Cordelia picked up the phone and dialled the Hyperion's number.
"Hi, we help the hopeless." Fred's voice said cheerfully into the phone.
"Hey Fred, working late?"
"Cordy hi, yeah. I'll get Angel for you; he's feeding Ashleigh in the office."
A couple of minutes later Angel's voice came on the line. "Hey honey, are you okay?"
"I'm fine; I just wanted to let you know we got here okay."
"How is Buffy?" He asked.
"She took off with Spike and Xander trying to find Dawn. Faith and I went on a quick sweep round the graveyard and now we're back at the mansion." She told him and then yawned. "This big bed is very empty without you."
"Cordelia, I am not having phone sex with you when everyone is in the next room." He told her in hushed tones.
She laughed. "Fine. How are the children? Are they missing me?"
"You've been gone about three and a half hours; you've left them for longer than that before."
"I know, but they might be able to sense that I'm not in the same area code anymore."
"They're fine." He reassured her. "Lorne is singing them to sleep as we speak."
"Good."
"Did you let faith drive my car?" He asked suspiciously.
"No." She replied quickly. "Faith thinks we should try handcuffs."
"You let her drive my. handcuffs?"
"Yeah, apparently it's very intense." She purred.
"For who?"
"Whoever it is that is tied up."
"And who would that be?"
"We could take it in turns."
"I'm up for that."
"Literally?" She teased.
He laughed. "Seriously, we can do some experimenting if you want."
"I don't know, I don't want to turn into Faith. After all, I am a married woman."
"Just because you're the little lady doesn't mean that we can't have a little bondage fun." He smirked, but she couldn't see it.
"If you were here I'd show you a little bondage fun."
"Horny?"
"You have no idea." She groaned. "We must have killed four or five vamps, we worked ourselves up."
"Don't go pouncing on Faith!" He sounded panicked.
"Come on baby, I'm horny, not gay."
He laughed. "Yeah, sorry."
"It's okay." She yawned again. "I'm going to go, I'm sleepy. Call me tomorrow?"
"I will, get a good night's sleep. I love you."
"I love you too."
She put the phone down and turned off the light.
It was morning before she woke up. She climbed out of bed and went to the kitchen to make some coffee. As she passed by the bathroom she was surprised to see the light on.
"Morning Faith." She called through the door.
"Morning, I'll be out in a minute."
"It's okay, take your time. Do you want coffee?"
"No thanks."
She heard the sound of retching. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'll be out in a minute." She repeated.
Cordelia frowned but continued on to the kitchen to make coffee.
Faith came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her neck, her hair damp.
"How long have you been up?" Cordelia asked her, adding copious amounts of sugar to the sludgy black coffee.
"About an hour. I took a shower and then I felt a bit sick, maybe I ate something that didn't agree with me."
"You want to stop here today? They'd understand if you were ill." Cordelia told her.
"No, I'll be fine." She smiled. "I'll go and get dressed and then we can go."
"Uh Faith, unless you didn't notice I'm stood here in my pyjamas." She told her.
Faith laughed. "Okay, then I'll go and get dressed and then sit and wait until you decide to get your ass in gear."
Faith sauntered out of the kitchen, leaving Cordelia to smile after her.
They spent the day calling up the local bus and rail depots that they hadn't already contacted, to see if any of them had seen Dawn.
Buffy called around lunchtime saying she, Xander and Spike were following the trail of a young woman with long brown hair to the Florida area.
"But why would Dawn go to Florida?" Willow had asked.
"Maybe because it's on the opposite coast to Sunnydale, and therefore Buffy." Tara had answered reasonably.
Cordelia and Faith had left just after sundown to patrol. They'd dusted four vamps in the first eleven cemeteries; they were onto the last just after eleven thirty.
"Long night." Faith commented.
"I second that." Cordelia agreed, swinging her bag in her hand.
"There used to be a time when I'd go out clubbing after I patrolled. Now all I want to do is go to bed." She laughed.
"It's called getting old Faith, it's happened to all of us."
"Not those." Faith pointed to a group of people further into the cemetery.
"I don't think they thrive on sunlight." Cordelia agreed and grabbed a stake out of her bag. "Let's go."
"Hey boys, looking for a party?" Faith called out.
Cordelia snorted. "Oh yeah, that was subtle."
