Rating: Still PG. I promise it’ll get higher later.
Disclaimer: Joss owns most. Kendra owns Siobhan, I own Devyn. Not sure who owns Duncan these days.. think it’s Greg Widen, but since his appearance is filed under the “don’t blink or you’ll miss it” category, I’m not terribly concerned.
Distribution: My site- The Dragon’s Cave ( http://www.angelfire.com/tv2/firedrake ). Kendra’s sites, of course. Anyone who has my stuff and/or the Forever Series. Everyone else, please ask.
Author’s Notes: This is a continuation of the Forever Series, originally penned by Kendra A. Any and all mistakes are mine, since this isn’t beta’d. :: indicates thoughts, * indicates emphasis. If you see a sentence in small letters preceded by …, that’s a direct quote from Kendra’s sections. Previous parts can be found on my site (URL above).
Dedication: To Kendra, of course, who was not only kind enough to let me take a stab at this, but who is an exceptional author. To all those who sent feedback, good and constructive, after “I Remember Now” which was my first contribution to this series.
Feedback: Please.
**************
The all-too-familiar sterile white walls of the hospital greeted the tense, determined face of Cordelia Chase as she rushed to the nurses’ station.
“Willow Rosenberg’s room, which one is it please?”
The night shift nurse, who had already had quite enough of the demands of the dark man she assumed was Willow’s boyfriend, was not inclined to act kindly toward another of the girl’s friends. Barely glancing up from the stack of charts she was signing off on, the nurse clipped off her rehearsed speech.
“I’m sorry, it’s after visiting hours and Miss Rosenberg is resting. You’ll have to come back in the morning.”
Cordelia’s eyes narrowed. After the frantic phone call from Angel and the tense drive to the hospital, she wasn’t in the mood for the ‘hospital policy’ lecture. “I don’t think you understand. My employer called me and informed me Willow had been in a serious accident. I’m not leaving until I have a chance to see her and make sure she’s all right. Now please tell me which room she’s in.”
“You are free to wait in the emergency room lobby, or in the diner across the road. But I cannot allow you…”
“Cordelia!” The nurse flinched as Angel’s voice echoed down the hallway, and wisely made no further attempts to stop the brunette from dashing toward the vampire.
“Angel.. are you all right? You’re a mess.. what happened? Is Willow okay?”
“Willow is going to be fine. She lost a good deal of blood, but the doctors don’t think there will be any lasting effects. They gave her something to sleep.” Angel pulled Cordelia into the doorway of Willow’s room, closing them off from the hospital staff but staying far enough away that their voices wouldn’t wake the redhead.
“I got your note- it didn’t seem like it was going to be that bad.. just a few vamps, right? Still, you should have waited for me, Angel.”
“The situation wasn’t quite what I was expecting. We were seriously outnumbered.” Angel sighed, running a hand over his face. “I never should have let her come along. But..”
“Let me guess. Resolve face?” Angel nodded, and any blame Cordelia may have been harboring for the dark vampire faded. No one was immune to the resolve face. She glanced toward the bed, where the pale redhead slept soundly. “Can we take her home?”
“In the morning.” Angel dug through his pockets, producing a small note. “Would you stay here for a moment? I need to call my contact and update him on the case.”
“Of course, Angel. Take your time.”
* * * * * * *
When Willow awoke her hand immediately fluttered nervously to her throat, feeling the wad of bandages that covered the bite she clearly remembered receiving. Sighing in relief, she realized that she wasn’t a vampire; not only did she have a heartbeat and a definite need to breathe, but vampires didn’t normally take their victims to hospitals while waiting for them to wake up. She looked around, wondering who had brought her here.
She didn’t have far to look. Angel was sound asleep in a chair at the foot of her bed. Willow couldn’t help noticing that he was still bruised and bloodied from their earlier fight.
“Angel?” Willow whispered. She was loathe to wake him, but she also didn’t want to spend any more time in the hospital than necessary.
Angel woke up immediately, moving to sit at her side and brush a tendril of hair from her face. She could clearly read the fear in his eyes, and hastened to reassure him.
“Angel, it’s all right. I’m fine. A little woozy, but it’ll pass. Are you okay? What happened?”
