Got Yourself A Gunn

Author's Note: Don't Own Angel or any of the characters. Now read lol.

Chapter 11- Exposure

A Few Days Later

"Aim, swing, pull. Yeah like that, aim, swing, pull. See you're getting it."

"I think I'll just stick to my little axe, this is too much work."

"Quit complaining woman. You're doing fine."

Angel looked on from his punching bag over to Cordelia and Gunn bickering like usual as he showed her how to use his axe correctly. The two of them seemed to be bonding closer than ever, which kind of baffled him because there was an apocalypse due to occur next week. But with the exception of a few squabbles the two of them seemed to be closer than ever. He just assumed they were too busy to fight right now. Wesley and Fred had gone out to see some science exhibit, claiming that they needed a break. Considering that they had time until the really bad stuff was to happen Angel didn't even argue. They needed to be in the right state of mind and rest was needed. So now it was just him, Connor, Gunn, and Cordelia in the basement having a training session. It was kind of nice. Suddenly the sound of metal tearing through wood shook him from his thought and made Connor start wailing. Cordelia had slashed a crate in half.

"My bad?" She said as she looked up towards Angel and smiled slightly. Angel rolled his eyes before vamping out and attempted to console Connor while Gunn grinned and took the axe from her.

"Okay that's enough for now. The game's supposed to come on tonight anyway. I'm going home. Angel, you in?" Gunn asked as he started to pack up his duffle bag .

"No, I'm just gonna stay here and watch Connor. You guys go and enjoy yourselves. We all deserve a little rest. Wesley and Fred should be back soon so I can go on patrol."

"Look at you, all growed up." Cordelia joked as she grinned at Angel. He smiled back, his face back to normal. Walking up to kiss Connor on the forehead, Cordelia hugged Angel as well.

"See you tomorrow. Call me if you need me." Cordelia told him. Angel nodded.

"I will, I promise." With that he gave her one last smile before picking up Connor and walking back up the stairs. Cordelia looked after him thoughtfully. She worried about him a lot. All he had was Connor. Yeah he still had them but it wasn't the same. She had Gunn now and she was pretty sure Wesley and Fred were starting to move towards something. Things were different.

"What's wrong Barbie?" Gunn asked as he started to head up the steps with her. Cordelia shook her head.

"Nothing, just worried about Angel. Connor's the best thing that ever happened to him. I just want him to be happy but it's pretty obvious things aren't the way they used to be." Gunn regarded her in understanding.

"You mean the love connection syndrome going on around here? Yeah I know. But Angel knows that we'll still be here and he's not alone. I know the history you guys have, and I'm not trying to ruin that. Hell, you're the only one who keeps him grounded. Do you want to stay here?" Gunn asked thoughtfully.

"No. I just worry about him sometimes. I want to spend my night with you watching that stupid basketball game."

"Hey! See you done messed up already clowning my basketball game. You're lucky I got it bad for you cause I'd ban you from my apartment for that kind of blashphemy." Gunn told her as he opened the front door. Cordelia rolled her eyes.

"Whatever doofus." At that she pulled on his ear making him yelp. Looking back at her with scheming eyes, Gunn started to chase her to the truck making her squeal as she tried to evade him. He caught up to her and scooped her up over his shoulder, with her hitting him on the back all the while.

"Let me go Gunn, before I have to take off these earrings and beat your ass!" She yelled. Gunn only grinned harder before opening the passenger side and setting her in. Cordelia kicked him in the stomach.

"Son of a bitch!" he shouted as he bent over in pain. Cordelia smirked evilly at first but then her face turned to concern when she saw him still doubled over.

"Are you ok? I didn't mean to kick you that…." She started but he rose up expectedly and pulled her into an intense kiss. Okay, he won. She was officially caught off guard. What an ass! But damn he was still a hell of a kisser.

'Okay my brain's going to shut down now.' She thought as she felt his tongue flicker across hers.

"I hate you." She told him grumpily as he pulled away and walked over to the driver's side. He grinned as he got in and turned the ignition. Cordelia was pouting the whole time. She hated when he got the best of her.

"I know."

Gunn's Apartment

"Weclome to casa de Gunn." Gunn said as he opened the door for Cordelia. She just gave him a look.

"You act like I've never been here before Gunn."

