**Since it's four years later, William is now 40 and Buffy is 25. **


“Honey, I’m home!” Buffy chirped as she entered the penthouse she shared with William, or as she was calling him these days, Spike.

Flipping through the mail awaiting her on the table in the foyer as she made her way inside further their home, she didn’t even hear her fiancé come up behind her until he was on her. On her in the sense that he spun her around and drew her in a drugging kiss, lifting her free from earthly ties in the process.

He was kissing her into breathlessness and damn if Buffy cared. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she returned his passion with her own and allowed him to carry her to their bedroom where he plopped her on the bed and set about undressing her.

“Spike, what’s going on?” she asked in a heady daze.

He grinned down at her, that grin that turned her to goo; that grin that exuded sex. How a grin could exude sex, she wasn’t sure, but Spike pulled it off effortlessly. She was sure he didn’t even know he did it half the time. His blue eyes were alight with mischief and lust, and his chest was already bare.

“Whatcha been doin’?” she asked coyly, grinning back at him, and sweeping her hand across his bare chest.

Propping himself on his arms and hovering above her, he leaned in and kissed her languidly, grinding his center against hers. “Missed you,” he breathed when he pulled apart.

“You saw me this morning. As a matter of fact, if I remember correctly, we got ‘groiny’ this morning too.”

He raised a scarred brow and smirked. “If you remember correctly? I must be doing something wrong.”

“Oh, honey, you do everything right.”

Tucking his tongue behind his teeth, he laid half on top of her and slid a finger up her now bare pussy. “You’re wet,” he observed.

“What do you expect?” she purred, leaning up and kissing him sweetly, trailing her tongue across his bottom lip and sucking it in her mouth. Laying back she smiled coquettishly, “You get my motor revved, baby.”

Growling, he crushed his mouth to hers, sinking his tongue inside her warm cavern as his finger sank inside her other cavern.

Rubbing circles around her clit with his thumb, Spike fingered her idly, and then curled his finger in a ‘come hither’ motion inside her, rubbing her g-spot until she exploded in a mind-bending orgasm.

Panting, Buffy tore her mouth from his and extracted his finger, watching him with hooded lids as she cleaned her spendings from his finger. His eyes darkened fiercely with insatiable lust and he growled again.

Grinning mischievously, Buffy rolled them so that she was now on top. Bending down, she licked his nipples, and started the trail down his body, leaving hot, wet kisses down his pleasure trail and when she came to his jeans; she made quick work of taking them off.

His cock sprang free, weeping for her. Kissing the head, she brushed her lips across the tip, glossing her lips with his pre-cum. He muttered something unintelligible when she nibbled her way down his cock, and then his head flopped back on the bed when she took him in her mouth.

“Buffy,” he groaned, his hips jerking, sending him further into her mouth.

Relaxing her throat muscles as she had read in Cosmopolitan, Buffy swallowed, massaging his member with her throat.

“Christ!” he shouted, and Buffy grinned.

Up and down she went, faster and faster until he was just about to come and she backed off.

“Buffy, please,” he gasped.

She smiled and climbed on top of him, sinking down on him in one smooth move. “I know what my guy wants,” she murmured.

With his hands holding onto her hips, the pair started a rhythm and lost themselves in one another. Tugging her down, Spike kissed her gently and slowly as she rode him. Sitting back up, Buffy watched the pleasure play across his face.

“Touch yourself, baby,” Spike purred.

Gliding a hand slowly down her neck, her breasts and down her stomach, Buffy sought out her clit and flicked it. Moaning, she rode him faster as she played with herself.

“That’s it…love watching my girl get off…love watching you touch yourself…may I?”

She nodded; unable to speak, and moved her hand, giving him access. When his finger found her button, she screamed his name, coming completely undone. Spike followed soon after roaring her name and thrusting up inside her, drenching her in his cream.

Collapsing against him, she gasped for air.

Smoothing a hand down her sweat slickened back, Spike murmured, “Welcome home. I love you, Buffy.”

“I love you too, Spike.”

********

“Spike honestly, you didn’t have to get a hotel room for tomorrow night,” Buffy told him as she shoved some running pants in her suitcase.

He nodded as he shoved some toiletries in his own bag. “Yeah, I did. Kitten, it’s ridiculous for me to come all the way back here just to go back on Sunday morning.”

“’All the way back’,” she mocked him, “Spike, it’s a half hour drive!”

“Yeah, and the hotel is ten minutes from your parents, luv.”

Shrugging, Buffy conceded the point and made her way into the bathroom.

“So, did you like being welcome home like that?” Spike called to her from the bedroom.

Gathering up her toiletries in a mini duffel bag on the counter, Buffy smiled. “I did. What was that for anyway?”

“Are you saying I don’t see to you enough?”

“Not at all. If I recall, you’ve pounced on me quite a few times.”

“Can I help it if I’m insatiable when it comes to you?”

Buffy grinned. “I feel the same way, baby.”

“Good, besides, I figure that’s the last time before this weekend starts that I get to ravage you without having to be quiet or secret about it.”

Buffy giggled, shaking her head.

“I’m gonna bring some of our things down now, all right luv?”

“Okay. I’ll help in a minute.”

“Take your time.”

When she heard him leave the penthouse, Buffy immediately dropped to her knees and opened the cabinet below the sink and reached as far back as she could--past her tampons and panty liners, past the Comet and assorted bottles of cream, shampoo, conditioner and soap to the small plastic bag tucked in the back and pulled it out. She gulped, staring at the box and wave of fear washed over her. She’d had the pregnancy test for a week now and still hadn’t taken it.

Buffy was petrified. She was getting married that weekend which was a joy as well as a tremendous stress in itself; especially when she thought she might be pregnant. What would happen to her law career that she’d just started? She was fresh out of law school and pulling massive hours in the firm that had hired her right out of school—and now she could possibly be pregnant?

What then? Spike had promised once upon a time during a small pregnancy scare that they would work through it and find a way to make things work. The poor guy. He’d put up a lot from her what with her having been uncertain of their relationship and all, and now he’d ‘gotten’ her – and in all fairness, she’d ‘gotten’ him—and now she was afraid again?

Slipping the test into her suitcase, Buffy closed it up and sighed. Sitting down on the bed thoughtfully, she weighed telling him now. It was a pressure filled weekend to begin with, did she want to add to it for both of them, or wait?

Spike burst through the room then, jarring her from her thoughts. “You okay?” he asked, nodding in her direction.

Looking up at him, smiled and stood and made her way to him, wrapping her arms around him. God, she loved him so much, she really did.

Luv, what is it, hmmm?” he murmured, wrapping his arms around her and holding her close.

