Title: Rebuilding
Author: Anni
Rating: PG-13
Email: asleeper@email.arizona.edu
Content: /A, touch of F/G and maybe D/C
Summary: Cordy has to go back to Sunnydale and drags the gang with her
Spoilers: Basic season three of Angel and season six of Buffy.
Disclaimer: The characters in the Angelverse were created by Joss Whedon & David Greenwalt. No infringement is intended, no profit is made.
Distribution: Nothing-Fancy. Anyone else, just let me know
Notes: Angel is out of the box, Cordy is back from the higher realms, Wes and Connor are both with the group. And I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this. I started this before the season actually started, so a lot of it won't make sense now, but whatever! ;)
Feedback: Pretty, pretty please! I'll be your best friend!
Chapter One
"What about that girl that works at the juice bar across the street?" Cordy asked, cutting another piece of her waffle to bring it up to her mouth. "She seems like she's a real cutie. What's her name again?"
"Julie," Connor answered around the eggs in his mouth. "She's alright."
"Alright? Connor, she seems more than alright. I think you should go and get her number. Or I could do it for you if you really need." Cordy broke off as she saw Angel approach her and Connor where they were sharing breakfast at the lobby counter. "Shh, don't let Angel know what we're talking about, okay?"
"Good morning!" Angel told them, giving Connor a pat on the back before walking around the counter to give Cordy a kiss. Pulling back, he moved to the fridge to get his own breakfast. "Whatcha talking about?"
"Oh, this and that," Cordy told him, smiling widely. "Just enjoying a quiet breakfast."
"Cordy's trying to set me up with Julie who works at the juice bar across the street," Connor told his father, smiling innocently at the wide-eyed woman across from him.
"I told you not to say anything, punk," Cordelia hissed at him.
"Cordy!" Angel stalked over to the counter to stand beside her, staring down with a frustrated expression. "I thought I told you to stop doing that. Connor is to young and too new to this world to be worrying about dating."
"Pfft," Cordy scoffed. "Connor is nearly seventeen years old. How can you say that that is too young when you have been known to date a few seventeen- year olds yourself. Though if you ever choose to travel down that road again, I will stake you in every major organ you have, ending with the heart!"
"Cordy, that's hardly the point," Angel countered, dropping down onto the stool next to hers.
"And," she moved on as though he hadn't spoken. "He got his first piece of action within his first twenty-four hours of being in this dimension. And that was with a drug addict! I'm just trying to set him up with nice girl named Julie who has brown hair, blue eyes, and an after-school job at the juice bar across the street."
"Wait, what do you mean 'his first piece of action'? The druggie, Connor? You had action with the druggie?" Angel turned his hot gaze onto his son. "I thought you guys were just friends."
"Please, Angel. What guy hasn't used the 'just friends' excuse," Cordy broke in before Connor had the chance to respond. "It just shows that Connor is male, which we knew, and that Connor is also your son, which we also knew."
"I don't use 'just friend' excuses, Cor," Angel shot back, smoothing his hand across her back and dropping a kiss on her forehead. "That was you. And Connor, you still have to answer my question."
Connor looked up from his breakfast, wide-eyed. He didn't want to have this conversation with his dad. The sex talk had been too entirely uncomfortable with all the stuttering and the hand motions. He had been so confused that he had had to have a follow up session with Cordy and Fred. Fred's diagrams and graphs had been very helpful.
Cordy shook her head as the boy turned a pleading gaze on her. "Nu-uh. I told you not to tell him what we were talking about. You brought this on yourself."
Rolling his eyes at her response, Angel turned back to his son. "I'm still waiting. I specifically told you no dating until you were twenty-five."
Both Cordelia and Connor rolled their eyes at his reprimand. "Why does he have to wait until he's twenty-five, Angel?" Cordy asked, her voice light and teasing. These breakfasts were her favorite time of day. "I'm not even that old yet. Does that mean that I am not old enough to date?"
"What? No!" Angel responded immediately.
"Because if twenty-five is the age that one starts to have romantic privileges, then that means that we are going to have to wait another three and a half years."
"That's not what I meant, Cordy," Angel tried to break in.
"So, no more dating, or kissing, or touching, or anything else of the guy- girl nature because I am just too young for that sort of thing," Cordelia said, shaking her fork at him for emphasis. "Pervert!"
