The Dawning of Faith

Chapter 23

"But first – " Willow's eyes were twinkling brightly, "go ahead and tell me all about how Faith looks when she's sleeping. I know you're dying to!"

"Well, you've seen that she has dimples, right?" Dawn asked excitedly.

"I might have noticed that once or twice," Willow acknowledged.

"She was smiling while she slept, and when she breathed, the dimples moved. Kind of like that soft spot on a baby's head, it was the sweetest thing I've ever seen!"

By the end of the lesson time, there had been much more discussion of various bits of cute than levitation, but neither of them considered the afternoon wasted.

Dawn spent the time remaining before dinner in the weight room.

After the third time that Buffy had nearly fallen asleep with her face in her plate, Willow helped her somnolent lover rise from the table and slowly herded her to bed.

"What did you guys do to Buffy today?" she asked when she returned to the table. "She's all worn out."

"More like eaten up, I think," Candace volunteered. The workday was over, and playtime had begun.

"Maybe," grinned Willow, "just a little." Faith looked anxiously to see how Dawn was handling this exchange, and was relieved to see nothing but amusement on her face.

The gentle teasing continued after the food was gone, and the girls had a pleasant time together after their hard day of work and study. Faith felt more a part of them than she ever had, and her happiness allowed the other women to talk to her more openly than they had dared in the past.

Now that Faith was truly unattainable, she had become approachable, and more people than just Dawn and Faith gained from it.

Eventually people drifted off, some to watch TV before bed, others to read or study. Willow went to check on Buffy, and stood quietly for a time looking at the love that she had at last been able to claim. And while the pain of Tara's loss would surely never leave her, the edges of that hurt were a little bit smoother now, and she knew that Tara was glad of that.

"I should take a few notes," she thought, "Dawnie isn't the only one here whose love is beautiful sleeping." Buffy began to snore softly.

"Rats," Willow said quietly, "but at least it's kind of a cute snore."

Dawn and Faith had elected to remain in Dawn's room for tonight, wanting to return to a place with such good memories already imbuing it.

"Do you think we should move in together, Dawnie?" asked Faith as she headed to the bathroom with her bag of necessities.

"I'd love to, and it makes sense in more than one way. It would free up a room so that Amanda could have one to herself."

"Yeah, she should have that. My place or yours?" grinned Faith.

"Your bathroom is bigger," Dawn said, "it's got that double sink."

"I like your bed better though," Faith told her.

"Easy fix. So Sunday is moving day then?"

"Sounds like a plan. Dawn… do you think us living together is going to make it harder on you? I mean about things like showers and stuff," Faith asked her. Dawn smiled.

"We'll manage, and when we're both ready we'll both know it. And I promise that I really do understand, love. I know what this step would mean to you, as much as I can. Giles helped me to understand it," Dawn confessed.

"I guess Watchers aren't a waste of skin after all, at least not this one. You already showered, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I was a bit rank after the weight session," Dawn admitted.

"You aren't working out alone are you? That can be dangerous," Faith cautioned her.

"There were a couple Slayers there, and we spotted for each other. They didn't even gripe about the time it took to change the weights for me."

"No reason for them to, every body is different; the workout has to suit the need. There's more to it than just how much iron you use. Lots of times Buff uses more weight than I do, she's not stronger, just has a different body, that's all."

"That makes sense," Dawn agreed. A smile lit her face. "Isn't this great! I mean, the two of us, talking and sharing and learning about each other, this is how it's supposed to be, don't you think?"

"I never thought about how it was supposed to be," Faith admitted, "never had a reason to think I'd ever know. But if I could pick a way for it to be, this would be it. I'm gonna hit the shower."

"Faith?" Dawn called to her as she opened the bathroom door.

"Yes?"

"I don't promise not to peek."

"You better peek, I'm gonna."

Dawn waited until the shower had been running for a while before she did, and she decided that even through the glass of the shower door and the steam, that the front side of Faith was every bit as beautiful as the back. She was also pleased that the tingle that spread throughout her body, while intense, was actually kind of comfortable. Like a kettle of soup gently simmering on the rear burner of the stovetop rather than a furiously boiling pot of pasta. She knew then that Faith had been right, they weren't ready yet, but they would be. And in the meantime the soup smelled nice indeed.

