-

That night was dark and stormy. The fog was getting very thick, and the roads were wet and sleek. He should have known better than to let her drive home. But her parents had given her a curfew, that if she broke would mean sudden death. And he should have gone with her. But he was having so much fun at that senior prom after party, and she had said it was okay if he stayed. So he had kissed her good night quickly, and watched her leave in her car, screeching down the highway in an effort to beat the clock home. She never made it home.

And the next day, on the way home, tired and happy, they found her car. Overturned on the side of the road, the wheels spinning , the once perfect car mangled beyond recognition. The only thing recognizable was the license plate, hanging crookedly on the end of the car. And as he burst out of the limo, his friends following behind, it crashed to the ground. He looked, shocked into terror, and in desperation began to try and tear what was left of the vehicle apart, in hope that she might still be alive. But she was gone. The car was empty, but blood was all over the seats. The police searched every where, the news vans came, and broadcast her father pleading everyone to join in on the search. But it was hopeless. There was no sign of her, and three days later, the police pronounced her dead.

And he still dreamed about her. How beautiful she looked that fateful night, he got the pictures back and sobbed. They looked so happy, and they were, they had no idea, he had no idea he would lose her so soon. His friends tried to be there for him, staying with him, they also felt the loss keenly. But no one felt it like he did. Because no one knew her like he did. No one else saw her face light up with happiness when he gave her his anniversary gift. No one saw her dogged determination that kept him studying and made him pass his classes with a B average. No one else saw her stand against her father when he deemed him not good enough to date his daughter. No one. And now, nothing mattered anymore. He felt his heart beating, but there was no emotion, only pain and sorrow. His life was in shambles, because he lost the woman that he loved.

Because Cordelia Chase was dead.

 --

Chapter One : Two Years Later

"Psst. Hey Xander." Xander Harris looked up from his books across the table to Buffy, who was paying attention to everything in the library but her studying.

"What?" he asked her, allowing her to distract him from the equations still swimming around in his head.

The Slayer turned community college student was smiling as she cocked her head in another table's direction. "That girl's checking you out." Xander looked in the direction that she was pointing at. Sure enough, Betty Dugan was smiling candidly in his direction, her face one of open invitation. He smiled back politely, and turned his head back to Buffy.

"That's Betty. She's in my Physics class." He said dismissively, turning back to his books.

"She likes you." Buffy mused. Xander inwardly sighed. Here we go again. It never failed, almost every month, either Buffy or Willow began a conversation like this. Would they ever learn?

"And she's pretty." Buffy continued.

Xander cocked an eyebrow. "Is there something you want to tell me, Buff?"

"You should ask her out." Buffy finished, grabbing his pencil from him when he tried to write. Xander sighed, and grabbed his pencil back.

"She's not my type." He replied, turning back to his books, indicating it was the end of the conversation.

Buffy wasn't easily daunted. She was quiet for a minute, but when Xander looked up he saw her face full of worry. "Nobody's been you're type for the past two years, Xander. The dates you do go on, which have been few, mind you, don't last."

Xander rested his chin on his hand and audibly sighed. "I told you years ago. I'm not fickle. I know my type."

"Shhhh!" They both jumped from when they heard the hissing from all around them. Buffy gave them all a good-natured glare, and continued, her face serious.

"Cordelia was awesome, Xand. We all dug her. But she's dead. You got to move on. You can't be a hermit for the rest of your life."

Xander's eyes glittered with anger. "You did." Buffy opened her mouth, and closed it suddenly. He saw that she was fighting to hold her anger in check. Xander inwardly winced. Angel was a taboo subject, he knew that. Xander sighed. "That was out of line. I'm Sorry."

"Your right, it was, Xander." Buffy bit, the hurt evident in her eyes. She gazed into his eyes, and gave him a half smile. "But I'm sorry too." She leaned forward, watching his reaction carefully.

"It still hurts you, doesn't it?" She asked softly. Xander smiled sadly, and nodded.

"I still dream about her, you know. I miss her, Buff."

"I know. I still miss Angel."

They smiled at each other in collective sympathy. "But I moved on, Xander. I may still dream about him... and I guess I'll always love him.... but I moved on. And now ...... I guess the pain hurts a little less."

Xander shook his head. "I can't. Not right now."

"AUGHHHHHH!"

The whispering pair jumped and looked up from their side of the Sunnydale Community College Library as they saw Oz come walking out of the computer lab as fast as he could, his face one of nervous agitation.

"Something wrong?" Buffy asked him as he sat down across from her.

"Uh Willow just accidentally deinitialized her zip disk. She lost like eighty megs of information."

The pair winced. "I can see how you wanted to get away." Buffy replied.

"Didn't she have a back up?"

"That was her back up." Oz replied hastily.

"Oh." The trio looked up to see one very angry Willow Rosenberg come stalking out of the computer lab, her now defunct zip disk in one hand.

"Uh, hey there, buddy!" Xander tried to lighten the mood.

She glared at him, apparently not amused. "All I ask, all I ask is that Sunnydale Community could have just one decent computer. " She reached into her book bag and began sorting through her disks. "A computer that was made in the last two years, actually has Ethernet that works, and can support a Zip disk, and a scanner! That's it! But no, I get a-"

Buffy listened to her angry friend with amusement. "You know Xand, I'm sure that Harvard, or MIT, or Yale would have had a computer that works, don' t you agree?"

"Absolutely." Xander nodded his head up and down. "Wolf man?"

"I'm not getting in this," Oz answered, seeing where this was going.

Willow squinted her eyes at her colleagues. "Don't start, okay? You know my reasons for staying in Sunnydale."

"Oh, that's right!" Xander exclaimed. "Who cares that you wasted all that precious talent on the great education of Sunnydale Community, just so you can hang with us losers!"

Willow glared at Xander, and then shook her head. "Humph. I'm going to Giles' library to mope."

"You want me to go with you?" Oz got up.

Xander sighed. "Whipped." He muttered under his breath. Buffy swatted him in the head.

"You guys coming?" Willow asked, gathering her things. Buffy shook her head.

"Nah, I promised my self that I was going to study, and I'll keep it, even if it takes me all night." Buffy said, a little more to convince herself than to anyone. "I'll told Giles that I'd patrol around midnight, and then head back in the morning for that debriefing."

Xander smiled. "Me too. Though I actually will study." The past two years had been especially taxing on Xander, and he had thrown himself into various activities to keep his mind busy. Fortunately for his GPA, studying had been one of them.

"That's a first."

"Speak for yourself Wolfman. Isn't there a full moon out tonight? " Xander and Oz gave each other a look of masculine affection and hi fived each other before Oz waved goodbye and followed Willow out the door. Buffy and Xander watched them leave with an amused smile on their faces.

"Hard to believe they've lasted this long." Xander said.

"Are you kidding? At this rate those two will be married!"

"SHHHHH!"

--

"Harvard!" Willow turned to her boyfriend. "Do you think I made a mistake not going to Harvard?" She asked him. Oz just shrugged.

"I'm not one to talk, here Will. They tell me the same thing all the time."

"Yeah, but you got that job with Microsoft. You get to hack, and they pay you tons for like, almost no work!"

Oz smiled, putting an arm around her lovingly. "True, True. It's the perfect job. If I actually liked computers." He trailed off, and then turned. As he saw her shivering in the moonlight, he shrugged out of his jacket, and placed it gently around her shoulders. "But you got offered the same job. You turned it down."

"Well yeah." She agreed. "Somehow I couldn't kick that thing out of my system that I have to go to college, any college. " They walked down the dark campus walkway, and Willow stared at the huge trees that lined the pavement. "We better hurry, it's pretty dark."

"Yeah," Oz agreed. "Where is everyone? There's usually at least ten or more people out here at this time."

"Rally tonight, remember?"

"Oh, that's right! Why aren't you there?" He asked, taking her hand.

"Because I was going to use the time to work on that web page for that company." She sighed, thinking of all the work she lost. "I think I'll set up a virtual funeral for all the information I lost-"

She stopped speaking when Oz suddenly squeezed her hand.

"Shh. Did you hear something?"

They both stood still, craning to hear whatever caused the rustling.

"I don't hear anything, do you?"

Oz listened again. "No. I guess it must have been our overactive sense of Slayerhood." He smiled. Suddenly Willow screamed, and Oz felt himself being hit from behind directly on the head. The world went dark.

Willow screamed again as she saw her boyfriend fall to the ground. She scrambled from the vampire that had jumped out of the bushes, and quickly tried to remember all that Buffy had taught about defending herself from vampires. This one was a brute, huge with a bulging neck and piercing blue eyes. Willow swallowed with fear. How could she have forgotten to wear a cross tonight? It was something Giles always ground into their heads, and yet she still forgot. She knew that she would never be able to take this guy on. Her only choice was to run, and she wasn't going to do that and leave Oz for the villains next meal. Her only choice was to fend him off until Oz woke up, whenever that would be.

The plan wasn't a good one, and it didn't work well. The vampire caught her quickly, and grabbed her hair in a handful to expose her milky white neck, despite Willow's attempt to fight him off. Willow closed her eyes as she let a tear fall from her eyes. Her life wasn't supposed to end like this. Not so soon. Not like Cordy did.

Suddenly the demon released her in a burst of pain, and Will fell forward on her knees. Not quite believing she was still alive, she shook herself out of her daze and looked back to see who her savior was.

She expected Buffy, but what she got was someone else entirely. A tall figure, dressed in a black hood was beating the vampire senseless with a succession of kicks and punches that proved she was a professional. The vampire, who was stunned at such a quick turn of events, growled and attempted to fight back, but the person in the hood was too quick for him. In a blink of an eye, she suddenly had a sword out and in one fluid movement, beheaded him. The figure waited a moment, and then turned to Willow, it's face still hidden by the darkness.

"Are you okay?" A feminine voice asked, her voice full of concern. The voice struck a twinge in Willow's memories, but she didn't dwell on it, instead she nodded blankly and ran to the unconscious Oz.

The hooded woman, her sword now vanished in the folds of her robe, brushed Willow away and quickly checked Oz's bruise, that had begun to welt on his forehead.

"He's fine." She pronounced. Her head tilted up to Willow and paused for a moment. Willow suddenly felt a twinge of fear.

"Thank you, for helping us." she began unsteadily.

"Willow, it' s no problem." The girl said dissmissively. "What are you doing outside without a cross anyway?" Willow gulped.

"How did you know my name?"

"Ooops." The figure shrugged. "Let's just say I'm figment of your past. A not all too pleasant one, if I remember correctly. Anyway, I was looking for you."

"For me?"

"Well, sort of. I need you to do me a favor."

Willow was now thoroughly confused and muddled by now,and could only nod quickly.

"Good. Willow, I need you to get all the old Slayerettes together, and meet me in the high school library in one hour."

"What-"

"I'll explain everything then. I've got a favor to ask Buffy. Remember one hour." The hooded person nodded, and proceeded to walk away. She paused, and turned around. "Oh, and Will? Get yourself some new clothes, you've been wearing that outfit for years."

--

Buffy had every intention of studying. She really did. In fact she thought she was doing a darn good job, right until Willow shook her awake.

"Huh, yeah I'm studying, mom I am-"

"Buffy!"

Buffy opened her eyes and blinked to let the light back in them. "Willow? I thought you went home."

Xander and Willow looked at her with nervous eyes. "Buffy you are not going to believe what just happened."

 --

Exactly one hour later, the three Slayerettes and the Slayer sat apprehensively in the old Sunnydale library attempting to fill Giles in on the understandably very confusing preceding events.

"Willow, do you think we have anything to fear from this ..... woman?" Giles asked, wiping his glasses.

Willow, who had been holding a compress to a dazed Oz's head, just shrugged. "I don't know, Giles. I mean, she saved my life, and Oz's. She didn't threaten me. All she said what that she was a bad memory."

"Well I must admit I'm muddled."

"Yeah, I mean take your pick of bad memories." Xander mumbled, thinking again about his dead girlfriend. He still hadn't forgotten Cordelia. Over the years he had gone over and over what had happened that night, and he had tried to lose the mantle of guilt that still lay on his chest. But he couldn't stop wondering if he had only driven with her, if he had only known. He shook his head, forcing himself to concentrate on the current problem. Cordelia was dead. He sighed. No, she was alive, even if it was only in his heart.

"And the way she killed that vampire." He looked up to hear the rest of the description Willow was giving the group. "I mean, she was good, as good as Buffy." At the mention of this, Buffy looked considerably worried.

"Am I the only one who's thinking this is stupid?" she asked. "This girl could be anything. This is the hell mouth! I mean we are sitting here waiting for this THING to come for us!"

"I'm not exactly a thing, Buffy." The whole group jumped when they heard the annoyed voice, and as Xander got up, he felt a familiar twinge in his stomach, a tightening that made his heart start racing. The figure looked calm, but it was hard to tell. Her entire body was covered with a black robe. But her voice. There was something in her voice. Buffy got up quickly, in full attack mode , pushing her way to the front of the group.

"You're late."

"Fashionably late, I prefer." The black robe shrugged. "I had to get something." She seemed to take a closer look at Buffy. "And what's with your hair? It looked so much better short. Do you even bother with foundation anymore?" Buffy gave her a hostile look.

"Buffy, take a pill okay? I'm not going to hurt you." The figure, ironically enough, sounded amused.

"Well, maybe you can cement that lovely phrase by taking that hood off and telling us who you are!" Buffy responded hotly.

"I will, I just want to make sure that you all don't go postal on me first. You promise?" Buffy rolled her eyes. "No matter who I am, you will not try to kill me or anything morbid or equally gross, until I explain everything. That includes everyone. Okay?"

The gang glanced at Rupert Giles. The librarian was just as shaken up as anyone else, but managed to nod hesitantly. Xander swallowed heavily as he looked at each one of the faces. Oz was still a little dazed, but not enough not to be whigged at the proceedings. Buffy was just angry, which was understandable, considering she hated being put in situations she couldn't control. Willow had the same face he did. She looked like she was trying to place something, but couldn't. Xander looked back at the hooded woman. Who was she?

"Okay." He watched as the woman hesitated, but slowly reached up and pulled her hood back. Xander felt his heart stop beating. Standing in front of him was Cordelia Chase.

--

The group was shocked into silence. Cordelia felt openly nervous as she looked at her old friends, the friends she had shared almost everything with. Her eyes roved to Giles, who looked near a heart attack, to Buffy who was blinking her eyes and opening them, making sure it was her she saw. Oz and Willow had grabbed hands, their faces unreadable, and then there was Xander. As she lay her eyes on him, she felt the familiar stirrings of feelings in the pit of her stomach. A small smile came to her lips as she saw his expression. He was in awe.

"Hi." She said softly, hoping to get over this moment as soon as possible. Giles seemed to get over the shock first He walked over to her, looked into her eyes, and then just sighed.

"Well, we are on the Hell mouth." He said dismissively, before adjusting his glasses.

"Cordy?" Buffy was next, walking up warily, but hope was visible in her blue eyes. "Is that you?"

Cordelia smiled at her hesitantly. "Uh yeah."

Oz suddenly got up. "NOW it makes sense!" He said triumphantly. "I knew I knew you from somewhere!" Cordelia smiled, and glanced at Xander. The room quieted as the group began to look from Cordelia to Xander.

"Hi, Xander." She said softly, and Willow knew that she still saw feeling in those eyes. Xander took her in with a long look. Suddenly he looked down at his arms and began to pinch himself.

"Xander." Willow almost had a smile on her face. "This isn't a dream." Xander looked back up at Cordelia. Finally, he seemed to understand. With a sudden huge smile, he launched forward and pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly to him, catching every one by surprise, Cordelia included. But she soon go over it, holding him to her just as close.

Finally he let her go, but looked at her, unformed tears in his eyes. "Hiya Cordy." He said gruffly. She smiled back.

"I missed you too, Xander." Her voice was unsteady, the emotion visible in her voice. The couple's embrace had broken the tension, and the others, who were began to get over their initial shock, began to muse out loud.

Willow, who, in Cordelia's opinion, had won the award for least changed, rose slowly. "We thought you had died."

"I did." Cordy answered flippantly, pushing away from Xander gently.

Buffy suddenly looked wary again. "You're not a vampire, are you?"

Cordelia rolled her eyes. "No, Buffy, I'm not a vampire." Her answer sounded like she was talking to a five year old.

"A ghost?" Giles tried. Cordelia shook her head.

"No."

"She feels firm, Giles." Xander said, suddenly playful, pressing her skin. She shot him a look.

"No, no ghost, no vampire, nothing bad, okay?"

"But you did die."

"Yes."

"But you're not dead now."

"No."

"You're alive?"

"Yes."

"Cordy, this is starting to bug me!" Buffy looked near the end of her patience, and Cordelia looked vastly amused.

"Hold on, lemme get out of this robe, it's itching the hell out of me. Cotton is way too rough on my skin, but no one makes these things in satin-"

She stepped out of the robe, revealing a pair of classy black pants, a silk blouse, and a sword hanging from her back. Unaware of the start she gave the others, she unsheathed it with a familiar hand, and put it after a couple of practice swings on the table. Suddenly aware that the room had grown absolutely silent, she looked up.

"What?"

Buffy walked slowly to the table. "That's a sword, Cordy," she said, pointing to the saber as if it were a cockroach.

She shrugged. "I know what it is." Seeing them all stare at her, she sighed. " A short saber, actually. Look, don't be surprised, okay?" They all gave her a glare. "Okay, you can be a little surprised. It's a little freaky."

"A little?"

Cordelia sighed with annoyance. "Will you all relax? I'm going to tell you what happened I swear!"

"Can you please start before you give us another heart attack?" Giles snapped, sitting down and rubbing at his head with a paper towel.

"Eccentric Much?" When they all looked at her one more time, Cordy smiled. "Sure, look, it's a really long story, and frankly, it might take the rest of the night. So, take a seat." She looked at Xander, who hadn't moved from her side, but was staring at her in open curiosity. "You too, Xander." She said, her voice softer and kinder.

Buffy and Willow glanced at each other, and smiled.

"So, Cordy? What's up? You gonna fill us in?" Buffy quipped, suddenly deciding to relax.

Cordelia sighed. " Yeah, I guess so. And no interruptions, morons, okay?" Seeing them all nod, she took a deep breath. "Okay, here I go.

"So I guess all the weirdness started the night of our prom. Since Xander had gotten me in late for Grad night, and Dad was never big on my dating him, he told me I had to be home by three or else. So, I had to leave the party early. Nobody told me they had spiked the punch. Xander was having so much fun making fun of Buffy's date, I told him that he could stay. I was already late, so I totally screeched it home. But uh, the road were slippery, and I guess my head wasn't too clear, and I slipped off the highway. It was pretty ugly. I mean there was blood everywhere, and it was coming from me. And it hurt. I remember thinking, I'm dying. I really am. I felt this tingling all through me . " Cordelia looked pensive. " And suddenly there was this scratching at the door, and it opened up and..... and I died." She was visibly shaken, and she looked up to see the group looking at her in quiet reflection.

"You really died?"

Cordelia sighed. "Yeah, I felt myself go and then I did. I really died."

Buffy, who had also died in the past four years, wasn't impressed. "What else happened, Cordy? Who was making the noise?"

Cordelia looked at all of them, and her face was unreadable. "I'm getting to that."

Chapter Two: Winters

She came to with a sudden sucking in of breath. It was almost like waking up, but it wasn't.. instead it was more of a awakening of self. Cordelia lay still for a minute, trying to contemplate her surroundings. Suddenly the memories of her last position came to her, and she sat up quickly and in fear began to peruse her body in an effort to see the cuts and broken bones that had taken over her body earlier. But with shaking hands, she realized that her body was completely unscathed. There wasn't a cut on her, not even a scratch. She breathed in deeply, forcing herself to swallow her fear as she looked at her surroundings. She was in a large bedroom, of antique caliber, the richness was apparent, and her clothes... She looked down at her clothes. She was in a beautiful silk night gown of a rich red color, and if Cordelia wasn't any more freaked out than she was, she would have paused to admire it. Instead, she went back to her original reflection.

