DAY 1
It started with chocolate.
As far as Xander was concerned, this was a good thing.
He woke up one bright and sunny morning in the middle of December,
not really ready to face another day of making burgers at Kermit
O`Dermott`s.
And there it was, on his pillow, beside his head, just waiting for him to
open his eyes.
It was a flat, rectangular object, gift-wrapped in bright, sparkling
Christmas paper.
Someone must have been in the basement last night, while Xander was
sleeping, leaving the little gift.
' What a way to wake up,' Xander thought.
He decided that the morning wasn`t so bad after all.
He tore the wrapping off to discover an enormous bar of chocolate.
Very expensive Swiss chocolate - Xander was an expert on the subject
of chocolate, even though he had never had the money to buy that
particular kind.
Besides, it was milk chocolate, one of his favourites.
Then he noticed a little card that had fallen out of the wrapping paper.
"A partridge is traditional, but since you don`t have a pear tree I
thought you might like this, Chocolate Fiend."
Chocolate Fiend, yes, that was Xander.
But what did the stuff about the partridge and the pear tree mean?
It sounded familiar somehow.
Xander would ask Giles. He was supposed to meet the G-Man
- also known under the aliases of Ex-Watcher, Ex-Librarian and
Unemployed Idler - for a manly evening of drinking cocoa and
watching a rented video.
The only remaining mystery was: who had given him the chocolate?
He thought of Willow, but he knew that if she wanted to buy him
chocolate she would go for a larger quantity of cheaper stuff.
Buffy? Or Giles? Not likely. None of them would creep into his basement
in the middle of the night.
So it could only be Anya, couldn`t it?
He wouldn`t have thought his ex-vengeance demon girlfriend would
know about the concept of giving gifts, but he was pleased.
Perhaps she`d become more than an orgasm friend?
Xander unwrapped the chocolate, broke off a tiny piece and put
it into his mouth.
It seemed to melt on his tongue, flooding his senses with a rich,
sweet flavor.
This was pure bliss.
Xander knew that nothing could ruin his day today ...
**********
Xander was having his lunch break at O`Dermott`s when suddenly
Anya stood before him.
"Xander."
"Anya, hi!" He beamed at her. "Great to see you. You`ve never
visited me at work before. Any particular reason?"
"I wanted to have sex. But not anymore. You look like a juvenile
leprechaun in all that green!"
"The uniform is supposed to remind the customers of frogs."
"Okay, you look like a frog. But I don`t understand what frogs have
to do with hamburgers."
"I don`t care about that, it`s just a stupid job. To make money so I
can buy expensive gifts for my girlfriend, remember? Speaking of
gifts - thank you for the chocolate."
"What chocolate?"
"I found some chocolate on my pillow this morning. So it isn`t
from you?"
"Xander, you`re cheating on me! For chocolate!"
"I`m not cheating on you. I told you I don`t know who gave me
the chocolate."
"I was like the patron saint of scorned women for 1100 years and
now I`m a scorned woman myself! Scorned by Xander Harris, the
frog-burger maker!"
"Anya, I ..."
"I`m upset, I`m leaving now!"
Anya left a speechless Xander, his mouth hanging open.
He would never understand women.
Why couldn`t they be more like ... chocolate?
Xander reached for his back pack and pulled the bar of Swiss
chocolate out.
Not even Anya in a huff could ruin that heavenly taste.
**********
Giles was waiting in his car in front of Kermit McDermott`s to
pick Xander up after work.
"Hello, Xander, how was your day?"
"You know what they say, Giles: it`s not easy being green. How
was your day yourself?"
"Well, I researched some things for Buffy and I practiced on the
guitar ..."
"Your life`s a whirligig of fun. Just like mine."
"Do not be so negative, Xander. Only because Buffy and Willow
take their slaying and college duties seriously and cannot spare
as much time for us as before does not mean that we are no
longer important for them."
"Now who`s negative?"
Long silence.
"Have you thought about the film?"
"Film? You mean the movie we want to rent? Weeeell, what
about >Gladiator<?"
"No, thank you, I get to see enough violence in real life - I just
have to go on patrol with Buffy."
">X-Men<?"
"You have seen it three times already, Xander!"
">The Patriot<?"
"This is the one with an Australian actor playing an American
who kills the British? Made by that German director?"
"I give up, Giles. What would you like to watch?"
"How about >Toy Story<?"
"You want >Toy Story<?!"
"Don`t you?"
"Giles, my man, you`re full of surprises!"
**********
Two hours later, Xander felt slightly sick from the large pizza he
had eaten - before the cocoa and the popcorn and the M+M`s
and the root beer.
But he also felt happy.
He`d laughed at Woody and Buzz Lightyear , humming along to
that silly >Woody`s Round-Up< song, and he had enjoyed Giles`
relaxed company.
Now, after the movie, he thought of his Swiss chocolate and the
partridge/pear tree message on the card.
"Do the words partridge and pear tree mean anything to you?"
"Yes, they do. They are from an old Christmas song. You should
know that."
"My family`s not really big on Christmas."
"I will see if I can find a copy for you. Why do you ask?"
"When I woke up this morning someone had put a chocolate
bar on my pillow during the night. The card said something about
a partridge and a pear tree. But I just don`t know who it is from.
It`s not from Anya. And I don`t think it`s from Buffy or Wills. Do you
want a piece?"
Xander offered Giles the chocolate bar which was no longer as
big as it had been in the morning.
"It is kind of you to ask, Xander. But your secret admirer gave the
chocolate to you. It is yours alone."
"You´re not really a chocolate fan, Giles, are you?"
"I guess not. But if you do find out who it is from ..."
"I`ll tell you."
There was a loud knocking on the door.
Giles opened and Spike strolled in like he owned the whole place.
He plopped down on the sofa beside Xander.
"Have I left my lighter here, Watcher? Can`t find it at the crypt."
"I don`t have your lighter. And if I had, I would just throw it away.
I don`t like you smoking here!"
"I didn`t leave it in your basement, did I?"
"You didn`t leave anything in my basement - not even my own
stuff."
"Sorry, luv, bad habit. So, how`s your chocolate?"
"You`re not getting my chocolate!"
"Never said I wanted any. Can`t really enjoy it. But you seem to.
Your favourite?"
"No, but definitely among the Top Ten. It was a gift."
"Judging by the dreamy look on your face, it was a gift from
your little orgasm friend."
"I don`t know who the gift was from, but it must be someone
special. Someone who knows how much I like chocolate."
"I`ll leave you to it, Pet. Must dash now. See you later."
With a nod to the Watcher, Spike rose and strode from the
room in a swirl a black duster.
**********
Outside, Spike paused, a broad grin on his face.
He punched the air with one fist.
' Yes!!! '
DAY 2
When Xander woke up, a part of him hoped to find a bar of
chocolate again.
But even before he opened his eyes, he knew that it couldn`t
really be there.
He blinked at an empty pillow.
No chocolate.
Would have been too good to be true.
Too much of a good thing.
Whatever.
Xander crawled out from under the covers and nearly put his
foot on a little box that stood beside the bed.
"Wow!"
Xander sat back again and picked up the box.
It was red and green with a big golden ribbon around it.
When he opened it, he discovered two soft, smaller objects,
carefully wrapped in Christmas paper.
And a card.
It said: "You won`t get two turtledoves from me. But you should
wear more black. Or just the other one."
"I should wear more black?!"
He tore open the first little package.
It contained a black t-shirt of a size that would make it a skin-
tight fit. It was just plain black cotton but of a softness that
could only be achieved by repeated laundering and month-long
use.
Xander allowed his fingers to linger on the soft fabric.
Who had gone to all that trouble for him?
The second package also left him speechless - Scooby Doo
boxer shorts!
Xander blushed to the roots of his hair.
He had a secret admirer who sent him underwear!
Or it was Willow and Buffy having a laugh at his expense.
Either way, this gift was way too personal!
**********
Xander went to work like every day.
But his day was better than an ordinary day.
He wore the t-shirt underneath his green frog uniform and found
himself smiling goofily just because of it.
"It happened again!" he gushed when he phoned Giles during
his break.
Silence.
"Uhm, Xander ...?"
"I found another gift this morning. Two, to be precise. And
another strange card."
"Let me guess - turtledoves?"
"Yeah, how do you know?"
"You should have a look at the text of that old Christmas song
I mentioned. I found a copy for you. Just come by after work.
I have also invited Buffy, Willow, Riley and Tara."
"Scooby Gang meeting - like old times. Except for the new
people. Do you think it was one of them? Wills and the
Buffster I mean, not Tara and Riley."
"I don`t know, but I think you will find out soon enough."
**********
Xander was the first to arrive at Giles`house.
He sprawled in his favourite chair and accepted tea and cookies
from Giles.
Not for the first time did he think of Giles being married with a
bunch of his own kids. But instead the Englishman dedicated his
life to his Slayer - even though he no longer was her official
Watcher - and accepted her friends as his family.
"Xander, you forgot to mention the nature of the gifts you found
this morning."
"I`m wearing one of them."
"A t-shirt?"
"Yes, Giles, it`s a t-shirt. But it is a special t-shirt - pre-washed
and pre-worn. It feels old and comfortable as if I had already
had it for ages."
"This is ... really thoughtful. And the second gift?"
"Scooby Doo busr shts."
"Pardon me?"
"Boxer shorts!"
"Boxer shorts?"
"Yes, boxer shorts! Scooby Doo boxer shorts."
"Oh my. I don`t think this is traditional. Here, read this - >The
Twelve Days of Christmas<."
Giles gave Xander a book with Christmas carols and pointed
to a page.
>On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me
a partridge in a pear tree.
On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me
two turtledoves.
On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me
three French hens.
On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
four cally birds.
On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
five gold rings.
On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
six geese a-laying.
On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me
seven swans a-swimming.
On the eigth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
eight maids a-milking.
On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
nine ladies dancing.
On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
ten lords a-leaping.
On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me
eleven pipers piping.
On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
twelve drummers drumming.<
"Does this mean I`m getting gifts for twelve days? And tomorrow
I`m getting three somethings which I hope are not French hens,
whatever they are."
"It would appear so."
"I love gifts. And they`re from my >true love<. I really would
like to know who it is."
At this moment, Buffy swept in, followed by Riley.
They looked so right for each other, unlike Buffy and Angel
whose relationship had always seemed doomed by his broody
vampireness.
' Or perhaps it`s just the matching haircolour,' Xander thought.
"Hey, Xand, nice t-shirt," Buffy greeted him. "You should wear
more black."
"So I`ve heard."
Willow and Tara also arrived together, holding hands, just
letting go long enough to greet Giles.
Willow smiled at her best friend and drew him into a conversation
about his life at O`Dermott`s and hers at college.
Tara sat beside her, smiling shyly.
The evening went fine - insofar that no demon or vamp
emergency disturbed them.
But all the couply happiness was soon too much for Xander.
He was happy when Willow and Buffy were happy, but it
wasn`t really like old times.
He missed the old gang. He missed Oz with his laconic wit, he
even missed Deadboy.
Xander excused himself early. He declined Giles´ offer of a
ride and Buffy`s to walk him home.
He wanted to be alone for a while.
He wasn`t far from Giles` house when Spike appeared out of
the bushes and fell into step beside him.
"Hey."
"Hey yourself."
"New t-shirt?"
"Yes. Not my usual sunny garb, I admit, but I like it."
"You look good in black."
"Coming from the authority on black t-shirts I take that as
a compliment."
"Smells nice, too. Peaches."
"You can smell what it smells like?"
Spike leaned closer.
"Definitely peaches. You know, I´m a grown-up vamp now,
I do my own laundry. I can tell you everything about the
difference between >Summerfresh<, >Tropical Breeze< or
>April Rain< fabric softener."
