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Angels and Demons by TalesofSpike
 
Chapter 9.03
 
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Note - Thanks to my beta, t_geyer, for her unending patience, perseverance and support.

Note, the second - I have tried to follow the service as given in The Book of Common Prayer (as per www.foreverwed2.com) but I have deviated from this at the point where the rings are exchanged, due to the original providing only for the exchange of one ring rather than two... Unfortunately, I haven't managed to find a single easy to follow source for that version of the service. Apologies for any inaccuracies or errors. Just count yourself lucky that Buffy isn't declaring herself Spike's Sex Poodle...


SECTION 9 - TRUE COLORS

I see your true colours shining through
True colours and that's why I love you
So don't be afraid, to let them show
Your true colours (true colours) are beautiful, like a rainbow.

(Cyndi Lauper, Album - 12 Deadly Sins and Then Some)




Chapter 9.03
Saturday, July 20th, 2002


"If any man can show just cause, why they may not lawfully be joined together, let him now speak, or else hereafter for ever hold his peace," the minister intoned before making a brief pause.

Buffy's heart momentarily stilled in her chest, almost expecting to hear Quentin Travers' voice come echoing through the church, but there was no interruption and the minister continued with the ceremony. As far as Buffy could tell he was going a very long way around to ask Spike and her the same question that he had just put to the congregation at large, after which he moved onto the actual wedding vows.

"William," he asked, the name sounding strangely formal to Buffy's ears. "Wilt thou have this Woman to thy wedded wife, to live together after God's ordinance in the holy estate of Matrimony?"

Buffy turned her head slightly, unable to resist the temptation to watch Spike out of the corner of her eye rather than focusing on Reverend Hamilton or his words.

"Wilt thou love her, comfort her, honour, and keep her in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, keep thee only unto her, so long as ye both shall live?"

Spike's jaw had been tight, his high cheekbones more than normally prominent as he waited for the cue, but his response was both clear and without hesitation when he replied, "I will."

Buffy turned back to the clergyman, preparing to make her own declaration, endeavouring to imprint every word onto her brain for posterity, but their meaning seemed to flow over her like water gurgling over the rocks in a stream, there and then gone.

"...So long as ye both shall live?"

"I will." Her throat was dry and her voice seemed small and husky but in the church's total stillness, she could have answered in a whisper and, even so, her words would have reverberated off the thick stone walls to be heard by the entire congregation.

Reverend Hamilton turned slightly, facing Giles now. "Who giveth this Woman to be married to this Man?"

"I do," her watcher answered, his rich vocal tones conveying a wealth of pride and love. Buffy knew without doubt that she had made the right choice when she had passed over her biological father for the role.

She stepped forward on Giles' arm and loosely held the minister's hand in her own as the Englishman retreated to take up the seat next to her Aunt Arlene.

The clergyman led her to Spike, pressing her right hand into the groom's so that they faced each other for this final part of the ceremony. The impact was like a double hammer blow. First the overwhelming rush of surety, the all-encompassing feeling that nothing she had ever done before had been more right or more perfect than what she did now... As right? Definitely, there had been a few select moments that they had shared which were as right, but none more so. Then, as her eyes met his, even the veil couldn't shield her from the heartstoppingly beautiful cornflower intensity of his gaze.

Somewhere in the back of her head she was aware of his lips moving. Some peripheral part of her was conscious of his voice, interspersed between that of the clergyman, caressing her ears, but it was the enchantment of those eyes and the second-hand emotion that combined to suffuse every part of her, so that if not for Spike's steadying hand she might have swayed on her feet.

With a care that was undoubtedly due to the fact that he couldn't help but be aware of just how overwhelmed she was feeling, Spike freed his fingers from her own, as ceremony dictated. To her surprise, she didn't stumble when his hand released hers, though the curtailment of their empathic union was nearly as jarring as the instant when his heightened emotions had first swamped her senses.

Entranced by the vampire's gaze, she started, realising that the minister, perhaps not for the first time, was telling her in a hushed tone to take Spike's hand in hers. Nevertheless, this time she was ready for the emotional onslaught of his touch when it came. With an imperceptible weight shift, she steadied herself and forced herself to focus on the vows she needed to speak.

"Repeat after me," the minister instructed her. "I, Buffy..."

"I, Buffy," she began, her voice still slightly hoarse.

"...Take thee William..."

"...Take thee William..." she responded, every word getting just a little clearer.

"...To be my wedded husband..."

"...To be my wedded husband..." Spike, her husband . Even the thought of it awed her. So, so far in just a few short months.

"...To have and to hold from this day forward..."

"...To have and to hold from this day forward," And God did she want to hold him, be held by him.

"...In sickness and in health, to love and to cherish..."

She felt exceptionally cosseted as she made her own promises of devotion and, via the claim, felt them more than amply returned, though that was hardly even necessary when she could simply watch the emotion play across Spike's face.

"...Till death do us part, according to God's holy ordinance..."

