Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Matt/Elektra; Angel/Cordelia; Lex/Chloe
Summary: An uneasy alliance is formed between heros from different backgrounds when evil moves from Los Angeles to New York City.
Disclaimer: The characters from the movie Daredevil belong to 20th Century Fox, Regency Enterprises, and Marvel Comics. The characters from Angel belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, 20th Century Fox, and the WB. The characters from Smallville belong to Alfred Gough & Miles Millar who based them on the DC comics characters created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Schuster. The series is produced by the WB & Tollin/Robbins Productions.
Spoilers: The movie Daredevil is definitely spoiled so if you haven't seen it, shut off your computer and go now. Also things from the current seasons of Smallville and Angel will be used as well as spoiler rumors for Angel.
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~Part: One~
Little, all too brief moments ruled his life now. The first time the intoxicating scent of rose oil tickled his senses and invaded his soul. The intricate mating dance of martial arts in the playground and the feeling of delicately balancing his weight against hers on the teeter-totter. The shimmering blue image of her face composed by the rain and his radar sense that replaced his sight. Tracing and memorizing every inch of her body with his fingertips as they made love. Holding her while they danced at the ball. Matt Murdock crouched high up on a ledge overlooking the neighborhood of New York City known as Hell's Kitchen and savored every memory he had of Elektra Natchios. It was all he had of her, a handful of memories of their fleeting relationship that had ended abruptly and much too soon. The last memory - and the only unhappy one he allowed himself - was always the slow pulsing of her heart fading to blackness as it beat its last.
A stifled scream that would have been barely audible to someone on street level was as clear to Matt as if the woman was standing next to him. It was time to put away his memories and become Daredevil, guardian of the night. The red leather of his costume creaked as he stood. The scream had come from an alley a few blocks away. Without any thoughts about risks or danger, Daredevil leaped from the ledge to the rooftop across the street. He raced to the other side and launched himself down onto a fire escape. He jumped across the alley and caught the drainpipe of the next building. He slid down and landed in the alley. This was the only thing he could do for Elektra now - protect others in the way he had failed to protect her.
"Not sorry to interrupt," Daredevil growled in a low, gravely voice. The heartbeat of the woman pounded in his ears and compounded with the heavy breathing of the man, the sounds created the image of a large male body pressing a smaller female shape up against a wall. "Let her go."
"Mind your own business, pal." The man didn't turn around. Daredevil could tell because there was no sound of a shoe scraping the pavement. Instead he heard the tearing of material the pop of buttons.
"Don't you read the papers? You are my business." Daredevil grabbed the man and tossed him down the alley. He hit a chainlink fence with a loud clatter and fell to the ground with a heavy thud. Daredevil turned to the terrified woman, conscious of the fact that he was causing some of her fear and wanting to relieve it. "Are you all right?"
"Y..yes," the woman stuttered. She was still pressed up against the wall. Daredevil heard the bricks scratching the material of her coat as she edged toward the street. He let her go. Her footsteps retreated quickly as she left the alley and realized that no one was following her.
Daredevil turned to her attacker. "Get up." He slowly approached the fallen man. It was the predator's heart that pounded with fear now.
"Don't hurt me."
The plea sickened Daredevil. The man had probably heard it many times from his victims and had ignored it - most likely he had enjoyed it. For a moment, Daredevil wished things were the way they used to be and he could ignore the appeal as well, but things had changed. He had changed. He no longer fought for vengeance, it truly was about justice now. Daredevil picked the man up and lifted him off of his feet. Just because he handed the bad guys over to the police now, that didn't mean he couldn't put the fear of the devil in them first.
*****
"That's not Cordelia." Willow's words echoed in Angel's mind. They wouldn't leave him alone. Willow hadn't said them out loud, she had made the declaration telepathically to him just before she and Faith had left for Sunnydale. When he had flatly refused to believe it, Willow had went on to explain that something was missing from Cordelia and something else had taken its place. She couldn't tell him any more than that without digging deeper into Cordelia's being and very likely alerting whatever it was that was possessing Cordelia that she knew about it. Instead she just warned Angel not to trust Cordelia.
Angel glanced over to Cordelia. She was sitting with Fred at her desk and the two women were laughing at something on the computer screen. Angel leaned back in his chair and set his feet up on his desk, keeping Fred and Cordelia within his line of sight. Cordelia tucked her hair behind her ear and beamed at Fred. Willow was wrong. She didn't know Cordelia - not like he knew her - and she had probably just sensed Cordelia's demonic abilities that The Powers bestowed upon her. Besides, Lorne had read Cordelia and he didn't say anything about her being possessed.
No, Lorne had seen death, destruction, and evil when he had read Cordelia. But that wasn't a part of her, it couldn't be. She was his champion. He knew that word got thrown around a lot, but it was true. She was the driving force of his mission. She had kept him going all these years - first with her demands of payment and then with the physical demands the visions had cost her. She had become part demon to help him. She had promised to be there when he finally shanshued. Cordelia couldn't be evil. Willow was wrong.
As Angel watched Cordelia with a slight smile, she beckoned to someone. For a moment, Angel thought it was him and he swung his legs down to the floor and started to stand up. Connor went to her side instead. His son. Angel sat back down, the smile gone. Cordelia smiled at Connor and touched his arm. She was pregnant with his son's child and she was happy about it. They had announced it earlier. Wesley and Gunn were concerned with the possible ramifications, just as they had been when Darla had turned up pregnant. Fred was being supportive of Cordelia even though she was confused by the other woman's feelings and actions. Angel had retreated to his office where he was now.
Would his Cordelia have done this to him? After his anger had abated somewhat, Angel had come up with all kinds of explanations for what had happened between his son and the woman he loved. It had looked like the end of the world. Connor was an angry boy getting back at the father he had been taught to hate. Cordelia was confused. She was afraid. Both of them had been alone. Or was it something else? Could Willow be right and this woman not be Cordelia at all? Angel sighed and rubbed his hand over his forehead and through his hair. He didn't want to suspect her motives, but why had she trusted Connor? After finding out that he was a vampire and that they fought demons, why had she left the hotel with some strange boy who had just killed a demon? Why hadn't she been afraid of Connor? By staying with Connor she had isolated the two of them from the group. Connor trusted her. Hell, the boy loved her. He had tried to kill his own father to protect her. Maybe she had made him think he was protecting her.
The coffee mug on his desk was the perfect missile to smash against the wall. It fell to the floor in as many pieces as Angel had questions. He jumped up and started pacing. This wasn't right. He had wanted Cordelia for so long, was his jealousy of his son making him question her? But it was Willow who had made him question.
"Angel, are you okay? I heard something break." She stood in the doorway with a worried frown marring her features. Her hand rested on her abdomen. "I know you're upset about this baby, but you have to accept it. Connor and I are going to be parents. This child is going to be your grandchild." She smiled at him and caressed her slightly distended stomach.
For the first time since she had suddenly shown up in the hotel lobby, Angel really looked at her. There was something in her eyes, something he didn't like. She looked satisfied. He knew Cordelia's faults. She could be tactless and sometimes harsh in her observations and advice, but she hadn't been intentionally cruel since highschool. "Who are you? And you had better tell me where Cordelia is."
*****
The room was alive with the severe, driving sounds of Garbage's 'I'm Only Happy When it Rains.' The loud music was in stark contrast to the utterly still figure on the bed. Elektra Natchios remained in a deep coma, unaware of the noise or the person that sat vigil at her beside. Lex Luthor smoothed back a strand of her hair and glanced up at the monitor above her head. Her heartbeat was strong and steady.
"You're doing fine, Athena." Lex used the pet name he had given Elektra when they were teenagers. He had been fourteen and his father had taken him to Greece to close a deal with Nikolas Natchios - her father. The first time he had see her, she had been training with her sensei and he had immediately thought of the goddess of war and wisdom. She had laughed when he called her Athena, but she had also blushed with pleasure. Later, when they were bonding over too-busy fathers and the death of their mothers, she had confided that her mother had also likened her to the goddess of war once and that she missed her desperately. Lex knew then that he had found a kindred soul in Elektra and she had been his only friend until Clark Kent had saved his life. Lex brushed the bandage that covered Elektra's neck. "You just have to wake up now."
As usual, Elektra didn't seem to be taking orders. There wasn't even a flutter of her eyelid or a twitch of a finger. Lex had never seen her so still. She had been so happy she had called to insist that he attend the Black and White Ball at her father's hotel in New York. "Lex, you have to come. There is someone you have to meet." That someone had turned out to be Matt Murdock, a blind do-gooder lawyer who had made Elektra glow with a visible aura of love. Maybe he should have told Matt Murdock that Elektra's death was only a sham. He might be able bring her out of this coma and he might have had an idea of who had done this to her. But then again, maybe not. Elektra had cut him off pretty harshly at her father's funeral. It was doubtful that she had confided in him. She certainly hadn't confided in Lex, except to say that the person who killed her father would pay with his life, and this was where she had ended up. Lex had tried to stop her. Had tried to show her there were other roads to vengeance.
*****
A few weeks earlier....
Lex sipped at his champagne and surveyed the tuxedo and gown clad crowd. He recognized the wheeler-dealers and the socialites, but he wasn't there to see them. He was looking forward to seeing Elektra. He looked up and there she was, looking down on them from the top of the staircase. She was luminous in her shimmery silver gown and her honey brown hair swept up with a few stray tendrils brushing her neck. Helen's fingers dug painfully into his biceps and Lex's smile turned into a wince.
"Is that your friend?" Helen asked tightly, emphasizing the word friend. She didn't believe that he and Elektra had never slept together. Hell, sometimes he couldn't believe it either, but it was true. He and Elektra had needed each other as a friend, so that's what they were. He couldn't explain that properly to Helen though. To ease the tension, Lex had invited Clark and his friends. Unfortunately, he had been unaware that his friend was in the middle of a teenage love triangle that only made the tension worse. At the moment, Clark and Lana were trying not to gaze doe-eyed at each other for Chloe's sake. Chloe had walked off in disgust and had cornered Ben Urich, a reporter for the Post.
