Chapter 75: Lassie Come Home

Lehane-Summers Household. Present Time. BPOV

Some days it really sucks being a parent. I know I've said this before. But today it's really bad. I haven't been very attentive since Faith and Willow disappeared. Matthew has been taking care of the little ones while I've been researching. I know that isn't fair, but it's what needed to be done. That's coming back to bite me in the ass. I never really expected Matthew's teenage rebellion to start until he was fifteen or sixteen, maybe even fourteen. But I didn't expect this to happen now. I expected too much from him and he had a freak out. I wouldn't be so pissed off if he had just yelled and stomped off to his room, but no, that would've been too easy. He had to kick the back door on the way out. The problem with that is he's so strong that the door was not only kicked off the hinges but it broke in half.

But all of that happened well over an hour ago. He's in his room now and he's not supposed to come out until I say he can. I know he doesn't want to take care of his little brother and sister, I get that, and I get that he's really worried about Faith and he's probably thinking she's never coming back, but so am I. He needs to understand that just because he's worried it doesn't mean he can just freak out like that. As much as I want us to be a normal family, we're not, and nothing that we do is going to make us that way. If we were normal Faith and I would never have met. I never would've gotten expelled from Hemery and I'd probably still be a total bitch. I know I wouldn't be as happy as I am. Well, as happy as I was. Faith makes me so happy and having her gone, and not knowing for sure if she's every coming back is killing me inside.

She's been gone for fifteen days now. That's two whole weeks plus one day. I don't know how I haven't gone insane yet. The last time I spent this much time away from Faith…I don't even remember the last time I spent this much time away from Faith. This is total bullshit. All because she was having some stupid dreams. Willow tried to do a spell, a simple spell that she probably could've done in her sleep if she wanted to, and it fucks up. She told me things were going to be ok again. She said Faith would be ok, that she would get everything figured out, and our lives could go back to the way they were. We were planning on going to Hawaii when her and her dad finished building that motorcycle for that rich client. We were going to take the kids to a Red Sox game in Boston, and Faith was going to give us a tour of the city. We still have so much stuff we have to do together.

“You find anything over there?” Kennedy asks Cordelia and I can't help but roll my eyes. I don't know how those two are still together. They've been here since the beginning of all this shit, but I didn't ask them to help out until six days ago. I don't know why I didn't ask before. I guess I thought they'd be home by now. Anyway, like I said, I don't know how they're still together. All they do is bicker like little kids. Every fifteen minutes or so Kennedy will ask Cordelia something, the main question has been `you find anything over there?' and it's getting really annoying. To an extent I get it. Kennedy's hot and Cordelia's hot. It's how all great divorces start.

“For the hundredth time: no. If you keep distracting me I'm never going to find anything.” Cordelia can be a bit…testy when she's busy. Then again Cordelia can be a bit testy anyway. For the first five minutes their bickering was kind of entertaining, but now it's just annoying. I don't know how I'm going to get through the rest of tonight if they don't buckle down and help me. Kennedy has been a slayer for years now, and she's still as bad as she was back in Sunnydale before the big battle with the First's army. I honestly don't know how Willow put up with her for all those years. But whatever. I shouldn't be thinking about this right now. I need to focus on this very boring book and try to come up with a way to get my wife and best friend back. That's all that matters right now.

“Mommy,” I hear Addison yell as she runs into the room. I really hope she isn't about the throw a big fit because I've had enough of those lately. And not just from my kids. Georgia and Sky have been chilly towards each other at best and even a little look from the younger slayer will have Sky yelling at her. Anyway, I put my book down and look at Addison as she stands a few feet in front of me. “Mom.” She has this tone in her voice that I'm not liking. It's the `don't freak out but something bad happened.' Her eyebrows are kind of scrunched up and she's rubbing her hands together. “You know Joe, right?” She's gotten into the very bad habit of calling Joseph `Joe'. I nod my head and she licks her lips. That's another warning sign. “Well, you know how his face is soft, and doesn't have any marks on it?” Again I nod and she keeps talking. “Well it doesn't look like that anymore.”

“What are you talking about?” I ask and stand up. I have to stay calm because if she thinks she's going to get in a lot of trouble then she'll clam up and won't tell me anything. I start walking towards the kitchen since that's where she came from but I can't just assume they were outside or anything. Assuming will not help the situation at all. It'll just make me freak out even more and then I'll never find out what happened. I look down at her and she's still rubbing her hands together. Now that she's a little older her nervous habits are starting to show more. Whenever she gets really uneasy talking to someone she rubs her hands together. And if she really doesn't want to talk anymore she'll lick her lips. She's a little weird, gets it from Faith.

