An hour later:
“Angel, I can’t sleep.”
“Well, just try, Cordelia.” Angel groaned pointlessly. She’d been wiggling and moving and sighing for the past forty-five minutes, trying to get comfortable, but to no avail.
Angel had been staring at the light hanging from the ceiling, thinking quietly and also trying to ignore Cordelia…though he didn’t tell her that.
Angel glanced over at the frustrated and tired girl. She sat leaning against his shoulder, staring at her fingers, which were by now a nice pale shade of blue. She squeezed her hands together in a fist and blew on them.
“I can’t sleep sitting up…”
“You can lay your head in my lap if you want,” Angel offered.
“Nooo.” She groaned, raising her head from his shoulder and sitting up straight. “Then I’ll get a creak in my neck, and I’m still cold, and even though you’re not much better than a lump of…” She eyed the hanging stock disparagingly. “…meat, I’d still rather sit together and try to at least imagine being warm.”
“The plastic isn’t helping?” Angel asked tiredly.
“It is.” Cordelia sighed. “But I can’t get comfortable in this position. My ass fell asleep and I haven’t been able to feel it for what seems like days. I’m warmish, but…” She groaned. “…still miserable.”
It was Angel’s turn to sigh. He was good at waiting. Cordelia wasn’t. He had a feeling that no matter what he did, it wouldn’t be good enough; she was still going to complain and they’d never get any rest. He did feel sorry for her though. He wasn’t as affected by the cold, but he still felt it. And it was cold in here.
He still didn’t want to listen to her complain all night.
“Do you want to lay down?” He suggested.
“Could we?” Cordelia asked, looking over at him expectantly.
“Sure.” He finally huffed. Cordelia smiled and scooted over so he could stretch out, then she stretched out beside him. The floor was hard, and the cardboard left little padding, but at least they were stretched out. “Better?” He murmured.
“Yeah,” She said. “I think the bloods starting to cycle through my body again. I should be able to feel my toes any minute.”
“Are you all covered up?” He then asked, sitting up and making sure the plastic was spread over her entire body, minus head.
“Yeah, Angel, thanks.” Cordelia glanced away and smiled. He was being really nice. Nicer than she would’ve expected him to be in a predicament like this…after all, this could easily be misconstrued as her fault. Though Cordelia knew true and true it couldn’t be. Nothing was ever her fault. Well, not much anyway…at least, nothing she would admit to.
Okay, so this was like 33% her fault, but it was still 66% accident. Don’t ask about the other 1%…maybe that could be Angel’s fault. And still, he was being nice. And that made her feel better. She scooted towards him as he lay back down, and then to his surprise, she wrapped her arm around him and pulled him closer to her.
“Maybe if you get under too, I’ll be warmer,” She suggested. Confused, Angel stared at her. Cordelia frowned. Maybe he’d gotten the wrong idea.
In truth, she wanted to be able to lay up against him because he was the softest thing in here. Maybe he’d let her use his arm as a pillow, and maybe he could keep her warmer. If she shared her body heat, he’d warm up, and if he warmed up, they’d both stay warm.
Cordelia decided to ignore the slight embarrassment evident in his eyes and pushed a corner of her plastic cover towards him. After a moment, he reluctantly pulled it over himself.
‘What would Wes and Gunn say?’ He thought, curling under the plastic and pressing himself to Cordelia. If he could have, Angel would’ve blushed. Cordelia smiled, and unashamedly snuggled closer to his cool body. With each passing second, she could feel his body temperature rising to match hers. Finally Cordelia could congratulate herself on having a good idea.
“Angel?” She murmured.
“Yeah?”
“Can I…borrow your arm?”
He was silent for a moment. “Fine.” He finally groaned, knowing exactly what she wanted out of him She lifted her head slightly and he slid his arm beneath it. Cordelia pressed even closer to him, letting her outer arm fall across his chest. Angel settled in acceptance. Pillow. Fine. It wasn’t the worst title he would deal with.
She was still wearing his coat, and between the leather, the plastic, and him, she Cordelia now could honestly say she was at least minimally comfortable. Angel rested his free hand behind his own head and stared at the ceiling in silence.
To his dismay, Cordelia started talking chattily. Angel rolled his eyes.
“At least its not dark in here,” She quipped, glancing up at the bulb overhead.
“Yeah, I guess.”
“The light makes me feel…I don’t know…safer? Hey. This is weird. We’re sleeping together.”
“We are NOT sleeping together,”
“Well, not sleeping…as in the big “O”, but ‘sleeping’…like, I’m laying next to you, and you’re laying next to me.”
“We’re not sleeping yet,” Angel said sternly. “You’re talking and I’m waiting for you to stop talking,”
“Don’t you think its weird though? I mean, boy, if I’d have known I’d have ended up here, well, I wouldn’t have ended up here.”
“Yeah… Sure.”
“No way. No how. Would’ve DEFINITELY ended up somewhere else.”
“Cordelia…”
“If I had my pick, I’d be at home in bed,”
“Cordelia….”
“And you’d be in bed too, yours though, not mine, duh!”
“Cordelia!”
“And by the way. I forgot to say, ‘thanks’…for giving me your coat, I mean.”