"Lex, you came." Elektra beamed at him as she approached. Her fingers were laced with those of a well-dressed man wearing sunglasses, the cane indicating why the glasses were necessary. Lex was mildly surprised. Elektra had never been the Florence Nightingale type, attracted to wounded birds. She greeted him with kisses to both of his cheeks. "This is Matt Murdock. Matt, this is my old and very best friend, Lex Luthor."
"It's nice to meet you." Lex shook Matt's offered hand. "Didn't I see you talking to Wilson Fisk?"
"Yes, my partner sometimes forgets that we only represent the innocent." Matt smiled politely.
"That's certainly not Wilson Fisk." Lex smirked. Helen squeezed his arm once again. "Elektra, Matt, this is Dr. Helen Bryce."
"His girlfriend," Helen added. "I just moved into the mansion."
"How nice. I had lost hope that Lex would ever find someone who could put up with him full time." Elektra leaned forward and gave Lex a peck on the cheek. "Have fun. I'm going to be rude and spend the rest of the evening dancing with Matt." Unfortunately, that's not how the evening went. Lex watched with concern as Elektra followed her father out of the ballroom. The party ended abruptly with the news that Nikolas Natchios had been murdered.
At the funeral, a few days later, Lex waited for Elektra in the backseat of the sedan. She was talking to Matt. She walked away from the lawyer, leaving him standing alone in the pouring rain, and got into the car. "Drive," she ordered hoarsely. She stared at her lap. There were no tears, not for her father or the man she had left heartbroken. "He wanted me to stay with him."
"Why didn't you? He seems like a nice guy and he made you happier than I've ever seen you." Lex took Elektra's hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. "Your father would want you to be happy."
"Dikaiosyni dikos mou." Elektra pulled her hand away. "My father would want justice. I was stupid to believe that I could be happy without paying for it with tragedy."
*****
Tragedy absolutely was the word for what had happened. Lex squeezed Elektra's hand, irrationally hoping that she would pull it from his grasp. There was no reasoning with her in the days that followed her father's funeral. She trained hard than ever and Lex was actually afraid. She was entirely focused on taking her revenge in blood. When she had left to go after the man who had killed her father - she referred to him as the man without fear - Lex had thought he would never see her again and he had almost been right.
The song 'My Goddess' by The Exies ended and there was only the soft beep of Elektra's heartbeat on the monitor and the whir of the cd player changing cd's in the sudden silence. "Not your standard coma selection, but if it works...." Chloe walked hesitantly in the room. "Is it working?"
"Not yet." Lex granted the girl a tired smile. After all the times Clark had come to him complaining about how Chloe had invaded his privacy and used his life as a headlining expose, Lex was surprised that she was keeping this secret. A Greek heiress near death after attempting to avenge her father's murder was big news, but Chloe wasn't writing it. "This would be quite the exclusive for the Torch. It would cement an internship at the Planet."
"Wow." Chloe dropped down into a chair on the other side of the bed. She brushed at the blond fringe of bangs that covered her forehead. Lately, Lex had noticed that she had taken to dying chunks of her hair darker colors. Today it was an indigo blue. "I was wondering when you would get around to asking me what I wanted, but I thought you would be less obscure and more insulting."
For some reason, Lex was disappointed. He shouldn't have been, he practically ruled the world where everyone had a price. "So, what do you want in return for compromising your journalistic integrity?" Lex stared coolly at her, thinking that he already knew the answer to his question. Chloe might be infatuated with Clark Kent, but there was really only one love of her life. He would make Chloe Sullivan a household name if he had to if that would keep Elektra safe.
"Nothing. I don't plan on compromising anything." Chloe looked down at the sleeping woman and shivered. She looked like a prone statue, beautiful and remote. Elektra had looked a lot more human and fragile that night Chloe had found her on the rooftop. When Clark and Lana had left to go back to Smallville, Chloe had stayed in New York in Lex's suite at the Grand with the excuse that she wanted to tag along with Ben Urich and soak up reporter vibes and hopefully make a good enough impression for a reccomendation. That night she had been in Urich's office, reading some of his past articles on Daredevil and the Kingpin when the police scanner on his desk started to crackle with urgent voices. It was too much temptation, Chloe had to see this Daredevil guy in action and who knew, it might get her a byline in the Post.
It was weird Chloe logic that had led her to that rooftop with the chaos of cops, paramedics, and onlookers down on the street. Where else would you find a leather wearing vigilante? And she had found one. She had also found a great story, but she couldn't write it.
"You are not going to print one word about Elektra." Lex's harsh, threatening tone broke into Chloe's memories.
Chloe frowned at Lex. He talked to Clark too much and had obviously gotten a bad impression of her. "Of course I'm not, but it wouldn't be because of anything you threatened to do," she snapped back. "If I was going to break this story, it would already be published."
"Then why haven't you?"
Blood on her hands. Chloe looked down and could almost see the rusty stains on her palms and fingers. It had been ages before she had the chance to wash the blood away. "Because I don't have the whole story. I'm not going to publish a word until I get an exclusive interview with Elektra Natchios."
Lex leaned forward and whispered loudly in Elektra's ear, "Take my advice, Athena, and wake up now." He glanced up at Chloe with a smirk. "Chloe is horribly persistent and it'll only get worse the longer she has to wait."
"Haha." Chloe rolled her eyes. For the first time in her life, she didn't really want an interview. She felt responsible - not for Elektra's death, but for her life. Blood on her hands. It had gotten there when she had made an impromptu pressure bandage using her light summer sweater and the tightness of Elektra's leather vest. Then she had started CPR. It had taken forever for Lex to find them. Actually, it had probably only been a few minutes before the illegally hired police helicopter swooped down and whisked them to a private hospital. Lex had paid everyone involved in resuscitating Elektra for their silence, everyone except her. Chloe didn't need payment. "God, I don't know how Clark does it. Being accountable for other people's lives is tiring," Chloe muttered.
"Excuse me?" Lex raised an eyebrow. He had caught what she said, but he wanted her to repeat it. It was nice to share the responsibility of protecting Elektra with someone else.
"Nothing. I saw Helen on my way in." Chloe waved her hand at him before he could reproach her. "Don't worry, I avoided her. She didn't see me. Shouldn't you tell her about Elektra? She seems like a smart woman, she's going to be suspicious of you disappearing into the unused wing of the mansion all the time."
"I told her I was thinking of redoing it. Helen wouldn't understand about Elektra." Lex sighed. He wanted to let Helen in behind his emotional walls, he really did, but not at his best friend's expense. It galled him that he couldn't trust the woman he loved. He knew that Helen would insist on telling the authorities that Elektra was alive and he hoped that it would be because of her morals and not out of jealousy. He couldn't take the chance that Elektra's attacker wouldn't come back to finish the job. He had to protect her, even if it meant sacrificing his relationship with Helen.
*****
"Hubris. It was your downfall, you know." Nathaniel Elias straightened his cravat and smoothed his tuxedo jacket. His silver blond hair hang down to the middle of his back and was gathered in an elegant ponytail. His gaze in the mirror shifted from his reflection to the image behind him. A cage with bars of purple fire sat in the corner of the dark, wood paneled room. Inside was the glowing astral form of Cordelia Chase. "You shouldn't beat yourself up too badly for it though. It's been the bane of human existence for centuries."
"Shut up," Cordelia yelled. She threw herself at the purple flames that contained her and was zapped back. She fell to the floor and stayed there. "Shut up. Shut up. Shut up."
"But I'm in such a talkative mood." Nathaniel smiled. He turned, but didn't approach the cage. He could have let her go on believing that she was on a higher plane doing 'good,' but this was so much more fun. He could torment this woman with her colossal mistake for hours and never tire of it. "Did you really think the Powers That Be would offer you such an opportunity? Just because you suffered through a few nasty headaches and helped a vampire save some inconsequential lives? Ah, Cordelia, you really did think a lot of yourself."
"No. I trusted Skip." Cordelia glared up at him. She hated his eyes. His dark brown eyes reminded her too much of Angel's. "I only accepted because you looked like Skip."
"You keep telling yourself that." Nathaniel lifted his black cloak from the coat hanger and draped it over his shoulders. "Maybe the guilt won't crush you when your error in judgement destroys the people you love." It was a premature proclamation, but it would happen. His plan hadn't been without flaws - the first being when Cordelia kept her memories from the demon inhabiting her body - but luckily, Angel and his friends had been more than happy to overlook and sometimes even fix them for him. It wouldn't last long though, the Beast and the demon weren't smart enough not to make any mistakes. Angel would realize that the demon wasn't the woman he loved and he would tear Los Angeles apart looking for her and the sorcerer who held her captive. "Well now, you have a good evening Cordelia. I must leave for the Opera now. I'll be back in a couple of hours, so don't miss me terribly." Nathaniel nodded a pleasant good-bye to his prisoner. The vampire could search all he wanted, it wouldn't do him any good. Not when he and the lovely Miss Chase were in New York.
~Part: Two~
"Matt." The name cracked out of her dry lips as a raspy, barely audible croak. Elektra opened her eyes, but everything was blurry. She closed them and then tried it again more slowly. The room was brought into focus a bit better. It wasn't a hospital room. It wasn't her room at the hotel and it wasn't Matt's room - although there was a gothic austere maleness about it that reminded her of Matt's. The walls were a dark blue with dark wood trim and there was little decoration. Elektra moved her head and winced. Her neck was stiff and she felt like she was made of concrete. What happened?
There was a girl standing in front of the window. The light streaming in created a halo out of her short blond hair. She couldn't be an angel. She looked vaguely familiar and Elektra was pretty sure that angels didn't mishandle the sai. "You're gripping it wrong." The sentence came out stronger and more clearer than her first attempt at speaking, but was still just a croaky whisper.
The three-pronged weapon clattered to the floor. "You're awake." Chloe rolled her eyes at the stupidity of her statement. Of course she was awake, she was talking. "How are you feeling?"