“Ok, don't get mad.” She only says that when she knows I'm going to get really, really mad. What the hell happened to my baby boy? “We were playing baseball and I was showin Joe how to slide. I told him to slide on his butt so he wouldn't get hurt, but when he was runnin he tripped and hit his face on the ground.” Great, this is just fucking great. I rush out to the backyard and see Joseph sitting in the middle of the backyard, and he's crying. He isn't crying hard or anything so it probably scared him more then anything. I rush over to him and as soon as he sees me the crying increases. Kids will always play the drama card to try and get sympathy from their parents. They're funny that way.

“Mommy,” he says and tries to gulp in some air. I see some little scrapes on his chin and left cheek and lots of dirt but it's nothing to cry over. At least not this much. And here I thought he was going to have broken bones or something. “Mommy I was runnin…” He hiccups a little bit and holds his arms towards me so I can pick him up. “An' I falled down…” I pick him up and rest him on my hip. I need to wash his face to see how deep the scrapes are but they don't look too bad as far as I tell. “An' I hurt my face.” He isn't crying as hard now so the cuts can't be too bad. I rub his back a little bit and walk towards the house. Addison is right behind me, and she knows she's going to get in a little bit of trouble. I told her they couldn't play outside. They can't play outside unless someone is out there to watch them. She knows that and she knows better then to do it anyway.

“Well let's go put some medicine on it ok?” I ask and he nods his head a little bit. If I try to put the antiseptic on him without asking he freaks out. As soon as we step back in the house Addison runs off. She thinks if she's out of my sight then I'll forget that she's needs to have a stern talking to, or however you want to put it. Sometimes I do get distracted and I'll forget but that's not going to happen this time. With the door being broken things could get dangerous. Vampires don't normally come here because why would they? It's the rattlesnakes, coyotes, and black widows that I'm worried about. Because we have a pool rattlesnakes love to come into our house. We have a wooden fence all the way around the backyard but they still manage to get in sometimes. Coyotes will dig holes to get in, especially since Ruby is old enough to go into heat.

“Ok, little boy, lets get that face handsome again, what do you say?” All he does is nod his head and rest it against my shoulder. Well, I'm going to have to change this shirt. Good thing this shirt isn't white or I'd be a little upset. Anyway, I take him into the bathroom and wash off his face. I was right about the scrapes not being that deep. I put on the antiseptic just in case. It is kind of painful so he winces and tries to pull away but I hold him still. I'm just glad they weren't very deep or that would've hurt like hell. “Alright, I'm all done. That wasn't so bad, was it?” He shakes his head no and yawns very wide. I can see the little hangy thing at the back of his throat. He didn't get a nap today so he's a little tired now. That's perfectly fine with me. When he's tired he's a little cranky, but at least he won't be running around and causing trouble.

“Yo Blondie!” I hate it when Kennedy says that. It's so damn annoying. I'm going to start charging her a dollar for every time she says that to me. Then we'll see how long she keeps it up. Probably not very long. Or maybe a long time considering she's a millionaire thanks to her inheritance. “You better get in here!” That sounds like it could be of the bad. I put Joseph in his bedroom and run downstairs. I really hope a demon didn't decide it would be a good idea to try and take out some of the top slayers. Because we are going to kick his ass if that's what is going on. When I run into the living room I see a large blue ball of light just floating in the middle of the room. It looks really familiar, in an odd sort of way. Oh God, it's a portal.

“It's a portal,” I say barely above a whisper. Everyone is on their feet and completely tensed up like they're waiting for hell to come out of it or something. “It's a portal!” Sky looks over at me and she looks as excited as I sounded a few seconds ago. They could be coming home. I knew they'd find a way to get home. Demon dimension or not Willow is still the strongest witch in the world. Ok, I need to calm down. I don't know what's going to come out of that portal, and I shouldn't be getting my hopes up. There's a chance it is a demon coming out of there to cause hell, or maybe it's another witch who decided it would be fun to hop dimensions. The light keeps getting brighter, and brighter and I have to look away. I want to see what's going on! There's a loud crack, almost like lightening and all of a sudden the room goes back to normal.

FPOV

“You're sure this is gonna work?” I ask in a very uncertain voice. I'm holding onto Red's hand and the other Red is sitting down in front of a circle of colored dust. Apparently that's where the portal is going to appear. I should probably stop asking that question though. The last time I asked it I got sucked into a different dimension where everything is completely fucked up. I miss my wife, I miss my kids, I miss my dogs, and I miss my house. But most of all I miss my bed. My nice soft, comfortable bed. I spent five hours picking out the right mattress. I annoyed so many of the Mattress Outlet employees because I went from bed to bed lying down on everyone and in all sorts of positions. Nothing weird, just the normal ones that I normally sleep in. They still got irritated though. They didn't seem so mad when I ended up picking one of the most expensive mattresses in the store though.

