Part 9
1998
Cordelia walked up the sidewalk. She paused as she tugged at her turtleneck. God. She had hoped to never see Sunnydale High again. She thought her wish had been granted when it exploded into bits and pieces along with the snake of a mayor at graduation.
She just hadn’t seen any other option. It was the only place she knew with the books that could hopefully help her.
Cordelia had decided against rushing right in and asking Giles for help. There was no question that Buffy’s watcher was the expert in researching, but she didn’t want to sound crazy until she had to.
Cordy jumped as an arm flung it self around her shoulders and a ‘hi Hon,’ sounded in her ear.
She turned ready to swing. Oh god. “Xander?”
“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”
“You didn’t,” she said sharply.
Xander shuffled a little staring at his feet. “Your still mad, uh. I explained why we couldn’t go to the movies last night. I had to help Buffy. I’ll make it up to you tonight, I promise.”
“Not now, Xander.” Cordelia wanted to go run back to her room. She should’ve guessed at this one by the picture on her dresser and the lack of scar on her stomach. She was 17 and back to dating Xander.
“Not now, tonight,” he grinned goofily in his very cute way.
Think. Think. Think. Cordelia sighed. She couldn’t do anything to uncharacteristic, like hug the young man. She actually was kind of happy to see him. That is if he had showed up a few years from then at the Hyperion, but here, now, when they were dating. Cordelia wanted to groan. Instead, she rolled her eyes. “Right, if ‘little Miss likes to slay’ doesn’t yank your leash.” She huffed and turned her back on him going into the school.
Xander sighed, shuffling his feet, watching as Cordelia’s flounced away. Wow. She really did have a great ass.
“Hey, Xander.”
“Whoa, down with the sneaky and scaries.” Xander jumped.
Buffy snorted as Willow giggled.
“What’s wrong you with you?”
“You mean other than you two taking a couple of years off my life.”
Buffy rolled her eyes. “Pfft. Wasn’t that Cordelia?”
“She’s mad at me.”
“And that’s new from yesterday, how?” Buffy hooked an arm in his elbow. “Let’s go to school. You’ll make up in time for your next fight.”
Willow nodded. “Which should be right after lunch.”
***
Cordelia stood at her locker, staring at the lock. She couldn’t remember the combination. For four years, five days a week, except summers, she had twirled that stupid thing, yet for the life of her she couldn’t think of the first number.
Her mind was a complete blank, hell she didn’t even know what class she was supposed to be in. Screw it. She already graduated. Cordelia had the charred diploma to prove it.
Cordelia headed straight for the school library.
Great it was empty. Not so great, her mind changing as Giles wandered from his office his head buried in a book. Typical. “Hi, Giles.”
Giles jerked his head up, stumbling a few steps as he blinked through his glasses. “Cordelia, aren’t you supposed to be in history class?”
History. Cordelia nodded. And after that she had Trig, gym, lunch, chemistry, English, study hall, and then she would gather with the Scoobies to listen to Xander and Willow fawn over Buffy, while Buffy told them her latest complaints and crisis. Oz would just nodd and keep his arm looped over the pretty red head. He had been as much of a fool as she had been.
On the hopeful side, maybe if Cordy were really lucky, it would just be a bad hair day rather than Buffy going on about Angel. Cordelia’s thoughts jerked to screeching halt. Angel would show up eventually. Oh god. Could she see him and not run throwing herself into his arms begging him to fix whatever was happening?
“Cordelia?” Giles nudged at his glasses, concerned with the sudden lack of color on the young woman’s face.
Cordy gulped and brought her eyes back to the librarian. “What?”
“Are you well? You look quite ashen, perhaps you should sit down.”
“That’s very good with the flattering bit, Geez,” Cordelia rolled her eyes.
“Or perhaps, you should get to your classes.”
“No,” Cordelia back peddaled. “I did feel a bit faint, sorry I got snappy. Blood loss to the head, makes me cranky, Mrs. Sanderson said I could go lie down. But, eww, lie on an infirmary bed. Who knows who’s been there last and with what, so I came here. No one comes in here. Well except the dorks and the geeks.” Cordelia found it a little scary how easy it was to slip back into her high school attitude.
“Yes, well…”
“Don’t let me disturb whatever dusty old prophecy, scroll or spell you happened to be boring yourself with,” she waved him away.
Giles nodded not quite sure what to say in response.
“Hey, Giles,” Cordelia called after the man. “What do you know about time travel?”
“Time travel?” Giles paused in his return to his office. He took his glasses off and faced Cordelia. “Time travel is the result of some very imaginative intelligent writers and film makers and more very bad ones.”
“So you’re saying fiction, this from a slayer’s watcher. For a major believer of prophecies, demons, vampires, portals, witches, and other nifty supernatural stuff, you’re a little closed minded, aren’t you? Tsk, Tsk. So, does that mean you don’t have any books on the subject in the those stacks of old books.”
Giles nudged at his glasses. ‘Nifty’? “I believe there are some books of Fiction in aisle three.”
