SUMMARY: It's that sad time of year. The Slayer and her Angel mope. That's about it.
SPOILER: IWRY - Something Blue, Hero, Hush and Parting Gifts never happened
DISTRIBUTION: My site. Anyone else - sure, just email me & lmk where it's going - I like seeing my name in print =)
FEEDBACK: Please, I'd hate to have to Slay for it. =P
RATING: TV-PG
DISCLAIMER: I don't own these characters, Joss Whedon does. If he ever decides to give them to me, that would be nice. =) Winter's Tale belongs to someone...don't know who, sorry.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This isn't fluff, but I sent it anyways.

Buffy had been getting mail all week. Christmas presents and cards and the annual fruitcake from her father's Aunt Mildred. She went through the pile of Christmas cards Tuesday night, sending cards in return to the people she really cared about. Her mother's work colleagues and friends would just have to wait until the new year when Joyce returned from Chicago to hear what she wasn't doing and who she wasn't dating.

She'd gotten cards and gifts from all her friends, too. Giles got her a thesaurus, not surprisingly. Willow got her a beautiful pale purple sweater with a dragonfly design embroidered on one side. Xander bought her a Backstreet Boys journal and pen and Anya got her a makeup kit. "These things can do wonders if you just use the correct colours." she added when giving her the gift.

Riley had given her cookies he'd baked himself, cookies that Buffy threw out the minute he was out of her eyesight. She didn't wanna be within fifty feet of anything he'd baked.

Even Cordelia had sent her a present. A beautiful lapis power bracelet. The tag said the stone represented luck, something Buffy badly needed.

She hadn't taken it off since she'd gotten it, but here she was, almost Christmas, and no gift from Angel.

She had sent him one anyway, and she hoped he'd already gotten it and that he was enjoying it.

She hoped he'd call her, say that he still loved her, that there would be a time for them, that it just wasn't now.

She hoped for anything other than the silence.

*****************************************

Angel kept rereading the card Buffy had sent him. It wasn't overly romantic, but it was special and it was sweet of her. The coffee cup she'd gotten him had a picture of everyone on the steps of Sunnydale High a few days before graduation. Willow had taken it with her timer camera, one memory of all the moments they'd shared there. Angel often looked at the picture and only saw Buffy there, only saw her blue eyes, her sweet smile, her blonde hair.

God, he missed her.

Everything about her, he wanted it back. Her visit in November had been short, but it was long enough for him to remember why he loved her so much and why he gave his happiness up for her future.

Angel knew there wasn't any way Buffy would ever remember what they shared, and he was thankful for that. He knew she wouldn't be able to handle knowing what they'd had and lost. He was barely handling it.

He looked at the gift he'd bought her, still wrapped up and ready to be mailed, sitting on his desk. It was a pair of crystal earrings, delicate hearts with tiny crosses hanging from them. He wanted her to have them, though he wasn't sure he would ever send them.

Sighing, he thought about everything he'd lost over the past year and how a new year would soon be starting.

A new year with all the same heartache 1999 had brought, and probably more.

****************************************

Cordelia had tried. She'd tried to get Buffy to call Angel. She'd tried to get Angel to call Buffy. She'd failed.

Sitting in her apartment on Christmas Eve, she watched as Dennis made the lights and garland dance around the room. She listened half heartedly to Christmas music and wished she could make her friends get back together, or at least be civil.

**********************************************

"Merry Christmas." Buffy answered her phone with fake sleepiness. It was two a.m. Who would call at two a.m.?

"I love you Buffy." and then the line went dead.

"Merry Christmas, Angel." Buffy said before hanging up and finally falling asleep.

The nights are colder now
maybe I should close the door
And anyway the snow has covered all your footsteps
And I can follow you no more

The fire still burns at night
My memories are warm and clear
But everybody knows its hard to be alone
At this time of year

It was only a winter's tale
Just another winter's tale
And why should the world take notice
Of one more love that's failed?

A love that can never be
Though it meant a lot to you and me
On a worldwide scale
We're just another winter's tale

While I stand alone
A bell is ringing far away
I wonder if you here
I wonder if you're listening
I wonder where you are today

Good luck, I wish you well
For all that wishes may be worth
I hope that love and strength
Are with you for the length
Of your time on Earth

It was only a winter's tale
Just another winter's tale
And why should the world take notice
Of one more love that's failed?

It's a love that can never be
Though it meant a lot to you and me
On a worldwide scale
We're just another winter's tale\\

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