Faith laughed.
The vampires turned around to see who had shouted. "Hey, pretty ladies."
"Hey, ugly un-dead." Faith shouted back.
They growled and stepped closer.
"Okay, you take the two on the left; I'll take the two on the right." Cordelia told her, splitting up.
"I've got your back."
Cordelia moved in with a high kick to one of the vamps and then a punch in the face to the other, sending it stumbled backwards and onto the floor. She took that moment to glance over at Faith and checked that she was holding her own, which she was. She was busy pummelling one of the vamps while the other one was trying to disentangle himself from the vampire Cordelia had sent tumbling to the ground.
Cordelia pinned the vampire she was fighting against the wall and sank the stake into his chest. The dust exploded over her and she coughed as it went into her mouth.
Faith let out a shriek and Cordelia spun.
"Faith!" She shouted, alarmed and ran to where Faith had been thrown against a mausoleum. "Are you okay?"
She nodded but she was breathless and she had pain etched across her face.
Cordelia felt a sharp tug to her hair and was dragged backwards. There were two vampires left; Faith must have dusted one of hers.
"Great." She muttered and started to fight the two remaining vamps.
She managed to get a good few punches in before one of them caught her with a right hook to her cheek. "Bastard!"
She slammed the stake into one of their chests and the other, sensing his eminent death, took off.
She hurried back to Faith. "Are you okay? Anything broken?"
She shook her head and tried to stand up.
"Here, give me your hand." Cordelia instructed and gave her hand to Faith. "Are you sure you want to stand up?"
She nodded. "I want to go home."
Cordelia nodded and helped Faith to her feet, keeping an arm around her and one under her elbow to keep her upright.
"Come on Faith, that's it, nice and easy." She encouraged. "We're near home."
Faith's face was contorted with pain and she was struggling to walk. She must have gone with a blow, Cordelia thought, but she was a slayer so shouldn't she be okay?
"That's it Faith." Cordelia told her as she lay her down on her bed. "Do you want me to get you out of those clothes? Into something more comfortable?"
She shook her head. "Just let me sleep, okay?"
Cordelia nodded. "Okay, but shout if you need me, okay?"
She nodded so Cordelia turned off the light and left the room.
She went into her own room and called Angel.
He picked up on the second ring.
"Hey, I miss you." She told him.
"I miss you too." He told her back. "Having any luck finding Dawn?"
"No, Buffy called and said that she thinks Dawn is on her way to Florida of all places so they're heading that way. How are the kids?" She rubbed her eyes and they winced as she felt the beginnings of a bruise on her left cheek.
"What was that? You made your pain noise." He told her.
She laughed softly. "I've got a bruise on my cheek. Faith and I had a nasty encounter with four vampires. I'm more worried about her though, she's in bed. I had to half carry her home."
"But Faith's a slayer, she should be okay."
"That's what I thought, but she insists I leave her alone. I'll check on her before I go to sleep. How are the children?" She asked again.
"They're fine. Fred took Connor to the park this morning and he was playing in the sandpit with a little girl." He told her with a smile. "Fred said she thought they were in love."
She laughed. "I wish I could have seen it."
"Are you ready for bed?"
"Not yet, but I will be when I get off the phone." She found herself yawning, despite herself. "How about you?"
"No, I've got a good few hours ahead of me. Gunn and Fred went out on a case a couple of hours ago so they'll be back soon and I should get some paperwork done before I go to bed. Wes has been holed up in his office all day researching God knows what but Lorne has been looking after the kids for me tonight so I could get some work done." He explained.
"I can't wait to come home." She told him. "And see you again."
"I know, me neither baby. It won't be long now." He told her. "I love you, go get some sleep."
"I will, and I love you too."
She dropped the phone back into it's cradle and then went downstairs to get a glass of water.
When she came back upstairs she heard strange noises coming from Faith's room.
She opened the door and turned the light on. "Faith?"
She saw the slayer curled up in the bed clutching her stomach and crying.
"What's wrong?" Cordelia asked and fell to her knees next to Faith.
Her face was contorted in pain. "Faith?"
"I'm bleeding." She admitted.
"Where?" Cordelia asked, scanning her body for injury.
Faith looked her in the eyes. "I'm bleeding. Woman bleeding."
