Chapter 24

Spike leaned in his chair and whispered, "I thought you loved me."

"I do."

"Then why are you making me do this?"

Buffy turned to him, a look of exasperation on her face. "For the last time, as the groom, you are destined to help me unwrap the lovely gifts our wonderful friends have given us and to smile and say, without sarcasm, 'Wow, another toaster! Bloody fantastic! Wouldn't you say, pet?' Or something to that effect."

"Bloody fantastic," Spike mumbled, as he opened another set of glasses. "Who doesn't need glasses, right, pet?"

Buffy glared at him before taking the box from his lap and placing it beside her so Willow could write the gift in the book. She turned her attention back to the gathering and found Amy's gaze. She smiled brightly and said thanks.

"It's only difficult and annoying if you make it so, hon," Buffy told him as she picked up another gift. "Now be a good little groom and I may be convinced to wear what Anya gave me."

He quirked an eyebrow at that. Just the thought of what she would look like in the very skimpy red lingerie set Anya had given her made him hard. He knew that what he had in his mind's eye would never compare to the real thing. He also was aware that Buffy wasn't pleased by the gift. She thought that Anya could have given it to them in private as opposed to at the shower but Spike had found the gesture so very Anya-like. He particularly got a kick out of the bright red color Rupes had turned when Buffy opened the card and his name had been placed there, as well. He suppressed his smile as he remembered Anya yelling out, "And they're crotchless, too!" and the horrified looks that passed over Giles and Buffy's faces.

Before he could answer her, she continued, "And if you're not, I'll make you wear it." She placed a large, fake smile on her face before she opened her present. "Oh, look, baby, it's a toaster!"

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

"So, in total, you guys received four sets of glasses, two blenders, a toaster, a toaster oven, towels, his and her monogrammed robes-"

"Who were those from again?" Buffy asked.

"Uh...Lorne," Willow answered as she looked at her list.

"Should have known..."

"And pajamas," Tara added. "He apparently thinks you'll be sleeping or lying around quite a bit."

"Someone should have told the bloke we sleep in the nude," Spike threw in.

"So didn't need to hear that," Cordy said, scrunching up her nose.

"We do not. Don't get them going, Spike," Buffy chided, lightly.

"I think everyone should give money. People always need money," Anya reasoned.

"You didn't give us money," Buffy told her pointedly.

"She gave us something infinitely better," Spike drawled as he leaned over to kiss her neck lightly. Buffy rolled her eyes and saw the large smile on Anya's face.

"I, again, want to say that I had nothing to do with that...gift," Giles reiterated.

"We know," Buffy laughed.

"I don't understand why you're acting like it was the filthiest thing on the planet, Rupie. You seem to like the one I have just fine," Anya interjected.

"And I so didn't need to hear that, either," Cordy repeated.

"We registered and everything. I guess it just goes to show that no matter what you do, you're bound to get duplicate gifts," Buffy said with a shrug. "Did we get any money?"

Willow nodded and handed her the envelope. "Open it later," she told her quietly.

"How much?" Anya asked.

"I don't know. We'll figure it out," Buffy answered.

"Figure it out now. I'll do it."

"No, it's fine. We'll look when we get home."

"Buffy, we're not going to steal the money," Anya sighed in exasperation.

"I didn't think you were going to. No offense but it's just not your business."

"Well, see if I ever get you anything ever again," she said in a huff, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Dear, don't act like that. They reserve the right to not share everything with us," Giles tried to reason with his wife.

"Pfft" was Anya's only answer and Giles looked to the couple with a slight roll of his eyes. Buffy shook her head and hid her smile. She didn't think it would ever be easy to hear Giles call Anya dear or to try and calm her down. She couldn't, however, deny that they loved each other and that made it all easier to swallow. Especially when sexy lingerie was thrown into the mix.

"So what comes next?" Xander asked Buffy.

