Jay came out of the room with a preoccupied frown on his face. Buffy stood and saw the concern for his father in his beautiful eyes.

"He's going to be ok Jay. It's good that you're here."

He wrapped her in a hug, "I'm glad you came with me." The feel of her heartbeat made him relax.

They walked hand in hand to the Blackhawk helicopter and Mac climbed out, "How's your Pop?"

"He'll be ok. Thanks for the ride Mac, do you mind if I ride shotgun?"

Mac leered cheerfully at Buffy, "How about you ride shotgun honey?"

Buffy grinned as she pulled on her helmet, "Um, Buffy says no." Jay thought she looked adorable with the helmet on, leaned forward and kissed her, then thumped his friend on the head.

"Mine!" was all he said, Mac was laughing and rubbing his head.

Buffy watched Jay as he brooded on the trip back and thought he could give Angel a run for his money. She gently ran her fingers over his shoulder and smiled as he caught her hand, twining his fingers awkwardly with hers. They landed back at Luke AFB at about 2230 (a/n-10:30 pm for you non mil types) Mac and Jay made possible plans to eat dinner together later in the week and gave each other a bear hug, with Mac adding "Don't be so distant you bastard."

Jay and Buffy then took a taxi to the Phoenix Marriott. Jay did the typical male thing and tried to take her bags but Buffy stood there, eyebrows raised until he looked up.

"Whoops, sorry Xena." He quipped and she laughed delightedly.

They checked into their hotel room and after making love they lay spooned together, satisfied and sleepy. Jay set his alarm on his watch, moved Buffy's hair so he wouldn't get a mouthful and slid into sleep with her.

Buffy got up before Jay's alarm went off and took a shower. When his alarm went off Jay was surprised. Buffy was the only person he felt safe enough with that he could sleep through them leaving the bed. Smiling in satisfaction he stretched his muscles sleepily and crawled out of bed to wander into the bathroom and pee.

She was rinsing the conditioner from her hair when he came into the bathroom, "Good morning." She called out, tilting her head for a final rinse.

"It will be after I have coffee." He grumbled and flushed the toilet. He climbed into the shower with her, pressing his sleep-warmed body against hers. They kissed, letting the warm water wash over their bodies.

Buffy pulled back and stifled a smile at the pout on his face, "You did want to leave at 7 right?"

His eyes were hopeful, "We have time!"

She slowly moved her hands down to rest above his tempting erection.

"Nah, now you'll think of me all day." And she slipped giggling from the shower, hearing him grumble curses as he finished his shower.

"You're just plain evil."

She stopped to consider him as he stepped dripping from the shower, "Yes, yes I am."

They ate breakfast together and then climbed into their rented Lincoln Navigator and headed to the rez. The quiet made Buffy nuts and she turned on the radio until she found Good Charlottes 'Anthem'.

He turned the radio down and smiled, "Thanks for being here with me." Jay's eyes flicked from the road to her face.

She smiled, "Not a problemo."

They parked in the parking lot at the hospital just as the sun was making its ascent in the sky. Jay sat silently.

"I'm sorry about my family." He said suddenly.

Buffy sighed and turned in her seat to face him, "Jay, it's not a big deal. At least I'm human. My mom had to deal with me dating a vamp. I'm not going to wig out just because I'm not what they expected." She leaned forward to cup his face, using her thumb to play with the dimple on his chin. Then she leaned forward to brush his lips with hers.

"Let's go in, ok?"

With a nod he opened his door and climbed out. As he met Buffy on the other side he pulled her close for a searing kiss.

When Buffy could string two words together she smiled up at him, "What was that for?"

"Because you're you." He answered.

They stayed for 3 days. In the morning they would visit with Jay's Dad, then in the afternoon Jay would take her to a favorite place that he had on the rez. The first afternoon he took her to Lake Powell where they rented a waverunner and visited some beautiful sections of the lake that he had played in with his friends as a young man.

The next day he took her hiking in the Canyon de Chelly National Monument. They hiked into a remote area that was closed to tourists but somewhere his Dad had taken him often as a child and told Buffy about his ancestors. Then he had spread a blanket out over one of the ceremonial kivas and made slow sweet love to her under the heat of the sun.

The third evening they sat on the hood of the rental, a blanket spread so not to scratch the paint, and watched the spectacular sunset over the Painted Desert. Afterward Buffy had jumped down and was going to walk when she heard a warning rattle and froze.

"J-jay?"

He grinned and hopped down, "Oh come on. Is heap big Vamp slayer afraid of a ittle bitty rattlesnake?"