“God, Willow. I thought I’d lost you. You gave me the scare of my life.”
“I remember getting bitten, and I remember someone catching me, but then everything goes kinda blurry.”
“You.. you don’t remember anything after that?”
Willow’s brow scrunched up in thought. “No. I don’t.”
Angel barely managed to hide his disappointment. Since he’d gotten Willow to the hospital, he’d been beset by the memories of Siobhan. For a moment, just one brief moment, Siobhan was alive again, in Willow. And now he was the only one who remembered.
“The doctors say you can be released in the morning. You’ve lost a good deal of blood, but there shouldn’t be any lasting effects. Cordelia is getting some coffee; she’ll bring you home first thing.” Angel glanced at the window, almost growling in frustration when he saw the lightening of the sky. “Willow, I hate this, but I have to..”
“Go ahead, Angel. I’ll be fine. Don’t go all dusty on my account. I’ll see you in a few hours.”
Angel brushed a kiss across Willow’s forehead, so lightly that Willow almost didn’t realize it happened, then he was gone.
* * * * *
Willow healed quickly from her bite, but it left her with a strange sense of aimlessness and malaise that she couldn’t shake. Two weeks after the incident she stood in her room at the hotel, brushing her hair and gazing unseeingly at her reflection in the mirror. She had decided to call the registrar’s office of Sunnydale U and take January term off, buying her a few more weeks in L.A. She spoke with Buffy and Xander, offering some flimsy excuse she forgot as soon as she hung up the phone. She wondered briefly if she’d even given them the same excuse, but just as quickly decided she didn’t care. She was surprised at how easy it was to fool her friends; she had even emailed Giles with the promise to be available for any research, and not once had he questioned her. Tying her hair up into a ponytail, Willow went about brushing her teeth while her thoughts flitted from one place to the next.
Angel had been acting strangely around her ever since she’d been hurt, and she didn’t think it had to do with the fact that she insisted on continuing to be involved with his work. He still joined her and Cordy for movie nights, still sat up til all hours talking with her about everything and nothing, but there was some intangible barrier between them that hadn’t been there before. He didn’t sit as close anymore, didn’t fall asleep curled up nearby, didn’t instigate tickle fights. Willow was concerned that he’d somehow gleaned her burgeoning feelings for him, and was doing the “Mr. Emotionally Distant Guy” act to prevent her from getting hurt. She hated the thought that she would lose his friendship; giving herself a final once-over, she decided that if things didn’t change soon she would head back to Sunnydale.
Sighing, she went downstairs to find Cordelia, hoping the cheerleader would have some idea on how to cheer her up. Fortunately, Cordy *always* had an idea of how to cheer up the redhead. Almost before Willow was at the bottom of the stairs, Cordelia was grabbing Willow’s hand and pulling her outside, rapid-fire yelling goodbye to Angel in his office and saying something about a brand-new magic shop that just opened up and wasn’t it nice that it was right next door to her favorite shoe store?
* * * * * * *
Cordelia surreptitiously glanced at her watch. She’d give Willow another, oh, ten minutes or so before trying to ease her toward the door. On their way in, she’d noticed the most gorgeous pair of pumps in the shoe store window that she just had to have. Still, Willow had seemed more upbeat in the past half hour than she had in ages, so Cordelia was more than willing to let her friend spend time in the magic store. And the fact that the proprietor was a major piece of salty goodness didn’t hurt, either. Duncan something-or-other.. tall, dark, broad, with an oh-so-knee-shaking accent. He was animatedly talking with Willow about some antique statue, occasionally looking over at her and smiling. Yes, major goodness there.
She stepped around a bookcase to the storefront proper, her educated gaze taking in the fine antiques that comprised most of the store’s merchandise. Rugs, furniture, paintings, books, and weapons covered every inch. Her hand trailed over the polished, ornately carved wood of a chair as she remembered a time when she wouldn’t think twice about purchasing a piece like this. Before L.A., before her parents lost all their money. Lost in memories, she barely heard the bell over the door jingle.
“Cordy? Could you give me a hand over here?” Cordelia turned toward the sound of Willow’s voice, moving quickly to help her friend gather the items she’d decided to purchase. As she reached onto a higher shelf to get down a jar of herbs, she whispered to her redheaded companion.
