Faith opened her eyes, becoming slowly aware of her surroundings once again, scanning the private room for threats without even realising she was doing it. She felt stronger this time, the blood that had been pumped back into her system had kick-started her healing.

Of course, it was no replacement for her own slayer-blood, but it was a start that she could build on. Her other injuries, from the rough handling she had received from Spike, would now begin to heal quicker. The only discomfort Faith really felt now was emotional.

As daylight filtered into the bright room through the blinds, leaving strips of light lingering over her bed, Faith felt the bundle in her arms stir. She looked down, not really needing to confirm with her eyes to know that Buffy was still sleeping soundly. Buffy was holding Faith, snuggled into her side on top of the crisp covers.

Blonde mixed with brown on the stiff pillow, arms tight around one another. Faith drifted into the sensation of holding Buffy close, filling her lungs full of the scent of Buffy, ridding them of the memory of the stench of Spike and his crypt.

She loved Buffy’s scent. It was like a beacon to her on dark nights when they were patrolling, unable to stop to check on one another. Faith would know exactly where the other slayer was; she could feel her and smell her, the distinct aroma sweetening the air for her. Faith could never get enough.

Tears stung the back of her eyes, threatening to flow and allow her pain to pour out, but she didn’t feel ready to deal with it. The outfall was too much right now. Faith had weighted herself down with so much negative energy, and now there just seemed to be no way to let it go without causing herself more distress than she wanted to plunge herself into.

She needed to know why Buffy was with her now, lying in her arms. That was her main priority. If it were true that the girl she loved had recalled their time together - when Buffy had lost her memory but clung to the link between them - she needed to know what was going to happen next.

Faith daren’t hope that Buffy would, or could, open up to her in the way she had before. She just didn’t feel secure enough in the other girl’s connection to her, or their mutual attraction and love for one another. It was important that she found out what was going to happen, rather than leave herself once again exposed.

“Buffy,” Faith whispered gently.

She got no response from the other girl so lifted her left arm from around Buffy’s waist and began to run her hand through her blonde hair, relishing the flow of it like silk across her fingers. Still getting no response, she turned to Buffy and pressed her lips against her forehead, lingering long enough to savour the taste of her warm skin.

Buffy slowly opened her eyes, gazing instantly into the deep brown of the younger girl. Faith watched as Buffy lifted herself a little, resting on her elbow as she looked down at Faith and raised her right hand to cup her dimpled cheek. Faith could clearly make out the regret emanating from Buffy as she leaned down, surprising the weary slayer as she captured her lips.

Faith didn’t know how to react, other than accept the tender kiss. She felt every tingle inside increase, every butterfly tumble around like they were lining up to be shot down again. Faith couldn’t pull away as her lips melted under Buffy’s touch, a tepid slide of searching mouths looking to find some kind of anchor in the storm. A rest in the marathon of mixed emotions.

There was a part of Faith, dark and ominous, screaming at her to push Buffy away. To shake her by her slender shoulders and ask why she was doing what she was. Why she was messing with her head, confusing things more than Faith thought possible. But she ignored the screaming and the whys and the warnings as she pressed her lips harder against the girl now almost completely above her. She was weak. That’s exactly how she felt, but when it came to Buffy she had accepted that a long time ago. It wasn’t a big revelation. . .unlike the fact that Buffy seemed to be losing herself in the heat being slowly generated between them.

Faith could also feel herself forget about the reason they were there, as she sank into the softness of Buffy’s lips and the silent, wet slide of their tongues reacquainting. There were tingles all over her that she couldn’t ignore, despite her need to resist the delicate kiss. Faith was fighting for control inside herself, and losing, and as she forced her eyes to open to watch Buffy as she placed kisses over her face, Faith realised Buffy was battling just the same.

They were both tossing each other onto the rocks of desperate desire, unable to let go, unable to do anything but want to feel. To cling to something close. The connection between them, and the need that had always linked them. Looking for solace, and looking to belong.

Faith pushed everything aside but her love for the blonde girl, desperate to feel the heat between them before the inevitable questions and recriminations tore them apart once more. She pulled Buffy hard against her, crushing their mouths together in a declaration of her need. Buffy didn’t protest and moved her body further on top of Faith, resting her leg between Faith’s thighs, the sheet keeping them further apart than they wanted. She moaned into Faith’s mouth as the dark girl ran her hands up and down her small frame, ignoring the tug of the IV attached to her arm.

Faith closed her mind to everything but the sensation of Buffy pressed against her; her small hand in her dark hair, their lips and tongues combining in an erotic dance. She could almost taste the salt of tears shed and unshed, but she didn’t want to think about what was to come. And it seemed Buffy felt the same as her hand drifted down over Faith’s neck to her collarbone, resting just above the thin material of the hospital gown keeping her breasts out of reach of the roaming caress.

“I love your lips, Faith. I remembered how soft they are.” Buffy spoke between her teasing kisses across Faith’s full lips.

Faith could feel herself heating up, becoming aroused despite of - or because of - the past few weeks. She wanted to touch Buffy. She needed to show her in case it was the last time, that she wanted her more than anything she had ever wanted before. Groaning under Buffy’s insistent thigh between her legs, Faith revealed just how hot she was getting in the kiss she gave Buffy. It took both their breaths away.

“I want you so much, Faith. I know I. . .I took advantage of you, then accused you of doing that to me. Please, can you forgive me? I just. . .I remember not being able to resist, like now. I’m so sorry,” Buffy confessed.

A few tears fell from Buffy’s eyes onto Faith, who didn’t want to deal right now with everything they would have to deal with eventually. She wanted to push it aside and just feel, to erase the last memories of the dark place she had just been.

