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~*~
"Yo, Levinson! Your girlfriend wants to see you on your break," the head elf barked to Jonathan.

"Girlfriend?" Jonathan looked over where his boss was pointing to see Buffy waving at him from the fence. "Oh, yeah, girlfriend. Yup, that’s Buffy. Kind of bossy but makes up for it in other ways." He blanched as he saw that Buffy had been able to hear his remark.

His boss caught the unspoken bitch out on Buffy’s face and chuckled at the comeuppance his short employee was likely to receive for his comments. "Oh, man, has she got you whipped! Go on, it’s only five minutes early. Take the break now, but I want you back here on candy cane duty in fifteen minutes, not one minute late even if your girl does cut you to ribbons!"

Jonathan pulled the offensive pointed cap off his head as he headed toward Buffy and Spike. "Sorry about that, Buffy. I just kinda liked him thinking I could get a girl like you for a girlfriend. I didn’t mean any insult."

Spike muttered, "Take a number, mate," and received a dirty look from Buffy.

"Never mind, Jonathan. It’s okay. I don’t care what some middle-aged guy in an elf suit thinks about me anyway!’ Jonathan looked relieved to hear her reaction to his artless remarks. "Willow said you were in her magic club in high school. Do you still do any magic?"

"Some. I’m not nearly as talented as Willow or Michael though. They were the best. If you need some magic done, Willow would be your best bet," Jonathan suggested.

"Well, we know that!" Spike had an edge of exasperation in his voice. "Wouldn’t be asking you if Red were around, now would we?"

Jonathan cringed a bit at the vampire’s snark and turned to Buffy, "I’d be honored to help if I can."

"We need a spell done to see if Santa is a Wheatabix demon. We kinda need to know right away too, ‘cause if he is one, then he’s eating the kids and that is just SO not Christmasy." Buffy looked at Jonathan with pleading eyes no man could resist.

"Sure, I could do that. Well I don’t know if I could be specific about the kind of demon, but I could do one to be sure he is a demon of some kind." Jonathan began to think about what supplies he’d need and where they could get them.

