The Power Within
By Jules


Chapter 3
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** The library **

"PIKE!!!!" Buffy yelped, and launched herself at the 20-something-young man, giving him a quick kiss.

The guy didn't even have enough time to prepare himself, and got knocked to the floor, with Buffy on top of him.

He looked at her smiling, "Hey Buffy, wow, what a greeting . . . but do you always have to sit on my legs?"

Buffy laughed, getting up off him and pulling him up with her Slayer strength.

"Someone's been working out again." Pike commented.

"Where the hell did you go?! I looked for you EVERYWHERE before I left LA! But no, you decided to disappear right after we burned down the gym." Buffy glared at him.

"It was a really bad scene Buff. The cops would not be happy if they found out I had something to do with it, and unlike you, I wouldn't just get expelled, they have this annoying habit of putting arsonist in jail for that sort of thing."

"Ok, ok, I get the point Pike. What on earth are you doing here?"

"Well, I heard from some buddies that some really freaky stuff was going down around here, and I figured that I should start fighting the good fight again. I have noticed however, that you got a different kind of vampires around here. The ones in LA always just had fangs, which made them talk weird, and sometimes their ears would be all spiky, but that's it."

"You noticed that too huh?" Buffy questioned.

"Yeah, it kinda hit me hard when this weird dude was total normal one second, then a blood sucking fiend the next." Pike reported.

"Hey, Buffy. Aren't you gonna introduce your, ahem, good friend here?" Xander requested.

"I guess I could. Everyone this is Pike. I met him my first night slaying. He helped me take out Loathos, burn down the gym, and he's pretty good at killing vampires. He saved my butt couple times. But I always ended up having to save his a few seconds later."

"Oh hold that against me now." Pike pretended to be offended.

Buffy ignored him and continued, "Pike, you know Faith, she's the other slayer. Um, that's Willow, she's a Wicca, that's Xander . . ."

"A.K.A. Research Boy." Xander stated proudly.

"That's Cordelia, head cheerleader, May-Queen." She leaned over to Pike and whispers, "And Xander's ex-girlfriend as of yesterday, they fight constantly, even when they were together, so be careful, unless you have a death wish." Buffy made her voice hearable to the rest of the group once more, "That's Angel, he's a vampire, but don't kill him, he has a soul."

"He's also Buffy's second latest ex!" Xander informed Pike. Then yowled in pain when Willow elbowed him in the ribs.

Buffy just goes on, "The werewolf in the cage is Oz, his Willow's boyfriend. He plays in a band called The Dingo's Ate My Baby. And last of all, the guy in the tweed is Giles, he's the school librarian . . ."

"And your watcher I'm guessing." Pike finished for her, shaking Giles' hand, "It's nice to see that you actually have a life, sorta. Merrick just trained Buffy."

Buffy bit her lip at the mention of her old watcher, and Pike quickly rubbed her back, "Sorry babe, I know that's touchy subject for you. Didn't mean to get ya upset."

"It's ok. I know you didn't."

"Hey, if it makes you feel any better, you can talk about how Benny tried to get me to invite him in, which was really stupid of him, considering the fact that he was floating in front of my window."

"Who's Benny? And how on earth was he floating?" Cordelia asked.

"Benny was my best bud, turned vampire, one night when we were drunk together . . . strangely that was the day before I met Buffy, and the first time I met Merrick. He found me passed out and drove me ho-." Pike stopped talking when Buffy elbowed him.

Angel ignored the alcohol part, "Benny could fly? I've never met a vampire that could fly. And I've been on earth for 244 years."

"It was something that Loathos' minions could do. Don't worry, we killed them all, left all their dead bodies on the gym floor for the Principle to give detention too." Pike informs him.

"Ok, more weird!" Xander exclaimed, "I thought vampires all turned to dust when you staked them."

"Well they didn't." Pike recounted, "Trust me, there was a gym full of fanged teenagers with stakes in their heart when Buffy was done, not a single one turned to dust."

"Another thing I've only seen with Loathos' vampires." Buffy commented to herself out loud, "That is so weird . . . we should really look into that."

Cordelia suddenly remembered something, "Wait a minute, I think I read about Loathos, he had cast a spell, making his self and his minions like that . . . total movie stereo type stuff actually. Probably where the author of Dracula got its idea. But he was the only one who ever did that . . . weird, I didn't ever think of it until now . . ." Cordelia shivered, getting a feeling of dejavue, what the hell was going on? She never paid attention to the research she did, not too much at least . . .



