At All Costs - Part Four
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Angel watched in slow motion as Cordelia fell through the weak wood, her arms flailing as she reached for Lindsey to stop herself falling. The energy that she had built up to stake Darla had gone and she just fell to the ground. He rushed over to her, his feet becoming unstuck. Her breathing was failing fast and her heartbeat was slowly, quieting in his ears. Spike joined his side, looking at her, pity filled his stone cold heart. Lindsey collapsed over the pile of ashes that was once Darla, his cool Lawyer shell falling in his grief. Angel scooped Cordelia into his arms, her body still warm against his.
"Come on Cordelia wake up. Please Cora." He begged to her still form. "Just open your eyes for me please."
"What can I do Angel?" Spike asked.
""Get him." Angel pointed to Lindsey. "Make sure he doesn't go anywhere."
Spike walked up the stairs to Lindsey who was still mourning over Darla's ashes. "Come on mate get up. She is dead now."
GET AWAY FROM ME you monster." Lindsey shouted.
Spike vamped out and lunged at Lindsey. Spike knew the limits to his chip and stopped short of the pain barrier. Lindsey dived back from Spikes fangs and the back of his head connected with a low beam. Spike watched satisfied as Lindsey swayed for a few moments and then fell to the ground. "I'm hurt! I'm not that much of a demon anymore."
Angel pulled Cordelia close to his body as he heartbeat slowed even more, his head to her chest picking up the faint sounds. Then there was silence, it had stopped.
"NO!!" Angel shouted. "Cora come on, breath for me."
The sound of footsteps behind him hurried at the sound of the cry. Buffy, Xander, Giles and Willow burst into the room expecting to find an animal in pain but saw Spike standing over the now unconscious Lindsey and Angel sitting on the floor with his Seer in his arms.
"Angel?" Giles tapped him lightly on the shoulder.
"Her heart has stopped. She won't breath for me." He cried weakly. "She won't breath."
"God sake Angel move!" Giles took Cordelias body from Angels lap and Buffy pulled the inconsolable Vampire back from him. Giles lay her body flat out on the ground and lifted her chin up. He put his ear to her chest and listened for heartbeat; there was none. He pinched her nose between his thumb and his index finger and seal his lips around her mouth. Her chest rose as the borrowed filled her lungs but she wasn't doing it. Giles tried again then placed his hands on top of each other and began pressing his weight down on her breast bone. He counted 15 loud pushed as the Slayerettes and the Vampire stood by and watched. Xander moved down beside Cordelia's head and helped Giles with his CPR. After five minutes of rhythmic massage and breaths Cordelia's chest rose slowly by it's self, holding the breath for a second then falling again. She was back. Both Spike and Angel heard her heartbeat again and her little shallow breaths.
"Angel is your car out the front?" The Vampire nodded. "Help me get her in there and we have to take her to a hospital. I'll go with you in case her heart stops again. Buffy get Riley and his men here. I think our friend here is in need of rehabilitation, secret service style."
Angel scooped Cordelia's still body into his arms and ran to the car. He lay her gently across Giles lap and jumped in the front. Spike was sitting in the passenger side waiting for him. Angel simply looked at him while starting the car.
"What?" Spike exclaimed. "I am not going back to that bloody house with that ghost. I wanna see how she is doing anyway."
Angel slammed his foot on the accelerator and the car roared down the street towards Sunnydale University Hospital. Giles had to bring Cordelia back once more as her condition got worse. Angel was passive but Giles and Spike both knew he was dying inside. Spike had used Angels cellphone to phone ahead and the resuscitation team were waiting for them. Cordelia was bundled onto a metal trolley and rushed towards the ER. Angel ran with the trolley until the nurses closed the ER doors leaving him too look through the glass as the put IV's into her arm and drugs into the new venflone in her arm. He could do little but watch as the doctor in charge called for the paddles and shocked her twice before the comforting bleep of the monitor attached to her chest signalled she was back, at least for the time being.
Giles and Spike watched from the reception after giving Cordelia's details to the woman on duty. Giles felt his heart heave at the events that had led him here. He felt for the Vampire who had not moved from his position, watching the team trying to save her. Spike had put himself in Angel's shoes trying to imagine what his Sire was going through. He would be going mad at the doctors if the woman he had grown to love was lying in Cordelia's place, not that she ever would. If she were on the brink of death, nothing the doctors could do would save her.
Angel jumped back as the doors opened and Cordelia's form was wheeled through and rushed into a lift. He tried to follow her but the lift doors closed and she was gone. The doctor that had worked on her walked calmly out of the messed up room, removing his latex gloves.
"Where have they taken her?" He demanded at the doctor.
"Sorry are you family?" He asked ignoring Angels stern tone.
"I'm all she has, her family are gone."
"Miss Chase has a clot in her brain. Someone had hit her with a blunt object and it wasn't treated so the blood that clotted around wound was dislodged and started moving in her brain. They have taken her up to the OR to try and get it out or stop it causing major damage. What happened to her?"
"She was kidnapped by my...um...ex-wife and her Satanist boyfriend. They held her hostage. This is all my fault."
