Los Angeles, California. Best Buy store

Gavin Booth had a collection basket in both hands, and they were filled with DVDs, X-box games and the various cords that would be needed for them all. He watched his C.O. looking over the list in his hand, and sighed.

"Okay, the last one that Cordy wanted is the IT movie," Xander told him.

"IT?" Gavin asked in confusion.

"Yeah. It's that Steven King flick. It freaked us both out, and we lived on a Hellmouth!"

A moment later, Connor and Kristen came back down the aisle. "Can't forget this one," Kristen said, as she dropped a movie into a basket.

Xander looked over. "Bridges of Madison County?"

Kristen nodded. "Hey, it was a good movie!"

Connor was looking at the aisle markers. "What are action-adventure movies?"

Both Xander and Gavin gave him horrified expressions, and looked at the now-nervous Kristen. "I thought you were going to have Tom explain 'guy' things to him?" Xander asked his former protégé.

Kristen squirmed a little. "Well…I kinda forgot to ask him to. And Connor has gotten along fine in this world, without knowing about a lot of…things."

The black man looked at the miracle child. "Well, kid, action-adventure movies are where things tend to get blown up a lot – and if it's a cop movie, you'll also have a few people saying stuff like, 'I'm getting too old for this shit'. Plus, at least one under-dressed female sidekick," Gavin shrugged.

"Please, guys!" Kristen pleaded. "If he gets into that, then it won't be long till he starts to burp out the alphabet and wolf-whistle at girls walking down the street!"

Xander shook his head. "Sorry, Kristen. But it's part of the guy code. We have to rescue any lost men, from the evil clutches of having to watch the Bridges of Madison County." He turned to Gavin. "We could take him to Hooters..."

"NO!" Kristen yelled instantly.

As both the US Air Force operatives laughed, Xander remembered something. "Hey, we should get Armageddon. Cordy likes that one..." he said, as the man then reached over and grabbed it off the shelf.

This caused Connor to ask in alarm, "What? We have an Armageddon? Another one?"

Xander held up the DVD case. "Yep. We have an Armageddon, with previously deleted scenes and an Aerosmith music video."

This caused Connor's confused face to return, giving Xander a big laugh. Kristen tried to change the subject, "So Xander, did you talk to Cordy about Julie?"

"Yeah, I did," the former Zeppo told her, as he skimmed the new release section.

"And?" the Slayer prompted. 

As Xander looked at the back of a DVD he replied, "She had no problem with it. April's doing the background check, even as we speak."

"Background check?!" Kristen exclaimed. "Why would you need to…"

Xander tried to calm her down. "Kristen? Name me anyone who would hire a live-in nanny these days, without doing a background check."

***

Hyperion Hotel Garden

Gunn found Cordy tossing pebbles into the fountain, in the middle of the garden. "Hey girl, you okay?"

She tossed another pebble into the water. "And here I figured it would be Buffy or Willow coming out, to see if I'm evil or something."

Gunn chuckled. "Well, Angel kinda put a stop to the 'is she possessed?' questions. He dragged Buffy into the office. And I think you scared the crap out of that Willow girl..."

This brought a big smile to Cordy's face.

Gunn said with a shrug, "Just so ya know, I'm giving up trying to figure out you guys' feelings. One minute you're all this big team, the next you're at each other's throats! Mind telling me what all the big fuss is about? I get that you want to protect Xander, but grabbing the chick and pinning her against the wall is kinda going a little overboard..."

Cordy giggled, as she sat next to her friend on the stone bench. "It goes back a long way."

Gunn shrugged, "I've got time."

"All right. Look, you remember what you called me once, when you first knew me?" she asked him.

"What, you mean the stick-figure Barbie crack?"

"Yeah. A lot of people made that mistake with me. Even the ones that were my friends. Hell, even my family thought I was just an airhead! So I pretty much played the part. Sometimes, even *I* thought I was a bimbo..."

The woman looked at him. "Do you know, I once had a conversation with the rest of the popular girls in high school about lipstick...that lasted for three hours?"

"Ouch!"

