Buffy twirled her stake and pushed it back into the secret little place on the inside of the light summer jacket she was wearing for show more than for warmth. Flicking the stray strand of golden hair that had dared to disassociate itself from her ponytail away from her brow, she turned to check out how Faith was doing with her own vampire. Only to find that Faith was busy checking her out, and had already disposed of the walking corpse she had been battling against.

The dark beauty was standing with her arms folded, leaning against the side of the old church they had been patrolling near. She had her usual cocky grin plastered across her face. It didn’t grate on Buffy’s nerves as much these days though. Buffy was older now, and less uptight.

She was tired of fighting with Faith, so they had formed an unlikely alliance. Of course, the younger girl was only too pleased to have the opportunity to set right some of the wrongs she had taken part in, and now, Buffy was willing to allow it. It was working. Slowly.

They had been on the road now together for just over a month. Finding the new slayers that needed guidance. They would search them out and inform them of what they were, and then point them in the direction of Giles and the rest of the scooby gang if they wanted to discover more, and join the good fight.

Not all of them were willing, and it was up to the ‘chosen two’, as they still liked to call themselves, to help the newly fledged slayers out. Mainly by taking away the power they had with a concoction Willow had dreamed up. It seemed a little extreme at first. A little cruel. But as Giles had pointed out, it would do more harm than good to have super human girls running amok if they weren’t willing to learn about their calling.

That’s why it was important to have both the slayers working together. In case things got out of hand. They had no clue what was around each corner. Not so long back, they had discovered a small bunch of new slayers in some kind of gang. They were not on the right side of the good and evil line by a long shot. They had terrorised their neighbourhood, until it came down to Buffy and Faith to turn the tables.

The newbies were unharmed, but had their power taken. It had been a hard fight to restrain them all, but the two original slayers had managed to quash the threat in the end, together. They were doing a lot together these days. That had a lot to do with the fact they were on the road together, travelling across Europe.

There were a hand full of slayers lead by Kennedy and Willow travelling through America, doing the same thing. Finding the newly turned potentials and building their own army of fighters. Dawn was back in America too, with Xander and Giles, setting up the new Watchers Council, collecting together as much of the remnants of the Watchers legacy as they could.

It had been Buffy’s idea to take Faith with her, and not have her go with the others. She wanted her close. At first she was sure that was because she didn’t quite trust the ex- con, but now. . .well, now she knew there was more to it.

They worked together so well. Always being able to read each other’s moves. It was pure symmetry when they slayed, but there was more to it. They were more in tune with each other in different ways now that some of the barriers were down. Now that Faith was less brazen, and Buffy was less stuck up her own ass.

Their friendship had blossomed. They still had the ability to aggravate each other unbelievably, but they understood why they did that now. It was just a part of the incessant spark of passion between them.

They hadn’t really spoken in depth about it, but the flirting was still there. The mixed signals and messages. It was more like a running in-joke between them now. But things were beginning to be less funny. Their constant time together was fuelling the tension between them. It was getting more and more impossible to ignore. And more and more difficult for Buffy to avoid thinking about.

She had always been curious about Faith. She had had dreams about her when they had first met. Desire filled, and shocking dreams. Shocking for Buffy at least, as she had never thought about any other girl in such a way.

And now the dreams were back. In fact, they had begun not long after the demise of Sunnydale, once everything had settled down and they had all decided what was to happen next. Buffy was powerless to stop them. She couldn’t understand why she would be thinking of Faith in such a way after everything that had happened between them. She wasn’t questioning it now. It was pointless.

“You done wasting time now, B? I’d like to get back to the hotel and get a shower.” Faith pushed herself off the wall and sauntered over to Buffy, who was wondering just how the hell Faith could make such an innocent sentence sound so sexy.

The blonde slayer couldn’t move as she watched her one time enemy approach her. It was times like these that Buffy found the hardest to ignore all the feelings rushing around inside her. They had both just slayed, were hot from the heat of the Spanish night, and they were both far too single. And now she was thinking about Faith in the shower back in their hotel room.

