A/N This is Buffy and Angel's summer vacation. Remember the last line in
"My Own Version 2"? You know: "I wanna start baking. I wanna get married
in front of you guys in a big ceremony at the Hyperion. I want the wedding
dress and I wanna move to LA with my husband and I wanna be a family again.
Maybe there could even be a honeymoon somewhere. What do you think?"
Well, this is their summer wedding. But the forces of darkness don't want
the happy couple's perfect ceremony to happen. Will the two soulmates be
able to have their dream wedding or will they just have to settle with
their old wedding: a small chapel in Vegas where the witnesses were Elvis
impersonaters and other people eloping.
Chapter 1
Buffy smiled as she pulled up to the dress shop. It was finally going to happen. She was going to have her dream wedding in exactly one month and two and a half weeks. Willow was going to be her Maid of Honor and she was picking out her dress with Buffy today. Fred and Dawn were her bride's maids. Faith had turned Buffy down on the bride's maid thing. She said she wasn't into the whole matching dress thing. Buffy had figured Faith wouldn't do it, but she had to ask.
LA was getting a little better about the post-Jasmine depression. Angel and Buffy had explained what happened and left out the parts about Connor. Willow had cast a spell to bring a little bit of sanity to the city. So far, everything was perfect for Buffy and Angel.
The small wedding was planned for August 17. Buffy had suggested they get married again on that day because it was her mother's birthday. Angel was being extremely aggreeable on the wedding decisions. He wasn't used to all the wedding hype. He was gradually taking a stand on some things though and Buffy thought it was the cutest thing in the world. She was a semi- normal girl now and she was ready to really start searching for who Buffy the person really is. Angel had promised to help her and he also made many references to the cookie dough analogy. Wolfram and Hart had offered their services to help out with the wedding plans, but both Buffy and Angel had turned them down.
Willow smiled and took Buffy's arm as they walked into the dress shop. There were dresses galore in here and all of them were gorgeous. Angel had said to spend as much money as Buffy had wanted to get a dress for herself and Dawn, Fred, and Willow. Dawn almost squealed with delight as she saw a purple dress that she loved.
"Uh uh Dawn. You and Fred have to match." Buffy said.
"What about Willow?" Dawn asked.
"She doesn't." Buffy spotted a beautiful dress. "Oh Will! Look at this one!" She pulled the white dress off the rack and held it up to her. "What do you think?"
"I love it." Willow said. "It's very traditional." Buffy's smile faded. "What?"
"I don't really want traditional. I just realized that."
"It's your wedding. What do you want?" Fred said.
"I don't know. I think I'll know when I find it." Buffy smiled again as they searched the dresses.
Angel looked at Gunn as he and Wesley walked next to the tall black man heading for the tux shop near Redeo Drive. "So, you're not taking Fred as your date?"
"No." Gunn said.
Wesley looked a little pleased. "So, who are you taking?"
"Gwen."
"Gwen!?" Angel and Wesley asked incredulously.
"Buffy's not going to like that." Angel said. "She and Gwen don't get along."
"Way I figure it, Buffy won't care because it's you two getting married." Gunn said.
"What do you mean?"
"She'll be in the wedding dress walking up the aisle to you."
"And....?"
"And Gwen won't be."
"Ah." Wesley said. "I see what you mean."
"Buffy still won't like it."
"Man, will you just chill and get in the shop?" Gunn asked, opening the door.
Angel walked in. "You know, I think Buffy's a little upset that Spike can't be here."
"Why on earth would she care?" Wesley asked. "She detested Spike."
"Not really. She was friends with him towards the end of it. You all didn't see it, but she cried because Spike had died."
"She cried?" Gunn asked.
"She said she was proud of him. Personally, I never thought he had it in him."
"Why didn't you wear the amulet?" Wesley asked.
"Buffy insisted we give it to Spike. She said he deserved to wear it. I think she had a feeling that it would kill the wearer and she sure as hell wasn't going to let me wear it if that turned out to be the case. Which it was."
Buffy came out of the dressing room with her second choice on. "I don't know, what do you think?"
"It makes your butt look big." Dawn said.
"Oh, geez. Thanks Dawnie."
"Well, you asked what we thought. That's what I thought."
"She's right Buffy. You look like Jennifer Lopez in that dress." Willow said with a smile.
