Buffy didn't call back that day or the next.
"Maybe I should call her?" Cordelia suggested to Faith.
"She said she'd call you." Faith pointed out.
"I know that, but she hasn't. I have to admit, I'm kinda worried." She told her anxiously.
"Buffy could have killed her and is hiding the body as we speak." Faith whispered.
Cordelia rubbed her arms. "You just gave me goose bumps!"
Faith laughed. "Why don't you call Willow?"
"Sometimes, I do think there's a brain in there somewhere." She smiled and picked up the phone.
Just as she did Connor started crying. "Could you..?"
"I'm on it." Faith replied and went to get him.
"Willow, hi it's Cordelia!" She spoke into the phone when it picked up.
"Cordy hi!"
"Uh, this is going to sound really weird but I'm going to say it anyway." She took a deep breath. "How are Dawn and Buffy?"
"They're okay." She sounded puzzled.
"Have you seen them?"
"Yeah."
"Today?"
"Uh, no, yesterday." She replied.
"When yesterday?" She probed.
"Morning, why?"
"Look, I know this sounds very weird but I need you to go round there and check that they're okay."
"What's all this about Cordy? You're starting to worry me!"
"I'm sorry. Call it my spider sense. Can you just check on them and call me back?" She pleaded.
"Yeah, okay, if it's that important."
"It is, thank you." She hung up.
Faith came back with Connor nestled in her arms. "She going to call you back?"
Cordelia nodded. Faith offered her Connor but she waved her away. "While he's not crying he's all yours.
Angel came down the stairs and kissed Cordelia's head. "Morning."
"Afternoon." She replied.
He looked at his watch and frowned. "Sometimes I have no idea where time goes."
"You sleep it away." Faith told him helpfully, grinning from her perch on the counter.
"Helpful Faith." He muttered grumpily, moving her legs so he could get in the fridge for some blood.
"Ignore him." Cordelia advised. "He's still touchy from the other morning."
"Angel baby, there's nothing to be ashamed about." She grinned. "It was all good."
He pulled a face at her. "You sound smug now, but one of these days I'll get my own back."
"Ooh, is that a threat?" She taunted.
Cordelia rolled her eyes and went to pick up Ashleigh out of her bassinet where she was just starting to stir.
"I don't make threats Faith." He told her.
Cordelia snorted. "Yeah right."
He turned to glare at her. "The bonds of marriage mean that you have to legally take my side in arguments."
She raised an eyebrow. "Only when I think you're right."
"You don't think. Never mind." He went to put his blood in the microwave.
The phone started to ring and Cordelia grabbed it before anyone else could. Angel gave her a strange look but she just smiled at him. "Hello?"
"Dawn's gone." Willow told her, not even saying hello.
"What? Since when? Where to?" She exclaimed.
"Yesterday and we don't know. Buffy is going out of her mind. Apparently something went down and Buffy freaked and Dawn took off. Spike and Xander are out looking for her." She told her breathlessly.
"Do you want us to come down?"
"Us?"
"Me and Faith, she's been bugging me to go on vacation."
"Oh yeah, coming to Sunnydale, big vacation." Willow joked lightly but to both of them it sounded lame.
"We can come and take care of things for Buffy until dawn comes back."
Faith was nodding her head vigorously while Angel was shaking his behind her.
Faith saw Cordelia's eyes rise over her head and turned to swat Angel across the arm.
"That would be great." Willow admitted. "I know Buffy won't be into the slaying right now and to be quite honest I don't fancy the job."
"We'd be happy to." Cordelia promised. "When do you want us? Tonight?"
"That sounds good."
"Okay, see you tonight."
Cordelia hung up the phone and turned to Angel. "I'm sorry baby, but they need someone to go down there."
"Why you?"
She stood up and went to put her arms around him. "Because I'm a big strong demon fighter who also happens to be a half demon."
"And she's also dying to go check out the hotties in Sunnydale." Faith added.
Cordelia turned and glared at her. "Buffy needs me. Us. Me."
"Hey!" Faith objected.
"Oh yeah, like you'll do anything to help."
