1.

There he was, standing by the window, although he didn't know why he was even there. At one point, yes, he had loved the woman inside and she loved him, but there was nothing for him now anyway. She was smiling and laughing with her friends and he was here. Maybe she thought he was still dead after the incident that had burned him to death, after all. Maybe that was it. Would he have the guts to tell her he was still alive? Would he be able to tell her that he thought about her almost every waking second of his life?

Spike shook his head.

She won't love you the way she could love someone else, a voice in his mind told him. She won't love you the way she could love a human.

Maybe that was the issue. Maybe it was because he wasn't human that they couldn't be together, but maybe, just maybe, there was a chance. He wouldn't know if he never tells her, but the main question was if he could stand in front of her again and speak to her.

Buffy, he thought as he placed a hand on the glass. It was cold to the touch, but it was winter, so it was expected. He watched as they began to sit around the Christmas tree they had put up. He remembered then that Joyce use to make them wait all of Christmas day to open their presents after supper as not to spoil their supper with all the candy they got and it looked like Buffy held on to that tradition. Maybe she always would.

It had been years since Spike had seen Buffy and he thought she had only gotten more beautiful over those years. Her hair was longer, reaching to her lower back and her eyes shined just the way they always did. Spike and Buffy had a love/hate relationship going on for awhile, but now… While looking at her, he only felt the love. It wasn't love at first sight as when he first saw her, he wanted to kill her. It was his task as a vampire. He had to kill the slayer, but as the world spun and the seasons changed, he watched as Buffy fell in love with his sire, Angel. Angel was dead now. There was nothing stopping him for taking Buffy in his arms and keeping her there forever.

Yeah, his mind raced again. There's nothing stopping you, so why the bloody hell are you out here in the cold?

He wanted to hit himself over the head and make the voice stop. He couldn't give her what she wanted, so why would he even bother interrupting her life? She looked happy as she tilted her head back and laughed at something Red had said.

Red. Willow Rosenberg was there and in her arms was a baby. The pink blanket indicated it was a girl, but surely Red was still more interested in women than men, so who did this baby belong to? Surely Buffy didn't have a baby, but he had been gone so long that it wouldn't surprise him if she really had moved on from a life of loving those who belonged to the darkness of the world. That's what he and Angel were. They were creatures of darkness unworthy of this woman's love, but the baby in Willow's arms hit a soft spot in Spike. What made it worse was the man who came and sat behind Buffy and wrapped his arms around her waist. With an eye patch on his eye it wasn't hard to recognize him.

Xander Harris made it look like he owned Buffy at that moment. Her body was his and he seemed unwilling to let her go. Spike's heart sunk as he removed his hand from the glass and backed away. Although he did this, he could see Xander trailing his hands over Buffy's back, giving her a massage. It was painful to watch.

"Had enough?" a male voice asked him. When he turned around he saw probably one of the few humans that scared him. Rupert Giles pushed his glasses higher onto his nose with one hand and clenched a stake in another. Buffy's watcher, her old watcher here, didn't like to play games.

"I love her," Spike told the other British man.

"That doesn't change what you are," Giles replied, lightly lifting the stake.

"Then I will change what I am and prove it to you. To her."

With that, Spike turned, his black leather jacket blowing out a little, making his descent into the dark night even more dramatic.

And how does he plan on doing that? Giles thought to himself. It definitely can't be good.