"Yeah, for what, all of 10 minutes when your car broke down up the street. Now you get to see the Lion's Den. Just make yourself at home while I go grab us a couple of cold ones." Closing the door behind him he put his duffle bag on the ground and turned on the lights so Cordelia could find her way to the couch.

"I'm feeling the hominess already." Cordelia said sarcastically as she sat down on the couch. It was just a normal cloth couch with a coffee table right in front of it. Cd's, video games, comics, and magazines throw across. Cordelia smirked. If it wasn't for the wooden stake and the dagger on the coffee table, she would have said it was a regular bachelor pad. Just goes to show how not normal they really were. Gunn walked back in a few seconds later with two beers and a bowl of pretzels. Wow.

"Never thought I'd turn into a couch potato until I met you. You sure do a lot of nothing to be so physically fit." Cordelia teased as she took the beer bottle from him.

"Look here woman, this physique of mine is here to stay, couch or no couch. But since we're on MY couch, we're going to sit here and watch this game and I'm going school you on this. You've lived in L.A for what, 3 almost 4 years and don't even own Lakers jersey. Shame on you Cordy."

"I'm so sorry that I bring shame to your clan of geekdom, Charlie." She said with pure snarkiness taking a swig of her beer before she unexpectedly let out a belch making Gunn raise his eyebrow before laughing out loud. He loved this girl.

"Is is wrong that I find that impressive display of your masculine side a little sexy?" He joked. She pouted her lips out at him.

"Did you just call me masculine? That was not cool." Gunn shook his head before cupping her face and moving closer to her. She could feel the heat from him already warming her body to temps that it didn't need to be at. Good god.

"No, there's not anything manly about you Cordelia. You are definitely all woman." At that he began to kiss her on her neck and she started to caress his back. He knew what this was. Another hot and steamy make-out session fixing to happen. Better turn on the t.v before we get too far into it. They were beating around the bush when it came to being intimate and they both new it. Gunn was worried about rushing her, Cordelia was worried that she was holding back too much. Both of them however agreed that they could worry about their love life after everything with Connor was taken care of. Cordelia pulled back and sighed.

"We are obviously noobs when it comes to this aren't we?" She said chuckling dryly. Gunn sighed to himself and nodded. They truly were.

"Yeah, we are. It's kind of sad that two cool people like us suck when it comes to relationships. But you know what? If I had to start somewhere I'm glad it was with you. I don't think any other woman would give me the excitement you're giving me right about now."

"You think I'm exciting?" She said non-believing. "All I do is work and sit in my apartment reading and watching bad television on Friday nights with a ghost. I am hardly exciting. I've gone from living like the Trumps to the dumps in less than 5 years time. I'm not exactly looking forward to my 10 year high school reunion here." Gunn shook his head as he took another swig of his beer and grab a handful of pretzel.

"You said it yourself, you're not the same person you used to be. Hell, you and Wesley were probably two of the lamest people I've ever met when I first met ya'll. But looks can be deceiving. I thought you were cute back then. I think you're gorgeous now. Who cares if you suck as an actress?"

"Hey!" Cordelia shouted out in indignation. Gunn just rolled his eyes and continued.

"Well you do. Look, point is, even as vain as you still are, I care about you. I don't care if we can't get VIP tickets to the clubs or afford to even walk in some of those stores you love so much. We can go out dancing or sit here and watch the game. As long as we're together, it's all good with me."

"That was the sweetest way of telling me how boring I am I have ever heard." She said as she leaned across him and placed her head on his chest. Without warning she burped on more time before giving him a sheepish, embarrassing smile. She put the beer bottle she was holding down on the table.

"Sorry."

He just wrapped his arms around her and turned up the t.v since the game had been on for atleast 15 minutes already. He was watching it halfway anyway. With Cordelia snuggled up against his chest, everything else had to take a seat back. He had officially turned into a goober. And it was the best feeling he had ever had in his life.

Towards the end of the game

"Iverson needs to sit that shit down cause he ain't fucking with Kobe! Look baby, look at how he's handling the rock. No kind of skills." Cordelia rolled her eyes at him for the umpteenth time that night. No matter how hard she tried to fall asleep on this man's chest he always found a way to keep her engaged. She just wanted some closage with him. Apparently the guy named Iverson was not on Gunn's favorites list.

"The rock is the basketball right? Well, he looks like he's got some skills to me." Cordelia told him as she watched the Iverson guy make some guy on the Lakers almost break an ankle. How anybody managed to watch this crap for hours was beyond her comprehension.

