Title: Slayers Present and Future
Author: victoriamartynne
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Spoilers: None, I think!
Summary: A future slayer is kidnapped and it's up to the Fang Gang and the present slayer to get her back.
Everyone arrived back at the hotel at pretty much the same time. Maggie had proved inconsolable so Cordelia had given her a sleeping tablet to make her rest. Fred feared she might make herself ill if she exhausted herself anymore.
Angel and Gunn had found nothing out from their trip to the sewers although they did kill a couple of vampires.
Giles, Willow, Xander and Anya's research had found that nothing unusual and similar to the Wilson's case had occurred in the past five years, although Giles was insisting that he look further back.
Lorne had contacted a couple of sources that came into the bar and they reported that they'd heard nothing about the Master rising.
Even Merl had heard nothing and had tried to charge Buffy for asking him.
Wes had phoned some of his own private contacts and had also drawn a blank which left them right back at the beginning again.
Cordelia came back downstairs to find everyone sat around the counter. "Found out nothing, huh?"
They all looked at her glumly, except Buffy who just looked down.
"Okay, so what next?" She asked Wes.
"Well, maybe we could talk to Maggie again and just keep digging. Someone has to know something." He pointed out. "If the Master is back then someone must have seen him. Someone must know something."
As if on cue a man ran into the hotel, falling down the stairs and landing in a heap in the doorway.
Angel jumped up from his seat to help the man up. "Can we help?"
"There was someone in the street, he was attacking people. I think he was biting them. It was sick." He exclaimed.
With a look at the others Angel headed for the door. "Bring weapons!"
Running down the street, Angel followed the scent of blood and the sound of screaming.
It wasn't until he'd run half a block that he saw what the man had described. Bodies were strewn across the sidewalk with blood dripping down their necks. The smell was overwhelming and Angel couldn't spend any time seeing if anyone was alive. He needed to follow the trail. Wes would sort out the ambulances.
Stopping to smell the air he heard the gang following in his car, Cordelia ay the wheel, he saw as they pulled up. "Jump in!" She ordered and he did as he was told so she could carry on. "Xander's driving the Scoobies in his car so they'll look after whoever's alive. Keep smelling broody, we need you."
He smiled at her choice of words and indicated that she should turn left.
Tearing around the corner she ended up skidding to a halt as the Master appeared in the road, fangs bared.
"Jesus!" Cordelia muttered as she fought to control the wheel.
Clamping a hand on the steering wheel Angel helped her right the car before they crashed into a building.
Wes and Gunn were out of the car before it had stopped and fighting the demon. Angel jumped straight in to help, leaving Cordelia, Fred and Lorne to exit the car more slowly, grabbing weapons from the bag in the back seat.
Angel delivered a blow to his side with his axe, but it didn't cut through his skin.
"How the..?" He muttered before being sent flying by a punch to the stomach.
Gunn and Wes were sent sprawling next leaving a worried looking demon and two women.
"Fred, stay behind me." Cordelia warned. "Lorne, try and wake Wes or Gunn up, Angel get your ass off the floor right now!"
The Master ducked and avoided Cordelia's first blow then got in one of his own to the side of her face.
With a sickening laugh the Master began floating off the air until he reached a second floor balcony. Vaulting over it he disappeared from sight.
"Angel!" Cordelia said and pointed to where he'd disappeared.
He nodded and jumped up to where he'd disappeared and jumped after him. "Go in through the front door." He shouted before entering the building.
She turned to Lorne who was trying to wake up Wes and Gunn, both having hit their heads on the brick of the building. "I'm going to go in. Fred, stay here with Lorne until the Scoobies get here. Then send Buffy in, she's got enough strength to help Angel fight him. I'll see what the building is."
Fred and Lorne nodded. "Cordy, is your face okay?" Fred asked.
She nodded. "It's fine. Stay out here, okay?"
She entered the building through the front door, grabbing Wes's sword from the floor where he'd dropped it.
The room she'd entered was dark and dingy, covered in cobwebs and dust.
"Angel?" She called out.
All she heard was her voice echoing off her walls.
"Great." She muttered. "All by myself when the Dark Avenger goes to play superhero."
She trod carefully through the room and into the next. She dropped the axe and screamed.
