Title: A Merry Merry... Birthnukkamas!?
Author: lilyme
Summary: Read and you will see, especially what's up with the title :P
Pairing: Red and Fai ;)
Rating: PG-13 to R
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in this story, nor do I own any rights to the television show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". They were created by Joss Whedon and belong to him, Mutant Enemy, Sandollar Television, Kuzui Enterprises, 20th Century Fox Television and the WB Network. No copyright infringement intended!

Author's Notes: For Katie (Eminemgirl814) who wished for a Faith/Willow fic on Youtube (http://tinyurl(dot)com/y8allcy) ;)

A MERRY MERRY... BIRTHNUKKAMAS!?

"Last one back inside is a big loser!" Faith exclaimed triumphantly, making a dash for it, certain of her victory.

Naturally. After all, she was much faster than her opponent. That little girl did not stand even a minimal chance against her.

She didn't look behind her to see how far ahead she was; no need to, a few more steps and she would reach the front door. No way the other girl would overtake her at the last second.

She didn't know what hit her... until it hit her.

Literally.

Out of nowhere, something connected with her back; a little higher and it would have hit her neck. It hadn't been a particularly hard impact and certainly hadn't hurt her in any way, but still it was enough to make her stop dead in her tracks.

Reaching behind her, she felt her back tentatively; when she brought her hand back around to inspect it, she could make out a watery, faintly crystalline fluid clinging to the leather-glove she was wearing.

Slowly turning her body around, she took in the sight of the person about forty feet from her. The person that today looked a lot like an Eskimo. Bundled up to her ears in a thick, definitely warm, light brown winter jacket, its hood, the edges adorned with fake fur, drawn tightly around her head, only leaving the face exposed to the cold winter air. Peeking out through the small opening were two braids of bright red hair – already giving away the person's identity from afar.

"Rosenberg... you so did not just throw a snowball at me...," Faith stated, her voice having taken on a semi-threatening tone.

Even without the traces of red hair visible, she would have identified the little Eskimo as Willow, since the two of them had been out alone here together for a good while. Busy building a snowman.

Or actually a snowwoman. Fully equipped with snowwomanly parts on the upper half of her front, twigs as seductive eyelashes around the two little chestnuts serving as eyes and fingery indentions as nose and rather voluminous lips.

Faith had given up her scarf – that thing was itching terribly anyway – putting the finishing touches on the chestnut-eyed lady with the pretty rack... and the surprisingly spiky hair – since this one had also been created out of twigs, though a little larger ones this time.

Now feeling a little chilly around the neck and deciding it was late enough, Faith had put out her little challenge to Willow, taking off milliseconds after the words had left her mouth. Leaving the girl to run after her... or to throw snowballs at her back.

"No, sir," the redhead replied innocently, before her face broke into a big grin, making it clear that she had indeed been the culprit. But that much Faith had known anyway – Willow being her one and only suspect and all...

"Uh-hm," Faith smirked on her part, bending down to scoop up some snow with her hands, quickly forming a ball herself. Willow stood fixed, not trying to find a safe spot where Faith's revenge surely wouldn't hit her. Simply because she knew what was to come.

Waiting for the brunette's throw, she observed as the snowball flew right past her, not even close to hitting her. Mumbling something under her breath, Faith tried again, this time not fairing much better.

Willow laughed, "Perfect strength, speed... still lacking in precision, my dear," she concluded in the most awful British accent she could muster. A little side blow at Faith, which she knew the slayer wouldn't take too well...

The new Watcher's Council Giles had established in the three years since Sunnydale had went kablooey was pretty well-organized by now, even still providing watchers for the senior slayers Buffy and Faith, who checked in with them once a month – as in contrast to the five times a week deal the juniors had going on with their respective watchers – and evaluated them. Faith's watcher always criticized her aiming accuracy, urging the slayer on to put some more effort into her training regarding this matter.

But did Faith listen? Nooo... of course not. She hadn't done that in the past, why should she start now? You can't teach an old dog new tricks...

And thus she had to put up with Willow's taunting. And the snowball aimed at her again. This time, however, she quickly ducked down, proving that her reaction skills were more than intact.

