Chapter 5 – "And now for a brief weather report. Visitors to LA should expect a decidedly cool front..."

The first thing that Cordy did was take in everybody's appearance. She also had to wonder how it was that they fell into a stylised pose, with the Almighty Slayer at the centre. 'I bet that demons know they are in trouble when the gang move into ass kicking pose 1. They're more co-ordinated than the Varsity Cheer Squad was – and we were inter-state champs! I hope that we aren't that embarrassing when we fight. Pffh – as if. We're not Scoobies. Right be nice Cordy, reformed Cordy.' She cast a critical eye over each in turn.

'Giles same as ever, although it is kinda weird to see him wearing jeans and a light forest green jumper. I suppose that it's because I haven't seen him since his tweed and library days. Jeez, Watchers are abandoning tweed! The Apocalypse is nigh. Not so sure that LA is prepared for two reformed Watchers. Next to him… Willow holding hands with a blonde I supposed must be Tara. They look a cute couple. That purple peasant top really compliments Willow's hair tone. I guess the Wicca/bohemian look really works for Willow. In fact, Willow looked the most chic of the lot of them. Tara's look is similar but if possible more feminine. At least they aren't co-ordinating that would be worse than tweed-less Watchers. She looks very Mother Earth and I really need to know where the cardigan and the drop-chain necklace have come from. Maybe Angel will lend me his credit card? Slayer central. The Buffster's wearing the classic jeans and white shirt combo. Not bad, can't go wrong. Betcha she wanted to dress up for Angel though! The boots are good. I guess Little Buff wants to be ready to kick ass whenever. The walking Gap advert next to her has to be Riley. Please – at least Gunn can carry off cargo pants and a t-shirt. This guy just makes them look plain boring and no one under 30 should be seen anywhere near a sweater like that. Buffy has obviously traded down from stylish boyfriend to farm boy. Never fear, alls right with the world – Xander has not developed a fashion style. That shirt makes Lorne look tame! Has he put on weight? Anya looks nice – calf length light blue skirt and a strappy little top and some beautiful Jimmy Choo sandals. I totally approve. Lastly, Spike. What was it with vamps and the black on black look? And why did Angel invite the Evil Undead?'

Giving an award winning smile she approached her former sort of friends. "Hey guys! Good trip? Didn't think that you'd get here this early."

"Oh I do hope we're not intruding."

"No, not at all. Just thought you were gonna be a bit later's all. It's not a problem. Come in, sit, dump the bags by the stairs. I'll just go get Angel."

"He knows there here Cordy. Give him a minute."

"Wesley!"

"Hello. Yes Xander I am Wesley. I trust you all had a good journey." He held out a hand and gestured for them to take seats on the sofas. Cordy went to join Gunn perched on top of the reception counter.

Whilst the Scoobies sat on the sofas, Spike sat on the steps that lead out to the back courtyard, wringing his hands nervously. He jumped when he heard the whisky tones that haunted him. "You can smoke Spike – as long as you stay by the doors. But put those boots on the furniture and we're gonna have a problem." The small grin that accompanied this belied any force behind the words. It was at that instant he knew something was horribly wrong. He couldn't feel Angel; he could smell him but not feel him. 'What the bloody hell did those military wankers do to my bleedin' head! 'm gonna rip soldier boy a new one if he doesn't tell me what other little surprises I should ex… God he looks… Stop thinking this instant!' "Thanks Peaches." There was a chorus of 'Hey Angel' and 'Hello' before the "Hello Angel" that every one had waited for came. 'Here we go – the Slayer and Ponce show.' It was a sentiment echoed by all.