"Yeah," Cordelia agreed with him. "Gunn, thing is – there are moments in your life that people say change you forever. Kissing Xander in that basement, was that for me. Like someone said recently, both of us – we had to grow up fast in a few short years. But Buffy and Willow…"

"Yeah, what's with them?" Gunn asked. "When they first came here a couple of months ago, when that fake Skip said Xander was being brainwashed by the evil guys, those two chicks had this huge 'I told ya so' attitude. Then after his little resurrection, they acted like they were jealous of the guy or something. Now it's back to, "it's all Xander's fault"?"

"I don't know if I can fully explain it," the former Queen C told him with a sigh. "To Buffy and Willow, I think – I think that to them, Xander is just playing demon fighter. Like a kid, playing dress-up."

"What?!" Gunn asked, shocked. "But that makes no sense! Even last year when he was here helpin' us out with Wolfram & Hart – boy made plans, and kicked major ass. He took out a SWAT team of theirs that tried to kill Wes, for God's sake! And that was before he even got those funky powers. So why the hell would they think that?"

"First impressions are kinda hard to get rid of, I guess. And I hate to break it you, Gunn, but my money says they think that about me, too. Next time you talk with them, bring up a time when I fought vamps or demons…I'll bet they won't believe you, at first. Unless you also mention I ran screaming from the room..."

The woman stared at her friend, right in the eye. "As far as they're concerned, they're the only true fighters around here…well, apart from Angel and Spike of course. The rest of us are the...the groupies," Cordelia said slowly, shaking her head.

Gunn still wasn't a believer. "How the hell could they get such big egos? Okay, Slayer and a witch, but so what?"

That brought a tiny smile to Cordy's face. "Deep down, in my opinion Buffy Summers is an insecure glory hound. It's as simple as that. She was the basic model 'valley girl bimbo' here in LA, then the Slayer thing happened and she suddenly becomes important...over the years it went to her head, big-time."

"Really?"

The brunette nodded. "She used to always bitch about how she just wants a normal life, but I know Buffy gets off on having the world counting on her. One time we thought she'd lost her powers, around her 18th birthday? She was helpless. She hated it, and would have done almost anything to get them back..."

Gunn shrugged. "What about the other one?"

"Willow? She went from a shy nerd, to being a Wiccan. First few years though, she could only do a few tricks; you know, what it'd take to get her a spot on a David Copperfield special. But somehow, it made her and Buffy into the Wonder Twins. When Xander didn't get any super powers, he went from their best friend to their Jimmy Olsen."

The former gang leader couldn't help laughing, "Jimmy Olsen, huh?"

"Don't laugh, it happened! I know, because one time I called Xander on it...anyway, Buffy and Willow were the heroes and Xander was the sidekick who got snacks. They even hid things from him on occasion, sometimes they wouldn't tell him about the Scooby meetings and leave him out of stuff..."

Her voice mimicked Willow's, "But Xander, we just don't want to see you get hurt..."

All this was making less and less sense to Gunn. "He was there from the beginning and helped out the entire time, and they just pushed him aside to protect him? No way would that have happened in the Lost Boys. He'd have been one of our group leaders by then, no question. But how does that explain the "it's all his fault" stuff?"

"Oh, now that's easy," Cordelia cocked her head. "It has to do with the Big Lie."

"Lie?"

"Angel lost his soul a few years ago. It couldn't have been helped; none of us knew about the happiness clause back then. And Buffy couldn't slay Angelus, since he had Angel's face."

"But Angel has always said if he turns bad we stake him. No if, ands, or buts, we just do it." Gunn said.

Cordelia nodded, but decided to ignore that. "Well, at the end of the school year Angelus was going to destroy the world. It came down to trusting that Willow, who'd just come out of a coma, could do the spell to re-ensoul him, and Buffy being able to fend off Angelus until then."

"What exactly happened?" Gunn asked. He'd never heard the entire story, and really wanted to know.

Cordy said in a monotone, "Xander didn't trust that it would work, so he didn't tell Buffy about the spell when he was sent out to do so. Whether it was the right thing to do or not, I don't know. And whether his real reason for doing it was saving the world or wanting Angel to pay for everything he'd done, that's also a pretty grey area..."