"You realise I will have to phone the police. This is attempted murder." He laid a firm hand on Angels shoulder. "None of this was your fault. I'm sure you did your best to find her."
"The police are already involved. Where is the OR?"
"Second floor up, ask at their reception. She'll be in there a while . You might want to go home and get some rest."
"I'll stay!"
Angel went over to talk to Giles and Spike. "She's gone up to he OR. They said something about a clot in her brain. She hates hospitals so I am going to wait for her to come out of the operation. Thank-You Giles for what you did. I know we have never been friends, what with Buffy and...Thank-You. Take Spike and my car go home. Spike you can stay in the mansion while I am here." The two men went to walk away but Angel Grabbed Spikes jacket. "Spike who ever this girl is tell her how you feel in case...incase you never get the chance again."
His Childe smiled at the Vampires meaning. "Peaches, she will be OK, she a fistey one."
Angel headed up to the OR and sat on the blue, uncomfortable chairs, not that Angel noticed. He sat, brooding, running through all the mistakes that he had made, leading him to this hospital. A nurse gently tapped Angel on the shoulder and brought him out of his brooding.
"Excuse me Sir. Sorry to disturb you but visiting hours are over. You can come back tomorrow at 9am though."
"My...um...She is in the Operating Room and I wanted to be here when she came out. Can I maybe stay?"
The nurse saw the looking his deep eyes and smiled. "Are you family? We only really let family stay overnight."
"I'm her...um...fiancé. Her family died in a accident two years ago." He said sadly thinking of Doyle.
"Miss Chase should be finished in about an hour if all goes well. We'll make up another bed in her room for you."
He simply nodded to the kind nurse. He glanced at the clock. 4am, she had been in there 3 and a half hours. He leaned back in the chair to place his head against the back of the wall and closed his eyes.
Cordelia came to him in his dreams. She was wearing a purple, muslin dress, flowing in the wind. Her brown hair half tied up in tiny purple daisies. Cordelia smiled sweetly at him and beckoned him closer to her.
"My Angel. You brood too much over me. I am fine now, you are my peace. You think that I don't know how you feel. I'm stuck on a table while some old guy with a miners helmet on saws my skull open. I have all these icky tubes sticking out of me and I look a state. Opps.. I'm meant to be this angel person. If I don't make I want you to go, except your new Seer and fight for your redemption with me and Doyle in your heart. I've been told that he's in Heaven waiting for me. I didn't know that they let demons in the gates. Takes all sorts. Anyway Angel remember I love you...I love you...." He voice faded away gently as he opened his eyes to find the nurse standing over him again.
"Sir, your girlfriend is out of surgery but I'm afraid it didn't she isn't awake yet. If you would like to follow me and the doctor will explain things a little better."
Angel followed the nurse down the sterile hallway and into a side room where Cordelia was lying in a medical bed, covers up to he chest. There was a ventilator tube hooked up to a lung machine and three different IV's in her arms. A monitor gave out a reassuring, constant beeping to let Angel know that she was still alive.
"Mr..."
"O' Conner." Angel filled in for him. "Cordelia's fiancée."
"Mr O' Conner, Miss Chase has come through the operation OK, I'm very happy with it. She will be kept sedated and hooked up to a ventilator so that her body can recover at it's own rate. Something did bother me. Her brain looks like it has undergone multiple trauma, like an epileptic fits, but all parts of her brain seem to be in the best condition, can you shed any light on this?"
"She used to have fits but that stopped about a year ago and the doctors didn't know what caused it." He lied.
"Well Miss chase should make a full recovery but her speech maybe affected for a while. Keep talking to her, the hearing is the last thing to go and I'm sure she will understand every word you say. Good Night Mr O' Conner."
The doctor left Angel staring down at his sleeping beauty. Her long hair was pinned down by the thick white bandage around her head, shielding her wound from his eyes. Her face seemed as peaceful as the day, a different colour from the pale, deathly white she had been five hours before. He brushed his fingers lightly over the scratch down the left hand of her face, glad to see it wasn't deep enough to scar. The deep purple/black bruise across her cheek glared furiously at him, Lindsey had a lot to answer for. He sat on the bed and took her warm hand in cold grasp. Angel closed his eyes slowly and tried to bring her back to him.
"Cordelia I know you can here me. Answer me." He asked.
A childish giggle emanated around the empty black space. "You miss me?" Cordelia still didn't show herself.
"Cora don't play games with me, you know I hate fun." He mocked.
Cordelia peeled out of the darkness and walked towards him. Had he had any breath he was sure it would have been taken away from him. She wasn't dressed in the purple muslin drape anymore, instead she was dressed in a floor length, maroon velvet dress, her hair fully up in large roses of the same colour. She twirled in front of him, showing him the plunging back and thin straps. "Do you like?" Angel simply gulped and nodded. "Good, I didn't like the other one so I changed it. You just think of something and it happens. Watched."
Cordelia concentrated for a moment and Candle's appeared around the room. Angel looked down at his black duster to find it gone; replaced by a black tuxedo.
"Can I wish you back to me?"
"Angel, it either isn't time for me to come back or I'm not meant to come back. Now stop with the deep stuff and dance with me."
