Title: Family: Return to Sunnydale
Author: victoriamartynne
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Spoilers: None, I think!
Summary: Sequel to Family: Back to Sunnydale and Family: Forward to LA. Cordelia receives another phone call that leads her once again to Sunnydale.
Cordelia took Ashleigh downstairs early the next morning and jumped a mile when she saw Buffy and Spike sat on the couch.
"What on Earth are you doing here at seven in the morning?" She asked crabbily, pulling down the lapels of Angel's shirt that she was wearing.
Buffy just smirked at her. "Long night?"
"Ha ha." Cordelia shouted over her shoulder as she went into the kitchen. "So, you're here because..?"
"There was a report on the news this morning that I knew you wouldn't have seen because hello, no TV."
"Peaches really should modernise this place." Spike mused.
"What did it say?" Cordelia asked, Buffy ignoring Spike and mixing formula in a bottle.
"A woman has been found murdered in the woods, near the old factory."
"Fond memories." Cordelia said dryly, touching her abdomen briefly.
"Sorry about that chit." Spike said, suddenly realising the meaning behind her words.
"The woman?" Cordelia urged, placing the bottle in the microwave for a few seconds.
"She was slashed over her body until she bled to death or either died from pain." Buffy replied, watching as Cordelia tested the milk on her wrist and then sat down to feed Ashleigh.
"So, what do we do?"
"I was thinking that we wake Wes up and get him to decide." Buffy admitted with a grin.
Cordelia smiled back. "Sounds fun!"
She stood up and gave Ashleigh to Spike. "Feed her for me."
He looked a bit frightened.
"Typical, he fights demons and vampires everyday but ask him to look after a baby and he goes wimpy." Buffy complained fondly.
"I aint no wimp!" Spike complained.
Buffy and Cordelia crept up to Wes's bedroom door laughing and giggling, with ice cubes in a cup.
"Quiet!" Cordelia whispered. "Open the door."
"What are you doing?" Fred asked loudly from behind them.
Cordelia and Buffy both jumped a mile, Buffy banging into the wall.
"Dammit Fred, we're trying to be quiet." Cordelia said laughing once again. "We're going to wake Wes up."
She held up the ice cubes. "That's cruel." Fred scolded. "Can I help?"
They all laughed and Buffy opened the door. "Ssh!"
They crept over to the bed where Wes was laying on his back, his chest bare; an arm slung over his the top of his head.
The three girls grabbed an ice cube each.
"One, two, three." Cordelia counted quietly.
Simultaneously they dropped their ice cubes on Wes's chest.
He shot up out of the bed screeching like a girl. Without his glasses on he was almost blind so they ran out of the room quickly before he could see them.
"I'll get you." Wes threatened. "Whoever you were!"
Hearing Wes's scream, Gunn, Angel and Lorne were all in the living area very quickly thinking that someone was in trouble.
Seeing the three girls doubled up in laughter they quickly decided that they weren't.
Wes came stumbling out of his room, his sheet wrapped around his waist. "Who and what was that?"
Seeing Wes come out of his room the women straightened up and pretended that they weren't laughing.
They all simultaneously pointed to the three men stood there oblivious.
"Believe me when I say that you will not get away with that." Wes said primly and went back into his room.
"Was he naked under there?" Buffy whispered to Cordelia and Fred which made them erupt in giggles again.
"Okay, Fred, can you find out as much as you can from the Internet about the woman?" Wes asked. "Buffy, if you could go to the morgue and get DNA samples from the wounds then we can have them tested at the lab and have some idea what we are dealing with. Cordelia."
"I've got practice." She interrupted, holding Ashleigh to her chest.
"Okay, then Gunn. Go to the scene and find out what you can." He concluded.
"Lorne, do you want to come watch practice?" Cordelia asked as she gave Ashleigh to him.
"Sounds good to me kitten." He smiled, accepting Ashleigh willingly.
"Great, I'll go get dressed." She replied and ran up the stairs. "Bye Buffy, Spike!"
"I guess we're going then slayer." Spike commented and took her hand.
"We'll meet at the gym." Wes added as they left through the sewers. "Then we can fill Cordelia in."
Everyone nodded and went their separate ways.
"Okay girls!" Cordelia shouted, standing in front of the girls. "This is our last practice before the game. You cheers need to be louder, your kicks higher and your hair bouncier!"
They all laughed.
"Okay, let's get started!"
The girls all went to get in positions except Dawn, who came to talk to Cordelia.
"Can I talk to you?" She asked nervously.
"Of course you can Dawnie." Cordelia smiled.
"Well, it's about Brittany." She said quietly. "I think there's something wrong with her."
