For the next four days, Faith spent almost all her time at the house with Kennedy, Jackie, and the other Slayers. She could feel the void that was there without Willow alive. It was nearly as big as the void she felt without Buffy being there. They'd talked on the phone for some time each night since Buffy had gone with the others to California to bury Willow and to visit her family in their time of grief and loss. Most of the conversations between them had been light and brief except for the one on the second night when things got a little heated and Faith almost got caught by Kennedy with her hands down her pants, breathing into the phone for Buffy to touch herself. It wasn't the same having phone sex with Buffy, she needed to physically touch her, but it still turned her on to no end hearing Buffy whisper sweet, naughty words through the phone, her breath practically caressing her entire body.
She hadn't heard a lot about the funeral that had been just yesterday. Buffy could hardly stop crying over the phone and she ended up being kicked off while Giles got on and asked Faith how things were holding up at the house. She left out the parts where they'd done nothing but drink at night, skipping out on patrol because none of them really could be bothered to go. Perry and Marshall had promised they'd take over until Buffy and the others came back home and Faith trusted that they would keep things under moderate control until then. Before she'd hung up the phone, Giles told her to expect them later that afternoon and ever since, she'd sat out back with the others, soaking up the hot July sun wearing nothing more than a bikini top and short denim shorts she'd cut out of a pair of jeans that almost got completely thrashed one night on patrol.
"God, can it be any hotter?" Kennedy groaned softly as she rolled onto her back and pushed her hair out of her eyes. "We seriously need a fucking pool out here."
"What about one of those kiddie pools? Fill it up with cold water and just sit in it?" Carmen asked as she looked over from the lounge chair she'd been lying in all afternoon. "It's not much, but it'd do the job, wouldn't it?"
"How 'bout I go get the hose?" Faith asked as she pulled her sunglasses down a little and peered over them at Carmen. "That'd do the job 'bout the same."
"Too much effort," Carmen laughed as Faith lay back on the blanket she'd spread out near the tree and under the shade. "But if you are willing to move..."
"Nah, you're right," Faith smirked as she stared up at the sky through the bare spots in the tree. "Way too much effort. Plus it's too damn hot today to even fuckin' breathe, much less move."
"Was it hotter where you two were before?" Kennedy asked quietly from next to her. "You did say it was hot as hell there."
"Yeah, kinda unbearable, but you'd be surprised how quick your body adapts. Besides," Faith said as she looked over at Jackie who was tending to the small garden at the far end of the backyard, "Jackie was there for over twenty years. Don't know how she could stand it."
"Easy," Jackie said as she turned to look at all of them. "I had no other choice. It was accept it and deal or just curl up and die, and I was not coward enough to do the latter."
"So, just look at this heat wave just like that," Faith pointed out, smirking as Carmen rolled her eyes and reached for her glass of formerly ice water that was now just warm water.
They fell back into silence, listening to the radio they'd brought out play mellow classic rock songs Faith personally hadn't heard in years. She tried not to watch as Satsu, who was lying on the lounge chair next to Carmen, turned over onto her stomach, but she couldn't help but stare at her. She wore a tiny white bikini that barely covered anything at all. Every inch of her skin was flawless and perfect, her muscles showing just enough definition to show she was a very strong woman despite her small frame. She knew what Kennedy saw in her, besides her personality, and for a few lingering moments she really couldn't blame Kennedy for wanting a piece of that. Satsu didn't compare to Buffy, though—nobody did—and just thinking that made her feel a little better for discreetly checking Satsu out.
She smiled to herself when she felt that oh so familiar buzz in her body that told her Buffy was near, that she and the others were finally home. What bothered her was the fact that Satsu seemed to know too, since she lifted her head and looked towards the gate quite a few moments before they actually heard the van pull in the driveway. She shrugged it off and got up from the blanket to head inside, breathing a sigh of relief that Xander had fixed the air conditioner. She pulled out a cold bottle of beer from the fridge as Buffy and the others came inside. Buffy was the first to come into the kitchen and she instantly had her arms wrapped around Faith and her lips upon hers, devouring her in a very deep and passionate kiss.
"Hey, baby," Faith said softly against her lips, not wanting to pull away just yet, but doing so anyway when the others walked into the kitchen a moment later. "Flight go okay?"
