Part 3
"What's that, then?"
"Palm tree."
"Right, I see. And that?"
"Ugh, it's another car. We've already done that one." Cordelia very nearly growled. It was like going on a car journey with a small child. Liam was sitting in the back seat of the convertible, asking inane questions over and over again, and making himself a hazard by almost falling out of the moving car in his excitement on various occasions. And she'd thought it was the alcohol that made him hyper and lecherous. No, turned out that was the very thing that kept him comparatively tame.
Wesley was driving, trying to block out the cacophony of noises around him. Every now and then, Cordelia would tire of the Twenty Questions for the Insane and Long Dead that Liam seemed to be playing, and start twisting around to glare at him, or make some bitingly sarcastic remark; it only made Wesley want to laugh more, and the banter had almost made him swerve off the road a few times. He could see perfectly clearly that Liam was fully aware of the repetitiveness of his questions, and it only further encouraged him when Cordy pointed it out.
"How about that?" Cordy sighed and looked to where Liam was pointing.
"Oh, thank God!" she exclaimed. "That, oh irritating one, for the hundredth time, is yet another road sign, but this one is different, in a really, really good way. It means that I can finally offload you onto some other people, and maybe get Angel, mark one back." Liam was having way too much fun, and didn't much like the sound of that. He could really get used to the twenty-first century. He could also get used to the nice looking girl in the seat in front of him.
Turning back to the sign, he squinted in order to read it. The sun was reflecting off the metallic surface, almost giving it a halo. *Welcome to Sunnydale*, it said. *Enjoy your Stay!* As they drove past, Liam noticed that the sign was very dented and battered, almost as if someone had driven right over it; the figures on the sign, most noticably the population, had also been changed. If the sign was that odd, he didn't know what to expect of the town which he had been informed was situated on the mouth of Hell itself.
"Okay, remember, no talking until I've had the chance to explain everything!" Cordelia warned Liam. From the flash of anger in her eyes, he knew not to mess with her. He'd known Cordy for all of two days, and he could already spot all of the little things she did to try to hide her emotions. When she was sad, she'd withdraw into the rich-bitch shell she still kept around, and would become ever so shallow and superficial. Anger was an emotion she didn't bother trying to conceal so much - if Cordelia was in a rage, the world knew about it, and ran for cover. Sad and angry were the only two feelings Liam had seen in Cordelia; at least, directed at him. And neither of them were what he could now see in her eyes as she stood at this particular front door.
Cordelia paused before knocking on Giles' front door. She hadn't ever really wanted to come back here, and, from the sympathetic gaze she was receiving from Wesley, her reluctance was showing. She had no idea what reaction she would get from the Scooby gang; it didn't help that she'd come back to tell Buffy 'Hey Buff, long time, no see. You're looking very alive! But we'll talk about that later. Oh, by the way, the love of your life's forgotten all about you, and everything that's ever happened for say, the last 248 years, and has regressed to a lascivious, perverted, constantly drunk Irishman. And the *funny* part is that we need your memories to get him back.' Yeah, that was going to go over well. From what she'd heard, Buffy wasn't all there any more, and the rest of the Scoobies hated her with a vengeance - she'd been the uberbitch to them all the way through high school, and with the Xander and Willow issues on top...
Wesley hated to see Cordy in this sort of state. She was obviously taking Angel's disappearance very badly - heck, they all were, himself no exception. He didn't want to say anything to the seer's face, but in his mind, Angel was as good as dead. He couldn't see any way they could get him back. But he didn't say it to Cordelia, because it would crush her; she was clinging on to the painful possibility that the love Angel and Buffy had shared might inspire some memories in Liam, bring Angel back. And even if they did get Angel back - well, who knew what a newly human Angel would want? There was always a chance he'd want to stay in Sunnydale and pick up where he had left off with the ex-love of his life. Now, he may be short-sighted, but Wesley had had no trouble spotting the tension between the vampire and the secretary, and was certain that Cordelia felt something. He was sure his suspicions would be confirmed by this little turn of events. Angel, however, was ever the mystery. Wes had caught the vampire on various occasions pretending to read while staring for hours on end at Cordy, and he always worried about her above anyone else. Cordelia couldn't hardly leave a room without being subjected to the Spanish Inquisition. He had thought at first that the closeness between the two had been familial, and that his tired, research-worn mind had been imagining anything more, beneath the surface; now, he wasn't sure. He was almost certain that if they were together, each one would be happier than ever before. If only they would test his theory; if only they would have the chance to.
