Go TeamC/A
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Part 3 "Cordelia, I think you'd better tell me what you're doing here don't you?" Angel frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. Cordelia swallowed.
Oh crap.
"I'm kinda busy right now Angel so if you don't mind..." Cordelia tried to close the door again but Angel's hand joined his boot in refusing to let her shut it.
"Are you going to let me in or am I going to have to break the door down? It's your choice." He refused to back down.
"I'm not inviting you in so there's really no point." Cordelia refused to meet his gaze, staring intently instead at the thin chain lock that was keeping the world outside.
"I don't need an invite, it's not a home Cordelia, it's a rancid motel." Angel watched the flash of pain shadow her face for only a moment before her eyes turned indifferent, he could almost see her change in persona.
"Well thank you for clearing that up for me Angel, and here was I thinking it was a penthouse suite at the Ritz." Cordelia hissed at him. Angel realised he'd said exactly the wrong thing, as usual, but there was no way he was leaving here without an explanation as to what the Sunnydale head cheerleader was doing in a place like this.
"Cordelia....please just let me in." He pleaded with her. Cordelia had never heard such emotion in the normally stoic vampire's voice. Granted she hadn't spent a huge amount of time with Angel, barely knew him in fact, but she realised this was something very uncommon for the vampire.
"Why?" She arched an eyebrow at him in question.
"Because I'm worried about you." He told her honestly. Cordelia felt her iron resolve slipping away. Angel was worried about her. A man she had scarcely spent more then a few hours with since she'd met him was worried about her. Cordelia couldn't remember the last time anyone cared like that. Her whirl wind thought process shifted at lightning speed. Why did he care? What did he want in return?
They always want something in return.
"I'm fine." Cordelia told him frostily. "Goodnight Angel." She managed to get the door closed this time. Cordelia tried to ignore the way her hands were shaking as she crossed the room to the small bathroom.
When the door crashed in she let out a yelp of surprise.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Cordelia roared at Angel as he kicked the door shut with his foot.
"I gave you a choice Cordelia, let me in or I'd let myself in." He told her nonchalantly.
"You broke the door! I can't believe you broke the door! You're insane!"
"Calm down, I only snapped the chain lock, which looks like it was on its last legs anyway." Angel said as his gaze wandered around the small room, it was worse than he'd initially thought. "What on earth are you doing in this place Cordelia?"
"It's none of your business." She scowled at him, she folded her arms in defiance. Angel tried to ignore the way her arms pushed her chest upwards inside her vest top but failed, he was a man after all.
"Well I'm making it my business." Angel crossed his arms also.
The vampire and the cheerleader stood off against each other, neither willing to budge an inch. Their postures told of a stubbornness inherent in both of their personalities.
"I'm not leaving." He declared confidently and he meant it. The tragic image of a scared young woman crying alone in this room engulfed every particle of his being. He couldn't leave, he'd seen too much.
"How did you know I was here?" She asked him as her brain finally woke up to the fact that no one knew where she was living and yet Buffy Summers vampire boyfriend was standing in front of her demanding answers to questions that were none of his business.
"I followed you home last night."
"YOU WHAT?!"
"I was worried, you seemed..."
"You're doing a lot of worrying over a girl you hardly know Angel. Take my advice, don't. I'm fine and if you ever stalk me again I will tell your girlfriend."
"I didn't stalk you, I was just making sure you got home OK, this is the hellmouth you're living on remember? This is the last place I expected you to be living Cordelia...I thought...."
"What? That I was a spoilt bitch that lived in a mansion with a million servants and Daddy's gold card?" A manic laugh bubbled up in her throat. "Well Angel, I'm full of surprises. Guess what? I'm a fake, a fraud. My entire life has gone down the crapper and everything I own is in this room, happy now?" The laugh choked into a sob before she could stop it. The vampire instinctively moved towards Cordelia when her armour slipped but the brunette stepped back, her hand outstretched before her, blocking him.
"What do you want?" There was a slight waver in her voice but Cordelia had managed to gain her composure just as quickly as she had lost it. Angel had never seen the girl in such a mess.
"What do you mean....?" He shook his head in confusion.
