Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: Joss, Mutant etc etc
Chapter One: My Stolen Moment
“Buffy?” the slightly confused voice barely makes a blip on the blonde’s radar. She’s too stunned, and too shocked to see anything other then that little ring in the little black box. She can’t breathe, she can’t talk, and she can’t hear anything. All she can do is stare with wide eyes. “Buffy can you hear me?” There’s another pause and when Faith lightly shakes Buffy’s shoulder it snaps the blonde out of her trace.
She looks up at the brunette, tears are flowing down her cheeks, and her lips are trembling very hard. She has to take a few minutes to compose herself. ‘Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,’ she thinks. But these aren’t the normal types of ‘oh my God’s’ she usually does. These aren’t the passionate mumbles of their love making. These are the frantic space fillers of a person who doesn’t even know what to think, let alone verbally communicate with someone else.
“You don’t have to answer me right away. I know this is huge and you need to think about it,” Faith says and Buffy watches as she closes the box and sets it down on the nightstand. “So just take a couple of days and when you have your answer we’ll talk, ok?” She doesn’t wait for Buffy to say anything. She leans forward and leaves a small peck on the still trembling pink lips, and then she climbs back out the window, and the only trace of her being here is the little black box mocking Buffy’s existence.
‘Oh my God,’ she thinks and with a trembling hand she reaches out and carefully picks up the little black box. ‘It’s so small and light, but at the same time it’s huge.’ She opens up the lid and there’s a small snap sound that seems to echo in her room. She just stares at the ring inside and everything else around her seems to melt away. She thinks about Faith’s speech, and that look in her eyes when she said those four words. Four words that on their own don’t mean much, but when put together create a life changing event.
‘Yeah you can say that again.’ Four words that on their- ‘I didn’t mean it literally. Are you trying to make me mad?’ No. ‘Well you are. This is a huge thing that I need to think about and I can’t do that with you being an annoying jackass.’ She closes the box and starts to put it back on the nightstand, but then she decides against it. Curiosity wins and she opens up the box and very slowly takes the ring out. She uses her index finger and thumb to hold it by the band, and she swishes it back and forth so that the diamond sparkles in the light. ‘It’s so beautiful, even if it isn’t very big. I wonder what it would look like if….’
She very slowly slips the ring onto her left ring finger, and then holds her hand out flat to get a better look. She gets a small smile on her face at the sight of the ring on her hand. She stands up and rushes over to her full length mirror. She holds her hand up so she can see the reflection of her ring and she likes it even better. It just…fits her. ‘The look is just right, the size is just right. She got me the perfect ring,’ she thinks and then takes it off. She walks back over to her bed and sits down on the edge.
‘But what am I going to do? What are we going to do? I thought we were broken up and then she disappears for three days and comes back to propose. How completely insane is that? I love her so much but I’m only eighteen. I didn’t think I would get married until my late twenties, maybe even my early thirties. I’m still a teenager, with school to worry about, and a whole life to plan. Bringing my grades home to my wife so she can be proud of me just doesn’t sound right.’ She puts the ring back in the box and closes it. She turns off her lamp and lays down in her bed, but all she can do is stare at the little black box.
‘Ok, so lets just think about this rationally. Just because she proposed it doesn’t mean we have to have a wedding right away. We could wait until after we graduate college. Is she even going to college? Has she given any of this any thought at all or did she just give into some impulse that said the only way to save our relationship is to propose to me? I wish she were here so we can talk about all of this. She didn’t give me enough time to recover from the shock. This is just like her. She comes in and makes a big mess and leaves so she can avoid the clean up.’
‘Alright, Buffy just calm down. There’s no need to talk about her like that. You’re just upset because you feel so lost. And why am I talking to myself in third person?’ She can’t make up her mind. There are just too many questions that she doesn’t have the answers to. The only person who can give them to her is Faith. She throws the covers off her body and jumps out of bed. She flicks the lamp on and quietly rushes over to her dresser. She strips of her nightclothes and pulls on some jeans, and socks. Then she puts on a bra, and a shirt, and her sneakers.
