Faith breezed back into the cabin, acting like she hadn’t the slightest notion that she might have any kind of feelings for Buffy; other than wanting to get in her pants of course. She dumped her armful of wood next to the stove and began doing her best to figure out how to actually work the rusty old thing.

“Gee, did they never hear of electricity out here?” Faith stood and brushed the remnants of bark off her hands, smirking at the amount of wood she had just stuffed into the small hollow of the stove.

“Faith, don’t you think maybe you put a little too much in there? I wasn’t aware we were hoping to head to the moon on it,” Buffy chuckled at the proud brunette as her shapely dark eyebrows sloped in annoyance.

“There’s just no pleasing you, slayer,” Faith said, and swatted the older girl on the backside before bending to remove a handful of the wood.

Happy that maybe now Buffy would appreciate her efforts, Faith leaned on the nearby counter and folded her arms, watching her prepare their evening meal. She smiled despite herself, feeling strangely comfortable in these surroundings with Buffy. Then something struck her as funny, although fairly disturbing.

“Do you realise what this looks like, B?” Faith had a slight grin playing on her sumptuous lips.

“Huh?” Buffy continued whisking some milk into her bowl of eggs, planning to make Faith her omelette surprise.

Which consisted mainly just of egg. . .and whatever else she could find lying around.

“Well, you’re being Miss Homemaker, while I was out practically chopping wood. This looks like we’re in some weird fucking 1950’s ideal home commercial. The thing is. . .why do I have to be the butch one?” Faith was virtually pouting.

Buffy had never really seen the other girl do it before, so it was an irresistible invitation to tease her a little, and maybe make her pout some more. She loved it when Faith went all cute, because it was just so unlike her; and it only served to make Buffy want the other girl even more.

Buffy stopped what she was doing and looked over at Faith. She raised her eyebrows, and looked up and down the younger girl greedily.

Faith almost felt uncomfortable with the way Buffy was looking at her. Buffy had never given her a look so full of pure unadulterated lust before. Her panties were now getting understandably wet from the thought of what might have been going through Buffy’s head.

“Faith. . .I certainly wouldn’t call you butch. But, I guess the whole bad ass look is, well, butcher, or whatever. . .than me. Not that it doesn’t look good on you, ‘cause it does, without a doubt. Really. . .good,” Buffy said, rambling and licking her lips. “But yeah, you are the butch one in this little ideal home.” She winked at Faith, and continued with her cooking.

Faith didn’t know what the hell to say. Had she just been given a compliment? Or had she been insulted? She didn’t have a clue. But to be honest she didn’t care. Just the way Buffy had looked at her, the way she had licked her lips mid sentence as if making one hundred percent sure she had Faith’s attention, had totally turned her on. The annoying thing was, she knew Buffy knew it. It was glaringly obvious.

Faith narrowed her eyes, wondering if she should say something. Debating whether now was the time for them to find out what the hell was going on between them recently. She turned towards Buffy, about to find something to say.

“Faith, hold this please?” Buffy shoved the bowl of massacred eggs at her, as she fumbled around with a frying pan that was now smoking on the stove. “Thanks.” She took the bowl back, and emptied its contents into the pan.

Faith slumped herself back against the counter, and kept quiet. For now.

Buffy was feeling pretty proud of herself for leaving Faith in a muddle. She knew she had done that very thing from the way Faith was now looking at her. Although, the blonde girl pretended not to notice as she blustered around the kitchen, preparing to wow the other slayer with her cooking.

She was happy things had become a little less tense between them. After they had dried off from the lake things had seemed a tad awkward. The mood had definitely lifted, however. She had thought maybe Faith was going to go into one of her famous introspective funks, but she had returned from her job collecting firewood in a somewhat lighter mood.

Buffy just hoped they could both stay that way for the night. She was enjoying the whole ‘alone time’ with Faith immensely.

* * *

After Buffy had finished preparing their meal, and Faith had busied herself lighting a small fire in the hearth, the two girls sat down to eat. They were sat on the floor in front of the fireplace, on the two sleeping bags Buffy had brought. She had brought them just in case there had been something wrong with the bed. Luckily though, the bed was fine.

