Hey. I'm on a roll with this now! If I keep going at this rate this episode might even be finished in under twelve months! Thank you for the reviews for the last chapter. They are the fuel that keeps this fire burning (not that I'd actually ever burn them because they're too special for that!) :)

They'd passed several large cabins before reaching their own so Buffy was surprised by how small it was. Not that it didn't look inviting but she distinctly remembered the words 'lap of luxury' being mentioned and this was more like . . . a pocket of luxury. The squat timber cabin was nestled in the edge of the forest, its sloping roof blanketed thickly in white. Sweet-smelling wood smoke pouring from its chimney, the smoke pale against the clear, dark sky. It was, well, quaint was the only suitable word she could think of, but after seeing some of the other cabins, Buffy had been expecting a wooden palace, not a homely woodcutter's cottage.

Faith was obviously thinking along the same lines. "Didn't Giles pay . . ." Buffy nudged her as subtly as she could in front of the other people. "I mean, didn't I pay an arm and leg to stay here? How come we get this titchy little hut?"

"These are the couples cabins," their guide – another man dressed as an elf – informed them. "They're not as big as the family cabins obviously but you do get more privacy out here for doing couple-type things." He winked and leered at Faith, who couldn't be bothered to play along this time, before handing her an information pack and ambling off with the rest of his group of guests. He called back over his shoulder as he remembered something else. "Oh, plus you get the hot tubs. Dinner's at nine."

"Okay." Faith gave a slow nod. "Hot tub could be a fair trade off on size."

Buffy tempered her own excitement at the thought of a hot tub. While it sounded like the best thing in the world right now when she was cold and tired, she wasn't sure sharing it with Faith was a sane idea. Maybe they could take turns or something. Work out a hot tub schedule so they didn't need to be in it at the same time.

"Let's just take a look inside, shall we?"

She slipped the key into the front door lock and let them in. The first thing that hit her was the glorious warmth. The fire blazing in the stone fireplace heated every inch of the room until Buffy felt like she had stepped out of winter and into a summer's day. The second thing to hit her was just how small it actually was inside. It wasn't even a proper pocket of luxury; it was the tiny little pocket you got on jeans that was just big enough to stick your thumb in.

Buffy glanced nervously from the bed to Faith, who was also looking at the big king-sized bed, although less nervously. It was hardly surprising that was the focus of their attention, it was pretty much the only thing in the room to focus on.

"The quilt is very, uh, festive, don't you think?" Buffy said, referring to the intricately embroidered snowmen to break the awkward silence.

Faith ignored that and smirked. "Tight quarters, should get interesting." She closed the front door behind her. "Maybe it's just as well we're miles from everyone else."

"Sharing a bed doesn't automatically mean we have to have sex."

"Hell, if anyone's taught me that, B, it's you. I just meant we won't break our cover if no one can hear us yelling and bitching at each other."

"Oh, you're right. That's good." She looked quickly to Faith again. "Not that I want to yell and bitch."

Faith smiled at her, "I know." And then the smile dropped as she crossed the room. "You just can't help yourself."

"Well, no, I agree it's difficult . . . when you're being such an ass!" she snapped. Lifting her suitcase onto the bed she unzipped it. "I'm taking the right side."

"Well then it's gonna get real interesting, 'cause so am I."

"You can't!"

"Wanna bet?"

"We can't both sleep on the same side!"

"Then you might wanna sleep on the left."

There were three doors on the other side of the room; Faith tried each of them in turn, finding the ensuite bathroom first.

"But I called dibs on the right side."

"We're in the wilderness now, B, and there ain't no dibs in the wilderness. There's just the law of the wild. This is where Want Take Have really means something. I want the right side of the bed; I'm taking it unless you can stop me. Same goes for everything else too, especially food so watch your plate at dinner."

The middle door was a walk-in closet. Faith gave the inside a look over and then threw her bag in and closed the door again.

"You come near my food and I'm stabbing your hand with a fork and we're hardly in the Wild West, we're staying in a $400 a night resort. And aren't you going to unpack and put your clothes away?" she added, exasperated.

"I just did put my clothes away."

"I meant properly!"

"I'll do it later." Faith opened the third door. "Score!"

As Faith left through the door Buffy had to leave her clothes half-unpacked and check out what had her so excited. When she saw, despite how annoying Faith was being, she couldn't help but grin herself. The cabin had a back porch which was enclosed up to shoulder-height but open to the cold night air above that until a low sloping roof kept the snow from coming inside. Faith had found a button that not only turned on the electric lights overhead but also activated the outdoor heaters set into the roof and the wooden walls and even one under the boarding if Buffy's suddenly toasty toes were anything to go by. And in the middle of it all, half-sunk into the wooden planks of the floor was the hot tub. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen! And almost big enough for her to swim laps in.

