As darkness approached, the Slayer in Faith was itching to come out and play, but she was determined to spend at least a little bit of time away from Buffy. Every part of her being was calling out for her to run to Buffy and kiss and hug and love her . . . but she figured that they could both use the time to do some thinking and reflecting.

She was, however, really looking forward to their date the next evening. Not only would she be able to spend some time with her girlfriend, but she’d also be spending the same time with her family and friends. Going public was a pretty big indication that Buffy was ready to accept their relationship as real and move along with it.

And that very thought pretty much made Faith forget about why she was sitting at Willow and Tara’s in the first place.

As the three friends sat and watched the movies, Faith wore a smile the entire time.

She couldn’t wait for Thursday night to come fast enough.

Meanwhile, in a cemetery somewhere in Sunnydale, Buffy was busy pummeling a pair of newbie vamps while wearing Faith’s back-up leather jacket and a huge smile.

There was no planning or real thought in her well-executed moves . . . her body was running on auto-pilot, letting the Slayer take over. Her mind wasn’t in the fight . . . it was thinking of Faith and of the time they would soon get to spend together.

She was pretty sure that Faith had forgiven her already. If she hadn’t, it was certainly weird that she let her hold her hands and give her a kiss, and had willingly agreed to be her date.

Things were looking up.

After easily finishing off the two vamps, she decided to end her patrol for the night and go back to her room to finish her homework.

The fact that she would spend another night alone in her room managed to make her a little bit sad. Since Faith had become her roommate, they had never spent more than a single night apart from one another. If she had anything to do about it, Buffy would never let it happen again.

DAY NINE – Friday

Though the original plan was to meet up on Thursday evening for Tara’s birthday, the party had to be rescheduled for Friday.

Just as Buffy was about to leave to pick up Faith, Giles had rang her and informed her that three groups of demons had arrived in Sunnydale for a type of demonic Scavenger Hunt. They had been wreaking havoc throughout town, and it seemed as if they were almost unstoppable in their scattered form.

However, with Buffy hunting one group, Faith hunting a second, and the rest of the Scoobies hunting the third, all of the interloping demons were eradicated in a timely manner. Still, after the heat of the battle, most of the gang just decided to call it quits and save the birthday bash at the Bronze for another evening.

Buffy stayed out to do a quick patrol, making sure that no other nasties were out prowling in the night.

Though she didn’t find any unsuspecting demons or vamps to slay, she did feel something else prowling in the night. The low hum running through her body let her know that Faith was patrolling as well. They hadn’t gotten close enough to actually run into one another, but both girls knew the other was out roaming in the night.

Instead of trying to seek Faith out, Buffy decided to give her a little space. Truth be told, every minute spent away from her felt like an eternity . . . but then again, she didn’t want to make Faith feel suffocated and cause her to run.

Deciding that she didn’t want to spend another night alone in their room, she headed to her mother’s house to sleep there for the night.

She snuck into the house as she had a hundred times before, careful not to wake her mother as she crept up the stairs and into the bathroom.

She glanced into the bathroom mirror, studying her features intently before splashing some cool water on her face.

Something in her had changed. She didn’t look un-like herself. Her hair was the same, she hadn’t changed her make-up, but something was distinctly different. It was almost as if she was glowing . . . as if something had caused her to look warmer and more beautiful than ever.

There was no doubt about what the cause was.

It was Faith, pure and simple.

Well, maybe not so pure. They had done some pretty un-pure things together.

But no one throughout her entire life, including Angel, had made her feel as happy and as complete as Faith had in the last few days. It was if they fit together perfectly; mind, body, and soul.

Closing her bedroom door behind her, Buffy grabbed the phone from her bedside table and sat on her bed. She smiled as she punched in Willow’s telephone number . . . she knew it was late, but she wanted to make sure Faith got home from patrol safely and say goodnight to her.

After two rings, she heard a husky voice on the other end.

“Someone better be dead,” the voice rasped out. It was Faith, no doubt.

