Fresh Start by Kinetic-Kid

Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: Definitely no money being made. All characters belong to Joss Whedon and ME. I own nothing except whatever characters I may make up for this story.
Distribution: The Mystic Muse: http://mysticmuse.net
Kinetic-Kid's Site: http://www.kinetic-kid.com
Oh yeah, anywhere, anytime. Just make sure I get credit and let me know where it is.
Feedback: Please Please PLEASE. I live for feedback. I get irritable and upset if I don't get any and I might not continue writing. Of course, if you don't like the story and think it sucks you may not want me to continue!
Spoilers: Pretty much everything – if you haven't watched BTVS – why are you reading the fanfic?
Author's Notes: This is an Alternate Universe!
Pairing: Faith/Tara

Summary: A pardoned slayer, a stubborn witch…what will happen?

Tara frowns heavily as she watches her hurt and angry ex-lover stride away, her mind tripping back to roughly a year earlier, and the things that had happened that culminated in this moment. Smiling softly as she feels a strong, warm body brush gently against her back and two strong arms wrap around her middle to comfort her. At the husky tone whispering that everything was going to be okay, Tara relaxes back into her lover's arms and let's her mind drift back.

"It's for the best, Willow." Buffy looks at her redheaded friend wincing at the angry look that gets thrown her way.

"Oh, great. It's best for me to fly to another country, because I can't control the magic." Willow throws her hands up in the air. "I haven't done one spell in three months…I'm pretty damn sure I have control of the magic."

Buffy looks to the rest of the group for help, sighing quietly in relief as Tara slowly steps forward.

"Willow, we know you haven't done any magic in three months, and that's wonderful. But denying that part of you is going to eventually eat away and you'll tip over the edge. You need to learn from the ground up how to control the magic, not to let it control you." Tara speaks softly, trying not to irritate her ex-lover.

Willow narrows her gaze on Tara, hesitating for a moment, looking at Buffy and Xander shifting nervously behind her girlfriend…ex-girlfriend, thankful that they at least didn't have Dawn and Anya here with them. "If I learn to control the magic properly, will you take me back?" Willow finally asks the one question everyone was afraid she'd put voice to.

"I…" Tara looks beseechingly at the redhead, not wanting to flat out dash all the redhead's hopes, though knowing in her heart that she could never be with Willow again.

Willow swallows as she sees the answer on Tara's face. "When's the flight?" Willow tears her gaze away from her ex-lover…Realizing for the first time that Tara really, truly is her ex-lover and that there is no chance of a reconciliation because of her own actions, her addiction.

"You can get on the flight that leaves in four hours." Buffy offers seeing the heartache in her best friend's eyes, along with the realization that she would never have Tara back.

Willow nods her head in acceptance before striding from the room and practically running up the stairs.

Buffy looks at Tara seeing the dejected slump to her shoulders before turning her gaze to Xander. "Please check on Wills."

Tara wipes at the tear that was slowly streaking down her face. "It's best that she knows that way she won't be using that as a reason to get better." Tara whispers.

"Are you going to be okay?" Buffy cautiously wraps her arms around the Wiccan, still uncomfortable with a lot of physical touches.

Tara feels the sob working its way out of her chest. "I'll always love her, Buffy. But I can never be with her again."

"Shhh. I know, I know." Buffy unconsciously rocks the blonde Wiccan as she thinks about the conversation they had had just a couple weeks earlier. Where Tara had broken down and told her exactly what had happened between the two women and her reason for leaving. Understanding completely the reason why Tara would never be able to trust Willow again.

"I should go." Tara releases a deep breath, trying to calm down, patting the slayer's arms that are wrapped around her, smiling at the oddness of Buffy comforting her. "Thank you, sweetie."

"We can all use hugs." Tara turns and smiles sadly at Buffy. "Are we still on for Tuesday and Thursday coffee dates?"

"Definitely." Buffy nods, smiling. "Still meeting up with Dawn for every other Saturday milkshake and movie fests?"

"Definitely. If I need to be here, just let me know." Tara chuckles as she reaches out to grasp Buffy's shoulder, gently squeezing it before grabbing her purse to head out the door. "You know where I am if you need me."

"Same here." Buffy calls out after the quickly departing Wiccan, sighing quietly at the thought of the kind woman, knowing that Tara will come in a heartbeat if she needs her. Slowly turning on her heels, Buffy jogs up the steps to check on Willow and Xander.

"This is your chance to do what's right." Angel stares at the dark-haired slayer, watching her look at the pardon in her hand as if she's afraid it will bite her.

"Why? Why'd they do it? I should be in here until they have to bury me six feet under." Faith raises her eyes to stare into the vampire's dark eyes. "Why'd they give me a pardon, Fang? I don't fuckin' deserve it."

Angel sighs quietly as they walk towards his convertible. "Everyone deserves a second chance, Faith. And do you honestly feel like you're making up for what you did by being in there?"

Faith tosses her small bag of items in the back seat before hopping in the vehicle, leaning against the door to stare at Angel as he climbs in and starts the car. "I can't ever make up for what I did, Fang. I fuckin' killed two men, held Red at knifepoint, almost choked Boy Toy to death, let alone torturing Wes, poisoning you and about making B flip her wig. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. We won't even get into the other shit before Sunny Hell." Faith stares out over the back of the car as Angel pulls away from the Maximum Security Prison that had been her home for the last two years. "Why'd they stand up for me, Fang? I thought the Council wanted me dead then they talked on my behalf with the review board."

Angel sighs quietly and reaches across the car to open the glove compartment, pulling out an envelope, dropping it in Faith's lap before shutting the glove compartment and settling himself back against the seat. "All I know is that they told me there are some serious rumblings of something big coming, and they wanted to make sure they had every available tool at their disposal to fight it. And since they consider you a tool instead of a human being…" Angel shrugs as he drives into the night, heading towards Sunnydale.

"I don't wanna go back there." Faith admits quietly as she turns the envelope over in her hand.

"Then don't." Angel turns to look at Faith, watching as a look of disgust and self-hatred crosses her face.

"Got to. Gotta make things right." Faith whispers as she slides her finger under the flap of the envelope and pulls out the sheet of paper.

Angel flips on the light, seeing the quick look of thanks come from Faith before her attention is riveted back on the letter.

Faith silently folds the letter and replaces it in the envelope, leaning over the back of the seat and placing it with her pardon as she shifts to stare out at the night, ignoring the wind whipping her hair around her face and the silent regard of the vampire beside her.

Faith sighs heavily as she slowly walks up the steps to the Summers' residence. After Angel had dropped her off outside her apartment building, he'd turned around and left heading back to LA to not push being out when the sun rises. The first thing she'd done as soon as she walked in the apartment was to strip and take a long, hot shower. Something she'd missed in the pen was hot water and the freedom to take a long shower, instead of a quick, lukewarm, three minute shower.

Afterwards she'd investigated the apartment, noticing that the broken glass was removed and replaced, the apartment cleaned, even fresh sheets placed on the bed. When she realized how late it was, she'd put off going to Buffy's house 'til the morning.

Now as she stares at the closed door, Faith runs a slightly shaky hand through her hair before taking a deep breath and knocking on the door firmly.

Buffy opens the door, staring at the dark-haired slayer with a raised eyebrow. "Are you going to come in, or just stand there?" Buffy questions standing to the side, leaving plenty of room for Faith to come in.

Faith tucks her hands in her pockets and slowly walks into the house, heading towards the living room, standing by the couch, but not sitting down.

"I just fixed some coffee, it should be finished brewing if you want some." Buffy heads towards the kitchen, leaving Faith to follow or not follow as she wished.

Faith stares after the blonde slayer for a moment before shaking her head and slowly following her.

Buffy allows a small smile to cross her face as she feels Faith enter the kitchen. The woman being hesitant and quiet, being in direct contrast to the Faith of old, Buffy wonders how deeply the last two years have changed the slayer. "How do you take it?"

"I still can't cook, but I have cereal, bagels, toast and pop tarts." Buffy offers as she hands the mug to Faith before sitting down at the island looking at the slayer.

"Jesus!" Faith sets down the coffee mug and runs both hands through her hair. "Fuck, B! Yell at me or hit me or somethin', would ya'?"

"Why?" Buffy raises an eyebrow in surprise at the slayer as she watches Faith start to pace back and forth.

"Because I fuckin' tried to kill just about everyone ya' loved! I almost drove you over the edge, treated your friends like shit…A million other reasons. Ya' gotta be pissed at me." Faith finally stops to stare at the slayer.

Buffy calmly sips her coffee as she looks at the slayer, actually seeing the woman. Tilting her head slightly, Buffy's surprised to see self-disgust along with the worry and scared look in the slayer's eyes before the shutters fall. "I think you're beating yourself up enough for all of us." Buffy offers quietly, honestly believing it after seeing the emotions crossing the dark-haired slayer's face.

Faith stares at Buffy, not knowing what to say to that comment as she sits down, finally picking her mug back up, gulping the coffee down wincing slightly at the bitter taste.

Buffy chuckles as she watches the face Faith makes. "My coffee's only slightly better than my cooking."

"I see that." Faith looks up from the cup, allowing a small smile to cross her lips.

"If you think you can do better, you're more than welcome." Buffy waves her mug towards the coffee pot.

"Maybe after this pot." Faith stands and refills her mug, bringing it towards Buffy, silently offering to refill Buffy's mug.

Buffy smiles and holds her mug out, watching as Faith fills it, leaving just a small amount in the bottom.

"You gonna want some more?" Faith questions as she sips some more from her mug, pouring what's left from the pot in her mug.

"Yes, I need to get ready for work, too." Buffy admits, looking at the time. "So we have about an hour before I need to leave."

Faith dumps the used coffee grounds before grabbing the coffee and a new filter, quickly placing the grounds in the coffee pot. Filling the reservoir with water, Faith flips the switch for the coffee to brew. Grabbing her mug, she moves over to sit back down at the island across from Buffy. "So, what'cha want me to do?" Faith finally questions.

"Help out with patrols. Be there for us, and in turn we'll be there for you." Buffy looks seriously at the slayer, watching as Faith looks down at the counter. "Faith, the biggest problems from the past, that we CANNOT repeat, is the fact that none of us talked and opened up. I was hiding Angel, and unwilling to open myself to you as a friend. You felt like an outsider because our group already seemed like a whole and didn't need another slayer. We have to allow each other in, Faith." Buffy tries to explain, frowning slightly. "In here." Buffy taps her chest above her heart. "I don't expect it to happen overnight, but it's something that we all have to work on. It's something I'm learning, also. I'm still not the most open person in the world, ask anyone." Buffy admits, running a finger over the top of her coffee cup.

"It ain't gonna be something I can do easily." Faith admits as she finishes the cup of coffee, looking at Buffy.

"We don't expect it to happen overnight, Faith." Buffy stands, grabbing the coffee pot, replenishing her coffee mug and filling Faith's before sitting back down. "That'll give you something to think about. Now, I have to let you know that Willow is in England trying to get control of her magic. Xander is engaged to the ex-vengeance demon, Anya and I'm living here with my sister Dawn. Our friend Tara, Willow's ex-girlfriend is actually out with Dawn on a girl's day out."

Faith frowns as she tries to sort out what Buffy's telling her. "What about Tweed?"

"He went back to England a while back." Buffy admits quietly as she sips the coffee, smiling at the flavor. "Much better, thanks." Buffy holds up the coffee mug.

"Welcome." Faith runs a hand through her hair. "What's the group say about me being here?"

Buffy shrugs and looks intently at Faith. "I don't know about Willow. She's sequestered within the Coven, I'm not even sure that she's aware of what's going on. I told Xander, he seemed a little gun-shy. Anya couldn't care less, but I'm sure she'll have something to say about you staying away from Xander." Buffy explains, seeing the heavy frown on Faith's face at the last comment, Buffy chuckles quietly. "Not because of that. She says the same thing to everyone, Faith. Dawn's willing to give you a chance, but then again I think she kind of had a crush on you when you were here originally." Buffy quietly laughs at the thought.

"What?" Faith almost drops her coffee cup as she stares at Buffy. "Yo, B! Nothin' happened or is gonna happen. I don't do kids!"

"Easy, Faith." Buffy unconsciously reaches across the distance, grasping the slayer's forearm. "There're a lot of things I would think you capable of, but seducing my younger sister never even occurred to me. Now, to let you know we have Sunday dinners here every week at five o'clock. There will be no excuse not to attend. Don't worry. I'm not the one that cooks." Buffy laughs as she finishes the coffee after seeing the scared look cross Faith's face at the mention of Sunday dinner.

"Worried me there for a minute." Faith admits, relaxing slightly. "What'cha want me to do today? And do I need to bring something for tomorrow?"

"Whatever you want to, Faith. If you want to spend the day getting yourself situated at your apartment, you can. You're more than welcome to go to the Magic Box and use the training room to work out. But be warned, Anya runs the shop and she's extremely blunt and to the point. I pretty much try to ignore it, getting upset or making comments back doesn't do any good. Don't worry about bringing anything tomorrow. You can talk with Tara for future dinners." Buffy explains, grinning. "How about we meet on the east side entrance to Restfield Cemetery around ten o'clock? Tara's dropping Dawn off at a friend's to stay the night, so I can be out late without worrying about Dawn being here alone. We can do a thorough patrol and talk some more." Buffy looks at the clock, sighing quietly. "I need to finish getting ready." Buffy stands and reaches to the key holder on the wall, grabbing down a set of keys. Tossing them to the dark-haired slayer, Buffy looks at the surprised slayer. "I want things to be different this time, Faith. I'm counting on you to meet us halfway."

Faith stares from the keys to Buffy, watching as the blonde jogs out of the room, silently listening to the slayer's feet pounding up the stairs. "Fuck, me." Faith twirls the keys around her finger before standing and filling her coffee cup again before sitting back down, sipping at the black liquid as she considers everything Buffy had said, still partly in shock.

"Lock up when you leave." Buffy calls out before heading out the door, holding back the laughter until she's away from the house, knowing that she'd pretty much set the other slayer on her ass with her comments and being so relaxed instead of attacking her or bitching. Silently sending a thank you to Tara for her help in making her more centered and in touch with her feelings. Knowing that the Wiccan's calmness had worked on settling her, helping her in regards to all things in her life, especially in listening to Giles and hearing what he had to say, weighing everything instead of just going off on a knee jerk reaction and attacking the slayer. Buffy frowns as she realizes she didn't tell Tara that Faith was coming back to Sunnydale, not that the two women really ever met or knew each other.

Buffy slowly frowns, remembering the worried, scared and hesitant slayer. Not wanting the slayer to not be herself, but also not wanting her to be the woman that shuts herself off completely from everyone around her, either. "God, we're probably going to need a small miracle. Faith needs someone that won't judge her and someone without all the baggage between them that there is with every one of the Scooby's." Buffy shakes her head at her monologue and starts jogging towards work, knowing if she doesn't hurry, she's going to be late.

Tara frowns as she looks at her watch, not having meant to be out this late, having been engrossed in a new novel at The Book Attic, one of the few places that stays open past dusk, smiling as she remembers the crosses worked into the store in the window designs, and even on the handle of the door. Unknowingly the religious mindset of the owner with his decorations providing a natural deterrent to the demons.

Tara frowns as she hears heavy footfalls behind her, grabbing her stake out of her purse while murmuring a spell, ready to cast it at a moments notice as she picks up her pace.

"Look what we have here, boys. A nice tasty appetizer." The lead vampire grins at his three brethren as they close in on the blonde.

Tara bites her lip, knowing that she can handle a couple vampires on her own, but if they attack her at the same time, there is no way in hell she can take them all out. Swallowing hard, Tara hesitates for a second, that's almost her downfall as she turns around to send a fireball at the lead demon, crying out in pain as another vampire snatches her by her hair yanking her into him as he growls angrily.

Faith frowns as her senses go off, having decided to start doing a patrol earlier, working her way towards Restfield Cemetery. Picking up her gate, she breaks into a run as she hears a scream of pain, turning the corner to see three vampires holding onto a blonde woman.

Growling angrily, Faith wades in, grabbing two of the vampires that are standing the closest together, slamming their heads together as hard as she can before spinning around and backhanding the other vampire, sparing a quick glance for the blonde, not seeing any blood, Faith sighs in relief.

Tara stares in stunned disbelief, it taking a few seconds for it to sink in that it's Faith that has come to her rescue. Slowly Tara backs up to allow the dark-haired slayer room to fight the vampires. Frowning as she hears more footsteps heading their way. "Please, Goddess, not what we need." Tara turns quickly looking in all directions, watching as another group of vampires head towards them. Quickly tucking away the stake, Tara quickly incants the fireball spells, sending out the twin balls of flame towards the two leading vampires, even as she hears Faith snarling angrily behind her.

"Fuckin' assholes." Faith quickly stakes one vampire that was still unconscious even as she kicks out the feet of one of the other vampires, and slings a stake into the heart of the third vampire. Grabbing out a spare stake from the back of her jeans at the same time she slams her foot down on the vampire starting to get up Faith kneels, staking him even as she watches the blonde send the fireballs towards the new group of vampires headed towards them. "Fuckin' convention?" Faith snarls.

"I think they heard you were back in town." Buffy yells coming up behind the group of vampires, smirking even as she jumps up into a spin kick, knocking two down as Faith comes in from the other direction swinging.

Tara watches the two slayers take on the last six vampires, stunned at the difference in their fighting skills. Whereas Buffy was controlled in her skills, but not telegraphing any of her movements, moving like a sleek panther from one strike to another. Tara's eyes are drawn irrevocably to the dark-haired slayer's movements, the wildness, the strength and power that seems to explode from the woman. Watching as the strength coils up before she springs into action again, like a snake striking quickly and deadly at its victim.

"Shit! That was my last stake." Faith growls angrily as the stake dusts with the vampire she'd just killed.

"Here, Faith." Tara calls out softly, tossing her stake to the slayer, watching as she reaches up, grabbing it out of the air even as she spins around and slams the stake home through the last vampire's back, dusting him quickly.

Faith flips the stake, catching it quickly as she strides over to the blonde. "Thanks, Blondie." Faith hands it back, unconsciously eyeing the blonde up and down, realizing she looks familiar. "How come ya' ain't runnin' screamin' from here?"

Buffy chuckles as she comes up on the two women as she dusts off her jeans. "Faith, you obviously don't remember Tara from your one meeting with her. This is Tara Maclay, Wiccan extraordinaire and Scooby."

Faith tilts her head at the blonde, trying to place her when Buffy's earlier conversation makes another trip through her mind about Tara being Red's ex. As the realization of what she did in their first meeting sinks in, Faith shifts uncomfortably as she looks down at the ground. "I remember. I was a bitch to her." Faith admits softly.

"What?" Buffy frowns as she looks at Faith, silently asking for a little more clarification.

"When I was in your body, I ran into Red and Blondie here at the Bronze. I made fun of her." Faith looks up into guarded blue eyes. "I made fun of her stutter, and was a flat out mean bitch to her. She didn't do nothin' but just be there and I was being my normal, hateful self."

Buffy sighs as she looks from Faith to Tara, watching as Tara tilts her head as she looks at the dark-haired slayer.

"What would happen if you saw us there together today?" Tara questions the slayer softly.

"What?" Faith frowns at the blonde Wiccan. "I was in a seriously fucked up place at the time, and I wouldn't even think about doing somethin' like that now." Faith answers truthfully. "I can't undo what I did, but I can apologize. I'm sorry I was a bitch." Faith murmurs softly as she looks back down at the ground, unable to keep eye contact with the blue eyes that seem to look into her soul.

Tara unconsciously reaches out and lifts the slayer's chin until she's looking into worried brown eyes. "I accept your apology, and you're forgiven." Tara grins crookedly at the slayer, even as she sees the surprise at the easy forgiveness in the brown gaze.

Buffy purses her lips as she looks from Tara to Faith, her mind starting to wander as the two women continue to look at each other for a few minutes, a small smile finally crossing Faith's face as it sinks in that Tara was sincere. "Tara, you know better than to be out here, what the hell were you thinking?" Buffy finally questions, a little rougher than she meant to, watching in surprise as Faith unconsciously shifts closer to Tara placing her body partially between her and the Wiccan. Raising an eyebrow at the move, it takes Buffy a moment to realize Faith wasn't even aware of what she'd done.

"I was reading at the Book Attic, and time got away from me." Tara admits, blushing in embarrassment. "I was trying to hurry back to my apartment, but…" Tara shrugs, frowning.

"Everyone's okay, no worse for the wear, B. Let's walk Blondie here home, and finish patrol." Faith offers quietly.

Tara raises an eyebrow at the dark-haired slayer, surprised at her stepping in to play peacemaker. Everything that she had heard about the slayer having led her to believe the woman would be more inclined to aggravate a situation instead of trying to help it. But something inside her telling her that the woman standing in front of her isn't the same person she was. That she had changed deep within, not just on the surface.

Buffy looks intently at Faith for a few minutes, before nodding her head in agreement. "Yes, she is okay, but she also knows I have this aversion to people I consider family being hurt and putting themselves in danger."

"And when said people do either of those things they know they're in for an ass-chewing." Tara winces as she looks at Buffy. "I also know she does it because she can't stand the thought of losing someone else." Tara continues, smiling softly at the blonde slayer.

"Been enough death." Buffy mumbles, looking into understanding blue eyes for a moment before sighing quietly. "But I'll forget the ass-chewing tonight. But in payment I want peach cobbler for dessert tomorrow."

Tara chuckles and winks at the slayer. "Done. Now, am I going to have the company of two slayers to walk me home?"

"Uh, I can finish patrol, B, if you wanna take Blondie here home." Faith offers quietly, tucking her hands away in her pockets.

"No, we can both go. With that group of vampires we took out, I think it best we stick together to be on the safe side." Buffy offers leaning down to pick up Tara's book bag that she'd dropped sometime in midst of the fight.

"Thanks, sweetie." Tara takes the bag digging in it to grab out two spare stakes, tucking one in her pocket before handing the other one to Faith. Chuckling as the slayer looks at it in surprise, before brown eyes glance up at her with a questioning look in their depths. Not able to help herself, Tara smirks. "It's a stake. A piece of wood carved to a point to be used in killing vampires…I'm sure you can use it for other things, too, but that's the approved and suggested method of use."

Buffy snorts as they start walking down the sidewalk. "I thought you weren't one for the timber, Tara."

"Definitely not. I'd rather take one of those any day over the other." Tara grins wickedly at Buffy.

"Don't tell me your vibrator broke on you and you resorted to using stakes!" Buffy looks mockingly at the Wiccan, grinning as she turns red. "Gotcha!"

"I wasn't the only one in the store." Tara points out her eyebrow rising knowingly at Buffy.

"Thought I would try something a little healthier for me." Buffy admits softly, a vulnerable look coming across her face.

"Shhh. I know, Tara." Buffy shrugs as she looks around. Seeing the questioning look on Faith's face, Buffy sighs heavily. "Something else I guess I should talk to you about…but not tonight."

"Are you two…" Faith questions looking from one blonde to the other blonde, staring at Tara as the Wiccan busts out laughing.

"No. We've just become closer over the last few months. Buffy doesn't play on my side of the fence." Tara smirks at the blonde slayer. "It just so happened I had just went into Sunnydale's one and only sex shop just as Buffy was coming out. After the initial embarrassment on both our parts, we've alluded to the encounter a couple times, but not quite as much as we have tonight." Tara shrugs as she looks apologetically at the blonde slayer.

"If I did swing that way, Willow would probably nail my hide to the wall if I went after Tara." Buffy grumbles, her voice more serious than she meant it to sound.

"I thought you two were broken up." Faith frowns, her gaze turning back to the Wiccan.

"We are." Tara sighs quietly as she unconsciously tips her head forward, hiding her face. "I think she has a problem dealing with the fact that I'm not coming back to her."

"I think it hit home a little more the day she left for England." Buffy offers quietly. "I saw the knowledge in her eyes."

"Why'd you two break up?" Faith frowns looking at Tara. Watching the Wiccan seem to shrink even more at her question, Faith shoves her hands in her pockets and kicks a stone out of the way. "Never mind. Ain't none of my business."

Buffy tilts her head so she can look a little better at Tara, seeing the Wiccan's shoulders slump even more with the dark-haired slayer's words. Deciding not to say anything, because it truthfully isn't her place, waiting to see what Tara will do. Knowing the Wiccan is still hurt from the redhead's actions, even though she was trying to go on with her life.

"No, Faith." Tara starts after a few minutes, running a hand through her hair, straightening slightly as she tucks it behind her ear, glancing at the dark-haired slayer, frowning as she notices the slayer has shifted further away from Buffy's other side, distancing herself from them. "It's just that it's still somewhat a sore subject with me. And I'm afraid it will be for a long time to come." Tara admits.

"Do you want me to talk with her?" Buffy offers after a few seconds. "If you don't want to re-hash it right now…"

"No." Tara smiles and pats Buffy gently on the shoulder. "Thanks for the offer, sweetie. I'm sure you two are going to be discussing a lot of things as it is, you don't need to add in my problems." Tara takes a deep calming breath, situating what she wants to say to give the basic explanation, without going into too much detail. "Since what happened to Willow and I isn't really going to have a bearing on what's going on right now, I'll just give you a little basic idea. Later on if you want, we can get together to go into more detail." Tara offers softly.

Faith looks across Buffy to see blue eyes looking back at her, not hiding what happened, but honestly believing that her problems aren't that big a deal that they all need to be laid bare right at this moment. Slowly nodding her head, Faith splits her concentration between feeling for demons, watching where she's going and looking over at the two women on the one side of her as they walk to Tara's apartment.

"Willow has trouble with dark magic, that's why she's in England. She performed a spell on me…Needless to say she destroyed the trust in our relationship with what she did, and in doing so, she destroyed something that is essential for me to have in a partnership." Tara explains with downcast eyes.

"What…" Faith snaps her mouth shut on the question she was going to ask, realizing it isn't any of her business.

Tara shakes her head, sighing quietly. "We had an argument over magic usage. So, she placed a forget spell on me so I wouldn't remember the argument."

Buffy growls quietly. "But Tara didn't leave her after she found out what Willow did. She gave her another chance, and less than a day later Willow did another forget spell on her."

Faith unconsciously stops and stares at the two women, watching them as they stop and turn to face her, having made it a couple more steps in front of her. "Let me get this right…Red, the woman that loved you, did a spell on you where she reached into your head and took your fuckin' memories from you?" Faith questions hoarsely, her eyes staying on blue eyes, seeing the answer in their depths. Quickly glancing at Buffy, Faith is surprised to see the slight anger on the blonde slayer's face, before her eyes go back to Tara's. "So, she took from you without your permission, in essence, raping you." Faith growls angrily, shaking her head. "I never woulda' thought Red would do somethin' so…"

"Idiotic? Asinine? To the one person she supposedly loved more than anything in the world…her everything?" Tara throws out there to the night air, her tone at once biting and sarcastic before a sad, lonely note hits on the last two words. "Well, believe it. The magic was more important than me." Tara turns on her heel to head towards home.

Faith watches the blonde stride down the sidewalk before turning her gaze towards Buffy. "There was one thing in the big house that was considered worse than murder, B. Care to guess what it was?"

Buffy sighs heavily, before motioning Faith to follow after Tara. "Rape. I never really thought of it that way, before. But you're right, it was a rape. An emotional and mental rape…though it might even be considered a physical rape also." Buffy whispers softly as they follow at a distance behind Tara.

"What'cha mean?" Faith unconsciously stiffens, feeling the anger boiling under the surface.

"I remember after Willow cast the first spell, we were researching a new demon in town, and the two of them snuck off to be together. After talking with Tara, I realize that was after the first forget spell was done, before Tara found out about it. I've come to know Tara better in the months since then, and she never would have been physical with Willow until they had ironed out their differences. So, because of the forget spell, she slept with Willow, so does that count as physical rape?" Buffy glances at Faith, surprised to see the flushed and angry face of the slayer.

"Yeah, that's what I would consider it." Faith growls deeply. "Good thing Red ain't here or I'd give her a piece of my mind. There're things you don't do to loved ones…and rape is definitely one of 'em." Faith stares up at the night sky for a few moments before picking up her gate, to eat up the distance between them and Tara as she feels an uncontrollable urge to protect the blonde Wiccan from any and all things that might try and hurt her.

Buffy blinks in surprise at the dark slayer's reaction even as she watches Faith catch up to Tara, walking just slightly behind and to the left of her. Picking up the pace, but staying behind them, Buffy watches Faith curiously.

"Umm. If ya' want and ever are out at night, or think you're gonna be, could you call me?" Faith offers quietly. When she notices the surprised look coming from the Wiccan, Faith shrugs. "I'll make sure you get to where you need to be. I can give ya' my home phone, but I gotta go get a cell phone. It actually would be a good idea for all of us to get phones." Faith glances over her shoulder at Buffy.

"Cell phones are expensive." Buffy shakes her head at the dark haired slayer, letting her know that she couldn't afford one.

"They got them plans where you can add additional phones for next to nothin'. Maybe one of those walky-talky type things would be good." Faith frowns heavily at the slayer, narrowing her gaze, trying to silently communicate to Buffy that she would take care of it. "Family plans, ain't that what they call 'em?"

"They advertise the hell out of them, but I never checked into them." Buffy sighs, slowly nodding her head at the slayer, but narrowing her gaze on her to let her know they were going to talk about this.

Faith nods her head once, sharply before facing forward again, her eyes being caught by curious blue eyes.

"What's with the silent conversation?" Tara questions with a lifted eyebrow, watching as Faith sighs and looks down.

"How?" Tara tilts her head as she watches Faith, crossing her arms over her chest as the slayer fidgets slightly.

"With the money I have." Faith winces as she can imagine what the next question is going to be, deciding to head it off at the pass. "Yeah, it's blood money, B. It came from the Mayor, but what better way to use it than to help in the fight?"

Buffy snarls her lip as she stares at the dark-haired slayer. "You know how I feel about evil!"

Tara raises a hand as she looks from one to the other slayer, understanding Buffy's knee-jerk reaction to the thought of using the money, but also seeing Faith's point. "Buffy, I know you would be more than happy for Faith to burn the money and never ever have to think about it again, but what good will that do? Wouldn't it be more like thumbing your nose in evil's face by using the money that one of their biggest supporters amassed, to fight the people it was to help?" Tara glances at Faith before turning her gaze on Buffy, seeing the conflicting emotions crossing Buffy's face. "Sweetie…" Tara gently grasps Buffy's shoulder, looking into confused hazel eyes. "Have you ever used or kept a weapon that a demon had used, Buffy?"

"I know, sweetie. You feel that it's wrong and I understand, but you need to think about this. What good would it do to throw the money away?" Tara glances over at Faith looking intently into the brown eyes, seeing something in the depths that she never expected to see, sadness. For a moment, Tara sees into Faith's soul, sees the anger, the hurt, the sadness and the pain before Faith pulls the shutters down again. Turning back to Buffy, Tara squeezes the slayer's shoulder again. "Just think about it, sweetie."

Buffy sighs quietly, studying Tara for a few minutes. "How do you feel on this matter, Tara?"

Tara sighs quietly and shrugs her shoulders. "I see both sides, Buffy. But one thing you have to remember…I've watched what you've gone through over the past few years…are going through." Tara looks intently into hazel eyes. "Use what's available to you, anything you're able to use to help, use it!"

Buffy growls quietly before looking away. "I'll think about it." Buffy finally offers a partial compromise.

