Chapter One: The First Day of School

It was hard to believe the passing of time. It seemed that only months ago were the children babies and now here they were getting ready for the first day of kindergarten. Connor, as the eldest and most experienced at school was busy giving his sister and "cousin" tips on how to make friends and fun things to do at their new school, while they put on their new sneakers for their exciting day. They all were dressed in the most fashionable, yet practical and cost efficient clothes that money can buy, chosen by their resident Fashion Expert, Cordelia Chase-Angel, aka Mommy Cordy.

Nicky Wood looked at his big cousin with wide eyes. "And if you're bad, the teachers make you sit in a corner and stare at the wall," Connor preached, "but don't worry, they usually fall for the 'I'm Sorry Tears'."

Cathy asked her brother, "What's the 'I'm Sorry Tears'?"

"I'm sorry tears are when you cry really loud and sob "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be bad" in between cries. You can only use it about three times before the teachers catch on though."

Nicky and Cathy nodded in understanding, grateful for the tips Connor was giving them. Mommy Cordy and Mommy Faith never told them anything about a Bad Corner.

"Hey, Brats. You three ready for the first day of school?" Faith walked in, glancing at the kids to make sure they were dressed up and ready to go. Connor gave her a "Yesss…" shout, while her son and her niece just looked kind of shell-shocked.

"Cath, Nicky, are you two okay?" It was very strange, she even told her fiancé, Nicky's father, Robin, that Nicky was so quiet. It was as if the child didn't belong to either of them, for both Faith and Robin could never be called soft-spoken. Actually, it could be said that they were quite the opposite.

"Mommy, are the teachers evil? 'cause if they are I don't want to go to school." Nicky mumbled.

Right when Faith was about to answer, Lorne walked in. The big green lovable demon gave them a huge smile. "Munchkins, you ready to go? Breakfast a la Daddy is on the table."

Cathy and Connor ran down the stairs in order to get the first helping of Daddy's famous omelets and pancakes. Their mommy always remarked at how great Angel's cooking was, despite his liquid diet. They tried to get their fast enough to beat Uncle Will to the table. Uncle Will was a "good eater" that didn't seem as limited as Angel in respect to food. In fact, he seemed to love food and would even mix it with his blood. Ewww.

Lorne shook his head at the scene, and followed the two down to the kitchen. Nicky stayed behind, waiting for his mommy to answer. "Nicky, who said that teachers were evil? Did Connor? Because I bet he was just joking with you."

"Connor said that if the teacher said that you were being bad, you had to stare at the wall ALL DAY," Nicky frown, "What if the teacher thinks that I'm bad? I'm not bad, mommy. I'm a good guy, like you and daddy."

"Nicky, your teacher would never, ever, ever think that you were even a little bad. You just listen to what the teacher tells you and everything will be okay. If the teacher is mean to you or tries to hurt you though, you have to tell me. Mommy will take care of her; I mean it. Take care of it. I'll talk to her and see what happened that she was mean to you. You don't have to worry, baby. All you need to do is have a good day at school, learns lots of new things, and to make some new friends. Ok," she waited for a nod, "ok. I love you, Nicky."

Her son jumped up and threw his arms around her for a huge hug. He bent his head in close to hers, whispering, "I love you too, mommy" in her ears. Then he let go and ran out the door and down the stairs in pursuit of the promised breakfast. Faith closed her eyes for a moment trying to keep the tears in control. She couldn't believe her luck. She had a beautiful baby boy who loved her and was just growing up so fast. She was in love, IN LOVE, with a wonderful man who seemed to want to give her the world. She had a big family, a weird family full of demons and vampires, but a loving, caring family despite that fact. She was getting married soon even after five years of saying "no" to Robin's proposals. That man definitely knew how to wear down her defenses.

She took a deep breath, opened her eyes, and on the way out of the room almost collided with a sobbing Cordy. Cordy pushed her back into the room, shut the door behind them, then promptly sank on the floor; her hands over her face, while she cried her heart out. "Cordy, what the hell? Are you alright? Did something happen? Is everyone okay? It's not Angel, is it? Did you have a fight?"

Cordy shook her head at all the questions thrown at her. "Well, then why the hell are you crying?"