She sighed again. "The bottom line is right before Buffy was going to send Angelus to Hell to close the portal…the spell worked, and she had to send Angel to Hell instead. She and Willow think that Buffy could have prevented that, if she'd known the spell was going to be tried – but personally, I don't see how it would have gone down any differently."

The woman recounted the various details to her friend, "Buffy on the run accused of murder, Willow in a coma, Giles tortured, Kendra killed, Xander with a broken arm…"

"And you?"

Cordelia shook her head in disgust. "It was just another moment on the Hellmouth for me. Xander had just gotten his arm snapped, but still he was able to throw some vamp onto the one that was coming for yours truly. He yelled for me to run, and I did."

"You ran?" Gunn asked, not fully believing it.

"Oh yeah. I felt ashamed of myself, when I found them in the hospital later. I ran like a little girl! That was one of the reasons I came out here to LA, you know. I was always something. Someone's daughter, or someone's girlfriend. I wanted a chance to find out who Cordelia Chase really was. But still…going by myself to a huge city like LA, totally on my own? I'd toyed with the idea of asking Xander to come with me. But I knew he wouldn't have done it."

"What makes you so sure?" Gunn demanded. "The guy said he never stopped loving you..."

Her expression grew bitter. "I knew he wouldn't have come, because Buffy and Willow were staying in Sunnydale. He wouldn't leave them. When we were dating, I thought Xander was always running off to help them because he had the hots for them, or something. But a bit before Graduation, I had a chance to talk to a friend of my older sister. He was a psych major..."

She continued, "I told him how Xander had this big thing about protecting them, even when they shut him out and made him feel like crap. Right away, he asked if Xander's home life was abusive. I told him as much as I knew, at the time. See, Xander's dad wasn't the nicest man around, if you can even call him a man..."

Cordy stopped and looked at Gunn. "And you're never to repeat this to anyone, all right?"

Gunn agreed, "Of course."

"Well, he just said Xander was doing transference onto Buffy and Willow. He thought Xander was angry with himself, for not standing up to his father when he was younger; that he felt worthless. And by protecting those two that he was redeeming himself, even unconsciously."

The black man was puzzled. "I still don't get it."

She smirked, "It seems that Xander didn't think I needed protection. He thought I could take care of myself. I found out later when I was upstairs, getting the 'this was your life' spiel, that there was a little more to it than that. But lucky me, he now feels the guilt about both me and Anya."

Cordelia then looked a little hopeful, "That's why I'm so glad that Xander has this new team of his. And that Buffy and Willow are going back to Sunnydale, and then off to who knows where to fight evil. Xander will be away from them; he'll get the chance to be his own man, and not a Scooby or a sidekick. He was stuck in their shadow, for far too long."

Gunn patted her on the back. "From what I've seen, he's doing fine on his own. And he's got you to keep him in line now, if he gets a big ego."

"You really think so?"

"Hell, yeah. He's saved the day a few times now. With no Slayer or redhead, anywhere to be seen. He…" Gunn stopped, when his cell phone rang.

He checked the screen. "It's Rondell."

"Your friend who's leading your old gang?" she asked.

"Yeah," he told her, and answered the phone. "Rondell, man, what's up?" Gunn then jumped up, as he listened. "Say what?!" he shouted. "Yeah, sure man. I'm on my way..."

As he put his phone away, Cordy looked at him. "What? Did something bad happen?"

Gunn had a shell-shocked look on his face, as he shook his head. "I think your boy just got put on the Lost Boys' Christmas card list..."

"What?! Why?"

"Three military trucks just pulled up to our base. Full of MREs, medical supplies. Plus, a whole bunch of mattresses and clothes! Couple of Air Force people said that one Captain Harris thought my unit needed field requisitions," he told her. "Damn, you didn't know anything about this?"

She shook her stunned head. "No. He must have thought I couldn't keep it a secret, the big jerk..."

A few moments later they went back into the lobby, and noticed a new person present. Cordelia went right over to him, "Giles!" she exclaimed, as she hugged him.

"Ah, ah, it's good to see you again as well, Cordelia," Giles said with a smile, as they hugged.

Cordelia saw Buffy and Willow standing in surprise, watching them. "Well, I was on a bit of an emotional roller coaster when you were last here last time. Off in my own little world, or whatever..."

