{"id":4014,"date":"2015-07-06T00:10:57","date_gmt":"2015-07-05T23:10:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/?p=4014"},"modified":"2015-07-06T01:03:07","modified_gmt":"2015-07-06T00:03:07","slug":"bad-timing-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/2015\/07\/06\/bad-timing-20\/","title":{"rendered":"Bad Timing. 20"},"content":{"rendered":"

Part 20<\/b>: Spanking Inner Moppets<\/em><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere\u2019s Dawn again?\u201d Willow asked. She rubbed at her eyes tiredly, even though it was only early evening.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad stopped by to take her out for lunch and some shopping. Wants to make up for not seeing her in a year and a half\u201d Buffy mumbled over a yawn. Even though she had slept until after two, the events of the previous night had her running on empty. Willow and Xander looked similarly worse for wear.<\/p>\n

The three of them were uneasily \u201crelaxing\u201d in the lobby of the Hyperion. Their reluctant hosts were nowhere to be seen. Angel had yet to come downstairs, Fred had gone for a late lunch with Gunn, and Wes was MIA.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen\u2019s she getting back,\u201d Xander asked, more because he would be glad for another familiar rather than out of an intense need to speak to Dawn. He was more than ready to get back to Anya and Sunnydale, where he wasn\u2019t so out of his element<\/p>\n

\u201cShould be in the next hour or so,\u201d Buffy answered. \u201cWe could probably be home before nine or ten tonight.\u201d That had Willow and Xander sitting up.<\/p>\n

\u201cUh, but, what about Cordelia?\u201d Xander stammered. \u201cI mean, she\u2019s in the hospital. Shouldn\u2019t we wait? Or at least buy a plant or something.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buffy flinched. If Xander and Willow knew how Cordelia ended up in the hospital, they would totally veto leaving before seeing her again. I don\u2019t want to see her again. Have to thank her..ughh. I don\u2019t want to owe my life to Cordelia. That is a conversation I am so not having. <\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cXander, what can our being here possibly do. It\u2019s not like we\u2019re doctors. It\u2019s not even like we\u2019re her friends. And you know, none of this would have happened if it had just been me and Angel, like I suggested. If she can\u2019t fight, she shouldn\u2019t be getting in the middle like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Okay, now I\u2019m just being childish. The only real reason she got hurt was to keep ME from getting hurt. <\/i>Her two friend\u2019s shocked looks pushed Buffy to continue. \u201cHey, I\u2019m not saying it\u2019s her fault. I\u2019m just not going to buy her a medal for getting injured in the line of duty. It was a cut. In the grand scheme of things, it was just a cut. Hello, I jumped to my death. Let\u2019s look at this with a little perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUm, Buffy, maybe you need a little perspective. They had to pump three units of blood into her,\u201d Willow said haltingly.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah. That\u2019s like a 12-course meal for Angel,\u201d Xander, trying to inject some humor into what was turning into a very tense discussion. Nobody laughed.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Angel didn\u2019t know what to do. He had woken up, taken a quick shower, and was getting dressed when his son woke up from his own nap. After giving him a quick change, Angel had been heading downstairs for bottles and blood (though happily not bottles OF blood) when he had heard the Scoobies talking.<\/p>\n

For some reason, their tone had him pausing and he had stood at the top of the stairs, telling himself there was really nothing wrong with eavesdropping, especially when people were talking in the middle of the lobby of the hotel, a hotel he happened to own.<\/p>\n

When he heard the Scoobies might be leaving soon, he had felt nothing but relief. He and Buffy hadn\u2019t talked since the kiss the night before and he would be damn close to perfectly happy if it never came up again. It was clear to him now that Buffy wanted him, that she had come here with the intention of getting together again, but he wasn\u2019t exactly sure why.<\/p>\n

They hadn\u2019t parted well the last time, they hadn\u2019t talked in months, and the time they had spent alone together this weekend hadn\u2019t exactly been chock full of chemistry. He didn\u2019t want to have the \u201cI think we should just be friends,\u201d speech, not with her. Especially since Buffy and I, we\u2019ve never been friends before.<\/i><\/p>\n

The topic switched to Cordelia and Angel had to stop himself from squeezing the softly cooing baby in his arms too hard. Before he had just been confused by Buffy. Now he was officially angry. How dare she? Is she actually blaming Cordelia for getting hurt? What the hell is wrong with her?<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cGetting an earful, are you?\u201d Angel didn\u2019t realize that Lorne was standing right next to him until he spoke. He had no idea how long the demon had been there.<\/p>\n