“Is Duncan not a total hottie or what?”
Willow giggled, knowing that the older man had caught Cordy’s eye the moment they walked in the store. If she read the situation correctly, the feeling had been mutual. “He is pretty easy on the eyes. And that *accent*. Oof. You should ask him out.”
Cordelia’s eyes gleamed, though she feigned nonchalance. “Maybe. We’ll see.”
The girls giggled, gathering the last of their supplies and making their way to the counter. They rounded the corner, Willow at first only casually noticing the smallish redheaded woman talking to Duncan. As she got closer, however, she gasped. Despite the extenuating circumstances behind their meeting, Willow recognized the customer immediately.
“Y- you!”
The woman at the counter turned to face the two girls, surprise crossing her face before she hid it behind a soft smile. “Hi Willow. Are you feeling better?”
“Much better, thank you.” Willow replied, her manners not lacking just because she was suddenly face-to-face with the woman who had prevented her from becoming vamp food.. though she did briefly wonder how said woman knew her name.
Cordelia poked Willow in the side. “Uh, Willow? You going to introduce us?
Perhaps her manners were a little tweaked after all. “Of course! Cordelia, this is the woman that Angel and I were looking for the night I..” -she shot a cautious glance at Duncan, who was watching the exchange- “had my accident. I’m sorry, we didn’t get your name.”
“Devyn. It’s nice to meet you, Cordelia.” She made no move to shake the girl’s hand, so Cordy simply nodded in response.
There was an awkward pause as the three women regarded one another. Willow finally broke the silence.
“You know, I’m sure Angel would really like to talk to you.. I don’t think he’s finished all the.. paperwork from the other night. We were going to head back to the office soon- why don’t you join us?”
Devyn looked uncertain, but Willow turned on her patented, irresistible Willow charm. “Please? It would mean a lot to us.. a drink is the least we can offer you.”
The redhead still didn’t seem completely convinced, but in the end she agreed, promising to meet them back at the hotel in an hour. Willow paid for her items, made certain that Devyn had directions, promised Duncan she would return soon, and quickly pulled Cordelia out of the store to pick up snacks for their scheduled visit- but not before Cordy convinced her to stop next door for the To Die For Pumps.
An hour later found the girls and Angel gathered in the hotel lobby. As the clock chimed, the door to the hotel opened and Devyn cautiously poked her head in.
“Wow. Talk about punctual.. Giles would love her.” Cordy joked.
Angel stood and crossed the lobby, extending his hand. “Devyn; it’s nice to meet you. My name is Angel.” As their hands joined, he dropped his voice so only she could hear. “Thank you for the other night. You have no idea how much I appreciate it.”
Devyn nodded imperceptibly, raising her voice so the others wouldn’t be suspicious. “It’s good to meet you, Angel. If I’d known you were looking for me, I would have made your job a bit easier.”
She followed him toward the couches, greeting Willow and Cordelia and accepting a cup of tea. As the girls chatted, Angel had a chance to look Devyn over.
Her heartbeat was steady, betraying no nervousness at being in the room with him or the two women. She was taller than he remembered- shorter than Willow or Cordy, but a good bit taller than Buffy. Her long red hair was gathered into a loose braid, revealing pale, freckled skin and stormy gray eyes speckled with dark blue spots. She was dressed economically in a poet’s shirt, loose leggings, and battered knee-high, laced, black suede boots. Nothing gave a direct clue as to her age; Angel put her as slightly older than the Sunnydale girls, probably 25 or so. Angel had the nagging feeling that he’d met her before, but try as he might he couldn’t remember where. Loud giggling pulled him from his reverie; he was shocked to notice that over a half hour had passed. ::Good thing I have a reputation for being laconic..:: he thought to himself. Willow was wiping away tears of laughter as Devyn looked on with a sly grin. Angel caught Cordelia’s attention and raised an eyebrow, silently questioning her. Cordy picked up immediately on his unspoken query; glancing at the two redheads, she considered for a moment, then came to a decision.
“Hey, Devyn, we’re planning on a movie night tonight. Would you like to stay? We’re watching the Wizard of Oz.”
This time there was no hesitation. “I’d love to stay, Cordelia. Thank you.”