This is my very own Christmas-version of the Season 3 episode Amends. Sadly, from Angel's point of view, Buffy is otherwise occupied in this story and has no time talking him out of getting himself killed. We all know that he'll make it anyway, but he might realize that Buffy's priorities are changing ... Oh, and Cordy is still with Xander in this. I usually don't like her very much, but I need her to point something out, so bear with me …
I hope you all had a nice and peaceful Christmas and I wish everyone out there a great New Year 2009 – may your wishes come true! (And if you want to make my wishes come true … please review!)
---
The Best Christmas EverChapter 1: WaitingFaith really had no clue why she'd agreed to go ... she hated Christmas, after all! Well, I suppose it isn't too bad if ya got a family, an' friends … But since she'd never really had neither, and her childhood-memories … It's not like I've ever gotten what I wished for anyway … Hell, let's just call it a 'Happy Christmas' when your mother is sober enough not to beat the crap outta ya … or too stoned to do it! But now she'd actually agreed to come to the Scoobies' Christmas-Party, and she'd no idea why …
Stop tryin' to fool yourself! Ya know exactly why ya've agreed: 'Cause B is gonna be there … and you'd do almost anything to spend time with her, bein' the lovesick fool ya are! The dark-haired girl snorted. Like there's a chance in Hell that she could ever feel the same … but just sittin' next to her, secretly watchin' her smile, talkin' to her friends an' bein' happy … She shook her head, torn between annoyance and amusement. If someone, anyone she knew would behave like she did just know, she would have felt sorry for the idiot, maybe even disgusted, if she really liked them she'd have teased them mercilessly … but she couldn't help it – not like she hadn't tried, tried to fight her feelings, to keep her distance, to stay save. But soon she'd realized that it made no sense, simply wasn't an option. I'm completely an' hopelessly in love with Buffy Summers, and nothin' that I, her or anyone else could do will ever change that.
That was the reason why Faith Lehaine, Slayer and bad girl extraordinaire, was now sitting on the bed in her cheap motel room more nervous than she'd ever been in her life, waiting for Buffy to pick her up. For when she'd insisted to be completely capable of finding her way to B's house on her own, the petit blonde had just smiled: "The party won't be at my house, Faith, but at a friend's." But she had refused to tell Faith anything more about this 'friend', and since just the Scoobies were invited, the younger girl assumed that one of them had moved to a new place and took the opportunity to christen it with a party … probably Queen C or Wolfie …
Buffy of course was also the reason that Faith wasn't wearing her usual leather and boots, and that she'd actually spent money on Christmas-gifts … money she'd earned working in the Double-Meat Palace tree days a week, 6 a.m. to noon, when she could be relatively sure that no one she knew would see her there. Normally, she wouldn't have bothered with gifts, but now … she wanted to give B something special, just to show … and somehow it seemed inappropriate not the get the Scoobs at least something little … She snorted again. Inappropriate … Look at me, I'm getting' soft …
The Xan-Man had been easy: She'd bought him a comic-book (strictly adult content, of course!), some far-fetched story about two female secret-service agents with big boobs an very little clothing infiltrating the castle of a mad computer genius where their most secret fantasies happened to turn real … Faith smirked at the thought. The plot was completely crappy, but the pictures were rather explicit, with a lot of girl-on-girl-action … I'm quite sure he'll be pleased … For Willow, she'd found something in the local Magic Shop, a funny yet useful Guide How to Become a Wicked Witch, and Cordy she'd bought a bottle of black nail-polish … which she knew the girl would never use, but who cared? Oz had been more complicated, since she hardly knew anything about him. At the end, she'd settled for a copy of American Werewolf in Paris, thinking that he was the kind of guy who'd understand the joke and maybe even like it.
And then there was B … How do I show her that I care without sayin' too much, makin' a complete fool outta me an' scarin' her away? After visiting every jewelry-shop in town (some of them two or more times), she'd chosen a plain silver necklace with a small plate; the charm showing a heart, pierced by a stake, next to the letter B, and the other side simply read: Yours, F. Maybe the heart was some kind of a giveaway, but it could be read as a reference to the slaying, not necessarily meaning love, and the writing was simple, too, not Yours truly or Forever yours or something fancy like that …
But still: It showed a heart, and both their initials … and that was why Faith was nervous. She wasn't sure about B's reaction, and the reactions of the Scoobs … Maybe I should just give it to her when she picks me up … but how stupid will that look? Well, maybe less stupid than me doing a impersonation of Red, complete with blushin' and stuterin', trying to give it to her with everybody watchin' …
---
And, what do you think? Please tell me!