A/N: Sorry about my pathetic AN at the end of the last chapter, I was slightly depressed as you could probably tell, but I've since been smacked into shape and after consuming vast quantities of alcohol and chocolate, I am back to my quasi normal self. This story WILL carry on, frankly because I want to have a complete piece of work for myself. So anyway, apologies for being moronic and self absorbed in my previous AN. This chapter should start the 'oh shit she's back!' part of my fic, WARNING I may decide to take some liberties to Cordy's physical and mental state as well as her powers (We've never had a fully functioning Power on the show, so I can't be ruining canon).

PS Thanks to Ronnie3 for putting my story on your Favourite Stories list, my first. It's an honour. For the purpose of this fic Cordy editorialised the events in 'Birthday' when she told the FG what happened, they only know that unless she became part demon she would have died. (They were unclear in what she actually told them in AtS). Well here's what you've been waiting for…

(Previously)

Willow was researching to see if any spells could be of use, but was disheartened as all of the spells required her to tap into greater magics than what she felt comfortable handling so when the doorbell rang she was happy to answer. It took three steps for her to wonder 'who on earth would ring the doorbell? I didn't even know there was a doorbell." Even as the witch was wondering her feet took her to the front door.

"Hi can I help you?…GODDESS…CORDY?"

Chapter Four:

Sunnydale:

At Willow's exclamation the Scoobies and the Fang Gang in the mansion froze whilst the potentials noting the adult's reactions tensed and moved in to slight defensive positions. All of a sudden there was a loud SMACK as Fred's mini catapult released a bag of flour whose unfortunate trajectory ended at Connor's face. Nobody knew what to do, until Dawn burst out into laughter at the sight of 'The Destroyer' covered in flour, whilst Fred jumped up like a frightened rabbit and started to apologize and brush off the flour which only succeeded in spreading the flour further over Connor. At which Gunn snorted, but took pity on the young man and gathered his girlfriend into his arms. During the commotion Lorne, Anya and Andrew came out of the kitchen. However Lorne's frightened shriek of "Princess" drew everybody's attention back to the brunette at the door, whose only movement had been a single raised eyebrow at the comedy scene she had just witnessed.

"What? How? Cordy?" Willow still could not get her head around the fact that Cordy was standing on their doorstep as if nothing had happened or was going on.

"Hi, Willow. Yes it's me, er can I come-"

"-Wait. Hold up! How do we know it's not a trick! You know been there, done that, people died"

Cordy's heart broke at Gunn's words, intellectually she knew they had a right to wonder, to ask. She'd be the same, it was one of the things she had in common with Gunn, they were natural protectors and he had already failed once, she knew he wouldn't fail again. But it still broke her heart. However other than a slight gasp, there was no reaction from the former may queen of Sunnydale. She took a deep breath "and exactly how do you want me to prove it! Charles Gunn. I'd thought you'd at least let me through the threshold before attacking me." With her trademark eyebrow raise she stood her ground. She didn't mean to be a bitch, but a much as she wanted to throw herself in to Gunn's strong arms and apologise till dawn, she knew that he expected her strength, needed it even.

"Oh, of course, sorry" Willow broke the silence. "Come in".

As Cordy entered she took the room in at a glance, noticing Dawn and Connor (still covered in flour) she let out a small unnoticeable sigh on relief, being away from her charges, was dangerous. Without comment the adult's sat around the table as the potentials took up positions around the room, it was a natural movement, which told Cordelia that patterns were beginning to emerge, those actions showed Cordelia that the two groups (three if you count the potentials) were beginning to work together instinctively. It was a good sign. She took the hint and took the only seat left. It didn't surprise her that the empty seat was isolated and the others had assembled together. She got the not so subtle message; she was in essence on trial, for her life and more importantly her family.

"As much as we would like to believe you Cordelia, you can understand our need to be cautious" Giles began in his placatory manner. But Cordelia only had eyes for her family, who she needed to convince, she spoke to Wesley directly "You could have Lorne read me, but that didn't work last time or you could ask me questions, something only I would know" she offered options. With Wesley she needed logic, once he believed they all would. Well except for Angel but she was trying not to think of him.

On seeing Lorne's face at Cordelia's suggestion (not surprising as reading Cordelia often resulted in a concussion for the green demon, and coupled with the fact that Evil Cordy had tried to kill him) Wesley decided that asking questions may be the best way to start. "I think questions, would probably satisfy the problem, who wants to start?"

