"Mm… Cherry." Buffy leaned back and licked her lips.

"Mm…Beer." Faith answered, eyebrow raised.

The tipsy little blonde blushed, although her cheeks were already red. Faith sighed and leaned back on the bench.

"Don't worry 'bout it, B. It never even happened." She sighed one more time and then abruptly stood up and walked away, heading back inside.

Buffy frowned confused.

"Faith, wait!" She called out. "I'm not drunk!"

She quickly raised to her feet but found that they refused to cooperate, causing her to stumble back and hold the bench for balance.

"Faith!" She called out again, but the girl had already entered the house.

"Damn it." The blonde grumbled. "Damn it damn it damn it."

This wasn't how it was supposed to go.

Back in the den, Faith decided to look for Xander and Willow. She hadn't seen them in a while and began worrying. She could almost hit herself on the head for leaving them alone between the very people they had dreaded for so many years.

"Hey, Faith, how's it going?" A tall girl approached her and smiled.

"Uhhh…Hi." Faith didn't know the girl's name and briefly wondered how the girl knew hers but shrugged it off. There were other, more pressing, matters at hand.

"Have you seen Xander or Willow?" She asked. "Goofy-looking guy… cute little redhead?"

The girl in front of her nodded and pointed to a room behind Faith. The brunette grimaced. Had they hidden there to escape?

"Okay, thanks." She quickly mumbled and made her way towards the room, mentally berating herself for being so stupid.

She opened the door, expecting to find Willow and Xander talking.

"Holy sh-…!" She almost choked on her own words as she found Xander and Cordelia tangled up on the bed. Fully clothed, but still looking pretty damn close.

The two quickly jumped apart and stood on different sides of the bed. Xander immediately began stumbling out explanations.

But Faith strongly doubted that he fell on Cordelia while she was napping. Nor did she believe Xander had something in his eye and Cordelia was helping him out.

"We were making out." Cordelia interrupted Xander's lame excuses. "I was making out with Xander and that doesn't mean I like him!"

Both Faith and Xander winced at the high-pitched exclamation.

"Yeah." Xander added. "I was making out with Cordelia and it doesn't mean I like her either."

His eyes then widened. Slowly, a smile began to form on his face.

"I was making out with Cordelia…" He repeated slowly. "I was making out with Cordelia!"

"It doesn't mean-… I mean… It doesn't mean I like you!" Cordelia insisted vigorously. "It doesn't!"

Xander shook his head just as vigorously.

"No, no…Ofcourse not." He agreed. "It's not like I like you either, you know."

The three of them stood in silence for a few seconds.

"Doesn't mean we can't do it again though, does it?" Cordelia looked at the boy at the other side of the bed.

"No, ofcourse not." Xander instantly replied. He then attempted a calmer demeanor and coughed.

"I mean… Ofcourse not." He said more calmly.

Xander and Cordelia smiled at each other and then slowly turned their gaze to Faith who was still standing in the doorway.

"Yeah… I'm gonna… I'm just gonna…" She chuckled as she gestured behind her. "I'm gonna go."

She turned around, shaking her head, but then turned back towards Cordelia and Xander.

"Have you seen Willow?"

They both shook their heads mutely, no they hadn't seen her, but then again who knew how long they'd been 'getting to know each other' on the bed?

Faith nodded and turned, closing the door behind her.

What now?

She looked around for someone who knew Willow and hurried to Steve as he stumbled out of another bedroom.

"Hey…Uh.." She tried to remember his name. "Jock. Have you seen Willow?"

He looked at her, distractedly, and he seemed dumbfounded.

"…Dude?" She asked again. She knew the guy wasn't exactly one of the brightest minds of the school, but she didn't expect him to be quite so befuddled.

"I…" He pointed to the door behind him, shook his head wildly and then stumbled away, mumbling incoherently.

Faith raised an eyebrow. The fear that Willow might have done something with Steve in the bedroom paralysed her, but only momentarily.

She had to know if Willow was ok.

Sighing one last time, she slowly opened the door in front of her.

What she saw in front of her was probably one of the last things she had expected to see. It was like a déjà vu, except instead of Xander and Cordelia, it was now Willow and Harmony.

What the hell did they put in the drinks?

After several moments of perplexed gazing, Harmony finally found some time to open her eyes and notice the brunette standing, watching them open-mouthed.

The blonde pulled back, wiping a little at her lips.

"God, doesn't anyone knock anymore?" She pouted and then stood up.

Willow was blushing furiously but couldn't suppress a small grin.

Harmony walked past Faith to rejoin the rest of the party and shrugged her shoulders at the brunette.

"Everyone was doing it." She said by way of explanation and left Faith staring at the blushing redhead, lipstick marking where Harmony's mouth had kissed her.

"We were just… experimenting." Willow looked away, embarrassed but smiling.

Faith narrowed her eyes.

"And the jock?"

"Steve? Oh, god, no. He walked in on us." Willow shrugged.

Faith sighed relieved.

"You're not even that drunk, Red!"She said grinning. "I'm betting you liked the experiment."

Willow looked up to see Faith's knowing grin and the redhead smiled.

"It didn't suck."

After that, Faith and Willow had collected Xander from Cordelia's arms and decided to go home and get some sleep. Although after the night's events, neither of them actually expected to catch any rest.

The next day's events were waiting, after all, and whether it was curious anticipation for perhaps new beginnings, or the anxious wonder about Buffy's unpredictablemental state, they all found it impossible to sleep.

No one was quite sure what the next day would bring but they all awaited it, wide eyes open and thoughts fluttering to the stolen kisses of the night.