Ski Trip

The strangest part was, waking up wasn't horrible.

At some point in the night, they'd crawled under the covers and curled up next to each other, Buffy sprawled half over Faith's chest. When Faith opened her eyes it was to see Buffy smiling down at her. Green eyes all bright and her hair messed up and under the blankets her toes were brushing against Faith's calf. Yeah, not bad at all.

"See somethin' you like?" she asked, her voice rough with sleep. She closed her eyes and smiled, snuggling back down into the pillow.

"You could say that," Buffy answered. She traced the line of Faith's dimples and brushed her fingers over her lips. "Um, Faith?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you awake?"

Faith raised an eyebrow. "Uh, far's I know." She blinked. Buffy's face was flaming. Oh. Oh. This could be fun. "Why d'you ask?" she said, as innocently as she could. Which wasn't very.

Buffy glanced away, still beet red. "Just wondering."

"Uh-huh." Faith wiggled her hand out from under the covers and wrapped it around Buffy's neck, pulling her down for a kiss. At first, Buffy's lips brushed lightly, teasingly, across Faith's. Faith gave an encouraging sound and slipped her tongue into Buffy's mouth. She kissed her slowly and thoroughly, feeling a gentle heat rising between them, still half-asleep and too happy to rush. She slid her hand down Buffy's back and under the covers, skimming over her ass and between her legs. She was already wet and swollen, and her breath hissed when Faith reached upwards.

Faith dropped her head back on the pillow, letting her fingers drift where they would, watching Buffy's face. God, she was hot, her mouth open slightly and her eyes dark. "You okay, there, girlfriend?" she asked. "Convinced I'm awake yet?"

"Yeah." The word came out on a breathy sigh. Buffy smiled suddenly, that thousand-watt grin that was so purely joyful. "I love that."

"What, this?" Faith gave a little nudge with her fingers, slipping them in a little further. The angle was awkward but who the hell cared. Slayer strength had to be good for something other than killing things.

"Ah, n--no. I mean, yes, God, yes, but--" Buffy shifted her weight slightly to take advantage of Faith's moving hand, her smile widening. "I mean you--you calling me 'girlfriend'."

Faith's hand stopped and Buffy gave a whimper of protest, pressing against Faith's leg. "For real?"

"Of course…" Buffy bent her head and kissed her a, ha, harder this time, as if the movement of her lips and tongue could convince Faith of everything. Faith accepted the kiss, but she was all of a sudden remembering that they were going back to Sunnydale today. The ski trip was over. New Year's was over. Sunnydale was Angel, it was living in a crappy motel, it was being second-string slayer, the backup, the leftovers. Buffy could say she was changing until she was blue in the face, but Faith knew what that really meant. It meant hiding and being a cheap fuck on the side whenever Buffy was frustrated that Angel couldn't do the deed.

She kissed Buffy furiously, sucking her bottom lip into her mouth, twining their tongues together. She got her hand in a better position and slid her fingers closer, rubbing slowly and rhythmically. Buffy moaned and moved her hips, supporting herself on one elbow and holding Faith's face in the other, then pushing her hand down between them to stroke her breast.

Faith sucked in a breath that was almost a sob, except that it wasn't, because she didn't cry. This was all she'd wanted when she met Buffy, wasn't it? A roll in the hay, get some get gone, Buffy taking in one, then two, then finally three fingers and crying out as she fucked Faith's hand, her head thrown back, looking wild and tan-gold and beautiful.

Not anymore.

"F-Faith…" Buffy moaned, her teeth tight against her lower lip. She quivered and came, collapsing on top of her, her breasts heaving, her nipples still tight against Faith's skin. She dropped kisses on Faith's shoulder, then inched her way down her chest, caressing and licking. Faith sighed, let herself feel it, the pleasure centering somewhere south of Buffy's mouth.

"Faith?"

"Yeah?" Her voice was husky, but she didn't cry. Not her.

"Can I--I mean--" Buffy rested her chin on Faith's bellybutton, looking up at her. "I've, uh, never done this before…"

"Oh." Faith didn't know what to say, but the idea sparked a desperate surge of need. She was probably blushing as much as Buffy. So much for the bad girl. "You don't have to."

Liar.

"I want to." Buffy kissed the tight, tanned skin of her stomach, her fingers trailing paths down to Faith's hips.

Oh, God. Just hearing Buffy say it turned her on so fucking bad. Her clit was throbbing, nearly hurting, she wanted Buffy to go down on her so much. She didn't say anything, just pushed her hips up to meet Buffy's hands, watched Buffy move lower, saw her tongue flick out once to wet her lips. She looked up. Their eyes met, and Buffy just smiled, and then--

Oh, shit, then.

