Part 48 - Happy Christmas Memories
Two weeks later
Christmas Night, 6 pm
Xander was in a relatively good mood, as he finished wrapping
his Christmas gifts for Buffy and Joyce. He was about to leave
for the Summers' house for dinner, when he heard the doorbell.
His mom was out, after they'd had the annual Christmas lunch.
That consisting of: 'Dad gets drunk and screams at Mom and
Xander, throwing things until passing out' He didn't know where
his father was at the moment, so he went upstairs to answer the
door. It would be rude to subject whoever-it-was to his father's
hangover, after all.
His good mood dissipated, though, at the sight of Angel standing
in front of him. Angel had stayed clear of the gang since the
nearly-draining-Buffy incident, but Xander knew Buffy had gone
to see him at least once. Xander _had_ hoped he'd never have to
look at Angel again, himself. But considering this was a small
town, that had probably been too much to wish for.
"What?!" he said finally in irritation, as Angel said nothing.
Angel winced. "I know I'm the last person you want to see. Ever,
I imagine and I respect that. I just wanted to tell you
something. I can just tell you out here, if you're more
comfortable with that."
"I think that would be good," Xander replied.
"I'll make it quick," Angel said. "First, I arranged for Spike
to find out that Drusilla's in Tokyo. He left tonight."
"How did you know where Drusilla was?" Xander questioned.
"I didn't," Angel said with a small smile. "I manufactured the
evidence and sent Willy to Spike with it. He should stay out of
your hair for quite some time."
"Too bad you couldn't have done that two weeks ago," Xander said
harshly. Unfortunately, the pained look on Angel's face didn't
give him as much pleasure as he'd thought it would.
"I wish I had," Angel said softly. "I know you hate me, Xander,
for what I did to Buffy. I wouldn't even think of trying to
change that, because I feel the same way about myself. I don't
deserve to still be here. I think all of you would've been
better off if I'd remained in hell. But I didn't and the only
reason I'm still in Sunnydale is to help stop the Ascension. But
that leads me to the second thing I came here to tell you: I'm
leaving town after The Ascension."
Xander was surprised at that revelation, he'd never expected it.
"Why are you telling me this? And when are you going to tell
Buffy?"
"I'm telling you, because I don't want you to think I'm in any
way a threat to your relationship with her. I'm not going to try
to disrupt what you two have. She's happy with you, I saw that
from the first moment I saw you two together. She's happier with
you than she ever was with me. There was always a dark cloud
following us around when we were together. That's why I didn't
try to get her back when she told me she wanted to be with you.
I've realized, though, that we can't be friends. Our ability to
destroy each other seems to still be a problem. That much became
painfully obvious two weeks ago. I can't allow something like
that to happen again. So I'm going to leave town, and let Buffy
have the life, the happiness, she deserves."
Xander nodded. He understood Angel's point of view. Maybe it was
better for all of them, if Angel left. Sometimes a clean break
was better than pushing the 'just friends' thing. Especially if
that repeatedly ended up badly. "I get it. Still wondering when
you're going to tell her, though."
Angel sighed, "I think I'll wait until after Christmas. Somehow
I figured it might make your Christmas better, so that's why I
told you now." He shrugged, "That's all. I'll go," and he turned
to go.
"Angel."
Angel turned back and looked at Xander.
"I'll take care of her," Xander said.
"I know you will," Angel replied. "If I thought otherwise, I
wouldn't have let go so willingly."
Angel walked off then, leaving Xander staring after him in
surprise.
*****************
Buffy looked around nervously; she wanted the house to be
perfect. Giles and Xander would be arriving soon. There was
something missing, she just couldn't figure out what it was. She
sighed and made her rounds through the first floor again. *Tree,
tinsel, ornaments and lights on tree, wreaths, holly....
Buffy was glad she'd convinced Giles to come over for Christmas
Dinner. She'd regretted her cruel words to him at the mansion
the night of Angel's injury and she'd apologized a few days
after her release from the hospital. He'd also apologized for
his threat to kill Angel and they'd made their peace. Now the
last thing needed in order to uncomplicate life was to help
Giles and her mother find their way back together.
They had had been civil to each other the past few weeks, and
Buffy had seen that ironically her stay in the hospital had
brought them even closer together. They were friendly again, so
now all it took was an extra shove further together.
"Mistletoe!" she finally realized what the missing decorations
were. She smiled deviously as she hung some misteltoe at the top
of the front doorframe first. There was more than one way to get
them back together. She then looked around for other prime
places to hang more of the mistletoe.
