Disclaimer: All characters and things from ANGEL and BUFFY belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. If they aren't on the show they belong to me.
Summary: Takes place after "Waiting In The Wings". What if Angel and Cordelia hadn't been interrupted, and how would the outcomes of that one event change the lives of the Fang Gang forever? A/C pairing
CHAPTER 28
Lorne knocked on his bedroom door, slightly annoyed. Buffy had locked herself in there two days ago right after telling Lorne Angelus was back because he had suggested that they go over to the hotel. Buffy had no desire to do that, and when Lorne tried to use force on the Slayer she knocked him unconscious and boarded herself up in his bedroom.
"Buffy! We need to go to the hotel." Lorne told her. "You need to explain everything to Wesley and the rest of them. We need to protect Cordelia."
"Then go yourself, Mr. Greenie." Buffy said from the other side of the door.
"I already told you, I didn't read everything off of you, only the important stuff, you need to get over to the hotel and tell the group the rest." Lorne said. "Besides, if you don't we will lose Angel for good. I know you don't want that."
"He wants Cordelia." Buffy replied.
"Well, you can't control freewill but you can help us get Angel back so he can have the freewill to choose." Lorne tried. "Now please, come out?"
A few second of silence were followed by Lorne's bedroom door opening reluctantly and Buffy filing out. She looked up at Lorne. "Fine, lets go."
"Just one thing before we go." Lorne nodded before punching Buffy square across the face. "Don't ever lock me out of my own bedroom or tell me Cordelia is in trouble and then not help again, understood?"
Buffy was in shock that Lorne had hit her but nodded numbly. "Yeah."
"Good." Lorne seemed satisfied. "Let's go." He led Buffy out of the club where the pair proceeded to walk to the Hyperion Hotel in silence. Finally they arrived and Lorne turned back to Buffy. "You are going to go in there and explain everything, got it?"
Buffy nodded, not liking the fact that she had to take orders from a demon. "Yeah, fine."
Lorne nodded back at her and then entered the Hyperion Hotel to find Wesley, Fred, and Gunn all sitting at the counter, playing cards.
"Hey Lorne!" Fred nodded from her seat. "Want to join us?"
"Actually, we have some other stuff to take care of." Lorne said. "Mainly the reason I haven't been around the past two days."
"What stuff?" Wesley raised an eyebrow.
"This." Lorne pointed to the door as Buffy walked in.
"Buffy?" Wesley was surprised to see the Slayer.
"Hey Wes." Buffy gave a half-hearted wave.
"What is she doing here?" Gunn stood, still angry at the way Buffy had treated Cordelia last time she had come to the hotel.
"Buffy is here to help." Lorne said.
"With what?" Fred asked.
Lorne looked back at Buffy. "Do you want to tell them or should I?"
Buffy sighed. "Angelus."
"What about Angelus?" Wesley immediately stood.
"He is back." Buffy said.
"No." Fred shook her head. "Angel is back."
"No." Buffy responded. "It's Angelus. Trust me."
"You're lying." Gunn immediately accused.
Buffy looked to Lorne for some help.
"She isn't." Lorne said, almost sadly. "I read her."
"How…what?" Wesley seemed lost.
"Wolfram and Hart took Angel's soul in exchange for sparing Cordelia and Angel's kids lives." Buffy explained. "Or they buried it inside of him…I am not sure, all I know is that it's not Angel."
"How long have you known?" Wesley questioned.
"Since it happened. A few weeks maybe." Buffy said.
"And you neglected to contact us before this?" Wesley seemed beyond pissed.
"I thought I could handle it." Buffy said.
"Well clearly you couldn't!" Gunn was enraged and didn't mind showing it. "And we left him with Cordelia! And Connor and Liam…damn it! What if he…"
"He didn't kill them." Fred said. "Remember? I talked to Cordelia yesterday? She said everything was okay."
"Still…its only a matter of time." Gunn said.
Wesley nodded in agreement. "We need to tell Cordelia. We need to keep them all safe until we can figure out a way to restore Angel's soul."
The rest of the group immediately went to work without saying another word to each other, collecting weapons to use against Angelus. They were going to save Cordelia, Connor, and Liam no matter what
the cost. Buffy, however, just took a seat on the stairs, seemingly numb to everything that was going on around her.
