They loved the feeling of finally being able to live. For Faith, it was mostly because she was out of prison and on her way to a better and brighter future. Angel promised that he’d find a way to take care of her legal matters, and she trusted him enough to not give the subject a second thought.

For Buffy, however, it was a bit different. By closing the Hellmouth and activating all of the slayers, she’d basically given herself a new lease on life. She was no longer the one in charge; life and death no longer lay cradled in her hands. Sure, there were slayers to train and work to be done, but . . . it didn’t matter. She had never been able to plan her future, because it was too hard to see past this week’s apocalypse or next week’s disaster.

Now . . . it didn’t all rest on her shoulders. There were other capable people, or at last there would be soon.

The thought of being able to live a normal life . . . to get a job, and go out to movies and dinners and dancing . . . it gave her a sense of power and control that she had never had before. More than that, it gave her a sense of elation she hadn’t felt in ages.

She’d deal with planning her life and mixing her slaying with normalcy at a later time. But for right now, she wanted to celebrate. She wanted to live. She wanted to dance.

And she wanted Faith there with her, because the brunette always seemed to be able to bring the fun. She always had been able to.

But this time, she was doing it in a more adult and responsible manner that had Buffy wanting to be around her even more and more.

Of course, Buffy could hang out with Willow and Xander and the rest of the Sunnydale crew. But at this time, she knew that Faith was likely feeling the same things she was as far as freedom and the future went. She knew that both she and Faith could relate on a more personal level, as they were more alike than either girl cared to admit.

So hang out with Faith she did, and having fun she definitely was.

As the night before, Buffy and Faith ended up closing the club and walking out as the lights were being turned out for the night. When they noticed that Xander and the junior slayers were gone, they relaxed and realized that they could get back to the hotel at their own leisure.

Instead of hailing a taxi straight away, they stumbled across the parking lot and to the 24-hour diner next door to get some food.

Before they stumbled into the diner, they noticed Andrew walking across the parking lot with a group of men.

“Andrew!” Faith yelled, chuckling as he turned towards them, startled.

“Oh, hello Faith. You’re looking quite . . . wobbly. Is gravity the newest big bad?”

Faith tried to keep her balance, laughing as she wobbled around.

“Nah, the gravity is fine, Andy ol’ boy. It’s the whiskey and tequila that are playing the role of the big bad tonight. Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but am I seriously seeing you walkin outta here with a group of fa . . .”

“FAITH!” Buffy interrupted, giggling and elbowing Faith in the ribs. “Let Andrew tell us about his friends.”

“This is Butch and Steve. Fellas, this is Faith and Buffy, acquaintances from my former home. They’re intoxicated; ignore any lies they may tell. Faith, Buffy . . . the guys were just taking me to an all-night cinema to show me their theories on why Aragorn’s true love was not, in fact, the lovely Arwen.”

“Let me guess . . . it’s the blonde elf, right? Cos they’re both pretty-boys.” Faith said, holding onto Buffy for balance. At this point, they were pretty much holding each other up.

“Don’t be silly, Faith.” Andrew said, annoyed but confused at the same time. “Anyhoo, my new pals and I are off. Be steady, dear slayers.”

And with that, Andrew went off into the night with his new friends, leaving two giggling Slayers behind in his wake.

“He’s in for a world of surprises.” Buffy said with a chuckle as she started to walk towards the diner.

“You’ve got that right, B. Little guy is gonna be scarred for life. If he doesn’t end up liking it, that is.”

The two girls stumbled into the diner, ordering up both breakfast and dinner cos they couldn’t decide which they wanted. After chowing down their food and barely sobering up even just a bit, they decided to flag down a cab and head back to the hotel for the night.

They would have went out and partied more, but the sun was starting to come up. Unless they wanted to dance to Celine Dion at the local convenience shop while sipping on slushies, their evening was done.

