No Silent Night
"Willow, please. I'm sorry, really. Can we just talk about this?" Xander pleaded through the bedroom door of their home. Willow had given him the silent treatment all the way home, then proceeded to give him a pillow and a blanket for the couch, and locking the bedroom door behind her.
"Xander, go to sleep. You have work in the morning, and I have... things to do. So go away."
"Hey, maybe I'll take the day off tomorrow? We gotta talk about this, Wills."
"No. Besides, Dawn's visiting tomorrow, and I'd prefer if you weren't here so she won't see me mad at you. Now go away before you wake up our son. Then I'll be really angry." Xander contemplated saying something else to his irate wife, thought better of it, and went to the bathroom to change into his bed clothes, even though he knew perfectly well that he wouldn't be getting much sleep at all.
************
The Morning Hangover
Buffy woke up with a terrible headache and tried to account for last nights events. Besides the Spike incident, everything afterwards seemed kind of hazy. All she knew for sure was that she had an extreme guilty feeling lurking in the back of her mind for god knows what. She popped some aspirin and called Cordelia to find out the damage she'd done.
"What?!" Cordy yelled into the phone, purposely. Buffy pulled back her cordless and winced.
"Geez, Cordy. Was I really that bad?" She asked meekly.
"Ugh, yea. You know, I warned you- repeatedly I might add, and yet you ignored my wise warnings. God Buffy, you made me look bad!"
"You? How did I-"
"The mere fact that I'm associated with you, especially by us coming together... You were drunk and- I've never been more ashamed and embarrassed and-"
"Okay, alright. I get the picture." Buffy said as she flopped back onto her pillows. "What'd I do?"
"Not what you did, what you said. You ripped that Willow chick to shreds. I mean, even though we all knew it was true, you never say things like that out loud. Ugh, gotta go. Talk to you later." Click. Buffy couldn't believe it. One of her best friends just hung up on her! How could she? Well, only one thing to do. she thought. Gotta make amends. She took another couple of aspirin and dialed up Lilah.
"Yes, Buffy?" Lilah asked impatiently. Buffy began to feel worse as the seconds ticked away.
"Uh, Lilah, I know you're probably all mad at me, and I just wanted to say I'm sorry. You haveta forgive me, please?"
"What? Oh, yeah, whatever. Look, I'm kinda busy right now." She said. Buffy could hear Wesley mumble something in the background.
"Oh, well uh... I need a quick favor. What's Willow's address and phone number?"
"What, are you fucking insane? Why'd I give that to you?"
"Because I want to apologize personally to her. And besides, the quicker you give it to me, the faster you can get back to giving it to Wes."
"Well, I could always hang up."
"Then I'd just call back; repeatedly."
"I'd unplug the phone."
"Lilah, please! I have to make it up to this Willow person. I know I was a major bitch and all, and she may never forgive me, but I have to try! I was gonna get her a fruit basket and everything. I gotta make it right." She complained. Lilah sighed into the phone, gave Buffy the information, hung up, and got back to giving Wes one of his many birthday presents.
*************
Dawn could tell that Willow wasn't her usual cheerful self. So Dawn attempted to stay out of her way as much as possible and quietly played Game Cube with Jesse. Just when Willow seemed to be in a good mood again, the doorbell rang and Mean Willow came out to play again.
"What are you doing here?" Willow asked, more flabbergasted than angry as she looked at the blond haired woman with the insanely large gift basket.
"I've brought you fruit, and cheese, meat, tea, jam- "
"But what are you doing here? At my house?" Buffy hung her head in shame as she explained.
"I'm sorry. I came to apologize. You see, I'm a terrible drunk, and I often lash out at people for no particular reason. I just hope that... you accept said apology. If not, then please take this gift basket as a peace offering. It's just, I'm not typically a mean person, it's just, I was having a bad night, and I- I'm so sorry." She finished as she looked the red head in the eyes. Willow gave her kind, sympathetic eyes and actually invited her in.
"It's okay. I'm sure that one day, I'll look back on this and la- well, still feel pretty bad, but hopefully I'll be over it by then." Willow said as she placed the enormous basket on the coffee table.
"Hey kids, this is Buffy. Buffy, this is Dawn and my son Jesse." Dawn pressed the pause button to get a better look at the newcomer. She looked nice and... tired.
"Hi. How do you know Willow?" Dawn asked from her seat on the floor.
"Oh, we met at this party." The kids looked at each other, shrugged, and continued to play their game. Willow motioned for Buffy to follow her to the kitchen.
"So, is that one of your son's friends, or is she one of those annoying kids that happen to miraculously live right next door to you? I was one of those." Buffy joked.
"Actually, she's sort of my niece. Well not by blood, but... She's my friend's daughter. I believe you met him?" Willow said as she motioned for her to have a seat.
"Oh, who?"
"Spike's." Everything seemed to run in slow motion for Buffy after that statement.
"Um, Buffy? Are you alright?" Willow asked with a concerned tone, finally breaking Buffy out of her stupor.
"Oh, I'm fine, just..." Buffy couldn't believe it. He has a kid? A daughter? She's gotta be like ten or something. Just great. A guy she might actually get a chance to know and potentially like (which was definitely few and far between- if there ever was one) and now she had to deal with his kid's mother, the ex-wife or whatever. Yay, Buff. You sure know how to pick 'em. She thought wryly.
"Is- I mean, was he married?"
