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Prologue
Buffy glanced up at the vampire through her eyelashes; pain, heartache and sorrow embedded deeply in her blue eyes. Her baby-pink lips pouting as she tried to blink away the tears of the unfairness of the world. “I-I'm sorry Angel” she whispered to him apologetically as she went to caress his face, “I can't be with you because I can't have the risk of letting Angelus out again. I couldn't stand it if he got out because of me again” she told him tearfully as she retracted her hand from his face.
Angel looked down at her, his face and eyes expressionless as he absorbed her words like a sponge. He knew he should tell her about his soul being permanent after being brought back from hell but to be honest, he didn't really care much for anything right now. He was having a hard time adjusting to being back on Earth and not in that dimension.
The only thing the vampire could think of when he looked at Buffy was the fact that if she had cared about him at all then she would've realized that she only needed his blood to stop Acathla. Instead, she'd killed and sent him to hell. Something he'd never be able to forget, he could forgive because she thought she was doing what was necessary but he couldn't forget. He was too emotionally raw right now to deal with anything else.
Like this God forsaken break-up of their tragic farce of a romance.
“Is that it?” Angel asked in an even tone as he stared down at the young Slayer with fathomless eyes that bore deeply into her.
Nodding, Buffy leaned up to kiss him goodbye; when her lips touched his all she could think was how much she deeply loved him and how she would give anything she had just to be with him. It was a bittersweet moment for her, the ending of her true love; she didn't think she'd ever be the same after tonight. It was like a part of her was broken that could never be fixed again.
For Angel, the moment had gone on longer than necessary and he'd had enough of it all to be honest. He was tired, cold and he had better things to do other than play Romeo to her Juliet. Didn't she get it at all that he'd just got back from 300 years in hell? He had a damned good right to be feeling the way he did, there were no words to describe how he felt after getting back, no words at all.
One minute he was angry, the next minute he felt like his soul was being torn in two and the next angry was an understatement to the rage inside. The rage of the demon at being contained behind a soul, the rage at feeling betrayed by someone who claimed to love him and the rage that had been with all through his existence.
Buffy found herself wanting more and couldn't help but press her lips harder against his and she felt her arms going around his neck. “Umm” a choked and muffled moan came from her as Angel pushed her away from him. Covering her mouth with her hand, the Slayer blinked up at him questioningly at first but then understanding flooded her watery eyes.
“I'm so sorry for tempting you like that Angel” she whispered sorrowfully, “But I can't help it. I just love you so much”
“Go” was the only thing he could think of to say that was in the least bit polite, anything more and he'd spontaneously combust with the whole sordid affair.
Nodding, Buffy backed away a few steps as she took a lasting look of the vampire she loved more then the world before she turned around and ran.
Leaving him to pick up his shattered thoughts.
***
Lying in the hospital bed as she had done for the last week, Cordelia smoothed the back of her hand across the dewy skin of her cheeks. Dewy from tears well-spent, dewy from restless nights and dewy from the lack of skin-care products she was used to. She felt alone, betrayed, bitter and angry over what had happened between Xander and Willow, God she felt sick to her stomach.
It wasn't so much the kiss itself, it was the fact that it had been going on longer and she'd never noticed what had been right under her nose all this time. And she thought it was Buffy she had to worry about not sweet, innocent Willow Rosenburg, man stealer extraordinaire.
It was the thought that while he'd been kissing her, Cordelia Chase, Xander could have been thinking about Willow. Sure, they said they only shared kisses but it's still cheating no matter what Xander told her to weasel his way out of it. Now here she lay, alone, cold and miserable without anyone to talk too or even to look at. She'd stared at the same ceiling for the last seven days, she'd talked to the same nurses for the last seven days and she'd seen the same doctor for the last seven days.
In fact, she'd bet what was left of her pride, dignity and self-respect that she'd seen that fly for the last seven days too.
Could her life get any worse?
Startled out of her well-deserved self pity party by a gentle tapping on her hospital room door, Cordelia turned the only part of her she could to look at who was there.
She had to think that jinxing line didn't she?
“Xander, what do you want?” she asked tiredly, didn't he understand the meaning of the words 'Leave me alone?'
Xander eased the door open a little, feeling it was safe to enter the room he'd been chucked out of earlier. “I just wanted to see how you were… Are… I brought you some flowers” he held up a small bouquet of wildflowers from his neighbors' yard.
