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Buffy woke up late the next morning and had to rush to get to the rink in time for her 8:30 practice.

“You’re late,” Willow commented as Buffy walked into the employee locker room at 8:25. She herself was just finishing up tying her laces. She sounded pretty chipper given that it was still early. Buffy was often amazed at how perky Willow could be in the mornings. She herself was a night owl and sincerely disliked her morning practices.

“I know,” she replied tossing her bag down on the floor and trudging over to her locker. Much to her relief there didn’t appear to be any notes waiting for her. “I had a horrible time getting out of bed this morning. My alarm clock was not my friend.”

“What time did you get home?”

“Somewhere around 3,” Buffy admitted reluctantly.

“Whoa! You must have been having some major fun.” Willow was surprised. Buffy might be a night owl, but to go out on her own and stay out that late? So not like her.

“I was,” Buffy said with a smile, realizing that she really did mean it. She had had a good time with Spike. She pulled her skates out of her locker and after slamming the door shut went and sat next to Willow on the bench.

“Do tell,” Willow said looking at her expectantly. Her green eyes were shining with excitement at the thought of hearing about her friends late night.

“Later, Wills.” There was no way Buffy was going to have that conversation right then. Even if she had wanted to talk to her friend about it, she wasn’t quite sure what she would say.

“C’mon, Buffy! You never go out like that. Not without me or Xander. You have to tell me something! At least tell me who you went out with.” Buffy looked at her friend and noticed that she had a slight pout on her face.

Leaning back against the wall she closed her eyes, hoping that Willow would understand. Playing with the engagement ring on her finger she thought about what, if anything, she should tell Willow. She hated keeping secretes from her best friend. She wasn’t sure she could keep from spilling everything to her if she started talking. She also didn’t want Willow to go all wiggy on her when told her she had been out with Spike. It would be bad enough when she found out they had eloped.

“How was your date with Darrell last night?” she asked instead, hoping to distract Willow.

“It was good; we just went to Flannigan’s.” Flannigan’s was a local bowling alley and bar. Buffy had never been there but she had heard it was normally a pretty fun place; if you liked bowling. “He’s pretty super.”

Buffy smiled at the happiness in her friend’s voice. She was glad Willow had found someone. Losing Oz had hurt her pretty bad. Willow finally left the locker room rushing out to the ice hoping that her coach wouldn’t be upset that she was running late because of her talk with Buffy.
For the first time in nearly a month Buffy had a really good practice. She almost felt like her old self….almost. Even though she was still shaken by the fact that she had just learned that she apparently had a stalker, she felt good knowing that people were working to keep her safe. Feeling great after practice and with a sudden burst of confidence she headed for a nearby bridal shop.

Inside the store Buffy was instantly greeted by an older woman. “Good morning! Is there anything I can help you with today?”

Buffy regarded the woman for a moment. She reminded her a lot of her grandmother; tall and slender, with dark hair that was peppered with grey. She was dressed a lot like her grandmother had dressed too; in a long dark flowing skirt and cream colored blouse. Buffy instantly felt at ease.

“Good morning,” she replied. “I’m- uh- looking for a dress.” She looked around the shop at the various dresses on display. So far nothing was catching her eye. She didn’t want a traditional dress or anything too fancy. It wouldn’t be easy to travel on a plane with and it really wasn’t her style either.

“Ah, it’s not time for homecoming or prom, so you must be a bride to be. You have definately come to the right place. We will do all we can to help you find the dress of your dreams.”

Buffy barely refrained from laughing at the thought. Dress of her dreams? Yeah, right. She didn’t need a dream dress for this wedding, just something pretty that would look…well, bridal. She could save the dream dress for the real thing.

“Thanks…um,” she looked around uncomfortably. “Do you have many dresses in stock? Or do you have to special order them?”

Buffy wasn’t quite sure how the whole buying a wedding dress thing worked. Obviously she had never done it before. She didn’t have time for them to have to order something, or even do alterations. In fact, she really just wanted to find a dress and get out as quickly as possible.

