would come in for a cup of coffee and wrap her arms around me and give my neck a little kiss.

“What are you making that stuff for?” she asks and starts slurping the milk from the bowl. I don’t know if she’s allowed to slurp like that. I’ve never seen her do it before so I don’t know what Faith would say. I guess I’ll just turn a blind eye and pretend that it never happened.

“I’m making it for me and your mom.” She gets a very puzzled look on her face. I don’t ask her about it though. I have a very bad habit of getting distracted and letting the eggs burn. She noisily slurps her milk and doesn’t say anything. I’m really, really hoping she won’t bring up Tanner again. Sooner or later she’s going to ask about him and why he’s not here, but I have no idea what to say.

When the eggs are done I put them on a plate and some bread in the toaster. Sam is watching me very closely, and it’s a little…unnerving. It’s kind of like when you go over to a friend’s house and their cat just sits and stares at you without blinking. You get all uncomfortable and you want to smack it, or scare it to make it go away. Well, that’s kind of what it’s like.

“Why are you making Mommy breakfast? You never make Mommy breakfast ‘fore.” Ok, I guess that’s a valid question. And she’s right, I’ve never cooked breakfast for Faith, or any other type of meal for that matter. But I’ve also never tried to subconsciously implant the idea that I would make a better girlfriend then Tanner is a boyfriend. Now that he’s gone I think it’s time to start implanting some thoughts.

“Because your mommy is very tired, and when she wakes up she’s going to be hungry. It’s nice cooking food for other people.” I read somewhere that cooking for someone that you really like is almost as intimate as having sex with them because you’re giving a part of yourself to that person. I’m not saying that’s what I’m trying to do here. I’m just kind of hoping Faith thinks the same too.

Ok, I have no idea how Faith likes her toast. We have four different kinds of jelly but I don’t remember what kind she likes. Or maybe she just likes butter on it? I have no idea. Alright, so new idea. I’ll just take them upstairs with me and she can pick which one she wants. Sounds good to me. I put all of the food on a plate, and then dig out the breakfast tray. I get a rag and wash the dust off of it. It’s been a really long time since we’ve used this.

“Ok little girl,” I say and pick Sam up. I set her down on the floor and she rubs her eyes. “Can you do me a super huge favor?” She nods her head and she looks a little excited. I don’t know if all little kids are like this but she really likes helping people out. “Can you go upstairs with me and open your mommy’s door?” She nods her head vigorously and she has a big smile on her face.

“Yeah, I can do that. I can open doors. I can do that,” she says and takes off for the stairs. I hope Faith doesn’t get mad that we’re going to wake her up. But we’re waking her up with food already made so it should be a fair exchange. Hopefully she won’t start throwing her fists around. I don’t know if that’s how Faith wakes up but I got a feeling that could happen.

When I get to the top of the stairs I can hear Faith talking to Sam. I don’t know what she’s saying because my slayer hearing isn’t that good. I stop in the doorway and just watch the very cute scene. Faith is sitting up in the bed wit her back against the headboard. Sam is sitting between Faith’s legs and Faith is very gently holding Sam’s wrist in her hands. Both of them have behead like you wouldn’t believe and it’s so damn adorable that I want to take a picture.

“And in a couple weeks we’ll go back to the doctor and if your arm is all better he’ll take this off,” she says and her voice sounds all rough and sexy because she just woke up. Well, her voice always sounds sexy but I think it sounds sexier in the morning when it’s all gravely like this.

“Ok,” Sam says and she gets very quiet. Her little eyebrows knit together and I know she’s going to ask a question. That looks is almost always followed by a question. “Mommy, why Daddy so mad at me?” I was really hoping she wouldn’t bring that up today. But she did and there’s not much we can do about it now.

“Sammy, Dad wasn’t mad at you.” He’s just fucked up in the head. “He was mad because….” She trails off and it’s clear she has no idea what to say. I guess it’s time for me to do what I do best and save the day. I balance the tray in one hand and gently knock on the door. They both look up really quick and I can’t help but smile. They’re both just so cute.

“I made some breakfast,” I say and walk in the room. I smile a little wider when I hear Faith’s stomach growl. It wasn’t loud or anything. Just enough for my slayer hearing to pick up but Sam didn’t hear it. Faith has Sam move so she’s sitting next to her, and I carefully hand her the tray. She takes in a big whiff and I can practically see her mouth salivating. I didn’t think my cooking was that good. Then again she hasn’t tasted it.

“Damn, B, this looks good,” she says and takes a large bite of the eggs. I’m going to go ahead and take that whole “her eyes rolling into the back of her head” thing as a good sign. Yeah, definitely since she just let out a little moan. If those are the types of noises she makes I’ll cook for her every day. But then her eyebrows knit together and I know she’s going to ask a question. “You didn’t make any for yourself?” Hmmm, should I tell her I planned to share? Nah, I won’t.

“No, I didn’t really think about it.” She sits up a little more and stabs some eggs with the fork. She holds them out towards me and she has a very expectant look on her face. I hesitate and she raises an eyebrow. “Ok, if you insist.” I sit on the bed and scoot towards her until I’m close enough to take the bite. I wrap my lips around the fork and very slowly pull back looking into Faith’s eyes the entire time. I’m trying to make it as suggestive as possible and she’s definitely noticing. She has a little smirk on her face and I want to kiss her.

“Mom can I have some too?” Sam asks and I sigh. She’s so cute but she has horrible timing. Doesn’t she know I’m trying to show her mom how happy she could be with me, and how good I would treat her? Well I hope not. She’s too little to know about that stuff.

“Yeah bay,” Faith says and then feeds some to Samantha. She keeps looking over at me with that little smirk on her lips. Every time I see that smirk I want to giggle. It’s just so playful with a hint of naughty and very infectious. I know we’re still a long way from even thinking about dating but hopefully every morning will be like this, and that includes waking up in the same bed.

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