Buffy smiled and rolled her eyes good naturedly and walked back into the dressing room. Ten minutes later she came out with a simple but elegant dress. It had a medium long train in the back and the whole thing was layered with chiffon. The top was strapless and didn't show off too much cleavage. Buffy had a huge smile on her face. "I think this is the one."
Willow smiled and gaped. "You look gorgeous Buffy."
"I love it." Buffy said, standing on the pedestal in front of the mirror and turning to look in different angles. "What do you think?" She asked Dawn and Fred.
"It's gorgeous." Fred said, playing with the train.
"At least you don't look like J-Lo." Dawn joked. "You look great Buffy. I can't wait to see dad's face when he sees it." Buffy's face fell again. "What?"
"I completely forgot about dad."
"Buffy! Who was going to give you away? Giles?"
"Why not?"
"It's Giles."
"Exactly. Giles has been closer to me than dad has."
"But Buffy, it's dad. He would want to give his oldest daughter away. Plus, I want to see him. He's been gone for a while and he's back in LA next week."
"All right. I'll talk to him."
"Thank you."
"Now I'm going to go let the lady take my mesuments and fix the dress so it fits perfectly. You guys search for your dresses."
"What do you think?" Angel asked, walking out of the dressing room. He had on a casual tux that almost looked like a suit. It fit him well. The vest and the tie where white silk, but it worked on him. The jacket buttoned up to mid chest and it went down to just above mid thigh.
"If I was a girl, I'd marry ya." Gunn said, checking out his tux in the mirror. "Smooth lines."
"On you or me?" Angel asked, stepping in Gunn's way playfully.
"Both." Wesley said. He walked behind the two in his laid back tux. He and Gunn matched, but Angel had to admit Gunn seemed more at home in a tux than Wesley did.
"Hey Wes, don't look so stiff." Gunn said, smoothing his tux jacket down.
"I'm not used to wearing a tux. I feel as if I should be extra careful especially for this occasion."
"You'd think you'd be used to it with all those suits you wore when we first met." Angel said with a smile.
The man that took measurements and sold the tuxes walked up. "Gentlemen, you look spectacluar." He looked at Wesley. "She must be a wonderful girl."
"Oh! No! I'm not.... He's the groom." Wesley said, pointing at Angel.
"Hi." Angel said.
"Oh! What a lucky woman to catch you. You look down right stunning in that tux." The man said.
"Thanks."
"I think we need to bring the hem of the pants up and bring that jacket in a little to show off your muscular torso."
"Um.... Ok."
"I can tell that this is a small wedding that you're in."
"You can?"
"Yes. This isn't a formal tux. So I'm guessing there's no more than 15 or 20 people." Angel nodded. "Well, step up onto this platform and we'll get started with bringing up the hem. I'll get to you boys next."
Buffy sat in the chair and waited for Willow to come out. Dawn and Fred hadn't decided on a dress yet and they were off looking. Buffy's dress hadn't needed to much done to it and the lady that fixed it had only needed to bring in the waist a little, so Buffy's dress was finished and laying in the chair next to her. Willow walked out in her fourth outfit. This one looked stunning on her. The last three dresses had been ok, but this one looked awesome!
"Willow! Oh my God! I love it!" Buffy said, standing up and walking over to her friend. The dress was a dark lavender color with large light lavender flowers everywhere and the fabric was light and flow-y. The back went down to the small of her back and cinched like it was tied. The top was a halter and the bottom had a minor train to it. The whole skirt spilled onto the floor slightly.
"I don't know. I like it, but it's risky. Plus it might take away from your big moment." Willow said, twirling slightly.
"Don't be silly. It looks great on you. We can leave your hair down so it covers up some of your back."
"You sure? This is your day Buffy."
"I'm positive Will. This dress is so totally you. Plus you can wear it later on to some big gala thing."
"Yeah, I go to a lot of those."
"Well, we'll throw one at Wolfram and Hart just to show it off then."
Willow smiled. "Buffy, you always know just what to say. Ok, I'll go get the lady to do whatever she needs to do with it." The red head walked off just as Dawn and Fred bounced up with matching dresses.
"We found the dress Buffy!" Dawn said.
"Well, go put them on and let me see." Buffy said, sitting back down.
Five minutes later they walked back out in light blue spaghetti strapped dresses. The bottom of the dresses stopped just above the knees and there was nothing that really stood out about the dresses. It worked though. This was a laid back, non-traditional wedding and the dresses fit the theme perfectly.
