Please see Chapter 1 for disclaimer and general warnings.

Chapter warnings: References to dealing with sex after attempted rape, coarse language

When they had been making out long enough that Faith felt like Buffy was actually in the moment and not focussed on memories, she pulled back and caught her breath.

"Help me get my shirt off." Faith lifted herself a bit, and with the balance and coordination that helped them invent synchronised slaying, Buffy shifted back to stay on top, while helping Faith get the hem of her tank up to her shoulders in the least enthusiastic way anyone had ever helped Faith undress.

Faith couldn't really bring herself to be offended by that, even jokingly. Once she had slipped the top off over her head, Faith moved her hands to the hem of Buffy's shirt.

"Wait." Buffy said, stiffening up, and Faith jerked her hands back quickly in reflex. "Sorry." The blonde apologised, looking a bit guilty.

"No, it's cool – you wanna keep your clothes on? Makes sense."

"Just...for now, at least. I guess I'll have to eventually."

Faith considered that for a moment. She remembered asking Giles for clarification on the rules of the ritual, and what exactly counted as a transfer of essence. He had emphasised an "exchange of fluids" and the need to orgasm, and Faith remembered deciding that oral or tribbing seemed like the best way to achieve that with the other women. She wondered now if a less direct 'exchange' might work just as well, and mentally cursed Giles for not having a mobile phone she could text to ask. She didn't like her chances of catching him at home.

"What?" Buffy asked, seeing Faith's distraction.

"Maybe you don't have to get naked." Faith bit her lip. "I have an idea, but if it doesn't work we'll probably have to, uh... try again."

"How will we know?" Buffy asked after a moment's thought. "If it worked or not? I mean..." she got a bit red in the face and Faith was sort of amazed she could be feeling embarrassment more strongly than any other emotion under the circumstances. "I mean how do we know it was enough for the spell, not how do I know if we've both, uh, peaked."

Faith swallowed a smile at Buffy's awkwardness. "G said the wall of the circle drops when the 'transfer of essence is complete'. If my idea isn't enough to count for the spell, the wall won't drop."

"And we'd need to try it again with my clothes off." Buffy followed the logic, nodding slowly.

Faith was pretty sure the blonde didn't even realise she was tracing a finger mindlessly over Faith's abdomen as she gazed down in thought. It wasn't until much later that Faith realised Buffy was focussing on the scar from her own knife, caused when Buffy had put her into a coma.

"What would you prefer?" Buffy asked, locking eyes with her, and completely derailing Faith's train of thought.

It genuinely had not occurred to Faith that she would have a say, and if she hadn't thought of it, it blew her mind that it would occur to Buffy – especially so soon after Spike's attack. She coughed to clear her throat, which was tight with emotion that she didn't want to name.

"Either way is fine by me." Faith managed to sound mostly unruffled. "But uh, thanks for checking."

Buffy nodded then smiled a little. "Why is it that after years of flirting and sexual tension, we're now in bed, with you half naked underneath me talking about how we're going to have sex, and it's somehow almost the most awkward and least sexy conversation we've ever had?" She asked.

"We're cursed?" Faith suggested, only partly joking. Buffy gave a wry smile and nodded, before taking a deep breath.

"Okay. Explain your idea to me."

After leaving the Magic Box the night before, Willow had gone to look for Amy. Something about the idea of her casting something on Spike without mentioning it to Willow, or without the redhad even noticing, sat wrong with Willow. And then there was the 'professional' curiosity of which spell had been used – not to mention the personal curiosity about the symptoms Spike refused to describe.

Her secondary goal was to get another boost from Rack, since Amy was a lot better at finding him. Getting Faith back on track to close the hellmouth quickly meant Willow would need to be ready for battle with whatever might be lurking in the ruins of the school. She could still feel magic surging through her from the power they received last night, but transporting a Bronzeful of demons had depleted most of it, and she needed to be at the top of her game.

Willow never wanted fighting a big bad to end with someone dying, ever again.

Hours later and well into the morning, though, Willow hadn't managed to find Amy or Rack, and was just about to give up and head home when she heard Xander call her name.

Not in any mood to face his well-meaning misunderstanding of magic, Willow turned and quickly cast an obfuscate spell between them that would cause confusion and prevent Xander really seeing her properly while she had a chance to duck away.

At least that was the idea, but Willow and Xander both froze and gaped in astonishment when her gesture and incantation instead brought forth one of the axe wielding demons that had been banished the night before.