Angel stared at her raised eyebrows, waving fork, and haughty expression. Damn! How did she always get the best of him? "How about twenty?"
Connor and Cordy both laughed, turning back to their breakfast. "Angel, Connor is a young man, and he needs outside influences on his life. He needs friends, and girl friends, that are his own age. Its not healthy for him to always be hanging out in the gloom and doom with a bunch of old folks."
Angel frowned down at his glass of blood. How come Cordy only made sense when it was to prove him wrong at something? That sucked.
Cordelia leaned over and planted a big wet kiss on Angel's pouting cheek. "Our boy is growing up, Angel. And there's nothing that we can do about it. except for pick out the girls that we like so that he doesn't end up with some weird druggie girl."
"Hey, Sonny was my friend!" Connor protested.
"I think we've already established that that excuse won't work, son," Angel told him, feeling resigned to the fact that Cordy was probably right again. And judging by the huge smile on her face, she knew it to be true.
"Now, now, boys. Its not that bad," Cordelia smiled. God, she loved these guys. They were whole life, and she loved how easy it was sometimes to just bend them to her will.
She just loved her life sometimes.
Cordy was interrupted from her thoughts as the shrill ring of the phone echoed through the lobby. Her two boys watched as she got up to answer the phone. "Angel Investigations. We help the helpless." She paused for a moment, listening to the caller, before speaking again. "This is she."
Realizing that it was a personal call, and she would be distracted for a while, Angel turned back to his son. "Don't let her cow you into going out with someone you don't want to," he said, watching as his son scooped Cordy's abandoned waffles onto his own plate, having already devoured his own food. She was not going to be happy about that. "My advice is to run the other way every time she even so much as brings up the subject of dating."
"Julie's not really so bad," Connor answered. Angel tried not to cringe as he spoke with his mouth full. "She's pretty, at least. She doesn't seem to be very smart, though. But Cordy said that didn't matter that much because I was just starting out dating. She just said that I should stay away from the druggies and the blondes."
Angel rolled his eyes at that, speaking loudly so that Cordelia could hear him over her phone conversation. "Well, just as long as you've got the dating priorities straight."
Looking over his father's shoulder to see that Cordelia was not paying any attention to their conversation, Connor looked imploringly at his father. "Actually, if you could lend me a helping hand, I need her to stop trying to set me up. I don't want to upset her, but this is the fourth girl this week. Gunn says that she's acting like my pimp when she's supposed to be my mother figure! I don't know how to make her stop though!"
Angel nodded sympathetically. "If only I knew the answer, Connor. But she's been bowling me over for the last four years, and I have yet to figure out how to get her to stop." Reaching across the counter, he patted his son's arm comfortingly. "I'll be there for you, son. I'll do what I can."
Connor smiled, relief evident in his features. The smile wiped clean, and he ducked his head down into his breakfast as Cordy hung up the phone. "Shh, she's coming back."
"Hey Cor!" Angel exclaimed, trying to sound casual so not to tip her off to what their conversation had been.
Cordelia sat down next to him very slowly, looking over with an almost stunned expression. She did not even seem to notice his goofiness.
"Cordelia, what's wrong?" Angel asked, a small amount of panic seeping in at the seriousness of her expression. Turning in his seat so that he could take both of her hands tightly in his, he scooted forward to kiss her reassuringly on the forehead. "Baby, what happened?"
Focusing her eyes in on him, she spoke clearly; saying the last words Angel had expected to come from her mouth.
"We have to go to Sunnydale."
**************************************
"I don't understand," Angel said, watching as Cordelia opened a suitcase on his bed and began packing a few days' worth of his clothes in it. "Why do I have to go to Sunnydale too?"
"Because, I need you guys. All of you," she told him, dropping a small stack of shirts (none black) into the case and coming to stand in front of him. "But I need you especially." Reaching up to plant a train of soft kisses along his jaw, she ran her fingers lightly up his arm and across his shoulders to loop her hands around his neck. "And since you are such a lovely man, and since you love me so much, then you will be the perfect boyfriend and come with me."
Angel wrapped his arms tightly around her, pulling her lithe body close against his. Dropping his head into the crook of her shoulder, he let himself just relish for a moment how great it was just to be in her embrace. They had not been together long, but Angel knew, without a doubt, that he would never get tired of being wrapped up in her.