“Are you still with me, girlfriend?” Faith cocked her eyebrow at Buffy.

“Huh?” She was busy imagining soapy water cascading down the slender back and firm little ass of the brunette.

“Are you ok?” Faith was looking a little concerned now at Buffy’s demeanour.

“Yeah. I’m fine. I was just. . .” Buffy couldn’t tear her eyes away from Faith’s steadily advancing figure.

She was entranced by Faith’s tiny hips as they swayed towards her. The slim yet powerful legs. Toned flat stomach. Full succulent tear drop breasts.

Buffy’s heart was racing. She had been exposed to Faith’s carnal energy and raw, sexual dynamism for too long over the past month. It was wearing down her resistance. Eating away at her resolve not to complicate their friendship. She wanted to turn away and ignore the slight grin playing across Faith’s full lips.

She watched, as the grin became more of an effortlessly beautiful smile, as Faith got closer. No more than about two meters away from her now. She admired Faith’s desirable and adorable dimples as they flashed down her cheeks. The small Slayer’s eyes wandered to the lips that had always made her wonder just what they would feel like against her skin.

As Faith’s tongue snuck out over the deep cleft in her lower lip, Buffy could feel herself growing wet between her legs. She wanted to turn and run, like so many times before, but something seemed different this time. Maybe it was the fact that Faith was truly smiling at her. Fully, and openly. Not like a grin or a smirk. There was more behind this smile and it was tearing away at Buffy’s resilience.

Buffy looked up into eyes so deep and dark she couldn’t even imagine how she was going to pull herself out of them. There wasn’t a rope long enough, or a rescue team brave enough. She was drowning in their almond depths and remembering why she had always avoided this amount of eye contact with Faith.

Faith was only an arm’s length away now, her obsidian pools clawing their way into Buffy’s heart. She didn’t want this. Buffy didn’t want to fall into them and be lost to her desire. She thought she was stronger than it. . .but she wasn’t. She thought she could resist. . .but she had been doing it for far too long.

“You have such beautiful eyes.” The words had slipped out of Buffy’s mouth before she had even thought them.

Faith’s smile became wider, her eyes even more dazzling in the shy light of the moon. She stopped in front of the shorter girl, her breathing almost as rapid as Buffy’s, who had only just realised she was struggling to take in lung-fulls of the humid air herself.

“I. . .I mean. . .” Buffy couldn’t find the words to cover her appreciation of the exquisite brunette standing before her, because she was still lost in her depths.

Faith raised her strong hand up to Buffy’s cheek and touched her softly, her palm hot and surprisingly soft against her skin. Buffy felt tingles race up and down her spine as she enjoyed the lingering caress. She wasn’t sure how to react, or if Faith wanted her to react.

“I. . .Faith. . .” Buffy stammered, lost for words as Faith stroked her thumb tenderly across her cheek.

“You’re ready now aren’t you?” Faith’s voice was soft and almost completely unlike her. She wasn’t mocking or being cocky. The sentence more of a statement than a question.

Buffy swallowed hard, knowing exactly what Faith meant. They had both been waiting for this moment since that very first meeting in the alley behind the Bronze, when two slayers strutted and threw their defences up because of what they instantly felt.

Buffy leaned into the warmth of Faith’s hand on her cheek, closing her eyes as she felt the dark girl watching her with burning intensity. Something had to give in the rollercoaster of their relationship. They had been everything to each other except the thing they wanted most to be. Lovers.

Buffy opened her eyes to look straight into the endless promise of rich chocolate pools. She knew she couldn’t run now. She really was ready.

“Faith, I’m. . .vampire!” Buffy’s whole demeanour changed.

“You’re a vampire?” Faith asked, her eyes wide.

“No, Miss Lack of Slayer Senses. . .behind you!” Buffy pushed Faith to one side as the scruffy looking, but huge vamp hurled himself towards them, shouting something in Spanish. “Yeah well. . .whatever you said, I’m sure if I knew Spanish, I could top,” Buffy smirked. She hated not being able to out witty remark her foes these days.