"Like what?" She asked suspiciously, stopping what she was doing to listen to Dawn properly.
"Well, I saw in her locker this morning, she didn't know I could see and there were lots of pill boxes there. I mean loads."
Cordelia nodded. "Okay thanks Dawn, I'll talk to her."
Dawn smiled and went to join her team.
In the lunch break Cordelia went to Brittany and asked to talk to her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Lorne wave to Angel, Wes, Gunn and Fred who had come in the gym.
"What do you want?" Brittany asked bluntly.
"To talk." She smiled. "Look, I know how hard cheerleading can be. People who aren't cheerleaders don't understand that. They think it's all about popularity and dressing pretty. But it's a sport."
"Is this leading anywhere?"
"Look, you're the captain. You made it, you're the best. You don't need to pressure yourself into being any better. You know the routines; the rest is going to get easier."
Brittany looked at her blankly.
"Okay, I'll get to the point." She smiled. "You don't need to do drugs."
Brittany looked unsure of herself for a moment. "I don't do drugs."
"Brittany, someone has seen them in your locker. I want you to know that suing steroids or whatever they are don't."
"Who was it?" She exploded and stood up, tearing across to her team mates. "Who the hell was it?"
Cordelia ran after her. "I never said it was one of your team mates."
"So it was you!" She turned on her. "You were snooping in my locker!"
Cordelia held up her hands. "Chill, okay! I haven't been anywhere near your locker."
"Oh come on, you wanted to get something on me so I'd be off the team and then Angel won't see me and be attracted to me!" She screamed.
Cordelia snorted. "Yeah, okay." She turned to one of the girls. "Why don't you go get the nurse, okay?"
She nodded and ran out of the gym.
Cordelia glanced at Angel and his look clearly said 'what the hell is going on here?' she just shrugged and turned back to Brittany. "I can help you; you can still be head cheerleader."
She suddenly let out an inhuman growl. Cordelia stood back, alarmed.
Angel and Gunn came closer; Gunn had his axe in his hand.
"Brittany?" Cordelia tried.
She screamed and seemed to shrink into herself, hiding her face from view.
"The DNA isn't werewolf!" Buffy exclaimed as she and Spike entered the gym. Then she saw what was happening and stopped, grabbing Spike's arm. "Oh God."
"Brittany?" Cordelia tried again.
She looked up and she was wearing the Amara's face.
"Oh God, no." Cordelia muttered.
Angel pushed in front of Cordelia, separating her from the Amara/Brittany.
Brittany's skin began to peel away until all of her body became the Amara.
"What do we do?" Buffy asked. "Kill or capture?"
"Kill?" One of the cheerleaders asked, looking as though she was about to faint. Cordelia noticed the shocked looks on the girls' faces. "Uh, why don't you go down the hall and get some cans of coke?"
They all nodded and eagerly left, except Dawn who went to sit next to Lorne and the babies, out of harms way.
"Kill or capture?" Buffy repeated, moving closer. "Wes?"
"I don't know! She is a girl after all."
"But can we get her back as human?"
"I don't know. The pills she may have been taking could be enabling her to become human for a temporary time. This is the true form, the demon. Brittany is not a person. She's the image the demon had created in order for her to live a human life."
"So we kill?" Angel clarified.
"Yes, I believe we do." Wes replied.
Buffy and Spike moved forward to help Angel and Gunn kill the Amara. Cordelia stood back and let them.
It was Gunn that delivered the final blow, embedding his axe firmly into the demon's throat, chopping its head off.
"Well, looks like I need to appoint a new captain." Cordelia said, to lighten the mood.
Everyone turned to look at her. "After Gunn cleans up the mess he made of course."
He pulled a face at her but went to get some rope from his truck.
"Who was the woman in the woods?" Cordelia asked Fred.
"A gymnast. She was due to compete in a championship this weekend. I guess she won't be now."
"So the Amara killed a cheerleading coach and a gymnast." Cordelia mused.
"Which means that the Amara could have stolen the talents of the two women she killed in order for her alter ego Brittany to be the best cheerleader." Wes finished.
"Is that possible?" Fred asked.
"I believe so, but I'll check with Mr Giles when I see him."
"Okay, I've got a practice to run here so if you great warriors wouldn't mind removing the dead demon from the gym floor, then I would appreciate it." Cordelia smiled sweetly as Gunn returned with the rope.
"By the way." Wes asked. "Who was it that woke me up this morning?"
The outside bleachers were full with cheering and screaming high school students, two vampires, a slayer, a demon, a half demon, two witches, an ex demon, a geppo, a physicist, two babies and two ex watchers. The black street fighter was off fetching popcorn for his physicist girlfriend.