Elektra stared at the sai on the floor, the sun reflected off the blade and glared into her eyes. It wasn't sunlight that filled her vision though. She saw the longest, middle tine slick with Matt's blood. She had sharpened the edges and points of the defensive weapon to create a deadlier version for her purpose. She had stabbed him. The memories were a strobe light of images. Her hatred had been so intense that she hadn't noticed that her opponent had only deflected her blows without hitting back. The only thing she had wanted was to watch the man dressed in the red leather devil costume die a horrible death at her hands. She hadn't known that Daredevil was Matt. She could hear herself accusing him of killing her father, calling him a liar when he denied it. She had thrust the point into his shoulder so hard that it had went right through his body and broke the window behind him. After he had fallen, she had removed the cowl with the red glass eyes and devil horns. The Man Without Fear was her lover, Matt Murdock. She had been wrong. Despite what Elektra had believed previously, her heart knew that Matt was not her father's assassin. Bullseye's appearance on the roof proved it.
"You're remembering what happened, aren't you?"
Elektra heard the girl's concerned words from a distance. She was in a different time, a different place. She felt the quicksilver pain and pressure of the sai's blade as it pierced her side. The blood that poured from the wound was a warm shock to her system. There was only one thing she had wanted to do. Elektra had crawled to Matt, needing to be with him. Needing him. 'Stay with me.' It was the last thing he had said to her. The remembered plea brought tears to her eyes. She had left him again. What had happened to him? He would have gone after Bullseye and he would have been hurt because of her.
"It's okay." Chloe cautiously reached out and touched Elektra's hand. She hadn't expected her to cry. Probably because she was Lex's friend and she couldn't imagine him crying either.
"Who are you?" The girl seemed innocuous enough, but Elektra wasn't exactly in fighting shape and even this girl could harm her if she wanted to.
"Chloe. Chloe Sullivan. I'm a fr...I know Lex." Chloe wasn't totally comfortable calling Lex her friend. They were more acquainted through circumstances than through any mutual friendly feelings. Not that she didn't like Lex, she just didn't know him like she knew Clark or Pete. He didn't make her feel comfortable. She was pretty sure Lex saw her as a nuisance. "You're in Smallville at Luthor Manor. I can go get Lex, he's in his study. He had some business with his father to take care of, otherwise he would have been here. He's barely left your side the whole time you've been in a coma."
"How long have I been unconscious?"
"Three weeks." Chloe stood up to leave. "Are you going to be okay? Because I could just call him."
"No, go. I'll be fine." Elektra smiled weakly. She needed some time alone to sort through everything. Lex would know what had happened to Matt. Her gaze dropped to the sai. She gestured toward it. "Do you mind?"
Chloe bent and picked up the weapon that had fascinated her earlier. She didn't know why Elektra would want it, but she handed it to her anyway. "I'll go get Lex."
"Thank you." Elektra held the sai close to her, resting it on her chest and relishing the comfortable weight. She was too weak to wield it, but that was only temporary. It felt good holding it. She gripped the handle tightly and closed her eyes as Chloe left the room. If Bullseye had killed Matt, she would find him. This time the sai would work for her and the blood that tainted it would belong to Bullseye.
*****
It disgusted Angel to watch her with his son. They were out in the courtyard having a picnic while he lurked in the shadows and watched. He wasn't going to leave Connor alone with her and she knew it. That's why she sought out the sun as much as possible, told everyone it was good for the baby. Angel doubted very much that this 'baby' would thrive in the light - it was more about darkness.
She had laughed at him that day in his office when he had accused her of not being Cordelia. They both knew that the others wouldn't believe him. They would think jealousy had finally drove him over the edge. He would need proof and she knew he didn't have any. He had to find a way to trip her up - preferably before whatever it was she was carrying was born. Connor would hate him even more, any closeness that they had managed to forge would disappear once Angel revealed that the woman his son was being manipulated into loving and the child she carried had to die.
"Angel." Fred approached from behind him. She smiled hesitantly when he turned. She saw Connor with her outside and pity immediately overwhelmed her delicate features. Angel hated the pity. If he told Fred that the woman outside with Connor wasn't Cordelia, she wouldn't believe him because of the pity. She would pass it off as him grasping at evil straws to explain why the woman he loved preferred his son.
"Did you need something, Fred?" he asked when she didn't say anything more.
Fred shook her head. "We were just researching Cordelia's pregnancy. Wesley is worried because it's progressing so quickly." Fred shifted her gaze back to the couple outside. She opened her mouth, but it took a few moments for her to gather her courage to speak. "Sh...she's different now."
For the first time in a long time, Angel felt hope. Someone who wasn't the envious rejectee had noticed that she wasn't Cordelia. Or at least Fred had noticed that something was wrong with her behavior. "What do you mean?"
"Well...." Fred glanced down at her feet and hunched her shoulders forward as if to make a smaller target. "She was cautious about Connor before he was born and Wesley said she had been pregnant with demon spawn before...not that any child of Connor's would automatically be demon spawn, but this isn't progressing like a normal pregnancy so...well, anyway, Wesley said her previous pregnancy upset her until the babies started influencing her." Fred looked up at him, her eyes huge and shining with earnest conviction. "She loves you, Angel, I know she does. She shouldn't be so happy that she's pregnant." Fred's hand covered her mouth to stop herself from saying any more.
"It's okay, Fred." Angel sighed and squeezed her shoulder. "I've thought the same thing. I just...I just wish I knew why she's doing this to me." He was ashamed of the pathetic hangdog look he gave Fred to manipulate her feelings - it was an Angelus tactic - but these were desperate times. If he could lead her to the conclusion that the woman outside was not Cordelia, then Fred would tell Wesley, Gunn, and Lorne and her theory would be valid. The others would have to pursue it.
"I don't know, maybe being a divine being changed her and we don't even know why she came back." Fred sighed. She felt so sorry for Angel. It would be great if she could find something to explain why Cordelia was acting so strangely. Kye-rumption and moira just didn't disappear. There had to be an explanation. "Maybe something horrible happened to her."
"You think so?" Angel kept his tone neutral with only a hint of hope. He should have thought of this before, but he would have to be careful. If he pushed then Fred would get suspicious. Angel shook his head. "No. She doesn't love me. I have to accept that and try to move on. Be happy for them." That statement tasted worse than week old blood. He gazed mournfully out the window. He hoped he wasn't laying it on too thick.
"Cordelia loves you. She's just confused because when she came back she didn't remember any of us. Maybe something went wrong with the memory spell and that's why she's acting so strangely. Once she's back to being herself, she'll realize how much she loves you, Angel." Fred frowned. Angel was her hero, although she didn't worship like she did when she had first come back from Pylea. She didn't like seeing him hurt and it was inconceivable to her that it was Cordelia who was doing this to him. She gasped as the connection Angel had wanted her to make clicked. "Oh, Angel, what if the person who came back isn't Cordelia?"
*****
Sometimes Cordelia escaped her prison and was back in her body. The first time it had happened, she had woken up naked and in bed next to Connor. She had tried to tell him that something was wrong, but something else had control. With growing horror, she heard herself explaining to Connor why they couldn't have sex again. Again! That implied, along with the fact that they were both naked, that there had been a time when they did have sex. She had sex with Angel's son. The cuddly baby boy she had rocked to sleep in her arms. The reality that only her body and not her mind or soul have been involved did not decrease the ickiness of it all. The thing that possessed her body had violated her. It had violated Connor. Worse of all, it had done something so vile and despicable that she would never be able to love Angel the way she wanted to. She would break his heart in a way Buffy had never managed to do and she hated herself and the thing that had done it. Cordelia had tried to fight, to get her body back, but the purple fire returned her to her prison. It always did. The other times had been too fleeting for her to do anything and left her with the impression that she didn't want her body back.
Nathaniel Elias was right. This was her fault. If she hadn't been so full of herself, thinking she was so good and worthy of becoming a divine being, then none of this would have happened. She hadn't questioned the ascension like she should have because she had wanted it so badly. It was her chance to prove that she was no longer the vain, vapid cheerleader she once was, but it turned out that it proved the opposite. If she could curl her astral self into a ball and cry, Cordelia would have done it.
"Lovely evening tonight, isn't it, Cordelia?" Nathaniel walked into the room through the concealed door. This was his hidden sanctuary in his study with a bookcase as its entrance. Nathaniel liked the Masterpiece Theatre classiness of it. It was better than doing his spells in a drafty warehouse. The astral figure in the magical prison ignored him. "Another cameo appearance in your life? I certainly hope it wasn't during an intimate moment with the vampire's son."
Cordelia concentrated on her glowing hands. The colors were beautiful - pastel shades of green, blue, and pink along with gold and silver laced around her fingers and wrists. She wasn't going to respond. She had accepted her responsibility for this situation, but she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of defeating her. She would find some way to let Angel know that Connor was in danger and that her body had been hijacked by evil.
"Why don't we check in on the happy family? Do you think Angel will be as proud a grandfather as he was a father?" Nathaniel used the remote to turn on the flat screen television hanging on the wall, but left the satellite receiver off. "Specto meus inimicus."
The blue screen was abruptly replaced by a clear picture of the Hyperion's courtyard. Cordelia couldn't help it, she looked. She saw herself and Connor packing up a picnic basket and heading inside. The poor boy looked at her with so much love it was heartbreaking. They went inside where the others were busy researching something. "Angel." His name slipped from Cordelia's lips and she reached out to touch him. The purple fire caressed her fingertips instead. She would fix this and protect the people she loved. Nathaniel Elias and his imposter demon would not win. She would get her body back and then she would leave Los Angeles. She couldn't work with Angel so closely and not be with him. Any chance they had of a relationship had been destroyed.
*****
The man without fear. Elektra's words were printed in black and white in one of Ben Urich's articles for the Post. It was how he described the vigilante known as Daredevil. It was how Elektra had described her father's killer, the one who had left her for dead.
"Lex!" Chloe rushed into his study, breathing heavy from her sprint across the mansion. "She's awake."
"Call the doctor. Tell him I want him here immediately." Lex gave the orders as he strode quickly from the room. He raced toward the unused wing and made it in record time. He hadn't expected her to be up practicing with the sai, but it was disappointing find her still laying motionless in her bed with her eyes closed. "Elektra?"
"Lex?" Elektra's eyes opened. Her grip on the sai loosened at the sight of her old friend. She reached out to him. "Matt. Is Matt okay?"