“Yes I'm sure this is going to work. Now do you remember what I told you?” she asks, and stands up. She sounds dead serious. She has every right to be. If I screw something up Red could die. And that would be ten shades of suck, especially when both Buffy and Sky come after me to return the favor. I nod my head and she lets out a big sigh. “Ok, I want to go over everything again before I open the portal.” Good, because she only went over them five times and I'm starting to forget. No, I'm not being sarcastic. “As soon as you two penetrate the barrier that separates all of the dimensions you're going to stop breathing.” She's talking to Red now. “Because your magic has been stripped here your body isn't used to it anymore. Your system is going to be shocked with a magical overload, and that's not even half of your power yet.” Yeah, this shit is really scary. I never thought hopping from one world to another would be so complicated.

“Faith, as soon as you two hit the ground you have to start CPR because if her brain doesn't get oxygen fast enough she'll never wake up.” Ok, got it. I know how to do CPR. I took a class and got my certificate thing when Buffy was pregnant with Mattie. I wanted to know it just in case. I never really thought I'd have to use it though. “When she starts breathing you have to make sure to give her the potion.” In my back pocket is a little bottle of blue liquid. I don't know exactly what's in it but it's really important. The glass has been blessed so it can't break, which is a good thing. “If she doesn't get the potion then all of her magic will rush into her body at once and she'll die of shock.” Right, I have to make her drink the potion no matter what. Got it.

“You'll both need a lot of rest. I have no idea how you managed to last so long without that much sleep.” Red has been really tired and been sleeping a lot, but I feel fine. “Alright, I think we should get started now that we've been over it enough.” Ok, that would be good. I can't wait to get home. The first thing I'm going to do after I revive Red, is pull Buffy in my arms and kiss her. I'm going to kiss her like I've never kissed her before. I'm going to kiss her like she's the cure for cancer and I've been diagnosed with three months to live. Then I'm going to sit down on the couch and wrap all my babies up in my arms and just hold `em, and kiss `em, and tell them how much I missed `em. Then I'm going to take Buffy to our bedroom and fuck her like she's never been fucked before.

“Ok,” Red says, and squeezes my hand a little tighter. She's really freaked out right now. I would be too if I knew in a few minutes I was going to practically die. Willow has so much to look forward to when she gets back. She has a fiancé and a baby on the way. She has this whole new life of parenthood, and marriage ahead of her and I certainly don't want her to miss out on it. If anyone deserves to be a mom it's Red. She's waited so damn long for this, and it wouldn't be fair for it to be taken away. “We're ready to go. I don't think I could be anymore ready then I am right now. Nope, definitely not. In fact if you gave us even more time to be prepared I'd say `why do those when we're dying to go right now?' So yeah, lets get this over with.” She sounds so fuckin scared. I squeeze her hand back to try and bring some kind of comfort, but I don't think anything will work at this point.

We watch as the other Red sits down in front of the circle again, and she starts to chant. I have no idea what she's saying but I do know it's Latin. I've been around Willow and witchcraft enough to know Latin when I hear it. The air in the room gets hotter, and there's a light crackling sound, almost like someone's frying an egg. I'm trying to stay really calm but I'm wicked tense. I mean, this shit is fuckin scary. We're going to walk through a portal that's supposed to take us home, but she fucks up all the time. Look at what happened with Willow. She tried to figure out why I was having those fucked up dreams, and we got sucked here through a portal in my mind. And that's something else I'm having hard time dealing with. Someone put a portal in my mind. We weren't able to figure out who it was. Neither Willow could identify the magical signature, but this world's Red said that it's gone. Willow's magic sealed it shut when we were sucked through.

“Get ready to jump in!” Red yells and before I can respond there's a loud crack, like lightening. A bright ball of light forms in the middle of the circle, and it grows, and grows until it's about as big as a doorway. It's blue, and white, and swirly, and every once in a while a loud crack sound will come from it. They want me to jump in that? What are they out of their fucking minds? I can't jump in that, I'm too fuckin chicken. Ok, just calm down. I can do this. That is the doorway that's going to take me back to Buffy and my kids. I have to go in there, I don't have a choice. I don't belong here and I never will. I have to go home. “Go, go, go!” I don't think I've ever heard someone scream that loud before, and I was there when Buffy gave birth. Without thinking I lunge forward and Red's right behind me. I'm holding onto her hand with a death grip and I think I might've broken a bone or two.