The doorbell rang and she looked out of the window. Giles.
"MOM!" she yelled, running upstairs. "I'm upstairs, could you
get that?" She grinned as her mother went to the door and opened
it.
"Rupert, Merry Christmas. Please come in," Joyce said and
stepped back.
Buffy ran back downstairs. "Uh-uh!" she yelled. "Stay where you
are, look up and follow the rules!" Still grinning, she ran into
the kitchen to give them their privacy. She did peek back out to
make sure they were getting into the Christmas spirit and was
thrilled when she saw they were doing just that.
She heard the doorbell again and rushed past them. They were
still getting reacquainted. "Go in the other room, please?" she
suggested. "I'm not grossed out by the smoochies at the moment,
but don't push your luck."
Giles looked embarrassed at being caught kissing Joyce. "Well,
I... uh--"
"Oh, shut up, Ripper," Joyce said with a laugh. "Let's take my
daughter's advice. You can keep me company while I finish things
in the kitchen." She pulled Giles into the kitchen with her
before he could reply.
"I love Christmas," Buffy said, before pulling the door open.
"Merry Christmas, Xan!" she greeted him happily before she dove
at him and kissed him passionately.
"Mmph," was all he could say in response, as his mouth was
otherwise occupied. Not that he minded this display of affection
from her, though. He eventually decided she'd had way too much
fun as she controlledthe kiss, exploring every inch of his mouth
with her tongue. He pushed his tongue into her mouth, and pulled
her body close to his. She moaned clutched him tighter. She
finally pulled away reluctantly, though, as the need to breathe
presented itself.
"You can greet me like that anytime," Xander joked. "Wow."
Buffy giggled, she had to take a moment to recover from the
kiss, too. She turned away and pulled him inside and then he got
a chance to really look at her. "And wow," he added with another
smile. She was wearing a long-sleeved black dress, low-cut in
the bodice and the skirt reaching her ankles. On her feet were
black high heels.
"I'm glad you like." She stopped to take in his appearance too.
He was wearing a dark green long-sleeved shirt and black pants.
Buffy thought the green suited him, and set off his deep brown
eyes. "You look nice too," she said with a smile, taking his
hand and leading him into the living room. "So how was your
day?" she asked hesitantly. She'd heard the stories of what
passed for Christmas ritual at the Harris house and wondered if
today had been any different.
"Don't ask," Xander replied with a sigh. "Is it possible to
trade in one's parents for a new set?" He sat down on the couch
and Buffy curled up next to him. He smiled, putting one arm
around her shoulders. "But you always make things better," he
added, pressing a kiss to her forehead.
"I'm glad," she said with a smile up at him, taking his free
hand in both of hers. "I wish there was a way to make it
different, Xan."
"It doesn't matter--"
"But it does," Buffy frowned. "It's just not right. You deserve
at least one set of happy Christmas memories."
"And I will have them," Xander replied with a shrug. "Today, the
last half of the day anyway, will be great. I'll just file the
first few hours away as 'yet more things to repress'." Buffy was
still frowning, and he smiled and kissed her. "I love you for
worrying about me, but I'm fine, Buffy. In the many years of
holiday badness, this year was one of the tamest. But can we not
let them ruin the rest of the day by talking about them? I
really don't want to think about anything but spending a normal
Christmas evening with my girlfriend, her mother and her
mother's ...boyfriend?"
Buffy giggled. "That word associated with Giles _so_ doesn't
work. Her..." She thought for a moment and shrugged. "He's
Giles. They're dating. He's 'Giles, The Guy who Takes Her on
Dates.'"
Xander shook his head, still grinning at her, "Okay, and you're
completely adjusted."
"Hey, I'm a firm believer in the 'If I don't think about it, it
doesn't exist' way of thinking," Buffy said with a shrug.
Xander chuckled. "Yeah, like I said, completely adjusted where
your mom's sex life is concerned."
"EEEEEEEEWW!" Buffy squealed, pulling away from him. "I can't
believe you just SAID THAT!"
"Buffy, dinner's ready," Joyce said as she and Giles walked into
the living room.
Buffy looked up, and made another face. "EEWWWW!" she yelled and
ran upstairs.
"What did I say?" Joyce wondered, with a frown.
Xander chuckled and shook his head. "Believe me, it wasn't you.
And trust me, you don't want to know. I'll go get her," he added
and ran upstairs. He found Buffy in her room, sitting on the
edge of her bed. She looked up at him with a pout and he
grinned. "I'm sorry?"
