Faith pushed the door to her motel room open, helping Buffy through the gap, being careful not to allow the smaller girl to hurt herself in any way. Buffy sighed a little, knowing full well that she was over playing the girly and feeble card, but she couldn’t stop herself. Not when Faith was being so nice to her, and so sweet even.

She had been feeling particularly shitty lately too, with losing her strength, being betrayed by somebody she looked up to as a father, and with the way things with Angel seemed to be falling apart. Her strength had gone in more than just the physical sense, and she was so glad to have her fellow Slayer’s support, in every way.

“You should strip,” Faith said nonchalantly, as she turned to face Buffy, her hands still holding onto her, just above her waist.

Buffy was momentarily stunned, both by Faith’s words, and by her present position in front of her. If anybody were to walk in on them, it would almost look like they were about to kiss she supposed. Not that the thought had crossed her mind. . .well, not more than for a brief second anyway, which left her once again confusingly thinking of Faith’s tongue slipping into her mouth.

“Buffy? Have you been taking drugs or something? You keep spazzing out,” Faith remarked curiously.

Faith’s puzzled expression almost had Buffy laughing. She just looked so cute and kind of worried at the same time. It really wasn’t an expression she was used to seeing grace Faith’s usually compassionless face. Even over the last few days, she had never seen Faith look quite this concerned.

The feeling it gave her had a small light flickering in the back of Buffy’s head, but she ignored it and passed it off as a headache, also doing her utmost to stand a little straighter so Faith didn’t have to have her hands attached to her waist so comfortably. It was beginning to make that flickering light a little brighter.

“Of course not, I’m just. . .cold, and thinking that pain is just not my favourite pastime. I may have to give this hobby up and think about collecting stamps instead,” Buffy quipped, whilst trying not to notice that Faith had an enchanting little mole over her left breast, just above the plunge of her tight tee shirt.

She forced her eyes away from the mole, pleading with herself to look up and not into the unashamed cleavage on display so close to her.

“Sure.” Faith raised her eyebrow. “Now strip.” Her eyes were glinting with mischief she obviously had no control over.

“Huh?” Buffy tried her hardest to figure out where things had gone from Faith being helpful, to Faith wanting to get her naked.

“Take your coat and pants off, B, they‘re soaked.” Faith waved her hand at Buffy, gesturing at her coat as she moved away a little, taking her jacket off as Buffy closed her mouth as soon as it hit her what the younger girl actually meant.

“Oh, right. Of course.” Buffy shook her head a little, trying to regain some clarity, and some sense of who the hell she was and what she was doing jumping all kinds of ahead to less then innocent thoughts, with Faith telling her to strip.

She ignored the amused look Faith passed over her for acting so dense, as she struggled out of her damp coat, shrugging it from her shoulders, trying not to move the muscles in her back around too much. She didn’t feel quite as much in pain as she did at the cemetery, a little of her Slayer healing coming into play, but she was still very sore and stiff.

“Here, let me help.” Faith strode forwards, helping Buffy pull her arms from her coat, throwing it over the chair on top of her leather jacket, in a way that really wasn’t going to help it dry.

The brunette then glanced down at Buffy’s sodden pants, then back up to her face, obviously waiting for her to undo her belt and just slip right out of them. Buffy wasn’t exactly the kind of girl who was used to being pantless around people though.

“Umm, maybe I should sit down first. So I can. . .take them off.” Buffy practically stammered, wondering what she was going to wear, do, or say. She was at a loss as to what was really happening.

But the thing was she didn’t want to run away from the situation like she had done on previous occasions when Faith had confused her, or had her thinking in ways she wasn’t used to. She liked being with her right now too much to want to back away without maybe finding out what the hell the flashing light in the back of her head, and the tingles were saying.

“Here.” Faith took Buffy by the arm, leading her to the bottom of her bed in the shabby motel room.

Buffy sat herself on the end, feeling more nervous than she really thought necessary given the fact that they were just friends. And both female at that.

Maybe noticing that Buffy wasn’t exactly making a move to take her pants off, Faith grinned slightly before suggesting that Buffy could borrow a pair of her jeans. “They might be a little long on ya, but they gotta be better than goin home in those.” She pointed to the muddy pants Buffy was beginning to undo.

“Thanks,” Buffy said quietly, thinking to herself that Xander would die to be in her position right now, with the prospect of ‘getting into’ Faith’s pants. Even if it was only in a wearing them capacity.

