{"id":3170,"date":"2015-06-30T09:51:05","date_gmt":"2015-06-30T08:51:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/?p=3170"},"modified":"2015-06-30T10:18:28","modified_gmt":"2015-06-30T09:18:28","slug":"walk-on-gilded-splinters-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/2015\/06\/30\/walk-on-gilded-splinters-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Walk on Gilded Splinters.1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Title: Walk on Gilded Splinters<\/b>
\nAuthor: <\/b>Ficbitch82 – aka Christie
\nPosted: <\/b>
\nRating: N-17<\/b>
\nEmail<\/b><\/a>
\nContent: <\/b>C\/A
\nSummary: <\/b>Cordelia wakes up before YW in S5. She leaves Wolfram and Hart and Angel behind to fight the good fight and is joined by Wesley and Spike. Halloween comes round and they\u2019re invited to a bash at W&H\u2026
\nSpoilers: <\/b>Everything up to S5. If I get something wrong, forgive me, I haven\u2019t seen much of S4\/S5.
\nDisclaimer: <\/b>Truly, truly not mine. They all belong to Joss Whedon (unfortunately).
\nDistribution: <\/b>Just ask first. :o)
\nNotes: <\/b>I\u2019m shifting lots of S5 around in this so\u2026 Just ignore Joss\u2019 timeline.
\nThanks\/Dedication:<\/b>Extra-special thanks to the lovely, fantastic, ever-so-sweet Debs<\/b> for the tireless and fabulous beta. And to the lovely Gabs<\/b> who requested a Halloween Party at Wolfram and Hart, Cordelia\/Spike working together, Angel not being happy about it and Smut-on-a-desk.
\nFeedback:<\/b> Does Angel have fangs? :p<\/p>\n

\n

Part 1<\/b><\/p>\n

It happened in a variety of ways over the first few weeks she was awake. She\u2019d made her decision only moments after the first big shock and really, there\u2019d been so many.<\/p>\n

Connor missing, Fred with the miniskirts, Gunn with the hair and Angel \u2013 God, she couldn\u2019t even get started on Angel. The final straw had been Harmony and that was overlooking the fact that her friends had clearly gone insane<\/i> while she\u2019d been in her post-Jasmine coma and started working for Wolfram and Hart.<\/p>\n

The more Cordelia thought about it, the more it left a bitter taste in her mouth and the kicker was that she couldn\u2019t stop thinking about it.<\/p>\n

It was Spike who picked up on it more than anybody else. Only yesterday he\u2019d told her that she was getting an overhanging forehead to match Angel\u2019s \u2013 she\u2019d only started talking to him again when she\u2019d had a vision and, more subject to requirement than anything else, she\u2019d had to tell him where the danger was.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was only kidding,\u201d he murmured sourly, when Cordelia had ignored him for the fifth time that car ride. Wesley had almost stepped in to play mediator between the two when Spike had dared to lean over and flick Cordelia on the back of the head and demand sullenly that she at least bitch him out.<\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t used to silences where Cordelia was concerned.<\/p>\n

She\u2019d been awake for two months \u2013 both of those not easy as alliances were forged and friendships seemingly ruined, hanging in tatters out the window of the big necro-tempered glass building that Angel felt comfortable calling home these days.<\/p>\n

Wolfram and Hart. The very bane of their existence for more than four years. The place that had brought back Vocah to destroy Angel\u2019s link (and yeah, she was still a little pissy about that) and the place that, for its own selfish gain, had brought back Darla, trying to drive Angel to the dark side.<\/p>\n

It had worked, at least at first. After locking a bunch of lawyers in a cellar and leaving the majority for dead, Angel had gone insano for awhile opting to stalk Darla and generally scar Cordelia for life by making her think that Angelus was on the loose again.<\/p>\n

That she\u2019d be on the end of yet another clean up operation, only maybe this time she wouldn\u2019t be so lucky.<\/p>\n

They\u2019d fought back from that. Angel had clawed his way out of the very depths of despair and come back more focussed, more willing than ever to make a difference. And Cordelia was seriously wondering how he\u2019d got from that to this, working inside the belly of the beast and taking most of his friends along with him.<\/p>\n