There was a time only 8 short days ago that Cordelia would have found his dorky attribute sweet but now she only saw it a pithy attempt to win her back or get her forgiveness. She was willing to give him neither of what he wanted. “Thanks. Drop them in the trash on your way out please. I'm tired”
“Cordy please, I've said I'm sorry what more do you want?” Xander expressed as he held up his free hand in exasperation, he made one mistake. One. There were people out there who made more than one mistake and they got forgiven, why couldn't his one mistake?
“I want you to leave me the hell alone is what I want” Cordelia repeated her exact words from the four other times she'd spoken them to him. “I don't want anything else from you or her, just please leave me alone Xander. Go away”
“I made one mistake Cordy” he said pretty much what he was thinking; she'd always respected people who did that didn't she? If it meant he'd regain her respect, then he'd do just that.
“That one mistake missed my left kidney by half an inch, do you know what would have happened if it had been half an inch to the left Xander?”
Xander gulped and once again felt a searing pain, yes he knew what would have happened if that rebar had been half an inch to the left.
“I asked you a God damned question” Cordelia snapped, some of her frustration and anger slipping out as she demanded an answer from her ex-boyfriend.
“You” he swallowed again, “You would have died I know, but you can't keep making me pay” he told her honestly.
“I don't want to make you pay for anything” she said as sweetly as she possibly could as she reigned in her anger at him and the whole situation. “I don't want to make you do anything except get the hell away from me before I call security. Go now Xander, and don't ever speak to me again or I will make you pay. Got it?”
Nodding in full understanding, Xander inched forward a little more into her room and deposited the wildflowers on her lunch tray. “I'm sorry” it was the most sincere apology he'd given her since this whole thing came out.
“You should be. Goodbye”
He left, leaving Cordelia to pick up the remains of her shattered pride and emotions.
Part 1. Fancy Meeting You Here
“Annddd!” Cordelia smiled genuinely for the first time in what felt like forever as she toddled through the automatic door of the main entrance to the hospital slash prison. “I'm free!” she grinned when she felt the cool night breeze bring a refreshing change from the clinical atmosphere of the hospital. Outside, there was no smell of industrial strength cleaner or the putrid scent of hospital version of mashed potatoes and even better, there was no doctor around to poke and prod her anymore.
Balancing her small little overnight bag on her shoulder, Cordelia inhaled a deep breath through her nose and reveled in the wonderful smell of outside. Even if that smell was car exhaust fumes and pollution, anything was better than bleach ala hospital!
Spying the car her housekeeper had brought for her, Cordelia toddled off as fast as she could towards it, simply just enjoying being able to walk about and how no-one could order her to lye down anymore. She was, for all purposes, a free woman; free of the modern day Nazis as she called them once or twice after a few threats from the ward sister! She'd only gone for a walk to the vending machine for a Coke for heaven's sake; it wasn't like she was planning on taking on Mount Kilimanjaro.
The brunette felt like she had a new lease on life as though she had just escaped the confines of the concentration camp at Oschvitz! Slinging the bag from her shoulder, Cordelia rummaged around for her keys and typically found them underneath everything else.
“Typical!” she muttered to herself as she eased her currently fragile body into the drivers' seat and started the car. “Ahh home sweet home. Peace and quiet. No Xander, no Willow, no Buffy and definitely no doctors. Bath here I come!” and she drove away, quite happy for now and just content to start her life again.
***
Angel had pretty much sat in his chair day in and day out ever since Buffy had dumped him four days ago. All that was missing was a baseball, a cap and he'd feel like the perfect lovesick teenager. The walls around him were bare just like always, it seemed as though his grandchilde had stored away all his stuff when he took off after his childe. Not that he minded a lot of course, but that was his stuff to put away into storage and not Spike's!
Okay, forget the baseball and cap, Angel just realized he was brooding about his grandchilde putting his stuff into storage. He'd seriously sank to an all new low here and knew he had to get out of the house before he went stir crazy and killed someone, namely himself!
Dragging his tired and empty body out of the leather chair, Angel went straight for the front door when he paused in thought. He'd never gone for a drive in a very long time and he suddenly found the need to. It was one of the few things the demon and man agreed upon, a nice and relaxing drive in the night listening to some Dean Martin or Frank Sinatra.
Turning back on himself, Angel tried to remember where he put the keys to the barely used convertible.
“Top right hand drawer under the blue socks you never wear” came the all-knowing inner voice of his and Angel sneered at his demon and had visions of someday being able to flip him the finger or tell him to fuck off and go bother somebody else!
