title: Marriage, Sunnydale-Style
author: Heather (heather@hella-good.org)
rating: R
spoilers: none...completely an au/fantasy fic except for things borrowed from the Buffyverse (seasons 1-7) that are twisted to fit in this universe.
disclaimer: If I actually owned anything, I probably wouldn't be doing this :)
summary: After almost 10 years of dating, Buffy and Spike finally find themselves in the midst of planning a wedding and remembering the long journey that got them there.

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

Chapter 23

Buffy smiled when she heard the shower curtain open and close. She opened her eyes, grabbed the shampoo and put some in her hands.

"Why are you up so early?" she asked as she worked the shampoo into Spike's hair.

"Heard you in here...couldn't resist."

"Should never have introduced water play because I can't remember the last time I got to relax in the shower by myself."

"I can leave," Spike offered as he picked up the bottle of soap. He placed a dollop on his hands. He began to wash her stomach, moving his hands to her breasts and back down over her hips.

"Oh, no you don't. You don't come in here and get me all soapy and then think you can just leave. You need to rinse." They moved around each other and Spike stuck his head under the water. When he was done, she said, "You know, if we ever buy a house, we're remodeling the bathroom. Tub and shower separate. Big jacuzzi tub and a big shower that has three or four heads and enough room so two people can shower properly at the same time."

"I think we do just fine like this," he commented as he past by her closely, his hand moving across her stomach as he went.

"I'm not complaining." Spike gave her a look that said otherwise. "Okay, a little but mostly because it's not all that comfy in here. We get a big stand-up only shower where there's room to do stuff in without worrying if we might slip and break our necks...it might be nicer. That's all I'm saying."

"We haven't broken our necks yet."

"True but there was that time we slipped and you ended up having to get fifteen stitches in your head. You weren't exactly conscious when the EMT's came to take you to the hospital. That was a real fun and not at all embarrassing experience for me."

"Nothing to be embarrassed about, luv. Plenty of people do what we're doing...or not doing as the case may be," he said, raising an eyebrow, hoping she'd take the hint.

"I think we have too much sex, don't you?"

"Uh, no."

"Well, I think we do. We're always all over each other. We're getting older...things are changing. We need to learn some self-control."

Spike was looking at her, dumbfounded. She was giving him no signs that she was joking and he could usually tell within a minute if she was merely playing him. Not this time, however. Either she was absolute in her opinion or she had become much better at holding a joke over him until the punch line. After nine years together, he found the latter to not be the case.

"Okay, pet. If you think that's what we need to do then I guess that's what we need to do..."

"Good, I'm glad we're in agreement." She leaned over and gave him a quick kiss. "Are you done?"

"You want to start this no sex thing right now?" Spike asked, highly disappointed.

"Yes, we need to learn that not every moment in life is about giving over to our carnal pleasures. There is more to it. There's definitely more to us than just that."

"Which we know so why not continue to keep on doing what we've always done? You know if ain't broke, don't go fucking it up by trying to fix it."

Buffy laughed and said, "I know that, baby. I was just thinking after last night's fight and make-up sex that we use sex for everything. I want to try and not do that. That's all. You understand, right?" She pouted a little, knowing that was the best way to manipulate him into seeing things her way. She knew this wasn't the nicest thing to do to him but she really wanted him to see her point.

"Don't do that pout-y look. You don't want sex, don't do that," Spike said, a bit annoyed. She smiled slightly and got out of the shower. He followed soon after and could hear her in the kitchen through the bathroom wall. He couldn't believe it. There was no possible way he could nor would be able to wrap his mind around this. He had no idea where it had come from, what had happened in his absence last night that made her rethink their sexual relationship. He had always considered it to be the icing on the cake to everything else that they had.

He wrapped the towel around his waist and headed to the bedroom. He went to his bedside table and pulled out the long, square box and placed it on top. He had a whole plan on how to give the gift to her and unfortunately for him, that plan had involved what she had just taken away. Spike didn't understand why she picked today of all days to deprive them of it. He tried to justify it by thinking she simply didn't remember, but that irked him because the girl was always supposed to remember this day. The men where the asses that didn't and yet here he was with his celebratory gift. The fact that he was completely whipped did not go by him.

