Authors' note: Apologies for the delay again next chapter will be a week I promise, also sorry about the bad formatting in the last chapter, it went all weird when I previewed and edited it on and now I think there are full stops missing and text bunched up against lines, it really annoys me. The editing feature had changed and I can't get it looking how I like, I may have to create my own web site and post stuff there if I can ever be bothered. Anyway thanks again for all your reviews they were lovely as always. In answer to Aseret's question, yes I will be going to Canada, Toronto to be exact; I have some family who live there so I'm visiting them. I've reached the 100 review mark, how exciting! Well it excites me and it means you get an extra long chapter!

Chapter 18 – Gratitude and Being there.

Buffy was actually getting quite excited about her birthday, Anya and Xander had organised the food and Dawn was going to help put up decorations so all Buffy had to do was sit and relax! These were good times. Although she still had a bit of a nagging feeling, birthdays never did go well for her and as her and Spike patrolled together through the cemetery she suddenly felt a bit insecure and hooked her arm around Spike's silently willing it that he would not turn evil and leave her. She knew she was just being silly but when things started to go pretty well in her life that was when she always thought she should prepare for disaster.

Spike and Buffy were enjoying the embrace until a huge red horned demon holding a lethal looking sword stepped out in front of them. Buffy ducked and dodged the sword as she and Spike circled the demon looking for an opening to attack, Spike ran at it first landing a couple of punches before it kicked him back and he fell to the ground, he looked up dazed to see Buffy fighting it. She got a few good hits in causing the demon to let go of the sword sending it flying up into the air as the sword came down she caught it and ran it straight into the demons stomach. Buffy pulled the sword out which caused her to fall backwards to the ground, the sword landing a few feet away from her. Spike watched as the demon roared with pain clutching his stomach, a blue glow emitted from him and then he disappeared into the sword. Spike got up astonished and walked over to the sword to inspect it, Buffy was also back up on her feet, she went over to where Spike was just standing and looking at the sword.

"Ooh, shiny." She said as she picked it up and twirled it around.

"Luv, I don't think you're going to want that sword."

"Why not?" Buffy asked confused.

"Well that demon just went into it."

"Huh?"

"The demon disappeared… into the sword."

"Well that's new."

"Give it 'ere." Spike said taking the sword off her and breaking it into two across his knee.

"Hey! That sword was nice!" Buffy said miffed that he'd broken her new toy.

"But at least now there's no big demon to worry about." Spike said feeling as though he was talking to a child.

"Good point." Buffy mumbled as she walked back to Spike's side, he wrapped an arm around her and they walked back in the direction of home.

Spike was a little nervous about tomorrow… it was her birthday and he'd got her a present, the first present he'd really ever bought her not counting the dented box of chocolates he never actually gave her just over a year or so before. So this present was special, really special and that meant she had to like it, love it in fact. That wasn't the only thing Spike was slightly nervous about, she was having a birthday party which meant all her friends together and he would have hang out with them, which he'd never really done before except when patrolling. He was glad now that he'd inviting Clem to come along, he felt as though he was going to need a friend.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Birthday so far… extremely good, Buffy thought. She'd been woken up that morning to some pleasurable delights in Spike's bed, unfortunately they didn't last that long because she had to get work, luckily they'd let her finish her shift early because it was her birthday and she arrived home just as they were putting the decorations up. Anya and Xander had got some lovely looking food together as well. Buffy had changed into a more 'party' outfit and greeted guests, she'd even invited Sarah from work and been very pleased with herself that she'd managed to make a new friend until Xander and Anya had teased her about it. Then presents had been opened, all very exciting, Dawn's had been a surprise and the weapons chest was beautiful. Now she was sitting eating her cake and it felt as though the evening had just started.

Music played in the living room making the house come alive as Clem and Sarah danced. Dawn watched from her place on the sofa, she was trying to have fun, it was really nice to have everyone around with her. It felt like she really had some friends and she wasn't alone for once although Anya was still patronizing her and Buffy still seemed to be ignoring her but other than that things were starting to look up.

Buffy was leaving the kitchen when she saw Spike swaggering towards her, why is he always so cocky?

"Want to slip away for a bit luv?" Spike said as he caught Buffy in the hall way.

"What? No we can't." Buffy said smiling as she let Spike run his hands under her top

"Everyone's having a great time, no one will even notice and I want you all to myself for a bit." He said seductively. "I haven't given you my present yet."

"You got me something?" Buffy asked surprised assuming she had got her present this morning.

"Of course I bloody did." Spike said pulling her closer to him so that they were pressed firmly together. "What kind of a boyfriend would I be if I didn't eh?"