"I died" she told herself. "I know I die-" Suddenly the tingling sensation that had enveloped in the car came through her again, and she froze. It went away, and she ignored it, for the time being.

"A dream this is all a dream.. I must have passed out."

"It's not a dream." Cordelia jumped, and swiveled her head. Standing in front of her was a man in his early thirties, his hair short, cropped close to his head. He was handsome enough. But his face was unreadable. Cordelia had no idea to be frightened or grateful.

"Hi.. what's going on?" she asked, allowing her voice to slip a little. The man showed no expression.

"That tingling sensation you just had." He began to speak, and Cordelia recognized that the man sounded positively British. "You've had it before, no?"

Cordelia had no idea why the heck he would come up with that sentence to start the conversation, but was too dazed to complain. "I've had it once or twice before," she admitted.

"That, is your weapon. Always remember to seek that feeling. It means another of your kind is near."

Cordelia raised an eyebrow. Her fear flew from her when she realized this guy was making no sense. "Excuse me?"

The man sat next to the bed, and looked directly into her eyes. He kept her gaze, until she was forced to look away.

"Your kind. Let's get something straight right now, Miss Chase. You are no longer human."

"Okay." Cordelia moved to the far side of the bed. "Some one jumped out of the looney fringe today." She muttered. "Listen, Mister you've been really nice and all, but I'm gonna go ahead and go now-"

She got up and began to search for her clothes.

"You died, Chase." His tone was monotone,but it was enough to stop Cordelia dead in her tracks. When she turned to looked at him, he spoke again. "You died, and yet you live. How do you explain that?"

Cordelia shrugged. "In Sunnydale? Please, Buffy's done it, so has Angel. Old news, there Mr. Psycho. And how do you know my name?"

He held up her driver's license. "You should have this revoked." Cordelia rolled her eyes, forgetting her fear. She reached over and grabbed it from him.

"Uh-huh."

The man got up and blocked the entrance. "It's different Cordelia. You know that. You've been chosen-"

"Yeah, I've heard THAT before, too" she interrupted. "I've seen the Chosen One's gig, it's not that hot, okay? So can I just go-"

"If you go, you'll die at the hands of another of your kind." He stood firm in front of the doorway.

She blew the air out of her chest in an annoyed breath. "What kind?? What are you talking about?"

"An Immortal. A human chosen to live forever."

Cordelia suddenly felt her legs go out. "Huh?" Was all she managed from her new position on the ground. The man looked at her, his face blank, as he reached down and pulled her up with surprising strength.

"I understand it might be hard to believe, Cordelia. But it's true, and if you want to live even one measly lifetime. You'll listen to me."

She looked at him, and she saw the sincerity in his face. And she suddenly felt weak. "But my friends.... my family."

"You are dead to them. Let them be. There are things more important than -"

"Than my friends? Are you kidding? Do you have any idea what your telling me? They need me! I.. " she sighed, and her voice became softer. "I need them."

"I'm all you have now, Cordelia. Get used to it." The man didn't seem to feel any sympathy for her. "Starting tomorrow, you will begin your training. You will wake up, eat, train, and sleep. You are not to leave the house or the area surrounding it. The doors all have locks, and if you want to go outside, you must take me with you. You will have the best clothes, the best food, and the best to entertain you. " He pointed to the wall which was filled with books. "These will be enough to entertain you for at least a month."

"A month? You want me to read all those musty books in a month?" He gazed at her in a condescending expression, and Cordelia quickly shut her mouth. "You will always listen to me, never question me. Yes means yes and no means no."

"Kidnapper much?" she bit at him.

"This is about life or death. Immortality is power, and power corrupts. It is my duty as a fellow Immortal to teach you how to use your Immortality for good, and not evil. I looked into your eyes. You have a pure soul. But it must be taught to be used well. Being an Immortal is not easy, Chase. I will teach you how to fight, how to train, how to kill beasts, monsters vampires."

"Been there, done that." She said with a sigh, tears forming and brimming on her face. He paused for a minute.

"Well, good." He said, not phased at all. "That moves us up schedule. Do get some rest. It's been a harrowing day." He got up and moved toward the door. "Remember, we begin tomorrow, early. Oh, and make best friends with this." He moved his hands quickly and out of seemingly thin air, he produced a sword, and tossed it on her bed. "It will save your life." He turned to leave.

"Hey!" Cordelia's call stopped him. "Aren't you going to tell me your name before you start ruling my life?" she asked him, in an attempt to stop the tears from forming.

He looked at her with a neutral expression. "Winters. Good night."

 --

"Winters?" Cordelia looked up from the pizza box to Giles.

"Yeah, you heard of him?" The rest of the group, munching loudly, swiveled their heads to him.

Giles shrugged. "Well uh yes. Actually, he's known among the Watchers as a Watcher King, if such a thing be. Training slayers for about a two hundred year period. But it was always assumed that there were three or four different Winters. Descended from the original one Known for training Slayers that are good with swords, and are very emotionless. In a way.. it makes sense" he drifted off, thinking to himself.

"Listen, this Winters guys sounds like a great guy and all," Xander broke in. "But can we concentrate on one thing here? IMMORTAL? I mean am I the only one here going HUH?"

"It's true, Xander." Cordelia looked to him sadly, watching his expression carefully. "Oz is a werewolf I'm an Immortal."

"Bu-Butt we are talking immortal as in living forever, right?" Willow broke in, making sure she understood.

"Technically. There is ONE way we could die." Cordelia said, putting her pizza down.

"Oh?" Buffy's mouth was full, but it didn't stop her from grunting the oh.

"Uh yeah. Beheading."

Oz choked on his food. "Beheading?" Cordelia nodded.

"Hence the sword. It's this whole big thing about us wandering around and in the end there can be only One-"

"Identify much?" Buffy muttered to Giles. He nodded.

"And there this thing called the Quickening ... we kill each other with the swords. There are good guys and bad guys-"

"Cordy, are you sure?" Xander looked at his ex girlfriend with a pleading expression. "Are you really sure that this is all real? That you are really immortal? I mean what if this Winters guy was just lying to you-"

"He wasn't lying Xander. " Cordelia interrupted softly, but it was enough for Xander to close his mouth. "I didn't just die once. I've died a couple times. And I always come back. There's things that I've seen... I've experienced the Quickening." She trailed off, and looked down. "It's all true."

"Wow." Everyone just looked at Willow . "It's just that you've really changed. You haven't insulted me directly since you've gotten here." She told Cordelia.

Cordelia snorted. " Hello? I died, doesn't that give me a reason to change my personality?" she asked them. She motioned to Buffy. "She did."

Xander had to smile. "Hey, you're right! Buffy became a bitca!"

"That was a long time ago." Buffy defended. Giles waved them all to silence.

"Cordelia please continue." He said, and she nodded.

"So anywise, the training began Swords, bare hands, stakes, anything and everything that could be considered a weapon, I learned how to use. I learned to fight. I was a virtual prisoner in that huge mansion of Winters. He had servants, but they weren't allowed to talk to me." She paused for a minute. "Willow, I stopped insulting you a long time ago!"

 --

Swords flashed in the air and a vicious clanging was heard as the flashes of light illuminated when whenever the two swords met.

"You're dropping your guard, Chase." Winters lunged in again, Cordelia deflected it quickly before countering. "You have a blind spot!" She moved fast as he came in quickly, blocking the sword with all her strength. He moved his leg so fast it was imperceptible, and before Cordy knew it, she was on the ground, and his sword was at her neck. They were both breathing fast, and Cordelia lay stock still, staring murderously in her eyes. Bells filled the air, and Winters moved the sword away and leaned his hand down to help her up. In a fit of anger, Cordelia brushed it aside, and helped herself up, grabbing her sword and going back to ready position. "That was the bell, remember?" Winters reminded her. "Go to your studies." Oh great, Cordelia thought, letting herself breath in and out quickly. We go from bad to worse. She walked slowly to the other side of the room, and sat down in the large plush arm chair that was reserved for her. Claribell, the maid, appeared at her left shoulder and offered her a large lemonade. She was the head maid, and older woman that reminded Cordelia of Mrs. Potts, from Beauty and the Beast, because she was the one that always took care of her. But she never said hello, or made any attempt at a conversation.

"Thanks." Cordelia smiled to her and took the drink, but the maid only curtsied and moved away. "Yeah, nice talking to you too." Cordy muttered. She looked at the books she was made to read, and without thinking felt her mind wandering back to Sunnydale, and to her friends. She missed her friends. She missed Xander. And the worse part of it all it was like . she could take knowing she would never see them again, she could take never knowing if Xander ever really loved her like she loved him, but what she couldn't take was that she was dead to them. Buffy would go on slaying, Willow and Oz would go on being cuties, and Xander would go on living, with out her. Maybe even in Buffy's arms. Goodness knows they were headed in that direction. She sighed.

"Chase, start reading." She cast a glare over her shoulder to Winters who was sitting with his back towards her, writing in that dratted diary that he wrote in every day. What the hell did he write anyway? Nothing ever happened around here. "I'm going to quiz you on it later." That was what it took to get Cordelia to start reading. She hated his quizzing. Looking down at her choices, she sighed. After tossing aside the more boring ones, she picked between a big one with "Vampyre" written on it, and another one with a name in Latin that she couldn't pronounce. She chose the vampire book instead.

Five minutes later,Winters was shaking her awake. "Did you get enough sleep?" he demanded. Cordelia looked at him through sleepy eyes.

"How could I? You kept me awake until two yesterday!" she snapped, forgetting to fear her new mentor. Winters looked at her with the same unnerving expression.

"I put you to bed at ten."

"Yeah, and then came by to check up on me every twenty minutes!" He stayed quiet, so she elaborated. "You know? The twinkling feeling every time you come with like twenty feet? Every time I was ready to go to sleep, there it was again. I couldn't close my eyes!"

"I see.You appeared to be asleep to me."

"You would have killed me if I wasn't!" Winters pursed his lips and thought for a minute.

"Fine. Take a quick nap. We'll forgo the book reading for today. I will wake you for lunch." He turned and headed back to his diary. Unfortunately, after she was so rudely awakened, she didn't feel like sleeping. Grateful that she didn't have to read anymore, she tossed the large book aside, and followed Winters to his table, suddenly curious.

"What are you doing?" she asked him, peering over her shoulder at his desk. He looked a trifle annoyed at her sudden curiosity, but answered her.

"Writing in my journal. You are supposed to be sleeping."

"Anything in your diary about me?" she asked.

"Most of it is about you. Now go to sleep." She wasn't daunted.

"How many times have you died?"

"I stopped counting at 100. Sleep." She stayed quiet for a moment, and a thought popped up in her mind.

"Have you ever been in love?" He stiffened, but as he turned his face was as unreadable as ever.

"I thought I told you to always listen to me. I told you to go to sleep!"

"Hey, mister kidnapper! I think I'm doing nicely considering I'm a prisoner in this stupid place." She snapped, before turning away. "You know what I think?" she said, turning back. "I think you need to be boinked by someone fast. Maybe you won't be so miserable." She turned away.

"Chase."

She turned around, looking at him in exasperation. "What?"

His face was odd. "Have you ever been in love?" She gave him a disparaging look.

"Yeah. His name was Xander." She turned away again.

"What happened to him?" Cordelia was too angry to notice that this was the first time she had ever witnessed him in an attempt to communicate with her on a conversational term. Instead she glared at him.

"You took me from him." And with that she stalked off to her bedroom.

 --

"Gosh." Willow's eyes were sparkling and Cordelia could tell she was utterly swept up in the story she was telling. "You really hated him, didn't you?" Cordelia thought for a moment.

"Yes and no. I mean, this guys was Giles times ten. He was pretty harsh. But what whigged me out was that he never showed an ounce of emotion. It wasn't like he didn't care, it was more like he refused to believe he did. He never wanted to talk to me, all he did was teach me, and you know me I have to be the center of attention. " She grinned nervously. "I mean, I had the best of everything in that place, but it didn't mean anything, because I felt so alone. The servants acted like they were scared of me. They knew about the whole Immortal stuff, but they didn't say a word. And Winters. Well he was just Winters. I couldn't talk to him. And so I became like him, in a way. I just concentrated on the training, the studying, but I always remembered you guys," she looked around at all of them. "And in a way, that helped me stay a little bit like me, I still felt. And I guess that surprised Winters. He wanted me to be like him, emotionless. That's why he was so cruel. It was almost like if he was trying to break me. And I couldn't be like that. If I did, I would have snapped. So, I always resisted that." She trailed off, and suddenly shook herself and continued. "For the next year and a half, I guess I just got better at what I was training at. Fighting with all those weapons, it became like a second sense. And eventually, I got as good as Winters. But I never knew how good, until about six months ago."

--

After Cordelia's brush off when he asked her about love, Winters became as dispassionate as ever. He pushed her harder, and expected more of her. And Cordy lived up to the task. Something in her had changed, and now, she seemed almost eager to learn what she needed to know. In a way, she thought that the sooner she learned everything, the sooner she would get out of there. And so she worked hard, and got good, though Winters would never comment on it. He became increasingly demanding and made no attempt to develop any kind of relationship with Cordelia at all. Cordelia felt an increasing sense of loneliness and desperateness coming over her and she was consumed with it on the day that would change the state of everything.

She had just gotten out of the shower, and was busy drying herself off, when she felt the now familiar sensation that always came over her when Winters was near. Quickly reaching for her towel, she barely managed to cover herself when he stormed in. He stopped immediately when he saw her state of dress, and for once, Cordelia realized that she had taken him by surprise.

"What is your problem!" she exclaimed, struggling to keep the towel from slipping. Winters took a step back, but composed himself quickly, looking her over once before straightening up.

"You should be reading now." He informed her.

"I wanted to take a shower, instead. I had an urge. You know what that means?" She turned her back to him and reached for her long robe, covering herself with it, before letting the towel dropping to the ground. She turned around, and saw that he was still standing there.

"What?!" she asked. Winters had never even said anything about her being of the opposite sex, much less become a peeping Tom.

He shook his head, and swallowed. "Nothing." He said placidly, before turning to go. He paused at the doorway, and then turned his head. "Chase?"

"Yes?" She began to dry her hair quickly.

He stayed quiet, then spoke. "Tomorrow will be your final test." She froze, and looked up at him.

"What?"

"You heard me, Chase." Her hands began shaking.

"But how can I be ready-"

"We'll see." He nodded to her, and then made another motion to go, but paused again, his back facing her. "Chase?" Cordelia looked at him, her eyes wide and sparkling. "You are beautiful, you know." And with that he turned,and walked out of the room. Cordelia stood, frozen in one spot, stunned speechless.

 --

The next day was a sober one, Cordelia stood in apprehensive waiting for Winters to come for what he called the Final test. What the heck did he mean? In the year and a half that she had known him, he had never mentioned any plans that he had for her, or any tests. Every day was the same, it had felt like years that she had been here. And yet it had only been one. And that last line. She had thought he had never even noticed she was a girl. The sensation came that signaled his coming,and she straightened quickly, grabbing her sword in her easy familiar manner. He strode into the room, his stride strong and powerful, his naked sword glinting in the beams of the sun.

"All right Chase. Here we go, prepare to defend yourself." He lunged forward in midsentence, but Cordelia deflected it easily,and countered just as fast. Soon they were locked in fierce combat, and Cordelia felt her mind go blank, not thinking about anything but the movement of her opponent. But something was wrong, something was different, something was not right about this fight. And then she realized it. Winters was showing emotions. His face was a mask of tortured rage, and his lunges were deeper, his counters harder, and his blows much more powerful than usual. He began to sweat, but the glint in his eyes remained the same. Once he knocked the sword out of Cordelia's hand, and lunged for her body. Had she not done a back handspring to retrieve her sword and counter his advances, Cordelia would have had a sword impaled in her gut. Her heart began beating faster as the truth dawned on her. This fight was for real. Winters was really aiming to kill her. And so she began to fight for her life, but the thought never occurred to her to take his, simply to wound him to get her off of him. He swung his sword down and she aimed a well placed kick to deflect the flat of the sword and then with a lightening fast movement, slammed her sword into his side. He let out a cry pain,and sank to the ground, and Cordelia immediately ran to him. He pushed her away, and then looked up at her.

"Finish it." Cordelia's eyes widened as she realized just what he was asking her to do.

"What, I -"

"Do it!" His voice rang out with command and authority and Cordelia had to bite her lip to keep from responding as she looked at her mentor.

"Winters-" she whimpered, tears began to run down her face. "I can't-"

"Dammit, Chase!" He rose, his anger helping him absorb the pain. "I need this, you need this." She shook her head. He reached down and grabbed his sword. Seeing the look in her face, he suddenly smiled. Pulling her to him, he kissed her viciously until she pulled away in surprise and hurt. "You see?" he whispered. "Do it or I'll kill you myself." He flashed his sword and Cordelia was once again locked in battle with the age old Immortal. And then she knew. She knew all of it. She had no choice. Because Winters was desperate. And he would truly kill her if she didn't kill him first.

It seemed to almost play in slow motion for her. The clanging of metal, the sudden twist, the well practice turn and swing, the sword coming down in exactly the right place, and the look of peace that came over Winter's face as he saw the sword descending. The sound of the metal hitting the flesh and then it was over.

Cordelia looked at what was left of her mentor, and in a state of horror, dropped her sword. There was a dead silence in the room, the only sound audible was the sound of her heavy breath. She was quiet, the tears running down her face,

And then all hell broke loose. The weather started to change , and lightening began to snap and crackle in the room. Cordelia looked up in fright, and all of a sudden she felt something happen to her. The lightening began to strike her, and she began to convulse with every strike. And his life came flooding into her. His feelings that he never let her see. She saw them all. She stayed in the middle of the room, hardly understanding what was happening to her, and yet she understood. She knew this what was supposed to happen. And so she just knelt absorbing the blows that were caused by it, just feeling everything. And she finally understood about him. She knew why he had been so cruel, so passive. So much pain from watching, outliving the ones you cared about, training youngsters but watching them die anyways. He hadn't been able to take it anymore. She jerked spasmodically, and as soon as it had started, it was over.

Cordelia lay in a heap on the floor, utterly spent. She breathed slowly for a few minutes, and then sat up weakly. It was over, and she felt it. She felt different, the power coursing through her veins. She looked up, and winced as she remembered her old mentor.

"I'm supposed to do this to survive?" she muttered to herself. She heard footsteps, and looked up to see Claribell, the head maid walking to the middle of the room. She saw Cordelia's sweat soaked body and pursed her lips. Cordelia saw that there were tears in her eyes.

"You needn't worry." She began when Cordelia opened her mouth to talk. "I saw everything. He pushed you to do it. I've been expecting that." Cordelia had had so many surprises today, she didn't even think that the lady was finally talking to her.

"Why?" she asked, her voice quivering. Claribell smiled sadly.

"That, my dear, you'll have to find out for yourself." Her old worn hands reached down and helped Cordelia up, before producing a piece of paper from the folds of her uniform. "His will." She explained. "He left you everything." Cordelia's tearstained eyes widened in surprise, and with shaking hands, she took the paper and unfolded it carefully. Sure enough, it was a copy of his will, bequeathing everything to one Cordelia Chase. Seeing that she was at a loss of words , Claribell smiled. "He cared about you child. He just couldn't admit it. He hurt too much."

Cordelia shook her head. "I can't take it. I can't." But Claribell refused to take the paper that Cordelia held out.

"No, it's fitting you should have it."

"But you-"

"I have all I need." Claribell insisted. "I've had enough for a long time." Cordelia gave her a confused look.

"Then why-"

"Because he needed someone, and now, you do too. If you'll have me." Cordelia looked at her through moist eyes, and nodded almost imperceptibly. Claribell smiled. "Good, then, let's get you cleaned up." With a warm smile and a steady hand, the older woman led the Immortal out of the room, to begin another part of her life.

