FIC: Hidden Happiness (1/1) # 8 in the "Hidden-Series"
Author: Jill
Disclaimer: I *so* do not own them, so don't sue.
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: B/A; W/G; X/A; C/G; F/?;W/?
Spoilers: the whole B/A-cannon, and the previous stories in the series called,
"Hidden Words", "Hidden Away", "Hidden Friends", "Hidden Truth", "Hidden Demons", "Hidden Day" and "Hidden Ceremony"; if you have missed any of those stories you can find them at http://www.never-ending-love.de
Summary: the L.A. gang goes to Giles' and Willow's wedding
Timeline: two weeks after "Hidden Ceremony"
Feedback: it's like cookies, you don't need them, but they make life much sweeter
The day before yesterday and yesterday
are not the same as today.
- Swahili proverb
Cordelia was shielding her eyes when she and Gunn entered the Hyperion Hotel
about two weeks after the wedding.
"What's the matter with you?," her boyfriend eyed her curiously.
"Just a precaution," she replied and peeped through her spread fingers. When
she saw nothing a breath of relief left her mouth.
"Can you please tell me now what this nonsense was about?," Gunn shook his head
at the brunette and strolled over to the sofas in the lobby. A glance at the
clock told him it was already after nine and no trace of Buffy and Angel. He
couldn't suppress the grin that spread across his face.
"It's exactly that," Cordelia glared at him and pointed at his face. "This
honeymoon during work business. I can't even count how often during the last two
weeks I entered this building and interrupted ... something."
"Something, huh?," Gunn's grin grew even wider. "Really, Cordy, one wouldn't
believe you're almost thirty. You behave like some teenager."
"Don't," she narrowed her eyes at him, "you ever talk about my age again! Do you
hear me! Not in public that is."
He sighed and shook his head, "It's nobody here. Besides all the people working
here know your age."
"Maybe, but that doesn't mean I don't need to be careful. I'm sure you'd have
said the same in some dance-club. I don't look like thirty and I don't need a
boyfriend who's running around, announcing it like some public news."
Gunn held up a hand in defence, "Alright, alright. I try not to forget it again." Turning towards the kitchen he muttered under his breath, "Women. Who'll ever understand them."
"Morning Cordy," Faith greeted from the stairs as she came down.
"Hi," Cordelia didn't look up from the letters she was flipping through. Bills,
bills, bills, she thought annoyed. "Anything special last night?," she asked not
really interested. Ever since Buffy's and Angel's wedding the demon business was
low. Faith, who'd taken over slaying for the last two weeks had only staked one
single vampire and decapitated two demons.
"No," the brunette slayer shook her head. "Absolutely nothing. It's as if the
evil's taken a honeymoon as well."
"God," the former mayqueen groaned, "I really didn't need this!"
"Huh?," Faith asked confused. What the hell was she talking about?
"Honeymoon for the evil," Cordelia tried to explain. When there was still no
understanding on the other woman's face, she let out an exasperated sigh, "Dense much? Honeymoon! You know what people do on honeymoons right." She pointed at the stairs. "We've got the living example around. They spent their time in bed, doing ...," she gestured with one hand, "well, whatever they're doing. It's gross enough the way it is, but thinking that demons actually ...," she trailed off and gave Faith a pointed look.
"Oh. OH!," the brunette slayer's eyes widened, then she suddenly giggled. "Just
think about it ... some of them have horns, spikes ... it could be very painful
..."
"Stop it! Now!," Cordelia yelled and glared at Faith. "I said I don't need this."
"Yo, Cordy, what's this all about?," Gunn came back from the kitchen carrying
three cups of coffee. Handing them over to the women he asked, "Did something
happen on patrol? Or what else is the reason for this?"
"Nothing," his girlfriend snapped. "Everything's peachy. You better look at
this," she pointed at the letters on her desk. "When they don't come out of their seventh heaven soon, we're going to be flooded with bills."
