Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, or 'The Grinch'.


"Again, Little Red, just a story" Faith reminded her.

"Oh, yeah" said Sophie, a little sheepishly.

"You know I'd never really do anything like that to you, right?" Faith frowned. "Because I.."

"I know, because you love me" Sophie grinned. "You even broked somebody's nose for me once."

"I'd break a million noses for you, Little Red" Faith chuckled, ruffling her hair. "Not that a situation where I'd have to is likely to come up, but hey, in our world, you never know.."

"I know. So, what happens next in the story?"

"Well, it turns out story-you loved her ride down the chute.."


And she did. After screaming for the first few metres down, Sophie realised that she wasn't scared at all. She was having fun!

"Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" the little girl cried joyfully, before flying out the end of the chute and landing on her back in the snow back in Scoobville, giggling.

"Sophie, there you are!" cried Willow, relieved, as she pulled her daughter to her feet. "You can make snow angels later, we can't be late for Scoobilation!" As they headed off, Sophie glanced back towards Mt. Lilbit, sighing.

"I hope she comes.."


Meanwhile, back in her cave, Faith slumped in her armchair, thinking the matter of her possible involvement in Scoobilation over and done with. Echo had other ideas. The dog gathered up the invitation, along with the other envelope Sophie had left, in his jaws, and dropped them into his Master's lap.

"Yeah, can you believe those Scoobs?" said Faith, annoyed. "Asking me to come to their stupid Scoobilation, and on such short notice!"

Echo rolled his eyes. Faith had obviously missed the point.

"And what's this?" Faith continued, tearing open the other envelope. "Probably some bleedin' heart letter from that kid, beggin' me to come.." However, when Faith saw what the envelope contained, she froze. It wasn't a letter, it was a photograph. And it wasn't from Sophie, it was from Tara. Faith instantly recognised Tara's face grinning out at at her from the photo, as well as Willow's, and Sophie's. The baby in Tara's arms was the only unfamiliar face, but she obviously belonged to them too. The Dark Slayer turned the photo over in her hands, finding the words 'Miss You. T.' , scrawled on the back. Faith felt a lump in her throat, then once again shook her head. "Sorry T, that emotional blackmail crap doesn't work on me anymore." Still, she stood and moved to place the photograph gently into the box with the others, which, she now realised, Tara must have also dropped down the trash chute to her when she'd found them years before. "And ya know Echo, even if I did want to go to this thing.."

Echo's ears pricked up hopefully.

"Which I don't.."

The ears drooped.

"My schedule just wouldn't allow it" Faith continued, grabbing a notebook from her bedside table and flipping through the pages. "See? 4.00: Wallow in self pity. 4.30: Stare into the abyss. 5.00: Solve world hunger, but don't tell anyone about it. That should be a hoot."

Echo growled his disapproval. Faith ignored him.

"5.30: Jazzercise. 6.00: Dinner with me. I can't cancel that again. 7.00: Wrestle with my self-loathing. Yep, my evening is completely booked."

Echo gave a few frustrated barks.

"What do you mean none of that stuff's important?" cried Faith, annoyed. "It's really important. And besides all that, I've got to practice bein' scary so I can get rid of that kid again if she tries to come back... BOO!"

Echo looked unimpressed.

"Yeah, well, the only reason you're not scared is that you're used to bein' around me all the time" Faith huffed, slumping back in her chair. "Any other person would be shakin' in their boots.."

Echo once again retrieved the Scoobilation invitation and dropped it back in the Dark Slayer's lap.

"Will you drop it?" Faith snapped. "I'm not goin'!"

Echo whined.

"I am not in emotional pain, Echo, I just don't want to go! Why is it such a big deal to you?"

Echo, becoming frustrated but not willing to back down, decided to force an emotional response from his Master, leaping up and purposefully knocking the box of photos from the shelf, letting them scatter over the floor.

"Hey!" Faith yelled, once again rushing over to pick them up. "I told you to never touch those!"

Echo pushed forward the picture of Buffy with his paw.