After a bit of discussion, it was decided that Buffy and Spike would gather the supplies needed at the Magic Box, confer with Anya about Mimblix demons and making a spell more specific then meet Jonathan during his lunch break at 1 p.m.

~~~

"Well, of course they live in the Falklands." Anya’s eyes lit up at the mention of the Claus family when Buffy asked about Spike’s outlandish tale. "About fifty miles outside of Port Howard on the western island…unless they’ve moved. Talvi always made the best cloudberry tarts! It was after they got married that Nick started packing on the pounds; before that, he was really sort of buff. I haven’t seen them since Nicky got all huffy at the way ‘his’ holiday became too commercialized and packed up his toys and dwarfs and retired."

Spike’s expression clearly shouted, ‘I told you so,’ but he was smart enough not to say it aloud.

"Buffy, are you here to purchase anything from my inventory or just to waste the valuable time of a hardworking shopkeeper during this busy time of the year?" Anya had noticed a small line at the cash register. Her seasonal help was trying to keep up, but with so many holidays falling in the same time period, the store was doing a booming business.

"We’re here as customers, demon girl. Don’t get your knickers in a twist," Spike offered.

At the thought of another sale, Anya visibly relaxed a bit. "Oh, in that case, welcome to the Magic Box, how can we help you?"

"Need a bit of information, some spell refining and supplies." Spike got to the point right away.

"What sort? You will need to be more specific. We cater to all kinds of magic here and that request is far too vague for me to work with, Spike."

Buffy decided to take over the request department. "We think the mall Santa may be a demon." Anya was clearly not phased by the information.

"Demons have to be employed in some way, Buffy. They don’t all just hunt and live in hovels. You will be paying for this, right? This isn’t going to be one of those ‘it’s Slayer business, Giles will sign for it’ sort of transactions, is it?" Anya was beginning to wish she had been less welcoming to the duo.

"Yes, we’ll pay." Buffy didn’t want to waste time arguing the issue and Giles would pay her back later. "Spike thinks he’s a Mumbling demon." Buffy could tell from the look on Anya’s face that she was unfamiliar with the species.

"That's Mimblix, pet," Spike corrected and Anya's face brightened in understanding.

"Oh, that would be bad. They really shouldn’t work that closely with human children. They don’t usually come this far north. I’m surprised." Anya looked vaguely interested in this nugget of information.

"I want to be sure before I get rid of him. Like you said, he could just be some harmless demon making a bit of money during the holidays. I have a friend who can do spell casting, but we kinda want it to be more specific to be sure it’s one of those Netflix guys. Can you help us out?" Buffy looked at the former demon in hopes of a positive answer.

Anya was mentally doing an inventory of the items she had on hand that might fill her customers’ needs, finally smiling in contentment as she hit on the correct items. "Naturally, we can help. The Magic Box is a full service metaphysical supplier, after all. You can’t find a better source for all your spell casting needs," she said proudly. "Wait here, I’ll get what you’ll need. I think I even know a perfect spell that I can copy out of the book for you, unless you want to purchase the entire book. The copy will cost you one dollar, but the book would be $29.95. The book WOULD make a lovely gift for Willow for Christmas though, so you might want to consider it."

"We’ll just take the copy for now, but I may come back later for the book." Buffy had seen Anya’s face fall at the $28.95 difference in sale price and wanted to regain her willing support with the hint of future purchases.

"The sale price may go up before you come back, Buffy. I’d think about buying the book now if I were you," Anya tempted. "Believe me, Willow would just love this book; it’s filled with lots of tried and true spells and rituals."

"Okay, sold," said an impatient Spike. "I’ll give the bloody thing to the witches if it’ll move this along."

"You are a good friend, Spike." Anya positively glowed at the easy sale. "Perhaps you would care to see a selection for Tara’s gift as well?" Anya stopped her attempts at getting any further sale out of Spike when she saw his glower. She decided to get back to a sure sale. "I’ll write out the change and mark the place for the spell you’ll need. I suppose you want all the supplies it’ll take too. I’m afraid the incense isn’t a sale item, Buffy, but the candles are. No refunds or exchanges on sale items though."

"Whatever. Just get the soddin’ things and let us get back to Santa’s village before he eats half the third grade." Spike was getting antsy with all the humans milling about the shop. He’d already been around more people than any chipped vamp should ever have to be at any one time. He wanted this over with so he could take his bags, pick up some pigs’ blood and go home to his comfy crypt. He wouldn’t turn down a foot massage either but knew not to push his luck with Buffy.

Twenty minutes and $78.52 later Buffy and Spike exited the Magic Box to the sounds of Anya’s cheery, "Thank you for shopping at the Magic Box. Do come again." They quickly headed back to the Sunnydale mall and their meeting with Jonathan.
~~~

~*~

The spell was simple and after revealing the sad fact that Santa was indeed a Mimblix, Jonathan still had time to head to Hotdog on a Stick for his lunch.

"I think we need to take him out during his next break. Jonathan says Santa demon usually takes his breaks in that little house behind his throne thingy. We can ambush him there before he knows anyone is on to him." Buffy wanted to just get it over with so she could do a bit of Christmas shopping herself.

"All right, love. Looks like no one’s payin any attention now, what say we slip in and wait on Santa?" Spike suggested.

They stealthily moved into the miniature Queen Anne Victorian house that was a part of the setting for the "jolly old elf" and kept as far from the fake windows as possible to make certain no one caught them in there before they could dispatch St. Nick.

"Suppose we should ask the bugger where the wife is? If she’s breeding she won’t want to hunt for herself but will if we kill her mate." Spike didn’t think there were more than just two Mimblix demons in the area. They were blessedly rare most places.

"Good idea. We’ll grab him when he comes in and tie him up until we get all the 411, then off with his head," Buffy decided.

"Might not be too free with the bean spilling, pet. You willing to do a bit of torture if you need to?" Spike just couldn’t see Buffy torturing anyone, demon or not.

"Let’s just get him tied up and we’ll worry about how to make him talk after, okay?" She hadn’t really thought about what it might take to get the demon to reveal the location of its mate.

