Disclaimer: still own nothing and Joss still owns all… yada yada yada…
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The next day Buffy and Jenny were idly cruising in a bridal shop of a friend of Jenny's.
"Sweetheart I don't want to make you nervous but since Angel is going to be inheriting the family business, his getting married is going to be big news… big PUBLIC news…" Jenny informed Buffy cautiously.
Buffy looked up from the dresses she was looking at in alarm. Public news? Her marriage was going to be in freaking public news? That was just great, she escaped Italy and ran to L.A. to be free of Antonio, and now he was most likely going to hear about it—one way or the other—and come after her. She didn't think she could take that.
"Public? You mean like gossip? Or—"
"Well, sort of. Like, maybe in the gossip column of a magazine."
"Oh, THAT public."
"Yes, you don't mind do you? I know that it not being as private as you would have liked can make it a little hard, especially since people are going to want to come to the wedding and all…"
"But-but Angel and I decided to have a small wedding ceremony. As small as possible I think were his exact words actually."
"Don't worry about it dear, Rupert and I will try our best to make sure you kids get what you want," Jenny said while sifting through some of the wedding dresses she'd had the clerk set aside for them in advance "I'm just not sure you can get that private a wedding, considering… oh, how about this one?" She continued, holding up a silk gown.
"Just perfect." Buffy whispered dejectedly.
Jenny's face lit up "Really? I think so too! Oh Buffy it's going to look so gorgeous on you! Go try it on!" She said excitedly.
"Uh… okay" Buffy went into the changing room only to emerge about 10 minutes later. Jenny gasped at what she saw. She looked absolutely beautiful in the glamorous and elegant slimming sheer silk A-line sleeveless dress. It had a diamante brooch in the middle, a lace-up boned bodice which laced up. The bottom of the dress flared down in a most graceful manner and was pinned in a way that made it look like the fabric was rolling down in calm waves. The luxurious fabric clung to her every curve, as if it was made just for her, well except for the fact that it was a little long, but a pair of high heels would take care of that. A long veil completed the stunning picture she presented.
Jenny started tearing up "Oh, sweetheart, you look beautiful."
Buffy slowly looked up from the ground and gave her a nervous little smile "Really?" She asked hopefully. As a little girl Buffy had always pictured going dress shopping with her mother before her big wedding day, and although she missed her mother dearly, somehow Jenny being there made her feel like she was getting at least part of what her naïve young self had dreamt of. True she wasn't exactly marrying for love as much as because of a deal she'd made but it was really weird because despite the fact that she'd only known Jenny for a couple of days, she really felt a motherly vibe coming off of her. She was a natural mother, Buffy thought internally.
"No." Jenny said simply causing Buffy's smile to immediately drop "I think you look absolutely breathtaking and unbearably gorgeous!" She amended enthusiastically causing Buffy to break into a blinding grin "I think this is the one. What do you think?"
Buffy turned around and gave herself one last look in the mirror. It was weird but she really did feel that this dress was made for her, for her wedding day, which was sad because that would mean she'd be wearing "THE dress" to the wrong wedding.
"I think so too-" She was about to agree when she caught sight of the price tag "Oh my god, Mrs. Giles!" At Jenny's look Buffy fixed her mistake "Mom" she amended "this is over $5,000! That's way too expensive!"
"Oh hush, you don't need to worry about that, it's your wedding day, and you only get one of those! Hopefully." Jenny added teasingly while winking at her.
"Of course," Buffy assured with a nervous laugh.
After finding dazzling simple yet stylish red satin bridesmaid dresses, the perfect shoes with the perfect height to go with the dress, and paying for everything Jenny and Buffy made their way out of the boutique.
"So, are we done or is there something else we needed to do?" Buffy asked casually as they walked towards Jenny's car.
At Buffy's question Jenny gave a short amused laugh, "Sweetheart we've just only begun! Now, we got lucky with the dress but considering that you kids want to get married so soon we're going to have to work our butts off to pull off this wedding!"
"B-but I thought we decided it was gonna be a small thing," Buffy stated desperately.
"Yes, and we're going to try to give you want you want, but even so you're still going to need to send out invitations, figure out the table settings, pick out a wedding cake, where you're going to go for your honeymoon, who's going to do your hair and make-up, bridesmaids arrangements, and then there's the priest, the location, food, decorations, flowers, and of course, Angel's tux, but we'll just leave that to him."
At this Buffy started to hyperventilate.
"Sweetheart what's wrong?" Jenny asked worriedly while trying to drive at the same time.
"I can't do this! I can't! Mrs.—mom we only have a week, and I mean my parents died a few years back so there's no-one to walk me down the isle, and I have no-one to invite and-and there's not going to be a wedding because I think I'm having a nervous breakdown and I'm pretty sure you can't have a wedding without the bride!" Buffy screeched in one breath.
"First of all, you need to calm down sweetie, I'm here to help. I'm sure Rupert would love to walk you down the isle if you asked him, as for everything else just don't worry about it, I'll take care of everything." Jenny reassured Buffy.
