~* Buffy Goes to Stars Hollow *~

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Dawn stood under the hot spray of the shower, hoping that the (almost uncomfortably) hot jets would wash away some of her anxiety. Last night she had done something that this morning, in the light of day, made her a little nervous.



Last night she had cast a spell. It was a lust spell. She went for lust instead of love just in case anything went wrong…figuring this balanced her in the cosmic scales…she wasn’t making anyone fall for her against their will. She just wanted Jess to want her like she wanted him. Besides he was a guy…they always want it? Not that she’d have sex with him…well, she wasn’t completely decided against it, but it felt a little weird to have sex with someone that was under a spell.



She washed her hair with her favorite shampoo letting the warm fragrance of vanilla drift through the steamy bathroom. Dawn had cast the spell at exactly midnight last night (Sat night/Sun morn), which meant that the spell wouldn’t take affect until noon this afternoon (Sunday)…12 hours from the time it was cast. It would last until midnight tonight. This meant that it wouldn’t affect school, and should be easier to get him alone.



The only thing she had left to do was make sure she was with him at exactly noon, or it wouldn’t work. Luckily she had read again on Friday night, and called him Saturday morning to schedule a meeting-all he had to do was show up. At that possibility, the butterflies came again. What if he didn’t show? What would happen then?



Dawn turned off the shower and wrapped herself in a robe. She couldn’t allow any negative thoughts in right now. The sun was up when she emerged from the bathroom and went into her room. She had been up at the crack of dawn (no pun intended) unable to sleep. She felt like a horny girl on Christmas morning. She giggled at this thought as she exchanged the towel for her robe.



Dawn crossed her legs and brushed out her hair as she stared out the window at the snow-covered lawns, untouched by footprints, car tracks or plows. Untouched…just like herself. She smiled as she touched the tiny blue stone that sat on her bedside table. She must carry the stone with her at all times. The stone was infused with the magic of the spell.



Dawn had also done all the other preparations that one young girl must take when she is about to have a guy lust for her. She’d spent the better part of the morning shaving, using scented bath wash and rubbing her body with scented lotion. The smell of vanilla surrounded her-her favorite scent, and a scent that Buffy told her men loved. If anyone should know, Buffy would.



She placed some gold body dust lightly over her body giving her a bronze glow that highlighted her curves. Everything was a step towards confidence for her. Every layer was crucial. Her underwear was even carefully thought out. She had saved up money from the allowance that Buffy gave her and yesterday she had bought a black lace bra and black lace panties to go with it.



Next came black leather pants and a crimson red low cut, tight fitting sweater. Dawn blow dried her hair and wrapped it in hot rollers before heading downstairs to get some breakfast.



Xander was already up sitting on top of the island with a bowl of cereal perched in his open palm. He paused mid scoop when Dawn walked into the kitchen. The milk poured off his spoon into the bowl as his mouth froze in the ‘O’ position. Dawn tried to play it cool as though she hadn’t noticed but inside she was pleasantly pleased with the reaction. If a “big brother” type could look at her in that kind of awe then what would other males think.



“Good morning,” she said reaching for a coffee mug with one hand and the pot of coffee with the other.



“Uh..mornin’?” Xander said, pointing at her with his spoon hand. “Though isn’t that more of a night outfit?”



Dawn made a face as she poured her coffee. “Well I plan on wearing it until tonight. Does that count?”



“Has Buffy seen you?” Xander asked.



“No. She is still sleeping. She works at the Inn late every night.” Dawn walked over the dining room table, sitting across from where Xander sat. “Besides I am almost eighteen now Xander. Last year of high school and all that.”



Xander stared down at his cereal. “I am so old.”



“23 isn’t old,” Dawn said. “I just wish people would stop treating me like a kid. Just because I am younger…doesn’t automatically make me a kid.”



“You’ll always be a kid to me Dawn. We all think that way, it’s hard to think of you all growed up.” He said with his usual goofy Xander grin that Dawn loved. He had been much happier since living here. After Anya died, he’d gone into a depression in Rome. Supposedly she’d told some pretty horrific stories of her old vengeance days in Rome…how that made him miss her more was odd, but Dawn understood. In their lives, someone to love and to love you was a comfort that you tried to hold onto for as long as possible.



“So what are you up to today Dawnster?” Xander asked between bites.



“Well I am supposed to meet Jess at the Inn to work on our project.”



Xander grinned nodding his head along with whatever deranged thought was running through his head.



“What?!” Dawn said annoyed. “What!?!?!”



“Nothing.”

“Fine…” Dawn said continuing. “ I am going to meet Buffy first to-“



“Dawnie’s in luuuuuve..” Xander sing songed.



