Two weeks past quickly and Buffy and Spike were together every night. They'd patrol and afterward, they'd do something Buffy thought of as distinctly date-like.
They went to the movies several times, they went to dinner, for long walks on the moonlit beach, they once went to a diner up the coast and tried every kind of dessert they had. They went to the mall and Buffy had a t-shirt made for him that was completely ridiculous, it was bright blue with bold letters that read: Buffy's Boyfriend surrounded by a possessive rubber stamp pattern.
To her surprise, he actually wore it. He had one made for her that read: And That's Mistress Bitch To You.
She wore it to the point where Willow had to steal it to wash it and secretly return it to the floor of their dorm room.
It was all so ridiculously sweet and she was so completely happy, she knew something bad was going to happen. But she pushed it out of her mind and went to Baskin Robbins to test out all 31 flavors.
* * *
When she first heard that her mother would be gone for Thanksgiving on a buying trip, she was crushed. They didn't have many traditions, but she figured her mother at least would be around.
But she decided to preserver. And then got very excited about hosting a Thanksgiving dinner of her own. Giles was less excited.
Mostly because she was planning to hold this big dinner at his apartment.
Buffy was not known for either cooking skills or hosting skills, but she was determined to make it special. It would be Spike's first Thanksgiving with her and damn it they would have turkey and pie!
Giles was completely baffled, “Why exactly does it have to be here? I've been told Spike and Tara have a perfectly functional, and much larger, kitchen in a house a good ten minutes away.”
“Because part of this is for them! This is going to be their first holiday with us and it has to be special! If it was at their house they'd feel obligated to help out and clean up and they wouldn't be guests, they'd be hosts!”
When Giles brought up her mother's perfectly functional, and much larger, kitchen a good fifteen minutes away, Buffy trialed off and went back to composing shopping lists.
* * *
Tara and Spike had been given directions to Giles apartment and they had brought wine and an apple crisp Tara had made that morning. They opted to walk because Tara liked to enjoy the new crispness to the air.
Spike could not appreciate the crispness properly because it meant that he would have to start surfing later in the day to allow time for the sun to heat up the water a bit. He had been complaining loudly about this for more than a week and Tara didn't even acknowledge it anymore. She inhaled deeply and took in the cooking smells from all the houses along the street.
“I guess this is the place,” Spike said suddenly, bringing them into a courtyard with the appropriate numbers on the gate.
* * *
Buffy and Willow had gone to the store for the third time that afternoon. Giles savored the silence, only broken occasionally by a groan from Xander on the couch and Anya's very loud and awkward attempts at comfort.
The boy had fallen ill after an accident on his new construction job. It was all very mysterious and required a lot of intense research. But Buffy was determined her dinner would go on.
The knock at the door made Giles jump. Great, the vampire was here.
He opened the door and stood a full three feet inside the entrance.
Spike and Tara gave him bit smiles and Spike held out the bottle of wine, “Hullo, Watcher. Your Slayer around?”
“Explain to me exactly why I should invite a soulless demon into my home?”
Tara and Spike's smiles dropped, “What?” Tara managed finally.
“Buffy seems very convinced that you've turned a new leaf. I haven't been given any information that would lead me to trust you with an open invitation to my house.” Giles crossed his arms over his chest, at last he would get some answers, even if they were by force, “I'd like you to prove to me why I should trust you.”
Spike's shoulders slumped and he felt very tired all of a sudden and had absolutely no desire to deal with this at all. He turned to Tara, “I want to go home.”
Tara blinked at him, “O.K.”
And they turned around and left.
* * *
Giles stared after them, a little stunned. He really had expected some response. He was always going to end up inviting the vampire in, he knew that, but he expected at least to have a few questions answered now that Buffy was away.
He closed the door and turned, Xander was staring up at him from the sofa, “You are so dead when Buffy and Willow get back, you know that, right?”
Giles felt a twinge of worry as his self-preservation kicked in, he cleared his throat, “Yes, well…” And he sort of trailed off and began cleaning his glasses.
* * *
Buffy and Willow burst into the apartment half and hour later, bag laden and full of smiles. They began unpacking the food and chattering about how good the dinner was going to be and how Spike and Tara were going to love it.
“I thought they'd be here by now.” Buffy remarked glancing at the clock.
Xander twisted around on the couch and looked over at Giles, who was staring into a glass of scotch as though it contained all the secrets of the universe, “That's your cue, G-man. Time to own up.”
Giles glowered at the sick young man who it seemed was taking great pleasure in his discomfort, “I though I'd asked you not to call me that.”
“O.K, fine. I'll tell them. BUFFY!”
“Xander do shut up! I'll tell them. It really isn't that big a deal. It's really just a silly little misunderstanding.”
Anya spoke up, “I don't think it's that hard to understand. They came over and you wouldn't invite Spike in. They went home because they didn't want to be here because you weren't being very nice.”
“What?” Buffy stood in the doorway, Willow behind her, both looking at first as though Anya had just announced he'd spent the morning kicking puppies, and then looking like Giles was a particularly nasty beetle that required squashing.
“Alright, so perhaps it wasn't very much of a misunderstanding.” Giles began cleaning his glasses again.
* * *
Spike and Tara were in the garden, drinking the iced blueberry tea, Tara had made and discussing what to do on their now plan less holiday.
Spike had suggested Thai take away and Tara insisted the only good place for that was in L.A, which brought up the idea of driving to L.A for an overnight vacation. Tara thought it might be time to have a bit of space from their significant others. After all, they hadn't mentioned Giles was opposed to idea of their respective relationships and she was feeling quite a bit put out on Spike's behalf.
And she needed a fresh supply of bath things from her favorite store. It couldn't hurt to hit two birds with one stone.
Spike missed Buffy and he really wished he could have been at her party because she'd been so excited about it. He wondered if she missed him. Or if she understood why Giles didn't want him around and was merrily cooking on without him there. That thought hurt. His mind skittered away from it and back on to Tara.
They just finalized plans when they were changed again. Buffy, Willow, and Anya showed up in the garden carrying grocery bags and supporting a very sick looking Xander.
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