Cordelia's eyes widened in realisation. "Why? Do you know why?"
She nodded and blinked back tears. "I'm pregnant." She gasped in pain.
"You're pregnant?"
She nodded and hid her face. "I didn't want to tell anyone just yet, until I was sure. I took the test a couple of weeks ago. I'm about eight weeks gone."
Cordelia smoothed back her hair. "If you're bleeding we need to get you to a hospital."
She shook her head. "I can't, I want to stay here."
"You can't honey, it could be dangerous for you and the baby." Cordelia told her. "You need a hospital."
She shook her head. "It's too late."
"How long have you been bleeding?"
"Since we got back." She admitted and raised her tear stained face.
"Faith, that was a half hour ago!"
"I know, at first I thought it would stop but then it didn't and then I was too scared to move in case it made it worse."
"You should have called me." Cordelia scolded gently.
"I was too scared." She cried.
"Of what?"
"That maybe it was just a nightmare and calling you would make it real."
"It is real honey." She soothed. "But I'm here now, I'll look after you."
"Cor?"
"Yeah?"
"Please don't leave me." She begged.
"I won't, I promise. But we need to get you out of those clothes."
"Take deep breaths." Cordelia advised and went to grab towels from the bathroom. "Do you want me to call Wes? Does he know?"
She shook her head and clutched at Cordelia's hand. "I didn't know what he'd say so I didn't tell him. He might have been mad."
"Are you kidding me? Wes would love kids, have you seen him with Connor?"
"I guess it doesn't matter now." She murmured as another wave of pain came over her.
"Faith, I'm not so sure we should stay here alone." Cordelia worried. "A hospital would be better."
She shook her head, adamant. "No, hospitals are for sick people."
Cordelia nodded. "Okay, take deep breaths."
"How long can this last?" She gasped.
"Labour can last anything up to forty eight hours." Cordelia told her gently and started stripping of her of her jeans and underwear, covering her with a towel.
Faith looked panicked. "But I'm sure it won't."
"I really wanted this baby, you know?" She told Cordelia. "I never really had anything to look after before, no pet or sister or anything. And at first I was really worried and scared and like, what the hell am I doing, I can't look after a baby. But then I started to feel really maternal, like I could look after it. And love it. And maybe Wes would be a good dad, or I would be a good mom."
"You'd be a great mom." Cordelia smiled, smoothing back Faith's hair.
"You mean it?" She looked hopeful.
"Of course I do."
She gasped again. "It feels like I want to push."
"Then push honey, it'll be okay."
"It'll never be okay." She grunted with effort. "Not if I lose this baby."
Cordelia feared that that was what was happening. "Just breathe." She urged.
"I am breathing!" She snapped. "See, air in and out!"
Cordelia stayed quiet and just mopped Faith's forehead with the sleeve of her shirt.
"Do you think Wes would have been a good dad?" She asked between pains.
Cordelia nodded, fighting back tears. "He'd have been a great dad. He'd have bought little football shirts from all those English teams he likes so much."
"Even if it was a girl?"
She nodded. "Especially if it was a girl."
"He'd have looked after us both wouldn't he?"
The desperation in her voice sent the tears in Cordelia's eyes down her cheeks. She nodded, unable to speak.
Faith sensed, rather than saw her friend's upset. "I'm losing it aren't I?"
Cordelia decided the truth would be better and nodded. "Yeah, I think you are."
Tears began to escape from her eyes. "I didn't want this to happen."
"I know you didn't. But maybe if you push through the pain it will go away quicker." She suggested, tightening her grip on Faith's hand.
She nodded and began to push.
Cordelia shuffled down the bed and knelt between Faith's legs. "I need to see, I'm going to lift the towel, okay?"
Faith nodded, too engrossed in trying to push through the pain to talk.
Cordelia lifted the towel and it was only then that she saw how much blood she was losing.
"I'm going to grab some more towels from the bathroom." She told her and jumped off the bed.
"Don't leave me!" She cried, clutching for Cordelia's hand.
"I'll only be a second." She promised. "I need to stop the blood."
She hurried into the bathroom and grabbed a handful of clean towels.
She sat back down at the end of the bed and began mopping at the blood that was flowing from Faith.
"It'll all be over soon Faith, I promise." She murmured, squeezing her knee.
