Ninth in "The Road Less Traveled" Series Much thanks to Sara-Lee for her title. :) Thanks again!
Disclaimer: Not mine, but I'd gladly take any of them!
Spoilers: The other eight in this series, and I start including some Season Five ideas… So don't read it unless you've seen some of Season Five
Summary: It's been a year since Buffy and Angel have gotten back together, and the gang gets together to celebrate Christmas (and Chanukah). Read and find out the rest…
Distribution: If you have any of my others, go ahead and take this series. If you don't and you want it, send me your site and I'll probably say go for it.
Feedback: Since this is probably the second to last in this series, it's required. I want to know what you think, what's good, what's bad, what needs to be changed… Be blunt, just tell me!
Rating: PG—13 (It's got a happy ending!!) (And I barely ever swear!)

Buffy smiled as her friends entered the mansion, all dressed in their winter warmest. "Merry Christmas everyone!"

Willow raised an eyebrow.

Buffy grinned. "You should have a good day too, Will. Now come on in."

Willow, Xander, Oz, and Anya entered now, loaded down with Christmas gifts for their Christmas eve party. "When's Dead Boy getting here?" Xander questioned cheerily, as he set his pile of gifts down by the tree in the center of the mansion.

"Don't call me that."

Xander dropped a package as he whirled around, only to find Angel standing in the doorway. "Geez! Wear a bell, would ya!"

"Bloody hell, Slayer," Spike said, following his sire in. "You didn't say he'd be here."

"It is his house," Buffy said, rolling her eyes. She smirked at Angel and stepped over to the doorway, pushing Angel back a little. He looked at her in confusion when she grabbed his shoulders, stopping him. "What-?"

She grinned and kissed him, a rather deep kiss that made their friends exchange looks. After a long moment, they broke a part. "Not that I mind, but what brought that on?" Angel questioned, peering at his girlfriend curiously.

She grinned and pointed up. He followed her finger. A piece of mistletoe hung from the light fixture above them. He smiled in amusement.

"Now that you've gotten your daily dose of PDA's out of the way, do you mind moving? There may not be snow, but it's cold out."

Buffy smiled at Cordelia as the brunette pushed her way past Angel, with Wesley and Doyle following. "Merry Christmas to you too."

"I don't have to be nice yet. Christmas isn't until tomorrow."

Doyle grinned. "That and she's already seen a couple of gifts with her name on `em so she knows she's getting some."

"Everyone's here now." Buffy said happily. "Giles and mom are in the kitchen," she glanced towards the room. "Or not."

Sure enough, Giles and Joyce came out, Giles loaded down with a tray of steaming cups of hot chocolate on it, and Joyce carrying Kathy. Dawn followed, carrying a tray of cookies. Joyce had volunteered to do the Christmas dinner, and the rest of that stuff.

"Marshmallows?" Spike questioned hopefully.

Angel frowned at him. "You're over a hundred years old, and you still go crazy over marshmallows." Joyce handed Kathy to him, and the vampire smiled down at his daughter. She yawned a little, and her little fingers twitched.

"What can I say?" Spike said, grinning. "I know what I like. Lemme see the brat." He ordered, looking at Kathy with a smile on his face. She was a cute little bugger, even if she was Angel's child.

Dawn smiled at her niece as Angel ignored Spike. "I like marshmallows too," she said, looking at Spike.

Angel rolled his eyes, and Joyce began passing out cocoa. "I've also got a bottle of wine if you'd like," she said, glancing at the two vampires and Giles.

"What kind?" Spike questioned, then took a drink from the cocoa.

"It's a Merlot wine," Joyce answered. "Not the best, but pretty good."

"I'll have one, and so will Soul Boy," Spike said. Angel looked up from Kathy, wondering what he'd missed. His daughter and Buffy could always capture his attention, and they usually made him oblivious to everything else.

"I will too," Giles decided.

Joyce smiled. "Good. I hate to drink alone, and it's Christmas Eve tradition."

She disappeared into the kitchen for a while. Buffy sighed. "God, I'm twenty years old and a mother and she knows we aren't going anywhere, but God forbid she lets us have any."

"As far as I know, you're getting plenty," Spike said, smirking, looking first at Angel and Kathy then back to Buffy.

Dawn groaned. "Great. More sex talk. I told you someone would bring up sex within the first five minutes."

Buffy tossed a pillow at Dawn, and sent an amused look at Spike. "Quiet, vamp boy."

Spike rolled his eyes as Joyce came out, carrying four glasses, a corkscrew, and a bottle. Giles took the bottle and the corkscrew and struggled with it for a moment. Angel took it from it and opened it easily, even with Kathy in his arms, and with a loud pop. Joyce smiled tersely at him and took the bottle, pouring some for each of them.

Buffy sighed and sat on the couch next to Angel and her daughter, and Xander and Anya sat next to them.