Buff threw him a glare, "Would you shut up and pick it up and throw it someplace, ok?"

Taking his boot he stepped on the snakes' neck, then bent down and picked it up, his hand just behind the head.

"Just look at it Buffy. It's a diamondback, about 4 foot long, and see the rattles?" he held up the rattles and was counting, "14 of them, so this snake is pretty old." He held it up for her to see and she admired the pretty diamonds on its back dutifully then said, "Ok, take it away than you very much."

Chuckling he walked about 100 yards away and gently let the snake go, watching it disappear into the scrub. A wide smile graced his face as he walked back to his disgruntled lover, "You're so brave babe. I'm proud of you."

"Blah blah, whatever, I'm getting into the car."

He was still chuckling as he drove back to the small hotel on the reservation, cheerfully ignoring the dirty looks Buffy shot at him.

"Demons and vamps are different ok? I just don't like snakes, especially since I had to kill the Mayor after he turned into a hundred foot demon one."

He shot a startled look at her, "100 foot long?"

"Um, I dunno. Big enough that he swallowed the Principal whole, which was just ewww, and his head was inside the building but his honkin' tail was outside. So, yeah, maybe a hundred feet."

Jay drove silently and then said, "And I thought my life was weird." To which Buffy collapsed into laughter.

They were just starting to fool around when Jay's phone began to ring insistently.

"Oh for crying out loud." He grumbled . "I guess I need to get that."

She reached over and grabbed it, handing it to him, then caressed him through his jeans. "God." He gasped, then opened his phone, "Coburn."

"Jay? It's Jack. You need to come home."

"Godamnit Jack, if you only knew what you were interrupting." Jay wailed causing Buffy to snort with laughter.

"Sorry pal, you know how it is." Jack laughed, then turned serious, "SG-12 and Daniel are missing. We need you here in 6 hours."

"Fuck." Jay cursed as he focused on the incredibly bad news. "This had been some month."

"Yep, see you in 4 hours Colonel." Jack hung up and looked at Sam and Teal'c. "He'll be here."

Jay closed the phone one handed and looked into Buffy's eyes. She cupped his face, "Bad news?"

He slowly kissed her and said, "I need to go back to Colorado Springs."

She nodded, "I figured."

Jay made a phone call to Mac who promised to be at the Reservation in one hour.

Buffy was going to visit his Dad and drive the rental back when she flew home to Cleveland. She watched him pace the small room, talking on his cell phone, never hesitating to make a decision and realized she was maybe falling in love with him.

Buffy's taxi pulled up in front of the house and she got out, grabbed her suitcase and paid the driver. As he pulled away she stood in front of the lit up house for a long moment before trudging up the stairs. She grinned and knocked, the door opening to reveal Dawn.

"Buffy!! You're home!" and she hugged the stuffing out of her sister.

"I was only gone for 4 days, what did you do now?" Buffy asked.

"Can't I be glad that you're home?" Dawn pouted, then laughed when Buffy rolled her eyes. "Really, and I really am glad that you're home." Willow laughed and gave Buffy a quick hug, her eyes making Buffy promise that they'd talk later.

Giles snorted and took Buffy's suitcase. "Everything is fine Buffy. How is Jay's father?"

"He's doing much better. I'm back because Jay got called back into work. Ooops, I'm supposed to call him." She walked over to the phone, taking off her blazer as she dialed, "Jay? Yeah I miss you too." She dropped her blazer on a chair and leaned against the wall, twirling the phone cord in her fingers. "Your Dad understood, and we had a nice talk. " a quick grin. "Yes really. Be careful. Yeah, I will. Bye."

Buffy had a silly smile on her face as she turned to her family. They all had smirks on their faces and Buffy blushed.

"I really, really like him. Could ya tell?"

Xander and Faith walked into the house, video from the local Blockbuster in hand, chatting animatedly until they saw Buffy.

"Hey, it's the Buffster! How's Jay's Dad doing and how was sunny Arizona?" Xander asked giving her a peck on the cheek.

"Forget Arizona, how was the hot Colonel?" Faith asked impishly, enjoying Buffy's blush.

"Arizona was great, Jay's Dad is doing a lot better and my hot Colonel is just peachy, thank you very much."

Willow got out the large popcorn bowl and proceeded to make enough popcorn to float a battleship as they all settled down to watch the movie "What a Girl Wants." (a/n cute movie, even my violently 'anti chick flick' husband liked it, but then we're parents of a teenage daughter so I guess it's all in the perspective :)