Chapter 9
Angel and Cordelia stood in the main room. There were at least ten other couples milling around in the room.
Some of the people present were already dressed in the white robes, while the others were still fully clothed. Cordelia saw Bob and Carol across the room. She raised a hesitant hand at Carol’s enthusiastic wave; the loose sleeve of the woman’s robe fell to her elbow.
The low chatter in the room began to lessen as Gerard walked to the front of the room ringing bell. “Those bells have got to go,” Cordelia grumbled under her breath.
“Ladies and Gentlemen.” Gerard rang the bell louder.
“Can’t you hurt him just a little bit,” she whispered to vampire. Angel chuckled and shook his head.
“Ladies, Gentlemen, quiet, thank you,” he said putting down the bell as the room became silent. “I know you are anxious to begin. I see some familiar faces out there.” He smiled brightly to Bob and Carol and the other robe wearing couples.
“I am Gerard and I am here to make some introductory remarks before you meet the great Elliot. The goal of this seminar is to promote and cultivate the initial passion that each of you experienced with your significant other in the dawning of your relationships. To do that each of you must get in touch with your inner self as well as that of your partners. You will learn to rediscover the love and trust that you once had and learn the essential skills that you will need to maintain that love and passion. Elliot believes that clothes are just one of the many distractions to true relaxation. So as of now, all participants will be required to be unclothed.”
Gerard paused as he noticed the undercurrent of voices of the clothed couples. “We understand your hesitation that is why we do allow for the wearing of the robes. We are not promoting the nudist mentality, but the freedom it will allow you to concentrate on our goals. So, I will ask you to return to your rooms and get ready. Please, return here in 30 minutes in your robes. The bells will signal for your return.”
***
The couples left the room, some hesitantly, some eagerly.
“Cordelia go up to the room, I will be up in a second.”
“Where are you going?” Cordelia looked at the vampire.
“To the business office.”
“I think I should go with you. Just in case you need a distraction. Breaking and Entering is not really in your forte, you ‘grr’ guy are more of the barge in and take no prisoner type. Come on, Angel, we have barely 28 minutes to get into our ‘seeking inner peace loungewear’ before that god awful chiming and clanging starts up.” Cordelia pulled at the vampire to follow her.
They were out the door when she stopped. “Oh, which way?”
Angel took the lead pushing her behind him. “This way,” he said in exasperation.
They stood outside the closed door of the Business Office. “There is someone in there.”
“Human or demon?”
“Human.”
“Male or female?”
“Cordelia, I can smell a human’s blood not their gender.”
“Eww.” The young girl scrunched up her nose. “Well, do you smell perfume or aftershave, you know does the blood pumping smelly human have a girly scent.” Cordelia brought her wrist up to his nose.
“Cordelia, I can’t smell anything if you distract me.”
“Oh.” Cordelia dropped her wrist.
Angel shook his head trying to clear his oratory senses of the onslaught of the light musk of Cordelia’s perfume combined with the spicy flavor of her blood and the sweet freshness of her skin. Angel normally could block out her scent as it was as natural to him as his own, but her delicate wrist thrust in his face brought a concentrated whiff of Cordelia’s unique fragrance to his attention.
All he could think about was the beautiful girl next to him. Angel shook his head again. “I don’t smell any type of perfume, just soap and a trace of shaving cream.”
“Man. Okay, Angel go wait over there.”
“Cordelia?”
“Just do it. One distraction coming up,” she said knocking on the door.
Angel stood back and listened to a young male stutter. “Hel..Hello, can I help you.”
“I do hope so.” Angel cringed as he heard Cordelia’s sugar sweet plea. The boy was a goner, he thought.
“Would you believe that I have locked myself out of my room and my stupid boyfriend is nowhere to be found.” Angel heard her deep sigh. He imaged how his seer’s breasts would press up to her shirt.
“Um,” the boy stuttered again.
“I just don’t know why I came here with him, he is just so hopeless. Do you get breaks or are you stuck behind the desk all day?” Angel could hear the pout in her voice. “I would love if you could show me around.” Oh god, now Cordelia was flashing that poor boy her 100 watt smile, Angel thought in both amusement and chagrin.
“Your…boyfriend?” Angel heard the young man squeak. “Oh, he hates the sunlight, Like I said I don’t know why I stay with him. So, do you think you could get me in my room, please.” In his mind’s eye, Angel could see Cordelia twirling a dark strand of silk that was her hair around her finger.
