Strange Place to Live:
Holy Matrimony
by Cynamin

"And now I hear you speak each and every word
That I didn’t think lonely people heard
You took a long night and turned it into day"
~Sudden Gift of Fate
Mary Chapin Carpenter

By Saturday, neither Buffy nor Angel knew anything more about the unusual activity surrounding their wedding preparations, but both were more at ease than they had been days before. The fact that they had both spoken at length to Giles had helped. Neither of them had truly realized the amount of strain the increased vampiric activity was putting on them until they talked about it. Now everyone had joined in the patrolling like they had during the demon epidemic, and everyone was able to sleep easier.

That same comradery was the other reason Angel was feeling especially content today. The group of them were gathered in Weatherly Park for a picnic lunch. Angel was not used to fitting in a group. As a vampire, he could not be part of human society. With a soul, it was neither desirable nor possible to be part of vampire society either. Since regaining his humanity a couple of months ago, however, Buffy’s friends had accepted him as a member of their group. A year ago they never would have invited him to something as simple as a picnic. Of course, a year ago he wouldn’t have been able to go to one unless it was after sundown, but that wasn’t the point.

Now, as they waited for Xander to arrive with the food, Angel listened as Willow, Oz, and Buffy discussed their first week of classes. He leaned back on his hands, closing his eyes and letting the sunlight fall on his face. Buffy sat close enough to him that their legs touched. She had teased him a couple of weeks ago when she noticed that he had a slight tan. Angel enjoyed every minute of it.

Angel’s thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of Xander, better late than never. Greetings were exchanged all around, but mostly everyone wanted to get down to the business of eating. Much of what Xander brought consisted of junk food, but he had remembered to bring sandwiches for everyone as well. As food was passed around conversation continued. Angel sat up and listened while he ate.

"So," Oz was saying, "there’s this battle of the bands coming up."

"The Dingo’s won last year," said Willow, proud as always of anything having to do with Oz.

"So you’re like returning champs," Xander remarked around a mouthful.

"Yeah, but we’ve got to defend our title," Oz continued. "I heard there’s this new band this year that’s really good. Plus, they’ve got groupies."

"Hey, I’m a groupie!" Willow exclaimed.

"Me too," joined in Buffy enthusiastically.

"Yeah," chimed in Xander. "We’ll cheer for the Dingo’s, of course. Those other bands don’t stand a chance."

Oz smiled very slightly. "Well, thanks," he said.

Suddenly Angel felt Buffy tense up beside him, sensing something none of the rest of them could see. Before he could ask her what was wrong an unearthly howl broke from the nearby trees.

The animal was visible a moment later. It was nothing Angel recognized, neither dog nor were-beast. The only thing he could think of was a hellhound’s uglier cousin. That was all he had time to think of as the monster ran across the short distance and slammed into Angel, knocking the breath out of him.

Before he could do anything to ward off the attack, the creature’s teeth sank into his shoulder. Vaguely he heard Buffy cry out his name. Gritting his teeth against the pain, Angel repeatedly punched the monster’s head with his free hand. It made a growl of pain in response, but did not loosen its hold.

Then both Angel and the creature were knocked to the ground as Buffy leaped onto the creature’s back. They both grappled with the monster for several moments. Out of the corner of his eye Angel glimpsed a flash of silver as Willow tossed Buffy a knife. Suddenly the hound released Angel’s shoulder with an earsplitting howl of pain. The knife was buried in the back of its neck. After a moment it fell still and died. For a moment Angel lay where he was, trying to catch his breath. In an uncommon display of her supernatural strength, Buffy pulled the dead hound off him and flung it away. "Are you alright?" she asked.

Angel attempted to sit up and his shoulder complained painfully. The hand he put to it in response came away bloody. "Stupid question, he groan"ed.

Buffy reached out to him in obvious distress. "Come on," she said softly, helping him up, "we have to get you to the hospital."

Angel simply nodded and gratefully accepted her help.

"I’ll drive everyone in the van," Oz volunteered, already moving out of the park.

Only Xander was not quick to follow. "We’re just leaving all the food?" he asked.

Angel was briefly surprised by the comment. "Don’t worry about it,"said Buffy softly, but loud enough that Xander could still hear her, "none of us rate above food in Xander’s list of priorities."

"Hey!"

Despite the pain, Angel smiled.

Dr. Baker arrived for his shift shortly after one p.m. In the daylight hours the Sunnydale Hospital was usually pretty calm, but there were always a couple of people in the emergency room. Today was no exception, and after coming in the door a group of people sitting in the waiting area caught his eye.

"Well," he said by way of greeting, "if it isn’t Ms. Summers and friends. With the amount of times I’ve seen you lot in the last few months you’s think we were giving fequent patient discounts."

"Perhaps you should," said one of the young men.

The blond young woman smiled. "Hello, Dr. Baker," said Buffy. "It’s nice to see you." She paused, frowning. "Well, not nice, because this is the hospital, but . . . you know."