“I just love you.”

“I know you do,” he whispered, grazing a kiss across her temple, “I love you too, Buffy, more than anything in the world.”

Buffy held him tighter, the words to tell him about her possible pregnancy choking in her throat.

Buffy should have known that her parents would be waiting impatiently for them. Waiting impatiently meant actually that her mother would be the impatient one, and that she would be sitting straight as a rod in the living room, her eyes peeled to the door under the pretense of being calm. Yet the tapping of her foot and the hawk eyes she’d have, would belie that aura of ‘calm’ she was going for. Hank, on the other hand, would be sitting in his easy chair, channel surfing and mindless of anything but the TV.

Buffy knew it, but it didn’t stop from annoying her nonetheless. She thought perhaps it was all in the knowing that made it so annoying to her, or perhaps the hope that maybe, just maybe she wouldn’t be perched like a gargoyle, waiting in impatience the way she did.

Squeezing Spike’s hand, the pair entered the house and Buffy purposely did not look in the living for a minute, instead focusing on her father, though she could see her mother out of the corner of her eye.

“Hey honey,” Hank said, standing as soon as he saw the pair. Opening his arms, Buffy walked right into them and allowed herself to be swept up in the comforting embrace of her father.

“Daddy, you’ve lost more weight, haven’t you?” Buffy mused, standing back and taking a gander at her father. His normal stocky frame had lessened quite a bit, and even more since she’d seen him last.

“Your mother makes me walk with her in the morning now,” Hank said with a roll of his green eyes, but Buffy could see he didn’t mind too much by the twinkle in his eye. Since Hank’s heart attack a few years back, he’d taken his health more serious and actually listened to doctor’s orders when they told him to start exercising more and eating well. Hank had taken it one step further and taken an early retirement, of which hadn’t stuck that well. He was “Of Counsel” at his firm, and still had his hand in a few matters.

“Well, you look good, Dad,” Buffy told him and went, finally, to her mother who was hugging William and telling him how the wedding party would be arriving at any minute.

Buffy rolled her eyes as she went to her mother. “Mom, we’re not even late. We’re here at the time we said. An hour before everyone shows up.”

“I should have told you two,” Joyce sighed, smoothing her honey blond hair back.

Typical. Her mother was notorious for telling her to be somewhere at a certain time and then changing it three times out of nerves. It was the whole reason why she insisted on having Buffy have two rehearsals before the wedding: that evening and then the following night. “Trust me dear,” Joyce had told her, “No one will remember the day of with just one rehearsal. It’s best with two and then you can all have a relaxing night instead of rushing off to do all you need the night before.”

“It’s all right, Joyce, if I know Faith, she’ll have everyone running late as it is,” Spike interrupted smoothly.

Joyce smiled. “You’re probably right.”

Buffy shot him a look and he grinned. It wasn’t fair that he had that power to make Joyce calm while she and Joyce just seemed to feed off one another.

“Need help with your things, William?” Hank asked Spike, “If Buffy is anything like her mother, she packed her entire closet.”

Spike chuckled and thanked his old friend, the man responsible for bringing Buffy into his life, and told him it was no problem.

“I’ll help him, Dad,” Buffy assured her father.

“I’m not a weakling you know,” Hank reminded her. “Not with the weights your mother has me wearing while we walk.”

Buffy giggled. “It’s okay, Dad, really.”

“Don’t forget we’re going out for the rehearsal dinner at Emilio’s.”

“Yes, mom, we know,” Buffy nodded and followed Spike back outside.

“She’s already stressing you out, huh?” Spike asked as he opened the trunk.

“You know I love her to death, it’s just with the wedding and all…she’s worried more than I have about things and it’s my—our—wedding.”

Spike paused in taking out the suitcases and turned to her, an odd expression on his face.

“What?” Buffy asked.

“The day after tomorrow you’re going to be Mrs. William Madden.”

Buffy smirked. “No, the day after tomorrow, I’m going to be Mrs. Elizabeth Madden-Summers.”

“Pet, why do you have to do the hyphen thing, eh? Just keep it to Madden, show your soon to be husband how much you love him.”

“Adopting your last name does not indicate love, William. Besides, how could I do that to my Dad, who really, was the first man in my life? And I’ve been Summers so long, I don’t know anything else. It’d be like a whole identity change!”

Spike shook his head, “Whatever you say, pet,” he muttered and went back to hauling out the suitcases.

She placed a hand on his arm, halting him.

Looking over at her, he waited for her to say something.

“You know I love you, right?”

He broke into a grin. “I know you do, Buffy.”

“The name thing . . . it’s not as important as all the other stuff, right?”

Taking her in his arms, Spike hugged her, assuring her. “Right.”

*********

Spike watched his girl laugh and carry on with her friends in her parent’s backyard, where the wedding was to be held, and thought that he was the luckiest man on Earth. His girl positively glowed. She was an angel to him, an angel that had taken him out of his loneliness and gave him a reason to get out of bed in the morning. It was because of Buffy that he believed in love again, having been hurt by his first love when he found out that she was married. He knew though, from the start, that Buffy was the epitome of love and Isabel, his former, was just puppy love. Course he didn’t know that at the time, but now he did.

And, in two short days – not even – Buffy was going to be his wife, his mate, his everything. Well, she already was his everything.

“So, B, we’re going out after this dinner, right?” Faith Evans, one of Buffy’s bridesmaids asked.

Buffy nodded, “Yep. I already asked William.”

Faith rolled his eyes. “Asked him? Puh-lease! You’re not going to become Donna fucking Reed are you?”

“Sssh,” Buffy hissed, “My mother hates that word.”

Faith smirked, “What? Donna Reed?”

Spike had to chuckle, even if he thought Faith could be a bit much. “She’s not going to be anything even remotely like Donna Reed,” Spike assured the brunette. “She can’t even cook.”

Buffy nudged him in the ribs. “Hush up, you.”

Spike nuzzled her neck, “I love you anyway, baby.”

“So why did she ask?” Faith challenged.

“Because every time I’m with you, I end up needing to be bailed out of something,” Buffy muttered.

Faith laughed, proud of herself. She shrugged, “What can I say. Trouble follows me.”

“Or, you are trouble,” Spike suggested.

Faith just gave him a look and then smiled and nodded.

Spike laughed and excused himself to see how the ‘men’ were doing – the men being Wesley Wyndham Pryce, Liam “Angel” O’ Connor, and Hank – his best men. Buffy tended to her maid of honor, Willow Rosenberg and her other bridesmaid, Anya Jenkins.

