TITLE: New Year In Sunnydale (Part 1 of "Ringing In" series)

AUTHOR: BulldogPhilbo

RATING: PG

FEEDBACK: See, it's this thing where you read someone else's fic, then you tell the person what you thought of it. The person gets enough good feedback, they keep writing. Everybody wins.

DISCLAIMER: Joss Whedon? Yes. Me? No. Enough said.

DISTRIBUTION: You want it? You can have it. Just let me know where to see it.

PAIRINGS: Buffy/Xander, Fred/Drusilla

SUMMARY: In an alternate Sunnydale, The Scooby Gang ring in the New Year.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: This fic is the first part of a two-part series. Watching the New Year's celebrations on TV inspired me to write this story. And as luck would have it, I finished writing this first part just as the final ten seconds were counted down and the fireworks kicked in. This is my first attempt at writing something on the light and fluffy side, so I hope it doesn't suck.

***

"Buffy?"

"Hmm?"

"Are there any more cookies?"

"Just ate the last one."

"More like the last five."

"There's still half a tuna sandwich."

"Am I supposed to find that amusing?"

"That, and everything else about me. Amusing, entertaining, lovable, and extra cute."

"Cookie hog."

"Oh, sure. I'm supposed to take that criticism from a guy who just today ate seven hot dogs uninterrupted for lunch and washed them down with four cans of Coke?"

"Excuse me? Seven hot dogs? I'll think you'll find that I had no more than ..."

"You had seven. Remember? I was there. I saw it."

"Oh, yeah."

Buffy Summers smiled, and snuggled closer to her boyfriend's side. "Besides, I can always tell when you're lying. Your upper lip shrinks to half its original size."

"It does not." Instinctively, Xander Harris' hand shot up to his face to feel his top lip. His girlfriend laughed out loud. Xander favoured Buffy with an expression that was part irritation, part amusement. "Well, I'd say that makes it official. I just can't put anything past you, can I?"

"Nope."

Xander put an arm around Buffy's shoulders, and looked over at the huge picnic blanket spread out a few feet away from them. Fred and Drusilla sat side by side on the blanket, holding hands, and talking idly. Buffy followed her boyfriend's gaze, and smiled. She was glad to see the two Wiccas had reconciled their differences and sorted out their personal problems. Fred had scared pretty much everybody in the group for a little while there with her seemingly growing addiction to using magic and doing spells, but the accident which left Lindsey with his right arm in a cast had probably been a blessing in disguise. For the first time, Fred had fully realised just how dangerous her powers had become to those closest to her, and she resolved to put all of her efforts into resisting the attractive pull of the unpredictable magicks she had begun to channel. And seeing Fred's genuine desire to want to turn things around for herself, Dru had promised to remain by her side for as long as Fred needed her to be, and to help her in any way possible.

Xander soon noticed someone was missing from the group, and turned back to Buffy. "Hey, I thought Tara would be here by now."

"She must still be patrolling," Buffy offered in reply.

"What, tonight? New Year's Eve, and Gunn's got Tara in the middle of a stake-a-rama, instead of here with us in the park celebrating like she should be?"

"The humans may take New Year's Eve off, Xand, but the vamps don't. The only holiday they spend inside is Halloween. You know that. Certainly Gunn does his best to drum that fact into us every October. Even though we always end up having to fight off some creepy monster with three eyes and six legs every Halloween night anyway."

"Well, I hope she gets here soon. It's almost 11:30. We can't have a Sunnydale New Year's celebration without the Slayer with us to help count down the final seconds."

Buffy looked over at the two witches again. "Hey, Dru!" she called out. Drusilla was only a few feet away, but Buffy had to raise her voice to be heard over the crowd noise. Drusilla heard her fine, though, and looked back at her. "Tara said she was gonna be here, right?"

"She said she was gonna try. Gunn's been working her pretty hard lately, though. He says there's supposed to be some new dark power that's supposed to rise tonight in a crypt across town."

"I don't think Gunn is doing his best work lately," Fred added, smiling a little. "All that jet lag travelling back and forth between L.A. and London is tiring him out." Drusilla giggled, and reached across to grab a handful of popcorn from the tub Fred held in her hands.

"Tiring who out?" an all-too-familiar voice asked from behind Buffy. She looked up at the source of the voice, and her heart sank.

"What are you doing here, Lindsey?" Xander asked.

The fifteen-year-old folded his arms, and smiled smugly. His bright blue eyes sparkled with mischief. His cast was off, and his irritating manner had returned with a vengeance. "Tara said I could come hang out with the group as long as I didn't wander off on my own. So you're all stuck with me, like it or not." To prove his point, the teenager stuck his tongue out at Xander, who merely glared at the annoying teen, then crossed over to the picnic blanket upon which the two Wiccas were seated, sat down next to Fred, and grabbed a handful of popcorn out of her tub. He then proceeded to cram the entire handful into his mouth at once.

"Lindsey!" Fred exclaimed.

