Strange Place to Live:
Holy Matrimony
by Cynamin

"Don’t lay our love to rest
‘cause we can stand up to the test
We’ve got everything and more
than we had planned"
~All For Love

Giles stood outside the mansion waiting for Buffy and all of her friends to return from the hospital. Buffy had called him from the emergency room, sounding both concerned for Angel and angry that they had been attacked in broad daylight. She was right in assuming that there was more to what had been happening than random attacks and had demanded that Giles would come with some answers.

Now Giles stood outside the front door, several of his books with him, waiting for everyone to arrive. He hoped that Angel was okay. If he wasn’t, Giles knew that he was at least partially to blame. He should have told them everything from the beginning. However, he had not wanted to worry them when he wasn’t sure whether there was truly a reason to be concerned, and if there was he hadn’t known at the time the reason behind the threat.

Now, however, Giles knew the answers to both these questions. As he waited, Giles only had to consider how he was going to tell them. And how much of the prophecies they should know. Giles had been waiting for about a half an hour when Oz’s van pulled up in front of the mansion. The group of teenagers climbed out, followed by Angel whose bandaged shoulder hampered his movement. Buffy moved at the head of the group, carrying Angel’s bloody shirt in one hand and his keys in the other.

"Hey, Giles," she said as she ran up to open the door. Everyone hurried inside. "You’ve got something to tell us, right?"

"I do," Giles replied, pulling out his books.

Angel closed the door behind him as he entered. "Could you hold on a second, Giles?" he asked. "I want to go put on a shirt."

Giles nodded.

"I’ll help," volunteered Buffy, following Angel out of the room. He looked at her curiously. "You’re going to need to help to get a shirt on over those bandages." The two of them disappeared into Angel’s bedroom.

Everyone else made themselves comfortable on the couches. Giles took the books he brought and put them on the table. Willow picked up a book of prophecy from the table and quickly flipped it open to the correct page.

Xander was watching her strangely. "What are you doing, Will?" he asked.

Willow looked at Giles for a moment, her expression clearly saying "can I tell him?" Giles nodded.

"I’m going to be a Watcher," Willow declared with a smile. "That is, I’m learning. Giles is teaching me."

"Really?" asked Xander in surprise. "Didn’t we say you’d make a good Watcher?"

Willow nodded.

"Cool," said Oz.

There was a moment of silence. Xander had a thoughtful look on his face. "Giles," he asked finally, "I thought you were a Watcher because like your whole family were Watchers or something."

"True," Giles replied, "but not all Watchers are from families like mine. Sometimes new people are brought into the Watchers on the recommendation of another Watcher, usually if that Watcher has no family to continue their tradition."

Everyone nodded their understanding at that as Buffy and Angel returned to the room. Angel had put on a white, buttoned shirt. "What’s going on?" asked Buffy.

"Willow’s going to be a Watcher," declared Xander.

"Really? Wow," said Buffy.

"Good luck," Angel added.

Willow just beamed.

Oz moved over to allow Angel a seat on the couch. Buffy took a seat on the table, now in the center of everything. "Well?" she said once everyone was settled. "What’s up Giles?"

Giles took his glasses off, cleaning them while he thought on how to begin. Everyone except Willow stared at him expectantly. "I should have told you this earlier," Giles began.

Buffy glared at him angrily at that. "Giles," she said slowly, "this isn’t going to be like when I died, is it?"

"No, no, of course not," Giles assured her. She didn’t look appeased. "When you first announced that you were engaged, I looked into the records to see if any Slayer had ever gotten married. None had."

"Right, you told us this," Buffy said impatiently.

"What I didn’t tell you is that one Slayer did get engaged."

Silence met this remark, a silence that Angel was first to break. "What happened to her?" he asked softly.

Giles sighed. "She was killed. Both she and her fiancé died a month before their wedding. It was a demon attack, one no one saw coming." Buffy was about to speak, undoubtably to demand why they hadn’t been told of this earlier. Giles held up his hands, answering her question before it could be asked. "I didn’t want to say anything until I knew more. It could have just been chance."

"That seems unlikely, doesn’t it?" muttered Xander.

"Correct," Giles replied smoothly, "especially now that we have seen similar increased activity. But I still did not know the . . . reason behind it."

"You mean besides the fact that the bad guys hate us?" Buffy asked.

"Yes, Buffy, besides that. If that was the only reason it still wouldn’t explain the drastically increased activity that we’re seeing. The question is really ‘why now’."

"I assume you found an answer."

"Actually, I did," Willow said, holding up her book. "Giles and I found a whole bunch of references in places like the Pergamum Codex-"

"I hate that book," muttered Buffy.