"Felt longer than it was," Buffy replied softly as she pulled away from Faith. "You're all sweaty."
"Been layin' out back all day with the girls, soakin' up some sun...y'know, just another typical lazy Saturday afternoon in good ole Cleveland."
"This new?" Buffy asked as she ran her fingers over the edge of her light blue bikini top just around the underside of her breasts. Faith only nodded and flashed a smug grin as Buffy slowly pulled her fingers away. "It's nice."
"Why don't ya go put on your suit and come out back with us?"
"Sure, give me a couple minutes," Buffy said, smiling as she leaned in for a quick kiss before she pulled away and walked out of the kitchen.
"You guys feel up for a barbecue tonight?" Xander asked as he opened the freezer and pulled out a few packages of steaks.
"Sure, why not?" Faith shrugged. "What better way to spend a Saturday afternoon, right?"
"Right," Xander said with a forced smile. "Good thing you stocked the fridge full of beer. Seriously could use one or twelve right about now."
"It can't be a lazy summer day without beer," Faith laughed, and she and Xander high fived each other before she headed back outside, the heat hitting her full force the second she opened the door.
Faith laid back down on the blanket next to Kennedy, unable to wipe the smile off of her face as she slid her sunglasses back on her face. She gave Kennedy a little kick to the leg when Buffy walked out of the house and all Kennedy did was scoff and move to the other lounge chair next to Satsu as Buffy walked over wearing her small, almost matching bikini. There was just enough mix of sun and shade under the tree and Buffy laid down next to Faith and made herself comfortable. Faith couldn't not stare at her body in that light blue bikini that barely covered her where it should. It was skimpier than the bikini Satsu was wearing and Faith could feel the others' eyes on Buffy as she stretched out slowly.
"Like what you see, Faith?" Buffy asked as she glanced over at her, smiling as she reached out and lightly stroked the outside of Faith's knee.
"Of course I like what I see, baby," she smiled as she leaned over and planted a light kiss on her lips. She trailed her lips to her ear, unable to stop the laugh as she whispered, "I think the others do too."
Buffy let out a laugh as Faith pulled away from her slowly only after planting a few light kisses on her neck just below her ear. She couldn't help but cop a quick feel either and her hand was quickly swatted away from Buffy's breast before any of the others could see. Four days had been complete torture for her and from the way Buffy just glanced over at her and slowly licked her lips, she knew she wasn't the only one feeling that way.
For a little while it felt like everything was back to the way it had been before. The sound of laughter that rang throughout the group as Xander fired up the grill made it feel like Willow was still there. Almost. Everyone laughed until they were crying when Andrew walked outside wearing a black Speedo, which caused him to grumble angrily that they just couldn't appreciate a man in a Speedo as he pulled one of the lounge chairs into the sun and situated himself on it.
"Man? Hardly, Andy boy," Faith laughed as she looked over at him.
"Are all Slayers gay?" Andrew asked, sounding rather annoyed as everyone continued to laugh at him. "I'm serious!"
"I'm not gay and I can appreciate a man in a Speedo," Amber spoke up as she looked over at him. They all roared with renewed laughter at the shy smiles exchanged between the two of them. "What?"
"You're on your own there, Amber," Kennedy laughed as she sat up and wiped away her tears. "Faith, you want another beer?"
"I'm good for now," she replied as she glanced down at her empty bottle and looked back up to meet with Buffy's disapproving eyes. "This is only my second one, B."
"I didn't say anything."
"Yeah, but I know what you're thinkin', B."
"Do you?" Buffy asked, looking at her as she ran her fingertips over her stomach slowly, watching Faith as her breath hitched in her throat. "That's what I thought."
Faith groaned in frustration, knowing exactly what Buffy was getting at yet also knowing she couldn't just take her away inside and fuck her for hours to make up for the lost days between them. That could come once they were back at the apartment later and completely alone and until that happened, Faith would just have to deal with her raging libido and the ache between her legs that was becoming unbearable every time she even just looked at Buffy. Of course, in the end, her hunger won over all thoughts as soon as she smelt the steaks cooking on the barbecue.
The last time they had quiet, relaxing moments like this, everything went to shit. Faith tried not to think of the worst, but she knew better now. Always expect the worst to happen because without a doubt, it would happen whether she tried to prevent it or not.
