Title: Numb
Summary: Cordelia tries to comfort Angel in his time of grief after he finds out about Buffy's death. But the tables are turned when someone else dies.
Author's Notes: Glad to be back and writing again! I know this is a sad story dealing with deaths and pain but I just lost my grandma so I'm not really in a happy-go-lucky mood. I'll try and do a happier story next time. Plus, I think Angel/Cordy seem to have the best chemistry in a drama and pain scenario. Yeah, they're the angst couple of the year, I know! 'Numb' is the tile of a song off the Linkin Park CD 'Meteora'. Great CD, listen to it!
Spoilers: Right after 'There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb' and most of Season 5 on BtVS
Feedback: Does a body good!
Disclaimer: Been there, done that and still nothing's mine. ******************************************************************
If he had a heartbeat it would have stopped at that appointed time. If he had a breath to breathe he would have held it at that précis moment. His whole world came to an utter stop as he watched the red headed woman sit in front of him. No words had to be spoken for in that very moment of silence he knew everything she came to say. He couldn't move…speak…think. He was completely numb.
"What's going on?" Cordelia looked at Willow sitting on the round sofa in the lobby. She knew something had to be wrong because she wouldn't just show up uninvited. She looked up at Angel then back at Willow. Willow got up and approached Angel looking him in the eyes with pools of compassion.
"I'm so sorry." She reached for his hand and gave it a light squeeze. Angel looked down at the young witch and let a small smile grace his lips as both friends exchanged silent commiserations. He headed upstairs without a word leaving Willow to explain the tragic news to the rest of the group. Willow watched his every move until he was out of sight then turned to the others with a sigh.
"Willow, what's wrong? Is there something happening in Sunnydale?" asked a concerned Wesley. He watched as she made her way back to the sofa and sat down. He knew there must have been something wrong when the most talkative girl he'd ever met had nothing to say. With a sigh Willow slowly began to explain.
"We had a new nasty in Sunnydale. Her name was Glory. She was here in search of her lost key." The gang made their way into the lobby and sat down. Cordelia and Fred on each side of Willow and Wesley and Gunn leaned against the counter. Gunn arched an eyebrow at Willow's recent sentence.
"What'd she do…loose her key to her corvette?" Wesley nudged him in the ribs.
"This is no time for your sarcastic remarks." Willow chuckled and returned to her story.
"No not really. I don't know if you know but Buffy has a sister named Dawn. She just showed up one day and some how we all knew her and apparently had memories of her when she was younger."
"Yeah we all know about her, well except Fred here. She just arrived," pointed Cordelia in Fred's direction. Willow turned to Fred and smiled.
"Hi there, I'm Willow. How was your trip?" She extended her hand to her and Fred lowered her head to play with the hem of her mangled attire leaving her hanging.
"I'd rather not talk about it." Willow's smile faltered as she blinked rapidly a little confused and lowered her hand. Cordelia leaned in to whisper in her ear.
"She just arrived from a hell dimension." Willow made an 'oh' with her mouth and coughed to change the subject.
"Anyways, as I was saying… She just showed up one day and some how we all knew her and apparently had memories of her when she was younger but we didn't know that. It was like mind control or something."
"Why do you talk of her as if you didn't know her." interrupted Wesley.
"I am because we didn't know her and neither do you. Dawn *is* the key. She's not human she's just made up by monks to hide her from Glory. That's where we got the fake memories. The monks made them up so we'd accept her." Gunn pushed himself off the counter and crossed his arms.
"Hold up, so what your saying is that this girl that's suppose to be Buffy's sister is just a fake human ball of energy?"
"Nailed it on the nose." He leaned back against the counter nodding his head with better clarity.
"What is the key?" asked Wesley as he headed to research such a newfound discovery but Willow stopped him.
"Don't bother looking it up because we already know what it is." Wesley turned back his senses perched and ready for new information.
"The key is like Gunn said, a ball of energy. By it being in a human form, when it's blood runs the doors to each dimension open and…"
"All hell breaks loose."
"Exactly Gunn. And the only way by closing it would be by the same blood that opened it."
"But wait, if this affected the whole world which includes L.A., how come I didn't get a vision about it?"
"I don't know Cordy but that's where Buffy comes in. Since the monks made Dawn pretty much out of Buffy, which I have no idea how it was done so don't ask Wesley…" Willow smiled in Wesley's way knowing exactly what was crossing his mind.
"Her blood was Dawn's blood. Glory kidnapped Dawn, we fought her off and then we killed her but not in time because she had opened the portal."
"So how did you close…?" Cordelia clasped her hands over her mouth realization crashing down on her. Willow lowered her head as tears threatened to surface all over again.
"We tried calling for the funeral but no one was here. It was just my luck that I decided to come when you guys got back. We're still trying to recover." Cordelia pulled Willow into a hug as her own tears began to form and eventually fell.
"I'm so sorry. Give my condolences to everyone."
"I will." Willow rose to hug both Wesley and Gunn, them two as well giving their sympathy. Fred just sat there unable to gather the situation at hand. Cordelia looked at the lost girl and turned to Wesley and Gunn.
"Why don't you guys show Fred her room, she might be tired." The three of them headed up stairs and left the two old acquaintances behind. Willow turned to leave having accomplished her mission.
"I should get back. There's a lot to keep up on the Hellmouth now that our slayer's gone." Cordelia tried to lighten up the mood.
"There's always Faith."
"No that's ok. I think we can manage." The two chuckled and hugged once more before Willow exited from the hotel and back to her own city. Cordelia watched her leave and sighed knowing things were going to be a lot different now. She then remembered Angel. ************************************************************************ TBC! Hope you liked it. I hope I got all the information right. This what I thought the conversation would have been like if we had seen it. Next chapter's coming soon.
~Michele~