Megan got Cordelia up four times in the night and then at five thirty
Cordelia gave up the hope of getting anymore sleep. She plodded downstairs
with the baby in her carrycot and made a pot of coffee and a bottle.
She settled herself on her chair and put the carrycot on her desk. She sipped at her coffee while she held the bottle for her baby.
"Feel better now huh? Now mommy is up and feeding you. Because it's not like I didn't feed you an hour or two ago. No it isn't." She cooed as she fed her. "You're two days old and you still manage to eat more than I do. And I'm a big person. You're just a tiny little thing. But you wouldn't think it from the size of my stomach. No you wouldn't. You're not even in there anymore. I'm like a balloon, all blown up!"
Megan sucked greedily at the teat and a stream of milk dripped down her chin. Cordelia tutted at her and mopped it up with her bib. "You're a messy eater."
She finished with the bottle and Cordelia got up to put it in the sink. She went back and picked Megan up to burp her. She was sat with her in her arms when Angel came down the stairs. She winced. "Did I wake you?"
He nodded. "But it's okay."
"There's some coffee if you want." She told him, hoping he would see it as a peace offering. "I'm sorry about waking you."
"It's okay, really. Besides, I should be getting used to it." He told her. "You look tired."
"That's probably because I am." She replied quietly. "I look that bad?"
He shook his head. "Not really. Why don't you go take a shower now that I'm up?"
"I will do in a while." She told him and raised her left leg so that it rested on the edge of her chair and took some of Megan's weight instead of having it all rested on her arm.
"Did you manage to get any sleep?" He asked and sat down next to her.
"A little. She managed to get me up four times before she settled and then woke up again about a half hour ago." She told him and drank the last of her coffee. "I'm afraid that I'm doing things all wrong."
"Cordelia, you've been a mom for about a day and a half, give yourself time to get used to it. I'm sure all new moms feel that they're doing everything wrong in the beginning." He assured her.
"I suppose." She mused and straightened Megan's hair. "Do you think that I'll be a good mom?" She placed Megan back in her carry cot and fastened the straps.
"I think you'll be a great mom." He smiled encouragingly. "Give it time Cordelia."
"I know! I know!" She laughed. "I'm just being impatient."
"I love it when you laugh like that." He told her, the smile still on his face.
"Like what? A hyena?" She joked.
"No, like you haven't got a care in the world."
"If only that were true." She muttered.
"Do you think maybe in a couple of weeks we could go out on a date?" He suggested, almost shyly. "As a couple."
"I'd like that." She replied, almost as shyly. "To be honest, I've been thinking a lot about what has been going on with us. Knowing that you feel the same way is a relief."
"Feel the same way? Of course I feel the same way!" He exclaimed. "For months I've been unable to think of anything but you."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I've felt so close to you these past nine months, more than ever before. I've really liked having you living here." He told her. "And I loved it when we went out to dinner together. It felt like we were a real couple, even if it were just for that night."
"I felt that too." She admitted. "I've never felt like that with anyone else. Sure, I've been out with guys and I've dated but I've never felt like part of a couple with any of them. I always thought I was an oddball, until you."
"Until me?" He questioned, a line crinkling on his forehead.
"Yeah." She replied and tears filled her eyes. "I fell in love with my best friend!"
She laughed through her tears when she saw his eyes light up and dabbed at her eyes with her fingertips.
He got up from his chair and knelt in front of her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her towards him so that her head was lying on his shoulder. She draped her arms over his shoulders and held him tight. "God! I'm so emotional right now!"
He laughed. "It'll be all the hormones."
"There must be a lot of them." She replied into his neck.
He pulled back so he could look at her. He brushed his lips across hers gently. "I love you Cor."
"I love you too." She replied and kissed him back, this time with more passion.
His hand tangled in her hair and he pulled her to him so he could deepen the kiss. His tongue explored her mouth, sending shivers through her body. Just as she reached up to his neck with her hand, Megan began to cry.
They pulled apart breathless and then they both laughed. Cordelia reached for her but Angel put a hand on her arm and stopped her. "Let me. You go upstairs and shower."
He stood up and she waited while he'd taken the baby out of her carry cot and sat back down on his chair before she stood up. "Are you sure? I don't expect you to help look after her just because we're becoming involved."
