Title: Deceptions and Betrayals 21/21
Author: Ness
Contact: sessa1_2@yahoo.com
Written: 09/08/2003
Spoilers: Nothing after "Wrecked" in season 6 on BtVS and anything before "Sleep Tight" on AtS. But this is completely AU.
Summary: This one is a sequel to "When You Least Expect It". If you didn't read that one, this will probably confuse you.
Pairings: Cordelia/Giles and Buffy/Wesley
Rating: PG most of the time but there are NC-17 parts.
Distribution: Anyone that already has permission. Anyone else, please ask first.

Disclaimer: We all know who owns 'em and it ain't me. Joss and Co. are gods in their universe, I'm just a peon in mine.
Thanks to Suzanne for the beta. It is much appreciated, Chica. *G*
A/N: I did a bit of juggling with this after Suz saw it, so any and all mistakes are mine--as usual. ;-)
Dedication: This one is for Kerrie. She gave me the idea that ended an almost six month block. She read this puppy even though she didn't normally read these pairings. Now, I've corrupted her or that's what she says anyway. *G* Thanks darlin', you're the best.

Wesley stood in the living room of Buffy's home, feeling a mixture of elation and nerves. He was dressed in a tuxedo and was waiting for the woman he loved to walk down the stairs and pledge herself to him. The actual ceremony would be done in the backyard. The same protection spell Willow and Tara had done for Giles and Cordelia's wedding was being done for theirs.

"How ya holding up?" Gunn came up beside him.

"Fine, fine." He reached up to tug on the bow tie that suddenly threatened to strangle him.

"Don't look like it, bro." His hand was batted away and the offending tie was straightened by his best man. "We're gonna miss you," the younger man mumbled.

"I will miss all of you as well."

"Do you really want to move back here?"

Wesley had had to think about it for a long time. Sunnydale was the site of his greatest humiliation and also his most heartfelt prayer coming true. He' d fallen in love with a woman that had pledged her life to this town, and the world, whether they knew it or not. She couldn't leave and he refused to have a long-distance marriage.

Besides, even though Angel had seemed to accept their relationship, the ex-Watcher knew that seeing them together hurt the vampire. There was no need to cause him any more pain than necessary. It would be easier on all of them if he moved to Sunnydale to be with Buffy.

It was strange in a way. He and Giles were almost switching places. The older man had made his life in L.A. because Cordelia couldn't leave her destiny.

And now, Wesley would make his home in Sunnydale because Buffy could not leave hers.

Strange how things worked out sometimes.

"Chop, chop, children. Let's move this gig outside." Lorne's voice interrupted his musings.

Wesley and Gunn made their way outside to find that Willow, Buffy's maid of honor, and the others were already there.

The wedding march began to play and Wesley watched as Buffy came out of the house, on Giles' arm, and walked slowly towards him.

His breath left him. She was amazing. She wore a pale peach sundress. She hadn't wanted a big fancy gown so she, Willow and Cordelia had gone shopping and found this. It was striking on her. She carried a small bouquet of flowers in one hand and held onto her Watcher's arm with the other. She looked serene to most people, but Wesley could see in her eyes that she was as nervous as he. Only, suddenly, he wasn't nervous anymore. He was in the exact place he needed to be. He looked around and saw the people that meant the most to him.

He knew that Buffy was disappointed that her father either wouldn't, or couldn't, come today. He hadn't bothered inviting his mother. She may have redeemed herself in the end by standing up to his father, but she was still the same woman that had managed to aid William Wyndham-Pryce in destroying every good feeling their son had ever had. He had no intention of taking the chance of a repeat performance on this day.

He watched his bride coming to him and he felt an indescribable joy.

****

Buffy watched the man she loved as she moved towards him and thanked any and all Powers and Higher Beings for giving him to her.

He loved her for who and what she was--all of her. She wasn't sure why, but she wasn't looking a gift-horse in the mouth. He wanted her and she wasn't letting him go. She'd finally realized what she had.

She stopped beside him and they turned to face the minister together.

"Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony--"

The minister's voice continued reading the sacred ceremony until he reached the part that said "If anyone here has just cause why these two should not be married, let them speak now or forever hold their peace."

"I have just cause!"

Buffy and Wesley looked at one another and sighed. Why they had thought their wedding would go off as planned was anyone's guess. They turned as one to face the intruder.

"Dad?!?" Buffy couldn't believe what, or rather who, she was seeing.

Wesley eyed the man coming down the aisle.

He turned to look at his bride. "That's your father?"

"Yes."

He gave his attention back to the man in question. "You definitely got your looks and your intelligence from your mother," he said after a moment.

Buffy couldn't help it, she burst into laughter.

