1 Part 13 –
After a few moments, both the ex-watcher and the younger vampire and into the room from the offices upstairs.
"W.... wha... what's... wrong?" The former watcher asked trying to catch his breath having run from upstairs
"Poof." Spike muttered under his breath, 'I'm not out of breath and I've come from the same place Poofy has, …though, I don't actually need to breathe,' the blonde haired vampire thought.
Angel placed the cup back on the table and turned to Cordelia. "Can you reverse it?"
"Like, hot to cold?" Angel nodded and the brunette shrugged. "Dunno. I can try, don't know if it would work."
Angel pushed the cup towards her. "Try." He turned to the two men who were looking on confused. "See the steam coming from that cup?"
Wesley moved forward to get a better view. "Why, yes, I can. Why?"
"It's steaming hot, right?" Angel asked.
Spike rolled his eyes and moved to put his finger into the cup, he pulled it out quickly, trying not to show that it had cause him pain. "Steaming hot." Spike confirmed through clenched teeth.
Cordelia stifled a grin as Angel winked at her, thanking her for stopping him burn himself earlier.
"Cora, um... do the.. um.. *thing*." The elder vampire instructed.
The ex-May Queen did as she had done when demonstrating the abnormality to Angel, and placed the cup back onto the table.
She shot Spike a shy look. "But your finger in now, Spike."
"Your bloody joking, it's bloody steaming hot!" The vampire roared at her as if she was thick.
But, Wesley, who had been watching closely, knew that Angel and Cordelia were trying to show them something, and he could not see any steam rising from the cup.
So before Spike could complain more, and before Cordelia could tell him off for treating her like she was stupid, the former watcher leaned forward and stuck his finger into the cup. It was cold.
The other three pairs of eyes went down to his finger, all waiting for him to yell out in pain.
"It's cold." He told them. His gaze rose to Cordelia's. "How did you -? What -? How? Wha -? ... *What*?"
Cordelia shrugged. "No idea."
"Is this a bloody trick?" Spike asked, finally catching on what they were talking about - the young brunette had just turned very hot water into cold water. That couldn't happen, right?
Angel shrugged. "Well, if it is, Cora came up with it on her own."
Cordy shot him a glare. "Are you implying that I *wouldn't* be able to construct a mind trick like this?"
"So, it's a mind trick?"
Cordelia rolled her eyes as she threw her arms out in frustration. "No. I don't know *what* the fuck it is!"
Wesley pushed the cup towards her. "Do it again."
Cordelia picked the cup up, mumbling. "What the hell am I? - A bloody freak show? - Not this girl, Mister!"
She closed her eyes and waved her hand over the cup, before roughly passing it back to Wesley, some splashed onto him and he yelped out in surprise, dropping the cup and falling to the floor in shock - it felt like boiling water, obviously hotter than it had been when Spike had put his finger in.
'Temperature might have something to do with her being angry.' Angel thought.
Cordelia rushed round the table to the former watcher. "Oh, my gosh. Are you alright, Wesley? - I didn't mean to make you -"
She was cut off by Wesley giving her a strange look, almost a frightened look through his skewed glasses. "Wesley?"
She only caught his words because she was right next to him, yet the vampires had no problem with hearing it. "What *are* you?"
His words struck Cordelia like lightening, and she fell back onto her heels.
Angel had come round behind Wesley, and lifted him off the floor. "Wesley." He said warningly. "That was out of order -"
The ex-watcher cut him off. "She's a demon of some short - she can't be human. Angel, you must kill her, that's not our Cordelia!"
Spike, who had pulled a shocked Cordelia off the floor onto a chair, smelled the air around her. "It's Cordelia, I can smell her blood."
Wesley yanked his arm from Angel. "It might be Cordelia's body - Cordelia's blood. But it's not her inside - some demon must be controlling her." Wesley turned frantically to the vampire next to him. "Angel, you must kill her before -"
Cordelia jumped up. "Oh, shut up, Wesley! - I'm *not* a demon -eeeeww, ... and I am totally not being controlled by anything or anyone!"
"Well, you are not going to admit it are you!" The English voice bit back.
"I'm Cordelia Chase, God damit - and I'm so *not* a demon!" She glanced between Spike and Angel. "Not that there's anything wrong with being a demon."
"Wesley, you need to calm down, there's probably a logical explanation why Cordelia - *our* Cordelia can do this stuff, I was hoping that *you* would help out and find what's happened to her!"
Cordelia slumped back into her seat. "What's with the 'our' anyway, like *I* belong to *you*."
She looked solemnly over to Wesley, who was giving her the once over with his eyes.
"Look, Wesley, it's not like I'm your *friend*, it's not like I see you as *family* or anything. Feel free to toss my feelings around and do what you like with them, it's not gonna have any effect on me now, is it?!" She said sarcastically.