He heard her laughing before he saw her run into the bedroom. She jumped on him, pushing him backwards and he briefly thanked that he was next to the bed still. She kissed his face all over, her hands working the small knot of the towel. She was breathing heavily, a combination of the laughing, running like a crazy lady down the hall and the anticipation of what came next. He grabbed a hold of her shoulders, lifting her a bit so he could look at her.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Kissing your neck," she answered, matter-of-factly. She tried to bend back down but he held her steady. "Can I get back to doing that now?"

Spike looked at her, his brow crinkling in confusion. "What about...?" he nodded his head toward the bathroom.

She smiled as she grabbed his hands, pulling them away from her body. It didn't take all that much strength as he didn't try hard to stop her. She went back to kissing his neck, loving the sounds he made, loving the feel of him growing harder beneath her. Buffy couldn't believe he had actually bought that. She thought for sure he knew when he had been giving her the look but she kept her best poker face and it had apparently worked. She had to bite the insides of her mouth to not laugh out loud at the sight of horror that passed over his face. After nine years of this, she couldn't believe he would actually think that there would be less of it. That she would give this up was just the most ludicrous thing and that she would give it up today of all days made her laugh like a hyena...which she had done as she ran down the hall.

"Something funny, ducks?"

"I can't believe that you actually thought I was serious."

"Oscar-worthy performance in there. Of course, I probably wasn't paying much attention to what was going on as you were naked, wet...very distracting."

"That was the plan, Stan," she joked, giving him a quick kiss that made a smacking sound when she broke away. She giggled at the noise and he went along with her. "No sex anymore...that's a good one, huh?" She shook her head as she continued to laugh softly.

"Gave me a bloody heart attack, you know."

"Yup, I know." She moved her hips in a circular motion, causing Spike's eyes to roll back. "Happy Anniversary, William."

"If that was my present, I want to exchange it," he told her with a smile.

"For what?"

He grabbed her waist, flipping her over onto the bed. She laughed loudly and he ripped the towel off her, throwing it across the room. She reached up and did the same to his. He leaned over and licked from her navel to neck, gently massaging her sides as he went. He sucked on her neck, biting it gently and put his hand on one of her breasts, moving it at such a slow rate that Buffy groaned in frustration.

"What?" Spike asked, looking at her.

She put her hand over his and squeezed his fingers a little, moving them around in a circular motion. "Are you trying to kill me with the barely touching and moving?"

"You deserve it after yanking my-"

"I haven't done that yet. Although it is on the agenda." He smiled and shook his head in surprise. "Do you think you're the only one allowed to interrupt with sexual innuendoes? No, siree."

"I feel like going slow. You know, mature sex for us old practically marrieds," he murmured in her ear.

"Okay, but in your slowness...could you go a bit faster?" Spike laughed with her and she added, "You do whatever you want, sweetie."

"I plan to," he told her, kissing her neck. "We're going to have to take another shower after this."

She winked at him and slyly said, "Also on the agenda."

--------------------------------

"Mmm...I love this part. Cuddling is so...cuddlesome," Buffy sighed happily. He kissed the top of her head and smiled. "So why were you up so early? You must be tired. You didn't get in until after three."

"Did I wake you?"

"Not really. Just that thing were you feel the shift in bed and open your eyes briefly. I just happened to notice the time. Busy night last night?"

"I'd rather pick out another wedding cake," Spike said with a laugh.

"Couldn't have been that bad."

"It had its moments."

"I'm getting the feeling that you don't want to talk about this. Did something happen?" Buffy asked, perching herself up on her elbow, resting her head against her hand so she could look at him.

"Yeah, but can we get into after we finish the anniversary rituals?"

"Sure," Buffy answered quickly. By the tone of his voice, she knew instantly that it was something he really didn't want to tell her about but she knew that he would. She settled back down, lying her head on his stomach and running her fingers lightly across it. "Tell me about the first time you saw me."

He smiled and started to run his fingers through her hair. "It was about two weeks before we met in the courtyard-"

"So you were daydreaming about me for two weeks?"

"Among other things." She laughed as he knew she would. Just has she had done for the last eight years of telling this story. As they had laid in bed on their first anniversary, in the exact same position as they found themselves on this one, she had asked him. Every year since, she put her head on his stomach, he ran his fingers through her hair and she asked the question. Nothing was changed, it was always the same and there was something very comforting about that for both of them. It had become a tradition that they equally cherished. Neither mentioned this day all year round and they didn't talk about it with others. It had become their own. Spike had made that moment in the library a part of their history by sharing it with her and she was forever grateful. It had made her feel what he did and had severed the few remaining issues regarding love and fear that she had.