"You mean you're not just with me for my way with babies?" He joked, rocking the baby.
She laughed and swatted him on the shoulder. "Thank you."
He watched her go upstairs and then changed Megan and settled her in the carry cot, still awake but content. He logged on to Cordelia's computer and checked the AI e-mails. There were a few giving them details of new cases which he knew Cordelia would reply to, one from their accountant which he ignored and one from 'witchygal2k'. He clicked on it and found it was from Willow, asking about everyone and informing them of what everyone in Sunnydale had been up to. He flagged it, knowing Cordelia and Wesley would want to see it and logged off.
By the time Cordelia came downstairs he had tidied the office and kitchen and made up enough bottles for Megan for the entire day and night. She had put on a pair of jeans she used to wear before she had gotten pregnant and a pale pink shirt. Her hair was damp and curled under her shoulder blades and Angel couldn't help but think she looked incredibly young with her fresh face and shining skin, fresh from the shower.
"Hey, look at me! All clean and fitting into pre-pregnancy jeans, feeling pretty good except for the fact that the button won't fasten!"
He laughed at her. "You look beautiful."
She shrugged. "I'm still not all thin and toned but at least I have some sort of figure back. But what I don't get is how I can go up two bra sizes in two days! I can't fit into any of my underwear; I'm wearing a hidden support vest under here!" She exclaimed, pressing her hands to her chest and jiggling her breasts. "I'm like a page three girl!"
"I don't have a problem with that." He smiled and came to stand in the lobby with her. "And you know, if Wes or Gunn had come in just then they would be very happy boys."
She laughed and went to wrap her arms around his neck. "I am so happy right now."
"Me too." He agreed. "Now, how do you fancy some eggs and toast? You need to keep your strength up."
She nodded and kissed his cheek. "That would be perfect."
"Good, you have an e-mail from Willow, you should reply to it before she starts thinking that we've all died and wants to come up here." Angel advised.
"Yeah, because a visit from the Scoobies would just make everything even more perfect." She replied dryly. "I'll go and tell her that everything is fine and that nothing has changed since the last time we spoke."
"Maybe you should tell her." He suggested.
She snorted. "And maybe I shouldn't."
He decided to leave her be and went to make her some breakfast.
It was eight thirty by the time Wesley arrived. Angel was sat on the couch with Cordelia sat on a cushion on the floor between his legs, her knees bent upwards. The baby was asleep on her thighs, her hand clasped around Cordelia's finger. Cordelia's head was laid on Angel's left thigh, his hand stroking her hair.
Wes entered the hotel with a look on confusion evident on his face. "Good morning."
Cordelia lifted her head. "Oh, morning Wes, sleep well?"
"Fine, you're very chipper this morning." He commented, standing in front of them. "Is there something I should know here?"
Cordelia turned her head to look at Angel.
"Cordelia and I are... well, I suppose you could say we are dating." Angel told him. "Is that okay with you?"
Wes looked flustered and visibly jumped. "Fine, absolutely fine. How is she this morning?"
He came to peer at the baby and then at Cordelia. "You look very pretty."
She blushed. "Thanks Wes."
He smiled and disappeared into his office.
Gunn and Fred arrived soon afterwards and they made a big fuss of the fact that Angel and Cordelia were seeing each other. Gunn seemed very protective whereas Fred was very excited and giggly. Gunn picked Megan up and fussed her for a while, at least until she needed changing. He handed her back to her mom claiming 'I don't do diapers'. Cordelia got up and changed Megan in the kitchen and then put her in her carry cot so she could do some work.
At a quarter past eleven the phone rang and she picked it up, cheerfully greeting the caller with the AI slogan 'We help the helpless'.
"It's Brian."
Cordelia froze. "What do you want?"
"I'm just checking that you will be in the office around twelve." He told her.
"Why?" She asked before answering.
"I'm going to stop in if you will be there."
"Why?" She repeated, tapping her pencil against the desk.
"Look, let's cut to the chase here." He told her impatiently. "I've had a private detective following you for the past six months. I know you've had her and I want to come and see her."
"Why?"
"Is that all you can say?"
