All You Have To Do Is Smile

Part 5

Note: For the purposes of this fic, I've had to decide on an age for Cathy. I've decided that at this point in time, she's 8.

I realise that I posted Chapter 4 twice, but I lose reviews if I remove it, and there was no way to get this moved to the updated section without leaving it as it was or posting two parts…and that would involve having two parts to post! Maybe next time!

* * is thoughts

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He stumbled through the bushes, not realising that the beverages he had had earlier in the evening, before being…well, him, would still be having an effect on his body. Looking around, he realised he was wandering in the opposite direction than he should be. Cursing, he turned and headed for the large row of hedges that divided his father's land from the neighbouring property.

Stepping through a gap that he remembered well, Angel straightened up, almost gasping as he saw the house before him. He was home. The realisation hit him with more clarity than he ever would have though possible. In this house, fast asleep, were his mother, father and…Cathy. His spirits lifted at that thought, and he soon found himself running towards the house, full speed. He remembered well that his way into the house was through that window. Her window, his little Angel.

He stopped dead. Angel…Angelus. That was how he had come up with the name, he killed his Angel, thus becoming Angelus, the slayer of this precious thing. Whether it was from too much consumption of alcohol, or that thought, Angel was soon retching in the grass. Tears ran tracks down his cheeks as he thought of her, the beautiful dark curls framing the angelic face, the big brown eyes filled with fear, confusion, trust as she died. As he killed her.

Crying in earnest now, Angel lay down on the grass, not even caring that his vomit lay next to him. How could he look at her again? How could he ever think to be in her presence again after what he had done to her? He had to leave; he had to get out of there. He was a monster; there was no other way to put it. His poor, little Angel, so innocent and trusting had had her life ripped from her…by him. Stumbling to his feet, he turned, rather unsteadily to leave, stopped only by the gentle voice, travelling through the breeze.

"Liam? Come in b'fore y' catch your death o' cold."

Slowly he turned. She was there. She was breathing, she was alive.

"Cathy? Angel, is-is that you?"

The girl giggled and shook her head, tutting slightly. "Silly, silly Liam, 'course it's me. Who else d'ya think it would be, Lucky?" He smiled at her pet name for him. Lucky. That's what he'd always said he'd been to have her, and she'd called him that since she was old enough to speak.

"Come in, silly!" The little girl beckoned him from her open window, just as she had that night. Brushing away tears, memories of that night, he went to her, pulling her into the biggest hug he could, not wanting to let go for dear life.

"Lucky? Liam, what's wrong?" Pulling back, he saw confusion in her eight-year-old eyes, so wise before their time, but still full of playfulness.

"Not'in'." He said softly, still staring at her in awe. "There's not'in' for you ta worry about, Angel."

She giggled and shook her head, "Then come in b'fore ya wake Mam and Pap."

~x~x~x~x~x~

Angel groaned and shielded his eyes from the harsh daylight that was glaring through his window. Something wasn't quite right. He couldn't hear the cars outside, there was no noise. Then he remembered. He was alive, he was human…and he was in the 18th Century.

His head throbbed and he groaned again. This was something he remembered vividly about being human. Hangovers. Sitting up, he suddenly realised what a paradise lying down had been and proceeded to do so again, only the lurching of his stomach causing him to throw himself of his bed and run to the bathroom. Today was going to be a good day.

"Liam!" he pulled himself from his position on the floor and prepared himself for something he never thought he'd see again. His father. He was filled with a mixture of dread and apprehension. He had never really got along with his father, not since he was old enough to know what alcohol and women were. But the thought of being faced with the man he had vivid memories of torturing to death, made him even more terrified of the outcome. He almost expected, perhaps even wished, that his father would yell and scream at him, accuse him of murder, of being the most disgusting thing he had ever laid his eyes on. Angel paused in his musings and smiled a little. His father would likely do all that anyway, apart from the murder accusation.

Drudging his way through the house, he finally made it to the dining room, where his father sat at the head of the table, his mother and Cathy at either side of him. Angel took a moment to simply glance at the scene, a twisting feeling in his stomach, one that had nothing to do with his hangover. He was looking at his family, was staring at them, as if through some kind of looking glass, a fraction of time suspended in one perfect moment.

"Sit down, you drunken wretch."

