DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything to do with Buffy the Vampire Slayer - it all belongs to Joss Whedon.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: For those of you that don't know, this is a third entry in a series of stories. . .but before you click that 'back' button, please do give this a chance, I will explain all now, and then I hope you can enjoy my story. After all, Xander and Anya get married, and Buffy and Spike are finally together - woo! At the moment, it may seem centred around my first two stories, but by the next chapter the main plot will begin.

Previously, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Anya and Spike were brought back to life by some divine force (OK, so they were my two favourite characters, and they both got killed off, I wanted them in my fan-fics for my version of Season 8. There.).

Buffy, Willow, Xander, Dawn and Kennedy moved to San Francisco (by the way, those of you who hate Kennedy, I've totally re-written her character for my fics, and I have a plan in the works anyway. . .)

The two resurrected ones found the rest of the gang (with Angel's help).

Buffy told Spike she loved him, but she needed some time and space.

Anya was in love with Xander, and she wanted to confess her feelings, but as soon as he referred to them as friends, she backed out (little did she know, he felt the same way, but was too scared to tell her. . .)

***

The gang worked together for the first time in a while when Anya (mistakenly and in a drunken stupor) led a witch hunter to their home, and he stunned Willow, giving her only 24 hours to live.

This made them perform a spell, where they all delivered touching speeches about the witch (including some of their own true feelings for one another coming through. . .)

Tara's soul was brought back in Kennedy's body temporarily, so that Willow could be kissed by her true love (another part of the spell) but instead, the two souls combined, which was the real way to bring Willow back to normal.

Buffy and Spike finally gave in to their passions, kissing, and that led to something else. . .

Xander told Anya he didn't want to spend another moment apart from her, and he proposed. . .and decided they'd get married in Las Vegas right away!

DEDICATIONS: Again, to my closest friends in the world in Platoon 6, but also to my dear Les Mis obsessed friend Jo (who introduced me to this website) and also Jess, (Laura's twin sis) who I failed to mention before. I love you really, Jess. . .

Chapter 1

Buffy awoke at 9 o'clock out of habit, and like she did every morning turned around to get up. But instead of finding the edge of her bed, she found Spike lying there asleep.

And then all the events of the previous night came back to her.

Willow. . .the witch hunters. . .the spell. . .and her and Spike. As peculiar as it might've been, that among all the chaos had left the biggest impact on her. For the first time, they had kissed when they were both human. And it had been stronger than any other kiss she had experienced with anybody. And what followed the kiss. . .well, that's what led Spike to be lying there naked next to her right then. That had been an unbelievable connection for her.

Now she couldn't stop smiling, because she knew he'd stay here by her side, and she would receive more of the happiness she had received the night before.

Looking at Spike's sleeping body, she just wanted to lean down and kiss him passionately, but restrained herself because she was enjoying this quiet sleeping - and admittedly very fit - body too much.

But despite her mental tug-of-war, he stirred and woke up on his own, opening his eyes. The first thing he caught sight of was Buffy looking at him, and he smiled wider than ever. He sat up and said:

'Well, good morning pet.'

Her eyes twinkled as she replied 'Good morning', and before she could control herself had leant towards him and kissed him. He reciprocated, and it didn't lack any of the passion from the night before.

Buffy wasn't sure how long the kiss had lasted, but however long it was, it was too short. She needed more. . .it was as if she were addicted to him. He took her hand in his.

'Did you sleep well?' She glanced over at the clock.

'For the 4 hours that I did sleep, yeah. How about you?'

'My dreams were full of you,' he said sweetly. 'I slept perfectly.'

They were silent for a moment, just smiling at each other, and then-

'I'm gonna go take a shower,' she said reluctantly. It had taken a lot of willpower for her to say that, because she never wanted to leave that bed.

'Can I join you?' he asked slyly. She smiled and teased:

'My, my, someone's feisty this morning.' She was clinging to her bed sheet as she stood up, but when he got up, he left his on the bed, wrapping his arms around her. She jumped, surprised, dropping the sheet covering her, as they both stood naked in the middle of the room.

'Hey, that was intentional!' she complained with fake annoyance.

'Of course it was, would you believe me if I said it was accidental?'

She laughed. 'Come on,' she grabbed his hand and they ran into the bathroom, locking the door behind them.

**********

An hour and a half later, Kennedy and Willow woke up simultaneously and were both extremely tired.

'Ah man, I feel as if I've got the biggest hangover of my life!' Willow moaned.

'After-effects of the spell,' Kennedy explained. 'At least that's what I think, I'm no witch.'

