He looked at Buffy, who was laying on the blanket, propped up on her elbows and looking at him, her sunglasses slipping off her nose slightly. "What?"

"I hate January. School starts again after a great long break, and the day before my birthday, too. And it gets colder at night so I have to wear pants. And January means New Years, which usually means boredom. But TJ was fun," she said, blushing slightly, "so I guess this years' was an exception."

"Have you *ever* had a good birthday, Buffy?"

"Not recently, no," she said, grinning as he handed her a soda. "Last year I had to fight a vampire with no strength at all. I couldn't even open up a jar of peanut butter! And the year before...well, let's just say it was my first taste of the 'screw-em-and-leave-em' male mentality. And then the year before *that*, my father totally bailed on our plans. Like he did every year."

Riley reached over to touch her cheek gently. "When exactly *is* your birthday?"

"January nineteenth."

Riley grinned. "Interesting. Mine is January twentieth."

"Get out of here," Buffy said, laughing.

"Not unless you want me to."

"Move and I'll cause some serious damage."

"What if I move over towards you?"

"Okay, that's allowed." Riley moved behind her, letting her rest her head on his lap. "Actually, this is preferred."

"Have any plans for your birthday?"

"I think I'm getting a party."

"Oh...well, we can celebrate both our birthdays earlier, if you want."

"I want." Buffy tilted her head up slightly. "You're sweet."

"So are you," he said, leaning down to kiss her.

Spike shook his head. "Surprise her."

Willow shook her head. "She hates surprises."

Xander shook his head. "I think she'd like it. She's never had a decent birthday since we've known her."

Anya shook her head. "I bet she has plans with someone."

"With orgasm friend and his birthday?" Spike asked, getting a glare from Xander and an elbow in the ribs from Willow. "What? For all we know they've been hitting the sheets every night since they started to see each other."

"She has not. Riley's been really good for her," Willow said. "Besides, if she had she would have blabbed about it as much as Anya does."

"I do *not* blab," Anya said, shaking her head indignantly.

Xander rolled his eyes. "Look, I hate to interrupt this impending cat fight, but shouldn't we get some of this party planning done *before* Buffy shows up to drag Spike on patrol?"

Spike nodded, pulling Willow away from Anya and towards him. "The young man does have a point. Does she have any friends besides us?"

Willow shut her eyes, thinking for a moment. "Uh...Emma, James, Nick, Charisma and David from down the hall, Alyson and Seth from psych class last semester, Anthony and Marc from English, Glenn and Joss from Creative Writing and of course Riley, Graham and Forrest."

"Did anyone else notice she has quite a few male friends?" Spike said, raising an eyebrow as he heard the key being inserted into the lock at the front door. "She's here!"

The door opened and Buffy walked in, dragging Riley behind her. He still didn't like being in the same room as Hostile 17, or Spike as everyone else referred to him. But Walsh had given her okay on him staying out in the open as long as Willow, the newest member of The Initiative, gave constant updates.

And Willow had threatened painful castration if Riley ever said anything about her was seeing Spike to Walsh, so he kept mum on that subject as well.

Willow stood up. "What's up, you two?"

"Not much...you all look very chummy," Buffy commented, setting her bag down.

"Other than Anya wanted to hurt Willow, I'll agree," Spike said, flashing a grin at Riley. "Can you take the damn implant out now?"

"Will you never hunt again?" Riley said, used to this game the two of them played.

"No."

"Then the answer is still no." Riley was about to add more before the sound of two pagers going off stopped him. He shook his head, pulling Buffy towards him and kissing her forehead lightly as Willow scrambled for her purse. "Sorry..." he said.

"S'okay," she replied, turning slightly to watch Willow groan as she saw the message.

"Do I have to go? It's an escapee!"

Riley nodded. "We'll probably need you for when we bring it back. Half the time, you know more than Walsh does."

Willow smiled at the compliment. "All right, all right, I'm moving." She kissed Spike gently, then got up and grabbed her coat.

The blonde vampire watched as the two headed out the door. "I wish she'd never joined sometimes."

"Is it really so bad?" Xander asked before *his* pager went off. "Forget I asked that."

Anya and Buffy and Spike managed a three-way glance and grinned. "Yes, it's really that bad," Anya said, tossing Xander his coat from the couch. "Be careful."

"I will," Xander said, pulling Anya in for a soft, deep kiss.

"Go, before Walsh hurts you," Buffy prodded, watching Xander pull away and scramble towards the door. Buffy sat in his vacated place, shaking her head. "I want to know just what Walsh said to get those two to join."

"Why?" Anya asked.

"So I can make sure that if I ever hear her start to ask me or Anya those words, we'll leave before she can finish her first sentence."