"I what?!" Buffy shouted partly in horror and partly in utter shock.
"Um, yes, well, you will need to get married. And it needs to be immediately. There is no time for delay. Every moment we wait could lead to something, animal, demon or human to stumble onto the rift and fall in and complete the sacrifice. It really is the only feasible way to nullify the active ritual over the Hellmouth."
Buffy frown.
"Who am I going to marry?" she asked as her glance flitted between the only two choices she thought were on hand.
As she stared at Xander, his confused look seemed to take on a startled expression followed by an excited glow. He waved his hand in the air and offered his voluntary services to help thwart the apocalypse.
Giles rolled his eyes.
"Unfortunately, you will not work Xander," the Watcher replied. His calm denial crushed the young man's hopes and sent him slouching into a pout on the couch.
"But why you instead of Xander?" Willow questioned as she consoled her friend by patting his knee.
Giles replaced his glasses and moved towards his cabinet where he stored his scotch.
"She can't marry me either," he admitted in a pinched voice as he pulled his alcohol from the cupboard and poured himself a stiff drink. Fortified with the liquid courage, the Brit turned back to his young audience. A bit of a flush skipped up his neck and colored his cheeks as he started his explanation a couple times only to stumble over the words and fall silent.
"GILES!" Buffy shouted in annoyance at his continuous stammering and avoidance of the explanation.
"Make with the talkage, like now," the Slayer ordered. "The clock is ticking down on impending doom. Whatever you have to say can't be that horrid."
Giles frowned and shook his head before pouring himself another drink. He really didn't want to say what he needed to say but Buffy was right. He had to face the facts and explain properly no matter how uncomfortable the topic. Refilling his glass one more time, he carried the drink back to his sofa and took a seat.
"Look, unfortunately, and I hate to admit it, but Spike's harassment, uncouthness aside, actually has merit."
The Watcher offered his Slayer an apologetic smile.
"You are not a virgin so the simple ritual as it stands would not work. You don't have blood to gift a normal husband. You need to gift it another way."
Spike once more snorted.
"It's always the blood," he muttered.
Everyone ignored his comment though as they stared at Giles.
"So how does Buffy share blood if not the, um, traditional virgin way?" Willow asked curiously.
Giles stared at the redhead for a moment until her eyes suddenly widened in realization.
"Oh no," she gasped in horror as her head whipped around so she could stare at the bleached blond vampire leaning against the wall beside the table. Her mouth hung open in unexpressed disgust and sorrow and her green eyes started to tear at the thought of what her friend was going to be forced to do.
Buffy and Xander watched Willow's moment of epiphany and scrambled to catch up. Xander followed his best friend's glance towards Spike and the horror in her expression cut through his confusion.
"NO WAY!" the young man shouted as he stood up. Unable or unsure what else to say, Xander then sat back down without doing anything. He then reached out and grabbed the half finished glass of scotch in Giles' hand. He gulped the amber liquid and sputtered before standing up once more.
"Really, no way," Xander repeated before sitting back down. He was so agitated he didn't know what to do about the feelings and images assaulting him. His mind was a swirling mass of disjointed sounds and images that made no logical sense. There was literally no way in his mind he could reconcile his hero and crush to marrying the evil undead bane of their existence. He nervously played with the empty glass in his hand and wondered if Giles would yell at him if he refilled it.
It was Buffy's reaction that had Giles most concerned though. She had just stared blankly at Willow for a moment before shifting her attention to her Watcher. He saw the life seem to drain from her and a fatalistic acceptance settle in its place. She didn't even sigh or offer a single complaint. The teen didn't even glance at the vampire like her friends had done. She only lifted her head slightly to meet her Watcher's worried eyes.
"When do we do the ritual," she stated in a voice void of all emotion.
Before Giles could answer, Spike finally realized why Willow was staring at him in horror and Xander was staring at him in renewed hatred. Unexpectedly, he echoed Xander's earlier sentiment.
"No way," the vampire stated.
Everyone ignored his comment. In fact, they continued to ignore his increasingly loud and profane exclamations of denial. Instead, Giles started giving instructions about the collection of the needed components for the spell because the ritual needed completed immediately. Any additional delay could truly mean the end of the world as they knew it.