"I'll settle for that." Tara pats Buffy gently before glancing again at Faith before heading towards her apartment.

Faith tucks her hands in her pockets as she slowly follows behind Tara, watching as Buffy comes up beside her to walk with her, both slayers flanking the Wiccan. Faith frowns as they walk more towards the worst part of town, tilting her head to look at Buffy as they continue to walk with Tara.

Buffy feels the other slayer's eyes on her and slowly raises hers, seeing the questioning look in Faith's eyes, Buffy just shakes her head, before whispering so only Faith can hear. "Later."

Faith growls quietly as Tara finally turns up the broken sidewalk of a run down apartment building. Faith's nose curls up at the sight of the littered stairs, along with fetid smelling air.

"We've been over this before, Buffy." Tara growls quietly as she makes it up to the second landing, unlocking the door to her small efficiency apartment.

Faith looks from Buffy to Tara, watching the two women before she eases into the apartment, frowning at the small space, swearing it almost seems smaller than most of the motel rooms she's stayed in.

"Would either of you like some water or juice?" Tara offers as she tosses her backpack in the corner.

"Nah, I'm okay." Faith shakes her head, as she looks at the clean, but sparse apartment. What items that were in it, were obviously hand-me-downs from about ten families ago.

"I'm fine. I'll see you tomorrow early afternoon?" Buffy looks at Tara still feeling a slight anger under the surface at the Wiccan's unwillingness to move back into the house.

"I'll be there." Tara smiles at Buffy, knowing the slayer gets angry every time they have this conversation, also knowing her trying to cut it off at the pass, didn't stop the anger. "Be careful, sweetie." Tara hugs Buffy gently and brushes her lips softly over Buffy's forehead. "Take care of yourself."

"Like I have a choice with you ready to kick my ass." Buffy slowly relaxes and smiles back at the Wiccan as Tara steps away after giving her one more squeeze.

Faith watches the interaction between the two women, still not entirely positive that there wasn't something going on between them. When Tara turns to her and does that damn thing where she seems to be looking in her soul again, Faith unconsciously backs up a step and drops her gaze, not realizing that her thoughts were plain to the Wiccan.

Tara sighs softly as the dark-haired slayer backs away from her even as she breaks off the gaze, having noticed the silent question in the brown eyes about the relationship between her and Buffy. "Be careful out there, Faith." Tara whispers softly, even as she watches the slayer edge her way to the door.

"I don't know why, but for some reason she thinks that you and I are a couple and it's bothering her." Tara explains quietly, staring at the empty doorway.

"Could our lives get any more complicated?" Buffy mutters rhetorically as she waves at Tara before jogging out of the apartment to head after the rogue slayer.

Tara locks the door behind Buffy before turning around and leaning against it as she thinks about the night's happenings. "Yes, Buffy. I think our lives can get a hell of a lot more complicated." Tara runs a lightly shaking hand through her hair in the realization that the dark-haired slayer had struck a chord deep inside her. "Right, Tara. Like that woman would ever even think about someone like you, let alone be attracted to you. She's wild, chance-taking and out to have a good time. One look at her and you know her motto is 'Live Wild and Free and Die Young'. You're everything she's not." Tara shakes her head before slowly getting ready for bed.

"Faith!" Buffy calls out after the slayer, seeing her getting ready to turn the corner and go out of sight. Jogging after her Buffy looks intently at the closed off face, growling angrily, Buffy gets in Faith's personal space, surprising the dark-haired slayer. "You have a problem you need to talk about it. Every time that you hold back from saying what you want to say, it's just going to cause more problems down the road, now what the hell is wrong?"

Faith snarls her lip and backs away from the slayer, before shaking her head. "You ain't gotta lie to me. I know there's something between you two!" Faith waves her hand back towards Tara's apartment.

"Yeah, there is something between us." Buffy admits, her eyes serious as she looks at Faith, actually looking at her, surprised when she sees a flash of pain cross the dark eyes before the shutters fall again. Silently wondering to herself if the pain is over her, or Tara. "Faith, there's a lot of shit that's happened since you've been gone. This is a quick, easy break down and it isn't something I want to tell you, but I have to. I need you to understand that I'm being deadly serious about doing things right this time." Buffy gently grasps the slayer's arm as Faith tries to turn and walk away. "No, Faith. There's been enough running from everyone."

Faith stiffens even more, her body like steel as she crosses her arms and stares at the blonde slayer. "Fine, what'cha got to say?"

"Jesus! Why don't you make this even harder?" Buffy growls angrily as she starts to stride down the street, trying to get control of her anger.

Faith turns and stares after Buffy. Taking a few minutes she realizes that she's falling back into old habits, shutting down, being stubborn and not willing to listen. Things that she'd worked so hard on while she was in prison. "Fuck!" Faith looks up at the night sky. "Nobody said it was gonna be easy." Faith finally starts to jog after Buffy. "Listen…I…Let's talk, okay?" Faith finally whispers.

Buffy swallows hard before slowly nodding her head. Knowing the slayer was apologizing in her own way. "How do you feel about some coffee? Maybe some muffins or bagels or something to go with it?"

"Always up for food." Faith answers, the two women walking quietly to the nearest open coffee house.

Buffy shakes her head as she watches Faith work her way through a big plate of breakfast food. The two women only finding an actual all-night diner open, not realizing it was as late as it was. Sighing quietly, Buffy picks at her own breakfast, before finally deciding to start the conversation.

"I'm going to give you the Reader's Digest version, so be warned. You knew I died again?" Buffy starts and when Faith frowns, but nods, Buffy shrugs her shoulders. "Yeah, well, Willow and the group brought me back from the dead roughly four months later. They thought I was in a Hell dimension…they were wrong." Buffy looks out the window at the night.

Faith frowns heavily, setting her fork down to give her undivided attention to the blonde slayer. "You were in heaven." Faith states, knowing that there was nowhere else the blonde slayer could have been, not Buffy.

"Yes." Buffy nods, glancing back at Faith. "I hid it from the group. Needless to say, coming back here was like being dropped into the middle of hell from where I'd been. I couldn't feel, didn't care and I was always cold." Buffy rubs her arms together even thinking about it. "I did something I'm not proud of. I slept…no slept is too good of a word. I fucked Spike, a soulless vampire with a chip in his head that keeps him from hurting humans." Buffy can't look at the slayer. She keeps her gaze down on the table.

Faith swallows and looks at Buffy, seeing the hurt and self-disgust on the blonde slayer's face.

"Well, needless to say I did or said something that caused a knee jerk reaction in him and he hit me. The chip didn't go off, seems that I came back…different. We fought and fucked like wild animals. Fighting was foreplay for us, more often than not I'd come home bruised and bloody from the encounters. I finally went to Tara, begging her to find out if there was something about the spell that was wrong, not telling her what was happening." Buffy lifts her coffee cup, finishing it and setting it to the end of the table glancing up at the waitress, nodding her head as she catches her eye.

"Was there something wrong?" Faith hoarsely questions, her eyes watching Buffy intently.

"Not really." Buffy allows a small smile to cross her face in remembrance. "Tara researched the spell for me and came back, telling me I just had a molecular sunburn. Just enough of a slight difference in my make-up from being dead and brought back that Spike's chip doesn't think I'm human." Buffy stops and looks up at the waitress smiling in thanks as she fills her coffee cup.

"Thanks." Faith slides her cup over and watches as the waitress fills her cup also before heading back behind the counter.

"Needless to say I broke down, begging her to tell me that I came back wrong, finally admitting to her what was happening between me and Spike. I literally collapsed, burying my face in her lap and crying my eyes out, begging her not to forgive me." Buffy sighs quietly in remembrance. "She didn't forgive me, you know why?" Buffy looks up a small smile on her face.

"She said there was nothing to forgive." Buffy chuckles quietly. "This happened after she and Willow broke up. Ever since then, we get together a couple times a week, just the two of us to talk and hash out whatever problems we have. We've become close over the months since then…Like sisters, Faith." Buffy watches the understanding slowly come across Faith's face. "Just like where she's living. After Willow went away to England two months ago, I've been trying to get Tara to move back into the house, but she won't."

"Why the hell not? That's a fuckin' dump and about the worst place in town to live!" Faith growls angrily, her brows pulled down in a heavy frown.

"I know, but it's the only thing she can afford, and she refuses to move back in because she doesn't want Willow to think she's being replaced." Buffy admits, sighing quietly. "She wants Willow to think that certain things aren't going to change, just because of what she did, and having her home to come back to is one of the big things Tara refuses to take away from her."

"She feels to blame for what Red did, don't she?" Faith looks up from the black depths of her coffee cup she'd been staring into while Buffy talked.

"Yes, she does. She doesn't want to have Willow feel like she isn't wanted, but she's not able to love her like she once did. Tara can never go back to Willow, no matter how much she loves her. And I honestly believe Tara will always love her, but I see a difference in Tara now, that I'm not sure even she sees." Buffy smiles at the thought of the Wiccan.

"She's become more independent and stronger since their break-up. She's finally started to become the woman she should have been, instead of the quiet, unassuming woman she was." Buffy grins at the slayer. "She never would have been sarcastic or a smart-ass before, Faith. She wouldn't have said boo to you and probably would have hid behind me before."

"Yeah, she was kinda…quiet the one and only time we met before." Faith turns to gaze out at the night, remembering the woman, and her own treatment of her.

"Faith, she doesn't hold whatever was said against you. Once you apologized and she accepted it, it's over with as far as she's concerned. Don't let it eat at you. Just be forewarned that Tara has gotten to the point that she is becoming very outspoken and protective…that's not quite right, she's always been protective of the people she considers family. But she's become very outspoken and she'll say anything at the drop of a hat. She isn't even close to the shy, stuttering Wiccan she used to be. Hell, sometimes it still catches me unawares and surprises the hell out of me. Like tonight with the joking about the sex shop." Buffy blushes and shakes her head as Faith turns with a small grin on her face and her eyes twinkling with mischief.

"So, ya' are finally admitting about the HH factor, huh?" Faith relaxes back against the booth, grinning.

"Yeah, yeah." Buffy rolls her eyes, blushing darker. "It wasn't long after that when I had another run in with Spike." Buffy's eyes become distant, remembering the attempted rape, the vampire trying to make her come back to him. Shivering uncontrollably at the remembrance of the attempt and Tara having found her in the bathroom, it not having been that long ago that it had happened.

Faith watches as pain, terror and guilt vie for top billing on Buffy's face. "What happened, B?" Faith questions softly, leaning forward as she becomes serious.

"Spike tried to force me." Buffy finally admits, her mind still replaying what happened that night. "I was hurt from being slammed into a tombstone earlier that night while on patrol. He came into the house while I was planning on taking a long hot bath to try and help my back. He tried to make me see how much he loved me, wanted to show me…" Buffy shivers uncontrollably again. "I finally was able to kick him away, but not before there were some serious bruises on my legs where he'd tried forcing them apart. Tara had come home with Dawn, thankfully she'd already sent Dawn to bed after she felt the pain waves I was giving off…" Buffy shakes her head sighing heavily.

"She's the one that knew you were in my body, Faith. She sees auras, and as she explained to me, when someone that she knows and loves is feeling any kind of emotions strongly within a certain distance, she can feel it. She has a slight empathy thing going on." Buffy explains, running her hand through her hair. "She helped me take a bath, got me in bed and massaged out the majority of the pain in my back. I fell asleep and when I woke up in the morning she had fixed up a breakfast bake for me to put in the oven with explicit instructions, apologizing that she wasn't there but that she had something to do." Buffy shrugs, a small smile playing on her face.

"She go and stake his ass?" Faith questions roughly, the anger in her voice obvious.

"I…" Buffy blinks at the dark-haired slayer as she considers the comment. "I haven't seen him since that night." Buffy blinks in realization, wondering if Tara would have done something like that. "Would she have? I never even thought to ask her."

"You know her better than I do, would she do somethin' like that?" Faith leans in looking at Buffy seriously. "Because if she didn't take his fuckin' ass out, I will." Faith growls, the anger obvious in her eyes as they flash.

"Before I would have said no…but now…" Buffy shakes her head in realization that she honestly doesn't know if Tara would do something like that. "I can't answer that question, Faith." Buffy admits quietly, the surprise obvious in her eyes.

Faith clenches her jaw and she looks out at the night, feeling the uncontrollable anger she always does when she thinks about rape. "You know where he hangs out?" Faith questions looking back at Buffy, watching as the other slayer slowly nods her head. "Let's see if it looks like he's even around." Faith downs the rest of her coffee before digging some bills out of her pocket, tossing them onto the table to pay for their food.

Buffy watches the slayer's angry movements, before her eyes drop to the table, seeing Faith paid more than enough for the food and tip, but knowing better than to say anything to the dark-haired woman.

Faith scowls angrily as she looks at the vampire's empty crypt, before dropping down to the bottom area, not feeling any vampires or demons nearby. Not seeing anything that would say the vampire had been there recently, Faith finally climbs back out and walks out of the crypt, stopping beside Buffy. "Ain't nothin' down there other than his shit. Don't look like anyone's been in there for at least a month. How long since…"

Buffy sighs quietly as she raises her eyes to look at Faith. "Almost a month ago."

"He may have just left town." Buffy offers up the words, but wondering if Spike would have left town, finally deciding no, that he wouldn't, not without some serious reinforcement to make him go.

Faith raises an eyebrow in disbelief at the slayer. "Yeah, right." Faith shakes her head as they start to head back towards Revello Drive. "Ain't seen no other vamps since the group of 'em earlier. That becomin' the norm around here?"

"No. I don't know why they all seemed to congregate there, though they did come from different areas." Buffy sighs quietly, wondering if someone is trying to organize the vampires again.

"Yeah, well, if they were working for someone, they probably weren't countin' on the fact that there're two slayers in town, now." Faith grins at the thought. "We probably put a little spin on their plans by taking out those idiots."

"I hope so. When Tara comes over to the house tomorrow, I'll see if she can't do up the demon locator spell and see if there's anything going on." Buffy runs a hand through her hair as she climbs the steps to the house.

"You gonna ask her about the vamp?" Faith questions, curious as to what the blonde slayer is going to say.

"I…I don't know." Buffy shrugs, her eyes shadowed. "I don't know if it's better not knowing." Shaking off the thoughts, Buffy nods her head towards the house. "You want to come in?"

Faith shakes her head. "Nah. I think I'll head back home. I've got some thinkin' to do." Faith admits, her mind running through the events of the night, along with hitting on things from her past. "See ya' tomorrow." Faith mumbles before spinning around and striding off.

Buffy stares after the dark-haired slayer for a few minutes before letting herself into the empty house. Silently, Buffy wonders what the future holds for their group.

Faith tucks her hands in her pockets as she walks around Sunnydale, allowing her senses to stretch to their maximum to see if there're any demons lurking about. She starts thinking heavily about everything that happened since she was pardoned from prison. Thoughts of how Buffy was willing to give her another chance, knowing that if she fucks it up this time, there won't be any saving her from the Council.

Faith looks up, surprised to find she's on the block that Tara lives. Looking up at the dark apartment building, she silently wonders about the blonde Wiccan. "What makes you tick, Blondie?" Faith questions the quiet night. "And why the hell do I wanna know?" Faith whispers, dropping her head before striding towards her apartment, not even realizing that the person she was would have went to the Bronze looking for a quick, nameless fuck. Whereas now she's just looking to get home shower and possibly find something to watch on the television.

Faith shifts the bag to her left hand before knocking on the door, looking down at the porch as she waits for someone to open the door.

Dawn opens the door, smirking at the dark-haired slayer, Buffy having filled her in on throwing the slayer for a bit of a loop the day before. "Are you just going to stand there?" Dawn questions, stepping back to allow the slayer in.

"GET OUT OF HERE, YOU DAMN SLAYER!" Tara yells, chasing a laughing Buffy from the kitchen, a spoon stuck out of the slayer's grinning mouth. "Damn slayer. Put up a ward around this room to keep you out of here." Tara bitches as she spins around and heads back into the kitchen.

"You got some! Where's mine?" Dawn frowns at Buffy, seeing the spoon in Buffy's mouth with nothing in either hand.

Pulling the spoon out of her mouth and licking it clean, Buffy shrugs and grins. "I didn't have time to scoop any out, as soon as I dipped the spoon in she came after me."

"Shoot!" Dawn gripes, half debating on whether or not to try her luck in the kitchen.

Buffy smirks at her sister, seeing the look. "I didn't have much luck with slayer speed, but you're more than welcome to try."

Dawn groans before stomping up the stairs. "I guess I'm going to have to wait until after dinner."

"YES, MOM!" Dawn gripes as she makes it to the top of the stairs before turning out of sight.

"Welcome to the nut house." Buffy smirks, before edging slowly towards the kitchen. "I need to get the load out of the dryer and switch the load from the washer to the dryer."

"You come anywhere near the cobbler, I'm going to freeze you until dinner time." Tara threatens, her eyes narrowed on Buffy, watching as Buffy nods her head and eases towards the door leading to the basement, staying as far away from Tara as possible. Tara smirks after the slayer is out of sight, before she raises a questioning eyebrow at the dark-haired slayer. "Same goes for you." Tara warns before turning back to the two large roasters she has on the stove.

Faith's lips twitch up in a slight smile at the warning coming from the blonde, before she sets down the bag on the counter furthest away from Tara. Tilting her head, she watches the Wiccan place what must be equal to twenty pounds of potatoes around two huge roasts in the two large pans.

"Can you get the big bag of baby carrots out of the fridge for me?" Tara questions as she works on maneuvering the potatoes so they'll all fit, leaving room for the carrots, having already chopped up celery and quartered a couple onions to place around the roasts she'd pre-seasoned.

Buffy trots up the stairs, and grins before opening her eyes wide as Tara turns to glare at her. "I'm just gonna…" Buffy waves towards the living room before running out of the kitchen.

Faith chuckles at the slayer before she opens the refrigerator door, blinking at the huge two and-a-half pound bag of small carrots. "Want me to rinse them off?"

"If you don't mind, thanks." Tara grins over her shoulder as she watches Faith shut the refrigerator door before she moves over to the sink. "Buffy said you're not real particular when it comes to food, so I hope you like beef roast with potatoes, carrots plus celery and onion to help flavor it. I also have two, two pound loaves of bread baking in the bread machines, which will be done in…" Tara glances over at the machines. "Another thirty minutes, so I can get two more loaves put in. I have fixings for a large salad, along with the cobbler for dessert."

"Sounds good." Faith grunts out quietly as she finishes rinsing the carrots. "Want me to dry 'em?"

"No need." Tara turns and smiles at the slayer, grabbing a handful of carrots, dumping them around the roast, before turning around, shifting out of the way as Faith brings over her hands filled with carrots, smiling as Faith places them around the other roast. Turning to the sink, Tara picks up the last escapee carrots. Leaning around the dark-haired slayer, Tara tosses them into the pots. "Would you mind covering those and putting them in the oven for me?" Tara questions as she wipes off her hands, smirking as she grabs a spoon out of the drawer and scoops up a bite of the peach cobbler.

Leaning against the counter behind the slayer, Tara holds the spoon out, chuckling as Faith finishes putting the two roasts in the stove, turning around to look at her questioningly. "Only fair." Tara shrugs, offering the spoon to the slayer, surprised when Faith leans forward, wrapping her lips around it instead of taking it from her hand. Swallowing hard as Faith groans low and deep as she slowly savors the cobbler. As the slayer's pink tongue darts out to gather a bit of escaped cobbler off her bottom lip, Tara whimpers quietly and quickly turns away, missing the curious look coming from the dark-haired slayer.

Faith runs her tongue back over her lips again, gathering all the flavor of the sweet, fruity concoction that she can. "That's good, Blondie. Real good." Faith's lips curl up in a half smile as she eases by the Wiccan, stopping directly behind her. "But I ain't gonna chance you turnin' me into somethin', or freezin' me, so I'll stay away until after dinner."

Tara chuckles quietly as she washes her hands. "Might be best for you." Tara bites her lip as she feels the heat literally pouring off the slayer. Knowing from her time around Buffy, that slayers seem to be warmer than normal people, but realizing Faith's heat seems even hotter than Buffy.

"I'm gonna head into the living room. You comin'?" Faith inhales deeply, closing her eyes for a few seconds before finally shifting away from the Wiccan, a small smirk on her face.

"In a few." Tara whispers, clenching her teeth as the slayer's phrasing sends her mind spinning in a completely different direction.

"'Kay." Faith grabs the bag before heading towards the living room, leaving Tara in the kitchen by herself.

"Sweet, Goddess." Tara clenches the sink tightly, her body clenching almost as tightly as her hands. Standing there as she tries to get control of her body's reaction, never having been that easily affected by another person in her entire life. Fighting the urge to literally jump the slayer, almost as if she's a sex-crazed druggy needing her fix, and Faith's her supplier. Moaning quietly as a flash of full lips and a pink tongue comes flitting through her brain Tara tries her damnedest to get visions of the dark-haired slayer out of her mind.

Faith allows a smile to cross her face at the group of people harassing each other as they quickly fill their plates, the platters of food making their rounds around the table. Placing a large slice of roast on her plate along with a pile of potatoes and carrots, Faith offers the platter to Tara, watching as the woman places a small piece of roast along with a couple of the small new potatoes and carrots on her plate beside the slice of bread already buttered. Shaking her head as she realizes Buffy's trying to hand her the large bowl of salad, Faith smiles apologetically at the slayer, dropping her eyes at the curious look in the hazel eyes. Quickly filling the large bowl at the top of her plate, Faith scoops up what's left, automatically filling Tara's bowl.

"Thank you, Faith." Tara smiles before reaching over for the salad dressing. "Any particular dressing you like?" Tara questions as she pours some country French on her salad.

"Ain't' real particular." Faith shrugs, accepting the bottle of French dressing from Tara, pouring a good amount on her salad.

"Like some salad with your dressing?" Tara smirks at the slayer, her eyes twinkling.

Faith shrugs and grins as she starts digging into her meal. Looking across the table at Xander and Anya having been surprised at the couple, having learned that they were engaged and planning their wedding. And as Buffy had warned, Anya had explained in no uncertain terms that Xander was hers and that Faith had her chance. Faith had nodded and just whispered she understood, no problem. When Anya had nodded her head and continued on like that was the end of it, Faith had just shaken her head in surprise. Glancing to her left and watching as Buffy quickly demolishes the meat on her plate before starting in on her potatoes and carrots, Faith sighs quietly.

"You should open up a restaurant." Anya looks pointedly at the Wiccan. "You're a wonderful cook and we could come visit you for free meals."

Xander groans quietly. "Anya, you don't give her free magic supplies, why do you think she would give you free food?"

"And she has to pay for the food." Xander waves his hand towards Tara. "It just doesn't appear from nowhere, she has to get suppliers and deliveries just like you do. It would be a business in its own right."

"And more trouble than it's worth." Tara shakes her head, smirking. "There is no way I'd want to open up a restaurant, run it and have to cook on top of it."

"But it would make sense. A dinner plate like I'm eating here, you could charge $15 for! You would only have a couple dollars invested in it with food." Anya looks at her plate.

"Anya, that isn't all there is. There's insurance, supplies, dishes, paying people to serve the food, rent, electricity, food costs, inspections and a million other things." Tara explains, shaking her head. "I don't mind cooking as a matter of fact I enjoy it. But for my friends and family not everybody off the street."

Anya pouts at the thought of the money to be made slowly disappears with everything Tara says. "I just thought it would be a good thing to make money."

"That's okay, Anya." Tara chuckles quietly as she works on eating her dinner, glancing over at Dawn. "Finish your report, young woman?"

"Yes, mom." Dawn rolls her eyes at Tara. "And I even started reading the book she's making our next assignment."

Dawn pouts. "I have roughly another month to work to finish paying for the stuff I took. Then I'll be working at The Gap to pay off what I owe them."

Buffy snorts quietly. When Dawn throws a narrow-eyed gaze at her, Buffy shrugs. "If you hadn't stolen the stuff, you wouldn't have to work it off."

Faith frowns as she looks from Buffy to the teenager, understanding that Dawn had obviously stolen items and was working off what she'd stolen, but wondering when it had happened.

"Just think. You are learning a valuable lesson." Anya looks at the teen. "You have already paid off your debt to the store, and when you finish with the job you are at now and The Gap, you only have the Leather Store to work at."

"Be thankful that you're sixteen and will be able to knock it out over the summer. If not, you'd be working for a year to make up for the stolen jackets." Tara points out with a raised eyebrow. "And if we hadn't been able to talk some of the other stores into taking back the items you would be working a lot more than you are."

"I know." Dawn nods her head quickly. "Thank you for talking to them." Dawn looks up at Tara, her eyes serious.

"You're welcome. Now, eat." Tara points at the teen's plate with her fork, winking and grinning crookedly at Dawn before she works on her own dinner.

Faith silently listens to the group as they talk and pick on each other, slowly relaxing, smiling at some of the comments, chuckling at others, realizing that this group is a family, a family willing to let her join them. Not willing, but actually wanting her to join them. As Tara and Buffy snark back and forth at each other about some demon that Tara had helped locate for her, Faith sits back letting the atmosphere sink in, realizing that she could get used to this.

Tara throws a sideways glance at Faith, seeing the small smile playing about the slayer's lips even as she notices that the woman has slowly relaxed over the course of the long dinner as they all talked and ribbed each other as they ate. Even though the slayer didn't say much, just short answers to any questions that were directed at her. Silently Tara hopes that eventually the slayer will open up, though her relaxing is definitely a step in the right direction.

"Cobbler time?" Buffy questions hopefully, looking at the decimated platters and bowls of food.

"With." Xander answers quickly, followed by the rest of the group heartily agreeing.

Chuckling Tara starts to gather up the dirty plates, looking in surprise as Faith stands and helps by getting the platters and silverware.

Buffy starts to stand and help when she notices Faith standing to grab up the empty platters and silverware as Tara gathers the plates. Sitting back in the chair, she purses her lips watching the two women. Sighing as she notices the spark in Tara's eyes that had been missing for quite a few months.

"Thank you, Faith." Tara smiles at the slayer as she places the dirty dishes in the sink to rinse and place what she can in the dishwasher later, then hand wash the others that don't fit.

"No biggie." Faith shrugs, setting down the dirty dishes by the sink, before reaching around Tara to grab down bowls to put the cobbler in, unconsciously brushing against the Wiccan's back. Faith inhales sharply at the feeling of her breasts brushing against Tara's back, pressing in a little harder under the pretense of reaching the bowls. "Sorry." Faith's deep voice whispers in Tara's ear as she eases back from the Wiccan with the bowls in her hand.

Tara whimpers lowly at the caress of hot breath across her ear and the husky, rough voice whispering in her ear, causing a shot of desire to shoot straight to her clit, making it throb with want. Dropping her chin down onto her chest, Tara holds onto the counter as she tries to gain control of the desire in her body.

Faith inhales deeply, her eyes closing at the aroma of Tara's arousal. At once surprised and heartened at the realization that she is able to turn the Wiccan on without even trying. Slowly backing away from the Wiccan as she realizes she's probably as turned on as Tara is, her mind confused at the realization. "Ummm…how much cobbler in each bowl?" Faith questions hoarsely after a few minutes.

"Dish a small amount for me, Dawn and Anya and a good sized portion for you, Buffy and Xander." Tara answers, her voice deep, the desire coloring it. "I'll get the ice cream." Tara runs a shaky hand over her forehead, trying to figure out why the slayer affects her on such a deep level. Taking a deep breath, she moves to the freezer, pulling out the gallon of vanilla ice cream, setting it on the island before turning to grab an ice cream scoop out of the drawer.

"Should I nuke the cobbler?" Faith questions softly, looking up to capture dark blue eyes with hers, gently biting her bottom lip at the desire showing in the blue depths.

"Please." Tara's eyes drop down to white teeth nibbling on a full, bow shaped bottom lip. "Goddess." Tara shakes her head and turns around, deciding to start loading the dishwasher.

"Hey, what's taking so long?" Buffy questions as she leans against the wall having been watching the interaction between the two women. Surprised at Faith's maneuvering, but almost shocked at the way Tara's reacting to the dark-haired slayer. Never having thought in her wildest dreams Tara would be attracted to the woman. But with what happened the previous night and what she's seen and heard so far today, the attraction is obvious, from both sides.

"Sorry, kinda got sidetracked." Faith blinks before tearing her gaze away from Tara grabbing two of the bowls, placing them in the microwave.

"Could you put the ice cream on the cobbler after they heat up, sweetie? I'm going to go ahead and load the dishwasher and start it." Tara grins crookedly over her shoulder at the blonde slayer.

Buffy nods her head, seeing the slightly off-centered look on Tara's face before the Wiccan turns back to the dishes. Closing the distance to the ice cream, Buffy pulls the lid off and grabs the ice cream scoop. Looking over at Faith as she places two bowls in front of her, Buffy captures the brown orbs with hers. Seeing the low flame of desire flaring before Faith turns her gaze away grabbing two more bowls to throw in the microwave. Sighing quietly, Buffy mentally mumbles. 'Yeah, can our lives get any more complicated?' Scooping ice cream into the two bowls of cobbler, Buffy carries the two smaller containers into the dining room, placing one in front of Dawn and the other in front of Anya. Turning as Faith carries in two of the larger sections, placing one in front of Xander while she places the other one in Buffy's spot.

"I'll get the last two." Faith offers softly, turning back to the kitchen without making eye contact. 'Stupid, Faith. She saw how you're reacting to Blondie, she ain't gonna let you anywhere near the woman she considers a sister. Not fuck 'em and leave 'em, Faith.' Faith growls internally as she walks back into the kitchen, placing the last two bowls of cobbler in the microwave, turning to look at the blonde as she finishes placing the dirty dishes in the dishwasher, watching her fill the reservoirs with the detergent before closing the door and starting the machine. As the microwave dings, Faith sighs quietly. 'Don't want to just fuck her…I want more.' Faith admits to herself, knowing that her feelings are becoming involved in a big way with the woman. Never having felt anything like what she's feeling for the blonde Wiccan, and if she's honest with herself, feeling for the first time something besides anger or just the itch that needs to be scratched.

Finally pulling the cobblers out, Faith looks up at Tara. "How much ice-cream ya' want?"

"A single scoop will be fine, thanks." Tara smiles at the slayer, feeling a little more centered and in control of her emotions.

Faith nods and scoops out the ice cream placing it on Tara's cobbler before scooping out two large scoops for her, looking down into the container. Shrugging her shoulders, Faith scoops out the rest adding some to Tara's and the rest to hers before placing the empty ice cream container in the trash.

Tara chuckles and grabs the bowls as Faith grabs the spoons to head out to the dining room to eat dessert.

"Be good, Dawn. We'll be back after patrol. I'm hoping we won't be late." Buffy gently squeezes Tara's arm as she and Faith finish tucking away their weapons, and the new cell phones that Faith had picked up before showing up there that day.

"I'll be here. Be careful." Tara smiles at Buffy, patting her gently on the back as her eyes travel over to the dark-haired slayer. "That goes for you, too, Faith."

Buffy raises an eyebrow at the slayer before following her out of the house on patrol.

"I think she likes you." Dawn blinks in surprise at the closed door, before turning towards Tara.

"Excuse me?" Tara's eyes open wide at Dawn's comment, praying she didn't hear the teen right.

"Faith. I think she likes you." Dawn nods her head towards the door, a smile crossing her face. "I've never seen her blush before and she was trying to be close to you all day today." Dawn shrugs and smirks. "She hasn't ever acted that way with anyone that I know of."