"What do you want from me? You've found out Queen C is slumming it and I don't buy the 'I'm worried about you' bull shit. You want something and I want to know what right the hell now!" She fumed.
"I couldn't give a fuck if you're the Queen of England Cordelia, I'm a two hundred and forty one year old vampire and I really couldn't care less about your social standing in High School. I don't want anything from you."
"Then why are you..."
"Because the girl I saw cry herself to sleep last night looked like she needed help." He told the young woman gently.
"I'm fine."
"Dammit Cordelia you're not fine!" Angel roared at her, surprising them both with the intensity of his voice. This wasn't the vampire's usual behaviour, he was well aware of that, but in the short amount of time he'd been in the room with her she had infuriated him in a way very few had in a long time.
He watched as Cordelia's shoulders slump, the same gesture of defeat he'd seen her do last night. Without meeting his eyes she sat down on to the bed that was beside her, her elbows on her knees, her head in her hands. Angel, unsure what to do, moved over to the plastic chair opposite her. The motel room was so small their knees almost touched.
"What happened?" Angel asked her tentatively once the silence had settled so thick it even made him feel uncomfortable. Cordelia finally looked at him, her eyes were red but there were no tears running down her face. When she spoke her voice was raspy and quiet.
"My Dad...he lost everything. The IRS finally caught up with him."
"Where are your parents?"
"Hiding from the tax man somewhere." Cordelia shrugged.
"Why didn't you go with them?" Angel frowned, he didn't understand why the Chases would leave there daughter behind.
"Because I didn't. I've got a life here....well, I had a life here."
"You should be with your parents." He insisted.
"Look Angel, I don't know where they are OK? Mom and Dad never gave me the choice. They left before I even knew they'd gone. All I got was a scribbled note from my Mom, my car, the few clothes that I could salvage and my dignity. Although it looks like I've lost that too." Cordelia angrily brushed away the tear that was creeping down her face. She couldn't believe she was crying in front of Angel, couldn't believe she'd just told him the secret that had hung heavily around her neck for months.
Before Angel knew what he was doing he brushed a stray strand of chocolate hair away from Cordelia's face and tucked it behind her ear. A tender gesture so uncommon to them both that it was startling in its intensity.
Cordelia shifted her gaze away from the vampires and focused intently on the worn area of the carpet by her feet. Angel sat back in his chair, confused at his action. He shifted in his seat and cleared his throat nervously.
"You..." Angel's sentence was cut to the quick when the nightly shouting began in the next room, a loud thump drew both their gazes to the wall, Cordelia grimaced when the faded painting rattled under the force of the blow. She closed her eyes when the increasingly familiar voices seeped into her room. Bitch. Bastard. Whore. Pig. She'd fallen a sleep every night with these overheard words rattling around her brain. Angel's lip twitch as the unmistakable smell of blood assaulted his sense.
"You can't stay here Cordelia." Angel said forcefully as the shouting continued.
"I don't have anywhere else to go." She said vacantly, still staring at the paint peeling wall.
"You must have someone you can stay with." He said in disbelief.
"I don't." Cordelia dismissed him, finally looking at him again.
"Surely if you speak to someone about your situation, maybe Mr Giles...."
"NO! No one can know about this. You have to promise me that you won't tell anyone about me. Please Angel." Cordelia hated the way she was begging him, Queen C begged for nothing, but she was desperate.
"OK Cordelia, OK. I won't tell anyone." Angel said quickly, brown eyes frenzied with panic pinned him to his seat.
"Promise me." Cordelia beseeched him.
"I promise." He nodded in reluctant acquiescence. "But it doesn't solve the problem."
Cordelia stood quickly and walked to the door, she fingered the decimated chain lock, Angel was right, it was the only damage done to the door but she would still have to pay for it. Her dwindling bank account would not be happy with her. She heard Angel stand as she opened the door, a cool stream of air whipped in and Cordelia breathed in deeply. It was stuffy and claustrophobic in the motel room but every resident of Sunnydale knew you kept your door shut and locked at night, no matter how much you needed to breathe.
