Old Friends

Disclaimer: Joss Whedon owns it all.

Chapter One

Xander grumbled as he grabbed the keys to his parents' car and shoved them into the ignition. He had to get out of Sunnydale, and fast before Anya's hatred of him would attract the attention of one of the still active vengeance demons out there. As his luck went, things always turned to bad when he broke up with his girlfriends. Although there had only technically been two, first Cordelia then Anya, his break-up with Cordelia had horrible consequences, which brought Anya to Sunnydale in the first place. He could not risk being in Sunnydale for the same thing to happen should Anya summon a vengeance demon, or worse her boss who might restore her status as Anyanka.

He sighed, driving out, knowing it would only be a matter of an hour and a half to two hours before he got into Los Angeles. Plenty of time for him to think of what exactly he would say once he got there.

Truth be said, he had never gotten over Cordelia. Sure, he had Anya, but that obviously went to hell. But Cordelia would always be special. He had heard from Buffy and Oz, both of which who have visited Angel in Los Angeles, that Cordelia worked for him and with a little help from Willow's hacking skills, he soon found himself an address in Los Angeles where he could track down his lost love.

He miraculously made the two hour trip in forty-five minutes and soon enough he was cruising along the streets of Los Angeles, desperately searching for Cordelia's apartment. Within ten minutes of searching the street containing the building, he found it and parked his car, rushing quickly up to the door.

Xander gathered up his courage straightened his shirt, then gave one short knock to the door.

"It's open," came the muffled reply from the other side of the door. Xander did not like the way his Cordelia's voice sounded, depressed slightly and quite tired.

Xander opened the door quickly and walked inside, gently closing the door behind him. He looked over at Cordelia, who was sitting on the couch, feet covered in warm fuzzy socks and her knees brought up to her chin as she sat curled in a fetal position. Her right hand held a small ice pack up to her forehead. "Oh god," Cordelia whispered. "Xander, what are you doing here?"

Xander ignored the question as he walked over to Cordelia, wrapping his arm around her thin body, noting that she had lost some weight since leaving Sunnydale. "What happened?" he asked curiously with concern.

"Vision hangover," she explained softly as she found herself resting her head against Xander's upper body. "I'll be fine. But what are you doing here?"

Xander said nothing, only moved slightly, cupping Cordelia's cheek in his right hand. He then turned his ex girlfriend's head slightly and kissed her full on the lips and invoking his vigorous use of his tongue that Anya had been so found of.

He then felt something on the back of his head. It felt like someone smacking him, which confused him since by that time Cordelia's arms were on his back and she was giving into his actions on her. The slapping continued and Xander pulled away. "Something hit me," he stated.

Cordelia groaned slightly. "Sorry, it's my phantom," she told Xander honestly as she placed a hand on his leg. "Dennis, get your ass over here with some sort of sign so I know you're here!" she called into the apartment.

As commanded, the phantom grabbed one of Cordelia's hats, placed it on his head and walked over to where Cordelia was sitting.

"Thank you," Cordelia said as he approached. "Dennis, this is my friend Xander Harris," she began introducing. "And Xander, this is Dennis. He lives here too."

"He lives here?" Xander asked in shock. The thought of it slightly disturbed him. "So he could be watching you as you shower or something?" he asked later.

Dennis rolled his eyes as he reached for a piece of scrap paper and a pen. Nice to meet you, Xander...If you hurt her, I will personally kill you...And I could watch her in the shower, but I respect her too much, so I don't, he wrote and held it up for the other two to see.

"Dennis, he's fine," Cordelia assured her phantom roommate before turning back to face Xander. "So, honestly, why are you here in LA in my apartment?" she asked as she moved against his chest once again. "Not that I mind. I mean, I'm enjoying the company, but"

"I get it," Xander assured her. "I'm not as dumb as I look," he added.

"You're stalling," Cordelia warned.

Xander nodded. "Cordy," he began as he looked into her eyes, "I'm still in love with you."

"What about Anya?" Cordelia asked. The news came as a shock to her, but a shocked in a good kind of way.

Xander shrugged, dismissing the comment. "She's nothing compared to you," he declared. "I'm pretty sure she was just using me for sex. But you're more than that."

Cordelia smiled as she turned towards Xander, her hands going to his shoulders as she began kissing him once again. She stopped briefly. "I still love you too," she admitted before she rested her head against his chest again, placing the ice pack down on the coffee table.

"No other men in your life?" Xander asked curiously.

Cordelia shook her head. "None that could compare to you. YouÉwhen you cheated on me with Willow" she began as tears began to fill in her brown eyes.

"I was extremely stupid," Xander noted as he pulled Cordelia in close to him.

"Do I have you guarantee that something like that it will never happen again?" she asked.

Xander nodded. "Yes. There is nothing between me and Willow. And even if I did like her, which I don't, it wouldn't matter."

"Why?"

Xander smiled slightly. "Well, there's someone new in Willow's life and it's romantically new, but" He sighed, wondering what the heck he was talking about. "Willow's a lesbian," he finally reveled.

"Oh," Cordelia began in shock. "Well, good for her then. If it makes her happy"

"Enough about Willow," Xander began. "It's time I put my girlfriend first," he added as he kissed Cordelia.

"I'm a girlfriend?" she asked in shock. "After we've been back together for less than ten minutes?"

"But the feelings never died between us!" Xander protested.

Cordelia smiled. "That's true," she said as she glanced out the window as the night was growing darker. "Well, it's late and this is LA, a lot of vamps. Could get dangerous," she noted. "You wanna stay here?" she offered.

Xander smiled as he stood up from the couch, offering his hand to Cordelia as well. "I'd be happy to," he said as he wrapped his arm around her thin body and began walking over towards Cordelia's bedroom.