Rushing forwards to intercept the determined living dead, Buffy whipped her stake from her pocket, only to get it caught, allowing the vampire to get a free shot at her jaw. Which he gratefully accepted.

“Oww! That wasn’t called for.” She spun in a full circle and struck her opponent in the chest with a well-placed kick. He stumbled a little backwards, but didn’t seem all that put out. He was rather big to be fair.

“Come on, B. Stop flirting with him already and stake him.” Faith stood near by, obviously not wanting to get in the way of any stray fists or flying weapons.

Buffy did her best to distract the vampire as she struggled to free her stake from her pocket. She refused to ask Faith for help. She was far too stubborn, and really didn’t feel like spending the rest of the night agreeing with Faith that her jacket pocket was not the best place to keep her weapon of choice.

“Oh, for Christ sakes,” Buffy groaned, fast becoming pissed off. And it didn’t help that Faith now seemed to be giggling at her predicament.

“Do ya need a hand there, slayer? I’ve been told I’m pretty good with my hands.” Faith wiggled her fingers for emphasis.

“No,” Buffy replied, then turning to the vampire continued, “and will you stop. . .fucking. . .struggling,” she snarled as she caught hold of him as he lunged his heavy frame into her, knocking her flying backward, attached to the foul smelling beast.

They both went crashing through a dishevelled old white picket fence, and rolled out onto the beach that the quaint little graveyard was situated next to. Tumbling several times down a small bank of soft white sand, Buffy quickly became disorientated. All she knew was that the vampire was on top of her, and Faith was calling her name from not too far away.

Her mind became a haze of “oh shit, oh shit, oh shit”, but her slayer instincts took over. Without thinking about it, the blonde grabbed for the stake in her pocket as fangs quickly descended. The next thing she knew, she was covered in a thin layer of dust and her jacket was torn to shreds on the left side.

“Buffy!” Faith came to a crashing halt next to the prone girl, sliding in the sand so her butt hit the floor.

“Well, that was graceful, Faith.” Buffy smirked at her young friend as she regained her breath.

“Fuck. . .are you ok?” Faith missed the slight on her entrance and quickly looked over the other slayer.

“I’m fine, so you can stop ogling me.” Buffy sank back into the sand with a sigh. Faith did the same. Resting down on her back on the uneven surface.

“He was a big bastard. I shoulda give you a hand, sorry.” Faith sighed into the still air as it wrapped its humid fingers around them.

“Nah. . .it’s cool. I had him all along,” Buffy smiled, but realised it could have been a close-call. And she knew Faith was aware of that too. “But next time an all in wrestler tries to get fruity with me, I’ll give you a call.” She chuckled along with Faith.

“Ok, girlfriend. I’ll be sure to keep by the phone.” They both fell quiet as their breathing began to reflect the calm ocean before them.

The night was warm and uncompromising in its darkness. The beach they had found themselves on was small, like a little alcove located just for the cemetery sat beside it. Maybe the dead here wanted a room with a sea view. It was certainly a nice setting.

The sand was soft, feeling more like water running through the fingers than tiny grains of rock. The sound of the sea was the only thing breaking the quiet, apart from the two slayers. Its gently rolling inky blackness swept almost apologetically up onto the sand and back again. Leaving a thin line of damp beach behind it.

Buffy imagined that the place was a secret haven away from the tourists that swelled the beaches further up the coast. The only way onto it was through the church grounds, and that looked ominous to say the least, as it was dark with old decrepit tombstones, and trees with heavy wandering branches. It was dark and mysterious, but fascinating because of it. It was tragically beautiful and almost too perfect to be without some kind of dark hidden secrets. The place reminded her of Faith in a way.

She wanted to stay here and explore those secrets, and learn of the beauty by touch. Discover hidden depths, and become familiar with its landscape so she could remember every inch of it with her eyes closed. Of course, by now Buffy realised she wasn’t thinking of the beach at all. She was thinking that way about the dark beauty to the left of her.

She turned her head slightly and watched Faith out of the corner of her eye as they lay side by side.

Faith was staring up into the heavens, her mind obviously on something if her furrowed brow was anything to go by. She really was stunningly beautiful, and achingly touchable.

