PART FIVE

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
CORDELIA CHASE'S APARTMENT
THE MORNING AFTER

Naked on the floor, Cordelia rolled over with the blanket on top of her with a smile on her face. Slowly opening her eyes, she found Angel on the floor next to her, sleeping like a baby. She smiled a little more when she remembered last night. It was almost perfect. Oh my God, did we? What if...if he's Angelus? What if he's not? If he's not that means I didn't make him happy. Why didn't I make him happy? He made me happy. Why didn't I make him happy? Cordelia sat up and squinted her eyes. Buffy. It's all about Buffy. Why is she the only one who made him happy? WHY? Cordelia got up slowly, not wanted to wake Angel from his harmless sleep and went to get dressed. She had a little favor to ask her friends.

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
THE HALLIWELL MANOR

Piper and Leo were in the kitchen, fixing a big breakfast for their family when Cordelia stormed in. She was obviously not happy anymore.
"I'm thinking that good morning won't be enough?" Piper said to her.
"Oh, no. It's a good morning. But for other reasons, I'm not in the mood for a good morning." Cordelia said, taking a seat next to Paige at the table.
"So, I'm guessing that it didn't happen?"
"I don't know. I can't even remember. If we did, it wasn't enough to turn him." Cordelia huffed, taking a fork and biting off of Paige's omelet that Piper had made for her.
"So did you come here to tell us the details?" Piper asked, being sarcastic as she flipped the eggs in the skillet and placed them on an extra plate for Cordelia. Bringing over the plate and a glass of milk, she set them in front of her and urged her to eat.
"Thanks Piper. And no, I'm not here to give you details. I doubt Leo would want to hear about that anyway."
"No, I'll get the details from Angel. Or Piper will tell me later tonight. She has a way with that."
"Hey!" Piper shouted at her husband. Leo came over and gave her a kiss on the cheek and settled around the table to hear Cordelia's reasons for being here so early in the morning.
"I need to ask you guys a favor."
"Shoot." Paige folded the paper back up and put Wyatt's fork back down on his high chair after feeding him a bite of her eggs.
"Well, you all know about the curse that Angel has."
"Yeah, we found that out a little late."
"Leo..."
"What? What are you guys talking about?"
"Okay, truth. We brought Angel here." Paige turned to her friend and told her.
"Paige! Phoebe is going to kill you."
"She can't and she won't. Cordelia needs and deserves the truth. We all saw how miserable you were and we went to Los Angeles to get him."
"You what?" Cordelia said, getting up from her chair and putting her hand to her forehead. "I can't believe this."
"Believe it." Phoebe stood in the doorway and watched Cordelia pace in the little space provided. "I'm not sorry Cordelia."
"Why not?"
"Because you were miserable and lonely and just a drag to be around." Phoebe moved forward and stopped Cordelia before she wore a hole in the floor. "I'm not sorry because if you have looked in the mirror lately, you can see that you're happy. You're happy that he's here. He's in your life again. And we like the happy Cordelia."
"That doesn't matter."
"Yes it does." Piper piped up. "He's the reason why you're still here Cordelia. Didn't you tell us that in order to keep you alive and safe he took a job with Evil Incorporated, the law firm that he wanted to tear apart a few years ago?"
"Well, yeah, but..."
"No buts. He loves you. You love him. Love isn't magic Cordelia. When you love a person, you can't stop. You don't want to stop. It's a hope inside of you that you are meant for this person and you can't live without them. It transcends time and place and even dimensions. Love just is. It just is." Piper said to her, making Cordelia take a seat again.
"Wow. Did you know that you are the most beautiful woman in the world?" Leo commented, looking at his wife with so much love that it made Cordelia cry. He kissed Piper and looked over to Cordelia, who was wiping away her tears.
"I guess you're right. It just is. But there are some people that even though they know they're meant for each other, there's something holding them apart." Cordelia looked into the half-eaten egg that sat in front of her. "Okay, enough pity party for Cordelia. Since I did a favor for you with playing along with this game and since I help you in your monster-of-the-week-vanquishings, you are going to do a favor for me."
"What's that?"
"Give a friend a present."

Piper, Phoebe, and Paige recited the words that would bless the potion they had just made when the poof of smoke came around it. A soul. A bright, full of life soul in a tiny little bottle. Who would've thought? Piper reached for the bottle and clasped it into her hands. Walking towards Cordelia, she smiled and prayed that this would work.
"Are you sure?"
"It's the only way to make him happy."
"But you make him happy, honey." Phoebe popped in.
"Not that happy." Cordelia shrugged her shoulders. Piper laid the bottle into Cordelia's hands and held them tight.
"Be careful. Remember, it just is."
"I will. Thank you." Cordelia hugged Piper and Phoebe for their help. Paige, tall as she was, came over and hovered over all of them.

