A/N: I've never done any holiday-slash-seasonally themed stories before, so this will be my first one. For Halloween. I plan on doing a Thanksgiving and Christmas one, too; perhaps even New Year's Eve. Fun, right? Anyway, about the fic. I chose to set this in Season Five for several reasons; a) my favorite season, Season Six, already had a Halloween episode, b) honestly, is it necessary to add to the pile of Angel not understanding human traditions? C) Spike was insane in the basement at this point in Season Seven, which would take all the fun out of ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING, and d) I felt as though Riley deserved to be included in the Scooby Gang's holiday festivities.

Posting Schedule: I'm writing this on Tuesday night, the 19th, and I plan to post it on Thursday. I want to do ten chapter and end it on Halloween, so I'll start on the 21st. And you know what that means: you get a fabu chappie EVERY SINGLE DAY! That's better than ice cream topped with honey, whether or not you have money, Lady Gaga.

Warnings: My third-favorite pairing, Briley, is pretty centric in this fic. Additionally, this would be the first Dawn Halloween, so she does exist in this world.

Nice Normal Semi-Holiday

Chapter One

"But I don't think Halloween qualifies as a holiday," Buffy argued, carving a smiley face into her jack-o-lantern. "I mean, the kids aren't even off school."

"But they aren't off school for other holidays," Willow replied. "Do they get Columbus Day?" "Willow, who do you know that celebrates Columbus Day?" Xander pointed out.

Riley snorted. "Elementary school kids do it. They make the little paper machè Nina, Pinta, and Santa Marias."

"I meant out of normal people. Besides kindergarteners, do you know anyone that celebrates Columbus Day? Anyone?"

"My friend Jeff," Dawn piped up from the back, "is strongly opposed to Columbus Day. He's native American and he thinks that it's stupid to pay tribute to someone that 'killed the indigenous culture,' which is totally bogus, but to each his own, I guess."

"Hey, Willow, isn't that why you refuse to celebrate Thanksgiving?" Anya asked.

"Sort of. But I'm not Native American, so… "

Buffy stood up. "I gotta go. Mom told me that she needs some surgery next week, so there's some stuff I need to go home and fill out. Dawn, you coming?"

"Can I stay here?" Dawn pleaded.

Buffy looked at Xander.

"I'll walk her home later," he promised, nodding. Dawn squealed with delight before continuing to work on her pumpkin.

"I'll walk you home," Riley said, standing up.

"No, don't feel like you have to leave on my account. It's really not that big a deal. You know, date of birth; social security. You can stay."

"It's fine."

Once they were in the hallway outside Xander's apartment, Riley confided in her the real reason that he wanted to leave: "It always gets kind of awkward after you leave, if I'm still there. The rest of them are… you know, they're this big group of friends, and I'm just - "

"The best guy in the world," Buffy finished for him, taking his hand. "Silly, I already knew that."

*.*_-_*.*

"Soooo," the blonde drawled in her northern-Georgia accent, "when are we gonna do it?"

"Soon." her sister replied. "We haven't even finished plannin' yet, Margaret."

"I know that! It's just that I'm so bored o' this dumb town. I wanna go back to Vancouver. It was excitin' there. And the climate - "

"I know about Vancouver. I was there, remember?" Diana bent over the stack of papers piled high on the Victorian-style desk. "But we've got it good here. We got a nice place to stay, easy access to all methods of transportation, including airplanes, buses, and trains. And, most of all, we got Immunity here."

Meg groaned. "I guess you're right. But still, whadda ya expect me to do until then? Twiddle my thumbs?"

"Learn to read."