Faith was still wide awake when the sun rose and flooded through the window in the bedroom. Buffy had exhausted her—fucking her, making love with her, all night long until she couldn't keep her eyes open for a minute longer. Every inch of Faith's body was deliciously sore and the many love-bites Buffy had given her would be gone in mere hours. She hadn't even gotten the chance to pull out the strap-on she'd picked up at the sex shop just around the corner the day that Buffy and the others had left for California, but she knew she'd have plenty of time to since they planned to spend their Sunday lounging in bed together. She had been at Buffy's mercy all night long and it wasn't as if she was complaining either, she just wanted to take Buffy in every way she knew Buffy wanted her to and she could hardly wait for Buffy to wake up so she could do just that.
Buffy was lying on her stomach with her face turned away from her and Faith just laid on her side, watching the sunlight as it danced over her naked skin. Her fingers itched to reach out and touch, but she kept her hand at her side and the other tucked under her head and opted on just drinking in every inch of Buffy that lay bare for her eyes to see. She could see the faintest scar from where the sword from the Turok-Han had gone through her and suddenly the urge to reach out and touch was too much as her hand covered the distance between them and her fingertips just barely brushed over the small white scar.
"Mmm, is it morning already?" Buffy whispered as she turned to look at Faith.
"Yeah," she replied just as quietly as she leaned in for a very soft yet lingering kiss. "Still wicked early though, B."
"You haven't slept at all, have you?"
"Nah," Faith said as she shook her head a little. "You kinda got me all wound up last night. Kinda hard to sleep after havin' multiple orgasms that rocked my fuckin' world."
"Mmm," Buffy sighed, smiling as she closed her eyes and moved to lay partly on top of Faith. "Usually you pass out for hours afterwards."
"Yeah, dunno why it ain't like that this time."
"Maybe you just missed me?" Buffy asked as she lifted her head from Faith's shoulder to look at her. "You did, didn't you?"
"Fuckin' right I did," she grinned as she pulled Buffy in for a deep kiss, both of them moaning as Buffy slipped a leg between Faith's and ground her thigh into the brunette's aching center. "God, I so could do this every mornin' for the rest of my life."
Buffy arched an eyebrow at her words, looking slightly terrified for half a second before she smiled a sweet smile that completely melted Faith's heart. She uttered the words silently 'me too' against her lips before she suddenly slipped out of bed and was through the bedroom door in seconds. Faith groaned and let out a soft sigh when she heard the water in the shower running a moment later. She'd meant what she said about being able to spend every morning for the rest of her life waking up next to Buffy and sharing a sweet, passionate kiss, morning dragon breath and all. It was one of those thoughts she never imagined she'd ever say before, or feel, but it felt right and it felt like nothing else she'd ever felt in her life. It was a sense of peace, of love, of belonging.
She urged her tired, aching body out of bed and padded to the bathroom, yawning as she walked in, looking at the steam billowing out from the hot shower Buffy was having. She brushed her teeth quickly, unable to stop herself from stealing glances at Buffy through the foggy glass shower door. As much as she wanted to join Buffy in the shower, she didn't, only grabbing her robe off the back of the door and slipping it on as she walked out of the bathroom and headed to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee.
The little bit of time alone gave her too much time to think about everything. About her feelings for Buffy, about how much she'd changed, about how everything had changed as soon as they'd driven off from the crater in the ground formally known as Sunnydale. She thought about those few moments she and Buffy had together, about those long lingering looks that said so much more at the time than she realized. It was hard to believe that a few months ago she'd been in jail, doing her time and spending almost every hour thinking about her past and all the wrong she'd done. When Wesley had come to get her, she saw it as a moment in time that would change the rest of her life but at that time she'd had no idea just how drastic that change would be.
So much had happened in the last handful of months and even just looking back at everything, it overwhelmed her a little bit. It wasn't like she wasn't used to her life being that way either, but for once she just wanted things to slow down and give her a chance to truly enjoy life and love instead of worrying about all the things that went bump in the night and whatever else would come along. As soon as Buffy walked out of the bathroom, clad in only a towel wrapped around her body, all her thoughts literally floated away.
"Shower's free," Buffy said with a small smile as she reached for a clean mug on the shelf in the cupboard just above the coffeemaker.
"Cool."