Wesley looked to the floor, her words were quite true, of course they were friends, and now, with Angel, being all that they had, were family. He wouldn't treat his dog this way, if he had one, let alone one of his friends and surrogate family member.
"Cordelia. I was out of line. I'm sor -"
"Oh, don't act contrite, Wes, it's not like I expected more from you than I ever got off anyone else!"
"I really am truly sorry."
She got up and stood next to Angel, facing the former watcher. "Yeah, maybe you are now, but when you said it you meant it. 'What *are* you?'" She mimicked him in a girlie voice. "You want to know what I am, Wesley? I'm your friend, looks like assuming you thought the same about me was going a little too far in my fantasy world, huh?"
She spun on her heel to face Angel. "What about you, Angel? Me just thinking we're friends isn't my imagination is it? Am I really here living with you cuz you care for me, or cuz you feel sorry for me, just like everyone else does? Am I just poor, pathetic Cordy to you?"
Her gaze shifted over to Spike. "You're like the only friend I have here, Spike. Or am I only assuming that because you haven't been here long enough to show your true feeling towards me, huh? And that I really make your flesh crawl, and the smell of my blood makes you want to hurl?"
She swung around, looking at them all watching her worriedly. She let her arms swing out as she glared at them all over and over and she spun around.
"Come on! One of you tell me what you really think of pathetic Cordy cuz the suspense is killing me!"
"You're family, Cordelia. You're our friend and we care a lot about you." Angel spoke up, making the brunette face him by taking her shoulders. "If anything happened to you... I don't know what I'd do."
"Nothing will ever happen to me, Angel. I have you watching out for me don't I?" She smirked as she glanced over at Wesley and Spike. "Now I have Dumb and Dumber doing the same."
She sighed and went to Wesley and took his hand. "Apology accepted, Dumb, although, I didn't think it would freak you out like that, it's nothing really big after all I've seen in Sunnydale and LA. Guess growing up on the Hellmouth makes you immune to things like this."
"Hey, wait a minute - if he's 'Dumb' - am I Dumber?" Spike asked.
"You're a blonde, aren't you?" She said with a huge grin.
"What's that got to - oh!" She moved around the table so it blocked her from him. "Come 'ere!"
Angel and Wesley laughed as they watched a giggling Cordelia dash round and round the table with Spike hot at her heels.
When he caught up with her, he tackled her to the floor and began tickling the already laughing girl.
~*~
Go on to part FOURTEEN
After a few moments, both the ex-watcher and the younger vampire and into the room from the offices upstairs.
"W.... wha... what's... wrong?" The former watcher asked trying to catch his breath having run from upstairs
"Poof." Spike muttered under his breath, 'I'm not out of breath and I've come from the same place Poofy has, …though, I don't actually need to breathe,' the blonde haired vampire thought.
Angel placed the cup back on the table and turned to Cordelia. "Can you reverse it?"
"Like, hot to cold?" Angel nodded and the brunette shrugged. "Dunno. I can try, don't know if it would work."
Angel pushed the cup towards her. "Try." He turned to the two men who were looking on confused. "See the steam coming from that cup?"
Wesley moved forward to get a better view. "Why, yes, I can. Why?"
"It's steaming hot, right?" Angel asked.
Spike rolled his eyes and moved to put his finger into the cup, he pulled it out quickly, trying not to show that it had cause him pain. "Steaming hot." Spike confirmed through clenched teeth.
Cordelia stifled a grin as Angel winked at her, thanking her for stopping him burn himself earlier.
"Cora, um... do the.. um.. *thing*." The elder vampire instructed.
The ex-May Queen did as she had done when demonstrating the abnormality to Angel, and placed the cup back onto the table.
She shot Spike a shy look. "But your finger in now, Spike."
"Your bloody joking, it's bloody steaming hot!" The vampire roared at her as if she was thick.
But, Wesley, who had been watching closely, knew that Angel and Cordelia were trying to show them something, and he could not see any steam rising from the cup.
So before Spike could complain more, and before Cordelia could tell him off for treating her like she was stupid, the former watcher leaned forward and stuck his finger into the cup. It was cold.
The other three pairs of eyes went down to his finger, all waiting for him to yell out in pain.
"It's cold." He told them. His gaze rose to Cordelia's. "How did you -? What -? How? Wha -? ... *What*?"
Cordelia shrugged. "No idea."
"Is this a bloody trick?" Spike asked, finally catching on what they were talking about - the young brunette had just turned very hot water into cold water. That couldn't happen, right?
Angel shrugged. "Well, if it is, Cora came up with it on her own."
Cordy shot him a glare. "Are you implying that I *wouldn't* be able to construct a mind trick like this?"
"So, it's a mind trick?"
Cordelia rolled her eyes as she threw her arms out in frustration. "No. I don't know *what* the fuck it is!"
