Chapter 15

Slowly Buffy comes to consciousness, smelling eggs, bacon, potatoes and coffee. Opening one eye she looks up at a smiling Kelly, holding a tray filled with breakfast food. Rubbing her eyes to get rid of some of the sleep. She glances over at the clock, seeing it's 8 a.m. Shifting her body up to a sitting position she looks at Kelly's grinning face and just mumbles "Caffeine."

Setting the tray down on the bedside table, Kelly grabs a couple pillows shifting them behind the slayer to help prop her up. Sitting down beside Buffy, Kelly grabs the coffee cup and hands it to her. After downing half the coffee Buffy looks longingly at the food, making Kelly laugh loudly.

"Here." Kelly says, sitting the tray on her own lap, scooping up a fork full of scrambled eggs with cheese, and feeding it to Buffy.

Kelly smiles, watching Buffy chew and swallow. Grabbing a strip of bacon, and feeding it to Buffy, Kelly laughs as Buffy frowns at her realizing that Kelly is feeding her breakfast.

"I think I can feed myself." Buffy grumbles before smiling and winking at Kelly.

"Oh, but where is the fun in that?" Kelly asks as she grabs some eggs with some hash browns this time.

Watching Kelly with a considering look Buffy asks "Are you trying to spoil me?"

Looking up from the plate where she was scooping up another forkful of eggs, Kelly replies "Is that a bad thing?"

Slowly chewing the mouthful of eggs Buffy shakes her head at her lover. "I guess not. But if you are always spoiling me, how am I going to spoil you?"

Kelly tilts her head thinking, watching Buffy finish off the coffee. "Buffy, I don't want or need spoiling. I just want to be loved. Here, let me get you some more coffee." Kelly states grabbing the coffee cup and leaving quickly to fill it up.

Buffy just sits there in shock. 'How can she not want to be spoiled? I thought everyone wanted to be spoiled.' Slowly reaching over for the tray of food, sitting it in her lap and taking a healthy bite out of the piece of toast she picked up, Buffy silently chews it. 'She may not want or need it, but I'm going to do everything in my power to do it.' Buffy decides with a definite nod of her head. Smiling as she hears Kelly coming up the stairs. 'God, I love this woman.'

"Hey, I thought I was feeding you breakfast." Kelly smiles, holding the coffee cup watching Buffy attacking the food with a vengeance now. "Maybe I should have brought up some more food with me?" Kelly asks questioning, watching Buffy eat.

Looking down at the plate that literally only haves a few crumbs left on it, Buffy looks up guiltily at Kelly and questioningly states. "I was hungry?"

Making Kelly laugh, as she hands her the coffee cup and takes the tray away. "Do you want some more? I have more bacon and hash browns fixed and it won't take long to do up another six eggs and toast, if you want?"

Shaking her head, Buffy asks "Have you had anything to eat yet?"

Kelly smiles, "yes I had a couple pieces of toast with jelly for breakfast, along with the pot of coffee as per my norm."

Groaning, looking at the clock which now read 8:15 Buffy finishes sucking down her second cup of coffee looking at Kelly over the edge. "I don't want to go to work."

Shrugging Kelly looks at Buffy "Then don't." Kelly states simply, leaning over the slayer's thighs, propping herself up on her elbow, looking at Buffy.

Buffy laughs, "Yes, but see. I have these things called bills, and a mortgage that I have to pay each month. To do this, I need to work."

Nodding her head Kelly smiles. "I'm living here now, correct?" Kelly asks Buffy and at Buffy's nod Kelly continues. "Well then, I owe you rent money." Shaking her head Buffy starts to open her mouth in objection, which Kelly quickly presses her finger over Buffy's lips. "Hear me out." With a raised eyebrow Buffy nods her head.