"Don't get too comfy," Joyce warned. "We have to decorate the tree. Is everyone staying the night?" she questioned, looking at the assembled group.

"Yes, mom, I told you earlier they were," Buffy reminded her mother. She looked at the rest of them. "It's tradition that whoever's here has to help decorate."

"Oh joy," Angel muttered.

Buffy elbowed him, smiling. "Be quiet or I'll make you string popcorn."

"And horrors," Angel added, rolling his eyes.

Buffy stood up again, and went over to the boxes with the ornaments. She took the lid off. "Let's get started."

"Lights go on first," Joyce reminded her, gesturing towards a box. "White lights or colored?"

"White." Buffy decided.

"Okay," Joyce said. "Good. Spike, Angel, Doyle, Oz, and Xander, you start putting up the lights. Cordelia, you supervise. Anya, Willow, you and Dawn and Buffy start stringing popcorn." She moved over near Angel. "I'll baby-sit Kathy."

"Huh?!" Dawn said indignantly.

"What?" Buffy demanded. "Why me? I'm too strong. I try to do it but I break all the little popcorn things. And a child that young needs her mother." She added after another moment.

Joyce shook her head. "I can still take back all your gifts."

"Try it and I'll go Slayer on you," Buffy grumbled. She sighed. "Come on, the sooner we start, the sooner it's over."

The guys all stood up, and soon they were putting lights around the tree, and Buffy, Willow, and Anya were stringing popcorn. Joyce and Giles were watching, arguing that they were too old to do anything but direct in Willow's place.

"What do you normally do for Christmas?" Buffy questioned, not looking up at anyone.

"I usually spend the night outside," Xander answered cheerfully. "Avoiding Uncle Rory and his drunken binge." He took the string of lights from Oz and carefully placed it on the tree, then passed it to Spike. "How `bout you Oz?"

"I usually spent the night in my house," the werewolf answered. "Except last year, which I spent in a cage."

Joyce winced. Dawn looked at him, confused. "What?!"

"Werewolf thing," he reminded them.

"Oh yeah," Dawn said, rolling her eyes. "What'd you do after that?"

"We'd go to church at night, then Christmas morning, we'd open gifts."

"How `bout you, Doyle?" Buffy glared at an offending piece of popcorn, then threw it at her mother. "You should be doing this too, you know."

Joyce raised an eyebrow. "I've done it for almost forty years." She threw the popcorn back at her oldest daughter.

Buffy made a face at her. "Anyway, Doyle, what'd you do?"

"Well, we'd usually spend Christmas night at my Da's side, then the day at my Mum's. We'd open gifts, then we'd spend the day playing with the toys." Doyle grinned rakishly. "'Course, I was always mum's favorite, so I got the best."

Angel smirked. "Not according to what she said last time we talked. She said something about you were a real bas-" he glanced at Dawn and amended his words. "Brat."

Doyle sighed, amused. "I'm gonna have to talk with her." He looked to his girlfriend. "What `bout you, Delia?"

Cordelia grimaced as she shoved a pin through her piece of popcorn. "My family usually spent the week of Christmas somewhere skiing. Of course, last year I spent them trying to keep Angel occupied."

"You did a good job of it," Angel said, sending her an amused look.

Cordelia snorted. "Yeah, but I nearly went crazy when you brooded too much for my tastes."

Angel rolled his eyes. "You didn't have to stay."

"What'd you do, Giles?"

"When I was younger, we went to church on Christmas eve." The former Watcher answered. "Then Christmas morning we'd open gifts, and I'd spend the day playing with them and some of my family." He sighed. "When I got older, I was never home, so I spent the days with friends."

"Getting drunk," Buffy finished, rolling her eyes. "How `bout you Spike?"

The vampire smirked. "I spent most of the time composing bloody poetry."

Willow grinned. "That's funny. I'd never picture you as a poet."

"Believe me," Angel said, smirking. "He wasn't. He was a bigger dork than Xander. And you can't call what he did poetry."

"Hey!" Xander and Spike exclaimed at the same time. Spike scowled. "I'll bloody well admit what I wrote wasn't… great. But it still got me girls."

Angel smirked again. "Who?"

Spike looked indignant as he struggled for an answer. Finally, he brightened. "Dru!"

Angel raised an eyebrow. "And if you'll remember, she was certifiably insane."

Buffy grinned. "What'd you do, Angel?" she questioned. She sat back in the chair. "Finally, I'm done!"

Joyce glanced at the pile of popcorn strings. "That's probably enough there."

The girls all looked relieved. Xander stepped back to look at the tree. "We're done too."

"Took you long enough," Buffy teased as Angel joined her. He picked her up, sat down in her spot, then set her in his lap. And somehow he managed to do it without looking funny.

"We just wanted to avoid popcorn duty." Xander said, smirking.