"You and Willow had come into the library to talk to Rupert. You were both giggling away about something. I was in his office, waiting for him to finish for the day. I heard the laughing and just had to see who it belonged to. I stood in the doorway, peaked out and that's when-"

"You were hit with the angelic vision of me?"

"Right you are, pet," he agreed, laughing. "Honestly, it was the legs first. Your back was to me and I just saw tanned legs that led up to this very memorable short black skirt. A skirt that I thought shouldn't be allowed to be worn in high school."

"Jealous nature already coming through," Buffy mumbled.

"Damn straight. Then I saw the red top and I thought is she wearing a bra?"

Buffy giggled and said, "Probably not."

"And that led to a whole slew of things that kept my interest. Then there was blonde, shiny hair that I could just imagine running my fingers through," he continued as he did just that. "You called for Giles. It was the first time I had heard anyone not call him Rupert or Mr. Giles. I thought it was great that he actually let you call him that. I thought this girl has some stones."

"A whole bunch of them," she commented, licking his stomach, making his muscles twitch.

"You chatted with him a bit. Ask me what about and I couldn't tell you...I was too focused on watching that mouth of yours move. No lipstick just some stuff on it to make it all shiny and pout-y and that also gave me many things to use in my...daydreams." They both laughed softly. Buffy moved up his body and rested her head on his shoulder and lightly moved her finger tips along his chest. "I finally noticed Red when you were leaving-"

"I had your interest from the get-go? Such a boost to the old ego."

"I went and asked Rupert who you were and he rolled his eyes, shaking his head. I'm sure he took off his glasses and cleaned them properly before he said one word. Buffy. And I thought that's her name? What kind of name is that?"

"Hey," she scolded, leaning over a bit to bite his shoulder playfully.

"Ow," Spike joked. "Then for the next two weeks, I walked all over Sunnyhell, hoping to catch another glimpse. I annoyed the living shit out of Rupert by constantly showing up at the library, waiting for you to come in-"

"You were such a goner and I hadn't even said two words to you yet."

"You were going to be mine."

"Such confidence," Buffy whispered as she crawled over him, resting her body on top of his.

"Well, you went it bullocksed up all my plans of sweeping you off your feet with my dashing charm and extremely good looks."

"How'd I do that?" She began to nibble his ear lobe and he moaned softly.

"In case you have forgotten, luv, you had that ex situation-"

"But you still swept me up."

"Really?" he asked, making sure he sounded just as surprised as he had when she told him that all those years ago.

"Absolutely. I wanted you the minute I looked at you...I just thought it was best to-"

"Not use me shamelessly right away?"

"Exactly. I figured, I'd build up the appropriate amount of sexual tension and then use you up and spit you out."

"You spit?"

"Ew," she said, giggling, her face flaming with embarrassment. "Pig."

"You love it," he drawled as he had done before the second time they kissed. He looked at her and waited, never getting enough of what was coming next.

"I do," she reiterated. She sat up a bit so she could look at his face. Her finger traced down his jaw line and she smiled slightly. "I love you, Spike." He smiled and brushed his thumb over her bottom lip.

"And I love you, Buffy." As he leaned down, she leaned forward, their mouths meeting in the middle. He had waited a whole year for her to finally say it but, for him, it was worth it. Later, she apologized for not saying it sooner, even though she had known from the start that she had. He didn't need it though, because he knew, just as she had known how he felt about her. He would rather just know it, experience it, then have her say it without being absolutely certain. Everything she had done over that year told him without a doubt that she did. Even if she waited longer than that, it wouldn't have mattered to him because he just knew.

They broke apart and Buffy asked, "What are we going to do next year?"

"How do you mean?" Spike asked, confused.

"We'll be married. We'll have a whole new anniversary date. We should've been married on this day so there wouldn't be any confusion," she said, laughing.

"We can, you know. Just get in the car, drive over to Vegas and get hitched."