"...Till death do us part, according to God's holy..." Buffy paused and gave a slight frown before she repeated the word ordinance, her voice rising slightly as if to turn the word into a question. Wasn't that something to do with ammunition?

"...And thereto I give thee my troth," the clergyman prompted with a finality that said they were one step closer to the ceremony's conclusion.

Buffy gave a relieved smile and repeated the last few words, relinquishing Spike's hand with some reluctance when she finished.

The minister gave a slight nod in Xander's direction, motioning the ring bearer forward so that he could take position just to one side of both Buffy and the minister, holding the ivory velvet cushion, on which both rings rested, just above waist height. The minister then returned his attention to Spike.

"What pledge do you give of the sincerity of your vows?" he asked the vampire.

"A ring."

The preacher lifted the smaller of the two rings from the cushion and addressed Buffy. "Do you accept this ring as a pledge of the sincerity of William's vows?"

Buffy gave a small nod. Then, realising that the congregation was probably awaiting a more verbal response she added, "I do."

The clergyman passed the ring to Spike, who placed his left hand under Buffy's, supporting it as he spoke the words from long-buried memory rather than waiting for the minister's prompts.

"With this ring I thee wed, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow. In the name of The Father..." He let the ring hover over the end of her index finger, encircling but not quite touching one perfectly lacquered nail. "And of The Son..." He continued moving the circlet to her middle finger. "And of The Holy Spirit," he concluded, finally sliding the ring down her wedding finger until it rested against her engagement ring. "Amen."

Before he gave his blessing, Reverend Hamilton took a moment to smile at the vampire's word-perfect recitation and the contrast between it and Buffy's panicked glance, which clearly intimated that were she asked to speak her own part from memory, it would be far less polished. "And may this circlet of pure gold which has no end, be henceforth the chaste and changeless symbol of your evermore pure and changeless affection."

Again he turned to Buffy, this time to question what form her pledge would take.

She answered as Spike had done, waiting nervously until Spike had voiced his acceptance of the ring and the minister spoke the magic words, "Repeat after me..."

Line by line, she followed his lead. "This ring I give you... In token and pledge... of my constant faithfulness and abiding love."

Outwardly, as she slid the white gold band down onto his finger, there was no more than the slightest flicker of gold in Spike's eyes, too fleeting for anyone other than her to see. Inside, she could almost hear his demon give a possessive growl, accepting and reciprocating her latest claim on him, just as he accepted the ring that bound them together with yet another tie; friends, lovers, mates and now spouses... It was a primitive sentiment, but one that she found surprisingly endearing. She wasn't exactly in a hurry to share, either.

Even as Buffy was getting used to this idea, the minister continued. "And may this ring given, be the outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual bond which unites your two hearts in love that has no end." He bowed his head, requesting that the congregation join him in The Lord's Prayer.

The slayer wasn't entirely sure if she managed to say the words along with the few voices in the congregation who seemed to know it by rote, Giles' voice distinct amongst them, especially when she caught his hesitation before the word "trespasses", as if he were unsure whether the minister would follow the more traditional version or opt for "debts". She did know that she found it impossible, even with her head downturned, to prevent herself from stealing glances at the vampire opposite.

At the first amen Buffy raised her head, thinking that surely now they must have reached the point where she got to claim her kiss, but the clergyman didn't even lift his eyes, continuing on from that prayer straight into another... and then on to what Buffy decided was a far too wordy and altogether superfluous blessing. She doubted that the minister would appreciate it, though, if she were to do a Prince Humperdink and insist that he skip to the part with 'man and wife'. And, after all she'd gone through to get here, she wanted to make sure that this was binding... legally, spiritually and in every other sense possible... even if she did really want to get to that kiss.

Finally, the preacher took her right hand and placed it in Spike's, once more hitting one of those high points that she remembered from all those daytime TV movies. "Those whom God has joined together let no man put asunder." Ever hopeful, she sought out the minister's eyes, but smoochies, it seemed, were still some way off.

The clergyman's attention turned to the congregation, seeming to make eye contact with friends and family, human and demon alike as he brought the ceremony to a close. "Forasmuch as William and Buffy have consented together in holy wedlock, and have witnessed the same before God and this company, and thereto have given and pledged their troth, each to the other, and have declared the same by giving and receiving each one ring, and by joining hands; by the authority committed unto me as a minister of the Church of Jesus Christ, I pronounce that they are Man and Wife... In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." In a whisper he reminded the couple that this was where they were meant to kneel, and Dawn stepped up from her seat by the aisle to help arrange Buffy's dress as the bride took her position.

"The Lord Bless Thee and Keep Thee," Reverend Hamilton announced, and the string quartet broke into a slow but haunting tune, accompanied, or so it seemed, by the same handful of voices that had joined in The Lord's Prayer.

"The Lord bless thee, and keep thee.
The Lord make his face to shine upon thee,
And be gracious unto thee.
The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee,
And give thee peace."