Buffy tried not to giggle but failed, Spike using the term 'boyfriend' made it all seem so normal like they were normal people, but she and Spike were anything but. Buffy leaned up and kissed him, her tongue playing with his for a minute or so.

"Thank you." She breathed as she pulled back.

"You haven't seen what I got you yet."

"That wasn't just for the present." She said softly gazing into his eyes. A moment of silence passed between them as they showed the other they understood how much they meant to them.

Spike took Buffy's hand and silently led her up stairs so that they could have some privacy; they stopped on the landing just out view of the people downstairs and Spike reached into his pocket producing a plain black rectangular box. Buffy had a small smile playing on her lips as he gave it to her.

"Happy Birthday." He said in his rich tender voice.

Buffy slowly lifted the lid of box revealing a beautiful pendant; it was a simple silver chain which suspended a single diamond set in silver, it was stunning. Delicate, elegant and the most perfect piece of jewellery Buffy thought she'd ever been given. She gaped at it, open mouthed entranced by the diamond twinkling in the dim light.

"Wow…this is… its gorgeous!"

"So you like it?" Spike said trying to control his voice so he didn't come off sounding like a nervous ponce.

"Oh Spike, I love it!" She said wrapping her arms round him. She pulled back slowly making eye contact with him.

"Put it on for me?" She said handing him the necklace.

She turned round so her back was facing him and he unclasped the pendant lacing it round her neck, she shivered slightly as his fingers brushed over her skin, lingering on her neck for a moment longer as he hooked the necklace together. Buffy slowly turned back round to him moving her arms up to his neck, she played with the collar of his shirt a little bit before encircling her arms around him and bringing his head down for a passionate kiss. It started slow but soon the intensity of the kiss increased and they were clawing at each clothes desperate to feel the other.

"Buffy!" Dawn shouted from the bottom of the stairs. "We're going to start playing monopoly now, you coming?"

Buffy sighed pulling back from Spike. "Yeah, in a minute." She called back.

"Your sister has the worst timing." Spike grumbled as he turned to go downstairs. Buffy's hand grabbed his shoulder to stop him and he turned back to her.

"I said 'in a minute'."

"Oh yeah and what exactly can we do in a…" Spike lost all conscious thought then because Buffy was on her knees in front of him and doing some very interesting things with her hands and mouth.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A couple of hours later Buffy was still smiling smugly as she played monopoly occasionally glancing over at Spike. Spike was smiling slightly too but for different reasons, he was watching Buffy enjoying herself, something he hadn't seen her do in a while, not with all her friends like this. He was so caught up staring at her that suddenly he realised he must look like a prat because Tara was waving a hand in front of his face.

"Spike?" She said. "It's your bet."

"Oh, sorry luv." He mumbled. Tara just smiled amused by the love birds.

Across the room Dawn suddenly said excitedly, "Oh Buffy, we should totally have a sleep over."

"Uh… yeah." Buffy said agreeing but not really listening to Dawn as she continued to stare at Spike.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The next morning Dawn, Clem and Xander sat watching cartoons, behind them on the sofa Sarah and Anya were asleep, Buffy and Spike lay cuddled up together on the floor a blanket wrapped around them, they'd fallen asleep a couple of hours ago in the middle of playing cards. Anya slowly began to wake up, looking around to see what time it was.

"Xander…" She said putting her hands on his shoulders. "Shouldn't you be getting to work?" She said sleepily.

"Huh?" Xander said engrossed by the TV. "Uh… yeah o.k." He said not moving from his position on floor still watching the cartoons.

Buffy and Spike started to stir, Buffy felt a little disappointed when she became fully conscious knowing she would have to move from her extremely comfortable position draped across Spike's chest so she tried to snuggle even closer up to him which was impossible with the way they were already pressed together. Spike groaned as Buffy rubbed against him and moved his hands down to her arse causing Buffy to moan quietly, Spike opened his eyes then realising they were in the lounge surrounded by people and regretfully stopped his actions as he didn't want to be practically having sex in front of all her friends and sister. Buffy sat up then looking at Spike slightly questionably because he had stopped touching her, it was then that she also realised they had an audience and she abruptly stood up looking round the room making sure no one was just witness to their little fumble.

Willow and Tara walked in from the kitchen.

"I should be getting to classes now." Tara said everyone

"Yeah me too." Willow said. Buffy and Xander looked round at them as they all just stood there waiting.

"I don't know why I'm not leaving." Willow said confused.

"Me too actually." Anya said who had woken up a few minutes ago. "I need to open the Magic Box."

"What are you guys talking about? Just go to the door and open it." Buffy said.

"I'm trying." Willow said helplessly.

