We've Lost Her - Sequel
Author: Nitrowugs
Rating: PG for off-color words
Pairings: C/A; mention of B/A confrontation
Feedback: Please. Constructive criticism is always welcomed and appreciated.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything associated with BtVS or AtS. (Characters, plots and dialogue from the shows are borrowed with no infringement intent whatsoever.)
Distribution: Please ask and let me know where it's going.
Written: 04/14/2015
Summary: After the events of 'We've Lost Her,' Angel returns to Los Angeles.
A/N1: This is my response to requests for a sequel. You might want to read 'We've Lost Her' first.
A/N2: Thoughts are in single quotes (' ').
Part 1
Angel stepped harder on the accelerator of his old car as it sped down the highway toward Los Angeles. His thoughts were completely filled with the events of his brief visit to Sunnydale, particularly his encounter with Buffy. He didn't completely understand what had happened. He knew that Buffy had to be hurt by the loss of her sister, but he really did not understand how she could blame him for Dawn's death, after all, he was not even in Sunnydale when it happened.
He had not actually intended to see Buffy or her friends; his only intentions for the visit to the city where his former love lived were strictly to deliver Cordy's belongings to her mother and to get back to LA as soon as possible. However, as he was so painfully reminded, with him things seldom go as planned.
Begin Flashback
On his way to Sunnydale he remembered that there was a magic shop in the town and he thought it might be a good idea to see if the proprietor had anything that might help Cordy, if not cure her, then at least ease her suffering. He, Wesley and the rest of the AI team had done all they could think of and they had run out of ideas. It seemed that whatever disease inflicted her was so rare that none of the US medical centers had ever heard of it before. That told Wesley that it was possibly magic in origin, but nothing he did revealed anything spell related.
As Angel left the tiny apartment that Cordy's mother now occupied, he wondered briefly if the tax evasion crimes that her father had committed were actually worth it, after all her father was now in prison, her mother was reduced to almost poverty and, without him and AI, Cordy would be suffering the same misfortune.
Thinking of Cordy, he wanted to get out of Sunnydale and back to her as soon as possible. She was very important to the AI team, very important to him. He hoped that she didn't notice the injury to his neck that Buffy had caused because this would cause her undue stress. He had changed into a black turtle neck sweater and a pair of black pants before he left Willow's house; hopefully the sweater would be enough to cover the still very painful wound. It was fortunate that the sweater was in the small bag containing a change of clothes that he kept in the trunk of his car.
He parked in front of The Magic Shop and startled as the bell over the door jingled when he entered. An attractive woman with a pleasant voice greeted him. Before he could tell her the reason for his visit, Willow almost ran into Giles' back when he stopped abruptly as the two of them came from the back of the shop.
Giles greeted him coolly. "Angel, to what do we owe the pleasure?"
Willow was her usual pleasant self as she greeted him with a hug. "Angel, it's so nice to see you. What brings you to Sunnydale?"
Angel hugged Willow briefly before informing them of the reason for his visit.
"If the owner of The Magic Emporium in LA can't help you, then I'm sure that I can't," Giles told Angel. "After all, theirs is a much more extensive assortment of products than mine. On more than one occasion I have had to reach out to them for less available items requested by my customers."
Orally Angel accepted Giles' words, but mentally he wondered if Giles would've helped if he actually could've.
Even though Willow knew that Giles would give her a ride home, she insisted that Angel give her a ride back to her house so they could catch up. Angel didn't really want to, but he did so because he reasoned that it was not safe for her to walk home alone after dark and, after all, she had been nice to him.
"I'll just get my purse," Willow told him as she excused herself and returned to the back of the store. Unknown to Angel, she used this time to call Xander and ask him to come over as soon as he saw Angel's car pull up at her house.
End Flashback
That was how he happened to be in Willow's house when Buffy arrived and that was how he ended up with a stake through his larynx.
Part 2
It was almost three o'clock in the morning when Angel got back to LA. He tried to remember when exactly things started to go so wrong as he walked into the private care facility that Cordy had insisted on when her face first started breaking out and it was suggested that she needed to go to a hospital.
Another Flashback
"I'll pull the car around front," Angel had offered.