"What? Cordy you can't be saying shit like that in here. This is a Lakers sanctuary, that kind of language ain't allowed." At his sudden outburst, Cordelia almost giggled at how big his eyes had gotten at her statement. And she thought Gunn had trust issues. Well, she mentally moved Laker's obsession to number 1 on Gunn's major issues list. Typical man.

"Jeez Gunn. I retract all previous statements. And hey, did you eat all of the pretzels! I only had like two handfuls!" She asked suddenly catching him off guard. Looking at the empty bowl in front of her and about 4 bottles of beer it was obvious Gunn was probably in his man zone.

"Oh. Yeah my bad." He said not even turning his head. Apparently the game was coming to a close because Gunn looked like he was on the edge of his seat. Cordelia sat up and moved closer over to him.

"What's going on?"

"Philly's up by 7 points and there's only 22 seconds left on the clock. It's a wrap for us." He told her obvious upset. Cordelia looked on as the time ticked down and the buzzer sounded ending the game.

"Damn."

"Well, look at it this way, unlike most men you had me sitting next to you watching a basketball game. That should be enough to negate anything else." She told him playfully but in a deadpan serious tone. He smiled at that. She was right. Kobe might have lost but Gunn himself had definitely won for the night.

"So now what?" She asked him moments later.

"Dunno. It's pretty late. If you want you can stay here tonight, I can crash on the couch." He offered as he sat up to stretch. He had been frozen on the edge of his seat for the past hour and was tensed up because of it.

"Staying the night at a boy's house? How unladylike." She teased before getting up.

"What is this, the 60's? Anyway think about it, I gotta piss." He told her before making his way to the bathroom. Cordelia watched as he left and mischievously followed him. Noticing Gunn didn't close the door all of the way she smirked to herself. He was definitely a bachelor. She pushed on it slowly causing it to creak slowly. Moments later she heard the sound of Gunn hitting something and yelling before the sound of the toilet flushing and the sink running. As soon as the door opened he was greeted to the wide, toothy smile of his girlfriend.

"You think you're funny huh?" He asked her with a look on his face. Cordelia only nodded.

"This shiner on my leg thinks otherwise. So what's up?" He asked as he leaned against the frame of the door.

"Let me take a look at your shower." Gunn looked at her with eyebrows raised as she stepped past him and inspected his shower. What, she thought he couldn't keep a clean place. If he didn't remember anything else from his youth, it was grandma driving it in his head that you always kept your kitchen and your bathroom clean at all times.

"Hey now I keep a clean bathroom. Spend quite a lot of time in here too." Cordelia snorted.

"With a dirty magazine and a bottle of lotion I presume?" she shot back with vigor.

"Bite me Cordelia."

"You'd like that wouldn't you? But yeah, I'll stay. You got anything to sleep in? I'm not staying in these clothes." She told him as of matter-of-factly. Gunn expected as much. Cordelia may not have been the outwardly heartless bitch she claimed she used to be, but she was still high maintenance as a fuck.

"I got a tee and some sweats. You are definitely a hard person to please. Looks like I got some work to do huh?" He said as he went to fetch her some washcloths and sleepwear.

"You can bet your last dollar on that pal. But all jokes aside, thank you. I promise you I don't leave hair in the sink." She told him as she leaned across his chest and grinned at him when he returned.

"Good, cause I'm a tell you right now. I'll be dead and gone before the maintenance man comes back around here. I'm a go get the bed made for you."

Kissing her on the forehead before shutting the door behind him, he let himself drift into thought. Everything seemed to be happening so quickly. Just almost two weeks ago, he and Cordelia were beating around the bush about their feelings for each other and now they were spending almost every night together. Not to mention there was an apocalypse on the horizon. It almost made Gunn's head hurt how much had happened in such a short amount of time. But he and Cordy were definitely comfortable enough to spend the enough at each other's place. Thinking about her in his shower right now, hot water dripping down her naked body was making him horny as hell. He was so ready to explore Cordelia in a way no man had ever done before it was killing him to keep his composure sometimes. It was a losing battle but he was going to let things unfold on their own. It tends to work out better that way.