"I think you're imagining things, Dawn." Tara murmurs, her heart picking up speed at the teenager's words.

"Uh, huh. Just like you weren't watching her intently whenever you could sneak a glance her way." Dawn raises an eyebrow, and chuckles as Tara blushes darkly. "Busted!" Dawn smirks before walking over to the television to throw a movie in to sit down and let Tara stew.

"Goddess, is it that obvious?" Tara whispers softly, running a shaky hand over her forehead. "And why does Dawn not seem to care, she was mine and Willow's biggest fan, I thought she wanted us to get back together." Tara continues talking softly to herself as she heads into the kitchen to grab drinks for the two of them, silently wondering if the teen would mind if she dated someone else.

Buffy strides beside the dark-haired slayer as they patrol around Sunnydale, the two women having been making conversation for the last half hour about inconsequential things before they had fallen into a comfortable silence. Silently, Buffy tries to think of how to bring up Tara to Faith.

"Does Blondie always cook Sunday dinner?" Faith unknowingly gives Buffy the opening she was looking for.

"Every Sunday. She also comes over a couple times a week to make sure we have homemade meals, along with stuff she fixes for us to put in the crock pot or oven on the nights she doesn't." Buffy explains quietly. "We all usually chip in for Sunday dinners."

Buffy places a hand on the slayer's arm, stopping Faith and turning her to face her. "I have one thing and one thing only to say to you, Faith. Don't hurt her. If all she is, is a fuck, steer clear."

Faith blinks in surprise at Buffy. Seeing the warning in the hazel eyes, but also seeing something else, caring. "I…" Faith shakes her head and looks away for a few minutes. "She ain't just a fuck…I don't know what's happenin' but she ain't a fuck." Faith admits, not aware of the scared tone in her voice.

Buffy looks into the worried brown eyes, slowly nodding her head. "That's all I can ask. I saw something in her eyes tonight that's been missing for close to six months, and you're the one that's put it there. I'm not naïve enough to think that something can't go wrong, but I don't want her to end up as a notch in your bedpost. Willow did enough of a mind-fuck on her. I'd rather not have her completely decimated this time around."

"I won't knowingly hurt her, B." Faith shoves her hands in her pockets and scuffs her feet on the concrete. "But why would someone like her be interested in me? I mean…she's everythin' good while I'm…Hell, I'm about as fucked up as a person can get." Faith looks up, her eyes slightly glassy with the tears wanting to let go.

"I can't answer that, Faith. That's something you'll have to discuss with Tara. But Tara doesn't judge, she goes by her own personal experience with a person. And if she opens herself to you, it means she loves you. She isn't the type for one night stands." Buffy explains looking at Faith.

"I know that, B." Faith stares at her in disbelief. "She's the kind ya' take home to meet the family. I'm the kind you hide from your parents." Faith sighs at the likelihood of something happening between the two of them. "Let's drop it." Faith growls as she turns and starts striding down the street.

"That's one of the problems we need to correct." Buffy grabs Faith, turning her around to face her. "The running off, the ignoring it and hoping it goes away. It isn't going to go away, Faith. You need to open up, talk. Start off with little things, work up to the bigger ones, but don't fucking shut yourself off from the rest of us. Bottling shit up is a surefire way to do something you'll regret. God knows I know that on a personal level!"

Faith clenches her hands tightly as she stares over Buffy's left shoulder, frowning heavily. "Tell me somethin'. Does she have any kinda idea what a fuckin' slut I was when I was here before?"

Buffy sighs quietly. "Faith, she's heard us talking about you. I'm sure Willow went into more details with her than anything the rest of us have said. But I already told you, she won't hold your past against you, Faith. She's not the kind of person to judge someone. She takes them on her own personal experiences."

"But…if I tell her…" Faith trails off, her brows furrowing as her eyes slide to Buffy, unaware of the amount of emotion she's showing to the other slayer.

Buffy blinks in surprise at the pain filled, scared and worried look in Faith's eyes, never having remembered seeing either look in the slayer's eyes before. "What's got you so worried, Faith? Is it the fact that she can possibly care for you, or you think she won't care for you?"

Faith looks away, frowning even heavier as she thinks on the blonde slayer's words. "I honestly don't know." Faith admits after a few minutes.

Buffy sighs and shakes her head at the slayer. "Talk with her, Faith. She's one of the most understanding people in the world. She won't judge you, and she'll actually listen to you. She's had some experiences in her past that might make her more understanding and knowledgeable in a personal way." Buffy offers quietly, Tara having finally told her quite a bit about her past during their coffee dates.

Faith jerks her eyes back towards Buffy at those words, staring intently into hazel eyes. "More than the shit Red put her through?" Faith growls, her eyes narrowing with anger.

"Like living on the Hellmouth ain't bad enough, it's a fuckin' magnet for people with fucked up lives." Faith sighs as she shakes her head. "Let's see if there's anything for us to kill." Faith runs a hand roughly through her hair, before slowly heading down the sidewalk, Buffy at her side as they quietly search out the denizens of the night.

Tara watches the television, not really seeing the movie as she thinks about the dark-haired slayer, the amount of pain and anger coming from the woman almost unbelievable. But not so much the amount has her worried, but the depth of the pain far outweighs the anger. Tara silently wonders what the slayer went through in her life to have that much pain. Knowing if she can help the slayer relieve the pain, the anger would disappear with it, having been caused by the pain and her own natural defenses against being hurt again.

Dawn glances over at Tara for probably the hundredth time that night, having changed out and put in the third movie, knowing the Wiccan hasn't seen any of the previous two. "Tara?" Dawn questions softly, only getting a quiet 'hmmm' from Tara. Rolling her eyes, Dawn questions a lot louder. "Tara!"

Tara shrugs and glances over at the television, frowning as she sees the start of a new movie, wondering what happened to the other. "I don't know her, Dawn. I just know what everyone has said about her, and what I see when I look in her eyes."

"You mean more of what Willow's said about her, right?" Dawn looks seriously at Tara. When Tara slowly nods her head, Dawn sighs loudly. "Tara, Willow never liked Faith. She was always jealous of the relationship Faith and Buffy had."

"Relationship?" Tara blinks at the youngest Summers, wondering if maybe there was more between the two slayers than she thought there was. Though knowing in her heart Buffy isn't gay, but that doesn't mean that there might not have been something between the two women. Willow definitely believed there was.

"Them both being slayers. There's some kind of bond there." Dawn explains quietly. "They can feel each other, kind of like how they feel vampires but a different tingle, according to what Buffy once told me. I believe it's because they're both being slayers they understand each other on a deeper level, both of them the only ones that know what it's like to be a slayer. Kind of a 'slayer's only club'." Dawn tries to explain. "I think Willow always was jealous of that, and it was something she never could compete with. Just the way Willow would go on about Faith being a slut, and how bad she was for Buffy."

Tara runs a hand over the cushions of the couch as she thinks about what Dawn's saying. "I've heard some of what Willow's said about Faith. And I believe you left out a few of her more descriptive words." Tara glances up, a slight smile on her face as Dawn grins at her. "Dawn, I'm not judging Faith. I'm going to judge her from what I know and what I see. And honestly, I see someone that needs someone in their life. Someone that can break through that tough outer shell to dig down through the pain and anger that's built up over the years to possibly help her."

"Are you going to try?" Dawn leans forward from the chair, looking intently at Tara.

"I…I don't know, Dawn. I'll be there for her if she needs me, but I can't force her to open up to me. If you try to force someone to do something they don't want to, they'll just end up hating and despising you." Tara nibbles on her bottom lip as she looks at the teen. "You can make suggestions and argue, beg and plead, but it's up to that individual to talk and do what needs to be done."

"I tried to talk with her, argue and beg. Then I did something I'm not very happy with myself about." Tara looks down, the pain obvious in her eyes. "I tried to make her choose between me and the magic. I never should have tried to force her hand that way."

"But, Tara! Look at what she did to you. You were trying to help her, but you needed to also protect yourself. You didn't have any choice, if you had stayed with her…" Dawn shakes her head, looking worriedly at the Wiccan.

"She would have depended on me to make everything right, instead of trying to fix it herself. I'm just praying that she's listening to what the Coven has to say and is learning to respect the magic, along with learning control." Tara runs a finger over her forehead as she thinks about her ex-lover.

"I think she finally understood that you two were through when she left, Tara." Dawn offers softly, silently trying to give her consent to whatever the Wiccan wants to do.

Tara glances up at the teen, seeing the acceptance in Dawn's eyes. "You wouldn't mind…"

Dawn shakes her head. "I just want you to be happy. But I will be having a discussion with Faith. I don't care if she's a slayer or not, but if she hurts you, I'll SOOOO kick her ass." Dawn growls quietly, her brows furrowing and an angry glint in her eye, making her look more like Buffy.

Tara raises an eyebrow in surprise at Dawn's words, knowing the young woman cares about her, but the willingness and obvious seriousness of the young woman to defend her against a woman that could literally break her in two is extremely surprising. "I don't think it'll come to that, Dawn. And there's a chance in any relationship to be hurt. If you aren't willing to risk your heart, whether it be in friendship, or in a more…or different relationship, why bother living?"

"I guess you have a point." Dawn thinks on the Wiccan's words for a few minutes. "Still doesn't mean I won't be talking to her." Dawn warns, though there is more of a twinkle of merriment in her eyes this time.

Tara shakes her head, laughing quietly. "I believe between you and Buffy, you both will be scaring off any potential girlfriends."

Dawn shrugs and smirks. "Then only the serious ones will stick around and be willing to risk the wrath of the Summers' women. I can live with that."

"Great. I can kiss any kind of love life goodbye." Tara moans jokingly as she falls back on the couch, grinning as Dawn busts out laughing.

"You're not allowed to have a love life. Gross, disgusting…uggghhh." Dawn shivers while laughing at the Wiccan. "It's like thinking about your parents that way…soooo wrong." Dawn winks at Tara. "I'm going to fix some popcorn. Are you actually going to watch this movie, or space out like you did on the other two?"

"The other two?" Tara blinks in surprise as she looks up at the clock and moans quietly. "I was comatose for over four hours? Goddess, shoot me now." Tara throws her arm over her eyes as Dawn laughs hysterically as she leaves the room with a parting shot.

"More like Faith obsessed. Get used to hearing the words 'wicked' and 'five by five' a lot!" Dawn giggles uncontrollably as she heads into the kitchen.

"Brat." Tara moans quietly in realization that she had been thinking about the slayer non-stop for the last four hours. "What am I getting myself into? And like I have a choice in the matter." Tara murmurs quietly to herself as she feels her heartbeat pick up at the thought of the brown-eyed, dark-haired slayer, and the feel of her body pressing against her back starting some very deep, emotional and physical feelings to stir.

Tara stands up quickly after hearing the two slayers come into the house arguing.

"Damn it, B! I said I'm alright. It's just a little scratch." Faith growls angrily at the blonde haired slayer.

"That's why the side of your shirt is soaked with blood and you're protecting your side. Get your ass up to the bathroom and strip!" Buffy growls right back at the other slayer.

"What happened?" Tara looks from one slayer to the other, staying on Faith as she looks at the tank top sticking to Faith's side, seeing the sliced shirt, along with the cut just below her ribs before Faith shifts her arm to hide it. "Get your ass upstairs."

Buffy snickers. "Uh, oh. Gone and done it now. Wiccan's gonna be on your ass and she's worse than a pit bull."

"No, ma'am." Buffy raises her hands stepping back from Tara. "Just a few bumps and bruises, nothing that won't be healed by morning. We ran into quite a few vampires and a couple nasty demons that seemed to like Faith." Buffy points at the slayer who's bitching, but on her way up the stairs.

"Fine. There're sandwiches in the refrigerator, save some for Faith." Tara warns Buffy. "Dawn went to bed right before midnight. She mentioned that you were letting her stay up later during school nights, since she's doing better?" Tara makes it more of a question than a statement, double-checking the teen. Though the teen hadn't ever really lied to her, with her past problems, it seemed prudent to double-check.

"Yeah. I gave her permission to stay up 'til midnight, as long as she isn't grumpy in the morning, gets up on her own and keeps her grades up." Buffy explains quickly.

"Good. Is one of the first aid kits still up in the hall closet?" Tara questions as she starts up the stairs.

"Top shelf." Buffy calls out after Tara, chuckling quietly as she heads into the kitchen to grab a late night snack and something to drink.

Tara steps into the open bathroom door, frowning at the sight of Faith with her shirt still on and shifting from foot to foot. "What's wrong?"

Faith looks down at the floor. "It's gonna need stitches." Faith whispers, knowing that the wound was deeper than she'd led Buffy to believe.

"Then you need to take your top off and let me clean it, unless you would rather we get you to the hospital? I can call a cab." Tara offers taking a step back towards the bathroom door.

"No! No hospital." Faith jerks her eyes up and shakes her head. "I didn't know if you could do it or if you wanted to get B." Faith waves towards the doorway.

"I've had to stitch Buffy up a few times, and I'm handy with a needle and thread." Tara smiles softly at the dark-haired slayer. "Sit down on the stool, Faith." Tara orders gently, pointing to the little stool sitting in front of the vanity. Running hot water in the sink, Tara pulls up the stopper and pours some rubbing alcohol in it before stopping the water and grabbing a clean washcloth. "Is your shirt stuck to the wound?"

"I don't think so." Faith starts to reach down to yank the tank top off when her hands are stopped by Tara grasping them tightly.

"Don't you dare!" Tara shakes her head, knowing what the slayer was going to do. "Let me see if it's sticking." Tara kneels down beside the wounded slayer, gently pushing up on the tank top until it reached close to the wound, seeing it trying to stick, Tara releases it. "Leave it alone." Tara warns quietly before standing and grabbing the washcloth. Kneeling back down beside the slayer, she presses the wet cloth to the wound and shirt. "How did this happen?"

Faith shrugs, looking down into worried blue eyes. Seeing the blue eyes turn almost to the color of steel when she shrugs, Faith sighs. "The two demons we fought, one of 'em had a knife. It ain't bad enough these bastards are big, strong and fast, but they gotta bring in weapons. I shifted right when I shoulda' shifted back, and he got me."

Tara nods as she sees the truth in the brown eyes. "Is it just a cut, or did he actually stab you, Faith?"

"Are you hurt anywhere else?" Tara drops her gaze to look over the slayer more intently, having been more worried about her side and looking into her eyes, that she didn't notice the slight bruising on her jaw, or the split lip.

"A few bangs and bruises, nothin' major." Faith quirks her lips as she watches the Wiccan take an inventory of her wounds.

"You shouldn't get the stitches wet, but if you're anything like Buffy, you'll want to take a shower after I fix you up. Just try to keep this side away from the spray and if you wash over it, be gentle, okay?" Tara pulls the washcloth away and gently pulls up the tank top, sighing in relief as it's now loosened from the slayer's wound.

Tara raises her eyes to look intently into the slayer's brown orbs. "I'm not your mother." Tara mutters quietly, standing to gently ease the tank top over the slayer's head, wincing as Faith inhales deeply at the pull on her side. Turning, Tara tosses the top into the trash, trying not to stare at the firm, round breasts she'd uncovered. Rinsing the washrag out in the water again, Tara continues softly. "Definitely feeling things a family member should never feel."

Faith blinks in surprise at the woman, wondering if Tara even knew that she said that comment out loud, or if she forgot about slayer hearing.

"Let me get this area cleaned and see what I need to do." Tara gently washes the blood away from the slayer's side, wincing at the deep slice. Grabbing antiseptic out of the first aid kit, Tara cleans it thoroughly before placing a pressure bandage against it. "Can you tuck your arm against the bandage until I'm ready to sew it shut?"

"Yeah." Faith lowers her arm, pressing the elbow against her side, watching Tara.

"I guess you know this is going to hurt." Tara looks up, a small grin on her face.

"Want something to bite down on?" Tara offers pointing to a hand towel she had grabbed.

"Nah. I'll be 'kay." Faith watches as Tara quirks an eyebrow but silently acquiesces.

"Lift your arm, sweetie." Tara gently eases the bandage away, wiping the wound free of the blood once again, before pinching the skin together. "Here we go." Tara warns softly before wincing as she pierces the slayer's skin, quickly and neatly placing each stitch, tying it off gently. After she finishes, Tara grabs the small scissors and cuts the thread, looking up at Faith for a moment. "You okay?"

Tara grabs a bandage and tape out of the kit, covering the wound and taping it down gently. "I'll see if I can find something you can wear." Tara offers as she gathers together the used items, tossing them in the trash before closing up the kit and heading out of the bathroom.

"Thanks, Tare." Faith calls after the blonde Wiccan, smiling at the thanks she hears back. Faith decides to wait on the shower, just washing her upper body in the sink.

Buffy glances up from where she's eating a third sandwich, watching as Tara raises an eyebrow at her. "This is the last one. I left half for the other piggy."

"Good. I'm going downstairs to grab one of my shirts for Faith to wear. Her tank top is pretty much ruined." Tara grins crookedly at the slayer as she trots down the steps to the basement.

Tara comes jogging back up the stairs, holding one of her blue button-up shirts in her hands. "I shouldn't. I have an early class tomorrow, and all my stuff is at home."

Buffy snarls her lip, but keeps silent, knowing it's a losing battle to get Tara out of that hell-hole she's been living in for the last six months. Silently she watches Tara stride out of the kitchen, a slow smirk crossing her face. "Faith'll probably get on you about that apartment, too. And I won't even have to egg her on." Buffy chuckles at the thought.

"Here." Tara offers the shirt to the dark-haired slayer, watching her wince as she starts to put her arm in the sleeve. "Let me." Tara offers, taking the shirt back away from her and shifting behind the slayer, threading both hands into the top, pulling it up gently before moving around in front of her, trying not to look at the naturally tanned skin, and the breasts reaching out, silently begging to be caressed. Swallowing hard, Tara quickly buttons the shirt. "I'm sure Buffy will let you stay the night here, if you want."

"Are you stayin'?" Faith stares at the blonde, seeing the lightly flushed skin, smelling the barest hint of arousal.

"No. I have to go home. I have an 8 o'clock class in the morning, and all my books are at home." Tara looks up, surprised at the brown eyes watching her intently.

"Can't ya' just leave early in the mornin'?" Faith watches Tara as the Wiccan shakes her head.

"It's out of the way for me to hit the apartment, then go to campus afterwards. It's better that I just go home now." Tara allows a quick smile to cross her face before she turns to head out the bathroom door.

"You ain't gonna walk home by yourself." Faith growls, finally figuring that's what Tara was going to do.

"You two already had a busy night. I should be okay by myself." Tara answers as she heads down the stairs, feeling the hairs on the back of her neck stand up as the anger starts to practically shoot from the slayer following her.

"Ain't no fuckin' way you're walkin' home by yourself, Blondie. So, either your ass fuckin' parks it here, or I'm gonna go with ya'." Faith shifts to stand in front of the door as Tara swerves to the side to get her purse.

"You're in no shape to be out there tonight. You need to rest." Tara points out as she places her purse over her shoulder.

"I can walk her home and come back." Buffy offers quietly from the kitchen, so only Faith can hear her.

"Well, B ain't gonna let me stay here alone with Dawn. She's just now startin' to trust me, she'd be outta her mind if she left a murderer watchin' over her sister. So, it's either me walkin' you home, then me backtrackin' back to my apartment, or your ass parkin' it right here." Faith growls lowly, pointing to the ground speaking about Buffy's house.

Buffy smirks at the knowledge Faith already knows how to play Tara to her side. But then again, Faith was always smarter than she liked to let on. Mentioning being hurt, and having to walk back to her own apartment after walking Tara home, would tug at Tara's natural protectiveness and caring to protect people.

Tara stares at the dark-haired woman, seeing the stubbornness and fight in her eyes. Knowing she's just stubborn enough to do it. Make sure she gets home okay, and would walk back to her own apartment, with being hurt and possibly being attacked when she's not at her best. Knowing the slayer is playing on her emotions to get her way, Tara still doesn't have a choice. "Shit!" Tara growls and shifts around, tossing her purse onto the chair before slamming down onto the couch, yanking her shoes off before unbuttoning her top and tossing it onto the chair, leaving her in the pale blue camisole and her jeans.

"Oh, no. You ain't gonna stay down here to try and sneak out as soon as we go upstairs to sleep." Faith wiggles her finger at the woman. "Ain't happenin'."

"B probably won't mind ya' havin' her room. I'll take the couch." Faith offers a solution.

"Right, with your wound, you're going to try and sleep on the couch? I don't think so." Tara shakes her head.

"Hey, Faith, you want a sandwich?" Buffy decides to poke her nose in, smiling at Tara. "Staying?"

"You can stay upstairs in my room, if you want." Buffy offers, smiling innocently, blushing lightly as Tara narrows her gaze on her.

Tara narrows her eyes, looking from one slayer to the other, smelling a rat. "Did you two get together on this?"

"Faith, you can bunk down with me in the master bedroom, if you want." Buffy offers, a small smile playing about her face as she watches Tara's eyes narrow even more.

"Ain't no fuckin' way. I remember crashin' here one night with ya' before. You're like a fuckin' WWE Wrestler, trying to get me in a leg lock and squeeze the shit outta me. Either that or you were tryin' to kick me outta the bed." Faith shakes her head. "Ain't happenin' again. I'll sleep on the floor before I ever sleep in the same bed with you again."

"I had a bad nightmare!" Buffy throws her hands in the air. "One time! One time I talk you into staying here, years ago I might add! I have a nightmare and you wake up all bruised, and you think it's going to happen again!"

"Don't care. Ain't sharing a bed with ya' again. EVER!" Faith smirks at the blonde.

"I'm not sleeping on the couch. This is my house, I deserve a bed." Buffy smirks back.

"Sorry, Blondie. Looks like your SOL." Faith smirks. "You could always sleep with Little D."

"We coulda' already been in bed asleep." Faith looks at the two women as she locks the front door and turns off the light to the living room. "Bed, ladies. It's almost two in the mornin', and I know Blondie's gonna be getting up early."

"Faith, you know what this means, if you aren't willing to let me sleep on the couch, don't you?" Tara looks pointedly down at the item she's sitting on.

"As long as ya' don't beat me up in the night, I don't care." Faith flicks her thumb to the stairs, silently telling her to get her ass up there.

"Damn slayers." Tara growls clenching her teeth, wondering what hell she's going to have to put up with by being inches away from the dark-haired slayer.

Buffy chuckles and smacks Faith lightly on the shoulder. "Not bad. Kept her from leaving and got her sharing a bed with you already."

"Ain't goin' there, B." Faith warns, shaking her head. "I'm behavin'. But I wasn't about to let her go home by herself, and she's fuckin' stubborn enough to leave after we go to bed."

"True on both counts." Buffy admits quietly. "Grab at least a sandwich before bed, Faith." Buffy smiles as the slayer nods and heads towards the kitchen.

Tara strips off her jeans, wearing just her shorts and the camisole as she stands by the window, looking out at the night as she waits for Faith to come upstairs.

"Why ain't ya' already in bed?" Faith questions as she sets down the water and sandwich on the nightstand, having already eaten one sandwich.

"Thought I'd see what side you preferred to sleep on." Tara smiles quickly at the slayer.

"Don't much matter." Faith admits, flicking the small lamp on before turning off the overhead light. Wincing slightly as she starts to lift her hands to unbutton the shirt.

"You can sleep in that, if you want to." Tara offers quietly, heading towards the slayer.

"You don't mind?" Faith looks down at the shirt, having picked up the slight scent of the Wiccan on the fabric after she had placed it on her.

"No. But if you sit down on the bed, I'll take off your shoes for you, so you don't have to bend over." Tara smiles gently at the slayer, watching as Faith nods and silently sits on the edge of the bed. Kneeling down in front of the slayer, Tara quickly unties her steel-toed boots and pulls them off, along with her socks. "Want help with your jeans?"

"Uh…" Faith bites her bottom lip. "Maybe I oughta sleep in my jeans." Faith watches as Tara stands, trying not to stare at the long, silky looking legs and the pale blue shorts that were a match to her camisole.

"Let me guess, you don't believe in underwear." Tara sighs quietly as Faith grins up at her. "Should have figured since you weren't wearing a bra." Tara shakes her head. Turning around, Tara digs in the bottom drawer of Buffy's dresser, knowing the slayer usually throws her clothes in the drawer that she leaves there for when she needs something. Finally coming across a pair of boxer shorts, Tara holds them up. "Want to wear these?"

"They'd be more comfortable." Faith admits, watching Tara curiously. Faith wonders silently how far she can push the whole 'hurt' angle with the Wiccan. Slowly standing, she groans softly, just loud enough for the woman to hear her as she tries to unbutton her jeans.

"Like having to dress a kid." Tara grumbles loudly. "Would you like help, or would you prefer me to turn my back or leave?"

"I can get it." Faith mutters as she fumbles at unbuttoning her jeans before starting to push them down over her hips, grunting quietly as she bends over.

"Goddess!" Tara grasps Faith's shoulder. "Sit down. I'll finish pulling them off." Tara kneels and turns her head so she isn't staring at the slayer, a light blush on her face as she pulls the slayer's jeans off, tossing them in the corner, before reaching for the boxers she'd set down on the bed, pulling them as far up the slayer's body as she can with her sitting. When Faith lifts her hips, Tara's eyes lift up to see the mischief-filled brown eyes looking back at her. Tara narrows her gaze on the slayer, and as the huge grin crosses Faith's face, Tara realizes she's been had. Yanking the boxer's the rest of the way up Tara smacks her firmly on a thigh. "You're going to pay for this at some future time." Tara warns softly.

"I might like it." Faith laughs quietly before reaching for her sandwich and water, watching as Tara walks around to the other side of the bed. Feeling the Wiccan pull back the covers and slide between the sheets, Faith quickly demolishes the sandwich and drinks half the bottle of water, before setting it back on the nightstand. "Got the alarm set?"

"Yes." Tara stares up at the ceiling, trying to decide whether to be angry at the woman for her maneuvering, or just laugh at having been had. As Faith stands and pulls the covers back with one hand as she's turning out the light with the other, Tara quirks her lip, deciding to see the humor in the situation.

"I'm sorry, that wasn't very nice of me." Faith whispers softly. "I was kinda curious how far you'd take the whole caretaker routine."

"Yeah. You'll go as far as you think you're needed." Faith turns on her side to look at the Wiccan in the dark room. "Thank you." Faith whispers as she leans in to brush her lips softly over Tara's cheek before turning back on her other side, her back to the Wiccan as she wiggles into the bed, getting ready to go to sleep.

Tara unconsciously lifts her hand to her cheek, the spot Faith had kissed her tingling lightly. More than slightly surprised at the tender kiss of thanks, Tara turns her head to look at the slayer's back. "You're welcome, Faith. Good night." Tara whispers before shifting over onto her side, putting her slightly closer to Faith as she tucks her arm under the pillow as she lets herself relax, sleep quickly overtaking her after the long day.

Faith smiles at the soft words as she listens to the Wiccan's breathing slowly deepen as she falls asleep. "Good night, Tare." Faith whispers quietly before slowly falling asleep herself.

Tara rubs her face contentedly against a warm, strong shoulder, stroking her fingers over a warm stomach as she slowly wakes up to a quiet laugh. Becoming still as stone as it takes her a moment to figure out what's going on. As another deep chuckle comes from the person she's practically holding captive, Tara slowly opens her eyes as she shifts back away from the warm body, blushing lightly. "Sorry."

Faith smirks at the witch and shakes her head. "I ain't. Alarm's gettin' ready to go off, if ya' wanna hit the bathroom first. I'll hit it later and walk ya' home then to the college before hitting my apartment." Faith offers as she shifts up in the bed, reaching over for the leftover water from the night before.

"You don't have…" Tara stops as narrowed brown eyes look at her, Tara sighs quietly, nodding in silent acceptance as she rolls over and out of the bed. Grabbing the clean clothes she'd set out the night before, Tara quickly heads to the bathroom to shower and get ready for the day.

Faith watches the Wiccan curiously. Never being one for snuggling, having the Wiccan curl up against her back during the night, before they both shifted slightly and the woman had practically lain half over her, Faith realized she didn't mind Tara being against her. Listening to the shower turn on, Faith tilts her head as she hears a soft humming that's interspersed with a beautiful voice singing softly before going back to humming. Unaware of the smile on her face, Faith slides out of the bed. Stripping the sheets quickly, she grabs a fresh set out of the hallway closet to make the bed for Buffy.

Frowning at the bloody jeans, Faith looks at the top she's wearing. Figuring it's long enough to cover the blood in the daylight for her to get home and changed, Faith hears the door to the bathroom open.

"All yours." Tara offers quietly, watching the slayer grab her dirty jeans and head towards the doorway. "I have a pair of sweatpants, if you'd rather wear them."

"Of course not, Faith. But you might want to think about keeping a couple sets of clothes here, just in case." Tara grins crookedly at the slayer. "Buffy let's me do my laundry here, and I usually try to keep a couple outfits here just in case I have to stay overnight."

"Sometimes." Tara pulls the sweatpants out of the drawer, tossing them to the slayer. "Go clean up, or I'm leaving you here and heading to my apartment by myself." Tara jokes softly.

"Don't you dare! It's still dark out." Faith growls quietly before striding from the room to hurry through her shower, finger brushing her teeth with some toothpaste and running a brush quickly through her wet hair, yanking on the sweat pants along with the shirt again, smirking at herself in the mirror. "Definitely ain't me, but they're clean." Faith shrugs before striding back towards the bedroom, surprised to see her boots and a clean pair of socks sitting on the floor by the bed. Quickly pulling the socks and shoes on, tying them quickly, Faith jogs lightly downstairs, looking at the Wiccan, surprised to see her throwing something in the refrigerator.

"Hey. What'cha doin'?" Faith blinks in surprise as Tara tosses her a can of soda, catching it on automatic.

"Threw an egg and cheese bake together quickly for Buffy, so she only has to throw it in the oven for breakfast." Tara explains as she grabs her own soda. "I would have made coffee, but we don't have time." Tara looks apologetically at the slayer as she grabs her purse and they head towards the front door.

"That's 'kay. Caffeine of any kind is good." Faith pops the soda can top, chugging half of it down as the two women stride down the street quickly.

"Probably in a couple hours." Faith finishes the soda, crunching it in her hand, holding it until they come across a trashcan.

"I have a break from 10:00 to 11:00, if you want to come by the college, I'll take them out for you then." Tara smiles at the surprised look Faith shoots her way. "You'll just need to bring a pair of small scissors for me to snip the stitches."

"I got one at home." Faith nods in acceptance of the offer. "I gotta say, I know you both have said there ain't nothin' goin' on between ya'…but with the way you two act and your clothes being there in B's room…"

Tara shakes her head at the slayer. "No. I love Buffy, there's no denying that. But she's the sister I never had. Her luck's been shit for guys, and I've been trying to talk her into playing on my side of the fence, just with someone besides me." Tara admits, grinning crookedly.

"It isn't. At least not yet. I think she's decided she doesn't want any romantic interests at this moment in time." Tara admits as they turn down her street. "I'm hoping she finds someone, no one deserves to be alone. She's a beautiful, caring, strong woman and deserves to be as happy as anyone else. She just needs some convincing of the fact."

"You've been workin' on that, too, ain't ya'?" Faith thinks about how much calmer and relaxed the slayer seems than the girl she used to know.

