“I gotta tell ya, B. I liked the little number that ya just did for me. Tell me . . . where’d ya learn those moves, Miss Innocent?” Faith asked, her hands on Buffy’s hips.

“Two words: Coyote Ugly. I loved that movie,” Buffy replied.

“Really? I was thinkin’ you may have learned that from somethin more along the lines of Showgirls or Striptease,” Faith joked.

Buffy scoffed.

“Please. I take off one measly article of clothing and I’m automatically deemed stripper-friendly? I don’t think so. I’m Coyote Ugly, not Striptease,” she gave Faith a little pout, which Faith knew meant that Buffy needed a compliment.

“Hey, B . . . speaking of that one measly article of clothing . . . you looked wicked hot in my leather jacket. In fact . . . you look pretty steamy in that outfit altogether. What’s it gonna take me to get you outta it?” She asked, raking her eyes up and down Buffy’s body.

Buffy instantly froze, suddenly realizing with Faith’s words the intimacy of their position. Trying to remain cool, she slid off of Faith’s lap and plopped down on her bed in a hasty retreat.

“Thanks for the compliment, ‘F’. But you’ve still got a while to wait.”

Faith groaned.

“Tease,” she mumbled under her breath, but Buffy was easily able to hear it with her Slayer hearing.

“I’m not a tease, Faith.”

Faith raised an eyebrow and pointed at Buffy’s outfit and then her own position on the chair and gave Buffy a doubtful look.

“Okay, so maybe I’m the slightest bit of a tease,” Buffy conceded. “But, like my mother always used to say, the boys aren’t going to buy the cow if they can get the milk for free.”

Now it was Faith’s turn to scoff.

“Yeah, except for the fact that I’m not a boy and you’re not a cow. And the milk’s gonna be mine before ten days is up, so I might as well take a little taste now before it goes sour,” Faith whined in a very non-Faith like fashion.

Buffy laughed at the other girl.

“Okay, Old MacHorny, enough with the farm-talk. We’ve got three hours before dark. Study-time?” She suggested.

Faith thought about it for a minute.

“Nah, not yet. Strangely enough, all this talk about cows and milk got me hella hungry. Wanna go get some food?”

“Actually . . . yeah,” Buffy laughed. “Just let me get changed first.”

She stood up and began to walk towards her closet when she felt a hand on her shoulder holding her back.

“What? Don’t change. Ya look wicked hot, B. I wanna see the guys drool when you walk by them. I think ya look cute when ya blush.”

As if on cue, Buffy blushed.

“Just like that, B. Fuckin adorable. Now, come on, let’s go.”

Without giving her another second to think about it, Faith pulled Buffy across the room and out the door.

The two slayers walked hand-in-hand across campus to one of the dining centers. It had, of course, taken a little bit of coaxing by Faith. Buffy would try to pull her hand away when they walked by large groups of people, but Faith would hold on even tighter and just tell her to calm down or relax.

When they finally reached the dining hall, they were happy to see Willow and Tara seated at a table in the corner. The two slayers anxiously made their way over to them, hoping to share the table in the busy dining hall.

“Hey guys!” Willow beamed as she saw the two girls approach hand-in-hand. “Aww, Tara, don’t they look cute together, with the hand-holding and the googily eyes? Oh . . . and look at Buffy’s outfit. She’s even starting to dress like Faith. How cute!”

Tara nodded and smiled sweetly at the slayers.

“We do n t have googily eyes,” Buffy stated firmly. Faith had let go of her hand, allowing her to sit comfortably. “You must be seeing things.”

“Yeah,” Faith agreed. “Plus, the hand-holding wasn’t really my idea . . . yunno, not my kinda thing. But, Little Miss Tightly-Wound here nearly decked me when I tried to walk with my hand in her back pocket, so I learned to compromise. Hand-holding resulted.”

Willow laughed.

“Well, I still think it’s adorable. Our little Buffster is finally growing up,” she taunted, but quickly changed the subject. “So . . . can we see some slayer-smoochies?”

Faith chuckled at the request, giving Willow a nod and a wink as if to say thanks. Buffy’s eyes went wide and she turned her attention to the red-head.

“You can’t be serious, Will. Don’t tell me that you’re in on this too.”

“Guilty as charged,” Willow beamed.

“But Wills,” Buffy whined playfully, “you’ve known me longer, you’re supposed to be on my side!”

“Sorry, Buff. I think this little experiment will be good for you. Maybe you’ll loosen up a bit and live a little. It’s the best thing I ever did.” Willow replied, then looked over to Tara. She shot her girlfriend a warm smile and grabbed her hand, interlacing their fingers.