"Calm down," her boyfriend wasn't about to listen to her. "It's not as if we're
broke. Actually I think, Angel's got more money than we know. I mean just look at this," with the coffee cup in his hand he gestured around. "All the renovation inside here. It must have cost a fortune."
Cordelia quickly glanced at him then thoughtfully tipped her chin with the tip of her index-finger. "You know. I never really thought about it."
*
Upstairs Buffy giggled into the crock of Angel's neck and a smile spread over the ex-vampire's face. He couldn't remember a time he'd ever been so happy before. Although they were staying at home for their honeymoon - and Angel had vowed that he would make it up for her soon - he'd never felt so relaxed and content before. They had been living together for some months before their wedding, but somehow the little gold band they both were wearing on their third fingers now made all the difference for him.
Maybe it was his Irish-catholic upbringing, but maybe it was just that it seemed
more official now, as if there was nothing to tear them apart again. Whatever the reason was, Angel was happy, deliriously so. Holding his wife in his arms while he slept, falling asleep and waking up beside her ... this had to be heaven, he decided and a content sigh escaped his mouth.
"What do you think," he said and turned to look at Buffy, "do we get up or not?"
His wife grinned at him, "I dunno," she replied, not at all looking as if she had the intention to leave the bed any time soon.
His hand trailed down from her shoulder, over the side of her breasts and finally touched her hipbone, sending wonderful shivers all over her body. "You're insatiable, you know," he scolded playfully and smiled.
"Hmmm," she made like a cat enjoying a sunbath, stretching arms and legs. The
sight was incredibly erotic to him. Would he ever get enough of her, he wondered? It wasn't as if they hadn't made good use of the king-sized bed the previous night, and all the other nights before, but he still wanted her. No, he would certainly never get enough of her. "You're just so yummy," she said looking at him again, drawing patterns on his chest with her index-finger.
Angel suppressed a moan, took the finger and kissed it. "We really should get up, love. Did you forget we have to drive to Sunnydale today?"
"Did you have to remind me?," the playfulness was instantly forgotten. "Do we
really have to go?," she all but whined.
"It's Giles' and Willow's wedding. Do you really want to miss it?," he asked
kissing her palm.
"No," she replied non too happy. "I don't think so. But I don't look forward to
it either. I really, really hate it, Angel. This is about Willow. She was my best friend almost as long as I can remember. I didn't really have friends before I came to Sunnydale." She placed her chin on his chest and looked at him, "Before I was called I wasn't really someone you'd have liked to know."
He reached out and pushed a strand of hair from her face, "Wrong," he smiled. "I
loved you the moment Whistler showed you to me. I could see your soul, your
heart. You might have been shallow in your eyes, but you were nothing but a
normal teenager. Innocent," he paused a moment and his index-finger brushed her
cheek. "I often wished I could've kept you from all the things you had to suffer
from. But of course it was in vain. You are the slayer."
"I don't," she replied, "Want it any other way, I mean." When she saw him raise a brow, she amended, "Alright, alright, there are some things, I would like to
change, sending you to hell for example," she said and was surprised how easy it
went over her lips. I must be really happy, she decided. "But all in all it
brought us here and I don't want to trade it for the world. This is the Buffy and Angel live happily ever after."
She leaned forward and brushed her lips over his. Replacing her chin on his chest she sighed, "And that brings us back to Willow. I know what she did and I also know she had good intentions or mostly so, but that doesn't change the fact that we would've missed this chance if I hadn't accidentally found that letter." She sighed again. "But I miss her. I miss my best friend, Angel. And I miss Giles. He was the father, I never had. The feeling these two special people betrayed me hurts. God, it really hurts."
"I know," he stroked her hair. "But maybe you should at least try to let the past rest. We cannot let it rule our lives, Buffy. Otherwise we'll be stuck in it and miss the present."
She looked at him in a mixture of love and annoyance, "Now you'll go all wise on
me again. And it sounds very good, but ..."
