D was up to something.

For the last two or three days, she'd been sneaking around, going behind Faith's back running mysterious errands, and grinning mischievously at Faith whenever she noticed the slayer staring after her.

They'd been in Denver just over three weeks. They were staying in another slightly-better-than-a-rattrap motel, because neither wanted to dip too far into their supply of cash. Years of living on the road, scraping by with just a few dollars in their pockets, had given both women a slight miserly streak. They had no qualms about using it to do something nice for the other, but spending it on themselves, or using it on something as mundane as a room, was something that was very difficult for either to do.

Well, whatever it was that D had been doing over the last few days, Faith figured she was going to find out about it tonight. D had just kicked her out of their place, telling her to go out for a couple of hours, and absolutely under no circumstances to come back early. Faith was intrigued, and of course did as she'd been told. She had business of her own she needed to take care of tonight, anyway.

"Would you like this gift-wrapped?" the woman behind the counter asked.

"Yes, please," Faith requested. The woman nodded and began to wrap the small box in red paper, with little Santa Clauses all over it. She also handed Faith a tag to write out. 'To D, From F,' she scrawled.

She gave the tag to the clerk, who attached it to the package, then tied a narrow green ribbon around it. Faith thanked her, paid, and left the store. She stood on the street outside and checked her watch. Still another hour to kill.

She slipped the small package into the pocket of her leather jacket, then began to walk slowly down the street, gazing into the windows of the various shops. In front of a women's clothing store, she came to a halt. Two of the dresses on display in the front window had caught her eye: a short black number that showed plenty of skin, and a slightly more modest one of a deep, royal blue. Simple but elegant, both of them. After a moment's hesitation, Faith opened the door and went in.

---

Her first thought when she returned to the motel room was that they'd been robbed. All of their stuff was gone, as was D herself. Then she spotted the note on the bed, and the two room keys.

Faith,

Surprise! We've moved. Come to the Hyatt Regency, 1750 Welton Street, Room 512. Here's the key.

P.S. Drop off the room key from this dive on your way out, would you? Thanks. :)

---

Faith turned the key in the lock, opened the door, and then just stood in the doorway in complete disbelief.

The room was better than anything Faith had had in... well, maybe ever. There was a comfortable-looking queen size bed, a desk, a TV complete with satellite hookup and DVD player, a large closet, and a bathroom that, from where she stood, looked like it might be bigger than some of the motel rooms she'd stayed in over the years.

The real shock, however, was what Dawn had obviously been spending the last couple of days working on. Christmas decorations were everywhere; red, green, gold, and silver garlands hung all around the room. Large cardboard Santas, elves, and reindeer decorated the walls, and a three-foot-tall Frosty the Snowman hung on the bathroom door. A CD player, which looked suspiciously brand-new, played the Chipmunks' Christmas album.

The centerpiece of it all was the six-foot Christmas tree in the corner, where the right and back walls met. Ornaments of all kinds hung from the branches, more garlands wound around it, and dozens of lights blinked on and off at her. Faith even spotted a small, wrapped box under it.

"Like it?" Dawn asked, appearing from behind the half-open door.

"Damn, D," Faith whispered, stepping inside and still trying to take it all in. "It's amazing."

"When we celebrated Thanksgiving a couple of weeks ago and you mentioned it was your first one, I figured you probably hadn't had many Christmases, either," Dawn said quietly. She closed the door, stepped behind Faith, wrapped her arms around her waist, and rested her chin on her lover's shoulder.

"Just one other," Faith replied softly. "My first year in Sunnydale. B invited me over for Christmas dinner."

"Oh right, I remember. And it snowed."

"Yeah."

They stood there for a moment, just looking at everything.

"D, how much is this place costing?" Faith asked suddenly, turning around.

"Relax, Faith. We can afford it. And it's only for a couple of weeks, 'til Christmas is over. We're spending Christmas in a nice place, and if you try arguing with me about it, well, I'll just have to kick your ass." She looked at Faith and grinned.

"Oh, really? Then I guess I'd better just keep my mouth shut," Faith agreed with a grin of her own.

"Well, I don't know about that," Dawn pouted. "I happen to like open-mouthed Faith when it comes to certain things." She leaned forward and plunged her tongue deep within Faith's open and waiting lips.