Jumping up off the bed and pacing back and forth Kelly starts talking "First off, I love you. We are in a relationship. Admittedly, it's a new relationship, but we are in one. Secondly, I'm living in your house. I'm not going to mooch off you. That's not who I am. Thirdly, I'm rich Buffy. I can help you. I want to help you." Stopping and looking at Buffy, Kelly slowly walks over to the side of the bed Buffy is laying closest too and sits down, gently taking Buffy's hands in hers. "I love you with my whole heart, Buffy. It's yours. No one else has ever owned it and no one else ever will. Let me do this. If you want to continue working, that's one thing. But if you're just doing it to make the payments, don't, okay?" With a slightly wicked grin, Kelly waggles her eyebrows at Buffy before stating "you can take a couple months off, we can have hot monk…Parcheesi any time of the day or night in between patrols and then when you might want to work again, maybe you can do some kind of self-defense course, or something. That would be perfect for you. Make your own hours, help the people out in Sunnydale. Perfect." Kelly finally winds down looking at Buffy.

Buffy looks at Kelly in disbelief then starts really considering what she's saying.

"You don't have to decide right now. As a matter of fact, I would prefer you think about it first. No sense jumping off the bridge without thinking everything through." Kelly states watching Buffy. Leaning in to kiss her lightly Kelly pulls away and grins "You better get your shower. I'm going to take the dishes downstairs and you can finish the rest of the food when you come down, okay?"

Buffy nods, speechless, watching Kelly gather up the dishes and heading out the bedroom door. 'She loves me. She wants to take care of me. She's rich.' Shaking her head to herself as she slowly gets out of bed, heading back to her room to grab clothes to wear to work Buffy stops. 'No one, besides Mom, ever wanted to actually take care of me. Most people wanted something from me or to help out, but not actually take care of me. Damn' Buffy feels a tear slip down her cheek. Shaking her head, and heading in to take a quick shower and get cleaned up before work Buffy decides to think more in depth about this later.

"So, you want me to pick you up this afternoon?" Kelly asks as they pull into the school parking lot.

Buffy smiles looking at Kelly. "Well, I'm used to walking to work and walking home. I'll get spoiled if you do this."

Kelly shakes her head at Buffy "But if you walk home, that means it's that much longer before I get to see you again. So, see? I'm being selfish here in wanting to pick you up."

Leaning over and giving a Kelly a brief hard kiss Buffy pulls back, opening the door "Two o'clock." and runs inside the school.

Laughing Kelly watches Buffy. 'God, I love that woman.'

Standing outside the Guidance Counselor's office Tara smiles, watching Buffy. It was her lunch break and she decided to see if Buffy was between seeing students to talk with her. Stopping to look in the window outside Buffy's cubicle to see if she was free Tara stops, stunned.

Buffy was staring into space, with the softest, sweetest smile on her face that Tara has ever seen. Shaking her head Tara walks around and comes to sit in the chair by Buffy's desk.

Not realizing that anyone was sitting there Buffy's thinking about how much Kelly has come to mean to her in such a short period of time. Looking back over her life, thinking about her past loves, most of them almost seemed forced. Especially Riley, what she would consider her most normal relationship. She needed something that he couldn't give her. Love and acceptance for what she was. Realizing that was exactly what Kelly was giving her, unconditional love and complete acceptance of who she is. None of that in competition thing going on. Kelly let her do her job, helped out if needed and was there as company. Taking a deep breath, before giggling, thinking about Kelly and Parcheesi.

"Hmmm. I don't remember the last time I heard that kind of giggle coming from you, Buffy." Tara states, finally deciding to interrupt the slayer's daydreaming. Looking at Buffy, with a slight smirk on her face.

Buffy literally jumps a couple inches out of the chair. "TARA! You scared me. How long have you been sitting there? And why are you smirking at me? You look too much like your sister when you do that!" Buffy states huffily, wishing it was Kelly sitting there.

"Well, I've been sitting here for roughly five minutes, watching you daydream before you started giggling. And if I'm not mistaken, that sounded like a wistful note in your voice when you said I look like Kelly." Tara turns her smirk into a big grin.

Shaking her head and blushing lightly, Buffy gives up. "I am completely gone over your sister. It was like wham, bam, thank you ma'am. She is like here, you know. She has this calming presence, which is kind of unbelievable with the way she jokes around. But she's so kind, sweet, gorgeous and man can she kiss…" Trailing off Buffy gets side tracked thinking about the kissing and love-making, groaning low without even realizing it.

Tara's eyes widen at the groan and the look on Buffy's face. 'Well, I guess that definitely answer the question as to whether or not Buffy loves my sister.'