“We do have a number of dresses in stock, and we do special orders. It all depends on the dress you are looking for.” The saleswoman answered. “By the way, my name is Margaret.”

“Buffy,” Buffy replied with a tentative smile. “Buffy Summers.”

“Oh!” Margaret exclaimed apparently recognizing her name. “You are the figure skater that won the Olympics last year.”

Buffy nodded. This was going to be interesting. She wondered how quickly after she left the store word would get out that she had been there. Then again, Margaret didn’t seem like the type to rush out to the first reporter. Guess only time would tell on that. No need to panic, she thought.

“Well, congratulations. Have you and your fiancé set a date yet?”

Buffy inwardly grimaced thinking of the reaction she may get. She wondered how often Margaret dealt with couples who were eloping. “Thursday.”

She didn’t get the reaction she was expecting.

“How romantic, you’re eloping!” Margaret said a soft, knowing smile on her face.

“Uh, yeah, which means I really need to get a dress today.”

“Why of course, you’re getting married tomorrow! Did you have anything special in mind?”

Buffy froze, unable to fully comprehend Margaret’s question. Tomorrow was Thursday! Obviously she had to have known that. It just hadn’t hit her yet. She was getting married tomorrow. To Spike! Shaking her head to clear her thoughts she looked up to see Margaret looking at her expectantly.

“I’m sorry,” Buffy said frowning. “What did you ask?”

“I was wondering if you had anything special in mind. Any particular style you prefer?” Margaret asked again, her voice soft and calm which oddly had a relaxing effect on Buffy.

“I just want something simple…elegant. I don’t really want a lot of frills. That is sooo not me.” Buffy told her. Margaret nodded knowingly.

“That can be done. Let’s go have a look at what we have on hand.”

Buffy followed her deeper into the store, praying that it wouldn’t take long to find a good enough dress. She only had an hour or so before she had to be back to rink to meet Spike for lunch.

An hour, and a half a dozen dresses later Buffy was getting frustrated. Margaret had paraded dress after dress in front of her, but only a few even came close to what she really wanted. The first one that Margaret had insisted she try on was a firm no. It had way too many little beads and sequins on it, making it to flashy for Buffy’s taste. The next couple had been marked improvements but still she found that she didn’t particularly care for them. Coming out of the dressing room in the most recent dress, Buffy saw Margaret’s head tilt in thought as she watched the young woman move to stand on the small podium in front of the mirrors.

“What do you think?” Margaret asked, knowing just by the look on Buffy’s face that she didn’t care for the dress.

“It’s…pretty.” Buffy replied looking at herself in the mirror. “It’s just not me. It’s too frilly at the bottom and I feel like a mermaid.” The dress was a mermaid style dress puffing out just below her knees with tufts of tulle. It made her uncomfortable to walk in and she didn’t like the puffiness.

“I see what you mean,” Margaret suddenly snapped her fingers. “I know just the dress for you. I’m sure it’s exactly what you need.” She moved towards the back of the store leaving Buffy behind at the dressing rooms. “We just got it in today and I think it will be perfect on you.”

Buffy waited patiently for Margaret to return, silently hoping that this last dress would be ‘the one’. She didn’t quite understand why she was being so picky. Margaret returned a few moments later dress in hand.

“It’s beautiful,” Buffy said softly the moment she saw it.

It was pure white, made of satin with a chiffon lining around the bust. The straps were thin, almost nonexistent, and she found, when Margaret turned it around for her to see, that the back dipped down open to the waist with a wisp of chiffon lining. The bottom of the dress went straight down, just barely billowing out.

“And very elegant, why not try it on?” Margaret told her walking into the small changing room to hang it up. “It’s just your size, too.”

Buffy quickly hurried out of the dress she was currently in and put the other on. It fit her like a glove, sliding down over her hips, the satin billowing out just enough to allow her ample room to move, while the top clung tightly to her. Unable to completely get the dress zipped at the waist she carefully held it together and slid out to the outer room of the dressing room area.

