(Six Months Later…)

Faith stood on the balcony, inhaling in the fresh, crisp October air as the sun lingered high in the sky over Cleveland. She smiled as the sliding door opened behind her and warm hands slipped over her hips as warm, soft lips kissed over her neck softly.

"They're on their way," Buffy whispered as Faith turned in her arms. "I put the coffee on."

"Better make some tea too, for Giles."

"Yeah, the kettle is on too."

Faith smiled, leaning in to kiss her, loving how Buffy's whole body just melted into hers instantly. When she let her go, she just watched her walk back inside their apartment, picking up a few of their clothes off the living room floor and disappearing into the bedroom.

Six months, she could hardly believe the changes that had happened in just six months. The blood transfusion had worked despite the risks and the doubts the military doctors had had, and even though the three of them were weak for days, it didn't take them long to bounce back to their normal selves. They spent three weeks on that ship, the ship sailing for the east coast as news came in every day of the infected being killed off everywhere, not just by regular people, but by hundreds of slayers and armies from other nations, from all over the world. They docked in New York City on a rainy, cold day in April, and what they were greeted with was the sight of a city virtually untouched by the epidemic that had swept through the rest of the nation.

While there was no cure, Faith had been one of the lucky ones and she knew it, more than anyone, that fate had been on her side then and it still was. The country was struggling in the aftermath of the epidemic, but together they grew stronger, fighting back, taking back what was theirs, fixing the mess that was left behind, rebuilding towns and cities as quickly as they could. There was still a long way to go yet, but Cleveland had bounced back rather quickly, half the city occupied by survivors, the other half empty and still being rebuilt, the walls that surrounded the city, cutting it off from the rest of the state and the hordes of infected that were still out there, kept them safe. Protected.

Over two hundred slayers were there in Cleveland, because the Hellmouth was there and it was very much active, more so than it ever had been before. Half of them patrolled at night, the other half went beyond the walls, killing every infected they could before they pulled back, returning the next day and the days that followed. As the months passed, things changed and now they were there, living within the safety of those walls that would one day be taken down.

As for her and Buffy, it hadn't even been a discussion when they landed in Cleveland just two short months ago, they just found an apartment together and just like that, they were living together. Nobody else questioned it either, they didn't have to, not when Buffy had put her foot down and told them all that if they had a problem with Faith being her girlfriend then she would effectively cut them out of her life, just like that. Of course they didn't have a problem with them being together, but it had been weird for Faith at first and only because this was the first time she had found herself in a relationship she didn't want to run from, that all she wanted was to stay and to come home every night and fall asleep in Buffy's arms in their big, cosy bed.

It took Buffy just as long to talk about Dawn and when she had, Faith held her all night long, letting her cry against her endlessly. But ever since then, they didn't talk about Dawn, about Angel, or about all the things that they had to live through, or about how they managed to survive at all. Nobody talked about it, nobody wanted to remember, they only wanted to move on.

Faith slipped her hand into the front pocket of her jeans, her thoughts suddenly wavering back to the fact that the ring in her pocket brought all her thoughts right back down to one thing. Buffy. While she wasn't sure if she would actually propose or tell her that the ring was just a promise, she knew deep in her heart that what they had, it was only going to grow and they would grow stronger together, their love would grow and yeah, they would fight because that was what they did, what any normal couple did, but they would always come back to each other and weather whatever storm they had to face together. And the ring itself was simple, just a little diamond on a silver band. It was all she could afford, but she knew Buffy would love it all the same because it wasn't just some ring.

In that moment Faith knew what she was going to do with it. Her heart started to race as the butterflies took flight in her stomach and the nerves settled in. They hadn't been together for long, but everything just felt so right and it felt like they had been together forever at this point. She wondered if it was too soon, if Buffy would freak and be the one to run from this, from her. They'd been through so much in the last year and they had come such a long way.

Originally her plan had been to ask Buffy in front of their friends, their family, and that was why Faith had invited them over for coffee and tea. Buffy had asked her why that morning and she had played it off as just wanting to spend time with them, without dozens of junior slayers around. While it wasn't a lie, she did want to spend time with them, she was starting to have her doubts now that asking Buffy to marry her in front of them was a good idea.

"Faith?" Buffy called out and she stepped inside, shutting the sliding door behind her. "Faith, have you seen my necklace?"

Faith sighed and walked into the bedroom and stopped just inside the open doorway. She leaned up against the frame and watched as Buffy went through the dresser drawers frantically. "What necklace are ya looking for, babe?"

"Hers," she said quietly. "The one Dawnie gave me. I can't find it anywhere."

Faith was next to her in an instant and she took her hands in her own. "B, when was the last time you had it on?"

"Two days ago and I swear I put it—"

"Two days ago, when you came home from patrol and jumped me in the living room? You practically tore my clothes and your own off and had your naughty little way with me on the floor between the couch and the coffee table."

"Ugh," Buffy grunted as she pushed at Faith's shoulders and stormed out of the bedroom.

Faith followed her, grinning as she watched her crawl on the floor on her hands and knees between the couch and the coffee table, one hand sliding under the couch and feeling around desperately, determinedly. After a moment, Faith joined her in the search, checking between couch cushions and under the arm chair. She dropped to her knees and felt under the chair slowly and carefully until her fingers hit a cool silver chain.