Tara shrugs non-commitally as they head up the stairs to her apartment. Quickly unlocking the door, Tara strides in, grabbing her book bag off the floor, walking over to her futon that served as a couch and bed. Pulling her books she needs from the corner of the futon, she tucks them quickly away. "I have some juice and water in the refrigerator if you want something." Tara offers.

"Nah. I'm good." Faith leans against the doorway watching the woman out of the corner of her eye as she glances around the small efficiency apartment. "This is a dump."

"It's my dump." Tara throws a couple additional pens in her book bag before zipping it closed, heading towards the door.

Hearing the cool note in the Wiccan's voice, Faith decides to let it slide for the moment, backing out into the hallway as Tara comes out and locks the door behind her. Following silently behind the Wiccan, Faith waits a few minutes until they're well on their way towards the campus before questioning softly. "Did you dust his ass?"

Tara stops dead in her tracks, not expecting that question from the dark-haired slayer, realizing Buffy must have told her a lot more over the last couple days than she thought she would have. Slowly starting to walk again, Tara glances towards Faith. "What makes you ask that question?"

"B told me about what happened, and how the next mornin' when she got up, you were gone. When I questioned her if you went and dusted his ass, she seemed surprised and shocked at the idea." Faith shrugs as she clasps her hands behind her back. "When I asked if she'd seen the asshole since that happened, she said she didn't. I insisted we go by his…residence…for me to take care of the fuckin' asshole, but it ain't looked like nothin's been there for a month give or take." Faith explains, not looking at the woman, curious as to what she'll say.

Tara grunts quietly at the slayer's words, not answering her as they work their way closer to the college campus.

"You ain't gonna answer me, are you?" Faith narrows her eyes as she glances at the blonde.

"What difference would it make if I did, or didn't do it?" Tara raises an eyebrow in question as she tilts her head towards Faith.

"None, I guess." Faith answers after a few minutes. "But I'd like to know, that way I know whether I should hunt his ass down or not."

Tara's lips quirk at Faith's machinations, the slayer trying to get an answer from her. "What did Buffy say?"

"At first she said you wouldn't do somethin' like that. Then she said she didn't know." Faith answers truthfully.

"Does she want to know whether or not I took care of him?" Tara walks across campus, glancing down at her watch, seeing she has fifteen minutes before her first class.

"She wasn't real sure on that." Faith follows Tara as she heads towards one of the buildings. Watching as the Wiccan stops at the bottom of the stairs and turns towards her, Faith looks intently into the Wiccan's blue eyes, trying to see if Tara dusted the vampire.

"Maybe when we get to know each other a little better, you can ask me again. I may give you an answer." Tara offers a soft smile on her lips as her blue eyes dance merrily.

Tara laughs quietly as she turns and jogs up the stairs, heading towards class without answering the slayer, feeling the confusion and desire flowing from the woman, but not wanting to be just another notch on her belt.

"Here will be fine." Tara calls over her shoulder as she heads into the building.

Faith grunts loudly as she continues to watch the woman until she's completely out of sight. "Fuck, me. She's gonna be a hard nut to crack." Faith spins around, heading towards her apartment, before a slow smile crosses her face. "But I think I might like crackin' her." Faith whistles softly as she heads towards her apartment.

Tara walks towards the building she's supposed to meet Faith in front of, surprised to see the dark-haired slayer sitting on the steps, already waiting for her, with a large bag sitting on the step below her between her legs as she leans back, brown eyes capturing hers after slowly trailing upwards, making Tara flush at the obvious look on the slayer's face.

Faith smirks as the blonde blushes. Grabbing the bag, Faith stands and strides towards Tara. "I doubt you wanna take my stitches out in front of the building, where do you wanna go?"

Tara looks around the quad, seeing one of the benches that's out of the main stream of traffic. "Let's go over there." Tara points as Faith turns and strides towards the bench with no further urging. Tara unconsciously allows her eyes to travel up the slayer's body, noticing the strength of the woman's body and the predator's grace as her legs quickly eat up the distance between them and the bench. Shaking her head at her wandering mind and eyes, Tara follows the slayer quietly, realizing they're almost the same height. The slayer might be an inch taller than her.

Faith pulls the small scissors out of her pocket as she sets the bag on the bench, turning to appraise the Wiccan as she approaches.

Tara sees the small scissors in Faith's hands and smiles at the woman. Setting her backpack on the bench, she motions for Faith to sit on the end of the bench while taking the scissors from her. Kneeling on the ground beside Faith, Tara smiles as the woman lifts her top up, noticing the edge of a bra visible. "Decided to wear underwear today?" Tara comments as she snips the threads quickly, thankful that the slayers heal as quickly as they do.

"Even with slayer genes, you should wear support." Tara finishes pulling the threads from the slayer's body, before tossing them in the trashcan beside her, handing the scissors back to Faith as she sits down on the other side of the woman.

"Thanks. I don't foresee myself livin' long enough to worry about saggy tits." Faith shrugs as she leans back against the bench, stretching her legs out in front of her and crossing them at the ankle. "Grab that bag, would ya'?"

Tara reaches over for the bag on the other side of her, handing it to Faith. Watching as the slayer starts pulling out multiple sub sandwiches.

"What'cha like? I got a club sandwich with the works, a steak and cheese, a cheese and veggie, meatball, chicken salad, and an egg salad sub." Faith places the sandwiches on her lap, each one clearly marked before pulling out two large bottled sodas.

"I like everythin'." Faith shrugs, waving a hand towards the pile of sandwiches. "Pick out somethin'. Or hell, we can share."

Tara shifts to put some more distance between them, watching as Faith places the bag on the bench between them and piles the sandwiches on it, grabbing the steak and cheese one. As the slayer quickly unwraps the sandwich and hands her half, Tara shakes her head at the woman. "This will probably be more than enough for me." Tara admits softly.

Faith grunts quietly as she starts eating her sandwich, watching as Tara slowly nibbles at the other half. Finishing her half, Faith grabs another one, not even paying attention to what it is as she pulls half out, eating it quickly as she stares at the woman.

"Something interest you?" Tara quirks her eyebrow at the slayer as she notices her staring at her.

Tara almost chokes on her sandwich. Grabbing one of the sodas Faith had set down on the bench, she opens it quickly, taking a sip. After calming down, Tara shakes her head. "No, I'm not dating anyone."

"Good." Faith smirks as she looks down at the pile of sandwiches. "You want any of this cheese and veggie sub?" Faith questions as Tara picks her sandwich back up and starts to eat it.

"No, thank you." Tara watches as Faith nods her head, grabbing the other half and quickly demolishes it before reaching for another one. Deciding not to question the woman on her question, Tara glances at her watch seeing that she still has half an hour before she needs to be in her next class.

"You gonna be at B's tonight?" Faith questions curiously as she opens her drink, gulping a third of it down.

"No. I have a paper I have to work on tonight." Tara explains as she finishes eating her sandwich, grabbing one of the napkins the slayer had pulled out with the sandwiches. "I prepared two large lasagna's yesterday. They're in the refrigerator, so there's plenty for both of you."

"Thanks." Faith bites her bottom lip as she considers the woman. "I don't wanna be eating out all the time…it kinda gets old. Could I maybe talk ya' into teaching me to cook?"

"Nope. I mean, other than nuking shit, I ain't had nowhere to try cooking. I always lived in motel rooms when I was here to begin with before I was given the apartment, then I was in jail." Faith shrugs. "I'd like to be able to cook at least the basics to get by."

"If you're willing to learn, I'm willing to teach. Hopefully you're more teachable than Buffy. I've given her up for a lost cause." Tara jokes, grinning crookedly as Faith laughs.

"Oh, Goddess! No wonder she can't cook!! But she is better. She doesn't burn the popcorn anymore." Tara points out, laughing softly.

"Yeah. I saw that microwave. It has a button on it that you press that says popcorn. Probably the only reason why!" Faith smiles as Tara laughs harder.

"You may have a point." Tara concedes, smiling at the slayer. Surprised at how much the slayer had changed. Sighing quietly in realization that she would love to sit here talking with the woman all day, but knowing she needs to head to class. "I need to go." Tara waves towards one of the buildings. "Thank you for lunch." Tara mentions quietly as she takes another sip of her drink before closing it and tucking it away in her backpack to finish later.

"I figured you might end up skippin' lunch if I didn't." Faith admits as she gathers the trash, throwing it in the can before tucking away the last couple sandwiches back in the bag to take back to her apartment.

"You're probably right." Tara looks curiously at the slayer for a few minutes, wondering what's going through her mind. Sighing softly, Tara shakes her head. "You and Buffy be careful on patrol tonight. Let Buffy know I'll be over after my last class tomorrow."

"What time does it end?" Faith questions curiously as she watches Tara start to step away, quickly following the Wiccan.

"It ends at 2:30." Tara smiles as Faith walks with her towards her next class. "I know she's working lunch shift tomorrow at the DMP, so she won't be home 'til later. I'll have dinner ready by the time she gets there. I'm planning on making a meatloaf, so if you want to come…"

"Thanks." Faith's eyes light up at the mention of meatloaf. "Anything I can bring?"

"No, everything should be there…if you could, remind Buffy to pull the hamburger out of the freezer and put it in the refrigerator for it to thaw out. I left her a note…" Tara shrugs, smiling.

"I'll make sure it's pulled out." Faith follows Tara up the steps, holding the door open as the other students head in around them. "Be careful." Faith does a little half smile at the Wiccan as Tara agrees quietly before heading into the building. Continuing to hold the door open as other students enter and leave, Faith silently watches as the blonde disappears out of sight.

"What is wrong with me?" Faith whispers softly as she slowly releases the door as the last student slides in. Tucking the sandwiches under her arm, Faith shoves her hands in her pockets as she hunches her shoulders to head towards her apartment. "I'll stop at the store on the way over to B's house tonight and pick up more hamburger. That way she can use that hamburger for somethin' else." Faith mumbles quietly, wondering how much hamburger to buy.

"What's in the bag?" Buffy questions as she looks up from folding laundry as Faith comes in.

"I picked up some hamburger. Tare said she was fixin' meatloaf tomorrow, and for me to remind you to pull out the hamburger from the freezer. But I decided to pick up fresh." Faith holds up the hamburger she'd stopped at the meat market to buy, having questioned the man how many pounds of hamburger she needed to buy for four people, then tripled it and ended up with ten pounds.

"I would have forgotten." Buffy admits, smiling, before groaning quietly. "I already forgot to pick up potatoes for the mashed potatoes!"

"I can stop at the store and buy whatever we need. I ain't expectin' you guys to feed me without my paying for my fair share." Faith points out quietly. "Make a list, and I'll pick it up tomorrow and bring it by."

"And we don't expect you to pay for everything either, Faith." Buffy points out seriously.

"Yeah, but I plan on eating here frequently, if my foray into learning how to cook sucks." Faith explains.

"Learning how to cook? Who did you sucker into teaching… Tara?" Buffy chuckles as Faith shifts and nods her head. "Hopefully the lack of cooking ability isn't in the slayer genes. Lord knows I can't boil water."

"I gotta put this in the refrigerator." Faith smirks at the blonde slayer. "I remember when you used to burn microwave popcorn." Faith calls over her shoulder as she heads into the kitchen.

"HEY! I don't burn it anymore!!" Buffy pouts, before a small smile crosses her face, remembering that she did burn popcorn on a regular basis.

"Don't think I didn't notice the button on the microwave that says 'Popcorn'." Faith chuckles as she heads back into the living room from the kitchen.

"Huh. Noticed that, did you?" Buffy deflates at the realization. "Can't help it. For some reason me and cooking just don't mesh."

"Yeah, well, you can't be good at everythin', B." Faith shrugs as she sits down in the chair, watching Buffy for a few minutes. "Can I ask ya' somethin'?"

Buffy looks up surprised at the hesitant note in the slayer's voice. "Go ahead, Faith."

Buffy stares at the slayer in surprise, realizing with that one simple question that Faith obviously had never been out on a date. Silently Buffy wonders what the slayer had been through in her life previously, but knowing Faith has to be willing to open up, that she can't force her to talk about it. "Are you asking where to go and what to do, or how you act with the person you're dating?"

"Well, depending on the person, you want to do something that they will like and enjoy. Safe bet is going out to dinner, maybe a movie or dancing. Unfortunately Sunnydale's nightlife leaves a lot to be desired. There aren't a lot of choices. We do have the Putt-Putt but that's about it. The Bronze is our one and only form of entertainment for dancing." Buffy shrugs as she looks at Faith. "Picnics I guess would always work, going to the park, walking around town…at least during the daylight hours." Buffy smiles as Faith chuckles at that.

"Tara would probably be more of the kind to like picnics and shit, wouldn't she?" Faith questions seriously, her eyes thoughtful.

Buffy bites her lip, having figured Faith was probably considering Tara, but surprised at the admittance. "I believe so, yes." Buffy looks at Faith for a long time before continuing. "She would be happy to just sit and talk. She's not a very needy person in the sense that you would have to entertain her, Faith. She just enjoys being with people and connecting with them on a deeper level."

Faith frowns heavily at the blonde slayer's words. "You're tryin' to tell me she'll want to get to know me better, ain't ya'?"

"Yes." Buffy nods her head in agreement. "Think about what I told Tara, Faith. She never judged me and helped me through what I was trying to handle. She tried to help Willow, when she was spiraling deeper into the magic, but Willow wouldn't accept her help. She didn't see or want to see that she needed help."

"And because of that she raped Tara and tried to make her do what she wanted her to do." Faith growls quietly, feeling the anger build again about what the redhead had done.

"And she also lost Tara because she wasn't willing to admit that something was wrong and she needed help. Of course the fact that Willow lied to her by promising she wouldn't do magic and turned around doing another spell right away pretty much closed the door on their relationship." Buffy points out. "I honestly believe that if Willow had been willing to open herself and work out their differences after the first forget spell, Tara and she would still be together right now. But Willow made some bad choices and literally tore apart the trust and love Tara had for her. I know Tara will always love her, but she will never be IN love with her. Willow destroyed that with what she did." Buffy tries to explain to the slayer, so she'll understand.

Faith looks at the slayer in confusion. "B, I ain't even got the foggiest clue what love is. Let alone being in love with someone being different from loving someone."

"Do you enjoy being around her, Faith?" Buffy questions seriously, leaning forward forgetting about the laundry.

"Yeah, I guess. I mean, hell I don't really know her, B." Faith whispers looking down to pick at her jeans. "I feel comfortable with her. I find myself reaching out for a comforting touch or word from her. I can't love her, hell I just really met her!" Faith looks seriously at Buffy.

"Time has nothing to do with it, Faith. You can fall in love within minutes of meeting someone. Or it could take years." Buffy shrugs. "Love doesn't know any schedule. And it doesn't fit into a neat little compartment. For each person it's different. Hell I loved Angel and I loved Riley, but I loved both of them differently. Shit! I love Tara, but I don't want to get all hot and sweaty with her." Buffy jokes, smiling as Faith chuckles quietly.

"She made a comment about tryin' to get you to try the home team, just as long as it wasn't her." Faith admits, smirking at the blonde.

"I'm starting to think maybe I should. But only if I find someone I enjoy being with." Buffy admits, shaking her head at the thought of the Wiccan. "If I had the slightest interest in Tara that way, I'd snatch her up and never let her go. She's a wonderful woman and will make someone a great partner one day. But I just can't see us as anything else than very close friends." Buffy admits quietly.

"Have ya' tried?" Faith questions curiously. Seeing the confused look on Buffy's face, Faith sighs. "Have you tried to see her as a girlfriend, instead of a friend? Or tried to imagine kissin' her?"

Buffy shivers uncontrollably at the thought of kissing Tara. "Sorry, that just squeaks me out. I get the same feeling as if I thought about kissing a family member that way. Just gross." Buffy admits.

"How about another woman?" Faith tilts her head, her eyes twinkling. Something settling inside her, finally, that the two women really are nothing more than friends.

"Cordelia." Faith pops out the name, laughing uproariously at the absolutely disgusted look coming over Buffy's face at that suggestion. "Okay, maybe a bad example. How about…Angelina Jolie?" Faith tries a name that she knows most any human alive would jump at the chance to know the actress in a more intimate fashion. Seeing the light blush cross Buffy's face, Faith smirks. "That's a yes."

"Why not? She's a woman. You find her attractive and it obviously don't bother ya' none thinkin' about being with her." Faith shrugs, chuckling quietly.

"What about you, Faith? Can you picture yourself with another woman?" Buffy questions seriously.

"B…I've been with women before." Faith looks at the slayer. "I prefer 'em to tell ya' the truth, but guys are always available and easy." Faith shrugs as she thinks about it. "When I needed to scratch the itch, I wasn't real particular."

Buffy sighs quietly, looking away as she thinks about what she's going to say next. "You're used to doing what you want with whoever you want, Faith. Tara's an only and forever kind of woman. She'll want you heart, mind, body and soul. She won't share you with anyone else that way, so if you can't be monogamous, I suggest you stay the hell away from her."

Faith stares silently at the blonde slayer for a few minutes. "You'd come after me, wouldn't ya'?"

"I'd try and knock some sense into you then I'd seriously kick your ass for hurting her." Buffy's eyes are serious as she keeps eye contact with the dark-haired slayer. "So, before you think about doing anything else with Tara, I suggest you do some serious soul searching. I don't know about your sex life since you've come back here and what it was like in jail, but I'd also suggest getting tested."

Faith slides her eyes away as she shakes her head. "I was tested in jail when I arrived there, and every few months thereafter. There was no one in there and no one since I got out." Faith admits softly.

Buffy blinks in surprise at the slayer, having figured the woman would probably have her own harem in jail, or have the guards lined up to wear out. "I have to say, I'm surprised."

"Yeah, well, probably no more than me." Faith sighs quietly. "It was getting old, B. Fuckin' just to be fuckin' was getting old and empty." Faith shakes her head as she stands, tucking her hands in her pockets as she slowly prowls around the living room. "I feel like I'm missin' somethin', you know?"

"You're missing the love and caring that goes along with a relationship." Buffy explains quietly. "It's different when you're with someone that you care about, Faith. And if you love the person it makes a world of difference than just getting your rocks off."

Faith walks over to the mantle, looking at the pictures spread out over the shelf. "My life was pretty fucked up before I came to Sunnydale, B. It just got worse after getting here. I've pretty much fucked everythin' up from the time I was thirteen years old."

Buffy swallows, silently listening to the slayer, hoping the woman was finally going to open up about her life, when she sighs quietly when Dawn comes bouncing in from school and Faith seems to stiffen and close down again.

"What's for dinner?" Dawn drops her book bag on the coffee table looking at Buffy, then Faith.

"I think Tare said somethin' about leaving some kind of lasagna thing in the refrigerator." Faith heads towards the kitchen. "I'll throw 'em in the oven."

Buffy frowns as she watches Faith head to the kitchen. "Do your homework, Dawn. Are you going to need any help?"

"Nah, I think I got it pretty much under control." Dawn looks down at her sister, seeing the frown. "What's wrong?"

Buffy shakes her head and smiles distractedly at the teen. "Nothing. I think Faith was about ready to open up."

"It isn't your fault, Dawn. She made it that close, I'm sure she'll get there again." Buffy finally smiles at her sister. "Homework!" Buffy points towards the stairs, chuckling at the low whine coming from her sister before she grabs her bag and trots up the stairs. Sighing quietly, Buffy finishes folding the laundry before carrying the clean clothes up the stairs, glancing into the kitchen, seeing Faith sitting quietly at the island with a bottle of water in front of her.

Faith lets herself into Buffy's house, carrying the grocery bags, kicking the door shut behind her as she glances at the clock, figuring Tara should be getting there in about half an hour. Taking the items into the kitchen, Faith quickly places the gallon of milk in the refrigerator along with other basic items she'd noticed was getting low in the refrigerator. Looking at the ears of corn in the paper bag, Faith smiles, hoping Tara doesn't mind that she added the items for dinner tonight.

When she'd seen the pile of corn, Faith had a craving for fresh corn on the cob. Looking at the dozen ears she'd bought, Faith remembers how the woman had pulled the husks back explaining she was making sure they were 'full' ears of corn when Faith had questioned her. Faith had proceeded to check each ear of corn before placing them in a bag to buy, seeing where some of them weren't as developed as others, understanding more of what the woman was saying.

Placing the canned soups and other odds and ends in the cabinets, Faith tilts her head as she hears a key in the door, glancing at the time, realizing it's probably Tara. Faith strides towards the living room, chuckling quietly at the woman's full hands. Quickly taking the additional bags from Tara, Faith smiles almost shyly at the Wiccan before heading towards the kitchen.

Tara blinks in surprise at the smile she gets from Faith as the woman takes the bags. Shaking her head slightly, Tara places her backpack by the couch before untying and pulling off her shoes and socks, sighing quietly as she wiggles her toes. "Hate shoes." Tara grumbles quietly before striding into the kitchen, blinking in surprise at the slayer unpacking the groceries.

"Is all this for dinner tonight, or did ya' do some shopping for B and Little D?" Faith questions curiously.

"Some of it's for dinner tonight, but I know how much food Buffy can put away, so I thought I'd pick up some items that she can throw in the microwave." Tara explains as she grabs the cans of soup, opening the cabinets to put them away when she stares in surprise at the quantity of cans already in there. Turning her head towards Faith, she raises a questioning eyebrow, a soft smile crossing her face as the slayer fidgets slightly with a very light blush coming across her face. "I guess I wasn't the only one that hit the grocery store."

"What did you get?" Tara finishes putting away the additional groceries before grabbing out the items she would need for the meatloaf.

Tara tries to fight back a grin, before chuckling quietly. "That would go good with the meatloaf, mashed potatoes, salad and cheesecake I'm planning." Tara agrees.

Faith releases the breath she'd unconsciously been holding, a smile on her face. "Oh, I kinda also went by the meat market and picked up ten pounds of fresh hamburger for the meatloaf. I figured with me and B eating on it, along with you and Little D, that if we wanted any left over we would need more."

Tara bites her lip to keep from laughing. "Did Buffy pull out the other hamburger to unthaw?"

"Nah. I bought the hamburger yesterday and brought it over then, so she wouldn't have to. By the way, the lasagna was great." Faith compliments Tara as she watches the blonde pull down crackers from the cabinet, along with seasonings.

"Would you mind pulling out the hamburger and eggs from the refrigerator for me?" Tara smiles at the slayer as she places all the items on the island before grabbing out the huge mixing bowl, thankful she'd brought the complete set over here.

"How do you feel about getting hamburger meat under your nails?" Tara chuckles as Faith just shrugs. "Probably better than other stuff. Wash your hands you're going to be my mixer."

"'Kay." Faith walks over to the sink grabbing the soap as she turns the water on, scrubbing her hands thoroughly as she listens to Tara opening things behind her.

"We'll mix it all together, but I think we should bake three different meatloaves, that way they might have a chance of being cooked tonight." Tara jokes softly.

"Why? You just wanted to make sure there was plenty of food, I can't fault you for that." Tara grasps the slayer's shoulder gently, squeezing. "Unfortunately I don't follow any measurements when I make meatloaf. I pretty much dump the ingredients in, along with whatever seasonings float my boat, so my meatloaf always tastes different each time. So this probably wasn't the smartest thing for you to be helping me with to start learning on."

Tara turns away to grab the can opener out of the drawer. "That's tempting." She whispers under her breath, shaking her head at the thoughts of what she'd like to tell the slayer to do, her body heating up in response to the images floating through her mind.

Faith smirks at the softly spoken words, before she moans quietly at the slight smell of arousal coming from the Wiccan. 'God, if she gets that turned on just by whatever she's thinkin' what'll happen when I finally kiss her?' Faith wonders silently to herself.

"Hope your hands can handle the cold, mixing hamburger meat always about freezes my hands." Tara admits as she takes a deep breath before turning back to the slayer. "If you want to open the hamburger packages and place the hamburger in the bowl, I'll start opening the cans of tomato paste."

Faith reaches for the hamburger packages, opening them and dumping them into the bowl as Tara quickly opens the cans of tomato paste. Faith finally pays attention to the different ingredients, seeing eggs, crackers, salt, pepper, onions, fresh garlic, garlic powder, oregano and Italian seasonings.

"Hope you have strong fingers." Tara murmurs, before rolling her eyes as Faith snorts. "Stupid comment. Ignore the ditzy blonde." Tara grabs a spoon out of the drawer to empty the contents of the cans into the meat.

"I somehow doubt you're ditzy." Faith murmurs watching as Tara starts sprinkling the different seasonings in the mixing bowl. "You just dump the shit in without measurin' anythin'?"

"Yep." Tara grins at the slayer before quickly cleaning and chopping a couple onions finely, tossing them in with the meat. "If you want, dig in. It needs to be mixed pretty well together. Then I do a sniff test before I add the last two ingredients.

Faith looks at what's left on the island as she continues to mix the concoction, having to admit that the meat was pretty damn cold. "Crackers and eggs?"

"And the slayer will get a treat…later." Tara chuckles at the full bottom lip pouting out adorably.

"What about the potatoes and corn?" Faith watches Tara as she leans against the island beside her, unconsciously allowing her eyes to travel up the Wiccan's form, enjoying the sight of her wearing snug jeans with a dark purple t-shirt tucked in. Chuckling as she realizes the Wiccan is barefoot.

"After we get the meatloaves in the oven, we'll peel and cube the potatoes to put on to boil. The corn won't take that long to cook, whereas the meatloaves will probably take a couple hours with as big as they'll be." Tara explains as she looks at the meat, surprised at how quickly and well of a job the slayer had done blending the items together. Leaning in across the slayer without thinking Tara sniffs the meat, her body pressing against Faith's arm and side. "More garlic. Can never have enough garlic." Tara grins as she leans back, surprised at the darkened eyes of the slayer.

Faith swallows and shakes her head. "Nope, garlic is good." Faith hoarsely agrees, dragging her eyes away from the blonde's, silently waiting for Tara to toss more of the seasoning in.

Tara groans before reaching for the garlic powder, deciding to not worry about pressing more fresh garlic. Quickly sprinkling a decent amount into the meat, Tara grabs the eggs, quickly cracking them into a smaller mixing bowl, whisking them together quickly and efficiently before pouring it into the meat mixture. Watching as Faith continues to work the meat for a few moments, the strong fingers tireless. Growling, Tara reaches for the crackers, opening the box and pulling one sleeve out, she opens an end before crunching a quarter of the sleeve, then dumping them into the mixture before working her way down the sleeve, crunching all the crackers and dumping them into the meat before repeating the process with the rest of the crackers.

"Why eggs?" Faith questions as she continues to work the meat, a huge smile on her face in remembrance of the sexy growl, along with the strong scent of arousal coming from the Wiccan.

"Eggs help hold the meatloaf together." Tara explains as she finishes dumping the rest of the crackers in the bowl, before walking over to the stove, turning it on to preheat before grabbing the pans she'd pulled out previously to put the meat in. "Kind of like when you bread items to fry. If you just put the breading mixture on the item, it won't usually stick. It needs something extra to help, and egg is the perfect item for that."

"Kinda makes sense." Faith nods as she wrinkles her nose at the tackiness of the meat mixture. "Is it supposed to be like this?" Faith raises her hands, showing how the meat's wanting to stick to them.

"What do I need to do now?" Faith questions curiously as Tara sprays the pans down with a vegetable spray before setting them beside her on the island even as she gathers some of the ingredients, putting them away.

"Now you need to try and relatively evenly split the meat up into three sections. Just generally, it doesn't have to be perfect. Then pat it into a firm lump of meat that will fit in the pan. I usually have it sort of rounded and try to keep it uniform without one side or end being thicker than the other." Tara explains.

Faith eyes the huge lump of meat before sectioning it into the three sections, lifting each one before taking a little from one section and adding it to one that felt a little lighter. Shrugging her shoulders she picks up the meat and pats it into a tighter, neater form before laying it into the pan. "Like that?" Faith questions as she watches Tara grab the bag of potatoes.

Tara smiles at the meatloaf. "Perfect. Go ahead and do the other two just like that." Tara sets the bag of potatoes beside her before pulling the trash can over to her, grabbing a knife to start peeling the potatoes.

Faith finishes with the other two lumps of meat, placing them in the pans while watching Tara quickly peeling the potatoes while tossing the potatoes in a pan she'd set there when she placed the pans for the meatloaves on the island. "Want me to throw these in the oven?"

"Please." Tara nods her head, smiling at the slayer as Faith quickly places two on the middle rack while hesitating with the third. "Go ahead and put it on the bottom rack for now, I'll switch it to the top rack later so the bottom won't burn."

Faith slides the pan onto the bottom rack, before closing the oven. Turning around, she squirts some soap on her hands, scrubbing them thoroughly under the hot water, before squirting more and cleaning them again as they still feel a little greasy. Taking the dishcloth she wipes off the soap bottle under the hot water and wipes down the island before tossing the cloth back in the sink. Digging in the drawer, Faith finds a small knife, chuckling at the sharpness, wondering if Buffy sharpens the kitchen knives when she does the knives she uses for patrol.

"What are you laughing at?" Tara questions curiously as she watches Faith test the sharpness of the blade.

"Just curious if B sharpens these also." Faith shrugs as she sits down from Tara, holding her hand out for a potato.

"Any good at peeling potatoes?" Tara questions curiously as she hands her a potato.

"Yeah. One thing I did in jail was prep work in the kitchen. Potatoes were kinda an every meal type thing and when I rotated into the kitchen, that's what I usually did." Faith explains quietly as she quickly starts peeling the potato.

Tara leans down to pull the bag up onto the island to make it easier to reach the potatoes before shifting around with the trashcan, placing it between both of them. "You can tell me it's none of my business if you want, but what was it like in jail?"

Faith sighs softly. "It was shit. When I first got there, they do this posturing shit where they try to get new bitches under the women that run the jail pretty much. It took me beatin' the shit out of ten different people before they finally learned to leave me alone." Faith admits quietly.

"I know you could have broken out whenever you wanted to, why did you stay in?" Tara questions curiously.

Faith stops peeling, staring at the potato for a few minutes. "'Cause I deserved to be in there. Hell, they shoulda gassed me." Faith whispers softly, her eyes distant.

"I'm guilty of killing two people." Faith turns to gaze at Tara, watching the sadness enter the woman's blue eyes. "The first one was an accident, but the second one I did in cold blood for Mayor Wilkins. So, why the hell should I be runnin' around loose and pardoned, when there're other people still in there that ain't even done anythin' that bad?"

"Maybe a higher being has a purpose for you, Faith." Tara offers quietly, seeing the look of disbelief crossing the slayer's face. "Do you think that it's right for a person that has the strength and power, and more than that, wants to help in the fight against evil be kept under lock and key, because of an accident, and one bad decision? Answer me this, if you had it all to do over again, knowing what you know now. Would you do it again?"

"No." Faith stares into the blue eyes of the Wiccan, seeing compassion and sadness but no judgment.

"Look at it this way…you're being given a chance to make amends for what happened. Help be the world's protector. How many people's lives have you saved since becoming a slayer, Faith?" Tara questions seriously.

"I know you saved my life a few nights ago. That's directly saving my life, one right there. How many more? Five, ten, twenty, a hundred?" Tara questions, trying to get at least a basis.

Faith thinks, trying to remember how many people she actually saved from the fangs of a vampire. "I guess roughly fifty or so." Faith whispers, surprised at the realization.

