Chapter 3

"I'm telling you Blondie, the guy may be a demon, but he's the best at what he does." Lorne said.

"Ok, are we talking about Angel or the caterer?" Buffy asked, folding her and Angel's laundry in their room.

"The caterer, but I can see where you get the Angel thing."

"Lorne, I might already have a guy picked out."

"He was blown up and working for Nimchicks."

"That was the baker."

"Well, this guy will do your wedding cake too. You do still need one?"

"No, my dad is having the cake made by a friend of his. He's also talking to some of his sources to score me a cheap caterer."

"But yesterday you said you're still looking."

"That was yesterday."

"Lorne, I'm too tired to put up with this. I've only been out of the hospital a week and already you guys are bugging me about every little thing. I don't even know if I should have a caterer. Everything else has gone wrong...."

"You're not calling off the wedding are you?"

"No! Not right now anyways."

"What do you mean?"

"Everytime Angel and I try to do something that involves our wedding plans, something bad happens."

"There's only been two incidents. Three if you make the attacks on the clothing places seperate."

"Two or three's enough. I'm still smarting from learning how Jiffy Pop feels...." Buffy paused. "You know, I have a new respect for popcorn."

"All I'm saying is give this guy a shot. He's catered a lot of people and non-people and they've all love him. At least talk to him because I made an appointment for you and Angel tomorrow at four."

"Lorne!"

"I couldn't help it. He was so excited when he heard that you two were holding a real wedding." Buffy gave the anagogic demon a suspicious look. Lorne shrugged. "You're famous. Especially since the Sunnydale thing."

Buffy sighed. "Fine we'll talk to him. I can't gurantee that we'll go with him."

"Once you try his food, you'll be begging for him to cater your reception."

"Not much of a reception."

"Well, how many weddings do you know have happened in someone's home and it's a hotel?" Buffy smiled. "So, we are having the reception in the ballroom aren't we?"

"Yes. The cleaning crew came in yesterday and fixed the place up. Willow and Fred have been working with the lights in that wing to try and get them up and running."

The lights flickered and there was a loud pop downstairs then the lights went off. Buffy and Lorne looked at each other and then ran out the door. They met Angel, who was just coming back from some excursion with Gunn, and the four of them ran to the basement. Willow and Fred sat on the floor next to the fuse box laughing. Their hair was almost sticking straight up.

"What happened?" Buffy asked.

"Fred touched the wrong cords." Willow said through her laughter.

"Look at your hair!" Fred said, laughing so hard she was crying. Her comment only made Willow laugh harder.

"Are you two ok?" Angel asked.

"We're fine!" Willow said, still laughing. "Go on with your businesses."

Buffy chuckled and walked back up the stairs and to her room. Angel followed her and shut the door behind them. Buffy turned and looked at him. "Ew, you're all gooey. You're not sleeping in this bed until your clean."

"Take a shower with me." Angel said.

"Again?"

"You liked the first one."

"You massaged all the achy parts and kissed the cuts and bruises till they were all better." Buffy moved closer and started to unbutton Angel's shirt.

"Are you still hurting?" Angel started to gently untie with the strings tied in the back of her backless shirt. She couldn't wear much because the burns were still tender on her back. Angel took extreme care when he was near her burns.

"A little." Buffy slid the shirt off of Angel and it dropped to the floor. They were in complete darkness and an idea formed in her head. "Angel?"

"Hmm?"

"Stay here and close your eyes."

"You're not going to go get a sword and send me to hell are you?" Angel checked the space behind him.

"Of course not! Just trust me and close your eyes." Angel sighed and closed his eyes, waiting. Buffy ran around the room collecting all the candles and placed them all over the bathroom. Then she found the barbeque lighter and went around lighting the candles. "Buffy?"

"Hold on, one more minute." She filled the tub with not-to-hot water and added bubbles. Then, Buffy removed her clothes and wrapped herself in a fresh, soft towel and walked in front of Angel. "Ok, open your eyes."

When he did, his eyes widened. "Wow." Buffy took his hands and led him into the bathroom. "Candles? What's the occasion?"

