Disclaimer: Joss Whedon owns all rights, yada yada yada. You know the drill.
Distribution: Sure, go ahead. Just let me know.
Author's Notes. This is set just after Something Blue. Hero *never* happened, dammit!!!! Are you listening Joss?????? Anyway, for the purposes of my story, BandS got a little further in their wedding planning.
Author's Notes 2: I wrote this months ago, half finished, and I decided I'd finish and post it. Forgive me if it's awful :)
Feedback: Oooooh, yeah.

Angel sat down heavily at his desk, feeling the effects of a week of sleepless days.

He found it impossible to slumber in that bed now, as the memories would surge forth and suffocate him the moment his cold flesh hit the sheets. He could smell the ghost of her scent on the cotton; An intoxicating, powerful aroma that filled his senses, yet he could never really tell if it was real or not.

He sighed, rubbing his eyes in irritation. He didn't really need sleep. He could go for weeks without it. But stress and heartache were wearing him out quickly, and if he didn't get some sleep soon he thought he might go insane.

He growled quietly, resting his head in his hands. He had a throbbing headache, and really just wanted to crawl into the hellmouth and die.

"Mail!!!" Angel winced as Cordelia's voice pierced through his skull. He held his hand up, and she gave him a stack of envelopes. He shuffled through them.

"Bill, Bill, Bill, Death Threat, Bill....What the hell is this?" He held up an expensive looking blue envelope. The Sunnydale postmark stood out against the background like a bullethole. He turned it over in his hands, knowing instinctively that it was from her. Her scent hovered in the air around him, and he took an unneccessary breath, sliding his finger under the flap and slowly opening the envelope.

Inside was a small white card embossed with gold and silver.

He skimmed the text quickly, his dark eyes widening with each line. When he was done, he let out a roar.

"She's marrying who?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?"

*********************************************

Willow sat alone in the dorm room, text book open on her lap.

She wasn't reading.

She wiped at her eyes, hoping to prevent her tears from staining the thin pages of her Psyche book.

She when a knock sounded at the door, and she furiously rubbed her face with her tissue. "Come in!" She called, blinking.

Angel threw the door open, stalking into the room, his expression stormy and slightly crazed.

"Angel!Are-"

"I'm not evil." He interupted.

"Oh, well what-"

"I got this in the mail this morning." He said, removing the envelope from his top pocket, and waving it around in the air..

"Is she insane???? She must be. Only explanation. I mean, Ok, he's not the worst guy in the world I suppose, but he's pretty high up there. Is this some sickness with her? Does she just continually go after the wrong guys for a reason? Or, is it me? To get back at me??? OK, so that sounds a little conceited, I realize, but it's possible, right??? I mean, you don't go from still loving someone one day to-"

"Angel, slow down!" Willow said, holding her hands up. "You're sorta venturing onto me terrirtory with the babbling."

Angel took a deep, unneeded breath. "I received an invitation to Buffy's wedding." He said slowly.

Willow's eyes widened and her hand flew to her mouth. "You didn't! Oh, Angel, I'm so, so , sorry, I-"

"So it's true then." His shoulders slumped, and he looked so utterly pathetic in that moment that Willow wanted to burst into tears.

She was about to answer when the door swung open and Buffy stepped through, chatting animatedly with Riley.

Her gaze fell on Angel, and her eyes went icy.

"You again." She said dully. "What is it this time?"

Angel turned his head away at the tone of her voice.

"I just came to congratulate you." He said, not meeting her eyes.

She frowned in confusion. "Huh?"

Willow smiled nervously at Buffy.

"You sent Angel an invitation to your wedding." She explained, biting her lip. "He's kinda worried about your sanity."

"That makes two of us." Riley said, reminding everybody of his presence.

Suddenly, the whole situation was too much for Angel. He shook his head, slowly at first, and then increasingly faster.

"This is *SPIKE* we're talking about, Buffy!!!!" He lifted his head, and for the first time she saw the chaos brewing behind his beautiful brown eyes. "Spike! The guy hired people to kill you!"

Buffy opened her mouth to speak, but didn't get a chance as Angel started to speak again, pacing back and forth.

"And anyway, even if he wasn't evil, he's hardly the dream husband. He's a complete bastard in fact. He's jealous, possessive, wandering....Not to mention the fact that the instant Drusilla finds out she'll be back here to claim what's hers. And you know what she's like when she gets jealous..." He closed his eyes. "I just don't see why you're doing this."

"I'm not." She said after a long pause.

"You're...You're not?"

She shook her head. "Nope. It's all a *huge* misunderstanding."

He raised an eyebrow, calming slightly. "Ok. Now that you've let me make a complete idiot of myself, I'm just gonna go." He stepped toward the door, but Willow caught him by the back of the collar. "No, you don't mister." She growled in a deep, authoritarian voice.

