Title: Purple Rain (The Story Formerly Known As "That Night")
Author: lilyme
Summary: Set in BtVS Season 3. Can changing one pivotal event be the beginning of something entirely unexpected? Or will things still turn out the same?
Pairing: A slayer and a Witch (OR - two people much more similar than expected)
Rating: R!!
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in this story, nor do I own any rights to the television show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". They were created by Joss Whedon and belong to him, Mutant Enemy, Sandollar Television, Kuzui Enterprises, 20th Century Fox Television and the WB Network. No copyright infringement intended!
Schedule: I'm planning to update this on a weekly basis. Unless I don't find the because of...what do you call this again...oh, right, "life"! ;)
Thanks to: My lovely betas Wil-Lehane- and K
Dedication: To the Buffyverse-characters and the people behind them (actors and writers)

A/N #1: I hear ya, hotcutii, I encountered technical problems last week as well :) Hopefully everything's fine again in ffnet-land, so enjoy the new chapter. One of the longer chapters too :)

A/N #2: Oh, and it's a little smutty... but actually...not really ;)

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE -- WOODSTOCK '99

Joyce's favorite daughter-in-law and her favorite 'adopted' daughter had finished their first dinner at Faith's new home by now. It had been a very long dinner, they had wanted to make it memorable. Nothing had gone wrong with cooking this time...well, okay, Willow had made sandwiches, no real problem in making those. But Willow had made them with love as Faith had noticed. She hadn't cut the sandwiches into heart or drawn love symbols on the plates with a ketchup bottle, but Faith knew that she hadn't thrown them together carelessly.

And now the slayer was about to show Willow what she had made of the guest room. She had taken Willow by the hand and was pulling her along the corridor towards her room. Her room. The first room that was really homey to her since she had fled from her watcher's house after Kakistos' attack about eight months ago. Her motel room didn't really count as home, it was more a temporary abode. Or run-down hovel. Or filthy joint. She didn't really miss it or care much about most of the things that happened in there. The night Kakistos had attacked, though this one had ended pretty okay, lonely nights in front of the shitty tv, other nights spent with countless different guys and girls, nights that weren't less lonely than the ones she's had spent alone. But there was a handful of memories that she held dear, even not so good ones. About 80 per cent of those were linked to Willow. And Faith hoped that they could increase those pretty experiences and transform them into many beautiful memories.

Faith opened the door to her room and showed Willow inside. The redhead was impressed by what Faith had managed to do. Nothing fancy, of course, but better than entirely devoid of life. Comic books were better than nothing.

Willow's eyes scanned the shelves, now fully loaded with comic books of all sizes and all kinds. Wonder Woman, Electra, Xena, I didn't know that there was a Xena-comic...Willow was starting to recognize a pattern. Faith's life was full of superheroines. But there are also others, classics: The Simpsons, The Flintstones...?, Who's Tank Girl...? and most importantly – The Peanuts.

Which lead her to…

"How did you know that I was Woodstock?" Willow asked the slayer who walked up behind and embraced her tightly. For all she knew... comparing her to Marcie would also have been an option. Especially considering Marcie's "relationship" to Peppermint Patty. Best friends, which, to some extent, was also a part of what she and Faith had. But they were an unlikely pair that seemed zo have nothing in common, really... at least to people, who weren't looking hard enough. Marcie was the smartest of the Peanuts and Peppermit Patty couldn't help playing her protector. Yeah, that seemed to work somehow. Though Faith never let on how smart she really was, and sometimes Willow got to protect Faith even. And she never haqd the desire to call Faith "sir"... And they didn't both have a secret crush on Giles... No, wait...

She smirked and decided to hear Faith's possible Woodstock-explanation. Because after all, it hadn't been a wrong guess.

"Hm, I kinda had a feeling," Faith replied and pressed her cheek to Willow's, not really surprised that she had been right...right? With Xander being Snoopy, Willow simply had to be the little yellow birdie. Not that you are yellow or a birdie..., Faith grinned.

"You wanna know why I'm Woodstock?" Willow inquired as she clutched the soft, warm hands that were resting on her tummy.

"Well…maybe because...you're meek and little...and fuzzy...," true, Willow was wearing one of her very fuzzy sweaters again, "in a league of your own, language wise...oh, and sometimes clumsy...," she giggled as she walked them out of her room.

"Hey!" Willow grumbled mock-offended.

Faith lead the obliging redhead into her room. Time to explore it some more, since she figured that she would spend most of her time, especially nights, in there, anyway. "And lovable and kind and smart," Faith pacified, "and cute and funny and a good friend and..."