"There isn't any music Cordelia." He pointed out.
"Well use you imagination brood boy."
Angel concentrated hard, listening out for music, then he heard it. The soft guitar solo filled the candle lit room and a smooth voice filled the air. 'Yesterday...' Angel drew Cordelia into his arms and started to move her body. She clung onto him for all she was worth, scared that this might be the last time that she would ever have the chance to him, even if she did make it. The song faded away and the room began to lighten.
"What are you doing?" She asked confused.
"I want you to watch the sunrise with me. This isn't my reality so I won't turn into ashes."
They sat on the bench, that had appeared behind them, in each others arms. Cordelia let out a sign and sensed a presence heading in their direction.
"Angel you have to let me go, the nurse is coming to check on me. You have to go or they will try and section you. Just in case. Here." She leaned in and kissed him softly on the cheek. "My Goodbye"
"There are no more goodbyes Cordelia."
Angel disappeared from her sight and she went back to her afternoon tea with Brad Pitt.
"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to wake you Mr O' Conner, I'm Julie, Cordelia's nurse, just checking out how she's doing. Um some English man called Giles phoned to see how Cordelia was doing but I couldn't tell him anything, he wasn't family. Maybe you could phone him and let him know?"
"Yeah I will thanks. Nurse, how long is she going to need to recover after she is out of hospital? I mean with the speech thing and the operation."
"She will be out of action for about a week before she can doing anything near normal. I take it you both are from LA? She will need about 7 to 8 days before she will be up to the journey back."
The nurse left and Angel reached for his cellphone. He headed out of the room and rode the elevator down to the ground floor before dialling Giles number.
"Hi Giles, it is Angel here. The nurse said you had phoned to find out about Cordelia."
"Yes they wouldn't tell me anything. Buffy, Willow and Xander are here so I'll put you on speaker phone." Giles pressed the bottom and the Slayerettes sat up in their sleeping bags clumped together on the floor.
"Well she is out of surgery and she is on a ventilator and they wanna keep her sedated for a few days until they know her body is healing. They nearly found out about the visions but..." He faded off. "She will need about a week to recover outside of hospital before she can go back to LA."
"Thank-You Angel. Take care and send her our love."
"Can you phone Wesley and Gunn to let them know what happened and that I will be in contact as soon as she wakes up."
Angel hung up on the cellphone abruptly, desperate to get back to Cordelia and talk to her.
A Few Days Later:
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Angel lay down gently on the bed that had been his home for the past four days. Closing his eyes had been the only to pass the long days and nights while Cordelia had been in her coma. The ventilator had been taken out two days ago and the sedative stopped the evening before, now it was all up to her. Angel felt the mist clear and she was waiting for him, dressed in a black leather halter top and black leather trousers.
"Well aren't we looking like Cat Woman tonight."
"I felt like being a little like Faith tonight. All that leather seemed to turn men on and I wanted to feel a little sexy 'Cos no doubt they have me dressed in some paper hospital gown."
"No you are dressed in your favourite PJ's well my favourite PJ's. Listen Cordelia," He took her hand and the bar scene in front of him disappeared. "We have to talk."
"We've talked lots. We've talked about your past as newly souled Angel, your past as playboy Liam and we touched on Angelus."
"We have to talk about you waking up sometime soon. The doctors say you should be ready and that if it is going to happen, it's going to happen sometime soon. I want you back in the land of the living Cordy, Wesley misses you, Dennis refuses to let anyone in your room at the mansion and Gunn can't handle the paperwork anymore. I can't keep visiting you like this forever. I want to talk to you face to face, so much has changed."
"I like it in here, I like having you in here. You can sunbathe without turning in to the Vampire version of a fireball. We can talk without you brooding and there is no demons, end of the world crap; it's just us."
"It can be like that out here if you wake up. Cordelia face reality, don't run away from the big bad world: Cordelia Chase does not run away from anything."
"I'll come back if you promise me one thing. We will talk about us. No running away from you either."
"Deal! I'll be seeing you on the other side."
Angel drifted away from her and hoped to what ever God that would listen, that she would keep her promise and he would keep his. It was, as Doyle would say, Time To Face The Music. Who ever had made up that one had never met Cordelia!
He had been sitting by her bed now for three hours and she still wasn't awake. He was worrying that maybe she wasn't ready to face the problems she had outside, that the world they had been living in for four days was too easy to stay in and she wouldn't come back. Angel felt her fingertip tap slightly on his, enough to draw his attention to her face. Cordelia's eyes flickered briefly, still deciding whether to come back or not, and then to Angels relief they opened fully. He had never been so glad to see her deep hazel eyes looking at him, their fire back and burning bright. She smiled at him and he smiled back. Angel brushed a lose tress of hair from her cheek and stared at her.
"Welcome back."
She smiled again and tried to speak out but her throat was dry and her voice out of practise. He offered a drink of water and she tried to speak again. "Nice sight to wake up to. How long?"
"You've been out of it for four days now. You have everyone so worried. They've all been into see you, even Spike came but he said it was just to escape from Dennis."
