Hey everybody!  Thanks for all of the wonderful feedback on this, and I just want to say that I'm really sorry it's taken me this long to update.  I'll try not to do that again.

Enjoy!

Part 5 

"Well, that was quite the entertaining show," Wesley said, standing to stretch.

"Yeah. I don't know." Xander stood also, turning to Wesley. "None of the speakers turned into large man-eating snakes, so I'm thinking it lacked that special punch of ceremonies previous."

"I can't speak for everyone, but I'm gonna have to say that I'm pretty happy about that." Willow smiled largely at Xander. Around them, the gym echoed with noise as everyone began to rush to get out.

"Yes, well. I'm not being carted off to the hospital just now, so I'm going to say that this ceremony was definitely an improvement," Wes said, waving a dismissive hand at the memory.

"Nah, man." Gunn reached out to slap Wes on the back. "It's not the right time of year for you and your annual trip to the hospital."

"I thought it was boring," Anya put in. Reaching her hands up over her head, she worked to release the tension in her back. "I was falling asleep the whole time."

Willow rolled her eyes, turning back toward Angel. "So, how long will you guys be staying in Sunnydale?"

"Uh, tomorrow night," Angel answered, shifting slightly as the focus of the group was suddenly turned on him. "We'll be staying until tomorrow night. Cordy wanted to stay for some party that was going on."

"Yeah. There's going to be a big opening after-party at the Bronze tomorrow night." Buffy crossed her arms over her chest, her stance mirroring the awkwardness in Angel's. "It'll be mostly high school kids because of, you know, the whole opening of the high school thing, but it should be pretty okay."

"Which is really quite appalling if you stop and think about it," Xander broke in, waving a hand to interrupt. "High school kids? At a party? There should be no partying. They should be at home. There should be only books, and studying, and… and books. Why, when I was in high school, I was all about the being at home with the studying and the books."

Willow cocked her head, narrowing her eyes at him before perking up suddenly. "Oh, that's right. I remember that day."

"It was quite a momentous day," Buffy agreed.

"Hey, come on. Give me a break. I had far more important things to be doing in high school." Shining a wider than necessary smile at Angel, Xander continued, "Stick up for me, Angel. You remember all the important things I did in high school."

"Why would Angel stick up for you, Xander?" Anya drew herself back into the conversation with a smirk toward her ex. "I didn't think he liked you very much."

The group dipped into a short silence as the two men locked eyes, neither choosing to deny what had just been said.

"So, you're the slayer, huh." The attention shifted quickly away from Xander and Angel, and on to Fred at the out-of-the blue question.

Buffy's eyes widened, her gaze shifting around to make sure that no one around them had stopped to listen in. "Uh, yeah, but we don't much talk about that in mixed company. It tends to go against the whole 'keeping it a secret' thing."

"Right, right. I get that." Fred nodded slowly at the other woman, her mouth twisting in thought. Angel and Wesley exchanged glances over her head, both realizing that the conversation in the car was about to come to a head.

"From the stories my father told me, I had always thought that the slayer would be bigger, stronger," Connor spoke up for the first time, crossing his own arms in a mirror stance of his real father.

"Yeah, maybe someone a little more like Cordy." Gunn stepped closer to Fred, wrapping an arm around her shoulder as he regarded Buffy.

"Someone more like Cordelia?" Willow shook her head slightly, her tone incredulous, as she exchanged questioning glances with her friends.

Gunn gave a short shrug. "Yeah, you know. Tall, athletic, strong. I don't know, maybe just more fighter like."

"Cordy's very strong. I mean, have you seen her legs? And she's graceful, too." Fred leaned further into her boyfriend, looking up at him for support. "Like out there dancing tonight. She was awesome."

Buffy's face twisted in slight confusion, unprepared for the sudden rundown of Cordelia's physical high points. "Well, um… yeah, she was pretty good out there tonight…"

"Our Buff may be little, but don't you worry none." Xander took a step toward her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to pull her closer. "She packs quite the wallop."

"Plus, with that whole slayer strength thing, she doesn't really need the whole height advantage," Dawn put in, drawing the others' gazes for the first time. "You don't have to be tall to fight the underbelly of society."

"Duly noted, little one." Xander reached out to pat her on the head. "And a point for using the phrase 'underbelly of society.'"

Fred was quick to turn back to Buffy, her eyes dragging down the length of her body in a critical manner. "Slayer strength, right. Well, I'm sure that that helps."

Buffy stiffened under the gaze of Angel's friend, unsure of how to react to the slight hostility. What exactly had he told her to make them act like they were? She opened her mouth to respond, but was stopped by a cheery voice she hadn't heard in nearly three years.

"Hey, guys!" Cordy grinned widely at the group, bounding up the bleachers and through the dwindling crowd to stand in between Buffy and Angel. "What's going on?"

"Cordy!" Angel exclaimed, reaching out a hand to help her up the last bench.

"Aw, yes. She of the tiny cheerleading skirt. I got to say I have more than a few fond memories of that baby." Xander grinned, lifting his eyebrows in a mock leer.

"Pfft." Came the quick response of both of his ex-girlfriends.

"In your dreams, Xander," Cordelia giggled, stepping forward to wrap him in a brief hug.

"Well, yeah. That's totally what I meant," he returned, squeezing her gently.