"Hi, we help the hopeless." Fred's voice said cheerfully into the phone.
"Hey Fred, working late?"
"Cordy hi, yeah. I'll get Angel for you; he's feeding Ashleigh in the office."
A couple of minutes later Angel's voice came on the line. "Hey honey, are you okay?"
"I'm fine; I just wanted to let you know we got here okay."
"How is Buffy?" He asked.
"She took off with Spike and Xander trying to find Dawn. Faith and I went on a quick sweep round the graveyard and now we're back at the mansion." She told him and then yawned. "This big bed is very empty without you."
"Cordelia, I am not having phone sex with you when everyone is in the next room." He told her in hushed tones.
She laughed. "Fine. How are the children? Are they missing me?"
"You've been gone about three and a half hours; you've left them for longer than that before."
"I know, but they might be able to sense that I'm not in the same area code anymore."
"They're fine." He reassured her. "Lorne is singing them to sleep as we speak."
"Good."
"Did you let faith drive my car?" He asked suspiciously.
"No." She replied quickly. "Faith thinks we should try handcuffs."
"You let her drive my. handcuffs?"
"Yeah, apparently it's very intense." She purred.
"For who?"
"Whoever it is that is tied up."
"And who would that be?"
"We could take it in turns."
"I'm up for that."
"Literally?" She teased.
He laughed. "Seriously, we can do some experimenting if you want."
"I don't know, I don't want to turn into Faith. After all, I am a married woman."
"Just because you're the little lady doesn't mean that we can't have a little bondage fun." He smirked, but she couldn't see it.
"If you were here I'd show you a little bondage fun."
"Horny?"
"You have no idea." She groaned. "We must have killed four or five vamps, we worked ourselves up."
"Don't go pouncing on Faith!" He sounded panicked.
"Come on baby, I'm horny, not gay."
He laughed. "Yeah, sorry."
"It's okay." She yawned again. "I'm going to go, I'm sleepy. Call me tomorrow?"
"I will, get a good night's sleep. I love you."
"I love you too."
She put the phone down and turned off the light.
It was morning before she woke up. She climbed out of bed and went to the kitchen to make some coffee. As she passed by the bathroom she was surprised to see the light on.
"Morning Faith." She called through the door.
"Morning, I'll be out in a minute."
"It's okay, take your time. Do you want coffee?"
"No thanks."
She heard the sound of retching. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'll be out in a minute." She repeated.
Cordelia frowned but continued on to the kitchen to make coffee.
Faith came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her neck, her hair damp.
"How long have you been up?" Cordelia asked her, adding copious amounts of sugar to the sludgy black coffee.
"About an hour. I took a shower and then I felt a bit sick, maybe I ate something that didn't agree with me."
"You want to stop here today? They'd understand if you were ill." Cordelia told her.
"No, I'll be fine." She smiled. "I'll go and get dressed and then we can go."
"Uh Faith, unless you didn't notice I'm stood here in my pyjamas." She told her.
Faith laughed. "Okay, then I'll go and get dressed and then sit and wait until you decide to get your ass in gear."
Faith sauntered out of the kitchen, leaving Cordelia to smile after her.
They spent the day calling up the local bus and rail depots that they hadn't already contacted, to see if any of them had seen Dawn.
Buffy called around lunchtime saying she, Xander and Spike were following the trail of a young woman with long brown hair to the Florida area.
"But why would Dawn go to Florida?" Willow had asked.
"Maybe because it's on the opposite coast to Sunnydale, and therefore Buffy." Tara had answered reasonably.
Cordelia and Faith had left just after sundown to patrol. They'd dusted four vamps in the first eleven cemeteries; they were onto the last just after eleven thirty.
"Long night." Faith commented.
"I second that." Cordelia agreed, swinging her bag in her hand.
"There used to be a time when I'd go out clubbing after I patrolled. Now all I want to do is go to bed." She laughed.
"It's called getting old Faith, it's happened to all of us."
"Not those." Faith pointed to a group of people further into the cemetery.
"I don't think they thrive on sunlight." Cordelia agreed and grabbed a stake out of her bag. "Let's go."
"Hey boys, looking for a party?" Faith called out.
Cordelia snorted. "Oh yeah, that was subtle."