There was a sound of another switch being flicked and then the motor under the tub started with a hardly noticeable thrum. Bubbles began to appear on the surface of the water and in next to no time it began to steam gently in the cool air.

Buffy turned to Faith, about to mention her idea on hot tub schedules, only to see that Faith was already down to her underwear and not slowing down. Okay, that was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

Faith took off her bra and flung it on to one of the wooden benches with the rest of her clothes and then stared at her defiantly. Buffy only noticed the defiance when she looked up high enough again to meet her eyes and then, realising she was busted, looked away sharply. Even as she was doing so she wondered why and with another jerk of her head faced Faith again. She tried to look defiant too but she knew her smirk was ruining it.

Faith didn't seem to know what to do now that she'd lost the shock-factor she'd been aiming for. "Uh, I was gonna try it out."

"I figured as much."

"You got a problem with me going in naked?" she asked, raising an eyebrow, daring her to say yes.

Buffy saw no reason to argue, no reason at all. "Nope."

"Oh. Good then." Faith pushed her panties off and stepped out of them.

Buffy didn't let her eyes wander down but she couldn't stop smirking at her either, letting both of them know she wanted to. It wasn't a surprise to her; she might not have been ready to have sex yet but she was more than happy to see Faith naked again in this harmless way – it had been way too long.

Faith apparently was surprised by it though. "You're looking at me like you want something, B."

"I do want something."

"Let me guess, you want me to put my clothes back on?"

"Damn, you stole my punch line!" Buffy chuckled.

Looking pissed off and disappointed, Faith turned away from her and climbed into the hot tub. Buffy took the opportunity to check out her butt and suddenly the air around her felt more tropical than wintery as she warmed up from the inside-out. She smiled secretly, savouring the desire. At least, even if all else was failing them, that was still as strong as ever. It also reminded her why she didn't make a habit of seeing Faith naked at the moment – it made temptation almost too hard to resist.

Faith sighed deeply with a happy 'ahhh' groany sound as her chilled body sank into the hot water and that was Buffy's cue to move, because any more sounds like that and she'd be vaulting the side fully clothed to be in there with her.

She didn't leave right away though. Faith was sitting with her back to her, trying to ignore her, so she didn't notice when Buffy stepped up to the side. She bent the short distance until her mouth was close to Faith's ear and was speaking before Faith was aware of her being so close.

"I lied. All I really wanted was to keep staring at you." She leant forward enough to kiss her cheek and then walked inside before Faith could answer.

Back in the room, she felt way too warm to be wearing so many layers, and she didn't think it had much to do with the fire either. She took off her coat but her skin was still burning so she stripped off her sweater too and kicked off her snow boots. What she really wanted now was to go and join Faith in the hot tub but at the same time she wondered how wise her words to Faith had been. They'd been true, God, had they been true, but they were asking for trouble. If she wasn't ready it wasn't fair to say that kind of thing but if she didn't say that kind of thing when she was feeling it wasn't that just as unfair to Faith?

"There's logic in there somewhere," she muttered as went back to her unpacking. "Just wish I knew where exactly."

The only thing she was completely sure of was that she wanted New Years to be here right now so that they could put this temporary break behind them and try and make this thing work again – instead of both being stubborn enough to do the exact opposite.

"In that case you have a weird family," Willow said, "but still way more loving and attentive than mine, so, yay!"

Kennedy smiled as she gestured around. "What would your folks make of this?"

"Well, my Dad probably would have walked out as soon as he realised what it was for. He's not big on the whole 'His only daughter being a lesbian' thing. He wanted me to marry a nice Jewish accountant. And my Mom would be doing ethnographical research."

"Ethnographical?"

"You know how when you're a kid you have an ant farm so you can see how they live and act and stuff?"

"No."

"Well, imagine that you did and that's how my Mom would be treating this party."

Kennedy grinned, "And you think my parents are weird?"

"I did give them a 'yay'."

"True. So, you ready to . . ."

She'd been about to say ditch but Roxy appeared at her side as if she could read her mind.

"You can't leave!"

"Why not?" she asked.

It wasn't like they usually hung out. When she'd been back the month before, Roxy had still been in school so they'd only seen each other for one day of the weekend. Roxy had been asked to come home and visit – or bribed, Kennedy had thought at the time seeing as her sister obviously hadn't really wanted to be there. She wondered what had changed.

