It took so long to update because my computer was ill… and so was my brain. Hopefully, both are working correctly now and the plot train'll get going again! I've been gone so long even I had re-read a lot of the story to catch myself up… how sad is that?? I apologize in advance if this really sucks. Tell me if it does and I'll re-write if I have to… Now, onto the multitude of thanks to all my reviewers:
Steffi… Wow. I want to thank you for taking the time to really take a look at my piece and giving me great feedback. It always warms an author's heart to see someone taking such an interest in their story – and from another country as well! I'll tell you this, I've been to Austria and skied on the Alps, but that was back when I was a little girl. I applaud the hard work it undoubtedly took to review! (And 2 of them, too!) I can safely say that you are the first reviewer from Austria. And thank you for the correction of my French. I don't speak the language, and haven't since… 5th grade, I think. So forgive me if I'm a little rusty. I sincerely appreciate everything you said. So I hope a hearty 'thank you' is adequate enough to cover my gratitude. I hope you like everything that's to come!
Lexi… Thank you very much for your kind words. I'm glad I've inspired you to read Angel fics again. Now, we no longer have the TV fix. It's our imaginations (and hopefully future TV movies) that we have to survive with, sadly. I really hope I have a good ending as well!!
Angel Fan… Thank you!!! A lot of people seem to be saying that… and maybe one of these days, I'll actually believe them. It's nice to hear though, I'll admit. And sadly, S5 turned out worse that I would have ever imagined…and I can imagine a lot!
Zidane3… Buffy/Cordy friendship? I'm not sure I'd go so far as to say that. Let's just say they are coming to an apocalyptic truce for now. They've matured. Let's hope they act that way… And hopefully Wes did knock some sense into Angel. That vampire needs a good whap on the head. And Lorne… I love writing Lorne. He's so fun! I really hope you like this next part.
Daishi MkII… I'm glad you like it! Here's more!
Anne… Thank you. I hope this part's okay. Sorry I didn't post it sooner. Computer problems, muse problems, real-life problems. This world has too many problems! I say ban problems!
There are a few more review thanks at the end. My tendency to ramble caused this to get veeeeeery long. Sorry
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"You know… I'd say scatter… but I think that may actually get us killed quicker," Gunn said, gripping his weapon harder as he stared at the large demon. Cordelia looked around at the robed figures as they prepared to fight.
"Good to know you're confidence in us is so strong, Gunn," she said. Gunn nodded solemnly, but Cordelia didn't see him.
"Oh yes… I'm confident. Confident that this is gonna hurt… a lot," the black man said. Angel let out a growl to silence his friend.
"Everyone spread out. Gunn, Buffy and I will take on the Hulk here, and the rest of you… take out the monks," Angel called before running forward to engage the demon, Gunn and Buffy following behind him. Cordelia let out a little 'pfft.'
"Well, gee. Give us the easy job why don't you…" she said sarcastically. Wes looked over at her with a small smirk.
"Shall we?" he asked. Cordelia nodded.
"Oh yes… we… shall," she answered as she and Wes headed the second charge into the fight, swords and cross bows swinging.
Wes took out one of the monks immediately with a superb crossbow shot and was about to turn for another when two of the monks grabbed his arms from behind. Lorne and Conner immediately swept around behind them and grabbed one of them while Fred and Cordelia went to fight off the second. Wes freed his arms and helped to dispose of the monk the girls were fighting. Taking a chance, the ex-Watcher turned to see the progress of Gunn, Buffy and Angel. Buffy and Gunn had both been shaken off by the demon and were both climbing to their feet as Angel held his own against the attack. Conner, who to this point had watched the scuffle, picked up a discarded sword and warded off an attack from another monk. Wes stepped back next to Cordelia.
"They're not doing much damage to the demon… its height has them at a disadvantage," the Englishman noted to her. Cordelia's eyes nodded as she and Wes fended off blows.
