Fred was glad that Rupert agreed with the guest list - it wasn't that many people, but then again, they didn't need that many people to be there. The wedding was for them, not anyone else. She was sure Helen would understand that, especially when she saw how small it would end up being.
"My mother says I was actually pretty bossy when I was little. I...I learned pretty quickly not to be when I was in Pylea, but occasionally, I find it coming back, especially when waiters decide to interrupt us every few minutes." She picked up her fork and took a bite of the pasta - it was really, really good, like he had said.
She looked up when he brought up the idea of a honeymoon, having not even really thought about it except for maybe taking a few days off around the wedding since they were so busy with the Council. "I have always wanted to go to New Zealand," she admitted, giving him a bashful smile while she reached out and took one of the breadsticks for herself. "Never thought I'd actually be able to go, but it would be nice. I'd really like to go there with you."
She then thought of something else about the wedding that they'd have to consider for the wedding. "Who are we going to get to officiate? I don't know much about how it works here in terms of who has to be there in order for a wedding to be considered legal."
Giles frowned a little when Fred mentioned Pylea. He knew she was safe now and would never end up there again but still the thought of her being there in the first place broke his heart. He looked down at his plate and moved the pasta around. It was a filling meal and he didn't think he could eat another bite. Giles sat his fork down and used his napkin to wipe off his face.
"Oh, yes, the Council will have the officials we need for the wedding. We'll need a priest to officiate over the ceremony and a registrar official to sign our marriage certificate. The Council has their own registrar so we won't have to worry about that," Giles explained as he took a drink of water. "We have numerous priests under our employ and I'll just call one of them."
Giles made a list in his head of the things they would need to start doing soon for the wedding. He would need to get a tuxedo and of course they would need to get a caterer and flowers. He was about to ask her if there was anything else she could think of when the waiter showed up, asking if they wanted dessert. "No thank you. Would you like something, love?" Giles asked, looking over at Fred.
"That's good," Fred said when Rupert told her that the Council had connections to all the officials they would need for the wedding to take place. She was relieved because she would have hated to think that they weent through everything only to find out that they had missed something and the wedding wasn't legal. She knew there had been plenty of cases in the U.S. where someone claiming to be able to conduct legal ceremonies had been shown to be a fraud later on.
She took a few more bites of pasta just before the waiter reappeared to ask about dessert, and she shook her head when Rupert asked if she wanted anything. The pasta had been far more than she had expected, and once she had finished the plate, she felt very full. "I'm fine," she said, looking over at Rupert's plate and seeing he had left some of his food. She laughed a bit in embarrassment. "Although I feel a bit of a pig now. Don't know if you noticed, but I tend to be able to eat a lot."
She put her fork down as the waiter began to clear the table for them, taking the plates away. "I don't know about you, but I almost wish it were already the end of the month." She glanced over at the dance floor at the other side of the room where some of the other couples who had finished their suppers were going out on while someone played on a piano. Smiling over at Rupert, she reached her hand out to him. "Dance with me?"
Giles chuckled a bit when Fred mentioned her appetite. "The Slayers have quite an appetite also. I've lived in a small house with many of them and mealtime was always interesting," he said with a smile. When she held out her hand and asked if he wanted to dance, Giles nodded and stood from his chair.
He went over to Fred's chair and helped her out of it before walking her to the dance floor. Giles placed one hand on her waist and the other in her hand before looking around them. He didn't want to gloat but Giles knew Fred was the most beautiful woman there. With a smile, Giles started to sway with her to the music.
"I can't wait until you're my wife, love," he said, looking down at her. Giles ran his hand up her side and cupped her face before leaning down to deeply kiss her. He heard someone behind him clear their throat so Giles pulled back and sighed. "I do believe some people have stick up their arses." He smirked and them chuckled a little when he remembered all those time he'd gotten after Xander and Anya for kissing in front of him.
"I do suppose it's payback though. I used to make Xander and Anya leave my flat if they started snogging in front of me," he said.