Great, I was really hoping it wouldn't be like this, but nothing is ever easy, right? We're falling, and spinning around and around so fuckin fast that I can't tell which way is up or down. I think I'm going to be sick. But at least I'm still holding onto Red's hand. That's important. As long as I'm holding onto her hand I'm not alone. And as long as I'm not alone I won't freak out and panic and probably end up dying. That would be very, very bad. I can't die, because then Red would die. When we land and someone see's she's not breathing they'll do CPR to try and revive her but they don't know about the potion. Even if she does start breathing and wake up the rest of her powers will rush into her system all at once and she'll die from and overload. At least that's what the other Red said, and I really don't want any of that to happen. She knows her shit, that's for sure. So I'm not gonna go against it.

Jesus Christ how long have we been falling - OW! Son of a bitch! Why do I always have to land on the fucking ground so God damn hard? When we landed in the other world I practically bounced off the ground. If I remember right, I did bounce of the ground. Fuck that hurt. But it doesn't feel so bad. It should've been a lot worst. Why wasn't it worst? Holy fucking shit, I got my slayer powers back! Yes, yes, yes, fuck yes! I almost forgot all about that. I can still feel Red's hand in mine, and I very slowly open my eyes. I see a ceiling, and a ceiling fan. My living room ceiling and ceiling fan. Oh my God it worked! Fuck, that means I gotta do the CPR. I sit up and ignore everyone that's staring at me. Red is already lying on her back, and she's not breathing. Ok, I remember this. I tilt her head back, and try to lean down to put my mouth over hers but someone's grabbing onto me.

“Get off, I gotta do CPR. She's gonna die.” But the very annoying person doesn't go away. I look up and it's Buffy. She has her arms wrapped around me and her face is pressed up against my shoulder. She's crying so fucking hard, and I'm surprised I didn't hear it before. I was too caught up I guess. “B, I need to help her. She needs to start breathin, and I gotta give her a potion.” I guess she's too overwhelmed to see me because she's not listening. I try to push her off me but she has a fuckin death grip, and the other Red was right, I am damn fucking tired. I'm just not strong enough to get her off myself. “Kennedy, get her off me.” I don't wait for her to listen to me. I just go back to doing what I was doing. I feel Buffy try to cling onto me while Kennedy and three other slayers try to rip her off. When was the last time she clipped her fucking nails? `Cause they fucking hurt like hell.

Anyway, I pinch Red's nose shut, and breathe slowly into her mouth. Don't wanna fill her lungs up too fast or anything. I press my ear against her chest and…yep, her heart is still beating, that's a good sign. I do the breathing thing a couple more times and wait. Come on, Red, I know you can do it. Just breathe. As I lean down again Red opens her big green eyes and I'm so fucking relieved. Sky would've killed me if anything happened to her. Now I like Sky, she's a cool chick, and a kick ass slayer, but when she comes to Red she's just as bad as me when it comes to being over protective of the person I love. It's almost like we're cavemen or something. `Buffy mine, no one touch'. Or in this case it would be `Willow mine, she die, you die'. So enough of the mushy crap.

Red starts coughing, and trying to breathe really deep. Once it starts to even out I reach into my back pocket and pull out the little cork on the bottle. I put it up to her mouth and tilt the bottle up. All of the bright blue liquid goes into her mouth. Some of it spills out the corners of her mouth but she gets most of it down. As soon as it's swallowed she opens her mouth and starts coughing again. I look over when I hear someone walking towards me. Sky is coming at us at a brisk pace and I know exactly what she needs at this point. I help Red sit up and Sky falls down to her knees. She wraps her arms around Willow and she kisses her. She kisses her like Red is the cure for cancer and she's been diagnosed with three months to live. Where the fuck is Buffy?

I jump up and look around. Buffy is literally being held back by Kennedy, and the other three slayers that pulled her off of me. I run at them and they let her go. I guess they thought they were going to get their asses kicked or something. Buffy wraps her arms around me the same time I wrap mine around her. She's still crying her eyes out, and I have tears welling up in mine. It feels so fucking good to hold her. I thought I was never gonna see her ever again, yet here I am, holding her in my arms. I put my nose on her temple and breathe in a big whiff of her scent. She smells a little different then normal. When was the last time she took a shower? Fuck, it doesn't matter. I'm home, and she's here, and we're all ok. That's all that matters. Just call me Pal, `cause nothing could've stopped me from getting here.

BPOV

Faith is home now. Then again you already knew that. But still you don't understand. FAITH is HOME now. She's here in our bed. She's fast asleep with the kids cuddle up to her. Even Matthew is sleeping with us tonight. I figured he would sleep on the floor, but nope. He's pressed up against Faith's back. Addison and snuggled up to her front, and Joey is using her thigh as a pillow. I'm lying on my side of the bed and watching them sleep. This is the first night that the kids have slept peacefully, and I'm guessing it's the first night that Faith is getting any rest. After my eyes adjusted to the light and I saw Faith and Willow just lying there not moving I completely lost it. I start bawling my eyes out. But then Faith opened her eyes and sat up. All I wanted to do was hold her, and kiss her, but she had to make sure Willow was ok.