"Okay. That's fifty people right there that are alive now, because of you. How many more people did you save with the vampires you killed? Say each vampire killed just one person a week, though we know they do more than that. So, say you killed an average of say fifty vampires a week, which I believe is probably a very low number, also. That's fifty more people that are alive PER WEEK because of what you do." Tara leans in staring at the slayer. "How many thousands and thousands of people owe their lives to you for what you do? Maybe, just this once, you can be forgiven for an accident and a bad choice."

Faith stares in stunned silence at the blonde, searching the blue depths for the truth, silently wondering if that's what the Wiccan believes, slowly realizing that yes, Tara believes everything she just said. "I never much looked at it that way." Faith's voice comes out rougher than normal as she finally breaks eye contact with Tara. "I still fucked up, and it ain't that easily forgiven or forgotten."

"No, and it shouldn't be, Faith. Because if you ever forget what you did and how you felt you could very easily repeat the mistake. Personally I'd rather you didn't. I value life." Tara reaches out, clasping Faith's hand gently. "All life. I wouldn't want to see you kill another human, but not just for the fact of that person dying, but for what it would do to you. It would kill something inside you that almost died before. Your pain, anger and hurt are so obvious, that I know it would probably do irreparable damage to you if it happened again."

Faith sighs, looking down at the pale hand clasping hers. "How can you so easily forgive me?"

"Because I see the good in you fighting to get out." Tara admits quietly, brushing her thumb over the strong hand. "I want to get to know you, and the person you can be." Tara whispers even quieter.

Faith looks back up, into open blue eyes, seeing the caring in the depths. Slowly her eyes drop to the full, pouty lips such a short distance from hers. Unable to help herself, Faith leans in to place a gentle kiss on the lips, lingering for just a few seconds, feeling a tingling sensation working through her at the touch before easing back. "Thank you." Faith whispers.

Tara blinks in surprise at the kiss, the woman having surprised her twice now with the gentleness of the kisses she's given her. Feeling the slayer turn her hand within hers, gently squeezing before releasing it to continue working on the potatoes, Tara continues to look at Faith for a few minutes before her brain kicks back into gear. Finding her fingers halfway to her mouth, Tara changes the direction of her hand to grab another potato and the knife she'd dropped onto the counter earlier.

The two women finish peeling and putting the potatoes on to boil in a companionable silence.

Tara smiles as she walks out of her last class until Spring Break's over. Taking a deep breath, she looks up at the beautiful blue sky. Strolling across the campus towards home, she thinks about the last month. How Faith worked her way into her heart, though the woman had only snuck a quick peck in occasionally as thanks whenever possible, but noticing how more recently the slayer had become more touchy-feely as they had worked on the slayer's cooking skills, surprising everyone when last Sunday Faith had prepared the whole dinner.

The grilled steaks, twice-baked potatoes, salad and homemade macaroni and cheese were well received by everyone. Remembering how Faith wanted her to be there as back-up but insisting on doing everything herself. Whenever the woman had to walk by her, she'd made sure to brush gently against her. By the time the dinner was prepared, Tara was an aroused basket case, the subtle and not so subtle flirting between the two women almost keeping her in a constant state of arousal. Even thinking about it as she walks towards her apartment, she can feel the desire gathering at the juncture of her legs even as her nipples harden and become more sensitive.

Buffy had made a curious comment about how the slayer always seemed to head straight home, not going out after patrol like she used to do when she was a teenager. Then Buffy had looked at her with a twinkle in her eyes mentioning how she thinks Faith has her eyes on someone in particular and was being careful not to screw up her chances for something serious.

Tara had stared after the quickly departing slayer when Buffy had headed out of the house to meet Faith for patrol. When Dawn had snickered quietly behind her, Tara had blushed and disappeared into the kitchen, silently praying that Buffy was right.

Trotting up the stairs to her apartment, Tara's lighthearted attitude dims somewhat heading into the small, austere apartment, her mind thinking about Faith's open, airy apartment. Just the huge open space seeming so much bigger and cheerier, especially now that Faith had spent some money to decorate the place, remembering how the slayer had quietly begged her to go shopping with her for pictures and knick-knacks. Mentioning something about she'd decorate it with swords, knives and stakes if she didn't have someone to help her.

Faith stares at her empty apartment, frowning at how empty it feels without the Wiccan being there, the woman having been coming over there quite frequently to teach her how to cook, but having finally mentioned that Faith was able to do things on her own. Now, she's trying to think how to get Tara to come back to the apartment, Faith plops down on the couch staring up at the ceiling.

Chuckling at Buffy's comment about grabbing the Wiccan and kissing her senseless might do the trick, Faith shakes her head realizing that the two of them had actually slowly become friends. When she'd finally told the other slayer about her life in Boston, the mental and physical abuse, along with the rapes, she'd been scared Buffy would look down on her. Instead, being surprised as strong arms had wrapped around her, hugging her tightly as she'd unconsciously been crying when she'd told Buffy the details.

Grabbing the cell phone as it rings, Faith looks at the caller ID, smiling at the word 'Wiccan' on the display. "Yo!" Faith answers the phone, the smile obvious in her voice.

"Hi. I'm officially done until Spring Break is finished. I know Buffy has to work today, but I was wondering if you might want to go out to eat in celebration?" Tara questions hopefully, not really wanting to spend the time in her dismal apartment.

"Where ya' wanna go?" Faith throws her legs over the end of the couch, reaching for her boots as she tucks the phone between her shoulder and ear as she yanks the boots on and ties them.

"Do you want to try that new steak and seafood buffet they opened up earlier this week?" Tara bites her lip to keep from yelling in happiness that Faith was agreeing.

"Sure. I'll come by your apartment it's more or less on the way." Faith picks up her wallet, double-checking to make sure she has plenty of cash in it before shoving it into her back pocket.

"Be there in a few." Faith disconnects the phone, a huge grin on her face as she clips the phone on her belt as she strides to the bathroom, brushing her hair and teeth quickly. Shaking her head at her own grinning countenance and twinkling eyes, Faith growls quietly, not listening to the little voice in her head telling her she's fallen in love with the Wiccan, just admitting that she cares for the blonde. "Damn, I've got it bad." Faith grumbles even as she continues to smile. Jogging out of the apartment, Faith runs down the stairs and strides quickly towards the Wiccan's apartment.

"I invited you, I should pay." Tara grumbles quietly as Faith pays for the buffet.

"You wouldn't let me pay ya' for teachin' me to cook, so consider this the installment plan. I pay when we go out." Faith accepts the change from the cashier.

Tara sighs heavily at the slayer. "How was patrol last night?" Tara questions softly as they find a booth off to the side to sit in away from everyone as they set their drinks and silverware on the table before grabbing their plates to head towards the huge buffet.

"Quiet." Faith admits. "I know things slow down with the daylight being longer, but this is just weird. It's kinda like a lot of the…guys are heading out of town." Faith states diplomatically, since there are still quite a few people in the restaurant, though it was an odd time of the day.

"Any more rumblings on the big bad front?" Tara looks at Faith before she looks back down and makes herself a Caesar salad to start with grinning as Faith just stands there talking with her, knowing the slayer was more eager to get to the meat and potatoes of the buffet.

"There've been rumblings, but nothin' concrete. Just got a call from Tweed yesterday that there're a couple Watchers and potentials that they ain't heard from for a week." Faith admits quietly. Slowly working her way over to the main buffet, eyeing the fried shrimp, sautéed shrimp, fried scallops, steak, potatoes, fried chicken… "Damn, what the hell am I gonna start with?" Faith stares at the food, her mouth watering.

"Start at one side and work your way around." Tara shrugs, chuckling. "Lord knows, you can probably eat your weight in food."

Faith growls playfully at the Wiccan. "And you better be eatin' something besides that salad." Faith points to the salad.

"I'll have something else. I'll just stay away from the shrimp, though." Tara shakes her head at the shrimp on the buffet.

"Why? Don't you like 'em?" Faith questions curiously as she places a spoonful of the fried scallops on her plate, looking curiously at the baked fish fillets, shrugging her shoulders, she slides a piece onto her plate as she works her way down.

"No, I'm allergic." Tara explains, watching as Faith jerks her head to look at her. Watching as Faith walks by the shrimp after her comment. "Don't you like them?"

"Not if you're allergic." Faith shakes her head as she continues around, putting a couple hush puppies on her plate pursing her lips as she looks at the pile of fried chicken. Finally choosing a couple legs, she places them on top of the pile of food, hesitating for a few minutes before grabbing a piece of pepperoni pizza laying it on top of everything.

Tara sighs softly, shaking her head at the slayer, deciding not to argue with the woman over the fact that she was planning on not eating something that she probably enjoyed, just because of her. Leading the way back to the booth, Tara slides in, watching as Faith sits across from her and grabs the pizza, eating the slice in record time. "Did you eat today?" Shifting the additional plates the waitress had left on the table out of the way.

Faith continues to chew for a few minutes as she thinks about it. "I don't think I did."

Tara growls quietly. "Eat." Grabbing her fork, Tara eats her salad while she watches Faith demolish her first plate of food as she finishes her salad.

"That fish was pretty good. It tasted like it had garlic and lemon on it." Faith licks her lips as she finishes the last bite of fish.

"We never did fix fish, did we?" Tara questions, as she thinks about the items she'd taught the slayer how to cook.

"Nope. Gotta teach me how." Faith nods her head, even as she grins happily at the thought there was something else she'd need to have the Wiccan teach her how to cook.

"I'm thinking you're just trying to find reasons for me to come over to your apartment." Tara comments softly as they grab clean plates, heading back towards the buffet.

Faith glances at Tara for a few minutes. "What if I just want ya' to come over for dinner one night? Just the two of us?" Faith questions, partially afraid of what the answer will be.

Tara looks into the slayer's brown eyes, surprised at the scared glimmer. "Are you asking?"

As the slayer's eyes look hopefully at her, Tara sees a glimmer of something more in the woman's brown eyes. Inhaling deeply as she realizes she sees love burning deeply in the eyes looking into hers, Tara slowly nods her head. "Yes. My answer would be yes."

Faith smiles hugely, feeling her heart thumping in her chest heavily. Leaning in, Faith doesn't even think before placing a firm kiss on Tara's lips. "I think I'm gonna see how much steak they got already cooked."

Tara runs her tongue over her lips, her eyes half lidded at the firm, but quick kiss. Having just received soft pecks in the past, the firm kiss practically jump-started her libido. The pounding and heat coming from the juncture of her legs almost enough to make her drag the slayer out of the restaurant back to her apartment to see what else the slayer had been holding back.

Faith smirks as she sees the obvious desire on the woman's face as she steals a quick look at the Wiccan as she waits her turn for the steak. The slow dance the two women have done around each other for the past month making Faith realize she actually enjoys being around the woman. Talking with her as they had slowly gotten to know each other, the stolen caresses and brushing against her had almost been more than Faith could handle, especially when the Wiccan would smell so tantalizingly decadent at the briefest touches and looks.

Tara growls quietly before tearing her gaze away from the twinkling brown eyes watching her. Looking over the buffet, she slides a fillet of fish on her plate along with some scallops and a couple hush puppies, stopping to grab a wedge of lemon before heading back to the table as Faith heads around the other side of the main buffet. Running a shaky hand through her hair, Tara realizes when Faith finally kisses her seriously, that she may not be able to control her response. Never having lost control before, Tara wonders what it would be like to be wild and free knowing that the slayer would want everything. There would be no holding back with Faith, no half measures and no hiding how they feel about each other from other people. If Faith took the urge to kiss her in the middle of a…restaurant, she would. Tara laughs softly in realization of what the slayer had done.

Shaking her head of thoughts of how she and Willow had been. Almost too afraid to hold hands in public, let alone show any more serious displays of affection in front of people. They had just become relaxed enough around the other Scooby's to where they would peck each other's lips in their sight, though the two of them had never been much for hot and heavy kisses. Usually softer kisses were the norm for the two of them.

Turning her gaze towards the slayer as she strides towards her, Tara whimpers at the sight of the strong woman. Knowing there might be soft, gentle kisses occasionally, but instinctually knowing that hot, heavy, carnal and plundering kisses would probably be more of the norm, along with wherever the mood struck. Dragging her eyes off Faith, to look down at her plate of food, Tara squirms as she can feel the desire easing from her body at the thought of the slayer's kisses.

Faith inhales deeply as she comes closer to the table, Tara's arousal permeating the area strongly. Eyes darkening at the realization that the Wiccan had never been so turned on before, Faith bites her lip hard to keep from growling loudly and pouncing on the woman, her own desire flowing in response to Tara's. Faith silently wonders what Tara would do if she realized that she could smell her so easily. Trying to get her mind out of thoughts of smelling, licking and devouring the woman float through her mind, making her own desire coalesce, Faith stares at her steak as she quickly cuts it into bite-size pieces.

Tara slowly eats her food as she watches Faith demolish the steak, baked potato and macaroni and cheese she'd piled onto her plate.

"I'm gonna get some more steak. You want anything?" Faith looks at the few bites of fish left along with a couple scallops on the Wiccan's plate.

"I'll probably get dessert after I finish this." Tara smiles up at the slayer as Faith moves to stand beside the table, another plate in her hand.

"Would you maybe wanna go catch a movie tomorrow afternoon before dinner?" Faith eases down onto her haunches so she's eye to eye with the Wiccan instead of standing over her.

"Good." Faith smiles back. Her eyes getting lost in blue depths, until the waitress comes by to fill their glasses. Smiling shyly at Tara, Faith stands and heads towards the buffet, feeling the heat of the Wiccan's gaze on her.

Tara drops her fork on the plate and buries her face in her hands, the contradictions of the dark-haired slayer endearing the woman even more to her. The way she switches from soft and kind to protective and argumentative at a moment's notice driving her crazy one moment and making her want to shove her against a wall and kiss her until neither one of them can stand. Whimpering as she realizes she's fallen completely and irrevocably in love with the dark-haired slayer, Tara silently wonders why it's taken 'til now to admit it to herself. Knowing she's practically loved the woman from the time they'd met after Faith had been released from jail.

"Goddess, I hope you're not playing with me. I don't think I could handle another heartbreak…with her I think it would completely decimate me." Tara murmurs softly, realizing that there would be no pulling back from the whirlwind that is Faith.

"Are you okay?" Faith questions worriedly as she practically drops her plate on the table, kneeling beside Tara, placing a hand on the woman's thigh. Surprised when Tara turns to look at her the love shining from the depths, recognizing it for what it is. Gently squeezing the thigh under her hand, Faith tilts her head as she continues to look into blue eyes.

"Please don't break my heart." Tara whispers softly, her eyes becoming glassy with unshed tears. "I don't think I'd survive."

Faith swallows hard, quickly standing to ease in beside the Wiccan, wrapping her arm around her shoulders, hugging the woman tightly, surprised when Tara shifts and buries her face in her neck, her arms wrapping around her waist feeling like they want to squeeze the stuffing out of her. Wrapping her other arm around Tara's back, Faith places a gentle kiss on the side of Tara's head. "I'm not plannin' on breakin' your heart. I kinda like it the way it is. I can't guarantee everythin'll be all sweet and great between us all the time, that just ain't me, but I won't knowingly hurt ya'." Faith offers softly. "I'll do everything in my powers to protect ya'." Faith adds brushing her cheek over Tara's head.

"That's all I can ask. I don't expect us to never argue, or butt heads. I think we're both a little too stubborn for us not to argue." Tara admits quietly, easing up on her death grip, pulling a hand up to brush at the couple tears that escaped her eyes.

Faith leans back to look at Tara. "You know I ain't no innocent. You sure you can handle being hooked up with an ex-con, murdering slayer that had a pretty fucked up life?"

"You aren't that person any longer, Faith. I mean, yes you are, but inside here…" Tara places her hand above Faith's heart. "You've changed. That wouldn't happen again. As for not being innocent, you couldn't help what happened to you, love. I'd go kick your mom's ass personally if I thought it would do any good." Tara frowns heavily at the thought of the woman. Taking a deep breath, Tara reaches up unable to not touch the woman as she strokes her fingertips gently down Faith's cheek, letting her fingers trail over the slight indent that become gorgeous dimples in the woman's cheek when she smiles. "Eat your steak before it gets cold." Tara sighs softly as she reaches for Faith's plate, easing it in front of her, silently telling her to stay beside her with her actions.

Faith hugs Tara gently with her arm once more before easing it from around her, accepting her knife and fork from Tara as the Wiccan moves her drink and napkin also. "Would you like to get up to go ahead and grab dessert?"

"No, I'll wait until you're ready for dessert." Tara shifts her plate across the table as she grabs her drink, sipping her soda as she watches Faith work her way through the steak. "Would you like me to go get you more steak?"

Faith's eyes light up, before she slowly shakes her head. "You ain't gotta do that."

"Just the steak." Faith eases out from the booth, grasping Tara's hand as the Wiccan stands. "Thank you." Faith gently squeezes Tara's hand before releasing it, watching as Tara blushes lightly before she heads towards the buffet. "God help us both." Faith smiles softly, shaking her head before easing into the booth, switching their silverware and drinks out before she gets to work finishing her steak.

Tara chuckles quietly as she walks back to the table. Looking at the huge piece of steak she'd talked out of the man, knowing they don't like to give that much meat out at once at these type places. Glancing at her other hand that she'd grabbed one of the soup bowls and filled with the fresh berries they'd just put out in the salad area Tara's mouth salivates at the sight of the big juicy berries.

Faith blinks in surprise at the huge slice of steak Tara slides in front of her. "How the hell did ya' get 'em to give you one this big?" Faith licks her lips as she's already cutting into the meat.

"I just flashed my baby blues at him and smiled." Tara shrugs, looking at Faith as she does the same look to her, fluttering her eyelashes and grinning seductively at the slayer.

"Oh, God." Faith mumbles, tearing her gaze away from the Wiccan. "No wonder. Ya' probably could of asked him to give you his paycheck for the next year and he woulda' done it." Faith swallows hard at the serious bolt of desire shooting through her with the Wiccan's look.

"Didn't think it was that effective." Tara shrugs, not realizing how much of an effect it had on the slayer as she reaches towards the bowl of fruit, picking out a juicy strawberry to eat first, moaning at the sweet flavor.

Faith's fork and knife clatter to her plate at the Wiccan's moan, watching as Tara closes her eyes as she chews the fruit, a pink tongue coming out to gather the juice off her lips. Taking a couple deep breaths to get control, Faith taps Tara gently on the end of the nose, looking into blue eyes. "If ya' don't want me to shove everythin' off this table, rip your clothes off and make you dessert, you will keep your moans to yourself." Faith warns huskily, her voice deep and rough with desire.

Tara's eyes widen in surprise at the desire burning brightly in Faith's eyes, feeling the coiled body beside her, Tara searches the brown eyes, realizing that Faith is deadly serious. Looking at the table in stunned shock before her eyes turn back to Faith's silently questioning the slayer.

"Don't tempt me." Faith growls. "I can have your clothes ripped off you and you spread out on this table in a few seconds. And I would do it with very little provocation." Faith taps Tara on the nose again. "Think you understand that?"

Tara nods her head quickly, her own body reacting to the slayer's words and look. Reaching for another strawberry, Tara offers it to the slayer. "They are good, though."

Faith leans in, taking the strawberry from Tara's fingers, sneaking her tongue out to caress over a thumb before curling it around the strawberry to pull it into her mouth, having to admit the fruit was delicious. "It is." Faith agrees softly. "Maybe we'll have to buy some strawberries for future usage." Faith grins wickedly, her eyes twinkling at the thought.

"Only if we get whipped cream and chocolate, also." Tara turns her gaze to her bowl of fruit, picking out a raspberry this time, missing the flare of desire crossing Faith's face.

Faith shakes her head before turning back to her food, swearing that she'll finish this steak, have dessert and walk out of the restaurant without ripping off Tara's clothes and having her way with the woman for the next few hours right here on the table. Snorting quietly at the thought of the headline in the newspaper 'New Dessert at the Steak and Seafood Buffet'. Bet they'd have people lined up around the block if she did it. Faith snickers at the thought.

Tara raises an eyebrow at Faith's snorts and snickers, looking curiously at the woman, but when Faith just seems engrossed with her steak, Tara blinks and turns back to her fruit.

"What'cha gonna do over Spring Break?" Faith finishes her steak, patting her stomach.

"Nothing. Dawn's heading out with one of her friends from school, so I don't have to keep an eye on her for Buffy." Tara shrugs as she looks curiously at the slayer. "What do you have planned?"

Faith purses her lips as she looks intently at the Wiccan. Smiling hopefully at Tara, Faith leans in to whisper softly. "Hopefully talkin' a certain blonde Wiccan into moving out of her tiny little apartment and into mine."

Tara stares in surprise at the slayer. It takes a few minutes to realize that Faith is very, very serious about the matter. "But…" Tara shakes her head as she turns her gaze to the table. "Faith, we don't even know if we'll get along without driving each other completely up a wall, let alone compatible in a more physical way." Tara points out softly.

Faith plucks nervously at her napkin as she looks at Tara. "I don't think we'll drive each other completely crazy." Faith starts quietly, watching as Tara turns her head to give her, her full attention. "I don't wanna push ya' into anythin'. You can move in, I won't push for a more physical relationship until you're ready."

"Yeah. You can have it I'll sleep on the couch." Faith watches the emotions crossing the Wiccan's face. "Please? I really don't like you livin' on that side of town. That's the worst and the most violent part of town. Even the demons don't like goin' there." Faith explains, frowning heavily. "I'll even behave and try not to run around the house naked."

Tara inhales deeply at the thought of the slayer naked, jerking her eyes away from where they'd unconsciously dropped to the slayer's firm, round breasts.

Faith fights back the smile at Tara's inhale and smell of arousal. "You can think about it, if ya' want."

Tara slowly nods her head her mind going in about twenty different directions as she thinks about the slayer's offer, knowing that if she moved in with the woman there wouldn't be any of the slayer sleeping on the couch, at least not for long. Her own arousal with a simple comment or look would blow holes in the thoughts of them not consummating this relationship quickly.

"Want some dessert?" Faith finally asks after a few minutes, giving Tara a little while to start thinking about moving in, not wanting to push anymore, having learned over the last month the more the woman is pushed the more stubborn she becomes.

Tara moves out of the booth, standing there as Faith strides towards the salad bar before hitting the dessert bar. Blinking in surprise as she realizes she wants to move in with the woman. They were surprisingly comfortable with each other, having talked about both their pasts, getting to know each other, the almost constant flirting and occasional touches that had escalated so much recently. Even Buffy's surprised comments about how much the slayer's changed and become more relaxed around the group as she opened up to them.

Tara chuckles softly, remembering some choice comments from Buffy and Dawn both about when the hell the two of them would stop dancing around each other. Buffy being a little more blunt, griping after making the comment that Faith was a bear while on patrol, taking her frustrations out on the demons even more than normal.

Faith chuckles quietly as she looks at Tara still standing beside their table. Easing up behind the obviously deep in thought woman, Faith slides the bowls on the table before pressing her body lightly against Tara's. "What'cha thinkin' so hard 'bout?"

Tara moans softly as Faith's hot breath breathes the words directly into her ear even as strong hands gently clasp her hips, and a pair of firm breasts presses into her back. Tara unconsciously places her hands over Faith's clenching them tightly. "Goddess, Faith. You're going to drive me crazy."

"Don't mean to." Faith brushes her cheek against the side of Tara's head, enjoying the contact more than she ever thought possible, never having been a touchy type person, but being around the Wiccan made her realize she enjoyed the simple touches and caresses more than any of the previous bouts of sex she'd had.

"I'm not so sure about that." Tara inhales deeply before gently easing from the slayer's grasp. "Let's finish eating, then maybe we can go somewhere a little more private and talk." Tara offers softly.

Faith searches Tara's eyes for a few minutes, seeing the warmth, caring and love. Slowly nodding her head, Faith smiles self-consciously. "'Kay."

Tara smiles gently at the slayer as she slides in beside her to eat her fruit while Faith works on the fruit and vanilla ice cream concoction she'd made.

"I don't think this is a good idea." Tara admits as she walks into the slayer's apartment, her eyes automatically drawn to the dais with the slayer's king-size bed.

"I promise not to pounce on ya'." Faith crosses her heart, smiling softly at the Wiccan.

"I'm more worried about me pouncing on you." Tara mumbles softly as she heads towards the couch, unaware the slayer had heard her words.

Faith grins at the woman's words. "Would ya' like somethin' to drink?" Faith heads over to the refrigerator, grabbing a bottle of water out as she turns to look at Tara.

"Water would be wonderful, thank you." Tara blushes lightly as her mind thinks about water in the form of a cold, cold, ice cold shower.

"Make yourself comfortable." Faith indicates Tara's shoes, knowing the woman's penchant for wanting to get out of her footwear as quickly as possible. Setting the waters on the coffee table, Faith leans down and unties her boots, pulling her shoes off before grabbing the water and sitting at the opposite end of the couch, turning towards Tara. "What'cha wanna talk about?"

Tara sighs softly as she turns so she's facing Faith. "How serious are you about your offer?"

"Because I like ya'." Faith shrugs as she returns the woman's gaze. Seeing the questioning quirk of Tara's eyebrow, Faith sighs. "Okay, I more'n like ya'. But I ain't wantin' to push ya'."

Tara sees the honesty in the slayer's eyes, also seeing the love shining from the brown eyes. "We would have to iron out some rules."

"Whatever you want." Faith shakes her head, willing to make any concession to have the woman here with her.

"No." Tara shakes her head. "We, Faith. Relationships are give and take. One person can't always do what the other person wants, that would unbalance us and would end this relationship fast because of underlying tension."

Faith taps her fingers on her leg, slowly nodding her head in understanding. "Okay, what are you wantin' to put down as rules?"

"First off, I want to pay my fair share of the bills." Tara looks around the apartment, wincing slightly as she realizes she's going to have to definitely probably get a part-time job, the grants for housing probably not going to be enough to pay her half of the rent and utilities.

"'Kay. Electricity and sewage usually runs about $200 a month. Groceries I'll pay for, considering I will be eating 95 percent of it, what little bit you eat ain't nothin'." Faith shrugs. "So plan on paying $100 a month."

Faith blinks at Tara, before a small smile crosses her face as she realizes Tara thinks it's just an apartment. "Tare, the place is paid for. It's a condominium. Wilky bought it for me, so there is no rent."

Tara's mouth drops open as she considers the slayer's apartment again, remembering how of all the times she'd been over here, she'd never heard anything from the other apartments. Realizing there must be some serious sound dampeners in the building, which would be necessary for condominiums to give the owners the privacy they would want without the yard work a house would need. "I didn't realize." Tara shakes her head in surprise.

"I kinda figured with your comment. All I pay out is utilities for this place, Tare. Your being here ain't gonna make them go up that much, maybe just the water. You could stay here rent free, it don't bother me none." Faith offers, breathing out sadly as she sees the stubborn look coming over the woman's face.

"I'll pay my fair share, Faith. Which is a lot cheaper than I would have believed." Tara shakes her head, slowly relaxing as she realizes working part-time at the Magic Box would more than cover her share of the rent. Though wanting to save up some money, she really should look into a steadier job instead of the occasional filling in for Anya.

"What'cha thinkin' about?" Faith questions curiously watching the emotions crossing Tara's face.

"Just the fact that I really need to look for a part-time job, that way I can start saving up some money." Tara's eyes are distant as she thinks about where she would like to put in her application.

Faith starts to open her mouth, snapping it shut as she realizes that Tara wouldn't allow her to support her, though having the woman here as much as possible with her is very, very tempting to the slayer. Looking down at her hands as she runs her finger over the water bottle, Faith considers the options. "Finding a job in SunnyD won't be hard. But what'cha wanna do?"

Tara blinks and looks at the slayer. "I'm hoping next year I'll be able to get a TA's job working part-time with an English teacher at the high school. For the summer, I guess a job waitressing or working at the grocery store as a cashier would work."

Faith scratches her head as she looks at Tara. "You're gonna be an English teacher?"

Tara smiles and nods her head. "Yes. I've taken a lot of business courses also, along with my classes to become a teacher, so I could work in business management if I need to. But I'd prefer to work with kids to help them learn."

"I can see ya' bein' a teacher." Faith purses her lips as an idea comes to her mind. "Now, don't turn this down automatically, okay?"

"I was just starting to take classes on-line while I was in jail to earn my GED. Could we maybe work out somethin' where I'll pay ya' and take care of your portion of the rent and you can help me?" Faith questions hesitantly.

"I'll tutor you, Faith." Tara smiles at the slayer, chuckling as a huge grin crosses the slayer's face. "But I don't want anything for helping you. I'd consider it a pleasure to help you earn your GED."

Faith's grin turns quickly into a frown. "I don't want you to do it for nothin', Tare."

"I won't be doing it for nothing, Faith. I'll be doing it for you and for me. It'll make me extremely happy to help you." Tara smiles at the slayer. "I'll apply somewhere to where I'll work a couple days a week then the rest of the time I'll be here for you."

Faith sighs quietly, knowing she isn't going to win this argument the woman had already made up her mind. "What other rules are ya' wantin'?"

"Neither one of us is the other's maid." Tara raises an eyebrow at the slayer, chuckling as Faith blushes lightly.

"Yes, but dirty clothes strewn throughout the apartment is going to be a bone of contention." Tara smirks at the slayer, raising an eyebrow as the slayer gets a devious look in her eyes.

"What if it's both our dirty clothes? As in a trail from the front door towards the bed?" Faith smirks as the Wiccan blushes lightly.

"That's different." Tara mumbles at the slayer's insinuation. "And stop putting pictures in my head!" Tara growls at the slayer.

"They're already in mine, might as well be in yours, too." Faith leans back, smiling as she feels extremely pleased with herself.

"Thanks." Tara tries to get thoughts out of her head of the two of them ripping each other's clothes off as they make their way towards the bed, probably ending up short of their mark. "Ummm…Okay, cleaning and cooking…"

"Figured we could take turns, or do it together." Faith shrugs, not worried about it.

"Probably be best to do our own. Most of my shit has some seriously gross stuff on it that you wouldn't want to be washed with your items." Faith admits, wincing slightly. "Plus my leathers I take to the cleaners."

"Do you have a washer and dryer here, or do you hit the Laundromat?" Tara questions curiously, not remembering seeing the items.

"Got a set here." Faith stands, waving for the Wiccan to follow her. "It ain't anything great, but it does the job. I do take clothes that are nastier to the Laundromat to wash, though."

Tara follows as Faith walks by the bathroom down the short hallway to open the door she hadn't noticed before, surprised at the sight of the utility room. The washer and dryer sitting side by side while Faith had obviously put the shelves and pegboard up along the other wall for all her weapons. "I wondered where you kept your weapons, other than the ones you keep tucked away in the main part of the apartment."

Faith chuckles quietly. "Gotta have different weapons. Never fails that you lose something or it gets broken." Faith frowns as she pulls down one of the boxes looking inside. "Gotta remember to get more wood to make stakes with, also."

"Is there anything else you can think of that we need to discuss?" Tara watches as Faith slides the box back into position before turning towards her, a glint in her eyes.

"Yeah, there is somethin' else, but it ain't something to discuss." Faith admits, reaching around the Wiccan's neck, cupping the back of her head gently. Looking into Tara's eyes seeing the agreement and desire in the blue depths, Faith slowly closes the distance between their lips. Moaning quietly as their lips make contact, Faith brushes her lips over Tara's before easing her tongue out to run teasingly over Tara's bottom lip, eagerly delving into the welcoming warmth as Tara moans and grants her entrance.