There was an awkward few moments until Angel broke the silence by enquiring if everyone knew each other. Gunn, Tara and Riley were introduced to the people that they had never met but heard so much about. There was a brief description of how each had joined the groups. Spike found that he liked Angel's humans. They seemed more real to him. The Scoobies walked round believing that they were the fairytale heroes and all would end well. Angel's group knew what this life meant. Each was hardened by loss – he could smell it – but at the same time they had an innocence that said they knew they would die, yet it didn't matter because someone would benefit. The differences between the two groups reminded him of a quote from Arthur Ashe, "True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others, at whatever cost."

Buffy wanted to be the best Slayer there had ever been. Giles drove her with that goal. But Peaches and his gang worked for the higher beings and helped anything that needed it. If listening to some of the random tales that were exchanged didn't display that, then the Cheerleader's simple offer of, "Spike you want some blood after your trip?" told him everything. They didn't even care when he drank it there and then.

The conversation however, was getting nasty. Buffy was becoming increasingly irritated by the fact that Cordelia Chase(!) seemed to be very good friends with Angel. She couldn't understand how that had happened. Sure 'Cordy', as they all kept calling her seemed different, but there was no way that the bitch she had been had just vanished. Also Angel was confusing her. He didn't mind Spike being sprawled across the steps smoking, was polite with Riley and even made a joke when Xander had asked, "Who are you and what have you done with the Brood Master?" The glib response of, "Check the dust buster" had shocked everyone into silence, until Spike had started laughing. Not only that, but he had barely spoken two words to her – a polite welcome and brief hug, no different to Willow, and general questions. Something was very wrong with her Angel and she bet that 'Cordy' had an awful lot to do with it.

Riley was using each available opening to criticise Angel. In doing so he was really pissing Gunn off. All Gunn could see was a little white boy who had no clue of the world around them and fought vamps for fun, not because he had no choice. He also didn't rate the Slayer. He had expected someone like Alonna, brave to a fault, and was sorely disappointed by a girl who seemed to hate the advantage she had. If his sister had been a Slayer, she'd still be alive and so would a lot of his friends. He was beginning to dislike the group intently. He didn't trust the vamp, the Slayer seemed too self-centred, her honey was too convinced that the world was black and white, Xander's attitude with Angel and the fact that he had hurt Cordy wasn't going down well and Giles was like Wes, except he had a higher opinion of himself. The three girls seemed really nice and Gunn had to laugh at Anya. But, all in all, he couldn't see why these people were held in such high regard by his friends. He wasn't sure they deserved it. He was now just waiting for the spark to hit the blue paper, cos he was sure that Barbie was about to explode.

Sure enough it came. And Gunn couldn't have asked for a better floor-show.

"So, what you guys do here is run a detective agency and profit from others' misfortune. That's really low." Riley couldn't help but smirk when he saw that his comment had registered with Buffy. 'Angel's not so precious now is he?'

"Actually bro' most of the time, Angel won't let Cordy charge them. And if we did? Well let's just say that our biggest clients have a helluvah tab building!"

"That doesn't make good business sense. You provide a service and therefore should be recompensed by those you help. That is the way of capitalism."

"That's what I've been saying, but does any one listen to Cordy? Huh, as if!"

"We'll listen when the comments you make are worth our time."

"Bite me Wesley."

Instead he just raised an eyebrow at her, as she stuck out her tongue, and carried on with what he had been going to say. "Actually Anya, what Gunn meant was that we don't just serve humans."

"What you actually help demons? I thought we were meant to protect people from them."

"I'll think you'll find that the world isn't that clean cut Xander. The forces that fight on the sides of both 'Good' and 'Evil' come in many forms. I've found that humans can be crueller than many demons we've helped. I have done more good, helping a vampire, than I ever achieved as a Watcher."

Gunn rolled his eyes, "What English is saying is that we 'Help the Hopeless' and sometimes we don't get a say in who we help. Powers call and we go running."

"Powers? What powers?"

"The Powers That Be." Angel said these four words as if they answered everything. They did. Unless you were Xander Harris.

"Powers That Be what?"

