“Yes, yes,” Giles said into the receiver, the furrows in his brow growing more and more pronounced as the woman on the other end continued to berate him.   From her perch on the ladder, Buffy could make out Faith’s distinctive voice, though not her words, as she tacked up the last of the decorations for tonight’s party.  “Yes.   Yes… I’m sorry.  Accidents happen.  Don’t worry, I’ve worked out all the kinks.”  There was a pause.  “That wasn’t very funny, Faith.”

Buffy giggled.  Anyone who knew Faith for more than like a day should know not to use words like ‘kinks’ in her presence.

“Yes.  Yes, that’s right.  Exactly at 7:30.  You’ll make a grand entrance, I’m sure.  Hmm?”  Another long pause.  “Yes.  You have my word.  Goodbye.”

As Giles hung up, Buffy dropped down unnecessarily high from the ladder.  The loud thunk of her landing caught his attention.  “So, what was that all about?”

He sighed.  “Faith expresses appallingly little confidence in my ability to teleport her safely home.”

“And why is that?” Buffy asked, tilting her head.  Granted, Willow or Tara usually took care of the teleporting side of things, but Giles had cast plenty of powerful spells back in Sunnydale.  Surely, he could handle teleporting someone a mere thousand miles by himself.

“There was a slight-,“ he looked away for a moment, “issue when I cast the spell last time.”

“Issue?”

“Yes.  She arrived at her destination, but about ten meters too high.”

Buffy blinked.  “Oh.”

“Fortunately, a passing car broke her fall.”

“A passing car?”

Giles refused to meet her gaze, “Erm, yes… my plan to teleport her to a secluded spot in the woods was thwarted by the construction of a new housing estate.”  At Buffy’s confused look, he added, “It wasn’t on the map.”

Okaaaay, that didn’t really explain the ten-meters-too-high part, but whatever.  “Was she hurt?”

“Faith is surprisingly resistant to injury.  However, the Trans-Am she landed on fared much more poorly.”

‘Yikes.’  “Is the driver okay?”

“From what I understand, he was healthy enough to take a few shots at her as she ran into the woods.”

Her jaw dropped open.

“Faith is fine.”

Wow.  Now she felt kind of bad for not calling her the day she left, even though technically when a slayer was on a sensitive mission like Faith was, calls to the field were supposed to be limited to really important stuff.  The last thing a slayer wanted was for her cell phone to go off while she was tracking down a demon or a rogue slayer.  Teenagers - even teenaged slayers who were supposed to be particularly careful - couldn’t be relied on to remember to keep their phones turned off, and Faith was nothing if not a teenager at heart.

She’d go easy on Giles though.  Faith would likely make life difficult for him for at least a week, “Did her mission go all right at least?”

Giles picked a heavy, leather-bound spellbook off the snack table and nodded.  “She found Tiffany with little problem.  She hadn’t gone rogue exactly.   It appears that her grandmother was ill and she merely went home to look after her.” 

Buffy nodded as Giles filled in the details.  It was always a relief when there turned out to be a simple explanation for why a slayer went missing.  Every time a girl went rogue because she wanted power, or money, or revenge, it always felt like a punch to the gut.  That was why someone else always had to handle the tracking-down parts.  It was much too personal for her.

Thankfully, this time everything had worked out fine.  Tiffany’s grandmother was recovering and their wayward slayer would soon return home.

It was a nice change of pace.

“Feel free to call Faith, if you like,” Giles offered.  “I need to go over this spell again.  Perhaps I messed up the case-endings,” he mumbled to himself as he pushed his way through the swing doors, “Bloody Latin.”

…

Buffy leaned against a concrete wall at the back of the Slayer HQ as she punched in the number on her cell phone.  It was a cool and windy day and it made her glad they were having the party inside.  She missed Southern California already.  “Faith?”

“Hey, B.”

Buffy’s face lit up and through the tone of Faith’s voice, she could imagine her friend smiling back on the other end.

“So, how is Alabama?”

“Mississippi,” Faith corrected.

“Oh, right.  Well, how is it?”

A grunt was followed by the squeaking of what sounded like a box-spring mattress.  “You ever heard that song, “Southern Man”?  Well, it’s a bit like that.”

Buffy’s knowledge of classic rock songs was getting a bit rusty, but presumably that was bad.  “I see.  Why are you still there then?  I thought it wouldn’t take you more than a day or two to track Tiffany down.”

“Well, uh, something kinda happened while I was there. Turns out her grandmother definitely was sick, but it was a magical kind of sick.”

“Oh,” Buffy murmured.  What kind of absolute jerk would poison someone’s grandmother?  “Did you find out who did it?”

“Yeah, me and Tiffany tracked ‘em down.  Some group called AFMAA set the whole thing up.”

“Asthma?”

“AFMAA,” Faith repeated.  “Americans For a More American America.”

