"Has - has anyone ever told you you're exactly like Lassie? Yeah.
You're like Angel's Lassie. Sure, he does most of the saving but it's your
visions that tell him that Timmy is trapped in the well, or the robbers
are hiding in the barn. He really needs and depends on you."
"Well, thanks. I'd be flattered except for the Lassie being a *dog*
part."
Fred and Cordelia, That Vision Thing
--
At first, the panic physically hurt. Cordelia's palm clasped over her all too human heart, suddenly whirling and finding a group of familiar friends standing behind Faith. Immediately, her gaze skimmed over Gunn with his homemade axe and girlfriend Fred, dutifully holding her crossbow, past Wesley with his sword and over Connor with his wild eyes and wild shirt, through Mrs. Sanderson with her haughty and besotted look, and finally saw Angel, walking around the bunch, armed with nothing but his bare hands and his teeth.
"Angel!" Stepping forward, he gave her a grim smile, never touching her despite her instinctive reaction to reach for his hands, and looked down at her with his brooding eyes.
"Where is she?"
"Oh..." Cordelia took a hard swallow in an attempt to clear her head, suddenly remembering why she was here and what she was doing. "There." Pointing, she let Angel head to the desk, taking her footsteps instead to the open portal to the dimension where Lindsey disappeared, now a torrid whirl of darkness and cloudy mist. "He'll be dead in ten minutes," she said heavily. The Slayer peeked over Cordelia's shoulder, taking in the scene with a sigh and shaking her head in response.
"With his short ass legs, make it more like six."
Both women shared a grimace before turning back to the now deserted Pressroom, where Charles Gunn and Fred were quickly gathering weapons, centering them on the table.
"What on earth is going on here?"
Ignoring Mrs. Sanderson's outburst, Cordelia turned instead to the vampire, and found him gently bringing Bethany out from the desk, the girl's shaky form now openly trembling, fear obvious and almost painful to view as she gazed at them imploringly.
"Where'd he go."
"Relax," Angel murmered, "He'll be fine. Hey Bethany."
She managed a half-crazed grin. "Hey, Angel. You look good."
"Thanks. Been going light on the pigs blood, drinking lamb." The lame joke almost made Cordelia smile, but as she once again looked a the portal, her chest tightened, and she closed a hand over his wrist.
"Angel..."
His eyes were still focused on Bethany, honing on the scratches and blood on her face. When he finally looked up, he froze.
"What happened?" he demanded, suddenly standing to cup Cordelia's face, tilting it to inspect the black and purple patch spreading on the side of her cheek.
"It doesn't matter," she responded, slapping his hand away with an indrawn hissed when he pressed down on it. "And stop that! That hurts. Angel, we're in trouble."
"I saw the guards outside."
"Five of them, my last count," Wesley offered, leaning against the doorway, half in and half out of the portal. "And they're Grecians."
The news made her insides shudder, close her eyes to absorb it for just one more second, opening them again to find Angel staring.
"You know what that means."
"We can't take them out."
"Why not?" Glancing at Connor, Cordelia found the teen ready for action, stakes affixed to his wrist, eyes darting around the room. "We can just kill them."
"I demand to know what's going on!"
Faith cast a perplexed look to the elder lady still standing in the door. "Who's that?"
"We can't take out guards for the Powers that Be, sweetie," Fred answered patiently, pausing in her task of setting up a triage. "That's as bad as killing an angel."
"My father?"
"No, actual angels, Connor," Angel said. Suppressing a roll of her eyes, Cordelia instead snapped her fingers, turning her ex-husband's attention back to her.
"Angel," she said breathlessly. "We can't leave Lindsey in there by himself. They'll kill him."
Angel blinked. "Ask me if I care."
The callous face was not lost on Bethany, and when the younger girl's eyes narrowed, Cordelia responded by smacking him on the arm. "Angel, shut up." Motioning with her eyes, she glared.
"Cordelia Chase! You will explain yourself this very minute! Who is this young lady! Is this the murderer!" Mrs. Sanderson's façade was wearing out, and Cordelia turned to the see the frazzled lady now blinking in confusion, pushing past the others in an effort to make sense of the situation that was very quickly careening out of control.
