It was a week later and in between our time apart we managed to work
out a few more of our issues. Mostly little stuff on the same level as
leaving the cap off the toothpaste (her) but the big issues had been
marginally addressed and almost forgotten. We'd patrolled and talked as we
walked exploring our lives and our time apart. Since Giles left I'd been
spending a lot of time at the Magic Box on a daily basis trying to almost
fill his shoes and failing. Willow, Anya, and even Xander knew more about
the texts they had on hand than I did, but I wasn't going to let that stop
me. I delved into texts until my head hurt and my eyes burned and had to
take a break before going back to work for another fifteen minutes. I did
wind up spending more time with Anya as well and found out she was a really
good person underneath the expansive commercialism and the stories of hers
and Xander sexcapades. I wouldn't exactly call us drinking buddies, but at
least she didn't try to get me to buy something every time I walked through
the door.
It was in my new researcher capacity that Willow approached me. She'd been going to classes again lately and let me take over the miscellaneous reading for the group. Upside was that I was near the training room and could go work off my language barrier stress on the heavy bag and I'd been helping Buffy out with her training while she helped me out with mine. Downside was being very close to bored to death on a daily basis. Willow came to me one day with her concerned face on and I closed the book in front of me as she sat down next to me at the table.
"What's up?" She smiled nervously before answering me.
"Well, I'm on Buffy's birthday patrol so I'm trying to put together a simple nice party without things going wrong. She's had kind of a bad track record with birthdays; every year it's something different."
"So what exactly do you need from me?" I'd known it was coming up and had something planned, something special, but I hadn't planned on being part of the whole organized party thing.
"Well, I need you to be there in case something bad happens you can take care of it without her having to leave everything and chase it down or something. Also because you're her friend and she needs all the friends she can get." She looked into my eyes like she was worried about me showing up. I wondered how much Buffy'd told her about us, but shrugged it off; I could be there as a friend. I nodded at Willow and her face brightened a bit and she leaned slightly back against her chair.
"I'll be there tomorrow. Do you need any help with decorating or food or anything?"
"Nope, just fighting the old evil kind of thing. Thanks though, I really appreciate it and I know she'd like you to be there." She stood up and with a smile she was gone again. I stared off into space for a minute before reopening the tome in front of me trying again to decipher what it was telling me. Angel had told me how much she like ice skating and about the rink he'd taken her to years ago when they were together. He'd told me how much she'd liked it, but she hadn't been again in a while. My plan was similar but unique; I was just going to wait until the weekend after her birthday to surprise her with it. It would be the first real boyfriend kind of a thing I'd done in a few weeks.
Buffy came in after her morning shift and we worked out for an hour or so before patrol. The plan involved walking through a few cemeteries on patrol and back to my car for the ride to her house. I hadn't spent the night there in about little over a week, but I still spent some time there both with her and sometimes Dawn. As usual, though, no plan survives the first contact with the enemy. This thing, whatever it was, was certainly no vampire. It attacked us from her side and she ducked under its swinging sword and then kicked out at it. She connected but it didn't even look like it felt the blow. I stepped forward with a kick of my own but got hit with a left and had to step back as Buffy stepped forward, sweeping it's legs out dumping it to the ground. I moved forward again to smash its head with my foot, but it dissolved in front of me and my boot found only the earth. I looked at Buffy but she was alright and I was fine, so we split up. We were close enough to her house now that she could make it there pretty quickly and I went back to my car and would meet her there.
When I got there she was in the living room with a bag over her shoulder and Dawn standing watching her make her way to the door. I smelled something that smelled good and guessed Dawn had done some kind of cooking. I smiled at Dawn and looked at Buffy.
"Ready to go?" She nodded and said goodbye to her sister, making sure she'd do her homework, eat, and get to sleep in a timely fashion. We headed out to the car, stowing her bag in the back and headed back to the cemetery. We split up, both of us armed, her with an axe and me with my sword. I heard sounds of a scuffle and rushed back over to see her stab the demon with a sword, its own I'd assume, and a bright flash of light knocked her back. The demon hit its knees and melted into the blade as Buffy slowly got to her feet. I walked over to meet her as she pulled the sword from the ground.
"Ooh, Shiny." She swung it around a few times with an exceptionally pleased with herself smile.
"Nice work. Ready to head home for some dinner?" Her happy face became endangered of turning upside down.
"I'm not to sure I could willingly face Dawn's concoction. I know she means well and I'd love to spend more time with her, but..."
"How about some real food?" Her smile rebounded and she grabbed my arm, swinging against me as we walked back to the car.
"Lead on, kind sir, to the land of pizza." I chuckled, but held open the car door for her and drove us to the closest pizza joint where we ate inside, keeping the mood light talking about childhood memories. We arrived back at her house to find the kitchen cleaned up, the food put away, and Buffy checked on Dawn in her room.
"It's late, I should probably go." She still didn't like my enforced separation from her, but nodded her head and gave me a hug before watching me walk out the front door and closing it behind me. I got into my car and sighed, my thoughts still with her, before I started it up and stopped for gas on the way to the apartment. I reminded myself to call the General tomorrow and ask if I could keep using this place and if I could pay him for the time I'd already spent here. I hit the hay that night and tried to find whatever sleep I could without the comforting presence of my protector.
The next day I swung by the Double-Meat Palace to see Buffy on her break and to let her know I'd be out and about all day. I had to fully prepare her surprise, pick up a spell or two, and swing by a specialty shop. I even headed out of town to scout out the perfect sight, leaving behind a sign that read 'Site reserved for a romantic moment between two people that aren't you.' I chuckled over that one and headed quickly back into town and turned down Revello drive to her house. I parked in the driveway and headed into the brightly lit house to find Dawn and give her a hug and then follow her toward the kitchen to find Buffy, Xander, and Anya.
"A guy? For Buffy?" I was very surprised and stopped in my tracks as I heard Xander try and tap dance out of the Slayer's murderous gaze. Anya, of course had her two cents to throw in.
"I assume that this is an act of kindness?" Xander shrugged. "That'll help with the not throttling. Xander retreated quickly, taking the food out with him to the dining room table. I got a drink and stayed mostly in the background talking with Dawn and was standing in the living room as Xander led some guy through the front door and directly back to the kitchen where Buffy was. So that was the guy. Xander came back into the living room and sat on the couch. I tried to keep from glaring at him and Anya, but I tried in vain. I walked away from them into the kitchen as Dawn started asking about Buffy opening her presents. I walked in to see the one person that couldn't have made me feel any better.
"Spike. What are you doing here?" He glared silently at me and his saggy skinned friend reached out to shake my hand.
"Hi I'm Clem. Are you a friend of Buffy's?" I shook his hand and got the impression of a good person with few vices and only a little bit of darkness. I had to grin at his appearance, but introduced myself politely before turning back to Spike.
"We need to talk." I held open the door to the basement and pushed him forward. He turned around looked at me expectantly. "What are you doing here?"
"Willow told me about it, I figured the more the merrier." I shook my head and walked closer to him till we were standing face to face and I looked dead into his bruised eye.
