Part 29<\/b><\/p>\n
“Fred.” Cordelia paced.<\/p>\n
“Almost. Okay.” She put down her pencil.<\/p>\n
“I’d get comfortable if I was you, she’s a lot like Wesley.\u201d Cordelia dropped herself on the bed, lying out pushing a pillow under her arms and chest as she faced the foot of the bed.<\/p>\n
Angel blinked as the young woman showed once again exactly how comfortable she was in his room.<\/p>\n
Gunn slouched down with his back against the bed next to Cordy. “Need some chips and a soda.”<\/p>\n
“Popcorn would be good.” Cordelia sighed.<\/p>\n
Fred cleared her throat, standing, showing the first page of her chart. She paused and frowned. “This would be easier with my board.”<\/p>\n
“You’ll do fine.”<\/p>\n
“You know what would be perfect is power point.”<\/p>\n
“That’s my girl.”<\/p>\n
“Does Wesley know that?” Cordelia whispered into Gunn’s ear.<\/p>\n
“Uh.” The black man looked up in confusion.<\/p>\n
“Nothing. By the way, I’m sorry I hit you,” She added softly.<\/p>\n
“I was an ass.\u201d Gunn nodded accepting her apology and adding his own. “Nice right hook.” he winked ending any further discussion.<\/p>\n
Cordy smiled and faced the young woman again. “For your birthday.”<\/p>\n
“Really.” Fred smiled, briefly caught up in the excitement of having a large screen and a flashing dot.<\/p>\n
“Down girl.\u201d Gunn smiled.<\/p>\n
“Oh, sorry. This first is easy.\u201d Fred pointed to a long straight line, interrupted with dates and names. “Here, we have Liam being turned by Darla.” she pointed to the beginning of the line. “Giving us Angelus, it goes on until, here,” she stopped at the next date.<\/p>\n
\u201cAngelus is cursed by the gypsies and now we have Angel all the way until here,” she stopped at the 1998 date. “Then we get Angelus for short while, when Angel lost his soul. Here we get Angel again.\u201d She swished her finger along the rest of the straight line. That’s our base time line, how things were and are, or at least should be.”<\/p>\n
Angel felt another surreal moment coming on. He was in a classroom. A crazy pretty young teacher was telling the class, him, all the dates, and times of his history, if he blinked; he was sure that the other students were laughing or throwing things. He glanced over to Cordelia and Gunn. Okay, not students and they weren’t laughing or throwing things, they were listening with the attention of those that had heard it all before. He looked back to the young woman. No longer a classroom or a teacher. Just the crazy woman reciting knowledge that proved she knew him. Angel wanted the surreal moment back. This couldn’t all be real. But, it was and the young woman was still talking.<\/p>\n
“Now, here” She pointed to the end of the line.\u201d Is when Wolfram & Hart do the first time spell, kidnapping Cordy and tossing her into 1898.” Fred took her pencil and marked an x in between the beginning and the date that started Angel.<\/p>\n
She paused. “Angel, here.\u201d She stopped and pointed to the end. “Discovers that Wolfram & Hart have kidnapped Cordy, goes beats up Lilah and retrieving the spell and the…”<\/p>\n
“Fred,” Cordelia interrupted.<\/p>\n
“Yes.”<\/p>\n
“Just stick to the spell, okay. The other part isn’t really relevant.”<\/p>\n
“But.”<\/p>\n
“Angel \u2018little a\u2019 doesn’t need that information, okay. We don\u2019t want to overload him.\u201d<\/p>\n
“But.” She frowned. “Okay. I guess. Well. Angel and Wesley go to 1898.” she drew a curve that traced the one she drew for Cordelia’s path. They bring her home.” Fred retraced the curve,\u201d leaving Angelus in 1898 and then.\u201d She swished again. “Angel goes on- he is Angel A though, because the time line had been slightly changed. He is no longer the Angel of before- so A. Angel A now remembered Cordelia’s interaction with Angelus 1- he’s now 1 because of the time changes, too. Angel A said that he remembered seeing a brunette with…”<\/p>\n
“With visions.”<\/p>\n
“That’s not what he said.”<\/p>\n
“Close enough.” Cordelia stated firmly.<\/p>\n
Fred frowned again. “He remembered m…” she stopped again as Cordelia interrupted.<\/p>\n
\u201cBiting.”<\/p>\n
“No. Cordy,” Fred stood her ground. “He said marked, he specifically made the distinction. Angelus marked you in 1898. That is to relevant. It was because of that…”<\/p>\n
“Fred,” Cordelia warned.<\/p>\n
“That the memory stayed with him as well as the memory that you escaped.” she finished and turned to Angel \u2018little a\u2019. “Angel A said that he didn’t remember that it was Cordelia. The face of the woman was a blur, but the memory of his,” she looked to Cordy,” his interest remained. He, of course, recognized that it was Cordy when they all got home. But, that was okay, because nothing in the time line really changed. Angel A said that,” she jabbed at the 1998 date,” when he lost his soul then he was too preoccupied with that Buffy girl, he thought he was in love with…”<\/p>\n
“Fred, Angel was in love with Buffy.\u201d Cordelia gave a small exasperated shake of her head.<\/p>\n