Dawn was seated at her dresser brushing her hair when Faith emerged from the bathroom wearing a huge t-shirt. Faith's pleasure in watching this was marred when she saw Dawn flinch and roll her shoulder.

"Overdo it a little, love?" she asked.

"I think maybe so, my left shoulder is a kind of tight."

"Can't have that, let me take a look." Faith stepped up behind Dawn and gently probed and rotated the shoulder. "Right there, isn't it?" she asked.

"That's the spot," Dawn confirmed.

"It's not too bad, I think. You might have gotten a little sloppy on your form trying to lift too much. Back it down next time. We'll go Sunday and set up a good routine for you. What got you in the weight room anyway?"

"It just seemed to me that stronger would be better, I know I'm not going to be on one of the regular teams, but I might as well do it right."

"That's my girl," Faith said in approval as she planted a kiss on the top of Dawn's head. Both of them really liked the way that phrase sounded now. "I've got some stuff that will help loosen that up, get your shirt off while I find it." Dawn pulled her shirt over her head and draped her hair over her right shoulder to get it out of the way.

"This stuff might sting just a little, but it doesn't hurt the skin," Faith promised as she kneaded the lotion into Dawn's shoulder with her strong fingers. Dawn could feel the knot in the muscle easing under Faith's care.

"That feels good, thanks."

"Welcome, sweetie, my pleasure. You were wrong this morning, you know," Faith said casually. Dawn raised her head, and their eyes met in the mirror.

"How's that?"

"I'm not the most beautiful thing that has ever existed."

"Come on in Willow," Giles said to the face peering through his open study door. "Can I get you something? A glass of sherry, perhaps?"

"Thanks Giles, that would be really nice," Willow accepted as she sank onto the couch. Giles brought her a glass and sat beside her.

"Is this a social call, or is there something that we need to talk about?" he asked.

"Both. Dawnie was really impressed with what you told her, Giles. You helped her a lot." Giles' eyes crinkled in pleasure. "So much has happened lately…"

"Indeed, marvelous things! There was a time when I really thought we'd never know joy again, and now the place is simply filled with it. Speaking of that, where's Buffy?"

"Asleep," Willow told him, "she snores."

"Well I suppose one can't have everything," Giles said with a chuckle.

"It's more than enough for me. How long have you known about the four of us?"

"I began to feel that about you and Buffy even back when you were still mooning over Xander; Faith and Dawn… I noticed that when Faith was injured in that explosion, the trap that the First's men set."

"How come you never said anything?"

"Well it's not the kind of thing you can just tell people, is it? How do you suppose that you would have reacted back in High School had I, a member of the faculty, come up to you and said "Oh, by the way, you're actually more of a lesbian than you are even bi, and you're in love with your best friend who is also not as straight as she thinks she is," ?"

"I would have called the cops," Willow confessed.

"Precisely, have you heard from Xander lately?"

"I got a letter last week, he got another promotion, and he is now "The most important Cyclopean construction superintendent on the west coast, same old Xander," Willow told him.

"Indeed, and thank goodness for that. Is he still with Harmony?"

"Yup, he likes his women a little crazy, and Harm sure fills the bill. She needs him though; as a vampire Harmony is made of fail, and Xander needs somebody to care for."

"Have you heard back from Audra on Dawn's scores?" Giles asked her.

"Yep. She blew the top right off the charts in her area of affinity."

"And what would that be?"

"Can't talk about it."

"Oh dear," Giles whispered.

"Yep."

Faith got into bed and slid over close to Dawn, who lay her head on Faith's shoulder.

"Sleep well, my love," Faith told her. Dawn smiled her reply against the skin of Faith's neck, and Faith softly stroked Dawn's hair as she fell asleep. Faith took a bit longer to surrender to sleep that night; as she was much more interested in holding Dawn and thrilling to the feel of her, listening to her breathing, and touching the flutter of the heartbeat in the soft skin of her neck.

"I never dared to imagine having anything like this, but if I had, it would have been just this way, just this way…"