Okay, so perhaps not perfect for long. Angel took a seat and smiled broadly at his father, "Mornin' father, mother, Cathy." He winked at his sister and she giggled, covering her mouth with her hand, almost as if that would mean her father wouldn't see her.

"Cathy, eat your breakfast. Liam, I don' know why you're so upbeat this mornin', but you can take the horses into town, Missy needs a new shoe."

"Oh, Pap, can I go? Please?"

After a moment of staring at his youngest, Angel's father smiled a little, " 'Course you can, Precious." As his father turned to look at him, Angel watched the smile turn to a glare, "See if you can stay outta trouble, will ye. I don't want your sister bein' pulled into any of your messes, d'ya hear?"

Angel smiled. He was home. He was finally home.

~x~x~x~x~x~

Cordelia smiled politely, trying to ignore the lecherous look that she was receiving from "wee" Jimmy, and his lovely cousin Andrew. Having taken over an hour to get herself dressed properly, damn undergarments, she had been called down stairs for a late breakfast by Aunt Ella. She was famished, but had tried her best not to scoff down the contents of her plate, instead forcing herself to keep to the niceties that were a part of the class she was to portray.

She was going to kill Angel. She had it all nicely planned, everything was going to go very smoothly, who'd even care that he was gone? Except perhaps a few local whores and his drinking buddies…and her. Scowling at her thoughts, she suddenly remembered her surroundings and smiled apologetically at the strange look Aunt Ella had given her. Obviously putting it down to losing her brother, Ella nodded her head in understanding.

Having finished her painfully slow breakfast, Cordelia decided she'd like to get a better look at the town. Turning to head into the kitchen to talk to Aunt Ella, she found herself face to face with Wee Jimmy. Smiling as politely as she could, she tried to get past him, muttering a low, "Excuse me."

"Ye'r excused, Ma'am."

Glaring up at him, she took a deep breath, "Let me past, please." Wee Jimmy laughed a little, only infuriating Cordelia further, "Look here, buster…" the look on his face made her curse under her breath. She was an upper class woman of the 18th Century, she doubted the word "buster" had even been invented yet. Who invented that word anyway? She wondered, before remembering her situation.

"There's more to you than meets the eye, Miss Imogene."

At these words, she gasped…Doyle? No she shook her head, it couldn't be Doyle. He wasn't even going to be born for a couple of centuries. Yet, there was something about him, something that made Cordelia wonder…

"Ah, Miss Imogene, thar ya are." Cordelia started as Aunt Ella came from the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron. "What did ya have planned fer today?"

"I…I, was hoping to get a better look at the village this morning, Ang…Liam told me it was a beautiful town."

Ella laughed, "Aye, I'll bet he did!" shaking her head, the older woman walked Cordelia to the door, Jimmy trailing behind. "You watch yersel' wi' that one, Miss Imogene, he's a sweet talker, and no mistake, but ya be careful. He's a reputation on 'im that ain't fittin' fer a woman o' your calibre."

Cordelia smiled, the thought of Angel as a ladies man simply too ridiculous for words. "I'll keep an eye on him, don't you worry, Aunt Ella."

Ella smiled and shook her head again, "I believe ya will, Miss Imogene. Ya may even be good fer 'im." Cordelia wasn't sure she liked the smirk on Ella's face as the elder woman continued, "Now, 't ain't fittin' fer ye ta go wanderin' an yer own, so Wee Jimmy here'll keep ya company."

"Oh." Cordelia tried to smile, but was sure she failed miserably. Great, just what I need, the great lecho man following me around all morning. "Thanks, Aunt Ella."

She walked out of the door, more than aware of the eyes of her companion following her every move. She was concentrating so much on ignoring him, that she didn't hear Ella's final comment, "Well, I'll be if she ain't already smitten wi' our Liam." And, shaking her head, Ella went back to her housework.

~x~x~x~x~x~

Cordelia wandered through the streets, taking in every detail with awe. She was actually walking through history. Now she was the first person to admit that history wasn't exactly a favourite subject of hers, but living history? This was amazing. She walked from store front to store front, glancing at the freshly made bread, the latest fashion (Itchy, much?), only stopping at the jewellery store.