Time seemed to crawl as the duo waited in silence cramped together in the small space. To keep from being seen, they were in a far corner, sitting on the floor. Spike was secretly enjoying the feel of Buffy’s firm thigh as it rested against his own in the tight space. Any time Buffy shifted it created a delicious slide of limb against limb that was making it more and more difficult for Spike to sit comfortably. He was fighting the urge to just grab the Slayer and kiss her senseless.

Buffy could feel the almost imperceptible tensing of the muscles in Spike’s well formed leg as they sat next to one another. She remembered how firm all of his muscles had felt that time the previous year when she had spent the better part of the day in Spike’s lap, compliments of Willow’s spell gone wrong. She glanced at his crotch through lowered lashes and wondered just how firm THAT particular muscle might be. Judging by the impressive stretching of material around his zipper, it most likely would be enough to give any girl a happy for the holiday. "No! Bad slayer! No vampire yumminess for you. You kill his kind, not have fantasy sex!" Buffy tried to think of anything other than the physical closeness she was experiencing with this persistent would-be suitor. Still, those kisses had been the best she’d ever had.
Lord knew she had tried to forget how they felt.

Buffy let out a deep sigh at the same time Spike did and they looked at each other sheepishly. "Wish Kris Kringle would bring his padded arse in here so we could get this over and done with. I still have a couple of things to buy before I can get out of this hellhole!" Spike would rather have been whispering words of undying devotion to his beloved but knew there would likely be more than one dead demon if he pressed his luck that far. No, at least he could zero in on the sensations created by Buffy’s nearness and play with the memory later when he was home.

"So," Buffy whispered back, "Is that what you were doing? Christmas shopping?" At Spike’s bashful look, she decided to tease a bit. "Who’re you getting for and what did you buy? Is there some kind of weird demon gift exchange thing I don’t know about?"

"Happens to be that I have friends. That’s what you do, give presents to your friends at Christmas. You’ve got your Scoobies; I’ve got my own pals to buy for," Spike said defensively.

"Sorry. I didn’t mean to imply you don’t have friends. Just because I’ve never met any of them doesn’t mean they don’t exist." Buffy was a bit embarrassed to admit Spike probably knew more about her than she did him. "Let me see the loot!" She grabbed at the larger package and pulled out the robot dog.

"Oooh, it’s a Poo-Chi! Dawn wants one of these sooooo bad but they’re almost forty dollars." Buffy caught the uncomfortable shifting of Spike’s body and his closed eyes. "It IS for Dawn, isn’t it? You bought this for Dawnie!" Buffy looked at the vampire and could swear he was blushing. "That’s so sweet! God, she is gonna love you."

"Never said it was for the Bit. But if it is, it’s not some bribe to make her like me. Platelet likes me just fine without the prezzies," Spike huffed.

"True, you are her knight in black armor. Still, it is sweet of you to get it for her. Mom wanted to, but with the surgery, hospital bills and after care costs, it’s going to be a real small Christmas this year." Buffy sat silently for a bit, then the realization hit her. "Wait a minute! This stuff…it’s ALL for Dawn, isn’t it?"

"No," Spike denied, "Some’s for your mum too. Last thing she needs is to be worrying over her baby’s empty stockin’s. Your mum’s been right nice to me, treats me like a friend, welcome and everything. Don’t get on your high horse and tell me not to do this, Buffy, ‘cause it isn’t all about you, you know." Spike was waiting for the command to return the items and not ever consider worming his way into her family life again, but the words were not spoken.

"Thank you, Spike. That’s really…kind of you." Buffy was struck by the truth of that. This vampire, this creature that--according to the Council—was unable to feel any positive emotion, was showing more kindness to her family than any of her other friends. Not one had asked if Dawn was going to have presents or if her mom needed any help making a nice Christmas for the adolescent. Spike was constantly surprising her in ways that challenged all she had been told by Giles, the Council and Angel. There were times she hated him for that, for shaking up her convictions. Other times, like now, she almost felt like she could love him. It would be frighteningly easy.

"Yeah, well, it’s not like I have any family to do for anyway. ‘Sides, the Bit would be all pouty and annoying if she didn’t get her due under the tree." Spike tried to brush off the whole issue.

