[Reviews - 27]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Microsoft Word Chapter or Story | ePub eBook Chapter or Story | Printer Chapter or Story

Has been viewed 6842 times

- Text Size +




Title: Green Eyed Christmas
Author: Pattyanne
snapkik@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: None of the BtVS
characters belong to me.
Feedback: Love some, thanks.
Summary: Takes place shortly after
the events of 'Wrecked', however I
have moved the action close to Christmas.
Also, I'm not getting into 'Dawn' problems
or 'Willow' problems. It's hard enough
ironing out Buffy and Spike's problems,
without getting involved with the two
of them, so no issues will be addressed
here, other than the obvious one of Buffy's
unending refusal to see sense.

Oh, and Oz is still with Willow. Hope that's
okay.




Part two.....



TEN DAYS LATER


"I have no idea what to give Giles for Christmas,"
Buffy moaned. "Help me."

Willow smiled and shrugged. "I can't help you," she
said. "Who'll help me?"

"Okay, then...what about you?" Buffy asked, turning
to Xander. "Got any thoughts that don't involve a
subscription to a men's magazine?"

"Gee, Buff...I don't know," he replied. "It's not like you
know him all that well. I mean...what's it been? Only
three years. You can't be expected to know what he's
interested in. Why don't you...."

"Oh, shut up," she said, wadding up a paper napkin
and throwing it at him.

"Let's go shopping tomorrow," Willow suggested. "We'll
spend the whole day at the mall. It'll be fun. We can eat
our way through the food court."

"No, thanks," Xander said, shuddering. "I've been
through that before."

"And just what is THAT supposed to mean?" Buffy
asked, narrowing her eyes.

"It means that I went Christmas shopping with you
two last year. It was the most horrifying experience
of my life." He looked at Oz for support. "I'm just now
recovering from it."

"I find that hard to believe," Oz said.

"Thank you," Willow interjected, kissing his cheek.

"I went shopping with them TWO years ago and I'm
nowhere near recovering from it," he added.

"Do all men hate to shop?" Buffy asked, then turned
a doubtful gaze of Willow.

"What are you asking her for?" Xander spoke up. "She's
not qualified to answer that question."

"All right," Buffy replied, taking a sip of her drink. "You
tell me why all men shun the marketplace."

"Elementary, my dear slayer," he answered, finishing
his beer. "It's encoded into our DNA, stretching all
the way back to the time of the cave men."

Buffy grinned. "Do tell."

"It started the first time primitive man turned to his
primitive babe and said 'Me man of cave. Man don't
shop present! Now get food!' and then....."

Buffy interrupted him. "If man don't shop present,"
she said sweetly, "then man don't get one either."

"On the OTHER hand," he tacked on quickly, "men
have made a lot of progress since those days. We
don't club you over the head and drag you to our
caves...we don't play with fire...and when we see a
dinosaur, we run away from it. We don't try and kill
it with rocks and a slingshot."

"So...you'll help shop?" Buffy asked.

He swallowed hard. "I'll...I'll...." He struggled to force
the words out. "I'll....ssshhhhooopppp." Looking at Oz
again he said, "The things I'll do for new socks."

Sitting back in her chair, Buffy finished her drink and
looked around. "Do you see our...."

"Spike." Xander yelped.

"...waitress?" She frowned. "Why did you say..."

"Spike!" Willow, this time.

Buffy was confused. "What are you talking about? Why
do you keep saying that?"

Her heart rate increased. They couldn't know. No way
could they know. She glanced around the Bronze.

"He's over at the bar," Willow said.

"Talking to a girl," Oz added.

"Yeah," Xander chimed in. "Wow....that IS a girl! What
a girl!"

Buffy's head spun so quickly that her neck popped. Rub-
bing it, she scanned the crowd at the bar.

Her eyes found their target, and she could see right
away that Xander hadn't been overstating. That was
definitely a "Wow" type of girl, and she made Buffy feel
completely inadequate.

For one thing, she was taller. Just about eye level with
Spike. Long legs, and a wealth of dark brown curls that
flowed to her waist. The girl turned away from the
bar, and the side view gave them all a good look at
her other...endowments.

"Gee," Willow sounded wistful. "She got her share and
mine too."

"Do..." Buffy cleared her throat. "Do you know who she
is?"

"I've never seen her before." Willow reached for Oz's
hand, and he gave it, giving her fingers a gentle squeeze.

"Vamp?" Buffy mused. **Can I kill her?**

"I doubt it," Xander said. "She's got a pretty good tan
working for her."

"I suppose." Buffy turned back to the table, looking at
Xander in irritation. "Oh, for god's sake, Xander. Stop
staring like that before you have an accident!" she
snapped.

Willow placed one finger beneath her childhood friend's
chin, and closed it with a loud 'click'. "I wonder if she
came here with him?"

"Hey!" Xander whined. "That wath mah ton!"

"That'll teach you to keep it in your mouth," Buffy said,
with a nasty smile.

Seeing he could expect no sympathy from the slayer,
he turned to Willow. "Thit...thith hurth." He stuck out
his tongue. "Ahh I beeing?"

Willow examined the injury. "Not in a life threatening
way."

"Quit being such a baby," Buffy added. She tried not
to stare at Spike and his companion, but her eyes kept
turning to them again and again.

"Somebody should probably warn her about Spike," she
said, getting to her feet.

"How come?" Willow asked. 'It's not like he can bite her
or anything."

Buffy sat back down. "I guess not." The she jumped right
back up. "Where's that waitress, anyway?"

"She's right over...."

"You know what?" Buffy cut in. "Never mind. I'll just go
and get it myself. You guys want another?"

"Nope."

