Alrighty peoples, here is the third in the Poster Girl series
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Dodging the staff, Angel elbowed the monk in the chest, before ramming the staff's end into the stomach of another monk. He then raised the staff to block another monk, but scored a boot to the stomach, as another monk did a spin in the air and kicked Angel in the face. He stumbled back, slamming another monk against a post
It had been three months since Buffy Summers died. Angel and Cordelia visited her grave in Sunnydale, before returning home where Angel continued his mourning. Seeing that he needed some time to deal with this, Cordelia sent Angel to a monastery in Sri Lanka. Angel had refused at first, but Cordelia was insistent and so he left. Within a month, he had completely gotten over Buffy's death and spent another month dealing with Darla's death. He was surprised to learn he had guilt over that. Angel kept in contact with Cordelia and the gang, phoning them nearly every chance he got. He wanted to go home to see his growing son, but then he began tracking a band of demons that were terrorising a small village. And he had found them. at first, he had been fooled by their monk clothing, but then he caught on and a fight ensued
Once the battle was done and the demons had been killed, Angel threw open the monastery doors to see a few villagers before him. He looked worse for wear, bruises and blood covering his face and clothing
"What happened?" asked a villager in Sinhalese
"Demon monks," Angel replied in his language, "Shoulda gone to Vegas"
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"So, how'd it go?" Cordelia asked
She was sitting on the couch, one hand on her swollen stomach, while Connor sat at her feet, playing with his building blocks. She stroked his soft, brown hair as Wesley and Gunn entered the Hyperion, both worn out as they put their weapons away
"We got the demon," Wesley replied, "Put up quite a fight"
"When Angel's gonna get back?" Gunn asked, "Ever since he left, the demons have been coming out more often and we spend our time killing them"
"It's true we sacrifice a large part of our social lives, but work calls for it," Wesley said
"Yeah, who's got time for the social life when you're out there, doing it with the demons?" Gunn said, then looked embarrassed, "Pretend I never said that"
"Already ignored," Cordelia said, "Well, I haven't had a call from Angel in a few days now, but he'll call soon"
"Has she come out yet?" Wesley asked, looking up towards the second floor
"It'll be another five years before she comes out of there"
"She spent five years living in a cave in a world where her human were hunted and enslaved like cattle. It's remarkable she's survived this long. She's strong"
"Girl trades one cave for another. To me, Wes, that's not strong"
Wesley sighed and ran a hand through his long hair, before heading to his office
"You hungry, Connor?" Cordelia asked
"Yeah," he replied
"Come on, I'll make you some sandwiches"
Connor got up from the couch and grabbed onto his mother's hand, as she led him into the small kitchen and began making lunch for him and herself. Seating Connor at her desk, Cordelia grabbed her plate of sandwiches and headed over to the basement, hoping to find a few more books down there, when the door opened and Angel stood before her with a smile on his face. Cordelia cried out in surprise at first, but then wrapped her arms around him as he pulled her into the hug
"It's good to see you," she smiled
"Good to see you too," he replied, kissing her on the lips
"Hey guys, guess who's back"
Cordelia led Angel into the lobby by the hand, before stepping away as Wesley and Gunn arrived. Wesley gave Angel a hug first, as the vampire then shook Gunn's hand, before pulling him into a hug as well
"So, how was it?" Wesley asked
"Dada!" cried Connor
"Hey there, little man," Angel grinned, picking his son up, "You been good for Mommy?"
"Uh-huh"
"That's my boy"
"So, you were in another country," Cordelia said, "You would have had time to look around and so forth"
"Looking for gifts?" Angel asked, knowing straight away what she wanted
"Yes!"
With a small smile, he dug into his bag and gave her a small skull. Cordelia raised an eyebrow, as Angel took it from her and tossed it to Gunn, who accepted the gift. Angel then removed a necklace from the bag, as Cordelia grabbed it with excitement. She put it on, grinning before kissing Angel on the lips
"Thank you, I love it"
Angel then gave Wesley an ornate, 16th century dagger, which Wesley waved around with glee. Following this, Angel then went back to the basement and return with a large teddy bear that he gave to Connor, who squeezed it to his small body
"Angel, that bear is bigger than he is," Cordelia said
"Ah, he loves it. That's what matters," Angel grinned
"So, Angel, tell us about your time away," Wesley said
But the vampire ignored him as he stared at the second floor
"Has she come out?"
"We send tacos up," Cordelia replied, "Girl loves tacos. But no coming out"
"I'll go up and talk to her a bit later. And Wes? Sri Lanka was great"
Wesley nodded his head in acknowledgement, before heading back to his office with his dagger, as Gunn left the hotel, holding up the skull in thanks
"So, back to you," Angel said, "How have you been?"
"Been good," Cordelia replied, "Morning sickness is never fun. I've been to the doctors and everything's going well"
"And?"
"We're having a little girl"
Angel smiled and pulled Cordelia close to him, before kissing her on the lips
"We should go out for dinner," he said, "Just you and me"
"Sounds good to me. Tonight?"
"I'll make reservations. After I talk to Fred"
"Okay, hurry up and go talk to Fred"
Angel kissed her again, before heading upstairs and lightly knocking on Fred's door
"Just put them outside," came the reply
"Fred, it's me"
The door opened, as Fred smiled at Angel, her red glasses perched on her nose
"Hey, you're back. Good to see you're back. How are you?"
"I'm good thanks. How about you?"
"Great, good, fine, excellent, very well"
Angel peered inside her room and saw that the walls were covered in scribbling and a few drawings. He also saw taco plates strewn around the floor and dressing table
"Um, Fred, I can't come in"
"Oh, you got to go fight against the nasties. It's okay, I understand"
"No, I mean, I can't come in because you haven't invited me in"
"Oh, right, well come on in"
Angel entered the room and looked around, as Fred tried to clean up, but then went back to her scribbling, shy and in awe of Angel
"You know, you've been up here for quite a while. Maybe you should come downstairs, join the others, take little baby steps outside"
Fred smiled as he pressed her glasses further up her nose
"Baby steps, yes, sounds real good"
"I'm not rushing you, just whenever you are ready. You'll find that our world is not so bad compared to Pylea. Take your time"
Angel smiled at her and headed downstairs to make reservations for tonight
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"We have found him, milord"
"You found Angel? The vampire?"
"Yes. He is here in Los Angeles. He returned earlier today"
"Excellent. I shall make my acquiescence with him then. Angel will pay for my son's death"
"Of course, milord"
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