FF Keeper of the stars

["Christeen Demons" <Shyfox30@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

hey guys, I was going to wait before I posted this, but I just can't. I'm 
too impatient.:-) So here's part one of this story...I hope you like it.:-) 
Also, I really hate including lyrics when I don't know who they belong to, 
but they kinda fit the story...so if anybody can tell me who sings Keeper of 
the Stars(it's a country song) I'd be greatly appreciative.

Disclaimer: Joss owns all of the characters on Buffy: The Vampire Slayer. I 
own anybody you don't recognize.:-) Pretty nice, eh?:-)

This is the sequel to Psych Ward Blues in my Sappho's spell series.
Two women get married in this story...Yah!



It was no accident.
Me finding you.
Someone had a hand in it.
Long before we ever knew.

I tip my hand to the keeper of the stars.
He sure knew what he was doing.
When he joined these two hearts.

...And I?ll have all I?ll ever need.
Thanks to the keeper of the stars.

Chapter one: You are Cordially Invited...

You are cordially invited,
to the joyous joining
of Buffy Anne Summers
and Willow Rosenberg.
Please RSVP.

Buffy and Willow lay curled up on the couch looking over their wedding 
invitation list, trying to figure out how they had invited so many people to 
the wedding. There were over a hundred names on this list, a list that had 
been trimmed down from an original three hundred. "I didn?t think I knew 
this many people." Buffy said, ruefully, as she examined the list. In fact, 
she didn?t recognize half of the names on it. Her head rested comfortably on 
Willow?s abdomen, and she could feel the gentle curve that was gradually 
growing with each passing day, pressing against the back of her neck.

"Well...Joyce gave me the list of your Aunts and Uncles, as well as your 
cousins, and your Grandparents...do you think your dad will come?" Willow 
asked, pensively, stroking Buffy?s arm with idle fingers.

"I don?t know...I don?t think so. I mean, I?ll invite him, but he?s always 
so busy with work..." The truth was, Buffy hardly ever saw her dad anymore. 
It was true that his business had always kept him away a lot...even when she 
was a child...and while it had stung then, she had grown to a certain 
feeling of resignation towards it.

Willow nodded, brushing the top of Buffy?s head with a gentle kiss. She knew 
her lover?s father?s disappearance from her life bothered her more than she 
would admit...maybe even to herself. That was just one of the reasons she 
was confident that Buffy would make a great parent, she would never want her 
child to feel the devastation of having a missing parent.

"Yeah...anyway, I know Giles is looking forward to escorting me down the 
aisle...you should have seen his face when I asked him. First he turned 
red...then he started stuttering...and then he started beaming with pride 
and said he would be happy to escort me down the aisle."

Buffy laughed at the image, her stuffy Watcher had certainly come a long way 
since she had first met him. He had at one time preached at her the 
importance of the Slayer standing alone. Now he knew that an alone Slayer 
was a dead Slayer. Buffy certainly wasn?t alone now.

"So, we?ve got my side of the family...are you sure you don?t want to invite 
any of your family to this...I know your mom and dad probably won?t show." 
Buffy said, feeling guilty for some unfathomable reason.

There was no reason why she should feel guilty, the Rosenberg?s had brought 
their daughter?s estrangement down upon themselves, but she still felt a 
little guilty for being the cause of it all. Then, when she allowed herself 
to think about what Ira Rosenberg had done to her, the guilt was washed away 
in a flash of fury. She had told Willow and the gang as little as possible 
about what had really happened. She told them about the van, and about what 
had happened inside the Psych Unit, but left out a lot of the pertinent 
details...like the fact that Ira had been behind the whole thing. She 
suspected that some of them knew that she had left some of her story 
out...but they hadn?t pressed her for the details...in which she felt 
extremely grateful.

Willow sighed, then shifted, pulling her lover closer to her as she wrapped 
her arms around her midsection. "No...things are still so messed up where 
they are concerned...it might be better to leave everyone else out of it. 
Besides, we?ve already got a large enough list as it is...it?s almost like 
we?ve invited the whole town of SunnyDale. Course, half of the people won?t 
show up because they have to travel in from out of town...but..."

"They why invite them?" Buffy asked, craning her neck so that she could see 
her lover. "I?ve got an even better idea. Let?s just have a private 
ceremony. You ...me...and the preacher. What do you say?" She asked, looking 
at her lover hopefully. She got poked in the ribs for her trouble.

"Buffy...we only get married once...we might as well make it a memorable 
one. I thought you wanted this." Willow said, a quiet note slipping into her 
voice as insecurity started to nibble away at the red head.