Joyce smiled. "You did well with that, but you need to start putting up the ornaments now."

The gang all let out exaggerated sighs, and they began hooking ornaments. "Wait," Buffy said, hurrying over to the tree. "This one goes on first." She held up an little ornament of a girl in a pink dress and halo, then hung it in the front of the tree, at eyelevel.

Anya scowled at them all. "I don't like this. This whole… holiday thing is just weird. And popcorn is for eating, not to put on Christmas trees."

"It's a holiday thing," Xander said patiently. "It's tradition here." He hung up a little gold bell.

"Normal people would know that," Dawn said, tossing her head. She may have grown out of her crush on Xander, but she still didn't like Anya.

Joyce frowned at her. "Dawn, be nice."

Buffy looked at her lover again, who she knew was hoping to be ignored. "What'd you do when you were little?" she asked again.

He gave her a look, but sighed and prepared to answer. "We didn't really do much Christmas Eve, except hang up stockings. But in the morning, we'd empty those out. We didn't have all the rest of the big gifts like you do. After that, my mother and aunt and the servant would go and start cooking dinner. My father and uncle would go try to find the nearest child to yell at, and I'd take my cousin out for a sleigh ride."

"What do you mean, about your father?" Buffy questioned.

Angel looked over to the half-decorated tree. "He wasn't exactly pleased with me, ever. And my uncle was just as bad. When my sister Kathy got older, I'd take her with us sometimes, just so she could get away from him. When we got back, we'd go in, eat dinner, and then do chores."

Spike grinned. "Was it just you and your cousin at the time?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

Angel looked at him, silently promising that there'd be hell to pay later on. "Of course not. We'd take whoever we could find."

"Usually some slutty girl, I'm sure," Buffy said, not bothering to hide her jealousy.

Angel grinned slightly at his girlfriend. "Not all of them were slutty." She raised an eyebrow. "Just most."

"And all well aware of Angel's reputation, I'm sure." Spike smirked. "Your dear Angel, from what I heard from Darla, was quite the ladies man."

Dawn looked at him. "You had a reputation? That's so cool."

"Oh yeah." Buffy said unhappily. "That's real cool."

"Yeah, he was a popular lad," Spike continued, smirking at his sire.

Willow smiled as she hung up a big red bulb with Joyce written on it. "I can't really picture you then, Angel, you know, with a reputation. It's just not right."

Angel shrugged. "It was two hundred years ago. I've changed a lot."

"I hope so," Joyce muttered, as she handed Kathy to Buffy and stood up. "I'm going to get some more cookies."

Buffy smiled at her daughter, and dug through a box of Christmas ornaments for a moment. She smiled triumphantly, then pulled out an ugly looking elf.

Angel sat next to her on the couch and pulled her into his arms, baby and all. "Merry Christmas baby," he murmured, and they exchanged a brief kiss.

Dawn sighed. "Mom, they're not helping!"

Joyce came out of the kitchen again, just after Buffy and Angel pulled apart. Buffy smiled at her mom, smirked at her sister, and then looked at Kathy again, showing her the elf ornament. The baby didn't seem to notice it, and she just whimpered a little and shifted, trying to get back to sleep.

"Is that really going on the tree?" Willow questioned, making a face.

"Uh-huh. Front and center." Buffy smiled. "It's old. From my grandma. Then she gave it to mom, mom gave it to me, and when Kathy is old enough not to want to chew on it, I'll give it to her."

Joyce smiled. "As ugly as it is, it's got sentimental value." She took it from Buffy and hung it next to the pink angel.

Dawn frowned at it. "Why don't I ever get it?"

"You want it?" Cordelia questioned. She sighed. "I hope Kathy got your mother's taste in fashion and everything. Otherwise, she's in trouble." She looked at Angel, Buffy and Dawn. "I mean, we have Mr. All-I-like-is-black, and then we have Buffy. I won't even start with her. And Dawn." She sighed. "I swear, that poor child is in deep trouble."

Kathy yawned again and Buffy shifted her in her arms. No one bothered to argue with Cordelia, knowing from past experience that she'd never give up.

Joyce smiled a little. "Come on you two," she said, looking to Buffy and Angel, who were more interested in their child and each other than anything else. "Back to work."

"You wanna hold her?" Buffy questioned, looking at Angel.

"Go ahead." He said magnanimously. She flashed him a smile and he stood up, rejoining the others in putting up ornaments.

"We should go sing Christmas carols after this," Willow said. "I've always wanted to, but, you know, being Jewish and all." She smiled. "It doesn't happen."

"Oh yes." Spike muttered. "Let's go out into the night where the bloody friggin' vampires can kill us all." He frowned. "Actually, they wouldn't kill me. And possibly not Soul Boy. They'd probably torture you all first, so maybe that's not such a bad idea after all." He smirked at his sire. "Although, I really don't want to hear him singing."

