Paradise

Authors: Kye and Faith
Rating: R to NC-17
Spoilers: Nope
Disclaimer: We own nothing. That's right. Willow and Kennedy and Buffy AND Faith and all the other lovely characters are all property of Joss Whedon and ME. But the lovely smut is ALL ours. *insert evil chuckle*
Feedback: Please? Pretty please with a chocolate covered Kennedy on top? :)

And now...on to the story....

Okay...this is a story that I am writing with my bestest friend in the wide world, Faithy. Her talent is far beyond her years...luv ya babe.

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There was a point when the bump-and-jostle routine of an old cheesewagon got old. This was that point.

Willow, barely coming back to the land of the conscious, groaned in protest as they flew over another pothole the size of Texas. "Someone kill Giles," she murmured into the warm body she was currently
snuggled against. Comfy, pillowy, Kennedy body...

Her almost-descent back into sleep was once again interupted when the bus suddenly slammed on the breaks and came to a stop. The red witchnearly went flying, but clung to her current pillow and managed to stay on the seat. Willow cracked an eye open, then the other, and blinked up at Kennedy. "We stopped?" came out more of a croak than she had meant for.

Kennedy grumbled an answer, glancing around the bus with fuzzy vision. “I think…” She stifled a yawn. “Giles must’ve found us a place to stay.” Good. She couldn’t take much more of sleeping in a bus. There was only so many uncomfortable positions the body could take in a period of a few hours.

The slayer started to stand, but was held down by a reluctant Willow. Smiling down at the red head, Kennedy raised an eyebrow. “Willow, sweetie, I need to move…” Not that she minded the witch’s arms wrapped around her waist. She just didn’t want to be accused of slacking while the others started to unload both people and baggage.

“No…” Willow moaned, pouting up at Kennedy, and then reluctantly releasing her hold on the slayer. “Fine… go. Be a super hero.” She sat up, red hair matted to her face and head. “I’ll start grabbing some bags.” She got up and stretched awkwardly, catching Kennedy grinning at her. “What?”

“Oh… nothing,” the slayer replied, then grabbed the witch around the waist and pulled her into a quick kiss. “Don’t be too long.” She smiled flirtateously, then left the red head looking flushed.

Kennedy finally stepped off the bus and gave a long groan as she stretched her stiff muscles. She looked up at the looming building and sighed in both disappointment and relief.

Willow took some time to wake up a few of the still sleeping slayers. She was careful in her tact, not wanting to get a bloody nose in the process. Newbie slayers still weren’t used to their reflexes.

Getting to Buffy, Willow gently shook her friend’s shoulder. “Hey, Buffy,” she said softly, smiling when the blonde blinked her eyes open. “Land hoe,” she joked, nodding out the bus window. “Giles just went to grab us all some room keys. Not the fanciest of places, but it’ll do for now.”

“’Kay,” Buffy mumbled, grimacing as she sat up. Her wound was starting to heal up already, but it still hurt.

Frowning, the witch bent down to inspect it. “You gonna be okay?” she questioned with concern.

“Oh, I’m fine. It won’t kill me.” Buffy paused, smiling at the irony. “For once.”

Chuckling, Willow nodded and stood up. “I think it’s fair to say you get the biggest room.” Grinning once more, the red witch headed towards the front of the bus, descending down the front steps and out into the fading sunlight. Glancing around, she spotted Kennedy over to the side, and started in her direction.

Looking around some more, Kennedy mumbled under her breath, "I could really go for a hot shower right about now."

The slayer suddenly looked up at the sound of approaching footsteps. Willow was walking towards her, a soft smile and warm eyes reflecting back at her. The sun was catching just the right hue of the witch's
hair and it almost seemed as though she was an Angel.

"On second thought," Kennedy groaned, feeling that after-slay rush start to kick in, "better make that a *cold* shower."

Failing to catch the shower comment, Willow moved over to Kennedy. "So, slay gal, how do you feel?" After much fussing on the bus, and she was sure Kennedy was more or less in one piece, Willow had promptly passed out before getting to ask about the new slayer-yness.