"Okay, final words." Cordelia said and stood in front of the cheerleaders. "You're on your own now. Dawn is your captain. You all look great and as long as you stick to the routines you'll do great okay?"
"Come out and do the first cheer with us Cordy?" One of the girls asked.
She shook her head. "It's your turn to shine, I had my time."
They all smiled and then had a group hug and then they were on their own. Cordelia went to sit next to Angel.
"I wonder if Ashleigh will ever be a cheerleader." He mused.
"Connor could be." He gave her an odd look. "What? Just because there aren't any male cheerleaders on this team doesn't mean that there aren't any."
"If you teach our son to be a cheerleader." He let the threat hang.
She laughed suddenly.
"What?" He asked suspiciously as she laid her head on his shoulder.
"I always wanted to have sex under the bleachers." She laughed.
He raised an eyebrow. "Did you ever do it?"
She snorted. "Oh come on, I dated Xander for most of high school."
He looked pleased. "Come on then."
He grabbed her hand and they sloped off, leaving Ashleigh and Connor with Fred.
Cordelia woke up the next morning and smiled. They were going home.
The game had gone well last night, mainly due to the cheerleaders. The new principle had made a point of coming over to thank her for the work she'd done. They had looked great out there doing all her moves.
Angel felt her stir and opened his eyes. "Morning."
She smiled up at him. "Hi."
"Did you enjoy the game last night?" He teased.
Once they'd gotten in they'd had their own mini football game in their bedroom, causing Wes to come upstairs and bang on their door, telling them to be quiet.
"Which one?" She grinned.
He kissed the top of her forehead.
"I can't wait to go home." She sighed.
"I thought you liked it here now that you and Buffy are friends?"
"I do, but there's no place like out big old dusty, fire damaged hotel." She sighed.
"I will fix that one day." He promised idly.
She nodded sarcastically. "Of course you will."
"You have got to come visit us soon." Cordelia made Buffy promise, hugging her fiercely.
"I will, I promise." She agreed.
Cordelia got in the car next to Angel. "See you soon everyone!"
Angel and Gunn both pulled away from the front of the Summers' house in their vehicles.
The Scoobies were all waving and shouting goodbye.
Cordelia reached across to Angel and held his hand on the seat.
"I love you." She whispered.
He turned to her and smiled. "Always."
The End
Author: victoriamartynne
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Spoilers: None, I think!
Summary: Sequel to Family: Back to Sunnydale and Family: Forward to LA. Cordelia receives another phone call that leads her once again to Sunnydale.
Cordelia took Ashleigh downstairs early the next morning and jumped a mile when she saw Buffy and Spike sat on the couch.
"What on Earth are you doing here at seven in the morning?" She asked crabbily, pulling down the lapels of Angel's shirt that she was wearing.
Buffy just smirked at her. "Long night?"
"Ha ha." Cordelia shouted over her shoulder as she went into the kitchen. "So, you're here because..?"
"There was a report on the news this morning that I knew you wouldn't have seen because hello, no TV."
"Peaches really should modernise this place." Spike mused.
"What did it say?" Cordelia asked, Buffy ignoring Spike and mixing formula in a bottle.
"A woman has been found murdered in the woods, near the old factory."
"Fond memories." Cordelia said dryly, touching her abdomen briefly.
"Sorry about that chit." Spike said, suddenly realising the meaning behind her words.
"The woman?" Cordelia urged, placing the bottle in the microwave for a few seconds.
"She was slashed over her body until she bled to death or either died from pain." Buffy replied, watching as Cordelia tested the milk on her wrist and then sat down to feed Ashleigh.
"So, what do we do?"
"I was thinking that we wake Wes up and get him to decide." Buffy admitted with a grin.
Cordelia smiled back. "Sounds fun!"
She stood up and gave Ashleigh to Spike. "Feed her for me."
He looked a bit frightened.
"Typical, he fights demons and vampires everyday but ask him to look after a baby and he goes wimpy." Buffy complained fondly.
"I aint no wimp!" Spike complained.
Buffy and Cordelia crept up to Wes's bedroom door laughing and giggling, with ice cubes in a cup.
"Quiet!" Cordelia whispered. "Open the door."
"What are you doing?" Fred asked loudly from behind them.
Cordelia and Buffy both jumped a mile, Buffy banging into the wall.
"Dammit Fred, we're trying to be quiet." Cordelia said laughing once again. "We're going to wake Wes up."
She held up the ice cubes. "That's cruel." Fred scolded. "Can I help?"
They all laughed and Buffy opened the door. "Ssh!"
