The Path To Redemption
Chapter 10
Author: twin who likes to travel
Rating: R
Summary: Dawn and Faith realize their feelings for each other are getting stronger. Faith is the first to question herself on if she wants them to get stronger. The Scooby gang and Faith are surprised in the morning after Dawn's birthday.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Reviews: I would like them Constructive criticism is ok.
Author's notes: This chapter is rated R because the people responsible for the surprise are caught in a more revealing position than in the season eight comic books. Also, I edited the timeline for Our Love to go along with this story. I originally said that the first started two years after "Chosen". Now, it will be about half that time.
A few minutes later, Dawn's room
"So do all of you have your own rooms here?"
"Not all of us, Just Giles and the original Scooby gang, Xander helped with remodeling the inside so the others share rooms like they're in a college dorm or an army barracks."
"That's cool I guess. So what's up with that Satsu chick? How long has she had her sights set on B? And does B have any idea?"
"Pretty much since day one. I think Buffy knows Satsu likes her. I just don't know if she can tell how much."
"How long has she been here?'
"Around a couple of weeks. She's a quick learner, and Buffy seems to think that she could make a good leader after we're finished setting up teams around the world. The spell Willow cast had to have some consequences. Apparently, it increased demon activity around the world to make up for the growing number of slayers."
"Ok, so uh…where am I sleeping?"
"I think all of the beds are taken in the other rooms. So if you want to…you can crash here."
"Thanks, got a sleeping bag?"
"The bed's big enough for the two of us as long as you don't try anything."
"'Whatever ya say, D."
"Good, now turn around for a minute."
"Why?"
"So I can change for bed."
"Aight," Faith relented as she turned around to grant the other girl's request.
Faith smirked quietly when she spotted a mirror on the wall and glimpsed long enough for a view of Dawn from behind. She nearly licked her lips at the sight of Dawn only in her underwear. She quickly focused on a different wall to be on the safe side.
"Ok, you can turn around now."
"Cute pajamas," Faith complimented at the sight of teddy bears printed all over them, making Dawn blush.
"Would you like to borrow some?" Dawn offered.
"No, I'm good," Faith claimed before she kicked off her boots and took off her jeans.
She walked with a slightly seductive swagger on her trip to the bed. Then she slowly climbed under the covers. She smirked at how the younger girl had almost ogled her and gulped at the sound of her jeans hitting the floor. Faith teased her by patting the space to her left before lifting up the covers to make it easier for the other girl to join her.
"I…I need to go brush my teeth. I'll…I'll be…right back."
"Ok," Faith replied as she watched Dawn basically run from the room with a small bag in her hands.
"So you two are really starting your vacation tomorrow?" Faith began after Dawn returned and cautiously joined the brunette in bed.
"Yeah, you can use my room while we're gone if you want to."
"That'll be great. Thanks, D."
"You're welcome."
"Where do ya plan on going, and how long will ya be gone?" Faith asked as she moved a little closer to Dawn.
"I think we're going to go check out some places we never got to go to back home then some other European countries like Spain, France, and Italy."
"Keep in touch, ok? Maybe send me a postcard or two."
"S-Sure," Dawn stuttered as Faith leaned in to kiss her.
Faith smirked at how nervous the other girl was getting the closer she got. Dawn closed her eyes and held her breath but exhaled as she felt soft lips touch her forehead. Before she opened her eyes, she felt those same lips caress hers.
"F-Faith wh-what d-did y-you th-think y-you w-were d-doing?" Dawn stuttered again.
"I was kissing you. I've done it before."
"But why?"
"Because I like seeing how you react when I do stuff like that. B seemed to get a little bit more distracted or whatever when I would do that to her."
"Could you not talk about doing that with my sister when I'm around?"
"Sure thing, but you don't have to worry about that anymore."
"Then you're not going to be hitting on her from now on?"
"Yeah, so did you like it? Me kissing you I mean."
"It was…nice." Nice? Come on, you liked it more than that.
"Good to know. Well, goodnight," Faith asserted as she thought the same thing.
"Goodnight," Dawn echoed as Faith laid her head down on a pillow and closed her eyes.
"You want somethin', D?" Faith questioned after sensing something and opening her eyes to find Dawn gazing at her.
Dawn answered by kissing her just as quickly and softly as Faith had done to her. Another smirk from the brunette got Dawn to blush as she lay down beside her and closed her eyes for the night. Before doing the same, Faith turned off the light.
The next morning, about 8:00 AM, Dawn's bedroom
Dawn awoke first and discovered arms wrapped around her and a body pressed up against her back. She opened them all of the way when she remembered who it was. The brunette had snuggled up against her from behind in their sleep. She didn't know what to do at the moment. It felt both odd and comforting at the same time. The grip the slayer had on her seemed more protective than casual. That even in her sleep, Faith wanted to protect her.
