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by Chris Kenworthy (scoobyhq@fcmail.com)
Disclaimer: If it's been on TV, I didn't make it up!
"Okay, um, who's next?" Joyce asked out loud once Cordelia got settled on a chair that got brought in from the dining room.
"My turn!" Faith declared vehemently, bringing out a rather large box. "'To my babe Faith, from Jonny H. Best of the season to ya, lass,'" she read out loud off of the card, and opened. it up. Then she blinked in surprise.
"What the heck?" A totally disbelieving look on her face, Faith pulled a white stuffed bear out of the box, a red heart clutched between its forepaws. Choked giggles exploded from several of the young people in the room - those who knew just how out of character such a present was for Faith. Faith sighed in exasperation and waved the bear around. The heart read 'to show you how much you mean to me' in white letters.
"Hmm, that's kinda weird," Buffy admitted, going over towards Faith. I wouldn't have thought Jonny would..."
"Hey, that compartment doesn't go all the way down," Faith pointed out. Surely enough, there was a good part of the box's volume still unaccounted for. With a little trial and effort, the brunette got the false bottom opened - and gasped in a much more impressed shock.
"Wow," Faith muttered to herself. "It's a work of art." The second gift was an antique crossbow, small enough to be wielded in one hand, pistol-style, yet with a large, powerful bow and a targeting sight.
"Not bad," Buffy admitted with a smile. "Hey, there's a note down in there too." She bent down to pick it up. "'Yeah - like I don't know you, girl. Merry Christmas F.'" Faith was beaming and laughing softly to herself.
(A little later on, still in the living room.)
"Let's see," Cordelia said, bringing out a present and starting to open it. "Hmmm..." From the look on her face, she wasn't expecting much, but she was pleasantly surprised. "Wow!" Carefully, almost reverently, she brought out a simple but elegant silk dress. "Man, Buffy, I wouldn't have thought you were capable of picking out something so stylish!"
"Gee, thanks," Buffy drawled. Most of what Cordelia tended to snipe at her about when it came to fashion, make-up, and hairstyling was just differences of opinion - and of course, the collateral damage of being the Vampire Slayer. "Actually, I had a little help," she admitted, nodding to her mother.
"Well, it's gorgeous - I love it." Cordelia smiled honestly over at Buffy, and that smile made the considerable price of the dress seem worth it. "Thank you so much."
"You're welcome," Buffy replied with a smile, and turned to some of the other gift-giving that was going on. Giles had presented Celia with an original autographed copy of 'A tale of two cities' that she was apparently very impressed with. Willow gave Xander a tabletop candy machine, which he just loved the idea of. Leslie gave Oz a set of tapes - 'The Zen of music.'
Once these and a lot of other gifts had been unwrapped, the party broke up into smaller groups. Oz, Lesley, Faith, and Cordelia started playing video games on Mrs. Summers' computer system, Giles and Celia stayed on the couch, talking together. And Xander gathered up Willow, Buffy, Cole, and Joyce around a game of hearts.
"So, I had a little surprise I wanted to tell you all about," Xander said as Joyce started dealing out the cards for the first hand. "Actually, Mrs. Summers already knows."
"What kinda surprise?" Willow asked him, grinning.
"A trip," Xander said. "Down to a little town on the beach about three quarters of an hour south of here, Pacific shores."
"Oh, I've heard of it," Cole put in. "Gorgeous scenery out there. But... well, why? Where would we stay?? I mean..."
"Why not go off to the beach during a break off of school?" Xander countered with a silly smile. "Uncle Benson and Aunty Mel have a time-share on a beach house, and they're too busy to use it this year."
"Wait a second," Buffy said. "Is this the stodgy taxidermist uncle or the janitor??"
"Neither," Willow put in. "Mel is Xander's mother's sister, and her husband, Benson Roswell, is a bond marketer. They're pretty well off. Their son, cousin Rigby, is the one that Xander borrowed his, um, his homecoming tux from." She was blushing slightly - that was an awkward memory. Her first forbidden kiss with Xander, and all.
"Yeah," Xander agreed. "So they're willing to sublet it to us, for a minimal fee, and there'll be some other expenses, but nothing that would be too hard to cover, splitting everything five ways. What do you think?"
"Um, sounds great and all, but I dunno..." Buffy said, flashing a glance from Xander to Willow, and Cole, and then her mother.
"Yeah," Willow chimed in. "I mean, uh, well..." Once again Joyce was on the recieving end of a speculative stare. "You know I love you, Xander, but going out of town together, for however many days? Isn't it a little soon for that? And you know my parents would never..."
"That's why Mrs. Summers is coming along," Xander affirmed. "To chaperone. I'm sure that your mother wouldn't have any objections to that end of it, Willow, especially since Joyce's own daughter is coming too. She'll hold you to the same standards she does Buffy." Xander shot a sidelong look at Mrs. Summers. "Which I hope will not be so restrictive that we can't have any fun."
"Don't worry," Joyce put in. "I was seventeen once myself, you know."
"Well, I have to say that it sounds great," Cole said. "A dream vacation. You in, Buffy?"
Buffy hesitated only a second. "Sure, I'll go, if it's okay with you mom." She thought. "Is there only room for the five of us? I think that Giles and Celia might like a little vacation too."
"It's a beach house for three, so we're gonna be pushing it a little for five," Xander reported. "Don't worry. Giles will have a break with all of us out of his hair for a little while. Plus, well, we've kinda got a little plan going on about this?"
"What plan??" Willow asked, intriuged.
"To..." Xander also, in his turn, wondered about saying what he was about to say in front of Mrs. Summers, then went ahead. "About the Upriser. We still haven't figured out how to track him down, right? But if he's monitoring anybody's activities, then he's watching you, Buffy. The Slayer, the one who's been here in Sunnydale for years. If you take off, maybe that'll spook him into making his move - and Giles, Celia, and Faith will be right here to catch him in the act of whatever."
Buffy considered cautiously. "Has potential."
Willow broke in, realizing that she needed to voice her support for the plan, since she had never actually told Xander she was going. "So, when do we leave? How long can we stay down there?"
"We leave the day after tomorrow, probably midmorning if we can be ready by then," Xander suggested. "Head back down on new year's eve or the day before, whichever we feel like."
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