Part 8
Faith sat on the serving counter in the front section of the Magic Shop, watching the by-play between Buffy and Xander. One heavily booted foot was planted squarely on the surface of the counter with her forearm draped lazily across her thigh. Her brown eyes moved back and forth, keeping in time with the dialogue.
Scrubbing his face with his hands, Xander returned his green eyes to the blonde slayer. An unreadable expression pulled his face taut as his brain went over and over the sight of Cordelia Chase exiting the shop with a child in her arms. All this time he’d thought the brunette was dead or worse and she’d been fine.
Buffy paced much like she had done the night before, her blonde hair swishing around her shoulders as she too replayed the scene. Blue eyes showed the distaste she felt towards Giles for not telling her the brunette was back.
“I can’t believe this, I can’t believe her” Xander’s voice rose in volume and sarcasm dripped from his tongue.
“You can’t?” Buffy asked as her eyebrows rose high, “As far as I’m concerned, this is typical Cordelia Chase behaviour.” A disgusted expression quickly appeared on her impish face before disappearing just as quickly. “She probably didn’t want anyone to find out she was pregnant”
“Can you blame her?” Faith piped up, “If the way you’re acting is anything to go on, I don’t blame her for skipping town.” They were talking like having a kid at seventeen was something to be ashamed of.
Buffy paused her pacing long enough to give the other slayer a glare that told her to back off and butt out. “This has nothing to do with you Faith, you don’t know anything about it”
Faith bit back a knowing smirk, thanks to her boy Spike she knew a hell of a lot more than they did put together. “Hey, I’m just saying”
“Well don’t ‘just say’ anything” Buffy resumed her pacing before stopping. “What does she want? Does she think she had something to come back for?” her words made it perfectly clear she thought Cordelia had nothing in Sunnydale.
“Cordelia has a kid Buff, maybe she came to see the dad” Xander went with the only reason he could think of.
“If she knows who it is”
Faith once again bit back a smirk, the other slayer certainly wasn’t as people oriented as she made out to be. “Doesn’t sound to me like this chick would sleep about.” If this Cordelia girl had been as selfish and snobby as they made her out to be, then she wouldn’t have been the school slut. Those types of girls kept their knees firmly locked until a guy they deemed good enough came along.
“What would you know?” Buffy turned a cold gaze on the brunette lazing around on the service counter. “Have you ever met Cordelia Chase?”
“Not that I can recall” Faith replied easily, not giving into the urge to rise to the challenge deeply set in the blue orbs. She couldn’t be bothered for a fight after last night, the only thing better than slaying a vampire was screwing him until he begged for mercy. A wicked grin flashed across her red lips at the memory of breaking Spike.
“So again I ask what would you know?”
“I know people B” the brunette shrugged as she straightened her body, swinging her strong legs down until she was fully facing the other girl. “I know girls like her. They don’t screw their way from one end of town to the other. It takes a platinum card and a BMW to get into their good books never mind their panties”
Not hearing the truth behind the words, Buffy twisted them around. “As the saying goes, it takes one to know one.” The insult meant to get the other slayer to leave didn’t have the desired effect as Faith merely grinned back at her.
“You were just like her before you got your calling” the brunette had learned a lot about her fellow slayer from Spike, he’d divulged every detail he’d learned during the course of plotting to kill her. “Perky blonde cheerleader with a penchant for football players. How many did you bag?”
“Buffy isn’t the one in question here” Xander stopped the catfight before his best friend had a chance to retaliate. “Cordelia and her kid is”
“And here I thought it was about how she felt about the big return” Faith commented dryly.
“Is there a reason you’re here?” the young man demanded hotly when he’d had enough of her smart ass remarks.
“Waiting on my guy”
“Why don’t you go and wait on your ‘vamp’ somewhere else?” Buffy snapped when Faith’s voice got too much for her to handle. She was so sick and tired of the other slayer always being there, always challenging everything she said and did. A slayer and a vampire, she thought with a cringe, not thinking about the similarities with Angel and herself.
Angel was different, he had a soul and that made him more human than vampire.
“No can do B, Billy Boy will be here in a few short minutes” Faith offered the blonde a mock apologetic grimace. She didn’t care what they thought of Spike and her, her private business was just that. Her private business.
