Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)
"Faith" Tara whispered, gently shaking the sleeping slayer's shoulder. Faith mumbled unintelligibly and rolled over. "Faith. Wake up, little sister, you're getting married today.. well, tonight anyway." As one of the chosen members of Faith's side of the wedding party had a certain aversion to sunlight, she and Buffy had decided that a nighttime ceremony was best. The night was their time, after all. Vampires liked to think that they owned the night, but anybody who knew the Chosen two could see that it really belonged to the Slayers.
"Wagup, wagup!" baby Lily giggled. She was just under a year old now, and was beginning to mimic some of the words said by the adults around her, as well as saying her own baby-talk interpretations of most of the Scooby's names.
"Faith" Tara repeated, shaking a little harder. "Wake up, Faith."
"Wagup, Fai!" said Lily, clapping her hands. Echo, now fully grown, jumped onto the bed and began licking Faith's face.
"Okay, okay, I'm awake" Faith smiled, sitting up and giving Echo a scratch behind the ears. For today, the dog's collar had been replaced with a bowtie, and attached to it was a small velvet puch inside which the Slayer's wedding rings were safely concealed. "I'm gettin' married today" Faith smiled, although the smile turned into a look of slight panic when she realised the magnitude of her words. "Damn. I'm gettin' married today."
"Yes you are, which is why I let you sleep-in until noon" Tara smiled. "One of the advantages of having your wedding ceremony at night, I guess. But now you have to get up so we can start getting you ready. "Willow and Sophie.."
"Ih-oh, Phie!"
"Yes" Tara smiled, stoking Lily's hair. "Anyway, they've already gone to Xander's with Dawn and Connor to help Buffy. Angel's downstairs with Spike and Illyria.." A howl of laughter from the bleach-blonde vampire floated up the stairs. "And uh, it sounds like he's got his tux on."
"Alright, then" said Faith, throwing back the covers and swinging her legs over the side of the bed. "Guess it's time to get ready for my weddin'. Bride me up, T."
"Okay, let's see what we've got here" said Dawn, frowning as she ticked the items off on her fingers. "Something old is Mom's veil, something new is the dress, something borrowed is my necklace.. Don't lose that by the way, it was a birthday present from Connor."
"I won't" Buffy smiled as Willow worked on her hair.
"And that's everything" Dawn grinned, rubbing her hands together.
"But what abouts something blue?" asked Sophie.
"Something blue.. Oh my God, we forgot the something blue! Everybody, quick!" Dawn called to the apartment's other occupants, panicking. "Find something blue!"
"Does Illyria count?" asked Connor.
"Unless Buffy can wear her, no!" Dawn snapped.
"It's really not that bad, Dawnie.." said Willow, trying to calm the girl down.
"Not bad?" Dawn cried. "Not bad? This is really bad, as in bad luck. If Buffy doesn't have something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue it's bad luck!"
"No, what would be bad luck is if we'd decided to have the wedding on my birthday" said Buffy. "Anyway, I don't think Tara wore anything blue on her wedding day, did she Will?""
"Yeah, she had a blue hairclip" said Willow. "I didn't see it until, um, later" she blushed, "But she had a blue hairclip."
"You owe me, Buffy Summers!" cried Anya, waddling into the room looking about ready to pop and dropping a pair of blue rhinestone earrings into Dawn's hand before flopping into a chair that Xander quickly carried over for her. The baby was due in just a few weeks now, and Xander was behaving like a perfect gentleman. Anya, unfortunately, was not and never really had been a proper lady. "I am so over this pregnant thing!" She grumbled. "My back aches, my ankles are swollen, and I have to pee every five minutes because somebody" she glared at her stomach, "Thinks it's funny to go around kicking my bladder! I just want it to end already! Hear that, tiny human? I'm done! Get the hell out of me right now!"
"She means tomorrow" Xander chuckled nervously as Willow, Buffy, and Dawn glared at the mother of his child. He crouched down in front of Anya, rubbing her belly and speaking to the baby inside. "Don't get the hell out of Mommy 'til tomorrow."