Following his directions, Willow moved to his desk and began digging in his drawers to search out a willow wand the Watcher insisted was somewhere in it. It took her digging through odds and ends in three different drawers before her fingers wrapped around the needed item.
Across the room, Xander opened the cabinet by the steps and started picking up incense coils and sniffing them. Giles had told him that they needed ones that smelled like flowers. He discarded a number of them until he had two which he thought smelled all flowery. He tossed the rest unceremoniously back into place and brought the fragrant coils to the Watcher.
Buffy had entered the kitchen and dug in the lower cabinet to retrieve two pillar candles. One needed to be white to represent the One of Light and one needed to be red or black to signify the vampire. When she returned with two used candles, Giles sent her back to dig for a new white one. He insisted it needed to be pure and unlit to better perform the ritual. Buffy obediently followed his directions and went back to digging in the cabinet until she found an acceptable white candle.
Willow pulled a box of books from the floor and emptied the tomes from it. She brought it to the coffee table so they could add all the needed items into it.
"We need a veil and something scarlet for Buffy to wear," Giles listed as he mentally checked off the items still required. "We also need flowers and a set of rings."
"What you need is a bloody bridegroom!" Spike yelled as he approached the box. He picked up the container and tossed it across the room.
"There is no way in Hell I am marrying the Slayer!" he screamed in the Watcher's face.
In the next moment, the raging vampire found himself face down on the carpet with a seething blonde on his back and his arm twisted painfully behind him. The Slayer forced his arm a bit higher and he grunted in pain.
"You will do what you are told, Spike," Buffy warned quietly. She punctuated the order with another twist on his arm.
"Like Hell I will!" the vampire responded into the carpet. He made an attempt to wiggle free but found the Slayer's grip like a steel bar across his body. He was completely trapped and everyone knew it.
Buffy said nothing in reply to his angry protest. She merely remained frozen for a moment as she took a deep breath.
"Can you guys give me a few minutes," she asked levelly as she looked up at her concerned friends.
Willow and Xander returned her gaze and nodded. The redhead offered to go back to their dorm room and find her something with red to wear. Her best friend offered to accompany her. Giles reminded them that they also needed some kind of material to act as a veil. He then offered the teens his car keys in order to speed up their errand. Taking the transportation offering, Willow nodded and dragged Xander from the flat with a promise to return soon.
"Um, I have something to get from my loft, will that suffice for your privacy needs?" Giles asked as he glanced in concern at the downed vampire and the livid girl holding him in place.
Buffy simply nodded and Giles quietly moved up the steps to his sleeping area to give the teen at least the appearance of privacy. In a fluid motion, Buffy lifted her weight from Spike's back and forced him to roll over. She sat back down on his stomach to keep him in place and released his arm. Because of his chip, the Slayer wasn't worried about him attempting to hurt her. Buffy was mostly concerned about him staying in place so they could negotiate. She crossed her arms over her chest and stared intently at the trapped vamp.
"What do you want in exchange," she calmly stated.
Spike tilted his head just a bit to the side and his eyes narrowed.
"You could start by sliding back a bit," he suggested with a manufactured leer as he bucked up his hips a bit to punctuate his rude proposition.
Buffy's fist flew out and smashed into his nose.
"BLOODY HELL!" the vampire responded as he brought his left hand up to cradle his now broken and bleeding nose.
"Terms," the Slayer stressed as her hands fell to her sides. She flexed them repeatedly while she resisted the urge to punch the vampire again. She might not have been adverse to a good strangling either if it would have been at all effective against the vampire.
"You can't be serious," Spike mumbled into his hand.
Buffy's shoulders lowered ever so slightly and she closed her eyes for a moment. Spike watched as the teen opened her eyes with a light of determination present that he should have expected to see but somehow still startled him. He may hate the Slayer and her goody two shoes bit but the vampire couldn't help but admire her fortitude.
"Terms," Buffy repeated softly.
Spike lowered his hand from his face and licked at the blood that had dripped from his nose onto his upper lip. Buffy resisted the urge to protest and instead just wrinkled her nose in disgust at his blood seeking behavior.
