Buffy sighed as she took a sip of her overpriced drink, a rum and Diet Coke, and spun around to look at her friends as they mingled and danced around the small, usually busy nightclub. It was New Years Eve and instead of the usual get-together at the house, Faith had gotten her and the Scooby's an invite to one of the most exclusive parties of the year at the Embassy, an underground club they were regulars at since arriving in Cleveland seven years back.

She followed the sound of Faith's laughter as she and the guy she'd been seeing steadily for a couple years now stood impossibly close to one another, talking to a few people Buffy didn't recognize. She rolled her eyes as she watched Josh lean down and whisper something into Faith's ear that made her laugh even harder.

It was hard for her to believe that after all the years she'd taken the chance to really get to know Faith, as she knew she should have back in Sunnydale, that Faith was in a rather serious and steady relationship with a great guy. She was happy for her, despite being rather bitter that out of all of them, especially herself, that Faith had been the one to find what Dawn had time and again called 'the perfect man'. Two years and a couple months, but Buffy wasn't exactly counting. It was hard not to keep track of the days and the months as they passed by. It was Faith after all.

The last seven years had been far easier than her life in Sunnydale. The Cleveland Hellmouth wasn't nearly as active and with Faith, Kennedy and Satsu there, she no longer had to go out on patrol alone or every night. It was nice. It gave her a lot of time to just sit back, relax and enjoy her life for once. Her close friendship with Faith was a welcome relief. She'd been sceptical at first when Faith agreed to follow them to Cleveland a week after they closed the Sunnydale Hellmouth.

She'd had her fair share of fighting with Faith even after, but it was never the way it'd been before. They fought over useless things like who ate the last hot pocket or who changed the radio station in the basement of the house they all lived in. Usual friendship fights, but unusual for both of them in the beginning. It wasn't very long before they'd grown nearly inseparable, hanging out around the house, going to the Embassy after patrol and on the weekends together. It was over the course of that first year that Buffy started to see how different and how very much alike they really were.

For the last year she'd been fighting off the growing feelings she found herself having for Faith. It started out to be a simple, harmless crush. They did spend a lot of time together, mostly slaying and dancing there at the club afterwards. The more one on one time she spent with Faith, the deeper her feelings grew and surpassed the 'I can deal with this and move on crush' to the point where she was continuously questioning whether she was falling in love with her or not. When Satsu came along and after the suddenness of their relationship, Buffy had hoped that it would derail the feelings she had for Faith.

Was she ever wrong about that. If it was even possible, she fell harder for Faith after Satsu came into the picture and even now she knew she was just stringing her along, being with her only so she wouldn't feel so alone and unloved.

The close bond she had with Faith stopped when she met Josh. Faith had saved him from a group of vampires behind the club. He was tall, blond with sparkling blue eyes and he had a great smile, perfect teeth and a laugh that sent chills down Buffy's spine. He was everything she never expected Faith to go for in a man. He was the perfect definition of a gentleman and even Buffy knew at the time that is what exactly what Faith needed and deserved. The more dates the two of them went on, the more Buffy began to realize that Faith was serious about him.

Barely a year after Faith and Josh had started dating, she surprised everyone when she packed up her room and moved into his apartment. It was only when that had happened did Buffy start to feel more than just friendly feelings for her. The time they spent together felt far and between and when Faith started skipping out on patrol, she started to withdraw herself from the world around her and everyone in it.

Bitter and depressed Buffy wasn't a fun Buffy. She'd lost that spark she had, the lightness the new life in Cleveland had given her. She knew it was bad when she found she could only laugh and smile and feel happy whenever Faith was around. The first day of summer Faith had come to stay with them at the house after she and Josh had a fight. Buffy was floating on cloud nine those three days Faith had stayed and she barely let her out of her sight for more than a minute at a time. She was clinging, she knew it and everyone else but Faith seemed to know it too. She slipped back into her bitter, depressed mood the day Josh came to the house to apologize to Faith and to bring her back home.

