Chapter Seven

On Christmas Eve, the whole gang was gathering in the Summers' home to exchange gifts. The house was filled with activity from the moment Buffy woke up on the couch in Spike's arms and discovered that she should have begun cooking the food an hour earlier. Spike spent several minutes trying to calm her down, and then helped her getting started in the kitchen.

Dawn came down a while later.

"Oh, the cute sleeping couple is up," she grinned.

"Dawn, eat breakfast and then get out," Buffy said. Her tone was not angry, only stressed.

"Geez B, take it easy. It's only the Scoobies coming over, not the President."

Buffy shot Dawn a look and Dawn muttered, "Fine." She took a bowl and filled it with cereal.

Later at night, Spike and Buffy had gotten the food done in a joined effort, and the whole house smelled. Xander and Anya had arrived and Anya was putting their gifts under the tree. Tara and Willow was sitting on the couch, cuddling together as the cute couple they were. Dawn was setting the table, and the only one the group was waiting for was Giles.

The doorbell rang and Dawn ran to open. Buffy made her way into the hallway in time to see Giles take his coat off, and hugging Dawn.

"Merry Christmas, Buffy," he greeted her then, and hugged her gently.

"Merry Christmas, Giles," she replied with a smile.

"Ooh, Giles is here, then we can open presents, right?" Anya asked.

"An, take it easy," Xander said, putting an arm around his fiancée. "There'll be plenty of time to open presents later on."

"Good. Cause now that we have spent that much money on them –"

"Not something you're supposed to talk about, An," Xander interrupted.

Willow and Tara came over too, and more greetings were exchanged. Buffy stood silent, one hand resting on her belly, just watching her friends interact. There was a time when she thought she would never have this kind of happiness – especially after her mother died – but as she stood there, she felt complete. Content. Happy.

"If all you kids would be as kind as to step into the dining room!"

Buffy – and the rest of the gang – turned around to see Spike in the doorway, a red apron over his normal black clothing and a Christmas hat on his head.

Xander stood staring. Giles looked amused. Tara, Willow and Dawn giggled and Anya commented, "Nice hat." Buffy herself walked over and kissed him.

"What was that for?" he asked, a silly grin on his face.

She pointed upwards at the mistletoe hanging there and grinned at him.

"Oh. Well then I should move before the whelp or the Watcher gets some ridicules idea…" She giggled, and they made their way into the dining room, where Dawn had set the table and Spike had placed all the food he and Buffy had cooked.

"Mm, smells delicious Buff," Xander said and sat down.

The others followed and soon, they were all eating and laughing and talking.

"To Giles from Buffy."

Dawn gave the carefully wrapped package to the Watcher, who took it and opened it. He tried not to show it, but he loved opening presents just as much as the youngsters did.

"Thank you Buffy, I've been looking for this," Giles said, holding the book and flipping through a few pages with care.

"You're welcome," the Slayer replied with a smile and a hug to her Watcher.

Dawn, who had been chosen act as Santa and hand the presents out, chose the next gift. "From Xander to Anya."

Anya took the present eagerly and opened it, hardly even noticing the beautiful wrapping paper. Inside was a little box, and Anya squealed in delight when she opened it.

"They are beautiful!" she said, throwing herself around Xander's neck. "But do we really…?"

"Don't worry about that right now. You've wanted those earrings for months, and you're more than worth it." He kissed her gently.

"Let me see," Dawn begged, and Anya held the box up to the teen. The earrings were made out of gold, with small diamonds on. They were gorgeous.

"Shall we continue?" Willow asked, eager herself to give and receive presents. Dawn nodded to the witch and picked the next present up.

"Merry Christmas Buffy, from Dawn," she said. "Well, since it's from me, I can add that it's not really for you, but…"

"And what is that supposed to mean? Did you buy a Backstreet Boys CD or something that you will steal?" The words could have been harsh, but Buffy was smiling and hugged Dawn as she gave her her gift. It was small and soft, and Buffy quickly got the tape off and opened it. She gaped at the content.

"They are adorable, Dawn, thank you!" Buffy said happily. She held up the little blue set of baby clothes to the rest of the gang, and they all 'oohed' and 'ahed'. Buffy lost herself a little in looking at the small set of clothing. Despite the fact that she and Spike had been planning on going shopping for baby stuff, it had not happened so far. Some part of her was still telling her that something might go wrong, that the baby would not be right. But now she was imagining how her baby would look in these clothes. Her baby. She smiled.

While Buffy got lost in thought, Dawn continued to hand out gifts. Tara got a necklace from Willow, and Tara gave Willow a set of shower creams and gels, to which Willow replied, "You think I smell bad?" Then everyone had laughed and continued to enjoy the evening.

