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Content/Spolier Warnings: Mentions events in "Amends" but nothing major.
Author's Notes: I'm pretending that the events of Spike/Buffy's relationship didn't happen, i.e. Crush, Tabula Rasa, and especially Smashed. Spike doesn't love Buffy in this world, they're just friends. :)
“Don’t you love the smell of Christmas?” Buffy Summers asked her sister Dawn as they walked along downtown, Christmas shopping. Both had a cup of hot chocolate in their hands, courtesy of the Espresso Pump.
“Yup, all the pine and cinnamon….and snow!” Dawn replied.
Buffy gave a sideways glance towards her sister, raising her eyebrows and quirking her lip.
“Yeah, because we get a lot of that here in good ol Sunnyhell. Boca de Inferno. Inferno associated with hot!” she laughed.
“Hey, I can dream! It did snow once. You remember. Angel was still here. The sun didn’t rise. I made snowmen. Well…I guess I didn’t...but you know what I mean.” Dawn said wistfully.
“That was a long time ago, Dawnie. Let’s not dwell on the past. I have a surprise for you!” Buffy told her sister.
“It wouldn’t be that totally cool sweater from the Gap I told you about, would it?” Dawn’s eyes lit up.
“Nope! Better!” Buffy grinned. “I invited all of the Scoobs to our house for Christmas dinner. Angel, Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn and Fred are coming down from L.A. on Christmas Eve to eat dinner with us then, too!”
Dawn let out a squeal, and tossed her empty hot cocoa cup into the nearest bin, throwing her arms around Buffy. Her older sister laughed and returned the sign of affection.
*December 24, 20001*
Buffy shoved the asparagus casserole back into the oven, flipped on the timer for five more minutes, and then stood up to wipe the sweat from her brow. After the disaster a couple Thanksgivings ago, she was amazed she’d actually step into a kitchen again, let alone to cook.
Buffy glanced around her, analyzing the food that was already done. The lemon-pepper chicken was already cut and on the platter, surrounded by a neat spray of parsley. Her sweet potato casserole was on a cooling rack by the sink, it’s aroma filling the entire kitchen with a sweet, tangy scent. Mashed potatoes were done and the gravy was, too.
With a smile, she checked the French Silk pie, lying in the fridge, and the rolls in the microwave. The timer went off for the casserole, and she pulled it out, moving the sweet potatoes and setting the casserole there.
Her heart leapt in her throat when the doorbell rang. The Angel Investigations crew was here.
“Dawn! Is the tree ready?” she shouted.
“Check! All lighted up and pretty!” Dawn called from the living room. “Want me to get the door?”
“Nope! I’m here.” Buffy said from the foyer, opening the door with a smile.
The door swung open to reveal five smiling faces, hands full of presents, overnight bags, and food.
“Hi you guys! Merry Christmas Eve!” Buffy laughed. “Come on in!”
“Wow, you’re house hasn’t changed a bit!” Cordelia exclaimed, looking around the familiar setting.
“But the people sure have.” Angel smiled at Dawn. “Look how tall you are!”
“Yeah, yeah. Shot up like a weed, Mom said.” Dawn chuckled.
“Dawn, why don’t you help Gunn and Wesley carry up the bags? I figured that Dawn and I would share my bed, and two could take my mom’s bed, and two could take Dawn’s room. One on the floor and one on the bed. And somebody can have the pullout couch.” Buffy said.
“I’ll take it.” Angel volunteered as he gathered up all the presents that they had brought. “Now lead me to the tree!”
Buffy took on that task, after telling Cordy and Fred to take the food they brought and find somewhere to put it until tomorrow.
Angel and Buffy stepped toward the Christmas tree, and Angel set all of the gifts around it. He stepped back to admire his handiwork.
“Just like Martha!” Buffy quipped.
“Martha?” Angel asked.
“Martha Stewart. Knows all, makes all.” Buffy told him.
“Oh. Well. Thanks for having us! It’ll be good to see everyone again.” Angel told her.
“No problem, I really wanted to spend a good Christmas with everyone I love!” Buffy said, and they started walking towards the kitchen, from which they could hear Fred and Cordelia commenting on the food.
Buffy stopped one time and turned to look at the tree. Angel leaned against the doorframe beside her, also looking at the beautiful tree. They had gone with a gold theme this year, with white lights and a lot of gold beads and tinsel and ribbons. Atop the tree was the angel. Buffy had a heck of a time getting that thing up there because she and Dawn were both rather short.
She broke out of her trance when she heard Angel chuckling softly beside her.
“What?” she asked.
She followed his glance upwards, and her eyes landed on the mistletoe attached to the doorframe directly above them.
Buffy also laughed, and placed her hands on his cheeks, bringing his lips to her own for a soft, sweet kiss.
“I miss that.” Buffy said when the kiss had ended.
“Me, too. Maybe we should do it more often.” Angel said, smiling.
