The Portal

by louloucn

Angel and Cordy are accidentally sucked into a portal taking them back into time as the Scooby gang are in their last year of high school, forcing them to relive events of the past. An AtS/BtVS crossover

2. The Portal part II (chapters 7-12)

 

RECAP OF CH. 1-6: (even though you should read it in its entirety) After her date with Groo, Cordy visits Angel, when he finally tells her he loves her and she admits she feels the same way. The next day, Groo bid farewell to the gang as he goes back to Pylea. However, Groo screws up the chant and opens up another portal, which sucks both Angel and Cordy in. It takes them back to Sunnydale, three years ago, as the Scooby gang are in their last year of high school. Angel and Cordy decide to not tell anyone that they are from the future, except for Giles because they need his help. However, through the events that follow, Willow stumbles on their secret and become the only other person who knows about them. However, they have yet to discover a way back home.

*****************

Part II

Chapter 7

"It's SAT day!" Cordy declared, as she sat down at the kitchen table.

Angel was sitting across from her from the small round table, as he peaked his head out from behind the newspaper that he was reading.

"SATs? God! I'm glad I never had to take them in my very long lifetime." Angel said.

"Hey, I do well on standardized tests! Even though I know that I did well on them, it's still kind of exciting to me. I mean, compared to the everyday meaningless high school stuff and the demon killing, this is a good, a great thing." Cordy exclaimed.

"Hey, are you sure that your parents aren't worried about you these days? I mean, we've been living together this whole time since we got here…"Angel asked.

"My parents are never worried about me." Cordy assured him. "They are never around to worry or even care. And you wonder why I hightailed out of this place after high school."

Angel looked as her, as he was sad that she didn't really have a good relationship with her parents.

"Oh I wish I could cook Angel." Cordy sighed, as she began to eat her breakfast of Eggos and syrup. "We have your kitchen and all I can make are still Eggos from a toaster and nuke blood in the microwave."

"Do you want some?" Cordy offered, as she tried to convince him. "I know that you're not a foodie, but I could mix your blood with some maple syrup. I'm sure that will make it extra tasty." She then held up the mug of blood she made for him.

"Alright. Anything for you." Angel answered with a smile.

~Anything to see her amazing smile. If I had a heart, it would make my heart melt.

*******************

Willow was completely depressed about her SAT scores. How could she had done so badly?

"740? Verbal?! I'm-I'm... (searches for a word) pathetic! Illiterate! I'm Cletus, the slack-jawed yokel." she declared, feeling defeated.

"That's right. And the fact that your 740 verbal closely resembles my combined scores in no way compromises your position as the village idiot." Xander replied, trying very hard to cheer Willow up.

"I just... Where did I go wrong?" Willow sighed in despair, as she sat close to the steps of the school.

Xander sit himself down as well, and puts his arm around her to comfort her. "You did amazing, Willow. As usual." Xander softly said, as he stroked her hair.

"You get your scores?" Cordy suddenly asked as both she and Oz approached them. This time, she had actually saw what had happened, but pretended not to notice.

Xander then jumps up and stands, rushing over to Cordy's side.

"Cordelia!" Xander exclaimed, as he pointed at Willow. "Willow was very sad by her academic failure. How did you do?" snagging her score sheet from her hands.

"This is not good." Xander concluded as he read her score.

"What's not good?" Cordy demanded. ~I'll have you know that's a good score!

"Well, I'm just worried it may hurt my standing as campus stud when people find out I'm dating a brain." Xander responded.

"Oh. Thanks." Cordy replied, as she yanked her score sheet back.

"Well, I can see why you'd be upset." Oz declared, as he looked at Willow's scores.

~What? Even Oz thinks I'm dumb! Willow thought, looking completely hurt and even more devastated.

"That was my sarcastic voice." Oz assured her.

"You know, it sounds a lot like your regular voice." Xander remarked.

"I've been told that." Oz replied, as he tried to change the mood by sounding upbeat. "But we should celebrate, do something."

"Like, the four of us?" Cordy asked, as she knew exactly where this conversation was going.

"A double date! It could have potential." Xander said excitedly.

The mood changed back to somber as Buffy approached them.

"Buffy!" Willow exclaimed, with a sudden burst of joy. " Hey! Did you get your SAT scores?"

Buffy nodded weakly.

"By the look on your face, I'm guessing you and I are gonna be manning the drive-through window side by side." Xander concluded.

"They're just test scores, right?" Buffy answered, as she hand her scores to Willow. "What do they really mean, anyway?"

"1430! Buffy, you kicked ass!" Willow exclaimed, almost jumping up from her seat.

Cordy's eyes widened, as she had forgotten what Buffy had gotten on the SATs ~It totally slipped my mind about Buffy's scores. She really did kick ass!

"Okay," Willow declared, trying to be calm. " so academic achievement gets me a little excited."

"Buff, that's amazing." Xander agreed as Buffy handed him her scores.

"Let me see that." Cordy asked, as she took Buffy's scores from Xander's grasp.

"Yeah. With scores like that, you can apply pretty much anywhere you want." Oz added.

"Buffy, this could, like, change your whole future." Willow concluded.

Cordy tried to hide her sadness as she knew that these scores wouldn't really change much about Buffy's future, as Buffy still stayed in Sunnydale and never left her duties as a slayer. ~God, being a slayer totally sucks!

"Well, I think this is great! Now you can leave and never come back!" Cordy declared, trying to pretend to be as Queen C as she possibly could, getting looks from everyone, especially Willow, who knew that she was trying to cover up something.

"Well, I mean that in a positive way. Get out of Sunnydale. That's a good thing. What kind of moron would ever wanna come back here?" Cordy explained. ~Why the hell did I say that… that's terrible! God I was a bitch in high school!

********************

"Angel? Are you home?" Cordy asked as she walked into Angel's, their place. She had spent the most of the day in the library with Giles to find the portal, but they just came up empty handed. She was feeling pretty discouraged and tired.

"Angel, how come it's so dark in here? Why don't you answer me?" Cordy asked, as she noticed the curtains were completely shut and everything was pitch black that she could hardly see. She then wondered if something had happened to him.

Suddenly, she saw a candle being lit and Angel approaching her as he held the candle. He then proceeded to light other candles that filled the room. All of sudden, the room lighted up, bathing their bodies under a warm glow. He then placed his candle down, walked closer to her.

"Angel, what is this?" Cordy asked, completely baffled by his intentions.

"Happy SAT day?" Angel replied weakly, and shrugged. Cordy's face glowed under the light of the candles and it just took his breath away. He smiled.

"Oh come on! I thought you hated SATs." Cordy answered, " Now tell me what's really going on?" as she poked him in the side.

"Well, I thought that since you've been suffering this whole week going to school, when I know that you don't ever want to step into that place again, I thought I should give you a little surprise." Angel answered, holding her closer to him. "Also, I thought we should celebrate our first week together since we've hadn't had the chance by way of falling through a time portal and almost getting killed by an ex-Watcher and the Glove…it's been an interesting week, don't you agree?"

"I'll say. Well thank you." Cordy replied, as she gave him a big hug. "So what's my surprise, big guy?" She whispered in his ear. "I so hope that you have Jude Law stashed around here somewhere cuz I wished for him on my birthday, and he still hasn't arrived."

"Oh maybe someday, Cordy." Angel chuckled, "But I hope this will tide you over, until he arrives." He then proceeded to pull out of his pocket a little box with a ribbon wrapped around it.

" Oh God, Angel. I was only kidding about presents." Cordy answered, completely surprised and totally moved by the gesture.

"Open it." Angel urged.

Cordy slowly unwrapped the box to find a silver necklace with heart-shaped locket.

"Oh, Angel!" Cordy gasped. "When did you find the time to get this?"

"That's my secret to keep." Angel answered mysteriously. "Look inside."

Cordy opened it to find an engaved message inside.

"You make me feel alive." Cordy recited, as tears filled her eyes.

"Remember what you told me in the dressing room?" Angel reminded her.

Cordy nodded as the words flashed in her mind.

-I'm only alive when you're inside me.

"I know that we were possessed at the time," Angel explained, "But, when we got out of the room the first time, they were the only words that I could remember clearly. I know that we can never make love to each other to express the way we feel." Angel continued, feeling the hurt that they both had because of it. "But I just wanted to say, without any doubt, that just being near you, seeing you every single day, just makes me feel alive, like I'm a man again. And that is more than enough for me."

"Angel…I…" Cordy stammered, completely at a lack of words.

" You don't have to say anything, Cordy." Angel assured her as he looked into her eyes and wiped away her tears. "I already know what you feel. We're connected."

"Angel, I love you." Cordy declared with all the love that she had to give and slowly eased in to kiss him.

As she broke away, she gave him a smile, and added: "What did I do to deserve you?"

"I was thinking the exact same thing." Angel answered as he bent his head down to kiss her again.

************************

Cordy was hardly listening to a single word that Xander was saying as she opened her locker to get some books.~Why do I even bother? She asked herself, as she picked up the books from her locker. It's not like I'm gonna actually use them at all. She just bided her time as Xander continued to chat to her. She was sure that he was trying to tell her something significant, but all she could hear was 'Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah…' The thought of Angel and his surprises last night completely took over her thoughts and nothing seemed as important.

"C'mon. It'll be fun!" Xander exclaimed.

"Huh? What would be fun?" Cordy asked as she finally weaned herself from thinking about Angel and actually focused her attention to Xander.

"Bowling. You, me, Oz and Willow. Tomorrow night." Xander explained, wondering exactly what she was thinking of.

" You know what? Why not?" Cordy answered. ~Anything is better than the ballet. At least I won't doze off with that activity… or at least I hope not.

"What?" Xander answered, completely taken aback by her willingness to bowl. "I thought I would have to beg, try to convince you that bowling is classy, and beg some more."

"Not everything that seems classy is great [think ballet], but I just thought that I should give bowling a chance. It might be fun." Cordy explained.

"That's exactly what I was thinking!" Xander replied. "Hey! There's pictures. Of me. In your locker. I never knew I was locker door material." As he admired her locker door, clearly shocked and glad of the new developments.