"It's not easy, I know," he let his finger trail over her eyebrows. "But then,
life isn't easy. It never was. Nobody knows that better than you. And you also
know that anything can happen. You should try to make peace with them, Buffy. You
made the first step when whe went there to slay the demon, maybe it's time for
the second. A wedding is the perfect setting, don't you think. It could be your
wedding present for them. If I guess right, you couldn't give them anything
better."
"Maybe," she replied not yet ready to agree. But she would think about it on
their way to Sunnydale, she decided. "Don't you think it's ... I dunno ... odd,
to see Willow married to Giles. He's old enough to be her father."
"And I'm old enough to be your ...," he shook his head and grimaced, "let's not
even go there."
"But you don't *look* old, Angel. We're looking like the perfect match. Giles has grey hair already. And Willow isn't even thirty. What if they have children? I know Willow wants children. When people will see Giles with them, they will think he's their grand-father."
"But that's not really important, is it? Buffy, they love each other and that's
the only thing that counts. Age is only a number. They've both lost people they
loved. With Giles we only know about Jenny, but there's probably been someone else before. And Willow lost Oz and then Tara. They didn't die, but still she lost them. And now they both have found love together. We should be glad, Buffy."
"I am," she replied, "Believe me, I am. The problem is, I can still remember
Willow and I standing in front of the library and rolling our eyes at Giles
kissing Miss Calender. We didn't even want to think about his love life then, and now she's marrying him. It's just so strange."
"But they have a lot in common," he reminded her. "The slaying, she is bookish as well ... up to a certain amount ... they both are interested in magic ... *and* they share a lot of history. A lot happened the last 13 years."
"I guess," she bit her lower lip. "Well, it's their life, so ...," she trailed
off and a mischievous glimpse appeared in her eyes, there was enough time for
heavy thoughts about her watcher and the witch later. "You want to shower with
me?"
*
"There you are. At last!," Cordelia exclaimed when ex-vampire and slayer
descended the stairs an hour later. Pointing at her watch, she added, "You
realise we need to leave in about half an hour, right? Wesley just called. He'll be here soon and take Faith with him."
"Oh joy," the brunette slayer sighed, "A two-hour drive with Wesley. The
fulfilment of my dreams."
Ignoring Faith's comment, Angel quickly glanced at the mail and with a small
frown turned towards his office, "I'm going to transfer some money from my
private accounts to the business account, so that you can pay all this," he said
over his shoulder.
Gunn grinned and gave his girlfriend an "I-said-you-so"-look. "Angel man, I hope
nobody expects me to wear a suit or something like that," he said with a hint of
worry in his voice. It wasn't that he didn't have a suit, he even had a tux,
Cordelia had insisted on it, but he hated it dearly.
"No," Buffy answered in her husband's place. "The wedding will take place in the
house of Willow's parents. It's not very traditional or formal as Willow is
Jewish and Giles not. They decided to have nothing religious."
"Good to hear. So you think, I'm okay like this? I wasn't sure if I was invited
anyway," Gunn glanced at his girlfriend, "but Cordy insisted on it."
"Willow invited the whole L.A.-crew," the blonde slayer replied. "There aren't
many guests. Some relatives of hers, Xander, Anya, we ...," she shrugged,
"fighting demons doesn't really expand your circle of friends."
"I'm just going to get my jacket, then we can go," Angel announced when he came
back. "Ah, Wesley," he greeted the ex-watcher who just entered the hotel. He wore a black suit and a tie.
"Hello together," he smiled, then gazed at Faith, "You ready?"
"Sure," she got up, "see you all in Sunnydale then."
****
The Rosenberg-residence was already filled with guests when Angel, Buffy,
Cordelia and Gunn arrived. They spotted Wesley in a corner talking to an elderly
woman and Faith seemed to enjoy a conversation with Anya. With their pasts they
certainly had some stories to share, Buffy thought when she glanced around. The
most people were unknown to her, Willow's relatives, she guessed. Suddenly she
spotted Giles who was talking to Mr. Rosenberg in a corner. The same minute he
looked up and spotted her and an uncertain smile appeared on his face.
