Part Two
When she awoke it was to find Angel hovering over her, his gaze worried. She blinked a couple of times, getting used to the sudden light in the mansion again and sat up abruptly, causing her head to spin. “What happened?”
“They’re gone,” he murmured, his face a hell of a lot paler than usual.
“Gone?” What the hell did that mean? She looked over to where Xander should have been, relieved to see that he wasn’t in fact dead on the floor, until that unpleasant feeling gripped her again. “Gone where? How long have I been out?”
“Twenty minutes,” said Angel, “I had to redress your…” he gestured to her stomach, looking halfway embarrassed. “I-I didn’t want to leave you. I called Giles, he’s coming over here to look after you while …”
“While you what?” She demanded, icily. The headache was leaving rapidly, replaced by a sense of anger that something was getting in the way of her and Xander again, “If this is Spike I’m gonna kick his ass,” she told him, because it just seemed to her like maybe he or Buffy should have finished this off last time instead of letting the big, blonde idiot go back to his psycho-ex.
“I don’t think this is Spike,” he shook his head. He’d like nothing more than to not admit that, but this wasn’t Spike’s style. Smarts the younger, more irritating vampire lacked, yes, but not all out bravado. If he’d wanted him or Buffy as hostage, he’d have come himself.
“And you started being psychic when?”
“I know Spike, Cordelia,” Angel frowned, “And this isn’…”It’s not how he’d do things.”
Cordelia frowned, “Okay, fine. What’s our plan?”
Angel’s brow furrowed, “Cordelia, you’re not coming with me. Giles is gonna come over and-””
“And what, baby-sit? Hello, I’m 18 years old, Angel. Officially an adult in some parts of the world and worried about Xander. If you think I’m sitting this one ou…¦”
“You’re hurt,” he growled, gesturing down to where the blood had made her shirt stick to her stomach.
Cordelia made an eww face and rolled her eyes, “I’m fine, Angel.”
“You’re no…””
“Look, we can either argue about this or we can go save our respective others. Besides, I don’t see that you have a lot of choice. If Giles ever gets here, his car’s gonna be too overworked to actually get us anywhere and-¦ Wait.” Cordelia stopped mid-sentence, “You know where they are, right?”
Angel gazed at her a moment. “Why would I–?”
“Oz did,” she protested, “He could smell her when she was afraid. Can’t you, like, hone in or something?” She asked, making a gesture with her hands that only seemed to perplex Angel even further.
“I’m a vampire, Cordelia, not a sniffer dog.”
Cordelia’s mouth set in a grim line and Angel wondered how she managed to look annoyed, exasperated and worried all at the same time.
“So your plan was what? To go knocking on doors and asking if anyone had a great big slimy demon keeping three of our friends hostage?”
“Well, I hadn’…”No,” Angel frowned, “I was going to try Willy.”
Cordelia made a face at that, “That slimy bar owner you guys always beat up when you’re at a dead end with stuff?”
Angel nodded, “That’s him.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
———-
Beating up said slimy bar owner was every bit as boring and uneventful as Cordelia thought it would be, bringing them no answers whatsoever and an even grumpier Angel.
Cordelia, ever the pragmatist, was using her worry for something else; thinking of places that those demons could have took them hostage. She’d called Giles on her cell before they’d left, telling him that she didn’t actually get a good look at the demons but they smelled kind of like rotted flesh, if that were anything to go by.
He’d voiced unusual concern over her plans on going with Angel, but Cordelia had waved him off, telling him she’d hang up if he kept on with that thread and could he please get to the library and find out what the hell those demons were and where they were hiding? Like, now?
“Ow, ow, I don’t know anything, I swear,” said Willy, on the receiving end of yet another punch from Angel as Cordelia closed her cell phone on an equally exasperated Giles, “I’d tell you, man-¦”
Cordelia had to wonder if he was telling the truth. Personally speaking, though she could hold her own in a fight? If Angel was the one trying to pummel information out of her, she’d squeal like a baby. Well, after a fashion, anyway -“ she did have some dignity to maintain.
