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Part 2
After dropping all her dirty laundry off at her mother's, Buffy and Willow headed to Xander's house. Arms laden with presents, they were greeted at the door by Anya, who was wearing a short red dress with white trimming. She looked like those ridiculous people at the mall who dressed up as Santa's helpers...
"That's a...nice dress ya got there, Anya," Buffy said, looking her over. Anya shot her a look as she held the door open for them to enter.
"Xander likes it. When Xander likes something, I get sex. Hence the embarrassment," she said. Buffy winced.
"WAY more info than I needed," she said as they walked in and set the presents under Xander's tree. The needles were brown and the branches drooped where the ornaments hung. Spike sat in the corner smoking a cigarette and Giles and Olivia stood by the drinks.
"Merry Christmas!" she cried, hugging each of them in turn. Well, everyone got a hug but Spike. She still couldn't look at him without getting icky feelings from the time when they had been engaged...
"Okay, everyone's here--" Xander started.
"Riley isn't," Buffy said from her seat on Xander's pullout couch. Xander made a face.
"Remind me again why he's invited?"
"He's my boyfriend and he's leaving tomorrow for a month," Buffy said sternly. Xander sighed.
"Oh, that's right, Fish Boy has to go back to his cows." Buffy threw a pillow at his head as the door opened to reveal the commando.
"We was beginning to get worried!" Buffy exclaimed as she jumped up and hugged her boyfriend.
"No, we really weren't," Spike muttered, propping his boots up on the coffee table. Buffy glowered at him before leading Riley over to the bed.
"Okay, *now* everyone's here. Gifts!" Xander shouted as he jumped up and headed for the tree. Giles shook his head at the boy's excitement.
In a matter of minutes the gifts had been passed around. Amid the gasps of surprise and the crinkling of wrapping paper, everyone opened their presents.
"Well, this will certainly...be useful?" Giles said cautiously, holding up the dancing Santa Xander had gotten him. Xander beamed at the Watcher, watching as he turned it on.
"Wow, Santa has some moves," Willow commented as she pulled a beautiful cashmere sweater out of a box, a gift from Buffy and Anya. She gasped in shock. "It's beautiful!"
Anya had gotten a book on torture from Giles and Olivia as a gag gift. At the far-off look in her eye, Xander questioned whether or not it was the best idea... Buffy had given the ex-demon a gift certificate to the local record store and Xander's gift came in the form of a gift certificate to hours of loving from him.
"Oh, God, did you have to let her open that in front of us?" Buffy groaned as she tore into her present from Riley. Gasping, she carefully pulled the necklace from the bed of cotton it lay in. It sparkled in the light, a beautiful crystal on a gold chain. She leaned over and kissed him happily before opening the clasp and securing it around her neck.
"Wow, Riley, it's beautiful!" she gushed, gazing down at it happily. He smiled back at her and leaned over for another kiss before pulling away and picking up the wrapped package that sat on his lap. She looked on expectantly as he carefully ripped the wrapping paper away, revealing a framed picture of himself and Buffy. It had been taken on a beautiful day outside the dorm and Buffy was holding onto Riley's waist and grinning happily. The frame had been made by one of Buffy's art friends and was clay with small lacy designs imprinted in it.
Riley held the frame carefully as he gaze at the picture. "Is this the one you took?" he asked Willow She nodded.
"It was after class that one day, before you guys were going out," she told him as she carefully placed the things she had gotten at her feet.
"I love it. I'm gonna put it on my desk at home," he said softly, pulling her close to him and kissing the top of her golden head. Buffy smiled and sighed contentedly, glad she was around her friends during the holidays.
Around eleven thirty, the small party began to break up. Giles and Olivia left early, they had a flight out to England the next day at six in the morning. Buffy and Willow said their good-byes and Buffy promised to call the minute she got back from L.A. so that she could hang out with Xander and Anya.
She surprised everyone, including herself, by giving Spike a kiss on the cheek. They had been standing under the mistletoe, granted, but it was still unexpected.
"Thanks for the tank top, Spike. Can I just say that you have THE sickest humor?" she grinned up at the stunned vampire. He quickly reverted to his cocky self and brushed her off.
"I saw it and knew it was you, Slayer," he said simply, running a hand through his platinum hair. The tank top in question was a black thick-strapped one with 'Vampires suck' written in blood-red letters across the chest. She smiled and leaned into Riley.
"Merry Christmas, everyone!" she called as she and Willow made their way to her car, Riley escorting them. Once they reached it, Willow became fascinated with the paint on the car, staring at it awkwardly as Buffy said good-bye to Riley.
They kissed softly under the moonlight as Riley lifted a hand to brush her blond hair back. "Thank you for a wonderful evening," he said softly.
"Thanks for the necklace," she replied shyly. "It's beautiful."