“You'd be lost without me Hans Soulio!”
“Just like I'd be lost with a map” Angel growled as he went directly for the top right hand drawer under his blue socks, ignoring the smug feeling inside him. “I think I'll take the back roads, more chance of a kill that way”
“I was wondering when you'd start to see sense, oh well better late than never I s'pose!”
“I meant a demon kill, not a human. Haven't you done enough of that?”
“Not nearly as much as I'd like to be honest... Hey stop trying to be my chum will ya? I hate your guts you freak!”
Having retrieved the keys to the stunning, sleek love of his life the vampire almost jogged to his baby waiting in the garage just screaming to be taken for a ride to get her juices flowing.
***
Cordelia wrestled her car to the side of the little lane when weird noises sounded from under the hood. Steam was coming out of the engine, the gear shift didn't move right and her brake seemed to be a little on the none-working side.
“Great, thanks car. I love you too!” she yelled at the roof of the soft top Corvette as though that would make any difference. Unfortunately, it didn't even make her feel better let get the car to start working. “After all the things I've had done to you, let's see shall we? You've had your wheel arches widened, your shocks have been lowered, you have 17 inch tires complete with alloys I might add. Not to mention these nice and cozy little bucket seats. And what do I get in return?” she demanded.
“A breakdown when I need you the most. Didn't you ever hear of your owner in need?” she asked her steering wheel desperately before hitting her hands off of it lightly. “I guess I'm walking home then. All that way by myself, in the dark with no-one to look out for me…” okay so the guilt trip didn't work either!
Opening the glove compartment, Cordelia yanked some stuff out of it and stuffed the bits and pieces angrily into her little bag until it was overflowing. The car door shut behind her and the alarm beeped into action. “At least that's one thing going right tonight. I feel like I should be looking around for Candid Camera or something”
Alone, she started walking along the empty lane, giving sparring glances at the little houses hidden behind the bushes. She'd love to have one of them, they were painted in bright colors that reminded her of the beach; so very different to her own more conservative home. Her parents had old money and they knew what to spend it on; but as good as her house looked, she'd still prefer to have one of those brightly colored cottage-type ones. They always looked so inviting and homely, hers was large and could be construed as foreboding to someone who had never been there before. Most of the time when she was alone in the house, she felt intimidated by it's lavish size.
A grin quirked up at the corners of her mouth as Cordelia remembered one Halloween years ago, her parents had thrown a masquerade and had invited her aunt, uncle and cousin Timmy. When they had all gone to bed, she'd been so terrified of the costumes that had been worn that she had checked the whole house with her Barbie pen torch!
“What an idiot!” she chuckled as she remembered the good times she had when she was a child. She'd had some good times with Willow and Xander too, that she couldn't deny as much as she wanted to. They'd play together in the park opposite kindergarten and eat ice cream while Xander pushed her and Willow on the swings.
“How sweet!” Cordelia snarked bitterly at the memory that she had been fond of but now detested greatly. She was so caught up in memories that she wasn't watching where she was going, her foot slipped off the edge of the pavement and she stumbled into the road.
Freezing like a deer caught in the woods, Cordelia found herself face to face to two bright headlights no less than two inches from her face. Her breath caught in her throat when she realized how close she had come to getting knocked over and her heart started pounding wildly, not even registering the pain in her left side.
A man got out of the stalled car and ran round to help her up, “Miss!” he gushed as he knelt down to take her by the arms. “Miss, are you alright? I didn't hurt you did I?” he asked hoping he hadn't.
Cordelia was still staring into the head lights as he spoke to her so she didn't really hear what he said. Giving her head a little shake, the brunette turned to look at the driver of the car and breathed a sigh of sheer relief. “I-I'm fine” she stammered a little as she tried to get her arms free of his gentle but firm grip, “I'm not hurt which is something I suppose”
Angel help the young woman up off the side of the road and helped her dust down her clothes, accidentally hitting her injury as he did so.
“OW! Stop it, don't do that please. It hurts a lot” Cordelia brushed his hands off her body and straightened her clothes, blowing a strand of hair from her lips. “I don't suppose you have a cell phone I could use please? My car broke down just back there and I don't really want to walk home in the dark”
“Uh, no cell phone, sorry. Are you sure you're alright Miss?” he asked again, she was hurt and he could smell fresh blood on her, but it wasn't like he could say that to her was it?
