"I can't believe we've let it get this far." Grumbled Buffy to Spike who was currently patiently lacing her into the gorgeous rose-pink silk evening dress she was wearing for their engagement party.

She fidgeted, re-arranged her limited amount of cosmetics in their little bag, plucked at the sweatpants she still wore beneath the dress, wriggled her toes encased in her very un-glamorous bunny slippers, fiddled with her earrings, added more powder to her nose and moodily poked curling tongs into her hair to tweak at her loosely waved, already perfect style, before Spike gently slapped her hand and forced her to sit still.

"I feel sooo bad," she moaned, "Your parents are lovely and your mom is so excited by the fact her big son is getting married that I can't see how we're going to end this without everyone being miserable and hating us later."

Spike grimaced, "I know pet, but we're here now and the show must go on. They'd be more upset if we called it off before the party even got started."

"How are we going to end this?"

"Suicide pact?" kidded Spike tastelessly, "Seriously love all we can do is pray something more exciting happens to take the heat off us, like say my brother getting engaged or Aliens taking over the White House."

"Angel? From what little I've heard of him I don't think we can count on him to save our butts. Doesn't he hate women? Little green men it will have to be!"

Spike grimaced, "He doesn't hate women exactly, he just doesn't seem to realise that they're on the planet too. He's so obsessed with being a multi- millionaire before he turns thirty that it probably doesn't actually occur to him to date. Actually, you and him would probably get along okay, both of you are driven and career focussed - I mean you've worked seriously long hard hours to build up your martial arts center and make it as successful as it is, he'd respect that."

Buffy smiled with pleasure, the martial arts center she owned and ran was her pride and joy. Then she shook herself, "Off topic Spike! Skin saving remember?!"

"Emigrate to Greece, work as humble olive pickers and live in a shack?"

"Euureghh!"

*******************

Angel collected his last suitcase from the carousel and swung it effortlessly onto his baggage trolley. He moved forward at a leisurely pace towards the exit. So, his brother was getting married. Well it gave him a real excuse to come home for a while and catch up with the family. Although his brother was never girlfriendless his relationships rarely lasted beyond the first trip to bed, if they even got that far. He had been worried that the spoiled and overly vain sounding Cordelia he had heard about was going to be the one; but instead his mom was practically in ecstasies over someone called Buffy.

He hoped his fickle brother was finally settling down. Maybe if he could find someone suitable he'd do the same, after all he did want children someday, preferably lots of them. He'd been realising lately just how lonely his life was. Sure he had a few friends he kept in touch with, meeting up sometimes for a drink or meal, but most were heavily involved with a woman and had little time to spare. He divided his time between the office and the gym; where he studied Tai Chi and kickboxing. His work, he admitted, no longer gave him the thrill and satisfaction it had once and he was already wondering what to do with the rest of his life - besides the hoped for marriage and kids.

When he'd started his own company he'd been a shy, geeky, spotty beanpole of an eighteen-year-old with everything to prove - and holding absolutely no interest for women, then he'd gotten impressively rich very fast and suddenly they were all interested despite the fact his personality and looks had hardly changed at all. From then on he'd been deeply suspicious of women. Even now, as a reasonably self-assured man whose mirror told him women would be attracted to him for reasons besides his fortune he was still a hard-boiled cynic.

Although he had been tempted on a few occasions to take what some girls offered in exchange for a few glittering jewels and nights in the best restaurants he had always restrained himself. His upbringing had firmly instilled the idea that sex without love or at least respect and commitment was on the empty side of things and was somehow wrong. Spike didn't seem to take much notice of that idea, but then he and his brother had never been much alike.

*******************

Buffy smiled sweetly at yet another aged relative and chatted to her politely for a while, then as the lady finally moved away she looked around frantically for Spike, where on earth had he disappeared to now?! "Where is he Will?" She muttered to her best friend who stood next to her looking very pretty in a silvery velvet gown.

Willow shrugged helplessly and clutched Oz's hand more firmly as if he would disappear as Spike appeared to have done.

Spike was in fact busy getting to know another of Buffy's friends, a friend he had somehow managed to not meet before. Faith, he decided, was absolute heaven on legs and Faith was thinking pretty much the same about him, until she caught sight of Buffy looking frantically about for her runaway fiancée.

She chuckled, "Spike. I think B needs a bit of help over there."

Together they wandered over to where Buffy stood.

Then they all heard a faint commotion from inside the house, Spike's mom was practically squealing with joy.

Spike cocked his head "Hello, that must be the return of the prodigal son."

"Prodigal?" questioned Faith and Willow who didn't know the story.

"Yeah, my brother Angel who charged off to the Big Apple almost seven years ago and has hardly ever been home since and not at all in the last three years, is finally home to see the folks." He grinned cheekily and leaned forward to whisper in Buffy's ear, "Hey the scam was worth it just for this, maybe we could say we're not engaged, we just wanted to dupe Angel into coming home."

