There was murmurs, whispers between an Irish tone and a softer, huskier feminine one, conversations that immediately paused when the elevator screech signaled his entrance.
Kate and Doyle looked up, looked to each other with that Look that told him they were talking about him, and Doyle merely smiled, standing up and handing him a cup of coffee. “So? What’s the word man?”
“I’m not sure, Cordelia’s talking to Giles right now.” Doyle looked at him, curious worry in his dark eyes, but Angel merely turned from him, his attention now on Kate. “How are you feeling?’
Kate gave a half shrug, her own eyes unnaturally dark as she gazed at him with a distracted smile. “I’ve been better, but so far so good.”
“Good.” Angel crossed his arms, leaned back on the desk, and began again, “Kate you know that you have your place here for as long as you need it.”
Kate found the dark intensity suddenly disconcerting, and forced herself to look away. “I know Angel,” she rasped, coughing as she put down the cup she was holding. “But I’d just as soon work this out and get of this again. I stayed away for a good five years and I was fine.”
Doyle cocked his head. “You sure?”
The uncomfortable silence that followed for all three of them was suddenly broken when there was a knock and a familiar voice.
“Hello?"
Angel stood, followed by Kate and Doyle, to find a red headed woman in a dark blue business suit holding the office door open, her green eyes searching.
“Willow.”
Willow Osborne turned, and found them, a smile floating on to her face in greeting. “Angel! Hey!”
She came forward, putting her purse down and coming forward to squeeze his hands. “I know I’m early but I got wind of this sale at RobinsonsMay and I thought, wow, that would be great cause maybe they have some of the things we need and – who died?”
Angel and Doyle exchanged a quick glance, and Willow’s eyebrow furrowed, at the silence that followed. “What’s wrong?’
A cough came behind them and Kate moved from behind the tall vampire, her arms extended in a semi-friendly gesture. “I don’t think we’ve met,” she said tightly, a small polite smile on her face.
Willow took the hand uncertainly, staring into Kate’s face. “You look familiar…”
Thankful for the distraction Doyle slid forward, sliding an arm around the blonde detective that was just was quickly shrugged off. “This here is Kate. She’s a friend from the LAPD.”
Willow’s eyes widened, and her face lit up with realization. “That’s right! Cordelia took Buffy and I and you were there.”
Kate’s face froze for a millisecond, but she only swallowed and nodded. “Right.”
“Right,” Doyle chirped, his face a little too happy and his voice a little too perky, so that it just didn’t seem to fit on the Irish man. “So Willow how you doin’?”
The too happy tone was lost on Willow, who instead was focusing in Angel, who had slid back into the darkness of the corner of the office.
“I’m fine, “ she answered distractedly. The perceptive former witch crossed her arms, and wondered out loud, “Where’s Cordelia?”
~*~
There was silence on the line, and Cordelia suddenly felt the incredible need to start doing what before was her forte: chatter incessantly.
"So basically what I was wondering was where Sammis was. I mean he's the one that told us about the stupid spell so maybe-"
"Cordelia." The somber tone forced her chatter to stop, and immediately she felt her stomach plummet, a not altogether pleasant sensation. “Cordelia Sammis isn’t here.”
There was silence, and Cordelia had to try twice to open her mouth before she was able to speak. “What?”
There was a pause, and Giles continued, slowly. “Cordelia Sammis is a druid.”
“Right. We knew that.”
“And we were fighting Druids to save Angel. Sammis went back on his kind. He betrayed them. They weren’t happy to say the least. To save himself, and his family, he went into hiding. I’m not sure where he is.”
Cordelia’s heart stopped beating for a full second. It had become all too clear. Like curing Angel hadn't been hard enough.
Damn.
“Okay…” her voice trembled slightly. A hand slid to her face, and for the first time in years, Cordelia felt dreadfully young and scared. “Giles?” she asked, her voice small. “What do I do?”
“Is Willow nearby?”
“Uh… yeah. She’s supposed to meet me to plan the wedding. I would have invited you but you’re all the way in England and with your wife pregnant-“
“It’s quite all right, Cordelia,” he cut her off hurriedly. “Look, have her start looking into books on druidry, magic incantations, that sort of thing. She used to dabble in magic.”
“Dabble? She was their patron saint.”
“Yes, well, she should be able to understand a bit more. And Cordelia?”
“Yeah?”
“Get yourself to a doctor.”
Her heart stopped for a second, and then slowly began to beat again. “Giles, I’m not sure if I can actually GO-“
“Cordelia you’ll never know unless you try. As far as we known, your body composition hasn’t changed so much that they’ll suspect anything. You’re heart still beats, you still breathe, you’re body temperature is still 98 degrees…” He paused. “Right?”
“… right! Right!” she said quickly, a bit too chirpily for his taste, but he only coughed slightly.
“All right then. I’ll try and see if I can locate Sammis to see what we can figure out about those dreams.”
The dreams. Her eyes closed and Cordelia Chase cursed silently to herself.
“Okay.”
“All right. You’ll go to the doctor?”
“Yes, Giles.”
“Promise me.”
“I’ll go…. Soon.”
“Today.”
A vision of her with tubes up her arms and nose and doctors standing over her pronouncing her a freak suddenly flashed through her head.
She shuddered.
“Okay.”
“Right then. Cordelia?”
“Hmm?”
“You will keep me informed?”
She nodded, and then realizing he couldn’t quite see her, she answered, “Yes”, instead.
“Alright then.”
“Giles?”
“Hmmm?”
She took a breath, and said unsteadily, “Thank you.”
There was silence, and then a breathy, emotional, “God speed Cordelia,” before the line clicked.