"Because there is no one else cool here! Not that you're ever cool," Roxy added as an afterthought. "And Willow, no offence, but you're obviously not either."

"Um, none taken," Willow said with an offended shrug.

"Hey!" Kennedy snapped on her behalf. "Willow outcool's you by miles. And so do I!"

"That's why you're standing in the corner of your own party, is it?"

"You're standing in it too," Willow pointed out and Kennedy grinned at her.

"That's only because you're the only other people here under thirty!" Roxy complained. "I told Mom I wanted to invite some of my friends but she wouldn't let me. She was worried they'd overshadow your special night – which you know they would – and so . . ."

Kennedy spoke over her rant, "Wait, you knew about this party before today?"

"Of course I did. Mom's been planning it for a week."

"And you didn't think to warn us on the drive from the airport?"

"Warn you?" Roxy looked confused. "Why would I need to warn you about your own . . .?"

Rosie all but ran passed them, grabbing her youngest daughter's arm on the way and sweeping her along in her wake. She looked back over her shoulder with a bright smile and said, "Sorry to interrupt but I need Roxanne's help in the kitchen!"

"Help in the kitchen?" Roxie griped as she was dragged along. "You don't even help in the kitchen!"

Kennedy watched as they had a hushed argument by the kitchen door. She did her best to eavesdrop but there were too many conversations going on around her.

"Do you think that's something bad?" Willow asked.

Kennedy frowned, "Probably." She took Willow's hand and gave it a pull to get her moving. "Come on; let's get out of here before we have to find out."

Faith had spent an awesome half an hour in the hot tub alone – and what she had done in that half hour Buffy never needed to know. It was the blonde's fault anyway, saying that to her and then just walking away. She'd been confused by it at first, and then pissed off because it felt like Buffy was playing with her, but then she thought, what the hell, and let the horny win through.

When she'd finally gotten out, shivering instantly after the heat of the water, she grabbed her clothes and used them to cover her just enough to be decent as she hurried inside. Buffy had been in the bathroom, showering, but she'd left a towel on the bed for her and Faith took her time drying in front of the fire, hoping Buffy would come out, see her nude again and wouldn't walk away this time.

They were both dressed, though, by the time Buffy did come out. Faith didn't say a word about her earlier comment, not wanting the other slayer to know it had bothered her either way. In fact, they barely exchanged more than a few words about how hungry they were before leaving for the dinner in the main hotel.

The three course meal had been amazing and between that and the hot tub she could see Giles' money had been well spent after all. The experience was a little marred by all the kids running around, shouting and screaming as, bored of sitting still, they played among the tables. Faith did her best to ignore them and concentrated on eating.

Buffy seemed enchanted with the little brats and at one point in their mostly silent meal had asked, "Do you want children?"

"I think I'll stick with the beef," she'd replied with her mouth full and Buffy had rolled her eyes and left it at that.

Faith wondered if she'd made another relationship faux-pas by dismissing the subject so flippantly but, honestly, she didn't care. Kids were something happy couples talked about, not ones who could barely look at each other through a two hour meal.

Once dinner was over there was entertainment in the hotel lounge but they'd both decided they didn't want to stay for it. Outside the reception area, both shivering and stamping their feet in the snow, they finally had another conversation.

"We should probably patrol." Buffy didn't sound very happy about it.

"I could certainly use a slay," Faith agreed, "but you sure you remember how?"

"I still patrol, Faith!"

She held her hands up in surrender. "Whatever you say, B."

"And just because I don't do it that often any more doesn't mean I'm going to forget how!"

"Okay! So let's do it." Faith gestured to one of the many pathways leading away from the hotel.

Buffy sighed and didn't move. "There's so much ground to cover. We could be trekking through the snow three miles that way and the . . ." she dropped her voice to a whisper ". . . elves could be three miles in the other direction."

Faith nodded; that was a problem. Snow didn't bother her as much as Buffy, she was used to it growing up in Boston, but it was deep and to do a proper patrol they'd have to leave the beaten track. Wading through knee high snow would take forever!

Then she had a thought! "Wait here."

Back inside reception, she scanned the notice board until she found the list of bonus excursions that Patch had mentioned on the bus. No one was looking so she took the whole list and went back outside to Buffy.

"How do you feel about a husky ride?"

Buffy smiled, her whole face lighting up. "That sounds nice. Maybe we can do it after . . ."

"No, B, there's one that leaves in . . ." she read the list. "It says after dinner so I'm guessing any minute now."

"While I'm over the moon you've finally found your romantic side, we shouldn't really waste time on fun stuff 'til after we've completed the mission."

