TITLE: A Brand New Life
AUTHOR: Tienco (tienco@msn.com)
COUPLE: A/X, W/S, mentions flirting between Xander and Graham at the end. . .
RATING: Rish
DISTRIBUTION: My site!! www.oocities.org/tienco_21 and various lists. Ask if you want it, I'll let you have it. Oh, Jinni, Kylia, and Jai can always have it. . .if I've given you permission for something else, you are welcome to this.
DISCLAIMER: All belongs to Joss Whedon. I want Xander though. And Spike, and Angelus. Perhaps Willow and Faith can come play too.
FEEDBACK: Of *course*. Makes me write more.
SPOILERS: Nothing really that I can think of.
SUMMARY: Xander decides he knows what he wants at Willow and Spike's wedding.
NOTES: Last week my bestest friend in the whole world got married. I was the bride's maid. I've been wanting to write a wedding story between Willow and Spike from it, and started on this, but it totally went wacky. :) It ended up being a Xander/Angel piece. Go figure. :) Also, this is from Xander's POV. It's also a couple of years from now.
DEDICATION: To Robyn, for being the best friend a girl could have. Good luck, sweetie.

~*~*~

"Come on, Xander. . .wake up," a soft voice cooed in my ear. I stretched, shutting my eyes tighter. "Wakey, wakey. . ." A hand ruffled my hair. I reached up and slapped at the hand, trying to get the person to leave me alone. The hand snatched away and a small giggle filled my ears.

I opened my eyes and groaned slightly. My best friend in the whole world, Willow Rosenberg soon-to-be. . .hmm. "Wills?" I asked softly.

"Xander?" she replied, sitting on the edge of the couch where I'd slept the night before.

"What is your last name going to be when you marry Junior? He doesn't have one, does he? I mean, you can't go around being Willow the Bloody, or uh, Willow Spike. Can you?"

Her face lit up and she laughed. "Xander, you ask the strangest questions. It's going to be Bradley."

"Bradley?" I asked. "Where the hell did Bradley come from?" I sat up, running my fingers through my hair. I yawned and stretched, trying to wake myself up. I wasn't a morning person, and looking over at the clock, I saw that it was 8:30 am. I moaned softly. It was just too early. For a Saturday, anyway. Being a teacher got me up at an ungodly hour, but I managed. Somehow.

"It was his name before. . .you know."

"His neck met Angelus' fangs?" I smirked.

She slapped my arm. "Shut up, Xander," she grinned. "So get up. We have to decorate for the wedding."

"Wills, it's not until six. Why do we have to get up so early?" I yawned again.

Her bottom lip quivered and tears filled her eyes. "I just want it to be perfect," she whispered.

Damn. She was going to cry! I reached out and wrapped my arms around her. "It's ok, Wills. I'm up. I swear. Please don't cry. . ."

"Thanks!" she said, flashing a bright smile at me, all traces of tears gone.

I rolled my eyes. She'd gotten me. Again. She was always good at her cute little pouts to make me do whatever it was that she wanted.

I sighed, getting off the couch. I stretched again, throwing a shirt on. "Where's Deadboy?" I asked curiously, not wanting to look like I actually cared or anything.

"Angel? He ended up staying at Giles' house. We didn't have enough room here. Well, we could have woken you up and made you pull the couch out, but we decided not to do that."

I turned away, my face burning with embarrassment. It would have been wonderful to sleep against Angel all night. . .but no one knew that. I had a sneaking suspicion that Willow had an idea, but we'd never sat around and talked about it.

The drive from LA, where I was currently living and teaching in a nice upper class Bel Aire school, was hell. Angel called me - we saw each other ever so often, but we didn't make a habit of it. . .Cordelia and I were great friends, *she* knew about my crush on Angel, and told me I should go after him, but I never did. . .her husband Gunn was great. Wesley and I rarely saw each other either. I had a few friends in Bel Aire, but I wasn't really close to anyone there in LA. Willow was always and still remained my best friend, and Buffy and I were close too. They both lived in Sunnydale, an hour and a half away. Unfortunately, it had been almost a year since I'd seen any of the old Scooby Gang still living in Sunnydale.

Anyway, Angel called me and offered me a ride to Sunnydale. Gunn and Cordelia were going, then heading on to Mexico to take a small vacation. Wesley preferred his motorcycle, and had already headed to Sunnydale a few days before to do some research with Giles. Angel didn't want to ride alone. I took him up on that offer.

I think we spoke a total of five words to each other the whole trip.

"Hungry?" he asked.

"No," I replied. I was far too nervous to be hungry. He was beautiful, and I just wanted to touch him, but I knew that I couldn't. He was too aloof, too far removed from the situation. I think he loved the silence. It killed me.

"Well, we're here," he said when we pulled up into the driveway of the small house Willow and Spike lived in.

I was out of the car in a flash, trying to get away from him, from the uncomfortableness. I'm sure he thought it was to see Willow, and I let him believe that.

Light fingertips trailed across my back. "You ok?"

I turned, realizing I'd been standing there, lost in my thoughts, for god only knows how long. "Yea," I said, smiling. "I'm fine. Let's get this show on the road."

