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PART ONE: 25th December 2003
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Chapter Six: Cruel Intentions

The day had been incredibly long for Buffy. She'd wanted to go back to bed once Faith had left, but the others would hear none of it. For Dawn's sake she did what they expected and was forced to play board-games for the whole evening. With more focus on the clock than the game she got yelled at a dozen times for moving everyone else's pieces instead of her own.

It was half-past eleven now and she was finally in bed, but far from asleep. The rest of the household had turned in too, and the house was almost spooky silent as Buffy lay counting the tick of the clock.

At eleven forty-five headlights brightened the back wall of her room and she sat up against her pillows. It had to be Faith back from where-ever she'd gone. A car door slammed and feet could be heard crunching snow on the path. At least she'd come back. Buffy had expected the dark Slayer to find somewhere else to spend the night; it wasn't like she'd be short of offers. Now she was back it meant Buffy could talk to her, again, with none of the others listening in and making Faith uncomfortable.

The front door opened with a squeak, followed by a muffled thud and some giggling and finally a shhing noise. Okay so she was drunk. This wasn't a surprise. She'd been gone eight hours with the sole intention of getting rat-faced, after all. That might even make this easier, Buffy thought as she heard lots of soft steps on the front stairs – Faith must have been going up them one at a time to avoid falling down them again. If Faith was all drunk and loved up then she might be more willing to listen to Buffy's apology. Maybe they could even kiss a little and make-up.

Buffy slid out of bed and pulled her robe on over her jammies. She'd go now before Faith had a chance to pass out. There was another small thud followed by a giggle as Buffy opened her door, but by the time she peered into the darkness of the hall Faith's door was shut. She tiptoed to it and knocked gently. There was no answer, but she could hear Faith moving around inside the room. She knocked again.

"Faith, I know you're in there. Can we talk please?" Buffy whispered, waiting patiently in the cold corridor for an answer. It didn't come. "Faith please? I really need to speak to you and I can't sleep so it has to be now."

There was some muttering from behind the door that Buffy couldn't make out so she leaned her ear to the wood and listened closely, but all was quiet again.

"Faith!"

There was light coming from under the door, but what if she'd fallen asleep already? Maybe Buffy should just let her sleep. Obviously Faith was dealing with Buffy ‘blowing it' by drinking and so she'd probably had a hell of a lot and Buffy would get no sense out of her tonight anyway. In fact if Faith was that drunk she was equally as likely to turn violent as she was to turn sappy. A fight really wasn't going to improve things between the Chosen Two and it would wake everyone up and look how well that had gone the night before.

Buffy backed up from the door a little, but a noise from inside drew her closer again. What if Faith was so drunk that she had passed out face up? She might be sick and then she would die and Buffy would never get to say sorry and make it up to her. It would be just like Faith to get the last word like that.

"Faith, I'm coming in, okay? I just need to check that you're not going to drown in your own sick and then if you like I'll leave you alone again." Buffy put her hand on the doorknob and turned it. "But I need you to know that I'm really, really..."

Faith was kneeling on the floor, naked from the waist down and staring at Buffy completely annoyed. "You sure know how to kill the mood, don't ya B, coming in here talking about puke."

Buffy was too busy staring at the brunette's bare lower half to answer. If Cordy had still been alive, Buffy could have finally told her that: ‘Yes, that was Faith's natural hair colour.' Buffy licked her lips and waited for the heart attack she could feel approaching. She'd never actually looked at another girl's pu...bit, before. She probably shouldn't be now.

Faith was still looking beyond pissed. "Do you mind?"

Actually not at all, Buffy wanted to answer, which in itself freaked her out a little.

"So is she gonna, like, join in or whatever? ‘Cause I have absolutely no complaints about that."

Buffy looked away from Faith and at last registered they weren't the only two in the room. "Who the hell are you?"

He held out his hand politely. "I'm Brad, and you, if you don't mind me sayin', are gorgeous!"

Buffy, completely stunned, almost shook his hand, but Faith pulled her top off and she and Brad both got distracted. She was looking at Faith completely naked. Wow. Faith was naked. Brad was looking at Faith being naked. That was kind of anti-wow.

She watched, helpless to do anything but, as Faith surged forward on her knees and kissed the guy hard on the mouth, bowling him over backwards in the process. Without looking up, she said gruffly: "I've got company at the moment, B, so unless whatever you want involves monsters can you save it for morning."

Faith's hands were busy working on Brad's fly. "You mean she's not staying?"

Faith shrugged and looked back up at her. "You can if you want, but you gotta lose the clothes."

Buffy back-stepped. Just what was Faith suggesting here? Okay so she knew exactly what she was suggesting, but oh my God. "I...I...I..."

Faith smirked. "Didn't think so." Her hands were still busy and as an excuse to look away from her mocking expression, Buffy's eyes landed on them. Oh my God! She had Brad...out and was...

Buffy tore her eyes away and swallowed. She couldn't believe this was happening to her. She'd only wanted to see if Faith was alright. Well she'd ‘seen' more than she'd bargained to. And as far as Brad was concerned, more than she'd ever wanted to. "I have to go."

"B, wait up." She almost had the door closed when Faith's harsh whisper stopped her.

"Look Faith, I appreciate the offer, but I don't think I'm really ready for a threesome just yet."

Faith laughed at that and Brad seemed pretty amused too, the bastard. How petty would it really be if she just dumped his well toned ass out of the window?

Still grinning widely Faith pushed her front half under her bed, giving Buffy, and Brad, a very nice view of her back half. Re-emerging quickly with a silver papered box in one hand, she deftly flipped it to Buffy. "Your Christmas present. I still hadn't wrapped it earlier." Buffy caught it and turned it over in her hands, admiring the neat edges of the paper and pretty italic lettering of her name. "Shut the door on your way out."

"Thanks." Buffy looked up as she uttered her appreciation, but Faith was now straddling Brad and things were heating up to an all new level.