Giles shrugged. "You had a lot to deal with at the time, so think nothing of it." He looked around, "Now, where are my grandchildren?" the British man asked somewhat jokingly, as he picked up a Toys 'R Us bag. "I have to do the spoiling part now, y'know..."

She led him around the counter to the playpen with Lorne and Fred, babbling baby talk to the girls. And soon Giles was engrossed with the other two adults, playing with the babies.

Cordelia watched it all, with a huge smile plastered on her face. All was right in the world, she felt as she watched.

Well, that is until Buffy pulled her over to the corner with Willow. "What did he mean, by 'his grandchildren'?"

Cordelia sighed. Great, Buffy's possessive now. "It's real simple. Both Xander and I think of Giles as our real father. He raised us both, a lot more than our own biological parents did..."

She saw their looks and sighed, yet again. "Buffy, you had a mom who loved you and Dawn. And Willow, you got along okay with your parents, except maybe when your mom tried to burn you at the stake..."

The redhead looked away at that, but Cordelia kept going. "Xander and I didn't have that. He got abused, and I just got handed a Gold card and a pat on the head. It doesn't mean he won't be the same, for any children you two ever have – and hell, if you guys ever do have kids, they'll be more like cousins to the girls than friends..."

Gunn threw on his jacket and was headed out the door, when three people came in. Three people that caused Cordelia to visibly cringe.

Her blood family. Her parents and her sister.

Jules Chase looked at Gunn. "Excuse me, young…man. Is Cordelia Chase staying here?"

Gunn bristled at the looks he was getting from the three new arrivals. But he finally turned back, "Hey, Cordy!" he called. "You got company..." Then he felt the older woman's eyes on his back, as he left.

The three Chases made no friends with the black man that day.

Angel and the others watched, as Cordelia squared her shoulders and took a deep breath, then came out from around the counter. "Mom, Dad, and Cassandra as well. To what do I owe the honor of this visit?" she asked, with a touch of venom in her voice. "As if I didn't already know..."

Her parents and older sister ignored her tone. "Cordelia, dear!" her mother said, as she politely hugged her. "Your father and I have just gotten back from our stay in Paris..."

Cordelia shook her head, as she had no intention of playing this little charade. "Oh, is that what they're calling the prison in Stockton now?"

Jules Chase frowned. "Cordelia honey, please. We cleared up that little error years ago..."

"Error?" Cordelia asked, innocently. "So, all the stuff that the IRS yanked out of my room is in a truck outside?"

Cassandra tried to change the subject when she went up to Angel, "Why, hello there. You're one of Cordy's friends from Sunnydale, aren't you?" she asked seductively.

Angel just nodded, stone-faced as Cordelia looked at her sister in disgust. "Oh, of course you remember him! You asked him out, several times. I wonder what Roger would have to say about that?"

Cassandra Chase looked to her younger sister with mild surprise. "What's the matter with you? I'm just chatting with an old friend. There's nothing wrong with that, is there?"

"There is when he's an old friend of mine, not yours!"

"Cordelia, dear? There's no need for you two to fight over boys again like when you were teenagers," their mother said. "Now, I hear you've neglected to inform us of some new additions to the Chase family?"

Cordelia sighed; she looked across the counter to Giles and Wesley, and nodded. Moments later, they brought over Erica and Kelsey.

"Oh my, they're just the most precious little things! Aren't they, Cassandra?" Mrs. Chase asked her eldest, as she saw the two baby girls.

Mr. Chase took more notice of Wesley and Giles. "And who are these friends of yours, Cordelia?"

"Mom, Dad, Cassandra. Meet Wesley and Giles..." She threw a dig at her father in on a whim. "Grandpa Giles, actually."

Jules Chase looked between Wesley and Giles. Then he jumped to the wrong conclusion, "Wesley, is it?" he asked, extending his hand.

Wesley shook it with his free hand. "Yes?"

"I must say, Cordelia, this is much better than I could've hoped for," her mother said approvingly, looking Wesley over like a prize dog. "So, how long did it take for you to sweep my daughter off her feet?"

