I was a fool

For a moment everything went white before changing to black, as Dawn tried as hard as she could to open her eyes. When she could feel herself slipping back into reality, she suddenly felt the feeling of big, soft lips pressed against hers. She was finally able to open her eyes, and the first thing she saw were Faith's deep and happy eyes looking longingly back into hers.

Flesh against flesh brought out an uncontrolled moan that escaped Dawn's lips as she stared wide-eyed into space. Then she asked cautiously, "Uh, Faith…"

"Yeah, brat," replied Faith with a grin as her hand went to caress the young cheek of a confused Dawn.

"Uh…mmm…are you…are you naked?" asked Dawn uneasily then released a heavy sigh when she felt Faith's bare leg move itself between her thighs.

Faith chuckled in amusement as she replied, "Do you want me to be?" She licked Dawn's pulse point, releasing an even heavier moan from the teen.

"Ahh," whimpered Dawn as she felt Faith's thigh add more pressure to the young girl's cunt.

Faith stayed in her position over the young and now aroused Dawn, staring longingly into Dawn's eyes as she chuckled huskily at the girl's reaction.

"Oh, come on, Dawnie…I haven't even done anything remotely moanable yet. You're thinking ahead, aren't you?" teased Faith as she watched the young girl's aroused expression.

Wait…what am I doing in bed with Faith? Dawn thought to herself as flashes of the recent encounter with The First Slayer flew back into her thoughts, while staring blankly up at a wondering slayer. What did she tell me? Damn it, I can't remember!

She's so beautiful…God! Why does it feel as though I've known her my whole life? She makes me feel so goddamn hot! Faith thought to herself as she lowered her lips to an oblivious Dawn and kissed the girl tenderly.

Dawn, who squealed in surprise, quickly loosened up when she felt Faith's tongue begging for entrance into her mouth. She parted her lips and sighed as she felt Faith's tongue seek hers out in a loving kiss. After a few moments of kissing, Faith's hands began their loving caresses on Dawn's partly exposed stomach. Dawn moaned in approval. As the moments passed and as the kisses soon turned hungry and passionate, it took all of Dawn's strength to break away from the pleasurable kiss and caresses from Faith.

"Faith, wait…" said Dawn out of breath.

Faith looked at the young girl in both confusion and worry as she panted heavily and tried to ignore the powerful urge to kiss Dawn again.

"What is it, Dawn, I thought you liked this?" asked Faith as she continued to caress Dawn's partly exposed stomach.

"I…do…I really, really do. But…" Dawn attempted to continue, but was having trouble doing so due to Faith's lips falling onto hers in a rough, demanding kiss. Dawn struggled to break away.

"I get it…you like it rough and demanding…don't you?" asked Faith with a wild grin on her lips as Dawn struggled to recover from the all-to-quick mind-blowing kiss.

"Huh…I…that's not…mmm," Dawn tried to continue, but Faith's lips attacked hers once again with the same demanding hunger.

Dawn kissed Faith back with the same amount of force, moaning into the kiss with each private touch from Faith's hands, and from the feel of Faith's all to addictive and talented tongue against hers. Faith's hand was very close as the rim of Dawn's pants when Dawn became aware of the fact that at any moment she'd be at Faith's mercy. So Dawn abruptly pushed the aroused slayer off her while practically throwing herself off the bed. On the floor and panting heavily, Dawn tried to get up, but immediately fell back down on her ass when she felt a stinging pain on the flat of her feet.

"What the hell?" said Dawn out loud, clenching her teeth in pain while trying to examine her feet, searching for the reason for the pain.

Faith moved away from the covers of the bed to position herself to watch the young girl.

"What's wrong?" she asked while trying to rid herself of the disappointment in Dawn's apparently not in the mood actions.

"Oh shit!" exclaimed Dawn as she examined the blisters on the flats of her feet, her eyes going bug-eyed as well as Faith's.