Willow wrapped both arms around the shorter woman's waist. "I promise I'll stop being the annoying girlfriend after this, but... you sure you're okay?" She gingerly touched a cut on the left side of Kennedy's forehead.

Kennedy smiled softly, trying to hide the slight jolt of pain from the witch's touch to her tender face.

Willow immediately retracted her hand. "Sorry," she said quickly,
with a sheepish grin. "After all these years of fighting evil, you'd think a gal would learn touching injuries usually leads to pain."

"You're a lot of things Willow," the brunette smiled, dropping her forehead to the redhead's. "But annoying isn't one of them."

She held the other woman's gaze for a few moments before the sound of Giles' voice broke through the moment.

"Hey, looks like Giles got the rooms. Whaddya say we go and check out that shower?" She raised her eyebrow with a smirk, smiling at her girlfriend's deep blush.

"Separately...of course." She added as an afterthought, amused at the other woman's shyness.

Willow could always make her smile.

Eyes widening in characteristic fashion, the witch swallowed hardand darted her eyes to the side to make sure nobody else had heard that comment. It was still taking some getting used to, Kennedy's
openness when it came to their... activities. Her girl had no shame.

"What am I gonna do with you," she chided kiddingly, grabbingKennedy's hand and tugging her in the direction of the room their key stated its belonging to. "Not saying I have any objections toyour ideas," Willow added with a sly smile of her own. "Just, Xander, Andrew, Giles? Really don't need them thinking about...stuff." She giggled nervously. The exhaustion from performing the slayer spell had made her kind of loopy.

Kennedy let herself be lead away by the witch. She smiled. Willow was so cute sometimes, but she could also be sexy...very, very sexy. "Okay," Kennedy said under her breath when they reached the door to their room. "Really not liking the slayer lustiness right now."

Stopping outside of their door, Willow turned to Kennedy and pouted. “Your inner slayer doesn’t find me lusty?” She was kidding, but tried her hardest not to let Kennedy know that. If the Slayer could make her babble, she could at least try and return the favour.

Kennedy's eyes widened just a little. "Well, its not that she doesn't…that's kinda the problem that she does…I mean not that it's a problem for me or anything, you know, personally cause I kinda like your lust…" The slayer trailed off and sighed.

"Okay, that came out all wrong." She smiled. "What I meant to say is that after everything we've been through, I just feel this…need to be close to you. A-and I don't want you to think that it's all about the lustiness."

She felt a slight blush creep up her cheeks and she dropped her eyes to the ground. "You know, that's all."

Willow's serious face cracked slightly and she had to bite her lip to keep from grinning too widely. "You're right.... somehow the babble comes out more adorable than annoying."
Kennedy's shy smile slowly transformed into a smirk. She leaned in close and whispered in the witch's ear. "Wanna know what else of yours I think is adorable?"

Oh no.

Kennedy had that tone to her voice. And that hand that was now resting on her hip. And she was all close, and despite the whole evil-fighting-battle-sweaty thing, she still smelled like Kennedy. Willow's soft 'meep' was the only answer she could muster, as her face turned a deep red. Kennedy had a way of turning her insides into jello when she wanted to. "Cheater..." she muttered into Kennedy's ear, nuzzling her face into the dark haired woman's neck.

"Never," Kennedy whispered a husky reply before giving the witch's ear a light kiss. "Your ears," she gave the redhead's hip a light squeeze, "your hips," she trailed her lips over to her girlfriend's jaw and placed a kiss just under her chin, "your skin," she finally made her way up to the woman's lips and planted a breath of a kiss against them. "Your lips."

She pulled away and noticed the breathless look on the older woman's face. "God, I love you Willow."

Her eyes suddenly widened, realizing it was the first time she had really said it out loud. Sure, she'd thought it countless times before. When the woman would smile that sweet smile, or run her fingers through the slayer's hair softly, or just look at her with those eyes…in those moments, she would think it.

I love you Willow.

