[Disclaimer: I do not own anything created by the [very evil] Joss Whedon]

Author's Note:

Well, since I don't have a whole lot to say, let's just get straight into the story.

Surprise!

Chapter Two: Tickle-Fights and New Friends

by Adele Elisabeth

Just as she was walking in the living room, Cordelia swayed, and then fainted dead away. Angel, being behind her, caught her quickly, and carried her into the room. Xander scooted off the sofa so he could put her down.

"Okay, raise your hand if you're as confused as me." Xander put his hand up.

Willow and Buffy raised their hands.

Giles looked at Cordelia, concern evident, then to Angel. But before he could ask the question so obviously on his lips, Angel said quietly, "I don't know why she fainted."

Genevieve hurried over to Cordelia's side, and looked up at Angel and Giles. "She's going to wake up soon, right? Right?"

"Yes, yes of course," Giles told Genevieve comfortingly. "Why don't you go back and draw some more pretty pictures with Willow, and you can give them to your mother when she wakes up."

After a few moments of thought, Genevieve nodded, somewhat reluctantly, and went back to sit next to Willow on the floor with the pencils and paper.

After about an hour and a half of not succeeding in waking Cordelia, she came around all by herself. Angel had carried her to Giles' spare room, as they thought it best to keep their efforts out of Genevieve's sight, so as not to worry her.

"...urgh, my head..." Sitting up, Cordelia held aforementioned head and groaned.

"You're awake," Giles said with more than a little surprise.

"Thanks for repeating the obvious. I thought that was Xander's job."

"Cordelia," this was said in a slightly warning tone, and Cordelia rolled her eyes.

"So...aren't you going to ask me why I was dozing? It's a doozy of a story."

Giles thought of all the things he could say to that, and decided against them. "All right, why were you 'dozing'?"

"Because my future self wanted to have a chat with me."

Angel, who had been standing in the doorway, raised an eyebrow at this.

"Seriously, it was me. She -- I -- talked to me for a bit, and there's a few things I have to say to you all, but mostly she was just letting me know that Genevieve really was...mine? Ours? Whatever. I got the feeling she was really worried about her -- understandable -- so I told her we were taking good care of her and trying to find a way to get her home. She said they're doing the exact same thing in their time. She told me that Willow's apologised about a thousand times, but it's not her fault. We had a really good talk, and I asked her about Angel's cooking -- y'know, because of how Genevieve was raving about what a fabulous cook her daddy is, and I was curious. She...I, I guess, confirmed his 'fabulous cook' status." Cordelia's tone turned faintly wistful. "She sounded really happy when she was talking about her family. My future family."

"Did she -- you -- say anything important we should know about?" Giles prompted.

"Well...she said that Wesley's doing the researching, and they're pretty sure they'll have a way to get Genevieve back there soon. Could be a week or so, though. Maybe more. Speaking of Wesley, where is he?"

"Food poisoning, he's not well at the moment." Giles replied distractedly.

Angel decided to voice the question he had been pondering. "Did...did my future self say anything?"

Cordelia gave him an almost impish look. "Yeah, he was there. I -- the future me -- said he insisted on coming. I thought it was sweet. He's -- you, sort of -- really worried about Genevieve, but I think I put them at their ease. As much as possible, anyway. Now that I'm all awake and everything, can I take Genevieve home? She'll be wanting some dinner soon. Don't worry about my parents being all surprised and stuff, Daddy's on a business trip and Mom's holidaying." She got off the bed, steadied herself, and then walked out without another word.

"Gen, honey, we're going home." Cordelia told her, picking up both her own coat and Genevieve's. After shrugging her's on, she held out Genevieve's, and helped her put it on. Then she looked at the Scoobies, who were watching her intently. "Oh...umm, that whole damsel in distress fainting? So not my fault. Well, technically it is, but it was the future me. Wanted to talk to me. Magic? Totally cool. She had this whole spiel to tell you guys, but she figured this one quote would say what she wanted you to know." She paused, trying to remember it. "Right, got it. 'Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow, don't walk behind me, I might not lead, just walk beside me, and be my friend.' Hope you all understand what she means, because I'm only half-sure I do. Well...later."