Faith laughed.
The vampires turned around to see who had shouted. "Hey, pretty ladies."
"Hey, ugly un-dead." Faith shouted back.
They growled and stepped closer.
"Okay, you take the two on the left; I'll take the two on the right." Cordelia told her, splitting up.
"I've got your back."
Cordelia moved in with a high kick to one of the vamps and then a punch in the face to the other, sending it stumbled backwards and onto the floor. She took that moment to glance over at Faith and checked that she was holding her own, which she was. She was busy pummelling one of the vamps while the other one was trying to disentangle himself from the vampire Cordelia had sent tumbling to the ground.
Cordelia pinned the vampire she was fighting against the wall and sank the stake into his chest. The dust exploded over her and she coughed as it went into her mouth.
Faith let out a shriek and Cordelia spun.
"Faith!" She shouted, alarmed and ran to where Faith had been thrown against a mausoleum. "Are you okay?"
She nodded but she was breathless and she had pain etched across her face.
Cordelia felt a sharp tug to her hair and was dragged backwards. There were two vampires left; Faith must have dusted one of hers.
"Great." She muttered and started to fight the two remaining vamps.
She managed to get a good few punches in before one of them caught her with a right hook to her cheek. "Bastard!"
She slammed the stake into one of their chests and the other, sensing his eminent death, took off.
She hurried back to Faith. "Are you okay? Anything broken?"
She shook her head and tried to stand up.
"Here, give me your hand." Cordelia instructed and gave her hand to Faith. "Are you sure you want to stand up?"
She nodded. "I want to go home."
Cordelia nodded and helped Faith to her feet, keeping an arm around her and one under her elbow to keep her upright.
"Come on Faith, that's it, nice and easy." She encouraged. "We're near home."
Faith's face was contorted with pain and she was struggling to walk. She must have gone with a blow, Cordelia thought, but she was a slayer so shouldn't she be okay?
"That's it Faith." Cordelia told her as she lay her down on her bed. "Do you want me to get you out of those clothes? Into something more comfortable?"
She shook her head. "Just let me sleep, okay?"
Cordelia nodded. "Okay, but shout if you need me, okay?"
She nodded so Cordelia turned off the light and left the room.
She went into her own room and called Angel.
He picked up on the second ring.
"Hey, I miss you." She told him.
"I miss you too." He told her back. "Having any luck finding Dawn?"
"No, Buffy called and said that she thinks Dawn is on her way to Florida of all places so they're heading that way. How are the kids?" She rubbed her eyes and they winced as she felt the beginnings of a bruise on her left cheek.
"What was that? You made your pain noise." He told her.
She laughed softly. "I've got a bruise on my cheek. Faith and I had a nasty encounter with four vampires. I'm more worried about her though, she's in bed. I had to half carry her home."
"But Faith's a slayer, she should be okay."
"That's what I thought, but she insists I leave her alone. I'll check on her before I go to sleep. How are the children?" She asked again.
"They're fine. Fred took Connor to the park this morning and he was playing in the sandpit with a little girl." He told her with a smile. "Fred said she thought they were in love."
She laughed. "I wish I could have seen it."
"Are you ready for bed?"
"Not yet, but I will be when I get off the phone." She found herself yawning, despite herself. "How about you?"
"No, I've got a good few hours ahead of me. Gunn and Fred went out on a case a couple of hours ago so they'll be back soon and I should get some paperwork done before I go to bed. Wes has been holed up in his office all day researching God knows what but Lorne has been looking after the kids for me tonight so I could get some work done." He explained.
"I can't wait to come home." She told him. "And see you again."
"I know, me neither baby. It won't be long now." He told her. "I love you, go get some sleep."
"I will, and I love you too."
She dropped the phone back into it's cradle and then went downstairs to get a glass of water.
When she came back upstairs she heard strange noises coming from Faith's room.
She opened the door and turned the light on. "Faith?"
She saw the slayer curled up in the bed clutching her stomach and crying.
"What's wrong?" Cordelia asked and fell to her knees next to Faith.
Her face was contorted in pain. "Faith?"
"I'm bleeding." She admitted.
"Where?" Cordelia asked, scanning her body for injury.
Faith looked her in the eyes. "I'm bleeding. Woman bleeding."