~Oh my God, I had completely forgotten about those pictures! Cordy thought to herself, as she looked at the pictures of them by the pier That was so long ago! I looked so young. And we did look happy.

"Well... just barely." Cordy replied as she shut her locker.

"Besides, I look really cute in those pictures." As she flashed him a smile. ~You know, I really did!

"Is this new too?" Xander asked, as he pointed to the locket around her neck.

"Oh… Oh! Yeah, I just got it from my dad." Cordy rushingly said, trying to hide the fact that she was lying through her teeth. "Well, hey! There's Oz and Willow.", as she tried to defer Xander's attention to something else.

"Hey. So what's the verdict? Do we bowl?" Oz asked.

"We bowl." Cordy responded.

"Great! Double bowling date. I'm on Oz's team." Willow declared, as she patted Oz's chest.

"Yeah? Well, prepare to be crushed." Xander answered, and then rethought what he just said. "Maybe we should practice." Looking at Cordy and taking her by the arm.

"Yeah." Cordy responded, nodding in agreement.

**********************

Willow looked at Cordy and Xander as they walked away. It was definitely weird for her to look at them the same way. Not only because she was still feeling the strange feelings she had for Xander, but knowing that Cordelia had to play act a relationship with Xander when she knew very well that Cordelia's heart now belonged to Angel. However, Xander didn't notice a thing, and continued to act like nothing had changed.

All of a sudden, her attentions turned to Oz, who was holding up something wrapped up in newspaper.

"What's this?" Willow asked.

"It's a gift." Oz answered plainly.

"What's the occasion?" Willow asked naively, as she started to unwrapped the gift.

"Pretty much *you* are." Oz replied with a smile.

It was a small pez dispenser that was shaped as a witch.

Willow gasped and gave Oz a somewhat hard slap on the chest.

"It's a little, uh, PEZ witch!" Willow said in excitement.

"It's kind of a theme present. Do you like it?" Oz asked.

"I like... I-I *more* than like. Oz, this is probably the sweetest... We have to find a little PEZ werewolf, so little PEZ witch can have a boyfriend." Willow declared.

"I don't think they make a werewolf PEZ. You might have to settle for a wacky cartoon dog." Oz answered.

"This is… just so thoughtful" Willow answered, completely moved and filled with emotion.

"Well, I think about you." Oz replied earnestly.

"Oh... I don't have anything to give you." Willow suddenly said in realization.

"Yeah you do." Oz replied, as he smiled at her and walked away.

~No I don't. Willow sadly thought, her heart wracked with guilt. ~I've cheated on you and then you give me this great gift and what do I give in return? Nothing. Absolutely nothing! She was totally angry, afraid and guilt-ridden over what has happened between her and Xander since the homecoming. And as her thoughts traveled to Cordelia and the possibility that she might know, it made her feel even more at fault than ever! And now, they were going BOWLING! What was she going to do?

*********************

"Buffy, this is remarkable." Giles declared, as he looked over Buffy's scores.

They were in the library as Buffy told him about her news and he told her some news of his own.

"So this is it." Buffy replied, as she looked at Giles' stuff. "Where is this retreat thingy, the Yukon?"

"It's quite nearby, actually." Giles answered, as he watched Buffy pick up his compass to use as a mirror. "It's, um, it's the clearing at the top of Breaker's Woods. It's the site of some fascinating druidic rituals."

He had been thinking about taking this retreat for awhile now, but with Cordy and Angel asking for his help, he thought that this was the perfect time to go and research for their portal, without anyone suspecting a thing.

"Okay, but you're just going for a few days, right?" Buffy asked, slightly worried. "I mean, you're not gonna settle there and grow crops or anything."

"What?" Giles answered, with a feeling of slightly confusion, and then he finally clued in to what she was implying. "Oh, my gear. No, no, this is, this is basic necessities."

"Giles, you pack like me." Buffy teased.

He smiled, as he handed her scores back.

"Your mom will want to put this on the refridgerator." He remarked.

"Yeah. She saw these scores, and her head spun around and exploded." Buffy pointed out.

"I-I've been on the Hellmouth too long." Giles sighed, ~I definitely need this retreat! "That was metaphorical, yes?"

"Yes. She was happy." Buffy answered, reassuring Giles of what she meant.

"You know, with scores like these, Buffy, you could have a first-rate education. I'm, I'm not suggesting that you... ignore your calling, but, um... you need to look to your future." Giles said as his voice faltered, thinking to Cordy and Angel and their knowledge of the future, and wondering what exactly they knew about Buffy's future and what laid ahead for her. "And with Faith here," Giles continued. "i-i-it may be that you can… move on. For a-a time, at least."

"Wow." Buffy replied, surprised to say the least.

"Well, let's, um, let's discuss it when I get back. I-in the meantime, um, I'd like you to continue training while I'm, while I'm gone, and, um, please don't do anything rash…" Giles said, in a slightly worried tone.

"'Anything rash', meaning..." Buffy asked, as she was trying to figure out what exactly he was getting at.

"Are you planning on seeing Angel?" Giles spitted out.

"Yes. Actually, I am." Buffy answered honestly. "Look, but there's not gonna be any rash." ~Why did I have to mention rash? "Anywhere. Okay. We're, we're friends. That's all either of us wants. Nothing's gonna happen."

Giles knew that nothing was going to happen between them. He knew that because of Cordy, but what he was worried about was Buffy. What if she were to walk in on them unexpectedly? She may say that she thinks of them as 'just friends', but he knew very well how much she really loved him. He just didn't know how she would take it if she found out that Angel (at least the Angel from the future) didn't love her anymore.

**********************

"Something's gonna happen." Willow concluded to Xander, as they were walking down the hallway.

"Like what?" Xander asked, completely clueless.

"Uh! It's a mistake! It's a terrible, fatal mistake. I see that now." Willow explained.

"It's just bowling." Xander remarked.

"It's *bad* bowling. I-it's a double date, with all of us, and they're gonna know! [if they don't know already]" Willow explained again.

"How are they gonna know?" Xander asked.

"It's a very intimate situation. It's all sexy with the smoke and the sweating and the shoe rental..." Willow said, as her voice trailed, thinking of the smoke, sweating and…Xander.

"You're turned on by rented shoes?" Xander asked, clearly intrigued.

"That's not the issue." Willow replied, waking up from her daze.

" Okay, well, let me ask you this: what are they gonna know? That we're friends. Old, old friends. And maybe we've had one or two indiscretions, but that's all past. Look. We're just very good friends who like to hang out, and can I kiss your earlobe?" Xander asked softly.

"No! Well, okay." Willow answered, and then jerked away. " No!" Willow holds up the dispenser "PEZ!" ~Think about Oz… think about Cordelia!

"Maybe bowling might be too much to handle. Man!" Xander replied, as he stroked her hair. "I wish I wasn't so attracted to you.I wish we could make it all stop."

"Any suggestions?" Willow asked softly, as she had no clue on how to fix their problem.

**********************

It was a dark and somber night. Outside of the mansion, it seemed as if everything stood still and all would remain quiet. However, through the trees and beneath the shadows, a dark stranger appeared. The figure moved in a quite clumsy fashion, however remained relatively quiet as he walked closer and closer towards the mansion.

Although the stranger had arrived in town the previous night, no one else had been aware of his presence. He was biding his time, waiting for the right moment to appear. He had big plans. Very big plans indeed. ~I'm going to show all those fools what I'm really made of! He thought to himself, as took another drag at his cigarette before throwing to the ground. ~ Especially to that idiot inside with the nancy boy haircut. I'll show him a thing or two! And as his face appeared in the moonlight, it was obvious what his intentions were: Spike was back and he was going to get back the woman he loved! And while he was there, he might as well beat the crap out of Angel, the poof bastard.

**************************

Chapter 8

 

Spike had been drinking very heavily since he had gotten back to Sunnydale. Come to think of it, he had been drinking constantly ever since Druscilla had abandoned him. Even though he was heavily intoxicated, it didn't prevent him to find Angel's mansion in the middle of the night, since he had a lot of things to square away with him.

As he approached the mansion, he spied through a crack in the house made by boards that were carelessly nailed on in a haphazard fashion. He peered in to look at his lifelong nemesis.

Angel was sitting there reading, of all things, perfectly still and completely immersed in his book.

~Stupid fucking poof! Reading…what the bleeding hell are you reading for?~ Spike thought to himself as he chugged down another gulp of brandy from the bottle he had in his hand.

All of sudden, he noticed that Angel wasn't alone.There was definitely someone there with him. ~Probably stupid Buffy. What a bunch of idiots, always making gaa gaa eyes at each to other. Make me want to heave.~

However, to his amazement, the person coming into view was not at all Buffy. Spike then rubbed his eyes as he tried to focus on the person there, still not completely sure of what he was seeing before him.

~Cheerleader?

************

"What are you doing?" Cordy asked him as she approached him to offer him his usual mug of blood for the night.

"Oh, I'm just reading." Angel answered absently, as he was still totally concentrated on the novel"

" 'La Nausea' by Jean Paul Sartre " Cordy read outloud as she looked at the cover of the novel. "Angel…" Cordy whined. "Why are reading that?"

"It's interesting" Angel insisted. "It's a classic, Cordy."

"Come on!" Cordy pleaded, as she began to take Angel's arm to pull him off the chair. "Can't you read something more, I don't know, livelier, more fun?"

"Honey, this is fun to me." Angel replied, not even looking up to look at her in the face.

"Oh please! You honestly will have me believe that this book is belly of laughs?" Cordy asked.

"No, I didn't say that, but I do find it fascinating." Angel answered back.

"And this coming from a guy who cries over the most boring thing in the world: a Ballet!" Cordy reminded him.

"Oh come on Cordy! 'Gisele' was a classic! Of course I cried like a baby, even though I was super evil vampire! Cordy, you just don't know fun when you see it." Angel replied.

"I don't know fun? Oh I know a hell of a lot more about fun! I practically invented the word 'fun'." Cordy declared defiantly.

"Oh yeah?" Angel replied, finally looking up from his book, clearly intrigued by her claim. "Prove it!"

"Well, first of all, we are getting rid of this book!" Cordy declared, as she ripped the book from Angel's clutches and threw the book outside, almost hitting Spike's head in the process.