"Shut up Spike," Buffy said pleasantly. "I'm sure Angel sings just fine." She frowned at her lover. "Right? Or is our daughter screwed on both counts?"

Angel shrugged and took his daughter from her. "Sorry love, but she's never gonna make the choir."

Dawn moved to sit on the couch. "Can I hold her?"

Angel handed her over to Dawn as the younger girl got comfortable and got a pillow to help keep her head in the proper position.

"Your father used to be able to sing pretty well," Joyce said, frowning as she began putting hooks on the ornaments. "But somehow, I doubt that anyone else in this family ever will."

"Especially with Soul Boy added to the mix," Spike muttered.

"I can sing better than you can write poetry, William the Bloody," Angel taunted, smirking at his child. He glanced at the rest of the group. "He had that name before he was changed. Due to his bloody awful poetry."

Spike scowled as the rest of the group laughed. "I'll have you know I happen to be a very good poet nowadays."

Angel raised an eyebrow. "According to who?"

Spike smirked. "A bunch of women."

Angel rolled his eyes. For the moment, he'd let Spike have his delusions.

It was Christmas after all.

*

Dinner that night was huge. There was a ham, roast beef, mashed potatoes, cookies, candies, cakes… everything.

After dinner, everyone was allowed to open one gift. The only stipulation was that it couldn't be from their significant other or a family member.

And after that, Dawn was sent to bed, and Buffy put Kathy down.

After a few more hours, the rest went to bed.

And Santa came during the middle of the night, when everyone was asleep.

*

Angel woke up slowly, and felt something warm on his face. A little foggy from sleep still, he opened his eyes.

The sun shone down on him and Buffy. It didn't burn him. Slowly, only half aware of what he was doing, he set his hand on his wrist… felt his own heartbeat.

A little disbelieving, he sat up, staring out the window. The sun was high in the sky, shining in through a curtainless window. A window that was normally boarded up.

"Buffy." He gently shook her shoulder, knowing he was grinning like an idiot, but really not caring. "Buffy, darling, wake up,"

She moaned and rolled over, facing him. "What?" she demanded, trying to get her eyes open.

He just smiled, waiting for her to figure it out on her own.

"Angel?" she questioned, frowning.

"Who else would it be?"

"Fish Boy?" she questioned nastily. She didn't like waking up.

He scowled at her. "Buffy, open your eyes."

She sighed and wiped them, blinking a couple of times.

*

Outside the door, Doyle, who'd just had a vision from the PTB's, grinned as Buffy began screaming happily.

"What's goin' on?" Xander demanded as he stumbled into the front room, dressed in a pair of jeans and an unbuttoned shirt. Anya followed him, also looking exhausted. The rest of the group followed them out, in various states of dress, or undress.

Doyle, who was standing at the doorway to the mansion, grinned and gestured for everyone to take a peek outside.

Joyce, dressed in her robe and thick socks, led the way. Her eyes widened as she saw her daughter and Angel. Standing outside in the sunlight. In a foot of snow.

"Oh my-" Willow started.

"Oh my god!" Cordelia finished. Dressed in her pajamas, she stepped out into the snow. "How am I supposed to get my car out of here in this kind of snow?!"

Everyone looked at her, including Buffy and Angel, who were both smiling happily.

Cordelia grinned and stumbled through the snow over to Angel. "I'm freezing now, but congratulations."

Xander grinned, honestly happy for Buffy and Angel. They deserved it. He glanced at Cordelia, who was scowling at her car, which was half buried in snow. Nudging Anya, he scooped up a pile of the fluffy white stuff, and tossed it at her, ignoring the fact that they were all barefoot and in PJ's.

Screeching as she whirled around, arching her back to get away from the snow that now covered her, she took off after Xander.

Wisely, the rest of the group hurried inside to get dressed before they began playing.

*

Buffy and Angel kissed, holding each other closely. They'd both run inside, thrown on clothes, fed Kathy, then handed her to Joyce, who'd already said she'd stay inside. Then they'd run out. For a while, they'd played in the snow with the rest of the gang, but now they'd gone off to the side of the house to be alone.

Pressed up against the side of the huge building, neither ex-vampire nor Slayer noticed their friends creeping up behind them, with hands full of snow.

Cordelia led the movement. Silently, grinning, she raised her hand, doing a count down. Three. Two. One.

And Buffy and Angel were covered with snow.

And the real snow fight began.

And after that, Angel ate chocolate and peanut butter.

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, all that stuff! Have a great whatever!

(And be grateful you aren't in Michigan. I just shoveled a foot of snow off the sidewalk, driveway… But on the plus side, no school, which means no homework, which means more finished fics!!!!!!!!! (Here's where I pretend everyone screams "Yeah!!") Anyway, Happy Holidays!! (Next fic comes soon. Hopefully.))

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