Mark Wilson was hanging by the light fitting in the middle of the room. Blood was dripping down his neck and his wrested. His eyes were gouged out leaving a bloody mass in the sockets.
A note was pinned to the front of his shirt. She unpinned it and opened it, her hands shaking.
"One, two."
She closed her eyes and then began running towards the door she'd come through. Before she reached it and explosion rocked the floor she was stood on and she fell through it, tumbling into the basement and becoming trapped by the room beam.
She pulled herself to her feet, shoving aside pieces of floorboard and old carpet.
She felt blood on her forehead. "Better not scar."
She got to her feet and looked around. She was in a small room, now with a precarious roof of floor boarding, roof beams and bits of old carpet.
"Who's there?" A small breathless voice asked. "Please!"
"Hello?" Cordelia shouted back, locating the voice to the next room. "I'm coming."
She trod over the floorboards and boxes that looked like they'd been there for years.
She stepped into the room. "Carla?"
She rushed across to the girl's side. "What happened? Are you hurt?"
She nodded. "Something exploded and something hit me. In my side. I think I'm bleeding."
Kneeling next to the girl Cordelia located the wound and instantly pressed her hand to it, to quench the blood that was seeping out rapidly.
"Who brought you here Carla?" She asked, smoothing the girl's damp hair from her forehead.
"A man, he was really pale and he took me from my bedroom." She began to cry. "I want my mommy."
"I know honey." She felt tears prick her eyes.
Feeling the blood seep over her hand she pulled it away to slip of her shirt and press it to the wound.
Looking around the room she saw a small window on the right hand side of the room. "I need you to hold this shirt to your side and while I see if we can get out of here? Can you do that?"
She waited for a nod and then went across to the window. Punching out the glass she began shouting.
"Fred! Lorne! Help!" She shouted. "Please!"
It took a while but they eventually located her at the small window.
"Cordelia, what happened?" Wes asked, having now woken up. "We heard an explosion."
"The floor exploded and I fell through from the first floor." She told him. "Carla's down here."
"And Mr Wilson?" He asked hopefully.
She shook her head. "Upstairs." She said quietly. "Get an ambulance here for Carla; she's bleeding heavily from her left side."
He nodded and transmitted her order to Fred.
"Where's Angel?"
"Still in the building somewhere."
"Call him." She ordered, glancing back at Carla. "And get Buffy in there when she gets here. She could help get us out of here."
He nodded and left the window, leaving Cordelia to go back to Carla.
"The paramedics are here now Cordy." Fred shouted through the hole.
She nodded. "And Angel?"
"He's fine; he's on his way out. He killed the Master, or what appeared to be the Master. It was in fact a demon using magic to appear to look like the Master to gain more prestige. Carla's the future slayer; she's going to kill the demon when she gets chosen. He was trying to stop it." She replied. "Buffy's gone in to see if she can get you out."
"Tell her to be careful, the floor's unsteady."
Fred's face disappeared and a paramedic's face appeared instead.
"What are her injuries?" He asked, having being briefed by Wes.
"She's got a deep wound on her left side and she's bleeding heavily." Cordelia replied, still holding her shirt to the wound. "Other than that just scratches and bruises."
"Can you remove the cloth so I can see the injury for a second?"
She removed the 'cloth' and blood spurted onto her vest. She shrieked and placed the shirt back.
"Miss Chase, there may be a hole in her artery. I need you to feel in the wound until you locate the blood flow and find a hole." The paramedic instructed through the hole.
Cordelia looked at the crying, sweating girl in front of her. "I can't, I'll hurt her."
"Miss Chase, you need to do it. If you don't she'll die." He ordered.
She looked at Carla again. She couldn't do this.
"Cor, remember when you dig bullets out of my back?" Angel reminded her, having being listening but not showing her his presence, which earned him a strange look from the paramedic.
"Miss Chase, be brave and you can do something very special and save Carla's life." He urged.
"Okay." She whispered and eyed the girl. "Hold still baby, I'll try to be quick."
She pushed her index and middle fingers of her right hand into the wound on Carla's side. Carla began screaming as the wound began to burn with Cordelia's fingers in it.
"That's it Cordelia." The paramedic called, dropping the formality. "Feel for the direction of the blood flow and go against it until you find the source."
