~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“Was is okay to pray for a vampire?” Cordelia wondered she really wanted to do something besides wait. Angel had never been hurt so badly before, unless it had been while he was in Hell, but she hadn’t seen that. A fact Cordelia was very glad of, her first glimpse of Angel, three nights ago, lying in the open coffin had provided fodder for nightmares for decades to come.
Cordelia had been told, she couldn’t remember why, but she’d been told morticians cut shirts and jackets down the back to facilitate the dressing of an unresponsive corpse. Apparently that was true, because at some point Angel had been alert enough to try to escape the cross-barred grave Kate Lockley had consigned him to. In his struggles the suit jacket and shirt he’d been dressed in had come undone along that seem. The disarrayed clothing had left both the bullet wounds and those from the autopsy on display. The wounds were obscenely exposed, Cordelia remembered thinking that there should have been blood, but by the time they’d found Angel he hadn’t any left to bleed with. So Angel’s bones and organs had been clearly visible through the tears in his ash gray skin.
Even where the skin was whole Cordelia had been uncomfortably aware of his bones. Wesley had explained that a vampire’s body would cannibalize itself to repair the most vital systems if blood weren’t available. Xander had seconded that. Wesley theorized that Angel’s body had probably attempted to repair the damage his brain had sustained when someone had put a bullet through it. The entry point had sealed over, but was still a vivid scar on Angel’s forehead. Basic motor skills and a hunter’s instinct would have been the priority systems, with those intact, theoretically Angel should have been able to supply his body with the blood it so desperately needed. Theoretically didn’t take a cross-decked casket into consideration.
Wesley had managed to locate a doctor familiar with treating the undead, the doctor had told them that Angel’s body had used the last of it’s resources attempting to free itself from the grave. The doctor had sewing and bandaged Angel’s wounds; he set up an IV to fill the souled vampire’s veins with fresh blood and fixed a second tube to fill his stomach with the same substance. Then the doctor had left, he said he’d done all he could, he said Angel might wake, or Angel might crumble to dust, the doctor didn’t know which, all they could do was wait. Cordelia hated every moment of it.
Angel was the closest thing to a real family that Cordelia had ever had, she wasn’t going to loose him because cop-lady had issues.
“Hey Angel,” Cordelia said softly. “We got a new case, Wesley and Gunn are taking care of it, so don’t worry. Xander’s helping them; he came here to finish apologizing. I think you’d be a lot happier if you’d let him.”
Angel stirred weakly; dark lashes fluttering against cheeks so pale that they were still more gray than flesh colored.
“That’s it Angel, come on,” Cordelia encouraged.
“I was having such a horrible dream,” Angel sighed. “I thought I’d killed you.” Slowly his eyes focused on Cordelia and filled with confusion. “When did you grow-up Kathy?” he asked.
“Um, who and what?” Cordelia asked. “Okay, getting shot in the head and buried, highly traumatic experience. Well fatal, except for the already dead part. Angel you’re a little confused right now, it’s understandable.”
“Kathy, what’s wrong?” Angel asked, concern warring with exhaustion in his voice.
“Other than you calling me by the wrong name, everything’s peachy Angel,” Cordelia replied. “Well brain-damaged is better than dust, I guess.”
“Kathy is your name,” Angel insisted. “Oh god, my head hurts. I don’t even want to think about last night. What time is it?”
“Noon, why?” Cordelia replied.
“Noon, it’s a wonder Father hasn’t drug me out of bed yet. Damn, he disowned me yesterday, or I walked out, by the end I wasn’t sure which it was. Where am I? This isn’t my room,” Angel said.
“Okay, more crazy talk,” Cordelia said. “I’m calling Wesley, he’ll look things up in his musty old books. Do those books fix scrambled brains? Or Gunn, well actually Gunn’s better at scrambling brains than unscrambling them.”
“Now, waking up in the wrong house is nothing new,” Angel continued. “But you’re not supposed to know ‘bout that Kathy. Why are you here?”