“Then go wait away from us”
“Kinda comfy here but cheers for the suggestion”
Buffy swallowed back the lump of annoyance she felt at the way Faith blatantly ignored her statement to leave Xander and her alone to deal with the situation. After counting backward from ten, the blonde took a leaf out of the brunette’s book and ignored her in return. “Giles and especially Willow should have the decency to tell us”
Xander gave her a look that was full of sarcasm “Ya think?”
“This isn’t my fault Xander” the blonde defended against the acidic tone he was using on her. “I thought she was dead along with the rest of you”
Taking a deep, none-calming breath the young man once again rubbed his face before threading his fingers through his dark, floppy hair. Glancing at his friend apologetically, Xander offered a reconciling smile. “Sorry, it’s just a shock. I don’t mean to take it out on you”
Buffy nodded, “I know, we’re all shocked. She was the last person on Earth I expected to walk out of here last night” apart from Angel that is she silently added. After the first couple of hours of his not coming back, she’d gone to the mansion where he’d set up home.
Not bothering to knock, Buffy had walked straight inside expecting him to be there and filled with anger at the brunette he’d thought he’d killed. Not seeing any signs of Angel in the large foyer, she had explored upstairs and then out in the overgrown court yard. He wasn’t anywhere inside and so she had left, wondering where he’d gone to.
She had so many things to say to Cordelia Chase, so many home truths she wanted to tell the brunette and she was going to start those home truths with how Buffy had figured Angelus had killed her. When Angel had quietly said he might have murdered the other girl, she hadn’t disregarded the possibility only pushed the thought away.
Angel had remembered all of his actions as Angelus apart from the murdering of Cordelia, therefore still not giving them closure on her fate. At the thought of the soulless vampire, Buffy shuddered and once again remembered why she couldn’t be with Angel.
She couldn’t even bring herself to kiss him after he’d come back from hell fully soulled. What if she caused him another moment of perfect happiness? Her worst nightmare was having to kill him again.
Breaking out of the grim thoughts, Buffy remembered this wasn’t about her relationship with the dark haired vampire, it was about Cordelia Chase and the reason she had to come back. “Look” the blonde stated in a final tone, “The only we’re going to find out what and why she’s back is if we ask her”
“Ya think?” Xander sarcastically asked then sent another apologetic smile in her direction. “According to Willow, she’s working for Giles”
Faith quietly coughed back her laughter as Buffy’s expression went into cool shock before turning thunderous. “Giles offered her a job” was quiet, disbelieving statement, “Why am I not surprised she’s using the kid as a sympathy vote? That seems exactly like something she would do”
Xander resisted the urge to say ‘Ya think?’ again, figuring it would only serve to annoy her more than she already was and annoying the slayer wasn’t something he wanted to do. His legs were useful. “I say we wait for Cordelia to show up here then we pounce”
“What if she brings her kid?” Faith asked, she understood their need for answers from the chick but that didn’t mean they had to cause a riot around the boy.
“What does that have to do with anything?” Xander stared at the slayer who’d taken his virginity four years ago and cringed. God knows what had possessed him, but then again thinking back on it now he hadn’t really been given a choice.
“No” Buffy had to agree with Faith’s point, “I hate to say this but I agree with Faith. It’s Cordelia we’re angry at not the kid” the more she thought about the young mother the more she pitied the kid. “She’d get defensive and not tell us what we want to know”
“Wow” Xander stated with an impressed nod of his head, “What d’ya know? Faith hasn’t screwed all her brains out after all”
“Naw, that was you” Faith let his insult flow over head easily. She was the first one to admit she was promiscuous, well she had been before hooking up with Spike. That guy could hold his own, definitely a keeper for a little while anyway. Besides, she got a kick out of being with the vampire who’d bagged two of her predecessors.
As the subject of the little boy got brought to the forefront of the conversation, their thought simultaneously adjusted to the change in topic. No matter how hard she tried, Buffy just couldn’t see Cordelia as a mother. The brunette had probably hired help to do the dirty work while she sat back and watched.
“I wonder who got her pregnant” Xander mused loudly, “It sure as hell wasn’t me” that was one question he wanted the answer to. It wasn’t him, that was for sure, Oz wouldn’t have cheated on Willow, that left the rest of the male population at Sunnydale high.
