Ain't No Sunshine
Chapter 2 - She Fights On
Wesley's PoV
It's been 4 long months since Angel…since Angel passed away. Cordelia is 5 months pregnant now and showing a little bump. We decided together that it would be best for her to stop slaying as she started to show. I have taken up a roll similar to Giles in his relationship with Buffy. I protect Cordelia, council her and help her out in any way I can. We all live here now. Me, Cordelia and Faith. I am glad that Faith is here. We put aside our differences in the face of adversity and realising it was all up to us now. Cordelia didn't want to stop fighting for the good cause but she made it perfectly clear that we weren't fighting for the Powers That Be anymore; We were fighting because people needed our help. The visions still came and we kept fighting them. Me, Faith and Cordelia. Gunn had gone long before Angel died. It was a natural progression. He was finished with fighting and wanted to settle down with a girl he met. We still see him from time to time, about twice a month. Faith and Cordelia also settled their grievances with each other.
Faith was torn apart when she found out about Angels death. It happened the day before she was realised on parole. She came straight here and cried in my arms for hours. Now she was out of prison she was scared that she couldn't stick to her road of redemption without Angel to keep her on track. I suggested that she stayed with us in the hotel until we could sort out something better for her. Cordelia had been furious with me but realised that the hotel was just as much my home as it was hers. Slowly Faith and Cordelia buried their strife with each other, united in grieve for a man they both loved in different ways. Cordelia and Faith train together, go shopping together and Faith is slowly settling into her new ways as a normal human. She craves the routine we can offer her, some normality in her life. I think we, Cordelia and I, can empathise with Faith. We were all outsiders that had built world of our own where we belong.
It's Cordelia I worry about. She hasn't cried since that night and she refuses to talk about it. She says it's because she wants to concentrate on Kate, her baby girl. Angel always wanted a girl. I hear Cordelia sitting in the nursery, whispering to her stomach about Angel. She has pictures and drawings of him all over the wall of her room and the nursery next door. She tells Kate of how they fell in love and solved his curse. She makes it sound like a fairy tale, which in essence I guess it is. They overcame everything to be together only to be pulled apart too soon. I know that Cordelia blames herself for his death. The Powers had told her that they had erased the curse and that they could be together now. So they did, the night that Kate was conceived, the night Angel had died. But the curse wasn't gone. It was there, just as strong as before and with the volume of happiness Cordelia had brought to Angel there was no way to prevent him. Angel had ran out into the rain, his soul being torn from his body. Cordelia had sort my helping tracking him down. We found him in an alley just off 5th and 27th street. He was in anguish begging Cordelia to fulfil her promise to him. She had stepped forward and stroked his face, saying their last goodbye, as she plunged the stake through his heart.
I can see her sitting in the office, reading one of Angel's many books to the filling stomach. She says it brings it closer to him. They couldn't be any closer. I have been reading the scrolls again. I don't think that they were wrong and I still firmly believe that the Powers will give Angle his Shansu. I'm scared to be wrong again but I think Angel is coming back…human. I don't trust the Powers anymore. They have taken everything away from us and I very much doubt they consider our feelings when they make their decisions especially after Cordelia told them, in her very frank way, where to shove their fight. I'm scared to tell her in case I am wrong, I simply couldn't do that to her, break her heart all over again. But I am also scared that she will go back to being a warrior, keeping Angel's name alive and end up dead or worse herself. I guess for once I will have to let the Powers play their game and see what the outcome is.
Part 3 already on it's way…last chapter!
Let me know what you think please and anything you may want to see in the next chapter. Thanks Nutty