“That’s never a good thing to say in our profession, Faith,” Buffy said with a bit of happiness in her voice.

“B? What’s wrong? It’s like . . . way past Buffy-Bedtime. You okay?” Faith asked without a hint of contempt or anger in her voice.

It made Buffy’s heart flutter. Not only was Faith sounding okay . . . but she had shown her cuteness with the Buffy-Bedtime phrase that she had coined earlier in the semester.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I was pretty sure I sensed you when I was slaying tonight . . . wanted to make sure you got in okay and everything . . .” she trailed off waiting for Faith to respond in some way.

“I live to tell the tale,” Faith joked quietly, keeping her voice low enough as not to wake Willow and Tara across the room. “How bout you? Doin’ good?” She asked, her accent coming on stronger than normal. She was in full-on flirt-mode and hadn’t even realized it.

Buffy smiled at Faith’s concern.

“I’m fine. Just . . . sitting here on my bed, looking around my old room and getting ready to sleep for the night.”

She could almost hear Faith’s brow furrow in confusion, so she continued.

“I’m at my Mom’s house. No, nothing’s wrong. I just . . .” she sighed, “. . . I hated being in our room alone. It feels so empty after being there alone for two nights.”

She paused, waiting for Faith’s response yet again. A soft smile crept over her face as she twirled the phone cord in her fingers, listening to Faith’s even breaths on the other end of the line.

After a minute, Faith finally spoke.

“You want me to come back now?” she asked quietly, sounding both shy and unsure.

Buffy chuckled into the phone.

“Of course I want you to come back. And now would be great for me. I never wanted you to leave.” She paused, waiting for her comment to sink in a bit while she considered Faith’s offer. “But it’s already late, and we’ve both got class in the morning . . . so, let’s compromise. Tomorrow? Tara’s re-party? You’ll be my date? And if things go good, and you feel comfortable and stuff . . . you can come back then. Deal?”

She held her breath waiting for Faith’s response.

After a moment, Faith quietly answered, ‘I’ll see you tomorrow then, girlfriend’. Buffy couldn’t be sure . . . but with her enhanced hearing, she could almost swear she heard Faith smile.

With a happy look on her face, Buffy returned the telephone receiver to the base and turned off her bedside lamp. She lay back down on her bed and pulled her extra pillow against her body, hugging it tightly as she fell asleep, thinking of Faith the entire time.

Faith was getting ready in Willow and Tara’s bathroom when she started to feel the all-too-familiar warm buzz throughout her body. She smiled in anticipation as she quickly finished applying her Mac charcoal eyeliner and a fresh coat of lipcolor.

Hurriedly, she rushed out of the bathroom and squeezed into her tightest pair of chocolate-brown leathers, staring at the entrance door and expecting to see Buffy pop through at any minute.

The day had come and gone so quickly for her. After sleeping until 9:00 am, she sat through her morning classes before heading off to work for the afternoon. As she’d crossed campus, she had run into Buffy who was running late for her Psychology Class.

They had stopped and said hello to one another quickly, eyes glued to one another the entire time.

Both girls were feeling nervous and semi-awkward during the minute-long encounter, but above all, they were feeling more drawn to one another than they’d ever been before.

As Faith casually said goodbye, hoping to shield the immense need burning behind her eyes, she was surprised to suddenly feel Buffy’s body pressed against hers.

“So, tonight then?” Buffy said quietly against her ear, intertwining their fingers as their hands rested limply along their sides.

“Yeah, tonight,” Faith rasped, deeply inhaling as if to imprint the scent of Buffy’s hair in her memories.

Buffy squeezed Faith’s hands slightly before letting go and backing away slowly. Their eyes remained locked onto one another’s as they both backed away almost unwillingly, Faith finally being the first to turn as she felt her back brush up against some type of obstruction.

She shook her head to stir herself from her flashback. She heard a soft knock on the door almost immediately after she had snapped out of her daydream and quickly rushed to the door.