Cordelia flinched as the blood coated her hands as her fingers moved in the torn flesh and muscle. "I can't feel anything, I'm hurting her!"
"Cordelia, you're halfway there, you can't stop now." The paramedic said, half panicked by the fact that she might give up now she'd done the hard part. "Feel the flow of the blood."
"I'm feeling the fucking flow of the blood!" Cordelia shouted back angrily. "If you think I'm doing a crap job then get you skinny ass in here and save this girl's life yourself!"
The paramedic gulped and said nothing.
She felt around in the wound with her right hand trying to ignore the hideous wailing the girl was making, while trying to hold her down with the other hand. She jumped when a stream of blood shot out of the wound and hit her in the face.
She gasped. "What does that mean?"
"You're close, just a little further. The blood spurting means you're near the arterial tear."
She nodded and felt further. She broke out into a smile. "I got it."
She plugged the hole with her fingers and felt the girl still, the pain dulling slightly now that she wasn't moving around in the wound.
"You did good Cor." Angel shouted through the hole.
She nodded and stroked Carla's head. "It'll all be over soon sweetie. Then we'll take you to see your mom."
"And daddy?"
Cordelia felt tears well up in her eyes, remembering Mark's body hanging from the light fitting upstairs. "And daddy too."
"Okay Miss Chase." The paramedic said. "The fire department is here so hopefully we'll be able to get you out now."
"Okay." She called back and then turned to Carla again. "There might be a bit of noise right now but in a few minutes we'll be out, okay?"
The few minutes took two hours. The fire department couldn't make the hole bigger to get them out so they had to go through the front door and unblock the mess on the first floor. Carla had been taken to the hospital and reunited with Maggie who had decided to wait until she was better before telling her that Mark was dead.
Cordelia had emerged from the house dusty and covered in blood. Angel was the first to come embrace her but he was quickly followed by the others.
The emotion of the moment got too much for Cordelia and she fainted.
"Get her to the car." Wes said, helping Angel carry her. "We'll get her home."
Cordelia woke up in the bath. Angel was knelt on the floor next to the tub cradling her shoulders so she couldn't drown. Most of the blood was gone from her body, leaving just her own blood on the cut on her forehead and the blood of Carla's that had spurted onto her cheek.
"Hey." Angel said softly.
She smiled back. "Hi."
"How are you feeling?"
"How is Carla?" She asked, remembering the girls' face as she probed into her wound.
"She's fine. Maggie hasn't told her yet about Mark." He said sombrely. "I'm sorry you had to see that."
She nodded.
He scooped water into his hands and washed her tired and occasionally grazed and cut limbs.
"That feels good." She whispered sleepily.
"Let me get that blood off your face and then you can sleep."
She nodded but her eyes were closed before he even had the chance to get the blood off her.
She awoke the next morning to silence. She turned over in bed and saw Angel gone.
She sat up and looked at the clock. Two pm.
She yawned and got out of bed, wrapping Angel's robe around her.
She walked down the stairs and saw everyone sat around the desks working.
"Hey guys." She yawned. "Why didn't you wake me?"
"We thought you deserved a lie in." Fred smiled. "Coffee?"
She nodded and collapsed on Angel's knee.
"Has Maggie called?"
"Yeah, she said she'd come and see you about three o clock." Angel told her, stroking her hair.
She nodded. "What do I say to her?"
"Whatever's in your heart." He smiled sadly.
She nodded.
"Cordelia?" Maggie's voice rang through the Hyperion, she'd come in unnoticed even to Angel.
Cordelia stood up. "Hi."
Maggie smiled softly. "Can we talk?"
She nodded and led the way into Wes's office.
"Do you want some coffee or something?" She offered.
Maggie shook her. "No, I need to get back to Carla."
"How is she?"
"Alive, thanks to you." She said meaningfully. "The paramedic told me what you did. I think it was really brave of you. And I'm so grateful."
Cordelia smiled and took the distraught woman's hand. Tears sprung to both of their eyes. "I'm so sorry about Mark, that we couldn't save him."
She nodded, feeling a tear fall down her face. "Me too. That I could have saved him I mean."
"Did you tell Carla?"
Maggie nodded. "She was so sad, the doctor's had to sedate her, she went wild."