"Alright… I will go to the door and open it for you." Buffy said confused. But nobody moved, Buffy was still standing in the same position. "I'm going to the door…now." She said mainly to herself but still she didn't move. "O.k. well this can't be good."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

They had been stuck in the house now for a whole day and everyone was feeling a bit edgy not knowing if they would ever escape this prison, Tara's spell not working had left them which not much hope and Dawn was still sulking upstairs. It had come as pretty big surprise to Buffy the way Dawn had just exploded like that. She thought everything was getting better now, that Dawn was happy… obviously not. She had tried talking to her but it had seemed to make things worse, now all she could do was go round the house and check everyone was o.k., she had no idea what else to try to get them out of the house which made her feel useless and she hated that.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Anya tugged at her clothing as sat on the floor next to Xander

"Why is it so hot in here?" She said feeling desperate and claustrophobic

"It'll be o.k. Ahn, we'll figure a way out of here." Xander said trying to comfort her.

"But what if we don't, and we're just sitting here. Why are we just sitting here? Why aren't we doing something?"

"We are. We will. This could be a lot worse."

"How could this be worse? Trapped like animals…"

"There could be some demon trying to kill us at the same time." Xander joked.

"Right." Anya said glaring at him slightly clearly not amused.

"I'm sorry, you're just freaking out, okay? It's normal. You're just ... you're just scared. We all are. We'll come up with a plan ... and we'll get through it, all right?"

Anya nodded slowly and curled up in his arms not caring that it made her feel even more burning hot than she already was, she just hoped someone would do something soon to get them out of here.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Downstairs everyone was just sitting around quietly, not knowing what to do. Spike made eye contact with Buffy silently beckoning her over to him. She walked over to where he stood at the bottom of the stairs.

"I'm going to try talking to Dawn." He said.

"Alright, but last time I went up there she practically bit my head off so good luck."

"It's not your fault." He whispered, brushing some hair back from her face.

"Isn't it? I'm the one who hasn't been here for her to talk to."

"You've been adjusting to living in the world again," Spike said seriously. "You can't be responsible for everything."

"But I'm responsible for her."

"Look I'll have a little chat with the bit, see if she's calmed down and you can talk to her." Buffy nodded and Spike turned to go upstairs but then she stopped him placing a hand on his shoulder, he turned back to her.

"Thank you." She said softly.

"You know I'm still not getting used to this gratitude thing." He said with a smirk before walking up the stairs.

Spike walked cautiously into Dawn's room not wanting the teen to start screaming again.

"Alright nibblet?"

"What would you care?" Dawn said getting up and walking out into the hallway and into Buffy's room to get away from him. Spike followed her not liking that he had practically turned into a puppy for the Summer's women.

"Dawn would you a stop a minute?" He said and she came to halt sitting down on the bed. "Now what was that this morning? You seemed to be bloody angry at everyone." He said sitting down next to her.

"Well at least that was something people noticed." Dawn said before she sighed and continued. "When I'm around everybody else always seems to want to be else where." She said looking up to Spike.

"What? That's not-" Spike began but Dawn cut him off.

"Even we don't hang out like we used too, as soon as Buffy came back I wasn't important anymore." Dawn said tears forming in her eyes.

"Dawn that's not true, you're important to all of us, Buffy especially." Spike said placing an awkward hand on her shoulder. They sat there for a minute or so in silence while Spike tried to comfort Dawn. "Now are you going to let her talk to you?" He finally asked.

"Alright, but she still thinks I did this and I didn't do any-"

"She just wants to talk Dawn." Spike said cutting off. He left the room and fetched Buffy so that the two sisters could patch things up and then maybe they could all work on getting out of the house. He watched as Buffy walked slowly into the bedroom and sat down on the bed next to her sister and listened from just down the hallway to their conversation.

"It's not like I meant for this to happen." Dawn said.

"I never said that you did." Buffy replied softly.

"I didn't want this."

"What did you want?"

"Nothing."

"Dawn, come on."

"No. You don't know! You have this thing you do. You have all these friends." Dawn said finally decided to tell Buffy her true feelings. "You have no idea what it's like."

"What are you talking about? I don't know what, what-"

"Being alone!" Dawn exclaimed. Spike's heart almost broke at her anguished words.

"You're not alone."

"Then why do I feel like this?"

Spike moved down the stairs then feeling like he was intruding on a private conversation. His mind was racing, they were stuck in a house, had an angsty teen to deal with and his relationship with Buffy was better than ever… he didn't know which one of those scared him most at the moment.

He was brought out of his thoughts by Dawn running down the stairs followed closely by Anya.

"I work hard at that store, and I helped you!" Anya said grabbing Dawn's arm and turning her around. "I took care of you. This is how you say 'thank you'?"

