Buffy was wandering down the streets of San Francisco with a spring in her step. There was a cold bite to the wind but she brushed it off. Nothing could bring her down. She had just received a new job on the San Francisco SWAT team. She knew it was probably her connections with the military that helped her get this opportunity but she took it anyways. She figured that the Army owed her for cleaning up the whole initiative fiasco. She also knew that her connections only got her the interview, they didn't guarantee her the job.

As she was walking down the street she heard the tell-tale thumping that only came from the bass of heavy music that played in clubs. A little further down the street she finally saw the club.

'Hmm… P3… that's a weird name for a club' Buffy thought to herself.

Looking at her watch and seeing that it was only nine thirty Buffy decided that she deserved a night out and got into the surprisingly short line up.

Within thirty minutes she was inside the club. She loved the atmosphere it looked comfortable without that clichéd nightclub look to it. She was surprised though to notice all of the hearts and red and pink streamers everywhere. Suddenly it hit her, it was Valentine's Day. With a slight groan Buffy pushed through all of the couples and made her way down the stairs.

She would have to deal with it for tonight since she didn't want to try and find somewhere else to celebrate.

Over to the right it looked like they had a stage set up for live music. Looking at the posters on the wall she saw that a band called Metric was playing tonight.

Buffy carefully manoeuvred her way across the dance floor and walked up to the bar and settled down after ordering a mineral water. She had never gotten over the spiked beer and 'Cave-Buffy' incident and avoided alcoholic beverages of all kinds. She also didn't like not having her wits about her and didn't want anyone able to get the drop on her.

Forty five minutes and three declined offers to dance later Buffy felt someone sit down beside her. She couldn't stop her eyes from rolling when she felt someone tap on her shoulder in an attempt to get her attention.

'Didn't these people see that she didn't want to be bothered?' She thought to herself.

Once she turned to face the new person she was shocked to see it was a beautiful brunette around her age.

"Hey" The brunette said, "I noticed that you were getting seriously annoyed with everyone in here so I thought I would take a chance and sit next to you, hopefully I'll be able to stop someone from getting murdered tonight"

Buffy looked at her quirky smile and couldn't help but smile back.

"Yeah, I was in such a good mood when I came in here but it seems like I have some kind of 'hit on me' sign… My names Buffy" she said and reached out her hand for a handshake.

"Paige" the brunette replied.

"So what are you doing here all alone on Valentine's Day?" Paige asked the mysterious blonde.

"Oh, well I actually forgot that today was Valentine's Day until I walked in here. I'm actually just in town to a job interview and decided to come here to celebrate when I got the call that I actually got the job." Buffy explained.

"Well congratulations" Paige said with a beaming grin.

"Thanks… what about you?"

"Oh… well not nearly as exciting as you… I just didn't want to spend another Valentine's Day alone so I decided to just buck up and come out"

"Another Valentine's alone? I find that heard to believe, a beautiful woman like you" Buffy said with a quirk of her lips.

Paige couldn't stop the blush that stained her cheeks. She was happy that this night was turning out so well. She had been worried that she would either become depressed with the sight of all the happy couples surrounding her or become frustrated with all the people hitting on her in a desperate attempt to not be alone at the end of the night.

The two girls ordered another round of drinks and Buffy was surprised that Paige was also drinking mineral water.

"No alcohol for you?" Buffy asked but when she saw the uncomfortable look on Paige's face she rushed to re-assure her that she didn't have to answer if she didn't want.

"No…it's okay…I don't drink…I used to have kind of a problem with certain liquids…lot of problems, actually, but that's all behind me"

"Do you want to go someplace else… we could go for coffee or something?" Buffy asked. She was desperate to dig herself out of the awkward situation she put herself and her new friend in.

"No, no, no I like it here…it's fine" Paige said with a small smile. She appreciated the offer but it had been years since she had taken a drink so she would be fine.

"What about you? Why are you only drinking mineral water?"

"Oh well in college someone thought that it would be a funny prank to spike a mass shipment of beer and well one night of mass hysteria was enough to completely turn me off alcohol for the foreseeable future" Buffy explained. Obviously she had to simplify the story since she couldn't exactly say that the consequence of the beer was for her to go 'Cave-Buffy'.

"Wow... that's horrible" Paige muttered with a sympathetic smile.

"Yeah, but in the end nobody was hurt too badly so it turned out okay" Buffy explained. She didn't want Paige to think that she was horrible traumatized by the experience. In her life that event did not even rank in the top ten of her worst days ever.