When Faith quirked an eyebrow, and Fred and Gunn exchanged a look, Cordelia managed a shaky smile of her own, taking the elder lady's hands and rubbing soothingly. "Mrs. Sanders, if you'd just give me five minutes..."
"I don't want five minutes, I want answers now! You'll tell me what you've done to my boy, or I'll wait until those monsters return and tell them exactly what you have sitting over-"
"Who's this?" The cool question came from Angel, the vampire now staring darkly at the lady, brown eyes calloused and cold.
She managed a half-hearted shrug before she quickly said, "Douglas' mother."
"How on earth did she get in here?" Wesley asked, coming forward to glare at the elder lady. "We had to sneak in as it was."
"I can still go kill the guards," Connor volunteered.
"Guys, I think she's passing out," Fred suddenly said, whirling past them and catching Bethany just as the girl nearly slid off the seat.
"Aww, shit," Faith murmured, brushing Cordelia's shoulder as she dropped her dagger and knelt down. "She's lost some blood guys. We gotta get her the fuck outta here before they come back."
"We can't get past the guards, and ya'll know what'll happen if we manage to kill them," Charles announced, worry creasing his face.
"I'm not a mood to start a war with the Powers that Be, Angel."
"I know, Wesley." Angel's voice was rough, angered, and he closed his eyes, thinking a minute. When they opened, the orbs were dark as midnight, once again trained on the lady. "She's seen too much. If she goes outside squawking the guards will hear and ring the alarm."
Cordelia's eyes widened at the look of intention on his face. "ANGEL! You're not going to-"
"Faith, Wesley. Take her."
Immediately Faith stood, and Mrs. Sanderson' face shifted from anger, to confusion to fear as Wesley immediately grabbed her elbow, nodding to his girlfriend.
"ANGEL!" Cordelia tried to step forward, intercept. Angel immediately caught her by her elbows, pulling her back hard against his chest, barking the orders.
"Out into the corridors, keep her quiet and keep her safe until this is over. Whatever you do, keep those damned demons away from her."
"You got it."
"NO! NO!" Panic rose in Cordelia's throat as she saw her mother-in-law pulled forcefully towards one of the portals, Faith and Wesley easily leading her.
"GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF ME! I'LL HAVE YOU BOTH ARRESTED!"
"MRS. SANDERSON! I'm SORRY! Oh, GOD..." Despair was quickly overwhelming the Seer as she struggled in Angel's arms, eyes closing to ward off the images of Bethany nearly fainting in the chair, Connor glowering at the doorway, Mrs. Sanderson's legs kicking as she was dragged- "I can't do this, Angel. Please... just let me go get Douglas-"
"Cordelia!" There was a shift of weight, and suddenly she was facing Angel, staring into his dark face as he glared at her, nearly shaking her in his anger. "Get a grip, okay? You're Cordelia fucking Chase, and you're in a crisis and we HAVE to save Bethany, okay?"
She tried to speak above the hammering of her heart, and the conflicting emotions were never this hard to decipher.
"I know you care about that lady. But we have a soul that will DIE, Cordelia. And I'll be damned if I lose another person to the mission. Help me save her." Now his voice was low, pleading and almost angry. "You know what will happen to her, to us, if we don't save her, Cordelia. You know that the worst thing that can happen to a soul is to crush it, make it believe that it's alone, abandoned. You know what it's like to cry into the sand and wish you could just make it all stop, end it all in that one moment just so you don't have to feel." His eyes narrowed, spoke directly into her shuddering form. "You want to end it, Cordelia, fine. Let's end it. The right way."
The way she was breathing was killing her. It was as if she couldn't get enough air. Finally, she managed, "Do you pull this bull on everyone?"
There was a moment of silence before he ventured a crooked smile. "Just you. Did it work?"
Ever so slowly, her hands rose to his palms, now holding her shoulders in a fierce grip. Tangled fingers squeezed once, desperate against the cool skin of the vampire she married, divorced, tried to leave...
