A/N: The title is from a Placebo track. The lyrics below are from "Every you and Every Me."

******************************

Another love I would abuse,
No circumstances could excuse,
Cos theres nothing else to do,
Every me and every you

******************************

Okay, so maybe the bonding session with Faith hadn't been the smartest of ideas, but everyone else had just welcomed her back with open arms, well maybe not open arms exactly but the arms weren't baring weapons which was the same thing really. Buffy was the only one still having trouble accepting the brunette as past of the family.

Not that Buffy was openly hostile to Faith, it was just that the necessary truce of bad feeling they'd employed in the last days of Sunnydale had never progressed.

The two never sought out each other's company and rarely even spoke to each other unless it was work related. Even on group outings to the local club they never seemed to connect, one was always in a different conversation to the other.

Willow and Giles had both pulled Buffy to one side in the past week and mentioned their concerns. She had attempted to assure them that there was no big mystery to it, no impending explosion between the two waiting to happen and not even really any animosity any more; they just weren't that close, or any kind of close. Neither of her friends had seemed convinced, sure that this was just the seed that would grow into something bad. Everyone was on tenterhooks at the moment what with the First only being scrunched a couple of months back and the new council hardly begun so she had let them railroad her into this outing just to put their minds at rest. Faith had agreed too.

The first mistake had been letting Faith choose the bonding activity. Four years as a guest of the state hadn't tamed that much of her personality and the brunette had never been one for shopping and girlie chats over popcorn.

At the first mention Buffy had thought Faith's idea the best option. The club, Matrix, would be loud, so that put talking on the back burner which was of the good because what did she really have to talk about with Faith. Buffy had never murdered anyone, or gone evil and she hadn't even had sex in like forever. There would also be music and so naturally they would spend the evening dancing and she had always enjoyed dancing with Faith, back before.

So she'd gone along with it all, and when they'd arrived at the club she had been warmed from the heat generated by the dozens of bodies, the beat of the techno baseline booming from loud speakers pulsed through her as if the blood in her veins was already dancing, and energy fizzled just under her skin as Faith grinned and dragged her to the dance floor immediately. Their bodies instantly found the rhythm as they let themselves go.

The second mistake of the evening was the drinking. Her and booze had never been the best of friends. Especially hard liquor like whiskey, which just happened to be Faith's favorite poison.

Their dancing had ended abruptly when the music changed to something soft and soulful. Most of the couples on the dance floor came together to move in slow circles, some gracefully, most not. Old love was being reaffirmed and more than a few new loves were just starting out as Buffy and Faith shrugged and moved to the bar.

Buffy had tried to decline the alcohol in favor of a coke, but Faith would hear none of it and Buffy had to admit she was having a better time than she'd thought. The rush the dancing brought still evident in her flushed features and sparkling eyes, she didn't protest too much when the tiny shot glass was placed firmly in her hand.

Before she lifted it to her mouth she said with a smile: "If I fall down drunk are you going to catch me?"

Faith winked. "Been tryin' to do that for years." Raising her glass to her lips she emptied it effortlessly.

Wondering what that meant, Buffy swallowed her own. The bitter liquid burned all the way down her throat and for a second she thought it was going to burn all the way back up, but her stomach adjusted to the fire quickly and she settled for pulling a face.

"See, knew you'd like it."

Okay so the talking part of the evening was obviously here. Buffy hadn't really expected to pass the entire night with out exchanging a few syllables and now it was here it was going surprising well.

Or had been until that pause.

Faith was ordering another round while Buffy toyed with her empty glass.

"So, uh, this is nice," she said lamely, noticing with a little worry, but no where near as worried as she should have been, that Faith had purchased the whole bottle.

Faith had finished paying and smiled at the blonde. "We do it every week, B. Sometimes more than once." She waved the bottle in the general direction of the back of the club. "Shall we?"

Buffy nodded and they didn't speak again as they pushed their way through the throng of sweaty, revved-up clubbers.

At the back of the big club was a seating area with couches and tables. It was dimly lit by soft blue lamps and an emergency exit sign. Flashes of red, blue, green and yellow occasionally made it this far back from the disco light up on the main floor. Buffy had caught a couple of vamps back here by chance, so had Faith. With that in mind both the Slayers gave the place a quick once over before settling on a nice big sofa, one at either end, personal bubbles very much not invaded.

"I meant just the two of us, out together, like this. It's nice." Buffy was still holding her shot glass and didn't pull it away in time to stop Faith refilling it.

"Nicer than you thought it would be." It wasn't a question, but there was no enmity in Faith's tone, just frank honesty.