"Huh? No, no. Dawn's mom, um... She's gone." Willow decided on letting the blond decide on what she meant by that. She for one was not going to tell Spike's business. She hated seeing cranky Spike. Just as Willow suspected, Buffy face fell as she came to a conclusion that would leave Willow free and clear of much explanation.
"Oh, when did she… you know?"
"Shortly after Dawnie was born. Spike doesn't like to talk about it." Buffy merely nodded her head in understanding. Somehow, that tidbit of info made her want to get to know Spike more. Maybe even talk to his daughter. It was totally weird, but now she felt some sort of connection with the girl. She knew what it was like to lose a mother.
"Say, are you guys doing anything? I'd like to treat you all to ice cream or something." Buffy said with a smile.
"Ooh, great! I love ice cream. Well, who doesn't, really? Except maybe those who are lactose intolerant. And even then, they’re probably just jealous." Willow said, returning the smile full force.
"Yea, jealous they can’t enjoy that dairy goodness." Buffy immediately stopped joking at the other's abruptly crestfallen face.
"Willow? What's wrong?"
"Do you remember… anything of what you said yesterday? Specifically to me?" She asked as she looked anywhere but at Buffy.
"I'm sorry. I'm kinda drawing up blanks after that third or fourth drink. What'd I say?" She asked, uncertain of the change in events.
"I guess you're very perceptive when you're drunk." Willow said with a humorless laugh. "It doesn't matter. It's not important." She said, shrugging it off.
"No, it's very important. Willow, you seem like a nice person who's totally different from my other friends, and I'd really like to get to know you. If there's anyway I can fix this- I don't want what I did to stand in between us. Things like this can eat away at you and cause resentment and... How will we ever have a chance at having a proper friendship after that?" Buffy rambled. Willow exhaled loudly and decided to tell the tale, albeit not in so many words.
"It's just that, you like knew that Xander and I weren't- that he wasn't very happy with me... In the bedroom. He never says it, but I always assumed that... I don't wanna lose him Buffy. Last night, I wouldn't let him come into our room, because I was angry with him, which was covering the fact that I was angry with myself, which was double covering the fact that I was angry with you for ever mentioning such private things and making me leave the blissful world of denial like I had been."
"Willow, I am so sorry that-"
"No, it's okay. Can't really fix a problem if you never acknowledge it, right?" Buffy remained silent as she thought very carefully of what she was about to say next.
"Do you want to fix it?"
***************
"Okay kids! Turn off the game and get your shoes!" Willow said, extra cheerful.
"But mom! I was just about to beat Dawn!" Jesse whined.
"Was not! I could beat you with my eyes closed." Dawn retorted with a huff.
"You can play later, guys. Buffy here's gonna take us all out for a special ice cream treat!" Willow exclaimed. The instant smiles on the children's faces showed their consent.
"Hey, thanks lady!" Jesse exclaimed as he ran past them all to get his gym shoes.
"You're pretty nice for someone we've only just met. You're trying to buy our affection are you?" Dawn asked with an arch of her eyebrow, a smirk and a maturity beyond her years. Buffy gave her an amused look. She noticed how much the girl resembled Spike in that instant.
"Don't mind her. She's just Daddy's girl after all, aren't you Dawnie?" Willow said as she playfully tickled the girl's sides. The girl laughed in merriment before retrieving her shoes also.
"She's cute. I'm guessing the apple didn't fall too far from the tree, huh?" Buffy asked.
"Nope, not at all."
***************
They all had a good time at the Rainbow Cone. The jokes, the ease in each other's company, Willow felt as if she had known Buffy her whole life, and vice versa. Everything was going smoothly until Jesse hopped out of his seat.
"Where are you going?" Willow asked.
"To the bathroom, mom." He said as he tried to quickly
go to the men's room.
"Oh no you don't, mister. You know the rules." She said as she stood up, grasping his hand.
"Aww, ma! It's just a toilet." He complained.
"In a public place. In a few years, I'll let you go alone." She said as she pulled him to the ladies room.
"Wow. Kinda like the over protective mother bird, isn't she?" Buffy said.
"Not really. Anything could happen to a little boy in a men's room. Safe and embarrassed is better than sorry and, I dunno, something horrible." Dawn said as she wiped her hands and face from the remnants of chocolate ice cream. Dawn shifted uncomfortably in her seat as the blond stared at her.
"What?" She said, slightly irritated, slightly curious.
"Nothing, it's just... You're very interesting, if not peculiar. Not that that's a bad thing-"
"You're pretty 'peculiar' yourself." Dawn said with air quotes and a giggle. Buffy laughed with her.
"So, how's life?" Buffy asked. Dawn slightly scrunched up her face at the question.
"I dunno. Okay, I guess?"
"Is it fun? I mean, with only you and your dad?" Buffy didn't miss the girl's eyes light up.
"My dad? Oh, he's a blast! Plus, he's a real push over." Dawn said with a conspirator’s wink wink. "You should meet him. He's totally awesome." Dawn said with a smile.
"Oh, I have. He was at that party. He seems really interesting and... peculiar." Buffy said with a smile. Oh my god! Dawn thought. She couldn't believe her good fortune. Buffy was great, and she knew and liked her dad, well, as far as she could tell. Unless she was laughing at him- which, Dawn didn't think she was. She really like Buffy, and hoped that things would take a happy turn from there.
"Yes, he is. You should get to know him, I mean, us better. I bet we'd have lots and lots of fun." Dawn said with a big smile. Just like a family. She added to herself.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Thanks to rosie, cordykitten, and ScarletRose. Sorry this update took so long- there was a death in my family, and I've been pretty busy... Hope ya like it.