Buffy tried not to dwell on the thought of getting into Faith’s pants, but couldn’t help herself. She smiled a little to herself without realising, as Faith turned round to fish the jeans out of a drawer.

Pulling her sticky pants down, peeling them off her legs, Buffy shivered slightly, unsure of whether it was only from the cold air hitting her legs.

Perched on the edge of the bottom of Faith’s bed, now wearing only her thin sweatshirt and her panties, Buffy had never felt quite so uncertain about what she was doing and why. Every time her mind drifted towards thoughts of more than a friendly nature towards Faith, she slapped them down, eager to put the strange sensations down to their Slayer bond.

After all, she had never thought such things about any of her other female friends, not even Cordelia, and she was a very attractive girl. The fact that she had no reason to really believe that Faith was in any way likely to find her attractive at all either, also helped with the slapping.

Buffy slipped her hands between her thighs, trying to keep warm as she sat feeling weird about having only her girly pink panties covering her modesty. The weird feeling turned on its head into something else at the look Faith gave her upon turning around however.

Holding a pair of dark blue denim jeans in her hand, Faith stopped stock still, her eyes dark and devouring, nostrils flared slightly as if she was fighting something within as she looked down at the small blonde.

As she gazed up at her, Buffy could almost feel the tension coming from Faith…In fact, there was no almost about it. The tingles she had been getting from the younger girl seemed to intensify ten fold, and Buffy was busy trying to ignore the fact that Faith looked like she wanted to pounce on her and eat her.

She screamed at herself in her own head that Faith was straight, and that Faith was into guys, and that Faith didn’t like her in that way. That Faith looked so hot right now she could leap at her, push her against the dresser behind her and finally get to know just how soft her perfect lips were, just how warm and wet her tongue was.

The screaming thoughts had quickly turned from no way, no how, to yes please I want you right now, so quickly. . .that it left Buffy’s head spinning slightly. She could feel her lung’s desire for air increasing, her heart beginning to pound. Her reasoning leaping up to do all kinds of fighting back the feeling.

She blinked, begging herself to look away from the dark intensity of Faith’s deep brown eyes. Thankfully, Faith looked away first, but she didn’t take her eyes from Buffy, instead allowing her gaze to travel to the older girl’s bare legs.

Faith looked to be fighting an inner battle with herself as she stiffened her jaw, eventually snapping herself out of her daze, flicking her eyes back up to Buffy’s face as she sat in semi shock, not knowing whether she appreciated the fact that Faith looked like she wanted to jump on her, or felt like running because of it.

“Pink panties, B? I shoulda guessed.” Faith grinned, obviously trying to get control of herself in some way. The cockiness Buffy now knew she hid behind was doing it’s utmost to conceal what she was maybe thinking, and feeling.

Buffy couldn’t find her voice for a come back, finding it incredibly difficult to attach excuses this time to the way Faith had looked at her. Desire had been there in her eyes, but she had briefly looked just as scared of it as Buffy felt for feeling caught up in it.

Faith seemed to be doing a much better job, however, at changing the intensity of the moment into nothing more than what it should be between two friends.

Friends. Buffy reminded herself that that’s what they were.

So Faith was a friend that sent shivers up and down her spine, Buffy conceded, but that didn’t mean anything. The fact she had briefly wanted to push Faith up onto the messy dresser and kiss her silly. . .didn’t mean anything either.

She was just caught up in the Slayer thing. Faith was just caught up too, Buffy assured herself, and didn’t want her. Hadn’t looked at her like she was thinking of all the ways she could make her come.

Buffy was once again shocking herself with her thoughts, and stopped herself thinking altogether, choosing instead to focus on a bare patch of carpet in front of her, shivering slightly as Faith approached.

A throaty chuckle broke her stare from the floor and up to the brunette, who was now smiling at her with probably the gentlest smile she had ever seen Faith give her. It was so beautiful. So open. And Buffy completely missed whatever it was that Faith had just said to her.

“What?” Buffy asked, her voice a mere squeak compared to Faith’s.

“I said you should take a shower, girlfriend. You’re looking wicked grimy there, and the warm water might stop that shivering.” The chuckle to Faith’s voice only added to its appeal.

An appeal Buffy was beginning to succumb to no matter how hard she fought. Hell. . .it’s not like she had the strength to fight right then anyway. She was weak. Vulnerable. More and more unable to stop the new sensations washing over her where Faith was concerned.