If anything it was more pissed off than it had been at the Bronze, and charged immediately at the nearest target – Xander. The violent charge broke Willow out of her shock and she cast again, trying for the simpler goal of levitating the axe from its hands. Instead, a trashcan flew up from a nearby alley and smashed the demon in the shoulder, throwing it off balance long enough for Xander to dodge and make a run for it, toward Willow.

"Run!" He shouted frantically, as Willow stood in place, torn by the indecision of whether to try casting something else. She was immobile long enough that Xander reached her and tugged her along, in time for the Gurshnak to turn and start giving chase.

"If we get a car, can you start it?" Xander panted, shooting a look over his shoulder at the demon keeping pace. Willow bit back a sarcastic comment about the dangers of dark magic accrual, shoved down her worries about her magic going wonky and just answered, "Yes!"

She could think of a handful of ways to get a car moving magically, and hoped at least one of them might work before the demon managed to catch up.

They bolted through the mostly empty streets, quickly tugging the handles of every car they ran past. It had been a long time since Willow needed to flee the old fashioned way, and she was tiring quickly.

Four or five blocks later, and the demon's greater stamina was making up for lack of speed as they both started to seriously flag. Willow couldn't decide if it was a blessing or a curse that Sunnydale residents suddenly seemed to have the sense to stay indoors, as even in broad daylight there was no one and nothing around to distract the creature bearing down on them.

"Yes!" Xander shouted as a car door finally opened as he was running past. They were both going so fast it took a few long jolting steps to slow and turn, and Willow was already trying to cast to get the thing started before she was piling in after him.

Both hyperaware that the demon would now be gaining ground quickly, the next few seconds were a scramble as Xander checked the usual hiding places for keys.

"Shit shit shit shit shit come on..." he muttered.

The more subtle approach of starting the engine had not worked for Willow, whether because her magic was misfiring or some mixture of exhaustion and panic. She put the car in neutral and wrenched the handbrake off, and with all the raw magic she could summon she shoved the vehicle from behind.

"Shit!" Xander grabbed the steering wheel and looked over his shoulder, at first thinking the brutal shove came from the demon, who was now only a few steps behind, swinging his axe to try and get purchase on the car.

The car was now rolling about the same speed they were being chased, and Willow grit her teeth and magically reached out to wrench all the power she possibly could into keeping it going. She just needed to get them to the end of the street, where the road started to slope down and gravity could help them.

"Okay." Buffy bit her lip, looking less convinced than she sounded. "Alright, we'll try that and if it doesn't work..."

"Then we'll try something else." Faith suggested. "Do you think you'd be alright takin' your bra off if you leave your top on?"

Catching on to Faith's intention fairly quickly, Buffy agreed and made fast work of it, pulling it out one sleeve and dropping it to the floor. Faith leaned up to kiss her again, and it was as if Buffy's body suddenly realised it was in bed with a half dressed woman, making out. The awkwardness of discussing the situation fell away surprisingly easily at the soft wet heat of Faith's lips. Buffy had always loved kissing, and always sort of regretted that once you'd had sex with a boyfriend, making out seemed to become code for 'gearing up for sex' instead of a goal in itself. Of course, kissing Faith was leading to sex as well - but she seemed, like Buffy, to be enjoying making out for its own sake rather than as just a lesser part of getting laid.

Faith ran her hands down Buffy's back, smoothing her top down and then anchoring it lightly against Buffy's lower back with one hand while the other slowly but obviously moved to hold Buffy's breast through her shirt.

"Alright?" Faith checked. Buffy felt like it might be a little too alright, based on how quickly her nipples were tightening at the attention, but just nodded. She would put off both her discomfort and her fears that she wasn't uncomfortable enough until later.

It felt strangely erotic to be teased through her clothes. She generally didn't have the patience to leave them on long, and her previous lovers had all been pretty eager to take them off her too. Looking down at a topless Faith, she could kind of understand why – breasts were pretty nice. Ignoring the part of her mind that still expected Faith to mock her inexperience, Buffy slid a hand up to try and replicate what Faith was doing.

"Fuck, B." Faith groaned and arched up into the blonde's hand, and Buffy thought it felt seriously amazing. Faith's breast, but also causing such obvious pleasure.

Note: To those ready for the ritual to be over and the fallout to begin, Buffy & Faith's session should be finished chronologically next chapter, although it will be revisited with some of Buffy's memories in future chapters to break things up a bit.