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Author's Chapter Notes:
Be proud: I'm trying to post them in order ;)
Chapter 9

She bolted up in bed, startling him.

"What is it, pet?" She looked over at him, smiling.

"I have to go call Dawn!" She threw the covers off and hopped out of bed. She quickly threw on her clothes and raced downstairs to call her sister. He stayed in bed, shaking his head at the crazy woman he was going to marry. He slowly rolled out of bed and started searching for his discarded clothing. When he was fully dressed, he descended the stairs and heard happy shrieking coming from Angel's office. She spied him through the window and waved for him to come into the office. He paused in the doorway and leaned up against the door frame. "Yeah, he's right here. Let me put you on speaker." She pressed the button to place her sister on speakerphone. He hopped up onto the desk.

"Hey there, bit. Taking care of yourself, I hope?" he called into the speaker. He could barely make out the excited shriek that emanated from the speaker.

"Did you really ask my sister to marry you? For real, I mean?" The happy couple glanced at each other.

"Yes, bit, I did. And can you believe she actually said yes?" More happy shrieking emanated from the phone.

"Oh! My! God! Have you told Giles yet, Buffy?" Dawn asked excitedly. Buffy sighed, thinking about her Watcher. Of course she needed to call him.

"No, I haven't. I wanted to call you first. I should probably let you go so I can call him. Promise me, under no circumstances are you to call Willow and Tara." Dawn promised and the sisters said their goodbyes. Buffy paused, hand hovering over the buttons.

"I don't know why this is so hard. I mean, he's gonna be happy, isn't he? That I'm finally going to have a normal life." She looked up at him, her face troubled. He turned the phone toward him and punched in the numbers. He raised the receiver to her ear so she could hear the double ring. The overly pleasant secretary answered in a tired sounding voice. As soon as Buffy identified herself, she was connected immediately.

"Buffy? What's wrong?" Giles asked, concerned. Buffy let out a long breath. She thought it might be easier to temper the news of her engagement by announcing her retirement first.

"I have decided to retire, Giles. I haven't had a life of my own for, well forever. So I am going to – " He cut her off.

"Spike proposed, didn't he?" A confused look crossed her face.

"How did you know?" she asked slowly.

"I thought as much. I knew as soon as I received his call earlier today about why he hadn't been informed of your trip to California that he'd propose to you when the time was right. I just assumed it would take a week or so. At the very least, I thought he'd wait until Angel was on the ship back to Los Angeles and not sitting here in my office crushing very expensive furniture." His tone grew irritated, not at her, but toward the angry vampire that sat in his office. She heard a voice snarl in the background. William heard it too and beamed. His grand-sire was good and pissed and he couldn't be happier.

Not only had he won Buffy, but chances were good they had just conceived a child. He couldn't wait until the brooding beast came back. Even if Angel left London now, it would still take him over a week to get back to L.A. Plenty of time for him and his bride-to-be to have enough alone time. He was snapped out of his reverie at the sound of Buffy snapping her fingers in front of his face. "Hey, space boy. Wake up." She was smiling at him. "Well aren't we looking all pleased with ourself? You do realize that we need to look for a place to live now, don't you? Angel's not gonna want either of us here when he gets back from London." He thought for a minute and shrugged.

"Well, you still have that villa in Rome, don't ya? We could stay there until I become a famous wealthy author." He grinned at her, pleased with his idea.

"Speaking of the villa, I think a well-timed wake-up call is in order," she said, smiling devilishly. She picked up the phone and punched in the phone number for the villa. A very tired sounding Tara picked up the phone.

"He-hello?" Tara yawned.

"Tara, it's Buffy. Can you get everyone to the phone?" She knew it was early, but at least this would be a bit of happy to start the day off with.

"Are you OK? Did something happen?" Tara asked, concerned. Buffy giggled. "Everything is just fine. Just get Willow and Xand, OK?" Tara set the phone down and woke up a concerned Willow and a grumpy Xander. Buffy heard Xander's voice first.