Buffy wasn't gonna lie to her, she might want to allay everyone's fears of imminent Slayer-War, but she also wasn't going to wedge herself into a friendship that just wasn't meant to be. She and Faith had never been more than work buddies, not even before the brunette had gone all psycho, they'd only ever hung out in the afterglow of a good Slay. As soon as the buzz her power induced wore off, Buffy had always left. There had been a week or two just before everything had gone to hell when they might have turned that into something more, something real, but they'd never had the chance. Maybe there was something to Faith's theory that the two were naturally repelled from each other, like with the magnet thingy, due to the mystical forces that had chosen them both. Maybe Alan Finch's accidental death had been Fate stepping in to make sure they would never get the chance, or want the chance to change things.

Fingers snapped in front of Buffy's face and she blinked.

"B, hello. Anyone home?" The brunette teased.

"Sorry, I zoned out there, what were you saying?"

"I asked if you were drinking that, or just studying it for some test." She gestured to the full glass still in the blonde's hand.

Buffy looked down at it, shrugged and knocked it back. Faith leaned over and patted her gently on the back a few times until she stopped coughing, deftly topping up both their glasses again at the same time.

"So where were you?" Buffy looked confused so Faith continued. "When you went to the place that was better than here with me? If there even is such a place." She smirked and downed the shot in her hand.

"Nowhere, I want to be here. I'm having a good time. I guess I'm just feeling a bit awkward." Buffy told her honestly.

"I make you nervous, B? Cool."

"Not nervous, just . . ." Faith was still grinning cockily at her, making it clear she wasn't going to believe anything that came next. Buffy rolled her eyes and swallowed her whiskey.

Mistake number three had been all Faith, Buffy might have agreed, but only because it had seemed like a harmless thing at the time, plus the whiskey and the mellow lighting and comfy sofa had dulled her edge of caution to a dangerous level.

'Note to self,' she thought, 'stuff to do with Faith is rarely harmless or dangerless.'

"Okay, my go again," Faith was saying. "Where was the kinkiest place you and Spikey boy had sex?"

Buffy looked away from the glass she was twisting in circles on the table to give her sister Slayer a menacing stare. "Why are all your questions about sex?" She asked. The music was quieter here, allowing her to lower her voice to a threatening growl.

It was returned with a bright smile. "'Cause, Miss Prim, I'm not real interested in what your favorite take-out is, or why you dropped outta school." She topped them up again.

There wasn't much left in the bottle now, Buffy saw. "Hey those were good questions. We're supposed to be doing this to get to know each other better. That's what you said. And those were both good getting-to-know-you questions."

"And I answered them, now it's your turn to answer mine."

Buffy shook her head, resigned. She thought about it while she swallowed the less-than-burny-now alcohol. "I'm not sure; we did it loads of places. Probably the Bronze, up on the balcony." She remembered the night, feeling him thrust into her while she watched her friends enjoying themselves, oblivious that she was losing herself in the dark. She sighed; she'd spent a small fortune on replacing torn underwear that year.

She was pulled from her trip down memory lane by an ungracious snort. "Is that the best you can do? I had sex in the Bronze plenty of times, and not always hidden up on the balcony." She winked. "Of course I wasn't fucking the undead in there, 'cause, eww . . ." She shuddered.

Buffy tried not to feel insulted, because after all it wasn't like winning the 'Who shagged in the most indecent place' was a crown she'd ever wanted, but it was Faith and the two couldn't but compete over the strangest of things.

She thought about the question again. "Okay, how about . . . my front yard?"

"Really?" Faith didn't look like she believed Buffy capable.

"Yep, really. Front yard, under the tree, early evening . . ." She drained her refilled glass, warming to the story. "We couldn't go insid, because Dawn was home and I'd promised to be home early so I couldn't just leave with him, and he kinda talked me into it." She smiled, it hadn't taken long. "I don't know what I would have done if Willow had come home, or Xander had dropped by, only to find me naked from the waist down and being firmly screwed into a tree. If Dawn had peeked out of the curtains I never could have afforded the bill for her therapy."

"I bet that creepy old guy that lived across from you was glued to the window with his dick in his hand." Faith laughed.

"Jeez Faith, thanks for ruining it," Buffy respond sarcastically.

Faith laughed more. "I thought the thing with you and Spike was all pain and violence, that's the way everyone tells it." Faith waved her hand to call over a waitress and ordered another bottle of the fiery hooch.

"The bark scratched my ass up a treat." Buffy wasn't too sure another bottle was a good idea.