Lex took Elektra's hand with a small frown. He wasn't sure why she was so concerned with Murdock, as far as he knew the lawyer had nothing to do with what had happened to her. "He's fine, as far as I know. I'm sure he's upset. I, uh, thought it would be safer if everyone believed that you died. He was at the memorial service I had in your honor."
"Matt thinks I'm dead." Elektra felt her heart cramp and it was worse than the ache she felt in all of her muscles. Matt believed that he had watched her die. And knowing him, he probably felt responsible. "What happened...after I died?"
"Well, I was a bit preoccupied at time covering up the fact that you are alive." Lex sat down in his usual chair. He took the weapon from her hand and set it on the bedside table. "Later I found out that a vigilante called Daredevil and a psycho who called himself Bullseye had a rather violent altercation in a nearby church. Bullseye was critically injured. That same night Daredevil also exposed Wilson Fisk as the legendary Kingpin. Fisk has been arrested on numerous charges, including ordering the hit on your father."
"Mr. Fisk was the Kingpin? No wonder my father wanted to cut all business ties with him." Elektra had never liked her father's business associate, but she never would have thought he was the Kingpin. He had always seemed more brawn than brains and she had assumed that he had intimidated, not organized, his way to the top. Ever since her mother's death, Elektra had been aware that her father's business had its less legitimate side, but to be involved with the Kingpin...Still, he was her father and he had not deserved to die. "You said Bullseye was critically injured, did he die?"
"No. He's scheduled to stand trial for your father's murder when he recovers sufficiently." Lex watched Elektra closely. If he went by her words before she was injured, then it was Daredevil, not Bullseye, who had killed Nikolas Natchios. "Several witnesses have come forward recently."
It wasn't over. Her father's murderers were still alive. Thank God Matt was too. She didn't know what she would have done if he had died that night.
"I know it will be awkward, but would you like to call him? You can blame me." Lex squeezed her hand and smiled.
There was nothing Elektra wanted to do more than call Matt and tell him that she was alive and that she loved him. She would stay with him forever. "No, I can't." She couldn't put Matt in the middle of her plans for revenge again. She had made a promise on her father's grave that she would deal out justice in the manner of their Greek ancestors. She couldn't keep hurting Matt. It would be best if Matt went on believing that she was dead, especially if the only way to kill Fisk and Bullseye was to take them with her.
"I thought I had lost you, Athena." Lex brought Elektra's hand to his mouth and kissed it. He wouldn't push her about Murdock yet, even though he thought she was wrong. She should go to him and live a wonderful life, but Lex could tell by the rigid set of her jaw that Elektra wasn't through with her quest for vengeance. Since Bullseye and the Kingpin were both in the hands of the law that meant that Daredevil had also played a part in Natchios' murder. She would go after him once she was fully recovered. The only way he could protect his friend was to find out who this Daredevil really was and go after him the way Luthor's did. Ben Urich seemed to know a lot about this Daredevil. Unfortunately he was a journalist who probably wouldn't take too kindly to a bribe. Lex would have to use Chloe to get to Urich and find out what he knew about Daredevil.
~~~*~~~
It was working out better than Angel had expected. He didn't know if Wesley and Gunn actually supported Fred's idea or if they were just competing for her attention, but both of them immediately jumped on the Cordelia Imposter bandwagon. Wesley started looking up ascension prophecies and Gunn started listing the weird things Cordelia had been doing lately.
"And at the top of the list is doing the kid. That ain't Barbie's style." Gunn cast a sympathetic glance at Angel. "Sorry, man."
"Just because we don't like it, that doesn't mean it's not her." Angel had decided his best position was to play devil's advocate. The truth would become even more clearer to them as they tried to convince him of it.
"Exactly, I agree with Angel." Lorne stepped into the discussion. He had looked increasingly worried and distraught ever since Fred had posed her question. "I read Cordelia...."
"Yeah, and you also read Angelus and told us he was Angel." Gunn dismissed Lorne's reasoning with a grimace. "I think your reader is on the fritz."
"I wish." Lorne shook his head sadly. "I'm a little low on the details since Wolfram and Hart gave me the ol' mind suck, but I know how I felt. What I saw wasn't just plain everyday evil, it was deep and dark. It made Angelus look like a choirboy." Lorne shuddered and looked at Angel desperation making his eyes redder and his skin a pale green. "That can't be our sweet Brown Eyes, Angel, it can't."
"If Fred is right than it isn't." Wesley set down his book. It wasn't helping anyway. The ascension of mortal half demons was obviously rare, if not heard of before, occurrence. "Our Cordelia would still be a divine being on a higher plane."
"But I read her," Lorne insisted. "Cordelia was there. If this some kind of an evil switcheroo than our imposter is using the real thing's body. And if it's purpose was to bring perpetual darkness and Angelus to L. A., then it failed. Why hasn't it left or killed us off?"
"Maybe the Beast and perpetual darkness were a distraction and Angelus just a bonus," Angel commented quietly. "Maybe its purpose is the baby." He wanted to leave the room and wallow some more. He should be happy that the others were on his side, but he hadn't thought it through. It hadn't occurred to him that she could actually be using Cordelia's body. He had thought that once he had brought the others around to his line of thinking, he could just kill her.
"What about my baby, Angel?" She glared at him from the doorway where she and Connor were standing. Angel wondered how much they had heard. She turned her gaze to the rest of the group and smiled. "I know you guys have been worried about what he's going to be, but you don't have to. The Powers sent me a vision and our baby is going to be a blessing for everyone." She hugged Connor to her side.
Gunn snorted and looked away. "So you say."
"You've never questioned my visions before." Her eyes had narrowed to dangerous slits.
"I never questioned Cordy's visions." Gunn's stubborn glare was just as hard. He still remembered that night Cordy had tagged along to 'protect' him. It galled him that he wasn't there to protect her when she had needed him, that he had allowed this thing to take her place.
"Oh, so that's it." She smiled. It was Cordelia's smile - big, bright, and inviting. When she looked at Angel it twisted into something cruel. "Angel has been telling you his delusional fantasy that I'm not me."
"Actually, it was Fred who suggested it." Wesley watched Cordelia closely. Not that the idea had been present, he could see differences in her personality. She did seem colder. His eyes landed on her hand on Connor's arm. She was very possessive of Connor, monopolizing his time and keeping him away from the rest of them, specifically Angel. Their Cordelia believed they were family, she took betrayal hard. She would be trying to unite father and son, not tear them apart. "I believe she has a valid point."
Her eyes swept over them with a calculating gleam. Their varying hostile, sad, worried, and blank looks did not bode well. The damn vampire had actually done it. They suspected her of not being their wannabe saint. She turned to stand in front of Connor, demanding his attention. "I told you he would do this. I told you Angel would say anything to get rid of our baby and destroy of family. He hates us."
"Lordy, our little brain trust was right." Lorne shook his head in disbelief, his mouth hanging open. There was no way their Cordelia would say something like that, not even while hopped up on baby hormones.
"Connor, don't listen to them." The boy was the important one. It would have been easier if the other imbeciles had continued to believe her pretense - just like it would have been easier if Angelus hadn't killed the Beast and that damn interfering witch hadn't resouled Angel - but it wasn't necessary. All she needed was for the boy to protect her until the baby was born. "They've never accepted us or our baby. We should leave." She started to push the boy back.
"No." Angel met his son's eyes over her shoulder. "Think, Connor, about when you first arrived in this dimension and met Cordelia. She's not her. We can prove it." This was it, either his son trusted him or not.
"What are you talking about?" Connor spoke for the first time. It wasn't difficult to think back to when he had first arrived from Quor-toth, he was just as confused.
"She is not Cordelia," Gunn said the words slowly for the boy's benefit. "And Angel can prove it."
"He can not." She turned around with a sneer. "You can't have proof...." Her gaze skated to Connor. Damn! He actually looked like he was thinking. "Because there is nothing to prove."
"Skip." Angel didn't know why he hadn't thought of it before. "We have a demon calling spell, don't we, Wesley? Why don't we call up Skip and see what he has to say about Cordelia returning?"
"No, Skip is busy," her voice was high with panic. They had her cornered. If they called the real Skip then they would know that Cordelia hadn't ascended at all. Her partner wouldn't be very pleased if that happened. She had to shut the vampire up. She hid her hand in the folds of her maternity gown and grasped a stake that she kept in one of the many voluminous pockets. "Connor, let's leave."
This time Connor resisted the tug on his arm. He remembered Cordelia. He remembered how she had drained the darkness from him when he had attacked her to hurt his father. She had held him after and comforted him, like a mother. Like she loved him. He had once asked Holtz about his mother and had received a severe beating as an answer. His mother was a demon whore. His mother deserved to be spit upon for the abominations she had brought into the world. His mother had no love in her heart for a son and never would so she was best forgotten. He remembered how Cordelia had looked at his father with so much love. "I just...I wanted you to love me."
"I do love you." She touched the boy's cheek. He was hers.
Connor remembered how she had looked at him the night fire fell from the sky. Finally she had loved him, but it hadn't been right. He knew that even if he didn't want to accept it. He looked up at his father. He had never trusted him. Never. Why should he start now? Holtz had always told him that the vampire would twist things with lies and a false face. He had loved Cordelia and she had rejected him, wouldn't he lie to break them apart and hurt their baby? But he had learned things since his time with Holtz. He had learned that these people did fight evil and that Fred, Gunn, Wesley, and Cordelia hadn't just been fools deluded by a killer. They did protect the innocent and so did his father.
He had also met Angelus, the vampire who had killed Holtz's family. He could see the differences. When Angelus had looked at him, there had been nothing in his eyes - no connection, no pride, no love. He could see those things in his father's eyes right now. He could also see sadness and desperation. Connor focused on the soft, beating heart of the baby. He was a father now. He had to protect his family. He reached for Cordelia's hand and instead he grasped the smooth wood of a stake. She wanted him to kill his father. He frowned at her. There was no threat to their baby's life. They could just leave. There hadn't been a threat the last time she had asked him to kill his father either. Connor gripped the stake, taking it from her. She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. There was nothing in her eyes. She was like Angelus.
