It had taken Angel less than three minutes to convince Kate to take Cordelia to the hospital. He had his reasons for the quick decision, and he knew Kate had hers.
Kate was fighting not to kill the man who had betrayed her.
Angel was half afraid that he would take another look at Cordelia's battered body and kill the man himself.
So Willow and Kate took Cordelia, who still protested loudly that she didn't need a doctor, but let herself be led away, and Angel and Doyle took the wounded man with them.
Kate had filled him on the man who had taken a shot at Kate and then at Cordelia.
His name was Windel. Windel was a man who had been a high climber.
And a man with whom Kate had had a brief affair.
When the man had come to, a darkly handsome man, dressed in all black, sporting a gun and clothes too expensive for a government worker, he found himself Angel's bedroom, with Angel and Doyle glaring at him.
It wasn't a pretty sight.
"Windel St. James, right?" Angel broke the silence first, crossing his arms, his voice a low growl as the man could only blink in confusion.
"Uh...Who the..." He shook slightly, as if trying to clear the fog from his head. His eyes opened and closed a few more times, and he sucked his breath in, eyes snapping open when he seemed to suddenly realize he was tied up. "I..." his head turned and his eyes suddenly met with Angel's.
The recognition must have slid through him because immediately he clipped, "They know where I was going. You kill me and they'll kill you."
"What's the fun in killing you?" Angel answered, settled back in his chair. His body posture seemed relaxed, almost bored, but the glint in his eyes was hard, angered. "When torture is just so much more fun?"
"Angel," Doyle's voice was full of warning, and the half demon came forward, stepping in front of the vampire before settling down before the man in the suit. "Wendell you really got yourself in a big shit with this one, ya know that?"
"I had orders."
"We know. But that don't change the fact you tried to kill this guy's fiance, and one of our best friends. He don't take too kind to that."
Angel remained silent, the tone in his stance emanating a dangerous calm, his eyes hooded and glittering, roving over the young man in the suit that was just a bit too expensive and eyes that were just a little too moist.
The young man turned, regarding the vampire, and a small smirk of certainty drifted on his face. "The vampire with the soul. You don't think I've heard about you? You got a SOUL man. You won't do SHIT to me cause murder would just weight a little too much on your conscious-"
The words were suddenly chopped off when a large hand wrapped roughly around his neck, the man's orbs glittering with shock and fear as his body was suddenly slammed against the wall.
The look on Angel's face was strangely void of any expression.
Perhaps it was this that made it even more frightening.
"Maybe you haven't been around much, WINDEL, but I got news. I've just come back from not really being myself, and my little demon's a bit closer to the surface than you think. Now you tell me who sent you, or this neck is gonna be connected to a whole lot of nothing."
The statement was accompanied with a growl, and the yellow eyes that glistened with anger and barely concealed made the rush of blood and the beat of the young man's heart that much easier to feel, to smell, to hear.
"Give me a reason," Angel whispered, his voice soft, dangerous. "Please."
~*~
Willow Osborne took a deep, ragged breath, closing her eyes for a fraction of a second before she pushed herself off the wall she had been leaning on and continued on her way, two more cups of hot coffee in her hands.
It was amazing really, how people thought something as minute as coffee could make things better. There was nothing in coffee itself that could calm the nerves. It was caffeine, to calm someone down would have defeated the purpose.
Yet they yearned for it, both had asked for it, and Willow had an inkling why both the detective and the ex-cheerleader had come to depend on it so much.
Coffee was a weakness, an addiction that was very, very human.
And such a small piece of humanity in a world where demons and in humanity and death had become so rampant was needed, craved... and at the same time... loathed.
It was so very, very human.
Impossible to resist, really. With shaky hands, Willow raised one of the cups to her mouth, taking a sip, feeling the bitter liquid slide down her throat, singing her tongue, and she sighed.
It kept them grounded when nothing else could, in a world that was so precariously falling apart.
God, how would they get out of this one?
Turning slightly, she used her hips to push open the door, grimacing a bit when the liquid spilled onto her fingertips, and her hair flipped back so she could see what was going on.
It seemed she hadn't missed much. Both Cordelia and Kate were staring at the doctor with faces that were best described as... blankness.
"That's impossible!"
The words were spit out of both of the women's mouths at the same time, and Willow gave a startled jump, looking between them and then at the doctor.
Cordelia slid off the bench, looking angered, Kate beside her, and the poor man who a second ago had been smiling now looked a bit scared.