Cordelia hurried around her bedroom that she now shared with who she thought was Angel. She quickly pinned her hair up into a messy bun before throwing on a pair of jeans and a cute brown jacket. She was finally going back to work, even if Angel had requested it was her last day there.
"Mom!" Connor came rushing into the room.
"What, sweetie?" Cordelia asked, checking her purse for her car keys.
"Dad need you help." Connor offered Cordelia his hand.
Cordelia took her son's hand and allowed him to lead her down the hall to Liam's room, where Angelus was trying to burp a crying Liam.
"Oh Liam, what's wrong, baby?" Cordelia moved quickly, scooping Liam up from Angelus' arms. She immediately placed Liam on her shoulder and began to burp him. He seemed to settle down immediately.
"Thank God!" Angelus was relieved to see Cordelia, and then looked her over, seeing she looked extremely sexy in her outfit. "You look good."
"You like?" Cordelia did a small twist for Angelus, watching him glance her up and down. His eyes roamed her, and if she had been paying close enough attention, she would have noticed that they were not Angel's eyes. Angel would never look at her as if she was dinner.
"I do." Angelus licked his lips. "What's the occasion?"
"I'm going back into work." Cordelia seemed to mumbled, her eye's not meeting the vampire across from her. She instead focused on Connor who was now holding onto one of Angelus' legs and spinning in a figure eight through his father's legs. Finally, she met Angelus' eyes. "Remember? We discussed this a few days ago."
Angelus nodded, he remembered, but he did not like it. He wanted nothing more then to tell her she wasn't going anywhere, but he knew Angel would never do that, and therefore he could never do it. Not if he was going to keep making Cordelia believe his disguise. "Yeah."
"It's only for a few hours." Cordelia swayed, soothing Liam even more now. The child was resting his head on his mother's shoulders, his eyes closed. "And then when I come home that will be it."
"You promise me, right?" Angelus picked Connor up, sick of the child circling through his legs. "You're not going to work there anymore."
Cordelia took a deep breath. "Angel…they are like family."
"No." Angelus snapped. "I am your family. Me and your sons. Those…those people aren't."
"Angel…" Cordelia raised an eyebrow at his name for the Fang Gang. "They aren't just those people, they were your friends at some point."
"Well, they aren't anymore." Angelus told her. "And they aren't going to be yours either."
"Angel…" Cordelia tried, not liking how the vampire disguised as Angel was trying to cut her off from the people who cared about her.
"Don't Angel me." Angelus snapped, then recovered, seeing the hurt in Cordelia's eyes. He hated seeing her hurt; no he didn't. Angel hated it, and Angelus hated feeling Angel deep down inside and all of the souled-vampire's emotions. Lately, it was getting harder and harder for Angelus to suppress Angel's feelings. "I just think they are going to hurt you in the long run."
"We will see, I guess." Cordelia sighed, kissing Liam on the head and placing the now sleeping baby in his crib. "Be good sweetie." She ran a hand over his head. She then moved to Connor. "Come here, Connor."
Connor lunged from Angelus' arms and into Cordelia's, kissing her on the cheek. "Love you, Mommy."
"And I love you." Cordelia rubbed her nose against Connor's, her infamous grin taking up her whole face. "You be a good boy for Daddy, okay?"
Connor looked at Angelus and then back at Cordelia, nodding. "I will."
"Good." Cordelia placed Connor on the floor and he immediately jetted out of the room and into the living room where all his toys were.
"Call me if you or the boys need anything." Cordelia moved toward Angelus.
"We will be fine." Angelus told her.
"I mean it, Angel. Call me if anything comes up. I will be back here in a flash." Cordelia told the vampire.
Angelus cringed. He hated the way she called him Angel because he despised Angel for all the good he had done, all the lives he had saved, but mostly for being the only one who really held Cordelia's heart. Angelus knew he could never compete. He glanced Cordelia up and down once more before nodding. "I will."
"Good." Cordelia leaned in and kissed Angelus' on the cheek, debating her next words but deciding to say them anyway. "I love you."
