“Keep it up, love, and your face’ll freeze like that. Can’t have you turning into a permanent sour puss. Imagine what it’ll do to the wedding photos.”
Buffy reluctantly looked over at Spike, and as expected, his smirk was contagious. “I can’t help it. Angel’s made me grumpy. I haven’t seen him act like that since…”
She trailed off and her frown came back in full force. “Booze or no booze, that was borderline Angelus bullshit, Spike.”
“Hey, let’s take a break for a bit.” Before they reached the elevators, Spike pulled her aside. “Come here, will you?”
“I guess,” she said, walking into his arms. She rested her chin over his shoulder and closed her eyes. “We should’ve just stayed in bed. Or at least in your place, I was much happier there.”
“I wholeheartedly agree, but—alright, Slayer, although I hate the big poof, I think you’d benefit from a touch of devil’s advocating here.”
“You’re going to back Angel up? Has hell frozen over? Did I miss the office memo?”
“Hush, you. It’s been twelve hours tops. He’d be not only a fool, but he’d be a bloody saint to get over you in so little time. In his eyes, we’ve dropped a bomb on him. He needs time to lick his wounds. Time, where he isn’t pickled in alcohol preferably.”
“That doesn’t excuse his behavior and the things he said. ” She looked at Spike, but then she played with the neckline of his black t-shirt. “I want Angel to be okay, is that too much to ask? I don’t want to rush him just so I can feel better about my bomb-dropping, but I don’t want our happily ever after to, you know…?”
“Turn him into a bigger baby than usual?” Spike suggested.
“Yeah,” she admitted with a muffled laugh. “Do you think he’ll retaliate somehow? Do you think he already has? He’s wigging out over this damn spell.”
“I say, let him have it.” He slid both hands under her shirt and pressed his palms against her lower back, bringing her closer. “Let him make his point. It’ll only prove how fucking wrong he is.”
“But these all-seeing, all-powerful shareholders…?”
“Are they interested in my mum? Doubt it, but I could be wrong. Did Angel purposely rat us out? Maybe. He said Wesley was clueless about this meeting—well, that isn’t how they run things here. It’s one giant game of telephone, especially among the old Angel Investigations team, no matter how confidential a secret is.”
“You think he’s lying.”
“I think he wants to become a real boy very badly and old age is making him lazy. If a spell could bypass the hard work he was bellyaching about, and if it won you over to boot--.”
“That’s dumb though. I won’t dump you because he starts breathing.”
“What if he could walk with you in the sun?”
“You mean, we’d be exposed to harmful UV rays together? Be still my heart.”
“Okay,” he chuckled. He leaned to kiss the side of her face and then he asked, “But what if he could give you children?”
That question made her pause. “First of all, infertility is something a lot of couples deal with. Second, I think babies are overrated. I don’t know if I’d be any good at taking care of one. I’m still convincing myself that I’m cut out for my upcoming wifely duties.”
“You’ll be brilliant on both counts. A bloody fantastic wife and mummy.”
She smiled as he buried his face against her neck. “Besides, we can adopt if my maternal instincts wake up all hungry and demanding up one day.”
Before she could say more, Spike was kissing her. “Don’t worry about Angel,” he said, breaking away to rest his forehead against hers. He watched her catch her breath. “Don’t let him get to you.”
“That’s so much easier said than done.”
“He may never be okay, Slayer, not while he still carries a torch for you. And I know from experience, once someone falls for you, there’s no turning back. You get your hooks in deep.”
“It isn’t intentional. God, what is it about me that drives you vampires wild?” she laughed. “Wait, don’t actually answer that. I love Angel, I really do, but—you saw us when we tried to date. Sexual tension was an obstacle, but it still felt…forced? I wonder about it a lot; if he didn’t have a curse, or if he hadn’t left at graduation, would Angel and I still be together?”
“A better question is: if you were tied to him, would I still be able to weasel my way into your heart?”
“God, you and these questions. How do you come up with them? Remind me never to play Truth or Dare with you.”
“Buffy,” he sang, coaxing her to answer.
“I wouldn’t cheat.”
“But?”
“But.” She snorted softly and rolled her eyes. “I’d be attracted, tempted and turned on, maybe, but not enough to cheat. I’d want you. I thought you were a total hottie from day one. I hated you more because of it. A big bad shouldn’t be so damn pretty.”
“You’ve got this three-pronged attack going on,” she continued, stroking his sharp cheekbones with both hands. “The accent, the hair, the body; and that’s not touching on any of the greatness that lies beneath the bad boy surface—and speaking of appearances, you mentioned wedding photos. I thought vampires didn’t photograph, but then I saw you in the Wolfram and Hart group huddle on that brochure. Does that mean…?”