"I'm so...so..." She tried to get the words out but she struggled until Angel filled in for her. 'Sorry'. "I'm sorry about...Dar...um..." She threw her fists down on the bed in frustration. "What is wrong with me?"
"Cordelia, you had a really bad bang to the head and the doctors had top operate. They said you would have some speech and co-ordination problems but nothing permanent. It doesn't matter about Darla, she is dust and Lindsey is about to enjoy a long-time in confinement, Riley style. I'm glad you back because we really need to talk."
"I have some questions. How did Dar...Dar...She get into the shop uninvited? I didn't say she could come in. Lindsey said something about a prophecy, that's why they had kid...taken me."
"Darla had killed someone and took her identity, became them. She used a spell to do it, pretty powerful magicks. So she could go where ever she wanted but she could only hold the spell for a short time. I don't about any prophecy, what was it?"
"The prophecy of Sha..." She cried out in frustration again.
"Here." Angel laid a piece of paper in front of her and a pen in her hand but she couldn't grasp it so Angel took it in his hand so she could guide him. The letters S.H.A.B.I.S.H.A were spelt out in very shaky letters. "I'll get Wesley to check it out. He would be here but the gun shot wound and the demons are keeping him and Gunn very busy."
"Did you talk to Bu...God this is a pain." She guided his hand on the paper again to spell B.U.F.F.Y.
"No I haven't , I wanted to get things straighten out with you first."
"Great, is this where we have the 'I-Love-Bu..Her-Plus-Your-My-Seer!' talk is it 'Cos I am really not want to hear it now. The Lawyer told me lots about relations...Relations...You know what I mean."
"Cordelia, how about I do all the talking now. You know what I felt when I went back to the mansion and you weren't there? I was scared out of my mind. I don't fear death but when I had found out that they had taken you, I couldn't think straight. I even tried to Giles to perform a spell that didn't exist. All I could think about was you, your face, your whiny voice, the way you flick your hair in the air when we argue and you think you've won. I tried to think what my un-life would be like without you and I couldn't picture it. You've been there when everything went pear-shaped and you never gave up on me. What I'm trying to say is that I have something for you, feelings and desires. Spike sort of brought it all to a head again. He told me I was whipped but I realised it was love, very strong feelings, not the ball and chain."
"Spike!" She exclaimed. "The lawyer told me that there is a prophecy..about us, together. He said that I held your heart but I thought that was her job, not mine. God how I wish it was but I know...." She faded off.
"A prophecy about us shouldn't be argued at. If I said we should be together then who am I to stand in the was of what is written." He joked seriously. Cordelia snorted in irony at him. "OK so I can chose which prophecy I let come true and what ones I slay and this one comes true."
Cordelia beamed in delight then her smile faded. "The curse?"
He shook his head at her concern. "There is no curse anymore. The Powers got wise to Darla and save the world one more Vampire staked. If I be good I get to play but if I be naughty then they take it away and give me even more grief!" He said playfully.
"NO MORE BROODING!" Cordelia shouted meekly. "I like the playful Angel."
She gasped in delight as Angel nuzzled her neck before planting his lips lightly on her pulse point. "I think I will have to get a doctor now, tell them my Sleeping Beauty is awake."
The doctor came in and was delighted at Cordelia's pain test responses but still a little concerned at her difficulty at speech and simple words. He gave her the all clear for two days of observation. Angel spent the two days making Spike help him do the mansion up for his Queen C's temporary home-coming. Angel arrived at the hospital as soon as the sun had set and walked proudly to Cordelia's room, thanking the nurses, who now knew him by first name, that had taken care of his Princess. She was sitting up in her bed dressed in loose cargo pants and a little white T-shirt. She turned around and beamed brightly at Angel while the nurse left them to it. Her bag full of things Angel had brought in for her, the Cosmopolitan sitting on the top. A bunch of flowers from Angel was sitting on her lap.
"So are you ready to go home, well back to the mansion anyway? I have it all fixed up for you but I said Spike could stay for helping me out with you."
She nodded. He pulled the wheelchair to the bed but Cordelia shock her head at him. "I wanna walk out please." Angel helped her to her feet and she went to take her first step in over a week. She cried out as her legs gave way and she sunk into Angels arms. "Or I could just take the wheelchair like a sensible girl."
A Little Later:
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The door opened in front of them thanks to Dennis as Angel carried Cordelia into her new home for the time being. There was more furniture and a bed set up in a room off the living room so Cordelia wouldn't have to climb any stairs. Spike, who sat with his back to them, rose and greeted Cordelia it a raise eyebrow.
"At Bloody last your home. He can stood sulking around like a demon with a sword in his side and you and him can start shagging. He has some sexual tension built up. Oh yeah and see that ghost of your, it lays on more book on me I will exorcise it."
Cordelia simply scoffed as Angel carried her through to the side room and lay her on the bed. "Now you are going to get some rest like the doctor said and no 'Buts'" He said as she went to open her mouth.
He walked away but was stopped as she shouted out his name. He turned to face her and found a sly grin on her face.
She patted the bed beside her. "Stay, Please."
Angel could do little but agree to his Princess' demands.