"You don't love me." Before he realized it, the stake was embedded in her stomach. The fluttering of the baby's heart faltered and died. His wasn't lying, the demon beside him wasn't Cordelia and their baby would have been something terrible. They were special. She had said that over and over again. They were also demons and Holtz had taught him to destroy demons. Cordelia was dead, the one who had loved his father and could have been his mother. A mother that could love him and be proud of him. The bleeding demon beside him had taken away his chance at having a family. "I don't want your love," Connor yelled through his sobs. He yanked the stake out of her. They were both special.
*****
"No!" Nathaniel watched the screen with horror as the boy staked the demon growing inside of Cordelia's womb. It was dead. Only the child's father was capable of killing it and he did.
Cordelia heard Angel echo Nathaniel's protest. She watched as he rushed toward Connor and knocked the stake out of his hand before he could turn it on himself. She saw his indecision - comfort Connor or keep her body alive. "Let me go, Angel," Cordelia urged quietly. She wanted so badly to touch him - to hug him and hold his hand while they discussed how he could help his son get through this latest trauma in his young life. She watched as Wesley and Gunn knelt beside her body and tried to stop the bleeding. She wished she could have the chance to say good-bye to all of them.
"It's not over yet, Saint Cordelia." Nathaniel sneered. He knew what she was thinking. Once her body died, her soul would no longer be trapped by his spell and then she probably would become a higher being. Then she could watch over her dear asinine friends and pathetic beloved Angel. It wasn't going to happen. As long as he had her, he had control over the vampire. The mystical child of the Destroyer and the PTB Seer was supposed to have been his key to controlling all demon activity on the West Coast. It would have gotten rid of The First, the Slayer, and opened the Hellmouth for him. Now Angel would have to do it. "Reverti."
On screen, the demon that possessed the body of Cordelia Chase started to scream. Wes and Gunn backed away as angry red flames consumed her and she disappeared. In Nathaniel's hidden room, an empty fireplace flared to life. The flames spit out Cordelia's body and with it. Sudden, searing pain slammed into Cordelia's astral self. Her body pulled at her, but the purple fire that surrounded her separated them.
"Thank you." The demon controlling Cordelia's body smiled. She struggled to her feet, reaching a hand down to her still bleeding belly. "That bastard kid ruined everything. What's our next move?"
"You ruined everything." Nathaniel picked up a sharp black handled knife, runic etchings decorated the hilt and the blade. He pointed it at Cordelia's forehead. The writings on the side started to glow and a strangled gasp issued from Cordelia's throat. Slowly, thick strings of inky black seeped out of her mouth and wrapped around the blade. "First you let Angelus kill the Beast. Then you let that meddling witch re-soul Angel. Finally, you failed to secure the vampire spawn's loyalty and allowed him to murder his child. Your next move is go back to Hell and stay there!" The last of the black left Cordelia's body and it fell limply to the floor. Nathaniel tossed the knife into the fireplace where it screeched and burned and finally disappeared.
The pain was intense. Cordelia felt her astral self being pulled through the magical purple fire of her cell and drawn to her body. Now that nothing else possessed its place, her soul sought out its home and no magic could hold it back. Her eyes opened and she stared at Nathaniel Elias in shock. She felt woozy and sick and her heart struggled to beat and move around what little blood was left in her body. She was going to die.
*****
The night was unusually quiet. Daredevil paced along the roof of an office building and listened for any sign of unrest. It was a weird quiet - not even the rats were scurrying around in search of food and things to gnaw on. He didn't like it. He had a feeling that something was cloaking itself in the calm and when it decided it was time to wreck havoc, Daredevil wasn't sure he would be able to protect his city. Especially since he had no idea what the hell was a possible threat to it.
The sound of the scrape of a dumpster being moved on the pavement came from the alley below Daredevil. He leaned over the building's ledge and looked down. Something moved. It skulked down the alley and out into the street. It took a moment before Daredevil followed. He had seen it. He hadn't heard it move. He hadn't seen its outline in the vibrations of his radar sense. He could see its dark shadow shape with a dull grey aura around it. It moved too quickly to be human. Good thing he moved quickly as well.
As he followed the unusual figure, staying out of its sight by keeping above it, Daredevil tried to use his other senses to gather information on who or what it was. It moved with very little sound - stealthy like a predator - but what was really disconcerting was that he couldn't hear it breath or its heart beating. It emitted a low level sound that Daredevil was sure only he and animals with extremely good hearing could hear. It smelled. The fresh sharp, tangy scent of blood clung to it and underneath was the older stale odor of dried blood. Whatever it was, Daredevil didn't like it.
The thing went into an old apartment building that had recently been renovated in an effort to attract more affluent tenants to the area. Daredevil knew where they were. He knew every inch of his city by the sounds and smells and the feeling of the urban landscape under his feet. The owner of the building was Nathaniel Elias, a former lawyer turned wealthy business man. He had taken over a lot of Nikolas Natchios' holdings when they had been sold after Elektra's death. Daredevil had been keeping an eye on him in case he decided to take over some things from the Kingpin as well. Daredevil stopped on the roof of the building across the street. A lot of the buildings on this block were empty due to 'renovations.' They were owned by Elias too. There was nothing outwardly suspicious going on, but there had to be a reason that Elias wanted the buildings around his home empty.
A woman's screams coming from the penthouse apartment was reason enough for Daredevil. He threw out his grappling hook, which caught on the wrought iron guard rail of the balcony, and he swung across. The screaming stopped as he landed. He let himself into the apartment through the unlocked balcony doors and stepped inside. Elias certainly wasn't afraid of burglars. It was a study, Daredevil could smell the dusty aroma of old books and the heavy scent of cedar. He could hear a voice, but it wasn't in this room. It was behind a bookcase. A few well-placed taps and his radar sense showed him the opening mechanism for the hidden door.
Nothing could have prepared Daredevil for what was in Elias' secret room. The bookcase glided open and Daredevil's blind eyes were immediately assaulted by a bright white light. The unnatural hum that the other being had emitted sang louder in the air, driving his radar sense nuts. Daredevil closed his eyes and covered his ears until he could orientate himself to the new sensory input. When he did open his eyes, he saw two people. A woman bathed in glowing white lay on the floor while a man stood above her. Crackling blue energy discharged from the man's hands, but it seemed to be rebuffed by the radiance engulfing the woman.
"You can't keep this up," the man warned. It was Nathaniel Elias. The blue color intensified and the white glow started to wane. "If you give up now then I might be lenient on the others. I'll just use the vampire. He's a big boy, he can take care of himself."
"Angel," the woman gasped. The white glow was flickering and the blue energy snaked in and zapped at her body. Daredevil didn't understand exactly what was going on, but she was in trouble. He unsheathed his billy club and threw the baton at the man. It hit him in the head at his temple and knocked him to the floor. The unnatural light given off by the blue energy and the white glow ceased.
"Are you okay?" Daredevil crossed the room to the woman. He could smell blood. She was hurt. He knelt down beside her and picked her up. "You're safe now. I'll get you out of here." Nathaniel Elias' heart was still beating, he was alive, but Daredevil really didn't care at that moment. His concern was for the woman. He would take care of Elias later.
~Part: 3~
Never in all of Angel's two and half centuries on this earth had time moved so slow. Days and nights dragged endlessly, but he didn't mind. During the night he could find some relief from his guilt and grief by kicking the shit out of various demons and vampires. The days were a mixture of heaven and hell. His days were spent in one of two ways - he either slept all day and dreamed of Cordelia or he stayed awake and remembered her. In the beginning he had remembered her smile, her laugh, the sparkle in her eyes, the way she smelled sweet with a hint of spicy raspberry. Those had been the easy things to remember, now Angel found himself recalling other things - things that surprised him because he hadn't realized how important they had been to him. He remembered meeting her at that inane Hollywood party where she had innocently asked him if he was still 'grrr' and then brushed him off to go talk to 'important' people. She had been so young and sweetly innocent then. He shuddered to think about how he hadn't recognized that Cordelia had been just as desperate and vulnerable as Tina. He had almost lost her that night because he had seen her as the Sunnydale Cordelia - all brass tacks and arrogance - and not a target for a sadistic, hungry vampire. He had learned so much about Cordelia in that first year.
A sharp knock invaded Angel's memories, but he ignored it. Usually someone would wander up to his room a few hours after sunset to drag him out. Angel wasn't ready yet. He smiled as he remembered Doyle's crush on Cordelia and how she would always brush him off. Back then Angel had let himself think that he was acting the protective big brother role, looking out for Cordelia by interrogating her dates and making sure that Doyle's advances didn't go too far, but even then a part of him recognized that he needed her. He was protective because he hadn't wanted another man to take her away from him. He had been too mired in his love for Buffy to have those feelings for Cordelia then, but she had still been the most important thing in his life. She still was even though she was no longer with him.
The bedroom door opened and Connor stepped into his room. His son's eyes stayed trained on the floor. "Fred tracked down the vampires that took that lady's kid."
Angel didn't move from his bed, but his mind did wander from Cordelia to his son. He didn't hate Connor or blame him for Cordelia's death, but he knew that the boy blamed himself. Angel wished that he could alleviate that guilt and tell him that the events that led up to Cordelia's death had started long before the boy was born and that he couldn't be blamed. It was his fault that Cordelia had been involved. She had received the visions because of him, she had refused to give them up because of him. He should never have involved her in his life, his mission. He should have let her go.
"Dad, we have to go. Wesley says that there's a chance that the little girl is still alive. This vampire family uses a child in a ritual that they perform during a new moon." Connor ventured a quick glance at his father. Angel's face was blank, as always. His father had become a machine since Cordelia.....Connor shut down the thought. The only reason why he hadn't followed through with killing himself was because Fred said Angel couldn't lose both of the people he loved, it would kill him. He had caused his father enough pain in his lifetime, so he lived with all of the things he had done. Holtz would have been proud. He had accomplished his goal of taking away the woman and child that Angel loved just as the demon Angelus had done to him. Of course, Holtz had only intended to take away the son - Connor had wanted Cordelia. He had thought that she had wanted him too - that she had chosen him over his father - but that had been the demon, not Cordelia. She had never loved him. "Dad..."
