Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

AN: This one takes place after the first arc of 'Dawn's Magical Mishaps', and kind of has an anti-smoking message in it. It wasn't entirely intentional, it just turned out that way. It also includes a fluffy little description of how Sophie got her Fred Mouse.

Early one morning, Sophie sat watching TV with the volume down low. Mama Tara was in the kitchen making her breakfast, but everybody else was still asleep. During the ad break, the little girl saw something that bothered her quite a bit, and which if Tara had heard the TV, she would have been stopped from seeing. Smoke filling a lung, causing a horrible cough in the person it belonged to. A woman with a diseased mouth, covered in sores. A man with a hole in his throat, unable to speak on his own due to damage to his voice box. More horrible images, followed by a serious voice declaring that these were the things that would happen to you if you smoked. Sophie was frightened. Auntie Faith smoked. She didn't want any of those things to happen to Auntie Faith. She crept up the stairs, quietly sneaking into Buffy and Faith's room (yes, they shared a room now), and making her way over to Faith's bedside table. She stared at the small carton of cigarettes that sat there, then grabbed it, and rushed out of the room.

"You're not gonna hurt my Auntie Faith no more" she said, glaring accusingly at the cigarettes. "If she can't find you, you can't make her sick."

Later that day, Sophie watched nervously as Faith ransacked the house, searching for the missing cigarettes.

"Has anybody seen my smokes?" the Dark Slayer asked. She was met with a chorus of 'nos' as her reply. She let out an annoyed groan and continued to search. "Damn it!" She yelled a little while later. "Where the hell could they be? I could've sworn I left 'em right on my bedside table, just like I always do!"

"You know" said Buffy, munching on the salad sandwich she had fixed herself for lunch, "Maybe losing them isn't such a bad thing."

"Don't joke with me, B" Faith frowned. She hadn't had a cigarette since the night before, and the nicotine withdrawls she was experiencing made her irritable.

"I'm serious" said Buffy. "Cigarettes are bad for you."

"Oh yeah?" Faith snapped. "Well, so is lettin' a vampire bite you, but you had no problem doin' that!" She regretted the words as soon as they were out of her mouth, but it was too late to take them back. "Oh B, you know I didn't mean that.." Buffy ignored her, setting down her sandwich, getting up, and marching emotionlessly out the front door. "Buffy, wait, I'm sorry! Buffy!" Faith flopped down at the kitchen, groaning to herself. "Idiot! How the hell could I have said that?" Having seen the whole thing, Sophie's lip quivered, then she began to sob, and rushed upstairs, returning soon after with the missing carton of cigarettes.

"Here!" she wailed, throwing it onto the table in front of Faith. "Take them back!"

"Sophie!" scolded Willow, shocked.

"You had 'em, Little Red?" said Faith, surprised. "Why?"

"The TV said smoking would makes you sick" said Sophie, wiping her eyes. "I don't wants you to get sick, Auntie Faith. But I don't wants you and Auntie Buffy to fight, either." Faith frowned, looking at the cigarettes in front of her, then to the abandoned sandwich, and the door which her girlfriend had just stormed out of. Then, she grabbed the cigarettes, stood up, and headed for the door herself.

"Don't worry Little Red, I'm gonna fix everythin', I promise. And you two" she called back to Willow and Tara, "Don't be too hard on the kid, she was only tryin' to help."

Buffy, being a Slayer, could get away pretty fast when she wanted to, so when Faith eventually caught up with her, she was sitting on a bench in the park. She didn't look up when Faith sat beside her.

"I don't want to talk to you right now."

"You don't have to talk, B" said Faith. "But it would be nice if you wouldn't mind listenin' for a minute."

"Well if you're going to sit right there I don't have much choice, do I?" said Buffy coldly.

"I deserve that" Faith sighed. "Look B, I am so, so, sorry. But you know, all this has got me thinkin', about what I need... and what I don't."

"And?" Buffy looked up, curiosity getting the better of her. Faith pulled the cigarettes out of her pocket and tossed them into the trashcan beside the bench. Then, she pulled Buffy to her and kissed her. Buffy tried to pull away at first, but soon relaxed into the kiss, unable to help herself.

"I need you, Buffy" said Faith when they broke apart. "I love you."

"I love you too" Buffy said with a goofy grin, then shook her head, slapping Faith's hand. "But I'm still mad at you!"

"I know, and you should be" said Faith. "But I was grumpy when I said all that stuff. And the real truth is, I'm kinda happy you let Angel bite you."

"What?" said Buffy, confused. "Why?"

"You saved him, and later, he kinda saved me. So I guess it was all meant to be, you know?"

"That's a good way of looking at it" Buffy smiled. She laid her head against Faith's shoulder, apparently forgetting that she was still supposed to be mad. Then she remembered something. "Um, not that it really matters now, but.. Where did you end up finding the cigarettes?"

"Oh, cute story" Faith grinned. "See, Little Red saw one of those anti-smokin' ads.."

Later, when they had returned home, Faith entered Sophie's room clutching a small plastic bag, finding the little girl playing tea party with her toys.

"Hey, Little Red" she greeted, seating herself a little uncomfortably in one of the small pink plastic chairs positioned around the small pink plastic table, setting the bag down beside her.

"Hi, Auntie Faith" said Sophie, looking up. "I'm sorry I taked your cigarettes."

"I'm not" said Faith.

"Huh?" said Sophie, confused.

"I don't need them" said Faith. "I don't want to smoke anymore." She rolled up her sleeve, pointing to the patch stuck on her arm. "See this? This is gonna help me stop. And it'll stop me from bein' grumpy while I'm gettin' used to not smokin'."

"Cool!" said Sophie.

"Yeah, except then I had a little problem" said Faith.

"Whats kind of problem?" asked Sophie, worried.

"Well, I needed to find somethin' else to do with the money I used to spend on cigarettes" said Faith, "So this.." She reached into the bag and pulled out a small grey plush-toy mouse, handing it to Sophie, "Is for you, Little Red."

"Thank you, Auntie Faith" Sophie smiled, hugging the mouse before placing it in another one of the empty chairs. "I'm gonna call it Fred!" Faith, knowing of Sophie's sweet habit of naming her toys after their departed friends, chuckled.

"Cool name."