My favorite sergeant offered me rewards of an unknown variety if I wrote this chapter, so . . . taadaa?

"B?" I mumbled.

She didn't seem surprised to see me, as if she was looking specifically for me, she seemed more . . . actually, I can't describe the look she was wearing. It looked almost like . . . desire? 'That can't be. It's the light! It must be the light. Or lack of. Stupid moon. Didn't anyone teach you to be brighter when the girl of your dreams has some crazy look on her face that you gotta decipher quickly?' When I decided to stop blaming the moon (because, honestly, I could see every detail of her beautiful face) I concluded I must still be dreaming. Her look of an undetermined nature changed to one of confusion when I started, what I thought was inconspicuously, pinching myself. I gave her a sheepish grin and discontinued my pinching, it was clear this was not a dream. Her confusion quickly dissipated as her eyes began to slowly roam my body. I resisted the urge to resume pinching when I realized I wasn't wearing pants.

"Um . . ." I began, but quickly decided my best course of action was to get away as fast as possible. What I failed to think over was how diving into the bed face first and quickly throwing the blanket over me (missing half of my body, I might add) was accomplishing that.

I heard soft giggles emanating from her side of the room and decided to peek out from underneath the blanket. Once enough of my face was exposed that I could see hers, the giggles turned into raucous laughter.

"The hell's so fuckin' funny, B?" I demanded, trying to appear annoyed and not start giggling myself.

"You . . . *giggle* you just . . . *snort* . . ." she started, never quite able to finish her thought.

"Out with it!" I demanded, springing up from the bed.

"Faith . . . pants."

"Damn it!" I cursed as I ripped the blanket from the bed, wrapping it around my waist. "What are you doing here, B?"

Now she looked a little nervous. It seemed as though she had not been expecting that question. After about a minute of utter silence and some awkward glances, I decided to give her a break and attempt to lighten the mood with the first thing that came to mind. However, me being the big 'lets-think-about-the-most-depressing-thing-we-can-ALL-THE-FUCKING-TIME' kinda girl, what came out of my mouth should be no surprise to anyone: the most depressing subject possible. Figures.

"Listen, B, about before . . . with the potentials—I didn't want it to go down like that. And I'm sorry. All I wanted to do was come to Sunnydale, help you out, show you I've changed and . . . and maybe even be friends?" As I finished virtually pouring my heart out I looked down at the floor and began internally chastising myself for letting my fuckin' mouth open. 'You are such an idiot, ya know? First opportunity to open your mouth and you're pretty much tellin' the girl you love her.' I can almost imagine how comical I must have looked staring at the floor, silently cursing myself out, but it couldn't have been better than the expression on my face when I finally looked up to see Buffy less than a foot away from me. 'Am I breathing? . . . Shit! Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. You can do this, Faith. Not like you put so much effort into it before. . . Isn't this shit supposed to come NATURALLY?'

"Faith . . ." she exhaled in a breathy whisper, that breath tickling my face and getting me all kinds of excited.

"Uhhh . . . yeah, what? Yes . . ." I decided a throat clearing was in order before I made an ass of myself. "Huh?" I mumbled out. Too late. It was a vigorous internal battle to focus on NOT staring at her lips while struggling to kick the ass of my libido because she was clearly staring at mine.

She smiled a cute, little Buffy-smile and got even closer. "I didn't come back for any apologies."

I shook my head, somehow knowing this moment was very important. What I said next would kind of make or break whatever seemed to be happening between us. "What did you come back for, Buffy?" I whispered and inched, ever so slightly, closer to her face. The use of her full name was meant to demonstrate how seriously I was taking this.

"Pretty much this . . ." she muttered almost inaudibly and closed the distance between us, giving me the sweetest kiss of my life.

Oh, no. I'm not done. I'm simply making you wait. Because I'm eeeeevil! Mwahahaha! But … if you cater to my ego a little, I'll post the next part a little faster than I posted this part. :D