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One last chapter to come. Nutty
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Angel watched in slow motion as Cordelia fell through the weak wood, her arms flailing as she reached for Lindsey to stop herself falling. The energy that she had built up to stake Darla had gone and she just fell to the ground. He rushed over to her, his feet becoming unstuck. Her breathing was failing fast and her heartbeat was slowly, quieting in his ears. Spike joined his side, looking at her, pity filled his stone cold heart. Lindsey collapsed over the pile of ashes that was once Darla, his cool Lawyer shell falling in his grief. Angel scooped Cordelia into his arms, her body still warm against his.
"Come on Cordelia wake up. Please Cora." He begged to her still form. "Just open your eyes for me please."
"What can I do Angel?" Spike asked.
""Get him." Angel pointed to Lindsey. "Make sure he doesn't go anywhere."
Spike walked up the stairs to Lindsey who was still mourning over Darla's ashes. "Come on mate get up. She is dead now."
GET AWAY FROM ME you monster." Lindsey shouted.
Spike vamped out and lunged at Lindsey. Spike knew the limits to his chip and stopped short of the pain barrier. Lindsey dived back from Spikes fangs and the back of his head connected with a low beam. Spike watched satisfied as Lindsey swayed for a few moments and then fell to the ground. "I'm hurt! I'm not that much of a demon anymore."
Angel pulled Cordelia close to his body as he heartbeat slowed even more, his head to her chest picking up the faint sounds. Then there was silence, it had stopped.
"NO!!" Angel shouted. "Cora come on, breath for me."
The sound of footsteps behind him hurried at the sound of the cry. Buffy, Xander, Giles and Willow burst into the room expecting to find an animal in pain but saw Spike standing over the now unconscious Lindsey and Angel sitting on the floor with his Seer in his arms.
"Angel?" Giles tapped him lightly on the shoulder.
"Her heart has stopped. She won't breath for me." He cried weakly. "She won't breath."
"God sake Angel move!" Giles took Cordelias body from Angels lap and Buffy pulled the inconsolable Vampire back from him. Giles lay her body flat out on the ground and lifted her chin up. He put his ear to her chest and listened for heartbeat; there was none. He pinched her nose between his thumb and his index finger and seal his lips around her mouth. Her chest rose as the borrowed filled her lungs but she wasn't doing it. Giles tried again then placed his hands on top of each other and began pressing his weight down on her breast bone. He counted 15 loud pushed as the Slayerettes and the Vampire stood by and watched. Xander moved down beside Cordelia's head and helped Giles with his CPR. After five minutes of rhythmic massage and breaths Cordelia's chest rose slowly by it's self, holding the breath for a second then falling again. She was back. Both Spike and Angel heard her heartbeat again and her little shallow breaths.
"Angel is your car out the front?" The Vampire nodded. "Help me get her in there and we have to take her to a hospital. I'll go with you in case her heart stops again. Buffy get Riley and his men here. I think our friend here is in need of rehabilitation, secret service style."
Angel scooped Cordelia's still body into his arms and ran to the car. He lay her gently across Giles lap and jumped in the front. Spike was sitting in the passenger side waiting for him. Angel simply looked at him while starting the car.
"What?" Spike exclaimed. "I am not going back to that bloody house with that ghost. I wanna see how she is doing anyway."
Angel slammed his foot on the accelerator and the car roared down the street towards Sunnydale University Hospital. Giles had to bring Cordelia back once more as her condition got worse. Angel was passive but Giles and Spike both knew he was dying inside. Spike had used Angels cellphone to phone ahead and the resuscitation team were waiting for them. Cordelia was bundled onto a metal trolley and rushed towards the ER. Angel ran with the trolley until the nurses closed the ER doors leaving him too look through the glass as the put IV's into her arm and drugs into the new venflone in her arm. He could do little but watch as the doctor in charge called for the paddles and shocked her twice before the comforting bleep of the monitor attached to her chest signalled she was back, at least for the time being.
Giles and Spike watched from the reception after giving Cordelia's details to the woman on duty. Giles felt his heart heave at the events that had led him here. He felt for the Vampire who had not moved from his position, watching the team trying to save her. Spike had put himself in Angel's shoes trying to imagine what his Sire was going through. He would be going mad at the doctors if the woman he had grown to love was lying in Cordelia's place, not that she ever would. If she were on the brink of death, nothing the doctors could do would save her.
Angel jumped back as the doors opened and Cordelia's form was wheeled through and rushed into a lift. He tried to follow her but the lift doors closed and she was gone. The doctor that had worked on her walked calmly out of the messed up room, removing his latex gloves.
"Where have they taken her?" He demanded at the doctor.
"Sorry are you family?" He asked ignoring Angels stern tone.
"I'm all she has, her family are gone."
"Miss Chase has a clot in her brain. Someone had hit her with a blunt object and it wasn't treated so the blood that clotted around wound was dislodged and started moving in her brain. They have taken her up to the OR to try and get it out or stop it causing major damage. What happened to her?"
"She was kidnapped by my...um...ex-wife and her Satanist boyfriend. They held her hostage. This is all my fault."