"I didn't mean that night specifically, I . . ." Faith uncapped the fresh bottle and poured.

Buffy cut her off. "I know, but you had your turn, it's mine again."

Faith obediently waited. Buffy tried to think of something the other Slayer wouldn't find boring.

"So what was Xander like?" She settled on. She already knew that her best friend was a Viking in the sack, thanks to Anya, but she figured Faith's take on him might be a little different.

Faith smirked. "You mean you still haven't given him a try?"

Buffy just shook her head with a smile.

Faith turned in her seat more so she could face the blonde without turning her head, and got comfortable. "Right, well, where to start?" She asked herself. "I guess, considering I took his sweet little cherry away from him, he wasn't too bad."

Buffy waited for more, it didn't come. "What, that's it? He doesn't even rate half a page?"

Faith leered at the other woman. "I didn't know you wanted all the dirty little details, B. I can give ya a play by play if ya need some material for those long, lonely nights."

Buffy blushed. "No, that's okay, not really needing Xander visuals for, uh, anything. I just thought you'd be able to come up with more than 'He was okay'. Was it that forgettable?"

"Are you kidding? Doing the diddy with your best friend isn't something that's just gonna slip from my mind."

Buffy was about to ask why when a weird look crossed Faith's face, it looked like fear, just a quick flash, which stopped the word in her throat and then Faith was talking again.

"Anyway, like I said, it wasn't bad. It was all over a bit quick, but then I was his first so you can't really blame the guy and it wasn't like I wanted more than a quickie to tide me over. It was the night we fought those freaky demon sisters. My first near-apocalypse," she said with a hint of wistful pride.

"That was the night you did it?" Buffy asked, she'd never know when.

"Uh-huh, so it wasn't like I had time for post-coital cuddles, even if I'd wanted them. He was hung too, I mean he was no monster, but he sure weren't behind the door when they were handing them things out."

That made Buffy laugh, even if it was more information about her friend than she'd ever wanted to know.

"He was all sweet and shy about it, he asked me if I was sure I wanted it, said he didn't want to rush me into anything I didn't want to do. This was while I was ripping his shorts off and paying his tool some serious lip-service, I barely even heard him." She shook her head a little sadly. "He's a sweet guy."

Buffy nodded. "Yeah he is."

"That's it, if you don't want all the gore. I rode him at a gallop, we both came, I kicked him out." Faith downed another shot and refilled her glass. "Now, my turn again."

Buffy accepted another drink and sat back to wait to see what torment Faith would unleash on her next.

"So, you never slept with Xander, what about your other best friend? You and wicca-woman ever get wriggly?"

The spray of whiskey hit Faith full in the face, but she was too busy laughing her ass off to be pissed about it.

"Faith no! That's not . . ." Buffy's sentence just petered out as she stared at her, words failing as she wiped at her dripping mouth.

"Oh come on, Buffy, it's not that far outta left field. Red's all women-lovin' now, I bet the thought of you naked and writhing beneath her has taken her to her happy place more than once." The brunette did an impressive eyebrow wriggle.

Buffy's face was the color of a fire truck and getting brighter. And had someone turned up the heat. She took the bottle from Faith and filled her own glass before drinking it swiftly and filling it again.

Faith's face suddenly reflected realization. "She's not the only one, is she?" She asked incredulously. "B, you dawg!"

"I . . ." Buffy began, but paused for a beat before saying anything else. "I'm not that egotistical Faith, the picturing of a naked, writhing Buffy doesn't really do it for me, not as much as being a naked writhing Buffy does." She stopped again, realizing that sentence had run on longer than she'd meant.

"Don't twist my words," Faith said.

"I won't when you stop cheating. You asked one thing and I answered it. No I've never had sex with Willow, and just for the record, no I never will. I don't like her that way."

"But you thought about it?" Faith pushed.

"Stop cheating," Buffy demanded again. "My go: Did you have much sex in prison?" The gloves were off.

"It was a women's prison, B."

Buffy just grinned and raised a perfect eyebrow.

"So you've obviously assumed I had some sex in there and now you want numbers." Faith had another drink, straight from the bottle neck.

"Faith, eww, use a glass like the rest of civilization."

"Oh like your mouth is so clean and pure, you've had a dead dick in it. Two of 'em." Faith was using information garnered from a previous question.

It had embarrassed the hell out of the blonde at the time, now she shrugged it off. "Just answer already."

"Well there was one guard, a male guard, his name was Charlie. He was no looker, but he had the keys to the store cupboards and Slayer metabolism meant I had to eat more than the puny little rations they gave us."

