Forever Again

by SpikesKat

 

A/N:  Blatantly borrowed some dialogue from AtS season 5 "You're Welcome."  So, just giving credit where credit is due.  ^_^

~*~*~*~*~

Chapter 5

The steady beep of the machines as they monitored the patient’s heart rate fluctuated slightly and the brunette twitched upon the bed.  Behind her closed eyelids, the back and forth movement of her eyes indicated her REM sleeping pattern.  Snatches of a vision, formatted into some twisted dream played out before her mind’s eye, the grim details of her love’s actions enough propulsion to cause her to claw her way to the surface and escape the confines of her coma.  Her fingers began twitching, the sudden movement disrupting the pulse oximeter from her forefinger, causing the reading to disappear from the monitor.  As she struggled to wake up, her heart rate increased from its normal resting state.  The quantity of her respirations increased as she mimicked the panting in her dreams… 

A staff nurse sat at her station near the end of the hall working on her patients’ charts.  Normally, it was very routine paperwork since most of the clients were stuck in some sort of vegetative state.  The steady drone of the machines providing a soft background music that sped along the process.  So, when the first erratic rhythm of one of the monitors sounded behind her, she glanced up automatically to see if there was a malfunction.  Her eyes took note of the increasing vital signs and she dropped what she was doing and raced down the hall.  She opened the door just in time to see her patient sit up in bed, an indrawn gasp of breath before she got out a croaked, “Angel!” 

The nurse hurried to her patient’s side, her sharp eyes assessing for any signs of distress the woman may be exhibiting after waking from a long-term coma.  Surprisingly, except for her slight pallor, she seemed rather aware of her surroundings and with full function of her motor skills – as evidenced by her desire to leave her bed. 

“Ms. Chase, you need to lie back.  You’ve been in a coma.  Your body’s not quite ready to take an afternoon stroll just yet.” 

“You don’t understand…I need…I’ve got to talk to Angel.” 

Stephanie attempted to soothe the distraught woman while employing enough strength to get her to lie back upon her pillow.  “If you just rest, I’ll place a call to him immediately, ok?   I can have him down her in five…ten minutes tops.  But, I need you to lie back for me now.” 

Cordelia gripped the front of the nurse’s uniform in both hands, staring up into her kind brown eyes.  “You promise?  You can get him for me?” 

“I promise,” she assured the woman.  “Now come on…lie back…that’s a good girl.”  Stephanie lowered the woman back to the pillows, carefully extracting the woman’s hands from her uniform.  She smiled then, hoping to soothe her patient.  “If I leave here for two minutes to make that phone call, I’m not going to find you out of bed, am I?” 

Cordelia shook her head negatively, suddenly overcome with fatigue after her outburst.  She just prayed that the nurse would do like she’d asked.    

~*~*~*~*~ 

Buffy and Spike were on the couch in Angel’s office when he came storming in, followed by Wesley, Gunn, Fred, and Lorne. 

“There’s nothing more to discuss,” the dark-haired vampire barked out.  He stopped before his desk, his back still to them, splaying his hand on the surface as he stared unseeing at the papers scattered everywhere. 

‘What the hell have I become? I’m not a paper pusher.  My place is on the streets.’ 

His features hardened, and he turned to confront his team.  Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Spike and Buffy rising to their feet as if sensing a confrontation – no doubt in his mind as to whose side they would choose.  Buffy had warned him about this place, and after seeing what he had earlier – nuns brutally sacrificed so that one of his clients could dimension-hop – he was just plain disgusted with himself for ever agreeing to come to Wolfram & Hart in the first place.

Leaning back against his desk, Angel crossed his arms over his chest and repeated what he’d already told them.  “I’m resigning.” 

“Angel, what happened last night was tragic. It's a terrible setback, but—”

“Setback, Wes? It's status quo. Evil wins, 'cause instead of just wiping it out, we negotiate with it. Or worse...for it.”