Buffy noticed it right away and kicked herself, figuratively, in the head 
for being insensitive. "I do. I?m sorry. I guess I?m a little nervous. I?ve 
never gotten married before." Her blue eyes pleaded with her lover?s for 
understanding, while she entwined her fingers with her lover?s. She brought 
Willow?s left hand up and kissed the engagement ring that lay possessively 
on her ring finger. "I do know I?ve never wanted anything more."

The doorbell rang before Willow could answer, and Buffy sent a glowering 
look towards the door. "Oops. I kind of forgot Cordelia and Anya were coming 
over today to take me to my fitting." Willow said, looking apologetically at 
her lover, who looked like she wanted to curse a blue streak.

"I?d rather take you to your fitting." Buffy replied, grinning lasciviously.

"Uh...I think not. You know, it?s bad luck to see me in my dress before the 
wedding." Willow said, her green eyes blinking wide.

"You don?t really believe that, do you?" Buffy raised a startled blonde 
eyebrow in question.

"We live on top of the Hellmouth...I?d rather not take any chances where bad 
luck is concerned, thank you very much." Willow insisted. "Besides, aren?t 
Oz and Xander coming to get you soon, anyway?"

Buffy winced as she stood moving over to answer the door. "Yeah, we have to 
go pick up the tuxes today." She said, right before she answered the door. 
"Morning, Cordy."

Cordelia glanced over Buffy, then looked at Willow. "Let?s shop...we only 
have thirty shopping days left."

*****
Buffy stared at her reflection in the full framed mirror that stood in the 
rental shop. "I feel like a waiter." She said, as she adjusted the 
suspenders on her suit, then played with the cuff link on her right sleeve.

"You look like a waiter." Xander said, giving her a once over as he came out 
of the changing room behind her, dressed in his monkey suit.

Buffy shot him an offended look and Xander smiled awkwardly. "Heh. Just 
kidding. Come on, you have to admit we clean up very nice." He said, 
admiring himself in the mirror. Buffy nodded, a wry look gracing her bright 
blue eyes as she stared at herself in the mirror.

"Tell me again why I?m wearing a tux?" Oz asked, as he came out, adjusting 
his jacket. ?Dingoes Ate my baby? was playing back up for Joyce who was 
going to be singing at the wedding, though she had yet to tell anybody 
exactly what she was singing. They were also going to be playing at the 
reception.

Buffy looked at the guitar player, an amused smirk playing over her lips. 
"Because Willow insisted that you guys look good, and whatever Willow wants, 
Willow gets."

"How?d Giles luck out of this little field trip, anyway?" Xander asked, 
noticing the absence of the vaunted Watcher.

"He already owns a tux. Though, I can?t imagine why." Buffy shook her head, 
still not able to comprehend that one.

Xander contemplated that for all the time it took him to get his bow tie 
straight then shook it off. He examined himself and Buffy in the mirror, 
then nodded his head. "I think we?re about done here, what do you say we go 
find the ladies?" He asked, rubbing his hands together in anticipatory glee. 
That was, before he saw a blonde head shaking at him. "Why not?" He asked, 
sounding pretty whiny.

"Can?t...Willow made me promise. Said something about it being bad luck...or 
something like that."

"Oh come on Buffster. You know that?s just superstition." Xander said, 
sounding desperate, even to his own ears.

"You just want to see Anya and Cordy in their bridesmaid dresses. Forget 
about it Xander." The Slayer ordered. It was then that she noticed some 
Cowboy hick giving her strange looks out of the corner of her eye. She 
watched him surreptitiously, noticing his looks of disgust in her direction. 
She turned around to stare at him, her blue eyes boring into him as she met 
his stare.

Xander noticed the stare off and turned his head to see what the trouble 
was. "Hey. What?s that guy?s problem?" He asked, giving the guy a dirty 
look.

"Beats me." Buffy murmured, not dropping the intense glare. The cowboy must 
have taken it as a challenge, because he stepped across the room, avoiding 
the dressed up mannequins that littered the room, in convenient places, 
until he stood right in front of them.

"Ya playin? dress up, girlie?" The cowboy asked in a slow drawl, while 
slowly chewing on the tobacco that stained the side of his mouth, and Buffy 
wondered idly where he had teleported in from.

Buffy?s eyes raked over the cowboys form, from the light blue tuxedo to the 
cowboy hat tucked haphazardly on his head. "Funny...I could ask you the same 
question." She said, sardonically, letting a wry grin grace her lips.