"We're celebrating."

"What are we celebrating?"

"Us. Making it through the Sunnydale ordeal."

"We've already celebrated that with our friends. Remember the champagne we had in the lobby and the music and the cake Gunn had made that had a big hole in it that said 'Congrats' on it?"

"Oh, I remember. But I wanted to do something with just us. We never got the chance to. So, now here we are."

"With bubbles and everything."

"Hurry up and get undressed. I wanna get in. It's a little cold without the heat in the bathroom."

The next day, Buffy and Angel were sampling food from the caterer, Surano, Lorne had suggested. Lorne was there with them and savoring the exquisite little fruit tarts. As soon as Buffy had tried the shrimp, her mind was made up. This was the caterer for the reception. He was even going to do their wedding cake for free since he had heard about the attack on Buffy and Angel at the bakery. He said it was an affront to all demons that they should treat champions such as Buffy and Angel so poorly.

"You don't have to butter us up Surano. You've already hooked us with this shrimp." Buffy said, taking another sample. "You think we could get a lot more of this to last us till the wedding? We have that pre-wedding dinner thing in a week and a half."

"Sure. I can have it delievered in two days." Surano said.

"We'll let Lorne deal with how much of everything. He's done the big party thing before." Angel said.

"Thanks boss." Lorne said through a mouthfull of shrimp.

"Anytime." Angel stood and shook Surano's hand. "We have to go now, but thanks for the free cake. Buffy and I really appreciate it."

"We really do." Buffy said, standing up.

"I'll be by tomorrow with the food orders." Lorne said. He, Buffy, and Angel walked out and got in the GTX. "So, I don't want to say I told you so, but.... I told you so."

"You're right. Thank you Lorne." Buffy said, kissing the demon's cheek. "You're a great friend and Surano's a great friend of yours for helping us out."

Buffy sat outside the hotel with Angel, Wesley, Lorne, Fred, Dawn, and Willow. "I take it back Lorne." She said. "What kind of friend would sell his friends evil shrimp?" The hotel was teeming with shrimp. Or rather, the demonic version. That morning, everyone had woken up to loud, squeaking noises and Wesley calling for them to come downstairs. When they had descended into the lobby, they had found the "shrimp" everywhere. Wesley said they were still breeding. He had started to study them closer, which was when the "shrimp" had attacked, driving them out of the hotel.

"Why would Surano do this?" Lorne asked in disbelief. "I thought he was trustworthy."

"Not everyone is what they seem." Fred said.

"Great, we're all out here in our bedclothes...." Dawn said and then glanced at Buffy and Angel. "Or lack there of and we can't go back into our hotel. Why does this always happen? Just when you think you have a secure place to live...."

Buffy covered herself up Angel's shirt and huddled closer to him. "It's too early for this. And I'm cold."

Lorne offered her his robe and she accepted. "Well, I'm going to make this up. I'll just call this friend of a friend who works with demonic extermination and get this cleared up."

"Lorne, your friend is the one that sold us the evil.... shrimp." Angel said.

"I know, but I'm pretty sure this guy is reliable. A lot more reliable than Surano."

"You better hope he is." Buffy said, taking Wesley's cell phone.

"Who're you calling?" Willow asked.

"Wolfram and Hart. I'm calling for our limo." Buffy moved away a few paces and talked for a couple of minutes then came back, shutting the phone and handing it back to Wes. "You guys find a way in there. Will, if you have to, use magick. Angel and I are going to go to Wolfram and Hart and get some clothes and maybe find out another way to kill these things."

"But the exterminator...." Lorne started.

"May turn out to be like Surano." Angel said. "It seems like every demon in town except you is out to stop our wedding. We can't take any chances."

"You're really going to use Wolfram and Hart though?" Willow asked. "I thought you didn't trust them even though you own them."

"We don't."

"We're just using them for clothes." Buffy said. "We ask, they provide."