"It's not your problem to solve Angel." She said as she turned around to face him. The scared girl that had begged a promise from him seconds ago was replaced with an iron resolve. "It's late and I have school in the morning, so if you don't mind." Cordelia gestured for him to leave.
"I can't leave you here Cordelia." Angel joined her at the door, the vehement concern in his words made the cheerleader feel sick and ashamed at herself and her situation.
"What, are you gonna rescue me Angel? Be my knight in shining armour?" She didn't wait for him to reply and she didn't need to, the awkward shift of his shoulders and the nervous flick of his eyes spoke more then any words could. "I don't think so." Cordelia hustled him through the door, unsure what to do Angel simply let himself be booted out.
"I...."
"Goodnight Angel." Cordelia closed the door and flicked the dead bolt before he could blink. So much for vampire reflexes. Through the thin wood he could hear Cordelia's muffled footsteps as she wandered across the room, then the squeak of springs as she sat down on the bed. Angel leant back against the door with a sigh. He didn't know what he was doing.
He couldn't leave her here on her own.
Angel slid down to the grimy floor, crossing his legs at the ankle and wrapping his duster around him.
He couldn't leave.***
The vampire didn't move until the threat of sunrise forced him into the sewers, with troubled footsteps Angel lumbered back to his apartment to wait for the night.
***
The roar of the crowd and the familiar pull of her muscles let Cordelia's mind drift away from her troubles. Focusing on her practised routine and moving in time with her fellow cheerleaders Cordelia was Queen C again for a little while, she blew kisses to the guys playing football, laughed at the fashion mistakes on parade in the stands. For a little while all was normal once again in Cordelia Chase's world.
Normal until the hair on the back of her neck prickled and she instantly knew he was there watching over her again. Cordelia knew Angel had sat outside her motel room all night, she'd listened to him shift when he was uncomfortable, heard him random muttering obscenities into the night.
Why the vampire had stayed she didn't know.
Was it pity? Curiosity? A misplaced sense of responsibility on the vampires behalf? Cordelia had no idea but as much as she hated to admit it last night was the best night sleep she'd had ever since her world had crumbled down around her.
Turning around in a circle Cordelia scanned the bleachers for the man she knew was watching her every move. She saw Xander and Willow chatting happily with Giles and Ms Calender but no Angel.
"Whatcha doing Cor?" Aura asked her in between demure sips of her bottled water.
"Huh? Oh....nothing." Cordelia flashed her a smile. "Just marvelling at the fashion disaster that is Willow Rosenburg."
"Horrifying isn't it?" Aura snorted viciously. "You know, if she wore a little make up and stopped wearing those awful corduroy dresses she likes so much....well, she'd still be a loser...."
Cordelia tuned the air head out as she continued her scanning of the crowd. She sucked in a surprised breath when she saw him, she thought he would have hidden in a shadowy corner, skulked as vampires do, so to see him leaning casually against the bleacher railing not ten meters away from her was a little unsettling. Why she hadn't seen him there already she wasn't sure.
"I'll be back in a minute...." Cordelia muttered at a still rambling Aura and strode towards Angel, annoyance oozing out of her every pore.
"Peanut?" Angel offered her when she came to a halt in front of him, her hands on her hips, foot tapping against the ground in irritation. "They're very good." He shook the bad invitingly, when she didn't reply he shrugged and popped another nut in to his mouth.
"I didn't think vampires ate?" The cheerleader asked him before she could help herself.
"We are a complex people." Angel's mouth twitched in what Cordelia thought could either be a smile or indigestion.
"Whatever." She rolled her eyes at him. "I told you I don't need a white knight." Cordelia frowned at him.
"I'm not here to rescue you Cordelia." He did smile that time. The part of her brain that she refused to listen to told her he had a very nice smile.
"Then why are you here? I doubt you came for the football and ambience." Cordelia arched an eyebrow at him.
"I made a decision last night." Angel screwed up the peanut bag and threw it with disturbing accuracy in the trash bin.
"Good for you." She fluffed her bangs out of her eyes in a clear sign of boredom. It didn't phase Angel though, he knew this was just another act. He'd seen the real Cordelia Chase.
"Do you want to know what the decision was?"