Okay, okay, okay... Now she really knew where Faith was coming from. And it fit... really.

"Okay, okay, okay," Willow laughed as they come to a halt in front of the French doors. It was dark outside by now, so she could see Faith's smirking face reflected in the glass. "But the Woodstock thing actually goes back to Kindergarten," Willow continued her original thought.

"Figured," Faith noticed and her face showed that she was trying to imagine Willow as a little kid. Tiny little Willow with big, big greenish-brown eyes, freckles and red piggy tails, probably dressed in something light-green or pink. The cutest thing ever.

But Willow's sorrowful expression showed her that her own memories weren't all that nice, and Faith had an idea why.

"You know, I was the little one, over a year younger than the others...and...," Willow stopped, trying to figure out how to describe it.

"Must have been pretty tough, hm? They were picking on you?" Faith uttered and hugged Willow tighter when she saw her nod reflected in the glass. Little child that is far too smart for the rest of the world. It's easy to see how this could have caused problems for little Willow. "But you did have Xan, right?" she tried to cheer her redhead up by going back to the Snoopy-Woodstock-relation. She knew that it worked when she saw a half-smile.

"He was my big protector," almost like Peppermint Patty was to Marcie, "told the kids off that were bothering me. He was the only one that understood me," Willow thought back at those times.

"Well, I guess your Willow-babble was pretty sophisticated back then already," Faith egged her a little more, but the redhead didn't seem to take it amiss.

"You know, and I went over to his house one day and we watched the Peanuts together. I think that is when it all started. And every year on Christmas I sneaked out of here to watch "Charlie Brown's Christmas" with him."

"Huh. Why sneak out?" Faith asked and for the first time a long while lifted her head from Willow's shoulder, but just to look at her.

"Being Jewish and all. My dad thought that too much contact with Christian rites would spoil his proper Jewish little daughter," Willow shook her head and smiled at Faith.

"And did it?" Faith smirked.

"Not more than other things," Willow replied and her expression got a little more serious. She had an idea how her strict Jewish-orthodox father would react if he found out about her and Faith, and it scared her. But as long as he wasn't here, they had nothing to fear. So Willow decided to forget about this for now and went back to her Peanuts thoughts. "Xander always did the Snoopy dance for me, mostly to cheer me up when I was sad."

Faith had of course noticed the little slump in Willow's mood, but she didn't ask her about it. She figured that Willow would tell her about it when she felt that it was time. Willow had turned her head and was looking outside again; slowly she started to smile. Faith kissed her cheek before she followed suit, looking outside to see what made the redhead smile.

She didn't see a single thing, except for a big garden with swing hammock and several flower beds. So it was probably all in Willow's head. Maybe she is seeing dancing Xander-Snoopy out there, Faith grinned.

After a while Willow turned around in Faith's arms, facing her. The redhead beamed at her and Faith had to smile in return. It was hard to believe towards what sort of mushy behavior Willow was driving Faith. Only three weeks ago, she would have laughed at everyone who'd dare to say that she would get all moony-eyed over anyone. Maybe would even have punched them. She dimly recalled punching Buffy for calling her a softie not one week ago.

Willow once again lost herself in the gentle brown eyes. 'Brown' was maybe the wrong term for them since Willow very often had trouble telling the black of the pupil from the supposed brown of the iris. Is black a legitimate color for human eyes...?

"You know, I'm not Snoopy, but I've got a dance, too," Faith brought Willow out of her thoughts.

"Huh? Oh! Okay...," Willow replied, from the twinkle in Faith eyes she knew that this dance was probably less innocent than the Snoopy dance.

"Want me to show you my dance? It's actually one for couples," Faith grinned.

"I'm not really a good dancer," Willow cringed inwardly.

"Don't say that," Faith said sternly. From what she had experienced with Willow, she had a feeling that the redhead was making herself smaller than she actually is. "B'sides with a teacher like me nothing can go wrong." She took Willow's hand.

"You're pretty full of yourself, huh?" Willow asked mockingly and waited for what Faith was about to show her next.

"Something wrong with that?" Faith replied and pulled Willow towards her, nose to nose.

"No, not at all," Willow had to admit as she stared into those black eyes yet again.

"That's exactly what I wanted to hear," Faith whispered seductively and brought her other hand down on Willow's tummy.

The other girl had an idea about where that hand would go next, so she was pretty surprised when the hand didn't move lower, but instead gave her a gentle slayer-sized love tap that would have sent her whirling around the room...if it wasn't for the other hand that was still clutching hers securely. This way Faith could let her drift away and make her come back easily seconds later.

