13: The Library, Sunnydale High School, Southeast Sunnydale
Buffy, Willow and Xander trailed back into the school after finishing up their patrol of the eastside cemeteries. Overall, it had been a boring night. The town’s vampire population was only down by two by their count, but they had made a considerable job of emptying out their bag of snacks.
When Buffy opened the door, she saw Giles examining something gross spread across a cloth on their research table. Faith stood next to him. “I’m out of here for the night,” she said, “now that the job’s done.”
Oh crud. It looked like Faith found the relic. Nah, it was probably Giles.
That thought perked her up a little until her eyes slid across to the library steps to see Cordelia sitting next to Angel. Buffy’s jaw dropped at the sight of the other girl, who was smudged from head to toe with dirt, grass and blood. Her head was resting on Angel’s shoulder, eyes closed in exhaustion.
Angel was just sitting there watching her sleep. Finally, he reached up to touch her face, gently sounding out her name to rouse her. It soothed Buffy’s ruffled feathers a bit when Cordelia sounded miffed, “Hey, you let me sleep. What’d I miss?”
“The others are here,” Angel told her making Buffy realize that he was already aware of her presence even if he hadn’t looked her way. “Faith says she’s going to go. Maybe you should head home, too.”
Cordelia looked like she was about to argue, but then found herself yawning. With a nod, she agreed. Standing up, she walked up to Faith. “I need someone to walk me home.”
“What does that have to do with me?” asked Faith as she ran a hand through her dark hair. “I’m ready to party for a couple of hours. You need a hot shower and someone to tuck you into bed.”
“No argument,” Cordelia shrugged. “You’re elected. I have dealt with enough vamps tonight. I don’t want to run into any more without backup.”
When Xander started to make an offer, Buffy stepped on his toe. He was easily distracted after that. By the time he recovered, there was already another offer on the table.
Giles suggested Cordelia stick around for an hour or two while he examined the relic. After that, he would be happy to offer her a ride home. Then it occurred to him, “Where is your car, Cordelia?”
Yeah, Buffy wanted to know that, too. She should be driving herself home, not ordering other people to keep her company. Cordelia stared at Giles as if she did not know how to answer the question.
Faith finally stepped in to say, “It’s at the shop. Car trouble.”
Was there anything Faith did not know about Cordelia these days? Buffy had obviously underestimated Cordelia’s skills at ingratiating herself into someone’s life. Not even Faith was immune.
Cordelia actually looked surprised at Faith’s comment, but the hint of anger faded when the slayer said, “Let’s go. I’ll get you home before I scope out the Bronze. Unless Angel wants to take you,” she added while letting her eyes linger on his handsome face.
Standing up, Angel looked back and forth between Faith, Cordelia and Buffy. He was trapped, Buffy thought irritably. Now he would have to do the polite thing and walk her home. Glowering at Faith, Buffy was about to come up with an excuse to make him stay when Cordelia commented, “I think Angel has put up with enough of me tonight. Besides, he and Buffy have been out of lip-locking range for a few hours.”
“Not that it’s any of your business,” Buffy reminded her as she walked over to stand next to Angel. Taking a closer look at her appearance, she asked Cordelia, “What happened to you?”
“Nothing I couldn’t handle,” Cordelia struck a confident pose causing Buffy to wonder just what it was she was handling. There were a lot of ways to get grass and dirt stains on your clothes. If Cor had been patrolling with anyone other than Angel, she might be suspicious. That and the fact that Cordelia looked worse for wear suggested she had just had a bad night and was trying to hide it.
Buffy tried to sound sympathetic. “Too bad you got all dirty and have nothing to show for it.”
Pointing toward the table and the relic made of flesh and bone, Cordelia told her, “That’s too gross to be nothing.”
“You found it?” Buffy’s voice sounded almost as high-pitched as Willow’s.
“Duh! Do you think Angel & I were rolling in the dirt for the fun of it?”
A warm flush rising to her cheeks caused Buffy to turn away under the pretense of staring at the relic. “You’re right. It’s pretty gross.”
Cordelia rolled her eyes and said goodnight to Angel & the others before walking out the door. Following, Faith paused long enough to say, “Catch you later.”
Buffy was so glad to see the door swing shut behind them. She wanted to talk to Angel about his patrol with Cordelia. Fortunately, Xander was already preoccupied by the cool grossness of the evil relic. Willow followed him to the table, but seemed more interested in Giles’ assessment. He seemed more than happy to provide her with his preliminary findings.
Because she had Angel to herself for a moment or two, Buffy hinted for details. “Looks like the night was eventful.”
“It was.”
Prompting him for more information, Buffy finally had to be specific. “What about Cor?”
He did not answer for the longest time. Okay, it was only a few seconds, but Buffy was impatient to discover how she handled patrol. Especially if it meant she was planning to quit.
“Cordelia is…,” Angel started to speak and then trailed off again for a moment to gather his thoughts, “completely untrained,” Buffy nodded, “undisciplined…,” to say the least, “unpredictable— and noisy.”
Angel revealed that Cordelia had seemed more interested in the wear and tear on her designer clothes than dressing for protection. That was a point Buffy could not say much about. She actually understood it.
“But Cordelia follows her instincts,” Angel added with a measure of respect, “and she’s not afraid of getting involved in the action.”
“I’m surprised,” admitted Buffy with a frown. “My night was a yawner and it’s Cordelia Chase who gets all the action. Vampire action,” she corrected swiftly only to find that the words still sounded wrong.
“She’s not like you and Faith,” he reminded. “There are things a girl like Cordelia just isn’t built for.”
Staring up at him, curiosity mixed in with a little feministic ire, Buffy wanted clarification on that one. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“She is…” Angel held his hands up in the air as if seconds away from outlining her shape. Buffy’s glare obviously made him reconsider it. Shoving his hands back into his coat pockets, Angel tried to come up with an explanation that would not get him staked. “She wasn’t born to slay vampires.”
He left it at that and seemed unwilling to explain further. Buffy tried to put it into the context that he was agreeing with her that Cordelia did not belong on patrol. It did not matter that neither Willow nor Xander were born into the slaying business, either. That certainly would not help her make her point.
“So is she going to quit?”
“No,” Angel answered with surety. There was a spark of admiration in his brown eyes, a flicker of amusement and a hint of something else that made her squirm uncomfortably before his gaze turned toward the door. “From what I can see, Cordelia’s not a quitter.”