The backyard was where Buffy had chosen for the wedding. She hadn’t wanted a huge thing, and she’d expressed to him that her dream was to marry in her parents yard with the wrought-iron archway Joyce had leading into her expanding-by-the-day garden with a little pond in the center of it all. He had to admit, it was the perfect place for the wedding, and when the chairs and tables were set up – for the reception was going to take place there as well-- it would all be that much more real.

And the fact that it was coming, and even though he was as happy as a clam, it wasn’t without some fear as well. Would he be a good husband to Buffy? Would he make her as happy as she made him? Would she grow tired of him? Was he too old for her? He was forty now. And what of children? He didn’t necessarily want to start having children right away, even if he was forty. He wanted to wait and enjoy his time with his wife before that, and he knew Buffy wanted to wait as well, for her career was just starting.

He was struck more and more, as the days drew closer to their nuptials, how incredibly unworthy he felt. Watching her laugh, how she lit up the dusk and made it seem like dawn, how she made his heart beat that much faster when she just entered a room, he thought I don’t deserve an angel like her.

********

Granted it was rehearsal, but just the faux walking down the aisle had made Spike choke with emotion. Imagining her in the wedding dress he drew up in his imagination, he was swept away.

And he couldn’t get the vision of her walking toward him so trustingly out of his mind. She was so young…she had her whole life literally in front of her…and she chose him to spend the rest of her days with. Him. She was walking to him to spend her life with.

The reality of it made it hard for him to breathe, and so before the main course at dinner came, Spike went out for a quick smoke. Ducking out in the back of the restaurant, which was nothing but a parking lot for employees and a dumpster, Spike lit up and inhaled deeply.

“Hello, William.”

Turning to the sound of a woman’s voice that he didn’t recognize, Spike was struck dumb.

“Isabel.”

Time, Spike noted, had been quite kind to Isabel. She looked exactly the same as she had at thirty-two, he could barely make out any signs of aging on her and it had been twenty years since he last saw her. Her raven black hair was cut into a short bob, not long as it once was, and her makeup was light, just enough to accentuate her gray eyes. She had grown more voluptuous that he had remembered, the low cut, v-neck maroon top she wore with lace fringe and the black pants that were tight around her thighs accentuated her figure.

“I saw you when you came in,” Isabel explained. “I didn’t want to disturb you…I’m here with friends…Are you getting married?”

Spike nodded, feeling very much struck dumb by seeing his past before him when he had just thought of her that day.

“She’s most beautiful, William.”

Spike smiled then. “Yes, she is.”

“David died,” she told him flatly.

Spike’s eyes widened. “I’m so sorry—when?”

“Two years ago, he had a heart attack.”

“I’m really sorry, Isabel.”

“I knew he’d work himself into the ground…that husband of mine…” she looked up at him sadly. “I almost called you.”

“Called me, why?”

“To tell you. To talk with you.”

“Isabel--”

“You know I was never good at realizing what I had until it was gone. How old is your girl?”

Spike gulped, “Twenty-five.”

“You love her?”

“Very much.”

“Like you did me? Or more?”

“Isabel, I don’t want to answer that.”

“Why not?”

“Cause the way I love Buffy is much different.”

*********

“So B, we ready to go?” Faith asked, sauntering over to where Buffy was chatting with Wesley.

Buffy smiled up at her friend. “Yeah, I think so. Let me just go tell Spike. I think he went out for a smoke.”

Willow came up, “We going now? Did I hear right?”

“Yeah,” Buffy stood. “Just got to tell Spike.”

“I’ll come with you,” Willow told her, “I could use some air, it’s hot in here.”

Wesley stood, “I will see you tomorrow then, Buffy.”

Buffy smiled. “Yes you will, Wes. If Fred and the little one want to come, please bring them.”

Wesley grinned. “Will do. I’m sure they’d both enjoy it.”

“I’ll wait for you here,” Faith told the girls. “Don’t be long!”

Patting Wesley on the back, Buffy started for the exit to the parking lot in the back, which was attached to an empty reception room. Buffy could see the top of Spike’s head.

“Are you getting nervous, Buffy?” Willow asked as they made their way across the large room.

Buffy nodded, “Oh yeah.”

“Second thoughts?”

Buffy smiled, “No. I mean…I’m nervous and all, but…well, I don’t know…just other stuff besides the wedding.”

“Like what?”

Buffy hedged, “Tell you later. Maybe,” and she smiled secretively, placing her hand on the door to go out. Looking up, she froze.

Willow gasped.

“Hey, what’s taking so long?” Faith called to them.

Buffy stared at the scene before. Stared at Spike kissing another woman. The walls were closing in and she felt as though she were not in her body; in fact, she felt as though she’d left her body and her spirit was hovering outside her, watching everything going on and desperately trying to make Buffy the Body react in some way.

“Fuck me,” Faith whispered, having finally caught up.

“I – I can’t breathe. I think I’m gonna be sick,” and Buffy ran back to the restaurant, Willow following her.

Faith burst outside. “What the fuck is this?” she demanded, ready to punch someone, preferably Spike.

Spike pushed Isabel off him and faced Faith. “Faith—“ he started.

“Who the hell are you?” Faith demanded of Isabel.

“She’s--” Spike started.

“I’m Isabel, his ex,” the older woman answered stiffly.

Faith’s eyes widened. “I know about you. The married chick, right?”

“Not any longer. My husband is dead.”

“Isn’t that interesting?” Faith mused, turning to glare at Spike. “Good job, asshole. Buffy just saw you mackin’ on your ex.”

“Sh-she saw--?”

“Yeah, she saw,’” and she turned tail and headed back inside, hoping Buffy was all right.

Jogging into the restaurant, she found a sobbing hysterically Buffy trying desperately to get out of the restaurant while everyone hovered around, trying to get her to talk. Willow was trying to pull her to the door, while Anya held it open, and Joyce was pulling her back inside. It was a tug of war, literally.

“I need to go!” Buffy was shouting. “I can’t be here!”

Faith elbowed her way in, placing a hand on Joyce’s arm. “Joyce just let her go. The girl needs to get out of here right now.”

“Buffy, wait, honey, please!” Joyce exclaimed, releasing her daughter, but begging her to stay.

“Just let her go right now, dear,” Hank said calmly and spied Spike entering the room. With anger bubbling forth, he strolled up to Spike whose eyes were intent on Buffy’s retreating form, and decked him.

********

Buffy was crying her heart out; at least that’s what it felt like. She just couldn’t stop, the tears just kept coming and coming…the image of Spike kissing that woman and then finding out from Faith it was Isabel – his first love—that made her feel sick, as if seeing him kiss her wasn’t enough, but then finding out who she was on top of it. She still didn’t feel attached to her body.