“…Of..Course.” The lost boy stuttered.
Angel waited for Cordelia and the young man to leave the office before he moved. He growled involuntarily as he saw the young man pant after his seer.
***
Cordelia was sitting cross-legged on the bed the white robe wrapped around her, the laptop was resting on her knees. She looked up as Angel entered the room. “Did you get it?”
Angel nodded. “Where is your puppy, under the bed?”
“Don’t be silly, I shooed him out minutes ago. You better get into your robe. We will be hearing the ring-a-ding-clang any minute now. Give me the list, I will e-mail it to Wesley.”
Cordelia started to giggle as Angel walked out of the bathroom in his white robe. Angel scowled at her. “I am sorry. I am just so use to seeing you all decked out in your ‘grr’ guy ensemble, you know, black on black on black with your billowing long duster. Looking all sexy and mysterious.”
“Sexy?”
Cordelia blushed. She hadn’t realized that she had said that part out loud. The chiming of the bells covered Cordelia’s embarrassed cough. She had maintained her calm by the time the bells quieted.
“We better go, it’s time to meet our inner child.” The dark haired girl got up tightening the belt of her robe. Angel followed his seer out of the room. For the first time in his undead life, he wished he could see himself in a mirror. Cordelia had thought he was sexy, but now she thought he looked funny.
“Cordelia?” he questioned slightly unsure of himself.
“Umm,” she answered not looking at the vampire.
“You think I look stupid?”
“No, of course not. Just different that’s all.” Cordelia still would not look at the vampire. Angel decided not to ask about the sexy part, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know what she really thought.
Chapter 10
“Good, everybody, is all here. Ready?” clapped Gerard. “Without further adieu, your guide for this weekend, your guru to love, Elliot.”
Angel and Cordelia shrugged and clapped along with the other couples as a tall, thin man walked into the room. He also was wearing a white robe; his long gray hair was tied in a ponytail.
“Let’s get started then. Everyone take a seat. First, I will ask everyone to introduce themselves, tell us how you met your significant other, when was the first time you realized that you loved them and what is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of him or her. Let’s start with you.” Elliot pointed to Cordelia.
Cordelia nervously pulled her robe tighter. “Um, my name is Cordelia…I first met Angel at a club in my hometown, but it wasn’t until later at a party in LA, that I really got to know him, he sort of saved me from this really…obnoxious type..guy and well, we have been together ever since.”
“And when did you realize that you loved him?”
Cordelia looked down at her hands clenched in the material of her robe. Angel stared at her as he noticed Cordelia’s heart speed up and her breath quicken.
“I don’t know,” Cordelia answered.
“Now, Cordelia, don’t be shy.”
“I’m not. I don’t know, I just sort of fell in love with him. I only know I just do, and it seems like I have for like a really long time,” she rambled. Oh god, she panicked. Then she remembered this was all make-believe, Angel wouldn’t know she was speaking the truth. Angel wondered at Cordelia’s response and the still rapid beating of her heart.
“That happens.” Elliot smiled. “And the first thing that comes to mind.”
Angel waited anxiously for Cordelia’s answer, her heartbeat had returned to its normal steady beat.
“Oh, that’s easy. He is good.”
“Good at what?” Someone sneered.
Cordelia glared at that the snickers. “Good, as in good, you know honorable, noble, knight in white, well, black shining armor type good,” she declared loudly. “Geez, get your little Jerry Springer minds out of the gutter,” she huffed.
“Well, Angel you seem a little taken aback by Cordelia’s defense of your honor.” Angel was surprised, he knew that Cordelia wouldn’t blurt out ‘grr’ guy, but he hadn’t expected what she had said. He figured that she would say something like he was broody or something along those lines. The vampire stared at his seer, she still wouldn’t look at him and her heart started to beat rapidly again.
“Angel?” Elliot prodded.
“Umm, oh, yes, I guess I was, but I really shouldn’t be Cordelia has always defended me,” he said in sudden realization. Cordelia had always defended him, to Buffy, Kate, Darla and even to himself.
“Somebody has to otherwise he gets all broody and becomes a doormat,” Cordelia grumbled to herself. Angel chuckled as he heard her.