"I am a slayer too, in case you forgot."
"How could I?"
"I could kick your ass!"
"Yeah right."
She turned back to Angel. "Please baby? Let me go to the hell mouth."
"That makes it sound worse." He warned but then relented and kissed her cheek gently. "Fine, but if you get killed then you have to come back as a ghost and explain to your children why you got killed."
She rolled her eyes. "Melodramatic much?"
She turned to Faith and took Connor off her. "So, up for it Faith?"
"I'm up for anything." She answered sweetly.
"Yeah, we know." Cordelia replied over her shoulder as she went into the office to check on Ashleigh. "And anyone."
"I hope not." Wes added as he came in through the front doors.
"Come on Wes, you know I'm a one woman man." Faith told him.
He leant down to kiss her head. "I had to see it to believe it."
She swatted his backside as he walked past. "What have I missed?"
"We're going on vacation." Faith announced.
"We are?"
"No, we are." She corrected, pointing at Cordelia.
"Oh."
"Dawn's run away." Cordelia told him. "I told Willow that Faith and I would go down and take over the slaying for Buffy."
"Rather you than me."
"Did someone just say vacation?" Gunn asked as he and Fred came through the doors Wes had just come through.
"Not for you." Faith told him.
"Break my heart girl."
"Ignore him." Fred told them. "He's just testy because he didn't get a bl."
Gunn slapped a hand over her mouth. "Don't even go there."
Faith grinned and raised her eyebrows at him suggestively.
Cordelia laughed. "Okay, how about we advance from this riveting conversation topic and order Chinese?"
"Faith, I swear if you do not turn that noise off right now then you will not live to see Sunnydale!" Cordelia shouted over the blasting music Faith had put on the radio. "And that is a threat!"
Faith laughed and lazily turned the radio off with her big toe. "You need to chill C."
"Don't call me that when I'm pissed at you Faith." Cordelia warned.
"Why are you pissed? I didn't know you were pissed."
"Faith, you have insisted on blaring totally incoherent music out of the speakers since we left LA. You've been tossing Mini Oreos at me for the past hour and now you insist on taking your shoes off, which I have to admit is not a good thing when your feet stink!"
Faith laughed and slipped her shoes back on. "Better?"
"For now." She replied grudgingly.
"Are we there yet?" Faith asked in a childish voice.
Cordelia looked at her in amazement and then burst out laughing. "I'm sorry; I just hate driving for such a long time."
"Want me to take over?" She offered.
"I'm under strict instructions not to let you anywhere near the wheel."
"Big scary vamp is scared of me driving his car?"
"In a word, yes."
"I knew we should have taken Wes's car."
"Yeah, but Wes's car is like Giles's old car, before he got the cool sports car." Cordelia complained.
"I know, but he's old, what can I do?"
"Strap a leash around his neck and drag him down to a car lot and make him buy a new car."
"No, the lash thing didn't really work, handcuffs worked better." She told her breezily.
Cordelia took her eyes off the wheel to look at Faith strangely. "Are you kidding? I never know when you're kidding."
"I handcuffed him to his bed and ravished him. He liked it." She smiled. "Then again, I did."
Cordelia shook her head. "You are unbelievable."
"That's what he said." She joked. "Come on Cor, Fred's the prude; surely you and Angel have tried some sort of bondage?"
She shook her head. "Not really. We tried the blindfolded thing once but we like to be able to see each other."
"You don't know what you're missing; being dominated is such an intense feeling. Someone has power over you; they control everything that you feel. It blows you away."
"We've done the whole public place thing. That was fun." Cordelia mused.
"Where?"
"Uh, Hancock Park, outside the Hyperion, the graveyard in Sunnydale the last time we were in town."
"I prefer the kids' playground."
"The what? Faith, are you crazy?" She exclaimed.
"It was at night." She defended herself. "The swings are a really good spot. You can get on it and start swinging and then you get him to stand just right so that every time you swing towards him you."
"I would gladly let you take your shoes off again if you don't finish that sentence." Cordelia told her, interrupting her.