Faith lost her breath and all her thoughts at once. She closed her eyes and gave herself up to the sensation, the quick firm strokes of Buffy's fingers, the lighter, more tentative slide of her tongue. She felt Buffy's teeth scrape against flesh so sensitive it ly bly burned, and she bucked her hips, hard. It would have sent anyone else sprawling. Buffy just tightened her hold and moved closer, sucking now. Faith yelled something out that probably sounded like "Oh fuck yes, oh God, yeah--" but in her head it was more like Fuck B I love you--love you--

Buffy's fingers pressed upwards then and found her g-spot, and all at once it felt like every muscle in her body constricted at once, like she'd been hit by lightning, except it was somehow longer and deeper and okay, hell, it was nothing like lightning, but Buffy's mouth was still on her and it happened again, a sharp shot of pleasure that rolled away in waves and left her floating.

"Jesus Christ, B," she said, eyes closed, her voice coming from somewhere far away. There was a pause, and then she was being kissed, and she tasted herself on Buffy's lips. The kiss was hot and hard and then it trailed off into gentle and exploring, then faded, and Buffy sighed and cuddled up beside her.

"Hey there," she said at last.

"Hey," Faith answered, companionably enough. Trying to ignore the doubts that were creeping back. B wouldn't do that unless she really meant it.

Would she?

"You hungry?"

Faith grinned and sat up. "Who's cooking?"

"You are." Buffy gazed up at her from the bed, eyes half-hidden behind long lashes, looking like she might fall asleep again at any moment. The covers were a tangled mess down at the foot of the bed, but Buffy made no move to cover herself. Faith let her eyes wander down her body, shoving aside the nagging voice that was yelling at her that something was going to go wrong, something had to, this was ending, somehow, and it'd be all her fault. Buffy yawned and stretched, smiling smugly as Faith didn't hide for a second that she was enjoying the show.

"As long as you're staying away from all things breakfasty, I'm starving. I'll show you my patented scrambled omelette."

"Omelettes aren't scrambled. Then you call them scrambled eggs. What's in it?"

Faith shrugged. "Eggs. Then everything else. And I don't mean for them to get scrambled, that's mostly just how they end up."

"I should have guessed." Buffy's eyes slid closed and she rolled over to hug a pillow. "I can't wait."

"You gonna help me, or are you gonna lie here all day?"

"I thought you didn't want me in your kitchen, Ms I've never burned salad so I think I'm a gourmet?"

"Yeah, but if you're not there, you don't get to watch me cook naked."

One eye popped open. "What about Mom?"

Faith glanced toward the door. It was mostly closed, but not quite latched. "Um, B, I don't mean to wig you, buting ing how loud we--well--I was, without anyone complaining, I don't think your mom's made it back yet."

"She never came home?" Buffy leapt out of bed and pulled on her discarded pyjamas so fast she nearly put both legs in one pant-hole. "Oh, she is in such trouble. I am going to--well--" She paused and looked back at Faith. "Not much. I'm accepting, learning and growing. Besides--" Her smile was embarrassed. "I'm kinda glad. Because, uh, you--and--that was, pretty much, uh...I mean, I, um. It--well, you know."

"Yeah." Faith ducked her head. She's going to dump you before you get within spitting distance of Sunnydale, the traitor-voice said. "I know."

"And, Faith." Buffy sat beside her on the bed, touching her arm. "I know what I said. About moving forward. And I am. But--"

Faith fought not to yank her arm back. Here it came. She wasn't going to cry. She didn't care. It was just another girl, another fuck, okay, it was awesome, but she could find somebody else in a heartbeat. But Buffy didn't notice how tense she'd gotten.

"I mean, I really like you. And, God, this was--I mean. It's amazing." Buffy lifted a hand to her face, pushed back her hair. Faith ducked her head away, her eyes hot, feeling naked. "And I know I didn't say it back. Maybe I should've. But it's all so fast, and I want to keep going, maybe, if you don't hate the idea, maybe a date first. Or several. And then, I'm sure, later on, I'll say it, and it'll mean something because it wasn't right away. Not that that's bad, I just didn't know you--felt that way. So. If that's okay. And, I'll shut up now. Sorry."

"Say it--?" h swh swallowed. Say what? But she didn't ask, because Buffy was looking at her so earnestly, so open and serious but with a kind of awed happiness behind it.

"Yeah. Because I'm, already, I'm falling in love with you. And it's scary. But I want to."

Faith shook her head, not believing, wanting to believe. Then it came to her, what she'd really said.

Fuck B I love you--love you--

And Buffy was looking nervous now, like she was taking too long to answer, and all of a sudden everything was perfect. She grinned and threw an arm around her, hugging her close.

"Okay," she said. "So how's Friday for you?"

"I think I might have to check my calendar…and there's patrol…I have this partner who hates it when I dump the work on her…"

"Hey, B?"

"Hmm?"

"Shut up." And Faith enforced the order with a kiss.

Yeah, waking up wasn't horrible at all.

*