The line went quiet.  “That’s – that’s a joke, right?”

“I wish it was.  Bunch of good ole’ boys who don’t realize the Civil War’s been over for a hundred and fifty years.  They were trying to lure Tiffany there so they could kidnap her.”

“Why’d they want to kidnap a slayer though?”

“Dunno what their beef with us was.  Something about slayers being secret UN spies or some shit.  I didn’t ask, just beat ‘em up.”

Buffy shook her head.  Demons and ghostly personifications of evil were hard enough to deal with by themselves.  She didn’t relish the idea of having to worry about unhinged militias and conspiracy theorists too.

As always, Faith seemed to sense her worry.  “Don’t worry about it, B.  I took care of ‘em.  The South won’t rise again for at least another century.”

“But why didn’t Giles tell me?”

“Told him not too.”

“What?”

Faith’s voice remained perfectly calm, “Was gonna tell you after the party.  Didn’t want you worrying about that stuff when you should be enjoying yourself, besides, like I said, I took care of it.”

“So it’s nothing we have to worry about?” Buffy asked, her tone dubious.

“Yep.  Idiots couldn’t shit their way out of a paper bag.  Tiffany could’ve totally handled them herself.”

Buffy sighed.  Though she was technically the leader of this little one-thousand member organization, she trusted Faith with her life and treated her as an equal.  If Faith said the problem was solved, she’d believe it.  Didn’t mean she might not bring the subject up later though.  “So,” she drawled, “Do I want to know how?”

There was a brief pause.  “Tied them up and left their collection of weapons and drugs on the front doorstep of the chief of police along with a little note.  Figured that would take care of things.”

Buffy had to laugh.

“The police have their uses after all,” Faith said, obviously pleased with herself. 

It was long past time to nudge this conversation towards more pleasant topics.  “So, are you crossing Mississippi off your list of future vacation destinations?”

“Yeah, along with Kentucky, Oklahoma, and North Dakota.”  Ugh.  Buffy remembered their trip to North Dakota.  It had been the only occasion where she’d had time to actually go on a mission with Faith.  They’d had to hunt down a particularly annoying shape-shifting Wraith-er demon, and whatever Fargo might’ve had going for it, it was pretty hard to see under all that wind-blown snow.

Trust a demon to go on a killing spree in the middle of a January snowstorm.

“Also, Ohio,” Faith added.

“Um, Faith?  We live in Ohio.”

“Yes,” she said, sighing.  “Yes we do.”

There was an awkward silence.  “I didn’t know you were so unhappy here.”

Faith immediately backtracked, “I’m not.   I mean, the company’s great and all, it’s just, Cleveland is boring.”

That was something Buffy could relate to.  Honestly, there were days when she thought about asking Giles if they could collapse this hellmouth like they had the one in Sunnydale, and go find a new one to camp on top of.  Preferably one someplace interesting like Hawaii or the south of France.   Though, she supposed the people of Cleveland probably wouldn’t appreciate it if their city collapsed into a giant crater.  “Well, that’s what this party is for, right?” she offered, “to make Cleveland interesting.”

“Ugh…”

“Faaaaith,” Buffy whined.

“Yeah, yeah.  You know I’ll be there.  I got a costume picked out and everything.”

“Oooh, what are you going to be?”

“It’s a secret.”

She put a little more whine in her voice, “Faaaaaaaaaith.”

“That ain’t gonna work on me, Twinkie.  I can’t see you pouting over the phone.”

Buffy rolled her eyes.

“So, what are you going to be?”

She frowned.  “I haven’t been able to think of anything.”  There were two days out of the year when something always seemed to go wrong: her birthday, and Halloween.   Buffy was happy to participate in decorating the gym so the slayers-in-training could have a little fun, but really, why bother dressing up?  Something was bound to go wrong anyways.

“You know the party is in less than five hours, right?”

“Yeah,” she said, slumping against the wall until her butt hit the cold ground.

“You could go as something sexy,” Faith suggested, no doubt waggling her eyebrows while doing so.  “Sexy nurse, sexy librarian, sexy administrative services manager -”

Buffy snorted.

“Sexy former cheerleader turned head of an international organization of slayers?”

“What would that costume even look like anyway?” she asked, her cheeks turning warm.

“Pretty much like whatever you’re wearing now, B.”

Buffy shook her head even as her blush intensified.  Under her big, poofy jacket, all she had on was a plain white t-shirt and jeans.  She certainly didn’t feel particularly sexy.  Half the time, it was all she could do to pull her hair into a ponytail before stumbling downstairs to teach her morning classes.  Her old high-school self would be appalled.

Faith continued, “Just rip up your shirt in an alluring way, add some fake blood, then stick a stake in your back pocket, and boom, sexy head-slayer.”

“I appreciate the sentiment, but that sounds kinda… well, unimaginative.”

