“Right, if you’d like to pay attention now,” he said, sighing at the difficulties of explaining anything to this group. “Willow, will you go find Cordelia and Xander?”
“Uh, I’d rather not,” Willow said, picturing what they might be doing.
She began to blush. Buffy stood up.
“I’ll go,” she said, grinning at the relieved look Willow shot her. Despite the years since she’d got over her love for Xander, Willow still felt uncomfortable when she saw the pair engaged in anything over mild kissing.
Just then an immaculate Cordelia and a severely ruffled Xander entered the room. It was obvious Xander had acquired none of his wife’s talents for quick repair jobs after trips to the utility closet.
“Well. If we are all *quite* ready,” Giles said, having difficulty keeping the disapproving tone in his voice.
”This book holds the prophesy, which is several pages long and written in a random mixture of Latin, Italian, French, Gaelic, and Etruscan. The basic message is that an old enemy, defeated by Buffy, will return, and that the Slayer’s companions must return to witness the joining of two souls. It gives very accurate descriptions of each of you, the ‘maiden with a mind like quicksilver and hair of fire’, the ‘queen of her realm, adoring of the mirror,’ the ‘man who is not a man, with the voice of an angel,’ et cetera, et cetera.”
“Hey, fiery haired maiden of mine, how ya doing?” Oz asked Willow, grinning proudly.
“I feel so honoured,” she replied, beaming at him happily.
“Well, Cordy’s obviously the queen, but the ‘man who is not a man’ could be Angel or Oz,” Buffy said.
“My voice isn't all that great,” Angel said. “It’s probably Oz, since he’s the musician.”
“Yes, quite. You aren’t mentioned, Angel, which is why I was so surprised when I saw you.”
“Hey, that’s not very nice of the prophesy people,” Buffy said, instantly protective of Angel. She glanced at him reassuringly, and found him busy with his thoughts.
“I wonder...” he said quietly. Buffy decided to leave him to finish his meditation; he’d tell her if it was something she should know.
“Hang on, where am I?” Xander said.
“You? Uh, hmm, well, ah... You know, I haven’t explained the ceremony yet-”
“I can recognise an evasion when I hear one, I’m good enough at them myself. Why aren’t I in there?”
“I didn’t say you weren’t mentioned,” Giles said, with perceptible reluctance.
Realising Giles was uncomfortable about informing Xander about his mention in the book, Willow tossed Buffy a glance. Buffy nodded, understanding what Willow wanted easily, recognising the message in her friend’s eyes despite their years apart.
She stood up, and in a swift fluid motion, flipped over the table, landing next to Giles.
She had snatched the book from his hands and was safely hidden behind Angel clutching her prize before anyone quite realised what was happening.
“Huzzut?” Giles said, still shocked from the speed of Buffy’s attack. She’d improved considerably since he’d last seen her.
Buffy grinned triumphantly, and turned her attention to the prophesy. She frowned, and then began to laugh. Giles had translated a few parts of the text, including the parts about her friends.
“What is it?” Xander asked.
“You were right, Giles. Xander *shouldn’t* know what they said about him.” She grinned and tossed the book to Willow, who began to smile immediately after reading it. Oz also smirked at the sentence.
“What? What is it?” Xander whined, annoyed.
“Not telling,” Buffy said. “It’s for your own good,” she told him, beginning to smile again.
“Although, Cordy, aren’t you making him wait a little long? I thought newlyweds were supposed to... you know, on the wedding night. And throughout the honeymoon.”
Cordelia looked confused.
“We didn’t have a honeymoon. We were too busy.”
Xander looked suspiciously at Buffy, and as she watched she could see him putting it together.
“You mean... whoever wrote that book... *predicted* it?” he exploded, angrily. “Thanks a lot, mister. Twenty-one years you’ve made me wait! It better be worth it, or else I’m gonna find you and make you pay!”
Cordelia still looked thoroughly confused.