"Jeez, did you actually learn anything from those thousands of hours reading really dusty books to find out what our latest creature feature was? Or did you just look at the naked pictures. Huh, thought so. Men! The Powers are the higher powers guiding us."

"Oh! I know this! They are thought to be the guardians and guides of the soldiers of good. I guess they are the ones who chose the slayer." Willow wasn't convinced if she was right or not but to her that seemed the most likely conclusion.

"Remind me to send them a Thank You note."

"I had never actually considered that as a possibility Willow. Generally we find they send visions to a Seer."

"Ah yes. Cordelia, Willow told us that you receive visions. Can you give us anymore information? It would be most useful to us, well to Buffy, if we can tell what is coming."

Cordelia exchanged wary glances with her colleagues. They had discussed the fact that the Sunnydale crew would want more information as to what it was Cordy did and saw. She was shocked however at how selfish the request was. They seemed to view the Visions as a Magic 8 Ball and she wasn't going to stand for that. She may hate the mind numbing, skull crushing, blinding agony that they inflicted, but since the Vocah incident she had realised how much pain there was in the world and how much of a gift it was to be able to help ease a little of it. The few phone calls, chit-chat and the scant emails that had been swapped confirmed to her one thing, Buffy and her followers saw this as a duty, a burden. Her guys saw it as an honour, a chance to help and perhaps redeem themselves along the way. Her hackles rose at the implications behind Giles' comment and she found herself slipping back into Bitch mode. "My Visions are messages from the Powers. They show me images of people in trouble and we solve their problem." The less they knew the better as far as she was concerned.

"I don't think that was what he was asking Cordelia. He was asking you to tell us what is coming for us."

Cordelia went to Bitch Def Con 3 and her family noticed it immediately. Angel and Wes couldn't help but share a smirk. The three of them had been the Sunnydale outcasts – Cordelia had perhaps had the hardest time of the lot of them. She had changed so much and they were so proud of her. Both were looking forward to Cordy kicking some Scooby butt, but Angel couldn't help but feel bad that Buffy had chosen to pick a fight. After all, she had Darla to face yet. He was glad no one had asked him why they were here as he was way too nervous and unsure to try to explain. He knew that Spike knew there was something different. He knew Angel better than Darla did. That was the main reason why Angel had joined Cordy and Gunn on the counter. It didn't hurt that sitting there put valuable distance between him and Riley and Xander. The urge to hit them both was building every second.

Gunn snickered in his ear, "Looks like Barbie is about to hand Sindy's ass back to her. This is gonna get ugly."

Feeling more jovial since his talk with Darla he couldn't help but reply silkily, "I know. You think we should set up a ring and get the baby oil out?"

He smirked as Gunn's street 'cool' image cracked under the influence of a voice that had been locked away for 100 years. Before Gunn could try to recover his image, Cordy had hopped off the counter and stalked over to Buffy. He and Gunn got more comfortable. From the look on Wes' face they both knew that Cordy had her 'I'm Lilah Morgan in better shoes' expression on. He bit his lip and waited.

"I'm not an idiot Buffy," she spat the name out, loosened the reigns on her own inner-Angelus and decided to play. "I just felt that such a selfish request wasn't really worth the effort of replying to."

To say that Buffy was mad was like saying that the Arctic was kinda chilly. "I'm glad to see that you haven't changed. Still the same self-serving bitch you always were. God I bet you totally rule the roost round her. Finally Queen C is actually important and wanted. Well, wanted in the sense that you have something besides Daddy's credit card."

Def Con 3 became Def Con 4 and the 'I'll eat Angelus for breakfast' smile replaced the 'I'm Lilah Morgan in better shoes' expression. "Gosh Buffy, a year on and you're still trapped in high school living out you're inferiority complex. It must eat you up inside that I'm here every day with Angel while you're all the way away in SunnyHell."

'Damn Bint's good – never seen the Slayer turn that shade before.'

