Neither of them spoke when they left the fair. They walked side by side. Both were still reeling from the few stolen kisses that they just shared. Each of them had been so lost in their own thoughts that neither noticed when they had taken the longer route to their destination. The overwhelming feeling of not wanting to part grew stronger as the road that led to their houses drew nearer and nearer.
They were just a couple of blocks away from Buffy’s house when Spike suddenly stopped walking.
“What?” Buffy asked, perplexed.
“I-uh…you go ahead. There’s just something that I need to do,” he said thoughtfully before he started to head back to where they came from.
“Spike…will you come see me later?”
Hope flickered in his eyes before he nodded. “Of course.”
“Good,” she smiled back and thought she saw a quick change in his demeanor just before he turned on his heel and left.
Spike was still on her mind when she came into the house and leaned on the door. That was when she noticed that her home was completely surrounded in pitch darkness. Her mom never left the house without a single light on. She always made sure that they paid the electric bill on time. Something must be terribly wrong.
Cautiously, her hand searched for the light switch on the wall and flicked it on.
“Surprise!!!!!!’
Dear God! Buffy jumped slightly from where she was standing. All of a sudden, she found herself surrounded by her family and friends.
“Happy birthday, Buffy!” Willow greeted, giving her a hug.
“Happy birthday, darling!” Joyce asked.
“Oh mom!” She threw her arms around Joyce. “Did you arrange all this?”
Joyce nodded. “Me and Willow.”
“Aww…you shouldn’t have,” Buffy said, feeling flattered.
“Well we wanted to.” Willow chirped happily.
“Happy birthday Buffster!” Xander greeted. “Say, you didn’t you by any chance spend the afternoon with a certain annoying peroxide blonde, did you?”
“As a matter of fact, I did.”
Xander sighed. “Thought so. Where is he by the way?”
“Oh he’ll be here in a few. Wait a minute, did he know about the surprise party?” Buffy asked sheepishly.
“Well, actually he’s the one who suggested it,” Willow told her excitedly.
“He did?” Buffy was stunned. “No wonder he’d been stalling when we were at the fair.”
************
Almost half an hour had passed and still several more familiar faces from school continued to arrive. She never really got beyond the foyer since the doorbell kept on ringing every two seconds.
“Buffy,” Anya called her from the kitchen. “Guess who just got in from the backyard.”
“I don’t know.” She asked, secretly hoping that it was Spike.
“Happy birthday, Buffy.” Angel greeted as he appeared from the kitchen.
“Angel.”
Anya looked between the two and started laughing to herself. “I guess I’d better…Oooh chips. Tara brought some chips!” She said before she anxiously left the two to themselves.
“This is for you.” Angel handed her a small gift-wrapped box and a bouquet of flowers.
“Wow!” She feigned an appreciative smile. “All this for me?”
“Anything for you baby.” He gave her a brief kiss on her lips.
“Thanks.” Buffy tried not to look bothered even though she was getting pretty annoyed with all the stolen kisses Angel had been giving her lately. She hadn’t even decided whether she’d take him back or not and Angel was already acting like they were an item again.
“Can’t believe the New Year’s party is in two days. I’m really excited about taking you to Cordy’s place. Her house is really huge!”
“Angel.” Buffy interrupted. “About Saturday. I…”
“There you are Buffy!” Willow came in between. “Oz was looking for the cups in the kitchen and we couldn’t find it.”
“Oh um… it’s just on the lower cabinet next to the…” Buffy gave Angel an apologetic look. “Uh…can you excuse me for a bit? I’m just gonna help them out.”
*********
Twenty minutes EARLIER
Spike was standing at the Kill the Vampire booth and gave the boy the last of the money he had in his wallet. “Okay, this is the last dollar I have on me so you’d better not move around so much. I don’t want you to ruin my concentration…” Spike looked at his name tag. “Andrew.”
“Yes sir.”
“Good.”
“Boy you must have it really bad for her if you’re spending all your…”
Spike’s glare made Andrew mumble out the rest of his words. This guy is scary, he silently told himself. “Sorry.”
Spike breathed in and out and tried to concentrate.
“A little advice. If you see the tip aligned with your target, move it up a bit coz the arrow tends to slightly aim low because of its weight.”
“Thanks…now if you could please shot your gob so I could concentrate.” He muttered between clenched teeth.
Andrew paled. “Okay.”
Spike gently placed the nock of the arrow onto the bowstring. He drew the bow and did what the lad told him to do. He aligned the tip a little above the target before he released it. Sure enough, he got one vampire down.
Andrew applauded. “See...”
Spike aimed and then released the arrow again but this time he missed. “Bugger.”
