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Angels and Demons by TalesofSpike
 
Chapter 8.02
 
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Note: Thanks to my beta t_geyer for her unending patience, perseverance and support.

SECTION 8 - IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT (AND I FEEL FINE)

It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.

(REM, Album - Document)




Chapter 8.02
Friday, July 19th, 2002


"Giles?" Lydia answered her mobile phone with alacrity, desperate as she was for news.

"I'm sorry," the watcher apologised to her. "I know I said I would call you back before now. Things have just been rather hectic. Every time I pick up a phone someone interrupts."

"The others?" she asked.

"We got the final figures," Giles replied in a sombre tone. "We lost Oz, fifteen of the slayers and four watchers..." He hesitated, knowing that these were probably people she knew intimately, far more so than the young girls that she'd only known a matter of months. "Prentiss, Walker, young Owen Mathers and Geoffrey Sandeman. Another twenty-odd were hurt badly enough to need hospital treatment, but we probably fared better than we had any right to expect. I faxed a copy of the list to The Hyperion. Most of the slayers are on their way to Los Angeles until we can book them flights home. I'm sure they'll bring you up to speed on the details."

Lydia could hear a disgruntled female voice in the background, telling Giles to get on with it.

Lydia gave a sigh. She knew that they had business to deal with, but she had hoped that they would get some time to just reconnect. However, something made her think that this wasn't a social call. "What's the problem, Giles?"

"Well... em. There was a slight accident with the Sunnydale mall... and with Bee and Marie's apartments. Bee has, ehm, convinced me that the least the council can do is to provide wedding outfits from Rodeo Drive for the remaining ladies."

Lydia gave a weary sigh. "Rodeo Drive? At this time on a Friday afternoon? How many are we talking about, Giles?"

"Rodeo Drive?" Cordelia echoed, but she sounded far more pleased at the idea.

"J-just a few," Giles stuttered slightly, sounding less than credible. "Bee, Marie and Lily, of course... and then there's Amanda... a-and Ha Nath and her friends. The wedding party's outfits were all at the reception hall already. I have a note of their measurements if you have a notepad and pen."

"I have a PDA," Lydia answered, in that tone of voice that let Giles know that sooner or later he was going to be dragged into the twenty-first century.

She could almost imagine Giles' face twisting into an expression of puzzlement as there was nothing but dead air for a second or so. "Isn't that what Dawn keeps moaning about Spike and Buffy doing all the time?"

Lydia's next sigh intimated more in the way of exasperation. "Just give me the sizes, Giles."

"Well, there's Faith as well. She's in Ventura. She took off to check on James at the hospital as soon as the battle ended, so we haven't got her measurements but I'm sure you could make a better guess than I."

"We'll work something out. Better start giving me names and numbers."

Cordy looked over Lydia's shoulder as she made notes on her handheld computer. "Better add our names to that list, Blondie," she commanded. "Cordelia Chase doesn't do that much shopping for other people without getting a little something for herself." She tilted her head slightly to one side as if considering something. "My careers test said I should be a personal shopper."






 

Faith teetered on the brink of wakefulness, the gentle hand stroking her hair soothing her back toward sleep, but the contorted angle of her back in the hospital chair was too much for even a slayer to sleep through. She reluctantly opened bleary eyes to find herself looking into half-open eyes of palest blue.

Against her better judgement she found her lips curving into a smile at the sight. "Hey, you."

"Hey, you, too..." The watcher looked as if it were taking all his effort to keep his eyes from drifting closed, but his gaze was disconcertingly focused, as if even watching her try to rub the waffle pattern of the blanket from her cheek was fascinating. "Sorry I couldn't be more scintillating company."

"That's what happens when you get yourself injured bad enough to need surgery. They have this thing these days about using anaesthetic and painkillers. The whole out for the count thing does sort of put a damper on the boyish charm."

The watcher gave a half-hearted attempt at a shrug. "Can't be doin' too bad. I've got a gorgeous woman waiting for me to come to... or I'm hallucinating... In which case they can keep doping me with this stuff for the rest of my life."

"You're hallucinating," Faith assured him. "I don't hang around hospitals waiting for any guy."

Larger fingers squeezed briefly at her own where somehow they had become intertwined. "Until now," James whispered to her as his eyes drifted closed again.






 

Darkness had fallen outside the hotel where the rehearsal dinner was currently being held and where the wedding reception would take place the following evening. Lydia, looking slightly worn from her extended shopping spree, along with Penny had made it back from LA about an hour before. Angel and the rest of his team had delayed leaving until after dark, but they were due to arrive shortly and the small reception room was already filled with a mixture of Buffy and Spike's family and friends, both human and demon.

Giles gave up trying to attract the barman's attention, settling for simply waiting until he reached them. He followed the gaze of the vampire at his side. For once it centred not on Buffy but on the woman who sat between her and Dawn and it didn't take much to work out why. There were definite differences. Her hair was short and greyer but also darker, as if her original colouring had been nearer Dawn's than Joyce's. There were a few more lines at the corners of her eyes and her mouth than Giles remembered Joyce having the last time he'd seen her, but the eyes and the smile were so reminiscent of Buffy's mother that Giles had found himself doing a double take on more than one occasion over the course of the rehearsal dinner.

For the watcher, it was a minor distraction. The vampire's look of near-reverence seemed to indicate that he was finding it more comforting.

"There's a remarkable likeness, isn't there?" Giles commented.

