"Because they're private?"

She stuck her tongue out at him slightly, sitting up. "I'm kinda cold," she said, looking around for the blanket and realizing Graham and Willow were using it. Riley looked at the end of his bed, seeing his letterman's jacket.

"Use this," he said, handing it to her. She grinned taking it and slipping it on.

"It's big."

"No...you're just tiny," he said, shaking his head. "I'm hungry. Are you?"

She nodded, pulling her purse up off the floor. "I have oranges."

Riley smiled, taking the one she held in her hand. "Let me." He carefully broke the peel, starting to peel it back with a slowness that was driving Buffy insane. Riley had a piece out of the skin, and was ready to feed it to her. It was almost at her mouth when...

"Finn! Miller! We have an emergency," Forrest said, opening the door with Spike right behind him.

Buffy rolled her eyes, taking the piece of orange from Riley's hand and popping it into her mouth. Her purple lipstick was just a bit smeared, and Riley briefly noted her nail polish, the same shade as her lipstick, was a contrast to the bright orange of the fruit.

Graham woke up slowly, Willow prodding him awake. "Huh?"

"There's an emergency, blockhead," Spike muttered, getting a glare from Willow.

"If you are here, who's running hell?" she said, getting a grin from the blond vampire.

Forrest shook his head. "Look, Walsh is trusting us. And since the three of you can help..."

Graham nodded. "Two teams of three or three teams of two?"

"Let's hear the emergency first," Riley said, handing the now completely unpeeled orange to Buffy.

Forrest sat down. "There's a group of vampires that, for some reason, are much stronger than the ones we normally deal with. One of our men is down," he said, a pained look on his face, "and two of them escaped. All we know about them is that they learned their skills from Angelus."

Both Buffy and Spike's faces went hard. "Of all the days for this to happen," she muttered, glancing at the clock.

"What?" Willow asked, before realizing. "It's your birthday, isn't it?"

Buffy nodded, standing up and setting the orange on Riley's dresser. "I'd say two teams of three. Spike, Willow and Graham, and me, Riley and Forrest. Both me and Spike know how Angelus operated."

The others nodded, grabbing coats and the like. "Buffy...remember what I said? About driving?" She nodded. "You have to take your time...forget about everything. You just relax..." he paused. "I wasn't talking about driving. Remember that tonight."

She smiled, kissing his cheek softly. "I will."

A few hours later, Spike and Graham watched as a million tiny specs of golden light swirled around Willow, almost as if a swarm of lightning bugs were surrounding her. It was for the spell to find something. What, Spike wasn't sure.

"What the bloody hell is she doing?" Spike muttered to Graham.

"I learned a long time ago never to ask that," he muttered back, shrugging. "Especially not about her spells."

"I'm trying to concentrate!" Willow said tersely, not turning around.

Graham shook his head, looking at her. "I think I'm going to see if we can meet up with Riley and Forrest and Buffy," he said, moving towards the road.

"Keep an eye on him, Spike. I don't want him hurt," Willow said, shutting her eyes as more lights gathered.

"Aye aye, ma'am," he said, giving her a mock salute as he headed after Graham.

He found him standing by a car, blushing profusely and stumbling over words, but Spike couldn't figure out why until he got closer to the car. Buffy and Riley were in the middle of a make-out session, and Graham had apparently rudely interrupted.

"Uh. I hate to bother all of you," Forrest said, coming back towards the road, "But Finn, you have a flat."

Buffy and Riley sat up, fixing their clothing, as Riley groaned. "Do I have a spare?"

Before Forrest could respond, a scream was heard from the clearing. All five of them ran into the clearing, and Spike immediately recognized the two female vampires. "Karen...Robyn...how nice to see you again," he said sarcastically.

Karen rolled her eyes. "If it isn't William the Bloody...Angelus' biggest disappointment."

Spike glared at her, then stood in front of Willow, who was still surrounded by the swirling lights. "Leave her be. Deal with the rest of us."

Robyn scoffed. "Sure. You and what army?"

"Us," Buffy and Riley said simultaneously, as Forrest moved behind him and Graham took Willow's hand, stepping up behind Spike.

Karen nodded. "William the Bloody on the same side as the Slayer? *This,* I have to see."

Spike vamped out, glaring more. "Then let's begin."

The fight was simple. Three on one, and it was an easy fight. With the exception of Buffy getting thrown into a three, Graham having his arm broken, Forrest spraining his wrist and Riley popping his arm out of his socket. But they managed to get the vampires, Willow using a spell to keep them bound until the men could get the vampires to the underground lab.

Buffy held her broken ribs. "I'm going to spend my birthday in bed. Fun," she muttered, shaking her head as they all limped and moved slowly towards Riley's car.

"Uh...flat, remember?" Forrest said, pointing to the flat tire.

"I can change it, mate. Happened to my de Soto quite often," he said, looking in the trunk. "Riley? You *do* have a spare, right?"

"I should."

"It's not in the trunk."

Riley swore softly, before turning to the group. "Guess we have to walk."

The group groaned collectively, and Spike shook his head. "It's almost dawn, mates. Willow, know a transport spell by any chance?"

Willow shut her eyes. "Yeah, I think I do." She started to recite the spell when Riley held up his hand.

"Hold on," he said, hobbling to the car and picking up a package. "All right...to the lab, I guess."

The spell worked, and soon they were all sitting in the infirmary. Spike and Willow had already left, suffering no more than cuts and bruises.

Buffy looked at the package Riley had grabbed. "What is it?"

"It's a present for you." He handed it to her, wincing as his shoulder moved. "Open it."

She smiled, grinning as she tore into the package, finding a small stuffed rabbit, white fur with a pink nose and long ears. Around it's neck was a simple silver cross. "For me?"

"For you," he said, nodding. "Happy birthday."

"I would hug you, but I'm afraid I would hurt you," she said, smiling and leaning over to kiss his cheek.

"Go ahead and hurt me. It'd be worth it."