(Edited 05.16.2023)

"Hey, when do I get fed?" Questioned the annoying vampire sitting only a few steps away from me.

"Hey, when do I get fed?" Spike asked as I helped Buffy set up the table. The sun was beginning to set and Willow, Anya, and Xander still had yet to return, but I wasn't too worried. I was pretty sure two of Buffy's friends plus an ex-vengeance demon could handle themselves.

"Later," Buffy answered Spike, "I hope the others are okay," she voiced her concern, specifically to Giles and I.

"Do you know what happens to vampires who don't get to feed?" Spike asked.

"I hope they shrivel up and die like spiders," I said, giving him an over exaggerated grin.

"I always wondered that, actually," Giles said, his face lighting up with wonder like a child.

"Giles, plates," Buffy said, clearly not wanting him giving Spike any kind of ego.

"Living skeletons, mate," Spike answered, correctly-might I add, "Like famine pictures from those dusty countries, only not half as funny."

"You can have gravy. That has blood in it, right?" Buffy said. I could tell this wasn't how she was planning on spending her Thanksgiving. Join the club, I thought to myself. Usually around this time, I would be with my dad. He could make some mean casserole dishes, and I'd make the rest, then we'd eat leftovers for a week. And before that, when we had mom, she would cook everything and let me help here and there.

"Do you know what else has blood in it? Blood," Spike said and Buffy slammed the silverware in her hand down on the table as she looked at the vampire.

"Do I have to gag you?" she asked. I bit my lip, trying to keep in the words before they bursted out.

"Kinky," I mumbled under my breath, trying not to giggle. Buffy gave me a stern look that almost straightened me up immediately... Almost.

"Because I am not gonna listen to you whine all the way through my dinner. It's gonna be a nice quiet, civilized-" she continued, setting out the silverware as I searched through Giles' cupboards for drinking glasses, finally finding some nice ones and grabbing three at a time so I wouldn't drop them, then setting them on the table around the plates, one glass for each plate.

All of a sudden, as I was setting down the last glass, an arrow shot straight into one of the Thanksgiving decorations on the dining table, causing me to drop the glass on the table and jump back. Luckily, the glass didn't break on impact. I looked to the direction the arrow came from, seeing a Native American man outside of the window at the top of Giles' stairs.

"You. Listen, maybe I wasn't clear before about how terrible we all feel. 'Cause we're trying to help," Buffy tried reasoning with the spirit while I watched to see what Giles was doing before looking at Spike who was still tied to the chair.

"What's going on?" he questioned, bouncing the chair to turn around.

"It isn't working," Giles spoke, grabbing Buffy and I as the spirit readied his bow once again. Giles pulled us away from the ghost.

"Uh, you can have casinos now!" Buffy called to him.

"I don't think that's exactly on his bucket list," I spoke, though my throat was a bit dry. I wasn't prepared for a fight, and my arm was still broken, no matter how much better it felt. I heard a crash and turned to see the back door being smashed through. I saw a shadow of what looked like a bow and my eyes widened.

"Get down!" Giles shouted as all three of us crouched behind the couch.

"I thought you said there was only one!"

"There was!" Buffy shouted back at me.

"M-maybe he raised some companions," Giles tried to reason. No matter what, this was a scary situation, but I had faith in us.

"What about me?! You just gonna leave me like this?!" Spike shouted at us, worry lacing every word. I understood the fear, if one of those arrows were to penetrate his heart, he'd be donezo. We weren't able to help him though, seeing as there were arrows whizzing past our heads every time we tried to get a look at the other Native American spirits. I turned back to Spike just in time to watch an arrow strike him in the chest. My eyes widened as I expected him to turn to dust, but I quickly realized it must not have hit his heart, "Hey! Watch the heart!" he shouted at the spirit, as if they'd listen.

I watched Buffy and Giles make their way to the bookshelf as I looked back at Spike. I weighed in my mind whether it would be beneficial to us to keep him or let him die, and eventually I came to the conclusion that we'd needed him for information. I stayed crouched as I looked at the guy in the window, trying to aim for Buffy and Giles. As quickly as I could (which was about three seconds) I ran out, grabbed the leg of spikes chair, and pulled him back over to where I've taken cover.

"Untie me!" he shouted, to which I scoffed.

"In your dreams," I responded, but to make sure he wasn't in any actual danger, I kicked the legs of the chair so that he fell to the floor. My one mistake in this move was that I didn't realize he was falling in the direction I was sitting until it was too late.

Our heads clashed together as he e me to the ground, not on purpose, and I groaned in pain. I looked around, realizing I had fallen with him and he was laying right in front of me. At the sight of my eyes opening, he grinned wide and fake at me.

"Wasn't that a bright idea, huh?" he spat, his words dripping with satire. I rolled my eyes and sat up, going back to my crouch stature. I peeped my head over the couch to see Giles on the phone, but I didn't have time to listen to his conversation before an arrow whizzed my way. My eyes widened as I tried to move out of it's way as quickly as possible, but even with my slightly advanced speed I was a bit lacking on my coordination, and the arrow grazed my cheek. I feel back onto my butt, wincing in pain as I clasp my hand over my cheek. I moved it away as I felt the liquid, and stared at the deep crimson now dripping down my face. I looked at Spike, who was staring at me like he was trying not to vamp out.