"Well, ah…." Wesley started to say, before throwing Cordelia a confused look.

"It's good to know her taste has improved, you know," Mrs. Chase deadpanned. "Cordelia had this ridiculous rebellious streak in her, during high school. She went out with some...rather undesirable elements."

"Oh, really?" was all Wes could think to say.

"Oh, yes. There was one boy, he was a little slow you see. I suppose he was nice enough, but the people he associated with – well, he simply had no future ahead of him..."

It was at this moment that Buffy and Willow took a step forward, ire on their faces.

Cassandra only noticed the sudden anger in her younger sister. "Now, now, Cordelia. It's all in the past; and everyone makes some bad choices, sometimes. I had the tennis instructor at the club," she winked at her sibling. "I'm sure he scratched an itch you had back in high school, but…"

"Ah, wait a second – what are these beautiful little girls' names?" Mr. Chase butted in. He didn't want to upset his youngest if he didn't have to, at least not at the moment.

"Oh, um, that's Kelsey," Giles said tilting his head towards the girl in Wesley's arms. "And this little one is Erica."

Cordelia watched with a great deal of satisfaction, at the shocked look that came over her mother and sister's faces.

"Kelsey and Erica?" her sister repeated, shocked. "That can't be right..." Cassandra looked in confusion towards her mother, but Mrs. Chase just shared the shocked look. "No, seriously, what are their names?"

"Those are their names. What's wrong with them?" Giles asked, perplexed.

"Well, ah, all the Chase women have a first name starting with C. It's been tradition since forever," Cassandra told him.

"That's right, and we can't change family tradition now," Mrs. Chase said disapprovingly, as she looked at the girls. "Well, we'll simply have to change their names..."

"WHAT!!?" everyone looked at Fred. "Who the hell are you to suggest that?!"

"I'm their grandmother," Mrs. Chase told her, with an air of superiority. "Now, Cordelia…" the woman stopped in confusion, as she could almost see the waves of utter rage coming off her youngest.

"Change my daughters' names!!?" Cordelia whispered, furious enough to kill somebody. "What the hell gives you the right to come in here, and demand anything?!"

Mr. Chase tried to calm his baby girl. "Now, Cordelia, don't get upset. But your mother's right, it's tradition..."

Cordelia snapped her head around. "Oh, shut up Daddy!"

Then she looked over to the others. "Giles, Wesley. Please take my kids back over to the play pen..." And without another word, both men turned and left with the baby girls.

Cordelia turned her rage back towards her parents. "You know what? I'm only surprised that it took you this long to come around! You don't give a damn about the girls or their names, do you? All you care about is that I finally got Uncle David's inheritance..."

She shrugged. "Maybe also that I got on a TV show, after a few years out here alone? Whatever. But did you think I wasn't expecting you three, one of these days? And wild guess here, you want to move into the mansion. Cassandra's husband getting sick of you guys mooching off of him?"

"Cordelia, that's enough! You will not talk to your mother like that..." Jules Chase admonished his daughter.

"Why the hell not?!" Cordelia yelled, completely pissed. "I'm the black sheep of the family, remember!? You disowned my ass, when I wouldn't be pawned off to that idiot you'd picked out for me..."

"Joshua was a decent young man," her mother told her sternly. "He was raised in a good family…"

"You mean a rich family, don't you?" Cordelia interrupted her, sarcastically. "Funny how you finally gave a damn about my love life, after you got caught cheating on your taxes for 12 years!"

Fred was surprised. "You mean, they wanted you to date a guy just because he was rich? I didn't think parents still did that anymore..."

"Oh, it was more than just dating," Cordelia told her friend. "The day after the IRS raided the house, I had them reintroducing me to some guy I'd met only once. Imagine my surprise, when I found my mother picking out my wedding dress!"

She turned back to Mrs. Chase, her voice dripping with scorn. "All so they could just stay in the right social circles..."

"He did love you, dear..." Mrs. Chase tried to tell her.

"Oh yeah, he loved me alright. He loved my body!" Cordelia shook her head. "You should have seen his face, when he saw me in my cheerleader outfit. Thanks all the same, but I'd rather have a man who loved me for my mind as well as what I look like! And not just so you can leech off of me..."