"Thanks Jenny," She replied with a genuine smile.
X –Later that day, Buffy and Angel's house- X
"Aaangell!" Buffy whined.
"Yeees?" He asked in the same whining tone.
"Can't we postpone the wedding, just a little?" She pleaded.
"No, we've already discussed this Buffy. I can't take time off work, next week's probably the only week that I'll have enough time, and just the fact that we're not even going on our "honeymoon" is going to be suspicious enough, but if we postpone the wedding it's going to look like we're having second thoughts. Plus, I want to get this over with as soon as possible." Angelus tried to explain this to her as reasonably and gently as he could while being forceful at the same time but Buffy only seemed to get more angry at him.
"Fine!"
"Ok, what is it now?" He asked dejectedly.
"You know what? You're not the one busting your ass trying to meet the due date of this crazy, out-of-control fake wedding which, by the way, is not exactly a walk in the park!"
"No, I've just been busting my ass off at work, which apparently with you doesn't count for much!"
"What are you implying? That what you're doing is more important than what I'm doing? Because you know what, just say the word and I'll stop! Actually that doesn't sound too bad at all, the wedding's off Angelus! I don't think I would want to get married to an egotistical jerk like you anyways, even if it is just for show!" She screamed upstairs to pack her stuff, or pretend to anyways. She knew the instant she set foot on the stairs that he would follow her, without even looking behind her. She of course wasn't really mad or planning on leaving, she had her own hidden agenda.
"Buffy! No, please I'm sorry, just stop packing. I'll do anything. Listen, please- whatever you say just stay. Ok?" He pleased cautiously.
Sighing, Buffy pretended to contemplate this for a moment "Ok, well, there is one thing."
"Anything! I'll do anything you want, just name it." Angelus answered hurriedly.
"Since Cordelia doesn't seem to care for me very much I've decided I need an ally, so I invited Faith and Gunn to dinner tonight. I know that you're planning to do some work related junk, but I'd REALLY appreciate it if you stayed with me while they were here."
"That's it? That's what you want? For me to stay with you while you suck up to my younger sister and her boyfriend?" He asked incredulously.
"I'd be ever so grateful" She said in a fake southern accent while batting her eyelashes innocently.
"And so begins the turning of the tables" He stated, still amazed at how quickly her mood changed in a matter of seconds. Or maybe she was never that angry to begin with. That crafty little... Angelus smiled. If he had to fake a marriage to a complete stranger he met on a plane from a business trip from Italy to satisfy his parents desire to see their son "happily married" and with a life other than that of his work, he was happy it was with Buffy.
"Yuhuh!" She grinned.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx –Later that evening- xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
"Black people's impression of white people sounds like white people's impression of gay people which is always the same as when a man is doing an impression of a women, it's like, the universal woman impression…"
"So what you're saying is…" Angelus started.
"That black people think all white people are gay?" Buffy asked, confused.
"Exactly!" Gunn exclaimed.
"Oh no, Gunn are you telling people about your "white males are all gay" theory again?" Faith asked after returning from the bathroom.
"I'm just saying, it seems like more than "just a coincidence" to me."
"Baby you gotta stop doing that, or you're gonna get beat up for it one day. 'Sides my brother's white you know!"
"Believe me, I know. I've seen his white ass in the gyms changing room." Gunn replied with a shudder.
"Hey!" Angelus protested.
"Well are you denying it?" Gunn raised his eyebrows.
"He's kinda right Angel. I mean, you do have a pretty white ass…" Faith interjected.
"Ok that's it…"
"And that's our cue to leave." Faith stated as her and Gunn got ready to go.
"What? No, don't worry about him, he won't do anything. Not while I'm around." Buffy told them with a wink to Angelus.
"Don't worry about it B, we gotta leave right now anyways 'cause we got that thing…"
"What thing?" Gunn asked, confused. At Faith's look he grinned. "Oh THAT thing. Thanks for the dinner Buff, but we gotta go!" He yelled as he pulled Faith out the door.
Buffy and Angelus just stood there dumbfounded, staring at the door that Gunn and Faith had just exited from.
"Well I'm going to go to sleep, got an early day tomorrow." Angelus finally broke the silence.
"'Night." Seeing that he was waiting for her Buffy replied, "You go, there's one last thing I need to take care of." Angelus nodded and left to go upstairs.
Buffy sat on the couch, working up the courage to make the call she was about to make. Finally about 10 minutes later she retrieved the phone number she needed from her purse and dialed.
One ring, two rings… why weren't they picking up? If they didn't pick up on the third ring she would hang up. Buffy held her breath.
"Hello?" Asked the person on the other end of the line.
TBC… A/N: Sorry it took me so long to update. Again. But there's been two deaths in the family, well not really "in the family" as much as relative but still I've been a little put off and decided to take a break from writing. That's also why this chapter was so sucky, my heart just wasn't in it as much but I promise to try to write better chapters later on. In the mean time, review anyone? ;)