"With you, there's no such thing, Spike. I can't believe you have the gall to even show your face to me. I've killed men for less, and you aren't even a man." I hit him, knocking against the back wall. I wanted to do more to him, but stopped myself and forced my fists to unclench. Spike didn't deserve all of this. "I'm sorry. Xander invited a friend for Buffy, and I guess I wasn't ready to deal with it yet."
"Seen him, wasn't too impressed." He got slowly to his feet but made no move to strike at me or to back away. "Know what you mean though." We stood in silence for a bit before I spoke again.
"Do me a favor, stay away from her. I'd hate to have to explain dusting you in front of the regular people out there." I turned and made my way up the stairs leaving him to tend to his bleeding lip in the dark. I headed upstairs to the kitchen to replenish my drink I'd left there and to make some small talk with Tara before I caught a glimpse of Buffy and started after her, excusing myself first. By the time I caught up with her she was speaking with Xander and Anya and then Dawn. Instead of following her around the house I decided on an easier way to do this.
'Meet me upstairs when you're ready.' She looked around for a second before her answering thought came.
'Ready for what?' Her tone was mischievous and it brought a smile to my face, doing much to relieve the mild jealousy clouding my judgment.
'Not quite that, I just want to talk for a few minutes.'
'Aww, it's my birthday. I'm supposed to unwrap all my presents.' I made no response and made my way upstairs with a silly grin plastered on my face. I wasn't waiting too long, but it seemed like forever I walked around her room keeping my hands to myself and looking at the pictures on her wall. I felt her at the door before it opened and she stepped inside keeping the light off. She made her way unerringly into my arms and her lips found mine easily in a tender kiss that ended with us both sitting on the edge of her bed. I broke contact and took her hands in mine as I looked into her eyes reflecting the moonlight.
"I've got a surprise for you."
"You do? What kind of surprise? Will I like it?"
"I'm pretty sure you'll like it just fine."
"I like that gleam in your eye, you should do that more often." She leaned forward for another wonderfully sweet kiss.
"So what's up with 'Richard'" I used air quotes, God I'm old.
"I don't know. He seems sweet enough, I guess. Plus he is really cute." She broke into giggles at my affronted face. "Anyone ever tell you you're pretty cute yourself, when you're jealous?" My scowl melted into a half grin as I gave in to her laughter.
"I'm sorry, I can't help it. Plus Spike being here isn't helping anything."
"I know, but I can't kick him out and still be pleasant hosting lady."
"Can I kick him out?" She laughed at the eagerness in my voice, but sobered and put her hand back on my arm.
"As much as I would enjoy seeing that, I don't think that would be too good an idea. Do me a favor?"
"Name it."
"Keep him from terrorizing Richard?" I nodded easily.
"What about me, can I terrorize him?"
"Be nice." Her mock scolding tone ended with my lips on hers and we sat together for another perfect moment before she stood up and went to the door.
"Thank you, for being here."
"I'm here when you need me." She closed the door softly behind her and I sat for a few minutes in the solitude before squaring my shoulders and crossing the hall to the bathroom and splashing some water on my face. I came down the stairs to find Spike brooding in the hall and I brushed past him on my way to the living room. Shortly it was time for presents and Dawn could hardly wait for Buffy to open hers, only to have it brushed slightly to the side when Xander wheeled his beautiful wooden creation into the room. I admit I was in awe of the beauty one man can create, but Dawn's gift was pretty extravagant considering how she must have paid for it. I'd offered her some money for her shopping, but she said she'd saved up for it. I sat down on the couch beside her, but the doorbell rang almost as soon as my pants hit the fabric. Tara got the door as Buffy was thanking them for the gift and in walked someone I think I'd seen at the Double-Meat Palace. She seemed kind of... High Schooly I think is the best term. She spouted off something about her mom, thank you's and dairy but I sat with my arm around Dawn's shoulders and focused on her, rubbing her shoulders gently. Spike shut the door and everyone was introduced to the new arrival.
Shortly the music got turned up and the dancing began, first in short spurts of rhythmic energy and then as more people joined in relaxed jigginess was to be had by all. Well, most anyway. I looked over from my place leaning against the wall to Dawn sitting next to Anya on the couch, looking slightly ignored. I crossed over to her and held out my hand, she took it and moved with me to the open area used by the other dancers. Her smile widened as she moved easily to the beat and then further as she observed my half hearted attempts at making my body conform to the music. I liked to think I was faking most of my clumsiness for laughs, but I knew better. What can I say, I'm too old for this stuff. The next song came on, a slightly older one with a more classic up tempo beat.
"Did you ever take ballet or jazz?" She nodded with a puzzled expression on her face but I smiled as I took her hands and began to spin her through a swing dance. The floor cleared around us and it was all she could do to keep up with her part of the dance as we kicked and spun. I picked her up and brought her around one side of my hip and then the other before tossing her in the air and spinning her around to catch her again and setting her feet on the ground. Her face was excited and her giggles sparkled in the air between us as we finished up the song with some quick whirls and spins ending in an extravagant dip and flourish to the applause from the spectators. Dawn blushed scarlet as I bowed and nudged her to bow beside me before straightening. Buffy was standing in the entryway with a smile on her face and after sitting Dawn down and telling her I'd get her a drink, I moved toward the kitchen and Buffy followed me.
"I didn't know you could dance."
"I used to do it in high school, my cheerleading coach got me into it for a while, but I was nothing compared to my partner. Now she could move. I just tried to keep up."
"Angel never... I mean. It's nice to have someone around who'll dance besides Xander. He tries, but I think his funky bone is kind of twisted; if not completely broken." I poured some punch into a cup and added some ice for Dawn and moved back to Buffy's side.
"Thank you, all gratuities are appreciated." I smirked at her and she slapped my stomach playfully. I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek on my way out and brought Dawn out her drink. Hours passed quickly and I found myself in conversation with almost everyone there except the severely blond party crasher. The evening progressed to board and card games with me winning a few hands of poker, but finding Clem as a tough adversary. We ran out of alcohol, not a big deal for me, I was trying not to drink too much. There was some discussion I think about going out for more, but it didn't happen.
Morning found us lounged around the living room still awake and idly watching cartoons. My eyes were on Buffy as she dealt out cards for her and Spike in whatever game they were playing. Richard said something about having to get to work, but I was up on my way to the bathroom and when I came back down Buffy and Spike were talking by the door.
"I'm actually trying to move right now."
"Me too." I didn't care what was going on, I stepped forward off the last step and backhanded Spike as I turned to Buffy.
"What's going on?"
"I can't get to the door." I looked at the door knob and tried to step forward... and couldn't. What the hell was going on here? I pointedly ignored Spike's glare as he climbed to his feet.