"Ohh no you don't," Cordy had protested; "I'm not walking into some public hospital looking like this." She walked over to her desk to get her purse. "Here." She shoved a business card at Angel. "Here's the card for the hospital with the doctor's name that I want to see. He did my mom's boob job several years ago. She said he was excellent. Have them send their private ambulance."
The other team members looked at Angel who only nodded his head and dutifully followed her orders. When it was determined that Cordy's stay at the facility would be longer than originally expected, she automatically signed for herself for an unlimited stay expecting full well that Angel would automatically be responsible for her bills.
During one of their visits shortly after Cordy first went to the hospital, Gunn had casually mentioned, "Wow, Cordy, this place must be costing you a small fortune."
"Pfft, I can't afford this place on what Angel pays me, but he can."
"Where would Angel get money for a place like this?" Wesley asked. "After all, he hasn't had a source of income in over two-hundred-and-fifty years."
"No, but Angelus has. I'm sure that he has money stashed away somewhere, and if that's the case, then Angel knows where it is and how to get it."
Everyone was appalled that she would even suggest such a thing. Angel tried to reason with her.
"Cordy, the money that Angelus put away has blood on it; it came from the people that he killed. I can't touch that money."
This made her very angry. "And why the hell not? It's not like he will be needing it any time soon. Anyway, you're the one who signed me in; that makes you responsible for my bills. If the only way you can pay these bills is with Angelus' money, then get it."
The others fully expected that Angel would put his foot down and stand up to Cordy for once. Instead he just sat there with his head down while she looked at them with a self-satisfied smirk on her face.
Now after almost three years in the hospital, Cordy's condition had continued to deteriorate from bad to worse to life threatening and Angel's last source of funds was rapidly drying up. When he mentioned the money situation to Wesley and Gunn, they were appalled.
"I told you years ago that you should move her to a less expensive facility, but you wouldn't listen," Gunn told Angel. "What are you going to do now?"
"I don't know, Gunn. My last resort is to sell the hotel. With all of the upgrades that I've made to it over the years, it is worth a lot more now than I paid for it."
"And after you pay off the two mortgages you still won't have the money you need," Wesley told him. "Besides, where will you live?"
"I don't need much; I'm sure I could find a crypt somewh..."
"Man, don't even think about it." Gunn was mad as hell. "I have watched you since I came to work here. You have indulged, pampered and coddled Cordelia to the point of being sickening. You have let her take away your dignity and self-respect and reduce you to little more than a simpering idiot. It's a good thing you can't see yourself in the mirror because Angelus wouldn't even recognize you."
He turned and stalked out of Angel's office and tried very hard not to slam the glass door. Angel and Fred called after him, but Gunn ignored them both.
"Let him go," was Wesley's advice; "you know him, he'll come back once he's cooled down."
"Is that what the rest of you think of me?"
No one said anything at first, then Fred finally spoke up and said softly, without looking at him, "Pretty much." She looked up then and continued, "But I understand; you love her so much."
The look on Angel's face told a completely different story.
"But I thought..." Fred started.
"So did I," Angel interrupted, "a long time ago, long before Cordy got sick."
Wesley couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Gods, man, why didn't you put a stop to it?"
"I didn't know how."
"You have a foot, you simply put it down. That stops it." Gunn said from the doorway. "Now let's put our heads together and see how we are going to get out of this mess."
Angel nodded. Wesley and Fred smiled as Gunn re-entered the office.
"So what do you suggest we do, Charles?" Fred hoped he, or someone, had some ideas.
"Well, to start, I suggest we pool our resources, all of us move into the hotel, stop taking salaries from the business, turn AI into a day-time investigations firm where we charge all customers by the hour instead of by the job, and take back all of the money you've banked for Cordy since she's been hospitalized."
Wesley mouth was hanging open. "Wait a minute; you've been paying Cordy's salary the whole time she's been in the hospital and still paying for her apartment and her hospital bills?"
When Angel didn't answer, Wesley said, "Now I feel like walking out. I agree with Gunn, you are a simpering idiot."
Both Angel and Fred flinched at his words, but neither said anything.
End of Flashback
'Well not anymore,' Angel thought regretfully as he approached Cordy's room; 'I'm taking back my life. There is no way for me to make things right with Buffy, but as of this moment I can stop being the simpering idiot that everybody takes me for.'
When he entered the room he saw Cordy hooked up to a machine that hadn't been there when he was last here. 'What is going on?'
