Disclaimer: I only own Buffy's family and that doesn't include Joyce...
Previously: Buffy, Willow and Xander have all returned to Sunnydale for Christmas Vacation...but just when Buffy has thought she could relax during this holiday she learns that Giles wants to leave Spike in her care while he goes back to England to see his family. To make things worse, Willow and Xander are both leaving for the holidays and Buffy's family is coming for an unexpected Christmas get-together...all while Buffy and Spike must still keep up patrol on a regular basis...
(-----)
The afternoon went by spectacularly slow. Buffy would bitch about everything and specifically, she'd bitch at Spike. The vampire was on his last nerve when Buffy asked him to help her watch her three cousins. He'd agreed of course--afraid of ending up on the wrong end of a very pointy stake--and gone up stairs to watch the sprats.
Thankfully, there was one of those old, clay-amation Christmas movies on TV. The three girls had been completely mystified by the clay people running across the screen, leaving Buffy and Spike to sit on the couch in boredom.
"Play cards?" Buffy asked pulling a deck out of the table. Spike eyed the pack warily. When's the fun going to end Even his thoughts were sarcastic now!
"Sure," he replied quietly. He really didn't want to disturb the girls. If they stopped watching now, he had no idea how long it'd be before he staked himself!
Buffy shuffled the cards clumsily. Spike rolled his eyes and grabbed them from her. He rearranged the cards with thin, nimble fingers. Buffy watched, slightly embarrassed at her own inability. She could kill vampires and demons but she couldn't shuffle a deck of cards. The world was weird.
"You have good hands," Buffy said, completely missing the innuendo in her own words. He glanced at her, one eyebrow raised and a smirk on his face.
"Shufflin's not all they can do," he replied, his voice low enough for the children to miss it. Buffy's cheeks brightened and she turned away.
Spike dealt Buffy a hand of six cards but she eyed him curiously. She glanced at her cards and then back at him. Were they playing 'Go Fish'?
"What is it Slayer?" Spike asked, noticing her confusion.
"What're we playing?" Buffy asked, arranging her cards according to suit.
"Pitch," Spike replied.
"What's 'Pitch'?" the Slayer queried. Spike raised his eyebrow again, an act that made her feel foolish.
"It's a card game, Pet," Spike answered, pulling a bit of paper and a pen from the coffee table drawer.
"Well, I figured that!" Buffy snapped, "How do you play?"
"It goes like this..."
Spike spent the next few hours trying to teach Buffy how to play. For being a skilled Slayer and a witty bint she sure was clueless when it came to cards. She was having great amounts of trouble getting the idea of a trump card through her brain. Spike was getting annoyed but he found it quite amusing when he'd have to hand her a card back--she kept throwing out other cards when she still had trump--
"Whatcha playing?" Sarah asked, coming over to sit on Buffy's lap.
"It's called 'Pitch' and Spike is trying to teach me how to play," Buffy explained.
"But your cousin's having a bit of trouble with the rules," Spike added, grinning at her. Buffy glared at him. But his amusement was lost when Jackie took a seat on his knee. He reeled back--unused to the contact with small children.
"Do you guys know how to play 'Go Fish'?" Buffy asked her three tiny cousins. The girls nodded and surrounded the table--removing themselves from Buffy and Spike's laps.
Buffy handed her cards back to Spike. Her fingers barely grazed his skin but for some reason the contact still sent shivers up her back. Probably just because he's a killer. And he's staying in my home. Yup, those two things, not something weird like: I like him or anything--cause I don't! Nope, no Spike-liking for Buffy!
As Spike shuffled again, Buffy remembered his words from before and she felt a tingle in her skin. She jumped to her feet--knocking the cards out of Spike out-stretched hand and sending them flying.
"What the--Buffy?" Spike frowned at her.
"I--I need--I'll be back!" Buffy replied. She glanced at her cousins--the girls were completely bewildered--and then she fled. She rushed from the room, into the kitchen. She leaned against the wall, catching her breath. What the hell is wrong with me? Why? What's happening to me?