"Well... this can't be good." We gathered everyone together in the living room and tried to talk it over. Everyone seemed to have something else they had to do but none of us could manage to cross the threshold, not even when all of us tried collectively to leave. Comments flew about what or who was holding us here but Dawn was the one to take affront at all of us, as she put it, being stuck in here with her. She stormed out of the room, all eyes following her, and up the stairs to her room. Buffy led the way up the stairs with me following her. The Scoobies and Spike followed us up and into her room to ask her what was going on. She shrieked at us to get out when she'd had enough of 'being talked to like a kid.' I stayed and nodded at Buffy as she left last and headed down the stairs. I sat down on the bed next to her and began broadcasting reassuring and comforting feelings. Slowly I reached out and placed one hand on her head, my eyes closed and my thoughts reaching out to hers. She whimpered and I winced and pull back; I don't want to hurt her. I stroked her hair softly and she pulls away from me.
"Please get out. I don't want you to see me cry." I nodded and patted her shoulder as I stood up and went to the door, turning off the light before closing it. I headed slowly down the stairs to hear them talking about using magic and lamenting the lack of magical supplies, until Willow volunteered that she still had some. The others split up after yelling at Willow. I grabbed Buffy's arm on her way by and pulled her apart from them as I told her that Dawn really didn't know anything about this. She nodded and thanked me quietly as she followed Tara into the kitchen to watch her get ready for the spell. It was afternoon, almost evening really, when the spell was ready and I was standing behind Spike, Willow, and Anya as they strained toward the door waiting for the spell to take effect. I heard Tara's voice from the kitchen tell us to try the door and I pushed forward. I could see Spike clench his hand and Willow tense her back as she tried to force her body forward. Finally Spike relaxed his hand and shook his head.
"Nope, can't." For once I agreed with him. I walked into the kitchen and away from Richard's questions. Only to run back in with Buffy hot on my heals to the sounds of screaming and growling coming, I shortly discovered, from what looked like the demon we fought just the other night. It slashed at Richard and Buffy stepped around me to attack it and I grabbed for him as he fell. It was a bad cut, but I applied pressure and looked around for something to wrap it with just in time to see the Demon melt into the floor. Everyone was quiet as they looked around in surprise or fear and Xander came up behind me to help with Richard. The demon reappeared behind Buffy, slashing downward only to be blocked by Buffy's upraised hands, leaving her open to his answering kick which knocked her to the floor before he disappeared again.
"What was that?"
"That was the demon I killed two nights ago." I was trying to staunch the blood flow from Richard's chest wound and wasn't succeeding.
"How is he?" I looked up and answered Buffy.
"It looks pretty bad. We need a doctor but I'll do what I can. We need to get him upstairs." Xander helped me pick him up and we took him up to Willow's bedroom and got him situated on the bed. I wrapped and bandaged his wound as best I could with what we had on hand and prepared him to wait it out. Over the next few hours before night came on in full effect we set up groups of people to protect us from the demon, assuming it couldn't get out either. Spike watched most of the group downstairs and I watched the rest of us upstairs with Buffy going back and forth between us to check and see if I needed anything. We started hearing rumbling in the walls, the demon moving around I assumed. Everyone was pretty afraid of what was going to happen but I was more worried about keeping Richard alive. Tara helped me clean the wound and coax some water and a pain reliever down his throat. I heard Xander walk past the door and make his way downstairs, and then a male scream.
I wanted to rush downstairs, but if I did I'd be leaving more people unprotected so I stayed put. I heard sounds of a scuffle that ended quickly enough. I waited for the call that would indicate someone else was hurt, but it didn't come. Willow and Tara headed downstairs but I stayed with Richard and tried to keep his mind busy by talking to him. I found out about his home life and the latest work project they were almost done on and how much he enjoyed his job. He struck me as a pretty good guy even though he had no clue about what went on in the world around him. He only spoke once about not wanting to die, but I made certain to squash that idea as quickly as I could and reinforced it with a mental suggestion. He would live, I promised; no one else would die on me again.
I was distracted from that chain of thought by sounds of someone rummaging through things and knocking things over in Dawns room. I heard Xander's muffled voice and hoped he was taking care of it. Next came Dawn's outraged voice and I figured someone besides her was going through her room, but I stayed put. I heard lots of footsteps heading downstairs and the argument, whatever it was about, went with them. I centered my energies and tried to get his body to start healing itself, something I'd seen done only once before, and demonstrated my ignorance when nothing happened. The bleeding was pretty much fully stopped but he'd lost some blood and was still showing signs of shock. Something cut through my link to Buffy and her hurt and humiliation smacked me in the head. I looked down at Richard and put him to sleep with a thought before hurrying down the stairs, hearing Anya yell out for someone name Hallie to get her ass down there. I saw a demon morph in a second before our demon appeared behind her, stabbing her through the gut.
The fight was on, after a second of shock at what happened to Hallie, with Spike and I rushing it from behind to help out the Slayer. The Demon was knocked around between us as it knocked Buffy back and then me only to disappear again. We didn't even get a second as it attacked from the side and Spike grabbed it as I kicked it. I stepped forward to grab its other arm and knee it in the chest to make it drop its sword. Spike yelled out to grab it, which Buffy did as it got away from us and ran toward the wall. She threw it at me and I stabbed it into the wall, some kind of weird blue light energy shining everywhere. I pulled out the sword to see the demons visage imposed on the blade. I handed it to Buffy who broke it over her knee to another flash of light.
"The pendant, we have to get the pendant." Anya and Buffy both rushed for the fallen demon who sat up with a start and with a wave sent Anya crashing back to the couch. I watched the scene play out in front of me between the vengeance demon and the ex as they argued about the spell that had been cursed against us. The only thing that surprised me was Hallie recognizing Spike as William. That was a thought for another day. The gradual explanation of why Hallie had cursed us because of Dawn's wish slowly came to light piece by piece. It was only after she pronounced her full curse upon us in her little speech that she realized what she had done. Her spell prevented anyone from leaving Dawn... anyone; including her now that she was here. She sheepishly acknowledged Anya's pointing out of this fact and released her spell from the house.
Willow and Tara went to the kitchen to get the magic stuff gathered together and Xander followed me upstairs to wake up Richard and help him down the stairs to the front door.
"You have some weird friends."
"News from the file marked 'Duh'. We're gonna get him to the ER."
"Think it wore off?"
"Only one thing left to do." Spike crossed to the door and opened it, letting it swing open against me. The group followed us out one at a time looking at the stars and the grass. I did hear Clem say he liked the party before he took off. After I got Richard into the back of Xander's car I headed back up to the front of the house, brushing against Spike on his way out. I stood at the threshold looking in at Buffy and Dawn. I smiled as I glanced at the retreating figures behind me and then turned back around to face them as I closed the door.
"Who's hungry for some dinner?" The answering grins on both of their faces made this the right course of action. Discovering only a few supplies in the refrigerator ensured some creativeness on my part and it almost wound up completely ruined but in the end I think the dish my mother called casserole and my dad called goulash turned out alright. Anyway, it could have been worse... I think. Alright, so I gave up and ordered in. The important thing was that we stayed together in the house that night watching TV and talking. All of us fell asleep on or against the couch together with the empty ice cream bowls on the table in front of us.