Each one was brought abruptly out of their inner soliloquy by the sudden opening of the door. Cordelia lowered the hand that had been poised to knock, and smiled broadly at... the little old lady standing in front of her?
"Can I help you, dear?" the woman asked. Cordelia shot a questioning look at Wesley, who shrugged in response.
"Uh, yes, actually. Is Mr Giles there?" she asked. She had no idea how the woman could possibly be related to Giles or any one of the scoobies - a grandmother, perhaps? But why would she be at Giles'? She certainly didn't sound English...
"I'm sorry, dear," the lady said, "there's no Mr Giles living here." Cordelia felt as if she were about to sink onto a new, lower level of black depression. On top of losing Angel, she seemed to have lost everyone in Sunnydale as well. "The previous owner was named Rupert... something, I forget," she suddenly said. "Lovely young man. As I recall, he now owns a shop on the high street." Wesley hit his head with the palm of his hand, and groaned. Cordelia thanked the elderly woman, then turned and narrowed her eyes at him.
"Something you meant to tell us, Wesley dearest?" she asked in an all too sweet voice. He shifted uncomfortably.
"Um, well, uh, now that you mention it... I received a card from Giles quite some time ago informing us of his new circumstances. I, uh, I actually wrote the new address in my book," he quickly said, fishing out his small black address book and leafing through it. "He owns a magic store, 'The Magic Box'." Cordelia grabbed the book from his hands, read the address, and hit him over the head with it. Satisfied by the yelp of pain, she took Liam, who had just been standing in a dazed silence, by one arm, and Wes by the other, and dragged them back towards the car.
"I hope you were right about this," Cordelia hissed as they entered the shop. There was a strange, almost peaceful atmosphere to the place; as she looked around, she could see various strange occult objects on the shelves, not to mention the hundreds of books Giles had no doubt regretfully placed in public view. That must have caused him some personal pain. As they walked further into the shop, a bouncy, cheerful, loud voice suddenly made them all jump.
"Welcome to the Magic Box! We appreciate your custom...how can I help you spend your money? I can take either paper or pieces of plastic!" Cordy squinted at the girl, vaguely recognising her. Wesley was having the same strange feeling, but couldn't place the face. Liam was too busy looking the girl up and down, admiring her assets, to care.
"Hello, uh, we were actually looking for the proprietor, but if he's not around..."
"Angel?" the voice cut through Wesley's mumblings. Cordelia had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes. Was she suddenly invisible? Although, the blank look Liam was giving everyone at the back of the shop was very amusing, if only for their reactions.
"Hey guys," Cordy said, as everyone's eyes settled on her. There was a moment's uncomfortable silence, then all of a sudden someone threw himself at her.
"Good to see you, CC," Xander said, having disengaged her from his hug. Cordelia just stared at him.
"Xander, just to remind you, and maybe myself, you hate me, right?"
"Oh, ignore him, he's permanently on a high these days. The rest of us remember how much we're supposed to despise you," Willow said, smiling. "We don't know you well enough to do that any more."
"Xander and I are getting married," the familiar girl said, "so I don't worry about him being inappropriate with other women." Xander walked over to the girl, put his arm around her and kissed her cheek.
"You know I wouldn't ever have the chance. Cordelia, this is Anya. She was my date to the Prom, and..."
"You're man-killing ex-demon girl!" Cordelia said, recognising her. "We hung out for a bit," she said to the others. "Before the whole mayor, snake, graduation fiasco. So, how is the mayor? Still crispy?" Willow nodded.
"There's been a whole lot of other evil going down here since you left. As, I'm sure, there's been in LA." Cordelia suddenly noticed out of the corner of her eye Buffy sitting at the table. She was gazing blankly into space, looking a little... well, stoned. Not the reaction Cordy had been expecting to an apparent return of Angel.
"And how are you, Wesley?" Giles suddenly emerged from the shadows near the back of the room. "Still chasing after teenage girls?" Both Cordelia and Wesley flinched, having tried hard to forget about that. Giles smiled. "Joking. To be serious for a moment, the Council have stopped stalking you, yes?" Cordelia looked at Wesley in confusion.
"What... stalk, stalking, you didn't tell me..."