"Yes?" Buffy drew it out leadingly.

Faith sighed, and grinned a little. "Fine, yes Buffy, I had sex with a woman too. Several in fact. There, my secret's out, are you happy now?"

"No I want details," Buffy said matter-of-factly.

Faith's grin grew bigger. "Why; that Willow fantasy not working so well for ya anymore?"

Buffy back-handed Faith's chest.

"Ow, watch the ladies, I don't want to walk around with one of 'em dented." Faith groaned, rubbing at her breast, which was stinging from the blow.

Buffy giggled a little. "Sorry, I didn't mean to hit you that hard, or, uh, there." She waved her hand around in the general direction of Faith's chest before catching hold of the bottle and taking a swig. "I think I'm starting to feel a little drunk," she admitted with a hiccup. "Now, details."

"There was one woman, Kirsty, I don't know how it started. Just my hormones getting the better of me I guess. She was no one special but she never bothered to hide that she liked me. One day I had an itch to scratch and she was there. The next thing I know it's like a regular occurrence, anytime we could be alone." Faith chuckled. "That's the longest relationship I've ever had, a year and a half. She got out about a year before I left, which ended it sorta abruptly."

"Have you thought about looking for her now that you're out?" Buffy asked, wondering if the other Slayer had a possible future waiting for her somewhere with this woman.

"Fuck no. S'not like I loved her or anything. Didn't really anything her. She was just convenient, that and she looked like Angelina Jolie, which made it easier to give in."

"You've got a thing for Lara Croft?" Buffy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Nice try, Twinkie, my go." Faith grinned at her and shifted on the couch so she was suddenly a lot closer to Buffy.

One foot was up on the edge of the table, one arm draped along the back of the sofa. She passed the bottle to Buffy, who felt like she should be leaning away, putting more distance between them, but it seemed like way to much effort and it wasn't as if people were jumping at the chance to sit this close to her nowadays. She took another pull on the bottle and felt herself relax a little bit more. Looking directly into Faith's eyes, she replied:

"Give me your worst."

Faith pretended to think about it. "Ooh, now there's a challenge." She smirked and leaned even closer. "Tell me your biggest fantasy?" She asked huskily, her eyes twinkling. "What get's you the wettest just by thinkin' about it?"

'You and me,
sitting in a tree.
K-i-s-s-i-n-g.'

The school yard rhyme came unbidden into Buffy's mind. 'Whoa, where'd that come from,' she thought as she shook her head to dislodge it. She hadn't thought of that little song in years. What did they put in the whiskey around here? Oh yeah, alcohol.

She cleared her throat. "Don't hold back, Faith, tell me what you really want to know." Buffy griped, taking another small sip. If she could stall for the next two hours the club would close and they'd have to go home and she could get out of this.

'So just two hours of throat clearing then, should be cake.' She could lie, it was an option, but she'd told herself earlier that she wasn't going to lie to Faith about anything. Then again, when she'd decided that she didn't know she was gonna pick a wild card in this little game. 'Faith is one big wild card, you idiot.' The blonde chastised herself.

Faith was sitting patiently watching her, a little smile playing on her lips at Buffy's reaction to the question.

Buffy came to a decision. If Faith wanted to hear one of her fantasies, then she'd give her one. The one that had gotten her the wettest before tonight, before the Jack D, and the highly charged conversation had her dreaming up new ones.

She took a deep breath. "Okay . . ."

Faith interrupted her. "Real person fantasy, okay? You're not copping out with 'Brad Pitt on a beach at sunset'."

Buffy thought about pointing out that Brad Pitt was a real person, but settled for. "Do you want to hear this or not?"

Faith held up her hands.

Another deep breath. "Okay, and I'm assuming you do want the details in all their glory, so just remember - you asked for it. Right, I'm with Angel on a boat . . ."

"What no Willow?" Faith got The Glare. "Being quiet from now," she said with a grin and took the bottle back.

Buffy waited for her to drink some and then grabbed it again herself for some Dutch courage. She let her mind drift into the fantasy she'd had for years, each time she brought it out of the back of her mind it changed slightly, had a new bit tacked on to it somewhere, but it never failed to arouse. It was like an old book, one you'd read countless times, but knew it would still comfort you if you read it again.

"So we're on this boat, just drifting on the sea, and it's rocking slightly in the waves or maybe it's because we're moving around a lot in the bottom of it." She gave a little smirk. "It's dark, midnight and the only illumination is thousands and thousands of stars. So we're in the bottom of the boat kissing and I feel his hand slowly creep up and . . ."