There’s no time to worry about make-up as she grabs the box off the nightstand, puts her house key, and cell phone in her pocket, and turns out the light. She waits for her eyes to adjust to the darkness so she won’t trip over anything. Then she very quietly walks out of her room and looks over at her mother’s bedroom door. ‘The lights off, that’s good. It’ll make this whole sneaking out thing much easier.’ She tiptoes down the stairs and by the time she reaches the front door her adrenaline is pumping, and her heart is beating wildly. ‘I’m just leaving for a little while. I don’t understand why I’m acting this way.’
She unlocks the door and opens it up. The air is warm, and there’s a gentle breeze lightly moving through the trees, and flowers in front of her house. She doesn’t waste any time because she doesn’t know where Faith is and she’ll have to track her down. ‘Or I can just live in this century and use the technology. Track her down? Who do you think I am Sherlock Holmes?’ She pulls her cell phone out of her pocket as she walks down the pathway towards the sidewalk. She dials a number she knows by heart and puts the tiny phone up to her ear and listens to the ringing.
“Hello?” ‘Wow she sounds tired. I wonder how much sleep she’s gotten in the last couple of days,’ she thinks as she tries to think of something to say. “B I know it’s you, I have caller I.D.” ‘Ok, so what am I supposed to say? Why didn’t I think this through? I need to start coming up with plans before I act, maybe that would help.’ She sighs a deep sigh and keeps walking down the sidewalk.
“Faith,” she says in a whisper. She can practically feel the other girl tense up on the other line. ‘She probably thinks I’m going to tell her no. Well what am I going to tell her?’ She doesn’t really pay attention as she passes house after house as she heads towards her destination. “Meet me at the park, ok? I need to talk to you, but I don’t want to do it over the phone.” She can hear shuffling in the background. ‘She’s probably getting dressed already.’
“Ok, B. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Are you gonna be at the tree or the bench?” There are two spots that they always go to whenever they go to the park. There’s a certain bench that they would hang out at. It isn’t as dirty as the others in the park, and it’s a little more secluded then the rest of the benches in the park. The other place they sit and just spend some quiet time together is under the very large oak tree.
“The tree,” she says with a little smile on her face. There are many good memories that they made under that tree, and just thinking about them makes her feel a lot less stressed. They say their goodbyes and hang out. Buffy continues to walk down the sidewalks of Sunnydale towards the park. It won’t take long to get their and she really can’t wait. Even if Faith hurt her, and put her through hell by taking off she really wants to see her again. She wants to be held by the other girl, and feel safe even if it’s only for a few minutes.
She rushes over to the park, and when she gets to the tree Faith is already there. A wave of excitement falls over the little blonde. She wants to squeal with joy and run over to the brunette and wrap her up in a big hug, but she can’t. She doesn’t want to look like a dork, and she isn’t too sure if Faith was completely serious about the marriage proposal. ‘Sure she said it, but does she really want to marry me?’ She walks up to the brunette and she can tell just by looking that Faith is on the verge of a nervous break down. ‘Excuse me, they’re called major depressive episodes. We’ve been over this.’
“Hey,” she says and tries to sound as casual as possible. Faith nods a little, but she doesn’t say anything. ‘Wow, she must be really, really nervous.’ She fights the urge for as long as possible but eventually it wins. She throws herself at Faith and wraps her arms around the other girl’s neck. She presses her body against the brunette’s as much as possible. She won’t admit how much she’s missed feeling the brunette girl’s body, but she’s willing to let her actions speak the words she won’t say.
“Miss me B?” Faith asks with a little chuckle in her voice. She wraps her arms around the blonde’s back, and smiles when she feels the other girl nod her head. They share a moment of silence. Both of them forget about all of the problems they’ve had over the last couple of months. For the moment they’re both content to just hold each other, and not say anything at all. It isn’t long before the moment passes and Faith starts to get nervous again. She thought Buffy would take a couple days at least to think about what she said. She hadn’t been gone for more then an hour before she got that call.
“So what did she wanna talk about?” she asks and it rips the blonde out of the moment. Buffy pulls back from the hug and looks into Faith’s dark brown eyes. She wants so badly to get lost in them like she’s done a million times before, but she knows that they have more important things to do right now. She takes a step back and suddenly has no idea what she wants to say. ‘But I can’t just leave her hanging. She looks like she’s about to break down or something.’