Xander couldn`t help himself, he started to laugh.
Was he really having a laundry conversation with Spike?
"You think I`m a pathetic git, don`t you? As if I cared! By the
way, did you solve your chocolate mystery?"
"Not yet."
Xander hesitated to tell Spike about the t-shirt and the
boxer shorts. Surely the vampire would make fun of it,
despite his mellow mood.
Spike looked at him as if he knew what Xander didn`t
want to tell him.
Or perhaps he was just trying out one of his Sire`s soul-
ful looks.
They had arrived at the Harris` house.
Xander was still wondering about Spike. He wanted to
invite him in, it had been nice talking to him. But they
were not exactly friends - Spike had probably just
escorted him home because he was bored.
"So ..."
"I don`t really have time to stand and chat, Pet, I need
to find something to beat up now."
"Then I won`t keep you. Thanks for walking me home,
Spike."
"Anytime, Pet. See you."
Spike was gone in the blink of an eye and Xander went
inside.
He took a shower and put on the new boxer shorts for bed.
While he drifted off to sleep, he tried to conjure up an image
of the girl of his dreams.
But Xander hadn`t exactly had a social life for the last few
months, he didn`t meet any pretty, thoughtful girls - except
when he served them burgers or pizza or washed their cars.
There was no one in his life but there was someone out there
who knew him well enough to know that he loved choco-
late and looked good in black.
There was someone out there who loved him.
And perhaps she was lying in her bed just at this moment
thinking of him in his Scooby Doo boxer shorts.
Xander knew he would meet her soon.
DAY 3
Xander was abruptly awakened by his phone ringing.
He pulled the bed covers up over his head and willed it to stop.
It didn`t.
Whoever that was on the phone was in big trouble - Xander
wasn`t exactly a morning person.
"Wha?"
"Xander, it`s me."
"Anya? Why are you calling me? It`s 6.30 in the morning, this
is my only day off and I wanted to sleep in."
"I wanted to tell you I forgive you. And I want to have sex with
you again."
"You forgive me for what?"
"For that chocolate affair. It`s great you`re awake, I will come
over right now."
"Anya, I don`t want you to come over. I`m tired and I`m not in
the mood for sex."
"So she is with you?!"
"I`m all alone in my dark little basement and I`d like to go back
to sleep."
"Xander!"
"I`m not your fluffy sex toy. This is not how that boyfriend/girl-
friend thing works."
"Then I don`t want to be your girlfriend!"
"Fine."
"Fine!"
Anya hung up on him.
Xander groaned. This was not how he had wanted the morning
to start.
He had wanted to wake up at about noon, with his Third Day of
Christmas gift on his pillow or beside the bed.
Instead, his girlfriend had dumped him on the phone in the middle
of the night.
And there was no gift.
No chocolate, no red and green box. Nothing Christmasy in the
whole basement.
Not even three French hens.
He was a fool to have almost believed in that true love thing. He
had enjoyed getting special gifts, he had enjoyed the mere thought
of some unknown person going to all that trouble just for him.
And now that person probably had a good laugh, thinking of his
disappointed face.
"This is really not my day."
Xander dragged himself to the bathroom, feeling depressed and
lonely and pathetic.
And then he looked directly at a big red envelope that was taped
to the bathroom mirror.
Xander stared.
Someone had been in his bathroom without waking him last night,
leaving just the envelope.
In it was a card, saying "No French hens, but perhaps three French
films? I hope you`ll want to watch them with me."
And the gift was a voucher for Blockbuster Video. Valid for three
videos of his choice.
Xander felt completely stunned. It was such a simple gift, but for
him it meant a lot.
Watching videos, that was something you did when you hung out
with friends, like Willow and Buffy. But he`d never spent a serious
date like that.
Cordelia had never even set foot into the Harris` house.
Ans Anya came here to have sex. He couldn`t imagine the two
of them just cuddling on the sofa, sharing popcorn and
watching a movie.
Not that they`d get the chance to do that now - the whole
Anya thing was history.
**********
Later, in the evening, Xander was on his way to Blockbuster
Video. He was a regular customer and Jason Kent, a classmate
from Sunnydale High, worked there.
So he assumed it would be easy to find out about the identity
of the girl who had bought the gift voucher.
Jason was willing enough to talk about their time at high
school, but he did not want to say more.
The person who had bought the voucher had been absoultely
adamant - Xander should not be told.
Xander begged and pleaded with Jason - in vain.
"Then tell me at least what she looked like, Jace, buddy."
"I could get fired for this, Xander."
"Was she blonde, brunette, a redhead? Bald?"
"Blond. Very blond."
"Tall, a midget? Thin, fat?"
"Slender, not that tall, fit-looking."
A blonde, slender, petite, fit-looking girl - that sounded like
the description of ...
"Tell me it is not Buffy Summers!" Xander blurted out.
Jason looked at him strangely.
"No, it`s not Buffy Summers."
// Perhaps I should tell him we`re talking about a guy. //
"Not Buffy, that`s good. But you`re not really helpful, you know."
"Why don`t you rent a video?"
Xander did just that. He wanted to pick up one and keep the
other two for mystery girl.
There was a movie he had seen countless times already, a
movie he watched when he was happy and when he was
sad, a movie he just couldn`t get enough of.
Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases,
escapes, true love, miracles - he loved everything about
>The Princess Bride<.
Xander had always wanted to be Inigo Montoya.
He liked the hero, Westley, well enough, but he thought the
Spanish swashbuckler was so much cooler.
When he was small, he had been running around with a toy
sword, rescuing Willow - as a redheaded Princess Buttercup -
from evil Prince Humerdinck and beginning conversations
with "You don`t by any chance happen to have six fingers
on your right hand?".
He still thought Inigo was cool.
He still thought that the line "Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya,
you killed my father, prepare to die" was one of the best lines
ever written for a movie.
So, with >The Princess Bride< in his hand and true love on his
mind, Xander started on his way home.
Outside Blockbuster Video he almost bumped into Spike.
Spike carried a plastic bag with a big glass jar which was
probably full of pig`s blood.
As always, the thought of the Big Bad doing his shopping
like a normal person made him smile.
"So, you`re having an evening of no sex, no fries, but video-
tapes?"
"I know my life is boring - you don`t have to point that out
to me all the time."
" `ey, touchy, mate. You`re talking to a vampire who`s
addicted to bloody soap operas. There`s nothing wrong
with spending an evening just watching videos."
"Do you want to come?" Xander heard himself say.
Why had he done that? To give Spike another excuse
to make fun of him?
"Depends on the film."
// You bet I want to *come*.//
"It`s >The Princess Bride<."
"Good one. I saw it with Dru at a Drive-In cinema. Well,
most of it. I missed the end `cos Dru became hungry
and wanted to eat the couple in the car next to us."
"Too much information, Spike."
"Tonight, I`m bringing my own blood. But I`d like some-
thing crunchy in it. Do you have Frosties or Froot Loops
at home?"
"I`m living on Rice Krispies at the moment. I wanted to
have those Looney Tunes fridge magnets they`ve put
in. But so far I`ve only got three Bugs Bunnys and Tweety.
And I`m sick of Rice Krispies. But we can make popcorn!"
"Popcorn and a film - it`s a date, Pet. Let`s go."
Spike started walking for which Xander was grateful.
This way he would not see him blush at the thought
of having a date with the vampire.
Date with the Vampire - not a bad title for a movie.
Spike would make a much more convincing Lestat
than Tom Cruise.
It occured to Xander that he was thinking all this stuff
to keep from thinking about something else.
Spike. Date. Two words not to be used in one sentence.
Beware. Here be Dragons.
Here be Vampires.
**********
A short while later, Spike and Xander sat on Xander`s
sofa-bed, Spike with a mug of blood, Xander with a
can of soda, a bowl of freshly microwaved popcorn
between them.
"Ready?" Xander asked.
"Yeah, ready."
"This is my favourite movie, I want you to like it."
"Just get on with it."
Xander started the videotape and leaned back.
Soon, he was caught up in Buttercup`s kidnapping,
Inigo`s quest to find his father`s murderer and West-
ley`s bravery. He munched away on the popcorn
and smiled about Spike`s comments.
"He`s evil, I like that bloke."
"You don`t have to go to the Fire Swamp to find
ROUS, just try the sewers of Sunnydale."
"This is a great torture scene."
And then Xander reached for the popcorn again.
At the same time as Spike.
A warm, large, slightly sweaty hand touched cool,
pale, slender fingers in the popcorn bowl.
Xander felt his heartbeat gallop off into the sunset
and froze.
He couldn`t move, he just felt Spike`s fingers touching
his.
Both stayed immobile for a few endless seconds.
Then Spike cleared his throat and pulled his hand
away.
Xander didn`t pay attention to the rest of >The
Princess Bride<.
He felt Spike`s gaze on him, more on him than on
the tv screen.
But he never caught him at it - whenever he looked,
Spike was just watching the movie.
Xander`s brain was trying to tell him that he had been
turned on by the touch of Spike`s hand.
But he was in denial.
// Pull yourself together, Xander, this is just Spike. Vampire.
Bleached pain in the ass. Think of true love. Think of
that blonde girl who bought you chocolate, a t-shirt,
boxer shorts, a video gift voucher ... //
When Westley, Buttercup, Inigo and Fezzik rode to
freedom on their white stallions, Xander finally dared
to look at Spike again.
The vampire rose fron the sofa.
"Don`t say anything, Pet. `t was a nice evening. And a
nice film. Hope we can do that again sometime."
He briefly touched Xander`s shoulder and left.
The blonde girl was forgotten and Xander had Spike
on his mind again.
**********
Outside, the vampire looked up at the clear, ink-black
night sky, pulling his duster around him.
"As you wish," he whispered.
DAY 4
When Xander woke up, the first thing on his mind was Spike.
Even though he had convinced himself that he did not
have any warm, fuzzy feelings for the vampire.
They`d been such a cliche - brushing hands in the popcorn
bowl. All that thinking about watching a movie at a date
had confused Xander.
Spike was right. It had just been a nice evening with a nice
movie, nothing more.
When Xander looked around, he noticed his Fourth Day of
Christmas gift at once.
His kitchen table looked like several yards of wrapping paper
had exploded on it.
Taking a closer look, Xander could make out four individual
packages of about the same size.
He started unwrapping.
He unwrapped a box of Chocos.
A box of Choco Smacks.
A box of Choco Cornflakes.
And a box of Choco Toppas.
Chocolate cereal overdose!
This time the card said: "How about 4000 calories instead of
four cally birds?"
Xander was stunned, again.
"Thank you. Thank you, whoever you are. I thought I`d have
to eat Rice Krispies for the rest of my life."
Xander took a shower, threw on some clothes (which inclu-
ded his new favourite t-shirt), grabbed a box of the choco-
late cereal and walked over to Willow and Tara`s.
They were having their weekly breakfast get-together, which
usually meant for Xander that at least once a week he got
a decent breakfast.
Tara opened the door in a flannel shirt that only covered her
to mid-thigh.
Xander looked. He couldn`t help it - he was human and male
after all.
Tara blushed fiercely and fled to her bedroom.
Xander let himself in.
"I`m sorry, Tara, this wasn`t personal, just one of these manly
urges," he called after her.
Willow appeared and rolled her eyes at him.
"Really, Xander."
"She should know by now that I won`t bite her. I don`t bite
people I like."
"Xander?!"
"Wait, that didn`t come out the right way - I think I`m having
a Spike moment here."
"You spend too much time with him."
"Yeah, I can`t live without my daily dose of humiliation and
bitching from Blondie."
Tara came back at this moment, fully dressed, craddling Miss
Kitty in her arms and averting her eyes from Xander.
"You won`t believe it, but this time I brought something for
breakfast."