She had been locked away in her room for nearly two days when Satsu got transferred from Tokyo to the house in Cleveland. Right off the bat, well as soon as Buffy came out of her bitter and depressed mode, she and Satsu hit it off. She found a new friend in her and like she had with Faith before Josh had come into the picture, she started spending a lot of time with Satsu. The girl was easy to get along with, funny and sweet and a damn good fighter as Buffy found out soon after her arrival. The only one of them all that didn't take an instant liking to Satsu was Faith.

Not that surprising to say the least.

After a night of slaying and drinking and dancing at the club, she found herself pinned against the front door of the house on the dark porch by a very determined Satsu. The instant Satsu's lips were on her own she welcomed it instead of pushing her away. She indulged in it instead of slipping into denial mode. As drunk as she was she knew in that moment, that single moment, that she wanted to be with Satsu only to forget about Faith for one night. Of course in the end, after all was said and done, not so much said, she still thought of Faith and she felt almost guilty even though she knew she shouldn't.

The day afterwards was awkward for her. She couldn't look Satsu in the eye without blushing furiously. She ended up spilling what had happened to Faith that night on patrol. She's never heard Faith laugh at her like that before either. The teasing was relentless and Faith went out of her way that night with over the top sexual innuendos just to make Buffy have a constant blush across her cheeks. Truth be told she had missed that side of Faith and no matter how embarrassed she was at first to have told Faith, she was glad she did. She had been the one that encouraged Buffy to become involved with Satsu shortly after that.

Their 'dates' at the club after patrol ended as soon as Buffy became involved with Satsu. She was always there waiting for Buffy and Faith, always there whether she'd gone out on patrol or not. Faith didn't mind and if she did, she never said a word. Josh started coming around a week after Buffy and Satsu got together and what had once been alone time for Buffy and Faith became close to them being on double-dates. It wasn't even much longer after that, about a month before Christmas that Buffy slipped back in bitter and depressed mode with a side of the green eyed monster.

Faith was the first person to pick up her sudden mood change and she had confronted her about it, demanding to know what 'crawled up her ass and died'. She could have told Faith the truth, but they never had the chance to talk alone. Someone was always around them and it was always Satsu, Josh or Kennedy and Willow. She let it pass, telling Buffy one night they'd sit down and talk about whatever it was that was bothering her. Faith left her there alone in the cemetery with Satsu and nothing but thoughts of how that talk would go.

She sighed once again, staring down at her overpriced drink and knowing how dangerous and unhealthy it was for her to be drinking and thinking the way she was. The night was about letting loose and having fun without a care in the world. She felt like she still, after all those years, had the weight of the world on her shoulders. Ever since she'd been called when she was fifteen she had forgotten how to forget about her problems and the things that went bump in the night.

"Hey," Satsu smiled softly as she sat on the bar stool next to her. "What are we looking at?"

"Nothing," Buffy replied quickly as she turned to look at her girlfriend. "When did you get back?"

"Just now. I had to listen to Kennedy whine about Willow for the last four hours. Please don't ask me to cover you on patrol if I have to team up with her," Satsu groaned as she reached for Buffy's overpriced drink and took a sip. "You want to go dance?"

Buffy shook her head no as she turned look back at Faith for a split second. "I'm good. I just want to sit here and bask for awhile."

Satsu nodded, frowning a little as she leaned over and gave her a light, rather chaste kiss. Their relationship was new to Buffy. Although it had been purely an accident when they'd landed in bed together, the relationship that followed that was...interesting, for lack of better words. Every day she asked herself if she was in love with Satsu. Every day she asked herself why the answer was still no and every day she asked herself why she thought about Faith when she knew she should be thinking about Satsu.

Everything always came back to Faith.

Buffy shook her head, drinking the rest of her drink and slammed the glass down on the bar in front of her. She motioned to the bartender for another, wincing as the alcohol and Diet Coke burned as she swallowed it slowly. She drowned out the music and the sound of Faith's infectious laughter that surrounded her and stared down into her drink once it was placed in front of her.