Mrs. Chase shook her head. "Show some respect, young lady!" she demanded. "We raised you; you're a Chase. So start acting like one!"

Cordelia's rage built up even more. "You raised me?!" she asked, her voice dripping with as much sarcasm as anyone had ever heard from her.

"Mother, you were way too busy always faking the latest trendy diseases, just to get money or sympathy. And Daddy? When you did remember I was alive, all you ever did was give me a pat on the head and one of your credit cards! I nearly died dozens of times in that damn town, and you were too busy jetting off to Tokyo to play golf to notice!"

She pointed towards her friends. "These people have been my family, a thousand times more than you three ever were! I can trust any of them with my life! With my children's lives!"

Everyone watched, stunned, as Cordelia ripped her parents a new one. Fred had always wondered why Cordelia never talked about her family. And now she knew...

The pissed-off former Vision Girl walked to Giles, who was now standing at the counter having giving Erica to Willow. "This is Rupert Giles," Cordy said, as she looked between him and her birth father.

"I'm almost ashamed to admit it, but he's been more of a parental influence on me than you and Mom ever were. I learned how to behave and act like an adult, from him!"

Giles looked at Cordelia, completely at a loss for words as she continued.

"The three of you have never once tried to get in touch with me, ever since I left Sunnydale. Not once. But now that I have money, well, hey, here you are! Giles here has sent me a birthday card every year, and whenever I needed some fatherly advice he was always there for me. He was never too busy not to listen to me, or offer whatever help he could. And I thank God that he'll be there to help shape my baby girls, into the women they'll one day become..."

Giles placed his hand over the one Cordelia had on his shoulder. "I-I-I don't know what to say, Cordelia..."

She just gave him the warmest smile the British man had ever seen from her, along with a kiss on the cheek.

Then Ms. Chase turned, and gave her parents a very cruel smile. "And just so you know, for the record? My daughters' names are not going to be changed for some stupid family tradition. I was never planning on ever continuing it, in the first place. And FYI, Wesley isn't their father. That honor belongs to my fiancé, Xander Harris!"

Mr. Chase paled drastically. "Oh dear God, how could I have not seen it? He got you drunk and knocked you up, didn't he? I should have had that boy castrated…"

Buffy looked ready to tear him apart. Willow almost gave in to the temptation of flaying him alive. But all that saved Jules Chase from becoming a stain on the far wall, was Angel's vampire speed. Angel intercepted Cordelia, mere inches from her father...

The vampire struggled to hold his best friend, as he turned to look at the three Chase family members. All three of them had pure and utter shock on their faces. "I think you should leave now..."

They didn't move, and Angel saw a look of terror show up on their faces.

Wondering why, the ensouled vampire looked back towards Cordelia.

Her eyes were glowing, pure white...

He turned back to the Chases, went into his game face and growled, "Leave! NOW!"

In three seconds flat, they were out the door.

Giles came up behind her and took Cordelia in his arms, as she buried her head in his shoulders and cried.

***

The Chase Family Mansion

Xander stood at the main entrance, waving goodbye to the car containing Gavin, Connor and Kristen. By sheer chance, Cordelia's car drove in at the same time they were leaving and both cars honked at each other, as they passed in the circular driveway.

As Cordy pulled up in front of Xander, the others went onto the street and the large iron gate, with a stylized letter C on it, started to close.

"Get everything set up, honey?"  Cordy kissed him, as he came over to help with the girls.

"Yeah, we got everything we wanted. The basement has all-new stuff, along with our office, but everything upstairs is all still where you left it," he told her.

The young woman flashed the guy an appreciative smile, as she hefted Erica into her arms and hit the car alarm button with her fingers. The car beeped, and its lights flashed once as they went into the mansion.

The couple went right up to the nursery they had set up. "You look like you had a rough day," Xander observed to Cordy, as he laid Kelsey down in the large crib.

"I've had better," his fiancée told him with a shrug, as she laid Erica down and covered them both up. Then Cordelia grabbed a tiny grey remote off the changing table, and hit a button.