He put the box of Chocolate Cornflakes on the table.
"Chocolate Cornflakes? Xander, I can`t believe you`re
sharing something chocolate with us."
"You won`t go on inviting me for breakfast if I always gobble
up your stuff. And where else could I have such a long good
look at scantily-clad totty?"
Willow glared at him, Tara blushed again.
"By the way, speaking of scantily-clad totty, did I tell you that
Anya dumped me?"
The two witches looked at him, speechless.
"Don`t tell me you`re surprised. That relationship didn`t exactly
have a long life expectancy."
"Oh, Xander, this is terrible! When? Why?"
Willow reached across the table and gave him a hug.
"I`m sorry, Xander," Tara said, almost too quietly for him to hear.
"Anya dumped me on the phone. Short, to the point. It´s not
really a big deal. The only thing keeping us together was sex.
She`ll find another fuck-toy and I`ll find ..." Xander smiled
dreamily. "True love."
Another speechless stare from Willow and Tara.
"That`s the other thing I haven`t told you. The Chocolate
Cornflakes are a Christmas gift. One of several. Someone`s
doing a remake of >The Twelve Days of Christmas<, just
for little me."
Xander waved a hand in front of the slightly glazed eyes of
the two girls.
"Hello there. Can you hear me, guys? Can you talk?"
"That`s romatic! Details, Xander, I want to know everything
from the beginning," Willow babbled.
Xander told them. About the chocolate, the t-shirt, even
about the Scooby Doo boxer shorts. About the cryptic
messages on the cards.
"And you have no idea who`s doing this?"
"So far, I`ve made one attempt to learn the identity of
my secret admirer. I went to Blockbuster Video and
spoke to Jason, Jason Kent. He wouldn`t say anything,
he only told me a blonde girl had bought the voucher."
"Buffy?!"
"No, not Buffy."
"How many blonde girls do you know? Buffy. Tara.
Anya`s a blonde sometimes, but she`s out of the pic-
ture now."
"It must be someone who knows me pretty well.
Someone who knows what I like. Someone who sees
me every day."
"Are there any blondes working at O`Dermott`s?"
"What do you think? We`re a fast-food restaurant. But
it can`t be anyone from work. I`ve been there for about
five weeks. Not exactly enough time to get to know
me that intimately. No, at work I`m just Xander, the
burger guy."
"What about the handwriting on the cards? Does it
look familiar?"
"Not to me, but I`m not good at this sort of thing. You
can have a look - I carry them around with me."
Slightly embarrased, Xander took out the four cards
and handed them over to Willow.
She read them carefully, a frown of concentration
appearing on her face.
"Do you really want to find out who your secret admirer
is? I guess there`s a spell we could do."
"Part of me wants to find out. But another part just
wants to be surprised. I don`t want to know, not really.
Guessing is much more fun."
Xander smiled that dreamy smile again.
"I`m going now. You two have to get ready for college."
He gave Willow a kiss on the cheek and flashed a smile
at Tara.
"See you!"
He left.
"I don`t think I`m going to college today. I`m off to the
cemetery,"
Willow turned to Tara who was still recovering from
Xander`s cheery smile.
"Cemetery?"
"I think I know who Xander`s *blonde girl* is - and we`re
having a talk!"
"Did I miss something?" Tara asked.
"Just one word: film."
**********
It was a few hours and dozens of burgers later and Xander
was almost finished for the night, when one of the waitresses
interrupted him.
"There`s a customer here who wants his burger rare. I mean
bloody, he said bloody. He said you would know how to make
it just the way he likes it."
Xander went to the kitchen door and looked out into the main
area.
Spike was there, giving him a little wave and a cocky grin.
Xander sighed.
"I`ll make that burger. And then I`ll take a break."
Spike was watching Xander as he stormed from the kitchen
a few minutes later, stalked over to his table and slammed
a plate down in front of him.
"Don`t say anything. Don`t. Just don`t. I don`t want to hear
jokes about my uniform. Or my silly hat. Or anything."
"You know, green`s a nice colour. Easy on the eye and all that.
It`s just a bit too much green in one place."
"What do you want, Spike?"
"Don`t go all Klingon on me. I just wanted to have a look at
your burger place. O`Dermott is an Irish name, but I`m sure
the Great Poof would have a heartattack in here, with all
those soddin` frogs."
"Do you really think Angel would have a heartattack?"
Xander had never seen O`Dermott`s that way. He looked at
the vampire with eager puppy-dog eyes.
Spike laughed.
"I love the way you`re thinking, whelp! Perhaps I`ll invite him
the next time I see him. About last night ..."
Xander tensed.
//Here it comes. I knew it.//
"Blood and popcorn don`t mix well. I had stomach growlies
until sunrise."
Xander released the breath he had been holding.
//Popcorn. He`s talking about popcorn, not about the
hand-touching incident.//
"You won`t have to eat popcorn the next time. I`ve got
tons of chocolate cereal. From the same person who gave
me the Swiss chocolate. I`m getting Christmas gifts for twelve
days, just like in that Christmas song, >The Twelve Days of
Christmas<."
"That`s nice. Any idea who that person is?"
"The only thing I know about Mystery Girl is that she`s a
blonde."
"A blonde. Right. What has Little Miss Vengeance Demon to
say to that?"
"Anya? Oh, Anya dumped me yesterday."
"Good for you, Pet. Even I wouldn`t treat my lover the way
that bitch has treated you."
Spike looked at Xander in a way that the boy found slightly
disturbing.
//He isn`t flirting with me, is he? I could just disappear into
those blue eyes... No! I must stop thinking these thoughts!!!//
Spike grinned at him as if he knew exactly what was going
through his mind and Xander blushed.
"I have to go back to work, Spike. I actually have to work to
earn my living!"
"You do that. I`ll wait here and escort you home. You can`t
take the risk of getting eaten now, not before you meet that
*blonde*."
Xander turned away.
"The burger`s on the house. I can`t have a starving escort,
can I?" he said over his shoulder.
Spike leaned back, watching Xander disappear into the kitchen.
"I AM starving, Nummy. But it`s not a burger I want..."
DAY 5
Xander was woken by his phone ringing. Again.
//Nobody *ever* phones me. Except when I've spent most
of the previous night talking to a vampire. If this is Anya again,
I'll send my own vengeance demon after her.//
It wasn't Anya.
It was Giles.
The Watcher had accidentally discovered a prophecy that
could come their way. Or not.
Since this was the Hellmouth, they could not afford to take a
threatening prophecy lightly.
Giles wanted the whole gang to help him with research. They
would all meet as soon as possible at his apartment.
Giles knew that Xander was busy with his burger job, but he'd
really appreciate it if Xander could spare some time.
Xander promised him he'd be there at five o'clock, right after work.
He had nothing better to do anyway.
His life consisted of burning burger and hanging with Giles. Lately,
he had added trading insults with Spike to his list of hobbies.
Perhaps he should grovel at Anya's feet to get her back. Sex with her
was better than no sex.
But no, he wasn't supposed to think of sex, but Mystery Girl out there
who gave him such a nice Christmas gift every day.
Which reminded him...
Xander looked around and discovered a bright red envelope on
his bedside table.
He opened it and took the card out first.
It said: "Five gold rings - made of dough and cheese. Enjoy."
Curiouser and curiouser.
Xander took a gift certificate out of the envelope - for five pizzas from
Gino's pizzeria.
"Oh, man, this is really nice. Whoever said that the way to a man's
heart was through his stomach was right."
Xander called the delivery service and had pizza for breakfast.
Gino's was still his favourite pizzeria - even though they had sacked
him after only five weeks.
Oh well, he was an eater of pizzas , not a maker of them.
**********
When Xander arrived at Giles' house, Buffy, Willow and Tara were
there. And Riley, still not looking entirely comfortable as a member
of the Slayerettes.
Desperate times seemed to call for desperate measures.
The living room was buried under dozens of books and Giles himself
looked rather frazzled.
He greeted Xander with a grateful look, put a cup of tea and a dusty
tome before him and retreated with his own book to his armchair.
Xander was worried. He had a lame joke on the tip of his tongue, but
then he swallowed it again.
Joking would make him feel better - but it would also disturb the con-
centration of the others.
It was in the middle of the night already when they paused in their
fruitless research.
Buffy went out on patrol, taking Riley with her.
Willow and Tara both looked as if they would fall asleep on the spot and
Giles offered to drive them home.
Xander decided to stay .
For him, the night was still young and since he was no longer
required to give orgasms to an ex-vengeance demon he had
nothing better to do.
In a way, Xander was relieved that Anya had dumped him.
The triple duty of his job, being a Slayerette and satisfying Anya
had worn him out.
Now, he was burger guy by day and research guy by night - which
was fine with him.
And someone else seemed to think that he was doing a good job - or
she wouldn't be courting him with Christmas gifts.
Xander took another book out of Giles' bookcase, which looked almost
empty, and tried to concentrate on the archaic style of the language.
When he heard the front door open a few minutes later he thought it
was Giles.
When he looked up he saw Spike striding in.
" 'lo, Pet. You look bored."
Spike threw himself down on the sofa beside Xander and flashed him
a smile that made his insides turn to jelly.
He hadn't reacted to Anya the same way he reacted to Spike.
He'd reacted to Anya the same way any teenage male would react
to a naked woman standing before him wanting to have sex.
But with Spike it was different - he felt drawn to him and at the same
time he wanted to run away from him.
Spike was a strange mixture of kindness and cruelty.
"I'm not bored, I'm in research mode. If you just want to be a smart-
ass, go away. If you want to help, take this."
Xander lobbed a huge, leather-bound volume at Spike.
Spike caught himself before he answered with 'As you wish'.
"I love it when you throw books at me, " he said instead.
Xander refused to be baited.
"Be serious, Spike. We're facing the end of the world."
"Again?"
"Yes, again. And I don't want to tell Buffy we can't avert it
just because I've been squabbling with you when I should have
been reading this."
Spike and Xander sat on the couch side by side, almost touching,
reading for a few minutes until Xander's stomach made a loud
growling noise.
"You can't save the world on an empty stomach. Let's go raid Giles'
fridge. Where's Giles anyway?"
"He's taking Willow and Tara home. They were beat and they have
classes tomorrow. Buffy's still out patrolling. So no one will disturb us."
Dirty grin from Spike.
Xander blushed.
"No one will disturb us when we raid the fridge!"
He made a dash for the kitchen, commanding his mind to think of food,
not of Spike.
He discovered a can of tomato sauce and after a quick investigation of
Giles' cupboards even found a package of spaghetti.
Xander filled a pot with water, putting it on the stove.
Spike watched him intently.
"Don't tell me you can cook."
"I can cook water, I can warm up tomato sauce and I can put some spices
into it. That's all it takes to make spaghetti."
Xander fumbled with the can opener, trying to get the stubborn
can open.
He managed to make a smallish hole, but then his grip slipped and the
can opener dug into his thumb.
"Ow!"
Xander dropped the tomato sauce can and the can opener, spilling
tomato sauce and a little blood on Giles' kitchen floor.
"Shit!"
At the smell of blood Spike vamped out.
Xander instinctively took a step back, barely suppressing a squeak.
Spike shook his game-face away and moved closer, pinning Xander
with smoldering blue eyes.
Xander stood frozen as Spike took his hand.
The vampire flicked a cold tongue over the fresh wound and then
sucked the whole thumb into his mouth.
Xander felt his own mouth go dry and shivers running down his back.
This was the most erotic thing that had ever happened to him.
// This is so *not* happening. I'm *not* standing here, bleeding,
having my thumb sucked by Spike.//
After what seemed like an eternity to Xander Spike let go of his
hand.
"Right as rain, Pet."
Spike smiled at the human in a way that made Xander furious.