** Two hours later **

Angel was intently reading a book in Latin, about prophetic dreams, glad to be getting back into the grove of things, to take him mind off of the past, well in this time, four months of his life. Absentmindedly, he was stroking Cordelia's hair as her head rested on his legs. She'd fallen asleep, curled up next to him, as they sat on the steps, reading her book about 20 minutes earlier. He wasn't at all surprised that she'd fallen asleep. She'd shared his nightmare with him, the last night, and then she'd woken up, drove to the mansion, unchained him, helped him to bed, and then was up by seven am. Subsequently to that, she did lots of stuff during the day, returning with blood for him. After which she'd taken care of a few legal matters on his behalf, had the power turned back on, the phones, managed to find something to eat, then she'd driven them here, and fought with most of the Slayerettes, only to then do hours of research.

All of this just made him research harder, he had to know how Cordelia had 'found out' that he was in the mansion, and that he needed help. He had to know how she'd gotten into his dream, and managed to talk to him.


From the corner of the room, where she sat with Pike, Buffy jealously watched Angel constantly touch Cordelia, as she slept with her head in his lap. How was she supposed to have known he wasn't going to hurt anyone? Buffy looked over to Pike, who was nodding off, himself. What was it with her and older guys. First Pike, then Angel. Yeah, Angel did have a major lead in the age thing, but still, Pike was 25, which for a 17 year old, was kinda old.


Willow heard growling, not unlike Oz's, but more human, she looked around and saw Xander. He was actually growling at Angel!
Xander was very jealous. Angel was touching his girlfriend . . . ok, ex-girlfriend as of yesterday, but still. It had taken Xander months and months, to get Cordelia to allow him to touch her like that and she still hadn't let him do it in public! And Angel didn't seem to have any qualms about her sleeping on his lap, he seemed to welcome it. Xander watched as Cordelia half-woke up, Angel kept on doing what he had been and she fell right back to sleep. Angel covered her up with his leather jacket, then went right back to the book.


Faith sat in a chair, sharpening a stake with her razorblade-edged knife, watching everyone's emotions. She grinned characteristically, this was fun. Everyone was upset or uncomfortable about Angel and Cordelia. Angel, because he'd killed a few people, no biggie, he had his soul now. And Cordelia, because she was sleeping in the guys lap, just one day after breaking up with Xander. Buffy and Xander were giving the two glares, and if looks could kill, Angel would be dust, and Cordelia would be dead due to major blood-loss from multiple dagger wounds. This was definitely going to be amusing, and it was only 11:30.


An hour later everyone, who was awake, was giving up on finding anything. They'd been looking for a long time, with hardly any breaks, with no luck. Pike was asleep on Buffy's shoulder. Cordelia was still peacefully asleep on Angel, Willow was yawning, and Xander was still glaring. Faith had gone back out patrolling, so the room was silent, except for the small noises Oz made every now and then, in his werewolf form, he'd calmed down considerably since the moon had first arisen.

Finally Giles looked at his watch and stretched. He surveyed the room, shocked at how they'd all paired off. His concern lay with Cordelia, since she was sleeping on the lap of the man, Giles still considered a brutal murderer, but he wouldn't voice that thought.

"Alright all, let's call it a night, who has the last night of Oz duty?" Giles questioned.

"Cordelia does." Xander answered, his eyes not leaving the sleeping girl.

"No, Cordelia can't." Angel advised.

"Why can't she?" Xander demanded.

"Because, she's barely had any sleep in the past two days. Besides, if you want to wake her up, be my guest."

"Fine, I will." Xander started to get up.

"I warn you though, she's not a very pleasant person when she first gets up. And I bet she's even crankier if someone wakes her up . . ."

Xander stopped mid-step, then cocked his head, "You know what, I think we can let Cordelia skip her turn this time."

"Quite . . ." Giles agreed, "Ok, any volunteers?"

"I'll do it Giles." Buffy offered, "I didn't go slaying tonight, so I feel like I'm in debt."

"Alright, that's all settled. Good night everyone."

Everyone started to drift apart, Angel looks down, how was he going to do this . . .



** 20 minutes later **

Angel had found Cordelia's keys, and driven her home, she still hadn't woken up. Now that he was here, he needed to get in, so he had to wake her up.

