Author's notes: This is the third story in my "Strange Place to Live" series. This means it takes place in my parallel universe that diverges from the show prior to "Helpless." The previous stories are Coming Home and Demon Hunter. I really recommend you read those stories first, but you should be able to catch on anyway. This story also makes reference to events and includes characters from some of my other fan fictions that were not sent to these lists, because they're not B/A. Robin Cunningham-Baker was introduced in "We Do What We Can." Colleen Cunningham is the main character of my "Journal of the Observer" series, especially "Sunnydale." You should be fine without reading either of these stories, but if you want to know more about these characters . . . .
Disclaimers: I don't own Buffy: The Vampire Slayer or any of the related characters. I'm just borrowing them. What I do own is the plot and events of these specific stories, and any characters you don't recognize.
Distribution: My site, , anyone who got the first 2, and the BA_Fluff archive. Anyone else ask please.

Prologue

"If everyone in the world
would give me their treasure
I would not want for more
than I have right now"

~I Couldn't Love You More
Sade

"Romantic Dinner and Slay Ride"

Buffy smiled as she cleaned her plate of the last of her dinner. "Delicious," she said.

"Thanks," Angel replied, looking at her through the candlelight. "I'll have to thank Willow for the cookbook."

They sat quietly for a long moment, just content being together. The mansion was lit by candlelight, silent beyond the main room. Of the many evenings they had spent together here, it was nice to have one that was purely romantic, just to be a normal couple.

Okay, almost normal. "I really should patrol before going home," Buffy said, breaking out of the moment.

Angel nodded and stood up. "Let me just clear the table. I'll be back in a minute."

Slipping on her jacket and gathering her things, Buffy waited patiently for Angel to return. She was fidgeting with slight impatience by the time he did so. "What took you so long?"

"I had to get something," he said casually, putting on his jacket and slipping a stake up his sleeve.

The night was a bit cool for late summer, with a gentle breeze that made it a good evening for a pleasant walk. If one could ever have a pleasant walk in Sunnydale. The two of them walked side by side, wary and alert for the town's nocturnal denizens. They were silent, and so was the night around them, as none of the vampires seemed to be making a move. By the time they finished patrolling vampire hot-spot number three and entered another of Sunnydale's graveyards, their manner became more relaxed and the silence grew uncomfortable.

"So," Buffy asked finally, "what's up?"

"Hmm?"

"Oh, that says a lot," she said. "You're being incredibly quiet, even for you, tonight."

Angel shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant but clearly preoccupied. "I was just thinking."

"About?" Buffy prodded. When Angel didn't reply she continued, "You know, I do believe we're way past the point in our relationship where you need to be all silent and cryptic."

Walking a moment longer in silence, he just nodded. "Let's sit," he said then, leading her to a bench-like grave marker.

They sat next to each other, and Buffy watched as Angel fidgeted, searching for words. "Why," she said with a grin, trying to lighten the mood, "I do believe you're nervous!"

Angel gave her a half grin in return. "I haven't done this before," he explained.

"Something Angel hasn't done before? There's a rare event!" Buffy said.

"It happens," he returned. "Are you teasing me?"

"Yup!" she grinned.

"I love you, Buffy."

"I love you, too."

"This isn't exactly the most romantic place for this." Angel paused, sorting out what he was going to say. "This past month has been incredible," he began. "Getting to see sunlight again, with you, to really get to know you and your friends and all the little everyday things I was never a part of before . . . I want it to go on forever." Removing a small box from his pocket, Angel dropped to one knee in front of her. "Buffy," he said, "will you marry me?"

Buffy took the box gently, her hands shaking, and opened it to reveal a ring glinting in the moonlight. As she stared at it in surprised joy, Angel took it from the box and slipped it onto Buffy's finger. Holding her hand in his own, he looked up at her expectantly.