He was red-faced and flustered and Spike just looked smug and
as cool as ever.
//He knows exactly what he's doing to me - and he's enjoying
it! I knew I would regret that '*moist and delicious*' comment
one day.//
"You'll live, Pet. Thanks to the healing properties of vamp saliva,"
Spike said innocently.
Xander considered hitting him. Or kissing him.
But before he could do either, Giles suddenly came into the kitchen.
"Bloody hell! I mean, what happened here? What did you two do
to my kitchen?"
"A vampire tomato sauce can invaded your house. But not to
worry, G-man, I managed to slay it. With a little help from Spike."
Giles gave Xander a look of long-suffering.
"The next time you're hungry, don't try to cook. Please."
"I'm sorry, Giles, won't happen again."
// I'll never give Spike another chance to suck blood from
any of my body parts ...//
"We'll get this mess cleaned up and then I'll order some pizza.
You're lucky - I got a pizza voucher as my Fifth Day of Christmas
gift."
"Pizza?" Giles frowned.
"I like pizza, Giles! And my secret admirer knows that."
"So you're still receiving gifts and you still don't know from
whom?"
"That's what I like about it - not knowing."
Xander was getting that dreamy smile again.
"I don't care - just as long as I get some pizza." Spike piped up.
"Aren't we supposed to do some bloody research to stop the
end of the world? I can't do that when I' m 'hungry' "
"Aren't you forgetting you're a vampire? Vampires eat humans
but they don't eat human food. Tell him, Giles."
Giles looked pained.
Suddenly he was feeling very old - even in the presence of a
one-hundred-something year old master vampire.
//They're bickering like small children. Again.//
"Didn't you mention pizza, Xander?"
Giles' need for a little peace and quiet and a clean kitchen
won out over his aversion to fast food.
"Pizza it is, G-Man."
Xander ordered pizza for them from Gino's and Spike helped
Giles to wipe tomato sauce and blood from the kitchen floor.
Then, the three men settled back to research again, but they were
not concentrating entirely on the texts they were reading.
Giles was convinced he was missing something. Not about the
prophecy, but about Spike and Xander. Something was rotten in
the state of California.
Spike felt almost giddy, but he tried to appear innocent and serious.
He still had the taste of human blood in his mouth. Xander's was the
first since he'd been chipped.
But even more arousing than the taste had been Xander's reaction.
The mortal hadn't been able to decide if having his finger sucked
repulsed him - or turned him on.
Xander kept his face buried in his book. He avoided looking at Spike.
What did the vampire want?
Was it all a game to him?
Xander wasn't sure he wanted to know.
DAY 6
It wasn't the telephone that woke Xander this morning, but a knock on
the basement door.
While he fought to throw off the last remnants of sleep, he put some
clothes on and shuffled to the door, opening it a crack and peering out
carefully.
He blinked - because he couldn't really believe what he saw there.
Was he still dreaming?
Before him stood three elves with pointy ears dressed in green tunics and
red hats.
"Are you Alexander Harris?" one of the elves asked.
Xander could only nod.
Prompty, the three elves burst into song.
"We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas..."
Xander stood and listened, too astonished to move or say anything.
When they were finished singing, they handed him a gift-wrapped box.
"And this is your gift. Happy holidays, pal."
"Happy holidays to you, too. And thanks."
Xander took the gift box and retreated into the basement.
It contained six muffins. Six chocolate muffins with chocolate chips - his
favourite and still slightly warm.
" 'True love is like ghosts, which everybody talks about and few have seen.'
But this is Sunnydale, where ghosts are a common occurence. Six more days
until Christmas..."
//How the heck does my blonde Mystery Girl know me so well? She knows
my t-shirt size and what pizza I like and which muffins. She has to be watching
me... Do I know her? Six more days and I'll find out...//
"And what's with the singing elves? What will it be tomorrow? Santa Claus
and his Christmas sleigh?"
**********
"Hey, guys, breakfast's here!"
Xander had taken his muffins, grabbed a few jelly donuts on the way and headed over to Giles.
Spike was still at the Watcher's house, having slept over after their research
session.
He lounged on the sofa in the twilight of Giles' living room, stretching like a
big cat when Xander came in.
Xander forced himself not to stare at the vampire who looked so sexy in his usual
tight black t-shirt.
"So, how's it going with the prophecy?" he asked.
"I don't think it has to concern us any longer." Giles answered.
"You've solved it? It was a fluke?"
"Oh, the prophecy will come to pass, eventually. The forces of darkness will gather
on the Hellmouth and try to bring about the end of the world. In about 70 years."
"That's 'Slayer - The Next Generation'. In 70 years, I'll probably be running vampires
over with my wheelchair and telling the current Slayer stories about my glorious
vampire-slaying youth."
"The prophecy will be the concern of a Slayer and a Watcher who haven't been
born yet. And for us it's just another night wasted on research. Sometimes I
wish we still had the Council backing us up. Oh well."
"Lighten up, G-Man, I brought some donuts."
"Jelly?"
"Do you eat any other kind?"
"Xander, you may joke about being only good at fetching snacks for the Slayerettes,
but let me tell you: a jelly doughnut at the right moment can just be as life-saving
as a well-placed stake."
"Why, thank you, Giles. Now I'll even let you have one of my chocolate muffins.
They're my Sixth Day of Christmas gift, by the way."
"You're sharing your Christmas goodies with us again?"
"If you'd rather not, I can leave..."
Xander pretended to pick up the doughnuts and muffins again, but when he
made a step in the direction of the door, he found his way blocked by Spike.
"Did you say chocolate muffins, whelp? You're not leaving here with them."
Spike flashed him a smile, showing his fangs for a moment.
"You'd better feed the Big Bad here, Giles, before he starts chewing on the
furniture."
"I'd rather chew on something else."
Spike smiled again.
Xander blushed a deep crimson.
//Muffins! He's talking about muffins! Not me! Why does everything Spike says
to me sound like he means something else?!//
Giles ignored the tension between Spike and Xander.
He put the kettle on for some tea and heated up a mug of blood for the
vampire, falling into an easy chatter with Xander.
Spike sipped on his blood.
At first, he listened to Giles and Xander.
But then he zoned out completely at the sight of Xander eating his
chocolate muffin.
Xander took a bite from the muffin and Spike zeroed in on the dark crumbs
left behind on Xander's upper lip.
He chewed and then a pink tongue darted out quickly.
Spike felt hypnotized - the boy was really a nummy treat.
He wanted to lick away the muffin crumbs, taste the chocolate on
Xander's breath.
He wanted to feel Xander's dark, fuzzy stubble on his own marble-smooth face.
He wanted to kiss him until the mortal ran out of breath.
He wanted to kiss those warm lips, trace their lines with his own.
Those full, pouty, sensuous, delicious lips...
He'd fancied himself a poet when he'd still been alive, but now he
found no fitting words to describe Xander's lips.
Spike almost moaned when Xander brought his hand to his mouth and
licked his fingers clean.
He knew how tasty Xander's fingers were. And he'd always had a thing for
hands - just look at his Sire.
As William, the mortal, he had been instantly attracted to the tall, dark
stranger and being held immobile even while his life was drained had been an
enormous turn-on.
Xander might lack Angelus' strength and ruthlessness, but he had potential
in those large, strong hands.Even his occasional clumsiness Spike found
endearing.
Xander remained oblivious to Spike's reverie. He was wolfing down muffins
and talking to Giles.
When he looked up, he saw that Spike hadn't touched his food.
"What's wrong, Spike?"
Spike had his gaze still glued to Xander's lips and barely noticed that the
boy was talking to him.
"Hm?"
"Something wrong with your muffin, Spike?"
"It's perfectly all right, I just want to...uh...savour the moment."
"Savour away. But you can have another one if you want, you know?"
"No, the muffins are yours, you eat them."
//I'd rather eat *you*. Or watch you eat.//
Spike smiled wolfishly at Xander.
Giles remained convinced that something funny was going on right
under his nose.
He couldn't help but notice the way Spike stared at Xander.
Was it hunger he saw? A normal vampire-stares-at-a-human-meal
gaze?
No, there was no evidence of the hunter in Spike's blue eyes, but rather
a look of longing and wonder - and lust.
Spike was lusting after Xander?
Certainly, Xander was an attractive young man and Spike, as a vampire,
wasn't strictly heterosexual. But knowing Spike, Giles couldn't dismiss a
more sinister motive.
After all, something had happened last night.
Something more than Xander splattering tomato sauce all over his kitchen.
When he'd walked in on them, he could have cut the tension between
them with a knife.
Had Spike made a pass at Xander?
Probably not.
Xander was always so arduously proclaiming he was not *gay* that he
wouldn't be able to act so naturally around Spike if he suspected that the
vampire wanted him.
**********
"Spike, a word with you."
Xander had left for work and Giles wanted to talk to Spike before he
had a chance to sit down for his daily dose of soap operas.
"Where do you think I'm going? Out into the sunshine?"
"I saw you looking at Xander. What are your intentions towards him?"
"Why do you think I have intentions? I was looking, so what?"
"I'm still a Watcher, Spike; I see things."
"For fuck's sake, does everybody know except him?!"
"What exactly do I know?"
"I'm the one who's giving Xander the Christmas gifts and I fancy the
the pants off him. No, I'm in love with him! I'm William the Bloody and
I'm in love! I'm in love with a mortal, a mere child. Isn't it disgusting?
Dru and I used to take boys like him and play with them for a few sweet
days before we drained them. I was the Scourge of Europe and - "
"Half the Scourge of Europe, you mean."
"Whatever. Now, I'm chipped, fangless, neutered and I'm in love!
I woo him with chocolatey gifts and he doesn't even know.
But you know. And the witches know. I'm a pathetic git."
Giles stared at the vampire with astonishment.
He had expected denial from him, or at least a sneering brush-off.
He hadn't expected Spike's declaration of love.
Spike glared at Giles.
"You can gloat now, I'm leaving!" he growled. "But you're not better
off yourself, Watcher!"
Spike pulled his duster up over his head, flung open the door and rushed
outside, disappearing into the sewers in a cloud of smoke.
**********
Spike was in a really rotten mood when he stormed from the house.
His secret plan for Xander, using the "Twelve Days of Christmas" song,
wasn't working. And it wasn't exactly secret anymore.
First, the witches had found out and Willow had dropped by his crypt,
threatening him with a horrible curse if he hurt Xander.
And now he'd been lectured by the Watcher.
By the time it was Christmas, probably all of Sunnydale would know,
except the object of his affection.
And since when did he have objects of affections?
He was a vampire - if he wanted someone, he took them, shagged them,
drained them and threw their bloody corpses away.
He didn't tag after them like a lovesick fool and buy them gifts, he just
shagged them.
Perhaps that's what he needed - a quick shag to get Xander and that
Christmas humbug out of his system.
He didn't care if his shag was male or female, he decided he wouldn't
even be picky about the species.
But he wanted the whelp to see that he didn't care the least bit for him.
He wanted Xander to be there and watch when he seduced someone
else.
Maybe then he'd no longer be tormented by dreams of his warm, biteable
body and his brown puppy-dog eyes.
Spike remembered that Buffy had invited the off-campus members of the
Scooby Gang to a party at Stevenson Hall - and that had included him.
Just the venue he needed.
"I don't love the whelp, I don't need him!"
**********
Xander was the first to arrive at Stevenson. He looked around for Buffy or
Willow, but he only spotted Spike.
The vampire was dressed in black jeans and a red shirt, but without his
customary black t-shirt underneath, showing a lot of pale skin.
Xander tried not to stare.
"Hey, Spike, you're in the mood to party?"
Spike sneered at him.
"Sod off, Harris. Find someone else you can bore. I'm trying to have some
fun here - I can't be seen with a loser like you."