"Of course, you wouldn't remember, Xander. You barely paid attention when we were going to get married." All eyes went to Anya but she didn't notice.

"I believe you've had quite enough of this," Giles said, taking the glass of wine from Anya's grip. "I think it be best if we made our way home."

"Oh, right. Shut Anya up before she says something inappropriate or offends someone with her wicked tongue. I was merely commenting on the fact that Xander-"

"We know what you were commenting on but let's drop it now and go on home. Yes?" Giles asked, his demeanor softening.

"Will you sing to me?" she requested with a pout.

"Of course, my dear."

"Naked?"

Giles visibly blanched and quickly nodded his head slightly before pulling her up from the chair. They said their goodbyes, Giles apologizing once again for Anya's behavior and present which resulted in Buffy pushing them out the door.

"Do you really think Giles sings naked?" Willow wondered.

"Can we please stop because the images I have flashing in my head are starting to make me feel queasy," Xander pleaded.

"I think we're going to leave, too," Buffy said. "I'll come back tomorrow and help you clean up."

"Don't worry about it," Cordelia told her. "That's what I have Dawn and Connor for."

"What?" Dawn shrieked. "I thought...with the waitressing that I was off the hook. Connor, however, should definitely be forced to clean."

"The both of you are still working everything off. You're lucky you're able to keep the tips you earn."

"Just think of this as a lesson learned, bit. You'll be sure never to do anything that will lead to you be indentured to Cordelia," Spike offered.

"Yeah, tell me about," Dawn mumbled. "It hasn't been so bad..."

"I heard you swept at the poker game last night," Cordelia said. "And if I wanted to be extremely bitchy, I would take that money, too, but I'm not."

"No, Cordy's just misunderstood," Xander joked.

"Damn right I am."

"What poker game?" Spike and Joyce asked at the same time.

"Uh, nothing. No poker game. Cordy's, you know..." Dawn made circles with her finger next to her temple.

"Sure..." Joyce shook her head, deciding that it would be in her best interest to not know.

Dawn leaned over to Spike and whispered, "I'll tell you later. Lots of fun."

Spike quirked an eyebrow and nodded, pleased. He glanced at Buffy who was shaking her head, showing her disapproval of the idea. He simply hunched his shoulders in response. He would just have to work on that later.

"No one answered my question. What comes after this?" Xander asked again.

"Well, we'll have the rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding."

"So when do we throw him the bachelor party? That's what I'm getting at."

Buffy laughed. "I ask that you will do it at least a week before. That's when mine is."

"Your what?" Spike asked.

"My bachelorette party."

"You are not having a sodding bachelorette party."

"Yes, I am. The girls' have already planned it. End of discussion."

"What do you do at this party of yours?"

"The same thing as you but with men," Cordy informed him when Buffy shrugged, not wanting to talk about it anymore. She didn't particularly care if she had one or not but they had insisted on it.

"No bloody way!"

"Will you calm down? She's not going to screw strippers."

"You're going to screw strippers?" Buffy asked, alarmed.

"No, of course not!" Xander jumped in.

"Can we please keep the screwing strippers comments to a minimum?" Joyce asked, her voice tense and her gaze flitting over to Dawn.

"I am not a kid, anymore. Bring on the screwing strippers."

"Dawn Summers!"

"Mom, please," she stated simply with a toss of her hair. "I am invited, yes?"

"Of course," Cordy answered and then saw the look on Joyce's face and quickly added, "Not."

"Twenty-two years ago, you gave birth to me, Mom. Stop acting like I'm still in diapers," Dawn complained.

Joyce held up her hands in surrender. "Fine, fine. As long as your sister doesn't mind you being there, I suppose I can adjust to your going."

Dawn's gaze swung over to Buffy and she smiled at the hopeful shine in Dawn's eyes. "If you want to see half-naked man gyrating around, then it's fine by me."

"Yay!" Dawn squealed, hugging her sister tightly. She let her go and bounced up and down happily.

