[Reviews - 14]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Microsoft Word Chapter or Story | ePub eBook Chapter or Story | Printer Chapter or Story

Has been viewed 2883 times

- Text Size +




Chapter 4


After a few restless hours of sleep, Buffy was startled awake by a small rock shattering her window. She was on her feet in seconds, stake at the ready, crawling towards the window to see who had thrown the missile. The sight below her almost made her laugh out loud.

Anya stood below the window grumbling to herself, a thick jacket thrown over her nightgown. She had glitter in her hair and shot deadly glances toward the window above her. Buffy immediately sneaked off downstairs and let the former vengeance demon in before she called in any favors.

“I’m not paying you. You should have been at the door like we planned,” Anya hissed as soon as she entered the kitchen. “It wasn’t supposed to break anyways. They never do in the movies.”

“It’s okay, Anya. We’ll figure it out,” Buffy sighed, not looking forward to the potential cost of replacing a window. “Let’s go wake Dawn.” When the two girls found their way to Dawn’s room they were greeted with a bright-eyed teenager fully dressed and ready to go.

“Come on, Buffy! Time to go,” she said impatiently, but smiled in excitement. Dawn couldn’t wait to do this. Her trap was set for the blondes and she would make sure Buffy stayed with Spike during the day and figured out how perfect they were for each other. She’d long ago given up on her crush when she saw how devoted Spike was to her sister. So she focused her energies on getting the pair to acknowledge how they felt for each other instead.

Buffy rolled her eyes and quickly slipped on the nightgown, allowing Dawn to tie the wide red ribbon around her waist. Anya had the crown ready to go and placed it on top of Buffy’s golden curls. When the lighter appeared in Anya’s hands, Buffy started second guessing the wisdom of the idea.

“Flammable Buffy! Careful,” she whispered harshly as Anya and Dawn went to light the candles on her head. “I knew this was a bad idea,” Buffy grumbled, mainly to herself, as she stood as still as possible.

Dawn shushed her, glaring, and finished lighting the last of her candles while Anya slipped downstairs to the kitchen for the coffee and treats. When everyone was set, they readied themselves and opened the door to the witches’ room. Buffy took the lead as Lucia, and Dawn and Anya followed behind. They entered singing, as per tradition, waking Willow and Tara with the smell of coffee and slightly off-key singing.

“So pretty,” Willow smiled widely at the trio, wrapping an arm around Tara. The two witches had decided to try and make their relationship work, at least over the holiday season, and Willow was banned from all things magical. When the girls finished the song and presented their treats, they were met with enthusiastic applause.

“Beautiful,” Tara said, biting into a saffron bun. Buffy immediately fussed over getting her candles blown out so she wouldn’t burn to death, much to the amusement of the rest of the women.

“There you are, you big baby,” Dawn said after extinguishing the candles. “So are you two gonna join us for Giles’ and Xander? You already know the songs,” Dawn asked the witches with a smile. Tara and Willow had participated in the practice, guessing that they would be asked to participate.

Sharing a look, Willow and Tara agreed and soon the small group were packed into Anya’s car heading to Giles’ place. Though the witches weren’t dressed the part, they grabbed a couple of spare candles and served as attendants like Dawn and Anya. After repeating the display at Giles’ apartment to much enthusiasm, they continued onto Anya and Xander’s place.

Xander had happily munched on the treats, declaring this was how he should be woken every day. Anya huffed at the comment, but snuggled onto Xander’s lap, whispering something in his ear the others didn’t want to overhear. At Xander’s nod, Anya declared that she had helped enough and now needed her ‘morning orgasms’. The remaining girls figured that signaled it was time to leave and head off to their last stop: Spike’s crypt.

Anya had graciously offered the use of her car for the remainder of the journey on the condition that Buffy didn’t drive. The group happily accepted, not wanting to be wandering around town in nightgowns in the early dawn. Willow drove as the rest packed into the small car and drove off in the early morning to the cemetery. For any other group this would seem ridiculous, but it was a day in the life of the Scooby gang.

As they neared Restfield cemetery and Spike’s crypt, Buffy felt her nerves begin to fire. She didn’t know why she was so nervous, it was only Spike after all. Aside from the fact that she was in a modest white nightgown and wearing a wreath of candles on her head, she still fretted over how Spike would react. Would he laugh at her? She wasn’t sure she could handle his rejection. Buffy chose not to examine her last thought too closely.

“Ready?” Dawn whispered as the girls made their way out of the car.

“How do you even know he’ll be here? It’s still dark,” Buffy whispered back at Dawn.

“You know he’ll be here. He’s basically keeping human hours these days anyways,” Dawn answered flippantly, not hinting at her earlier intervention.

They reached the crypt in silence, Buffy’s heart galloping wildly in her chest. Dawn shot her sister a look and saw her panicked expression. Smiling inwardly, Dawn knew her plan would work. Buffy was totally into Spike, all she needed was a nudge in his direction. Well, maybe a strong shove. She indicated that Buffy should put the crown on so they could light the candles again. Dawn straightened the crown on Buffy’s head and adjusted the red ribbon around her waist. Giving her sister the thumbs up sign, Dawn opened the door to Spike’s crypt quietly.

Buffy took a deep breath to calm her raging heart and stepped purposefully through the open door, determined to do her best.





You must login (register) to review.