She opened the oversized door to find Buffy standing on the other side, looking quite the part of the shy schoolgirl. Her head was tipped slightly down and she was doing that thing where she was staring up into Faith’s eyes through her long, soft eyelashes.

“Hey,” Faith said, finally finding her voice. “Right on time. Wanna come in?” She asked with a small smile, stepping back from the door to allow Buffy room to walk in.

“Hey . . . umm . . . well, are you ready? Cos if you are, we can just go . . . but if you’re not, I can always come in, you know . . . I . . .” her words trailed off as Faith slowly stepped towards her. She completely stopped speaking as she felt Faith’s hands cup her face and rub small circles along her cheeks.

“Shhhh,” Faith whispered, a friendly smile on her lips. She stared into Buffy’s eyes as she spoke. “You don’t have to be nervous, B. I’ve had some time to think about it. I even got to talk to Red about it a little, and she made me look at it from your point of view.”

It was all true. Willow had sat down and had a heart-to-heart with Faith the previous night before Giles’ call with the demon news. Willow had pretty much told Faith everything that Buffy had told to her during their walk . . . just not in so many words.

Buffy had a bad track record with relationships. During the one relationship that was going seemingly well for her, a big ugly reminder of one of the past failures showed up right in her face. It had made her nervous and anxious and all things uncomfortable. The way Buffy had acted was not the best response she could have had . . . but Willow tried to make Faith understand why it had nothing to do with her.

It was about Buffy accepting that her past had no effect on her future. It was about her acknowledging that she did, in fact, want a future with Faith. It was about coming to terms with a lot of different things in general.

After the chat, Faith decided that she couldn’t be mad at Buffy anymore. Not for what had happened at the Bronze. It was the 9th day of the challenge, and she was pretty sure that they were both smitten with one another. Both in love. Madly, even. She wasn’t going to let her fears of commitment and abandonment drive her away from something this good.

She continued to speak softly, still stroking Buffy’s face.

“I’m not mad anymore. I just wanna move on, ‘kay? No need to dwell on the past and keep bringin’ up the bad shit, right?”

Buffy simply nodded her head as she stared back into Faith’s eyes, seemingly paralyzed and unable to do much of anything else.

Only when she felt Faith’s lips slowly caress hers was she finally able to close her eyes and let her body respond. She brought her hands up and wrapped them around Faith’s back, pulling her closer so that their bodies were in complete contact.

Their lips moved softly and slowly together, keeping the kiss simple and chaste as they became reacquainted with one another. When they finally managed to pull their lips away from one another, Buffy leaned her head forward and rested it on Faith’s shoulder.

“I missed you so much,” she whispered into Faith’s ear, just loud enough for the other Slayer to hear it.

“God, I missed ya too, Buffy,” Faith sighed, wrapping her arms tightly around her.

They stood there for a few minutes, eyes closed as they swayed softly in one another’s embrace. Finally, Faith ran her hands up and down Buffy’s arms, indicating to the girl that they needed to get things going.

“Not to go all mood killer on ya, but we’ve got a party to get to. After how sweet T has been to me the last few days, there ain’t no way I’m gonna miss her party,” she said with a smile.

“Not even forrrrrr . . . Buffy paused, looking up to make it look like she was thinking hard, “. . . hot sex with a hot blonde?” she asked with a wicked grin.

Faith put on as serious a look as she could before saying,

“Well, I don’t know about you, B, but I think that Red would be mad if I missed the party cos I was gettin’ all hot and sweaty with her girlfriend.”

Buffy started to pout until she saw Faith break out in a fit of laughter.

“Oh, that face was priceless, B! Ya looked like you were gonna go all homicidal for a minute there!” Faith laughed, reaching into the room and grabbing a small gift bag before closing the door behind her and leading Buffy away.

Buffy was still pouting as she let Faith lead her down the hall by her hand.

“For your information, I’m the only hot blonde for you! I may not go all homicidal, but I will kick your cute ass if you plan on hitting on Tara or any other blondes in front of me,” she said with a wicked little grin.

