2 months later, Buffy and Spike were married on the rear lawn in the gazebo by Tara.

Tara was a Wiccan High Priestess, licensed by the state to perform marriage ceremonies. There was no one else they would have rather had marry them. The Handfasting was witnessed by all of their friends, family and many of the townspeople. Spike's parents, Wesley and Winifred, had protested the marriage at first, but when they came to meet Buffy, they couldn't deny the love in her eyes for their son. They still didn't like the age difference, but they wanted to stay in Spike's life. It would only serve to alienate their son and keep them from any future grandchildren to harp on the subject.

It was the biggest party that the town of Sunnydale had ever seen.

Spike and Buffy danced in the ballroom to -- you guessed it -- 'Into the Mystic', as their first dance as a married couple.

"I can't wait to get out of here and give my wife a good 'seein' to'," Spike whispered against her ear.

Buffy laughed, "I'm looking forward to that myself. Do I get to 'see to you' as well?" she asked with a coy smile.

"I bloody well hope so." He smiled and kissed her lightly.

Other couples joined them on the dance floor.

"People were starting to wonder about me; a woman of a certain age, never been married..." Buffy smiled.

"Mmm, I'm glad I could make an honest woman of you, Mrs. Summers-Wyndham-Price... Are you sure you want all those hyphens in your name, pet?" he joked.

"Yep, I love me some hyphens. Makes me sound classy," she joked back.

"You are classy, pet." He spun her around and brought her back against his body.

They danced for a few moments in silence, their cheeks touching.

"I never thought we'd get to do this..." Buffy said softly. "I dreamed of it so many times... I always woke up so sad, so depressed..."

Spike caressed her face and tilted her chin up to look into her eyes. "No more sadness. No more being depressed. We have everything we've always wanted."

"It still seems like a beautiful dream...too good to be true," Buffy said, gazing into his clear blue eyes. "But even if it is a dream, I don't want to wake up this time."

"It's not a dream, Buffy. We really did get married not an hour ago, we really are dancing our first dance as a married couple, and," he brushed his lips over her ear, "I really am going to scoop you up in my arms, take you upstairs and make love to you all night...as soon as we do the cake thing and pose for a few snaps, of course..."

Buffy sighed and smiled. "All night? Think you can live up to that promise? I'm going to hold you to that."

"You do that. You won't be disappointed."

"Mmmm, I'm sure I won't be...shouldn't we save a little something for Jamaica though?" Buffy teased.

"I've got tons of energy, pet. You know that. If you hadn't deflowered me the night we reunited, we could have made an event of that for the honeymoon."

Buffy smirked and playfully smacked his shoulder.

"Sounds like there's a good chance of having a little Buffy or Spike Jr. with all the hot lovin' we're going to be indulging in..."

"Who knows? Maybe we will..." Spike kissed her cheek gently. "If it's meant to happen, it's meant to happen. Fate has a way of working its will...or so I've noticed."

Buffy put her arms around her husband and rested her head on his shoulder.

She sighed happily. "Yeah, fate is funny that way..."


10 months later, a perfect, beautiful, blonde baby girl was born to Spike and Buffy. They named her Darla.


THE END