It surprised her how precise and even fast Willow's throws were. Not having grown up in an often winter-white Boston like her, the redhead certainly didn't have that much snow experience. Ignoring that one apocalyptic day in Sunnydale eight years ago, snow was a relatively new thing to the native Californian. And three winters of possible snowball fight 'training' shouldn't enable to throw balls like a Major League pitcher, right?

Well, maybe there was some magic involved. With witches, you could never really know...

But it didn't matter now. Once again forming a snowball and taking good aim, she prepared herself for proving herself to Willow and her watcher. Prove that she possessed some sense of accuracy.

And this time she was successful. Hitting Willow square on the chest. "Ha, what do ya say now, babe?" Trying hard not to break out into any victory dance in the process...

Willow inspected the watery blotch on her jacket, before refocusing on the slayer and her almost dancing feet. Apparently that victory dance was harder to fight than expected. "Hm... I'd say, you'd better prove that that was more than just a lucky strike, before you go on bragging about it to everyone," she replied in a mock-uninterested voice, before a challenging smile invaded her features.

Fueled on by this, Faith accepted the challenge. If Red wanted a snowball fight, then, by golly, she'd get one!

Hits and misses on both sides, though altogether Willow still had the upper hand. Soon they stopped wasting time forming adequate balls to throw and simply flung heaps of snow at each other, the success of this method increasing the closer they got to one another.

And thus it was no surprise Willow threw a handful of snow at Faith, hitting her fully in the face. Faith yelped in agony as the ice-cold sensation hit her, the water slowly making its way down her face, her neck, and eventually under her clothes.

Okay, that was it! Recovering somewhat and wiping the remains of snow from her eyes, she sprang forth, determined to show that little witch in front of her who was the boss here after all.

She tackled the surprised girl and threw her to the ground, trapping her in the best possible way. Then she pressed her still snowy-wet cheeks against the redhead's repeatedly, making sure to also bring her equally wet hair into play.

Willow giggled uncontrollably, fighting to free her hands from Faith's tight grip in order to stop the brunette's actions. Failing miserably, however, she resorted to begging, "Ugh, yuck, Faith... please... stop it".

Her giggling didn't stop throughout her plea, but Faith still seemed to show some mercy. Leaning up a bit so that only her hair was still dangling close to Willow's face, she demanded, "Say you're sorry".

The redhead looked up at the girl above her, saw the stern look and gave in. "Okay, sorry". And she was. That snow in the face thing had been an accident, and, thanks to Faith, she now had an idea how that must have felt, her own cheeks cold and damp from Faith's ministrations. But that was really the only thing the redhead was sorry for...

… Big Bad Fai still had the precision of a mole, and she certainly had the right to make fun of this fact. But right now she decided against mentioning it again and certainly against stating the mole-reference out loud – too high the risk of Faith taking more drastic measures if she did.

Shoving a handful of snow down her shirt or in her pants was one of the nicer things she could imagine.

But for keeping her mouth shut and also for her apology she was rewarded with a "Good" and a soft kiss on her lips. She eagerly returned the kiss, loving Faith's warm breath against her cold face and knowing that her slayer probably thought the same.

Yep, that's it. Her slayer. The girl she was dating for about eight months now.

It had started out slow, neither girl knowing what they were headed towards, neither of them being interested in any kind of relationship, really.

Faith had broken off her long-distance-non-relationship with Robin long ago, finally having been able to make him see that this... thing... between them wouldn't work out. He was a decent guy, but no matter how hard she tried... she simply didn't feel more than just friendship and the occasional lust for him. Him living on another continent certainly didn't help her developing stronger feelings for him.

Willow and Kennedy had lasted longer, but eventually Willow's reasons for breaking up with the younger girl hadn't been that different from Faith's. She loved the girl to some extent, but it hadn't been enough. And when a few months after the end of their relationship and after Kennedy had moved down to Brazil to work for the Watcher's Council department in Rio her ex-girlfriend had called her and had told her she had found someone new, Willow had known her decision had been correct. Kennedy had sounded happy, happier than she remembered her. And that had made her happy as well.

The now – due to a lack of relationship – larger amount of free time she had put to good use.

Refocusing on her magics, strengthening her powers. She also had a watcher of sorts now, who helped her deal with the dark consequences her doing had had years ago and who helped her through rough patches she hit occasionally – times she feared that Dark Willow-y apocalyptic events like the ones back in Sunnydale could happen again.