Spike realised what they were on about and his eyes turned to the jacket the same moment Buffy's did. He was almost as surprised as everyone else that Dawn had been stealing things… almost. The way Dawn had been feeling, the whirling of teenage hormones, when he really thought about it… it was only a matter of time before something like this was going to happen.

"How are we supposed to trust you, Dawn? I mean, you ... you say you didn't put us here, but look at this stuff! How are we supposed to believe you?" Anya said anguished.

"Look, I-I don't think she- I don't think it's all her fault, okay? She ... there was a guidance counsellor, or someone pretending to be a guidance counsellor, she, she made Dawn make a wish." Buffy said.

"Guidance counsellor? You made a wish to someone you've never seen before?" Anya said astounded.

"Yeah?" Dawn said nervous.

"Did she wear a pendant with a, with a dark blue stone?"

"And little red flecks?"

"Uhh, for crying out loud. Halfrek!" She yelled angry her supposed friend had done this to her, made her go crazy with claustrophobia. "It's Halfrek, a vengeance demon. You made a wish to a vengeance demon."

"I didn't know." Dawn said remorseful.

"Only a vengeance demon can break her own vengeance spell. Nothing else will work. She's the only one who can get us out of here." Anya said before yelling again. "Hallie, get your ass down here!"

Suddenly Halfrek appeared just behind Anya in a puff of smoke.

"You rang?" She said in a deep voice.

"Hallie, how could you? Why would you do this?" Anya said

"I told you I was going to take care of some business while I was here in town." Halfrek said her voice returning to normal.

"Yeah, but cursing us? Some of them are in the wedding party."

"I just go where I'm-" Halfrek paused suddenly catching sight of Spike. "William?" She whispered shocked.

"Hey, wait a minute." Spike said frowning.

"You guys know each other?" Buffy said jealously threatening to rise in her.

"Uh, no." Halfrek said laughing slightly. "No."

"Not really." Spike mumbled still frowning. Buffy was intrigued and made a mental note to question Spike about this later.

After some more confusion and then Halfrek's amusing attempts to leave the curse was finally lifted and Halfrek was gone, everyone took a collective sigh of relief and all seemed excited that they would finally be leaving. Buffy just looked pensive though, Halfrek's words had hit her hard, 'I could hear her crying out everywhere I went in this town. It was unbearable. And none of you knew.' Spike went over to her and placed a reassuring hand on her lower back, he didn't know what else to do. He knew her birthdays had never gone well in the past and he'd hoped this year would break that tradition. He couldn't imagine what she was feeling now, he was glad she and Dawn had talked some stuff out already, things would get better between them now. Buffy's face still looked pained though and he hated that.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Willow smiled as Tara left the kitchen, she was actually proud of her, well it had seemed that way from what she'd said, yeah there had been the initial madness from finding out she was still keeping some magic supplies in the house but apart from that and being all stuck in the house for 24 hours they'd spent some quality time together and it had been nice, really nice. She hoped that Tara felt the same way, at least they were talking again now. She was also smiling because as Tara had said 'she had said no' no to the magic and the temptation so Willow was proud of herself.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Everyone walked out into the freedom of the night air, Buffy leaned over and gave Spike a kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow." She whispered. Spike nodded to both of them and headed out. Dawn's face lit up as she realised Buffy was staying with her. The door clicked shut and Buffy turned back to Dawn her expression grim, Dawn's smile faded.

"O.k. now we're going to have a serious talk! Stealing! Dawn how could you?"

"I don't know… I'm sorry o.k., I can't explain-"

"Try."

Dawn sighed not knowing if she could ever find the right words. "Nobody seemed to notice me anyway… so I figured it was easy to get away with and after I did it once it just kinda spiralled out of control."

"Everyone cares about you Dawn and we notice," Dawn looked at Buffy pointedly as if to say 'you didn't notice this, it took a vengeance demon spell for you to notice.' "Alright we didn't exactly notice this big thing but I guess everyone's been thinking about their own problems lately." Buffy said with a sigh.

"I guess."

"Dawn I know things have been hard and I haven't been there for you as much as I should have been… but I've been trying and things have been getting better haven't they?"

"Yeah they have… I just… I miss you sometimes."

"Well beginning from now we're going to be spending lots more time together."

"We are?" Dawn asked hopefully.

"Uh huh! Starting with going shopping and returning everything you stole." Buffy said with a smile.

"Oh."

"But after that we'll actually do something fun." Buffy said sincerely as she put her arm around her sister. Dawn smiled too relieved that her punishment wasn't too bad. Hopefully it wouldn't take her too long to work off her guilt and at least there were no more surprises for them now.

TBC…

A/N: I just loved 'Older and far away', the birthday party was really funny so I kept to the episode quite a bit.