"We got the entire day to ourselves. Well," Buffy sighed as she placed her mug on the counter rather heavily and rolled her eyes, "aside from the meeting Giles wants to have tonight we have the whole day to ourselves."
"What's the meeting for, do ya know?"
"About the Slayers the other Watchers are bringing in to be trained. They'll be showing up within the next week and we need to have some sort of legitimate plan when it comes to training and school schedules. The whole thing makes my head hurt just a little bit."
"Guess we'll have to make the most of our free time before the SIT's start showing up then, huh?"
"SIT's?"
"Slayers in training! Keep up, B."
"Oh," Buffy laughed as she shook her head. "Leave it up to you to give them all a nickname before they even show up."
"Callin' it as I see it is all. Would be good to have some kinda technical term for 'em, wouldn't it?"
"Sure."
"You really don't care, do ya?"
"Nope."
Faith chuckled as Buffy wrapped her arms around her, their coffee long forgotten in that moment their lips touched. The towel Buffy had wrapped around her dropped to the floor as Faith's hands roamed, eager to touch, to feel, and to eventually taste. It was as if her mind slipped into its own little world, a world where all that was there was Buffy and all she wanted to do was bring her over the edge, over and over again. To feel the ecstasy running through her body, to feel that electrifying touch every time their bodies touched. To taste that sweet taste that was distinctly Buffy, the taste that made her crave so much more.
As soon as Buffy had her out of her robe she was practically dragging her back to the bedroom, her lips never leaving Buffy's as she led them there. their safe haven was that room, that bed, each other, and it was fast growing into an addiction of sorts—or it had already reached that plateau of being an addiction and they were only feeding it now. It never failed to amaze her the way Buffy's body reacted to her touch as she pushed her gently down on the bed and held up a single finger to her lips when Buffy protested against her not being right there with her.
"Faith..."
"Hold up a sec, B," she chuckled softly as she walked over to the dresser and opened the top drawer. She hesitated for a moment, almost asking Buffy if she was up for it, but then just pulled out the box with the strap-on inside and made her way over to the bed. "Little somethin' somethin' I picked up the other day."
"For me?"
"For us."
Faith let her take the box from her hands and she watched Buffy as she opened it, smiling to herself as the blush crept over Buffy's face. Buffy looked a little nervous as she lifted the strap-on gingerly out of the box. It wasn't really big, about seven inches long and purple. Buffy laughed as Faith tossed the box across the room and watched her as Buffy ran her hands over the smooth rubber phallus.
"Purple?"
"Popular colour," Faith shrugged. "If you ain't up for it, B..."
"Did I say that?" Buffy asked coyly as she handed it to Faith. "I never said I wasn't, but here's where that whole uncharted territory thing comes crashing back."
The sexual animal deep inside of Faith was trying to claw its way out and it took a hell of a lot of restraint on her part to take things slow and not slam Buffy down on the bed, put on the strap-on, and fuck the hell out of her. She stood up from the bed and slipped on the leather harness, slipping the smaller end of the purple dildo inside of her before she tightened the straps. Buffy watched her with heavy lidded eyes as she lay back on the bed slightly propped up on her elbows. Faith's heart was racing and she was finding it harder and harder to contain her excitement as she crawled up the bed and hovered over Buffy.
"Hey," she said softly, leaning down to kiss her.
"Hey stud," Buffy chuckled, the sound of it reverberating through Faith's body.
Faith shook a little as she reached down between Buffy's legs, feeling a flood of wetness as soon as she slicked her fingers over her clit. She coated the dildo with as much of Buffy's wetness she could before she pressed the tip to the opening of her hole, her eyes never leaving Buffy's as she waited for Buffy to change her mind and tell her to stop. She slid it inside of her, inch by inch, her whole body tensing as Buffy wrapped her legs around her waist, burying it inside of her completely.
"Feel okay?" Faith asked softly, smiling down at Buffy as she nodded her head and gasped as Faith rolled her hips slightly.
"Feels...more than okay," Buffy said as she gripped onto Faith's shoulders. "Just go slow."
"Tell me if it's too much, B. Or not enough."
Buffy sighed out as she loosened the grip of her legs around Faith's waist. She started off slow with small, short thrusts, allowing Buffy some time to get used to it inside of her. Buffy moans were driving her on and she couldn't hold herself back and keep it slow for much longer. She thrust into her harder, holding her breath as Buffy arched her back into her and gripped onto her hips, forcing her to do it again and faster. She soon found a rhythm that had Buffy moaning and writhing beneath her.