But then, the reality of the situation settled back in, and Angel couldn't stop himself from moaning into the skin of her neck. He didn't want to go back to Sunnydale. He didn't want her to go back to Sunnydale. "Why do you even have to go?" he whined.
Stepping back, Cordelia smiled up at him, reaching up to pull him down for a quick kiss. "I told you. They rebuilt Sunnydale High, and are doing this big grand reopening ceremony. And since I was captain of the cheerleading squad the year it blew up, they want me to come back and participate in some of the festivities."
Slumping down onto his bed in a pout, Angel watched glumly as she planned out all of his outfits. Light blue, maroon, and green shirts were being folded neatly along side some black pants, a few undershirts, and a couple of boxers (again, none being black). Finishing up after of a few minutes of silence, Cordelia zipped up the suitcase, and turned to flash a wide smile at him.
"Angel, it's not going to be that bad," she told him, plopping down on the bed beside him. "Its just Sunnydale. You spent nearly a month down at the body of the ocean. This is only going to be a few days. That hardly compares."
"I wouldn't bet on that," he mumbled grumpily, refusing to break even as she sidled up closer to him, throwing her legs across his lap, wrapping her arms around his torso, and settling her chin on his shoulder. "And how come you're so excited to go back? Its not like Sunnydale has ever been your favorite place in the world. You haven't even thought of going back in the last four years."
"Yeah, I know. That's why I think it might be fun," she said, dropping a light kiss against his shoulder. "Being back in the town I grew up. Seeing the bronze, seeing old friends, seeing my old high school."
"Where we all almost died horribly," he said pointedly.
Lifting up his arm and bringing it around her shoulders, Cordy snuggled even closer. "Come on, Angel. It won't be all that bad." Lowering her voice, and stretching out to drop a light kiss against the shell of his ear, she continued, "And we won't be at the ceremony all that long. We'll also have quite a bit of time alone in our very own hotel room."
Resisting the urge to shiver as her tongue came out to slightly taste his skin, he grumbled at her, "We have a perfectly fine hotel room here."
Laughing lightly at him, Cordelia shifted over so that she was sitting all the way on his lap. "Come on, Angel. It could be fun. And I'll be wearing that itty-bitty cheerleading outfit. Maybe I'll even bring it home with me."
Angel stared down at her, his eyes glazing over momentarily. "Sunnydale's not so bad," he told her.
Cordy rolled her eyes at him. "That's right. Like I said, buckets o' fun."
Knowing that he would eventually give in, Angel decided that even though it was a sure thing, he was not going to make it easy on her. "Fun? Like the type of fun where they crush all of your fingers and toes, jab hot pokers through all of your limbs, and cut open your stomach to slowly remove your intestines. Is that the type of fun you mean?"
Cordy smiled widely at him, giggling at his protests. He could be just too cute sometimes. "Maybe not quite that fun, but pretty damned close."
Groaning in complaint, Angel wrapped both his arms around her, locking his hands just over her hip, and buried in his face in the soft pillow of her hair. "Please don't make me do this, Cordy. I'll love you forever if we can just stay here."
"Angel, I have to go. and you'll love me forever regardless, buster."
Pulling back to look her square in the eye, he decided it was time to pull of the big guns. "Cordy, there are people there that I don't think either of us wants to see."
She scrunched her face up at the seriousness of his expression. "I was wondering how long it would be before you pulled out that card," she said. "And speak for yourself about not wanting to see them. They were my friends. some of the time. and I haven't seen them for almost four years. If they're there, I think that it would be good to see them all again."
"But Cor."
"No, Angel," she interrupted. "It's been a long time since we've seen them, and they have all probably changed as much as we have. It would be good to see them, to get to know them all over again, to let them get to know us all over again."
Avoiding her gaze, Angel turned this idea over in his head. He didn't really agree with her. There lives were so separate from the Scoobies now, and he didn't really think that that was something they would easily grasp. Those people she called her friends did not know all about the sacrifices she had made or all the amazing things that she had done in the past few years. They still knew her as the snooty cheerleader, which was the main reason they were going back to Sunnydale.
He didn't want to see Cordy back in that world.
And there was also the entire Buffy issue. A part of him would always love her, but she didn't have a place in his world anymore. He had been torn down by their relationship, and it had taken him forever to rebuild. But he finally had, and Buffy was not a part of that process, or of that product.
He didn't want to see himself back in that world.