“B, you’re the slayer, you can dress up as anything you want.”  It was funny how Faith still called her that even though there were more than a thousand slayers these days.  “No one’s gonna say shit.   You’re the one babe in all the world that holds the line against the demons, a stopper of apocalypses, and defender of innocents.  Vampires wet their pants thinking about you –“

“I don’t think that’s exactly how the speech usually goes -”

“- and don’t even ask what happens in the pants of the guys and gals who see you dancing at the club.”

“Faith!” Buffy squeaked, her giggles causing her voice to crack.

“Seriously, B.  If you were president you’d be Baberaham Lincoln.”

She had to shake her head.  Faith had stolen that line from Wayne’s World.  She knew, because they’d watched it together the night before she left.  “I think if Giles gave me that speech on my first day at Sunnydale, I would’ve run out the door.”  Not much of a stretch, considering that’s more or less what she had done anyway.

“I like my version better.”

“It’s certainly more flattering,” Buffy admitted.  As a flock of geese flew overhead, Buffy felt all her irritation melt away.  Faith had this crazy way of making her forget all her troubles.   When she was with her sister-slayer, Buffy actually felt like a normal twenty-four year old, not the head of a secret organization on the CIA’s watch-list.   Endless lessons, all-nighters and constant worrying over finances and security became bearable when Faith was there, supporting her.

“And I do appreciate the thought, really, but I don’t know if I’m up for sexy anything this time.”

“Why not, B?  You’ve totally got the body for it.”

Buffy blushed again, thankful she was on the phone and not speaking to Faith in person.  “You weren’t here for Halloween my junior year of high-school.   I wore this beautiful pink dress - and I looked amazing in it, if I do say so myself - but then some stuff happened and we all started acting like our costumes.  Xander was all badass military guy, Willow turned into a ghost, and I… I was a completely useless princess in a pink dress.”

Faith did a lousy job of covering up her laughter.  “Sorry I wasn’t there, but is that really likely to happen twice in one lifetime?”

“When it comes to the hellmouth, it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

Again, the line went quiet for a moment.  “Well, how about a superhero then?”

“I’ve seen those Power Girl comics lying around Xander’s room.  There’s no way I’m dressing like that.”

Faith laughed.  “Nah, I was thinking more like Supergirl or Wonder Woman or something.”

Honestly, Buffy would be surprised if there weren’t at least a dozen Supergirls in attendance at tonight’s party.  “Too obvious.  Besides, I don’t have enough time to get something like that together.”  It was Halloween, the stores were probably sold out of the good costumes.   “How’d you get yours anyway?  I thought you were in the middle of nowhere?”

“Yeah, the only costumes this dinky little town has are of the white-hooded variety.  Fortunately, Tiffany’s grandma, she knows how to make her own clothes.  Totally hooked me up.  Got some advice from Tara too.”

“You told Tara about your secret costume, but not me?”  Sometimes, she wondered about those two.  If Tara’s girlfriend wasn’t a super-powerful Wicca, maybe Faith would’ve tried to put the moves on her.  She seemed to have a thing for blondes.

“Wait, I got it,” Faith said, pointedly ignoring Buffy’s question.  “How about you dress up like a Greek god or something?  Maybe a gender-bent Zeus, complete with lightning-bolts?  That way, if the shit does hit the fan, you can zap anyone who fucks with you.”

A light bulb went off in Buffy’s head.  “Where the hell were you when I was trying to come up with costume ideas?”

“I was here, babe, in Jerkwater, USA, home of the world’s largest collection of racist antiques, both animate and inanimate.”

Aww, poor Faith. “Okay, I get the point.  I promise, the next time we send you on a mission it’ll be some place nice.”

“Awesome.  Now get to work on that costume, and feel free to make those white robes as transparent as possible,” Faith said, laughing as Buffy hung up on her.

…

In the end, her costume wasn’t spectacular or anything, but it was definitely much better than simply going as herself, Buffy had to admit: a white toga that nearly touched the floor and a big lightning bolt made out of particle board spray-painted yellow courtesy of Xander and quickly dried by Willow.  Buffy was prepared to rain down some divine vengeance on anyone foolish enough to mess with her girls tonight, or, just, you know, conk them on the head, whichever.

The gym was filled with young slayers all in costume.  Slayers from every corner of the world, from the rolling savannah of Tanzania to the mountains of Peru.  A hundred different girls from a hundred different cultures, all under one roof.  Sometimes Buffy couldn’t believe what they had accomplished in the year since the fall of Sunnydale.

However, there was one last slayer to arrive, and Buffy was waiting impatiently with Willow and Tara as Giles worked his magical mojo near the door to the break room, in plain sight of the dancing girls and their dates.  The two witches offered to help, but Giles insisted he could manage.  A circle of salt was laid out on the floor, complete with an outer circle of candles.  Giles had his book in hand, rereading the spell one last time before setting it down and readjusting his hat.  It was funny to watch him.  Buffy had never seen someone dressed up as an old-timey British admiral try to cast a spell before.