“You’re telling me you’ve never seen these demons?” She asked him. Willy looked grateful for the reprieve. He let his gaze sweep over her, causing Angel to growl and shake him by the lapels of his icky shirt when his gaze lingered a little too long.
Cordelia rolled her eyes, “You’ll have to ignore General Custer here,” she motioned towards Angel who looked a little too into the whole Let’s-Beat-Up-The-Bar-Owner-Until-We-Get-Somewhere schtick.
“You’re not helping,” he growled.
She shot him a look that said -˜humour me’ and sidled up to Willy, smiling as Angel relaxed his grip a little, “You’d notice the stench first. Rotten flesh. Well, if you could get past that guy over there.”
The fork-tongued demon that’d been leering at Cordelia since she came in let out a hiss and turned to the three eyeballs dangling at the bottom of his glass. Cordelia made an -˜eww’ face. “C’mon, Willy, help a girl out. Does this look like the kind of place I want to be spending my time?”
Willy sighed, “They came in last night. Bunch of -˜em looking for the Witch.”
Angel’s eyes blazed, “And you happened to mention where to find her?”
“Are you serious?” Willy squeaked, “Where d’you think I got this from?” He pointed to a bruise, darkening beneath his eye. A couple of days later and Angel might not have believed what he was saying, “I may lack smarts sometimes but I don’t got a death wish and I ain’t lookin’ to get on the wrong side of the Slayer.”
Reluctantly, Angel lowered him to the floor. “What are they?”
“Never seen -˜em before,” Willy shook his head, “But they’re bad news, Angel. Real bad news.”
Cordelia waited until they got outside before rounding on Angel, “Well, that was helpful.”
She was right. Angel clenched his fists, trying to keep his frustration under control. The last time they’d spoke, he and Buffy had been arguing. About Spike, about what he’d said-¦ About Cordelia. About Xander and Willow and the fact that they were cheating on their respective others.
Oz had left, gigging with the Dingoes Willow had said, but Angel thought different. Buffy had seemed to buy that story too, at first. Then she and Angel had walked in on Xander and Willow during what looked like a pretty intimate moment at the mansion and everything had come out in a tumbled rush.
Oz hadn’t been gigging with the Dingoes. Oz had left the night of Cordelia’s accident. He’d made it down the stairs right before Cordelia had fallen, found Xander and Willow just like they had. He’d stuck around to make sure Cordelia was alright but he hadn’t even talked to Willow, wouldn’t look at her.
After a moment of explanations, Angel made his excuses and left, returning to the kitchen where he was sure Cordelia’s party would now be cancelled.
He was told otherwise by Buffy, asked to keep the peace and say nothing- He’d agreed, albeit reluctantly, not wanting to get in the middle of a fight between any of them -“ especially not Cordelia. He suspected she could do more with her tongue than he could with a sword and what could he do, honestly?
Interfering would cause even more problems -“ ones he wasn’t willing to get in the middle of.
“So, what now?” She asked, breaking into his thoughts.
Angel sighed. He really, really didn’t know.
———
Across the other side of town in a dilapidated building, Buffy was just waking up. Her head was pounding, her arms bound tightly behind her back. She didn’t need to look at her right one to know that it was broken.
She worked the rope at her wrists, wincing as her arm jarred with a burst of pain and when the door opened and one solitary demon appeared, Buffy frowned.
The thing was huge. “Uh, hi?” She tried, wondering if there was a way she could talk themselves out of this or at least buy some time so that she could get free. “I’m Buffy.”
It looked at her blankly and Buffy winced as a wave of nausea passed over her. Concussion, eat your heart out.
“Me, Buffy,” she jutted her chin down towards herself, wondering if it even understood the gesture, “You-””
The demon roared, its mouth opened to reveal teeth dripping spittle and the doors opened behind it to reveal a solitary line of vampires all filing in. Six of them in ceremonial robes.
Buffy grimaced. “Crap.”
——–
“it’s a La-Whatta demon?” Cordelia repeated, her hand hovering over the mouthpiece of her cell as she tried to relay the information to Angel.
The guy looked pissed. Mostly because he could hear Giles in the background, correcting Cordelia’s given label of the demon, and wanted to yank the phone out of her hand.