"What the hell?" exclaimed Faith, quickly jumping off the bed to sit next to the pained teen. "Dawnie, what the hell is this?" she asked as she carefully examined each foot as Dawn hissed at the pain.

"It was this…this…well…I don't know what it was. I think it was some kinda of dream," explained Dawn as she leaned into Faith's shoulder, hissing at the pain.

"What kind of dream was it?" asked Faith, watching Dawn with a worried expression.

"I don't know. All I remember is the feeling of hot fireballs passing through me…then waking up in this desert place where this…"

"Shit, this shouldn't have happened…this wasn't the plan," interrupted Faith, who seemed to be talking more to herself rather than to Dawn as she moved away from the injured teen to reach for the first aid kit on the dresser in front of them.

"What do you mean, Faith? What's going on?" asked Dawn as she lightly touched the burnt and blistering skin on the flats of her feet.

"Nothing," responded Faith in an almost unheard response.

"What do you mean, 'nothing'…obviously there's something going on?" questioned Dawn, clenching her teeth and hissing at both the pain and the look of the burnt skin on her feet.

"Just, nothing…forget about it…"

"How can I forget about it? I knew that dream was real…it felt way too real to just be a dream. And now I'm hurt…don't you care?" asked Dawn as she stared at the almost depressed looking slayer as she waited for an answer.

"Of course I care, Dawn…" replied Faith, refusing to look Dawn straight in the eye and finding the floor to be more interesting.

"Then what's going on, Faith? The last thing I remember is that weird spell we did and then that weird dream and then…"

"Yes, Dawn, I know, ok, I was fucking there, already!" yelled Faith as she brought her hand to cover her face for a moment before letting it fall weightlessly.

"What happened then…what's going on?" asked Dawn as the past suspicion came back to her with a vengeance and watched the seemingly depressed slayer.

"Dawn…I really didn't want to be the one to tell you this…"

"Tell me what, Faith! You want to tell me why the hell I'm not in my room...care to explain why I'm suddenly in my PJ's?" asked Dawn with firmness in her voice and watching the slayer tense up.

"I put your PJ's on for you after I carried you from the living room of your house to the bedroom of the safe house…"

"You what!" exclaimed Dawn as she moved her hands to cover her chest, staring in disbelief at the knowledge of what Faith had done while she was unconscious.

"Yeah…" said Faith in a low and ashamed voice, trying to avoid the look of shock and what seemed like betrayal on the young teen's face.

"Did you touch…"

"Of course not! No fuckin' way!" snapped Faith then waited a moment to calm her voice down before continuing. "I avoided touching every private area. I kept my goddamn eyes closed and only looked when I was trying to find your fuckin' arm and put it through the goddamn sleeves and shit!"

"How can I believe that?" asked Dawn as she watched the flustered slayer try and find the right words to use next.

"Because I know that you'd hate me forever if I peeked at you. Goddamn it, Dawn, I'm not a fucking rapist…I'd never do that to you…I couldn't!" continued Faith as she tried to reassure Dawn.

Dawn shook her head in disbelief at what she heard, struggling to ask another question.

"Faith…"

"Dawn, please don't ask…"

"I have the right to know what else you did when I was out!" yelled Dawn. Faith snapped her head back to study the wall on her right.

"Ok…you're right…you need to know…" admitted Faith as she began to feel even more depressed.

"That spell..."

"Jesus…"

"Don't fucking interrupt!" commanded Dawn as she tried to keep herself from shaking in both anger and sadness. Faith shut her mouth and tried to remain completely still as she waited for Dawn to ask her again. "That spell…what the fuck was it?" asked Dawn as her mind instantly flashed back to the moments shared between herself and Faith while the spell took place.

"It was just a spell, Dawnie…"

"The fuck it was! Tell me the truth," Dawn almost pleaded as she watched the slayer in front of her shut her eyes in what appeared to be fear.

Dawn waited for the slayer to respond for what seemed like hours before asking, "Faith…remember what you said to me while that spell was going on?"

Faith refused to look at the teen, she simply responded, "Yes."

