Chapter Six

Wesley and Cordelia were too stunned to move or say anything; they both stood in the centre of the room watching Fred cry. Eventually, Wesley made a move and started to walk towards her, Cordelia wanted to call out and tell him to stop but she couldn't find her voice. Wesley finally made it to the sofa and he sat down next to Fred, he placed a hand softly on her shoulder and she sat up almost instantly. She looked at him and gently brushed her fingers over his plastered arm before sniffing and allowing a fresh batch of tears to fall down her cheeks, she leaned her head slightly into his good shoulder and began to cry again. He let her sit there; getting what comfort she could from the man she had beaten hours before.

"What's going on?" asked Cordelia, all tact and grace had left her at the sight of Wesley comforting a killer. Fred stopped crying and sat up, looking straight ahead at Cordelia and wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

"I just wanted to tell Wesley that I'm sorry," she sniffed, looking back at Wesley and smiling weakly. He frowned at her, if she was apologising then she was feeling guilt and remorse for hurting him, it was guilt or it was a clever trick.

"You're a vampire, Fred. You don't apologise, you just hurt and kill and you don't care," said Cordelia, walking closer to Fred and Wesley. Fred looked away; she couldn't bear to see the anger in Cordelia's eyes.

"I know that but I just felt so bad. I mean, I really hurt you and I didn't want you to think that it was anything personal. I just wasn't feeling like myself,"

"Fred, you do understand why we're a little surprised? You shouldn't be feeling any guilt whatsoever, how is that possible?"

"Well, it has something to do with Angel and The Host but I'm not really sure what happened. One minute I was having a drink and having fun and the next, I was remembering all Angel's memories and I got really freaked out and then I felt bad so I ran,"

"You experienced Angel's memories?" asked Wesley, obviously intrigued by this transformation in Fred.

"Yeah, all of them. It was horrible and I didn't know where to go so I've just been waiting here for him to come back and help me,"

"Waiting for Angel to help you? Have you done something to him? Is he Angelus again?" asked Cordelia, pointing an accusing finger in Fred's face.

"No, he's fine. I left him at Caritas, he was fine. I would never hurt him, Cordelia. I just wanted him to help me out a bit,"

"We need to find Angel and find out what happened at Caritas," announced Wesley. Cordelia sighed and nodded, it was going to be another long night without any sleep. She should start charging Angel for the loss of her healthy, youthful looks if the bags under her eyes kept growing.

"No need," said Angel as he stalked into the room from the doorway, his black coat flowing out behind him as he strode across to where the three of them were standing. Fred was looking up at him in awe but Wesley just studied his face, checking for any signs of Angelus.

"Angel, are you evil again?" asked Cordelia, Angel smiled at her and shook his head. "I knew that, I just had to check,"

"I went to The Host shortly after Fred had turned, I knew that if we got to her in time then there may have been a way for us to help her," explained Angel.

"Help her in what way?" asked Wesley, his confusion had quickly become a thirst for knowledge and he was desperate to know what had happened to Fred.

"The Host knew of a mystic who was able to exchange the essences of two people and with a little doctoring, he was able to produce a spell that would give Fred a soul,"

"So Fred has her soul back? She's just like you?" asked Cordelia, looking down at Fred's tear-stained face. She was listening just as intently as Wesley was.

"Not quite, the mystic made my soul corporeal and gave half of it to Fred. That was how she had all of my memories, when she ran away in tears I knew it had worked but I had to stay in Caritas to get used to having half a soul,"

"What does that mean? Are you only half as good as you were now? I mean, are you like half good-half bad?" asked Cordelia.

"No, Lorne seems to think that I may get a little carried away when I'm fighting or that I might lose my temper a lot  faster than I used to but other than that I'm still me. The same goes for Fred, she's exactly the same as she was only she's a vampire now,"

"But Cordelia had a vision. You and Fred were together, chasing down some tramps or something," argued Wesley, pointing at Cordelia.

"That's right, we thought it meant that you were going to join Fred and become all evil again,"

"I don't know what it was. The only way Fred and I would be fighting together is if they were demons or something. Fred's back on the team, if she wants to be," said Angel, looking down at Fred. Fred stood up and swallowed hard; she looked around everyone in the room and nodded.

"Maybe I can still be useful round here, even if I am a vampire" whispered Fred, hanging her head with timidity.

"This is absolutely unprecedented. It's amazing, it's absolutely unthinkable. Would it be possible to talk to this mystic? I would love to know how he created the spell…" started Wesley.

"Tomorrow, Wes. I need to get to bed," sighed Angel, he laid his hand gently on Fred's shoulder and smiled before walking up the staircase to his bedroom.

"Oh Wesley, I am so sorry that I hurt you. I'm sorry for everything; I'm glad that Angel got me back so quickly. I can't even imagine how I would feel if I had to deal with my guilt as well as his," sighed Fred.

"Don't worry. It's all over now, maybe we should call Gunn and let him know," said Wesley. Cordelia nodded in agreement and left Fred and Wesley to make the call; she turned her back to them and started up the stairs after Angel.

His door was closed when she reached it and she swallowed hard before knocking hard. Angel opened the door, he was still wearing his trousers but his black shirt was hanging open, he stood there for a moment before moving aside to let her in. Cordelia walked across to the bed and sat down, her mind racing back to the day before when Angel had kissed her in this exact spot.

"I was just wondering, if Fred has half of your soul, does that mean that she has the curse as well. I mean, half of your curse or something?"

"Fred is under the curse as well as me now. Perfect happiness and all that, you should know the drill by now," sighed Angel as he removed his shirt and threw it across the room.

"Just checking, I really should go," said Cordelia, her eyes following the shirt to the floor and trying not to rise back up the Angel's half-naked body. She stood up and moved towards the door but Angel put his arm out to block her opening it.

"Lorne told me that I might not be able to fight my emotions as well as I used to," said Angel.

"That's nice but I really should go," laughed Cordelia desperately, she couldn't bear the thought of staying with Angel any longer. She wasn't stupid; she knew that something was going to happen.

"I just thought you should be aware of it, just in case something happens," smiled Angel, moving in closer to Cordelia. She turned around to face him, her eyes in line with his neck; she wanted to lean into his arms so badly. "Just in case I can't stop myself doing something then I wanted to let you know that I'm apologising in advance for everything,"

"Apologising?" repeated Cordelia, Angel nodded and moved closer still smelling her hair. "Okay, apology accepted,"

Cordelia looked up into Angel's eyes and smiled as he leaned down and kissed her softly. Her thoughts raced back to her conversation with Wesley; it wasn't the start of a love affair, it was just a kiss. She stood in the doorway with her arms wrapped around Angel's neck and her heart in the air and somehow, she didn't care if it was a kiss or the start of something else. All of her worries were gone, Fred was back on the team and soon Gunn would be back as well. As Angel moved against her and kissed her harder, more urgently, nothing seemed to matter. Things were starting to go right and if this was one more step in that direction then she was happy to keep on going.

THE END