CHRISTMAS SPUFFYNESS
AUTHOR: SLAYMESOFTLY
RATING: PG13 THROUGH NC17
SEASON: AN IMAGINARY SEASON SIX
DISCLAIMER: NOT MY CHARACTERS, JUST PLAYING WITH JOSS’S TOYS
DISTRIBUTION: IF YOU ALREADY HAVE PERMISSION, TAKE IT; IF NOT, PLEASE ASK. ALSO, PLEASE INCLUDE THE BELOW EXPLANATION AND DEDICATIONS.


AMIDST MY CHRISTMAS PRESENT FICS FOR VARIOUS PEOPLE, I HAD TWO REQUESTS FOR FLUFFY SPUFFY, SO I MADE TWO SEPARATE BUT CONTINUOUS CHRISTMAS EVE FICS. THEN I REMEMBERED I WANTED TO MAKE ONE FOR TAM, EVEN THOUGH SHE DIDN’T ASK, SO I ADDED A THIRD PART, TAKING PLACE ON CHRISTMAS DAY/EVENING. A FICLET THAT GREW UNTIL I HAD TO ADD A FOURTH PART; WHICH WAS OK, BECAUSE IT GAVE ME A PREZZIE FOR MEGAN!



FOR SPIKE’SDEB, WHO REQUESTED FLUFFY CHRISTMAS SPUFFY:

Part I

“What do you mean, ‘Where’s Spike?’ It’s Christmas Eve, Dawn. He’s a vampire - you know, all with the cross avoidance and violence? Why would he want to join a celebration of goodness and peace?”

“Because he’s Spike and he likes Christmas… and because he brought you a present and-he-thinks-he-isn’t-going-to-be-allowed-to-give-it-to you-so-I-invited-him-over,” she finished in a rush.

Buffy stopped her tree decorating and flushed. “Why would Spike, of all people, buy me a Christmas present?” she demanded, hoping Dawn would believe her skeptical words.

Instead, her sister cocked her head in a gesture very reminiscent of the vampire in question and said with some asperity, “Because he loves you, Buffy. You know that. I don’t understand why you seem to be trying so hard lately to pretend he doesn’t. Everybody knows he does – even Xander. You can’t tell me you’ve forgotten about it!”

Buffy blushed again, with genuine shame this time. "Oh. Oh yeah, I guess that would be a good reason to… I mean, not that he needed to get me a gift! I certainly wasn’t expecting one. I don’t have anything for him, and… what if he stole it? What if he killed someone for it? Oh, this is bad. Very bad. No. We can’t do gifts. It’s too much like.... Nope. No gifts from the vampire,” Buffy finished with a note of finality, only to find Dawn staring at her with suspicious eyes.

“Jeez, Buffy. Calm down! It’s just Spike. He got you a gift because he loves you and wants you to have a Christmas present. He knows we don’t have much money and I’m sure he isn’t expecting anything from you.”

“No,” Buffy admitted softly. "I don’t suppose he is….”

"Anyway,” Dawn chattered on as she picked up another ornament, ”I invited him to come over tonight and help us decorate the tree so he wouldn’t have to fight all the Scoobie snarkage tomorrow.”

“You what? Now? Tonight?”

Rather than look at her sister, to whom she addressed the shrieked questions, she ran to the hall mirror and found a girl with circles under her unmade-up eyes, wearing baggy sweats and a lopsided ponytail staring back at her.

“Um, Dawn,I’m just going to run upstairs and, um… clean-up. Yes, that’s it. I just noticed how dirty these sweats are and I’m going to go get some clean ones. I’ll be right back.”

She ran up the stairs to her room before Dawn could point out that the clothes she was wearing had come right out of the dryer and couldn’t be much cleaner. She was still staring thoughtfully after Buffy when Spike, rather uncharacteristically, knocked on the front door.

With the beginnings of an understanding smile on her face, Dawn opened the door and stepped back so that the blond vampire could come in. He looked around quickly, noticing the half-done tree and otherwise empty room before turning to give Dawn a quick hug and kiss on her cheek.

“Merry Christmas, Bit,” he said, shrugging out of his coat and looking around surreptitiously. “Buffy’s not here, then?” He struggled to keep the disappointment out of his voice and off his face as he draped the coat over the banister, but he couldn’t hide it from the girl who’d spent the entire summer watching him mourn her older sister.

“She’s here, Spike,” she said softly. “She’s just upstairs. I told her you were coming and she suddenly decided she wasn’t pretty enough and ran off to change.”

“Yeah,” he scoffed, “I’m sure that’s it. More like she ran upstairs to hide until I go aw—“

He paused, the words choked off, as an uncharacteristically subdued Slayer came slowly down the stairs. In just the few minutes she’d been gone, Buffy had managed to brush her hair into loose curls, apply some mascara and lip gloss, and put on tight-fitting jeans and a red sweater. She slowed even more when she saw the awestruck vampire watching her. Something about his expression was so reminiscent of the look he’d worn when she was just back from her grave that her breath caught in her throat.

