Faith really cares about me. I can't help but get all tingly just thinking about it. Someone like Faith actually cares about me. In more than just a 'get in my pants' kind of way. That was always the thing that bothered me most about the guys I dated before. They were all about wanting to get in my pants in any way they could. Most of them would say just about anything to get at my panties. Even the guys who were more sensitive and nice to me were always wondering how to get me naked. It wasn't the nicest thing to find that out every so often.

But Faith wasn't like that. I was ready and willing to let it all happen right there and then, except when she found out I hadn't given myself to anyone else but was willing to give myself to her, she stopped. She stopped us from going where I was ready, willing and able to go with her because she cared more about what was better for me then getting some out of me. And it makes me feel so good to know that she did that. I've had to stop all the other guys, but not Faith. It makes me want her even more, knowing that.

Walking up to my front door, I open it with my key and go inside. As I shut the door, Buffy comes in from the kitchen.

"Dawnie? Good, you're home."

"Yeah, it was hard, what with all the walking and everything. I made it home though."

Buffy sorta half smiles at my joke.

"I was just a little worried because you're usually home before I am."

"Well, I stopped off for pizza on the way. I had a craving."

Which isn't entirely a lie, it just wasn't for pizza.

She looks at me with a slightly annoyed look.

"And it didn't occur to you that you might ruin your dinner?"

My arms cross over my chest as I look at her with my own annoyed expression.

"I'm not six anymore Buffy. It's still like, three hours till the usual dinner time at least and I'm nowhere near full."

"I know... I'm just making sure."

The only thing to do to that is roll my eyes.

Better to try and change the subject.

"So what are we having for dinner?"

"Spaghetti and meatballs..."

"Cool..."

"But I wanted to talk to you about something first."

Talk to me? Maybe this is what Faith mentioned earlier.

"What's that?"

"Let's sit down."

Hmm, this sounds serious.

We make our way into the living room and sit down on the couch together. We sit in silence for a few minutes uncomfortably, before Buffy decides to speak.

"Faith and I have been talking lately about a problem we've been having with the slayers we've been training."

They have?

"Okay..."

"Some of them have been a little too cocky than they should be lately. We were hoping you might help us out with a project we've been working on."

Me?

"What kind of project?"

"We're having Willow come in for a few days from Cleveland. She's going to be casting a spell that's going to help us with the plan, but it's not really going to work without your help."

What could I do?

"Why?"

"Well, what Willow's going to do, is enchant the training room for a while. Basically what the room will do is give anyone without a slayer's powers, the powers of a slayer."

They can do that? I've done a fair bit of research on magic and stuff, and I've never heard of that happening.

"Really?"

She nods at me with a smile.

"Yup, and we're hoping you'll be our trainer for the exercise."

My sister wants me to be a trainer at her dojo?

"Me? Why?"

"Actually, it was Faith's idea."

Faith gave Buffy this idea? Why did she do that?

"She had the idea that we should put them up against a non-slayer to test their skills. And she figured the best person for the job was you."

Buffy reaches over and puts a hand on mine.

"Dawn, in the final battle of Sunnydale, you were right in the thick of it. You went up against those Uber-Vamps with nothing more than a sword and a lot of heart. There were slayers that didn't make it through that battle, but you did. Faith kinda made the case for you and I have to agree, the truth is that you'd make a great slayer if you had the strength and speed. But you don't need it, you're just perfect the way you are."

It means a lot to me that she'd say that.

"So we're hoping that you'd help us out and give the class a lesson in humility."

For a few seconds, I look at my sister.

"Umm, I guess I could."

"You don't have to. If you don't want to, we can find someone else."

"I know."

"I don't want to pressure you into anything. If you want to take some time and think about it, I'd be okay with that."

She's being protective of me, it's funny.

"Buffy, it's not like this is a life changing decision. It could be a lot of fun to have slayer powers for a while."

Her face becomes one of slightly confused pride.

"All right... if you're sure."

Turning my palm up to hers, I squeeze it gently.

"I am."

"All, all right... I'll tell Faith tomorrow when I see her."

The only thing I can do to that is smile.

"Okay, well, do you have any homework?"