"What I want is for you to stop stalking me."
"I decided." Angel ignored her. "That you and I are going to be friends."
"I don't need...."
"Tough. Get use to it. We're friends." Angel dismissed the argument that was heading his way. "They're starting without you. " He nodded over to where her squad were lining up for the next routine. Cordelia's head turned from the vampire to the field and back again. She was torn between losing herself in her cheers and shouting at the frustrating vampire that had decided to play the big brother act with her.
"You're infuriating." Cordelia scowled at him then turned on her heel and strode back to the field. Angel tried not to watch the way her hips moved as she walked. He failed.
"See you later friend." Angel called out to her. Cordelia flipped him the finger making Angel laugh loudly. Twice in as many days that had happened, it even worried him.
Angel had spent the day pacing his small apartment, trying to think up ways to convince Cordelia that she needed to tell some one about her situation, let some one help her. It had taken him a while to figure out the fact that she had told some one.
Him.
In his gloomy apartment, as he waited for the damn sun to set, Angel had decided that he was going to help Cordelia Chase whether she liked it or not.
Part 4Cordelia had washed her hair three times. Three times and she could still smell the acrid stench of smoke covering every strand. She closed her eyes and shook her head when the horrifying image of Daryl Epps fluttered into her mind. If she hadn't been distracted by that damn vampire watching her every twist and kick she might have seen her kidnapper lurking in the shadows and stayed on the field instead of collecting a drink under the bleachers. Angel had thrown her off her guard by deciding to be her best friend and she'd almost lost her head because of it.
Yes, it was all Angel's fault.
To make things just that little more worse Xander Harris had risked his life by rescuing her. Xander frikken Harris! The icing on the cake was the irritated dismissal he'd thrown her way when she'd tried to thank him, leaving her feeling foolish and annoyed as she made her solitary way back to the motel. The only saving grace of the entire affair was that once Angel had finally turned up he'd only had eyes for Buffy, leaving her free to make a getaway without her very own stalker two steps behind.
"Could my life suck anymore?" She asked the empty room, looking around the hovel that she had come to call her home a wry smile crept across her face. "At least things can't get much worse." Cordelia muttered with a sigh as she folded up her smoke stained uniform. Another Saturday at the Laundromat for Sunnydales Queen C. A soft knocking on the door startled her, she seemed to be jumping at every small noise ever since she moved into motel hell. Cordelia grimaced as the angry bruise on her side made itself known as she moved too quickly.
Again the knocking sounded, persistent and unwavering.
A strong sense of deja vu swept over her. Cordelia raised her eyes to the heavens, silently promising whatever deity that was mucking around with her life that she'd be a better person just as long as it wasn't who she thought it was.
"Oh for crapsake..." Cordelia muttered when she finally opened the door.
"Cordelia." Angel smiled and nodded at her, ignoring the way she was scowling at him. "I brought Chinese." He jostled the bag in his arms and didn't wait to be invited in as he slid past her into the room.
"Angel....this really isn't necessary." Cordelia said through gritted teeth, she held the door open to him hoping he would get the message that she just wanted to left alone to wallow in her own self pity.
"I didn't know what you liked so I got one of everything." Angel ignored her irritation and began to place container after container of food on to the small table by the window.
"I...."
"C'mon, it'll get cold." The vampire called her over with a jerk of his head as he slipped off his coat and threw it over the back of the chair like he owned the place. When he noticed she was still standing by the open door looking at him like he'd grown horns and a tail he began to get concerned.
"You didn't get hurt tonight did you?" Angel frowned.
"What the hell is going on with you?!" Cordelia shouted at him once she'd recovered from the sheer audacity of the man.
"Excuse me?"
"You with the smiling and the takeout and hello?! Aren't you meant to be moody-lurking-shadow-cryptic-creature of the night guy?" She slammed the door shut with her foot. "Granted I don't know you very well, but I'm pretty sure this is freaky ass behaviour for you!"