The receiver floated down from her ear, and she held it tightly to her.
Sammis had gone missing. And the Druids were pissed.
God. The urge to panic settled in her, causing a fluttering, a furious beating inside of her heart that seemed to make her entire body shake.
Raising her trembling hands to her forehead, the ex-cheerleader closed her eyes, taking a long, shaky breath, before standing up, wiping at the tears that had suddenly risen in her eyes.
God, it couldn't be that bad. It would be fine. Things would be fine. She wasn't a freak... and even if she was...
Her hand drifted down, clung to the arm of the couch in support. A voice was in her head, calling her, taunting her, causing her fear, her anger, to try and overtake her.
She didn't allow it. Instead her head rose to the stairs, hearing the distinct voices of the people she trusted, loved, would have died for.
With a ragged sigh, she walked to the stairs, all the time ignoring the call, ignoring the fear.
There would come a time to deal with it.
Now was not it.
~*~
The red head sat, the hot mug in her hand warming her palms, sitting back, her green eyes thoughtful.
"Came at a busy time?" she asked perceptively.
"You have no idea." Heads swiveled to see a harried Cordelia, hands on her hips, smiling at them grimly.
Angel swiveled, walking to her, his hands slipping around her waist to ask hurriedly. "Did you-"
"I'll tell you later," she whispered gently, squeezing his arm and scooting around him, watching as the three remaining watched her with piercing eyes. As Cordelia met Kate's gaze, the dark softness, the sympathy behind the moisture was enough to tell her she knew. Cordelia quickly averted the gaze, instead turned and smiled at Willow.
"Hey, bookie."
Willow smiled, came forward and gently gave her friend a hug. "Hey Ice Queen. So, I'm here. All yours, all day. Oz has the kids, took them to the movies, and the zoo."
"Quite a long day," Doyle commented, leaning back on the desk.
"He's good with them," Willow said, crossing her arms. "I'm lucky."
Cordelia watched her thoughtfully, passed a gentle glance at Angel, and answered softly, "Yes you are."
The silence that passed after the sentence made it clear the meaning was lost on no one.
Kate coughed, breaking the silence, wrapping her bangs behind her ear to hide the blush that emerged on her ears. "I umm... This might be extremely selfish of me to bring up, but there ARE people trying to kill me, so..."
"What?" Willow's eyes darkened as she looked back at Kate. "Aren't you a cop?"
"I was."
Angel stepped forward, and walked around his desk. "Kate, sit down. Doyle, get a chair. Cordelia, Willow, we'll handle this. Go. Do the... planning thing."
Cordelia looked hesitant, coming forward. "What? We can -"
"I can handle it." The voice came out edged, hard, and her hazel eyes studied him, seeing the tense turmoil, the tension clearly visible in his frame. His face turned to meet his, and he leaned forward, suddenly pulling her to him, an embrace filled with need, regardless of the trio watching. "Please," he added.
The need in his voice was unmistakable, and without another word, Cordelia nodded, swallowing and tracing the curve of his jaw with her finger lovingly, before slipping out of his arms and nodding to Willow. "I'm on my cell if you need me."
"Got it."
He waited until they had left the office, and then turned to Kate, and sat down, the dark eyes burning into hers. "Okay, Kate. The whole story."
Kate was quiet for a minute, and finally nodded. "Right. Shit."
The word seemed to define the situation completely.
~*~
"Okay, did I miss something?" Willow's eyes were masked by the sunglasses she wore, but her mouth was set in a decided frown as she turned, handing Cordelia the starbucks cup, wrapped in the Styrofoam sleeve.
The day breeze was invigorating, and compared to the stifling heat the summer had afforded them, Cordelia was thankful for it. It flooded through her bangs, then around the nape of her neck, the air slipping, cooling, refreshing.
She drank in the sensation for a minute, her eyes closed, before opening them and shrugging at Willow's concerned face.
"Well you know that saying that what can go wrong, will?"
"It's our motto," she answered, walking beside the taller girl as they maneuvered their way through the crowded promenade.
"Still is."
"So what's going on?"
"Everything. Kate's in trouble because of us, the CIA's after her."
"The CIA?"
Cordelia nodded, her face crisp. "I mean, Kate and I were never bosom buddies or anything, but it still bites."
"No kidding."
"And apparently, I might too."
"What do you mean?" A hand at her forearm made Cordelia pause, but Cordelia, shook it off.
"It doesn't matter, now." Willow's mouth turned downwards, and it parted to speak again when another sentence from Cordelia made her freeze. "Have you heard from Xander?"
Willow bit her lip, and slowly shook her head. "Or Buffy. It's like they've just slipped off the face of the earth."
Cordelia gave a ragged sigh, and shook her head. "I wonder how he is."
"I know you do. Me too." Willow shook her head, shuddering slightly. "They were everything to me, Cordelia. They were everything. And now they hate me."
"They don't hate you, Willow."
Willow's eyes were moist as Cordelia sighed, slipping her sunglasses off to gaze at her. Her eyes slipped to hers, and suddenly Willow froze.
"What? What is it?"
Willow blinked, and shuddered, turning away. "Nothing."
"Willow, don't go there. You were looking at me like I was some sort of... freak."
The last word was whispered, and Willow's face jerked up, her face suddenly softening. "No! No, Cordelia, it's not that it's just..."
"What?"
"It's ... your eyes almost glowed for a second."
"Glowed?"
"Glowed.... like... golden."
The sunglasses went back on immediately and Cordelia's knees suddenly gave out. Her hands trembling as she buried them in the strands of her hair, a shaking mass on the bench.
"Oh, God," was the ragged reply.