Faith just laughed. She knew Buffy had nothing to worry about, because there really was no other blonde for her.

“Aww, thanks Mr. Giles. I can always use more crystals,” Tara said with a smile as she pulled several colored crystals out of a decorative pouch.

Giles nodded and smiled, feeling a bit out of place with the group of friends at the Bronze. Luckily, Joyce was there, taking some of the attention off of him as one of the only adults in the club.

However, he made sure to keep a safe distance from her and tried not to be overly friendly. Any time that he’d made an attempt to be cordial in the past, Buffy had given him a death glare and reminded him of the band candy incident.

Remembering the ordeal, he took a large gulp from his plastic beverage cup and moved his gaze all around the club, trying to avoid the eyes of any of the Scoobies as a guilty look crept up on his face.

Buffy and Faith had, for the most part, tried to keep their hands from each other until they could find the appropriate time to break the news to Giles. Pretty much everyone could already figure out that the girls had made up and were now wondering why the two of them were keeping distance between them.

Tara put the crystals back into their pouch and moved on to her next present, the gift bag from Faith. As she removed the tissue paper and went to pull the contents out of the bag, Faith quickly jumped in and placed her hand on Tara’s arm, stopping her action.

“You might wanna open that one at home,” Faith said with a smirk.

Tara furrowed her eyebrows before glancing into the bag and letting her mouth open in shock, right away seeing the box from Fredericks of Hollywood enclosed within.

“Oh, Faith, I-I . . .” Tara stuttered, blushing furiously as she pulled the bag to her chest and clenched it shut, “. . . umm, thanks,” she said shyly, making sure to give Faith a smile and a wink as she shoved the bag under her chair.

“No problem,” Faith replied proudly, sitting back in her chair and taking a drink from her plastic cup.

“I wonder what that was about,” Giles said aloud. Only Buffy, who was sitting right next to him, heard his words.

She smiled as she continued to watch the scene in front of her.

“Oh, Faith probably got her some lingerie or something sexual,” Buffy said flatly, keeping her eyes on Faith. She took a deep breath before continuing. “Oh, speaking of something sexual, Faith is my girlfriend now. That’s cool, right?”

She kept her eyes forward, even as Giles sputtered out into the plastic cup he was trying to drink from.

“I beg your pardon?” he asked with a confused look.

Buffy watched as her mother walked over to her and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Joyce gave her daughter a little nod, encouraging her to continue.

She knew that this was the last step her daughter needed to take to be happy . . . and there was nothing more that she wanted for her only daughter.

Encouraged, Buffy turned towards Giles and spoke the words again.

“Faith is my girlfriend,” she said loudly, getting the attention of all of her friends. Surprised by the volume of her own voice, she cleared her throat and tried yet again. “Faith . . . she’s my girlfriend. It’s new . . . but I love her, and there’s nothing I’m surer of right now. I’m not asking for your approval, because I’m going to be with her regardless. But, I wanted you to know. I’m not gonna hide my relationship with her. So . . .” she paused, “. . . are you okay with this?”

Faith had stood up halfway through Buffy’s little speech and now stood in front of the girl, loosely holding her hand as the both glanced at their Watcher.

Giles looked at the others in the group as if trying to gauge their reactions.

Finally, he returned his gaze back to the Slayers and with an air of nonchalance, he said, “As long as you’re happy, I approve. And as long as you’re able to do your job and keep up with your schoolwork, I see no problem with it.”

Buffy let go of Faith’s hand long enough to walk to Giles and give him a hug.

“Thank you,” she whispered into his ear.

He hugged her back for a moment before clearing his throat and shifting in his seat uncomfortably.

“So, yes. Erm, best not tell the Council, I think. They’d want to run tests and experiments, and, well . . .” he smiled mischievously as he took off his glasses and polished them with his shirt, “. . . I’m sure you’ve got enough experimentation on your hands at the moment.”

“Giles!” Willow gasped, her eyes almost popping out of her head as a huge smile crossed her face.