"Their weapons aren't doing more than scratching the surface," she agreed.
"We'll have to find a vulnerable spot," he stated. Fred grunted as she kicked a monk away from her.
"Isn't that usually the head or the heart?" she asked. Cordelia grinned as she turned back to Wes.
"Care to take a few well placed shots at Gigantor's knees?" she suggested. Wes' eyes went from the demon back to Cordelia.
"I'll need a bit of assistance," he said. Cordelia nodded as she turned to Lorne.
"Go help Wesley," she ordered. Lorne looked shocked.
"Me? I'm usually on 'victim to safety' duty… I'm already sucked my well of expertise dry, kitten… I'd most likely get us both killed," he said as he gingerly touched his bleeding cheek. Realizing that the green demon was right, she spun to address the "muscle" of their group.
"The legs, Buffy! Go for the legs!" Cordelia cried to the Slayer as she fended off one of the last few monks. The blond didn't turn from her assault, but nodded and gripped her weapon tighter. She then stepped off to the back and stabbed her sword into the back of the monster's leg just as Wes shot a crossbow shot into the other.
"Watch yourself, Buffy!" Spike called from where he was observing. "He's headed your direction…" The Slayer saw what the ghost meant and immediate flipped herself out of the way.
The monster fell to the ground with a pained roar, and immediately, Angel and Gunn pounced. The vampire went for the jugular as Gunn went for where the beast's heart was anticipated as being. A monstrous arm gave one last swing at the group before it fell limp to the ground and didn't move again. Everyone circled around, still breathing heavily from the exertion.
"Is it dead?" Lorne asked, peeking over Fred's shoulder. The tiny Texan turned and looked at him with a smile.
"I sure hope so, otherwise we could end up lunch…" she said.
"Well, we stopped the big bad, what next?" Buffy asked, still a little out of breath. Gunn let out a snort.
"I'm going to Disneyland," he said, causing Fred to giggle. Angel looked around the alleyway for a moment making sure everyone was alright.
"What do we do now?" Conner asked, wiping a spot of blood from his cheek and looking at it in a detached sort of awe. "Is it over?"
"I don't think that demon was all we have to worry about. Suffice it to say that there's always a plan B," Wes said solemnly as he frowned. All eyes turned to him.
"Don't say stuff like that, Wes," Cordelia scolded. "It borrows trouble…" Suddenly there was a groan from the ground. Everyone looked to see a monk coming to and trying to get up while holding a wound on his stomach.
"There is no way to stop what is to come… the blood of the Destroyer has brought forth the apocalypse… it is only the beginning of the end…" the robed figure said with a painful cough. Cordelia spun to look at Wes again.
"See! Borrowing trouble!" she said, pointing at the monk. There was a large wheezing noise, and then a small thud as the body of the monk fell back to the cement. All eyes looked to Conner, who stood with the tip of his weapon slightly more bloody than it had been moments before. Noticing the looks they were giving him, the teenager looked only slightly abashed as he shrugged.
"What are we going to do now?" Fred asked, looking worriedly to where the monk now lay dead.
"We can't ask him to explain himself anymore," Gunn said as his foot prodding the unmoving body.
"All we can do now is try to find whatever it is that's going to end the world," Angel said. Spike rolled his eyes.
"Oh, yeah, that narrows it down, mate," he drawled. Buffy glared at him causing him to shrug. "What?" Silence fell as each member of the Fang Gang thought over everything.
"Well," Cordelia started as she looked down at her blood stained clothing. "That was fun… Now… anyone know a good pizza joint?" The gang all smiled slightly as they started meandering back to the car they came in. Gunn slung an arm around her shoulders.