"Mmmhmnhm!" Faith said finally, and pulled away, much to their mutual disappointment. "I have something for you." She took the box out of her pocket and handed it to Dawn.

"A Christmas present!" Dawn exclaimed, inspecting the small, wrapped box.

"Well, no," Faith told her. "I mean, yeah, but no. It's a Christmas present, I guess, but you don't have to wait 'til then. Go ahead, open it."

"No way!" Dawn put on a look of mock horror and outrage. "This is going under the tree, and I'll open it on Christmas Day." She turned and walked over to the tree, placing the new gift next to the other one.

"Fine," Faith sighed, disappointed. She'd really been looking forward to seeing Dawn's face tonight when she gave it to her, but if D really had her heart set on doing the whole Christmas thing, then she guessed she could wait. Actually, the more she thought about it, and admired all D's hard work, she was starting to look forward to it herself.

Dawn returned, and Faith eagerly folded her back into her arms, planting soft kisses on her forehead, her cheeks, her nose, her chin, her mouth. "You really did all this for me," she whispered, still finding it a little hard to believe anyone would go to so much trouble for her. "How long did it take, anyway?"

"Well, I got the room, bought all the stuff, and started decorating two days ago. I finished the decorations yesterday, and then needed to get you out of our old place for a little while tonight so I could pack up our stuff and move it over here. The tree took the most time," she explained. Faith could see why; there must've been dozens of ornaments on it, along with all the lights.

"I wanted to get a real one," Dawn said with obvious disappointment. "But the hotel said no way. So, it's fake, but it looks good, I think." Faith agreed. "Notice what's on top?"

Faith hadn't; now she did. "An angel." She smiled.

"Yep. I guess we kinda have him to thank for all this, so it just didn't seem right to use a star."

"D, this has to be one of the amazing things anyone has ever done for me." She stared deeply into Dawn's blue eyes. "Thank you so much." She pulled the younger woman into a tender kiss that became more and more fierce as it continued to stretch out. Eventually, they had to come up for air.

"You know what I noticed about this room besides the beautiful decorations?" Faith asked.

Dawn shook her head.

"I noticed that this nice, big bed looks pretty damn comfortable. Wanna find out?" she purred.

"I think that sounds like the best idea I've heard all day," Dawn agreed, pushing Faith's jacket off her shoulders, and reaching down to tug the slayer's shirt over her head.

"Yeah, seems pretty comfortable to me," Faith announced, as Dawn pushed her backwards onto it and immediately went to work on undoing her boots. "D, are we really gonna do this with the Chipmunks playing in the background?" she asked a split-second before her jeans were ripped from her body.

"What can I say, Faith? Sometimes I just like it kinky."

---

D was really serious about doing this Christmas thing right.

In the two weeks leading up to it, Faith felt sure D had taken them to every single holiday attraction in Denver. She took them on a short railroad trip through Santa's Magic Village. She got them tickets to a live production of A Christmas Carol. It snowed one afternoon, and she insisted they go to the park and make snowmen (which had naturally ended up in a snowball fight). The only thing Faith had absolutely refused to do was have her picture taken with Santa, and no amount of pleading by Dawn would change her mind.

Also, thanks to the job Dawn had gotten at a video store, Faith thought they must've seen every single Christmas movie ever made. It seemed like D came home with three new DVDs every night, and they somehow found time to watch them all. Dawn had been horrified to learn that Faith had never seen A Charlie Brown Christmas, and naturally came home with a copy the very next night.

She also wasn't kidding about the kinky thing, which was a side of her Faith hadn't seen before. A couple of nights ago, she'd shown up with two Santa hats, and insisted they wear them all night while they had sex. It had been decidedly weird, Faith thought, but hey, she was very willing to go to some pretty extreme lengths if it made D happy--except having her picture taken with Santa, that is.

No, she corrected herself. We didn't have sex two nights ago. We made love. They hadn't had sex in quite awhile now; at some point she couldn't even remember, it had ceased to be sex in her mind, and become making love, a definite first in her life.

While the 'L' word still hadn't come up, she thought D might feel the same way about their physical relationship, that it might be more than just sex for her now, as well.

Faith was getting very nervous with the big day just two days away. What if D hated the presents she'd gotten her? She had almost zero experience in the present-buying area, and the last thing she wanted to do was to spoil D's perfect Christmas with her crappy gifts.

