Duffel bag over her shoulder, Faith let herself into the Hyperion Hotel. Due to a couple of good deeds, she'd been given a two-day furlough and thought there was no better place to spend it than at the home of her redemptor. Before she could even cross into the lobby proper, she was greeted by a brown-haired young woman she'd never seen before. "Hi!" the girl said brightly, book in hand as she rose from the sofa. "Welcome to Angel Investigations. We help the helpless. How may I help *you*?"

Instead of answering, Faith looked her up and down. "You're that girl, the one he brought back a couple months ago, right?" Angel had written her about their interdimensional adventures, but not that the girl had stayed with them.

The girl nodded, seemingly unconcerned about Faith's interrogatory response. "Pylea. That's not my name, of course! That's where I came from." Quickly she corrected herself: "I came from *here,* that is - Pylea is where I came *back* from. I'm Winifred. But you can call me Fred. Everyone does."

"So, Winnie, is -"

"Fred," the girl interrupted.

"So Winnie-fred," Faith said. "He in?"

Fred shook her head. "No, they're out on a case in Big Bear." She smiled again, tilting her head as she studied the girl standing before her. "You're Faith, aren't you? He's talked about you."

"Yeah? Well, don't believe everything you hear."

"Only the good things," Fred assured her, and somehow Faith knew it was true.

"He doesn't talk about me much, does he?" she said dryly.

Fred gave her another smile. "Only all the time."

Faith unslung her bag, leaving it in the foyer as she went over to join Fred, who had sat back down with the book in her lap, fingers tucked inside to hold her place.

"I thought you were in prison?" Fred went on. "Or, is that one of the things I'm not supposed to believe?"

"No, that one you can believe." Faith flopped onto the other end of the sofa, stretching out her feet toward Fred. "So, Big Bear?"

Fred nodded. "Yes. Cordelia just called to say they won't be back until tomorrow. Apparently the situation's gotten a little more complicated."

"So you're all alone in the shop, huh?"

"You're here now. You'll stay the night, won't you?"

Faith gave the girl another furtive once over. "You live here? In the hotel?" When Fred nodded, Faith groaned inwardly. ~Oh god~, she thought. ~Not another one of Angel's goody-two-shoes girlfriends...~

"Well, if I can't help you with a case, perhaps you'd like some iced tea?" Fred offered. "I just made it. Brewed in the sun."

"Why not?" Faith accepted with a shrug. Book still in hand, Fred popped off to the kitchen. ~Must be a good book~, Faith mused idly, studying the walls until the other girl returned moments later carrying a tray with two glasses of amber liquid, each with a lemon slice wedged onto the side.

Fred set the tray down and with a cheerful "here you are," handing Faith one of the glasses. She took the other and settled back into her corner of the sofa. Faith squeezed the lemon into her drink, dropping the crushed slice in. And they sat in silence, sipping tea.

Faith was just wondering whether she ought to make her excuses despite the invitation and find another place to stay until tomorrow - when, perched on the edge of the sofa, Fred turned to her. "You were in prison, right?" the girl asked abruptly. "Well, of course you were; you just told me that. So were you someone's bitch? Or, or maybe you had a bitch?"

Amused by the unexpected query, Faith asked, "Why, Fred? You want to be my bitch?"

"Not really," Fred blithely replied. "Oh, I don't mean anything by that!" She quickly reassured her, touching one of Faith's feet lightly. "It's just that we've only just met. I don't know you all that well. And I can't really be attracted to someone I don't know, you know?" She barely paused for breath as another thought struck her. "But, 'bitch' is really situational, isn't it? Situational homosexuality, that's what they call it in prison, right? And I guess you don't have much time to get to know someone 'on the inside' - you just hook up with whoever is there."

"Were you someone's bitch in Pylea?" Faith half-joked, thinking it was either that or the girl was into prison flicks. Fred shook her head with a smile, the wistfulness of which didn't escape Faith. Reappraising the girl at the other end of the sofa, she asked with genuine curiosity, "*You* had a bitch?"

"She wasn't my bitch," Fred clarified. "She wasn't really mine. And, she didn't have to do anything for me. I would have protected her, anyhow, no matter what. I would have protected any cow - any *human*," she corrected herself, Pylean terminology still not entirely purged from her lexicon. "But especially her. I tried to..." The girl sighed, glancing off in memory. "But I failed her." She turned back to Faith with another smiling shrug. "So, I guess I wasn't a very good bitch-protectress. Or what do you call them? But she didn't need my protection, anyhow; lucky for her, she was the princess...."