"Is that all you can make me say?" She argued. "Answer me, why do you want to come see her? You wanted nothing to do with me or her when you came to see me. Why do you want to see her now?"
"We have things to discuss. Will you be in the office in forty five minutes; you usually are on a Tuesday."
She ignored the need to shout at him. "I'll see you in forty five minutes."
She slammed the phone down before he could say anything else.
"Who was that?" Angel asked, having heard half of the conversation.
"Brian." She almost growled. "He's coming here at twelve."
"Why?" Angel frowned.
"I don't know. He says he wants to see her and that he's had a private detective following me for the past six months!" Cordelia shuddered. "That's so creepy on so many levels."
"Do you want me to kill him for you?" Angel asked.
Cordelia laughed and then realised he was serious. "No! He's human! A creep, but human. I'll deal with Brian. Now I'm no longer pregnant and in my weakened state I'll be able to deal a lot better with that piece of..."
"Okay." He interrupted and squeezed her shoulder. "I get the point. But I'll still be keeping watch when he gets here."
"Okay." She humoured him with a small smile.
When Brian arrived Cordelia was feeding the baby on the couch with Fred sat watching. It was she who noticed him first and touched Cordelia's hand to draw her attention to the doors.
She handed the baby to Fred and she continued to feed her.
"Hi." Cordelia said pleasantly and she saw Angel come out of the kitchen to stand in the doorway.
"Cordelia." He replied curtly. "Is that her?"
She nodded. "Why did you come?"
"You still like to get straight to business, huh?"
She ignored him. "What do you want?"
He pulled an envelope out of his jacket pocket. "I came to ask you to sign these."
"What are they?" She asked, warily accepting it and opening it.
"I need a guarantee that you're not going to fleece me out of every penny I've got just because you claim to have had my baby." He told her evenly. "You sign this agreement and everything will be fine."
"You mean I shouldn't expect to get any child allowance?" She mocked surprise. "Or any helping in raising your daughter, because she damn well is your daughter!"
"That's your word against mine." He raised an eyebrow. "I should demand a DNA test to prove that I'm not the father."
"I should demand one to prove you are!" She retorted. "I can't believe I actually thought you were a good guy."
She marched across to the counter and slammed the papers down, startling Wes and Gunn who were in Wes's office studying a case. She smoothed them out and started to read them.
Brian wandered over to Fred and Megan. "What are you calling her?"
Angel came to stand in front of Cordelia, on the other side of the counter to her.
"Megan." She replied, not looking up from the papers.
"Are you okay?" Angel asked.
She looked up and smiled. "I'm fine."
She flicked through a couple of pages and when Brian came to stand near her she grabbed a pen and made a big show of signing her name and shoving the papers back in the envelope.
She handed them to him and he shoved them back in his pocket. "Happy now?"
He nodded. "I'd like to say it was as fun as last time but it wasn't."
"The last time we met I told you I was pregnant, I didn't think that was fun for you honey." She told him with a smile. "What with the humiliation and everything."
"Well, the time before then, because that was fun baby. Anytime you want to go again you know where I am. But remember your birth control this time." He smirked.
She shook her head at him. "Maybe we could make this visit a little more memorable for you."
She punched him in the nose, thrusting the heel of her hand upwards so his nose broke.
Angel spluttered behind her and she tried not to laugh herself.
"You broke my fucking nose!" He shouted, clutching his bleeding and rapidly swelling nose.
Wes and Gunn came out of the office and Gunn laughed openly at him.
"Charles!" Fred scolded but she was smiling.
"You can show yourself out." Cordelia told him simply.
He glared at her but turned and left, slamming the door behind him.
"Did I do a good job there?" Cordelia asked, grinning like mad.
Angel came around the counter to hug her.
"I 'aint ever getting on your bad side again girl." Gunn told her with a whistle.
Cordelia kissed Angel on the lips quickly. "From now on I don't have a bad side."
"Did you really sign those papers?" Wes asked.
She suddenly looked sheepish. "I wrote 'Piss off asshole' in the place I was supposed to sign."
Everyone laughed and Angel hugged her again. Brian was gone for good and he had his girl, he was happy.
Cordelia took Megan out in her buggy that afternoon and she was gone a couple of hours.
