The rating might be a little stronger for this chapter. Not by much though. Just a warning.

---

Faith's Point of View

Waking up is not the most enjoyable process. Especially when you've lived the crummy life that I have – when you usually wake up in some fleabag's bed, or some no-tell motel. Waking up this morning wasn't really any different, until I realized where I was.

I tried to roll over when I realized that I was pinned down. I started freaking out for a moment, wondering where I was, when I remembered what had happened last night. I opened my eyes slowly and stared at the dawn-illuminated ceiling. The first thing I noticed was that the person Dawn was laying on my shoulder, preventing me from rubbing the sleep out of my eyes with my arm. I glanced down at her and noticed that she was awake. Buffy, however, was nowhere near waking up, it seemed.

I loosened my grip on Dawn; I was sure that she'd want to get up. She looked up at me and whispered her thanks – apparently she didn't want to wake Buffy up. She half hugged me and then got up and tiptoed out of the room. She probably had to pee like a racehorse after all that milk she drank last night. She had closed the door softly on her way out, but the small noise and motion of the bed had made Buffy stir.

I stayed still, letting her wake up in her own time. Blearily, she looked up at me and then settled with her head on my shoulder, and her arm still resting on my leg. I turned my head, with some difficulty due to my neck's stiffness, and kissed her forehead.

"Morning, babe," she said, her voice still sleepy. For a minute, I couldn't say anything. She noticed when I didn't respond.

"You've never had anyone say that to you before, have you?" she asked. She leaned back slightly in my arms so that she could look me in the eyes. "Is this the best bed that you've ever woken up in?" she asked timidly.

"Yeah, B, it is; by far. Good morning to you too, babe," I smiled genuinely. She grinned and moved her head back to rest in the crook of my neck. Her hair smelled like apple blossoms; I smiled into it. We lay there for a few minutes, just enjoying being so comfortable with each other. Eventually, I had to roll over; my back was just as stiff as my neck from lack of motion during the night.

I turned over so that I was facing Buffy. She looked slightly startled, then smirked and it took me a moment to figure out that her expression was due to the fact that her hand was now pinned between my thighs. I chuckled, but didn't move. I wrapped my arms tighter around her – one underneath her neck, and one across her other arm and waist. She smiled and snuggled in closer to my chest. After a moment, she started rubbing her thumb hesitantly back and forth against my leg. I flinched under her touch – it tickled. Well that's just great. Perceptive little Buffy was bound to notice and exploit my new found weakness. To my surprise she just looked up at me, confused.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked. "It tickled, ok?" I was kind of perturbed at having to explain my involuntary action. Once again surprising me, she looked relieved.

"Oh. I thought you…that you didn't like it or something," she said, looking down bashfully. I laughed lightly. She looked up at me, startled once again.

"How could you possibly think that? I mean, I guess 'cause I moved, but I love you Buffy. I'm not going to flinch away from you voluntarily," I stated honestly. She smiled slowly.

"Hmm," she said, with a huge grin on her face. I looked at her, puzzled for a moment. Then I picked up on her train of thought, and a smirk spread itself across my face before I could stop it.

"So, if I do something like this," she drummed her fingers into my leg quickly and I flinched, "it tickles. But if I do something like this," she moved her fingers slowly down towards my knees and back up again, "it feels ok, right?" she asked. I just stared down at her, my stupid smirk still firmly intact.

"Yeah," I said slowly, lingering on the word. "So, you aren't ticklish or anything? No hidden weaknesses that I should know about?" I asked.

"Hmm. You might just have to figure that one out for yourself," she said slyly. I took her suggestion and let my hand wander from her waist, down to her knee, and let it slowly trail back up to her hip. She shivered under my light touch, but she didn't jerk or flinch like I had, so I guessed that she wasn't ticklish – not on her legs at least.

"Interesting," I said, drawing out the word. She murmured something unintelligible and burrowed her head back beneath my chin – still not moving her hand. I kissed the top of her head. We didn't say anything else for a while. I traced light patterns with my fingertips across her exposed skin just above her waist. She murmured into my chest again.

"What was that, B?" I asked. She pulled her head slightly away from my chest to answer me.

"You smell good, and that feels really good," she said.

"Oh. Uh – thanks. I guess," I whispered. I knew she could hear my every word clearly because she was so close to my chest. She looked up at me through her eyelashes. "What?" I asked. She got this little mischievous grin on her face as she leaned up to whisper in my ear.

"I love you, Fai," she said softly. Then she did something that I hadn't really expected – she shifted slightly so that she could kiss the bottom of my jaw, slightly below my ear. She nibbled at the spot, then licked it a little, and then kissed it again. She started doing this all the way down my neck. I whimpered. She paused in her ministrations long enough to look up at me and make sure that what she was doing was ok.

I moved my hand (the one that had been resting on her side) to her lower back, and I moved my arm that was beneath her to hold her tighter to me. This action ended in another little action that I hadn't expected. Buffy pushed back into me slightly, tipping me onto my back, with her on top of me.