"Dawn, come with me. I want to show you what you'll have to do tomorrow," Cordy said, grabbing her arm and whisking her away. "We're going to have so much fun."

Dawn looked at her quizzically before realizing that Cordy wasn't talking about cleaning about the party. "Yeah? Can't wait to find out."

"Xander, can you help Spike load this stuff into the truck?" Buffy asked.

"Sure."

"And why aren't you helping?" Spike asked.

"I have to talk to Mom. I'll be out in a minute." She quickly kissed him on the lips and tapped his bottom as she passed by. She turned to quirk an eyebrow at him and received one of his knee-weakening smirks.

"Everything alright, honey?"

"Yeah," Buffy sighed as she sat down next to her mother at the bar. She twirled a napkin around absently, knowing her mother was waiting for her to continue. "Tara? Will?"

"Oh! Right," Willow exclaimed and grabbed Tara's hand, quickly moving to the bar.

"What's going on?" Joyce asked, bewildered.

"Did I miss it?" Dawn asked as she and Cordy came out of the kitchen.

"You were supposed to wait for us!" Cordy said, her chagrin evident.

"We haven't said anything yet," Tara informed her.

"Someone better say something soon," Joyce warned.

"Okay," Buffy started. "As the only woman in the room who has currently given birth...guess which one of us is pregnant?"

They all let out a chuckle at Joyce's shocked expression and then grew serious as she looked around at the five women, giving each of them once over but going back between Buffy and Dawn numerous times.

"Well, Mom?" Dawn asked.

"When you throw two of my daughter's in the mix, you have to expect me to be a little thrown off," Joyce explained.

"Would that be so bad?" Buffy asked.

"Of course not, dear. If it were you, I'd be thrilled."

"But not if it was me," Dawn stated.

"I'm pleading the fifth on that one."

"So..." Cordelia prodded.

"Um..." she stalled, looking between the other three girls. "Can I pick a name out of a hat?"

"Oh, come on, Mrs. Summers. It's no fun if you don't guess," Willow tried.

She looked at Dawn one last time, to which her daughter rolled her eyes and Joyce felt a giant weight lifted off her shoulders. She replayed Willow's last comment in her head and smiled. "Tara."

"Holy shit," Cordy whispered, surprised.

"How did you know?" Willow asked, barely able to keep her excitement to a minimum.

"You. You were way too excited about me guessing."

"See, I told you to calm down," Tara scolded lightly.

"Hey! I did very good. Through out that entire party, I kept my hands to myself, I didn't say a word to anyone. I am quite proud of me right now."

"As you should be, sweetie." Willow smiled and rested her chin on Tara's shoulder, wrapping her arms around her waist, her hands resting on Tara's stomach.

"I think my asking how this happened wouldn't be unjustified," Joyce commented, smiling. "And come here! Let me give you a congratulatory hug."

Tara stepped into Joyce's embraced and Willow quickly followed, both women reveling in the warmth of the older woman embrace. They stepped away from her and resumed their previous position.

"Cordy?" Willow asked, eyebrow raised in question.

"I let them borrow Xander."

"Not what I was expecting to hear," Joyce retorted. "By borrow you mean what exactly?"

"We didn't, you know, borrow Xander in a sexy way," Willow answered quickly.

"There was a cup, dirty magazines, a doctor and an implanting of a fertilized egg," Cordy explained.

Tara laughed. "We were going to keep it quiet until we hit the third month but we just couldn't keep it to ourselves anymore."

"And we didn't know when Xander would accidentally spill the beans so..." Willow trailed off.

"And you were okay with this?" Joyce asked Cordelia.

"The same exact thing I wondered," Buffy remarked.

"I'm fine with it. Xander and I have only been back together a short time so I wasn't exactly in the position to tell him what to do. He asked if I was okay with it and that...that meant a lot."

"How long have you two known?"

"I found out about a week ago," Buffy answered.