"Well, to start with, no more punching me in the nose," he replied.
Buffy nodded.
Spike's eyes widened when he realized that the Slayer was serious. She was actually going to allow him to negotiate. An evil smile slipped onto his lips. In response, he felt Buffy's thighs tighten on his sides. Her blank expression took on a bit of warning of possible pain if he wasn't careful. He silently considered the possibilities.
"I need a place to live. A real place. Not stuffed in the smelly basement with your castoff friend."
Buffy caught her lip between her teeth. She worried the skin lightly as she tried to think of a problem with the request. It was actually a reasonable one. She certainly wouldn't want to live in the Harris basement. Smell and clutter aside, living anywhere with Xander's parents would drive a saint to contemplate murder. Her current prospective groom was as far from a saint as one could get. Unfortunately, Spike wouldn't be able to live in the dorm with her and Willow but there had to be another solution beside chaining him back in Giles' bathtub. Although she wasn't really sure where he could actually stay, she agreed with a nod.
"I want a bit of violence," the vampire proposed.
A hint of a smile teased at Buffy's lips.
"I thought you didn't want me punching you," she replied as she shifted her body slightly so that she was bit more comfortable on her Spike shaped seat. She rested her hands on her thighs and rolled her neck slightly. She grinned a bit evilly as she considered working out her frustrations on a Spike-shaped punching bag.
"Yeah, not really looking for a one sided event, pet," he countered as he unconsciously shifted his hands down so that they were brushing against his captor's ankles.
"You want to patrol with me?"
For a moment, Spike considered the proposal. The chance to watch the Slayer in action and get in a rough and tumble of his own had a definite appeal. It would be a blast to put a serious hurting on the resident demon population of the Hellmouth. It sure beat watching television and listening to Harris whine.
"Agreed. I will be happy to watch your back, Slayer."
"Ah, no," the teen replied with a shake of her head. "I don't trust you at my back but you can take a side where I can see you."
Spike grinned and agreed.
"Anything else?" Buffy asked quietly.
"Blood," Spike added.
Buffy immediately nodded. She had been expecting this request.
"The real stuff, Slayer," Spike clarified. "Not that lousy pig shite."
Buffy sighed.
"I can't ask folks to open their veins for you, Spike," the teen responded.
The vampire nodded in understanding but a slight smirk rose on his lips. He raised a hand and trailed it over her wrist. Buffy snatched her wrist away from his soft touch as if his finger burned her skin. She cradled her wrist in the opposite hand against her chest and a moment of panic flitted across her face.
The smirk left Spike's face to be replaced with a serious expression.
"A Scotch drinker doesn't need Glenfiddich every night, Slayer. But a treat is a treat. I'm willing to settle for daily Jack but I want an occasional treat."
Buffy frowned at the alcohol analogy.
"You want expensive Scotch?" she asked incredulously.
Spike chuckled.
"No. pet, how about you just give me an occasional Slayer special and I will endure the pig swill regularly."
Once more, Buffy worried her lower lip with her teeth as she considered his request. She took a deep breath.
"Agreed."
Spike grinned as he reached out and grasp the Slayer by the hips. Gently, he lifted her and slid her until she was sitting on his legs. He sat up until they were face to face. He chuckled.
"Who woulda thought Red's spell was prophetic, huh?"
Buffy snorted and stood. She offered a hand towards the vampire to assist him to stand. For a moment, the vampire stared at the offered hand as he considered what he was about to do. By taking her hand, he was officially switching sides. It really wasn't what he wanted out of his unlife. If he had needed to breath, he would have sighed deeply. Instead, he shook his head in disgust at just how far he had fallen. Decision made, he reached out and enveloped Buffy's hand with his own. With a hard tug, the Slayer pulled Spike to his feet.
"Wonder if that means Giles is gonna ultimately end up blind?" Buffy mused.
"Hmm, I was more wondering if the Watcher might cough up some Glenfiddich as a wedding gift," Spike muttered in reply.
"He's unemployed and its the middle of the night, Spike. Think you will have to make due with whatever he has in his cupboard."