"Why does everything always have to be about her?" Buffy muttered under her breath as she traced the rim of the glass aimlessly with her finger.

Maybe the alcohol was getting to her, clouding her vision and sending impure thoughts about the woman who was now one of her best friends. She remembered feeling nearly weak in the knees, feeling her heart race that much quicker and the butterflies come to life when she'd walked into the club earlier that night and her eyes fell upon Faith. A happy, smiling, head-over-heels in love Faith. Maybe it was the changes she'd seen over the years since they'd all relocated to Cleveland that was making her rethink absolutely everything when it came to Faith.

She turned to look at her for the hundredth time in the last half an hour. Josh had his arm possessively wrapped around her waist and she was looking up at him, smiling and laughing at every other word that came out of his mouth. She watched as Faith grabbed his empty beer bottle and leaned up to kiss him, her eyes shining as she pulled back and headed straight for the bar.

"Hey, B," she smiled brightly at her as she draped an arm around her shoulders. "Having fun?"

"Plenty of fun is being had, see," Buffy responded as she held up her drink.

"What are you doing sitting here all alone? Did your girl show up yet?"

"She's here," Buffy nodded in reply as she grew rather tense with Faith's arm around her shoulder. "Somewhere."

"Hey!" Faith yelled, trying to get the bartenders attention. "What do I gotta do to get a goddamn drink around here?"

"Relax, Faith. He's busy," Buffy said quietly as she shrugged Faith's arm off of her. "Never got the chance to thank you for getting us all invited here tonight. Always wanted to see what the big hype was about this party."

"No hype. Just an exclusive guest list, drinks, good music. It's like any other night we're here when you think about it," Faith laughed as she leaned against the bar and stared at Buffy for a moment. "What's up with you tonight?"

"What? Nothing."

Faith raised an eyebrow as she picked up Buffy's drink and took a sip. "Ugh, how can you drink this shit?"

Buffy ignored her, turning to watch the people out on the dance floor. She caught herself trying to look at Faith out of the corner of her eye and she closed her eyes tightly, hoping when she opened them she'd be there at the bar alone and Faith would be back with Josh playing the part of the perfect, smiling and laughing girlfriend. When she opened them a minute later she found Faith standing directly in front of her, grinning at her as she held two beers in her hand.

"Feeling okay there, B?"

"I'm fine."

"If you say so," she chuckled as she turned her head quickly to look over at Josh. "Save me a dance for later, okay?"

"Of course," Buffy replied with a smile she was unable to fight off before it slipped out.

Her smiled faded however as she watched Faith make her way through the crowd back to Josh. She had to turn away, it becoming harder every time she saw the two of them kiss each other. Faith had no problem with the public displays of affection, she never had and it always bothered Buffy deep down. She couldn't help but look at them though and no matter what she did, she was letting her curiosity of what they were doing get to her.

Her gaze drifted back to Faith and Josh yet again and she watched as Faith pulled him towards the back room, smiling back at him as he playfully resisted. She had to stop doing this to herself. She knew that she had to stop finding herself pining away for Faith, feeling bitter and angry and guilty every time she just looked at her. She had her chance, four years ago, and she shrugged Faith off at the time, definitely not interested in her in the same way Faith was hinting that she felt at the time. As soon as she watched Faith and Josh disappear into the back room, she turned back to the bar and drank back the rest of her drink in one go.

Giving up on trying to get the bartender's attention so she could get another drink, she slipped off the stool and headed for the far corner of the club. It was a bit quieter there, darker and her friends had taken over three of the plush purple couches. She sat next to a rather inebriated Willow and forced a smile at her as she slowly turned to look at her.

"Hey, Buffy. Do you want a drink? There is a lot to drink," she slurred slightly as she waved clumsily at the large block coffee table in front of them lined with shot glasses full to the brim. "Take a drink! It's on me tonight! Well not on me, but you know, I'm paying for them tonight."