She risked a glance at Wesley, watching him through the partition in the lobby as he did his usual fact-checking on the case they were working on. She\u2019d moved back into the hotel the day after she\u2019d woken up, finding it dusty and deserted, though it still felt like home to her.<\/p>\n

Spike had followed a day later, Wesley a week. The others, it seemed, were too far gone to notice anything unusual about the fact that they were working for the very place they\u2019d fought for four years and Cordelia, clinging to the hope that maybe they\u2019d been brainwashed, mentioned it to Wesley.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d shaken his head with a sad smile, obliterated any hope that she\u2019d had left, and asked softly, \u201cThen how did I get away?\u201d<\/p>\n

She had to admit he was right. Wesley was smart \u2013 possibly the smartest guy she\u2019d ever had the fortune of meeting \u2013 but then Angel was too, most of the time. He actually believed that they were doing good in there, selling some company line about everything being a-ok when Cordelia happened to know that it wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d been at her bedside within 15 minutes of her waking up. He\u2019d put his arms around her and Cordelia had thought that, despite their problems, they\u2019d get through it. Until Angel offered to take her shopping.<\/p>\n

Now Cordelia, ever the pragmatist, was not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Stuck wearing an icky hospital gown, who was she to say no to all the gorgeous clothes that Angel was fairly throwing at her? Was she curious about the money?<\/p>\n

Sure! But she could bury her head in the sand enough to think that maybe they\u2019d won the lottery or something, right?<\/p>\n

Wrong. She\u2019d first noticed something was up when they were heading home from the Beverly Center in Angel\u2019s snazzy new Viper, going in the opposite direction of the hotel. \u201cUh, I know I\u2019ve been in a coma and all, but shouldn\u2019t we be heading that way?\u201d She asked, pointing in the other direction.<\/p>\n

Angel swallowed, looked a little guilty, and said, \u201cCordy, we need to talk.\u201d<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

At first, she thought she was hearing things. Surely that couldn\u2019t be right \u2013 her best friends working for the very people who\u2019d tried to, oh, kill them on a regular basis?<\/p>\n

Turns out, she\u2019d heard right after all, because as Angel pressed the button that led them to the top floor and his office, Cordelia realised that this was something she couldn\u2019t be wrong about. It was right there in front of her \u2013 people crawling out of the woodwork to pay homage (not literally, thank God) to \u2018The Boss\u2019.<\/p>\n

She gaped at him the full time, especially when the guy that looked like the Devil himself offered Angel a game of squash tomorrow. \u201cAre you kidding me?\u201d She whispered hoarsely, \u201cI mean, really, are you?\u201d<\/p>\n

Angel shepherded her into his office with a carefully placed hand at the small of her back and Cordelia let rip, demanding to know what the hell was going on around here.<\/p>\n

She didn\u2019t get much of an explanation. Wesley came in, followed closely by Fred and Gunn, and when Cordelia asked where Connor was only to be met with blank stares from the others, Angel\u2019s face turned thunderous and he asked if he could talk to Cordelia alone.<\/p>\n

It was like those conversations they usually had, only this time Angel was doing the talking and Cordelia was doing the listening. She stared at him open-mouthed, barely breathing, and when the door opened and in launched Harmony.<\/p>\n

Cordelia took a step back, giving Angel yet another \u2018what the hell?!\u2019 <\/i>look as her former friend threw her arms around her.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh my God! Fred told me you were back, but I totally had to see for myself. Do you know what this means? We can go shopping and\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

That was it. The final straw, the one that broke the camel\u2019s back or whatever the hell that old saying was. \u201cAre you freaking kidding me?!\u201d Cordelia shrieked.<\/p>\n

Angel wasn\u2019t polite when he shoved Harmony out of the office, he turned back to Cordelia, ready to face her wrath and stave off what he could and was pinned by an incredulous gaze.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is this, bizarroworld? First, I find out that you work for Wolfram and Hart and your son doesn\u2019t really exist anymore \u2013 except to us and, for some reason, some girl called Eve who makes you flinch every time you say her name.<\/p>\n