Faith sat up as it clicked in. "Cordy?"

Fred blushed as she acknowledged it. "At first I just thought she was pretty. But she's so strong and sweet and caring and smart..."

Slightly incredulous, Faith cocked her head. "Are we talking about Cordelia Chase?"

Fred smiled. "I know you don't see those things in her, but they're there. She's all those things and more."

Faith grinned as she sat back again. ~Well alright, Fred!~ She noticed that the girl had reached for her book again, not to read it but to occupy her fingers, and Faith wondered if this was the first time Fred had talked about it to anyone. Taking pity, she changed the topic of conversation. "What do you have there?" she asked, indicating the book. Fred held it up so Faith could see the cover. "'Beauty's Reward'?" she read. "Never heard of it. Any good?"

Fred nodded emphatically. "It's marvelous. This is the third one, it's a trilogy by Anne Rice."

That name Faith recognized, and she gave a little laugh. "Doing a little research?"

Fred blushed again, and then her face relaxed as she realized what Faith was implying. "Oh, no! This isn't one of the vampire novels. This is the story of Sleeping Beauty."

"You're reading fairy tales?" Faith asked, wondering what sort of fairy tales could make someone blush.

"No - well, *yes*, it is the fairy tale. But for adults."

"A sexed-up version of Sleeping Beauty?" Faith asked with a grin. "A three volume sexed up version of Sleeping Beauty?"

Fred smiled in relief that she didn't have to explain in further detail and nodded. "It's much better than the Marquis de Sade. Have you ever read any of his work?" When the other girl shook her head, Fred continued, "Oh, I thought you might have, since he was also in prison. Not the same prison, of course! Not even the same century. Did you see the movie 'Quills'?" Again, Faith shook her head. "Well, I didn't much care for it myself, but there was one part with Joaquin Phoenix where he's very upset about the Marquis's writings. And it's not because they're immoral or scandalous, so much as that they're poorly written. No characterization or plot development to speak of. Exactly as I've always felt!" Fred nodded, clearly feeling vindicated by Hollywood. "It's pretty boring, really, if you can believe that. But *this*," she held up the book, "this is wonderful."

"Entertaining yourself while Angel's away?" Faith remarked, her voice rising at the end rhetorically. She was getting intrigued now, as much in the girl holding the book as in the book itself.

"I entertain myself like this all the time," Fred responded with a little shrug.

"Oh, right," Faith said, realizing her mistake. "Because of the curse."

Fred's brows knit in puzzlement. "Curse?"

"Yeah, Angel's whole no-sex-or-I-lose-my-soul deal," Faith said. "He told you about that, right? Turns him into his demon self? Angelus?"

Fred's face relaxed and she smiled again. "Oh! The green spikey one. Yes, I've met him."

"You have?" Now it was Faith's turn to be confused. "Green-spikey?"

"Yes," Fred said. "I've met Angel's demon. In pure form, actually. In Pylea. He controlled himself, though. I mean, not the first time - the first time I had to help him. But the second time, he did it himself." She smiled proudly at the memory.

Faith shook her head slightly, not quite believing what she was hearing. "You had sex with Angel twice in Pylea? And he turned into a green demon...? And," most remarkable of all, "he didn't try to kill you?"

"No, he didn't. He tried killing Gunn, but not me." Her smile, still sweet, carried a measure of pride at that, a security in her position with him. Then she seemed to hear the rest of Faith's line of questioning. "Sex? No, oh no. I never had sex with Angel!"

Faith took a moment to digest what Fred was telling her. "So you and Angel aren't an item?" Fred smiled again and shook her head. With an uncharacteristic near-hesitancy, not wanting to offend, Faith ventured, "Then, you and Cordelia...?"

Again Fred shook her head. "No. I've never told her. I guess I don't really feel like that about her so much anymore. I wouldn't say no, you know? But I'm not pursuing it. Nope," she said easily, "it's just me and my vibrators these days."

Faith grinned, starting to really warm up to the other girl. "You have a vibrator, Fred?"

The girl nodded. "I have three. I'm not so much into the phallic ones, though. I have one called the Venus Butterfly, and my favorite one is called Luscious Lips. That one's pretty much worn out now, though," she added a bit regretfully.