"I ... I did the tests... I'm afraid it's quite possible. The results are positive."
"I... I... NO-" Cordelia crossed her arms, eyes wide and blazing. "That's... that's SHIT. I can't be pregnant... "
"You ARE Pregnant, Miss," the doctor said gently, firmly. "Two months."
Willow gasped, never even realized she had dropped the cups until the coffee splattered against her legs. She yelped.
Kate sucked in her breath, eyes suddenly accusingly on Cordelia. "Have you been sleeping with someone else?"
The look Cordelia gave her could have wilted flowers.
"NO! GOD!"
The stare they shared was intense, and the Doctor swallowed, eyes widening in realization.
"Oh I'm sorry... I didn't realize... you... I'm sorry. I should have informed you alone... I apologize if this was something you didn't want your partner to hear-"
"Partner?!" Cordelia looked ready to hyperventilate.
"Ummm..." Willow suddenly stepped forward, very aware that if Kate was beginning to reach for her gun. "It's not really like that. They're not gay."
"Oh. Sorry."
There was silence as both the blonde and the brunette stared him down, and the poor man finally coughed, turning away. "Well then, Congrats... you're all set to go. Have a good day!"
And with that, he ducked out of the room.
Willow licked her lips, her heart suddenly hammering. Oh God, oh God...
Cordelia's eyes were glittering, and a solid yellow.
"I.. I'll be right back," Willow whispered, and her hand reached for the door, twisting the knob and sliding out, hurrying after the retreating man in the white coat.
He was walking quickly, and Willow raised an eyebrow as he ducked into an office that didn't appear to be his. The red head felt something twinge deep within her, and she shuddered, suddenly remembering that feeling: the feeling of anxiety, of anger, a doubtful premonition of something evil to come... It was a warning, and she had learned in her many years as a member of the forces of Sunnydale to trust it, no matter how ludricious it seemed.
So she swallowed, and kept quiet, and leaning against the office door that was only open a crack, she listened.
~*~
The door slammed as Willow made her exit, and with it, the tension of the room seemed to die down as well.
Cordelia Chase swallowed, hand suddenly on her forehead as she took a breath, stumbling backwards to the bed and pulling herself back up, knees now cradled against her chest.
She avoided Kate's stare, eyes riveted instead on her hands, on her furiously beating heart, the impossibly fast heartbeat resounding within her.
Her tongue snaked out, licked her very human lips, and her chest heaved, and suddenly her past flashed before her.
Of Owen, a young man who was so blessedly normal, of a man who bedded her, abandoned her, and left her pregnant with demons, WITH DEMONS.
Of Angel, who sat beside her, voice husky with softness as he told she wasn't alone. Of Doyle, the look of fear on his face as he sat beside her in the hospital room and told her that the children weren't human.
Of the abounding love and protectiveness that had flitted through her, of the horrible pain as the children were expelled from her body.
Of the night sobbing horrendously as Dennis held her close, the overwhelming fear and loss and emptiness that had slid inside of her.
Of the incredibly loneliness that seeped inside of her, of the knowledge that she was suddenly alone in her body and the fear that accompanied the joy of the children dying was so horrifying and terrible, and violating-
"Cordelia? You're shaking."
Her brunette hair flipped up to find Kate staring at her, the blue orbs in the detective's face so incredibly searching that she shivered, swallowed, looking away.
"I'm fine."
"I don't believe you." Kate's voice was matter-of-fact, and Cordelia felt eerily like a prisoner being questioned as Kate came forward, hands on her hips, voice firm and hard, and just a little bit husky.
Oh, God. Even KATE was looking
at her like she was a damn charity case. Cordelia's chest heaved,
and she bit down on her lip hard, fighting hard for control. Dammit, Cordy,
show some spine. You're life is falling apart, but you're Cordelia Chase.
You can handle it. You always have.
.
"I'm fine." There. The tone
was convincing, firm and uncaring, and so very like the Cordelia Chase
of before. The one who didn't care. The one who wasn't having...
Angel's baby.
"Did the doctor say two months?" she asked immediately, a low pit of something she didn't quite know how to take setting deeply within her.
There was a pause, and when Kate looked at her curiously, Cordelia found herself blushing, stammering out, "It's just... I was with Xander three months ago... and-"
"It could have been his." Kate whispered.