Willow, now aware that 'dancing' apparently really meant 'dancing' in Faith's mind, let herself be lead by the expert hands of the slayer. She didn't ask if they should maybe turn on some music. Faith seemed to be dancing to her own internal beat.

After a few moments of dancing close together, bodies swaying in unison, Faith tried the whirling again, but this time with a pirouette on the way back, letting Willow drift to the other side of the room. But this movement was too much for the sinews in her shoulder, as a sharp stinging pain showed her. From the too hard pull of her arm Willow bumped into her and they fell on the bed behind them, Willow covering Faith's body with hers.

The redhead got up quickly when she saw her girlfriend's pained expression "Hey, you okay? Did I hurt you?" she asked almost panicked.

"Oh, no, not you," Faith held out her hands so that Willow could pull her into a sitting position. "Guess carrying all my personal goodies around town today didn't sit to well with my shoulder...," she said as she rubbed said part of her body.

"Oh, poor baby," Willow commiserated and probed Faith's shoulders and neck with her fingers. And indeed, some spots felt harder than they were supposed to feel under normal circumstances. "Okay, you stay right here, take your shirt off, I've got a miracle cure," she said and hurried off into the bathroom.

Great timing, Faith thought to herself. She had hoped that they would land on the bed sometime tonight, but not like this. Stupid bags, thanks for ruining my night...

Seconds later Willow was back, with a box of ointment in her hand. She saw Faith sitting on her bed, still fully clothed. The redhead put the tube of ointment on her pillow.

"I thought I told you to take your shirt off," Willow said with mock seriousness.

"Well...," Faith looked up and pouted a little, "my neck is hurting, you know. I thought that...," she nudged Willow's foot with hers, "maybe you'd help me..."

Willow crouched down in front of Faith and put her hands on the denim-clad thighs. "You're doing that on purpose," she stated.

Faith shrugged with a neutral expression on her face, but the movement still hurt her and she pulled a face. "Mh, maybe."

Willow scrunched her eyebrows in concern. Maybe not...

The slayer caught the expression. "Aw, don't look at me like that, honey, it's not that bad," she said and patted Willow's hand. "So, that's your miracle cure?" she motioned with her head to the tube on Will's pillow, just to get that concerned look off of her face.

"Yeah," Willow replied. Distraction worked again.

"Good thing," she said and outstretched her arms in a little upwards movement. Willow got the gesture and started to lift Faith's tank top. "You know, actually I thought we'd end up together on this bed...in a different way," Faith mumbled into her shirt.

"Like how?" she asked as she pulled the shirt over Faith's head, careful that the slayer didn't have to move her shoulders and neck too much.

As Faith's head reappeared, Willow could see the mischievous grin. Faith looked her girlfriend in the eyes and then down at her half-naked self. "You tell me," she finally said.

Willow shook her head amused. "One track mind... Okay, lie on the bed, face-down," Willow commanded and pointed towards the bed with a stern expression on her face.

"Yes, mistress," Faith grinned sexily, scrambled on the bed and lay down, though she knew that Willow request wasn't meant in a sexual way. But she would do anything that Willow asked her to.

Willow quickly discarded the tank top that Faith had dropped into her arms on the bed and followed her slayer.

Faith's mind was still on Willow playingly-commandery tone as she bedded her head into her folded arms. No wonder her evil twin was dressed like that...little dominatrix.

As Willow straddled the slayer's hips, half sitting on her butt, she had to rethink her position on Faith being the only one-track-mind here. Her eyes wandered over the softly tanned skin of the brunette's back, the view only disrupted by the thin strips of an, again, black bra. Kinda makes it hard to concentrate on just a massage...I'll try my best, she convinced herself as she brushed the hair out of Faith's neck. Even harder...

Faith lost herself in Willow's gentle touch; she closed her eyes to enjoy it and the sensation of Willow half-sitting on her butt.

Willow willed herself to take her eyes off of Faith for a moment to retrieve the tube of ointment. She rolled up her sleeves before she opened it and spread the content evenly on her palms. Then she brought them down on Faith's back and immediately earned a satisfied groan from the slayer. The strange mixture of cold and prickly on her shoulders dulled Faith's pain somewhat. And Willow hadn't even really started yet.

Willow began her slow treatment, spread the ointment on the upper part of Faith's back, after slipping the bra straps off of the shoulders. She gently caressed the flesh at first, letting it get used to her hands a little, preparing it for the firmer grips of the massage.