"Oh, I'm sure everyone would love that," she said sarcastically. "Ooh! We could do it and not tell anyone and still get married in two months. No one would be the wiser. Then we could have our own private anniversary and then the one everyone knows about it."

"Sounds swell in theory, pet, but you're not serious."

"Yes, I am," she told him, adamantly.

"No, you're not," he said, stressing each word. "You wouldn't get married without your chums and family there."

"But you would?" Buffy asked, eyebrows raised in disbelief.

"I honestly always thought I would do it that way. I never thought I'd have-"

"All of us?"

"One great, big happy family," Spike said, the corners of his mouth tugging upwards slightly. "Besides, this doesn't have to change. We will always celebrate this day."

"You promise?"

"I never break a promise to my lady," Spike swore, kissing her forehead lightly.

-----------------------------

"Yay," Buffy squealed happily, jumping up and down on the bed. "Presents are good. Especially when they're for me."

"Maybe I shouldn't give this to you considering what you did to me this morning," Spike said, looking at the present in his hand. "I don't think you deserve it."

"Of course I deserve it! I'm me!"

"I don't think you've earned it."

"The day you leave this bed unsatisfied is the day that I'm not in it and if that day ever comes, I get to chop your penis off." His eyes went wide. "As Willow would say, a vague disclaimer is nobody's friend. Now gimme!" She reached her arm out and he snatched his arm back, shaking his head.

"Sit on the bed."

"Can I kneel?"

"Whatever...just stop jumping. It's distracting." Buffy threw him a sly smirk and kneeled in the middle of the bed, waiting. "I know we're not supposed to go above the set amount and I wouldn't have but I saw you eyeing it and with the upcoming nuptials...I thought why not."

"What did you do?"

"Here..." He handed the box to her and it surprised him when she didn't grab it out of his hand or tear into it right away. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

"Spike, if you went crazy, I'm going to kill you," she told him sternly, shaking her head. She slowly unwrapped the box and opened it. "Oh my god." She looked at him, tears threatening to spill over onto her cheeks. "You're dead."

"I was expecting something a bit nicer-" He was cut off as she moved at lightening speed, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him passionately. It took him all of a half a second to catch on as he wrapped his arms around her still naked form, never tired of the feeling of her skin against his, her lips against his. He started to move her backwards when he heard her protesting. Reluctantly removing his lips, he asked, "What's wrong?"

"This is way too much, Spike. You have to bring it back," she said as she sat back on the bed, pulling her legs up to her chest. She ran her fingers over the diamond and opal necklace she had so desperately wanted and sighed heavily.

"No, I'm not bringing it back. Don't be daft."

"I'm not being...daft. Do you forget that I know how much this costs?"

"Okay, it's rude to talk about the price of a present, you know," he smirked but Buffy only rolled her eyes at him and huffed. "Pet, here's the deal but first you need to promise me that you will never again question anything I give you."

Buffy thought for a minute before saying, "Sure, now try to justify how we can possibly afford this."

"First off, I lied about how much money I got on my last two cases I worked. Put the money I told you I got in our account, took the excess and kept it someplace else. Secondly, Larry gave me a really good price. As in not the price that you saw when we came across it a couple of months ago. Thirdly, this isn't just an anniversary present." He kneeled on the bed in front of her, took the box from her and removed the necklace. He went around her, she lifted her hair and he put the necklace on her. "It's your wedding gift. A little early, granted, but I figured you could wear it-" Buffy spun around, cutting him off again, which he really wasn't going to complain about. She turned her body, wrapping her legs around his waist. His hands cupped her bottom, lifting her onto him and they sighed together at being rejoined once again. They rocked against each other, in absolutely no rush to do anything other than feel each other. Their hands ran down each other's backs, causing them both to shiver.

Buffy rested her forehead against his and smiled. "I think...this is one of...the best anni...ah...versaries we've ever...god, Spike...had."

"You're just saying that because...because of your present," Spike panted out and she smiled, leaning down to lick and bite his neck tenderly. "Luv, you feel so..."

"You, too." She laughed softly and added, "I can't believe you thought...I was serious before." Spike lifted her body, never withdrawing from her and moved them so she was lying on her back. He pushed deeper into her and she moaned loudly at the change in position. Where it had been soft, tender and slow, now it was deep, long and full of all the desire they always had for each other. "If this is...is the result of saying no more sex..."