~It's always the quiet ones. It really is,~ Faith thought, her mind on the verge of being boggled by the sweet-n-shy looking girl sitting on the other end of the sofa. ~Note to self: don't ever judge a book by it's cover. Unless that cover says 'Beauty's Reward.'~  Aloud, she repeated, "You have a vibrator called Luscious Lips? And it's worn out?"

"The tongue part. It's all rubbed away," Fred explained with an adorably self-deprecating smile.

Faith couldn't immediately sort out all the thoughts swirling in her brain. After a moment she said, "Could I see it?"

"Sure!" Fred set the book down on the table as she got up to lead Faith up the stairs to her room. Once there Faith flopped onto the bed, making herself comfortable as Fred opened her lingerie drawer and reached into the back, bringing out the vibrator and carrying it over for Faith's inspection.

"Wow," Faith said, turning it over in her hands as she examined it.

"Nice, isn't it?" Fred agreed.

There was a sliding-speed remote control at one end of the power cord; at the other end, the soft, translucent-pink rubber covering the egg of the vibrator was, indeed, shaped like a mouth, the nub of a "tongue" protruding from between the "lips." And just as Fred had said, the tongue was worn down, the rubber losing integrity.

"No," Faith clarified. "I mean, wow - I don't think I've ever met anyone who's worn out a vibrator before!"

"Yes, it's quite an accomplishment." Fred met Faith's grin with her own charming smile. "Right up there with surviving another dimension and the physics degree I'm working on." She glanced at the vibrator still in Faith's hands and giggled. Following Fred's gaze, Faith too found herself laughing a little.

When she looked up into Fred's still-smiling face, Faith said casually, "So Fred, do you think we know each other a little now?"

"Yes."

"Think I could kiss you?"

"Yes," Fred replied agreeably, her smile widening in invitation.

So Faith leaned in and pressed her lips softly to Fred's, and when she felt Fred's mouth open beneath hers, she pulled back just to trace the girl's lips with her tongue, moistening them before slipping between them to explore every surface of the new mouth being offered so sweetly to her. As Fred responded, her tongue slinking deftly around Faith's to begin an exploration of her own, their arms wound around each other and they tumbled gently backwards. Faith's purrs were a low counterpoint to the whimpers issuing from Fred as they shifted comfortably against each other in their embrace. Hand slipping beneath her shirt to stroke Fred's bare skin, Faith pulled the slighter girl against her, parting her legs when she felt Fred's knee nudging between them, Fred's hand on the back of her thigh encouraging her to drape herself over the girl as their limbs and bodies intertwined even closer.

It felt so good to have another body against hers after so long, and yes it could be enough... but as their kiss broke and Faith tilted her head to nuzzle Fred's ear, she murmured with a hint of humor, "Want to give my luscious lips a try?"

"Yes, please," came the soft reply.

Faith propped herself up on an elbow, caressing the stray strands of hair back from Fred's face. "For real?"

Biting her lower lip, smiling with her eyes and the arch of her eyebrows, Fred nodded. Lips locked once more, Faith rolled her onto her back and, straddling the girl, left her mouth to trail kisses down her throat.

When her fingers fumbled with the tiny pearl buttons of Fred's shirt, Faith heard a soft request: "Bite them off?" She raised her head and looked at Fred questioningly. "I always thought that would be so sexy," the girl went on, meeting Faith's gaze. "Like something in a romance novel. Bodice-rippers, that's what they call the gothic ones, you know, the period ones? Because the handsome man sweeps the beautiful girl off her feet and, well - rips her bodice off. So, I just have this shirt, but -" she stretched her arms overhead on the bed, arching up, "go ahead and rip."

Bemused and delighted, Faith bent her head once more to take the small, round knob carefully between her teeth. She pulled back gently, feeling the threads start to give and finally snap as the button came free. She turned her head to spit it out when Fred's hand came up below her mouth. "I'll sew them back on later," she explained, so with a grin Faith deposited it in her cupped palm. She made her way down Fred's body, sliding herself back as she went along until she had the last button off. Fred stretched to place the buttons on the night table but couldn't reach, so Faith unseated herself to do it, her fingertips caressing Fred's palm as she took the buttons from her.

