Disclaimers: All the characters in this story belong to Joss Whedon.

Chapter 21: Happy birthday

The weather had begun to turn cold as the winter set in and Buffy's birthday was coming up. Joyce had already arranged a party for her for Wednesday, of which she had no idea of. It was Monday. The blonde had busied herself all weekend to try and forget about the tall, bleach blonde and handsome guy that she had feelings for, but she still ended up coming to the same conclusion; there was no getting away from the fact that she had designs on Spike. No suree. Before she even got into school, Buffy was took to one corner by none other than the queen of hookers herself, Cordelia. The brunette smiled wickedly and the blonde rolled her eyes, causing the other teen to snort at her.

"Don't roll your eyes at me...now what makes you think that a blonde haired, skanky looking freak like you stands a chance with someone as gorgeous and athletic as Spike? Coz I'm dying to know," she cackled the last bit.

Buffy bit her lip and looked to the ground. When Buffy didn't reply, Cordelia started to speak again.

"Do you think I'm THAT stupid not to notice the way you look at him? (Buffy looks mortified) you may have super strength but I'll be damned if I let you get your grimy little hands on him...PERIOD, I will fight you tooth and nail for him, he wouldn't look at you twice, let alone once! and just so you know...I always get what I want,"

The slayer was fuming but worried. She knew Cordelia was right, there was no chance he would ever be with her. Not in a million years. She was that furious that was going to retort. Cordelia had better watch her space.

"I may be a freak but at least I don't look halve as skanky as you,"

The blonde scowled at her and she had a look of disbelief across her face.

Dinnertime had come and Spike was sitting around one of the tables with his friends, Oz and Devon. Devon grinned at him and winked.

"Hey nice catch at the bronze the other night...Cordelia Chase, what a hottie! How I would love to get in the sheets with her!" he exclaimed.

Both of the teens stared at him.

"What?"

"While Cordelia is a hottie, she isn't the one I like,"

"Please tell me you're not still hooked on Drusilla...Spike?" Oz questioned his best friend and noticed he was staring off into the distance.

He was watching Buffy. He smiled slightly as she laughed at something Xander had said.

"Spike!"

He snapped his head towards them and frowned.

"What?" he barked

Devon held his hands up at his biting tone.

"Whoa dude, he was only asking...so, do you or do you not still have feelings for and want Dru?"

Spike sighed. He ran his hand through his hair.

"If I was to say I didn't love her any more then I would be lying, I still have feelings for the chit but it's not her...now if you two don't bloody mind I would like to finish my lunch (waves his apple at them and takes a bite) without the interrogation,"

Across the dining room were the scooby gang. Xander had just cracked a joke about the way Cordelia was dressed because he noticed that the slayer wasn't her normal self, yet again. Buffy couldn't help it. An uncontrollable giggle came from her, which caused Willow and Xander to laugh along with her. The cordettes entered and they all scowled at Buffy. The smile was wiped straight off her face as Cordelia herself breezed past them. Her friends didn't find it unusual that she was being a cow but the way the brunette looked at the slayer was more than pure hatred in her eyes.

"What's her problem?" Xander exasperated

Willow shrugged and Buffy sighed, miserably. The red head looked at her friend.

"Buffy, don't let her get to you...she's not worth it,"

The Boy nodded his head in agreement.

"Yeah Buff, she ain't even worth a piece of chewing gum that got stuck on my shoe,"

She was still miserable. Buffy had enough of all this bitching from Cordelia, her going on how she wasn't good enough for Spike. She wasn't stupid, she knew that he would never see her in that way. Also her friends bitching about Cordelia was getting her down. Yeah ok, she did deserve it but there was more important things in life that feuds, like slaying! She fiddled with her ice cream and remained quiet. Xander huffed and sat closer to Buffy. He began to pull funny faces at her in an effort to cheer her up, but it only served to annoy her. She frowned and shoved him lightly on his shoulder.

"Stop it Xander, I'm not in the mood,"

"Well you don't say," now his voice was dripping with sarcasm.

The blonde took her tray and stood up.

"Look, I'll see you guys in class I just need some air,"

"Buffy-" Willow tried to call after her but she had already walked off.

Spike watched from a distance.