Okay so the very worse mistake of the night, shoving the other three further down the list, was that she'd worn a skirt. If she'd worn pants everything would have been fine, but no she had to go and wear her stupid new skirt and it was to blame for everything.

Everything being the hand that was now half way up it.

At the start of her little fantasy-tale Buffy had shifted so she was facing her sister Slayer more, one knee lightly touching Faith's thigh. Faith was still slouched down on the sofa, one arm draped casually behind the blonde. Buffy hadn't even realized at first that the hand attached to Faith's other arm had somehow landed on her knee.

Her first conscious clue was when Faith tapped her fingers to emphasize a comment she made on Angel's lack of competency, a comment which had earned her the glare again.

She knew she should move, do something to break the contact, even just tell Faith to move her damn hand, but it wasn't doing anything, just resting there all innocent, the warmth of it seeping into her skin.

She was just getting to the good part when the fingers started to move. Slowly describing teasing circles on the inside of her knee. She tried to ignore it. Told herself it would go away if she did. Faith didn't even seem to know what her errant hand was up to as she grinned and nodded at what the blonde was saying.

Buffy was leaving nothing out as she detailed the imaginary scene played out with Angel. She wasn't even sure why, but she was pretty certain the whiskey was somewhat to blame. She was on permanent blush now as she described how good it felt to have Angel's cool mouth around her tit, when the fingers moved higher up her leg by a good inch.

Buffy spared them a glance and licked her lips nervously. What the hell was going on?

Faith never looked away from her face. "And?" She asked.

Buffy continued the sexually explicit story, keeping her eyes on Faith's face and not the slow passage of her traveling fingers, but every nerve-ending was well aware that another inch upwards was gonna see them disappearing under her skirt.

"Then he pulls my panties down . . ." Buffy stopped speaking mid-sentence. The hand had done it, she really hadn't believed it would, but there it was gone. Hidden from view by the short black material.

Now it was, uh, up there, even if not far, she couldn't write this off as Faith just suddenly getting all tactile. Buffy often braided Willow's hair, playing with it for hours while they watched television and Dawn had liked having random patterns tickled onto her back or tummy ever since she was tiny. The last sober brain cells had been clinging to the hope that this was all the touchy-feely was about, but with Faith's hand halfway up her skirt that was ruled out. Or maybe not, this was Faith after all.

So she'd stopped and was staring at Faith waiting for the younger woman to tell her what the hell she was doing. She didn't look down at the hand. No point anyway it wasn't like she'd be able to see it and if she did then she might just jump up and run out screaming. So she sat there, looking into Faith's eyes waiting for an explanation.

Faith's hand had stopped moving up, but three fingertips were still tracing lightly across the inside of her thigh, a little above the hem of the short skirt. "Go on," she said softly, barely audible above the music. "You can't leave it there."

Buffy licked her lips and took a small sip of the whiskey to wet her suddenly very dry mouth. It took her a second to remember where she'd gotten to and find her voice.

Which was noticeably huskier than before. "He, uh, pulls my panties down and off, leaving me naked and just laying there . . ." Faith's hand moved up some more and Buffy realized that Faith's breathing was getting heavy, like she'd just been slaying. It was the only outward sign that Faith was doing anything more than listening to Buffy's story. Well until . . .

". . . and then I open my legs, just sort of let them fall open like it's an accident . . ."

"That sounds like a good idea," Faith interrupted, leaning forward slightly so she didn't have to pitch her voice above a purr to be heard over the noisy club.

Buffy swallowed. Her heart was racing like a fucking Greyhound at full tilt. A bus, not a dog. For a long moment she looked like she hadn't heard what Faith had said, but then, her voice shaking a little she began talking again.

"He's real gentle as he slowly strokes up and down . . ." Seemingly casual, but with nerves about to come crashing down around her, she shifted her position again. Facing more towards Faith. To the outside observer she had barely moved, but now one of knees, the attention-getting one, was pushing hard into Faith's thigh opening up more space for the brunette to utilize.

For a split second Faith's eyes went wide and she panted, actually panted. She looked like she couldn't believe Buffy had done that. Buffy couldn't believe it either.

Buffy kept talking, trying to keep her voice steady and without the attractive slurring, trying to not notice all the other people who were in the club. None were passing very close to them and with the shady light and the music it was a pretty safe bet that no one had a clue what was going on between the two Slayers.

Buffy certainly didn't have a clue and she was one of them.

"And then he . . . Fuck Faith!" Buffy couldn't help it. Faith's firm, insistent fingers had just brushed over the extremely drenched material of her panties, making her lose her train of thought completely.