“I'm fine really, thanks for not killing me or anything. I really appreci-Angel?!” Cordelia finally looked at the man who was trying to help her and recognized the vampire instantly. Great, now he was gonna go back to his little girlfriend and tell her everything. Just great, is there anything else you wanna throw my way?
Angel saw past his panic and took a good, long and hard look at the brunette standing in front of him. She looked as tired as he felt, she had bags under her almost lifeless eyes and her skin was pale. Her hair, though clean and nice, lacked it usual luster and she wasn't even looking at him, she was walking away.
“Cordelia… Wait” he caught up with her in a few steps, turning her round with a gentle hold on her arm, offhandedly noting she seemed frail under his much more powerful touch. “I-is everything okay? I mean do you need a ride someplace?” he offered, “I have a car”
What was it with him and acting like a teenager today?
“I know, you almost squished my head with it” Cordelia replied as she looked at him, the hazel orbs that were once full of spite and a bitchy attitude, were now practically void of that and it made him frown in genuine concern.
“Yeah, sorry about that, really I am” Angel told her honestly as he continued to look at her, wondering what had brought this lively, voracious girl to such a gloomy place.
“You know, that's the second genuine apology I've had this week” she pointed out with a choked laugh as she sniffled back a tear. It was no use crying in front of Buffy's boyvamp, he'd just go back tell her and that was something she didn't need. “What? Does the world's population want mugs for genuine apologies now? I swear” she growled, the hazel flashing for just a second before she once again reigned in her anger.
“Why did someone apologize to you?” Angel asked in confusion, ignoring his demon telling him to just drain the girl and put her out of her misery. “D-did someone do something to you? Do you need help? I can…”
“No, I don't need help Angel. I just want to be left alone if it's all the same. Thanks anyway though. It was nice talking to you, drive safe” Cordelia smiled and waved at him sweetly before turning away from the confused vampire to continue on her way home.
“I know what it's like” Angel spoke up suddenly, why he didn't know but he couldn't let her walk off the state she was in. It wouldn't do him any harm to listen to someone else's problems for a while either, it just might put his perspective if he was lucky.
That stopped her in her tracks.
“You know what what's like?” she threw over her shoulder, not turning round so he could see the tears welling up in her eyes.
“To be alone” he was cold, “To feel lost” nope, still nothing, “And to feel betrayed” BINGO!
“What the hell do you know about being betrayed?” Cordelia snarled out as she spun round, almost losing her balance with her rapid spin. “Or should I be asking CryBuffy that question?” she smirked when she saw a flash of something in those melted chocolate orbs. “I mean she does have the most loyal puppy in the world, I should ask her where I can get one”
“Buffy and I have nothing to do with you” Angel growled out as he took a step closer to the brunette. “So keep your nose out of what isn't your business”
“Take your own advice, Angel, I'll keep out of yours if you keep out of mine” she retaliated but walked a step closer to him. “Until you have any clue what the deal is, just go about your daily routine of lick balls and play fetch because I don't need you and your help”
Angel walked a step closer to her, his hands clenching and unclenching into fists at his sides. He was already unstable and he didn't want her to be the one who set him off. It was clearly obvious she was reacting to his own anger with hers, maybe if he channeled it the right way he could get it out of her what had her so upset.
Of course, he'd get it out of her right after he gave this stuck up bitch a piece of his mind.
“You think you're better than everyone else, you don't give a damn about anybody but yourself and you don't care who you hurt as long as you get your own way” Angel growled at her and walked until they were almost nose to nose, steam coming out of them both. “Poor little rich girl” he mocked, “What's the matter Princess? Daddy not give you his credit card? Or has your footballer of the week left you for a better woman…”
Were they stars he was seeing? Angel blinked back tears as he held his nose between his thumb and forefinger. He was not expecting her to retaliate with violence, maybe he'd gone a bit too far with the better woman comment. “Truth hurts doesn't…” when he turned back round, Cordelia was walking away with her head held high.
“Fuck!” Angel swore, shaking off the vestiges of her punch, the vampire quickly took off after her. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean it Cordelia. I don't know what got into me” he apologized profusely and loudly so she would hear him.
Oh, she heard him alright but ignorance was bliss in her little world and she wanted no part of his little bizzaro world that's for sure. Cordelia shrugged and started to mentally prepare herself for her retaliating punch from the almighty Slayer.
“Cordelia please” he yelled, she was the only person other than Buffy who had talked to him at all in the last few days. Even if that talking was more of a barrage of canine insults. “Please talk to me” he all but begged and his demon threw up!