"Yeah?" Spike grunted as she pushed him harder into her.

"Remind me to say it more often."

---------------------------

Buffy put the blow dryer under the sink and brushed her hair through one more time. She walked into the bedroom and smiled at Spike's sleeping form. She refused to walk over there and wake him as she knew exactly where that would lead and she had the girls' coming over. She opened up the closet and pulled out a black fitted t-shirt with a v-neck and grabbed her faded blue jeans. Spike loved them because they rested low on her hips and when she would lift her arms or bend over, it would show skin. He was just too easy to win over. After she was dressed, she went to her dresser to get a pair of earrings when she saw her gift. She picked up the box and opened it. She couldn't believe he did that. After all these years, the fact that he could still surprise gave her butterflies in her stomach. She never expected this in a million years. It would go perfectly with her dress. She figured she could buy the matching earrings as a congrats to herself.

"Oh crap." She slapped her hand to her forehead as she suddenly remembered that she hadn't given Spike his present. Not that she wanted to now. She hadn't gone above their fifty dollar limit, a limit that had been set in stone for the last nine years. At first it was done because neither had the money to go above that and it just continued on as the other traditions did. She felt a fleeting feeling of wanting to hurt him again for doing it but then she looked at her necklace and it instantly dissolved. She went to the closet and found the bag that had Spike's present in it. She berated herself once more for not having something good enough and went to wake him up.

"Honey," she said, shaking him gently. "You need to get up. The guys should be here in a little while and you need to get ready." He mumbled incoherently and wrapped his arm around her waist. "No...you need to get up." He tightened his hold on her struggling form and yanked her onto the bed with him. "You're not funny."

"Yeah, I am," he told her, not opening his eyes.

"You have to get up, take a shower, get ready. Come on. Vamos!"

"Since when do you speak Spanish?" he asked, opening one eye to look at her.

"Everyone knows vamos. Are you up? Because I have a bit of cleaning to do before my group gets here." She tried to push herself up but he kept holding onto her. "Spike, seriously, we need to get out of bed. I'm all ready and I'm not getting all sweaty with you again so up we go!" She tried again but to no avail. "Fine, you don't get your present."

His eyes opened and he smiled. "That's right, you forgot all about giving me my present."

"You were supposed to say my present was this morning..."

"Silly me. Should I jump up and down on the bed naked, yelling gimmee like you did?"

"That would be almost as funny as the time you did your little strip show," Buffy said, laughing.

"Hey, that was pretty damn good, if I do say so myself. Got you all hot and bothered."

"You get me all hot and bothered just thinking of you."

"That's what a bloke likes to hear," he smirked, leaning over to kiss her.

"No!" She dodged and tried to roll but he just came with her, never releasing his hold on her waist. "We're not doing this!"

"Then why are you laughing?"

"Because you're pathetic."

"Pathetic, eh?" He reached under her shirt and ran his hand along her stomach and up to her breast. She moaned softly as he massaged her, barely kissing her neck.

"Stop! I'm not kidding you. You need to ooh! Don't do that and stop laughing."

"Who's pathetic now? A little tweak and you're all cooing like-"

"I don't think you want to finish that sentence, mister," Buffy warned as she reached her hand behind her, running her finger tips lightly up and down his erection.

"Now, that's not playing fair, luv."

"Well, I see it two ways. Either you can let me go and you can get your present or you don't get your present and I can take care of this problem of yours."

"Do I get to choose how?"

"No sex."

"You seem to be saying that a lot today."

"Well, this time I mean it. I don't have time to get ready again. So you choose. Present or problem?"

"This is a tough one," Spike said, rubbing his hand along his chin thoughtfully. "Present."

"What?"

"Present. I can take of the problem on my own."

"You weren't supposed to pick present, dumbass!"

Spike quirked an eyebrow. "You forgot to get me a present?"

"Of course not, but after what you got me, mine sucks."

"Well, isn't that too bad. I'm sure it's perfect, pet."

"No, it's not," Buffy argued. "It's not even close to being good..."

Spike let go of her and slowly got up on the bed. He bounced a bit and yelled, "Gimmee!"