Deciding it will be impossible to keep the slayer's attention, Tara gets up from the chair and lightly hugs Buffy telling her she'll talk to her later. She just gets a light wave from Buffy in response. Laughing, Tara heads back to class.

Smiling to herself, leaning against the doorway Kelly watches Buffy. Deciding to come in and look for Buffy when it got to be 2:30, Kelly finally found the guidance Counselor's office and her missing lover. Buffy was in her own little world, twirling a pen around her fingers quickly, just staring.

Principal Wood came up behind the tall brunette that was standing in the door frame, watching Buffy. "Hello, may I help you?"

Straightening up quickly, Kelly turns to look at man that interrupted her Buffy gazing. "Sorry, I was looking for Miss Summers."

"I'm Principal Wood." Shaking the woman's hand, introducing himself while quickly running his eyes over this good looking woman.

"Nice to meet you. Kelly Maclay." Kelly states with a smile.

Cocking his head to the side with a confused look on his face "We have a teacher here with the last name Maclay, you aren't by chance any relation?"

Smiling slightly Kelly nods her head "yeah, she's my half sister."

Robin smiles, "Well, if you need someone to show you around town, I'd be happy to take you out to dinner some time."

Buffy finally comes out of her daze and realizes that Kelly and Robin are talking, and that its after 2:30. Groaning to herself, realizing that she has pretty much daydreamed about the brunette the whole day. Quickly shutting down her computer and grabbing her purse and jacket, she walks over, catching Robin hitting on Kelly.

Deciding to nip this in the bud quick, Buffy walks up beside Kelly, wrapping her arm around her waist "Sorry about being late, babe. I completely lost track of time. Oh, hi Principal Wood. Did you meet Kelly?"

Kelly looks down silently laughing at the Slayer. Shaking her head slightly, grinning she wraps her arm around Buffy's waist and leans down lightly kissing the top of Buffy's head. Whispering so that only Buffy could hear "like you don't know the answer to that question, little miss green eyed monster."

Buffy blushes slightly at being so obvious. Before watching Principal Wood's eyes widen in realization.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't realize…I, umm… have some papers to sign. Nice meeting you, Miss Maclay. Buffy have a good night." Before turning around and walking swiftly to his office.

Chuckling to herself at Wood's quick exit Buffy smiles and gets on tiptoes, pulling Kelly down to meet her for a decent hello kiss. "Sorry for being late. My mind has been kind of occupied."

"Really? And what has been occupying that wonderfully scrumptious mind of yours?" Kelly asks with a raised eyebrow.

Waggling her eyebrows at the brunette before heading out to get in the vehicle Buffy states "Wouldn't you like to know? So, what did you do today?" Buffy asks, changing the subject.

Grinning secretively, Kelly just states "Wouldn't you like to know?" Not wanting to let the slayer know, that she had been out shopping again. "Went and visited Anya at the Magic Box."

"Glutton for punishment, huh?" Buffy chortles at the thought of Kelly and Anya.

"I like her. I realized she was different, but a vengeance demon? Didn't see that one coming. We had a good time. Oh, I hope you don't mind, but I asked everybody if they wanted to go out for dinner tomorrow night." Kelly asks questioningly.

"Dinner out with the gang. Always of the good." Buffy states smiling as they pull in the driveway.

"Yeah, maybe that way Xander can stare at my breasts some more! And then end up with a headache" Kelly laughs, thinking about the poor young man that kept getting smacked by Anya at the store.

"Oh, God! He didn't? What am I saying, of course he did. You should have seen him when Tara and Willow first told us they were dating, he would just get this glazed look in his eye…" trailing off, Buffy realized that he would be imaging her and Kelly together, now. Banging her head against the front door Buffy groans loudly.

"Buffy, what's wrong?" Kelly asks concerned.

Shaking her head and starting to laugh Buffy opens the door, motioning Kelly to go in ahead of her. "Nothing. Just realizing that the looks he used to get thinking about Willow and Tara are now gonna be about thinking of me and you together."

Laughing slightly Kelly looks down at the slayer "Think I should get him an industrial sized bottle of aspirin for Christmas? He's going to need it if Anya hits him every time that happens."

Buffy laughs heartily at the thought. "That might actually be a good thing to do."

"Check off one gag gift for Xander from my list." Kelly states with a smile watching Buffy close the distance between them with a raised eyebrow. "What's up Mighty Mouse?"