Willow and Tara surprisingly didn’t dress as witches.  They smiled expectantly as Buffy tried to figure it out.  Tara wore a pretty white dress with a large cross hanging from her neck.  There were two bite marks painted onto her neck.  Willow, on the other hand, had on a black tank-top covered by a very thin, wide-necked shirt.  Her eyes were a different color, a bright, almost flame-like yellow.  Contacts?  Or maybe magic?

Buffy shook her head.  The costumes must be related, but she just didn’t get it.

“We’re you,” Willow explained.

Then she realized, that dress...  She’d worn something almost exactly like that when she’d killed the Master.  And Willow… that’s how she looked when she had the spirit of the First Slayer inside her the day she ripped Adam’s uranium power source out of his chest.

“Oh my god!” Buffy cried, eyes getting decidedly watery.  She pulled them both into a big hug and probably came close to injuring them in the process.

This was going to be the best Halloween ever, if only someone would hurry up with the teleportation spell.

Finally, with a bright blue flash of light, Faith appeared in Giles’ magic circle.  She immediately dropped to one knee, clutching her chest.  Buffy knew why.  It wasn’t wise to go through the act of teleportation after you just ate.  More often than not, the contents of your stomach would end up all over the floor.  That’s why there was a rule, no teleporting into carpeted rooms on Slayer HQ property.

In an impressive show of resilience, Faith stood up again, dusting the salt off of her pants.  Hmm, Black furry pants, furry top, furry ears, furry gloves… “Sexy… dog?” Buffy guessed.

“Wolf,” Faith corrected, her dimples showing as she smiled brightly.   Well, if anyone could pull off a wolf -

Buffy smiled back.  Her costume was actually surprisingly modest, considering this was Faith she was looking at.  A thick pelt of black fur lay draped over her shoulder, covering her breasts but leaving her right shoulder, arms, and abs exposed.  Buffy did her best not to stare.  They were very nice abs though.

“I like the tail,” Tara said, her cheeks pink.   “It’s, um, very life-like.”

Buffy had to agree.  In fact, it seemed be swaying entirely of its own accord.  “How did you get it to do that?”

Faith looked over her shoulder, “I don’t really know, I just trusted Tiffany’s grandma to –,“  Her mouth hung open,  then immediately closed.  “Uh…”  She froze, her brows furrowed, then spun a half turn in place, watching as the tail followed her, then froze again.  “Uhhh.”

Buffy was unable to resist and reached out for it.  It felt completely real.  “Wow, it’s so soft,” she marveled, stroking it with one hand.  And warm too.  Whoa, it moved again.  She met Faith’s surprisingly wide eyes.  “What’s wrong?”

“I felt that.”

Buffy blinked.  “Huh?”

Looking increasingly distressed, Faith grabbed the end of her tail and yanked on it, giving a tiny yelp of pain.  “Son of a bitch!”

“What is it?” Willow asked.

“GILES!”

The man in question murmured in response, walking over with a cup of punch in hand, a plastic sword dangling from his side.

“You gave me a tail?!”  Faith shouted.  Though the music kept playing, a number of junior slayers were gathered around, gawking and pointing at Faith’s new magical appendage as it rose high and vibrated back and forth with short, quick movements.

For a long moment, Giles examined it closely, surprised when it suddenly thwacked him in the face.  “Oh… Oh, dear.”

…

It took a great deal of convincing for Faith to accept Giles’ assurances that the change was not permanent.  He promised to work on it, but eventually they calmed Faith down enough to get her to agree to let him wait until tomorrow so that he wouldn’t miss the festivities.

Underneath that gruff exterior, Faith could be surprisingly kind-hearted.

The other slayers soon grew bored with the spectacle and went back to their dancing and mingling.  Most of them had only known about the supernatural for a little over a year, yet already they were becoming immured to bizarre occurrences like this.  Either that or they were just terrified of Faith.

Before long, Faith too was back to her old self (plus tail) and needed very little coaxing to head out onto the dance floor.  Buffy danced until she lost track of time.  And just like when she fought, Faith was a force of nature when it came to this.

She was irresistible and she knew it, but she always stayed close to Buffy, protecting her from other wandering hands.

And she made a damn sexy wolf too.  Those ears looked so cute on her, but it was definitely the tail that was stealing the show.

Needing a break, Buffy decided to spend a few minutes hanging out at Willow and Tara’s table, admiring the sea of happy slayers.  As expected, a number of superheroes and villains were in attendance, but Buffy’s personal favorites were the three girls who each dressed as Michael Jackson from one of his videos; “Beat It”, “Bad”, and “Smooth Criminal”, if she wasn’t mistaken.  That certainly came in handy now that “Thriller” was being played, a slayer-appropriate tune if ever there was one.  She watched in amusement as Faith danced with the best of them.