Buffy flipped them over, grinning sexily down at Faith as she rode her slowly, raising her hips up just a little before ever so slowly sliding back down. It created delicious friction against her clit and she gripped onto Buffy's hips, holding her still where she was as she began to raise her hips into her blindingly fast. She knew she'd be sore, but Buffy was in throes of ecstasy that went beyond anything she'd felt with Faith before. Buffy fell forward, holding herself up with her hands as she kissed Faith furiously, nearly bruising her lips as the intensity and force of the kiss. Buffy gasped into Faith's mouth as they both stopped for a moment, sweat lining their bodies, hearts racing.
"Fuck," Buffy groaned as she leaned her forehead against Faith's.
"Feel good, baby?"
"Oh yeah."
Faith kissed her softly as she slid a hand between their bodies, her fingers seeking out Buffy's clit. She started thrusting up into her slowly while circling her clit in a way she knew would have Buffy coming in minutes. She felt like a haze had settled around them, trapping them for just a brief moment in time. The sounds of the city just faded away, the light streaming in through the window dimmed just a little, and all Faith could see and hear was Buffy as she gasped and moaned as her orgasm began to wash over her. Buffy collapsed fully on her, panting heavily. Faith undid the straps slowly and eased out of Buffy and slipped the strap-on off completely before pulling Buffy flush against her.
She ran her hands up and down Buffy's back slowly, waiting for her to recover from the orgasm that had ripped through her body almost violently. She'd never seen Buffy spent so easily in all the times they'd been together, but being up most of the night with very little sleep wasn't helping any either.
"That was..." Buffy sighed as she lifted her head so she could look into Faith's eyes. "That was...wow, I really don't know what else to say."
"Definitely was wow and then some, B."
"You didn't have to stop."
"Like it better just you and me," Faith whispered softly. "Love the way ya feel against me."
Buffy sighed softly, smiling as she moved to kiss across Faith's neck, nipping at the skin just over the pulse point as she slid her own body down against her lover. Faith's whole body was on edge, having been on the brink of her own orgasm since Buffy had come. She needed the release and Buffy knew she did, so she quickly made her way down the brunette's body, stopping to lick over the hard, sensitive nipples before moving down between her legs. Faith reluctantly reached down to stop Buffy when she heard someone knocking on the door and they both groaned in frustration as they struggled to get up from the bed and get dressed quickly.
"Why is it that every single time we're alone together someone always interrupts us?" Buffy asked, growling as she pulled a clean tank top over her head, not even bothering with a bra. "I thought the whole point of us living here was so we didn't have to worry about someone interrupting our alone time?"
"Fuck if I know, B."
"It's just going to get worse, isn't it?"
"Sure as hell hope not," Faith replied as she watched Buffy slip on a flowing light blue skirt similar to the white one she'd worn about a week before. "But with Giles plannin' to house all the SIT's in this building, gotta tell ya, time alone is gonna be hard to come by."
"How is this ever going to work then?"
"It's not gonna be that bad, B," Faith chuckled, pulling Buffy into her before she could walk out of the bedroom. "Who knew you were such a demon in the sack, huh?"
"Me?" Buffy laughed, trying to look as innocent as she could with her current post-orgasm glow.
"Yes, you."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Oh yeah?" Faith smirked as she backed Buffy up against the wall right near the doorframe. She had her hands sliding up the blonde's legs, under her skirt, and cupping her bare pussy instantly. "Still fuckin' soaked, B."
"Faith...the door," Buffy sighed out as Faith gently fingered her tender hole before she pulled her hand away. "You know it's your fault!"
"My fault?"
"You just..." Buffy looked flustered as she straightened out her skirt a little. "You always get me so worked up. Nobody has ever done that to me before. I can't even be in the same room as you without wanting to..."
"Fuck? Perfectly natural, B. We're fuckin' hot for each other and there ain't a damn thing wrong with that either."