Dawn smiled. "Well....?"
"I like em. No.... No I love them." Buffy said.
"Really?" Fred asked.
"Of course."
"Now what?" Dawn asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Do we go get them hemmed or whatever?"
"If you want. I think they fit you both just fine."
"Ok." Fred and Dawn said, turning and walking back into the dressing room.
Just as Buffy was about to turn to go find Willow, glass shattered in the front of the store and a fairly large demon barged in. "SLAYER!" He yelled.
"I wish they'd learn my name first." Buffy muttered as she moved in front of her dress.
The demon saw her. "You Slayer?"
"Yeah. I Slayer."
With that the demon attacked. Buffy kicked it away from her and it hit the mirrors behind it, shattering them. It barely flinched as it got back up and launched itself at her again. Buffy dodged and scooped up her dress, pulling it tightly to her chest. The demon swiped its claws at her and Buffy twirled, taking the scratch in her back. She hissed as the wounds started to sting. Willow yelled her name, but Buffy ducked behind a rack of dresses, hiding from the demon.
"Buffy?" Willow asked, confused why the Slayer was hiding.
"Willow.... teleport it somewhere else!" Buffy yelled.
"Just get out here and kill it!"
"No!"
"Why not?"
"It'll ruin my dress."
"Buffy!"
"What!?" She popped her head up and the demon nearly took it off. The Slayer let out a yelp and ducked back down. The demon grabbed her ankles and pulled her off her feet. Buffy hit the floor hard, smacking her head on the wall. The demon dragged her out and raised its claws. Buffy kicked up and the demon flew away from her, back out the window. She walked over to the cashier that had rung her dress up and handed the dress to her. "Anything happens to this dress, I'll personally make your life a living hell." The cashier had looked terrified to begin with, now she was completely petrified.
Buffy dove out the window and into the sunshine, tackling the demon into the street where the oncoming cars waited.
Angel walked out of the dressing rooms in his street clothes. Gunn and Wesley were sitting on the chairs waiting for him. "You guys ready?"
"I wanna know when we get our tuxs back." Gunn said.
"Next week." Wesley said.
"Oh."
"Jealous I already have mine Gunn?" Angel asked.
"Nah." Gunn smiled again. "I can't wait to see what the Buffster picked out."
"I can't either." Angel said dreamily.
"Love struck till the end man." Angel stopped, a serious look covered his face. "Or not."
The doorbell chimed and three cloaked figures walked in. They lifted their heads and looked at Angel. The three were in vamp face. Angel realized what was going to happen as they threw back their cloaks. "Get out! Go!" He yelled just as the three vamps burst into flames. Gunn and Wesley were already in motion, heading out he back way with a couple of other customers. Angel stayed behind, looking for the tailor. The man was crouched in a corner, surrounded by flames. Angel sighed and jumped overm landing directly in front of the man. He held out his hand. "Come on."
The man grabbed his hand and Angel threw him over the flames then jumped over himself. As he ran out the door, he felt the heat on his back. Angel dropped and rolled on the ground, smothering the flames. Gunn and Wesley took their coats off and beat at Angel's back.
Gunn helped Angel to his feet. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah. I think I gotta get rid of this coat though." Angel took off his duster and looked at the burnt back. "Damn. I liked this coat too."
Wesley held up Angel's tux. "At least this didn't get scorched."
Angel snatched it from Wesley. "Thank God. Buffy would have had a heartattack if that had gotten scorched."
"Speaking of, the dress shop she was going to is only a few blocks away. Shall we see what's going on over there? There's really nothing we can do here." Wesley asked.
"Sure." Angel said, tossing his duster in a trash can.
The three rounded the corner just as Buffy flew out the window, tackling a demon into a street. There was a luxury car headed straight for her. The brakes squealed and Buffy jumped, running up the windsheild and over the roof, sommersaulting off the back and landing in a roll while the demon was thrown into the other lane of traffice where a semi bulldozed the thing. Traffic stopped and everyone got out to see what had happened. Buffy stood painfully to her feet and dusted herself off. She winced a little as she checked her face for any cuts or bruises. Angel could see a scratch on her left cheekbone. It was starting to bruise and a thing line of blood trickled down her cheek.
"Damn it!" Buffy stomped her foot. "This better be healed by the time the wedding gets here." She was obviously talking to someone inside the store.
