Buffy slowly started to wake up as the light began to make its way into the bedroom. She had shifted during the night so her back was to Faith and she was spooning her from behind. In her still half asleep state, she became aware of Faith kissing her shoulder as her fingers slid over her clit. She let out a quiet moan and put her hand on Faith's arm, a smile on her face.

"Morning, baby," Faith whispered into her ear as she swiftly moved her talented fingers down and shoved two of them into her wet hole.

"Oh, shit," Buffy cried out and pushed back into Faith.

"You looked so hot, just sleeping in my arms," Faith continued to whisper. "I couldn't help myself." She kissed her ear and used her free hand to brush a strand of hair out of her face. "You're so beautiful."

Buffy only groaned as Faith moved her fingers steadily in and out of her pussy. She turned her head to look at Faith and stared into the other woman's glowing eyes. Faith just grinned and pressed her lips against hers.

They kissed softly as Faith continued to thrust deeply into her. Buffy pressed her hips down onto her hand as a response, thoroughly enjoying everything Faith was doing to her. She secretly hoped Faith would wake her up like this every day.

When they broke apart, Faith went to kissing up and down Buffy's neck and shoulder, not letting up on Buffy's pussy one bit as she did. Listening to her girlfriend's cries of pleasure, she thrust harder and deeper still so she could keep the moans and sighs coming from her. She curled her fingers and Buffy let out a scream.

"God . . . Faith, so good," she moaned out loudly, feeling herself lose all control but feeling safe in Faith's arms.

Sooner than she wanted, Buffy could feel herself coming, her inner walls clutching frantically at Faith's fingers. She screamed out, feeling Faith keeping a secure hold on her as she soaked her hand and the sheets below.

Faith watched Buffy for a moment before going back to sucking on her neck. She loved the fact she could make Buffy feel this good. She slowed down her fingers, letting her ride out her orgasm while still allowing her to come down from the high she'd just taken her.

Buffy let out one last moan before completely leaning back into Faith. Faith slowly took her fingers out of her and brought them to her mouth to begin to lick them clean. Buffy turned to look at her and saw Faith starting to lap up her juices. She watched for a few moments, her eyes locked with Faith's, before taking her hand away from her mouth. Without saying a word, Buffy brought Faith's hand to her and took a finger into her mouth, tasting herself.

Faith stared at her wide eyed. "Fuck, that's hot."

Buffy only grinned as she swirled her tongue around her finger, sucking lightly. She could see how turned on Faith was getting and she was loving every second of it.

"Do you taste good, baby?" Faith asked as she slowly pulled her finger out of Buffy's mouth.

"What do you think?" Buffy guided Faith's hand back to her and watched as the other woman licked the rest of her hand clean.

Faith grinned happily as she pulled Buffy as close as possible before giving her a tender yet passionate kiss. After breaking away, Faith rested her head against Buffy's. "Good morning."

Buffy laughed. "Good morning . . . that was some way to wake up."

"I woke up early and was just watching you sleep but you looked so hot and sexy . . . and you were naked and pressed against me. I had no control over my actions." She kissed her nose. "I don't know if that's a good thing."

"I think it is." Buffy shifted so she rested more comfortably in Faith's arms. She lightly brushed her toes on her leg. "I just hope next time I wake up first."

"Hmm, I better remember to sleep in then." Faith grinned again and kissed her cheek, tickling her side as she did.

Buffy giggled. "Baby, stop. You know I'm ticklish."

"Yes, I do," Faith responded and rolled so she hovered over Buffy. Buffy had enough willpower to flip them back over, trying to pin Faith to the bed so she could gain some control, but moments later found herself on her back again. They rolled around for a few minutes, kissing and tickling each other, before stopping in the middle of the bed, Buffy on her back and Faith next to her, resting her head on her chest.

"Do you have to work today?" Buffy asked, running her fingers through Faith's hair.

"Nope." She turned her head enough to kiss her skin. "You?"

"No, and with all the shifts I've been working, it's about time, too."

Faith looked at her, grinning sexily. "What do you want to do today?"

Buffy frowned slightly. "I think I should go back to the house and attempt to talk to Willow, probably Xander, too. I need to try to settle this before it gets any worse."

"Oh," Faith said, looking back down. "I think it's pretty bad already."

Buffy sighed. "I know. I just want to try." She paused. "I don't want to lose them, Faith . . . but I don't what I'd do if I lost you."