She moved her legs slightly so that she was laying more on my one leg than the other. She gave me another little grin before leaning up slightly so that she could reach my neck with her lips again. She shifted her body slightly so that she had one leg slung over my hips, along with one of her arms. She traced small patterns with her fingers from my hip to my stomach, and back again, as she continued to kiss and nibble at my neck. She rested her other hand gently on my shoulder, rubbing her thumb slowly back and forth across its surface. It felt absolutely incredible. She looked up at me slightly before moving her caresses down to my collarbone.

"OH. MY. GOD!" Dawn shrieked. She had walked back into the room and I hadn't noticed at all. I had forgotten about everything else except Buffy. Shit. Buffy and I both screeched, and tried to jump up, ending up in us knocking our heads together painfully and sinking back into the same position.

"Oh my gosh! You guys! AHHH!" I couldn't tell if she was excited to actually see some action around here, or if we had scarred her for life.

"Oh god," Buffy swore under her breath, starting to panic. "Dawn, Dawnie, I – we – what I mean is –" she tried to scramble off of me again, but I had looked at Dawn's expression more closely and realized what she was thinking, and I held Buffy still against me.

"Shh, B. Just be quiet for a minute," Buffy looked at me, confused, and then looked at Dawn, and then back at me. "Shh," I repeated softly. I knew Dawn would say something else, and I waited.

"Oh my gosh, you guys are so perfect for each other!" she squealed. "Is Angel really gone?" she asked excitedly. My suspicions that she had read the letter last night were confirmed. B was stunned into silence, and so I answered the excited teen.

"Yeah Dusk," I said, grinning, "Fang's gone," I smiled wider at Buffy's growing look of startled confusion. This statement drew yet another excited shriek from Dawn.

"Oh my gosh! So you guys are really – AHHH! I'm so excited!" she said, waving her lanky arms around for emphasis, accidentally hitting one on the doorframe. "Ow!" she yelled.

Buffy came to her senses suddenly and her eyes grew wide. "Dawn, Dawnie stop screaming! You're going to wake M–"

Suddenly, Joyce flew into the room behind her younger daughter. "Dawn, what's happened? Why are you screaming?" she asked, frantically looking her over for injuries – and completely ignoring the older girls on the bed. Buffy's face quickly molded back into an expression of open-mouthed shock. Once Joyce had determined that her youngest daughter was unharmed, she looked towards her oldest daughter – and the bed. And me – me in the bed, with my arms wrapped around her eldest daughter who was still straddling my waist.

Joyce looked from Buffy, to me, to Dawn again, and then back at me. And then she started to laugh. I joined Buffy in her open-mouthed, shocked expression. Soon, Dawn couldn't help but start laughing with her mother. B and I stared at them, disbelief and confusion etched in our faces.

After a few minutes of giggling, and through a few prolonging snorts, Joyce explained her hysteria.

"Oh my. Dawn, you're surprised," she said plainly to her youngest daughter, gesturing to B and I on the bed. Dawn nodded, still grinning and snickering with her mother. "Well I'm not," B's jaw dropped down a little lower. So did mine, I'm sure. Joyce looked at both of us in turn before speaking again with a more serious tone. "Girls, I've known that you've had feelings for each other for a long time. Apparently you didn't, and maybe it's just mother's intuition, but I knew." B and I looked at each other, and then back at Joyce, our mouths still hanging open. Joyce chuckled a little at our expressions and then took Dawn by the shoulders and led her out of the room. Before she closed the door, she looked back at us once more.

"Breakfast is ready, any time you girls feel like coming downstairs," she said, and closed the door softly. As Buffy and I listened to their footsteps fade down the hall, we relaxed a little. I laid my head back on the pillow and sighed. Buffy took a moment more to relax, and then she melted into me, laying her head on my chest. B spoke up almost immediately.

"What just happened?" she asked, needing reassurance.

"Well B, we were busy and all wrapped up in hormones, and all of a sudden your little sis pops in, scaring the crap out of me, for one. Then your mom comes in, and I think she's gonna yell and kick me out of the house for the attempted molestation of her oldest daughter, but instead she stands there and laughs and said she knew it all along. Is that a good enough re-cap?"

"Um, yeah," she paused. "Faith, what just happened?" she asked again. I laughed.

"Come here, Buffy," I said. She looked up at me, but didn't move any more. I put my hands around her waist and pulled her up so that her head was even with mine. She laid her head down on the pillow next to me, looking me in the eyes. She brought her hand up and touched my cheek lovingly.

"I love you Faith. I hope you know that." I continued to trace patterns across her back as she spoke. "I know that a lot of stuff has happened to you, and maybe you'll feel safe enough to share it with me some day, but for now, it's ok. Alright?" I looked at her, and I knew that she wanted me to trust her. I had a lot of trust issues that I had to work on, and it made my stomach knot to think of them. "I love you," she repeated. I smiled at her; that was the only reaction that I had. I closed my eyes and just lay there for a moment.

"I love you too Buffy." I felt her shift a little in my arms, but I didn't realize what she was about to do.

---

Ooo...what's going to happen now? You'll just have to keep reading to find out :] Tell me what you think of this chapter. Personally, it's one of my favorites so far. Also, I know that they're moving rather fast here, but that'll be explained, or...discussed at least.