And now I find out that my replacement is Harmony<\/i>? You do remember she\u2019s a vampire, right Angel? One without a soul, as you so keenly pointed out to me three year ago. And did I mention the trying to kill us part?\u201d<\/p>\n

Angel looked lost for a moment, \u201cI wasn\u2019t\u2026she was\u2026Wesley hired her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWesley?!\u201d Cordelia looked disgusted. As if the whole thing wasn\u2019t bad enough! They worked for Wolfram and Hart, Angel had raped the minds of all his friends and they\u2019d hired Harmony as her replacement.<\/p>\n

Cordelia felt a little sick.<\/p>\n

Sensing that she wasn\u2019t at her best right now, Angel gestured to the chair behind her, \u201cCordelia, perhaps you should sit down.\u201d<\/p>\n

She did so, heavily, unable to believe that this was happening. They worked for Wolfram and Hart. Worked here as in clocked into the Big House of Evil every single morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow, Angel?\u201d she asked quietly, her elation at having woken up from her coma gone and replaced with a sense of dread.<\/p>\n

\u201cLilah,\u201d he murmured, \u201cShe told me if I took this deal\u2026she\u2019d make it different for Connor. He wouldn\u2019t remember this. He was so hurt, so confused. He tried to kill people. He tried to kill you.\u201d<\/p>\n

She felt her stomach roll, an unpleasant feeling that made her want to throw up the little she\u2019d had to eat in the last year since her coma.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey had the best hospitals, Cordy. After your coma, I just wanted to make sure you\u2019d be looked after.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cordelia blinked, \u201cYou wanted to make sure I\u2019d be looked after so you took Lilah\u2019s word?\u201d<\/p>\n

Angel nodded.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe same Lilah who sent me killer visions so you\u2019d go free psycho-boy from that hell dimension with Skip?\u201d Angel managed to look at least a little uncomfortable at this, \u201cThe same Lilah who helped Vocah put me in a coma when they wanted to sever your link to the PTB?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCordy, when I took that deal\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you took that deal what?\u201d She asked, stepping down on the end of his sentence, \u201cYou\u2019re working for people who tried to kill us a not small portion of the time. How the hell do you explain that?\u201d<\/p>\n

How could he explain that? Angel stared at her a moment, knowing damn well that once Cordelia started in on their lack of helping the helpless this year, he\u2019d be screwed. Once he\u2019d tried for a normal patrol, just once, and the Wolfram and Hart squad had been on him so fast, making him sign papers and pose for publicity shots, that Angel\u2019s head had spun.<\/p>\n

Sure, he\u2019d fired that squad soon after, but he was still finding his feet, so to speak, changing things from the inside out.<\/p>\n

They were making a difference, weren\u2019t they?<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t even have an answer,\u201d said Cordelia, disgusted. Connor, she got. She didn\u2019t want to hear his son had died either but there should have been another way \u2013 a way that didn\u2019t involve raping the minds of their friends and working for the enemy.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust\u2026just let me show you around first, please? We\u2019re doing good here, Cordy.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019d raised an eyebrow at that and at the end of her tour of Wolfram and Hart, when she\u2019d visited Fred\u2019s department of science, Wes\u2019 department of translation, Gunn with his nifty new knowledge of the law and Lorne\u2019s entertainment division, Cordelia had turned to Angel, deflated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is doing good?\u201d She whispered.<\/p>\n

Angel looked wounded. He\u2019d so wanted her to believe that there was something of value here, something that they were doing that made things right and the fact that she didn\u2019t\u2026 \u201cI didn\u2019t have any other choice, Cordelia.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, Angel, you did. Maybe not a lot of choices, but you still had some.\u201d At the end of the day, he\u2019d signed that contract \u2013 he\u2019d talked them into signing that contract \u2013 they\u2019d all said themselves that they weren\u2019t honestly sure why. \u201cYou used to care what happened to people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not fair,\u201d he murmured, his jaw tensed.<\/p>\n