Wesley pushed the cup towards her. "Do it again."
Cordelia picked the cup up, mumbling. "What the hell am I? - A bloody freak show? - Not this girl, Mister!"
She closed her eyes and waved her hand over the cup, before roughly passing it back to Wesley, some splashed onto him and he yelped out in surprise, dropping the cup and falling to the floor in shock - it felt like boiling water, obviously hotter than it had been when Spike had put his finger in.
'Temperature might have something to do with her being angry.' Angel thought.
Cordelia rushed round the table to the former watcher. "Oh, my gosh. Are you alright, Wesley? - I didn't mean to make you -"
She was cut off by Wesley giving her a strange look, almost a frightened look through his skewed glasses. "Wesley?"
She only caught his words because she was right next to him, yet the vampires had no problem with hearing it. "What *are* you?"
His words struck Cordelia like lightening, and she fell back onto her heels.
Angel had come round behind Wesley, and lifted him off the floor. "Wesley." He said warningly. "That was out of order -"
The ex-watcher cut him off. "She's a demon of some short - she can't be human. Angel, you must kill her, that's not our Cordelia!"
Spike, who had pulled a shocked Cordelia off the floor onto a chair, smelled the air around her. "It's Cordelia, I can smell her blood."
Wesley yanked his arm from Angel. "It might be Cordelia's body - Cordelia's blood. But it's not her inside - some demon must be controlling her." Wesley turned frantically to the vampire next to him. "Angel, you must kill her before -"
Cordelia jumped up. "Oh, shut up, Wesley! - I'm *not* a demon -eeeeww, ... and I am totally not being controlled by anything or anyone!"
"Well, you are not going to admit it are you!" The English voice bit back.
"I'm Cordelia Chase, God damit - and I'm so *not* a demon!" She glanced between Spike and Angel. "Not that there's anything wrong with being a demon."
"Wesley, you need to calm down, there's probably a logical explanation why Cordelia - *our* Cordelia can do this stuff, I was hoping that *you* would help out and find what's happened to her!"
Cordelia slumped back into her seat. "What's with the 'our' anyway, like *I* belong to *you*."
She looked solemnly over to Wesley, who was giving her the once over with his eyes.
"Look, Wesley, it's not like I'm your *friend*, it's not like I see you as *family* or anything. Feel free to toss my feelings around and do what you like with them, it's not gonna have any effect on me now, is it?!" She said sarcastically.
Wesley looked to the floor, her words were quite true, of course they were friends, and now, with Angel, being all that they had, were family. He wouldn't treat his dog this way, if he had one, let alone one of his friends and surrogate family member.
"Cordelia. I was out of line. I'm sor -"
"Oh, don't act contrite, Wes, it's not like I expected more from you than I ever got off anyone else!"
"I really am truly sorry."
She got up and stood next to Angel, facing the former watcher. "Yeah, maybe you are now, but when you said it you meant it. 'What *are* you?'" She mimicked him in a girlie voice. "You want to know what I am, Wesley? I'm your friend, looks like assuming you thought the same about me was going a little too far in my fantasy world, huh?"
She spun on her heel to face Angel. "What about you, Angel? Me just thinking we're friends isn't my imagination is it? Am I really here living with you cuz you care for me, or cuz you feel sorry for me, just like everyone else does? Am I just poor, pathetic Cordy to you?"
Her gaze shifted over to Spike. "You're like the only friend I have here, Spike. Or am I only assuming that because you haven't been here long enough to show your true feeling towards me, huh? And that I really make your flesh crawl, and the smell of my blood makes you want to hurl?"
She swung around, looking at them all watching her worriedly. She let her arms swing out as she glared at them all over and over and she spun around.
"Come on! One of you tell me what you really think of pathetic Cordy cuz the suspense is killing me!"
"You're family, Cordelia. You're our friend and we care a lot about you." Angel spoke up, making the brunette face him by taking her shoulders. "If anything happened to you... I don't know what I'd do."
"Nothing will ever happen to me, Angel. I have you watching out for me don't I?" She smirked as she glanced over at Wesley and Spike. "Now I have Dumb and Dumber doing the same."
She sighed and went to Wesley and took his hand. "Apology accepted, Dumb, although, I didn't think it would freak you out like that, it's nothing really big after all I've seen in Sunnydale and LA. Guess growing up on the Hellmouth makes you immune to things like this."
"Hey, wait a minute - if he's 'Dumb' - am I Dumber?" Spike asked.
"You're a blonde, aren't you?" She said with a huge grin.
"What's that got to - oh!" She moved around the table so it blocked her from him. "Come 'ere!"
Angel and Wesley laughed as they watched a giggling Cordelia dash round and round the table with Spike hot at her heels.
When he caught up with her, he tackled her to the floor and began tickling the already laughing girl.
~*~
Go on to part FOURTEEN