Faith laughed. "Get Angel to try it, but by the size of him he could rip you in two."
Cordelia groaned. "Faith!"
"It's not that Wes is small, he's not, but Angel is really wide. Wes certainly knows how to work his though, round and round, up and down, in and out. Any way you can think of, he can do it, over and over again."
"Faith, I swear, you have something in your brain that makes you unable to realise when you need to shut up."
"I have no inhibitions."
"Exactly." She concluded. "Now can we steer the conversation onto something less x-rated."
"Like knitting and cooking?" She mocked.
"If I let you drive will you shut up?" Cordelia begged.
"That's all you had to say!"
They pulled up outside the Summers' house an hour later. It should have taken another hour and a half but Faith drive like a madman.
They climbed out of the car stiffly and grabbed their bags out of the back. They were going to be stopping at the mansion but they thought they'd be better off stopping in to see Buffy first before they got settled. And being the hell mouth, they took their bags inside with them.
They went in without knocking. "Buffy?"
Willow and Tara hurried out of the kitchen and into the hallway. "She's gone; she followed Xander and Spike out of town after you called this afternoon. I tried to call you to let you know but Wesley said you'd already set off."
"Any news on where Dawn went?" Cordelia asked and slung her bag at the bottom of the stairs.
"The first thing we thought of was her dad but he hasn't heard from her." Tara explained. "Buffy and Dawn have relatives out West somewhere, that's where they're headed. Giles is calling round all the bus and train depots near here to see if she's been seen."
"But they haven't come up with anything." Faith guessed correctly.
Willow shook her head.
Cordelia looked at her watch. "It looks like we've got enough time for a quick sweep before we head back to the mansion. We could come back early tomorrow?"
Willow nodded. "That would be good. I could make waffles, you do like waffles?"
"Waffles would be great." Faith smiled.
Cordelia picked up her bag again and they went back to the car. "Poor Buffy."
"It's Dawn I feel sorry for." Faith told her as Cordelia got behind the wheel of the car and started the engine. "Running scared."
"It's tough being on your own." Cordelia replied, an edge of sadness in her voice.
"Maybe I should call her?" Cordelia suggested to Faith.
"She said she'd call you." Faith pointed out.
"I know that, but she hasn't. I have to admit, I'm kinda worried." She told her anxiously.
"Buffy could have killed her and is hiding the body as we speak." Faith whispered.
Cordelia rubbed her arms. "You just gave me goose bumps!"
Faith laughed. "Why don't you call Willow?"
"Sometimes, I do think there's a brain in there somewhere." She smiled and picked up the phone.
Just as she did Connor started crying. "Could you..?"
"I'm on it." Faith replied and went to get him.
"Willow, hi it's Cordelia!" She spoke into the phone when it picked up.
"Cordy hi!"
"Uh, this is going to sound really weird but I'm going to say it anyway." She took a deep breath. "How are Dawn and Buffy?"
"They're okay." She sounded puzzled.
"Have you seen them?"
"Yeah."
"Today?"
"Uh, no, yesterday." She replied.
"When yesterday?" She probed.
"Morning, why?"
"Look, I know this sounds very weird but I need you to go round there and check that they're okay."
"What's all this about Cordy? You're starting to worry me!"
"I'm sorry. Call it my spider sense. Can you just check on them and call me back?" She pleaded.
"Yeah, okay, if it's that important."
"It is, thank you." She hung up.
Faith came back with Connor nestled in her arms. "She going to call you back?"
Cordelia nodded. Faith offered her Connor but she waved her away. "While he's not crying he's all yours.
Angel came down the stairs and kissed Cordelia's head. "Morning."
"Afternoon." She replied.
He looked at his watch and frowned. "Sometimes I have no idea where time goes."
"You sleep it away." Faith told him helpfully, grinning from her perch on the counter.
"Helpful Faith." He muttered grumpily, moving her legs so he could get in the fridge for some blood.
"Ignore him." Cordelia advised. "He's still touchy from the other morning."
"Angel baby, there's nothing to be ashamed about." She grinned. "It was all good."
He pulled a face at her. "You sound smug now, but one of these days I'll get my own back."