Fred smiled a closed her eyes for a moment when Rupert put his arm to her waist. She hadn't danced this way with anyone since her senior prom, and even then it hadn't felt like this - this sort of closeness with someone she loved so unbelievably much that it felt like she had just been waiting for him to reappear in her life and wake that love up. That night, she had been dancing with a friend. Tonight, she was dancing with the man who would be her husband, who in many ways already felt like he was her husband.
"I can't wait either," she whispered, raising her head to gaze into his eyes. She didn't care that they were in the middle of a dance floor and would have happily continued to kiss him had it not been the PDA police officer who decided to make offended noises.
Laughing softly, she rested her forehead against his chest, shaking her head. "I used to hate the kids who would stand in front of the lockers making out when I was in high school. Guess we just hadn't met the right person yet."
She moved her hand up to cup his face and gave him a smile. "I don't know if you had anything else planned for tonight, but I'd really like it if you took me back to the house so we can continue what we started this afternoon."
Giles sighed and continued to hold his arms out as the tailor continued to measure him. In less than sixteen hours Fred and him were getting married. The last few weeks had been a blur of activity. Between planning the wedding, and work, they barely had any time for each other, or Molly. The tailor stood and Giles turned and looked over at Roger. "Yes," he answered.
Roger nodded as the tailor said he was finished with them. "Thank goodness! I love my baby girl but I don't like these monkey suits," he said, taking off the tuxedo coat he was wearing. "Do you want to go out and throw back some beers? Your last night of freedom!"
Giles shook his head. "I want to see how Fred is doing. I left her with the girls and I promised I'd come back and walk Molly with her. I think we both need to de-stress," he said. Roger nodded and the two went out to Giles' car. The tailor shop is close to the house and the drive only takes a few minutes.
When they got there, Giles went inside and dodged Willow, who was asking some question about flowers, and went upstairs to find Fred. "Fred?" He peeked into one of the guestrooms and frowned when she wasn't in there. Closing the door, he went to the other guestroom and opened the door. "Fred?"
Fred, Willow, and her mother walked into the house from their final dress fittings just in time to hear the question echo through the house. There was suddenly a crash, and the three of them ran down the hall to the large dining hall where the decorators were setting up for the dinner following the wedding in the garden the next day. A ladder was collapsed on the floor, and Xander and Andrew were helping one of the decorators to her feet.
"That's it! This is fourth time that's happened!"
"What's going on?" Fred asked, hurrying over to them.
"We've been trying to decorate, but someone keeps either knocking what we've done down or tipping over the ladder!" the decorator said. "I'm not going to continue working in this kind of situation!"
"But--."
"I'm sorry, but no. We'll pro-rate your fee, but we can't continue." The decorator disappeared through the French doors out into the garden to get the other decorators who were outside getting the area ready for the ceremony.
"Oh, God...this can't be happening," Fred said, feeling herself beginning to stress out a little bit.
"It's okay, Fred," Willow tried to assure her. "Xander, Andrew and I can finish decorating. We know where everything goes, and there's really not that much left."
"Everything was going well. Why all of the sudden..."
Several ornaments came off the wall just then and went shooting across the room, out through the open doors into the garden. Fred stared after them, something Rupert had said came back to her.
"Okay...that was strange," Xander said. "We have ghosts or something?"
"I think so," Fred whispered.
"What?" Trish asked.
"Just...don't touch anymore of the decorations. I'm...I'm going up to the library," Fred said, running upstairs. She started looking through the books, trying to remember where she had seen the book a couple of weeks ago.
Suddenly, she heard Rupert calling her name and went to the door, sticking her head out. "I'm here." She held out her hand and when he came over to her, pulled him into the room. "The decorators quit because something's been messing with what they've been doing, and when we were just downstairs something went flying across the room, and then I remembered what you said about the previous owners saying there were ghosts here, so I came up to try to find that book about the area's history that I saw when we were here a few weeks ago to see if I could find something."
"Ghosts?" Giles asked with an incredulous look on his face. When Fred nodded, he sighed. "Bloody perfect." He went over to one of the book shelves and pulled down a book. "I think this is what you're looking for." Taking off his glasses, Giles sat down at the table and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I guess they were telling the truth."
