One Brief Moment
By Ralkana

Disclaimer -- I don’t own them; Joss and Mutant Enemy and all the various other Powers That Be do. If I owned them, I’m pretty sure they'd be much, much happier.

Comments and feedback to Ralkana47@yahoo.com would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Timeline -- Directly after Smile Time.

A/N -- The synopsis is a lyric from "See the Sun" by Dido.

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"Wesley."

"Hmm?"

"We have a problem."

"We do?" he asked absently. The idea that Fred had asked him to take her home -- with that look in her eyes -- was still a bit much for him to process. Now they were standing at her door, and she was so close that he couldn't seem to form a coherent thought.

She nodded. "We were in such a hurry to leave that I forgot my keys in my desk." She tried the doorknob futilely. "We're locked out. Wish I had a bobby pin."

"A bobby pin?"

"You know, for your hair? Well, not your hair, but maybe my hair. People in mystery stories are always picking locks with a bobby pin -- oh, but you probably don't even know what one is, bobby being something different in England and all. Doesn't it mean policeman?" She giggled. "A pin to stick a policeman -- my daddy used to say -- "

"Fred -- "

" -- that there were a couple of policemen that -- "

"Fred!" He placed a finger on her lips, shocked at himself and at the liberty he seemed to be taking, but he couldn't help the smile he felt on his own lips. "Fred, I know what a bobby pin is."

He seemed to be a little short of breath, too.

She gave him a sheepish smile that made his breathing even shallower. He slid his hand from her lips to caress her cheek, and she closed her eyes as her smile widened.

"Wow, I haven't babbled like that in a while, have I?" she whispered. "I'm sorry, I'm just a little nervous. I mean -- "

"No need to apologize. I find it quite endearing," he murmured, adding, just before his lips found hers, "I'm slightly nervous myself."

Then he was kissing her, one hand tangled in her hair, one molding to the soft, warm flesh of her back, and he found himself completely wrapped up in the feel and the scent of her, and some small part of him still couldn't believe that it was Fred he was kissing. He was kissing Fred and it was real, not a dream or a nightmare, and it was Fred nipping at him, and Fred making those quiet, charming little breathy sounds, and he had to pull away from her, to stare at her, to see for himself once more that it was her.

Her eyes fluttered open and she stared at him, her eyes soft and unfocused. "Wesley," she murmured after a moment.

"Hmm?"

"We're still locked out."

He blinked, bringing himself back to the harsh present. "I believe I have some tools in the car."

She clutched at his shirt as he turned toward the elevator. "Don't go," she said, pulling him back into her arms.

"I won't," he said, and he kissed her again.