All You Have To Do Is Smile
By Kyizi
Disclaimer: Angel and all related items do not belong to me; only the story is mine. No copyright infringement intended.
Rating: PG-13
Distribution: Please ask.
Pairing: Cordy/Angel
Spoilers: Up to the end of season 2.
Feedback: please, it makes me smile :)
E-mail: kyizifanfic hotmail. com
Yahoo! Group: Kyizific
Notes: This chapter was sponsored by Shannon. Thank you for giving me something to write about, honey! I'm glad you like the story, sorry it took so long.
To find out more about sponsoring a chapter of one of my fics, post on my Yahoo group, KyiziFic, or email me at the above address.
xxxxx
xxxxx
"Miss Imogene," Angel greeted with a smile and she couldn't stop the flush that graced her cheeks. He smirked, realising that he could have a lot of fun with that if it continued when they got home. When, not if. He had brought her back in time, however that had happened, and he was going to get her home.
"Liam, it's nice to see you again."
There was a snicker from the corner and he turned to look at Wee Jimmy, shaking his head at the man's attempt to look repentant. "It's nat nice t' tease a lady o' breedin'," Angel said with mock haughtiness.
"Then you're definitely goin' ta hell, Liam."
Angel laughed. Wee Jimmy didn't know how close he was to the truth. Angel would indeed go to hell…that was, he had been to hell…and he had since discovered that time travel was a hell in and of itself.
"Our Liam, well, there's a sight fer sore eyes," Aunt Ella said with a grin, entering the room and giving Angel a hug. "Are ye takin' Miss Imogene fer dinner again?"
"If she wants to come."
"I'd love to," Cordelia replied with a smile and Angel grinned back.
They hadn't spoken much the previous night and he smirked as he remembered exactly what they had done. He hadn't taken things too far, but it had been a long time since he had been that aroused doing nothing but kissing…and a little groping, he conceded.
After agreeing that they had to stop, Angel was glad she had said it or he would have been more than happy to have taken her against the shed, Liam had few morals and he had been Liam again for a while, they had travelled the rest of the way to Aunt Ella's in silence. The trip hadn't been awkward, although he thought it likely should have been, instead they had continued to smile and steal glances at each other. It was the kind of foreplay he thrived on and with no curse in his way…
"Liam, are ye all right?"
"F-fine, I'm fine," he said, clearing his throat. "In fact, Cathy was asking, Miss Imogene, if ye'd like t' come 'round now and feed the horses wit' her." When Cordelia nodded, he reached out to offer her his arm, knocking over a flower vase and spilling the contents onto the floor. "Oh, God, I'm sorry," he replied and instantly bend to pick them up.
" 's all right, Liam, ye've been a clutz since ye were a lad, I'm used to it," Aunt Ella said with a smile, bending down to help. "You been teachin' him those fancy American accents, Miss Imogene."
"Yes," Cordelia replied instantly and it was then that Angel realised he had slipped into the accent he had become accustomed to using for the last few hundred years.
"Off wit' ye," Ella said, shooing him away from the mess. "I'll expect Miss Imogene home at a reasonable time t'night, shall I?"
Angel had the grace to look apologetic as he stood and offered Cordelia his arm, making sure, this time, that there was nothing in his way. They made their way out of the house and down the street and soon they were on the path leading to Angel's family home.
They didn't speak and both were aware that the awkwardness that hadn't taken them the previous night had full hold of them now. Angel glanced at her and opened his mouth. He quickly closed it and looked away.
"This is stupid," Cordelia finally said. "We have nothing to be ashamed of."
"Exactly," Angel agreed. "We're just two people who happened to-"
"-find each other attractive."
"Exactly!" Angel frowned. "You find me attractive?" he asked, smirking and turning to look at her.
She glared at him. "And I suppose you think I'm horrid."
"Horrid?" Angel asked, his eyebrows rising. "You've been in this century too long. You think when we get back you can stay this way? It'd be- ouch!"
"Oh, you earned that one, buster!"
Angel smiled at her and she grinned back. The tension was gone and they had acknowledged…well, they had acknowledged something. As if wanting to solidify that, he leaned forward to kiss her.
"Lucky! Miss Cordy!" They jumped apart and both surreptitiously cleared their throats. Cathy began to giggle as she approached. "Lucky, were you and Miss Cordy-"
"Cathy, why don't y' take, Miss Imogene to the horses."
"All right," the girl said with a sneaky look. She reached out for Cordelia's hand and dragged the older woman towards the stables as Angel headed towards the house. He quickly made his way towards the kitchen to let them know that Cordelia, or rather, Miss Imogene, would be joining them for dinner.
As he made his way back through the house towards the front door, he heard his mother's voice calling him and changed direction, heading instead, for the sitting room. He paused at the doorway, trying not to think about how he had killed the loving woman in front of him. His mother was crouched over the fire, heating her hands gently against the flame.
"Liam," she said with a soft smile, inclining her head in a motion that incited him to join her. "Did ye bring Miss Imogene wit' ye?"
Angel nodded as he took a seat next to her. "She's in the stables wit' Cathy."
"Cathy adores her."
"I know," he replied, not quite sure what else to say.
"And somethin' tells me that she's nat the only one."
"Mother, I-"
"She's changed you, ye know." His mother leaned back and regarded him thoughtfully. "Somethin's happened to my little Liam and I'm rather ashamed to admit it's fer the better. She's made a better man out of you than I managed to by raisin' ye."