Cordelia fought back tears. "I'm so sorry."
Maggie smiled. "It's not your fault."
"I feel responsible." She admitted.
Maggie shook her head. "You shouldn't, you saved my baby girl and Mark would have been glad of that."
Cordelia smiled. "I'm glad he would have thought so. What are you going to do now? Stay in LA?"
She shrugged. "I don't know, maybe. My mom lives in Arizona so we could go live with her. But all or Carla's friends are here so I think it would be good for her to be around people that she knows at the moment. I don't know really. When everything settles down and I can think straight I'll figure something out."
Cordelia nodded. "Let me know what you plan to do, I'd like to keep in touch."
Maggie touched Cordelia's had gently. "I will. But before I go can you tell me one thing? Why did that man want with Carla?"
"After all you've seen do you believe in the supernatural?"
Maggie nodded slowly.
"There are a lot of bad things in the world. in every generation one girl is chosen to fight them." She said, creating her own version of the 'slayer' speech. "The man who kidnapped Carla found a prophecy about himself. Your daughter, in the future, is going to be the girl who is chosen to fight the bad things. And one day she would kill the bad thing that took Carla. He kidnapped her intending to kill her and therefore stop his death."
Maggie looked confused. "How can Carla fight the bad things? She's not special; she's just a little girl."
"When she's older she'll be chosen and she'll get supernatural powers."
"How do you know she'll get supernatural powers? What if she doesn't and she gets killed?" She sounded panicked.
"Look out there." Cordelia said and pointed out of the window of the office into the lobby. "The short blonde. She's a slayer; your daughter will follow in her footsteps. She helped me and Carla get out of the basement you know, she lifted the beams that the firemen couldn't. She's averted more apocalypses than I care to remember. She's a hero. One day your daughter will be."
"When?"
"I don't know, when Buffy dies or when the next slayer dies. She'll have her turn." Cordelia promised.
"I don't want her to." Maggie said with venom in her voice. "I don't want her involved in the supernatural. I want her to be normal."
"If she's chosen then that is her destiny." Cordelia said gently and put her arm around her shoulders.
Maggie pulled away and stood up, running out of the office into the lobby, leaving Cordelia to follow.
"You can make this stop!" She screamed at Wes, running across to batter her fists against his chest. "You're the smart one, you charge her destiny!"
Wes looked at Cordelia in confusion over Maggie's head.
She stepped forward and turned Maggie by her shoulder so she was facing Cordelia.
Tears were running down her flushed cheeks in rivers. "You have to change it."
She collapsed in Cordelia's arms, sending them both to the floor where Maggie continued to sob.
"I'll come see Carla, I promise." Cordelia said as she hugged Maggie goodbye at the door. "Take care."
Maggie smiled and left, pushing a pair of sunglasses up her nose to cover her red rimmed eyes.
Cordelia turned and went back into the hotel.
Angel was hovering by the stairs. "Are you okay?"
She nodded and smiled, letting him envelope her in his arms. He kissed the top of her head gently.
"When are the Scoobies going home?" She asked sweetly.
He laughed. "Tomorrow."
"Good." She smiled.
"What? You don't like having them here?" He asked in mock surprise.
"Of course I do honey, of course I do."
"Bye Buffy, don't come back soon." Cordelia muttered under her breath as Buffy and the others prepared to leave.
Angel elbowed her in the side. "Come back soon guys." He called out cheerfully.
Buffy made a point of coming across to hug him. "Come see us in Sunnydale."
He smiled and eyed Cordelia who was, as expected, frowning.
Buffy pulled back and eyed Cordelia also. "I wouldn't want you to bring too much baggage withy you though; we don't have that much room."
"Angel comes with a lot of baggage Buffy, you should know that. What with you being star crossed lovers and all?" She snipped. "Maybe you should take a look at your star crossed lover and realise that maybe he was only that once, right before you sent him to hell."
Gunn snickered and Buffy just pouted.
"See you soon Mr Giles." Wes shouted as Buffy stormed out of the hotel with the watcher following meekly.
Xander, Willow and Anya waved and left also.
"Hear that?" Cordelia asked with a grin. "Silence!"
Fred laughed.
"Angel, honey, you know what I want right now?" He raised an eyebrow. "You."