They crept over to the bed where Wes was laying on his back, his chest bare; an arm slung over his the top of his head.
The three girls grabbed an ice cube each.
"One, two, three." Cordelia counted quietly.
Simultaneously they dropped their ice cubes on Wes's chest.
He shot up out of the bed screeching like a girl. Without his glasses on he was almost blind so they ran out of the room quickly before he could see them.
"I'll get you." Wes threatened. "Whoever you were!"
Hearing Wes's scream, Gunn, Angel and Lorne were all in the living area very quickly thinking that someone was in trouble.
Seeing the three girls doubled up in laughter they quickly decided that they weren't.
Wes came stumbling out of his room, his sheet wrapped around his waist. "Who and what was that?"
Seeing Wes come out of his room the women straightened up and pretended that they weren't laughing.
They all simultaneously pointed to the three men stood there oblivious.
"Believe me when I say that you will not get away with that." Wes said primly and went back into his room.
"Was he naked under there?" Buffy whispered to Cordelia and Fred which made them erupt in giggles again.
"Okay, Fred, can you find out as much as you can from the Internet about the woman?" Wes asked. "Buffy, if you could go to the morgue and get DNA samples from the wounds then we can have them tested at the lab and have some idea what we are dealing with. Cordelia."
"I've got practice." She interrupted, holding Ashleigh to her chest.
"Okay, then Gunn. Go to the scene and find out what you can." He concluded.
"Lorne, do you want to come watch practice?" Cordelia asked as she gave Ashleigh to him.
"Sounds good to me kitten." He smiled, accepting Ashleigh willingly.
"Great, I'll go get dressed." She replied and ran up the stairs. "Bye Buffy, Spike!"
"I guess we're going then slayer." Spike commented and took her hand.
"We'll meet at the gym." Wes added as they left through the sewers. "Then we can fill Cordelia in."
Everyone nodded and went their separate ways.
"Okay girls!" Cordelia shouted, standing in front of the girls. "This is our last practice before the game. You cheers need to be louder, your kicks higher and your hair bouncier!"
They all laughed.
"Okay, let's get started!"
The girls all went to get in positions except Dawn, who came to talk to Cordelia.
"Can I talk to you?" She asked nervously.
"Of course you can Dawnie." Cordelia smiled.
"Well, it's about Brittany." She said quietly. "I think there's something wrong with her."
"Like what?" She asked suspiciously, stopping what she was doing to listen to Dawn properly.
"Well, I saw in her locker this morning, she didn't know I could see and there were lots of pill boxes there. I mean loads."
Cordelia nodded. "Okay thanks Dawn, I'll talk to her."
Dawn smiled and went to join her team.
In the lunch break Cordelia went to Brittany and asked to talk to her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Lorne wave to Angel, Wes, Gunn and Fred who had come in the gym.
"What do you want?" Brittany asked bluntly.
"To talk." She smiled. "Look, I know how hard cheerleading can be. People who aren't cheerleaders don't understand that. They think it's all about popularity and dressing pretty. But it's a sport."
"Is this leading anywhere?"
"Look, you're the captain. You made it, you're the best. You don't need to pressure yourself into being any better. You know the routines; the rest is going to get easier."
Brittany looked at her blankly.
"Okay, I'll get to the point." She smiled. "You don't need to do drugs."
Brittany looked unsure of herself for a moment. "I don't do drugs."
"Brittany, someone has seen them in your locker. I want you to know that suing steroids or whatever they are don't."
"Who was it?" She exploded and stood up, tearing across to her team mates. "Who the hell was it?"
Cordelia ran after her. "I never said it was one of your team mates."
"So it was you!" She turned on her. "You were snooping in my locker!"
Cordelia held up her hands. "Chill, okay! I haven't been anywhere near your locker."
"Oh come on, you wanted to get something on me so I'd be off the team and then Angel won't see me and be attracted to me!" She screamed.
Cordelia snorted. "Yeah, okay." She turned to one of the girls. "Why don't you go get the nurse, okay?"
She nodded and ran out of the gym.
Cordelia glanced at Angel and his look clearly said 'what the hell is going on here?' she just shrugged and turned back to Brittany. "I can help you; you can still be head cheerleader."
She suddenly let out an inhuman growl. Cordelia stood back, alarmed.
Angel and Gunn came closer; Gunn had his axe in his hand.
"Brittany?" Cordelia tried.
She screamed and seemed to shrink into herself, hiding her face from view.
"The DNA isn't werewolf!" Buffy exclaimed as she and Spike entered the gym. Then she saw what was happening and stopped, grabbing Spike's arm. "Oh God."
"Brittany?" Cordelia tried again.
She looked up and she was wearing the Amara's face.