"To Xander from Anya." The package was small and Dawn handed it to Xander. He opened it quickly and smiled when he saw the video game Zelda lying there.

"Well, I'm bored with your other video games so I thought I'd get you something else," Anya explained. She received another kiss.

"Ooh, this is for me. 'To Dawn from Buffy'." Dawn quickly shredded the paper on the floor and smiled happily as she picked out a shirt and a pair of pants. "Cool! Thanks B!" She hugged her sister before continuing.

"To Spike from Buffy."

"I told you you didn't have to get me anything, Slayer," Spike said, but taking the gift out of Dawn's hand nonetheless. It too was fairly small and hard, and Spike gently opened it, taking care not to rip the paper. By the time he had opened it fully, Dawn was sighing in boredom.

"Thanks love," Spike said, kissing Buffy. There were three things inside the box. Three frames, holding three pictures. One of Buffy and him, taken at Thanksgiving earlier in the fall. One of Spike, Buffy and Dawn, in the summer out in the sun, not to long after Spike found out he was human. The last one held an ultrasound picture of their baby, from their latest visit at the doctor.

"It's perfect."

"Well, I wanted to find one where I looked better than that –" she pointed at the Thanksgiving one, where her stomach was showing, "– but I didn't find one."

"You look beautiful, love, don't worry." She smiled at him, and wondered how she could ever have been able to resist his charms.

"From Giles to Buffy." Dawn handed her sister an envelope.

"Ooh, more for me?" She opened the envelope and found a gift certificate for Charlotte Russe, one of her favorite stores.

"I, um, didn't quite know what to get you, so I decided you get to chose for yourself."

"That's fine with me, Giles," Buffy smiled.

Another couple of presents were handed out, which was followed by more thank you-s and happy smiles. Finally, Dawn said, "I think that was all."

"Actually," Spike said, sitting up from his seat on the couch. Buffy pouted at him, having lost her comfortable position when Spike moved. "There are some more. Two, to be exact."

He disappeared from the room and came back a moment later with a box – the round kind, in which you got hats in other times – and held it out to Dawn. "Merry Christmas, Nibblet."

Dawn took the box and set it on the floor, and lifted the top off. "Oh my gosh!" she squealed. "She's so pretty!"

"You got her a kitten?!" Buffy exclaimed at the sight of the little fur ball.

"Oh Buffy I can keep her right?" Dawn picked the little animal up and petted her. Then she set the kitten down, and after playing a while with the little ball that Spike had put into the box too, it settled down on Dawn's lap, falling promptly asleep.

"Fine," Buffy sighed. "But she is your responsibility!"

Dawn nodded, before the kitten got her attention again.

"Okay, before everyone falls asleep down here, maybe we should finish off the gift exchange. After all, we have one left." The gang nodded and Buffy wondered what was going on. They were obviously up to something.

"Will you come, pet?" Spike asked and helped the Slayer off the couch. With the gang in tow – Dawn last, with the kitten in her arms – they walked up the stairs over to their bedroom. Spike opened the door and Buffy gasped.

"Oh my… This is…" She stared at the cradle in front of her. It was absolutely perfect. Made out of wood painted white, with layers of white and light, light blue cloths, and small stones embedded in patterns. "It is beautiful," Buffy breathed.

"You like it?" Xander asked.

"If I like it? Of course I do! Did you all…"

"Well, Spike came up with the idea," Xander replied, "And I did the wood part. The girls helped with the cloth part, Tara and Anya did the stones. Giles helped with some details, wherever he was, um, needed."

"It has a protective spell around it too," Willow quipped in.

"Guys thank you so much!" She hugged them all, one by one. "Dawn! Did you know about this?"

"I didn't have a clue…" Dawn said, slightly disappointed. She would have loved to be part of this surprise.

"Sorry Dawnie," Willow said, "It just… I dunno. We thought you might want to be surprised too."

Dawn nodded. Meanwhile, Buffy made her way over to Spike, and she kissed him. The kiss quickly became deeper, and finally, Xander cleared her throat to get the two to separate. Buffy and Spike just grinned happily at each other.

The Scoobies did not leave until three in the morning. By then, both Buffy and Dawn had fallen asleep, and Spike was the one to say goodbye to their friends instead. The next morning, Buffy awoke at nine, when Dawn came into the room and snuggled up between her and Spike. Buffy smiled, and stroke Dawn's hair as she had done since her sister was a baby.

Half an hour later, they made their way downstairs. Dawn found her stockings filled with smaller gifts and candy, and thus wanted to skip breakfast. But when the smell of pancakes reached her, she changed her mind.