--

"Winters died by your sword?" Giles had taken off his glasses and was staring at Cordelia . She nodded, saddened by the thought. The others were dead quiet. Giles looked at the sword that had lain forgotten on the table. "May I?" he asked, indicating to it. Cordy smiled.

"Knock yourself out." She said, pushing it to him.

"If you were free, how come you didn't come back to Sunnydale right away?" Oz asked the question that was on everyone's mind and they each watched Cordelia's answer carefully.

"I wasn't, not really. Claribell helped me orientate myself. I mean, for a year and a half,I didn't even know where I was. I had to figure things out, take care of the staff. Things that he left behind."

"Was there a lot to take care of?" Buffy asked. Cordelia nodded.

"Winters had assets up the butt." She answered. "I mean, he's loaded."

"Which means, now you are." Willow mused.

Cordy gave her a half smile. "Yeah, I guess. I mean I'm set for Immortality as far as living expenses go. I finally found out where I was, about an hour away from here, in the mountains. And I began to try and figure out what happened to me, what happened to Winters."

"Yes, I did have a question." Giles popped up, putting down the sword. "Did you ever find out why Winters snapped with you? When he hadn't with any of his other girls?" Cordelia paused, and then nodded.

"Yes, I did. About a month after the Quickening, I was looking through Winters' things. I found these." She reached into a large duffel bag she had brought with her that until that moment had gone unnoticed and pulled out three large volumes of old books. Giles grabbed one, and looked at it carefully. "These are some of Winters old diaries."

"His journal?" Cordelia nodded.

"There are tons of them, spanning hundreds of years. He details everybody he ever trained, jobs that needed to be done, personal feelings. Everything."

"Yes, Watchers are required to keep a journal of accounts." Giles mused.

"Yeah, well, the last one,before I killed him, is pretty much reading like a psycho novel. I mean, I had no idea-" she trailed off, and a tear appeared in her eye. "It was a whole lot of things, really. Years and years of living an Immortal, not feeling anything...and in the end.....he was in love with me." She finished softly.

"What?!" Xander's outburst embarrassed even him, but everyone saw the color rise in his cheek. Cordelia looked at him, smiled softly.

"Him, me, Xander, not me, him." she whispered. Seeing them all look at her, she straightened up "Anyway, the details are all in there." she said more loudly.

"Cordelia, Willow said that you told her you had a favor to ask me. What was it?" Cordelia licked her lips, and then nodded.

"It was one of the last things Winters wrote in his diary. It's also half the reason I came to Sunnydale."

"Wait." The teens looked up at Giles, who was rubbing his head. "Cordelia, is this a life or death situation I mean can it wait until tomorrow?" They all looked at the clock and winced. She nodded.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Good, well then. I think we've had enough miracles for tonight. Let's discuss the rest tomorrow, shall we?" The group got up reluctantly.

"Do you still want me to patrol?" Buffy asked, hoping he would say no.

No such luck. "Yes, actually. Cordelia, if your not too tired, would you mind helping her? I think we could all use an Immortal helping us."

"Sure." Cordelia reached down into her bag and pulled out a long black coat to replace the robe. She picked up the sword from the table and sheathed it, and then put on the coat, concealing her weapon.

"Ready?" Buffy asked her. She nodded. Xander watched with glistening eyes. Cordelia had definitely changed. Her hair was longer, and fell in waves around her face. The coat some how added a sexy air of mystery to her, and her eyes sparkled with maturity and passion. God he had missed her.

"I'm coming with you." He burst, and was rewarded with a smile from Cordelia and an antagonistic look from Buffy.

"Yeah, there's been too much excitement to sleep anyway." Willow remarked, her and Oz falling into step behind them.

"Cordelia!" The gang stopped and looked at Giles, who stood uncertainly behind the old wooden desk. "It's uh. Good to have you back." He said hesitantly. Cordelia looked at him curiously for a moment, and then suddenly smiled.

"You too, Tact Guy." She responded before heading out the door with Buffy.

"Yeah, someone has to say all the cold obvious stuff." Xander added.

"Xander, shut up."
 

Chapter Three

"No curfew, tonight, Buffy?" Cordelia asked, once they were out in the crisp night air.

Buffy shook her head. "Nah. I've got dorm privileges now. It can be an all night thing now if I want it to be."

"Yeah, and then you should see her in the morning." Willow giggled. "Now we're talking serious vampire hangovers."

Cordelia smiled. "So,what's the deal with Giles? He seems to haven't changed a bit."

"Nah, he's got a girl now." Buffy smacked Xander on the arm, and Oz and Willow laughed.

"He does? What kind of girl?" Cordy asked, a bit confused.

"A Buffy's Mom type of girl." Oz clarified. Buffy made a face, and the whole group laughed. Cordy stopped in midstep.

"You're kidding, Giles and YOUR MOM?" Buffy looked pained.

"Yup, Joyce and Giles are doing the wacky." Willow chirped.

"Can we not make me sick here?" Buffy's face was turning red.

Xander leaned in close to Cordelia. "See, Buffy had some issues about that." He whispered in her ear. There was an intimacy in the movement, and the scent of her body was so intoxicating, that Xander quite hadn't counted on, and he quickly straightened up and away from her.

"See, it was this whole two worlds colliding thing with me." Buffy explained, oblivious to the look that had just passed between Cordelia and Xander.

"And Angel?" The whole group grew quiet, and Cordelia realized something was wrong. "Did I ask something I shouldn't have?" She began unsteadily.

"No." Buffy's voice was significantly less chipper, but she wore a forced smile for the other girl's benefit. "No, It's just that Angel's disappeared." She wound her arm through Cordy's and walked with her ahead of the others. "After a while, he just left Sunnydale. We never heard from him again. It was about a couple of months after you died."

"Oh." They walked in silence for a while, and then Buffy, in an effort to return the mood to the jovial one spoke.

"So, Cordy. This immortality thing, you trying to show me up, or what?" She said cheerfully.

"Nah, you know all that prophetic crap, there can be only, one blah, blah blah. I'm just here to lend a helping hand. I've got my own prophecy crap to deal with." Cordy finished with a smile.

"Well, I for one am glad your here." Buffy said. "Your the only one that told the truth. And I know Xander is VERY HAPPY to see you return." They laughed when Xander turned a rosy pink.

Cordelia had a soft smile when she said, "Yeah, well, you know Dork head was always a little woo-hoo over me." He looked up and seeing the sparkle in her eyes, smiled.

"Hey, girlfriend, If I remember correctly, it was you that went ga -ga over me."

"Enough!" Buffy announced, when she saw Cordelia getting ready to retort. "It's too early to hear you too. What do you guys say we just go patrol, okay?"

"Agreed." Cordy said. "I've got my car, why don't we-"

"NO!"

--

Giles, try as he might, couldn't sleep. He was dead tired, exhausted, as a matter of fact, but the thoughts in his head over the preceding events kept his mind running at a furious pace. The reemergence of Cordelia, her story, and what she had experienced was absolutely intriguing. Giles got up from his makeshift mattress that he had set up in his office, and pulled on his tweed jacket, adjusting his tie before he went into the darkened library.

Cordelia had indeed surprised him, in every way. Despite the fact that she seemed at most tolerated by the rest of her friends, and by himself also, her sudden and tragic death had caused such a break in the group that it was worse even than dear Jenny's demise. Buffy was devastated, she felt so responsible for the May Queen's death,and when Giles, in an attempt to comfort her, asked her why, she told him it was because it had happened so naturally. If it had been monsters, or vampires, or anything like that, then Buffy would have been able to save her. But it wasn't. Cordelia had died in a freaky, ordinary, car accident. And Buffy had never felt so helpless in her life, because as strong as she was, Buffy couldn't stop something so preventable as a car accident.

Angel, who had been brought back seriously disturbed and shaken from his experience from hell, also seemed to take Cordelia's death hard. For two months prior he was a shadow of his former self. Buffy tried to help him but he wouldn't allow, nor would he speak to anyone of the horrors of his experience. Cordelia, in a last ditch effort, went to him in the name of shock therapy and proceeded to tell him off until he was pissed and angry enough to realize life would go on. Although his and Buffy's relationship was never the same, the two were on their way to a rekindlement (despite Buffy's taking another boy to the prom) when Cordy's car accident came along. Angel found out, and then disappeared. And Willow.

Despite their rather tumultuous friendship, Giles had noticed that Cordelia had come to respect and care for Willow as though she was a sister. With Buffy it was a little harder, but Willow's sweet nature, and forgiving kindness had caused Cordelia to draw to her, and confide in her, and look up to her. Their mutual affection for Xander, although Willow's had grown to be more of a platonic one, had given them a bond, that caused a friendship to bloom. Cordy's absence had caused Willow to have a terrible shut down. Giles overheard her telling Buffy that Cordy was different somehow, that to everyone else who had died. Because now they really knew her, and they really cared. She was one of them.

Oz also felt the loss keenly. At first, Cordy was a valuable asset, she was the person that kept Xander civil, and Willow his. But later, when that threat was no longer valid, she became his partner in crime. As the two newest members of the Scooby Gang, they had sometimes felt out of the loop, by the tight trio known as Xander, Willow and Buffy. Each of them had their own job to do, Cordelia and Oz almost had to fight for something do to. When Cordelia had died, her and Oz were the best of friends. At first, all Oz was was the werewolf, and all Cordy was was Xander's honey.

Xander he had been the hardest hit of all. Through the years that Giles had spent on the Hellmouth he had always felt some annoyance when it came to Xander, but he had grown to love the boy nevertheless. And he felt a natural affinity for him when his girlfriend was considered dead. Xander truly had cared for her, Giles could see that, and loved her, despite their better judgement. And then he had lost her, just as Giles had lost his Jenny. He remembered when Xander had come to him, two days later, and just broke down in tears, his pain obvious. Giles had hurt with him, shared in his pain, and the two had grown closer than ever. Giles became more or less a father for Xander, more so than his original.

For the next two years, the group got over Cordelia's death. Buffy continued to slay, even when Angel disappeared, Willow and Oz were both offered jobs with Microsoft, but Willow turned it down, preferring instead to go to Sunnydale Community, "just to get the basics out of the way." Xander began to laugh again, but Giles still caught a trace of sadness in his eyes, and although Buffy and Giles both managed to learn to love again, he didn't. And unconsciously the group had always left a place open in their group, almost as if they were waiting for Cordelia to come back and take her place among them again. And now, she had.

Giles smiled softly to himself as he reached an worn hand to the old volumes that lay untouched on the table. It was a different Cordelia that came back. An older one, the sign of maturity more vibrant in her than it had been in the others. And in these books was the reason why. He picked up one of the oldest volumes, remarkably, preserved, and turning on the lamp light, settled himself in one of the old wooden chairs, and began to read.

I lost Abigail today. I knew I would. I had to send her anyway, because she was their only hope. And I learned something. I hate myself. I truly loathe what I'm doing to my girls. She's the 5th girl that I've trained and lost. And when she came to me she was so vibrant, so full of what life so ready to live to the extent of it. Until I broke her. And she became like me. A monster. Someone whose own life didn't matter, because I stole it. Oh, I can always say that I did it because of man kind, to save these mortals, and because of this damn prophecy. One girl in every generation one girl in all the world. a young girl who gives up everything to save the world. And watchers take what little life they have and squash it. I go into council with all the other Watchers, and they seem so damn smug. They tell me that it was written, it cannot be helped. One child to save millions. Maybe but they haven't lost five girls. Some of them have never had to train one, never grown close to her. Even if it's against their better judgement. Abi was the last one. I can't do this anymore. I hate myself now. Because I allowed myself to care. Ironically, it's intriguing. I who am famous for showing no emotions, for teaching my girls to be that way too. I cared about each and everyone one of my girls but not enough not to send them out to their own deaths. One of them lived long enough to marry. And she asked me to give her away. And I refused. The look on her face would have broken hearts. But it didn't break mine. Because I don't have one to begin with.

"Is this anyway to live? To live without loving, is not to live at all, that's what my trainer once said. Right before he was beheaded. But I sense he was right for although he died, he died happy. He died in love. And although I have lived for what seems to be forever I've haven't, not really. How can one live as I have if they have no love in their hearts? Abi did. But me? I'm nothing but a cruel monster."

 --

"Monster! Five o'clock!" Buffy called out. Cordelia turned immediately and spotted the vampire hurtling towards her. In a flash her coat was on the ground, her sword was out and ready, and two seconds later, the vampire was beheaded and burst into dust. She looked at Buffy and smiled. "Swords are easier." She informed the Slayer. Buffy rolled her eyes.

"I'll stick to my own talents." Buffy bit back, rolling away from the now dead vampire's second companion.

"I'm serious." Cordelia insisted. "Here, you take it, I'll go manual." She tossed the sword to Buffy, who began to use it deftly, not as easy as Cordelia, but with talent nevertheless.

Meanwhile, sitting under a tree, Oz, Willow and Xander were watching the two girls rapturously.

"If I had known she was going to be this good, I would have brought popcorn," Oz whispered to Willow. Willow, who had already seen Cordelia in action before and considered herself a veteran just shrugged. She looked at Xander and did a double take. She noticed something that made her smile. That spark in his eyes that had faded the night Cordelia had died, was back. And that meant the old Xander was back.

"She's amazing." He whispered under his breath.

"Xander man, what the heck happened to your wit?" Oz leaned over and asked him.

"Consider me witless for the time being," Xander shot back, not moving his eyes from the fighting girls.

Oz looked pained. He looked to Willow, who was seated between them snugly. "He was my boy." He explained to Willow. "My bud. Now, he's just as whipped as I am." Willow just laughed.

Buffy finished the vampire with a swinging flourish, and then smiled at the gleaming sword.

"Here, you better take it," she said, tossing it to Cordelia. "I could get used to this and not give it back." Cordelia rolled her eyes and bent down to pick up her coat. The trio got up and walked toward them. "Xander, be a man and hold my coat." Cordy said, a twinkle in her eyes as she tossed her coat to him. Turning to Buffy, she asked, "So, are we done now?"

"Not yet." Buffy replied, assuming her authority role. "I just gotta make one more quick round in the graveyard and then we head for home.

"Well, let's do it." Cordy said, ready to go.

Buffy stopped her. "Nah, I'll take Willow and Oz. We'll handle it. You and Xander stay here, make sure we took care of the last of the baddies." Buffy told her happily, motioning to Willow and Oz to play along.

"Uh, yeah! You two stay here!" Willow agreed almost immediately grabbing Oz by the hand and pulling him behind Buffy. Cordy's face froze instantly as she realized what was happening. Even Xander looked uncomfortable. They weren't quite ready to be alone together yet.

"Um, guys-"

"Be back in a few!" Buffy called out over her shoulder, and the trio disappeared quickly into the darkness. The couple watched them go in beseeching silence, and then looked at each other uncomfortably.

"I think we've been set up." She informed him, sliding her sword back into it's sheath.

"Yeah, I would tend to agree." Xander replied, offering her a small smile. There was a moment of awkwardness, and then suddenly. "I missed you."

Cordelia's eyes grew bright with surprise, as she lifted her eyes to meet his immediately. "What?"

Xander was growing very red, but he swallowed and repeated what he said. "I missed you. I just uh I uh I wanted to say it to you. Since.. I didn't get to tell you before."

"Oh." Cordelia began to breath quickly. Before she came to Sunnydale, she had promised herself that no matter what happened, no matter how she still felt about him, she would not get involved with him. But dammit, this boy just wasn't making it very easy for her to keep her promise. Aware that he expected her to say something, she stammered. "Umm Me too."

Xander stayed quiet, an uneasy smile on his lips. "Say it like you mean it, Cordy."

Cordelia looked exasperated. "You know I meant it, Xander."

He smiled. "Yeah, I did. But it's funny to see you looking all flushed." She rolled her eyes, and involuntarily, her hands went up to her face. Sure enough, her face was warm.

"Always ready to tease me, hey Dorkhead?" she responded, rising to the occasion.

"Well, you were the only one who I could insult decently. I figure, hey, ten more I coulda made it into the Seinfield Hall of Fame."

"As who, Kramer?" He grinned.

"Would that make you Elaine?"

"As long as it wasn't those first two seasons. Now THAT was dowdy. Besides, Elaine was cool, well except that she always had that dorky boyfriend."

"The Face Painter?"

"The very one." They both stopped talking when they realized they were hitting a little too close to home.

"Well, he put up with a lot to be with her." Xander said, after a moment.

"More than what she went through to be with him?"

"He was worth it." Xander defended.

He was a likable fellow." Cordelia agreed, putting her hands in her pockets. "Xander?" She said after a period of silence.

"Hmm?" Xander looked up.

"I missed you too. A lot." He smiled, and suddenly, leaned forward to kiss her. Cordelia unconsciously swayed to meet him, until their lips were centimeters apart, and then Cordelia remembered her promise, and jerked back quickly. "Okay, let's go find the guys." She said hastily, pulling his hand to drag him after where the group had gone.

Xander was a little stunned. Things had been going perfectly, and then she had just swiveled and turned. A doubt settled into his heart that maybe Cordelia had changed in her feelings toward him. Maybe this Winters guy. Nah, she was always crazy about me. He smiled to himself. I'm her dork. Shaking his head, he just shrugged and allowed her to drag him through the graveyard.

 --

"May 3rd, 1956.

My young Claribell was in town today. She told me she saw Cesar. Dammit! I thought that bastard had disappeared for good! He killed my mentor, and almost killed me. And now, he's got some plan. I need to figure out what it is. And what the heck is he doing in Los Angeles? He doesn't know about the Hellmouth, does he? He always had an affinity for vampires, could he know something ? Something I don't?

These years have solitude have not been good for me I promised myself I wouldn't do this. I wouldn't obsess over things. Cesar may be evil, but he's not stupid. He wouldn't do something as catastrophic as mess with the Hell Mouth, surely. He's too selfish to ruin the world like that. Claribell is calling me, her mother is sick, and I must go to her. I'll look into Cesar another day. After all, it's not like I don't have the time. I've got all the time in the world. And for that matter, so does Cesar."

--

"Buffy, I have a hotel suite at the Hilton-"

"Cordy, shut up, you're staying with me. Mom's not home, and I have the feeling that Xander isn't going to let you out of his sight for the rest of his life, so let's get going. Why do you want to stay in a crappy hotel suite anyway?" Buffy answered quickly, pulling the taller girl by the hand until they were ahead of the others.

"Yeah, I mean, why would you? With all the mints, the room service-" Willow began, running up to join them. "The free cable."

Cordelia smiled. "It's not free. A movie costs like, twenty bucks. But the Jacuzzi is pretty cool."

Buffy stopped smiling. "On second thought, let's all go to your place." She mumbled, and then smiled. "Nah, I have a feeling we'd party a little two hardy." Cordelia rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I can just imagine the tab." Willow waited until they were at least ten feet away from the boys, and suddenly smiled.

"So," She began wickedly. "Anything happen when we went patrolling?" Cordelia looked confused.

"What?"

"Come on, Cordy." Buffy joined in. "We're your girlfriends, you can tell us! Any smoochies?"

"No." Cordelia suddenly looked pained. "And thank you both so much for putting me in that situation."

Willow looked hurt. "What do you mean? I thought it was perfect."

"I agree." Buffy jumped in. "A moonlit night, a lovely garden-"

"It was a graveyard." Cordelia butt in matter a factly.

"Nice breeze," Buffy continued, choosing to ignore her. "But it couldn't have been a full moon."

"Right," Willow agreed. "Cause then Oz would be in the basement. And I would be there, my tranquilizer gun waiting."

"You're really getting good with that thing aren't you?" Buffy asked her.

"Well, yeah, it's much easier than hearing him tramp around the basement, and it's kind of a power trip-"

"What did you guys think? That you could just leave us alone and suddenly we'd just be all over each other?" Cordelia broke in suddenly.

The two girls looked at each other. "Well, yeah." They replied in unison, and began to giggle.

Cordelia sighed. "You guys it's much more complicated than that,okay?" Buffy raised an eyebrow.

"Why?"