"Barbie doll… you're with the big leagues now… We own the good pizza joints," he said. Cordelia laughed with the rest of the group at his arrogant statement, but something went cold in her as how much things had really changed sunk in once more… Her change in demeanor was slight as they all piled in the car. So slight, in fact, that it would have almost gone undetected by even the most emotionally stunted of vampires. Almost…
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Back at Wolfram & Hart…
Fred turned page after page, not really looking at the words in the magazine. Gunn and Lorne stood at her side either staring off into space or idly looking around the lobby. Wesley had immediately taken the text and holed himself up in his office. Spike and Buffy sulked off to continue the bickering they'd started on the ride back to the office. And sensing Cordelia's last thread about to snap, Angel had squired the brunette away somewhere upstairs in order to spare the Fang Gang whatever was destined to pop out of Cordelia's mouth.
"Makes ya wish we were back in the Hyperion, doesn't it?" Gunn broke the silence, startling both Fred and Lorne.
"What do you mean?" Fred asked. Gunn smirked when he turned to look at her.
"With the acoustics in that place, we'd be hearing two arguments right now whether we wanted to or not," he said.
"Dontcha think we've had enough of those? I, for one, could go without hearing an argument for the next millennium," Fred said as she settled back down to look at her magazine.
"Aren't you just the tiniest bit curious as to what drama's going to unfold?" Gunn asked. Lorne snorted as he leaned casually against the front desk.
"Drama? What do I look like? A thespian? No way, Jose… Drama and I are through. No siree, kiddies… when I see drama, I will run screaming in the other direction," the green demon said. This time it was Gunn who snorted.
"And that's different from any other day, how?" he asked. Lorne narrowed his red eyes slightly as Fred coughed over a giggle.
"Just for that, I will never regale you with another rendition of 'Hello Dolly' ever again," he said. Gunn smirked again.
"Oh yeah, that's a bad thing…" he said with a roll of his eyes.
"I'll have you know that I was voted Most Likely to be the Next Green-skinned, Non-smoking version of Dean Martin, okay? People love my voice… I am the Robert Goulet of all things vocal…" Lorne said with flourish.
"Robert who?" Fred asked with an unknowing frown. Lorne looked over at her in shock.
"Robert who?!" He asked incredulously. "There was Elvis… there was Frankie… there was Dino… there was Sammy… and then there was Goulet…" Gunn turned to look at Fred.
"Isn't that some sort of food? You know… with noodles and meat and…" he started, words failing him in his description. Fred smiled at the black man's unusual-as-of-late verbal stumbling.
"That's gou-lash, Charles…" she said happily. Lorne let out a huff as he leaned himself back against the front desk.
"The Powers know I've tried to bring some culture to this group, but alas, you are all a bunch of boorish, unrefined ninnies," he said with a wave of his hand at them. Whatever cutting remark Gunn was sure to throw back was cut off.
"Well, the prodigals have returned," Lindsey's voice reverberated through the large room as he approached them. The other three each stood up straight as they watched him approach cautiously.
"Did you stick around to relay more cryptic warnings to us?" Gunn asked. "Cuz we don't take kindly to the line of bullshit you're trying to sell…" Lindsey gave the black man a sneer before leaning against the front desk next to Fred.
"What's another brilliant mind coming back to the fold?" Lindsey asked with an arch of an eyebrow. "You'd know all about brilliant minds, wouldn't you, Mr. Gunn?" Gunn glared as he stepped towards the man.
"You'd best be shutting up about things you know nothing about," he growled. Lindsey smirked.
"How sad it is to see you reverting to your thuggish ways. You'd have gone far in this firm…" he said looking around the lobby fondly.
"And you'd know all about that, wouldn't you, lawyer-boy," Gunn threw back. Lorne and Fred could only watch the two as they continued to stare each other down, having no idea what to say to break the tense situation.
"Lindsey…" Wes' voice broke the stare down between Gunn and the ex-lawyer. "May I ask what brings your presence here… again?" Lindsey turned towards the still blood spattered ex-Watcher.