"Oh God, no." Cordelia muttered.
Angel pushed in front of Cordelia, separating her from the Amara/Brittany.
Brittany's skin began to peel away until all of her body became the Amara.
"What do we do?" Buffy asked. "Kill or capture?"
"Kill?" One of the cheerleaders asked, looking as though she was about to faint. Cordelia noticed the shocked looks on the girls' faces. "Uh, why don't you go down the hall and get some cans of coke?"
They all nodded and eagerly left, except Dawn who went to sit next to Lorne and the babies, out of harms way.
"Kill or capture?" Buffy repeated, moving closer. "Wes?"
"I don't know! She is a girl after all."
"But can we get her back as human?"
"I don't know. The pills she may have been taking could be enabling her to become human for a temporary time. This is the true form, the demon. Brittany is not a person. She's the image the demon had created in order for her to live a human life."
"So we kill?" Angel clarified.
"Yes, I believe we do." Wes replied.
Buffy and Spike moved forward to help Angel and Gunn kill the Amara. Cordelia stood back and let them.
It was Gunn that delivered the final blow, embedding his axe firmly into the demon's throat, chopping its head off.
"Well, looks like I need to appoint a new captain." Cordelia said, to lighten the mood.
Everyone turned to look at her. "After Gunn cleans up the mess he made of course."
He pulled a face at her but went to get some rope from his truck.
"Who was the woman in the woods?" Cordelia asked Fred.
"A gymnast. She was due to compete in a championship this weekend. I guess she won't be now."
"So the Amara killed a cheerleading coach and a gymnast." Cordelia mused.
"Which means that the Amara could have stolen the talents of the two women she killed in order for her alter ego Brittany to be the best cheerleader." Wes finished.
"Is that possible?" Fred asked.
"I believe so, but I'll check with Mr Giles when I see him."
"Okay, I've got a practice to run here so if you great warriors wouldn't mind removing the dead demon from the gym floor, then I would appreciate it." Cordelia smiled sweetly as Gunn returned with the rope.
"By the way." Wes asked. "Who was it that woke me up this morning?"
The outside bleachers were full with cheering and screaming high school students, two vampires, a slayer, a demon, a half demon, two witches, an ex demon, a geppo, a physicist, two babies and two ex watchers. The black street fighter was off fetching popcorn for his physicist girlfriend.
"Okay, final words." Cordelia said and stood in front of the cheerleaders. "You're on your own now. Dawn is your captain. You all look great and as long as you stick to the routines you'll do great okay?"
"Come out and do the first cheer with us Cordy?" One of the girls asked.
She shook her head. "It's your turn to shine, I had my time."
They all smiled and then had a group hug and then they were on their own. Cordelia went to sit next to Angel.
"I wonder if Ashleigh will ever be a cheerleader." He mused.
"Connor could be." He gave her an odd look. "What? Just because there aren't any male cheerleaders on this team doesn't mean that there aren't any."
"If you teach our son to be a cheerleader." He let the threat hang.
She laughed suddenly.
"What?" He asked suspiciously as she laid her head on his shoulder.
"I always wanted to have sex under the bleachers." She laughed.
He raised an eyebrow. "Did you ever do it?"
She snorted. "Oh come on, I dated Xander for most of high school."
He looked pleased. "Come on then."
He grabbed her hand and they sloped off, leaving Ashleigh and Connor with Fred.
Cordelia woke up the next morning and smiled. They were going home.
The game had gone well last night, mainly due to the cheerleaders. The new principle had made a point of coming over to thank her for the work she'd done. They had looked great out there doing all her moves.
Angel felt her stir and opened his eyes. "Morning."
She smiled up at him. "Hi."
"Did you enjoy the game last night?" He teased.
Once they'd gotten in they'd had their own mini football game in their bedroom, causing Wes to come upstairs and bang on their door, telling them to be quiet.
"Which one?" She grinned.
He kissed the top of her forehead.
"I can't wait to go home." She sighed.
"I thought you liked it here now that you and Buffy are friends?"
"I do, but there's no place like out big old dusty, fire damaged hotel." She sighed.
"I will fix that one day." He promised idly.
She nodded sarcastically. "Of course you will."
"You have got to come visit us soon." Cordelia made Buffy promise, hugging her fiercely.
"I will, I promise." She agreed.
Cordelia got in the car next to Angel. "See you soon everyone!"
Angel and Gunn both pulled away from the front of the Summers' house in their vehicles.
The Scoobies were all waving and shouting goodbye.
Cordelia reached across to Angel and held his hand on the seat.
"I love you." She whispered.
He turned to her and smiled. "Always."
The End