She held up a finger as if Angel himself had interrupted Giles’ little rant and he listened again, watching her. This was quite possibly the worst idea he’d ever had, bringing Cordelia out on this-Well, not quite a hunt.
Buffy’s trail had been growing cold the minute they’d stepped out of the mansion and now, in rain that was quite alien to the sunnier climes of Sunnydale, Angel was feeling more than a little washed out.
He watched the purse of her lips with new interest and when she sucked in a breath Angel stared at her. “What is it?” He asked, his voice far softer than he’d really intended it.
“Docks,” said Cordelia softly, “Giles said these things like sea air.” And a certain amount of skank if they’re in Sunnydale, she added silently, trying to quell the slight tremble of her hands as she flipped her tiny phone shut.
“Cordelia?”
“He said that they’re, like, hench-people-demons… They work for the highest bidder or something. He’s trying to find out who hired them.”
“And?” Angel looked at her.
“Just drive, okay?” She frowned.
———-
“They’re chanting,” said Xander, who’d rejoined the land of the living about ten minutes ago, once said freaky chanting had started.
Buffy nodded, trying to make out a word here and there – something. She was too far away, their voices not carrying well even in the run-down warehouse and her lip-reading left something to be desired too. “I think I can get my arm free,” she mouthed at him.
It probably involved breaking another couple of bones but she was already on the wrong side of that argument. She squirmed, pulled at the chains and turned back the moment she heard the big roar-y demon move.
It had Xander by the hair, literally. Her best guy-friend dangled from one meaty fist, yelping his displeasure at being man-handled in such a fashion. Buffy winced. Her arm was killing her but that? That had to hurt too.
One of the vampires stepped forward with a knife and took Xander’s hand.
Buffy cried out but it didn’t stop him. He made a cut through Xander’s palm and the demon moved him so that his blood dripped down onto a rough-drawn circle on the floor.
They began to chant again in the ass-old language that Buffy didn’t even pretend to recognise and on the floor, the circle began to glow.
Two things happened. There was a noise like a popping sound and the floor began to open in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it kind of deal because as fast as it was open it was closed again and the mystical runes etched into the surface were no longer glowing.
The head vampire – well, what she figured to be the head vampire – looked sharply over at Xander and crossed the room in three short strides. He barked something to the demon who dropped him promptly, then? He roared.
He might not have been as impressive as the demon when he did it but he sure was pissed when he backhanded Xander clean across the warehouse.
Buffy winced as he collided with the wall, unconscious again, and the vampire turned on her.
———-
A half hour later and Cordelia was wet, cold and so very not amused that the building Angel was looking at totally didn’t have a door they could get through – one that wasn’t, like, padlocked to death from the inside, at any rate.
Giles had been right about the dock thing. Just the slightest whiff of Buffy had Angel jumpier than a schizo and he’d headed towards the automatic shutter, all billowing coat and overhanging forehead.
“You have got to be kidding me,” said Cordelia as she followed him, because for a place that looked pretty abandoned, they had no way of getting in. At all.
“There’s gotta be a way in,” Angel murmured.
There is no way, Cordelia thought ten minutes later as she shivered, wishing she’d had the sense to bring a bigger coat or something. Generally speaking, though, Sunnydale didn’t call for that and boy did she know it now, her arms folded across her chest.
“Could this get any worse?” She muttered, then immediately wished she hadn’t because duh.
Angel was coming back now, having wandered round the alleyway to get a better look at the place. “There’s a door-“
She didn’t let him finish, simply strode towards him, her heels clicking softly on the sidewalk. “Let’s go. I know Buffy can hold her own in a fight but Xander’s… Xander.”
And with his track record with demons he was probably unconscious. Hopefully unconscious and not getting his ribs torn out and used as toothpicks or worse.
She headed round the corner with Angel, almost running into the guy as he came to a complete standstill. “Jesus, what are you-“
“We go in through there,” said Angel, pointing towards to a fire door a couple of storeys up that had been partially knocked through. From the set of Cordelia’s jaw, he knew he wasn’t going to be able to convince her to stay out of harm’s way. He moved quietly, offering her a hand up to the fire exit and navigating their way up and through carefully.