She was about to express her answer most passionately when movement in the darkness distracted her. "Angel, behind you!" she cried, then launched herself off the bench at the vampire creeping up on them. He was a new vampire, an easy kill, but Buffy didn't have time to get in a proper fighting stance before the vampire was on top of them. It delivered a lucky blow that sent her sprawling. As the Slayer scrambled back to her feet, the vampire continued on, concentrating on Angel instead. They both went down, the vampire on top of Angel, who had been unable to get out his stake in time. They grappled in the moonlight, neither of them winning. Suddenly Buffy was on top of them both, and then the vampire was dust, leaving Buffy and Angel alone once again.

They lay there for a long moment in silence, Angel staring up at Buffy.

"So," he said finally, "was that a yes?"

*****

"The time comes," the voice whispered.

The man shuddered with sudden cold. That the voice spoke at all was a surprise. It had not spoken in . . . a long time. Though little scared the man, the voice did, and he trembled. "The time?"

"The Slayer weds."

Facing the darkness fearfully, the man protested. "We already stopped that prophecy for you," he said. "That Slayer is dead."

"No," whispered the voice, "that future has yet to pass."

"Are you sure? I mean, no Slayer -"

"*Do you question me?*"

The man shrank back in terror. "No! Of course not."

There was a long silence. Then, "She is the one," whispered the voice, "that could destroy us both. It can not be clearer."

The man said nothing in response.

The voice rose in anger then. "Why have you allowed it to come this far? The Chosen One and one of darkness have been together for years. Must I tell you to do everything?"

"No, of course not!" sputtered the man. "But . . . Angelus had left. We thought there was no problem!"

"He has returned . . . to her."

"Yes," whispered the man.

"You will take care of this . . . problem," said the voice slowly.

"Yes."

The voice sighed. "Good. I don't need to remind you of the consequences to us all if you fail."

Part One

"Why worry, there should be laughter after pain
There should be sunshine after rain
These things have always been the same
So why worry now?"

~Why Worry
Dire Straits

"Oh, wow."

"Yeah."

"Oh, wow!"

Buffy laughed. "You already said that, Willow."

"Well, yeah," the red head said with a huge grin. "I mean, congratulations! Wow, married. Can I see the ring?"

"Of course," exclaimed Buffy, lifting her hand off the table so Willow could examine the ring closer.

"Oh, wow," she said again.

"Yeah," Buffy grinned and pulled her hand back, fiddling with the engagement ring a moment before putting her hand back on the table.

"So," Willow asked, "did you tell Giles yet?"

"Yup," Buffy said, "I called him this morning. Last I heard he was diving into his books to see if a Slayer has ever gotten married. He was muttering something about 'most eventful Watcher journal' when he hung up the phone."

She was still grinning from ear to ear. Willow thought that if she didn't stop smiling soon her cheeks were going to cramp. "And what did your mom say?" she asked.

Buffy chuckled slightly. "Ah, my life's priorities," she said with a laugh.

"First Giles, *then* my mom."

"I . . . well," Willow began, a bit defensively.

"I'm kidding, Willow."

"Oh, right."

"Actually, she was cool about it, happy, you know?" Buffy finally answered. "After we got past 'you're too young' and 'shouldn't you wait and finish school first?' that is."

"But, you shouldn't wait!" blurted Willow. "Remember, seize the moment?" She trailed off.

Buffy's grin slid off her face and she looked down, staring into her cup. Willow thought about the full advice Buffy had given her when they first met. "Seize the moment, because tomorrow you might be dead," or something like that. And the last time she'd reminded Buffy of that motto, things hadn't turned out well at all. She instantly regretted saying anything. She was about to stammer an apology when Buffy looked up and spoke again.

"It's okay, Willow," she said softly. "I said something like that last night. I mean, I've lived pretty long for a Slayer. Who knows how long my luck may last." She was silent for a moment, then slowly began to grin again. "So," she said finally, "I'm just going to have my happiness as long as I possibly can!"

Willow smiled for her friend, thinking that if it was at all possible, somehow, Buffy and Angel would live 'happily ever after.' "Have you talked about when the wedding's going to be?" she asked.

