TITLE: The Wedding.

AUTHOR: Kelly Rowe

DISCLAIMER: Buffy, Angel and the gang belong to the evil Joss and I only own the characters I make up. In a perfect world however I would own all of them, Buffy and Angel wouldn't have broken up and Riley would never have existed.

RATING: PG

SPOILERS: General (if any)

TIMELINE: Over 17 years after IWRY

DISTRIBUTION: You want you can have it, just tell me where you put it.

NOTE: Also this story takes place about 8 weeks after the last one. Since then Buffy and Hope have moved to LA with Angel.

Buffy awoke the morning of her wedding with happy thoughts, however they soon disappeared when her usual bout of morning sickness kicked in. Buffy had just gotten back into bed and was deciding whether death was a preferable option to throwing up, when Hope bounced in.

"Good morning" Hope said pulling open Buffy's curtains. "It's a beautiful day for a wedding".

"Whatever" Buffy mumbled pulling the covers up, over her head.

Hope looked towards the blob in the bed and said, "Mom, if it were up to me...I'd let you stay in bed and sulk. However Cordy and Willow will be here before you know it and..."

Hope didn't even have to finish her speech, the second Hope had said that Willow and Cordy were coming; she was out of bed and heading for the shower. Satisfied that her mom was doing as she was told, Hope went back downstairs and went into the kitchen.

"Hi Gran" Hope said to Joyce, as she got herself a glass of juice.

"Morning" Joyce mumbled into her coffee. She was still miffed that Buffy was going to marry that Angel-thing, even though she'd clearly objected. "Is she still going to go through with it?" Joyce asked in desperation.

"Yes, she is" Hope answered barely reigning in her temper. She'd noticed that her grandmother was always a total bitca when it came her dad, she didn't know why that was, she just hoped that it would stop. "Why would you even ask that?" she said to Joyce.

"He's not right for her" Joyce answered totally offended that Hope would even ask her that question.

"How can you say that? They've been in love with each other for over 20 years. They have me and another child on the way and still you need more proof that they belong together" Hope said angrily.

Before Joyce could answer Hope left the room. Joyce sat there in the kitchen muttering to herself and remembering the phone call she gotten from Buffy 2 months earlier.

~ "Hello?" Joyce said when she answered the phone.

"Hi mom". "Buffy? It's so great to hear your voice. How is everything?" Joyce asked happy that Buffy had called her for once and not the other way around.

"Everything's great. I'm fine, so is Hope" Buffy replied. "Actually I called you because I have some news for you".

"Please let it be that you dumped that loser, Angel" Joyce told her.

"No mom. In fact Angel asked me to marry him" Buffy said trying not to get cheesed off at her mom.

"WHAT? I hope you told him no" Joyce replied.

"I said yes" Buffy told her firmly. "There's more..."

"What more could he possibly do, he already turned you against me" Joyce said sulking.

"Well...Angel and I are going to have a baby" Buffy told Joyce what she considered happy news. ~

Joyce didn't actually remember what happened next, but when she came too she found Willow and Oz standing over her. It came to Joyce suddenly, after more than 20 years, that no matter what she did, how she acted or how she objected...nothing was going to come between them. Joyce sighed and accepted the inevitable by going off to get dressed.

Angel was driving Cordy, Doyle and Nicky crazy, he had been pacing his room at the Sunnydale Motor Inn since he'd woken up.

Suddenly Cordy stood up, "I can't take this anymore, I'm going to Buffy's. I'll see you all at the church". She grabbed her stuff and left as quick as humanly possible.

"What is her problem?" he said as he continued to pace.

"Probably the fact that yer driving us nuts with yer pacing" Doyle replied.

"Sorry" Angel told them as he sat down, "I'm just so nervous".

"Hey man, I remember that feeling. Just keep on remembering that it's Buffy who'll be walking down that isle towards yer" Doyle said trying to give Angel perspective.

Angel mentally picture that and calmed down, he was still nervous but knew in the end it was all worth it. The only thing that was spoiling this happy day was Hope's sadness, unfortunately that was the only thing he couldn't fix. He knew that because he'd already tried...

~ Two Weeks Earlier:

Angel knocked on the door of Dev's apartment; he was determined to fix his daughter's heartbreak. Dev answered the door and said "What do you want?"

"To talk to you. Can I come in?" Angel asked.

"Why not, it's not like you need an invite" Dev replied. Angel walked in and sat down. Dev sat down opposite him and said "Well..."

"Why did you do it?" Angel asked him.

"She deserves someone better than me. Someone who can take her into the sun, who can give her children and grow old with her. She doesn't need someone who lives in the darkness," Dev said unhappily.

Angel listened to Dev's reasons for breaking up with Hope and realised they were almost the exact same reasons that he'd given Buffy when he'd left her in Sunnydale.

"You're an idiot," Angel told him as he got up. "I told Buffy the exact same things 18 years ago and do you know what it got me? 18 years of loneliness and if Buffy hadn't called, there would've been a hell of a lot more of them".

Angel walked out of the door without looking back. ~

"Angel man?" Doyle said as he shook Angel from these thoughts. "It's time to go".

"I'm ready" Angel said as they left the hotel.

Willow and Cordy were fussing over Buffy in the brides waiting room, as Joyce and Hope looked on.

"So...Hope, you're glad about your parents, right?" Willow asked worriedly.

Before Hope could answer Cordy butted in. "She helped Angel pick out the ring, Willow" Cordy replied sarcastically.

They heard a commotion outside and Willow and Cordy went to see.

"So how do I look?" Buffy asked, turning around.

"Perfect" Joyce, said.

"Dad's gonna be knocked off his feet" Hope told her.

Joyce left the room to go and take her seat, leaving Hope and Buffy alone. "So, you can't tell..." Buffy asked.

"No, mom" Hope replied. "However I do think it's so funny that you give me all those safe sex lectures and it's you who gets knocked up".

"Shut-up brat" Buffy said, hugging her. Buffy suddenly turned serious, "How are you?"

"Mom, it's been two months, I'm totally over it and him" Hope told her, totally unconvincingly.

"Honey..."

"I know, I know. I'll never truly be over him, just look at you and dad" Hope repeated the speech she'd been given many times since she and Dev had broken up.

Then a knock on the door occurred, "Buffy it's time" came Giles' voice from the other side.

Buffy grabbed her bouquet and silently said goodbye to the past, as she walked down the isle to her Angel and the future.

The End