He dropped to the floor silently in the warehouse, helping Cordelia through after him and placing a finger to his lips to keep her quiet, creeping forward through the shadows.
Cordelia’s stomach tensed. This had been a great idea at the time, going to help Angel, save Xander in the process, but now-She gasped as something crawled across her foot, almost ready to scream and give the game away until Angel spun, clamping his hand over her mouth.
Even through his hand, he knew she was annoyed. Injecting enough venom into her eyebrows to show him that she could control her bodily urges, thank you very much, Cordelia tried to stamp on his foot, ready to kick seven shades of crap out of him for totally invading her personal bubble like that but Angel was moving again. Forward. Keeping his hand on Cordelia’s wrist, and her heart leapt as she saw him.
Xander. And oh God, she so loved him. Like, really loved him. He’d gone and grown on her, she realised with a slight huff of exasperated air.
It wasn’t the nicest of places to come to that realisation. Standing in an uggy warehouse with a dead guy for company while you tried to rescue your honey just wasn’t going to be the greatest place to realise that but she did.
She loved Xander Harris and boy was she ever in trouble?
She heard the yelling before she saw it. Angel had reached the balcony first and was peering over into the fray below.
Buffy, on her knees with her arms tied behind her back, being barked at by some dead guy in a crappy ceremonial robe.
“-he’s supposed to be a vampire!”
“You want me to apologise because my friend isn’t a vampire?”
That earned her a heavy-handed slap and even Cordelia winced. Buffy merely looked at him, licking the blood off her lips. “Sorry,” she murmured, though it was clear she was anything but.
Vampire Leader Guy turned on the demon, “He’s not Angel!”
He chose that moment to drop into the fight – perfect timing along with a well-aimed quip (“You called?”) – and Cordelia watched as he vaulted easily over the balcony.
There was no way she was ever gonna get down there that way, so she turned to find a staircase, arming herself with a metal pole and a piece of wood long enough to be useful as a stake just in case something tried to come after her.
She got down just as Angel had killed one of the two demons, was concentrating on the second as Buffy tried to work her arms free. Cordelia knew the basics of Slaying thanks to her stint as Slayerette after Buffy had disappeared for a while but she’d been out of her league then and she wasn’t even half as impaired as she was now.
She advanced forward, however, plastering a look on her face that said she was old-hat at the slaying gig and vampires and demons should totally not mess with her.
It didn’t work.
Three of the six vampires had thought better of this fight, seeing their hired muscle become Angel’s plaything. They’d headed out via one of the doors Angel hadn’t been able to open earlier, ceremonial robes billowing in the moonlight. The others, she guessed, were not so smart.
Leader guy was advancing on Buffy, another was heading towards Angel trying to get the drop on him and then there was hers. Vamp, that was, looking at her like she was his next meal ticket.
“I’d rethink that if I were you,” she told him as he got a little closer. It didn’t matter that she was scared; all that mattered was surviving which, as she’d learned months ago, was the first rule of slaying.
He flashed her a toothy grin, “Metal doesn’t kill me, Princess.”
“No, but this does,” she held up her stake, taking some small pleasure from the look of surprise on his face, “What? You think I’d walk into a fight with a vampire armed with a metal pole? Duh. Here’s how this is gonna work, Princess,” she mocked, “You’re gonna grow half a brain-cell and realize that this? Is a fight you’re not gonna win. Then? You’re gonna leave… Via my stake or that door, I don’t really give a crap.”
He thought about it for half a second, watched the perfect arch of Cordelia’s eyebrow and decided that living to bite another day was definitely in his game plan.
Cordelia grinned as he ran past her – her short lived victory enough to make her drop the metal pole, and she turned back to go help when she realized that the fight was very much over, two demons and a pile of dust all that was left of their kidnappers.
Angel was helping Buffy up, Willow – who’d woken up too at some point during all of that -was kneeling beside Xander and they didn’t notice the brunette, picking her way through the debris of the abandoned warehouse, careful not to slip.
She was halfway across the room when she froze.