After all this time, they meet two days before the wedding? How the fucking hell did that happen?

“It doesn’t,” Faith said wisely when Buffy put voice to that question. “Bet he’s been seeing her on the side and she got punchy with keeping it secret. Funny how things change when the shoe is on the other foot.”

“Faith! I do not think he has been with her all this time,” Willow admonished. “Buffy, honey, coincidences happen--”

“And you’re the one who says there are no such things as coincidences,” Anya pointed out.

“Well it is one this time!” Willow exclaimed getting fired up. “I refuse to believe, with as devoted as William is to her, that he would do something like this. God, do you guys pay attention at all? He looks at Buffy as if she hung the moon!”

“Then why was he kissing another woman—his fucking ex Willow?” Faith demanded, pulling into the parking lot of the bar they’d chosen to be their first stop. Of course, that was when they’d all been excited to go out and now…now Buffy wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Willow, it appeared, had no answer to Faith’s question.

Buffy rummaged in her purse and then Faith’s glove compartment for more tissues and Anya jutted her hand in her face with a handful. “Thanks,” she mumbled through snot and tears.

“Why didn’t you talk to him?” Anya asked.

“I couldn’t move!” Buffy cried. “I just felt…frozen. I just felt as though I couldn’t breathe and as if everything was closing in on me. And then I felt like I was going to throw up. I just couldn’t think, all I wanted to do was get as far away from that sight as possible.”

“Come on girls,” Faith said, climbing out of the car. “It’s time to go inside. I think Buffy needs to get her drink on.”

“You’re telling me she just came up to you while you were having a smoke?” Angel asked Spike as they prowled up and down neighborhoods in Angel’s car looking for Faith’s vehicle.

“Yes,” Spike answered for the millionth time. “I took a drag and there she was.”

“And she just kissed you?”

Spike sighed. “For the hundredth time, this is what happened.”

Flashback

“You know I was never good at realizing what I had until it was gone. How old is your girl?”

Spike gulped, “Twenty-five.”

“You love her?”

“Very much.”

“Like you did me? Or more?”

“Isabel, I don’t want to answer that.”

“Why not?”

“Cause the way I love Buffy is much different.”

She laughed nervously, “I’m sorry.” She shook her head, staring off at the dumpster.

Silence fell and Spike wasn’t sure what to do. He was horrible at things like this. Did he stay and once more offer his condolences about her husband or did he go?

“She make you feel young?”

Spike chuckled easily. “Sometimes.”

“Did I make you feel young? Or old?”

“Young, I guess. But I was young then--”

“You’re still young, William. At least younger than me.”

He nodded slowly, feeling incredibly uncomfortable. He itched to light another cigarette, but that would just keep him where he was longer. It was when he started to excuse himself and inch toward the door that he realized she’d started crying.

Now he hated to see a woman cry, always had a hard time with it. When Buffy cried, his heart broke and he wanted to slay any and all dragons that plagued her, even if he knew he couldn’t. And even if Isabel was his past, she was still an important part of his past, and he didn’t want to see her cry.

Awkwardly, he placed a hand on her arm and she turned to him, flinging herself in his arms. He was stiff as a board, and she cried into him.

“William, I never got the chance to tell you how sorry I was for the way I ended things.”

“Isabel, let it go now. It’s the past. I moved on.”

“I let you think I didn’t really love you, but I did, William, I did. I wanted to tell you…and now you’re getting married!”

“Please, just let it go, it’s all right.”

And then she kissed him full on the lips, stunning the hell out of him in such a way that he was unable to move. He froze completely. All he could as her lips moved over his unmoving lips was Is she really doing that? Is this really happening? What the hell is she doing? What the hell is going on?

“What the fuck is this?” Faith. Shit.

Spike pushed Isabel off him and faced Faith. “Faith--” he started.

“Who the hell are you?” Faith demanded of Isabel.

“She’s--” Spike started to say “no one” but then, Isabel answered.

“I’m Isabel, his ex,” the older woman answered stiffly.

Faith’s eyes widened. “I know about you. The married chick, right?”

“Not any longer. My husband is dead.”

“Isn’t that interesting?” Faith mused, turning to glare at Spike. “Good job, asshole. Buffy just saw you mackin’ on your ex.”

“Sh-she saw--?” Oh God.

“Yeah, she saw,’” and with that she spun around and went back inside. Spike lunged for the door to follow and Isabel grabbed his arm.

“Forgive me,” she whispered.

“Isabel, you know…for a long time I rued the day I lost you, but you know what? I never realized how fucking selfish you were. It’s always about what you can’t have isn’t it? Always about what you want to make yourself feel better because you can’t stand to be alone. It’s not about me. I’m just unavailable now, that’s what its all about. Go find your next boy toy, cause baby, I ain’t him.” And he followed after Faith to find Buffy leaving, his focus being to get to her when Hank punched him.

End Flashback

Hank grumbled something in the backseat.

“I know, it sounds far-fetched, but it’s true. I haven’t seen the woman in years—two decades! And then this weekend, at my rehearsal dinner…” Spike shook his head. “I can’t even imagine what Buffy is going through right now.” He paused. “Scratch that, I can. When we first started seeing each other, I saw some bloke dancing with her one night and that was actually the first –and last—time we split. I jumped to conclusions and …Fuck!”

“You all right?” Wesley asked from the backseat.

“No, I’m bloody not! My fiancé just caught me in a compromising position two days before our wedding. How the fuck do you think I am?” Spike demanded.

“Not well.”

********

“Drink it,” Faith demanded, putting the shot of tequila right in front of Buffy’s nose.

“I can’t,” Buffy said weakly, looking up at her friend with red eyes.

“Why not?”

Buffy swallowed, “There’s a possibility I could be pregnant.”

Willow, Faith and Anya all at once sputtered, “What?!”

Buffy nodded mournfully. Anya shook her head, Willow patted Buffy’s back and Faith downed the shot, muttering “Hell.”

They sat then, in a dark crowded bar, staring at the walls or the floor.

“Talk about a kill joy,” Anya muttered.

”Does William know?” Willow asked and nudged her friend in the ribs for the comment.

Buffy shook her head, “No. And I don’t even know for sure yet. I was too afraid to take the test…” she sniffled. “What if I’m pregnant and Spike wants to go back to Isabel? What if he’s already with her?”

“He’s not, Buffy,” Willow told her reassuringly. “You should talk to him. You have to talk to him and sort this out.”

Buffy nodded. “I do. I know. I’m just afraid, ya know? I mean…what if he is with her and he didn’t know how to tell me?” She started to cry again. “I don’t want to hear him tell me he doesn’t love me! She was his first love…”

“And you’re his last love,” Willow affirmed. “Come on, let’s get you to your parents, okay?”