Spike now did sigh as if the available drink was truly a hardship. He moved towards the cabinet and Giles' open bottle of cheap alcohol as Buffy called out to the Watcher to let him know they were done negotiating. Within moments, Giles had returned from his bedroom loft. He placed a small, intricately carved case in the righted cardboard box as well as a long braided gold chord which previously held back one of his thick bedroom window curtains. Meanwhile, Buffy returned the other strewn items to their place in the box. She held up the white candle which was now dented and chipped but not completely broken.
"Fitting," she muttered as she dropped the candle into the box.
Giles doubled checked the ritual. He clucked his tongue once before moving to his desk and digging in the bottom drawer. Pulling free a small white folded scrap of embroidered white material, he nodded to himself once then turned to the reluctant bride and groom.
"All we need are some flowers and we have everything necessary for the ritual. That is, as long as Willow finds you a veil and something with at least a touch of scarlet to wear," Rupert proclaimed.
"Then we should get going to the school. The convenience store on seventh might have something flowery. If not, I bet we can snag something from one of the graves at Sunset Pines. It's on the way," the Slayer planned.
Giles nodded in agreement. He promised to follow with Willow and Xander as soon as they returned. He watched as Buffy looked at Spike for a moment. She then sprinted up the steps to Giles' bedroom where the vampire and Watcher could hear her rummaging through drawers. Buffy returned quickly and tossed a dark green sweater at the vampire.
"There is no way I am marrying you in that shirt," she announced as Spike stared at the halfway decent article of clothing. It wasn't like what he would normally wear but anything was better than Xander hand me downs. The vampire snorted as he pulled off the offensive Hawaiian shirt and replaced it with the item Buffy chose. He dropped the ridiculous shirt on the floor before pulling the soft woolen sweater over his head.
As soon as the sweater was in place, Buffy grabbed his arm and pulled Spike towards the door. She promised to meet Giles at the school as she then dragged her forced fiance' out the door. The pair walked in silence for a couple blocks until Spike couldn't stand it any longer. He wiggled his arm which was still locked in the Slayer's tight grip.
"I'm not gonna run away," he muttered in annoyance. "You don't need to manhandle the goods."
Buffy's grasp loosened slightly and then she shifted her death hold on his arm to a more companionable clasp around his elbow. To an outside observer, they now appeared like a couple out for a romantic midnight stroll. They continued in the quiet for another block when they reached the convenience store. Unfortunately, there were no flowers to be found there so they detoured slightly to head towards the closest active cemetery. As they traveled down Maple Street, Spike suddenly paused. Buffy stumbled when her companion failed to keep moving with her. When she turned to question the vampire, she noticed he was standing in front of the florist and staring at the beautiful display of fresh flowers.
"Spike?"
The vampire glanced once at Buffy before stepping towards the shop.
"The place is closed, Spike," the Slayer stated about the obviously locked up and darkened shop.
Spike just snorted as he grabbed the door handle and snapped the simple lock with a twist of his wrist.
"SPIKE!" chastised the Slayer as the vampire broke into the shop. "You can't do that!"
Disregarding Buffy's scolding, the vampire stepped into the darkened flower shop and moved towards one of the coolers in the back of the shop near the cash register. Buffy followed him to the door and kept calling at him to stop but he ignored her pleas. Instead, he pulled open one of the first refrigerated unit and pawed through the fresh flowers. He paused for a moment at a collection of blood red roses but shook his head and dismissed them as being too predictable. He likewise rejected collections of daisies, irises and cosmos. The vampire smirked at the thought of grabbing the snapdragons but figured their meaning might earn him some pain somewhere other than his nose. He decided it wasn't worth the risk. Spike moved to the second cooler. He shuffled through its offerings. Smiling brightly, the vampire grabbed a heavy glass vase that held an already assembled collection of creamy white flowers with broad curled green leaves. He turned from the cooler and headed back towards the entrance.
"Spike, you can't take those," Buffy informed the vampire as he strode towards the door. "You can't steal flowers."
Spike stopped by the door and faced off with the indignant teen.
"You were going to steal flowers from graves."
"But..." Buffy started to reply as she glanced around the dark shop. "They're dead people flowers. No one will miss them."