"The Senior Partners are losing their hold on you all now that your little Seer is back. It was why she was taken away in the first place," Lindsey said, surprising everyone by getting to the point. "You are all starting to remember exactly what the Partners have made you forget. By coming to Wolfram and Hart, all you've done is fight exactly what the Partners have wanted you to fight. In the past year, your ability to fight as a team…"
"A family…" Fred interrupted with an angry growl. Lindsey turned towards her for a second and gave her an appraising look.
"Yeah, whatever. You have your fluffy bunny version, and I have mine. Anyway," he said, turning back to the others at large. "You ability to fight together has been pretty much non-existent. You compromised the power you held over the Partners by all agreeing to your little side-trips in the firm…"
"We didn't exactly have a choice in that, Lindsey. Angel was the one that altered our memories. The path was laid out before us without our consent," Wes told the man. Lindsey chuckled.
"Oh, trust me, you wouldn't have forgotten if you hadn't wanted to in the first place. You all had your little betrayals, and it led to a little bit of selfishness… But Angel beat you all to it. In the end, you all abandoned your little…" Lindsey paused with a look back at Fred. "… family. Why do you think Cordelia was in the state she was for so long without any one of you lifting a finger?" There was silence again.
"How do you know all this, Lindsey?" Wes asked cautiously. Gunn's eyes narrowed.
"I'd like to know that too," he said. Lindsey just smiled.
"Let's put it this way… when you buy into Wolfram and Hart, you can never really buy out. We sign contracts that are pretty much loophole free. But that doesn't mean a person like me can't fly beneath the radar and pick up other alliances…" he said cryptically.
"That doesn't help with the confusion, sugar doodles…" Lorne broke in. "I've been watching you and your aura says you're telling the truth. But your truth hasn't really shed any light at all…" Lindsey let out a sigh.
"I can only spell it out so much. I gave Angel as much help as I could and I'm giving you as much help as I can. Now that your memories are steadily coming back, it should help. But all of you are sitting in the belly of the beast right now. If you stay here, you will continue to be affected," he said. "And…"
Suddenly, the ex-lawyer stopped talking. His eyes went wide for a moment before he clutched his head and fell to the ground. It was eerie how there was no sound coming out of the gaping man's mouth, but it looked as if he were in interminable pain.
"Fred…" Wes said as he watched Lindsey writhe in unspoken pain on the ground. The scientist stepped next to him. "Would you please go find Angel? I believe there's more going on here than we comprehend…"
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Cordelia glared at the vampire as he pushed her into his apartment.
"What's wrong Cordy?" Angel asked as he closed the door behind them. There was a spark in her eye that told Angel she wanted to say something that was sure to be biting, but to his surprise, she held back. Her jaw was clenched as she crossed the room and sat stiffly in one of his leather chairs. Her hands ran over the slick material and her dark eyes ran over the room with anger that seemed to increase exponentially. Angel could hear her blood pumping quickly through her veins – so fast, in fact, that if she didn't let out a breath soon, he was sure she'd explode. But, Cordelia surprised him again. She let out the breath that she needed, but rather than let out a stream of her verbal sort of warfare, she collapsed back against the chair. Her eyes closed and she tried to visualize things the way they should be. She verbalized it all with one word…
"Why?" she asked. Angel frowned, trying to understand what she was referencing. The look on his face didn't escape the young woman's notice. Letting out a sigh, she stood up and started to meander around the large living room area. Every once in a while she'd reach out and gingerly touch an artifact or a book or the freshly dusted surface of an expensive piece of furniture.
"Why are you all still here?" she clarified after a few silent minutes. Angel didn't pretend to misunderstand her meaning.
"Is that all?" he asked, not realizing that he'd made her worry seem unimportant. She rounded on him, her eyes narrowed.
"Excuse me?" she asked him. Inwardly, the vampire groaned at his blunder.
"I didn't mean it that way, Cor. It's just that I know how much you hate it here, okay? I just don't want to circumvent our way around the real issue with stuff that will only lead to us arguing and not fixing anything," he said.
