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“Enjoying yourself?”
Faith turned from the bar to her sister Slayer with a raised eyebrow. “Oh yeah, B; what’s not ta enjoy? I mean, there’s Red, who’s been tryin’ ta death-glare me inta an early grave. X-man, who blushes every time he looks at me. The brat, who looks like she’s tryin’ ta decide whether or not she’d get away with punchin’ me – she wouldn’t, by the way – Oh! An’ let’s not ferget Giles who looks almost as uncomfortable about me bein’ here as I feel,” she flashed Buffy a lackluster grin, “So, yeah. Big fun here,”
Buffy leaned back on her heels, crossing her arms as she fixed the dark Slayer with an almost expectant look. “Aren’t you forgetting someone?”
“Who, Andrew?” she asked with a frown, “I was doin’ that for his sake,” she took a sip off her glass, “An’, really, who else is there? The baby Slayers’re barely worth mentionin’,”
The blonde tilted her head to the side though her expression never wavered, “I meant me,” she deadpanned.
“Oh,” Faith blinked, looking almost genuinely surprised at the correction, “Well, haven’t seen ya much. First time ya haven’t been busy all night,”
She laughed, “All I’ve been ‘busy’ doing is standing there,” she said, pointing to where the bulk of the group had converged, “Not more than twenty feet away,”
Faith, having followed her gaze, frowned even as she returned her eyes to the blonde, “Not alone,”
“No,” she agreed, “But you were welcome. You always are,”
She ducked her head, eyes lingering on the half-full glass in her hand. “Maybe in yer book, B,” she said, downing the last of its contents before catching the bartenders’ attention and nodding for a refill. “But not in theirs,”
“Since when do you worry about what other people think?”
Hand full of Jack once more, she faced her lighter counterpart with narrowed eyes, “Don’t play coy with me, Buffy,” she hissed, “We both know why I care. Why I put up with all…this,” she waved her free hand vaguely towards the rest of the party, “An’, despite how nice the spread is, it ain’t the open bar,”
Buffy laid an open hand on her shoulder and squeezed, running her fingers down arm only to entwine their fingers. “I know,” she said softly and, if she noticed the way the brunette relaxed, almost instantly, at the sound, she gave no indication of it, “And I appreciate it. You know I do,”
“I know,” she said quietly, “Doesn’t always make it easier,”
Buffy turned for a moment, letting her gaze linger on her friends, her family, before giving Faith her full attention, “Do you want to leave?”
The dark Slayer frowned, “These’re yer people, B, I don’t wanna drag ya away; I’m fine here,”
“Not what I asked,” she said, and the small smile tugging at her lips did nothing to lessen the intensity of her gaze. “We can go, right now, if that’s what you want; I’ve more than paid my dues tonight and, frankly, my feet are killing me,” she continued, “Or we can go over there and make nice for a little while. If no one else, Dawn loves you. And so do I,”
She looked away. “I don’t belong here, B,”
“Wrong,” she said, “You don’t belong here, maybe,” she amended, looking pointedly down at their feet, “But over there?” her eyes flickered to the party, “That is exactly where you belong,”
Slowly, Faith’s eyes moved to her face and, for a long, quiet moment, that’s where they stayed. But Buffy’s expression, a mixture of love and belief and pride, didn’t falter and, slowly, she nodded her approval. “Okay,”
Buffy beamed and, with their hands still wound together, started towards the rest of her family. Conversation wavered as they approached but, as she leaned back into Faith’s arms, the blonde Slayer offered a deadly glare to each of her friends and, quite suddenly, the noise level returned to normal.
It wasn’t a perfect evening.
Andrew set the bar on fire trying to drink something called a Flaming Lamborghini and Xander kept trying – and failing – to come up with a pirate joke that made everyone (anyone) laugh. But, with the memory of Faith’s arms around her, a smile tugging at full lips as Dawn launched into an impromptu rendition of the Twelve Days of Christmas, Buffy had no choice but to consider the first annual Slayer HQ Christmas Bash a resounding success.