"You realise I will have to phone the police. This is attempted murder." He laid a firm hand on Angels shoulder. "None of this was your fault. I'm sure you did your best to find her."
"The police are already involved. Where is the OR?"
"Second floor up, ask at their reception. She'll be in there a while . You might want to go home and get some rest."
"I'll stay!"
Angel went over to talk to Giles and Spike. "She's gone up to he OR. They said something about a clot in her brain. She hates hospitals so I am going to wait for her to come out of the operation. Thank-You Giles for what you did. I know we have never been friends, what with Buffy and...Thank-You. Take Spike and my car go home. Spike you can stay in the mansion while I am here." The two men went to walk away but Angel Grabbed Spikes jacket. "Spike who ever this girl is tell her how you feel in case...incase you never get the chance again."
His Childe smiled at the Vampires meaning. "Peaches, she will be OK, she a fistey one."
Angel headed up to the OR and sat on the blue, uncomfortable chairs, not that Angel noticed. He sat, brooding, running through all the mistakes that he had made, leading him to this hospital. A nurse gently tapped Angel on the shoulder and brought him out of his brooding.
"Excuse me Sir. Sorry to disturb you but visiting hours are over. You can come back tomorrow at 9am though."
"My...um...She is in the Operating Room and I wanted to be here when she came out. Can I maybe stay?"
The nurse saw the looking his deep eyes and smiled. "Are you family? We only really let family stay overnight."
"I'm her...um...fiancé. Her family died in a accident two years ago." He said sadly thinking of Doyle.
"Miss Chase should be finished in about an hour if all goes well. We'll make up another bed in her room for you."
He simply nodded to the kind nurse. He glanced at the clock. 4am, she had been in there 3 and a half hours. He leaned back in the chair to place his head against the back of the wall and closed his eyes.
Cordelia came to him in his dreams. She was wearing a purple, muslin dress, flowing in the wind. Her brown hair half tied up in tiny purple daisies. Cordelia smiled sweetly at him and beckoned him closer to her.
"My Angel. You brood too much over me. I am fine now, you are my peace. You think that I don't know how you feel. I'm stuck on a table while some old guy with a miners helmet on saws my skull open. I have all these icky tubes sticking out of me and I look a state. Opps.. I'm meant to be this angel person. If I don't make I want you to go, except your new Seer and fight for your redemption with me and Doyle in your heart. I've been told that he's in Heaven waiting for me. I didn't know that they let demons in the gates. Takes all sorts. Anyway Angel remember I love you...I love you...." He voice faded away gently as he opened his eyes to find the nurse standing over him again.
"Sir, your girlfriend is out of surgery but I'm afraid it didn't she isn't awake yet. If you would like to follow me and the doctor will explain things a little better."
Angel followed the nurse down the sterile hallway and into a side room where Cordelia was lying in a medical bed, covers up to he chest. There was a ventilator tube hooked up to a lung machine and three different IV's in her arms. A monitor gave out a reassuring, constant beeping to let Angel know that she was still alive.
"Mr..."
"O' Conner." Angel filled in for him. "Cordelia's fiancée."
"Mr O' Conner, Miss Chase has come through the operation OK, I'm very happy with it. She will be kept sedated and hooked up to a ventilator so that her body can recover at it's own rate. Something did bother me. Her brain looks like it has undergone multiple trauma, like an epileptic fits, but all parts of her brain seem to be in the best condition, can you shed any light on this?"
"She used to have fits but that stopped about a year ago and the doctors didn't know what caused it." He lied.
"Well Miss chase should make a full recovery but her speech maybe affected for a while. Keep talking to her, the hearing is the last thing to go and I'm sure she will understand every word you say. Good Night Mr O' Conner."
The doctor left Angel staring down at his sleeping beauty. Her long hair was pinned down by the thick white bandage around her head, shielding her wound from his eyes. Her face seemed as peaceful as the day, a different colour from the pale, deathly white she had been five hours before. He brushed his fingers lightly over the scratch down the left hand of her face, glad to see it wasn't deep enough to scar. The deep purple/black bruise across her cheek glared furiously at him, Lindsey had a lot to answer for. He sat on the bed and took her warm hand in cold grasp. Angel closed his eyes slowly and tried to bring her back to him.
"Cordelia I know you can here me. Answer me." He asked.
A childish giggle emanated around the empty black space. "You miss me?" Cordelia still didn't show herself.
"Cora don't play games with me, you know I hate fun." He mocked.
Cordelia peeled out of the darkness and walked towards him. Had he had any breath he was sure it would have been taken away from him. She wasn't dressed in the purple muslin drape anymore, instead she was dressed in a floor length, maroon velvet dress, her hair fully up in large roses of the same colour. She twirled in front of him, showing him the plunging back and thin straps. "Do you like?" Angel simply gulped and nodded. "Good, I didn't like the other one so I changed it. You just think of something and it happens. Watched."
Cordelia concentrated for a moment and Candle's appeared around the room. Angel looked down at his black duster to find it gone; replaced by a black tuxedo.
"Can I wish you back to me?"
"Angel, it either isn't time for me to come back or I'm not meant to come back. Now stop with the deep stuff and dance with me."