Spike moved on, leaving Xander standing there without waiting for a
reply.
Xander was hurt, a little.
It was not like he and Spike were friends, but he had thought they had
declared truce in the last few weeks.
He hung out with Spike as much as he hung out with Giles.
Problem was, he was way more attracted to Spike than he was to Giles.
Xander knew the vampire hadn't realized that, thank God, but he had
thought Spike had enjoyed the time they spent together.
Xander watched Spike on the prowl.
The vampire stalked the room like a predator and flirted like hell.
Everyone he approached was delighted to flirt back.
But that was as far as it went.
While the students of UC Sunnydale usually turned a blind eye to the things
that went bump in the night, they sometimes could sense when it was better
to stay away.
It was like Spike had a sign around his neck saying 'Danger'.
A short while later Spike was fuming quietly and Xander couldn't help but smile
at his failure.
Spike looked like he was really having fun, Xander thought to himself
Xander saw Spike head for the drinks table before three girls - Willow, Buffy and
Tara - swooped down upon him, diverting his attention from the vampire.
Even without Spike, Xander spent an amusing evening. He didn't have to think
of his job or his non-life. He didn't even have to think about any demons.
It was a normal party, with normal people.
At least until the karaoke started.
The Scoobies retreated to a sofa in the corner and tried to ignore the singing.
Buffy, Willow and Xander were still having nightmares about the Talent show
three years ago and had no ambitions to embarass themselves again.
They suffered through 'My Heart Will Go On', 'We Will Rock You' and 'Waterloo'
and had just decided to leave when they heard a familiar voice starting to
sing.
A familiar British and very drunk voice...
"Love hurts, love scars, love wounds, and mars..." Spike sang loudly.
"This is so *not* happening," Buffy whispered horrified.
"I'm young, I know, but even so. I know a thing or two I learned from you.
I really learned a lot, really learned a lot. Love is like a flame, it burns you when it's
hot. Love hurts... ooh, ooh, love hurts."
The room had gone quiet. Everybody looked at Spike who belted out his lyrics
with a vengeance.
"Can't you do a spell to shut him up, Will?" Xander asked.
"My mind's blank, I can't think of any spell right now."
Willow stared at Spike.
She couldn' t believe what she was seeing - and hearing.
She had talked to Spike about Xander two days ago and she knew he loved Xander.
But she wouldn't have thought his love would make the Big Bad so maudlin and
vulnerable.
"Love is just a lie, made to make you blue. Love hurts... ooh, ooh, love hurts."
"When will he ever stop pining for that crazy, demented ho?" Buffy asked, exasperated.
"Huh?" Willow said.
"You know he only gets like this when he's thinking of his precious Dru."
"Dru? Oh yes, I'm sure he's thinking of Drusilla now!"
"Remind me to never invite Spike to a party again. Or go to a party with
karaoke. I thought Spike plain drunk was annoying, but I stand corrected
- Spike drunk *and* singing karaoke is even more annoying. Help me, Riley,
we have to shut Spike up and get him out if here. And tell your dormmates karaoke
was a bad idea."
**********
When Giles opened his door half an hour later, he was greeted by the sight of
Buffy and Riley supporting Spike between them. Willow, Tara and Xander were
clustered around behind them.
Spike was alternately cursing them and calling them his best mates.
"Buffy, what -"
"Don't ask, Giles, I couldn't deal with it right now. I'm afraid you have to take Spike
for tonight. He would lie unconscious in the open until the sun got him if we left
him alone in his condition. Not that I'd mind, but I was outvoted."
Giles shut his mouth again and just held the door open.
Spike was dumped on the sofa, not too gently.
Buffy strode out, pulling Riley with her, calling, "Good night, Giles" over her
shoulder.
"I'm outta here, too, G-Man," Xander said. "I don't have a life, but that doesn't
mean I have to spend all my time with you and Fangless. Besides, he's been
acting like a moron tonight."
"Whatever he says, don't mind him, Giles," Willow said. "He's just drunk and ...
and ... ehm ... thinking of Drusilla. Good night."
Tara gave him a shy smile and the two witches left arm in arm.
Giles looked down at the vampire on his sofa. Again.
Spike smiled up at him.
"Rupert, mate, old buddy, I have to tell you how absolutely sorry I am. But
you were absolutely right."
"About what?"
"About me and Xander. And I can't fight it. I've tried tonight. Whatever I do, I
always end up with the whelp on my mind. But you know..."
"What, Spike?"
"It takes one to know one. You're hopelessly in love with your Slayer. That's why
you can see how hopelessly in love with Xander I am."
Giles stared at Spike. For a few moments he was too stunned to speak.
"Of course I love her, I'm her Watcher," he finally said.
Spike sat up and suddenly he didn't seem drunk at all. He fixed Giles with an
ice-blue look.
"You can deny it now, Watcher. But not forever."
"Good night, Spike," Giles said coldly and fled from the room.
Spike heard his bedroom door slam and smiled.
"There's no use denying love ..."
Day 7
When Xander woke up, he knew two things - one, it wasn't morning yet,
and two, he was no longer alone in the basement.
It was dark, he couldn't see anything, but he just knew.
Usually, he was able to sleep during thunderstorms and right through
an apocalypse, but now some tiny noise had woken him.
Not a noise exactly, more like a presence.
He considered being afraid.
Or switching on the light.
But he decided not to.
After all, it couldn't be a vampire - only Spike had an invitation to
the house.
And the other Scoobies wouldn't creep around in the dark if they needed
him for an emergency.
Which left his mysterious blonde girl bringing him another present.
Xander tried not to breathe and just listened.
He heard a slight sound from the kitchenette, like a small object being dropped.
He thought he could smell stale cigarette smoke, but that was probabably
just his own clothes which he'd put beside the bed.
Xander's heartbeat thundered in his ears. Surely it was loud enough for his
visitor to hear.
He lay completely motionless, still listening.
He heard the soft rustling of clothes, then his door was opened, letting in the
soft light of an early morning.
A slim figure darted outside quickly, too quickly for Xander to make out
anything.
Xander released the breath he'd been holding and relaxed.
Now he could go back to sleep, even though he was dying to find out about his
seventh day of Christmas present.
But this only made the whole thing so much more fun...
**********
Buffy had left Riley's dorm while it was still dark and was doing a quick round, hoping
to dust a few vamps who were late in returning to their daytime lairs.
She was passing Xander's place when she saw someone coming up the basement steps.
Her Slayer sense told her it was a vampire even before she recognized Spike.
Spike?
What was Spike doing here?
She'd thought she'd seen the last of him for the night when she'd left him with Giles
a few hours ago.
Buffy was upon him in a second, grabbing him by the collar of his duster and slamming
him against the side of the house.
"Hey! Back off, Slayer! That hurt!" Spike cried, making no move to defend himself.
"And it will hurt even more if you don't tell me what you're doing here!" Buffy snapped.
"What did you do with Xander?"
Spike opened his mouth to fob her off with his usual lies. But then he closed it again.
Buffy could see his emotions clearly on his face.
"I'm in love with him," Spike simply said.
Buffy dropped him, her own mouth hanging open now.
"That's a joke. You're playing your little headgames again, aren't you? You think
Xander's the easiest target. Did you tell him you loved him?"
Spike kept lying at Buffy's feet.
"Don't tell him. Please. I'm begging, Slayer. And you know I don't do begging."
"You're serious!"
Buffy stared down at him.
"Yup, it's True Love, the Real Thing, the Big One. I'm in love with a mortal, just like
my bloody Sire. Ask Giles, ask the witches."
Buffy offered him a hand up.
"I'm going to believe you, Spike. For the moment. But if you hurt Xander, you're
dust. And now you should get your undead behind home before the sun fries you."
She turned abruptly and huried away.
Spike brushed himself off. He threw a searching look at the sky and then started on
his way back to Giles'.
"Bugger. I think I owe you, Slayer."
**********
It was after work and Xander was on his way to Giles' place once more.
Even though he'd spent the last few hours making burger after burger, he had a
spring in his step - and Daffy Duck in his pocket.
When he'd woken up again this morning he had found seven Looney Tunes magnets
on his fridge: Daffy Duck, Taz, Sylvester, Elmer, Droopy, Wile E. Coyote and Marvin
the Martian
With Bugs Bunny and Tweety which he'd already owned, this completed his collection.
He'd tried to collect them, but he'd given up when he couldn't stand the sight of
Rice Krispies anymore; so whoever had given him the fridge magnets must positively
be drowning in the stuff.
Xander expected to meet Spike at Giles and he couldn't decide if this was a good
thing or not; he still remembered Spike's behaviour the night before.
Trying to become friends with the vampire was like trying to tame a wild animal - Spike
could be perfectly amiable one minute and become vicious the next.
Xander enjoyed fooling around with Spike and had started to really like him, but the
closer they got, the more Xander expected to get hurt.
Xander knocked on Giles' door and, when no one answered his knock, he let himself in.
Spike had just come out of the kitchen, with a mug of blood in his hand.
"Hey, whelp, what's up?" he asked.
"Not much," Xander answered tentatively.
"Not another one of those college parties?"
"Nope." Xander was still in Oz-mode.
"College parties, they suck. Just look at last night: I got pissed and then I started to
sing. And I've probably been rude to everybody and I don't even have the satisfaction
of remembering it."
"Nah, you weren't rude. But you did annoy Buffy with your singing."
"Oh, goody!" Spike smirked.
Xander smiled back almost involuntarily. Didn't Spike remember the party or was he
just trying to apologize in his own way?
Spike took a sip of blood, slipping into vamp-face automatically.
"You're using his 'Kiss The Librarian' mug again. Giles is going to stake you!"
"Then I'll just 'kiss the librarian'. Giles will get so flustered, he'll forget to stake me."
"I've always wanted to know where he got that mug ..."
"Come on, I'm watching telly."
"Not another 'Passions' rerun, please."
Xander followed Spike to the living room and discovered it was not 'Passions'.
He saw two guys on a rooftop, doing the 'King of the World' scene from 'Titanic'.
"What exactly are we watching, Spike?"
"It's 'Queer as Folk', a British series."
"That explains why these guys sound as incomprehensible as you and Giles. Is it
good?"
"Weeeeell ... it's about these two blokes, Stuart and Vince, who've been best friends
for 15 years. Vince has a major crush on Stuart even though he's a bit of a bastard.
Do sit down, you have to watch this."
Xander sat down, wanting to humour Spike for a few minutes. After all - how could
two gay guys be of interest to him? He wasn't gay.
But to his own astonishment, he was unable to stop watching and found himself
rooting for Vince.
When Vince dumped his boring accountant boyfriend and decided to give it another
try with Stuart, Xander had a grin on his face.
They met at their favourite club and their favourite song started to play.
Vince just looked at Stuart and dared him to dance. They raced each other across
the room and jumped up on a stage, dancing together like no one else existed in the
whole world.
'It's Raining Men' made Xander want to jump up and dance, too. He just loved
happy endings and somehow it didn't matter that it was two gay guys having that happy
ending.
"Like it, Pet?" Spike asked.
"I didn't understand a word of what you Brits are calling English. But it was better
than 'Passions'."
"Giles taped a few episodes of 'Passions' for me; I'm going to watch them later."
"Why don't you go to the Bronze with us? The whole Gang will be there - Buffy and
Riley, Willow and Tara and me. Just like old times, when we still went to Sunnydale
High and you tried to kill us."
"Good old Bronze. I've picked up a few tasty midnight snacks there."
"TMI, Spike!"
"Sorry, Pet."
"So, are you coming or not?"
"Sure, it's not like I have anything better to do."
**********
Even the Bronze was decorated for Christmas. Endless strings of coloured lights
and glittering snowflakes everywhere transformed the usually spartan-looking club
into a festive fairytale.