A few hours later, Buffy her and Angel's desk looking through papers they had summoned from the demon experts. Angel was searching the internet. There was nothing on evil shrimp. Buffy was dressed in a pair of Gucci jeans that fit her perfectly, a pair of boots with chunky heels, and a black top that had loose sleeves and bared her shoulders. Angel was wearing Gucci jeans that matched hers, a pair of combat-like boots, and a black Italian silk top. They matched and looked like an extremely stylish, rich couple that owned a law firm.

"Oh! Here's something." Buffy said. She picked up one of the papers. "It's a spell that can make any small animal become hostile and breed like crazy to take over a place."

"Is that what it says?" Angel asked, looking away from the computer and taking the paper Buffy offered him.

"Basically. I put it in my own words, but you get the gist."

"Is there a reversal spell?"

"I didn't see one." She looked down and glanced at the paper on top of the pile. "Oh, wait. This one says the only way to reverse a spell like that is to destroy the original animal the spell was cast on or we can crush the crystal used in the spell and make the spell caster eat it." Buffy put the paper back down. "Well, I can definitely say that I'm probably never going to eat shrimp again for as long as I live."

"I say we pay a little visit to Surano."

"I say we can go round up a couple of my new play toys. We might need it with our luck." Buffy stood. "Come on, let's go into my other office."

They walked down the hallway and through the doors that held all the weapons. There was a small room off to the side that held Buffy's favorite weapons. Lilah had left in a note in the room saying that W&H had studied Buffy for quite some time and discovered all of her weapons of choice. Now they were all gleaming and sitting in this little room ready for battle. There was a whole drawer full of stakes that were made of wood that wasn't easily broken. Buffy took two and then went over to the daggers. Each came with their own holster. She strapped on to her right ankle and then strapped another to her wrist. Before she walked out, she made sure the holster strap was covered. Angel had chosen a couple of daggers for himself and one stake. He had also picked up a broadsword.

"Honey, you're not a subtle man." Buffy said as they took their private elevator down to their private garage. "So, my vote's on that little red sports car right there. It's fast and pretty."

"Maybe we should just stick with the GTX. It's fast and pretty."

"And bulky. Plus we're stylish people now. Look at the clothes."

"Probably evil clothes.... And evil cars. Everything's turning out to be evil nowadays."

"Fine, we'll take your trusty convertible. Next time I get to choose the cars."

"Since you chose the clothes." Angel hopped over the door and into the driver's seat while Buffy kept it simple and opened the door, slid in, and shut it. "Ready?"

"Aren't I always?"

Angel started the car. "In what sense of ready are we talking about?"

"Oh, I think you know." She smiled at her husband as he peeled out of the garage.

Thirty minutes later they had Surano pinned against a wall. "I don't know what you mean! I didn't put a hex on your shrimp."

"Sure, and I'm the heiress to the British throne." Buffy said. Surano stared at her, bewildered. "Sarcasm. Look it up."

"Please. I only gave you what you ordered. Don't kill me!"

"We didn't order evil spawning shrimp that take over hotels." Angel said, tightening his grip on the demon's collar.

"Please! I didn't...." Surano couldn't talk anymore because Angel's grip was cutting off his air supply and blocking his vocal chords.

Buffy put her hand on Angel's shoulder. "Um, sweetheart? We're not going to get anything out of him if he's a little dead."

Angel lightened his grip a little. "Ok, so.... If you didn't cast a spell on the shrimp, then who did? Who else has access to your shop?"

"My brother Clide." Surano said.

"You have a brother named Clide?" Buffy asked. Surano nodded. "And I thought my family was weird...." The Slayer sighed. "Surano, what kind of demon are you?"

"Yugwort."

"You look more human than a Yugwort. Even though don't smell human." Angel said.

"That's because he's in camaflouge." Buffy said.

"Huh?"

"Nugworts can convert themselves to look like humans."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I've killed a Yugwort before here in LA. It was the clan's leader. Merrick told me all about them. The only way you can tell their Yugworts when they're in this form is to look at their eyes. They're completely yellow."

"Oh. I shoulda known that."

"Surano, I'm only going to ask this once. Tell me the truth or else you loose your life now." Surano shook his head. Buffy put on her sweetest smile and asked, "Where's your brother now?"

