Chapter One

Cordelia watched the gang run through the double doors and out of the hotel, armed to the teeth and ready to slay the evil slime demon she had just seen in a vision. She was glad that Angel had given her the night off; she could sort out the office paperwork rather than join the team in the fight. Plus the slime demon couldn't ruin her new jeans. She sat back in her office chair and sighed loudly, the visions were still giving her trouble. Her head was throbbing and the smell of slime was still lingering, nobody could ever know how stressful her job was. Yes, Cordelia Chase was one stressed out girl.

She spun her chair around and lifted her legs up, giggling as her hair whipped around her face until she was stopped by a vision. Her immediate thought was confusion; she had never had two visions in one night. She stopped the chair and closed her eyes; it was Fred. She frowned with confusion again, there was nothing happening in her vision, it was just images of Fred. The pain suddenly subsided and Cordelia came face to face with the world again. She had no idea what she was supposed to do with the images she had just received, the Powers That Be had told her nothing about what was happening. It was just an image of Fred; no action.

"Thank you, Doyle," she whispered as she grabbed the phone and tapped in Angel's mobile phone number but there was no answer so she dialled Wesley's pager number. She placed her head on the office desk and closed her eyes, praying that nothing bad had happened.

Wesley crashed through the front door of the hotel waking Cordelia; she lifted her head immediately at the noise as Wesley ordered her to grab the first aid box. She got on her knees and rummaged about under the front desk for the green first aid kit; she finally found it and stood up just in time to see Angel rush through the doors with Fred in his arms. She was speechless as Angel laid her out on the circular sofa in the middle of the room, she ran over and handed the green box to Angel who ripped the lid off and began ripping gauze and bandages to soak up the blood. Cordelia could see a large gash in Fred's side that was bleeding heavily; there was also a deep slice across her stomach that was oozing blood.

" Oh God," she said, feeling the hot tears spring to her eyes as she watched Angel and Wesley soak up the blood as Gunn stalked about the room, waiting for anything to happen. "Why didn't you take her to the hospital?"

"It was too far, she would've died in the car," said Angel, his voice betraying his cool exterior, Cordelia could hear his fear and anger.

"As opposed to the lobby?" she shouted, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand.

"She ain't gonna die!" shouted Gunn, walking over to where Angel knelt before her, still attempting to stop the profuse blood flow.

"Gunn, we're doing all we can but she's lost a lot of blood. There is a chance she might not make it," said Wesley, struggling to keep his voice calm and level. His own feelings for Fred were surging to the surface but she needed him to be calm and help her rather than mourn her before she had even died.

"I'm not accepting that. No way, she won't die," shouted Gunn, taking a step toward Wesley. Angel stood up placing himself between them both; Cordelia grabbed a handful of bloody bandages and held them to Fred's side. She didn't even wince with pain, she wasn't even conscious.

"Gunn, calm down. We're doing the best we can but this isn't helping," said Angel, his own voice wavering. His mind kept wandering to how helpless he felt as Doyle died, he was feeling that same helplessness now and he couldn't admit to himself what that meant for Fred.

"Oh God, Angel," said Cordelia, her voice thick with grief and tears. The blood flow was starting to stop but it had grown dark and thick, Cordelia knew that was not a good thing.

"Leave her, Cordy. We can't help her now," he said, putting his hand on her shoulder as she stood up. He knelt down beside Fred's body and checked her pulse, it was weak and slowing, there was nothing they could do. He was about to stand when he heard Cordelia gasp and felt something hard and sharp in his back.

He stood up and turned around slowly, Gunn stood before him with a stake aimed over his heart. Cordelia moved to run forward and stop him but Wesley held her back, he could see that Gunn was serious. Grief and fear had taken over and he was not thinking straight.

"You can make her live. You can turn her then Wes can do some magic or whatever and make her okay. She'll be okay,"

"She wouldn't be alive, Gunn. She'd still be dead and you know she wouldn't be Fred, you know that she'd be gone. You're not thinking straight right now, just calm down," soothed Angel.

