They were sitting in the Fiumicino Airport in Rome, waiting for their flight. It had taken a day to sort everything out – a day in which Cordelia had sort of… Floated in and out of astral-consciousness for a while.<\/p>\n
Buffy had talked with Dawn, said that Angel was in trouble but not much else and loaned the airfare from Giles who was currently in England heading up the new-wave of the Watcher\u2019s Council.<\/p>\n
He\u2019d remained tight-lipped on the Angel front but from the little Cordelia understood from Buffy? He\u2019d known about Angel\u2019s career choice far longer than Buffy had and that had put Slay-Gal in a shitty, shitty mood.<\/p>\n
Cordelia had tried being nice. She\u2019d even defended Giles, seeing as how he was the one remaining member of the Scooby Gang that hadn\u2019t hated her at one point or another, but Buffy was pissed.<\/i><\/p>\n
More than that, she was hurt because this, apparently, was not something for her to be kept out of the loop on. In fact? This was very much her loop, she\u2019d told Cordelia, because maybe she could\u2019ve come to Angel earlier and–<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd done what?\u201d Cordelia had asked, maybe a little rankled at the fact that Buffy thought she could get through to Angel in an instant and wasn\u2019t that the point, here? \u201cPoked him with a sword? Sent him to hell in a fire-weaved handbasket with that Alfalfa guy?\u201d<\/p>\n
Buffy had folded her arms, glared at her, and become uber-aware of the fact that the people around her were trying not to look because clearly, she was crazy. \u201cThat was Acathla, Tact-Girl, and that\u2019s not even a little funny.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou think I\u2019m in this for the funny? He\u2019s not gonna get out of his contract with Wolfram and Hart just \u2018cause you go running in all stakes-a-blazin\u2019…\u201d Not, of course, that she knew how to get him out of said contract… She was just gonna work on that when she got to it.<\/p>\n
A bell sounded overhead and the stiff, informal voice told them that Buffy\u2019s plane was beginning to board rows A-through-D.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m F,\u201d said Buffy, glancing first at Cordelia then the crowd that had steadily amassed around them. \u201cAnd people are totally looking at me like I\u2019m crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell you are talking to yourself,\u201d Cordelia pointed out, knowing nobody else could see her except her–Well, intended, she guessed.<\/p>\n
She\u2019d discovered she could astral project herself pretty much by accident when, overwhelmed by the most depressing coma-visit ever, she\u2019d tried to make herself wake up.<\/p>\n
Instead of waking up, she\u2019d shunted herself out of her body and right into a pervy janitor who\u2019d installed cameras in the women\u2019s bathrooms of the hospital she was in.<\/p>\n
Creeped out entirely by that thought, she hadn\u2019t tried again until a week and a half later when Angel was sitting beside her, his hand wrapped tightly around hers.<\/p>\n
She\u2019d tried to force herself out of her coma and into Angel\u2019s mind but–Something was blocking her.<\/p>\n
That same something, she feared soon after, was blocking Angel\u2019s thoughts. Not only Angel\u2019s, though. Wes, Gunn, Fred, Lorne… Every one of them was like a closed book where other, lesser mortals happened to be open.<\/p>\n
She couldn\u2019t figure it out and she was starting to worry that by the time she did, she\u2019d be too late.<\/p>\n
Angel kept talking about working from the belly of the beast, trying to spin her some everything\u2019s-fine-company-line about doing good when Cordelia knew for a damn fact that he was struggling to keep his head above water.<\/p>\n
She sighed, trying not to focus on that, when she noticed some Italian stallion making eyes at Buffy.<\/p>\n
Crazy Buffy who, she\u2019d pointed out two minutes ago, was talking to herself.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is it about you?\u201d She demanded after he\u2019d left, not at all oblivious to the fact that Buffy hadn\u2019t even glanced in his direction. \u201cI get the superhero thing. And hell, if I even remotely swung that way I wouldn\u2019t kick you out of bed,\u201d she mused, \u201cbut it\u2019s like every guy and his dog falls all over himself to get with you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Buffy snorted at that. \u201cSure. And then they get up close and realise what a giant freak I am.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cordelia actually found herself laughing. \u201cSo with you on that. Vision-brain? Not exactly bringing the men-folk rushing my way, y\u2019know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cVision-brain?\u201d Buffy arched an eyebrow, looking entirely puzzled and just like that? Cordelia was starting to feel like Giles and his \u2018One Girl in All The World\u2019 schpiel.<\/p>\n