Before Buffy had a chance to say anything, the front door was energetically booted open allowing Spike to rush out of the harmful sunshine and into the safety of being indoors. The blonde vampire hurled the steaming blanket off of his head, dusted down his denim jacket and immediately set his gaze on the brunette slayer still perched on the surface of the counter.
His sapphire blue gaze sparkled with mirth when Faith glanced towards Buffy and Xander, silently communicating with Spike on the topic of conversation that his arrival had just interrupted. “No little bit today yet?” the vampire asked, inwardly telling himself he wasn’t taken with the Son of Peaches.
“Not yet Billy” Faith sent a wink his way, “Daylight” Cordelia and Connor wouldn’t be arriving until the sun had gone down. From what Spike told her, the kid was photosensitive and couldn’t be in any form of direct light. Not that it mattered if the kid was happy and well looked after.
Even though she personally couldn’t wait until she saw Angel’s kid and the girl who had been talked about nonstop all day, it was highly doubtful Buffy and Xander would be thrilled
Spike nodded, remembering the little boy’s inability to be in any amount of light. “Peaches still M.I.A? Didn’t think he had it in him myself” It didn’t take a genius to figure out where his grandsire had disappeared off to last night and, using his knowledge to his advantage, the blonde vampire made the comment about the missing vampire.
Buffy may not be a genius but she wasn’t a total idiot either, she knew when Spike had information she didn’t. The blonde’s cool blue gaze landed on the vampire, searching his eyes for what it was he meant by the question regarding Angel. “Spike”
The blonde vampire didn’t miss the underlying warning in Buffy’s tone as she glared at him, demanding why he mentioned Angel. “What?” Innocence coated his tongue as he sidled over to Faith and slung his arm around her shoulders much to the disgust of both Xander and the other slayer.
“Problem?” Faith asked with a slightly raised eyebrow, shifting herself along the bench until she was firmly against Spike.
Xander simply shot her a look which said it all before he returned his full attention to Buffy who was simultaneously glaring at the blonde vampire and pretending not to see the affectionate embrace between the two. “Do you know where Angel is?”
“Not a clue” Spike answered with a shrug, exchanging a smirk with Faith when she elbowed him in the stomach. Hard. “I love it when you get rough”
“Can you two just ‘not’ do that?” Buffy snapped when the other slayer all too quickly began to respond towards the vampire’s sexual advances. “If you want to continue in your… Whatever it is you have, then go do it somewhere else”
“What she said” Xander pointed to the blonde slayer.
“What’s your deal?” Most of the time, Faith let their opinions on her being with Spike wash over head, but on the odd occasion their constant judging got on her nerves. Like now, the disgust written on both Buffy and Xander’s face grated on her nerves.
Buffy’s expression said it all as she gave a sound of disapproval before glancing away. Spike was a vampire, a killer, a monster; she didn’t know how Faith could be with someone they were meant to kill. Once again ignoring the similarities between Faith and herself.
“Like you’ve never done the deed with a vamp B, why is it okay for you and not me?” Faith questioned as her face expressed the deep annoyance she felt.
“Angel and I are nobody’s business but mine and his” Buffy’s cool voice matched the iciness in the blue gaze as she glared at the brunette.
“It is when he goes psycho” Xander muttered, remembering that time of his life all to well. The murder of Jenny Calendar, Acathla and the possible killing of Cordelia, all of that only fuelled his hatred for the dark haired vampire. As far as he was concerned, those acts were unforgivable.
“Angel and I are not the subject here” the blonde snapped, outright refusing to acknowledge the fact Faith had a point. It was different, Angel was different. Turning back towards Spike, Buffy pinned him with another glare. “Do you know where Angel is?”
“I’m not his bloody keeper Slayer” the vampire retorted, it would give much more amusement when Angel told her himself about where he’d been and why he was there. Shrugging his shoulders, he flickered his eyes to meet the brunette’s and winked at her.
“He wasn’t at the mansion last night” the blonde slayer told nobody in particular. She hadn’t bothered with knocking and just gone straight in just like many other times before. After searching the whole of the ground floor with no success in finding Angel, she’d gone upstairs and still got no success.
Xander shrugged unconcerned with the fact Angel seemed to be missing, “Maybe he decided to take off for parts unknown” he could hope. There were no words to say how happy he would be if the vampire had left Sunnydale, he wished for it to happen every night since meeting him.