“Right. Well, you’ll just have to learn to be patient, just like Faith. We’re not quite up to public displays of affection yet. We barely just got past the private displays of affection part,” Buffy said.

Willow quickly turned her gaze back to Buffy.

“Ooooh. So there are private displays?” Willow asked, making Buffy immediately blush. She then looked towards Faith. “That was quick, Faith. Nice. You really dive right into your work, don’t you?”

Faith smirked.

“Did ya really expect anything less from me, Red?”

The four girls engaged in small talk and laughter while enjoying their dinner.

Buffy had visibly relaxed about halfway through the meal. For a few moments Faith looked uncomfortable, stretching oddly and rubbing her lower back, but Buffy realized that Faith’s back must have been sore from patrol the night before. She casually scooted closer to her and began to rub her back, hoping to relieve some of her discomfort.

She quickly earned three suspicious looks from her friends at the table.

“What!?” She asked incredulously. “Don’t look at me like that. If I saw my boyfriend having back pain, I would rub it for him. Faith’s supposed to be my girlfriend, so she gets the special treatment too. I’ve always been an excellent girlfriend, thank you very much.”

Faith smiled as she looked over Buffy’s shoulder.

“Well, keep up the lovin, blondie,” Faith stated casually, “cos here comes your Beefstick.”

Buffy spun around quickly just in time to see Riley approach the table.

“Hi Buffy,” he said with a goofy smile on his face.

Yeah, you know the one.

“Oh! Hi Riley. What are you doing here?” She asked, trying not to look too nervous or surprised but failed miserably.

“Well . . . this is a cafeteria, so . . . I’m getting something to eat. I see that you guys are too.” He smiled as he looked at the other girls around the table.

“Oh, yeah. We are. Umm, you remember Willow and Tara, right?” Buffy asked.

“Yeah, I was their T.A. in Psych 101,” he said, smiling over at the two witches. Then he turned towards Faith. “And you must be Faith. Buffy told me about the two of you. Congratulations, you’ve got a great girl here,” he said with a smile, looking back and forth between Buffy and Faith.

“Thanks Rodney,” Faith replied with a fake smile.

“Uh, actually, it’s Riley. It’s Irish. Kinda like the book ‘Mary Reilly’, just spelled a bit diff . . .”

“Yeah, whatever,” Faith interrupted, trying to sound uninterested.

She scooted up closer to Buffy and wrapped her arms around her from behind. “Baby, what say we finish up here and head back up to our room? I’m still hungry, but food isn’t gonna cut it this time.” She leaned in and placed several small kisses on the nape of Buffy’s neck, looking up at Riley and giving him a wink as she did so.

Buffy drew in a deep breath and shivered, not even realizing it as she closed her eyes and settled back into Faith’s arms, relishing the contact. If it hadn’t been for her slayer hearing, she might have missed Faith whisper into her ear, “shivers and chills alike, as promised.”

After a moment had passed, Buffy finally opened her eyes and regained her senses. She looked up at the people around her who were looking either a little uncomfortable or a little shocked.

She laughed nervously.

“Sorry guys, we’ve gotta go. Will, Tara, I’ll talk to you later. Riley . . . yeah. Nice seeing you.” She stood and pulled Faith up with her, then grabbed her hand and quickly led her away.

Riley shifted uncomfortably. “Yeah, nice to see you too, Buffy.” He looked at the brunette and nodded. “Faith.”

“Ronny,” Faith said with a victorious smirk on her face.

The two girls made their way out of the dining hall hand-in-hand, leaving a pair of giggling witches and a stunned Riley behind.

The two slayers returned to their room with about a half-hour to spare before dusk. Neither had brought up the incident with Riley. They had just carried on with the small-talk that they had been having with Willow and Tara.

Buffy sighed as she plopped down on her bed.

“Ugh. I’m exhausted. Do you think the evil un-dead in this town would mind behaving for just one night so I can have a little time off to rest?”

Faith plopped down right next to her, half of her body covering the smaller girl. She rested her head on the pillow and closed her eyes.

“If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a gazillion times, B. Vamps? Not that considerate. They like it when we’re tired. So . . .” she yawned, “I think a little nap is in order.”

Buffy laughed as she looked at the girl who was laying half on top of her.

“Okay, I can handle a nap. But are you forgetting that you have your own bed not ten feet away from here?” She asked, nodding in the general direction of Faith’s empty bed.

“I know it’s there, B.” Faith said, opening one eye to glance at her. “But, I think this is what couples do, yunno? I can’t say from experience cos I don’t usually share a bed for more than an hour or two at a time, but . . . hell, I don’t mind tryin’ it out with ya,” she said, closing her eye and snuggling just a little bit more into Buffy’s side.

