I own none of the characters of Angel

Angel felt his blood turn cold. Not Cordy. Not his wonderful & beautiful Cordy. Wes finally spoke up.

"Can you tell us exactly what is going on?

"Well as result of her attack she had lost a lot of blood." Angel cringed. "We have transfused her and her blood count is back up to normal. At some point during her struggle she must have fallen."

Shoved hard to the ground is more like it. Angel thought as the doctor continued to speak.

"She hit her head and as a result her brain is swollen." They gang stood around in silent shock. Finally Fred spoke.

"How long?"

"We can't be sure. Hours, days, weeks, months, or years. It depends on the patient."

Years, did he just say years? This cannot be happening. I can't lose her. Angel thought

"Is there any brain damage?" Wes asked

"We won't know for sure until she wakes up." The doctor said "If you have anymore questions the nurse can page me. I have other patients to see." He said as he walked away.

"Angel, you should go and see her." Lorne said. He sensed the heartbreaking vibes coming from him.

"No, I can't. You guys go ahead. I'll wait."

"Are you sure?" Fred asked softly

"Yeah."

"Dad?" Angel turned and faced Conner. "Cordy is strong. She is a champion, just like you. She will pull through this."

"I hope your right." Angel replied softly

Angel stood outside in the hall and just watched his friends talking with the woman he loves. About 30 minutes later they all came out of the room.

"We are going to the cafeteria to eat. You wanna come?" Gunn asked

"Not hungry."

"Angelcakes, you need to eat." Lorne said

"Not hungry." He replied. The gang quickly gave up and left. That is when he finally went into Cordy's room. He sat down next to her bed and picked up her hand and gently kissed it.

"Cordy, sweet Cordy, you have to wake up. I can't do this without you. I need you. Please Cor, please wake up." Angel begged

He had once heard that people in commas could hear you when you talked to them so he decided to talk about the good times that they had together.

"Cordy, do you remember the time that you took me shopping at the mall for a new wardrobe. I didn't want to go but you kept pushing and pushing me. I finally gave up because I could never say no to you."

"Where the hell are we?" Angel asked

"It's called a mall, you dipshit. It's a building that houses lots of..." Angel interrupted her.

"I know what a mall is. Why did you bring me here? When you said shopping I thought we would go to Wal-Mart or something."

Cordy snorted. "My God, you are hopeless."

"I am not hopeless. I just don't care about shopping or clothes."

"Oh, you naïve little man. Don't you know that clothes make the man?" she said laughing

"I am not little."

Cordy continued to laugh, took his hand and proceeded to drag him into every store in that damn building that sold male clothing. After she had decided that she was satisfied with her purchases she then started dragging him to all of the girly stores.

"You have got to be kidding me." He said as they walked into the lingerie store.

"What, you have never seen women's underwear before." He glared at her.

"Yes but, this. What the hell is this?" He asked holding up a thong. Okay, that one he was not familiar with.

"It's a thong Angel"

"How does it work?" He said staring at it. Cordy took it from his hands and adjusted it to show him how a woman would wear it. He turned red, grabbed the thong from her hands and threw it back on the table.

"That just looks uncomfortable."

"Trust me, it isn't." Cordy said with a wink and walked away leaving Angel staring after her.

"God. Cordy, I was so embarrassed and as usual you took it all with ease. You know, those clothes are still hanging in my closet with the tags still on them. I don't know why you insist that I wear colors. I mean, black is a color right? I like black." Angel rambled on. There was still no sign of movement from the bed. He finally gave up and just sat there and watched her sleep. As he watched her sleep he the guilt that he had been feeling bubbled to the surface. It was his fault that Cordy was in this condition and he knew it. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder. He was so deep in thought, he didn't hear Buffy come in.

"How is she?"

"How do you think? She is in a coma." Angel snapped

"Easy there big guy."

"I did this to her." He said sadly

"No. Angelus did."

"Why, why the hell did she go out alone?"

"Because she loves you." Buffy said simply

"Well that is stupid. She knows what Angelus is capable of."

"Love makes you do crazy things."

Angel sat in silence for a few minutes. He then stood up and faced Buffy.

"You should have staked me." He said softly.

"What?" Buffy was shocked.

"You should have driven your stake into my cold, unbeating heart and dusted me."

"Angel..." Buffy began but he interrupted her.

"I don't deserve to live. Because of me, Cordy is in the hospital. Don't you get it? Everyone that I care about is at risk being around me." Angel voice was getting louder. The fang gang heard him and came into the room.

"I have enemy's everywhere and they will go after the people in my life. God, Buffy you have almost died before because of my enemy's. Wes, Justine slit your throat because of me. Lorne and Gunn, you almost died that night in the club because vamp hunters were after me. Conner, so many people and demons tried to kill you just because I am your father. That's not your fault. You didn't ask for this life but you are stuck with it because of me. And Fred, God Fred, I almost killed you. I probably would of if Cordy hadn't…. Cordy, look at what I did to her. She doesn't deserve to be lying here in a coma but she is all because I love her." Angel finished sadly

"Angel stop talking like that. None of this is your fault."

"Isn't it Wes? From where I am standing it's pretty damn apparent that it is."

The gang all started talking at once, all of them trying to ease his guilty conscious.

Angel held his hands up to get their attention." Hey guys, I am really sorry." He walked over to Buffy and gave her a hug and while doing so he slipped the stake out of her back pocket.

"Angel" Buffy said shocked. She tried to retrieve her stake but he pushed her away. He looked at his friends.

"I can't let anyone else get hurt because of me." He said as he held the stake up to his heart.