Chapter Six


"Thanks for watching Kathy this week," Sean told his son.

"No problem, Dad." He looked fondly at the sullen teenager. "We had fun."

Beside them, her bags packed around her, Kathy pulled both his sleeves. "Do I have to leave? Can't I just move in with Angel?"

"What brought this on?" Patty asked, surprised at her daughter's eagerness.

"She made a friend. Buffy has a sister the same age and they spent every afternoon together. We even saw a couple of movies –at the theater."

Their parents beamed at the news. "That's wonderful, honey, but you can't move in with your brother. Sorry. But, I'm sure that you will be back to visit soon," Patty said gently.

"Okay," Kathy conceded.

"Oh, Angel," Sean remembered as he picked Kathy's bags. "There's a Ball in Los Vegas for the AIDS Awareness Foundation this Friday night. You will be there?"

"Yes, Sir, I'll be there."

"Black Tie. You have two tickets. Black Knights Hotel. We have Penthouse One reserved as usual."

"Thanks, Dad." Angel had a good idea who could use the second ticket.

Apparently, so did Kathy, "Yay, you'll get to suffer through the 'Buffy and Angel are in Luvvvvvv' show and see I wasn't exagger—eek!" She hid behind their mother when Angel made to reach for her. "Mooooooom!"


After his parents left, Angel's first action was to dial a familiar number. "Buffy? Um…my parents are putting together a charity ball this weekend in Los Vegas. It's for the AIDS Awareness Foundation. It's Black Tie. I have two tickets. I'd really like it if you could go with me."

"Angel, I would love to go, but…."

"You have to work." He wondered if she'd call in sick if he asked her to.

"No, I don't have to work this weekend. It's just…I don't have anything to wear." She was embarrassed by the fact she didn't have a formal dress nor could she really afford one. Her paycheck and tips helped to pay for her car insurance and other living expenses.

Angel smiled, "Buffy, if that's the only reason, I can buy your dress. I was going to anyway. Whenever I go to these charity balls, I always buy the dress for my dates." Well, most of them anyway. Darla had always insisted on buying her own dresses. His other dates, however, never could afford their dresses, so he told them where to go to pick it out and called ahead so the store would charge the dress and accessories to his account. He didn't see why they should miss out on the fun, if he could afford the clothes for them.

Buffy's eyes widened at the offer. "Really?"

"Really. I have to be there and I'd hate to go by myself." His next words were something he hadn't expected to say for years to come, if ever. "'Cause if you don't go with me, I'm not taking anyone else."

"Okay. I'll go."

"Great!"


Buffy had chosen a white satin strapless gown. The bodice was tight with a full skirt to it. There were white roses embroidered on the skirt and the bodice. The dress also had a white lace shawl with white roses on it. When she walked out of her room in the penthouse, Angel was floored, "You look gorgeous in that dress, Buffy."

"Thank you," Buffy's cheeks colored slightly with a pink blush.

"Are you ready?"

"Sure."

Angel turned to his younger sister and said, "Kathy, we're going down to the ball now. If you need any of us, just call one of the cell phones."

"Alright." The girl lifted an amused eyebrow at him. He was such a worrywart. "You do know that Mom and Dad have left me alone for a few hours before right?"

"Yes, I do, Kathy, but I also know that you don't like it."

"And that's why I'm here," Xander said, "I could have found a date, but the Princess here needs me." Buffy and Willow exchanged a knowing look. Xander hadn't been able to get a date, so the only reason he tagged along tonight was to watch Kathy. He and Kathy had struck up a friendship while she was staying with Angel and he was learning his job. But Xander didn't want Kathy to feel as though she was his second choice, so he lied about his dating prospects. Besides there was always….

"Xand, you're here to gamble," Willow laughed.

"That too."