"Let's go," Angel interrupted. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. He didn't want to hear his son apologize. Cordelia was gone and there was nothing they could do about it. Angel grabbed his leather jacket as he walked out of the room, unaware that he was already wearing his vampire face. He needed to kill.
~~~*~~~
It was weird that the sai fascinated Chloe so much. She wasn't a 'warrior' person and weapons rarely held any interest for her, but the trident-like blades were strangely compelling. She was especially intrigued when she watched Elektra use them. It was difficult to believe that it was only a few months ago that Elektra had been mortally wounded. She moved with strength and grace as she whirled the sai in fluid movements.
"Hi, Chloe." Elektra halted her workout once she noticed the blond girl in the doorway. She set her weapons down on a table that was pushed up against the wall and grabbed a towel. Lex had arranged for the furniture to be removed from the bedroom next to hers to provide her with space to workout and get her strength back. Now that she was feeling better, being confined to the unused wing of the Manor was making her a bit stir-crazy and she was grateful for company. "How was school today?"
"Same as always." Chloe rolled her eyes and let her bag slip from her shoulder to land on the floor. "Clark and Lana are mooning over each other like lovesick teenagers and I'm barely a blip on their radar screen. Why does she have to be so damn perfect? I can't even hate her properly." Chloe sighed. She and Elektra had bonded since Lex's old friend had woken from her coma. It had become a habit for her to come to Luthor Manor after school and vent her Clark/Lana frustrations. She walked over to the table to stand beside Elektra. She couldn't help reaching out to touch the handle of one of the sai. "So, have you decided what you're going to do now?"
"I'm not going to call Matt anymore than you are going to go up to Clark and tell him how you feel about him." Elektra took a sip of bottled water. She had told Chloe all about Matt - everything except his identity as Daredevil - and the younger girl was trying to convince her to tell Matt she was still alive.
"Clark only thinks of me as a friend." Chloe twisted her lips into a wry smile. "I guess it's about time that I accepted it and moved on. But you don't have to move on, Matt loves you. He deserves to know."
"Matt deserves to find someone who will be there when he needs her. I can't promise that while my father's murderers escape justice."
"I bet he wouldn't see it that way. I know if Clark did love me, I wouldn't care when he did his ususal disappearing to save the world act." Chloe stared wistfully down at the table. Clark would never love her and she did have to move on. That's why she had taken Lex up on his offer to help Elektra by finding out who Daredevil was and letting Lex deal with him. Then Elektra could go back to Matt and live happily ever after. Hopefully, digging around in someone else's business that had nothing to do with Smallville would help her forget Clark.
"Yes, you would." Elektra smiled. Clark Kent was a fool for not loving Chloe. "So, do you finally want to learn how to use these instead of admiring them from afar?"
"No, I don't think so." Chloe backed away, shaking her head adamantly. "I'm not the Xena type. I'm more first season Gabrielle."
"And look how good she was by the end of the series." Elektra held out one of the sai. She grinned when Chloe took it. She needed something to occupy her time until she was ready to leave Luthor Manor and Lex and teaching Chloe what her sensais' had taught her was perfect. She and Chloe moved to the middle of the room. "Okay, we'll just go over a few basic moves. This is how you hold it." Elektra positioned the weapon in Chloe's hand as she talked. "The middle blades rests along the inside of your arm like this with your pointing finger running up against the handle. Your fingers curl over the third tine and your thumb goes under the first tine to fold over the fingers. The sai are primarily defensive weapons and this is a blocking hold."
"Okay." Chloe clutched the handle tightly. She hated doing things she wasn't good at and her previous experience with the sai told her that this was not her forte. It was just her and Elektra though and Elektra had looked so happy when she had agreed to be taught how to use these things. It was kind of exciting.
"You'll have to ease up on your grip, Chloe. The key to using the sai is changing how you hold it." Elektra stepped away from her student and held the other sai as she had just explained. She quickly flipped it out into an offensive hold, thrust it at an invisible attacker, and flipped it back to block an imaginary blow. "There. Now you try."
Chloe stared at Elektra in wide-eyed disbelief. "No."
"Come on, you can do it." Elektra moved back to Chloe's side. "We'll take it slow. First, flip it. Get used to the feel of the weapon in your hand." She demonstrated, slowly whirling the sai to point out in front of her.
It didn't look too difficult when Elektra did it that way. All Chloe had to do was flip it. She loosened her grip, carefully weighing the weapon in her hand. She could do this. Chloe took a deep breath and let go. Unfortunately, she used too much force and the sai sailed out of her grasp and landed with the middle tine sticking out of the floor at Lex's feet.
Lex looked down at the blade that had narrowly missed his foot as he had stepped into the room. He looked up at Chloe, her face was a delightful shade of pink. "I think you should stick to writing."
"Don't listen to him, Chloe." Elektra smiled at her old friend. She walked over and plucked the sai out of the floor and then set both of them on the table. "Lex is just jealous because you've already mastered more than he ever did when I attempted to teach him the same thing."
"Luthors don't get jealous." Lex smiled back. It was good to see Athena back to her old self - although he knew she hadn't given up on getting her vengeance. The only way he could keep her safe was to deal with Daredevil himself and Chloe was already in a position to get all the information he needed. "Gabe tells me that you've found yourself a mentor in Ben Urich, Chloe."
"Yeah, he's been helping me a lot." Chloe picked up her bookbag and shouldered it. "He's arranged for me to do a one month internship at the Probe, it's an affiliate paper of the Post's in Los Angeles. I've worked everything out with my teachers, I'll email my assignments and take my exams when I get back. Dad's the only hold-out, he doesn't want me going to L. A. alone."
"I'm sure we can convince him. You must be getting bored shut up in here, Athena, why don't you accompany Chloe to Los Angeles?" Lex made the suggestion like it had just occurred to him and hadn't been planned. He needed Elektra to be as far away from New York as possible if he was going to go after Daredevil. "We can tell Gabe that she's my assistant from Metropolis."
"Sure. I've never really spent a lot of time on the west coast so no one should know me. Besides, your's a terrible host, Luthor." Elektra agreed even though she knew Lex was up to something. This was a great opportunity for Chloe and she didn't want to ruin it for the girl. It would be nice to also be able to go outside without worrying about running into Lex's fiancee.
"I'll have you know I'm the perfect host to guests who haven't been declared dead." Lex relaxed a fraction. Elektra would soon be far away from New York and Smallville. Helen was starting to get suspicious about his absences and Chloe's frequent visits. She had even accused him of carrying on an affair with the girl. Luckily, he had managed to convince her that Chloe was merely working on an exclusive interview with him that would help her get an internship at a paper. Now Helen would no longer doubt his claim.
"Great. I have to meet with Mr. Urich in New York on the weekend to finalize the details and then it's off to L. A." Chloe grinned. "Well, I should get back. I'm supposed to meet Clark, Pete, and Lana at the Talon. Thanks, Elektra."
"I'll walk you out," Lex offered. He needed to speak to Chloe about Ben Urich and what she had found out about Daredevil.
"Can I talk to you for a minute first, Lex?" Elektra stopped them from leaving.
"I'll wait in the hall." Chloe left the two friends alone.
Elektra hopped up onto the table next to the sai. "How is Helen? You are still engaged to her, right?" She casually sipped at her water.
"She's fine and of course we're still engaged." Lex's eyes narrowed. "Why the odd question?"
"I don't think it's odd. Do you know what I think is odd?" Elektra paused and waited for Lex to nod at her to continue. "I think it's odd that you're marrying someone you don't trust."
"If I insisted upon marrying someone I could trust, my options would be severely limited." Lex smiled in mild amusement. "I would have to marry you, Athena, and we don't want that."
"Definitely not. What about Chloe?"
All amusement left Lex. "Chloe is a child."
"Not for long," Elektra countered. She leaned forward. She had watched Lex and had seen how he interacted with Chloe. He let his guard down and actually enjoyed her company. "You should see the spark in your eyes when you talk with her. She challenges you. Lex, if you just wait...."
"Patience was never a skill I possessed. I'm marrying Helen." Lex turned to walk out the door.
"I want you to be happy."
"I know. I want the same for you." Lex looked back pointedly at his friend before leaving. Chloe waited at the end of the hall. She really was much too young. "Has Urich shown you anything new on Daredevil?"
Chloe shook her head. "Not really. He just reports it when Daredevil catches a criminal or rescues a damsel. Mr. Urich knows who Daredevil is and it's someone close to him."
Lex raised his brow. "That's an awfully confident assumption. What do you base it on?"
"He's not investigating Daredevil's identity. If he didn't know, that's what he would be concentrating on. Also, Daredevil's identity is a major story - one Mr. Urich isn't writing. I know that if Clark was some cloaked superhero fighting crime and I knew about it, I wouldn't be able to report it. Mr. Urich admires not only Daredevil, but the man he is when he's not dressed in a red devil suit. Are you sure Daredevil killed Elektra's father?"
"Elektra is and she won't stop until she kills him. If I can unmask him and have him prosecuted first, then she will have to let it go." Lex frowned. He was telling Chloe too much. Elektra was right, he did trust her. It didn't matter. Helen was his fiancee, any attraction or connection he felt for Chloe had to be ignored.
~~~*~~~
Never in all of Angel's two and half centuries on this earth had time moved so slowly. Days and nights dragged endlessly, but he didn't mind. During the night he could find some relief from his guilt and grief by kicking the shit out of various demons and vampires. The days were a mixture of heaven and hell. His days were spent in one of two ways - he either slept all day and dreamed of Cordelia or he stayed awake and remembered her. In the beginning he had remembered her smile, her laugh, the sparkle in her eyes, the way she smelled sweet with a hint of spicy raspberry. Those had been the easy things to remember, now Angel found himself recalling other things - things that surprised him because he hadn't realized how important they had been to him. He remembered meeting her at that inane Hollywood party where she had innocently asked him if he was still 'grrr' and then brushed him off to go talk to 'important' people. She had been so young and sweetly innocent then. He shuddered to think about how he hadn't recognized that Cordelia had been just as desperate and vulnerable as Tina. He had almost lost her that night because he had seen her as the Sunnydale Cordelia - all brass tacks and arrogance - and not a target for a sadistic, hungry vampire. He had learned so much about Cordelia in that first year.
