"Yes, Angel, she said it was a Krevilock. She sounded pretty certain. She said it was in the sewers, somewhere underneath the railway station. She's fine, I made sure she went to bed. That's why I'm calling instead of her. You're certain? OK. Goodnight, Angel."
Sighing, Giles replaced the phone in its cradle. Conversations with Angel were barely civil, and never pleasant. He had never truly forgiven Angel for what he did to Jenny, and would certainly never forget. But he had done many good things since, and Giles was prepared to believe that Angelus was truly buried. And he knew that Cordelia was willing to stake him if necessary, something Buffy had had trouble with.
He lay down on the sofa, unable to make himself comfortable. He had found, with Dennis' help, the cupboard containing blankets and pillows, and had made the sofa into a bed, but he couldn't sleep. He had too much to think about. Checking that Cordelia's door was still closed, he leant over and turned the TV on. Flicking though the channels, he found an extremely dull looking documentary on the mating patterns of snails, a very loud concert performed by someone he vaguely remembered seeing on Dawn's bedroom wall the last time he babysat (which was guaranteed to wake the dead, never mind Cordelia), and a very cheesy looking American soap. He eventually settled for a news program, but he barely heard the headlines before he heard a noise. It sounded like a very timid knock at the door. He turned off the TV, and walked over to the door. Looking through the peep-hole in it, he groaned, and turned the handle.
"Wesley. What do you want?"
"Good grief, Giles! What are you doing here?"
"Be quiet!" Giles hissed. "Cordelia's fast asleep, and I don't want you waking her."
"Sorry. Angel told me Cordelia had a vision, and I stopped by to see if she was OK. He didn't tell me you were here."
"Well I am." Giles yawned.
"I hope I didn't wake you?"
"Well as a matter of fact, I was having trouble sleeping. Can I get you a coffee?"
"I'll get it."
When the two men were settle back on the couch, and Giles resigned to the idea that he would get no sleep that night, they chatted about this and that. The two (ex) watchers compared notes about the different demons they'' faced recently, Wesley was especially interested in hearing all about Glory, and her link with Dawn. When the conversation reached a lull, Giles mentioned Cordelia.
"A lot's happened to her this year, hasn't it?"
"Cordelia? A lot is an understatement. People forget she's only 20."
"She's a really amazing person. She's taken everything in her stride, and now this visions … I don't know how she manages it all."
"She certainly is amazing. Giles?" The elder man was dozing off, but Wesley wanted to say something.
"You love her, don't you?" Giles awoke with a start.
"No … I just … admire her. She's got fantastic strength of character."
"Don't lie to me. It's obvious." Giles was surprised. Wesley had never seemed this insightful during his time in Sunnydale. He sighed.
"How did you know?"
"I remember what I was like when I first met her. Quite apart from the fact that you've been asking questions about her since you got her, disguised as comments about Angel Investigations in general. You thought I didn't notice, didn't you? I was a watcher, remember. I'm very observant."
"Will you talk to her for me? See how she feels?"
"I'll do my best, but she isn't the easiest person in the world to talk to about things like this."
Giles suddenly jumped up. "I should go."
"What? But … you should sleep."
"I can't rest knowing she's next door. Tell her I remembered there was something I had to do." As he spoke he pulled on his shoes and coat. He grabbed his keys and opened the front door.
"You can't just leave without saying goodbye."
"I have to."
***
"Wesley, pass me that book." It was an order, not a request.
"Cordelia, I'm sure you could treat me with a little respect, it only takes a moment to say please."
"Wesley, please pass me that book-"
"Much better." He reached over towards "101 Magical Poisons of the 21st Century".
"-before I find a large and heavy item to hit you on the head with." She finished, satisfied, and reached over to where he still held the book. Just as her fingers touched it, he snatched it away from her.
"Come and get it if you want it so much."
"Alright then Mister, you're asking for it now!" She leaned over her desk and reached underneath it, emerging with Angel Investigations' invoice book. She hit him, hard. "Book?" He passed it to her, rubbing his head with the other hand. She hit him again.
"What?! I gave it to you."
"But you were staring at my ass!"
"I was not!" The usually docile Englishman blushed.
"See! You're blushing! You WERE looking at my ass!" She smiled. She enjoyed winding Wesley up, because he was gullible and it was fun.
"Will you two lovebirds keep IT DOWN!" Gunn's voice boomed from Angel's office. "I'm busy here!"
"We are not!" They both replied indignantly, at exactly the same moment.
"Yeah right."
"Don't let Virginia hear you say that, Gunn! She might get worried!" Cordelia was back into full-on teasing mode.
"Yes, well. Don't let Giles hear it either, Cordelia." His hand flew to his mouth, realising that he had inadvertently let that slip.
"Why would Giles care?!" Cordelia was blissfully ignorant of what Wesley had meant. He quickly tried to back-pedal, before she realised.
"Well, I mean – you and he seemed to be having fun at your apartment a couple of weeks ago!"
"I was asleep, Wesley."
"Oooh, this is gettin good! Carry on, English!" Gunn's voice came floating back through.
"Asleep, were you Cordelia?!"
"In my own bed, Wesley. Alone. You should understand that word better than most people." She stuck out her tongue and dodged the swipe she knew was coming.
"Cordelia Chase, you asked for it now!" laughing, Wesley chased her around the hotel foyer, ignoring the ringing phone. This time it was Angel's irritated voice that came through the office.
"Are neither of you gonna get that? I would, but Gunn and I are kinda busy here."
Slightly out of breath, Cordelia picked up the phone. "Angel Investigations, we help the helpless, how can we – oh, hi Buffy." Angel was beside her in a flash. "He's right here."
She passed the handset to Angel. "Not so busy now, is he?!" She jokingly hissed at Wesley.
Angel her a Look, before returning his attention to his ex on the end of the phone. "Calm down, Buffy. Tell me again." He listened for a minute, his face growing greyer with every word she said. "We'll be there as soon as we can." His tone softened even more. "Everything's gonna be fine."
Cordelia and Wesley exchanged worried glances as Angel hung up. "We have to go to Sunnydale."
"We got that much, but … why? Buffy sounded kinda teary."
"It's Giles."
Cordelia felt her stomach sink. All colour drained out of her face. "What's wrong with him."
"He's in hospital, Cordelia. He got on the wrong side of a Glory attack." The vampire walked over to Cordelia and held her in a tight hug. "It doesn't look good."