~*~*~

Buffy had a new name for me. "Bow Boy." Apparently, our dear Slayer thought it was hee-haw funny that I could tie that white meshy stuff Brides are so fond of into a perfect bow. "Hey, Bow Boy! Where did you get such talent?" she yelled across the yard.

I rolled my eyes. "Buffy. Slayer. Dear friend of mine. I teach a class of thirty-one first graders. Where the hell do *you* think I learned to tie a bow?"

Buffy opened her mouth to respond, then frowned. "Oh."

Willow laughed, her green eyes sparkling. "They look great, Xander," she said softly, smiling at my handiwork.

I looked around, stroking my chin. It looked like a white mesh demon stormed through the yard and threw bows up all over everything. If it stood still, I tied a bow on it. I tried to tie one on Riley, but he threatened to pound me. "Shouldn't have been standing still, farm boy," I muttered under my breath.

I loved Buffy. I really did. And Riley was a great guy. For her. He got on my nerves most of the time. We'd had our moments, where we were got along, but Riley wasn't high on my list as my favorite people. But then, he did get extra brownie points for keeping the Slayer away from Angel. . .

"I'm hungry," I said, my stomach grumbling.

"Why don't you go inside and get a sandwich?" Willow asked.

"I think I will." I leaned down and kissed her forehead, watching as she ran off to go critique Buffy's decorating. Spike had bought her a lot of land, and they were getting married in their front yard. It was a beautiful house, on the outskirts of Sunnydale.

I pulled my shirt off, rubbing it absentmindedly along my sweaty skin. I walked into the house and stopped, dead in my tracks.

He was there. He was sitting on the couch, watching TV. He slowly looked up at me, almost as if his dark chocolate eyes were traveling up my body, examining every single inch of my skin. "D. . .Deadboy," I squeaked. I cleared my throat, frowning. Great. Sound like a little kid in front of my dream man. "Angel," I nodded.

He blinked in shock. "You said my name."

"Huh?" I asked, moving out of his line of sight with a soft sigh of relief. I went into the kitchen, listening to his words.

"You called me Angel. You never call me Angel. You always call me Deadboy."

I frowned, sticking my head around the corner. "I do?"

"Ever since you found out I was a vampire," he nodded.

"Hmm. Sorry. I didn't even realize it. I'll stop," I said, shrugging.

"No, don't," he smirked. "I've grown used to it. And. . .I like it."

I blinked in shock. He *liked* the name Deadboy? Why the hell did he like the name Deadboy? And did I even really care? A flush of pleasure went through my body, knowing that there was something that only I did that he liked. "Yea, well, whatever," I said, shrugging it off nonchalantly. I stepped back into the kitchen and started rummaging through the refrigerator.

I sighed softly, the coolness of the fridge caressing my skin. It was hot outside, and damn if walking around tying bows didn't wear a guy out. I reached out and grabbed the mustard.

"You know," a soft voice said in my ear, "if you are hot, there are much better ways to cool down."

I yelped, slamming the door shut. I spun around and leaned against the fridge, holding the mustard out, ready to attack. Angel was three feet from me. Smirking. Like Angelus always did. "My *god*, Deadboy! Are you trying to give me a fucking heart attack?"

"Mmm. . .I'm thinking no. A dead Xander wouldn't be a good thing." He grinned slightly. "Unless he had fangs and yellow eyes. Now that might be interesting."

I pressed against the kitchen appliance, my heart practically thudding out of my chest. "Angel, you are scaring me."

He stepped closer, licking his lips. "I'm not trying to scare you, Harris."

"I'll. . .I'll shoot this mustard on your expensive silk shirt," I squeaked.

His lips curled into a beautiful smirk, one that made me want to throw him down and fuck it off his face. "You don't have the balls," he purred.

I squeezed without even realizing it. Suddenly, there was a long yellow streak all over his nicely pressed midnight blue silk shirt. "Oh, shit," I said, suddenly terrified by the yellowing of his eyes.

I ducked out from between him and the refrigerator and hauled ass, running out of the house into the sunlight where I knew that he couldn't follow.

I glanced back towards the house, seeing him standing at the door, just in the shadows, smirking at me. I was beginning to hate that smirk. It was much too sexy for his own good.

"Oof!"

I fell down on the ground in a heap of arms and legs, bringing Willow - who I just *so* gracefully slammed into - with me. "Wills, are you ok?" I cried.

"Yea," she said, frowning. She looked towards the house, then back at me. "Xander, are you ok?"

"When did Deadboy get here? He wasn't here this morning."

"Oh, Giles had some things to do today, so he dropped him off about nine or so. You were off weaving the ivy through the arch," Willow nodded. "He was going to spend the day with Spike, but my little blonde vamp is currently sleeping off his hangover from last night. Or he was. He may be up now."

I glanced back at the house, sighing. Angel was nowhere to be seen. "If he is awake, then he was no where to be found."

That must have been what that all was. Spike still, after all these years, loved to tease me, get under my skin, give me a hard time. He somehow talked in Sire into trying to give me a heart attack, or turn me on enough so I'd attack him. Damn.

For a minute there, I thought maybe he actually wanted me.

*~*~*~*

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