Cordelia stepped away, turning her attention to the excited girl standing beside them. "Will! Oh my God! You look so good!"

The hug between the two was long and genuine. "You too, Cordelia! God, it feels like forever since I've seen you. You look fabulous!"

Cordy pulled back, flashing her wide grin. "As per usual, no dou-"

"My turn!" Anya interrupted, brushing Xander aside as she stepped down to sweep Cordelia up in her embrace. "Oh, Cordelia! It's so good to see you again. And oh, we must catch up." Stepping back, she kept Cordelia's shoulders in her grip. "There are just so many things that we need to discuss. Painful, painful things."

"Um, sure thing," she laughed in return, raising her eyebrows over at Xander's scowl. "We'll definitely have to do that."

"Hey, Cordelia."

Cordelia spun, her hair swishing across her face. "Hello Buffy. It's been a long time."

"It sure has."

The two stared at each other for moment, everyone else staring at them. Angel's eyes were dark as he watched them. He knew that they had never really been that good of friends, but surely if Xander warranted friendliness, so did Buffy. He relaxed visibly as Cordelia broke into her wide smile, and stepped forward. Their hug was far from warm, however. After a few quick shoulder pats, they both stepped back as if being burned, stiff smiles stretching their lips too thin.

"Cordy!" Fred broke in, grabbing her hand and shaking it excitedly. "You were so great out there! You totally stole the show!"

Cordelia's smile became real, then, spreading into that beautiful too-wide grin. "Thank you, Fred."

"No as good at those splits anymore, though, huh?" Gunn raised his eyebrows teasingly.

The joy in Cordy's eyes seemed to freeze momentarily. "Ah, no. And thank you so much for bringing that up, Gunn." She bowed her head slightly, glancing at Angel out of the corner of her eye. "But then, not everyone can be blonde and limber forever."

"Of course not, Cordy." Fred jabbed her elbow nonchalantly into Gunn's side. "But you've still got the blonde thing going on."

"And the outfit still throws a couple of points down on your side as well." Xander leered heavily over at her again, choosing to ignore the smack Anya brushed across the back of his head.

Buffy rolled her eyes at Xander before turning back to Cordelia. "Speaking of, though. Your hair really does look nice. Different, but very nice."

Cordy patted her hair self-consciously. "Thank you. Your hair looks nice, too. Pretty much the same as it always has though, right? Some people just really aren't all that into change, though, I guess. But, hey, whatever works for you, right?"

Buffy's eyebrows shot up. She should have remembered how snippy Cordelia could be, but she would have thought that after four years and the way that Angel had talked about their friendship, she would have thought that she had changed a bit. She glanced over questioningly toward Angel, but her confusion only grew at the hurt expression he was wearing.

Cordelia sighed heavily, clapping her hands once in front of her. "So, what were you all talking about before I showed up?"

"Not much actually," Wesley answered. "I think that we were all just getting ready to leave."

"Oh, okay." Cordelia nodded, stepping down on the bleachers, seemingly not at all disappointed to be leaving despite the fact that she hadn't seen these friends in nearly three years. "It was really good to see you guys."

"Yes, it was really good to finally meet you all," Fred agreed, following Cordy down the bleachers and pulling Gunn in her wake.

"We'll see you all tomorrow night, won't we?" Willow called after them, stunned at how abruptly they were all ready to depart.

"What?"

"You know, party, Bronze, getting your funk on," Xander answered Cordelia's question.

"Right. We'll totally see you there." Cordelia turned, looping her arm through Connor's as they headed toward the exit.

"Wait." Buffy's voice stopped Cordy in her tracks despite the fact that she knew it wasn't directed at her. "Didn't you want to talk about something, Angel?"

Angel froze, snapped from his musings over Cordelia's behavior by the fact that he was now very well stuck in some pretty deep shit. There was really only one thing he could do. Play dumb. "What was that?"

"You guys were going to talk about something?" Cordelia asked, stepping back up a bleacher to stare at him with wide eyes.

Damn. There was no way he was going to be able to get out of this. "Yeah, we were going to, but it wasn't that big of a deal. Did you still want to do that, Buffy?"

"Um…" Buffy stopped as both Angel and Cordelia stared at her. Angel seemed to be dreading her answer while Cordelia's gaze was hard and pointed, almost daring. "It is getting kind of late."

"Buffy, it's like nine o' clock." Dawn sidled up beside her, weaving her arm around her waist. "What are you an old lady all of a sudden? You don't usually come in from patrol until like one or two in the morning."

"Right, but…"

"You guys should go ahead and do that together. Patrol, I mean." Buffy felt like Cordelia was angry at her for some reason, but her tone was light and her words friendly enough, for her at least. "It could be like old times."

"Oh, I don't know. I guess we could do that." Buffy looked to Angel for confirmation, but his gaze was stuck on Cordelia, who seemed intent on not looking at him. The boy, Connor, whose hand she was still holding, seemed to be glaring at Angel enough for both of them.

A moment of silence passed before Angel finally turned to look at her, his expression blank. "Patrolling tonight sounds fine, Buffy. We can get all caught up."

"Okay then. I guess that settles it," Cordelia chirped up, turning to go for the last time. "I guess we'll just see the rest of you tomorrow."

"I'll see you in about an hour then, Angel?"

"Sounds good."