In almost every room tiny red lights came on the sides of baby monitors, before she set the remote back down. "Can we just go straight to bed? God, I just want so much to get this day over with," she asked, as she leaned into him.

"Sure, Cordy, but there's just one tiny thing I want to show you first," Xander whispered, as he pulled the nursery door slightly closed. He felt her sigh against him and grinned, "Trust me, you'll love it..."

After a few moments, Cordelia found he had led her to an upstairs storeroom, on the front side of the mansion; one that was not being used for anything. "What's in there, Xander?" she asked, stifling a yawn.

"Just take a look," the US Air Force officer told her.

Cordy rolled her eyes a bit, and opened the door. The lights were on, and she could see what looked like a tiny office. A desk with a laptop computer, stereo, 27-inch TV, X-box, Playstation 2…

"Xander, what are we going to use this room for?" she asked in confusion.

"We aren't going to use it for anything, Cor. This is Dennis's room," the man grinned at her.

"Dennis? But Xander, he's trapped haunting that Silver Lake apartment…"

Cordy trailed off, after she heard the sounds of typing on the laptop's keyboard. Walking over, she read the screen. It said in big letters:

Cordelia, I like this place much better. It has a lot more space.

She smiled instantly. "Dennis, is that you?"

More typing was heard…

I'm right here. And now I have my own TV to watch wrestling.

A laugh escaped her lips, as Cordelia turned to Xander. "Now, it feels like home!!"

***

The Master Bedroom

Thirty minutes later found Xander and Cordy ready for bed. Cordelia had on a large white shirt with a large Tweety bird on the front, while Xander just wore a set of dark blue cotton pajamas.

Xander got in first, and lay down on his back. As expected, Cordelia crawled in and pushed up next to him. She laid her head on his chest; but then he had become used to being her pillow, whenever she'd had a bad day. "Do you want to talk about it, Cor?"

"Yeah, I guess. My, uh, parents and sister came around to the hotel after you left."

Understanding instantly, Xander grimaced. "Ah. That bad, huh?"

She looked up at him. "I don't know why, Xander. I mean I know they don't give a crap about anything, other than the money. But still...there was this tiny part of me, that thought maybe when they saw Kelsey and Erica's tiny little faces? Well, that Mom and Dad would just fall in love with them and want to be good grandparents, like Giles..."

He sighed. "I know, Cor. I had the same trouble with my mom; I mean, I thought she'd be happy for me. For us. But she just thought I was there to get help with the child support payments..."

Her eyebrow went up. "What child support payments?"

"She thought I got you knocked up, and then took off."

Another sad look crossed her face. "She wouldn't have been the first person to think that. Well, my dad thought you got me drunk first..."

The guy snorted in amusement. "Isn't it great to be loved, Cordy?" Xander asked his betrothed sarcastically. He was surprised though, by her looking intently into his eyes.

"Yes it is, Xander. Yes it is," she said before she kissed him. Then Cordelia laid her head back on his chest. "Goodnight, my love."

"Goodnight, Cor," Xander told her, as he kissed the top of her head. They were both fast asleep, minutes later.

***

Yet another vision.

Hammersmith Park. Sunnydale, California 2001

Cordelia looked up from the baby stroller to see the strawberry-blond woman, in that tiny red dress, sit next to her on the park bench. "Do I know you?" she asked curiously.

The woman grinned wickedly. "You bet you do, babe. You just don't remember it. And I have to say, the kids are a nice touch. I wouldn't have given you a second glance – but, you screwed up."

"Who are you? And what the hell are you talking about-?"

The woman laughed. "You see, I didn't even know about you. I knew about the witches, the brat sister, the vampire, even the idiot guy that's been hiding you. I had my little minions do their minion thing, and follow each and every one of them. I told them to find the new people, and the only new one was you! It was quite a shock when I learned that the dork had a hot chick staying with him..."

Realization hit Cordy in a flash. "Glory," she whispered in horror.

Glory grabbed her hand tightly. "That's right, baby. Now see, I did a little checking, and funny thing – it seems that Cordelia Chase left Sunnydale, to live the big life in the City of Angels. I ran into a couple of her old friends at the mall who just love to gossip, and do you know what I found out?"

Cordy shook her head fearfully, as she glanced at the two sleeping babies in the stroller.