Later, when she returned with a cup of punch, Buffy noted that Tara had an eye on Faith too.  “No, I think it’s more like a dog’s tail,” she was saying to Willow.

Willow stared in silence for a moment.  Watching Faith dance was like staring at an open flame… a flame that for some reason always made you think about having sex.  No one was immune to it, not even a young witch with a steady girlfriend.  Buffy couldn’t blame her, and Tara didn’t seem to mind.  “What’s the difference?” Willow finally asked, cheeks a little pink.

“Well, in some ways they’re the same, I guess.  But dogs are social animals, while cats are solitary.”

“Uh huh.”

“She’s very good at herding the junior slayers.”

“That’s true,” Willow said, nodding.

“Just wait… when a dog is excited to see someone, their tail wags back and forth like crazy.  Cat’s tails tend to quiver while pointing straight up.”

As she pretended to fascinated by her drink, Buffy was definitely riding that line between being in a conversation and eavesdropping, but she couldn’t help but keep listening in, curious as to what Tara was getting at.

“Oh, just like Miss Kitty Fantastico!” Willow said.

“Exactly, but watch the way Faith’s tail moves.”

When the song ended, Faith scanned the hall until her eyes locked on Buffy’s.  Smiling, Buffy raised her drink to her.  Faith grinned back, dimples showing, and then Buffy saw it; Faith’s tail was wagging excitedly, just like a dog’s.

“See?” Tara said.

“My girlfriend is so smart,” Willow announced, kissing Tara on the cheek.

Meanwhile, another slayer had sidled up to Faith.  Now there was a Baberaham Lincoln if ever there was one.  Okay, minus the beard and the stove-pipe hat and all that, but she was really tall - over six feet - and beautiful.  Like an Olympic athlete.  Buffy knew her of course, she’d just come over from Iceland.

She felt a pang of jealousy as Faith talked to her, all smiles and subtle body movements as another bass-heavy song came on.  Surprisingly, her tail only swooshed back and forth gently with the beat.  Faith shook her head at something the other slayer said.   “Good,” Buffy whispered under her breath.

When their eyes met again, Buffy beckoned her towards the table, watching with satisfaction as Faith’s tail began wagging briskly again and she left the beautiful blonde behind.  Buffy: one.  Icelandic slayer whose name she still couldn’t pronounce: zero.

“So, B,” Faith said, a little breathless.  “You wanna head back out?”  She indicated the dance floor with a slight jerk of her head.

Buffy’s gaze travelled from the floor to the swinging doors that led to the stairwell.  “Actually, I kinda wanted to get some air.”  Struggling not to let it show on her face, Buffy watch in amusement as Faith’s tail drooped a bit.  “Come with me?”

Instantly, it sprang back to life.  “Oh, sure, B,” Faith said, her tone and expression perfectly nonchalant, completely oblivious to the messages her tail was broadcasting to the entire room.  Now that she was paying attention, Buffy could see all the subtle signs she’d missed all these years; the way Faith’s eyes lit up… how could she have ever failed to notice that?  Faith had such expressive eyes.

She’d make sure to remember them from now on.

As she and Faith walked out side by side, Buffy looked over her shoulder to see Tara smiling at her.

…

“Sorry,” Faith mumbled when her tail whacked Buffy on the thigh for the tenth time since they stepped out on the balcony.

Buffy giggled.  She didn’t mind at all.  In fact, it was giving her the motivation to finally maybe proceed with something she’d wanted to try for the longest time.

Unfortunately, Faith was clearly feeling self-conscious.  She sat down on one of the folding chairs, annoyed for a bit until she got her tail out from under her butt.  Her hand reached for her pocket, only to apparently remember that this costume didn’t have any.  Presumably, she was looking for a cigarette.

Faith tended to smoke when she was nervous, but usually she wouldn’t dare do it in Buffy’s presence.  Hopefully, that meant she was thinking about the same things Buffy was.

Determined not to let the moment slip away, Buffy pulled a chair over and sat down right next to her.  Again, Faith’s tail began wagging happily.  In the moonlight, Buffy thought she saw the woman’s cheeks turn pink.  That alone was something to remember.  Faith never blushed.

Even with the steady bass thumping in the background, the sound of Faith’s tail hitting the back of Buffy’s toga over and over again was something impossible to ignore.  “I can’t wait until this thing is gone,” Faith said under her breath.

Buffy had to disagree, “I like it.”

Faith’s eyes met hers.  The expression was suspicious to say the least.

“The girls will like it too.  It’ll be nice to have a way of knowing if you’re really angry or just messing with them.”

Faith looked away and huffed, her breath forming a little cloud in the cool night air.

They were finally alone, it was time to start putting things out there before she lost her nerve.  “It’s just… it’s nice to know what you’re feeling.  You’re so good at hiding it.”