"Yes, thank you, Giles. For a while after I was sacked by the Council, they kept an eye on me, followed me about. Standard procedure, really. Made sure I couldn't get hold of any funds to get back to England, go and tell people about their little fight against darkness, sell trade secrets to demons; that sort of thing. However, when I met up with Angel in Los Angeles, I suppose they decided it was for the best not to annoy me any longer. Speaking of Angel..." he looked at Cordy. Neither knew how to break it to the gang.
"Yeah, what is it with the old man? And when I say that, I mean, why does he suddenly have a heartbeat, and why's helooking even more poncy than usual?" Cordelia and Wesley looked over to where the voice was coming from, and shrunk back in horror when they saw Spike, sitting quite calmly next to Buffy at the table. Spike chuckled at their reaction. "Well, 's nice to see I can still scare somebody. I take it no-one's explained my little problem?"
"Spike's safe now," Willow said. "Can't hurt people. And according to Harmony, flowers..." she stopped at his glare.
"Wait, how does Harmony know Spike?" Cordelia asked, thrown by all of this information. "He's not... he's not... the blondie bear she was talking about? The smothering, he-can't-live-without-me relationship?" All of the people sitting at the table looked at each other, then started to laugh.
"Bloody hell, more like I couldn't live *with* her," Spike said, as he managed to control himself. "Anyway, now we've got all that cleared up, how's about you answer my question?" He nodded towards Liam, who was currently handling a large, rather ornate cross. He'd been very quiet throughout the introductions; uncharacteristically quiet. He was far too in awe of the quite public situation of a shop catering in the black arts: if anyone had tried such a thing in his time, they'd probably be killed by an angry mob. Aware that everyone was staring at him, he put the cross down, and wandered over to Cordelia.
"I'm getting the idea that maybe the nickname 'deadboy' is going to be out of use now," Xander said.
"Something like that. Well, the other night, Angel was just... normal, and complainy, and broody, then all of a sudden, he starts doing this twitchy, shaky routine. So, we thought he was having a fit, and then he got all hot, as in actual heat. Then he starts talking in an Irish accent."
"That's stupid. The poof hasn't talked in the brogue for about a hundred years. I'm not even sure when he did develop the American accent; it's only slightly better..."
"Shut up, Spike," most of the people in the shop said in unison. Cordy and Wesley smiled; it was obvious the vampire had been around for a while.
"If you'd excuse me, I'd really rather you wouldn't be calling me that. As I keep havin' to tell people, I like women, and I am not *pure*." There was a silence as the deep Irish voice echoed around the empty magic shop.
"What did I tell you about not talking until we've explained?" Cordelia asked. "Okay, so you can see I'm not crazy. We have strange, annoying," she shot a look at Liam, "human, 17th Century Irish guy on our hands, whose name, by the way, is Liam, and we only seem to have on way to get rid of him. Wesley?" she prompted, as she got to the more complex sciencey part.
"Right, yes. Uh, Angel seems to have regressed to the time in his life when he was... most definitely not in *any* way pure," Liam smiled at him, nodding, "but considerably less wicked; we're assuming on a point of information that this is temporary amnesia and regression, and all we have to do is... remind him, of who he really is."
"So, naturally, we thought a road trip was in order. And actually, it's worked out pretty well; not only do we have Buff and the Sunnydale crew, but Spike, who can probably bring back a few fond memories." Spike grinned.
"I think I like this version much better already," he said. "But, I'll help you. And as the person he's known the longest, 's probably most likely I'll be able to knock his noggin back into shape." Cordelia thought about it for a second. Yes, it was Spike, but really, what did they have to lose?
"Fine, William," she sighed. Spike looked at her strangely, but let it go. Obviously she'd been spending a little too much time with the prancing ballerina, and knew the family history. "But, first, Liam, this is Xander, Anya, Giles, Tara, Willow, Spike, Buffy," she said, as she pointed to each person.
" 's an honour to make your acquaintances," he said, before Spike walked up to him and put an arm around his shoulder.
"So, mate. How do you feel about nice, old-fashioned bars?"
"Y'know, it's funny you should mention that," Cordy heard Liam say as his voice drifted away. Great, that was all she needed to deal with. Drunken Liam, yet again.
"Wow," Buffy said, after a pause. "He's wacky. And to think I thought what's been happening to us is weird."