Meeting her eyes once again, and focusing in on the beautiful smile and hopeful eyes, he realized that he didn't have a choice. "Right."
"It's not like we will definitely see them, only if they show up at the ceremony. And its not like I have anything to worry about if they do, right?" she said, raising a challenging eyebrow.
"Right," he affirmed with a small smile.
"Good." Breaking his embrace to stand up, she grasped both of his hands to pull him up too.
"When do we leave, and how long do we have to stay there?" Angel asked, doing his best to keep the whine from his voice. He remembered the days when that had never been a problem, the days when he had been a badass vamp and not so firmly planted under Cordy's thumb.
"I am going to leave tonight because I have to be there early so that we can practice whatever it is that we're doing. You guys will leave tomorrow night. I'll set up the hotel rooms. One for us, one for Fred and Gunn, and one for Wes and Connor," she said, turning to pull his suitcase off the bed and bring it to the door. "You all will be there for three nights. The ceremony is the second night, and the party at the Bronze is the third. We can come home after that."
"Oh joy," he returned flatly, watching finished arranging his stuff.
"Right," she smiled widely, coming back to stand beside him. "Everyone else is already packing to go, though you might want to check to make sure Connor's got all the stuff he needs. Oh, and make sure he has something nice to wear to the Bronze because there will be a lot of cute girls his age there."
"Cordy, I don't think."
"So," she broke in with a short laugh. "I have to go home and pack, and then leave right away, so I won't see you until tomorrow."
"Okay," he replied with at frown. "Be careful in Sunnydale though. That's a dangerous place."
"And I'm a dangerous woman," she returned with a teasing purr, wrapping him up in another hug.
"Ain't that the truth," Angel returned, letting his first smile in the conversation wash over his lips. His hands smoothed up over her back, pulling her closer.
"And don't you forget it!"
Angel's head bent down gently lay his lips over hers. Her arms tightened across his back as she strained up to reach more of him. For a precious few minutes, the only sounds in the room came from the couple's embrace.
Pulling back with a soft smile, Cordy gave him one last hug before turning and heading to the door. "Don't worry, Angel. This will be fun!"
Staring at the door long after she departed, Angel let out a snort. "Famous last words."
Author: Anni
Rating: PG-13
Email: asleeper@email.arizona.edu
Content: /A, touch of F/G and maybe D/C
Summary: Cordy has to go back to Sunnydale and drags the gang with her
Spoilers: Basic season three of Angel and season six of Buffy.
Disclaimer: The characters in the Angelverse were created by Joss Whedon & David Greenwalt. No infringement is intended, no profit is made.
Distribution: Nothing-Fancy. Anyone else, just let me know
Notes: Angel is out of the box, Cordy is back from the higher realms, Wes and Connor are both with the group. And I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this. I started this before the season actually started, so a lot of it won't make sense now, but whatever! ;)
Feedback: Pretty, pretty please! I'll be your best friend!
Chapter One
"What about that girl that works at the juice bar across the street?" Cordy asked, cutting another piece of her waffle to bring it up to her mouth. "She seems like she's a real cutie. What's her name again?"
"Julie," Connor answered around the eggs in his mouth. "She's alright."
"Alright? Connor, she seems more than alright. I think you should go and get her number. Or I could do it for you if you really need." Cordy broke off as she saw Angel approach her and Connor where they were sharing breakfast at the lobby counter. "Shh, don't let Angel know what we're talking about, okay?"
"Good morning!" Angel told them, giving Connor a pat on the back before walking around the counter to give Cordy a kiss. Pulling back, he moved to the fridge to get his own breakfast. "Whatcha talking about?"
"Oh, this and that," Cordy told him, smiling widely. "Just enjoying a quiet breakfast."
"Cordy's trying to set me up with Julie who works at the juice bar across the street," Connor told his father, smiling innocently at the wide-eyed woman across from him.
"I told you not to say anything, punk," Cordelia hissed at him.
"Cordy!" Angel stalked over to the counter to stand beside her, staring down with a frustrated expression. "I thought I told you to stop doing that. Connor is to young and too new to this world to be worrying about dating."
"Pfft," Cordy scoffed. "Connor is nearly seventeen years old. How can you say that that is too young when you have been known to date a few seventeen- year olds yourself. Though if you ever choose to travel down that road again, I will stake you in every major organ you have, ending with the heart!"