Buffy just let out a short laugh as she walked out of the bedroom leaving Faith standing there with a pout and her arms crossed over her chest. Buffy went to answer the door and Faith could only let out a heavy, agitated sigh as she headed for the kitchen and hoped the coffee was still hot. Despite having their whole morning in bed thrown off, she was surprisingly not angry when Buffy let Xander into the apartment. He had bags of groceries and Faith just laughed off the fact that she had completely forgotten that he offered to bring them some food the day before. She made up a coffee for him and the three of them went to sit out on the balcony to enjoy the warm, summer morning sun.
The depression showed heavily on his face as he forced a smile at the two of them. He looked as exhausted as Faith felt herself and she knew the loss of Willow had hit him the hardest out of all of them. They hadn't talked about her, about the funeral, since they had come back from California and despite the fact that Faith wanted to know how everything went, she knew better than to ask before the others were ready to talk about it. Buffy had been struggling to hold herself together, but when they were making love all night long, she'd managed to forget about it for a little while and just indulge herself in Faith.
They talked about Giles' plans for training the younger Slayers, talked about plans of possibly taking some time off, going away somewhere far from Cleveland for a much needed vacation. Faith knew it'd never happen, at least not anytime soon, but she got lost in Buffy's fantasy of flying to Italy to spend a couple of months there away from the rest of the world and their day to day lives. Xander wanted to go back to California, to where his parents had relocated in Fresno, and spend some time there working with a few guys he'd done construction work with before. It was the first both Buffy and Faith had heard of him talk about this and how serious he was about doing it if he was no longer needed in Cleveland.
"What about Dawn?" Buffy asked calmly. "You're just going to leave her here?"
"It's not serious between us, Buff, and you know that."
"So what, are you using my sister?"
"It isn't like that," Xander responded through clenched teeth. "Dawn and I talked about this the other night, about the possibility of me going back to California for a couple of months. It isn't like it's set in stone. It's just one of those fleeting dreams I know I'll get the chance to do once and if I don't take it, it'll slip right through my fingers."
"I get that," Faith said as she smiled at him. "We still want you here, Xand. You're needed here."
"Doing what?"
"Groceries?" Faith joked and that got him laughing. "Nah, man. You know we'd all miss ya too much if you went back out to the west coast."
"Like I said, it's just a fleeting dream, a possibility. Done a lot of thinking in the last couple of days and asked myself why."
"Why what?" Buffy asked him as she shifted on the bench to move closer to Faith.
"Why I didn't go off and do my own thing after Sunnydale."
"But you are a part of the family, Xander. You belong here with all of us."
"I know that, Buffy. Just sometimes you get these thoughts, you know?" Xander said and he sighed heavily as he stared down into his coffee mug. "You two ever wonder what it'd be like right now if we went our separate ways after Sunnydale? You think you two would even be together now if we didn't stick together?"
It really got Faith thinking and she knew she'd be off somewhere on her own and that no, she and Buffy would have never gotten together or even made an attempt at being friends if they hadn't all stuck together after Sunnydale. It was a sobering thought and from the look on Buffy's face, she knew she was thinking pretty much the same thing even if both of them were too afraid to say the words aloud. The way Faith looked at it, if she didn't say it then it couldn't lend any weight to unwanted theories about their relationship, especially regarding how and why it had come about.
"Just a question," Xander muttered under his breath after neither of them said a word. "Because you know how things used to be and then you go and compare them to how they are now and...you know, you start asking yourself all these questions hoping to find an answer...or go crazy trying to."
"Everything would be completely different," Buffy said as she looked over at Faith and pouted a little. "I don't even think we'd...have had the chance to get over our past differences and find something new in each other. Whether it ended up being friendship or something more."
"Everything happens for a reason though," Faith said to both of them. "Just gotta let life happen and stop trying to say 'what if' or try to figure out what would be different if you did one thing differently."
"You do it all the time," Buffy said pointedly. "And don't lie to me."
"I know I do it all the time, doesn't mean I don't know that I shouldn't be," Faith replied, smirking at the oblivious look on Buffy's face as she turned to look away from her. "Don't worry, B. I'm sure if things were different we woulda found each other one way or another."
Buffy kissed her then, keeping it very brief since they were both fully aware that Xander was watching, possibly drooling just a little. Faith flashed a sweet smile at her as they parted and turned to look at Xander who was trying not to look like he'd been staring at the two of them. they all laughed at the slight awkwardness of the situation and shrugged it off, going back to talking about the plans they knew of so far when it came to training the Slayers that were about to start showing up there.