But now she is ok, and Willow is ok. They're both really tired, and Willow passed out in Sky's arms. Apparently the potion that Faith gave Willow is to keep her magic from entering her body too fast. So now it's slowly seeping into her body and she's probably going to be asleep for a few days. I don't know about Faith. I'll probably wake her up tomorrow so she can drink some water and maybe get something to eat. I don't want her to get dehydrated. I just got her back, I'm not about to lose her now because her body is drying up. What kind of wife would I be if I let her do that? A pretty bad one, that's for sure. So for the next couple of weeks I'm going to be the best damn wife I can be. I'm going to cook all of her meals, wait on her hand and foot, and go down on her whenever she wants me to. Hell, I'll do it just to do it.

Faith mumbles something in her sleep and I try to hear what it is. I can't though, and the little whisper is gone like a leaf in the wind. I reach over and very gently caress her face. I don't want to wake her up, but I need to be touching her right now. I'm actually a little jealous of the kids because they sort of took her away from me. I planned on falling asleep tonight with my arms wrapped around her, but they wanted to be close with her. Their needs come before mine, so we went ahead and let them sleep in here. I don't mind right now, but tonight she's all mine, even if we're just cuddled up together. I'm going to take the next couple of days off from work, as if I haven't been going anyway. I know she isn't going into the shop for a while. At least not if I have anything to say about it, and trust me I will.

Oh fuck, she's waking up. I stop moving my hand as her eyes flutter a couple of times, and then open. She looks so damn cute right now. Her eyes have a very sleepy haze to them, her hair is all messed up, and now she has a little half smile on her face. I smile back and start caressing her cheek again. She closes her eyes and leans into my touch. She has a very happy smile on her face, and I can't help but let out a contented sigh. This is how life is supposed to be. Without all the slaying, and the bullshit. Just me and my wife and my kids curled up and sleeping soundly. I don't want to be a slayer anymore. I want us to be normal. No more spells gone wrong, no more demons coming after us in some plot to kill us, and more vampires trying to take a bite out of us. That's impossible though, so I might as well stop fantasizing about it.

“Hey,” she whispers and very slowly turns her head and gives my palm a little kiss. “Do you know how much I love you?” About as half as much as I love you. I nod my head yes and she smiles a little wider. “As soon as I'm refreshed I'm gonna show you just how much I love you. We might have to ask my dad to watch the kids for a couple days but if that's what we gotta do then we'll do it.” I definitely like the sound of that. I don't say anything though because I know if I try to speak I'll probably start crying again. They'll be happy tears but I don't want to wake the kids up. That would totally suck because once Addison and Joseph are up, they're up and there's no getting them back to sleep. So instead of talking, I gently run the tips of my fingers over her bottom lip.

“I got so much stuff I wanna tell you about that other world.” She's more awake now so her voice doesn't have that gravely sound to it, and her eyes lost that haze. Faith is just like the other two, and now she probably won't get back to sleep for a couple of hours. “I was goin crazy tryin to find a way back, but the people weren't so bad.” There's a little smile tugging at the corners of her mouth but she won't let it grow into a full on smile. “That Addy wanted me to stay there. She said that because I'm still in love with you that I might learn to love her mom, and that I could give her a family back.” She looks so sad now, and what she said is really depressing. “And their oldest isn't off at college like I thought.” Faith never saw Matthew in any of the dreams so we just assumed he was off at college or maybe he had already moved out. “He died in a car accident. It's one of the main reasons why their marriage fell apart. They were already in trouble and when that happened it just made things so much worst.” Wow, that's really fucked up.

“That's horrible,” I whisper and I make sure to keep my tone under control. I can't start crying now because then I won't be able to stop. Crying at this point would be very bad because I don't want to be up all night with a cranky little boy. You have no idea how he can get when he doesn't get enough sleep. I've slayed hell hounds that weren't as bad as him. I know I probably shouldn't ask this. I trust Faith with my life and I know she'd never cheat on me. But that's the thing, she was with me, just a different version of me. I know I shouldn't, but I'm going to. “Did you and the other me…do anything?” I give her a knowing look and she gets it instantly. And here I thought it would take her a minute or two. I don't think she's stupid. Faith is one of the smartest people I know, but with her being tired and all I thought it might take a minute for her to catch on.