\u201cUh, I was going downstairs, and then I heard, and I couldn\u2019t help\u2026\u201d Angel stammered.<\/p>\n

\u201cEasy big fella. No biggie. Nothing wrong with keeping your eyes and ears open. You\u2019d be surprised how much you can learn that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShould I go down there? I mean, what Buffy\u2019s saying, about Cordy, it\u2019s, it\u2019s not fair.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think, for the time being, us three should just stay up here on the observation deck. See what other handy information we can pick up,\u201d Lorne decided. He had the uneasy feeling that the shit was about to hit the proverbial fan. And the less uneasy feeling that that was exactly what needed happen.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Buffy sighed. \u201cI\u2019m not saying that Cordelia\u2019s the devil you guys\u2014though I admit it seemed like that in high school. It\u2019s just, there\u2019s always an ulterior motive with her. I\u2019m sure she didn\u2019t just push me out of the way for no reason. She probably just\u2026\u201d Buffy trailed off. She had just said WAY too much.<\/p>\n

She expected a simultaneous \u201cWhat\u201d and Willow and Xander didn\u2019t disappoint her. The floodgates burst open.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe pushed you?\u201d Willow asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen, last night?\u201d Xander added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs that when she got hurt?<\/p>\n

\u201cDid she see the demon or was she just angry and pushing you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo Cordy let some demon slice her open to keep it from slicing you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDid she get in the way by accident? Was she trying to push you into the demon?\u201d<\/p>\n

Buffy held up her hand. Miraculously, it managed to quiet her two friends down. \u201cOkay, I\u2019m not totally clear on this, cause it happened very fast, but I guess Cordelia saw this demon about to attack me and, god only knows why, she just knocked me down and took the hit. I don\u2019t know the reason, but I\u2019m sure there is a reason. That\u2019s what I\u2019m trying to tell you guys. That Cordelia Chase is never just nice or good for no reason. She always has a reason, usually one that benefits her personally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Xander looked to Willow for a minute than turned back to Buffy. \u201cHey, Buffster. We haven\u2019t really seen her in three years. Can any of us really know what she\u2019s \u2018always\u2019 like?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease Xander. I know you guys had the intense closet time, but I know her just as well as you. And we both know that Cordelia was a manipulative bitch in Sunnydale and she still is, despite her little random acts of kindness. She hasn\u2019t changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buffy\u2019s head was starting to hurt. She really wasn\u2019t looking for them to be all-practical and make sense. She just wanted them to blindly agree that Buffy=good, Cordy=bad and then to drive her home.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell,\u201d Willow ventured, \u201cI know she wasn\u2019t the friendliest, but she could have changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSHE HASN\u2019T CHANGED,\u201d Buffy shot back. \u201cNothing has changed. No one has changed.\u201d There was a shocked silence and Buffy realized that she had been yelling and she was getting the concerned face from her friends. She might have gone to far.<\/p>\n

Finally Willow had to ask. Something was clearly wrong here and she had had it with all weirdness that was Buffy lately. \u201cWhy is it so hard to believe that Cordy\u2019s changed?\u201d<\/p>\n

Now Willow\u2019s calling Cordelia Cordy <\/i>Buffy thought. Whatever happened to loyalty?<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cYou know why Buffy,\u201d came a voice from near the door. \u201cYou know why you can\u2019t admit that people change, that I\u2019ve changed.\u201d It was Cordelia.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

From his perch on the stairs, Angel had been caught just as unaware as the Scoobies. He couldn\u2019t believe he hadn\u2019t noticed Cordelia coming in. That might have something to do with the bomb Buffy had dropped.<\/p>\n

Cordelia had gotten hurt trying to save Buffy? HE had no idea what to think about that.What the hell is Cordy doing here? <\/i>She was supposed to be in the hospital. She looked like she needed to be in the hospital. He had never seen her so pale. And yet, even from the stairs, he could see that steely-eyed determinism. She had clearly heard most, if not all, that had been said about her.<\/p>\n

Oddly enough, she didn\u2019t look angry, just\u2026Angel didn\u2019t know. She looked like she wasn\u2019t going to let this one go. Angel gulped and swallowed the shame he felt for rejoicing in the fact that he wasn\u2019t down in the lobby right now.<\/p>\n

Part 21<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Part 20: Spanking Inner Moppets *** \u201cWhere\u2019s Dawn again?\u201d Willow asked. She rubbed at her eyes tiredly, even though it was only early…<\/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-4014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-completed-fics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4014","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=4014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4014\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}