"What's romance got to do with it? I was thinking we could patrol faster if we had a team of huskies."

"Oh." Buffy's face went back to being carefully blank. "That's a good idea. Where is it?"

Faith shrugged as she checked the list again. "Behind the stable block."

"Which is where?"

"Are you under the impression I've been here before?"

Buffy huffed and crossed her arms. "I thought that paper might tell you."

"It's a list, not a map."

"Fine." There were still people regularly leaving the reception area and now Buffy stopped a family to ask, "Excuse me, do you know where the stable block is?"

The mother smiled at her, "Sure, just head up that path and take a right between the buildings, it's right behind there. Are you doing the husky safari? We did it last night, it's magical."

Buffy nodded as the father chimed in. "And your kids will love it. The elves run along beside the sleigh singing Jingle Bells."

"We don't have any kids," Faith said abruptly. Buffy shot her a look which she ignored.

"Well, I'm sure you'll still enjoy it," the woman didn't sound so friendly now that they couldn't bond over brat stories. "It's worth every penny."

"Thanks," Buffy said to them. "We're definitely going to give it a go." Once they were gone she turned to Faith to hiss, "Why did you have to say that?"

"Tell the truth, you mean?" she asked, perplexed. "I thought that was what you were supposed to do. Did the rules change? Is lying a virtue now?"

Buffy ignored her and took the path alongside the hotel to find the gap they were supposed to walk through.

Faith walked beside her, grumbling quietly. "Just as well we don't have kids in tow. Least they won't get eaten!"

Buffy scoffed at that. "You don't have a kid in tow but I do."

Faith thought about possible comebacks and settled on, "So any chance I'll get eaten tonight?"

Buffy laughed, realised she was laughing and tightened her lips against the remaining smile. "There's a higher chance of me feeding you to a husky."

Faith smirked, "So that's not a 'no chance' then?"

Buffy shook her head, but she was still sort of smiling. "How about we just go back to not speaking?"

They really tried their best to do just that, but it was impossible when they realised the couple they'd met in line earlier was on the ride with them.

"I'm Jan," the woman said cheerfully once they were all seated. "And this is Tim."

Tim gave them a wave which ended up pointing at their son who was sitting on his knee. "And this is Oliver. Olly, say hello."

Oliver declined, which made Faith smile.

"I'm Buffy," Buffy said and then hiked a thumb at her. "That's Faith."

"Nice intro," she muttered, not loud enough to carry to the opposite bench.

Buffy smiled sweetly at her. "Faith's still grumpy, aren't you honey?"

"I'm not grumpy!" Realising how 'grumpy' that had sounded she rolled her eyes and forced a smile on her face. "I'm not grumpy, but I just ate a big meal. I should be sleeping it off right now, not riding around behind a pack of dogs."

"I know what you mean," Jan said. "I'm exhausted after travelling all day. All I want to do is sleep! But Tim and Olly went on and on about the darn huskies!"

Faith grinned, "So did Buffy. Things you gotta do, huh?"

"Exactly. If I didn't love him . . ." she nodded her head to the side to indicate Tim, ". . . I'd be in my pajamas already."

"You and me both."

"Aww, does that mean you love me, honey?" There was a subtle tone to Buffy's voice that the other two didn't register but Faith did, loud and clear.

"Sure do, sweetie!" Faith hammed it up and wondered if Buffy would still get the resonance of truth in her voice.

She hadn't said the words yet and she didn't know if she would any time soon, but it would be nice if Buffy could understand the message without her having to spell it out.

Apparently not this time. Buffy just gave her a neutral look and said "Aww!" again.

Faith took a chance then – after all they were supposed to be pretending to be a happy, loved up couple – and she leaned over and kissed Buffy full on the mouth. Buffy didn't dare pull away and blow their cover and so she kissed back. There was even like half a second of tongue action.

She only pulled back when she heard Oliver ask his dad, "Why are two girls kissing?"

Tim laughed uncomfortably. "It's okay for two girls to kiss if they love each other, son."

"So does that mean I can kiss boys?"

That was too much for Tim and he coughed up a fake hair ball rather than answer. Jan had to take over.

"It's okay, Olly, but only if you love them and they love you. Do you understand?"

Oliver nodded solemnly and went back to being engrossed in the huskies.

"Sorry, he's at that inquisitive age," she apologised and Faith shrugged to show it was no big deal.

The huskies took off then, jolting them all in their seats, and while the family opposite were adjusting Buffy muttered, "Now you're corrupting little kids?"

