A/N: Wow, this is the most story alerts I've ever had for a fic on this site. Yay :) And as always, thank you for reviewing!

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

"Faith, just do it already!"

"Well if you held still it wouldn't take this long, damn!"

"Ow!" Buffy yells as Faith pops her shoulder back into place, before shoving Faith backwards with her good arm out of instinct. She winces as she tries to shake off the pain, taking a breath. She tests out her arm a little, moving it slowly at first, cautiously, until she's sure that Faith put it back in right. After a minute she looks at her, a bit shamefully, "Sorry. For the… pushing."

"S'cool. Know how it is." Faith looks her over a bit, running her eyes up her body until they rest on the gash on her forehead. She nods to it, "You want me too…?"

"What?" Buffy asks, then presses her hand to her head, wincing. When she pulls her hand back and she finds it only mildly bloody she says, "Oh, no… no it's fine. I can handle it." She looks over Faith though and makes an 'ouch' face. "But you… we need to fix that. You. With the blood."

Faith looks down at her bloodied up arm like she barely even recognizes it. She shrugs, "It's fine. Barely feel it. Still got the adrenaline pumpin'. Bit of a rush; the vamps having weapons. Been a while since that happened."

Buffy smirks a little, but nods. It makes Faith smile cause she knows that Buffy's excited about it, even though she'll never outwardly show it. But she feels it just like Faith does. Just like all of them do. "That was one big nest. You think it'd be like The Real World, wouldn't you? All cramped up together in a tiny space. I figured they would have went insane and killed off at least half of their little Brady Bunch."

Faith shrugs, but smiles. "Hey, we got through it. No one died. I say that's a plus."

"Rona re-broke her arm though," Buffy says, sighing. "I told her not to go out so soon, but she's stubborn. Even with Slayer healing, a broken arm doesn't magically mend itself."

"Yeah, well, you know how—" Faith starts as she stretches her arms over her head, but interrupts herself when a lightning bolt of pain shoots through her it. Alright, so on the list of smart things to do, that definitely wasn't one of them.

"You're not fine," Buffy tells her, rolling her eyes a bit. Stubborn. All of them. That's what Faith was going to say, but probably just demonstrated instead. "Come here," she tells her, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards her bathroom.

"B, it's cool, really—" Faith tries to tell her as she's dragged along and then placed firmly on the toilet seat.

"Hey, let me have my little Nurse Buffy moment," she tells her with a smile as she opens her cabinet to get out bandages and antiseptics.

Faith cocks and eyebrow, "Alright, you know you left that one wide open, right?"

Buffy tries to hide her smirk as she digs around for what she's looking for. "I'm surprised you didn't jump right in with the first thing that came to mind," she says, with a hint of a challenge in her voice. That makes Faith raise her eyebrows.

"Thought I was doing the whole backing off thing now."

Buffy shrugs as she pulls out the things she needs, before kneeling down in front of her. "Well maybe I miss a bit of the old innuendos. Doesn't seem like you when they're not involved in at least thirty percent of our conversation."

Faith looks at her, this little smile lighting up her face as something dawns at her, "So wait… you do these things on purpose?"

"Hey," Buffy exclaims, mockingly offended, with that little innocent act she puts on so well. "I never said that. I would never."

"Uh huh. I know your game now, B."

Buffy just purses her lips together before letting out a small giggle. She pours some antiseptic on a cloth and applies it to Faith's wound, which makes her emit a small hiss, "Fuck! That stings."

"Well what did you think it was going to feel like?" Buffy tells her with a bit of a chiding tone as she cleans the wound. But then she makes a face of discomfort as she looks at it, "I think you're going to need stitches."

"It'll heal, Buffy. Relax."

"Yeah, but if we don't stitch it up it'll scar," Buffy tells her pointedly as she gets up, heading back into the cabinet to get more supplies.