“I said that, he thought he was in love with that Buffy girl.”<\/p>\n
“Fred, there was no thinking about it he was in love with Buffy.”<\/p>\n
“If you say so. I guess.” Fred shrugged, showing her doubts on the subject.<\/p>\n
“Fred.”<\/p>\n
“Fine. He loved Buffy. He drew a bunch of pictures of her and not of you. Whatever, his ‘love’,” Fred quoted, “wasn’t important except that it kept Angelus A’s attention off you, that’s what was important.”<\/p>\n
“Why does she do that?\u201d Cordelia whispered, shaking her head into the pillow.<\/p>\n
Gunn shrugged. “Loves you, wants to keep the shiny perfect image of Kyerumption and Moria going. Thinks everything you two do is sweet and romantic.”<\/p>\n
Angel’s confused gaze went from the Fred girl to Cordelia. Angel wanted to know why the young woman did that too. He didn’t understand. He would almost think that the young woman was jealous of Darla and Buffy, except that didn’t make any sense, since she seemed to be offended on the behalf of Cordy.<\/p>\n
Fred was still talking. “Angel A said that he hadn’t realized the resemblance of Cordelia to the girl he dreamed about. So, everything in 1998 happened like it was supposed to and we get Angel A again, so I guess the thing with the Buffy girl was for the best.”<\/p>\n
“Fred,” Cordelia shushed her.<\/p>\n
“What? I said it was for the best.” Fred picked up another piece of paper that showed the same diagram. “The next time,” she pointed to 1898.” Wolfram & Hart brought Angelus 1 to here.” she pointed to the end of the line and something happened.\u201d She veered drawing a dotted line.<\/p>\n
“We know what happened.”<\/p>\n
“No, we don’t not on this chart.” Fred shook her head. “We know that here,\u201d she pointed back to the end. “Wesley 2 and Gunn 2 showed up and told Angel A, Wesley 1 and Gunn 1 that they had to get back to the hotel and save you from Angelus 1. So, you see.” she pointed to the end. “Something happened in that future that made Wesley 2 and Gunn 2 go back. What I think and what Wesley 1 thinks is that,” she picked up her pen. “Is that Cordelia was dead, most likely a vampire and Angel A lost his soul. That was the only reason we could think of why Wesley 2 and Gunn 2 showed up without Angel A.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAngel wouldn\u2019t have lost his soul.\u201d Gunn argued. \u201cHe told us before he beat the crap out of bitch lawyer that his soul was bound. He couldn\u2019t have lost\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRight, unless Angelus 1 had gotten to Cordelia and turned her into a vampire or killed her in the regular way, but I bet he turned her. The interesting question is what then. Did Cordy the vamp do what she did later and kill Angelus 1 like she did Angelus B3, what happened with her and Angelus A- did she kill him or didn’t she, did Angelus A fight Angelus 1 over Cordy the vamp…who won\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFred,\u201d Cordelia yelled sharply. \u201cShut up.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCordy\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, Fred, you’re making things up. You don’t know what happened. I wasn\u2019t a vampire. Angel didn\u2019t lose his soul.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCordelia,\u201d Fred shook her head in disagreement. \u201cIt\u2019s the logical conclusion. Though, I think that Cordy the vamp wouldn’t have killed Angelus A after all Cordy loved Angel A, but did she kill Angelus 1 or did Angelus A. I’d bet Angelus A, because when Angel fought Angelus 1 in 1898 and when Angel A fought him at the hotel he won. Both times.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFred, shut up. None of that happened. You’re being nuts.” Cordelia pounded on the pillow.<\/p>\n
Angel nodded as Cordelia yelled. Nuttier than a fruit basket or cake or whatever. Except. “I beat Angelus 1, did I kill him.\u201d He said hopefully.<\/p>\n
“NO.” Cordelia rolled her eyes. “Star Trek rule of time travel- don’t change history. And my rule,” she glared at Fred. “Don’t make it up.”<\/p>\n
“Does that mean I didn’t beat him up or I just didn’t kill him.” Angel asked again.<\/p>\n
“Angel,” Cordelia snapped.<\/p>\n
“What?”<\/p>\n
“Beat the shit out of him, almost killed him, but had to send the fucker back.” Gunn said.<\/p>\n
Angel nodded. “Damn. Well at least I beat him up.”<\/p>\n
Cordelia flopped her head in the pillow, mumbling.<\/p>\n
“Cordy?\u201d Fred asked.<\/p>\n
“Can we move on, please? Angel showed up at the hotel in time, right before Angelus 1 appeared they fought, beating the shit out of him,” she added for Angel’s benefit with a glare. “Wesley and Gunn tranquilized them both. Angelus 1 was sent back. Everything was fine.\u201d She summarized urging Fred off that particular chart.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Wesley 2 and Gunn 2 came back and warned Angel A and he was able to save you.\u201d Fred looked apologetically at the vampire. \u201cWesley hadn\u2019t devised the memory potion then, so we don\u2019t know how things were changed. But, based on every thing else that we do know we can speculate with a high degree of accuracy,\u201d she looked back to Cordelia.<\/p>\n