"Yeah . . . I don't want to lose you either." She let out a sad sigh, thinking the worst. She still figured if Willow and Xander made her choose, Buffy would easily choose them.

Buffy looked down at Faith, a reassuring smile on her face. "You won't." She leaned down to kiss her gently. "Will you come with me today?"

Faith looked at her, bewildered, and sat up a little. "Are you serious? Do you realize what I might do to them if they go off on you again? Or me for that matter?"

"I won't let you do that," Buffy said. "I can make sure you stay calm."

Faith furrowed her brow, still having doubts. "If you think so." She paused, thinking of the outcomes that could results, none of them good. "I don't see how I could help any."

"You help me, Faith," Buffy responded. "You help me to be strong." She reached out and caressed her cheek. "I need that."

Faith smiled and pulled Buffy into a hug. She didn't think it was possible to love her any more than she already did but everything Buffy said made her fall deeper. She turned and lightly brushed her lips against her ear. "Okay . . . I'll go with you." She pulled away enough to kiss her forehead. "We should get dressed then otherwise we might never leave."

Buffy looked over at the clock. "It's still morning. We have some time."

Faith only grinned wickedly before she pulled Buffy into a more horizontal position and climbed on top of her. The only thing she could think about as Buffy's arms wrapped tightly around her was she wished they never had to leave.

It was just after lunch before the Chosen Two managed to get out of bed and get showered and dressed. The shower only delayed them further since Buffy insisted they shower together. As soon as they stepped in, she had Faith up against the shower wall, fucking her as the water washed over them.

Faith finally managed to pull away after she came so they could get ready, even though she really didn't want to. She would have much rather stayed in the apartment with Buffy making love all day but she knew they needed to leave and try to settle things with the others. So instead she made them lunch and then the pair walked to Buffy's house hand in hand.

The two of them walked through the front door laughing quietly, Faith's arm around Buffy's waist as she whispered in her ear. Faith stopped once they closed the door, only giving Buffy a quick kiss before guiding her inside.

"Dawn, is that you?"

"No, Tara," Buffy said. "It's just me."

Tara walked down the stairs, observing how Faith was holding onto Buffy. "Hi, Buffy . . . Faith. Willow's not here. I think she was meeting Xander."

"Okay." Buffy nodded. "Where's Dawn?"

"At a friend's," she answered. "We didn't expect you home so soon. Dawn said you packed a bag."

Buffy furrowed her brow. "I told her I'd be stopping by."

"She probably didn't want to say that in front of Red," Faith put in, leaning into Buffy. "We'd have been ambushed at the door." She looked up a Tara, realizing exactly what she was saying. "No offense."

"T-that sounds about right," she said, looking uncomfortable. "I'll be upstairs."

"Hey, Tara," Faith called out as Tara turned to leave the room. "Can I ask you something?"

Tara stopped and turned back to the pair. "Okay."

Faith motioned for her to follow them into the living room. Once they were all sitting, the two slayers on the couch and Tara in a chair, she looked Tara in the eye. "What do you think about me being here?"

Tara didn't say anything for a minute, just looked down. Buffy moved closer to Faith, putting her head on her shoulder, and Faith kept her arm around her.

"Well," she finally spoke up, "I know you've helped Buffy. I'm sure everyone can see that even if they don't want to admit it. I can see you've changed . . . or at least, that you want to change."

Buffy sat up and looked at Tara. "She does, Tara."

Faith nodded in agreement. "I do. I don't wanna hurt anyone anymore." She looked from Tara to Buffy and back again. "I would never do anything to hurt B like that."

"You gonna have to convince Willow of that," Tara said. "There's no way I'll do able to."

"That's right. You won't," Willow said, walking into the room with Xander following behind her. She observed all three women in the room for a moment before noticing how close the two slayers were on the couch. "I thought you might not come back but I didn't think you'd come back with her."

"This is my house, Will," Buffy said, gripping Faith's hand. "I told you Faith is welcome and if you had a problem with that you could leave."

Xander's mouth dropped open and he scowled at both of them. "You'd really kick your best friend out because of Faith?" He said the name with disgust and sneered at Faith causing her to scowl right back.

"I'm not kicking her out, Xand," Buffy answered, feeling the anger already coming off Faith in waves. She turned and mouthed 'it's okay' before turning back to her two best friends. "I just don't want to be attacked every time I come home."