~Watch it girly!~ Spike thought as he ducked his head, clearly annoyed.

"Hey, I was reading that!" Angel answered, his arms crossing.

"No books, broody boy." Cordy exclaimed. "Now we do this," as she uncrossed his arms and put them to his sides. "Wait here." She then proceeded to get something from the bedroom.

"Cordy?" Angel asked, completely uncertain with what the hell she was coming up with.

"I'm back!" Cordy answered from behind. "Now you have to trust me, okay?" She then proceeded to blindfold him with a scarf that she had.

"Cordy, come on! I can't see a thing!" Angel replied, trying to take the blindfold off of his eyes.

"Nope! Take your hands off of it mister! You told me that I didn't know what fun is and well, I'm trying to prove my point here, so just hang on, okay."

"Fine!" Angel replied, kind of annoyed, and then proceeded to cross his arms again. "But I know I'm not gonna like it."

"Sure you say that now, but don't you fret…you're gonna like my surprise." Cordy answered.

She then uncrossed him arms again, put them to his sides, and then made him stand.

"Where are we going?" Angel asked, kind of scared.

"oh, not very far… just to the couch." Cordy assured him.

She then made him sit on the couch. Afterwards, she proceeded to climb on his lap, to sit face to face with him.

"Cordy…" Angel said, as his defenses began to wane as he felt her weight pressing down on his thighs. He then began to smile.

"Hey surprise…" Cordy said softly, in a very sexy voice, as she whispered in his ear and proceed to lick his earlobe in the most gentlest and skilled manner.

Angel began to literally shiver at gesture. "Cordy..." he moaned, as he pulled her closer to him.

"You're gonna pay for saying that I wasn't fun." Cordy whispered again in his ear. As she whispered, he could hear tear open a package. RIP!

"Cordy, you know we can't do…." Angel began to speak, though his voice faltered at the end.

"Silly boy," Cordy answered. "Do guys only think about sex? It is so not what you're thinking… but it's pretty fun, I think."

It was a package of blueberry Pop Rocks. She then proceed to empty some of it into her mouth "Open wide!" Cordy whispered. "Cuz you're getting a big surprise." She then gave him a long kiss, almost attempting to suck his mouth dry.

~What the hell is that?~ Angel thought as he felt the crystals start to pop on his tongue. He couldn't really taste it, guessing it was sweet, but my God is was like an explosion in his mouth like no other, as his and Cordy's tongues darted one another as they began to paw at one another.

Finally Cordy broke away. "So, you like?" she asked, as she looked at the expression on his face.

"Definitely more fun than reading." Angel agreed as tried to motion her to kiss him again.

"Wait…so are you saying that I'm fun?" Cordy asked, demanding for proclamation.

"YES! You are fun! You are the queen of fun! Now we continue with the kissing again? And do whatever you were doing before, cause I loved it." Angel declared.

"WHOO WHO! I won!" Cordy exclaimed with joy, and then calmed down. "Now we can commence the kissing." As she empty some more Pop Rocks into her mouth and kissed him again.

****************

~I definitely want to heave now~ Spike thought as he looked on with disgust. And it wasn't the brandy talking either, though he did feel like he was going to regret tomorrow when he gets the usual 'stake me now' hangover, but more importantly, he was just appalled by the scene he had just saw, as well as confused.

~ I thought he was all sobby and lovesick for the Slayer!~ Spike thought to himself. ~But I guess he's moved on. I guess I don't totally blame him since his last shag did try to send him to hell.~

~But what is it with that poof and ex-cheerleaders? Does being a complete twit and gaining a soul forces one to have an uncontrollable attraction towards cheerleaders? To become complete and utter love slave to them? Be a whippin' boy? I fucking hope I never become that pathetic!~

Even though, he did want to go into a corner and puke his guts out, he did have to give the girl some respect. At least she threw out his shitty novel out the window. At least she did that right. Though as he looked at them and saw how much in love they were, he couldn't help but think about Dru and his love for her. This made him grew angrier and angrier towards the vampire he was glaring at, as he recalled all the horrid things he had done to tear him and Dru apart and now he was back and in love.

"We were happy!" Spike exclaimed. "You brainwashed her. I could just..." He then took another giant swig of Brandy. "Yeah, I'll show * you * who's a cool guy…You're going down."

As he finshed his sentence, he began to walk away from the window, and as he was completely wasted, he accidentally tripped on one of the flower beds, and passes out.

****************

Angel began to feel under Cordy's skirt to touch her between her thighs and then proceeded to slowly finger under her panties. His blindfold was still on, but after 250 odd years of living, he had enough experience to know where to go.

"Angel…"Cordy began to moan, as began touch her closer and closer to that spot. "Angel don't stop!"

"I wasn't planning on…"Angel answered

"Stop, Angel! Stop!" Cordy cried out suddenly, stopping him in a halt.

"What?" Angel asked. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No Angel." Cordy assured him. "Nothing like that. Angel…" she began to whisper in his ear. " I think I just saw Spike pass by."

"Spike?" Angel answered, as the mention of that name got him fired up. He began to look around, but as his blindfold was still on, he saw nothing. "Where the hell is he?"

"Shh!" Cordy answered. "He might still be out there."

"Let me at him!" Angel answered, ready to rumble.

"No Angel! Stop!" Cordy replied, pushing her weight down on his legs to stop him from budging. "You know why he's here. He just broke up with Dru and he's heartbroken. You know that he only stayed a couple of days and basically left. At least for a year."

"But…"Angel protested.

"Angel, you know what we said about making changes. We can't do that." Cordy replied gently. "So even though you want to jump up and start a brawl with him, you can't right now cuz you need everything to happen the way that it did and that night, you did not have a fight with Spike, okay? That happens tomorrow."

"Fine." Angel answered grudgingly.

Then Cordy proceeded to stand up.

"Hey, where are you going?" Angel asked. "You're not gonna just leave me here all blindfolded, are you?" he gave her a smile.

"No…" Cordy giggled. "I'm gonna guide you to bedroom, where we shall proceed to.. finish what we started."

Angel then gave her the biggest smile he could have as Cordy began to lead him upstairs.

***********************

"College, huh?" Angel asked, as he looked at all the college brochures that were scattered on Buffy's lap.

"Higher education. Kind of an intense proposition." Buffy answered.

It was after school the very next day, and Buffy had paid a visit because she wanted to give Angel the good news about her SAT scores. Angel, of course, had already been reminded of everything because of Cordy, so it was hard just to pretend that he was surprised.

Instead of taking them by surprise this time, Angel and Cordy had anticipated her visit, and did what they could to prepare before her arrival. Cordy had gotten home from school early so that she could get home before Buffy did and both Angel and Cordy had scrambled to hide every single possible thing that they could think of that belonged to Cordy so that Buffy wouldn't suspect anything out of the ordinary.

This time, Cordy remained upstairs in the bedroom, insteading cowering by the sofa. Not only was she disinterested in what Buffy would do, but she had to get ready for her double date. The mention of a 'date' kinda made Angel crazy, even though he knew that it didn't mean anything. He just didn't like Xander since he was 'dating' Cordy and also because he knew that Xander was cheating on her and that made him even more despicable in his eyes.

"Where do you wanna go?" Angel asked, just to humour her.

"I have no idea. My mom was the one that got all these. She's so excited, she can't stop talking about it." Buffy replied, as Angel sat across from her. " I had a really hard time coming up with an alibi so I could come over here."

~Joyce!~ Angel thought to himself, as the memory of her death filled his mind. He quickly tried to hide the pain that he felt as heard that name. He had wanted to be there sooner for Buffy once he had heard about Joyce, but it wasn't possible. He remembered that Joyce was really that fond of him at any time, but he had to thank her for not only being a wonderful woman and mother to Buffy, but also for convincing him to walk away from Buffy when she knew that Buffy needed to go on without him. He was especially glad about Joyce's plea now, cause if she hadn't, he would have never left Sunnydale, and gone to LA, where he wouldn't have met Cordy again, his reason for living at all in this world. His best friend. His girlfriend. The love of his life.

"She doesn't know about me." Angel realized as he remembered the circumstances that they had been in.

"Big no. She's having enough trouble dealing with the Slayer issue. I don't think she's ready to process the information that... you and I are friends again. Anyway, I think this college jones is just a reaction to the whole Slayer thing." Buffy explained.

~Friends…~ he thought to himself. He hoped that they were friends. It seemed like a strange word to described their relationship, now that he could think back and remember clearly. He remembered how much they had tried to convince themselves tha they were friends at that time, but were they ever friends to begin with?

Although, he will probably always love Buffy in some way or another, he had hoped that she was serious about the being friends thing. ~Sounds like a nice concept.~

"She wants you to get out." Angel answered.

"Someplace a little less Hellmouthy." Buffy replied with a nod. "She has a point. Y'know, but there are reasons to stay, too."

"What are they?" Angel asked as if he didn't already know the answer.

"Um... you know, there's my Slayer duties, obviously. What do you think I should do?" Buffy remarked, even though she was surprised that he didn't clue into what she really meant.

"As a friend, I..." Angel replied, as he got up. "I think that you should leave. This is a good opportunity for you."

He then stood by the fireplace, and was facing away from Buffy. Although he had meant what he said all those years ago, he knew that when he said it the first time, a part of him didn't want her to leave at all. He wanted her to stay with him forever. But now, after all that had happened and now that he could truly be friends with her, when he advised her to leave, he had meant it with all of his soul. But he also unfortunately knew that leaving Sunnydale would never be in the cards for her. That she would remain in Sunnydale. ~Maybe someday you'll be able to leave Buffy ~ Angel thought, as he felt her eyes staring at him.

"Yeah. It's not like there's any great thing keeping me here." Buffy answered, as if she didn't care.

Angel turned around as he watched trying to stuff her brochures in her bag as quickly as possible, just to get out as fast as she could. He knew what he said hurt and he also knew that even after 3 years, Buffy would never truly understand why he left her, but he knew that it was the right thing to do.

"Thanks for the advice. It's another perspective to consider." Buffy said quickly as she put her bag on one shoulder, trying not to meet his eyes.