Another person helping her had been Faith, the girl having experienced similar things herself and thus understanding Willow's fear. They had spent much time talking and getting to know each other a lot better in the process. And they had become friends finally; friends who did things Willow also did with Xander and Buffy. Long TV nights, dancing at one of the only clubs this town they now lived in had to offer. Luckily, not many people went there on a regular basis, so her still pretty awkward dance moves remained a well-kept secret to the outside world.

The night things had started to become more 'interesting', Faith had come home from patrol. Injured. In a very particular spot of her body. Some claw-toting demon had managed a good swing at her, leaving three nasty scratches on her butt cheek before she had a chance to chop his head off.

Willow had cleaned and nursed the scratches, having to put up with Faith's teasing 'Careful with your hands there, Red' while doing so, the slayer practically daring her to fondle her – as she was convinced – irresistible backside while she had a chance to.

This hadn't been a new thing. Teasing and the occasional flirting pretty much belonged to their friendship. It had been Faith who had started the latter, taking Willow by surprise. She hadn't pegged Faith for possibly also having a thing for girls.

Okay, there was Buffy. Willow wasn't stupid. She had noticed the glances the brunette had sent the other slayer in younger years, had observed her behavior towards her. But eventually Faith had given up her hopes on the blonde, having realized that you have to be both male and undead to have a chance with her.

Experimentally, Willow had laid a hand on Faith that night, putting a tiny slap on Faith's uninjured butt cheek when she was done patching up the other one. The slayer's eyes had almost popped out of her head, never having dreamed of Willow actually having it in her. But then she had frowned, noticing the redhead's lingering touch.

'Will?' she had asked, only then making Willow realize that her hand still hadn't left its place.

'Oh, sorry,' the reply had been, a sudden red invading Red's cheeks. Packing up her things and quickly leaving Faith's room, she hadn't noticed the slayer's almost-attempt of calling her back.

There had been confusion on both parts in the following days, neither of them sure what that incident between them really meant. Faith hadn't minded the little Slap'n'Grab on her tushie, a not too small part of her had even been turned on by it. Willow... had felt ashamed. Usually this wasn't something she did. Especially not to a butt that didn't belong to her in any girlfriendish kind of way. But in that short moment it had simply seemed too enticing.

She had had to admit that the same was true for Faith herself. She had been increasingly drawn to her, the flirting not having left her unaffected. Feelings had been there, hopes as well; but after that night, the hopes had went away. She had feared that, despite Faith's daring her to, she had crossed a line that should have been left untouched.

But she hadn't counted on Faith. Finally able to sit and walk again without constant pain in her ass... or, well, on her ass – funny how one only notices how important that body part really is once it's injured – she had made her way to Willow's. To talk.

The result: from that day on, Willow had a constant permission to cop a feel on her butt and pretty much every other part of the slayer whenever she wanted - being as how this talk had been the starting point for their relationship. Still a little embarrassed, Willow had been nonetheless happy about the outcome.

Of course they hadn't started out with the groping right away. They had taken it slow. Often simply just kissing and holding hands, making tentative steps to a more intimate 'twogetherness'. And slowly but surely they had formed a relationship, something which was comparatively new for Faith. Unsure if it was even in her to love someone, she had never told Willow anything like this, fearing she would hurt the redhead, if she confessed a love to her she didn't feel herself in the end.

But apart from that, she had learned to make a relationship work, had taken a liking to it quickly, loving the way Willow was always seeking her closeness and tried to start a smoochie-session with her whenever and wherever she could.

Their latest smoochie-session lasted for several minutes already. Having successfully turned them around by now, Willow had made herself comfortable on top of the slayer, thoroughly enjoying the warm tinglies Faith's kisses and touches always awoke inside her.

But now Faith's kisses became less intense, her hands slowly moving from where they had held her around the waist to her shoulders, putting some space between them. Faith was feeling the tinglies too, but unlike Willow's, they weren't any kind of warm. "Red, I'm frickin' wet," she said curtly, not meaning for it to come out as funny as it apparently was to Willow's ears.

Because the redhead simply leaned up on her arms and smirked down at her girlfriend, "Already? We haven't' even started yet", she grinned seductively, leaving no room for doubt of how she interpreted Faith's words.

