"Come on, dear," Joyce beckoned Spike to follow her as she called to him from the apartment entrance.

"Where we headed?" Spike asked curiously as he grabbed his coat and joined her.

"Christmas shopping, William," Joyce happily informed the now very stunned vampire. "I know you haven't had the chance to get anything yet, and I don't want you to be embarrassed when you receive your gifts and have nothing to give in return."

Spike didn't know what shocked him more, the fact that he was actually being taken to shop for a group of people he was still getting to know, or the fact that Joyce had basically told him that he was going to be on the receiving end of the whole exchange.

He couldn't remember that last time he'd actually paid for anything, he wasn't even sure if the money he had on him was any good. He was pretty sure he remembered seeing some German Marks in his wallet the last time he looked, and he hadn't been in Germany since before the war. He quickly checked and confirmed with Joyce that he wasn't skint.

The poor vampire didn't know where to turn when Cordelia, Willow, and Dawn joined them at the mall. Joyce took first shift, helping him choose gifts for Giles, Dawn, and Cordelia and telling him that he could be so much more than just a master vampire. Willow dealt with Oz, Xander, and Anya, and suggested the possibility of him being a champion for balance. Cordelia ordered him around for Doyle and Willow and told him flat out that if he was intent on showing up Angel, then all he needed to do was become part of their team without having to have a soul shoved into him. Dawn fought with him over gifts for Joyce, Andrew, and Buffy as she asked why he wanted to be an evil vampire when he could be a Hellslayer - whatever that was. By the time he returned back at the watcher's flat the shell-shocked vampire seriously needed a drink.

He had tried to tell each and every one of them that he was evil, but they all just took his words in stride, agreeing with him. Dawn even asked him if he'd prefer to get gag gifts. They were all nutters!

The weirdest thing about the whole day was the way each and every one of them, in varying degrees of subtlety - an art form Dawn and Cordelia had yet to master- had tried to advise him on the right gift for the Slayer. He really needed to sit down and have a natter about it with the Watcher, bloke to bloke, because it seemed to him that he was being given the go ahead by the lot of them to court the Slayer. When he'd tried to explain to Dawn that the whole idea was wrong, the cheeky little minx had just grinned, called it ‘the ultimate rebellion', and suggested that he was a bit of a ponce for not wanting to embrace the anarchy of it all.

Truth be told, he wasn't completely against the idea. The Slayer was a bit of alright. She was bloody brilliant to fight and already had his demon going gaga over her. And it wasn't like William was against it either. The silly ponce had been composing poetry about her beauty since the first time they'd met. If he was really honest with himself, he'd admit that the real reason he was still holding back, despite all the encouragement he had been getting, was because he was scared. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that if he let himself, he could bloody well drown in her, but he hadn't had that much luck with love in the past. He wasn't sure if he trusted his ability to deal with another case of unrequited love. He needed a sign, something that was more than just the physical attraction that he acknowledged that they shared. If he was going to jump into the deep end, he wanted to know that he wouldn't be alone.

~*~*~

Giles watched the vampire make his way to his room and couldn't suppress a smile. Part of him felt sorry for the poor bugger, while an even larger part was just happy that he hadn't been dragged along on the shopping trip, too. He did hope that he'd been able to alleviate some of Spike's fears by telling him that everyone agreed that Buffy was far better suited to a supernatural partner than a mere human. He had even managed to keep a straight face when he said that his slayer deserved the best, and by lucky coincidence she had good taste in men. He knew very well that the Spike from their time would have howled with laughter at the suggestion that Buffy had anything of the sort - with the exception of himself of course.

~*~*~

Spike stared in stunned surprise at the thoughtful gifts in front of him. Xander and Anya had given him the complete collection of Sex Pistols, while Dawn and Oz had gifted him with the Ramones Anthology. Willow had thoughtfully given him a portable CD player with headphones. Joyce had given him a beautiful leather bound journal and a collection of literary classics. Giles had given him two very expensive bottles of scotch. Andrew had surprised him with a stuffed devil in a Manchester United jersey and an expose DVD on corruption in the world of Dog racing.

His hands were shaking slightly when he reached for the two remaining presents, both from Buffy.

Spike's eyes widened in awe when he unwrapped the Kronos Battle Axe. The four stainless steel blades had been honed to perfection. Cleverly concealed in the hilt was a nine and a half inch dagger that was a work of art in its own right. He looked at Buffy askance, not understanding why she would give him a gift that must have cost a fortune. His inner William balked at the idea.

