They'd turned all of the main lights off so they could lay there and watch the twinkling Christmas tree lights and the dancing flames in the fireplace. Somehow they'd reached the point where they were only watching the way the different illuminations played and flickered over each other's bodies.

Buffy was nervous and she could tell by Faith's breathing and her unusually hesitant touch that Faith was feeling it too. It was as if they'd undressed each other by accident or in some kind of hypnotic trance and now that they were naked neither one of them could remember what to do next.

At least Buffy felt she had a good excuse for her tentativeness. "Are you sure it's okay to do this?"

"Sure. Why wouldn't it be?" Faith kinda shrugged a shoulder. "You're the one who read the books."

"I don't remember reading anything about intimacy being bad."

"Intimacy? Sorry, B, my bad. I think we have our wires crossed," Faith struggled to sit up. "I didn't know you just wanted me to wash your hair and shit."

Buffy chuckled, placing a hand on Faith's shoulder to keep her where she was, not that she could move very far that fast right now. "Screwing then!"

Faith's teasing smirk became a smile. "So that probably means it's good, then, right? I mean, if doing it was dangerous it'd be in all the books in big, baby-colored letters."

Buffy couldn't fault the logic, so she nodded. "So . . . we'll do it."

"If you want to."

"I don't not want to."

"Whoa, slow down, B! I'm not gonna be able to control myself here if you keep talking dirty like that."

"Shut up," she grinned, "and tell me exactly how we're supposed to do it?"

"Do I look like a swallowed a copy of The Joy of Pregnant Lesbian Sex?"

"No, you just look like you swallowed the pregnant lesbian."

Faith's eyes narrowed and she lightly pinched Buffy's side in the way that always made her squirm. "Oh I can tell this relationship is going to be fun!"

Buffy caught Faith's wrists and held them against the mattress on either side of her head. "Well, if you're having second thoughts, can you tell me before I circumnavigate you to find the Promised Land?"

"Funny. And you just used up your last fat joke."

"But I have so many more!"

"And I don't wanna step on your buzz, but can you at least save 'em 'til we're not in bed?"

"Okay, I'll try. But can I have just one more?" she asked nicely, releasing Faith's wrists to trail her fingers slowly down her skin.

Faith narrowed her eyes again but nodded, "One more."

Buffy smiled, "You may be more motorhome than mini right now, but all of you is still so beautiful."

Faith remained dubious for a moment but then relented with a wide, dimpled smile. "And you think I'm corny?"

"We always have brought out the worst in each other."

"Can't wait to see how much worse it can get." As Buffy cocked an eyebrow Faith rolled her eyes. "You know what I meant."

She laughed softly, leaning in for a kiss. "I love you, Faith."

"Love you too, Buffy."

Buffy smiled as she looked down at Faith's face, at the way the Christmas lights shimmered over her skin, enhancing her already breathtaking beauty. Her heart went squishy as she realised that this was really real now, this was really it, and for the first time everything was really okay. It didn't matter that Faith was pregnant or that things were never going to be easy, or that one domestic dispute over the bed covers could end in world war three. None of that mattered.

The only thing that mattered now was how they handled those things; and the way they were going to handle them, finally, was together.