“Sure…Of course…”
“And for making at least an effort to make me feel better,”
“No problem.” She snuggled further into him, quite pleased with how she was making out. “And thanks for not totally getting mad at me for not having my phone, cause if it were the other way around—”
“Cordelia?” Angel said, turning his chin down to face her and finally getting her attention. She watched him expectantly.
“Yeah?”
“Not a good idea to bring it up just now,”
“Oh. Sure. Of course! Sorry.” Cordelia recoiled slightly.
“That’s okay…” He sighed, looking back to the ceiling. “Now, lets get some sleep.”
“Sure.” Angel closed his eyes, and felt Cordelia finally start to relax beside him. Angel pulled her close again.
This wasn’t as bad as he’d feared; her body moved with her breath, and Angel found himself counting her breaths; inhale…exhale…inhale…exhale…inhale…exhale…
Twenty minutes later, Angel had finally dozed off.
Cordelia lay with her cheek pressed against the side of his chest, his arm wrapped around her protectively, as she stared up at the bare bulb hanging above them. She silently counted sheep…or actually, she counted imaginary shoes.
She listened to an imaginary hum stuck in her head, of some childhood song that maybe her mother used to sing, or didn’t.
Mrs. Chase wasn’t exactly the singing type after all…
Either way, Cordelia stared up at the light, glad it was there, knowing that as long as it was there, she’d feel better. The light definitely made her feel better… Well, that and Angel. She knew she’d be okay with Angel.
But the light just made being stuck in the scary, cold place so much more bearable. Even in the midst of frostiness, its glow somehow shed some warmth.
Her eyes had just started to feel lazy when the light bulb flickered. Cordelia sat up with a start, and the light went out, permanently.
“No!” She whispered, glancing back and forth. It was pitch black and she couldn’t see a thing. “ANGEL!” She shrieked.
Angel sat up with a start.
“WHAT?” He retorted, slow to recover his still-sleeping senses.
“The light!” She said frantically. “The light!”
“What about the light?”
“It’s off! It burnt out!”
“So?”
“SO! I can’t see squat! I can’t see my hand in front of my face! That sorta scares me, doesn’t it scare you?”
“Not really…”
“What do you mean…”
“I can see. Cordy, I can see your hand and it’s still there.
“Well, duh! Of course it’s still there!”
“Cordy! Quit fiddling around, and get some sleep!” He lay back down.
“I’m not ‘fiddling’ around,” Cordelia heaved. “I’m just…I don’t really want to sit in the dark, is all!”
“So don’t sit, SLEEP.”
“I can’t sleep!”
“Why not!”
“Because it’s too dark!”
“You sleep in the dark all the time!”
“But not in some dark, musty freezer, and not with you!” Angel growled and sat up again.
Even now, she wouldn’t shut up. He looked at her, and frowned. She sat, eyes blinking in total darkness. She truly couldn’t see a thing, and feeling blind, she looked sort of…lost. How is it that no matter how annoying she was being, she always had a way to make him not stay mad at her?
“Cordelia,” He surrendered, and reached out to her. She flinched at the first touch of his cool fingers against her neck, but then realized it was him. Angel’s lips curved slightly, but Cordelia continued to stare into nothingness. Angel rubbed her shoulder.
“Come on, it’s okay. I’m right here.” He saw her relax a little. “Come on,” He said again. He tugged at her sleeve.
“Well…okay.”
To his relief, she lay back down. He lay back also, and again, gave her his arm as a pillow. She cuddled closely to him, completely wide-awake, but stayed quiet. After a few moments, Angel said, “I know you’re not asleep.”
“And just how do you know?”
“I can hear your heartbeat. It’s too fast for you to be asleep.”
“Oh.”
“Since you can’t sleep, what do you suggest we do?”
“We could talk…”
“Of course. Great.” His voice had come out just a tad bit droller than he’d meant it to. Cordelia immediately scowled.
“OH NEVERMIND!” She said in a huff, and twisted away so as not to face him. She didn’t have to give him the satisfaction of annoying her, but she still pressed her back up against him. He was too warm not to.
“Cordy,”
“I’m sorry I bothered you. Just go back to sleep! I’ll be fine…alone…awake in the dark…”
“I wont be able to sleep until you do, so if you want to talk, just talk.”
“I don’t want to BOTHER you…”
“You’re not bothering me…come on.”
“No,”
“Cordy, come on. When else do you think you’re going to have my full and complete attention for a minimal six hours? I’m all yours…go ahead. Let’s talk. I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings. I LOVE to hear you talk. Please, Cordy? Talk? For me?” Okay, now he was just laying it on thick. Cordelia fell silent, then slowly turned back to face him. Even though she couldn’t see him,
she looked up at where she thought his face would be and gave him a small smile. Angel smiled to himself and she settled back, but not without a quick shove to his ribs. It was a small warning, and he took it seriously.
“So what do you want to talk about?” He asked.
“Tell me a story.” She said.
“A story?”
“Yeah, why not! I’m sure you’ve got plenty to tell, and we’re not going anywhere for a while…what better way to put me to sleep than to hear one of your boring stories…”
“Hey,”
“I didn’t mean it that way, exactly…come on, Angel! Just tell me a story.”
“What do you want to hear?”
“Well, not The Three Little Pigs,” She sighed. “Something old…something from back before…before I was born, maybe…or even before the twentieth century. I’m sure you’ve got a lot of old tales to tell. Just pick one.”
“Where do I begin?”