Buffy allowed herself a second to think about bolting and leaving the strange sensations behind, but she didn’t want to leave Faith right now. She liked the way the other girl was showing her the caring side to her, even if she knew mentioning it to Faith would get her a cocky shake of Faith’s head as she denied her actions were bordering on sweet.

She did feel really grimy too, sat with Vampire dust in her hair and on her face, and muddy water sticking to her legs. And the thought of hot clean water running over her body did make her feel like there was a chance she would feel warm again before she broke her teeth with the chattering.

“Would you mind if I took a shower?” Buffy asked, looking up at Faith.

“Not at all. There’s plenty hot water in this place, despite the fact it’s a rat hole,” Faith answered, throwing the jeans down onto the bed next to Buffy, turning to walk towards the small bathroom to turn the water on.

Buffy pushed herself up off the bed, instantly feeling a muscle in her back twang like a string. Knowing she was making matters worse by being so tense because of the cold, and also because of the unfamiliar feelings Faith seemed to be instilling in her, she let out a heavy pain filled sigh and held still.

“Hey, you ok?” Faith came rushing back from the bathroom, followed by a small amount of steam, her eyes darting over the small blonde, as she no doubt tried to work out what was wrong.

“Yeah, it’s just. . .back. . .sore.” She winced, taking a step towards the bathroom, doing her best to forget the fact that she was standing in front of Faith, a girl known for mocking, with just her girly panties and sweatshirt on.

Faith didn’t say a thing though as she moved quickly towards Buffy and glided her arm around her, once again encouraging the smaller girl to rely on her. To lean on her.

Buffy’s nude skin brushed up against the cool leather of Faith’s pants, sending a small chill through her. She put it down to the cold. Her heart began to beat a little more as they walked slowly into the tight squeeze of the bathroom. She put it down to the pain. As Faith sat her down on the toilet seat, her eyes a soft brown, not hiding their captivating charm behind hardness and defences, butterflies barraged Buffy’s stomach.

She put it down to the fact that she didn’t think she had ever been more attracted to anybody’s beauty as much in her life before. She was overwhelmed by it. By Faith. Every gorgeous bit of her.

Every look she gave her, every touch Faith scorched her skin with, every scent that seemed to bathe her in a desire that she had tried to ignore. Every tingle, that was so much more than just the Slayer bond.

It washed over her, through her. Sweeping her up in confirmation of her attraction.

Buffy felt so compelled to kiss Faith that she found herself leaning forwards, breath held, towards the slightly parted lips so close to her. But Faith tore her eyes away and stood, her pupils large and devouring, hands not looking like they knew where to rest.

She was obviously as unsure as Buffy was about whatever it was going on between them. She seemed no older than her 16 years right then. No more experienced with such feelings than Buffy was herself.

Faith eventually looked Buffy back in the eye, acting uncharacteristically coyly. Everything pretty much on show without the veil of her defences. “Um, do you need help? Getting in I mean,” she asked.

Buffy blushed slightly, and Faith glanced away, looking like she was trying to find the expression that told the world she was unflusterable. That she was tough and hard…and had seen it all and done it all. But now Buffy could see that wasn’t the case.

“I won’t look or anything,” Faith continued, confirming to Buffy that most of Faith’s attitude to life was just bravado.

That underneath the leather and the tough ‘bad ass’ girl act, she was almost as nervous as Buffy was right then. Probably just as unsure about the tingles and the obvious desire that sparked just below the surface between them.

Buffy knew for sure now, that what she felt for Faith could be construed as a crush…or to be more precise, something more than that. Something less frivolous, and more sexual. Deeper than attraction. Deeper than being able to just ignore it.

She knew she couldn’t risk scaring Faith off by accepting her help into the shower though, because she knew she wouldn’t be able to hide the fact that she wanted Faith in a way that maybe the younger girl just wasn‘t ready to deal with.

She could tell there was an attraction for her coming from Faith, but in no way was she going to blow the advances they had made in their friendship over the last few days by blatantly melting under her touch if she helped her into the shower, or coming onto her in the need to taste her luscious lips against her own.

“It’s ok, I’ll manage.” Buffy practically whispered, her body flaming with need as much as her mind was telling her to cool it.

Faith looked from the bathroom door to Buffy, her face losing its vulnerable guise a little as she seemed to dig deep for some of the bravado that kept up her image.

“Ok, your call. Just don’t slip over and make a mess of the bathroom with your blood.” She smirked, her eyebrows their usual expressive self, covering the fact she seemed to be stuck somewhere between leaping on Buffy, and leaping out of the window.