Gradually, Faith’s tail stilled, like she finally understood that it was giving her away.  Buffy recognized the look in the woman’s eyes now.  Whenever Faith needed to push all distractions away and concentrate on the task at hand she kind of looked like that, like she was making her mind go blank.

No one knew much about Faith’s life before Sunnydale, but Buffy was sure it wasn’t the best childhood.  And then there was all the hurt between then and now.  She could see that Faith still thought about the bad times… a lot.

Tonight, Buffy was determined to get her to forget about all that for once.  She snaked a hand up Faith’s bare arm.  That got the tail to start moving and Faith huffed again, sounding like a dog that’s irritated with its master.

“Who’s a good girl?”  Buffy cooed, earning an exasperated look.  “You are!  Yes you are!”  She rubbed her hand up and down Faith’s shoulder, warming it.   The woman’s tail swayed vigorously from side to side, whacking Buffy forcefully on the back.  It was a good sign.

“I’m not a dog,” Faith grumbled.

Buffy’s hand travelled onward to wind its way through Faith’s hair.  It was so soft, softer even then the fur of her bushy tail.  She could see this becoming one of her new favorite places.  “No, you’re a wolf,” Buffy said, leaning forward to whisper in the woman’s ear.  “A sexy wolf who loves to be petted, I bet.”

Faith leaned back into the touch, eyes rolling up in her head.  “Damn, B”

“I’ve never told you how thankful I am that you’re here with us… with me.  You’re so great with the girls.  They love you.”  ‘I love you,’ Buffy almost said.  She gulped.  Okay, she was gonna need more confidence for that one.

That tail was still wagging briskly back and forth.  “I’m so proud of you,” she added.  Buffy meant every word of it.

Faith didn’t say anything.  She didn’t need to say anything, her tail said it for her.

Buffy marveled at the power she held.  This was a side of Faith she had never seen before.  Many times, she’d watched the beautiful brunette seduce boys and girls at the Bronze and now here in Cleveland.  In the club, Faith always took the lead, even when the object of her desire was some walking slab of muscle twice her size, but here Buffy was in control.  Faith was letting her do whatever she wanted, and the longer it continued, the clearer the picture of exactly what she wanted was becoming.

Suddenly, Faith seemed to understand what was happening, and her body noticeably stiffened.  “I – I should probably go.”

Buffy kept a strong hand on Faith’s fur-clad thigh.  “Don’t.”

Those big, soulful eyes said it all.  Faith was terrified.  “B?”

She thought about those girls in the gym, dancing with their partners, some men, some women.  Some of them would be ostracized or worse if they ever went home, but here it didn’t matter.  They were free.  They were happy.  Didn’t Buffy have the right to be happy too?  Without further hesitation, Buffy slipped her legs over Faith’s until she was sitting in her lap.  “I’m attracted to you,” she said, finally giving voice to something she’d wanted to say for the longest time.

Faith nodded ever so slightly, but even though her wide-eyed look still indicated sheer terror, she replied, “You’re only human.”  God, that husky voice did strange things to her.  Hah, husky, like the dog!  Buffy giggled at her own bad joke, which seemed to reassure Faith.

“But… I thought you were straight.”

Buffy shrugged, making herself even more comfortable on Faith’s lap.   Damn, but the woman had some nice muscles down there.  She’d have to inspect them more closely later.  “Looks like I’m not,” she said, staring directly into Faith’s eyes.

“Yeah,” Faith croaked.  “Looks that way.”

Her hands worked their way under Faith’s costume and around to her back.  Again, Faith shut her eyes and sighed in contentment.   Feeling bolder, she kissed the woman’s neck.  “You’re so beautiful.  I’ve always thought so.”

“B?  Are you sure about this?  I mean, I don’t want to fuck things up between us.”

“Yeah, I’m sure.”  She slid a hand down until she felt the base of Faith’s wagging tail.  “I guess this helped me figure it out.”

It took a moment, but Faith finally seemed to get the meaning.  “I thought you’d never notice,” she admitted, her voice a mere whisper.  “I mean, that I’m interested in you.  I’ve been flirting with you since forever.”

“Yeah,” Buffy replied breathlessly, enjoying the opportunity to put her hands on any part of Faith that she wanted.   So far, there wasn’t a single place she’d touched that didn’t lead to her feeling more turned on.  “You flirt like that with everyone though.”  Faith pursed her lips.  “Oh come on, you know you do.”

Faith grumbled but finally said, “Yeah, all right, I admit it.”

‘Damn right,’ Buffy thought.  Perhaps that was all part of Faith’s self-defense mechanism.  Flirt with everyone and that way the allegedly straight girl you’re crushing on will never notice.  How sad that it had worked for so long.

She ran a hand through Faith’s dark hair.  “Would it be okay if –“

Faith interrupted her, “Yeah.”