"You're not," she said, throwing the nearest stuffed animal at
him. "That was just so wrong, Xan. Now I won't be able to look
at them without..." she shuddered. "Not good stuff going through
my mind."
Xander sat next to her, and she punched him in the arm without
warning. "Ow!"
"You deserved that," she insisted. "And worse. I'm serious, I
_can't_ go down there now. Thinking about Mom and Giles already
gets my over-active imagination going on its own. But you had to
go and help it out, give it really interesting stuff to
picture..."
"How about I get your mind off it?" Xander suggested.
"Yeah like you could do that," Buffy muttered.
"Sounds like a challenge," Xander said. "I like challenges." He
put one hand under her chin, coaxing her to look at him, before
he captured her lips in a passionate kiss and wrapped his arms
around her waist and pulled her close. He pulled away eventually
and looked at her with a smile. "How was that for a
distraction?"
"Huh?" was all Buffy could manage, while she wondered why he'd
stopped kissing her. "Oh. Yeah," she said with a grin. "What
were you trying to distract me from?"
Xander chuckled and kissed her again quickly. "Never mind. Let's
go downstairs for dinner." Buffy nodded, and they walked
downstairs, hand in hand.
****************
Midnight
The night had been enjoyable and relaxing for all of them.
They'd exchanged gifts, talked, and most of all laughed. Giles
finally left shortly before midnight and Joyce went to bed soon
afterward. "You two behave," she said to Buffy and Xander with a
smile, before she went upstairs.
"'Night, Mom," Buffy said from where she sat curled up next to
Xander, her head on his chest. She was now wearing the necklace
Xander had bought her as a Christmas gift: a small gold cross
with a diamond in the center. She had the sneaking suspicion it
was a real diamond, though Xander had avoided answering her
earlier when she'd asked. Buffy had bought him a watch, his
other one's wrist band had broken and she'd noticed he hadn't
had time to replace it. He'd gotten her mom a bottle of her
favorite perfume, which had surprised both Buffy and Joyce that
he knew which brand it was. All in all, it had been a great
evening, Buffy thought.
"Falling asleep on me?" Xander asked, running his fingers
through her hair.
"No," she said and smiled up at him. "I was just thinking this
was a great Christmas."
"Agreed," Xander said, hugging her tighter. "Full of happy
Christmas memories."
*********
Two weeks later
Christmas Night, 6 pm
Xander was in a relatively good mood, as he finished wrapping
his Christmas gifts for Buffy and Joyce. He was about to leave
for the Summers' house for dinner, when he heard the doorbell.
His mom was out, after they'd had the annual Christmas lunch.
That consisting of: 'Dad gets drunk and screams at Mom and
Xander, throwing things until passing out' He didn't know where
his father was at the moment, so he went upstairs to answer the
door. It would be rude to subject whoever-it-was to his father's
hangover, after all.
His good mood dissipated, though, at the sight of Angel standing
in front of him. Angel had stayed clear of the gang since the
nearly-draining-Buffy incident, but Xander knew Buffy had gone
to see him at least once. Xander _had_ hoped he'd never have to
look at Angel again, himself. But considering this was a small
town, that had probably been too much to wish for.
"What?!" he said finally in irritation, as Angel said nothing.
Angel winced. "I know I'm the last person you want to see. Ever,
I imagine and I respect that. I just wanted to tell you
something. I can just tell you out here, if you're more
comfortable with that."
"I think that would be good," Xander replied.
"I'll make it quick," Angel said. "First, I arranged for Spike
to find out that Drusilla's in Tokyo. He left tonight."
"How did you know where Drusilla was?" Xander questioned.
"I didn't," Angel said with a small smile. "I manufactured the
evidence and sent Willy to Spike with it. He should stay out of
your hair for quite some time."
"Too bad you couldn't have done that two weeks ago," Xander said
harshly. Unfortunately, the pained look on Angel's face didn't
give him as much pleasure as he'd thought it would.
"I wish I had," Angel said softly. "I know you hate me, Xander,
for what I did to Buffy. I wouldn't even think of trying to
change that, because I feel the same way about myself. I don't
deserve to still be here. I think all of you would've been
better off if I'd remained in hell. But I didn't and the only
reason I'm still in Sunnydale is to help stop the Ascension. But
that leads me to the second thing I came here to tell you: I'm
leaving town after The Ascension."
Xander was surprised at that revelation, he'd never expected it.
"Why are you telling me this? And when are you going to tell
Buffy?"