Spike may not know it, but Buffy knew her guy and gave him a cheeky little grin. "I kinda killed a chaos demon that seriously didn't need it anymore. It's too big for me, so I figured you'd make good use of it."

Buffy knew that if William considered the gift a cast off, so to speak, he would be more willing to accept it. The truth was that the axe had been a part of the Amara treasure so it hadn't cost her anything more than a little sweat to get it, but as she wasn't ready to explain the whole treasure hunting story she figured he forgive her the lie. And really, it was only William she had to appease - the demon wouldn't care one way or the other.

Spike almost bounced in his seat when he felt William ease back. He loved a good weapon, the sharper the better. Trust the Slayer to come up with the perfect gift for a violence loving demon.

Buffy silently urged him to open his last gift. It was the one she was most nervous about. She'd spent a long time thinking about how she had acted and how she could fix it. She had thought about the Spike that had loved her and everything he'd ever said to her. She'd spoken to Dawn and her mother and asked them to tell her everything that they remembered. She wasn't really surprised that Dawn had been the one to come up with the solution.

Dawn had sheepishly admitted to reading Spike's journal when Buffy had been in heaven. The grieving teen didn't know why she'd invaded the privacy of virtually the only individual to not blame her for Buffy's death - he'd been too busy blaming himself.

It wasn't actually even a specific thing that he had written. It was only a supposition in passing that he'd wondered about in a passage of ramblings, but it had been enough to catch Dawn's attention. He had mused about what might have happened if he'd met Buffy before Angel. The one fear he had was that he didn't think he would have believed any attraction she may have shown. Although he had probably loved her from the first moment, it had taken him years to realise it, and even then he'd fought the knowledge. He hadn't wanted to love her, but he had been convinced that as much as she called to his demon, she had first attracted William. If she had made some kind of gesture, he would have been hard pressed to deny her, regardless of his feelings for Drusilla. William's craving for sensitivity, romance and requited love would have superseded everything else.

Buffy held her breath as Spike removed the wrapping. He smiled in delight at the beautiful puzzle box and Buffy crossed her fingers that her mother's memory had not been at fault.

Joyce had brought the box to her daughter the moment she had received it. She explained that in their own time, she remembered Spike remarking on the box that she'd taken home from the gallery while she tried to work out how to open it. Before Angel had appeared, Spike had picked up the box from the kitchen bench and mentioned in passing that he'd had one just like it when he was a child. He easily opened it, taking the time to show her how it worked. Joyce remembered that he had melted her heart when he went on to say that he'd always believed that one day, his true love would leave him a gift from the heart within, but since Dru had trouble opening the door, that dream was unlikely.

The doorbell rang just as Spike was opening the box and Buffy moved to answer it, her nerves getting to her.

Spike's eyes widened in awe when the small object fell out of the box and into his hand.

It was a silver ring with an incredible inlay- a combination of his and Buffy's hair woven into a tiny plait that had been encased in amber to protect it for an imagined eternity. The scent of them combined assaulted his senses. He shouldn't have been able to smell anything through the amber.

"She had a few drops of your blood and hers placed within the silver framing the amber," Giles whispered helpfully. "Yours was taken from what Drusilla left at the factory. She thought it symbolised the essence that flows through you both."

Spike looked up at the girl as she ushered Clem into the house. He reached her side with a blur of movement and swept her into a kiss that would have made Rhett Butler green with envy.

"Um...Spike? The whole object of the mistletoe is to be standing under it at the time," Xander teased playfully.

"There's mistletoe?" Buffy asked in a daze.

~*~*~

In the days that followed Christmas, Giles spent more time at the Summers' residence than in his own flat, not wanting to interfere with the slowly blooming relationship between his slayer and her vampire. In it's infancy, the bond was still fragile.

Giles frowned when he saw the book that had been haphazardly left on Joyce's coffee table. He hated seeing books just left lying around. As he picked it up, he read the cover and smiled. He wondered briefly just who it was that had been reading fairy tales.

Skimming through the titles of well loved stories, he paused when one seemed to jump out at him. He grinned in delight when he realised the significance of it. With Amy's powers bound, and Willow already knowing the meaning of the symbol that had been the source of their original problems, the chances that the demon that presented himself as Hansel and Gretel appearing at all were remote and that meant one thing - his books were safe!

~*~*~

As the group prepared for the arrival of the Council, Spike worked on his birthday present for a goddess that, in his dreams, had already said she was his.