"Because! It's just you guys seem to forget that I'm an Immortal, and that brings certain responsibilities-"

"Cordy, you're starting to sounds like Giles, it's whiggin' me." Willow interrupted.

"Besides, you didn't have to live with lovesick puppy dog Xander for two years." Buffy said. "Trust me, in our shoes, you'd have done the same."

"In our way, Cordy, we're kind of apologizing." Willow finished.

Now Cordelia looked thoroughly muddled. "What? Why?"

"Well, for trying to fix Xander up with every girl at Sunnydale Community."

"You What!?"

"Not like he ever paid attention to any of them." Willow continued quickly. "Actually," she began to giggle. " Buffy, do you remember that girl who we sent him to the Barn Dance with?"

"Oh Yeah." Now Buffy was giggling "And she dressed like Marilyn Monroe, with the fake boobs and everything?"

"And one of them fell out!" They were both cracking up by now, and tears began to stream from Buffy's eyes. Oz and Xander looked at them suspiciously.

"What's so funny up there?" Xander called.

"Nothing!" Cordy called back quickly, and turned to Buffy and Willow, motioning them to cut it out.

When they saw she wasn't laughing, they shut up immediately. "It wasn't that funny." Willow said quickly.

"Not at all." Buffy said quickly. Cordelia gave them each a Look, but sighed.

"So." She began, walking with them suddenly smiling. "He never paid any attention to them, did he?"

Buffy and Willow both smiled. "Nope, beats me why he never did. Willow?"

"Can't fathom a reason."

"Fake Boobs?" And all three of them cracked up.

 --

Giles put down the volume he had read, and grew curious. Cordelia had said that the last book Winters had written read like a psycho novel. What had she meant? Feeling a slight bit guilty at looking into a dead man's thoughts, he nevertheless picked up what appeared to be the newest one. Rubbing at his eyes for one long second, he opened the book and turned to the middle of the volume, skimming the contents until his caught a familiar name, and he began to read.

 "June 9th, 1999.

It appears I have a rather unusual houseguest staying with me. I was having lunch at the Sunnydale Hilton, and remembered that a prom was being held at the other side. Louis died on Prom Night, and something inside of me pulled me over to take a look inside the hotel room that it was being held in. And then I felt it, a tingling sensation come over me, that which I have grown so familiar to. I haven't fought another Immortal in years, and I carried no sword. Quickly I scanned the room, and then I saw her. She was a young girl, astonishingly beautiful, and utterly unaware. She shivered, and the knowledge hit me that she didn't know, she was with a young man, and the two were rapturously happy together. I knew then she was just like Abi was carefree, young, little did she know of the horror she would have to endure being an Immortal. And I hurt for her, and then tossed that emotion deep into the recessions of my heart, surely never to feel it again. I sent Claribell home in a taxi, the cold was hurting her bones, and proceeded to watch the girl with unseen eyes. Her friends and her were unusual, one would not really expect a group like that to be assembled. She was wearing a beautiful Victorian gown, her boyfriend (that's who I assumed he was), was wearing a regular black tuxedo, nothing too fashionable, and he would say certain things that would cause the others to roll their eyes or smack him on the arm. I'm guessing he's the class clown. Cordelia Chase (as I would later learn her name was) was wearing a crown on her head, and I could only guess she was the prom queen. What was the prom queen doing with the class clown? But they were happy with each other, that was enough. There were two other girls in the group, a gorgeous blonde, with an uncomfortable jock who seemed to the be the subject of class clown's constant ridicule. And then their was a young guitarist (his band was playing) and his quiet, pretty girlfriend, a beautiful, willowy redhead. The ensemble was a strange one, and I stayed to watch them. Afterwards I followed them to the afterparty, and the girl was oblivious to anything. Later she left, just before three, muttering something about a curfew, kissing her young clown and bursting off. I followed her , but she went to fast for me to keep up. And then, when I turned the corner on the highway, I saw her car turned over, her wheels spinning. She had crashed horribly. I got out of the car as quickly as I could, and tore open the door. She was dead, and filled with cuts and bruises. Knowing I didn't have much time, I gathered her up and put her in my car, drove her home as fast as I could. I still don't understand why I did it. I've never been a stalker, not even with a my Slayers. But this girl seems different somehow. Later I would understand. I had Claribell clean her up, and explained to my dear old girl that this child was also and Immortal. She understood completely, and asked no questions. As I was watching her sleep, I decided that in order to save her, I would have to train her. This I explained to her when she reawakened. She seemed to take it all in stride, a little too much in my opinion, but I have assumed from her constant ramblings (This child does talk a lot.) that one of her friends is a Slayer, a good one, and she's been pulled into the supernatural quite often.

"This child does remind me of Abi. Her personality has a few shortcomings, but her beauty is not just skin deep. She's got an inner strength, she wasn't frightened by me, as the other girls were. If I dwell too much on it, it disheartens me, because in order to save her life, I have to break her."

--

"So, Buffy? What do you think?" Willow said, stepping into the kitchen, where Buffy was unsuccessfully trying to locate that box of Cokes her mother said were in the cupboard.

"Bout what?" She asked, her voice muffled as she stuck her head in the empty cupboard.

"You know!"

"Ah, you mean, Project Rekindlement?" Buffy jumped off the counter and opened the refrigerator.

"What else?" Willow grinned with excitement. "This is so much fun! I feel like we're in high school again."

Buffy smiled as she swung the refrigerator closed and leaned against the counter, her arms crossed. "Yeah I know. Never thought I'd say it, but I'm glad Cordy's back. I missed her."

"Yeah but she's got issues, doesn't she?" Willow mused.

"Seriously. I mean, she's actually acting responsibly. I mean, technically, she's only twenty, like the rest of us, but -"

"She acts more like a Giles." Willow finished, nodding. "But you know what's nice?"

"What?"

"She's still Cordelia. I mean, you can still recognize her. If it had been you.. or me.."

"You never know. But I still see Xander luv in her eyes. You?"

"Oh, yeah, completely. She's got the Xander whiggins. But she's acting so responsibly!" Willow looked frustrated. "I mean in high school we'd leave them alone for a minute, and they'd be all over each other." Buffy stayed quiet for a second, and suddenly smiled.

"So I guess, we'll just have to give them a helping hand." Willow looked at her curiously, and Buffy gave her a conspirator wink. "I'm thinking basement."

Willow gave her a blank look, and suddenly her face brightened with realization. "Oh! The basement!" Her mouth widened into a huge smile as she laughed. "I swear, Buffy, you are downright evil sometimes!"

Buffy grinned. "You ready to be my partner in crime?" She asked, holding out her hand.

Willow reached out and shook it. "Ready and willing. And I've got a certain wolf man boyfriend who'd be happy to join the conspiracy." They suddenly laughed and grabbed the tray of snacks.

"Project Rekindlement is on the move!" Buffy cried as they ran out of the kitchen.

 --

"Hey, Cordy!" Buffy skipped almost jovially into her room. The Ice Queen looked up from her photo album, with misty eyes. "What's up?" she asked gently. Cordelia motioned to what she was looking at. Buffy looked at saw that they were senior year's prom pictures.

"I never got to see these." She said softly. She pointed to a picture of her and Xander, in which he had snatched her crown and put it on himself, and was smiling goofily. She was looking at him with a loving grin. "We came out pretty good, didn't we?"

Buffy smiled softly. "That was one of my favorites." Cordelia smiled, before turning to the other pages in the book. Buffy's college years were next.

"I missed all of this." She said, pausing at a picture of Buffy, Willow, Xander and Oz at a football game. "You guys look like a couple." Buffy looked over her shoulder and saw that she and Xander were hugging.

"Oh, no way!" She continued nonchalantly. "After all these years, the thought of us getting together seemed almost incestuous." She smiled at Cordelia's uncertain look, and continued unsteadily. "Actually. Everyone thought we should because.... you know for obvious reasons. So we tried... but we couldn't. There was no passion." She looked up at Cordelia and grinned. "Besides, we both had our hearts elsewhere."

Cordelia's smile froze, and her eyes drifted back down to the picture. "Do you think he ever really loved me?"

"Cordelia!" Buffy's eyes were bright with surprise. "He's always loved you. He never stopped. Every day, he's loved you with every breath. Trust me on this one, this is from the chick that heard the moron raving about your for two years straight."

Cordelia looked near tears, and suddenly smiled grimly. "It's nice to know. I was never sure if that dork really cared about me."

Buffy shook her head in resignation. "You need help, Cordy. You really do."

Cordy smiled sheepishly.

"Do me a favor?"

"What ?"

"Go down to the basement and look for the carton of Coke. I can't find it anywhere and sometimes my mom keeps it in there." Cordelia gave her a 'Why Me' look.

"Why can't you do it?"

"Same ole' Cordy. Just do it, will ya? I slayed all day."

Cordelia still sat.

"You're a guest in my house, Cordy! Earn your keep!"

"Okay, okay!" she grumbled, getting up and walking toward the door. "I wouldn't have had to do this at the Hilton." She said, and then ducked out the door when Buffy threw a pillow at her head.

 --

Xander reached the basement stairs and opened the door slowly. Oz had said something about looking for some Cokes, or something, in the basement, and now Xander was vainly trying to remember what he was supposed to do with them. He guessed find them and grab them, but even as he remembered, he had trouble concentrating on the task assigned to him. Since Cordelia's reappearance, his mind and emotions had been going out of control. He realized that she had changed, that things were now more complicated than before, but he also knew that his feelings hadn't. Three years ago, he had taken her for granted, and he had suffered for that. And now, Immortal or not, he wasn't letting her go again. He had a glimpse of a future without her, and there was no way he was going to be apart from the woman he loved again.

So imagine his surprise when he reached the bottom of the basement steps and saw Cordelia sorting through boxes and such, oblivious to his entrance.

"Cordy." She jumped and whirled, and seeing him, smiled a hello. "What are you doing down here?"

She shrugged. "Getting some Cokes or something. Buffy said they were down here." A confused look passed through Xander's face.

"What? Oz just told ME to come down here and get the sodas." They stared at each other in confused silence, and then suddenly both looked up to the doorway, which at that moment swung closed. Cordelia stared at the door in horror as the audible click of the lock was heard, and was immediately followed by Xander up the stairs, banging on the door as hard as they could.

"Buffy!" Cordelia sounded annoyed, and a twinge of fear also escaped her voice. She wasn't ready to be in THIS place alone with him.

"Buffy let us out!" Xander also called.

"Nope." Buffy's muffled voice came through the wooden doorway. "This is where you two started, this is where you two make up. You're staying in there until I hear smoochies."

"Buffy, this isn't funny!" Cordelia continued to bang on the doorway.

"Stuff it, Cordelia." Willow was heard laughing in the background.

"You guys! Come on, stop acting like adolescents!"

"Look who's talking Harris!" Oz sounded like he was thoroughly enjoying this. Xander sighed, and walked back down the stairs, settling himself calmly on the floor. Cordelia continued banging away for a couple of minutes, until she realized it was no use.

"I swear, Buffy, once I get out of here, you are dead meat! I'm kicking your ass!" she yelled forcibly through the door, and then sighed, leaning her back against the wall, closing her eyes in frustration. When she opened them, she saw Xander at the bottom of the basement, watching her with resigned eyes. "What?" she asked him.

He shrugged. "Is it that terrible to be stuck in a basement with me?"

She rolled her eyes. "Don't' go there, Xander, okay?" She got up and walked down the steps, looking down at him. "They're just pissing me off. They didn't have to do that."

"They're just trying to help."

"By playing matchmaker?" She looked at him seriously, squinting her eyes at him. "You didn't have anything to do with this?"

Xander shook his head. "Nope," he said sincerely. "I'm as in the dark as you are. I just have had two years experience of being at the mercy of Willow and Buffy's matchmaking hands. They've never locked me in the basement, though."

Suddenly Cordelia stopped pacing, and looked at him. "You know why they did this, don't you?"

He smiled sheepishly, and nodded. "Yup. It's the place of our first passionate lip lock, Queen Cordelia."

Recognizing her old nickname, she smiled. "Move over, dorkhead." She grabbed an old blanket and tossed in on the floor that Xander had left open for her. Settling down next to him, she sighed. "I have a feeling we're going to be here all night."

He suddenly grinned and glanced at her wickedly.

"What do you want to do?"

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Let's talk." She finally decided. "I think we both have some catching up to do."

 Chapter Five

"January 3rd, 1999

Chase asked me about love today. The girl gets the craziest ideas in her head, and she just acts on them, I don't believe I've ever had as much trouble with any girl as I have had with Chase. I find my mind constantly preoccupied with thoughts of her, and how I haven't been able to break her. She's been with me a year and a half now, and she's as unchanged as the day she set foot in my house. Claribell comments on her progression, on her increasing skills, and also on her increasing loneliness. I've warned her not to try and talk to the girl, though I am afraid that Claribel's maternal instincts might take over any day now, and she'll disregard my orders. She knows I could never hurt her. At our nightly talks, Claribell said something to me when we discussed her that gave me a start. The conversation went something like this.

'She's getting fed up, you know.' I looked up at my old friend, and sighed.

'She's troubling me, Claribell. She actually asked me if I'd ever been in love.'

Claribell looked amused. 'I think that's a valid question, don't you?'

I looked up at her sharply. 'What do you mean by that?'

She sighed. 'Winters, I've known you since I was a child. You've raised me as your own, and in turn you've given me shelter, more money than I know, but you've never ever showed me love. I wonder about it myself.'

I looked down unable to face her eyes. 'Love has no place in my heart.' I responded.

She chuckled. 'Are you sure?' When I raised my surprised face, she shrugged.

'I've seen the way you look at this girl. This girl is different from the rest. She doesn't respond to your tactics. Your mind is always thinking of her. And I'll admit the girl is beautiful. And she says the most hilarious things.'

'If you are insinuating something, I'd like to hear what it is instead of going around in circles. Chase is no different from the others.' I insisted. Claribel's old face spread into a smile.

'Is that a hint of emotion in your face, Winters? You sound rather passionate about that.'

'Claribell, you're being ridiculous. I'm afraid those romance novels you like to read have addled your brain.'

'No, it's you who I think his brain has been addled."

'Claribell!'

'You've fallen for her.' She shocked me into silence, and as I looked at her, I saw she was verily amused by my intolerance.

"What?"

"Yes you have."

"You are ridiculous, Claribell." I scolded her. "I've been around many pretty girls, and I've resisted all their advances, yours included.'

"Oh, I'll admit that in my teenage years I had a thing for you. But this is different. Cordelia isn't just a pretty face. It's everything about her. Her inner strength, her resistance to being dominated by YOU, it only enhances the attractiveness in your eyes. You haven't been the same person since you saw her at that hotel. '

'Claribell, I'm warning you.'

'What? Think about it, Winters, it's true. How do you explain taking her under your wing when you vowed never to train another girl? You almost kidnapped the girl, held her here without asking her what SHE wanted.'

'I saved her life.'

'The Winters I knew would never care saving another Immortal's life, no matter young and innocent they seemed. You once told me Immortals need to figure things our for themselves. You watch her sleep at night, and I've seen you looking at her when she's reading, even though you are pretending to write in that dratted journal of yours. And the fact that she's refused to change despite your harsh training is the last straw. My dear Winters, face it, you're in love.' I stared quietly at my old maid, refusing to believe what she said.

'You are wrong, Claribell.' She stayed quiet but the look on her face appeared to be satisfied. 'She loves someone else.' I finally said.

'I know.' She replied, getting up and walking away.

Later, as I stayed away from Chase's bedroom for fear of waking her up, I sat down on my table and thought, and as I did, my heart started heaving as my thoughts went to our conversation. Everything Claribell said was true, I felt it in my soul, and I began to panic. I have allowed something to happen to me that I had vowed to never let happen. I have fallen for one of my girls. I have learned to love a girl who will never love me. In my long life I have never felt love for any woman but my mother. This is alien to me, and I have decided that I must purge myself of this feeling as soon as possible. For both mine and Chase's sake. She is not ready to leave, and I must never allow these strange weaknesses for her to cloud my judgement or her training. I will not allow it."

 --

"Okay, so I'm sitting there, really trying to study right?" Cordelia nodded and smiled, urging Xander to continue with his story. Their discussion on the past had led Xander to begin to discuss Willow and Buffy's matchmaking which had, at sometimes, become pretty wacky. "And she asks me if I want anything to drink. So I say 'Yes'. When she comes back into the room, she's wearing this bikini, but I'm not noticing because my eyes are on my books. The next thing I know, she calls me, and I look up, and there she is holding a plate of Jell-O filled with whipped cream, really trying to look sexy in these like, six inch high heels, and she starts walking over to me telling me how she knows I've been hurt and blah, blah blah, when I just want to get out of there, and suddenly she trips on her shoes, and her face lands, BAM! Into the Jell-O."

Cordelia cracked up, holding her sides as her ribs began to hurt. "And then what happened?" she managed to ask.

"So we're sitting there, having this awkward moment, and then she looks up and trying to play it off says, 'You want to lick it off?' And I'm like, 'Eww.' I was up and out of there in two seconds. Buffy and Willow really got it later."

Cordelia laughed harder, gasping for breath. "I swear, Xander, I thought I had a bad lovelife."

Xander smiled. "They tell you about Marilyn Monroe?"

"Oh yeah." Cordelia smiled, and then looked at him, and her smile faded. "Xander?"

"Hmm?"

She hesitated before forming her question. "If you thought I was dead. Why didn't you move on? I mean I would have wanted you to.." I can't believe I'm saying this, she thought to herself.

Xander stayed quiet for a minute, and when he looked up at her, she saw that his eyes were glistening, but his smile was sheepish.

"Promise you won't laugh?"

"Xander!"

"Okay, okay!" His smile faded and he seemed to struggle with his words. "Whenever I was with a girl that wasn't Buffy or Willow, anyone, I would think of you." He looked at her searchingly. "I would close my eyes and I would see you. And then I would open them and I'd see someone not perfect." The words touched Cordelia to the core, and she suddenly found herself trembling. Their eyes met and held, until Cordelia looked away.

"I'm far from perfect, Xander." She said gruffly. "Even I know that now."

"And I'm the one that should know." He smiled softly. "Everyone has their own idea of what perfection is, Cordelia." He looked at her and took her hand gently. "For me, it's you. It always will be."

The silence that followed was filled with meaning, and as Cordelia looked back at his smiling, unsure face, she was unable to hold back any longer the words she longed to say.

"I love you, Xander." It came out quietly, but the sincerity was unmistakable. Xander heard those words and smiled.

"I love you, you Ice Queen, you." She let a chuckle escape, and then before she knew it, their heads had drifted toward each other and his lips were on hers. And in his kiss, he told her what his words had not of pain and sorrow, of love and passion, of a hunger that still hadn't been quenched in his heart. And when it ended, her smile told him that she understood.

"Me too." She whispered. And she put her arms around him and they held each other tightly, making up for the time they had lost to the years that had kept them apart.

"Cordy." Xander whispered urgently in her ear. "I want to be with you forever." Cordelia froze, and when she buried her face in Xander's neck, he felt the wetness of tears there. "What? What is it?"

"Xander." She looked up at him. "Do you know that I'll never be able to have children?" He looked at her in concern. "That I'll never age? I'm going to spend the rest of Immortality alone. And you you'll live your life, and live it to the fullest and then you get to die. I don't. You deserve a normal life. I'm not it." He reached down and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Hon, who ever said you were normal? If I wanted normal, trust me, it wouldn't' have been you. So, we've got this Immortality thing to deal with. You've got the rest of your life to act responsibly."

Cordelia smiled through her tears. "You're such a dolt."

"Ah, but I'm your dolt. You love me that way." She burst out laughing, and smacked him on the arm.

"You idiot."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Shut up, Ice Queen and come here." He pulled her to him and kissed her fully, before settling her against his chest.

They fell silent, listening to each other's heartbeat. "Let's not think about this thing right now, Cordy. Let's just lie here for right now, and just be with each other."

Cordelia smiled against his chest, silent, and then, "As long as you showered."