"Can I help you?" I asked. He looked around like he hasn't be watching me like prey, to which I shook my head and looked away from him, wiping away the blood.

I finally realized that Spike had an arrow in him, and looked at it, "This might hurt," I said, grabbing at it, seeing as there was nothing more I could do currently.

"We need a plan," I heard Giles as I got a good grip on the arrow.

"Come on, just a drop," Spike begged, nonchalant as if we aren't under siege. I rolled my eyes and pulled with all my strength on the arrow. He  grunted, though I knew it probably didn't hurt too bad. I finally got the arrow all the way out and looked it over. I grabbed it by the nock and quickly jumped up just long enough to throw it at the window like a throwing knife. It didn't work out to my advantage as the spirit just caught it without flinching and I cursed under my breath.

"Where's your weapons chest?" I heard Buffy and looked around. This man really had a weapons chest and I was just now finding out. I heard Giles say, "Over there," but I couldn't see where he was referring to, so I simply kept looking around. Eventually my eyes landed on a dark oak chest that looks very old and very in the way of arrows. The next thing I know, Buffy was letting out a grunt and Giles was calling her name.

"Is she okay?" I asked over the commotion.

"She's been shot. Nothing fatal, just in the arm," Well, that's still not great.

"Remember that conquering nation thing? Forget it. Apologize," Spike said, clearly worried about what's going to happen to us.

"Shut up, Spike," Buffy said as I gently smacked his forehead before crawling my way over to Buffy and Giles.

"Fine! I'll do it myself. Hey, sorry. Sorry about that, Chief," I heard Spike and had to stop myself from letting out a laugh as I saw Giles and Buffy, Giles wrapping something around the arrow in Buffy's arm.

"Stop, unwrap that," I said. Look, I'm an okay fighter at the best of times, and I can handle myself against vampires, but these Native Spirits were new to me and I was not the Slayer.

"What? No," Giles states matter-of-factly.

"Just do it. Trust me. We need the slayer, let me help," I pleaded. Giles and Buffy gave each other a look before he started unwrapping the clothe he just wrapped around her arm. The wound wasn't even bleeding as the arrow was still stuck in it, but for what I needed to do, I needed to get that arrow out, "Buffy, this is going to hurt for a second, and I'm sorry."

Before she could ask what I was doing, I grabbed the arrow and ripped it out. She let out a shocked and pained shout as the arrow head tore her skin more and the lovely color of blood gushed out of her arm. I grimaced as I knew what I was about to put myself through.

"What in the bloody hell are you doing?!" Giles asked in concern, but I tuned him out as I held my hands over Buffy's bleeding wound. I focused on her health, and making her better, and slowly, but surely, my arm began to sting little by little until I could feel the blood dripping down it.

"I need that clothe again," I said, trying to ignore the incredulous looks the two were giving me as their jaws stayed agape. Giles was the first to shake it off, handing me the clothe and helping me tie it around my arm.

"What... What are you?" Buffy asked slowly.

"I'm not sure, anyway, you'll both forget about this in about ten minutes, but right now, I'm thinking you need to slay some people," I said, giving her a small forced smile.

"Well, if we forget, you have to tell us. You can't just-"

"You're not going to remember even if I do. Just go," She nodded and began looking around.

"How many?" she asked.

"Uh, the leader upstairs. Two by the living room windows. Uh, one through the window by the door," Giles stated .

"It's too many," Buffy frowned.

"We need help," Giles added.

"Why can't there just be one normal day?" I pouted.

We finally got the chest closer to us and grabbed three crossbows from out of it. We aimed them at different spirits, Buffy going for Hus, the leader, Giles going for the two through the living room windows, and me aiming at the one through the door.

Of course, we all missed.

I soon heard Hus yell at one of his little friends to get somebody, but they didn't come after us. Then he shouted, "Enough!" and jumped through the window, most of his friends following though a couple stayed outside for some reason I wasn't entirely sure of. We all grabbed different melee weapons, Buffy going for the stake in the box, me grabbing the one out of my boot, and Giles grabbing a morning star. I watched as one that had broken in shot Spike in the leg and he looks down.

"Ow! Bloody hell!" he shouted. I shrugged it off and lunged for that spirit, seeing as no one was taking him on. He swung his bow at me, which I grabbed and threw to the ground before kicking at him. He grabbed my ankle and swiveled it around, causing me to lose my balance and need to take a moment to resteady myself. In that moment, he tried to grab at my stake, but I sliced his hand with it, causing him to groan in pain, but I noticed that the stake didn't even make a dent in his appearance. No blood, nothing. Before I had time to note it, Buffy and Hus came swirling past us. I didn't have much time to focus on their fight as I was too busy fighting my own, but I did catch something Buffy said.

"Giles, Alex, these guys, they don't die!" she said in a panic. I looked over to Giles, who was about to be choked out by a spirit.

