Chapter 4
"Cordelia,
I'm telling you; that's not right!" Buffy interrupted. The brunette glared at her slightly.
"Buffy,
I know what I'm doing okay," she fired back. The two of them were in Cordelia's kitchen trying to make dinner, and it
had turned into an all out war of the wills.
"Fine,
but I'm telling you, you're going to burn that if it stays in there in longer!"
Buffy reiterated.
"Oh
all right, I'll take it out!" Cordelia groaned. She removed the plastic bowl from her microwave and popped open
the lid. The supposed casserole had
turned to a soupy mush and most of the moisture had evaporated. "Oh great!"
"I
told you!" Buffy said and shook her head.
"Well,
this isn't any good so I'll guess that we'll just have to something delivered,"
Cordelia said regretfully but with a hint of sarcasm. Buffy caught her meaning and grinned.
"Yes,
I suppose we'll have to; that's too bad!" the slayer laughed.
"Let
me guess…pepperoni, sausage, and green peppers…am I right?" Cordy asked.
"Good
memory, girl," Buffy laughed. Cordelia
ordered the pizza, and the two young women plopped down on the couch to wait
for it.
A
half an hour later, the doorbell rang, and Cordelia went to answer it. She checked her peephole, and her eyes
widened at who was outside her door. Cordelia opened her front door to see a young man standing there whom
looked nothing like a delivery guy.
He
had on a dark green sweater and a pair of khaki pants. His hair was dark brown and cut quite short
but not buzzed, and he had a pair of deep, dark eyes. A green duffle bag hung on his left shoulder, and Cordelia
realized who this was.
"You
must be, Cordelia," the young man stated.
"And
you must be, Riley," she responded. Cordelia shook his hand and invited him in.
"Is
he here yet?" Buffy called from the other room. Cordelia put a finger to her lips to silence her guest, and Riley
nodded his head.
Cordelia
strolled back into the living room.
"Sorry,
it wasn't the delivery guy, but I think you'll like who it was," she
stated. Buffy looked at her
confused. Cordelia waved her guest into
the room, and Buffy nearly fainted.
"It
can't be!" the slayer gasped.
"Hello
Buffy," Riley said with a smile. Buffy
stood up from the couch and just froze in place. Neither of them moved towards each other; it was as if they were
feeling one another out! Cordelia
crossed her arms and looked at the two of them annoyed.
"Now
look, are you two going to kiss and makeup, or am I going to have to turn the
hose on you?" she joked. Both Buffy and
Riley slowly advanced towards one another and gave each other a gentle
hug. Buffy rested her head on his
shoulder, and Riley wrapped his arms around her shoulders.
As
Buffy lifted her head, their eyes locked, and time froze. She could see straight in Riley's heart, and
she saw his love for her radiating like a bright star. Buffy didn't waist time asking, but instead,
grabbed Riley by the hair and yanked his mouth onto hers.
The
young man was a little taken back by his girlfriend's aggressiveness, but there
was something different about the way she was kissing him. Usually when Buffy kissed him, he could feel
that she was holding back and not letting herself go. But this time, Riley could feel her passion pouring into his
lips, and it almost frightened him at how strong his girl's fire really was.
"Wow!"
he gasped, when Buffy let go nearly three minutes later.
"Um
Riley, not to sound unappreciative, but what are you doing here?" the slayer
asked.
"Ask
her?" Riley stated and turned towards Cordelia, who tried to look anywhere else
but at them.
"Cordy,
what's he talking about?" Buffy asked.
"Well…um…you
see…I…sort of…had someone find him and give him something," Cordelia said
unsteadily.
"Give
him what?" the slayer continued. Now,
Cordelia felt her body starting to sweat.
"She
gave me this," Riley interrupted and handed Buffy the letter that Cordelia had
written him.
As
she read the letter, Buffy felt tears welling in her eyes, and as she read the
last sentence, one of her tears fell.
"Cordy…I…I
don't what to say," she said happily. Cordelia smiled at her friend.