Angel had gotten Buffy's friends some tickets. He had told them that they were comp tickets that his parents had gotten him for his friends. He had really paid for them, but he didn't want her friends to feel bad for not being able to pay for the tickets themselves. He had expected Xander to take one of the tickets but after Dawn had told him why Kathy was scared to be alone, he offered to stay with her. It surprised Patty, Sean, and Angel when Kathy readily agreed to it. Buffy later explained that she thought that Kathy might have a slight crush on Xander like Dawn did.

Willow had asked Wesley to go with her, and he'd agreed. They had been out a couple times in the two weeks or so that he had been staying with Giles; they'd just connected. Wesley was enrolling in Sunnydale University, to complete his Master's in Mythological Studies. He had a bachelor's degree in Chemistry and History. But with his mother's sudden passing, he opted to leave England and take his uncle up on his offer for a place to stay for a while. While he had been in Sunnydale, he had become fast friends with all of the Alpha Kappa Lambda Fraternity. Angel had offered him a place in the fraternity and he was considering on accepting. After all, he couldn't stay with his Uncle Rupert for the rest of his life.

Angel's closest friends were already down at the ball and they had bought their tickets at four hundred dollars each and two hundred dollars per dinner plate. After dinner there was dancing. Everyone who attended the ball in the ballroom of the Black Knights Hotel, which was owned and operated by MacKenzie Enterprises, enjoyed themselves.


The drinks were way over priced; but people who could afford the ball tickets, didn't mind paying extra in order to raise money for the charity. Buffy drank only non-alcoholic drinks all night. On the other hand, Angel had a few of glasses of wine and a couple of beers. He was in no way even close to being drunk. His parents knew that he had a high tolerance of alcohol and it would take a lot more to get their son drunk.

Maybe that was why they were shocked when they glanced out of the window and saw their son on the veranda down on one knee in front of his date.


"Buffy, I know that we just met and just started to date, but I know what I feel. I've never felt anything like this before. I … I know that you believe in Physic Powers – or E.S.P. at least. And because of E.S.P. we both know that we're soul mates, so why wait?" Angel went down on one knee and pulled a chain out from under his shirt. He took the small claddagh ring that was on it, and presented it to his beloved. The hands of the claddagh were white gold, the crown was made up of three diamonds, and a three-karat emerald was the heart. "Will you marry me?"

As Buffy looked down at the ring and her boyfriend, she had a flashback of her 'Wedding Dream'. She was speechless. She couldn't believe that it was coming true.

Angel wasn't sure why she wasn't saying anything. "Well, we could wait for a while. I'll wait as long as you want to. I just want the reassurance that we'll get married one day and I wanted you to have your ring."

"Huh?" Buffy said stunned. "I mean … yes! Yes, I'll marry you," she answered as she sank down to her knees to kiss him.

Mr. and Mrs. MacKenzie watched for a brief moment, both glad of the scene they were witnessing. They turned back to the dancing before they drew attention to the sweethearts outside. Angel would let everyone know in his own time. Right now was their time and they deserved the privacy.


The young man was nervous. It was obvious even to the middle-aged man who had met the younger man just a few times before. His ex-wife had only good things to say about the younger man, so he was puzzled as to what there was to be nervous about.

"Mr. Summers," the younger man began, "I invited you out to dinner so that we might be able to discuss something important." He was trying hard to be formal in this discussion. It was a little awkward, since he'd never had needed to act like this before and yet this was one situation that demanded formality. "I know that Buffy and myself are still in college. As you know we have dated for two years. We broke up when I moved to New York to attend college; but I am transferring back to Sunnydale University. Buffy and I are going to pick up where we left off in our relationship, with one exception – with your blessing, I hope." The young man took a deep breath before continuing and Hank Summers just sat there listening, knowing what was coming, "I'm asking for your daughter's hand in marriage, Sir."

"Mr. Finn, my ex-wife had a good opinion of you, and so did my daughter." In fact, Hank still remembered how happy Buffy had sounded that time she told him about Riley Finn. As many times before, he made a mental note to contact his daughter soon. "I would be honored to call you my son-in-law," Hank Summers smiled at his eldest daughter's high school boyfriend. "However, I do ask that you wait until you both have graduated from collage first."

