Days in the Sun
December 12th, 2008 – Wedding (6)
Two weeks left before Christmas, and Buffy was enjoying a quiet weekend afternoon at home with the children. Her plans had been to go to the mall and do some shopping, but generous clouds had prompted Spike to declare he would go instead. She was of course curious as to what he would buy, but she could wait, knowing from experience that the surprise would be worth it.
“How about this one?” she asked, pointing to the catalogue page in front of her. Lisa moved a little closer to her on the bed to get a better look. They were both lying on heir stomachs and resting on their elbows, going through the bridal catalogues that Buffy had bought a couple of weeks back.
“It’s too puffy,” Lisa announced, dismissing the flower girl dress her mother had been suggesting.
“Too puffy, check,” Buffy said, chuckling to herself. Lisa was only eight, but already she had quite definite ideas about what she wanted to wear and in that regard she reminded Buffy of Spike.
They looked through a few more with Buffy turning the pages every few seconds. Suddenly, Lisa exclaimed: “That one!”
Buffy blinked, wondering which picture her daughter was talking about. Two couples were on the double page, bridesmaids and best men, nothing suitable for a little girl.
“Which one?”
Lisa’s small finger tapped one of the best men. “Him. He’s pretty.”
This time, Buffy laughed out loud. “We’re getting you a pretty dress, baby. Not a tuxedo.”
The little girl pouted. “I’m not a baby!” she claimed, sulking. “Jay is the baby.”
Buffy shook her head, still amused. Why was it that Spike could get away with calling Lisa just about anything, but she could not?
“Yes, honey. You’re a big girl. And I’m sure you understand why you can’t wear a tuxedo; they’re for boys.”
“Not for me,” Lisa said with an exaggerated sigh that made her mother feel twice her age. “For Daddy. He would look pretty in that.”
Letting a finger trail over the glossy paper, Buffy had no trouble imagining Spike wearing the tux. He had worn something similar for her twice before. The first time had been back when they were in England, and she smiled sadly at the memory, caressing Lisa’s hair softly. A wonderful evening that had ended with a flight back to California in the small hours of the morning after an argument about his chip. The second time had been only a couple of months earlier; again, the evening had been lovely until the final argument. Maybe Spike wearing a tuxedo wasn’t such a good omen, after all.
“We’ll show it to him,” she promised nonetheless and folded down the top of the page. “Now we still need to find something for you and Joyce Anne.”
Discussing colors and styles, they leafed through a few more pages without finding anything of interest. Until…
“Look! This is the prettiest dress!”
Again, Buffy was perplexed. The dress was gorgeous, made of dark red satin, but with its bare shoulders, tight waist and corset it certainly wasn’t anything a bouquet girl would wear. Then, she understood.
“For me, you mean?”
Lisa nodded gravely.
“The bride is supposed to wear white, Lisa. And it’s not a wedding dress, it’s just a party dress.”
“But Daddy would like it very much,” the little girl insisted. “It’s all red like he likes. And it’s pretty.”
Wondering when and where Lisa had caught up on Spike’s preferred colors, Buffy watched her daughter sit up and bounce on the bed. “You’ll be the prettiest mommy ever!”
Laughing, she rolled onto her back and caught Lisa, tickling along her ribs until she was crying for mercy.
“I thought I already was the prettiest mom ever!”
Lisa wormed her way out of Buffy’s arm and, still giggling, slid off the bed and ran out of the room. Buffy watched her go, grinning widely as she sat up. Her eyes fell on the magazine, still open on the red dress page. Her smile softened softly as she pondered. It really was beautiful. Sexy but still modest enough for the mother of three children. Red enough to put a spark in Spike’s eyes. Maybe… just maybe. She folded down the page’s corner and turned to the next one. She still wanted to find something for the girls, even if there was no date set yet.
A stifled laugh caught her ear, and she raised her head in time to see Lisa and William rush into the room, both of them giggling before they had even climbed on the bed to launch an all-out tickling attack on her.
The characters and names used in these stories do not belong to me. All copyrights remain with Fox and Mutant Enemy. No profit is made from this fanfiction.