They both heard the sounds of the approaching Santa demon at the same time and rose to greet him.

Spike came at him from behind, pinning his arms while Buffy moved in to deliver a chop to his windpipe to subdue him. They had the demon tied up and gagged before he could regain his breath. The only problem was that Santa had chosen to eat at the food court this day and his lunch break was nearly over. They would need answers quickly if they didn’t want anyone coming back to check on his whereabouts.

There was a knock on the door and the voice of the head elf was heard announcing that the line forming for Santa’s second shift with the kiddies. "Five minutes, Mac, nice long line waiting and we don’t want to disappoint the little brats!"

"Damn! Why did he decide to wait ‘til now to get in here anyway?" Buffy was trying to figure out how to get the information they needed and kill the demon before anyone got the wiser.

Buffy looked at the wide-eyed demon and back at Spike and had an idea. "Spike!
Quick, strip Santa here and put on his suit."

"You’ve got to be bloody kidding me, Slayer! No way in hell am I gonna put on that outfit and play child chair for half the kids in Sunnydale! Nothing you can say or threaten will get me in that suit!" Spike looked like he was ready to make a run for it.

"Spiiiiike. Someone has to play Santa and, judging from your bags, you already have been, so why not just dress the part for one teeny tiny time? You can send Jonathan in and he can do a truth spell, I can get this guy to talk and you can go back to your basic black. Come on, for me?" Buffy fluttered her eyelashes at the befuddled vampire.

"NO! And again, no. I am not sitting there with crawlers and droolers all over me, tellin’ me what good little boys and girls they’ve been while their mums look on in adoration." Spike was horrified at the mental picture that was forming. Picture! That was another thing. "They’re taking photographs, Buffy. It wouldn’t just be a few minutes of extreme humiliation. It would be captured on film forever! I’m not doin’ it. I’ll kill the bugger, torture him too. YOU put on the damn suit."

"I can’t. My voice is too high. Besides, you already have the white hair. It has to be you, Spike." Buffy smiled in premature victory as an idea hit her. "Tell you what. You go play Santa just until the next break and I’ll sooo owe you. Name your price. It’s your lucky day, Spike."

Spike stood with his mouth agape, wondering if he dared push his luck with a request for what he really wanted.

"What’s the matter, Spike? You know I’ll come through. Name your price. I can always get money from Giles if that’s what you’re after. Some nice bagged human from the hospital? Can do. What will it take to get you in that suit?" Buffy figured Spike would want something she could ferret out somewhere.

"A date." Spike stared straight into the Slayer’s eyes, unblinking.

"A what?" Buffy had the feeling that the floor had suddenly moved downward at least a foot.

"You heard me, Slayer. A. Date. You know, you’ve had a few. Don’t worry, I’ll be payin’. The whole nine yards …dinner, dancing, kiss at the door…a date." Spike thrust his chin up, defying the slayer to back down on her carte blanche offer.

Buffy felt her heart leap in her chest and her pulse increase alarmingly. A date. With Spike. A perfect excuse for a date with Spike. An excuse that neither Giles nor the Scoobies could find fault with for a date with Spike. Maybe the demon WAS Santa Claus, because Buffy had a feeling she just might have a nice holiday surprise herself, all in the name of a good cause too.

She gulped and bit her top lip before answering, her reply so quiet that Spike almost couldn’t hear it. "Okay. A date. I assume you mean with me?"

"No, with Xander! Of course I mean with you, you silly bint!" Spike replied. He had to restrain himself from grabbing Buffy and spinning her around in happy circles and then kissing the frightened looking demon who had brought about this wonderful opportunity.

"All right. But you have to try to be a convincing Santa, Spike. No snarking at the kiddies and making them cry!"

"I can do that. Best turn around while I put this monstrosity on." Spike had begun stripping the Mimblix as he spoke. "And if you dare laugh at me, It’ll be a mite more than just a goodnight kiss you’ll owe me."

