The Courtship of Buffy Summers

“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Buffy, happy birthday to you!” the small group of friends and family sings as the very excited blonde sits at the table, and in front of her is a huge stack of presents, and the prettiest birthday cake she’s ever seen. She thinks about her birthday wish very carefully, and then she blows out the eighteen candles on the large white and pink cake. She picked the cake out herself. Her other decided that since this is her eighteenth birthday that she could have a little more involvement in the planning of the party.


“Ok, do you want presents first, or cake first?” her mother asks and Buffy just gives her a look. “Ok, we’ll do presents. I don’t know why I bother asking. Ever since your second birthday party all you want to do is rip open the presents.” The eldest of the Summers women picks up the cake and takes it back into the kitchen where it won’t be damaged by the impatience of her oldest daughter. Buffy gets a little frown on her face as she looks at the pile of presents in front of her. Normally she wouldn’t hesitate to rip into them since presents are the best part of birthdays.


“She made it sound like I’m selfish. Should we do cake first? Are you guys hungry?” she asks and looks around at the group of people. There’s the usual three that she hangs out with: Willow, Xander, and of course Faith. Then there’s Dawn and Janice. Buffy decided to be nice and let Dawn invite a friend so she wouldn’t be totally bored out of her mind. She can’t really tell if having Janice there is making that big of a difference on Dawn’s mood or not. She’s been excited all day about the gift she got for her sister and that’s all she can really focus on at the moment.


“Presents first,” Dawn says and gets very excited. “I want you to see what I got you.” That’s all the incentive Buffy needs before she grabs the nearest one and rips it open. “Buffy, don’t be a total savage. Read the card first.” Buffy opens up the pink envelope and reads what her dad has to say. It isn’t much really, just an ‘I love you, I miss you and I wish you were here’, but Buffy knows he doesn’t really mean it. Hank Summers couldn’t even go two whole years without breaking the custody agreement. Two weeks before the summer vacation started he called saying that he had to go to the east coast for a ‘business trip’ and he wasn’t sure when he’d be back.


She tears open the pink wrapping paper and sees a plain white box. ‘Ooooh, must be clothes. Sweet. I hope it’s that new sweater I’ve been eyeing at Bloomies. Then again it’s probably not since Dad has almost no sense in fashion.’ She opens the box, rips off the tissue paper and gasps at what she sees. ‘This sure beats the damn sweater.’ Inside is a cream colored leather jacket that not only looks expensive, but it smells expensive too. She reaches in and gently runs the tips of her fingers along the cool leather.


Everyone lets out the appropriate ooooh’s and awe’s as she takes the jacket out of the box and holds it up for them to see. She stands up and slips it on, and it fits just right. She feels the inside of it and isn’t the least bit surprised that it’s real silk. ‘I’m definitely going to call him and thank him for this. I can really get used to him trying to buy my love. I wonder if Mom still has the number for his new house,’ she thinks and sits back down. She doesn’t spend too much time admiring her father’s gift.


“Open mine next,” Dawn says and grabs one from the back. It’s wrapped in baby blue paper that has balloons all over it. There’s no card, and Buffy’s a little grateful because cards are unnecessary on birthdays when all the person really wants to do is open up the gifts. Buffy takes her time unwrapping this one, mostly just to drive Dawn crazy but part of it is not wanting to completely ruin something her sister did herself. When all of the paper is off and discarded she opens up the brown box and takes off the tissue paper and what she sees inside makes her tear up a little.


“It’s for when you go to college. This way your dorm mate can see what all of your friends and family looks like,” the preteen says and gets a big grin on her face. It’s a very nice collage of eight pictures inside a nice black wooden frame. There are two pictures of Buffy and her mother, one picture of Buffy and Dawn. There are four pictures of Willow, Xander and Buffy hanging out at the park, and one picture of Buffy and Faith. ‘For when I go to college, huh? So Dawn thinks I’m going to g to a school that’s far away if my dorm mate isn’t going to meet any of my friends, or girlfriend.’


“Thank you, Dawnie. I love it,” she says and sets it down on the table. She gives her sister a big hug but everyone can tell that she’s a little upset. It’s the middle of January and she and Faith still haven’t talked about what their plans are for the future. Buffy’s tried bringing it up again, but Faith either changes the subject or says that she needs to get home. She’s also been acting really immature when she’s around her friends, even more so then before. Buffy doesn’t really understand why her girlfriend is being like this. ‘Why can’t she just grow up and face the facts?’