"Ooh, is that a threat?" She taunted.
Cordelia rolled her eyes and went to pick up Ashleigh out of her bassinet where she was just starting to stir.
"I don't make threats Faith." He told her.
Cordelia snorted. "Yeah right."
He turned to glare at her. "The bonds of marriage mean that you have to legally take my side in arguments."
She raised an eyebrow. "Only when I think you're right."
"You don't think. Never mind." He went to put his blood in the microwave.
The phone started to ring and Cordelia grabbed it before anyone else could. Angel gave her a strange look but she just smiled at him. "Hello?"
"Dawn's gone." Willow told her, not even saying hello.
"What? Since when? Where to?" She exclaimed.
"Yesterday and we don't know. Buffy is going out of her mind. Apparently something went down and Buffy freaked and Dawn took off. Spike and Xander are out looking for her." She told her breathlessly.
"Do you want us to come down?"
"Us?"
"Me and Faith, she's been bugging me to go on vacation."
"Oh yeah, coming to Sunnydale, big vacation." Willow joked lightly but to both of them it sounded lame.
"We can come and take care of things for Buffy until dawn comes back."
Faith was nodding her head vigorously while Angel was shaking his behind her.
Faith saw Cordelia's eyes rise over her head and turned to swat Angel across the arm.
"That would be great." Willow admitted. "I know Buffy won't be into the slaying right now and to be quite honest I don't fancy the job."
"We'd be happy to." Cordelia promised. "When do you want us? Tonight?"
"That sounds good."
"Okay, see you tonight."
Cordelia hung up the phone and turned to Angel. "I'm sorry baby, but they need someone to go down there."
"Why you?"
She stood up and went to put her arms around him. "Because I'm a big strong demon fighter who also happens to be a half demon."
"And she's also dying to go check out the hotties in Sunnydale." Faith added.
Cordelia turned and glared at her. "Buffy needs me. Us. Me."
"Hey!" Faith objected.
"Oh yeah, like you'll do anything to help."
"I am a slayer too, in case you forgot."
"How could I?"
"I could kick your ass!"
"Yeah right."
She turned back to Angel. "Please baby? Let me go to the hell mouth."
"That makes it sound worse." He warned but then relented and kissed her cheek gently. "Fine, but if you get killed then you have to come back as a ghost and explain to your children why you got killed."
She rolled her eyes. "Melodramatic much?"
She turned to Faith and took Connor off her. "So, up for it Faith?"
"I'm up for anything." She answered sweetly.
"Yeah, we know." Cordelia replied over her shoulder as she went into the office to check on Ashleigh. "And anyone."
"I hope not." Wes added as he came in through the front doors.
"Come on Wes, you know I'm a one woman man." Faith told him.
He leant down to kiss her head. "I had to see it to believe it."
She swatted his backside as he walked past. "What have I missed?"
"We're going on vacation." Faith announced.
"We are?"
"No, we are." She corrected, pointing at Cordelia.
"Oh."
"Dawn's run away." Cordelia told him. "I told Willow that Faith and I would go down and take over the slaying for Buffy."
"Rather you than me."
"Did someone just say vacation?" Gunn asked as he and Fred came through the doors Wes had just come through.
"Not for you." Faith told him.
"Break my heart girl."
"Ignore him." Fred told them. "He's just testy because he didn't get a bl."
Gunn slapped a hand over her mouth. "Don't even go there."
Faith grinned and raised her eyebrows at him suggestively.
Cordelia laughed. "Okay, how about we advance from this riveting conversation topic and order Chinese?"
"Faith, I swear if you do not turn that noise off right now then you will not live to see Sunnydale!" Cordelia shouted over the blasting music Faith had put on the radio. "And that is a threat!"
Faith laughed and lazily turned the radio off with her big toe. "You need to chill C."
"Don't call me that when I'm pissed at you Faith." Cordelia warned.
"Why are you pissed? I didn't know you were pissed."
"Faith, you have insisted on blaring totally incoherent music out of the speakers since we left LA. You've been tossing Mini Oreos at me for the past hour and now you insist on taking your shoes off, which I have to admit is not a good thing when your feet stink!"