Nodding mutely, Buffy stood and grabbed her purse. Faith sighed heavily and started for the door, Anya, Willow and Buffy in tow.

********

Trudging up to the house, Buffy wrapped her arms about herself feeling as though this was the weirdest night she’d ever had.

Walking inside, she found Joyce on the couch, waiting for her. “Honey,” Joyce murmured, and stood, opening her arms.

Buffy ran into them, hugging her mother and sobbing yet again. “Mommy, he…he wouldn’t do that, would he?”

“He says no. Course that was after your father hit him.”

Buffy pulled back. “Dad hit him?”

Joyce nodded, frowning. “’Fraid so. He’ll have a shiner for the wedding.”

“If there is a wedding,” Buffy muttered and plopped herself on the couch, staring forlornly across the room.

“Buffy, I believe him,” Joyce said, sitting down next to her.

Buffy looked up at her. “You do?”

“I do.”

“Do you really believe him, or do you just want to believe him?”

“You sound like your father,” Joyce said, smiling.

Buffy attempted a smile.

“So why didn’t you stick around and question him yourself to see if you believed him?”

“That’s what I’d like to know too.”

Buffy and Joyce’s head swerved to find Spike standing there, looking worn out and stressed, and Hank was behind him. Buffy immediately welled up in tears and Spike rushed to her, knelt before her and gathered her up in his arms.

Buffy held on to Spike for dear life and Joyce and Hank left the room quietly.

Buffy sobbed into his shoulder while Spike held her, rubbing her back and whispering words of love to her.

“Buffy, baby, look at me.”

Buffy pulled back reluctantly and looked at him, surprised to find tear tracks running down his face.

“She just showed up. Out of the blue. I had no idea she was there. What you saw was her kissing me, not the other way around. In that moment, I was too stunned that she’d actually done it.”

“What did she want with you?”

“Supposedly she was there with friends and saw us when we came in. When she saw me walk out for a smoke, she came after me. She was talking to me about how she missed me and how her husband died and I was standing there trying to figure out how long I had to talk to her before I could politely leave. And then she started to cry.”

“You hate it when women cry,” Buffy sniffed, clutching his shirt in her fists.

Spike chuckled, “That’s right, I do. Especially you. And then she launched herself on me when I put my hand on her arm to try and calm her…and that’s what you saw.”

Spike was a horrible liar for one thing, and for another, he’d never lied to her, ever. And when he even tried to teasingly fib, she could always tell by his eyes that twitched when they met hers and by his mouth that would quirk into a somewhat nervous grin. These were quirks she picked up on, but never told him about. And now, neither quirk was shown.

“I couldn’t believe she’d done it. I mean…she just literally came at me…what a nutter.”

Buffy giggled.

He looked up at her, hopefully, “Do you believe me, kitten?”

“Why now? Why was she there? You haven’t seen her in twenty years and two days before our wedding she shows up?”

“I don’t know, luv. One of those things? One of those unexplainable things that come out of nowhere to test us? Kind of like when Hank had his heart attack when he confronted us about our relationship?”

Buffy nodded and wrapped her arms about him, holding him close. “I couldn’t think. I couldn’t breathe. I don’t even think I felt. I just had to get away. I would have let you lie to me if I thought it meant it would go away and you’d stay… Does that sound co-dependant?”

“Honey, the last thing you are is co-dependant. That just means that you love me that much, and I can’t tell you what that means to me. If the tables were turned, I’d want the same thing.”

“You would?”

“Do you have any doubt? Buffy…I love you more than anything and anyone in this world.”

“I love you that way too.”

“So you believe me?”

“I believe you.”

He started to pull back, but Buffy held him fast, not willing to move just yet from the sanctity of his arms. “Spike?”

“Yes, my love?”

“Would you take me to bed now?”

“I think I can do that.”

*********

Laying her in the middle of the bed, her bed, Spike gazed down at his lady love and felt a flood of emotion so powerful, it threatened to knock him over like a tidal wave. And it very nearly did, causing him to collapse next to her and gather her up in his arms in an almighty embrace.

“Spike?”

“Just…what if you hadn’t believed me?” he whispered hoarsely. “What if I’d lost you? What if you left me? What would I do?”

“Stop, you’re gonna make me cry again! I’ve cried so much in the past two hours, I think my tear ducts are going to dry up.”

“I can’t help it, luv. You don’t know what you mean to me, do you?”

“Spike?”

“Yes?”

“Was there any part of you that was…curious? I mean, was there any part of you that thought ‘maybe’?”

“Maybe on what?

“That you’d like to give it a go with her.”

“Oh Christ, no. Buffy, I spent that entire conversation wondering how long I had to stand there before I could shove off without being completely rude, which in hindsight, I don’t always have to be such a gentleman do I?”

She giggled at that and kissed his cheek.

“Retrospect is a funny thing, it gives a whole new perspective.”

“And what is your perspective now on her?”

“That she is an incredibly selfish woman. She wanted me because she couldn’t have me and because she was alone. Just like in the past, she wanted her husband but used me as her toy to fill that void when he wasn’t around. I made her feel good about herself, but she really didn’t want me. She wanted what I could do for her.”

“You should have told her that.”

“I did.”

Buffy giggled again. “Really?”

“Yes, really.”

“I so love you,” Buffy murmured and Eskimo-kissed him.

“The way I love you and the way I thought I loved her are entirely different. They don’t even belong in the same room together. I mean, I believe I did love her in some way, as much as a twenty – something year old trying to figure out the world and their place in it can love another. My affair with her was heady and passionate and full of risk. I think the risk is what got me off more than anything else.”

“Spike, do I really want to hear this?”

“Yes, cause I’m gonna talk about you now,’” he replied, grinning at her.
She brightened. “Okay. Proceed counselor.”

Chuckling, he kissed her quickly. “With you, there is no risk. It’s safe.”

“Boring safe?”

“Definitely not boring.”

“Our getting together was not without risk. Especially when it came to me and my confusion.”

“Yes, but when you commit to something, Buffy, you commit to it entirely and I’ve never worried where your heart lay after you made the decision to be with me.”

“Same here…barring tonight of course.”

He smiled, “Of course. But some part of you knew already despite evidence to the contrary. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have believed me at all.”

“This is all true, Counselor.”

He grinned. “With you, there is headiness, passion, fun, a lightness of being, understanding and the feeling of being completely whole. You get all of me, Buffy.”

“As you get all of me, William.”

“Ah, I know this is a serious discussion when you use ‘William’.”

“It was William that made me fall after all.”