“You got one more shot.” Andrew reminded him.
Spike nodded and started to aim once again. Concentrate, Spike…You can bloody do this. Count to three and release the string. 1…2…
“Keep in mind what I told you earlier.”
Spike’s growl made Andrew jump from where he was standing. “Sorry. I just wanted you to win that’s all.”
Spike closed his eyes and willed himself to be impervious from the things around him. This time, he opened his stance to keep his body steady. He nocked the arrow. Breathing slowly in and out, he aligned the tip of his arrow. Only one person had entered his mind before his fingers finally released the bowstring.
**************
Ten minutes later, Spike stood by the Summers front porch with an apprehensive look on his face. He was about to ring the doorbell when someone came out of the house.
“Hey Spike,” Anya greeted. “You know Xander’s looking all over for you.”
Spike chuckled. “I bet. So how was the uh…was she surprised?”
“She was.” Anya nodded enthusiastically. “She jumped and screamed. The two ‘must haves’ in a surprise birthday party.”
“Spike! Man where have you been?” Xander appeared behind Anya. “I left a few messages on your phone. What happened?”
“I must’ve turned off the phone by mistake. Had a little emergency and I didn’t want to disappoint Joyce. Sorry, I know I should’ve called.”
“I see.” Xander eyed his friend suspiciously when he noticed that one of Spike’s hands had been behind his back the whole time. “What do you got behind ya?”
“Nothing that concerns you.” He said, defensively. “Where’s Buffy?”
Xander’s face suddenly looked worried.
“What?”
Anxious to find out the reason behind Xander’s strange reaction, he quickly came through the door and scanned the living room. Spying Buffy’s back from the kitchen made his eyes instantly light up in anticipation. But as soon as he caught a glimpse of the person she was talking to, he immediately stepped back.
What the bloody hell is he doing here? He found himself muttering a few strings of curses when he spotted Angel offering her bouquet of flowers and a small jewelry box. The kiss that Angel stole from her lips only added more fuel to the building rage inside of him.
Spike held out the pink pig he was hiding and looked at it with disgust. God, I feel so bloody pathetic. It’s no wonder she chose him over me. I couldn’t even give her a decent gift.
**************
Buffy looked at her watch and wondered was keeping Spike. She wasn’t really paying any attention to what Angel was telling her. It just dawned on her that she usually found conversations with Angel really captivating but now she could hardly keep her face straight without yawning for like every two seconds. Finally, she excused herself and decided to go look for the bleached blonde.
“Mom, have you seen Spike?” Buffy ran into her mom in the backyard.
“I thought I saw him a while ago.”
“Oh he was here.” Xander told them.
“Was?” she said, feeling confused.
“But then he left in a big hurry.”
Buffy gave her mom a look before she asked Xander. “Did he tell you why he left?”
“No, he just said that he had to leave right away.”
“Oh.” Buffy looked down as she tried to fight back the tears that had started to well up in her eyes. Her voice nearly choked when she asked, “Did…did he say anything else?”
“No.” Xander replied, his face filling with wonder and concern.
“Okay thanks, Xander,” She said gloomily.
“Wait. He did say something else,” he recalled.
“What else did he say?”
“When I saw him coming down the stairs, I didn’t know what he was talking about but he muttered something about bringing home a guy named Mr. Gordo.”
Buffy’s eyes widened as she glanced at her mom. Without wasting another single moment, Buffy quickly went up the stairs while her heart pounded loudly in her ears. When she opened the door to her room, the first thing that caught her eye was the pink pig that was sitting on her bed. As she got closer, she noticed that its paws held a folded note that read “To Buffy”. She quickly grabbed and read it.
Dear Buffy,
I’m sorry I couldn’t stay for your birthday, luv. Something really important came up. Forgive me? I promise to make it up to you one of these days. A trip to the ice cream parlor perhaps?
Anyway, I assume that the party’s already over since you’re reading my note. I hope you had a great time, but then I’m fairly sure that you did since the love of your life was there to complete your day.
By the way, I hope you like my gift. I know it’s nothing much, but it would truly mean so much to me if you could let him sleep on your bed so he can keep an eye on you at night.
Good night, luv. Guess the next time I’ll see you will be at the ball. I hope you’ll save a dance for your best friend. Again, Happy Birthday.
Always,
William
Sitting on her bed, a tiny sob escaped her lips as she clutched the pink pig tightly to her chest.
TBC
A/N : Hope you like this latest installment in spite of the angst. Thanks for all your wonderful reviews! I’m looking forward to posting the next one real soon. I’m really anxious about the ballroom scene.
Thanks to my awesome beta, Natalie ! I really appreciate the help.
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