Spike groaned as he listened to the conversation coming from the room next to him. Maggie insisted that she wear her pink princess outfit to the birthday party, while Buffy gently tried to convince her to wear the new sundress that she'd bought just for this occasion. After about twenty minutes of the debate, Willow had jumped into the fray, desperately trying to help Buffy convince Maggie to wear the dress. After about fifteen more minutes, Buffy appeared in the doorway, glaring at Spike as he stood in the doorway to their bedroom listening to what was going on.

"Help me!" she demanded, knowing that all it would take was Spike coming into the room for Maggie to settle down.

Spike sauntered into the room, taking in the sight of an exasperated Willow sitting on Maggie's bed holding the new sundress while Maggie danced around in her little shorts and t-shirt, with her princess outfit dangling from her right hand and a little tiara dangling from her left. Buffy followed behind him, crossing her arms over her chest and huffing.

"Wow, Red, that's a very pretty dress you have, I bet it'll be lovely on," Spike drawled, the only response from Willow being a roll of her eyes.

"That's not Auntie Willow's dress, Daddy, it's mine" Maggie said as she stopped dancing around and looked up at him. "Do you like it?"

"I love it, but it looks like you'd rather wear your princess outfit, so I guess I won't get to see you in your pretty new birthday dress."

"You want me to wear it?"

"I would love for you to wear the dress to your party. And I think that Mommy would be happy if you wore the dress that she bought for you too."

"Ok. Auntie Willow can help me. How long till my party starts?"

Buffy looked at her watch. "A little less than an hour. Will you be good and let Auntie Willow help you get dressed while I go finish up some things in the kitchen?"

Maggie nodded her head, and Buffy and Spike went downstairs to finish the party preparations. Once in the kitchen, Buffy turned to glare at Spike again. "You couldn't have done that about twenty minutes earlier? You knew all she needed was for you to come in and tell her you like the dress for her to agree to wear it."

"I know, Pet. But it was too much fun listening to my girls go round and round. She definitely takes after you when it comes to trying to get her way." Spike smirked as he stepped closer to Buffy and reached out to pull her toward him.

"Oh, no you don't. Don't think you can just swagger up to me and give me some sexy smirk and make me forget why I'm dangerously close to making you sleep on the sofa tonight."

He continued to pull her into his arms, despite her pitiful attempt to struggle. Spike wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her close to him before turning her around and massaging the tight muscles in her shoulders and back. As she started to relax against him, he leaned in and kissed her earlobe, his voice sending shivers along her spine as he whispered "You won't make me sleep on the sofa, Love, because you know if you do then we won't get to continue this later."

"And you like to think you're not evil anymore," she said, laughing as she turned around to kiss him briefly on the lips.  "Now, lets get the rest of these decorations put up before every child in the neighborhood gets here."

Soon Maggie bounded down the stairs, with Willow following closely behind. Maggie was wearing the new sundress that Buffy had bought for her, but the tiara that went with her princess outfit sat lopsided on her little head. Spike and Buffy grinned as they noticed it, deciding to let her wear it, since it was her birthday. Before she could realize it, Spike swooped her up into his arms and spun her around, telling her how beautiful she looked.

"I love you Daddy, I'm glad that you're here for my party" she said, bringing a huge smile to Spike's face and causing Buffy and Willow's eyes to get misty.

"I love you too, Lil'Bit." He replied, as he reached up to straighten the tiara on her head. Just as he put her down, the doorbell rang, signaling the arrival of the first wave of guests. Buffy opened the door, and Spike was amazed at the sight of all the children pouring into the living room, most of them followed closely by their parents, each carrying gifts wrapped in all shades of paper and ribbons. All of the moms made sure to tell their little ones to be good before confirming with Buffy what time they should be back to pick them up.  Spike noticed Maggie talking with one of the little girls, and overheard her call the girl Chloe. He grinned as he thought of the idiosyncrasies of children, how they would be having the fight of a lifetime one day and be best friends again the next. He strolled over to Buffy and Willow, just as both of them were noticing that the Harris family had not yet arrived.

"They didn't say anything about being late when I left this morning, Buffy.  I'm sure that they'll be here soon." Willow said. " If they aren't here in a little while I'll call and make sure everything is okay. I really have no idea what could be keeping them."

At that moment, Anya walked through the front door, with little Alex in tow. "I'll tell you what kept us. Xander was acting like more of a four year old than his son, that's what!" she exclaimed. "Honey, go tell Maggie Happy Birthday and put her gift on the table. I'll be there in a minute. Spike! Willow mentioned that you were back! How have you been?"

Spike took in the flurry of movement and speech that was Anya, noting that she really hadn't changed much at all, just like the rest of the Scoobies. He grinned, and replied "I've been pretty good, Anya, especially since I got back and have been spending time with Maggie and Buffy. I'm surprised that the whelp didn't tell you I was back though… he did see me the other day when he stopped by."

"Oh, well, you know Xander. Sometimes he can't get over himself long enough to act like a grown up." She said, rolling her eyes. Spike smiled at her bluntness, and was thankful when the front door opened yet again and Dawn breezed in, carrying a huge gift bag and two boxes, all wrapped in dark purple paper and tied with lavender ribbons.