Somehow, they managed to give the cab driver the correct fare, plus a nice big tip. After all . . . he could have driven them all around LA and they wouldn’t have known, seeing as how they were both passed out all over one another in the back seat. But he actually took them right to the hotel, dropping them off safely at the front entrance so they could stumble up to their room together.

After taking a brief nap in the elevator, the two slayers stumbled down the hall and to their room, not even noticing the curious junior slayers sticking their heads out of their rooms to see what the commotion was.

Somehow, they actually managed to end up in their room, flopping on top of one another on the bed.

“Ouch, don’t lay on my stomach,” Buffy mumbled. “It’s all full and . . . squeaky. I don’t think breakfast and dinner was such a good idea. Either that or I ate a mouse.”

Faith groaned and rolled off of Buffy. Not noticing how close she was to the edge of the bed, she flopped right onto the carpeted floor, landing with a loud thump.

Buffy sat up and gasped, quickly covering her mouth to smother the giggles that were escaping.

“It lacked grace, but the landing was superb. I give it . . . an eight!” She laughed, holding up seven fingers on her hand as if she was judging a diving competition. After laughing to the point where it hurt her stomach, she flopped back onto the bed and continued a giggle/whimper hybrid.

Faith lay still on the floor, trying to figure out exactly what happened.

“You pushed me!” She mumbled, sitting up and rubbing the back of her head. “I can believe you pushed me off the bed!”

Buffy gasped, a look of indignation on her face. “I did not! I think you may be under the affect of alcohol, Faith . . . Secretlastname,” she slurred. Suddenly, her brows furrowed and she looked down at Faith again. “Do you even have a last name?”

Faith completely ignored the question, struggling to get up from her spot on the floor while rubbing the back of her head.

“You fight dirty, Summers. And you need to learn a lesson.”

Buffy kept giggling, not seeming threatened at all by the way Faith was getting up from her spot on the floor and glaring at her.

“Aww, whatcha gonna do, Faithy? Toss me on my ass? I’m already laying down, genius.”

Faith grinned. “Nah, you can stay where you are, B. You gave me an eight on my ass-first dive onto the floor, but you still haven’t judged my belly-flop.”

Buffy barely had time to register what Faith said before she saw a mess of brown hair flying at her. A split-second later, she felt Faith’s body flop onto her, instantly pinning her to the mattress.

“Ughhhhh!” Buffy cried out, feeling quite smushed by the other girl’s now dead-weight on her. “I can’t believe you did that, cow!” She struggled helplessly, not able to budge Faith at all, especially now that she seemed to be snuggling up and clinging to Buffy’s body. “Ugh. I so owe you one now.”

“Nah, consider us even, B.” Faith mumbled as she nuzzled her face against Buffy’s upper chest. “How could I charge you for my services when I get to conveniently rest my head on your chest? We’re more than even.”

It only took Buffy a second to forget the crushing weight on her as a tingle began to run through her body. She suddenly remembered how horny she was, and how good Faith’s body felt against hers.

She had felt it both nights that they had spent together since they arrived in Los Angeles. A tingle that ran through her body like a soft electric current, pulsing constantly every second that their bodies touched.

Buffy had wondered why she felt it, and if Faith was feeling the same thing. Sure, she could take the easy way out and blame it on the slayer bond, but . . . that couldn’t solely explain it. This was a feeling of freedom, of anticipation, of comfort . . . of lust.

And she was definitely feeling the lust at the moment.

Her fingers started to unconsciously stroke up and down Faith’s back, causing Faith to look up into her eyes.

Faith flicked her tongue over her lips, suddenly noticing how dry they were. She knew that this could blow up in her face. She knew that Buffy had asked if they could talk about it when they were sober. But . . . the moment felt right. It felt like it could happen if they both wanted it enough.

And damn, did Faith want it!

Both Faith and Buffy looked deep into one another’s eyes, waiting for the other to say something or make a move.

Faith finally went for broke and spoke up.

“B . . . do you wanna do this?”