"This is no laughing matter, young lady," her father scolded her as he came to a halt in front of them.

Buffy opened her mouth to say something, when Giles stepped in.

"I think you lost the right to address her behavior years ago," her Watcher told Hank Summers.

Buffy's father glared at him. "Who the hell are you?"

"He's the man that walked me down the aisle and gave me away because you were too busy to be bothered," Buffy interrupted quietly.

He had the grace to look ashamed for a moment before he remembered why he was there. "I won't let you marry him," he pointed to Wesley.

"Why?" This question came from Dawn who had moved from her place with the bridesmaids and was now standing by her sister.

"He's too old for her," he blustered.

"How do you know?" Buffy spoke again.

"I just know." Hank got a stubborn set to his jaw. "I won't give my permission."

Buffy looked at him and resisted the urge to slug him. "I don't need your permission. I'm twenty-one."

He looked angered at that little revelation. Almost as though a plan had been upset.

Giles took one look at him and grabbed him by the arm.

"Come along, Mister Summers, you and I need to have a little chat." He smiled at the minister. "Carry on." There was more than a hint of an order in the cheerful words.

Hank looked as though he would say more until Giles whispered in his ear. "I wouldn't if I were you." The blonde man looked at the Watcher and swallowed hard.

Giles led him, dragging almost, into the house.

Buffy sighed and knew that it wasn't over. Geez, why did she even bother to plan on something normal?

Wesley took her hand and turned her to face him. "Do you want to deal with this now?" He pressed a gentle kiss to the hand he held. "I'm not going anywhere."

She smiled at him. "Nope, my dad can wait. We've got a wedding to finish."

He gave her a wide grin and they turned to face the minister.

The elderly man took a deep breath and began again.

****

After the vows were said, Buffy went into the house to see what Giles might have done to her father.

Wesley began to follow when a figure in the shadows caught his eye. He paused and looked closer.

Angel came out of the deeper shadows, careful to avoid anyone else. He watched the man who was one of his best friends, the sunlight sparkling off of the gold band Wesley now wore on his left hand. He closed his eyes for a moment before taking a deep breath he didn't need and opened them again. He nodded one time to the ex-Watcher before turning and walking away.

Wesley watched the spot where Angel had stood for a moment longer before shaking himself. That was as close to a blessing as he and Buffy were likely to get.

It was enough.

****

Buffy walked into the kitchen. "Giles? Where the hell are you?" She was not happy about her father's interruption.

"We are in the living room." Giles voice held a distinct note of irritation.

She followed the sound of his voice until she saw her father sitting stiffly on the sofa. Giles stood a few feet away, giving the impression that he was stopping Hank Summers from leaving.

"What are you doing here, Dad?"

"I came to stop you from making a mistake." Hank jumped up, keeping a careful eye on the Englishman the entire time. "This Wesley is too old for you."

"How do you know?" Buffy asked as she put her hands on her hips.

"That's something I would like to know," her new husband's voice sounded from the doorway. "How do you know anything about me?"

"I have my ways," Hank said with as much conviction as he could muster.

"You haven't bothered to pick up a phone in months to check on me or Dawn. You couldn't even be bothered to come to Mom's funeral. Why the sudden interest in my life?" Buffy asked bitterly.

"You're my daughter!"

"Why have you suddenly remembered that?" She was getting a suspicion of why he was here and she was praying she was wrong. "Who sent you, Dad?"

"No one." But the denial rang hollow.

She closed her eyes. "Who sent you here to stop my wedding?"

"No one." But Hank paled noticeably at the direct question.

"Don't lie to me," she said fiercely.

He shrank back from the command in her voice. This wasn't right. His twenty-one year old daughter shouldn't have that kind of presence. He decided to try and bluff himself out of the mess he was in. "Don't talk to me that way, young lady!"

"She may talk to you anyway she pleases, she's earned the right by virtue of your negligence." Giles said quietly.

"What the hell do you know? She's not your daughter!"

"You're right, she's not. She's yours," was the quiet reply. The Englishman slowly walked over to where Buffy's father sat and stopped inches away from him. "She's one of two daughters that you haven't worried about in years. You didn't call to see how she was faring after Joyce's death." He took a deep, calming breath. "Who, I might add, deserved better as well. The woman was your wife and gave you two children and you couldn't even be bothered to come and pay your last respects." His voice dripped with disdain.

"Joyce was--" Hank began scornfully.

"Don't!" Buffy and Giles' voices both said at the same time.

Buffy looked at her Watcher and nodded once. She knew why he was doing this. Even now, he was allowing her to have an out in case she ever wanted a relationship with her father. He would say the truth and take the consequences.

