Chapter Two

"Dog house? Now why would he be in the dog house?" Willow asked sincerely, before Xander snickered and poked Willow in the ribs, causing her to giggle.

"Willow- now this is *Cordelia* we're talking about." The two friends giggled, but Willow felt a little bad- just a little.

The man whom she and Xander had just met- Gunn, she supposed- glared at the two but explained patiently. "'Cause she saw 'im mackin' on Buffy," he allowed, his arm slung over the thin, pretty girl (Fred, Willow thought) sitting next to him. She was twirling a strand of long brown hair around her finger and biting her lip.

[Okay- strange, right? People *defending* Cordelia,] Willow thought, her brows furrowing in confusion. Would wonders ever cease?

Of course, what Willow had thought and tactfully didn't mention, Xander did. "Um, are you and Cordelia lovebirds?" He asked, raising a brow and chuckling, although Willow thought she saw a glint of jealousy in his hazel eyes. When Gunn shook his head and leaned back in his chair, Xander raised both of his eyebrows and chuckled, crossing his arms over his chest. "Well, then I have no idea why you defended her. Even when I was dating her, I didn't defend her."

Fred looked outraged, her tiny face flushed with anger. "You know, I heard about you, and you kissing *her*" she motioned towards Willow and she couldn't help herself from blushing ", and being mean! You never respected Cordy and let her speak- remember she tried to defend you and you told her to shut up- and she really liked you and now I know why everyone else calls you a jerk even though Cordy doesn't!" She finished, her voice rising and octave and then she meeped, embarrassed by the spew of words and buried herself between the two men she was sitting between.

That shut Xander up, and the group sat in silence until a shout told them to come up.

"Finally," grumbled Gunn, although Wesley and Fred kept silent.

As the group pounded up the stairs, they saw Angel look sharply towards the doors as they swung open, revealing a cheerful Cordelia holding a cup of steaming coffee.

"Okay, *hello*, didn't anyone ever tell you not to stare? Not that I blame you," she spat out, although in a over-friendly manner. Fred giggled and a smile looped over both Gunn and Wesley's lips, although Xander just stared and Angel looked at her intensely.

Sighing dramatically, she loped her purse over her chair's back and turned back to the group, sipping her coffee and producing an identical cup (although it contained a vanilla shake) for Fred, who smiled gratefully. "I thought you said this matter was of utmost importance. I mean, your wasting minutes of *my* precious life.

Angel knew this was her defense strategy- whenever feeling over emotional ('specially with those "icky" feelings such as hurt or betrayal) out came the bitchy remarks. Or maybe it was just seeing the group again. Or specifically Xander.

"Um, okay," Angel stuttered, throwing an experimental smile towards Cordelia in a gesture of an apology. She was looking down at her coffee though, and didn't see it. "Well, you see..."

***

"Mmm, of course. Spike-y is on the loose and your worried. *Even* though he has some similar thing- curse or whatever- similar to Angel's which prevents him from hurting anyone," Cordelia summed it up, raising her brows up.

"Common, Barbie, tell us what you think," chuckled Gunn, knowing it was coming.

"Barbie?" Xander hissed to Willow, who promptly elbowed in the ribs.

"Fine- I wasn't going to say it..." Cordelia sighed, then laughed. "Okay, I *was* going to say it, but whatever. You know what I think Buf? I think your hormones were flaring up, and since you already slept with Spike, you decided his skills in the 'coffin' couldn't compete with Angel's, so you came to get the real stuff."

Blunt. Yes, that was what she always was. But now she was trying to make the words sting- something she hadn't done sense the biggest betrayal of her life- besides Angel's pre-epiphany one.

Xander's.

Buf-bitch's bitch factor had reached the roof then. So had her's.

Buffy flinched, like Cordelia had intended, Angel looked at her curiously, Xander and Willow's both looked angry, and Gunn, Fred, and Wesley nodded as if it made perfect sense.

Of all of their reactions, she had to admit- liked Buffy's the best.

But she couldn't let anyone know that- *everyone* had to think Queen C was perfect. And if they didn't- off with their heads!

***

Buffy winced, her words stinging, but like usual, Cordelia was on mark- practically. "Cordelia, I know I can't sleep with A-" she began, but was so rudely cut off.

"Of course you do!" Cordelia cooed, flicking a strand of vibrant brown hair from her eyes. "You set Angelus loose before, I don't think that's something you can just get up and forget. But, now that you know he won't *always* be like that, you see the light at the end of the tunnel, to quote your loverboy. You'll just settle for snatches of intimacy until his time comes."

Buffy just stared at Cordelia, mouth agape. How *dare* she? Of course, that was what she had been thinking earlier, but for her to go up and blurt it to everyone? She took a step up, but Gunn and Wesley stepped protectively closer to Cordelia. Buffy took satisfaction in the falter in Cordelia's eyes, but the girl just wouldn't thrown off the subject.

"I know you're a bit shy about your love life- I mean, after all, look what it did?- But that's no reason the threaten people," the girl bubbled.

Narrowing her eyes, she finally realized the reason Cordelia was taunting her. She was *jealous*! She had always liked Angel- in fact, she distinctly remembered her saying, "Hello salty goodness!". Maybe the fact that they were working so close together made Cordelia think she actually had a chance. Hah. Stepping closer to Angel, she wrapped her arm around his waist and smiled up at him. He looked uneasy- both girls were looking at him intently.

Cordelia- of course- was the one who broke the silence. "Well, since I *really* don't want to see what's doing to happen next, Gunn, remember, you told me you'd train with me and Fred. Wesley, too?"

Angel looked distinctly worried, but the dark-skinned man smiled. "Sure, girl. Let's go."

Cordelia in lead, the four went down the stairs to the basement. With her arm around her waist and her other hand groping around his chest, she found that he was tense. She didn't *even* want to think why.

Both Willow and Xander looked uncomfortable. Angel took pity on them (why, Buffy could not muster up- he had never seemed too interested in them before) and directed them to Gunn's desk, where their were several video games and retrieved Cordelia's miny t.v- she had hidden it behind her desk because of Angel's lack of televisionage.

Damn. Today wasn't going as planned for Buffy- or Angel.

Misson One: Make-out with Angel some more.

Mission Two: Get Angel to fire Cordelia.