Title: I Love Her

Rating: R

Pairing: Buffy/Faith

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters and I make no money off this.

Summary: A little sequel to Snapshots or set toward the end of Snapshots anyway. Between the last chapter and the epilogue. A Valentine's Day celebration for the family.

This should be a bigger day than I'm making it.

It's B's and my first Valentine's Day together as a married couple so I thought B might wanna break with what has become our normal tradition and at least have a romantic dinner with just the two of us. When I asked her about it though, she looked at me like I'd grown a second head. I guess today is always gonna be a family day but that's okay with me.

The only snag in my plans is that it's raining. That means no pool, no going to the beach or the swanky country club that always seems to give me day passes or even just to the park. No, it's supposed to be dreary all day so we're staying in.

I've decided to let Ty tell B that this morning. I know she thinks the whole point of being in Miami for this day is 'cause we could relax poolside all day but not today. I let her sleep in while I got the boys ready and made some breakfast while they played. He just ran off to wake her up, probably by jumping on the bed until she catches him, and I'm making Nicky laugh while I get him in his chair at the table.

B walks into the kitchen a minute later carrying a giggling Tyler over her shoulder. "Who needs an alarm clock when I have a little boy who jumps on me every morning?"

"Mama said so," Ty giggles out. I can't believe my son always rats me out.

She gives me a look as she sits down at the table and I shrug. "You wake up a lot faster that way."

Ty still laughs as I set his plate in front of him and I make sure Nicky has everything he needs in front of him. He can get very pissed off in the morning if he doesn't have something to keep him occupied. I really hope it's not a sign of things to come.

When I get to B I set her plate down, some eggs, bacon and fruit, and give her a little kiss on the cheek. "Happy Valentine's Day, baby."

Before I move away she stops me and presses her lips against mine for a few seconds. "I love you." She lets me move away so I can sit down. "It's raining."

"We're playing inside," Ty puts in before I can say anything.

I smirk. "I thought we could just lounge around. Brant's even coming by later to drop off dinner."

"Yay!"

Both of us look to Ty and I shake my head. Brant is a chef I met when I first got to Miami and he does wonders with food. Every once and awhile I hire him to cook and Ty loves it. He likes Brant's cooking, or anyone else's really, better than anything we make. It'd be insulting if I didn't think the same.

"Maybe just hot dogs for you," B says as both of us laugh.

It's gonna be a fun day.

B always said nap time was the best part of the day and now I have to agree with her. We played with the kids, had a little lunch and then played some more until they curled up on the couch with us and watched a movie. Ty's a little obsessed with fish at the moment so we had to watch something with fish but within 20 minutes they were both asleep.

After we get them in their rooms we walk back into the living room and curl up on the couch together. B rests with her back against my chest and I put my arms around her. I can immediately relax when we're like this. She has that affect on me.

"Good day so far?"

She sighs but it's a good one. "The best."

"But you wish we were by the pool?"

B laughs. "I kinda always wanna be by the pool but this is nice. The kids are having fun." She pauses. "You bribed them, right? I'm thinking it was with the boat."

I grin at that 'cause she knows me too well. About a month after we got married we rented a boat for an afternoon and by the end of it I ended up buying one. B doesn't like it but only 'cause she thinks it's not safe for the boys. Of course, they love it.

"Yeah, and they'll be fine on it so don't worry," I say as I kiss the top of her head.

"If you say so."

"You know I won't let anything happen to them and they have a lot of fun out there."

She doesn't say anything else and I start to think about at what point my life became all about whether or not our kids are playing safely and not about patrol and staking vamps. All the change kind of snuck up on me without me even realizing it but I should've seen it coming. The day B came back into my life with little Tyler I knew it would never be the same.

We don't talk for a few minutes, just lie on the couch and enjoy the silence. I can hear her breathing as I close my eyes and she starts absently drawing shapes on my arms. Every once and awhile I kiss either the top of her head or her shoulder.

It's moments like these nap time ones where I realize how happy I am. When I was alone in Miami I was busy and I liked that I was finally doing something I was proud of but I wasn't happy. I was convinced that redemption meant I had to give up on having what I wanted 'cause it wasn't about me. It was about making up for what I'd done wrong.

"Do you have anything else planned for tonight?"

I open my eyes to see she's turned enough to look at me. "Besides dinner? Well, I think we all know what's coming after the kids are asleep."