It felt like everything around her had gone still as she watched them, Willow touching Xander’s cheek where the blood had trickled down his face.
Suddenly, she knew why it seemed there was something going on, why it had seemed that way earlier. Willow leaned forward, making as if to kiss her. boyfriend. and Cordelia knew.
It wasn’t relief making her do it. It wasn’t this one time thing that she could maybe wave off, given the fact that they’d been taken hostage again. Xander was making to kiss someone else – someone who wasn’t her and Cordelia’s stomach knotted.
It hit her like a bolt out of the blue and suddenly, Cordelia knew why Xander had been so jumpy, why he’d felt so guilty these last few weeks. It was right there, in plain sight, in front of her and Cordelia had just… You really don’t remember? Xander’s question at the hospital slammed right in her brain and Cordelia blinked.
She remembered Oz’ stricken face now, the way he wouldn’t look at Willow, not even when they were loading her into that ambulance and things had started going fuzzy.
Xander being all worried boyfriend and being with her 24/7, making sure she was okay…
Cordelia took half a step backwards and let out a cry as she almost stumbled.
Xander’s gaze flew to hers just as she managed to right herself and if there was ever any doubt about what it was going on between them, it was erased immediately. “Cordy-“
Nobody else seemed surprised. She looked between them, Xander scrambling to his feet to get to her, Willow not daring to look up because she knew Cordelia could probably kill her with one punch… Angel and Buffy, standing there awkward but not shocked, watching her.
Cordelia did stumble as she turned this time, feeling as if the world were folding in around her as she got the hell out of that stupid warehouse, following the same path the vampires had took to get out of there.
She was half a block away, her tears intermingling with the rain when Xander grabbed her arm.
“Cordy, just let-“
“Let go of me, Xander,” she yanked herself away from him, soaked to the bone and shivering, though she wasn’t cold.
“It’s not what it looked like,” he tried desperately.
Cordelia’s eyes flashed as she looked up, “It’s not what it looked like?” She repeated, “What the hell do you take me for?” Because it was exactly what it looked like. It all made sense now, everything that had happened those last few days, Oz off gigging with the Dingoes…
Cordelia stared at Xander for a long moment, realizing that the pain had nothing to do with her stomach. It was her heart – her stupid, stupid heart that she’d given to Xander without even meaning to and he’d shattered it into a thousand pieces.
“That’s what this all was,” she croaked out, “Staying with me, your stupid dinner party… It was guilt, wasn’t it?”
He swallowed and looked down and Cordelia knew without him ever having to open his mouth. “Stay the hell away from me, Xander,” she whispered, turning to walk away.
——
It was Angel that came after her, Angel that convinced her to get in his car in the middle of the downpour after he’d called an ambulance to take Buffy and the others to hospital.
Cordelia had glared at him, wet and miserable as she’d walked towards home, and when he’d offered her a ride, her first words had been for him to go screw himself.
“You all knew, didn’t you?” She whispered.
Angel looked at her, his face flooded with guilt, and pushed open the door to his GTX. “Get in-“
She had, reluctantly. She’d told him that if he was there for Xander, he could just go screw himself again. Right now. Because she didn’t want to talk about the guy again ever, never mind talk about him with the undead portion of the group who looked uncomfortable stringing together just one sentence.
Her eyes, she noted in the side mirror were puffy and red. She’d cried her heart out as she’d walked because it wasn’t like she had an elsewhere to be and she’d admit (to herself, at least) that if something had come up behind her, wanting a piece of the brunette – “vamp, demon, whatever -” it probably could have taken it, the state she was in.
Over Xander.
Common sense, she figured, should have kicked in an hour ago. Common sense, she figured, should have reminded her that hello, way out of Xander’s league anyway- Just what was her problem?
You loved him, the irrational part of her brain fought back, and through the haze of seeing them almost-kiss, through the knowledge that her stupid heart had been broken by someone way beneath her league, Cordelia realized that everything hurt, ached even, and that was when Angel had pulled up.