"Where are you going? You just got here. It's early." Angel remarked. He really didn't want her to leave. He wanted her to stay a little longer so that he could get to know her. He had realized that he never really knew Buffy the person. All that he had known about her was that she was the first girl that he ever loved. Nothing more, nothing less. But now, since he was stuck in this predicament, he thought that maybe now was a good a time as any to finally know how Buffy clicked. Also, Cordy would be leaving soon, and it would be nice to have some company while she was gone.

"Yeah, well, my mom starts worrying a lot earlier these days. I'll stop by soon." Buffy replied, as she walked out, without even looking at him.

Angel just watched as she left. ~I don't ever think I'll ever know who she really is,~ He thought in sadness.

*********************

"Whoa! It smells like church in here." Xander declared, as he approached Willow. "No, wait... Evil church."

Xander had just arrived to meet Willow at the science room. She had called everybody to tell them to all meet up here for their big 'double date'. ~I hope to God that everything will go as planned.

"It's just chemistry stuff. An experiment." Willow explained, although she never moved from her spot, as she was deeply concentrated on the task at hand.

"So you said when you called. Why do I have to be here?" Xander asked, as he was still confused on Willow's instance to meet up in a science room.

"It'll help you on the exam. You're way behind." Willow replied quickly, trying to hide her intent.

" But that's why you love me, right?" Xander answered back, with a sexy look. "Academically dangerous?"

"Here. Hold this." Willow declared, completely ignoring his comment, and handing him a raven feather.

"A feather. And who will I be tickling?" Xander asked coyly. ~I never knew how kinky Willow can be! He then brushed the feather lightly on her cheek to tell her that he got it.

For a moment, Willow was completely taken by Xander's feather tickling, and was about to be lost in the moment, but then her mind focused back on reality and she pushed his hand aside.

"Shush." Willow warned. She had gone to the magic shop earlier that day for supplies and she had hoped to God that she was doing it right. "Okay. Bring mixture to a boil..." as she double checked the directions in her magic book.

"I assume this isn't going to make us late for our evening of bowling magic?" Xander asked.

"There's no magic!" Willow answered in defense, as she jerked up at the mention of the word. "I mean, bowling, yeah."

"Can we turn these lights on?" Xander asked.

He was trying to take a closer look at the book that Willow was studying from, since it looked awfully familiar, but with it being dark and every… ~Hey wait a minute!~

"Is that a spell book?" Xander asked, slowly clueing in.

"No, no, no! Chemistry book." Willow answered quickly, as she tried to block the book from Xander's view.

"Wait a minute. This is love spell stuff! You're doing a love spell?" Xander exclaimed in realization.

"No! Of course not! This is a purely scientific..." Willow said, trying to cover again.

~Yeah right! Scientific … he smirked, as he pointed clearly the tile of the book "Witchcraft"

"...de-lusting spell... for us. I thought it would go better if you didn't know." Willow finally admitted.

"Are you nuts, or have you forgotten that I tend to have bad luck with these sorts of spells?" Xander yelled, as he heard Willow's admission. Then he flashed back to the time he tried to cast a love spell to make Cordelia love him and it turned out to be a disaster. Not only did Buffy, Willow, and every other girl he knew had hunt him down like an animal for him to be their love slave, the spell had no effect on Cordelia whatsoever. Though he had to smile at the memory of finding Willow in his bed, with only his shirt on, pushing him forcefully onto his bedroom door and proceeded to lick his earlobes…~Oh God, was she ever sexy then…she's even more sexy now…

"But you said you wished that these feelings could just go away." Willow yelled back.

Xander's mind refocused again. "Yeah, I wish for a *lot* of things! I told you I wished I was a fireman when we were in sixth grade, but you didn't follow through on that!" he declared, trying to find any excuse to prove his point.

"I can't do this anymore, Xander! I mean, this whole 'us' thing is... bleagh!" Willow replied. She didn't mean to say 'beagh' but she had to as she thought to sweet Oz and to Cordelia, who probably already knows about this whole crazy thing.

"So, do you really need to resort to the black arts to keep our hormones in check?" Xander asked, clearly hurt by the 'bleagh'.

"At this point, I'm thinking 'no'." Willow calmly answered.

"I'm gonna get the lights," Xander decided, as he walked towards the light switches, "clean this place up before they get here and start asking questions." He then clicked them on.

Out of nowhere, Spike appeared and grabbed Xander by the neck to choke him.

"Xander!" Willow cried out, as she saw Xander totally defenceless against Spike.

****************

Chapter 9

 

"A spell. For me. You're gonna do a spell for me." Spike declared.

He had just taken Willow and Xander to his factory. He then proceed to dump a whole bunch of supplies on the bed where Xander laid, still unconscious from the blow to the head Spike gave him.

"Uh, what kind of a spell?" Willow asked weakly.

"A *love* spell! Are you brain dead?" Spike yelled, as he went to his dresser to fetch another bottle of Brandy. "I'm gonna get what's mine. What's mine. Teach

her to walk out on me."

He takes a couple of swigs from the bottle, determined to get even more drunk than last night. Even though he had a little mishap that morning, almost being burned to a crisp, he still needed to get really drunk, especially to wipe away the memory of Angel and that cheerleader. ~I do anything to get rid of the memory of that tart straddling that stupid poof. Stake me, I don't care!~

"You can do it, right? You can make Dru love me again? Make her crawl!" Spike demanded. ~I mean, if Angel can get that perky cheerleader to love him despite the fact that he's bloody stupid, of course Dru can love me again!~

"I-I can try." Willow stammered, completely afraid.

"What are you talking about, trying? You'll do it! Spike yelled, as he grabbed her neck.

"Yes, I'll do it!" Willow yelled back, trying not to choke under his grip.

Spike then smashed the bottle of brandy in his hand and held it to her face. "You lie to me, and I'll shove this through your face! You want that?" Spike threatened.

"No!" Willow cried out, as she began to sob in fear.

"Right through to your BRAIN!" Spike threatened more fiercely.

"No, please, no..." Willow wailed, as she cried even more.

Spike then suddenly shoves her aside, and sits down. His expression changed from anger to sadness.

"She wouldn't even kill me. She just left. She didn't even care enough to cut off my head or set me on fire." Spike explained, as he sniffled. "I mean, is that too much to ask? You know? Some little sign that she cared?" * Sigh * "It was that truce with Buffy that did it. Dru said I'd gone soft. Wasn't demon enough for the likes of her. And I told her it didn't mean anything, I was thinking of her the whole time, but she didn't care. So, we got to Brazil, and she was... she was just different. I gave her everything: beautiful jewels, beautiful dresses with beautiful girls in them, but nothing made her happy. And she would fliiirt!" Spike further recounted, as he sniffled some more, pained by the memory. "I caught her on a park bench, making out with a *chaos* demon! Have you ever seen a chaos demon? They're all slime and antlers. They're disgusting!"

Then he began to look up at Willow, who was sitting next to him and listening with concern his sob story. He then began to stroke Willow's hair as he continued.

"She only did it to hurt me." Spike explained as he took his hand off of her "So I said, 'I'm not putting up with this anymore.' And she said, 'Fine!' And I said, 'Yeah, I've got an unlife, you know!' And then she said... she said we could still be friends." As he mentioned the word, he began to break down and started to crying uncontrollably on Willow's shoulder. " God, I'm so unhappy!"

"There, there." Willow answered, trying to pat Spike on the knee, not knowing what to say. ~I've never had a vampire cry on me like that! This is a first…~

"I mean, friends! How could she be so cruel?" Spike added, as the mere mention of the word was poison to him. Then he began to look up and saw her neck.

"Mmm. That smell... Your neck..." Spike said softly, as he began to inhale her more deeply. ~Red is sure looking might cute tonight with that fuzzy pink number and that beautiful neck…I could just eat right…~

He then changed into his game face.

" I haven't had a woman in weeks." Spike admitted.

"Whoa! No! Hold it!" Willow said as she panicked at the situation.

"Well, unless you count that shopkeeper." Spike added, forgetting about the shopkeeper from the magic shop where he first saw Willow.

"Now, now, hold on! I-I'll do your spell for you, and, and, and I'll get you Drusilla back, but, but there will be no bottle-in-face, and there will be no 'having' of any kind with me. Alright?" Willow replied, trying to clearly explain her terms.

"Alright." Spike agreed, as he shoved Willow away. " Get started."

"Now, I'm not a real witch, you know. I-I don't know if this is gonna work right away." Willow explained gently.

"Well, if at first you don't succeed, I'll kill him," Spike commanded, as he pointed to Xander, " and you try again."

"This isn't enough." Willow exclaimed, as she looked at all the supplies before her.

"What?" Spike yelled.

"Well, there are other ingredients, a-and a-a-a book. I need a, a spell book. This isn't it." Willow tried to explained, as she tried to calm him down.

"You've got one, though, at home?" Spike asked.

"Not at home. I left it somewhere." Willow explained.

"Where?" Spike demanded, as he stared violently into Red's eyes.

****************************

"Thank God you are here." Cordy said. ~Why did I just say that? You knew that she would be here…this is your second time around at this, remember?~

"Yeah! Not all of us have dates tonight." Buffy answered, slightly bitter that she was not out tonight…with Angel.

"Something's up." Oz explained.

****************************

Oz, Cordelia and Buffy were all in the science room now as they saw the room in a complete mess.

"We were supposed to meet in here. I don't know what could have happened." Cordy lied.~Of course you know what happens! Spike kidnapped them both and have taken them to the factory!~

"What is all this stuff? I'm thinking weird science." Buffy remarked.

"Was Willow messing with her magic tricks again? Maybe they disappeared. Maybe she turned Xander into something ishy!" Cordy replied. ~I wonder what Willow was really up to here…~

"Whatever happened, there was obviously a fight." Buffy answered, as she scanned the room.

"I don't see any blood." Oz observed.

"Yeah, either they were taken, or they ran, or maybe..." Buffy deduced.

"You're having too many ors! Pick one!" Cordy blurted, trying to act as concerned as possible.

"I don't know. I need you guys to find Giles, okay? I'm gonna look for them. Maybe they didn't get too far." Buffy concluded.

"Where is Giles?" Cordy asked innocently as she continued to act clueless.

"Uh, he's at a retreat in the clearing in Breaker's Woods." Buffy answered quickly.