"Cordelia . . . Cordelia." He whispered, trying to awaken her.

Cordelia just mumbled in her sleep in French I**This has been translated for your enjoyment . . . and then there's the fact I don't know French . . .**/I , "No . . . I'll miss . . . my love, but we shall be together again . . . I have foreseen it . . ."

"Cordelia!" Anger shook her.

Cordelia finally stirred, "Where are we?"

"At your house . . . Cordelia, are you French?"

"A little, my mother's family moved here two generations ago. My great-grandmother and great-grandfather moved to America. Why?"

"Do you speak French?"

"No, why?" Cordelia was getting scared.

"You were just speaking French in your dream . . . how is that possible?"

Cordelia gazed at him in shock, then sank down in the driveway and started shaking, "I don't understand, why are all these strange things going on?"

Angel took her in his arms and honestly told her, "I don't know . . . but I promise, I will find out."



** Later that night **


Angel and Cordelia were sleeping in their own beds, seemingly peacefully.

All of a sudden, Angel's face contorted in pain.


Across town Cordelia started tossing and turning in bed, until she sat up shaking, "Oh god, no, this cannot keep happening . . . I guess there's only one thing I can do."

She sighed, got up, and packed suitcases full of clothes, shoes, and everything else she couldn't live without. Cordelia lugged them all to her car, started the engine, then drove to The Mansion, I(which is how it will be referred to as for the rest of the story)/I where she'd been drawn to the night before.

She brought her suitcases into the foyer, and left them there. She climbed the stairs, slowly because she was exhausted. The moment she laid down next to Angel, after removing her robe and slippers, he calmed down. Cordelia curled up under the covers next to him and fell back to sleep.



** The next day **


Angel slowly awoke, and became very aware of the warm body, which his arms were wrapped around.

He looked down and saw the frame of Cordelia Chase, he long, silky, lustrous locks splayed on the pillow behind her. Her arm was across his waist, just as his were wrapped tightly around her. Just as he began to wonder what he was doing here, she woke up.

She yawned, blinked several times, then looked up at him, "Good morning."

"Uh, hi . . . what are you doing here?" He asked quietly.

"It's all your fault. Those damn nightmares. They wake me up because I see what's happening to you . . . and it's scary. I came over here, and as soon as I laid down with you, the nightmares must have stopped, because you started sleeping peacefully." Cordelia sat up and on her knees next to him, pushing her hair behind her ears, "I guess I'm going to have to move in with you, my things are downstairs."

"Wha- Cordelia! No, I'm not going to . . ."

"You have no say in this. My mind is made up. Besides, it's the only solution for either of us. Win/win situation. You don't dream of Hell, I don't wake up because I seem to fall into your nightmares, where I get scared to death and wake up terrified."

Angel realized she's right and sighed, "You're right. It's the only way to solve both our problems."

"I know . . . but just to forewarn you, I will be redecorating this tomb."



b** One month later ** /b


A month later things were going ok, though they kept the living arrangement and the circumstances secret from the rest of the Scooby Gang.

Cordelia ended up redecorating the whole mansion, updating everything. She painted the living room raspberry and filled with black furniture (a leather couch and overstuffed chairs). The dinning room was painted hunter green, and she had a beautiful, huge, oak table and lots of chairs delivered from a furniture store, plus she'd had the chandelier polished.

The library, she just had the carpet replaced, and the wiring fixed, but the kitchen had a complete over haul.

The master bedroom she had painted a dark-gray but let Angel keep his black silk sheets, as long as she could put in gold and midnight-black moon, sun, and stars comforter, curtains for the bed, clock, candleholders and other things, but heavy black curtains still covered the windows.


Both were happy; Cordelia kept her fashionable updated home life, and Angel kept his dark, shadowy look at the same time.

Angel didn't tell Cordelia, but secretly he loved the new look.

A few of the guestrooms Angel was told were unsafe for him to enter. These rooms Cordelia painted pale yellow, green, and blue, and had see-through, white, airy, curtains on the windows that let the light shine in.

One room, the yellow one, held her exercise equipment.
The pale blue one had her private things; diary, certain books, and things like that.
And the pale green room was for her ballet and yoga. Which was a secret from the outside world. She had huge mirrors put up on the walls, bars, and speakers strategically placed around the room which pumped out any type of music she wanted when she dance or did her morning stretches.