Grasping the slayer's waist, Tara leans into Faith's body as they deepen the kiss, gently exploring each other's mouths for long minutes before they both end the kiss, pulling back to pant in the quiet apartment. "Goddess." Tara drops her head to Faith's shoulder, feeling the desire coursing through her, making her ache and pound for the woman's touch.

Wrapping both arms around Tara's neck, Faith makes the small step to press her body firmly against Tara's, enjoying the feeling of the woman's body against hers. "Does this mean you're gonna move in?" Faith questions, her voice deep and rough with arousal.

Tara whimpers quietly as the sexy voice of the slayer vibrates through her body, settling in a decidedly southern area. Taking a deep breath, Tara finally nods her head. "Yes, it does."

"Good. Let's go get your stuff." Faith grabs Tara's hand as she drags her from the utility room.

"Yeah, we do. Don't want ya' there no more." Faith gently tugs on Tara's hand. "Come on, woman. I want you here in our apartment where you belong." Faith quickly yanks on her shoes and ties them, glancing over at Tara as she ties her shoes, seeing the slightly glassy look to her eyes.

Tara follows the slayer as the tears come to her eyes at how easily the slayer had said it was their apartment and that she belonged here. Blinking the tears back, Tara follows Faith out of the apartment with no more arguments.

"Here, ya' might need this." Faith digs in her pocket, pulling out a key on a small gold key chain that said Tara.

Tara accepts the key staring in stunned surprise at the item as they continue to walk down the street.

"Do we need to get boxes?" Faith questions as they come close to one of those truck rental places that also sold moving supplies.

"No, I kept all my boxes broken down under the kitchen sink. I think we'll be able to fit the majority of the stuff back in the boxes." Tara softly answers her mind still partially in shock.

"'Kay. After we box up everything, we'll call a cab to take us back to our apartment." Faith glances at Tara, noticing the somewhat shocked look on the woman's face. "Somethin' wrong?" Faith slows down to a stop turning Tara to look at her.

"How long have you been planning on me moving in with you?" Tara questions as she looks at the key.

Faith shuffles her feet as she looks down at the sidewalk. "A while. Just now got up the nerve to ask."

Tara tucks the key away in her pocket before gently lifting the slayer's chin to look in her eyes. "Let me guess, you've already made room for my clothes and things, haven't you?"

"What am I going to do with you?" Tara questions as she laughs softly, unable to keep from kissing the slayer.

Faith grunts and cups Tara's cheek, her fingers gently sliding into Tara's hair, urging Tara back in against her lips for a longer, deeper kiss before finally easing back from the Wiccan. "You can start off by doing that any time you want to." Faith grins, her eyes twinkling with mischief.

"We aren't going to spend all our time in bed." Tara warns, trying not to laugh at the slayer.

"'Kay." Faith nods, clasping Tara's hand with hers, smiling as the Wiccan threads their fingers together. "We can spend time on the couch, against the wall, in the shower, against a mausoleum wall, on top of a tombstone…"

Faith laughs, sliding the Wiccan a glance, before leaning in to whisper softly. "That wasn't a no."

Faith whoops loudly, making the people they pass turn to stare at the two women shaking their heads before continuing about their day.

"Yep." Faith agrees easily as they get closer to Tara's apartment. "You wanna tell the gang, me tell 'em or both of us together?" Faith questions seriously.

"We'll probably just get a thank God from Buffy and Dawn." Tara shrugs, smiling at the slayer's look. "They've both made a few comments."

"Huh?" Faith blinks in surprise, knowing she and Buffy had discussed things, but not expecting her to say anything to Tara. Dawn saying something coming as somewhat of a shock, as the teenager had just made one threatening comment and hadn't said another word to her about the relationship developing between her and Tara.

"It seems Buffy would be happy if you started taking your frustrations out elsewhere instead of on the demon population. I'm thinking that you're not giving her much of a chance to fight the demons?" Tara purses her lips as she glances at the embarrassed slayer. Trying not to laugh at the silent look of guilt, Tara nods her head. "And Dawn is sick and tired of us dancing around each other all the time. She was a little less blunt on the matter of what Buffy said we should do, but her wording was something along the lines of would you two get it on already?"

Faith groans loudly and rubs a hand over her eyes. "If she said that, what the hell did B say?"

Tara blushes, before laughing lightly. "She told me to drag your ass to the nearest convenient bed and not let you out of it for a couple days."

"I like that idea." Faith grins wickedly at the Wiccan. "You ain't got a bed in your old apartment, but we do in our new apartment." Faith yelps at the unexpected sting of a hand on her ass.

"You're sleeping on the couch, remember?" Tara growls lowly trying not to laugh at the slayer's pout. Never remember seeing the slayer looking quite like that before, almost feeling bad for teasing the woman.

Faith kicks at a stone and nods her head. "Yeah, I remember. And I meant it. I ain't gonna push you for anythin' you ain't ready for."

Tara notices the seriousness of the slayer's look. Not having it in her to allow the slayer to honestly believe that she would make her sleep on the couch. "Honey, I'm not going to make you sleep on the couch." Tara brushes a long strand of hair off Faith's cheek.

"We ain't gonna share the bed." Faith looks intently at the blonde. "I can't guarantee that I wouldn't be tempted to do more than just sleep in the bed with ya'." Faith admits honestly. "Come on, let's get ya' moved into our new home."

Tara sighs quietly, realizing Faith didn't quite get her point. Deciding to wait 'til later, Tara allows Faith to urge her to her apartment, feeling a happiness of getting out of the hole, not having enjoyed living in the small efficiency.

"Is the furniture yours or was it here?" Faith questions curiously as they walk into Tara's apartment, her eyes taking in the sparse furnishings.

"The futon was here, a friend that bought a new coffee table gave me their old one." Tara admits looking at the coffee table.

"No. When I asked her if she would want it back if I got something else, she told me to trash it or find someone else to give it to." Tara shrugs.

Faith follows the Wiccan, accepting the boxes from Tara while she opens a drawer and pulls out a roll of packing tape. Silently the two women tape the bottom of the boxes as they fill them with everything in the small kitchen area, before going out to the small living area. Kneeling on the floor beside Tara, Faith works on emptying the bottom drawer from the small dresser, smirking at the toys she finds. "Like to play?" Faith looks up curiously at the Wiccan.

"You already know I visit the toy store, and you see what's in there, so what do you think?" Tara questions exasperatedly.

"I'd say girlfriend is gonna make things interestin'." Faith holds up the surprisingly decent sized vibrator before placing it in the box.

"One thing I don't see here, though…" Faith puts the rest of the items away, noticing that they're geared more towards an individual's usage than a couple's usage.

"What, Faith?" Tara finally questions after a couple minutes and the slayer doesn't finish her comment.

"There's no harnesses or couples type toys in here." Faith looks up curiously at the Wiccan.

"No, there's not." Tara finishes filling her box with her clothes from the top drawer. Sliding it shut, she looks down warningly at the slayer. "If you're finished, I need to open the next drawer and I don't want to bang you in the head." Tara looks at the woman sitting on the floor in front of the dresser.

"Not wantin' to knock some sense in me yet?" Faith slides out of the way, grinning up at the blonde. "How come?"

"There hasn't been anyone for me to use those type things with." Tara explains quietly as she empties the next drawer.

"Didn't…" Faith trails off and waves her hand in the air, not wanting to mention Willow by name.

"No. She made the comment that if she wanted that, she'd go looking for the real thing." Tara shrugs.

"What if you wanted her to use it?" Faith blinks in surprise, never having thought Willow would be that selfish.

"Selfish bitch." Faith growls as she rolls over and onto her feet, hesitating for only a second, knowing that Tara would never hurt her. "Anything you want or want to try, you damn well better speak up. I'm game for anything and everything." Faith looks seriously into Tara's eyes.

Tara blinks in surprise before nodding her head in understanding smiling softly at the slayer. "Thank you, Faith."

Faith shrugs as she looks around the apartment, picking up the crystals on the coffee table. "Wanna wrap these between your clothes?"

"That would be perfect." Tara accepts a couple items from Faith, before placing them between the layers of her clothes.

"What else?" Faith frowns looking around the sparse, empty apartment. Not that there was a lot of items in it to begin with.

"My personal items out of the bathroom." Tara admits quietly, heading toward what appears to be an empty corner of the room.

Faith watches the Wiccan curiously before she hears Tara murmur something in a foreign language, surprised when she sees a small table with an Athame, incense, other ingredients and a large book, silently kicking herself that she hadn't noticed any 'witchy' type stuff in the room, knowing that there should be. "Got any more hidden stuff like that, that you need to get?"

Tara chuckles and shakes her head. "No. I don't normally keep a lot of ingredients, just the basics. I pretty much only use anything when Buffy needs me."

"I'll get your stuff outta the bathroom." Faith grins quickly at Tara before heading towards the bathroom.

Tara can't help the huge smile that crosses her face at Faith's actions, the woman practically running towards the bathroom. "Goddess, if she's that happy with me just moving in, what's she going to be like after we've made love?" Tara questions the room softly, unaware that the slayer can hear her.

"Probably pass out from pleasure if the kisses we shared earlier are any indication." Faith mutters the answer quietly to herself as she quickly fills the box, making sure all the items' lids were screwed on tightly.

Tara went through everything again, double-checking to make sure she didn't miss anything. Opening the refrigerator, she looks at the sparsely populated item, bringing the trash can over, she quickly tosses everything in it before shutting the refrigerator. Tying the bag she carries it over to the door, to drop off in the dumpster when they leave. Making a mental note to call the phone company and the electric company to shut both items off, Tara glances up as Faith comes out of the bathroom.

"I think so. Short of lifting everything to check under it…" Tara grins crookedly at the slayer. Blinking as Faith sets her box down and goes over to the stove, sliding it out partway before lifting it and kneeling to look under it, sliding it back quickly. "I wasn't serious, Faith."

"Don't hurt to check." Faith answers as she does the same with the refrigerator, working her way out to the living area. Picking up one whole end of the futon, looking under it before setting it down and doing the same with the dresser. "How come ya' didn't have a television?"

"No sense in wasting my money on one." Tara shrugs smiling at the slayer. "Half the time I was spending over at Buffy's house, the other half studying. I always got my fix while I was at Buffy's."

"I got a Playstation at our apartment. Maybe we can rent some different games for you that you might be interested in. I usually play those fightin' games, but they got other things, like role playin' games and mystical type games." Faith shrugs.

"We'll see." Tara smiles at the slayer, finally realizing what the woman obviously did to pass her time.

"Wanna call a cab? I'll take this trash out then come back up to help load the boxes downstairs." Faith watches as Tara nods, grinning as the Wiccan pulls the cell phone out of her fanny pack and presses the buttons to bring up the cab company Faith had pre-programmed into all the cell phones, remembering Buffy going ballistic over the fact that she had even gotten one for Dawn. The two slayers having sat down with the teen to explain that it was just for emergency usage. If there was a regular phone nearby to use it instead, unless she called one of the other cell phones for one of the group.

Faith had curiously opened the phone bill, surprised to see that the teen had only called the Summers' residence once on the cell phone where it counted against the minutes. Looking back at Tara, she watches as the Wiccan picks up the regular phone, dialing the number for the cab company before closing the phone back and tucking it away. "You coulda' called using the cell."

"No sense in using the minutes up." Tara shakes her head, smiling at the slayer.

"I got the maximum minutes allowed, and honestly we didn't come nowhere near using a tenth of 'em." Faith admits, winking at Tara.

"Maybe you should adjust the minutes down, don't they charge you?" Tara holds up a hand, as she talks to the dispatcher on the phone telling her she needed a cab and her address, before hanging up.

"Yeah, but I'd rather have them, just in case. Plus they got that rollover plan where we don't lose 'em." Faith shrugs. "Let me take this down." Faith grabs the bag, trotting out of the apartment quickly.

Tara has to laugh at Faith and her never-ending energy. Looking at the apartment, Tara thought she might feel a little nostalgic about leaving the place she'd lived in for the last seven months, but all she feels is a sense of relief and happiness.

Tara finishes placing her clothes in the dresser drawers Faith had sometime previously moved her stuff to one side of, leaving the other half for her clothes. The slayer had done the same thing with the closet. Looking down into her box that has her personal toys, Tara considers where to place them. "Mine are in the nightstand to the right of the bed, if you want to put yours in the one on the left side." Faith offers softly, seeing the look on Tara's face before looking at the box Tara was finishing unpacking.

"Go ahead and look if ya' want. We're gonna be livin' together, and hopefully sometime in the future doing a lot more than that." Faith shrugs before going back to Tara's boxes of kitchen items, sorting them and placing them in the appropriate places. There weren't many of them, but what the Wiccan had were of good quality.

Tara moves over to her nightstand, quickly pulling out the drawer and placing her items inside, closing it gently, before breaking the box down to place with the other broken down boxes. Looking at her magical items that Faith had placed on one of the shelves of the entertainment center for the time being, Tara looks around, sighing quietly as she realizes that everything possession wise that makes up her life she and Faith had packed, moved and unpacked in less than two hours. And that included travel time.

"What's wrong?" Faith glances over at Tara after she hears the second deep sigh come from the woman. Quickly shutting the cabinet, Faith punches down the box, tossing it on the pile by the trash can, planning on taking them out later.

"Everything that is my life we packed up and moved over here in less than two hours. How pitiful is that?" Tara sits down on the couch, a sad expression on her face.

"Shit, Tare. If it wasn't for Wilky and this place, everything I owned was pretty much what I had on my back." Faith sits down beside Tara, turning so she can look at her with one leg tucked under the other. "I've come to realize one thing, possessions ain't shit. It's the people you care about that are important."

"You're right." Tara leans her head back and rolls her head to look at Faith. "As long as I have you, and the rest of the group I am truly a blessed woman."

Faith blushes lightly looking down. "Ain't so sure about me being included in the blessin'."

"You're the biggest portion of it." Tara murmurs softly, lifting Faith's head up, looking into brown eyes looking almost shyly back. It stuns Tara for a few moments that this woman would be shy about anything. "Is it so hard to believe that people could care about you and love you, Faith?"

Faith wants to turn away from the woman, but blue eyes don't allow her to, keeping her held captive. "Nobody much cared whether I lived or died before, Tare."

"Oh, love." Tara brushes her fingers gently over the woman's cheek, saddened at the thought of this woman never having been shown love, though knowing that her home life was even worse than her own abusive home. "I can't do anything to change your past, love. But I promise to show you how much I care for you. You captured my heart pretty much the night you saved me. The following day there was no question that it belonged to you."

Faith closes her eyes as she feels tears trying to gather at what Tara was admitting to her. Even with knowing the woman, the way she is and what Buffy had said, it still hits her hard that this wonderful woman loves her.

Easing closer to Faith, Tara wraps her hand gently around the slayer's neck, urging the slayer against her, holding her tight, surprised when Faith buries her face in her neck. Feeling the dampness of the slayer's tears, Tara tightens her grip even more, sliding one hand up to gently stroke through the soft wavy hair. Pressing her lips to the side of Faith's head, Tara thinks about what she should say, or if she should say anything at all.

Faith gets control of her emotions after a couple minutes. Slowly relaxing at the Wiccan's comforting stroking, smiling as she remembers how often she'd catch Dawn curled up on the couch with her head in Tara's lap as the Wiccan would run her fingers through her hair. She had often wondered what it would be like for Tara to do that to her. Rubbing her cheek over Tara's shoulder, Faith eases away from the woman, smiling self-consciously.

Tara brushes her thumb over Faith's cheek, looking intently at the slayer. "I know you're not used to being loved, Faith. I also know it's hard for you to allow your feelings to show. You've grown so much just in the past month since you've been here. I see the loving woman inside you wanting to come out…and I hope that we're together for a long time to come so I can see you become the woman you should be." Tara tilts her forehead against Faith's. Letting her fingers trail down Faith's strong neck, playing along the edge of the slayer's perpetual tank top, smiling at the quick, hard inhale as her fingers trail over the beginning swells of Faith's breasts.

Faith takes the teasing touch for as long as she can before capturing Tara's hand. "You see somethin' nobody else has seen." Faith lifts Tara's hand, pressing a hot firm kiss into her palm. "But I gotta warn ya' not to tease me. It's been two years and it won't take much, Tare." Faith warns softly. "I won't be able to take a lot of the touchy-feely type thing. Not that I was ever that patient when it came to sex."

Tara threads her fingers with Faith's, lifting the slayer's hand to her mouth, nipping gently on a finger. "You'll learn that things are a little different when you're making love with someone, Faith. Sex is one thing, but being with someone when you care about the person…love the person…it's different."

"Yeah, but I don't think ya' want a horny slayer pouncin' on you within hours of you movin' in with her." Faith explains softly. "Especially after that slayer promised she'd behave and take things slow."

"You promised and you made the comments. Did I ever ask that of you? Other than joking with you the one time about you sleeping on the couch, did I say you had to sleep on the couch?" Tara tilts her head looking at the slayer curiously.

Faith blinks as she thinks over the conversations they'd had, remembering that she was always the one to bring up sleeping on the couch or not pushing the Wiccan. Tara didn't really say anything one way or the other. Then the Wiccan's words about how she wasn't going to make her sleep on the couch circles around in her head, making her look intently at Tara.

Tara chuckles softly. "No, love. I never said that you had to sleep on the couch or hold back."

Faith lifts a hand to stroke over Tara's cheek, frowning as she notices it shaking. Swallowing hard as she finally cups the Wiccan's cheek in her hand, Faith bites her bottom lip in realization that she's scared, scared of how to act with Tara. Not wanting to do anything to harm her, not wanting to treat her like she'd treated her past lovers. The cold impersonal relationships she had that were empty, literally just ripping clothes off and going at each other as quickly as possible, the need for instant gratification and then the walking out of the room or kicking the person out. "I…I don't know what to do." Faith admits hoarsely.

Tara's eyes become sad at the admittance, the lack of love in this woman's life having obviously hurt deeply, along with emotionally scarring her. "Just be yourself." Tara offers softly.

"Myself is rough, hard and quick, then getting the hell out." Faith admits, closing her eyes in shame. "I ain't ever done anythin' gentle, soft or slow, Tare."

"Then it's time you learned gentle, soft and slow." Tara runs her fingers through the dark wavy hair. "It's time you're shown what love is."

Faith whimpers as soft lips caress over hers time and time again. As Tara slowly deepens the kiss, Faith groans at the desire building inside her. Clenching the back of the couch with one hand, while grasping Tara's waist gently with the other, Faith fights against the urge to press Tara back against the couch and take the woman while relieving her own ache against a hip or thigh.

Feeling the tension and the pain radiating from Faith, along with the immense desire, Tara eases back from the kiss, looking at the woman about to become her lover. "Relax, Faith. Let the feelings flow through you."

"Can't." Faith's voice is low and extremely rough; shaking her head she opens her eyes to look into the dark blue eyes staring back at her. "I can't, I'm afraid I'm gonna hurt ya'." Faith admits before hopping off the couch and striding out onto the balcony, inhaling deep breaths to try and get control of her desire.

Tara runs a hand through her hair as she considers the woman, watching as she fights to bring her desire under control, knowing that Faith's putting it off is going to make it even harder. Faith needs the release now probably more than ever. Silently wondering if it would be best to help her out, and slowly work their way to slow and gentle lovemaking instead of expecting her to be able to handle the slow build-up when she's always been after the instant gratification. Shaking her head at her own cluelessness in regards to how she should have handled the woman, Tara stands and walks towards the balcony. Watching as Faith seems to tense even more with each step she comes closer to the slayer.

"I'm sorry, Faith. I never should have expected you to be able to take things slow. That's my fault. Will you please come in here?" Tara whispers softly.

"Not right now." Faith doesn't turn around, as she continues to stare out into the late afternoon sun. "I need a little while to calm down. Plus you should have slow. You should have a kind and gentle lover that'll make things sweet for ya'. Maybe this was a bad idea." Faith admits looking down at her hands clenched on the railing, realizing that if she can't get control of her desire she may lose the one thing that she wants most in life.

Tara frowns heavily at the slayer's words. Thinking about what the slayer's saying and the feelings coming from the woman, Tara slowly comes to the conclusion that Faith obviously thinks all she ever wanted was soft, slow and gentle. "Oh, Faith. I don't want just soft, slow and gentle. I want wild, carefree even occasionally rough. Different times I feel like different things. I've never allowed myself to be completely wild and carefree and only with one partner on the rough side. Most of my past partners weren't much along those lines. They were on the soft and gentle side. Every lover is different and brings something different to the relationship. I'm looking for a serious dose of wild and carefree with making love at the drop of the hat, being pressed up against a mausoleum wall after you've taken out five vampires because you're horny and being ravaged by you because of it. I don't expect you to be gentle all the time. I just want you to learn what it's like to be on the receiving end of gentle and caring. To have someone love you for you, not for what you can give them. This is going to be different for both of us, and I'm trying to say get your ass in here so I can ravage you now. Give you the pleasure you've been denying yourself for all these years, then maybe we can gradually work our way up to gentle and slow with a lot of teasing in between."

Faith feels her heart beating hard in her chest as Tara speaks, listening to the woman, Faith slowly relaxes as Tara tries to explain, realizing that maybe the Wiccan does understand what's happening and hopefully may be able to handle her wild side. Chuckling softly as Tara tells her to get her ass inside, Faith slowly turns around, seeing the love and caring on her face. "I can get rough, Tare. You gotta say somethin' to me if it's too much. I don't ever wanna hurt ya', but sometimes the desire kinda makes me lose control."

"I can protect myself, Faith. Plus if you ever get too rough, I promise I'll say something, or freeze you." Tara grins crookedly at the slayer, pleased to see some of the tension easing out of Faith's body. "But you've got to tell me if you need it rougher, gentler or whatever, okay? I think we should promise each other that whatever we need or desire, we'll let the other one know."

"I can go for that." Faith slowly prowls back into the apartment. "I think you said something about ravaging me?" Faith allows a cocky grin to cross her face even as she reaches down to pull off her tank top, tossing it across the room as her hands slide down her sides watching Tara intently.

Tara finally allows herself to look over the slayer's strong body. The full round breasts, standing so proud and erect to the muscular abdomen. Moaning quietly, Tara watches as Faith's hands stroke across her stomach as she slowly unbuttons and unzips her jeans. Seeing tanned skin and trimmed hair becoming visible, Tara whimpers quietly. As Faith slowly pushes the pants over her hips, Tara's eyes are caught by a scar on Faith's stomach, frowning at the item as she realizes that's where Buffy had stabbed her.

Seeing where Tara's eyes are looking and the frown on her face, Faith finishes closing the distance between them without pushing the pants the rest of the way off. "Tare?"

"I hate that things were so bad for you." Tara whispers, her fingers reaching out to stroke over the scar. "I would love to be able to take all the pain you've received and make it go away. Let you have a perfect life, love who you want."

"I don't want none of that." Faith reaches out to tilt Tara's face up from where she was looking down as her fingers stroked over her scar. "If I had the perfect life I wouldn't be here right now. I woulda never met you, or been a slayer. I think I'd rather have this now, even with all the past shit than to have the perfect life. I want right now, with you. I wanna learn your touch, your caress, your kisses. I want to taste you, learn what triggers your desires and makes you scream out my name when you cum. I plan on spendin' all the time I can in the pursuit of those wants." Faith looks seriously at Tara. "Would you rather I had the perfect life?"

Tara smiles and shakes her head. "Yes, but in my world, your perfect life will include me."

Faith stares at Tara dumbfounded for a few minutes, before chuckling at her. "I gotta watch you. You're sneaky."

"Yes, I can be." Tara grins at the slayer. "Finish taking your clothes off, please. I want to learn your body more intimately." Tara runs her hand up the slayer's warm body, almost wanting to collapse from the velvety hot skin her fingers are traversing. Wondering what the slayer will taste like, Tara allows her hand to trail up to finally cup the slayer's breast, the weight and feel of the flesh glorious.

"Tare, clothes." Faith slowly steps back feeling the desire burning hotly inside her, knowing it won't take much more for her to pounce on the woman. Finishing shedding her clothes, Faith watches spellbound as Tara slowly strips.

Tara blushes lightly looking down. "I'm not beautiful like you, Faith. I don't have the figure…" Tara stops as a finger presses against her lips, looking into the brown orbs of her soon to be lover. Tara inhales softly at the depth of emotion showing there.

"You're perfect." Faith watches as the creamy flesh slowly comes into view. As Tara unhooks her bra and slides it off self-consciously, Faith groans loudly as the full breasts come into view with the light rose-colored nipples topping them. "You're a woman. You've got the shape and body of a woman. You aren't some damn stick figure, you've got something for me to enjoy, touch and grasp." Faith's fingers stroke softly over the Wiccan's breasts, her eyes becoming darker as the nipples harden almost instantly at her touch. "I don't want society's version of the perfect woman. I want my version." Faith finally whispers.

Tara swallows hard at the tenderness of the slayer's touch and the beautiful words coming from her mouth, never having thought the rough, blunt woman would be able to speak straight to her heart as she did, allaying her fears so easily. Reaching down, Tara undoes her pants, pushing them down her legs as she leaves the peach colored underwear on.

"You like those boxer shorts type underwear, don't ya'?" Faith questions hoarsely, having to admit they look good on the woman with the little slits up the side, showing the smooth legs to advantage.

"They look it." Faith's hands grasp the Wiccan's waist pulling her body in tight against hers, grunting with desire as their breasts press against each other. "Got any in silk?"

"Just one pair…" Tara moans loudly as Faith's hands slide around her back to push down her underwear, cupping her ass firmly.

"Gonna have more." Faith growls hungrily as she captures Tara's lips. Diving into the welcoming heat, Faith plunders the inside of Tara's mouth, grunting in pleasure as she feels the Wiccan's nails scrape up her back before digging into her shoulders as Tara presses even harder against her body. As Tara battles strongly against her, not giving an inch in the battle of wills as they go back and forth from one mouth to the other, Faith pushes the Wiccan's underwear down, finally having to break the kiss for air before dropping down to her knees in front of Tara to push the underwear the rest of the way down, her eyes staring at the strip of dark blonde curls. Smiling at the desire glistening on the curls, along with the intense smell of arousal coming from the Wiccan, Faith urges Tara's legs apart even as her mouth delves between the lips to get her first taste of the Wiccan.

"Sweet, Goddess!" Tara cries out quietly, not expecting the slayer's maneuver. Reaching down, Tara clenches the slayer's head to steady herself as Faith's tongue strokes strongly over her body. As Faith's hands spread her lips so she can delve deeper within her, Tara whimpers loudly as a warm tongue wiggles its way inside her even as the slayer's nose presses against her clit, causing her to jerk as the attention she's being given makes her knees weak. "F-Faith." Tara tries to warn the slayer.

Faith groans into Tara's body, the taste of the Wiccan addictive, the rich, earthy taste with a hint of sweetness. Delving deeper within her lover's body, Faith grinds her nose firmly against Tara's clit, while wrapping her arms around Tara's thighs, feeling her start to shake uncontrollably even as her hands clench more firmly in her hair. Hearing Tara say her name, Faith tightens her grip on Tara's thighs as she feels them start to give out. Grinning, Faith eases back from Tara's center, licking her lips as she lifts the woman and carries her quickly towards the bed.

"Faith?" Tara questions softly as Faith lays her on the bed, hovering above her, her eyes dark and full of passion. Easing her hands from where they're still buried in Faith's hair. Running them firmly down Faith's body, Tara strokes and kneads the slayer's breasts, letting her thumbs brush softly over the hardened nipples while she continues to watch the emotions cross the slayer's eyes. Seeing them darken to almost black with the fire of passion flaring in their depths, Tara pinches Faith's nipples firmly. Hearing the deep groan of pleasure as she arches and her eyes close, Tara smiles and wiggles her body down so she can capture the hot flesh in her mouth, nipping firmly.

Faith groans loudly, pressing her breast more firmly into Tara's mouth as she straddles the Wiccan. Body rocking gently with desire as Tara's hands stroke down her stomach, Faith drops her head down, looking intently into blue eyes staring up at her. As surprisingly strong fingers brush over her mound, delving firmly between her lips, Faith grunts loudly in pleasure, rocking against the fingers firmly stroking in and out of her body.

Releasing the slayer's nipple, Tara moves her other hand from Faith's waist, where she'd been clenching the slayer unconsciously, around to Faith's butt cheek, digging her short nails into the flesh firmly as she shifts her body down more to get a better angle. Pressing her lips against Faith's lower abdomen, Tara builds up the speed and force of the motions of her hand as she feels Faith rocking against her harder. Pressing loving kisses over the flesh under her lips while using her free hand to stroke up and down Faith's body. As Faith's muscles start to flutter and tighten against her fingers, Tara presses her thumb firmly against the slayer's clit, having ignored it before now.

"FUCK!" Faith cries out as she explodes against the Wiccan's hand, her body rocking harder against Tara as she doesn't stop but seems to double her efforts. Dropping her arms down to her elbows, Faith buries her face in a pillow, groaning loudly and rotating her hips as Tara curls her fingers within her. Feeling the soft kisses over her body, then a wet tongue stroking along her scar, Faith feels her heart clenching at the gentleness and caring coming from Tara even as she gives her body the releases it needs. Clenching her fingers in the pillow, Faith jerks and shudders as Tara strokes over her G-spot, bringing her to a massive climax. Collapsing half on, half off the Wiccan, Faith whimpers quietly as Tara eases her fingers from within her body.

Tara shifts out from under Faith, hesitantly shifting against her side, knowing from past discussions with the woman that she definitely was never a touchy feely person, though lately she had been reaching out more for the physical aspect of an actual relationship. "Are you okay, love?" Tara questions softly, gently running her fingers down the lightly shaking back. When she just hears more quiet whimpers coming from the lightly shaking woman, Tara cautiously wraps her arm gently around Faith, pressing soft kisses over the woman's shoulder. "Faith? Love?" Tara whispers, starting to get worried as she realizes Faith's crying. Feeling the swirling emotions coming from her lover, she's somewhat at a loss as what to say or do. "Sweetie?" Tara wiggles her other arm under Faith, wrapping both arms around the slayer, pulling her firmly against her, burying her face in the slayer's hair. "What did I do wrong?" Tara whispers, feeling tears coming to her own eyes thinking that she might have done something wrong.

"Nothin'." Faith shakes her head as she hears the worry and sadness in Tara's voice. When she feels the tears soaking through her hair to land on her back, Faith groans softly. Easing Tara's arms from around her, Faith shifts around quickly and wraps Tara in her arms. "You didn't do anythin', Tare. Nothin' bad anyway." Faith winces as she tries to think of how to phrase what she's feeling. "Tare, I ain't never had someone care so much about my pleasure before. I usually took my pleasure, if ya' understand what I'm sayin'." Faith tries to explain. "I'd just ride a fuckin' guy into the mattress until I got off. The women I'd borrow whatever body part was handy. I ain't ever been touched with caring before."

Tara sighs quietly in relief even as she brushes her face over Faith's chest, feeling the tears flow even faster at the woman that has never actually known a lover's touch. All she's ever been is fucked; Tara honestly wouldn't even consider it having sex, just fucks.

"Babe?" Faith reaches down and lifts Tara's face, feeling the additional tears hitting her chest. Seeing the sadness in the blue eyes and the tear tracks, Faith frowns heavily, brushing her thumb gently over the damp cheek. "I didn't mean to upset you." Faith whispers.