"H-h-he's at work."

"And where does he work?"

"At this demon exterminating place."

Buffy and Angel looked at each other and Angel asked, "What's it called?"

"Clide's De-Mand Extermination. Get it, de-mand? Demon?"

"Yeah, we got it." Buffy said. Angel let Surano go.

"Are you still going to use me to cater your reception?"

Neither Buffy or Angel answered him. They walked back out to their car and Buffy pulled out her cell phone. "Lorne? Who's this friend of yours and where does he work? Keep him there, Angel and I'll be there in a few." She hung up. "It's Clide all right."

"Why would he be after us?" Angel asked, making a hard right.

"Why else? I killed his leader eight years ago and he's still holding onto that grudge like an old hippie holds onto tie-dye and LSD."

"Ok, that was eight years ago. Why get you now?"

"Why not? It's supposed to be the happiest day of my life, but the demons in LA don't seem to want a wedding to even happen."

"It's going to happen. You wanted this and so did I. I think we deserve a little bit of a nice event."

"So do I, but at the rate we're going, there's not going to be a wedding."

"Don't say that."

"I don't want to, but I'm looking at what could go wrong. Hell, we might end up dead before we can say 'I do' again." Angel pulled up to the Hyperion where an exterminator truck was parked. "I mean, You've been nearly deep broiled and I've been blown up and beaten up, and we've been run out of our home in the last few weeks. Next thing you know one of our friends will turn up evil or dead." Buffy followed Angel up the fire escape and they slipped into the hotel on the fourth floor. "Tell me again why we're going into the hotel."

"Because Clide has to be in the hotel to exterminate the shrimp.... That, or he's getting ready to blow the hotel up."

"What makes you think that?"

"Cause of the odd beeping I hear."

Buffy cocked her head and listened intently. Then she heard it: the faint beeping of a something that hadn't been in the hotel before. They took off at a sprint and made it to the balcony over looking the lobby. The shrimp were still there and so was a powerful-looking Yugwort demon who had to be Clide, but the shrimp formed a circle around Clide, allowing him to work on his time bomb thingie. The shrimp blocked the stairs and the only way down was to jump into the writhing pit of deadly shrimp.

An idea formed in Buffy's mind. She motioned for Angel to follow. They ran down to their room and Buffy shut the door silently. Angel watched her as she headed into the bathroom. "Buffy, what are you doing?"

The Slayer came back out with the barbeque lighter and a large bottle of hairspray. She held it up with a proud smile. "Insta-flamethrower."

"God I love you."

They walked back to the balcony. Buffy looked at Angel and whispered, "Get your sword ready." He nodded and she mouthed "1. 2. 3." On three, they jumped. Buffy turned on the lighter and held it in front of her. She pointed the hairspray at the shrimp and pushed the button. When the hairspray hit the little flame, it exploded outward with the spray. Buffy burned a circle around her and Angel as he sliced at the other shrimp stupid enough to attack. Clide noticed the goings on behind him and stopped what he was doing to turn and look at them.

"Hi Clide." Buffy said, stopping her flamethrower and smiling at the demon. The shrimp now formed a circle around Buffy and Angel, too afraid to get near them now. "Whatcha got there?"

"Stay back, I''m going to explode it now." Clide held up a detonator.

"You know, I don't appreciate being blown up twice in two weeks."

"Only I will survive the blast."

"What?" Angel asked.

The demon blinked. "You want me to get rid of these shrimp for ya, don't ya?"

"Yeah." Buffy said.

"Well, then get out."

"You're going to blow up our hotel. I don't think that means that we just leave and watch you blow up our home." Angel said.

"I'm not blowing up your hotel."

"Then what's with the explosives?"

"It's not explosives. It's a special bomb that gets rid of these pests. You're not the first ones to have evil shrimp take over your place ya know. It happened about a month ago to that fancy restaurant near Santa Monica."

"I'm confused." Buffy said. "So, lemme get this straight. You didn't make the shrimp evil and you're not going to blow up our hotel?"