Buffy was sure that she had never heard Faith sound so . . . timid. She knew that Faith didn’t want to ruin the friendship that they were building, and frankly, neither did she. But there was no denying that they were still horny from the big battle, and that there was something between them that just couldn’t be denied.

Sure, she could go out and find someone random. She hadn’t done that before, but . . . how hard could it be? Still, sex with a stranger could be unsafe, as well as just more trouble than she wanted to go through. Besides, their previous two nights had yielded no answers to their little problem.

When all was said and done, having a friend with benefits seemed to be the best possible option. It was either that, a stranger, or having a mental breakdown from the constant hornies.

And Faith was, as hard as it was for Buffy to believe, her number one choice. Of all of the gang from Sunnydale and even LA, Faith was the only person that Buffy believed a ‘friends with benefits’ situation would work with. The brunette understood how it worked, and best of all . . . she was the one who had suggested it.

Having made up her mind with her silent reasoning, Buffy bit her lower lip and hesitantly nodded her head as she looked deep into Faith’s eyes.

A small smile crept onto Faith’s lips. She leaned forward and brushed her lips quickly over Buffy’s before pulling back and looking into her eyes again.

“Yeah?”

Buffy copied Faith’s move, leaning in and giving her a quick kiss on the lips before pulling back a few inches and looking into her eyes.

“Uh-huh.”

Faith grinned, repeating the gesture again but letting the kiss linger a moment longer this time.

“You sure?” She asked as she pulled back again. “No take-backs and no do-overs. We do this and we’re committed to the cause: friends with benefits. Sex with no commitment, no crying, no gettin upset cos of un-returned phone calls, no jealousy, and no . . . I repeat, NO doing the girly clingy thing. You down, B?”

Buffy pondered it for a moment, chewing on her bottom lip.

“So, we have the sex but I don’t get chocolate and flowers afterwards?”

Faith chuckled, kissing Buffy’s lips quickly again as they remained as close to one another as possible.

“Yeah, B, that’s about right.”

Buffy grinned and held out her hand to Faith to seal the offer.

“Flowers make me itch and chocolate makes me fat. Sounds like a solid plan to me.”

Faith took Buffy’s hand and shook it, flashing her a huge grin as they inched closer together.

Buffy’s breathing quickened, her nervousness at the new situation quite apparent. She wasn’t scared of doing this with Faith; she was nervous of doing it with Faith. You know . . . IT. Not only had she never had sex with another woman, but she hadn’t even seen it on a video. She’d blushed and turned the channel when the sex scene on Bound came on while she was watching TV with Willow one time, and that was her closest brush with lesbianism that she had ever had.

She vaguely remembered the mattress being on the floor, and Jennifer Tilly's hand between Gina Gershon's . . .

. . . and enter the panic.

Buffy suddenly realized exactly what was bout to happen. Sex with Faith. Faith, who was a woman, and owning of the girly parts. Girly parts of which Buffy really didn’t know exactly what to do with. Of course, she wasn’t prude enough to try to act like she had never masturbated. She was a slayer, and slayers had certain needs and desires.

And if she was totally honest with herself, she couldn’t deny having though about women in a sexual way before. While masturbating.

Even that wasn’t entirely true, though. It wasn’t women that Buffy had thought about; it was Faith. Who, of course, was a woman. God, was she a woman! But in the last couple of weeks before the collapse of the Hellmouth, Faith had brought a rush of old memories back to Buffy’s mind. Memories of long nights together when they had first met, slaying and dancing and flirting. And memories of what she’d do to her tight little body the second she’d hop into the shower when she got home from her quasi-dates with Faith.

Everything aside, Buffy knew her own body, and what exactly made it feel good. She didn’t know what type of experience Faith had, nor did she have any desire to learn of her past misadventures in the realm of lesbianism. She just decided to go with the flow, try to read Faith as best as she could, and do things to Faith that she, herself, would like.