When she got back she took Angel into Wes's office and shut the door.
"I think you're going to be mad at me." She told him.
"Why?" He asked warily.
She pulled an envelope out of her tote bag. "Here."
He opened it and found the deeds for the hotel. "You bought the hotel?"
"I told you I was going to!" She protested.
"But I told you not to!" He argued. "So you thought you'd go out and do it! What about your future?"
"This is going to be my home. I'm going to convince Dennis to come and haunt this place and we're moving in."
"What about Megan's future?"
"I've still got thirty thousand left and the person I spoke to today is going to put me in touch with someone who can invest it for me. I'll save that to put her through college and we'll live off the money that I get paid, which I might add could go up a bit. This way Megan and I have a home that we're not going to lose and we have a guaranteed home for our business. If we run short of money we'll turn the east wing back into a hotel, how does that sound?" She smirked.
He looked at her and then the papers and then back at her again. "You bought the hotel!"
She nodded and grinned. "Yup!"
He reached out and pulled her to him. "I don't know whether to strangle you or squeeze you to death! You're not going to evict me are you?"
She laughed happily. "Nope. Now all we have to do is pack up all my things and move them here!"
He pulled back and frowned. "There is no 'we' involved in that. I've seen how many clothes and shoes you own. Con someone else into it!"
She looked at him sternly. "I need all of them. Never underestimate the power of a good wardrobe!"
"You'll con Gunn and Wesley into it." He interpreted.
"Yeah." She admitted. "Those two will do anything for me!"
Cordelia went upstairs to bed early that night with Megan in her Moses basket. She owned these halls. All of the doors and windows and piles of crap were hers. She'd start moving all her things in the morning and get herself settled. It would be nice to be close to Angel and the gang. Maybe even Gunn and Wesley would like to move in. Maybe she could even charge them rent. She didn't think they'd like that idea. She'd better not ask them rent. But then again, Angel was already living there so she could charge him rent. Or she could get him to buy her a pair of shoes every week.
She stood in the hallway upstairs with one question in her head. The two doors stared at her ominously. She had to choose one. She could choose the familiar or the unfamiliar.
She opened the door labelled 217.
And made herself at home.
The End
She settled herself on her chair and put the carrycot on her desk. She sipped at her coffee while she held the bottle for her baby.
"Feel better now huh? Now mommy is up and feeding you. Because it's not like I didn't feed you an hour or two ago. No it isn't." She cooed as she fed her. "You're two days old and you still manage to eat more than I do. And I'm a big person. You're just a tiny little thing. But you wouldn't think it from the size of my stomach. No you wouldn't. You're not even in there anymore. I'm like a balloon, all blown up!"
Megan sucked greedily at the teat and a stream of milk dripped down her chin. Cordelia tutted at her and mopped it up with her bib. "You're a messy eater."
She finished with the bottle and Cordelia got up to put it in the sink. She went back and picked Megan up to burp her. She was sat with her in her arms when Angel came down the stairs. She winced. "Did I wake you?"
He nodded. "But it's okay."
"There's some coffee if you want." She told him, hoping he would see it as a peace offering. "I'm sorry about waking you."
"It's okay, really. Besides, I should be getting used to it." He told her. "You look tired."
"That's probably because I am." She replied quietly. "I look that bad?"
He shook his head. "Not really. Why don't you go take a shower now that I'm up?"
"I will do in a while." She told him and raised her left leg so that it rested on the edge of her chair and took some of Megan's weight instead of having it all rested on her arm.
"Did you manage to get any sleep?" He asked and sat down next to her.
"A little. She managed to get me up four times before she settled and then woke up again about a half hour ago." She told him and drank the last of her coffee. "I'm afraid that I'm doing things all wrong."
"Cordelia, you've been a mom for about a day and a half, give yourself time to get used to it. I'm sure all new moms feel that they're doing everything wrong in the beginning." He assured her.
"I suppose." She mused and straightened Megan's hair. "Do you think that I'll be a good mom?" She placed Megan back in her carry cot and fastened the straps.
"I think you'll be a great mom." He smiled encouragingly. "Give it time Cordelia."
"I know! I know!" She laughed. "I'm just being impatient."