Lindsey looked up at Fred with raised eyebrows, and an expression that looked just a little too innocent to be believable. "Whub?" he asked around his mouthful of popcorn. Fred just sighed, took some popcorn for herself, and handed the tub to Dru, out of the teenager's reach. Lindsey just grinned. He didn't care. He had already gotten what he came over for. Time to go bug Buffy and Xander some more.

***

Ten minutes later, Buffy and Xander had just about had it with the kid. Lindsey just wouldn't shut up, bombarding the couple with question after question. Xander had given up on trying to shut the kid up a good five minutes ago, leaving Buffy to handle the seemingly impossible task solo.

"Why don't vampires stay in on New Year's Eve?"

"I don't know."

"Why don't they come out on Halloween?"

"Because they don't."

"Why?"

"I don't know. Because they just don't."

"Why?"

"Lindsey, shut up."

"Why?"

Quick as a flash, Xander reached out, grabbed a handful of Lindsey's T- shirt, and pulled the teenager in close, so the two of them were face to face, eye to eye, almost touching noses. Speaking to Lindsey, Xander tried to make his voice sound as menacing and intimidating as possible. "Listen, kid. You may like to brag to all your little snot-nosed friends about how your big sister can beat all of their big brothers up, but that doesn't do anything to impress me. Now, you've got two choices. You can sit down and stay quiet while we ring in the New Year, or you can waddle on home with the imprint of my sneaker firmly stamped onto your backside. What's it gonna be, huh?"

"Oooooooh," Lindsey taunted, his voice dripping with as much sarcasm as he could muster. "You're so scary! Mr. Big Macho Guy who can only do anything tough three nights a month when it's werewolf season."

"Well then, I'll have to keep that in mind the next time werewolf season rolls around."

"That's not for two weeks," Lindsey continued to taunt.

Xander nodded. "I know. Actually, it's about a week and a half. January 11th. Night before the full moon. I'll have to remember to keep my cage door open that night so I can come looking for you once the sun sets."

"My sister'll just beat you up if you try anything."

"Maybe I won't do anything," the Slayer's voice rang out from behind them. "Maybe I'll just let him eat you up."

"Hey, Tara," Buffy greeted the Slayer. "Dark evil monster rise tonight?"

"Yeah, but I dealt with it," Tara answered. "Big check in the slay column. Guy never knew what he was up against."

Lindsey stood up, and turned to face his big sister. "It'd be just like you to stand up and let me get eaten by a werewolf! You're the Slayer!" He pointed at Xander. "You're supposed to fight evil monsters like him, not let them eat innocent people like me!"

"That's funny," Tara retorted. "I can't remember you ever being worthy of being called an innocent person."

"I am!" Lindsey insisted, putting his hands on his hips for best effect during his tirade.

"Well, since you're so innocent," Tara said, "then it can't have been you who came into my room last night while I was out patrolling and stole all my Britney Spears CDs. And since you were home all night by yourself with no one else around to distract you, then you should be able to tell me who did steal them."

Lindsey stood silently for a few moments. He may be extremely annoying at times, but he knew when he was beaten in an argument. When he spoke again, his voice had lost any trace of smugness or petulance. "Maybe it was a burglar," he said meekly.

"Really?" Tara asked. "Then I know a certain fifteen-year-old who's in big trouble for letting a burglar just come into the house and steal my stuff. I think the standard 'grounded for a fortnight with no TV' punishment should do."

"Alright, it wasn't a burglar," Lindsey grumbled, finally admitting defeat. "You're so mean sometimes. I don't know why I put up with it."

Tara held out a hand to her little brother. "Come with me," she said cheerfully. "You and I are gonna go get a couple of hot dogs, then we're gonna have a nice, long talk about the ethics of CD stealing."

Reluctantly, Lindsey took his sister's hand, and the two of them headed for the nearby hot dog stand. As they departed, Xander couldn't resist a parting shot at Lindsey's back. "Yeah, that's what you get for crossing me, little man!"

Buffy grinned, and smacked her boyfriend on the shoulder.

"Ow! What was that for?"

***

Xander watched with amusement as Buffy looked at her watch. "Buff, that's gotta be the tenth time you've checked your watch in the past five minutes."

"Well, it's getting really close," Buffy defended herself.

"Really? Let me see." Buffy held out her wrist for him, and Xander looked at the little digital numbers of her watch. 11:54, they said. "Hey, you're right. Not long to go now."

Buffy looked around. "Looks like Willow's not gonna show."

"Well, she sounded interested when I asked her to come out here with us all tonight, but I think that was just an act. Willow's never been one for big crowds of people. Still, when you're a vampire who spent two hundred years killing lots of people before gypsies restored your soul so you'd have to live forever with the memories of all the horrible things you've done, it's not like you can really blame her."

Buffy looked at her boyfriend, not speaking.