The fire was just big enough to give the girls a warm glow without over heating the small cabin; it was summer after all. The room was also being lit by a handful of candles. It could have been a very romantic setting, and in fact it was. Buffy had noticed, but Faith was doing her best not to.

“Hey B, this is pretty good. For real,” Faith acknowledged as shovelled as much of her food as she could into her mouth.

“Yeah. . .I can see you like it.” Buffy smiled kindly at her counterpart.

It was nice to see somebody actually appreciate her cooking for once. Willow never seemed to be quite as enthusiastic. But Faith loved her food, so it was nice that she was enjoying it.

“Do you really like it?” Buffy asked, just wanting to make sure.

Faith halted her scoop-and-shovel action and turned towards the smaller girl, moving her body to face Buffy so now they were both sitting crossed legged in front of each other.

“B, I like it. It’s great, here. . .check for yourself.” Faith raised a forkful of omelette up towards Buffy.

Of course, she was well aware that Buffy was eating exactly the same thing as her, but she just wanted to see if Buffy would eat from her fork. She was getting the other girl back for the earlier attempt to get her flustered. Which, of course Buffy had definitely done.

“Err, Faith? I cooked it. I know what it tastes like.” Buffy gave Faith a puzzled look.

Buffy was sure Faith wasn’t that stupid so she had an inkling that there was more to the gesture, and that there was an ulterior motive for the offering of food in such a way. She wasn’t sure whether to go along with it or not. If she was reading it wrong and the offer was a set up for some kind of joke. . .she knew she would never hear the end of it.

“You scared to eat from my fork, B? That hurts.” Faith faked her best wounded puppy-dog look; her deep soulful eyes looking about as sweet and innocent as she could get them. It was quite a feat, so she hoped Buffy would fall for it.

“Ok,” Buffy sighed a little at the look she was being given, for more reasons than the obvious annoyed one.

To be truthful, Buffy couldn’t have been more willing to do it if she’d tried. The sweet, bordering on sexy look Faith was currently submitting her to was heating her up more than the fire.

She leant forward towards Faith, almost unable to contain the butterflies tumbling around in her stomach at the idea of putting the fork the younger girl had been using in her mouth. She didn’t mean to do it, but as she took the tasty morsel Buffy looked up suggestively at Faith through her eyelashes.

She had done it subconsciously, just not wanting to take her eyes from her friend, but the reaction she got was certainly a bonus. Faith had in no doubt approved of Buffy’s suggestiveness.

Faith watched Buffy delicately take the fork in her mouth, pulling the offering from it with her teeth. The overtly sexual nature that Buffy did it wasn’t lost on her at all. She had almost growled involuntarily with the way it sent shivers up and down her spine. Her dark eyes no doubt letting Buffy know exactly how she had been affected.

It took Faith a couple of seconds to realise Buffy had eaten her offering before lowering the fork down to her plate again. She couldn’t look away from the other girl. Fighting the urge to jump on Buffy, Faith filled her utensil with food again.

“Hungry, B? Want more?” She kept her eyes locked with Buffy’s as she offered her fork to the other girl once more.

The fire crackled and spat in the background. The soft glow encasing the two girls in its warmth, but the heat was nowhere near as intense as that coming from the slayers.

Buffy didn’t hesitate to repeat the performance. She had no hope in turning Faith down right now, no matter how obvious things were becoming. This was definitely what the blonde would call full on flirting now, and she could tell it wasn’t just a one sided thing. They were both encouraging each other.

The lustful fire in Faith’s dark pools spoke volumes to Buffy. Telling her that the brunette was just as up for some teasing and flirting as she was. As she allowed the fork to slip once more from her lips Buffy smiled sweetly up at her counterpart, wondering if she could get away with trying the same on Faith.

“It doesn’t seem fair that I’ve eaten some of yours, Faith. You should have some of mine.” Buffy then proceeded to feed Faith in the same way the dark girl had done to her.

She just couldn’t resist the temptation after watching Faith’s reaction. She wanted to at least put something in the Faith’s mouth, even if food wasn’t the main thing on her mind. It would have to do for now.

Faith practically felt the penny drop as she watched Buffy grow ever more confident in her actions. She was fairly sure this was a subtle attempt at some kind of seduction, or at least a way to tease her. She marvelled at how Buffy had turned the tables on her. After all, it was Faith that had started this particular game. Now she was on the receiving end.