Dawn kept her eyes glued to the dark slayer and continued, "You told me to trust you."

"Yes," replied Faith again as simply as she could and moved her eyes to the floor.

"Then tell me about that spell? Why was everyone avoiding eye contact with me?" asked Dawn.

Faith opened her mouth to reply. "They…"

"Don't even feed me that bull! You know they wouldn't make eye contact with me because they were hiding something from me…and you know why!" said Dawn as she knowingly predicted what Faith was going to say as an excuse. "Tell me the truth, Faith…you told me to trust you…so help me to. Let me know that you'll tell me the truth when I ask for it," stated Dawn as she watched the dark slayer's depressed features.

"Ok, Dawn…I'll tell you," replied Faith, tilting her head downward to hide the fear and sorrow upon her depressed features.

"The spell," Dawn reminded Faith, as she waited impatiently for Faith to tell her the truth.

"Dawnie…the spell wasn't just a protection spell. It was partly a lie to get you to do it willingly…" started Faith, taking in a long breath of air when she noticed the questioning expression on Dawn's face out of the corner of her eye. "The spell… Think of it as a ceremony…a wedd…"

"WHAT! YOU MARRIED ME!" screamed Dawn at the top of her lungs as she jumped onto her feet, looking as if to physically attack Faith, but quickly collapsed to the floor when she felt the seething pain in her feet.

"Ok, so maybe that wasn't the best way to describe it," said Faith, avoiding the enraged look in Dawn's eyes. "Ok, ok, think of it like this…hmmm…a physical, emotional, and mental bond to each other…that kind of spell," Faith tried to explain.

Dawn seemed to be stuck between rage and confusion as she questioned, "What does that mean?"

Faith glanced at Dawn for a second as she tried to think of a good definition to the word 'bond'. After a moment of thought, she replied, "A strong force of attraction holding atoms together in a molecule or crystal, resulting from the sharing or transfer of electrons."

"Nice try, Faith, but we're not exactly molecules and atoms in the scientific term of 'bond', if you know what I mean," replied Dawn as she kept her eyes glued to the floor in front of her. Faith turned around to face the angered teen.

"No, maybe not, Dawnie, but I know that what we feel for each other is very chemical…the purist of physical attraction…and when we hold each other and really connect…it's like…like we form something beautiful, we form a crystal which is two hearts beating for one reason…"

"And what reason is that," interrupted Dawn as she watched Faith curiously.

The slayer continued, "…love."

As soon as that four-letter word escaped Faith's lips, Dawn stared at her with mixed emotions, shown in a mass of confusion on the young girl's features.

"How can I believe that? I was a fool to believe that you actually loved me, Faith. I don't know what the hell I was thinking when I actually believed you when you said you loved me. How can a person fall madly in love with someone that they've only known for less than a week?" asked Dawn as Faith struggled to respond without breaking down in tears.

"They can't," Faith finally managed to say.

"That's right…they can't, no one can…but…" said Dawn. She stopped for a moment, to place her hand on the necklace that Faith had given her, then she continued, "…but I did…" finished Dawn as she moved her hands to the back of her neck to unhitch the silver chained necklace as Faith watched in pain. With the necklace in her hands, Dawn continued her speech.

"This whole thing was a lie, Faith. You can't love…at least, you can't love me." And with that, she threw the necklace to the floor and avoided Faith's stone-old features as she continued, "Please leave."

"I can't," Faith managed to reply.

"LEAVE!" yelled Dawn. Faith stood as still as a stone as her eyes fell on the necklace that rested not far from her feet.

"At least let me bandage your feet…"

"I can do it on my own," interrupted Dawn as tears began to fall down her hurt face.

Faith decided that she should go before she angered Dawn any more, so she left the room that she had hoped to share with Dawn for as long as possible, but obviously it had been enough. It didn't seem that things would be going as well as she would have hoped.

I guess the honeymoon is over, thought Faith as she picked up the phone to call the Summers' residence to inform Buffy about Dawn's health.