Auld Lang Syne

Joe's Note: While the first scene and general plot are lifted from Trio Version… the rest is technically unique. Then again, how much can you possibly do with a New Years chapter?


    Stabbing another chicken nugget with her fork, Faith stared at the television. "How come they get cool outfits to kill demons in? I don't know about the cape, but the spandex could be kinda hot…"

    Xander paused with his own spoon halfway to his mouth. Every Saturday morning after patrol, he and Faith would take over the living room for microwave dinners and cartoons. "Because you're a Slayer and they're Power Rangers? Which is also why they have a magic cell phone and you don't?"

    "You think Willow could at least do the magic cell phone for me?" Faith nibbled on her dinner as she pondered that. "Because I can't get reception in a couple of the cemeteries around here…"

    Making a mental note to keep Faith away from Toys 'R Us and/or Willow, Xander poked her with his spoon. "If I see you running around with magically-enhanced kids' toys, I'm going to hit you. And then I'm going to run and hide behind Gwen before you hit me back."

    Faith slapped his spoon away with her fork. "Buzzkill." The two drifted into silence as they ate their… breakfast/dinner/whatever and watched Power Rangers Mystic Force. "Clare and Leelee have some serious sexual tension going there. Do you think Clare's eyes bug out like that when she gets her rocks off?"

    Xander blinked. Then he blinked again. Then he inched away from Faith on the couch. "You scare me sometimes. And no asking Willow for Power Rangers stuff at the party tomorrow."

    "Awwwww."


    "THREE!"

    Xander hugged Gwen closer to his side, surveying the packed room. Thanks to the Wicca Express, every Watcher and Slayer currently employed by the Council (and all of the assorted researchers, magic-users, and other helpers) had been transported to the London estate for a New Year's party. He'd spent the evening catching up with Willow and Buffy, while Gwen made the rounds of the rather diverse crew of Slayers as the Cleveland group caught up with their sister Slayers and showed off their 'supertutor'.

    "TWO!"

    One person who was oddly absented was Illyria. Xander couldn't remember seeing her since… he wasn't really sure. She came and went like a wraith and while he hadn't seen her lately, she wasn't much of a team player anyways and so he wasn't too worried. She'd turn up eventually. Besides, it saved them all from hearing about how she used to celebrate certain passages of time with human sacrifice and other stuff he thought he'd left behind when Anya died.

    "ONE!"

    For the first time in years, it was a pleasant holiday season. They'd lost a record low number of Slayers and Watchers that year, there weren't any major break-ups apart from Robin and Faith… and Faith had already started moving on. Who knew where Robin was. Currently, Faith appeared to be having fun trying to drink Giles under the table.

    Xander wasn't sure who he was rooting for there… Giles drunk was an unknown quantity, but if the Englishman got Faith to drink herself unconscious, it'd keep her from doing anything embarrassing. Which was pretty much a given whenever Faith got tipsy. Maeve didn't look particularly amused with her... female companion's antics, though. It made Xander glad they'd yet to reach the cohabitation stage, or someone would be sleeping on the floor that night.

    "HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

    Turning to Gwen, Xander leaned down for the first kiss of the new year. After a few moments, he tried to pull away but was again remind that when your wife had the power to cling to surfaces, you weren't going anywhere until she was done with you. Opening his eyes, Xander stared past her to watch as Kennedy examined Willow's tonsils and, surprisingly enough, it was Maeve and Faith who exchanged a rather chaste kiss before Faith went back to arguing and drinking with Giles.

    Finally, Gwen released him and they broke apart. "Happy New Years, Xander." Gwen gave him another peck on the lips. "So, what's your New Years resolution?"

    Xander opened his mouth to answer but before he could, one loud voice cut through the noise. "You never go ass-to-mouth, Faith!" The remaining talking in the room died as everyone turned to look at the speaker and Giles grimaced. "Oh bloody hell."

    "Do better than Giles at keeping Faith from embarrassing me?" Xander smirked as Maeve hit Faith with one of the pillows on the couch and the drunken brunette tipped sideways and fell onto the floor. "I think my resolution is to get to know Maeve better."