\u201cHigh speculation of guessing.\u201d Cordelia snorted. “And whatever happened, nobody remembers, so therefore it didn\u2019t happen and doesn\u2019t matter.\u201d Cordelia repeated.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut, Cordelia it does matter. If Angel \u2018little a\u2019 is going to go back he has to understand that Angelus 1 will stop at nothing to get to you and Angelus 2 will also if he notices you, you said in your letter that he had. Angel \u2018little a\u2019 needs to understand the importance of making sure that any Angelus doesn\u2019t turn you or kill you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Angel just stared, the satisfaction of banging on Angelus fleeing rapidly as the room closed in on him, making Fred\u2019s voice merely a murmur. The future that the young woman had guessed may have not happened but the danger to Cordelia had been real. He didn\u2019t need to be convinced or understand what danger Cordelia would be in the presence of Angelus, any Angelus.<\/p>\n
He already knew that. It had been his greatest fear as he grew more and more dependent on Cordelia\u2019s friendship. Angelus could never touch her. His stomach churned and the room got smaller. Angelus had already touched her.<\/p>\n
Fred swirled to face the ashen vampire. \u201cWolfram & Hart started all this because they found a prophecy\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFred, shut up.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, Cordy, I\u2019ve thought about it and I think you are wrong, Angel \u2018little a\u2019 needs to know.\u201d She turned again to face the vampire. \u201cThey found a prophecy- the vampire with a soul will be damned if\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Angelus kills Angel\u2019s seer. There in five words or less.\u201d Cordelia glared at the other brunette.<\/p>\n
Angel switched his gaze back and forth from both women. Cordelia had cut off the other woman again. There was something that Cordelia didn\u2019t want him to know. The fog of fear cleared at his need to know rose. \u201cWhat was the prophecy, the longer version?\u201d<\/p>\n
Cordelia took a deep breath. \u201cWho remembers all the stupid words?\u201d she shot another glare at Fred, silently demanding her to stay quiet. \u201cIt was what I said. You would lose your soul if Angelus killed me. Your soul was bound,\u201d she pointed to the end of the solid line,<\/p>\n
\u201cso Satan toadies couldn\u2019t bring out Angelus in our present, so they started the time crap to get an available Angelus. Nutshell version but accurate. Right.\u201d She looked back at Fred.<\/p>\n
Fred shook her head but agreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan we move on NOW?\u201d Cordelia punched at the pillow and then clutched it tighter.<\/p>\n
“Wait, my soul is bound, when does that happen.”<\/p>\n
\u201cWeren\u2019t you listening?\u201d Fred shook her head, picked up her pen, and pointed to the approximate spot Cordelia had indicated.<\/p>\n
“None of that is important.” Cordelia said into her pillow.<\/p>\n
“Angel’s soul being bound is pretty damn important for us and you, that’s for damn sure.”<\/p>\n
“Gunn.\u201d Cordy shook her head and pleaded with flashing eyes for Fred to go to another topic.<\/p>\n
Angel looked again at Cordelia. The tension in her body had risen to an unimaginable level. He studied Gunn and Fred. Each wore different expressions. The woman\u2019s sad, the man\u2019s angry.<\/p>\n
\u201cCordy,\u201d Fred tried with a soft voice to apologize.<\/p>\n
\u201cHurry up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fred nodded reluctantly at her sharp tone. \u201cWhatever happened in that future was fixed. Cordelia was saved. Angelus 1 sent back and the line continued. We had hoped it was over then. Wesley 2 had told Wesley 1 to make sure that Wolfram & Hart\u2019s spell caster was killed. That was done.\u201d Fred paused, pulling up another sheet.<\/p>\n
Angel looked in fear at the piece of paper. How many were there. Hadn\u2019t it been bad enough already? The pain was an ice pick straight through each temple, spearing him completely through. He glanced at the humans wondering if they could see it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThings were fine. Great, even. Wesley had found a potion that eased the pain of the visions for Cordelia. Things were just good. But, then one day after a vision, Cordy fell unconscious. We didn\u2019t know at first why. Lorne read her and said that she didn\u2019t have a soul, that she would remain in that comatose state until, well, until we got her soul back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Angel\u2019s body tensed once again or had it ever relaxed. Never, ever ask a question that you couldn\u2019t bear to hear the answer to. He looked back to Cordelia. Her head was firm on the pillow, her knuckles clenched around the material, squeezing it until the feathers escaped and took flight.<\/p>\n