"There's Giles," Buffy said to Angel and the ex-vampire felt her squeezing his
hand.
"Buffy," the watcher greeted her and extended his hand. After a second of
hesitation she took it and then the others exchanged handshakes as well. "It's
so good to see you all. Willow wasn't sure you'd really come."
"We wouldn't miss it," Angel replied after a short glance at his wife. He
suddenly realised that none of the Sunnydale-people knew about it. "Thanks for
the invitation."
"You're welcome," Giles' smile was genuine now. "We're so glad you came.
Especially you," his eyes were on Buffy, "maybe ...," he started but then broke
off, not sure if it was the right time to talk about it.
But Buffy had made a decision this very minute, "Yes," she said and smiled back.
"I would like that too," she answered the unspoken question. "We both would like
it very much. And I would like to see Willow, where is she?"
"Upstairs in her old room," he answered.
"Okay, so I'll be there for a second. We have some news by the way, maybe Angel
can tell you and I'm going to tell Willow?," the question was directed towards
her husband, who nodded with a smile. Everything would be alright.
"Sure, just go," Angel blew her a kiss and she disappeared up the stairs.
While Cordelia and Gunn joined Xander, who was joking around with a tall man
about his own age, Giles turned to the ex-vampire. "News?," he asked.
"Yes, well," Angel felt a bit uncomfortable. He wasn't so sure if it had been a
good idea to marry like he and Buffy had, but it had been her decision, it was
done, and there was no way around it. "Giles," he said and quickly glanced at his left hand. "Buffy and I got married two weeks ago in L.A."
In response the watcher just stared at him.
*
"Married? Like with vows and all, married?," Willow asked incredulously and
stared at the blonde slayer sitting in front of her.
"Yeah," Buffy nodded. "It was a very spontaneous decision, Will. Over night, you
could say, and Angel knew this lay magistrate who ..."
"And you didn't even tell me," there were tears in the red-head's eyes now.
"Will, I'm so..." the blonde was about to apologize, but Willow interrupted her.
"No. That's not what I meant. I really hurt you, didn't I," her voice was only a
whisper, "I think I didn't realise it until now." She took her girlfriend's hand, "Buffy, I'm so very sorry. Giles and I talked about this, before and after your last visit and I thought about it a lot. I know now it was wrong, but it seemed so ... reasonable at that time. And it was a bit selfish too. I," she unhappily shook her head, "when you found out I was too stubborn to see you were right. And I now realise why. Because I didn't want to face the guilt. I didn't want to be responsible for the hurt you went through. But I understand that we can't go on if we don't face it. And we need to move on ... or at least I hope we will?," she finished and the uncertainty was written all over her face.
"We'll try, okay?," Buffy replied and smiled. "In an hour we'll both be married.
Xander is too. We'll probably all have children in some years and I want them to
play with each other, to be the good friends to each other we were."
"Oh, Buffy," Willow sniffed and wiped a tear from her cheek.
"Oh, no," the slayer said, "I didn't want to make you cry. Now you're going to
ruin your makeup with it."
"Doesn't matter," the red-head smiled through her tears, "I'm so happy. This is
the best present today. I've got my best friend back and I promise from now on,
I'll be only supportive to you and Angel." She grinned but then she remembered
something and a line of worry appeared on her forehead. "Oh, Buffy, there's one
thing. Blame it on me or the pre-wedding confusion, but I ... well, I think I
made a mistake."
*
"She seems very happy," was the first thing Giles said after he'd gotten over the initial shock.
"We are," Angel confirmed. "It's almost unreal."
A sad look was in the watcher's eyes, "I always hoped...," he trailed off and
took a deep breath. "But that's not really important. The only thing that counts
is that she's happy now."