Once again, his words stopped her in her tracks and the brunette spun round to face him again. “What now? You gonna start on the reasons Willow was a better choice than me? You gonna start in on how Xander was right to go behind my back? Or maybe you're gonna stick the stake in and say that I should have been half an inch to the left”
“Half an inch to the left? What's going on? I don't under… Oh” the rest of her words caught up with him and he winced visibly. No wonder she'd smacked him after the other woman comment that was really the wrong thing to say. Angel looked at her and shrugged helplessly, not really knowing what to do. “I came back from hell and my girlfriend dumped me”
Part 2, Friends Over Coffee
“Spike!” Angel growled as though the blonde vampire was to blame for everything, “I knew I should've killed him the day he was turned”
Cordelia smiled grimly into her coffee, “It wasn't entirely Spike's fault, he didn't hold a gun to Xander's head and tell him to make-out with Willow. Well, not that I know of and I seriously doubt he would”
He'd never noticed anything about the red head or the boy either and he chastised himself for not seeing it. Angel was sure he would've said something to Buffy about it, well he may have said something to Buffy about it. That's if she hadn't already known about them that is. “No, it wasn't” he gave her that point with a sigh, “Just like no-one held a gun to Buffy's head about reading up on Acathla and how to stop it”
“What do you mean?” she asked curiously as she looked at the vampire who was now replacing her as the trodden-on-by-love person in their little pity world.
“Buffy didn't have to kill me, Cordelia” Angel looked at her, his distress obvious as emotions swirled around his hypnotic gaze. “All she needed was my blood to close the portal”
“And you were sent to hell? But I thought you were soulless” Cordelia tried to fathom it out in her head, the whole EvilAngel had thrown her for a loop. Finding out that someone who had saved her life more than once was suddenly evil and hell bent on sucking the world into hell.
“I was… Until Willow's spell worked and my soul got returned just before” his grip on his coffee cup was making his knuckles stand out and look white than the rest of his skin. “And Buffy…”
“Sent you there instead” she whispered as it all came together now, putting her cup down, the brunette covered his hands with hers. “I always pride myself on telling the truth Angel so I'm gonna play the devil's advocate here for a… Was there a devil and did he have horns and a pointy tail?”
He gave her a hard stare, causing Cordelia to smile at him sheepishly and shrug innocently. “What? I can't help it if I'm curious. I mean it's not everyday you meet someone who dies and comes back from hell. So was there a tall, red devil with horns?”
“Yes and its name was Cordelia!” Angel shot back quickly, causing her to laugh soundly at his quick fire put down. At first, he wasn't sure how'd she'd take someone else giving that to her but obviously she liked it if her musical laughter was anything to go by.
Cordelia shook her head when her laughter subsided and gave him a sideways glance. “They lost out big time you know that?”
He didn't pretend to not know who she was on about, “Well Xander did, but Buffy's better off without me. She can have a normal life, live in the sun and do stuff that she wouldn't be able to do with me” Angel told her with an accepting shrug of his broad shoulders.
“That's bullshit and you know it, Angel” Cordelia stopped his train of thought before it picked up steam. Setting her mug firmly onto the table top with a little thud, she gripped his hand tighter. “Buffy is a Slayer, where is the normality in that I ask? And another thing, what the hell is normal these days? If somebody walked up to me in the middle of the street and stuck a metal pole through me I'd go to hospital, and did actually, but there are people out there who pay people to stick metal through their eyebrows!”
“Do you know how many people consider themselves different or abnormal Angel? You're not different than they are. Sure, you may have a psychopathic demon in there but we all have something” she stressed to him. “I have a psychopathic shopping demon and bad taste in men it seems. So that's two for me, you only got the one”
“Being a vampire is a little different to compulsive shopping” he told her seriously with another hard stare.
“I don't suppose you have an inner voice that whispers carnal cravings to you in the middle of the night” Cordelia agreed ruefully with a nod. “It's like every time I go past Victoria's Secret's, I hear this 'buy me buy me buy me' nagging sound in my upper right hemisphere!”
“Get away from her, it may be contagious! Pick up your skirts and RUN!”
“Have you ever thought of seeing a head doctor?” Angel queried as his brow scrunched up in the middle. “Or maybe locking yourself up for the safety of the human race?”