"Wet and cold. Better?" the brunette replied pouting, fighting hard to not lose her fun over this. She could feel the snow slowly soaking her clothes, and that just wasn't a whole lot of, well, fun!

Seeing that the slayer was serious about this and - more importantly – was starting to get grumpy, Willow got up, "Okay, then," she smiled, holding out a hand to Faith, which this one promptly accepted. "How about we get you warmed up?"

They made their way inside the house, Faith's mood significantly lightened now at the prospect of getting out of her clothes soon. Especially since Willow's look indicated that she wasn't just planning on getting her out of these cold and wet and into warm and dry ones. Willow possibly wanted to warm her up in another way, one that also meant losing her clothes, but not necessarily putting on new ones in the process – and who was she to say no?

Almost having reached the stairs that led up to the room where this event would take place, Willow, however, couldn't help but to tease Faith once more – this time about her choice in clothes. Because... apart from the black woolly hat on her head, the black leather gloves and the itchy scarf she had lost to their snowwoman out there, Faith was hardly dressed in any winter-appropriate way. "Well, if you had bought that coat I showed you when we were in town last week, you wouldn't be all cold and wet now".

"Told you it wasn't my style," Faith countered, thinking back at the too bright, too fringy and all in all too girly article of clothing Willow had tried to talk her into. "Besides," she stopped, facing Willow with a knowing smirk, "admit it, you like what I'm wearing," she stated, referring to the not all to thick jacket she was wearing, which didn't cover her butt in the least and still accentuated her boobies in a way that no winter coat possibly could. She took a hold of Willow's hands and brought them around to her lower back, fingertips just barely reaching her ass. "Would be a shame to hide this under unnecessary clothing, huh?"

Willow thought this over for a moment, before her hands rushed down and squeezed the round, luckily by now all healed up flesh gently yet firmly, "Would also be a shame if it went numb from being exposed to the freezing cold winter air we've got here".

Faith yelped for the second time today. "Oh, it's definitely not numb right now, believe me," she grinned, happy that Will didn't have any inhibitions anymore when it came to touching her. She pulled her girlfriend in for a deep kiss, noticing the hands on her butt holding on tighter.

Too bad, though... "Oh, um... gross...?"... they had to act out this unashamed relationship moment in the foyer of Slayer Central, their castle-like home in the outskirts of the Scottish highlands. Here they lived together watchers, professional trainers and teachers for the junior slayers... and of course the juniors themselves.

And a good part of them just sat assembled in the community area, watching TV... and watching them involuntarily, since they had stopped not far from the entrance to the room to engage in their flirty banter and groping.

"Guys?" one of the girls called out to them, her voice holding the 'oh, gross' sentiment one of the other girls had expressed seconds before, "get a room..."

Will and Faith finally broke apart and took a step towards the girls. One hour ago, they all had been out taking care of a nasty beastie together; Willow cooking up a spell to weaken it, Faith and the girls killing it eventually. Afterwards the girls had rushed home, yelling something about a show they needed to watch, leaving the couple to stroll after them much more slowly and eventually coming up with the idea to spend some time with snowwomanly and snowball-fighty fun.

Faith glanced quickly at the oh-so-important show the juniors were watching and rolled her eyes. The X-Factor, pretty much the British version of American Idol. Shows like these bored her to death. And the look on Willow's face told her she was feeling the same. Thus deciding to leave the girls alone – after all, they didn't want to be held responsible, should the girls miss any 'important' decisions being made on the show – she addressed the girl who had suggested them to get a room, "Alright. I bet it's okay if we just take yours, right, Kates?" She didn't wait for a reply, simply grabbed Willow's hand and dragged the snickering girl up the stairs with her.

Katie recovered quickly, however; certain... well, almost certain Willow and Faith wouldn't do that. Though, would she really mind, if they did? Unlike most of the other girls present, who had partly shielded their eyes and held their ears in order to not to witness what the two older girls were doing, she had only played her disgust at this display of affection. Deep down wishing she could find someone – a female someone – for similar activities. Though she did not dare to to let any of girls around her in on this thought.

"It's kinda hard to believe those two almost killed each other, huh?" one of the girls who had really needed some time to recover from the sight of the smooching and groping couple finally stated.