When Fred looked at him, Giles took a deep breath. "The previous owners said there were ghosts but didn't have any proof. Their daughter was to marry here but the night before her wedding, someone destroyed all the decorations and cake. Her mother supposedly saw a ghost do it but no one believed them because the parents didn't like the husband-to-be and they thought the parents had done it." He frowned and took Fred's hand. "I should've told you sooner."
Then Giles had a thought and stood from the table. He pulled another book from the shelf and sat back down. "It's a book about local ghost legends. Might be helpful." Giles flipped through and stopped when he saw something about the house they were in. "According to this, a bride died here the night before her wedding. Her husband to be was blame for the murder but was cleared two years after when her sisters confessed to doing it. Supposedly they were jealous and decided to ruin the wedding by tearing down all the decorations but Victoria walked in on them and attacked them. They ended up killing her. I wonder if the sisters are still around, causing problems for anyone else who wants to marry here."
As Rupert pulled the book down from the shelf, she could see that something was weighing on his mind, especially when he sat down. Walking over, she sat down next to him, biting her lip in worry.
She felt her chest tightening as he told her the story from the previous owners and the aborted marriage of their daughter. What he described sounded exactly like what had happened downstairs. She understood why Rupert might not have thought about telling her, especially since it seemed that the parents might have done it and simply blamed it on ghosts, but now they could both see that it was far more than that.
And it meant that their own wedding was in trouble. She swallowed and squeezed his hand while looking down at the floor. After everything they had done over the last three weeks to prepare for tomorrow, she couldn't believe this was happening.
Especially when he found the the story about the bride who had been killed by her own sisters the night before the wedding. "Oh, god, that poor girl. I wonder if the sisters think that because their sister couldn't marry here due to what they did, they can't let anyone marry." She thought about that for a minute then looked up at him. "We can't let this stop us, Rupert. We can't let a couple of jealous old ghosts ruin our plans. They feel they have to stop any other weddings...so what--what would happen if a wedding did manage to happen?"
The disappointment in Fred's voice broke Giles' heart. He knew how much all of this meant to her. They had worked hard to pull the wedding together and to have two ghosts ruin it. When Fred asked her question, Giles furrowed his brow in thought. "If a wedding is allowed to take place within the house, then the ghosts will see that not all weddings end badly. They might even cross over and go where they should be," he said before smiling. "You're a genius, love."
He pulled out his mobile and quickly dialed a number. "We're going to have the wedding as soon as we can. It won't give the ghosts much of a chance to react," he said before his father picked up the other end. Giles explained what was happened and Richard said he'd arrange everything and ring back. Giles rung off and smiled at Fred. "We'll need to do it in a secured room and not the garden. The ghosts will try everything they can to stop us. Perhaps we should get Willow's help."
Giles left the room and called down for Willow. She came up the stairs and he explained the situation. Willow agreed to help and went off to find some supplies for a spell. Giles' mobile than rang and he picked it up. It was Richard and after a few moments, Giles ended the call and smiled. "Everything is set and we should be ready to get married in a couple of hours. My father is bringing the tuxedos over. What about your dress? Is it here?"
Fred shook her head. "No...the dress is done, but shop was supposed to deliver it in the morning along with my mother's and Willow's dress," she said, swallowing a bit. She didn't need her dress in order to get married, she knew, but she had been so excited when she found it and had been looking forward to wearing it.
"What's going on?" she heard her father's voice asking. Looking over, she saw him standing there with her mother, Xander and Andrew. "Willow went running through out into the garden like a bat outta hell a few moments ago. Said something about needing some flower."
"Rupert and I are getting married in a couple of hours because of those ghosts downstairs," she told them before going on to explain the situation with the two sisters and how they felt that having the wedding might help stop the ghosts. "But our dresses aren't going to be delivered until tomorrow, and..."
"We'll go get them right now," her father said. "Xander here can drive, and we'll get the dresses even if we have to break the glass."
"Even if we have to...break the glass?" Xander repeated, the concern evident in his voice, before Roger grabbed him by his shoulder and the two of them disappeared down the hallway.
Fred looked over at Rupert, taking a deep breath, hoping that this would work. This was supposed to be their day, just like it was supposed to have been Victoria's day back so many years ago.