“I just wanted to see you. You took off and I thought I’d never see you again,” she says, her voice barely above a whisper. She looks up at the night sky and is surprised at how large the moon looks. She can see perfectly in the pale light, and she’s a little sad that this meeting isn’t of the romantic kind. “Do you think we can just forget about all the pressure, and fighting, and decisions, and all the other bullshit, and just be us? I missed you like crazy and I just want to sit with you for a while. Can we do that?”
She watches the other girl mull that over for a minute or two. The silence is definitely getting to her but she isn’t letting it show. She isn’t going to act impatient because she doesn’t want to scare the other girl off. She smiles a very small happy smile when she sees Faith nod her head. She reaches out and holds onto the other girl’s very soft hand, and feels relief that the weight of the world is finally off her shoulders. ‘It’s like I can finally breathe again. I don’t want this feeling to go away.’
They sit down under their tree, their backs resting on the cool bark, and their hands are still intertwined. Buffy rests her head on Faith’s shoulder, and smiles when Faith starts to gently caress the back of her hand with her thumb. The blonde breathes the other girl in, and opens up her senses to their surroundings. She can hear crickets chirping, and a frog croaking, and a soft breeze dancing with the tree branches. Everything about this moment is perfect, and Buffy more then happy to wallow in the now. It’s the future that she’s uncertain about, so for tonight that’s going to be ignored as she focuses all of her attention on her girl.
Chapter Two: My Big Decisions
“I don’t want to go home,” the leading lady of this story says, and snuggles against the warm body. She smiles when the brunette tightens her grip around her. They’ve been sitting under the large oak tree in the park all night. Not very many words have been spoken, and they’re both happy about it. Words would have completely shattered the moment, and they really wanted to hold onto that moment for as long as they could. As the sun slowly creeps up in the sky, and signs of life start to emerge the blonde knows their moment is over.
“Sorry, babe, but I’m sure your mom is pissed off at me already. I really don’t want to add to that anger.” ‘She’s right. Mom is really pissed off at her. I know we both said stupid things and the fight is mostly my fault because I totally ambushed her, but it’s a mother’s instinct to protect her child,’ she thinks and nuzzles Faith’s soft neck. ‘I don’t want to go home because when I go home I have to think about everything, and I don’t want to have to make these big decisions by myself, and I know mom isn’t going to let Faith come over.’
No more words are said as they sit together under their large oak tree and watch the sun rise above the horizon. ‘I love watching the sunrise with her,’ she thinks and smiles when she remembers all of the other times they watched the sun come up. Of course all of those other times were after a night of love making. ‘God I miss her touch. I wish we could go somewhere and be together that isn’t in a public place.’ She lifts her head, and leaves a little kiss on Faith’s smooth neck. She watches as the other girl gets goosebumps, and she smiles an evil smile.
“Don’t start something you don’t plan on finishing,” Faith says with a little chuckle. Buffy leans back a little so she can look into the other girl’s chocolate brown eyes. ‘If it were biologically possible to have her babies I’d want them to have her eyes. And her dimples. That would be one very beautiful baby. I wonder what Faith would say if she found out I was thinking about having her baby?’ “You have no idea how hard it was to just sit here and no kiss you, or touch you. No idea at all.” She shakes her head a little bit, smiles a playful smile.
“Alright, I’ll stop,” she says and rests her head on Faith’s shoulder again. The other girl gives her a little squeeze. ‘I could spend the rest of my life in her arms. Well, not all of my life, but I can see myself coming home from a long day’s work or something, and curling up in her arms. But we don’t have to get married to do that. We can just live together. But we’d have to wait a year to do that.’ She sighs a little and nuzzles Faith’s neck.
“What happens if I say yes?” Buffy asks and she feels Faith tense up a little bit. She doesn’t move from Faith’s shoulder because she doesn’t know how she’ll react if she looks into Faith’s eyes right now. “If I say yes are going to move to Illinois with me? I want to be with you so much but I don’t think I can handle being away from you for nine months.” She tightens her grip on Faith a little at just the thought of being away from the other girl for a long period of time. “That wouldn’t be fair for either of us.”
“Yeah, I’d go with you,” she says and starts to rub Buffy’s back again. “My grades aren’t good enough to get into a university, so I thought I could get a job, and maybe take some night classes and get an associate degree or something. We can get an apartment together I’m sure your half of the rent would cost just as much as the housing fee for a dorm.” ‘Actually we can’t get an apartment together,’ she thinks and sighs a little bit. She feels Faith tense up even more. She gives Faith knee a little squeeze to try and calm her down a little but it does little to help the situation.