\u201cAngel A went straight to Wolfram & Hart, but got nowhere. All the lawyers he \u2026questioned didn\u2019t know. Wesley researched. Gunn and I helped wherever we could. Then a couple days later a letter showed up from Sunnydale dated 1998.\u201d Fred\u2019s pencil went to the area on her line. \u201cIt was from Cordy.\u201d Fred smiled at the young woman on the bed. \u201cWesley was really impressed that you did that. He was.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fred turned to Angel. \u201cSee, Cordy had written a letter in the past and arranged to have it delivered to us in the future, well our present. In it she told us where she was, exactly when she was and that not only Angelus 1 was there, but also Angelus 2 and that she was dating a guy named Xander. Who’s Xander? Why were you dating him?”<\/p>\n
“Fred.” Cordelia pleaded.<\/p>\n
“Good question, the guy was a moron.” Angel grumbled.<\/p>\n
“Angel, shut up.” Cordelia shook her head. “Fred, please. Stop editorializing.”<\/p>\n
“I…all right. Wolfram & Hart had transported Cordy’s soul depositing it in her teenage body and then sent Angelus 1 Sunnydale 1998. Cordy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat.\u201d She said in a defensive tone.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour turn?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no\u2026fine.” Cordelia grimaced at Fred’s unrelenting stare. “I woke up in my old bedroom. Freaked. Went to school to try to figure out what the hell happened. Avoided going into closets with Xander, listened to Buffy whine, put up with Harmony.\u201d Cordy shot a look at Gunn\u2019s moan.<\/p>\n
\u201cSorry girl, but she\u2019s a ditz vampire.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe wasn\u2019t then, just a ditz, okay. And you tried to pick her up until you found out. About her being a vampire, I mean.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho’s Harmony?\u201d Fred asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cA ditz vampire that tried to get us all eaten by Amway Vamps, before your time.\u201d Gunn groaned again.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was a\u2026friend of mine in high school, who happened to be turned and showed up in LA. I didn\u2019t know at first. I invited her in. She was okay, didn\u2019t bite or growl or anything. She thought she wanted to be good since she wasn\u2019t that great at being evil. I had a vision about some freaky vamp pyramid scheme. She\u2019d figured out how to be evil or at least follow those that were and set up us. God, she was always such a sheep.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Barbie let her go.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever.\u201d Cordelia mumbled into her pillow. \u201cAnyway, I realized that Angel of 1998 had already celebrated Buffy\u2019s birthday and was running around evil and in leather pants. Angelus 2. My plan was just to stay out of his way, lived through it once figured I could again. But, I had a vision and then another. During both, I ended up facing Angelus 2, then Angelus 1, and 2. That\u2019s when I wrote the letter. Angel showed up and then\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fred cleared her throat interrupting. \u201cSorry, but after Angel A left for 1998, Wesley, Gunn and I took a potion that he found that would keep our memories intact in case of a time line change. It worked. I think. It must of because that\u2019s the only way Angel B shows up on the charts. I don\u2019t remember the change though do you, Charles?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly know the bad ass effects.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMe, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fred picked up another piece of paper. \u201cWe do have some information from what Wesley told us. He had talked to Cordelia when her soul was returned the first time and then when she was a vampire. Cordy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d Cordelia buried her head in the pillow again.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you know about Angel B?\u201d<\/p>\n
Cordelia groaned. \u201cAngel A showed up at my house. He knocked at the door. He was wearing the shirt I told him to in the letter. I let him in. We were \u2026happy to see each other. A while later, Angel B came in, he had been at my bedroom window too, like the Angeluses, I guess he was a perv, too. I didn\u2019t see the Angeluses, neither did Angel A, I guess we\u2026anyway Angel A could sense B\u2019s soul so he didn\u2019t go \u2018grry\u2019 ballistic. Angel B told us why Wesley sent him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d Fred stared at the young woman holding her pencil ready.<\/p>\n