Later that day, Dawn had left to go to Richie. Buffy and Spike sat cuddled on the couch, only semi-watching what was going on on the tv. Dawn's new kitten, named Luna, was sleeping in the hat box, which she was using as a temporary bed.

"Don't you think she's spending too much time with that boy?" Spike asked her.

"Who? Dawn? With Richie?"

"No, Cinderella with her bloody Prince Charming. Of course Dawn."

"Well, no. He is her boyfriend, why shouldn't she spend time with him. He's a nice kid, and a responsible one. And Dawn wouldn't do anything… bad."

"Just like you didn't when you were her age?"

"Why are we having this conversation?" Buffy asked, looking her fiancé in the eye. "Dawn is mature and responsible. I'm sure we can trust her to make the right decisions."

He frowned at her, but did not say anything.

"He won't hurt her, Spike. And even if he does, she has to learn from her own mistakes. You can't protect her from everything."

He looked at her, sadness in his eyes. "No," he said, "But it would be nice if I could protect her from something."

She watched him for a moment, slightly confused, but then realized what he was referring to. "Spike, you didn't fail her. Nor did you fail me. What happened up at the tower was just… You did your best. No one could have asked for anything more from you."

He still did not answer her, and he was looking away. She took his face in her hands and kissed his lips gently, lovingly.

"You didn't fail," she told him.

He took her in, and began kissing her harder. His hands traveled down her body, and he held her closer to him. He buried his face in her neck, kissing her. Her hands moved around his neck and played with her hair, and soon she was lost in him.

"Don't you think it's weird that we don't have seen or heard anything else about that scroll?" Buffy asked Giles when she was training a week later. Her training was not as hard anymore, but she had to train nonetheless to not lose all the control and power she had gained during the last year.

"I mean, first I get it almost thrown in my head, get a spell cast over me and then it's gone – poof! – with the fire and now we don't hear a thing about it."

She put her hands on her hips and looked up at her Watcher.

"To be honest, Buffy, I have looked into it, but I have yet to find anything of interest," Giles replied. "So far, there hasn't been anything to give us any further clue."

"I hate this. I hate being left in the dark! They can't just throw something in my head and then just disappear! It doesn't work that way!" Buffy was pacing back and forth, getting upset.

"Uh, Buffy, maybe you should sit down. Think about the baby."

"The baby's fine!" the Slayer shot back at him, though rubbing her aching back at the same time. "It's this stupid prophecy or whatever it is that is annoying, nothing else! Oh, I want to hit something…" she muttered under her breath.

"Willow and I are going to continue to look into this, Buffy, but until we find something, you will just have to be careful, all right?"

Buffy stopped pacing, her hands on her hips. She stared at her Watcher for a few moments, then sighed. "Fine. I'll be good."

"Spike! Get down here now!" Buffy yelled.

It did not take more than ten seconds before Spike was standing in front of her in the hallway, putting his shoes on.

"You know, it would be good if we could avoid being late for this one thing, you know. It's three weeks till we get married – it's kind of a good idea if we know what we're serving, and over all doing," she told him as he got ready.

"Dawn!" she yelled next. Her sister came scurrying down the stairs.

"Yes ma'am?" she asked, staring at her sister.

"Will you please be good tonight? Stay out of trouble? For once?"

"Buffy, I am sixteen years old, not a little baby! Jeez, just relax. I'll be good and I'll be fine. Will you go now?"

The Slayer gave her younger sister a stern look before turning to her fiancé. "Ready?"

"Yes ma'am," he said and Buffy glared at him.

"Let's go."

He did not know where it had started. Somewhere around the wedding cake, he thought. Spike had been bored to death by the wedding coordinator, and he did not understand how Buffy could sit there and look so, so, so… interested.

They had begun fighting. It had started out with the Slayer telling him,

"Spike, pay attention!"

When he did not, instead yawned visibly, hell had broken loose. He had tried to put an arm around her, but she pushed him away.

"You really don't care about this, now do you?"

"Oh yes Slayer, I care so much about what kind of bleeding wedding cake we are going to eat," he had replied sarcastically, getting a bit annoyed with her.

"You know, you were the one who asked to marry me!"

"I didn't ask to get the whole wedding bloody package with a boring old lady into it!" The wedding coordinator had not even had time to look offended, she just stared from the to-be bride to the to-be groom, wondering if they were really to-be.

"This is what you go through when you get married," Buffy practically yelled at him.

"I don't care! It is boring!"

"I- You- Go to hell, Spike." She turned away, and he stared at her. When she refused to look at him again, he got out of his seat and walked out of the room, leaving one pissed off Slayer and a very confused wedding coordinator behind him.

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