She slowly works her way through the rest of the gifts. She squeals with joy when she sees the necklace Willow and Xander bought her. It’s a black hills gold locket, with a little rose on the front. Instead of buying two separate cheap gifts they decided to go halfsies on the locket. She her eyes take on a predatory look as she eyes the biggest box at the table. She rips through the gold wrapping paper and is shocked to see that it’s a new laptop computer. She’s been beginner her mom for one for months now, and she finally has one of her own.


“Thank you so much,” she says and gives her mother a big hug. She looks back at the table and sees that there are no more presents. She tries not to let her sadness and disappointment show on her face as she looks over at Faith. Her curiosity is struck when she sees the little smirk on the brunette’s face. “Did you get me anything?” She tries not to sound too hurt but it’s a little hard. She did go a little all out for Faith’s birthday back in July. Not only did she get her flowers, and a gold locket with both of their pictures in it, she also tried something new in the bedroom that had Faith smiling for three days straight.


“Don’t worry, B, it’s a surprise.” Then the brunette looks over at Joyce and nods her head towards the kitchen. Buffy’s eyebrows furrow and when the two start to walk out of the room she tries to follow. But Faith stops and turns around and smiles at the blonde girl who wouldn’t have last as long as Pandora with that damn box. “You have to stay here. We’ll be right back, ok?” She leaves a little peck to silence any protests and then she leaves the room. Buffy waits a little impatiently for Faith and her mom to get back.


When they do they’re carrying something that’s four feet tall and three feet wide. It’s not wrapped and Buffy knows that she’s looking at the back of a painting because she can see the wire that’s for hanging it up on a wall. Even though she really wants to walk around the front to see what it is, she waits a little impatiently for Faith and her mom to hurt around. When they do Buffy gasps. She was expecting something store bought, or maybe Faith bought it from her mother’s gallery but as soon as she sees it she knows that this is a Faith original.


It’s a painting of a beautiful sunset. There are mountains in the background, and a meadow full of daisies, with a stream running through the middle. Over to the left side of the painting is a large oak tree, and if you look very closely you can see squirrels and birds and some bees collecting pollen from the blossoms. Off the right side is a little cottage, with a large front porch. The porch has a nice wooden bench and sitting on it are two figures that look like Buffy and Faith only older. The brunette has her arm wrapped around the blonde’s shoulder as they look off into the sunset with little smiles on their faces.


“Oh my God, Faith,” Buffy says with a little bit of a tremor in her voice. “It’s beautiful, I love it.” She wraps her arms around her girlfriend and kisses her. At first it’s just the soft touching of lips, but the incredible sensations makes the blonde forget about all the other people in the room. She rubs the tip of her tongue along Faith’s bottom lip and the brunette doesn’t hesitate before she opens her mouth and softly rubs her tongue against Buffy’s. This goes on for a few minutes until they’re so rudely interrupted.


“Ok girls, are you going to stop or do I need to hose you down?” they hear Joyce ask, but that was definitely the wrong thing to say in front of a now turned on teenage boy.


“I vote hose them down,” he says and raises his hand. He doesn’t remember that he’s in a room with no one else but girls until every single one is staring at him with little hurt looks on their faces. “Kidding. I was kidding.” He looks around for any type of distraction and then he notices the clock on the wall, and lets out a big yawn. “Well, we hate to not eat cake and run, but it’s getting late. I have a job interview at eight so if I get to sleep within the next hour I’ll only be an hour late.” Willow decides to go with him since she doesn’t want to talk home alone.


“Well thank you guys for coming. And thank you for the locket. I love it.” She gives both of them a big-best-friend-hug, and even gives Xander a little kiss on the cheek. She doesn’t bring any attention to the fact that when she hugged Xander she could feel his hardness lightly press against her. ‘Poor Xander. We really should stop kissing in front of him like that. And I don’t think me moaning like a porn star really helps.’ She watches them walk down the walkway and onto the sidewalk, and when they’re out of sight she shuts the door and goes into the living room.


