Xander slid the rough paper along the edge and followed the motion with a gentle swipe of his hand. He frowned slightly at a bit of roughness under his fingers and repeated the motions before smiling in satisfaction.

"'T lovely," Spike observed as he entered the room. In his arms was a large box and a bag dangled precariously from his nimble fingers.

Xander looked up from the large wooden chest with a large grin of pride. "Thanks. Just need to add some stain and a touch of character and it'll be done." Xander eyed the packages Spike had set on the empty workbench nearby. "And what have you been up to?"

"Well..." Spike hedged.

Xander was almost struck speechless when Spike actually shuffled his feet a bit in embarrassment. "Spike?"

Spike squirmed and almost believed he could still blush. He was a vampire dammit. "Still evil ya know!"

Xander frowned at the sudden change in attitude but then nodded slightly. This was normal behaviour for Spike any time he did something which could be considered thoughtful or nice. "Okay. I think we've already established, on more than one occasion I might add, your big bad status as a master vampire. I can give you a list if you want?"

Spike heaved a sigh and rolled his eyes. He didn't know why he even bothered pretending any more. "Doesn't matter, " he said with a wave of his hand before opening the lid of the box.

Xander came over to peer over the vampire's shoulder. "So what ya got?"

"Right. Well, I figured if you were makin' Dawn a hope chest for her sweet sixteen then she'd need somethin' to go in it, yeah?"

"Good idea Blondie. So let me see?"

Spike carefully began removing the contents and showing each item to Xander before carefully placing it on the table. "Mostly traditional stuff," Spike explained, lifting out a set of china plates with a pattern of tiny purple flowers around the edge. A matching serving dish followed and then a tea set. Spike slid the now empty box to the side and carefully removed a lace tablecloth from the bag and placed it reverently next the china. He had a distant, far away look upon his face as he absently stroked his fingers across the delicate pattern.

"That looks really old," Xander said in awe, bringing Spike back from his musings.

"Belonged to Dru."

Xander looked at Spike in surprise. He'd almost expected Spike to say it had been in the family for years or he'd stolen from a family he'd killed a long time ago. Of course, now that he thought about it, that might not be so far from the actual truth. "Dru as in Drusilla? And where did she get it?" Xander quickly had second thoughts about that question. "Do I really wanna know the answer to that? I mean Dawnie isn't gonna be finding Mr and Mrs Smith's blood stains on it, is she?"

"Oi," Spike objected, "not gonna go and give something like that to the little bit. Dru had one as a girl."

Xander looked back at Spike blankly.

"A hope chest," Spike explained, his voice taking on a nostalgic tone. "Was a deep, rich mahogany lined with cedar and dark purple velvet. And yeah, she had some strange things in there. There was a box filled to the top with eyeballs and fingernails next to one of her dolls all tucked up in the folds of her dark green cape but she had other things in there too. Things from her past. Things from before." Spike roused himself from his memories. "Do you think she'll like it?"

Xander considered the items on the table before taking his mate in his arms. "She's gonna love it."

~ Mòran taing ~