Vignettes

Chapter 4: Happy Birthday Drusilla

Xander was going to need to take a breather from all the breathing he was doing. He had been filling balloons with his hot hair and placing them on the floor while Spike finished trying to cover the table with the brightly colored paper tablecloth. The other vampires were still sleeping and Faith took Drusilla to a fun center to keep her occupied while Xander and Spike got everything ready for her birthday.

"Going all out I see," Spike commented as he taped the corners together.

"Yeah," Xander gasped and took another sip from his soda. "This is her first birthday celebration since she became human again. We have to make it special."

"This might work," Spike said.

"What do you mean might?" Xander asked. He and the others had been planning for this day for a while.

"It could actually please the child inside her. Then again she might feel it could be too childish. She is not as predictable as you may think she is."

"You saw how she wanted to decorate the place for New Years."

"She has many phases. Of course now that she is human again she is going to be extremely polite about it. All about pleasing the lord and being a good girl."

"We should of asked what she wanted."

"And ruin the surprise?" Spike blinked. "Grab the tape. We have balloons to put up."

Xander snapped off several pieces of tape and placed them on his fingertips before he handed it to Spike. He secured five balloons in one corner of the dining room. He thought about what Spike had just told him. Dru had her whims and she was full of surprises. He was also beginning to see that she wasn't fragile as the porcelain dolls she used to play with.

"Do we even have the right day?" Xander asked. "I know yesterday's was Buffy's birthday as well and we need to call her but is today really Dru's birthday or was it the day she was sired." They would have celebrated yesterday except they had to stop a group of vampires from trying to summon a tarasque. The large beast had been shrunk down to the size of a beagle and was tamed by Drusilla.

"You know I'm not really sure and if you ask her she probably won't know either."

"It has been a long time." Xander snapped off a few more pieces of tape and went to another corner to add more balloons.

"She might not remember they day of her real birth but she remembers being in Heaven," Spike said sadly as he put up the balloons in the last corner. "She remembers and Buffy remembers but I don't."

"Do you think you deserved to go there?" Xander asked.

"I was a good man before I was a sired. My soul went somewhere. How is it that they can remember and I can't?"

"Angel didn't remember either," Xander reminded him. "Drusilla is psychic and Buffy's a Slayer."

"That's right," Spike said with a smile. "Angel and I were just normal blokes."

"Lets just finish up. The kids will be here soon, Ed and Charley will be up and Faith will be back with Dru."

"They are coming," Xander said when he heard a car door close. "Everyone be quiet and who is closest to a light switch?"

"I am," Ronnie said.

"Ronnie get the lights," Xander instructed. "I think you all will know the drill by now."

The house went dark and everyone crouched down or hid somewhere. Xander decided to stand in the middle and held out his arms. He was certain Ronnie was also standing next to the light switch.

The door opened and both Dru and Faith walked inside. Even in the darkness Xander could see that both women were confused.

The lights went back on.

"Surprise," Xander lead the group. "Happy birthday Drusilla."

Drusilla stared at them all in a mixture of shock and glee. "You remembered. You remembered my birthday."

"You guys are not going to sing?" Faith asked and looked disappointed. "What's up with that?"

"Can't sing without the cake," Rissa told her. "You bring out the cake with all the candles and you sing."

"Before cake we have dinner," Xander added.

"It's beautiful," Drusilla said when they entered the dining room. "All the colors are happy."

"And the birthday girl sits at the head of the table," Xander said as he pointed to the one chair that had balloons taped to the corners of the upper back. "Spike, you pull the throne out for the princess."

"I'm a princess," Drusilla said with a smile.

"You are always a princess to me, pet," Spike said as he pulled the chair out. As soon as Drusilla sat down he pushed her chair in. "And of course your crown." He placed the silver sparkly tiara that was placed in front of her plate on top of her head.

"Hat's on folks," Xander instructed as put on his party hat.

"Oh come on," Ed said as he picked up his. "Do I have to wear this?"

"Yes," Xander, Spike and Charley said at the same time.

"Seriously?" Ed asked and pointed to the happy clown pictured on it.

Rissa held up her hat. "You see I'm going to wear it. If someone like me is going to wear it then you can wear it."

"Spike is also wearing his," Ace pointed out. He was proudly wearing his party hat and sat on the stool that was brought out for him.

"You are wearing your hat," Spike said to the idiotic vampire. "This is Dru's day, or evening and you are going to wear a very cheerful hat for her."

"Please," Drusilla said as she bat her lashes. "Do it for me?"

"Anything for a princess," Ed said and put on his party hat.

"Tonight's dinner will be courtesy of Taco Bell," Xander said as he grabbed the large plate full of tacos from the counter and brought it to the table. "The birthday girl has first grabs."

"Thank you, Xandy," Dru said as she grabbed a couple.

The plate was passed around until everyone had a few tacos, even the vampires grabbed one each for themselves. They ate the food along with chips and dip and pretzels.

Once the tacos were devoured Xander brought out the cake. He went for the standard yellow cake with chocolate frosting and had the store decorate it to look like a fantasy castle with fairies. He had put in a few candles and everyone sang happy birthday to Dru.

"Can't tell anyone or it won't come true," she said after she had blown out the candles.

"Faith, can you get the ice cream?" Xander asked as he cut up the cake. He had bought Neapolitan ice cream just for this day.

"No prob," Faith said as she went to get the ice cream.

"This is going to my hips," Lyra said.

"You'll always have cute hips," Charley told her. "That did not sound perverted in my head."

"Either way I appreciate the comment."

"With all that slaying and training you are doing you don't have to worry about calories," Ronnie told her.