Over the next week that Buffy was in town her and Paige met up as often as they could. The first was for coffee before Paige had to be at work at South Bay Social Services. The second time they met up had been after Buffy had her first introduction to her new team, they had met up once again at P3. The last time Paige invited Buffy over to her apartment and they ordered in Chinese and just watched movies all night. They had decided to take it easy that night since Buffy had to leave the next day to go back to Los Angeles to pack up and set up the move to San Francisco.

"So what time is your flight" Paige asked as the movie ended.

"Uh well it's at ten thirty" Buffy answered then looked at the clock and noticed that it was almost midnight, "Guess I'll have to leave now… I need to get at least some sleep before I get to the airport"

"You could stay here" Paige blurted out and at the shocked look on Buffy's face she blushed heavily. Sometimes she hated her fair skin, it showed her embarrassment so easily.

"Ummm…" Buffy floundered for a minute, "yeah… that would be great… if you're sure that is"

Paige couldn't help but smile at Buffy nervous stammering and it immediately put her at ease.

"Yeah, of course I'm sure… come on" Paige said as she stood up from the couch and held out her hand to Buffy.

The blonde grabbed hold of Paige's hand and smiled when the brunette eagerly pulled her up off the couch and pulled her towards the bedroom.

"Okay, so you know where the bathroom is and if you want you can take a shower and I'll get you some clothes you can sleep in"

"That would be perfect thanks!"

Buffy quickly showered and changed into the pajama pants and shirt that Paige left for her and slipped into bed beside her brunette friend.

"Thanks for letting me stay" Buffy whispered into the silent room. It was quiet for a few minutes and Buffy assumed that Paige had fallen asleep but she was shocked when the older woman rolled over to face her and leaned over to press her lips to Buffy's in a quick chaste kiss.

"Anytime" Paige whispered back and then rolled back over so her back was facing Buffy. She couldn't believe she just did that. Since Paige had rolled over immediately she missed the blush that stained Buffy's cheeks and the please smile that adorned her lips.

Over the next few weeks while Buffy was setting everything up for the move from Los Angeles to San Francisco, Paige and Buffy talked at least once a day. Neither had brought up the kiss but the more time Buffy spent thinking about it the more that she wanted to explore what it could mean. She hadn't felt this way since Faith had first come to Sunnydale and started to break her out of the shell that she felt had been forced on her. Her friends had always wanted her to take her 'calling' more seriously and while they went out and had fun like any other normal teenagers she was always pressured to go patrolling. She knew it was her duty but that didn't mean that she didn't need a night off.

Buffy shook her head and pushed all the negative thoughts out of her head.

'No need to dwell on the past' she thought to herself.

Finally she was headed back to San Francisco. She was a bundle of nerves. Paige had said that she would be there to pick her up from the airport and she couldn't be happier. She had decided to that she would make the first move with Paige.

Throughout the entire flight, which was luckily only an hour and a half, Buffy went over what she was going to say again and again in her head.

When she finally got off the plane though and she saw Paige for the first time in in three weeks all thoughts were gone and she only acted on instinct. As soon as she was within reach, Buffy reached out with one hand to gently pull Paige towards her.

Buffy moved slowly, so that if Paige wanted she could easily pull back, and pressed her lips to Paige's. It started out as a chaste kiss, just their lips meeting. However as soon as Buffy felt Paige return the kiss she couldn't stop the soft moan that stirred in her chest and Buffy surged closer and gently took Paige's bottom lip into her mouth. What started out innocent quickly became passionate and the couple only parted once the need for air became too much.

"I'm….uhh" Buffy said with a furrowed brow. She hadn't expected Paige to react that way. In fact in all of her thoughts had centered on Paige either slapping her or pushing her away and then she lost her best friend. Obviously she needed to focus on becoming more positive.

Paige just smile softly at the younger blonde. She loved how flustered she was able to make the usually confident woman.

"I've wanted to do that since I first saw you at P3 and you rolled your eyes at me"

"Really?" Buffy whispered. Even though she often put on the façade of confidence she was still very insecure and couldn't believe someone as amazing as Paige could want anything more than friendship with her.

"Yeah" Paige whispered and leaned in for another kiss.

"Cool" Buffy whispered once they broke apart again.

After a minute of silence Buffy and Paige broke into hysterical laughter. After they were able to calm themselves they moved towards baggage claim and then walked out of the airport hand in hand, ready to face whatever the future had in store for them.