"I guess we're both full of surprises." Angel said as he seated himself on the uncomfortable plastic chair, the frown that didn't leave his face twisted something inside the brunette but she refused to listen to the part of her brain that told her she liked it more when he smiled. He had a really nice smile. Rolling her eyes more out of habit than anything else Cordelia crossed the room and picked up a carton of rice and chopsticks, refusing to meet his gaze she sat down on the bed like a petulant child just told to eat her greens. She was too tired to spend another evening trying to get the most stubborn man she'd ever met out of her room. Cordelia decided to just go with it, she was sure the vampire would get bored soon enough and go back to stalking the slayer.
"Did you get hurt?" Angel tried again, hopefully this time he wouldn't get yelled at.
"I'm fine." She dismissed him, digging a chopstick through the pile of fluffy rice with disinterest. Cordelia was hungry but the vampire was making her nervous. It wouldn't be so bad if he didn't look so damn comfortable. There was that hair prickling at the back of her neck again, the cheerleader didn't need to look up from her food to know Angel was looking at her. It was the same feeling she'd had in the library, like a chill starting at the base of her spine and flushing all the way to her finger tips......
"What?" Cordelia grunted at him when she couldn't take being the subject of his intense stare.
"Why do you do that? Why do you say you're fine when you're obviously not?" Angel asked her quietly, he genuinely wanted to know the answer. He didn't want to think about why he wanted an answer so dearly though.
"Why have you made it your new hobby to follow me around?" Cordelia threw back at him.
"Because someone needs to be looking out for you."
"I don't need looking after."
"Cordelia, look around you......you're living in a motel, you don't know where your parents are, you almost lost your head tonight, literally, you have dark circles under your eyes, I'm guessing you've been living on take out for a while..."
"And you're really not helping." Cordelia interrupted him, if he continued listing the hell that was her life she was pretty sure she was going to cry and she really didn't want to cry in front of Angel again. Letting him know the conversation was over Cordelia scooted across the bed and leant back against the pillows, she tucked her denim clad legs beneath her and switched the tv on by the remote. She found the least annoying programme and stared at it blankly while she ate her rice.
Angel watched the young woman as she tried her hardest to pretend he wasn't there, but the slight increase of her heart beat and the short darting glances she kept throwing his way let him know that he was making her nervous. The demon in him delighted in that but the soul just wanted to comfort her. Still, the vampire refused to examine where these feelings came. He knew the fact that he was a vampire made Buffy's friends uneasy around him but he'd never had that feeling around Cordelia Chase. So if it wasn't the fact that he was a demon that was causing the young woman to be jittery around him what was?
"Did you know him very well?" Angel asked her after a full twenty minutes of silence that wasn't completely uncomfortable.
"Hmmm?" Cordelia didn't look away from the television. Angel picked up a couple of take out cartons from the table and sauntered, as un-stalker like as he could manage, to the other side of the bed and sat down. The sudden dip of the mattress finally caught Cordelia's attention, her concentration ripped away from the made for tv movie to the vampire next to her. The look of concern on Angel's face forced her to swallow any comment she was about to spout about personal bubbles.
"That guy Daryl, did you know him very well?" He asked her again carefully.
"Yeah....I.....We use to be...well, friends I guess." Cordelia shrugged, a ghost of a smile stealing across her lips for a second before happy memories from her past were clouded by the image unnaturally pale skin and scars. "So, have you and Buffy kissed and made up after whatever it was that had the pair of you scowling the other night?" Cordelia changed the subject on to something that wasn't her.
"Yeah." Angel grunted, fixing his gaze on the fuzzy pictures blinking on the television screen.
"It was about that so called 'sexy' dance she did with Xander wasn't it?" Cordelia asked innocently while she poked at the carton of noodles.
"How did you.....?"
"Contrary to popular belief Angel, I do notice that the entire world doesn't revolve around me at times." Cordelia quirked a sardonic eyebrow at him. "And it couldn't be more obvious that you don't like Xander."
"The boy irritates me." Angel fiddled with the cuff of his dark sweater.
"It's what Harris does best." She nodded in agreement.
"Yet he saved you tonight."
"Yeah...." Cordelia trailed off, not sure what to say about be rescued by Xander Harris.
Xander frikken Harris!