"Buffy?" she heard him coming closer and darted. She grabbed the handle of the back door and threw it open just as he came into the kitchen--the sudden light surprising him and making his skin smoke--he ducked away as Buffy slammed the door behind her.
"What the bloody hell is wrong with that girl?" Spike asked himself before turning on his heel and heading back to Niblet Central. Great--she's left me with the toddlers from hell. This is cruel and unusual punishment--even for the Slayer Still, Spike sat down with the girls and continued the card game that had been interrupted by Buffy's outburst.
(--)
"Buffy?" Joyce opened the door a little--making sure Spike wasn't near it-- then pushed it open all the way, letting Judy and Hank in behind her. Joyce walked in to the living room--where she'd left Buffy and Spike with the girls--only to find the vampire, sprawled across the couch, covered with the three tiny girls--Buffy was nowhere in sight and it was still too early for her to have gone out for patrol.
"Joyce," Judy came in the room beside her, worry in her voice, "Hank went to hide the gifts in Buffy's closet and he found this." She handed Joyce Buffy's bag--the one filled with Holy Water, her cross bow, and a half dozen stakes.
"Halloween. Last year." Joyce replied, handing the bag back.
"Oh," Judy said, taking the bag and heading to the stairs, "Would you like help with dinner?"
Joyce turned to her sister, "Yes, that would be wonderful."
(--)
Buffy reached the back door and stalled. She'd spent the entire rest of the day wandering around Sunnydale--suddenly missing her friends a lot. She even picked up a flyer for the tree lighting the next night. There was going to be music and dancing and a giant tree being lit in the California nod to the holiday season. She figured she and Spike could take the girls.
And there he was again. He'd been haunting her thoughts all afternoon. Granted, he was the reason she'd bolted in the first place but she had hoped a change of scenery would get her mind off of him. Too bad it seemed to want to stay fixated on Spike. She couldn't even vent her frustration out on anything undead since the sun had yet to go down. In fact it had just finally set as she had reached her backyard. Figures.
She tentatively pushed the door open only to find the kitchen bustling with activity. Joyce was moving from dinner dish to dinner dish, stirring or scooping or tasting. Judy and Hank kept coming and carrying dishes out to the dinning room.
When Joyce saw Buffy she immediately handed her a bowl of mashed potatoes and pointed to the dinning room without saying a word. Buffy--astonishment flowing from every pore--did as she was directed and walked in silence to the dinning room.
But just because neither Joyce nor Buffy seemed to be talking did it make the house any quieter. The dinning was thoroughly packed with noise and laughter and clinking of plates and glasses. Buffy put the potatoes down and took and seat next to the vampire--who happened to be--at that moment-- entertaining the three toddlers--.
Spike had noticed Buffy two seconds before her hand touched the doorknob of the back door. Three years spent trying to kill her had made his senses to her heightened. Which was probably why Dru had had such a disgust for him after his pact with the Slayer. Oh, if Dru could only see him now... She'd probably stake herself on the spot.
When the Slayer had come in, carrying the bowl, he suddenly felt like he needed to keep enough attention away from her--so he'd occupied the girls. But when Buffy had sat next to him--he suddenly couldn't talk because he feared anything he said would send her running off again.
So, Spike and Buffy sat in silence--a slightly awkward silence--until finally the rest of Buffy's family sat down.
"Who wants to say the blessing?" Joyce asked. They looked at each other.
"How about Mr. Spike here?" Hank suggested.
"Oh! No! Spike, he--."
"Relax, Pet. I've heard a few good ones in my time," Spike winked at her, then he raised his glass, "May peace and plenty be the first to lift the latch on your door, and happiness be guided to your home by the candle of Christmas."
"Amen," they all said together. Then they dug in.
"That was an interesting toast, Spike," Hank said after a few minutes of eating.
"Thank you, sir," the vampire replied. He'd tossed in the 'sir' for good measure.