“No, we didn't. I'm gonna be honest, she wanted to. Her marriage had completely fallen apart, she kicked the other me out of the house, and one night she got pretty drunk. She almost fell down so I caught her. She kissed me, but I pushed her back. Told her she was drunk and didn't know what she was doin. Then she passed out and I took her up to her room. She apologized the next morning and everything was fine.” I search her eyes like I'm searching for her soul and I can tell that she isn't lying. I didn't think she would but now I know for sure. “She told me I remind her how the other me used to be when they were in college. How I actually care about your feelings. It was really hard for her. Sometimes I'd catch her givin me these looks when she thought I wasn't lookin and I wanted to hug her and tell her everything would be ok `cause she looks just like you, and I can't stand to see you sad.”

“Baby, I know this is gonna sound heartless but that's just how it is there. You can't take any of the blame, or feel guilty about it. You didn't do anything wrong. You weren't even supposed to be there.” She knows I'm right, but she still looks really sad. What she said about not being able to see me sad is true. Whenever I'm upset she always tries to cheer me up, and the same goes for me when it comes to her. She acts like she has to have this wall around her all the time to block people from what she's really feeling, even from me. It can get really annoying and we've had a lot of fights in the past about it, but right now she's bearing everything. Please oh please stop looking at me with those eyes. I don't think I can take much more of this. She looks like a sad little dog at the pound, cowering in the back of the cage, and shaking really bad.

“I'm sure they'll be ok.” I have no idea if they're going to be ok, but telling her what I really think probably won't make her feel better. “I know I wouldn't be able to stay away from you for very long.” I wiggle my eyebrows a little bit, and she smiles. She knows I'm being serious as well as playful. I honestly don't know what I would do without Faith in my life and I don't want to find out. The last two weeks have been hell and I don't want to relive them ever again. The possibility of it happening is very real. Every time we go out on patrol there's no guarantee we'll coming back, which is why if anything happens to us Chris will get the kids. If he can't take them then Willow is next in line, and if she can't do it then Xander will. I can't believe I forgot to tell her this. I can't believe I forgot about it at all. She's going to be completely heartbroken. But I have to tell her. She has every right to know.

“Faith, there's something I have to tell you.” She instantly knows that it isn't going to be a good thing. It isn't a good thing. It's a horrible thing, and she's going to be so upset. I really hope she doesn't get out of control with emotion and wake up the kids. I know how sensitive she can really be and this is a very touchy subject. “Just try to stay calm, ok? Whatever you do please don't yell. The kids really need to get some sleep. They were a wreck without you here, and it's not like I was the most comforting person because I was too wrapped up in trying to find a way to save you.” She gives me an impatient look, so I get down to it. “There's no easy way for me to say this, so I'm going to spit it out. A couple days ago I sent Cindy to the store because we were all out of breakfast foods and the kids were hungry, and she accidentally crashed your Camero.”

“That's it?” she asks with a very confused look on her face. I nod my head and she lets out a big breath of relief. Ok, what the fuck? Faith loves her car, she told me so herself. She named it Bonnie, and she said that I wasn't allowed to even look at it the wrong way or I might break something on it. I am so not that bad of a driver. I made it all the way to the school in an SUV when I tried to blow up Robin Wood. Do any of you remember that? I've gotten way better over the years and I've only gotten in three minor accidents that weren't my fault in any way, shape, or form. That's why they're called `accidents' they're nobody's fault except the other person's. “I thought you were gonna tell me Tucker died.”

“Oh, God no, he isn't dead, baby.” She hasn't seen the dogs yet because she was so tired that I took her upstairs right away so she could get some rest. Well that and, “Things around here have been so crazy that Dawn offered to take the dogs over to her house where she would feed them and give them water and all the stuff a dog needs. I totally would've forgotten about that and I didn't want to leave it all up to Matthew because he was handling so much stuff already.” She smiles a little and I can see her rubbing the arm that's wrapped around her. In his sleep Matthew has managed to spoon with Faith. He's probably going to be traumatized when he wakes up, it should be hilarious. She yawns a very big yawn and I can't help but smile. “Let's get some sleep ok?” She nods her head and reaches out for me. I entwine our fingers and she smiles a little. I close my eyes and for the first time in two weeks I'm at peace.

FPOV

Oh my God, that was possibly the best sleep I've ever had. I stretch my arms above my head and arch my back. I feel the little vertebra pop and crack and it feels damn good. Wait a second, I didn't go to bed alone last night. The kids were cuddled up against me, and I feel asleep a second time holdin Buffy's hand. So where the hell is everyone? I let my slayer senses roam and I can hear sounds coming from downstairs. Oh, they're probably making me a big `welcome home' breakfast. That would be fucking sweet. B has gotten a lot better when it comes to cooking and most of the time her food doesn't wanna make me get sick like it used to. I take all of the credit for that. I'm the one that taught her how to cook after all.