"Cordy, that's hardly the point," Angel countered, dropping down onto the stool next to hers.
"And," she moved on as though he hadn't spoken. "He got his first piece of action within his first twenty-four hours of being in this dimension. And that was with a drug addict! I'm just trying to set him up with nice girl named Julie who has brown hair, blue eyes, and an after-school job at the juice bar across the street."
"Wait, what do you mean 'his first piece of action'? The druggie, Connor? You had action with the druggie?" Angel turned his hot gaze onto his son. "I thought you guys were just friends."
"Please, Angel. What guy hasn't used the 'just friends' excuse," Cordy broke in before Connor had the chance to respond. "It just shows that Connor is male, which we knew, and that Connor is also your son, which we also knew."
"I don't use 'just friend' excuses, Cor," Angel shot back, smoothing his hand across her back and dropping a kiss on her forehead. "That was you. And Connor, you still have to answer my question."
Connor looked up from his breakfast, wide-eyed. He didn't want to have this conversation with his dad. The sex talk had been too entirely uncomfortable with all the stuttering and the hand motions. He had been so confused that he had had to have a follow up session with Cordy and Fred. Fred's diagrams and graphs had been very helpful.
Cordy shook her head as the boy turned a pleading gaze on her. "Nu-uh. I told you not to tell him what we were talking about. You brought this on yourself."
Rolling his eyes at her response, Angel turned back to his son. "I'm still waiting. I specifically told you no dating until you were twenty-five."
Both Cordelia and Connor rolled their eyes at his reprimand. "Why does he have to wait until he's twenty-five, Angel?" Cordy asked, her voice light and teasing. These breakfasts were her favorite time of day. "I'm not even that old yet. Does that mean that I am not old enough to date?"
"What? No!" Angel responded immediately.
"Because if twenty-five is the age that one starts to have romantic privileges, then that means that we are going to have to wait another three and a half years."
"That's not what I meant, Cordy," Angel tried to break in.
"So, no more dating, or kissing, or touching, or anything else of the guy- girl nature because I am just too young for that sort of thing," Cordelia said, shaking her fork at him for emphasis. "Pervert!"
Angel stared at her raised eyebrows, waving fork, and haughty expression. Damn! How did she always get the best of him? "How about twenty?"
Connor and Cordy both laughed, turning back to their breakfast. "Angel, Connor is a young man, and he needs outside influences on his life. He needs friends, and girl friends, that are his own age. Its not healthy for him to always be hanging out in the gloom and doom with a bunch of old folks."
Angel frowned down at his glass of blood. How come Cordy only made sense when it was to prove him wrong at something? That sucked.
Cordelia leaned over and planted a big wet kiss on Angel's pouting cheek. "Our boy is growing up, Angel. And there's nothing that we can do about it. except for pick out the girls that we like so that he doesn't end up with some weird druggie girl."
"Hey, Sonny was my friend!" Connor protested.
"I think we've already established that that excuse won't work, son," Angel told him, feeling resigned to the fact that Cordy was probably right again. And judging by the huge smile on her face, she knew it to be true.
"Now, now, boys. Its not that bad," Cordelia smiled. God, she loved these guys. They were whole life, and she loved how easy it was sometimes to just bend them to her will.
She just loved her life sometimes.
Cordy was interrupted from her thoughts as the shrill ring of the phone echoed through the lobby. Her two boys watched as she got up to answer the phone. "Angel Investigations. We help the helpless." She paused for a moment, listening to the caller, before speaking again. "This is she."
Realizing that it was a personal call, and she would be distracted for a while, Angel turned back to his son. "Don't let her cow you into going out with someone you don't want to," he said, watching as his son scooped Cordy's abandoned waffles onto his own plate, having already devoured his own food. She was not going to be happy about that. "My advice is to run the other way every time she even so much as brings up the subject of dating."
"Julie's not really so bad," Connor answered. Angel tried not to cringe as he spoke with his mouth full. "She's pretty, at least. She doesn't seem to be very smart, though. But Cordy said that didn't matter that much because I was just starting out dating. She just said that I should stay away from the druggies and the blondes."
Angel rolled his eyes at that, speaking loudly so that Cordelia could hear him over her phone conversation. "Well, just as long as you've got the dating priorities straight."