Okay, maybe 'killed each other' wasn't all that true. The juniors had heard stories about the years in Sunnydale, had heard them from older slayers, who in their turn had learned them from others. And therefore over the years, sometimes little, sometimes bigger details of important had become mixed up, having now, for example, a large part of the youngest slayers believe that Evil Faith and Dark Magic Willow had actually fought each other at some point.

One person who knew how it really went down and could actually clarify a few things, had other problems right now. "I'm gonna kill them both if they keep me up all night again," Dawn, the only non-slayer among the crowd, mumbled, knowing from experience that once the two of them got at it, it took them a long while to finish. Unfortunately, her room was right next to theirs and so she had been involuntary ear-witness on several occasions already. As much as she agreed with them as a couple... the sex was annoying.

One of these days, she'd ask Xander to switch rooms with her. She knew he definitely wouldn't mind. And that way she'd finally have some peace again.

But for now, "Oh, come on, let them be," one of the other not that disgusted girls told her, "After all, it's almost Christmas". A time not meant for killing hormone-driven couples.

And true, it was almost Christmas. Or almost not Hanukkah anymore...

Well, actually, they were right in the middle of Birthnukkamas, an event that only happens once in a hundred years...or so.

Today was December 22nd, in this year the second to last day of Hanukkah; tomorrow night, this holiday would be over, with Christmas starting just one day later. Hanukkah itself had begun two days after Faith's 24th birthday, and with the festivities of all events practically melting together this year, Willow had excitedly coined this unique, almost impossible to pronounce term.

The room they finally reached now – their room – was looking as birthnukkamassy as it could possibly look. Balloons from the party Willow had organized for her girlfriend were tied to one of the bedposts, a stuffed animal teddy bear still wore a brightly colored paper hat. A Hanukkah menorah was set up on Willow's dresser, with only one light still missing. A small Christmas tree and some typical Christmas knickknacks, such as dancing and singing Santas, completed the picture.

Faith had already given Willow her Hanukkah present of the day shortly before they had left for their demon hunt, and so now she had nothing more to do than actually getting out of her clothes. Willow in her turn peeled herself out of her jacket and kicked off her boots, before she picked up a bath essense Faith had given her on the second day of Hanukkah and went into the bathroom with a wink at the brunette to follow her once she was ready.

What better way to get warmed up than by sharing a hot bubbly bath with a hot girl? She certainly was up for that, and she knew Faith was too.

And how up for it the girl was. Groaning in anticipation, Faith could hardly wait to get naked. Losing the jacket as quickly as possible, she could already hear Willow running a bath for her. For them. She struggled a bit to get her pants off, being as how she hadn't wasted any time pulling her boots off before this, but finally managed to get out without tripping over her own feet.

The almost last thing to take care of now was her shirt. It had been a birthday present from Willow and it read 'Smile. It's the second best thing you can do with your lips'. Faith had worn it well into the 'nukkah' part of their Birthnukkamas celebrations, making the juniors yak every time they had laid their eyes on it.

There was certainly a case of TMI – Too Much Imagination - going with the girls, Faith figured. Didn't any of them think about kissing as the best thing one could do with their lips?!

Oh, well, they obviously hadn't dated anyone like Willow yet. With her, even tiny, innocent kisses could get her blood boiling.

She couldn't really describe why that was – but she had an idea. One year ago, that sheer thought would have made her run off in confused panic; now it was almost calming. Maybe it was love. And maybe the 'maybe' was even unnecessary. It wasn't like anything she had experienced before; she was getting warm fuzzies whenever she thought about the little redhead. And from all those awful, schmaltzy romantic movies Buffy had made her sit through since they had started their rebonding after Sunnydale's downfall, she knew that this was pretty much what love must feel like.

Shedding her shirt and embracing this realization, she made her way into the bathroom to find Willow – now similarly clad only in her underwear – sitting on the edge of the bathtub, testing the water with her hand. And closing the door behind them, she felt that this was the perfect time to tell her how she felt.

To her, it was the best Birthnukkamas present imaginable.

THE END

A/N: I'd like to wish you all a happy belated Hanukkah and/or a merry belated Christmas and/or a happy Kwanzaa and hope you enjoyed this story a little bit. Reviews are always welcome :)