“I see a future with you, Buffy, I have a future with you. I never saw one with her. You give what you get, and you give me so damn much that all I want to do is keep giving and giving and giving to you.”

“And you do,” Buffy cooed.

“I love you, sweetheart. You’re my world.”

Buffy bit her lip. “Will?”

“Still using ‘William’? What is it love?”

“I need to tell you something since we’re all true confessions right now.”

“What, kitten?”

“Know how you say I’m your world and you love me more than anyone?”

“Yes,” he said slowly.

“So, would you have room in your heart if say, we were to have a baby?”

“What are you saying, luv?”

“There’s a slight possibility that I could be pregnant.”

Spike blinked and stared at her. “What?”

“I don’t know for sure. I haven’t taken a test or anything, I took one with me cause I thought maybe I’d want to know before the wedding, but I didn’t take it yet and then with all that’s happened tonight, I figure I should tell you before I take it. I was going to take it and then tell you, but now I want to tell you before I take it.” She was rambling at that point, and didn’t care.

“My baby? Inside you?”

“Yeah, that’s where it’d be, inside me.”

“A baby?”

Buffy smiled, “Maybe. How do you feel about that?”

Her answer was Spike pushing her under him and peppering her face with kisses. “I’ll be honest, I wanted to wait for a couple years,” he told her through kisses, “But now that it could be happening, I couldn’t be more thrilled!”

“Will, stop.”

He stopped immediately and hovered above her. “Am I crushing you?

“No, it’s not that, it’s just that I don’t know for sure and I’m…I’m not ready.”

He rolled away and sat up and she followed suit. Sitting together on the bed, facing one another, Spike demanded, “Are you saying you’d get rid of it?”

“No! God no, I couldn’t do that to our baby, William. I’m just saying that I’m scared, Will. I just got a job and all and you remember how once upon a time you told me we’d figure it out if I was?”

“Yes, I remember.”

“Well, I need you to help me now.”

“Buffy, you’re not in this alone.”

“Are you going to go to work for me?”

“Buffy, there are ways--”

“What if they fire me?”

“They won’t.”

“You don’t know that.”

“You don’t know they will.”

“No, I don’t…but associates, as you know, work much harder than partners do to prove themselves. If I got pregnant now, they’d think I wasn’t serious and they could find some way to terminate me.”

“Then we sue if they do that, those bastards,” Spike growled.

Buffy smiled. “Honey, you can’t sue something like that if you can’t prove it.”

“Not the point. No one is going to fire my girl for having a baby!”

Buffy grinned and crawled to her knees, leaning in to kiss him sweetly. “I just love you.”

Grabbing her, Spike pulled her to him and lay down so that she fell on top of him. They arranged themselves comfortably, Buffy half on top of her soon to be husband, her head under his chin while he stroked her back in a comforting manner.

“Why didn’t you tell me when you thought you could be?”

“Will, you know I want to have your baby, right?”

“I think so.”

“I know it doesn’t seem like I do now, but I do. Just not right now. I didn’t tell you because I figured if I put it out of my mind, it wouldn’t be happening just yet. And I knew you’d get all excited and then if you knew I wasn’t quite ready…I’m sorry.”

He held her tighter and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Don’t be. I understand. I mean, yeah, it hurts, but I get it. You’re not ready yet. Today I was thinking that I wasn’t ready yet either so it evens out.”

“And if I am--”

“Then we’ll figure it out. I promised you once we would if you were, and we will now if you are.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re not alone, Buffy. You have me right here by your side. I’m always on your side love. Even when you’re acting like a loon.”

Swatting him, she laughed and inched up, kissing him.

“Do you want to take the test now?”

Buffy bit her lip. “Tonight? After all that’s happened?”

“Best to get it over with and know, don’t you think? Come on. We weathered one storm tonight, we can certainly weather another, can’t we?”

Taking a deep breath, Buffy nodded. “Sure.”

“Okay, pet, let’s go then. Besides, the sooner we do this, the sooner I can make love to my girl.”

“You make love with your girl, William.”

“Yes dear.”

She giggled as she climbed off the bed and went for her suitcase. “I’m gonna have to get used to that term of endearment aren’t I?”

“If you want to call it an endearment,” Spike joked.

Buffy laughed and Spike once again marveled at how easy their banter was and how perfectly suited they were for one another. If someone had told him once upon a time that he’d have a soul mate, an idea that he had once upon a time scoffed at, and that he would find her in Buffy Summers, his best friends daughter that he had once deemed an airhead, he would have told them they were crazy. But, here she was, storming through and setting up camp in his heart and in his soul.

Buffy had never thought one of the biggest moments of her life would a) be coming before the other most important moment in her life and b) it would start out by peeing on a stick. But there it was.

Setting it down on the counter and washing her hands, Buffy refused to look at it. She was going to give it the full five and then deal with the outcome -- with Spike.

Coming out of the bathroom, she found him sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at the floor. Stepping forward, he looked up and held out his hand. She took it, wordlessly, and settled on his lap. He buried his face in her neck and she stroked the curls in his hair that were now springing forth.

“If you are…do you have a girls name you’ve had picked out since you were ten?” he asked.

Buffy smiled. “Tess. Have you thought of one?”

“Anne, after my mum.”

“I like that name. Anne Tess Madden-Summers.”

“Or Tess Anne Madden-Summers.”

“She’d be old school.”

“I like that.”

“Me too. And for a boy, William.”

“Nah…James.”

“I like that, but I want a little you.”

“Then I want a little you. Elizabeth Anne Madden-Summers.”

“That already is my name silly.”

“Then it’s perfect, isn’t it? And then we’d just have to make another one to get the Tess.”

“I think I’ll drop the Summers,” she told him quietly.

“Really? You don’t have to pet.”

“I think I should. Honey, it’s time.”

“Okay, pet. Go get it.”

Taking a deep breath, Buffy slid off his lap and walked in the bathroom to grab the test.

Spike sat stock still, waiting. He was both excited and scared, but sure that whatever the results were, they’d make it through. Watching her come back, he studied her, noticing a hint of sadness in her eyes. “Well?” he asked.

Buffy took a deep breath and shook her head. “I’m not pregnant. It was negative.”

Holding out his hand, she handed him the test. There was a line across it. “That means?”

“Minus sign; no adding on for us.”

“You all right?” he asked, looking up at her.

She nodded. “I’m all right.”

Cocking his head to the side, he studied her. “You’re upset.”

“I’m . . . upset.” Running a hand through her hair, she took the test from his hand. “I mean, I know we’re not exactly ready, or I’m not exactly ready, but talking about it with you?” she tossed the test in the small trash can next to her bureau. “I’m kind of disappointed. Talk about contradictory, right?”