"God, Angel, sometimes I hate you," she whispered. Pushing off his hands, she nodded shakily. "I'm going to kill you later." He studied her face for a minute, as if testing her reaction. "I'm fine," she said, tone now more aggravated than angry. "I'm fine. Let's do this." Turning to Gunn and Fred, she strode forward, carefully as she helped Bethany sit up. "I need you guys to follow Lindsey. Whatever you do, stay away from the demons, but try to keep him alive. I don't care how you do it, but DON'T let them kill him."
The lovers cast each other doubtful looks. "But what if we get lost?" Fred said.
"You won't," Cordelia said shortly. "The one they went through? It's like a maze, wherever you go, you always end up here." She focused her gaze on Angel. "Which means we don't have much time."
"Right," he said immediately. "Connor."
The bark immediately brought the son over. "Yeah, dad."
"Why don't you go outside and play with those guards?"
The little boy who'd grown to a man in a world of hells and dangers lit up at the thought of the 'game', and Cordelia felt a slight stab in her heart at the sight. She had missed it. Missed what happened when Connor changed from a teenager seething with hate to a young man with a scarred past. So very much like his father.
"Got it," Connor said, immediately moving toward the door, every bit the Destroyer the prophecies foretold.
"Connor." The word from his father brought him to a stop. "Don't kill them."
It was an order that he would find hard to follow, but it was a testament to the months she missed when Connor stiffly nodded, and left the room.
"Nice to know you two have bonded with violence."
"It'll keep them all busy."
And there it was, the rapid beating in her heart that came with the realization that there was nothing that existed now but her, Angel, and a lost soul, as the two pairs of eyes connected.
"Well?" she asked breathlessly. "Connor may keep them busy for a while, but we're still stuck here. I don't know how we can get her out without anyone seeing, and we can't leave Fred and Gunn, and Faith and-"
"Wesley, I know," he answered, stalking the room in his version of a pace, eyebrows knitting together as he licked his lips. Stopping suddenly, he whirled on his heel, suddenly catching her with a startled expression. "Kate," he said immediately. "The guards are still part of that world. They have to follow that doctrine. If Kate shows up and arrests them-"
"Then by law they have to follow. They can't interfere with that dimension," she said, catching on quickly enough, heart quickening.
"And we can take her out in the five minutes she has them before they break out," Angel finished. "That's it."
"Good... good." Ripping off a piece of fabric from the lining of her ruined leather jacket, Cordelia knelt in front of Bethany. Distractedly, she held the cloth to Bethany's face, wiping at the sweat before she turned back to her companion. "That doesn't help us with the Powers."
"That's where you come in," Angel said quickly. "Start working on that character of witness, I'll talk to Kate. Do you have your phone?"
"On the table."
He dismissed her immediately, heading to the phone and giving it the trademark 'I hate technology' grimace, before he began to dial.
Cordelia found herself staring slightly, motions suddenly pausing as she remembered a dozen times in a dozen situations where she had felt exactly like this.
"Cordelia?" Bethany glanced at her curiously, pale face deep with shadows and bruises.
"Hmm?"
"We got a chance, right?"
And Cordelia grinned, squeezing Bethany's shoulder and standing up. "You betcha."
Sitting down, she pulled out her laptop, and started typing.
--
This was perhaps the first time ever that Faith was glad that her mother wasn't exactly the parental type, and had kept her ass away from her for the last fifteen years. After all these years hearing about Wesley and Cordelia's own birth parents, there was no wonder that they had adopted each other as family.
Some parents just SUCKED.
"I'm gonna kill this lady, Wes," she muttered, grunting when Mrs. Sanderson III tried to step on her foot for the third time.
"LET ME GO! I DEMAND IT!"
"Consider it a trial of faith, Faith," Wesley said, tossing a smile her way as he turned back to the dark brown corridors of the current hell dimension.
"Right, cause I'm all about the 'trials of Faith'," she quipped, pausing as she pushed a bang sticking onto her sweaty forehead out of the way, breathing out slowly.
"Young lady, do you realize you are facing a jail sentence?" Faith blinked, suddenly bringing the Judi Dench lookalike back into focus, the judgment and fear blatant on the woman's face. Any other time, Faith supposed she would have felt sorry for her. Poor old bat just got thrown into this, as did her son.