The End
Author: victoriamartynne
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Spoilers: None, I think!
Summary: A future slayer is kidnapped and it's up to the Fang Gang and the present slayer to get her back.
Everyone arrived back at the hotel at pretty much the same time. Maggie had proved inconsolable so Cordelia had given her a sleeping tablet to make her rest. Fred feared she might make herself ill if she exhausted herself anymore.
Angel and Gunn had found nothing out from their trip to the sewers although they did kill a couple of vampires.
Giles, Willow, Xander and Anya's research had found that nothing unusual and similar to the Wilson's case had occurred in the past five years, although Giles was insisting that he look further back.
Lorne had contacted a couple of sources that came into the bar and they reported that they'd heard nothing about the Master rising.
Even Merl had heard nothing and had tried to charge Buffy for asking him.
Wes had phoned some of his own private contacts and had also drawn a blank which left them right back at the beginning again.
Cordelia came back downstairs to find everyone sat around the counter. "Found out nothing, huh?"
They all looked at her glumly, except Buffy who just looked down.
"Okay, so what next?" She asked Wes.
"Well, maybe we could talk to Maggie again and just keep digging. Someone has to know something." He pointed out. "If the Master is back then someone must have seen him. Someone must know something."
As if on cue a man ran into the hotel, falling down the stairs and landing in a heap in the doorway.
Angel jumped up from his seat to help the man up. "Can we help?"
"There was someone in the street, he was attacking people. I think he was biting them. It was sick." He exclaimed.
With a look at the others Angel headed for the door. "Bring weapons!"
Running down the street, Angel followed the scent of blood and the sound of screaming.
It wasn't until he'd run half a block that he saw what the man had described. Bodies were strewn across the sidewalk with blood dripping down their necks. The smell was overwhelming and Angel couldn't spend any time seeing if anyone was alive. He needed to follow the trail. Wes would sort out the ambulances.
Stopping to smell the air he heard the gang following in his car, Cordelia ay the wheel, he saw as they pulled up. "Jump in!" She ordered and he did as he was told so she could carry on. "Xander's driving the Scoobies in his car so they'll look after whoever's alive. Keep smelling broody, we need you."
He smiled at her choice of words and indicated that she should turn left.
Tearing around the corner she ended up skidding to a halt as the Master appeared in the road, fangs bared.
"Jesus!" Cordelia muttered as she fought to control the wheel.
Clamping a hand on the steering wheel Angel helped her right the car before they crashed into a building.
Wes and Gunn were out of the car before it had stopped and fighting the demon. Angel jumped straight in to help, leaving Cordelia, Fred and Lorne to exit the car more slowly, grabbing weapons from the bag in the back seat.
Angel delivered a blow to his side with his axe, but it didn't cut through his skin.
"How the..?" He muttered before being sent flying by a punch to the stomach.
Gunn and Wes were sent sprawling next leaving a worried looking demon and two women.
"Fred, stay behind me." Cordelia warned. "Lorne, try and wake Wes or Gunn up, Angel get your ass off the floor right now!"
The Master ducked and avoided Cordelia's first blow then got in one of his own to the side of her face.
With a sickening laugh the Master began floating off the air until he reached a second floor balcony. Vaulting over it he disappeared from sight.
"Angel!" Cordelia said and pointed to where he'd disappeared.
He nodded and jumped up to where he'd disappeared and jumped after him. "Go in through the front door." He shouted before entering the building.
She turned to Lorne who was trying to wake up Wes and Gunn, both having hit their heads on the brick of the building. "I'm going to go in. Fred, stay here with Lorne until the Scoobies get here. Then send Buffy in, she's got enough strength to help Angel fight him. I'll see what the building is."
Fred and Lorne nodded. "Cordy, is your face okay?" Fred asked.
She nodded. "It's fine. Stay out here, okay?"
She entered the building through the front door, grabbing Wes's sword from the floor where he'd dropped it.
The room she'd entered was dark and dingy, covered in cobwebs and dust.
"Angel?" She called out.
All she heard was her voice echoing off her walls.
"Great." She muttered. "All by myself when the Dark Avenger goes to play superhero."
She trod carefully through the room and into the next. She dropped the axe and screamed.