"I'm telling you, because I don't want you to think I'm in any
way a threat to your relationship with her. I'm not going to try
to disrupt what you two have. She's happy with you, I saw that
from the first moment I saw you two together. She's happier with
you than she ever was with me. There was always a dark cloud
following us around when we were together. That's why I didn't
try to get her back when she told me she wanted to be with you.
I've realized, though, that we can't be friends. Our ability to
destroy each other seems to still be a problem. That much became
painfully obvious two weeks ago. I can't allow something like
that to happen again. So I'm going to leave town, and let Buffy
have the life, the happiness, she deserves."
Xander nodded. He understood Angel's point of view. Maybe it was
better for all of them, if Angel left. Sometimes a clean break
was better than pushing the 'just friends' thing. Especially if
that repeatedly ended up badly. "I get it. Still wondering when
you're going to tell her, though."
Angel sighed, "I think I'll wait until after Christmas. Somehow
I figured it might make your Christmas better, so that's why I
told you now." He shrugged, "That's all. I'll go," and he turned
to go.
"Angel."
Angel turned back and looked at Xander.
"I'll take care of her," Xander said.
"I know you will," Angel replied. "If I thought otherwise, I
wouldn't have let go so willingly."
Angel walked off then, leaving Xander staring after him in
surprise.
*****************
Buffy looked around nervously; she wanted the house to be
perfect. Giles and Xander would be arriving soon. There was
something missing, she just couldn't figure out what it was. She
sighed and made her rounds through the first floor again. *Tree,
tinsel, ornaments and lights on tree, wreaths, holly....
Buffy was glad she'd convinced Giles to come over for Christmas
Dinner. She'd regretted her cruel words to him at the mansion
the night of Angel's injury and she'd apologized a few days
after her release from the hospital. He'd also apologized for
his threat to kill Angel and they'd made their peace. Now the
last thing needed in order to uncomplicate life was to help
Giles and her mother find their way back together.
They had had been civil to each other the past few weeks, and
Buffy had seen that ironically her stay in the hospital had
brought them even closer together. They were friendly again, so
now all it took was an extra shove further together.
"Mistletoe!" she finally realized what the missing decorations
were. She smiled deviously as she hung some misteltoe at the top
of the front doorframe first. There was more than one way to get
them back together. She then looked around for other prime
places to hang more of the mistletoe.
The doorbell rang and she looked out of the window. Giles.
"MOM!" she yelled, running upstairs. "I'm upstairs, could you
get that?" She grinned as her mother went to the door and opened
it.
"Rupert, Merry Christmas. Please come in," Joyce said and
stepped back.
Buffy ran back downstairs. "Uh-uh!" she yelled. "Stay where you
are, look up and follow the rules!" Still grinning, she ran into
the kitchen to give them their privacy. She did peek back out to
make sure they were getting into the Christmas spirit and was
thrilled when she saw they were doing just that.
She heard the doorbell again and rushed past them. They were
still getting reacquainted. "Go in the other room, please?" she
suggested. "I'm not grossed out by the smoochies at the moment,
but don't push your luck."
Giles looked embarrassed at being caught kissing Joyce. "Well,
I... uh--"
"Oh, shut up, Ripper," Joyce said with a laugh. "Let's take my
daughter's advice. You can keep me company while I finish things
in the kitchen." She pulled Giles into the kitchen with her
before he could reply.
"I love Christmas," Buffy said, before pulling the door open.
"Merry Christmas, Xan!" she greeted him happily before she dove
at him and kissed him passionately.
"Mmph," was all he could say in response, as his mouth was
otherwise occupied. Not that he minded this display of affection
from her, though. He eventually decided she'd had way too much
fun as she controlledthe kiss, exploring every inch of his mouth
with her tongue. He pushed his tongue into her mouth, and pulled
her body close to his. She moaned clutched him tighter. She
finally pulled away reluctantly, though, as the need to breathe
presented itself.
"You can greet me like that anytime," Xander joked. "Wow."
Buffy giggled, she had to take a moment to recover from the
kiss, too. She turned away and pulled him inside and then he got
a chance to really look at her. "And wow," he added with another
smile. She was wearing a long-sleeved black dress, low-cut in
the bodice and the skirt reaching her ankles. On her feet were
black high heels.
"I'm glad you like." She stopped to take in his appearance too.
He was wearing a dark green long-sleeved shirt and black pants.
Buffy thought the green suited him, and set off his deep brown
eyes. "You look nice too," she said with a smile, taking his
hand and leading him into the living room. "So how was your
day?" she asked hesitantly. She'd heard the stories of what
passed for Christmas ritual at the Harris house and wondered if
today had been any different.
