There is an end in sight. These next few chapters'll be skipping around a bit in the timeline. Take into consideration that not everything is going to be the same and that Connor never existed in my world. Things are as they should be. Okay, here we go. Chapter 7. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy writing it. And I'd also like to start getting ideas on a next story. Things you'd like to see happen, plots you think should be explored. I'm open for all of it.
And just to clarify a bit of mild criticism I received, things are different. Characters made different choices. Not everything is the same. I know Harry may have seemed a little bit out of character, but in my mind, she was different. Same for Doyle. He wasn't exactly the same, but he was a lot closer than Harry. Thanks for the reviews!
December 24th, 2002, Diary of Cordelia Chase.
Well, it's been three years since I came back. Three years and a little over a month since I woke up in that hospital bed and saw Angel and Doyle sitting across from me. Three years since Faith came back and Angel helped her be rehabilitated. Since he and Buffy fought the Morah demon. Since he became human. Since Doyle and I became a couple.
We've had our rough spots. What couple doesn't? We even broke up once. Stayed split for a whole three months. We were both miserable. And so was everyone else. Finally we made up and gave us a second shot. That was nearly two years ago. Buffy and Angel's daughter is two today. Reina is so beautiful. She's got her mom's hair and her dad's eyes. At least God had the good sense to give her Buffy's face. Angel's is nice, but not for a girl.
She's the light of their life. And if I'm really honest, Doyle and I spoil her as much as they do. But who could blame us? She's adorable and we are, after all, her godparents. Wes and Faith's son is pretty cute, too. He's only a couple months old. Avery Michael Wyndham-Pryce. Angel and Buffy get to be his godparents, thank God. Faith and Wes and Doyle and I haven't ever been very close.
And there's no Fred and Gunn. That really hurts if I let myself think about it. I checked up on them. Fred never disappeared into Pylea and she's living a great life in New York City, married with two kids. She's happy. Gunn's still fighting vampires, though not for us. He's got his gang, and as yet, we haven't had cause to interfere with anything they do. I miss them.
But I'm happy too. I wasn't this happy in the other dimension. About this time I would've been turning into a half demon. Definite low point. Then there would be the Ascension and the battle and the coma. And then death. But, let's not go there. Things are so much better. So much happier.
Angel's still got all his strength, thanks to a spell a la Willow, and we still fight evil. But so far, nothing Apocalypse esque. Thank God. And slowly but surely, Doyle is becoming comfortable with his demon half. And so am I. We're doing it together, step by step.
I don't mind anymore. That's just part of who he is, and I love that part as much as the human part. He still doesn't like to show his face, but sometimes he does. And I know we're getting close to being at ease with it. There are certain instances in which he can't control it. Like when he sneezes, or gets really, really mad.
I think his other half is why we aren't married. Or why we don't have kids. He wants to be sure he's come to grips with who he is before he passes it onto any children we might have. And I think part of that has to do with me, too. I've done a lot of growing mentally and matured a lot, but the thought of putting thirty pounds on willingly still makes me shudder.
And I've been doing a lot of shuddering lately. See, a couple months ago I had the flu. Some demon induced one, but the flu nonetheless. And I was too sick to take my BC. And voila. One bun in the oven. Doyle doesn't know yet. I'm half scared to tell him. Not that I doubt he'd be happy, he's just too Irish to take to having kids before there's a legal document stating we're man and wife.
Oh well. He'll get over it. I hope. Anyway, it's Christmas Eve, we're together, life is good and I'm late for tree decorating at the office. And Doyle is anxiously waiting for me to finish getting ready. Not that anything fits anymore. And not that he's even noticed that I've gained five pounds already.
Cordelia pulled on the black slip dress and heels, tucking her hair behind her ear as she did so. It was cold out, so she picked up her black leather jacket to go with the dress. It was one of the few things in her closet that still fit. She slung her purse over one shoulder, checked her make up in the mirror and walked out of the bedroom. Doyle was sitting on the couch, in black slacks and a maroon shirt that looked good. His wardrobe had make a complete turn around in the years he'd been with her.
"Ready? We're going to be late."
"We're already late, darlin'. I've been waitin' for you."
"Details, details. How do I look?"
Doyle inspected her slim form with a critical eye. "Do you ever look anything but lovely?"
"Good answer. Let's go. I like that shirt."
"You should. You bought it."
"I thought it looked familiar." Cordelia said, smiling as she took his hand and pulled him from the couch. She flipped out the lights and dragged her boyfriend to the door. "Did you get the presents?"
"You mean the twenty seven wrapped boxes?"
"There were thirty." Cordelia frowned, looking around the apartment wildly. She spotted the three missing boxes in the corner of the kitchen counter and frowned again as she retrieved them. "How did these get here?"
Doyle kissed her quickly. "My bet's on the ghost. How many of those are for people over the age of two?"
"Five. Wes got a couple books I found at a shop downtown. They looked demony. Faith and Buffy got clothes. Angel gets a cook book. That one he's been whining about getting for a couple of weeks."
"That's only four."
"If you think I'm telling you what I got you, you are sadly mistaken." Cordelia said, pushing the button for the elevator.
"I'll tell you if you'll tell me."
"We go through this every holiday, birthday and anniversary. No, no and a million times no."