And just to give her one more thing to be wiggy about, tomorrow was the "big night." What if it went badly? What if she managed to screw Christmas up even before it got here? Should she postpone her plans?

No, she couldn't do that. She'd planned it this way on purpose, deciding a couple of weeks ago that Christmas Eve was the perfect night for it. This was just last-minute nerves talking. Have some guts for once, you asshole!

She pulled D, who'd fallen asleep ages ago, closer to her and finally drifted off herself.

---

"Get out."

"What?!"

"Get out. I need you to get out of here for a couple of hours while I do something," Faith explained. "I did it for you, so now it's your turn."

Dawn's look of shock and confusion turned to a mixture of understanding, curiosity, and excitement. "Oh. Okay, no problem. When should I come back?"

"Seven-thirty. Exactly seven-thirty."

"Alright. Then I guess I'll just... see you then." Dawn picked her jacket up off of the chair where she'd taken to leaving it, gave Faith a quick peck on the lips, and left.

Faith waited two minutes for Dawn to clear the hallway, then sprang into action. She grabbed her own jacket and, making sure she kept an eye out for D as she moved through the city, ran several blocks to a store which had been holding a certain two items for her for the last two weeks.

The boxes clutched tightly under one arm, she returned to the hotel, hopped in the shower, got dressed, and went to work on her hair, not something she normally spent a lot of time on. It looks great on it's own; why mess with it? she asked herself with a grin.

At seven-twenty, room service arrived and began setting things up the way she'd ordered. They finished with a few minutes to spare, and Faith popped the CD she'd picked up the day before into the player, setting it on continuous play.

Finally, it was seven-thirty, and Faith was amused that D actually knocked softly on the door. "Come in," she called.

Dawn stepped inside and gasped, one hand actually coming up to cover her mouth (which Faith found absolutely adorable).

A small table had been set up at the foot of the bed, along with two chairs. Two places were set. The lights had been dimmed, making the two flickering candles near the table's center the brightest sources of light in the room. Soft, romantic music played in the background.

Outwardly calm and with only a hint of a smile, Faith was grinning ear-to-ear when she observed D's reaction to Faith herself. The slayer stood near the table, dressed in the short black dress she'd bought two weeks ago and had just picked up tonight. Her long dark hair hung freely down her back in soft curls. She hadn't had much time, money, or reason for makeup over the last few years, but she'd taken the time for it tonight, and had stayed away from her once-trademark near-Goth look, going instead for something soft and understated.

Simply put, she would've been the most stunning woman in the room at the most elegant party in the entire city.

"Oh my God," Dawn mumbled. She suddenly looked down at her own clothes, and Faith knew exactly what she was thinking: with her heavy boots, worn jeans, hooded sweatshirt, and leather jacket, she wasn't exactly dressed for the occasion.

"It's okay, D," Faith told her, smiling softly. She gestured to the bed, indicating the dress she'd gotten Dawn, the deep royal blue one that had caught her eye two weeks before. "If you wanna change, I'll call room service and order our food."

Dawn just smiled, still slightly embarrassed, and collected the garment, heading for the bathroom. Faith picked up the phone.

---

When D stepped out of the bathroom a few minutes later, Faith was momentarily afraid she was going to pass out. She felt certain she had never in her life seen a sight this beautiful.

D's dress was slightly longer, and covered a little more than Faith's did, but it clung tightly in all the right places, and as Faith had expected, the effect of the blue dress with her blue eyes was stunning. Her hair, much like Faith's, flowed unbound down her back, and she'd obviously taken the opportunity to use a little of the makeup Faith had bought for herself.

A neutral observer would've had a hard time deciding which of the two was more magnificent; of course, both thought the other won that battle hands-down.

"Wow," Faith muttered, and was unable to say more.

"Thanks," Dawn said, blushing. "You knew my size."

"Yeah; same as mine," the slayer replied with a lopsided grin.

"Would you consider having dinner with me, Dawn Summers?"

"I'd be honored, Faith," Dawn agreed.

---

They sat down to a traditional Christmas dinner of turkey, stuffing, a nice ten-year-old Merlot, and pumpkin pie for dessert.

There was almost no talking during the meal; both women just stared at one another, with nearly identical looks of happiness tinged with wonder on their faces.

