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many thanks to Cordykiiten, dusty and Naurolim for reviewing
‘This collar is tight! Is it supposed to be this tight? I feel like I can’t breathe,’ Spike kept moaning. Giles and Xander grinned at each other and watched as Marcus took the bow tie from William Atherton’s trembling hands.

‘Why don’t I help you with that?’ He said, then looked pointedly at the other two. ‘Aren’t you supposed to be with the bride’s party?’

‘We got thrown out of the room for offering to help with the escape.
Buffy actually threatened us with bodily harm if we cracked any more jokes. Then she said she was going to get dressed. Anyway it’s more fun here watching the Big Bad have a nervous breakdown.’ Xander grinned as Giles poured Spike a small whisky.

‘This will help settle your nerves.’ Said Giles as he grabbed Xander. ‘We’ll just toddle off and leave you to it…’

Spike gratefully drank down the shot. At least his hands weren’t shaking now, well not as much anyway.

He looked in the mirror. He wasn’t vain, much, but the Covenant had given him back his reflection along with everything else. He looked OK. Tuxedo, tie, hair, all perfect. An orchid in his button hole. And shaking hands. Where were the rings, he’d forgotten the rings!

‘rings’ he managed to get out.

Marcus put a steadying hand on his shoulder. ‘Clem has the rings, remember? He’s waiting at the church for us.’ Oh yes, Clem had the rings. That’s right. Church? What church? He’d forgotten the way to the church. Cars, yes, the cars; they would know the way.

The Immortal stuck his head round the door.

‘Ready to go? We need you well away from here before Buffy makes her way down from the Slayer school.’

The various demons took one last look at themselves and proceeded to the cars. A whispered ‘prisoner and escort’ from Xander, as they came down the stairs, was not appreciated.

On the other side of the building it was calm. The girls were on their second bottle of champagne, but considering there were six of them in the room, that was only two glasses each. Buffy looked …radiant. It was the only word for it. Her dress had been designed by Dior: they owed Morty a favour and Buffy’s wedding dress was the favour he collected. They had even done the bridesmaids and flower girl’s dresses as well.
Buffy looked in the mirror. Her hair and makeup were flawless. They’d better be: she’d spent the last three hours making sure she looked good. Rosamund placed the last orchid into her hair, the ringlets curling down her neck and back, making her look like a figure from some fairy tale.

‘You look beautiful,’ she whispered and kissed Buffy softly before leaving the room to make her way to the church.

The strangest thing had been the week before. Willow had received a letter, signed by Wolfram and Hart themselves:

‘Dear Madam,
It has come to our attention that Buffy Anne Summers is to marry in Rome. We guarantee no trouble from any demon activity. We may be evil incarnate but we are not so stupid as to spoil the Slayer’s wedding day. We do not want to start a war.
Wolf, Ram and Hart.’

Magic had told Willow it was for real. Seems the bad guys were a little nervous of one pissed off slayer, and didn’t fancy every slayer in this world or the next after them. The Immortal had confirmed it. Every Clan head from every dimension had been made to swear that Buffy Summers’ wedding would go uninterrupted, as would her honeymoon and Claiming. Buffy picked up her bouquet, orchids and lilies trailed down towards the floor and, with Rachael, Dawn and Willow in tow, made her way down the stairs to the waiting cars. As they left the room Dawn retrieved the athame from its cabinet. Willow looked at her askance but Dawn just smiled and shook her head. ‘You’ll see,’ she mouthed.

The limousines took just a short twenty minutes to whisk them through the Roman Traffic. Police waited on the busy intersections. Orders had been given by some very powerful people. Nothing was to spoil this day.

