20 minutes later Angel and Cordelia walked into the hotel. Everyone was gathered in the lobby, fighting clothes on, weapons assembled.
Fred came running over to them. "Good, you're here. I called and called Cordy's apartment, but no one answered the phone."
"So that's what that was," Cordelia mumbled to herself. They walked over to the rest of the group.
Buffy glanced at them. "Are we ready to go now?" Cordelia looked around to see if anyone else had detected the frosty tone in her voice, but no one seemed to.
Gunn shifted beside Wes. "So are we gonna do this or not?"
> > > > > >
Angel, Cordelia, and Fred were on their way to the bluffs. They were going to save the engaged couple.
They saw the car parked just up ahead, overlooking the city like in Cordelia's vision. The plan was to observe the couple from a slight distance and wait for the Bamboria demon to show up. They took their weapons and crouched in the bushes near the car.
They didn't have to wait long. Cordelia spotted the demon first. It was moving stealthily among the trees, heading straight towards the car. Angel waited until it got out in the open, then he charged. Cordelia and Fred were right behind him. The couple in the car saw what was going on and took off.
Angel was struggling with the demon. The sword he had was only good for deflecting the demon's spines. Even then, Angel was still sporting a few bloody gashes.
Cordelia raised her axe and rushed the demon from behind, hoping to catch it off-guard. It turned, struck at her, and sent her sprawling on the ground. She watched as Angel charged again, engaging in a flurry of darts and jabs. Fred hefted her axe and charged the demon. The demon saw her coming and struck out at her, sending her flying toward the edge of the bluff. Angel vamped out and the demon scurried away.
Angel ran to the edge of the cliff. "Fred!"
A weak voice called back to him. "I'm here."
He dropped to his knees and peered over the edge. There she was, hanging precariously over the busy city. "Hang on, Fred," Angel called. "I'll get you." He flattened his body to the ground and pulled Fred back over the edge without much effort.
After she had gotten her balance back, Fred looked around. "Where's the demon?"
"It ran off."
"Where's Cordy?"
Angel looked around, but didn't see her anywhere. "Cordelia?" he called out. No response. She was gone.
> > > > > >
Cordelia groaned. The pain in her head was just as intense as before, but now she had pain in her whole body as well. Where was she? She couldn't remember. She was thrown by the demon, but after that things got fuzzy.
She looked around. She was in the center of a very large room, lying on the floor. There was no one else in sight.
She climbed unsteadily to her feet and waited for the dizziness to reside before taking a step forward. She took another step. White hot pain flashed through her body and she was flung backward.
She groaned again. Man, that hurt. And she was back on the ground again. This time, however, she decided to stay down.
She was laying there for several minutes before she heard footsteps. She turned towards the noise and saw a Bamboria demon walking toward her. She tensed up, but her body was too exhausted to fight. Suddenly another demon appeared out of nowhere. A bright light appeared behind the two demons. Buffy appeared to the right of Cordelia, Angel appeared between the two women. The other six people appeared in a cluster on the other side of the room.
"Cordelia!" Angel tried to move toward her but was thrown backward after two steps.
Another Bamboria demon appeared and approached the group. "Welcome."
"Where the hell are we?" Angel growled.
"Where you are does not matter. What matters is what you do."
"What will we do?" Buffy asked.
"We are weak. We needed to regenerate ourselves tonight. You ruined that."
"You were going to kill people," Buffy snapped. "Did you think we were just going to let you?"
The demon ignored her. "However, we can still regenerate." The demon looked at Cordelia. "You. You are vulnerable right now." The demon swung his gaze to Buffy. "And you. You can be vulnerable as well."
Cordelia felt Angel's gaze on her, but kept her focus on the demon in front of her. "Let's cut to the chase. What the hell do you want?"
"We want to feed."
"You said Cordelia was vulnerable. Why haven't you fed on her already?" Xander asked.
Cordelia rolled her eyes. "Gee, thanks, Xander."
The demon spoke again. "We could feed off of her now. However, it is more beneficial to us to put them both in vulnerable situations."
"And if we refuse these 'vulnerable situations'?" Cordelia asked.
"If you should refuse, all your friends will die," the demon said.
Cordelia felt the air around her shift. The demon beckoned her forward, and she hesitated before obliging. The demon beckoned to Buffy and she came forward as well.
"The process is simple. Each of you will experience something designed to make you vulnerable." The demon gestured to Angel. "It is his job to save one of you."
Angel growled again. "What?"
"You can save one and only one. Who you save is up to you, but your choice is final."
"What will happen to the other one?"
"She will die."
"That's not fair!" Fred exclaimed.
The others made similar protests, but Cordelia didn't hear. She was lost in her own thoughts. Angel could save one person today. She was dying. Angel should save Buffy. She fought back a chuckle as she remembered her dream. Now it all made sense.
The demon was speaking again. "If there are no more questions, we will begin."
And just like that, the chaos erupted. The room spun around and around until it suddenly stopped. Cordelia looked around but saw no one. Buffy was gone, Angel was gone, the demons were gone.
