Chapter 9

"Well, for once Hollywood got something right." Russ said as he looked at Fred with a love so deep that everyone in the room was touched. Fred and Cordy were the most touched each coming equal firsts for different reasons and Angel was happy for the two of them. Maybe he would end up going to a wedding for a different reason than eating the guests. You never know. About the wedding, not the guest eating.

"We should leave you two alone…" Cordy said and began to shove Angel through the door behind her but Russ stopped them with a hand.

"No, we should all go. Before the doctors begin to wonder how I made the miraculous recovery and all." Russ jumped off the bed with the agility of a world class athlete in their prime. Fred just had that giddy expression that she sometimes gets. You know the one with the smile that seems to big for her face and the big eyes and that slightly crazy sounding laugh that seems to pour from her mouth. And then the covering of the aforesaid mouth with her hands.

So they all filed out of the room with Russ in the lead then Fred and Angel and Cordy in the rear. Angel and Cordy mostly marvelling about Russ' miraculous recovery themselves. But as they were filing out Russ managed to bump into the doctor. His doctor. The one from before who had tried, but failed miserably, to offer his condolences to Fred earlier.

"Uh, Mr Brown?" The doctor looked positively stumped at why Russ was walking around and at the disappearance of all his bruises, bumps and cuts that had been so decorative for his face before.

"Yeah?" Russ asked and Fred nudged him in one of those 'this is a time when you should've not told the truth' ways. Russ turned to her and smiled his reassurance. Fred looked up at him with big eyes before letting him do what he wanted to do.

"Brown? Russet Brown?" The doctor continued incredulously. Russ shook his head.

"No, I'm Russ' twin brother. Pete." Russ stuck out his hand and the doctor shook it hesitantly.

"I didn't know Russ' had a twin brother." He said before pushing his glasses back up his nose.

"He doesn't talk about me much. I'm kinda the black sheep of the family." The doctor's mouth pulled itself into an 'oh'. The gang then started to walk away from the doctor before he stopped them with a,

"So how is he? Your 'brother'? He doin' okay?" The doctor walked up to them again and confronted Russ. He continued, "Cos you're not such a nice brother. Leaving him in there to fend for himself. To approach the pearly white gates with no one to say 'I'll miss you' or read him his last rites or…" Russ cut him off with a punch and the doctor crumpled. Angel gave him a look and then Russ shrugged.

"You would've done the exact same thing." Russ said and Angel was about to protest before thinking about it and finding that Russ was right. That doctor really was starting to get on his nerves. Plus there was that whole not liking hospital thing that seemed to be shared between all four of them. Cordy had bad experiences, Angel had bad experiences, Russ had bad experiences (like just momentarily dying in one) and Fred just thought they were too clean and that they smelled funny.

As soon as they got out Fred took in a big breath of air and Russ looked at her before cracking up at her ballooned up cheeks and the disappearance of her previous slight tinge of red turning blue. He gave her a kiss on the forehead as she looked at him with a bewildered and slightly embarrassed expression. She smiled at the kiss and went all gooey.

Angel and Cordy were just happy to get out of the hospital and as they watched the exchange they smirked to one another as if they knew something that the other two didn't. Or that they thought that they were above it all. But Cordy couldn't help but let slip a small laugh and Angel couldn't help but smile. And we know how rare one of those is.

And Fred was too busy with Russ to be concerned with how happy Angel was to start poking him whilst expressing that concern.

Then for absolutely no apparent reason they found themselves having wondered around aimlessly to end up in front of the caravan turned diner named 'Joes' in which Cordy had come bursting through the doors when Angel and Russ and met her for the first time since when she first went away. Russ expressed that he had a craving for pancakes and after a squeal of joy from Fred they all went in.

It was also the smart choice to the 'Where are we going next?' question. Seeing as how the hotel room was pretty much wrecked what with the earthquake and all that jazz. Russ and Fred both ordered their beloved pancakes and shared it, feeding each other, giggling and, on occasion, giving each other pancake kisses. Angel and Cordy, sitting on the opposite side of the table looked at them for a second before turning to each other.

"So..." Cordy started. There were a few mumbles from across the table and Angel and Cordy looked over at Russ who was trying to swallow his pancakes so he could say something. He swallowed this huge lump and then said,

"Angel, you tell Cordy about that time when you were turned into Angelus? What caused you to lose your soul?" Russ smiled and Angel and Angel just gave him a death look. Cordy looked at the both of them, utterly confused.

"Didn't the shaman make you lose your soul?"

"Well, uh..."

"Nup, the shaman gave Angel a chance to create the perfect happi..." Angel gave Russ a death look so strong that a normal human being would've died on the spot.

"You say one word and I will do something that you will regret. I know you just died, but who here hasn't?"

"Uh, me." Fred said with a mouthful of pancakes. A bit of maple syrup leaked out of her mouth as she attempted to make words come out of her pancake filled mouth. Russ quickly swooped in and kissed it all off.

"And me." Cordy slotted in, not actually knowing that she had. Forgetting the real past, remember?

"Well... Fine." Angel was left with this look of slight annoyance at Fred and really pissed off look at Russ. Russ just shrugged and turned to Fred who put some more pancakes in his mouth, finding it empty. And an empty mouth was something that just wouldn't do.

"What happened?" Cordy asked Angel and he dropped all bad thoughts when he looked at Cordy.

"Well the shaman made me believe that I was living my perfect day which gave me the perfect happiness required to lose my soul." Cordy played with one of Angel's palms.

"And what happened in this perfect day?" She asked as she traced one of the lines in his palm. Angel looked down at the line she was tracing and hesitated slightly before replying,

"Well a lot of things."

"Such as..." Cordy pushed slightly and Angel decided to give.

"Well, Connor and I made up after I made it perfectly clear that you weren't his (Cordy raised an eyebrow at this but Angel just ploughed on), we all defeated the beast, brought the sun back and..." Cordy looked at Angel for this last one, knowing that it was the thing that really rocked the boat, "We... you know..." Cordy smiled brightly and Angel smiled slightly, not really wanting to show his glee too much in front of the other two.

Then again the other two were so engorged in each other they really didn't notice Angel and Cordy so Angel allowed his smile to go onto high beam. So while one couple were shovelling pancakes into each others mouths and kissing the other were grinning like crazy at each other. So wasn't this just the perfect time for something to happen that would take all the happiness away?

The Powers sure thought so. And so...