I groaned softly as Darla moved down my body, her lips, her hands, driving me crazy, in more ways than one. She knew just how to touch me, just how to elicit the response she desired...and part of me thoroughly enjoyed being her showpony...but some other part of me...

Buried in my mind, or maybe my heart, I don't know, was this insistent wordless hum, that made me feel as if there was something I was supposed to be doing...somewhere else I was supposed to be. Another road I was supposed to be taking.

"Tell me that you love me," She whispered, looking up from the path she was laving down my stomach, "That you'll never leave."

For a moment, the hum was a scream, and I almost bolted out of the bed, confused... but then it settled again.

I opened her mouth to tell her what she so desperately wanted to hear, but...nothing. I couldn't, for reasons that were beyond me. I did love her, truly, I did.

I looked down at her tenderly, as her blonde hair brushed my skin, sending shivers down my spine. She was mine, and I was hers...we were one...weren't we?

Her lips pressed against my belly button softly, and her eyes lifted to mine, sparkling, smiling, beautiful...but not Darla's eyes. Instead of the icy blue I'd expected, I was met with warm hazel depths, somehow so familiar, striking some deep emotional chord within me, as if I'd known this girl for an eternity, yet couldn't grasp her name.

It scared me more than it should have that I couldn't remember who she was. Something in me protested, told me I was betraying my love...again, not Darla, but this girl... This girl with the mischievous eyes, the soft, curving lips and flushed cheeks... this girl who touched me with such love and familiarity.

But she was only there for a moment, and then Darla was back, moving to straddle my hips, grinding her pelvis against me.

As my mind grew more and more hazy, Darla's face, intent on her own release, shifted into that of the girl... the girl, who laughed and looped her hair behind her ear as we moved together, the tinkle of her giggles magical in the quiet intimacy of the night.

I started to hate myself for not being able to remember her name... she was obviously so special... what was wrong with me? Whenever she was close, that hum within me became this pleasant buzz, making me feel perfectly at home, as if all was right in the world...as if...

As if we were one.

And then Darla would return, and confusion would set in...because suddenly she seemed so cold...

Suddenly, I was afraid of her.

Yes, afraid of her, in my heart. My mind was telling me that she was my mate, that things had been this way forever, that we'd never been apart...

But some part of me knew that was a lie.

As I climbed to the highest point of ecstasy, hazel eyes locked with mine, and soft sighs were music to my ears... and as stars exploded before my eyes in a wash of warmth and love, her whispered name was torn from my lips.

"Buffy..."

When my mind cleared, it was accompanied with light, all around me...bright, white light, light that wouldn't let me distinguish one thing from another... bright, comforting light, everywhere.

The light cleared after a split second's pause, and I was left standing across the road from a house...white and spacious looking from the outside, bordered by a large porch, and a yard with miles and miles of lawn...

In the centre of the lawn sat my love, my Buffy, who I couldn't believe I'd ever thought I'd forgotten, when she was so clearly in my heart... My Buffy, sitting on the lawn, basking in the sunlight, a few years older, but definitely the same woman, with the same nature...Sunlight bouncing off blonde hair, laughter ringing in the bright afternoon... playing with a small boy, of 5 or 6.

A boy who, when I saw his face, had Buffy's eyes, and my smile.

A boy who was, without a doubt, most definitely mine. Dark haired, lanky...

Ours.

Buffy's eyes met mine, then, and she grinned, the world lighting up even further with her smile. As I looked into her eyes, everything was perfect...Everything was warm and peaceful, and for the first time in a long while, I felt everything would work out fine.

Buffy winked at me, and then I heard her voice, so clearly in my ear, despite the fact that we were still several feet away from one another. "Keep your eyes on the prize, sweetheart."

And then a soft kiss was pressed to the back of my neck, and everything melted away.

I opened my eyes from the dream, the feeling of peace still with me, and for the moment, I knew what to do. I knew what I wanted, and I knew that if I trusted my path, one day I'd get it.

That wasn't just a dream.

The End