"Oh," Buffy thought for a second. "We sorta didn't get to that part." At Willow's confused look, she explained. "We were patrolling, then he proposed, then we got attacked by this suicidal vampire, then I had to go home." She shrugged.

"Suicidal vampire?"

Buffy laughed slightly. "Yeah, a really stupid vampire that attacked us. He was dust in less than 30 seconds. I figure he must have had a death wish."

Willow frowned. "Isn't that . . . I don't know, weird?"

"Nah, sometimes they do that. Stupid newbies. That's not weird."

Walking by them at that moment, a girl carrying drinks for some friends at a nearby table cried out in surprise and stumbled, her drinks spilling all over Buffy. Buffy yelped in response, springing to her feet as the hot coffee hit her. It wasn't quite hot enough to burn, but it did leave a hideous brown stain on her shirt.

The girl scrambled to her feet. "Who did that!" she cried.

Buffy helped her up. "Did what?"

"Somebody pushed me!"

Sitting at the table, Willow shook her head. "I didn't see anyone."

The girl looked around wildly. "I felt it! Somebody shoved me in the back!" Finally she began to calm down and noticed the stain on Buffy's shirt. "Oh my, I'm so sorry!"

"It's alright. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah," the girl said softly. "I'm fine." She wandered away, looking confused.

Buffy picked up a napkin from the table and began to wipe at the stain. She stopped after a moment, looked at her shirt, and sighed.

"Now *that* was weird," Willow piped up.

"Nah, just a klutz in Sunnydale. Blaming someone who wasn't there." Buffy stood up and gathered her things. "I'd better go home and change. See you at Giles' later?"

Willow nodded and smiled, and Buffy walked out the door. As soon as she was gone, the smile slipped to a frown. She couldn't help but think of the girl who had fallen. She had tripped over nothing, and Willow still heard what she'd said. *Somebody pushed me!*

*****

As the sun set over Sunnydale, Angel walked casually through the darkening streets. Everything was lit in faded colors of gold that in a few minutes would be gone, leaving the town in darkness, but for now it was beautiful. He loved this time of day. Things were beginning to calm down and Angel could just enjoy this little bit of sunlight before Sunnydale's more dangerous residents awoke.

Tonight he walked with a small, half grin on his face, lost in thought. He was joining Buffy's friends at Giles' house. Usually Buffy would then go on patrol afterwards, but somehow he didn't think she'd get to that tonight. He wondered how many of her friends she had already told about their engagement. Angel wished that he had someone he could tell the news to that would really understand how wonderful and incredible it was that he and Buffy were going to get married. For the most part, his friends were Buffy's friends. There were also some of his coworkers at the museum, whom he had told today, but they didn't know the whole history, plus they didn't yet know Angel very well. There were a couple of others he could have told, if he knew how to reach them, like Whistler. Angel only hoped that there'd be someone at Giles' tonight who didn't yet know, so he could be there when they found out, if not be the one to tell them himself.

Angel saw no cause to worry as the sun set completely. First off, he was in too good of a mood. Secondly, it was still early for any vampires to be out and hunting. If anything, they were only just waking up. Finally, he wasn't used to having to worry about vampires, or seeing the darkness as dangerous. So it was that when he was about two blocks from Giles' home that he was surprised by the vampire's attack.

*****

Buffy was the first one to arrive at Giles' house, but only by a minute or so. Willow and Oz arrived together soon after and she met them at the door. Together the three of them entered and waited for the last two of their friends to arrive.

They waited for several minutes during which they made polite small talk. The conversation faded, however, as time passed and Buffy became increasingly worried over the late arrivals. Willow and Oz could tell she was concerned, though she tried to hide it.

There was an uncomfortable silence as Buffy stared out the front window. Willow had been talking for a moment earlier, but had stopped as she noticed Buffy's distraction.

"I'm sure they're fine," she said into the silence, hoping to reassure Buffy.

