Title: I Hate Parties
Author: Dreamer
E-mail: DreamerV966@aol.com
Distribution: Please ask
Disclaimer: Joss owns all. Joss is God. I wish I were Joss.
Feedback: Always love it, makes my day, please be polite in all flame letters.
Rating: Um, PG?
Author's Note: This is a sequel to Short and Silly, so I'm still relatively new to writing fan fic. Oh, yeah, so you know, in my world, Spike does have the chip in his head, but he is not in love with Buffy (ew much?) but he does have a thing for Willow.

Spike heard the sound in his apartment before he even walked in the door. He immediately tensed, and fell into a defensive stance, even though if they were human there was nothing he could do to them. He pushed the door open with his foot and waited for the intruder in his apartment to show themselves. Imagine his surprise when it turned out to be several sugar-rushing teens, a giddy mother, and a disgruntled and slightly drunk Watcher.

"Surprise!" yelled the intruders to his apartment. Spike couldn't help but think,*What did I ever do to deserve this?* Spike tried to smile, as the slayer was standing there looking for approval and he wanted to stay on her good side. Unfortunately for him, the smile came out kinda tight, and looked more like a grimace. The happy-go-lucky people inside his place didn't notice. Willow practically bounced up to him, grabbed his arm and pulled him inside. *Bloody hell, the chits strong. * Spike heard people saying things to him, but right now his head was spinning and he couldn't quite tell what they were saying. The red head shoved something into his hands, and when he looked down at it, he saw it was a glass of red punch. Spike shrugged his shoulders and downed the glass, before realizing it wasn't punch. What it was was a mixture of blood and vodka. Very strong vodka. Spike coughed and felt a large hand smacking him on the back. He whirled around to see his very large sire, smiling at him. *Oh, could this get any worse? * Apparently it could, because he heard someone turn on a CD of techno dance music and saw the brunette they called Xander start to dance. * I think I'm gonna keel over. * Suddenly he felt ok, and could hear again.

"So did you like our surprise?" a giddy Buffy asked him.

"Yeah, loved it." Spike mumbled. Lucky thing he was a vampire, or he'd be king of the migraines by now.

"Really? It was Willow’s idea, and the rest of us thought it was good. Willow made all the preparations for it, even called Angel in LA." Buff said.

Oh, so he had the little witch to thank for this? He was gonna have a few words with her later.

The CD playing turned from dance music into a slow song. Buff smiled at Angel as he pulled her into a slow sway. Spike turned to run into the bedroom and nearly ran straight into the red head.

Willow smiled shyly, "Wanna dance?" Cor, this was just getting better and better all the time.

"Ouch, that was my foot,"Buffy said behind them.

"Sorry," he heard his poof of a sire say.

"Sure luv," Spike smiled at her. He could stick around and watch his sire step all over the slayer's toes.

Willow came closer to Spike and Spike took her into his arms and began to move slowly to the music. The little witch smelled good, like peaches. Her red hair smelled like pears. The two scents mixed together was intoxicating, more so then the punch.

"So are you enjoying yourself?" he heard the girl ask.

"Sure pet." Spike answered. *I am now* "I wouldn't have missed this for the world." *Well, maybe the world.*

"I'm glad," Willow answered. Privately, she thought *Am I nuts? I dancing with a vampire who would happily kill me? Of course, he does have that chip in his head, and he does smell like fall leaves...AHHH what am I thinking? He's SPIKE. Spike, the guy who would bite your throat in a second if he had the chance. Yeah, he's cute and all.....OK, now is the time to stop thinking* "So you aren't mad at me for doing this?"

"No," Spike replied. He was amused, and they still were gonna have that talk later, but he wasn't gonna spoil the fun of watching Twinkle Toes crush the slayers feet.

The rest of the group was dancing now, Giles with Buffy's Mom, and Xander with Cordelia.

The song ended, and he heard his sire say "Shouldn't Spike open his gifts now?"

"Gifts?" Spike got a chance to say before the little witch pushed him onto his sofa.

"You wait here and I'll go get them. Don't move," Willow commanded before walking into the kitchen and returning with an armful of brightly wrapped presents.

"Open this one first. It's from me, " Buffy said. Spike complied and ripped the wrapping paper off the box. Inside he found a black silk shirt. "I thought you could use a change in wardrobe," the slayer said by way of explanation. "I didn't know what else to get you."

"It's great," Spike said before putting it aside and picking up another box. He shook it before reading the card. "To Spike, From Rupert Giles." Spike didn't hesitate to rip the wrapping paper off this one. Inside of the package he found a bottle of wine, and a set of wine glasses, presumably to drink the wine with. " Thanks," Spike said.

The next gift was from his sire. Spike opened it, and inside was a set of crystal windchimes. "Thank you" Spike said again. It figured his sire would get him something with Irish origins.

Spike opened the gifts from Xander, Cordelia, and Joyce. The gift from Willow was all that was left. He took off the paper slowly, and then carefully opened the box.
Inside he found a small figurine, made of crystal, shaped into a rose with several thorns. The crystal was colored, making the stem green and the rose itself, black.

"Thank you, " was the only words Spike could find to say. He saw the small note at the bottom of the box, but figured if the little witch had put it there, she wanted him to open it in private.

"Well, I think it's time to go home. Buffy still has to patrol, and you all have school tomorrow, " Spike heard the Watcher say. One by one, the group left. And Spike was finally alone in his apartment. Spike reached into the box and pulled out the note from the red headed witch.

Spike,
I didn't know how you would take recieving a rose from me so here's my reasoning. I put a spell on it to make you feel more comfortable in your new home. And the rose itself is my way of saying that even dangerous things can be beautiful.
Willow

Spike rubbed his head. He was tired. As he walked into his bedroom he could still smell the little witch. *I'm gonna have trouble not dreaming of her tonight.* As he slid between the sheets abd started to drift off, he thought, *Well, maybe that's not such a bad thing.