Saving Grace
By Lacy

Title:Saving Grace 20/20
Summary: What happens after "Grave". Everything changes.
Spoilers: Season Six, pretty much everything up to and through "Grave".
Pairing: B/G (duh), a bit of W/X/A/S angsty-ness (or there will be), a little Wes/Faith
Rating: PG-13, for language and innuendo mostly.
Feedback: Please! *begs* *begs harder*
Use: Want.Take.Have. Just tell me where it goes.
Disclaimer: These are obviously not my characters. They are all owned by Joss the Evil, ME, UPN and a bunch of other folks that I don't know. I'm borrowing them for fun. I'll put them back when I'm through.

Authors Notes: This hasn't been beta-read. I hope the typos aren't too glaring. SO sorry. *grovels for feedback*
I've loved writing this story. Hope everyone liked reading it! (Don't worry, I'll be back with more soon).

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness the joining of two lives with one another. Miss Buffy Summers and Mr. Rupert Giles stand before us, pledging their lives and hearts to each other, to be joined in holy matrimony."

Buffy, hating herself, but not being able to help it, had started crying the minute the minister started speaking. She'd never felt this happy before; it was like her whole body wanted to explode. She wasn't sure how everything had worked out so perfectly, but it had.

She had the most incredible groom in the world. Looking across at the Giles, seeing the love shining in his eyes, made her knees weak. He looked so...incredibly sexy in that tux. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to make it through the reception without ripping it off him. And she loved him. She'd never felt more sure of anything in her whole life.

When the minister asked her a question, she was so absorbed in her mental appreciation of her soon to be husband that she had to ask him to repeat what he'd said. The guests laughed heartily, and someone, she was sure it was Oz, had let out a wolf whistle from the back.

"Do you, Buffy Summers, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, forsaking all others, until you are parted by death?"

She grinned, widely. "Death, I'm not worried about. Yes, of course. With all that I am."

The guests laughed again, and this time the bride and groom laughed with them. Buffy surveyed her wedding party happily, wondering how she'd gotten so lucky. Not only was she marrying Giles, but so many people she cared about were here to witness it. Dawn, Faith and Anya were standing beside her, Willow had shown up at the last minute from some island in the Phillipines as a surprise, with Spike of all people in tow, even Angel and the LA gang had come.

"And do you, Rupert Giles, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, forsaking all others, until you are parted by death?"

Giles replied in a semi-choked voice, "There've never been any others. And yes, I do. With all that I am, and all that I have ever been. I love you, Buffy."

"I love you too," she mouthed back at him, as their friends collectively "Awww-ed" behind them.

Giles felt like his heart was going to stop beating. Looking at Buffy...she looked so radiant, so lovely, that he didn't think he could bear it. Like looking at the sun for too long. When he slipped the ring on her finger, and saw that her hand was shaking, it took all of his self control not to sweep her up into an embrace right there. He could feel Xander trying not to laugh to his left, heard Ethan chuckling to his right, and saw Wesley smiling indulgently at him from further down the row. They'd had so many conversations of late about the bond between Slayers and Watchers, and how difficult it was to date an American, that he knew his friend understood his feelings. The thought of Wesley and Faith together was kind of strange, but, well, so was the idea of him and Buffy. And God knew that was the rightest, most perfect thing in the universe. He prayed quietly, as he and his bride lit a candle together, that he could spend the next thirty or forty years making Buffy happy, merely to pay her back for this one moment.

The minister intoned, "I believe we have a few guests who wish to say something, next."

Dawn walked forward. "Buffy, I know I haven't always been the best sister in the world...but I love you. I'm so happy for you. I was going to read this whole cheesey poem, about love and devotion and how great it is to get married, but...well, seeing the two of you together today, makes the poem seem pointless. You guys are the poem. Welcome to the family, Giles. Officially at least." She smiled at them. "You've always belonged with us."

Giles squeezed Buffy's hand tightly, and she unabashedly wiped tears from her face with her free one. "Thank you," he mouthed at Dawn.

Xander took Dawn's place. "Yeah. I'll be short and sweet. I owe you two a whole lot. Anya and I both do. Thanks for being my role model, G- man. I love you guys. I'm glad you guys love each other. Be happy."

The minister cleared his throat, and surveyed the room. "All right, if there are no other comments, then I suppose I can now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride."

"I'd like to say something." Willow stood in the crowd. She looked radically different than when she'd left Sunnydale, the black streaks in her hair had solidified into one giant stripe, and she rather looked like a mispainted Rogue from the X-men. She was thinner, and her face looked harder, but she didn't look quite so lost.

The couple turned toward her, as one, surprised. "I know I haven't been around, and I know I've...well, done some not so savory stuff. But, you two are definitely the thing I got right, and for what's it's worth, I'd give it all up again to give this moment to you two. Congratulations."

"Thank you," Buffy mouthed at her. "Love you," Willow mouthed back.

"Can you bloody well kiss her so we can get to the booze?" Spike catcalled from his seat next to Willow.

Grinning, Giles lowered his head to Buffy's. "I love you, dear heart."

"Always," she whispered back.

And everything seemed to stop as he pressed his mouth against hers. The Gileses kissing went on for so long that Spike eventually led a bunch of guests off to the reception site in search of something to drink. Not surprisingly, Buffy and Giles were the last to arrive at their own wedding reception. When asked by Xander what had taken them so long to get there, it was Anya who replied for them both.

"Xander. Now that's none of our business," she said primly, her face lighting with a wicked grin, "And if you have to ask, I have taught you nothing, orgasm-wise."

Xander opened and closed his mouth a few times..."Uh..I guess, congratulations again?" he squeaked, and headed back toward the bar, Anya trailing in his wake, saying something about how she'd explain what she'd meant when they got home.

Buffy leaned against her husband. He kissed the top of her head.

"Happy, Mrs. Giles?"

"Terribly, Mr. Giles."

"Still angry I vetoed "Wind Beneath My Wings" for the dance?"

"Eh. I let you win that fight."

"Of course."

"It's all about the priorities," she murmured, as they started swaying to the music, slowly. "You get your song, *I* get a tropical paradise honeymoon."

"Compromise is our game, is it? You know bloody well I'd take you anywhere you wanted to go, anyway."

"Yeah. I know." She kissed his hand. "So, if I tell you that I'm already bored by this whole reception deal, and want you to take me somewhere where I can get out of this uncomfortable dress, and into a bubble bath with my extremely handsome new husband....does that mean I get that too?"

He laughed, "Buffy, love, while nothing would give me greater...ah...joy...than that would, we have to at least stay long enough for the obligatory wedding festivities. You know, you have to throw the bouquet, I have to pull your garter out from under your skirt in an appallingly obscene manner. We have to feed each other cake."

"You're loving every minute of this, aren't you?"

"Absolutely. But, I promise, bubbles and whatall as soon as we get to the hotel."

"Never a dull moment, Watcher-mine."

"Always, yours. Watcher or not. And heaven, help me, I hope it's never dull." He grinned and kissed her soundly; she wrapped her arms around him tightly, and whispered in his ear, "And they all lived happily ever after."

"Bloody right," he growled, pulling her back in for a deeper, longer kiss.