Business was slow tonight. Instead of a live band playing, a DJ was putting on
everyone's favourite songs.
As promised, the whole Scooby Gang had shown up, even Buffy and Riley, who had
postponed their patrol to a later date.
They were on the dance floor now, clinging to each other for a slow dance, while Xander
sat at a table with Willow and Tara.
Tara was a nice girl and, in his opinion, good for Wills, but she was painfully shy.
He tried to draw her out and listened attentively to her describing a spell she had done
with Willow and Giles.
Suddenly, Tara's gaze drifted from his face towards the door and she stopped talking.
Willow looked, too.
"Spike's here," she said.
"Yeah, I told him he could come."
Xander didn't turn around. He had known the vampire would show up; Spike would
come over to them sooner or later.
"He's talking to the DJ," Willow said, still looking over Xander's shoulder.
"I don't think Spike will have any luck in persuading him to play the Sex Pistols."
But the music that came on wasn't by the Sex Pistols ...
### touch my skin and tell me what you're thinking / take my hand and show me where
we're going / lie down next to me, look into my eyes and tell me, tell me what you're
seeing ###
Now, Xander turned around.
### so sit on top of the world and tell me how you're feeling / what you feel is what I feel
for you / take my hand and if I'm lying to you, I'll always be alone if I'm lying to you ###
'I'll always be alone, if I'm lying to you?' Xander thought. 'Can he mean ...?"
Xander looked at Spike.
Willow, Tara, Buffy, Riley and all the other people seemed to disappear; there was only
Spike, smiling that infuriatingly sexy smile, looking at him, trying to tell him ...
### see my eyes, they carry your reflection / watch my lips and hear the words I'm
telling you / give your trust to me and look into my heart and show me, show me what
you're doing ###
Spike moved slowly across the dance floor, with the controlled grace of a panther,
his duster swirling behind him, still holding Xander's gaze with own.
Xander tried to look away, but couldn't.
Spike came closer.
Xander's heartbeat sped up.
"I can't believe it! He's going to 'Vince' me!"
### what you feel is what I feel for you ###
Spike had reached Xander's table, still smiling, and Xander couldn't decide if what
he saw in Spike's eyes was true or not.
Spike shrugged out of his duster and handed it to Willow, without taking his eyes
from Xander's.
"I dare you," he said.
Xander knew exactly what he meant - Spike wanted him to go where only the brave
or the foolish would go, where Stuart and Vince had gone before.
### take my hand and if I'm lying to you, I'll always be alone if I'm lying to you ###
Xander knew that everybody was watching his every move and that he was going to
make a fool of himself if he accepted Spike's dare.
But then he decided that he didn't care.
He stood up and flashed Spike a smile that was pure recklessness.
They sprinted across the Bronze side by side and jumped up onto the stage and
let rip.
### feel the sun on your face and tell me what you're thinking / catch the snow on
your tongue and show me how it tastes ###
Xander was dancing, in a universe that had shrunk to the size of the stage and contained
only two people, and Spike was so close, bumping into Xander, moving away again,
a blur of black clothes, blond hair and pale skin.
His intense blue eyes never looked away from Xander's brown ones.
### take your time and if I'm lying to you / I know you'll find that you believe me /
take my hand and if I'm lying to you, I'll always be alone if I'm lying to you ###
Xander could see Spike mouthing the lyrics of the song, even if he couldn't
hear him:
"I'll always be alone if I'm lying to you ..."
**********
"Willow, you're drooling."
Tara looked at her girlfriend who was holding Spike's duster and watching he and
Xander dance together.
Willow closed her mouth and looked at Tara.
"So are you!"
"Ehm, yes. But wasn't he absolutely droolworthy?"
"I'm finally starting to believe that Spike's plan to win Xander is going to go
somewhere."
DAY 8
Xander had been making burgers for so long that
he didn't notice that it
wasn't beef anymore which he put on the buns but
real frogs.
O'Dermott's was full to bursting with all kinds
of customers - some of
them even were quite ugly demons - waiting to be
fed.
Xander couldn't stop for a break, he just worked
on.
"I'm looking for a massage," a female voice
suddenly purred. "Do you
have those on the menu?"
Xander looked up and before him stood Erika
Eleniak, wearing only a
skimpy red bathing suit.
"Sure. They're my speciality," he said.
He put aside his spatula and grabbed a bottle of
ketchup.
Suddenly, he was standing beside a large
swimming pool. The bottle of
ketchup had transformed into a bottle of suntan
lotion and Erika lay before
him on a lounger, waiting for her massage.
Xander put some lotion on her back and started
to rub it into her
skin slowly.
'Oh, boy, I'm giving a massage to Erika
Eleniak!' he thought, thoroughly
enjoying the feeling of smooth, warm skin under
his fingers.
He closed his eyes.
Suddenly the skin felt cool, though it stayed
smooth.
Xander opened his eyes again.
He was at home in his basement, kneeling on his
bed and the blond he
was massaging was of the male and undead
variety.
"Spike!"
Xander tore his hands away as if he'd been
burned.
Spike turned around to Xander, a lazy, contented
smile on his face.
"Why are you stopping, Pet? This is nice."
"Spike, what are you doing here?"
"Don't ask me, this is your dream."
It was his dream, but Xander had no idea how
Spike had ended up
in Erika Eleniak's place.
On the other hand - who was he to question his
subconscious?
Xander reached out again, hesitating a little
now.
Spike felt cool, but it was a kinda nice cool,
not a corpse-like cool.
Like Xander imagined living marble would feel.
Gently, he kneaded Spike's shoulders until he
felt hard muscles relax.
Xander's hands traveled all over Spike's back in
long, slow strokes,
the massage turning almost into a caress.
When he felt a slight vibration under his
fingertips and heard a low
rumbling from Spike's throat, he almost laughed
aloud.
The purring sounds Spike made sounded exactly
like Miss Kitty Fantastico
when he petted her.
Xander wondered if this was a dream thing, or
would Spike really purr?
He'd probably never find out; the chances of
giving Spike a massage
in real life were as remote as if Spike had been
Erika Eleniak.
Suddenly, the dream changed once more: Xander
felt warm skin again
- and woke up.
He was confused for a moment.
He was lying at home in his bed, Erika Eleniak
and Spike were gone, but
he was still feeling somebody.
He felt warm breasts pressed against his back
and a warm hand was
stroking his chest and moving south into his
boxers.
"Whoa!"
Xander jumped out of bed.
The breasts and the groping hand belonged to
Anya who was completely
naked and looking up at Xander with an
expression of hurt and
bewilderment.
Xander grabbed a t-shirt and a pair of jeans off
the floor and
dressed hastily.
"Anya, what are you doing here?"
"I want to be your girlfriend again. I've missed
having sex with you.
Xander, why are you dressing? You're only going
to have to undress
again."
"I'm not going to undress, Anya, because I'm not
going to have sex
with you."
Xander handed her her clothes.
Anya stood up from the bed and moved closer.
"How can you say 'no' to me? You're an
adolescent human male with
raging hormones and I'm an attractive and
available female, so why
don't you want to have sex?"
"I told you I want more from a relationship than
sex and that hasn't
changed. But we're still friends, Anya."
The ex-vengeance demon glared at Xander.
"Why don't you come to Giles' Christmas party
tomorrow evening?"
Xander suggested. "We all want you to come;
you're still a part of
the Scooby Gang."
"Of course I'll come to the party, I wouldn't
want to miss it," Anya
said as she stormed out. "And you're so going to
regret having invited
me, Xander Harris," she muttered under her
breath. "Someone is
going to pay."
Xander felt depressed and exhausted even though
he had barely
gotten up.
He needed some comfort food. Now.
Then he spotted a huge Christmas parcel on his
table.
It should have cheered him up, but it didn't.
Xander had thought that Anya was history and had
looked forward
to meeting the Mystery Girl at Christmas, but
now he was sure
that he hadn't seen the last of Anya.
And then there was Spike.
Spike, the Big Bad, big pain in the ass, kinda
cute, more than cute,
more
like sexy as hell, and now he was even invading
Xander's dreams.
Xander was sure he wasn't falling in love with
Spike, but he did have
feelings for Spike, strange feelings he didn't
dare to name.
What did you call it when you were attracted to
a vampire, when you
had feelings for another guy, but weren't gay?
Usually, Xander was good at denial, but
recently, with him being in
Spike's
company all the time, denial hadn't worked.
Spike was always flirting with everybody, except
Buffy and Farm Boy,
so Xander couldn't be sure if his behaviour had
been normal flirtation or
more.
But when they'd danced together at the Bronze
last night, Xander had
felt that Spike really cared for him.
Xander shouldn't think about Spike caring for
him or not, he was supposed
to think about a blond girl, who was
normal and non-demon-y
and alive instead
of undead , who knew him so well, who gave him
these great presents
every day,
who had given him hope for a Christmas that he
didn't have to spend
alone and
outdoors in his sleeping bag, with just his
comic books for company.
Xander knew he had to sort out his feelings
before Christmas, but
whatever they were,
deep down he was convinced he was going to fuck
up with Spike or Mystery
Girl, just
as he had fucked up with Anya.
He decided to unwrap his eighth day of Christmas
present nevertheless.
He tore the
wrapping off carefully and took the lid off of
the gift box.
Normally, its contents would have made him dance
a happy dance - they
were a
peanut butter fan's dream come true: the box
contained a jar of creamy peanut
butter, a jar of the crunchy variety, a jar of
Goober Grape, some
Reece's Pieces,
some Reece's Peanut Butter Cups, some Peanut
Butter M&M's, Nutter Butters
and a container of melting peanut
butter-cookiedough-chocolate ice cream
called
- Xander couldn't believe his eyes - Scooby
Snacks.
He opened a jar, dipped a finger in and tasted
creamy goodness. It also
reminded him of Spike licking the blood off his
finger three days ago.
Spike thoughts again; Xander couldn't escape
them whatever
he did.
At that moment, the phone rang.
Xander considered bouncing it off the wall.
He didn't want to talk to anybody and he didn't
want to know about
another emergency or another research session,
not even about the end
of the world.
But smashing the phone was something Xander
Harris wouldn't do.
That was something Spike would do.
"Xander Harris, demon magnet," he snapped.
"Xander? It's me, Willow. You sound strange."
"I just threw Anya out of my bed. She wants to
get back together again.
Not because she misses me, but because she
misses the sex. And that's only
part of my problems."
Long silence.
"Hang on, I'm on my way."
When Willow arrived Xander was stuffing himself
with Nutter Butters,
surrounded by heaps of peanut buttery stuff.
"Xander, what happened? You were in such a great
mood when you left
the Bronze last night. You and Spike were really
having fun doing that
dance thing."
"Yeah, Spike's Fun Guy."
"I thought he'd be sleeping with you."
"I am *not* sleeping with Spike!"
"Uh, that's not what I meant. I mean, I thought
he'd spend the night here,
sleeping in his chair."
"That's *still* my chair!"
Willow realized she'd said something wrong, but
didn't quite know what.
Xander relented when he saw her face; he hadn't
meant to take his
frustrations out on his best friend.
"Will, I'm sorry. I'm not mad at you, I'm mad at
myself. I'm grateful you're
here." He looked at her with that puppy-dog
expression she'd never been
able to resist. Not since he'd apologized for
taking her Barbie when they
were five.
"Tell me, I'm listening," she simply said.
"I'm so bad at this whole relationship thing.
The longest relationship I've
ever had was with Anya and that was based on
sex. What does that say
about me?" Xander moaned.
"You just haven't met the right person," Willow
assured him.
"I'm afraid of being alone and I'm afraid of
being with someone. I want
someone I can be myself with, who knows the real
Xander and loves me
anyway. I've been so excited about Mystery
Girl's "Twelve Days of Christmas"
presents, but I've just figured out that there
might be someone else
I'm starting
to like. A little. Probably."