“Angel? The questions?” Elliot urged.
“Well, like Cordelia said we met before, but it wasn’t until we got to LA that we became friends.”
“Did you come to LA together?” asked someone.
“No, it was a coincidence,” Angel answered.
“Oh, it fate, how sweet.”
“Sweet, you try getting fate induced brain-splitting visions,” Cordelia mumbled to herself. Angel smiled again at his seer’s grumbles.
“Like Cordelia, I don’t know when I fell in love with her, she just kind of grew on me, I guess.” Angel wondered at how right those words sounded.
“You make it sound like I am some sort of fungus,” she griped lowly.
“And the first thing that comes to mind?” Elliot asked not hearing Cordelia’s whispered comments.
Angel paused. This wasn’t the time or the place to say what he really thought, even if he could put it into words. How could he explain that to him Cordelia represented the possibility of life? Her acceptance of him, her humanity kept him grounded in this world of the living, she was not only his link to the PTB but to life itself. Angel couldn’t say that, so he said the next best thing, which also happened to be true.
“Friendship. Cordelia is my best friend. Oh, and courage. She is the most courageous person I know.” Cordelia blinked in wonderment at emotion she heard in the vampire’s voice.
“Actually, that was two things, Angel. But I think we all get your meaning.” Elliot smiled.
“That was excellent, you two obviously have a foundation of respect and love. I am sure that we can build on those to reawaken your passion for each other.”
Oh dear god, Cordelia thought in panic as she plastered a smile on her face. Reawaken? Her passion for Angel needed to be put permanently to sleep before she went crazy. Angel sat silently beside Cordelia immersed in his own similar thoughts of warning.
Neither of them paid attention to what the other couples were saying.
Chapter 11
“Well done, everyone. Now, I want all the couples to sit on the floor facing each other. Good. I want each of you to look into the other’s eyes and say the 10 things that you love about each other and the 10 things you dislike about each other.”
“Hey, what if we have more than 10.” Someone shouted out.
“Please,” Elliot lectured.
Cordelia sat cross-legged in front of Angel. “Do we have to do this, can’t we just talk about the weather or I know we can list the 10 things we don’t like about Wesley,” she whispered.
“What? Cordelia are you afraid to hear what I don’t like about you?”
“No, of course not. But aren’t you just a little bit afraid to say them?” Cordelia arched an elegant brow at him.
Elliot came and sat down next to them. “Cordelia, Angel, I was impressed by your answers, before. You seem to have a high opinion of each other. Now, let’s proceed. Angel, you start this time with the things that you don’t like about Cordelia.”
“There is nothing I don’t like about her.”
“Smart answer, ‘g-Um, Angel,” she amended clearing her throat.
“Come now, everyone dislikes something about everybody,” Elliot countered.
“No, there isn’t anything I really dislike about Cordelia, just some things that she does I wish she would do differently.”
“Oh, I want to hear this, Mr. ‘I-am-so-perfect and never mistakes’.”
“Cordelia…” started Angel.
“Now, now, Cordelia if you would be quiet, I am sure you will hear what Angel wants you to change.” Elliot motioned to the girl to remain silent.
“I didn’t say I wanted her to change, it’s just some things that are frustrating at times, that’s all.”
“Like you have never frustrated me, Mr. Brood boy,” Cordelia exclaimed ignoring Elliot’s motions for her to be quiet.
“Like that, see, she is never quiet, always jumping into a conversation.” Angel declared.
“Uh, I am not quiet enough, I just state my opinions, ummph,” Cordelia huffed.
Angel nodded to Elliot in vindication. “See. Now, she is going to get all huffy and start to pout. Watch her.”
“I do not pout,” Cordelia huffed again.
“Yes, you do. If whining or huffiness doesn’t get you what you want, you pout. You make this cute little indignant hurt little hmmp, then your bottom lip starts to quiver and your eyes get all big and wider and you won’t talk to me, until I give in.”
“Looks who talking, Mr. Bad ass…Strong guy here gets this wide eyed befuddled ‘who me’ look, not me I am just a helpless…He’s got the puppy dog thing down pat,” she said in disgust. “He does it when I am mad, he thinks it works on me, Ha.”
“I do not look like a puppy dog,” Angel interrupted indignant.
“How would you know? Like you can see yourself,” Cordelia retorted.
