A/N: Not going to disclaimer, of course I don't own Buffy. The only thing I own is the original stuff I've come up with for this fic.
Something short and sweet, then a three parter that's pure fun to bridge the gap a bit and then... Hush...
Thank you for the favourites and follows and reviews so far! I hope you continue to enjoy!
"Is all this really neccersary?" Giles asked from the top of a ladder as Maria passed him a sticky taped string with bunting attached.
"Of course it is! It's Halloween." Maria grinned at him. Giles frowned at her. "What? I love Halloween!"
"I just never had you down as the sucked into these holidays type."
"Oh, I love them. I love Halloween, Valentines, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter. Anything I can get the bunting out for and throw a costume on."
"And what costume would you be wearing on Valentines day?"
"Something edible probably." Maria's head whipped around as Giles' mouth dropped open at Xander's quip. "Looks good, out here. I finished setting up the skeleton in the corner, you want to come see?"
Since Xander wasn't attending College he'd been looking for odd jobs and Maria was more than happy for the help and more than happy to pay him. She imagined he felt a little left out, especially given that Buffy and Willow seemed to have settled quite nicely into college life.
Things had settled back to a strained sort of normality between her and Giles. It felt like they were each treading on eggshells in order to spare the other one's feelings. Avoiding each other wasn't the answer though. It didn't work. Maria missed him. She'd considered going back to New York for Halloween. The invite from old friends had been sat on her desk, but the shop had been doing so well recently she didn't want to leave now. That and there was a certain excitement in her stomach that something might happen around Halloween and she'd quite like to be here for it, rather than have to listen to the tale regaled to her later.
"When do you want it dismantling again?" Xander asked as he held up his hands to show off his work.
"First of November. I'll go lowkey on the Thanksgiving decorations but I'll definitely need your help again for Christmas." Maria said excitedly. Giles nearly jumped out of his skin as he approached the skeleton, roughly the same height as him with cartoonish features and eyes, it jumped into a rendition of the Ghostbusters theme song, moving it's arms and legs with the music.
"Aren't you worried this'll get a little…. Annoying?" He asked.
"I think it really classes the place up." Xander replied as the skeleton continued to dance and Xander tried to imitate it.
"I can set him so he only goes off every once in a while and turn him up and down and if he does get annoying I'll just turn him off. He shouldn't go off when it's quiet. The kids will love him though. He was such a bargain, can you believe someone was selling him for $30" Maria beamed.
Xander and Giles exchanged looks that said they could well believe that. The thing looked very tatty, which considering it couldn't have been more than ten years old said something about it's previous ownership.
"I'm going to be Dana, on the big day." Maria said. "You know, only zhul." She imitated.
"Well let's hope for all our sakes we don't get cursed into costumes again otherwise you'll be releasing Zhul on the whole town." Xander said offhandedly. "And I don't know anyone dressing as Ghostbusters."
Maria looked between Xander and Giles with a raised brow.
"You remember me telling you about the time everyone was turned into their costumes." Giles prompted. "Though that is unlikely to happen again."
"I'll still be dressing in something heroic, just in case." Xander pointed out. "Maybe Giles should be a Ghostbuster now, just in case." Xander smirked.
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