"Buffy,
don't say anything, just don't let him go again!" she laughed. Buffy and Riley joined her, and Buffy nodded
her head firmly.
"I'll
you what. You two take the bedroom
tonight okay; I'll take the couch," Cordelia volunteered.
"Cordy,
we couldn't…" Buffy protested, but the brunette shook her head.
"It's
all right. I'm sure that you two have a
lot of catching up to do, and you'd like some privacy so go ahead." Buffy gave her a big hug.
"Thank
you, Cordelia," the slayer said with a huge smile.
"Yes,
Cordelia, thank you," Riley reiterated as he placed his hands on Buffy's
shoulders.
"I'm
glad I could help. Just take of each
other, and we'll call it even…" she stated as her own eyes clouded over. Cordelia shook her head to clear it. "Enough of this mushy stuff, I'll leave you
two be."
Cordelia
headed for the front door and left the reunited couple to repair their open
wounds and find answers to each other's questions.
The
pretty brunette headed towards her convertible; she needed some fresh air to
clear her head. Cordelia froze in mid
walk when she spotted a familiar long-coated figure standing beside her car.
"Hello
Cordelia," Angel said carefully. He
didn't want to sound too happy or too upset.
"Angel,"
she replied flatly and approached him slowly. The vampire ran his hand through his hair and looked around as if
something were interesting to him.
"Was
that Riley I just saw?" he asked.
"Yes,
I had an old contact of my father's track him down for Buffy," Cordelia
answered. Angel smiled inwardly; the
girl was truly amazing.
"Cordelia,
do you mind if we talk…I mean, really talk?" Angel asked with a hint of
nervousness. The chestnut-haired woman
leaned against the side of her car and crossed her arms.
"It's
a free country…so talk," she answered. Angel suddenly felt his mind become empty, and his mouth become dry.
"I…uh…I
wanted to apologize for not coming to see you guys," he began. Cordelia looked at him slightly annoyed.
"Hey,
it's not like you had to," she retorted. Now, it was Angel's turn to look annoyed.
"Cordelia,
don't be mean, you guys are my friends."
"Friends!"
she gasped and stepped up into his face. "We're your friends! Let me tell
you something, Angel, the minute you fired us, you ceased being our friend." Cordelia was trying to control her anger,
but it just kept boiling hotter and hotter. She didn't want to be angry with Angel, but her frustrations got the
better of her.
Angel
felt like a stake had been driven into his heart. He was hoping that she might be a little more understanding, but
he knew that fury he saw in her brown eyes was justified.
"Look
Cordelia, I don't expect you to forgive me, okay; I just wanted to talk to you,
that's all," Angel stated.
"And
if all your planning on doing is apologizing to me, you're a little late," she
retorted.
"I
slept with Darla last night," Angel suddenly blurted out. Cordelia's heart stop in mid beat, and the
cold vice closed firmly around its target. He may as well have staked her himself!
Angel
saw his words nail Cordelia like a bulldozer, and he could see the betrayal in
her eyes. It almost made him cry.
Cordelia
wiped her eyes before her tears could fall and moved to pass him. She didn't need to hear anymore of this, but
Angel got in her way.
"I'm
not done yet," he interjected. Cordelia
looked at him with fiery eyes.
"Angel,
I don't want to hear about your sex life, all right. Just leave me be and go play with your blonde bitch!" she hissed
and pushed him away. Angel grabbed her
arms and pressed her against the trunk of her car.
"Cordelia,
shut-up and listen. After I slept with
her, I realized that everything I've been doing lately has been because of
her. My problems with Wolfram and
Heart, Lindsey, and everything else has been in Darla's defense." Cordelia felt like she was going to be sick;
the last thing she needed to hear was Angel explaining how he saved Darla over
and over again.
"But,
when I woke this morning, and I saw her next to me, would you like to know what
I felt?" he asked. Cordelia glared at
him.
"Let
me guess…complete happiness!" she sneered.