Buffy graced him with an unimpressed expression before shaking her head, sending strands of blonde hair flying. “No” she denied, “Angel wouldn’t leave” he wouldn’t leave me. He loves me. Now wasn’t the time to be getting paranoid over her relationship, now was the time for the discussion of more important things.
“Anyway” she looked towards Xander, “Angel and I isn’t the subject, Cordelia is”
***
Angel peered down at the tiny gloved hand curled in his, a small smile flickered across his lips when Connor glanced up at him and treated him to one of his cheeky grins. When he had said to Cordelia that last night had been the best night of his existence, he’d lied.
Tonight was.
Connor was staying with him at the mansion tonight, Cordelia was letting the little boy spend the night and he couldn’t wait. As much as Angel was looking forward to having his son stay with him, he was scared to death. He didn’t know anything about being a father or how to keep a child five years old occupied.
He’d never been so nervous in his entire life.
“Are you sure you don’t mind?” Angel wanted to be sure that Cordelia was sure.
Smiling warmly at the vampire and then her son, the brunette nodded sending the curls playfully bouncing around her shoulders and face, making Angel want to toy with the silky soft strands. “I’m sure” she told him firmly, “It’s just, well, this is the first time I won’t be with him.” It was horrible, though she knew Connor wasn’t being left with a stranger, it did nothing to relieve the ache building up in her chest.
The vampire trailed a finger over the lower lip forming into a sad pout, “Then you’re overdue for some time to yourself. If you can call work time to yourself.” He quickly came to realise that this was the equivalent of parents taking their child to the their very first school day.
Angel had to smile at that thought and placed his hand on her shoulder comfortingly. Cordelia knew her son would be safer with him than anywhere else but still, she wasn’t going to be there to see for herself. The vampire once again felt proud of the mother Connor had.
Sending a sly glance down to her son, Cordelia grinned at him “It would be good to get away from the thorn in my side for a while”
Connor stuck his tongue at her, “You love me really” his mom couldn’t fool him like that. She gave him sweets and kept his pictures on her bedroom walls and made him cookies every Sunday so she must love him.
Angel never ceased to be amazed at how much of Cordelia was in his son, even the habit of having the last word. Shaking his head at their little dialogue the vampire stored it away as a nice memory. Cupping her face in his large palm, smoothing the roughened skin of his thumb over the apple of her cheek. “We’ll be fine, Connor will be fine”
“I know. I know” Cordelia blew out a puff of air, “It’s just this the only time…”
“You’ve been without your son” Angel finished with an understanding smile, “You’ll miss him” will you miss me? “Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of him”
The young mother raised her eyebrows as a look of trepidation swept across her face, a slow smirk lifted the corners of her glossy mouth “Don’t you mean Connor will take good care of you?”
“Probably” the vampire dryly responded, “Now go or you’ll be late for your first day”
“I don’t want to go” Cordelia twirled her fingers together, this would be the first time she had left her son since he’d been born. It was an awful feeling, like she was abandoning him or something and she didn’t like it.
Connor’s face curled up sadly when he realised his mom was about to leave him, he had thought he would be going with her. “Mom, you don’t have to go to work” he stated, his lower lip could be seen wobbling under the safety of his mask. “You always tell me that I don’t have to do what people tell me to do. You don’t either, does she dad?”
Both Cordelia and Angel inwardly groaned at the sound of tears in the little boy’s voice. Kneeling down to be eye level with her son, the brunette threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.
“It’s only for a few hours baby and then I’m coming home” she told him thickly. She didn’t want to go, she wanted to be with Angel and Connor some more. “You and your dad will have lots of fun and you won’t even miss me”
“That’s not true” Angel mumbled loud enough for her to hear, “I will.” At the brightly beaming hazel that was suddenly turned his way, he knew he’d said the right thing for once in his life.
Releasing Connor from the death grip she had him, the brunette stood to look seriously at the vampire. “No direct light, not even candle light” Cordelia went through everything for the fourth time that day. “Don’t give in to him, he will walk all over you and don’t let him see or play with any sharp, pointy things”
“I wouldn’t…” Angel went to deny he would allow his five year old son to play with any swords or weapons he had in the mansion. Deciding it would be better for both Cordelia’s and his sanity if he were to cut her words off, the vampire turned his attention to Connor. “Why don’t you get your toys out of the car?”