"Where's it from?" Hank continued.
"It's an Irish Christmas toast, sir," Spike answered, acting as innocent as possible.
"You Irish, boy?" Hank asked.
Spike choked on the bit of turkey in his mouth, "No sir," responded, resisting the urge to: A) yell about the Irish thing and B) reply to the 'boy' comment.
"Where'd you pick up the toast? You been to Ireland?"
"Few times, sir."
"Few times, huh? How old are you?"
"Hank," Judy warned.
"I'm just asking the boy a few questions, Judy, relax," Hank replied.
"I'm 22," Spike lied, receiving a grin from the Slayer.
"And what courses are you taking at the college?"
"Well, I'm partial to the Art History and Literature courses they offer. I intend to be a poet--when I'm older of course," Spike said, reverting to his long-lost gentlemanly ways of before he became a vampire.
"A poet huh? There any money in that?"
"Hank!" Judy exclaimed.
"It's okay, Ma'am. Not much, sir, but its better pay than a Hollywood actor," Spike turned on the charm. If Buffy's family wanted William the Bloody Awful Poet back, then they were gonna get William the Bloody.
"Oh, so you're one of the artsy types. Well, I can understand now why Joyce let you stay here without any worries about you and Buffy getting together."
"Hank!" Now both Joyce and Judy had yelled. Buffy covered her face in her hands and Spike stared at Hank with a half-grin/half scowl on his face.
"Mom! Spike and I--excused? Please!" Buffy asked pushing herself out of her chair and dragging Spike away from the table too.
"Go!" Joyce called, letting Buffy haul Spike out of the house.
(--)
"I am beyond sorry about that," Buffy said, after they'd reached a cemetery.
"It's okay, Pet. I just never expected to have to defend my sexuality when I signed on to stay with the Slayer clan," Spike replied.
"I still can't believe he said that!"
"He was just doing a little digging on his part, it's all right with me." Spike pulled out a cigarette and lit it, drawing the smoke into his very dead lungs.
"You know, I bet of you were still alive, you'd have died already from all those," Buffy glanced at the cigarette.
"Yeah, probably," Spike agreed, flicking the barely smoked fag to the ground and stomping it out with his boot.
"Okay, my mother must have put something in that food, cause now, we're seeing eye to eye."
The pair glanced at each other, the irony of their entire relationship not lost on either. Buffy stared into the sky; the stars made the dark expanse somewhat less frightening.
"You know, part of me wishes that it did snow in California," Buffy said.
"Pet, trust me, snow's great for Lifetime movies but it really is a bitch," Spike admitted, sweeping his hand through his white-blonde curls.
"It snowed here once. Last year. Me and Angel--." The Slayer stopped. Spike's face was pained at the mention of Angel's name, "Never mind."
The vampire looked away. Stupid Angel. Ruins everything. Damn Poof! Then something pricked his nose. He frowned trying to make out the unfamiliar scent. It was dead all right. But he couldn't tell if it was coming their way or not.
"What's up?"
The two turned to see a freshly risen vampire standing before him. He was still in game face--dumb fledglings didn't know how to control their new demon--as he walked over to them.
"Hi," Buffy waved, pulling a stake out of her back pocket.
"I'm Dave," the vampire said.
"I'm Buffy and this is Spike," Buffy introduced.
"Cool. Hey, Buffy. I remember you, I went to school with you," Dave said.
"Sorry, I can't say I remember you," Buffy replied.
"Oh, too bad. You were some kind of freak, weren't you?"
"Actually I was a Vampire Slayer, but yeah, freak works just fine," Buffy said. She jumped on top the headstone behind Dave. He turned and she kicked him in the face.
Dave got to his feet as Buffy hopped off the marker. He landed a kick to her stomach sending her crashing into the very same headstone she'd just been standing on. She got up and placed a spinning kick to his head.
"You want some help?" Spike asked, he'd perched himself on top of another nearby headstone and was smoking again.