"Don't ask," Xander replied with a sigh. "Is it possible to
trade in one's parents for a new set?" He sat down on the couch
and Buffy curled up next to him. He smiled, putting one arm
around her shoulders. "But you always make things better," he
added, pressing a kiss to her forehead.
"I'm glad," she said with a smile up at him, taking his free
hand in both of hers. "I wish there was a way to make it
different, Xan."
"It doesn't matter--"
"But it does," Buffy frowned. "It's just not right. You deserve
at least one set of happy Christmas memories."
"And I will have them," Xander replied with a shrug. "Today, the
last half of the day anyway, will be great. I'll just file the
first few hours away as 'yet more things to repress'." Buffy was
still frowning, and he smiled and kissed her. "I love you for
worrying about me, but I'm fine, Buffy. In the many years of
holiday badness, this year was one of the tamest. But can we not
let them ruin the rest of the day by talking about them? I
really don't want to think about anything but spending a normal
Christmas evening with my girlfriend, her mother and her
mother's ...boyfriend?"
Buffy giggled. "That word associated with Giles _so_ doesn't
work. Her..." She thought for a moment and shrugged. "He's
Giles. They're dating. He's 'Giles, The Guy who Takes Her on
Dates.'"
Xander shook his head, still grinning at her, "Okay, and you're
completely adjusted."
"Hey, I'm a firm believer in the 'If I don't think about it, it
doesn't exist' way of thinking," Buffy said with a shrug.
Xander chuckled. "Yeah, like I said, completely adjusted where
your mom's sex life is concerned."
"EEEEEEEEWW!" Buffy squealed, pulling away from him. "I can't
believe you just SAID THAT!"
"Buffy, dinner's ready," Joyce said as she and Giles walked into
the living room.
Buffy looked up, and made another face. "EEWWWW!" she yelled and
ran upstairs.
"What did I say?" Joyce wondered, with a frown.
Xander chuckled and shook his head. "Believe me, it wasn't you.
And trust me, you don't want to know. I'll go get her," he added
and ran upstairs. He found Buffy in her room, sitting on the
edge of her bed. She looked up at him with a pout and he
grinned. "I'm sorry?"
"You're not," she said, throwing the nearest stuffed animal at
him. "That was just so wrong, Xan. Now I won't be able to look
at them without..." she shuddered. "Not good stuff going through
my mind."
Xander sat next to her, and she punched him in the arm without
warning. "Ow!"
"You deserved that," she insisted. "And worse. I'm serious, I
_can't_ go down there now. Thinking about Mom and Giles already
gets my over-active imagination going on its own. But you had to
go and help it out, give it really interesting stuff to
picture..."
"How about I get your mind off it?" Xander suggested.
"Yeah like you could do that," Buffy muttered.
"Sounds like a challenge," Xander said. "I like challenges." He
put one hand under her chin, coaxing her to look at him, before
he captured her lips in a passionate kiss and wrapped his arms
around her waist and pulled her close. He pulled away eventually
and looked at her with a smile. "How was that for a
distraction?"
"Huh?" was all Buffy could manage, while she wondered why he'd
stopped kissing her. "Oh. Yeah," she said with a grin. "What
were you trying to distract me from?"
Xander chuckled and kissed her again quickly. "Never mind. Let's
go downstairs for dinner." Buffy nodded, and they walked
downstairs, hand in hand.
****************
Midnight
The night had been enjoyable and relaxing for all of them.
They'd exchanged gifts, talked, and most of all laughed. Giles
finally left shortly before midnight and Joyce went to bed soon
afterward. "You two behave," she said to Buffy and Xander with a
smile, before she went upstairs.
"'Night, Mom," Buffy said from where she sat curled up next to
Xander, her head on his chest. She was now wearing the necklace
Xander had bought her as a Christmas gift: a small gold cross
with a diamond in the center. She had the sneaking suspicion it
was a real diamond, though Xander had avoided answering her
earlier when she'd asked. Buffy had bought him a watch, his
other one's wrist band had broken and she'd noticed he hadn't
had time to replace it. He'd gotten her mom a bottle of her
favorite perfume, which had surprised both Buffy and Joyce that
he knew which brand it was. All in all, it had been a great
evening, Buffy thought.
"Falling asleep on me?" Xander asked, running his fingers
through her hair.
"No," she said and smiled up at him. "I was just thinking this
was a great Christmas."
"Agreed," Xander said, hugging her tighter. "Full of happy
Christmas memories."
*********