“On that note,” Giles began, getting up crossing the room and giving Tara a friendly hug, “I must be on my way. Happy Birthday, Tara. Buffy, Faith . . .” he turned back and looked back at the two slayers who were happily wrapped up in a hug, “. . . why don’t we hold off on training until Monday?” The two girls smiled at him, loving the fact that they now had a free weekend. “Have a lovely evening, everyone.”

And with that, Giles left the Bronze with a small smile on his face.

“That’s my cue to leave,” Joyce responded. “I’m now the oldest person in here. It’s a thought I can’t tolerate for long. Tara, happy birthday, sweetie.” She smiled at Tara before turning towards Buffy and Faith. “As for you two . . . I’m happy you got over your little spat. I haven’t seen two people so happy in quite some time.” She paused, considering her words. “Try and hold on to that. I’ll see the both of you on Sunday? Dinner and some pity the mother time? And hopefully, a little less of what happened in the basement last Sunday?” She asked with a grin.

“You got it, Mrs. S. See you Sunday,” Faith said cheerfully as she wrapped her arms around Buffy from behind, wearing a thousand-watt smile as she did so.

As Joyce left, Buffy settled back more comfortably into Faith’s arms, enjoying the feeling of her soft fingers that had slid just under her top and were now tracing soft patterns on her stomach.

“I missed this,” Buffy said as she leaned her head back onto Faith’s shoulder and turned her head sideways, capturing her lips in a quick kiss. “I didn’t realize how much I liked going out places and just spending time with you until you weren’t there,” she said somewhat sadly.

Faith leaned her head down and rested her lips on Buffy’s exposed shoulder, moving them softly against her warm skin.

“Me too,” Faith murmured against her shoulder. “But, I gotta ask ya something, B,” she said, lifting her head and looking around the room.

Buffy followed suit, lifting her eyes and looking at the many people that had crowded into the club.

She noticed that there were several people looking at them. One or two wore looks of contempt, a few had pure lust in their eyes, and others just seemed interested in the two attractive girls who suddenly couldn’t seem to keep their hands off of one another.

“Is stuff like this gonna bother ya?” Faith asked softly, still stroking Buffy’s stomach. “People watchin’ us, I mean. It’s not somethin’ that’s gonna be ignored anytime soon. I mean, we’re two hot chicks that like to grope each other. People are gonna watch, and some might even say stupid shit about it. Can ya handle it?”

Buffy didn’t answer.

Instead, she turned in Faith’s arms and stood up on her tippy-toes, capturing Faith’s lips in a heated kiss. It wasn’t like the one they had shared earlier. It was hot and full of passion and everything that they’d been holding back for the past two days.

Their tongues slid against one another, not fighting for dominance but simply touching, tasting, and reacquainting. Buffy nipped at Faith’s lips, capturing the lower one in her mouth and sucking on it softly before letting it release with a little wet plop.

“Does that answer your question?” Buffy asked breathlessly, pushing her forehead against Faith’s as they kept their eyes closed.

“Yeah, I guess it does,” Faith laughed.

“Good, then let’s say goodbye to Tara so I can take you home and make love to you all night,” Buffy said, opening her eyes to find two deep brown pools staring back at her. She furrowed her eyebrows, instantly wondering why Faith was giving her a questioning glance.

“What?” She asked, lifting her hand up and running her fingertips across Faith’s bottom lip.

Faith smiled softly, hesitating for a moment before she spoke.

“It’s past midnight, B. It’s Saturday . . . day ten. Are ya sure about this? I’m kinda crude, and messy; I burp out loud, I like to scratch in the morning for prolonged periods of time, and I could definitely use a few lessons in manners. So . . . are ya sure ya still want me?” She asked, looking down into Buffy’s eyes with a timid smile on her face, trying to hide her sudden nervousness.

“Yes . . . I still want you, Faith,” Buffy answered quietly.

“For how long?” Faith asked in a whisper, her face only inches away from Buffy’s.

Buffy put on a big smile, stroking Faith’s lips as she closed the rest of the distance between them.