"There isn't any music Cordelia." He pointed out.
"Well use you imagination brood boy."
Angel concentrated hard, listening out for music, then he heard it. The soft guitar solo filled the candle lit room and a smooth voice filled the air. 'Yesterday...' Angel drew Cordelia into his arms and started to move her body. She clung onto him for all she was worth, scared that this might be the last time that she would ever have the chance to him, even if she did make it. The song faded away and the room began to lighten.
"What are you doing?" She asked confused.
"I want you to watch the sunrise with me. This isn't my reality so I won't turn into ashes."
They sat on the bench, that had appeared behind them, in each others arms. Cordelia let out a sign and sensed a presence heading in their direction.
"Angel you have to let me go, the nurse is coming to check on me. You have to go or they will try and section you. Just in case. Here." She leaned in and kissed him softly on the cheek. "My Goodbye"
"There are no more goodbyes Cordelia."
Angel disappeared from her sight and she went back to her afternoon tea with Brad Pitt.
"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to wake you Mr O' Conner, I'm Julie, Cordelia's nurse, just checking out how she's doing. Um some English man called Giles phoned to see how Cordelia was doing but I couldn't tell him anything, he wasn't family. Maybe you could phone him and let him know?"
"Yeah I will thanks. Nurse, how long is she going to need to recover after she is out of hospital? I mean with the speech thing and the operation."
"She will be out of action for about a week before she can doing anything near normal. I take it you both are from LA? She will need about 7 to 8 days before she will be up to the journey back."
The nurse left and Angel reached for his cellphone. He headed out of the room and rode the elevator down to the ground floor before dialling Giles number.
"Hi Giles, it is Angel here. The nurse said you had phoned to find out about Cordelia."
"Yes they wouldn't tell me anything. Buffy, Willow and Xander are here so I'll put you on speaker phone." Giles pressed the bottom and the Slayerettes sat up in their sleeping bags clumped together on the floor.
"Well she is out of surgery and she is on a ventilator and they wanna keep her sedated for a few days until they know her body is healing. They nearly found out about the visions but..." He faded off. "She will need about a week to recover outside of hospital before she can go back to LA."
"Thank-You Angel. Take care and send her our love."
"Can you phone Wesley and Gunn to let them know what happened and that I will be in contact as soon as she wakes up."
Angel hung up on the cellphone abruptly, desperate to get back to Cordelia and talk to her.
A Few Days Later:
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Angel lay down gently on the bed that had been his home for the past four days. Closing his eyes had been the only to pass the long days and nights while Cordelia had been in her coma. The ventilator had been taken out two days ago and the sedative stopped the evening before, now it was all up to her. Angel felt the mist clear and she was waiting for him, dressed in a black leather halter top and black leather trousers.
"Well aren't we looking like Cat Woman tonight."
"I felt like being a little like Faith tonight. All that leather seemed to turn men on and I wanted to feel a little sexy 'Cos no doubt they have me dressed in some paper hospital gown."
"No you are dressed in your favourite PJ's well my favourite PJ's. Listen Cordelia," He took her hand and the bar scene in front of him disappeared. "We have to talk."
"We've talked lots. We've talked about your past as newly souled Angel, your past as playboy Liam and we touched on Angelus."
"We have to talk about you waking up sometime soon. The doctors say you should be ready and that if it is going to happen, it's going to happen sometime soon. I want you back in the land of the living Cordy, Wesley misses you, Dennis refuses to let anyone in your room at the mansion and Gunn can't handle the paperwork anymore. I can't keep visiting you like this forever. I want to talk to you face to face, so much has changed."
"I like it in here, I like having you in here. You can sunbathe without turning in to the Vampire version of a fireball. We can talk without you brooding and there is no demons, end of the world crap; it's just us."
"It can be like that out here if you wake up. Cordelia face reality, don't run away from the big bad world: Cordelia Chase does not run away from anything."
"I'll come back if you promise me one thing. We will talk about us. No running away from you either."
"Deal! I'll be seeing you on the other side."
Angel drifted away from her and hoped to what ever God that would listen, that she would keep her promise and he would keep his. It was, as Doyle would say, Time To Face The Music. Who ever had made up that one had never met Cordelia!
He had been sitting by her bed now for three hours and she still wasn't awake. He was worrying that maybe she wasn't ready to face the problems she had outside, that the world they had been living in for four days was too easy to stay in and she wouldn't come back. Angel felt her fingertip tap slightly on his, enough to draw his attention to her face. Cordelia's eyes flickered briefly, still deciding whether to come back or not, and then to Angels relief they opened fully. He had never been so glad to see her deep hazel eyes looking at him, their fire back and burning bright. She smiled at him and he smiled back. Angel brushed a lose tress of hair from her cheek and stared at her.
"Welcome back."
She smiled again and tried to speak out but her throat was dry and her voice out of practise. He offered a drink of water and she tried to speak again. "Nice sight to wake up to. How long?"
"You've been out of it for four days now. You have everyone so worried. They've all been into see you, even Spike came but he said it was just to escape from Dennis."