But it didn't really matter, not really. She never asked to be called. She never asked to be fucking gutted and put into a coma for a fucking year. Wesley never asked to be tortured sadistically by a girl who would one day love him and hate herself for what she did. He had never asked to be put in a situation where he had to choose between his sanity and his love for Angel and his son. Never asked that his throat be slit, never asked to be pushed away from the only family he knew-
Buffy never asked to have her mother die, to be called to a life where everything she lived and loved imploded at the touch of her fingertips.
No one fucking asked for anything. And it wasn't fair.
But Faith didn't care. Not anymore. Not when there was a chance of keeping one more girl from feeling like there was no choice but the one that led to hopeless evil, despair, and emptiness.
So she smiled at the lady with a sneer that made the haughty look falter, and with a wink to Wesley she drawled, "Been there, done that. Twice. Get your ass moving. No one's going to hurt you, okay?" she muttered, once again closing her hand around Mrs. Sanderson's arm. "You're son's not going to be into any trouble, and if you hadn't gone all chicken-shit and pecked your way into our affairs-"
"CHICKEN!?"
"My dear lady, I would please have to ask you to keep quiet, or I shall have to resort to doing something I would rather not do," Wesley finally said, irritation on his face at the outburst.
"I will NOT keep quiet!" Judi Dench replied, straight and all and dignified despite the fact that she was between two very intimidating people draped with leather coats. "I'll have you both thrown in jail for this! I'll-"
Faith tuned her out, cocking a tired eyebrow to her lover as she shrugged. "Okay, I'm out. What the hell did you do during YOUR evil days to shut people up? Cause, you know, I'm trying to abstain from killing any body these days and that's my only idea."
"Normally, I just kept them tied and gagged in the closet," he said thoughtlessly. When Faith froze, he turned, suddenly catching her gaze. At her smile, his own mouth pulled into a smirk. "The closet it is, then."
Poor Mrs. Sanderson. It finally dawned on her, and suddenly she was squacking as loudly as ever, putting up quite a fight as Faith mulled, "Wonder what we'll use for a gag?"
"Are you wearing the black thong?"
"PERVE."
He laughed, turned the corner, and suddenly the laughter stopped.
Faith came a second later, and her own features stilled completely.
Mrs. Sanderson blinked, mouth opening slightly as she looked up, and up, and up.
Faith felt something inside of her drop, an overwhelming urge to kick herself coupled with an almost irresistible urge to drop kick the bitch that was practically eating her boyfriend alive with her eyes.
"Hello Skip," Wesley's voice was deceptively easily. "Lilah."
Faith crossed her arms, and blinked.
Shiiiit.
--
Cordelia had never forgotten her higher than average SAT scores, and had always hid the fact that most of it was verbal. She was no poet, but she damned well knew how to make her words count, and that was what mattered in this damned trial.
Words. Theories. Reputation and anger and bitterness, and above all, the truth.
In reality, The Powers that Be liked the Greek way of doing things. Sure, they had their Champions and their Seers, and once in a while, yeah, they settled things with violence, but when it came to the heavy stuff, those higher beings just loved their debates. To be honest, she had been bored stiff with it in her short stint up there.
Still, once in a while, when there was no choice but to rely on the power of words, Cordelia relished the challenge. It was the one thing that Angel was no good, that Faith couldn't fight her way out of, that Wesley couldn't research enough of. What it was, was trust in a person, the ability to convey it, to make a higher being who's own mental thinking was ten million times the capacity of her own believe that a soul, the most precious thing in any dimension, deserved to be free.
Bethany rested in her chair, eyes closed, exhausted from her escape. The locked doors of the portal gave little light, and Cordelia found her own eyes aching as she squinted at the dimly lit monitor. Angel's barks and orders on her cellphone a welcome distraction, comfortable noise as she leaned back, glanced over what she had written.
"The laws of human nature have presented the most curious of dilemmas," she mumbled.