The pair settled down into a comfortable silence as both their attentions were drawn to the sight of some C-rate actress vowing revenge on the woman that stole her man. Cordelia was certain she'd watched this film last week....or something very similar to it. She sighed thinking about the disturbing amount of time she'd spent watching bad film after bad film in the dingy motel room that was now her home. The social butterfly she'd once been had regressed into a sweat pant wearing, take out eating, Kim Delaney film watching unsociable caterpillar. The few times she had been out with Harmony and her friends Cordelia had been bored out of her mind with their inane chatter about this seasons Manolo's and what Gucci purse was currently hot. She could image their reactions if she told them that the thrift store on main street did a very good deal on second hand Levi's. Harmony would probably swallow her tongue from the shock of it all.
Cordelia couldn't help but chuckle at that thought.
"This is meant to be a very emotional scene that you're laughing at." Angel nodded at the tv as some unknown actor begged for forgiveness.
"Oh...I, I was just imagining the look on Harmony's face if she ever saw me like this. Might even be worth the inevitable social death." Cordelia said lightly, her carefree tone was too carefree and Angel noticed it.
"Why are you friends with people you don't really like?" Angel asked her bluntly.
"Why do you insist on asking me questions that you know I'm not going to answer?" Cordelia shot back, her eyes flashing with something Angel couldn't quite determine, it might have been amusement.
"What can I say Cordy....you bring out the inquisitive side of me." He grinned at her making Cordelia's toes curl unconsciously. This wasn't right. This wasn't the brooding vampire she'd heard Willow and Buffy chatting about, consumed with guilt, a slave to his past. He was smiling, laughing, flirting, talking.
He'd called her Cordy. Cordy, without the mocking Xander used when he said her name, without the sheep like adoration inherent in everything Aura and Harmony said to her.
Just Cordy.
Like she was someone that know one else knew about but him.
"Did...did you want some chinese?" Cordelia said when she didn't know what else to say.
"I ate before I left." Angel shook his head and turned the channel over before Cordelia could stop him. There was only so much overacting a creature of the night could take.
"What did you have..." She knew the answer even before she finished the sentence. This is what happens when a man you hardly know says your nickname without the malice that usually accompanies it. "...OK, stupid question. Something blood based I'm guessing."
"Always is." Angel nodded but didn't elaborate further, he didn't have to anyway as the silence was filled with the muffled voices of her neighbours once again slowly destroying each other.
"Every damn night." Cordelia groaned and slumped her head against the headboard, he eyes squeezed shut as though she could make the shouting stop if she concentrated hard enough. "Why don't they just make up or break up instead of screaming at each other night after night?"
"Love makes you do the wacky." Angel muttered, remembering his conversation with Buffy earlier that night. A conversation that been tense and nervous. A conversation in which neither of them had truly smiled at each other.
"What?" Cordelia snorted at his choice of words, 'wacky' sounded so unbelievably odd coming from Angel. She swallowed her laughter when she saw Angel was serious.
"Do you think I should see if the woman is OK..." He avoided her half asked question as an unmistakably feminine voice cursed the ground her lover walked on followed by a very male exclamation of pain drifted from next door.
"I think she can handle herself. I saw her the other day....arms covered in tattoos." Cordelia gestured wildly with her arms in distaste, she sucked in a breath when the bruise on her side woke up.
"So when I asked you if you were OK and you said you were fine you were lying?" Angel frowned at her.
"It's just a bruise, I've had worse after cheer leading practise." Cordelia dismissed his concern. She gathered up the empty take out cartons and moved off the bed, a cool hand on her wrist stopped her movements.
"You don't have to lie to me Cordelia." Angel said sincerely and she dearly wanted to believe him. Cordelia looked at the large hand wrapped around her wrist, it was overwhelmingly male, she wondered for a moment the things it had done, the pain it had caused, the pleasure it had coaxed. "Just be yourself." Angel interrupted her thoughts, his eyes bored into hers and she felt her cheeks flush under his intense gaze.
No wonder Buffy Summers was head over feet for this man....one look and he could make you feel like there was no one else in the entire world.
Cordelia couldn't be thinking about a vampire she barely knew in that way. Not now, not when her life was so upside down she couldn't even fathom what way was up.
