Chapter Fourteen

The next morning, Buffy brushed off yesterday's events. She told herself nothing happened and things were still the same. Hopefully Spike would do the same. She flipped up her bed sheets and stood up. She stretched out her arms, trying to wake up quickly. The phone rang.

"Buffy?" Joyce asked, opening her door quietly. "Oh good, you're up. Willow's on the phone for you."

"Thanks mom." Buffy picked up the receiver. "Hey Will…. I just woke up actually. Oh hey, what're you doing later? I wanted to get some Christmas shopping done. You know me. Wait 'til the day before. … I know you're Jewish Will, I just wanted to know if you would come with me. Ya know, keep me company as I shop around…. Great. I'll come get you, say around one?… Kay, see ya then. Bye." Buffy hung up the phone and went to the bathroom.

Spike yawned as he stretched out in his bed. His mind raced with the events that were a dream and the ones that were supposedly real. He sat straight up. Was what I said last night real? Maybe the dream I had was real and the supposed real thing was a dream. When did life start intertwining with dreams? Spike rose from his bed and walked down the hall to the bathroom. He tried turning the knob but it was locked.

"I'll be out in a sec."

Great. Buffy. "No rush."

In the bathroom Buffy dried off her wet face and opened the door. "Oh, it's you. I was hoping you'd try and avoid me all day. You did a good job last night."

"About that. Buffy, I'm sorry." Buffy's face contorted into confusion. "I'm sorry for saying what I said to you, then bailing. You deserve an explanation for something like that."

"Which is?"

"I was just looking out for you. I don't want you being stuck to one guy involuntarily."

"Sounds familiar."

"I'm still sorry."

"Well… thank you. I guess."

"You're welcome." They stood there for a minute. Buffy was just too caught in what happened to remember to move her legs. "I still have to go to the bathroom by the way."

"Right." She moved out of his way and went to her room.

Three hours later, Buffy and Willow were at the mall shopping around for gifts. Well, Buffy was shopping and Willow was more of a second wheel to Buffy's obsession. Buffy had Willow's hands occupied with different colored bags. Apparently Buffy included herself on her Christmas list. "How about this? Does this look nice?" she asked Willow.

"That's nice."

"But is it too nice? I mean, I don't want to verge on woman like or anything."

"No, it's nice. Not woman like at all," Willow said.

"I don't know. I just want to make sure whatever I get is put to use," Buffy thought out loud. "But I think this would work." She brought it up to the register with Willow dragging bags behind her.

Spike was in his room with Xander. He was showing Xander the gifts he bought for people. "What do you think of this?"

"I think it's a big step up from where you are now."

"But is that good?"

"I don't know. It's your gift. I personally like this really old book here," Xander said, picking up the dusty text.

"Yeah, it's an ancient Demonology book for my dad. His favorite genre is fantasy. Figured this would be great."

"Not to mention he has the library thing goin' for him."

"I'm not so sure about the going but he does have it," Spike quipped.

"Hey Mom," Buffy said as she came through the door.

"Hi honey. Where's Willow?" Joyce asked after realizing her red headed friend was missing.

"I dropped her off at home." Buffy kicked off her shoes.

"Oh, sweetie, tonight is the party with the Cunningham's remember."

"Oh, I didn't remember. Mom I need to wrap presents still." Buffy held up the bags as proof.

"We can't miss the Christmas party Buffy. We never have. And now we have two new gentlemen in our lives to introduce them to."

"But tomorrow's Christmas."

"Well you have about an hour and a half to do that," Joyce said, checking her watch.

"Wrap these presents, shower, and dress for this party in an hour and a half? Did you develop a new daughter who can accomplish that amazing feet in such a short span of time?"

"Her name's Lily," Joyce joked.

"Mom, seriously. Can we be a little late?"

Joyce inhaled through her nose, letting Buffy know she was about to do her a favor. "You got two hours."

"An extra half an hour? That's it?"

"Want it to remain an hour and a half?"

"Why? No one's complaining here. That's a perfect amount of time." Buffy darted up the stairs and to her room.

Xander and Spike's glance turned to his wall that parted his room from Buffy's. "Princess must be home." Xander looked at his watch. "I guess I should start goin'. Merry Christmas Spike."

"You too Xander." They did their little handshake and went their different ways.

Buffy walked down the hall to her mother's room to grab the wrapping paper from her closet. Luckily it was lying on her floor so Buffy didn't have to shuffle things around and toss clothes about. She grabbed two different kinds and returned to her room.

Two hours later, Joyce called up the stairs for Buffy. Spike and Giles were in suits, with no ties and jackets unbuttoned. Joyce was wearing a sexy red dress that tied around her neck. "Buffy, come on!" she called up the stairs.

"Two seconds." Buffy latched the buckle on her black shoe and descended down the stairs. Spike watched in awe as her right arm, with a silver tennis bracelet, gently grazed down the banister. Her black dress was cut an inch above the knee, skin tight around her chest, and swooped out a little at her hips. The top was a v-neck, which exposed her collarbone and teased you with a little bit of cleavage.