Faith fingers carried on rubbing lightly over the soaked cotton. "This really is your wettest, wet dream, B." She grinned. "Go Deadboy!"

"It's not the fantasy, F," Buffy panted. Faith had switched from random circles to direct rubbing over her clit. The friction caused by her wet panties was delicious.

Faith had a canary-eating grin on her face. "In that case: Go me!" She quipped.

Buffy was clenching the bottle, still in her hands, so tight she was surprised it didn't break. As a precaution she lifted it to her lips and noisily gulped the last of it before letting it slip from her fingers to the floor. "Don't get too excited baby, I'm probably gonna kick your ass for this when I sober up."

"Then let's make so your legs are real wobbly." Faith leaned more bodily into Buffy, pushing Buffy back against the couch. Her fingers moved away from causing her such exquisite torture for much too long a second and then a warm hand was sliding past her panty elastic, combing through her nether hair before cupping her mound.

It was Faith's turn to mutter: "Fuck!" Buffy sucked in a harsh breath and struggled not to pass out. Her thighs opened even wider, and this time it was an accident, in so far that she had absolutely no control over them doing anything else.

Faith's fingers started to move again. Gently rubbing up and down Buffy's slit, from her hole up to her clit and back down again, over and over. It took a few times for Buffy's self-control to tatter and fray before her hips were moving a little in time.

Faith leaned in closer, her breath tickling Buffy's ear. "You're so fuckin' wet, B." She growled and pulled back a bit to look into the blonde's eyes.

Buffy didn't waste her hitching breath to answer, Faith had all the confirmation she needed as her skillful fingers slipped and slid around in her excitement. She grunted instead, biting her lip to keep from groaning out-loud.

Faith smiled in response, her lips only centimeters from Buffy's, while her fingers tenderly teased around her slick pussy, interchanging small, feather-lite circles across her tense clit with poking a finger a little inside her, massaging her hole. Buffy wanted more, needed more, but there was no way in Hell she was asking Faith for it. This little shenanigan was all Faith's doing and Buffy wanted no part of the blame when they both sobered up. That didn't mean she could sit still though, she wriggled as subtly as she could trying to get that hand just where she wanted it, how she wanted it.

When Faith leaned even closer Buffy had to stop biting her lip to say:" Don't kiss me!"

Faith just smiled. "Wasn't gonna, Blondie."

Buffy didn't believe her. "Yeah riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiighhhhhhhhhht, ughn, Faith!"

Buffy was more than wet and ready so the sudden intrusion of two of Faith's long fingers was nothing more than a surprise. An Incredible Hulk-sized surprise.

"You might wanna work on biting that lip again B." Faith smirked.

"A little fucking warning next time might be nice." Buffy's eyes slipped closed and she wondered if she was going to hyperventilate and die from the feel of Faith moving inside of her.

"I thought my hand in your panties was warning enough, Buffy . . . hang on - next time?"

Buffy ignored her. The music was barely loud enough to drown out her heartbeat and the background level of talking and laughing seemed at once to be crowding in on her and strangely muted. With her eyes closed she didn't know if anyone was nearby or not.

Faith was obviously reading her mind tonight. "All these people here doing their own mindless dumb-ass things, getting drunk, dancing, looking to fuck; not one of them has a clue what my fingers are doing to you right now. They might look over here and see my hand disappearing at the wrist and not one of them would believe their own, bugged out eyes. I could strip you naked and all these losers would think they were hallucinating. None of them would believe you were real; I don't believe this is real."

Faith said the last part so softly Buffy wasn't sure she'd heard her correct and then she forgot what she'd said anyhow when Faith pushed a third finger inside her. "That's because this is so far past fucking unreal." Her head fell back against the couch and she looked up at Faith through lowered lashes. Naked did sound good, Faith was working wonders between her legs but the material of her clothes were restricting the amount of movement she had and her taut nipples were scraping just the nice side of painfully on her lacy bra, if she didn't get rid of it soon she'd be sore in the morning.

'No, bad Buffy, can't get naked here, can't get naked anywhere with Faith. Okay I think Good Buffy has officially left the building, Bad Buffy's all that is left.' Even in her haze of arousal and alcohol she realized stripping off here was out of the question, damn it.

Faith was looking down at her chest when Buffy came back from her little reverie; the blonde's nipples were straining towards Faith begging for attention, obviously not as proud as Buffy herself. The small nubs stood out noticeably, making peaks in the sparkly green top she was wearing. Faith licked her lips and met the blonde's eyes again.

