Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine and Dunstaffnage is in homage to the amazing week we spent in Oban…you know who you are.
Summary: Cordelia awakes from her coma, not remembering a thing. Will Angel and Wesley be able to piece her life back together and will she be strong enough to repay the favour?
Retain Your Receipt…
The grey colour was now turning white as Cordelia struggled to open her eyes. They wouldn't open. Her heart began to race. She tried to move her arms. They felt heavy and stiff, with various tubes coming off. Cordelia clawed at her eyes trying to free what ever held them closed. As the tape came free her eyes flew open but quickly shut again. The light burned them, so used to the dark. She gingerly opened them, allowing them to become accustom to the bright lights. Cordelia took in her new surroundings; the room was white, not just minimal white but clinical white. She was lying in a bed made for stainless steel, with bars on each side to stop her falling out. Around her machines beeped regularly, leaving a mechanical trace behind them. There was a drip to her side delivering a turbid liquid into her arm.
It hit her where she was. The hospital bed groaned as Cordelia struggled to sit up, obviously not used to the movement. A young man in a white coat came running into the room, a look of surprise and pure horror on his face.
"Mi…Miss Chase! Your awake!" Cordelia just stared at him. "Mr Angel will want to know you're awake."
It was Cordelia's turn to look horrified. Angel knew she was here, like this. Why wasn't he here by her side? She had to grab the retreating doctors sleeve. He turned to face her, more horror on his face. Cordelia tried to shout at him to stop but her throat choked her. She shook her head rapidly in the hope he would understand her desperate actions. The doctors face softened and he handed her a glass of water with a straw. Cordelia drunk hungrily from the cup.
"Where am I?" Cordelia asked, her voice hoarse from disuse.
"You are in Dunstaffnage Medical Centre in LA. Wolfram and Hart brought you here 6 months ago." He seen Cordelia's eyes widened in pure horror. "Mr Angel told us to contact him when your condition changed."
"Angel and Wolfram And Hart are working together? Angel let them put me here? Where is he?"
"His office is in the Wolfram and Hart building in the centre of LA! Now I must go and get Doctor Thomson and phone Mr Angel.!"
"No!" Cordelia half cried. "Don't phone Angel, please. Don't leave me. Tell, me why am I here? What happened to me?"
The doctor shifted nervously from foot to foot. "I'm Doctor Derek Robson. You came here 6 months ago after the battle in LA You gave birth to a… girl, she was called Jasmine, and you lapsed into a coma for 6 months until you woke up…about 10 minutes ago."
Cordelia sat, stunned. Babies, battles, coma's. What had caused all this?
"I really should called Mr. Angel."
Cordelia regained her senses. "No, I don't want Angel to know."
"But, but he'll fire me." A pause and a gulp. "or worse."
"Listen here buster, what happened to patient confidentiality? I don't want Angel to know I'm awake. Not just now. Now bring me some clothes, I don't want to be walking around in LA in my PJ's."
The doctor stood and looked at her for a few second before Cordelia raised her eyebrow and he scuttled away. Cordelia swung her legs over the side of the bed and lowered herself to the ground. The tiles felt cold against the balls of her feet as they touched lightly on the floor. Her legs seemed ready to take her weight so she let go of the rails along her bed and held her breath. For a few seconds she wavered where she stood and then she fell, crying out as she tumbled helplessly to the cold, hard, floor. Her shout brought Dr. Derek running through to the room clutching women's clothes to his chest. He put the clothes on the bed and helped Cordelia to her feet.
"What's wrong with me? Am I paralysed?"
Dr. Robson sighed. "No, you've been asleep for 6 months, your muscles haven't been used in a while and need to be strengthened up. Here, sit down."
Cordelia sat on the bed, her legs hanging over the edge. He began to move her legs up and down, circulating her muscles and bones. The colour slowly seeped into her legs, from the deathly pale of before to a pinker skin tone that hadn't seen the sun in a while. Derek helped her to her feet, slowly walking her around the room with his arm as support. Once he was sure she would be able to stand on her own he left her to get dressed. He found her strangely pleasant, nothing like the woman he thought would be. The woman in the bed, 50m from him, had given birth to a killer, a killer that had tried to take over their dimension. In fact she didn't seem to remember a single thing. He felt a stab of pity for her, one day the memories would come back and haunt her. He hoped she was strong enough to live with the things she did, or the thing that had taken over her had did. He was in two minds whether to call Mr Angel but he decided against it. Derek wasn't sure of the Vampire or man could change his morals to work for Wolfram and Hart so quickly. He wondered through to Cordelia's room to find her staring at the mirror.
"My hair grew huh? Still got my streaks thought." She played with the hair that now sat neatly on her shoulders. "And my manicured nails. Who is paying for all this?"
Derek shifted from one foot to the other. "Wolfram and Hart ma'am. Lilah set it up and Mr Angel provides the finances."
"Wolfram and Hart! Wolfram and Hart!" Cordelia shouted. "Wolfram and Hart, as in the evil law firm that would do anything to destroy Angel and Angel Investigations, Wolfram and Hart?"
"Angel Investigations now runs the LA branch of Wolfram and Hart. It was given to them after Jasmine died." He saw her face whiten and realised he had made a huge mistake.
"Jasmine, as in the baby I carried and gave birth to is dead." She covered her face with her hands and let the tears fall free. "My baby is dead."
Derek sat Cordelia down and explained t her who Jasmine was, what she represented and what happened when she died.
"So if I carried this being, who was the father?" She drew in a sharp breath. "Oh god, not Angel?"
"No Miss Chase, Mr Angel is in firm control of his soul. After Jasmine died, Wolfram and Hart decided that if you can't beat them, join them. They asked Angel Investigations if they wanted to take up it's office here in LA. They use the resources mainly for good, in the name of the Powers and all that."
Cordelia eyed him warily. "How do you know all this?"
He shrugged. "Word get around the office and the LA demon population. We specialise in demon medicine. You do remember your half demon right?"
Cordelia nodded. "Does Wesley Wyindom-Price still work for Angel?"
"Wes? Yeah, we see him up here all the time. When get an unusual demon in for treatment or looking for demon cures. He's also been here to see you a few times."
"Does Angel?" Cordelia asked tentatively.
Derek looked to the ground. "No, but he's real busy and I bet it would hurt you to come and see a friend in a coma knowing you can't help them."
"Well I better go and see Wes, unless… Does Angel work in the Wolfram and Hart building?"
"Yes, of course, he is the Managing Director."
Cordelia began to pace. "OK, I'll write a note and you can take it." Derek shook his head. "Right a courier can take it. I'll get him to meet me at the Hypirion. It is still standing isn't it?"
"Yes why?" Derek asked, becoming more comfortable in her company.
"It's just that Angel Investigations has a habit of getting it's offices blown up!"
He watched as Cordelia scribbled down a note and folded it in 4. She handed it to him. "Now I need transport. Do you have a car?" Derek nodded. "Great, you can take me into the city and to the hotel."
"Yeah, but why don't you want to see Mr. Angel?" Derek couldn't suppress his curiosity any longer.
"Imagine you date the cutest girl in the office and then you do something really embarrassing like spill red wine on her new and expensive cream silk dress. The last thing you wanna do is go into work the next day and face said girl! I'm not ready to see Angel yet, not after what I did. Wes, now Wes will understand. He's done stupid things and we forgave him, I hope he'll forgive me too." Now are we gonna get going?"
Derek nodded, feeling like he was starting out on an adventure