"I prefer to think of it as educating," Faith muttered back as they they both turned to face the way they going, glad to have a legitimate reason to put their backs to their 'new friends'.

They were still playing 'Go Fish' and Alison had been engrossed in the game, finding it nice to have some mindless fun for a change, but she'd done badly in the last few rounds and was losing interest.

She couldn't believe she wasn't allowed on the hunt because she was a girl! Considering the sitch that should have been a point in her favour, not against! She'd bet if Buffy, Faith or Kennedy had been around they wouldn't have stood for this. She respected Mr. Giles too much to argue about it, but it still burned. She was a slayer! She had the strength and ability even if she didn't have the experience yet, and how was she supposed to gain the experience if she wasn't given the opportunity to? There was nothing she could do about it though so, sighing irritably, she took another terrible card and moved on.

The phone rang again and Xander got up. "We've never been so popular."

"My Mum usually rings on a Wednesday," Reece said, although he didn't look up from his cards.

"I should call my Dad before Christmas," Craig muttered under his breath.

He and Andrew had joined the game just ten minutes before and had both looked startled to learn what they would be doing first thing in the morning. Yet another reason for her to be pissed off. They didn't even want to go! Okay, Craig had gotten excited about it once it had sunk in but his initial expression had spoken volumes – he was scared! So his place should have been given to someone who wasn't scared, i.e. - her!

Xander held the phone out towards the table. "Alison, it's your Mom."

All the colour drained from her face. "What?"

"It's your Mom," he repeated, shaking the phone a little to indicate she should come and take it.

"What does she want?" she muttered as she stood up.

She'd told her parents not to call her here. They only had the number at all because Mr. Giles insisted on every parent having contact details – it was part of the whole posing as a school deal. For a second she wondered if it was an emergency, what if her Dad was sick? Or one of her brothers? It made her move more swiftly around the table, almost snatching the receiver from Xander's hand when she reached him.

"Hello? What's wrong?"

"Nothing dear," her Mom chuckled on the line. "No need to sound so agitated."

"Then why did you call?"

Her Mom sounded hurt by her tone but tried not to show it. "We were just thinking of you and how you haven't called recently."

"I was only home a month ago!" Alison, aware that everyone was watching her curiously, huddled over the counter with the phone pressed tight to her ear. "I can't check in all the time."

"No one's asking you to check in; it would just be nice if you wanted to speak to us. We miss you, Alison."

Over the line she heard her dad say, "Tell her why we're really calling and maybe she'll cheer up."

"Okay . . . Joey won his Under-elevens State Karate championships."

Hearing her little brother's news did cheer Alison up. "That's great news. Tell him I'm proud of him."

"It gets better. His next competition is next month . . ." She really didn't like the way her Mom paused to build the suspense. ". . . in Columbus!" Yep, she'd known she wouldn't like it. "We thought we'd get a flight a few days earlier and . . ."

"You can't stay here!" she said quickly. "We, uh . . . we don't have enough room."

"No, we assumed as much, but we thought we could at least come visit you while we're out that way. Wouldn't that be nice?"

Alison went cold all over. "I'm not sure if it'll be convenient."

"Convenient?" her Dad croaked. "You can't spare a day to see your family?"

"Dad, you know it's not . . . Can I call you later about this?"

Her Dad started to say something but her Mom shushed him and firmly said, "Yes, you can call us back to arrange what day would be best."

"No, I meant . . ."

"Ally, we're already missing spending the holidays with you, please don't begrudge us one little visit."

"But . . ."

"If you won't do it for your Dad and me, at least do it for your brothers. They can't understand why you don't want to spend time with them anymore."

"I do want to spend time with them, it's just . . ."

"That's settled then." Alison sighed, that was her Mom's end-of-discussion tone. "Call us when you can to arrange a date. Love you!"

"You too," she murmured and hung up the phone.

"So what did she want?" Dawn asked eagerly.

Obviously they'd all heard her side of the conversation so there was no point pretending it had been about something else. She turned back to the table but didn't take her seat again.

"My family want to come out and visit me next month."

"That sounds nice," Andrew said.

Miranda chuckled, "Wish my Mom would travel this far north in the winter to visit."

"I'm not sure Mr. Giles will be happy to have my family poking around here."

"He'll deal," Xander promised her. "We can make arrangements. Hide the weapons, put sunglasses and a trench coat on Goorzie."

"Yeah," she agreed, wishing that was all she had to worry about. "I think I'm going to go watch some TV."

She headed for the living room, not noticing Xander watching her thoughtfully as she left.

Thanks for reading. More soon.