"Bye Aunt Willow, Uncle Xander, Aunt Buffy, Uncle Rupert, Daddy." Genevieve beamed at them, and then looked up at Cordelia. "Can we get an ice-cream on the way home?"

Turning to leave, and on her way out the door, Cordelia could be heard laughing lightly, and replying, "You already had an ice-cream today. But if you're really good, we might have some desert after dinner. What do you feel like?"

"Pizza!"

"We better get going too," Willow said finally. The change in Cordelia was...well, bizarrre. Evidently Genevieve was a great influence on her.

"Yeah," Xander agreed, standing up, then he asked, "Did we really just see that? I mean...who was she and what has she done with Cordelia Chase?"

"And what was with that quote?" Buffy muttered. "Angel?" she asked, raising her voice. "What were you and Cordelia talking about?"

Angel shifted uncomfortably before replying, "Just about Genevieve. We agreed that she's not just got the one parent, so Cordelia'll call me tomorrow and bring Genevieve around for a couple of hours."

Buffy was pretty sure Angel wasn't telling her everything, but she shrugged it off. "Okay. I'm...I'm going home. Xander, Willow? I'll walk you guys."

She didn't look at Angel as she left.

The Future! Oooowowooooo, spooky noises and stuff.

"Are you sure she'll be okay?" Angel asked Cordelia, worry evident in his voice. Sometimes he was just too easy to read.

"Angel...I know you're worried, so am I. But we have to be positive. Past-me and Past-you'll take care of Genevieve, I told me that. The past-me told me that, I mean. She -- I -- seemed pretty in control of the situation when I talked to her. Relax. Wesley and everyone are on the research as we speak. It'll be okay. They'll find a spell and we'll go get her."

"If you're certain..."

"I am."

And back to the past.

"Hey, you've reached Cordelia Chase, I can't talk to you just now but if you leave your name and number after the tone I'll catch up with you ASAP. BEEEEEEP."

"Cordelia? This is Angel. I was just calling to check up on you and Genevieve. And...er...you can bring her over here around lunchtime, if that's okay with you. Yeah. Um. Bye."

Cordelia and Genevieve sat in Cordelia's lounge, eating pizza and watching videos.

"This is my new favorite movie in the whole wide world." Genevieve confided. They were watching The Little Princess, and had just finished watching The Wizard Of Oz.

"It's pretty good," Cordelia agreed, reaching for another slice of pizza. Okay, so it was fattening. She'd work out extra tomorrow or something.

"Can we have ice-cream after we've finished our pizza?" Genevieve asked hopefully. Her mommy wasn't the same back now, but she was still the bestest mommy in the whole entire world. And she'd given her lots of treats today. Maybe she could get another one. She'd been extra good.

"Well...we might have some apple pie somewhere, and maybe even some vanilla ice-cream..." Cordelia mock-pondered it. "I guess we can have some for desert."

"Did the phone ring before?" Genevieve had heard it, she was sure, but for some reason, her mommy didn't go and answer it. She didn't know why, but something had flickered in her eyes. Sadness? No. Her mommy wasn't ever sad. She had so much to be happy for. Why would she be sad? It was silly.

"Yeah, it did," Cordelia said softly. "Doesn't matter. I'll check the messages when I put you to bed, okay?"

When they'd gotten home, Cordelia had some servants move a single bed from one of the guest-rooms into her room, for Genevieve. She'd had an explanation for Genevieve all prepared in her mind, but they asked no questions.

Did nobody care about what she did around here? It didn't matter. For just a little while...she had Genevieve.

And someday, she'd have Angel too. And Owen, Genevieve's twin.

A family of her own.

Someday.

'Someday' seemed far, far away right then, but Genevieve's smiling face made it closer.

Family.

"Angel."

"Umm...hi, it's Cordelia, I'm sorry about not picking up the phone before, me and Gen were watching a movie and I...I just got distracted." It was a lie, and she didn't think he believed it any more than she did. She hadn't wanted anything to intrude into the little moment of family normalcy. "So...lunchtime?"

"Yeah. Buffy's dropping by in the morning--"

No way was WonderBitch spending time with Cordelia's daughter. No goddamn way. "Then we'll reschedule. Gen can come over the day after."

There was a surprised silence from Angel's end of the phone. He hadn't expected Cordelia to react like that. "I just thought..." He trailed off. He didn't know what he'd thought, not really.