Mark Wilson was hanging by the light fitting in the middle of the room. Blood was dripping down his neck and his wrested. His eyes were gouged out leaving a bloody mass in the sockets.
A note was pinned to the front of his shirt. She unpinned it and opened it, her hands shaking.
"One, two."
She closed her eyes and then began running towards the door she'd come through. Before she reached it and explosion rocked the floor she was stood on and she fell through it, tumbling into the basement and becoming trapped by the room beam.
She pulled herself to her feet, shoving aside pieces of floorboard and old carpet.
She felt blood on her forehead. "Better not scar."
She got to her feet and looked around. She was in a small room, now with a precarious roof of floor boarding, roof beams and bits of old carpet.
"Who's there?" A small breathless voice asked. "Please!"
"Hello?" Cordelia shouted back, locating the voice to the next room. "I'm coming."
She trod over the floorboards and boxes that looked like they'd been there for years.
She stepped into the room. "Carla?"
She rushed across to the girl's side. "What happened? Are you hurt?"
She nodded. "Something exploded and something hit me. In my side. I think I'm bleeding."
Kneeling next to the girl Cordelia located the wound and instantly pressed her hand to it, to quench the blood that was seeping out rapidly.
"Who brought you here Carla?" She asked, smoothing the girl's damp hair from her forehead.
"A man, he was really pale and he took me from my bedroom." She began to cry. "I want my mommy."
"I know honey." She felt tears prick her eyes.
Feeling the blood seep over her hand she pulled it away to slip of her shirt and press it to the wound.
Looking around the room she saw a small window on the right hand side of the room. "I need you to hold this shirt to your side and while I see if we can get out of here? Can you do that?"
She waited for a nod and then went across to the window. Punching out the glass she began shouting.
"Fred! Lorne! Help!" She shouted. "Please!"
It took a while but they eventually located her at the small window.
"Cordelia, what happened?" Wes asked, having now woken up. "We heard an explosion."
"The floor exploded and I fell through from the first floor." She told him. "Carla's down here."
"And Mr Wilson?" He asked hopefully.
She shook her head. "Upstairs." She said quietly. "Get an ambulance here for Carla; she's bleeding heavily from her left side."
He nodded and transmitted her order to Fred.
"Where's Angel?"
"Still in the building somewhere."
"Call him." She ordered, glancing back at Carla. "And get Buffy in there when she gets here. She could help get us out of here."
He nodded and left the window, leaving Cordelia to go back to Carla.
"The paramedics are here now Cordy." Fred shouted through the hole.
She nodded. "And Angel?"
"He's fine; he's on his way out. He killed the Master, or what appeared to be the Master. It was in fact a demon using magic to appear to look like the Master to gain more prestige. Carla's the future slayer; she's going to kill the demon when she gets chosen. He was trying to stop it." She replied. "Buffy's gone in to see if she can get you out."
"Tell her to be careful, the floor's unsteady."
Fred's face disappeared and a paramedic's face appeared instead.
"What are her injuries?" He asked, having being briefed by Wes.
"She's got a deep wound on her left side and she's bleeding heavily." Cordelia replied, still holding her shirt to the wound. "Other than that just scratches and bruises."
"Can you remove the cloth so I can see the injury for a second?"
She removed the 'cloth' and blood spurted onto her vest. She shrieked and placed the shirt back.
"Miss Chase, there may be a hole in her artery. I need you to feel in the wound until you locate the blood flow and find a hole." The paramedic instructed through the hole.
Cordelia looked at the crying, sweating girl in front of her. "I can't, I'll hurt her."
"Miss Chase, you need to do it. If you don't she'll die." He ordered.
She looked at Carla again. She couldn't do this.
"Cor, remember when you dig bullets out of my back?" Angel reminded her, having being listening but not showing her his presence, which earned him a strange look from the paramedic.
"Miss Chase, be brave and you can do something very special and save Carla's life." He urged.
"Okay." She whispered and eyed the girl. "Hold still baby, I'll try to be quick."
She pushed her index and middle fingers of her right hand into the wound on Carla's side. Carla began screaming as the wound began to burn with Cordelia's fingers in it.
"That's it Cordelia." The paramedic called, dropping the formality. "Feel for the direction of the blood flow and go against it until you find the source."