"You could say that," Spike answered with a wry smile. "Part of me always knew that Joyce would be lookin' on in spirit tomorrow, regardless. I mean, if nothing else, just having Bit an' Buffy there, you can see Joyce in both of them... But if there's any sort of justice, Joyce is up in heaven lookin' down an' keepin' an eye on her girls, only that doesn't mean that Buffy wouldn't feel like there was a great big Joyce-shaped hole in things. Or she would have done... I know it's not the same, but I guess maybe, it's the next best thing. Seems like they all used to be pretty close until..." The blond turned to face the bar and, with the faintest lift of an eyebrow, seemed to bring a barmaid scurrying to take his order. "Four orange juices, a double vodka, a bottle of your finest beer ...and whatever the old guy and his lady are having," the vampire tacked on.

Giles was left to wonder, as the vampire headed back to the table where the Summers women and Brandon were waiting, whether the drinks were Spike's version of a friendly gesture or simply his way of changing the subject. The vampire wasn't to know that Giles already knew about Buffy's cousin and childhood companion Celia and her early death. Somehow, there was a symmetry to the aunt who would never see her own daughter's wedding, and the niece whose mother couldn't be there for hers. Yes, her aunt had a couple of sons, neither of whom had been able to make the trip, but there had to be something special woman to woman, across the generations. As Spike said, there wasn't anyone who could take Joyce's place, but Buffy's aunt was almost certainly the next best thing.






 

"Spi-i-ike," Buffy protested half-heartedly as she realised that the vampire was slow-dancing her toward the patio doors that opened into the hall's grounds. "We can't... It's our party and-."

"An' we'll leave if we want to," Spike finished with no little determination. "Besides, I've only got another half an hour before I get banished back to the apartment like Cinderella."

"It's tradition," Buffy answered in her best Bridezilla pout. "The groom isn't meant to see the bride on the day of the wedding, argot you have to leave before midnight."

Spike let the mistake go, knowing to choose his battles. "And have I complained?" he asked as he ushered her through the double doors, closing them tight behind them both.

Buffy drew breath to answer, but before she could start the vampire quickly added the word, "much."

"Not much , no," the slayer conceded. "But that doesn't mean that I'm up for a quickie against some tree in the middle of the grounds."

Spike's eyes widened, his brows raised and he pressed his palm against his unbeating heart in a overblown gesture of shocked surprise. "As if I would take advantage of my bride to be in such a way... I simply thought that it might be better to give you your wedding present tonight, rather than tomorrow." He pulled a black silk scarf from his coat pocket, dangling it teasingly between them.

"Spi-i-ike... If I put that blindfold on and this present turns out to involve blowing anything that isn't made of wax..." she mock-threatened, remembering Spike's idea of a birthday present.

Spike raised an eyebrow, as if her suggestion were ridiculous, though at the same time his lips curved into a near leer. "This hot little body will stay all wrapped up unless you're the one doing the unwrapping." He pressed his thumb over his pinkie, and raised his right hand. "Scout's honour."

Buffy made a quiet snort of disbelief, but, nevertheless, she turned her back and waited patiently while Spike tied the scarf over her eyes.

Spike took both her hands, leading her along a narrow path bordered by shrubs, trees and flowers until they reached the side of the building. The night air was filled with the mixture of their scents, almost but not quite drowning the light spicy scent of Spike's aftershave.

"There's a kerb here, pet. Just step down three or four inches," the vampire spoke gently, knowing it would be more than his life was worth if the slayer were to sprain her ankle at this point in the proceedings.

Buffy could have sworn that she heard a muffled giggle from off to one side as she used her toe to feel the edge of the kerb down into the parking lot. Whatever the surprise, it seemed as if Dawn was in on the act. If she strained she could hear other voices making hushed whispers.

She couldn't help being just a little disappointed that she wasn't about to be mercilessly ravished. After all, half past eight tomorrow night was a long way off, and that was just until she could see him again. It would be far later before they could actually get some time alone.

A few feet later, Spike's hands stopped pulling her forward, she caught the light crunch of feet on gravel as he walked around her and then with a hand on either shoulder he turned her through ninety degrees.

She could feel his body brushing lightly against her back as he leaned forward to whisper in her ear.

"Ready, love?"

Not knowing who else was there, she resisted the urge to lean back into his touch and simply nodded. Agile fingers loosened the silk and it fell away with a sensuous stroke against her face.

Buffy stared at the thing in front of her, clearly illuminated by one of the many security lights that were interspersed around the hall's parking area. There was a huge white and silver bow on top, but this just couldn't be right... She blinked her eyes several times to see if it would disappear and when it didn't she shook her head as if to clear it.

Spike's hand pressed something small and hard into her right palm, and as she brought it towards her face and stared at the metal and plastic object, she finally began to believe...

She pressed the key fob and the headlights and indicators on the brand new silver Beetle cabriolet in front of her blinked a couple of times as the car made a couple of electronic beeps before falling silent again.

"You bought me a car?" she gasped incredulously. "A brand new car?"

She could hear the laughter in the vampire's voice as he answered, again leaning forward so he could breathe his reply against her ear. "Well, you didn't think I was going to let you take my baby back and forward to college every day when you start again, did you? There was a point to making you take all those lessons, you know."

Buffy turned in his arms. "But you bought me a car , a Herbie ," she replied, wrapping her arms around Spike's neck, still obviously slightly stunned. "And it isn't even black."

"Well, no, I was buying you a car, not me... though since there was a chance I might end up in it now and again, I skipped the bright yellow and-."

Spike's words were cut off as Buffy claimed his lips with her own, no longer caring who else was watching them.

When they finally drew apart, Buffy's lip formed a slight pout. "I can't drive it yet. I've been drinking."

"No, but you could check out the interior and the stereo, if you wanted."

Buffy shook her head and stood on tiptoe, pulling him into a tight hug so that only he could hear her whispered reply. "I have a better idea. Why don't we check out those woods at the other end of the lawn. I think I've got about twenty minutes to say thank you properly before you need to go."
 
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