He’d taken her back to his mansion and for a moment, Cordelia wondered if Xander was there, waiting, until she looked at Angel and he nodded towards the door. “I’d have taken you home bu…”
“My stuff’s here, right.” She nodded, her voice sounding kind of dull. She pushed past Angel as he held the door open, still wet and miserable and wanting to sink into her bed and never wake up again until this was all over. She noticed the chairs upended on the floor, the remnants of her -‘Welcome Home, Get Well Soon, Here’s a Boatload of Guilt Over Kissing My Best Friend‘ party and she frowned. “Everything’s ruined.”
Angel blinked at her, worried, “I’ll fix it all up, Cordy, don’… Don’t worry about it.”
“I’m not talking about your dishes, Angel!” It was harder to not cry in here. In here, she didn’t have the rain beating down on her face and Angel – ‘ever the comforter’ – could only look at her kind of horrified, like she was going to break like one of his stupid dinner plates.
“He cheated on me. Cheated, on *me*! And with Willow! I mean I knew he always had a thing for Buffy and there was that thing with Faith bu… Willow?” It was like the ultimate betrayal. He hadn’t the decency to cheat on her with someone who was remotely hot or even halfway worth her anger. He’d cheated on her with Willow.
“Am I the only one that didn’t know?” She asked quietly, not glancing up to meet Angel’s gaze. Her skin felt hot, her hands clammy. There was actual pain where her scar was and Cordelia wasn’t so sure that standing up was the best idea ever right now.
“Cordelia, you wanna-” Angel gestured to the seat behind her but Cordelia didn’t move.
She looked at his face, the clench of his jaw, and thought back to the angry looks he’d shot Xander during dinner, the little things that now seemed momentous to her and- How stupid was she, really?
“You knew.” She murmured as the slow burn of anger turned first to realization then embarrassment, “You knew and you didn’t tell me, you just let me sit there talking about him like he was the best boyfriend ever, like I had the best relationship in the world.”
“It wasn’t my place!” He started.
Cordelia stared at him, “Not your place?” Her voice went up a few octaves, “Not your place? Y’know, you try to pass for human 95% of the time, how about actually being one when it counts?” She ignored the way he bristled, the way his gaze dropped. She had enough misery for herself, she didn’t need to cart his around with her too.
They’d sat there and they’d talked. He’d actually laughed at her attempts at cracking the atmosphere before joining her at his stupid, too big dinner table. And who was he kidding, letting Xander host a stupid dinner party in his mansion? Did the place even have running water?
She sat down carefully on the seat behind her, refusing to believe that actual tears were making her vision blur. Actual tears. She realised then how he’d got under her skin, making her think she loved him like tha…”
You did, a small voice whispered, her eyes closing when that little voice realised something else. Still do. Because even though it hurt – really hurt, and she knew pain having recently been impaled on a rebar – she still did. Love him, that was, and Jesus, that just burned deep.
Cordelia felt sick. Everyone had known. Angel and Buffy. Xander and Willow, of course – they were the one locking lips, after all. Hell, even Oz had known because that was the reason he’d left. There was no gig with the Dingoes – nobody even knew where he was because the night she’d fallen on the rebar, Oz had seen them. Xander and Willow. Kissing.
Just like she’d almost seen them tonight, the guilty look on their faces enough to tell her that every inch of paranoia she’d felt that night not only had ground but was rooted right into the earth.
Xander and Willow. Her boyfriend and that fucking mousy-haired little–
“Cordelia?”
Angel’s voice was soft and when she looked up, she found the one thing she hated more than anything else. Pity. “Don’t look at me like that,” she ground out, “This is all your fault, anyway.”
Angel blinked, “All my-“
“You let him host my stupid party here. I mean, what was that? You don’t get enough of a kick in the proverbial teeth seeing Buffy in a normal situation, you have to throw a Coupl-y Party just to make it hurt that little bit more?” Because, hey, maybe he liked the pain. She didn’t – really didn’t.
His jaw tensed and he stared at her for a moment. “I-I overheard Xander talking about it and I agreed to do it because!”