Buffy growled.

“Okay, fine. But can you at least move off of me? Breathing might become an issue.”

“Nope,” Faith replied sleepily. “You see . . . it’s a small bed. If I move over any more, I’m gonna fall off. And if I do that . . . then I won’t be able to cop a feel once you doze off. So, to answer your question: No, I can’t move.”

Buffy chuckled.

“What kind of insane troll logic is that?” She waited for a response, but only heard Faith’s shallow breaths as she slowly drifted off to sleep. “Ugh. Fine. But no funny stuff, missy. That means no groping and no copping feels. Sleep only.”

“Mmmmhmmm.” Was all that Faith replied.

“Mmmmhmmm.” Buffy imitated Faith, chuckling a bit. She closed her eyes after a moment and slowly drifted off to sleep, enjoying the warmth of the body next to her.

Buffy awoke to a completely dark room. She sat up quickly, trying to adjust to her settings.

She didn’t know how long they’d slept for, but she knew she needed to wake Faith up so they could patrol.

She was mildly disappointed to find that Faith was no longer lying with her, keeping her warm. Actually, she was nowhere to be seen. Just as Buffy was about to get up and look for the girl, she found a note on the dresser. She turned on the table lamp and read the note.

B:
You looked too cute sleeping & I didn’t wanna wake you up, so your wish is granted: take the night off and rest. Don’t worry, I can handle patrol solo. I’m a big girl, remember? I’ll catch up with ya later.
F
p.s. – Aren’t you starting to wonder if I copped a feel? I’ll never tell . . . ;)

Buffy smiled. She hadn’t thought that Faith would do something so thoughtful for her. Every other time that she’d tried to weasel her way out of slaying, Faith had dragged her out of the door claiming that they were The Chosen Two, not The Chosen One and The One That Needs a Break. But deep down, Buffy knew that the real reason that Faith had always made her go was because she liked the solo-time that the two got to spend together, sans Scoobies and other distractions.

Taking advantage of the rare opportunity at a break, Buffy slid under the covers and decided to go back to sleep. She made sure to leave a small space next to her as she lay on her side, a silent invitation for Faith to reclaim her position there.

She lay there in her thoughts for a while before she slowly started to drift off. Just as she was about to fall over the edge between awake and sleep, she felt the bed shift under her, followed by a familiar sense of warmth against her side.

“Hey,” she whispered with her eyes closed, a smile on her face.

“Hey,” Faith responded huskily.

“Thanks . . . for letting me sleep. I would’ve gone with you.”

“I know,” Faith whispered again, moving in closer to Buffy if even possible on the small bed. She began to rain small kisses along the girls’ back and shoulders.

“How’d it go?” Buffy asked quietly, her breath catching in her throat from the feeling of Faith’s lips on her back.

“Fine. Lots of action. Dusted eight vamps in three cemeteries,” Faith replied, slowly becoming bolder in her moves. She rolled Buffy so that they were facing more towards each other and began to place light kisses on her lips and jaw line.

“Anything we should be concerned about?” Buffy asked breathlessly, slowly starting to respond to Faith’s kisses.

“Not right now,” she whispered. She rolled just a little more so that she was half on top of Buffy again, positioning herself so that one of her strong thighs rested between Buffy’s legs.

Buffy gasped at the contact, but it made her quickly realize the direction in which their motions were leading them. In a strong show of will and restraint, Buffy pulled away from Faith’s warm mouth and began to speak.

“Wait wait wait, Faith. We need to stop, I can’t do this yet.”

Faith snickered, continuing her assault on the blonde’s jaw line. “It seems to me like you can. Besides . . . slaying got me wicked horny. I’m not gonna be able to sleep unless I get this itch scratched.”

Buffy put her hands on Faith’s shoulders and pushed her back. Both girls were panting as they gazed at one another.

“Faith . . . if you wanna sleep in my bed, you’ve got to stop. At least for tonight, okay? So either go sleep in your own bed or go take a shower and take care of your . . . problem . . . then come back to bed with me.”

The brunette grunted, “Yes, dear.”

She got up out of bed and headed to the bathroom.

Within a minute, Buffy heard the shower running. She closed her eyes tightly, trying to get the images out of her mind of what Faith was most likely doing in the shower at that very moment.

She must not have realized exactly how tired she was. With her eyes still shut tightly, she began to drift off yet again, blocking out all of the sounds in the room.

Just as she was on the brink of sleep, she sensed Faith crawling into her bed and felt a warm arm embrace her. She was only vaguely able to make out Faith’s hushed voice whisper “Night, B”, but she was sure that she felt several butterfly kisses on her face.