"It's been a really weird day...what with the kidnapping and everything....I should get some sleep." Cordelia slipped out of his gentle grasp and moved to the door, Angel followed her without argument, picking his jacket up on the way.
"Thank you for dinner Angel." She smiled awkwardly at him when he was opposite her, not use to the gratitude she felt deep in her bones.
"Anytime Cordy."
Without another word Cordelia opened the door and Angel slipped out into the night.
They both knew he wasn't going far.***
Angel had become accustomed to a soft bed to sleep in over the last few years, a soft bed and four walls. He'd spent his time on the streets, scavenging for whatever food he could find, a diet of rats and a cold hard pavement had been the best punishment he could find for himself but then Whistler had shown him the slayer and his world had toppled on it's axis. He'd been given a purpose, love and a soft bed.
So why was he once again sitting on the cold hard pavement outside the room of a girl that had repeatedly told him that she didn't want/need his help?
And why was he so adamant about helping her anyway?
Because I know what it feels like to be so scared and alone that the thought of another solitary day brings tears to your eyes
The demon inside him snarled in disgust at the truth of that statement.
"Fucking pavement." Angel muttered and tried to find a more comfortable way to sit.
He'd brought her food, asked her questions, watched a film with her. Tried to make her feel like she wasn't completely alone and possibly scared the crap out of her by the way she'd ushered him out of the room half an hour ago.
I don't know her. She's not my responsibility. None of this is my business.
She has no one else.
What the hell am I doing?
But still Angel didn't leave.***
Cordelia sat cross-legged on the bed listening to Angel mutter and curse outside. She bit her lip silently arguing with herself about what she knew she was about to do.
He'd brought her dinner, asked her if she was hurt, made sure she was OK.
Who else had done that in the last few months?
No one.
I don't know him. He's a vampire. He's Buffy Summers boyfriend.
He asked me if I was hurt.
What the hell am I doing
Cordelia strode over to the door before she could talk herself out of it, she flicked the locks with annoyance and swung open the door faster than Angel had time to move.
"Are you sure you're a vampire? Aren't they usually more stealthier than that?" Cordelia looked down at the creature of the night who had fallen flat on his back at her feet when she'd opened the door.
"I...." Angel blinked looking up at her, it was an interesting view he had of the young woman from his position on the floor. He'd never noticed how full her...
He sprang to his feet as quickly as he could, trying to banish the unwanted thoughts that invaded his brain.
"I?" Cordelia put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot against the floor. The smart thing for her to have done was to have put a robe over her vest and pants before she opened the door to let Angel in. But then hindsight is always 20/20.
"Huh?" Angel reverted back to the stoic idiot he was on occasion. While he had always known Cordelia Chase was an attractive girl...he was only just realising she was a beautiful woman.
"You can't stay out there all night again Angel." Cordelia figured the look on his face was due to the fact that he must have knocked his head when he'd toppled back because he'd never looked at her like that before and she knew very well that he never would.
Concussion, that was what it was.
"I'm not leaving..." Angel began to argue with her again.
"I know. Come in Angel." She sighed and ushered him in.
Yes. Cordelia Chase had lost her mind.
Confused, Angel followed stepped back into the room he'd been shepherded out of not long ago, closing the door behind him. He watched her as she moved easily to the other side of the room, opening a cupboard he hadn't noticed was there and pulling out a pillow and blanket. Angel caught the bedding that hurtled his way.
"Floor." She pointed to the space next to her bed then without saying another word Cordelia slipped back into bed and closed her eyes. Shaking his head with amusement Angel slipped off his jacket and tried to make himself as comfortable as possible on the floor.
It wasn't a soft bed.....but it was almost as good.
Cordelia's breathing let him know that she was still awake, still slightly nervous of his presence so close.
"Angel?" Her small voice cut through the darkness.
"Yeah?"
"What you said earlier...about us being friends, did you mean that?"
"I did."
"OK. I can deal with that."
"OK."
"Don't even think about snacking on me when I'm asleep." Cordelia murmured before she fell into a deep slumber.
"I can deal with that." Angel smiled and punched the pillow into shape.