Faith couldn't stop grinning. She'd tried to banish it, thinking it didn't necessarily fit with the mood she was hoping to set, but it kept coming back. When she'd first planned on giving D a night like this, in that long-ago boxcar, this was all she could've hoped for. The nice room, D's Christmas decorations, the wonderful dinner, how beautiful D looked in the candlelight, how amazing she looked in that dress, how happy she looked... It all gave Faith an immense feeling of pride that she'd been able to give this to D. She deserved this. No one else had ever treated Faith like she did, like she was a real person who mattered, and not just some fuck-toy. Even Robin, who she now knew had really loved her, hadn't made her feel like this, like she was really worth something.

Dawn finished the last of her pie and stood up. "May I have this dance?" she asked, holding her hand out.

"Uh..." Faith listened to the slow, romantic music--that she'd picked out, dammit!--playing in the background, and reluctantly admitted, "I don't really know how to dance to this stuff, D." Christ, she should've known she'd find some way to screw up the otherwise-perfect night!

"I'll show you," Dawn offered, continuing to hold her hand out. Hesitantly, Faith took it.

Dawn led them over to the small piece of open area left in the room, and lifted Faith's arms up to drape over her shoulders, then gently rested her own hands just above Faith's waist. "Now, watch my feet," she instructed.

Faith looked down and carefully observed how D's feet were moving. In no time, she had it, and they were dancing. After a little while, Dawn's hands drifted down and softly cupped Faith's rear.

While she had certainly heard the expressions about losing yourself in someone's eyes or arms, Faith had always thought they were a bunch of bullshit cooked up by some sappy loser. Not anymore; now she understood exactly what they were talking about, because as the dance continued, she lost herself in Dawn's gentle grasp. The way they moved in perfect synchronicity, the feel or her body pressed so close up against Faith's, the incredibly soft texture of her hair against Faith's check, the smell of her that was just uniquely "D."

As they danced to the smooth tones of a romantic instrumental melody, Faith realized that this woman wasn't the same one she'd met in a Boston alley in mid-September. That woman had been hard, bitter, tired and battle-weary. That woman would never have taken Faith to the zoo and bought her a ridiculous t-shirt with cartoon penguins on it. That woman would never have spent two days putting up Christmas decorations. That woman would never have put on a dress, sat down to a romantic candlelit dinner, and then slow-danced afterward.

With a growing sense of awe, Faith recognized that the D she was dancing with now was someone who'd been shaped by her relationship with Faith. And while Faith loved the D from that first night in Boston, she knew that the D here with her now was a better, more well-rounded person.

Faith had known for awhile that D felt sad that Faith had been denied a normal childhood, and that she was trying to share with her some of the things she'd missed out on. Was it possible that in doing so, D had re-discovered some of her own innocence? She was no longer the brat from Sunnydale, or the angry, battle-scarred warrior. Instead, she now had most of the best traits from each of them.

A lifetime of putting herself down made Faith want to think that she hadn't had anything to do with that, but the evidence here in her arms made it hard to deny. God, she loved this woman!

She knew now that she wanted to wake up every morning with D in her arms, and go to bed at night the same way. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with her, until they were both old and gray and sometimes had trouble remembering their own names, but always remembered how much they loved the other.

Faith stood, slowly revolving in those arms, and knew she had found the one place in all the world where she truly belonged.

---

"Faith?" Dawn whispered some unknown time later.

"Hmm?" Faith pulled herself away from her thoughts and looked at the clock; they'd been standing here, dancing, for over an hour!

"Would you like to open our Christmas presents?"

"What?" Faith asked, stepping back to look at her. "But it's only Christmas Eve." Tonight's been so perfect! What if she hates the presents I got her and it ruins everything?

"When I was in elementary school," Dawn explained softly, "I had this friend--Kelly--and in her family, they all got to open the presents they'd gotten for each other on Christmas Eve, then 'Santa Claus' would come for her and her brother on Christmas morning. I always thought she was so lucky, getting half of her presents a day early like that," she admitted with a smile. "It would be okay with me if we opened all of ours tonight. I mean, tonight's been so amazing, that it just seems like the perfect time to do it; it'd be tough to top this tomorrow."

"Um, okay, D, if that's what you want to do," Faith agreed, and walked over to the tree, scooping the six wrapped items out from underneath it and trying to hide her nervousness. Don't be nervous, you moron! Everything else has gone well so far, hasn't it? Have some confidence in yourself for once in your life!