“All freshmen are required to live on campus for the first year, so we won’t be able to live together until I’m a sophomore.” They’re quiet for a few minutes and Buffy has no idea what Faith is thinking about, and it’s starting to freak her out a little bit. ‘Why does this have to be so hard? We used to talk about everything it was never awkward, or weird. How come we can’t be like that now?’ Faith isn’t tensing up like she’s thinking about something bad, but she isn’t completely relaxed like she’s thinking about something they’ll both like. She’s completely neutral and Buffy’s getting a little irritated with it.
“Ok. So I can get a roommate or something, and we can be together when you’re not in class, and on the weekends. We’ll make it work Buffy, don’t worry about it, ok?” She nods her head and allows herself to be comforted by Faith’s words. She knows it’s going to be harder then that, but for right now she isn’t going to let herself worry. She can do that when she goes home. “I know it isn’t going to be easy.” ‘Or we can talk about all this stuff now,’ she thinks and sits up so she can look at Faith. “It’s going to take a lot work, but I know we’re strong enough to last.” ‘Are we really?’
“I don’t want to sound like a bitch, and I’m not trying to make you mad, but trying to get you to talk about it was like pulling teeth, and then you just freaked out on me. If we’re going to get married I have to know that we can talk about very serious things without having to force each other to do it.” She watches as Faith thinks about her words, and she’s glad that the brunette is taking her seriously instead of just brushing her concerns off. She’s about to say something else but then Faith finally speaks up.
“I’m sorry about all that shit. I was so afraid I was gonna lose you, and I didn’t want to think about it. I’m not so good at opening up and talking to people. I know we’ve been together for a long time but it’s still hard to let you see what I’m really feeling sometimes.” Buffy looks into Faith’s brown eyes and can see how true that statement is just by all of the emotion swirling in those deep chocolate colored orbs. ‘Could you not describe them like that? You’re making me hungry.’ She smiles a very happy smile and leans forward. She brushes her lips against Faith’s and feels very breathless when the other girl kisses her back.
“You’re willing to try, and that’s all I can ask for,” Buffy says and smiles a little more. Faith smiles back, and leaves a little peck on the blonde’s lips. They look into each other’s eyes for a minute or two before the silence is shattered by the sound of someone running. They look over and see a guy jogging down the path. He doesn’t even notice them as he runs on by, and they both roll their eyes a little bit. ‘He just had to come and ruin out little bubble. I hate him, I hope he falls.’
“Did you think about when we’d have the wedding?” she asks and the brunette tenses up a little bit. ‘Ok, I guess she didn’t really think about this part,’ she thinks and watches as Faith thinks about it for a minute. ‘I guess a lot of this stuff we’re going to have to decide together. I can’t leave it all up to her, it’s too much, and that’s unfair. She shifts around a little. She’s been sitting still for a few long time and her muscles are getting restless. ‘She looks so cute when she’s serious,’ the blonde thinks and tries as hard as she can to fight the urge to kiss Faith.
“I don’t know. I was thinking maybe a year or two after you graduate. That way we can save up, and pay for it ourselves. I know your dad isn’t exactly supportive of us, and there’s no way my foster parents can afford a wedding, and I don’t want to make your mom pay for it. I’d rather it be something we did together, you know? That way it’ll be more special.” The blonde nods her head, and looks down at the grass slightly wet with the morning dew. Her father not accepting her relationship with Faith as anything more then a passing phase makes her very sad.
“That sounds like a good idea,” Buffy says and smiles a little. She tries so hard not to let the fact that her father is a deadbeat get to her but the little girl inside her wants nothing more then to be held by her daddy. ‘I can’t believe we’re having this conversation. We’re going to get married. That sounds so weird,’ she thinks and rests her head on Faith’s shoulder again. “This is real right? I’m not dreaming and we’re really talking about spending the rest of our lives together?” She hears Faith chuckle and she can’t help but smile too.