"-and other books of prophecy to the ‘wedded Slayer,’" Willow continued as if Buffy had not interrupted. "Mostly just little events and stuff, but I did find something that would be why they wouldn’t want you to be the wedded Slayer." Willow pointed to a passage in the book she had opened. Reading aloud she said, "Neither her natural enemy nor their inhuman allies shall bring the destruction or death of the wedded Slayer."

Silence met her pronouncement. "That would be vampires, right? The Slayer’s natural enemies?" Xander asked.

"And lesser demons is the implication, yes," Giles replied.

Oz smiled. "This is good, right?"

"Yes . . . and no," replied Willow. "Good for us: Buffy won’t be killed by a vampire or demon if she’s ‘the wedded Slayer.’ Bad for them: evil sees her as undefeatable. Bad for us: evil tries to stop Buffy from being ‘the wedded Slayer.’" After a pause she added, "And it doesn’t say that they can’t defeat her, just that they won’t."

"Way to look on the bright side, Willow," Buffy said sarcastically.

"Just looking at all sides, like I’m supposed to," Willow explained.

A silence fell over the group once again as everyone thought about what had been revealed. "So what do we do now?" asked Buffy.

"What would happen if they got married sooner than planned? Like ASAP?" Xander asked.

"Aside from giving my mother fits?" Buffy remarked.

Giles shook his head. "Probably not a good idea."

"To give my mother fits?"

"To hurry the wedding," Giles clarified. "Who knows at this time what is still to be released against you? If you rush the wedding, everything may be thrown at us at once . . . with disastrous consequences."

Everyone thought for a moment longer. Angel spoke. "What if-" he began.

"Don’t even say it!" Buffy demanded. "Don’t you dare ask ‘what if we cancel the wedding’ or something stupid like that!"

"Buffy," Angel explained softly, "I want nothing more in the world than to be married to you. But if it comes to making a choice as to whether you live or die, I’d rather not be married to you and have you live."

Buffy nodded reluctantly at that, but Willow shook her head. "I don’t think that works, either," she said. "They’re already trying to stop you. I don’t think they’re just going to go away. What’s to stop the two of you from running to the courthouse one day and getting married?"

Giles cleared his throat. "This is not the only mention of the wedded Slayer, and we can assume that whoever or whatever is leading these attacks has access to the same prophecies we have," he added. "Some of the other instances make it clear that this refers specifically to the two of you, and not just any Slayer who happens to get married."

"Really?" asked Buffy in surprise.

Giles nodded.

Buffy had a very strange expression on her face. "Are you alright?" Angel asked her.

"Yeah," she said, "yeah, I’m good. I’m happy, I’m just not sure what to think of being in a prophesized relationship. It’s really weird. Destiny is cool and all, but . . . ." She shook her head slightly. "I’m off topic . . . . I’ll concentrate on that later. So Giles, what do we do now? Do we just continue as we have been?"

"There’s not much else we can do," he replied.

"We can get help," Xander offered. When everyone looked at him blankly, he explained. "We all know more people . . . and things . . . that fight evil. Wouldn’t some of them help if we asked?"

"Like Kenneth!" exclaimed Willow.

"Yes," Giles said with a nod. "I can get a hold of him."

"Anyone else?" Xander asked.

"Cordelia." Everyone looked at Angel in surprise. "She helped me in L.A. for a year. She can fight evil alright.

"How about the woman with the sword? You know, the one who passed through town a couple of summers ago and helped fight vampires. What was her name?" Oz offered.

Willow thought for a second. "Colleen?"

"Alright," said Giles. Then, after a moment, "Does anyone know how to get in touch with Ms. Cunningham?"

Neither Oz nor Willow had a reply for that. Much to their surprise it was Angel who provided an answer. "Cunningham?" he asked. "I know someone else with that last name, maybe she’s related. I know a Robin Cunningham, a self proclaimed vampire hunter. She doesn’t deal with other types of demons, but she’d probably help, too. She’s already invited to the wedding."

As everyone stared at Angel dumbfounded, Buffy laughed.

"What?"

"Do you know *everyone,* Angel?"

Angel smiled. "I’ve been around," he replied.

"Well," said Giles, "any other helpers anyone can think of?" When no one replied, he stood. "Then we’d best be leaving. It’s been a busy day."

Everyone nodded as they made their way towards the door. Buffy stood. "I should be going, too," she said. She kissed Angel briefly on the lips. "You rest. Doctor’s orders." Then Buffy walked with Giles out the door.

Once outside, Buffy turned to Giles. "What else did the prophecies say?" she asked softly.

Giles regarded her seriously. "Only bits and pieces. Most of it is unclear now, and none of it is of immediate consequence." That all was true.

Another pause. "It’s good, right? We’re going to make it?"

"It’s good, as far as I can tell."

Pause. "Giles?"

"Yes?"

"If you found something bad, you’d tell me, right?"

"I would tell you, Buffy." And that was also true.

"Good."

Part Seven

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