"I can't believe you are gonna be married in two days, Buffy. Two days!!" Willow was almost more excited than me.

"Yea, it's weird. And I'm gonna see Giles again, you know I asked him to walk me down the aisle." I said, bouncing Alan on my knee.

"Aww, well, I know he really appreciates that. Have you gotten RSVP's from everyone?" Willows pushed back her shoulder-length, red hair behind her ear.

"Yea, everything is falling into place. It's almost too easy." Alan crawled down from my knee and tottered over to the counter pointing to the cookies.

"Did you get one back from..never mind.here sweetie." She stood up and walked over to the counter, grabbed a cookie and handed to the child.

"It's ok, Will.and no, I didn't."

"Oh, well.it's for the better. So what are we doing for your big getting married party?"

"Nothing, I actually want to be completely alone tomorrow night. Everyone is leaving the house, and it is gonna be all mine." I smiled at the thought of a quiet house for one night.

"Sounds fun."

"No, it sounds relaxing."

Willow and I chatted for about an hour longer, and then she left. It was quiet, with everyone at work, and Spike downstairs sleeping or doing whatever it was he did down there to keep from the sun. I went outside and sat on the porch, in two days I was going to be Mrs. Joshua Clark. I was grown up now, and all I could think about was how much I wanted my mom to be there.

The day seemed to go by so fast, and that night we had a big dinner with all of our friends. Rona and Kennedy cooked; Anya and Xander came over with Joyce. Willow, Tara, and Alan also joined. Dawn and Spike sat beside each other and I could just imagine that in a few years, we would be doing this for them. Joshua was about 2 hours late, he was coming in just as Anya and Xander were leaving.

"You knew what time this was starting, Josh, you couldn't tear yourself away for one night?" I pulled him into the kitchen where we could have a moment alone.

"I told you, this is a big.."

"A big case, yadda yadda, I know. But for one night.one dinner with our family and friends, it was more important than that?" I was angry, but I tried to keep my voice as low as I could. "Look Buff, I don't know what to say. I need this case ok, what I don't need is you on my back. I missed dinner, there will be others, damn." He slammed his briefcase on the counter, and I heard a hush come over the other room.

"Fine." I whispered. "At least come in here and say hi to who's left." I walked past him and into the living room.

Joshua followed behind me, apologized to everyone for being so late, and the rest of the night went smoothly.

After everyone left, Josh took a shower and gathered his dirty clothes. As I picked up his pants an earring fell from the pocket. I picked it up and looked at it. It didn't belong to me, so I stormed into the bathroom.

"Who the hell does this belong to?" I swung open the shower curtain and threw the earring in his face.

"Buffy, dammit, wait..I have soap in my eyes." He washed the soap out and then focused on the object in my hand.

"Who does this belong to?" I asked again, calmly but angrily.

"I found it at work. It looks like one the secretary wears, so I was keeping it until tomorrow when I saw her." He started to fidget with his hands for a moment.

I started to make another comment, but Josh grabbed me and swept me into the shower. I protested about my clothes still being on, but he took care of that. I looked at his body glistening with soap and water, God I loved his body. He kissed me all over my body, and we made love with the water showering over us.

"I think I am gonna stay at the office all night and work tomorrow.since you want the house to yourself." Josh whispered in my ear as we drifted to sleep.

"That's fine, just don't be late to the wedding." I laughed softly before falling asleep.