She grinned wickedly before slowly slipping the cold steel into her mouth, making sure to stay focused on Buffy. Faith’s teeth pulled the remnants of the omelette from its perch as she leant back again, letting her tongue lasciviously brush over her fleshy bottom lip as she did so.

Buffy felt herself almost follow Faith backwards in order to relieve the other girl from the task of licking her lips and doing it for her. She stopped just in time, feeling totally and utterly captivated by Faith. Lost in her dark eyes.

Buffy knew if they carried on, something would happen to give her and her feelings away. She wasn’t sure enough of Faith’s desire to do that just yet. Doing her best to stop noticing the arousal in the brunette’s eyes, Buffy turned her face from her and settled on watching the flickering fire.

Faith frowned a little at Buffy’s sudden change; unsure whether she had maybe taken things a little far. She didn’t want to scare her friend away from the changing nature of their relationship. She was well aware that Buffy would be wanting to take things as slow as she could, even if she could tell that she was fighting for control.

“You up for some sparring, girlfriend?” Faith asked, deciding to steer them away slightly from the sexual tension that had been bristling between them. Although as soon as she suggested the sparring she realised that it would only help to fuel the tension.

* * *

Buffy took the now empty plates into the kitchen area as she thought about her answer. She could think of only one other activity other than sparring that she would like to indulge in with Faith, but she didn’t trust herself with getting too close to her right now. Not on a physical level at least.

She was still too busy trying to come to terms with the fact she was in love with Faith. So Buffy thought it would be best for them to maybe take this opportunity to have some ‘conversation time’. They rarely got the chance to just talk to each other about anything other than slaying or, well, things associated with it.

She knew that it was mainly her own fault that they never really spoke about anything close to them, because when Faith had turned up in Sunnydale Buffy had been far from interested in sharing things with her. Especially her thoughts and feelings.

It had a lot to do with Angel, and the situation that the whole thing had left her in. She just didn’t want to let anybody in at the time. But now things were different, and she definitely wanted to let Faith in.

“Can we just talk or something, Faith?” Buffy sat down again in front of the fire, attempting not to sit too close to the object of her attraction

“I thought that’s what we were doing?” Faith rested an elbow on the couch behind her, and stretched her legs out towards the fire, keeping most of her body turned to Buffy.

“No, I mean really talk.” Buffy hoped Faith wouldn’t shy away from this kind of interaction between them; talking not usually being something they indulged in.

Faith eyed her a little suspiciously, unsure what Buffy was actually meaning. She was aware of the fact they never talked about anything important to them. It was generally all about the slaying, or just banter and witty comments, or maybe the odd moment of small talk. But they didn’t do the whole sit and share thing. She thought that Willow was the kind of friend Buffy did that with, not her.

“If you really want to, no problem,” Faith said, and hoped she wasn’t getting herself into something she might regret. After all, the sparring idea had been far more appealing to her. “What do ya wanna talk about, B?” Faith jumped right in, not wanting them to sit around in an uncomfortable silence, or anything resembling it.

“Umm, I don’t know. I guess I just realised I don’t really know that much about you. I mean, considering how long we’ve know each other,” Buffy confessed.

It was true, Faith rarely talked about anything from her past, or about things that affected her or moved her in any way.

Faith was always too busy trying to protect her image, and act the tough girl. Buffy knew there were things that maybe Faith didn’t want to talk about, like maybe her family or upbringing. She hadn’t heard it from the brunette herself, but guessed as much, more from the things that Faith didn’t say than did.

“Right, I get ya. Wait there, I need to go get something.” Faith sprang up from the floor and headed outside before Buffy could ask why.

The blonde slayer kept her eyes trained on the door, pushing down the urge to follow Faith. It was well known to her that Faith usually bolted at any sign of serious conversation or emotion, so she was hoping she wouldn’t be hearing the car zoom off any time soon. In some ways it wouldn’t surprise her if Faith did decide to do the avoiding thing she had down to a fine art.

She sat in the calm of the cabin, trusting in the fact that the beautiful brunette would walk back through the door at any second with whatever it was she went to fetch. The truth was though, she had an awful feeling that maybe she had crossed the line she knew she shouldn’t have with Faith. That maybe it would have been a better bet to have risked the sparring instead.