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
CORDELIA CHASE'S APARTMENT
MID-AFTERNOON

Cordelia came into her apartment and set the keys down on the catchall next to the door.
"Angel? I'm home." She said like it was a normal everyday thing. Looking around, she didn't know exactly where he was. She went into the bedroom to find him packing up his "clothes" into a suitcase that had just shown up out of thin air. "Where ya going?" She said hopping onto the bed and shaking the mattress up and down. Angel didn't say anything, but kept folding and re-folding his shirts. Cordelia put her hand over his and asked again. "Where are you going?"
"Los Angeles."
"Oh." Cordelia saddened and she looked down.
"Don't start Cordelia."
"Start what?"
"You're pouting and don't give me one of your speeches that cause me to think about what I'm doing. Because I've decided and I'm going back to Los Angeles. They need me there. Much more than you do."
"Angel, that's not true. I need you..." He cut her off before she could tell him anything more.
"No, Cordelia. Stop right there. I don't want to hear it. Last night was great and then this morning, you left. I don't know where and I don't care anymore. I came here to prove to you that you're the one. The one for me; my only; you know, etcetera. Last night was almost the best night of my life, save the part where we didn't actually go all the way..."
"Wait, we didn't have sex?"
"No, Cordelia, we didn't. I stopped before we could. But don't change the subject. I need to go back to Los Angeles before anything else gets out of hand and before we do something that..." He stopped looking over at her. Throwing his shirt into the suitcase and started to pace before her. She threw the bottle into his suitcase before she forgot, hoping he would see it once he got back. "I love you."
"No you don't."
"Yes I do."
"No you don't."
"Don't argue with me. I do love you and you love me."
"You love Buffy. Always have, always will." Cordelia said, looking away from him.
"Yes, that's true. I will always love Buffy in some way, but I will not love her the way I love you. You are the one. The only one for me. Come back with me. Please." Angel knelt down and put his hands on her knees, looking into her honey hued eyes.
"I can't." She whispered.
"Fine." Angel slammed the suitcase and grabbed it, walking out of her bedroom. "Goodbye." He finally said in a concluding way as he slammed her apartment door. Cordelia lay back on the bed and buried her head into a pillow and screamed. Why did it have to end this way?

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
WOLFRAM & HART, ATTORNEYS AT LAW
ANGEL'S PENTHOUSE
TWO WEEKS LATER

"You need to get out of bed Angelcakes." Lorne came into his bedroom and opened up the blinds to let the sun in. "It's already three o'clock."
"I'm a creature of the night Lorne. This is when I sleep." Angel said, muffled under a pillow.
"That's a bunch of bullcrap, Angel. You run Hell Incorporated, if you haven't forgotten that."
"So?"
"So, get up and lead us." Lorne pulled off the sheets revealing his bare butt. "And get dressed for heaven sakes."

Angel took a seat at the head of the conference room table and wiped his sleepy eyes to look at the rest of his friends and the Board of Directors.
"Mr. Angel, we need to have a status on this file." One of the Directors said, pulling Angel out of his sleepy state, again.
"What file?"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Hutter, our boss has been going through a rough time. We will see that this file is updated and reviewed by our science and research divisions."
"Thank you, Mr. Pryce. I think that is all the things we have for review." Mr. Hutter responded. "And as always, it is a pleasure to see you back Mr. Angel."
"Thanks." Angel muttered and waved off. The Board of Directors retreated out of the board room and the gang hovered around Angel.
"What?"
"What?! Are you kidding me? You made us look like fools in front of them Angel." Gunn simplified for him without breaking out a stake and shoving it through his heart.
"We found this." Fred set the tiny blue bottle on the table in front of him.
"What is it?" He asked, not knowing. He leaned forward and looked into it. The glow from inside was beautiful and shiny.
"We don't know, maybe you could tell us." Lorne said.
"I don't know. Where did you get it?"
"Out of your penthouse." Wesley said.
"You went through my stuff?" Angel shouted.
"It was on your dresser. Do you know what it is?" Fred said, sitting down beside him.
"Did you not hear me, Fred? I don't know what it is." Angel said again, taking the piece of paper off of the bottle and reading it.

Don't ask
Just drink

Drink it? He wasn't going to drink anything if he didn't know what it was. Wesley grabbed the note out of his hand and read the other side.

Wesley, if Angel doesn't drink this within 3 weeks of
Leaving here, this won't work. Make him drink it.
It's his permanent soul.
-Cordelia

"Hold him down." Wesley told the others. Gunn and Lorne grabbed him while Spike held his legs down and Fred opened his mouth. "Now, now Angel. Don't be such a baby. This won't hurt a bit." Wesley said, jokingly as he poured the potion down his throat. Angel closed his mouth and went wild after the people whom he trusted the most.