--

Buffy was in the middle of a wonderful dream. For no reason at all, Angel was back, and he was kissing her sweetly, his beautiful tortured eyes were watching with the look of love that he used to have when he saw her. Needless to say, she was understandably angry when she was jerked awake by the phone ringing loudly in the living room. Sitting up groggily, she attempted to orientate herself, glancing about. Oz and Willow were sound asleep on the couch, holding each other. Oz was snoring rather loudly. Buffy squinted at them, and then stumbled off the armchair, and stretching, padded her way to the telephone, mumbling curses at it until she reached it.

She rubbed at her eyes as she answered it. "This better be good." She mumbled.

"Buffy?"

"Giles?"

"Oh, Good, it's you. Gather up the group and meet me in the library immediately."

In Buffy's opinion, Giles sounded a lot more energetic than he needed to be. "Hi, Buffy, did I wake you? Oh, I'm sorry, I'll call back later when you-"

"Buffy, now!"

"Okay, okay! We'll be there in a minute."

"Good. I'll see you here."

The phone call ended with an audible click, and Buffy sighed. So much for sleeping in. She walked over to Willow and Oz, who hadn't budged.

"Hey!" She shook them both roughly. Willow awoke with a jerk.

"I swear Dad it's not a cross it's-"

"Will!" Willow blinked, and her eyes focused.

"Buffy, what are you doing here?"

"It's my house you numbskull. Get him up." Willow turned to Oz and gently patted his face. Oz came to after a moment.

"Buffy, it's way too early." He responded, curling an arm around his girlfriend, attempting to try to go back to sleep. No such luck. Buffy pulled him up.

"Tweedy called. We have to go the library pronto."

"Oh. Okay." Willow got up and stretched lithely.

"Where's our Immortal?" Oz asked. Buffy and Willow looked at each other and their eyes widened in shock.

"Oh My God Will, we left them in the basement!" They both rushed to the hallway, and pulled open the door. Willow 's face softened.

"Oh. Look." Buffy looked, and smiled at what she saw. Cordelia and Xander were conked out on the floor in each other's arms, sleeping soundly. Xander even had some drool on his chin.

"See, I hate to do this, but I kind of want to ." She said mischievously. Before Willow could stop her, she began to yell. "HEY! WAKE UP!" Cordelia and Xander both jumped, in the process bumping heads.

"Oh! Love hurts!" Oz said, coming up from behind them. The disgruntled pair looked up at the trio with murderous eyes. Xander rubbed his head comically.

"You idiots!" Cordelia obviously was not a morning person. "What the hell were your thinking leaving us in here all night!"

"Rise and Shine!" Buffy sang out. They both glared at her. "You guys can kill me later. Right now, we have to go. Giles has called, and we're on the move!"

Cordelia looked at Xander. "Can you please tell me why she suddenly sounds like an episode of Charlie's Angels?"

--

"All right, Giles, What's the big deal, huh?" Buffy looked considerably rumpled as she led the group of twenty something's into the library. Giles looked up, and smiled. Being the Slayer had caused Buffy to be somewhat tomboyish at times, but no matter how grungy she managed to look, there was still an air of femininity that never left her. Willow was blinking sleepily, looking her cute Willowish self in yesterday's overalls. Cordelia, true to her personality had changed and was now immaculately dressed in a pleated skirt and a tank top, every hair in place, her sword now nowhere to be seen, but Giles guessed it was in the bookbag that Xander was dragging. Now was the not the time to dwell on these observations, however, there was an urgent matter at hand.

"Ah! Good morning, everyone, I trust you slept well?" Grumbling and yawns filled air as the group settled clumsily in their chairs.

"Yeah, you know, those hours in the basement were real restful." Xander cracked, apparently still miffed. "How'd you sleep? Or is that yesterday's tweed I see?"

"Hmm? Oh." Giles smoothed out his wrinkled clothes. "Yes, well, I uh, didn't sleep very well, myself. I decided to get a head start on reading Winter's journals, quite fascinating actually, Cordelia was right on the money about them." Cordelia blushed and looked down. "Now, I called you all here this early because while reading them I became aware of a matter of some urgency. I believe this is what you were explaining about last night?" He handed Cordelia an open journal. She scanned it and nodded.

"Yeah, that's it." Seeing the look in Giles' eyes, she continued hastily. "I told you it was important! But you cut me off!" She finished defensively.

"Yes, you're right, I was being selfish."

"you were being Know-It-All Giles." Cordelia corrected. "But don't worry about it, from what I read, we've got time."

"I'm afraid we don't." Seeing the confused look in Cordelia's face, and the utterly lost expression on the other's, Giles hurried to explain. "I'm afraid Cordelia didn't just come to see all of us."

"Giles, no offense, man, but DUH." Oz said, rubbing at his eyes.

"I think what Oz is saying is What's going on?" Willow explained. Buffy and Xander nodded, agreeing.

"Cordelia, perhaps you better explain all of this, I assume you did more research on this." Cordelia nodded.

"Yeah." She sighed, and then began, looking at her friends. "The backstory is that Winters had this really great Immortal trainer guy way back when, and he had this mortal enemy, some Spanish Lord called Cesar Montenegro. Anyway, this guys is way evil, I mean destroy the world kind of evil, and he and Winter's trainer got into a fight, and he killed Winter s trainer. Winters got all huffy and tried to get revenge, but the dude almost killed him too. So Winters went into hiding, and during that time got all this no emotions thing, and when he came out, he decided revenge wasn't worth it, as long as this guy wasn't getting in really bad things, which because of society back then, he wasn't and so Winters became a Watcher. Now, flashforward to the fifties, and Claribell sees this guy Cesar Montenegro (she's seen his portrait) in town. So Winters checks him out. Apparently this dude is a major computer consultant, we're talking millionaire now, and he's still got an evil streak. Winters had been watching him for forty years and dug up some pretty hefty stuff. This guy knows about the Hellmouth, and he's recruited the help of the local vampires. Apparently, he's planning something majorly evil, Winters was just about to figure out what it was when he ..um when I killed him."

There was an awkward silence, which Xander felt obligated to feel.

"Didn't his mother ever teach him to never leave a deed half done?" Willow smacked him on the arm, and Cordelia gave him a dirty look. Xander immediately shut his mouth. That was a bad joke, even he knew that.

"Okay. But from what Cordy told us, this Winters guys was really think it through type." Buffy said, a little more gently. "Why would he just have this deathwish and not at least tell anyone about Cesar?"

Cordelia's mouth stayed shut, and her eyes were on the table, so Giles decided to explain. "Well, from what I've read, he really did fall madly in love with our young Cordelia here. Being the fact that he had lived centuries without ever feeling love, he was unsure how to deal with it. And knowing the Cordelia would never return his affections, well, it was the last straw. He got to the point when he didn't care about anything else. In a sense, dying by Cordelia's sword was the last act of true love that he gave her, nothing else mattered to him but her. In a sense, he gave her everything, himself."

"You got all that from the diaries?" Oz looked flabbergasted.

"That and more."

"Look, motormouth, this is wonderfully stimulating, but can we get back to the subject?" Cordelia looked uncomfortable. "I mean, I think I remember our subject was Montenegro."

"Ah, yes, of course." Giles saw Cordelia was getting more and more angry with the present conversation, and he thought he saw a trace of guilt in her eyes. That would have to be dealt with later. "Winters thought that it would be a while, say a couple of years, before Montenegro tried anything, but I did some research, and discovered some things." He got up and rummaged through his cluttered desk, pulling out a newspaper and an old book. "Here, take a look at this." He motioned to Cordelia. She picked up the paper and skimmed the sidebar.

"So Cordelia, tell us a story." Xander said. "Read it out loud."

She looked up and nodded. "Unico Conglomerates stock has risen 15% in the last two days, and the company is currently moving to it's new location in Sidebar. When asked why such an unexpected move, CEO Cesar Montenegro replied that it was just a hunch. I have a feeling something big is going to happen, he says. On another note, the companies latest computer game, Vampire Dreams, is once again on the bestseller lists." She looked at the date. "This was dated a month ago. They would have moved by now, and Sidebar is only twenty minutes from Sunnydale."

"Exactly. "

"Kay, is everyone else going HUH?" Buffy asked.

"Now take a look at this." Giles opened the book he had been holding, ignoring Buffy. "This book is very rare, only seen by a few Watchers, Winters never saw it. In it I found some texts on an evil being that was a hybrid, half a vampire and half, I'm guessing an Immortal, like Winters and Cordelia. His power was unrivaled by that of any monster, or demon that lived. Apparently he was banished to Hell by an incantation spell for an undetermined amount of time. When that time was up, certain conditions would then allow him to be brought back by someone who knew the proper spell, some evil one who could bridge the gap between the blood immortals (vampires) and the chosen select, the Immortals. Now we Watchers never paid attention to it, we thought of it more of a myth, afterall we never knew of any Immortals." He chuckled uncomfortably.

"What conditions are you talking about?" Cordelia asked, feeling her stomach sink.

"Uh, it's rather poetic actually," He squinted his eyes at the page. "Uh. Mostly weather, earthquakes that sort of thing, the one pinpointer is a comet that flies past us at a certain angle. Well, I looked into it and it's all happened. The comet passed us last night."

"So now we're just hoping that there isn't a psycho immortal like that out here that's going to let this guy loose, right?" Xander asked hopefully.

"Unfortunately there is, the evil villain, the hybrid, his name was Lathos."

There was an audible gasp from Cordelia, and everyone turned to look at her. "Lathos was Montenegro's mentor."

"Oh, shit." Suddenly everything came into place for Buffy. "So now we've got a vampire loving freako in town that's going to open the Hellmouth and bring forth the evil all powerful hybrid."

"And the worst part, it could be anyday now." Giles finished.

"Suddenly, I'm wishing for Spike." Willow muttered.

"You can understand my urgency in calling you. If we allow this Montenegro to bring this Lathos back from Hell, there's no telling what damage he'll cause."

"So we've got to stop him before he decides to start the party." Xander mused.

"Okay, um, I don't' want to be a party pooper or anything, but we don't' even know where or when he's doing this."

"So we find out." Buffy said, getting up. "Let's go over to his office."

Cordelia snorted. "What are you going to do, grunge queen, run through the zillion guards and metal detectors and beat him to a confession? He's an Immortal, Buff, you can't do it. If anyone is going to do the showdown with this half wit, it'll be me, after we figure out when and where. Besides, if he's as vamp happy as we think, he'll know that there's a Slayer sniffing around. Chances are, he's expecting you to do just that. And you'll get arrested, and he'll keep going on with his doom plan."

"I must agree with Cordelia, some . Prudence is required." Giles said.

"Well, what do you suggest, oh Immortal one?" Buffy snapped. She wasn't used to Cordelia ordering her around, and she wasn't sure she liked it.

Cordelia thought hard, and rose, pacing. "Something subtle, something he won't expect." Her eyes drifted over to Buffy, then to Willow, and then they suddenly lit up. She stopped at Willow and leaned down, looking at her. Willow looked uncomfortable under the unwanted scrutiny, and she shifted uneasily. Cordelia leaned down, and examined her face,and then she just grinned. "We're going undercover." She announced.

--

Chapter Six

"Willow!" Cordelia scolded. "Hold still!" She jerked her friend straight, and then motioned for the seam stress to keep going with her work. "This business suit is costing me plenty, so don't mess it up."

"Cordelia. Do I really have to do this?" Willow pleaded. "I can't flirt! I get all tongue tied and red it's not pretty. I don't even flirt with Oz!"

"Willow, you want to save the world, don't you?" When Willow reluctantly nodded, Cordelia continued. "Okay then, just remember what I taught you. Coy. You'll do fine. Higher." She told the seamstress, who raised the hemline as told.

Willow's eyes widened at the amount of milky white leg that was being exposed. "Umm don't you think that's a little short?"

"Not at all. Never underestimate the power of a woman's leg, it drives men crazy. And you've got good ones, except your always hiding them in tights and overalls. After we're through here, we'll head toward the salon."

"What! No!" Willow's hand reached protectively to her head. "No one's touching my hair."

"It's flat, we have to do something to it." Cordelia ordered. "The look we're going for is Ally Mcbeal. Sexy, yet vulnerable, smart, yet unknowing. Gets them everytime." At that moment, Buffy stepped out of the fitting room, wearing a beautiful two piece designer suit.

Willow pointed at her. "Why can't she be that? She's got the look." Cordelia shook her head, and then went over to inspect the Slayer. "Nope, Buffy doesn't know squat about computers, you do. It's the image, Will. Deal with it." She reached down and ran her hands over the suit Buffy was wearing. "No, we want something darker, and shorter. I want more cleavage too." She instructed the seamstress that had followed Buffy out.

"More?" Buffy crossed her arms over her chest. "Don't you think this is enough?"

Cordelia shook her head firmly. "You're the flirty gum chewing assistant, Buffy. We need to think slutty vixen."

"And I know you're an expert in THAT subject." Buffy bit back.

Cordelia's eyes glittered. "Everyone woman has an inner slut inside of them. It's my job to help you find them. Now go." She pointed to the dressing room, and Buffy reluctantly followed the seamstress.

"What makes you think this whacko plan is going to work, anyway?" Buffy called from the closed curtain.

"Trust me, if I know men, this will work." She looked at Willow, and smiled. "He won't know what hit him."

"Not understanding why you can't do this." Willow muttered, pulling down her skirt. Cordelia reached down and pulled the skirt up again.

"Twinkle feeling, remember? I come within a hundred feet, he'll know I'm one of -." She cast an eye at the seamstress. "His exes trying to set him up." She finished. The seamstress smiled conspiratively.

"I'm almost done." She announced. Cordelia looked at Willow.

"Great now with the makeover I'm going to give you Will.." Cordelia gave her a dazzling grin. "You're gonna be perfect." Willow harrumphed, squirming.

"I already was."

"Ms. Chase?" Cordelia turned around to see the manager smiling nervously at her.

"Yes?"

"I trust everything is to your satisfaction?"

She rolled her eyes, but nodded. "Fine, thankyou."

"Would you like anything, coffee? Tea?"

"No thankyou, I'm fine."

"Why is he so nice to her?" Willow whispered to the seamstress. The seamstress's eyes widened in shock.

"She's the owner of this chain, you didn't know that?"

--

"Am I the only one that thinks this is a stupid plan?" Giles sighed and rubbed at his head.

Xander cocked an eyebrow at his grumpy friend. "You know, Oz, I never pegged you as the jealous type."

"I'm not!" Oz said defensively. "It's just. She's my Willow, and she's going in to seduce a psycho! Don't I have the right to be a little concerned?"

Giles sighed again. "Buffy is going in with her, and Cordelia will always be close by. There's nothing to worry about."

"Besides, we don't even know if this guys is gonna even be attracted to her." The doors swung open, and the men swiveled their heads. Oz's jaw dropped. "On second thought, forget I said that." Xander muttered, for once void of any wit.

The girls looked absolutely stunning. Willow was wearing a beautiful emerald green business suit that complimented her eyes perfectly, and showed off her legs to a maximum. Her hair was now cut in a bob that seemed to bounce with vivaciousness every times she walked, and she wore a smile that was completely disarming. Buffy came in behind her, her suit a little more revealing, a dark blue one, sleeveless and only slightly shorter than Willow's. Her hair had been dyed a shining dark brown. She looked like a different person. Cordelia came in behind them, carrying more clothes in a plastic bag, wearing a huge self satisfied smile on her face. She inspected the boy's expressions, who had remained absolutely silent.

"Well?" She asked them, leaning on the seat next to Xander. "What do you guys think?" Giles recovered first.

"Oh! Umm Very good Cordelia." He said, turning away.

Cordelia snorted. "It better be good at 600 bucks a pop."

"Yeah, now they both look like Cordy clones." She turned and smacked Xander on the arm.

"Be nice, Xander." She snapped. "You don't know the problems I had getting them into those suits."

"Buffy? What's up with that hair?" He leaned forward and touched it gingerly. She batted his hand away.

"It's only temporary!"

"I figured that if Cesar knew about the Slayer, he's be looking for a blond, not a brunette." Cordelia said matter of factly. "We'll dye it back when this is all over."

"Okay, I'll be serious. You guys are gonna blow this guy away, I mean it." Xander said with a grin at Cordy. She smiled back.

Willow looked uncomfortably at Oz, who had remained pensively silent until now. "Oz? What do you think?"

He looked at her for a moment, then, "You cut your hair!" She looked shocked, and suddenly he lunged forward and kissed her viciously. Buffy and Cordelia burst into laughter. "I'm just kidding." He whispered. "You always look beautiful."

"The hair looks great, Will." Xander agreed. Suddenly the muffled sound of a phone ringing filled the air. Cordelia jumped and rummaged through her purse. She pulled out a tiny cell phone, and snapped it open.

"Yeah?" she answered turning away from the group. Giles straightened up.

"Well good, now that the disguises are in place," he began, addressing the rest of the group." We can then proceed with the rest of the plan. Cordelia?" Giles looked to the girl. She held up a finger, and listened into the phone.

"Yes. Yes Yeah Okay. Bye." She snapped the phone shut, and looked at the girls. "That was my VP of Communications over at Impress Cosmetics."

"You own Impress Cosmetics?" Buffy squeaked.

"Nah, just sixty percent of the stocks. Anyway she's set up an appointment for you with Montenegro for tomorrow at noon. Willow, here's the deal. You're a freelance computer programmer, and you've been hired by us to design a new database for our system. You're thinking of buying a certain server from Cesar. You want to discuss some of the possibilities with Montenegro before, however,considering he is a very powerful computer consultant. Buffy, your going in with her purely for support and strength. Apparently, he's attracted to the brainy, shy , coy type, so you shouldn't have a problem with him after you."

"Hey!" Buffy looked offended, but Cordelia went on, apparently ignoring her.

"Whatever happens, DO NOT leave with out a date, preferably at his house. Get a look at his office, try to find anything that will help you figure out when this ritual is taking place. Remember, time is something we don't have."

"And what if he's doing this thing tonight?" Cordelia sighed.

"Let's hope he's not."

--

On the way to Sidebar, Xander realized one thing that provided him with a warped sense of comfort. No matter how much Cordelia had changed since she had "died", there was one thing that remained the same. Cordelia still drove like a maniac. Now, it seemed that she had bought the car to handle it. Her luxury Mercedes was able to keep with ever screech and swerve, even as Xander felt his stomach not being able to catch up. Buffy looked completely oblivious to the life threatening situation she was in, possible since, from Xander's experience, she was just as crazy behind the wheel as this lovely Immortal was. Willow however, looked absolutely terrified. She was hunched in her corner of the backseat like they were going to die any minute. Xander wasn't sure it she was scared of Cordy's driving or what she was going to have to do in just a few minutes. To cover the silence, Buffy began to speak.

"Cordy you really are loaded." Buffy said, squirming from her position in the back seat of Cordelia's Mercedes to get a better look at the front. Cordelia smirked.

"What you didn't believe me? You know I never lie."

"Well, I knew you were rich, but I mean your Bill Gates rich!"

Xander smiled. "Bill Gates rich? Buffy couldn't you think of anything better?"

Cordelia rolled her eyes. "Buffy, let me explain something. Winters was the son of a noble guys, so he inherited lots of money, he learned how to invest, and by the time banks rolled around he had enough to be getting mega interest. He got into the computer age, and made some smart business plans, and the rest is history. Claribell does most of the financial stuff, I help her out a little, but recently with this whole Cesar guy I haven't had much time to look into it."

"Well you always wanted to be super rich." Xander said, leaning his head out the window. Cordelia's smile faltered.

"You know, now that I am, it's not really that big of a deal." She swung the wheel to the left as she wheeled around a corner and the trio winced.

"Cordelia." Willow for the first time since they had been driving, spoke up. "I appreciate the fact that your never going to die, and all, but can you give us all a break? Some of us are a little more fragile than you and Buffy." The car got quiet and suddenly smiles floated on the faces of the others occupying the car.

"Hey, Willow, you're getting your spark back." Buffy said, patting her friend.

