The water ripples softly across the surface as Buffy dips her fingertips into it from her inflatable raft. Faith is laying back in one of the loungers alongside their private pool, sweat dripping down the bottle of Corona that she’s holding in her hand. She takes a sip and her lips curve up into a smile as a warm breeze rustles the potted trees around their balcony.

It might not be heaven but it’s a close second.

“Hey B?”

“Hey what?”

“Come over here and pinch me. A day this perfect? I’ve gotta be dreaming.”

Buffy paddles over to the side of the pool, the rubber raft scraping quietly against the ledge. She pushes her sunglasses down the bridge of her nose and looks at Faith over the top of them. Smiling seductively, she curls her finger at Faith and Faith immediately gets up from her chair and approaches her. She sits down on the ledge, her legs dangling in the water, and bends down low enough to meet Buffy’s lips for a slow, deep kiss. When they pull back, they’re both smiling, completely content.

“Yep. Pretty perfect,” Buffy says.

“Maybe not quite,” Faith says and then hops onto the raft, nearly toppling them over. They laugh and giggle as they try to keep their balance, the raft gliding on the water until it reaches the other side of the pool. By the time it bumps into the ledge, Buffy and Faith are situated properly, laying on their sides and facing each other so they can kiss when they want to.

“There we go: Perfect,” Faith says.

They drift lazily around the pool, kissing and laughing, Buffy squealing with delight when Faith’s hands start to get a little bit friendly, as they usually do after a bit of kissing. Music drifts out of the villa as the maid staff does its daily cleaning routine. An old familiar tune starts up and Faith laughs against Buffy’s lips. She playfully nips the tip of Buffy’s nose and the pulls back enough to look into her eyes.

“You hear that song, babe?”

Buffy listens to the music quietly pumping out of the villa and through the surround speakers.

Rock the boat, don’t rock the boat baby,
Rock the boat, don’t tip the boat over

She laughs as well and nods her head.

“I didn’t know the disco was in town,” she says.

“It’s not a bad idea though.”

“What? I don’t think I packed for a disco, Faith,” Buffy replies, confused.

Faith can only shake her head at that. Buffy’s lucky sometimes that she has her looks going for her.

“Not the disco, B, the song. Rock the boat? Don’t tip the boat over?” She wiggles her eyebrows suggestively. “You wanna have some R-rated fun?”

Buffy looks over her shoulder toward the villa and then back at Faith.

“But the maids . . .”

“. . . think we’re on our honeymoon. C’mon, babe. We’ll only ever have one fake honeymoon. We’ve gotta take full advantage.”

For a moment it looks like Buffy is going to say no but then she squeezes that extra inch closer toward Faith, her hand disappearing between them. Faith grins and leans in for a kiss, her hand following Buffy’s between their bodies.

As the raft begins to bob in the water, Faith can’t help but think that she’d been wrong before.