She raises an eyebrow. "So this really is just a normal Valentine's Day?"

"You call having Brant sacrifice prep time for his own date so he can make all your favorites normal?" I shake my head but there's a smirk on my face, too. "I'm gonna tell him that."

"That's not what I mean."

"I asked you if you wanted something special and you said no."

"Well, I guess . . ."

As if I planned it that way there's a soft knock on the front door. Granted, I would rather we be talking about the awesome day we're having and that the rest is just an added bonus than why I didn't plan more but I'll take what I can get. At least they read my directions and didn't ring the doorbell. I do not want crabby toddlers later.

B gives me a weird look as she stands and walks to the door. All I do is sit up and watch her. I can't help but look her up and down when I do. I'm pretty damn lucky.

She opens the door to see a delivery guy holding a box that has a bouquet of flowers sticking out of it. "Mrs. Lehane?"

"Uh, yeah," B says and looks back at me. People only call her that half the time since she changed it so she's not quite used to it.

He has her sign for everything then leaves quickly, probably 'cause he has a truck full of deliveries today. B closes the doors and sets the box down on the coffee table. That's when I see tears in her eyes. "You did get me something?"

I only grin and nod as she looks back in the box. In order to have everything delivered at once, I paid the flower place extra to put the other stuff with the flowers and deliver it as one present. There's three dozen roses, B's favorite kind of chocolates and of course, a bracelet. No matter what she says I know she loves jewelry.

"Faith, it's beautiful," she says quietly as she takes the bracelet out.

I help her put it on. "I thought you'd like it."

"I know I was teasing you but you really didn't have to."

"It's our first Valentine's Day after the wedding," I say before I kiss her. "You know I had to do something special."

She hugs me and I hope she stops crying before the boys wake up. It'll take a long time to convince them she's not sad if they see her. "I don't deserve you."

"Yeah, you do." I pull away enough to kiss her again. "And there's still tonight."

B grins. "Can't wait."

The food was fantastic, the kids are asleep and now it's just B and me. We're finally alone for the night, or a few hours anyway, and what does she want to do first? Clean up the toys in the living room.

"Come on, B. This can wait until morning."

"Stop complaining," she says as she picks up one of Nicky's toy trucks. "It takes like two minutes."

"That's two minutes we could be doing something a lot more interesting."

By the way she looks back at me I know I'm better off just helping. The last thing I want to do is jeopardize my plans for the rest of the night. Then the whole day was for nothing as far as I'm concerned. I haven't ended the day with a fight with B since the very beginning and I'm damned sure I won't today.

Most of the time I watch her pick everything up anyway 'cause the moment she's tossing the last one in the toy box I'm picking her up and carrying her back to the bedroom. She giggles quietly as I don't put her down until we're in our room and then I'm laying her on the bed. I walk back only to make sure the door is closed.

"I thought I was going to get into some sexy lingerie for you," she says quietly as she looks up at me.

"You know all I ever want is you. Don't need anything else."

She smiles and I pull at her until she's standing in front of me. We kiss softly at first but it grows more passionate by the second. The only time we break away from each other is to breathe and then it's right back to kissing. B's an excellent kisser.

After that we undress each other piece by piece. We don't feel the need to rush tonight so we take our time, moving our hands over each other as the clothing disappears. I love the way her hands feel on me. No one's ever touched me with the gentleness she does. I didn't even know that's what I wanted until she started and now I can't imagine anything else.

Once we're naked I have to remember to breathe, just like every time. The first time I saw B naked I had never seen anyone as beautiful as her and never wanted experience that feeling with anyone else. I figured anyone else wouldn't measure up and I definitely wouldn't love them as much as I love her.

We move to the bed after that and I start kissing her everywhere. Her hands are on me the entire time, too, and she lets out quiet moans as I start to suck on her. I try not to say there too long though. There are other places my mouth needs to be.

I make her come again and again, loving how she reacts to me. After awhile she turns the tables on me and soon it's my struggle to keep quiet. Then we move together, coming against one another as I grip her tightly and kiss her with everything I have.

Hours probably go by before we collapse against each other and she takes me into her arms. A long time ago I told her the only time I sleep well is if her arms are around me and she's never forgotten.

"I love you, Faith."

"I love you, too, Buffy."

I'm never more honest than when I say those words to her. I love her.

The End