“Because what? You didn’t have anything to feel guilty over, Angel, I know you find that hard to believe given the fact that you blame yourself over everything! But it wasn’t like you pushed me on the rebar or anything…”
No, that was Spike. The same stupid-ass vampire who’d kidnapped them and pushed them into this situation anyway ’cause–That had to be it, right? It had to have been momentary insanity based on a life-or-death experience. Well, twice. But… That was logical, right? It made sense in the way that…really didn’t. Because from where she stood, it hadn’t been the first time – not by a long shot.
And oh, that hurt. Thinking about it like this hurt. Trying to find somebody to blame hurt. It wasn’t like she could turn this around on herself. Was she not the hottest girl in her high school? Damn right she was, even on her worst day, which clearly this was.
Xander Goddamn Harris should have been thanking his lucky stars every single day since he’d got with her and instead! Instead, he’d been locking lips with Willow, who’d obviously pulled some pretty hefty magic to make him look in her direction -’cause Cordelia was WAY hotter and way more of the dating kind of material than she would ever be.
“Maybe it was a spell,” she said, suddenly hopeful. “I mean, she’s been dabbling a lot lately! And no way he’d have wanted her over me, right?” She looked at Angel, “Right?”
He didn’t answer right away – what could he say to that, exactly? – and Cordelia’s heart twisted. She didn’t doubt for a second that she was hotter than Willow – she had eyes, she could see that. But Xander had wanted her – had kissed her when he was supposed to be with her! And nobody was denying any of it.
She didn’t stop the tears from falling this time but still, in the midst of all the gut-wrenching pain, she managed to pull herself off the chair and begin hunting for her keys.
“Cordelia!” He began, his voice sounding awkward and heavy. “Wha..! What are you doing?”
“What does it look like? I’m going home,” she murmured, trying to inject a note of steel in her voice and not sound utterly pathetic, “I need my keys in order to, y’know, drive there?”
Angel stared at her, honestly not sure whether the arm held carefully at her stomach was because of the rebar incident or whether she was just trying to hold herself together. “Cordelia?”
“What?” She snapped, turning to glare at him.
“You’re bleeding,” he pointed out, his voice soft.
Cordelia glanced down, suddenly woozy, probably would’ve dropped if Angel hadn’t been right there to catch her. Damn vampire.
He lowered her back into her chair, his hand at her elbow. “I’ll patch that up. You… You shouldn’t be on your feet.”
She looked up, “Yeah? That makes leaving kinda hard.” She sniffed once, loudly, and held him in her gaze before he disappeared to get supplies. What the hell did he care, anyway? His relationship with Buffy was over, finished, very-much-not-a-couple-any-more… Which made his whole Florence Vampingale act kind of a moot point.
“Why are you doing this?” She asked, when he came back with the big-ass first aid kit.
“Patching you up?”
“Helping me,” she frowned, “Because if this is just to get in Buffy’s good graces I really don’t think she’ll care.”
“It’s not,” he told her gently, “And… I think you don’t give her enough credit. She was really worried about you.”
“Worried? Oh, I’m so sure. Tell me, Angel, did she know too? ‘Cause if she was that worried, she might have warned me before the great sucking party of doom.”
“Tonight,” he murmured quietly, glancing up with a sigh, “We both found out tonight when we… They were…”
Cordelia blinked and sucked in a sharp breath, “Tonight? They were… Tonight?”
They’d been kissing tonight – that was what he was saying, wasn’t it? She wasn’t sure if she needed it clarified or not but she sure as hell didn’t want it. That was maybe a little too much to take in.
“Look, maybe you should sleep?”
“‘Cause that’d make me feel so much better?” Cordelia deadpanned, still holding her stomach. “In case you haven’t noticed, you’re kinda holding me hostage here, Broody. I can’t look for my keys because the great sucking stomach wound might open again and, to be honest, you’re being helpful in the way that isn’t.”
“I mean…” Angel’s voice faltered, “You could stay here.”
“Stay here,” she repeated, “with you?”
“Not with me,” he was quick to point out, as if the one thing on her mind right now was getting her claws into Buffy’s cast offs. “I mean… You can have the bed, I’ll sleep on the couch.”
“Chivalry’s not dead,” she muttered under her breath, “That’s just the guy offering it.”