\u201cLong story short? I got visions. Of people that needed saving. Pretty much almost killed me until I got a little demon in me…\u201d<\/p>\n
She almost laughed again at the look on Little Ms. Likes to Slay\u2019s face. \u201cThat isn\u2019t as pervy as it sounds,\u201d she clarified, though she\u2019d forget the fact that she\u2019d been knocked up with demon spawn not once but twice and both times very much against her will.<\/p>\n
Her mood soured a little at that thought. \u201cThe Powers made me part-demon so I could cope with the visions. Only… It didn\u2019t work out like I\u2019d planned.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like anyone had planned, really. She didn\u2019t figure Angel had relished the thought of what the thing inside her had made her do with his son, though it wasn\u2019t like he talked about it or anything.<\/p>\n
The nauseous feeling bubbled up in her throat and she wondered at the fact that she could still feel anything when she was without a body.<\/p>\n
\u201cCordelia?\u201d<\/p>\n
She\u2019d zoned out, she guessed… Not even close to spanking her inner moppet about everything that\u2019d gone on last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cSorry,\u201d she murmured, plastering a smile on her face. Buffy was waiting. \u201cYou say something?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI just–\u201d Buffy paused, \u201cI guess things changed a lot after high school, huh?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUnderstatement,\u201d Cordelia smiled faintly, thinking her life had changed drastically from what she thought it would be. \u201cHell, you died.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd came back,\u201d Buffy returned the tiny smile. \u201cAnd craterized our hometown.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cordelia blinked, surprised. Of all the things Angel had told her during her coma, that wasn\u2019t one of them. \u201cHuh?\u201d<\/p>\n
She spent the next ten minutes with her emotions ranging from fairly impressed to fairly freaked out. Buffy had defeated The First and unleashed a whole bunch of slayers on the world. Her entire hometown – which she always thought she\u2019d go back to someday – was lying at the bottom of a crater.<\/p>\n
\u201cWow,\u201d she murmured, feeling goosebumps crawl up her non-existent arms.<\/p>\n
\u201cMultiply that by a thousand and then you have where I am now,\u201d Buffy admitted, \u201cI still don\u2019t think I\u2019m past that yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I think that pretty much covers the life-changing event you don\u2019t get over in the blink of an eye,\u201d she told her. \u201cWhy Rome?\u201d Cordelia asked suddenly. \u201cI mean, of all the places you could\u2019ve picked…\u201d<\/p>\n
Buffy shrugged, \u201cI don\u2019t know. I was the Queen of the Unofficial Zipcode for a while. Dawn and I travelled but… She needed roots, y\u2019know? And then there was school…\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are schools in America,\u201d Cordelia pointed out, not unkindly. \u201cWe actually went to one on a Hellmouth and we survived. Mostly.\u201d Not without a few thousand bumps and bruises and dead classmates along the way but it was a small price to pay for getting out of her giant-snake-demon attending graduation mostly unscathed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe tried Cleveland for a while but… It was like we\u2019d traded one small town for another,\u201d said Buffy carefully. \u201cI figured our change needed to be… Bigger,\u201d she settled on finally.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you moved, what, a whole continent away?\u201d Cordelia shook her head. That seemed like something pretty huge to be running away from. \u201cBig change… Was it far enough?\u201d<\/p>\n
Chiamando volo 781. Tutti i passeggeri per 781.<\/i><\/p>\n
Buffy\u2019s gaze dropped, though Cordelia didn\u2019t miss the look of thank God,<\/i> on her face at not having to answer that question.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s us,\u201d she told Cordelia, hoisting her bag up her shoulder. \u201cWe should probably…\u201d She let the rest of her question trail off and starting walking towards her boarding gate.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n