172

Everyone in Their Place

Oz shut the door as gently and quietly as he could. It was the best possible news, especially from the kid's point of view, but it could wait until morning.

As usual, Alaric and Ariel had other ideas. They came barreling out of their room, wide awake and alert.

"Should we start packing now, Oz?" Alaric asked excitedly.

"We'll help with your stuff too, if you want," Ariel offered. They were really anxious to get home.

Oz laughed softly. "How about some sleep first?" he suggested. "The jet won't be here for a few hours. Besides, don't you want to say good-bye to everyone?"

"Well," Alaric hesitated. "I guess we ought to say good-bye to Willow. She's been really nice to us."

"But they won't let us see Mr. Giles to say good-bye," Ariel said mournfully.

"What about Andrew?" Oz teased. He was pretty sure he already knew the answer to that one.

"Do we have to?" Ariel whined.

"He's a brainless prat," Alaric added.

&&&&&&&&

"I'm a big girl, Spike," Rose said as she watched her beloved slipping into his trademark.

"Yes, you are, pet," Spike agreed.

"I don't need a babysitter." If pressed, Rose would be forced to admit that there were things she couldn't do with one hand in a brace and both wrapped in bandages.

"Of course you don't, luv," Spike replied evenly. He started checking through his pockets, making sure he had everything.

"And it's not like you're going to be gone for that long." Despite the fact that Spike was agreeing with everything she said, Rose still felt like she was losing the battle.

"Be back before you know it, sweetheart." Spike started pacing, checking the security system for evidence of someone arriving.

"William, are you even listening to me?" Rose stamped her foot on the floor. Since it was bare, the effect was a bit lacking.

"Every word that's passed your lovely lips, babe," Spike answered. His eyes drifted to the aforementioned body part, and almost automatically, he reached for her, pulling her close for a kiss.

The doorbell rang.

&&&&&&

"You sure you're up for this?" Spike asked. "It's not your usual style."

"Let's just say that in Stenslow's case I'm willing to bend the rules a little," Angel replied. "God, do you realize that if Eve hadn't interrupted, I probably would have..,"

"I know." Just because Spike understood, didn't mean that he wanted to hear it. Because he really, really didn't. "But you're sure about offing the wanker? Because you'd better believe that I am."

"I'm sure," Angel replied grimly. "I'd do it even if you hadn't come along. I'm going to have nightmares for the next century thinking of what I almost did to Rose. I was going to try to turn her."

"I know," Spike repeated. "Probably would have killed us both. If we were lucky."

"Do you think she still would have loved you and the kids if it had worked?" He could just about talk about it, now that the question was strictly theoretical.

Spike shrugged. "It's possible, I suppose," he replied. "I still loved my mum. But it wouldn't have been the same. Can we change the bloody subject? Like, what exactly do you have in mind for this Stenslow git?"

"Well," Angel mused. "Manners first. I'll have to introduce you to him."

Spike got a nasty grin on his face. "Hope he's done his homework," he remarked. "I'd hate to waste the opportunity by having it fall flat when he doesn't recognize the Big Bad when he sees it." He gave his grandsire a quizzical look. "You sure you're not still Angelus?"

"Don't even joke about that," Angel pleaded. "Spike, if, The Powers forbid, it ever happens again, promise me that you'll stake me before you let me get near Rose again."

"Count on it. Hell, I'm still jumpy enough that I've got Lorne sitting with her, even though you're with me." Spike pulled the car up in front of Havoc & Associates. "You ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," Angel replied. "Let's go explain a few things to the soon to be late Mr. Stenslow."

&&&&&&&

There was quite a crowd at the airport that evening. That was nothing unusual. That they were all waiting for a private jet was.

Needless to say, Spike and Rose stood at the forefront of the assemblage. They were both practically vibrating with anxious energy.

Barely had the ramp rolled up and the door opened when two figures shot out at high velocity.

Rose and Spike ran to meet them.

The rest of the group moved forward a bit more slowly. They had all missed the twins, but they felt that the first few moments belonged exclusively to their parents.

"Don't pick me up, mummy," Alaric ordered. He looked at Rose solicitously. "You'll hurt your hands."

"But, darling," Rose protested. "I really missed you. Won't you let me hold you?"

"You can give me hugs," her son allowed. "But you don't want to be picking up heavy stuff until you're all better."

Spike, with Ariel up in his arms, was grinning unrepentantly at the exchange. "That's my boy," he said, starting to swagger as he walked. "I'm right proud of you, taking care of your mum like that."

Rose tried giving Spike a dark look, but was so happy to have the children back, amongst other things, that it didn't entirely take. "I'll sort things out with you later," she warned.