The redhead tried to think of something they could talk about, mostly trying to distract herself. Try to think of something entirely unsexy... "So, you've got a secret admirer..." Wait, that's unsexy? Yeah, probably…

"Hm. Why secret?" Faith mumbled on the verge of nodding off. "I know that you have the hots for me," she smirked lazily.

"I'm not your secret admirer, goofers," Willow replied as she started to knead the musculature of Faith shoulders.

"Oh," Faith pouted, but Willow knew that she didn't mean it like that.

"I mean, what's secret about me admiring you?" Willow asked and intensified the massage. "...E-E-Except for the fact that the others don't know about it...I mean, I think they don't know about it, except Oz... And I think that's okay – the not-knowing," she thought and her treatment of Faith's shoulders grew more erratic with every word. Faith could practically 'feel' that this was a troubling subject for her little girlfriend. "I mean, we're gonna tell them someday, but I think now would be too early...I hope you know, i-it's not that I don't want them to know, it's just..."

Faith decided to end the babble attack somehow. Lying on her stomach with Willow sitting on top of her made her usual shut-Willow-up-with-her-lips approach more than a little difficult. She briefly thought about bucking her hips and throwing Willow off her, but finally decided against it. Not like I wanna get rid of her... She checked if she could reach Willow's butt with her foot if she bent her leg; it didn't work, Willow was sitting too far up. Finally she had the – in her mind – perfect idea and as fast as lightning she moved her hand behind her and pinched Willow's right butt cheek.

Startled, Willow slid up Faith's body a couple of inches and temporarily buried her nails in Faith's shoulders. Great, that's what I get for trying to distract myself...she thought as she pouted down at Faith, whose head was cradled in both arms again, as if nothing had happened at all.

Faith had felt the fingernails biting into her skin, but her face didn't show it. Stupid move, slayer...next time you'll try something different. Maybe...talk. And with that she opened her mouth to apologize. "Sorry, baby, just seemed like a good way to shut you up," Faith grinned, "and I get it, you know – we'll tell them when the time is right, okay?" she opened her eyes again for the first time in a long while. She could see Willow's face out of the corner of her eye.

Willow just nodded silently.

"So, tell me, who's my secret admirer?" Faith came back to their original topic.

"Oh, uh, Percy," Willow explained as she finally picked up her massage again.

"Percy?" the brunette asked. She didn't know anyone with that name.

"That guy you met at the Bronze last week," Willow continued, "the one you saved from a very humiliating death at the hands of my evil twin..."

"Ah, right," Faith snickered. So that's Percy. "Guess he's just thankful."

"I don't know. It seems like he might be interested...," Willow used the ball of her hand to draw small circles on Faith's shoulders, work the kinks out. "I mean, I wouldn't mind if you were interested yourself."

Faith groaned, both of the sudden change of pressure she received from Willow's hands and of Willow's implications. She liked the latter one far less than the other. Are you kidding me?! Me and Percy-guy? Please... "Willow, please don't talk about Percy or other guys...or say something like that when you're doing that to me...okay?" It was something between a plea and a strict demand. And don't be so insecure all the time.

"Okay," Willow replied, a little taken aback by Faith's strictness. 'Please don't say something like that when you're doing that to me'. This murmured sentence from Faith repeated itself in her head over and over. Faith seemed to enjoy her massage...if only it wasn't for her nervous babbling. Willow considered shutting up entirely.

"B'sides, I hope you know that there's only one I want," Faith turned her head a little more and looked at Willow halfways.

"Who?" the redhead asked, but smacked herself internally seconds later. Faith's face left no doubt about who the slayer meant.

"Reddie, you know who," Faith replied in her softest voice. At least she hoped that Willow really knew who. Willow's beaming features showed her that her girlfriend understood.

"Oh," Willow whispered and smiled shyly. It was kind of new…and strange to consider herself as 'the only one for Faith'.

Faith kept the eye-contact for a long while, showing that she really meant it, before she lay her head down on her arms again and closed her eyes.

Tears welled up in Willow's eyes, yet again. She wondered if she had always been this teary-eyed or if it was just Faith's bad influence. Well, bad influence in a good way – if something like that is possible. Faith was the first person that had said 'I love you' or similar things to her and hadn't meant it in a platonic, friendshippy way. Oz had never said it to her. He may have felt it, though, Willow was pretty sure he did. But he had never said it although – call it a stupid girlie thing – the females of the species like to hear it once in a while. Even if it's only a 'you're the only one for me'. Or especially if it's a 'you're the only one for me'.

