NOTES: Different format. No more just dialogue in this one.

"Jingle bells, Ares smells, Terry fried an egg. Silia—"

"Finish that sentence and you die." Silia Vanya said in a warning tone of voice. The heroine flipped her long ebony hair over one shoulder and grabbed another tree ornament.

Allison Warren, other wise known as Alli, pouted. "Oh fiiiiine." Her blue eyes sparkled as she grabbed a silver bell off the shelf. "This is pretty! Let’s get this for the tree!"

Silia nodded approvingly. "Good choice. Put it in the basket."

"So why are we buying tree ornaments? Why not just cast a spell?"

"It’s not… special that way. It’s just quick." Silia replied. "I want the house to decorate the tree together. I want a nice sweet holiday."

"Oh. Then why are we letting Ares come?"

"We have to. It’s the Christmas thing to do."

"And that’s why you let Washu come?"

Silia stared at Alli. "I have a special punishment for her."

Alli giggled. "Oh yeah. Who’s cooking?"

"Me, Cat, Stealth and Bobby."

"Do we have a tree topper yet?"

"I told the guys to pick one out."

"…"

"And then I told Buffy to get one."

"Backup plan?"

"Mhm."

__________

"That’s boring."

"It is not! It’s like the one my mom had!"

"It’s too golden."

"Why not get an angel?"

"We are not getting a freaking Angel for the tree."

"You have issues."

"Shut up."

"I say we just use a human head and—"

"NO!"

"What about the mouse dressed as St. Nick?"

"Too girly."

"The moon?"

"It’s cracked."

"It’s also 50% off."

"….."

"I can just make one!"

"Oh and watch it melt on the tree? Then the water will short out the lights, causing a fire which will most likely burn down the house."

"Burning it down is better than what you did to it!"

"THAT WAS WASHU’S FAULT!"

"I’m going to go stand outside Victoria Secret."

"You’re a dirty old man."

"HEY! I’m not old."

"Excuse me gentlemen. Can I help you?"

"NO!"

"Oooookay."

__________

Buffy Summers, the Sunnydale Slayer, tilted her head in thought. "Hmm. I think this one is nice."

"Shee-yeah. It’s nice. If you like boring things you see in an old lady’s house." Jubilation Lee said as she cracked her raspberry bubble-gum.

Washu tapped her foot impatiently. "If Silia would just let me access the lab, I cou—"

"NO!" The girls shrieked at her.

"Um. Keep it down. People are staring at us." Caitlyn Morgan whispered. She pointed to a shelf. "How about that one?"

Buffy nodded slowly. "Oh that’s nice."

"Dude that’s perfect!"

"I have to admit it IS nice in its simplicity."

"I wonder what the guys picked out?"

"Something cheap no doubt."

_________

A couple hours later the unreal household was decorating the tree.

Sort of.

"Don’t put so much garland there!"

"Damn it! Get the angel away from me!"

"Xander…"

"Who ate the popcorn?"

"Mfm mne."

"Terry! You jerk!"

"The tree is too tall."

"It is not!"

"I can shrink it if I—"

"NO!"

"I want some cookies."

"Some one give me some more of those icicles."

"I got them."

"You’re dead ice cube! No one puts ice down my shirt!"

"It wasn’t me this time!"

"Hey. Where’s Sil?"

"I’ll go get her."

"Nope. I will! I have to get more popcorn anyway. Stupid Terry."

"I’m not stupid you little brat!"

Alli stuck her tongue out in reply and then skipped to the library. When she opened the door she was rather shocked to see Silia curled up on a small couch, a bottle in her hand.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying very hard to get drunk." Silia took a long drink from the bottle in her hand. "I removed the protection spells I had on me."

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"Um… okay… Are you okay?" Alli asked in concern.

Silia let out a dry laugh. "Alli, my dear child, if I were alright I wouldn’t be drinking."

"Can I do anything?"

"No. I’m just letting the past few years finally get to me in one rush." Silia sighed and waved at her ward, "Go. Have fun. Leave me to my misery. Please?"

Alli blinked back tears, knowing exactly why Silia was drowning herself. "Okay. I’ll tell the others you crashed early."

"You do that."

Alli stepped out of the library and closed the doors behind her slowly. She brushed the back of her hand across her eyes.

"Everything okay?"

Alli jumped at the voice. She turned to see Stealth and Buffy standing next to her. Allison placed a grin on her face. "Peachy! Sil’s gonna crash early though. Lots of stuff to do tomorrow ya know. I’m gonna get some cookies. You guys want some?"

Buffy shook her head. "No thanks."

"Suit yourself." Alli said with a shrug. She skipped away singing her version of jingle bells.

"Everything is NOT peachy." Buffy said.

"Obviously. But it’s not really our business." Stealth replied.

"… We should do something."

"What? We don’t know what’s wrong."

"Still… It’s Christmas…"

"And a merry holiday it is."

That’s how it would have been if Silia decided to get drunk.

Unfortunately… Alli found her stash of wine and ale first.

What really happened…

"Where’s Alli?"

"I’ll go get her."

"I’ll come with."

And so, the door to the library was opened once more.

Silia and Xander stepped in to the library, and were struck blind by the smell of fruit and elven blossoms.

Xander flipped on the light switch. "What the heck is that smell?"

"That would be my collection of elven wine." Silia said and strolled over to her desk.

Stretched out on top of it was Alli in her seventeen year old form and wearing a red and white santa type dress. She was grinning drunkenly and giggling. "Oh hi! What’s going on? Did I miss much?"

"Um... You missed Ares chasing around Bobby." Xander said. He looked at Sil questionably.