"What?! Kate, I can't wait for a vampire bicycle gang! I know it's important but- I know it's not your dimension, but- Kate, don't put me on hold-" Angel sighed, eyes rolling heavenward as he stalked around with the phone on his ear. "Damnit."
"Cordelia."
Cordelia glanced up quickly, recognized the intruder, smiled, and immediately answered, "Hello, Douglas," before leaning forward, suddenly typing again.
-That a human soul could love in world where nothing was presented to her but hate-
"What the hell do you want?" Angel growled, giving Douglas a glare before turning his attention back to the phone. "Kate? Yeah."
Douglas Sanderson III, mortal young man, dusty trench coat hanging loosely from his shoulders, previously combed hair now hanging in bangs down over his handsome face, stood in doorway of the Pressroom, eyes wide as he glanced over the open portals to other worlds flashing around the room. It was new, and exciting, and for a minute, he gawked. The roving gaze, however, eventually landed on his fiance. Now focused on Cordelia, who was now typing furiously over the computer, oblivious to anyone as the vampire she called her ex-husband continued to bark into the phone, he felt the awe slip for something else, something bitter.
"Cordelia," Douglas said, coming forward to plant his palms on the side of the desk nearest to her. "I just want to ask you one thing-"
"Douglas?!" Oh, so she had just realized he was in the room. Cordelia flashed him a startled, lovely grin with hazel eyes nearly bursting with brilliance. "How'd you get out of jail?!"
"Listen, buddy- this is the Pressroom, no human-"
"SHUT UP, Angel," Douglas barked, flipping the vampire the middle finger before turning back to Cordelia, who had once again started typing. "I had to wire for money from Maine, Cordelia. NO thanks to you- Cordelia- I said I had to wire the money- Cordelia!"
"Did you, sweetie?"
"YEAH, I did!" he said, slamming his hands on the table, desperate for her attention. Cordelia didn't seem to notice, mouthing words as she typed. "I don't even know what they're going to think of me there once they hear of this-"
"Kate, I don't CARE if the bicycle gang is mowing down the discter demons for sport, those guys are baby killers! YES, they are! Just because one guy is an actual good guy doesn't mean the whole group is-"
Cordelia blinked, hands stilling. "Oh... well, you know what? I'll explain ... something when we get up there, Douglas, don't worry."
"Good! Kate, yes I know it's not right for me to judge a species based on what they eat but- Yes, I know I drink blood-"
The slight tremors of a headache stung the back of his temples. Douglas sighed, slow and controlled, trying to collect his thoughts between the clack-clack of Cordelia's fingers on the keyboard and Angel's annoying growl at the end of every sentence.
"Cordelia," he tried again. "Where's my mother? She said she was coming to see you."
"She left," Cordelia said immediately.
"Where?"
"I don't know. She's somewhere." Cordelia's lips quirked for a second. "Doesn't she look like Judi Dench?"
He had her attention for half a second, before she shrugged and turned back to the moniter, squinting as she peered into the monitor.
"No, Kate, I'm not just saying that because I'm a vampire with a soul-"
Oh, for goodness' sakes.
"CORDELIA!" Losing patience, Douglas jerked a hand forward, closing his fingers over Cordelia's wrist, forcing her gaze onto his face. "I'm worried, okay? I had to run past a crazy kid beating up some poor bums outside-"
"HA! That's my boy!"
"Shut up, Angel," Cordelia snapped.
"TELL ME where my mother went?"
"GEEZ! Calm down, broody boy!" Cordelia rolled her eyes, glancing at him before turning back to the computer. "She didn't say."
"Yes, I KNOW that I'm not the only vampire with a soul anymore, Kate. No, I'm not trying to make myself seem special-"
"Well, did she get the tickets from you?" Exasperation turned Douglas' voice into a husky drawl.
"No, she left in a hurry."
"Well, where are they?!"
"In my jacket," Cordelia responded, flicking a long fingernail to a pile of misshapen leather in the middle of the table.
"Kate, you're kind of missing the point here. Yes, I realize I have a mission, and sometimes it includes staying on earth- KATE, WILL YOU LISTEN?!'
Douglas moved around the shouting Angel to fumble with the tattered remains of the jacket, finally finding the tickets strewn under it. "What about that certified check?!"