Dawn rolled her eyes. “ Anyway, I am going to meet Buffy first. Buffy and them are going meeting up to plan the Christmas party and I thought I would help out. What are you doing?”



“Well I will be going too,” Xander said. “Gotta check this guy out.”



Now it was Dawn’s turn to drop her jaw in shock. “Xander!”



“Relax. I am going to help hang decoration. Willow is going to. We will leave you lovers alone.”



Dawn traced the line of the wood on the table with the point of her finger as she let that term drift through her head. If only it were true. “He isn’t my lover Xand. Actually I am pretty sure he’s got it bad for Rory. Lorelai’s daughter.”



Xander shook his head. “Maybe, but with a girl like you after him? What guy could resist?”



“You’d be surprised,” Dawn muttered.



“Oh come on. You are a beautiful girl. He’d be lucky to have you.”



“Thanks big brother,” Dawn said sarcastically.



“Or get in your pants cause you’re smoking!” Xander said.



Dawn laughed. “Thanks. Much better now.”



Xander dropped his dish in the sink. “Not a problem. That’s what I am here for.”



Xander bent to kiss the top of her head before he handed upstairs for his shower. The gesture was just what you’d expect someone to do to a child and yet that kind of gesture from Xander always made her feel special.









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As Willow’s eyes opened her first thoughts were of the dream she’d just left. It was the best dream she’d had in a while and she desperately tried to hold on to it as she closed her eyes again. She moaned in defeat as the last images faded away into the back of her mind. The only thing she had to show for it was a wet spot that lay on the inside of her thigh.



She smiled as she found it; unable to remember the last time she’d woken up wet from an erotic dream. The star of the dream was the cause of course. Ashley. Just thinking of her again made Willow yearn like she hadn’t in a long time. That girl would be the end of her. After their first date, Ashley had called the next day and apologized for the interruption but promised to make it up to her tonight.



If Willow played her cards right she’d have a girlfriend for the holidays. Just one more week of school and then the holidays would begin and she was going to make sure she had pockets full of mistletoe everywhere she went.



Finally she got out of bed and headed for the shower. She promised Buffy she’d go to the Inn and hang Christmas decorations even though she was Jewish…however Xander had promised to do the snoopy dance if she showed. It was worth it, she thought as she turned on the shower.







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Kate wrapped herself in a towel as she stepped from the shower wishing she had a robe to wrap herself in. She had cranked up the heat before sprinting to the warmth of the shower and prayed that it had warmed the loft already. Waking up freezing was not fun and she would have to remember to buy herself a robe one of these days.



As she stepped from the bathroom she froze in shock as she found herself staring at Luke. In her shock she briefly let the towel slip an inch lower giving a shocked Luke a view of the rise of her breasts under the towel. “LUKE!!”



“SORRY…sorry. I…sorry,” he stuttered holding his hand over his eyes.



“God!” Kate said, clutching her rapidly falling towel. Every time she grabbed our shifted her skin was becoming more and more exposed. Finally she covered herself again. “Ok, it’s alright. I’m good.”



Luke turned to look at the wall as if checking the woodwork. “I am really sorry. You told me you wanted me to wake you and you weren’t answering so I just thought you were asleep… I knocked.”



“The delivery at the Inn!” Now she remembered. “Sorry Luke I guess I forgot.”



“Well Sookie is taking time off with the baby. I was going to bring lunch to them, I can do it myself.”



“No, no no. It’s fine. I want to help. I just totally forgot. Just give me a few mins while I get dressed and I will be over in a minute.”



“Dressed. Right. Sorry,” he apologized again.



Kate smiled at his turned back. “Don’t worry about it. It is totally fine.”



“Ok. Right. I’ll get the food cooking and you’ll meet me over there later.”



Kate laughed as soon as the door closed behind me. For such a rugged man he had acted like he was 14 years old and caught with his stash of playboy.











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Lorelai poured, what had to be, her fifth cup of coffee that morning as she looked over the plans for the annual Christmas party. This year had gone so much smoother with Buffy helping out. The two women sat across from each other in the dining room as they discussed some finishing ideas for the event.



“I love the Inn this time of year,” Lorelai said. “All the wreaths, bows and boughs of holly.”





“Fa la la la la…la la la la,” Buffy finished.



Lorelai laughed. “Exactly. I love Christmas.”



“Me too,” Buffy agreed, “though, as a rule I try not to invest to much in holidays. They have a potential to bite the big one when I do that. Especially birthdays. Buffy birthdays tend to be a no no.”



“Oh, why’s that?” Lorelai asked.



Buffy stalled. “Umm..You know. The whole expectations thing. Parties going awry..” The whole undead trying to kill me all the time, she added silently.



Lorelai nodded. “Lots of hassle I guess.”



“Yeah.” Buffy trailed off.