Willow walked out followed by Fred and Dawn. "Well, if it's not.... I can do a glamour for you. It'll look like there's nothing there."
"Are you ok?" Fred asked.
"Yeah." A look of panic crossed Buffy's face as she looked in the store.
Angel ran up. "Buffy!"
"Oh my God." She ran back into the store. A minute later she came back out carrying four dress bags. After peeking into the largest one, she sighed and leaned against the wall. "Thank God he didn't get the dress."
"What about ours?" Dawn asked, trying to check the bags in Buffy's hands.
Buffy looked up at Angel's worried face. "Hey sweetheart. Where'd you come from?"
"The former tux shop." Angel said.
"Former?" Angel pointed at the sky where thick black smoke curled up into the sky. "What'd you do!?"
"It wasn't me!"
"Three vamps strolled on in and caught on fire. It sent the whole place up." Gunn said.
"Are you guys ok?" Buffy asked, looking at Angel and handing the bags over to Willow as she stepped closer to her husband.
"I'm fine." Angel said. "My coat got fried though."
"At least you're ok."
"What about you? That cut looks pretty nasty."
"It'll heal." Buffy's lips met Angel's and they kissed passionately. The other five people groaned and headed towards Wesley's jeep. Buffy pulled away and realized that everyone had left them. She shrugged and put her arm through Angel's as they headed towards the convertible. "So, did you find your tux?"
"Yes I did." Angel said, wrapping his arm around Buffy's waist and pulling her closer. They looked like your average couple walking along on a beautiful day in Southern California. "Did you find your dress?"
"Mmhmm. You're gonna love it."
"I'm gonna love taking it off of you." He kissed the top of her head.
"Once a guy, always horny."
"Speaking of...."
"What? Right here?"
"If you want." Angel said, playfully pushing Buffy against a wall.
"No, no, no, no. I think we need to discuss what happened to us today. It's no coincidence we were both attacked at the same time."
"I'd rather not Buffy."
"Angel, this could be some bad sign! I don't believe in coincidence and you know it. This happened for a reason. But why on this day when we're picking out our outfits? Maybe someone doesn't want us to get married."
"We're already married."
"Yeah, but.... There's not many people who know we are. Or many non-people for that matter. We're just now making it more public."
"Buffy...."
"I would feel better if we played it safe, ok? I don't want anything to go wrong with our big day."
"All right. We'll play it safe and see why we were attacked today of all days."
"Thank you."
Angel opened the door for her and then walked over to the driver's side, gunning the engine and roaring off towards the Hyperion.
Chapter 1
Buffy smiled as she pulled up to the dress shop. It was finally going to happen. She was going to have her dream wedding in exactly one month and two and a half weeks. Willow was going to be her Maid of Honor and she was picking out her dress with Buffy today. Fred and Dawn were her bride's maids. Faith had turned Buffy down on the bride's maid thing. She said she wasn't into the whole matching dress thing. Buffy had figured Faith wouldn't do it, but she had to ask.
LA was getting a little better about the post-Jasmine depression. Angel and Buffy had explained what happened and left out the parts about Connor. Willow had cast a spell to bring a little bit of sanity to the city. So far, everything was perfect for Buffy and Angel.
The small wedding was planned for August 17. Buffy had suggested they get married again on that day because it was her mother's birthday. Angel was being extremely aggreeable on the wedding decisions. He wasn't used to all the wedding hype. He was gradually taking a stand on some things though and Buffy thought it was the cutest thing in the world. She was a semi- normal girl now and she was ready to really start searching for who Buffy the person really is. Angel had promised to help her and he also made many references to the cookie dough analogy. Wolfram and Hart had offered their services to help out with the wedding plans, but both Buffy and Angel had turned them down.
Willow smiled and took Buffy's arm as they walked into the dress shop. There were dresses galore in here and all of them were gorgeous. Angel had said to spend as much money as Buffy had wanted to get a dress for herself and Dawn, Fred, and Willow. Dawn almost squealed with delight as she saw a purple dress that she loved.
"Uh uh Dawn. You and Fred have to match." Buffy said.
"What about Willow?" Dawn asked.
"She doesn't." Buffy spotted a beautiful dress. "Oh Will! Look at this one!" She pulled the white dress off the rack and held it up to her. "What do you think?"
"I love it." Willow said. "It's very traditional." Buffy's smile faded. "What?"
"I don't really want traditional. I just realized that."