Cordelia sighed and looked at the floor. \u201cAngel B said that Wesley, Gunn and Fred came to him in his future – the future that had resulted from what went wrong in 1998.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat future?\u201d Angel growled.<\/p>\n
Cordelia peered over her arm at the vampire, \u201cAngel B, when he was Angelus in 1998 noticed that me, or well, my teenage self had been marked. He didn\u2019t tell me exactly what happened. I think he did tell Angel but I was locked in the bathroom or maybe it was when I went to get Angel a shirt. I don\u2019t know for sure. All I know is that Angel was about to go in a major brood mode and Angel B was already there. It seems whatever Angelus B did after noticing the marks, etc., I ended up in a coma and stayed in one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fred nodded her head rapidly. \u201cComa? That would explain why Angel B wasn\u2019t damned. You were alive, sort of. I wonder why he didn\u2019t just turn you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGee, Fred, that was my question too.\u201d Cordelia scrunched her head back into the pillow. \u201cI don\u2019t know what his future was like, except that it was sad and alone. It made him very scowly and dark, even more so than him,\u201d she nudged up at Angel.<\/p>\n
The vampire grinded his teeth together, he didn\u2019t like any of this. How much longer could this go on? How many more times was he going have to hear that Angelus had harmed Cordelia?<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told Angel\u2026A and I that Wesley had sent him back to make sure my 17-year-old body wasn\u2019t marked. We were warned. I was shoved off to Buffy\u2019s with some cock and bull tale that I was scared. Angel A and B went to take care of the Angeluses and then\u2026\u201d Cordelia buried her head in her arms refusing to speak any more, silent sobs wracking her body.<\/p>\n
Fred looked to Angel expecting him to go to her but the vampire just stared unmoving. She ran, kneeling by the bed as Gunn rubbed Cordy\u2019s back. \u201cIt\u2019s okay girl. You didn\u2019t know and Wesley didn\u2019t listen later.” Gunn said with more gentleness than even he knew he was capable of.<\/p>\n
\u201cShh, Cordy. It IS okay. Angel \u2018little a\u2019 will go and make it better. Promise.\u201d Fred clutched at her arms, rubbing the skin trying to give comfort.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s when we think it must have happened.\u201d Fred brushed at her face turning to the vampire. \u201cAngel A, we thought, came through the Portal with the orb containing Cordy\u2019s soul. We left them alone. The next day, Angel or rather Angelus B3, took me into his room I think to feed me to Cordy, she was a vampire. \u201c Fred glanced again at Cordelia. \u201cYou were, I saw you so did Wesley and Charles.\u201d Fred said apoplectically.<\/p>\n
Cordelia waved her on staring at a spot on the carpet, her silent sobs now deep breaths.<\/p>\n
\u201cCordy the vamp killed Angelus B3, told me to go back into my room, stay there and call Wesley. When Wesley and Gunn got there, Cordy the vamp was still in the bedroom, she had left to get some pig\u2019s blood she said she had been starving and that it tasted gross. She told Wesley what had happened. Begged him to go back and stop Angel B from killing Angel A and then she told him to kill her- said it was too dangerous for us if she stayed alive. He did. And then he went back.\u201d Fred shortened her former lecture mode to get the information out quickly trying to cushion the details from her crying friend.<\/p>\n
\u201cWesley killed Cordy? How\u2019d he know she didn\u2019t have a soul? She protected you all. She killed Angelus. How did he know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe told him.\u201d Fred blinked up. \u201cHe did what she asked.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he just did it?”<\/p>\n
\u201cAngel, stop.\u201d Cordelia voice cracked. \u201cWesley did what he had to what was right to protect our family. I was a vampire without a soul.”<\/p>\n
Angel shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cAngel,\u201d Cordelia got up, the redness around the rim of her eyes the only sign of her tears. \u201cYou were dead. I had a soul in 1998, my body somewhere in some weird time flux whatever. Wesley did what he had to, to try to make it whole again. Save you and bring me home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Angel stilled, choking on the idea of Cordelia lying in a pile of dust on the very floor he was standing on. \u201cAngelus came back through the portal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cordelia turned away from the vampire. \u201cNo, it was Angel B,\u201d she said softly.<\/p>\n
