Author: Meltha

Rating: PG

Feedback: Yes, thank you. Through Angel season 5.

Distribution: The Blackberry Patch and If you're interested, please let me know.

Summary: Fred is attempting to give Spike a corporeal body in season 5 of Angel, but things go extremely wrong… or is it extremely right?

Author's Note: Written for Eurydice 72's Williamficathon. The request was from tobywolf13 who requested Fred/William, no more than an R, a comedic/fluffy romance, time travel, Texas barbeque, and horseback riding Western style, with no character death, graphic sex, or slash. The fic sort of ran away from me and wound up being several short sections long.

Disclaimer: All characters are owned by Mutant Enemy (Joss Whedon), a wonderfully creative company whose characters I have borrowed for a completely profit-free flight of fancy. Kindly do not sue me, please, as I am terrified of you. Thank you.

Out of the Blue

Part 6

The wedding was held six weeks later, just shortly after the New Year. The morning dawned clear and crisp, and the heavens seemed to smile. Anne utterly refused to let William anywhere near Fred that morning, saying it was bad luck and that he must go to the site for the ceremony as soon as possible.

It was Anne's wedding dress that Fred wore that day, a confection of white lace and silk that had been bought when the family's finances were much different. She carried a nosegay of pink hothouse roses, and wreath of orange blossoms lay on top of the filmy white veil that covered her face.

"Now then, your dress is something old, and the flowers are something new. Here is something for you to borrow, child," Anne said as she carefully pinned a lovely pearl brooch to the front of Fred's gown. "William's father gave this to me on my wedding day. Though I wish I could have been granted more time with him, our marriage was as happy as I had ever hoped it would be. I wish the same for you and my son, Fred."

"You called me Fred," she said, and oddly, it was this that started her crying. The older woman hugged her tenderly. "Thank you, Anne."

"I always wanted a daughter," she said, straightening Fred's veil, "and now, at last I have one. I couldn't be any happier."

"Aw, you're gonna make me cry so hard I float right away," Fred said, sniffing heartily and then blowing her nose with a resounding trumpet blast in her handkerchief.

"Now, there'll be no danger of that on my account," Anne laughed. "Now there's a sprig of forget-me-not in your bouquet, so something blue is taken care of. All that's left is to put a haypenny in your shoe, and you should be quite ready."

"I'm so nervous," Fred breathed clutching her stomach. "I'm not going to faint, am I?"

"You're not going to faint," Anne said, gently leading her down the stairs and out to the carriage, which was being pulled by dear old Princess and Dodgy. "You have far too important an engagement to attend to faint."

It took hardly a moment, it seemed, for the carriage to reach their destination. Fred and William had chosen to take their vows on the same little hill where Fred had originally been brought into his world. The vicar had found their choice of venue unusual, but he had agreed in good humor. The snow-covered ground was dotted with schoolchildren there to see the wedding of their two teachers, and Mrs. Gordon's Ladies Aide Society, along with the grateful parents of the bride and groom's young charges, were in attendance as well, making a merry party indeed.

The ceremony itself was like a dream to Fred. She remembered seeing William's face being at her beside the vicar, repeating her vows and hearing William's in return. It was William slipped the ring on her finger that she finally seemed to wake from dreaming, and found the waking better than any dream she had ever had.

What followed was a small party held in the Gordon home. Music rang out, and dancing and songs flowed from the small house out onto the street until it seemed that all of London, even all the world, must be celebrating on that day. The wedding cake was cut, the bouquet was tossed and caught by a pretty young girl nearly a woman, and at long last William and Fred boarded the carriage together, their small luggage bags stowed beside them, on their way to a weekend in a small cottage in the countryside.

"Hello, Husband," Fred finally said once they were alone.

"And a very good evening to you, Wife," William said with a wide smile.

As she watched the carriage retreat into the night, Anne let out a deep breath of relaxation.

"Well, now," she thought, "I ought to have a grandchild by Christmas if all goes well."

She wasn't wrong.

Much later that night, as a party broke up in the more posh end of London, a group of three people wandered comfortably through the night.

"Well, if you're lonely, Dru, why don't you make a playmate," said the tall, broad-shouldered man of the trio, who walked between two women, one an elegant blonde, the other a brunette.

"I could! I could pick the wisest and bravest knight in all the land and make him mine forever with a kiss," she said with a note of excitement, then her eyes seemed to focus on something that didn't exist in this world. "But he's not here."

"Who's not here, Dru?" Darla asked impatiently.

"My knight," Drusilla pouted. "It's his wedding night, and I'm not the bride this go around. All his kisses are for her. Time's tablecloth folded backward. It's very confusing."

Darla rolled her eyes and gave Angelus a you-sired-her-you-deal-with-her look.

"Love," Angelus said, "what are you talking about?"

"I don't… Daddy, who's that?" Drusilla asked, pointing to a figure ahead of them.

"It can't be!" Angelus called loudly. "Penn, my lad! I didn't know you were in London!"

"In another hour I wasn't going to be," the man called, running towards the group and embracing Angelus. "I was just on my way to the docks. But… who is this?"

His eyes fell on Drusilla, who smiled back at him coquettishly.

"I'm Drusilla," she said as he kissed her hand. "Daddy made me, too. Would you like to play?"

Penn looked at Angelus curiously, then back at Drusilla. "I do believe I would," he said, grinning evilly.

So were born two long unions on that night.