“You were hurt,” Cordelia explained. “I was worried.”
“I’m not hung-over?” Angel asked.
“Well duh, you don’t drink enough to get hang-overs, that was Doyle’s specialty. You do the sitting in the dark brooding thing,” Cordelia said.
“What are you talking about Kathy?” Angel asked.
“Stop with the Kathy thing, I’m Cordelia, Cor-del-ia, remember?”
“You’re Kathleen O’Neill,” Angel said firmly.
“Uh, Angel, I think I know my own name. I’m Cordelia Chase, have been for twenty years and counting.”
“Why do you keep calling me that?” Angel demanded.
“What?”
“Angel, I’m Liam, your brother.”
“Wesley!” Cordelia yelled. “Weirdness is happening… again! Oh yeah, he’s out, the case. All right, lets start from the top. You’re Angel, a two hundred and forty-seven year old vampire. With a soul, so you help people instead of eating them. You’re a warrior for the PTB, that’s the Powers that Be. I’m Cordelia Chase, future super-star, currently your connection to the Powers, I get visions, and I need a raise. We’re in LA… Angel, what part of that aren’t you following?”
“I am not a monster!” Angel exclaimed angrily.
“Not to be tactless here or anything,” Cordelia said. “But, technically, you are. Not that that makes you a bad guy or anything, well as long as you avoid the perfect happiness thing.”
“Kathy, stop it!” Angel commanded, struggling to get up. “Just stop it, please.”
Cordelia pushed Angel back down. “Easy, you’ve got more holes in you than the plot in “The Fifth Element”, you start moving around and all the blood we just put in you will come back out.”
“Don’t hate me, Kathy, not you too. Please Kathy,” Angel begged.
“I don’t, Angel what’s wrong with you? Oh yeah… Well okay, but this is bazaar, even in my life. But nobody… not everybody hates you. And a lot of the ones that do are pretty evil, if that makes you feel any better.”
______________________________________________________________
“Hi, um Liam, can I talk to you?” Xander asked.
“You got any whiskey?” Angel asked.
“Sorry.”
“A man can hope,” Angel sighed. “But I’m sure what ya have ta say would sound much better after a drink or three.”
“Probably, I can understand that,” Xander said. “You know it’s the year 2000 right?”
“I know, I saw the newspaper, heard the date on the radio. Kathy took me up to the roof, showed me LA,” Angel said. “She tells me I lived all this time. I drank blood… I liked it.”
“How are you holding up?” Xander asked.
“I’m not even human, my father wouldn’t have been overly startled,” Angel said. “Kathy’s still here, she doesn’t despise me yet, I’ll manage.”
“Cordelia isn’t…”
“Don’t,” Cordelia said to Xander as she stepped into the room. “Hi Liam, you feeling better?”
“The fast healin’ is something I could get used to,” Angel said.
“Considering the number of times you get shot, impaled or otherwise beat-up, you ought to be glad of it,” Cordelia replied.
“Kathy darlin’, you promised not ta tell me anything else disturbin’,” Angel said smiling playfully at the girl he considered his younger sister.
“Right, so are you ready for more exposure to the current century?” Cordelia asked.
“What’s on the menu for this evenin’” Angel asked.
“David Nabbit’s having a party, we’re invited. He’s one of our few paying clients, it’s a good idea for us to pay attention to him every now and then, plus he throws some kick ass parties,” Cordelia said.
“Sounds fun,” Angel replied. “By the way, do I have clothing for any functions besides funerals?”
Cordelia and Xander both began laughing, “I’m never going to let you forget this,” Cordelia said. “Angel acknowledging that clothes come in more colors than black.”
______________________________________________________________
“Wow, Liam’s way better at socializing than Angel,” Cordelia commented.
Angel was smiling at some model type, listening attentively, or at least watching her attentively. After a few moments he kissed the back of her hand and led her to a space cleared for dancing. The attractive blond giggled at his actions, but her expression was definitely appreciative.