"Giles," the ex-vampire laid a hand on the Brit's shoulder. "It was only a short, formal wedding in a lay magistrate's office. Buffy wanted it that way, but I want a real wedding for her - probably soon. I only wanted her to make peace - real peace - with you and Willow first. She misses you. She was hurt and tried to deny it, but she misses you each day. After her father's neglecting and her mother's death you were her family. I'm so glad this is over now. So you will see her to be wed, I promise."
"Angel," the watcher said truly moved. "I really hope you're right and we'll be
able to move on from here. It's very important for Willow too, you know."
The ex-vampire nodded and was about to tell Giles that the women were probably
talking about it right now, when Xander's voice interrupted them, "Hey,
ex-Dead-Boy," he said good-naturedly, the word not an insult anymore, "Nice to
see you."
"Xander," Angel nodded at him, then at Anya and at the unfamiliar man behind her. He was good looking, with blond hair and green eyes, he looked like every
mother's dream of a son-in-law. "Hi," the ex-vampire said to him and was
surprised when an uncomfortable silence settled over them. Inwardly shrugging he
extended his hand, "Hi, I'm Angel."
"Hello," the man took the hand and shook it. "I'm Brian."
"Uhm ... maybe I should introduce you properly," Xander said after a second.
"Brian this is Angel ... er ...," he looked at the ex-vampire, "Do you even have
a last name?"
"Conneely," Angel replied with a grin.
"Right," Xander nodded. "Okay so, that's Angel Conneely, Angel, this is Brian
Williams. He was ... uhm ...," he paused a moment and then after taking a deep
breath said, "Buffy's fiancée."
One of Brian's brows shot upward and he curiously looked at the tall, dark
stranger in front of him, "You know Buffy?"
"I ... uh," Angel wasn't sure what he should say now. Buffy obviously hadn't told Brian anything about him. But he was spared the answer when he felt a hand on his arm.
"Hi Brian," Buffy said softly and smiled at her ex-boyfriend. "Nice to see you."
"Buffy," his eyes were soft as well and Angel had to suppress the sudden pang of
jealousy he felt seeing them together. But then his eyes fell on the little gold
band on her left hand and he relaxed. They were together now, nothing else
counted.
"I see you've already met Angel," she entwined her fingers with her husband's.
"Angel and I were married two weeks ago."
"You were...," Brian was obviously stunned. Quickly recovering from the news he
took a deep breath, leaned forward and kissed her cheek, "Congratulations." Then
turning towards Angel the two men's eyes met and held, "And to you. You've got an extraordinary woman. You're a lucky man." There was only honesty in his voice and eyes and so the ex-vampire said
"Thanks. I know." Leading his wife's hand to his mouth he kissed it.
"All the best from us too," Xander said, pointing at himself and his wife, "Cordy just told us." He grinned, "Somehow I knew it all the time. Nothing would really keep you and Dead-Boy apart."
Everyone had to grin at his remark, then Mr. Rosenberg came to get Giles for the
ceremony and Xander went with them as he was chosen to be the best man. Who
would've thought, Buffy grinned inwardly. Xander is Giles' best man!
The ceremony was lovely, Willow wore a knee-length dress in pale-pink that suited her pale skin. Her eyes were radiant with love shining from them when she looked at Giles and all doubts Buffy had harboured before vanished in an instant. She held Angel's hand throughout the ceremony and they exchanged glances from time to time. Gunn on the other hand tried to ignore the looks he got from his girlfriend. He loved her, but a marriage wasn't the kind of commitment he wanted at the moment. He was far too young for it. He would watch the older ones for a while, he decided with a side-glance towards Angel and Giles.
When Willow and Giles spoke their vows Buffy saw a tear slip from the red-head's
face and unconsciously the slayer's gaze wandered to her husband and saw him
smiling down on her. 'I love you', he mouthed.
'Love you too,' she mouthed back.
END of this story!