Cordelia turned around and jumped back. Standing there before her was her dead father. He was thin and pale and…dead. She took another step back as he stepped toward her.
"You disappoint me, Cordelia. You disappoint me so much. You're so weak. I didn't raise you to be weak."
Cordelia backed up until she hit the wall. "Daddy-"
"Don't speak! Have some respect for your father. You are the worst daughter a father could have. How do you live with yourself?"
"Daddy, I'm sorry," she cried out as she sank down against the wall.
The scene changed and suddenly Angel and Buffy stood in front of her. "Angel?"
Angel glared at her. "Don't talk to me. You don't get to. You're dying, Cordelia. I'm not wasting my time with you anymore."
Buffy smiled smugly. "I told him, Cordelia. I told him everything. And you know what he told me? He told me that he loved me and that we should be together. He doesn't want you around anymore."
"But we're family."
"Not anymore," Angel said. "Buffy's my family now."
Fred, Wes, and Gunn came to stand by Angel and Buffy. "Yo, Barbie, what's up?" Gunn asked the blonde.
"Barbie? That's my name," Cordelia protested.
"Not anymore. We love Buffy now, not you."
"Buffy. Buffy. Buffy."
Cordelia rested her head on her knees and sobbed, trying to block out their chants. "No! No! No!"
The Bamboria demon was laughing. She could hear it. Suddenly Angel was there, grabbing her, holding her. She pushed against him. "Go away! You don't want me, you want her!"
Angel reached for her again and locked her in his embrace. "It's OK. It's OK."
Cordelia fought down hysteria as she fruitlessly struggled against him. "Just let me go," she sobbed.
Angel pulled her even closer and she stopped struggling. He rested his chin on the top of her head. "It's alright," he whispered. "I'm right here, it's alright."
Across the room Buffy groaned and sat up. "What happened?"
The demon gaped at her. "You're alive? He chose her, you should be dead!"
Buffy stood up and dusted herself off. "Dead? Do you know how many times that's happened to me? Don't mess with a slayer."
She flew at the demon and landed a kick to his chest. The others rushed to help her. Wes hefted an axe and decapitated the lead demon. Almost instantly the two remaining demons burst into flames and burned away.
While the others stood trying to catch their breath, Angel still stood with his arms around Cordelia. She pressed herself as close against him as she could. His arms were strong and sure around her waist and back.
Angel pulled back a little. "Come on. Let's ho home."
> > > > > >
The luggage was packed in Spike's car and the gang was in the lobby saying their good-byes. Buffy and Spike had since made up, and there was no tension between her and Cordelia. Everyone was promising to write and keep in touch. Willow was saying goodbye to Connor in baby talk.
Buffy pulled Cordelia aside. "Listen, I'm sorry. I know you've been having a rough time and my comments about Angel haven't made it any better."
"It's alright. Don't apologize for my insecurities."
Buffy chuckled, then sobered up. "I really think that you should tell Angel that you're-"
Cordelia cut her off before she could finish. "I'll think about it."
The two girls said goodbye and the Sunnydale gang piled into Spike's car. The blonde vampire beeped twice before driving off into the darkness.
They stood outside for a few minutes, enjoying the night air. Fred yawned and stretched. "I think I'm going to go home with Gunn tonight."
"Yeah, we should get going," Gunn said.
Wes nodded. "I believe I'll go home as well."
"Me too," Cordelia chimed in.
Angel shook his head. "Oh, no. Not you. I want to talk to you."
They said their goodnights and Cordelia and Angel went inside. Cordelia settled in on the couch while Angel went up to check on Connor. She looked up when he came down the stairs. "Well?"
"Sound asleep, curled around that teddy bear you bought him."
"I told you he'd like it," she huffed.
Angel chuckled. "Yeah, well, I guess you're right every now and then."
Cordelia yawned. "Angel, I'm really tired."
"I know. I just want to talk for a few minutes."
"OK, talk."
Angel sighed. "Cordy, I just…do you really think I'd choose Buffy over you? Ever?"
Cordelia groaned. "Are we still on my dream?"
"Sometimes dreams mean things."
"OK, fine. I'll admit that I was a little insecure. But you cleared all that up. Trust me."
Angel nodded. "OK. But what about your dad?"
Cordelia squirmed. "What about him?"
"Cordy, you were talking about him. Hell, you were talking to him."
Cordelia sighed. "He kept telling me how disappointed he was in me. That I was the worst daughter in the world."
"You know that's not true."
"Actually, it was. At least a little. I could have tried harder to have a relationship with him. But I know that he could have tried harder, too."
"So you're OK?"
"Yeah. I think I am."
Angel smiled. "Good. Cause if you're not fine, I'm not fine."
Cordelia snorted. "Yeah, OK."
"No, no, no, it's kind of like that Titanic movie you made me watch. You jump, I jump, you know? We're in this together."
Cordelia smiled. "Good. Cause I'd hate to be in this alone."
"Me too," Angel said. "Me too."
The End