Angel narrowed his eyes. \u201cThe prophecy? He turned you purposely to be damned.\u201d Angel was incredulous.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut, how could he\u2026.\u201d Angel choked on a growl and even more disbelief. “You made love to him and he lost his soul?\u201d Angel began to wish for the prophecy possibility back, his shocked gaze now landed on Cordelia.<\/p>\n
Cordelia stared at the floor refusing to look at the vampire. Her body trembling with the tension, “I guess\u2026.I guess I thought it was Angel, there was no danger there. Angel\u2019s soul was bound,\u201d she whispered. \u201cI guess that Angel B never had an epiphany or\u2026\u201d she shrugged.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou guess?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t remember any of that.\u201d She snapped defensively. \u201cI don\u2019t remember having sex with that bastard or being a vampire, the last thing I remember was waking up here,\u201d she pointed to the bed she had been laying on. \u201cFred running in and telling me what they thought had happened. Wesley was dead. That he hadn\u2019t returned through the portal that some version of you was chained up. But, it wasn\u2019t you. He was wearing the right shirt, but it wasn\u2019t you. The ache was still there, the pain. I want him dead. I don\u2019t care how fuckin sorry his future was.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fred scrunched up her nose standing. \u201cPain? Ache? What you felt earlier before you ran out of Buffy\u2019s?\u201d<\/p>\n
Cordelia nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou still felt it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cordelia nodded again.<\/p>\n
\u201cCordy, you did tell Wesley.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI did?\u201d<\/p>\n
Fred nodded. \u201cCordy the vamp and Wesley admitted it. Before you were turned you went to Wesley saying that you thought something was wrong that you didn\u2019t think Angel was\u2026. you said he was acting different\u2026didn’t know you… you said you didn\u2019t think you loved him anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI did?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWesley said he should\u2019ve listened to you. That he should\u2019ve trusted you-that you had been able to tell Angelus 1 from Angel. Instead, he told you that you and Angel had both been through a traumatizing ordeal and for you to give it time.\u201d Fred finished sadly.<\/p>\n
Cordelia shook her head taking the blame away from the absent Wesley. \u201cI didn\u2019t know, didn’t want to know. I pushed away those feelings when I saw Angel B in Sunnydale. I wanted so much for it to be Angel that I didn\u2019t stop to question anything beyond the shirt he was wearing. I should have known as soon as he didn\u2019t yell at me for leaving Buffy\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cordy\u2019s voice got even stronger, her tears and sadness replaced by determination. \u201cThis is stupid and pointless. I\u2019ll deal\u2026with… my mistake when Angel comes home. Right now, we\u2019re done. It\u2019s time to do the spell.\u201d She turned to the vampire. \u201cAre you ready, up to speed?”<\/p>\n
Angel wanted to say no. He wanted to shake the woman and have her explain to him how and why she was willing to sleep with him, how and why she knew the contents of his sketch pads, how and why she treated his room, his bed as hers.<\/p>\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cGood, so we\u2019ll go.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHang on, girl. You ain\u2019t going anywhere.\u201d Gunn shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, you aren\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou aren\u2019t,\u201d Fred nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy not.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause,\u201d Fred crossed her arms stubbornly. \u201cWith the luck we\u2019ve been having you\u2019d get yourself captured by one of the Angeluses or Angel B and get turned again. Nope, no way, no how.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gunn cocked his head and gave a long clap. \u201cTell it, sister.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNope.\u201d Fred shook her head. \u201cIve been doing this spell with Wesley for quite awhile, I know how to fix it so only one person goes through and it won\u2019t be you, so there.\u201d She bluffed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNO.\u201d Gunn and Fred shouted.<\/p>\n
\u201cAngel,\u201d Cordelia whined pleading with the vampire.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re kidding, right. Does that really work?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease Angel,\u201d she pouted, her lip trembling and her wide eyes gazing at the vampire.<\/p>\n
Angel had forgotten how bewitching those eyes could be begging him to laugh with her or do anything\u2026He jerked up. \u201cNO.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHmmph.\u201d She turned and flopped on the bed. \u201cNot fair.\u201d<\/p>\n