Waking up the next morning was both hard and easy. Hard because after staying up the entirety of the night before, waking up with the sun isn't fun. Easy because the curtains were wide open and the blaring of cartoons ensured that I could not stay there in restful slumber any longer. I stood up from my place on the floor leaning against the couch and first turned down the TV and then closed the blinds. Checking my watch to ensure it was really Saturday I made my way to the kitchen and cleaned up my mess from the night before and pulled out the ingredients for some simple omelets and greased down the frying pan and set it to warm. I cracked the eggs and started on the first one before starting half a pot of some good coffee I found in the back of the cupboard.
The sounds of motion and Buffy's morning groan answered the aroma drifting into the living room. I smiled and poured some juice into a glass on the table and then flipped the omelet onto the plate with fresh fruit already on it and placed it in the middle of the place setting I'd arranged first just as she came strolling into the kitchen to survey my handiwork. I stood with my hands wide as she took in the vase with the single flower from the backyard in it, the clean placement of plate silverware glass and napkin, and a leather gift type bag all sitting on the kitchen table. Her hand went to her mouth in surprise and pleasure. I crossed the room to take her hand and lead her to the table and held out her chair for her. I pushed the bag in front of her gesturing for her to open it.
"You are unbelievable. Thank you."
"I couldn't give you this the other night, too many questions." She opened the bag and her eyes widened as she looked inside, moving green light reflecting from her already green eyes. She slowly reached into the bag with her hand and pulled out a green sphere about the size of one of her fists that was flat on the bottom and that I already knew was constantly cold to the touch. She set it beside her plate on the counter and looked back up at me.
"What does it do?"
"That's the surprise. You'll find that out later today, if you're up for it." She nodded and smiled her mischievous smile at me.
'I'm always up for it.' Her thought put an answering grin on my face. I scooped up the orb and tossed it back in the bag as Dawn came in and silently crossed to the fridge to pour herself a glass of juice.
"You want an omelet Dawnie?" She shook her head silently at me as she drank her juice. I mentally shrugged and started one for myself. We let the silence fill the air for the course of the meal but I had to make sure it was okay with Dawn for us to head out today.
"Hey, Dawn, I've still got to give Buffy her birthday gift today. Would you be alright staying here with Willow?"
"I guess. Look, I'm sorry guys. About everything that happened last night. And before." I nodded, we'd been trying to reassure her the entire night after everybody left that it was okay, but she hadn't apologized before just now. Willow came down just as we were finishing up and I told her we'd be gone all day, she said she was cool with staying with Dawn all day, she didn't have any other plans. Willow helped me clean up the kitchen after I whispered to Buffy what to pack. She was ready half an hour later, cleaned and polished. We said goodbye to Dawn and Willow before throwing her bags in the back seat and hitting the road.
As soon as we were on our way she reached over and put her hand on my thigh and I scooped it up with my left, driving and shifting with my right. I played with her fingers and glanced at her often. And though I could feel her curiosity playing on the edges of my consciousness she never once asked where we were going on our many houred trip. I parked off the side of the road in a clearing and popping the trunk. She carried her big bag, leaving the smaller one in the car, while I carried two bags: one large on my back and a smaller one I'd strapped to the back of it. We set off through the woods at a moderate pace which slowed slightly as it got thicker. We made our way out the other side of the woods across a tall grass clearing that gave way to even lighter vegetation and shorter grass. The clearing finally came to a slight ridge and as we crested it we looked down on a pristine lake and my sign. We stopped and looked down on the quiet and peaceful scene untouched by civilization in any way.
We put our bags down against a large tree and pulled out towels to dry off a bit. I told her to go ahead and get cleaned up and into some dryer clothes. It was still chilly outside being January, but it was also the middle of the day and we'd just hiked a few miles. I wondered if she would have any problems with changing out in the open, but she quickly proved that she had no qualms at all. I untied the smaller bag from the larger and opening it, pulled out the leather gift bag I'd giver her earlier and set it aside. I handed her the other bag, the one I'd pulled the leather one out of, and laughed at her shocked expression as she looked inside and pulled out a brand new pair of good ice skates in her size. She looked at me confused and I got her to put them down and took her hand to lead her to the edge of the lake, more of a pond really. I held the leather bag open and she pulled out the glowing green sphere. I took her hand in mine and placed it so the flat side was facing down with her fingers on top and then she placed it carefully on top of the water. The orb floated serenely for a second before it flashed a bright light and the lake stood still. She gasped and stepped back before bending down and touching first her fingertips and then her open palm to the now frozen surface of the lake.
"How did you do that?"
"Borrowed magic." I got her to try on her skates while I pulled mine out from my bag and joined her on the ice. We took a few laps around hand in hand, admiring the scenery and the animals. I pointed out a rabbit that was lapping at the edge of the lake and how the ripple extended for just inches from his nose before dying out. We stopped at the center of the lake and I pointed down at the fish still visible beneath us. The lake was frozen for us, but without the biting cold of actually frozen water and the animals encountered no resistance whatsoever between them and the water. We made it back around to our starting point and I stopped and gestured for her to do a few laps on her own. I watched her move across the ice as though she was born for it. She turned, jumped and spun; changing feet and skating backwards. I was struck by the simple beauty of her precise physical action and at the spirit it took to create such simple beauty in this world. Her peace and relaxed joy radiated from her face like a second sun and I blinked and had to look away for the portable player and speakers I pulled from my bag. She looked up and smiled at the classical sounds of a romantic song and held out her hand as I moved across the ice to join her. We moved slowly in time to the music and danced across the ice for what seemed like hours; perfect hours.
"About ready?" She was sitting down taking off her skates and putting back on her shoes as she asked me. I nodded and followed her lead before reaching further into my bag for some simple food supplies, camping fare mostly, and moved to the pile of wood I'd already prepared. Concentration and a few magical words later and I had a crackling fire going. Leaving the fire we moved back to the lake shore and the still glowing sphere sitting on the surface. I showed her how and then had her pick up the sphere and put it in the bag as the magic faded from the lake restoring it to it's normal liquid appearance. When we got back to the fire she put her hands to the flames, the retreating sun and the wind cooling us enough where the fire was most welcome. I pulled her against me where I was propped against the log behind me. She relaxed against me as I wrapped my arms around her until dinner was ready and we kept close proximity as we ate. After both of us were full and the pot was empty we continued to cuddle for a few minutes before I reached into the side pocket of my bag for the makings of smores. I answered her grin and we chuckled like little kids as we cooked our marshmallows and stuck them to our chocolate bars and graham crackers. I laughed hard bringing tears to my eyes as she stuffed eight marshmallows into her mouth at once.
Shortly it really was time to go and we packed up our bags with her carrying her skates. She'd changed again while I was cleaning up the food and started putting out the fire. She helped me make sure the fire was out and we started our way back in the last vestiges of twilight. I set out unerringly on our course, occasionally checking direction with the stars and we made it back to the car more than a few hours later. I grinned as I saw her halter top in the light from the open trunk as we stowed our gear. Closing the trunk she pulled me close to her, wrapping her arms around me and leaning her full body against me.