"I'm so...so..." She tried to get the words out but she struggled until Angel filled in for her. 'Sorry'. "I'm sorry about...Dar...um..." She threw her fists down on the bed in frustration. "What is wrong with me?"
"Cordelia, you had a really bad bang to the head and the doctors had top operate. They said you would have some speech and co-ordination problems but nothing permanent. It doesn't matter about Darla, she is dust and Lindsey is about to enjoy a long-time in confinement, Riley style. I'm glad you back because we really need to talk."
"I have some questions. How did Dar...Dar...She get into the shop uninvited? I didn't say she could come in. Lindsey said something about a prophecy, that's why they had kid...taken me."
"Darla had killed someone and took her identity, became them. She used a spell to do it, pretty powerful magicks. So she could go where ever she wanted but she could only hold the spell for a short time. I don't about any prophecy, what was it?"
"The prophecy of Sha..." She cried out in frustration again.
"Here." Angel laid a piece of paper in front of her and a pen in her hand but she couldn't grasp it so Angel took it in his hand so she could guide him. The letters S.H.A.B.I.S.H.A were spelt out in very shaky letters. "I'll get Wesley to check it out. He would be here but the gun shot wound and the demons are keeping him and Gunn very busy."
"Did you talk to Bu...God this is a pain." She guided his hand on the paper again to spell B.U.F.F.Y.
"No I haven't , I wanted to get things straighten out with you first."
"Great, is this where we have the 'I-Love-Bu..Her-Plus-Your-My-Seer!' talk is it 'Cos I am really not want to hear it now. The Lawyer told me lots about relations...Relations...You know what I mean."
"Cordelia, how about I do all the talking now. You know what I felt when I went back to the mansion and you weren't there? I was scared out of my mind. I don't fear death but when I had found out that they had taken you, I couldn't think straight. I even tried to Giles to perform a spell that didn't exist. All I could think about was you, your face, your whiny voice, the way you flick your hair in the air when we argue and you think you've won. I tried to think what my un-life would be like without you and I couldn't picture it. You've been there when everything went pear-shaped and you never gave up on me. What I'm trying to say is that I have something for you, feelings and desires. Spike sort of brought it all to a head again. He told me I was whipped but I realised it was love, very strong feelings, not the ball and chain."
"Spike!" She exclaimed. "The lawyer told me that there is a prophecy..about us, together. He said that I held your heart but I thought that was her job, not mine. God how I wish it was but I know...." She faded off.
"A prophecy about us shouldn't be argued at. If I said we should be together then who am I to stand in the was of what is written." He joked seriously. Cordelia snorted in irony at him. "OK so I can chose which prophecy I let come true and what ones I slay and this one comes true."
Cordelia beamed in delight then her smile faded. "The curse?"
He shook his head at her concern. "There is no curse anymore. The Powers got wise to Darla and save the world one more Vampire staked. If I be good I get to play but if I be naughty then they take it away and give me even more grief!" He said playfully.
"NO MORE BROODING!" Cordelia shouted meekly. "I like the playful Angel."
She gasped in delight as Angel nuzzled her neck before planting his lips lightly on her pulse point. "I think I will have to get a doctor now, tell them my Sleeping Beauty is awake."
The doctor came in and was delighted at Cordelia's pain test responses but still a little concerned at her difficulty at speech and simple words. He gave her the all clear for two days of observation. Angel spent the two days making Spike help him do the mansion up for his Queen C's temporary home-coming. Angel arrived at the hospital as soon as the sun had set and walked proudly to Cordelia's room, thanking the nurses, who now knew him by first name, that had taken care of his Princess. She was sitting up in her bed dressed in loose cargo pants and a little white T-shirt. She turned around and beamed brightly at Angel while the nurse left them to it. Her bag full of things Angel had brought in for her, the Cosmopolitan sitting on the top. A bunch of flowers from Angel was sitting on her lap.
"So are you ready to go home, well back to the mansion anyway? I have it all fixed up for you but I said Spike could stay for helping me out with you."
She nodded. He pulled the wheelchair to the bed but Cordelia shock her head at him. "I wanna walk out please." Angel helped her to her feet and she went to take her first step in over a week. She cried out as her legs gave way and she sunk into Angels arms. "Or I could just take the wheelchair like a sensible girl."
A Little Later:
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The door opened in front of them thanks to Dennis as Angel carried Cordelia into her new home for the time being. There was more furniture and a bed set up in a room off the living room so Cordelia wouldn't have to climb any stairs. Spike, who sat with his back to them, rose and greeted Cordelia it a raise eyebrow.
"At Bloody last your home. He can stood sulking around like a demon with a sword in his side and you and him can start shagging. He has some sexual tension built up. Oh yeah and see that ghost of your, it lays on more book on me I will exorcise it."
Cordelia simply scoffed as Angel carried her through to the side room and lay her on the bed. "Now you are going to get some rest like the doctor said and no 'Buts'" He said as she went to open her mouth.
He walked away but was stopped as she shouted out his name. He turned to face her and found a sly grin on her face.
She patted the bed beside her. "Stay, Please."
Angel could do little but agree to his Princess' demands.
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One last chapter to come. Nutty