-CORDELIA'S POV-
"Cordelia!" I hear a voice speaking through the darkness.
"Cordelia.. Rise and shine sweet heavens pie." The voice continues, faintly. Yet, I can't seem to open my eyes. I felt cold, but nothing else. I don't even sense a presence of any sort that could be speaking to me. I don't even sense my presence.
Okay, PTB, is this just another one of you torturous jokes you have? Okay, okay. Bravo. Can we move on now?
"Cordelia.. What on the great green earth are you talking about?" I heard the voice say, yet this time, the voice is familiar.. I am slowly able to open my eyes.
"Lorne?" I start sitting up, confused.. "But you… you're dead.. But now, you're here?" Shocked, but finding myself completely happy. I jump up and hug him. Yet, my strength isn't up to speed.
"Whoa there sugar plum," He says as he catches my weak fall.. I embrace him in our hug. "What are you talking about? I'm more alive than I have ever been! Did you have a little something weird to eat before you went to bed, darling?" He looks at me curiously, while looking around my room to see if anything was off.
Wait, this isn't my room. This, this looks an awful lot like a Wolfram & Hart room.
"What? No.. I.. I'm not sure what's going on right now." I say, rubbing my head as if I just got knocked out and woke up from a coma.
Our attention is drawn to another person that is walking into the room. I strain my eyes to get the focused on what seems to be a mans tall dark silhouette.
"Cordy!" He says with a smile, "I made you some—"
His sentence gets cut off by me jumping up, weakly, to hug him.
"Angel?" I mutter into his ear as we hug.
Seeming quite surprised, but in the moment. Angel tightly hugs me back, smiling, giving Lorne a thumbs up.
"Way to go big guy, listen. I'll let you two kids have some time.. Acting like you haven't seen each other for years" Lorne says, chuckling, while leaving the room.
"Angel," I say to him as I pull away from our hug, "What's going on? He's dead, you're dead. I'm with the Powers That Be. You guys died in the final battle. How am I in my room? Why is my room in Wolfram & Hart?" I mumble so quickly that I doubt he picked up on any of that. This just doesn't make any sense.
"Whoa, Cordy." He says, motioning me to sit down as he puts a warm plate of my favorite breakfast on my lap. "Calm down, and eat this. I made it for you." Angel always speaks with a charming smile, but something strange was going on this time.
"Alright, what are you up to, bubba?" I say in a serious tone, laying the plate of food on the night stand next to me.
"What are you talking about, Cordy? Are you alright?" He says to me while observing me. It seems as though his eyes were wondering my face for faults. Although, I was doing the same to him.
"Nothing.." I say unsure of my thoughts, "It must have been a bad dream."
Angel tilts his head, "What happened?"
I think about telling him what really happened, or what I thought happened.. But other words slip out.
"You know what.. I don't remember now. You know how that dreaming stuff goes. You forget after you wake up, darn. But that's alright." My voice stuttering and quick. "I'm just going to go get cleaned up and I'll meet you somewhere, out there. Okay?" I offer an insisting smile and Angel nods his head almost curiously and walks out of my room.
I find myself pacing back and forth thinking to myself.
What is going on here? I know I'm not crazy, this is all real. Well, hopefully it's all real and I'm not crazy. *Takes a deep heavy breath in* What if I am crazy? What if that was really all a dream? No! Stop it Cordelia! You were with the Powers That Be. You watched it all happen. Your imagination is so not that disturbingly vivid. *Sighs* Okay, I have to figure this out. I'm in Wolfram & Hart, that shouldn't be too hard.
I quickly shower and get dressed. I step out of my room in shock.
"Okay, this place is a lot bigger than I remember." I say to myself.
"It's exactly the same silly." I heard a voice say. A girl with a light country twang in her voice.
"Fred? You're ali- Uh. I mean hi!" I say as I hug her tightly.
"Oh, well good morning to you too, Cordy." She says with a bit of a giggle. "How are you?"
I stand there thinking to myself. Fred is always the go to person when you have some unbelievable creepy things going on.
"Well.. You know what.. I'm great." I couldn't spit out what I swear had happened. I can't imagine how that would make anyone feel. Oh hi, I'm Cordelia, your best friend, and I know I saw you die. Nope. Not going there.
I continue with a gentle smile, "How are you, Fred?"
"Oh I'm great. I've been working on a theory." She says, excitedly.
"A theory? You know, I'd love to hear it, but I am supposed to go meet Angel somewhere. Where's his office at, again?" I say kindly, with a desperate but subtle panic to not hear that theory.
"You don't remember? We all go in there everyday." She says, concerned. She is smart enough to know that something is up by now.
"You know me," I say with a small chuckle. "Space cadet, Cordy"
"Cordy.. If something was… wrong.. You know you could talk to me about it.. Right?" She insists with a light tone, but in all seriousness.
"I know, Fred. Thank you." I reply, speaking softly.
She gives me a bright smile like she always does, "Good. Oh, um.. Angel's office is that way." She points past Harmony's desk, to these big doors. "I heard there's a meeting though. Some business stuff, you know. You might have to just wait for a second. A quick second."
I kindly thank her as she scurries off, oddly. But I figure that's how Fred normally is.
"Cordy!" I hear a voice say to me. My face squints hoping it's not—
My thoughts get cut off as Harmony jumps up from her desk and runs over to give me a hug.
"Hey, Harmony!" I say with a light chuckle, and slightly fake smile. "Look, I'd love to chat but I really need to talk to Angel right now."
"Oh he's like totally in a meeting." She says in her normal, preppy voice. "He told me to keep you here though. You know, so he can talk with you when he's done." She says with a smile.
"Oh! Great!" I say, in a rather sarcastic tone.
-MEANWHILE, IN THE MEETING. ANGEL'S POV-
"No! She can't know what's happening. I don't want anyone to tell Cordy what's going on." I say in a stern voice. I just want to protect her. "Do you all understand me?"
Wes, Gunn and Lorne all agree and nod their heads. Fred joins and nods her head as she walks in.
"She's not one to underestimate though." Wes speaks gently. "She will figure it out, sooner or later."
I try to ignore what he's saying, but it's true. Cordy was always the one who was able to figure things out.
"Yeah, I mean.. when have we ever been able to successfully keep secrets from each other?" Fred continues, as she sits down. "Sorry I'm late, Angel. I ran into her. She wants to talk with you"
"I know." I say, letting out a sigh. "Guys, It's our job to make sureshe doesn't figure things out. Not yet. Not until those idiot Powers That Be decide to come clean."
I hear some banging and a couple of screams as two girls crash through my office doors. The meetings attention is now focused on them.
"Sorry bossy, I tried to hold her down but.. She kicks ass." Harmony says, then I glance over at Cordy.
"Cordy" I say, "What are.. What are you doing?" As myself and the others try to act natural.
"Don't you 'Cordy' me, bubba." She says as she get's up off of Harmony. "Until the Powers That Be come clean about what?"
No one knew what to say to Cordelia.