"Just goes to prove, when you think things can't get any worse..." Cordy said, a little put off by Buffy's frankness. "So, what has been happening over here? We can take it in turns; I don't think we know so much about each other's lives any more," she said pointedly. Willow decided to take the question, thinking it probably best to get the little recap over with.
"Well, uhm, you probably heard that Buffy's mother died, then we found out Dawn wasn't real, and was some kind of key needed to cause chaos. Big battle, we won, but barely. Buffy died. As you also know, of course. And now she's back." Willow glanced over to Buffy, who was staring blankly at her hand.
"I think that's worse than what's been going on in Demon Central. Dawn's not real?" Willow nodded in confirmation. "Now *that* got missed out of the detail list. Well, the guy I was falling in love with went on a kamikaze mission, but not before passing on head splitting, eyeball burstingly painful disgusting visions of people in trouble." Everyone flinched in sympathy.
"Anyone else feel like we're seriously lacking some strong alcohol?" Xander asked.
"There's more," Willow said. "When I... when we brought Buffy back it - it didn't go exactly right and she had... she had to claw her way out of her coffin. I'm still trying to see what side-effects it all caused." Tara squeezed her girlfriend's hand.
"Sweetie, you can't keep blaming yourself." Willow smiled weakly at her.
"We got sucked into another dimension, where Cordelia was the Princess."
"Oh, forget mine, that's the worst," Willow said, smiling whilst blinking back her tears.
"I knew you had issues with my authority!" Cordy said, as Wesley quickly moved away to avoid any attacks the 'Princess' might try to make. "Yuh, well, anyway, crisis of the moment is definitely Angel's little disappearing stunt. We were kinda hoping that a little chat with Buffy might bring him back," she finished a little sadly. That didn't really seem like much of an option, what with Buffy in this state.
"Cordelia... I mean, I hope I can help, but-" Buffy sounded, to Cordy's surprise, more lucid than she'd previously let on. "This is all really strange to me and... and I can't even really remember how Angel used to make me feel. I've started to move on, and I really don't want- I remember, when he came here for my mom's funeral, I was clingy; he was all I could remember from my old life, before all this happened, but I don't want that now. I really want to help you get him back, and, and there's a chance I might be able to bring him back to the surface, but I don't want us to be like - like that, again. It confuses me enough as it is, and there's no way I'd want to take any of that on again." She started to drum her fingers quickly against the glass of the table.
"And what makes you think he wants that either? You don't know him any more, Buffy. Angel's moved on, too; I don't know what exactly he'll want when we get him back, but I'm pretty sure he'll come back to LA with us." Cordelia knew she should be glad that the slayer obviously didn't want Angel to stay with her, but she was annoyed that Buffy would assume it was what Angel's heart was set on. Even when Buffy was all trippy, she seemed sure of having Angel's affections.
"Well, gee, Cordelia, I'm glad this wasn't as awkward as I thought it might be," Buffy muttered. She really hadn't meant anything other than that she didn't want a relationship with Angel, but Cordy had gotten really protective of him. As if there had been something going on between them; she was acting the jealous, threatened female.
"I... I just want my best friend back! Is that so hard for you to understand?!
The Scoobies and Wesley looked on in fascination and horror, waiting to see if either girl was actually going to hit the other one, and if they would have to physically restrain them. All of a sudden, Cordelia's strong, bitchy facade crumbled, and she started to cry. It was the kind of wrenching, choked tears, that had been building up inside her over the last couple of days. It shocked everyone, although Wesley had at least seen her cry before. But that was after the continuous, brain searing visions. She never cried in public, particularly not in front of these people.
Xander moved from where he had been standing with Anya behind her, and placed his hands on her shoulders. Slowly, Cordelia turned around, and buried her head in his shirt. He rubbed her back as she continued to sob, whilst giving the other occupants of the room a confused, upset look. He'd never, in all the time he'd known Cordy, seen her break down like this.
"It's okay, Cordy, we'll do all we can, I promise." There was a shocked silence in the room, but for Cordy's broken sobs, and Xander occasionally whispering something to her, to try and calm her. The observers didn't know whether to laugh or call the police.
Wesley was finally not only worried about Liam's situation, but of Cordelia's mental state. He'd never seen her this emotionally fragile; happy one minute, down the next. He resolved to get to work on this immediately - he had no idea how this might effect her in the long term, and he was terrified.
To be continued...