“Once or twice, but it doesn't work anymore. I know how to work the house security codes!” Cordelia deadpanned quickly, this time making Angel laugh. She looked at him, when he smiled his face lit up and his eyes burned with colors, bringing warmth to the cold, obsidian orbs he usually had. The apples of his cheeks puffed up and he tilted his head to one side, making him look a lot younger than his…
“How old are you?” she asked suddenly.
“240” Angel mouthed to her, “27” he spoke aloud.
“Wow, you're years older than me” she looked in awe at him, “You don't look a day over 235!” she whispered and took a sip of her coffee, gracing him with an innocent look that he didn't believe. Yeah, it was definitely Buffy's loss if she dumped this one; Cordelia didn't doubt that Angel would ever cheat on anyone. Maybe just maybe, she'd got a friend out of all this.
“What are you thinking about?” Angel asked, nudging her hand with his a little and vaguely noticing how neat her nails were. Not overly long but not short either, French manicured perfectly and the shape trim.
“Just how much of a loser freak Xander Harris is” it wasn't exactly what she thinking but it was on those lines. If Buffy was involved, so was Xander in her book; she was adding Willow to that book too. “I was too blind to see what was going on right in front of me” Cordelia shrugged, it didn't seem as bad now that someone seemed to be listening to her side of the story instead of Willow's woe-is-me side. “But you Angel, you let your every move get dogged by Buffy, I don't get it. You're old enough to live your life so why do you let her tell you what to do?”
“I don't let her tell me what to do” the vampire responded, if she'd been easy going enough to tell him about Xander and Willow, then he could at least return the favor. Off her look, his mouth pursed out and looked deep in thought for a second. “Buffy was the first person I came into contact with after decades of solitude, living off rats and she was the first person to show me any kindness at all”
“You mean you just wandered aimlessly for years like totally alone?”
Angel looked away from her, not wanting to see any pity in the girl's face for him, he didn't deserve or want that from his new friend and ally against Buffy's little squadron. Cordelia scratched his hand, bringing his attention back to her “I'm not pitying you Angel, pity does nothing but make people wallow in their black pit of despair for all eternity. I just wish you had someone to go too, that's all. It's not fun when you're on your own is it?”
“Ain't that the truth. I'm stuck in here on my own and does anybody care about me?!”
“No it isn't” Angel agreed and sighed, “That's one of the reasons why I let myself be used so I won't be alone anymore. Plus, I did-do love Buffy but that's over now so what can you do?”
“Nothing short of crying your eyes out in a hospital bed” Cordelia answered as she shrugged at him. “Here's to Alexander the Great Asswipe and Buffy, may you both suffer for your loss until the world gets the next ice age!”
“I'll agree with you there, Xander is an ass Cordelia, you could do so much better than him and I could do better than a Slayer” Angel didn't even register he hadn't called Buffy by her name. “We should teach them a lesson, show them what they're missing”
“And how do we do that O' Brainy Vamp?”
“Ever hear the old saying The Enemy of mine Enemy is my Friend?” Angel asked as he started to get more and more into the idea that was now spreading wings and taking flight in his head.
“Yeah, and that has to do with me how… Oh, I get it now” Cordelia clicked on to his line of thinking. She tapped a fingernail on the table top thoughtfully, “I know that would really get up Xander's nose but I really don't wanna be on the end of your ex-owner's stake Angel. I'm not scared of her, if she pushes me then I'll push back but she is stronger than me”
“Buffy won't hurt you, I won't let her” he told her honestly as he returned her light hand-holding softly. “A vampire has to take care of his girl right?!” without waiting for an answer from the pretty much stunned girl opposite him. His demon spoke, he listened and reported back to Cordelia! “Here's what we're gonna do…”
Part 3, Battle Tactics and Accessorizing
Two days later saw Cordelia fidgeting nervously and pacing in the mansion while she waited for Angel to finish whatever he was doing in the kitchen. She looked around the mansion, taking everything or what there was of it, in. The walls were bare yet well kept and clean, the floor was simple cold, grey concrete and all except for an old couch, the furniture was sparse. The brunette figured most of it would be in his rooms where she suspected he spent most of his time.
Patience wearing as thin as her top, Cordelia hobbled lightly into the kitchen where she found Angel drinking a mug of blood in long, thirsty gulps which he choked on when he saw her watching him. Swallowing as quickly as he could, he turned away from not wanting to see disgust on her face at the sight of him drinking blood…
“Wow, you were thirsty or do you call it hungry?” Cordelia pointed out, “Do vampires get thirsty too? Or does O pos cure that too?” she asked curiously. “What does it taste like?”
