Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. To my great, great sadness.

Additional author notes: This takes place Christmas third season. Angel has not come back and will not come back.

Author notes: This is a series of short stories and scenes revolving around Faith and Buffy. Most have a Fuffy theme, but some are just showing them as friends/sister slayers. These are my imaginings of scenes that the show SHOULD have included between them. They take place in different seasons, and most could reasonably fit in at any time in the third or after the seventh, or just whenever you want to.

Story 8: Season's Greetings

Faith realized that she was smiling gently as she looked around the Summers's living room, taking in once more the gaily decorated interior. The candles, the holly, the wreaths and displayed Christmas cards, the snow globes and Santa doll and snowman figurines on the shelf above the fireplace, the pictures of Buffy as a little girl on Santa's lap… Faith noticed with wry amusement that little-girl Buffy was brunette, her hair a brown a few shades lighter than Faith's own.

Mostly though, Faith's gaze lingered on the Summers's Christmas tree, which was bedecked with colorful balls and candy canes, Buffy's childhood homemade ornaments, and brightly colored flashing lights. Faith had actually helped Buffy and her mother, Joyce, put up the tree and decorate it two weeks ago. She didn't think she'd done such a hot job on her part, tending to put too many ornaments in one area, and she'd snuck at eating more than a few of the "decorative" candy canes. This had prompted Buffy to do so as well, in spite of Joyce's mock-stern looks. Hey, food was food in Faith's book, not decoration- and hanging candy right at someone's eye level was begging for it to be eaten. She'd seen Xander take a few after some drooly eyeballing tonight too.

Regardless of the lack of candy canes and her own clumsy ornament distribution, Faith though that the Summers's Christmas tree was beautiful. Throughout the evening, and even in the two weeks before, whenever she had come to their house, she had found her eyes drifting towards it in a wistful yet somehow prideful admiration. She could not remember ever having had a Christmas tree as a kid, and Faith had certainly never helped decorate one. If she couldn't have one herself, she was glad that Buffy could… and in a way, she almost felt that it was partly hers too.

It was Christmas Eve, and Faith had spent the evening at the Summers's house at their Christmas gathering. Faith hadn't wanted to come when Buffy first invited her, especially since she was pretty sure Buffy's mother had asked her to. She had lied to the older slayer, telling her she was going to a party. Of course there was no party- and had there been, Faith would have been crashing it, not an invited guest. Who would have invited her? Who did she even know in Sunnydale besides Buffy and her friends?

It wasn't that Faith didn't want to be around Buffy, or that she didn't want to go to a Christmas party- it was just that she didn't want to feel awkward and pathetic there. Like an outside, a charity case, the girl with no family, no home, and no money, being asked out of pity. Besides, she was pretty sure that Giles and the Scoobies would be there too, and they would no doubt be bursting with holiday cheer.

She had told herself this several times, but then, when 6:00 rolled around, the time Buffy had told her the gathering was starting, Faith had found herself pacing the room restlessly, feeling so frustrated and depressed at the thought of sitting alone in her crappy motel room on Christmas Eve that she couldn't hold still. By the twentieth revolution around her bed, she knew she wouldn't be able to stand it. She was going to have to go to Buffy's party and pray to all listening deities not to feel too pathetic there.

The only problem was gifts. Faith knew they'd be giving them… they might even have something for her. She had made a present for Buffy the same day she'd helped her put up her Christmas tree, not sure if she'd actually give it to her, but feeling she needed to be prepared to do so. Faith had taken one of the few remaining stakes her late Watcher had given her and carved pretty swirly designs on it, something she figured a girly-girl like Buffy would appreciate. On one side of it she had carved 'B,' Buffy's initial, and 'The Chosen Two.' She had made herself another stake like Buffy's to match, only with her initial instead of Buffy's.

She'd felt pretty lame and ashamed of her gift and its stupid sentimentality afterward, like a fifth grade girl giving out best friend necklaces. But she didn't have 

time on Christmas Eve had rolled around to get her something else. The stake would have to do.

Joyce had been harder. She'd never gotten her anything, or the Scoobies either, and as Faith looked around her mostly bare motel, she had felt her stomach clinch in anxiety, what was she supposed to do, she had to get them something!

And then it had dawned on her. She had gone to the dresser quickly, pulling out of a pair of socks the pearl earrings her Watcher had once given her to wear 'for any future formal occasions.' Faith hadn't liked the earrings at the time, though she had been touched by the thought. She'd had no intentions of wearing them and never had. But after her Watcher had been killed, she just couldn't bring herself to pawn them off or anything.

Now there would be good use for them… she could give them to Joyce. She could use them better than Faith ever could or would, and they looked like something she'd even like.

Of course, Joyce would probably think they were stolen or something… but Faith wasn't about to tell her they'd been her Watcher's. Joyce would never have accepted them if she knew that; she'd feel too guilty.

Thinking of something for Giles and the Scoobies was harder, but an idea had come to Faith finally. Getting out a pen and paper, she had torn it into five pieces and wrote on each piece, "I owe you one life-saving." It was stupid, but on such short notice, it was all she could come up with, unless she was going to get them each a candy bar or something. Besides, all the stores were closed.

As she'd predicted, Faith had felt pretty awkward at first, arriving at Buffy's house on foot with her 'presents' in a plastic bag, unwrapped. Especially when she saw all the presents under Buffy's tree and had to backpedal from her story about the party she'd been invited to. But both Buffy and her mother had seemed surprised and excited to see her, both giving her a hug and telling her they were glad she had come. When Buffy hugged her, Faith had found herself breathing in the older slayer's scent, almost savoring the feel of her, the smell of her hair…

And the evening had been nice, much better than Faith had pessimistically expected. They had done all the things that were typical holiday traditions, straight out of the movies. Things Faith would have scoffed at and sneered over before, but had fun doing with Buffy and the others. Drinking hot chocolate and eggnog- non-alcoholic, unfortunately- having a nice dinner by the fire (even though it was seventy degrees outside), even singing a few Christmas songs with everyone badly off-key.

Faith had refused at first to join in with the singing- that was just way too dorky and lame, not to mention that her singing voice sucked and would embarrass her. But when Buffy came up to her from behind, looping an arm around her casually as she sang "O Holy Night" loudly and badly in her ear, grinning, Faith had to smile too. Very aware of the way Buffy stayed so close to her, keeping her arm around her loosely, she had hesitantly joined in on the next song, "Jingle Bells," even though it usually annoyed the hell out of her.

Of course, she'd had to make sarcastic comments before and after, as had Cordelia, but the fact remained that both of them had joined in, and both had enjoyed it. Faith had felt something warm and strangely both pleasant and painful fill her chest, a sensation she could not identify.

Everyone had had a good time, laughing and talking and teasing each other, looking at and touching each other with even more affection than usual. The night's date seemed to have put everyone in an amazing mood, and Faith began to relax and enjoy herself. She was actually starting to feel like maybe she did belong with the others in her own way, that they did accept her- maybe actually care for her a little. Maybe they didn't view her as such a charity case after all… maybe it wasn't so bad to hang with them…

To be continued



Author notes: Yes, I know this is boring and has no dialogue. There will be three parts to this story. The second part will have more dialogue but will still be a bit slow… the third part is the one you guys are probably most interested in, lol.