"Newsflash. Genevieve's not Buffy's. She's mine." Beat. "And yours. But I do not want my daughter spending quality family time with you and Buffy. Buffy has a family. She's not moving in on mine." Cordelia bit out.

Angel took a deep, unneeded breath, and exhaled slowly. Cordelia's fuming silence was hard to bear, and he felt obliged to fill it. "Okay. I'll tell Buffy to come the day after."

It was Cordelia's turn to be surprised. "You'd...you'd do that?"

"Yes, I would. And if you want, you can stay too. Not just drop Genevieve off and then pick her up later, I mean. It could be...family bonding?" Now where in the hell had that come from?

Cordelia didn't answer for a long time. But when she did, Angel knew his idea had cheered her. At least a little. "That sounds like fun. Genevieve's asleep, I'll tell her in the morning. Giles called before. He said he had one of those weird dreamy things too. This time it was my future self and Wesley's future self. They're working on a spell so they can come pick up Genevieve themselves. He said he got the impression I didn't fully trust him to send her back in one piece."

"He told me about that earlier."

Silence again. This time Cordelia filled it. "Well...I better let you go. Probably want to get in some quality Buffy time before she gets kicked out of your house for the Chases." She didn't mean it to sound so nasty, but it didn't exactly come out well.

Was that jealousy he heard in her voice? Silently convincing himself that he was imagining it, he replied quietly, "Goodnight, Cordelia."

"Goodnight, Angel."

She hung up first. Fast.

Angel stared at the phone for some time after that.

"Mommy..." Genevieve groaned. "I don't wanna get up."

"Well, that's just tough, sweetie. I overslept already, and it's 11! We've got to be at your daddy's apartment in an hour."

That got the little tyke moving. "Okay, okay, I'm moving, I'm moving."

"We can grab a bite to eat on the way over there, and maybe he'll even have something. I mean...Buffy must visit sometimes, and she eats, even if he doesn't." Cordelia said cheerfully as she helped Genevieve get dressed in the clothes she'd already selected. She was already dressed, in a white sundress and white strappy sandals, her hair in a plait and a white cardigan tied around her waist. It was a warm day. Genevieve's outfit matched hers, she'd thought it was a cute idea.

"Can we have pizza?" Genevieve inquired as Cordelia buckled her sandals for her.

"No, sweetie. We had pizza for dinner last night. Besides, pizza is not the meal you have first."

Somehow Genevieve had been expecting that.

So far, the 'family bonding' afternoon was going brilliantly. Currently they were playing hide and seek, and it was Genevieve's turn to seek.

Angel wasn't exactly well-hidden behind the sofa, but the ever-clever Cordelia was hiding in the bathroom.

"I found you, Mommy!" Genevieve grinned.

"Awww, how'd you guess?" Cordelia pouted as she came out from behind the shower-curtain.

Leading her back to the lounge, Genevieve said triumphantly, "You always hide in weird places, Mommy. Daddy says it's one of your quirks."

"I do, do I?" Angel asked, raising an eyebrow. "What other quirks has your mommy got?"

Cordelia flashed him a vaguely annoyed but more amused glance, which he ignored.

Genevieve was quite happy to cheerfully fill him in. "Well...she absolutely adores Big Red gum, and has a secret stash of it hidden in her sock-drawer, which she thinks you don't know about, but you really do. We sneaked some one day, you and me. The gum is next to the romance novels she thinks we don't know about."

Cordelia had suddenly found her French-tipped fingernails fascinating.

Angel grinned. "Anything else?"

"I know about your quirks, too, Daddy. Like how you watch Mommy when she's sleeping, or when you think nobody's looking at you. You just watch her...like she's the most wonderful angel in all of Heaven. Then there's how you get really grumpy when she borrows your hair-gel, and she rolls her eyes and tells you that all good little boys learn how to share. And how you always make us bacon and eggs for breakfast on a Saturday, and pancakes or French toast on a Sunday." Genevieve grinned. "And Mommy says you're a hopeless romantic, really."

Angel was getting slightly uncomfortable, now. But he hid it well.

"And...you're ticklish!" Genevieve finished.

Cordelia raised her eyebrow, and a faint smile quirked her lips. "Is that so...Gen?"