“At the last party I threw Angel convinced the only person he talked to, other than Wesley, that he hated her,” Cordelia continued to Xander as they watched the blond adjust Angel’s dance frame so they were pressed together. For a moment Angel looked startled then grinned approvingly at the woman. “After the first fifteen minutes Angel retreated to the kitchen and spent the rest of the party bonding with my dead roommate.”
“Angel wasn’t that smooth when he was with Buffy,” Xander said.
“Our Angel smooth?” Cordelia snorted. “In what universe? Painfully sincere, intense and gorgeous yes, but very, very awkward, almost shy, if there aren’t any demons or fighting involved. It’s sort of sweet.”
“Why is Angel being awkward sweet, but it wasn’t when I was awkward?” Xander asked.
“Did you miss everything else I said? Plus Angel’s wardrobe might be monochromatic, but at least it has class,” Cordelia replied.
______________________________________________________________
“Angel seems more outgoing tonight,” David Nabbit said.
“What?” Wesley commented distracted by Angel’s progression from dancing to kissing the slender blond he’d been talking to.
“Well normally he sort of avoids people,” David said. “But tonight…”
A group of partiers moved in front of Angel and the girl, blocking Wesley’s view.
“Did you guys solve a major case or save the world or something?” David asked.
“Or something,” Wesley replied. “Angel suffered a rather serious head wound, the effects were somewhat unexpected.”
“Wow,” David said. “I could use an injury like that.”
“I wouldn’t advise it,” Wesley said. “Excuse me, I really must speak with Cordelia.”
“Oh sure.”
“Wesley maneuvered across the room, trying to relocate Angel as well as Cordelia. He didn’t see Angel but found Cordelia talking with a man she’d pointed out as being involved in movies in some capacity.
Wesley took her arm firmly, “Cordelia, I really hate to intrude but I have a rather urgent question,” he said.
“Sure, what is it?” Cordelia replied smiling brilliantly at her prospective break into super-stardom.
“In private,” Wesley said leading her away.
“I’m sorry, I’ll just be a moment,” Cordelia called over her shoulder. “What’s so important?” she asked Wesley.
“Did you, by any chance, explain the details of the curse to Angel?” Wesley asked.
“Didn’t you?” Cordelia replied.
“I assumed you had, you’ve know him longer,” Wesley said.
“He thinks I’m his kid sister,” Cordelia exclaimed. “Sex didn’t exactly come up in our conversations.”
“Well tactfulness has never stopped you from saying what ever popped into your head before.”
“Lately I’ve been too busy worrying about Angel dying to spend a lot of time worrying about him being overly happy,” Cordelia said.
“Didn’t you think maybe it would be a good idea to mention the curse’s limitations and the consequences of breaking it before taking him to a social event?” Wesley demanded.
“It’s not like I expected him to talk to anyone except us and David!” Cordelia exclaimed. “Where’s Angel anyway?”
“When I last saw him, he was having quite the time with a lovely young lady.”
“Come on, he wouldn’t. This is Angel we’re talking about,” Cordelia said.
“No, it’s not, this is Liam,” Wesley corrected. “Someone we hardly know, but who has, on more than one occasion, made comments completely out of keeping with Angel’s normal views.”
“We’d better find them,” Cordelia said nervously.
“And soon,” Wesley seconded. “We should alert Xander to be on the look out as well.”
“Xander will be at the hors d’oeuvre table,” Cordelia said, scanning the crowd for Angel.
______________________________________________________________
“I couldn’t find him,” Xander reported. “And I’ve disturbed couples in every private corner of this place. It’s a good thing Anya’s desensitized me to all forms of embarrassment.”
“Just like you did for me,” Cordelia said sweetly.
“He left the party,” Wesley panted, running to join the pair from Sunnydale. “With a Miss Jennifer Aims. I obtained a description of her car and the license number from the valet.”
“I’m praying they get stuck in traffic,” Cordelia said as the trio hurried to Angel’s car.
“We’ll need to return to the Hyperion,” Wesley said, starting the motor. “If we’re exceptionally lucky they’ll have gone there. In any case we’ll need the computer to track down her address.”