"Looks like someone's enjoying themselves," she smirked.

Buffy rolled her eyes at the stupid statement, kind of redundant considering the force and speed with which her hips were meeting the thrust of the brunette's fingers.

"I want to suck you," Faith growled low into Buffy's ear.

"Faith, don't you dare . . . Not here . . ." Buffy started to protest, but Faith had already swooped down and given a long, slow lick with the flat of her tongue straight over the blonde's hard tip, before closing her mouth around it and sucking lightly on the material of her top.

Buffy nearly howled. For a brief moment her hand landed on the back of Faith's neck, pulling her mouth tighter against her chest, then she slipped her hand around to her throat and down to the front of the shirt she was wearing. Bunching the material in her fist she forcibly pushed the brunette away from her tit, refusing to listen to its objections, or Faith's.

"Not here," she grunted again.

Faith didn't seem too fazed by the rejection, instead she pushed her knee under Buffy's thigh, lifting it, making her legs fall wider, and changing the angle she could push into Buffy's hot core.

Buffy felt so much more exposed than before just with that one little adjustment and fuck did it feel good. She had slipped further down on the couch now, her back arching into it every time she raised her hips to meet Faith's plunging fingers. Her skirt had fallen up a little bit more, but with Faith leaning over her the way she was, Buffy was still covered from the rest of the club, she hoped, and then decided she was a little late to worry about that. She still had a fistful of Faith's shirt, holding her just close enough that she could feel her whiskey-scented breath on her face. Their gazes locked. Hazel eyes drowning in lust, and want, and need. Brown eyes not that different, but with a side-helping of genuine pleasure not derived just from burying her fingers in her one time enemy's snatch. If Buffy had seen it, it might have scared her a little, sobered her up slightly, but she was too far gone for that.

Faith's dexterous digits were massaging high up inside her, making the blonde shake, and when Faith ground the heel of her palm into her clit it was more than Buffy could take.

Pulling Faith towards her, she pushed down hard, driving the brunette's fingers even deeper into her pussy and clamped her muscles down, keeping Faith's hand a prisoner while her hips pumped erratically. Her cry of release was muffled into Faith's neck as her orgasm rocked through her, and through her, and through her.

"Fuck!" She gasped into Faith's neck when she could make more than vowel sounds. It made Faith shiver slightly.

Leaning back into the couch cushions once again, her gaze darted around the club. No one was paying them the slightest attention. These people were better at not seeing the stuff right in front of them that the Sunnydaler's had been. Thank God.

Satisfied they'd got away with it, she gave Faith a sheepish smile and finally let go of her shirt front.

Faith had already pulled her hand free from the blonde's underwear and a trickle of come flowed out after, tickling her sensitive flesh and curling her toes a little.

"You ripped it!"

"What - huh?" Buffy asked.

Faith was studying her top. It was a black tank top with a little collar that ended in a V just above her breasts. It was brand new, bought at the same time as Buffy's skirt. The V was now bigger, ending between Faith's breasts and showing off a fancy black bra.

"Shit, sorry," Buffy apologized, although she wasn't feeling all that sorry really.

Faith looked up with a grin. "S'okay, it'll mend." She looked around the club restlessly, like she didn't know what to do with herself now. "So you wanna dance or something?"

Buffy stared blankly at her. Dance. Faith wanted to dance. Buffy was starting to think about the cost of heavy therapy and some serious lifestyle re-thinking, and Faith wanted to go boogie.

Buffy wet her dry lips. "Really don't think I could get my legs to co-operate right now, Faith," she admitted.

Faith chuckled. "How about another drink then?" She made to signal for the waitress but Buffy grabbed her hand and pushed it back to the couch between them.

"Why don't we just get a cab? I, uh, think we've done more than enough bonding for one night. And I think I'm gonna pass out soon. Lack of blood up here." She tapped the side of her head with a little grin.

She saw the look of disappointment in Faith's eyes and didn't want it to be there, but she didn't want the responsibility of taking it away either.

"We can do this again though," she looked around the club, one arm sweeping out to convey what she meant, "sometime, maybe, if you want . . ." Faith was sucking Buffy's juices off of her fingers, looking like the cat that got the cream and leaving no doubt in the blonde's mind what she wanted. "So you really did enjoy sex in prison then," she said with a grin.

"Couldn't complain." Faith got to her feet. "Come on; let's get you into a cab before you turn into a pumpkin."

She started for the exit and Buffy followed on shaky legs.