"I know you didn't." Tara presses her face into the gentle caress, having to smile at the mercurial switches of her lover's disposition. Relaxing into Faith's arms, Tara shifts and buries her face into the strong neck. "It's just the fact that no one's ever loved you, Faith. One moment I feel such sadness for the fact you've never been shown love, the next I just feel this intense anger at all the people that had a chance to touch you. To do something other than fuck you and they didn't realize what they had."

"I didn't give 'em a choice." Faith sighs heavily. "It ain't their fault, Tare. It's my fault for being the way I am. I'd fuck 'em and kick 'em outta the room after I was done." Faith backs away from Tara, shifting up in the bed to press her back against the headboard while pulling her knees up against her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs as she distances herself. "I ain't talked much about my actions in the past, Tare. I hit on it but ain't given ya' a lot of details. I shoulda told ya' before askin' ya' to move in and havin' sex with ya'." Faith admits, feeling like shit for what she'd done.

"Faith, love." Tara shifts to sit beside Faith, hesitantly reaching out for Faith's shoulder, pulling her hand back as Faith flinches. "You may not have given me details, which you don't have to if you don't want to. But you did explain the basics of your life and the things that happened to you. Do you want to tell me that you've fucked two hundred people? Tell me. I don't care if you've only had two partners or two thousand. The only thing I care about is that you're here with me now. And, I have to tell you I don't share. This isn't up for discussion. I'll be true to you, never cheat on you, and I expect the same back. This isn't an ultimatum that I'm getting ready to tell you, but a promise. If you cheat on me, all you'll see is my back walking away. No matter how much I love you, I won't be able to deal with the betrayal."

Faith turns her head to look at Tara, the serious look on the woman's face along with her tone of voice letting her know that she was serious with everything she was saying. "I don't wanna fuck up our relationship. But I am a fuck up, Tare. You know what my life was like. I don't plan on hurtin' ya' in any way. I won't cheat on ya'. That I can promise with everythin' I am."

"Do you want to discuss your previous relationships?" Tara questions hesitantly, reaching out for the slayer again, sighing quietly in relief as Faith doesn't shift away. Gently rubbing the strong shoulder Tara smiles softly at her lover.

Faith quirks her lips at the Wiccan. "Wanna talk about your past relationships?"

"Sure." Tara nods, shifting a little closer to Faith, stretching her legs out in front of her crossing the right leg over the left as she gets comfortable. "Where would you like me to start? Start with Willow and work my way back or start at the beginning and end with Willow?"

Faith blinks in surprise at Tara, before chuckling. "You're willin' to have this conversation naked and in bed?"

"Sure. Why not? Wearing clothes and sitting on the couch doesn't change what happened." Tara explains softly. "Plus if it gets too bad, maybe we can distract each other." Tara wiggles her eyebrows at her lover, smiling as Faith laughs quietly.

"'Kay. Let me get us somethin' to drink." Faith relaxes her arms from around her legs, turning her head and upper body to kiss Tara quickly. "Water?"

"That's fine." Tara smiles as Faith hops out of the bed to jog over to the refrigerator. Shaking her head at the slayer's firm body, Tara closes her eyes at the shot of arousal coursing through her already. "Talk, Tara. Talk." Tara mumbles quietly to herself.

Faith smirks as she glances over at Tara at the Wiccan's mumbled words before grabbing the waters out of the refrigerator.

Tara smiles softly at her lover as she explains everything from how she and Willow had met at the Wicca Group meeting, to running from the Gentlemen, through her mind being sucked by the Hell God, Glory, through their final split after the big forget spell and Willow's eventual leaving for England to get her magic under control.

"You don't hafta answer, but what was your guys' sex life like?" Faith questions curiously, surprised when Tara had shifted in the bed, insisting on Faith lying down with her head in her lap while she gently ran her fingers through her hair. Coming to the conclusion that it was as much of a soothing gesture for the Wiccan as it was for the person she was stroking.

Tara sighs quietly as she tilts her head. "It was soft, gentle and satisfying. We were more into the soft brushing of lips and gentle touching. We were probably what most people believe lesbian couples are like." Tara shrugs, chuckling quietly at the thought. "All gentleness and hardly any public displays of affection. We were just comfortable enough in front of the Scoobies at the end of our relationship where we would lightly brush our lips against each other and hold hands. You know, all proper and that."

"Do ya' prefer the softness and gentleness?" Faith questions hesitantly, knowing that it would be hard for her not to touch the Wiccan firmly and pretty much invade her mouth and body with kisses and touches.

Tara frowns as she slowly shakes her head. "It isn't so much a preference, Faith. It's what our particular relationship was…" Looking down at Faith, she sees the confusion on the slayer's face. "That was right for mine and Willow's relationship. Maybe if I explain about one of my other relationships it might make more sense."

Faith nods her head for the Wiccan to go on, her mind completely locked on listening and hearing everything the Wiccan is saying, along with understanding what she's trying to say.

"My first relationship was when I was a senior in high school. It was more of an experimentation of fumbling touches and kisses. I loved the girl, but I was never in love with her." Tara explains, smiling quickly. "My second relationship was when I came to Sunnydale before my freshman year. I was renting a little apartment above a garage from this older lady that just wanted the company, more than anything. Anyway, I was working at the grocery store and this absolutely breathtaking older blonde walked in. I stuttered and blushed through checking her out. She just smiled and thanked me, a knowing gleam in her eye." Tara smiles softly in remembrance. "When I finished my shift, I was surprised to see her leaning against a blue convertible. We ended up talking and she finally admitted she was in town visiting her family before heading overseas for a new job."

Faith blinks in surprise, realizing that Tara had done something that probably was extremely odd for her, by having sex without loving the person she was with. "Go on." Faith whispers softly.

Tara allows a small smile to cross her face at her lover. "We went out, talking and getting to know each other for a couple days before I went back with her to her hotel room. She explained to me that she enjoyed playing a little on the rough side, but that she wouldn't force me into that if I wasn't interested. Needless to say I was kind of shocked and stunned, but we talked some more and I was comfortable enough with her to trust her to stop if things became too much. Plus I could tell she didn't really want to hurt me." Tara shrugs her eyes soft in remembrance. "She was also my first foray into adult toys. We experimented a lot, though my pain threshold wasn't very high, we found a comfortableness in the time we were together of what I could handle… It seems I was better at dishing it out than taking it." Tara admits, blushing deeply. "She enjoyed receiving as well as giving and after we found out that my tendencies leaned more to being a Dom, we experimented more with it. But kisses and sex were known to become rough on both sides."

Faith watches as Tara's hand lifts to brush over her lips in obvious remembrance. "I didn't think ya' was one for sex just for sex, ya' know?"

"I'm normally not." Tara admits, blushing as she looks down into surprised brown orbs. "There was something about her that struck a chord inside me. It might have been we were like souls in a way, but not meant for each other. Kind of like two ships passing in the night." Tara shrugs, chuckling. "That relationship, what there was of it, over the weeks we were together was right for us. We weren't meant to be together forever, but just for a short time. She showed me something about myself that I probably would have never known. And that relationship was right for us." Tara explains the point, her eyes looking seriously into Faith's eyes. "As is what our relationship is. It will be right for us, whether we're soft and gentle, rough and tumble or a combination."

Faith finally nods in understanding. "I think I understand what you're sayin'. We gotta take each relationship as it is. No two are the same, right?"

"Right. Why couldn't I say it that way?" Tara chuckles at the extremely simple and right on comment of her lover.

Faith smiles at her lover, feeling a lot more relaxed as she realizes that Tara isn't quite all sweetness and innocence like her appearance makes people believe. "I told ya' about my younger days, and being raped by my mom's boyfriend and the shit that transpired from there."

Tara feels herself becoming angry again at the thought of Faith's mom not believing her and beating her for lying. As she feels Faith stroke gently over her forehead, soothing her furrowed brows, Tara blushes and looks down at Faith. "Sorry, love. I…" Shaking her head, she smiles sadly at Faith. "Go ahead."

Faith sees the look in Tara's eyes, remembering that Tara had looked the same way when she'd told her about her mother's reaction when she'd told her what happened. Sighing quietly, Faith slowly continues on with her story. "I would fuck someone just for some food or a place to sleep at night while I was in Boston before my Watcher found me. I was just starting to trust her when Kakistos showed up, torturing her in front of me before literally ripping her apart. I hitchhiked and rode railway cars across the country 'til I finally ended up here. I didn't have no ID, or any money, so I went back to the same ol' thing. Hitting up Johns for cash, even picked a few pockets, ate from the trash cans." Faith shrugs at the admittance. "I did what I thought I had to do. Half the time I'd go out slaying, then hit the Bronze for some dancing before dragging someone out of there to fuck in the alley, or if I wanted a little more time and privacy I brought them back to the motel. I usually hooked up with guys. I'd pretty much just shake my ass or chest at 'em and I had 'em hooked." Faith looks down, feeling ashamed. "I don't know how many people I fucked, Tare. Your guess of two hundred might be pretty much right on, but I don't know for sure."

Tara gently runs her fingers over Faith's face, seeing the pain, shame and self-disgust there. "That's all you knew, Faith. I can't fault you for surviving and doing what you had to do."

"I didn't have to fuck all them people, Tare. I wanted to! I saw something I wanted and I went after it. I didn't care who or what it was. Hell, I even hit on B, trying to get in her pants. I thought it would be a rush to go against someone that was as strong, if not stronger than me. That woulda' been a helluva ride." Faith shrugs at the admittance. "Don't think she ever really knew I was hittin' on her, or at least she never let on that she knew. Somethin' I should let ya' know. I was tested while I was in jail, it came back negative, and I ain't been with anyone in two years before tonight. You ain't gotta worry about catchin' anythin'."

Tara smiles sadly down at the slayer. "That honestly didn't even worry me. I remember reading on one of my papers I had to do that all inmates are tested regularly for AIDS, and other STD's. I know you probably would have stayed as far away from me as possible if you were positive for anything."

Faith nods silently in agreement, turning on her side and burying her face in Tara's stomach. "I wish I could be a better person for ya'." Faith mumbles into Tara's flesh, wrapping her arms tightly around the Wiccan.

Tara feels the tears coming to her eyes at the softly spoken words. "But you're the person I've fallen in love with, Faith. The person that's gone through hell and done some seriously bad things and had some even worse things done to her, that's the Faith I know and love. That's the one that's lying here with me right now. That's the one I want." Tara whispers gently, smiling as Faith looks up at her.

"I don't know how or why, but I got somebody to thank for you bein' here." Faith leans up to kiss Tara softly, shifting her body around to straddle Tara and kiss her more hungrily and firmly. "I'll always try to do right by ya'. My solemn promise." Faith whispers as she releases Tara's lips, slowly kissing her way down Tara's neck, smiling at the deep moans she's pulling from Tara.

Tara growls quietly as Faith latches onto her pulse point sucking the flesh strongly even as her hands are cupping and kneading her breasts. Dragging her hands down Faith's back, Tara moans as Faith's lower body bucks against hers, feeling the heat and dampness coming from her lover. Wanting to roll the woman over and bury herself inside her, Tara fights against her desire, knowing that Faith needs that feeling of being in control by being on top. Tara silently plans on changing that by loving the slayer and teaching her that she isn't giving up control by letting someone else take the lead, but knowing in her heart that it's going to take a long time, possibly even years to reverse the damage that had been done to her.

Faith moans loudly as Tara's hand slides around to cup her heat, the Wiccan's strong fingers stroking through her wetness and circling her aching clit.

"Faith?" Tara questions hoarsely lifting the slayer's face from where she'd dropped her head onto her shoulder.

"I want to taste you." Tara whispers, placing a hot, wet kiss on Faith's lips before nipping gently at the full, bow-shaped bottom lip of her lover.

"I was gonna…Jesus!" Faith growls loudly as Tara squeezes her swollen clit, making her jerk and almost cum right then. "Fuck me! Do that again, and I'll cum." Faith warns, crying out as Tara quickly swirls her fingers around the swollen muscle before squeezing her clit even harder, making her jerk and cum, her body shaking with the release.

Tara nuzzles against Faith's ear, as the woman pants heavily against her, her body shaking and rocking firmly against her fingers stroking gently over her. "Can I taste you now?"

Faith blinks as she tries to remember what she was going to do to Tara. Whimpering quietly for a few minutes Faith finally reaches down to pull the distracting hand away from her body. Lifting the hand, she shows it to Tara. "There ya' go. I've got some pleasing of my own I wanna do." Faith smirks before shifting, gently pulling Tara down on the bed and spreading Tara's legs, pushing them up to open the Wiccan to her. Sliding her hands under Tara's ass, Faith clenches the flesh before going straight to suckling at the Wiccan's clit, letting her fingers tease the crack of Tara's ass, growling quietly as Tara cries out and jerks as she quickly tips her over the edge. Slowing down, Faith learns the Wiccan's body with her lips and tongue, delving into the dips, valleys and caverns.

Tara whimpers and cries out quietly as Faith continues to practically use her whole face against her center, feeling the slayer's strong, wet tongue dragging slowly up her body to teeth nibbling on her outer and inner lips, to Faith suckling on the flesh she comes into contact with. When Faith's tongue dips down further, stroking teasingly around her rosebud, Tara jerks and cries out the slayer's name as she climaxes.

Faith groans loudly as she laps up the fluid coming from Tara, smiling at the thought of the barely there caresses against Tara's sphincter muscle was obviously enough to make the woman cum. Turning her head and kissing the inner thigh of her lover, Faith nips firmly, chuckling as Tara jerks calling out her name. Slowly working her way up the Wiccan's body, Faith wiggles her lower body so she's snug against Tara. Propping her upper body up with her arms, Faith looks down into the sated gaze of her lover. "I think I got some experimentin' to do."

Tara chuckles softly, dragging her hands over Faith's back to grasp her shoulders urging her down against her body sighing happily as their breasts press against each other.

"I probably weigh too much to lie on ya' like this." Faith mumbles, burying her face in Tara's neck, surprised at the comfort she feels being this close to the woman, not having the urge to roll away and put some distance between them.

"You're fine." Tara whispers, her voice rough. Closing her eyes, Tara runs her fingers gently over the slayer's back, enjoying the closeness Faith is allowing her.

Pressing a firm kiss against Tara's neck, Faith inhales deeply, smiling at the smell of sex. "We smell good together." Faith whispers.

"I think we're good together, period." Tara softly states, kneading Faith's back a little firmer where she feels a tense muscle, smiling as it finally loosens after a few minutes.

"Hmmm. Feels good." Faith hums appreciatively as Tara starts working her hands over her whole back.

"I could do a better job, if you want me to." Tara offers as she tilts her head and kisses Faith's temple.

"Don't wanna move." Faith admits. "Are you gonna be able to deal with my attitude? I'm not a very nice person, Tare. I can't guarantee I won't be a bitch, and I don't really play well with others. You know I like being in charge."

Tara hesitates a second, before continuing her kneading and scratching of the slayer's back as she considers the woman's words. "How do you…" Tara sighs, not knowing how to phrase what she wants to say. "What do you think about the past month, Faith? The way you acted?"

"Talking, doing things to help people out, flirting and teasing me…" Tara trails off softly. "That was being yourself, and I think you've been a pretty nice person the past month. Not that you haven't gotten an attitude, but no worse than the rest of us."

Faith snorts at Tara's words. "Tare, you've been sweet, kind and understandin'. You ain't bitched at me once, how do you figure I haven't been no worse than the rest of ya'?"

"I haven't heard you bitch at any of us either, Faith." Tara explains as she shifts her head so she can look into Faith's eyes. "I think you're putting yourself down too much, love. You aren't giving yourself the credit you're due. You've been extremely helpful, going out of your way to be accommodating. Other than your taking the majority of the demons while out on patrol and pissing Buffy off, I'd say you've come a long way from the young woman that was in Sunnydale before."

Faith searches the open, sincere blue eyes staring at her, seeing honesty there.

"Was it someone else that took the patrol three nights in a row by herself while Buffy stayed home with Dawn when she had the mumps?" Tara runs her hand over Faith's cheek. "And don't try to tell me you weren't the mysterious benefactor that helped Buffy catch up on her bills and to leave enough left over for her to get the roof fixed. I don't believe that damn inheritance letter from a distant relative and check that showed up in the mail."

Faith blushes and looks away, her guilt obvious. "It ain't right. She wouldn't accept my help. I couldn't stand seeing her trying to catch the bills up like that while I'm sitting here with more money than I can spend in my lifetime." Faith whispers. "I would have given her more, if I woulda thought I could get by with it."

"So, even with all that, you still want to put yourself down. You're a more caring and giving person than you want to admit, Faith. You just see it as something that you need to do, but you are doing it because you care." Tara wraps her arms around Faith, hugging her tightly. "I'm going to make you realize sooner or later that you're basically a kind, loving woman, Faith. With an attitude that I have to admit, I kind of like." Tara chuckles as Faith snorts.

"You like my attitude?" Faith questions as she shifts slightly to lie more beside Tara instead of completely on her, running her hand down Tara's body in little circular motions.

"Yes, I like your attitude. It's part of who you are. Your rough exterior, blunt way of telling it like it is… It's you, Faith. I don't want to change you, love. I just want to show you the love you deserve and make you realize you're not a bad person." Tara admits softly tilting her head to look at Faith.

"You may be bitin' off more than you can chew." Faith whispers, knowing her guilt and self-hatred runs deep, though Tara's been slowly chipping away at her since she'd been released from jail and came to Sunnydale.

"I'll be the judge of that." Tara strokes her finger gently over Faith's cheek, dipping into the slight indention that becomes one of a set of gorgeous, deep dimples when the slayer smiles. "You're a beautiful woman, Faith. Inside and out. It's just something that no one's told you, and I'm going to remedy that fact."

Faith inhales deeply before kissing Tara gently. "I care for ya', you know?" Faith whispers softly against Tara's lips before kissing her more deeply.

Tara feels the tears coming to her eyes, knowing that's the closest the slayer's come to saying she loves her, though her eyes and actions show her that the slayer loves her. Returning the kiss, Tara slowly swirls her tongue within the slayer's mouth, wrapping her tongue around Faith's and stroking softly over the muscle for long minutes, until they break apart groaning as the phone rings.

Tara growls and looks over at the nightstand, reaching for the phone, she chuckles. "It's Buffy."

"Probably wantin' to know where I wanna meet up for patrol." Faith admits quietly, burying her face in Tara's neck.

Buffy blinks and pulls the phone away from her ear to make sure she dialed the right speed dial number. "I did dial Faith, right?"

"Yes, you did. What do you need, sweetie?" Tara chuckles softly at the confused note in Buffy's voice.

"Ummm… I was wanting to see if Faith wanted to meet up outside the Espresso Pump, maybe pick up a Mocha before patrol." Buffy frowns heavily. "Why are you answering her phone?"

"Because I was closest to it." Tara starts laughing as Faith nips playfully on her neck. "Is it okay if I join you two on patrol?" Tara questions looking at Faith while speaking to Buffy.

Faith nods her head, her eyes twinkling with mischief as she slides down Tara's body, wrapping her lips around Tara's nipple and sucking firmly. Snorting back a laugh as Tara whimpers loudly.

"Are you okay?" Buffy tilts her head as she hears Tara whimper, and swears she hears a snort of laughter in the background. As she hears the phone being covered by a hand and a muffled 'Faith behave!' coming from Tara, Buffy's eyes open wide in realization.

"Sorry, Buffy. We can meet up outside the Espresso Pump. How does an hour from now sound?" Tara bites her lip to keep from moaning again as Faith's fingers trail down her body to play teasingly over her outer lips.

Scratching her head, Buffy swallows hard. "Would you two rather not go on patrol?"

"FAITH!" Tara cries out as Faith slides three fingers within her and starts to stroke firmly. Tara drops the phone and makes a grab for Faith's hand.

"Uh, uh. Mine." Faith smirks before grabbing the dropped phone. "We'll meet ya', but let's make it in two hours." Faith disconnects the phone before tossing it off the bed. Straddling Tara's thigh, Faith presses her clit hard against the Wiccan's leg, rocking fast and hard even as she keeps up her stroking inside Tara, smirking down at the arching Wiccan's body as Tara cries out her release. "God, talk about beautiful." Faith growls hungrily as she leans down, capturing a breast in her mouth, sucking as much of the flesh into her mouth as she can. Feeling her own body coiling getting ready for release, Faith nips roughly at Tara's nipple as she grinds down hard, soaking Tara's thigh with her release.

"Sweet, Goddess." Tara whimpers, pulling Faith to her for a rough, invasive kiss, all teeth and tongues.

Faith growls into the rough kiss, even as Tara finally eases back, capturing her bottom lip between her teeth and biting firmly. Feeling the sharp pain, Faith knows that Tara's drawn blood as she looks down into dark blue eyes. "So you can play rough." Faith crashes their lips together again while shifting her hand away from Tara and sliding her body between the Wiccan's legs, rubbing their swollen mounds against each other, grinding their clits together in a rough rocking motion.

Tara grasps Faith's ass in her hands, clenching roughly as she pushes hard against Faith, groaning at the pleasurable pain of her sensitized clit, as she feels another orgasm being ripped from her body at the slayer's ministrations. Moaning in pleasure as she feels Faith jerk and cum seconds after her, their juices mingling together as Faith finally breaks the kiss off and collapses on top of her. Kneading the strong butt cheeks that are clenching and unclenching, Tara smiles at the sweat soaked slayer, realizing she isn't much better than Faith.

"Jesus, I don't think I've cum this many times in one night before." Faith admits as she eases her body off Tara's before collapsing on her back beside the Wiccan. "At least not where my clit is begging for a break."

Tara chuckles hoarsely, turning on her side to look at Faith. "Yours and mine, both." Tara places her forehead against Faith's arm, surprised when she feels Faith wiggle her arm under her and pull her in against her side. Getting comfortable, Tara places her head on top of Faith's chest while throwing a leg over the strong thighs and lets her hand play gently over Faith's abdomen, following the defined muscles.

Breathing deeply to get control of her racing heart, Faith stares up at the ceiling. "Is it always like this with someone you care about?" Faith whispers softly.

"It's different with each person, love. But when you care for someone, it usually gets better with time as you learn what your partner likes and enjoys. Finding out what causes which reactions. Becoming more comfortable with the person and being open to new experiences helps, also." Tara explains softly.

"Gets much better, my head might explode." Faith admits quietly, admitting to herself and Tara that this is definitely the best sex she's had. Faith realizes her heart's saying it's more than sex, but not wanting to hear it just yet, Faith ignores that small voice.

"Ya' think?" Faith looks down at Tara as Tara looks up at her. "That might be a dead give-away to B, if we don't."

"Babe…even without slayer senses, we reek of sex." Faith rolls over onto Tara, kissing her firmly. "My shower ain't the biggest, do you wanna go first?"

"Why don't you go, I'll fix you some sandwiches to eat while you're showering." Tara offers, smiling up at the happy slayer looking down at her.

"You don't hafta wait on me, babe." Faith looks intently down at Tara, taking in the flushed face, the sparkling eyes and the kiss swollen lips.

"I know, but it isn't that big of a deal, love." Tara lifts her hand and gently strokes Faith's cheek. "Go shower before I decide to start this whole thing again."

Faith chuckles wickedly. "And was that supposed to be a deterrent?" Faith rocks her hips gently against Tara's, smirking as Tara groans quietly and presses back against her. "Shower." Faith growls kissing Tara briefly before hopping off the woman knowing if she doesn't get away from her, they wouldn't be going out on patrol tonight.

Tara grabs the pillow under her head, yanking it out and covering her face. "Goddess, she's going to turn me into a sex crazed Wiccan." Tara mumbles into the pillow, before tossing it to the side. Rolling out of the bed, Tara looks at the mussed sheets, chuckling at the smell of sex. "She's right, we do reek of sex." Leaving the bed as it is Tara strides to the refrigerator and grabs out sandwich fixings for her lover.

Buffy leans against the outside of the Espresso Pump, watching as Faith and Tara slowly make their way towards her, the two women talking softly as their body's brush against each other. It takes her a few minutes to realize that Faith has her arm slung over Tara's shoulder and Tara's arm is around Faith's waist. Not knowing whether to yell and jump for joy or be jealous of the two women finally coming together, Buffy groans quietly. "Someone for me that loves me for who I am is that asking too much?" Buffy whispers to herself, shaking off her melancholy.

"I just have one thing to say…Do NOT do whatever it was you were doing to Tara while I'm on the phone again! Got it?" Buffy smacks Faith on the shoulder before turning to walk into the coffee shop.

Faith smirks and swaggers slightly as she follows Buffy in, biting back a yelp as a firm hand smacks her on the ass. Turning her head she looks over her shoulder at Tara.

Faith chuckles wickedly, turning around to face Tara in the doorway, leaning in to kiss her deeply. "'Kay. I won't do that again while you're on the phone to her." Faith smirks as she spins around to place an order for her and Tara, her mind already working overtime on what she could do instead.

"Does this mean I might actually be able to do something tonight?" Buffy questions as she pays for her drink, chuckling as she looks at Tara, seeing the huge hickey on the side of her neck. Curiously Buffy looks over the rest of her neck, seeing lighter little red marks along the flesh. "You should try feeding Faith occasionally she might stop trying to devour you." Buffy points out.

Tara blushes darkly at Buffy's comment and before she can stop her Faith opens her mouth with a comeback.

"She likes being devoured, B. And I mean, really, really likes it." Faith grins lasciviously at Tara, her eyes roaming over the Wiccan's body.

"TMI!" Buffy groans, covering her ears with her hands. "Don't want to hear about your sex lives. That's something I can definitely live without. So when is Tara going to move out of the hole she's living in and move in with you, Faith?"

"Already moved her this afternoon." Faith admits, paying for her and Tara's drinks before smirking at the wide-eyed boy who took their orders.

Tara growls softly before rolling her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm going to end up kicking both your asses. I just have this gut feeling."

Faith grins wickedly at the Wiccan, leaning against the counter. "I have it under the best authority that you are good at the ass whipping…I mean, kicking." Faith laughs as Tara blushes and growls at her at the same time.

Buffy whimpers loudly as she grabs her drink and practically runs out of the coffee shop.

Tara taps Faith on the chest, and leans in to the dark-haired slayer. "You're just cruising for a bruising, aren't you?" When all Faith does is smirk, Tara rolls her eyes. "I don't know about you." Tara growls quietly, before turning around and walking out of the shop to wait with Buffy.

Faith chuckles as she watches Tara stride out of the shop, having seen the glint in Tara's eyes, wondering if her lover was going to irritate Buffy herself, or leave it up to her to pick on the blonde slayer.

Tara shakes her head as she leans against the building beside Buffy, her face slightly flushed. "Sorry, she's like a big kid."

"And you love that about her." Buffy murmurs softly, glancing up at the Wiccan, chuckling quietly at the quick nod she gets in response to her comment. "When did this happen?"

Tara takes a deep breath and releases it, looking up at the night sky, a soft smile on her face. "You know we've been dancing around each other for a while, well the dance ended today."

Buffy smiles and relaxes, seeing the light in Tara's eyes. "Good. It's about time you two did something about your mutual hornies." Buffy chuckles as Tara whimpers quietly.

Tara turns her gaze on Buffy as the slayer smirks at her. Glancing into the window, seeing Faith pointing to something on the shelves, Tara bites back a laugh. Turning back to Buffy, Tara narrows her gaze on the self-satisfied look on the blonde slayer's face. Leaning in conspiratorially against Buffy, Tara whispers in Buffy's ear quickly. "She's a wild woman in the sack, Buffy. The things she does would make your toes curl and they wouldn't straighten out for a month! Her tongue is so long…" Tara snorts back a laugh as Buffy yells her name and bounds across the street.

Faith hears her lover's named being yelled by Buffy and turns to look out the window, seeing Buffy across the street pacing back and forth with her ears covered by her hands, mumbling something, and not able to make out what. Accepting the drinks and the bag of muffins, Faith tilts her head as she walks out of the coffee shop, finally able to hear the quiet snickering coming from her lover. Turning her head she looks at Tara with a questioning lift of her eyebrow.

"Can't let you have all the fun." Tara smirks, before laughing heartily and leaning against the building, tears starting to roll down her face, she's laughing so hard.

"What did you say?" Faith questions, and shakes her head as Tara just continues to laugh and wave her hand at her. Turning to look at Buffy, who's standing across the street with her hands on her hips, Faith growls quietly. "What did I miss?"

"You owe me a mocha!" Buffy growls before pointing at the two women. "And something to get these damn images out of my damn head!" Buffy points to her head before growling at Tara as the Wiccan snorts and laughs even more.

"Hours, Buffy! Literally hours of afternoon fun. Bet you don't get that with the one-shot wonders!!" Tara laughs and slowly slides down the building, landing on her ass, not knowing what's possessing her to irritate the blonde slayer, but Goddess, does it feel good!

Faith groans quietly and slowly walks over to Tara, easing down on her haunches to set the muffins and mochas on the ground as she considers her lover. "Are you teasing the hell outta B?" As Tara smirks at her between laughter, Faith drops her head. "Maybe I'm a bad influence on ya'."

"Oh, no. I don't think so." Tara grins and wraps a hand around Faith's neck, pulling her in the short distance to kiss her firmly and deeply, finally releasing her after a couple minutes, long enough to get both their temperatures up. "I'm a bad enough influence on my own." Tara grins crookedly at the slayer.

"Hmmm." Faith growls quietly, licking her lips. "I'm startin' to figure that out." Faith shakes her head to try and shake some of the desire off. "I guess I better get B another mocha, since she's bitchin' to beat ninety over there."

Tara chuckles as she watches Faith slowly stand and run her hands down her thighs before heading back into the Espresso Pump. Looking across the street at Buffy, Tara bites her lip, flushing brightly at what she'd said to the slayer. "If I promise to behave, are you going to come back over here?"

Buffy growls as she continues standing with her hands on her hips, narrowing her gaze on the Wiccan.

"I promise, no more words about sex will cross my lips." Tara crosses her heart and grins crookedly at the slayer. "Come on, Buffy. Get your ass over here."

Buffy throws her hands up in the air, checking for traffic, before finally trotting across the street to gently toe Tara's feet. "You're going to get yours!" Buffy warns.

"Already did, multiples in fact." Tara smirks and yelps as Buffy leans down to pinch her on the leg. "I can't help it!! You left it wide open."

"You promised!" Buffy smacks half-heartedly at the Wiccan, finally turning away from the woman, because she can't fight the smile anymore, having to admit that she likes the playful side of the Wiccan.

"Here ya' go, B." Faith hands the slayer another mocha, looking at the smiling slayer then down to her grinning lover. "Did ya' two kiss and make up?"

"She wouldn't kiss me. She said I had fish lips." Tara jokes, puckering her lips and sucking in her cheeks to make kissing noises.

Buffy groans and rubs a hand over her forehead. "What's up with you two? I think you've both lost what's left of your marbles."

"Tara don't have no marbles." Faith glances downwards before looking at Tara. "Do I have marbles?"

"Not that I could feel or see." Tara smirks as Buffy whimpers loudly. Finally standing up, Tara grabs the drinks and the bag of food, handing one drink to Faith and shaking her head. "Come on, let's go do patrol. I want to see you two in action." Tara wiggles her eyebrows making Buffy blush darkly and Faith chuckle wickedly.

Buffy smacks Faith in the stomach. "It's your fault. I don't know how or why, but I'm blaming you."

"B, if you knew what I now know about her, you might re-think that comment." Faith yelps as Tara smacks her on the ass again. "Damn, you're good at that." Faith rubs her butt, chuckling, getting ready to open her mouth again, when Tara growls low in her ear.