"I love it when you laugh like that." He told her, the smile still on his face.
"Like what? A hyena?" She joked.
"No, like you haven't got a care in the world."
"If only that were true." She muttered.
"Do you think maybe in a couple of weeks we could go out on a date?" He suggested, almost shyly. "As a couple."
"I'd like that." She replied, almost as shyly. "To be honest, I've been thinking a lot about what has been going on with us. Knowing that you feel the same way is a relief."
"Feel the same way? Of course I feel the same way!" He exclaimed. "For months I've been unable to think of anything but you."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I've felt so close to you these past nine months, more than ever before. I've really liked having you living here." He told her. "And I loved it when we went out to dinner together. It felt like we were a real couple, even if it were just for that night."
"I felt that too." She admitted. "I've never felt like that with anyone else. Sure, I've been out with guys and I've dated but I've never felt like part of a couple with any of them. I always thought I was an oddball, until you."
"Until me?" He questioned, a line crinkling on his forehead.
"Yeah." She replied and tears filled her eyes. "I fell in love with my best friend!"
She laughed through her tears when she saw his eyes light up and dabbed at her eyes with her fingertips.
He got up from his chair and knelt in front of her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her towards him so that her head was lying on his shoulder. She draped her arms over his shoulders and held him tight. "God! I'm so emotional right now!"
He laughed. "It'll be all the hormones."
"There must be a lot of them." She replied into his neck.
He pulled back so he could look at her. He brushed his lips across hers gently. "I love you Cor."
"I love you too." She replied and kissed him back, this time with more passion.
His hand tangled in her hair and he pulled her to him so he could deepen the kiss. His tongue explored her mouth, sending shivers through her body. Just as she reached up to his neck with her hand, Megan began to cry.
They pulled apart breathless and then they both laughed. Cordelia reached for her but Angel put a hand on her arm and stopped her. "Let me. You go upstairs and shower."
He stood up and she waited while he'd taken the baby out of her carry cot and sat back down on his chair before she stood up. "Are you sure? I don't expect you to help look after her just because we're becoming involved."
"You mean you're not just with me for my way with babies?" He joked, rocking the baby.
She laughed and swatted him on the shoulder. "Thank you."
He watched her go upstairs and then changed Megan and settled her in the carry cot, still awake but content. He logged on to Cordelia's computer and checked the AI e-mails. There were a few giving them details of new cases which he knew Cordelia would reply to, one from their accountant which he ignored and one from 'witchygal2k'. He clicked on it and found it was from Willow, asking about everyone and informing them of what everyone in Sunnydale had been up to. He flagged it, knowing Cordelia and Wesley would want to see it and logged off.
By the time Cordelia came downstairs he had tidied the office and kitchen and made up enough bottles for Megan for the entire day and night. She had put on a pair of jeans she used to wear before she had gotten pregnant and a pale pink shirt. Her hair was damp and curled under her shoulder blades and Angel couldn't help but think she looked incredibly young with her fresh face and shining skin, fresh from the shower.
"Hey, look at me! All clean and fitting into pre-pregnancy jeans, feeling pretty good except for the fact that the button won't fasten!"
He laughed at her. "You look beautiful."
She shrugged. "I'm still not all thin and toned but at least I have some sort of figure back. But what I don't get is how I can go up two bra sizes in two days! I can't fit into any of my underwear; I'm wearing a hidden support vest under here!" She exclaimed, pressing her hands to her chest and jiggling her breasts. "I'm like a page three girl!"
"I don't have a problem with that." He smiled and came to stand in the lobby with her. "And you know, if Wes or Gunn had come in just then they would be very happy boys."
She laughed and went to wrap her arms around his neck. "I am so happy right now."
"Me too." He agreed. "Now, how do you fancy some eggs and toast? You need to keep your strength up."
She nodded and kissed his cheek. "That would be perfect."
"Good, you have an e-mail from Willow, you should reply to it before she starts thinking that we've all died and wants to come up here." Angel advised.
"Yeah, because a visit from the Scoobies would just make everything even more perfect." She replied dryly. "I'll go and tell her that everything is fine and that nothing has changed since the last time we spoke."
"Maybe you should tell her." He suggested.