“What are you thinking?” Buffy asked. She didn’t like the silence, especially not when Faith was around, because it gave her too much time to think about how much she wanted her.

“It’s all just so big out there,” Faith sighed, pointing towards the dark sky above them that was littered with stars. “It makes me feel. . .even more insignificant than I did before.” Faith dropped her hand back to the sand.

Buffy was completely taken aback by Faith’s confession. She had never known Faith to open up like that. The older girl turned on her side to look at Faith as she stared up at the twinkling white jewels of the night.

“You’re not insignificant, Faith. You never could be,” Buffy said quietly. She truly meant it. Buffy had been affected by Faith in every way possible, so she knew what she was talking about.

“That’s just ‘cause of the slayer thing. If it weren’t for that I’d just be some messed up junkie or something, banged up in prison.” The cold look in the normally enigmatic eyes relayed that that was what Faith really thought about herself.

“I don’t think that at all. Faith, you’re. . .” Buffy tried to think of the best way to convey how much she had come to like and respect Faith, as much more than just her fellow slayer.

“See, you can’t even think of anything to say,” Faith chuckled sadly.

She was about to get up, but Buffy really didn’t want her to. Especially considering how close they had come to delving into something that could bring about more between them.

“Faith, wait.” She placed her hand on the younger girl’s toned abdomen, ensuring she wouldn’t leave. “If you really want to know. . .I believe there’s so much more to you than even you think. I can see depths in you that I want to dive into, just to know you better. You’re strong and brave, and I don’t just mean in the physical sense. I know you’ve had a hard time, and I know it’s affected you in some negative ways in the past, but that just made you the person you are today. And I like the person you are right now.” Buffy paused as Faith turned towards her, so now they were both lying on their sides facing each other.

“Really?” Faith said, looking puzzled.

The once too proud slayer had almost whispered her question, every hint of confidence hiding behind her soulful eyes, waiting to be allowed out again.

“Yes, really.” Buffy’s hand was resting on the younger girl’s hip now, and she was painfully aware of how much she wanted to move it. Not away, but up. “We messed up with each other. But we’ve got a second chance, and I don’t wanna waste it,” Buffy confessed.

Their eyes were locked on one another as the moon sprinkled what little light it had to offer, over the chosen two.

“What exactly are ya saying, B?” Faith was close enough for Buffy to feel the heat of her breath on her skin as she spoke.

“I. . .” Buffy knew she had to take a chance here. Faith would never do it due to their history together, so Buffy decided to follow the beat of her heart that was playing a rhythm just for Faith. “I don’t wanna make the same mistakes again with you. I want you to know. . .even if you don’t feel the same, which is fine, because just being your friend is better than nothing. . .” Buffy trailed off slightly, hoping she was making the right decision.

“Spit it out, B. Preferably before the tide comes in and drowns us both.” Faith was obviously a little uncomfortable with the heart-to-heart; using humour to ease the tension, even if she looked keen to find out what Buffy was going to say.

“Faith, you’re the most intriguing and. . .enticing person I’ve ever known. You’re like an itch I’ve tried so long not to scratch. Like a flame that I can’t stop wanting to reach out and touch, even though I doubt I could handle your heat. I think you’re amazing, and beautiful, heartbreakingly so. And. . .” Buffy was shocking herself with how she was expressing what she felt, but it just felt right, “and you were right, I am ready now.” She was sure her friend would understand her.

She didn’t want to spoil the moment and just tell Faith how much she wanted her. It didn’t seem right to lower what they could have to just sex. Although Buffy was well aware now that it didn’t boil down just to sex. It was everything.

She knew it would consume them both, but she knew it was exactly what they needed. They were bound to one another on so many levels, and now was the time to join together in the physical sense too. It was no longer a question of wanting it, but needing it.

Need, heat, and desire. This time it wasn’t going to drive them apart. It was going to do the opposite and crash them together, to become the furnace of passion they were destined to be. The chosen two, one with each other under the vast and endless depths of the enigma of the universe.