But now, for the first time, it was out there in the open, and she could only wait, breathless and terrified, for the witch's response.

Kennedy’s kiss left Willow’s mind a bit fuzzy in a very good kind of way, and the spoken words took a moment to register in her brain. The witch just kept her gaze trained on Kennedy’s, wondering for a moment- just a short one- if she had heard right.

Kennedy loved her?

A million things ran through her mind at once. That she didn’t deserve to be loved; should she feel guilty for caring so much for someone again after what had happened the last year; and about Tara.

More and more the last few months, Willow had begun to realize she thought less and less about Tara- the bad things, anyway. She no longer had to barely cling to any shred of sanity she owned, just to not break down into tears in front of her friends for no apparent reason at all. She no longer thought about and ran through her mind the million reasons or more in her mind why Tara’s death was her fault and how she could have stopped it. She no longer had nightmares of that fateful day, and when she did, her Slayer was there to wrap her arms around her and whisper words of comfort until she fell asleep again.

It had been a while since her last nightmare.

Most of all, she no longer felt like she wanted to be dead. She no longer felt like she *was* dead, just a corpse walking about with no heart and no emotions other than grief. The reason for that was standing directly in front of her.

Willow did the only thing she could at that moment. She leaned forward and kissed Kennedy deeply, pulling the Slayer closer to her.

The slayer felt a million sparks ignite inside with just the touch of the witch's lips on her own. Her scalp tingled, her toes curled, her heart pounded in her chest, and her skin felt as though it was on fire.
Just one kiss, one touch from Willow, and Kennedy was in Heaven.

She finally managed to break the deep lip lock and pulled away, her eyes still closed. She let out a deep breath and slowly opened them to meet the intense stare of her redhead.

"Wow," she finally managed to breathe out. "I guess I'll take that as a good sign."

She smiled for a brief moment before it started to fade. "I mean, I hope that I didn't freak you out or anything…I just had to tell you. I felt as though my heart would just burst if I didn't."

“No, no freaking, just… startled, is all,” Willow admitted, trying not to swallow her tongue as she regained her ability to speak. Kennedy kiss good.

"This wasn't how I planned this whole confession,” Kennedy continued after a moment of silence. “The picture in my head included stars, soft music, beach towel…you, me, naked and basking in the after glow." She paused for a moment to smile, "but, you know, this wasn't so bad either."

She reached down and lifted the witch's hand to her heart. She stared deeply into her eyes as she began to speak.

"I love you Willow Rosenberg. I love the good and the…not so good. I promise that will never change, no matter what, my heart will always be yours." She placed a gentle kiss against the woman's hand. "Always."

Smiling as she listened to her Slayer’s words, Willow marveled at how much she adored this side of Kennedy. It was the side she was too… proud to show anyone else. That despite the rough, take-no-bull, super-tough exterior she showed the people around her, the brunette was a true romantic at heart, and she wasn’t afraid to let Willow see her soft side. But the witch loved all sides of Kennedy, be it the stuborn self-proclaimed brat parts or the ones that whispered sweet nothings to her as they lay in eachother’s arms at night, the ones that swore to protect her until the end of the world no matter what.

Kennedy kissed her hand, and she brought it up to gently cup her slayer’s face and run a thumb over her soft cheek. Opening her mouth to speak, she stopped upon noticing other slayers starting to walk in their direction. Quirking a small grin at Kennedy, Willow’s eyes traveled away long enough to find the key slot, turn the doorknob, and lead them inside before closing it after them. Her hands took both of Kennedy’s in her own and gently squeezed, continuing.