'Hey,' Willow turned to Kennedy and began stroking her arm. 'Are you OK after all that stuff yesterday? I mean, we didn't really get the chance to talk much, except for the brief explanation of the spell you guys did.'

Kennedy smiled weakly. 'Y'know, I have to be honest with you. When I overheard the conversation the rest of the gang were having, I thought that if you managed to be saved, we couldn't get through it. I thought Tara would forever occupy your heart, and there was not space for me there.'

Willow looked anxious. 'Oh, G-d, no Kennedy, don't think-

'No, it's OK!' Kennedy assured. 'Of course there'd always be a place for Tara in your heart. But the spell made me realise that now, you really do care about me too.'

Willow sat up and looked serious, but her face was calm. 'Of course! I lost Tara; I couldn't stand to lose you too! You give me strength Kennedy; I couldn't go on without you.'

Willow leant over and kissed her girlfriend, and followed it up with a hug.

'Let's go downstairs and see if everyone else is up,' said Kennedy as she broke away from the hug.

**********

For some reason, as soon as Buffy and Spike left the shower, they had the inspiration to cook a massive breakfast for everyone. So when Willow and Kennedy finally came down the stairs, awaiting them was a table full of 3 kinds of eggs, waffles, pancakes and toast, accompanied with jars of peanut butter, assorted jelly flavours, butter and maple syrup.

'Oh my G-d!' Willow exclaimed. 'What is this?'

Buffy and Spike turned around from the stove where they were making the last set of pancakes. 'Just a little celebratory breakfast,' Buffy said.

'Aw, that's so nice!' Willow exclaimed again. 'I really wanna get into this, but I think we should wait for Dawnie and Anya to get up. Hey, Xander should join us!'

'We called his place, but no one answered,' Buffy explained.

'I would've thought he'd spend the night here,' Kennedy thought aloud.

'We don't know,' Spike began to explain. 'You guys were the first to up, Buffy and I went after that - I don't know what happened to Xander, Anya or Nibblet afterward.'

They shrugged in response just as Dawn came down the stairs in her pyjamas. 'Morning guys!' she said brightly. 'Wow! Amazing breakfast!' She rushed the last few steps in anticipation to reach the food.

'Dawn. . .' Buffy said warningly.

'What?!' she said in annoyance.

'Anyone ever taught you that you should wait 'til everyone's present before eating?'

Dawn looked around and shrugged. 'We're all here.'

'Dawn, what about Xander and Anya?' Willow pointed out. Dawn looked confused.

'Didn't you guys see their note?'

Buffy made a quizzical face. 'What note?'

Dawn walked over to the fridge and removed a note pinned to it with a magnet. She waved it in the air showing everybody and then read from it slowly:

'Dear all, we'll be back soon. Don't worry, no demons have kidnapped us. Xander and Anya.' Dawn pinned the note back on the fridge, and Buffy walked over to see it for herself. She asked in a concerned voice:

'Dawn, when did you see this note?'

Dawn screwed up her face to remember. 'Last night. . .all of you had gone to bed. I went to brush my teeth again before going to sleep. After that, I came to get a drink of water and saw this note.'

Everyone was silent for a beat.

'So,' Kennedy began, 'they left - just like that?'

'They must've made a quick decision about something,' Spike said.

'But is that really like either of them?' said Buffy. 'To take off like that?'

'Of course it is!' said Willow. 'Remember Xander after graduation? And Anya in general?'

'I guess. . .but still, where could they have gone to at that hour in the morning?' There was another beat. 'Where are they?!'

Nobody knew.

**********

Xander and Anya stood in the waiting room of the 'Lucky in Lurve' Las Vegas wedding chapel. They had caught a flight straight away to Las Vegas, and arrived there with no luggage. They had bought a return ticket to San Francisco for that late afternoon, so they knew they had to finish quickly.

Anya was extremely nervous, sitting in silence, while Xander was pacing up and down.

'I'm getting married. . .' he was saying in different voices and word pronunciations, as if trying to figure out which one sounded best. He kept repeating that phrase until-

'Xander!' Anya shouted. He jumped up and screamed.

'Sorry,' he apologised. 'It's just. . .my G-d Anya, we're getting married!'

'Well, it's not like it the first time. . .' she said slightly bitterly, as she thought back to the day Xander had left her at the altar.

'Hey, hey. . .' he took her hands in his and looked at her deeply. 'I was an idiot, OK? I was scared, I didn't wanna end up like my parents, fighting and being drunk all the time, but. . .when you died, I realised the chance I'd lost with you. I couldn't forgive myself for that!'