The next couple of minutes were spent in silence. Willow kneading and sometimes hammering at the musculature with the side of her hand to soften it up, meanwhile still thinking about Faith's confession, Faith not thinking about anything in particular, just trying not to fall asleep on her girlfriend, or rather underneath her. This was probably the best massage she has ever had. Not a surprise since it was coming from Willow.

And then Willow's touches became softer again, caressing, she felt that Faith's shoulders didn't need any more kneading. The slayer couldn't help but compare the massage to sex – the very pleasurable kind. The Willow kind of sex. The kind Faith didn't allow herself to have before. The soft, gentle foreplay, the main act with no less touching and way more effectiveness, and the aftermath with even more gentleness.

But Willow didn't see this as the end of the show, for her it was just the beginning. The would-have-been-massage turned into something else the second Faith looked at her with her gentle eyes and told her that she loved her – even if she hadn't. Sure, she kept on massaging the maltreated shoulders, but now with a different purpose. Make Faith's pain go away, so the slayer could thoroughly enjoy what she was about to do next.

She unclasped Faith's bra and allowed herself full access to the slayer's back. She observed the other girl's reaction. Faith smirked but didn't open her eyes. Maybe this night would end where she wanted it to.

Willow's fingertips glid over the soft skin, down to Faith's waist and up again, deliberately touching the little linear scars on her mid-left side as well. She had noticed those scars on that night two weeks ago. They looked old, five years, at least, so they couldn't be from the fight against evil. At least not the supernatural kind of evil. Willow had considered asking Faith about where she had gotten them, but this would have destroyed the mood completely. And she was not going to ask now either – for the same reason.

Faith noticed Willow's lingering touch on that specific part of her back. She remembered the exact day that she got them, but she preferred to not talk about, or even think about what had happened that day. Or about the indirect connection of that event to her tattoo.

But as Willow's hands touched the swell of her breasts, all these unpleasant thoughts were forgotten. And when she felt her girlfriend's lips on her neck and the red hair tickling her skin, she knew what was about to happen. She moaned softly as one hand glid along her spine and lips followed soon after. Willow stopped when her lips were halfway down Faith's back, her hand was resting on the slayer's hip.

Faith slowly opened her eyes when she felt Willow shifting her position, lifting her butt from her body and using her hands to turn her around. She obliged happily and looked expectantly at Willow.

The redhead looked down at Faith's barely covered chest and licked her lips. She traced the ribcage with her thumbs and edged higher, towards the breasts. It felt like an eternity since they had been like this; Willow caressing Faith's bare skin and Faith simply letting her do.

Faith watched her with a serene expression on her face. Why are you this calm, Faithie? Anyone else you'd have upside-down, especially that, and stark nude by now. But Willow was not just 'anyone'. She played according to her own rules and set the pace and Faith merely reacted to what the redhead did to her and requested her to do. That was at least how it had developed two weeks ago. My little one can be pretty commandery when she knows what she wants to happen... Faith smiled at her girlfriend.

Willow's fingers climbed up the swell of the slayer's somewhat bra-covered breasts, like little rock climbers on their way to the top. This accomplished, she covered the breasts with her hands, caressed them gently.

Faith moaned as Willow's hand grasped her puppies. But instead of removing the bra – that was what she thought Willow would do next - the hands suddenly became very still. "Red...," the slayer urged her to go on and covered one of her girlfriend's hands with hers, but then she noticed that Willow's attention was entirely fixed to one tiny little spot on her skin.

Willow heard Faith's purr but didn't take her eyes off the beauty spot on her left breast – at least not yet. She touched it with her index finger and said in her most loving voice, "Did you ever notice that this one looks like a tiny little heart?" She wondered why she hadn't noticed this two weeks ago already.

Faith didn't know what she should reply or how she should react, for that matter. No, she hadn't noticed this before, and she didn't think that anyone else did, either. Maybe Willow was seeing something that nobody else could, a heart in the eye of a beholder in love...In love...? In love? Someone was actually in love with her. Faith's breath hitched and a tiny tear rolled down her cheek.

Willow noticed the tear and was worried for a second, but Faith's still lingering smile showed her that this was not a bad sign – it was the exact opposite. She wiped the tear away with her thumb and bent down to kiss the soft lips. The little scar below Faith's left eyebrow and the one in her bottom lip hadn't gone unnoticed by her either and Willow felt that there was a connection to the scar on the slayer's back. But she rather wanted to focus on her kissing right now.

