Part 20: Spanking Inner Moppets
***
“Where’s Dawn again?” Willow asked. She rubbed at her eyes tiredly, even though it was only early evening.
“My dad stopped by to take her out for lunch and some shopping. Wants to make up for not seeing her in a year and a half” Buffy mumbled over a yawn. Even though she had slept until after two, the events of the previous night had her running on empty. Willow and Xander looked similarly worse for wear.
The three of them were uneasily “relaxing” in the lobby of the Hyperion. Their reluctant hosts were nowhere to be seen. Angel had yet to come downstairs, Fred had gone for a late lunch with Gunn, and Wes was MIA.
“When’s she getting back,” Xander asked, more because he would be glad for another familiar rather than out of an intense need to speak to Dawn. He was more than ready to get back to Anya and Sunnydale, where he wasn’t so out of his element
“Should be in the next hour or so,” Buffy answered. “We could probably be home before nine or ten tonight.” That had Willow and Xander sitting up.
“Uh, but, what about Cordelia?” Xander stammered. “I mean, she’s in the hospital. Shouldn’t we wait? Or at least buy a plant or something.”
Buffy flinched. If Xander and Willow knew how Cordelia ended up in the hospital, they would totally veto leaving before seeing her again. I don’t want to see her again. Have to thank her..ughh. I don’t want to owe my life to Cordelia. That is a conversation I am so not having.
“Xander, what can our being here possibly do. It’s not like we’re doctors. It’s not even like we’re her friends. And you know, none of this would have happened if it had just been me and Angel, like I suggested. If she can’t fight, she shouldn’t be getting in the middle like that.”
Okay, now I’m just being childish. The only real reason she got hurt was to keep ME from getting hurt. Her two friend’s shocked looks pushed Buffy to continue. “Hey, I’m not saying it’s her fault. I’m just not going to buy her a medal for getting injured in the line of duty. It was a cut. In the grand scheme of things, it was just a cut. Hello, I jumped to my death. Let’s look at this with a little perspective.”
“Um, Buffy, maybe you need a little perspective. They had to pump three units of blood into her,” Willow said haltingly.
“Yeah. That’s like a 12-course meal for Angel,” Xander, trying to inject some humor into what was turning into a very tense discussion. Nobody laughed.
***
Angel didn’t know what to do. He had woken up, taken a quick shower, and was getting dressed when his son woke up from his own nap. After giving him a quick change, Angel had been heading downstairs for bottles and blood (though happily not bottles OF blood) when he had heard the Scoobies talking.
For some reason, their tone had him pausing and he had stood at the top of the stairs, telling himself there was really nothing wrong with eavesdropping, especially when people were talking in the middle of the lobby of the hotel, a hotel he happened to own.
When he heard the Scoobies might be leaving soon, he had felt nothing but relief. He and Buffy hadn’t talked since the kiss the night before and he would be damn close to perfectly happy if it never came up again. It was clear to him now that Buffy wanted him, that she had come here with the intention of getting together again, but he wasn’t exactly sure why.
They hadn’t parted well the last time, they hadn’t talked in months, and the time they had spent alone together this weekend hadn’t exactly been chock full of chemistry. He didn’t want to have the “I think we should just be friends,” speech, not with her. Especially since Buffy and I, we’ve never been friends before.
The topic switched to Cordelia and Angel had to stop himself from squeezing the softly cooing baby in his arms too hard. Before he had just been confused by Buffy. Now he was officially angry. How dare she? Is she actually blaming Cordelia for getting hurt? What the hell is wrong with her?
“Getting an earful, are you?” Angel didn’t realize that Lorne was standing right next to him until he spoke. He had no idea how long the demon had been there.
“Uh, I was going downstairs, and then I heard, and I couldn’t help…” Angel stammered.
“Easy big fella. No biggie. Nothing wrong with keeping your eyes and ears open. You’d be surprised how much you can learn that way.”
“Should I go down there? I mean, what Buffy’s saying, about Cordy, it’s, it’s not fair.”
“I think, for the time being, us three should just stay up here on the observation deck. See what other handy information we can pick up,” Lorne decided. He had the uneasy feeling that the shit was about to hit the proverbial fan. And the less uneasy feeling that that was exactly what needed happen.
***
Buffy sighed. “I’m not saying that Cordelia’s the devil you guys—though I admit it seemed like that in high school. It’s just, there’s always an ulterior motive with her. I’m sure she didn’t just push me out of the way for no reason. She probably just…” Buffy trailed off. She had just said WAY too much.
She expected a simultaneous “What” and Willow and Xander didn’t disappoint her. The floodgates burst open.
“She pushed you?” Willow asked.
“When, last night?” Xander added.
“Is that when she got hurt?
“Did she see the demon or was she just angry and pushing you?”
“So Cordy let some demon slice her open to keep it from slicing you.”
“Did she get in the way by accident? Was she trying to push you into the demon?”
Buffy held up her hand. Miraculously, it managed to quiet her two friends down. “Okay, I’m not totally clear on this, cause it happened very fast, but I guess Cordelia saw this demon about to attack me and, god only knows why, she just knocked me down and took the hit. I don’t know the reason, but I’m sure there is a reason. That’s what I’m trying to tell you guys. That Cordelia Chase is never just nice or good for no reason. She always has a reason, usually one that benefits her personally.”
Xander looked to Willow for a minute than turned back to Buffy. “Hey, Buffster. We haven’t really seen her in three years. Can any of us really know what she’s ‘always’ like?”
“Please Xander. I know you guys had the intense closet time, but I know her just as well as you. And we both know that Cordelia was a manipulative bitch in Sunnydale and she still is, despite her little random acts of kindness. She hasn’t changed.”
Buffy’s head was starting to hurt. She really wasn’t looking for them to be all-practical and make sense. She just wanted them to blindly agree that Buffy=good, Cordy=bad and then to drive her home.
“Well,” Willow ventured, “I know she wasn’t the friendliest, but she could have changed.”
“SHE HASN’T CHANGED,” Buffy shot back. “Nothing has changed. No one has changed.” There was a shocked silence and Buffy realized that she had been yelling and she was getting the concerned face from her friends. She might have gone to far.
Finally Willow had to ask. Something was clearly wrong here and she had had it with all weirdness that was Buffy lately. “Why is it so hard to believe that Cordy’s changed?”
Now Willow’s calling Cordelia Cordy Buffy thought. Whatever happened to loyalty?
“You know why Buffy,” came a voice from near the door. “You know why you can’t admit that people change, that I’ve changed.” It was Cordelia.
***
From his perch on the stairs, Angel had been caught just as unaware as the Scoobies. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed Cordelia coming in. That might have something to do with the bomb Buffy had dropped.
Cordelia had gotten hurt trying to save Buffy? HE had no idea what to think about that.What the hell is Cordy doing here? She was supposed to be in the hospital. She looked like she needed to be in the hospital. He had never seen her so pale. And yet, even from the stairs, he could see that steely-eyed determinism. She had clearly heard most, if not all, that had been said about her.
Oddly enough, she didn’t look angry, just…Angel didn’t know. She looked like she wasn’t going to let this one go. Angel gulped and swallowed the shame he felt for rejoicing in the fact that he wasn’t down in the lobby right now.