Cordelia flinched as the blood coated her hands as her fingers moved in the torn flesh and muscle. "I can't feel anything, I'm hurting her!"
"Cordelia, you're halfway there, you can't stop now." The paramedic said, half panicked by the fact that she might give up now she'd done the hard part. "Feel the flow of the blood."
"I'm feeling the fucking flow of the blood!" Cordelia shouted back angrily. "If you think I'm doing a crap job then get you skinny ass in here and save this girl's life yourself!"
The paramedic gulped and said nothing.
She felt around in the wound with her right hand trying to ignore the hideous wailing the girl was making, while trying to hold her down with the other hand. She jumped when a stream of blood shot out of the wound and hit her in the face.
She gasped. "What does that mean?"
"You're close, just a little further. The blood spurting means you're near the arterial tear."
She nodded and felt further. She broke out into a smile. "I got it."
She plugged the hole with her fingers and felt the girl still, the pain dulling slightly now that she wasn't moving around in the wound.
"You did good Cor." Angel shouted through the hole.
She nodded and stroked Carla's head. "It'll all be over soon sweetie. Then we'll take you to see your mom."
"And daddy?"
Cordelia felt tears well up in her eyes, remembering Mark's body hanging from the light fitting upstairs. "And daddy too."
"Okay Miss Chase." The paramedic said. "The fire department is here so hopefully we'll be able to get you out now."
"Okay." She called back and then turned to Carla again. "There might be a bit of noise right now but in a few minutes we'll be out, okay?"
The few minutes took two hours. The fire department couldn't make the hole bigger to get them out so they had to go through the front door and unblock the mess on the first floor. Carla had been taken to the hospital and reunited with Maggie who had decided to wait until she was better before telling her that Mark was dead.
Cordelia had emerged from the house dusty and covered in blood. Angel was the first to come embrace her but he was quickly followed by the others.
The emotion of the moment got too much for Cordelia and she fainted.
"Get her to the car." Wes said, helping Angel carry her. "We'll get her home."
Cordelia woke up in the bath. Angel was knelt on the floor next to the tub cradling her shoulders so she couldn't drown. Most of the blood was gone from her body, leaving just her own blood on the cut on her forehead and the blood of Carla's that had spurted onto her cheek.
"Hey." Angel said softly.
She smiled back. "Hi."
"How are you feeling?"
"How is Carla?" She asked, remembering the girls' face as she probed into her wound.
"She's fine. Maggie hasn't told her yet about Mark." He said sombrely. "I'm sorry you had to see that."
She nodded.
He scooped water into his hands and washed her tired and occasionally grazed and cut limbs.
"That feels good." She whispered sleepily.
"Let me get that blood off your face and then you can sleep."
She nodded but her eyes were closed before he even had the chance to get the blood off her.
She awoke the next morning to silence. She turned over in bed and saw Angel gone.
She sat up and looked at the clock. Two pm.
She yawned and got out of bed, wrapping Angel's robe around her.
She walked down the stairs and saw everyone sat around the desks working.
"Hey guys." She yawned. "Why didn't you wake me?"
"We thought you deserved a lie in." Fred smiled. "Coffee?"
She nodded and collapsed on Angel's knee.
"Has Maggie called?"
"Yeah, she said she'd come and see you about three o clock." Angel told her, stroking her hair.
She nodded. "What do I say to her?"
"Whatever's in your heart." He smiled sadly.
She nodded.
"Cordelia?" Maggie's voice rang through the Hyperion, she'd come in unnoticed even to Angel.
Cordelia stood up. "Hi."
Maggie smiled softly. "Can we talk?"
She nodded and led the way into Wes's office.
"Do you want some coffee or something?" She offered.
Maggie shook her. "No, I need to get back to Carla."
"How is she?"
"Alive, thanks to you." She said meaningfully. "The paramedic told me what you did. I think it was really brave of you. And I'm so grateful."
Cordelia smiled and took the distraught woman's hand. Tears sprung to both of their eyes. "I'm so sorry about Mark, that we couldn't save him."
She nodded, feeling a tear fall down her face. "Me too. That I could have saved him I mean."
"Did you tell Carla?"
Maggie nodded. "She was so sad, the doctor's had to sedate her, she went wild."