Buffy decided that a laugh was not just inevitable but essential under those circumstances.
~~~

~*~

He really looked kind of cute with the overstuffed coat and the fake beard that nearly matched the color of his shocking white hair. Buffy had loosened his curls before setting the red cap on his head and shooing him out to the waiting kids. "There! You make a better Santa than this guy anyway. You should get some glasses, Spike, they look cute on you."

"I’m stealin the soddin’ negatives of all those pictures too, Slayer, and you can’t stop me. And don’t you dare tell anyone about this, got it?" Spike grumbled.

Buffy mimicked zipping her lip and promised, "Not a word will pass these lips, I swear."

"Okay, let’s do this. I’ll send in the elf boy." Spike threw open the door with enough force to rock the small house and marched out to his humiliation. He could hear Buffy’s chuckles behind him. "I heard that, missy. Don’t think you’re not payin’ the price either!"

She waited until Spike was out of earshot before whispering, "I sure hope so. Wonder what I’d have to do to earn even more punishment?"

"Um, Buffy? Santa said you needed me in here? Gosh, there’s Santa there! Who’s that then?" Jonathan looked from the underwear clad demon to the suited up Santa now seated on the elevated chair with a small child on his lap.

Buffy looked past Jonathan in time to see the little minx on Spike’s lap tug on his hair as if to pull off a wig and look wide-eyed at the "real" Santa she discovered. She could almost hear the "bloody hells" Spike was no doubt thinking. She had to laugh again at the sight of the Big Bad playing Father Christmas.

"I need a truth spell on this guy and quick, before anyone notices you’re missing," Buffy ordered.

~~~

It wasn’t too hard to dispatch the Mimblix after Buffy found out where his mate was hiding. The nicest part was that after his head was removed, the body dissolved into a puddle of greyish goo. No pesky explanations were required for why Santa was suddenly looking more like John the Baptist than St. Nick. Mall management would have to hire a new Santa for the next day, because Buffy was 99 and 99/100% sure that Spike wasn’t going to offer to take the job.

Spike had actually done quite well with the children, with only one screamer the entire time he played Santa. True to his word, he managed to nick the negatives for all the photos taken during his turn at bat.

He was more relieved than he could remember when he finally got out of the outfit and was back to his basic black classic look. Having spent far longer at the mall than he had expected, it was past sundown when he and Buffy were able to leave without drawing attention to the change in Santas.

The two walked companionably side by side as they headed for Spike’s Desoto for the short trip to the Mimblix’s cave lair. "So, about that date…Saturday free for you, Slayer? Probably not a good thing to mention the reason to Captain Cardboard if you have to cancel a date with him."

"Saturday’s good for me. Riley has stuff to do and we were just going to hang out at my house Saturday night. I’ll tell him I have Slayer stuff to do. No big." Buffy hoped Spike couldn’t tell her heart was racing at the thought of her payment for his help with the demon.

"I’m thinking I don’t really want the date to end on a dusty note, so maybe we should take a drive up the coast for dinner and what all." Spike looked at Buffy from the corner of his eye, trying to judge her reaction to the suggestion. He noticed her pulse accelerating and dared to hope she was at least a little excited at the idea of spending the evening with him.

"Sounds great. Should I dress up or just be casual?" Buffy fished for clues.

"You look good in anything, but I’m thinking I’d like to show you off. Dress up. We’ll do this first class." Spike decided it was time for another trip to the pawnbroker. He wanted plenty of cash ready to lavish on his girl. Who knows, if the date went well, maybe he’d be buying that necklace for her stocking like he only wished he could earlier in the day.

"I can do first class." Buffy had a dreamy look on her face as she began to imagine Spike in something other than his typical jeans and tee shirt. She began to blush as she began to imagine him in far less. If she read his payment demand correctly, that goodnight kiss would lead to possible salty goodness, maybe even getting a little groiny before the night was finished.

"If we’re taking this heap, you’d better clean it out, ‘cause I’m so not going anywhere dressed up in this mess!" They had arrived at the DeSoto and Buffy took in the empty bottles and wrappers in the back seat of the old car. "And I mean detailed too, buddy! This bucket better shine or the whole deal’s off."

Spike lifted an eyebrow and smirked at his Slayer. "I can do clean."

The drive to the cave was filled with companionable silence as each indulged in his or her own private fantasy of how Saturday was going to play out. Neither seemed to notice how quiet it was in the car.