"Angel can't have children," Cordelia whispered after a second of silence. "I just... -"
Kate breathed a heavy sigh, leaning against the bed, looking toward the diagrams that were plastered, of uterus's and muscles and unpleasant stages of diseases designed to scare and she wondered if it was all a bit much. By the looks of the shaking woman beside her, there were no more scare tactics needed.
"Angel has changed though, since that.. thing you did, hasn't he? Maybe this is one of the changes."
Cordelia closed her eyes, hand suddenly ever so gentle as it rested on her flat abdomen. Her face was vivid for a moment, considering the possibility, and her answer was almost a whisper.
"God, I hope so."
~*~
She was rusty, but not altogether stale.
Willow smiled, a small smirk that drifted off her face as soon as it slid on as she sat at the desk.
The cloaking spell was intricate, but she had practiced it for years in college, and now it seemed almost like riding a bike. It came back to her so easily, and she marveled on why she had stopped.
The doctor had been paged, and never seeing her, had stepped out of his office, locking the door, leaving her sitting there, bemused at his ignorance and shaken with the fact that he did in fact have something to hide.
Her hands slid over the folders, green eyes searching over Cordelia's case record.
Nothing unusual, in the doctor's messy scrawl was a simple check up of Cordelia's pregnancy, two months, perfectly normal.
It said nothing of the gun shot wound.
Hmm.
Willow slid her seat forward, fingers running over the keyboard, searching the files.
Again, nothing of Cordelia's showed up.
Damn.
Leaning back in the soft leather chair, her eyes drifted over the doctor's diploma's, and her frame stiffened.
He was a specialist.
Not an ER doctor. Not even close.
Her hand reached for the phone, and with pursed lips, she pressed *69, holding the phone up to her ear.
It rang, and after a second, it picked up. "Central Intelligence Beareau."
SHIT.
Willow's hand slammed down the receiver.
Shaking hands guided her up, and Willow stepped around the desk, towards the doorway.
The door shot open, and she froze as two men in black suits came in, both with annoyed expressions.
"You think a cloaking spell like that will shield you?" one man clipped.
Her mouth opened, but the dryness disallowed any words, and when he held up a badge, she knew why.
"CIA. You're under arrest."
~*~
"Are you okay?"
It was sweet the first time she said it, really. The fifteenth time, it was so damn annoying Cordelia was ready to clock her ass.
"I'm FINE," she whispered.
"Oh."
Kate shifted uncomfortably for a minute, looking over the office as Cordelia dressed quickly, hazel eyes avoiding hers. Her movements were jerky, resigned, and Cordelia knew that she didn't buy it.
But if she asked if she was okay ONE MORE TIME-
Kate grimaced, leaning forward to put a hand to the wound at her side, pain flickering over her features for a minute.
Damn. She had forgotten about that. "I kinda forgot about the people trying to kill you there, didn't I?"
Kate gave her a startled look, and Cordelia smiled grimly. "We'll work on it, I promise."
"Well you kinda got your own problems, Cor."
"Yeah, but I don't have a bunch of government agents trying to kill. And I HAVE a job. And I'm not horribly alone-"
"Okay," Kate chuckled with exasperation, hands up to shut her up. "You can stop."
"Sorry. I tend to ramble when I don't... know what to say."
"You ramble? Nah."
The sarcastic remark made her grin slightly, and Cordelia swallowed, eyes suddenly welling with tears once more.
"Are we a pair of sad bitches," she said, sitting up on the bed to pull on her boots. "Commiserating over the turns in our supernatural lives when all we wanted at a point was to be normal. Normal and happy. Guess it doesn't work that way."
Kate took a breath, eyes suddenly dangerously moist, before looking away.
"Amazing, isn't?"
The gentle voice, so different from the harsh contrast that was on the young woman's tone earlier, made Kate give her a curious glance.
"What?"
"Well think about it. If you had never met Angel… this would have never mattered. You would have been chief Cop Babe by now."
Kate was silent for a moment, nodding slightly. "You weren't always involved in this either, were you?"
"No." Cordelia offered a rueful smile. "Not at all. I was the bitch queen. Most popular, nastiest girl of Sunnydale High and damn proud of it."
"What happened?"
"I pissed someone off."
"Imagine that." Kate managed a dry chuckle, and Cordelia only closed her eyes allowing one grim smile before shrugging.