I look down at the books in my hand.

Right, homework...

"Uh, a little..."

"You should probably go do that. I'm gonna do a little cleaning before I start dinner."

"Sure..."

With that, I stand up from the couch and head for my room. Buffy stays where she is on the couch while I leave. As soon as the door closes, I pretty much throw my books on my desk and let my bag fall off my back. Hitting the foot of the bed, I jump face first onto it with a huge smile on my face.

Faith wants me to face off against the slayers. She thinks I'm that good. Something about knowing that makes me want to jump up and down and scream. Of course, I can't do that because then my sister will come in and ask all kinds of questions I don't feel like answering just yet.

With my face is buried in my pillow, I kick my feet into the mattress.

So I'll just settle for screaming into my pillow and trying to make sure Buffy doesn't hear it. Faith thinks I'm good enough to go up against the other slayers. That means so much to me. Hearing that makes me want to thank her in some way. There's probably some really fun way that I can thank her for having that much confidence in me.

Mmm, just thinking about how I can thank her gives me a tingly feeling. Especially if I go by her place and she's wearing the same type of skimpy outfit that she was when I was there earlier. Wow that was one hell of an outfit. If you can even call it an outfit. It's probably better to just call them pieces of cloth sewn together. The whole thing left very little to the imagination and I wouldn't have had it any other way.

I could see exactly how toned her body was. Her stomach was very tight and smooth. Her legs were so toned I think she could crush a demon's head with them if she really wanted to. And then there's her butt. God that's one hell of a butt she's got. I wish my butt looked as good as hers did. I do my best to keep in shape and be healthy and all that, but I don't look anywhere near as hot as she does. I'd be lucky to look that good in a couple years. Then again, she spends a lot of her time working out and fighting demons and stuff. She has to look like that to stay alive. God I'd love it if she were here right now.

The thought of her being here makes me squirm on my bed with excitement.

I'd be able to feel that great butt of hers. Touch her soft skin and enjoy every second of the look on her face that my touch gives her. Her body could be right up against mine, clothes or no clothes, and we could hold each other. We'd feel the warmth of each other as we touched and feel safe. That would be such a great feeling. The only problem being that it's not going to happen.

Faith isn't here, and she's not coming. She's over at her place being the great person she is by not being here holding me. It's frustrating as hell, not that I know what hell's like since I've never been there, but I know it's the right thing to do. I'm not ready to be with Faith in a full body sense. It probably won't be long before I am ready with the way I'm feeling, but now is not that time. Plus, Faith wants me to have the first time I've been dreaming about for years. And that would take some doing even when I am finally ready.

I turn over on my bed and lie on my back, staring up at the ceiling.

In my head, I've always pictured having soft music playing with candles all around being the only light in the room, rose petals all over the bed spread, and I'd be in sexy lingerie of some kind. The only thing I've never really been sure about is who it would happen with. All I ever knew for sure is that whoever I was with would love me just as much as I loved them. Sometimes I'd picture it happening with whatever guy I was with when I was thinking about it, but it never really felt right. Now since things have been happening with Faith, the thought of her being that other person feels good. Almost right.

Except I'm not completely sure that she feels the same way I do. She cares about me, I know that much. She cares about me a heck of a lot. Of course, it could be that the reason I'm not sure is because I'm not entirely sure I know how I feel. I know I have feelings for her. I know that being with her feels right, but do I love her? Do I care about her enough that I can say that I love her? And even if I do, does it mean anything if she doesn't feel the same? Does she care about me enough to love me? What do I do if she doesn't care about me enough to love me?

My eyes drift over to my desk and the books on it.

There's no way I'm getting any homework done.

* * *

"Yeah, that will work."

This is going to be so much fun.

Buffy paces back and forth in front of the dinner table as she talks on the phone. All I do is sit at the table waiting for her to get off.

She's talking with Willow about the details of her visit. I'm only hearing one side of the conversation, but I think they're talking about the supplies they'll need for the spell. Buffy decided to wait until dinner to call Willow about it. Apparently she wanted to give me the time to really think about doing this before I agreed. The only problem with that idea is that my opinion hasn't changed. I want to do it. It'll be a lot of fun, and if I'm lucky I'll get to show up Candy.

