Faith shifted uneasily. She hated Christmas. Well, that was harsh. She didn't hate it. Not really. She just didn't have a lot of experience at happy Christmases. If Tara didn't like the gift under their tiny Christmas tree…
"Oh, stop." Tara grinned as she picked up the brightly-wrapped package. "I'm going to love it."
"You don't even know what the fuck it is," Faith growled back. It had been a stupid idea. Willow had bought Janna an expensive spellbook her Dominant had wanted. Buffy had gone all googly-eyed when she'd picked up the mint condition X-Men #1 at the local comic store. Buffy'd shelled out four grand. Four grand. Faith had spent a whopping twenty bucks. "Don't…I mean, I can get you somethin' else."
Placing the gift on the floor, Tara turned and stared at Faith. "Sweetie, stop worrying."
"But…" Faith's continued protest was stopped when Tara's grin somehow hardened around the edges and a distinct Domme-y chill cooled the room. "OK, fine," she muttered not quite able to maintain eye contact now. Out of embarrassment over the gift, of course. Not because Lady Tara was in the house.
The chill stayed; although Faith might have glimpsed the return of Tara's grin. Probably at Faith's expense. Wrapping paper rustled. Tape popped. Faith's muscled tensed until she wanted to explode. Eyes down, she saw the wrapping paper hit the floor.
Then nothing. Tara stopped moving. For a minute. Faith opened her mouth to apologize. Again.
"Did you hide the fish somewhere else in the house?" Tara asked. "It will be a pretty bowl. The rocks are amazing." Glancing up, Faith saw Tara examining the large bag of aquarium pebbles. She'd set the glass fishbowl on the floor.
Faith relaxed a little. Just a little. Tara didn't really understand the gift. Yet. "They glow in the dark," she said. "The rocks." Right, because the fucking glass bowl would glow.
"Really?" Tara immediately turned off the floor lamp and wiggled behind the tree to unplug the blinking, multi-colored tree lights. "Ooh!" The tiniest blue glow emanated from the bag of rocks in her hand.
The color almost matched Tara's eyes. Faith wasn't going to admit that, though. She was already squirming in embarrassment. This had been such a stupid fucking idea. "So…yeah. Glad you like 'em." Her hands rubbed up and down her thighs, missing the comfort of pockets. Damned boxer short needed pockets.
"What kind of fish did you get me?" Tara turned all the lights back on and spun toward Faith with a wide smile. "A beta I can name Faith because it's fierce like my Slayer?"
The unaccustomed heat in Faith's cheeks had to be because fuckin' Maxie had cranked the thermostat to "lava level" before she and Trish had left for Monica's. "I..I didn't…" Faith scowled. "I didn't get a fish. Just the rocks."
Tara's smile never dimmed. "Hmmm, tell me more, my Faith." She put the rocks next to the fish bowl and moved closer until Faith swore the air sparked around them.
Faith couldn't get the words out. It had all seemed so clear the day she and Buffy had been shopping.
"What did you get for Tara?" Buffy asked around a mouthful of French fries.
Sucking down the last droplet of Coke from her cup, Faith shrugged. "Nothin' yet."
Buffy stopped mid-chew. "Christmas is tomorrow."
"Duh, B. I fuckin' know that." There were exactly fifteen shopping hours left unless Faith hit the twenty-four hour Walmart over in Lompoc. She'd been in and out of every store in Sunnydale at least three times.
"Then stop wasting time." Buffy wadded up her food trash and stood up. "Come on. We aren't going back to the House until you have the perfect gift." She hadn't waited for Faith to clean up. She snatched the cup right out of Faith's hands and lugged the four trays of fry cartons and burger wrappers (and the empty soda cup) to the trash. "We'll hit a few more places."
They'd hit every place. Some of them more than once. Faith had seen the rocks – in a tank with a live fish – through the pet store window as she'd taken a break. That's when the lame idea had struck.
The lame idea she had to somehow explain to Tara right now. "You know when you get all…" Faith cleared her throat. "All Old Tara?"
"It's hard to forget the stutter," Tara murmured.
That wasn't it. "No. I mean…" Throwing her hands up in the air, Faith snapped, "Remember last week, when Trish dragged us to that shitty party?" A fucking sorority party hosted by a group of bimbo Dominants at the college. It had been a disaster, start to finish.
Tara winced. "I'll never live it down."
"Because you got all weird again. When it's just me and you, you ain't got a problem bein' Lady Tara." Mmm, like right now. Tara had straightened and one eyebrow had inched up. "See? Go look in a mirror. She's right in front of me." Setting off some heavy duty tingles all over Faith's body. "But sometimes, you forget her. That's what the rocks are for."
Moving around Tara, Faith picked up the rocks and the fishbowl. She opened the bag of rocks and poured them into the bowl with clatter and shoved the whole thing into Tara's hands. "Next time you lose Dominant points," a standing joke between them, "ya' take a rock out of the bowl."
Tara's hands joined Faith's around the bowl. "Let me see if I understand." The soft, sultry sound sent shivers through Faith. "If I don't meet your needs or…expectations," Tara somehow pulled the bowl closer (moving Faith closer as well) so that her breath brushed Faith's cheek, "as a Dominant, I have to take a pebble from the bowl."
Voice gone, Faith managed a jerk of her chin in agreement.
"How many should I start with?" Tara purred. "One? Two? A handful in the bowl?"
The Christmas lights blinked a hectic pattern, reflecting off the bowl and the rocks while Faith's mind struggled to come up with an answer.
"Faith?" Tara asked again, a new and dangerous edge to her voice. "How many?"
Breaking under the weight and power of that sinuous voice, Faith mumbled, "Told ya' it was a stupid present."