"Say it, and you'll never benefit from my experience." Tara growls softly into Faith's ear.

Faith wraps an arm around Tara's waist, gently pulling her in against her. "Oh, yeah. Slayer hearing is up there, babe. With a lot of other senses. Maybe I'll let ya' in on things I heard ya' sayin' before, if you're good."

Tara groans deeply and buries her face in Faith's neck, whimpering quietly. "What did I do or say?"

"All kindsa neat little things. I especially like to remember the comment you made when you fixed me up in B's bathroom when I first came here." Faith chuckles and hugs Tara one armed.

"Maybe you two should go back home. I think I'll get more done doing a patrol on my own." Buffy grumbles quietly, shaking her head.

"Nah. We'll come with you to keep ya' company, B. I'll even let ya' do some of the slayin' tonight." Faith pats Tara gently on the butt. "Come on, let's get this show on the road."

Tara tries to remember what she said as Faith and Buffy talk, the three women walking towards the nearest cemetery. Remembering Faith joking with her and calling her mom, she'd retaliated something about she definitely wasn't her mother. Tara tilts her head as she thinks for a few more minutes, blushing as she finally remembers what she said. "You heard me say that I was feeling…"

"What else have I said that you heard?" Tara questions, her eyes narrowed on Faith.

"Probably a lot of shit." Faith shrugs, and grins. "Do we even wanna get into the slayer sense of smell?"

"Yep. Every time I'd brush against ya', or make some kinda sexy comment." Faith wiggles her eyebrows before tossing away her empty coffee cup, having pretty much chugged it a few minutes ago.

"Why did you never tell me?" Tara smacks Buffy on the arm, frowning at the blonde slayer.

"What? You knew slayer senses were a lot better than everyone else's. It isn't my fault you didn't think it through!" Buffy finishes her coffee and throws it into another trashcan as they enter the cemetery.

"What have you overheard?" Tara looks from one woman to the other, narrowing her gaze as they both laugh, but don't offer any more information. "Damn slayers." Tara grumbles, pouting as she settles against a statue as the two slayers shift to stand by two new graves. Watching as Faith slowly turns around in a circle as if looking for something while Buffy's eyes search behind the other slayer. Preparing a couple spells that can be cast in a seconds notice, Tara straightens and moves closer to the two women while keeping her eyes open.

"Be careful." Faith whispers, her slayer senses ratcheting up, knowing there're more than a couple vampires out there.

"Move away from the two about to come up, I'll take care of them while you take care of the ones coming this way." Tara nods her head to the two groups of vampires coming from opposite areas of the cemetery.

Faith turns to look intently at Tara. "Don't get fuckin' hurt. I'll kick your ass if ya' do." Faith warns softly.

Tara smiles softly at her lover. "I won't, consider the same said back." Tara watches as Buffy and Faith walk closer to each group of vampires. Quickly gathering a small handful of herbs out of her fanny pack, she sprinkles the mixture around one of the graves, whispering an incantation to hold that vampire while turning and preparing a fireball spell to throw at the other vampire, wanting to keep the majority of her magic available in case either Buffy or Faith needs help fighting the vampires heading quickly towards them.

Faith growls as she looks over the group of vampires heading her way, silently counting ten of them, before whispering softly. "How many, B?"

Buffy counts hers and sighs softly. "Even dozen. Looks like there's plenty enough for both of us. Going to have to figure out what the hell is going on here soon." Buffy admits as she pulls out her short sword in her right hand and a stake in her left, preparing on fighting them as quickly as she can.

Faith pulls out two stakes as she quickly closes the distance between her and the vampires, wanting to keep them from getting too close to Tara. Growling deeply she runs the last little bit and launches herself into the lead vampires, quickly staking two of them while kicking another one down to the ground, quickly immersing herself in the fight. The only thought in her head is to kill the vampires before they can hurt Tara.

Tara nibbles nervously on her bottom lip as she throws the fireball at the one vampire as he partially comes up from the grave, dusting him quickly before turning to the other grave and the pissed vampire in the invisible cage, wincing as she pulls a stake and dusts him quickly.

Looking around quickly, Tara does another sweep to see who needs her help more, frowning at the sight of Faith literally ripping into her vampires with no regards to being hurt, wincing as the slayer takes a fist to the ribs. Watching as Faith snarls and grabs the vampire that hit her, literally tossing him at two other vampires, Tara shakes her head. Realizing that her lover is okay, she turns back to Buffy, preparing a set of fireballs and sending them to two of the vampires on the outer edge, furthest away from Buffy.

"Thanks!" Buffy yells as she jumps up over the top of one vampire, landing behind him, staking him in the back before doing a quick spin kick, knocking another vampire out.

Tara turns back to Faith after realizing Buffy seems to have her vampires under control for the time being. Growling quietly under her breath as she sees a large vampire, along with a couple others trying to come up behind her lover, without even thinking she whispers the incantation and throws the fireball towards the vampire, her anger fueling the spell. Blinking in surprise as the fireball grows and takes out all the vampires trying to sneak up on her lover, she turns stunned eyes to Faith who looks quickly over her shoulder at her.

Faith feels the heat of the fireball spell, turning to look behind her as she sees four vampires go up in flames, her eyes flickering quickly to look at her stunned lover. Grinning at Tara, Faith turns back to finish with the last three vampires she's fighting.

Tara looks back towards Buffy, sighing in relief as the slayer is down to two and seems to be just enjoying trading blows with them for now. Settling on top of a tombstone after double-checking the graveyard, Tara thinks about what she'd done. Knowing that she wasn't in danger of anything happening, but never having used anger to fuel her spells, though the thought of something happening to Faith obviously put her protective instincts to the forefront and tapped into a before unused power within her.

Faith finishes off the last vampire, wiping the blood from her cheek where one of the vampires had been wearing a ring and cut her. Turning around and quickly surveying the cemetery, she strides towards her quiet lover. Stopping in front of Tara, Faith lifts her chin and looks intently into her eyes. "You okay, babe?"

Tara smiles at the hoarsely asked question, her lover bruised and cut making sure she's okay. "I'm fine. You're the one that's looking a little worse for the wear." Tara gently traces her finger over the cut, sighing quietly.

"Nothin' that won't heal by tomorrow." Faith shrugs, grinning. "Thanks for the fireworks, by the way."

"Surprised myself on that one." Tara allows a quick smile to cross her face, before whimpering as Faith pounces, pulling her in for a heated, demanding kiss.

"Jeez, why don't you two get a room?" Buffy growls loudly, her eyes opening wide as Faith picks Tara up, grasping her ass cheeks even as Tara wraps her legs around the slayer's waist. "REALLY, get a room!" Buffy turns her back quickly on the two women as Faith's hands shift to where they're not just in contact with Tara's butt anymore.

Faith finally ends the kiss, but leaves her fingers pressing into Tara's flesh, one of the digits stroking firmly back and forth along the seam of the jeans at her lover's center, grinning wickedly at the flushed, desire filled look she's getting from Tara.

Tara blinks, her body rocking slightly at her lover's firm touch, it taking a few minutes for her to realize where they are and exactly what they're doing. When she focuses in on Buffy's back, Tara squeaks and smacks Faith on the shoulder. "Stop that!"

"What? You never said we couldn't play elsewhere." Faith chuckles as Tara blushes darkly.

"No, I didn't. But I wasn't planning on doing something in front of Buffy!" Tara hisses quietly, gently smacking Faith on the shoulder again. "Put me down!"

"Ain't no fun." Faith laughs as she slowly lowers Tara back to her feet, getting one good feel in before releasing her lover completely.

"Goddess! You're enough to either drive me insane, which I would prefer not to go that route again, or make me turn into a horny Wiccan." Tara grumbles, straightening her clothes while gently trying to tug her jeans away from her body, so they don't rub up against her sensitized clit.

"Good. That way I ain't the only horny one." Faith smirks and skips away from Tara's hand that half-heartedly takes a swing at her shoulder again. "Come on, let's see if there're any other demons to be had around here."

Buffy cautiously looks behind her, sighing as Tara and Faith make their way towards her, a couple feet between the two women. Deciding not to make any comments on their actions, she turns and heads towards the front of the cemetery. "I have a feeling we're going to need to do a thorough sweep of the town, including the warehouses and sewer systems. There has to be someone gathering the vampires, they don't normally attack in these bigger groups, and it's happened twice now."

"Yeah, and if either of us had been by ourselves…" Faith trails off, frowning as she realizes that either of them could have been killed. "Do ya' think they're tryin' to take us out, B?"

"Would be my best guess." Buffy admits quietly, sighing at the thought. "We need to find out who's behind it and get to either him or her."

"I could do a locator spell to find out where all the more powerful demons are." Tara offers quietly, looking at the two women. "The only thing is, the spell I found will only target the powerful ones, if they have a hundred minions, you won't know by it."

"Do we need to stop at the Magic Box tomorrow to pick up some stuff to do it?" Faith questions curiously, glancing at Tara before continuing her intense perusal of the area around them. Not feeling anything, but some demons have been known to be able to cloak themselves from her senses.

"Yes. If you want, I'll go and pick up the items and do the spell in the morning. Give you two a chance to discuss your strategy plan." Tara smiles at Buffy as the blonde nods her head quickly.

"Actually, it might be best to try and hit them tomorrow afternoon during the daylight. That would be on our side if they're vampires." Buffy thinks out loud, tilting her head as she considers the thought. "Make sure we bring plenty of weapons while we're at it."

"Sounds good." Faith grunts out quietly, not really caring what they do or how they do it as long as they take out whoever or whatever is trying to cause them problems.

Tara frowns as they continue patrolling around Sunnydale, only having come across two more vampires, and newbies at that. "I really don't like this, guys. Someone has to be organizing the vampires. The first time that group came after you, was when Faith first arrived. I doubt they knew she was here and if she hadn't been, you could have very well ended up dead." Tara frowns even harder at that thought.

"Again." Buffy rolls her eyes. "It's really getting old, you know? Let's see, there were what? About a dozen or so vampires that time?"

Tara mentally counts what she can remember before nodding her head. "I think that's about how many there were. If they had attacked one of you there might have been a good chance they could have taken you out, right?" Tara looks from one slayer to the other.

"Yeah. It would have been possible." Faith nods her head, frowning. "I mean we've taken out that many before, hell, we just did. But if you hadn't been there to help out, one or the other of us could have been hurt or possibly worse."

"Someone's targeting us. And now they know that we're both here, so they're doubling their efforts. I don't want to wait till next time and they send fifty of them after us." Buffy growls softly at the thought. "It seemed to take them roughly four weeks between sending out the vampires after us. So figure we have that long before it happens again."

"Ain't gonna wait that long. Plan on going after their asses this weekend and over spring break." Faith growls, cracking her knuckles at the thought of someone trying to wrest control of Sunnydale from the slayers.

"Maybe a little visit to Willy's tonight wouldn't be a bad idea?" Buffy grins hugely as she looks over at Faith.

"Works for me. While we're there we can see if we can't irritate whatever demons are there and knock their asses out of the game, too!" Faith grins wickedly as Tara groans.

"Great. I think you two are just going to egg each other on." Tara chuckles as Faith pats her firmly on the ass.

"Yeah, but just think about this… You're gonna have to deal with an extremely horny slayer when you get home. You may not get any sleep tonight while I'm pouncing on ya'!" Faith growls softly into Tara's ear before licking teasingly over the earlobe, chuckling as Tara groans and tries to pinch her.

Buffy groans and rubs a hand over her face as she tries to ignore the two women. "And I thought it was bad when you two weren't together!"

"Didn't sound too sincere there, F." Buffy points out before shaking her head. "Come on let's go check out Willy's."

"Right there with ya'." Faith gently grasps Tara's hand, smiling as the Wiccan threads their fingers together, the three women heading towards the other side of town.

"Great another fucking master vampire in town." Faith growls angrily after they drop Buffy off at her house, Faith and Tara walking back to their apartment.

"But they didn't give us any other information than the fact that there is a Master in town, which you two had already figured out." Tara points out quietly, watching Faith stride quickly ahead of her before spinning around to stride past her, unable to keep up with the slayer's ground eating pace, thankful Faith only goes so far before circling around.

"Babe, I gotta ask ya'. Did you kill the bleached bastard?" Faith finally questions, silently wondering if the asshole is the one that is trying to take them out.

Tara turns surprised eyes on Faith as her lover comes to a stop in front of her, looking at her intently. Sighing quietly, Tara slowly nods her head. "I gave him the choice to leave Sunnydale and not come back, or for me to magically remove his chip and see if he could take me."

"WHAT?" Faith screams, her eyes widening with disbelief and anger. "You took that bastard's chip out and gave him a shot at ya'? Are ya' fuckin' nuts?"

"He helped out a lot, even though it was usually for his own purposes. But I figured he deserved that much." Tara shrugs her shoulders and tries to smile at her angry lover. "I'm here, he isn't. Enough said."

"And what if he'd killed ya'? What then?" Faith snarls, her eyes flashing angrily even as she feels a bolt of fear shoot through her at the thought of Tara dying.

"He wouldn't have made it out of the crypt alive…or undead, as the case may be. Actually, if he turned me, I would have died also when I tried to leave the crypt." Tara admits softly looking at the confused look on her lover's face. "I placed a spell around the crypt that would have lasted a week. If either of us had tried leaving it would have made a nice little burst of sunlight appear, dusting whichever one of us or both of us that came out."

Faith stares dumbfounded at Tara, not believing the woman would go to that extent. "But if you can do magic…"

"Only if I was in my normal state would I have been able to disengage the spell and reabsorb it back into myself. If I had come out a vampire, there's no way I would have been able to undo it. Though I did have another plan set in motion, if I should have died." Tara admits quietly, remembering the phone call she'd made to LA, not telling Angel exactly what she was up to, but just the fact that if she didn't call him back the following day, to come to Sunnydale and look for her at the crypt and to kill her. Knowing it usually takes three days to rise from being turned. Thankful the vampire hadn't questioned her and just quietly promised to do as asked.

Faith continues to look at her lover, silently wondering what her backup plan was, though knowing it was a moot point now. "So help me, if you do somethin' like that now I'll be the one to kick your ass." Faith warns seriously, her eyes flashing at the thought of Tara putting herself in harms way like that.

Tara holds up her hands in a show of acknowledgement and nods her head in understanding. "Do you think I should give Buffy Spike's chip?"

Faith can't help but snort as she looks into twinkling blue eyes. "You kept it, didn't ya'?"

"Yes, I did." Tara grins crookedly and relaxes as she sees Faith finally let go of her anger, sighing in relief before squeaking out Faith's name as she scoops her up in her arms and starts jogging down the street. "What are you doing?"

"Takin' you back to our apartment. Done enough talkin', time to get to the action part of the program." Faith growls, nipping playfully at Tara's neck. "I can't believe you dusted his ass."

"I didn't just dust him." Tara admits quietly, pursing her lips at the admittance. "He was in serious pain before I put him out of his misery. I kind of figured a little bit of payback for what he tried to do to Buffy was in order."

"Damn. Remind me not to piss ya' off." Faith murmurs, holding Tara tightly to her. "I thought bein' a Wiccan was one of those 'harm none' type things."

Tara snorts softly and lets her fingers play in Faith's long dark hair. "There're clauses to everything. If something's already dead, how can you harm it?" Tara comments, her eyes twinkling at the thought. "He's lucky I didn't find one of those Korvakin Demon's to use him before dusting him."

Faith frowns, not knowing what that particular demon is. Looking questioningly at Tara, she raises an eyebrow at the absolutely wicked look crossing her lover's face.

"There wasn't one here in Sunnydale at the time." Tara shrugs, knowing she had been so angry when she'd left Buffy's house, that if the locator spell had found one for her, she would have done everything she could to have that demon wreak vengeance for Buffy on the blonde vampire.

Faith swallows, realizing when angered her lover didn't just get mad, she got downright vicious. It takes her a few minutes to realize Tara would never react that way to another human being, but obviously demons were fair game. Hugging Tara tightly to her, Faith strides quickly towards their apartment again.

Tara buries her face in Faith's neck, inhaling deeply of the slayer's scent, the smell of the woman becoming like an aphrodisiac to her. Nibbling gently on Faith's neck, Tara grins as she receives a low groan from her lover.

"Stop that shit, or I might accidentally drop ya'." Faith warns, her knees almost buckling as Tara's teeth nip firmly at her pulse point.

"Then you better get your ass in gear, Slayer." Tara warns before trailing her tongue around Faith's pulse point, smirking as Faith takes off like a shot.

"This thing is too fuckin' small." Faith growls as she finally sets Tara down on the floor, staring at her small shower stall. "I wonder how much it'll cost to have the bathroom re-done, got plenty of extra room out in the living room. We could expand that way a few feet."

Tara laughs softly at the slayer's comments even as she starts to strip Faith of her dirty clothes so the slayer can shower. "I wouldn't mind a bathtub, but it isn't a necessity." Tara murmurs unbuttoning and unzipping the slayer's pants, sliding her hands inside along her hips and pushing them down as she slowly lowers herself in front of Faith.

"Tara…" Faith moans softly as she feels Tara's tongue starting to trail over the beginnings of her mound even as Tara urges her to lift her leg after she unties her boots, sliding her boots and socks off. One hand against the wall to help support herself, Faith looks down with desire-filled eyes groaning loudly as she makes contact with dark blue eyes watching her intently even as soft hands finish pulling off her other boot and the rest of her clothes.

Slowly running her hands up the strong, muscular legs, Tara nips gently on Faith's mound before letting her lips graze the edge of the small triangle of trimmed dark curls.

Breathing heavily as Tara's tongue darts out and strokes along her outer lips, Faith whimpers. Gently threading her free hand in Tara's hair, Faith holds her away from going any further as she closes her eyes and tries to get control of her desire so she can talk to Tara.

"Why did you stop me?" Tara questions softly, carefully watching the play of emotions across Faith's face, desire and lust at the forefront, with a brief glimpse of fear…No, not fear but close, almost like Faith's scared.

"I…I ain't never…had anyone…" Faith starts and stops a couple times, furrowing her brows as she opens her eyes to look down at Tara. Finally shifting slightly away from Tara, releasing the hold she has on her, Faith leans against the wall and looks up at the ceiling, trying to ignore the painful throbbing of her body and the desire literally coating her inner thighs.

Tara sits back on the heels of her feet and cocks her head to the side as she tries to understand the different emotions coming from the slayer along with her words, trying to make sense of what Faith's trying to tell her.

Faith finally drops her eyes to look down into confused blue eyes, sighing quietly, Faith slides down the wall to sit on the floor. Gently reaching out to cup Tara's cheek, she shakes her head. "Remember? I've used people, Tare. I've never had that level of intimacy with someone, not on my end. I've done it for the women in my past but I've never allowed 'em to return the favor." Faith whispers softly, seeing the dawning realization in Tara's eyes she finally drops her gaze and looks down at the floor. "Can we not talk about this right now? Sometime in the future, but not now?" Faith finally begs, having noticed the look in Tara's eyes, knowing her lover was wanting to question her about this, but honestly not wanting to talk about it, knowing it'll bring up past memories and really kill the mood, not that it hasn't been cooled somewhat by her actions.

Tara sighs softly as she slowly stands carefully reaching out for Faith she strokes a hand down her cheek. Closing her eyes in relief as Faith accepts the caress and presses against her hand as she stands. "Tabled but not forgotten, love. I know we have things to work through, and it will take time. We can't fix everything in a few days, weeks or even months. But eventually, I'm hoping, we can work through the majority of things."

"You're welcome." Tara whispers, leaning in to brush her lips gently against Faith's. "Now shower, Slayer. I'm going to strip and be waiting for you, so hopefully that'll be incentive for you to hurry your ass up." Tara tries to lighten the somber mood that had settled between them. "Someone promised me a horny slayer…"

Faith quirks her lips, knowing what Tara's doing and allowing her to do it. "Horny? Shit, horny ain't the word for it, but I don't know one that's better." Faith growls playfully, leaning in to nip gently on Tara's bottom lip. "Thanks." Faith whispers as she kisses Tara firmly.

"Shower." Tara orders again, stroking her thumb over Faith's cheek for a moment before finally easing from the small bathroom.

Faith smiles softly as she watches Tara leave the bathroom. Unconsciously rubbing her hand over her chest where her heart is thumping harder than normal, ignoring the signs her mind and body keeps throwing at her in regards to the Wiccan.

Shaking her head, Faith turns back to the shower stall and turns the water on, waiting a couple minutes for it to warm up before stepping in and pulling the shower curtain closed behind her, moaning quietly at the hot sting of water hitting her body.

Tara smiles as she sets the towels on the sink for Faith to use, having realized her lover hadn't grabbed any out of the small closet before she'd stepped into the shower. Biting her lip at the thought of joining Faith in the shower flits through her brain, Tara shakes her head, knowing the shower stall is too small for the two women to be in together. Sighing softly, she finally gathers the dirty clothes and Faith's boots and takes them to the small utility room, cleaning the weapons, grabbing the cash and keys out of Faith's pockets before putting the clothes in the hamper, and setting the boots on the floor for now.

Stripping her own clothes off, she folds them and sets them on top of the washer, making a mental note to get another hamper so they can keep their clothes separate, having to admit from doing Buffy's laundry occasionally, she knows what kind of grossness can be found on the clothes.

Striding back through the apartment, not bothering to get a robe, knowing it would basically be for her own comfort since Faith definitely wouldn't mind her walking around naked, she stops at the refrigerator and grabs a couple bottles of water, taking and setting them on one of the nightstands for later. Straightening the bed while folding the covers down, Tara chuckles as she can still catch a light whiff of sex from the sheets. "I wonder how many sets of sheets she keeps on hand?" Tara comments softly, knowing if they keep this up, they'll need to change the sheets daily…if not more frequently. A small laugh escapes her lips as she works on looking through the dresser drawers, not seeing any sheets, she moves to the closet, knowing there are only so many places Faith can keep the items in the open apartment.

"What'cha lookin' for?" Faith questions roughly as she dries her hair, grinning at the sight of the full moon pointed her way, unconsciously licking her lips at the sight.

Tara looks over her shoulder, having jumped slightly, not realizing Faith had already finished with her shower. "I was trying to find where you kept the extra sheets for the bed." Tara admits, letting her eyes trail over the still slightly damp skin, groaning quietly as Faith continues to rub the towel over her hair, making her breasts rise, fall and jiggle tantalizingly with each movement.

"There's a drawer on rollers under the bed that I keep the extra sheets and blankets in." Faith nods her head towards the bed. "It's pushed in pretty far, so you probably didn't see it. I been thinking about getting another one, since there's room under the bed for it. It's kinda handy to keep stuff in." Faith admits, grinning at the sight of the glazed blue eyes seemingly glued to her chest.

"Under bed, okay…" Tara nods in understanding, though her mind is only half on what she'd asked the slayer. "Goddess, you're beautiful." Tara whispers, her eyes practically devouring the sight of the slayer. The perpetually tanned skin, the muscles rippling and shifting with each movement the slayer makes, the coiled strength so obvious in her body.

Faith blinks at the obviously heartfelt comment, knowing by the tone of Tara's voice, that she really, truly means it, that to her, she is beautiful. "I, uh… I gotta brush my hair." Faith finally whispers, not knowing what to say back to the witch.

Tara sighs softly at the obvious look of discomfort on Faith's face at her mentioning she's beautiful. 'Going to take some work.' Tara mentally whispers to herself, knowing it's going to take time, but she's going to keep commenting on Faith's beauty, kindness and what a good heart she has until Faith finally believes it knowing that's half the battle.

Strolling towards the bathroom, Tara grins crookedly at the sight of Faith staring at herself in the mirror, the brush in her hand forgotten. Leaning against the doorframe, Tara crosses her arms over her chest and makes eye contact with Faith's beautiful eyes in the mirror. "You are beautiful, Faith. Inside and out. You're a kind, giving and loving woman when you drop the shield you usually keep up around yourself. I'm hoping one day that the shield will be down more than up, since I know you keep it in place 95 percent of the time."

Faith drops her eyes and starts to brush her hair as she thinks about what Tara's saying. "How can you be so sure? How do ya' know that I'm kind, giving and loving inside? What if I'm showing you a different mask? What if all that's in me is a hateful, uncaring bitch?"

"Is that what you think?" Tara drops her arms and steps up behind the slayer in the small area, gently resting her hands on her waist, looking over her shoulder into the mirror. "Look up, love."

"See what I see. Look into your eyes, Faith. The eyes are the windows to your soul. You have a good soul, love. It's there to be seen if you know how to look." Tara softly urges.

"I can't." Faith finally whispers, shaking her head. "When I look all I see is the death, destruction and hatred I've caused, Tare."

Tara sighs softly, gently sliding her hands slowly around Faith's waist as she gently presses into her back, not making any quick or sudden moves, giving Faith a chance to become familiar with being held like this. "I see love, caring and someone that wants to make amends for the problems caused in the past. Eventually you'll see that, too." Tara presses her lips softly to Faith's shoulder. "Now my turn to take care of personal needs, so get." Tara nips gently on the flesh under her lips and pats Faith gently on the hip, silently urging her out of the bathroom.

Faith sets the brush down and allows Tara to gently shift her out of the bathroom. Silently wondering how Tara sees something inside her that she can't see. Knowing she wants to be the person Tara sees, but not knowing how to become her. Having a hard time believing that she's already well on her way to becoming that person.

Tara quickly takes care of her nightly rituals, smiling as she replaces her toothbrush beside Faith's in the small holder. Running her brush quickly through her hair until it's soft and shiny she puts it up and puts up Faith's while she's at it, having not given the woman a chance to put it up herself. Finally turning off the light, she walks out into the main part of the apartment, smiling gently at the sight of Faith sitting on the edge of the bed, nervously picking at the label on the bottle of water she'd drank nearly two-thirds of.

Faith looks up as Tara comes to a stop in front of her, her eyes searching blue eyes. "Why do ya' care for me?" Faith hoarsely questions.

Tara sighs as she kneels down in front of Faith, resting her hands gently on her knees. Tilting her head she considers the woman for a few moments. "I honestly can't answer that, Faith. That would be like asking me why I breathe. I do because I have to. I love you, because I have to." Tara whispers softly, gently squeezing Faith's knees. "You're in my heart, Faith and I like you being there." Letting her hands slide down to wrap around her calf muscles, Tara leans in and presses her lips gently against first one knee then the other one. "I won't knowingly hurt you, Faith. I'm not saying that there won't ever be hurt feelings, misunderstandings, arguments and Goddess only knows what else, but I'll do my damnedest to never really hurt you here." Tara whispers, shifting up to gently place her hand over Faith's heart.

Faith sets the water bottle down on the nightstand and gently clasps Tara's hand to her chest, stroking her fingers over the back of Tara's soft skin. "One thing I've learned being around ya' for the last month, you are pretty much honest to a fault." Faith starts softly, a small smile playing about her lips. "Though you will evade answering direct questions."

Faith nods. "Spike." Reaching out with her free hand, Faith traces Tara's eyebrows gently with a fingertip. "Which, in and of itself was an answer. I just wanted to hear it from your own lips." Faith admits, trailing her finger down Tara's cheek to tap Tara's bottom lip gently. "I know you see good in me, Tare. If ya' didn't, you wouldn't be here. But ya' need to keep in mind that I'll probably fuck up more than get things right. I have an attitude and can get bitchy at the drop of a hat."

Tara presses her lips against Faith's finger, smiling at the slayer before she captures it between her teeth, nibbling gently on the flesh for a few moments. Finally releasing it, Tara presses her lips to it again. "I think it's safe to say we can both become a bit on the 'bitchy' side, Faith. But I like to talk things out when it happens, so I know where I stand at any given moment. I realize this might be hard for you, and will take time before you can open up easily, but you need to know I do expect us to talk out our problems and not just ignore them, sweep them under the carpet, run away or whatever, okay?"

Faith takes a deep breath and slowly exhales it before nodding her head. "If I'm real angry, can I at least disappear for a while to work through it before comin' back to discuss things?"

Tara slowly nods her head. "But tell me before you leave, don't just get up and leave okay? I don't want to wonder if you're running away to Canada or somewhere to get away from me to never be heard from again."

Faith rolls her eyes, but chuckles quietly. "'Kay. Ya' got a deal. No runnin' away without tellin' ya' I'm goin' out to kick some demon ass to get rid of the majority of my anger."

"And you'll tell me if I'm pushing for too much too quickly." Tara orders softly, her eyes serious. "I want to love you, Faith. Completely. With my mind, heart, body and soul. That includes making love to you with every part of me. But if you're not ready for certain things, that's fine. Just tell me if I do something that makes you uncomfortable. I'll give you all the time you need by going at an extremely slow pace, but eventually I'll want to be able to literally toss you onto the bed and bury my face in your apex with you not having a twinge of discomfort, fear or worry that something's going to happen that you don't want to happen. I want to earn your trust."

Faith whimpers softly, seeing the understanding and love looking at her from Tara's eyes. "I already trust ya', Tare."

"You do. To a certain degree." Tara nods her head and gently presses her hand to Faith's lips after shifting it quickly from where it had been pressed against her chest. "It's hard for you to trust completely, Faith. I know that, and there's a good reason for you not trusting people. I also know that you trust me probably more than you've trusted anyone else. But we have to make this…" Tara gently strokes her fingers over Faith's temple, smiling gently as Faith presses into the caress. "Make this know what this hopefully already does." Tara moves her hand back down to Faith's heart, pressing gently against her chest. "That's something that's going to take time."

Faith sighs softly and nods her head in understanding, knowing there's a lot of truth to Tara's words. "I…do you…" Faith exhales loudly as she looks upwards for help, before turning her eyes back down to Tara, looking into the patient countenance of her lover, as she waits for her to say what she's trying to. "Do you still want to…" Faith unconsciously drops her eyes down to her lap before raising them to make contact with Tara again.

It takes Tara a few moments to understand what Faith is asking. Gently leaning down and pressing a soft kiss to one of Faith's knees, she brushes her cheek over it afterwards. "I only want to do what you're comfortable with, Faith."

"I'd like for ya' to try." Faith finally whispers after a few minutes of contemplation.

Tara purses her lips as she silently thinks about the best way to proceed to where she might have the best chance of Faith allowing her to actually please her lover orally. "If you don't mind, I'd like to try something?"

Tara chuckles softly. "It isn't anything bad, love. Just going to take some time." Tara slowly shifts and leans in to kiss Faith tenderly for a few minutes without actually deepening the kiss before easing away from her lover. Working her way to the other side of the bed, she climbs in settling herself on her side basically in the middle of the bed and pats the space beside her. "Please come and lay beside me, Faith."

Faith takes a deep breath and shifts around on the bed to lie so she's facing Tara. "This wasn't exactly how I was expecting to do this." Faith admits, stroking a finger gently over Tara's neck, smiling as Tara shifts closer to her, so their breasts are barely touching.

Tara laughs and leans in to kiss Faith quickly. "You, my dear slayer, are going to get the loving you need for your hornies and while that's happening, I'll be working slowly towards what we both want."

"'Kay." Faith agrees, not knowing what Tara has planned, but trusting the woman implicitly.

Main What's New Fiction by Author Fiction by Pairing eBooks

Subject Index Submissions Gallery Forums Links Awards Contact Us

If you find problems on these pages please email your host.

Fresh Start

by Kinetic-Kid

Copyright © 2008

kwhite14@yahoo.com