Buffy said nothing in response, simply nodded in vague acknowledgment, her focus out the window and down the street. It wasn't until several more uncomfortable silent minutes had passed that she sprung out of her chair to open the door.

In the silence caused by Buffy's sudden actions came the sounds of both missing persons, Xander and Angel, chatting amicably. Before anyone could comment on this favorable turn of events, however, the two of them came into the light of the door where everyone could see them.

"Good lord, what happened?" exclaimed Giles, just now coming back into the room.

Xander looked normal, but Angel definitely looked the worse for wear. Buffy moved to his side immediately as he came in and partially supported him as he limped over to the couch. There was no other injury evident, but he looked decidedly disheveled.

"A vampire surprised me," he said simply. "I just wrenched my knee when I fell."

"You killed it?" Giles asked.

"Actually, Xander scared it off," Angel explained.

Xander smiled and held up a cross. "Don't leave home without it!" he said.

No one had a response to that. Giles went to get Angel ice for his knee and they all sat around for a moment waiting for whatever they were going to do next. Buffy fussed over Angel, much to Willow's amusement. Xander chatted on obliviously to it all while Giles rummaged around in the kitchen. Giles came back with an ice pack for Angel, and everyone looked at him expectantly.

"So," said Buffy, "What's up?"

"Well," said Giles, looking at them all, "assuming this was just a normal vampire attack, then, um, nothing's 'up.' This *was* just a usual vampire attack, yes?"

Holding the ice to his injured knee, Angel nodded. "As far as I could tell."

"In that case," replied Giles, "there's nothing unusual going on at the moment . . . that I know of."

"Nothing?" asked Buffy in surprise. "No vampiric plots? Doomsday prophecies? Giant bugs?"

"No, uh, nothing."

Xander laughed. "Now *that* is unusual. For Sunnydale."

"So," said Oz, "what are you to do when nothing unusual's going on?"

"Well," said Giles, "I've been doing some reading in some of the old Watcher diaries, and, Buffy-"

"Do I get the prize for most eventful Watcher's journal?" Buffy asked with an impudent grin.

"Most unusual, certainly," replied Giles. "If all goes well, you'll have another first to your credit."

"Did you hear that?" Buffy said, smiling at Angel. "Another first." They kissed lightly.

"Yeah, congratulations you two," said Willow.

Oz and Giles wished their congratulations as well. Buffy and Angel just smiled.

"Wait, I'm confused," Xander said at last. "What exactly are we congratulating? And what's this about firsts?"

"First Slayer to get married," Buffy replied.

"You mean you and Dead Boy are . . . ?"

"Engaged to be married," acknowledged Angel with a smile. "And I thought I asked you not to call me that."

"Yeah, I guess it doesn't quite fit anymore," Xander said in response, "but I'm not going to stop using that name to tease you. Especially when I'm the last one to hear about things like this." He paused, then smiled at Buffy. "I guess my congratulations are in order for you two, too. So, um, congratulations."

Everyone smiled and babbled for a moment, then Buffy looked at Giles. "So, um, if nothing's up, can I skip patrol for one night?"

"Well, I suppose . . ." Giles stuttered indecisively. "That is, yes, you may."

"So, what do you say, Buffy?" Willow asked. "Partying at the Bronze?"

"Sure!" she replied. Then, she turned to Angel. "That is, if your knee's feeling okay?"

"Never better," he said softly. When Buffy looked at him skeptically, he spoke up. "No, really, it's healed most of the way already. At least my healing is still, um, enhanced."

"So, Bronze!" Xander said gleefully.

The gang of them quickly got together and made their way out of Giles' house. Giles smiled as he watched them go, for the moment simply normal, happy teenagers. They didn't need to be reminded right now of what they were - a witch, a werewolf, a 250-year-old ex-vampire, a Slayer, and . . . one normal teenager, all with a destiny to fulfill. No, right now they were happy, and so with a small sigh Giles closed the door behind them and returned to the one Watcher's journal that worried him, the only one that mentioned a Slayer who got engaged . . . .

Go to Part 2