“Huh?” Angel glanced round at her when she started playing a game of twenty questions with him. “Um, I've never really thought about thirst before actually. I normally just drink blood whenever I'm um… Hungry” he finished quietly.
“So blood cures the starvation but don't you ever feel the need to have a nice, ice cold glass of water now and then? Or do you ice up your blood? Hey! You could make blood slushies!”
“Blood slushies?” now she really had gone mad! “What's slushies?” Angel asked, not really sure if he wanted to know.
“They're yummy drinks made up of crushed ice, I'll make you a blood slushie one day if you're a good little vampire!” Cordelia teased with a shy smile towards him. “After all, a woman has to make sure her vampire has plenty of iron cus we can't have you turn into a pile of skin and bones now can we?”
“No, we wouldn't” he agreed, to what he wasn't entirely sure yet but he'd figure it out eventually of that he was sure. Looking the brunette over with his melted chocolate gaze, Angel took in her outfit for tonight; the night that they would fight back!
She wore a deep, rich ruby red blouse made of satin with sleeves that reached her elbows and a scoop neckline. The hemline just barely covered her midriff, showing off some of the pale but still bronzed skin on her stomach but also covering the bandages that hid her fresh injury. Her skirt was black leather, also as requested, with a silver studded belt that reached just above her knees.
Black, strap-tie sandals decorated her small feet and criss-crossed halfway up her calves to fasten just below the curve, enhancing the feminine slender legs. Her hair was held back by some loose grips, keeping stray wispy tendrils from fluttering around her heart-shaped face and her make-up was kept to a minimum.
Angel smiled slowly and appreciatively of the way she looked, definitely dressed to kill he decided. “Nice” he commented, his usually warm voice was a little heated with the accompaniment of the husky, purred lilt that sent shivers up and down her spine. He suddenly felt under-dressed; if they were going to be believable as Sunnydale's newest power couple then he figured they should match. “I'll be right back, just gimme a minute” he told her before scooting up the stairs quickly, leaving Cordelia to contemplate her sanity for going along with this hair-brained idea of his.
She had to admit though, having the opportunity to get back at Xander was something she couldn't possibly pass up at all. And since it was Angel she was doing it with, all the better because if there was one sure fire to piss of your ex and that was to date the person he couldn't stand. In this case, it was to date the vampire he couldn't stand.
“Ahem!” a deep, throaty cough from behind her snapped Cordelia from her thoughts and she spun to face the vampire. Angel straightened the cuffs on his deep, berry red velvet shirt, the top two buttons were left unfastened exposing some of his obviously impressive chest and leather pants skimmed his muscular legs perfectly. Her hazel scanned his form, an eyebrow raised as she analyzed him from top to toe.
His dark hair freshly gelled and spiked up, a natural musky scent radiated from him and he wore the perfect boots to go with his outfit. But there was still something missing, just that one little thing but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.
“Something's missing” Cordelia stated as she looked at him with pursed lips, “Do you accessorize?” she asked. “Like a thumb ring or a chain or something. I remember that chain I saw when you, he, you-he tried to kill me in the graveyard. It was this silver chain with a locket or something on the end. Where'd that go?”
Angel shrugged, “That's a sign of me soulless, Cordy, I don't wanna go there anymore than I have to. It makes me uncomfortable” he confided.
“Makes you uncomfortable? Makes YOU uncomfortable does it? It makes me uncomfortable when you prance around posing as me. I demand you stop it right now and go put your poncey trousers back on!”
“Says the vamp who looks like he's ready to eat me whole” she pointed out with a shake of her head. “Look, you have just as much right to wear the chain as evil you does. You may as well take advantage of his stuff, I would if I had half of his clothes and I were a man”
“Don't you dare touch my stuff! Next time I get out, I'm hiding all my stuff so you can't ruin it with your souliness! But I'll let you borrow my pants if you give her a game of pool in that skirt!”
“Okay, I'll just be a minute” the vampire told her before scurrying back upstairs, realizing this was a bit of roles reversal between a man and woman. Normally, it was the woman doing all the last minute fixing and the adding of jewelry and not the man. It was quite disturbing when he thought about it.
Angel rummaged around inside a drawer, looking for the chain he wore during his rampage last year. “Where is it?” he growled in annoyance, “Cordy's waiting downstairs and I don't to keep her waiting for much longer”
“Ooh! It's 'Cordeee' now is it? That's fast Hans, even where you're concerned!”