"Either stealing is wrong all the time or it has merit for certain circumstances," Spike countered. "If it is wrong, it doesn't matter who you take from, dead or otherwise, it is still wrong. If it is okay to steal in this instance because we're all about to save the world and some such then it makes sense to get the proper flowers and not some wilted cast off."
Buffy remained silent for a long moment. She really wasn't sure how to refute Spike's statement. It was true that they would have been stealing flowers from the cemetery just as much as Spike wanted to steal them from the shop. In her mind, it didn't seem as bad to take from a grave though as it did from the florist. His argument had merit though and it made her want to say they shouldn't take any flowers from anywhere. Unfortunately, they had to have the flowers to complete the ritual. Otherwise, the world could end and no one would care about some missing flowers.
Buffy sighed. If she was honest with herself, this wouldn't be the first time something stolen was used to defeat the forces of evil. She hadn't raised a fuss when Xander stole the rocket launcher to blow up the Judge. It truly wasn't fair of her to hold a different standard on Spike then she did on her friends. Just because she liked Xander didn't make his theft any better. Nor did it make Spike's theft any worse because she didn't like him. That single realization made her stomach ache slightly as it shifted her world view slightly.
The Slayer lifted her hand and gently traced one of the soft creamy petals of the cup shaped flowers that the vampire was holding.
"Okay," she softly conceded before turning abruptly and exiting the flower shop. With a victory smirk firmly in place, Spike followed her. They briskly walked down the street towards the old school ruins. About a block from the burned out structure, Buffy finally spoke again.
"What's with the flowers?" she blurted.
"Huh?"
"Why did you pick these specific flowers? What makes them so... well... important?" Buffy questioned.
Spike's gaze darted towards her for a moment. He smiled but then shrugged.
"Flowers were kinda something special when I was alive. Each one meant something specific. You could send a message simply by sending a mixed bouquet. I love you, I miss you, I want you, I dream about you... all could be conveyed with specific blooms."
"What's this one mean?" Buffy asked as she waved her hands towards the vase and its cup-like flowers.
"These are Calla Lilly. They are a traditional wedding flower. The white ones are synonymous with holiness, faith or purity. Kinda fitting for the One of Light, don't-cha think? In a wedding, they are thought to denote divinity, marital bliss, and devotion. When given at a funeral, they represent the purification of the departed soul."
Spike paused for a moment.
"I just thought they fit. Nothing lovey dovey but still special sentiments for an important event," he added.
"Wow," Buffy muttered as they entered the charred ruins and followed their previous path towards the destroyed library. "And here I thought flowers were just flowers."
Spike snorted softly.
"Not much is ever only what it seems at first glance, pet," the vampire stated evenly as he stole a quick look at the girl beside him. In his mind, she was the epitome of that fact. To an outside observer, he or she would only see a pretty, perky little princess of a girl with a flighty mind and an overdeveloped love of trendy clothes but those who truly knew her, and Spike considered himself one of those people, saw an entirely different picture. Buffy Summers was a primal force. She was an unexpected power filled with grace and goodness that were sickening enough to cause a vampire cavities.
Buffy paused her steps and frowned slightly as she met Spike's intense gaze. She tilted her head ever so slightly as she considered the chipped vampire standing beside her once more with the intention of stopping an apocalypse. It wasn't the first time he had offered to help. On the other hand, it was the first time that she actually considered that there might be more to William the Bloody than his bloody past. It was a frightening concept and she wasn't sure if she was ready to really accept the fact even though the evidence was right in front of her face. Spike was evil. He was unexpectedly powerful and deceptively demonic and yet he didn't want the world to end. He caused the poor Slayer more confusion than any unsouled vampire could ever boast. For the moment, she just decided to be happy for his assistance.
"I think you may be onto something there," Buffy replied with a soft smile before turning and jumping the few feet to the stone floor that had once been her high school library.
Spike frowned. Her little smile confused him. The vampire had never seen one like it on her lips. Not even during their fake engagement had Buffy shared a look like that with him. It sent a shiver up his spine. He muttered a quiet curse. Perhaps Spike didn't know the Slayer as well as he thought.