Spike shook his head. “Come here, luv.”

Coming over to him, Buffy allowed herself to be swallowed once more in the safety of Spike’s arms.

Wrapping his arms around her as she sat on his lap, he brushed a kiss across her cheek. “No, luv, it’s normal. You’re not ready, yes, but the idea of having one together is still a good one, yes?”

“Yes, most definitely.”

“So it’s all right. It makes sense. Completely normal in fact. That just means that when we are ready, and it’s the right time, it’ll be joyful with a side of stress instead of stressful with a side of worry and joy.”

Buffy smiled and rested her head on his shoulder. “You always know the right thing to say.”

“Cause I’m the perfect man.”

Buffy snorted.

“Hey!”

“You’re not so perfect when you’re dumping wet towels on the floor in the morning for me to pick up.”

“Well, it’s just cause I like to see you bend over, luv.”

Buffy laughed. “And what is it about me doing the dishes you like?”

Spike chuckled. “When you get water on you and have to strip.”

Buffy giggled and then promptly yawned, burying her face in his neck. “I’m sleepy,” she pouted.

“It’s been a long day, kitten. What say we turn in for the night all right?”

“Okay,” and she slid off his lap. “Bath, first?”

He grinned, stood, and whipped off his shirt. “Like you have to ask.”

********

“I’m convinced Faith has it out for me,” Spike told Buffy later when they were settled in the warm bath, her back to his front and in between his legs.

Taking his hands and pressing hers against them, studying the size of his hands, the length and the lines in comparison to hers.

“I think Faith never got over her last love – Robin, was it?—and when she sees a problem in a relationship, she sees there could be some opening that someone might be as hurt and as bad off as she is.”

“Luv, that’s horrible. And she’s your friend?”

Buffy nodded, “She is. But I don’t think that she’s a horrible person for thinking that, it’s just she thinks the worst when it comes to relationships and men. It’s not that she really wants any of us to be hurt, it’s just that she wants to stop hurting. Sometimes I don’t think she can distinguish between the two. Faith just needs to be loved, and not necessarily in a relationship kind of way, but by us.”

Pressing a kiss to her temple, Spike murmured. “You’ve such a big heart, Buffy.”

Buffy shrugged. “I’ve just spent a lot of time with her and paid attention not to what she says, but what she doesn’t say.”

“Willow was on my side though, yeah?”

Buffy smiled and ducked their hands under the water, lolling her head back on William’s shoulder. “She was. She said that you look at me as if I’ve ‘hung the moon.’”

“Didn’t you?”

Buffy giggled, and reached up with one hand and brought his head down for a little kiss. Moaning happily, she whispered. “I think you hung it.”

“Then you hung the sun, for you are my light,” he whispered back.

Kissing as best they could in the position they were in, Spike’s hand wandered down her slick skin, over her belly and the curve of her hip to her womanly center and traced her nether lips with his finger.

Buffy gasped in the kiss and pulled back just slightly from his mouth.


“Like that?” Spike asked huskily.

She nodded, unable to speak now that his teasing finger had found her clit.

“Do something for me, Buffy,” Spike whispered, sliding his finger slowly inside her.

“What?” she breathed.

“Take your pleasure. Fuck yourself on my hand.”

His words dripped with husky naughtiness and Buffy moaned, placing her hand over his and pressing him harder against her center.

“Want another finger,” she murmured and he obliged with a groan of his own.

Rotating her hips, Buffy fucked herself on Spike’s fingers, her clit rubbing against his hand each time she moved.

“Spike,’” she gasped.

“Talk to me,’” he breathed.

“Oh…I’m going to…”

“Cum? You going to cum all over my hand?”

That did it. Buffy’s walls clamped down around Spike’s probing fingers and he kissed her to muffle her screams.

Coming down from her high in a daze, Buffy plopped her head back on Spike’s shoulder. “Wow.”

Spike chuckled. “Was it good for you?” he teased.

Maneuvering herself around so that she was kneeling between his legs now, she leaned in and kissed him, nibbling on his lips. “Mmm…yeah…and now…what about…you?” and she grasped his hardened cock in her hand under the water, stroking him up and down, up and down.

His eyes rolled and his head fell back, “Fuck…Buffy.”

“Do you want to?”

“What?” he muttered.

“Do you want to fuck Buffy?”

His eyes glittered with lust when he looked at her with hooded lids. “Yes.”

Smiling, Buffy stood and stepped out of the tub, grabbing a towel and wrapping herself in it. “Come and get me, then,” she said lightly and sauntered into the bedroom.

Spike sat there for a minute, not able to comprehend anything past ‘Buffy left the room’ and ‘Buffy stopped touching me’.

With a growl he got up, nearly slipping, grabbed a towel, and made fast work of drying off. Bounding into the bedroom, he found her in the middle of her bed, propped up on her elbows, causing her chest to jut forward and her long sleek legs crossed at the ankles in front of her. She wore nothing but a smile and Spike grinned, prowling to her slowly, climbing up like a panther from the foot of the bed until he was hovering above her.

Buffy spread her legs, giving him access and he laid between them, his cock nudging her folds. “Please…” she whispered and grasped him once again, guiding him inside her core.

In unison they let out a breathy moan and Spike pressed her into the bed. “Is this safe now, kitten?” he asked, praying that it was cause damn it all if he had to disengage himself from her.

“Yes, it’s fine,’” she gasped. “The window of that opportunity is gone. And I am still on the pill.”

He lurched forward then, embedding himself deeper and she hissed, “More.”

Spike was all too happy to oblige. Slowly they made love taking their time touching, kissing, caressing, whispering and cooing at one another. All the troubles of the day dissipated in their act of love and their sole focus became one another—as it most often was when they were together like this.

When their orgasms had crashed over them, waging a sneak attack on them, Buffy and Spike curled up in each other’s arm, tired and worn, but full of hope for their nuptials and their future.

“And you thought you wouldn’t be able to ravage me properly,” Buffy murmured before she drifted off and Spike chuckled, holding his soon-to-be-wife close.

Buffy didn’t want to admit it, being the stubborn person that she was, but she was actually relieved she had another day before her wedding to prepare. After the stress of the first night home with Isabel and the possible pregnancy, she was wiped out. Thankfully, they were able to sleep in. And as soon as they were up, they were on the go with meeting relatives that had just come into town, helping to direct the outside arrangements for the wedding, and finalizing plans such as hair appointments (for the girls), and coordinating what time they all needed to be ready for the photographer, the JP and all the million other things that went along with a wedding.