The drive to the hotel was tensely silent and no one was surprised at the lack of a strange car parked at the building, this wasn’t the kind of night where things went right.”
Cordelia found the address while Wesley checked over a tranquilizer gun and Xander hunted up crosses and holy water for all.
Armed they returned to the car, Cordelia’s voice brittly reading off instructions was the only conversation. No one wanted to banter anymore.
Jennifer Aims owned a nice, empty apartment in a safe part of town. “Her car’s not here,” Cordelia said.
“We should break in anyway,” Wesley replied. “It’s possible they had car trouble, they might have resorted to a cab.”
“We’re clutching at straws here,” Xander said.
“Let me know when you find something more substantial to cling to,” Wesley said picking the lock on the door.
“Where’d you learn to do that?” Cordelia demanded.
“One of Gunn’s cohorts.”
“They’re not here,” Cordelia said, after a quick inspection of the apartment.
“Maybe they went to a hotel,” Xander suggested.
“I’ll have Gunn ask his people to check the local hotels for her car,” Wesley said, picking up the phone.
“We’ll go out and look too,” Cordelia said.
“Someone should keep watch here,” Wesley replied. “If Miss Aims returns unharmed it would suggest that the curse remained intact, despite the night’s activities.”
“How likely do you think that is?” Xander asked, a touch of his old hatred of Angel creeping into his voice.
“I wouldn’t bet the safety of the world on it,” Wesley replied. “But it’s honestly what I’m expecting, one night stands are generally disappointing.”
______________________________________________________________
“There’s been no sightings of the car,” Gunn reported shortly after noon the next day.
“And Jennifer Aims didn’t make it home this morning,” Xander said. “I think we need to warn Buffy. If Angelus is on the loose it won’t be too long before he goes after her.”
“We can handle it,” Cordelia said clutching a tranquilizer gun like a stuffed toy. “We did last time.”
“There was a last time!” Xander demanded.
“Not really,” Wesley said. “An actress drugged him hoping to persuade him to turn her. The drug suppressed Angel’s soul for a time but he never actually lost it.”
“We still need to call Buffy,” Xander insisted. “He’s out there, somewhere, he might decide the hell with all of us and make a bee-line for Sunnydale. Angelus makes a hobby of obsession and Buffy’s the itch that he couldn’t scratch. She needs to know the possibilities. If they had an encounter with her thinking he’s Angel, well I don’t think he’d stop with mind games this time. If you don’t make the call, I will.”
______________________________________________________________
“Mr. Giles, hello, it’s Wesley. We may have an Angelus situation down here.”
“How the hell could that happen?” Giles demanded disbelief and fury filling his voice.
“Actually, it’s probably just a false alarm,” Wesley said. “But after the last time, it was decided we should take precautions.”
“Isn’t now a little late?” Giles snarled. “There were supposed to be precautions to keep this from happening. Last time he almost sucked the world into Hell.”
“Actually, last time was quite tame,” Wesley said. “Cordelia and I handled it very neatly.”
“Angelus got loose again,” Giles said icily. “And you didn’t inform Buffy or I, you didn’t destroy him? Do you realize the carnage that creature is capable of?”
“Yes, Cordelia was quite clear on that point. But Angel could hardly be held responsible for Miss Lowell drugging him, and I had good reason to believe that he would return to normal when the effects of the drug wore off. The whole situation was resolved in an evening.”
“And this time?” Giles demanded. “Obviously that creature is too dangerous for us to ignore. That there have been three incidents proves Angel’s soul can’t be trusted to maintain control. There is simply no choice any longer.”
“Angel is not…” Wesley winced at the sound of Giles hanging up with enough force to crack his handset. “At fault,” Wesley finished, speaking to a dead line. “Oh that went smashingly.”
“So we have back up coming,” Cordelia said, dumping an armload of crosses on the front desk.
“Of the homicidal variety,” Wesley replied. “The news was not taken well in Sunnydale.”
next