She was sat alone at the fountain and just watched all the people go by. Buffy was glad to be out of that cafeteria. Away from Cordelia and god even away from her friends, just for a short while. She opened her bag and took out her sketchbook and a pencil and began to draw. He stood a few metres away from her at first and studied her. Although it was crisp and cold the sun still shone on her and made it look as if she was made out of sunshine. What the hell is going on with you? You're turning into a soddin' poof! Let's try this again, this is Buffy Summers, the thorn in your side...but I can't seem to take my mind off her he thought. He saw Buffy take out her pad and begin to draw so he made his way over, quickly and quietly and stood behind her. Spike squinted his eyes to try and make out what she was drawing. In the end he just gave up that idea and went for asking her out straight.

"That's a nice (squints again) tree you got there,"

Buffy swiftly turned to the husky, British voice and quickly stuffed her pad back into her bag. He sat next to her hastily to try and stop her from putting it back in.

"No, don't put it away! I wasn't making fun...honest,"

She rolled her hazel eyes at him.

"Yea and I'm Sharon Osborne, look If you've come here to poke fun then get it over and done with,"

He frowned at her in disbelief. Why would he make fun of her?

"Why would I do that, love?" he questioned her with a raised brow.

"I dunno (shrugs) just seems that a lot of people are doing that recently, Cordelia, Harmony...Drusilla even said something the other day, about me being all shallow and I just thought you'd be jumpin' at the chance to make my life even worse," she said in a matter of factly way.

He cringed at hearing his ex's name and tutted slightly and shook his head at her.

"I'm through with all that, besides I think if we were at each other's throats it might drive my dad potty,"

She smiled slightly. Spike smiled along with her. Her friends tried to put a smile on her face and it only served to annoy her but Spike makes one silly comment about his dad and it made her smile. Everything about this guy made her smile. Except for the fact he can be highly annoying and pigheaded and he wasn't scared to tell you if he thought you were in the wrong. That's not so bad, is it? She thought. The bell went for lesson and they both stood up and made their way to English.

The day before the party.

Giles had stayed behind after school to find out as much as he could about The Master and so far he had found out stuff that they already knew. He was as one of the oldest vampires alive, trapped in the hell mouth by an earthquake, possessed the power of hypnosis etc, etc, etc. He was expecting his son to arrive any time soon and sure enough he was right. Unusual for him though he arrived five minutes after the end of his last period. Normally Spike would roll in fifteen to twenty minutes after. Something was definitely up. He strode over to Giles and gave him a look that said 'I want something'. The older man sighed and looked at him.

"What do you want this time?"

"I need to lend your credit card, stop my pocket money until I've paid it back," Spike said, hope in his voice.

Giles furrowed his brows and eyed him with suspicion.

"What is it for?"

He wasn't even sure whether this was going to be a good idea. Spike stuffed his hands into his jeans and told his dad what he wanted the money for. Giles explained that he didn't need to go and get anything but the bleached teen was having none of it. He wanted the card and he was going to get it. In the end, Giles gave in to Spike and handed over the card.

The Jeep pulled up on the driveway of the Summers household. As Joyce and Anne stepped out of the car the pair were laughing. She locked up the car and the other woman went to go to her house but turned back round to face Joyce.

"Why don't you come in for a cup of tea and a chat? I'm sure the girls won't mind," she offered

"As much as I'd love to I can't, It's Buffy's birthday tomorrow and I'm planning a party for her (pauses) hey why don't you and your girl, Tara is it? Come over tomorrow, I know the girls would love to meet you...what do you say?"

She took a minute to process this and smiled at the other woman.

"Sounds like a great idea, what time would you like us to come round?"

"Round 6 ish, that's when her friends will be coming, oh and Rupert and his boy,"

Anne cringed inside when she heard that her ex and her son will also be there, but instead of showing it she kept the smile on her face, said her goodbyes and headed into her house. Boy this party was going to be interesting.

He had been wondering around the mall for two hours straight now and he hadn't found anything suitable. Make-up, she wasn't a make-up girl. Earrings, no. He even considered a cd but he had no idea what music she liked. Spike was just about to give up when he walked past a jewellery store. Back tracking he took a look at an item in the window and a smile spread across his lips.

Buffy's birthday party.