Buffy grins, wrapping her arms around Kelly, snuggling in tight against her. "I missed you today. But I did get a chance to think about what you said this morning." Buffy states quietly.

"And?" Kelly questions, gently running her hands up and down Buffy's back enjoying the closeness.

"I like working with the kids at the school." Buffy says on a quick breath, realizing that she does enjoy working there and helping the kids. Knowing that the kids need the help with all the weird goings on, let alone the day to day stuff.

Shrugging her shoulders Kelly states "Then keep working there."

Pulling back slightly to look in Kelly's eyes Buffy tilts her head "You wouldn't mind?"

"Why would I mind? I'm not your boss. I was just offering you a different option. You enjoy what you do, helping the kids, keep doing it. It's your decision, it's your life." Kelly states leaning down, brushing her lips gently over Buffy's. "I'm just happy to be a part of your life, Buffy."

Smiling in appreciation Buffy kisses Kelly back. Hugging her tightly. "You're serious about being happy just being part of my life aren't you?" Buffy asks quietly against Kelly's chest.

Chuckling and a simple "Yes."

Pulling back looking up into those so expressive brown eyes, Buffy questions "If that's all I wanted, to be friends, you would? Under protest?"

"Hell, yeah. Definitely under protest." Kelly states, pulling Buffy back against her, tucking her head against her chest and resting her chin on the top of Buffy's head. "I love you, Buffy. I'm in love with you."

"I love you so much." Buffy quietly states before growling, "Where the hell were you all my life?"

Snorting out a laugh at Buffy's growled statement Kelly picks Buffy up in her arms and sits down on the now freshly cleaned couch, with Buffy in her lap. "Waiting for you to be ready to appreciate Sapphic love."

Burying her head in Kelly's neck Buffy blushes. "If I had known…" Pulling back smiling wickedly she laughs "I have got to have a serious talk with Willow about this! All these years and she never told me! What kind of friend is that? You're supposed to help your friends out. Not keep the good stuff to yourself!"

Laughing heartily at Buffy, Kelly shakes her head. "I want to be there for that conversation. I can hear it now…" Paling slightly Kelly backtracks quickly. "No, no. I don't want to be there for that conversation. She would be talking about my sister and that would just be so wrong in so many ways. Forget it." Literally shaking in disgust at the brief thoughts running through her head, Kelly buries her face in Buffy's hair. "Joking and kidding about stuff is one thing, but seriously knowing? Nope. Not gonna happen." Kelly states so quietly Buffy can barely hear her.

Realizing that Kelly is really squeaked at the thoughts that had inadvertently rose up in her brain, she shifts the upper portion of her body, lifting Kelly's head and gently kisses her lips. Nipping lightly at her bottom lip before nibbling her way to Kelly's ear whispering "No. No conversations. This will be tabled permanently, okay?"

Nodding her head Kelly lightly kisses Buffy's neck before pulling back. Reaching up, brushing the hair back away from Buffy's face she asks "Are you hungry?"

Giggling Buffy blushes "Always seems like I am now that you're here."

Frowning for a moment before realizing that Buffy isn't talking about food, Kelly smirks slightly. "You're just making up for lost time." Before leaning in and kissing her lightly. "Besides, I cleaned the couch today and I would prefer that it stay clean at least for 24 hours before we mess it up again!"

Blushing even more Buffy buries her face in Kelly's neck. "Not fair. It's your fault, after all."

"Yep. And I'm extremely proud of that fact." Smiling an unrepentant grin Kelly kisses the top of Buffy's head, before running her hands through the blondes long hair. "Seriously, are you hungry? I made a casserole for you and I can throw it in the oven to bake. It'll take roughly 30 minutes."

"Yes, I'm hungry." Smiling as she pulls away and stands up. "I'm gonna run upstairs and put something more comfortable on."

Looking at Buffy and waggling her eyebrows "Need any help?"

"I think I got it handled." Buffy grins impishly, backing up the stairs, slowly pulling her blouse off and running her hands slowly up her stomach and over her breast.

Groaning at the teasing, Kelly watches as Buffy reaches the top of the stairs and turns out of sight before turning, banging her had against the wall lightly to the slayer's laughter. Before heading in to get dinner started.