"Buffy saved my life, and before I knew it I was sucked in to her cause. I fell in love with her friend, Xander. Well..." she amended, her throat suddenly raspy at the thought of the young boy who had become a man she had loved just as much, "I don't know if you'd call it love... we fought all the time. But I think it was. I know I loved him. Buffy and Angel were together then. Willow and Oz."
Kate gazed at her, her blue eyes flickering sadly for a second. "Sounds nice."
"Oh it was hell!" Cordelia almost snorted, closing her eyes and sighing. "First Buffy boffed Angel and he got the big Happy and went evil on us. Then Buffy went and sent him to hell because he was trying to destroy the earth, and then she took off, leaving Xander, Willow, Oz and ME to take over the gig. THEN she comes back, Angel comes back, Xander sucks face with Willow and I get impaled. Oh yeah, then my parents lose all my money, and... I come here. Hopeless alone and broke."
"Oih. Okay, you win. Your life sucked more than mine did," Kate said, throwing her hands up in the air.
Cordelia shrugged, giving her a soft glance. "I think we're pretty much even." Kate froze at the unfamiliar sentiment, and Cordelia sucked in her breath, looking away, her voice louder, falsely perky as she continued. "That's the nutshell version. If you want the whole, unfiltered pain, you'd have to live it."
Kate handed her a cup of coffee and she downed it, grimacing as it went down. "Know what else though?" she added, her dark eyes thoughtful.
"What?"
"Even ... even when we were on graduation, and this Mayor had turned into a giant snake and tried to eat us, we ... we didn't mind. We were saving the world. I mean we were just kids then, and the shit we went through," Cordelia blew out her breath, giving a half shrug, "I mean... I don't we could ever escape. I got put through all that for a reason."
"To be with Angel?"
"Maybe more than that. You know out of all of us, Angel and I are the only ones still fighting the good fight? Really? Buffy quit, when the new Slayer came, and Xander quit. Willow and Oz... well they've had their past. They didn't get back together until ... Tara... something happened to Willow's girlfriend. I met her once. She was nice."
Kate consequently choked on her coffee. "Willow had a girlfriend?"
"Yeah. Wasn't that big of a deal. Anyway, the point is... Angel had a destiny. And now I guess I do too." A small flicker of a smile passed over her face. "Imagine that. Bitchy May Queen actually becomes someone. I make a difference you know. Never what I would have expected, never what I think I would have wanted, but I do." Kate wisely didn't say a word, merely let her speak. "I used to think that being with was like a sacrifice. On my part. I never realized that all I was never sacrificing anything. It was only when I really did, when I was prepared to give my life for him, and lose everything that I got it all. He's warm, you know? And I look into his eyes, and I think about everything we went through and I know now that... I might have forever with him. And it doesn't scare me."
Kate's voice was gruff as she answered. "And now you're having his kid. That's pretty awesome, Cordelia."
"Yeah. Don't tell him."
"What?"
"Don't tell him." Cordelia hopped off the bench, her voice chipper, firm, "I will. After I deal with my issues."
"That might take a while. There's a lot of them."
Cordelia rolled her eyes, was about to retort when the door opened.
"'Elooo." Doyle smiled and at that Kate found herself smiling in spite of herself. "How ya doin'?"
"What are you doing here?" Cordelia asked, pulling on her jacket. "Where's Angel?"
"Got worried. You've been here a while. So while he's interogatin'... the jerk. He sent me to come getcha. Everything okay?"
Kate and Cordelia exchanged glances, and Cordelia shrugged, a fake smile half plastered on her face. "We're getting there, Doyle. You ready?"
"Yeah. Hey, on my way over here I saw Willow talking to some guys in suits."
Cordelia's brow wrinkled, her eyes lost in confusion. "Talking to who-"
The door burst open and she jumped, felt something inside her stiffen and a growl arise, and before Kate could look at her with that look of surprise and confusion a haunting image of red and white slid into the door.
Willow's eyes were wide, and dark with.
"Guys, we have to get out of here. NOW."
Cordelia and Kate gave each other quick glances, but Doyle was immediately on the move, opening the window and looking down, while Willow leaned against the door, hearing the pounding on the other side.
"CIA."
"SHIT!" Cordelia and Kate both slid on their jackets, Kate reaching for her gun, only to discover she had given it to Angel, Cordelia unconsciously placing her hands on her abdomen.
"How the hell are we going to get out of this one?" Kate rasped, as Doyle looked down out the window.
Cordelia swallowed, closed
her eyes, and rasped desperately. "We aren't."