Cordelia's eyes widened in realisation. "Why? Do you know why?"
She nodded and blinked back tears. "I'm pregnant." She gasped in pain.
"You're pregnant?"
She nodded and hid her face. "I didn't want to tell anyone just yet, until I was sure. I took the test a couple of weeks ago. I'm about eight weeks gone."
Cordelia smoothed back her hair. "If you're bleeding we need to get you to a hospital."
She shook her head. "I can't, I want to stay here."
"You can't honey, it could be dangerous for you and the baby." Cordelia told her. "You need a hospital."
She shook her head. "It's too late."
"How long have you been bleeding?"
"Since we got back." She admitted and raised her tear stained face.
"Faith, that was a half hour ago!"
"I know, at first I thought it would stop but then it didn't and then I was too scared to move in case it made it worse."
"You should have called me." Cordelia scolded gently.
"I was too scared." She cried.
"Of what?"
"That maybe it was just a nightmare and calling you would make it real."
"It is real honey." She soothed. "But I'm here now, I'll look after you."
"Cor?"
"Yeah?"
"Please don't leave me." She begged.
"I won't, I promise. But we need to get you out of those clothes."
"Take deep breaths." Cordelia advised and went to grab towels from the bathroom. "Do you want me to call Wes? Does he know?"
She shook her head and clutched at Cordelia's hand. "I didn't know what he'd say so I didn't tell him. He might have been mad."
"Are you kidding me? Wes would love kids, have you seen him with Connor?"
"I guess it doesn't matter now." She murmured as another wave of pain came over her.
"Faith, I'm not so sure we should stay here alone." Cordelia worried. "A hospital would be better."
She shook her head, adamant. "No, hospitals are for sick people."
Cordelia nodded. "Okay, take deep breaths."
"How long can this last?" She gasped.
"Labour can last anything up to forty eight hours." Cordelia told her gently and started stripping of her of her jeans and underwear, covering her with a towel.
Faith looked panicked. "But I'm sure it won't."
"I really wanted this baby, you know?" She told Cordelia. "I never really had anything to look after before, no pet or sister or anything. And at first I was really worried and scared and like, what the hell am I doing, I can't look after a baby. But then I started to feel really maternal, like I could look after it. And love it. And maybe Wes would be a good dad, or I would be a good mom."
"You'd be a great mom." Cordelia smiled, smoothing back Faith's hair.
"You mean it?" She looked hopeful.
"Of course I do."
She gasped again. "It feels like I want to push."
"Then push honey, it'll be okay."
"It'll never be okay." She grunted with effort. "Not if I lose this baby."
Cordelia feared that that was what was happening. "Just breathe." She urged.
"I am breathing!" She snapped. "See, air in and out!"
Cordelia stayed quiet and just mopped Faith's forehead with the sleeve of her shirt.
"Do you think Wes would have been a good dad?" She asked between pains.
Cordelia nodded, fighting back tears. "He'd have been a great dad. He'd have bought little football shirts from all those English teams he likes so much."
"Even if it was a girl?"
She nodded. "Especially if it was a girl."
"He'd have looked after us both wouldn't he?"
The desperation in her voice sent the tears in Cordelia's eyes down her cheeks. She nodded, unable to speak.
Faith sensed, rather than saw her friend's upset. "I'm losing it aren't I?"
Cordelia decided the truth would be better and nodded. "Yeah, I think you are."
Tears began to escape from her eyes. "I didn't want this to happen."
"I know you didn't. But maybe if you push through the pain it will go away quicker." She suggested, tightening her grip on Faith's hand.
She nodded and began to push.
Cordelia shuffled down the bed and knelt between Faith's legs. "I need to see, I'm going to lift the towel, okay?"
Faith nodded, too engrossed in trying to push through the pain to talk.
Cordelia lifted the towel and it was only then that she saw how much blood she was losing.
"I'm going to grab some more towels from the bathroom." She told her and jumped off the bed.
"Don't leave me!" She cried, clutching for Cordelia's hand.
"I'll only be a second." She promised. "I need to stop the blood."
She hurried into the bathroom and grabbed a handful of clean towels.
She sat back down at the end of the bed and began mopping at the blood that was flowing from Faith.
"It'll all be over soon Faith, I promise." She murmured, squeezing her knee.