"So a playful demon and a spoiled princess. How sweet. When did you start magically loving each other?"

"Magically?" Fawn snorted. "You've been around your Watcher too long. Not everything is magic. Some things just happen because of little tiny incidents. Little tiny things that add up to a great big thing. And a lot of anger and hatred and bitterness adds up."

"A lot of bitterness. She'd been bored for a century. I was her chance for a little bit of excitement," James said drily. "She enjoyed taunting me."

"I still enjoy taunting you, sweetheart," Fawn laughed. She leaned forward and kissed him.

"For all the bitterness, the two of you are pretty sweet on each other now."

"He grew on me," Fawn informed Buffy.

I was racing through the woods, trees ripping from the ground behind me to block my path, branches falling at random. James was shouting my name, roaring it really. He hated it when I left the house at night. Of course, he hated it when I left the house during the day as he couldn't follow me. In the twenty years James had been with me, there'd been six attempts on my life, two that fed on me before James could kill them. Father wasn't happy with James when I'd been fed on. He considered it a failure on his part and I had to almost beg to convince him not to take my toy away. For as much as James and I fought and argued and he yelled at me and I cursed him (in the very literal sense), James was the first thing in a very long time that took away my boredom.

"Come on, James. Surely hide and seek isn't that hard for you!" I called over my shoulder. "Come and find me!"

"When I find you, you spoiled little brat, I am going to drink from you. All of you!"

"James, you always say that!" I shouted back over my shoulder. I turned, not looking where I was going, shouting fun at him, and I didn't see the cliff coming until I was right up on it. Until I was teetering on the edge, trying to stop myself from tumbling into the ravine of whatever backwoods Kentucky place Dad had us in.

"James!" I screamed for my protector. In all the ways I'd faced death for hundreds of years, I'd never faced it at my own stupidity. I'd been thrown from bucking horses, had my life almost taken from me, and people had tried to poison me more times than I could remember. But I'd never almost died at my own hand. "James, please!"

I fell forward, just as a hand reached out and grabbed my arm, yanking so hard that it almost came out of its socket. I looked up to see James's head peeking over the edge of the cliff and I looked down to see a river roaring below me. His face was contorted in something that rarely appeared in his visage. Worry. Fear. He pulled me up and I fell into his arms. He held me tight to him, tighter than James had ever held me and I cried. A century and then some of holding it in. I'd cried a few times, I'd had my sobs, but I had never cried like that.

"Shh, shh, shh, bunny. Princess, sh, sh, Fawn. Calm down. Calm down. Stop crying, bunny. Stop crying."

I pulled away from him to stare into his eyes and I cried, "You saved me."

"I always save you, Fawn."

"But this time, you saved me from me. I almost killed myself. I've never done that before. I've never almost killed myself before. I've been alive a very long time, James. And I've never almost killed myself."

"Yeah, well, you are an idiot," he taunted with his arms still wrapped tightly around my waist. "You're an idiot that is not going to leave the house for a very long time. You are not going to leave the house until your next revival. You are not going to leave the house until you are ready to be eighteen. That's two revivals, Fawn. Vengala Denlanite. Fuck, I never remember your full name, you little witch. You're not leaving the house ever again."

"Vampires don't worry," I teased through sniffles.

"Yeah, well. I'm not just a vampire, you little shit. I'm your knight and I'm very angry with you."

"You're my knight," I repeated.

"Yes, I am. And you're supposed to pretend to listen to me." He was lecturing me and I could see it there in his eyes. Right in the back. With all his anger and irritation with me, he was worried. For that split second when he'd lost me in the trees, he thought he'd lost me for good. That second he heard my scream, that second he heard the fear in my voice, it grew in him. James and I didn't love each other. In a weird way, we barely cared for each other. But, in that moment, James was the only person in my world, and I treated him as such. I grasped both sides of his face in my hands and I kissed him. I kissed him as hard as I could and I didn't let him pull away from me. But, when I did, I informed him, "You are not a good kisser, James."

"Yeah, well I haven't had a thousand years to practice, princess." But he grinned at me.

"Well, there's plenty of time now."

"Are you taking me to bed just because I saved you from yourself?"

"Is there any better reason that you know of?"

"Some people like to be told that they're attractive."

"I'll tell you something better, James." I leaned in close so I could whisper in his ear. "You are the one demon I've met in a very long time who doesn't bore me."

"Well, I've always liked older women."

"Well you'll just love me."

"Vampires don't love, sweetheart."

"Well, you'll get as close as you can without erupting into flame."

"Aren't you the romantic one, bunny?"

"And where did you get this scar?" James's hands were so soft. They were warmed by my body.

"A spider demon." His finger traced the scar on my back. It was one of the reasons I needed a royal guard in the first place.

"If it had been in the front, it would have gutted you," he informed me before his mouth came down on the scar.

"I know. That's why I have you now. You and your predecessors."

"Mm. My predecessors." James mouth traced up the curve of my spine. "And how many of them let these injuries happen to you."

"Accidents happen, Jamesy. Things made it past them."