Angelus just nodded, knowing he had broken her heart by not returning the words, but he couldn't. Not when he knew she really wasn't talking to him, she was talking to Angel. She was always talking to Angel. "Be home soon."
Cordelia nodded reluctantly and then made her way out of Liam's bedroom. A minute later Angelus heard the door slam shut and he knew he was now alone to take care of his two sons for the day. Not that he minded, he liked being around his offspring. It made him feel proud, and it seemed to give him a little purpose.
Buffy continued to watch from her spot on the stairs as Fred, Wesley, Gunn, and Lorne all hurried around the lobby of the Hyperion Hotel, filling up bags with weapons and books and spells and supplies. They were going to save Cordelia, Connor, and Liam, and try their best to save Angel.
"Are you going to help or just sit there?" Gunn snapped up at Buffy.
Buffy sighed and stood. "What can I really do?"
"You're a damn slayer." Wesley told her. "You could start by helping us capture Angelus."
"He will kill you all before you even blink if he needs to." Buffy told them.
"We need to save Cordy." Fred said.
"And we need to do it fast." Lorne added, getting fed up with Buffy's entire attitude. "So you can either help us or not…"
"Help who with what?" Cordelia smiled as she entered the Hyperion, unable to see Buffy from where she was standing.
"Cordelia?" Fred's mouth practically hung open. "You're alive!"
"Why wouldn't I be?" Cordelia raised an eyebrow.
"Because we all thought you would be dead by now." Buffy descended the stairs, causing Cordelia to turn and see the Slayer.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Cordelia asked, angry that Buffy was standing in front of her. She was mad that Buffy had found Angel and not told anyone, but she also still held a small resentment for the Slayer and how she had reacted to Cordelia's pregnancy with Liam.
"I am here to help." Buffy told her.
"With what? Lowering my self-esteem?" Cordelia snapped. "Because I have some news for you, Buffy. I am done trying to be nice to you, you don't deserve it, and I am done letting you intimidate me. I am Cordelia Chase, and I can be the biggest bitch ever, and right now that's exactly what I am going to be to you."
"Well, be a bitch later." Gunn told her. "Because right now we need to save your kids and get Angelus." He moved toward the door.
"Wait, what?" Cordelia held her hand out, stopping Gunn by touching his chest as he went to walk past her. "What about Angelus."
Gunn looked back to Wesley, Fred, and Lorne to help him explain what he said.
Wesley sighed, stepping forward. "Cordelia, we have reason to believe that it's not Angel who has come back, but in fact Angelus."
Cordelia shook her head, laughing a little. "Was that supposed to be funny?"
"This isn't a joke, princess." Lorne told her. "We wish it were but…"
"You're lying." Cordelia told them all immediately, realizing they were being serious. "Angelus is not the one at home with my sons. It's their father, it's Angel."
"It's Angelus." Buffy said.
"How the hell would you know?" Cordelia snapped at the Slayer.
"Because I him, after Wolfram and Hart did whatever they did…" Buffy tried to explain.
Cordelia backed away from the group, somewhere between anger and tears. "You are all liars."
"Cordelia…we understand how confused you must be…but Liam and Connor…" Wesley started.
"Are fine." Cordelia cut him off. "They are at home with their father who loves them very much…" She shook her head. "Angel was right."
"Right about what?" Lorne questioned. He realized now there was a good chance Cordelia would walk out the door and they would not get the chance to help her. "What did he say?"
"He told me you would all do this…" Cordelia took another step to the door. "I didn't want to believe him…but he was right." Cordelia seemed to shake her head, tears filling her eyes as if she was in disbelief.
"What did he tell you, Cordy?" Gunn asked this time.
"He told me you would all turn on me, try and take him from me…" Cordelia told them what Angelus had told her earlier that week.
"Cordy, we are your family…we would never turn on you." Fred tried, realizing Cordelia was not going to believe them.
"You knew where Angel was." Cordelia seemed to accuse Wesley.
"I had an idea…" Wesley told her. It was true, he thought Angel had been in Ireland, but it was only a theory.
"You didn't even try to get him back." Cordelia told him. "You kept us apart."