Buffy laughed as she reached for the nearest shot and took it back. Her eyes drifted over to the door to the back room and she sighed heavily, feeling miserable and down on herself. The only thing that was stopping her from having the time of her life was the constant thoughts she'd been having of Faith since she arrived. She only looked away when Willow annoyingly poked her in the shoulder to get her attention.

"Where is Satsu?"

"Around somewhere," Buffy shrugged and she tried not to show that she really did not care where Satsu was right then or not.

"It's getting closer to midnight! You'll miss out on the midnight smooches!"

"I'm not worried about it, Will. She'll find me before then," she replied, forcing a smile as she reached for another shot, taking it back easier than the first one.

She let the alcohol warm her body and numb her thoughts and she took a third shot back, coughing slightly as she spotted Faith storming out of the back room. She was pissed, Buffy could not only see it but she could feel it as well. Faith looked around the club from the middle of the dance floor and when her eyes fell upon Buffy, she smiled and headed straight for her.

"Can you believe he passed out on me!" Faith groaned as she sat down next to Buffy on the couch. "I swear, he gets one too many in him and he's out like a fucking light."

"Well you two have been drinking since noon," Buffy pointed out as she kept her eyes trained on Faith's profile as she reached for a shot.

"That's not the point! It's fucking New Years, B. There's like an unspoken rule where you don't pass out before midnight."

Buffy could see past the anger and she could feel the sexual tension rolling off of Faith in waves. She winced as Faith gripped her jean-clad knee as she turned to look at her, handing her a shot before reaching for another. She took in a deep breath as she held the shot glass to her lips, waiting for Faith to take hers first. Buffy inhaled deeply, the sweet scent of the whiskey tickling her nose and she tried not to laugh as Faith shot her a strange look before she took back her shot and reached for the glass in Buffy's hands.

"Snooze, you lose," Faith smirked, easily taking the glass from Buffy and she took it back. "God. Feels so good just to be able to let loose with no worries for one night, doesn't it?"

"Sure does."

Faith handed Buffy another shot and released her hand from her knee to grab one for herself. "You having fun yet, B?"

"I am now," she replied with a soft smile and was about to sip her shot when Willow grabbed onto her arm roughly. "Will, what the hell? These are brand new jeans!"

"Isn't that Satsu?" She asked, ignoring Buffy's outburst. "She's dancing with another girl, Buffy!"

"So?"

"So? So! Just look," Willow said as she pulled Buffy over a little so she had a clear line of sight to where Satsu was indeed dancing with another girl. "Isn't that a little bit too..."

"They are just dancing," Buffy shrugged. "It's not like they're..."

"Fucking?" Faith laughed as she too leaned over to look at Satsu and the random girl she was dancing rather close with. "Definitely not fucking, but pretty damn close to pulling some public indecency shit here."

Buffy leaned back on the couch, her whole body humming now with Faith in such close proximity. The slew of drinks and shots she'd had was catching up to her and she closed her eyes to get the room to stop spinning. The warm whiskey that had spilt all over her brand new jeans was beginning to irritate her skin and she stood up, falling back as soon as she did and gripped onto Faith's arm.

"You feeling okay?" Faith asked quietly as she leaned back on the couch and placed her hand over Buffy's. "You aren't gonna hurl or anything, are you?"

"No, just got a little dizzy there. I'm just going to go...to the bathroom...to try and dry my pants," she stammered as she tried to keep from falling into the intensity of Faith's worried eyes. "I'll be back."

She stood up slower this time and made her way through the crowd to the bathrooms. The line outside the bathroom, with one four stalls, was impossibly long. Buffy groaned as she leaned against the wall and tried to drown out the sounds of the girls chattering excitedly in front of her. The music suddenly stopped and she looked around the club from where she stood, looking to see if Satsu was coming to find her. Instead she could no longer find her out on the dance floor and she shrugged off the disappointment she felt that she definitely wouldn't be getting her kiss at midnight.

