Don't Wake Me Up

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters and no copyright infringement intended. I'm just borrowing the characters from the show, if anything, these characters own me.

Authors Note: Thank you to everyone who has already reviewed. Please let me know what you think of the following chapters.

CHAPTER 12

Buffy's POV

I was hoping she would kiss me the other night, but— it's more poetic this way. It wouldn't feel right if we'd kissed right after Angel kissed me. She's— sweet and romantic. Loving in a way I've never known before. It's playful, it's nurturing, healing— I feel stronger than I ever have before. My heart is so full of love for her.

She makes me and Mom breakfast and coffee. She brings a flower she picks on her way to bring me lunch at school every day. It's always something different and she tucks it behind my ear before she leaves. We've been spending a lot of time together. More and more I find myself unwilling to part from her.

It's a constant tugging at my soul. Partly because I want to be where she is and the other I like to think is because she's thinking of me. We still have Adam to deal with— I have no idea how to beat him. I throw everything I've got at him, but it does nothing. I can tell it's getting to Faith.

On the rare nights I actually stay at my dorm she patrols the campus grounds and dorm halls keeping an eye out for funny business. I feel safe knowing she's around. She's been taking on the brunt of slayer duties lately. She thinks I should be more focused on school. My grades are fine— better even. She makes that the foundation of her counter argument when I try to dip out on homework.

"You're smart, B!" She throws at me while tossing a vampire over a tombstone. "You should focus on your homework. At least one slayer in history should graduate college. Why can't it be you?"

"No pressure!" I reply quickly staking a vamp on his descent from a headstone. "You're going to put the ancestors on me? What about you? In case you forgot there are two of us."

"I'll work on it." She shrugs ducking under a mean right hook. "Got to get one through first—"

She takes a hit and lands on her back, but she quickly jumps to her feet staking the vamp with a swift back hand.

"Then—" she continues uppercutting a vamp coming from behind her. "I'll go. You'd do the same for me, right?"

"Of course I would!" I reply kicking my next vamp in the chest. "You know I want to see you succeed."

"Then what's the problem?" she asks focusing her attention on me for a second.

"What do you— mean?" I ask as I narrowly avoiding a kick to the face.

"Why are you out here when you should be at home?" she asks grappling with the vamp that put her in a head lock."

"Why in the— hell do you— think?!" I reply punching my vamp into a daze.

I quickly exterminate just as Faith finishes hers.

"Honestly, I think you're procrastinating." She shrugs. "You've got the stuff, B. If you put more effort into it like you do the slaying— you'd easily compete with Red."

"Slaying is life or death." I point out.

"Yeah, but isn't college? It's your future, Buffy. It's as bright as you make it. I just want to— do my part, you know. Contribute something— to us."

"You already do." I say softly. "Is it so bad that I want us to do it together?"

"No. Just you have a pretty big head start. So, how bout we compromise?"

"Hit me." I remark taking her hand in mine.

"I'll study for my GED. I can study during the day, we can hit the books when you come home. We can do patrol together on the weekends and I've got you covered through the week and major assignments."

"Still sounds like you're doing everything." I reply.

"Not really. I'll get plenty of study time especially with you in the afternoon. Maybe you can help me out with a few things. If you're not overly busy you can always join me or stay home and chill."

It's not a bad compromise. I just feel bad that she's taking on the brunt of slaying, but she's agreed to work on her GED. If she gets it we can go to school together.

"Okay, fine, but—" I stop walking and poke my finger onto her collarbone. "On one condition."

"What's that, Summers." She counters with a flirty wink.

"I want us to really do this together. I'd kind of like to share a dorm room with my girlfriend and walk you to class—"

"Is that what I am?" She asks almost shyly.

Oh, maybe I should have asked Faith before opening my mouth. We haven't really put a label on our relationship yet.

"I-I—" I stutter but she grabs my hand.

"Deal!" she says skipping forward almost giddily. "You know, I've never been walked to class before."

My eyes light up when she turns to look at me with that perfect smile that always looks like a smirk, but it's different. Her eyes are smiling too— I realize. I almost feel like I made her day— calling her that. Girlfriend, it feels nice to say it— while a little weird. I love that something so small made her smile at me like that, but at the same time it breaks my heart.