The words had a beauty of their own. Knowing how much of Spike's rough and ready facade was exactly that, Buffy wasn't surprised at the vicarious awe she felt when the vampire took her hand to help her back to her feet. He could shout from the rooftops that he was Evil with a capital E but, having for so long believed himself to be damned, it obviously touched him profoundly to be the recipient of such a blessing. If she had ever had any misgivings about how she had coerced the vampire into a church wedding, in that instant they were gone.

She looked again at the minister, waiting for the cue that with a smile and a slight shake of his head he declined to give. Puzzled, she turned to Spike.

The vampire echoed the minister's smile with a teasing grin as he reached out to lift her veil almost reverently, so that, for the first time, he could fully see her face. "I sorta bent the truth a touch, Mrs Giles. That bit about kissing the bride isn't actually part of the standard service, but I reckon, since we put in so much practice, it'd be a shame if we didn't give it a go," he whispered, loud enough for only her to hear.

A second later his lips met hers in a slow, aching, yearning and yet chaste caress that even the blindest soul in the congregation could see had love as its foundation. She leaned in towards him, savouring the feel of his hand on the bare flesh at her back, unable to tell whether the euphoria she felt originated with her or with him. His skin smelled of spices, soothingly familiar to her senses. His breath carried the scent of mints, for once with no underlying taint of tobacco, and as they finally broke apart, Buffy promised herself that she would get herself a taste as soon as they got a moment to themselves.






 

Faith grabbed her opportunity while the photographer was lining people up for the photographs of Buffy's family, manoeuvring into position next to Spike.

"Congratulations, Blondie," she said with a knowing smirk. "How's it feel to be a married man?"

"Pretty much the same as it felt before," Spike replied. "Apart from being all poncied up in a suit... not that I don't carry it off better than the rest of them."

Faith gave a silent laugh before she turned more serious. "Look, it's not that I don't want to be here..."

"But your fella's stuck in a hospital bed?" Spike suggested, offering her a cigarette from his packet and lighting it for her before he lit one of his own.

"Yeah, not that we... I mean, not that he's... I've got a taxi due in ten minutes."

"'Nough said. I'll have a word with David Bailey over there and get him to do the shots with the entire group next. Figure if I ask nice he might do one of you on your own so your watcher can have a keepsake. Legs like that there ought to be a permanent record."

Faith wanted to come up with a sarcastic reply, but the words wouldn't come, so she settled for a simple, "Thanks," instead.






 

There were photographs at the church. Then, when they got to the reception hall, it started all over again. By the end of it, Spike was feeling like a Ken doll in the hands of a particularly sadistic seven-year-old. He'd stood, he'd sat, he'd gone down on one knee, he'd posed with the attendants, with all the Scoobies, with Buffy, Dawn, Hank and The Evil Step Mom, with the sisters and their aunt, with all the guests in pretty much every combination possible. He wasn't exactly complaining about the ones where he'd been instructed to kiss the bride, but he'd have preferred to do it without an audience. By the time he was actually free to make his way to the bar, he was desperate for a pint. No sooner did it seem that he had taken his first sip than he had to abandon the drink and take his place in the reception line.

Dinner was mostly a blur. There were speeches. Clem surprised them all with his eloquence, referring to sacrifices made and making a toast to absent friends, but he left no doubt in anyone's mind that days like today were the reason why these battles needed to be fought and that those people who were missing wouldn't want the day to be tainted with sadness. Today was a celebration of love, of family and of friendship and those who were no longer here would be proud in the part that they had played in making it possible. There were bouquets and thank yous and congratulations, but Spike had a feeling that, other than Clem's speech, the image that he would hold in his memory however many years down the line would be the look on Buffy's face as she ate her chocolate cheesecake... and half of his.

Finally, the plates were cleared away and the DJ announced that for the next hour, until it was time for the live band, he would be taking care of the music.

"If the bride and groom would care to take the dance floor..."

Buffy's lips twisted into the most delightful little moue of discontent and she rubbed at her stomach as if she had eaten a five course meal, which perhaps wasn't all that far from the truth.

"Come on, love," Spike coaxed, rising from his seat and extending his hand. "One slow dance and then we can let the rest of them take over." Buffy's fingers wrapped around his and he led her to the centre of the floor. Soft drumbeats sounded from the PA system before the other instruments, and finally Cyndi Lauper's rough-edged voice joined in. Buffy's hands snaked around his neck, nimble fingers playing absently with the short curls at his nape as he pulled her close, their bodies swaying gently together. It was everything that their first joint vision had promised, everything and more...

After all, a vision was just a vision. It didn't convey how soft and pliant his new wife felt in his arms. It couldn't hope to impart how contented and how beloved her presence could make him feel, or how watching her eyes brim with happy tears would make him want to cry with her, not that he gave in to the impulse. The brief glimpse that they had been given had failed to show the way they would soon find themselves surrounded by other people. Some of them, like Wes, had been virtual strangers when they had begun to plan for this day and yet they all wished them well. They all were part of what they had come to regard as their family. Spike realised that he hadn't only found love. Over the past few months he had found a home.
 
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