"You look beautiful," Joyce complimented.

"Yes, quite. Very elegant," Giles seconded.

"Thank you," Buffy said with a smile.

Spike remained in awe until Giles hit his back with his elbow. "Yeah. You look, very nice."

"Thanks. You too."

"Well, let's go before we miss the entire party," Joyce said. Giles offered her his arm. "Thank you." She accepted.

"Shall we?" Spike asked, his arm ready for her to take.

"I suppose we shall." Buffy wrapped her arm on his and walked with him to the car.

The party was filled with people. Everyone was talking about the two men that arrived with the Summer's women. Most of the gossip was about Spike and Buffy and how great they would be together. Joyce made comments about how she wished they would get along, but they seemed to at least pretend to enjoy each other's company at the party. They danced to a couple of fast songs and once to a slow one. Cameras flashed like crazy, catching the "adorable couple."

At the end of the night Buffy and Spike received many compliments. They personally were happy to be leaving the house where they felt like attractions at a zoo. Once they arrived home, Spike and Buffy trudged up the stairs to bed.

"Is it always like that?" Spike asked as they ascended the stairs.

"Usually mom and I are furthest from talk of the party. You and your dad just happened to soar us to the conversation list."

"I thought I was going to go blind from all the pictures during our slow dance."

"Know what ya mean." They reached the top and stopped, neither sure of how to say goodnight. Buffy spoke first, "Well, good night Spike."

"Night Buffy." They both smiled and took refuge in their rooms.

It was ten in the morning on Christmas Day. Buffy quickly jumped from bed and ran down the stairs. Before she made it all the way down, she forgot to grab everyone else's presents. She went back upstairs grabbed the gifts and ran back down. Joyce and Giles were sitting on the couch, drinking hot chocolate. "Merry Christmas," Joyce said.

"Merry Christmas," Giles repeated.

"Merry Christmas Mom. Merry Christmas Giles." Buffy walked the gifts over to the tree and placed them on the floor. "We waiting for-" Spike walked through from the kitchen, holding a fresh cup of hot chocolate. "Spike. Hey. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas Buffy. Would you like some hot chocolate?"

"It's what all the cool kids are doin'." Spike started to back track to get her some. "That's all right. I can get it myself." She walked past him and into the kitchen.

Joyce and Giles rose from the couch and seated themselves around the Christmas tree. Buffy quickly came back and sat down as well. They opened presents and left the floor full of wrapping paper. Joyce received a $20 gift card for her favorite store from Spike and a pair of pearl earrings and a pearl necklace from Buffy.

"Thank you Buffy." She kissed her head gently before putting the necklace on. "They're beautiful."

"Here Dad." Spike handed him his gift.

"Mine too," Buffy said, grabbing it from under the tree and giving it to him.

"All right." He opened Spike's first. "A Demonology book. Thank you Spike." He gave it a good look over, flipping through the pages checking out the cover. "All right, now Buffy's. He opened the red bag and shuffled through the tissue paper. "It's book mark and an old journal. Thank you Buffy."

"You're welcome. Thank you for my shirt."

"You might want to thank your mother for that. I was going to get you a top that was apprently 'out of style'."

"Well, I appreciate your effort."

"Your welcome. Well Joyce, shall we get started on the big breakfast?"

"I think we shall." They got up and went to the kitchen, leaving Buffy and Spike alone with two presents remaining under the tree.

"This is for you," Buffy said handing him the gift. "It's from me."

"And I got this for you." He gave her a smaller present. They paused for a minute waiting for the other to unwrap first. "How about we go on three?" Buffy nodded. "All right. One… two… three." They tore the thin paper off the boxes containing the actual gifts.

Buffy opened up a blue velvet box, revealing a silver heart necklace containing three diamonds. "It's beautiful."

Spike pulled out a long black leather coat. "Wow. This is amazing."

"I was going to get you a light pink button up shirt but I returned it when I saw this."

"Thank you." He slipped his arms through the sleeves and smiled at how well it fit. "This is great."

"You're welcome." Buffy unclasped the necklace and tried putting it on.

"Allow me." Spike removed the coat carefully and rushed over to her. Buffy held her hair up as Spike slid the necklace across her collar bone and clasped it shut on her neck. Buffy's back tingled with every breath. She let her hair fall and looked down. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Buffy looked into his eyes. She bit her lower lip before moving in to give him a kiss. Spike gladly kissed her back, resting his hands on her hips for a couple seconds. Buffy parted their mouths and smiled at him. "Merry Christmas."

Auhor's Note: Merry Christmas! Happy Channukah! And to all you people who watch 'The OC", Happy Chrismakkuh! I'm sorry if it seemed to jump around too much but I wanted to make it festive for the holidays and in as little room as possible. But I hoped you like it and I personally guarantee that the kiss was NOT a dream. Oh, and Happy New Year if I don't write by then.