"Joyce was a beautiful woman and devoted, loving mother." Giles stepped back and shoved his hands in his pockets to keep from throttling the man in front of him. "She did the best she could under the most trying of circumstances with no help from you. I will not allow you to slander her memory."

Hank turned red and then remembered that Giles was married to Cordelia, who had entered the room along with Dawn, Willow, Xander and Anya.

"What does your wife think of your kind words about my ex-wife?" he sneered.

"Well, for one thing, his wife would have to agree with him," Cordelia answered for Giles as she walked over and put her arm around her husband's waist. "And for another, I'm wondering how you know about all of us since you haven't been around?"

Hank swallowed hard. He'd allowed his mouth to run out of control and now he had no way of backtracking.

"For the last time, who sent you?" The quiet question came from Buffy.

"I told you, no one sent--"

"We know you were sent to stop Buffy from marrying me," Wesley interrupted. "I can even take a fairly educated guess as to who it might have been. Denying it will do you no good."

"If you know, then you don't need me to tell you." Buffy's father looked smug and sat back on the sofa.

"Giles?"

"Yes, Wesley?"

"Would you take Buffy and the others outside and start the reception?"

"Gladly." Giles gestured to everyone to leave the room.

"Wesley?" Buffy stopped beside her husband.

"Yes?"

"Don't hurt your hands, I've got plans for them later." With that last remark, she followed her Watcher out of the living room, without a backward glance, leaving her father's mouth hanging open in astonishment and dawning fear.

****

"Do you fully understand your situation now?" Wesley asked as he slowly approached the man on the sofa. "Not to worry though, I don't plan on doing any permanent damage," Hank Summers was assured in a most civilized manner. "Notice I said 'permanent'," Wesley added as an afterthought.

Hank began to shake. "I didn't want to do it. They made me."

"Who made you?"

"A man came to my office and told me he wanted this wedding stopped."

"Why?"

"I don't know."

Wesley continued towards him.

"I swear! I don't know!" Buffy's father shrank back on the sofa.

"You were willing to hurt your daughter, destroy something that makes her happy, and you didn't think to ask why?" Wesley didn't try to hide the incredulousness in his voice.

"I didn't have a choice."

"If you can't tell me why, then you'd better be able to come up with whom," Wesley told him quietly.

Hank looked at the man his daughter married and realized that he'd made a huge mistake. The man who'd come to him had told him that Wesley was an ineffectual coward.

He'd been wrong.

Hank started talking.

****

Wesley closed the backdoor quietly. The reception was going well, but he could see that the people who'd been in the living room were watching him anxiously.

Buffy came to him.

"Where's my father?"

"He's gone," he said as he stepped off the porch onto the grass.

"Gone?"

"He won't be back." He didn't add that he'd told Hank Summers in no uncertain terms that if he attempted to hurt either of his daughters again, he would answer to both Wesley and Rupert Giles. Wesley loved Buffy and Dawn. They were his family now--he would protect them.

"Any luck finding out who sent him?" Giles asked as he and Cordelia joined them.

"Yes." He looked at Buffy's Watcher. "I'm sorry to say this--."

"It was my uncle."

Wesley nodded.

Giles cursed softly.

"Why?" Cordelia asked as she rubbed her husband's back to calm him down.

"To simply throw us off balance." Wesley rubbed his neck wearily. This definitely wasn't the wedding day he'd envisioned. "He also wanted to punish us for having the audacity to defy him."

"I'll kill him," Giles whispered fiercely.

"No, you won't." Buffy laid her hand on his arm. "We'll figure out a way to beat him. That'll hurt him worse than killing him." She wrapped her arm around Wesley's waist. "What do we do now?"

"We continue to defy him." He pulled her closer. "I don't think he intended for your father to succeed. It was just a malicious attempt to disrupt and tarnish this day for us. He is a very petty man."

"That he is." Giles was still fuming. He hated to think that a member of his family had caused Buffy such pain.

"Then here's what we're going to do," Buffy said suddenly as she grabbed hold of her husband's hand.

"What?"

"We're going to dance and eat and enjoy the rest of *our* day." She leaned in and whispered in his ear. "And then, I'm going to take you to bed and ravish you."

He pulled her to him. "Do you promise?" He whispered right before he captured her lips. He raised his head after a moment and, with a chuckle, pulled her towards the food-laden table.

"Are you okay?" Cordelia watched Giles struggle to reign in his temper.

"I'm just so bloody tired of Buffy having to pay for other people's follies." He blew out a breath.

"I know, but at least she's not alone."

"There is that." He watched as his Slayer playfully smeared her new husband with wedding cake. "Come on then." He grabbed his wife's hand and pulled her along. "I'd like a bit of that cake myself."

Cordelia laughed and let herself be led over to the festivities.

FINIS

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