"Yeah, I know the spot, but it's like a forty-five minute drive." Oz replied.

"So motor!" Buffy commanded.

*******************

Angel was strolling towards Buffy's house. Ever since he had gotten here, he had never once gone by in its general direction. It seemed odd to him now, and he felt uneasy. However, he knew that he had to go because it was somewhere he needed to be and soon.

As he approached the open side door of the kitchen, he noticed Spike sitting there enjoying a cup of something with Joyce. It made him sad and somewhat uncomfortable to see Joyce there. It was a very weird feeling to see someone, healthy and living, right there in front of him, when he knew that she had passed away. It also made him sad to know that despite the fact that Spike was pure evil in his mind, he had always been envious of Spike's relationship with Buffy's mom. She always liked Spike much more and carried a soft spot for him, while ever since he had walked into Buffy's life, he could always remember a constant struggle to get Joyce to even like him. ~ I don't blame her. I mean, how would I react if Connor was 17 and dating a person a hundred times older than him… I'd go crazy!~ It was so interesting nowadays the perspective that he had since becoming a father. The word itself saddened to no end, as he missed his little boy ever so much and longed to hold him once more.

He then proceeded to walk out of the shadows and waited to be greeted in the same fashion as always.

"Oh, my God. Get out of here!" Joyce gasped, jumping out of her chair.

"Yeah. You're not invited." Spike taunted.

"He's crazy. He'll kill us." Joyce insisted, as she stood there in fear.

"Not while I breathe. Well, actually, I don't breathe." Spike explains, as he continued to taunt Angel with his eyes. ~See stupid poof? Where does your moronic ways get you now, huh?

"Joyce, listen to me." Angel said calmly, hoping that she would see the new Angel.

"You get out of this house, or I will stake you myself." Joyce threatened, not seeing anything different from this Angel.

"You're a very bad man." Spike replied, in a slight state of enjoyment. ~I would KILL to see that!~

"Joyce, please invite me in." Angel said calmly.

Spike makes like he's going to bite Joyce, but is disappointed not to get any reaction from Angel.

~You would never bite Joyce! Angel thought to himself. Spike was way to fond of Joyce to do such a thing. What he was worried about was Spike's knowledge about him and Cordy. That was something that bothered him, especially if he ever mentions it to Buf…

"Argh!" Spike muttered, as Buffy rushed in, pinned him down on the kitchen island and grabbed him immediately by the throat.

"Angel, why don't you come on in?" Buffy said, as Angel slowly walked in.

"Oh! Oh, no!" Joyce exclaimed as she began to really panic. She then moved as far away from Angel as possible.

Angel just sighed in disappointment at the gesture.

"You shouldn't have come back, Spike." Buffy declared, still holding Spike down.

"I do what I please." Spike said defiantly.

"Okay, I'm confused now." Joyce said.

As Spike makes a move for Buffy's arm, Angel pins his arm down. Buffy then grabbed for the nearest wooden spoon and goes in to stake him.

"Willow!" Spike blurts out.

"You took Willow." Buffy answered, realizing the gravity of the situation.

"You do me now, you'll never find the little witch." Spike added.

"Willow's a witch?" Joyce asked, completely baffled by the situation.

"And Xander?" Buffy questions further.

"Him, too." Spike replied.

"What, Xander's a witch? I..." Joyce was still not getting any clarity over the situation.

"Where are they?" Angel demanded, putting on his best tough guy impersonation.

"Doesn't work like that, peaches. And when did you become all soul-having again? I thought you outgrew that." Spike answered, looking at Angel and giving him a knowing wink, as to say that 'I thought you outgrew your little girly cheerleading phase.' Angel just glared at him in disgust. Spike then turned back his attention towards Buffy.

"Your friend's gonna work a little magic for me. She does my spell, I let them both go."

"You're not famous for keeping your promises, Spike." Buffy reminded him.

"Well, you and your 'great poof' here wanna tag along, that's fine. But you get in my way, and *you* kill your friends." Spike answered in a threatening tone.

***************

"What if they were kidnapped by Colombian drug lords? They could be cutting off Xander's ear right now! Or other parts!" Cordy exclaimed, trying to show as much irrational thinking as possible. ~Just think of Fred now… if anyone has crazy thought processes, it'll be her.~

Oz suddenly brings the van to a halt as he sniffs the air.

"Hello?" Cordy wondered.

"It's Willow. She's nearby." Oz replied as he began to sniff the air some more.

" What? You can smell her? She doesn't even wear perfume." Cordy insisted.

"She's afraid." Oz remarked, with a look of worry on his face. He then proceeds to put the van in reverse and go into the opposite direction.

"Oh, my God. Is this some sort of residual werewolf thing?" Cordy asked. "You know, before I would have been surprised at this, or maybe even freaked out, but now it's more like I'm feeling comforted and creeped out at the same time…I think it's kinda cool."

Oz gave her a surprised look, but appreciates her comment. "Thanks."

Cordy continued to look at him with awe. She could really see how much Oz really loved Willow and was continually saddened by the ever close moment when Oz would see Willow and Xander. It broke her heart thinking about it since she knew how good Oz treated Willow, even after he made up with her. She had never really understood the meaning of love when she was in high school, but now, when she had actually found someone and she was really in love, it completely killed her to see how devoted Oz was and the fact that she couldn't save him from the imminent pain that he would suffer.

"You really love her, don't you?" Cordy asked.

"Yeah I do." Oz answered simply, giving her a little smile, as he turned his attention on the road.

Cordy also had to turn her attention something else too. Something that had been bothering her the whole day, anticipating the date. It had been really hard to know what was going to happen to everyone, but now as she sat there quietly as Oz drove on, she had to mentally prepare for the events that were about to unfold.

*********************

Chapter 10

 

"Look, I just need a few supplies, and then I'll take you to..." Spike groans as he grabs his head. "Oh, God."

"What's wrong? Not that I care." Buffy asked, as she tried to pretend that she wasn't concerned.

"Oh... My head. I think I'm sobering up." Spike explained, as he began getting flashes of the events that happened last night, with the straddling and the tonguing…. The whole thing was making him want to heave right there. "It's horrible!" Spike cried out, as he tried to block it from his mind "Oh, God. I wish I was dead." ~Anything to get that picture of the cheerleader and the poof out of my mind! Why can't you think of anything else?!~

"Well, if you close your eyes and wish real hard..." Buffy offered as she pulled a stake out.

~Hey I'm wishing! I'm wish… "Hey! Back off!" Spike suddenly answered, realizing what he had thought about and wondered how desperate he really was.

"Buffy, we still need him to find the others." Angel said calmly, trying to stand between them. ~Especially Cordy… Cordy? Where are you? I really hope you're okay!

"Need him? He's probably just got them locked up in the factory." Buffy answered very matter of factly.

"Well, hey, how thick do you think I am?" Spike scoffed, trying to hide the fact that she was right ~Slayer, why do always have to get the best of me? I don't understand why I even put up with you!

As Angel, Buffy and Spike continued to walk towards the magic shop, they encounter a street bench, where suddenly Spike is filled with memories.

"Oh God." Spike exclaims.

"Now what?" Angel asked.

"We killed a homeless man on this bench. Me and Dru. Those were good times." Spike sighed as he sat on the bench. "You know, he begged for mercy, and you know, that only made her bite harder."

"Well, I'm glad that you are enjoying your walk down memory lane, but I don't have time for this! "Buffy declared as she tried to pull Spike up from the bench.

"Hey!" Spike yells as he resents the forced pull. "You know, funny you should mention memories, Buffy, cause I have a story for you…something about a certain someone, let say straddling another certain someone…" Spike continued as he began to fumble around the details, angering Angel, and making Buffy ponder what the hell he was talking about.

"What the hell are you yammering on about this time Spike?" Buffy asked in annoyance.

"Don't listen to him Buffy." Angel quickly interjected, "He's just babbling on about some garbage about him and Dru." He was desperate to get off the subject, and especially to shut Spike's big mouth. "Hey Buffy! There's the magic shop!" As he pointed towards the shop up ahead.

Buffy then proceeded as Spike and Angel trailed behind.

"Why don't you shut the hell up?" Angel threatened.

"Why don't you make me?" Spike threatened back as he continued to walk on. "I'm sure Buffy would LOVE to hear my story with all the details, especially with the moaning and groaning I heard last night!" as he gave him a devilish smile before catching up with Buffy.

***************************

As Buffy, Spike and Angel all walked into the magic shop, they saw what could only be Spike's handywork.

"Your work?" Buffy asked, although it was a pretty redundant question.

"Here's your list." Spike declared as he hands the list of supplies he needed.

"'Essence of violet, cloves...'"Buffy started to recite. "Angel?"

Angel was completely deep in thought about how Cordy was doing and how to handle Spike. He then woke out of his reverie as Buffy spoke.

"Right." He answered, as he went about his way to search for the ingredients.

" 'Set of runic tablets.' Spike can get the rat's eyes." Buffy said.

With the mention of rats, Spike once again thought about Dru.

"I used to bring her rats. With the morning paper." Spike sighed.

" Great. More moping. That's gonna get her back." Buffy said in a sarcastic manner.

"The spell's gonna get her back." Spike assured her.

"Lot of trouble for somebody who doesn't even care about you." Angel suddenly remarked. He knew that he shouldn't aggravate Spike even further, but he couldn't resist.

"Shut your gob!" Spike yelled.

"She really is just kind of fickle." Angel continued, not being able to resist the temptation.

"SHUT UP!" Spike yelled again. ~ THAT IT! HE'S GONNA GET WHAT'S COMING TO HIM!

With that, he ran up to Angel and tries to punch him in the face. WHACK! Angel then grabs his arm before he could do it again. Buffy then proceeds to knock Spike to the floor.

"What do you know?" Spike declares as he stands up. "It's your fault, the both of you! She belongs with me." He then proceeds to break and starts to sob. "I'm nothing without her."

"That I'll have to agree with. You're pathetic, you know that? You're not even a loser anymore, you're a shell of a loser." Buffy concluded.

"Yeah. You're one to talk." Spike adds.

~Oh God! Here it comes! Angel thought in agony.