"Wow." She breathed. Before her was the most exquisite jewellery she had ever seen, the silver and gold woven intricately into the most breathtakingly complicated Celtic designs she had ever seen. But what had captured her attention was the necklace at the side, the beautifully crafted silver Celtic design, a silver teardrop with a simple symmetric design etched into either side. It was so completely unlike anything she would have imagined to capture her heart, and yet it had. Something so simple, but beautiful.

"Quite the beauty i'n't it?"

Cordelia turned sharply, shocked by the sudden breath she felt on her ear. "An…Liam. You scared me." He smirked and she had to restrain herself from scowling. What was worse, was that he knew it and smirked even wider.

"Lucky, who's this?"

It was then that Cordelia noticed the little girl clutching at Angel's hands, peering up at her with a thoughtful expression on her face. She was like a baby, female version of Angel, just like in the picture that had captured her heart, and then she realised that was what Angel had been struggling to remember. Angel's memory of this only made everything more real…they had, indeed, travelled back in time.

Realising that she had been staring at Angel, and he at her, she startled when she heard the childish giggle. Had it come from Angel's sister, she would have smiled and forgotten about it, the fact that it had come from Wee Jimmy, simply irked her.

Scowling at the offending man, she crouched down to Catherine's eye level and smiled, noting that Angel had also crouched, and she extended her hand. "You must be Catherine." At the girl's nod, she smiled. "My name's Cor…My name's Imogene." Catherine giggled and shook her hand.

"It's nice to meet you Miss Cor Imogene."

"Cathy," Angel said, a slight warning in his tone.

"Sorry, Liam," she turned back to Cordelia, "I'm sorry, Miss Imogene."

Cordelia smiled, "Don't worry about it, Catherine. It was my fault, my brother had a nickname for me, he called me Cordy, it was silly, I know, but I liked it." Angel smiled, knowing that she had just covered the way for him slipping up and calling him Cordy.

"My brother has a name fer me, too." Catherine smiled, "He's my Lucky and I'm his Angel."

"Angel," Cordelia repeated softly, her gaze meeting Angel's. She knew the significance of it and smiled reassuringly, showing him that she understood. "It's a beautiful name, for a beautiful girl." She said, turning her attention back to Catherine, who giggled at her and scrunched up her nose. She turned to Angel and whispered in his ear, causing Cordelia to frown. Angel was grinning at her and Catherine was giggling.

"I'm sure if you ask her, she'd love to." Angel said to his sister, and Cordelia was suddenly nervous as to what the child wanted her to do, while still being acutely aware that Angel's Irish lilt was doing something funny to her insides.

"Would you be my helper?"

"Your helper?" Cordelia asked, turning to Angel to explain.

"Catherine has entered the children's horse riding competition at the Gala, and she needs a helper, but my father and I can't and Mother's scared of horses." Angel clarified.

"I usually get Patricia to help, but she's so bossy." Catherine said scrunching up her face.

Cordelia laughed, "I'd love to help you Catherine, but I don't know how good I'll be, I know very little about horses."

"Liam can give you lessons before then, can't you, Lucky?" the little girl beamed at her brother, overjoyed that Cordelia had agreed.

"Sure, I'd love to teach ye, Miss Imogene."

Cordelia smiled at him, not quite sure what he had in mind, but not sure she really cared either. He was staring at her with a smile and an expression in his eyes that she didn't recognise. Suddenly, Catherine gave her a hug and a quick peck on the cheek, thanking her for agreeing, and Cordelia smiled. She wasn't sure what was going to happen, but she realised that she was no longer so scared. She felt oddly at ease with everything, and when Angel reached a hand to help her up, she realised that things weren't so bad. In fact, she was sure everything just kept getting better and better.

~x~x~x~x~x~

END PART 5

Note: In truth I have no idea how Angelus got his name (have we ever been told) so if you know, it'd be nice to find out, and please just take this as is said for the purposes of the fic! Thanx J

Okay, it's been a while since I updated this! I know, and I'm sorry! Hope this part was all right, I'm trying to take it in turns with the angst and the fluff, not sure how well it's working!

Thanks to my wonderful Grammar-Nazi beta, Kath, for being so patient and waiting for this chapter, only to be unable to beta due to her, well, life (my God people have lives?). Hope it wasn't too bad, Kath, hope I don't make you cringe!

Feedback is a gift, it's nice to give J