"What the hell was that stuff? It's awful." Angel stuck out his tongue in disgust as a yellow light shown from within and bursted from his stomach.
"That worked?"
"Of course it did. It's Charmed." Gunn said, smiling at his friend.
"Okay, I hate to break up the family homecoming, but could someone get me that flask?" Spike asked, pointing to the console with the liquor on top of it. Spike held his head and the vision came, knocking him back into chair and rolling him around the room. "Damn it. That never gets easier." He said, with Fred handing him the flask. He opened it, shoving the liquor down his throat. "Okay, get your pad Wesley, here's what I saw..."

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
CLUB P3

Leo and Piper were behind the bar when he saw Cordelia emerge from the outside and hurry down the stairs like something was happening. Phoebe and Paige turned around in their stools and looked at her.
"Hey sweetie." Phoebe said.
"Hey guys." Cordelia sat down on a stool next to him and Leo handed her a blue margarita, which he knew was her favorite. "Thanks Leo."
"Don't we look all pretty." Piper said, looking at Cordelia with her painted up face and dress that made her look like a movie star, which she still had in the back of her mind that she was going to be someday soon.
"Thanks." She said quietly and sipping on her margarita.
"You okay honey?" Paige asked, leaning her head onto Cordelia's shoulder.
"I'm fine. I'm just..."
"Missing him?" Paige said, finishing her sentence. Cordelia nodded her head and wiped her pinky with the salt and inserted it into her mouth. "You know what you need?"
"What's that?"
"A chick flick, chocolate and a whole lot of us." Paige suggested, being serious. Cordelia smiled back only to get even more let down when a happy couple stood next to her, looking at each other with loving eyes. "Okay, that's it!" Paige said, grabbing Cordelia's hand and tugging her along. Phoebe laughed and ran after them, wanting the girl's night as Paige as mentioned.

"So this is your movie?" Cordelia asked Phoebe, watching Billy charm Mary Sue into an innocent kiss.
"The best, isn't it?" Phoebe munched on the popcorn that was in front of her.
"He looks like a good kisser."
"Oh, he is." Phoebe said, remembering that kiss he placed on her lips. Cordelia looked down at her, wondering. "Oh, long story."
"Like always."
"Cordy, do you always keep blood in your fridge?" Paige asked coming from the kitchen.
"Oh, that was from when you know who was here." She said, the sad look coming back on her face.
"Hey! None of that." Paige swatted her lightly on the knee.
"Yeah, watch Billy." Phoebe said, dipping her head back into Cordelia's lap and smiling, making Cordelia smile too. She looked into the screen but all she could think of was him. The man of her dreams: her Angel.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
WOLFRAM & HART, ATTORNEYS AT LAW

"Are we ready?" The photographer said from behind the lens for the forty-second time.
"I think so. Just one more minute." Wesley added, looking at his family posing pretty behind the desk. "Spike, move a little to the left. Sweetheart, a little bit to your right. There - perfect!" Wesley quickly got behind the desk and cued the photographer to shoot.
"Alright, everybody say cheese."
"Cheese..." The started to say when the Charmed Ones, Leo and Cordelia popped in.
"Freeze!" Piper waved her hands at the photographer as he stood frozen in time. "Okay, now it's your turn." She added, referring to Phoebe and Cordelia with their kickboxing moves. Cordelia swung around the desk and grabbed some of Angel's weapons, throwing one to Phoebe and one to Paige. The shape shifters revealed themselves then, moving quickly towards the Charmed Ones and their friend. Cordelia hopped up onto the desk while the Fang Gang just stared at the commotion. The shape shifter came after Cordelia and grabbed her leg. She swung the sword at him, trying to cut his head off when he pinned her down on the desk. His filthy demon hands covered her neck and started to cut off her oxygen.
"A little help here guys." She yelled at the Fang Gang. Angel finally took the demon and threw him against the wall. "Thanks." She jumped up on the desk again and went flying into the next shape shifter, knocking him out the window and flying down to the surface of the Earth. She backed up and held the rest of the shape shifters off while Piper, Phoebe and Paige read the spell off quickly.
"Demons beware of our wrath, take these bodies back to the place from where they come, all the things they did undone." They said as the shape shifters disappeared, exploding into nothing.
"I love that part." Phoebe commented. The Fang Gang moved from behind the desk and out into the open floor. The Charmed Ones took everyone out of the room, leaving Cordelia and Angel alone together again.
"Hi." Angel said with his hands on his hips.
"Hi Angel."