He turned to look for the nurse on rotation in Cordy's room who was reading and hadn't noticed him. "Oh, Mr. Angel, I didn't see you there. The doctor asked me to let you know that he would like to see you."
A few minutes later Angel returned to Cordy's room. He was saddened to hear what the doctor had to say about her condition. The life support system that she was on would sustain her for only a day or two, but she was heavily sedated and felt no pain. There was nothing more that medical science could do for her.
Angel left the hospital and returned to his room in the Hyperion Hotel. On his door was a note from Wesley asking to be awakened when Angel returned. Because of the lateness of the hour, Angel waited until the next morning to tell the AI team members what the doctor had told him. They were all saddened to hear the news. Fred wept.
Cordelia died the next evening. All of the AI team members were at her side when she died. Her body was cremated per instructions from her mother and Wesley took her ashes to her mother in Sunnydale. While there he stopped by the Magic Shop to tell Giles of her passing. Giles thanked him for coming; Willow, as expected, wept upon hearing the news; Xander held his head down, also saddened to hear of Cordy's death; Buffy showed no emotion whatsoever.
When Wesley returned to LA, he met with the AI team, informed them of the reception that he had received in Sunnydale and asked Angel if he knew why. It was then that they learned about Angel's actions, or lack of action, when Buffy called asking for help, a lack of action that was the direct cause of Dawn's death.
If he expected his friends to be understanding and supportive, he was seriously mistaken. Not surprisingly, Wesley was the most outspoken of them all.
"It's no secret that I never supported your relationship with the slayer. I always felt that you were beneath her. You have once again proven me right. How could you knowingly let an innocent girl die while you chose to take Cordelia dancing?" His voice continued to rise until he was almost shouting as he stood up, knocking his chair backward as he rose. "I cannot work with you anymore, Angel. Knowing this, I cannot."
"Neither can I, Angel," Gunn said, also standing up; "neither can I."
Fred was the last to stand. "I'm sorry, Angel. I feel the same as they do."
"It's ok, guys, I understand. I'm not staying in LA. I'm going home, back to where I started. Maybe I can find myself again. I wish you all well."
Angel left the office then, packed what he wanted to take with him and left the hotel planning never to return to the US.
Two weeks later Buffy received a letter that contained the following message from Angel:
Buffy,
I realize that it was my lack of action that caused you to lose your sister. I deeply regret that.
Along the way I lost my purpose and myself after I left you.
I hope that someday you will find it in your heart to forgive me. I know that I do not deserve it.
Angel
"Damn right you don't deserve it," was Buffy's only reaction to the letter as she ran it through the shredder in what was formerly her mother's office. She eventually returned to her studies at UC Sunnydale where she got her bachelors and masters degrees in psychology, during which time she also kept the demon population in Sunnydale under control.
Six months following her twenty-ninth birthday and during the last year of her masters studies, Buffy sent registered letters to Giles and the Watchers Council informing them that she was retiring in six months on her thirtieth birthday and she was willing to work with the next slayer for those six months to prepare her for life on the hellmouth.
After receiving her letter and discussing it with Giles, the Watchers Council decided to send three of their most experienced personnel to Sunnydale; their objective was to permanently close the hellmouth. The three of them enlisted help from Wesley and Giles and the five of them, using blood from Buffy, were successful.
On July 3rd following the close of the hellmouth, Willy showed up on Buffy's doorstep with a brief note from Spike:
Buffy,
You're free now, Pet; he'll never hurt you again.
Spike
PS: Put a white rose on Niblet's grave for me and tell her that I love her and that she's the little sister that I never had.
Buffy shed tears for her sister all over again, also for Spike because she knew she would never see him again and she was losing a good friend.
She enrolled at UCLA where she received her doctorate degree. That is also where she met and fell in love with Walter, her doctorate advisor. When she found out that he was also a professor of demon studies, she almost ended the relationship until the professor convinced her otherwise. He knew of her history, not her relationship with Angel, but about her being the slayer and about the death of her sister.
Buffy and Walter were married two years after she received her doctorate. Together the two of them had three beautiful children and they lived a long and happy life together.
Buffy's alertness and attention to detail never wavered and she never forgot her sister. Even though Spike's note left her with peace in her heart, she never forgave Angel for her sister's death.
The end