Sunnydale 2009
"You look beautiful. You’ll be the best looking woman in the room tonight," he said as he wrapped his arms around the redhead who was putting the finishing touches on her make-up.

 She turned to face him, wrapping her arms around his waist, a gleam of amusement in her eyes. "You, my love, are not exactly what one would call an impartial observer." She laughed as she leaned in to him to give him a passionate kiss.

 "Hmm, this could be true, but I still think you are looking especially ravishing in that dress." He bent his head down to her neck where he began to place kisses up and down her throat. She moaned a bit and then shook her head before backing away slightly. He looked at her with a somewhat hurt expression in his eyes.

 She playfully hit him on the arm before turning back to face the mirror. "Don’t give me that hurt puppy look. You know I have to finish getting ready. would just as happily And if I know you, you would rather us not go at all. But, I will give you an E for Effort." She grinned back at him.

 "You know me much too well. Well, if I can’t get you to reconsider going out instead of attending to some indoor actvity I guess I’ll go downstairs and wait for the others., he said before placing a feather light kiss on the top of her hair and heading out of their bedroom. The woman turned to watch her husband leave before going back to finishing up her face. She knew that he liked her with a very natural look, and, if she was truthful with herself, she preferred that look also, so she didn’t take that much more time. When she was happy with her appearance, she grabbed her wrap and went downstairs to join her husband.

 She shook her head again at the notion of how lucky she was to have him for her very own. (Goddess, I never thought, growing up the way I did, that I would ever have someone as sweet and caring and, let’s face it, downright hunky, as the man I would spend my life with.) She looked down at him from the top of the stairs as he sat talking with two of their closest friends. (Now who would have thought that would have even been possible, considering what has happened in the past between us.)

 She couldn’t get enough of him. His chocolate brown eyes that very rarely showed any hint of his former brooding nature. His dark hair that still spiked at the top like it did when she was in high school. And his body (Whoa, girl, down. Can’t think that way or you might not get to the party.)

 Almost as if he sensed her looking at him, he looked up, catching her eyes would eyes that he had found himself lost in many times over the years. (Lord she’s beautiful) He smiled as he turned to face her, beckoning her to him with just a look. When she finally joined him at the bottom of the stairs, he took her in his arms and ran his hands through her long hair (Still looks like fire, even after all these years.) He bent down to kiss her again when someone cleared his throat rather deliberately.

 "Look Peaches, if you don’t mind, can ya wait till I’m not around to go mooning all over your mate here." Angel smiled at his wife and then looked over to Spike, who was sitting with Drusilla. "I mean, I know ya love her and all, but do you have to be so nauseatingly happy about it."

"Hush now Spike. You’re the same way with Dru and you know it." Willow laughed at the vampire sitting in front of her, before breaking away from Angel. She went over to him and gave him a hug. She then looked around the room trying to discern what was missing, then she figured it out. "Where are Kathryn and Jenny? I would have figured they would’ve been down here already with you two."

"They’re upstairs trying on their present from their Auntie Dru." He looked lovingly at the vampiress sitting next to him.

 "Miss Edith found something that the girls would love," Drusilla said as she looked over to the staircase where the sounds of children were heard coming down. She smiled as two small bundles of energy came screaming down the upstairs hall.

 Two girls, Jenny,age 8, and Kathryn, age 5, came running down the stairs. They were wearing matching old-fashioned dresses. Jenny looked similar to her namesake with long dark hair and her father’s brown eyes, while her younger sister was the spitting image of her mother. They rushed over to the adults showing off their new dresses.

"Look, mommy. Look what Aunt Dru gave us," said an excited Jenny.

"Now we look like Miss Edith," said her sister. Willow couldn’t help but laugh. "Yes, you do. Did you thank Dru for the presents?" The girls yelled a thanks to Dru as they ran back upstairs Willow then turned to Dru. "You spoil them rotten." Before Dru could reply the bell at the front door rang. Without waiting for an answer, the door opened.

 "Hello there. Red, Fang, ready for a night on the town?"

"You know it, Faith." Willow replied as the brunette slayer joined the group in the living room. "Where’s Oz?"

 "He went to set up with the band. He’ll meet us there. By the way, check out who I found waiting for us outside." Two other couples then joined the growing group of friends in the house.

 "Hey there Deadboy. Looking snazzy," Xander said, his arm around Anya. Angel just glared at the boy, not even bothering to reply to the nickname anymore since he considered Xander one of his closest friends ( Who’d a thunk it possible?) Behind Xander and Anya, walked Cordelia and Giles. Angel still shook his head at that pairing. (Well, he certainly calmed her down a bit and she has definitely gotten him to loosen up since we first met.) When he had first met this group, this was one match he had never pictured.

"Well, I guess we’re all ready to go," Willow said. "Spike, Dru, you know where everything is. Try not to let the girls con their way into staying up late again tonight."

 "We’ll do our best," replied a grinning Spike who knew full well that the Rosenberg girls had him wrapped around his little finger. Angel just glared at his childe, shaking his head.

"So what’s on tonight’s menu?," a grinning Xander inquired as they headed to the door. "A little mayhem? Bloodshed? Another prophecy?" They all moaned at his attempt at humor.

 "Nothing like that. Just a good old-fashioned party seeing our old high school buddies," replied Cordelia, who couldn’t wait to see Harmony and the rest of her former Cordettes. ( I can’t believe how cool I used to think they were. Can’t wait to show off how successful I’ve become.) The group all started heading out the door. Willow was looking behind her and laughing at something Anya had said to her husband when she opened the door, so she didn’t see the person standing there. All she saw was her husband’s shocked expression and the stunned silence that suddenly overtook the group. So slowly, with an increasing sense of dread, she forced herself to turn around.

 "BUFFY!"
 
 

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