She knew she should be getting up soon. She glanced at the alarm clock to see it was about to go off. The worry of Faith being awakened by the alarm clock and Buffy catching them like that forced her to try and get out of the hold the older girl had on her. She somehow was able to get out of it without moving too much or making noise. The very second she stepped out of bed, the alarm started going off. Dawn tried to shut it off as soon as she could, but Faith was already getting up into a sitting position. She opened her eyes and stretched.
"Sorry, I woke you. I mean I'm sorry the alarm clock woke you," the nervous teenager apologized.
"It's cool. Did ya sleep well?"
"Yeah. I'm…going to take a shower. Buffy and I need to be leaving soon."
"How soon?"
"In about an hour."
"Oh," Faith mumbled in a disappointed tone.
"Something wrong, Faith?"
"Yes…No…I mean maybe."
"Which one is it?"
"It's just that I liked that you did keep in touch after I went to Cleveland and you came here, and it wasn't all about demons. It's like you actually missed me."
"I did," Dawn declared.
"Really?"
"Yeah, don't sound so surprised. You can be really cool when you want to be. I can also tell you're trying to make up for what you did in the past and be our friend."
"I am."
"And I know that we may never be BFF's or friends with benefits. I mean except for the kissing we've already done. Not that I'm saying I want to have sex with you. Or that either one of us is either gay or bisexual. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I mean Willow's gay, and she and Tara were lovers. I mean I know the kisses we've shared were just to see how the other would react. The point I'm trying to make here is that I like that we're getting a second chance to be friends," Dawn babbled and finished with a blush.
The blush got worse for Dawn when she saw that Faith was smirking at her.
"Wow, D. That was some serious babbling. You could have matched Red in a babble fest with that one. And since you kinda brought it up, I'm going to tell you something nobody knows."
"What is it?"
"I'm not exactly completely straight."
"WHAT?" Dawn yelped before Faith could cover her mouth with her hand.
"Not so loud, ok? I have experimented with a few girls. I just didn't make it a habit."
"Wow. I didn't see that coming. So, uh, how far did you get with them? I mean did you…you know?"
Faith answered after another smirk, "I didn't have sex with them. I only kissed one. And with the other one, we both got in some gropin'."
"Over the clothes or under?" Dawn blurted out before she could stop herself.
"Under," Faith revealed after a momentary pause.
"Wow."
"Yeah, don't you have a shower you need to be getting into right now?"
"You're right, I'll be back soon. Maybe we can have breakfast together," Dawn announced as she made her way to the door.
"Aight," Faith agreed and added as Dawn was opening the door, "Dawn."
"Yeah," Dawn responded as she twirled around.
"It wasn't the alarm clock that woke me. It was you getting out of the hold I had you in."
"Oh," Dawn sighed, "How did they get around me anyway?"
"Actually, I was going to ask you the same question."
"Why would I know?"
"Because I woke for a few moments when I felt you wrap my right arm around you. I assumed you were having a nightmare of some kind, so I wrapped the other around you and got as close as I could. Did you have a nightmare?"
"I…I don't think so," Dawn lied as the dream she had came rushing back.
"You're lying," Faith responded after studying the expression on Dawn's face. She continued as the younger girl hesitated, "Come on, tell me. I promise to not make fun of you or tell anyone else."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Ok," Dawn conceded before describing the dream.
Faith continued smirking as Dawn kept talking. In the dream, the moments before they went to sleep went a little differently. After Dawn had commented on the kiss from Faith, the slayer had kissed her again. However this time, Faith had pinned her wrists to the bed before giving her a more intense kiss. Faith had pulled away shortly after that. When Dawn had remained quiet, the older girl began to slowly unbutton the pajama top, starting at the bottom and working her way up. She hadn't stopped her and gasped as Faith's fingertips caressed her skin. It didn't stop there either. Faith had gently pushed the sides of the top back, exposing the bra underneath before kissing the soft skin. She had started at the top this time. The smirk from the slayer had gotten bigger at hearing that Dawn didn't stop her from unbuttoning the top. The dream ended seconds after Faith had teased her by tickling the teenager's belly button with her tongue before lying down and going back to sleep.
"If you want to, we make that dream a reality." Faith teased as she got off the bed and walked over to the younger Summers.
"I-I d-don't th-think s-so," Dawn stuttered while gazing down at the floor in front of her.
"Maybe another time then?" Faith offered as she used her right hand to lift up Dawn's head to look her in the eyes.
"May…," Dawn voiced lightly until realizing what she was saying and abruptly left the room.