She's never done this— I realize. This is absolutely something totally new to her and she's thriving. She was meant for so much better than the life she had. All it took was a little bit of— well— faith and she has all of mine.

"I'm so walking you to your first class." I comment and take her arm in mine.

"I'm going to have actual class?"

"Yep!" I say bouncing inside. "Just a couple hours a day."

"Cool. I'll make sure I can still bring you lunch though."

"I'm a big girl. I can feed me. Though I'll miss you— it's okay, we'll have all of college to spend together. We could even have the same classes!"

"You think so?" She asks trying not to show she's excited.

"Oh yeah. I have tons of them with upperclassmen. Though you might be a bit of a distraction."

"Why's that?"

I squeeze her arm and shrug my shoulders.

"Reasons. None of them entirely your fault. Mostly."

"Spill it already, Summers. Don't leave me hanging."

"You've— got— a supernaturally wicked sex appeal."

"Is that you talking or the post slayage hormones?

"Mostly me. My hormones are just hungry."

She blushes and nods her head.

"Glad you think so." She mumbles hiding her smile. "So, nothing low cut and tight in all the right places— got it."

"Hey!" I pout as we make our way to the sidewalk. "Don't rob me. I don't want to sit through boring physics with nothing to look at."

She looks at me in surprise. I don't think she's quite used to my actively flirting with her. Can she really blame me though? She's gorgeous and okay— I've thought about it. I can have an extremely high libido and so can she apparently. I hope by the time she's in college we've done— it— by then.

I don't know though. She hasn't even made the move to kiss me. It's come close a couple times, but I can tell she's afraid of screwing it up. It'll happen when it happens. I don't want to pressure her. She's making big changes in her life and— I want it to be at her pace. 'When she's ready' kind of thing— though I'll admit— it's a little torturous at times, but I'm still loving it.

Who says she has to make the first move? I can be 'First Move Buffy'! Maybe she wants to and doesn't know how. Yeah! I should take the lead here. It might even encourage her to do the same and I know exactly what to do. A date. A real one.

"I can work with that." She notes, jarring me from my thoughts.

"Go on a date me." I blurt out randomly, rather than ask.

"What?" She stops in the middle of the empty street.

"Sorry, I probably should have asked instead of—"

"No, it's cool! I-I just wasn't expecting it. Kind of came out of nowhere. Actually, I've been— meaning to ask you. Looks like you beat me to it."

She starts walking again and retakes my hand.

"You can still ask if you want. The answer is yes, by the way."

She grins and briefly looks away.

"What did you have in mind?" She asks scuffing her boots against the pavement.

"Well, food."

"Definitely, food," she giggles in response.

"I don't know. I haven't been on an actual date in a long time. What are the cool kids doing these days?"

"Still hitting up the Bronze."

"Nah, been there— done that."

I think for a minute and she appears to be in deep thought. What can we do that we haven't already done? Sunnydale isn't that exciting— but who says the date has to be in Sunnydale? Why don't we hit L.A for a night?! Hell a weekend! But that might have to wait until Adam's defeated and I don't think first dates are supposed to last an entire weekend.

Then again we haven't exactly been doing things the way normal people do. We aren't normal people so why would we? I think things are progressing at a normal pace, we were sort of close before— so some hurdles have just already been crossed. I'm comfortable with Faith. I should call Angel.

He said that we were welcome anytime in L.A. He's a really forgiving guy. Yes, definitely calling him next time she's out on patrol. I'm sure she'll be up for it once the Adam thing wraps up. A no slay, weekend stay in L.A sounds like the perfect date to me.

"Just leave it to me. I have a plan."

"Should I be worried?" She replies with a sly smile.

"Nope. Got it all up here."

"That's what I'm worried about." She mumbles nudging me playfully.

We turn the corner toward Mom's and I kiss her hand.

"It's going to be fun and super romantic. Trust me."

"I do." She says stopping and pulling me close.

Her eyes glance down at my lips and for a moment I think she might actually kiss me this time. She rests her forehead against mine and her breath tickles my lips tauntingly.

"You know, the best date I ever had ended up an all out bar brawl?" She asks half chuckling, but I can see it's not exactly a good memory. "Fun times, sure, but— not really romantic."

"We don't have to do anything super romantic if—"

"I want to." She insists. "I'm just saying— you don't got to try too hard. You could bring me half eaten McDonald's and put a movie on the TV. Boom! Most romantic date ever."

