“Buffy, relax, the dress is beautiful.”

  Buffy turned to look at Willow anxiously, her hazel eyes brimming with worry. “Are you sure? What if he hates it?”

  “How could he hate it? It's Calvin Klein,” Cordy put in, as she fussed with Buffy's blonde hair, twisting it up into a loose knot. “Besides, he's Angel, he may have great clothes, but it's not like he notices other people's.”

  “She's right,” Anya supplied helpfully. “I would tell you if I thought it was a repulsive dress. It's nice, I mean, I've seen better—“

  “Thank you, Anya,” Joyce Summers cut in, laying a reassuring hand on her daughter's silk covered back. “It's gorgeous honey. Angel will adore it, because he loves you.”

  “What she said,” Willow chirped, fluffing out the bottom of the simply cut white silk dress, and fixing Buffy's veil. “Angel's gonna flip. You know him. Anything you do is perfect in his eyes.”

  “I think that's true,” Tara spoke in her soft voice. “Angel really loves you Buffy. The dress will be beautiful to him because you're in it.”

  Buffy turned to look again in the full-length mirror. All the bridesmaids and the bride's mother had assembled up in a room in the upstairs of the church. Buffy and Angel had decided to get married in Sunnydale. After all, it had been where they first met, and it was an easy place for everyone to get to. It had been a month since they got engaged, a month spent preparing the ceremony as quickly as possible. Angel had laughed one night and told her he was so impatient to marry her that he felt like hauling her off to Vegas. She had giggled at the thought of him in an Elvis Chapel and told him firmly that she wanted to get married with all their friends and her family there. But that had been then and this was now. Right at that second she felt like jumping out of the window, pulling her lover out of the church and high-tailing it off to Sin City so they could tie the knot without any fuss. Maybe then she wouldn't be so nervous.

  “Maybe I should wear my hair down,” she fretted, and Cordy shook her dark head.

  “No way Buffy,” she snapped ominously, “after I just spent all this time achieving that casual yet sexy look with your hard to manage hair? You'll leave it up and like it.”

  “It looks great,” Joyce assured her, sending Cordelia a warning glance, who looked right back innocently. “Now, honey, the ceremony's about to start, so I think maybe you should calm down a bit.”

  “Calm down??” Buffy screeched. “I'm getting married today!! OH MY GOD! Why wasn't I this nervous when I married Riley?”

  “Cause it's Angel,” Willow said simply, sitting back on a plush couch with a grin. “You've been waiting to marry him since you met.”

  Everyone smiled, and so did Buffy, her face relaxing as she thought about that. “You're right…I have.”

  The door opened. “Buffy…you look beautiful.”

  The soon to be bride grinned weepily. “Thank you Giles,” she replied to the older man, who came forward and offered her his arm.

  “Shall we?”

  She smiled up at him, “We shall.”

  After much deliberation, Buffy had chosen to have Giles walk her down the aisle. Her father, though hurt, understood that he hadn't really been around much in her life, and that this day was about what made her happy. He had given in with minimal fuss, and Giles had been thrilled when she asked him.

  The bridesmaids walked out first, then the maid of honour, Willow, then Joyce. Buffy and Giles walked behind them. They halted just outside the entrance to the church, and the bridesmaids started to go through. Buffy's mother kissed her, wept a few tears and then went to take her seat.

  “Buffy,” Giles began, rather stiffly. “I wanted to say again what a great honour it was for you to ask me—“

  She smiled, placing her arm through his. “The honour was having you as my Watcher Giles. You've been like a father to me. And I want to thank you for that.”

  His expression was startled, and she knew why. Usually she was not one for huge declarations, or at least she hadn't been as a teenager. But today, she felt different. He looked as if his eyes were misting up as he answered, “Well, Buffy, it's no secret that I have always thought of you as the daughter I never had.” Awkwardly he leaned forward and kissed her forehead quickly. “And I'm very proud of you,” he finished. She beamed at him, as the strains of the 'wedding march' started up.

  “Thank you,” she answered.

  “Your welcome Buffy.”

  As Buffy took her first steps down the aisle, her eyes flew to Angel's. He stood at the altar, flanked by his best men, Wesley and Gunn. Their gazes locked and he smiled at her. That trademark half-smile that always sent her reeling. She felt the tears start ,and gave him a weepy grin, feeling her heart swell with a love so great she could barely contain it. He mouthed, “Love you.”

  “Love you,” she mouthed back, and smiled, feeling as if she had never been so happy. They neared the altar and stopped in front of Angel.

  “Who gives this bride away?” the minister asked, and Giles beamed.

  “I do,” he replied and squeezed Buffy's hand, before setting her hand in Angel's and stepping back. Buffy and Angel gazed into each other's eyes for a moment, and sweet memories flashed before them, playing like a movie of their times together…

Angel, when I look into the future, all I see is you. All I want is you”
I know the feeling

Do you think I want anything to happen to you? Do you think I could stand it?

You're the only freaky thing in my freaky world that makes sense to me

I want my life to be with you
I don't
You don't want to be with me? I can't believe you're breaking up with me.
How am I supposed to stay away from you?

  Buffy and Angel had decided to write their own vows and after they had finished the traditional ones, the minister stepped back and they turned to each other. Buffy went first. She breathed in deeply, scared she was going to start crying before she even begun. “Angel,” she whispered, and then cleared her throat, watching him give her an adoring half-smile. “I have loved you since the day I first kissed you, and I will love you until the day I die. Your arms are the only place in the world I feel safe, your smile a healing balm to my bruises, and your eyes are the only eyes that I let see into my soul. I can't imagine a world without you in it, can't imagine what my life would be like without your love. Through all these years I have doubted, I have almost given up, but the knowledge that you were out there has saved me so many times.” She smiled weepily, and saw tears fill his dark eyes. “I promise to always love you, take care of you, walk in the sunlight with you, and spend the hours of darkness with you by my side.” She hesitated then repeated the faithful words that had shattered her so many years ago. “I want my life to be with you.”

  He squeezed her hands, looked straight into her eyes and responded, “So do I”. Tears streamed down Buffy's face as he continued. “In all my life I have loved exactly one person, and that person is you, Buffy. My heart belongs to you and only you, and has since the day I first saw you standing in the sunlight. If thousands of years went by, and I still lived, I would remember your name, I would remember your smile, your touch…   Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like without you, and I cannot fathom it. A bleaker existence then one not warmed by your love would be impossible. I swear to love you, respect you, fight away any demons that might be lurking in the shadows, and keep you safe. If I can simply watch you smile and hear you laugh for the rest of my existence, my life will have been complete.

  I promise to love you until I die, and beyond.” He lifted her hand to his and kissed it. “Be my girl?”

  She giggled through her tears. “Always,” she whispered, and they exchanged Claddagh rings, the insides engraved simply with “B+A Always…”

  As they turned back to the minister, clutching hands, he smiled, and looked at them. “I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride, Angel.”

  He grinned, and cupped Buffy's face in his hands, lifting her veil. “We did it,” he whispered and she nodded, smiling with joy.

  “Finally,” she replied and he lowered his lips to hers, their mouth's meeting in a bond that they had sworn would last forever…

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