Buffy's eyes became glassy with laughter and she bent over to grab the present from the floor. "Sit." He complied and she handed him the thin, square shaped present. He shook it on instinct and frowned when nothing happened. Buffy lied on her stomach, leaning over him to kiss his knee. "Open it but just remember-"

"It sucks?" Buffy nodded. "Impossible." Buffy put her lips to his thigh and he moaned. "What are you doing?"

"Well, since it's not good, I figured I'd take care of the problem, as well. Call it a two for one kind of thing," she said with a wink.

"Not going to argue that," Spike smiled as she went back to kissing up his thigh. He concentrated on opening the present and sighed as he felt her lips moving closer to her target. She pushed him down to lie flat on the bed as she enveloped him. Present forgotten, he pulled her hair back so he could watch her. He knew that anything she did to him or for him gave him pleasure but there was something about this act, seeing her work her mouth around him that got him quickly every time.

Buffy put her head on his stomach and sighed as he gently massaged her head. "Thanks for holding my hair."

"Thanks for the solution," he said, with a laugh. She turned her head to look at him and returned the smile.

"Anything for you, darling," she drawled, accentuating it with a quick kiss near his belly button.

"Now, can I open my present in peace?" Spike joked. Buffy made a face and a whine escaped her lips. "It can't be that bad."

"It's no diamond and opal necklace," Buffy muttered, her good mood vanishing. "It's stupid."

Spike ripped the paper off and his mouth dropped open. "Where'd you find this?"

"Oz."

"Oz? Who found him?" Spike asked, confused.

"Apparently, you weren't listening six months ago when I told you he called Willow to apologize for not being able to attend the wedding."

"I think I vaguely recall something..."

"No, you don't. Just admit it. You weren't listening."

"Fine, I wasn't. You caught me." He shot her a winning grin and she couldn't help but smile back. "Am I in trouble?"

"No," she said, laughing. "We'll be sending him an invite to ours. There's no guarantee that he'll make it but we'll see."

"So how did Oz know how to get this?"

"He's living the High Fidelity kind of life in New York. Runs some obscure record store. I asked Will for the number and he said he'd look into it for me."

"This had to cost over the fifty," Spike guessed.

"A little but not like hundreds like some other people who will go unnamed..."

"This is a great present, luv. Thank you," he leaned over and gave her a kiss.

"If you say so..."

"It's a signed copy of "Never Mind the Bullocks...". Of course, I love it. But I still say you paid way more-"

"Oz gave me a good price. He got it from a guy who knew a guy and so on. I knew you had that autographed single from Sid Victory-"

"Vicious, pet," Spike corrected, laughing.

"Hey, I was close," Buffy pouted. "You seem to like to collect signed albums and so I told Oz the bands I was looking for and he found one."

"Do you have any idea how rear this is? I should give good old Oz a call. I'm curious how he would get this at a cheap rate. Unless they were just looking to get rid of it, which is stupid. I can't see how you didn't pay more than I paid for the necklace."

"I'm telling you the truth. I went about thirty dollars over and that's including the wrapping paper." Buffy moved off the bed, picking up the wrapping paper as she went. "You need to get ready."

"Hey, pet, I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Shoot," she said, cheerfully as she picked up around the bedroom. "Would it kill you to throw the clothes in the hamper?"

Spike smiled and took a deep breath. "Angel may be ducking out of the wedding."

She spun around and looked him, shock on her face. "What? How? Why?"

"I told him that if he was, he needed to talk to you about it. I didn't want to be the one to do it but I figured if I didn't at least warn you, I may get a verbal beating and I wasn't getting that because of him."

"When did this happen? Last night?" Buffy asked, sitting back down on the bed.

"Yeah, I don't want to go into details-"

"Maybe I want you to give me details," she interrupted.

"He's still in love with you," he told her quietly.

"Oh..."

"So the idea of standing up there, watching us get married...it doesn't exactly appeal to him."

"Oh..."

"Are you going to say something other than that?" Spike asked, hoping that she didn't hear the bit of annoyance in his voice.

"Eventually but I'm still processing," Buffy explained.

"How about I go shower while you do that?" He grabbed her hand and squeezed it gently. "There's no one here, right?"

"Nope, why?"

"Didn't want anyone else seeing my goods when I walk to the bathroom."

Buffy smiled but Spike could see that it wasn't as happy as she tried for it to be. "You're safe." Spike gave her a nod and walked out of the room. "Crap," she muttered, throwing her body back onto the bed.

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