luck2

As she slept, the bites disappeared from Dawn's neck. Her hair grew back long and brown, and her pained expression grew content. The stud in her ear fell out and the tissue healed seamlessly. Ink ran off her back and pooled onto the couch. Aurelius swept her into his arms, and carried her from the apartment.

Spike and Buffy lay entwined together, identical expressions of peace on their faces.

Xander hugged Willow tightly against him as he drifted off. Angel and Cordelia curled together like a pair of kittens. Lorelei rested with her head on Tara's chest as Drusilla lay slumbering peacefully in her lap. "Peace and sweet memories..." echoed softly through the hotel.

Giles and Anya walked down the street. They wore identical bands of platinum on their ring fingers and exuded happiness.

"We're really married," she said. "Does that mean that I should call you Rupert?"

"Please don't," he replied.

"But if I'm Anya Giles, should I still call you Giles? Because that means that I'm calling you my name."

"If you start calling me Anya, then I see where we might have a bit of a problem," he said affectionately. "Otherwise, I don't think there's really an issue."

"Maybe I'll just call you honey," she suggested. "Or baby, or sweetheart." She looked at him.

"Or just Giles," he said.

They passed a small storefront that was crammed full of books. "We should look in here," she said. "You can find some of the most amazing stuff in these hole-in-the-wall used bookstores."

"Or, more traditionally, we could head back to the hotel and consummate our love," he said, with a gentle lift of his eyebrows.

"Well, traditionally, we wouldn't have stayed up all night and all morning before our wedding making love," she said saucily, "so I say we can break with tradition and look for some inventory for the Magic Box."

He looked dubiously at the grimy shop. "Well, we could stock up on some light reading, but we won't find anything valuable there, " said Giles.

"Take a chance," Anya replied, with a smile. "Think outside the box."

He kissed her, smiling gently. "Yes, perhaps I should keep doing that. It seems to be working out rather well."

Aurelius carried Dawn down the corridor to her room. He passed sleeping people lying at random on the floor, and leaning against walls. He opened the door to her room and gently set her down on the bed. "I wish that you would remember me," he said with a sad smile, "as I will remember you. But you must do what needs to be done, and so must I." His eyes were grim as he placed a gentle kiss on her lips and left the room.

He made his way to the ballroom and surveyed the sleeping people before him. He gently removed Drusilla from Lorelei's embrace. "Return to your chambers," he said as he gestured at the other occupants of the ballroom. Each couple rose hand in hand, still in enchanted slumber. First Willow and Xander, then Angel and Cordelia, and finally Tara and Lorelei departed. He carried the vampiress from the room, her head lolling against his chest. She smiled in her sleep, and he looked down at her with a troubled expression.

Giles stood in a dark and musty corner, surrounded by tables piled high with books. "Anya," said Giles. She walked over to him and looked at the volumes he held. "This place is utter chaos, but I have found some true diamonds in the midst of the rubbish," he whispered. "This is a very rare copy of the Kilinis Codex, and this one is a copy of Frenelli on Magic."

She showed him the books she held behind her back. "I found the Palladian Rites and Corbel's Transdimensional Portals in the fantasy section." They exchanged smiles.

"This truly is the luckiest day of my life," he said happily.

"And we're going to make a whole lot of money, too," she said brightly.