"You're beautiful," he told her. She kissed him softly on the lips before pulling away.
"I gave you my dad's number, right?" Buffy asked. Riley patted his jacket pocket, indicating it was there. She smiled and with one last kiss reluctantly turned away.
"Have a good time in L.A.," Riley said as he kissed the back of her hand and moved away. "Try not to bump into any old friends."
Buffy looked up at him strangely when he spoke. Since Buffy had not told him about Angel, he must have meant her old friends from Hemery... He knew that she had been less than nice at her old school and she hoped that was what he meant...
"I will...or won't," she said with a forced smile as she climbed into her car. Waving, she started it and peeled out of her spot before he could so much as pull his keys out.
"What was that all about?" Willow asked after a minute of silence. Buffy was quiet for a moment and just as she opened her mouth to speak another part of her dream surfaced, one she hadn't remembered.
She was at Angel's and she was crying in his arms. What was going on? They were supposed to be happy, Angel was human...and then the conversation filtered through and she realized the source of her distress. Angel gave up his humanity--and the memory she would hold of the day--for her. With a cry, she jerked the wheel to the side, stars exploding before her eyes. Everything felt so vivid, her pain, her anguish, the love and respect she held for Angel.
Willow's voice slowly infiltrated the haze in her mind, the panic making the fog clear. Buffy pulled over and slumped into her seat, her head resting on the steering wheel as she fought down her tears.
What was wrong with her?
"Buffy? What's going on?" Willow asked. Buffy slowly turned her head and looked at her best friend, her eyes bright with unshed tears. She sighed brokenly and was so overcome by the emotion of the dream that she couldn't speak. Willow rubbed her back in comfort for several minutes as she calmed down.
It was the soft song on the radio that caught her attention, the same one she had heard before...
"There were moments of gold,
And there were flashes of light.
There were things I'd never do again,
But then they'd always seem right.
There were nights of endless pleasure...
It was more than any laws allow.
Baby baby...
"If you kiss me like this, and if you whisper like that,
It was so long ago, but it's all coming back to me.
If you want me like this...
And if I need you like that...
It was dead long ago
But it's all coming back to me
It's so hard to resist,
but it's all coming back to me.
I can barely recall,
but it's all coming back to me now...
But it's all coming back."
With a shout, she turned it off hurriedly. Knowing Willow needed an explanation, she said the only word that was needed.
"Angel."
"What about Angel?" she asked, folding her hands in her lap. Buffy wiped the tears from her eyes and straightened up, shaking her head.
"Not here. We'll go to my house," Buffy said as she let off the brake and steered the car in the direction of Revello Drive.
"Okay, talk," Willow said as they sat on Buffy's bed, clean laundry carefully folded on the floor. Buffy was gazing out the window into the night, her gaze fixated on nothing...and yet everything all the same. She didn't know what they meant, these feelings she had and these dreams that were the cause of the feelings, and it was driving her crazy...
"I had a dream last night," Buffy started slowly.
"About Angel?"
Buffy nodded. "He...he was human," she whispered, twisting her hands in her lap.
"Buffy, you've had that dream a thousand times," Willow said, apparently brushing her off. Buffy grabbed her arm forcefully.
"Will...this one was different. It was so vivid, and it felt so real...almost like a memory," Buffy said. Willow sighed. "He was turned human by a demon's blood, and then he came up and kissed me on the Santa Monica pier...and then we went back to his place and..."
"Had lots of passionate sex?" Willow joked. Buffy nodded and Willow immediately sombered. "Really?"
Buffy laughed at her friend's baffled face. "Oh yeah...Will, we even had sex on his kitchen table."
"Wow," she breathed. "That's the kind of stuff those cheesy romance novels are made of!" Buffy grinned again.
"I know...but that's not all that happened," she said, her tone somber again. "He gave up his humanity so I wouldn't die."
Willow stared at her. "What? I mean, I know Angel's all about sacrifice--but his humanity?"
"Yeah, he did it for me. The day was erased and I didn't remember a thing," Buffy said as she ran a hand through her blond hair.
"But it was just a dream," Willow said. "Right?"
Buffy sighed heavily. "I don't know, Will. It felt...almost prophetic, I guess. Everything was so real."
"So what are you going to do?" Willow asked. Buffy looked her straight in the eye.
"I honestly don't know. Maybe I won't have another one and then I'll know it was just a dream," Buffy said. Willow nodded.
"Guess you'll just have to wait and see," she agreed. She stayed for a few more minutes before having Buffy drive her home.
On the way back to her mother's house, Buffy pondered her dream once more. She'd have to look into it when she got to L.A., maybe call Cordelia and find out if she knew anything. Her plans beginning to form, she changed for bed and snuggled under the covers.
She dreamed the exact same thing for the second night in a row.