It was exhausting, and a bit stressful in itself, though Buffy felt after the hell her and Spike had gone through the night before, everything now was just cake. All she really wanted to do at that point was just get hitched and go away with Spike on their honeymoon to London. That was all she wanted, and if it were plausible that they could move everything up, she’d have done it in a heartbeat.

Spike, she knew, felt the same way. Mostly because he’d told her as much after all the smiling and meeting and greeting they’d done at the hotel her relatives were staying at. It saddened Buffy quite a bit that Spike didn’t have family for himself that was there – his distant relatives unable to make the leap across the pond, which was one of the reasons they had chosen London as their honeymoon. Buffy wanted to meet what relatives he had left plus see where the man she loved beyond reason had grown up. As well as she knew her fiancé, there were still some things that remained a mystery, and putting a picture to the places he spoke of would help alleviate that mystery. Besides, she could see how excited he was by the prospect of showing her where he grew up and there was no way she could resist that joy she saw in him.

“Let me see the eye,” Buffy directed Spike later that night after dinner. Her mother had cooked and before Buffy went out for a quick drink with the girls, in another attempt to have a girls night before the big day, she wanted to spend some time with Spike before the big ‘can’t see the bride before the wedding’ began. She honestly thought at that point they defied convention and tradition, but this was a time where she felt she really did want to listen to her mother’s direction. Course, she wasn’t going to admit that to her.

Spike turned and Buffy pressed a finger lightly to the slight bruise under his eye. “My poor baby,” she cooed at him.

He growled lightly. “Yeah, yeah.”

“It doesn’t look all that bad. How does it feel?”

“It feels fine. Sure you’re not going to freak out some time months from now about how I ruined our pictures?”

Buffy giggled. “No, I won’t. It was my Dad that did it and it was all Isabel’s fault. I figure they’ll add a certain character to our pictures don’t you think?”

Spike grinned, “And we’ve got character coming out our asses.”

“Plus I could just lie and tell people I kicked your ass.”

“I knew it! I’m going to be an abused husband aren’t I?”

“You’ll take the beatings dammit, and you’ll like it.”

“You know…in a twisted way, I think I will.”

********

And now it was the day of the big event and Buffy felt as though she were crawling out of her skin. Gazing down at the lawn while the girls got ready in her room, she took in how beautiful her backyard was and watched the photographer snap photo after photo of it.

The archway to the garden had been decorated with gold and silver leafing coiling all around it. White wrought iron chairs facing toward the archway formed an aisle for Buffy to walk down. Tables were to the far off corners of the yard where the food would be held. And once the wedding was over, the yard would be transformed into a reception area with a long table in front of the archway for the wedding party, and various smaller tables for the guests forming a half moon in front of the wedding party table with enough space for dancing in the center.

Her mother’s garden, and smaller beds of flowers sporadically placed around the yard, was the main decoration, and that was fine with Buffy, it was what she had wanted – to be surrounded by the beauty she always found in her own backyard. She was marrying someone extraordinary in what some would call an ordinary place.

Turning to watch her maid of honor and bridesmaids get ready, Buffy smiled. She’d chosen periwinkle dresses in a Regency style dress: A tight bodice that was cinched at the waist and flared into a simple and elegant gown. Faith’s hair lay in curls around her face, Anya wore hers pulled back with ringlets cascading down, and Willow wore hers loose.

“It’s your turn now,” Faith said, grinning and grabbed the slip while Willow grabbed the dress.

“Wait! My mom,” Buffy said, holding up a hand.

Joyce, on cue, came in the room, smiling. “I’m here, my darling.”

Buffy smiled. “I’m ready mom,” she announced and the proceedings began.

The dress was a strapless satin gown with an embroidered lace bodice that flowed into an organza beaded skirt, and a slight train. She wore a small crown with a veil attached that she did not plan on putting over her face, but rather let it cascade down her back along with her freshly curled, full looking hair that flowed down around her shoulders and back. Spike loved it when she did it this way and she shivered in anticipation of him seeing her and of her seeing him…in a tux...the thought alone made her salivate.

Once she was in her dress, and her mother was dutifully crying, the photographer came in whilst her mother gave her her Grandmother’s broach to pin to her slip as something old, Faith gave her a satin blue handkerchief to stuff between her breasts because she just knew Buffy was going to start crying, and Buffy decided she had her something new and something white pretty much covered. All she’d really wanted was her grandmother’s broach that had been passed down through the generations each time one of the women got married.

“It’s time, honey. Ready?” Joyce asked, opening the door.

Buffy nodded. “I am.”

It was a flutter of skirts and shoes, giggling and chattering as the girls made their way down the stairs to the kitchen where they huddled beyond the sliding glass doors so no one would see them. Joyce went outside to direct Hank to meet Buffy inside and the music for the wedding party began. Faith went, followed by Anya, then Willow and finally, it was her turn. Stepping out onto the deck, Hank met her there holding out his arm and beaming at her.

“You look beautiful, pumpkin,” he told her and kissed her forehead.

“Thank you, Daddy.” And she looked down the “aisle” to her future.

God, he looked so breathtakingly handsome in his black tux— nervous and yet so incredibly sure. Focusing on him so as not to fall in her heels, and using her father as support, Buffy began her walk down the aisle, keeping her gaze focused on Spike.

When her father had customarily passed her off, Spike held out his arm and Buffy took it gratefully and smiled when he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “You look so gorgeous, kitten,” he whispered to her.

“And you look so handsome,” she whispered back. She couldn’t stop looking at him as the JP started the proceedings and she found he couldn’t stop looking at her. She was surprised to note tears in his eyes and soon, she had tears in her own, not caring if her carefully done makeup wiped away. This was truly the happiest day of her life.

The words and rings exchanged went by in a flash and all Buffy could think was He is my husband now, over and over. She was his, he was hers; they were each other’s.

And when they kissed, everything melted away until it was just them.

“I love you, Mrs. Madden,” Spike whispered huskily, pressing his forehead to hers, unwilling to let her go just yet.

“I love you too, Mr. Madden,” and she threw her arms around him for one more kiss.

********

“I’m so glad I spent so much time and money buying that nightgown,’” Buffy said breathlessly, collapsing on top of her husband later that night after a marathon love fest.

Spike chuckled under her. “Oh, you mean that scrap of lace that went flying as soon as you came out of the bathroom?”

Buffy giggled, “Yeah, that one.”

“Get used to it. You’re my girl now.”

“I was your girl before.”

“Yeah, but now it’s official, we got the rings and everything.”

“Well…you’re my guy now.”

He smiled, brushing some hair from her face as she looked down at him, pouting slightly. “I’ve always been yours, Buffy. And will be, always and forever.”

The End. . . For Now