“Yeah, it’s real.” She smiles when she feels Faith leave a little kiss on the top of her head. They’re quiet for a few minutes, and while they sit here Buffy can’t help but notice Faith’s demeanor change a little. She’s about to question her on it, but she doesn’t get the chance. “Did you bring the ring with you?” Buffy smiles a large, goofy smile and she sits up. She looks into Faiths’ big brown eyes and nods her head. She doesn’t wait for the other girl to ask before she reaches into her pocket and pulls out the little black box.
She hands it to Faith and smiles a big smile when the box opens with a loud snap. She turns around and leans against Faith. The other girl wraps her arms around the blonde, and rests her chin on Buffy’s shoulder. They both look down at the little ring inside the little box, and they’re both smiling like idiots. Faith uses her free hand to take the ring out, and sets the box down on the ground by Buffy’s knees. She takes Buffy’s left ring finger in her own, and lightly rubs the top of her ring finger with her thumb.
Buffy watches with joy as Faith very slowly slides the ring onto her finger. She full relaxes against the brunette girl and everything in this moment is perfect. The gold feel a little cool against her skin and it makes her smile a little. ‘It won’t be cold for long because I’m never taking this off,’ she thinks and watches as Faith slips the ring all the way up her finger as far as it can go. She turns her head to the side and gives her girlfriend- ‘No, not my girlfriend, my fiancé.’ And leaves a little kiss on her cheek.
“I love you so much.” She nuzzles Faith’s neck and leaves little kisses all along the warm skin. ‘I don’t care if she’s needy, I’ll kiss her if I wanna kiss her,’ she thinks and lightly sucks on Faith’s pulse point. The brunette wraps her arms around Buffy’s stomach and holds on tight. Not tight enough to hurt, but tight enough to fulfill an inner need to hold the blonde close.
“I love you too,” she says and Buffy kisses her way down Faith’s jaw line until she’s at her full lips. The kiss they share is full of heat and passion, and neither of them wants it to end. They break apart eventually for breath, but only enough to breathe. Their lips are still touching, their mouths open, and they’re breathing into each other’s mouths. It’s an odd sensation that they’ve never had before.
“I need to get you home,” Faith’s voice is barely above a whisper. Her words tickle the blonde’s lips and it makes her let out a small moan. Desire, and need are coursing through her body and it’s taking everything she’s got not to give into it. Buffy slightly nods her head in agreement. She does need to get home before her mom finds her gone. Neither girl makes a move to get up. Both are content to just sit in each other’s arms and revel in the happiness that they’re both feeling.
Chapter Three: My Sisterly Moment
Buffy Summers walks up the stairs leading towards her house. She’s nervous, and a little worried about what her mother is going to say. She was gone for a lot longer then she planned, and she knew her mother and sister would be up by now. ‘I’m probably going to be in so much trouble. But hey, I’m eighteen so she can’t ground me,’ she thinks as she walks up the stairs to the porch and pulls her key from her pocket. Something catches her eye and she looks down at her hand, and sees the ring still on her finger.
‘Hmm, better take this off,’ she thinks as she very carefully slips it off and puts it in her pocket. ‘I know I said I was never going to take it off, but Mom finding out now would ruin the plan.’ After another long silence under the tree they came up with a little plan of how they would tell their parents. ‘And if Mom finds out now it’ll ruin everything.’ She opens the door with a little sigh. She doesn’t even have enough time to close the door before her mother rushes in from the kitchen. At first the woman looks scared, but then relief washes over her face.
“Oh thank God.” ‘Well, at least she’s happy to see me. Oh wait, nevermind. Here comes the anger.’ “Where the hell have you been Buffy? Do you have any idea how worried I was about you?” ‘Apparently not,’ she thinks and shuts the door. She tries really hard not to sigh. She wants to tell her mother everything that happened, but she can’t. It’ll ruin absolutely everything if she lets anything slip now. ‘I’ve never been a good liar though. I hope I can make this convincing.’
“I’m sorry. I went for a little walk. I didn’t think I would be gone that long. I just needed to clear my head.” At the angry look her mother continues to give her, Buffy gets a little mad. “I’m eighteen years old Mom, I can go out for a walk if I want to.” Joyce takes a closer look at her daughter’s face, and she can see how tired and frustrated the young woman really is. She bites back her anger and her worry, and just focuses on the fact that Buffy is ok.