“Okay” a saddened Connor mumbled with a pout, he didn’t want his mom to go. She should be staying with dad and him. The little boy opened the back door and pulled out a bag carrying toys, his ball, colouring books and crayons. Peering inside, the little boy glanced up at his mother with a frown. “When am I allowed pens?”
“When you realize walls are not to be drawn on” Cordelia replied immediately as a look of horror crossed her face. All she had done was take a ten minute bath, if that, and went downstairs to find matchstick men and women on the skirting boards with trees and houses on the hallway walls.
Off Angel’s quizzical expression, she answered “Don’t ask please”
Shuffling his feet on the floor, Connor shrugged “Kelly said she did it all the time and she didn’t get told off”
“That was Kelly, not you” the brunette could see where this was going straight away. “And don’t think I haven’t forgotten about that other little trick you and Kelly pulled either”
Once again, Angel felt left out. Cordelia had all these memories of things his son had gotten up to and, though she made it sound like it hadn’t been fun, he knew she treasured those memories. At the mortification that was slowly replacing the sadness on her face, the vampire began to rethink the fun part. “What happened?”
Hiding her face in her hands, Cordelia groaned loudly and Connor defended himself to the very best of his five year old ability. “It was Kelly’s fault, she made do it” his big brown eyes glanced up at his father, begging to be believed. “Really dad, I swear it wasn’t my fault”
Looking from his son to the brunette, Angel raised his eyebrows “Let me guess, don’t ask?” the corners of his mouth quirked up in an amused smirk. He was beginning to get a good idea of just what his son was capable of doing.
“Please don’t” Cordelia mock begged, knowing she would tell him later about poor Snowy the white terrier who had miraculously turned the same shade as Kelly’s pink Barbie hair dye. Washing her hands of the mortifying event, she glanced at her watch and sighed “Time to go”
“No mom!” Connor latched onto her arm, tugging on the sleeve of her jacket. “Dad wants you to stay, don’t you?” he turned big brown eyes towards the vampire.
Kneeling down to look her son in the eyes again, Cordelia cupped his covered face in her hands, speaking gently. “Baby, I won’t be gone long I promise” she soothed the upset five year old, “I bet if you were real good for your father, he might bring you to see me soon.”
Her warm smile and softly spoken words seemed to pacify Connor for now. Nodding at his mother, the little boy once again took hold of his father’s hand and glanced up at him with the biggest brown eyes he had ever seen. “Can we go see mom at work? I promise to be real good and do what I’m told and everything”
Angel now knew what was meant by the kicked puppy look, caving under the highly effective brown eyes, the vampire decided Connor was right. He didn’t want her to go but he also wanted to spend a few hours alone with Connor. That was before he surprised Cordelia by stopping by the Magic Shop later.
“I was planning on it anyway” Angel confessed, knowing he’d said the right thing again when the brunette’s smile became contagious and he found himself smiling back at her. It was a good feeling.
“Promise we can go see mom?” the five year old pleaded as he tugged on the sleeve of Angel’s leather jacket. “Promise?”
“Cross my heart” the vampire indulged.
“Alright! I can see the eyeballs in the jar again” Connor stated excitedly while his mother shuddered. “Have you seen the eyeballs in the jar dad? Are they really for witches and wizards and warlocks? Or has mom been telling porkies again?”
Smiling at the childish excitement of his son, Angel shook his head “I think your mom has been telling porkies”
“I knew there was no such thing as wizards and witches and warlocks” he glared his mother disapprovingly and shook his head.
“I get off at 10 pm I think Giles said on the phone, so if you stop by around 9?” Cordelia suggested. She could live with being away from her son, and Angel, for a few hours; it wasn’t another five years.
“Don’t even think it” Angel’s voice was gruff as though he knew what she was thinking. “You’re not leaving again, you have no reason to run” I’d find you this time. Irrational panic began to bubble up as he thought she could so easily disappear just like last time. Suddenly, letting her go to work didn’t seem like such a good idea. “Giles would understand if something came up”
She shook her head, denying that she would run off again. “I wouldn’t, couldn’t” she stressed “Leave you.” Cordelia forced her wobbling lips into a thin, tight line and blinked back tears glazing her eyes. “I better get going” she bit her tongue, “You have everything? The Magic Shop phone number?”