Margaret gasped when she entered the room. “It’s just perfect!”

Buffy carefully made her way to the podium and stepped up to take a look at herself in the mirrors. Margaret hurriedly came up behind her to finish zipping up the dress, then carefully straightened the bottom of the skirt.

“Wow,” Buffy whispered looking at her reflection. The dress looked like it had been designed just for her. Sitting tight on her upper body, giving her small bust just enough accent, then opening up to a skirt with just a bit of flow, Buffy was amazed at how beautiful it looked. She twirled carefully around eyeing the dress from every angle. She blinked back a few tears as she thought about the fact that her mother wasn’t there, and would never get the chance to see her in this dress, or any wedding dress in the future.

“It fits you perfectly, dear, and it looks absolutely beautiful.” Margaret said with a knowing smile. “You’re fiancé will love it.”

“I hope so,” Buffy replied quickly locking the thoughts of her mother away. “I’ll take this one. I don’t think I could find anything closer to what I want if I tried.” It was hard for her to take her eyes off her reflection in the mirror. Looking at herself right then should could almost imagine she was a real bride.

“Wonderful! Surprisingly, and wonderfully enough, we don’t apparently need to do any alterations. I assume you would like to take it with you now?”

“Yeah,” Buffy replied still distracted by the dress, and secretly wondering how Spike would react when he saw it.
Margaret grinned. She always loved it when a young bride found just the perfect dress. They just seemed to glow when they had it on.

“Go change,” she said pulling Buffy from her thoughts. “I will have one of the girls get it all bundled up for you.”
Buffy quickly returned to the dressing room that held her clothes and changed out of the dress. Taking the dress with her she headed out towards the entry in search of Margaret. She was waiting there with another sales associate who quickly took the dress off to package up in a garment bag for her.

“Now, do you need anything else? Veil? Shoes? Jewelry?” Margaret asked leading her back out to the main area of the store.

“I could look at some shoes.” Buffy replied perkily. No girl could have too many shoes right? After just a few minutes of trying on shoes she found the perfect pair of white sandals. She opted to forgo the idea of a veil, and she didn’t feel the need for any special jewelry. She followed Margaret to the register and quickly paid for her purchases, not realizing that she was going to have to hurry if she was going to make it back to the rink by noon.

“Congratulations,” Margaret told her. “And best of luck to you and your fiancé.”

“Thank you,” Buffy said holding her packages tightly and rushing out the door. She and Spike were going to need all the luck they could get. And they were going to need more than luck to come out of the whole thing unhurt, for that they just might need a miracle. She hung the dress in the back of her Jeep, put the bag with the shoes on the flow and climbed in herself to head to the rink. When she arrived she retrieved the dress and shoes and headed inside. The parking lot was fairly empty which was a good sign. No one would be around to get curious about her bags.

“Oh! Buffy, is that your dress?” Tara asked with a smile as Buffy walked in the door and towards the front counter. Buffy’s jaw dropped in shock staring at the young blonde at the register.

“You know!?” she exclaimed, then realized that Giles had mentioned that Tara and Lorne knew about the plan.

“Yes. I helped a bit with some of the details yesterday. Spike and I talked about some of the options you could have in Vegas.” She said with a wave of her hand. “Don’t worry; I’m the only other one who knows besides Lorne.”

Buffy felt a twinge of jealousy at the thought of the blonde in front of her discussing wedding options with Spike; even if it was her own wedding they were discussing. She suddenly groaned when she realized that soon people were going to be finding out. It wouldn’t just be Tara and Giles and Lorne who knew about her and Spike. Or even Willow, Xander and Dawn. The whole rink would know soon enough.

“May I see it?” Tara asked, thinking that perhaps that would be a good distraction for Buffy who seemed to be getting quite anxious.

“Sure,” Buffy said with a shrug. “Should we go in the back? I don’t want anyone to see it who shouldn’t.” She looked around nervously, even though she knew that Willow at least should be at class, and the rink usually didn’t have anyone around over the lunch hour besides staff.
Tara nodded and Buffy followed her into the back office, hanging the garment bag on the door once it was closed.