“Fiction, great. Hey..” Cordelia blew a burst of air through her lips. Boy, did Giles’ English English get more proper and clipped when he was annoyed, just like Wesley. It must have to do with boarding schools or maybe the water in England.
“Excuse me?” Giles paused again in the doorway of his office.
“I asked if you had a paper and pen, I left mine…some where…” She gestured wildly.
“You asked, a Wesley, for paper and pen.”
“I did? Whoops.” She smacked her hand over her mouth. “I….wow, light headed again,” she waved in front of her face briskly. “Blood loss, scary thing.” She beamed a great smile.
Giles studied the young woman for moment. He very rarely understood his charges completely and at times found their teenage behavior quite bizarre, but Cordelia’s was more confusing than usual that morning. He shook his head went into his office returning with some paper and a pen.
“Thank you, Giles. See I know who you are, the blood back swirling around getting those brain gears working again.”
“Yes. Um. I’ll be in my office if you need anything else.”
Cordelia nodded. That didn’t go to badly. On a scale of one to ten it was a definite one and half. Cordelia sighed sitting down, pulling at the paper. Time travel, what did she know? Not much only what she learned from the Star Trek episodes that Wesley had made her watch and what she had experienced for her self.
She wrote. DON’T CHANGE HISTORY.
Good, but that didn’t help her with how she ended up with her 20-year-old mind in her 17-year-old past. She sighed. Her first real coherent thought while she was driving to school had been that Wolfram & Hart was behind it some how. But by the time she pulled into the parking lot, she hadn’t been able to make sense of that reasoning.
Before, they had sent her back body and everything so Angelus could kill her, and then brought Angelus forward when that had failed. But, why just send back her mind. Why now? Even if Angelus showed up, Angel would protect her. Sure, the vampire of this time didn’t know that she was his soul mate he thought Buffy was….eww. Cordelia shook away that painful strain of thought. She had been trying very hard not to think about the what of Buffy and Angel during this when she found herself trapped in.
Questionable taste aside, Angel was still a good guy in this now and Cordelia couldn’t believe that this sexy, stoic, all black wearing, major broody, obsessed with Buffy version would just sit by if his evil past self showed up and tried to kill her. So, really it wouldn’t be that different than when Angelus showed up in 2002, well without the happy mind-blowing sex once the bad guys were beaten.
Previous vow not to risk changing history by going straight to this Angel and unburden her plight notwithstanding, if Angelus showed up, she was running to the vampire with the soul.
Cordelia sighed and rubbing at the marks under her sweater wishing so much that she was back with her Angel. She glanced down at her list. Nothing. Except the Star Trek rule and a bunch of doodles and scribbles. Big help. She squinted at the numbers written on the page. “Eureka.” She slapped her hand over her mouth. Damn that Wesley.
“Cordelia?”
Cordelia smiled. “Hey look.”
“Don’t change history?”
“Oh.” Cordelia slammed the pad down. “No, I just remembered my locker combination. Blood loss, all gone.” She smiled in explanation.
Giles nudged at his glasses entirely confused. “Well then I guess you should go to your next class.”
Cordelia flopped her head on the desk. Trig. She hated Trig. It wasn’t fair. Cordelia had already graduated. Oh well, maybe she’d remember the answers and not actually have to think about the math problems.
“Sure, why not.” Cordelia sighed. “See ya later, Giles.”
Part 10
Present
Wesley stood as Angel entered the lobby.
“Lilah’s gone, her secretary said medical leave. I searched her office, after I questioned a few other employees before security showed. Nothing, no indication what they did to Cordelia.”
“Maybe they didn’t maybe it’s a new threat.” Wesley suggested.
Angel stared at his friend. “It’s them. I’ll go back and question some more tomorrow night.”
“They’re security will be better, Gunn and I will go with you.”
“I’m quicker on my own.” He turned going up the stairs, to Cordelia.
“Was that blood on his shirt, is he hurt?” Fred worried her lip.
“That wasn’t his.” Gunn shook his head. “Questioning? The vamp beat the shit out of some lawyers tonight.”
“Maybe even killed some.” Wesley shrugged.
“Wesley…?” Fred blinked up.
“I’ll give a damn when I’m sure that Wolfram & Hart had nothing to do with what happened to Cordelia.” Wesley went back into his office.
“Charles?” Fred asked.
“Girl, got to side with Wesley and the vamp on this one. It’s Cordy.”
“I know, so don’t you think tomorrow you and Wesley should go with him, more ground covered and lawyers questioned?”
“Girl?” Gunn asked shocked.
“It’s Cordy, she’s my friend.” Fred stated firmly.
***
Angel moved the chair next to the bed, his hand moving to take hold of Cordy’s still one. The warmth was still there proving life, but the spirit, the essence that made his heart impossibly beat, was absent.
Angel would give his soul for hers, anything to see the light that caused those blank dead brown eyes to flare, flash and twinkle with a kaleidoscope of brown, gold and green hues. Her laugh, her scolding, her pout, her smile, god her smile, her unimaginable love, he needed it all back.
Angel tightened his grasp over the young woman’s hand resting his head over her low heart beat, promising the fragile sound that he would fix it, bring her back to him. He had to.