"This morning," Dawn grumbled, clearly upset to have been left out of the loop.

"Don't be like that, Dawn. I'm their best friend, I was maid of honor at their wedding and I had no idea they were even thinking of doing this."

"We didn't want to tell people and get their hopes up, which would have led to us getting even more excited over the prospect of it and if it didn't work..." Willow tried to clarify.

"But it did and that's all that matters," Buffy said, happily.

"Please don't say anything to anyone. We're not telling anyone else until later on," Willow requested.

"My lips are sealed," Joyce told her with a smile. "So, Spike doesn't know?"

"We didn't tell him," Tara said.

"He doesn't know, right, Buffy?" Willow asked.

"Sure?"

"Buffy..."

"Well, I'm sorry! You tell me this and then I start thinking about babies and when two lesbians are about to have a child, you start to think that maybe you should be having them, too, seeing as you've been with the same man for the last nine years. I tried not to say anything. I really did but you know how annoyingly perceptive he can be when it comes to me and I was all introspective, asking him questions about starting a family and you know..." She looked at Willow and Tara, her face awash with her anxiety. "I'm really sorry. If it makes you feel any better, he thought it was Cordy because apparently Xander kept dropping clues about...things."

"Things?" Tara questioned.

"Guy type things...being a man, virile, strong swimmers and all that. So when he asked me and I didn't answer, he assumed it was Cordy and what was I supposed to do? Let him think it was her?"

"I suppose not..." Willow mumbled. "He hasn't even said congratulations."

"I told him to act like he didn't know. I didn't want to get the Rosenburg resolve face."

"That only leaves Giles and Anya...Maybe we should just tell them, too," Tara ventured.

"No, we haven't even told my family yet."

"This is our family, Will," Tara said, softly. "Giles and Anya just complete it. We don't know how you're parents will react or not react, for that matter."

"Fine, we'll tell them tomorrow."

"I'd love to be a fly on the wall for that one," Cordy cracked. "All that British blustering? Funny, funny stuff."

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

"Here you are telling me to be quiet about it and suddenly I'm getting a ration of shit for not congratulating the happy couple," Spike complained, collapsing on the bed.

"It came up. You people can't expect me to keep things to myself. I tried to say you didn't know. They didn't believe me."

"You probably didn't try very hard to convince them otherwise. What did you do? Give them an answer where you sound completely unsure of yourself?"

"No."

Spike laughed heartily. "Sure you didn't, luv."

"Whatever," she muttered. "You can officially kiss crotchless lingerie good bye tonight."

"Now I know I'm right. You're getting all defensive-like, threatening to take away my...toys."

"I'm not your toy."

"But that lingerie is."

"It's my lingerie."

"It was meant for the both of us."

She grabbed it from the box and threw it at him. "Then by all means, wear it."

"I'm not putting anything on where my bits are going to be dangling all about."

"But you don't wear underwear so..."

"There's a bloody huge difference between going bare and wearing your lingerie."

"Oh, now it's mine?" she asked, smiling.

"Why are we even discussing this?" Spike mumbled. "Besides, you putting it on just means I'd have to bother taking it off and I'd just rather skip that tonight."

"Um, do I need to explain the crotchless thing to you?"

"I'll always prefer you in the buff to you in a scrap of red lace and silk."

"Good to know."

"Doesn't mean you won't be wearing this sometime soon, however," he smirked as he twirled the material around by the spaghetti strap.

"I am loving these pajamas Lorne gave us. Gray silk. Mmm...it's like mmm..." she sighed as she moved her fingers over the material.

"Again, I say too much to remove." He shifted his position on the bed, relieving some the sudden stress he felt in his pants. Her and her bleeding mmms.

"No, look. Mine is a short nightie and yours...well, there's only bottoms. Isn't that weird?" She held up both parts and shook her head.

"Lorne isn't known for his subtlety, pet. I'm thinking mine had a shirt and he simply didn't give it to me."