The cowboy looked down at his suit, then back up at her a scowl furrowing 
his brow. "You makin? fun of me, girlie?"

"Boy...you catch on fast. I bet you went all the way through high school." 
The sarcastic edge to the Slayer?s voice hit the cowboy like a brick, 
causing his face to turn an interesting shade of red.

"Why you...if you weren?t a girl...and I wasn?t a gentleman I?d..."

"You?d what...haul me behind your Jeep Cherokee Ranger?" Humor danced in the 
Slayer?s blue eyes. She had to admit, she was having fun. "I didn?t ask you 
to come over here and stick your nose where it doesn?t belong...really 
doesn?t belong...so why don?t you go buy your cotton candy suit so you can 
get out of here and run to complain to your DixieMart girlfriend how some 
girlie in a tux offended your manhood."

The red faced cowboy took a menacing step towards Buffy, before he managed 
to look around and notice Oz and the rest of ?Dingoes ate my baby? standing 
around with their arms crossed, watching him closely. He gulped at the 
menacing looks they sent in his direction, then looked back at the 
infuriating blonde. "Dyke." He spat at her, before he turned on one cowboy 
boot, and walked away, cursing her out all the way.

Buffy absorbed the word like she would a bullet. She stared at the doorway 
the cowboy had disappeared through, somberly, while she felt her worried 
friends circling around her.

"Buffy...you all right?" Oz asked, looking at the distant Slayer worried.
She nodded, looking around at the worried faces of her friends. "Yeah...I?m 
okay. I?m sorry about that guys."

"I would have paid good money to see you wipe the floor with that guy." 
Xander said, still fuming. What right did that guy have to make comments 
like that anyway? "Why didn?t you..."

"Beat him up?" Buffy asked him, a wry look filling the stormy blue eyes. 
"What am I supposed to do, Xander? Beat up every bigoted jerk that crosses 
my path? I?d be beating up jerks all day...and what with my night job, even 
Slayer?s get tired of beating up on people." Besides the fact that as a 
Slayer she was supposed to protect people, not beat up on them, even bigoted 
jerks.

"Come on guys, let?s just pay for our tuxes and get out of here." Suddenly, 
it felt like the four walls were closing in on her, and she had an 
overwhelming urge to leave.

*****
Cordelia let out a low whistle as Willow emerged from the changing room in a 
haze of white silk, catching the former fashion queen breathless. Her eyes 
traveled up and down Willow?s beautifully bedecked form, shaking her head in 
wonder. She had come a long way from the class geek, to utterly chic. 
"Willow...you look..."

Green eyes met the hazel eyes apprehensively, obviously remembering 
Cordelia?s old habit of putting down her fashion sense. Cordelia saw the 
look and smiled in a self-deprecatory manner.

"Stunning." She answered honestly, admiring the satin filled form with 
admiring eyes. "Buffy?s going to die and go to Slayer heaven when she sees 
you." Willow beamed at Cordy?s compliment, then looked herself over 
appraisingly in the full length mirror. She had to admit, she didn?t look 
half bad.

"She?ll probably have an instant orgasm." Anya piped in, ignoring the 
shocked looks she received as she examined a fingernail intently.

"Does she always talk like that?" Cordelia asked in a hushed whisper, 
glancing around the nearly empty shop, hoping their conversation hadn?t been 
overheard. There was just one other woman, besides the salesperson, in the 
store who was trying on a very unflattering bridal gown. The bleached blonde 
Kewpie doll was trying on an ugly cream colored lacy wedding dress that was 
way to small for her, and trying to make herself fit.

"Uh...yeah. Xander?s trying to break her of the habit but he hasn?t been 
very successful so far." Willow said, smiling as Cordelia snorted, no doubt 
amused at the thought of Xander breaking anybody of a habit like that.

It took a great deal of convincing to get Anya into the sapphire blue 
bridesmaid dress Willow had picked out, Cordelia hadn?t been much of a 
problem, but Anya kept arguing, saying she didn?t know why she had to wear a 
special dress...she wasn?t the one getting married. Willow told her about 
weddings in painstaking detail, hoping that some of her words would get 
through to the ex-vengeance demon, and finally, with a slight huff, Anya got 
up and went to put on her dress.

Willow wondered what kind of a world she lived in where an ex-vengeance 
demon was one of her bridesmaid?s and a person who used to ridicule her in 
high school was another. Yup, she definitely lived on the hellmouth. She 
grinned to herself ruefully at the thought, then sat down beside Cordelia 
who was already dressed in her dress.