Willow came back in the room, holding several things in her hands, including a large red flower that she had obviously plucked from the back garden. "I have everything for the spell. Where are you going to want to have the ceremony?"
Fred looked around the library then over at Rupert with a soft smile. "How about right here?" she asked. "Seems right that we should get married among all books."
Giles opened his mouth to protest when Roger made his comment about 'breaking glass' but decided to keep his mouth shut. He had seen the look on Fred's face when she said her dress wouldn't be there until morning. He wanted this to be as perfect as possible for her. Even if it meant having Roger and Xander break into the dress shop.
When Willow came back, ready to do the spell, Giles looked at Fred and smiled. "The library would be perfect," he said, before standing from the table. With Andrew's help Giles moved the table out of the library before moving the small desk and chairs. The two then brought some folding chairs from downstairs and placed them inside the library.
Things looked set so Giles took Fred's hand and pulled her out of the library. He found a corner of the foyer and pull her to it before kissing her. "This is going to work out. I promise," Giles said after breaking the kiss. He leaned forward for another but was interrupted by Xander's voice.
"Dresses and tuxedos are here." he said.
"Thank you Xander," Giles said just as Trish walked up and took her daughter's hand.
"We should get you dressed," she said, tugging on Fred's hand.
Giles let go of Fred's other hand and smiled. "I'll see you in a bit, love," he whispered before kissing her cheek. He then stepped away and went to one of the guest rooms to change.
"My mother says I was actually pretty bossy when I was little. I...I learned pretty quickly not to be when I was in Pylea, but occasionally, I find it coming back, especially when waiters decide to interrupt us every few minutes." She picked up her fork and took a bite of the pasta - it was really, really good, like he had said.
She looked up when he brought up the idea of a honeymoon, having not even really thought about it except for maybe taking a few days off around the wedding since they were so busy with the Council. "I have always wanted to go to New Zealand," she admitted, giving him a bashful smile while she reached out and took one of the breadsticks for herself. "Never thought I'd actually be able to go, but it would be nice. I'd really like to go there with you."
She then thought of something else about the wedding that they'd have to consider for the wedding. "Who are we going to get to officiate? I don't know much about how it works here in terms of who has to be there in order for a wedding to be considered legal."
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"Oh, yes, the Council will have the officials we need for the wedding. We'll need a priest to officiate over the ceremony and a registrar official to sign our marriage certificate. The Council has their own registrar so we won't have to worry about that," Giles explained as he took a drink of water. "We have numerous priests under our employ and I'll just call one of them."
Giles made a list in his head of the things they would need to start doing soon for the wedding. He would need to get a tuxedo and of course they would need to get a caterer and flowers. He was about to ask her if there was anything else she could think of when the waiter showed up, asking if they wanted dessert. "No thank you. Would you like something, love?" Giles asked, looking over at Fred.
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She took a few more bites of pasta just before the waiter reappeared to ask about dessert, and she shook her head when Rupert asked if she wanted anything. The pasta had been far more than she had expected, and once she had finished the plate, she felt very full. "I'm fine," she said, looking over at Rupert's plate and seeing he had left some of his food. She laughed a bit in embarrassment. "Although I feel a bit of a pig now. Don't know if you noticed, but I tend to be able to eat a lot."
She put her fork down as the waiter began to clear the table for them, taking the plates away. "I don't know about you, but I almost wish it were already the end of the month." She glanced over at the dance floor at the other side of the room where some of the other couples who had finished their suppers were going out on while someone played on a piano. Smiling over at Rupert, she reached her hand out to him. "Dance with me?"
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He went over to Fred's chair and helped her out of it before walking her to the dance floor. Giles placed one hand on her waist and the other in her hand before looking around them. He didn't want to gloat but Giles knew Fred was the most beautiful woman there. With a smile, Giles started to sway with her to the music.
"I can't wait until you're my wife, love," he said, looking down at her. Giles ran his hand up her side and cupped her face before leaning down to deeply kiss her. He heard someone behind him clear their throat so Giles pulled back and sighed. "I do believe some people have stick up their arses." He smirked and them chuckled a little when he remembered all those time he'd gotten after Xander and Anya for kissing in front of him.