With a smile, she pulled the necklace out, the dainty cross almost shining in the light that bathed in through the windows. Buffy groaned as she dropped her head and her shoulders shook, feeling as defeated as she looked and growing more upset by the second at her lost necklace, the only thing she had that once belonged to Dawn and slipped into one of her bags the day that she died.

"B?"

"I can't find it, Faith, god I—"

"Hey," Faith said as she knelt down beside her and placed a hand on her back. "I found it, it's okay," she smiled as she held it out to her, watching her eyes shine with happiness as she grabbed the necklace from Faith's fingers and flung her arms around her tightly. "It was under the chair."

"Thank you," she trembled as she pulled back and peppered feather light kisses over Faith's lips. "I don't know what I would do if I'd lost it for real."

"I don't know either, B, but it's not lost, not anymore."

"I know."

Faith watched as she fingered the broken clasp sadly and then she was laughing as her hazel eyes filled with tears again. Faith wasn't sure what was so funny and she cocked her head to the side, watching Buffy as she laughed and laughed before she threw her arms around her again.

And that's when she knew that this was the moment, the moment to ask her because despite the emotions that Buffy had gone through thinking that Dawn's necklace was lost forever, this was the moment and there was no telling when there'd be another one that felt so right.

"Buffy?" Faith asked softly as she placed her hands on Buffy's hips and gently eased her back so she could look at her fully. "Buffy, I love you."

"I know, I love you too."

"Can I just…" Faith sighed as she felt her fingers trembling as the nerves and her own emotions flooded through her all at once. "I love you and we've come so far that sometimes I feel like this is all some kind of a dream, a really fucking amazing dream and I never want to wake up if it is. I love what we have and hell, I even love what we had to go through to get where we are right now. I'd say I'd do it all over again, but not live through actual hell just to get the girl in the end."

"Faith, I—"

Faith reached into her pocket and curled a fist around the ring before pulling her hand out slowly. "I don't know what the future holds for either of us, but I want it to be together. I want a future with you just like this, maybe even better than this, I don't know, all I know is that I want to spend my life with you," she felt her voice cracking, her heart racing, her lips growing dry as she took in the sight of Buffy before her. "At first this was supposed to just be a promise," she continued as she opened up her hand and Buffy's eyes flicked down to the ring sitting in the middle of her palm. "But it's more than just a promise, isn't it?"

"Faith, are you—I mean we—Faith—"

"I've never been with anyone like you, Buffy. I've never even been in a relationship that I ran from at the first signs of things becoming serious and more committed than anything I've been through, but not with you. It's never felt like that with you. I love you and I don't even know when I fell in love with you, I just did and when I realized it myself, I knew I was never gonna let you go. I didn't know that we'd ever get a chance to get to where we are now, but everything is different now and the whole world is changing. I know I've changed and I know it's because of you."

"No," Buffy said softly, shaking her head. "You changed because of you."

"I used to think that being in a relationship was like standing on the edge of a cliff with no where to run as the tide started to rise, but it's not like that at all. I don't feel trapped with you, I feel safe. I've never had a place to call home, but here and with you, this is home. Wherever you are, wherever we are, I will always feel like I'm home because of you. God, B, our lives aren't perfect, far from perfect, but that doesn't matter because I'm with you."

Faith licked over her lips, feeling tears prick at her eyes as Buffy looked at her with so much love and adoration that it was almost too much, almost. She reached for Buffy's left hand, both of them shaking as Faith held the ring just over her ring finger, watching as Buffy started to breathe heavily, her tears flowing freely now as their eyes locked in an intense gaze.

"I was going to do it, you know with everyone else here, but then I started having doubts that maybe that wasn't the greatest idea cos you know me, I would've bailed on that idea before I could say anything, before I could…" She trailed off and laughed in spite of herself. "I don't know what made this moment feel like the right moment, it just did and I knew as soon as I handed you Dawnie's necklace that this was the moment, you know?"

"Faith…"

"I think I'm hanging out with Willow too much cos here I am, babbling like a lovestruck fool and I haven't even asked you yet."

Everything grew quiet as Buffy moved closer to her, their lips only a hairsbreadth apart. Faith kissed her softly, smiling as Buffy kissed her right back just as soft. She wanted to keep kissing her, she wanted to ask her, she wanted to take her to bed and forget that they had company on their way over and would be there any minute now. Hell, screw the bed, she wanted to take her right where they were and make love for hours and hours on an end.

"Ask me now."

"Marry me," she whispered, her heart racing as Buffy just stared into her eyes. "Marry me, B."

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yes, yes I'll marry you, Faith," Buffy laughed and they both held their breath as Faith slid the ring on her finger and the moment it was in place, Buffy was kissing her with everything she had.

It was kind of a ridiculous little moment too, because that's how the others found them, on their knees on the floor, kissing and laughing and crying happy tears together.

And then, when the others realized what was happening, Faith and Buffy were pulled up to their feet, four sets of arms wrapped around them both in an instant.

And it was perfect. An ending and a beginning all at once and she was happy and she was alive.

THE END