"Sure," the doctor replied, giving what he hoped was a reassuring smile. He saw this group of youngsters more often than he liked. The last time had been nearly two months ago when a friend of theirs was brought in with a broken ankle and a deep gash in one arm. Before that it had been only a week. He didn’t see that young man in the waiting room, nor a couple of the other people who seemed to be associated with this group. "Who’s the patient today?" Dr. Baker asked.

"Angel," the redhead provided calmly.

Dr. Baker looked at Buffy in alarm. "It’s not his heart, is it?"

Buffy looked at him blankly for a moment. Of all the times that he had treated members of this group, the only other time the man named Angel was a patient had been the only time he’d come close to losing one of them. He’d been brought to the emergency room only alive due to the quick thinking of a passerby who knew CPR. His heart had stopped two more times after arrival, and getting him breathing on his own had been even more of a problem. Though he had not spoken of it to Buffy at the time, he’d been amazed that Angel had been able to leave a couple of days later as if nothing had happened.

Finally Buffy shook her head. "No, not his heart. We were having a picnic and he got attacked by a wild dog. It bit his shoulder. She see"med remarkably calm about it.

Dr. Baker could only nod slightly in response. "Well, then I suppose I’d best go take a look," he said, taking his leave.

The young blond jumped to her feet. "Can I come with you?" she asked, a touch of the worry curiously absent before present on her face. "The nurse wouldn’t let me . . . ."

Looking at the partially disguised concern on the girl’s face, Dr. Baker nodded. He remembered that she "used to be involved" with Angel prior to his last visit. By the time he left it seemed that "used to be" no longer applied. In the midst of their discussion, Dr. Baker had briefly noticed a ring on her left hand. Guessing that they were now more than just "involved," he led her down the hall.

One of the nurses was taking care of Angel’s shoulder. He was sitting shirtless with his back to the door. From the door the doctor could see that the wound was messier than "bite" would imply, but not too bad. The nurse had already cleaned out the bite, and now she was stitching up one of the deeper cuts on his upper back.

"Well," she was saying, "it missed your tatoo. That’s interesting. Where’d you get it?"

"I got it . . . a long time ago," Angel replied.

The nurse sounded amused. "A long time ago? You’re not that old."

Joining Dr. Baker in the doorway, Buffy Summers laughed slightly. "Watch out, he’s taken," she said.

The nurse turned around in surprise. Angel did not turn because of the work being done on his shoulder, but his voice sounded pleased. "Hey, Buffy."

Buffy entered the room, circling until she and Angel were facing each other. "Hey," she said. "How are you feeling?"

"It doesn’t hurt now," Angel replied.

Dr. Baker couldn’t help but smile at that. "It shouldn’t," he replied, "considering the pain killers you were given."

Angel winced slightly as the nurse added another stitch. Buffy reached out and placed a reassuring hand on his knee. "So," Dr. Baker said after a moment, "not that it’s any of my business, but I seem to see you lot quite often. What’s up with the two of you?" For a moment Buffy looked panicked, and Dr. Baker wondered if he’d said the wrong thing. "I noticed your ring," he explained.

The flash of relief on the girl’s face made Dr. Baker wonder what she thought he’d been asking. "Yeah, we’re engaged." Then her face lit up as she grinned at Angel. "Do you have any idea how fun that it to say?" she said. Angel smiled in response, but said nothing.

Dr. Baker nodded, pleased that his guess was confirmed. That was the only thing he liked about having certain frequent visitors. He felt like he got to know their lives a bit. "Congratulations, then," he said with a smile.

"All done!" interrupted the nurse as she reached for some gauze. "As soon as I get you bandaged up you’ll be free to go." She began applying the bandages on his back to match those for the front half of the bite.

"Good," said Angel in relief.

Buffy nodded in agreement. "The whole gang’s waiting for us. I talked to Giles on the phone, and he said he’ll meet us at your place. He’d better have some information for us, because I’m sick of waiting."

"Now, Ms. Summers," Dr. Baker interjected, "he really ought to get some rest. Those pain killers are going to wear off pretty soon."

The patient nodded, looking as though he was trying to reassure the doctor. "I’ll rest as soon as I can," Angel said, though Dr. Baker didn’t believe that anymore than he had Angel’s assurances that he would see a heart specialist after the last time he was hospitalized.

"There, that’s it," said the nurse and began to put away her supplies.

Angel stood and gathered his bloody, torn shirt, careful not to move his injured shoulder. His younger fiancée took his hand as he stood, and together they made their way out of the room.

"Angel, Ms. Summers," Dr. Baker called right as they were leaving, "could you do me a favor?"

The young couple looked at him curiously. "What is it?" Angel asked.

"Could I please *not* see you or any of your friends for a couple of months?" he pleaded.

Buffy laughed at that. "We’ll try our best," she replied.

"Thank you again, Doctor," the young man said as he left, and the two of them went to gather their friends.

Smiling slightly, Dr. Baker made his way to the rest of his patients.

Part Six

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