Cordelia had also begun shopping for Angel. He had sulked for awhile after she'd bought him some shirts that weren't black, and nearly had an outright fit when she bought him several pairs of leather paints . . . then she pouted and looked at him with pleading eyes, and he began wearing them.



** Saturday night **


"Please." Cordelia begged, "First off, you really need to get out more! And second of all, and more importantly, I need a date for the dance."

"No, no way Cordelia. I'm too old." Angel insisted.

Cordelia knew it's time to pull out the big guns. She made her lower lip start trembling, and lowered her eyes, "Fine. I understand. I'll go all alone, by myself, after dark, to a dance dateless for the first time ever, were my ex-boyfriend and the people who used to be my friends will be . . ."

Angel groaned, "Why do you have this power over me?"

Cordelia shrugged, "I don't know, but when you got it, flaunt it." She leans close to him, "And Angel, I got it in spades."

"Yes you do." Angel muttered, then sighed, something he'd been doing a whole lot more since he'd really met the one and only Cordelia Chase, "Alright, I'll go."

Cordelia jumped and threw her arms around his neck, "Oh thank you Angel! I laid your clothes out in the room next to the master bedroom. You need to be ready by around six"

Then she ran out the door to her hair appointment.



~*~



** Buffy's house **


Pike nervously stood in the living room of the Summers' home, Joyce watching him very closely.

"How old are you again?" Joyce demanded.

"25 ma'am." Pike quickly answered.

"And where did you and Buffy meet?"

"LA, we were dating there before you moved. I just moved here. Complete coincidence." He added quickly.

"Uh-huh . . ."

Pike was saved from another question when Buffy came in the room. She was wearing a leather black dress with a skirt that went a little bit past her mid-thigh.

"Hey, are you ready to go?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah, definitely." Pike confirmed, swiftly going to her side.

"Great. Bye Mom, be back later!" Buffy grabbed her small backpack then she and Pike left for the dance.



~*~



** The mansion **


Cordelia stared at her dresses critically. She needed something that would show all those jerks that she was better then them, and that she didn't need any of them . . . she didn't need anyone . . . but at the same time, she was thanking God that Angel had caved.

She didn't really think she was better, in fact, she knew that she wasn't important. The reason Xander's jab had wounded her so deeply was because she knew it was true. Her own parents hadn't even noticed she'd moved out, or they just didn't care enough to even call her cell and find out where she was. Only she knew how alone she was . . . she was completely, totally, and utterly alone in the world . . . except for Angel. She didn't know what had made them connect when Angel had nightmares, or why she could calm him and keep them away, but she thanked who ever arranged it everyday, for giving her someone who needed her.


~*~


Angel looked at the clothes Cordelia had laid out. Black leather pants, a blue silk shirt, and boots. He sighed, then put them on, not wanted to argue with Cordelia when she was happy for once.

Angel knew what Cordelia was feeling, he always did. He didn't know how, or why, but he could. And his heart could feel the loneliness in her own heart constantly. The only times she was truly happy was when she got her way, or when she was sleeping . . . which was something Angel loved to watch, Cordelia sleeping. It was only when she slept that she was peaceful and unguarded. And sometimes she would have her own nightmares, and wake up screaming No! Or crying while she slept. Angel would take her into his arms and rock her back and forth. Most of the time, she wouldn't remember it in the morning, and Angel never asked what plagued her during the times her mind had wandered to such darkness that it caused such anxiety and sadness.



Angel waited for Cordelia at the bottom of the stairs for her. She came into view in what seemed like slow motion to him as she walked down the staircase. She looked absolutely beautiful.

Cordelia was wearing a dark blue dress with black designs embroidered on it with really short sleeves. Her shoes were black platforms, and her hair was up in a bunch of little curls.

If Angel's heart actually beat, it would have skipped one, and if he had a breath, it would have been caught in this throat.

Cordelia smiled at him, and stopped in front of him, then spun around.

"You look good." Angel declared her.

Cordelia crosses her arms and raises her eyebrow, "Good? Merely good?"

Angel smiled, "What do you want? For me to say that you look beautiful? And I know that you know you look absolutely stunning."

Cordelia's heart did skip a beat, her arms came uncrossed, and she blushed, biting her lip.

Angel offered her his arm, to avoid an uncomfortable moment, "Shall we go?"

Cordelia perked right back up, "Yeah, let's get out of here. I have people to annoy with my profound beauty."



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