“Angel,” Fred began.  She glanced over at the other two vampires in the room, slightly unnerved at the silent, yet penetrating stares. “We're doing the best we can.”

Angel’s expression softened.  It wasn’t his team’s fault that he regretted his decision to come here.  But, after the situation in Rome and the hands-on defeat of that Draemuir demon, coming back to the law office was the last thing he wanted right now.  Last night just seemed to prove his point.  “It's not that you guys aren't doing your jobs. It's that we shouldn't be doing these jobs in the first place... or I shouldn't,” he told them.

“It’s a nice idea, but has anyone given any thought about what would happen to us if we tried to say bye-bye? The ramifications, I mean. You think the senior partners are just gonna let us breeze on out the front door?”

Fred turned towards her ex-lover.  “You're saying we're trapped here?”

As a minor panic broke out among his team, each talking over the other in an attempt to rationalize the situation, the office phone rang. Ignoring the others, he grabbed the handset, barking into the receiver, “Yeah. It's Angel.” 

“Mr. Angel.  My name is Stephanie.  I’m the shift nurse…oh, you don’t need to know all that.  It’s Miss Chase, sir.  She’s awake….and asking for you.” 

Angel couldn’t be more shocked if the Powers That Be had suddenly shown up and granted his Shanshu.  “What?” his shocked whisper drew both Spike and Buffy to his side, concern evident upon their features. 

“Angel?” Buffy questioned, placing her hand on his arm. 

He slowly replaced the handset in the cradle then turned to look at them.  “It’s Cordelia.  She’s awake.” 

~*~*~*~*~ 

It was decided that Wes and Angel would go alone, so as not to overwhelm her.  And as it was, Wes ended up sending the vampire on ahead, unable to keep up with his furious pace. 

Angel burst out onto the floor, his eyes scanning for someone, anyone, to point him in the right direction.  No one seemed to be at the nurse’s station and he was just about to become angry when he noticed a woman in a nurse’s uniform poke her head out of an open doorway and gesture him over. 

“Hi,” she whispered, not wanting to wake her patient. “I’m Stephanie.  You must be Mr. Angel.” 

“Just Angel,” he told her, looking over her shoulder to catch a glimpse of the woman within. 

“Come on in—” 

“I thought you told me she woke up.  She’s…” 

“She’s just resting.  Her body isn’t used to being awake.  It’s going to take some time for her to build up her strength, okay?” 

“Huh?  Oh…yeah…okay.” 

Just then Wes showed up, and Angel allowed the former watcher to listen to the nurse’s assessment while he plopped down in a chair beside a sleeping Cordelia.  He slipped his hand in hers, shocked to feel her fingers tighten around him.  When he glanced up at her face, her eyes had opened, a tentative smile curving her lips.  He smiled back, grateful to see that she’d come back to him.  To them. 

“Angel,” she whispered.  “I…” 

“Shhhh…don’t talk.  The nurse says you need to regain your strength.” 

“Don’t wanna stay here.  Please don’t make me stay here anymore.”  Her grip on his hand tightened, and he stared at it a moment before lifting his gaze to the nurse. 

“I wouldn’t recommend it.  She’s just woken up from a coma.  She should be monitored around the clock at least for the first seventy-two hours…” 

“Please, Angel.” 

Angel glanced down at his friend, taking note of her pale skin, the almost desperate look in her eyes. 

“Is there anything that I wouldn’t be able to provide for her back at the office?” 

Stephanie gazed at the CEO of Wolfram & Hart.  There was no way he was leaving this place without her patient.  “No…I suppose not.”  She reached into her pocket and pulled out one of her cards.  She quickly scribbled down a few numbers on the back and handed it to him.  “Here’s my card.  If anything, and I mean anything, changes about her condition, I want you to call me right away.  Deal?” 

“Deal.” 

Angel pocketed the card and bent down and picked up Cordelia, blankets and all, then turned and left the room.  Wesley, for once, was quiet on the return trip. 