"Thank you for a perfect day. It's been a long time since I've had a birthday I could just enjoy."
"I want you to enjoy every part of this day, you deserve it." Eventually we separated our lips and our bodies and climbed into the car to head back into the city holding hands. We got to her house late that night and checked on Dawn and Willow, both asleep, before taking turns in the shower and making our way into her bed. She enjoyed every part of that day; you can take my word for it. And I slept better than I had in weeks.
It was in my new researcher capacity that Willow approached me. She'd been going to classes again lately and let me take over the miscellaneous reading for the group. Upside was that I was near the training room and could go work off my language barrier stress on the heavy bag and I'd been helping Buffy out with her training while she helped me out with mine. Downside was being very close to bored to death on a daily basis. Willow came to me one day with her concerned face on and I closed the book in front of me as she sat down next to me at the table.
"What's up?" She smiled nervously before answering me.
"Well, I'm on Buffy's birthday patrol so I'm trying to put together a simple nice party without things going wrong. She's had kind of a bad track record with birthdays; every year it's something different."
"So what exactly do you need from me?" I'd known it was coming up and had something planned, something special, but I hadn't planned on being part of the whole organized party thing.
"Well, I need you to be there in case something bad happens you can take care of it without her having to leave everything and chase it down or something. Also because you're her friend and she needs all the friends she can get." She looked into my eyes like she was worried about me showing up. I wondered how much Buffy'd told her about us, but shrugged it off; I could be there as a friend. I nodded at Willow and her face brightened a bit and she leaned slightly back against her chair.
"I'll be there tomorrow. Do you need any help with decorating or food or anything?"
"Nope, just fighting the old evil kind of thing. Thanks though, I really appreciate it and I know she'd like you to be there." She stood up and with a smile she was gone again. I stared off into space for a minute before reopening the tome in front of me trying again to decipher what it was telling me. Angel had told me how much she like ice skating and about the rink he'd taken her to years ago when they were together. He'd told me how much she'd liked it, but she hadn't been again in a while. My plan was similar but unique; I was just going to wait until the weekend after her birthday to surprise her with it. It would be the first real boyfriend kind of a thing I'd done in a few weeks.
Buffy came in after her morning shift and we worked out for an hour or so before patrol. The plan involved walking through a few cemeteries on patrol and back to my car for the ride to her house. I hadn't spent the night there in about little over a week, but I still spent some time there both with her and sometimes Dawn. As usual, though, no plan survives the first contact with the enemy. This thing, whatever it was, was certainly no vampire. It attacked us from her side and she ducked under its swinging sword and then kicked out at it. She connected but it didn't even look like it felt the blow. I stepped forward with a kick of my own but got hit with a left and had to step back as Buffy stepped forward, sweeping it's legs out dumping it to the ground. I moved forward again to smash its head with my foot, but it dissolved in front of me and my boot found only the earth. I looked at Buffy but she was alright and I was fine, so we split up. We were close enough to her house now that she could make it there pretty quickly and I went back to my car and would meet her there.
When I got there she was in the living room with a bag over her shoulder and Dawn standing watching her make her way to the door. I smelled something that smelled good and guessed Dawn had done some kind of cooking. I smiled at Dawn and looked at Buffy.
"Ready to go?" She nodded and said goodbye to her sister, making sure she'd do her homework, eat, and get to sleep in a timely fashion. We headed out to the car, stowing her bag in the back and headed back to the cemetery. We split up, both of us armed, her with an axe and me with my sword. I heard sounds of a scuffle and rushed back over to see her stab the demon with a sword, its own I'd assume, and a bright flash of light knocked her back. The demon hit its knees and melted into the blade as Buffy slowly got to her feet. I walked over to meet her as she pulled the sword from the ground.
"Ooh, Shiny." She swung it around a few times with an exceptionally pleased with herself smile.
"Nice work. Ready to head home for some dinner?" Her happy face became endangered of turning upside down.
"I'm not to sure I could willingly face Dawn's concoction. I know she means well and I'd love to spend more time with her, but..."
"How about some real food?" Her smile rebounded and she grabbed my arm, swinging against me as we walked back to the car.
"Lead on, kind sir, to the land of pizza." I chuckled, but held open the car door for her and drove us to the closest pizza joint where we ate inside, keeping the mood light talking about childhood memories. We arrived back at her house to find the kitchen cleaned up, the food put away, and Buffy checked on Dawn in her room.
"It's late, I should probably go." She still didn't like my enforced separation from her, but nodded her head and gave me a hug before watching me walk out the front door and closing it behind me. I got into my car and sighed, my thoughts still with her, before I started it up and stopped for gas on the way to the apartment. I reminded myself to call the General tomorrow and ask if I could keep using this place and if I could pay him for the time I'd already spent here. I hit the hay that night and tried to find whatever sleep I could without the comforting presence of my protector.
The next day I swung by the Double-Meat Palace to see Buffy on her break and to let her know I'd be out and about all day. I had to fully prepare her surprise, pick up a spell or two, and swing by a specialty shop. I even headed out of town to scout out the perfect sight, leaving behind a sign that read 'Site reserved for a romantic moment between two people that aren't you.' I chuckled over that one and headed quickly back into town and turned down Revello drive to her house. I parked in the driveway and headed into the brightly lit house to find Dawn and give her a hug and then follow her toward the kitchen to find Buffy, Xander, and Anya.
"A guy? For Buffy?" I was very surprised and stopped in my tracks as I heard Xander try and tap dance out of the Slayer's murderous gaze. Anya, of course had her two cents to throw in.
"I assume that this is an act of kindness?" Xander shrugged. "That'll help with the not throttling. Xander retreated quickly, taking the food out with him to the dining room table. I got a drink and stayed mostly in the background talking with Dawn and was standing in the living room as Xander led some guy through the front door and directly back to the kitchen where Buffy was. So that was the guy. Xander came back into the living room and sat on the couch. I tried to keep from glaring at him and Anya, but I tried in vain. I walked away from them into the kitchen as Dawn started asking about Buffy opening her presents. I walked in to see the one person that couldn't have made me feel any better.
"Spike. What are you doing here?" He glared silently at me and his saggy skinned friend reached out to shake my hand.
"Hi I'm Clem. Are you a friend of Buffy's?" I shook his hand and got the impression of a good person with few vices and only a little bit of darkness. I had to grin at his appearance, but introduced myself politely before turning back to Spike.
"We need to talk." I held open the door to the basement and pushed him forward. He turned around looked at me expectantly. "What are you doing here?"
"Willow told me about it, I figured the more the merrier." I shook my head and walked closer to him till we were standing face to face and I looked dead into his bruised eye.
"With you, there's no such thing, Spike. I can't believe you have the gall to even show your face to me. I've killed men for less, and you aren't even a man." I hit him, knocking against the back wall. I wanted to do more to him, but stopped myself and forced my fists to unclench. Spike didn't deserve all of this. "I'm sorry. Xander invited a friend for Buffy, and I guess I wasn't ready to deal with it yet."