"Meaning?" Buffy demanded.

"The last time I looked in on you two, you were fighting him to the death. Now you're back making googly-eyes at the poof like nothing happens. Makes me want to heave." Spike explains, not fully detailing the whole truth.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Buffy denied.

"Oh yeah sure." Spike comments with glee.

"You're not his friend!" Spike continued, as he glared at Buffy. "You'll never ever think of him as your friend. You'll be in love with him until it kills you. You'll fight, shag and hate him until it makes you quiver, but you'll never be his friend. Love isn't brains, children," as he points to his head. " it's blood...[pointing to his chest] blood screaming inside you to work its will."

Buffy would have none of it, but as Spike glanced at Angel, he knew that Angel understood. Angel understood because he was in love and he knew what love meant, he had seen it work its will on him when Cordy was almost dead all those times, and how much it made him want to scream and die because he couldn't help his beloved. He knew what love was. Unfortunately, Buffy was still perplexed, still in the dark with whatever Spike had to say.

"*I* may be love's bitch, but at least *I'm* man enough to admit it." He concluded. Angel just bowed his head in acknowledgement.

What he really meant was that although Angel knew what he was talking about, he still was a cowardly poof who wouldn't even say it to the slayer, to her face that he was in love with someone else. Instead, he kept stringing the slayer on like a puppy, who had no idea how crushed she would be. And then Spike left it at that.

Buffy then tried to glance at Angel, but Angel couldn't look at her in the face because he knew that he would hurt her if she could only see his eyes.

"Hmm!" Spike said suddenly, as he grabbed a bottle "Eye of rat." He just went about his business like nothing had happened at all.

**********************

"Xander?" Willow asked as she sits beside him on the bed. "Are you okay?"

Xander had finally woken up. "Dizzy." Xander winces a little. "Kind of nauseous, too. Do I remember having a fight with Spike?"

"You do." Willow answered.

Xander then notices the caked on blood on the side of his face.

"I won, right? Kicked his ass?" Xander asked with hope.

"You were real brave. Do you need to barf?" Willow asked with concern.

"No, I'll be okay." Xander then finally looks around to see that he has no idea where he is. "Where are we?"

"The factory. We're locked in the basement." Willow explained.

"That burnt-out place in the middle of nowhere?" Xander asked, realizing the hopelessness of the situation. " So we're pretty much in a 'scream all you want' scenario."

"Pretty much." Willow admitted.

"Why didn't he just kill us?" Xander asked.

"He-he wants me to do a love spell." Willow. ~I hate the thought of love spells! Love spells just equals trouble.~

"What?" Xander exclaimed, completely baffled.

"Drusilla broke up with him." Willow explained more carefully.

"Gee, and we had all hoped those crazy kids would make it work." Xander remarked sarcastically.

"He's out of control. I mean, not that he was Joe Restraint in the old days." Willow remarked as she thought back Spike trying to come on to her/bite her.

"So what are our options?" Xander asked, as he winces again in pain.

"Well, I figure either... I refuse to do the spell and he kills us, or I do the spell and he kills us." Willow admitted.

"Give me a third option." Xander declared. ~I need some hope here Willow!

" He's so drunk he forgets about us, and we starve to death. That's sort of the best one." Willow deduces. ~It's also probably the most probable one, especially the way he was drinking tonght. Yeesh!~

"Will, we're not gonna die." Xander assures her as he attempts to sit up, with Willow's help. " If he's so drunk, he'll get sloppy, and then I'll make my move." His attempts are futile, as they both collapse back in bed. "As long as my move doesn't involve standing

up or using my limbs, we'll be okay."

They fall really close together. Their faces are so near each other, their noses touch. They can feel the pull of their attraction bringing them together, but Willow hesistates.

~Think about Oz!… oh God, think about Cordelia!~ She thought to herself. "We're not supposed to."

"Exemption for impending death situation." Xander rationalizes as he is unable to surpress his feelings any longer.

Willow can't fight her feelings as well, and they both close in for a kiss. The kiss was tender, Xander then lovingly reached for her to pull her closer to him as he lied back on the bed. She in turn responds and puts her arm around him. The moment was so sweet, gentle, perfect.

************

As Cordy and Oz walked in on Willow and Xander kissing tenderly, Cordy agonized in pain, and was unable to look at poor Oz, who was completely taken aback by the scene before.

The colour drained from his face and he felt as thought his heart had stopped and broken in two. Here he was, scrambling to search for his dearest Willow and Xander, wondering, agonizing if anything bad had happened to her and here she was on the bed, passionately kissing Xander.

As Cordy watched Oz's pained look, what happened next completely took her by surprise.

FLASH!

All of a sudden, the memories of that very moment flooded her mind as she began to feel all the feelings that she had felt all those years ago. Betrayal, Anger, Sadness, Heartbroken. It was as though she was seventeen again and the scene she saw before her was completely new.

"Oh God." Cordy managed to speak, unable to move over the horror.

Willow immediately gets off Xander and turns to see Cordelia and Oz staring back at them, with blank and hurt expressions.

"Oh God." Xander exclaimed, realizing the situation.

"Oh God, Oz…" Willow said painfully.

"We've gotta get out of here." Oz replied with no emotion whatsoever.

As Oz finished his sentence, Cordy, filled with all the emotions that she had once felt, started to run towards the stairs.

"Cordy, I…"

Before Xander could even finish his sentence, the stairs beneath Cordy gave in, and she suddenly fell through into the space below. As she fell, Cordy hit the pile of concrete and once more, a long rusty iron rebar had stabbed her in the side. Cordy just laid there, motionless as the others look down the space in horror.

****************

As Angel, Buffy and Spike were walking out of the magic shop, Angel stopped dead in his tracks. He felt a pang of pain like no other and knew there was something was wrong. "Cordy!"

****************

Chapter 11

"What did you say Angel?" Buffy asked as she turned around to look at Angel.

Spike gave him a look and knew there was something wrong. "It's nothing luv. He was probably just mumbling to himself." ~Why the hell did I call her luv?~

"Whatever Spike." Buffy answered in a huff. "And don't call me love."

Angel was still in his own world, as he still felt a pain on his side. He couldn't explain it but he knew that Cordy was in trouble. Then suddenly, he remembered the story Cordy once told him about how she had gotten the scar she had on her stomach. Something about finding Xander and Willow, and falling…~Oh my God, how could I have been so stupid! He thought to himself. His initial reaction was to run off right away to look for her but he couldn't. And it didn't help that Buffy and Spike were barking at each other like a married couple.

"What's your hurry?" Spike asked.

"My hurry is my intense desire to get you out of my life. You tend to cause trouble." Buffy replied, anxious to get this over with.

"I'll be out of your life in a few short hours. No trouble at all." Spike agreed.

~I've got to find a way to get to Cordy. Maybe I can go without them noticing…With them yelling at each other, and if there isn't any trouble…

Angel spoke too soon, as suddenly they were confronted by a vampire.

"Hello Spike." The vampire said, as a gang of vampires followed behind them.

"No trouble at all." Buffy replied, as she saw the vampires in front of her. ~Why does Spike always get us into these things?!~

"Lenny. How have you been?" Spike remarked.

"Better since you left. You should have stayed gone." Lenny replied.

"Is that right" Spike exclaimed, as he threw down the bag that he had in his hands and prepared to rumble.

"You know, he was just leaving." Buffy answered, and then looked at Spike " Don't you start anything."

"This pissant used to work for me." Spike explained.

Buffy then looked at Angel. "The guys are in trouble. We can't risk this."

Angel looked at her regrettably and said: "Look, I don't think we have a choice." More than anything, all he want to do was run off to Cordy's side and save her, but remembering the brawl that they were about to embark on, he knew he couldn't just leave Buffy and Spike to fend off for themselves.

"You other two can walk away from this." Lenny offered.

"I die, your chums die." Spike said as he looked at Buffy.

"Sorry. We're staying." Buffy replied to Lenny with much reluctance.

"Not for long!" Lenny declared as they began to fight.

Buffy and Angel then threw their bags down as well started swinging and punching. All around, Spike, Buffy and Angel started throwing punches in the air, kicking and hurling vampires left and right. Although they were successful in throwing down their opponents for a time, they saw the gang surround them once more. They then decided to regroup and back themselves into the magic shop once more. Once inside, they slammed the door shut as the gang outside scramble to look for an entrance. Buffy then goes searching for any weapons, as Angel and Spike pushes one of the bookcases to lean against the front window. Buffy then proceeds to smash a chair, and grabs its legs as stakes. She throws one to both Spike and Angel as they all stood their ground, waiting for the bookcase to give and for their enemies to storm the shop.

"This should be a kick." Spike declared.

"I violently dislike you." Buffy managed to utter back in disgust as vampires started rolling in.

*************************

Xander was about to climb down the hole, when Willow forced him to go with Oz to go fetch help, while she offered to climb down the hole herself. Xander obliged since he didn't want to cross paths with Willow right at this moment. As the boys leave, Willow finally slowly made it down the hole, to be near Cordelia.

"Don't move Cordy, okay? Xander and Oz are off to get help." Willow explained, as she tried her best to comfort her.

"Angel…" Cordy whispered as she lied there motionless and in pain. "Angel…"

"Don't worry Cordy." Willow assured her. "I'm sure Angel will be here and you'll be fine."

Cordy gave her a weak smile and proceeded to think about Angel.

****************************

"Now that was fun." Spike declared, fully satisfied by the mass destruction they had caused.

Buffy and Angel could only glare at him in disbelief at what he said. Just moments ago, they were on the brink of death, as Angel was trapped under a bookcase and the vampires were about the break through the front windows. If it wasn't for the shelf filled with Holy Water on hand, who knows what would have happened to them.

"Oh, don't *tell* me that wasn't fun." Spike said, as he smiled brightly. " Oh, God! It's been so long since I had a decent spot of violence." He stops and ponders for a minute. "Really puts things in perspective."

Angel still bends over in pain as Buffy tries to help him.

"Oh yeah right you only think of him as a friend." Spike remarked coyly. If she only knew…

"Could we just do the damn spell?" Buffy barked as she was finally out of patience.

"Oh, sod the spell.Your friends are at the factory." Spike replied matter of factly.