Then she turned back and, once more straddling her, pushed the shirt back from Fred's body. She slipped her forefinger under the front clasp of the blue satin bra and asked, "You want me to do this one with my mouth, too?"

"Could you?"

Her tone indicated mild surprise and a respect for Faith's abilities more than an actual request, so Faith said, "Yeah, but this really would be a 'ripper'..." Her tongue was talented, but not *that* talented!

Fred considered for a moment, and then said regretfully, "You'd better not, then. This is my best bra, Cordelia got it for me - oh! I, I shouldn't have said that, should I? That's a faux pas, to talk about someone else in b-" Her self-admonitions were stopped by the gentle crush of Faith's lips against hers as the slayer deftly unhooked the clasp. Pushing the satin material aside, Faith cupped one newly-freed and perfectly rounded breast, rubbing her palm against the nipple before her thumb and forefinger slid together to pinch and roll it erect. As Fred whimpered softly, Faith shifted down to replace her fingers with her teeth, lips pressed to the supple flesh, tongue swirling and lashing the nipple. Lifting her head to move to the other breast, Faith winked at Fred and said, "Bet your vibrator can't do that."

Fred giggled. "No," she conceded as she brought one of her hands down, finger tracing Faith's lips, "it can't." Faith's tongue darted out to meet the fingertip caressing her, sucking the finger into her mouth and being rewarded with a soft moan before returning her attentions to the lovely breasts beneath her.

As Fred began to squirm, Faith nibbled a path down across her wriggling body, the smooth flat belly going concave under her mouth as Fred sucked in a delighted breath; dipping into the indentation of the bellybutton just above the low-slung waistband; and moving to the button of that waistband to snap it off with her teeth, eliciting a thrilled "oh!" of surprise. Faith felt blunt fingernails and then fingertips graze her scalp as Fred ran her fingers through the slayer's hair while Faith manipulated the zipper, dragging it down with her teeth.

She sat up then and, with Fred helpfully lifting her hips, removed first the jeans and then the blue satin panties. Dropping them onto the floor in turn, she next peeled off each of Fred's socks, taking a moment to admire the pedicure in the foot she held before dipping her head to envelope the big toe, her tongue swirling around it just as it had laved the girl's breasts and fingers. As Fred sighed a deep "ohhh" of surprise and contentment, Faith noticed that the skin here wasn't as soft; though well-tended, it bore the hardened callous of much wear.

Cradling the bridge of the foot, thumb firmly massaging the arch, Faith released the girl's toe and carefully set the foot down, widening Fred's legs as she did so to make room for herself. Fred shifted to accommodate her as Faith settled on her stomach. Her fingers browsed through the curls of hair, seeking the nub of pleasure; when she found it, sending a jolt through Fred, Faith slid her fingers down to spread the girl's nether-lips and bent forward to flick her tongue across the quivering clit, drawing more mewling whimpers from Fred's throat. Closing her lips around it as she drew the nub between her teeth, Faith began to purr herself as she licked and sucked.

When Fred's hips rolled and rose up, her cunt begging for more attention, Faith began stroking the moist folds with one finger, finally slipping inside, working it in up to the third knuckle as Fred moaned, "Oh yes, please, yes!" Still tonguing her clit, Faith added a second finger to the girl's cunt, beginning to squirm herself as she caressed the slick inner walls, her fingers sliding in and out increasingly. Shifting as she rubbed herself against the bed through her clothes, Faith withdrew her fingers and released the throbbing clit, her tongue gliding down to taste the girl beneath her, dipping into her folds and finally thrusting inside as Faith pressed her face to the heavenly, aromatic, delicious cunt beneath her. Faith was nearly lost to ecstasy herself, her mouth licking, sucking, curling, rolling and gliding, sliding and fucking the lovely girl and her lovely cunt... and then Fred's muscles clenched about her, thighs pressed to her head as she thrust up to meet Faith's mouth one more time; Faith came back to herself as she felt fingers twisting in her hair and cum flooding her mouth. She relented on her frantic pace, suckling and softly lapping the girl's flowing juices.

As Fred's body began to calm, her whimpers quieting, Faith moved up beside her to kiss her. Fred's tongue slid tentatively into Faith's open mouth, and she made a small, indefinable sound. Faith pulled back from the kiss and asked with a smile, "First time tasting yourself? Or, first time tasting any girl?"

"Any girl," Fred confirmed, returning the smile.

