"Hey has Cordy checked in yet?" Angel asked Fred.

Fred shook her head while leafing through some mail. "Nope, haven't heard from her."

Angel felt a little anxious. He was taking her to a restaurant that she'd been dying to go to for dinner and he wanted everything to be perfect. Just then, Wesley came out of his office.

"Angel I'd like to speak with Cordelia about her last vision. Where is she?" He asked.

Angel shrugged.

"A bit peculiar isn't it? She's always the first one of us to arrive…" he noted.

Fred rolled her eyes. "Maybe she's sick. People get sick you know."

Wesley hesitantly agreed and the gang continued with their day as usual. Fred and Angel filed some papers while Conner, Wesley, and Gunn went out to buy him some new clothes. Hours went by, yet still, no Cordelia.

"She would've called by now." Angel grunted.

Fred knew that he was right. Cordelia wasn't the type to just not show up at work. She was always there, dedicated and ready. She tried desperately to brush away her feeling that something was wrong.

"I guess we'll take the sewers?" She finally asked.

Angel had already closed the basement door behind him…

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Angel banged at the door, pounding with his fists. "Dennis come on, open up!"

The ghost was only too happy to oblige. Cordelia was getting worse.

"Oh my God…" Fred gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. She looked at the blood on the carpet and felt like fainting.

Angel felt his legs go weak at the sight of his lover's blood. He needed to know that she was okay; he needed that more than anything. Suddenly, the vampire heard the faintest cry from her bedroom…

Cordelia lay under the sheets, resting her head against a pillow. She sobbed uncontrollably. He could smell blood, mixed with the stench of her fear. Angel ran to her and reached out to hold her.

"Get away from me!" she screamed, moving back into her bed.

"Honey, it's just me-" He reached out a hand.

"No! Don't touch me! Get away from me!" she screamed, clutching her sheets even tighter. She began to sob and scream uncontrolably.

He desperately tried to touch her again. "Darling it's just me. What happened?" he whispered to her.

She slumped onto the floor and cried even more. "Please!" she begged, hot tears streaming down her face, "Just go away!"

Angel backed away, not knowing what to say or do. He had never seen her look so helpless and afraid. Cordelia huddled in the bloody sheet in the corner of the room, next to her bed. Just then, Fred came in.

"Oh no…" She gasped. And she knew.

Angel leaned against the wall, allowing Fred to try to calm her down. She kneeled next to her and slowly moved towards her. At first Cordelia flinched, but she gave up. She was too tired and afraid to try anymore. Fred held her friend and she cried. She wept and screamed into her shoulder, while Fred soothingly rocked back and forth. She told her that everything was going to be okay and that she and Angel would help her, but the exasperated young women only wept more, muttering nonsense and mumbling to herself.

"I d-didn't know what t-to do! It all h-happened so fast…" She cried.

"Shhh…everything's going to be okay. We'll take you to the hospital." Fred whispered to her soothingly.

"No! I'm not going there!" She began to scream again. Cordelia's voice croaked in her crying rage and she just fell back into the arms of her friend.

Angel didn't know what to do or what to make of it all. All he knew was that whoever did this to her would pay. He again looked at the helpless woman on the floor and it made him slump even further against the wall. He would make them pay as much as she had to.

And that was the silent promise he made to her that moment.

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What do I want for Christmas...? (thoughtful chin stroke) I know! How about a review!