"We didn't…" Wesley realized now that Angelus had fed Cordelia all the lies that he needed to in order to get Cordelia to turn on the Fang Gang. What Wesley didn't understand was why Angelus had not already killed Cordelia or Connor or Liam or any of them in fact. That part didn't make sense.
"Cordelia." Gunn said. "Angelus lied to you."
"It's Angel." Cordelia turned to the door. "And we are done here."
"You're not going anywhere." Buffy grabbed Cordelia by the shoulder. Regardless of the issues that the two of them had in the past, Buffy was not going to let Cordelia walk into a death trap.
"I said…" Cordelia turned to Buffy, slamming her in the shoulder and actually tossing her half way across the lobby. "We are done here." And with that Cordelia was out the door of the hotel.
"What the hell?" Buffy looked up at the group from her seat on the floor for an explanation.
"Cordelia is part demon now." Wesley said simply, explain how Cordelia had managed to toss Buffy half way across the room.
"And now we need to figure out how to save her since she doesn't seem to want to be saved." Fred spoke of Cordelia.
"We will save her. We just need to figure out how." Wesley said, almost matter-of-factly. He didn't know how, but he knew deep down he was going to get Angel back for Cordelia and manage to keep her and her children safe. He just needed some sort of plan.
Lilah was baffled. Angelus was in Los Angeles, the firm knew that much, but he had not really made himself known yet. She didn't understand it, she assumed all those years of being repressed by Angel would have led the vampire to create havoc in the city, and yet he had not even shown a bleep on their radar. She wanted to know where he was and what he was doing. She knew the firm needed him on their side regardless of what he wanted.
Lilah hit the call button on her phone and waited for her office door to swing open. A minute later it did swing opened and Gavin entered.
"Your rang?" Gavin asked sarcastically.
"We need to find him." Lilah moved to her window, not bothering to look at Gavin.
"Who?" Gavin asked.
"Who do you think?" Lilah turned to him with a raised eyebrow. "Angelus."
"We know he is in the city." Gavin reminded her.
"Yeah, but where?" Lilah asked. "We have no idea. If we are going to get him to do what we want him to, we need to find him."
"Well, what are our options here?" Gavin asked.
Lilah shook her head. "I don't know. I could have sworn Cordelia would have been the first one on Angelus' list, followed by Angel's kids. They all meant the world to Angel, I would have thought Angelus would have stomped them out."
"Maybe he will." Gavin suggested. "Maybe he just wants to make it a perfect kill."
Lilah thought for a second and then nodded. "If we find Cordelia…"
"We have a good chance of finding Angelus." Gavin finished Lilah's thought.
Lilah nodded again. It made sense. Cordelia might be their only lead to Angelus. She decided she would send some people out the following day to track Cordelia, keep an eye on her, and see if they could in turn find Angelus.
Angelus gave Cordelia credit. Connor and Liam were not the easiest boys to keep an eye after. Connor was bouncing around every chance he got and Liam seemed to be semi-distressed without his mother around. He would whimper every once and while, luckily Angelus soon realized that his vampire visage would make the baby's cries stop, just like it had done when Connor was an infant.
"Dad, play?" Connor asked from the floor of the living room.
Angelus was seated on the couch flipping through a car magazine with his shoes up on the coffee table next to Liam who was in his baby carrier. He looked up from the page. "Maybe later, kid."
Connor sighed but seemed to nod, going back to playing with his blocks by himself.
"You know something, son?" Angelus said after a minute. He needed to get some things off his chest and he had a feeling that Connor and Liam were the only two he could talk to that wouldn't immediately freak out and try to stake him.
"What?" Connor asked, not looking up at Angelus, but rather still placing his blocks neatly on top of each other.
"I can feel him deep inside." Angelus gritted his teeth and gave a hard poke to the middle of his own chest. "He is clawing at me, trying to resurface. He is right there…"
"Who?" Connor asked who his father was speaking of.
"That…damn Angel." Angelus referred to his souled counter-part.
"A angel?" Connor asked. His mother had spoken of an angel before this, but Connor had always gotten the angel and his dad confused. Cordelia had never really explained herself too well.
"Yeah." Angelus nodded. "And I just want to crush him. Stop him. He is trying so hard to ruin this for me. He just wants out."