"Gosh no! Why would I do that? You guys are my heros. Especially after that thing with Sunnydale! Woowee! That was some stuff huh? Oh! And now you've got Wolfram and Hart. I'd always hoped you guys would take that evil place over or bring it down or something. Hey, do you think that after I'm done here I could get you two to sign an autograph for me?" Buffy and Angel stared at the demon. "What's wrong?"

"You're brother." Angel said.

"Surano. Yeah, he's a little messed up in the head. Why?"

"He said you were the only other person to have access to his shop."

"I am."

"He blamed this on you." Buffy said.

"Say what?"

"Oh God! We let him go!"

"My brother?" Buffy nodded. "That little runt! After all I've done for him. I helped him set that place up after mama died."

"Clide, you finish up here. We'll pay you double the amount charged for this. We have to go kill your brother."

"Wait up. That piece of Rasha dung! I'm going to kill him myself. You all just wait outside and I'll join you in a minute."

Buffy nodded and she and Angel walked out the door. Lorne was standing in the garden reading magazine. "Buffy! Angel! Where'd you come from?"

"Come on Lorne, we're going to pay another visit to Surano." Angel said. They made it to the car just as a bright light flared out from the hotel. Clide came running out and hopped into his van. With Angel in the lead, they sped back towards Surano's place. Angel instructed Clide and Lorne to go around and block the back exit. He and Buffy covered the front. As the door's bell jingled, Surano came out and saw them.

"That was fast. Was Clide at work?"

"Yeah. He was just finishing up getting rid of that shrimp problem." Angel said, starting to corner Surano.

"Yeah? Was he the one that made the shrimp go all bunny like?"

"No." Buffy said.

"No? Then I don't know who could of."

"Oh, I think we know who." Angel said.

"Me? You think I did it?"

"Mmhmm." Buffy said. "An Surano, we're not people you want to piss off."

"That's too bad."

"Not for us. For us it's fun." Angel said, blocking Surano's escape.

"Ok, fine. You got me." Surano smiled evily. "But not for long." He turned and bolted for the back door, but Clide and Lorne blocked his way.

"Hey there lil bro." Clide said. He was about a head taller and twice as wide as Surano.

"Clide!" Surano started to back away, but Buffy and Angel stood right behind him.

"I hear you tried to have my friends Buffy and Angel here kill me. Is that right?"

"Y-y-you don't understand."

"I understand that I'm going to break mom's promise to you."

"You wouldn't! I'm your brother!"

"Family means nothing to me when scum like you is my brother."

"Why shouldn't he kill you Surano? You tried to have him killed." Buffy said.

"You people will never understand! He was always the favorite just because he was older. Mom and Dad both loved him more than me! He ran his own business that was successful because mom gave him money and I couldn't even get her approval for the shop."

"So, you think your parents will approve if you kill their oldest son? I know MY mom wouldn't."

"Well, you're mom was human and she died a stupid human death."

Clide punched Surano hard in the face. "Don't talk to her like that." Surano laid on the floor staring defiantly up at Clide. "You guys can go. I got this handled."

"You sure?" Angel asked.

"Oh yeah. I think I'll take him to our uncle Kirklen. He's the new head of our clan."

"Congrats to him." Buffy said. "But Clide, quick question. How come you're the only person in your family with a normal name?"

"Because I got to name myself. Yugworts can talk from the minute they're hatched. In my case, I could hear while I was in the shell. It's a rare thing." Clide picked Surano up by the back of the neck. "I heard the name Clide somewhere and it stood out."

"Oh. Well, Clide's a great name."

"Thank you."

"Oh, if you want.... you can come to the wedding. The more the merrier. It's on August 17 at five pm."

"I'll try and make it."

Buffy nodded and she, Angel, and Lorne headed out. Surano was screaming at Clide to let him go and please don't take him to their uncle. Buffy was thankful that she had such a great little sis. Speaking of, Dawn should be back from her and Faith's shopping spree. The Slayer decided to have a night in with her sister and husband that night. Much bonding was in order.