Faith watched, entertained, as Buffy seemed to have some type of quiet mental breakdown. Buffy’s had spaced out as soon as Faith had started to lean in closer to her, so Faith had to sit back and watch the inner struggle that Buffy was going through.

She smiled as Buffy’s eyebrows furrowed, then as she blushed, and then as a look of determination crossed the blonde’s face. At that point, Faith decided to help end Buffy’s inner turmoil. Without any further hesitation, she placed her fingertips under Buffy’s chin, waited until Buffy met her gaze, and leaned in and began to kiss her.

Their kisses were chaste at first, allowing them time to adjust to the new sensations. As it turned out, the kissing was great foreplay, as they both began to get bolder with every kiss.

Faith was surprised to feel Buffy taking initiative, running her tongue over Faith’s bottom lip so that she could kiss her deeper. Faith obliged accordingly, parting her lush lips to let Buffy’s tongue explore her moist, warm mouth.

Buffy sighed a bit into Faith’s mouth, even letting a moan escape as Faith began to suck on her tongue.

Pulling back for a moment to catch her breath which seemed to have been ripped from her chest, Buffy grinned and looked into Faith’s eyes.

“That was . . . hot.”

Faith grinned, letting her fingertips run from under Buffy’s chin, across her collarbone, and down her arm.

“You like?”

“Oh yeah.” Buffy purred in her still drunken state, leaning in for another kiss.

Her judgment, however, was still a bit off, and she forgot exactly how close she was to Faith until their foreheads clonked off of one another.

“Ow! Jesus, Buffy, are you trying to knock me out? We can’t have sex if we’re unconscious.” Faith joked. “What the hell is your head made of anyways, lead?” Faith asked, remembering just how heavy Buffy’s head had been on her arm the last two nights in a row.

“Sorry!” Buffy apologized, embarrassed. She rubbed her forehead, instantly noticing the goose-egg that was slowly appearing. “I didn’t mean to . . . I was just . . . there was kissing, and there should have been more, and I . . .” she rambled, not noticing the amused look on Faith’s face.

“Relax, B . . . there’s still sex to be had. Why don’t you just lay back a bit and let me . . . get things started?” She asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

Buffy smiled, leaning back onto her elbows and watching Faith with a seductive look on her face.

Faith hovered over Buffy, making the older girl shiver as she trailed her hair over the length of her arms. She lowered herself gently onto Buffy’s body, only letting part of her weight rest on her so that Buffy could feel free to respond in whatever way felt good.

Buffy felt her heart beating hard in her chest as Faith’s lips brushed over hers again, instantly remembering how incredible it felt to even be simply kissing the girl. Her whole body responded in a way that it never had before with anyone she was sexually involved with. This was new. This was different. This was good.

Faith’s kisses became more determined, their tongues soon sliding over and around one another. Buffy wrapped her arms around Faith’s back, allowing Faith to rest more fully on her.

This was making out. This was good. They were slowly getting more comfortable with one another and with what was going to soon be happening.

When kissing was no longer enough, Buffy let her hand slip under the back of Faith’s shirt, letting her fingertips roam over the soft skin of Faith’s back. She had obviously hit one of Faith’s more pleasurable points, as the brunette moaned softly into her mouth.

Encouraged, Buffy’s touches became more intent, caressing the spots on Faith’s back and sides that made her moan or breathe in a different way. The good kind of way.

She suddenly began to think that this whole ‘sex with girls’ thing wasn’t as hard as she was thinking it would be.

And that’s when she hit Faith’s bra clasp.

Buffy wasn’t sure exactly what to do next; should she unclasp Faith bra so that she could get a look at her surely gorgeous breasts, or did she leave it be and let things progress at Faith’s speed? And if she unclasped Faith’s bra, what then?

Deciding not to get too wrapped up in what-if’s and how’s, Buffy went for broke and let her fingers snap open the clasp to Faith’s bra. It took her a moment or two, as her alcohol-induced haze made even the simplest task much more difficult.