A sharp knock invaded Angel's memories, but he ignored it. Usually someone would wander up to his room a few hours after sunset to drag him out. Angel wasn't ready yet. He smiled as he remembered Doyle's crush on Cordelia and how she would always brush him off. Back then Angel had let himself think that he was acting the protective big brother role, looking out for Cordelia by interrogating her dates and making sure that Doyle's advances didn't go too far, but even then a part of him recognized that he needed her. He was protective because he hadn't wanted another man to take her away from him. He had been too mired in his love for Buffy to have those feelings for Cordelia then, but she had still been the most important thing in his life. She still was even though she was no longer with him.
The bedroom door opened and Connor stepped into his room. His son's eyes stayed trained on the floor. "Fred tracked down the vampires that took that lady's kid."
Angel didn't move from his bed, but his mind did wander from Cordelia to his son. He didn't hate Connor or blame him for Cordelia's death, but he knew that the boy blamed himself. Angel wished he could alleviate that guilt and tell him that the events that led up to Cordelia's death had started long before the boy was born and that he couldn't be blamed. It was his fault Cordelia had been involved. She had received the visions because of him, she had refused to give them up because of him. He should never have involved her in his life, his mission. He should have let her go.
"Dad, we have to go. Wesley says there's a chance that the little girl is still alive. This vampire family uses a child in a ritual that they perform during a new moon." Connor ventured a quick glance at his father. Angel's face was blank, as always. His father had become a machine since Cordelia.....Connor shut down the thought. The only reason why he hadn't followed through with killing himself was because Fred said Angel couldn't lose both of the people he loved, it would kill him. He had caused his father enough pain in his lifetime, so he lived with all of the things he had done. Holtz would have been proud. He had accomplished his goal of taking away the woman and child that Angel loved just as the demon Angelus had done to him. Of course, Holtz had only intended to take away the son - Connor had wanted Cordelia. He had thought that she had wanted him too - that she had chosen him over his father - but that had been the demon, not Cordelia. She had never loved him. "Dad..."
"Let's go," Angel interrupted. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. He didn't want to hear his son apologize. Cordelia was gone and there was nothing they could do about it. Angel grabbed his leather jacket as he walked out of the room, unaware that he was already wearing his vampire face. He needed to kill.
*****
It was weird that the sai fascinated Chloe so much. She wasn't a 'warrior' person and weapons rarely held any interest for her, but the trident-like blades were strangely compelling. She was especially intrigued when she watched Elektra use them. It was difficult to believe that it was only a few months ago that Elektra had been mortally wounded. She moved with strength and grace as she whirled the sai in fluid movements.
"Hi, Chloe." Elektra halted her workout once she noticed the blond girl in the doorway. She set her weapons down on a table that was pushed up against the wall and grabbed a towel. Lex had arranged for the furniture to be removed from the bedroom next to hers to provide her with space to workout and get her strength back. Now that she was feeling better, being confined to the unused wing of the Manor was making her a bit stir-crazy and she was grateful for company. "How was school today?"
"Same as always." Chloe rolled her eyes and let her bag slip from her shoulder to land on the floor. "Clark and Lana are mooning over each other like lovesick teenagers and I'm barely a blip on their radar screen. Why does she have to be so damn perfect? I can't even hate her properly." Chloe sighed. She and Elektra had bonded since Lex's old friend had woken from her coma. It had become a habit for her to come to Luthor Manor after school and vent her Clark/Lana frustrations. She walked over to the table to stand beside Elektra. She couldn't help reaching out to touch the handle of one of the sai. "So, have you decided what you're going to do now?"
"I'm not going to call Matt anymore than you are going to go up to Clark and tell him how you feel about him." Elektra took a sip of bottled water. She had told Chloe all about Matt - everything except his identity as Daredevil - and the younger girl was trying to convince her to tell Matt she was still alive.
"Clark only thinks of me as a friend." Chloe twisted her lips into a wry smile. "I guess it's about time that I accepted it and moved on. But you don't have to move on, Matt loves you. He deserves to know."
"Matt deserves to find someone who will be there when he needs her. I can't promise that while my father's murderers escape justice."
"I bet he wouldn't see it that way. I know if Clark did love me, I wouldn't care when he did his usual disappearing to save the world act." Chloe stared wistfully down at the table. Clark would never love her and she did have to move on. That's why she had taken Lex up on his offer to help Elektra by finding out who Daredevil was and letting Lex deal with him. Then Elektra could go back to Matt and live happily ever after. Hopefully, digging around in someone else's business that had nothing to do with Smallville would help her forget Clark.
"Yes, you would." Elektra smiled. Clark Kent was a fool for not loving Chloe. "So, do you finally want to learn how to use these instead of admiring them from afar?"
"No, I don't think so." Chloe backed away, shaking her head adamantly. "I'm not the Xena type. I'm more first season Gabrielle."
"And look how good she was by the end of the series." Elektra held out one of the sai. She grinned when Chloe took it. She needed something to occupy her time until she was ready to leave Luthor Manor and Lex and teaching Chloe what her sensei's' had taught her was perfect. She and Chloe moved to the middle of the room. "Okay, we'll just go over a few basic moves. This is how you hold it." Elektra positioned the weapon in Chloe's hand as she talked. "The middle blade rests along the inside of your arm like this with your pointing finger running up against the handle. Your fingers curl over the third tine and your thumb goes under the first tine to fold over the fingers. The sai are primarily defensive weapons and this is a blocking hold."
"Okay." Chloe clutched the handle tightly. She hated doing things she wasn't good at and her previous experience with the sai told her that this was not her forte. It was just her and Elektra though and Elektra had looked so happy when she had agreed to be taught how to use these things. It was kind of exciting.
"You'll have to ease up on your grip, Chloe. The key to using the sai is changing how you hold it." Elektra stepped away from her student and held the other sai as she had just explained. She quickly flipped it out into an offensive hold, thrust it at an invisible attacker, and flipped it back to block an imaginary blow. "There. Now you try."
Chloe stared at Elektra in wide-eyed disbelief. "No."
"Come on, you can do it." Elektra moved back to Chloe's side. "We'll take it slow. First, flip it. Get used to the feel of the weapon in your hand." She demonstrated, slowly whirling the sai to point out in front of her.
It didn't look too difficult when Elektra did it that way. All Chloe had to do was flip it. She loosened her grip, carefully weighing the weapon in her hand. She could do this. Chloe took a deep breath and let go. Unfortunately, she used too much force and the sai sailed out of her grasp and landed with the middle tine sticking out of the floor at Lex's feet.
Lex looked down at the blade that had narrowly missed his foot as he had stepped into the room. He looked up at Chloe, her face was a delightful shade of pink. "I think you should stick to writing."
"Don't listen to him, Chloe." Elektra smiled at her old friend. She walked over and plucked the sai out of the floor and then set both of them on the table. "Lex is just jealous because you've already mastered more than he ever did when I attempted to teach him the same thing."
"Luthors don't get jealous." Lex smiled back. It was good to see Athena back to her old self - although he knew she hadn't given up on getting her vengeance. The only way he could keep her safe was to deal with Daredevil himself and Chloe was already in a position to get all the information he needed. "Gabe tells me that you've found yourself a mentor in Ben Urich, Chloe."
"Yeah, he's been helping me a lot." Chloe picked up her book bag and shouldered it. "He's arranged for me to do a one month internship at the Probe, it's an affiliate paper of the Post's in Los Angeles. I've worked everything out with my teachers, I'll email my assignments and take my exams when I get back. Dad's the only holdout, he doesn't want me going to L. A. alone."
"I'm sure we can convince him. You must be getting bored shut up in here, Athena, why don't you accompany Chloe to Los Angeles?" Lex made the suggestion like it had just occurred to him and hadn't been planned. He needed Elektra to be as far away from New York as possible if he was going to go after Daredevil. "We can tell Gabe that she's my assistant from Metropolis."
"Sure. I've never really spent a lot of time on the west coast so no one should know me. Besides, you're a terrible host, Luthor." Elektra agreed even though she knew Lex was up to something. This was a great opportunity for Chloe and she didn't want to ruin it for the girl. It would be nice to also be able to go outside without worrying about running into Lex's fiancée.
"I'll have you know I'm the perfect host to guests who haven't been declared dead." Lex relaxed a fraction. Elektra would soon be far away from New York and Smallville. Helen was starting to get suspicious about his absences and Chloe's frequent visits. She had even accused him of carrying on an affair with the girl. Luckily, he had managed to convince her that Chloe was merely working on an exclusive interview with him that would help her get an internship at a paper. Now Helen would no longer doubt his claim.
"Great. I have to meet with Mr. Urich in New York on the weekend to finalize the details and then it's off to L. A." Chloe grinned. "Well, I should get back. I'm supposed to meet Clark, Pete, and Lana at the Talon. Thanks, Elektra."
"I'll walk you out," Lex offered. He needed to speak to Chloe about Ben Urich and what she had found out about Daredevil.
"Can I talk to you for a minute first, Lex?" Elektra stopped them from leaving.
"I'll wait in the hall." Chloe left the two friends alone.
Elektra hopped up onto the table next to the sai. "How is Helen? You are still engaged to her, right?" She casually sipped at her water.
"She's fine and of course we're still engaged." Lex's eyes narrowed. "Why the odd question?"
"I don't think it's odd. Do you know what I think is odd?" Elektra paused and waited for Lex to nod at her to continue. "I think it's odd that you're marrying someone you don't trust."
"If I insisted upon marrying someone I could trust, my options would be severely limited." Lex smiled in mild amusement. "I would have to marry you, Athena, and we don't want that."
"Definitely not. What about Chloe?"
All amusement left Lex. "Chloe is a child."
"Not for long," Elektra countered. She leaned forward. She had watched Lex and had seen how he interacted with Chloe. He let his guard down and actually enjoyed her company. "You should see the spark in your eyes when you talk with her. She challenges you. Lex, if you just wait...."
