Author's notes: I know this was a long wait. Family coming to stay for an extended visit is great, but plays havoc with writing time. Next chapter will not take so long I promise. And of course, being bugged for the next chapter makes me write faster so… Thank you to all my readers. This chapter is for you.
Oh and Shanshu - it made me chuckle when I wrote it, too.
Chapter 3: Thoughts of Heart and Home
Home at last, Angel thought. The traffic on the last stretch of road had been horrendous, the situation exacerbated by an accident. He was glad to finally leave his car and the frustrating L.A. traffic behind him, for a little while at least. The moment was slightly marred by the reality that he was coming here to gather his things and return to Sunnydale for a potential reunion with Angelus. He supposed nothing good could come from that. Angel sighed, and tried to push the thought from his mind for a little longer by reflecting on a happier return to the Hyperion. Even months later, he still recalled the incident vividly.
Angel watched Cordelia's eyes widen in surprise as he walked casually into the lobby of the Hyperion, the illusion more believable now that he'd become accustomed to moving in his new body. It took her a full five seconds before she could speak.
"Wait. What happened?" she asked. She craned her head, trying to see if anyone else would come through the door. Seeing no one else, her eyes narrowed. "Alright, you peroxided pest, where's Angel?" The stake she produced seemed to come from nowhere.
"Cordy, it is me, Angel," he told her. "Really."
Her mouth and her stake dropped simultaneously as she looked him up and down, head slightly tilted in confusion. Her expression as she tried to figure him out was priceless. Then her face changed slightly, her eyes lighting up a bit. Was that intrigue he saw there? "No way!" she finally exclaimed when she found her voice again. Moving closer to him, she poked a finger into his arm experimentally.
Angel chuckled. "I'm not non-corporeal."
"I know that," Cordelia replied a bit testily, adding, "You big jerk." She punctuated that with a punch to the arm. "Scaring me like that." Then she snorted and affected nonchalance. "Making me think I'd have to run this place all by myself."
Angel almost chuckled again. That was his Cordy, deftly hiding any signs of her concern in the blink of an eye. Too late though, he had seen it, and though he'd succeeded in stifling his chuckle, a grin remained on his face. Of course that only annoyed her further.
"I hope you realize that you'll have to get an entire new wardrobe," she pointed out. "And don't expect me to help you shop either. I'm not forgetting this so easily, you know. I expect presents of some kind…" She continued off in this vein as she moved into the office.
"I know you were worried about me," he sing-songed.
She poked her head out of the office. "As if," she snorted indignantly. "Get me a hunky office assistant and I wouldn't even need you," she teased then returned to the recesses of the office, mumbling something about annoying, egotistical vampires.
He smiled even wider, thinking that it was good to be home.
Angel grinned, the memory of his first return a few moths ago helping to distract him from unpleasant thoughts as he prepared to once again step into the hotel. He loved his visits with Buffy, but still, going home always felt good. Of course, now Cordelia didn't even blink at seeing him in Spike's body. That had become old hat after the first two weeks. So Angel wasn't at all surprised as he strolled into the lobby to see Cordelia look up at him from the couch and… give a startled jump? Okay he was a little surprised.
"Angel? Oh darn you," she muttered, picking up the nail polish she'd dropped in reaction. "You're lucky I didn't spill this." She returned to painting her toenails. "You weren't supposed to be back for three more days," she pointed out, annoyance in her voice.
As he watched her finish her toenails, Angel wondered when she'd remember that she was wearing what appeared to be an avocado facial mask. After a moment, he decided that it might be fun to help her remember. "Are we closed?" he asked with amusement, "because I think you might perhaps scare any potential customers with, well, that." He vaguely gestured to her face and watched the dawning horror as Cordelia put her hand up and felt the mask.
"Aah!" Her expression turned indignant, evident even beneath the layer of olive green, and she whipped a throw pillow at him. "You! How long were you going to let me sit here like this?"
Angel flinched as he blocked the pillow. To make matters worse the instinctive reaction brought Spike closer to the surface, and the demon's response was to get a good look at Cordelia and start laughing. Of course, Angel was still partly in control, so his face remained unvamped, leaving him to get the blame. Cordelia marched over to him and hit him on the arm.
"Hey! Stop laughing."
"It's not me," he protested, still laughing.