Teaching her is always kind of fun. Sometimes she can get frustrated, but we always have a good time cooking together. Or sometimes when I barbeque she'll rub my back and occasionally kiss my neck. We won't be talking or anything, which is nice. I love our quiet time together. We don't get a lot of it together because of the kids and work and all of that other stuff. But when the kids go to bed, and all of the housework is done, and we're not too tired, then we'll sit in the living room and have a glass of wine. She'll cuddle up to me and we'll just sit together, completely silent. We've been together so long that we don't really need to talk, you know? Silence, in those moments, definitely say more then we ever could. I know that probably sound cheesy or whatever, but it doesn't matter what you think.

I get up and slip on my robe. This thing is so fuckin comfortable, and it looks damn good on me too. I walk silently down the stairs, and into the kitchen. I see Buffy standing at the counter, cutting up some green onions. Hmmm, she's going to make me an omelet. I like mine nice and spicy with some green onions thrown in for color. The stereo is on and she's listening to one of her favorite songs. Ok, so I know where Buffy is, so where is everyone else? I think I'll wait a minute or two before I ask her. She's wearing one of my oversized shirts that I usually wear to bed. I guess she wanted to smell my scent all the time. That's a kind of small one though and I can see the bottom of her white panties sticking out of the bottom. I walk up to her, and without saying a word I wrap my arms around her waist and rest of my head on her shoulder. She lets out a little purr and I kiss her cheek.

“Mmm, hey there gorgeous,” I whisper in her ear. A shiver runs through her body, and she lets out a little squeal. I laugh a little and give her a kiss on her earlobe. She loves it when I play with her ears. Almost nothing turns her on more then her ears being kissed and sucked on. I gently run my hands up and down her sides and she keeps cutting up the onions. I can't believe how much I missed just doing this to her. What I'm doing now isn't uncommon. It happens every time she fixes breakfast. When the kids are in the room they make grossed out noises but they're just joking around. It's important to be affectionate in front of your kids, in my opinion. That way they know how a relationship is supposed to be. Speaking of kids. “Where are the little ones?”

“At Dawn's. I thought you could use some peace and quiet, and they would've given you anything but. They're so excited that you're finally home. I told them when you're back on your feet we can do something as a family. Maybe go to the Adventure Dome, or the water park. And we should definitely have a barbeque. Invite everyone over and make way too much food, have a couple of drinks and just relax.” That does sound really nice. We haven't done any of that stuff in fuckin forever. It's pretty hard when you have to work all day. On the weekends we like to just relax, but maybe we should start going on more outings. I think that would be best. Spend some time with the kids while they still want to spend time with us. “Of course the kids want to do all of that stuff today because they're really excited that you're back.” I get a little smile on my face and gently rub her stomach with my right hand.

“And what about you?” I whisper in her ear as I gently trail my hand down to the elastic of her underwear. She tenses up a little bit, but in a good way. Her breathing gets a little deeper, and I leave some soft kisses on the side of her neck. “Are you really excited to see me?” I push passed the little barrier, and gently run the tip of my middle finger along the tops of her folds. She sucks in a deep breath, and I can feel some of her wetness. I love teasing her. It's so much damn fun. I breathe against the back of her ear and she lets out a little moan. Fuck that sounded really sexy. I need to stop teasing her now. It isn't very fair for either of us since I missed the feel of her liquid silk so fucking much.

I slowly slide my finger passed her moist folds and God damn she's so fucking wet. If I had known she was gonna be that wet I wouldn't have waited so long. I very slowly run the tip of my finger up and down her dripping slit. I can feel her pussy getting a little bigger as it fills up with blood. I have to bite my bottom lip to keep from groaning. She's so fucking turned on, and just the feel of it, the smell of it, and the though of what I'm about to do is definitely turning on me. Her hips start moving with the slow rhythm I've started. I nip at the hot flesh on her neck and she drops the knife and buries her hand in my hair. I dip two fingers inside of her, and her muscles instantly clamp down around me. I bury them deeper, and deeper and then flick `em like I'm strumming a guitar. I hit her g-spot and her hips buck and she lets out a long moan.

“There, right there,” she breaths out turns her head a little so she can kiss me. It's sloppy on her part, but that doesn't stop me from kissing her back with everything I have. I rub her g-spot softly and her hips are thrusting against mine hand. Her legs are spread pretty far apart, and she's leaning forward a little holding herself up with the counter. Her muscles start contracting around my fingers a little harder and I know she's fucking close. “Now, baby. I really need it.” Ok, if you say so. I press up against her g-spot harder then I have been and give it another long rub. She lets out a long animalistic groan, and I feel her come gush out of her. It runs down my fingers to the back of my hand, and drips onto her underwear. I start kissing long the side of her neck, and I keep up my pace.