"And then we'll be able to do it?"

Maybe I'll be able to impress Faith too, which could only be a good thing. She'll be able to see just how good I could be if I were a slayer. That's gotta be good for us. Unless I do something stupid and screw it up somehow. If I get tripped up or just trip myself the way I have a tendency to do, it could totally screw things up. I'd look like an idiot in front of my classmates, my sister, and Faith. That would be completely embarrassing if that happened. I don't want Faith to think less of me if I screw up somehow. It might ruin whatever it is that's happening between us.

"Okay, then we'll see you this weekend? Great..."

Sounds like everything's worked out.

"I'll see you then Will."

With that, Buffy hangs up the cordless and sets it down on the counter. She walks over to the stove and starts serving up the spaghetti on separate plates.

All right then, I'll just go ahead and ask.

"So everything's set?"

My sister looks my way while continuing to serve dinner.

"Yup... Willow's gonna fly in on Friday and stay a few days. We were planning on doing the training session Saturday. Is that okay with you?"

Hmm, Faith and I are supposed to do a restaurant or something on Saturday. I guess we could do both. Depending on when it's gonna happen.

"When on Saturday?"

"Probably late afternoon. Two or three?"

I'd still have time to go home, take a shower, and put something sexy on before Faith and I can get together.

"That works."

Buffy finishes with the spaghetti, and then pours some sauce and meatballs on them. Once both plates are finished, she picks them up and heads to the table, putting a plate in front of me and placing one in front of her seat before sitting down.

"Sounds like it'll be safe too, despite the possible side effects."

Side effects?

"What kind of side effects?"

"Well, the rules are that the class is not allowed to do anything serious. There's no weapons, it's all going to be hand to hand. But even with hand to hand, you or one of the girls could get seriously hurt. The girls have their slayer healing and strength, but you wouldn't have anything the second you stepped out of the room. So one of the side effects of the spell is that the room will give you temporary slayer healing until any bruises or anything heals up."

Oh...

"That's good..."

"Yeah, I wanted to make sure that you weren't hurt at all."

I smile at my sister for caring so much.

"Thank you."

She picks up her fork as she smiles back.

"Of course..."

We start to eat our dinner in silence together. After a moment, she decides to break it.

"So how are things with Faith?"

Her question makes me almost choke on the spaghetti in my mouth.

"Are you okay?"

Salvaging as much as I can, I chew and swallow my spaghetti before speaking.

"Yeah, it just, you know, went down the wrong way. What were you saying?"

"I was just asking how Faith is. She's still being pretty quiet. All about the five by fives and the not talking. Are you guys having fun?"

Something about her questions make me very nervous. I stop eating.

"Uh, yeah... we're having fun. Lots of fun. She, you know, seems fine to me. Faith is just the kind of person that doesn't talk too much. She doesn't say a lot when we're out together. It's mostly just dancing and drinking and having fun."

A frown comes over her face at what I said.

"So you're still drinking?"

"Well, not as much as before, but I haven't stopped, no."

The frown on her face lessens a little.

"As long as you're being safe and not overdoing it."

When did she change tunes? A couple weeks ago she would've yelled and screamed at me for even taking one sip.

"You're not mad?"

She takes a long deep breath and stops eating for a minute.

"I've been doing a lot of thinking, and the truth is I can't stop you from doing it. Trying to stop you would only make things worse between us and that's not what I want. So if you need to drink and be reckless to find whatever it is that you're looking for, then I don't want to stop you. As long as you promise me you're safe about it."

"Oh... well I am being safe. So you don't have to worry."

My sister kinda smiles at me.

"You're my sister Dawn. I'm always going to worry about you. Whether you want me to or not. But I'm not going to attack you because of it. Besides, Faith's with you right?"

What?

"Even with all the fun you guys are having, I know she's not going to let you get hurt or drink yourself stupid. Right?"

"Uh, yeah... she won't. You can count on that."

"Good..."

Buffy starts to eat her dinner again and I join her.

"So how was school today? Did you get your homework done yet?"