Then, of course, Buffy’s cell phone went off.  Whenever the call came from the Vancouver office, her phone played the theme from James Bond.  Faith rolled her eyes.

Buffy smiled in response.  Vancouver was home to several witches and ex-watchers who spent their time looking for clues as to the whereabouts of all the slayers they hadn’t managed to find; hence the James Bond theme.  Usually, a call from Vancouver meant that someone was going to have to go on a mission.

She reached into her toga to find the pocket she’d hidden her cell in.  Yes, tonight was about letting go for once, but she wouldn’t be caught on the back foot if there was another uber-vamp out there, or if the First had somehow reassembled himself and was back for The First II: First Harder.

Thankfully, it wasn’t anything like that.

“Looks like we’ve got another slayer on our hands,” Buffy said, hanging up and setting the phone down on a nearby table.  She made sure to turn it off this time.  The world would survive without her for at least a few hours, surely.

Okay, maybe.

It was just another young girl who got her powers last year but had no idea what was happening to her.  Despite their stated goal of assigning watchers to every potential slayer on Earth, the old Watcher’s Council had missed quite a few of them.   Buffy was determined that they would be much better aides to those girls than the Council ever was.

“Where am I going this time,” Faith mumbled, her forehead pressed against Buffy’s shoulder, fingers kneading at the fabric of her costume.

Oh, she wasn’t going to like this one bit.   “Greenland.”

Faith groaned.  “Wait,” she said, meeting Buffy’s gaze, hope appearing in her eyes.  “That’s the grassy one, right?”

“No, you’re thinking of Iceland.”

She groaned again, burying her head in Buffy’s hair.  “Fuck, you smell good.”

With a free hand, Buffy reached around to pat Faith on the back, amused by how easily distracted the younger woman could get.  Her tail was wagging again.  Faith loved to be touched.  That was very useful information.  “I can get Kennedy to do it, if you want.  You deserve a break anyway.”

Strong arms wrapped around her back.  “I’ve got a better idea,” she said into Buffy’s hair, hot breath tickling her skin, “Put Kennedy in charge of our classes – temporarily - and come to Greenland with me.”

Buffy smiled.  “I thought you hated the cold just as much as I do?”

“I never told you, but out of all the missions I’ve gone on in the past year, the only one I really enjoyed was the time the two of us went to Fargo.”

“But, you complained about the weather the whole time!”

“Yeah… but I was with you,” Faith said, pulling back to look her in the eyes.  “It was fun.  Just like old times, you know?”

Buffy’s expression softened.  “I didn’t know you could be so romantic.”

“Hanging out together while hunting vamps and demons is romantic?”

“In this line of work, you take what you can get.”

Faith’s expression turned deadly serious.  “Feel free to take me if you want.”

Buffy practically breathed her reply as their lips drew closer, “Okay.”

Finally, they kissed and everything turned to fire.  Everything about Faith was so damn warm, and soft, and strong all at the same time.  She found herself clutching the younger woman desperately.  There was no way she was going to be able to stop herself tonight.  She’d never felt so alive in her entire life.  Why hadn’t she done this the first night they met?  Fuck.

When they pulled away, Buffy struggled to catch her breath.  “I’ve never been with a girl before,” she whispered, almost ashamed to admit it.  She’d certainly thought about it, lots of times, but never -

“I can teach you everything I know.”

That soft thump thump thump sound continued as they eyed each other.  “What about being a sexy wolf?” Buffy asked before she could get distracted by Faith’s amazing lips again.  “Can you teach me that too?”

“Sure,” Faith replied easily.   “The first lesson is howling at the moon.”

“Oh.”  Buffy’s smile widening into a big toothy grin.  “You’re gonna make me howl, huh?”

Faith grinned back.  “Yeah.  Definitely.”

“And how long will this lesson take?”

“Not long,” Faith said, her own hands exploring Buffy’s back, discovering her bra strap even through the fabric of her toga.  No doubt she was filing away the information for later.  “But the key is to practice what you’ve learned.”

Ooh, that sounded even better.  “Over and over again?”

“Over, and over, and over,” Faith said, sneaking in a brief kiss.  “It could take weeks.  Months.  Years, even.”

Buffy’s body thrummed with excitement.   There was a persistent mental image of Faith’s head between her legs that just wouldn’t go away no matter how hard she tried.  They were going to need to install sound-proofing in her bedroom.  “Sounds exhausting.”

“Oh, it will be.  Especially for you.”

Buffy smirked.  “We’ll see about that, won’t we?”

Without a word, Faith stood up, lifting Buffy too, and Buffy was more than happy to wrap her legs around the woman’s back, Faith’s fuzzy tail tickling her feet all the while.   “Yours or mine?” Faith asked as she began to carry her toward the door, muscles flexing but showing no sign of strain.