“Buffy, I forgive you. You know how I feel about you.” She stopped anymore discussion by placing her left hand over Buffy’s right, and encouraging it down under the sheet towards her breast.

Buffy looked down at Faith, her lungs taking in short sharp breaths as she slid her hand down, unassisted to the covered flesh on offer.

“I want to feel you against me, Faith. I’ve missed you so much,” Buffy said breathlessly as she drew her hand back and caressed the bedridden slayer everywhere she could.

Every bit of exposed flesh caught her attention. She brushed her fingers over Faith’s bruised face, brushing over the outline of her dimples and the cleft in her lip and chin. Then she caressed her neck and shoulders, arms and hands, until she obviously grew courageous with Faith’s soft moans. Buffy pushed the sheet between them to the side, lifting herself up to move underneath.

“B, somebody could come in.” Faith didn’t want Buffy to stop touching her, but she wasn’t keen on being caught with Buffy in her bed either.

“It’s ok, the nurses won’t come in. I told them I’d keep an eye on you.” There was a wicked glint in Buffy’s eye. “But if you’re. . .uncomfortable with this, I understand.” Buffy moved back from Faith a little but she stopped her, holding Buffy to her.

“Don’t move. I don’t wanna stop. I never. . .I never got the chance to touch you, and I never want to miss the opportunity again.” Faith pulled Buffy fully on top of her, resting her between her legs in the small space the bed provided.

She couldn’t move her right hand far due to the drip she was attached to, but her left hand was free to explore, so she slid it under Buffy’s thin shirt, tracing the sensual arch in her back as they kissed hungrily. Buffy moaned and rocked her hips into Faith, the soft material of her pants chafing the insides of her thighs.

Unfortunately the action caused Faith to recollect the uncomfortable feeling still between her legs. She wasn’t ready for this, and her small wince of pain made that obvious.

Buffy practically leapt off her. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have. . .”

Faith halted Buffy’s departure from her bed, keeping her beside her. “Hey, it’s ok. It’s just a little too soon for me.”

Faith looked away with the embarrassing memory of her unruly trysts with Spike, that had culminated in him almost killing her. The memory was like a sharp knife to her gut. She was disgusted with herself for being in that position, and for allowing things to get so out of hand. It was a black hole of ugly regret that she never wanted to visit again.

“Faith,” Buffy slipped a finger under Faith’s chin, ensuring she would look at her. “I don’t wanna make you uncomfortable, I just wanted to show you that I remember everything, that I. . .” She leant down to Faith’s ear, whispering seductively into it. “I love you.”

Faith felt her heart almost burst from her chest. She felt her limbs become light, her mind misty. It was too good to be true and it burned through the fear she had wrapped around her. She shook her head, thinking she had heard wrong, misunderstood her fellow slayer. But Buffy seemed to guess this, and whispering between delicate kisses to her ear, she ensured Faith knew she wasn’t dreaming.

“You know I’m in love with you, Faith. You know how much I crave you. How hot you get me, and how much I always want to be close to you, touching you. Making love to you. I’m not afraid anymore, but I’ll understand if you feel different now. It’ll break my heart, but I don’t want to hurt you anymore than I have already,” Buffy said softly.

She gently dropped wet kisses down Faith’s throat, waiting for Faith to either tell her that things would never move past the latest problems between them, or that they could ease the hurt from each other a little until they talked things over properly.

Faith was still reeling from Buffy telling her finally that she loved her. Somehow it felt more real this time, because she knew it was real. Buffy knew exactly who she was and what it would entail to be in love with Faith and open her heart to her. Faith swallowed the lump in her throat, feeling her heart filling up again with Buffy’s love. It was far from unbroken, but the healing was beginning.

“I love you too, Buffy. You’re everything to me.” She knew she had never spoken a truer word.

She turned to face Buffy, wrapping the smaller girl in her arms, kissing her, stroking her face and hair. Faith forgot about their surroundings and the crap she had just gone through. She concentrated on Buffy’s soft whimpers as she slowly began to undress her, undoing the buttons to her shirt. Faith pushed the thin material aside and smiled unreservedly as she unclasped the bra with her right hand at the same time.

“Please, Faith, touch me.” Buffy gasped a little as Faith did just that.

Faith licked her lips and slipped her fingers under the confining fabric of Buffy’s bra. She felt the hot flow of arousal seep out of her as her fingertips lovingly brushed over Buffy’s breast and her hard little nipple. Looking into the desire filled eyes of the other girl, Faith knew it was time for her to touch Buffy in the way she had always wanted to. To slip her fingers inside Buffy. Feel her pussy dripping for her, wanting her deeper and stronger. She didn’t care about anything but that right now. There was nothing but the silky soft, sweet skin of the other girl and her pounding heart. Faith leant down to taste the breasts she had exposed.

“Oh God, Faith, make love to me, please,” Buffy asked quietly as she sighed for Faith’s touch.

She spread her legs for Faith, leaving her in no doubt that she was now more than ready and willing to truly be with Faith, in everyway she had previously denied herself to be. And Faith wasn’t about to deny her any longer. She had waited too long. She had gone through too much. As weak as she still felt, there was no way Faith was going to ignore the strong pull of Buffy’s heart on hers, as Buffy’s hot breath escaped in deep aroused sighs, her body waiting for Faith to touch and pleasure it.

Faith dipped her hand down to Buffy’s loose waistband, promising herself to burn every detail into her mind to help erase the fleeting visions of Spike and of Buffy‘s accusation, of her own anger and rage.

She wasn’t going to allow anything to spoil the moment she had dreamt about for as long as she had known Buffy. The girl she loved with all her heart.