“I know dear, but next time, just leave a note, ok? Or at least leave your cell phone on. I didn’t buy you that thing so you could turn it off when you don’t want to be found.” Buffy nods her head and yawns a very wide and loud yawn. Joyce rubs her daughter on the back and gives her a little hug. “Why don’t you go on upstairs and get some rest? I’ll wake you up for lunch, ok?” Buffy nods her head and slowly walks up the stairs. She’s tired, and wants to curl up under the covers, but she’s happy.
She walks into her room, and she’s very happy to be back. ‘Not that being with Faith is bad, but I really want to curl up under the covers and sleep for a couple days,’ she thinks as she slips her shoes off. She collapses down onto the bed and looks up at the ceiling. She takes a minute to try and clear her mind, but she can’t. There are so many thoughts running around making it impossible to fall asleep. She smiles when she remembers the feel of Faith slipping the ring onto her finger. ‘I feel so bad that I have to take it off. But it’s for the best. If Mom sees it she’s going to know it’s more then a promise ring.’
‘Now, getting to the most important question of them all: am I going to take Faith’s last name? Traditionally the wife takes the husband’s last name, and Faith is the butcher of the two of us, but that doesn’t mean I have to take her last name. Maybe we could keep our last names but just add the Mrs. to them. Or maybe we can do the hyphen thing. Like she could be Mrs. Lane-Summers and I could be Mrs. Summers-Lehane. You know adults never tell you how much thinking is required when planning a wedding. All of these decisions are going to give me a migraine.’
She reaches into her pocket and pulls out the little ring. She gently holds it by the band between her index finger and thumb like it’s the most delicate thing on the planet. She lightly rocks it back and forth and watches as the light makes the diamond sparkle. She smiles a very soft smile, and looks at the ring, her ring, with admiration. She knows nothing about the quality of diamonds or rings. But to her this is the most precious jewel in the world, and priceless, and nothing is going to take it away from her.
“What’s this?” she hears her sister’s voice as the ring is snatched out of her hand. ‘Fuck! That scared me. I didn’t even know she was standing there. Dammit Dawn! She almost gave me a heart attack,’ she thinks and sits up in the bed. She watches as her sister inspects her ring like she’s trying to determine its value or something. “It’s pretty. Where did you get it? I’ve never seen you wear this before.” ‘Ok, I can either try as hard as I can to lie my way out of this and she’ll tell Mom about it because she’s a little snitch. Or I can let her know what’s going on and make her promise not to tell. She’s good about secrets when she’s in on them.’
“If I tell you, you have to swear on your life not to tell anyone,” she says in the most serious tone she can muster. “Close the door.” She watches as Dawn runs over to the door and closes it as quietly as she can. Then her little sister runs back over to the bed and sits down. Buffy sits up and gently takes the ring out of her sister’s hand. She holds it up so both of them can see it, and she smiles when the diamond sparkles in the morning light. “At like two in the morning Faith came in here-”
“Faith’s back? When did Faith get back?” Dawn interrupts in a very excited tone. It’s not secret that the younger brunette is completely infatuated with the older one. ‘Please tell me I wasn’t that annoying when I was a kid,’ she thinks and tries to be patient. She sighs and Dawn picks up on the frustrated vibe. “Sorry, I’ll be quiet.” Buffy relaxes, and forces herself to calm down. ‘You’re just tired. Don’t take it out on Dawn.’
“Anyway, Faith climbed through my window a little after I went to bed. She gave this big speech about how she was sorry for just taking off, and for fighting with me. She told me she was just scared she was going to lose me. Then she said that she isn’t going to ask me to stay here in Sunnydale. That Northwestern is a great school and I should go.” Dawn’s facial expression goes from excited to sad at that. The thought of her sister and someone else having sex, and having to see it on a couple of occasions is gross, but she thinks Buffy and Faith make great couple and the thought of them breaking up is a sad one.
“So she got down on one knee,” Buffy’s smile gets bigger as she remembers everything that Faith did. “She opened up this little black box, and it had this ring inside.” She looks at the ring and moves it back and forth, and it sparkles even more. “Then she asked me if she could be apart of my future, and she said ‘Buffy Ann Summers will you marry me?’” She’s quiet as she watches her sister digest the news. She isn’t too sure what to expect, and she’s happy, and a little relieved to see her sister excited again. Not to mention sitting on the edge of her seat wanting to hear the rest of the story.