"The kid did say B missed me, and if Tara misses me to.." Faith muttered as she picked it up, thinking for a moment. Eventually, she gave a sigh of defeat. "Fine, Echo, you win. This is going completely against my better judgement, but.. If I push self-loathing to 9.00, maybe I can go to the Cheermeister thing and be back in time to sit in bed, stare at the ceiling and go out of my mind!" Yes, this was crazy, but Faith was already broken from her childhood experiences. Things couldn't possibly get any worse for her than they already were. However, she did have one other problem. "But what will I wear?"

Echo gave a doggy groan, hoping his Master wouldn't use this as yet another excuse to skip Scoobilation. Faith whipped a tablecloth out from underneath a pile of junk, somehow not letting any fall, then tied it around her waist.

"Ta-da!"

Echo made a sound that almost seemed like he was laughing.

"It's not a skirt, it's a kilt!" said Faith, annoyed. "Tryin' to show off my Scottish heritage."

Echo gave a confused bark.

"Oh right, Angel was Irish" Faith frowned. "Well, there goes that idea." She whipped off the table cloth, then moved to dig through her closet. "Stupid, disgusting, expired.." She grumbled, throwing items over her shoulder. She pulled out a wolf costume, nose wrinkling. "Why did I even keep this? This is stupid, if I can't find anything decent to wear, then I'm not going.." At that moment, as if the Universe was somehow trying to make sure Faith attended Sccobilation, The Dark Slayer heard a cheerleader who was practicing outside her cave for some reason, and this gave her an idea.


"Scoobs got Christmas spirit, yes we do!" chanted the cheerleader, Cordelia, as she jumped around outside Faith's cave, dressed in a red and green Christmas themed cheerleaders outfit, with red and green ribbons in her hair, waving her red and green Christmas themed pom-poms. "Scoobs got Christmas spirit, how about you.. Ah!" She yelped, as a Shepherd's hook jerked her into the cave.


After stealing Cordy's clothes and kicking her back out into the cold, Faith put the outfit on herself, adding her own black boots for an extra Dark Slayerly touch.

"How do I look?" she asked.

Echo barked approvingly. Faith smiled, then shook her head.

"What the hell am I thinkin'? I'm not goin'.."


Meanwhile, the Scoobs had gathered in the town square for the next stage of the Scoobilation celebrations. The votes for Cheermeister had been counted, and Riley took to the stage wearing a rather sour expression.

"Thank you, ladies and gentlemen" he forced a smile. "It is time to present our Holiday Cheermeister award. So, congratulations to Faith, The Dark Slayer!" The crowd cheered, but the cheers quickly faded when they realised that their elected Cheermeister was absent. "What, she didn't show?" said Riley sarcastically. "Well, who could have predicted this?" He flashed a smug grin in Sophie's direction. Sophie clenched her fists.


Faith continued to pace back and forth, muttering to herself.

Echo growled.

"Fine, tell you what. I'll go down there for a minute to let them envy me, get some snacks, then get out of there."

Echo made a reluctant sound of agreement. He guessed that was better than nothing.

"But wait, what if this is some dumb prank?" Faith frowned. "How dare they.. Okay, I'll go."

Echo yipped happily.

"But I'll be fashionably late!"

Echo made annoyed sound, knowing that his Master was already late.

"No, yes, no, yes, absolutely not!"

Echo was becoming very frustrated by now, as you could imagine.

"Okay, My decision is made. I'm going, and nothing can change my mind" Faith pulled her crossed fingers out from behind her back. "Oh look, my finger's were crossed. Guess that means I.. " She screamed, suddenly plummeting down the same trap door through which she had earlier sent Sophie.

Echo sat by the lever looking innocent.


"Well," Riley continued, "Since Faith hasn't shown up, I guess the award will have to go to our runner-up.."

"A man for whom Christmas comes not just once a year, but every minute of every day!" said Graham, taking the microphone while Riley smirked. "The only man in the World to have had his tonsils removed, twice!"

"That's quite an interesting story" Riley grinned, taking the mike back. Buffy, from her spot beside the stage, rolled her eyes. She'd heard this story a million times before. "See, what happened was.." Thankfully, he was soon interrupted. Screaming was heard, and then the Dark Slayer came flying out of the end of the trash chute, bouncing off a few 'Merry Christmas!' and 'Happy Scoobilation!' banners, before face-planting right between Buffy's boobs, knocking her to the ground.

"Hello, Buffy" she greeted, voice muffled.


"Auntie Faith, that's rude!" Sophie scolded.