“Oh my! It’s beautiful, Buffy.” Tara exclaimed once she had the garment bag unzipped.

“Thank you,” Buffy responded, staring at the dress herself. “I just wanted something traditional. I mean, I know this is so not a traditional wedding, or marriage, or anything… but I wanted something to be.” She wondered a bit as to why she cared so much, and why she was explaining herself to Tara. Perhaps it was because Tara knew the circumstances surrounding the wedding. She was also a friend whom she could talk to about the whole situation, and would understand. Buffy suddenly realized that Giles had done her a favor by letting at least one of her close friends in on the charade.

“Of course you should,” Tara said easily. She understood how Buffy felt, and she figured Spike felt pretty much the same way. Or at least she thought he did given the conversation they had had about it the day before. “It’s just wonderful and I’m sure you look beautiful in it. Spike will just love it.”

“I hope so, not that it really matters.” Buffy said wistfully. “Well, I had better go find him. Is he in his office?”

“He was a few minutes ago.” Tara said with a smile. “Have a good time this weekend. I know you don’t need another lecture, but give Spike a chance to explain himself. I know he hurt you when he left, but…” Tara paused for a moment, wondering if it really was her place to say anything. She and Spike had spoken a lot over the past couple months, nearly every conversation about Buffy. She had learned quite a bit that she was sure that Buffy didn’t know about. Taking a deep breath she forged on. “He hurt too, Buffy. I know that this whole situation doesn’t help matters, but try to relax and enjoy your time away. Get to know each other again. Everything will work out okay.”

“Thanks, Tara,” Buffy said giving the other woman a hug. She was beginning to think there was a conspiracy going on between Tar and Giles in trying to get her to work things out with Spike. Not that she was going to do any complaining about it at the moment. She quickly grabbed her dress and bags and headed back towards Spikes office. She knocked lightly, but went right in. Last night had given her just a spark of confidence when it came to him.

“Hello, love.” He said looking away from his computer.

“Good morning,” Buffy replied closing his door so she could hang her dress on the back of it. “Or is it afternoon yet?”

Spike smiled at the perkiness of her voice. “I see you’ve been dress shopping.” A sudden, overwhelming feeling of wistfulness overtook him. He wished he could have gone with her. It would have been fun to have her modeling the dresses for him, asking for his opinion, getting to see her smile light up the room when she found one she liked.

“Yep,” she replied popping the ‘p’ as she dropped down into the chair in front of his desk. “It was a very successful experience.”

“Do I get to have a peek, or are you gonna make me wait?” Spike asked with a grin.

Buffy shrugged. “Up to you; I’m not superstitious or anything. Besides it’s not like any of this is really normal.”

Spike flinched at her statement, but kept a smile on his face. “I think I’ll wait. It will give me something to look forward too.”

Buffy looked up surprised, although she shouldn’t have been. He had said he wanted to be a little traditional, no matter how crazy the situation was.

“Can I go ahead and put it in your car? I really don’t want to have to explain it to Willow if she sees me with it later this afternoon, or at home.” She was still blissfully ignoring the idea of discussing it with her best friend.

“Sure thing,” Spike readily agreed. “Are you ready for lunch?”

“Yeah,” she replied with a shrug.

“What are you hungry for?” Spike asked taking the garment bag off the door and waiting for Buffy. Once she had grabbed her other bags they headed up towards the front of the rink.

“Chinese sound good?” Spike nodded, following her down the hall.

“Be back in a bit, Tara.” He called as they went out the door, both of them waving to the blonde at the counter.
Lunch was enjoyable for them both. They talked about a variety of things, carefully avoiding the subject of the upcoming trip to Vegas. Enough had been said about that already. Buffy was learning that she enjoyed talking to Spike. He was full of interesting information, and he was often animated when he talked. This was a different side that she hadn’t always seen before. Sure they had talked and joked with each other, but this was just…well, different. And while they didn’t speak of the past, they did occasionally mention some event or other thing that had had happened. The hardest part for Buffy was when Spike brought up her mom.