"I do suppose it's payback though. I used to make Xander and Anya leave my flat if they started snogging in front of me," he said.
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"I can't wait either," she whispered, raising her head to gaze into his eyes. She didn't care that they were in the middle of a dance floor and would have happily continued to kiss him had it not been the PDA police officer who decided to make offended noises.
Laughing softly, she rested her forehead against his chest, shaking her head. "I used to hate the kids who would stand in front of the lockers making out when I was in high school. Guess we just hadn't met the right person yet."
She moved her hand up to cup his face and gave him a smile. "I don't know if you had anything else planned for tonight, but I'd really like it if you took me back to the house so we can continue what we started this afternoon."
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Giles sighed and continued to hold his arms out as the tailor continued to measure him. In less than sixteen hours Fred and him were getting married. The last few weeks had been a blur of activity. Between planning the wedding, and work, they barely had any time for each other, or Molly. The tailor stood and Giles turned and looked over at Roger. "Yes," he answered.
Roger nodded as the tailor said he was finished with them. "Thank goodness! I love my baby girl but I don't like these monkey suits," he said, taking off the tuxedo coat he was wearing. "Do you want to go out and throw back some beers? Your last night of freedom!"
Giles shook his head. "I want to see how Fred is doing. I left her with the girls and I promised I'd come back and walk Molly with her. I think we both need to de-stress," he said. Roger nodded and the two went out to Giles' car. The tailor shop is close to the house and the drive only takes a few minutes.
When they got there, Giles went inside and dodged Willow, who was asking some question about flowers, and went upstairs to find Fred. "Fred?" He peeked into one of the guestrooms and frowned when she wasn't in there. Closing the door, he went to the other guestroom and opened the door. "Fred?"
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Fred, Willow, and her mother walked into the house from their final dress fittings just in time to hear the question echo through the house. There was suddenly a crash, and the three of them ran down the hall to the large dining hall where the decorators were setting up for the dinner following the wedding in the garden the next day. A ladder was collapsed on the floor, and Xander and Andrew were helping one of the decorators to her feet.
"That's it! This is fourth time that's happened!"
"What's going on?" Fred asked, hurrying over to them.
"We've been trying to decorate, but someone keeps either knocking what we've done down or tipping over the ladder!" the decorator said. "I'm not going to continue working in this kind of situation!"
"But--."
"I'm sorry, but no. We'll pro-rate your fee, but we can't continue." The decorator disappeared through the French doors out into the garden to get the other decorators who were outside getting the area ready for the ceremony.
"Oh, God...this can't be happening," Fred said, feeling herself beginning to stress out a little bit.
"It's okay, Fred," Willow tried to assure her. "Xander, Andrew and I can finish decorating. We know where everything goes, and there's really not that much left."
"Everything was going well. Why all of the sudden..."
Several ornaments came off the wall just then and went shooting across the room, out through the open doors into the garden. Fred stared after them, something Rupert had said came back to her.
"Okay...that was strange," Xander said. "We have ghosts or something?"
"I think so," Fred whispered.
"What?" Trish asked.
"Just...don't touch anymore of the decorations. I'm...I'm going up to the library," Fred said, running upstairs. She started looking through the books, trying to remember where she had seen the book a couple of weeks ago.
Suddenly, she heard Rupert calling her name and went to the door, sticking her head out. "I'm here." She held out her hand and when he came over to her, pulled him into the room. "The decorators quit because something's been messing with what they've been doing, and when we were just downstairs something went flying across the room, and then I remembered what you said about the previous owners saying there were ghosts here, so I came up to try to find that book about the area's history that I saw when we were here a few weeks ago to see if I could find something."
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When Fred looked at him, Giles took a deep breath. "The previous owners said there were ghosts but didn't have any proof. Their daughter was to marry here but the night before her wedding, someone destroyed all the decorations and cake. Her mother supposedly saw a ghost do it but no one believed them because the parents didn't like the husband-to-be and they thought the parents had done it." He frowned and took Fred's hand. "I should've told you sooner."