Faith just shrugs, "It ain't the first scar I got. Ain't gonna be the last." But that makes Buffy freeze, and Faith realizes what she just implied, "No, I didn't mean that as—it wasn't a dig, I swear." Fuck. Way to go, Faith. Let's just bring up past fuck ups while you're at it.

"I…" Buffy starts, blinking a bit to shake herself out of the place she just was. No doubt five years ago. "I uh," she stammers as she grabs what she needs, before turning to her with a look Faith wishes she'd never have to see Buffy have in her life. So much pain. Guilt. Anguish. "I'm so sorry…" she says, her voice cracking a bit from the tension.

"S'Fine," Faith manages, but her voice cracks too and she looks down at her stomach instinctively. The long, deep, painful reminder of that night on the roof. She bites her tongue and sucks it up though, trying to shrug it off. "Y'know me, B. Dealin'. It was a long time ago."

Buffy doesn't say anything for a moment as she walks over to her hesitantly. She swallows the lump in her throat before she grabs a cup, pouring rubbing alcohol in it before putting the thread in there, letting it soak and become sterile. She turns back to her, that look still not gone from her face, before she starts to have some kind of internal struggle.

Faith just watches her as she bends down, taking Faith's head in her hands gently. When her lips press against her forehead, Faith's eye's flutter shut and she has the strangest sense of déjà vu but can't seem to place where it was coming from. "I'm sorry," Buffy whispers against her skin; before she slides down to kneel in front of her, her hand falling as slow as she does until they're resting on her cheeks softly. Faith opens her eyes, and the intensity, all the emotion, Buffy was looking back at her with was almost too much.

Her voice comes out shaky, but as she brings her hand up to cover one of Buffy's letting her fingers curl around it, she says quietly, "I know." And she did. And that was all it ever had to be; just an 'I'm sorry.' She didn't need to know why she did it; she already knew why. She didn't blame her for it either, so it was just… done. Past. Happened and was fucked up, but hey. That's life…

Live and learn… all that crap.

Buffy turns her hand around and hesitantly holds Faith's, leaving the back of it to press against her face. Faith's heart beat is increasing, and she's pretty sure Buffy can hear it, but she doesn't say anything. They just look at each other for a long time, before Buffy's other hand tentatively starts stroking her cheek softly. Faith has no idea what this is, if it even is anything, but hell, it felt like something. Her fingers trail lightly down her features, studying the curve of her jaw, the fullness of her lips. Faith exhales a shaky breath that she didn't know she'd been holding, and tightens the grip on Buffy's hand.

"B…" she says softly. "This… isn't helping. With the backing off…"

"I know," Buffy whispers as her fingers trail lightly down her neck. She seems to shake herself out of it though and clears her throat, letting go of Faith's hand. "Sorry," she says, though mostly to the floor. She smiles a little, shy, and looks back up at her. "You're just… beautiful. I just want you to know that…"

Faith can feel the heat rising up her neck to her face before she can stop it, and she looks away so Buffy doesn't notice. But she does. Her face breaks out in a smile and she says, like it's the cutest thing in the fuckin' world, "Aww, did I just make you blush? I didn't know you could do that."

"Shut up," Faith mumbles, before looking back at her and pointing her finger at her warningly. "You tell anyone and I will kick your ass."

Buffy just smirks. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone," she says as she gets up, then adds, "You big softy," as she gets the needle and the soaked thread. Faith flips her off, but it just widens her smirk. She's back to business in a second though. "Lighter?" she asks.

"Yeah," Faith says, before digging in her pocket. She holds it out to Buffy, and she takes it, making it flame and holding the needle over it as she makes it sterile. After she's done, she kneels back down as she threads it. When it's through, she has a look of pure concentration on her face as she brings Faith's arm towards her.

"This might hurt."

"Thank you for the obvious, Nurse Buffy," Faith says flatly, but it just seems to amuse Buffy and Faith watches her smile. She starts stitching the wound, and Faith tries to act like all super tough nothing-can-hurt-me slayer, but really, in the end, her and needles? Bad mix. Yeah, she's got the tattoo, but it wasn't like she asked for it or anything. Fuckin' Kakistos and his wacked out tracking devices.