“I’m sorry ‘bout your mum, love.” He said quietly. He felt bad that he hadn’t come back for the funeral, but he had been both unsure of his welcome and out of the country. Not that he wouldn’t have moved heaven and earth to get back to her had he thought she would have welcomed his presence.

“Thanks, Spike.” Buffy answered her voice equally soft. “I really miss her some days.”

“Bet you do. I know I miss my own mum something fierce sometimes. But she’ll always be with you in some ways.”

“I know. It was just really hard since it was so unexpected.” Buffy’s mother Joyce had died suddenly from a brain aneurism as a result of complications from surgery. Things seemed to have been going really well when it had happened. Buffy had been the one to find her, having gone over to the house to visit since her mother had taken the day off of work. It still haunted her sometimes. She often wondered if she could have saved her had she arrived any sooner.

“’m sorry I couldn’t be there for you.” Spike told her, and surprisingly Buffy believed him.

“It was okay. Giles, Willow and Xander really helped out a lot. I don’t know what I would do if it wasn’t for Giles. He took Dawnie in. I’m sure she would have ended up in foster care if he hadn’t. I wouldn’t have gotten custody of her because of my crazy schedule with skating. Not that I wouldn’t have given it up in a heartbeat for her if it had come to that.” Tears were starting to fill Buffy’s eyes as she thought back to that time. She had been so lost, so alone, even with all her friends around her. Spike reached across the table and took her hand in his. Buffy took a deep breath and continued. “Skating really helped. I know a lot of people expected me to take the season off, but I just couldn’t. I knew mom wouldn’t have wanted that, and skating gave me something to do besides think about her not being here. It probably wasn’t my best season and definitely not as good as the year before.”

“You can’t will Olympic gold every year,” Spike teased lightly. Buffy smiled. He was right. And she had still won Worlds. She was sure he mom would have been proud had she been there.

Desperately wanting to change the subject though, Buffy glanced down at her watch and noticed that it was after 1 o’clock. “Don’t you need to be getting back to the rink?”
Spike looked down at his own watch and frowned. “Yeah, I have practice in about an hour.”

They quickly left the restaurant after Spike paid the bill and headed back to the rink. Spike parked next to her car since she wasn’t planning on going inside again.

“Damn!” he exclaimed as he got out of his SUV. “I didn’t take you over to the house. I was gonna show you around a bit, knowin’ you hadn’t been there before.”

“No biggie.” Buffy replied with a shrug. “How about I come over tonight and you can show me then. I’ll even cook us dinner?”

“You wanna cook?” Spike asked raising an eyebrow. Buffy had been notorious back in the day for her lack of cooking skills. He had often heard a horror story or two from Dawn or Willow about her attempts at cooking.

“I will have you know, I can cook.” She replied defensively, poking a finger into his chest. “I may not be a world class chef, but I have learned a few things over the years.”

Spike raised his hands in surrender. “I believe you, love. ‘m sorry for doubtin’ you.”

Buffy calmed down. “Seriously, I will fix something. Just make sure you bring your hearty appetite.”

“’m always hungry, pet.” He said with a leer, eyeing her from head to toe. Buffy felt her cheeks burn when she realized the double meaning of his words. Spike was absolutely thrilled at the idea that Buffy would suggest spending time with him.

“What time are you done tonight?”

“I’d say around five or so. Practice starts about two thirty. When it’s done, I’m done, but how long it goes really depends on the guys. They do what they’re told it’ll go fast.” He rolled his eyes as he spoke thinking of the kids on his team. It wasn’t going to be a short practice.

“That gives me plenty of time. Anything you would prefer on the menu?”

Spike shook his head no, biting his tongue to keep from making some innuendo. It just wouldn’t do to go overboard and make her even more nervous around him. “Whatever you want is fine with me, pet.”