"Besides, she's not going to be alone tonight," Xander continued. "Angel's there with her in L.A. I've haven't seen either of them in a long while now, but Willow and I still talk on the phone every once in a while. She and Angel have really grown a lot closer since Angel became Will's link to the Powers. She's doing okay. She's not lonely."

Xander knew Buffy was watching him closely at the moment. Even to this day, the shadow of what he and the souled vampire had once had still hung over his newfound relationship with Buffy. Even to this day, he still caught the uncomfortable looks that momentarily crossed Buffy's face whenever Willow's name was mentioned in a conversation. It didn't matter if it happened during a private conversation between the two of them, or a Scooby meeting at Gunn's apartment with everyone in the group present. The look was on Buffy's face every time.

"Hmm. Willow and Angel," Buffy mused. "I never would have picked those two to ever hook up. A few years ago, if someone had suggested it to me, I would have burst out laughing, then called the guys in the white coats and told them I think I'd found a prime candidate for their club." She lapsed into silence.

Xander watched Buffy closely. "I guess Willow's always going to be a sore spot for you, huh?" he asked her, not really needing to hear the answer to know what it was. "Even after last night?"

Buffy looked back at Xander silently for a few moments before she spoke. "She was your first, Xander. Your first love, your first ... everything. Plus, she had the vampire thing, you had the werewolf thing ... you kind of lived in the same world. I know I can never compete with that." Xander opened his mouth to argue that last point, but Buffy went on. "But that's not a problem for me anymore. I'm past it, and I know you've moved on as well." She looked down at the ring finger on her right hand, which had been bare just twenty-four hours ago. "Any more proof I needed of that, I got last night." She looked up at Xander, and smiled. "Although why you didn't give me this ring tonight instead of last night, I don't know. Would have been really romantic."

Xander sighed melodramatically, earning a wry grin from his fiance. "Yeah, I know. I had planned to give it to you tonight, but ... well, I couldn't wait." He smiled. "When I finally managed to get home, and I walked in the door, and you were still up waiting for me even though it was after 1:00 in the morning, and you told me dinner was on the table, and it was still warm, I knew I just couldn't wait any longer."

Buffy smiled at the memory. Xander had been over at Gunn's place the night before, helping him research the demon that was supposed to rise on New Years Eve, and it had taken a lot longer than either of them had anticipated. Buffy and Lindsey were at Buffy and Xander's apartment, enjoying one of Lindsey's Christmas presents from his big sister, a copy of "Toy Story" on video. Lindsey was staying the night over at the apartment while Tara spent the night in Los Angeles, where she had visited Dawn earlier in the day to see how her fellow Slayer was coping with prison life, and Buffy was playing babysitter for the evening. Lindsey had been sent to bed at ten, freeing up plenty of alone time for Buffy and Xander, whom Buffy had been expecting home a little before eleven.

When Xander rang just before midnight to tell her that he was still stuck at Gunn's place with no sign of getting away soon, and that he hadn't been able to even sneak out for a bite to eat, she knew what she had to do. She took a frozen pizza out of the freezer, and put it in the oven. Hardly a six-course banquet, she knew, but it was the only thing she knew how to cook. She kept the meal warm until Xander finally arrived home, then served it up nice and fresh. Xander had seemed nervous throughout the meal, but when Buffy called him on it, he just shrugged it off absently. When they finished they meal, however, and Buffy took the empty plates over to the sink, then turned back around to find her boyfriend down on one knee before her on the tiled kitchen floor, it all clicked.

"Well, I'm glad you couldn't wait," she told him now. "I couldn't have pictured it any better."

"You mean, unless it had happened on New Years Eve with fireworks bursting all around us?" Xander asked, grinning widely.

Buffy grinned back. "Yeah, of course."

"Well, you know me. Patience was never really my strong suit." Xander leaned in, and kissed his fiance. The kiss was deep, passionate, and showed no signs of ceasing any time soon.

All around them, the crowd stood up, and started to chant loudly: "Ten ... nine ... eight ... seven ..."

Buffy and Xander didn't hear a word of it. In fact, if it wasn't for Lindsey's annoying shout, they would have completely missed the moment they had been waiting for all night.

"Hey, you two losers! Get up and ring in the New Year with us!"

Quickly, the two of them scrambled to their feet. "This is so your fault," Buffy said.

"Hey, I didn't hear you complaining a few seconds ago."

Buffy and Xander smiled at each other, then joined in the countdown.

"... three ... two ... one ... HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

As the fireworks went off, illuminating the night sky with bright and beautiful colours, Xander immediately swept Buffy in for another kiss. Beside them, Lindsey started making exaggerated kissing motions in their direction in a blatant display of juvenile mocking. Tara grabbed him by the ear, and started dragging him away. Drusilla and Fred watched as Lindsey was unceremoniously escorted away from them, and couldn't stop themselves from laughing out loud. Then Drusilla offered Fred her tub of popcorn back, and she took it.

THE END

***

To everybody out there, all the best in the New Year. Have a happy and safe 2002.