“I like the sound of that.” Buffy grinned and pecked him on the mouth before returning to the kitchen with Angel right behind her.
Minutes later, everyone was seated at the Summer’s dining room table, laughing and talking over the surprisingly good meal Buffy had prepared. Angel didn’t eat, although he did drink contently on the mug of blood Buffy had warmed for him. Cordelia had offered to sprinkle cinnamon in it.
“’Tis the season!” she had said merrily.
“Maybe next time.” Angel had laughed at her pout, and laughed louder when she walked mumbling,“Scrooge.”
Now as Angel looked around him at his crew and his love, along with her little sister, he knew he was happy. And definitely not a scrooge.
After dessert, Buffy made everyone hot cocoa, and around ten or so, made Dawn go to bed.
Dawn had rolled her eyes, but kissed everyone on the cheek and headed upstairs. She was now old enough to realize that the sooner she went to bed, the sooner she could wake up and get presents.
The adults stayed up a while and talked about the usual, interesting demons, family, friends and such, and pretty soon everyone was yawning.
“I think I’ll go to bed now, if you don’t mind. It’ getting a little late.” Fred told everyone.
“I also believe I’ll retire. Thank you for dinner, Buffy. It was wonderful.” Wesley barely got the last word out before it turned into a yawn.
Buffy smiled and waved goodnight.
“Got to get my beauty rest! Can’t look horrible when I see the rest of the gang again.” Cordelia smiled, and gave Buffy a short hug before racing upstairs to her bed.
“Guess I’m gone, too. And I’m with English, dinner was good. Haven’t had home cooking in a long time!” Gunn grinned before he turned and went upstairs.
Buffy stood up and stretched, and then looked at Angel.
“Want to help me set out Dawn’s presents before I go to bed?” she asked the vampire.
“Sure, I’ll go grab them, where are they?” he replied.
“Downstairs in the basement. Two cardboard boxes labeled ‘kitchen repair parts’. I hid the stocking stuffers above the fridge, so I’ll get those.” The Slayer answered.
Angel was puzzled at the label, but he didn’t ask any questions. He found the two boxes and walked back up the stairs and into the living room.
Buffy sat on the floor, surrounded by seven stockings, each with a red bottom and a white top. Every stocking was labeled with the name of everyone here.
“You didn’t have to get us stockings!” Angel said, his heart touched by the simple gesture.
“Well, the stockings are my favorite part and I didn’t want you to miss out!” Buffy said. She then patted the spot beside her and said,
“Help me stuff.”
Angel watched her for a moment to see what he was supposed to do, and then picked up the Gunn’s stocking. He put in an assortment of green, red, gold, and silver wrapped Hershey’s candies, and apple and orange, some candy canes, and a stake. There was also a pack of Ninja Turtle band-aids that had been set beside it.
“What?” Buffy asked when Angel raised his eyebrows at the band-aids. “I got everyone a box. You know, symbolism sort of,” she laughed.
He got the picture when she held up Angel’s box of band-aids, all of which contained the character “Count” from Sesame Street.
They organized dawn’s presents on a chair that Buffy had brought in from the dining room and sat next to the tree.
A collection of books by her favorite author, a bag of Clinique make-up, the sweater she had wanted from Gap, and pair of Old Navy pajamas, a couple of new outfits, some bottles of nail polish, and 4 tickets to Dawn’s favorite local band’s next show were arranged prettily on and around the chair.
Buffy helped Angel pull out and then make up his couch bed, and then she announced that she was heading off to bed, seeing as it was ten minutes to twelve.
“Wait.” Angel said softly. “I have a present for you, but I don’t want to give it in front of everyone else.”
Buffy was puzzled, but she allowed her self to be pulled toward the tree, where Angel reached under and grabbed a small box. He handed it to her, and she looked into his eyes and smiled before opening it.
She carefully took of the wrapping to reveal a blue velvet jewelry box. She slowly opened the box, and gasped in surprise.
Inside lay a familiar silver ring. It shined up at her, sparkling in the golden glow of the Christmas tree. She looked up at Angel, tears brimming in he eyes.
“Angel. This is…too much for words.” She chuckled through her tears.
Angel smiled softly and took the ring out of the box before placing it on her finger.
“Be my girl?” he asked softly, a hint of amusement showing through the love expressed on his face.
“Always.” Buffy smiled, reaching up to kiss him just as the clock struck twelve.
“Merry Christmas, baby.” Angel said softly.
“Merry Christmas.” Buffy replied.
*December 25, 2001*
Buffy woke up to a squeal and the smell of freshly brewed coffee. She glanced beside her to note that Dawn was not there. She processed that information and used it to assume that Dawn had made the squeal when she had seen her gifts.
Glancing at the clock, she read that it was about 8:30.
^At least she didn’t wake me up at the crack of dawn this time,^ Buffy thought wryly.