“That we have the capabilities to give you an entire album of yours truly striking a pose? It’s another Special Project.”
A shot of excitement hit her hard. “We can have wedding pictures? Pictures of you—you and me—you and your mom together?”
“We can be one of those families with an entire wall dedicated to awkward snapshots. How’s that sound?”
“Good. Really, really good,” she said, trying to tame her wide smile. “Is there anything that vampires can’t do around here? Vampire-seeing cameras, sun-proof windows—next you’ll tell me they’ve found away to make you age and breathe.”
“It’s all about equal opportunity, cutie. Blending the dead with the living, the demons with the humans. You know, those sun-proof windows extend outside the office? Namely to Angel’s collection of fancy hot rods. We could take a joyride, me and you--.”
“Shut up,” she gasped, still buzzing with enthusiasm. “We could get our shopping done early if the store has underground parking? If we could borrow one of those cars, and—God, Spike, this is amazing!”
She laughed out loud and quickly kissed his lips. “I gotta—I need my phone!” she exclaimed, digging in her pockets. She continued on in a rush with her head down as she sent a message to her sister, “I’m sure Lorne’s on top of a photographer, but I want a zillion pictures taken tomorrow. I want every minute documented. Do you think they can get us one of those cameras in a disposable version for the honeymoon? And maybe they could ship some of that glass to our place in Vegas? I want all the windows changed out asap.”
“Hold on, who said anything about a honeymoon? And I thought seeing my pasty ass in daylight meant nothing to you?”
Buffy’s head popped up and she put her phone away mid-text. “Hey, it means a lot—a ton. I would never change you.” She touched his face again and took a deep breath once he turned to kiss her palm. “Your surroundings, on the other hand? They are fair game. If I can keep you safe without you having to travel via the smelly old sewers for protection? Or if we can live with the blinds open instead of keeping the house like a dark cave? Sign me up.”
“And this honeymoon?”
She leaned in to give him another closed-lipped kiss, but she lingered this time, playfully pulling at his lips. “I don’t care where we go, I just want uninterrupted time with you. In one of those cars, we could take the long way home, make a few wrong turns… If we travel during the day, I can help you drive.”
“Alright, I was right there with you until that last bit. It’s funny how a little thing like you can kick demon ass from here to kingdom come, but you can’t drive worth a bloody--.”
“Think before you finish that sentence,” she warned. “Unless you prefer me in a bad mood.”
“It does liven things up.” Holding her close, he walked her into the elevator backwards.
“I drive good,” she insisted. “A little practice wouldn’t hurt though.”
“If you can pry a set of keys from our CEO’s fingers,” he paused to punch the button for the roof. “Hell, I’ll reteach you how to drive.”
“You have yourself a deal.”
“And you have yourself a challenge. Not only is he hurt and brooding, the greedy bastard does not like to share.”
“I’ll ask him very nicely,” she decided with a shrug.
“Once he’s sober?”
“Oh, yeah. Totally.” She rested her head on Spike’s shoulder and sighed happily. “I was skeptical at first, but everything is coming together. I feel really good about tomorrow, Spike.”
“You have no pre-wedding jitters?”
“Only good ones, excited ones.”
“And if Angel doesn’t come through with a car? Will you be crushed, baby?”
“Please,” she began. “Everything about Wolfram and Hart seems unreal and too good to be true. I welcome the perks and all, but we’d do just as well without them. Our honeymoon, for example, it isn’t really planned so we can change it around. I’m flexible.”
“Cause the honeymoon’ll really just boil down to you, me, your flexibility and a bed anyway, right?”
“That about sums it up.” Snickering, she kissed the soft skin just under his earlobe before facing him. “But the rest of it… Even if you live everyday in true vampy-form, we’ll be more than okay, Spike. I have a pretty good idea of what our limitations are, with you being undead and with me being unemployed with little job experience and no degree to fall back on--.”
“You still think we’ll make it?”
“We’ve lived through the end of the world how many times? Marriage shouldn’t be too hard. It’ll be a breeze, a walk in the park—it’ll be a walk in the park on a breezy day!”
“Cute, Slayer.” He smoothed down her hair and kissed her forehead. “For now, I’d still like to suggest that we make the most of what Angel’s evil law firm has to offer. I’m not too keen on accepting hand-outs, but I do rather like taking all that I can from that big ape.”
“Spike.”
“If it’ll give you the wedding of your dreams, so be it. If it’ll make you light up over something like a photograph of my ugly mug, I’m all for it.”
“It is nice, not having to worry about money…”
“And don’t forget your team of wedding planners. With them at your beck and call, makes you feel even more like a princess, doesn’t it?”
“It is nice,” she admitted again, her smile growing.
“Oh, I know you love it. Come on, love, let’s see what your entourage has cooked up for you so far.”
***
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