Willow and Xander were both at work, Dawn was at school and Giles was busy somewhere with council business when Buffy, still in her teddy-bear cowboy jammies and sleep-creased, made her way into the kitchen. One hand was clutching her head, the other her stomach and she groaned at the bright sunlight streaming through the wide windows.

She flicked on the kettle and twisted the knob to shut the blinds and inspected a mug from the sink before placing it quietly on the table. Slumping down next to it and dragging the coffee tin towards her, she winced at the scraping noise it made on the wooden table.

When the kettle had boiled, she got up on unsteady legs and poured boiling water over the coffee granules and sat back down. Damn, the milk was all the way over there. So she'd drink it without she decided with a little shrug that hurt her head.

Getting back last night was a little hazy. Luckily everyone else had been asleep so she didn't have to try and hide her plastered state as they stumbled around the house. Faith had offered to make food but Buffy had cried off, claiming to need sleep . . . only to lay awake for hours trying to figure why the hell she'd let Faith do that to her, and why the hell she had enjoyed it so damn much. With her Slayer healing booting the alcohol out of her system faster than a normal person's would, her sober self was back and giving her a good kick up the ass for it. Every time the sensation of Faith's fingers tickling and teasing deep inside her pussy came back to her, her mind cringed at the memory while her body got aroused. She'd had to use her own fingers to get herself off in the end, just so she had any hope of getting to sleep. She'd muffled the cry of Faith's name into her pillow and just prayed that Faith's sensitive hearing hadn't picked it up from down the hall. It was all very confusing and she really wasn't equipped to deal with it in her hungover state.

She wasn't ready to deal with what was coming down the stairs three at a time either.

"Morning." Faith greeted.

Buffy looked up; the brunette was showered and dressed, and looking way too fresh, which served to irritate the blonde further. So she only grunted in reply.

"Feeling a bit rough?" Faith moved around the kitchen making herself some coffee and toast. "Want some?"

Buffy shook her head. Faith sounded way too chipper. Her voice was bright and lilting at the end and she hadn't looked directly at the blonde since entering the kitchen.

'She's nervous,' Buffy realized, taking a sip of her coffee and grimacing at the bitter taste.

Faith leaned over her back and poured some milk into her cup. "Try it again."

Buffy did and it tasted better. "Thanks."

Faith sat down across from her and stared at her toast. "So, you gonna kick my ass then?"

Buffy shook her head, ignoring the banging going on inside. "Not right now, maybe when I feel better."

Faith chuckled softly. "I didn't mean to overstep the line . . ."

"Faith, you pole-vaulted the line, you zoomed over it in a fucking jet and are still going." Buffy's voice was quiet and she didn't look at Faith.

"Hey, I didn-" Faith started to argue but Buffy cut her off.

"I know, I know and it's okay, really, I'm not mad about it. I think I should be, but I'm not, okay?" Faith just stayed quiet watching her over the rim of her mug. Buffy met her eyes with a smirk. "How can I be when that was the hottest damn sex I've had in years?" She blushed to the tips of her ears but her gaze didn't waver, she wanted Faith to see she was being honest.

"Me too, and I didn't even get any," Faith breathed.

Buffy chuckled but the intense look Faith was giving her was starting to make the uncomfortable feeling come back. She shifted in her seat and looked down into her mug.

"It's not going to happen again though, Faith," she said softly.

For a long time there was silence and Buffy didn't look up or break it.

She heard Faith exhale loudly before she spoke. "Okay, but I thought you just said it was good, the best even. You have no idea how much better than last night it could get."

"I know, and it was and I'm sure it could be, but it's not what I want. I don't want another relationship based solely on good sex. It didn't work last time, and people get hurt . . ."

Faith interrupted. "Whoa, who said anything about a relationship, B? Certainly not me; I'm only in it for the screwing," she asserted, but she didn't meet Buffy's eyes.

"Well, good for you, but that's not what I want."

Faith's eyes met Buffy's for a fraction of a second before bobbing back to her mug. "So you want like the whole thing - the flowers, the candy, dating and stuff?" She asked uncertainly.

Buffy smiled sadly. "No, not really."

"Oh."

Buffy watched Faith stare down at the table top for a long time, before she placed her palms down flat on it and pushed herself to her feet. She snagged a piece of toast from her plate and stuck it in her mouth before looking up. She was smiling a little.

"Okay. I'm gonna go train. You should go back to bed for a while, you look like shit." The brunette winked and left the room.

Buffy shook her head, smiling, grabbed the other piece of toast from Faith's discarded plate and went back up to her room to drive herself crazy some more. Not in the good way either . . . or probably not.