Buffy just glared at him and became ashamed of her own gullibility.

"I'm really glad I came here, you know? I've been all wrongheaded about this. Weeping, crawling, blaming everybody else. I want Dru back, I've just gotta be the man I was." Spike concluded as he began to stand proudly "the man she loved. I'm gonna do what I shoulda done in the first place: I'll find her, wherever she is, tie her up, torture her until she likes me again."

He then thought about him and Dru, and then Angel and the cheerleader. Spike then smiled. "Love's a funny thing."

************************

Xander had come back and the paramedics had arrived. As he stood close to her side, he looked at her with deep concern and regret.

"Cordy… please hold on." He said softly.

"Xander.."Cordy said weakly. "I can't see you…"

She then turned her head and closed her eyes slowly, trying to think about the only thing in this world that mattered to her: Angel.

**************************

Angel was pacing back and forth within the mansion. With Cordy in the hospital at this very moment, he couldn't sit still, let alone think straight. But he had to remain calm for her sake and he had to wait a little longer as he had one more thing to do.

Buffy then slowly appeared.

"Hey. I was wondering when you were coming." Angel answered. He had been waiting for so long, and with him dying to go to the hospital, he didn't know how long it would take for Buffy to show.

"I'm not coming back." Buffy blurted out suddenly.

"We're not friends. We never were. And I can fool Giles, and I can fool my friends, but I can't fool myself. Or Spike, for some reason. What I want from you I can never have. You don't need me to take care of you anymore. So I'm gonna go." Buffy explained as clearly as she could, even though the words that came out wounded her deeply. But she had to face the facts. She had to face reality.

"There's got to be some way to see each other." Angel offered, remembering the words he had once said to her.

"There is: tell me that you don't love me." Buffy said.

Angel knew there was no other way but to stand still and be silent. He knew that there was no way that he could ever tell her that he didn't love her anymore, since a part of him would always love her, but he couldn't bear to tell her the whole truth. Not only because it would change things in an enormous way, but he couldn't bear to make her more heartbroken than she already was. Instead, he just stood there and watched her slowly walk away.

***************************

"Cordy?" Xander called out as he knocked on Cordy's hospital door room. He had come with a bouquet of flowers in hand, ready to grovel wholeheartedly for her to forgive him. "Can I come in?"

There was no response to his call, so he slowly opened the door. He gasped.

As he peered into her room, he was confronted by flowers upon flowers, covering every inch of the room. There were flowers of all different shapes and sizes, with every colour imaginable. Xander was dumbfounded, as he had never seen so many flowers in one room in his entire life. This made him embarrassed about the paltry offering he had in hand. Then, as he scanned the room, he noticed a little card among the flowers. He focused his eyes on the card and read: "I'm sorry that these aren't plastic flowers, but I know these won't die off like that when they are beside you. I love you more than you'll ever know." He wondered who sent them as he noticed that there was no name. Probably it was some admirer at school, but he did find the message on the card pretty peculiar. He then refocused his attention to Cordy.

"They wouldn't let me see you until now." Xander explained as he sat in a chair next to the bed.

Cordy didn't say a word.

"I brought you flowers." Xander continued as he motioned to the flowers, "But from the looks at it, you are enough flowers to last a lifetime."

Cordy continued to stay silent.

Uncomfortable with the silence, Xander continued to talk.

"Look, Cordy, I want you to know that I..." Xander said seriously.

"Xander?" Cordy finally spoke.

"Yeah?" Xander answered as he was glad that she had finally said something.

"I know that you are sorry and I won't lie to you that it doesn't still hurt what you did with Willow…" Cordy commenced. Even after three years, she realized now that it still hurt and those feelings would probably something she couldn't ever completely forget.

"However, I don't want to be so angry that I can't feel anymore. Life is too short for us to keep grudges. I forgive you Xander and I forgive Willow. But I don't think we could ever be anything but friends now."

"I understand Cordy." Xander nodded. He had regretted how much he had screwed up his relationship with Cordelia, but he realized that there was no way for them to go back to the way things used to be. However, he was thankful that Cordy was able to forgive him, even after all the horrid things that he had done. "Thank you for forgiving me." He then reached out his hand and held hers. Cordy gave him a little smile and he smiled back.

*************************

Later that night, Angel snucked in quietly into her room. Cordy was fast asleep, snoring quietly. Angel chuckled quietly at the sight. Even though she looked weak and was stuck in hospital clothing, he couldn't help but find her absolutely beautiful. As she continued to snore, he remembered that fateful night at the ballet when she was snoring and was asleep on his shoulder. He remember how happy he was sitting there watching her, even though she had drooled on his tux.

He slowly sat down in the chair beside her bed and reached out to hold her hand. Suddenly Cordy's eyes fluttered as she opened them. She gave him a sweet, yet weak smile. "Angel."

"I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner honey." Angel replied. "I just had to take care of something." He gave her a smile.

"That's okay. Xander came to visit me before and we had a nice chat." Cordy answered. "Thank you for the flowers. They're beautiful."

"You're welcome." Angel smiled some more as he moved closer to kiss her forehead. "Cordy, why didn't you tell me about this? You didn't have suffer like this again. We could have prevented this from ever happening."

"Angel, you know what we said about changing the future. This happened before and so I knew I had to go through with it." Cordy explained. "I'm not gonna say that it doesn't hurt, but after that whole vision thing and the almost dying thing, this is a piece of cake." Cordy assured him, though she was still weak. "Anyways, this scar is a part of me. I have memories attached to it. Good and bad." Cordy then thought back to that unforgettable night at the ballet when they were kissing. She remembered how good it felt when Angel was kissing her tummy, kissing her scar, kissing everything. That was definitely a good memory. She looked at Angel, who knew exactly what she was thinking about. Cordy then tried to sit up, but Angel would have none of it.

"Don't move, okay? Just lie still." Angel answered. "I just wanted to get a heads up at least. I didn't want you to go through this alone."

"I know, but it was just easier for me to know that you wouldn't be worried about me." Cordy explained.

"Cordy, don't you realize by now that I always worry about you?" Angel replied as he stroked her cheek.

Cordy then gave another smile.

"Can I do anything for you, honey?" Angel asked. "I will do anything for you. Just ask and I'll do it."

"Just kiss me Angel." Cordy replied. "Lie beside me and stay here with me until I fall asleep, okay?"

Angel smiled and gave her a sweet kiss. He then broke away, took off his coat, and slowly climbed onto the bed as Cordy moved to give him some space. He reached out his arms and pulled her close. Cordy just felt so safe nestled in his arms and they just laid there in silence, in perfect bliss. Angel just smiled to himself as he saw Cordy closing his eyes and had a dreamy look. Angel closed his eyes and allowed himself to fall asleep as well.

**********

Angel suddenly stirred from his sleep, completely dazed. As he opened his eyes, he was stunned at the sight before him: Buffy, Willow, Xander and Oz were all standing beside the bed, with Willow giving him a supportive look and Buffy and Xander in a stupor to say the least.

************

Chapter 12

Buffy couldn't move. Her feet were frozen to the floor, unable to comprehend the scene before her. ~Angel is here…with Cordelia? I must be dreaming or something. Buffy then looked into Angel's eyes and what she saw just broke her heart.

"I don't understand." Buffy managed to mutter. "Why are you here? Why are you in bed with Cordelia?"

"Buffy, I can explain." Angel began, but he didn't know what to say. How could he really explain? 'I'm not the Angel that you knew, I come from the future and oh yeah, in the future, I'm not in love with you, I'm in love with Cordy.'

"I don't think you can." Buffy replied as her eyes started to fill with tears. It was already hard enough to let him go but to see him right there, with Cordelia of all people. This was the worst nightmare and she wanted desperately to wake up from it.

Cordy then began to stir and started to wake up. "Angel." Cordy sighed as she started to open her eyes. "I thought you would be gone by…" She opened her eyes and realized what had happened.

Xander just stood there as well, though as he looked into Cordy's eyes, he could see it all.

"So Angel was the one who sent you the flowers, right?" Xander asked, even though he already knew the answers.

Buffy then looked around at the room for the first time and realized the presence of flowers. She as well has never seen so many flowers in her lifetime. Angel had never given her flowers like that. Angel never held her like that. Her stomach started to hurt, like she was just punched in the stomach. She wanted to vomit, to do anything so that she could feel something. But she couldn't.

"Buffy…"Willow asked, as she tried to comfort her best friend. "It's okay… Angel has a good rea…"

"You knew?" Buffy answered, as she back away from Willow. As if she didn't feel enough betrayal here, now all of a sudden her best friend was lying to her. "How could you have known all about this and never told me?"

"Buffy, it wasn't her fault." Angel answered.

"No." Buffy agreed. "It's yours. I thought you loved me and here you are… with Cordelia? What can you say that will make this all okay, huh? What the hell can you possibly say that can EXPLAIN why of all the possible places you could be, you are here?"

Angel looked at Buffy and then looked back at Cordy. Cordy looked at him with concern, but she knew what they had to do. They had to tell the truth.

***********************

Before when she first saw Angel and Cordelia, she thought that she had seen everything, but as Angel and Cordelia started to tell their whole story, she became even more confused than ever, not knowing what to think or do.

"And so here we are." Angel finished. "Now we are just waiting until Giles comes home from his retreat and maybe Giles would know how we can go home." Angel then looked at Cordy and then back at Buffy.

"I'm so sorry Buffy." Angel added. "I didn't want to tell you about this because of what we were going through, but I didn't want you to find out like this."

"What? Find what out?" Buffy responded, not willing to believe.

"That we're from the future," Angel began again, "And…"

"They're in love." Xander finished his sentence.

Cordy just looked at Buffy the whole time and didn't know what to do. She had never thought that this secret would blow up like that, that it would have caused such a disaster. She wanted to say something to comfort Buffy, but she knew if she said a word, Buffy would rip her head off.

"Buffy," Willow began, "It's true. They are really from the future."

Buffy then slowly back away and sat down in a chair. The reality began to sink in as everything that had been bombarded towards her started to fit into place. It killed her to see Angel hold Cordelia's hand and look at Cordelia with such loving eyes… it reminded her of how he used to look at her. But she knew in her heart that all that Angel was saying was true. He wasn't the Angel that she loved.