A few minutes later Cordelia stepped out of the bathroom holding her clothes and her towel around her body. Gunn automatically noticed how her breasts were practically overflowing over the top of the towel. And how damn attractive her legs were. He never noticed that before, but then again he'd never seen her almost completely naked before either. Cordelia narrowed her eyes at him before going into his room to change. Gunn laughed to himself and went to get his cloths to take his shower.

After getting his shower and putting on his sleeping attire, he went into his room to see Cordelia looking at the picture of Alonna and the picture of her, Wesley, and himself on his nightstand. Sitting next to her, she looked up to him with a slight smile.

"She was a very beautiful girl Gunn." She told him softly. He nodded. He missed his baby sister every day. It was nice to sit and reflect every once in a while. Time had made things a little easier and it wasn't nearly as painful to think of her now.

"Yeah, she was. I remember when she was about 15 and I caught her kissing one of her friends, Terrence. He was scared shitless that we would beat the hell out of him. Kissing the top dog's baby sister was a very ballsy and stupid thing to do. But Alonna told me I needed to stop trying to be her daddy and just be her big brother. And to stop making a big deal out of one kiss and go get me some so I wouldn't be so anal." At that he chuckled as did Cordelia. She really did like to hear about Gunn's past, he had heard so much about hers, especially that night with the tequila. But he never really opened up much about his past until now.

"Must have been nice to have someone like that. You know I'm an only child. It took me getting cheated on by the two people I tortured most of my childhood and adolescent life and almost being sacrificed at graduation to find out what it was like to have true friends. I told you about Xander and Willow didn't I?"

"Yeah, best friends with a friendship that almost resembled incest. You dated Xander or as you like to call him the Zeppo." Gunn recalled as if it had been drilled into his head a thousand times. He paused as if he had just remembered something.

"Wait, that cute redhead that was here after we came back from Pylea, that was her?" Cordelia nodded.

"Yep. Before I came to L.A, me and Xander patched things up as did me and Willow. We actually became friends after a life time of hating each other and then pretending to. They threw me a going away party before I left. The only ones who were there were the Scoobies. So like I said, I haven't had that many people like that in my life. It must have been nice." And it was true, she really didn't have true friends until she met up with Angel again here in L.A.

"Behind all of that fashionista, sarcastic shit you put on, there's a really smart woman. You ain't the only one who can see through exteriors." He told her in all seriousness. She curled her lips a bit in a way that drove Gunn wild. That's what he wanted to see. Cordelia the woman, not the bitch or the celebrity wanna be, or even as Vision girl. He just wanted to get to know her.

"Shh. Don't tell anybody." She teased as she looked him over. He had on a grey t-shirt with a pair of grey Lakers sweats. What a surprise. But he looked so damn hot, she could see the contours of his pecs sticking out of the shirt. She was getting hot again. She was still having trouble believe that she had Gunn under her nose the whole time and was just now realizing how happy she was to be dating him. She couldn't wait until things quieted down. If they didn't die first that is.

"I'm going to go ahead and get some sleep. Goodnight Cordelia." Kissing her softly as she leaned up to kiss him, he could feel the attraction pulling them. It was surreal how much chemistry the two of them had between each other. It was even more surprising they had known each other this long without fucking each other's brains out.

"Night." She told him gently as she moved her hand down to his and squeezed it. With that Gunn threw her a look before shutting the door behind him.

Walking back into the living room he shut off the lights and straighten up the couch so he could get comfortable. He felt pretty good about how things were going between the two of them. The next couple of days were going to get pretty rough. Angel and Wesley had translated the text from the scroll and were gathering the ingredients needed for that spell to the Beast's home dimension. Angel had told them to enjoy the next few days because once they left there was a chance they wouldn't be coming back. What else was knew? All Gunn knew that there was always something to fight for. He'd do what he had to. Angel fought for Connor, he was fighting for the chance to live instead of die this time around. How things change. Fluffing his pillow before laying down he let himself finally go to sleep.

Author's Note: Well, the calm before the storm so to speak. Angel Inc. is finally preparing to make a move on the big bad and Cordelia and Gunn have to deal with unresolved sexual tension among other things. As I write this I think that I will continue even after the big bad is dealt with so I can focus more on Cordelia and Gunn's growing relationship and their issues. They've been so caught up in the drama and themselves, life hasn't had a chance to creep in on them yet lol. To those who are reading and/or have reviewed, thank you so much. Just goes to show that someone's interested and I hope I'm doing the characters justice. Until next time Hell Yeah!