Angel had come along, but hung back from the others. If the kids deserved a few minutes alone with their parents, he reflected, then they also deserved the chance to pass by the one person who had almost cost them those parents. Part of him said that it hadn't really been him. But that didn't seem to assuage the guilt any. He watched from the sidelines as the twins greeted everyone with hugs and kisses. Even Val, who they'd been fairly cool to at first, but had eventually changed their opinion of. He looked on wistfully, wishing that he deserved the same reception.

Suddenly, the twins broke free of the rest of the group and ran over to Angel. When he just stood there, looking down at them in pleased incredulity, the twins took a hand.

"Pick us up, Uncle Angel?" Ariel was giving him the eye treatment again. He never could resist that, and bent down and picked them both up.

Both children wrapped their arms around him and kissed his cheeks.

"We know it wasn't you, Uncle Angel," Alaric confided. "We know you wouldn't hurt mummy."

"And you still love us, don't you?" Ariel snuggled against him.

"I'll always love you," Angel replied. He realized he was on the receiving end of some increasingly impatient looks from the rest of the group. "I think I'd better share you right now, though. We can talk later. After you get settled back in."

Oz was the center of attention at the moment. Wesley had asked him a question in regards to when the senior Watcher expected the first draft of his book, and Oz was forced to admit to ignorance.

"Besides," he was saying. "Giles was still in the hospital when we left."

"Hospital?" Spike looked like someone had hit him right between the eyes. There might have been little love lost between the two of them, but like the Slayers and the rest of the council, as far as he was concerned, Giles was a permanent fixture. "What'n hell happened to him?"

"Heart attack," Oz responded. Before awkward questions could be asked, even in jest, and undo the good that he had managed to do, he decided to head them off at the pass. "You can be proud of the kids. They were with him when it happened, and they kept their heads and called for help the minute they realized that something was wrong."

"Did they really?" Spike looked about ready to burst with pride. "I always knew they'd be smart. Just like their mum."

&&&&&&&

Rose couldn't believe that she'd once found their bed too large. Tonight, it seemed way too small. But then, it was never made for four people. But when the children had petitioned to sleep with them, just this once, neither of their parents could bring themselves to say no. They'd missed the twins too much.

"You haven't been planning your wedding without us, have you?" Ariel asked. The kids were sandwiched in the middle of the bed, between their parents.

"Been kind of busy for that, baby girl," Spike replied. "But now that we've got everything sorted out, we can start planning with a vengeance."

Rose sighed. She had a feeling that the vengeance would be exacted on her. She cuddled her daughter close, just happy to have her and her brother back.

&&&&&&

Eve sauntered into Angel's office. "I know you didn't send for me," she began. "But this is business. The senior partners still want to know about Rose."

Angel looked up at her and realized that she didn't know that he still wasn't Angelus. He shouldn't be enjoying this, but perversely, he was. "The senior partners can go screw themselves."

"By the way, sweetie." Eve leaned over his desk, giving him the view she had given Angelus. "When are you going to let me in on your plans?"

"You know," Angel remarked. "The senior partners caught on quick enough to the fact that I didn't have a soul. How come they didn't notice when I got it back again?"

"You what?" Eve stared incredulously at him for long moments. "You're not just playing one of your little mind games with me again, are you?" She leaned even farther forward.

"Here's a hint," Angel said. "Get the hell out of my office, Eve. And tell the senior partners, nice try, but no cigar."

&&&&&&&

Two weeks later:

Rose felt a little strange in the unaccustomed layers of make-up. But looking in the mirror, she had to admit that it didn't look bad.

"C'mon, Rose," Harmony urged her. "The whole point of the thing is to get pictures while we look so good."

"I guess we might as well," Rose conceded. "It isn't too much make-up, is it?"

"You look great," Fred assured her. "Spike will be drooling over the pictures."

"If you say so," Rose agreed dubiously. "You said we were going to do some shopping afterwards?"

"You bet," Harmony replied. "A total girl day. And considering that the guys are getting together tonight, why don't we rent some d.v.d.'s while we're at it? You know, the kind of stuff that the guys don't want to watch anyway."

"What do you say, Rose?" Fred asked. "Chick flicks and junk food. What better way to calm the pre-wedding jitters?"

"What indeed?" Rose murmured. She was pleased that her friends wanted to do something nice for her, but she wondered if all this was really necessary.

&&&&&&&

"To the ladies, bless 'em." Lorne raised his glass. "The world would be a much drearier place without them."

"Hear, hear." Gunn lifted his glass in acknowledgement.