She blinked a couple of times, struggling to see over the crowd of people now just standing around, waiting for the countdown to begin. Her heart quickened just a little when she saw Faith push past quite a few people and head straight for her with a determined look on her face. She held her breath as she got closer and found herself smiling right back at her as she finally stepped in front of her.

"Can't let you go without having a kiss a midnight, B."

"No?"

"It's the least I can do," Faith chuckled as she grabbed her waist and pulled her away from the wall. "What are friends for, right?"

She let out the breath she'd been holding, her lips dry, the room still spinning around her. Faith was too close now, her lips only mere inches apart from her own. Buffy was swaying slightly, struggling to keep her balance as she stared impossibly deeper into her eyes, searching for unspoken answers, searching to see if she wasn't really dreaming that this was about to happen.

"You okay with this?" Faith whispered as she reached up and gently tucked a strand of hair behind Buffy's ear. "This isn't overstepping the friendship boundaries, is it?"

"It's just a New Years Eve tradition."

"Right. Tradition," Faith smirked as she pulled Buffy in just a little closer. Too close

Everything began to fade away from the background and all Buffy could see right in front of her was Faith and her deliciously kissable lips she'd found herself one too many times in the past daydreaming about. Fantasizing what it'd be like to kiss her, to take her bottom lip between her lips, to know what it was finally like to be kissed by the one woman who made her insides turn to mush and brought the butterflies alive with just one simple, innocent look.

As the clock struck midnight, Faith leaned in and pressed her lips softly against hers. It was chaste, nothing more than a friendly peck between two friends and as she began to pull away, Buffy slid her hands around to the back of her neck and pulled her back in, parting her lips and running her tongue over Faith's, hoping for more, wanting so much more. She didn't even care if anyone saw them. She knew if it came down to it all they both had to do was blame it on having one too many drinks.

Yeah. One too many drinks and a crush that had turned into so much more. There was no going back for her now. Not now that she knew what it was like to finally kiss her.

Faith allowed the kiss to deepen, but only for a moment before she pulled back, grinning as she dropped her hands from Buffy's waist. Buffy whispered a thank you, one she knew was lost over the sounds of people cheering and laughing as they all rang in the New Year. Faith looked nervous all of a sudden and she ran her hands through her hair as she turned to look back at the people surrounding them. She didn't look back at Buffy as she spotted Josh coming out of the back room and headed straight for him.

Buffy leaned back against the wall, her breath quivering as she closed her eyes and felt her lips slightly tingling from the kiss. She raised her fingers to her lips, sighing softly as she opened her eyes again as reality came crashing back down around her. Satsu was headed straight for her, looking none too pleased as she struggled to make her way through the crowd. She started to grow worried from the look on Satsu's face. Had she seen the kiss? Was she angry or was she just upset she'd missed her at the stroke of midnight? Reading Satsu was as hard as reading one of Giles' books. The words were there, but she just didn't understand any of them.

Her mind was fuzzy, her emotions running wild and her body buzzing from more than just the alcohol she'd drank that night. The feel of Faith's lips upon her own, the feel of her hands gently gripping her hips catapulted her feelings tenfold. What had once been an innocent crush turned 'I think I'm falling in love with her' was now beyond so much more than what she could comprehend. She had a taste of those succulent lips she'd one too many times daydreamed about kissing and now she wanted more. So much more. She had to have more and she had to have Faith even if she couldn't have her now.

The mumbled apology that escaped her lips as Satsu finally reached her was lost among the noise of the club and she found herself indulging in her second midnight kiss. One that she should have had. One she should have enjoyed more than the one she had with Faith. It wasn't the same. There were just no sparks between them as Satsu kissed her. Buffy pulled back, mumbling yet another apology that went unheard as she avoided looking into Satsu's eyes.

She was definitely in trouble now and in way too deep to pull herself out.