“Mmm….I think I could have some fun with that?” Buffy said teasingly. She grinned when Spike’s eyes widened.
“Oh no you don’t, Buffy!” he said quickly, but with a laugh. He knew she could get creative if she really tried, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to experience it. He had had a few of Dawns creations before and he knew they were highly experimental. “You want me to pick you up when I’m done?”

“Nah,” Buffy replied with a shake of her head. “I’ll just drive over to your place.”

Spike still wasn’t too happy with the idea of her going around town by herself, but he knew she would argue with him if he said anything. The stalker hadn’t given them any reason to believe that he would harm Buffy, at least not yet. Rather he seemed to be trying to win her over. Not that he was being very smart about it. Spike couldn’t imagine any girl enjoying the thought of a strange person following them or watching them in their sleep. He would give her the freedom now, but once they were married and under the same roof he was going to insist on being with her more.

“Why don’t you bring your bag along with you and we can store it in my car tonight. Give you a chance to get it out of the house and make the trip to the airport in the morning a bit easier, yeah?”

Buffy loved the idea. If only she would be able to get the suitcase out of the house without Willow seeing. But she had a plan for that. “Sounds like a plan. I’ll see you in a few hours.”

“Sure,” Spike agreed as he bent down to plant a chaste kiss on her lips. He then gave her a quick wink and headed into the rink. Buffy just stood for a moment and stared after him. The kiss had been so casual, as if it was something they did on a regular basis. What was up with that? She figured it would be hard for them for a while to get back into the groove of being near each other, but they had just fallen naturally together. Shaking her head at the craziness of the situation she got in her Jeep and headed for the store.

After a quick trip to the store to pick up supplies for dinner she headed back to her apartment to finish packing. She thought she should probably call Dawn, but she wasn’t quite sure what to tell her little sister. Dawn had always adored Spike. She’d had the biggest crush on him when he first arrived in Sunnydale. Eventually she had gotten over it and moved on to a new boy in her class. Buffy wondered if Giles was going to tell Dawn about her and Spike getting married. She would be so excited. She had been one of Willows biggest ‘let’s get Buffy with Spike’ supporters since he had returned. Then she wondered if he would be honest with her and tell her it was just a plan to catch her stalker. He probably wouldn’t tell her, Buffy concluded, knowing that her sister was liable to let it slip. And she doubted her sister had any idea about the stalker.

Buffy had made a quick call to Willow on her way home from the store asking her friend if she would mind picking up her mail from the rink. She honestly had forgotten to check when she had been there earlier, and she figured it would keep the chance that Willow would see her with her suitcase to a minimum. Taking it to her car was the first thing she did when she got home. She then set to preparing dinner. At the store she had decided to fix a traditional picnic feast. The weather had been so nice lately, and she hoped that the yard at Spikes would be nice for one. It had been a long time since she’d been on a picnic. Once everything was prepared she headed into her living room and picked up a book, flopping down into one of the overstuffed chairs.
Twenty minutes, and two pages later she tossed the book on the floor in frustration.

“This is ridiculous!” she muttered, frustrated by her inability to concentrate. She had read the same page four times and she still wasn’t sure what the main characters name was. Her mind was going a mile a minute with thoughts about her impending marriage. She wondered what Spike’s expectations were going to be of everything. They had discussed getting married, and the ceremony, and her moving into his house, but what about afterwards? Since they were married would he expect her to share a room with him? Sleep with him? No, she doubted that he would. They were getting married to stop a stalker, there was no reason he should expect that. They weren’t marrying for any reason other than to catch the guy, so why should she be worried about their wedding night? Then again, when she really thought about it, she probably wouldn’t mind a wedding night with Spike. All those thoughts and more kept running through her mind and the more they went on the more X-rated they got.

Needing a chance to clear her head before she headed to Spikes, she changed and went for a quick run. It worked to calm her down. Returning to her apartment with just enough time for a quick shower and change of clothes, Buffy quickly gathered up all she needed for their picnic and headed out the door.





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