She snorted. "And maybe I shouldn't."
He decided to leave her be and went to make her some breakfast.
It was eight thirty by the time Wesley arrived. Angel was sat on the couch with Cordelia sat on a cushion on the floor between his legs, her knees bent upwards. The baby was asleep on her thighs, her hand clasped around Cordelia's finger. Cordelia's head was laid on Angel's left thigh, his hand stroking her hair.
Wes entered the hotel with a look on confusion evident on his face. "Good morning."
Cordelia lifted her head. "Oh, morning Wes, sleep well?"
"Fine, you're very chipper this morning." He commented, standing in front of them. "Is there something I should know here?"
Cordelia turned her head to look at Angel.
"Cordelia and I are... well, I suppose you could say we are dating." Angel told him. "Is that okay with you?"
Wes looked flustered and visibly jumped. "Fine, absolutely fine. How is she this morning?"
He came to peer at the baby and then at Cordelia. "You look very pretty."
She blushed. "Thanks Wes."
He smiled and disappeared into his office.
Gunn and Fred arrived soon afterwards and they made a big fuss of the fact that Angel and Cordelia were seeing each other. Gunn seemed very protective whereas Fred was very excited and giggly. Gunn picked Megan up and fussed her for a while, at least until she needed changing. He handed her back to her mom claiming 'I don't do diapers'. Cordelia got up and changed Megan in the kitchen and then put her in her carry cot so she could do some work.
At a quarter past eleven the phone rang and she picked it up, cheerfully greeting the caller with the AI slogan 'We help the helpless'.
"It's Brian."
Cordelia froze. "What do you want?"
"I'm just checking that you will be in the office around twelve." He told her.
"Why?" She asked before answering.
"I'm going to stop in if you will be there."
"Why?" She repeated, tapping her pencil against the desk.
"Look, let's cut to the chase here." He told her impatiently. "I've had a private detective following you for the past six months. I know you've had her and I want to come and see her."
"Why?"
"Is that all you can say?"
"Is that all you can make me say?" She argued. "Answer me, why do you want to come see her? You wanted nothing to do with me or her when you came to see me. Why do you want to see her now?"
"We have things to discuss. Will you be in the office in forty five minutes; you usually are on a Tuesday."
She ignored the need to shout at him. "I'll see you in forty five minutes."
She slammed the phone down before he could say anything else.
"Who was that?" Angel asked, having heard half of the conversation.
"Brian." She almost growled. "He's coming here at twelve."
"Why?" Angel frowned.
"I don't know. He says he wants to see her and that he's had a private detective following me for the past six months!" Cordelia shuddered. "That's so creepy on so many levels."
"Do you want me to kill him for you?" Angel asked.
Cordelia laughed and then realised he was serious. "No! He's human! A creep, but human. I'll deal with Brian. Now I'm no longer pregnant and in my weakened state I'll be able to deal a lot better with that piece of..."
"Okay." He interrupted and squeezed her shoulder. "I get the point. But I'll still be keeping watch when he gets here."
"Okay." She humoured him with a small smile.
When Brian arrived Cordelia was feeding the baby on the couch with Fred sat watching. It was she who noticed him first and touched Cordelia's hand to draw her attention to the doors.
She handed the baby to Fred and she continued to feed her.
"Hi." Cordelia said pleasantly and she saw Angel come out of the kitchen to stand in the doorway.
"Cordelia." He replied curtly. "Is that her?"
She nodded. "Why did you come?"
"You still like to get straight to business, huh?"
She ignored him. "What do you want?"
He pulled an envelope out of his jacket pocket. "I came to ask you to sign these."
"What are they?" She asked, warily accepting it and opening it.
"I need a guarantee that you're not going to fleece me out of every penny I've got just because you claim to have had my baby." He told her evenly. "You sign this agreement and everything will be fine."
"You mean I shouldn't expect to get any child allowance?" She mocked surprise. "Or any helping in raising your daughter, because she damn well is your daughter!"
"That's your word against mine." He raised an eyebrow. "I should demand a DNA test to prove that I'm not the father."
"I should demand one to prove you are!" She retorted. "I can't believe I actually thought you were a good guy."