Her day at school hadn't been great. Buffy had the cordettes making sly digs at her, a load of school work to do, not to mention Giles going through the new training scheme he had set up for her. To make her birthday even worse Willow and Xander were acting weird around her all day. When she got home she was pleasantly surprised. Purple and pink banners up on the door and windows saying 'Happy birthday!' these were accompanied by a various amount of balloons. The petite blonde bounced into the house to see even more party decorations were up. Buffy went to walk into the living room but saw Dawn in the dining room, painting something. She carefully sneaked in and the littlest Summers jumped out of her skin when she saw the blonde in the doorway. Dawn tried to cover up the banner without getting paint all over herself. Buffy chuckled as she walked over to her. Dawn gave up and crossed her arms but then soon unfolded them and engulfed her big sister in a hug.

"Happy birthday Buffy!" she squealed

Buffy giggled and took a look at the banner. It had 'Happy 17th birthday, Buffy!' in big rainbow coloured letters and glitter on the corners.

"Did you do that by yourself?"

"You betcha...well okay I tell a lie, mom helped me, but it was only a little bit," she explained, feeling really stupid.

At that point Joyce walked into the room and greeted the birthday girl with a kiss and cuddle. She ushered Dawn off to get ready and smiled at her daughter. This was going to kill her daughter, break her in two. She sighed and Buffy looked her in the eye, with suspicion.

"What is it?" she said worriedly

"Your father called this afternoon, said he can't make it for Sunday (looks at Buffy, who looked upset but wasn't showing it) oh hon I'm sorry,"

The slayer sniffed back the tears. It was nothing new, her dad always did this but what made this year so different was the fact that he promised he was going to take her ice skating, guess that won't happen now she thought.

"He has sent the tickets for the ice skating though so maybe you could take Willow or Xander?" she suggested

"Yeah, maybe..."

"Come on birthday girl! You can't be glum...why don't you go get in the bath or if you don't want to do that just go get ready for your friends they will be here soon, I invited Anne from work, is that ok with you?"

She smiled at her mother, pecked her on the cheek and bounced up the stairs.

6 O'clock had come and the guests started to arrive. First was Willow and Xander. They each said happy birthday and gave Buffy her presents and told her how great she looked. She had told them that she wasn't going to open any presents until everyone had got there. Buffy was wearing a black sequin skirt that came to just above her knee. This was accompanied by a black sleeveless tiered top, a red beaded long necklace, a pair of black spiral tights and a pair of dark red ankle boots. Her blonde hair was left down but a bit was clipped back. Xander found himself babbling at the sight of his friend. Giles and Spike got out of the car. Spike wasn't wearing his usual black clothes. He had a dark purple shirt on, a gold chain round his neck, lying softly on his collar bone and a pair of dark blue jeans. The only thing that wasn't different about his attire was his patent doc martins. In his hand was a badly wrapped present, sparkly silver paper, the shape of a rectangle. Giles had a red present bag in his hand. He knocked on the door and both of them were shocked when the birthday girl herself opened the door. She greeted them with a wide smile. Spike just stood there, staring at her. Oh my god, she looks fucking stunning! Who knew there was a little devil hidden in there Spike thought. He found his eyes roaming her, hungrily. Giles kissed her on the cheek and gave her a brief cuddle before handing her the bag and saying "Happy birthday," He went off into the living room, where everyone else was while Buffy and Spike stood at the door way, door closed. He gave her a gentle peck on the cheek and a sudden feeling of embarrassment swept over him as he handed her the present. Buffy was stunned as she received the present but then smiled at him.

"You look great pet,"

She bowed her head as she felt shy under his gaze.

"Thank you...I think-"

She was cut off mid sentence by another knock at the door. Buffy rolled her eyes and opened the door, only to be greeted by Tara and Anne. Spike's face turned from an embarrassed look to a pissed off look.

"Great," he muttered under his breath

"Happy birthday darling! (hugs her) oh how rude of me I'm Anne, work collegue of your mom, mother of this very handsome looking boy, this is my daughter Tara,we are very sorry we didn't have much time to get you anything so I hope this is ok for you," she piped as she handed Buffy a book.

It had on the front of it in gold leaf letters 'Book of poetry," She smiled at them and thanked them. Tara hugged her and the other two walked into the room where Giles' voice was heard near enough shouting, causing Buffy, Tara and Spike to cringe. A few minutes after the argument between him and Anne had gone on, Joyce stood up and told them to stop, that this was her daughter's party and she wanted everyone to get on and just be civil for Buffy's sake and that is what they did.