They were both waiting for Anya to come out, when a surly looking cowboy 
walked into the store, bellowing out a woman?s name. "Becky Sue! Where are 
you?"

The unfortunate woman in the cream colored dress looked up startled at the 
sound and shot a wary look to the door at the other side of the room. Willow 
followed her gaze to the cowboy and winced in sympathy at the deer in the 
headlight look coming from the poor woman.

"What are you doing here, Earl?! You?re not supposed to see me like this 
until the wedding!" The woman called out to the man in the blue tuxedo.

"Forget about that...just get the dress so we can get out of here." The 
still furious man barked, before walking back out the door, clearly 
expecting his Becky Sue to follow.

The woman hurried back into the changing room to change out of her dress and 
Willow felt a great well of sympathy emerge for the poor woman. She wondered 
who had pissed the cowboy off so badly that he had to take it out on his 
fiancée, then realized that it was probably just the guy?s nature. She 
wondered how anybody could put up with being treated like that, and thanked 
her lucky stars that she had fallen in love with Buffy, a person she knew 
would love her and take care of her and their child, and not treat them like 
possessions.

"Why do I get the feeling that guy ran into Buffy?" Cordelia asked, 
sarcastically, still staring at the door the cowboy had breezed through. 
Buffy had a supreme gift for infuriating people. Willow shot a worried look 
at her, then glanced back as the bleached blonde hurriedly paid for the 
dress, then ran outside.

*****
As much as her curiosity was eating at her, it wasn?t until later that she 
found out what happened from Buffy, who admitted that she was behind the 
cowboy?s mad outburst. She had told her as little as possible about the 
comments the cowboy had made, choosing to gloss over the details, though 
Willow could tell the confrontation had upset her lover.

Buffy was determined not to let it bother her, but it did raise serious 
questions in her mind about how people would react when she and Willow were 
married. Not to mention what would happen once the baby came. The same 
humans she was chosen to protect could be decidedly cruel towards anything 
they perceived as different. Buffy had faced this many times before, because 
of being the Slayer...she was used to it. But she wouldn?t tolerate it if it 
was aimed at Willow or her child. She knew she would defend them with every 
fiber of her being, and whoever was foolish enough to attack them would pay 
a heavy price.

Willow tried to chase away Buffy?s gloomy thoughts with talk about the 
wedding. They had mailed the invitations, bought their outfits, the flowers 
were being arranged, and Mario was putting on the rehearsal dinner and the 
reception.

When they had told him they were getting married, he had gushed on 
excitedly, in his thick Italian accent, congratulating them both, then 
insisting that he would give them a wedding feast to be proud of. Buffy had 
said that she couldn?t allow him to do both, feeling guilty for taking 
advantage of his kindness so far, but he had looked so offended at the 
comment, that she immediately backed down, accepting his offer with a 
graciousness that Willow could be proud of. He beamed at them both, a great 
deal of love shining from the old Italian?s eyes, then broadcasted the 
announcement to his waitstaff in a loud boisterous voice, causing them both 
to blush as a round of cheers filled the restaurant. Couples had looked up 
from their intimate dinners at the commotion and had looked at the red faced 
couple curiously, before returning to their dinners.

Their rings had been ordered, the storekeeper had been extremely helpful in 
helping them pick out their rings. They had hemmed and hawed over the 
selection, until the shopowner had pointed out a beautiful pair of golden 
rings, that were decorated with an image of two embracing turtledoves 
engraved on the surface. The rings were being sized now, and they had been 
assured that the golden symbols of their love would be ready before the 
wedding.

The wedding was actually shaping up quite nicely, Buffy decided, relaxing 
under the feel of Willow?s soft hands massaging over the bare skin of her 
shoulders and back as she lay on her bed. The only thing that bothered her, 
was the fact that she had yet to come up with a feasible plan for a 
Honeymoon. It wasn?t like she could leave SunnyDale anytime soon. They had 
just started their spring courses, and their wedding didn?t really fall 
under a convenient time for getting away for a week. Then again, there was 
the little matter of a lack of funds. Her mother was helping them put on the 
wedding as it was, and she couldn?t really expect her to give them a 
Honeymoon as well, so it was most likely that they would have to put off 
having one for the time being. Willow didn?t seem to bothered by it, 
insisting that all she really wanted was to be married to the Slayer. But, 
she vowed silently that she would find some way to make it up to her future 
wife.

...to be continued in chapter two.:-)
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