She wrapped her robe around her, and walked out into the hall. Before descending the steps, she peeked into everyone’s room to see who was still asleep. Apparently she was the last one up, unless they all decided to sleep in the closet or bathroom.
Buffy walked into the kitchen, and saw Cordelia standing in front of the stove, cutting into something that both look and smelled delicious.
“Morning!” Cordelia said cheerfully. “Merry Christmas! I made this before we left yesterday and popped it into the oven this morning. It’s a sausage, egg and cheese breakfast casserole. Want some?”
“Yum. Yes, please.” Buffy said, grabbing a mug and filling it with coffee.
“Everyone else is eating in the living room. Hope you don’t mind. We all wanted to be with Dawn as she looked at her gifts, and then we were going to watch the Christmas parade until you woke up to look in stockings with us!” Cordelia said, handing her a plate and flashing a smile.
The women walked into the living room and Angel made a place on the couch for Buffy to sit down. When everyone was finished eating, and remarking about Dawn’s gifts, they opened the stockings.
Everyone got a kick out of the stockings, especially the band-aids. They were watching the parade and commenting on the floats when the phone rang. It was Xander, calling to tell them that the gang planned on coming around three o’clock, and to remind Buffy that he and Anya covered dessert, and Wills and Tara covered the side dishes, so all Buffy had to worry about was meat and bread.
After hanging up with Xander, Buffy turned to everyone so they could divide up shower time and food preparations.
As Xander said, everyone arrived at three, including Spike, via large umbrella, and Giles, via International Airlines.
The group exchanged greetings, hugs, and kisses. The noise was merry and loud. Buffy turned on some Christmas music and handed out eggnog to everyone, and they all settled around the living room to talk while Willow and Buffy set up the dining room and made last minute food preparations.
“It’s nice. Having everyone here. Almost like we’re normal people having a normal Christmas. Even though I’m, well, Jewish and all. ” Willow said thoughtfully as she and Buffy arranged chairs to fit more people.
“Yeah. Except our Christmas group contains two vampires, two witches, an ex-demon, an ex-Watcher, a girl who gets visions from the PTB, a rogue demon hunter, and a Slayer.” Buffy laughed.
The table was set, and the Slayer and the witch called everyone to the table.
“I wish I had a cow bell.” Buffy quipped, and Willow laughed.
The dinner was huge. It was tasty, too. Even Spike was halfway polite, probably because every time he said something indecent, Buffy gave a nice hard kick to his shin under the table. The conversation drifted from music, to TV, to people, even to holiday traditions, but never once to anything supernatural.
After dinner and dessert, the L.A. gang helped the Sunnydale Gang in clean up, and then off they went to the living room, yet again, but this time for presents.
Everyone had agreed weeks earlier to do the Secret Santa thing, so that no one would go into serious debt getting a gift for everyone.
Buffy had been Cordelia’s Secret Santa, and she watched nervously as Cordelia opened the small gift. When Cordelia let out a shriek of happiness, Buffy knew she had given her the right thing. It was a bottle of Cordelia’s favorite perfume. Angel had recently told Buffy that Cordy had run out, and was depressed because she couldn’t afford another bottle of the expensive French scent.
“Glad you like it!” Buffy grinned. “I was worried.”
“You got this! Oh, Buffy, thank you! Thank you, thank you!” Cordy said breathlessly, throwing her arms around the petite blonde.
Before everyone knew it, it was nine o’clock. Wrapping paper, bows, and tape were cleaned up, and mugs drained of their hot apple cider were put into the dishwasher. Everyone pulled on their coats and walked outside into the frosty weather. For southern Cal, it was pretty cold this year.
The houses on the neighborhood had all been decorated with lights, even the Summer’s house, thanks to Spike. He had helped the Slayer one evening a couple weeks back.
Buffy was suddenly very thankful for being able to be surrounded by all the people she loved. She knew that it was rare for a Slayer to live so long, and that she was literally gifted with life. She knew how very lucky she was to be here today with these people.
A song struck her, and she softly began singing the words.
^Deck the halls with boughs of holly Fa la la la la la la la la 'Tis the season to be jolly, Fa la la la la la la la la^
She felt Angel’s arm being wrapped around her shoulder, and Dawn took a hold of her hand on the other side. Pretty soon everyone had joined in, standing on the front lawn on the Summer’s home, some how coming in contact with the person beside them, whether it be an arm around the shoulder, holding hands, or locking arms, singing and looking at the brightly lit house in front of them.
^Don we now our gay apparel, Fa la la la la la la la la Troll the ancient Yuletide carol, Fa la la la la la la la la.^
^Fast away the old year passes, Fa la la la la la la la la Hail the new, ye lads and lasses, Fa la la la la la la la la Sing we joyous all together, Fa la la la la la la la la Heedless of the wind and weather, Fa la la la la la la la la.^
“Merry Christmas!” Buffy said softy, squeezing Dawn’s hand and drawing Angel closer. “Merry, Merry Christmas.”