“Ok birthday girl, why don’t you come pick what piece you want,” Faith says and holds up the large knife. ‘Hmm, Faith holding a big knife, I can’t decide between scary or sexy.’ She walks into the living room and gives Faith a little peck on the lips and sits down next to her on the couch. She carefully takes the knife from Faith and cuts off a corner of the cake. Then she cuts some for everyone else. She watches as her family, her girlfriend, and her sister’s friend talk and joke around and just have a good time. But of course being Buffy she can’t just let herself be happy.


‘No, because that would be too easy,’ she thinks and takes a little bit of the chocolate cake. ‘How many more birthdays am I going to have that are like this? With Faith being a sweetheart and Dawnie actually wanting to be here. Going away to college is going to change all of that and I don’t think that’s a change I want to happen.’ When she finishes her cake she sets the paper plate down on the coffee table and rests her head on Faith’s shoulder. She smiles to herself a little and gives Faith a little kiss on the cheek.


“Getting tired, B?” Faith asks and Buffy nods her head. This is a very special birthday because Faith is actually spending the night tonight. They get to sleep in the same bed and everything. She had to promise her mother that they wouldn’t do anything other then sleep, at the most they would talk, and Joyce finally agreed. Janice is spending the night as well, and Joyce is hoping with an extra set of young ears in the house then Buffy won’t give in to the temptation to do something naughty.


“Thank you guys,” Buffy says as she stands up and lets go of Faith’s hand. ‘I’m sure we can have a little bit of fun without making too much noise.’ “Tonight was great. Best birthday ever. Thank you. But it’s getting late so we’re going to go on upstairs.” She gives her mom a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. Joyce gives her a skeptical look and Buffy tries not to roll her eyes. “Mom I promise we’re not going to do anything tonight. We’re going to lie down, and maybe talk before we go to sleep. That’s it.”


“Ok dear, if you say so,” she says and gives her daughter a kiss on the forehead. She looks over at Faith and the brunette looks a little uncomfortable. “Goodnight Faith, and remember my room is just right down the hall.” The brunette nods her head, and says goodnight. Then she retreats to the safety of being next to Buffy. The blonde gives her mom a ‘don’t be so mean’ type of look and the two head upstairs. ‘I said we wouldn’t do anything tonight. I never, ever said we wouldn’t do anything in the morning.’


Fifteen minutes later the two teenagers are in their sleepwear, teeth brushed hair combed out and they’re lying under the covers, snuggled up to each other. Buffy head is resting on Faith’s shoulder and the blonde has her arm wrapped around Faith’s stomach, and her leg thrown over Faith’s thighs. She loves the feeling of being pressed up against Faith, there’s no denying it and she doesn’t even want to try. She lets out a small, very happy sigh and gives Faith’s shoulder a little kiss.


“I could get used to this,” she says and starts to drawn invisible patterns on the brunette’s stomach. She feels the muscles jump and quiver and she smiles a little. “Don’t you think it would be nice to fall asleep like this every night?” She isn’t really expecting an answer because she knows that Faith knows what she’s up to. And whenever they get on this subject things usually get very sour.


“It’s pretty nice. I like the getting sweaty part, and then fall asleep together better though,” the brunette says and reaches down to give Buffy’s ass a little squeeze. Buffy jumps a little and gives Faith a small smack on the shoulder. “Alright, find I’ll behave. ‘Sides, your mom scares me and I don’t want to know what’ll happen if she catches us doing something naughty.” Buffy laughs a little bit and gives the brunette a little peck on the lips.


“We could do this every night, you know. If we really wanted to,” Buffy says and turns a little more serious like she was before. “Instead of going to school we can get some jobs and get an apartment together. Maybe even adopt a baby when we’re much older and way more mature and financially fit.” Faith lets out a heavy sigh and Buffy knows that she needs to back off or they’ll get in a fight. “We don’t have to talk about this now. I was just fantasizing. We have to go to college right? Because that’s what you’re supposed to do after high school.” Faith doesn’t respond and the blonde knows she isn’t going to get anything accomplished. “Goodnight, I love you.”


“I love you too,” Faith says and gives her a little kiss on top of the head. ‘You say it, but do you really mean it? Are just saying it to keep me happy so I won’t leave, or are you saying it because that’s how you feel? Why won’t you talk with me about the college stuff? We need to get it out of the way. Graduation is on June 2nd, that’s only five months away.’ She lets out a little sigh and snuggles deeper into Faith. ‘Are we ever going to be normal again, or is this tension permanent?'