There she was. Walking back into the hotel with Fred at her side. Suitcases were set down and Fred ushered Cordelia to the round sofa in the middle of the lobby. Was this the right thing to do? He prayed to God that it was. Funny though, he hadn't prayed to God or any other deity in over a hundred years, not counting the Drusilla scandal in Angelus' past, but he felt the need to pray for this. For her, for that life inside of her. For all of them. She was greeted by her family, Lorne kissing her cheek and rubbing her stomach. Yea, that was going to go over well. Gunn just hugged her and let her feel the comfort in his arms. Fred was still by her side when it was Wesley's turn. That was the most tear-jerking reunion that anyone could imagine. He held her, like a brother to a sister who was hurting, who was in pain, who was in need of answers that no one had. His vampire hearing came in handy again, as he heard what was to be a private conversation between them.
"Hi." Wesley whispered into her ear.
"Hi." She whispered back, still leaning her head onto his chest.
"I love you."
"I love you too." She lifted her head then, and took a step back to see her watery eyes mimicked by hers. "I'm fine, don't worry." She choked back the tears that were going to fall any minute now.
"Sure you are." Wesley pulled her back into his arms and Angel heard her start to cry. This was it; this was all he could do. He couldn't take the pain away, he didn't want to take the baby away from her, and he didn't want to do anything but be with her. In some weird way, he could imagine her with him for the rest of their lives. He had always thought of Buffy as the one he wanted to be with, but that wasn't the case at all. It was Cordelia who kept him from slipping back into the darkness, it was her who still believed in him after all they had been through. Shaking his head, he was drawn back into his bedroom to finish his packing. Gretchen Chase, grandmother to Cordelia, once presumed dead was now begging to see her only granddaughter. What she really wanted, nor Angel or Cordelia didn't know. So they were going to find out and then just slip the news out that Cordelia was pregnant. Maybe she had money, they didn't know that either, all they knew was she wanted to see her and Angel was going with her. Okay, suitcase done. Black pants, black shirts, black boxers, black socks. Yep, that should do it. Sitting down on the bed, he pulled his hands to his face again, rubbing away the sleepiness that was running through his veins. He wanted to protect her, wanted to save her. There we go again, with the saving. What was it about saving her that was so bad? He didn't think there was anything wrong with saving her, maybe he wanted to save her too much. Three knocks on his door made him divert his attention to Lorne gracing his presence with a bright blue suit on.
"Didn't you wear that yesterday?" Lorne asked, leaning in his room but not budging from his current stance.
"Spill it now."
"Spill what?" Lorne asked gaining a death glare from Angel. "Okay, okay." Lorne held his hands up in defeat, walking into the large estate like room and taking a seat in Angel's Alice-in-Wonderland chair. He was going to talk, but instead he just stared, looking into Angel's flashy soul.
"Lorne!"
"Hold on just a minute buster. What are you thinking?" Lorne leaned forward, clasping his hands together and tried to make eye contact with the dark avenger. "Angel?"
"What Lorne?" Angel threw his hands up in the air and started to pace the floor between the bed and the chair. He was tired of holding it in, all the emotions he was holding inside for the sake of Cordelia. He didn't want to fall apart with her, in front of her. "I don't know what to do anymore. When she hurts, I hurt. When she cries, I want to cry with her." Angel paused, looking at the empathy for any kind of answer, but Lorne gave him nothing. "I just want...want...I don't know what I want anymore."
"Sure you do. It's staring you right in the face, Angel."
"Well it isn't you." Angel responded sarcastically, still adjusting to having some of his thoughts and emotions out of his head and into Lorne's instead.
"No, it's not. And I'm not going to give you an answer to the million questions zooming in and out of your head. I'm not going to tell you that everything will be alright, because frankly, I don't know that. You know what you need to do." Lorne stood up, patting him on the back and exiting the room quickly, leaving Angel to contemplate even more questions running through his head. He didn't want to deal with this. Not now. All he wanted right now was to get Cordelia in his Plymouth and drive until they reached Tacoma. Grabbing his suitcase and his watch off of the side table, he quickly scrambled out of the room wanting to get to Cordy. His Cordy.
The scent of her gardenia fragrance was enchanting. He could smell it from the stairwell and it was getting stronger with every step he took, enticing his senses and arousing him in ways that only she could arose him. This was not normal. Sure, he had had feelings for her for a long time, but then Groo came back and ruined his master plan of romancing Cordelia. He never thought that the Groosalugg would leave. He was Cordelia's dream man, a champion, warrior, all around good guy from a hell dimension. Okay Angel, snap out of it. It's Cordelia. Your Cordelia. Shaking his head again, no, no, and double no. Finally setting his suitcase next to hers, he heard her talking to the gang about what was going to happen.
"We'll only be a day or two. Hopefully."
"I think we'll manage." Gunn butted in, probably hurting Cordy's feelings a bit. Angel wanted to bust in there and bust up Gunn's bottom jaw for saying that. Cool down Angel, he reminded himself. This was going to be easy. Very easy. Go in and get Cordy, say goodbye and hit the road. All without him imagining last night's encounter, which he wasn't going to go back into. Yea, that would be easy. The very thought of it made him remove his jacket and hold it in front of him. She had looked so...beautiful, there was no other way to describe her. Long silk robe covering her for now slender figure, standing in front of the sink, putting the dirty dishes into the dishwasher. He remembered coming up behind her, so quietly, and tracing the back of her neck with his index finger. The feelings were definitely back and he didn't want to hide them any longer. Only problem was that this was probably the worse time to bring them up. Okay, enough of that. Enough!
"Lorne, is Angel coming?" He heard her ask the green demon.
"I'm here." He shouted from the lobby, Cordelia getting up and heading out to him. "Are you ready?"
"Actually..." Cordelia looked back to the gang and then back to him, clasping his hand in hers. "I'm kind of hungry and I wanted to have dinner."
"We can do that."
"All of us, having dinner. Diner down the street."
"Sounds good." Angel told her, his left hand rubbing the side of her arm, and the other reaching for the back of head. He pulled her closer and placed a kiss upon her forehead. Change of plans: get Cordelia, have 'family' dinner, say goodbye, then hit the road.
"Uh, I think I'll stay behind." Lorne spoke up, not knowing the diner down the street was accustomed to anything and every kind of demon there was.
"No you won't. Make a pregnant lady happy and come with us." Cordelia slipped out of Angel's embrace and took a hold of Lorne before he could bolt. Lorne looked from Angel to Fred to Gunn to Wes and back to Angel again, pleading and begging for them to help him.
"You heard the lady." Gunn finally said, waiting on Lorne to look Cordelia in the eyes and try to tell her no. Without any words, Cordelia hooked her other arm into Fred's and started to walk out the door, followed by the gentlemen. She was going to be a mother, Angel realized. She was perfect for the job, heck she was practically the mother figure of their family, and that made her perfect for the job. Walking side by side with Wesley and Gunn, he couldn't help but stare at her. Dinner was a good idea. He didn't eat much being a vampire and all, but food, sounded good.