They sat on the bed, and Faith handed D's three presents to her. They'd agreed on a limit of three each; partly to avoid spending a fortune on each other (their cash did have it's limits), and partly to make it easier on themselves, so that they weren't spending nearly every minute obsessing over what to get the other, buying one gift after another. Actually, for Faith, three gifts seemed like an incredible number. She wasn't sure she'd gotten three gifts total in her previous twenty-four Christmases.

"You first," Dawn insisted. "This one." She handed Faith the second-largest of her three gifts; it was about the size of a hardcover novel.

Faith eagerly ripped the paper off, revealing a plain white box, which she opened. She gasped when she saw what was inside.

It was an antique silver frame, five inches by seven. Inside was a picture of Dawn, one obviously taken by a professional photographer in a studio. She sat looking into the camera and smiling softly. A faint twinkle showed in her eyes, as if she were enjoying a private joke. Much like tonight, her hair hung loose around her shoulders, and the small amount of makeup she wore produced a stunning effect, since it was something she so rarely bothered with these days. She wore only a simple blouse, open at the neck, but it somehow fit perfectly with the rest of the setting.

"Wow," Faith said, unconsciously echoing her observation from earlier in the night. "D, this is... I mean, God, you're so beautiful." When she finally looked up from the photo, she saw Dawn blushing happily. "This is a new picture; when did you have this done?"

"About ten days ago," Dawn told her. "On my lunch break from the video store. The frame they gave me for it was okay, but then I found this other one that I liked a lot better, so I replaced it. You really like it?" she prodded.

"Like it? God, I love it! This has to be the best gift anyone's ever given me," she said truthfully. Of course, she knew D had to know that the list of all the gifts she'd gotten in her life couldn't be very long, so there wasn't exactly a lot of competition for that top spot. Dawn smiled happily anyway, apparently satisfied that Faith really did like it.

Faith crawled over and put it on her nightstand, so that it would be one of the first things she saw in the morning, and one of the last things she saw at night.

"Okay, your turn," Faith told her. "Open that one." She pointed to the biggest of Dawn's three boxes.

"Oh, this is great, Faith," Dawn told her enthusiastically after opening the box. Inside was a Sony Discman and a half-dozen of the latest CDs, artists Faith knew D liked.

"Not all that personal, I know," Faith admitted, a little embarrassed. "But it's just, I know how much you love music, and how bummed you've been about what happened to your old one..."

Dawn had told Faith awhile back about how her previous Discman, and her collection of about eight or ten CDs--she couldn't really carry more than that around with her, given how she and Kait were living--had been stolen over a year ago. She'd been CD-less since. ‘I'd had it since Sunnydale,' Dawn had told her with clear disappointment about losing this link to her childhood.

"No chance! It's totally personal. You knew how much my old player meant to me, and how much I missed it. You also knew just what CDs to buy," she added with a grin, holding up the handful of albums.

"Yeah, I guess I did," Faith admitted, feeling a little better. She could tell D really did like them, and this wasn't even her best gift--those two were still left--which was why she'd had D open this one first.

"Alright, your turn again," Dawn prodded. She directed Faith to open the largest box, one that looked big enough to contain a football.

"You told me about how much you got to like reading while you were in prison," Dawn explained in a rush as Faith pulled out the two hardcover books, before she could say anything, "and I haven't seen you read anything since we've been together, but I just thought you might like these two," she finished lamely, dropping her eyes.

"Great Expectations, and Shogun," Faith said, reading the titles.

"I know how much you enjoyed A Christmas Carol last week, and Great Expectations is supposed to be Dickens' best," she told Faith. "And you also told me how you wished you could go to Japan someday, and so I thought you'd like Shogun. Willow made me read it while we were there. I didn't really want to--reading's not really my deal--but I ended up loving it. It's all about samurais and stuff." She stopped talking finally, and waited nervously for Faith's reaction.

"D, these are so great. No one else would ever know me well enough to buy me something this perfect." Faith saw a relieved smile cross Dawn's face. "You're right: I haven't been reading much lately, but that's because I've had you around, and believe me, it's not hard to find things to do with you." She darted forward and planted a quick kiss on the lips of a surprised-looking Dawn. "I'm going to start both of these tomorrow, and I know I'm going to love them."

It was Dawn's turn next, and Faith directed her to a long, thin box. She held her breath; this was the one she was most nervous about.

