PREQUEL TO : My Voice

PAIRING : Faith/Spike

RATING : PG14

SPOILERS : none

DISCLAIMER : I do not own these characters. Nor do I own Beauty & the Beast.

NOTES : Spike POV

            There are some moments you just wanna treasure. I know it sound sappy, but this was definitely one of them. I know, I’m one hundred and twenty-six years old, but I still wonder at the fact that I may have finally found the one.

            She was popping popcorn for our movie fest the old fashion way, over the stove in a pan full of butter. She said it reminded her of her mother and how they used to spend Saturday evenings before her father died and her stepfather moved in.

            So there we were in her kitchen. I had followed her in order to watch. I always liked to watch her. We’d been friendly for some time before that time. Friendly is an understatement. We were best friends. We were as close as two people can get without being sexual. It was what we both needed. I’d just come off a bad break up and she’d just been released from prison. We came across each other strictly by accident. She’d been on her way to Sunnyhell, I was on my to LA, and we ended up talking at the bus stop in between the two places. She came over to me and asked how things were at the Hellmouth. I played dumb until she told me who she was. She was the ‘Fallen One’ as many demons had referred to her. She was also the hot little number that had weaseled her way into Slutty’s body and came on to me. By the end of the three-hour lay over (due to of bus trouble), we decided to go some place completely different. So we did. We went to Chicago.

            She went to start over, and I went because I had two choices. I could either sit around and wait for Slutty to have enough of me, or for Angel to have enough of me. Either way my days were numbered. So 'what the hell' was my train of thought. We got a place with two bedrooms and we’ve been best friends ever since. There’s never been anything remotely sexual between us. Sure I’ve sneaked a peek at her in the shower, as she has at me, but that’s just curiosity at what the other is hiding. And she’s hiding a lot.

            Anyway, back to the popcorn. So there I was, standing slightly behind her, slightly on the side of her, watching over her shoulder. All of a sudden she turned around to get more butter and I was right there, centimeters away from her mouth. We’d been that close before, don’t get me wrong, but we’ve always pulled back. She’s pulled back because I know some where inside her; she was hurt deeply, emotionally and physically.

            I don’t know why I pull back. Perhaps because of the very nature of who and what we both are. Perhaps because I don’t want to be that much like Angel. Or perhaps because I’m afraid of falling so fast and so hard that I can’t catch myself, or stop it from happening. But whatever the reason, she went to move to the side as I moved in the exact same direction. I hate moments like that. You think you’ll do someone the favor of moving to the side; only you always go the same side they do and you’re right back where you started.

            Only this time, we were an inch closer. I looked down at her full lips. She was biting one, but soon released it and I saw her pink tongue gently moisten her bottom lip. I couldn’t help myself. I put my hands on her bare arms, and pulled her closer to me. I looked down at her supple, wet lips and I had to touch them. I brushed my lips gently over hers, barely grazing them and she whimpered. I pressed my lips to her warm ones a little more and she responded by pressing back.

            My tongue eased out of my mouth and ran over her lips, coaxing her mouth open, searching for an invite. I got it. She parted her lips, hesitantly at first, but I ran my tongue over her lips and teeth and finally I felt her tongue against mine. Her mouth was sweet from the butter she’d licked off her fingers, and the candy she’d been eating.

            She pulled her tongue away from mine as I explored the crevices of her mouth. I felt the slight ridges on the top of her mouth and gently caressed her soft palate. It almost seemed as if she’d never been kissed like that before. She didn’t know what to do. I know *I’d* never kissed like that before. I felt as if my body was on fire. For the first time in years, I felt like weeping from the sheer beauty of what I was feeling.

            I slid my arms under hers and wrapped them tightly around her body. Slowly, ever so slowly, her arms wrapped around my neck and her fingers played with the hair at the nape of my neck. That always drove me wild when Dru did it. But when her nails touched my skin, I almost lost control. I deepened the kiss quickly, wanting to devour her mouth.

            Her tongue touched mine, more sure of herself and of the moment. She began her own exploration and I allowed her entry into my mouth. She gasped against the coolness she found there before seeking every crevice. I opened my eyes just for a second, and found her eyes opened at the exact same moment. I don’t know what she saw in mine, but for the first time in forever, I saw pure wonderment. As if she never knew something could be so powerful, as if she never knew a kiss could mean so much more than a prelude to sex. As if she’d never been kissed by someone who gave a damn about her.

            We both closed our eyes and pulled each other closer and all of sudden the popcorn started spilling over the edge onto the stove and her tongue and arms were gone. She swore and I swore and we cleaned up in silence. I don’t think either of us knew what it meant, or where it would lead, and perhaps we wanted to keep the mystery a little. We wanted to savor the taste of the unknown.

            We brought the popcorn out and sat. That was five hours ago. Two weeks ago, we’d watch movies, her sitting next to me at a safe distance with our legs entwined, as often happens with good friends. But two hours ago, she curled up into me and put the popcorn in my lap. Her head was resting on my chest and I inhaled the aroma of her hair the entire length of the movie. Coconut. From now and forever more, that smell will make think of this night.

We ate while we watched the movie, and waited for the inevitable to happen. When at last we both reached for popcorn at the same time, our fingers interlocked and remained that way, in the popcorn, for the rest of the movie.

            After the movie was done, she stood up and stretched. She said she had to pee and that she was tired. I nodded and went into my room. A few minutes later, she opened the door and crawled in beside me in her flannel overshirt. She curled up in my arms, so close to me, coconut assaulting my senses in the gentlest, sweetest way.

            She fell asleep, wrapped around my body. That’s how she stayed after she fell asleep. I, being a night person, just laid still, staring at the ceiling thinking about when we picked the movie out. We went looking for something with action in it. I wanted violence. She wanted comedy. I wanted cruelty. She wanted romance. So when we walked by that movie, she grabbed it and said it had it all. She said she’d also never seen it, but always wanted to.

            I was skeptical at first, but it was a pretty good movie, and even I have to admit I got teary eyed when the last petal fell. I think before I met Faith, I was waiting for the last petal to fall. Now I’m waiting for the roses to grow. I’m finally a poet!

            I smile as I feel the darkness coming for me. I don’t want to sleep. But I know she will be here in my arms when I wake up. I know because we shared so much in that kiss. I’ve fallen for her, and although she’s not ready to admit it yet, she’s fallen for me too. And perhaps we won’t get physical for a while, but that’s okay, because I have that kiss. And I’m fortunate because the Beast had to wait twenty-one years for his Beauty. I’ve already got mine.

~El Fin~

Onto the Sequel : My Voice (NC17)