"To Fred." Wesley raised his glass rather too hastily, causing some of the liquid to slop out, which struck him as hysterically funny. He had reached the point where just about everything did.

Lorne was just waiting for Spike to break in with a remark about Rose, but to his surprise, Angel beat his grandchilde to the punch.

"To Rose," Angel offered. "An absolutely amazing woman."

"Too bloody right," Spike agreed. He didn't waste time raising his glass, he just downed the contents, then looked for more. "Is that bottle glued to the table down there, you dumb git?"

"To Harmony," said Val, a little uncertainly. He'd been surprised to be included in the festivities. "For putting up with me."

The remark set Wesley off into gales of laughter again.

&&&&&&&

Everyone was seated in the small chapel expectantly. They weren't sure what was going on, but none of them were actually in the wedding party. Although, they hadn't seen the kids. Of course, there were only the seven of them in attendance at all.

The minister took his place in front, and was joined by Spike and Alaric, who looked puffed up and important, despite having to wear a 'nancy-boy' suit. Then, the music started to play, and all eyes shifted to the rear of the chapel.

There was Rose, in a shimmering confection of rose-colored satin, with Ariel identically attired, save for the filmy veil that obscured Rose's features. Rose marched sedately down the aisle, but Ariel had to turn and smile at her uncles and aunts.

Lorne already had a hanky at the ready.

Rose joined Spike at the front of the chapel, and contrary to tradition, Spike just couldn't wait. Before the minister could say a word, he lifted her veil and kissed her.

Lorne sniffed, and started dabbing at his eyes, and Fred and Harmony fished in their purses for tissues.

When Spike finally finished kissing a blushing Rose, the minister felt free to begin. "Dearly beloved..,"

&&&&&&

The reception was a very informal affair, held in Angel's apartment, where the kids would be spending the night. Rose had started to protest, but Spike had given her a look that had shushed her quite thoroughly. Rose was explaining why the twins had been their only attendants.

"I just couldn't decide," she said helplessly. "I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings, or leave anyone out, but I couldn't have everyone. So, we decided on just having the children. I hope that none of you minded." She looked around at the group uncertainly.

"You did just fine, Rosebud," Lorne replied, kissing her cheek. He really had wanted to walk her down the aisle, but he could understand the reasons behind what she'd done. And she had okayed the karaoke machine for the reception. He could hardly wait to hear the newlyweds do a duet.

"I think the minister was a little scandalized that the groom took the bride's last name instead of the other way around," Fred remarked.

"Well," Spike replied. "It's not just a name, not for Rose. 'Sides, I wasn't going to have us being Mr. and Mrs. Smith." He gave Gunn a disgusted look. "Couldn't you have come up with something a little more original?"

Gunn just shook his head and grinned.

Lorne was already fiddling with the karaoke machine. He made his selection and picked up the mike. The music started and the words came up on the t.v. screen, but he didn't really need them. He seldom did. The song had been released in varying forms, but he'd chosen the oldest one, slow and romantic. "Blue moon, you saw me standing alone. Without a dream in my heart. Without a love of my own..,"

&&&&&&&

"Could've taken a proper honeymoon, luv," Spike observed, as he and Rose rode the elevator up to their apartment. "The pouf would've given us the time off."

"We just got the children back," Rose pointed out. "I don't want to go off and leave them. And I don't think that you do either."

"Not really," Spike admitted sheepishly. "Maybe when they're a little older, you and I can go off alone for a week or so." He pulled her close and started nuzzling at her neck. "I love our kids, but I wouldn't mind having you to myself for a bit."

The lift door opened, and Rose stepped out and reached for the apartment door.

"Oh no, you don't, babe," Spike warned her. "There are still a few traditions to be observed." He opened the door, then swept her off her feet and carried her over the threshold. "Welcome home, Mrs. Powers."

"Welcome home, Mr. Powers," Rose answered with a giggle. Somehow, it just didn't seem right, Spike being a Mr. anything. "Are there any more traditions left?"

"Just one," Spike admitted, one hand groping for the zipper on her dress as he pulled her into his arms with the other. "Me making love to you all night long."

&&&&&&

The party had wound down, and everyone had slowly dispersed. Angel sat on the sofa, flanked by the children. They had been chattering a blue streak, as was their wont, hopping from one subject to the next with dizzying speed. But that had gradually slowed, then stopped. He looked down and realized that they were nodding off. He stood, a child apiece in his arms, and started carrying them to the spare room. He glanced around the apartment and decided to leave the clean-up until tomorrow. Two pairs of small arms wrapped around his neck, and it slowly started to sink in to him that no matter whether or not he ever found someone that he could be with, he'd never be alone again.