"Mother, that's not-"
"True?" His mother smiled. "I t'ink it is, Liam. You were a rascal, to put it mildly, but lately? Ye seem to be a different person. I'm proud of you, Liam. Proud of the man ye've become. Even if it wasn't me that made you into that man."
On impulse, he hugged her. He couldn't remember ever having held her that way, having been held by her that way, since he was a very young boy. It saddened him to know that she had been talking the truth, but that was not her fault, it was his. She had done her best to make him into a young man she could be proud of and he had thrown that all away on cheap alcohol and cheaper sex.
"I'm sorry," he whispered and she tightened her grip. "I'm so sorry."
But he was no longer sure what he was sorry for. For not being the man she had wanted him to be, or for the knowledge that she would die by his hand…it wasn't a pleasant choice.
xxxxx
"No! Nat like that, Miss Cordy! Ye have to be firmer or she'll just pull away." Cathy giggled and Cordelia rolled her eyes as the horse shied away from her. The stable hand was smirking at her and she wanted nothing more that to punch the arrogant look from his face.
"I don't think I'm very good at this, Cathy," Cordelia said with a sigh. She had had horses growing up, but she had always had other people to take care of them and, when she had grown tired of them, they had been sold in order to make way for her latest want, whatever that had been. She couldn't even remember.
"Cathy, why don't you take over, eh?" Cordelia turned to see Angel's father standing in the doorway. "Perhaps ye'd like come wit' me to the house, Miss Imogene?"
"Thank you," Cordelia said gratefully, handing Cathy the grooming brush. She made her way carefully out of the stall and towards the stable door, accepting Angel's father's arm.
They walked in silence for a while, but Cordelia couldn't help but think that he wanted to say something to her. As they were approaching the front door, he stopped and she turned to look at him.
"I'm nat very good wit' things like this, Miss Imogene, my wife tends to be the one to handle this kind of…well." He cleared his throat and Cordelia shifted uncomfortably. "Yer good fer 'im."
Cordelia looked at the man and smiled softly. "I think Liam would have found his way without me."
"You seem so sure."
"I am. You raised him well, he just…I don't know and I can't presume to, but I do know that Liam is going to make you very proud one day." She left the end of the sentence unfinished, but sensed that the man heard it anyway…whether you're alive to see it or not. She just hated being privy to the knowledge that Angel would be the one to end his life.
"Of that, Miss Imogene, I have no doubt. He may disappoint me, but he's my son. I'll always be proud of him."
Cordelia followed him into the house, wishing that Angel could have heard that. If there was one thing she knew that Angel had always hated it was that he felt that his father was disappointed in him.
Well, she thought, if his father can't tell him and he doesn't believe it…Maybe it's my job to tell him otherwise.
xxxxx
Cordelia groaned. "We need to stop meeting like this."
"What, too cold?" he asked with a grin. Without waiting for her reply, he kissed her again and she pulled him tighter against her. For the second night in a row, they had ended up against the same barn wall and Cordelia was beginning to wonder if maybe there was something in the air. If there was, she needed to find a way to bottle it. She could make a fortune.
Oh, God. She moaned as his lips left hers and began a path down her neck, stopping to concentrate on the soft point where her neck and shoulders met. My God, that's a talented tongue.
"Should we be doing this?" He spoke gently and he was still continuing what he was doing, but there was a slight hesitation in his voice.
"Do-do you want to stop?" Please say no, please say no.
He pulled away and she tried not to look disappointed as he stared into her eyes. "No."
"No?"
He smirked. "Not a chance."
"Oh, okay, then. Well," she tried to look commanding. "Get back to work!"
"Yes, ma'am," he said with a smirk, before kissing her again…only this time he didn't stop at that.
xxxxx
"Well, let's get this show on the road." He smirked and gently placed his hands on the delicate pages of the book before him. Whilst he had been enjoying her company, such as it was, for the last few days, she really needed to be herself when she came face to face with Angel.
He glanced at her, now clothed, form and silently wished that he could just keep her as she was, keep her as a plaything. However, plans had been made and he needed her to be herself. He had to keep reminding himself of that.
He slowly began chanting the words that would find her essence and return it to the body he had been learning over the last few days. The spell was long and it was difficult, but it seemed to be over in no time.
Taking a deep breath and rubbing at his eyes, he turned to look at her. She seemed to be the same as she had been before he had begun the spell. He had done nothing wrong and he had felt the magic working. It had worked. She was playing a game.
He smirked and walked towards her. "I know it's really you."
"Then you're either very brave or very stupid."
He laughed. "Oh, trust me, I am neither." He held up a cross and she laughed.
"No, I don't, but I think the fact that bathed in holy water should be enough of a deterrent, don't you think?" His smile grew as she glared at him. "For now, at least."
"What do you want? You certainly didn't bring me here for nothing."
"I want the world," he said simply. "But in order to get it, I need to rid myself of a few people first and you, my dearest, Darla, are going to help me do just that."
"And what makes you think I'll help you?"
"Because in return, I'll give you the one thing you want the most."
Her eyes brightened. "Angelus."
He nodded. "Angelus. You can have him just the way you want him…and what's more," he said, indicating for her to look out the window, "you get to start from the beginning, all over again."
xxxxx
End of Part Eleven
xxxxx
Okay, for some reason, this chapter was an absolute nightmare to write. If any of it seems a little off, I do apologise, but it was a struggle pulling it all together.
Shannon, I hope this meets the requirements you gave to your satisfaction! ;)