Dawn unwrapped the box and withdrew the business-size envelope inside. Before she opened it, she gave Faith a small, curious smile, which Faith wouldn't understand for another few minutes. She pulled the single slip of paper from inside, and just stared at it. The pit of Faith's stomach began to drop. Oh God, she hates it, she's pissed at me, Oh God, I really did fuck it all up.

She was on the verge of grabbing the paper, ripping it up, and begging D to forgive her, when she noticed the tears beginning to leak out of the corners of her eyes, and the smile starting to form at the sides of her mouth. She pulled her gaze away from the paper with the address on it, and looked up at Faith. "This is really...?"

"Yep," Faith confirmed. "That's B's current address and phone number. Angel got them from Willow; B has no idea. So you can contact her if you want, and if you don't want to, she'll never know. Red says they should be good through the middle of February. After that, they'll probably be on the move again."

"Faith, this is just..." She couldn't finish. The tears began to fall in earnest, and she pulled Faith into a long, tight hug. Finally, she let her go, looked her in the eyes, and simply said, "Thank you."

"Welcome, D," Faith responded, happy and incredibly relieved at the response this gift had gotten. This was the one she'd thought had the greatest chance of royally fucking things up.

Faith picked up her last gift, a long, thin, box that seemed to weigh nothing. She discarded the wrapping paper, opened the top, and found a business-size envelope. "This isn't your sister's address and phone number, is it?" she asked Dawn with a smirk.

"Nope," Dawn replied, with an enormous grin of her own.

And Faith could already tell that that was true; this envelope was thicker, and obviously contained a lot more than just a single slip of paper. She opened it up and pulled out a folded set of legal documents, probably over a dozen pages long.

She began to skim the words, feeling more and more confused with each paragraph. She thought she understood them, but obviously she didn't, because there was no way... She must just not be able to decipher this legal crap.

"D, it seems like this all says..."

"That you're free? Yeah, that's what it says, Faith."

Faith looked up from the papers and stared at Dawn, mouth slightly agape, waiting for an explanation.

"Your previous sentence was reduced to time served. All new charges, from the prison escape right up through that thing with Carl, have been dropped. You're completely, one-hundred percent a free woman," Dawn explained with a huge smile.

"Angel?"

"And Gunn."

"D... How can I... I mean, I can never... This is just..." Faith couldn't find the words. Instead, she grabbed Dawn and wrapped her into a fierce hug, and began laughing as the relief spread all through her body. After all these years... Free! No more running. No more finding a nice place she was happy in and then having to leave because the cops were getting close. She could really live like a normal person again.

"And I was thinking," Dawn continued, "that maybe now you might be able to think about getting your GED--after all, you love to read, so you might even enjoy studying now. And once you'd gotten that, there'd be so many better jobs that you could apply for. No more having to just settle for work where you can use your slayer strength," she said with a wink.

"Yeah," Faith whispered. That actually sounded like a cool idea. She'd hated school back when she'd been going, but over the years she had realized how much she'd missed out on. She was tired of feeling like an idiot when people talked about things she didn't understand because she'd dropped out too early. "Yeah, I think I might do that."

She tried to recover from the enormous shock she'd just received. "Thank you, D. This is just... It's like getting your life back."

"Thank Angel and Gunn; they did all the work. I just had the idea," Dawn protested, blushing.

"Believe me, I will. But it all happened because of you, so thank you." She clasped her lover's hand and squeezed it gently, always mindful of her slayer strength. "Now go on, you've got one left."

Dawn didn't need any encouragement. She picked up the small package and tore the paper off, revealing a jewelry box. This was the item Faith had picked up a couple of weeks ago and tried to give D then, only to have her insist it wait until Christmas.

"Faith, this is beautiful," Dawn whispered. She lifted it out of the box, turning it over in her hands, admiring it. It was a silver crucifix, and at the point where the crosspieces met, a small locket was located. Dawn very carefully opened it.

Inside was a picture of Faith. Obviously not a professional photograph, but she looked amazing nonetheless. Her hair flew wildly in the breeze, and she was staring off at a point to the left of the camera, laughing at something.

On the inside cover of the locket was the inscription '9-14-08, D-F.' "The night we met, back in Boston," Dawn mumbled.

"Yeah," Faith confirmed quietly, still holding her breath, not entirely sure yet if D liked it.