"Here, hold on." With a heavy sigh, Cordelia pushed from the table and stood, leaning over the table to reach into her purse. "You'll find the money in your wallet." Cordelia slapped the leather into his palms and once again sat down and continued typing.
"What the..." With almost trembling hands, Douglas opened the wallet and found his face smiling at him from his driver's license. Stuffed inside was a wad of bills, and the certified check. Douglas gave a short, enraged gasp. "This IS my wallet! Wait a minute, Cordelia-"
A pale hand swiped the bills out of his hand, and Douglas whirled, mouth dropping when he found the culprit. Angel studied the bills, an unreadable expression painted on his face.
"What are you doing?!" he asked angrily, snatching them back.
"Just wanted to look at it," Angel responded, flashing a smile before turning back to the phone. "Kate-"
Putting the money protectively into his wallet, Douglas turned his attention once more on his wayward fiancé. "Cordelia. CORDELIA." She gave him a distracted nod. "I'm taking the nine o'clock flight." She just kept typing.
"Sounds great, honey."
He could have just asked her to scrub the floor with a toothbrush, and she probably would have answered the same way. "Did you hear what I said, Cordelia?"
"Sure."
"CORDELIA. I said I'm taking the-"
"Nine o'clock flight'" she chimed in with, suddenly yelping. "CRAP. Douglas, I put it in here!" Immediately she brushed the hair out of her eyes and hit the delete key. "Stop that!"
"HEY!" From the other side of the room, Angel glared. "Can't you see she's busy-"
"FUCK you, Angel," Douglas responded, flipping his blonde hair back to his mistress. "Cordelia. I just want to know just- CORDELIA. If you can answer just one question-"
"Douglas, sweetie, can you do me a favor?" she asked quickly.
"Did you ever love me at all?"
"NO!" Angel glared at the receiver. "KATE, I NEVER said I didn't care about YOU, I just said I didn't care about the precinct- Have you touched that sensitivity stick lately?!"
"CORDELIA- just tell me, okay? Can you be honest for just one second-"
"LISTEN, you little wart, if you don't leave her alone-"
"SHUT UP, Angel!" Douglas burst, pointing a shaking finger at the vampire with the cellphone permanently attached to his ear. "This is YOUR damned fault! She wanted to get away from you- from all of this, and you... you like a VAMPIRE you just went and you caught her in your- Cordy!" Turning back, he once again attempted to get Cordelia's focus. "You'd leave me for HIM?! For this VAMPIRE?!"
"Oh, my GOD, Douglas, I'm NOT leaving you for him-"
"Kate, I PROMISE I will handle the motorcycle gang tomorrow! Yes, tomorrow! Because if you don't get your ass down here we'll be dead before then!" Angel growled at Douglas between pleas to Kate. "And YOU, idiot, you just-"
"But can't you see this is the most important thing in my LIFE?! LOOK AT HER, Douglas?!" Cordelia shook a palm to the sleeping Bethany. The girl snorted in her sleep, shifting on her uncomfortable perch, and being still again.
"Fine," Douglas said, hands lifting in resignation. "I'm on hold, is that it? Like you stuck me in a fridge-"
"That reminds me," Cordelia suddenly paused. "Angel, we should get her back into the desk before they come back-"
"In a minute- KATE!"
"You just don't love me."
"Oh, for Pete's sake, Douglas, that's not true!" Cordelia gave a heavy, frustrated sigh. "I do love you, sweetie, I do- You're missing the damned point, okay?"
"No, I got the point. You never wanted to be normal. You never wanted to be decent."
"Right, sweetie, you got me pegged!" The words were dripping with sarcasm. Anger edged into her features.
And she didn't care. Douglas stood, shoulders slumping as he stared disbelievingly. "That's it, isn't it?" he whispered. "You never cared about me, all you cared about was the mission-"
"WILL you shut up?!" Angel shouted from across the room. "NO, Kate, I didn't mean you-"
"You're just like him!"