"Of course, Sir. I had planned on waiting until getting a job as a psychologist before the wedding."

"Very well." Young Riley seemed reliable, with a good head on his shoulders and transparently in love with Buffy. "I see no reason why you couldn't ask her now if you wanted to. Don't worry, I won't say anything to Buffy or to Joyce until after you ask Buffy yourself."

"Thank you, Sir."

"Oh, please, call me Hank. We're practically family now." Both men either completely forgot that Buffy still needed to agree to marry Riley or they assumed that she'd accept his proposal.

The fact was that Riley hadn't talked to Buffy since he left for New York. When they'd broken up, he'd meant to find someone else in the city; but no girl compared to Buffy. It didn't cross his mind that she might have found somebody, much less that she already had a boyfriend. He just assumed that she was pining away for him like he was her.


Loud congratulations followed as soon as Buffy and Angel announced their engagement to family and friends. Xander's jaw dropped, while Drusilla smiled smugly. On the sidelines, Darla gave a little laugh and patted Lindsey's pocket. Lindsey obediently took out his wallet and handed Spike a crispy new bill, all the while muttering darkly about never more betting against the seer's boyfriend.

Patty and Sean were the first to reach out and squeeze Buffy into a hug. Kathy followed suit. "I was about to give up," Patty confessed as she kissed Buffy's forehead.

"Give her some breathing space, Mom," Angel said ruefully as he rescued his now fiancée from his overbearing parents – just to have her pulled away by an enthusiastic Willow. The redhead had drunk a couple glasses of wine too many and had been about to retire to bed, half-supported by Wesley, until she caught sight of Buffy's new ring. "Is that--- Oh my God!" Just liked that, she'd sobered up, waved away her date's hands and practically pounced on her friend for details.

Angel was more than happy to provide them. "I gotta tell you," he added at the end of the story, "I was scared there for a minute that she was going to turn me down. She just stared at the ring."

Buffy laughed when her fiancé said that, "I was just so stunned. I couldn't believe that my 'Wedding Dream' is about to come true." Most of them looked puzzled at the dream reference, but Willow muttered a reproachful "Told you so." and Xander nodded. Buffy allowed herself a last blinding smile before her tone turned more serious. "But I think that we should we wait until Angel gets his master's at least. Or until I get my bachelor's, whichever comes first."

"Buffy, if you're worried about a job, you don't have to be. Angel already does work for M.E. and receives a salary for it. He does it all by computer, so he can stay in school," Sean told his future daughter-in-law.

"Really?" Buffy looked at the man that she was going to marry. He worked for the company? She hadn't known that – what else didn't she know? And wouldn't she find out all those things after the wedding, another little voice told her. She already knew that Angel was her dream, why wait? Buffy shook her head at herself. "I'm also only eighteen and we really need to get to know each other a little better." She really was trying to be logical when all she wanted to do was go down the street to the Chapel of Love and marry the man sitting beside her holding her hand.

Little did she know that the man who was holding her hand wanted to do the same thing – and grasped for the same straws of logic. "Yeah. It takes time to plan a wedding, doesn't it?"

"Oh, if you get married in June, you have plenty of time to plan a real nice wedding," Willow said.

Everyone laughed as Buffy and Angel looked at each other and silently decided that it would be hard to wait until June, but it was the best option. It was Buffy who said, "So how does June third sound to you?"

Angel grinned. "Sounds perfect."

They fell into a happy silence, and the whole room quieted down for a moment.

"Did they just set a date?" Kathy asked.

Spike chuckled as he watched the engaged couple who were lost in their own world, "I think so, Little Bit."

Buffy dragged her eyes away from her fiancé to secure another detail in her perfect wedding. "Oh, Willow, will you be my maid of honor?"

"Sure."