"It's perfect," Dawn told her, tears beginning to fall softly once again.

Faith let out a relieved breath. So, it looked like she'd actually done a good job picking out the presents, after all. D still couldn't lie to her without Faith knowing, and she could tell that Dawn was being completely honest about how much she liked her gifts. Nice going, she told herself, and realized with a start that she couldn't remember ever mentally praising herself when she hadn't been doing so sarcastically.

D had unhooked the clasp, and was trying to fasten the cross around her neck. "Let me," Faith offered, and moved around behind the younger woman. She brushed her hair out of the way, her fingertips trailing along the soft skin of D's neck and shoulder, and re-fastened the clasp. "There."

D craned her neck around to look at her, and the sudden passion, lust, need--and was there even the slightest chance that could be love?--blazing in her lover's eyes caused Faith to gasp softly.

Dawn got up from her sitting position, rising to her knees and putting herself on a level with Faith. Her hands came to rest on Faith's waist, then slowly began to travel upwards. As they did, Dawn pulled Faith into a kiss, tongue seeking and gaining entrance.

Faith gasped softly again into D's mouth as the hands found her breasts. A moment later, they were slipping the thin straps of her dress off her shoulders, and she found herself being gently laid backwards on the bed, her head coming to rest on the pillow. The dress was carefully tugged down and off her body, and her panties followed.

When Faith opened her eyes, she saw D's equally-naked form hovering above her own. D leaned down for another kiss that stretched out for an eternity.

---

Since the night when one of the men Faith's mother had brought home had forced himself on an unwilling, crying twelve-year-old girl, Faith had had sex hundreds, maybe thousands, of times. Boys, girls, men, women, all races, all ages. It was fair to say Faith had quite a bit of experience in this area. But she had never felt anything like this.

Her whole body seemed to be on fire. Every single cell, from her hair down to her toenails, felt like it had been doused in gasoline and set on fire. But instead of the intense pain that would go along with this metaphor, she was feeling a pleasure so great she didn't think she'd ever find the words to describe it, even if she'd gone to college for a hundred years.

She was intensely aware of every single thing going on around her; she'd never felt so acutely alive. She could feel her own heart pounding, hear D panting in her ear, feel D's body pressing down on hers, feel D's rock-hard nipples as they occasionally rubbed against her own (producing whimpers from both of them every time), hear every single separate instrument in the music coming from the CD player. The blinking lights from the Christmas tree seemed as bright and enormous as searchlights, and when she looked up at the amazing face of D above her, she wouldn't be surprised if she would soon be able to pick out the atoms forming all the separate molecules in her skin. She was also pretty certain she could feel her own hair and nails growing.

God, she was so close! She wanted to get there more than she'd ever wanted anything in her life, but at the same time, she also wanted to prolong this, to keep it going forever, if possible. Right now the whole world was just her and D, and she'd never been happier and more content.

"Now, Faith. Please," D whispered simply, her hand increasing to a near-frantic pace.

Faith was transported out of their bed in their Denver hotel room. She was now standing in the hot desert sun of Arizona. At the Grand Canyon, to be exact. She distantly heard the words--"Now Faith. Please,"--and as soon as she did, she took off at a sprint for the cliff's edge.

At the instant her physical body reached it's climax and went stock-still, stiff as a board, Faith's mind reached the edge of the Canyon and soared out into space. She hung there seemingly forever, with the most wonderful feeling of happiness and peace running all through her. Finally, gravity began to re-assert itself, and she slowly began falling. Back in Denver, her physical body began to buck and shudder in the throes of the heights Dawn had brought her to.

Faith fell and fell, the wonderful feeling of delight not tapering off in the slightest, even as the ground rushed up toward her. Somehow, the idea of being splattered all over the floor of the Grand Canyon didn't worry her. In the instant she hit the ground, she opened her eyes and found D's sweat-covered face staring down at her. Safe and sound, back in Denver.

"That was..." Faith panted, but couldn't finish. She just clutched D tight, leaning over every now and then to plant a soft kiss on her face whenever she'd summoned up enough strength to do so.

Finally, she rolled over on top of Dawn. "Let's see if I can show you just what that felt like," she offered with a smile, and placed a soft, closed-mouth kiss on D's lips. Her hand trailed downward, between her breasts, over her incredibly-toned stomach, past her too-adorable belly-button...