Two generations of Chase women regarded him innocently, and Angel suddenly had this strange feeling...

"Tickle-fest!" Cordelia yelled, and she and Genevieve pounced.

Angel was reduced to helpless laughter as they wrestled him to the ground, tickling mercilessly. Of course, the tables were turned when Angel discovered that he wasn't the only one ticklish...

"Truce, truce!" Cordelia breathed between giggles, but Angel and Genevieve were relentless...

"Angel?"

Three dark-haired heads swivelled to the blonde in the doorway.

Buffy.

Staring at Cordelia with undisguised loathing.

"I was going to surprise you." Buffy mumbled. Cordelia was seated on the couch, glaring at her. Genevieve had been sent into the bedroom with paper and pencils to draw some more pretty pictures for her parents.

"I told you I was having Genevieve for the afternoon." Angel said, exasperated. They'd agreed she would come over the next day, and maybe he'd see her that night, on patrol. Why couldn't Buffy have just stuck to that?

"I thought I could get to know her too..."

"Look, Angel," Cordelia cut in, "You and your girlfriend can deal with your issues, but me and Genevieve are gone. I'll call later, okay?" Before he could respond, she was off the couch and going to get Genevieve.

"Buffy, I told you to come over tomorrow instead." Angel said, quietly, after Cordelia had left and Genevieve had hugged him goodbye, with a suspicious look cast at Buffy.

"I thought we could all bond and everything..." Buffy replied, lifting her chin defiantly. "How was I supposed to know that she was here too?"

"'She' is Genevieve's mother and has a right to say who she wants her daughter spending time with, Buffy. You and she don't get along, everybody knows that. I love you, Buffy, but I love Genevieve too, now. And I told you Cordelia didn't want Genevieve spending time with you, and I thought you could understand that. Would you want your daughter spending time with her?"

Somewhat sulkily, she answered, "No."

"So you shouldn't have gone behind her back like this." Angel felt like a father lecturing his errant child, and it wasn't a good feeling, not for someone who was supposed to be in love with this girl. Woman. Young woman.

"Whatever. What was with all of you, anyway?" she challenged. "You looked pretty lovey-dovey when I got here. Maybe you're cheating on me with her already!"

He stared at her, stunned. "How can you say that?"

"Screw this. I'm out of here." Buffy snapped, standing. She turned on her heel and stormed out of his apartment, leaving Angel gaping at the empty space she had just been in.

"This whole thing is turning my life upside down," Cordelia whispered, trying not to let herself get upset as she watched Genevieve playing in the sandbox at the park.

"Cordelia?"

It was Willow. Oh, great. One of the Slayerettes come to hassle her.

"What do you want?" she snapped, but it lacked her usual edge.

Willow sat down next to her on the bench. "I thought maybe you might need a friend."

Cordelia stared incredulously at her. "You're trying to be my friend, now? Is this some kind of weird elaborate set up with Buffy behind it?"

Willow actually looked shocked that Cordelia would suspect her of something like that. "No, I just thought you could use a friend. If you don't want--"

"I'm sorry, Willow. I'm just really on edge just now." Cordelia half-whispered it.

That stopped the red-head in her tracks. She'd been going to stand up, but she sat back down. "Do you want to talk to me about it?" she offered.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure." Okay, Willow wasn't really all that sure. Cordelia was, after all, the bitchy cheerleader and bane of her school-years. "You need to talk, I'm good at listening."

"You hate me, Willow, all of you. It's not like you try to hide it. I don't like you all that much either, to be honest, and I don't hide it. So why do you suddenly give a damn?"

"I honestly don't know."

"This your good deed for the day? I'm not a pet project, Rosenburg."

"If you don't want to talk to me, just say it." Willow said finally. "But you need to talk to somebody."

"Maybe I'll talk to Giles."

Whatever Willow had been expecting, that wasn't it.

Cordelia went on, unaware of Willow's thoughts, "Need a ride? Me and Genevieve are going to hit the mall. You could come if you want. My treat."

After a moment's hesitation, Willow nodded. "Sure."

Maybe it wouldn't be instant, but Cordelia was hoping that maybe, just maybe, she could make a good friend here. A real friend.

***

Author's Note:

Thanks to the people who reviewed last chapter! I hope you like this one too!