"This had better be good or else I'll learn how to teleport and wake her up in the middle of the night." Buffy giggled again, looking up at her fiancé. She engaged the speakerphone so he could hear the grumblings of her friends.

"OK, Buff, we're all here. So what's so important it couldn't wait until the sun came up?" Xander grumbled. William laughed.

"Missing your pillow already, Harris?" he asked.

"Sp-Spike?" Xander stuttered. Buffy glared at him before speaking.

"Actually, he's not Spike anymore; he's William. He had a little run-in with a demon and he's human now." Tara spoke next, excitedly.

"Human? Is that your big news Buffy?" Buffy smiled.

"Not exactly." She took a deep breath. She knew the girls would be excited, but Xander had never been a fan of Spike and probably wouldn't be a big fan of William.

"Buffy? What is it?" Willow asked, slightly worried. She decided she should just go for it and tell them.

"I'm getting married!" she blurted into the speakerphone. Dead silence was the reaction on the other end. Silence was not good. "Uh, guys. Ya still there?" Willow spoke first.

"Yeah, Buffy, we're still here. We're just, uh, a little, well –" Tara interrupted, "We're just surprised. So you and Spike, I mean William, are getting married?" Xander spoke up next.

"Hold on a minute. He's human for like five seconds and you suddenly decide you want to marry that lunk? You didn't do another spell, did ya Willow?" Buffy laughed.

"I love him, what can I say. He's human now and he's what I want." William beamed. She was telling her friends how much she loved him and wanted to be with him. Life really wasn't going to be the same.


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After Buffy had made plans for her friends to visit to celebrate her engagement, the happy couple sat talking in the office for a while longer. Gunn came back from patrolling and heard voices in the office. He ducked his head inside the office to see who was still up. He smiled when he saw Buffy sitting in the office chair, beaming from ear to ear.

"Gunn!" she cried, holding up her left hand. "Look what he gave me!" Gunn matched her grin.

"I know. He showed it to me after he bought it. Congratulations. Set a date yet or gonna go to Vegas?" William turned around to look at him.

"We are gonna do this right. No quickie Vegas wedding for my bride, right love?" He looked at Buffy, who nodded in agreement.

"Nope. We are going traditional with our wedding. I want bridesmaids, the dress, lots of flowers, and a church." William looked at her quizzically.

"A church? I may be human now, but I still can't stand crosses. Things give me the willies." She looked him in the eyes, expression stern.

"Yes, a church. It doesn't have to be a big one." Gunn laughed at them. He wondered if things had turned out differently if he and Fred would have argued about wedding planning like this. Or if Fred and Wes would have... He shook his head. No sense thinking about things that would never be. He walked up the stairs to his room, leaving the couple to argue about the finer details of their wedding.


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Before Giles had even hung up the phone, Angel was out of the building. He wouldn't be returning to L.A. Not now. Spike would have to get his papers from someone else. The sun would be up shortly, so he found an abandoned building and went to work covering up windows. There were plenty of places in Europe he could go. People here in London were sure to need help of some kind. He had been furious when the Oracles told him of the hidden prophecy concerning Spike. But he was certain he'd be able to stop it from coming true. Unfortunately, Giles had already known about the prophecy and had delayed him in London just long enough for Buffy to discover her former lover was now human. He wanted his Slayer to lead a normal life for once. He had observed from a distance her descent and the shell she had become. She put on a brave face for everyone, but he knew the pain she felt, the guilt. If he had a chance to grant her a normal life, he was damned if some jealous ex-boyfriend was going to stop him.

Giles took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes. He had been working all night and needed sleep. He gathered up his coat and briefcase and walked out of his office. His secretary was dozing at her desk.

"Anna?" he said gently, tapping her on the shoulder. She snuffled lightly and looked up at him. "Take the day off and go home. I doubt he's ever coming back, so I will just have to send the documents with someone else." She gathered up her things and left the office with him, parting ways at the street.





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