There was a terrible silence that filled the room as no one knew what to say.

Oz had remained silent throughout the whole conversation. He hadn't forgiven Willow yet, but he had agreed to come with them because he thought it would be nice to visit Cordelia. But now that he knew the truth, inside he was glad. He saw how much Angel and Cordelia loved each other, even without saying a word and he was glad for the both of them that they had found love. This made him think of Willow. Willow. His Willow that had betrayed him. And even though it still hurt inside to think about what she had done with Xander, he also knew that the love that he felt, that he still feels for her was something that was hard to find. He knew it from looking at Angel and Cordy. And he knew that because love is so rare, he couldn't give up on Willow. He just couldn't.

Xander was surprisingly calm. He thought to himself about how he would have reacted in normal circumstances. He would probably get into a fit and try to take on Angel by himself. And then get his ass kicked.

But now, as the news started to sink in, and as he thought to his earlier conversation with Cordy, he realized that he was happy that Cordy had found happiness, even if it was with a vampire that he wasn't particularly fond of. However, it looked as if Angel treated her well, so he didn't have to worry about her. The person that he worried about was Buffy. He couldn't even imagine what she was feeling.

The silence had become unbearable. No one was talking at all. Finally, someone decided to break the silence.

"Angel?" Buffy finally spoke, her head still down.

"Yes, Buffy?" Angel replied, relieved that she was even speaking to him at all.

"How can we send you back home?" Buffy asked as she looked up into his eyes.

***************************

Buffy sat uncomfortably in her chair. She couldn't really sit still. She just hated to wait.

Willow, Oz, Xander, Buffy, Angel and Cordelia were all in the library. They were all pacing, waiting anxiously for Giles to arrive. He had gotten home from his retreat last night, and he had called everyone to meet him there as he found out that everyone had figured out what had happened.

Cordy had just gotten out of the hospital. Although she was feeling better now, and she didn't have to wear a bandage anymore, the side of her stomach was still sore and it hurt a little to sit. However, this experience was a lot more easier to take since Angel had been with her the entire way through. Sometimes she felt a little crowded with Angel always being very protective of her. However, all feelings of annoyance just faded away whenever Angel would hold her hand and gave her a smile. It made everything all better.

Suddenly, Giles bursts into the library, completely out of breath.

"Hello * huff, huff * everyone. I'm sorry that I'm late. I was just having trouble * huff, huff * with my car. It kept stalling." Giles answered.

"Giles, have you found the portal?" Buffy asked quickly, hoping that they would finally have a solution to an already messed up situation. ~If I have to see him hold her hand for another day, I don't know what I'll do. She had been trying to be very mature about this whole thing, but it was just so hard. It had been a couple of weeks since she found out the truth, and although Angel had kept his distance from her, it was still hard. She knew that before she found out, she had wanted Angel to stay away from her, but now… it just wasn't the same.

"Yes. Finally I have found it." Giles replied. "But Angel, I'll need to explain to you a little about this portal."

"Go ahead." Angel answered, letting him have the floor.

"This time portal is not exactly the most, how you say, reliable portal. It works perfectly well when it comes to taking one back to their present time, but when it comes to sending one back into the past, it doesn't always send you back to the same place. The portal works on emotions and memories so when you use it, it will automatically send you back to where you came from, "Giles explained. "I think you mentioned LA, and takes you to the original hot spot that you came from."

"However, if you ever decide to go back into time again, it will send you randomly back to a point in the past, disregarding any hot spot on the other side. You will just get back anywhere." Giles continued.

"Well, Giles, I don't think you'll have to worry about that." Angel replied. "As long as we don't run into Groo and he starts chanting again, I don't think we'll ever time travel again. I've had enough of time travel to last a lifetime… I guess for me, that's mean a very, VERY long time."

Everyone then started to look at Angel and then at each other, completely baffled with what he said. ~Who the hell is Groo? ~

"I've already figured out a hot spot where you two can open the portal, but you also need some kind of object to bind you together so that you two don't separate like the last time. But I haven't figure out what would hold you two together without transforming you into a freakish siam…" Giles explained.

"Oh we know Giles." Cordy replied. "We have my car and that will be okay. We've used a portal before." She then smiled at Giles and walked over to him to give him a hug. "Thank you so much Giles. You've saved our lives."

"Oh…" Giles responded, obviously bashful at Cordy's gesture. "It wasn't that difficult."

"So where is this so-called hot spot?" Buffy asked, as she stood up, ready to leave. "Probably somewhere exotic and dark… well, we'd better get there soon. It might take a long time to get there."

"Umm.. Buffy." Giles answered. "Not exactly…"

**********************

"This is the hotspot?" Buffy answered, not really believing what Giles was telling her. "This is just outside of the school."

"I never told you that it would be a foreign place." Giles answered. "You were the one who insisted that it's exotic."

"But… you are trying to tell me that this…" Buffy said, as she jumped up and down in place. "is a hotspot."

"I'm afraid so." Giles answered.

"That's pretty cool." Oz answered.

"So, if I wanted to, I could go back in time?" Xander asked, as he tried to look at the chant that Angel was holding. "You know, I've always wanted to go b…"

"Oh no Xander!" Willow exclaimed, as she pulled him away. "Don't you even think about it!"

"Hey!" Xander answered. "I was just kidding!"

Oz just looked at them, still hurt.

"So I guess that's it." Angel exclaimed, as he looked at everyone. "Thanks guys for helping us and for understanding." He then shook Oz's, Xander's and Giles' hands and gave Willow a hug.

He then turned to Buffy and stroked her face. "Buffy, I just want you to know that I loved you, and there is always going to be a part of me that will love you forever." He then gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

Buffy then was filled with a lot of emotion and tears started to fill her eyes. "How am I going to do when I see you again, with all that I know?"

"Buffy, you won't remember anything." Giles answered. "None of us will. Once they go back, we will not know anything about their secret. We will remember everything except for the secret."

Buffy then looked up with at Angel again. "Is there anything you can tell us about our future? I just need to know.."

"You know I can't…" Angel sadly replied. "All you need to know is that you, all of you, will be safe and healthy. I have to go now." He broke away from her and walk to Cordy.

Cordy then gave everyone a hug as well. As she hugged Xander, she whispered to him "I really meant when I said that I forgive you Xander. I'll miss you." She then gave him a smile.

Xander then smiled back.

As she hugged Buffy, she gave her a smile and said "Thank you for understanding. Goodbye Buffy."

Cordy then walked back to Angel and got into the car with him. They gave their final wave goodbye as they settled in the car. The others all back away from the street, just in case they may get caught in the portal.

"Angel, are you ready to go home?" Cordy asked as she held his hand.

"More than ever." Angel replied softly.

"Me too." Cordy answered back. "Let's go."

"Okay…. Krpmpt bklptf difbmpt dflmpbmt…"Angel recited.

The blinding light opened as Angel closed his eyes and droved into the light.

WHOOSH!

And then they were gone.

********************************

They opened their eyes. The car just dropped itself outside of Caritas.

"Angel, are you okay?" Cordy asked. "We're not a weird Siamese twin right?"

"No.."Angel smiled.

"Angel, I can't believe that we're home!" Cordy sighed in relief, and gave him an excited hug. "We'll be able to see Fred, Wesley, Gunn and… Connor, our little guy!"

"Oh god, Cordy." Angel said. "I can't wait." He then started the ignition and drove towards the hotel.

**********************************

They both burst in the hotel, hand in hand.

"Fred? Wes? Gunn?" Angel asked as he looked around the lobby. "We're back!"

Fred, Wes and Gunn all came out.

Angel and Cordy then ran towards them and got them all into a group hug.

"We've missed you guys so much!" They exclaimed with joy.

The others just looked at them weirdly.

" Yeah, umm… we missed you too. Did you guys get the groceries already?" Gunn asked. "We're really hungry!"

"Groceries?" Cordy asked. "Oh we forgot… we.. um… ran into a demon and then we just went home."

"Oh great!" Gunn groaned. "I'm so hungry! Well Fred, sweetie, do you want to go out and get some tacos?"

"Oh yeah!" Fred answered, as she jumped over to Gunn and they both ran towards the door. "Bye guys!"

"So how's Connor? Can I see him?" Angel asked.

"Oh he's fine. He's just sleeping upstairs." Wes answered.

"Oh good! We'll both go and see him." Cordy replied.

They both ran up the stairs, so eager to see him.

They both tiptoed into Angel's room and approached Connor's crib.

"Oh hey little guy!" Angel whispered. "We missed you so much! But, your mommy and daddy will never, ever leave you again. Okay?"

"Never, ever!" Cordy replied, and then cooed as she stroked Connor's cheek.

"Everything is just perfect now Angel." Cordy replied "We can now just have our happy life toget…"

"Cordy!"

Xander suddenly came into the room and gave her a big hug.

"Xander! What are you doing here?" Cordy asked, completely surprised by his appearance.

"Oh, I just got here." Xander replied. "So how's Connor?"

"Uh… Connor's fine." Angel replied, a little confused.

"It must be awesome to be a dad. Probably the best feeling in the world." Xander remarked.

"Yeah, it is." Angel replied.

"I was always envious of you because of that…"Xander continued. "But I don't have to wonder anymore cuz I'll soon be feeling the exact same way as you are."

"Really? So Anya's pregnant! I'm so happy for you!" Cordy exclaimed.

"No… who's Anya? I'm talking about you and me." Xander replied.

"What are you talking about?" Cordy asked.

"Yeah, what are you talking about?" Angel added.

"Oh you guys are such kidders! Acting like you don't know! Yeah that's real funny, pretending like you don't know that Cordy and I are having a baby!" Xander answered, as he rubbed Cordy's tummy.

"I'm PREGNANT?!" Cordy gasped.

End of Part II

To be continued

Note: This was going to be the last part of the fic, but Bluemoon73 made me realize the implication of Cordy appologizing to Xander and the fact that Anya wouldn't have come into their lives... I was like 'Uh oh...bluemoon's right.' So I thought that the end would put a twist on everything.. the original ending would have been Angel and Cordy in bed with Connor, but now you'll just have to see where I go with it....