Faith hisses in pain as the needle goes through her sore, raw skin, and Buffy apparently feels the need to tease, "You're being a big baby tonight, you know. It's just a tiny needle."

"Yeah well let's see how well you react to it when I start shoving a needle through one of your open wounds," Faith snaps, but apparently nothing can get on Buffy's bad side right now because she just giggles at her.

"Lucky for me, we don't have to, seeing as I didn't get in the way of a great big knife. Unlike some people I know."

"I hate you."

"No you don't," Buffy responds, still amused. She stitches up the last bit then says, "There, all done. Let me clean it one more time." She gets up and runs the cloth under some clean water.

"Yes, mother," Faith says dryly.

"Faith," Buffy says flatly, glancing over at her and raising an eyebrow. "Gross concept. Seriously."

"What? You don't want me to go all mommy fetish on you?" Faith teases, smirking. Getting back into her old game, since Buffy wants her too. That's still a mind fuck and a half. "Thought you'd be into a little kink."

"First of all," Buffy says as she kneels back down and starts wiping the rest of the blood off her arm. "I'm a year older than you, so I don't think that constitutes much of a mommy fetish. Second of all, what I may or may not be into is none of your business." She pauses, and she can't help the twitch of a smile at the corner of her lips as she teases her, "…Yet."

"See, now you're just talkin' shit. The slay gettin' to you?"

"Once again, I don't get H&H," Buffy repeats, but it's with entertained patience. She's liking their little banter, she can't hide it anymore. She wipes off the blood slowly, probably a bit too slowly. She's dragging the cloth across her skin in an agonizingly taunting manner as she looks Faith square in the eyes, "And I don't talk shit, for the record."

"It is getting to you," Faith says triumphantly, then runs her tongue over her teeth a bit as she peers at her. "You hittin' on me, B?"

Buffy rolls her eyes, but she still can't stop that smile of hers. She throws the soiled cloth in the sink and turns back to her. "Maybe… a little," she admits. "But we're not gonna do anything about it," she said quickly, pointing for effect.

"Yeah, yeah. Time, patience, space, the whole nine yards. Got it," Faith says, but she can't stop her own smile that's forming either. Buffy was hitting on her. Actually, the more oh my fucking god thing about that was that Buffy is admitting she was hitting on her. She didn't expect that one. Especially not this soon. Maybe Kennedy was right.

She hopes she never has to use that sentence again. Sounds a bit fucked up.

Buffy gets herself off of the floor, and Faith stands up too. They both make their way back into Buffy's bedroom, before Faith turns to her. "Thanks for the… nursing," she makes the word sound as dirty as possible, and it makes Buffy blush. She's still smiling though, so Faith takes it as a win on her behalf. "I'm gonna hit the sack. See you in the morning?"

"Okay," Buffy says, but as Faith turns away, almost out the door, she's stopped by, "Actually, Faith?" Faith turns around to look at her and Buffy asks, "Do you want to… spend the night with me?"

Faith blinks, "What? Like some kind of girly sleepover?"

"Something like that."

Faith just stares at her for a minute, but the longer she stares, the longer she can see Buffy becoming uncomfortable and nervous about what she just asked, so she says the first thing that comes to mind. "Y'know, for giving a whole speech on space, you don't seem to want to do it that much."

Buffy huffs. "Well, fine. We'll scratch space off the list. But there's still time and patience," she tells her, folding her arms into herself a bit. "I just…" but she trails off, uncomfortable. She looks away from her.

Faith steps away from the door, closing it behind her. "You just wanna what, Buffy?" Faith asks her softly, making her way over to the blonde.

"I don't know. I guess just see what it would be like. Being with you."

Faith's eyes widen, and she blurts the words out before she has time to stop them, "Are you asking to have sex with me?"

