The Blue Room
By: Javawolf
Set: AU
Rated: K+
This fic follows the book as far as 'Birthday', and then unweaves. Imagine that Cordelia accepted her demon-guide, Skip's, terms. Imagine she lived happily ever after with the joyous life she was destined for. Then imagine that the Pylean rebels finally developed a successful plan for bringing down Silas, and the books Fred needed to find a way home were going to be burned with the rest of the Covenant's accursed playthings when she picked them up on a whim...
Oz hummed quietly along with his guitar, inaudible to the crowd over the surging chords. The music was heavy, hard-set. The lead singer was screaming his lungs out, and the fans were running each other over, giving a strange resemblance to the Spanish Festival of the Bulls. But Oz hummed the tune to himself quietly, transforming every stroke into a sound of perfection. Life didn't get any better than this.
After the show, Oz sat outside the auditorium. He had found a fountain on the Promenade, and was watching the water fall gracefully into the pool.
"Are you the lead guitar for the Dingoes?" Asked a sweet southern-sounding voice.
"Yeah. Hi." Oz replied with a friendly smile. The woman wasn't tall, but she was taller than Oz, he noted with dismay.
"Uhmm... hey are you... okay?" Asked the woman.
"Yeah. I'm currently of the good."
The woman look confused. "Oh. Okay then, um... have you seen anything, bizarre or grotesque around here lately? Say, a giganimous wolf-like thing, possibly... uh... trying to eat you?"
Oz blinked.
"Who are you?"
"Oh my gosh!" The woman shook her hands frantically and rolled her eyes, in a manner that reminded Oz of cute little squirrels. Or perhaps birds.
"I'm so sorry! I'm Fred! I'm a detective. Well--not really, I just sorta work for one even though technically he isn't a detective either, since he can't really apply for a license, what with having no degrees or even a last name, but I work for a mock detective and I had a vision, whoops, you're not supposed to know that, pretend you didn't hear it cause if you did I'll get in trouble so you didn't hear okay? But anyway I'm thinkin' I've got the wrong guy as you don't look eaten, so bye!"
She turned to leave.
"Wait!" Oz called out to her, standing up incase he had to follow her. "What wolf thing? Like, a werewolf?"
"Hmm?" The girl spun around on her toes to face him again, her eyes big and bright. Oz was surprised at his own attention to detail.
"You had a vision. About me. And a werewolf?"
"Oh, uh-huh. Ah!" Her face scrunched up in her frustration, though a smile remained fixed there. She looked very much like a squirrel now. Oz concluded that she must just be a very squirrel-like person.
"Shoot!" Fred stomped her foot. "You're not supposed to hear--"
"That's me." Oz interrupted.
"Sorry?"
"The werewolf in your vision. It's me."
"Oooooh." Fred nodded with her eyes closed. "Well, that tracks. Except--" She looked up at the moon, which was barely visible behind the wisps of cloud.
"Why aren't you, you know... Grrrrr!" Fred raised her hands to her face like claws and imitated a wolf's growl. Oz couldn't help but smile at her. She blushed and looked away, trying to hide her face in her long brown hair.
Oz walked over to her. "The cycle doesn't start until tomorrow." He put one arm around Fred's shoulder and used the other to point up at the sky.
"If you look hard enough, you can tell it isn't quite full yet. See?"
"Uhhmm...no, not really. It looks full to me."
"Well you know when it's totally full there's an orange rim around it."
"I think you spend way too much time starin' at the moon."
"You're probably right." Oz laughed. "Sort of a pre-req for the wolf thing."
"Uh-huh." Fred smiled shyly. "Well, since you're not bein' eaten, I guess I can go now." She turned and started walking down the busy L.A. street. Oz followed, carrying his guitar case awkwardly at his side.
"Hey, do you wanna get some coffee or something?" He asked quickly. Fred stopped walking and looked at him.
"I dunno."
"Do I make you nervous? It's not full, I swear I won't go all--" Oz brought his hands to his face mocking Fred's previous imitation. "Grrrrrr!"