"Clever...I know I'm not complaining," she said with a smirk of her own. "In fact, could you please wear these tonight?"

"No."

"Really? Why?"

"I don't want anything coming between you and I. If I roll over and have a sudden need to take you, I don't want to fuss with any pants."

She studied him for a minute, all stretched out on the bed, his arms resting behind his head and she felt her heart speed up and a flush spread over her skin. She placed the garments in the box haphazardly and sauntered over. She kneeled on the bed and crawled up to him, both of them breaking into a smile as she mimicked his own moves from so many previous nights. She straddled his thighs and sat lightly, ignoring the evident bulge in his jeans.

"You have plans of the naked variety for us tonight?"

"Every night."

"Anything special?"

"Isn't it always?" he countered, running his tongue along the edge of his teeth.

She tried to repress the shudder that ran down her spine. Damn him and that tongue. "You going to put that thing to use or just play with it in your own mouth?"

She squealed as he flipped her onto her back and cradled himself between her legs, her thighs pressing into his hips tightly and holding him in place.

"What are you going to do now?"

She smiled. "I think the question is, what are you going to do now?"

"So many possibilities..." he murmured against her skin as he kissed along her collarbone.

"You going to pick one?"

"You."

"Okay. That's easy."

"Yeah?"

She nodded and put her hands on both sides of his head. He smiled thinking and started to move up when she shook her head and pushed him down.

"Right bossy chit you are."

"You said..."

"And what do I get?"

"You mean you're expecting something besides the joy of giving me oral pleasure?"

He kissed the inside of her thigh, his fingers dancing lightly along her skin, causing her leg to shake slightly. "Ticklish?"

"You know that I am when you do that." He abruptly stopped and nudged her leg farther apart, resting his head on her thigh. "Um, what's going on?"

"Are we going to have kids soon?"

"Where is this coming from? Because of last week?"

"Well, it's not like I never thought of it before Red and Tara's news."

"So you have thought about it?"

"I'm not even dignifying that with an answer, kitten. You should know."

"Spike, out of all the things we talk about, we haven't discussed starting a family. I think maybe once when I had stopped taking the pill for a while and I was late but we've never seriously talked about it."

"I would think we wouldn't have invested all this time if we weren't going to go the distance, right? I guess I'm curious as to when is all," he said with a small shrug.

"Let's get married first, okay?" she asked, laughing softly.

"But..."

"But what, honey?"

He looked her in the eyes and she felt her breath catch in her chest at the excitement in them. "I want to see you, belly full of us combined, all glowing and beautiful," he leaned forward and kissed her stomach, "I want to see you go through the stages, feel her kicking away, watch what we've been working on all these years come to fruition."

"Her?"

He nodded, a knowing smile on his face. "I have no doubt that Summers women will continue to rule my life."

She giggled and ran her fingers through his hair. "Do you have a name for her?"

"I've always fancied Penelope."

"As long as no one calls her Penny." She paused, thinking. "What if it's a boy?"

"Jacob."

"You've put a whole lot of thought into this, haven't you?" she asked, a little taken aback.

"Sure, have to keep my mind occupied on some of those long stake outs. Thinking of you always helps pass the night." His hand moved back to her thigh and began to gently knead it, smiling against her skin when he heard the soft moan come from above him. "You've never thought about it, then?"

"Oh, I have. I'm just surprised that you have...to that extent. Why didn't you say anything?"

"Honestly didn't think you would have considered it if we weren't married."

"That wouldn't have made a difference, Spike. When I finally smartened up and kissed you that night, I knew I would be with you for the rest of my life. I knew it. If you had all these thoughts, I wish you would have mentioned it."

"I figured that if you wanted to talk about it, you'd bring it up," he explained.

"So Penelope, huh?"

"That's right."

"And what is she going to do?"

"She'll do whatever she wants to do." He glanced up at her and smiled. "She's ours after all, isn't she?"

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

tbc...