"I guess Mystery Girl will have to accept that.
You can't help falling
for
someone else. You want to tell me about the
'someone else'?" Willow
suspected - and hoped - she knew who Xander was
talking about, but
she wanted to know if he would admit it.
"There's nothing to tell yet."
"What about Spike?"
"I'm *not* falling for Spike!"
This was getting interesting. Willow had
mentioned Spike casually and
Xander was automatically denying everything and
anything.
"Well, whatever you want to call the
not-falling, you're doing it," she
said
gently.
Xander looked defeated and Willow almost felt
sorry for dragging his
feelings out in the open.
"Do you really think so, Will?" he asked.
She just nodded.
"What was it like when you fell in love with
Tara, when you realized you
had feelings for another girl? Not that I'm gay!
You're not gay when
it's just *one* guy you have the hots for,
right?"
Willow smiled. He might have owned up to being
attracted to Spike, but
he was still the same old Xander
'Denial-Is-My-Middle-Name' Harris.
"With Tara I didn't feel like 'Oh, she's a girl,
I'm going to be a
lesbian now.'
I just felt like Tara was the right person for
me to be with."
"Do you think Spike's my right person? Sometimes
I think he could be, but
then I'm afraid he's just pushing my buttons."
"The song last night was practically a
declaration of love, Xander.
'I'll always
be alone if I'm lying to you ... What you feel
is what I feel for you ...'."
Xander sighed. "That's why you're my best
friend, Willow, you're always
right. I think I know what I'll do. I'll have a
talk with Spike after
I've met
Mystery Girl at Christmas and told her that as
much as I've loved
getting
her gifts, I'm falling in love with someone
else. Thanks, but no thanks.
There, I've said it: I'm falling in love with
Spike!"
**********
Xander arrived late for work and wasn't really
able to concentrate all day.
He'd talked his problems through with Willow,
but he kept thinking about
Spike.
Now that he'd faced his feelings, he wondered
how he'd react when he
met Spike again.
There was the possibility of avoiding the
vampire by not going to Giles'
after work today. But the thought of not seeing
Spike was worse than
seeing Spike and making a fool of himself.
When Xander arrived at Giles', most of the Gang
was there.
Giles had his head in a book and was doggedly
ignoring Willow and Tara,
who had commandeered the use of his kitchen to
bake some cookies for
the upcoming Christmas party. Spike had somehow
been blackmailed into
helping the witches, wearing a very un-Big
Bad-ish apron.
Spike threw a desperate look at Xander that was
plainly a plea for help.
Xander just shrugged. If Willow put on her
'resolve' face and decided
to do something, nothing could stop her, not a
Watcher fearing for his
kitchen, not even a rude vampire.
Spike rolled his eyes - 'Ta very much, mate!' -
, then grabbed a few
freshly-baked cookies and dashed out of the
kitchen.
"Here, you have to try them!" He shoved the
cookies into Xander's hands,
tearing off his apron and diving unto the couch
for cover.
"What's the what, G-Man?" Xander asked, sitting
down beside Spike,
eating the cookies.
For once, Giles didn't object to being called
'G-Man' and gave Xander
a look of patient suffering.
"I'm waiting for Buffy to come back from patrol
and tell me she needs
some help with the slaying. I'm quite in the
mood for getting out of the
house and killing something."
"You're not the only one, mate," Spike growled.
"I need a big, ugly
demon I can turn into bloody mush. If I have to
look at another cookie
tonight, I'll scream!"
Xander tried very hard not to laugh at the
picture of Spike screaming
hysterically. He turned his laughter into an
unconvincing cough and said
the first thing that came into his mind.
"Guess what I got as a gift today?"
"No idea, Pet." Spike appeared unconcerned.
Giles stopped pretending to read his book and
listened in on Spike and
Xander.
"Eight different peanut buttery things! I love
peanut butter." Xander smiled
dreamily.
"Peanut butter, big deal. I don't get why you
Americans are so addicted
to peanut butter." Spike still sounded bored.
"You're just not familiar with the intricacies
of peanut butter appreciation,
Mr. 'I'm-British-and-I-eat-custard'," Xander
challenged the vampire.
"Hey, Watcher, did you hear what the whelp just
said about custard? He
compared it to peanut butter!" Spike appealed to
his fellow Brit.
"Custard? Oh, I miss custard." Now it was Giles'
turn to smile dreamily.
"You're hopeless, both of you," Xander sighed.
"Come on, Bleach-Boy,
I'm going to do something about your
education."
"Really?" Spike smirked and raised an eyebrow
suggestively at Xander.
'Ack! Bad Xander, bad thoughts!'
"We're going to do a crash course in peanut
butter appreciation," Xander
said, coloring slightly.
"Oh, okay. That is, if you can spare us,
Watcher," Spike said.
"By all means, go with Xander. I'll call you
when something comes up
that doesn't involve slaying cookies," Giles
said, looking partly relieved,
partly envious.
"Let's go."
Xander waved a quick goodbye at the witches and
left with Spike in tow.
Willow came out of the kitchen, sharing a
conspiratorial look with
Giles.
"This is shaping up nicely. But I wonder when
Spike's going to make a
move," she said.
"I believe Spike is usually more straightforward
than this. But I also
believe he's going to see the whole "Twelve Days
of Christmas" scenario
through and take his time - because he really
cares about Xander."
"He'd better care about Xander! Because if he
hurts him he's going to
have to answer to all of us. I really hope it
will work out. Xander's been
so depressed about the bad luck he's had in his
relationships with
women."
"Perhaps he's just been waiting for the right
*man*," Giles said.
"Giles!" Willow swatted him playfully. "Now that
Spike is gone, we
could use some help in the kitchen. I'm sure you
look cute in an
apron ..."
The walk home from Giles felt like ages to
Xander. It felt like being
on a date - except he couldn't be sure that this
was a date.
'This is just Spike,' he tried to reassure
himself. 'Okay, a Spike I have
the hots for, but still just Spike.'
Xander kept on babbling, not sure if he was
making any sense.
Spike was walking beside him, not really
listening. Not that it mattered,
since it apparently wasn't expected of him to
hold up his part of the
conversation.
He was watching Xander and trying to hide his
amusement at the
human's nervousness. If the constant babbling
hadn't given Xander
away, his smell surely would have. It was the
smell of prey ready
to bolt.
Spike didn't want Xander to bolt, but he thought
it was a good sign.
He'd seen Xander like this before - when he was
bumbling around
a girl he had a crush on.
Spike tried to deny it to himself, but he felt
hope stirring in his undead
heart, hope that Xander would make up his mind
about his feelings
by Christmas. If only he knew
that Spike
was the one who'd given
him the presents. He somehow seemed to think
he'd gotten them from
a blond girl.
He tried to steer the conversation around to
Mystery Girl as soon as
they'd reached Xander's basement.
"You know, whelp, you seem really keen on that
blond bird you're
meeting at Christmas. You wear her t-shirt all
the time and now you're
almost getting a hard-on about that peanut
butter stuff. So, tell me,
is it
'True Love'?" he asked.
Xander tried to keep the disturbing pictures
Spike had conjured up with
the mention of 'hard-on'
out of his head.
"They say the easiest way to a man's heart is
through his stomach, but I'm
not going to fall for someone because of peanut
butter or muffins. It'd be
just like with Anya. Our relationship was only
about sex, but I want
something more, you know?" he said.
'I'm talking about relationships and sex with
Spike. How weird is that?'
he thought.
"I could've told you the demon bitch isn't right
for you. What can you
expect from a girl who's spent the last eleven
hundred years torturing
men? Her motto is still 'Men are evil',"
Spike said
'Spike's even making sense to me. Definitely
weird.'
"Let's get to the important things. You're here
for your initiation into
peanut butter. We're going to start with Nutter
Butters. They're still
cookies, no big deal."
Xander looked at Spike expectantly while the
vampire took a bite.
"Taste's okay," Spike said. "I'm thinking they'd
taste great dipped
into blood."
"You're a barbarian, Spike. You *can't* mix
peanut butter and blood."
"How boring. What else have you got?"
Xander gave Spike some M&M's and some Reece's
Cups and Reece's Pieces,
which still didn't
convince him of the superior
taste of peanut butter.
"I think you're ready for the real stuff: creamy
peanut butter, pure and
undiluted, without any chocolate or cookie."
Xander dipped his finger into the jar of peanut
butter. "And only wusses
eat peanut butter with a spoon or on bread."
Spike watched Xander lick the peanut butter off
his finger.
"You're supposed to eat it out of the jar with
your hands?"
Xander nodded.
"I think your peanut butter has potential, Pet."
A slow grin came over
Spike's face.
He took the peanut butter jar from Xander, put
it back on the table
and took Xander's hand. Still grinning, he
slowly brought it up to his
mouth.
Xander suddenly found it hard to
breathe. He felt hypnotized by Spike's
blue eyes.
Then he snatched his
hand away.
"No finger sucking, Spike!" he cried,
trying to ignore
the disappointed look on Spike's face.
On impulse, he smeared
the peanut butter he
still had on his finger
on to Spike's nose.
"What are you doing, Pet?" the vampire asked
quietly, not even attempting
to wipe the peanut butter off.
'What *am* I doing?' Xander thought. 'This is a
waste of perfectly good
peanut butter.'
Before he could react, Spike had grabbed the
peanut butter and deposited
a huge dollop on Xander's nose.
Xander wiped it off.
"So you think you can beat Xander Harris at
peanut butter? Watch this!"
Xander opened the jar of crunchy peanut butter,
took out a handful and
smeared it into Spike's hair.
Spike just stood there, speechless at the
mortal's audacity.
"This means war, Pet!"
Spike pinned Xander to the fridge and also used
peanut butter to re-style
his hair.
Xander ducked away, pelting the vampire with
M&M's until he reached
the cover of his bed.
Spike shot back with Reece's Pieces, advancing
and keeping Xander
behind the bed.
Soon, Xander ran out of ammunition. He threw his
pillow at Spike and
made a run for the kitchenette. He managed to
take hold of a peanut butter
jar before Spike tackled him.
Despite the vampire's supernatural strength,
Xander refused to be beaten.
He flipped them over and started to apply peanut
butter to Spike's face.
Spike growled, twisting away, trying not to set
the chip off by using force
against the human.
They were rolling around on the floor, getting
peanut butter all over the
basement until Spike was laughing so hard he
couldn't make a move to
defend himself anymore.
They came to a stop with Spike laughing
hysterically, Xander on top of him,
both covered in peanut butter.
"I surrender, Pet, I surrender!" he gasped.
"You've beaten me."
"I'm the peanut butter champion! Of course I've
beaten you!"
Xander looked down at him triumphantly.
"I'll recommend peanut butter as hair gel to the
Poof when I see him the
next time. I didn't know you could do *that*
with peanut butter."
Xander thought how cute Spike looked even with
peanut butter on his
face and in his hair. And suddenly he noticed he
was still lying on top of
him. He could clearly feel Spike's hard muscles
and coolness through their
clothes, so different from a human's warmth and
a woman's softness, but
eerily like the dream he'd had about the
vampire.
Xander wanted to stay like this.
He wanted to get up and hide.
He wanted...
He didn't know what he wanted.
His feelings for Spike might be clear to him
now, but he didn't know how
to act upon them.
Spike saw the confusion on Xander's face. He'd
almost expected the mortal
to lean down and kiss him in the heat of the
moment, but now he could see
that Xander wasn't ready for that yet. He knew
Xander would pull away from
him any moment.
"A human blanket, I could get used to this," he
joked.
"In your dreams!"
Xander rolled off him, got to his feet and gave
Spike a hand up.