"Yeah,Will, you feeling better?" Xander leaned back over the seat, but was lurched back into position when Cordelia screeched to a stop at the stop sign.

"No." Willow's voice was back to a small terrified one. "I really don't want to do this."

"Willow." Cordelia's voice was exasperated as she entered the Sidebar downtown district. "You're going to be fine. Come on, you were always the strongest one."

"It's true Will." Buffy gave her friend a supportive smile. "You always were." Any other day, Willow would have been comforted by her two friend's heartfelt admission, but today, it seemed that nothing would stop the beating of her heart. She said nothing. Cordelia maintained the silence, and then slowed to a stop about fifty yards from a huge building in the middle of the district. Dark glass covered the outside of the edifice, and a beautiful techno art sculpture in the front of it.

"There it is," Cordelia breathed. "Unico. I can't risk going any closer, So I'll have to drop the two of you off here. " Buffy took a deep breath, and adjusted her suit.

"Okay, let's go Will! Time's a wasting."

"Sounds like something I would say." Xander muttered. Willow hadn't moved.

"Willow? It's time to go." Cordelia sounded firm, yet a gentle quality also resonated in her voice. Willow looked up and finally nodded bravely, opening the door slowly, and getting up, her knees shaking slightly. Buffy smiled at her sympathetically. As if in a trance, Willow reached and grabbed her leather briefcase, compliments of Cordelia, and straightened up. She turned to Buffy, and then turned back.

"Cordy?"

"Yeah?"

"When this is all over, you think I can get a few more of these suits?" Cordelia watched her seriously for a minute, and suddenly smiled.

"When this is all over, Will, I'll give you your own line. Now get out of here." Willow smiled and walked with Buffy to the building. Xander watched them go apprehensively.

"You think this is a good idea? Willow looks pretty shaken up." he asked Cordelia. She turned to look at him, her face thoughtful.

"I think, that if anyone can make this work, she can." She said firmly. Xander shook his head.

"Let's hope your right."

"Xander, shut up. I'm always right."

 --

"Hey Will, you're not going to faint on me, are you?" Willow shook her head mutely as Buffy held open the huge glass doors for her. Her mind was whirling. Everything in Cordelia's plan. It was all riding on her. Everything. Not on Buffy, the Chosen Slayer, not Cordelia, the rich Immortal, but her, Willow Rosenberg. That meant that she had to make good. And dang it, if that meant she had to be the best flirty computer expert on the market, then darn it, that's what she was going to be. She straightened up, her eyes flashing, motioning for Buffy to follow her, she marched confidently to the information desk.

Reaching into her bag, she pulled out a business card (also courtesy of Cordelia Chase.) and handed it haughtily to the officer sitting at the booth.

"My name is Candace Green. I'm a computer programmer working for Impress Cosmetics, I have an appointment with Mr. Montenegro at twelve." She ignored Buffy's amazed look and instead gave the officer an impatient look. The officer, who until then had had a slightly boring day, looked up and saw two gorgeous young woman looking down at him. He jumped and immediately reached for the phone. He smiled softly at the two woman,

"So? Important meeting?" Buffy smiled and was about to respond but was silenced by Willow with a look.

"Hello? Hi, Sarah. It's Bob. Listen, there's a Miss Green here for Mr. Montenegro?" There was a pause. "Uh, yeah, okay, right away." He put the phone down quickly and looked up "They are expecting you, Miss, if you could just go down to the elevator right there and take it to the top floor, you can't miss his office."

Willow nodded and walked away. Buffy stared after her and smiled a thankyou to the officer. She chased after Willow.

"Hey! What's going on with you?" She asked her. Willow winked at her.

"I'm playing the part. Now let's go, assistant." Buffy just shook her head as she saw her friend trip on her shoes. She recovered quickly and continued to walk arrogantly to the elevators.

"Cordy, you've created a monster."

 --

"Here you go sir, one double latte." Xander wrinkled his nose at the sweet smelling coffee. Cordelia rolled her eyes and took it from the attendant.

"Come on, Xander, don't tell me you don't like this stuff."

He gave her an antagonist look. "I don't like this stuff." She held the cup out to him.

"How would you know? You never tried this before."

He held firm. "I'm a strict coffee man. Only wussies drink this stuff."

"I'm no wuss, Xander, and believe me, it's good. Please?" She finally resorted to pleading, and Xander wavered, and finally relented, taking the cup of steaming drink from her. She smiled and then led him to the sidewalk, choosing a little table that the huge black building was easily visible.

"I hope they are okay in there." She breathed, taking a small sip of her drink. Xander looked at her.

"You sound nervous."

"I am." She answered. "Willow may have always been the strongest, but she was always the one we always wanted to protect."

"You didn't sound nervous when you were with the others." She rolled her eyes.

"I had to sound like I had the utmost confidence in this, or else the others wouldn't have gone a long."

"So, what you're saying is, you can be completely honest with me in everyway." Cordelia choked on her latte and looked up at his laughing eyes.

"Don't start twisting things around , Xander Harris." She scolded. He grinned, and then his smile faltered.

"Cordelia... this Winters guy..." He looked uncertainly away, then back to her. "You two never..."

Cordelia sighed. Her and Xander hadn't really had time to talk about their relationship since they had learned about Montenegro's plans to bring back psycho, but it was obvious that Xander was jealous of Winters. Which was absolutely ridiculous. And she decided to tell him so.

"Xander, you're being ridiculous." She told him. "No, okay? I never even thought that way about the guy. He was like.... my mentor. I don't know. He ... when he was a live, I thought I hated him. And then when he forced me to kill him.... and I found out it was because of me." She looked up when she felt Xander's warm hand cover her own.

"Cordy, you're blaming yourself for his death. You can't do that. It wasn't' your fault he fell for you. It wasn't your fault. You didn't know." She stayed quiet and then quickly wiped away the tears from her eyes that had unconsciously formed.

"I don't. Really, but somehow, getting this guys is going to make it up to him." He smiled, and then reached for his drink, sipping it hesitantly. Instantly he made a face, gagging.

Cordelia burst into laughter. "Okay, okay!" she finally gave up, tossing her hands in the air. "I believe you." Reaching forward, she carefully wiped away the foam that had been left on his upper lip and got up. "Come on. Let's go walk for a bit."

--

Halfway into the meeting, Buffy was absolutely convinced that Willow had gone absolutely crazy. That, or this little mission had revealed an acting talent that she had never known. From the moment they had set foot in the dashing Montenegro's plush office, she had become a different woman. This Candace Green was confident with men, able to tease them around her little finger. Flipping her hair this way and that way, and giving the CEO this dazzling smile and a laugh that Buffy knew made Oz crazy. Apparently it worked on all mankind. For once Buffy felt ignorant and inexperienced. Her role as Mitsy, the unknowing, eyeglass wearing, gum chewing assistant, required nothing more of her, than just sitting in the chair, her legs crossed, pretending to take notes. Right now, Willow, or Ms. Green, as Buffy had to refer to her, was sitting very close to Montenegro (who had proved to be a very good-looking middle-aged man, definitely not the psycho looking type, but it took all kinds) at his large antique desk (Buffy knew, he had bragged about it for over five minutes) talking in hush, hush tones about computer servers, connections, databases and so much terminology that Buffy's' head whirled. That, combine with the little laughs, the coy looks, and the subtle but tangible flirting that was going on with both ends, was enough to make Buffy absolutely annoyed. with the whole thing. She began to look around the room in an effort to keep from knocking Willow on the head if she heard the flirty laugh again, and when she turned her attention back to the conversation, she found that the conversation had turned to her. Willow had one arm on the desk, and she was leaning her chin on it, leaning conspiratively with Montenegro.

"She's really my right hand arm." she was saying. "I can't do a thing without her. We were high school friends, and I guess we've stuck together ever since."

"Well I can't imagine anyone leaving your side after they met you." Montenegro teased, and then turned back to Buffy with a disarming smile.

"So what do you do?" he asked her.

"I'm her assistant." Buffy said, defensively. He smiled and then turned to Willow.

"I have a new assistant that I can't do without myself. He couldn't make it today, but I do wish you could meet him." He seemed to think for a moment, and then suddenly smiled. "I have an idea, how about dinner? Close up this deal, and maybe then your assistant can meet my assistant?" Willow seemed to think about it.

"It seams more like a date, Cesar." She teased. Apparently Buffy missed when they had adopted first names.

"Maybe, guess you'll have to come to find out."

"Okay, on one condition." Willow said, after a moment, flashing him a dazzling smile. "It has to be at your house. That way you can show me that wonderful software you were telling me about."

Cesar's smile faltered, and then it widened when she gave him another smile. "Okay! Tonight?"

"Fine, I'll have my assistant call you for directions, and I'll be there." She got up, indicating the meeting was over. He immediately stood up. Buffy got up a second later. She held out his hand. "It's been a very productive meeting, I think." Montenegro took the offered hand, and kissed it.

"Most enjoyable. Until tonight."

She smiled and motioning for Buffy to follow, walked gracefully out of the room, Buffy gathered her notebook and rushed after her. When she reached her side, Willow whispered fiercely.

"Is he still watching us?" Buffy turned discreetly.

"Yeah."

Willow kept walking until they reached the elevators. Once inside, Buffy turned to her. "Okay, who are you?"

Willow said nothing, but leaned against the elevator and took a deep breath. "Buffy, get ready to catch me." she said, now in her small Willow voice.

"Why?"

Willow trembled. "Because I think I'm gonna faint."

 --

"Xander you are such a dork!" Cordelia laughed when she saw him. She had turned her back for two seconds, and then he had reemerged in a fire red wig.

He preened, turning around to show off his new look. "What? Not my look?"

"Red, please!" She crossed her arms and walked up to him. "For you, I'd say your more of a brown color." She was about to elaborate when she suddenly froze. Xander saw her standing stock still and immediately pulled off the wig.

"Cordelia? Cordy, you okay?" He went to her side, and then looked to see what had caused her to freeze. And then he saw. It was Mr. Chase, climbing into his sports car, talking and laughing with a bunch of other suits. He looked back to where the couple was standing and immediately, Cordelia ducked back in the store, her chest heaving, pulling Xander with her. They stayed quiet, and then Cordelia looked tentatively back outside, to find him gone. She stared at the place he had been parked quietly, and slowly tears formed in her eyes. Xander placed a hand on her shoulder, and instinctively, she reached for him. Xander held her closely, allowing her to find comfort in the silence that followed. She held on to him tightly, and then wiped her tears away.

"Cordy, maybe you can go to him, talk to him, tell him that you're not-"

"And say what? Hey Dad, guess what? I'm not dead, in fact I'm an Immortal, I'll never age, I'll live forever and I'm ten times richer than you?" She shook her head. "No, Xander. I'm dead to him. Let's leave it at that." She pulled out of his arms with a tight smile and then looked across the street. She spotted two woman, one helping the other walk. "There they are. Let's go."

--

Chapter Seven

Giles was almost never annoyed by Oz. He was a very carefree individual, who knew how to keep his mouth shut in a crisis, and he knew how to take over. But if the boy didn't shut up in the next minute, Giles was going to have to strangle him. Instead of researching the particulars of the ritual that Montenegro was planning, the young man insisted on rambling on and on about how much danger Willow was in and how dumb this plan was, Giles desperately needed some aspirin.

"All I'm saying is, what if this guy catches on? Then Willow is in even worse danger."

Giles laid his head down on the table, laying his glasses carefully to the side. "Oz, are you worried about the plan not working, or are you just mad that Willow has to flirt with someone else?"

Oz opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. "I'm not mad at that! It's just....." He shifted in his seat. Giles rubbed at his eyes.

"Oz, this show of masculine insecurity will only take you so far-" He was interrupted by the doors opening and in walked a tired quartet. Lines of exhausted etched the faces of the individuals, and Giles noted that this particular mission was testing everyone's limits.

"So? How'd it go?" Buffy plopped down in a seat, and gave him a thumbs up sign, apparently too tired to even speak.

"Well, we got a date." Willow mumbled, walking to Oz and settling in his lap, leaning against her head against his chest. Oz looked surprised, but pleased, and enclosed his arms around her. Giles turned a questioning look to Cordelia, how had taken the moment to lean against the shelves, nestled in the crook of Xander's arm. It was the first open act of affection that they had shown, and yet neither seemed to notice it.

"Apparently Willow was gold." she said, her voice weary. "And they've got a double date for tonight at his place.."

"Oh." Giles was still trying to figure out why every one looked so exhausted, but decided to leave it alone. "Well, good. We should get ready then, don't you think?" Mumbled agreements filled the room, but no one moved. "Cordelia? You did get them evening gowns?" She gave him a look.

"Of course I did." Still, no one moved.

"Okay, then off we go." Giles urged. "Make yourselves pretty." Reluctantly, the girls got up and trudged out of the room. "Cordelia?" Cordelia stopped and turned around.

"Yeah?"

"There's something that has been taxing me of late." She nodded and returned. Xander and Oz both looked at each other.

"I'll wait for you outside." Xander informed her, and walked outside.

"What's up, Giles?" She asked.

"Cordelia, this Montenegro.... there's something that' s a part of your plan that you've neglected to mention."

"What?"

"How you plan on doing him in." She shrugged.

"The old fashioned way I supposed. Lights, fireworks, beheading, you know, typical Immortal stuff."

Giles stayed quiet, and then spoke up. "From the researched I've done, Montenegro is a master swordsman, Cordelia. He killed Winter's mentor, and countless others. He's strong and he's experienced."

"When you have anything that I don't' know, wake me up." Cordelia said, blinking.

Giles wasn't amused. "Cordelia you've only had two years experience, and in that time, have only killed one Immortal, who had a deathwish."

"Two."

"What?"

"Two, I've killed another one. It's a long story. What's your point?"

"Cordelia don't play stupid with me. You know what I'm driving at."

Cordelia sighed. " You're saying that this guys gonna whip my ass, is that it?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes. You're going to get yourself killed, Cordelia."

She looked up at him, her eyes resigned. "Don't' you think I know that? But I have to try. It's like the Buffy thing. One Chosen in all the world, blah, blah, blah. She doesn't like it, but she does it. I have to do this. I'm the only one who can."

Giles stayed quiet. "And what about Xander? Has he been made aware of this?" Cordelia looked away.

"He will be."

"He won't like it."

"I don't' like it either, but I don't' see anyway out of this, do you?" Giles' mind drummed for possible solutions, but he came up with nothing. He slowly shook his head.

"Good, me neither. Look, you help Buffy and Willow do your part, stopping the ritual, I'll do my best with mine. And if I fail..." she trailed off, and then suddenly straightened. "Well, at least we averted an apocalypse, right?" She got up, and saw the concern etched in his face. Her face softened, and she leaned forward and pecked him on the cheek. "Xander told me how you've been there for him." she explained. "Thanks." She gave him a tight smile, and shrugged. "Gotta go pretty up the girls." And with that, she walked away, out of the library. Giles crossed his arms and watched her leave.

"You've already made one miracle happen." He whispered. "Let's see if you can go two for two."

 --

"You're sure that someone is going to be watching her at all times?" Xander felt like kicking his friend.

"Yes, Oz." He explained patiently for what seemed the thirtieth time. "Cordelia and I will be outside in the woods, waiting for them, following the limo up to the house and keeping an eye on them the whole time." Oz didn't seem convinced. Instead, he stared quietly at the floor as they sat in the living room, and then looked up at Xander.

"I don't understand why you're not more nervous about this." He said matter-of-factly.

Xander gave him a confused look. "Why should I be worried about this? There's no problem so far. The plans been going great. Giles couldn't have done better." Xander smiled proudly. "Cordy's plan has worked like a gem."

"And if it doesn't?" Oz demanded. "And even if it does? You haven't stopped to consider the possibility. Remember what Cordelia said about the immortals? The only way to destroy this guy is by another Immortal killing him in a duel to the death. And the only Immortal we have around here is Cordy. Do you think she's ready to fight some guy whose thousands of years older than her to the death?" Xander's face suddenly froze. "you haven't thought of that have you?" Oz finished quietly. Xander gave his friend a dirty look.

"She'll be fine." He said unconvinced.

"Yeah, man. You keep telling yourself that." Oz muttered, running a hand through his hair. Xander felt his blood run cold.

"Okay, here' they come!" Cordelia came through the doorway, followed by two hair stylists that she had hired. They all looked extremely happy.

"The look we were going for was naturally sexy." One of them explained to Oz, who just rolled his eyes. The girls came out and his jaw dropped. Each one of them was absolutely stunning. Cordelia obviously knew what affect that they were having on the males in the room, because her smile was wide and dazzling as she surveyed their faces.

"Well, I think that does it." She said with a firm shake. She snapped her fingers in front of Xander's face. "Hey!" She gave him a half smile. "Come on, it's time." He looked at her, and nodded quietly, not saying a word as he walked off. Cordelia noticed his lack of words, but said nothing.

"Oz?" Willow smiled softly at him. "I know you're worried, I'll be fine, okay?" Oz didn't look convinced, but he smiled for his girlfriend's benefit, and gave her a soft kiss.

"I know." He said gruffly. Buffy cocked an eyebrow.

"Do I feel like Cinderella or what? I'm getting set up on a blind date with psycho."

"No, I'm going on a date with psycho." Willow corrected. "You get Igor."

Buffy grimaced. "Right, let's do this again, shall we?" She looked around the room. "Where'd Cordy go?"

--
 
"Xander?" Xander turned around to see Cordelia leaned against the closet door.

"Yeah?"

She gave him a concerned look. "You okay?" Xander bit back a remark as he searched for his jacket. Oz had been right. He hadn't thought of the part of the plan that would require Cordelia to get into a fight to the death with mister killer. And that worried him. If this Cesar guy was a good as Giles had researched, Cordelia didn't stand a chance. And he would lose her, again. He bit back his fear as it began to grip him. He wouldn't get into it with her right now, he told himself. They had plenty of time to resort back to the old days of arguing, and goodness knows they were both long overdue for a good fight. He smiled softly to himself. And all hell would break loose when Xander brought the you're-too-delicate-to-fight-this-guy speech. He swallowed his words, and instead turned and smiled at her.

"Yeah, I'm okay." He said, lying through his teeth. Cordelia didn't looked swayed.

"You sure?" She asked him, concerned etched in her face. He just shrugged.

"I love you, Cordy." Was all he said. And then he leaned down and kissed her softly. She kissed him back, and then pulled away.

"Remember our deal?" She teased. "Don't turn hormonal on me now, lameboy. We've got work to do." She slapped him gently on the face, and led him out of the closet.

--

"Deep breath, Will's, deep breath." Buffy coached her friend as they walked carefully up the steps. Willow gave her a nervous look.

"It's just, I didn't' realize how scary this house was gonna be." Buffy had to agree with her. The mansion was dark and foreboding, if it had a neon sign with Danger! On it, Buffy would have been less surprised. Somehow, the high tech Montenegro that they met at the office didn't quite match with this old antique house that he had told them he had only acquired a month ago. They grabbed each other's hands in mutual sympathy and then stared at the big wooden door.

"You knock." Buffy said suddenly, casting a glance at Willow.

Willow gave her a surprised look. "Me? Why? You always do the brave stuff." Buffy stayed quiet. She didn't tell Willow that when it came to brutal force, she was up to it. This undercover mission espionage stuff gave her the whigs. Willow had already proved she was better at it. That is, until she collapsed. Willow sighed, took a deep breath, and knocked on the door. A huge bong filled the air, and the girls winced. Almost immediately the door opened, and a typical stiff butler appeared.

Something in Willow clicked, and she immediately smiled. "Hello, I'm Candace Green, this is Mitsy-"

"Senor Montenegro is expecting you." The butler cut her off, bowing and motioning them to come in. They did, after a minute. The inside was just as freaky as the outside. But it was beautiful, even Buffy had to admit that.

"Welcome to my humble abode!" The girls glanced up to see Cesar smiling down at them, dressed elegantly. He skipped down the stairs and crossed the marble hallway to them. He bowed to them, smiling at Buffy and reached for Willow's hand, kissing it gently.