Blushing slightly from the look of complete adoration on his face, she pretended to be surprised to see him, completely missing the way Dawn rolled her eyes as the teenager walked back into the living room.

“Spike!” Buffy said brightly. “I wasn’t expecting to see you tonight. Dawn and I were just—“

“I know, pet. I hope it’s alright with you. The Niblet invited me to come over and help with… whatever you need help with, I guess.” He spoke quickly, anxious to let her know that he hadn’t appeared without permission.

“Well, sure. I mean if Dawn wants you here… it IS Christmas, after all. Good will toward men – er – vampires and….”

“Buffy,” he said too low for Dawn to hear him. “If you want me to leave, just say so. I don’t want to spoil your Christmas, pet. Just wanted to… oh, bollocks! Here!” he finished, taking a small, neatly wrapped box from his duster pocket and handing it to her. Without looking at her to see what sort of reception his gift was getting, he took another, similar box out of his other pocket and walked in to place it under the tree with the sparse packages already there.

“One for you too, Niblet,” he said as he put it down. “But no opening them until tomorrow.” He glared sternly at her until she sighed and nodded.

“Fine, Spike, we won’t open them until tomorrow. Now grab some ornaments and start hanging.”

He shuffled his feet uncomfortably, glancing back towards the hallway before saying, “I know I said I’d help, Bit, but if big sis doesn’t want me here….”

Before Dawn could indignantly point out that it was her house too, Spike’s apologetic attempt to leave was interrupted when Buffy shocked all three of them by standing on her toes to kiss his cheek, saying softly, “Thank you, Spike,” before putting her own gift down in the meager stack of presents.

Dawn all but squealed in joy, as her sister continued to amaze her by saying cheerfully, “Please don’t go. Why don’t you help Dawn with the ornaments while I go make us all some hot chocolate?”

Fighting to keep his Big Bad image, the vampire shrugged and agreed gruffly, “Well, alright then. Just because I promised the Bit.”

Buffy gave him a smile that said he was not fooling anyone before going into the kitchen to get out the ingredients for hot chocolate. She searched the whole kitchen while the milk was warming, but found no sign of any of the tiny marshmallows she knew her mother used to keep around for Spike. Reminding herself she should get some soon, Just in case he comes around to visit Dawn and she fixes hot chocolate. she put the mugs of hot drinks on a tray and carried it back into the living room where Dawn and Spike were arguing over which one of them had accidentally unplugged the lights.

With a sigh, Buffy put the tray down and walked over to put the plug back into the wall. She waited while their argument wound down, then sat on the couch and gestured to the tray.

“Come on, you two. It’s going to get cold.” She turned to smile at Spike apologetically as she said softly, “I couldn’t find any of the little marshmallows. I know you like them, but—“

“That’s ok, pet,” he interrupted quickly. “I… um… I brought my own. Just in case,” he added, looking at her from under his lashes to see if she was going to be mad.

Buffy rolled her eyes, but said with surprising good humor, “Well, where are they? You’ll have to share.”

Reaching into yet another pocket of his duster, he fished out a small bag of marshmallows and quickly brought it back into the living room, opening it and offering some to both Dawn and Buffy before dropping a handful into his own mug.

They all drank in companionable silence for several minutes before Buffy said abruptly, “The star! Dawn, we forgot to put the star on.”

She jumped up and rooted through the box of left over ornaments until she found what she was looking for and triumphantly held up a beat-up old cardboard star. What little was left of the glitter that had originally covered it, began to fall off and trickle down onto Buffy’s hair and face as she held it overhead.

She looked up at the top of the tree with dismay. It was clear none of the three of them was going to be tall enough to reach the top without standing on something. Buffy set the star down and went to get a chair from the dining room when Dawn spoke up.

“Why don’t you just get Spike to lift you up, Buffy? I mean what’s the point of having super strength if you never use it?”

She beamed innocently at the two blonds who were carefully avoiding looking at each other, smiling quietly to herself at her own cleverness.

“Well, yeah, I guess that could work… if Spike doesn’t mind…”

“Oh! Oh, no, pet. I’d be happy to. I’ll just—“

He walked over to her, trying not to let his pleasure at being allowed to help her show on his face. Buffy’s heartbeat increased as he carefully turned her to face the tree and placed his hands on her waist. With the exception of her quick kiss on his cheek, it was the first time they’d touched since he came in and the usual immediate spark of electricity jumped from his hands to her body. They both gasped, frozen in place while each tried to conquer the urges inspired by their nearness. Hoping desperately that Dawn could not see or interpret her flaming face, Buffy faced the tree and held her arms up. The vampire easily lifted her slight frame, holding her above his head as she reached for the top of the tree. Glitter drifted down from the star, settling over both of them as she wiggled it around until it was firmly in place.

Dawn watched them carefully, smiling at the sight of them sprinkled with flecks of gold, before realizing that Spike was bringing Buffy down and would be releasing her soon. With a quick jump to her feet, she blurted, “I have to go to the bathroom!” and raced out of the room before they had time to separate.