"My little baby girl is going to school and is leaving me. Soon she'll want to live at her friend's house because she's too ashamed to be seen with her half-demon mother and cheap vampire father. Then she'll hate me and find a boyfriend that will only break her heart and leave her alone to face the dark horrible world. Connor is getting so big. Soon he'll be a teenager who'll probably want to grow up to be a Lawyer just to spite his parents. And what if he gets into drugs or a gang or a vampire cult or something? Then what'll I do? I can't let them go to school. It's too dangerous. I knew it. I'll just ask Wesley if he wants to home school them or something." Cordy, at first just sobbing, was just becoming hysterical.

Cordy launched herself on her feet, intent on opening the door and stopping the children from talking that first crucial step out of babyhood was stopped by a strong, yet gentle restraining hand on her arm. "Cordy, take a breath, okay. You always do this on the first day of school; remember how you were worried when Connor had to go to kindergarten? You and Angel almost had a coronary. Although, I must admit Angel was worse than you were. You were worried that Connor would get hurt. Now look at him. He's been going to school for two years. He loves it. So calm down, wipe your face, put on a happy smile, and try to act excited. Cathy and Nicky are. Hell, they've already got their new backpacks and lunch boxes ready for the last three months. I had Fred switch the lunches in them while they weren't looking so that they wouldn't take moldy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to school. So, there okay, they're going to be fine."

"You're absolutely right, Faith. They'll be fine. I can't believe I cried like that. We should go downstairs and see if the boys need help with breakfast."

With that, Cordy and Faith, walked down the stairs to the back hallway of the hotel to enter the large noisy kitchen. Robin, Gunn, Fred, and Lorne were sitting at the table, drinking their morning cup of coffee. Faith opened the door just in time to catch Fred smacking Spike on the head. "Oww. That bloody well hurt. I was only tasting it."

"Spike, would you just wait? The rest of us would like to eat as well," Gunn complained.

Glares were shot at various individuals, until Cordy cleared her throat. The glares where then turned into innocent stares. It was real funny. You really didn't want to make the Princess, as Spike calls her, mad. She was the epitome of the mother figure in the hotel.

Wesley, bless his soul, interrupted, "We all should eat rather quickly; the school bus should be here in about 15 minutes."

With that announcement, the omelet was passed around, juice and blood was pour, the bread was toasted, and the meal was eaten. After the children had finished their meal, they were sent to the bathroom to brush their teeth. Cordy, brush in hand, put the final finishing touches on their hair styles, fixed their collars, made sure the shoes were tied and then gave them a long hug and kiss on the forehead.

Angel handed them their stuffed backpacks and lunch boxes. He gave each child a quick kiss on the cheek and patted their heads. "Have a great day at school, sweethearts."

This released the other adults in the room. Soon the kids were all being hug, kissed, and pampered on the way out the door. Spike and Angel were unable to watch the kids board the bus, due to their "sun allergy," but the others walked outside to wait for the bus with the children. Wesley, ever the responsible one, held the camera proudly in his hands as the bus passed in front of the hotel. He must have taken over 20 pictures of them getting on the bus. Soon the bus had pulled away and was out of the sight. By the time, Wesley put down the camera, his "allergies" had seemed to develop out of the blue, for he was wiping his eyes and blowing his nose. Cordy was breathing heavily and hugging Fred, who had the same problem. Robin rubbed Faith on the shoulders.

Faith, on the other hand, was crying openly. "Oh, God. Cordy, you were right. This is too soon. Nicky isn't ready for school. It's dangerous. What if a demon tries to eat the kids or a vampire cult tries to kidnap them? Wesley and Fred can just teach them here." She tried to get out of Robin's grasp, attempting to run after the bus to stop it from taking the kids. "We have to stop that bus."

Faith was comforted and taken back inside the hotel. Spike and Angel sat on the round couch in the middle of the lobby. They both looked as if they had been tortured for hours. They were sullen and broody. An unnecessary sigh escaped Angel's lips, "Now, what are we going to do? There's nothing to do during the day anymore." Spike opened his mouth to say something. Angel interrupted before the words were uttered, "And, No, I'm not going to watch Passions with you."

"Hey, we could sing." Lorne received glares.