Then Giles had a thought and stood from the table. He pulled another book from the shelf and sat back down. "It's a book about local ghost legends. Might be helpful." Giles flipped through and stopped when he saw something about the house they were in. "According to this, a bride died here the night before her wedding. Her husband to be was blame for the murder but was cleared two years after when her sisters confessed to doing it. Supposedly they were jealous and decided to ruin the wedding by tearing down all the decorations but Victoria walked in on them and attacked them. They ended up killing her. I wonder if the sisters are still around, causing problems for anyone else who wants to marry here."
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She felt her chest tightening as he told her the story from the previous owners and the aborted marriage of their daughter. What he described sounded exactly like what had happened downstairs. She understood why Rupert might not have thought about telling her, especially since it seemed that the parents might have done it and simply blamed it on ghosts, but now they could both see that it was far more than that.
And it meant that their own wedding was in trouble. She swallowed and squeezed his hand while looking down at the floor. After everything they had done over the last three weeks to prepare for tomorrow, she couldn't believe this was happening.
Especially when he found the the story about the bride who had been killed by her own sisters the night before the wedding. "Oh, god, that poor girl. I wonder if the sisters think that because their sister couldn't marry here due to what they did, they can't let anyone marry." She thought about that for a minute then looked up at him. "We can't let this stop us, Rupert. We can't let a couple of jealous old ghosts ruin our plans. They feel they have to stop any other weddings...so what--what would happen if a wedding did manage to happen?"
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He pulled out his mobile and quickly dialed a number. "We're going to have the wedding as soon as we can. It won't give the ghosts much of a chance to react," he said before his father picked up the other end. Giles explained what was happened and Richard said he'd arrange everything and ring back. Giles rung off and smiled at Fred. "We'll need to do it in a secured room and not the garden. The ghosts will try everything they can to stop us. Perhaps we should get Willow's help."
Giles left the room and called down for Willow. She came up the stairs and he explained the situation. Willow agreed to help and went off to find some supplies for a spell. Giles' mobile than rang and he picked it up. It was Richard and after a few moments, Giles ended the call and smiled. "Everything is set and we should be ready to get married in a couple of hours. My father is bringing the tuxedos over. What about your dress? Is it here?"
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"What's going on?" she heard her father's voice asking. Looking over, she saw him standing there with her mother, Xander and Andrew. "Willow went running through out into the garden like a bat outta hell a few moments ago. Said something about needing some flower."
"Rupert and I are getting married in a couple of hours because of those ghosts downstairs," she told them before going on to explain the situation with the two sisters and how they felt that having the wedding might help stop the ghosts. "But our dresses aren't going to be delivered until tomorrow, and..."
"We'll go get them right now," her father said. "Xander here can drive, and we'll get the dresses even if we have to break the glass."
"Even if we have to...break the glass?" Xander repeated, the concern evident in his voice, before Roger grabbed him by his shoulder and the two of them disappeared down the hallway.
Fred looked over at Rupert, taking a deep breath, hoping that this would work. This was supposed to be their day, just like it was supposed to have been Victoria's day back so many years ago.
Willow came back in the room, holding several things in her hands, including a large red flower that she had obviously plucked from the back garden. "I have everything for the spell. Where are you going to want to have the ceremony?"
Fred looked around the library then over at Rupert with a soft smile. "How about right here?" she asked. "Seems right that we should get married among all books."
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When Willow came back, ready to do the spell, Giles looked at Fred and smiled. "The library would be perfect," he said, before standing from the table. With Andrew's help Giles moved the table out of the library before moving the small desk and chairs. The two then brought some folding chairs from downstairs and placed them inside the library.
Things looked set so Giles took Fred's hand and pulled her out of the library. He found a corner of the foyer and pull her to it before kissing her. "This is going to work out. I promise," Giles said after breaking the kiss. He leaned forward for another but was interrupted by Xander's voice.
"Dresses and tuxedos are here." he said.
"Thank you Xander," Giles said just as Trish walked up and took her daughter's hand.
"We should get you dressed," she said, tugging on Fred's hand.
Giles let go of Fred's other hand and smiled. "I'll see you in a bit, love," he whispered before kissing her cheek. He then stepped away and went to one of the guest rooms to change.
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