Looking over his father's shoulder to see that Cordelia was not paying any attention to their conversation, Connor looked imploringly at his father. "Actually, if you could lend me a helping hand, I need her to stop trying to set me up. I don't want to upset her, but this is the fourth girl this week. Gunn says that she's acting like my pimp when she's supposed to be my mother figure! I don't know how to make her stop though!"
Angel nodded sympathetically. "If only I knew the answer, Connor. But she's been bowling me over for the last four years, and I have yet to figure out how to get her to stop." Reaching across the counter, he patted his son's arm comfortingly. "I'll be there for you, son. I'll do what I can."
Connor smiled, relief evident in his features. The smile wiped clean, and he ducked his head down into his breakfast as Cordy hung up the phone. "Shh, she's coming back."
"Hey Cor!" Angel exclaimed, trying to sound casual so not to tip her off to what their conversation had been.
Cordelia sat down next to him very slowly, looking over with an almost stunned expression. She did not even seem to notice his goofiness.
"Cordelia, what's wrong?" Angel asked, a small amount of panic seeping in at the seriousness of her expression. Turning in his seat so that he could take both of her hands tightly in his, he scooted forward to kiss her reassuringly on the forehead. "Baby, what happened?"
Focusing her eyes in on him, she spoke clearly; saying the last words Angel had expected to come from her mouth.
"We have to go to Sunnydale."
**************************************
"I don't understand," Angel said, watching as Cordelia opened a suitcase on his bed and began packing a few days' worth of his clothes in it. "Why do I have to go to Sunnydale too?"
"Because, I need you guys. All of you," she told him, dropping a small stack of shirts (none black) into the case and coming to stand in front of him. "But I need you especially." Reaching up to plant a train of soft kisses along his jaw, she ran her fingers lightly up his arm and across his shoulders to loop her hands around his neck. "And since you are such a lovely man, and since you love me so much, then you will be the perfect boyfriend and come with me."
Angel wrapped his arms tightly around her, pulling her lithe body close against his. Dropping his head into the crook of her shoulder, he let himself just relish for a moment how great it was just to be in her embrace. They had not been together long, but Angel knew, without a doubt, that he would never get tired of being wrapped up in her.
But then, the reality of the situation settled back in, and Angel couldn't stop himself from moaning into the skin of her neck. He didn't want to go back to Sunnydale. He didn't want her to go back to Sunnydale. "Why do you even have to go?" he whined.
Stepping back, Cordelia smiled up at him, reaching up to pull him down for a quick kiss. "I told you. They rebuilt Sunnydale High, and are doing this big grand reopening ceremony. And since I was captain of the cheerleading squad the year it blew up, they want me to come back and participate in some of the festivities."
Slumping down onto his bed in a pout, Angel watched glumly as she planned out all of his outfits. Light blue, maroon, and green shirts were being folded neatly along side some black pants, a few undershirts, and a couple of boxers (again, none being black). Finishing up after of a few minutes of silence, Cordelia zipped up the suitcase, and turned to flash a wide smile at him.
"Angel, it's not going to be that bad," she told him, plopping down on the bed beside him. "Its just Sunnydale. You spent nearly a month down at the body of the ocean. This is only going to be a few days. That hardly compares."
"I wouldn't bet on that," he mumbled grumpily, refusing to break even as she sidled up closer to him, throwing her legs across his lap, wrapping her arms around his torso, and settling her chin on his shoulder. "And how come you're so excited to go back? Its not like Sunnydale has ever been your favorite place in the world. You haven't even thought of going back in the last four years."
"Yeah, I know. That's why I think it might be fun," she said, dropping a light kiss against his shoulder. "Being back in the town I grew up. Seeing the bronze, seeing old friends, seeing my old high school."
"Where we all almost died horribly," he said pointedly.
Lifting up his arm and bringing it around her shoulders, Cordy snuggled even closer. "Come on, Angel. It won't be all that bad." Lowering her voice, and stretching out to drop a light kiss against the shell of his ear, she continued, "And we won't be at the ceremony all that long. We'll also have quite a bit of time alone in our very own hotel room."
Resisting the urge to shiver as her tongue came out to slightly taste his skin, he grumbled at her, "We have a perfectly fine hotel room here."
Laughing lightly at him, Cordelia shifted over so that she was sitting all the way on his lap. "Come on, Angel. It could be fun. And I'll be wearing that itty-bitty cheerleading outfit. Maybe I'll even bring it home with me."