I'm doing all of this for a reason. I want to suck on her clit. So why am I not going down on her, you're probably asking? Well, I'll tell you. Buffy's clit is very…shy, I guess you could say. Every other woman I've been with their clits will be out and ready by the time they reach their first orgasm, but Buffy's needs a little more coaxing. It usually takes two, sometimes three good orgasms before it'll come out to play. And I have no problem following its rules. Before Buffy has time to come down from her high I catapult her into other orgasm. She's moaning out my name, and bucking against my hand. I'm having a little trouble keeping up with her. I rub my thumb along her slit, until I reach the top. I can feel her clit throbbing, and I gently press down on it. Buffy hisses in a breath and her head rolls back against my shoulder.

Before she can get too comfortable, I turn her around and grab onto her hips. I kiss her, and it's raw and almost violent. She wraps her arms around my neck and pulls me closer to her. I rub my hands up and down her sides, and she moans into my mouth. I hook my thumbs through her panties and pull them down to her knees. I put my hand between her legs, and gently rub her clit with my middle finger. Buffy moans and groans, and bucks against me. I grab onto her hips and sit her down on the counter. I break the kiss and look at her beautiful face. She's flushed and glistening with sweat, and I swear she's never looked more beautiful then right now. Instead of telling her I pull her underwear off and drop them to the floor. I softly rub the tops of her thighs and she spreads her legs for me.

I drop to my knees and just look at her. She's wet, and throbbing, and pink. Her lips are swollen, and I lick my lips at the sight. I see her clit peeking out of its little hood and I smile. I look up at B and she has this look on her face this `eat me or I'll die' type of look. That's all the encouragement I need. I bury my face between her legs and start lapping at her dripping hole like a cat with a bowl of cream. Mmmm, I could live off of this stuff if it had any nutritional value. I lick my way up to her throbbing clit, and wrap my lips around it. I gently suck on it like the most delicious candy in the world. Buffy grabs onto the back of my head with one hand, and puts her legs over my shoulders. I hope she doesn't squeeze them because the last time she did that I almost passed out. I roll my tongue around her clit and I almost come as it throbs against me.

“Baby,” she breathes and pulls on my hair. “Faith…I…I.” She's trying to get me off of her but I won't budge. “I don't think…I can….” I reach up and hold onto one of her hands. She entwines our fingers and she holds on for dear life. At least it feels like it. I might need to get some x-rays taken after this. Anyway, I start sucking on her clit again, and it's throbbing even faster. She's thrusting against my face and it's becoming a little difficult to do this, but there's no way in hell I'm going to stop. I run my free hand on the top of her thigh, and slowly bring it down to the place she needs me most. I enter her fast, and hard with two fingers. I start pumping in and out of her, and she meets me thrust for thrust. I hit her g-spot, and all it takes it one hard rub and she's yelling my name. I keep rubbing her though, and draw out her orgasm for as long as I can. She likes it when I do that, and I want to keep her happy.

When I feel her stop moving I slowly pull my fingers out of her. I lick up, and swallow down a lot of the moisture but I don't linger for too long. I leave one last little kiss on her clit, and then kiss my way up her stomach. I playfully dip my tongue in her bellybutton, and she giggles a little. I kiss her ribs, the valley in between her breasts, and I stop to pay some special attention to her collarbones. I leave a hickey on each, and I know she's going to be a little irritated later. Right now she couldn't care less. I kiss my way up the right side of her neck, and I suck on her earlobe a little bit. I'm not trying to turn her on again. After what I just gave her she's going to need a while to recover. I give her a kiss on the cheek, and then a little peck on her lips. I can still taste her on mine, and I don't want that to go away. At least not anytime soon.

“Don't ever go away again,” she says and wraps her arms around me. She rests her head on my shoulder and she starts to shake. Tears are probably on the way, but that's alright. She needs to get this out of her system or she might go a little crazy. I wrap my arms around her, and just hold her as she breaks down. “Don't ever, ever go away again.” Don't worry, babe, I'm right here. I would say that out loud but it won't do any good. When she gets like this words don't help. She just needs to be held, and let the tears fall. So that's what I'm going to do. Of course if she'd stop pushing me away from her it would make the holding her thing easier. “I'm sitting on the knife. I think I cut my ass.” I have to bite my cheeks to stop myself from smiling. “It's not funny.” Damn, she knows me too well. I pick her up and cradle her in my arms. If she ass is cut then I should probably clean it up and put bandages on it or something. “I love you, Faith.” I love you too B.

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