“Kenn…” Willow paused for a moment, wanting to get this right. Babble didn’t fit in here. “I know I haven’t… always been fair to you, and that you put up with a lot… w-with the magics, and stuff…” Stuff like turning into a boy when Kennedy kissed her, nearly shooting her in Buffy’s backyard. She hesitated again, blushing and looking down. “But… you’ve been my strength these last few months, and for that I am forever grateful. You never gave up on me, even when I didn’t think I’d be able to get through… anything, really. I leaned on you more than you probably knew, and without you I don’t think I would have made it…” And so came the waterworks, despite Willow trying to hold herself together. She stepped into Kennedy, hugging her closely, and buried herself into the crook of the slayer’s neck. “I love you, Kennedy, I love you…” She sniffled several times, tightening her hold on the brunette. “A-and I’m sorry for everything I put you through…”

"Don't," Kennedy interrupted, shaking her head. "Don't apologize Will. I wouldn't have given up a single moment of this last year for anything in the world. You haven't put me through anything that I didn't want…that I didn't accept as just a part of who you are."
She leaned in and kissed the witch lightly. "When I said I love you, I meant that I love every part of you, past included."

A slow smile started to form on her face. "And if I'm not mistaken, I think I just heard you say that you love me too." She lifted her finger to her chin and pretended to think really hard. "Hmm…let's see..." She looked around the room, trailing her eyes over its contents. "You, me…in a room all to ourselves…nice, comfy bed…we both just said we love each other…perfect moment for a passionate make out…what to do…what to do…"

She looked back at the redhead with a mischievous smile.

Willow glanced behind her at the bed and then back at Kennedy. “Well, it’s no beach towel, and there’s a lack of music, but the naked part could be arranged if you wanted…” She leaned forward to nibble on Kennedy’s lower lip for a moment, before pulling back thoughtfully. “Then again, maybe we should wait for your perfect moment. Might be a few days, since there aren’t any beaches around, and anywhere near Los Angeles you can’t exactly see any stars…”

"NO!" Kennedy shouted a little too quickly. "I mean, no…t-that's not necessary. You know, it was just a general picture anyway. No where did it say that the stars or the beach was mandatory…" She trailed off, feeling herself uncharacteristically blush again.

She took a moment to regain herself, and then smiled. She leaned in and returned the soft kiss to the witch's jaw. "But the nakedness…" She lifted her hand from its resting-place on the witch's hip and slowly started to trail it up her ribcage. "Really rooting for here."

She pulled back to gaze into Willow's eyes. "But only if you want to. I don't ever want you to feel like you have to Will. I mean, I'd be happy with just holding you."

"Really?" Willow raised an eyebrow in slight amusement. She knew Kennedy truly meant those words... but also that she might spontaneously combust otherwise. "’Cause you look a little… antsy.” Placing a kiss first on the Slayer’s lips, then cheek, and trailing towards her ear, the witch placed little love bites on Kennedy’s neck. One hand started to slid its way up the back of the other woman’s shirt, while the second hooked a finger onto one of the belt loops on the front of Kennedy’s pants. “Anything I can do to help you, baby?”

Kennedy swallowed hard. "Uh…I'd say what you're do…doing is pretty…good." She felt her eyes starting to close when the witch's finger tightened in the belt loop of her pants and tugged. The slayer's body crashed into the redhead's and she let out a deep groan. "Willow…"

She felt her own body start to come alive. With every kiss, every touch from the other woman, she felt her passion mounting. "Actually," she breathed into Willow's ear huskily. "There is something you could do…" She pulled back from the woman's embrace and looked into her eyes intently.

"Let me love you," she whispered gently. "Let me show you."

Willow gazed into Kennedy's eyes for a long moment, seeing the building passion and desire making itself clear. She swallowed, mouth open slightly, her own mind clouding over and blocking out anything other than Kennedy. She nodded wordlessly. Kennedy had a way of making her speechless.
Kennedy smiled and reached down to place her hands under the witch's thighs, with a quick pull, she lifted the woman up to wrap her legs around her hips. "Baby," she whispered and leaned in to kiss her witch as she slowly started to walk towards the bed.

In just a few steps, she felt her knees hit the end of the bed. She leaned down and slowly started to lay the woman against the comforter, falling down on top of her. She broke away from the kiss to look down into the witch's deep emerald eyes. She ran a gentle hand over the witch's face and through her soft red hair.

"I love you so much Willow." She leaned down to kiss her again.

"So much," she whispered before their lips met.

TBC...