"I'm fine."

"Ah fie ooh."

"Be right back." Buffy nudged her way through the crowd,
not being particularly polite about it.

She stood at the bar, just a few feet from where Spike
and Wonder Girl stood, deliberately not noticing them. She
ordered a coke, then turned to go and sit down.

"Hello, Buffy," Spike said, with a perfectly friendly grin
on his good looking face.

Buffy gave him a surprised look. "Oh, hi! I didn't notice
you there."

"How've you been?"

"Great...just great," she replied, sipping her coke. "You?"

"The same." Spike placed his hand on his date's waist. "This
is Melinda. Melinda, this is Buffy Summers."

The girls exchanged weak hellos, then an awkward
silence.

Buffy was the first one to speak. "It sure was a nice day
today, wasn't it? Nice and sunny." She looked at Spike.
"Didn't you think so?"

"Well, I wasn't really outside much today," he replied.

"Mmm..that's a shame. Because it was a really nice
day. Very nice. Good day to be outside." She turned to
Melinda. "How about you, Melinda? You like being outside
a lot? Fresh air? Sunshine? I guess you probably do...you've
got such a nice tan."

"Actually," the brunette replied. "I work at night, so I
sleep most of the day."

Buffy's grin widened. "Is that a fact?"

"Yes. I wear a bronzing lotion."

**I knew it! Works at night...sleeps all day...gets
her tan out of a bottle...vamp!**


"Melinda is a nurse," Spike interjected, his hand
rubbing small circles on the girl's back. "She works
in the children's ward of Mercy Hospital."

Buffy's balloon began to deflate. "Really? Well...that's
just...that must be very...rewarding for you." She
looked away when Spike slid his arm around Melinda's
waist.

"It is," the girl agreed. "I love children."

"She's great with kids," Spike added. "Tell Buffy what
you did today, luv."

Melinda beamed, showing every one of her perfectly
white and even teeth. "Some of the other nurses and
I took some of the children from the homeless shelter
to the park for the day."

Buffy's balloon popped. Lots of sunlight at the park.

"Isn't she something?" Spike asked, tightening his
arm around Melinda.

"Boy, I'll say," Buffy replied, forcing enthusiasm. "So,
where did you two meet?"

"Oh, you'll probably think it's really weird," Melinda
began.

"Try me."

"Well...we met in a cemetery!" The girl giggled in a way
Buffy found extremely annoying. "I stopped there on my
way to work to put flowers on my grandmother's grave,
and...there he was."

"There he was," Buffy echoed. "In a cemetery." She looked
at Spike. "Were you putting flowers on your grandmother's
grave, too?"

"No," he said. "No, I wasn't."

"Why were you there?" she asked. "You got a thing for
cemeteries?" **Tell the TRUTH, you big jerk!**

"Just paying my respects to a few old mates."

That damn smirk was back on his face.

"At night?"

"Yeah. At night."

"Why?"

Spike shrugged. "Oh, you know how it is, Buffy. Sometimes
there just aren't enough hours in the day to do everything." He
stroked Melinda's hair. "Lucky break for me. If I'd gone during
the day, I never would have met this beautiful woman."

"Sppiike," Melinda said, punching him playfully on the
shoulder and blushing.

"Well. you ARE beautiful. Can't help saying it." He
grinned wolfishly, squeezing her in a gesture of deep
affection.

Melinda gave him a tender smile. "You're so sweet." To
Buffy, "Isn't he sweet?"

"Sweet," Buffy said, with a sickening smile of her own. "You
have no idea." She turned her smile on Spike. "So...heard
from Drusilla lately?"

His eyes narrowed. "No. Not for some time now."

"I was just wondering how she's doing these days."

**HA!**

"I'm sure she's just fine," he assured her.

"I'll bet she really misses you." Buffy turned to Melinda. "Spike
and Drusilla were absolutely inseparable for ages. I mean, the
two of them were..."

"Buffy!" Spike interrupted.

She stopped short. "Ohh! Oh, that's right. They were...very
close friends! Just friends," she said, with an "oops, me and
my big mouth" tone in her voice.

"Oh...um, that's nice," Melinda said, her smile finally
beginning to falter. "So, Buffy...what do you do?"

"I'm a vam..."

"You know, we have to be going," Spike cut her off again
in the middle of her reply.

"Must you?" Buffy asked sweetly. "Melinda and I were just
getting to know each other." She patted the other girl's arm
and stage whispered, "I think Spike's afraid that I might tell
you all his little secrets." She gave Melinda a conspiratorial
nudge. "Men! So insecure."

Melinda brought back her blinding smile. "Well, it was
certainly nice meeting you, Buffy."

"Likewise," Buffy chirped. "An absolute pleasure. Maybe we'll
see each other again sometime."

"I'd like..." was all Melinda could get out before Spike pulled
on her hand, heading for the door.

Buffy smiled and waved. "Melinda! You keep an eye on him,
you hear? He can be a real handful sometimes. A perfect
devil!"

She watched as they reached the door, half expecting Spike
to turn around and look at her. But, he walked out without a
backward glance, dragging Melinda with him.

Taking a deep breath, she composed her unsettled feelings
and returned to her friends.

Xander was the first to speak. "Well, THAT was certainly
an interesting little scene."

Buffy finished her coke in one long swallow. "I see your
tongue is functioning again."

"So, did you find out who she is?" Willow asked curiously.

"Just some bimbo he picked up in a cemetery. Claims she's
a nurse or something." Buffy shrugged dismissively, as
though nothing mattered at all. "You know, up close," she
added, "she's not all that good looking."




TBC.....

Come on now...let me know how it's going.





You must login (register) to review.