Cordelia fought back tears. "I'm so sorry."
Maggie smiled. "It's not your fault."
"I feel responsible." She admitted.
Maggie shook her head. "You shouldn't, you saved my baby girl and Mark would have been glad of that."
Cordelia smiled. "I'm glad he would have thought so. What are you going to do now? Stay in LA?"
She shrugged. "I don't know, maybe. My mom lives in Arizona so we could go live with her. But all or Carla's friends are here so I think it would be good for her to be around people that she knows at the moment. I don't know really. When everything settles down and I can think straight I'll figure something out."
Cordelia nodded. "Let me know what you plan to do, I'd like to keep in touch."
Maggie touched Cordelia's had gently. "I will. But before I go can you tell me one thing? Why did that man want with Carla?"
"After all you've seen do you believe in the supernatural?"
Maggie nodded slowly.
"There are a lot of bad things in the world. in every generation one girl is chosen to fight them." She said, creating her own version of the 'slayer' speech. "The man who kidnapped Carla found a prophecy about himself. Your daughter, in the future, is going to be the girl who is chosen to fight the bad things. And one day she would kill the bad thing that took Carla. He kidnapped her intending to kill her and therefore stop his death."
Maggie looked confused. "How can Carla fight the bad things? She's not special; she's just a little girl."
"When she's older she'll be chosen and she'll get supernatural powers."
"How do you know she'll get supernatural powers? What if she doesn't and she gets killed?" She sounded panicked.
"Look out there." Cordelia said and pointed out of the window of the office into the lobby. "The short blonde. She's a slayer; your daughter will follow in her footsteps. She helped me and Carla get out of the basement you know, she lifted the beams that the firemen couldn't. She's averted more apocalypses than I care to remember. She's a hero. One day your daughter will be."
"When?"
"I don't know, when Buffy dies or when the next slayer dies. She'll have her turn." Cordelia promised.
"I don't want her to." Maggie said with venom in her voice. "I don't want her involved in the supernatural. I want her to be normal."
"If she's chosen then that is her destiny." Cordelia said gently and put her arm around her shoulders.
Maggie pulled away and stood up, running out of the office into the lobby, leaving Cordelia to follow.
"You can make this stop!" She screamed at Wes, running across to batter her fists against his chest. "You're the smart one, you charge her destiny!"
Wes looked at Cordelia in confusion over Maggie's head.
She stepped forward and turned Maggie by her shoulder so she was facing Cordelia.
Tears were running down her flushed cheeks in rivers. "You have to change it."
She collapsed in Cordelia's arms, sending them both to the floor where Maggie continued to sob.
"I'll come see Carla, I promise." Cordelia said as she hugged Maggie goodbye at the door. "Take care."
Maggie smiled and left, pushing a pair of sunglasses up her nose to cover her red rimmed eyes.
Cordelia turned and went back into the hotel.
Angel was hovering by the stairs. "Are you okay?"
She nodded and smiled, letting him envelope her in his arms. He kissed the top of her head gently.
"When are the Scoobies going home?" She asked sweetly.
He laughed. "Tomorrow."
"Good." She smiled.
"What? You don't like having them here?" He asked in mock surprise.
"Of course I do honey, of course I do."
"Bye Buffy, don't come back soon." Cordelia muttered under her breath as Buffy and the others prepared to leave.
Angel elbowed her in the side. "Come back soon guys." He called out cheerfully.
Buffy made a point of coming across to hug him. "Come see us in Sunnydale."
He smiled and eyed Cordelia who was, as expected, frowning.
Buffy pulled back and eyed Cordelia also. "I wouldn't want you to bring too much baggage withy you though; we don't have that much room."
"Angel comes with a lot of baggage Buffy, you should know that. What with you being star crossed lovers and all?" She snipped. "Maybe you should take a look at your star crossed lover and realise that maybe he was only that once, right before you sent him to hell."
Gunn snickered and Buffy just pouted.
"See you soon Mr Giles." Wes shouted as Buffy stormed out of the hotel with the watcher following meekly.
Xander, Willow and Anya waved and left also.
"Hear that?" Cordelia asked with a grin. "Silence!"
Fred laughed.
"Angel, honey, you know what I want right now?" He raised an eyebrow. "You."
The End