"It's your wedding. What do you want?" Fred said.
"I don't know. I think I'll know when I find it." Buffy smiled again as they searched the dresses.
Angel looked at Gunn as he and Wesley walked next to the tall black man heading for the tux shop near Redeo Drive. "So, you're not taking Fred as your date?"
"No." Gunn said.
Wesley looked a little pleased. "So, who are you taking?"
"Gwen."
"Gwen!?" Angel and Wesley asked incredulously.
"Buffy's not going to like that." Angel said. "She and Gwen don't get along."
"Way I figure it, Buffy won't care because it's you two getting married." Gunn said.
"What do you mean?"
"She'll be in the wedding dress walking up the aisle to you."
"And....?"
"And Gwen won't be."
"Ah." Wesley said. "I see what you mean."
"Buffy still won't like it."
"Man, will you just chill and get in the shop?" Gunn asked, opening the door.
Angel walked in. "You know, I think Buffy's a little upset that Spike can't be here."
"Why on earth would she care?" Wesley asked. "She detested Spike."
"Not really. She was friends with him towards the end of it. You all didn't see it, but she cried because Spike had died."
"She cried?" Gunn asked.
"She said she was proud of him. Personally, I never thought he had it in him."
"Why didn't you wear the amulet?" Wesley asked.
"Buffy insisted we give it to Spike. She said he deserved to wear it. I think she had a feeling that it would kill the wearer and she sure as hell wasn't going to let me wear it if that turned out to be the case. Which it was."
Buffy came out of the dressing room with her second choice on. "I don't know, what do you think?"
"It makes your butt look big." Dawn said.
"Oh, geez. Thanks Dawnie."
"Well, you asked what we thought. That's what I thought."
"She's right Buffy. You look like Jennifer Lopez in that dress." Willow said with a smile.
Buffy smiled and rolled her eyes good naturedly and walked back into the dressing room. Ten minutes later she came out with a simple but elegant dress. It had a medium long train in the back and the whole thing was layered with chiffon. The top was strapless and didn't show off too much cleavage. Buffy had a huge smile on her face. "I think this is the one."
Willow smiled and gaped. "You look gorgeous Buffy."
"I love it." Buffy said, standing on the pedestal in front of the mirror and turning to look in different angles. "What do you think?" She asked Dawn and Fred.
"It's gorgeous." Fred said, playing with the train.
"At least you don't look like J-Lo." Dawn joked. "You look great Buffy. I can't wait to see dad's face when he sees it." Buffy's face fell again. "What?"
"I completely forgot about dad."
"Buffy! Who was going to give you away? Giles?"
"Why not?"
"It's Giles."
"Exactly. Giles has been closer to me than dad has."
"But Buffy, it's dad. He would want to give his oldest daughter away. Plus, I want to see him. He's been gone for a while and he's back in LA next week."
"All right. I'll talk to him."
"Thank you."
"Now I'm going to go let the lady take my mesuments and fix the dress so it fits perfectly. You guys search for your dresses."
"What do you think?" Angel asked, walking out of the dressing room. He had on a casual tux that almost looked like a suit. It fit him well. The vest and the tie where white silk, but it worked on him. The jacket buttoned up to mid chest and it went down to just above mid thigh.
"If I was a girl, I'd marry ya." Gunn said, checking out his tux in the mirror. "Smooth lines."
"On you or me?" Angel asked, stepping in Gunn's way playfully.
"Both." Wesley said. He walked behind the two in his laid back tux. He and Gunn matched, but Angel had to admit Gunn seemed more at home in a tux than Wesley did.
"Hey Wes, don't look so stiff." Gunn said, smoothing his tux jacket down.
"I'm not used to wearing a tux. I feel as if I should be extra careful especially for this occasion."
"You'd think you'd be used to it with all those suits you wore when we first met." Angel said with a smile.
The man that took measurements and sold the tuxes walked up. "Gentlemen, you look spectacluar." He looked at Wesley. "She must be a wonderful girl."
"Oh! No! I'm not.... He's the groom." Wesley said, pointing at Angel.
"Hi." Angel said.
"Oh! What a lucky woman to catch you. You look down right stunning in that tux." The man said.
"Thanks."
"I think we need to bring the hem of the pants up and bring that jacket in a little to show off your muscular torso."
"Um.... Ok."
"I can tell that this is a small wedding that you're in."
"You can?"
