The Christmas Hunt

Disclaimer in chapter one.

It's too long between updates I know, but I had loads of work to do!! However hopefully I can get you a few more updates soon as the holidays approach. Watch this space for plenty of fluff and maybe a white Christmas.

Sure enough Buffy returned to an empty house not long after. She sighed walking into the house, kicking her shoes off and removing her coat she dragged herself upstairs to shower. The hot water poured down around her soaking her hair and easing her muscles. The patrol had been fairly normal, a few here and there. Nothing too big and only a few little cuts and bruises. They’d soon heal in a matter of hours.

She rested her head against the warming tiles as realisation struck. The house was far too quiet; there was no way that Faith was still around. So that begged the question, just where the heck was she? She shrugged it off for now, the necessity of cleanliness ever so slightly more important. She stepped out the shower and grabbed a towel for her body. As she took another for her hair, she stood in front of the mirror.

Her face twisted to read the scrawled message in the condensation,

“Shoe box in closet” she read out loud. “What the heck is that supposed to mean?” She left the bathroom drying her hair and made her way to their bedroom.

“Hey Faith, she’s back!” Faith walked back into the room to see the image on the screen, sure enough there was Buffy in a towel doing her hair.

“So I see, hey dude, I think there’s something wrong with your fridge. There’s water every where in the kitchen.” Panic flashed across Xander’s face as he ran from the computer. He came back five minutes later fairly flushed.

“Faith, did you just put water on the floor in the kitchen?” He was scratching his head with a confused look.

Faith looked up at him innocently, but soon broke into a fit of laughter. “Yeah, yeah I did.” Xander tried to look annoyed. “Dude there is no way I’m sitting here and letting you watch her dress while I’m here!! It’s just eugh!” Xander laughed.

“You know you could just say, rather than playing some stupid prank!” She shrugged her shoulders as they sat to watch a fully clothed Buffy fix her hair. “Do you think she got your message?” Buffy was on her hands and knees in front of the closet throwing things aside until she found a small black box.

“Yeah I think so.” The grin on the blonde’s face was as clear as day to the two watching the screen. She sat on the bed with the box as if it was Christmas already.

Buffy slowly opened the box expecting something present ish in the box. The childlike grin fell from her face as she looked inside. Before here was a pair of Faith’s old biker boots and attached was a small post-it note.

“Want those presents B?? You’re going to have to work for them; by completing the tasks I have set for you, you can open one present per task. So, a nice easy one to start, could you polish these for me??” Buffy threw the box down on the bed and pouted at no one in particular. Faith was grinning back at Xander’s.

“You think she’ll do it?” Xander wasn’t quite so convinced that Buffy would play ball on this one.

“Dude, she has turned the house upside down and inside out looking for these presents. It’s driving her mad, it’s great!! She’s far too curious to turn up the opportunity.” The two chinked beer bottles in a toast to Faith’s rare moment of ingenuity.

However their toast was short lived. They spent the night watching the screen as Buffy padded around the house doing nothing in particular. She had left the shoes on the bed and never returned to the room again that evening. By the time midnight rolled around Buffy had tucked herself up in bed alone.

Faith had left Xandar’s apartment disheartened, and what’s worse, she knew she was in trouble because Buffy hadn’t waited up for her.

“Gotta do something to take the heat off, but what? She’s gonna be too pissed for making out, and scratch any other plans I had tonight. Damn her pride, what’s a little boot polish.”

But she still knew she had to do something else Buffy probably wouldn’t talk to her till New Year let alone Christmas. As she walked back through the park her eyes lit up at the sight of a rose bush basked in the light of the street lamps. Pulling her knife out of her boot she cut the solitary flower from the bush and carefully placed in inside her jacket.

As she walked up to the front door her heart sank as she read a note nailed to the door. Buffy had locked her out.

“Well Faith time to take some of your own medicine. If you think I’m going to be some suburban house wife you can think again. So tonight you can sleep somewhere else, and don’t even think about breaking in or you can spend Christmas somewhere else.”

Shit

Buffy was steamed; it was only supposed to be a stupid little game. Now she had nowhere to go, well she could ask around but her ego was bruised enough already. She posted the rose through the letter box and curled up on the porch. It would be dawn in a few hours; she’d been through worse in her time. She drifted into sleep thinking of ways to make it up to her.

Sure enough the sun rose a few hours later as Buffy awoke to an empty house. She rolled over in their bed and was shook awake to the empty void that should have been Faith. Her worry was soon replaced as she remembered why Faith wasn’t there, but she couldn’t ignore the little voice that asked her, why hadn’t Faith tried to get in?

She threw some clothes on and searched the house just in case; she was going through her little speech she was going to yell at her girlfriend. There was no sign in the living room or the kitchen, as she reached the front door she saw something on the floor. A small perfectly formed rose, dark crimson and a little cold but it still smelt so sweet.

As she opened the front door she dropped the flower as her hands rose to cover the gasp that tried to escape her mouth. In front of her lay Faith, small but perfectly formed dark and a little cold. Buffy ignored her temper and scooped the woman up in her arms. All that anger fell as she tried to get Faith warm; she placed her on the sofa and grabbed a blanket. She covered the sleeping girl in it before she stoked up the fire.

“What does she think she’s doing, scaring me half to death? She can’t turn this on me,” Buffy ranted to herself as she busied herself in the kitchen trying to make something warm to give to Faith. She came back into the room a few minutes later with some chicken soup and hot coco.

She placed the steaming mug and bowl on the coffee table as she sat on the sofa with Faith. She was so cold, but a little colour was returning to her face. “Faith, honey can you hear me?” Buffy was stroking the soft skin of Faith’s cheek trying to gently bring her round.

“Morning B” Came the croaked reply as she opened and closed her eyes in an effort to wake up.

Buffy suppressed the urge to leap of the sofa and unleash the torrent of anger at her. But just looking at her, wrapped in the blanket so cold and helpless, it melted her heart.

“B, I’m sorry, I…” Buffy placed a finger over her lips.

“Shh, apologies later, you need to eat.” Buffy gently fed Faith the warm mix one spoon at a time. Faith was dosing in and out of sleep by the time she finished the soup. “Come here sweetie,” Buffy lifted the blanket and lay beside her, resting it back down again she pulled the younger girl to her as they lay by the open fire.