"Bit busy here," he stated. I dropped low as the spirit I was fighting came after me, causing him just enough confusion to stall him for long enough for me to hook my leg out and trip him. After that I ran for Giles, stabbing the spirit in the back where his heart would be and finding absolutely nothing. Not even a reaction, but, fortunately, he did release Giles. Instead, he turned to me and grabbed me by the collar of my shirt before slamming my head up against the wall.

"Your knife can kill you," I heard Buffy as I turned on the new guy I was fighting, kicking him in the side so that he would slam into Giles' wall instead of me. I looked over to the middle of the scene of commotion to see Hus turn into a bear and my eyes widened. I guess he really didn't like Buffy's new discovery about him. He let out a ferocious roar that almost sounded like the Metro Goldwyn Mayer lion.

"A bear!" Spike shouted in fear, "You made a bear!"

"I didn't mean to!" Buffy defended herself, backing away from the large creature. I realized I shouldn't be paying attention to their little situation as an arm wrapped around my neck, cutting off my oxygen. I tried to gasp for air as I clawed at the arm, to no avail.

"Undo it! Undo it!" Spike yelled at Buffy. I looked down, seeing feet right behind mine. I stomped on the one behind me before throwing my head back into the spirits face. They may be almost unkillable, but they could definitely hurt. I didn't watch the rest of Buffy's circumstance as I turned to the spirit that had tried now choking me out, and punched him straight in the jugular. He let out a soft breathy noise that seemed to come straight from his throat as he grasped at it before shaking off the pain. The next thing I knew, the dark broody man they called Angel was snapping the spirits neck and Xander ran in and threw potatoes at the bear so that Buffy could kill him. Once Hus was gone, the rest of the spirits turned to a green mist like he had. I looked around, eyes wide.

"Is this your normal Tuesday?" I asked them, shock clear in my face. Buffy and Xander nodded, to which I grinned, "Awesome."

"What happened? Did we win?"

...Spike.

{}

After the whole vengeance spirit ordeal, we finally got to sit around and eat a nice Thanksgiving dinner, prepared by Buffy with a little help from all of us except Xander because, let's be honest, nobody wants a side of syphilis with their turkey. We all sat down to eat, I didn't get much, but I indulged Buffy by eating a bit of the food she worked so hard to make. Willow was the first to speak in our group of seven. The table only sat six, but they found a way to push an extra chair for me in between Spike and Willow.

"I feel lousy," she said.

"Turkey came out rather splendidly," Giles said. I wasn't quite sure he understood people all that much.

"I like the potatoes," I mumbled, though I was picking at my food more than eating it.

"Oh, i-i-it was yummy. It's just... Did you see me?" I felt like saying no would be the wrong answer in this situation, "Two seconds of conflict with an indigenous person, and I turn into general custer," didn't know who that was, didn't really care.

"Violence does that. Instinct takes over," Giles reassured her.

"Yeah, that's the fun," Spike said from shoved up against me. Lucky for me, he was close enough that I could elbow him whenever he said something that made me want to put a stake through his heart. Yay me.

"Nobody asked you," Xander said.

"Oh, lay off. You all had a fine meal. But me... An entire siege. You'd think one of you would bleed a little," it was a good thing we wrapped up my arm instantly, but the glance he gave me, and slight smirk I saw cross his lips for a moment lead me to believe he just might know anyways. I once again elbowed him.

"Good work Buffy... O-on both counts," Giles complimented Buffy's cooking and fighting, then looked at me, "And thanks, Alex. For-For helping me out," he shot me a small smile, which I easily returned.

"Thanks," Buffy said right before I said, "No problem."

"Well, you know, you should be very pleased," I noticed there had been a sliver of sadness in Buffy's voice. She tilted her head from side to side as if physically weighing her options.

"Wasn't exactly a perfect Thanksgiving," she said, looking down in disappointment. I held in a sigh, looking at my food. She could say that again... I was really missing my dad...

"I don't know," Xander cut in, "Seemed kinda right to me. A bunch of anticipation, a big fight, and now we're all sleepy."

"And we did all survive," Giles chuckled as he spoke.

"I guess that much is true," Buffy said with a small smile, "First Thanksgiving on my own, and we all got through it."

"And you know what?" Xander asked, placing his hand on Anya's shoulder, "I think my syphilis is clearing right up."

"And they say romance is dead," I could practically see the grimace on Buffy's face, "Or maybe they just wish it."

"Well, maybe we started a new tradition this year," Willow said, but the looks that everyone gave her made her quickly change her mind about that, "Maybe not. But at least we all worked together. It was like old times," I felt like so not a part of this conversation it almost hurt, but I couldn't imagine Spike was feeling any different. If anything, he probably felt even more out of place.

"Yeah, especially with Angel being here and everything," Xander said, picking at the last few bites of food on his plate. Everyone turned to him with slanted accusing eyes apart from Buffy, who's eyes were wider than the Scream painting as the smiles on everyone's faces dropped, "Oops."

{}

"I'm nobody's fool and yet it's clear to me
I don't have a strategy
It's just like taking candy from a baby
And I think I must be
Under attack, I'm being taken
About to crack, defenses breaking
Won't somebody see and save a heart?
Come and rescue me now 'cause I'm falling apart"
-Abba