Anya was confused. 'Then why, when I came back, did you say you were happy your "best buddy" was back?'

He turned his head away, embarrassed, and he spoke to her looking at the floor. 'I was lying. I loved you. I never stopped loving you. Remember right after our wedding day, all I wanted was to start dating you again! And when we had the "I'm over you" sex, I was just hoping we could be together again. Seeing that you felt the same way about me last night. . .I thought: "I've lost her once, I won't lose her again." That's when I knew - we should get married.'

She smiled genuinely, and they both leaned in and lightly kissed each other.

'Harris and Jenkins?' a voice of a fat black woman in a purple sequined dress called out from the front desk. They got up hurriedly.

'They're ready for you. Just some details for the marriage certificate. . .' she turned to Xander. 'Your full name sir?'

'Alexander Harris,' he said. Anya coughed obviously.

'I mean, Alexander LAVELLE Harris,' he said, over-pronouncing his middle name. The woman gave him a worried look.

'And you ma'am?'

'Anya Jenkins. Oh, and, by the way, he's taking my name.' The woman turned to Xander incredibly surprised.

'Is this true?'

Xander reluctantly nodded. 'We made an agreement on the plane. . .'

'It's OK - you don't need to explain. . .' the she whispered to Anya: 'You've wound him around your finger, girl.' Anya nodded, agreeing.

'Birth dates please. . .' the woman continued, glancing down at a sheet of paper.

Xander said: 'March 11th, 1981.'

'And you ma'am?'

Anya wasn't sure what to say. She had a birthday. . .she just couldn't remember what it was, considering it was over a thousand years ago. She looked at Xander for help. He whispered to her:

'Tell her the date you came back to life.' She smiled, and said proudly:

'May 4th, 2003.'

Xander slapped his forehead and the woman looked strangely at her. 'You were born a month and a half ago?' she said sarcastically. Xander quickly interrupted.

'She meant 1981! Same year as me. . .' he tried to smooth it over, however the woman wasn't too convinced.

She turned around, grabbed a bouquet of flowers and handed them to Anya. 'There you go. What do you wish the Elvis minister to sing when you walk down the aisle?'

Xander was about to say 'Love Me Tender,' but Anya, as always, spoke first, 'Ooh! That song - "I am the walrus"!'

'Sweetie. . .' Xander said slowly. 'That's a Beatles record.'

'Oh. . .' Anya stopped to think for a moment. 'I know! "Blue Suede Shoes"!'

The woman began writing it down, but Xander stopped her.

'Wait! Honey, come on, what about something romantic, like "Love Me Tender" or "You Were Always On My Mind". Wouldn't they be more appropriate?'

She seemed annoyed. 'No, that's boring! Let's have "Blue Suede Shoes", it's probably hardly ever chosen!'

'Actually, that's our No. 1 choice,' said the woman. 'Well, followed closely by "Hound-dog" and "Jailhouse Rock".'

Xander laughed lightly. He really did love Anya's kookiness.

'One more thing,' the woman added reaching underneath the counter. 'You need to select your wedding rings,' she said, as she displayed a set of wacky and normal looking rings.

'Ooh!' exclaimed Anya. 'Let's get the kinky adult ones!'

Xander took a deep breath. 'Ahn, sweetie, I love you, but I draw the line at "Blue Suede Shoes" as our wedding song.'

'Well fine,' she said in a childish voice, turning her back on him. 'What do you want?'

He silently whispered to the woman, and she nodded, removing two rings from the case and putting them in a box.

'Which ones did you get?' Anya asked bitterly.

Xander opened the box he had been given and revealed 2 beautiful golden bands, and Anya's had a real diamond in it.

'I was thinking we could go to the Jewelers' after and get them engraved,' Xander suggested.

As tears welled up in Anya's eyes, she kissed Xander spontaneously. 'They're gorgeous! And you're getting them even though you won't be able to afford them on your pay. . .'

Xander sighed. 'You have to bring that up any time you can, don't you sweetie?' She smiled, pleased with herself.

'Alright,' he said. 'Let's get married.' He took her hand, and they walked to the chapel, where the introductory chords of "Blue Suede Shoes" had already begun to play.

********** AUTHOR'S NOTE: I hope you all like it so far. . .if you're reading this and you like it, and you haven't read my first two stories, please check them out. They're called RESURRECTED and STUNNING LOVE. And don't forget to review, I love it when people do. Nat xxx