"I am NOT a vampire, okay?!" Cordelia stopped long enough to blow a bang out of her eyes before glaring at her fiancé. "I'm a half demon- and I'm not JUST- you know what? I don't want to do this right now- FINE, Douglas, I am JUST LIKE ALL OF THEM- Faith and Gunn and Fred and-"
"KATE! No, I full appreciate the role you play as vital to Angel Investigations, you're missing-"
"The point, Douglas! I can't just leave like this when this is going on and you just don't understand-"
"Cordelia, I understand perfectly about you wanting to help but I'm just trying to tell you-"
"Wait, wait, wait." Cordelia suddenly stopped, hazel eyes liquid as she stared up into the air for a minute. "There's just one question I want to know."
There was a shake in his heart, a small burst of hope in Douglas heart as she stopped typing, looked up sharply. "What?" he asked.
She swiveled her gaze. "Angel! That girl we saved before, you know? During the trial when Wes almost fried?"
Angel paused in his rant, considering. "You mean the one with the wart on her-"
"Right."
"Fanny," he said immediately.
"Thanks."
And that was it. This was the truth. He was lost in a room where a Seer typed and a Champion spoke and a lost soul slept in the corner, heedless of the entire ordeal.
In that minute, he knew, there was no place for him in this world, her world.
"I don't think you ever loved me at all, did you?" he whispered to the woman typing with the glint in her eyes, nearly glowing in her speed. A grim smile froze his handsome features, and nodding shortly, he took a step back, away from her, and moving toward the portal to his earth. When he reached the opening, he couldn't resist one last plea. "If you change your mind, I'm leaving on the nine o'clock flight."
Cordelia kept typing, and Angel cocked an eyebrow as the man disappeared and the portal flashed, closing behind him.
"Good." Angel finally closed the phone, settling down at the table with a heavy sigh, arms crossed. "She's on her way. Fifteen minutes and we can get her out of here."
"Great!" Cordelia flashed him a grin before once again frowning at the screen. She blinked, suddenly looking around. "Hey, where'd Douglas go?"
--
"Well... This is awkward."
"Wes, if you make another stupid ass obvious comment like that, or look one more time at Lilah's breasts, I'm going to skip going postal on them and am just going to kick YOUR ass, okay?"
Faith shifted on her feet, hands behind her back, unsure as hell about what to do in their little "High Noon"ish show down. Lilah Morgan (skanky bitch) crossed her arms, smirk growing on her (evil ass) face as she glanced from Wesley, to her, to Wesley, to her.
"Skip," Wesley said evenly, ever the gentleman even IN highly volatile situations.
"Wesley," he returned. "Any reason why you're running around in my hell dimension with an old lady and a Slayer?"
"Love the view, actually."
Lilah (skanky bitch) Morgan cocked her head, grinning that 'cat that swallowed the canary' smile that Faith hated. "It's like my birthday. On Halloween. My two favorite people all in their very own hell dimension. Gee? Wouldn't it be fun to just kinda... stick them here for all eternity?"
"What on earth..." Mrs. Sanderson III blinked twice. "And suddenly I'm so very grateful for the company of Bonnie and Clyde."
Faith took a full step back, keeping her grip tight on the elder woman.
Skip crossed his arms, clucking his tongue. "What on earth shall we do with them?"
"You mean 'what on hell'?" Lilah chuckled.
"So..." Faith mumbled out the corner of her mouth. "What do you think? Take 'em down?"
"Probably wouldn't be in our best interests," Wesley said gently. "We still have our dear Judi Dench to worry about."
"For the love of god, I'm NOT Judi Dench. And you two will get me away from that monstrosity and that... WOMAN at THIS MOMENT."
Faith gave an exhausted sigh, quirking her eyebrow at Wesley when Skip grinned at them, clapping his hands together.
"So..."
"I say we let them have it," she remarked, loudly.
A minute glance of understanding, and Wesley agreed.
"Yes, let's let them have it," he responded.
So they did.
With a shove, Mrs. Sanderson III went like a bowling ball straight into the scrambling Lilah and Skip.
Faith didn't stay to watch the tumble. Dragging Wesley with her, the
Slayer swerved on her heel and ran as fast as she could.
--
END CHAPTER