"You want to try someone other than yourself...?" Faith offered suggestively. When Fred blushed and dropped her eyes, Faith brushed her fingers under the girl's chin, tilting her face back up. "Hey, it's okay," she said reassuringly, reading the hesitancy and having no desire to push. "You don't have to. You don't have to do anything, okay?" She kissed her new lover softly and emphatically.

When the kiss broke, Fred smiled again - and then her face lit up with a sudden idea. "Do you want to try the Luscious Lips? The vibrator, I mean?"

Moved as much by Fred's eagerness as by her own curiosity, Faith said, "Okay, sure!" So while Fred retrieved the vibrator from where it had fallen during their exertions, Faith stripped down to her undergarments and made herself comfortable.

"Got it!" Fred announced, popping up from the floor. "Oh!" she added when she caught sight of the nearly-naked girl reclining against the pillows. "You're so beautiful," she observed as she climbed back onto the bed. "I mean, I thought so before." Her gaze was drawn to the metallic object encircling Faith's ankle, and tentatively she reached out to touch it.

"Prison-issued jewelry," Faith replied to the wordless question. "So they can track me. Just in case I'm not the reformed girl we all think I am, and I decide to extend my furlough past the weekend." She flashed Fred a grin, hoping she hadn't put the girl ill at ease now.

But Fred just nodded, her hand going to her throat. "I've seen something like that before," she said, sounding subdued for the first time in the short span Faith had known her. She gave herself a little shake, returning from wherever she'd drifted off to - Pylea perhaps, Faith thought - and broke into another charming smile as she settled down next to Faith. She held the vibrator out: "Here it is."

Accepting it, Faith asked in an unthreatening tone, "Do you want to help?"

"Okay," Fred smiled again agreeably. "Do you want me to show you how to use it?" She rested her fingertips on Faith's hip, lightly brushing the edge of her panties. "Or, should I finish undressing you?" Without waiting for an answer, she hooked her other hand beneath the elasticized band and tugged the panties down to pull them off.

Faith shifted down a little farther, resting her feet flat on the bed and nestling the vibrator in her cunt, the "tongue" against her clit. When Fred returned to her side, she took the girl's hand and placed the remote control in it, eyebrows raised in silent suggestion, and with an equally silent smile and nod, Fred accepted.

As Fred pushed the power to "on," Faith jumped and gasped at the sensation of the soft tongue - not wet or warm or human but undeniable - flicking against her like a hummingbird's wings, almost incalculably rapid and insistent and perfect in pace and pressure. One hand gripped the bed covers so she wouldn't cut the flesh of her palm as her hand curled shut convulsively. The other hand reached for Fred, drawing the girl down to her for a pleasure-fueled kiss. Already close to the edge from her ecstatic indulgence with Fred, it wasn't long before Faith was beyond wriggling to outright writhing as Fred gradually eased the control towards top speed. She began to shimmy and undulate so energetically that Fred had to reach between her legs to hold the vibrator in place, cooing an encouragement that Faith barely heard over her own moans. Within in minutes, Faith was arching off the bed and falling back, crying out inarticulately and shuddering convulsively with the orgasm coursing through her, deluging her system as she drenched the vibrator and Fred's fingers with her cum.

Fred slowly brought the speed down, Faith coming down with it. When Fred sensitively removed the vibrator, Faith was still for a moment. "That was - just wow, Fred!" she said in soft wonder. "I don't know when I've ever come so hard and quick."

Smiling, Fred set the pleasure toy aside and turned back to Faith. "It wasn't just - it wasn't just the Luscious Lips... was it?" Fred asked, with something that Faith took as hope woven into the uncertainty of her voice.

"Definitely not," Faith sighed as she rolled onto her side to snuggle into the warm body, still as flushed as her own. Fred sighed too, then, curling herself into Faith's embrace.

"When do you think you'll have another furlough?" Fred asked as they cuddled.

"Don't know," Faith murmured, nuzzling her.

"Well, I hope you'll come back when you do." Fred tilted her face towards Faith. "I'll probably have worn out the tongue on the Luscious Lips entirely by then," she said, her own firmly in cheek behind the smile on her lips and the twinkle of promise in her eyes. "So I might just have to use my own." She flicked it out to lick the tip of Faith's nose as if in demonstration, making them both giggle. "Maybe I should I practice before you go, just in case...."

+++

THE END