"You see, the thing is…" Glory began. "I heard Cordelia Chase dumped that loser boy Harris, a long time ago. She said that she'd never return to this crap-fest of a town, but look! Here she is. Wild guess, honeybunch...the real Cordelia Chase is making porno films in LA right now, and my little Key is here hiding in plain sight..."

Glory turned her head suddenly; then she smiled, and forced Cordelia to look. The young woman's heart froze, when she saw Xander, Buffy, and Willow off in the distance, searching the park.

"Oh, it looks like they found me out! I guess I'm going to get it now, huh?" the mad hellgod asked grinning, as she squeezed down hard on Cordy's hand.

The young mother was about to scream in pain, as she felt her bones breaking. But Glory put her hand out over her mouth, "I wouldn't do that, if I were you. Call out to them, and the little tykes are dead before they even hear you scream..."

The hell-bitch looked down at their hands. "Oh, look. You're bleeding, how about I have a little taste?"

Glory took her other hand, wiped a little of Cordy's blood from her digits and tasted it. Suddenly, angry shock showed on her face. "Why, you little bitch! You're just a normal human!"

Cordy watched fearfully through her tears when Glory noticed something else, as she took another taste of the blood. "Damn, honey! You didn't tell me you're a pre-Immortal..."

She then reached out, placing her hand on Cordy's heart. The human screamed in agony, as she felt some sort of energy being ripped from her body...

 People walking by watched, amazed, as a bright light flowed across Glory's arm and over her body, for several seconds. And after the light show was over, Glory stood over the passed-out Cordelia. "Thanks for the boost, hon..."

She then glanced in passing at the crushed hand. "Oh, that's going to take a long time to heal…well, now anyway."

***

The Chase Family Mansion, 2004

"Cordy!"

She was dimly aware of her name being called.

"Come on Cor, please, wake up!"

She snapped fully awake. She was shaking, and the brunette woman could feel the tears streaming down her face. But Xander's voice broke through her shock, "Cordelia! Are you okay!?"

She looked up to see her lover's very concerned face staring at her. "Xander!" she called between gasps of air.

"You're so pale..." the man in question motioned down with his head. It was only then that Cordelia noticed that her arms were wrapped around him so tightly, that it was almost to the point of cutting off his circulation.

She quickly let go. "I'm sorry!"

Xander just wrapped his arms around her. "Calm down, baby. It's okay. No harm done," he told her, as the former class clown stroked her right arm. "What happened? That must have been one hell of a nightmare. What was it about?"

"Nothing!" she said too quickly, before she could stop herself.

"Nothing?" Captain Harris looked into her eyes. "Cordy, what's going on? Talk to me, please."

The tears fell, as she touched his face. "It's something I have to deal with, Xander. Please, trust me on this."

"I do Cor, you know I do. But we're a team now. If something's wrong with you, then it's wrong with me too..."

He could see the pleading in her eyes. "Please Xander, please just lemme deal with it for now. I promise you, I will tell you everything soon; but I just have this feeling I have to do this on my own for now." She stroked his face. "Please, baby?"

Cordelia Chase could read the man well enough to know that he was disappointed that she didn't trust him, but in the last few days she'd just had this gut instinct to solve this on her lonesomeness. But she wasn't going to let Xander think he wasn't needed...

She slid up to be lying next to the guy on the pillows, and looked right in to his eyes. "Xander? Don't take this the wrong way. You're my lover, my friend, my happiness, my inspiration, and soon my husband. But I have to do this one on my own. Afterwards, I swear I'll tell you every tiny detail, okay? Please be alright with this, I'm practically begging you..."

Xander looked at her for a few moments, before he nodded. "All right, Cordy. I don't like it at all, but all right."

Relief flooded her. "Thank you," the brunette beauty told him, as she ran her fingers through his hair. "I'll tell you everything when I can, but for now…"

"Yeah?"

"Can you please just hold me?"

Without another word, Xander moved in and took her in his arms, and she leant as far into his embrace as she could. The faint sound of his heartbeat in his chest was the most soothing sound Cordelia had ever heard, as she tried to drift off back to sleep.

TBC...