She knew it was the right move when she felt Faith smile against her lips.

And then Faith’s lips were gone from hers, and it took Buffy a moment or two to realize that Faith was now straddling her waist with her fingertips under the hem of her own shirt.

Faith wiggled her eyebrows at Buffy before lifting her shirt up and over her head.

Or, at least partially over her head.

Buffy managed to move her gaze from Faith’s loosely bra’d breasts up to her face, which was currently obstructed by her inside-out shirt.

“Shit!” She heard Faith mumble.

“What?” Buffy asked, her eyebrows furrowing.

“The tag is tangled up in the back of my hair. It’s stuck.” Faith answered, her voice muffled through her shirt.

“Well, can’t you just pull it free?” Buffy asked, confused as to why this was such a big deal. Faith’s half-clad breasts hung only two feet in front of her face, teasing her ever so subtly as the unclasped bra threatened to fall and reveal them at any moment.

Buffy began to hope that Faith would have a violent sneeze that would jolt the bra down.

“Sure I can, Einstein, so long as you don’t mind me having a huge bald-spot on the back of my head from where the tag ripped it out.”

Buffy suddenly understood exactly how stuck Faith was in her shirt and realized that she needed to help. ASAP. Because they needed to be having sex. Like, now.

Without thinking first, Buffy immediately sat in an upright position, not realizing what her movement did until it was too late.

A small high-pitched scream escaped Faith’s throat as she was tossed off of Buffy and onto the floor, yet again.

Buffy’s eyes widened at the spectacle before her.

“I . . .shit . . . oh god . . . sorry! ” She rambled, doing her best to get up from the bed so that she could help Faith up and out of her tangled mess.

However, she failed to notice that her right foot had become tangled in the bed sheets. As soon as she tried to stand, her foot missed the floor for being tangled in the sheets and she fell right over onto the already displaced Faith. She landed with a loud thud, causing Faith to yell out.

“Holy shit! You made me bite my lip, B! Are you cursed or something?”

Buffy struggled to get free from the mess of blankets that trapped her on Faith, scoffing as she answered Faith.

“Do NOT even joke about curses. I’m like fly-paper for curses, and everything else icky, gross, and smelly. Do NOT jinx it.” She answered, finally getting to her feet.

Faith just lay on the floor and whimpered, her pride and libido temporarily deflated by the series of events that had occurred in the past ten minutes.

“Do you think you can just . . . go get the scissors from the bathroom and help me out here, B?” Faith asked from within the confines of her tangled shirt and the bed sheets.

“Uh, yeah,” Buffy answered, finally defeated.

She stumbled her way to the bathroom and fetched the scissors from the toiletries basket, fixing her rumpled hair in the mirror before returning to help Faith. She knew that the sex idea was over for the night, but there was no reason that she couldn’t still look presentable.

Making her way slowly back into the main room, Buffy froze in place as she saw that Faith’s bra had slid down her arms, revealing her full, round breasts. Taken aback by the sight, Buffy took a step forward, only to trip over one of her hastily discarded shoes from when they had returned to the room.

She tried her best to steady herself as she fell, keeping the scissors as far away from her body so that she could avoid injury. As she landed, she felt the scissors penetrate something tough that was laying on the floor. A large tear sounded through the room as the metal penetrated what seemed to be a tough, sturdy material.

Buffy kept her eyes closed, not wanting to look at what she knew was something truly horrifying. She kept completely still with her eyes clenched shut, listening to the gasp from across the room as Faith scurried up to look over the bed.

“Nooooooo, not my boots!” Faith yelled as she poked her head out the bottom of her shirt, her arms flailing around in an effort to free herself from the tangles mess she was in.

Buffy cringed, opening one eye enough to see the long metal scissors sticking right through the top of Faith’s famous black boots.

No, there would be no sex tonight. There would be mourning over boots and over what was now the most embarrassing night of both of their lives.