"And when we are done we have a few games to play," Xander said. He was proud as he thought of them.

"First game is pretty standard," Xander said as he led the group outside to where a traditional donkey piñata was hanging. "We have stick and blindfold and you know the rest. Birthday girl goes first."

Drusilla held up her hair as Spike tied on her blindfold. She grabbed the long broom handle that had been removed from the broom. As soon as everyone stepped back she swung. She was able to hit the piñata three times, not a single miss.

"Good job," Spike told her as soon as she removed the blindfold while everyone else clapped.

"Are you next?" Dru asked him.

"Sorry love, the regular humans are first and then it will be us vampires and then the Slayers."

"Xandy is next?" Dru asked.

"Sure," Xander said and had Faith tie on the blindfold for him. He swung at where the thought the donkey was and missed. He swung again and hit it and then swung once more.

Ronnie and Rissa were next. Both girls also missed once and were able to land two good hits. Ace went after them and he missed twice and hit once. Tyler was able to hit the piñata three times.

"No fair," Ace told him. "You were using your Jedi ninja skills."

"If the bloodsuckers are going to be using their super strength and the Slayers their abilities then I can use what I got," Tyler said. He pressed his hands together. "I have harnessed my Chi and it guides me."

"Step aside chi chi boy," Ed said after Charley had put the blindfold on him and given him the stick. The vampire missed twice and but struck on the third swing that left a loud crack.

Charley was next and only missed once before he landed two good swings. Spike was able to hit it all three times.

"Leave me something, Little Star," Faith said as Lyra went up to bat.

"I'll try, Big F," Lyra said. She missed once and struck twice. The second hit left a tiny tear.

Faith was able to hit it all three times and she hit it hard. On the second hit a few pieces of candy spilled out. On the third she had nearly bisected it and several more pieces came raining down.

"Bring it down, baby," Spike told Dru.

Dru only had to hit it twice before all the candy fell and the piñata was in two pieces and on the ground

"Gather it up as much as you can folks," Xander said. "We got a couple of more games."

The second game was held inside and it was the traditional pin the tail on the donkey. Everyone got to be spun around three times before they walked forward and stuck the donkey tail that everyone had written their names on close to the donkey's backside. Ed's was closest.

"Not surprised," Spike said as Ed was rewarded universal gift card. "Figured one ass would know how to find the ass of another ass." He took a long drink from his beer.

"You just wanted to say that because of how many times you can fit ass in there," Xander said.

"You can never have too much ass," Spike said while he smiled.

"Let's not speak any more shall we?" Xander asked. "Time to move on to the last game."

The last game was a real simple one. Everyone had to stand at a certain place and throw three buttons into a cup. Only Ace and Faith were able to get all three buttons into the cup and during the tie breaker the cup was moved up a couple more inches. Faith was able to get two inside but Ace was able to get all three.

"You the man," Tyler told him and held up his fist.

"Ever have any doubt?" Ace asked as the two exchanged a fist bump.

"With this kind of game? Hell no."

"Uh-" Xander stared but Spike had cut him off.

"How did you do that?" Spike asked.

"Always good at games like these," Ace said. "You should see me at a carnival."

"Can't wait to see you at one," Rissa told him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

After they rewarded Ace his gift card they gathered around to watch Dru open her presents. Her first gifts were from out of town. She received a few checks from Buffy and Giles and Willow got her gift certificate from a day spa. Angel had sent her a new doll.

"She's so pretty," Drusilla said as she held it up. The doll had golden curls and wore a powder blue dress.

"What are you going to name her?" Lyra asked.

"She already has a name," Dru said as she admired her doll. "She told me her name. It's Pricilla."

Xander had looked over at Spike to see if he was jealous as he handed Dru the gift he got for her, but the British vampire didn't seem to care.

"Oh Xandy," Dru gasped as she held up the dress that Xander bought for her. "It's so pretty."

Faith had gotten her a bubble bath gift set and Ed had given her a set of various flavors of teas. Charley had gotten her a set of hand held gardening tools.

"Somebody told me you plan on planting a pretty flower garden," Charley said to her. "When the weather has warmed up of course."

"I can't wait to plant pretty flowers that won't die," Dru said and opened Spike's present. Inside the box was a sundress with bright colored spots, a wide brimmed sun hat and sandals. "Now I have a pretty outfit for gardening."

The rest of the Avengers have also gone with the gardening theme. Lyra had bought her seeds and a pretty watering can. Ronnie had gotten her a book of gardening and which kind of flowers grew best in Central Florida and at which time of year would be best to plant them. Ace and Tyler got her gift cards to Lowes and Home Depot so she could get pots, fertilizer, potting soil and everything else she might need and Rissa got her set of combination sunblock and scented lotion and a few lip glosses with SPF 30.

"You've been out of the sun for a while," Rissa told her. "It can still be deadly to the skin, but not instantly."

"I've got an idea," Faith said. "Dru can put on her new dress that Xander got her and we can dance."

The music was started as soon as Drusilla came downstairs in her new dress. She immediately went up to Spike and danced with him. Charley danced with Lyra and Rissa and Ace were together. Ed, Ronnie and Tyler just bounced around and grooved to the music.

Xander sat down on the couch and opened up another beer.

"Not dancing?" Faith asked as she sat down next to him.

"Just taking a breather," Xander said.

"Getting too old for this sort of thing?"

"Me too old for dancing?" Xander just stared at her. "I happen to be a dancing machine."

"I've heard."

"Nice that you held back so Dru could get that final hit on the piñata."

"I never hold back."

"I know you have a rep." He took another sip from his bottle as soon as the bottle left his mouth Faith clamped her lips on his.

"You see," she said. "I never hold back."