Ignoring that squeaky inner voice, Angel finally got his hands on the chain he was looking for and quickly slipped it over his neck, positioning it right so the symbolic pendant dropped down from his Adam's apple.
The vampire almost tripped over his own feet in the rush to get back downstairs so he wouldn't have to keep her waiting any longer than necessary. “I'm back” he gasped for air he didn't need, grinning at Cordelia like a mad man.
“So I see” she replied, not really wanting to know why he was grinning and panting to be honest, she could imagine well enough on her own thank you very much. “Shall we go then? Cus as much as I love watching you run around like a cat on a hot tin roof, I wanna get this over with as quickly as possible” she admitted her nervousness to him.
Angel frowned at her and guided her to sit on the couch, “You don't have to do this if you don't want to, Cordy, really. If you'll find it too hard then we won't do it and we'll find another way to show them what they lost. But if it's Buffy your worried about, then don't be. She may not have been girlfriend of the year but she wouldn't hurt humans” of that he was sure of.
“Yeah, but most humans aren't dating their ex-vampboys, Angel, even though we're not dating she's gonna think we are and that could cause a whole lot of trouble for me at school” Cordelia told him honestly as she met his unwavering but understanding one with her own willful gaze. “I'd have Xander yakking in my ear at all hours, I'd have Willow chiming in at every given opportunity and I'd have Giles going on and on about how I would have to keep away from you for Buffy's sake so she could concentrate”
“If any of those things happened, I hope you'd tell me about it” Angel told firmly as he tucked a stray tendril behind her ear. “It's nobody's business but ours if we're dating or not right? Buffy dumped me, Xander lost you because he thinks with the wrong head and Willow, she's still traumatized I killed her fish!”
“I remember that, they accused me of being selfish cus I wanted my car protecting… Sorry!” Cordelia apologized sheepishly. “But you were really scary soulless Angel, I mean big with the scary stuff you know. But you still knew how to dress, that I'll give you”
“You told me once I think” Angel vaguely recalled something about Angelus, Cordelia, his butt and leather. “So, are you going to let them dictate who you date, Cordelia Chase? Or are you gonna be my girl?” he asked straight out as he held her gaze easily, trapping her within the heated depths of the rich chocolate ocean.
She couldn't look away, the longer she looked and the deeper she dug; his hypnotizing gaze almost sending her into an enthralled trance. There wasn't just black in his stare, there was flecks of molten gold and oceans of deep, dark chocolate.
Angel watched as black orbs of her pupils dilated, almost swallowing her irises altogether. Big, black eyes now captured his gaze as he focused in on the gold-hued hazel rims; long thick eyelashes enhancing her almond shaped eyes, making them appear twice as large. “Are you gonna date me?” he forced his voice box to work somewhat.
“Heh, someone with better thrall eyes than me, go figure… As in her figure! Satan I kill me sometimes!”
Cordelia blinked once or twice, she wasn't sure but nodded enthusiastically in answer to his question. “So we're dating then?” she asked for confirmation from the vampire just to make sure he was sure he wanted to go through with this.
“I guess we are” Angel replied then it all went silent between them as they wondered what to say to each other next. They'd never really gotten to know each other at all before the other night when they had coffee; if they were going to be dating then it seemed like the right thing to do. Get to know each other, that's what they had to do.
“Was that a tumbleweed?!”
“So what do you…
“What do you do…”
They smiled shyly a little before Cordelia gave him a silent invitation to speak up first before she ploughed into something that would embarrass the living hell out of her.
“I was just gonna say that um, if we're gonna be dating I should know a little bit about you and vice versa” Angel took the lead with a nervous but gracious smile as he left it open for her to disagree or agree. Not that she could disagree with that of course, it made sense to know something about the other.
“Well, I had an idea about that see” Cordelia began and got his full attention, “We could use these 'dates' of ours to talk openly in front of them, and let them see who we really are. Sure, they'll probably laugh at me but what the hell. The whole school is laughing at me, I'm sure two nerds and crazy freak won't matter” he nodded for her to continue.
“While we're learning all about each other, we can use what we learn against them by 'finding' stuff in common. And when I say find, I mean fix”
“Good plan” Angel thought it over, “It would also be a good idea if we danced once at the Bronze too, I never danced with Buffy and it would be petty and pretty childish if I was to dance with you. But what the hell, if we're gonna do this then we're gonna do this right”
Part 4