Marcus, Charles and Spike made their way to the front of the little church. Clem was already there, talking quietly with the celebrant. It seemed very peculiar for a vampire to be marrying in a church but William wanted to marry Buffy properly and thanks again to the gifts he’d been given the Sacred Ground held no fear. The Vatican had opened up a special little church in Rome, one dedicated to Michael, the archangel that fought demons. It was a special place for Slayers and Buffy had fallen in love with it as soon as she’d seen it. But she hadn’t asked to be married there, knowing how Spike’s demon felt about churches. But there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for his mate. She said she would have settled for a quick ceremony in Las Vegas, but Spike knew her better than that and anyway HE wanted to do things properly. In the eyes of God.

‘Happy Wedding Day,’ Dawn said, as she made a small nick in her hand.

‘What are you doing?’ Exclaimed Buffy, looking around the small anteroom they were all waiting in.

‘Just getting the last of the guests here,’ Dawn said with a smile.

Buffy watched as Tara, Anya and Jenny all stepped through a portal followed by Joyce All dressed up for the occasion and then a lady Buffy didn’t recognise. She was wearing a Victorian style dress.

‘Anne?’ Whispered Buffy. The lady nodded. She and Joyce gave Buffy a quick hug and kiss.

‘You look beautiful, my dear,’ said Anne.

‘We’ll talk later Buffy, but I am so very proud of you.’ Joyce added, and the two women went into the knave of the church.

Tara and Anya joined the procession of maids huddled around Buffy. Kisses and hugs were shared, along with warnings not to crease the dress. They all lined up ready for the March…

Then it was started. They were heading towards the altar. It was only then that Buffy realised they were in bridesmaids dresses. Gold to match the others. It had been the only colour that suited everyone.

Spike turned to see Joyce making her way down the aisle and taking her place in the front pew. His other mother was here. That made him smile. A little part of William wished that Anne, his own mum, could see him. Well, maybe she could. He cast his eyes up to heaven and hoped, wish you could meet her Mother, she’s everything you could have wanted for me.

‘I’ll meet her properly afterwards William,’ said a voice from behind him. ‘Now eyes front my lad and just think about the promises you’re about to make.’

Spike turned round to see his mother grinning back at him. ‘How, what, how?’ was all he managed.

‘I met Joyce and she explained that a doorway was to be opened, so here I am. Hope you don’t mind?’

‘Mind? How could I?’ He grabbed hold of her and kissed her soundly.

‘William, I don’t think you should be kissing another woman in Church on your wedding day, even if it is your mother.’ She laughed. Then the music started and there was movement from the back of the church.

Issi and Sophie looked wonderful as they made their way down the aisle, scattering rose petals as they went. The ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ reverberated around the church. Then Willow and Rachael walked down. Tara and Anya followed; before Buffy could moan to Dawn about being late, Faith came up and put a hand on Buffy. ‘Me next,’ she said, kissing her sister slayer. ‘What, you didn’t think I was going to miss this did you?’

‘How…?’

Faith nodded towards the back of the doorway where Dawn was standing, a small drop of blood falling from the knife she carried. Robin was standing next to her, holding the month old Nikki Elizabeth Woods, the scan being wrong and it had been a girl, not a boy.

Buffy smiled her thanks at her wonderful sister, she really was something special.

Dawn and Faith took their places in the procession, and headed towards the Altar. Giles took one lingering look at the girl his heart thought of as a daughter.

‘Ready?’ He asked. Buffy nodded and Giles gave her a small kiss on the cheek and covered her face with the veil. She looked incredible. A form fitting sheath dress in white silk made her seem like an Angel. And he was privileged to deliver her to her future. I’m one of the lucky ones, he thought. My slayer has given me everything. He looked around the church, packed with friends, family, slayers. They had flown in from everywhere to share the joy.

Giles offered Buffy his arm and took a step forward. Xander appeared on the other side.

‘I know I wasn’t always supportive of you and Spike at first: that was very wrong of me. I just wanted to show you I support you totally now. So we’re both giving you away to him.’

And, an arm on each of the two men that were the only ones that mattered family wise, surrounded by those who truly loved her, Buffy made her way to her future and her mate.
‘Effulgent,’ Spike told her, as they both turned to face the Bishop of Rome himself.

