**Part Thirteen**
Word Count: 1,494

Buffy woke with a start at the unfamiliar ring tone invading her dreams. It took her a minute to realize there was a logical explanation behind it. The logical explanation woke up just a beat after she did, reaching for the offending phone.

"Scanlon," he said gruffly, sounding as sleepy as she did. It probably didn't help that they hadn't gotten to sleep until a couple of hours ago.

A few non-verbal responses were given by him and then finally. "I'll be right there."

He disconnected and set the phone back on the nightstand.

"Sorry it woke you, I'm not used to the ring yet."

"It's okay. You need to go in?"

"Yeah, drowning victim found in the river."

"Oh."

He drew her to him for a kiss, lingering longer than he should have. She kissed him back almost urgently, which was silly considering he'd just been inside of her about two hours ago.

"It's probably nothing, but we need to be sure."

"I understand," she said, skimming her hand along his torso and behind him. She trailed her fingertips over the small of his back and his ass. She kissed his jaw, his neck, his collarbone, growing wet when she heard his breath hitch and the soft groan he gave.

"Buffy, I already get enough shit about living so mysteriously I can't be late."

"Then you'd better be fast, Detective Inspector."

He laughed. "I'm not sure fast is a word I want to use in conjunction with our sex life."

Despite his protests, she felt him growing harder by the second against her body.

She kissed up to his ear. "Maybe I want fast and hard right now. Like that time in your kitchen…"

"Buffy…," he croaked.

She pushed the covers back, slid down the length of the bed, and took him into her mouth. She took him just as she'd said she was in the mood for, fast and hard. Assured he was hard she turned to face away from him on her hands and knees.

"You don't want to leave me in this state all day, do you? What if it's not nothing and you're gone for hours?"

Glancing at him over her shoulder, seeing the desire in his eyes, she knew she'd won. She turned to face forward, hoping her smile of satisfaction wasn't too obvious as he moved behind her.

"You always get me when you do this."

"Mm, that's the point I think," she whispered, moaning softly as he slid into her. She hadn't been watching so hadn't been totally prepared for him to enter her. Just as she'd requested, too. "I love a man who can follow directions."

He hissed softly as she used her muscles to clench around him. "Glad to oblige, ma'am."

There was a time or two he was gentle, too gentle. She'd had to remind him that she could take it. He always hesitated those times, she wondered if he saw something in her eyes that let him know just how much she could take. She knew as much as it might frighten him, the idea of hurting her, that it turned him on to no end that she liked it like that sometimes. Rough. Fucking.

The sounds alone were enough to drive her over the edge. He seemed to be about as frantic as she was. She loved hearing that skin-to-skin sound as he drove into her, powerful thrust after powerful thrust. His breathing, his sounds coupled with her own. His hands, never sure where to focus: her breasts, between her legs, her ass. And the actual physical feeling of having him inside of her, hard and fast and deep and so "there!" she cried out. She might have said it more than once, she couldn’t be sure because the orgasm that tore through her from him hitting that spot again and again was that intense.

He collapsed on top of her, bringing them both to their sides at the foot of the bed. He kissed her ear. "You never cease to amaze me."

"That's kind of the point I think. Move all this way, I need to be sure you don't regret it."

He leaned up then, kissing her neck.

"I know you're kidding, but it wasn't good sex that was the deciding factor in my moving."

She glanced at him. "I know, Lee." She leaned over and kissed him. "Go, get dressed, do your policeman thing. I'll be here when you get home. I just needed you and knew if it was bad or something you wouldn't be in the mood later."

"Or I'll be in the mood for more of the same of that."

"You know where to find me."

"And if you're not in our room?"

"I'll make time for you, Lee. Always." She laughed lightly, rolling to face him as she traced his jaw. "Besides, we've proven more than once that we don't need a bed. A wall, a floor, a table."

"Do you want kids?"

"Huh?"

"Sorry, kind of out of the blue, but you're on the pill. If that .01 percent happened to us, would you want it?"

"I'll be honest; I haven't given much thought to kids. I've met the child of a slayer, she died when he was just a boy and at the time, not knowing I was going to be just one of a thousand or more. Well, I always thought I wouldn't do that to a child, leave them so young."

"And now that you're one of a thousand or more?"

"Mm, I think it's more that I've found someone I can actually contemplate that happening with. My first and last boyfriends were vampires, not much of a chance for kids."

"And Finn?"

She shrugged. "I was still a kid! Marriage, kids, so not on my list of priorities."

He stood from the bed and slid on a pair of pants. She remained where she was, making no effort to cover up and watched him.

"Would marriage be on the list now?"

"If the right person asked me…"

"Am I the right person?"

"Are you asking?"

He chuckled, walking to the closet to get one of his shirts. It was still so strange for her to have men's clothing in her closet. Not just a few things or something left behind, but a full wardrobe with permanent residence in her closet.

He'd been here three months and while he'd talked about getting his own apartment when he'd visited, he hadn't. And she hadn't asked him to. She liked having him here, liked the sense of permanence. She hadn't had that in her life since her mom died. And this was very different. She knew, eventually, she would no longer live with her mother. That wasn't the case with Lee, at least she found herself hoping not.

He walked to the edge of the bed, buttoning the shirt. "Not exactly the way I envisioned it, but yeah, I guess I am," he said.

"Hmm, I don't know. You're a cop. That's a pretty dangerous job…"

He smirked. "Yeah, because yours is just a cake walk."

"Don't I know it?!" She moved to her knees, stretching to put her arms around his neck and kiss him. "If you're really asking, my real answer is yes. I'd have to think about the kids part, but I mean, I'm not even twenty-seven we have time for that anyway."

"I, uh, don't have a ring or anything, wasn't planning on doing it this way. Was actually thinking of doing it over New Year's."

"You were?" she asked with a bright smile. "Really?"

He kissed her nose, swiping it with his fingertip afterward. "I'd thought about it. I'll have been here for six months by then, we'll have known each other for about nine. I thought that was enough."

"Well, I have my mom's ring…"

"I want to get you one, I just wanted you to understand that while it was a little impromptu I had thought on it." He slid his necktie on and knotted it, kissing her as he adjusted it at his collar. "Gotta run, babe. I'll see you later. Okay?"

"Sure."

"And thank you."

"For which part?"

"Hmm, good question. I could think of a lot of things I'm thanking you for right now, I'll just leave it at that." He took her hand, grazing her fingertips with his lips. "Love you."

"Love you, too," she said.

Her heart did a little flip-flop thing as he left the room that told her maybe, just maybe she'd actually found it. The real deal. A normal life. A good life. A man who she could have a family with. Scary thought that. She collapsed on the bed, drawing the covers around her. Her last thought as she drifted back to sleep was the fact that she was engaged. Really engaged, not a spell induced engagement. She was getting married. How very cool was that?

Story ©Susan Falk/APCKRFAN/PhantomRoses.com