"Candace, you look ravishing." He breathed, and then looked at Buffy. "You too, Mitsy." He said, much more dismissively.

Buffy rolled her eyes at his disinterest in her. "Yeah, thanks." She muttered.

"Cesar." Willow was back in her seductress mode. "What a wonderful home! I've never seen anything like it." His eyes twinkled.

"Different isn't it? Come on, dinner will be ready in a couple of minutes, until then let me show you the computer room, I've got a prototype in there that will take your breath away." He was about to lead Willow away, when he realized Buffy was still standing there.

"Mitsy! My assistant should be here any minute. He informed he was coming over as soon as he could. Would you like to come?" Buffy would rather play with a frog.

"No thanks, I'll just stand here and look at the. Stuff." Her voice trailed off when she saw that she was looking at a freaky painting. Cesar smiled warmly at her.

"Make yourself at home." Willow shot Buffy a pleading look when Cesar wasn't looking, but Buffy shook her head. No way, Willow could take care of psycho herself. She still had Igor to worry about. Chances were, he would be a fat, balding pee on with hands of an octopus. Until then, she would be able to snoop around, maybe find some crap that would lead to a prophetic crap that would get them out of here that much sooner. She smiled to them as they left and then looked at the room.

This guy was definitely into vampires, that was for sure. Buffy had slayed enough of them to recognize the décor. The question was, what the heck was this ritual going to do? She opened a door and found the library. Books! Her face lit up, and then she suddenly felt deflated. Books. That meant she would have to read some of them. Augh. She ran her hands down her satin gown and began to look at them. Old books, with indistinguishable names. She reached up with a glove to grab one when a voice behind her stopped her.

"I wouldn't do that, Cesar is very protective of his books." Buffy froze at the voice that was behind her, and closed her eyes. It couldn't be, please god don't let it be. She turned around slowly. And her heart stopped.

Cesar's assistant was Angel.

 --

"How long do we have to stay here?" Xander sounded impatient, and Cordelia didn't blame him. They have been sitting in her Mercedes for an hour and a half now, and there was no sign of Buffy or Willow anywhere down the road

"I'm not sure." Cordelia lifted her binoculars to her eyes and scanned the mansion. "As long as it takes for them to get the information that they need, I guess."

Xander sighed, shifting his body in an attempt to get a more comfortable position on the seat.

"What the hell do you think they're doing in there?"

"If I can guess, I'd say it's Margaritas, pool, and a little candle light. From what I read in Winter's Journal, this guy made an art of wooing women." She smiled a little. "It's been a while since I've been wooed."

"I wooed you!" Xander looked a little hurt. Cordelia gave him a dubious look.

"We never wooed, lame boy!" she countered. "Not unless you consider wooing making out in closets and casting love spells that backfire on people."

"And that wasn't the half of it. Remember making out in your Daddy's car?" Cordelia chuckled.

"I got bruises in places I never knew I had!" she smiled at the memory. Suddenly they grew quiet and looked at each other seriously. Xander stared at her searchingly, and when he saw the sudden sparkle in her eyes, smiled wickedly.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" He asked, turning his body to face her.

Indeed, Cordy was. But reason, and common sense warned her not to go down that route. "Come on, Xander, you know we shouldn't." But looking at his smiling face and dancing eyes made her really want to. Her answer came out gruff, and seeing the pained desire in her face, Xander only grew more confident.

"Please? Old times, sake?"

She groaned and threw her head back against the seat. "What about our deal?"

"Its' a great way to pass the time, Cordelia." She shook her head, and looked at him, as he was slowly inching his body toward her side of the car.

"You're not going to give up, are you?" She asked him. He grinned and shook his head.

"Not in this lifetime, nope." He cocked an eyebrow and gave her a comical leering look that made her laugh out loud. She looked at him one more time, and sighed. It was no use. She couldn't resist that look, he knew that.

"Oh, come here you big moron." She grabbed his shirt collar and pulled his face toward hers.

--

"Giles, do you think Willow and I are too young to get married?" Giles jerked his head up and stared at his young research assistant in surprise..

"Pardon?" He asked, thinking that maybe he had not heard him correctly.

"Married? You think Willow would say yes?" Giles coughed when he realized that Oz was serious.

Apparently, Oz saw that Giles had been rendered speechless, because he continued hastily, "Well not right now! I mean, later, after she finishes school."

Giles let out the breath that been growing up. "I'm sorry," he finally said. "I just thought I'd be a lot older before I ever heard that from any of you."

Oz shrugged. "Well, I mean, I have a good job that pays good, and Willow can always have a career. And well, I love her. She's it for me, I know that." Oz looked down at the old worn book he was looking at. "And if I know that, then what's the point of waiting? Anything can happen that could you know, change things."

Giles leaned forward. "You're not suddenly thinking these things because Cordelia is back, are you?" Oz hesitated.

"Well, yeah, I guess. I've been thinking about it ever since she died. I saw what Xander went through when he lost her, and all I could think of was, it could have been Willow. I could have lost my Willow. It scared me." He sighed, and ran his hand through his hair. "Xander got a second chance at love, but he could lose Cordelia any minute with this thing, he doesn't understand that. If I were him, I would grab Cordelia and never let her go again. And I guess I want to do that with Willow. You never know, you know?"

Giles smiled sadly, and once again his thoughts drifted to his lost love, Jenny. Although he truly loved Joyce, Jenny was the first woman he had loved, and had he known what was going to happen, he wouldn't have cared if she was a gypsy or not. He would have taken her and held her, just as Oz wanted to do. He looked up to see Oz looking at him for an answer.

"Oz," he began heavily. "What do you think I'm going to say?" Oz's face fell, and he shrugged.

"We're too young? We should wait?"

"Right-o. Now forget all of that and follow your heart." Oz looked stunned, but his face broke slowly into a smile, and he looked happier.

"Thanks, G-Man." He said, patting the tweed clad man on the arm, and going back to his work. Giles watched him fondly. These young men and woman had become almost like his children, and in his heart, he felt a happiness in spite of all that was happening. At least one of them understood. Now it was up to the rest of them to figure it out for themselves. Immortals or not.

 --

The minute Angel saw her face, he froze. He stared at her, his teasing smile now disappeared, replaced by an intense gaze, his eyes searching hers fiercely, not quite believing it was her, but a fervent hope rested in them that it was.

"Buffy?" He finally whispered. She swallowed. During the years since he had so swiftly removed himself from her life, she had learned to live with out him, or so she had tried to make everyone believe. But a love still resided deep down in her heart for this dark soul laden vampire, and she felt it flair within her heart vibrantly even as she found her mind whirling with suspicions and questions. What was he doing here? He couldn't have possibly lost his soul again. No, a look in his eyes confirmed the goodness was still there. But what was he doing here? So close to her and yet so far away.

"Angel?" the word escaped her almost unconsciously, and without thinking, she walked toward him, meeting him halfway. They stopped within inches of each other, and looked at each other intensely, not saying a word, just searching each other hungrily, letting the silence speak for them. Buffy wondered what his first words to her would be. An explanation? An apology?

"What's up with your hair?" Her hand reached defensively to her now brunette head.

"Oh." She let the sound escape, and then said quickly. "Cordy made me do it."

"Cordelia?" Angel looked more confused than ever, but she saw the hint of a smile on his face.

"Yeah, um she' s back." Buffy didn't elaborate. She didn't know at all what Angel was up to, and as much as she knew she still cared, she couldn't trust him. Hanging around with Montenegro didn't speak well of him.

"She's not dead?" Angel still seemed hung up on Cordelia, but her reappearance seemed ages ago to Buffy, and she blew it off quickly, preferring to go on to other more important matters.

"It's a long story. What are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here?" She cocked an eyebrow at him, and crossed her arms.

"Oh." He sighed heavily, and looked at her again, apparently not ready to look away, afraid she would evaporate. Her heart pounding, she nevertheless managed to retain the slightest look of calm as she reached out her hand.

"I'm Mitsy. And you are?" Angel looked out at the outstretched hand and after a moment, took it.

"Angel, Montenegro's assistant." Apparently this show got tiring for him, because he resorted to the old way of speaking. "What do you know?"

"Are you involved in this Angel?" Her voice shook now, and she felt tears welling up in her eyes. The last thing she wanted to do was kill this vampire that held her heart, and she felt her breasts heaving as she waiting for his answer, somehow knowing he would tell her the truth. He hesitated.

"No. And Yes. I'm undercover. I found out about this, and .."

"You came here to stop him?" Angel nodded, and Buffy suddenly felt a flood of relief fill her body. "How can I be sure?"

Angel sighed. "Buffy, I've been away from you for two years, I haven't exactly been a happy camper. There's been no danger of losing my soul here." What he said rang with truth, and Buffy closed her eyes.

"I never thought I'd see you again." She began quietly. Angel shook his head, and reached for her hand quickly. The contact made her tingle and she let go quickly. Too much, too soon. He saw her reaction and bit his lip.

"There's no time, I'll explain it all later, I promise. Buffy, just go along, please?" She saw the earnest look in his eyes, and took a deep breath.

"It's Mitsy." He saw her determined look, and smiled.

"So, I've seen you two have met." They both looked up quickly, to see Cesar and Willow standing in the doorway of the library. Angel's countenance immediately changed, and he smiled wickedly. Buffy almost had to close her eyes at the sight. It reminded her too much of Angelus, the demon that had once killed the man she had loved so much.

"Cesar." His voice was sarcastic, and excited at the same time. The voice of a typical jerk. And he made no motion that he recognized Willow at all. He walked to his boss and shook his hand. "Man, I gotta tell you, Thanks. She is a babe!" He made the motion to whisper, but Buffy, standing half way across the room, heard it, and had to stop herself before she rolled her eyes. Willow's eyes were wide with shock, but only for a second, and after seeing Buffy's face, deciding to play along. Her face remained one of a sleek, sophisticate. Cesar smiled, obviously pleased.

"I told you. Two of the most beautiful girls you ever seen. Come on, dinner's ready." He led Willow ahead of them, leaving time for Angel and Buffy to follow.

"You know what I'm here for, don't you?" Buffy whispered. Angel nodded tersely.

"We don't' have much time." He said just as quietly, smiling at her with a leering grin that made her cringe. "He doing it tomorrow night." Buffy looked at him with a surprised look.

"Later." He said, squeezing her arm. "Let's just get through dinner." Buffy nodded tensely. "Hey Buff?"

"What?" Angel was staring ahead at Willow.

"When did Willow learn how to flirt like that?"

 --

"Xander!" Cordelia giggled as she pushed him away. "You bit me!" She felt her lip that began to sting and gave him a dirty look. "Do you know how this is gonna look." Xander grinned.

"Yeah, it's gonna look like I've been all over you. And I have. I hope you have that forever." To prove his point, he leaned forward and gently bit her cheek. She gasped.

"Are you trying to brand me?" He cocked and eyebrow and shrugged. He leaned forward and gently kissed her lips, removing the sting that was still there. Seeing that she was still unsure how to react, he smiled unsteadily.

"Will you marry me?" She froze, and then closed her eyes, turning from him as she sighed. "What?" He leaned forward, concerned.

"Xander." She leaned her head back against the car seat, and lay still, unsure how to voice her thoughts. "What's going on? Huh? Why are you acting so unlike yourself all of a sudden." She opened her eyes and gazed at him. He looked surprised, and then hurt.

"What? Just because we haven't had a fight since you got here you think I'm not myself? Cordelia, I hate to break it to you, but when you died, a part of me died with you, okay?"

"And we both changed." She looked at him seriously. "That's what you're not getting, Xander. We both changed. Our lives are completely different now." She sighed. "Six months ago I wouldn't have hesitated in saying yes. But I can't now. Too many things have changed."

"No they haven't Cordy." Xander was quickly losing his temper. "You're right, we lived two years without each other, but I never stopped loving you, and I know for a fact you never stopped loving me. Now, we're not Ethel and Fred anymore, I'll admit that, we've grown up. But I know that we can make this work. We can be with each other, as long as we-"

"Dammit Xander, stop sounding like this is so easy? It's not making out in cars anymore. Death, and Life.. two direct opposites. And I'm caught in the middle." She finished quietly. "Do you realize that I might die?" Xander watched her silently, and suddenly smiled softly.

"Yes." She turned to him with surprised eyes. "Every second I think about it. But that's not going to happen. Your not going to die." She looked at him, her eyes clouded, and she shook her head.

"You're such a moron." She muttered, almost fondly. "What makes you so sure?" He thought for a minute, and then shrugged.

"This is true love, you think this happens every day?"

Cordelia stared at him for one full minute, not quite getting what he was saying, and then she realized it. He was quoting their all time favorite movie, The Princess Bride. She suddenly burst into a half sob, half chuckle. Xander leaned forward and brushed a tear away. "Death cannot stop true love, all it can do is delay it for a while." She shook her head at him.

"Wesley obviously never met an Immortal." She informed him. He smiled, and then leaned forward, and kissed her softly. She returned it gently, fearing for her pained lip, but as his kiss grew increasingly demanding, she forgot to be careful, and ignored the outcries of protest from her sore lip.

A knock at the window scared them both out of their wits. They looked up quickly, to see Willow and Buffy looking at them with unreadable expressions. Cordelia turned a rosy pink, and Xander looked guilty, but quickly rolled down the window. The two girls, who would normally be smiling, didn't even crack a grin.

"You two are some body guards," Buffy snapped. "Come on, let us in." They climbed into the car, while Cordelia waved the limo driver away. Xander and her looked at the two girls in silence. Buffy said nothing, just stared out the window, and Willow looked exhausted from her role playing. But seeing they were both waiting for an explanation, she just shook her head. "Drive. Now. The library, I'll explain on the way."

--

Chapter Eight

As Cordelia screeched it to the library, Willow kept her word and explained everything. By the time she was done, Xander and Cordelia had completely forgotten about their own troubles and rode with grim expressions on their faces. Silence fell in the car as each thought to themselves of the troubles that lay ahead. Cordelia thought of her impending duel with Cesar and the consequences of that, and she thought of Winters. Xander's thoughts harbored on Angel's return, and Cordelia's duel. Buffy thought of Angel, her mind and heart devoted entirely to him, and what he had told her. Willow thought only of Oz, and the chill in her heart that Cesar had made.

But surprisingly, even as their minds were occupied, they lost no time in reaching the library and relating to Giles and Oz of what they had learned. Buffy told of Angel's return, and his revelation that the ritual was to take place tomorrow. Willow told of finding a ritualistic sacrifice room that she had encountered on her way to the bathroom, and had only narrowly escaped being detected by the various vampire demons that had inhabited Cesar's house as servants. She later told Buffy she had never been so scared in her life. Cesar had this evil vibe in him, even though she couldn't pin point it.

"Do you think we can trust Angel?" Xander asked earnestly. Cordelia looked at him quickly, and realized it wasn't hate she saw in her eyes, but concern, and relaxed. Buffy hesitated before answering, but in the end nodded.

"Yes. He wasn't lying. I. I didn't tell him about Cordelia, her being an Immortal, I mean." She looked at Cordy. "I figured, just in case. Angel just thinks we're going to stop him, not kill him."

"But he did tell you it was all happening tomorrow night?" Buffy nodded.

"And my guess it's in the ritual room that Willow found." Willow, who was nestled in the comfort of Oz's arms, nodded. Giles sighed. This assignment had taken it's toll on his group of kids. Buffy was once again dealing with a demon from her past she could never quite shake, Oz was considering marriage, Willow looked absolutely drained mentally, and Xander and Cordelia had a sadness in their eyes that wasn't there before. He hoped they were going to get out of this together. His eyes lingered on Cordelia. And alive.

"So we've got a day to prepare and plan for this thing." Cordelia looked weary, but she straightened her shoulders. "I say we get started." Murmurs of assent went across the table. "Wills, you did great. Your parts over. Go get some rest." Cordelia smiled supportively at her friend who looked ready to faint.

Despite her definite need to a break, Willow shook her head. "No, I'm with you guys until the end." Oz smiled and ruffled her hair. Cordelia nodded and turned to Buffy.

"Okay, Buffy. Time to do things your way." Buffy brightened, and sat up.

"Okay, finally something I'm good at."

--

The telephone ran late into the night, and Oz reached over and picked it up absently.

"Hello?" He listened for a moment, and then his eyes widened. He looked up at Buffy, as the others looked curiously.

"It's for you." He said, handing it unsteadily. Buffy looked unsure, but took the phone from him.

"Hello?"

"I found it!" Willow turned her attention back to the old book of maps and looked up. Giles got up with the others to inspect her findings.

"From what you remember, is this accurate?" Willow inspected it, and then nodded.

"Oh yeah, Cesar might have been techno freak, but he certainly didn't know a thing about home decoration. The place hasn't changed a bit."

"Great." Cordelia leaned forward to look at the map. "We can use this to set up our assault. Buffy?" They all looked up at Buffy, who was still as she listened to the receiver. Xander looked at Oz.

"Who the hell is that?"

Oz shrugged. "Angel." They all jumped and looked back at the telephone. Buffy seemed to sense they were all staring and turned her back to them. Cordelia shrugged.

"We'll talk about it later," she commanded. Giles nodded and got up, motioning for Cordelia to follow him.

"I have something for you." She looked curious, and followed him into his office. After rummaging through a few things, he pulled out a long sack. He looked at it, and after a moment, handed it to Cordelia. "This belonged to a very famous Watcher. I had it shipped from Indonesia express mail. It arrived while you were gone." She raised her eyebrow, and reached for the bag. Immediately she knew what it was, and her eyes widened. Quickly, she unsheathed a gleaming sword, perfectly formed, old, but firm and steady. Her breath caught. Giles smiled a little.

"It belonged to Winters. A. at least I think it does." He smiled and shrugged. "Call me superstitious, but I thought it would bring you luck." Cordelia stared in awe at the saber, and then glanced up at Giles with a sincere smile.

"Thank you." And there was more in those two little words than any speech that could have been made.

--

Across the room, a pair of eyes was watching, but they weren't smiling. Oz noticed Xander's discomfort as he watched Cordelia get a feel for the sword. He glanced at Willow, who was engrossed in studying the map of the house, and then turned to him.

"You okay?" Xander looked almost surprised at being spoken to, but shrugged.

"She could die, and everyone seems so okay about it." Oz shook his head.

"Nobody's okay with it, man. Look at Willow." He lowered his voice as he motioned to his girlfriend. "She put everything she had into this, and she still feels bad cause there's not more she could do. She doesn't want Cordy to die again any more than you or I do. But she's the only one that can do this."

"I know." Xander whispered, gripping the table so hard his knuckles were white. "I know. And there's not a damn thing I can do about it."

"It'll be okay." Oz said smoothly.

"How can you be so sure?" Oz shrugged.

"The way I see it, Cordy didn't die for a reason. But I do suggest you let her know how you feel before she goes out there." He added gently. Xander sighed.

"She knows, but-"

"Fickle Cordy doesn't know what she wants?" Oz chuckled. "Or is she just so responsible? Man, I hate that in a woman." And he laughed, as he looked over at Willow. Xander rolled his eyes. "So make her see it, you're problem is, you give her a choice. You gotta let her know she doesn't have one. This is fate."

Xander snorted. "Hey, look who's talking, whipped boy." Oz's eye's twinkled.

"Not for long, buddy boy." Buffy hung up the phone, and walked over to the table, her eyes glittering.

"We have to hurry. Montenegro's just taken two prisoners. He's gonna kill them in the ritual." The smiles faded from the boys faces, and they turned back to their work.

 --

"Can I come in?" Cordelia looked up.

"Sure, Xander, come on in. I'm decent." He smiled.

"Darn." Cordelia rolled her eyes and surveyed her bed.

"Looks like I'm almost ready." She commented. She was dressed in black pants and a black tank top. Her hair was swept up away from her face, and she wore boots instead of shoes. Despite her immaculate appearance, Xander knew she was gearing up for a fight. The shining sword lay on the bed, ready to be sheathed, and the long coat she wore to conceal it was lying next to it. He looked at all these things in silence.