"Oh well, in that case, it's not you I'm hitting." She delivered a punch to his arm, and Angel gave up and let Spike come forward and have his laugh at poor Cordelia's expense.
"People would take one look at you and prefer whatever demon they came here to get rid of," Spike barely got out.
Cordelia's eyes flashed, and she looked ready to hit him again.
"Okay, okay, I'll stop," he said and forced a sincere expression on his ridged and fanged face, but there was one more thing he couldn't resist saying to make him go back on that declaration. He gave her an expression of exaggerated sincerity. "I suppose now would be a bad time to remind you 'bout the curlers in your hair, huh pet?" Dissolving into laughter again, Spike ran ineffectually as Cordelia retrieved the throw pillow and chased after him. Not worried about the pillow hitting him, he still kept moving, reveling in the thrill of the chase and in the fact that something was bound to get broken and annoy Angel to no end.
*********
It was beautiful. Orbs often were, but this one was almost mesmerizing. Perfectly smooth on the outside with seemingly endless layers of radiant, multicolored crystals of dancing fire within, it was unlike anything even he had laid eyes on before. Ironic that such magnificent beauty hid such danger within.
It wasn't like Gnash to dwell on the splendor of an object, but this object compelled him to do so. He stroked its cool, smooth surface reverently and felt a pleasant hum on his palm. Realizing that it was perhaps not just its beauty that drew him, he shook his head a little and took his hands away. Wow, he though, this thing is powerful. So much so that it even affected him. Well, that was good, because the witch was powerful too, and if she was going to fall under its spell, it would have to be.
But the witch, he knew, was also clever. Sure she'd had a taste a few months ago at recklessly using her powers again, and oh, yes, he'd seen the look in her eyes as she threw that useless human, Warren, into Angelus and watched the vampire eat him, but she'd been relatively careful recently. She hadn't given up using her powers again entirely, so that was good, but she would definitely need motivation.
He thought for a moment. The other witch, Tara, would make a good incentive, but that one was intuitive. She might sense the danger ahead of time. Maybe one of the other ones, the man-boy or his ex-girlfriend would make a better choice. Gnash smiled for a moment thinking of the woman. She had just recently come back into the group he'd been spying on, but he'd recognized her immediately as that demon woman who'd visited him months ago. He frowned a little. Too bad she'd recently given up her powers again and was no longer a demon. She was less appealing, not to mention, probably much less receptive to a demon rendez-vous as a human. Maybe with that man-boy, what was his name? Oh yes, Xander. Maybe with him gone, the girl could be persuaded to return to her demon ways. Now, that was something to think about.
Gnash smiled. Okay, one Xander as motivational goat coming up. One thing decided. Now who to get to do the dirty work? Perhaps more importantly, how would he make sure the orb's existence and history became known without giving away everything? That would be hard. The other witch, Tara, had discovered the flaw in his spell for Spike; she was sure to figure out the potential evil in the orb. Perhaps a distraction was in order. Hmm, so much to do, and it was time to snatch another woman for Angelus. There really was no rest for the wicked.
And the good guys thought they had it rough.
*********
Cordelia sat across from him in a chair in his room. He'd stopped packing to take the second chair at the small table after he'd seen the concern on her face.
"Angelus, huh?" she asked, trying to plant a brave smile on her face.
"I won't let him do anything. We'll stop him. If he does return that is. Buffy's dream could be wrong. You haven't seen any visions…"
"Buffy's slayer dreams have a scary way of being accurate," she pointed out. She looked down a moment, clearly uncomfortable and worried. "But I have faith in you, Angel. You'll stop him." She nodded then and smiled. "And it's good to talk to you again instead of that annoying pain in the butt. Laughing at my facial mask and curlers," she grumbled.
Angel smirked. "Well you really can't blame him."
"Watch it," she warned. "And besides, you shouldn't be so nice to him. Look how he takes advantage of you." She gestured to his cheek and neck.
Angel wrinkled his forehead in puzzlement.
"The bruise and the giant love bite," she explained, "and that's only the visible stuff. That just has to be Spike. Not that it doesn't somehow look strangely good on you, but... You do realize that you guys are in a threesome, right?"
"What?"
"Or is it more that she is cheating on you," Cordelia mused, shifting her eyes upward and twisting her mouth.
"It's not cheating if I let them," Angel said. "Besides, I do owe him. He may be a pest…"
"And a little kinky."