"I guess you all have got to get some lives that don't revolve around the kids. Faith, now you and Robin can start planning that wedding. Cordy, you and Angel could do whateve' you all do when you're not fightin' demons or takin' care of the kids. And the rest of us can just focus on the business a little more."  Gunn suggested.

"Ok. We could do that." Robin agreed.

The rest of the day was focused on not running to the phone every time it rang and looking at the clock.

It had reached about 2:50 pm, when Spike had finally exploded. "Where are they? What if they've been kidnapped? What if they got beat up at school? What if…? We have to go pick them up. Maybe they're afraid of that bus driver. Those bus drivers nowadays, things happen. Just yesterday on Passions, the bus driver of that little redhead was drunk and passed out when he was driving. The poor redhead's now in a coma." [I really don't watch Passions, so I'm making this part up…Hey, it could happen. ~Sensue]

Faith took in what Spike said and was starting to think her old murderous thoughts. If they hurt my baby, they will never find the bodies. Angel seemed to know what she was thinking so he walked up behind her put his arms across her waist and whispered in her ear to just relax. "Nicky will be just fine. The kids are okay."

Spike was starting to go to the underground access behind the stairs when the door opened, with three hyperactive jumping children running through the hotel to hug their parents. The room was alive with laughter and excitement.

The children, all at once, told them all about their day, the other kids that they met. How nice the teachers were. How they had lunch in a big room with a lot of other kids. How they got to go outside for recess. Tears were again wiped and hugs given out to all.

Nicky, in a quiet, yet resounding voice, said, "See mommy, school wasn't bad. It was good. And…The teachers weren't Evil, so you don't have to kill them. Okay?"

Faith turned a healthy shade of red at that, while the others laughed and hugged the kids.

Chapter Two: Wedding Bells

Faith sat in Cordy and Angel's bedroom beside Cordy's beauty vanity set.  Cordy kneeled on the floor right in front of her while applying her makeup. After weeks of ragging on Faith to use lighter lip and eye colors for the wedding, Cordy decided the only way to make sure that Faith looked perfect on her wedding day was to do her makeup, hair, and accessory addition herself. Fred sat on the bed and watched Cordy work. After getting herself ready and dressed, Cordy literally spent two hours an a half doing Fred and Faith's hair. Fred wished that she had Cordy's patience with that sort of thing. Now, she was on the makeup part, and boy, was she good at it. Fred looked really pretty with pink tones, while Faith looked very natural. Her face looked flawless; her eyes were light and shimmering, and her lips, absolutely sexy and kissable. Even Faith didn't complain when she saw the results.

Faith, as she was becoming transformed thought about how her life had changed. Here she was, a reformed murdering slayer, getting married to the son of a slayer. She had a son and a wonderful extended family that loved her and now, she was GETTING MARRIED. It was almost like a dream.

Now that the bride was absolutely beautiful, the final touches were applied. The white dress she chose was put on, with plenty of help from Fred and Cordy. Then the veil was attached to her hair. All three women looked at each other, tears glistening in their eyes.

Cordy warned, "Hey, no tearing or crying. I just spent a half an hour on your makeup and I'm not going to let you look all splotchy." Both girls nodded. Fred got a glint in her eyes.

"We need to do the wedding traditions before we let you out of the room. Let's go over the list. Okay, do you have something new?" The dress was pointed to. "Check. Do you have something old?"

"Ooo. I almost forgot," Cordy ran across the room to the bottom drawer, "This is from Angel. Trust me, it's definitely old." Cordy brought out a jewelry box. She opened it showing the glittering, sparkling diamond and gold necklace, then removing it from the box and putting it on the speechless bride.

"Oh, my god. Cordy, I can't wear this. I'll ruin it or something. It's a diamond. The only other diamond I have is my engagement ring. It's expensive and it's Angel's." Faith gasped.

"Faith, shut up. Angel wanted you to have it. Okay." Cordy was very insistent on putting it on her. "It's yours. Angel wants you to keep it. Besides, it does match your ring."

"Ok. New thing, check. Next, um, something lace?" Fred continued. The garter was a light pink lace. "Something pink? Oh. The garter can be both, pink and lace. Something borrowed?"

"No. I didn't borrow anything. It's all new."