“What?” she asked, beginning to become annoyed.
Finally Buffy took pity on her, and bent over, whispering in her ear. Cordelia turned to look at her husband.
“You mean...?”
“Yes. Yes! She means precisely that! I just thought you... I don’t know.”
“Well, I couldn’t remember, I just assumed we had.”
“You *what*! *Assumed we had*? You didn’t think it would make any kind of impression?”
“Okay, enough with the family squabbles,” Buffy said sternly. “Giles?”
“What? Oh, yes. As far as I can tell, there is a ceremony in which you give some of your soul to the demon, and he in return gives you a piece of his. With this ceremony, the demon will be defeated forever. It doesn’t mention what will happen to you.”
“You mean this could kill her. No way, uh-uh, ain’t worth it. Buffy’s defeated this demon once, without this ritual. We ain’t doing it.”
“I agree with Xander. There doesn’t seem to be any reason to do this ceremony, not if it may endanger Buffy,” Willow said, looking worried.
“But I don’t think it will have any negative effects on Buffy. It appears to have only good effects, and not just for the demon and Buffy. It will have lasting consequences on the Hellmouth, and could provide an important precedent. But I still haven’t translated the entire prophesy. I don’t know the details of the ceremony, or the outcome.”
Angel suddenly asked to see the book. Oz handed it to him, and Angel flipped through, obviously looking for something. He snapped the book shut and began to laugh.
Buffy, who’d never seen Angel show any sign of amusement other than a small chuckle or his cryptic smile, was astonished. She placed a hand on his arm, trying to calm him down, but he only laughed harder, doubling over and roaring with amusement and elation.
“I-i-i-ihhh-h-h...” he stuttered, having difficulty regaining control. “The-huh-huh-haaa...” he tried again. Finally he regained his composure.
“Buffy, I’m the enemy,” he said, unable to hide a wide grin taking over his features.
“Huh?”
“Giles got it a little wrong,” he said, speaking to the whole room, but concentrating solely on Buffy.
“The souls aren’t forcibly exchanged. See this word here?” He showed the book to Buffy, and she peered at it.
“It means ‘marriage’. The ceremony is our marriage.” Buffy could only stare at him mutely for a few moments, before she fully comprehended the meaning of his words.
“Oh, Angel,” she said, and he enfolded her in his arms.
“You mean you made me worry so much, and it was just a wedding? You couldn’t have figured that part out *before* you freaked us all out?” Willow said, furious. Giles looked at Willow, and hung his head in mock penitence.
“Sorry, Willow,” he said, and her anger evaporated immediately.
“It’s okay. As long as bridesmaids are allowed at this wedding. I always wanted to be a bridesmaid, and Xander and Cordelia got married in such a rush, there wasn’t time.”
“Sorry, Will,” Xander said. “It was a hurried wedding, ‘cause we had a ton of work to do, what with Cordy inheriting the company and all. We got married in a registry office, actually, and dragged in a couple of people we’d never seen before to be witnesses.”
Cordelia smiled at him. “We kept on intending to have a proper wedding later, but there was never time. Or someone couldn’t make it.”
“Well, you can have one now,” Buffy stated, returning her attention to the world in general as opposed to Angel’s mouth in particular.
“We can have a joint one. Giles, this ceremony isn’t exclusive? They can do it with us?”
“Well, for your wedding, a Watcher has to perform it, to bless the union between a Vampire and a Slayer. But I’m afraid I’m not qualified to perform a regular marriage.”
“No. But I am,” Oz said, smiling.
“You’ve been keeping secrets,” Willow said, looking at him with affection.
“It was a joke thing; I was in Las Vegas and they were running this course, so I figured, why not? I thought it might come in handy some day.”
“Well, that’s sorted then. All we need now are the cake, rings - which you both already have - and wedding dresses,” Willow said.
Buffy and Cordelia turned to one another and cried in unison: "Shopping!"
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