She marched across to the counter and slammed the papers down, startling Wes and Gunn who were in Wes's office studying a case. She smoothed them out and started to read them.
Brian wandered over to Fred and Megan. "What are you calling her?"
Angel came to stand in front of Cordelia, on the other side of the counter to her.
"Megan." She replied, not looking up from the papers.
"Are you okay?" Angel asked.
She looked up and smiled. "I'm fine."
She flicked through a couple of pages and when Brian came to stand near her she grabbed a pen and made a big show of signing her name and shoving the papers back in the envelope.
She handed them to him and he shoved them back in his pocket. "Happy now?"
He nodded. "I'd like to say it was as fun as last time but it wasn't."
"The last time we met I told you I was pregnant, I didn't think that was fun for you honey." She told him with a smile. "What with the humiliation and everything."
"Well, the time before then, because that was fun baby. Anytime you want to go again you know where I am. But remember your birth control this time." He smirked.
She shook her head at him. "Maybe we could make this visit a little more memorable for you."
She punched him in the nose, thrusting the heel of her hand upwards so his nose broke.
Angel spluttered behind her and she tried not to laugh herself.
"You broke my fucking nose!" He shouted, clutching his bleeding and rapidly swelling nose.
Wes and Gunn came out of the office and Gunn laughed openly at him.
"Charles!" Fred scolded but she was smiling.
"You can show yourself out." Cordelia told him simply.
He glared at her but turned and left, slamming the door behind him.
"Did I do a good job there?" Cordelia asked, grinning like mad.
Angel came around the counter to hug her.
"I 'aint ever getting on your bad side again girl." Gunn told her with a whistle.
Cordelia kissed Angel on the lips quickly. "From now on I don't have a bad side."
"Did you really sign those papers?" Wes asked.
She suddenly looked sheepish. "I wrote 'Piss off asshole' in the place I was supposed to sign."
Everyone laughed and Angel hugged her again. Brian was gone for good and he had his girl, he was happy.
Cordelia took Megan out in her buggy that afternoon and she was gone a couple of hours.
When she got back she took Angel into Wes's office and shut the door.
"I think you're going to be mad at me." She told him.
"Why?" He asked warily.
She pulled an envelope out of her tote bag. "Here."
He opened it and found the deeds for the hotel. "You bought the hotel?"
"I told you I was going to!" She protested.
"But I told you not to!" He argued. "So you thought you'd go out and do it! What about your future?"
"This is going to be my home. I'm going to convince Dennis to come and haunt this place and we're moving in."
"What about Megan's future?"
"I've still got thirty thousand left and the person I spoke to today is going to put me in touch with someone who can invest it for me. I'll save that to put her through college and we'll live off the money that I get paid, which I might add could go up a bit. This way Megan and I have a home that we're not going to lose and we have a guaranteed home for our business. If we run short of money we'll turn the east wing back into a hotel, how does that sound?" She smirked.
He looked at her and then the papers and then back at her again. "You bought the hotel!"
She nodded and grinned. "Yup!"
He reached out and pulled her to him. "I don't know whether to strangle you or squeeze you to death! You're not going to evict me are you?"
She laughed happily. "Nope. Now all we have to do is pack up all my things and move them here!"
He pulled back and frowned. "There is no 'we' involved in that. I've seen how many clothes and shoes you own. Con someone else into it!"
She looked at him sternly. "I need all of them. Never underestimate the power of a good wardrobe!"
"You'll con Gunn and Wesley into it." He interpreted.
"Yeah." She admitted. "Those two will do anything for me!"
Cordelia went upstairs to bed early that night with Megan in her Moses basket. She owned these halls. All of the doors and windows and piles of crap were hers. She'd start moving all her things in the morning and get herself settled. It would be nice to be close to Angel and the gang. Maybe even Gunn and Wesley would like to move in. Maybe she could even charge them rent. She didn't think they'd like that idea. She'd better not ask them rent. But then again, Angel was already living there so she could charge him rent. Or she could get him to buy her a pair of shoes every week.
She stood in the hallway upstairs with one question in her head. The two doors stared at her ominously. She had to choose one. She could choose the familiar or the unfamiliar.
She opened the door labelled 217.
And made herself at home.
The End