"Seen him, wasn't too impressed." He got slowly to his feet but made no move to strike at me or to back away. "Know what you mean though." We stood in silence for a bit before I spoke again.
"Do me a favor, stay away from her. I'd hate to have to explain dusting you in front of the regular people out there." I turned and made my way up the stairs leaving him to tend to his bleeding lip in the dark. I headed upstairs to the kitchen to replenish my drink I'd left there and to make some small talk with Tara before I caught a glimpse of Buffy and started after her, excusing myself first. By the time I caught up with her she was speaking with Xander and Anya and then Dawn. Instead of following her around the house I decided on an easier way to do this.
'Meet me upstairs when you're ready.' She looked around for a second before her answering thought came.
'Ready for what?' Her tone was mischievous and it brought a smile to my face, doing much to relieve the mild jealousy clouding my judgment.
'Not quite that, I just want to talk for a few minutes.'
'Aww, it's my birthday. I'm supposed to unwrap all my presents.' I made no response and made my way upstairs with a silly grin plastered on my face. I wasn't waiting too long, but it seemed like forever I walked around her room keeping my hands to myself and looking at the pictures on her wall. I felt her at the door before it opened and she stepped inside keeping the light off. She made her way unerringly into my arms and her lips found mine easily in a tender kiss that ended with us both sitting on the edge of her bed. I broke contact and took her hands in mine as I looked into her eyes reflecting the moonlight.
"I've got a surprise for you."
"You do? What kind of surprise? Will I like it?"
"I'm pretty sure you'll like it just fine."
"I like that gleam in your eye, you should do that more often." She leaned forward for another wonderfully sweet kiss.
"So what's up with 'Richard'" I used air quotes, God I'm old.
"I don't know. He seems sweet enough, I guess. Plus he is really cute." She broke into giggles at my affronted face. "Anyone ever tell you you're pretty cute yourself, when you're jealous?" My scowl melted into a half grin as I gave in to her laughter.
"I'm sorry, I can't help it. Plus Spike being here isn't helping anything."
"I know, but I can't kick him out and still be pleasant hosting lady."
"Can I kick him out?" She laughed at the eagerness in my voice, but sobered and put her hand back on my arm.
"As much as I would enjoy seeing that, I don't think that would be too good an idea. Do me a favor?"
"Name it."
"Keep him from terrorizing Richard?" I nodded easily.
"What about me, can I terrorize him?"
"Be nice." Her mock scolding tone ended with my lips on hers and we sat together for another perfect moment before she stood up and went to the door.
"Thank you, for being here."
"I'm here when you need me." She closed the door softly behind her and I sat for a few minutes in the solitude before squaring my shoulders and crossing the hall to the bathroom and splashing some water on my face. I came down the stairs to find Spike brooding in the hall and I brushed past him on my way to the living room. Shortly it was time for presents and Dawn could hardly wait for Buffy to open hers, only to have it brushed slightly to the side when Xander wheeled his beautiful wooden creation into the room. I admit I was in awe of the beauty one man can create, but Dawn's gift was pretty extravagant considering how she must have paid for it. I'd offered her some money for her shopping, but she said she'd saved up for it. I sat down on the couch beside her, but the doorbell rang almost as soon as my pants hit the fabric. Tara got the door as Buffy was thanking them for the gift and in walked someone I think I'd seen at the Double-Meat Palace. She seemed kind of... High Schooly I think is the best term. She spouted off something about her mom, thank you's and dairy but I sat with my arm around Dawn's shoulders and focused on her, rubbing her shoulders gently. Spike shut the door and everyone was introduced to the new arrival.
Shortly the music got turned up and the dancing began, first in short spurts of rhythmic energy and then as more people joined in relaxed jigginess was to be had by all. Well, most anyway. I looked over from my place leaning against the wall to Dawn sitting next to Anya on the couch, looking slightly ignored. I crossed over to her and held out my hand, she took it and moved with me to the open area used by the other dancers. Her smile widened as she moved easily to the beat and then further as she observed my half hearted attempts at making my body conform to the music. I liked to think I was faking most of my clumsiness for laughs, but I knew better. What can I say, I'm too old for this stuff. The next song came on, a slightly older one with a more classic up tempo beat.
"Did you ever take ballet or jazz?" She nodded with a puzzled expression on her face but I smiled as I took her hands and began to spin her through a swing dance. The floor cleared around us and it was all she could do to keep up with her part of the dance as we kicked and spun. I picked her up and brought her around one side of my hip and then the other before tossing her in the air and spinning her around to catch her again and setting her feet on the ground. Her face was excited and her giggles sparkled in the air between us as we finished up the song with some quick whirls and spins ending in an extravagant dip and flourish to the applause from the spectators. Dawn blushed scarlet as I bowed and nudged her to bow beside me before straightening. Buffy was standing in the entryway with a smile on her face and after sitting Dawn down and telling her I'd get her a drink, I moved toward the kitchen and Buffy followed me.
"I didn't know you could dance."
"I used to do it in high school, my cheerleading coach got me into it for a while, but I was nothing compared to my partner. Now she could move. I just tried to keep up."
"Angel never... I mean. It's nice to have someone around who'll dance besides Xander. He tries, but I think his funky bone is kind of twisted; if not completely broken." I poured some punch into a cup and added some ice for Dawn and moved back to Buffy's side.
"Thank you, all gratuities are appreciated." I smirked at her and she slapped my stomach playfully. I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek on my way out and brought Dawn out her drink. Hours passed quickly and I found myself in conversation with almost everyone there except the severely blond party crasher. The evening progressed to board and card games with me winning a few hands of poker, but finding Clem as a tough adversary. We ran out of alcohol, not a big deal for me, I was trying not to drink too much. There was some discussion I think about going out for more, but it didn't happen.
Morning found us lounged around the living room still awake and idly watching cartoons. My eyes were on Buffy as she dealt out cards for her and Spike in whatever game they were playing. Richard said something about having to get to work, but I was up on my way to the bathroom and when I came back down Buffy and Spike were talking by the door.
"I'm actually trying to move right now."
"Me too." I didn't care what was going on, I stepped forward off the last step and backhanded Spike as I turned to Buffy.
"What's going on?"
"I can't get to the door." I looked at the door knob and tried to step forward... and couldn't. What the hell was going on here? I pointedly ignored Spike's glare as he climbed to his feet.
"Well... this can't be good." We gathered everyone together in the living room and tried to talk it over. Everyone seemed to have something else they had to do but none of us could manage to cross the threshold, not even when all of us tried collectively to leave. Comments flew about what or who was holding us here but Dawn was the one to take affront at all of us, as she put it, being stuck in here with her. She stormed out of the room, all eyes following her, and up the stairs to her room. Buffy led the way up the stairs with me following her. The Scoobies and Spike followed us up and into her room to ask her what was going on. She shrieked at us to get out when she'd had enough of 'being talked to like a kid.' I stayed and nodded at Buffy as she left last and headed down the stairs. I sat down on the bed next to her and began broadcasting reassuring and comforting feelings. Slowly I reached out and placed one hand on her head, my eyes closed and my thoughts reaching out to hers. She whimpered and I winced and pull back; I don't want to hurt her. I stroked her hair softly and she pulls away from me.