"Circumvent? Did you borrow Gunn's word of the day calendar? And what's to say what my real issue is? Maybe nothing's wrong at all. Maybe life's just 'business as usual'. Let's not forget that I just came out of a coma and was dropped directly into bizarro world. Maybe Cordy's just crazy…" she said. "So, I guess I really don't need to talk to you about this. I can figure this out on my own. I can adapt to whatever I need to. I am the queen of adaptation…"
"You're not crazy, Cordy. You were out for almost a year! It's understandable that you aren't comfortable here. But you can talk to me… us… about it…"
"Don't start that bullshit with me, Angel. Please. On a good day, my ability to flay even the undead to unrecognizable bits with just my words is usually classified as a weapon of mass destruction, okay?" she warned. Angel stopped trying to explain things away since that seemed to be getting him into trouble. Instead, he paused and took a deep breath.
"I'm not going to buy into this 'leave Cordy alone until the crisis passes' thing that you always fall back on. You wanted to talk, let's talk. If you want to yell, Cordy, I can handle it. Just let me know what the problem is," he said. Cordelia's eyes locked, unblinking, on his.
"You want to know what my problem is?" she asked quietly. Angel nodded.
"Yes. I do," he said. Cordelia fell silent, but the vampire knew full well that she was thinking of where to start.
"My problem is this place," she said, suddenly, in a surprisingly even voice. "But you know that. My problem is the people that are here… and I'm not just talking about the cronies of evil that are lurking in the halls. I'm also talking about Fred and Wes and Lorne and Gunn… and you… and me… and all of us." Angel started to speak, but Cordelia held up her hand to stop him.
"Please Angel, let me get this out, okay?" she asked. Angel's dark eyes roamed over her face for a moment before he leaned back on the arm of the couch, crossed his arms, and nodded for her to continue. She let out a thankful breath.
"I went away… to the higher powers… thinking that I would be helping everyone. But little did I know that things had been set in motion as far back as my birthday so that I could eventually wreak havoc on everything that I knew and loved…" she said. Angel made to say something, but she held up a hand to stop him.
"I know, Angel. It wasn't me… yadda, yadda, yadda… I know. I haven't come to grips with it all yet, but I'm dealing, okay? What I'm trying to say is that everyone's changed. I don't like it. Whatever happened in the midst of my out-of-body experience clicked this little button in everyone that changed them into someone I don't recognize any more. I want to fix things, but it seems as if I'm incapable of it. My demon powers are gone, my ability to understand my friends is gone…" she paused as she looked down at herself quickly. "… and it seems my ability to accessorize has flown out the window with everything else. I've come back to a world where I have no bearing." Angel took a breath as he mentally prepared his next words.
"If you're implying that it was a mistake for you to come back, I can't even begin to tell you how wrong you are. We need you here," he said. Cordelia let out her patented 'pfft' one more time.
"What? To look pretty?" she asked then looked at her reflection in one of the mirrors. "Even that's debatable… But if that's what you want, Buffy's come in to save the day. I certainly don't need to be around for that." Angel gritted his teeth at the new subject she unconsciously brought up.
"Is that what this is all about, Cordy? That Buffy's here?" he asked. Cordelia looked at him, her eyes showing nothing.
"Yes…" she admitted. Angel started to talk but was cut off. "… and no…" Silence fell again, but Angel was patient. Cordelia let out a breath.
"What good am I here, Angel? I'm among people I don't even really know anymore, in a place I despise, in a body that has done unimaginable things to everyone I loved..." Finally, the patience was at its end.
"You're not her, Cordelia! I don't know how many times I have to tell you that, but I will keep on doing it until you believe me," Angel finally broke in. Cordelia turned to him with a frown.