"No way, man. You do it. Do it now, I'm not afraid to stake you. You're still a vampire, I'll kill you," shouted Gunn, Cordelia tried again to stop him but Wesley still held on to her.

"Then stake me. I won't do this," said Angel. Gunn loosened his grip on the stake slightly and looked nervously around, Wesley thought he might give up now but he suddenly spun around and grabbed Cordelia's arm. Twisting her until her back was to him and he held the stake at her throat, she didn't struggle. She'd been a hostage too many times to know that rule.

"Let her go," said Wesley, stepping forward.

"No," said Gunn. He turned to Angel. "You rescued that scum from Hell for her; you'll change Fred for her. I'll kill her, man,"

Angel took a step forward but Gunn put more pressure on the stake, Cordelia cried out as it pierced her skin and a tiny rivulet of blood ran down her throat, staining her white blouse. He stepped back and looked at Wesley, neither of them knew what to do but both knew that Gunn was so grief stricken that he might actually hurt her. Angel swallowed deeply and glared angrily at Gunn as he dropped to his knees once more and picked up Fred's body, she was barely alive but it was just enough. His vampire face came just as naturally as any reflex would and he shot Wesley a look of absolute pain as he bit into Fred's throat.

"God help us," whispered Wesley as Angel released her body and bit his own forearm, dripping the blood into her mouth and hoping that she could still swallow.

After what seemed like a lifetime, Fred's swallow reflex kicked in and a mouthful of Angel's blood went down. Gunn let go of Cordelia and she rushed to Wesley's side, he placed a protective arm around her as they moved away from Gunn and Fred. Fred moved her arms a little before she lay still. Angel stood staring at Gunn, his eyes blazing.

"Take her and get out," he hissed before turning and walking up the staircase to his bedroom.

"You'll know what you've done when she awakens and you'll have to kill her," said Wesley. Gunn picked up Fred's limp body and walked towards the door, he turned to say something but Wesley and Cordelia walked away. He turned back and walked out of the double doors, carrying the dead body of his girlfriend.

"I can't believe this has happened. I had a vision of her," sniffed Cordelia, wiping her neck with a clean bandage.

"Of Fred? Why didn't you stop her from coming with us?"

"Not of her being killed, just of her. Nothing happened; it was just images of her face. I didn't understand what it meant. How could this happen? Why didn't the Powers tell me what would happen?"

"I don't know but you mustn't blame yourself. You weren't to know what would happen to her,"

"Poor Angel. I can't believe he did it; he should have just let Gunn kill me. He shouldn't have done it,"

"I know. We'll have to watch him over the next few days. The taste of human blood will not have brought back happy memories; he may retreat into himself. The death of Fred was enough to mourn but to know what he did to her afterwards will be a worse burden to bear," said Wesley as he sat down and looked up at the staircase where Angel had just disappeared.

"I can't believe she's gone," said Cordelia, tears streaming down her face as she failed to fight them back.

"That's just it. She hasn't gone and if Gunn fails to kill her then who's to say she won't come looking for her sire?"

"This is probably the worst thing that could have happened, isn't it?" sighed Cordelia.

"I don't know. Nobody can know until tomorrow night when Fred wakes up,"

"God, I feel sick. Wesley, what if Angel enjoyed it? I mean, what if he ran off because he enjoyed it and he's up there right now being all dark and evil again?"

"The taste of human blood wouldn't be enough to awaken Angelus or to cast aside Angel's soul,"

"No, but Angel's still a vampire. I mean; he has needs and stuff. I'm just thinking that maybe it was worth the pain, maybe the thought of eating people again is worth the guilt?"

"Cordelia, there's just no way. I suggest we stop thinking about it and focus on our next case. We can mourn Fred in our own way, there's no use bringing it into the office," said Wesley, using his authoritative voice.

"Shut up, Wesley. I've seen you cry before, it's not like it's anything new!" smiled Cordelia, Wesley looked at her and smiled too. Her face was red and damp from her tears but her eyes shone radiantly and her smile represented the fact that things would get better. Angel and Cordelia had made it through Doyle's death; if they could do that then maybe they could all get through this too.