Faith could feel something different coming from Buffy. Hesitation and that ever familiar urge to pack up and run as far and fast away as she could get. Faith had to be honest with herself and admit she was feeling the same way most days. The responsibility they would have soon with the SIT's would be more than anything they'd ever known. They'd be responsible for training these girls to fight and keep themselves from getting killed by every creature and being that went bump in the night and lurked in every dark shadow. They weren't expected to have to deal with everything and Giles had made that pretty clear before.
There was one thing nobody had talked about since that night Willow had been killed and that was the fact that Faith and Buffy were supposed to have all this extra strength and yet, facing those vamps had been a challenge for both of them even with that extra strength they now possessed. Talking about anything from that night was rough on all of them but Faith's curiosity was growing now that she thought more about it. She still felt that power coursing through her body with every breath she took, but it didn't mean that they could take on a group of vampires any easier than they were able to before.
Faith sighed out softly, running a hand through her hair and listening as Xander complained about the muggy heat and smoggy air that hung like a curtain over the city most days. They moved back inside once the sun got too hot and Buffy started cooking up some omelettes for lunch while Xander checked out Faith's growing DVD collection that was stacked on the shelf next to the TV. She knew he'd come by for another reason other than the groceries he'd offered to bring. She knew he didn't want to be in that house any longer than he had to be. Although they'd been in Cleveland just over two months, that house had tons of memories and she knew for Xander, a lot of those memories were shared with Willow and the others, not her and Buffy.
Faith joined Buffy in the kitchen, helping her chop up the onions, green peppers, and cheese to make the omelettes. They kept stealing soft, tender kisses, smiling and giggling every time Xander would look over at them and blush furiously. She stole one last kiss before she grabbed the eggs out of the fridge for Buffy and that was when Dawn, Kennedy, and the other slayers showed up at the apartment with Giles and Jackie right behind them.
It made her feel truly at home with everyone she cared about and that cared about her there in the apartment. Even though the laughter was hard to come by lately, it still didn't fail to come out as Andrew started to giggle uncontrollably when he walked past the bedroom. Buffy's face went beet red when she realized that the strap-on Faith had so haphazardly tossed aside before lay in plain view on the bedroom floor next to the bed. Giles' face was just as red and he was the one who ended up closing the bedroom door, clearing his throat rather loudly as he then turned to join Jackie back on the smaller couch.
Faith stood behind Buffy in the kitchen as she made enough omelettes for everyone and rubbed her back slowly, trying to ward off the embarrassment of their friends and family seeing what they had. She whispered to her that it was just as bad as being caught having sex and Faith just nodded, trying not to laugh, and told her it wasn't, that they'd all soon forget about it and that it'd be as if it hadn't even happened. Everything would have been okay and Buffy had begun to calm down, but Kennedy, being Kennedy, decided that some suggestive gestures were in order and made Buffy nearly run out of there in sheer embarrassment.
"B, just ignore her, ignore them," Faith whispered as she grappled to keep her by the stove.
"This is completely mortifying."
"Nah, baby," she said as she stepped closer to her red-faced lover, wrapping her up in her arms from behind as Buffy gradually gave up on trying to bolt from the room so quickly. "At least maybe now they'll figure out just why we wanna spend our weekends alone and won't be so fuckin' eager to bust in on us."
Buffy groaned as she pushed Faith away from her. "Just go over there and sit. Now, Faith."
"Whipped," Kennedy coughed as Faith walked over to the couch and sat down heavily next to the brash young slayer. "She's got you fucking whipped, Faith."
"Yeah, she does," she smiled as she looked over at Buffy for a moment and laughed when Buffy flipped her the finger. "Like I said before god knows how many times, I wouldn't have it any other way."
"Are there actual whips involved?" Satsu asked, quirking an eyebrow as Faith burst out laughing, feeling Buffy's anger and embarrassment even being so far away from her. "Because I think it would be rather hot if there are."
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Faith chuckled as she gave Satsu a wink and quickly wiped the smirk off her face as Buffy spun around and chucked a piece of toast at her. "Thanks, B! Was getting hungry."
"Fuck off, Faith."
"Love ya too, babe," she smirked, and everyone burst into laughter that brought those happy tears to their eyes. For a lot of reasons she wished that every day would be this way but she knew it would never be.