Spike went to help her with her load, as Buffy, Willow and Anya all greeted her. "Dawnie, you're going to spoil her with all those presents," Buffy started. "I told you only one."

"Oi! She can spoil my little girl all she wants to" Spike interrupted. They all made their way into the living room to get the party off to a proper start. First the children gathered around and played a game with Dawn; while the other adults watched and giggled at how much fun the children seemed to be having. Then it was Willow's turn to entertain them with her neat card tricks that Maggie seemed to love so much. After several more games, Buffy convinced them to watch the newest Blue's clues video while she and Dawn got the cake ready.  Maggie insisted that her Daddy watch with them, and that she sit in his lap while they watched.

A few minutes into the video, Willow thought she noticed a familiar brunette pass by the front window. "Uh, Spike… are you ok with the kids? I need to go outside and get some air for a minute." She knew it was a lame excuse as soon as his scarred eyebrow shot up to question her sudden outburst, but he nodded anyway, and she excused herself from the room.

Once the front door closed behind her, she looked around but didn't see him. "Xander Harris, I know you're out here, so you might as well go ahead and come out." Xander stepped around the side of the tree that Spike used to hide behind so many years before and tried to put on a resistant face to counter Willow's resolve. "What are you doing lurking around out here? Why didn't you just come inside like a normal party guest?"

"You know why, Willow. He's there. And I'm just not so sure about him being back yet," he told her, as he started kicking the dirt at his feet with the toe of his shoe.

Willow rolled her eyes. "You have got to be kidding me. Anya was right. You do act like a four year old sometimes."

Xander's eyes shot up, and he looked as if he didn't know whether to be really offended that his wife thought he acted like a four year old or that his best friend agreed with her. "I do not act like a child!" he said, as he continued kicking around in the dirt.

"Ok." Willow stated, motioning to his actions. "Xander, come here." She commanded. Once he was on the porch, she pushed him over to the window, so that he could see all of the children and Spike sitting around watching the television. As if on queue, Maggie leaned her head over on Spike's shoulder and Spike kissed her on the forehead, whispering something endearing to her. "Now, tell me, Xander, what exactly looks wrong with that picture?"

"Well, nothing if you don't know that he's an evil soulless vampire."

"Xander, just stop it. Why can't you grow up and realize that what matters is that Buffy and Maggie are happy. That little girl loves her father more than you or I could ever imagine. And Buffy loves him too. And he loves them.  They are finally a family. Why can't you just support Buffy and be happy for her?"

Xander just stood there, looking at Willow and not really knowing what to say as she continued. "You know, in all honesty, if we hadn't been so unsupportive of her relationship with him in the first place, they might not have lost all that time together and Spike wouldn't have missed out on seeing his little girl be born and start to grow up. But I'll be damned if I'm going to let your attitude ruin this day for any of them. He's back, and he's a part of their lives now, and everyone is fine with it. So you can either suck it up, come in and act like an adult and be happy for Buffy, or you can go home and sulk like a child. What will it be?"

Just then, the video ended and Maggie noticed the pair standing outside, looking in the window. She started waving wildly, and smiling at Xander and Willow. As he waved back to her, Xander said softly "I guess I'm coming in." They both went inside and Xander was tackled by his own son and by Maggie, both demanding hugs from him.

"Uncle Xander, you're late." Maggie said frankly.

"I know, baby. I'm sorry. I didn't miss presents did I?"

"Nope. Mommy says I have to wait till after cake."

Spike regarded Xander with a little curiosity until Xander finally spoke. "Hey, man, welcome back. I don't guess I ever got around to saying that the other day."

Spike was even more curious at the way in which Xander was speaking to him. He wondered just what Willow had said to him while they were outside, but decided that as long as he didn't cause any problems it really didn't matter. "Yeah, thanks. So, Maggie seems pretty excited that you made it to her party. Sorry that you had to be late."

Xander smiled. "Yeah, well as long as I didn't miss cake and presents I guess it's all the same, right?" Their brief conversation was cut short as Buffy called all of the children into the dining room for cake. Spike watched as Buffy brought a cake into the room with a picture of the Count on it. Five candles were placed carefully around the Count's picture, and after Spike told her to make a wish Dawn snapped a picture just as Maggie blew out the candles.

Later that night, as Spike tucked Maggie in, he couldn't remember a time when he'd been happier. "Daddy, I'm glad that you were here for my party. It was my best party ever," she told him as she hugged him tightly.

"I'm glad I was here for it too, Bit. Now you settle in and get some sleep. I'll see you in the morning." He tucked her in and turned to see Buffy come into the room to kiss her daughter goodnight. They both stood in the doorway, watching as Maggie blew kisses to them as they turned out the light.

Buffy crossed the hall to her room, but stopped as Spike headed for the stairs. "Spike, where are you going?"

"Well, Love, I seem to remember you saying that I had to sleep on the sofa tonight."

"Get over here," she started, reaching out to grab his arm and pull him into their room. "You still owe me a massage."

A low rumble started in his chest as he gave a saucy look and replied, "That I do, Love…"

TBC…