Buffy looked at him strangely.

"Yeah, maybe not," he admitted, although his eyes lingered hungrily on Faith.

*******************

"Now you must come and see William and meet Buffy, such a dear sweet girl, really a steadying influence for Will." His mom chirped happily as she settled his baggage in his old bedroom, he looked at her closely. Surely the lines on her face were deeper than he remembered and was that a few new gray hairs at the temple? His stomach twisted, he'd been away longer than he'd realised.

"Sure mom, I'm looking forward to meeting her and seeing Spike again."

His mom beamed and stretched up a hopeful hand in an attempt to neaten his unruly hair that always stuck up in wild tufts no matter what he did to it. He smirked, "Give it up mom, my hair is never gonna behave, short of a thorough application of krazy glue that is and maybe not even then."

She shook her head happily and took his arm so they could walk outside together. They wove their way through old friends and family members before finally arriving beside his brother at a makeshift bar where he was busily pouring drinks. The brothers slapped each other on the back and exchanged a few comments before Angel was dragged onwards again by their mom, to meet the wonderful Buffy.

"Be with you in a few," Spike called as they moved away, he pointed helpfully, "The ladies are that-a-way."

Then his mom ground to a sudden halt beside three girls tucked away under a low parasol giggling together. A sweet redhead in modestly draped silver velvet was closest, clutching a man by the hand - not her then.

Then a bold, exotic brunette in a tight, red lace dress swayed to her feet and hugged his mom affectionately. Angel resisted the temptation to roll his eyes. His little bro was so predictable; he went for the admittedly pretty but in-your-face brunette every single time.

His mom smiled fondly and hugged the girl in return, "My, looking at you in that dress makes me wish I was twenty years younger and could still get away with it!"

The girl turned her gaze on him and her eyes glowed with unmistakeable lust for a brief instant, "Who might this be?" she cooed, batting her eyelashes.

Angel smothered his dislike that she could be engaged to his brother and flirt so prettily with him but managed to smile charmingly as he extended his hand "I'm Angel. Pleased to meet you."

The girl grinned at him and turned to the third girl he had ignored until then and said cheekily "Buffy? Are you sure you're marrying the right brother?!"

He worked hard not to let his mouth drop open in sheer surprise as a beautiful, dainty woman dressed in exquisite pink silk stepped forwards and gave him the sweetest, most innocent smile he had ever seen. In that moment Angel became horribly aware that he envied his brother, and more than anything in the world he wanted to snatch up the tiny blonde and keep her all for himself.

Buffy's heart was pounding hard enough that she was surprised it didn't just leap clean out of her chest and boing off somewhere as she extended her hand to take Angel's, electricity shocked her hand as they made contact and from the startled look in the chocolatey depths of his eyes she wondered if he felt it too, though no-one else seemed to find anything amiss. She brushed a gentle kiss of greeting to his warm cheek and felt the faintest rasp of his stubble on her lips and shivered at the delicious tingle it gave her. Her hand trembled in his and when they released each other both were shaking inwardly.

So that was Buffy! His brother's taste had improved tenfold Angel observed, hell, thousandfold! He cringed; he was in a bad way, struck dumb by his own brother's bride to be!

So that was Angel! Jeeze Spike! Buffy thought, don't warn me that your brother belongs on a magazine centrefold! Just leave me unprepared so I let my tongue flop out and end up drowned in my own drool!

"Alright Sweetheart? Have a glass of punch."

Spike was back. Buffy accepted the glass and tried to shoot him a meaningful look but Spike had clearly had a little too much to drink and missed the subtle glare as he planted a sloppy kiss on her cheek. Gritting her teeth and resisting the impulse to wipe her face Buffy produced a brittle smile and looped her arms around him. It meant she could look away from the brain-frying, knee-jellifying goodness that was his brother and maybe get a reality check on her galloping hormones. Yeah, right.

Angel's mouth dried as Buffy turned away to embrace Spike, partly from pure envy because he wanted to be the one she held like that and partly because her initially simple and modest looking dress turned out to have virtually no back, instead there was a mass of thin silky ribbons woven back and forth on a crisscross pattern right down so far he swore he could almost see she wasn't wearing panties. He zoned out slightly as he imagined himself standing behind her in the shadowy privacy of her bedroom, slowly, teasingly unlacing those ribbons, one loop at a time, before gently sliding the silk of her dress down her slender curves and. He determinedly brought himself up short; it would be Spike who had that privilege, and what was wrong with him to be imagining his future sister-in-law like that? Deciding to at least attempt to ignore the effect she was having on him he dedicated himself to simply being pleasant and entertaining for the rest of the evening.