"Please get out. I don't want you to see me cry." I nodded and patted her shoulder as I stood up and went to the door, turning off the light before closing it. I headed slowly down the stairs to hear them talking about using magic and lamenting the lack of magical supplies, until Willow volunteered that she still had some. The others split up after yelling at Willow. I grabbed Buffy's arm on her way by and pulled her apart from them as I told her that Dawn really didn't know anything about this. She nodded and thanked me quietly as she followed Tara into the kitchen to watch her get ready for the spell. It was afternoon, almost evening really, when the spell was ready and I was standing behind Spike, Willow, and Anya as they strained toward the door waiting for the spell to take effect. I heard Tara's voice from the kitchen tell us to try the door and I pushed forward. I could see Spike clench his hand and Willow tense her back as she tried to force her body forward. Finally Spike relaxed his hand and shook his head.
"Nope, can't." For once I agreed with him. I walked into the kitchen and away from Richard's questions. Only to run back in with Buffy hot on my heals to the sounds of screaming and growling coming, I shortly discovered, from what looked like the demon we fought just the other night. It slashed at Richard and Buffy stepped around me to attack it and I grabbed for him as he fell. It was a bad cut, but I applied pressure and looked around for something to wrap it with just in time to see the Demon melt into the floor. Everyone was quiet as they looked around in surprise or fear and Xander came up behind me to help with Richard. The demon reappeared behind Buffy, slashing downward only to be blocked by Buffy's upraised hands, leaving her open to his answering kick which knocked her to the floor before he disappeared again.
"What was that?"
"That was the demon I killed two nights ago." I was trying to staunch the blood flow from Richard's chest wound and wasn't succeeding.
"How is he?" I looked up and answered Buffy.
"It looks pretty bad. We need a doctor but I'll do what I can. We need to get him upstairs." Xander helped me pick him up and we took him up to Willow's bedroom and got him situated on the bed. I wrapped and bandaged his wound as best I could with what we had on hand and prepared him to wait it out. Over the next few hours before night came on in full effect we set up groups of people to protect us from the demon, assuming it couldn't get out either. Spike watched most of the group downstairs and I watched the rest of us upstairs with Buffy going back and forth between us to check and see if I needed anything. We started hearing rumbling in the walls, the demon moving around I assumed. Everyone was pretty afraid of what was going to happen but I was more worried about keeping Richard alive. Tara helped me clean the wound and coax some water and a pain reliever down his throat. I heard Xander walk past the door and make his way downstairs, and then a male scream.
I wanted to rush downstairs, but if I did I'd be leaving more people unprotected so I stayed put. I heard sounds of a scuffle that ended quickly enough. I waited for the call that would indicate someone else was hurt, but it didn't come. Willow and Tara headed downstairs but I stayed with Richard and tried to keep his mind busy by talking to him. I found out about his home life and the latest work project they were almost done on and how much he enjoyed his job. He struck me as a pretty good guy even though he had no clue about what went on in the world around him. He only spoke once about not wanting to die, but I made certain to squash that idea as quickly as I could and reinforced it with a mental suggestion. He would live, I promised; no one else would die on me again.
I was distracted from that chain of thought by sounds of someone rummaging through things and knocking things over in Dawns room. I heard Xander's muffled voice and hoped he was taking care of it. Next came Dawn's outraged voice and I figured someone besides her was going through her room, but I stayed put. I heard lots of footsteps heading downstairs and the argument, whatever it was about, went with them. I centered my energies and tried to get his body to start healing itself, something I'd seen done only once before, and demonstrated my ignorance when nothing happened. The bleeding was pretty much fully stopped but he'd lost some blood and was still showing signs of shock. Something cut through my link to Buffy and her hurt and humiliation smacked me in the head. I looked down at Richard and put him to sleep with a thought before hurrying down the stairs, hearing Anya yell out for someone name Hallie to get her ass down there. I saw a demon morph in a second before our demon appeared behind her, stabbing her through the gut.
The fight was on, after a second of shock at what happened to Hallie, with Spike and I rushing it from behind to help out the Slayer. The Demon was knocked around between us as it knocked Buffy back and then me only to disappear again. We didn't even get a second as it attacked from the side and Spike grabbed it as I kicked it. I stepped forward to grab its other arm and knee it in the chest to make it drop its sword. Spike yelled out to grab it, which Buffy did as it got away from us and ran toward the wall. She threw it at me and I stabbed it into the wall, some kind of weird blue light energy shining everywhere. I pulled out the sword to see the demons visage imposed on the blade. I handed it to Buffy who broke it over her knee to another flash of light.
"The pendant, we have to get the pendant." Anya and Buffy both rushed for the fallen demon who sat up with a start and with a wave sent Anya crashing back to the couch. I watched the scene play out in front of me between the vengeance demon and the ex as they argued about the spell that had been cursed against us. The only thing that surprised me was Hallie recognizing Spike as William. That was a thought for another day. The gradual explanation of why Hallie had cursed us because of Dawn's wish slowly came to light piece by piece. It was only after she pronounced her full curse upon us in her little speech that she realized what she had done. Her spell prevented anyone from leaving Dawn... anyone; including her now that she was here. She sheepishly acknowledged Anya's pointing out of this fact and released her spell from the house.
Willow and Tara went to the kitchen to get the magic stuff gathered together and Xander followed me upstairs to wake up Richard and help him down the stairs to the front door.
"You have some weird friends."
"News from the file marked 'Duh'. We're gonna get him to the ER."
"Think it wore off?"
"Only one thing left to do." Spike crossed to the door and opened it, letting it swing open against me. The group followed us out one at a time looking at the stars and the grass. I did hear Clem say he liked the party before he took off. After I got Richard into the back of Xander's car I headed back up to the front of the house, brushing against Spike on his way out. I stood at the threshold looking in at Buffy and Dawn. I smiled as I glanced at the retreating figures behind me and then turned back around to face them as I closed the door.
"Who's hungry for some dinner?" The answering grins on both of their faces made this the right course of action. Discovering only a few supplies in the refrigerator ensured some creativeness on my part and it almost wound up completely ruined but in the end I think the dish my mother called casserole and my dad called goulash turned out alright. Anyway, it could have been worse... I think. Alright, so I gave up and ordered in. The important thing was that we stayed together in the house that night watching TV and talking. All of us fell asleep on or against the couch together with the empty ice cream bowls on the table in front of us.
Waking up the next morning was both hard and easy. Hard because after staying up the entirety of the night before, waking up with the sun isn't fun. Easy because the curtains were wide open and the blaring of cartoons ensured that I could not stay there in restful slumber any longer. I stood up from my place on the floor leaning against the couch and first turned down the TV and then closed the blinds. Checking my watch to ensure it was really Saturday I made my way to the kitchen and cleaned up my mess from the night before and pulled out the ingredients for some simple omelets and greased down the frying pan and set it to warm. I cracked the eggs and started on the first one before starting half a pot of some good coffee I found in the back of the cupboard.