"Then don't bring her," Willow said angrily, nodding her head toward Faith.

Faith couldn't take not saying anything any longer. "Don't talk about me like I'm not here, Willow, and don't attack B because of me."

"We're not attacking," Xander said, keeping himself a step behind Willow. "We're trying to talk some sense into her so she doesn't end up with a psycho."

"Do not call her a psycho," Buffy nearly yelled, standing up. "We never really even knew Faith when she first came to town so all we really saw was the bad. Yes, there was a lot of bad but at the time, we had nothing to compare it to so we just thought she was all bad, even evil. We were wrong. I don't see any of that now." She stopped as she felt Faith stand and put a hand on her back. "She's been there the last few weeks, even when I didn't want her to. She knew that I needed someone, anyone, just to be there, to listen, to just sit there so I wasn't alone."

"And we weren't good enough?" Willow asked angrily. "You were upset with us for bringing you back so you go to her instead? Was that to punish us?"

"Will, don't say something you'll regret," Tara put in, walking over and putting a hand on her arm only to have it shaken off.

"I'm fine," Willow said angrily.

"She's going to hurt you, Buffy," Xander said simply.

"I won't hurt her," Faith said through gritted teeth, feeling her anger going on overload. "You know what your problem is? Both of you? You thought B was fine, that she just needed a few days to readjust . . . or maybe she'd ask for help. You didn't realize maybe you needed to ask her if she needed help or just spend some time with her without trying to judge her emotions and call her on it." She put an arm around Buffy's waist, gently pulling her closer. "I'm okay with you not trusting me but don't blame B or me for your fuck up."

"Don't you dare stand there and tell me what I've done wrong." Willow took a step closer to the two slayers. "Do you wanna compare faults, Faith, is that it? Okay, let's start with how many people each of us has killed." She paused, pretending to think. "Hmm, I haven't killed any. Can you say the same?"

"No, I can't," Faith gritted. She felt Buffy place a hand over the one she had placed on her waist and knew to stay calm, or at the very least, not hit anyone. "I've changed. I would never do that again."

"Sure," Xander said. "Keep telling yourself that."

"Buffy, she's just using you," Willow almost pleaded with her best friend, almost as though she knew she was fighting a losing battle. "Once she's had her fun, she'll leave and hurt you."

"She won't," Buffy said, her eyes starting to water. She wanted so badly for her friends to see what she now saw in Faith and it pained her that it wasn't working.

"Buff, you don't know that and I don't know if I want to hang around and wait for that to happen," Xander said with a straight face.

"What exactly are you saying?"

"We're saying," Willow said sternly, "that we're not gonna watch you destroy your life because of her."

The realization of the ultimatum put before her hit home and within seconds Buffy crumbled. She pulled out of Faith's grasp and ran out the door. Faith watched her go then turned to Xander and Willow, her eyes dark with anger.

"That's how you treat your best friend? How dare you talk to her like that!"

"Go to hell, Faith," Willow said angrily. "Why can't you just leave all of us alone? We were fine without you."

"If you think I'm gonna leave B alone after the way you just treated her, you're cracked," Faith responded then sighed. "Look, I get your deal with me and I'm okay with you not wanting to believe anything I say. I understand, I really do. But how can you blame Buffy for any of this?" Willow began to respond but Faith continued on. "Know what? I don't care. I have to go take care of my girlfriend right now 'cause she didn't look in great shape when she left. Wonder who's fault that is?"

Faith scowled, shaking her head, and walked out the door. She turned her head once she was outside to see Buffy sitting in a chair on the porch, crying.

Faith dashed over to her. "Baby, what are you still doing here? You should have started toward the apartment." She knelt down in front of her and held her face in her hands, wiping away the tears running down her cheeks with her thumbs.

"I was waiting for you," Buffy said quietly.

Faith looked at her sadly before pulling them both up and embracing Buffy tightly. Buffy buried her face in her shoulder, her tears soaking her T-shirt. Faith kissed the top of her head, hoping she could find a way to make this better.

"Come on, baby," she said softly. "We should get out of here. Once you've calmed down, you can decide how to handle this." She said the last word with disgust as she slowly coaxed Buffy down the porch steps.

"Why couldn't it work out, Faith?" Buffy asked as they started to walk down the sidewalk.

"I don't know, B," Faith said. "Maybe it will work out eventually. For now, let's just go home."