Faith laughed and slipped her shoes back on. "Better?"
"For now." She replied grudgingly.
"Are we there yet?" Faith asked in a childish voice.
Cordelia looked at her in amazement and then burst out laughing. "I'm sorry; I just hate driving for such a long time."
"Want me to take over?" She offered.
"I'm under strict instructions not to let you anywhere near the wheel."
"Big scary vamp is scared of me driving his car?"
"In a word, yes."
"I knew we should have taken Wes's car."
"Yeah, but Wes's car is like Giles's old car, before he got the cool sports car." Cordelia complained.
"I know, but he's old, what can I do?"
"Strap a leash around his neck and drag him down to a car lot and make him buy a new car."
"No, the lash thing didn't really work, handcuffs worked better." She told her breezily.
Cordelia took her eyes off the wheel to look at Faith strangely. "Are you kidding? I never know when you're kidding."
"I handcuffed him to his bed and ravished him. He liked it." She smiled. "Then again, I did."
Cordelia shook her head. "You are unbelievable."
"That's what he said." She joked. "Come on Cor, Fred's the prude; surely you and Angel have tried some sort of bondage?"
She shook her head. "Not really. We tried the blindfolded thing once but we like to be able to see each other."
"You don't know what you're missing; being dominated is such an intense feeling. Someone has power over you; they control everything that you feel. It blows you away."
"We've done the whole public place thing. That was fun." Cordelia mused.
"Where?"
"Uh, Hancock Park, outside the Hyperion, the graveyard in Sunnydale the last time we were in town."
"I prefer the kids' playground."
"The what? Faith, are you crazy?" She exclaimed.
"It was at night." She defended herself. "The swings are a really good spot. You can get on it and start swinging and then you get him to stand just right so that every time you swing towards him you."
"I would gladly let you take your shoes off again if you don't finish that sentence." Cordelia told her, interrupting her.
Faith laughed. "Get Angel to try it, but by the size of him he could rip you in two."
Cordelia groaned. "Faith!"
"It's not that Wes is small, he's not, but Angel is really wide. Wes certainly knows how to work his though, round and round, up and down, in and out. Any way you can think of, he can do it, over and over again."
"Faith, I swear, you have something in your brain that makes you unable to realise when you need to shut up."
"I have no inhibitions."
"Exactly." She concluded. "Now can we steer the conversation onto something less x-rated."
"Like knitting and cooking?" She mocked.
"If I let you drive will you shut up?" Cordelia begged.
"That's all you had to say!"
They pulled up outside the Summers' house an hour later. It should have taken another hour and a half but Faith drive like a madman.
They climbed out of the car stiffly and grabbed their bags out of the back. They were going to be stopping at the mansion but they thought they'd be better off stopping in to see Buffy first before they got settled. And being the hell mouth, they took their bags inside with them.
They went in without knocking. "Buffy?"
Willow and Tara hurried out of the kitchen and into the hallway. "She's gone; she followed Xander and Spike out of town after you called this afternoon. I tried to call you to let you know but Wesley said you'd already set off."
"Any news on where Dawn went?" Cordelia asked and slung her bag at the bottom of the stairs.
"The first thing we thought of was her dad but he hasn't heard from her." Tara explained. "Buffy and Dawn have relatives out West somewhere, that's where they're headed. Giles is calling round all the bus and train depots near here to see if she's been seen."
"But they haven't come up with anything." Faith guessed correctly.
Willow shook her head.
Cordelia looked at her watch. "It looks like we've got enough time for a quick sweep before we head back to the mansion. We could come back early tomorrow?"
Willow nodded. "That would be good. I could make waffles, you do like waffles?"
"Waffles would be great." Faith smiled.
Cordelia picked up her bag again and they went back to the car. "Poor Buffy."
"It's Dawn I feel sorry for." Faith told her as Cordelia got behind the wheel of the car and started the engine. "Running scared."
"It's tough being on your own." Cordelia replied, an edge of sadness in her voice.