"We've used up all the peanut butter, but I've
still got some peanut butter
-cookiedough-chocolate ice cream left. How about
it?" he asked.
"This is the least you can do after you've
completely demolished my
dignity," Spike said.
And Xander went to get the ice cream.
DAY 9
Xander was home from work early and on his way
to Giles' once more.
He'd promised Willow he'd help with some
last-minute decorations for the
Christmas party and he carried a box of
tinsel and some candles.
The party had been Willow's idea. She thought
the whole Scooby Gang
should get together before they parted ways for
the holidays.
Buffy planned to celebrate with her mom and then
go off to Iowa with
Riley for a few days.
Giles intended to fly home to England to see his
family and probably
Olivia.
Willow and Tara would spend their first
Christmas together and planned
to stay at home and celebrate quietly.
Anya would ... well, it wasn't Xander's business
anymore what Anya did.
Xander himself had a date with Mystery Girl.
And Spike ... Xander had no idea what vampires
did at Christmas.
Spike had been bribed into keeping an eye on
things for as long
as Buffy
was out of town.
Plus, he'd promised to show up at the Christmas
party, spreading good
cheer, even though he'd growled at Willow when
she'd invited him.
When Xander arrived, Willow was carrying all
kinds of food from the
kitchen to the table and looked
gorgeous in a figure-hugging
green velvet dress.
Tara was dressed in a dark blue dress that
was a twin to Willow's.
She was putting
finishing touches on
a miniature Christmas tree.
Giles had gone into hiding behind a book again
and looked relieved
when Xander showed up.
The Watcher had shed his usual jeans and
oversized sweater and wore
an elegant light brown jacket over a
chocolate-coloured shirt. He already
wore the witches' present - a red tie with
festive snowmen.
Spike was dressed in black as usual, only his
jeans looked slightly
cleaner. He kept getting into Willow's way,
trying to pinch some
food from the tray
she was carrying.
"Great, you're here, Xander. Now we
can finish decorating
the tree,"
Willow said, fending off Spike.
Tara just smiled at Xander shyly and took the
box from him.
"I brought the tinseliest tinsel I could find,"
he said.
"And I see you're also dressed for the
occasion," Giles said.
"Yeah, whelp, where did you get that
jumper?"
Spike asked and
sauntered over to him.
Xander wore a dark green hand-knit
sweater which was decorated
with a reindeer head. When he'd bought it he'd
thought it would make
him look and feel more Christmasy,
just the thing to wear
for a
Christmas party, but he'd not expected Spike to
like it since the Big
Bad usually ridiculed his fashion choices.
"You like it?" he asked.
"Not many blokes can wear a jumper like that and
still look
cute," Spike said.
"You think I'm cute?"
"'Course I think you're cute, luv. I
still think you're a nummy treat."
Spike gave Xander a flirtatious grin.
Xander coloured slightly. He was almost getting
used to Spike flirting
with him in private, but this was a public
Christmas party.
Okay, so Willow knew about his feelings for
Spike and so did Tara
probably. But Xander doubted if Giles would
approve and Buffy
surely would stake Spike.
On cue, Buffy bounced in, followed
by Riley who was
weighted down
with the stuff Buffy was bringing for the party.
"Hey, everybody, Merry Christmas!"
Buffy hugged Willow as if she hadn't seen her in
ages.
She briefly hugged Tara.
She almost hugged Spike, but pulled back at the
last moment and
they both kind of nodded to each other.
The Slayer and the vampire had declared a truce
over Christmas
and over Xander.
Buffy hugged Xander, smiling and saying
how much she liked his sweater.
With Giles, there was a bit of an awkward
moment. Buffy wasn't
sure if she should hug him and Giles was being
Giles, keeping his
distance rather than touching any of them.
But then the Watcher gave Buffy one of his rare
warm smiles and
she smiled back at him before hugging him
enthusiastically.
"Merry Christmas, Giles!"
She looked him over, still smiling.
"Why, Mr. Giles, aren't we elegant today. You
should dress like
this more often."
"Oh, I'm sure the vampires would like it better
to be dusted if I
had a silk shirt on instead of an old
sweater," he deadpanned.
"No, but I'd like it better if my Watcher was
always dressed like
this. I'd keep the nasty vampire dust away from
you," Buffy
pouted.
"You're looking quite elegant yourself."
Buffy had her hair up and wore a long
sky-blue dress that was
tight but flared out at the hips.
"This is Riley's present. I'm wearing it now
cause I won't be
able to wear it when we're in Iowa on his
parents' farm."
Riley was just standing there, smiling, looking
happy at the prospect
of having Buffy to himself for a few days.
Xander took pity on him and drew the soldier
into a conversation,
but stopped talking when Anya breezed in. The
ex-vengeance
demon managed to upstage Buffy's dress by
wearing a tiny black
top that left nothing to the imagination - at
least this was Xander's
opinion, who could tell - and the shortest skirt
he'd ever seen.
It was almost like she was saying 'This is what
you're not going
to get anymore'.
Xander didn't care, he'd wanted to end their
relationship and now
he'd stick to it.
He didn't notice that Spike was watching his
every reaction to
Anya carefully.
He also didn't notice the vampire's smile when
he didn't react
**********
The party went well.
Everybody had eaten too much and felt slightly
sick in that good
way you only felt at holidays.
The squabbles between Spike and the Scoobies
over the Christmas
music had been minor and Giles had stepped in
and put Bing Crosby's
'White Christmas' on. Then both
parties had groaned and admitted
defeat.
All the demons of the Hellmouth were very far
away. Nothing had
disturbed the festivities so far, for once no
apocalypse
threatened.
Now, Xander stood by himself. He was
watching Buffy and Giles.
He remembered why he'd had such a crush on her,
she looked her
best tonight in her blue dress.
Giles stood close to her, smiling about
something she was telling him.
The Watcher looked younger and relaxed. Mostly
he retreated
behind his role of her mentor, but now he had
allowed her to draw
him out.
"Hey, Pet," a familiar voice suddenly said close
to his ear.
Xander jumped a little; he hadn't heard the
vampire approach him.
"Nice party, but a bit boring, don't you think?"
Spike drawled.
"Spike, if you're thinking of doing something to
dis-" Xander said.
"Who said something about *disturbing*? I'd like
to take up an
old, time-honoured Christmas tradition," Spike
said.
Xander looked at him,
nonplused.
"Just look what's up there."
Spike pointed up at the ceiling.
Xander looked up - at a twig of mistletoe that
hung there.
"It's traditional for two people to
kiss if they're standing
under mistletoe," Spike said with a grin.
"You must be joking!"
"As I said, it's traditional."
"I'm not going to kiss you, Spike!"
Xander actually *wanted* to kiss Spike, but not
because it was a
Christmas tradition.
Spike moved even closer to him.
"Just a kiss, Pet. I won't bite," he said.
'Does he really mean it?' Xander thought, his
pulse speeding up.
Spike`s face came closer and closer.
Xander couldn't
read the
expression in his hypnotic
blue eyes, but he
saw Spike's huge grin.
'I'm not going to kiss him here in front of
everybody! He won't kiss me!
He can't! He's just trying to find out how far
he can take this. Or not...'
Xander's eyes fluttered shut.
But suddenly Spike was gone.
Xander opened his eyes again.
Spike had stepped away from him and was yelling
across the room.
"Hey, Red, come here and rescue me!"
Willow came over to them, Tara in tow.
"Rescue you? From what?"
Spike smirked.
"From having to kiss the whelp. We're standing
right beneath the mistletoe."
Before Willow could even protest, Spike had
swept her into his arms,
kissing her long and hard.
When he released her, she was red in the face
and looked around
slightly dazed.
Tara stared in shock at her girlfriend.
"Willow, you okay?"
" 'Course she is, I just kissed her. Let
me show you."
Spike grabbed Tara, kissing the blonde witch as
soundly as he had kissed Willow.
Tara staggered, looking at the vampire with big
eyes.
"Great kiss, luv," Spike said and winked at her.
"I`m really beginning to enjoy this lttle
party."
He sauntered off towards the kitchen, leaving
three dumbfounded humans behind him.
* * * * *
Riley left Giles' bathroom and found himself
face to face with
Buffy.
"Hey, did you miss me?"
"Riley, I need to have sex with you right now,"
Buffy said.
"Now? Do you think this is a good idea?" Riley
protested
weakly.
It wasn't like Buffy to come on to him like
this, but she
silenced his protests by pressing her body
against him and
kissing him hungrily.
She pushed him back into the bathroom, tearing
off his
shirt. Riley didn't think her Watcher's bathroom
was a good
place to have sex, but he wasn't able to hold
that thought
for very long...
Buffy wandered around in search of Riley. She'd
talked with
Giles and then traded a few half-hearted barbs
with Spike.
Neither Xander, nor Willow and Tara had known
where Riley was.
They'd looked a bit dazed, but Buffy had
attributed that to too
much food.
Buffy went upstairs and heard a moan from the
bathroom.
The door stood open a crack. She peered inside.
She saw Riley - and herself!
The other Buffy had her top flung off, skirt
bunched around
her waist, head thrown back, and Riley was
fucking her
against the sink.
"Oh my God!"
Riley stopped what he was doing and looked at
her, confused.
Her doppelganger shook herself like a dog would
shake off
water and turned into Anya.
The ex-vengeance demon looked at her with a
malicious smile.
Buffy turned away and stumbled back down the
steps, tears almost
blinding her.
The party came to a stop; Willow rushed over to
Buffy.
"Buffy, what happened?" she asked anxiously,
pulling her into a
comforting hug.
"It's Riley and Anya," Buffy sobbed.
Riley appeared, still buttoning his shirt.
"Buffy, I'm so sorry, I thought she was you, I
didn't know-" he stammered.
Buffy looked at him with hurt eyes, shaking her
head.
"Get away from me."
"Buffy..." Riley tried once more and stepped
closer.
But suddenly he found his way blocked by Xander.
"I don't think she wants to talk to you right
now," Xander said.
Riley looked at him and somehow knew that even
with all his soldierly
training he wouldn't be able to get past Xander
now.
He'd seen this before - the Scooby Gang was
fiercely protective of
their own.
Spike was watching the whole scene: the Slayer
crying in Willow's arms,
Tara standing by her side, Xander and Riley
squaring off.
And then there was Giles. The Watcher looked
like his heart would
break. He seemed torn between punching out Riley
and comforting
Buffy. But Spike knew he'd do neither.
He went over to Giles.
"You should take care of her, she needs you," he
said.
Giles didn't move, still hesitating.
"Go on, Watcher, she's your Slayer."
Giles squared his shoulders and went to Buffy
and Willow.
"Buffy."
He put a gentle hand on her shoulder.
Willow stepped back.
Buffy looked up at him and threw herself into
his arms, crying into
his shoulder.
Giles pulled her close, holding her like she was
the most precious thing
in the world, murmuring soothing
words.
After a while Buffy stopped crying.
"There, there," Giles said, wiping the tears off
her cheeks as if she'd still
been a little girl. He bent down to give her a
fatherly kiss.
Buffy raised her face to him and the kiss didn't
quite land where it
had been intended.
Giles' lips brushed against Buffy's and both
stood frozen.
Then Giles jerked back, embarrassed.
"I didn't, I'm sorry, I -"
He tried to pull out of their embrace.
But Buffy held him in place with
her superior Slayer strength.
The moment when their lips had touched
she'd felt like
she'd touched
an electric wire. Warmth had rushed through her
whole body - just
by touching Giles' lips. Now Buffy wanted to
know what a real kiss
would feel like.
She pressed her lips to his.
After a moment Giles kissed her back,
passionately, putting his heart
and soul into the kiss, all his love for her.
For Slayer and Watcher the world around them
ceased to exist.
TBC