“Well around here holidays are big spectacles. You’ll pick up on that and if it doesn’t annoy you I’m sure you’ll find the spirit early on. If not, I keep a bottle of a different kind of spirit under the reception desk at all times. Makes things a little cheerier.”



Buffy laughed. “I’ll make sure I stick close to the gal with the alcohol then.”



How close will that be, Lorelai thought before catching herself.



“So how is the bump?” Buffy asked.



At the mention of the accident, Lorelai gingerly touched the bump on her head, which was almost gone already. “It’s ok. Been a little head achy the past couple of days but that may also have something to do with the stuff we have to get sorted for this party.”



“It won’t be a problem,” Buffy assured her. “We have a lot of stuff worked out. Just tiny little tasks to do.”



“You’re absolutely right,” Lorelai agreed. “ I have to stop worrying.”





Just then Dawn, Willow and Xander showed up and official introductions were done. Lorelai pointed Xander and Willow to the boxes and ran over the plan while Dawn took a seat in the dining room and checked her watch every five minutes.







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Dawn closed her eyes holding her breath and then letting it out slowly, counting the seconds in her head as she dared herself not to dart at the clock. Why was time going so agonizingly slow?!



She touched her pocket to make sure the blue stone was still there, and it was. She moved her books around on the table for the millionth time as if organizing them a certain way would make Jess miraculously appear.



The traffic was slow, so every time she heard the door open she spun her head around so hard she was sure she’d break it eventually. The door opened again as a cold blast came in with it…Dawn turned, slower this time, but was met with disappointment again when it was just Kate and Luke. Luke? If Luke was here. Her heart jumped in her throat as she tried to calm herself. The door closed and no one else entered.



Dawn got to her feet and went over to Luke and Kate who booked it to the kitchens holding huge paper bags of food. Dawn caught the swinging door and waited until Luke had set the bags down before speaking. “Is Jess with you?”



Luke spun around. ‘Pardon?”



“Jess,” Dawn said, her impatience starting to show. “Did he come with you? He was supposed to meet me here to work on our project.”



Kate flashed her a sympathetic smile as Luke continued to look confused. “No he didn’t come with me. He said he was working with Rory today.”



The mention of Rory’s name made her feel like someone had just wrapped their fingers around her heart and squeezed. And then the panic hit…it wasn’t going to happen. The spell would be useless. Jess wouldn’t be with her at noon and he wouldn’t lust for her. It was all for nothing. The planning, the worry, the careful selection of everything…all of it was for nothing.



“Dawn?” Kate said quietly, touching her shoulder gently.



“What? Oh sorry,” Dawn said absentmindedly; her thoughts all over the place. “I’m going to go get started on the project.”



“Jess is forgetful,” Luke offered, “He isn’t exactly a stickler with time. He will probably show up later.”



Yes, but later wasn’t noon. It was over. Dawn smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes. She nodded and left the kitchen.





As she walked past Xander and Willow as they hung the bough of holly over the doorway Dawn dropped the stone into the garbage can. It was over now. She’d have to try something new. Or just give up.











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“That was not how Paul hung the holly last year,” Michel said disdainfully as he eyed the job that Willow and Xander were doing.



Buffy walked up to Michel and offered a box of donuts. “Want one Michel?”



“Ah no,” he said wrinkling his nose. “Do you know how many steps I would have to do on my step machine to work off one of those frosted cover heart attack cakes?”



“That means no in crazy person language,” Lorelai told her with a smile.



“Gotcha.”



Buffy carried the boxes over the others. Michel sighed. “How does she stay so thin when she eats so much,” he said bitterly. “Et is not fair.”



Lorelai looked at him shaking her head in amusement as he watched Buffy look over the donuts. Willow was watching Xander hang the boughs. Dawn held the ladder as it wobbled under the weight of him as he tried to adjust it to Michel’s specifications.



“Do you polish the balls like Michel asked?” Willow asked.



Xander grinned. “Really not a sentence I’d ever hear you say…”



“Xander!”Willow groaned.



“Yeah, yeah. So shiny I can see myself. My scary, small headed slightly egg shaped self. So we’re all good.”



Lorelai was watching Michel in amusement as he watched Buffy who was trying to pick which donut to devour next, and Willow and Dawn were watching Xander as he hung the boughs; who was now enthralled with his reflection and as Luke and Kate entered the room speaking to one another…no one was looking at the clock that had just struck 12 noon.





And at that moment the eight people in the room had formed a circle without knowing it. Blue smoke rose from the garbage can where the blue stone lay. It spiraled up around and around and then broke into eight streaks of light that struck the hearts of all eight members.





As the old clock in the entry struck the twelfth chime…the spell was cast.













To be Continued…









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