"Don't worry. Fred to the rescue. You can wear my ring. It's gold too, like the necklace. So no one will notice it. Just put it on your other hand."

"Okay. We're done. I'm ready. I'm ready to be Mrs. Robin Wood. I'm going to be Mrs. Faith Wood." Faith took a deep breath, "Does anyone know if the boys are ready? If they are let's get this party started."

In the other side of the hotel, Robin, Gunn, Wesley, and Lorne were getting ready, putting on their tuxedos. Angel volunteered to get dressed early to help the children get dressed and then supervise the caterers and set up crew that were redecorating the hotel into a wedding and reception hall. Spike, trying to stay out of Robin's way just for one day, opted to picking up the guests coming in from out of town.

He had been driving since the night before to avoid the sunlight. According to the calculations Wesley made, they should be here any minute.

Robin had chosen Gunn as his best man and had asked Lorne and Wesley to be his ushers. He would've asked Angel, but Faith had already asked Angel to walk her down the aisle. She didn't have a father, so she thought that her "brother" would be the perfect substitute. Robin had still not felt comfortable enough to ask Spike to be in the wedding party, so Spike's job was pretty much to pick up the guests then try to stay out of the way.

The men, dressed and groomed properly walked down the stairs to view the provisions Angel allowed for the wedding. Robin sucked in a quick breath. "Wow. Angel, the place looks great. It almost doesn't look like the same place. I love what they did with the flowers. And the lights…it looks like sunlight in here, even though there isn't a spec of it or you'd be dust right now. I'm impressed. Thank you, Angel. I didn't think that you'd go this far for me, for my wedding."

"Oh. Don't worry; I didn't do it for you. This is all for Faith. She deserves it; she's earned it. I'm just doing this for her so that she will be happy. I'm doing this so that Nicky can have a 'normal' family. I haven't forgotten all the arguments that you two have. She must love you an awful lot to even consider marrying you, so if you do ANYTHING to hurt her or Nicky or make her regret her decision, I'm going to rip your spine out." Angel got right in his face, "Ok? Well, now that we've had this talk, congratulations." 

Robin paled at Angel's speech. He had almost forgotten how protective Angel was of Faith and Nicky. He thought of her as his sister and they always helped each other in the quest for redemption. Even though Angel threatened him, he knew that he could never do anything to hurt his wife or child. He loved them, he'd rather cut off a limb than hurt them in anyway. Deep in thought, he didn't notice as three whirlwinds ran up and almost knocked him over.

"Daddy. Uncle Robin. Uncle Robin," they cried out, "Look at us."

Connor and Nicky stood proud in their mini-tuxedos, still pulling at their collars, even though Angel begged them to stop. Robin smiled at the site of his son and "nephew". They were adorable.

Cathy peaked out behind her big brother, "Uncle Robin, do you like my dress? Lorne said I looked like a princess."

Robin gave all of them a peck on the check. "You all look great. You boys look like gentlemen. And Cathy, Lorne was right. You do look like a princess."

He took a deep breath, "Ok. Are the guests all here? Are the girls ready to go?"

"Almost, I just talked to Fred; she said that Faith is ready. So is Cordy. We are just waiting for Spike to arrive with the guests although I can't image what's taking so long," Wesley explained.

Just as Angel was getting ready to pull out the cell phone that he'd end up destroying eventually to call Spike, he walked through the door, blanket over his head and leading the guests through the door.

Buffy Summers, Dawn Summers, Rupert Giles, Xander Harris, Willow Rosenberg, and Willow's girlfriend, Kennedy walked through the door. Remarkably, they were all dressed and ready for Faith's wedding.

"Welcome. Come in." Angel invited. "Wow, you ladies look wonderful." He nodded to Harris.

Buffy took a moment to talk with Angel and Robin, while the others quickly got to a seat. "I'm sorry that we're a little late. We had to take a slight detour on the way to pick up the gifts."

"It's not a problem. I'm very glad that you could make it. Faith will be so excited. She wasn't expecting you all. She didn't think that you'd get here in time from Europe. Well, I hope that you enjoy yourself."

Spike, with Buffy on his arm, escorted her into the hall. Buffy was slightly shocked at how many people were in the hotel. "Spike, who are all these people? I didn't think that Faith and Robin had that many friends. Not to sound negative or anything."