"Nope," Buffy replied, punching Dave in the face a few times before pushing him back against a mausoleum wall, "I got it." But was ready to claim the kill when Dave surprised her and grabbed her throat between his two hands. He pushed her backwards, his hands still clamped around her throat. She dropped her stake trying to claw at Dave's undead fingers and their vice grip.
A growl reached her ears as Dave was ripped away from her. The Slayer gasped for breath as she noted Spike had pulled Dave away and was keeping him occupied. Spike could've easily taken the young vampire but he was waiting for her to finish what she started. Picking up her stake, Buffy took his offer, and thrust it into Dave's open back.
As the vamp feel against she muttered, "Did I mention Spike was a vampire?" Dave shook his head as it turned to dust in her arms.
"Well, that was fun," Buffy said, brushing her pants off.
"I thought so, until Dave-y here tried to cut off your air supply." They continued walking throughout the graveyard.
"Really? I'd assumed you wouldn't mind," Buffy teased.
"What? Let a mere hatchling take you out when I want to do it? As if," Spike shrugged.
"What were we taking about before?"
"Um, snow..."
"Oh, right."
"And Angel."
A wave of guilt washed over Buffy as the pained looked return to diminish Spike's features. Why did she have to bring Angel up? She knew how much Spike hated her ex...he'd made it quite apparent when he was willing to make her--a mortal enemy--his ally to stop Angelus. Granted that had also been because Drusilla was messing around with Angel a bit more than necessary.
Still, Angel wasn't the best person Buffy could've brought up at that moment. They'd formed a quiet truce over the past few hours and Buffy didn't want to break that. Though she knew the Spike could never hurt any of her family physically, he could always tell them about her Slaying-- something she didn't too many people to know--especially her dad--.
"Great," Buffy mumbled to herself.
"What?" Spike asked, turning to her.
"I just remembered my dad's coming too. I can't believe he'd actually leave his precious new girlfriend for that long. They're like inseparable--" Buffy's voice faltered. He wouldn't, would he?
"You think she's coming too?" Spike asked. Proving to Buffy once again that he must be able to read her thoughts or at least her facial expressions.
"Do you think he would? Bring her, I mean?"
"Don't know, Pet. Don't know your Dad."
"Huh, you don't want to."
"A jerk?"
"On more than one level."
"I don't remember my Dad," Spike mused, glancing into the night's sky.
"Lucky."
"About not. I had to take care of my Mum. And it really wasn't easy when I became a vampire."
"You turned her, didn't you?"
"Wanted to be with her forever..."
"What happened?"
"You say forever--but there's never any forevers. Forevers are for storybooks and Mr. Bloody Rogers."
Buffy realized she'd hit a nerve. A soft spot she never knew Spike had. His mother had meant a lot to him. She guessed they weren't exactly a loving family after Spike had turned his mom. Silently, she thanked god for her mom. She knew Spike did too. He'd always seemed to like Joyce, even when she'd hit him in the head with an axe at Parent-Teacher Night.
"Dru promised you forever, didn't she?" Buffy asked quietly, taking a risk in bringing up the vampire.
"That she did, Slayer, that she did," he replied, distantly.
"Angel promised me forever. And look where that ended up? He left and I moved to a new guy to chase away," Buffy tried the only way of comforting him she could think of: bring up Angel's own betrayal to their romance.
"Nothing is forever. There's always gonna be time when things change," Spike concurred.
"I know something that's forever," Buffy sighed, again he eyes swept upwards.
"Even that, Pet. One day, that one day, it'll end for you too. Just like all the others," Spike answered, not needing her to finish her thought.
"I don't know which scares me worse: knowing it'll all end or wanting it to end."
"It's hard to think about death, but once you do, the only thing there is peace," Spike reassured.
"Just as long as the nasty that gets me doesn't decide to make me his eternal pet," Buffy didn't want to be turned into a vampire when she died.