Angel stared down at her, his eyes glazing over momentarily. "Sunnydale's not so bad," he told her.
Cordy rolled her eyes at him. "That's right. Like I said, buckets o' fun."
Knowing that he would eventually give in, Angel decided that even though it was a sure thing, he was not going to make it easy on her. "Fun? Like the type of fun where they crush all of your fingers and toes, jab hot pokers through all of your limbs, and cut open your stomach to slowly remove your intestines. Is that the type of fun you mean?"
Cordy smiled widely at him, giggling at his protests. He could be just too cute sometimes. "Maybe not quite that fun, but pretty damned close."
Groaning in complaint, Angel wrapped both his arms around her, locking his hands just over her hip, and buried in his face in the soft pillow of her hair. "Please don't make me do this, Cordy. I'll love you forever if we can just stay here."
"Angel, I have to go. and you'll love me forever regardless, buster."
Pulling back to look her square in the eye, he decided it was time to pull of the big guns. "Cordy, there are people there that I don't think either of us wants to see."
She scrunched her face up at the seriousness of his expression. "I was wondering how long it would be before you pulled out that card," she said. "And speak for yourself about not wanting to see them. They were my friends. some of the time. and I haven't seen them for almost four years. If they're there, I think that it would be good to see them all again."
"But Cor."
"No, Angel," she interrupted. "It's been a long time since we've seen them, and they have all probably changed as much as we have. It would be good to see them, to get to know them all over again, to let them get to know us all over again."
Avoiding her gaze, Angel turned this idea over in his head. He didn't really agree with her. There lives were so separate from the Scoobies now, and he didn't really think that that was something they would easily grasp. Those people she called her friends did not know all about the sacrifices she had made or all the amazing things that she had done in the past few years. They still knew her as the snooty cheerleader, which was the main reason they were going back to Sunnydale.
He didn't want to see Cordy back in that world.
And there was also the entire Buffy issue. A part of him would always love her, but she didn't have a place in his world anymore. He had been torn down by their relationship, and it had taken him forever to rebuild. But he finally had, and Buffy was not a part of that process, or of that product.
He didn't want to see himself back in that world.
Meeting her eyes once again, and focusing in on the beautiful smile and hopeful eyes, he realized that he didn't have a choice. "Right."
"It's not like we will definitely see them, only if they show up at the ceremony. And its not like I have anything to worry about if they do, right?" she said, raising a challenging eyebrow.
"Right," he affirmed with a small smile.
"Good." Breaking his embrace to stand up, she grasped both of his hands to pull him up too.
"When do we leave, and how long do we have to stay there?" Angel asked, doing his best to keep the whine from his voice. He remembered the days when that had never been a problem, the days when he had been a badass vamp and not so firmly planted under Cordy's thumb.
"I am going to leave tonight because I have to be there early so that we can practice whatever it is that we're doing. You guys will leave tomorrow night. I'll set up the hotel rooms. One for us, one for Fred and Gunn, and one for Wes and Connor," she said, turning to pull his suitcase off the bed and bring it to the door. "You all will be there for three nights. The ceremony is the second night, and the party at the Bronze is the third. We can come home after that."
"Oh joy," he returned flatly, watching finished arranging his stuff.
"Right," she smiled widely, coming back to stand beside him. "Everyone else is already packing to go, though you might want to check to make sure Connor's got all the stuff he needs. Oh, and make sure he has something nice to wear to the Bronze because there will be a lot of cute girls his age there."
"Cordy, I don't think."
"So," she broke in with a short laugh. "I have to go home and pack, and then leave right away, so I won't see you until tomorrow."
"Okay," he replied with at frown. "Be careful in Sunnydale though. That's a dangerous place."
"And I'm a dangerous woman," she returned with a teasing purr, wrapping him up in another hug.
"Ain't that the truth," Angel returned, letting his first smile in the conversation wash over his lips. His hands smoothed up over her back, pulling her closer.
"And don't you forget it!"
Angel's head bent down gently lay his lips over hers. Her arms tightened across his back as she strained up to reach more of him. For a precious few minutes, the only sounds in the room came from the couple's embrace.
Pulling back with a soft smile, Cordy gave him one last hug before turning and heading to the door. "Don't worry, Angel. This will be fun!"
Staring at the door long after she departed, Angel let out a snort. "Famous last words."