She had a lot of presents. Xander had got her a set of Winnie the pooh teddies, okay it wasn't the best thing to get your best friend on her 17th birthday but he knew that Buffy had this love for the children's character. Willow had got her a pair of purple tear drop earrings. Joyce had got her a blue v-neck top, a pair of jeans and she had added the tickets that her dad had sent her for the ice skating. Now on to Giles, he knew that she had a passion for drawing so he had got her a new sketchpad and a set of water colours. Dawn had hand made a picture frame, which she had stuck shells around from when they visited their dad for a bout a week in the summer. The frame had a picture of them on the beach in it. Finally, it was Spike's turn. She lifted the parcel off the table and began to unravel it to reveal a black box, with silver patterns all over the front. Buffy looked at it quizzically and opened it to see a white gold cubic zirconia cross carefully placed on a soft, purple silk inside. Buffy felt tears prick in her eyes as she took it out the box, letting it dangle in front of her and ran her fingers over the cross. Spike and the rest of her friends and family watched her in fascination and she placed it back in it's box.

"Thank you, everyone for all of these presents, really,"

Party food had been eaten as was birthday cake. A fair few party games were also played, one of these was twister. That game had ended with Buffy, spike and Xander lying in a big heap on the floor, giggling. After all of that Tara and Willow had begun to chat. Tara thought the red head was so gorgeous and felt herself slipping under her spell with every word, but she knew that she had a boyfriend. The slayer had excused herself from the party, took box with the cross in with her and sat on the decking in the back garden. She found herself opening it and closing it, running her fingers over it. The cross was so beautiful and she thought it must of cost him a fortune. Buffy began to cry when she let her mind drift back to her dad. How could he not make it? Why did he do this to her every year? Spike had realised that Buffy had been gone longer than she said she would be gone and made his excuses. But when he entered the kitchen she was no where to be seen. He peeped through the back door window to see her sitting on the decking. Slowly and quietly he opened the door and sat next to her. Luckily, she had sniffed back the tears and wiped her face before he noticed.

"It's beautiful Spike...thank you," she said sincerely as she looked at the cross once more.

He smiled. Spike was glad that she liked it. He pursed his lips and looked at her.

"No need to thank me pet, I figured you'd need one, you know since vampires can't touch the soddin' things...here let me put it on for you,"

Buffy handed him the box so that he could take it out. She turned her back to him as he unclasped it, and placed the necklace around her neck and then fastening it again, letting his fingers brush against her bare neck. This caused her to shiver a bit.

"There,"

A tiny sob came from her and before she knew it she couldn't could the tears from coming. Spike furrowed his brows in confusion. He thought she liked it? So why was she crying?

"What's the matter? is it something I did? Something I said?" he asked her confusion and concern clearly evident in his voice.

Buffy had turned so she was looking straight ahead to the back of the garden. She shook her head in the negative.

"Then what is it?"

"Am I that bad that my own dad doesn't want to know? I must be just have to look at me to know I'm a complete disappointment," she said, sobbing as she went along.

Spike didn't like this one bit. Seeing her like this hurt him so much and it made him so angry with her dad. He had gotten up and knelt in front of her. Buffy tried to turn her head away from him but he cupped her cheek and stroked it softly. Spike wiped away the tears and looked her straight in the eye.

"You listen to me Buffy, you are not a waste of space or disappointment, the only one that is, is your dad, he doesn't know how bloody lucky he is to have a daughter like you...you have such kindness in you that it would knock anyone for six,"

He spoke with such a soft tone that it caused her to break down in tears. Instantly, Spike wrapped his arms about her and cuddled her. He rubbed her arms and back and ran his hand through her hair until she eventually had stopped crying. She looked up at him and his was staring at her, smiling and he continued to wipe the tears away and tried to fix some of the mascara damage on her face. He was going to kiss her on the lips but opted for kissing her on the forehead instead. Why does she beat herself up so much? He thought. Why is he being like this with me? First the cross and now this? Is it me or does he like me?...no remember what Cordelia said he would never want anyone like me, she thought. Spike rubbed her arm again and she was freezing. He stood up and helped her up off the step.

"It's getting cold...don't want you to catch your death now do we?"

She smiled at him and entered the kitchen to see her mother had just finished on the phone.

"That was your aunt Sal on the phone, Faith is coming to stay with us,"

what do you think guys? Sorry it took me ages to update but here it is! what was your favourite bit? Thanks for the reviews so far, keep it up guys! good reviews help me to write better :)