Angel sighed and tried not smile. "But I would still have that happiness clause if it wasn't for Spike. Once a month or so is not that much of a sacrifice to make for what I get in return."
Cordelia looked a little uncomfortable for a moment, pretending to examine her finger nails for signs of wear. Then she looked at him again. "You are back now, right? I mean I know it always takes a little bit after the meditation before he goes back into the background."
"Cordy, what's wrong? What's this about? You're not normally this hard on Spike. So tell me what's bothering you?"
She sighed. He watched the emotions play over her face as she decided whether to tell him or not, a strange thing to see since Cordeila seldom held back. Whatever this was it had been bothering her for a little while. Finally she shook her head a little as if getting her hair in place, and then in true Cordelia fashion, she just let it all out. "What if he fights you? What if he doesn't want to help against Angelus? What if he wants his body back and gets you stuck with Angelus instead?"
Angel shook his head. "No. Spike wouldn't do that. He hates Angelus almost as much as I do. You don't know all the things Angelus did to him when he came back. He'll want to kill him as much as I do."
"Are you sure about that? How can you be certain?"
Angel smiled at her and put a reassuring hand on her arm. He put his other hand over his heart. "Because I'd feel it. I'd know. He likes what he has with me. He feels safe."
"Safe?"
Angel nodded once and kept eye contact to let her know he was sincere and certain. "He didn't want to hurt Buffy. In here, he knows he won't, but he can still love her. I feel that. It's odd to say, but I can."
Cordelia nodded and relaxed a little. She put her own hand over his which still rested on her arm. "I hope, for your sake, that you are right."
*********
Drizzle fell, blanketing everything outside in damp. It was the gray, lingering kind, too, not the kind that led to sunshine breaking through the clouds and beautiful rainbows. This drizzle meant business, and it meant to stay a while. Somehow, though, Willow didn't care. She was inside the Magic Box with Tara, lingering over old, musty books and discussing the nuances of a spell. A potentially guilt inducing pizza sat on the table between them only half gone, leaving half more to eat if the guilt could be ignored. Tara had a small dab of sauce on her lip just waiting to be kissed off, her eyes lighting up as she figured out another complexity of the incantation. Life was wonderful, and Willow couldn't be happier.
She'd made such a difference recently. Everyone trusted her again and allowed her to help. Though Willow had been surprised to find that she actually missed Spike a little, it had been a small tradeoff. It wasn't like the often annoying vampire was entirely gone, but when he visited, he had other priorities, and Willow knew that they were most important. Especially Dawn. If Spike had not kept his promise to visit Dawn, Willow knew there would have been some guilt on her part. The younger Summers had had enough people leave her recently without adding Spike to the list. But all was good, and Willow felt a sense of accomplishment at finally bringing Buffy something happy in her life.
Tara felt her stare and smiled shyly, moving so that her hair covered part of her face. Willow scooted her chair over to her and brushed the hair back. "Careful, baby, you've got some sauce," she told her.
"Where?"
"Right here," she replied, gently kissing the sauce away.
"No fair trying to distract me," Tara admonished her lightly, but the smile she saw on her lover's lips told Willow that she would make it up to her later.
"I tried," she said teasingly.
"Yes," Tara agreed. "An 'A' for effort, but I am strong enough to resist your evil distractions."
"Strong enough to resist the pizza?" Willow asked.
"Even that."
"All the more for me then." She made quite a show of choosing a piece and bringing it to her lips. Closing her eyes, she took a bite, chewing happily and licking the sauce from her lips. "Mmm," she almost moaned.
"Vixen," Tara told her.
Smiling at the comment, Willow took another bite.
Later, she would be strangely thankful that she was able to eat three-quarters of her slice before Buffy entered, because the look on her friend's face had signaled warning bells even before the words had come from her lips.
"Good, Willow, you're here." She'd taken a heavy breath before plunging on. "I need to know. About that night, about the spell to bind Angel's soul, and about what happened."
"Why Buffy, is something wrong?" Tara had asked.
Irrationally, Willow had wanted to shout "No! Don't ask!" as if somehow it would've stopped the inevitable if only no one brought it the forefront. But it had been too late. The question asked, Buffy'd answered with alarming finality.
"Angelus. I had a slayer dream. I'm afraid he's coming back."
And all of a sudden, the drizzle outside had seemed as bleak as Willow's shifted mood.
TBC
Next chapter: Spike broods: his way, of course.