‘Dearly beloved….,’ he said as the old ceremony began.






Willow sat at the table enjoying her coffee. The hot Italian sun beat down on the square and the fountain gave off a lazy noise as it splashed over the figure of a dolphin. Coming to Rome to stay with Buffy and Spike after all the nonsense with Kennedy was wonderful.

Stupid little bitch, they’d found out that she’d had them all in thrall for the last few days in Sunnydale. That was why they’d turned on Buffy, the only one that had fought all the way. Willow tried to be forgiving, but found it so very hard. But she’d got her ‘just reward’. She wanted to live forever, would sell them all to do it: no problem. Meet a hell dimension, one she could never escape from. The senior partners had collected their debt. Before she’d left, Willow had cast a very small spell so that Kennedy had told the truth to everyone, exactly what she’d thought of them and their calling. No friends left after that. No lingering doubts about her either, seemed she’d sold out a couple of the newer potentials so that she hadn’t died, but they had.

Willow relaxed back in her chair and tried to think happier thoughts. The new life inside her gave a kick and Willow smiled and gently rubbed her growing stomach. Just three more months to go! She watched as Dawn, Buffy and Rachael went from shop to shop around the square; she was resting, as ordered, with one of Marcus’ staff keeping her company. The man was charming, and human. Willow thought back to the night before: it had been fun. A high stakes poker game. Boys versus girls. If the boys won, the girls had to be willing slaves for a week, cooking, cleaning, whatever. If the girls won, the bet was the same. Willing slaves. Spike had been so cocky with three queens and a pair of sevens, but Dawn had won. A royal flush. The one queen that Spike hadn’t had, Dawn did. So here they were shopping. And none of the men could moan or complain, they had to be willing slaves, willing cart horses more like. They were really loaded up with stuff, packages, bags, boxes. They all needed superhuman strength today, that and very flexible credit cards. The shops had been well raided.

Buffy headed back to the table: she was blooming as well. Four months to go for Buffy, and Spike was hovering over her the whole time. The first couple of months had been hilarious. Neither she nor Buffy had been allowed to do a thing. Still, it was nice to be cherished.

Rachael waved at her and held up yet another baby dress. Willow smiled. You’d think they were clothing a dozen children for years the way Rachael was shopping; oh well, she was having fun.

Buffy flopped down into a spare seat, Rosamund following her down.
The waiter came up and hovered until he had taken both orders. No upsetting these two, they tipped very well; then he went off to bring water and ice cream. Buffy couldn’t get enough ice cream at the moment.

‘Have you told him yet?’ Willow asked.

‘No, I’ll tell him tonight.’

‘How do you think he’ll take it?’

‘I hope he’s happy, twins are going to be such a handful.’ Buffy answered with a smile.

Spike trotted back across the Piazza. He looked up at Buffy: she looked radiant. Five months pregnant with his children. Buffy hadn’t told him it was twins, but hey, Vampire here, he could hear the beat of two tiny hearts every time he held his beloved mate. Maybe he should tell her tonight, yeh, good idea, tonight, before things went crazy.

Marcus was following on behind, hidden under the twenty bags he was carrying, all from designer shops.

‘Last time I play poker with Dawn. I thought she was bluffing,’ he complained, but the smile on his face said he was having fun. ‘How did you throw the game?’ He continued.

‘Dealt from the bottom,’ Spike answered. ‘The girls needed spoiling and this way, they feel that they’ve gotten one over on us.’ Both vampires stood in the blazing Italian sun, laughing.

‘You told me I’d get everything,’ Spike said, ‘well, you were right. All my dreams, right here.’

And the two of them made their way over to the women they loved, Xander, Rachael and Dawn heading for yet another shop.

‘I wish I had vampiric strength, or at least their credit cards,’ Xander moaned good-heartedly as he lifted up far too many bags. The girls around him grinned, and laughing, they sallied forth into the fray. Life was good for all of them. The fountain tinkled in the sunshine and all was well with their lives.





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