"Oh, no." I tangle my fingers in her wavy hair. "You are so sweet to me and never ask for a thing in return. Nope. Prepare to be wooed. It's inevitable."

"Wooed, huh?" She asks in her raspy low voice sending chills down my spine.

"Yep. Lots of wooing, I hope." I smirk playfully, but the look in her eyes is smoldering.

She takes a deep breath and bites her lip as if indecisive.

"Okay." She says quietly, staring into my eyes. "We should probably deal with Adam first."

"Already on our to do list."

"Right." She whispers as I wrap my arms around her neck. "Just— getting really hard not to—"

"I know." I reply fighting temptation myself. "Date first— I mean— first date. Damn, you're not supposed to kiss on a first date either—"

"Every day feels like a first date with you. Our days are kind precious, you know. If you think about it— we've already done this dance too. Only difference is us."

"Our relationship." I reply in deep thought and she nods. "Look at you being one with the wise and all knowy. What's got into you tonight?"

She shrugs as she backs away reluctantly and we head toward home again.

"Been thinking bout stuff. Future stuff too if you can believe it."

"I do and I noticed. It's— kind of wonderful."

"Sort of part of the battle." She says quietly. "All my life I've been taught one way. Survive. Don't need anything else, but you always want more, you know? Guess I just never felt like I deserved it til now."

"What changed?" I ask resting my head on her shoulder.

As we walk up the back steps she stops in front of the back door and cocks her head.

"I think I did. Because you believed I could."

She chuckles and shakes her head.

"What?" I ask locking our fingers together.

"You—" She gives me a smile. "You've changed my life forever, but you won't do your homework. How's that for a reality check? After everything I did— believing I could change is no easy task, but you didn't just do that— you showed me I could, but homework is more daunting?"

Damn it. She really has been doing a lot of thinking. Too bad for me it was about my homework.

"It's not as hard as you think." I reply seriously. "You're just making it easy. Homework— it just gets harder."

"Kind of like slaying." She nods and I roll my eyes.

"Okay, fine. You're right. You win. I'll focus on my studies more."

"And I will too. Got to catch up after all. Think I'm going to like having a girlfriend on campus."

"For real?!" I respond excitedly. "You're really going to do it?"

"Hey, we have a deal, right?" She shrugs. "Scouts honor or— whatever."

My heart speeds up and I jump into her arms.

"Just you thinking about it is epic!" I squeal as I cuddle against her ear. "I'm so proud of you."

"No big." She says as I press a kiss under her ear.

"Way big." I reply my feet return to the ground. "God, I want to kiss you."

"I haven't done anything yet." She giggles shyly.

"Who says you have to?" I reply biting my lip.

She looks at me with a slight blush on her cheeks and shakes her head.

"I love you, Buffy." She says, taking me aback but then gives me a shocked look. "Uh— yeah— probably shouldn't have said that yet. I mean it— though— I—"

She grabs a handful of her hair and steps away from me with an almost panicked look in her eyes.

"I love you too." I say before she can start pacing.

She drops her hands and closes her eyes.

"Can you say that— one more time?"

"I love you, Faith." I repeat with certainty.

When she opens her eyes she drops onto her knees and looks up at me with a bright smile.

"I've wanted to hear that for a long time." She says softly. "I don't know how to act now that I have. Lots of feelings, you know, in here."

She makes a swirling motion around her heart and I nod.

"I know." I reply kneeling in front of her. "Here, I'll prove it."

I place her hand above my heart and let her feel my racing heart beat.

"That's what you do to me. How I always feel when I think of you. There is no real word to describe how you make me feel, but it's pure and good. I know it."

She says nothing for a moment.

"I kind of feel like an ass for not kissing you before—" She mumbles, but I silence her.

"You're not." I shrug. "We do things our own way. I think that's just how we're going to work."

"Our own way." She nods. "I like that."

"Me too." I say pulling us to our feet. "Come on. I'm starving."

"Kill the tender moment much?" She asks with a grin, but my stomach growls in response. "Yeah, let's get you fed. You might end up eating me if we don't."

"Hm." I smirk as I pass her by and walk through the back door.

She blushes and follows me inside. I've never felt so good before. I just can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.