~*~*~*~*~ 

Angel wasn’t surprised to see both Buffy and Spike waiting in his room when he returned with Cordelia resting in his arms.  Buffy had wanted to go with him, not trusting the timing of her school chum’s waking, and it had taken a look from the elder vampire to her sire to make her stay.  Which was why they were here waiting - wanting to be sure that she’d not needed to worry for his safety, that he’d not walked into a trap of Wolfram & Hart’s making. 

Buffy felt the dark-haired vampire’s approach, and had leapt out of her sire’s lap.  Wesley was with him, actually opened the door to allow Angel to enter with a sleeping Cordelia in his arms.  As he neared the bed, she pulled back the covers so that he could ease her lax form onto the mattress, his grateful smile at her thoughtfulness causing her own lips to turn up in answer.  Her job done, she moved back towards Spike and crawled into his lap, nuzzling his neck as his arms tightened about her waist. 

Angel sat on the bed and stared down at Cordelia.  She’d lost weight while in her coma, her normally sun-kissed skin as pale as his.  If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he could have sworn that she’d never wakened, her body deathly still in his bed.  His hand reached out and gripped hers, and even in sleep, her fingers squeezed his hand as if reassuring herself of his presence. 

“She seemed almost afraid to be left there.”  Wesley’s comment broke the silence that had descended upon the vampire’s bedroom. 

“I know.  It’s why I brought her here,” Angel replied, his gaze hardening, coming to his feet as he spoke to the former watcher.  After what she’d been through last year, he wasn’t about to let her be subjected to any machinations Wolfram & Hart might think up to keep him in line.  Better to have her where he could keep an eye on her.  Protect her.  “Once she wakes up, we’ll see if she had a vision.  Maybe that was what finally pulled her from her coma.” 

Wes nodded in agreement.  “I’m going to head back to my office.  Call me when she wakes up.” 

Angel watched the other leave, then turned and looked at the couple sitting in the chair by his bed. 

“Why don’t you two go to bed?  There’s nothing to do now but wait, and you both look like you’re ready to drop on your feet.” 

Spike thought that was the best idea he’d heard his grandsire utter in a long while.  Not that he didn’t sympathize with the elder – he’d seen the look of concern on his face as he’d held the cheerleader – but honestly, last night Buffy had wore him out to the point that they’d not even gone to sleep, just risen after their marathon sex session and gone to Angel’s office, only to find him out with the others.  And, rather than go back to bed and actually sleep, Buffy had made him stay there and wait for Angel’s return.  Combine that with his body still adjusting to the time change and Spike wanted nothing more than to slip between the sheets, pull his mate’s body close and sleep. 

“Come on, luv.  You heard the man,” Spike told Buffy as he stood up from the chair, holding her close.  “Ain’t doin’ nuthin’ here but watchin’ the cheerleader sleep, and Angel can do that by himself.  What say you an’ me head on back to our room.?” 

“But…” 

“I’m sure Angel will call us the moment she wakes up…won’t you, Angel?” Spike asked. 

The dark-haired vampire nodded, walking the pair towards the door that led out of his room. 

Buffy, knowing they were right, nodded reluctantly and settled herself against her sire.  “You promise?” 

“Yes.” 

Buffy wasn’t sure what it was that was compelling her to hear about her formal rival’s situation.  But something was telling her that Cordelia hadn’t woken on her own; it was if fate had stepped in and done it for a reason.  The Slayer just wanted to know why. 

“You’ll be alright here by yourself,” Spike asked as he paused at the door. 

“I’ll be fine.  Sleep, childe.  I need you strong.”  For what, Angel didn’t know.  It was instinctive, his warning.  Buffy’s caution was rubbing off on him, and better to be prepared than caught unaware. 

The blond-headed vampire nodded and quietly left the room, the soft click of the door closing behind him the only sound as he walked along the hall towards the room he shared with the Slayer.

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