The sounds of motion and Buffy's morning groan answered the aroma drifting into the living room. I smiled and poured some juice into a glass on the table and then flipped the omelet onto the plate with fresh fruit already on it and placed it in the middle of the place setting I'd arranged first just as she came strolling into the kitchen to survey my handiwork. I stood with my hands wide as she took in the vase with the single flower from the backyard in it, the clean placement of plate silverware glass and napkin, and a leather gift type bag all sitting on the kitchen table. Her hand went to her mouth in surprise and pleasure. I crossed the room to take her hand and lead her to the table and held out her chair for her. I pushed the bag in front of her gesturing for her to open it.
"You are unbelievable. Thank you."
"I couldn't give you this the other night, too many questions." She opened the bag and her eyes widened as she looked inside, moving green light reflecting from her already green eyes. She slowly reached into the bag with her hand and pulled out a green sphere about the size of one of her fists that was flat on the bottom and that I already knew was constantly cold to the touch. She set it beside her plate on the counter and looked back up at me.
"What does it do?"
"That's the surprise. You'll find that out later today, if you're up for it." She nodded and smiled her mischievous smile at me.
'I'm always up for it.' Her thought put an answering grin on my face. I scooped up the orb and tossed it back in the bag as Dawn came in and silently crossed to the fridge to pour herself a glass of juice.
"You want an omelet Dawnie?" She shook her head silently at me as she drank her juice. I mentally shrugged and started one for myself. We let the silence fill the air for the course of the meal but I had to make sure it was okay with Dawn for us to head out today.
"Hey, Dawn, I've still got to give Buffy her birthday gift today. Would you be alright staying here with Willow?"
"I guess. Look, I'm sorry guys. About everything that happened last night. And before." I nodded, we'd been trying to reassure her the entire night after everybody left that it was okay, but she hadn't apologized before just now. Willow came down just as we were finishing up and I told her we'd be gone all day, she said she was cool with staying with Dawn all day, she didn't have any other plans. Willow helped me clean up the kitchen after I whispered to Buffy what to pack. She was ready half an hour later, cleaned and polished. We said goodbye to Dawn and Willow before throwing her bags in the back seat and hitting the road.
As soon as we were on our way she reached over and put her hand on my thigh and I scooped it up with my left, driving and shifting with my right. I played with her fingers and glanced at her often. And though I could feel her curiosity playing on the edges of my consciousness she never once asked where we were going on our many houred trip. I parked off the side of the road in a clearing and popping the trunk. She carried her big bag, leaving the smaller one in the car, while I carried two bags: one large on my back and a smaller one I'd strapped to the back of it. We set off through the woods at a moderate pace which slowed slightly as it got thicker. We made our way out the other side of the woods across a tall grass clearing that gave way to even lighter vegetation and shorter grass. The clearing finally came to a slight ridge and as we crested it we looked down on a pristine lake and my sign. We stopped and looked down on the quiet and peaceful scene untouched by civilization in any way.
We put our bags down against a large tree and pulled out towels to dry off a bit. I told her to go ahead and get cleaned up and into some dryer clothes. It was still chilly outside being January, but it was also the middle of the day and we'd just hiked a few miles. I wondered if she would have any problems with changing out in the open, but she quickly proved that she had no qualms at all. I untied the smaller bag from the larger and opening it, pulled out the leather gift bag I'd giver her earlier and set it aside. I handed her the other bag, the one I'd pulled the leather one out of, and laughed at her shocked expression as she looked inside and pulled out a brand new pair of good ice skates in her size. She looked at me confused and I got her to put them down and took her hand to lead her to the edge of the lake, more of a pond really. I held the leather bag open and she pulled out the glowing green sphere. I took her hand in mine and placed it so the flat side was facing down with her fingers on top and then she placed it carefully on top of the water. The orb floated serenely for a second before it flashed a bright light and the lake stood still. She gasped and stepped back before bending down and touching first her fingertips and then her open palm to the now frozen surface of the lake.
"How did you do that?"
"Borrowed magic." I got her to try on her skates while I pulled mine out from my bag and joined her on the ice. We took a few laps around hand in hand, admiring the scenery and the animals. I pointed out a rabbit that was lapping at the edge of the lake and how the ripple extended for just inches from his nose before dying out. We stopped at the center of the lake and I pointed down at the fish still visible beneath us. The lake was frozen for us, but without the biting cold of actually frozen water and the animals encountered no resistance whatsoever between them and the water. We made it back around to our starting point and I stopped and gestured for her to do a few laps on her own. I watched her move across the ice as though she was born for it. She turned, jumped and spun; changing feet and skating backwards. I was struck by the simple beauty of her precise physical action and at the spirit it took to create such simple beauty in this world. Her peace and relaxed joy radiated from her face like a second sun and I blinked and had to look away for the portable player and speakers I pulled from my bag. She looked up and smiled at the classical sounds of a romantic song and held out her hand as I moved across the ice to join her. We moved slowly in time to the music and danced across the ice for what seemed like hours; perfect hours.
"About ready?" She was sitting down taking off her skates and putting back on her shoes as she asked me. I nodded and followed her lead before reaching further into my bag for some simple food supplies, camping fare mostly, and moved to the pile of wood I'd already prepared. Concentration and a few magical words later and I had a crackling fire going. Leaving the fire we moved back to the lake shore and the still glowing sphere sitting on the surface. I showed her how and then had her pick up the sphere and put it in the bag as the magic faded from the lake restoring it to it's normal liquid appearance. When we got back to the fire she put her hands to the flames, the retreating sun and the wind cooling us enough where the fire was most welcome. I pulled her against me where I was propped against the log behind me. She relaxed against me as I wrapped my arms around her until dinner was ready and we kept close proximity as we ate. After both of us were full and the pot was empty we continued to cuddle for a few minutes before I reached into the side pocket of my bag for the makings of smores. I answered her grin and we chuckled like little kids as we cooked our marshmallows and stuck them to our chocolate bars and graham crackers. I laughed hard bringing tears to my eyes as she stuffed eight marshmallows into her mouth at once.
Shortly it really was time to go and we packed up our bags with her carrying her skates. She'd changed again while I was cleaning up the food and started putting out the fire. She helped me make sure the fire was out and we started our way back in the last vestiges of twilight. I set out unerringly on our course, occasionally checking direction with the stars and we made it back to the car more than a few hours later. I grinned as I saw her halter top in the light from the open trunk as we stowed our gear. Closing the trunk she pulled me close to her, wrapping her arms around me and leaning her full body against me.
"Thank you for a perfect day. It's been a long time since I've had a birthday I could just enjoy."
"I want you to enjoy every part of this day, you deserve it." Eventually we separated our lips and our bodies and climbed into the car to head back into the city holding hands. We got to her house late that night and checked on Dawn and Willow, both asleep, before taking turns in the shower and making our way into her bed. She enjoyed every part of that day; you can take my word for it. And I slept better than I had in weeks.