"Disgust,"
Angel corrected. Cordelia looked at him
in pleasant shock. "Yes, Cordelia, I
was disgusted by finding her next to me like that. I realized that everything that I've put myself through has been
for the simple fact that I might be able to save her. But the cold truth is that Darla doesn't want to be saved. I realized that and finally let the torch
that I've been carrying go. She won't
be haunting me anymore."
When
Angel finished, Cordelia almost had a smile on her face, but she wasn't
convinced that this change was permanent.
"So,
Angel, what did you expect- just come down here, apologize, and everything
would go back to normal?" she asked.
"No,
Cordelia, I know that you're upset with me, and I don't blame you. I just wanted you to know the truth," he
replied.
"Thanks,
Angel, but what do you take me for? A
fool? Do you think that I'll trust you
again just because you had a revelation? I know you, Angel, I know that you have habit of saying one thing and
doing another. What guarantees can you
give me that you won't throw us out again?" Cordelia nearly demanded. Angel leaned closer to her, and he could
feel her heartbeat accelerate and blood begin to boil.
"Cordelia,
I know that I've made some mistakes, but I can't change the past. I don't want to play the redemption game
anymore; my life no longer revolves around having humanity forgive me because
they never know what I'm doing half the time anyway!" the vampire stated.
Cordelia
smiled inwardly as she gazed up into his dark eyes. She could see a peaceful and almost joyful glow in his brown
eyes.
"Cordy,
I don't want you, Wesley, and Gunn to come work for me again. I want to work with you not order you
around." Angel stopped to look directly
into Cordelia's eyes; damn, he could drown in their gorgeous depths. "I want to start fresh and do what I
should've done from the beginning- help people. The rest of the prophecy and apocalypse crap can come in its own
time."
Now,
Cordelia felt a grin tugging at her lips, but she still felt a little uneasy
from Angel pinning to the trunk of her car. A thought ran through her mind of Angel pushing her down on the trunk
and ravaging her until she was breathless.
'Wow
girl, easy, he's your friend; that's how he thinks of you,' her mind told her.
Angel
heard Cordelia's heart accelerate; she was either excited or extremely nervous.
"Angel…do
you know how much it hurt to see you turn into an uncaring person?" Cordelia
blurted out. She couldn't help the
question from popping out and turned her head away slightly. She felt a hand cup her chin and turn her
head back; it was Angel's!
"No
Cordelia, I don't, I can only guess, but I'll make you a promise. I promise that I will never hurt you again!"
he said firmly. Cordelia was startled
that Angel had said 'her' and not the others. Apparently, he didn't even realize what he'd just said.
"What
about Wesley and Gunn?" Cordelia asked with a slight grin. Angel suddenly realized what he'd admitted,
and his face turned a little red. (As red as a vampire can get anyway.)
"I'm
going to try and not hurt any of you, but I felt that I owed you more,
Cordelia," he said softly. Now, she
felt her palms starting to sweat. She
reached up and patted him on the cheek like a little child.
"You
just see that it never happens again, young man," she teased. Angel gave her a small smile; he'd missed
Cordelia's sense of humor.
"Now
then, are you going to let me up or keep me pinned to my trunk all night?" she
asked. Angel's eyes narrowed at her,
and a sly grin tugged at his lips.
"Oh
I don't know, you're not such a bad thing to look at all night," he
retorted. Cordelia's face flushed
bright crimson; Angel had never given her such a personal compliment
before. The vampire noticed her feeling
of insecurity and released her arms. He
bent down and laid a single kiss on her forehead. Cordelia was floored!
"So,
where were you headed off to?" Angel asked nonchalantly. Cordelia fought to get her voice back.
"Well,
I was going to go for a drive to clear my head, but I guess since you've had an
epiphany, I could drive you to go see Wesley and Gunn," she stated with her
trademark smile.
"Sure,
why not," Angel retorted. He let
Cordelia up, and they climbed into her convertible. "I just hope that you've learned how to drive, Cordy, I've seen
snails that could move faster than you drive."
"Hey!"
his seer gasped and smacked him on the thigh. "All right, pal, you asked for it!" Angel was pulled back into his seat as Cordelia peeled out of her
parking space.