“Cordelia, Angel,” Elliot interrupted. “The purpose of this exercise is to actually listen to what the other is saying, not to act defensively. Now Cordelia you will get your turn.”
“Fine, but if he calls me a bitch, I am leaving.”
“Cordelia, you’re not a bitch; I would never think that about you. Sometimes, you can be a bit tactless now and again, but you are not a bitch, ever,” Angel promised sincerely.
“Yeah, right.” Cordelia stared quietly down at her hands fidgeting in the robe remembering every person that had called her a bitch in Sunnydale and how she had stupidly took it as a badge of honor.
“Cordy, look at me.” Angel gently raised her chin. “You are not a bitch. Anyone that called you one in the past just didn’t know the real you. You are a wonderful, courageous, beautiful girl with a caring heart, who at times can frustrate the hell out of me.”
She raise her damp eyes to meet his warm dark eyes. “You are making that puppy dog face,” she smiled softly.
“Is it working?” Angel smiled in return.
Cordelia’s smile grew bigger as she nodded.
“Good.” Angel’s smile reached his eyes.
Cordelia turned to Elliot. “Are we at 10 yet?”
“Angel, is there anything else?” Angel shook his head.
Elliot nodded. “Cordelia, it’s your turn.”
“I wish Angel wouldn’t feel so guilty all of the time. I wish he would believe his goodness as much as I believe in it.”
“And?” Elliot prompted.
“That’s about it. I can live with everything else. Except…”
“What is it, Cordelia?” asked the middle aged guru.
“Angel, we are done with your obsession with all things blonde, aren’t we?”
Angel smiled. “Yes, Cordy we are.”
“Oh, dear, Angel was there another woman?”
“No, Cordelia is the only woman in my life, now.”
“Old girlfriends, he has a thing for blondes,” Cordelia grimaced. “They seem to keep popping up.”
“Cordelia,” Angel said exasperated. “You know that there are no ‘blondes’ in my life now.”
“Ummh.”
“Cordelia do you trust that Angel means what he says.”
“I trust Angel,” she acknowledged truthfully. “Anyway, he has learned that it is not very smart to lie to me, haven’t you Angel?”
“Definitely. Once down that path was enough.” The vampire smiled.
“Good, well, I will leave you to tell each other the 10 things that you like about each other.” The guru got up to go to the next couple.
“So, you really think I talk too much?”
“Cordy,” Angel sighed. “You wouldn’t be Cordelia Chase, if you didn’t say and do the things that you do, and I wouldn’t change any of it.”
“None of it?” Cordelia arched her brows.
“Well, I wish you would stop experimenting with my blood, but I didn’t think Elliot would understand that particular frustration.”
“But, doesn’t it get boring? How about a little hot sauce, just a little?”
“Cordelia, no.”
“Ummph.”
“You are pouting. And in this one instance it won’t work.”
The dark haired beauty smiled at him. “So, what do you like about me?”
“Everything.”
“Oh. I guess, I like everything about you to.”
“Even the ‘grr’ guy?”
Cordelia shrugged. “It’s who you are. Of course, I mean the souled version, the evil ‘grr’ guy can just remain deeply buried as a not so pleasant memory.”
Angel pushed back a strain of her silky hair. “Cordelia Chase, I do need you in my existence.”
Cordelia looked back at her hands trying to fight the tears threatening to fall. “Well, then I guess it’s a good thing that I am not going anywhere, uh?”
Angel leaned foreward. “Cordelia,” he whispered lifting her head up to meet his. He eyes rested on her lips. Angel had an uncontrollable need to taste her, to feel her breath in him. Cordelia’s eyes widened as Angel moved closer. Her body instinctively moved closer.
They both jumped apart as the clanging of the bells signaled the end to the exercise.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, that concludes this portion of the session. You will now have an hour break. Relax, take a swim or walk, but please be back here in an hour.” Elliot raised his hands and motioned to his wrist to emphasize the time.
“Angel, look at his arm.” Cordelia nudged Angel to man on the stage, blocking out the near close moment with the vampire. Angel stared at the long spiraling tattoo that intertwined along Elliot’s fore arm.
“That’s the symbol I saw in my vision,” she whispered. “I wonder if that means he is the evil to be smited or the victim to be saved.”
“I don’t know, but let’s get upstairs and contact Wesley.”