It was a gentle and almost innocent kiss, a little playful too. It was that sort of kiss that girls give you sometimes; not a simple peck, not a demanding, greedy kiss either.

Faith put her hands on Willow's waist and pulled her closer. She enjoyed her girlfriend's way of kissing her; the little playful nibbling on her bottom lip, the nudging it with her tongue, before breaking the kiss and starting anew. Might not be a girls thing, might be a Willow thing...Faith thought to herself as Willow shifted position and lay on her. She couldn't remember a single time another person had kissed her like this. Not that she had allowed them to, she pondered almost regretfully and thought about what she might have missed in the past years. Faith pushed this thought out of her head. Even if I had let them – doubt they would have been as good as my baby...

Said baby moved her hand behind the slayer's neck, her thumb playing with the soft patch of skin behind the ear. Faith could barely keep her eyes open due to the sensation; but she wanted to, since now Willow was looking straight into them. "It's been...two weeks..."

"I know," Faith whispered and smiled hesitantly. There was still a hint of guilt inside of her; if it hadn't been for her stupid behavior after their night together it would have never been two weeks until the next time.

But Willow would have none of that anymore. In nothing flat she recaptured Faith's lips and this time the kisses were more intense, intended to make Faith forget those unpleasant thoughts. It seemed to work, because Faith moaned happily and put her arms around Willow.

When the redhead was satisfied with the exploration of the full and sensuous lips she kissed a line towards Faith's right earlobe and started to nibble. The brunette groaned and put her hand behind Willow's head.

Willow's hand brushed Faith's armpit on its way to remove the black bra. But when the brunette felt her tugging at the cloth, she suddenly remembered something. "Mmm, Red...," she said gently, but Red simply saw this as a plea to intensify her caresses. She sucked on Faith's earlobe and Faith moaned, almost forgetting what she actually wanted to do. "Red," she tried again, but Willow still didn't react. "Red, y-you sure you want the others to see this?" she finally got out and had to giggle a little.

"What?!" Willow let Faith earlobe snap back into place and sat up abruptly, one hand on Faith's tummy.

The slayer almost started to laugh when she saw Willow shocked-confused expression and motioned her head towards the window.

The redhead finally got it. The blinds were up and the curtains weren't drawn. Anyone could see them here if they'd happen to cross the Rosenberg lawn. Of course this rarely happened, but you shouldn't take any risks. At least that was Willow's philosophy, she knew that Faith wouldn't bother if it wasn't for her.

Willow raises her hand and, with a flourish movement, said "Claudete". It didn't work, neither curtains nor blinds moved the tiniest bit. "Claudete," she tried again, with more force in her voice and this time invoked a little movement of the blinds.

"I'm impressed," Faith said and touched the hand that was still resting on her stomach. And it was not a sarcastic comment, she really meant it. She didn't really have an idea how magic worked, so she had really great respect for people who could actually make it work, even if it was only a little, like the pouting redhead on top of her right now.

They heard a tiny squeak from the other magically inclined inhabitant of this room and Faith suddenly wondered if rat Amy noticed what they were doing and more especially if de-ratted Amy would remember it. Willow's questioning look told her that the redhead was probably thinking the same thing.

Willow got up reluctantly and closed the blinds. Then she grabbed Faith's tank top with the obvious intention to cover Amy's cage with it. Faith laughed because she knew that Willow couldn't possibly make that work and a grumbling redhead threw the shirt back at her. An idea popped into Willow's mind and she quickly walked over to her closet to retrieve a blanket. Closing it her eyes landed on the photos of her friends on the desk. She thought for a second, but then turned them around so that they are facing the wall. Then she quickly covered Amy with the blanket and scrambled back on the bed, back into Faith's open arms.

They kissed again, with interruptions through occasional giggles, and Willow finally removed Faith's bra. Then Willow put her hand behind her lover's back and turned them around so that Faith was on top.

Faith brushed some hairs out of Willow's face and looked at her intently. "Beware, Reddie," she smiled and let her fingers linger on her girl's face, "there's some serious freckle-counting ahead of you."

"That's gonna take a pretty long time," Willow returned and touched Faith's hand.

"I got nowhere else to be," Faith replied and kissed her again.

To be continued...

A/N #3: Wow, mushy chapter. Hope you had fun, though ;) So that were the first 25 chapters, hope you'll enjoy the next 25 (and more) equally as much. There's still many many... happenings to happen in here :) Thanks again to everyone who has been reading and reviewing. Love you guys :)