"You can honestly say that when you look at me – the real me – you don't see what Jasmine did? You don't see what she did to and with your son? With Conner?" she asked. Angel turned away from her so that she wouldn't see the pain in his eyes at that memory. But the stiffness in his shoulders told her so much.
"It wasn't a rhetorical question, Angel," she said bitterly. Finally, Angel spun around to look at her – the pain was gone and a stony anger replacing it.
"Rhetorical? You want rhetorical, Cordy? Then let's ask you a question. When you look at me, do you only see him?" he asked. Cordelia looked confused for a second.
"Angel, you know full well that Angelus…" she started, but Angel waved a hand, cutting her off.
"I'm not talking about Angelus, Cor," he said almost harshly. Cordelia frowned again.
"Then who?" she asked. Angel sighed.
"I'm talking about the vampire who loved Buffy. Will you ever see past those Sunnydale blinders and not see him?" he asked. The harsh look on Cordelia's face softened.
"I don't see you as the Angel from then," she told him. Angel shook his head.
"I'd believe you if Buffy wouldn't continue to be an issue with you. With me she's not, so why do you continue to make her into one?" he asked as he crossed the room closer to her.
"She was the love of your life, Angel," Cordelia said, a slight frog in her throat making her voice raspier than normal. To his credit, Angel did not flinch in the slightest at that description of his Sunnydale years as he stepped forward and lightly gripped her arms.
"It's not possible," he said. Cordelia let out a 'pfft' as she tried to step back.
"You forget I was there, Angel. The Romeo and Juliet, star-crossed, and all that Shakespeare-y fairy dust…" she said, reaching up to brush his hands off her shoulders. His grip only tightened.
"No, Cor. You are going to stand right there while I tell you this…" Angel said firmly, his eyes boring into hers. "I loved Buffy… yes… I can't deny that. But she was not the love of my life. It's impossible to say that because back then I didn't have a life. I didn't start having a life until I came to Los Angeles and a beautiful brunette forced one on me. In a city of millions I found you again, Cordelia, and you've become such an integral part of my life I can't imagine you not being there. If anything's star-crossed, I'd say that would be it…" Cordelia stood speechless as she tried valiantly to find something to say. There were tears itching the corner of her eyes and her eyes darted around the room to keep them at bay. But Angel had other ideas as his cool finger reached over and brought her chin back to center, her eyes looking back at him.
"I love you, Cordelia," he said softly. "You are the love of the life you gave back to me…" There was no holding back the tear as it fell down Cordelia's cheek. She smiled softly, knowing full well the conversation they'd started wasn't over, but needing to focus on the happiness his words wrought.
"When did you get so wordy?" she teased. He smiled as his hand came up to run over her cheek.
"The moment I realized that my inability to speak around you tends to lead to me losing you," he said. Cordelia's eyes went wide with sudden insight.
"The ballet…" she said softly. Angel nodded.
"Among others…" he said. Suddenly, Cordelia wrapped her arms around Angel's neck and hugged him close. His hand came up to hug around her waist, holding her as tightly as she was clinging to him.
"How could we have been so stupid?" she asked. "I love you too, Angel." She drew her head back so that she could look at him. He was smiling beautifully at her and she grinned back. They were just leaning in to share a kiss as a knock came over the door. Angel let out a small growl that only Cordelia heard, and she let out a small laugh.
"Go away!" she sang to whoever had decided to interrupt them.
"Sorry to… well… sorry," Fred's voice broke in, her own displeasure at having to interrupt them evident. "Wes told me to come get you, Angel. That lawyer, Lindsey, is in the lobby… and he's kinda… twitchy… at the moment." Angel's grip on Cordelia's waist loosened as she chuckled at Fred's description.
"Do apocalypses have pause buttons?" he asked. Cordelia shook her head.