Cordelia sighed, \u201cIsn\u2019t it? All I see is numbers, Angel. Figures and graphs that exist to help you keep peddling your company line while all you\u2019re doing is trying to balance the books against Wolfram and Hart\u2019s Big Show of Evil. When was the last time you were out there fighting? Not for a client, but for someone who really needed it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re making a difference,\u201d he tried again.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, you\u2019re just treading water. Did you ever think that maybe they had an ulterior motive in all of this? That they could keep close tabs on you and your gang of do-gooders while they set other things into place? Bigger<\/i> things?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course I thought about that,\u201d he snapped, \u201cHow could I not?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen why the hell didn\u2019t you listen to it? Jesus, Angel, even the dumbest of animals has some basic instinct that makes it want to survive\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t say that,\u201d he growled. \u201cYou don\u2019t know what it was like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cordelia\u2019s eyes blazed suddenly and Angel knew he\u2019d overstepped the mark, \u201cDon\u2019t know what it was like?\u201d she repeated. \u201cOh, I\u2019m sorry, Angel. Were you body-jacked and raped so that all of this could be put into place? I was there through all of it \u2013 every single little part of it \u2013 having my strings pulled like some fucking human puppet, listening to stuff come out of my mouth that I wouldn\u2019t have dreamed of saying, not to anybody, least of all your son,\u201d she snapped.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I was there afterwards, too, on those rare occasions when you came to see me, when you told me yourself that you\u2019d screwed up, that you didn\u2019t see a way out. So don\u2019t give me that bullshit about not knowing, Angel, because I know more than you think.\u201d<\/p>\n

They\u2019d said too much. They stood apart, bright, immovable battle lines drawn between them and Cordelia realised then that it was too much, not enough. She hadn\u2019t expected everything to be the same when she\u2019d got out of her coma, but she hadn\u2019t expected it to be this different either.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think\u2026 I think I need to go,\u201d she said, her voice a little hoarse as she watched Angel, looking for any sign of emotion flitting across his face. If he cared, he didn\u2019t show it. It was like he couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cGo where?\u201d He asked, deadpan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know. Somewhere. Anywhere that\u2019s not here.\u201d<\/p>\n

His gaze moved to hers, his mouth open as if in protest. He quickly shut it when he noticed the look in her eyes. \u201cI\u2019ll take you anywhere you want to go,\u201d he said quietly.<\/p>\n

\u201cHome,\u201d Cordelia breathed out, \u201cI want to go home.\u201d<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

That had been pretty much the end of any civil conversation they\u2019d had since she\u2019d woken up.<\/p>\n

Home, it had turned out, was rented by a new couple \u2013 one who\u2019d gotten wise to the thing that had been evicting tenants since Cordelia had gone missing shortly after her little amnesia trip.<\/p>\n

Home wasn\u2019t her apartment any more because Phantom Dennis wasn\u2019t there; he\u2019d been exorcised, sent packing to the other side.<\/p>\n

Her eyes had misted over at that and, left with a lump in her throat, Cordelia had glanced up at Angel. \u201cI guess it was silly to think everything would be the same when I came back,\u201d she said quietly.<\/p>\n

A whole year had passed and she\u2019d expected, what, everything to be waiting where she left it?<\/p>\n

\u201cCordy\u2026you can stay with me,\u201d he offered. \u201cJust until you find your feet.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019d explained about his penthouse. A few months ago, Cordelia would have jumped at the chance \u2018cause, well, hello penthouse. But the fact remained, and she simply could not let this go, his penthouse was funded by Wolfram and Hart.<\/p>\n

As was this snazzy little car that Angel was sitting in.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere\u2019s the Plymouth?\u201d She asked suddenly, catching Angel off guard.<\/p>\n

He shifted uncomfortably for a moment, not wanting to meet her gaze, \u201cStill at the Hyperion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cordelia blinked. So he\u2019d left that behind too. The Plymouth, the hotel, everything, \u201cIs the hotel empty?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think so,\u201d Angel nodded. \u201cIt\u2019s still leased in my name.\u201d He waited a beat, \u201cYou want to\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah,\u201d Cordelia nodded, \u201cI think I do.<\/p>\n

Part 2<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Title: Walk on Gilded Splinters Author: Ficbitch82 – aka Christie Posted: Rating: N-17 Email Content: C\/A Summary: Cordelia wakes up before YW in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-completed-fics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3170\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}