“What happened then? What did you say? What did she say? Come on, don’t hold out on me now.” ‘Wow, I didn’t thin she would care so much.’ Buffy smiles and tries to hold back the big yawn but it’s useless. She watches as her sister shows a lot of patience and she realizes right here and now that Dawnie isn’t the little five-year-old pest that follows her around and tattles on her whenever she can. ‘Now she’s a twelve-year-old little pest who’s stating to like boys. When did this happen?’
“Then she told me to take a couple of days to think about it, she kissed me, and she left.” Dawn gets this look on her face like ‘are you kidding me? That’s it?’ Buffy can’t help but laugh and she sets the little ring down on her bedside table. “I laid here for a while, but I couldn’t sleep. I just couldn’t stop thinking about everything. So I got up, got dressed, and called her on her phone. We met at the park, and for a while we just held each other. I missed her so much I just wanted to sit there, and have her hold me.”
“Awww, you’re so cheesy,” the pre-teen says with a mischievous smile on her face. Buffy takes the extra pillow she keeps on her bed and throws it at her sister. Dawn catches it and laughs a little bit. “Ok, ok, I’m sorry. I couldn’t help it. Ok, so what happened then?” Buffy laughs a little at the girl’s impatience, and she sighs. Her eyelids feel like they’re going to drop, and she isn’t sure if she can keep going with the story. ‘But I have to try or she’ll keep bugging me until I tell her.’
“We talked about some things. Whether or not she’s going to go with me to Northwestern, and if she’s going to go school, when we’re going to married if I said yes, and things like that. I thought getting her to talk about it was going to be hard because she was so…stubborn about talking before, but she’s grown up a lot in the last couple of days. Anyway, we talked about a few of the details, I don’t want to explain it all now, but I said yes.” Dawn lets out a very high pitched squeal and Buffy swears her ears are bleeding. The pre-teen throws herself onto her older sister and hugs her for all she’s worth.
“This is so cool! Faith’s going to be my sister-in-law!” ‘Yes, we’re all thrilled about that. No, ‘hey this is so cool because my big sister has found someone to love for the rest of her life’. No it’s none of that. It’s always about Faith with her. Wait a minute, am I jealous? Oh my God, I’m jealous of Faith. Ok, I need to calm down before this gets completely out of hand. How long have I been jealous of Faith? Ok, don’t obsess or you’ll drive yourself insane.’ “So when’s the wedding? Did you talk about any of the details? Can I be a bride’s maid?” She unlocks her death grip and sits back on the bed. ‘Jeez, who slipped the crack into her Coco Puffs this morning?’
“We haven’t talked about the details yet. We’re not sure exactly when it’s going to be, but we’re going to wait a couple of years after I’m done with school. That way we’ll be able to pay for it ourselves.” She gets a sad look on her face and watches as Dawn’s eyebrows furrow with curiosity. “Traditionally the father of the bride is supposed to pay for the wedding, but I’ll be lucky if Dad walks me down the isle. You know he doesn’t think my relationship with Faith is serious.” Dawn nods her head and tries not to think back to the couple of arguments the blonde and their father had gotten into the summer they spent with him in L.A.
“And yes, Dawnie, you can be one of my bride’s maids. But you can’t complain about the dress.” She gets an evil smirk on her face but Dawn just rolls her big blue eyes. Buffy yawns a very wide yawn and her eyes close for a few seconds. She starts to drift off but Dawn moving on the bed startles her away. “I’m really tired, Dawn, I need to get some sleep.” The young brunette just nods her head and stands up from the bed. She starts to walk towards the door but the blonde stops her by speaking. “Remember, you can’t tell anyone. Promise?”
“Yeah, I promise. I’ll see you later.” She leaves the room and quietly closes the door behind her. The blond takes off her bra- ‘Because who actually enjoys sleeping in a bra?’- and then curls up under the covers. ‘Let’s see, what is my dress going to look like? It’s going to be white of course. Or maybe an off white because white isn’t exactly true. Hell no it isn’t’, she thinks as she reaches over and puts the ring inside of her bedside table just in case her mother walks in the room while she’s sleeping. It doesn’t take her long to fall into a heavy sleep with nothing in her dreams but Faith.