"I wont turn you, Pet, I promise," Spike joked lightly. Buffy glared at him then suddenly threw all her weight against him, jamming him into the shadowed corner of another crypt.
"It was a joke, Pet," Spike said, but Buffy shushed him. He frowned-- wondering what the hell had gotten to the Slayer know--when the sounds of talking rushed to his ears.
"Oh, Sam, are you sure we're supposed to be here?" a girl asked.
"Who gives a shit if we're supposed" to be here or not? We're here and we're alone, right?" the guy named Sam replied.
Spike felt rather than saw--as Buffy was still pressing him into the corner- -their passionate embrace. Something in his stomach flipped over as he realized they were making out in a cemetery.
"Well, that rates about a negative five on the romantic meter," Spike whispered. Buffy shivered as his breath tickled her neck near her ear, "Course in Sunny D, a cemetery's probably the most romantic spot."
Buffy's breath hitched in her chest. He mouth was so close to her ear now, she thought he might be able to nibble on her lobe--not that she wanted him to--just that he might be able to.
"Yeah," Buffy breathed, completely forgetting the couple not a five hundred feet away.
"You wanna have a little fun, Pet?" Spike asked, the innuendo not lost on her this time. She barely managed to nod her head, as Spike leaned down. She closed her eyes as she felt his mouth close around the curve of her neck and suddenly she was ripped backwards, falling away from Spike. She tore her eyes open and found that the guy named Sam was actually a vampire. The girl he was with had remained on the bench, her face also ridged and feral.
"Spike!" Sam said, his voice riddled with surprise.
"Sam?" Spike looked at the vampire, recognition plastered on his face.
"I thought I'd never see you again! How are you?" Sam asked. Buffy watched in mystification.
"Not too bad. You?" Spike replied, Buffy realized he'd put his game face on. He'd wanted to scare the couple away before Sam had found them.
"About the same," Sam looked back at Buffy who was till lying on the ground, "I take it that thing with Dru's over. Or are you snacking?"
"Oh, her?" Spike nodded at Buffy, his eyes locking with hers, "she's a friend." His eyes moved to the fallen stake then back to the Slayer.
"She smells human," Sam said.
"Yeah." Spike was being distant trying to get Buffy to pick up the damn stake.
"She smells like the Slayer," Sam continued.
"Right again, dumbass," Buffy snapped, as she lunged for the stake near Sam's feet. Spike punched Sam in the nose, causing the vamp to trip over Buffy's body and fall to the ground. The slayer rolled over him and stabbed him in the chest with her retrieved stake. The body she was lying on turned to dust beneath her and she hit the ground roughly.
"Ow," she said as Spike helped her to her feet. They looked over to Sam's girlfriend; she hissed at them before taking flight, running from the cemetery.
"Had enough, Pet?" Spike asked.
"I'm never going to get all this vamp dust out of my clothes!" Buffy complained, giving Spike his answer.
"Were you going to bite me?" Buffy asked.
"What?" Spike turned to her.
"Before, were you going to bite?"
"I was having a spot of fun. Wanted to frighten off the kids, little did I know that they were vamps," Spike replied.
"Shouldn't you be able to sense them?"
"I should say the same to you."
"I thought it was just you. I couldn't tell there were anymore," Buffy attested.
"Filled up your senses, did I, Slayer?" Spike grinned.
"No!" Buffy blurted, sounding completely non-convincing, but Spike didn't push it any further.
Spike was mentally chastising himself for letting the Slayer get to him. She lacked an excuse just like him. Neither had known those two were vampires and they each had the other to blame for that. Since, he personally, knew that Buffy had all he'd been concerned with in those few minutes after suggesting they have fun. Hell, he'd been completely oblivious to anyone but the Slayer since she had pushed him into the corner in the first place.
He noticed Buffy had gotten ahead of him in her retreat from the cemetery. He ran to catch up with her, hoping to leave these thoughts in the cemetery with the piles of dust that had been Sam and Dave...