Faith chuckled as she put on her jeans. She liked having Dawn in her arms and was a little bummed when it was over. The possibly of what this could mean began to worry her. The first time a guy said "I love you." to her and possibly meant it, she broke up with him. He was a nice guy, and she rejected him because she didn't feel the same way. She thought that maybe they were right about her never falling in love. Then this somewhat innocent girl started unintentionally messing with her head. Now she had to rethink the whole idea of whether or not she could fall in love. The only one that had come close to that in the past was a short blonde, who just happened to be the sister of the girl currently messing with her head.
Faith had waited for the younger girl, who returned around ten minutes later in a different set of clothes. The two shared a smile before making their way down the stairs to the dining room. When they reached the room, they saw that the only ones not there were Buffy and a few slayers. One of the missing ones just happened to be Satsu.
"Hi, guys," Dawn greeted them cheerfully while Faith trailed behind her at a safe distance.
"Hi, Dawnie," Willow said in a better mood then she had been in after her breakup with Kennedy. Dawn groaned when the redhead spoke to the girl behind her in a cold tone, "Hello, Faith."
"Hi, Red," Faith called out casually.
"Where's Buffy?" Dawn questioned to draw attention away from the witch and the slayer.
"I don't know. I haven't seen her since she was dancing and drinking with Satsu last night. I warned her about not drinking too much beer even though it couldn't have been tainted."
"Uh, Satsu isn't here either," Xander interrupted, "You don't think that she…That they….you know…hooked up?"
"Well, there's only one way to find out," Faith insisted with a smirk as she suddenly spun around and ran the way to Buffy's bedroom.
Xander, Willow, and Dawn were following very close behind her. If Faith had instantly stopped, Dawn would have crashed into her. When they didn't hear anything, they motioned for Dawn to be the one to knock on the door.
"Buffy, are you awake?" Dawn inquired while she knocked as requested. When they didn't hear anything the younger Summers knocked again and spoke at a slightly louder volume, "Buffy, are you in there?"
The Scoobies were getting worried, but Faith was thinking that Xander was possibly right for a change. The thought of the Japanese girl obsessing over the blonde actually getting somewhere with her made the brunette smirk as big as she had during Dawn's babble fest.
"Step aside, D," Faith ordered as she stepped up to the door and slowly opened it, "Yo, B, you alive in here? DAMN!"
"OH MY GOD!" Dawn yelled after what she was seeing sunk in, which was followed by Willow immediately closing the door behind them.
The shock of seeing their leader naked in bed with another girl was definitely justified. Buffy was on her back with the covers not entirely over her. Slightly over half of her chest was hidden, but the rest of the covers were lying in diagonal angle. So her right leg and crotch were also hidden while she was totally exposed on the left side from her hip down to her foot. Satsu was lying on her left side and holding covers to her body just enough to expose her entire back and half of her butt. The shouts from Dawn and Faith had shaken Buffy and Satsu from their sleep.
"It's…It's not what it looks like," Buffy explained poorly after making sure she was covered enough before sitting up, "And why didn't you knock?"
"We did," Dawn confirmed, "You just didn't hear us."
"So then you two didn't have sex, you just wanted to see what it would like to sleep naked together with a girl?" Faith nearly taunted before breaking down into a laugh that was shortened by a light smack to her right arm from Dawn.
"Yeah," Buffy stated before glancing at the girl beside her, who was just as covered as her.
The blonde then let out a small groan when Satsu just sighed.
"Honestly, Buffy, just admit that you were curious about what it would be like," the redhead demanded.
"Ok, I was curious. Can you leave it alone right now? I need to get ready to leave, and Satsu needs to get dressed as well."
When her friends were gone, the blonde and the newbie had a talk.
"This isn't going to happen ever again, is it?"
"I'm afraid not."
"Then it's best that I leave," the Japanese girl determined as she got out of the bed without taking any covers with her.
Buffy felt the regret of using the talented newbie like that and hoped she could be forgiven.
"Satsu."
"Yeah," she murmured as the blonde approached with the comforter covering the front of her body.
"I'm sorry if I hurt you. Can you forgive me?"
"Yes, I guess I was crazy to think that this could ever be more than what you told your sister and friends."
"Don't get me wrong; it was amazing. I will never forget it."
"Me too. You were pretty amazing yourself, whether it was your first time with a girl or not."
Buffy leaned in and placed a light kiss on the lips in front of her and moaned softly when a tongue made its way into her mouth. The moan got a little louder when hands gently grabbed her butt.
"SATSU!" Buffy exclaimed as she broke away from the now smiling girl.
"Sorry. It's just that if this is it between us, I wanted to touch you once more," Satsu confessed as she pulled Buffy up against her and concluded while taking Buffy's left hand and placing it on her own butt, "And for you to touch me."
Both girls turned to give the other some privacy as they got dressed. Satsu took a risk and spied over her shoulder long enough to get a peak at the naked blonde from behind. When they were finished, they left the room to join the rest of the group.