"And Kathy, would like to be a Jr. bridesmaid?"

Kathy sat up and said, "Of course!"

Then Buffy turned to Xander.

He noticed and playfully raised his hands in self-defense. "Hey, I'm sure Will and the munchkin will love dressing up; but I've heard about your perfect wedding enough times. Green is not my color."

Everybody rolled their eyes, then chuckled when Buffy put on an innocent face. "Green? I was thinking more like orange." She squinted at her old friend and tilted her head, "You'd all look dashing in a mix of orange and blue, don't you think, girls?"

Darla and Patty laughed outright. Kathy looked slightly alarmed; but Willow nodded good-naturally. "It'd go perfect with my hair."

Xander looked between his best friends and conceded defeat.

Buffy laughed. "Oh Xander, would you like to light the candles?"

"Sure, Buff." He even straightened and saluted.

"Candles?" Angel asked.

"Yeah, I've always dreamed about a candle-lit wedding at sundown. Is that alright with you?"

Angel smiled, "Sure. Whatever you want, we'll make it happen."

"Do you know who you want as your best man?" Buffy asked.

"Well, Spike's my oldest friend. I mean, we've been friends ever since before we got our nicknames," Angel said. "So how about it, William, you up for the task?"

Between the two of them, Christian names were only used on momentous occasion. Marriage certainly counted as one. "Sure thing, Liam." One arm around Drusilla and another around Darla, Spike gave him the thumbs-up. "Anything you need, just let me know."

Sean coughed and the younger people stopped their conversations. "So, Angel, this summer, I want you to take a break from school and learn my job." Angel must have let his thoughts show, because his father added, "Don't worry. I won't hand over M.E. to you just yet, but you will need to know how to run M.E. if something happens to your mother and I. It's just precautionary. I'm sure if you really wanted to, everything I do can be done by computer. Even the trips I take can be done in the summer and during holidays, so you can still teach. I know it's important to you to get a teaching job. I just want you to be prepared in case of an emergency, is all."

Angel nodded his head in agreement. It really was past due. He should have learned his father's job when he turned twenty-one, but he had put it off. Now he couldn't do it anymore. He was going to get married and he had promised his dad that when he got married he would learn how to run M.E. in case anything happened to his parents. His dad's motto was "Prepare for the worse, pray and hope for the best."

Sean and Patty just beamed at each other and then saw that Kathy was about to fall back to sleep. They hated to wake her, but they knew that she should hear the news with the rest of them. They tapped Kathy on the shoulder and led her off to bed and went to their own bedroom.

The penthouse was like a huge one story house. They had a kitchenette, three full bathrooms, ten small bedrooms, a living area, and a veranda. Only those who wanted to share a bed were sharing and the others had their own bedrooms. Eventually, everyone else also went to bed leaving only Buffy and Angel sitting on the couch planning the wedding. When Angel saw Buffy was fighting to stay awake, he walked her to her bedroom door, and kissed her goodnight. The kiss turned so passionate that he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to stop. All he wanted to do was ravish his fiancée but she had taken a vow of purity and he wasn't about ask her break that vow. He reluctantly stopped kissing her and just held her close to him.

Buffy whimpered when he stopped, "Why'd you stop?"

"Because, if I don't do it now, I won't be able to stop."

"And that's bad how?"

"Because you've taken a vow and I don't want you to break it because of me."

"But…"

"No buts, Buffy. I gave my baby sister a ring just like that and I'm only doing what I hope her future boyfriends and future fiancé will do." Buffy smiled. Angel swallowed hard; there was an option, a crazy option. "I know that we agreed to wait until June third, but... would it break your heart if we just went down the street to The Chapel of Love…."

"No, let's go!" Buffy interrupted, smiling and pulling Angel toward the door.

"Hold on a minute," Angel laughed, "Since everyone's here…"

"You go wake up your side, I'll go wake up my side," Buffy said as she went to wake up her two best friends and her cousin from London.