The tree was up, but still bare when Doyle and Cordelia arrived. Faith was giving the baby a bottle in the lobby and Reina was sitting beside her, watching intently. As soon as she saw Aunt Cordy and Uncle Doyle, however, the two year old torpedo was on a crash course.
Buffy came out of the office just in time to intercept. She scooped the toddler up before she could send boxes sprawling. "Hey, you're late."
"As per usual. Where should we set these?"
"My God you spoil the kids."
Doyle shrugged. "We don't have any of our own, so we have to spoil yours. It's like a required thing."
Cordelia's face didn't move. That was one thing acting had taught her was how to not express emotion. She smiled. "And they're just so cute. And don't even tell me you don't spoil Avery."
"Point, set and match." Angel said, coming into the room, a wide grin on his tanned face. He took the pile of packages from Cordelia and sat them on the table that held many other boxes in a wide array of colors.
"As always." Cordelia said, watching Wesley walk in with an apron around his waist. She sniffed the air and smelled spaghetti sauce. "Oh Wes, I am in love with you." She told him, breezing across the room toward the Watcher.
"You say that every time I cook."
"Yup. And then you deliver your line."
"I'm flattered Cordelia, but I'm madly in love with my wife."
"Too bad. You have much better fashion sense than Doyle. We'd always coordinate."
Doyle laughed at the old routine and snagged Cordelia by the waist. In her heels she was almost eye to eye with him and he barely had to shift downward to kiss her. "Which is why, my darling girl, I let you pick my clothes."
"And I do a damn good job."
"That you do." Buffy agreed, sitting down with her toddler in her lap. "Angel, go downstairs with the guys and get the decorations. We'll get the table set up so we can eat."
Faith deposited Avery in Cordelia's arms. "Here, you hold him for a while. He's been fussy today and I need a break."
Cordelia jiggled the baby inexpertly and cradled him against her body. She wasn't fluent, but she was decent at taking care of small infants. She'd babysat Reina many times and was beginning to sit for Avery. And she'd be getting a lot more practice in a few months.
Cordelia was helping Buffy set the table when Spike sauntered in. Since he'd gotten the chip installed by the Initiative, he'd been a big help around Angel Investigation. The past few months, however, he'd been dealing with Darla and Drusilla in Sunnydale and hadn't been in the office.
He walked into the kitchen just as the three men came up from the basement. Cordelia froze in the middle of laying plates down. Spike tipped his head to the side, and then scanned the room. His gaze settled on Cordelia, and she could practically see the vampire hearing start to work. He smiled.
"Congratulations on the little one, Queen C. Demon boy know yet?"
Cordelia squeezed her eyes shut. She'd never wanted Doyle to find out that way. She'd had the way she was going to tell him all planned out and timed. Slowly, she shook her head negatively. Doyle lifted his eyebrows in a questioning manner.
"Know what?"
Cordelia plunked the plate down and grabbed her boyfriend by the arm, pulled him into the other room. She pushed him down into a chair and stood in front of him. "Spike wasn't supposed to be back for two weeks, and I'd've told you way before then. And don't think I was trying to hide anything, cause I wasn't, I just hadn't quite worked up the nerve to tell you, and I was actually planning on doing it tonight, you can look in my journal if you don't believe me, and-"
"Whoa, Delia, slow down. I'm not bein' able to make much sense of any of this. Why don't you tell me what's going on and what Spike knows that you were going to tell me that's making you ramble?"
Cordelia took a heaving breath. "Remember when I went to the doctor for my yearly checkup and I said everything was fine?"
"Yeah."
"I lied. Everything's not fine. We're not ready for this and it wasn't supposed to happen. But it did, and I'm about to get to the point."
"I'd appreciate that seein' as you're startin' to scare me."
"We're pregnant."
"Pregnant? As in, a baby?"
"Yeah, as in a baby. I'm two months along. Remember when I got that demon flu and I was too sick to take the pills? Well, I guess they didn't get in my system good before we had sex, and you got me pregnant."
Then Cordelia shrieked in surprise because Doyle had leapt up and grabbed her in his arms, twirling her in a circle. He sat her down gently and took her face in his hands, leaning down to kiss her softly. "You've known for two weeks and haven't told me. Did you think I'd be mad?"
"No, I thought you were too Catholic to be happy. I mean, we aren't planning on getting married, and we never even talked about kids. We're both still really young. And I was scared. If we ever discuss marriage, I wanted it to be because we both wanted it, not because I happened to be pregnant."
"Well then, we both picked a good night. Take a guess at your present."
"You guess first."
"Tell me."
"The pregnancy test I took because I had hoped the doctors were wrong. So I have proof I was going to tell you. It's at home under our tree."
"I'm going to propose to you tonight." Doyle said, pulling a small brightly wrapped box from his pocket. "I had everything worked out, what I was gonna say, when I was gonna say it. But none of that applies now. So I'll do this instead." Doyle knealt, opened the lid. "I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you and I want to raise our baby together. Will ye marry me, Princess?"
As Cordelia nodded tearfully, the assembled group burst into applause.
Sorry everyone, a little bit of fluff. Don't worry though, things'll get more interesting. Actually, fluff'll probably be a prominent part of the next few chapters. I think I'm going to touch on important parts of their lives. The wedding, the birth, and maybe a couple chapters between. Some twist will pop up though, that I promise. I've got an idea floating around. Okay, start sending in baby names. I'll post my top choices in a couple chapters.