"Yes. This isn't a formal tux. So I'm guessing there's no more than 15 or 20 people." Angel nodded. "Well, step up onto this platform and we'll get started with bringing up the hem. I'll get to you boys next."
Buffy sat in the chair and waited for Willow to come out. Dawn and Fred hadn't decided on a dress yet and they were off looking. Buffy's dress hadn't needed to much done to it and the lady that fixed it had only needed to bring in the waist a little, so Buffy's dress was finished and laying in the chair next to her. Willow walked out in her fourth outfit. This one looked stunning on her. The last three dresses had been ok, but this one looked awesome!
"Willow! Oh my God! I love it!" Buffy said, standing up and walking over to her friend. The dress was a dark lavender color with large light lavender flowers everywhere and the fabric was light and flow-y. The back went down to the small of her back and cinched like it was tied. The top was a halter and the bottom had a minor train to it. The whole skirt spilled onto the floor slightly.
"I don't know. I like it, but it's risky. Plus it might take away from your big moment." Willow said, twirling slightly.
"Don't be silly. It looks great on you. We can leave your hair down so it covers up some of your back."
"You sure? This is your day Buffy."
"I'm positive Will. This dress is so totally you. Plus you can wear it later on to some big gala thing."
"Yeah, I go to a lot of those."
"Well, we'll throw one at Wolfram and Hart just to show it off then."
Willow smiled. "Buffy, you always know just what to say. Ok, I'll go get the lady to do whatever she needs to do with it." The red head walked off just as Dawn and Fred bounced up with matching dresses.
"We found the dress Buffy!" Dawn said.
"Well, go put them on and let me see." Buffy said, sitting back down.
Five minutes later they walked back out in light blue spaghetti strapped dresses. The bottom of the dresses stopped just above the knees and there was nothing that really stood out about the dresses. It worked though. This was a laid back, non-traditional wedding and the dresses fit the theme perfectly.
Dawn smiled. "Well....?"
"I like em. No.... No I love them." Buffy said.
"Really?" Fred asked.
"Of course."
"Now what?" Dawn asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Do we go get them hemmed or whatever?"
"If you want. I think they fit you both just fine."
"Ok." Fred and Dawn said, turning and walking back into the dressing room.
Just as Buffy was about to turn to go find Willow, glass shattered in the front of the store and a fairly large demon barged in. "SLAYER!" He yelled.
"I wish they'd learn my name first." Buffy muttered as she moved in front of her dress.
The demon saw her. "You Slayer?"
"Yeah. I Slayer."
With that the demon attacked. Buffy kicked it away from her and it hit the mirrors behind it, shattering them. It barely flinched as it got back up and launched itself at her again. Buffy dodged and scooped up her dress, pulling it tightly to her chest. The demon swiped its claws at her and Buffy twirled, taking the scratch in her back. She hissed as the wounds started to sting. Willow yelled her name, but Buffy ducked behind a rack of dresses, hiding from the demon.
"Buffy?" Willow asked, confused why the Slayer was hiding.
"Willow.... teleport it somewhere else!" Buffy yelled.
"Just get out here and kill it!"
"No!"
"Why not?"
"It'll ruin my dress."
"Buffy!"
"What!?" She popped her head up and the demon nearly took it off. The Slayer let out a yelp and ducked back down. The demon grabbed her ankles and pulled her off her feet. Buffy hit the floor hard, smacking her head on the wall. The demon dragged her out and raised its claws. Buffy kicked up and the demon flew away from her, back out the window. She walked over to the cashier that had rung her dress up and handed the dress to her. "Anything happens to this dress, I'll personally make your life a living hell." The cashier had looked terrified to begin with, now she was completely petrified.
Buffy dove out the window and into the sunshine, tackling the demon into the street where the oncoming cars waited.
Angel walked out of the dressing rooms in his street clothes. Gunn and Wesley were sitting on the chairs waiting for him. "You guys ready?"
"I wanna know when we get our tuxs back." Gunn said.
"Next week." Wesley said.
"Oh."
"Jealous I already have mine Gunn?" Angel asked.
"Nah." Gunn smiled again. "I can't wait to see what the Buffster picked out."
"I can't either." Angel said dreamily.
"Love struck till the end man." Angel stopped, a serious look covered his face. "Or not."