“Mmm… you decide.”  For now, Buffy was going to see if Faith had the strength and control necessary to carry her up to the bedroom while someone was nibbling at her neck.

...

As the party was winding down, Willow found Tara in the first place she looked, the back garden behind the building the girls called Slayer University.  Tara was leaning against the balustrade, staring up at the night sky.  Obscured as it was by the lights of Cleveland’s city center, it was still a pretty sight.

Wordlessly, she wrapped her arms around her girlfriend - soon to be fiancé, she hoped, if she could just work up the courage to ask – and sighed happily.

Tara hummed in contentment.  “Hi, sweetie.”

“What are you doing out here?   It’s so cold.”

Stretching out her hand, Tara conjured a flame.  “I make my own warmth.”

Willow pressed closer, burying her nose in Tara’s long hair.  She smelled absolutely wonderful.  “You sure do.”

Her foot hit something else that was leaning against the balustrade, a book.  The title was in Latin and written in that old blackletter style font that never failed to give young witches and slayers a headache trying to decipher it.  “Isn’t that Giles’ book of teleportation spells?”

“Mmhmm.”

“Surely there’s nothing in there you haven’t already memorized.”

“Surely,” Tara repeated cryptically.

Willow decided to let it drop.  There was, after all, much bigger news to discuss.  “Did you hear about Buffy and Faith?”

“Mmhmm,” Tara said again, happily.

“You did?”

“I saw them up on the balcony.”

‘You and everyone else at the party,’ Willow thought.  Already, rumors were beginning to fly about how maybe tomorrow morning’s classes would be cancelled, or at least, as one girl who always seemed to have difficulty in Faith’s weapons class put it, ‘Maybe Faith will stop being such a bitch to us now that she’s getting it regular.’

For her part, Willow wasn’t completely sure about how she felt about this new development.   Faith was a little intense, and hard to take, but at the same time she could be incredibly loyal and kind once you were on her good side.  Besides, you’d have to be a totally oblivious loser not to see that she was totally crushing on Buffy.

It was kind of adorable.  She wouldn’t have expected Faith to have it in her.

“Any idea how Faith’s tail got messed up?”  She’d been running the spell through her mind for hours but couldn’t think of any way you could accidentally turn a fake costume tail into a real one, no matter how bad you were with Latin.

Again, Tara hmm’d.  “Faith called me a few days ago.  She wanted advice on her costume.”

Oh.  Willow knew that Tara and Faith were friends, but she hadn’t realized they were quite that close.  It seemed like such an odd combination, Tara and Faith, but then Tara did have a big heart.  It was reason number sixteen why she loved her so much.  Still, that didn’t really answer her question… like at all.

“Faith always kind of reminded me of a wolf.”

Willow could easily see that.  Although really, Faith reminded her more of the wolves from those old Tex Avery cartoons, the ones that howl at the moon when they see a pretty girl, and then their eyes bulge out of their sockets and their tongues roll onto the floor like an unfurling carpet.  Faith was like that around any pretty woman, though fortunately she stayed away from the under-aged ones.

“So,” Tara continued, “I just decided to make it a little more apparent.”

Willow stepped back, “You… you caused Faith to grow a tail!”

Tara met her gaze and smiled a little guiltily.

“That’s so devious!”

Willow put a reassuring hand on her girlfriend’s shoulder to let her know she wasn’t really mad.  To be honest, she was impressed.  The gesture seemed to do the trick.  “I know the spell to change her back,” Tara said quickly.   “I promise I’ll do it tomorrow morning, and I’ve already told Giles that it wasn’t his fault.”  Oh, Tara, always thinking of others.  That was reason number thirty-one.

Willow wrapped her arms around her again, this time facing front to front, and kissed her on the lips.  “I thought you were going to let them figure things out on their own?

“Well, Buffy’s a little… um, oblivious, when it comes to people taking an interest in her.  Remember Satsu?”

‘Oh, God.  That poor girl,’ Willow thought.  Satsu eventually had to beg to be transferred somewhere else just so she could more easily get over Buffy.  Now she was head of the slayer cell in Tokyo.  The last Willow heard, she was dating a werewolf.

Hopefully, she won’t take it too hard when she finds out about Buffy and Faith.

“I see your point.”

Again, Tara hmm’d happily.

“I guess I should be worried that Faith will try to get back at you, but after tonight she’s more likely to want to kiss you.”  Willow paused, a mental image forming.  “That would make me jealous,” she admitted.

“I’m thinking spring,” Tara said out of nowhere.

“Spring?”

“I mean, if you were interested, in marrying me, I mean.”

Willow squealed with delight, but just as she was about to kiss her, a squeal of a different kind echoed through the park.  Both witches looked up at one particular window on the third floor; Faith’s bedroom. 

“So, sweetie,” Tara began, kissing Willow briefly but tenderly.  “Maybe you can show me that silencing spell you’ve been working on?”