'Buffy doesn't care about Angel she's with me. Buffy doesn't care about Angel she's with me. Buffy doesn't care about Angel she's with me. Buffy…'

'Yup still the bitchy Queen C.'

"Huh. I guess those 'visions' have damaged your eye sight because I'm with Riley. And we're really happy together. We have a great relationship – not that you'd know what one of those was. I mean come on Cordelia, who are you trying to fool. Look at you, you put on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and think you've joined the human race. It takes more than that – you have to have feelings to qualify."

"Yeah. You're so full of 'feelings' that you have a robot for a boyfriend. What? Do you turn him on in a morning and then plug him into the wall socket after he's done at night?"

Spike couldn't help it. Stifling a laugh he looked over at Angel. He expected to see a distraught expression on his normally stoic face. After all, the love of his 'life' was parading her new piece of meat around shamelessly. What he found shocked him. Yeah, Angel looked like a Rodin statue, his face totally blank, but his eyes were that of the real Angelus. The Sire that had made unlife a dream come true. 'What the bloody hell is going on here? First it looks as though me ole Sire's closer to the surface than ever – and isn't that a delicious thought? The real Angelus back and not that wanker that appeared after he got 'is rocks off wiv Slutty. And speaking of the bitch... since when did he not jump to the Slayer's defence? Looks like LA agrees with Peaches! I really like these pet humans! They're a bad influence on him!'

Angel had felt the entire groups' eyes on him at some point but now he felt a gaze that was totally burning through his skin. He looked up and caught Spike's eyes. He couldn't help himself. He was really enjoying the fact that Cordy was putting Buffy in her place. She may be the Slayer but she wasn't always right. Angel had to admit that this was partly a petty revenge as he was still sore about what happened with Faith. The fact that she hadn't trusted him and saw him as nothing more than a vampire had really hurt. It also made him realise an awful lot of home truths about Buffy. Ones that were becoming more self evident as her 'discussion' with Cordy continued.

Part of who he was and who he would be were decided in that moment.

Keeping Spike's gaze he allowed a small smirk to appear on his face, a few seconds later he winked and blew a kiss in Spike's direction before turning back to the main event. He wished he could see Spike's face because he knew that he'd be thinking Angelus was back. He mourned the loss of his senses once again; if he could smell Spike then he wouldn't have even thought of looking. 'Spike'd be right though wouldn't he?' a little voice whispered. 'Angelus is back – just not bad. Think you can live with that? It could be fun.' Before he could turn back to observe Spike, Buffy exploded.

'What the hell is Peaches playing at?' Before he could process the thought more, hurricane Buffy hit.

"How dare you! You have no right to talk to me like that. After all the times I have saved your life and you treat me like this? I don't think you realise who you are dealing with. I'm not some little Cordette you can push around, I'm the Slayer. I…"

"Yes Buffy, how could I forget – you're the Slayer. But do you want to know something? You only fight because you have to – all of you. I listened to you for years and never once were you grateful for your gifts. Even Giles resented being a Watcher. Well we do things differently here. We fight because we can, because we want to not because it is our duty. I will not allow you to use my gift to make your life easier."

"That's not your choice Cordy – those visions are more my responsibility than yours. I'm the one that has to fight! I'm the one that defends the world. I should know what you see. We all agree – you're totally irresponsible, you should inform us of what you see!"

'Gotcha!' "Oh but Buffy… these visions are specific. There meant for a chosen champion." She let the baited hook dangle for a few seconds. "Sorry honey, but Angel was the chosen one this time. The visions are meant for him to stop – not any old soldier." She cast a pointed look at Riley and smiled sweetly. "Some shoes can't be filled."

Before Buffy or any other Scooby could counter Cordy's attack a new voice joined the debate. Floating down from the balcony came a sickly sweet voice that Angel knew oh so well.

"I have to agree with Cordelia. Angelus is quite impossible to replace. Especially in the bedroom. Believe me I know, I've looked."