Minutes--... or hours... or days…--later, Faith was greedily drinking in every sight and sound as Dawn, lying below her, took her own leap off the edge of the Grand Canyon.

---

It was impossible to tell what time the two were finally unable to go any longer, and collapsed back on the bed, completely and totally spent.

Faith's arm draped across D's chest, and she played absently with one of D's nipples, an activity she never got tired of. As she began to drift off to sleep, she wondered if she would ever again in her life have a night this wonderful.

She was in that halfway place between sleeping and waking, and drifting further away by the second. With most of her brain thinking it had already fallen asleep and was now speaking at the start of a great dream, she mumbled, "I love you, D," then completed the nightly trip to dreamland, a soft smile still on her face.

---

She didn't see Dawn's eyes, which had been closed as she also approached sleep, snap open. She didn't see the sudden fear blossom in them as she realized exactly what it was Faith had just said, and as certain truths about her own feelings came crashing to the surface.

---

Faith awoke with a feeling of numb soreness in her entire body. But it was a pleasant soreness, not an uncomfortable one. She smiled as she remembered everything that had happened the night before. She thought she might even finally be able to tell D she loved her this morning--she had no memory of what she'd said in the instant before sleep took her last night.

With a twinge of disappointment she realized D wasn't in her arms. This happened every now and then, but usually they woke up with one of them holding the other. Faith had come to regard it as one of the best parts of her day, waking up and knowing that she was with D. For awhile after they'd gotten together, she'd had to restrain herself from throwing open their door in the morning, still nude, and screaming to everyone that Dawn Summers actually wanted to be with her!

She reached out for Dawn and came up empty. Opening her eyes, she saw she was alone in bed this morning. Maybe D had gotten up already to take a shower; but she didn't hear any water running, and they nearly always showered together. Or maybe, knowing D, she'd gotten up to spring some Christmas morning surprise on Faith.

She smiled and sat up, wondering just what D had planned. The smile died on her lips as she looked around. All D's things were gone. The closet door stood open, and only Faith's clothes were visible inside. Faith's eyes began to frantically search the room. Whatever D was up to, this just wasn't funny.

Then her eyes fell on it.

With a trembling hand, she reached for the sheet of paper on the nightstand on D's side of the bed. She tried to read it, but her hand was shaking so badly that she couldn't make out any of the words. She had to put it down on the bed before she could finally begin reading it.

---

Faith,

First, please believe me when I tell you how sorry I am. I'm sorry I have to do this at all, and I'm a hundred-times sorrier I have to do it after what we just shared. That was the most magical night of my whole life.

Please know that I love you too. I think I have ever since that first night in Boston, and probably long before that. The problem is, I don't think I ever consciously admitted it to myself. In spite of how great what we've had has been, I think I've been trying to tell myself that it was just a good time, not anything serious. But when you told me you loved me last night, I finally had to be honest with myself and admit that yes, I love you, as well.

---

No. No, please tell me I didn't say that, Faith thought in horror. I don't remember saying that so HOW COULD I HAVE SAID IT?!

---

I wish more than anything in the world that I could stay with you, and live the rest of my life with you. But I love you too much to put you in that kind of danger.

See, the last person who told me she loved me, I got her killed. I got her killed because I wasn't quick enough or strong enough to protect her, just like I'm not quick enough or strong enough to protect you. She counted on me backing her up and I couldn't get the job done, and eventually I know you'll come to count on me the same way, and I'll end up letting you down, too.

I'd better stop writing now. If I don't, you'll be waking up soon, and if that happens, I'll lose my nerve and stay, and someday you'll end up dead because of it. Thank you for everything you've done for me, Faith. These have been the best three months of my life--I mean that with all my heart.

Please take care of yourself.

---

Faith finished the letter, then went back and re-read it, as if somehow hoping the awful words would say something different the second time around. They didn't.

She turned to her nightstand and picked up the picture that D had given her the previous night, and just stared into that beautiful face. She looked deep into the eyes, as if begging them to offer her some explanation for why her world had so suddenly and unexpectedly come crumbling down around her. The laughing blue eyes and soft smile didn't seem to have anything to say.

Then, something happened that hadn't happened in over eight years. Not since a lonely, scared, confused girl had been wrapped in the arms of a vampire with a soul in a Los Angeles alley.

Clutching the picture tightly in her hands, Faith began to cry.