    Licking her lips, Gwen watched as a hand came up and pulled Maeve down onto the floor, followed by a moan and Giles quickly leaving the area. "Sounds good to me…" Xander raised an eyebrow at his wife's whispered comment, and the redhead gave him an angelic smile. "I didn't say anything!" Uh huh. Right. "My resolution… is to figure out how to balance what I want with not wanting to follow in Peter's footsteps."

    Xander leaned to the side and snagged a flute of champagne off of the table, passing it to Gwen before grabbing one for himself. "Once again, you remind me who the brains of this operation is." Clinking his glass against hers, he held it up to his lips. "Here's to paths walked, and journeys upcoming."

    "Here here."


    Dawn grimaced and pushed Andrew away. Wow. Now she knew what the girls meant when they said someone kissed like a fish. Eww eww eww. "I just kissed you because I didn't want to be the only loser not getting smooched when the ball dropped. You're not getting anything else out of me." Andrew pouted and then opened his mouth to complain but Dawn just pointed. "Go. Away."

    Waiting until Andrew had slunk away, Dawn reached into the little purse she was carrying and pulled out a slim silver flask. She looked both ways to make sure her sister was still occupied sucking face with her Demon of the Month and Xander was distracted with Gwen, before popping the top and taking a long drink. Ugh. Rum was nasty, but it got the Andrew taste out of her mouth.

    "That was pathetic." Dawn to her left and raised an eyebrow. Kelsey just shrugged and took a few steps closer. "That kiss. I mean, that looked like a painful 'twelve year olds at the end of a middle school group date' kiss. Why Andrew?"

    Dawn shrugged in reply as she pondered the very same thing. "Because he was there? And I get enough crap trying to control all the new Watchers because I'm an eighteen-year old girl and I don't want to undercut myself by kissing one of them and adding a whole new dimension of problems?"

    Taking the flask from Dawn, Kelsey nodded before taking a sip. Dawn wanted to protest that the Slayer was way too young and it was wrong… but she wasn't any more legal herself, and she had brought the stuff. "Gah. Gross. I don't know how adults drink this crap." Handing the flask back to its rightful owner, Kelsey took another step closer to Dawn. "So… why didn't you consider any of the Slayers? There's plenty here."

    "Um, in case you haven't noticed? They're girls. And I'm…"

    "…stuck kissing Andrew. Oh yeah, you made the right choice there."

    Kelsey did have a point, Dawn realized. It was only a kiss, as she'd reminded Andrew immediately after. The only Slayers there with boyfriends present were those who were from England or were 'dating' their Watcher. If she had been so desperate for someone to kiss for the night, she could have done a LOT better than Andrew. After all, a peck on the lips for tradition didn't make her a lesbian, right? "I take it you're offering yourself up?"

    Grinning, Kelsey closed the last of the distance remaining between them and pressed herself against Dawn's front. "Or you could go wander around the room using your non-existent gaydar to try and figure out who you could ask for a kiss without embarrassing yourself. Although I think any random kiss-seeking right now would make you seem creepy."

    "Ah. I see what you did there. Talk me into considering kissing a girl, then point out that you're the only option if I want to." Dawn rolled her eyes at the brunette. "Very slick."

    Kelsey gave her a wicked grin and leaned in. "Not yet. Could be later. Depends how good you are."

    That got another roll of Dawn's eyes but before she could rebuke Kelsey for her comment, the younger girl pressed her lips against Dawn's. It was… really not that bad. Dawn closed her eyes and leaned into it, wrapping her arms around Kelsey. Not exactly the spectacular fireworks she was expecting, but it was better than Andrew by a lot.

    One kiss melted into two, which turned into a full on make-out session. It wasn't until a loud cough interrupted them that Dawn realized she had two hands under her clothing that were definitely NOT hers and that she had a Buffy-shaped audience. Blushing darkly, Dawn stammered excuses and pulled away, hurrying out of the room.

    No, a peck on the lips didn't make her a lesbian.

    The fact that she'd just done all that, on the other hand…


AUTHOR'S NOTE: I had originally been editing this to create... well, a similar story that had only about half of the content in common. But I felt that wasn't right for the people who enjoyed this as it was. So I went into a backup, dug out an old document, and restored Tangled Webs as it was. The new version, when ready, will be posted elsewhere on the site.