*Xander, can you give us a minute?* Silia asked him, via her telepathy. *My yelling, well, it’s not going to be pretty.*

Xander nodded. "Any way, I better get back. I plan on standing under the mistletoe until Buffy walks by. See you later Alli."

As soon as Xander shut the doors, Silia snatched the bottle from Alli’s hand. "What the hell do you think you’re doing?"

Alli giggled. "Getting all happy! It’s fun! Wanna try?"

"No thank you. Why in the world did you do this?"

"I’m booooooored."

"You got drunk to ease your boredom?"

"Mhm! Can I have the wine back? Please?"

"Ugh." Sil groaned. "No you may not. I want you to march up to your room and sleep this off. NOW."

Alli pouted but stood up slowly. She wobbled a bit but didn’t fall. "Aww kay."

Silia watched her ward wander to the door with a frown.

At that moment Stealth and Buffy chose to walk by.

"I’m telling you, armor wouldn’t have helped with Glory."

"It would too."

Buffy sighed. "Hello? She was a demigoddess. Magic. Power. You’d have gotten your ass kicked."

"I still say—" Stealth stopped short as the library doors swung open and Alli stepped out giggling.

"Oh Hi!" Alli laughed. "Ohh Stealthy boy!" Alli practically pounced on Stealth and gave him a kiss. "You’re cute!"

With another drunken laugh Alli stumbled away, leaving a very freaked out Stealth and a laughing Buffy behind.

Stealth turned to Buffy. "You tell NO ONE."

Buffy could only nod her head as she grabbed her sides in her fit of laughter.

"Stealth," Silia said in a dry tone as she stepped out of the library. "Don’t you know she’s jailbait?"

Buffy let out another laugh. "First Sil throws her self at you now Alli!! Either you have some major sex appeal or else bad taste runs in the family!"

Stealth sighed.

Silia frowned.

Buffy shut up real fast.

______

That night… as everyone slept…

"I am the ghost of Christmas past. I’m here to…"

Ares glared. "I’m the god of war. Go away."

"But I—"

There was a loud crash as Ares threw a fireball at the spirit. "Let me sleep." He growled.

The spirit gulped. "Oh. Quite right. I must have the wrong house. Merry Christmas."

__________

Ah... Christmas morning. The tree was decorated in lovely ornaments and at the top of the tree was a beautiful crystal star. And sitting around it snatching presents was… well... everyone.

"Oh that’s mine!"

"Since when do you wear pink underwear?"

"OH! Someone got me a portable cloning machine!"

"Anyone want to trade?"

"Can you please stop shouting?"

"NO WE CAN’T ALLI!"

"That’s it. You are soo dead bats. "

And in the kitchen the four cooks could hear the following crashes and thuds.

"Kick him!"

"Aim higher!"

"We could make this even better if we go to the lab and—"

"NO!"

Silia rolled her eyes as she stirred a pot of green rice. "Oh brother. I love Christmas. Don’t you?"

"Christmas is great." Bobby said. He put a pumpkin pie in the oven. "I remember this one year, I was with the X-men and Jubilee pulled the fantastic prank on Betts. She took this bottle of super glue and got a hold of Betsy’s uniform and then she…"

Cat chuckled. "I think I see where this is going."

"Didn’t it hurt?" Stealth asked distractedly.

Bobby grinned. "Like hell. But Jubilee said it was the most well earned telepathic blast she ever earned."

The kitchen crew laughed and continued to work .

Stealth checked on the turkey and ham and then leaned against the counter. "You know, I can handle all of this."

"But where would the fun be in that?" Silia said. She hopped over to Stealth and tussled his hair. "If we let you do all the work, I can’t cause anyone food poisoning!"

"And then I won’t have any willing guinea pigs." Cat added.

Stealth tried to straighten his hair and frowned at them. "Funny. What about you? No special reason, Drake?"

"Not really. I just get to be in the kitchen with the good looking girls."

"Such a sweet talker." Cat smiled. "No wonder you managed to pick up the pants woman."

Bobby shuddered. "Never mention Opal. She’s evil."

"Anyone with pants like that is evil." Stealth muttered as he recalled a photo of the mutant’s ex.

_____________

And so the gang gathered for the bountiful Christmas feast that had been prepared by hard work and lots of magical cheats. Everyone was all dressed to the nines and looked like they belonged on a Christmas card.

A deranged card, but a card none the less.

Quinn lifted his wineglass in a toast. "So what should we toast to?"

"I’d say good friends," Washu began, "But then we have Ares here."

"Hey!"

The others laughed.

Alli stood up, looking innocent in her fourteen-year-old persona. Her hair was down and curled loosely enough to give her hair a slight bounce. She smoothed her green velvet skirt with her hand and smiled shyly. "How about we toast to fate?"

"Um… why?" Jubilee asked.

"Well, I mean, we, as in Silia, Cat and I, our line of superhero work always deals in fate. And it was obviously fate that brought us all together. And if that hadn’t happened, we might not have had the well... crazy, but interesting release from our normal lives. Ya know?"

Buffy looked thoughtful. "Fate. Yeah. I like it."

Washu held up her glass in agreement. "To fate!"

"To a much needed vacation!"

"To Baywatch!"

"Oh lord."

"Can I throw the stuffing at him?"

"Me first!"

"Someone give me some turkey."

"Pass me the potatoes, please."

Silia watched as everyone began talking and enjoying the meal. She smiled to herself and said a few words of magic.

And the field keeping everyone on this parallel earth was broken.

"What are you smiling at?" Xander asked.

"Nothing." Sil said, "Just glad to have a nice Christmas."