The doorbell chimed and three cloaked figures walked in. They lifted their heads and looked at Angel. The three were in vamp face. Angel realized what was going to happen as they threw back their cloaks. "Get out! Go!" He yelled just as the three vamps burst into flames. Gunn and Wesley were already in motion, heading out he back way with a couple of other customers. Angel stayed behind, looking for the tailor. The man was crouched in a corner, surrounded by flames. Angel sighed and jumped overm landing directly in front of the man. He held out his hand. "Come on."
The man grabbed his hand and Angel threw him over the flames then jumped over himself. As he ran out the door, he felt the heat on his back. Angel dropped and rolled on the ground, smothering the flames. Gunn and Wesley took their coats off and beat at Angel's back.
Gunn helped Angel to his feet. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah. I think I gotta get rid of this coat though." Angel took off his duster and looked at the burnt back. "Damn. I liked this coat too."
Wesley held up Angel's tux. "At least this didn't get scorched."
Angel snatched it from Wesley. "Thank God. Buffy would have had a heartattack if that had gotten scorched."
"Speaking of, the dress shop she was going to is only a few blocks away. Shall we see what's going on over there? There's really nothing we can do here." Wesley asked.
"Sure." Angel said, tossing his duster in a trash can.
The three rounded the corner just as Buffy flew out the window, tackling a demon into a street. There was a luxury car headed straight for her. The brakes squealed and Buffy jumped, running up the windsheild and over the roof, sommersaulting off the back and landing in a roll while the demon was thrown into the other lane of traffice where a semi bulldozed the thing. Traffic stopped and everyone got out to see what had happened. Buffy stood painfully to her feet and dusted herself off. She winced a little as she checked her face for any cuts or bruises. Angel could see a scratch on her left cheekbone. It was starting to bruise and a thing line of blood trickled down her cheek.
"Damn it!" Buffy stomped her foot. "This better be healed by the time the wedding gets here." She was obviously talking to someone inside the store.
Willow walked out followed by Fred and Dawn. "Well, if it's not.... I can do a glamour for you. It'll look like there's nothing there."
"Are you ok?" Fred asked.
"Yeah." A look of panic crossed Buffy's face as she looked in the store.
Angel ran up. "Buffy!"
"Oh my God." She ran back into the store. A minute later she came back out carrying four dress bags. After peeking into the largest one, she sighed and leaned against the wall. "Thank God he didn't get the dress."
"What about ours?" Dawn asked, trying to check the bags in Buffy's hands.
Buffy looked up at Angel's worried face. "Hey sweetheart. Where'd you come from?"
"The former tux shop." Angel said.
"Former?" Angel pointed at the sky where thick black smoke curled up into the sky. "What'd you do!?"
"It wasn't me!"
"Three vamps strolled on in and caught on fire. It sent the whole place up." Gunn said.
"Are you guys ok?" Buffy asked, looking at Angel and handing the bags over to Willow as she stepped closer to her husband.
"I'm fine." Angel said. "My coat got fried though."
"At least you're ok."
"What about you? That cut looks pretty nasty."
"It'll heal." Buffy's lips met Angel's and they kissed passionately. The other five people groaned and headed towards Wesley's jeep. Buffy pulled away and realized that everyone had left them. She shrugged and put her arm through Angel's as they headed towards the convertible. "So, did you find your tux?"
"Yes I did." Angel said, wrapping his arm around Buffy's waist and pulling her closer. They looked like your average couple walking along on a beautiful day in Southern California. "Did you find your dress?"
"Mmhmm. You're gonna love it."
"I'm gonna love taking it off of you." He kissed the top of her head.
"Once a guy, always horny."
"Speaking of...."
"What? Right here?"
"If you want." Angel said, playfully pushing Buffy against a wall.
"No, no, no, no. I think we need to discuss what happened to us today. It's no coincidence we were both attacked at the same time."
"I'd rather not Buffy."
"Angel, this could be some bad sign! I don't believe in coincidence and you know it. This happened for a reason. But why on this day when we're picking out our outfits? Maybe someone doesn't want us to get married."
"We're already married."
"Yeah, but.... There's not many people who know we are. Or many non-people for that matter. We're just now making it more public."
"Buffy...."
"I would feel better if we played it safe, ok? I don't want anything to go wrong with our big day."
"All right. We'll play it safe and see why we were attacked today of all days."
"Thank you."
Angel opened the door for her and then walked over to the driver's side, gunning the engine and roaring off towards the Hyperion.