"Patience was never a skill I possessed. I'm marrying Helen." Lex turned to walk out the door.
"I want you to be happy."
"I know. I want the same for you." Lex looked back pointedly at his friend before leaving. Chloe waited at the end of the hall. She really was much too young. "Has Urich shown you anything new on Daredevil?"
Chloe shook her head. "Not really. He just reports it when Daredevil catches a criminal or rescues a damsel. Mr. Urich knows who Daredevil is and it's someone close to him."
Lex raised his brow. "That's an awfully confident assumption. What do you base it on?"
"He's not investigating Daredevil's identity. If he didn't know, that's what he would be concentrating on. Also, Daredevil's identity is a major story - one Mr. Urich isn't writing. I know that if Clark was some cloaked superhero fighting crime and I knew about it, I wouldn't be able to report it. Mr. Urich admires not only Daredevil, but the man he is when he's not dressed in a red devil suit. Are you sure Daredevil killed Elektra's father?"
"Elektra is and she won't stop until she kills him. If I can unmask him and have him prosecuted first, then she will have to let it go." Lex frowned. He was telling Chloe too much. Elektra was right, he did trust her. It didn't matter. Helen was his fiancée, any attraction or connection he felt for Chloe had to be ignored.
*****
It was difficult to visit Elektra's grave, but Matt forced himself to do it once a week. He always brought fresh flowers - roses. Dark red roses for Elektra. It was ironic that he would forever associate their heavy scent with the love of his life and the death of his father. The pungent smell of the rose Kingpin had left on his father's body had overwhelmed him as he had realized that he was alone. That same odor had heralded Elektra's arrival in his life and he had thought that he would never be alone again. Then Kingpin had taken her away from him.
He brought white roses as well for her father's grave. He knew Elektra would have wanted Nikolas Natchios grave tended to, so he did it for her. Matt set the white roses down first before turning to Elektra's grave. When he had begun these visits, he had traced her name with his fingertips so many times that the sensation of marble never left his skin. He didn't bother doing that anymore. She wasn't here. Matt had thought that once he had accepted Elektra's death, he would find something of her here. That he would be comforted by the feeling that her spirit was still with him.
"Why aren't you here?" Matt whispered. "There's so much I want to tell you." But he didn't. He didn't want to tell his secrets to the wind. He wanted to tell Elektra - even if it was only her spirit - but he couldn't feel her presence here at all and he didn't know why.
A sudden breeze ruffled Matt's hair and with it the scent of roses wafted around him. His head snapped up as hope flared through him. "Elektra?" A small part of him had always believed that the reason why he couldn't find her here was because she wasn't here. He hadn't accepted her death at all. Matt opened his clenched fist slowly, letting the petals of the rose he had crushed drift down onto the grave. Elektra wasn't alive. He had watched her die. He had attended her funeral. She was dead and he had to let her go. Matt let himself remember for a moment how beautiful she had looked that night in the rain and then he turned and left. He wouldn't be coming back.
There was someone else in the cemetery. He had heard their approach moments after had had arrived, but whoever it was had stopped abruptly about ten feet behind him. As he walked by, Matt had an irrational urge to say something that would require a response from the person. He needed to her their voice. He squelched the urge and ignored the need. It was one thing to entertain his fantasies of Elektra coming back to him in his head and quite another to interrupt another person's grief with them. He continued on to his waiting cab instead.
The stale interior of the cab wiped the scent of roses from Matt's nostrils. He gave the cabbie the address of his law office and sat back. He reached across the seat and picked up a bouquet of lilies and brought it to his nose. Cordelia. He had bought these flowers to cheer her up and to thank her. She had opened up a whole new world of evil for him - demons, vampires, magic - and had showed him how to fight it. She hadn't told him how she knew about these things yet or who had taught her how to fight them and he didn't ask.
The night he had met Cordelia had changed a lot of things for him. He was no longer alone. He knew instinctively that she had lost the people she loved as well. The first few days she had hardly spoken - the only thing she would say was not to take her to a hospital. He had taken some time off work to nurse her back to health, but her injuries healed amazingly fast. For some reason - maybe because she knew his secret - Cordelia had told him about taking on the aspect of a demon so that she could have visions that helped her stop evil. In the months that Cordelia had lived with Matt they had saved a half dozen innocent victims using their powers.
"Hi, Matt!" Karen's perky voice greeted him as he walked into the office.
"Hi, Karen." Matt smiled. He handed her a bouquet of tulips. Karen was a bit put out having Cordelia in the office. She was threatened and she tended to treat Cordelia coolly. He hoped that he could smooth things over. "These are to thank you for all the hard work you do around here. We couldn't do this without you, Karen."
"Oh, thank you, Matt. You're so sweet." Karen gave him a quick peck on the cheek and he could feel the slight heat of her blush.
"You're welcome. Do you know where Cordelia is?"
He heard Karen sigh as she moved away from him. "She's re-organizing the files in the back."
"Thanks." Matt made his way to the back room where they kept the old client files. There really wasn't anything to re-organize, Matt suspected that Cordelia was uncomfortable out front with Karen. "Hi, Cordelia."
"Matt." Cordelia looked up from the file in her hands. She was sitting on the floor in front of a file cabinet pretending to be useful. Like the good old days. Things had been so simple in the beginning when it had just been her, Doyle, and Angel and their worst problem was her filing system.
"Karen said you were back here." Matt leaned in the doorway and smiled. "You know you don't have to do this."
"I know." Cordelia put the file away and closed the drawer. "Karen really knows her filing. I suck at it. I'm probably messing it up anyway." She moved to stand and wasn't surprised when Matt's hand extended to help her up. He was an extraordinary man. During the long days of her recovery when they were both confined to his apartment, he had told her about the accident when he was a boy that had taken his sight, but had enhanced his other senses. He had also told her about his father's murder and his quest to exact justice for the innocent victims of violence. There were things he hadn't told her - like why he was so sad and alone. That's why she had trusted him after he had taken her out of Nathaniel's wretched penthouse. He was as sad and alone as she was. Cordelia was also aware that Matt reminded her of Angel, but she tried not to think about that.
"I brought you these." Matt produced the lilies from behind his back. He hoped they made her smile. He suspected that she had a terrific smile.
"Thank you, Matt, that's sweet." Cordelia smiled. She took the bouquet from him. The lilies were huge and an almost incandescent white. She reached out and touched his cheek. "I should be the one who is giving you flowers. You've done so much for me."
"You've done a lot for me too, Cordelia." Matt took her hand. "I know we haven't known each other very long, but I consider you to be a very good friend." He leaned down as if to tell her a secret and said in a lowered voice, "I like it when my friends are happy."
"So do I." Cordelia caressed the soft waxy petals of one of the lilies. For the first time in a long time, she felt a bit of warmth beneath her pain and guilt. Matt was her friend. She may not be able to return to Angel and her friends in Los Angeles, but she had found a place in New York. With Matt's help, she could still help the hopeless with her visions. She had a day job at an office with people she liked - despite Karen's bitchiness - and if she wanted to, she could even start acting again. Maybe audition for a play. She could start over here. It wouldn't be the same, it wouldn't be perfect like in L. A., but it would work. She would make it work. "I'll make you a deal, Matt. I'll do my best to be happy if you will." Cordelia squeezed his hand.
Happy. The last time Matt had been happy was when he had danced with Elektra at the Black and White Ball. He could never be that happy again, but if it would help Cordelia then he could pretend and maybe even find some semblance of happiness. He shook Cordelia's hand. "Deal."
*****
The Luthor jet was beautiful. The cabin was spacious with large, comfortable black leather seats and a mini bar. Elektra watched the clouds drift by her window. She never should have visited her father's grave, but she had wanted to say good-bye and there had been some morbid curiosity about her own grave. A part of her had wanted to see Matt once more. She hadn't been surprised that he was there.
It had physically hurt her not to go to him. Her stomach was still twisted in knots and her fingers ached from being denied the chance to touch him. Her resolve had almost broken when he had looked up and said her name. "Matt," Elektra whispered the answer she had so desperately wanted to give to the clouds instead of the man who was now beyond her reach. She had made the right decision. Matt would eventually go on with his life. He would find someone new to love. Someone who would love him more than anything. Elektra sighed. All she had was revenge. Once Bullseye and Wilson Fisk were dead she would move on. She glanced over to Lex and couldn't help smiling. He was sitting at the other end of the cabin with Chloe, engrossed in their conversation. He would help her create a new life once it was done. It wouldn't even come close to the perfect life she could have had with Matt, but she would survive. Elektra Natchios would stay dead, but she would try to piece together some sort of life for herself. Elektra closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. She could still dream of Matt.
"Is she okay?" Lex shifted his gaze from Elektra back to Chloe. He couldn't help observing that Chloe looked good. Her cheeks were pink and her eyes gleamed with keen excitement.
"She visited her grave today while I was meeting with Urich at the Post. Matt was there." Chloe looked up at Lex. He was sitting so close. She had never sat beside him before - there had always been a desk or a table between them. "I wish she would tell him. She would be so much happier if she did."
"Yes, it would be nice to make decisions based solely on happiness, but that isn't how our world works. Elektra and I were raised to make happiness a low priority." Lex couldn't believe he had said that. He never confided about his childhood to anyone but Elektra. He cleared his throat. "Did you get anything further from Urich?"
Chloe frowned, but decided to take the change in subject in stride. Delving into the Luthor psyche was a risk she couldn't afford to take. As much as she would like to get to know Lex better, she knew it would end up hurting her. Lex was going to marry Dr. Helen Bryce and the last thing Chloe needed was to have another unrequited crush. "Ben left me alone in his office to do some research while he was in a meeting with his editor. I recovered a deleted file that was in his Daredevil folder." She handed Lex a disc. "I didn't have time to look at it."
"But you did make a copy for yourself."
"Of course."
Lex smiled and slipped the disc into his breast pocket. He was going to miss Chloe while she was in L. A. He would have to fly out to check up on Elektra and make sure she was okay and Chloe would be there. "Of course."
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