"I know, it's just--I don't really know you at all and--"
"That's my point." Oz interrupted. "You can make with the learnage of Oz. That's my name, by the way."
Fred still looked uncertain. Oz smiled reassuringly. "What about a movie and then coffee?"
Fred perked up. "I like movies!"
"Where's Fred?" Gunn asked as he stepped into the dark apartment.
Wesley looked up from his book. "I'd like to know as well. She was here around thirty minutes ago. She was in the kitchen using the phone--by the way we're having tacos again--Fred was ordering Mexican take-out and she came out a moment later, said she needed to run an errand, and walked right out the door."
Gunn blinked. "That's one weird woman."
Wesley shrugged. "Well, I don't know." He hid his bashful smile by hiding behind his book. "I find it, rather...sweet."
Gunn was going to say something he knew he shouldn't be saying, but was thankfully interrupted.
"Wes!" Came a hoarse shout. "Wes, I've been good! I've been good!"
Wesley sighed loudly.
"You want me to--"
"If you don't mind." Wesley replied to Gunn's half-hearted offer. "I'm trying to read up on that Ardentious demon. I think there may be a way to destroy it with a simple incantation, which needless to say, would greatly increase our chances of stopping something very ugly before it starts, without getting ourselves killed in the process."
"I've been good!"
Rolling his eyes, Gunn slouched over to the door of the second bedroom and took the key from it's hook. Once the door was unlocked, Gunn didn't even need to bother with the handle, as the door swung open, seemingly on it's own accord. For a moment he simply gawked at it. However, it quickly became apparent that he didn't, in fact, have some new found telepathic ability. Gunn jumped into the room and shut the door behind him before Angel had enough time to race through.
"I've been good...I've been good..." Angel sat down on the floor in front of Gunn, picking at the mud on his boots.
"How'd you get so dirty?" Angel asked.
Gunn knelt down next to him. "Work." Gunn studied him. He wasn't ranting, he wasn't crying, and he wasn't convulsing. This was a good day. The best in a long time.
"How are you doin' today, Angel? Are you feelin' better?"
"I've been good." Angel replied, nodding his head vigorantly.
"I know you have. That's great."
Angel held his knees to his chest and rocked back and forth, still nodding. "I've been good." He repeated the same words over and over again quietly to himself. "I've been good."
Gunn sighed, reminding himself to be patient. "Angel, I'm glad you've been good. I'll talk to Wes, we'll see what we can do for you."
"I want a shower." Angel said flatly. "I'm dirty."
"Well, Angel, you know I don't make the rules, but I will definitely talk to Wes about it."
Angel grunted a reply and stood up. "I'm going over here." He pointed to the other end of the room and then, with his back straight, walked over to the far corner and sat down again. Gunn watched amazed as Angel neatly folded his arms across his chest and crossed his legs. They stared at each other from opposite ends of the room. Angel didn't blink.
"Uh...Angel. Have you had--"
"Don't come over here." Angel told him sternly, as Gunn attempted to move towards him. "I'm over here." He said.
"Oh." Gunn stopped abruptly. "Sorry."
Angel gave a brief smile, accepting the apology.
"Angel, have you had any more headaches?" Gunn asked gently.
"My head doesn't hurt. My head doesn't hurt." Angel muttered.
"Angel..." Gunn tried again. "Does anyone need help?"
"Everyone needs help."
Gunn sighed. "Okay. Thanks, man." He tried to smile at Angel. Angel simply eyeballed him.
"Shower?"
Gunn nodded. "Maybe. You hungry? When did Wes give you your dinner?"
"I'm hungry. I want a shower." Angel insisted.
"Okay buddy. You sit tight." Gunn watched Angel carefully as he backed toward the door. Angel quietly watched him leave.
"How is he?" Wesley asked without looking up from his notes.
Gunn shrugged. "He seems...better." Pause. "Wes, why isn't he havin' any visions?"