"I don't think so. But we're not leaving this room without this…" she said, taking charge and laying her warm lips over her vampire's cool ones. Angel's grip tightened once more as he held her close and everything else seemed to disappear. For a moment, a brief moment, it was just the two of them in a place that had been waiting for them for a frustratingly long time. Fred looked at the two of them with a happiness she'd thought she'd lost in her eyes. The two champions had finally found their place together. Kyerumption… It was a word that everyone had been so close to forgetting. But it seemed to be back now. When the two pulled back, they each had smiles on their faces that Fred hadn't seen in a long time. In fact, she frowned, there hadn't been many smiles at all in the past year or so. It was nice to see them again.
"Well, let's go save the world from big gray meanies, monk-like creepies and former lawyers from Hell…" Cordelia said after a moment, pulling away from Angel reluctantly.
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A/N – Now THAT is what we were all waiting for, wasn't it??? Sorry to have taken so long to get there, but the plot monkey had to throw in all that angst to make that moment seem all the better… it's a writer's tool of sorts… Now… what's up with Lindsey?? Any guesses?? Any ideas?? Please, share them… I love it when reviewers try to take a stab at what's going to happen. It makes the grueling hours worth it (for me at least…)!
Here are more thank you's… :)
Veggie-babu-chan… Thank you for being the 133rd or so to review!! At this rate, I may hit 200 reviews before this is all over. You have no idea how happy I'd be if that happened. It makes me want to do the "They like me, they really really like me!" dance in the middle of a street somewhere. I really wish this did take place instead of the other S5. Damn Whedon… that misery-inducing genius. I have a serious love/hate relationship with the idea of him right now. Enough people have said this is Whedon/WB worthy, and I'm starting to believe them a bit. Too bad I couldn't have tapped into the man's brain and been his muse for the last episodes. I think I could have helped him out a lot… Thank you for your great review! I hope you liked the next installment!
Imzadi…Yes, I agree that Angel can be a sanctimonious sob at times. And Cordy isn't Cordy without a bit of the Queen C attitude. It's why I loved her from the beginning. And I agree with you that Lindsey needs a girl. Strangely enough on pairing Lindsey with someone, (and don't hate me for this) I've been leaning towards Fred… I mean I love the idea of her with Wes, but the F/L pairing has been setting off sirens in my head as something that could work. What do you think? Plus, it would add another angst angle where Gunn & Wes are concerned (like there isn't enough of that already…:P) I just don't know, though… hmmm…we'll see where I put our favorite lawyer…
Diana Troy… Thank you for your honest opinion about Cordelia. But my reasoning behind putting more Queen C in this chapter is to hit the point home that you can't like everyone all the time. Everyone has their flaws. Where Angel's have been dragged through the mud in my story, Cordelia isn't the saint everyone wants to paint her as (I can't believe I actually admitted that!!!). And as much as I don't like Buffy, she has redeeming qualities as well. I'm sick of stories pitting the two against each other. But on the flip side, I don't like stories that make them to be best friends either. There's too much bad blood between them to make that realistic. I just figured that once they got past all the petty bullshit, they could possibly be civil, mature adults and possibly complement each other at times. Now, other things… I agree about Angel's concern for Cordy on the show. And I really think someone needed to call him on it. It was hard deciding whether Wes or Spike should have been the one to do it. But the history forced me to choose Wes. And I think he did a superb job of it. And I agree about the Spike/Cordy friendship. Sigh Yet another unexplored possibility down the freakin' toilet. It's sad, really, how many of those there were. Anyway, thank you for your very kind words. I appreciate your support and your amazing reviews. It's always nice to know there will be a familiar friendly name among the others when I post an update! I hope you liked this part!
Blaire… Good to see you haven't given up on the story. Sorry it's taken me so long. I love Wes too, but I doubt there's going to be a C/W pairing… more like a strengthening of their friendship. Thanks for the review!
Emilyfirefly… Glad you like it! Hopefully, I'll see your name in future reviews!
Angel-cordy… Sorry the slowness of my updates seems to be hampering your reading. I hope you still like it!!