"Let him go." Connor said. The child meant to let the angel his father was referring to out so he would stop bothering his dad, he had no idea Angelus was speaking of the father who actually loved Connor.
Angelus nodded, taking Connor's simple words more figuratively. "You're right…maybe I'll just let him go. Then maybe he will just die when he realizes he has no chance of coming back."
"No dying." Connor said. "Dying makes everybody cry."
Angelus smirked at this comment. "I'm dead."
"You different." Connor told him. "Mommy told me. You not the same kind of dead."
"You're mom told you that?" Angelus was impressed Cordelia had tried to explain so much to Connor.
Connor nodded. "She said you is a good kind of dead."
"Did she?" Angelus nodded, satisfied with that answer. He turned to Liam. "Hear that, kid? I am a good kind of dead."
Just then the front door of the apartment busted open and a distraught Cordelia made her way in. She looked around the living room, taking a breath of relief to find Connor, Liam, and who she thought was Angel, there.
Angelus stood. He could tell she had been crying, her eyes were blood shot and he could smell the salt of her tears. He immediately felt enraged and wanted to rip out the throat of whoever had hurt Cordelia. "What's wrong?"
"You were right." Cordelia just stood there, shaking her head.
"Right about what?" Angelus hated how concerned he was. Sure, he wanted to protect Cordelia, but only because she was his, the feeling of concern was not his, it was Angel's, and Angelus hated being able to feel it and not be able to control it.
Cordelia allowed herself to fall into Angelus' arms. "Wesley, Fred, Gunn, Lorne…they all don't want me to be with you." She clung to his shoulders.
Angelus awkwardly returned her embrace, rubbing her back as gently as he could. "They said that?"
"No." Cordelia sniffled, looking Angelus in the eye. She was so upset she did not notice that his eye's lacked the familiar twinkle the soul had given them. "Buffy was at the hotel."
"Buffy?" Angelus immediately clenched his jaw and fist, which was still rubbing Cordelia's back, at the mention of the Slayer.
Cordelia nodded.
"What did she want?" Angelus asked.
Cordelia seemed to laugh between her tears. "She came to tell me I was in danger…she tried to convince me that you were Angelus." She laughed again.
Angelus laughed too, but his was a bit more forced and uneasy. "What?"
Cordelia nodded. "They all did. They tried to tell me that you were going to hurt me." She glanced over at Liam and Connor. "That you were going to hurt your sons."
Angelus realized now that Cordelia had not believed the truth when she had heard it from the Fang Gang and Buffy and he was relieved. "I told you. I told you they wanted to keep us apart. Cordelia, you know I would never do anything to hurt you."
Cordelia nodded. "I know. I know…"
"I'll fix this." Angelus told her.
"What? What can you even do?" Cordelia asked him. "Besides just letting them all go."
Angelus nodded after a moment. He had thought of plenty of things to do to the Fang Gang and Buffy. Most of them involved long hours of torture, yet he knew that he could not tell Cordelia any of that. "Then we forget them."
"Mom? You 'kay?" Connor was standing at Cordelia's leg now.
Cordelia smiled down at Connor, squatting so she was eye level with her son. "Yeah, sweetie. Come here, Mommy just needs a hug."
Connor complied and threw his arms around Cordelia's neck. She then stood with him. "You want to come take a nap with me, sweetie?"
Connor nodded at his mother.
Cordelia then looked up at Angelus. "I am going to go lay down with him. I have a headache. Can you keep an eye on Liam?"
Angelus nodded, giving her a slight smile. "Sure."
"Thanks." Cordelia smiled back, moving to make her way to her bedroom. Angelus, however, tugged her back to him. "What?" She looked up at him.
Angelus just smiled again, diving in for a strong kiss. He was not about to lose Cordelia.
When the kiss ended, Cordelia smiled back up at the vampire before continuing on her way to her bedroom with Connor.
Once Angelus heard the door to the bedroom he shared with Cordelia close he slammed his fist against the wall causing Liam to flinch a little. Angelus was beyond angry. He wanted to kill the Buffy and every single member of the Fang Gang for almost exposing him to Cordelia. He decided he would pick them off one by one; he would just have to be careful about it so Cordelia did not suspect anything.