"Still none?" He set his pencil down. "Curious."
"You think maybe he just cracked? Maybe doesn't know to tell us about the visions anymore? He seems together, but--"
"Together?" Wes raised an eyebrow. "In what sense?"
Gunn shrugged again. Wesley noted how often he does that, as if he assumed he wasn't intelligent enough to answer openly. "Well, he asked me directly if he could have a shower. I'm sposta bring that up."
"Really?" Wesley pondered for several long minutes. After a while Gunn gave up waitingand went into the small kitchen.
The doorbell rang.
"Oh, food!" Gunn bolted back into the living room and over to the door.
"Why do y'all keep lockin' the door?" Fred asked when Gunn when it swung open. "It's not like we got anything worth stealin'." She rolled her eyes and smiled that quirky smile. Gunn smiled back, though it faded when he saw Oz.
"Who are you?" He grilled. Oz offered his hand.
"Hey, I'm Oz. Nice to--"
"Oz?" Wesley peeked out from behind his book. "Oh, hello! How are you?"
"Good." Oz said simply.
Fred and Gunn exchanged glances.
"You two know each other?" Gunn asked.
"Sunnydale." Wes said by way of explanation. Gunn grinned.
"Oh, then you must've have known Cordelia Chase!"
"Yes, I did. And wasn't she charming?" The tone of Oz's voice made his sarcasm obvious.
"Yes, she was rather wasn't she?" Wes smiled fondly, not catching on.
"Who's Cordelia Chase?" Fred asked.
Gunn gawked at her. "You haven't seen the T.V. show 'Cordy'?"
Fred lit up. "Oh! Yeah, I know her!" She blushed. "Not know her, know her, cause I don't know her, but I know her from T.V. I saw that show twice." She snorted the tiniest bit whilst trying to hold back a fit of giggles. "She's funny! Gosh, y'all knew her?"
"I never did." Gunn interrupted. "I just watch the show."
"How come I never see you watching?" Fred asked slyly. Wesley answered for him.
"He's embarrassed because it's a show generally directed at females." He suddenly eyed Oz. "What are you doing in L.A.?"
"Touring."
Oz walked over to Wesley and sat down on the chair oppisite him. Fred and Gunn followed, taking the couch.
"You're missing the other arm." Oz said flatly.
"Ah yes." Wesley chuckled. "Interesting story actually--"
"Touring?" Gunn asked.
"With his band!" Fred piped up. "Dingoes Ate My Baby! That's just the name of the band, dingoes didn't really eat my baby, I don't even have a baby!"
Wesley smiled to himself...
"You're in a band?" Gunn eyed him.
"That's wonderful!" Wesley gave a friendly smile. "The Dingoes going big?"
"Maybe."
"That's where you went!" Gunn faced Fred. "After you ordered the food."
Fred grimaced. "Um...about the food..."
"Where is it, by the way?" Wesley faced Fred as well. "It's been hours."
"I got sorta distracted..." Fred hid her face. "I picked up the phone and dialed the number, but then I realized I needed to do somethin', so I hung up."
For a while nobody said anything. Fred sighed. "It was really important though. Oz here needs our help."
"No I don't, I'm fine." Oz looked around at everyone else and shrugged. "She insists that I'm in trouble cause of her vision. She says she only gets 'em when someone's in really deep sh--"
"VISION!" Wesley and Gunn both shouted at once. Oz chuckled nervously.
"I wasn't supposed to say that..." He sighed to himself.
Fred shook her head, which she was holding in her hands.
"Fred..." Wesley spoke quietly, but sternly. His authority was made clear by the ageless wisdom seen in his eyes. "Did you go into the spare room?"
Fred looked up and shrugged.
"You don't know?" Wesley raised an eyebrow.
"I dunno...that sorta depends. What sorta reaction can I expect from you if I say yes?"
"Fred...what did you do?"
Author's note:
I'm sorry some of this may seem rather squished, I'm having a hard time with everything