"Well, some of them are friends. The couple over there by the flowers, they are Nicky's friend Tyler's parents. The others are clients that Angel Investigations think highly of. In one way or another, most of them are the people that Faith and Robin have saved over the years."

Buffy seemed awestruck. Spike lead her to a seat, then sat beside her, holding her hand and wishing that she didn't have to stay in Europe with the other slayers. Buffy seemed to think the same thing. She looked at him with promising eyes, that one day they would be together. Spike leaned in close to kiss her, when a shriek stopped him. He turned to see Dawn jumping up and down in the seat next to him. "This is so exciting. It's so pretty. I want my wedding to be this pretty. I can't wait to see Faith's dress. And Cordy. I haven't seen her since she left Sunnydale. I so want to hang with her, she definitely knows how to shop…" Dawn kept rambling.

Angel went upstairs to tell the ladies that they were ready to start. He gently knocked on the door. Cordy had opened it. If Angel had breath, it would've left him. Cordy looked like a goddess in her cream dress. Her hair was cut short, off her neck, and she was smiling at him. "You look wonderful. Are you sure that you're not the one getting married?" That got him a smack on the arm. "No, I'm being serious now. You look stunning, absolutely beautiful. I'm so thankful that we're already married, or I'd kill anyone who looked your way. Although, now I think that I might just do that anyway."

"Angel…" Cordy sighed, "I love you." She kissed him softly. "Are you boys ready to go?" A nod in return. "Okay. Faith, Fred," she called, "it's time to start."

Angel returned down to the hall in order to keep up with the modern wedding traditions that he heard so much about recently. Plus, the girls wanted Faith's dress to be a surprise. He nodded to Robin, Gunn, Wesley, and Lorne to get into their positions. Then he looked at the flower girl and her escort. Angel kneeled down, "Ok, Cathy, Connor, you both know what to do, right? Connor you hold onto your sister's arm and walk in that step that we practiced until you get to Uncle Robin. Then you stand on his side until I sit down, then you can sit down with me okay. You too, Cathy. Except you have the very important job of throwing the flowers, okay?" They both nodded, having practiced this many times with tissues and a tape player. "Ok. Nicky, you walk behind them and hold the rings on the pillow, okay. When they ask for the rings, you just hold up the pillow. You still have the rings, right? Okay, good."

He heard the clip-ty clap of ladies shoes as they made their way down the stairs. Cordy walked in front, as the nominated matron of honor, Fred behind her as maid of honor, then the bride herself. Angel swallowed. "Wow. You all look stunning and radiant. Faith," he kissed her on the check, "You look gorgeous." Her eyes shimmered happily tearing.

"Thank you, Angel. I'm so happy. Thank you so much for this. When I was a little girl, I never really dreamed of my wedding like other girls, I didn't think that I could love anyone that much. But I did, and now I have the most perfect wedding that I never dreamed would happen."

The music signaled the start of the wedding march. He nodded to Connor and Cathy to go. Their practice paid off. They marched perfect. Cordy, bouquet in hand, walked behind them, followed by Fred, who wore a stunning red wine colored dress. The music changed slightly, and the guests rose to honor the bride. Faith arm and arm with Angel, held her head up high and walked to meet her new husband at the alter. Their son, Nicky walked behind them. As she walked down the aisle, she was surprised to say the least at the guests that had arrived from Europe. Buffy stood, smiling at her. She smiled back, realizing that the two of them were no longer enemies, but good friends.

She and Robin had opted not to have a priest, or any crosses, etc. in the ceremony to keep from hurting Angel and Spike. A clerk from City Hall had been paid to marry them. The ceremony itself was very traditional, keeping with the traditional, "'til death do you part vows."

Faith was floating around, when she'd heard the clerk ask her for her response. She looked at her husband, smiling brightly, "I do." He held her hands and uttered the same words, "I do."

The clerk finished it with, "You may now kiss the bride." The kiss that they shared could have lasted lifetimes.

And it did.

To be continued…Chapter 3: Meet the Parents

(Don't worry. I'm just getting started with this series. If you have any suggestions for the next couple chapters, just email me and let me know.)