"You're worried, aren't you?" She said quietly. He looked at her and smiled weakly.

"You better be lucky I haven't demanded to stay out of this entirely." He responded.

"I would have ended up fighting him sooner or later. No matter how long I let him live. Might as well be now." She finished. Seeing him staring at her, she suddenly sighed. "Xander. When this is over if I ..... You know get through this I'm leaving Sunnydale. For good." She looked up and saw his face, and her heart froze. He didn't' say a word, but his jaw hardened, and he stared at her .

"You can't be serious."

"This is too much for both of us. This is going to be the rest of my life, Xander. I'll never know if I'll come out of a duel alive or dead, and I don't want you getting gray hairs over that." She smiled softly. "I love you too much to let that happen." Leaning forward she hugged him fiercely and quickly, and then grabbed her sword and her coat, and walked out of the room, leaving Xander alone in the room, his eyes stricken with grief.

 --

Thank God Mom's out of town, Buffy thought as she crouched silently in the woods surrounding Cesar's house. Her heart beat in her heart as she noticed soft flurries of movement from other areas around the house. She hoped Angel would be right. Her plan counted on him entirely. If he failed to show, then it would be ruined. The night was dark and stormy, as if it had anticipated the terrible ritual that was ready to begin inside and was crying over fear of it. She rechecked her supply of stakes and then her watch. Two minutes. She raised a coin and let it glitter in the setting sun, and then saw three other coins glitter back. They were all ready. Cordelia was no where to be seen, which was good. Buffy's stomach dropped at the thought of the fight that was to happen today. Although no one had really talked about it, they all knew that Cordelia could very easily die today. She shivered. Buffy was used to that, she had gotten situations where she knew the chances of her getting out were very slim, but one of her friends. Suddenly Buffy realized she had something in common with Cordelia, but with one difference. Cordelia had never once complained about her chosen lot in life, even though Buffy knew that Cordelia thought about the implications of Immortality quite often. She brushed the thoughts from her mind as she saw movement in a dark corner of the mansion. A head emerged, and then Buffy recognized Angel with a quickening of her heart. She stilled it quickly, and then waiting until he gave the signal that all was safe and motioned her to come. She met him quickly, hiding under the cover of night, and was met halfway by Giles and Willow. Oz and Xander had taken off when she had shown the coin to the second entrance they had deemed easy to enter. And so they entered the mansion, with Angel leading them.

 --

Xander scaled the wall easily, and helped a shorter Oz up after him. They jumped softly to the ground, and walked quickly to the corner of the courtyard, eyeing the open space they would have to cross. Xander glanced up and strained to see into the dark corner where he knew Cordelia was waiting. His heart beat loud as drums to him, and yet they beat louder when he couldn't see her. He was distracted by Oz, who nudged him, and he forced himself to put Cordelia to the back of his mind and concentrate on the first task that would allow her duel with Cesar, getting inside the house.

 --

Cordelia saw the boys disappear into the house, and took a deep breath, before getting up and warily watching for any vampires. No, they were all inside, watching the ritual, probably. She began to tremble, and shook herself, feeling a warped sense of comfort as she felt the cold metal of the sword against her back. She thought of Winters, and all he had shown, of the love she couldn't return, of his mental anguish, and she felt her heart well up. This was for him. He died giving her everything, and dammitall, she was going to do the same for him.

 --

Somehow, the house looked even scarier for Willow than it did the night before. There was something dark and sinister about it, that made her shake softly, trembling ever so silently, so that not even Buffy, her bosom friend could discern her fear as she looked protectively back at her friend who was following with Giles close behind her. These dark tunnels and crevices seemed to lead to nowhere, but Angel always seemed to know where he was going, as he lead Buffy and the others. He hadn't changed at all, although he seemed a lot more sane than he had been when he had just been restored out of Hell. Willow sighed and clutched her spell book that had once belonged to Jenny. Her job wasn't over yet, or so they found out. She had one more thing to do.

 --

Xander and Oz reached the lip of the crevice, and it was all as the map said it would be. They glanced over the top and what they saw was horrible. Montenegro was now dressed in black pants and nothing else, and his face was vivid and horrid. All around him were vampires, and two young children were cowering in the center. Xander searched his mind for the part of the ritual that they would play a part in. Something about one symbolizing the vampires, and the other the pure Immortal, blah, blah blah.

"Willow went out with that thing?" Oz sounded passionately angry. Xander cast him a worried glance. It seemed that whenever Oz really, lost his cool, which was actually only one or two times, he had the tendency to wolf out on them. That was exactly what they didn't need. But he saw Oz contain himself, and he winked at his friend. They both sighed, got their weapons and waited.

 --

Angel had left them, to join the melee down at the bottom of the dark basement where this horrid ritual was taken place, explaining that Cesar wouldn't suspect if he was down there with them. Buffy had agreed, and now watched him from her hiding place, his face of the soulless vampire once again in place. She glanced at Willow, and noticed her friend trembling with fear. Leaning over, she gave her a squeeze of support. Giles, on her right, wore a face of vivid concentration, as he tried to follow along with the ritual he had memorized. They needed to break in at the last moment, and if they wasted even a second, it would be too late.

Angel sucked in his breath, and cast a glance at the place that he knew hid Buffy. He felt apprehensive, and looked at the man he had grown to hate. Buffy hadn't told him how they were planning on killing this monster, but, considering that Cordelia hadn't been seen, Angel guessed she played a vital part. When they had told him she had died, he felt a burden more than he had ever felt. Though his heart always belonged to Buffy, Angel still remembered Cordelia's brand of shock therapy that had brought him back to the world of sanity. No one else could have done that. And being in Sunnydale after that was too painful, he felt he needed to do something. And yet, after years of doing what he was doing, it had led to a circle and brought him back. What was Cordelia's part? She certainly couldn't be- No.. could she ? Angel felt his attention brought back to Cesar, who had begun the last stage of the ritual. He glanced at the two terrified children, and then at Cesar, and felt a rage run through him. Not yet, he soothed himself, longing to feel this man's neck in his jaws. Not yet, but soon. And he braced himself.

--

Xander and Oz saw Angel begin to brace himself, and the two got ready, each measuring the distance they would have to jump to block the barrier they were supposed to. Xander allowed himself one more thought of Cordelia before he turned his thoughts to the side and concentrated on what he was supposed to. She had to make it, she had to. And then he waited.

--

Willow saw the signal and scrambled to open the book to the correct passage, clearing her mind, as Giles had taught her, she began to chant, blocking herself from everything and everybody. Soon she was caught up in it, and Buffy glanced back at her friend, her fear gone from her, nothing but pure concentration visible on her face. She nodded to Giles, who moved to protect Willow while she chanted, with his own body if necessary. Buffy saw Angle tense up, and recognized it was time.

"Well, I always did like surprises." She muttered.

--

Cesar stopped. Something was blocking the spell. He could feel it losing it's power. He looked around quickly, and then his eyes registered on Angel, and in them he saw something he had never seen before. Humanity.

"You." He breathed, full of rage. "You.. traitor." Angel glared at him, and then suddenly from out of nowhere a figure came flying out of the darkness, landing a well aimed kick to a vampires head, and then with one fluid movement, disintegrated him into bits. No. This couldn't be happening. And then he recognized her.

"Mitsy. You bitch." Buffy looked up and smiled at him, before ducking from another vampire.

"Actually, it's Buffy, the Vampire Slayer." She gave him a little curtsey, and then continued her cool work dispatching his vampires. Montenegro squinted his eyes in anger and started walking to her. He would take care of this girl, and then Angel, who began to fight the other vampires around the room. He was distracted when two young men jumped out from the other side of the room, and began to block the entrances with crosses and holy water. No. Cesar felt rage course through his veins. He strode to the taller boy with clenched fists. He could feel the spell losing it's power, and tried to locate it's source. It was near, but where? He walked to the hidden corner and there he found her.

"Candace." He breathed with fury. "The whore." Giles got up and faced him bravely. Cesar chuckled and with one fist punched him out of the way . Willow was before him, open to attack, her attention on nothing but the blocking spell she had evoked. Cesar smiled and walked toward her, and then he felt it. He hadn't felt it in a long time but for a long time he had lived for it. The tingling sensation he had come to embrace as a close friend. It meant another Immortal was near.

"Well," he suddenly smiled, and turned from Willow, his eyes scanning the room. "This IS a day of surprises." He was now completely oblivious to everything and everyone but whoever was around that had caused the feeling. He was itching for a good duel, and then he would take care of these fools. As if they could stop an Immortal. His eyes searched the room fiercely, and suddenly seeming out of this air, a graceful figure in a long black coat stepped out of the shadows from across the room and met his eyes. He caught his breath. A woman. "This just gets better and better." When she saw that he had seen her, she turned and walked away, leaving him to follow. He smiled and grabbed his sword that had been laying on the ritual table unnoticed.

--

Xander paused from his work as he saw Cesar walk through the room as if hypnotized. Cordelia had done it then. He felt his heart begin to pound. Don't you dare die on me, Cordy. I won't let you die again.

--

Buffy saw Cordelia step out of the shadows, and then saw Cesar follow her. She called out to Angel. "Get the kids!" Buffy fought what seemed to be tons of vampires that were swarming around her. But her mind was on the duel. Come on, Cordy, don't' let me down.

--

Chapter Nine

She had led him to the courtyard, and when he had found her, she was sitting on the patio stone table, casually waiting for him. She was remarkably beautiful, almost a pity he would kill her so soon.

"Who are you?" He asked, entranced. Cordelia smiled, she felt her fear dissolve into pure resolve. Funny, it seemed as soon as she let herself believe she might die, she was no longer afraid of it. She was ready to do what it took, all she had to do was take him with her.

"I'm Chase." She said finally. "I've been reading up on you."

Cesar smiled. "I wish I could return the compliment. I have no idea who you are."

"I'm a friend. Of the Slayer."

He chuckled. "I should have known she would have been too smart to take me on herself. How much are you getting paid?"

"I'm not a bounty hunter. This has a much sweeter price for me." Cordelia stretched and stared at him. He looked back in puzzlement. "You remember a guy named Winters?"

Cesar suddenly smiled. "A lover, perhaps? What happened to the old boy?"

Cordelia shook her head. "I killed him. My mentor."

"Ouch. Now that is cold." He sounded amused.

"It wasn't really my fault. But see, I felt pretty bad about that, and I decided the best way to make it up to him was to kick your ass." She got up and took off her coat, unsheathing her sword.

"You don't know what you've gotten yourself into girl." He said with a smile, flexing his bareback and readying his sword.

"Actually, I do. Oh, and Cesar?" She smiled a dazzling grin at him. "You're not half as cute as you think you are." His smiled faded, and he lunged forward. She parried quickly and returned the blow. Sparks filled the air as the swords flashed. It began to rain, and Cesar's back began to glisten with sweat, shining in the lightening. She had surprised him, no doubt, but each knew that he was the superior. He would beat her, it was only a matter of time. But Cordelia didn't' dwell on that. She was fighting not only for her life, but for that of her friends, and everything and everyone she loved. And so she let herself thing about Xander, and her strength renewed.

--

Angel cradled the boy in his arms while Xander grabbed the little girl. He had given him a look, but no malice was in it, and Angel had been grateful. So Xander had grown up. They rushed with Oz to where Willow had hidden, while Buffy dispatched the rest of the vampires. Willow lay on the floor, utterly spent from the effects of the spell. It had succeeded. The spell had been blocked. Oz rushed to her and cradled her in his arms, kissing her forehead before he lifted her up, calling upon his inner werewolf strength. Buffy came running and found an recovering Giles, with a huge red spot on his chin. Buffy helped him up, and then all looked at each other.

"Let's find Cordelia." Xander breathed, and they all carried their burdens out of the room that would have brought forth the most horrific demon they would have met.

--

Whack! Cordelia's sword flew out of her hands, and she just narrowly missed Cesar's sword swing against her body. She jumped to the wall, and flipped over his head, tumbling to the grass and regaining her sword. Cesar saw the feat and smiled.

"Impressive." He muttered, and then lunged again, she barely was able to block it. "You're losing, Chase. Don't you know that?" He said, lunging again, she rolled away and caught him off guard.

"Not quite." She bit back. A fierce struggle ensued, but Cesar gained the upper hand once more. Cordelia struggled to keep up.

--

The group ran to the courtyard, and saw a magnificent sight. The whole sky seemed to have illuminated, the rain was pelting furiously ,and in the middle of the courtyard, ranging everywhere, the Immortals fought. The group stared, and then noticed with a sinking sensation, that Cordelia was losing. Cesar tripped her and was about to strike when Xander cried out, but was held back by Angel and Buffy. Cesar's attention was diverted and he stared at the boy struggling to get to him. Cordelia used the time to scramble back up, but she also saw the anguish in Xander's eyes, and her face softened. Cesar glanced back at her, and then he realized it.

"You love a mortal?" He threw his head back and laughed. "My dear, you have a lot to learn. You're a Immortals. Immortals have no one." Cordelia stared at her friends watching her, and suddenly smiled.

"Oh, no. You're alone. But I'll never be alone." And then she suddenly felt a great sense of comfort. She lunged and Cesar struggled to keep up. She felt almost as if her sword had taken possession of her, and she fought flawlessly. He kept up, but was now fighting defensively, and they both knew it. Cordelia kicked his sword with her foot, and in a flawless motion swung around, and used the exact same move that had wounded Winters, swung around and buried the sword in his chest. He cried out and fell to the ground. Cordelia stood over him.

"See the way I see it." She continued. "Winter's was alone because he couldn't love. But I'll never be alone, because I can. And you Cesar, are never going to live past the night." And with that she raised her sword and brought it down quickly. It was over so quickly, and yet Cordelia felt almost as if a hole in her heart had been repaired. She fell on her knees next to the body, spent, but waiting for the inevitable.

--

Xander saw Cesar fall, saw her kill him, and yet his feet remained frozen to the floor. He couldn't move , and he and the others stared silently, watching Cordelia in awe. And then all hell broke loose. Lightening began to crash, and in horribly, it began to strike Cordelia. Willow winced, and buried her face in Oz's chest. Buffy watched and one tear fell from her eyes. Xander just watched his girlfriend, going through the ordeal as if she needed it, jerking when ever the lightening hit her. It was a horrifying sight. And then, as quickly as it had come, it was over. The rain stopped. The sky was a dark blue, and Cordelia knelt on the crouched, her figure didn't move. The group walked slowly into the courtyard, each silent as they approached their friend. Cordelia had blood running down from a cut above her eye. She looked drained, and soaked. But as she looked up, she saw Xander smile down at her softly as he came to her. He leaned down next to her, and looked at the dead body of Cesar, and then looked at her.

"So. That's what you do for fun." She looked at him in disbelief, and suddenly burst out in laughter. He wrapped his arms around her, and helped her up. Everyone smiled at her, though Cordelia could see something different in their eyes when they looked at her. They realized what she was, she saw. And it scared them. But they were still her friends, and they still loved her. Thank God.

--

They all walked silently to the car. Giles walked ahead with the two children, telling them a British story, to which they listened rapturously. Willow and Oz trailed behind him.

"So how do you feel?" Oz asked.

"Tired." Willow smiled.

Oz grinned. "Wills, you're going to marry me." He said finally, grabbing her hand. Willow looked at him, but didn't look surprised.

'I know." She said, and then smiled at him. Oz stared at her in disbelief, and then smiled, and held her to him.

"You don't mind marrying a werewolf?"

" You don't mind marrying a part time witch?" He grinned.

"Watch them try and stop me."

--

"Okay, Cordy. Here's the deal." Xander help support his still weak girlfriend. "I've thought over what you said, you know you're leaving and everything, and I've decided that I can't allow that.' Cordelia stared at him.

"You can't allow that."

"Completely unacceptable. See, seeing you in action today made me realize how vulnerable you are, and I have to take care of you."

Cordelia still seemed unable to comprehend what he was saying. "YOU take care of ME?"

"Right! Now, You and I are going to be together, and I'm going to love you, and you're going to love me, and we're going to adopt tons of children, and then when I die, they can take care of you."

"Oh, I see."

"Right! And you have absolutely no say in the matter, so don't even start to argue." Cordelia looked at him, and suddenly smiled wearily.

"Sure, whatever. But we're not going to live in that funky house of yours."

"What's the matter with my house?"

"Have you seen it?"

They started arguing.

--

From behind them, Buffy and Angel smiled.

"Those two don't change do they?" He asked.

"You mean besides the whole Immortal thing? Nah." Buffy smiled. She turned to look at him, and her smiled faded. "How long are you doing to stay?" Angel sighed.

"Not long. I just got word that Spike and Dru are creating some mayhem in New York, I figured I should go take care of it." Buffy looked at him silently.

"So that's your life now? Kind of like a vampire Superman?"

He chuckled. " It gives me a purpose, Buff, But it doesn't stop me from missing you." They fell silent.

"It's too soon, isn't it?" Buffy said. Angel nodded.

"But later." He said, taking her hand and squeezing it. Buffy felt tears well in her eyes.

"Later." They stopped walking, and Angel turned toward her.

"If I stay, it's going to be harder to say good bye." She nodded, and he cradled her chin in his fist. "Hey." He whispered. "I love you." And with that he leaned down and brushed her lips softly. Buffy closed her eyes and kissed him back. And then she opened them, and he was gone. Disappeared into the woods. She felt her heart grow empty, but she managed to smile.

"Later." She said softly. "I love you."

--

"Rupert! Buffy!" Joyce looked surprised as Buffy and Giles led the group into the kitchen.

"Hi Mom." Buffy said, pecking her dutifully on the cheek. "Sorry we're late."

"Yes, we had to return some kidnapped children." Rupert came in and pecked her on the lips.

"Hi, Ms. Summers." A chorus of Hello's followed as the rest of the group came in.

Joyce looked at her daughter. "What happened to your hair?" Buffy's hand rose once more to her hair.

"I did it. We'll dye it back tomorrow." Cordelia said, grabbing a napkin from the cupboard and holding it to her cut. Joyce almost felt her heart stop.

"Cordelia? I thought I though-" She turned to Buffy, who was munching on a cracker.

"She's an Immortal, Mom." Joyce looked at the others, who shrugged, then to Cordelia who just raised an eyebrow.

"Oh. That's ..... nice." Willow and Buffy exchanged an amused look. "So what did you avert this time, Buffy?" Joyce said, attempting to sound casual.

"Oh, the usual. Freaky psycho bent on taking over the world."

--

"Cordelia, honey, can you go down to the basement and get me a carton of Cokes that are in there?" Buffy raised a surprised eyebrow at her mom.

"You mean you really do keep them in there?" Cordelia rolled her eyes and nodded, getting up. Xander followed her.

"So, what's wrong with my mother's house?"

"Nothing! All I'm saying is.. wouldn't you like something nicer?" Cordelia asked, walking down the basement stairs. Xander pouted.

"No. Listen, Miss Rich Girl, just because you all of a sudden get all hoity toity doesn't mean that I'm going to live off of double latte's for the rest of my life." Cordelia turned, her eyes flashing.

"Well, neanderathal! Just because I know how to appreciate a little luxury ­" Xander gasped.

"Neanderthal! I don't know what that is, but I'm not that! And if you're going to be nagging me the rest of my life to eat caviar-"

"I don't' like caviar!" she shouted, punching at his chest with a forefinger. "And even if I did, I wouldn't waste it on YOU!"

They glared at each other. "Well, if that's you feel, then why don't you marry some one else?!" he shouted back.

"Well, maybe I will!"

"Brat!"

"Primate!" They bore into each other for one long second, and then suddenly lunged forward, kissing each other passionately.

"God, I love you." Xander mumbled. Cordelia just groaned. Neither noticed the crowd that had congregated at the top of the steps, watching them with amusement.

"Well, you know what's nice about life?" Buffy said, crossing her arms as she looked at the two pairs behind her, stepping back and closing the door behind her, locking it firmly. "Something's never change."

 --
FIN