The Mimblix’s mate was as easily dispatched as he had been. The two toddlers tied up in a small nook were returned to their homes, unharmed except for some nightmare worthy memories of the ‘bad lady that was going to eat us’. Spike and Buffy were treated as heroes by the relieved parents, who were only told that the children had been kidnapped by a deranged woman who was not a threat any longer.

Spike let Buffy off at her house and took the DeSoto to the underground garage where he stored it. He was already planning on spending the next day getting his chariot ready for his goddess to ride in.

~~~
~*~

Epilogue:

Buffy snuggled closer to the fully sated vampire at her side. She had never enjoyed a punishment more in her life! The date had been even better than her imaginings and her speculations on Spike’s muscles were proved inadequate as well.

They had eaten fresh seafood at a lovely restaurant that was actually on the beach and followed that up by dancing at a trendy little club until Buffy thought she couldn’t dance anymore. Spike was a perfect partner in looks and movement.

Spike had looked at Buffy in awed wonder when he had picked her up. She had opted for a sleek, violet slip dress in clingy silk. The deep vee neckline showed a respectable amount of cleavage and the small amethyst necklace that nestled there drew Spike’s eyes right to her assets. She hadn’t taken time to dress this well since she had started dating Riley. For some reason, Finn liked more casual dates like picnics and sporting events. She hadn’t gone out of her way to be elegant in ages.

The look on Spike’s face when he had seen her had been worth the effort. He looked a perfect partner for her too. Gone were the black jeans and boots, replaced with a suit that could easily have been from the pages of GQ. He was still in black, of course, but the shirt was a deep, deep blue that made his eyes look even more blue than usual. Buffy felt she could swim in them forever.

On the dance floor, they had drawn the eye of every other person in the club. Not just because they danced together as if they had been doing so their entire lives, but they looked so completely right together. Every move was instinctively in sync as their smoothly fitting bodies touched and dipped and glided across the dance floor.

The DeSoto had gleamed and sparkled. Spike had even removed the shoe polish from the windows since they weren’t going to be driving in daylight anyway. The old car finally looked like the classic Spike had always claimed it was.

Buffy had been the one to suggest Spike come in for a cup of tea when he took her home and gave her that promised goodnight kiss. Her mom was still at the hospital and Dawn was staying over at Janice’s for the night. Buffy wondered if she was going to have to remind Spike that she had laughed at him in the Santa costume to urge him to punish her further as he had promised he would do.

Buffy hadn’t been too sure of how far she wanted this date to go when it started, but as the evening continued she only wondered why she had been so blind for so long. All her insistence that her greatest desire was for a vanilla life with a normal guy went out the window with the first soul-melting kiss on her front porch. It was as if a light had suddenly turned on and she could see at last.

Maybe it wasn’t fair to Riley to do comparisons, but there really weren’t any in the long run. Spike wasn’t Riley; he wasn’t Angel either. He wasn’t like any man she had ever been with. She knew there would be rough waters ahead as her friends and family all would try to weigh in with an opinion about the mistake she was making by choosing the sexy vampire at her side, but being with Spike would be worth the headache. He was her perfect match.

Spike was in a daze. He had hoped to manage a nice long snogging session at the end of the date. He hadn’t counted on the Slayer taking it further. It had been her soft hand that had undone his belt and lowered his zipper. Her warm grasp that fondled him into near climax as her mouth teased his with kisses even hotter than the ones he remembered. It was that same hand that took his and led him upstairs to her room and helped undress him as well.

As he lay in the dark, Buffy cuddled in his arms as he gently caressed her arm and pressed kisses in her hair he vowed that this would not be a one-time thing. He’d be the man she needed at her side and prove himself in any way she demanded. He would wipe away all the pain of her past experiences with men and replace the memories with ones of wonder and delight. He could hear her heart beating for both of them and knew that when her heart finally came to a stop, he would be dust.

For this honor, he would wear any silly costume the lady demanded, accept any trial, fulfill any request, even try to make friends with her gang of annoying twits. He would gladly play the lover’s fool in the court of his queen.

There was a new year looming and a new beginning for them both to look forward to.

~fin





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