Angel let out a slight whimper. "But Willow, she'll *kill* me." He said, eyeing the angry gleam that had settled into Buffy's pupils.

"I'm not going to hurt you." Buffy said coldly. "But we had a deal, remember?"

"Right. Forget. Something *you* obviously excell at."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!?!?" She cried, then followed his gaze to Riley. "Oh. Right. I do what you tell me to, and then you get annoyed."

"I'm not annoyed." He said quietly.

"Really? Cos you seemed damn annoyed!!! In fact, you were pretty damn angry when you showed here. Little Jealous, Angel?"

"Jealous?" He asked calmly. "You were going to marry *Spike*. I wanted to rip him limb from limb."

"Well at least he's honest...." Riley said quietly.

Buffy bit her lip, unsure of what to do. The normal life she'd begun to build herself was crumbling down around her, and part of her didn't care, as long as it kept Angel there.

"Angel, this is Riley. " Willow said. "Riley, Angel."

They nodded at each other, and Riley extended a hand , which Angel stared at hesitantly for a moment before shaking.

Riley's eyes widened when he felt the cold temperaure of the other mans skin.

A hostile.

But it was the middle of the day....

Buffy realized this at the same moment as Riley, though neither had any idea that they were having the same thoughts.

"It's Two O'Clock in the afternoon...." Buffy murmured, only half-realizing she'd spoken aloud.

Willow's face went ghost white. "I can't believe I missed that!" She cried, looking from Angel to Buffy and back. "I'm *so* off my game!!!!"

Angel bit his bottom lip, holding up his hand so that they could see the ring nestled firmly on his finger.

"I'm noble. I'm not stupid." He said quietly.

"The Gem....You asshole!" Buffy cried. "All this time????"

"My soul was....I couldn't risk it." He glanced at Riley, but figured the guy had already worked out that *something* was up here. Unless he was incredibly dense....which by the looks of him he might well be.

"Do you know what you do to me, Buffy?" Angel asked, his voice lowered. "Your birthday...it wasn't the sex."

Something in her face twitched, and he reached out a hand, running the back of it softly down her cheek.

"Don't get me wrong- the sex was incredible. But it was you." He whispered. "Warming me with your soft glow and tender words.... I felt like everything had just slipped away. And I felt safe, and loved...and warm." He closed his eyes briefly. "I hadn't felt warm in so long, beloved. I think being here, with you, in the sunlight....I was worried it would push me over the edge."

"And things are different now??" She asked hopefully. "You're willing to use the ring?"

"I found a ritual...the ring will only work when I'm wearing it. Nobody else." He told her. "It also...safeguards my soul."

He took a step closer to her, lifting her chin with a finger.

"*I'll* never forget." He whispered. "You're the only part of me that I don't regret."

Tears streamed down her face, and she threw her arms around his neck, leaning her forehead against his.

"I missed you, lover." She told him, placing a light kiss on his nose. "Ever do that to me again, and I swear I will kill you, invincible or not."

He laughed softly, capturing her lips in his own.

Riley cleared his throat. "I think I came in at the middle of this movie."

Buffy pulled away from Angel reluctantly. They conferred silently.

Riley shook his head. "Buffy, I think you know a little more about what happens in this town than you're letting on."

Buffy nodded slowly. "You're right. I do."

"You know about hostiles and such. How?" Riley asked evenly, ignoring the closeness between the couple. If he was right, Angel could take him down in an instant.

"You're one of those creepy commando guys!!!!" Buffy cried. She glanced at Angel. "They kidnapped Spike and now he's impotent."

"Oh happy day." Angel muttered. "The Initiative."

"You...you know of our organization?" Riley was starting to get a little nervous.

Angel grunted. "I've come across them...." Her words hit him. "Spike is impotent?" A thought appeared in his mind, and he narrowed his eyes, looking at her, jealousy roaring inside him. "Exactly how do you know that?"

Willow smiled. "He can't perform. He tried to bite me, and couldn't." Her eyes widened, and she glared at Riley. "You guys were gonna kidnap me!"

Angel looked at Riley, smirking. "A tip? Kidnapping the Slayer's best friend: One of the dumbest things you can do."

"What's a Slayer?" Riley asked.

Buffy groaned. "For someone in the biz, you don't know your stuff." She said, irritated. She could think of a million better things that she could be doing with Angel at that moment instead of explaining her calling. "Chosen One, yada yada yada. Look it up."

She turned to Angel. "As for you..." She grinned and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him, slipping her arms around her enck. "I've really been neglecting my tan."

He smiled, kissing her forehead softly. "Ok. But you are going to explain to me exactly how you came to be engaged to Spike."

They walked out of the dorm room arm in arm, leaving a grinning Willow and a stunned Riley behind.

Riley blinked, then turned to Willow.

"What's a Slayer?"

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