The Slayer's Gift

  
 WRITTEN: 12/22/02
 SUMMARY: Some Christmas presents are just inherently better than others.  (Xmas fluff challenge)
 RATING: PG

A long-faced woman sat on the living room floor, picking at old Christmas decorations.  Her hair was down, cascading her shoulders, giving the impression of seasonal joviality.   Her face, however, did not.

“What’s up with you, Buffy?”  Dawn gazed at her sister with near contempt.  After every nasty thing they’d been through this year, and she couldn’t even show a little joy on Christmas.  How obnoxious was that?

Buffy continued to silently stare at the floor and finger the bows on a brightly wrapped present.

Dawn flopped down beside her.  “Come on, Buffy!  Lighten up.  It’s Christmas.  The gang will be here any minute.  Now, you don’t want them seeing that face, do you?  It might scare them away.  Then we’ll be stuck with all this gross eggnog.”  She forced a smile upon her face in a vain attempt to snap Buffy out of her funk.

The older sister just sighed.  “I can’t help it.  Something’s just not right.  Here we all are, basking in the glow of ‘warmth and love’, while so many of our friends and acquaintances are in danger.”  She sighed again.

Dawn couldn’t keep from replying.  “Can’t say as I feel much warmth in this room about now.”  She punched the elder lightly on the shoulder.  “Let’s go, Buff.  Stop moping.  Giles is here.  Xander and Willow are coming.  Even Clem will be here.  What more could you ask for?”

Buffy took in a breath in preparation to respond but was swiftly cut off by the opening of a door, and the roar of a herd of cattle, formerly known as the Scooby gang.  The air filled with greetings and salutations.  “How are you?”  “I love your hair.”  “Is that a new dress?”  “I can’t believe the traffic.”  “Where’s the nog?”  “Never again will I shop on Christmas Eve.”

But Buffy looked on at her friends with a definite feeling of detachment.

Her friends all noticed and traded whispers and looks.  They had a plan.  A plan to cheer up the Slayer.

Several hugs and a candy cane later, Buffy noticed an empty space in the room.  “Where did Xander go?  He’s not upstairs playing video games again, is he?”

A room full of friends attempted to avoid her gaze.  As if she wouldn’t even notice!  “Don’t give me that.  Where’s Xander?”

All eyes remained affixed to various non-Buffy locations.  Finally, Willow spoke.  “He wasn’t quite finished with his Christmas shopping.”

She was so very obviously lying, or at the very least telling a half-truth.

“Right.  And where is he going to shop at 2pm on Christmas day?”  By now the slayer was standing – making a very imposing figure even at only 5’3”.

Dawn rushed between the two.  Just then, the door flung open.

Standing in the doorway, his figure silhouetted by the winter sun, was Xander.  He carried in his strong arms a package wrapped in an old army blanket. 

Buffy’s eyes widened when she noticed a poof of white hair jutting out the top of the ratty cloth.  Spike.  It was Spike.  And Xander had rescued him.

“Merry Christmas, Buffy.”  Xander smiled his most endearing smile. "Secret mission...the reason we couldn't be with you last night.  I hope you don't mind."  The big oaf.  She just loved him to death sometimes.

He was unconscious and badly beaten, but her vampire still existed.  She spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning him up, but her guests certainly didn’t mind the absence of their hostess.  While glasses clinked and wrapping paper ripped, Buffy busied herself with her delicate package.

“Me?  You stayed alive because of me?”  Buffy smiled gracefully as she sponged his bloody body.

“Yeah.  That surprise you, Slayer?”  Spike tried his best to smirk, but found it far too painful.

“Not at all, Vampire.”  Buffy leaned in and gently kissed his forehead, making sure to avoid the damaged areas.

By evening, Buffy found Spike sufficiently cared for.  She pranced him down the stairs as an offering to the Christmas Gods.  This year turned out pretty well after all.  She had her friends, her family, and her…well, whatever Spike was, she had him.

Buffy set him up with a glass of sparkling blood and offered a toast.  “To great rescues.”  Her eyes caught Xander’s and his face lit up in acceptance of her silent thanks.

The Beginning