"NO!" Buffy cries, pushing her back a little. "No, that's not what I meant. God. I just meant, I don't know, we can do it as some sort of experiment. The whole being with you thing, in a very not naked way," she adds with firmness in her voice. "Just for tonight. Just. I don't know. We can just hang out. And just do whatever feels natural. Like we can hold hands, and maybe watch a movie or something," she finishes, the last part coming out sounding a bit embarrassed.

"Oh," Faith says, still surprised. "Uh, sure B. I'm down with that."

Buffy smiles. "Good. I mean I'm glad. That… well, you know. Um, let me get you some PJs," she says, that little blush coming back as she wanders over to her closet. Faith can do nothing else but stare at her. It was all so surreal, in a way. Like she should be dreaming but she sure as hell ain't. Against her better judgment, she's starting to think Buffy might actually like her a little bit.

Buffy throws some clothes at her, and Faith looks down. Then she looks up, her eyebrow raised, "Seriously?"

"What? They're pajamas."

"B. They have teddy bears on them," Faith says flatly. "Do I look like a teddy bear person to you?"

"Oh stop whining and go change," Buffy tells her, scooting her towards the bathroom. Faith goes, but reluctantly. When the door closes with a click behind her, she looks down at the monstrosity in her hands. Great. Cause this is really what she needs right now. To look like a freaking stuffed animal. But she puts them on, making a point to not look at herself in the mirror, and when she comes out, she stops dead when she sees the look on Buffy's face. Oh, she better fucking not…

"Aww, you look adorable."

Faith scowls. "I seriously hate you right now, just so you're aware." But she comes over to sit by Buffy, who's grinning at her as she holds out her hand to her. Faith takes it, making a large note that Buffy got to wear the normal, solid colored PJs, and decides that Buffy is probably just messing with her to see what she'll do for her. But when Buffy's fingers lace around hers, she finds she couldn't give a crap less about the stupid pajamas.

They watched some old movie, Faith sitting against the wall on Buffy's bed as the older girl laid her head in her lap. Faith stroked her hair absentmindedly with the hand that was free, since the other one Buffy held close to her chest, fingers still intertwined, as they tried to pay attention to the movie. But Faith didn't care about the movie. She kept looking down at Buffy, watching her own fingers slide through her silky blonde tresses and she realizes that Buffy is the only thing that's ever worthwhile to really look at.

It was so… couply. The way they were. It was couply without the kisses and the sex, and while Faith usually tries to stay the hell away from all of that, with Buffy she couldn't get enough of it. Maybe she is turning into one great big soft pile of mush, but hell, right? This right here is like Christmas came early, and she didn't ever want the night to end.

But after awhile they both grew tired, and they climbed into bed together. Faith offered to sleep on the floor, but Buffy grabbed her hand, told her to "stop being stupid," and pulled her under the covers with her. The lights were out, and all that could be heard was the sounds of crickets outside. They both lay there in the dark, facing each other for a bit, still holding hands. They didn't say anything, they really didn't need to. Buffy gives her a small smile before she leans in, kisses her on the forehead, and then rolls over… taking Faith with her.

Faith's about to freak out, cause she's pretty sure she has an aversion to spooning, but when Buffy settles her back against Faith's breasts and holds her hand close, she realizes spooning really isn't all bad. She just lies there for awhile as she begins to hear Buffy's breathing slow and once she's sure she's asleep, Faith gently untangles herself from Buffy. Spooning isn't bad, no, but she definitely couldn't sleep like that. But before she turns over, she brushes some of Buffy's hair away from her shoulder, and kisses it softly. Once, twice. Just little butterfly kisses; gentle. "I love you Buffy," she whispers, just needing to say it out loud to her for once, even though she knows she can't hear her. Buffy's breathing is deep and even, and Faith smiles a little before rolling over and falling into a deep slumber.

What Faith was unaware of though, was that Buffy wasn't asleep. And as Buffy continues to try to feign it, she can't help the single tear that falls down her cheek.

TBC…