Angel nodded.
“My cell phone?”
Again, he nodded.
“The hospital?”
He looked at her.
“Fire department?”
His expression went blank.
Kneeling down in front of her too quiet son, Cordelia forced him not to move away from the big smooch she placed on his covered cheek. “Aw mom, quit it” Connor grouched as he ducked and tried to hide behind Angel in an effort to get away from the kisses.
When she stood again, Angel ignored the sound his son made as he brushed his lips over Cordelia’s, taking a second to flick his tongue out for a quick taste. “Vanilla” he breathlessly murmured against her hot mouth. That little teasing taste would have to last until Connor was asleep before he got more. “Go”
“Okay” sending a firm, parental glare down at the little boy scowling up at his dad, Cordelia waited until she got his attention. “You better be good for your father Connor, or else there will be no park time after work. You” she directed at Angel. “Do not give in to him and if he does something you told him not to do then…”
Leaning forward to whisper in the vampire’s ear so Connor didn’t hear. “Don’t talk to him for at least an hour, make him think he hurt your feelings.” Being ignored was the one punishment that seemed to truly work on the little boy, he hated it if he thought he’d made his mom cry.
“Got it” Angel knew better than to question the advice, “I’ll stop by at 9, you want anything bringing? Coffee or something to eat?” He was stalling and they both knew it.
“Angel, stop it” Cordelia shook her head, “I’ll see you two at 9, until then be good”
Connor was treated to one last hug before she got in the car and, after a few tries, drove away leaving him alone with his dad. Shuffling his trainers against the small loose stones on the ground, the little boy suddenly was for once in his life lost for words.
Peering down at the five year old, Angel felt a little uncomfortable with this. Cordelia was literally trusting him with her life and her son, after everything she knew he’d done she still openly trusted him. He wouldn’t let her down.
Picking up the large overnight bag packed with things his son would need, Angel slung it easily over his shoulder and held out his hand for Connor to take. “You ready son?” he wanted to say that word over and over again.
Glancing precariously around the darkened street, he finally noticed there were no other houses around like there were in his street. “Where’s your house?” he asked curiously as he took the vampire’s hand.
Angel smirked and grimaced at the thought of the mansion, he knew the little boy would love everything about it; from the mythological gargoyle statue on the high tower to the large dark courtyard. “It’s way, way over here” he replied cryptically, enhancing the childish curiosity.
“What’s it like? Is it like my house?”
“No” Angel stole a glance at the frustration on his son’s face when he gave nothing away about where he lived.
Connor scowled up at his dad, “Are you really special like mom says? You don’t look very special but mom says you’re real strong and can do anything you want too.” The little boy wondered if he should say what else his mom told him about his father.
“She says that when you get real mad at bad people you go… Grrr” his face and free hand scrunched up, implicating a vampire.
“Why don’t we go inside and you can tell exactly what your mom told you about me” Angel stated, feeling humoured by the way Cordelia had explained the fact he was a vampire. In a way he glad she had but in a way he didn’t want his boy to have any knowledge or part of that side of him.
Connor soon became distracted as the large structure of the mansion was revealed to him; his eyes went huge and were instantly drawn to the gargoyle statue on the tower way above the entrance. No way did his dad live here, it was even better than the castle in Labyrinth, his favourite movie; there was even a goblin.
“Cool” he breathed as he stared in wide-eyed awe at the building his dad was taking him too, “This your house?”
“You like it?” Angel questioned, most adults were intimidated by it’s large size and the area where it was. Yet here was a five year old who seemed to think it was the best thing he’d seen in a long time.
“Yeah I do! This is better than the castle beyond the goblin city” Connor told him, nodding frantically. “If it’s okay with mom and I’m real good tonight, can I come back tomorrow please dad? Please?”
For the first time in a long while, the vampire actually laughed out loud at his son’s open begging. “You can come here whenever you want son, this is your home now too” then a thought occurred to him and he frowned. “Connor, I don’t have a TV or a video”
“That’s okay I guess” the five year old contemplated a night without his bedtime movie. “We can just have extra playtime before we go see mom. Can you play soccer? She can’t kick very good and sometimes she skids on the grass”
“I think I can play soccer” Angel told him with a warm smile, “C’mon son, let’s get inside where you can take your cloak off.”
“Alright!”