Left alone, after clearly hearing the slamming of the bathroom door, they stood trembling with the suppressed need to continue touching. When Buffy leaned gently back against his chest, Spike groaned and slid his hands from her waist, wrapping his arms all the way around her and holding her tightly. He dropped his head to nuzzle her ear, reveling in the way her heartbeat sped up again and the muffled whimper struggling to get out of her throat.

He slid his lips down her throat, pulling gently on the soft skin over her pulse and losing himself in the scent of her warm body. Without a thought to being visible through the unclosed drapes, or that her sister could come back at any moment, Buffy put her own hands over the strong arms holding her tightly against the body she’d come to crave and allowed her head to loll to one side, giving the master vampire complete access to her neck.

So lost were they in each other, that neither one heard Dawn come back to the entrance to the room. The teen-aged key stood there for several minutes, smiled happily at the two most important people in her life as they shared a rare moment of tenderness. Too soon, the moment was interrupted as they both remembered her presence and stepped apart, looking with guilty eyes toward the hallway.

Dawn had ducked back quickly and made a great show of clearing her throat and walking heavily as she rounded the corner and paused to admire the newly-starred tree.

“Oh, that looks great, guys! We should do this every year – have Spike come to help us decorate, I mean.”

Buffy flushed and moved away from the vampire, saying quickly, “Dawn, I’m sure Spike has much more interesting things to do most years than help us with our tree.”

“Oh yeah, I’m sure he’d much rather be moping in his crypt than sitting here having hot chocolate. Not to mention the novelty of having you be nice to him for a change.” Dawn’s voice dripped with scorn and the vampire shot her a warning growl. “Bit….”

“I’m just saying. You two look like you’re having a good time – I mean the way regular people have good times, you know?”

“REGULAR people?”

“Yeah – non-Slayer, non-vampirey type people. You know, who don’t get off on killing things and fighting? It’s a nice change from all the blood and yelling and-“

“All right, Dawn,” Buffy held up her hand, laughing. “I think we get the picture.”

“I’m not sure you do,” she mumbled almost to herself. “But you’re going to.”

“What’d you say?”

“Nothing!” she responded brightly, then gave a big yawn. “Oh, my. I’m suddenly so sleepy. I guess, since we’re done with the tree, I’ll just go to bed. The sooner it’s Christmas, the sooner I’ll be able to open my prezzies.”

“Right,” Spike tried to smother his disappointment. “I’ll just be going then, leave you two to—“

(Moron)! She gave the vampire an irritated look before saying quickly, “Oh no. You two don’t have to call it a night just because I’m tired. Why don’t you keep Buffy company? Watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” or something. I’ll just go up to my room and go to sleep. We all know what a heavy sleeper I am.” She edged toward the stairs, pausing to grab a ball of mistletoe off the hall table.

“Oh, here, we forgot this. Maybe you can lift Buffy up again so she can hang it in front of the door?”

She tossed it to her embarrassed sister and with a “Good night, Spike. Merry Christmas!” she ran up the stairs and into her room, falling on the bed with a sigh. “Well, I’ve done what I can. I hope they aren’t too stupid to figure the rest out for themselves.”

Downstairs Buffy was still bright red, tossing the mistletoe ball from one hand to the other and struggling for something to say.

“Well, that was subtle,” she finally said, not looking at him.

“I don’t think ‘subtle’ is in the Bit’s vocabulary, pet. I’m sorry she—“

“It’s okay,” Buffy whispered. “I think I understand what’s going on. She loves us both and she wants us to--“ she looked up at him and said sadly, “I’ve been very selfish; keeping you away from here because I was afraid somebody would… I didn’t think about the way Dawn feels about you or consider that she might miss you.”

“Or me, her,” he said quietly, reminding her that his feelings for her sister were not based completely on the long-ago promise he’d made to take care of her for Buffy.

“It’s just… it’s so hard to be around you now and not want to….”

“Shag my brains out?” he said hopefully.

“I was going to say ‘touch you’,” she said, biting her lip and glaring at him.

“I don’t think Dawn cares if you touch me, pet,” he said carefully, stepping closer to her.

“Yeah, that was pretty much the heavy-handed message, wasn’t it?” she surprised him by agreeing.

He slipped his arms around her lightly, kissing the top of her head as she rested it against his chest. While Spike rejoiced in the moment, fully expecting to be shoved away any second, Buffy found herself unable to resist indulging in the safe, loved feeling that being held so chastely inspired. Where she would normally have pushed him away, refusing to admit to herself or to him that she liked it when he held her; something about having her sister’s tacit permission to do so gave her the courage to admit that she craved the vampire’s touch for more than just the great sex that she insisted was all there was between them.

Her own arms, acting independently of her brain, slid around his waist and she settled against him with a contented sigh, telling herself it was just for the night and they could go back to normal after Christmas. Or New Year’s, at the latest.