"Nothing will make it past me." His lips traced another injury, slightly higher up, and he murmured, "How many of them did you take to bed?"

"Jealous, James?"

"You see, I have no reason to be jealous, bunny. For I am the one in your bed."

I rolled onto my back just as he reached my neck with his mouth. He focused there for a moment and I asked, "James, why have you stayed in my bed for fifteen years?"

"Because there is never a dull moment in your bed, my princess. There is never a dull moment in your life."

"So it isn't just my bed you want to be in then, James. You are my knight."

"I will always be your knight. That's what I'm here for, bunny. Now, we have four hours still until this house begins to buzz with the excitement of the night."

"And shouldn't you sleep some? Shouldn't you be prepared for your night? It is hunting night."

"I could just take a little bite of you before I go. Just a little nibble." He buried his face in my neck and I giggled and swatted him.

"Quit it," I scolded. "Get your sleep. I need mine too."

"As you wish, princess." I rolled onto my side and he curled into my back. His arm looped around my waist and he threaded his fingers through mine. He murmured, "When are you going to kick me out of your bed?"

"When you force me to," I replied with a yawn.

"I'll try to stay your hand, bunny."

I rolled over so I could curl deeper into James's side and groaned, "It's so hot in the south."

"Imagine how you feel, bunny. All you are is a ball of warmth. And you're pressed into my side," he growled back, his eyes still closed.

"Because you're cool and hard and this mattress is so soft and if I move, I'm going to open that canopy and you're going to catch fire. So don't whine too much about my little ball of warmth," I snarked back.

"Asshole."

"Such language, James. You should speak better to a lady."

"I just had my mouth all over this lady's body. I think I'm allowed to talk to her however I wish."

James and I had been sleeping together for thirty years. He'd been thwarting attempts on my life for ages and I'd been repaying him by annoying the hell out of him and spending my days in his bed. Of course, I was regularly visited during the day by the demons that walked the daylight hours. And, when those did visit, I was required to pull on a dress and join them in the sitting area. James hated those visits the most because he couldn't be there beside me, making sure I was safe. The day before those visits, he always made me train for hours on end. I grumbled, "I think you're taking a lot of liberties with me, James. You are my knight."

"And you are my princess. And I am the only one you've bedded for thirty three years, bunny. Don't pretend I'm just the one who saves your life. If it were that, you would have bored of me ages ago."

"So what are you, Jamesy?"

"Haven't you heard the others talk, bunny? I'm your Prince Charming."

"I was around when that story was written, Jamesy, and I've never heard of a vampire Prince Charming."

"Who says Prince Charming shouldn't be individualized to the person?"

"So are you saying that you're going to find me in a sea of women and slip a shoe on my foot to be able to tell if it's me?"

"Bunny, I could find you in a sea of women by your scent alone. Dear God do I love your scent."

He leaned down and pressed his nose into my hair to inhale deeply and I taunted, "Vampires don't love, remember."

"I think any of them would make an exception for you, bunny."

"Including you?" I asked.

"Bunny, don't ask stupid questions. I'm in your bed, only with you. I listen to every command I've been given, except the ones which would make your life unbearably easy, and the ones you give in bed."

"That's just because you like it better when I take charge in bed," I teased.

He groaned and rolled so that he was pressed down against me, pressing his face into my neck. He commanded, "Go back to sleep, princess."

"Make me, Prince Charming."

"I will break your neck, bunny."

"You never will."

"I loathe you."

"You've loathed me for fifty years and you've never broken my neck."

"Yet…"

We were interrupted by a knocking on the bedroom door and I pushed him off of me so I could sit up. I called out, "Yes, Father?"

"There are people here to see you, sweetest. Cover your pet until the window is covered and then bring him with you. Do you know what time it is?" Father's voice was always filled with laughter, like he was constantly playing a game with me.

"It's two, right?"

"No, dearest. It's almost seven o'clock. Dusk will be setting soon. You can't lay about in bed all day. Angelus is coming to see you." Father's voice was filled with laughter as he walked away.

James groaned and wrapped his arm around my waist to drag me backwards into bed. He growled, "I hate when Angelus visits. And I hate you for keeping me awake all day."

"I dislike Angelus too. He's making poor decisions currently but they'll lead him to…" I trailed off and grabbed my head and James sighed.

"I don't understand why you do this so often, bunny." He soothed his fingers through my hair and down my back. "Princess, you are the most complicated, irritating human I've ever met. And that includes the ones I've tried to feed on who have tried to kill me."

"I like to keep you on your toes," I whined through the pain.

"I know you do, bunny. Come on now. Quit thinking about the future. Get your ass out of bed and get dressed."

"Crass, crass, crass," I scolded. "It's as if you're trying to keep me in this bed all day."

He rolled me towards the canopy on the opposite side of my window. I slid out of bed and closed the window so James could follow me. As he yanked his trousers on, I pulled on my royal garb and James slid behind me to lace it up. He said, "You've kept me up all damn day. I'm going to be exhausted through the night."

"Take a bite then. A little one. Just one to tide you over until lunch."

"You are too delicious."