"What did I give you for Valentines Day?" Xander quickly asked.

Cordelia gave a small smile as she reminisced about that eventful day, "A silver heart locket that you took back so that you and Amy could cast a love spell. Which duh- backfired?"

Xander beamed, Willow blushed as she remembered her actions on that day.

Wesley was heartened by the answer, he decided to ask her a mundane question as he theorised that if another entity was again masquerading as Cordy, then wouldn't bother with the insignificant details. "How do I like my tea?"

"With 1 ½ teaspoons of sugar and a drop of milk." She shot back.

"How did Angel calm down Connor as a baby?" Fred asked quietly, the table silenced as well, the Fang Gang didn't speak about Baby Connor much, and it was still painful how they lost everything.

Cordy, sniffled at the bittersweet memory Fred's question evoked. "His Game face, Connor would only quieten when Angel went into his Game face".

At this Cordelia made eye contact with Connor for the first time since she entered the mansion. She was scared of his reaction the most, he had the most reason to hate her, as her double was truly cruel to the boy. But to her surprise he just gave her the slightest of grins (incidentally still covered in flour), to which she replied with her 1000 watt smile that lit up the room. Fred squealed "She's back! Oh Thank God, Cordy you're back!" She ran over to Cordy and hugged her hard, with tears falling unnoticed down her face. Fred was followed only a second later by Wes, Lorne and Gunn. Wrapped up in her family's arms Cordy cried in relief. God had she missed them it had been nearly a year, longer for her as the time she spent in the Jianxing dimension was a lot longer. "I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry" she wept to her family as apologies were made from all camps.

The Scoobies looked on as the LA group reunited with one of their own, Dawn couldn't help but notice that group felt and looked complete now (with the exception of the ensouled vampire). However after 5 minutes they separated and Cordelia looked at Connor hesitantly, he looked back just as nervously. She rolled her eyes "For God Sakes hug already, I want my turn!"

Cordelia needed no further encouragement as she took the boy to her arms, "Oh Connor, I forgot how big you got" she exclaimed and she couldn't stop her tears nor the motherly kiss on the forehead as she checked him over (and attempt to remove some of the flour.) Connor's eyes filled, for the first time in his memory had anyone given him any maternal love, he hugged her closer, not wanting to let go.

"Oh baby, I'm so sorry, it wasn't me! I promise, she wasn't me! I love you sooo much, I'm so sorry. She was wrong, Darla may have given birth to you, but I always thought of you as mine." Part of Cordelia recognised that she should slow down; neither of them were ready for this conversation, not to mention the company they still had. But now that she had her baby boy in her arms she couldn't stop herself. She wanted and needed to erase want Jasmine had done to him. At Cordelia declaration Connor's heart sang, he had forgiven her as soon as he found out that it was never her, for some reason he was drawn Cordelia, he felt safe with her and at peace, he had done ever since she had cleansed him when he first arrived. It seemed that Cordelia wasn't alone with her lack of control on her words as Connor uttered a heart wrenching "Mom?"

Cordelia's heart sang as did her entire soul at Connor's words, she never knew she could love him more than she already did, but hearing those words for the first time her love reached new heights. Another tear escaped as she realised that Baby Connor probably would've said the same thing about now, if fate hadn't got involved. The rest of the room were watching with awe and tears in their eyes, both Fred and Lorne were openly weeping. As the Fang Gang took control of themselves and sat at the table again (with all the chairs together again) the Scoobies all took their turns in reuniting with Cordelia. Whilst Giles was cleaning his glasses again, Cordy went round to all the potentials (and Andrew) quietly said hello and introduced herself, and learning their names, once she had returned to her seat round two began. Surprisingly it was not either of the watcher's

"So Barbie…where the hell have you been!" Gunn yelled he wasn't exactly renowned for his patience.

"I have been working for the Powers"

"You realise that didn't really answer our question." Wesley replied with edge of amusement lining his voice.

"What do you know about what really happened since I went missing last summer." Cordy asked apprehensively.

"We've guessed or been told that you were tricked into becoming part demon on your birthday, which led to your ascension into the higher realms. And that when you descended (3 months later); your body had been hijacked by a rogue Power named Jasmine. Then in your guise Jasmine attempted to take over the world by giving birth to herself with the help of the beast. After the birth, your body had fallen into a mystical coma. Once we discovered the truth about Jasmine through your blood, Jasmine hid your body. Then Angel and Connor fought and defeat Jasmine and 24 hours later we were in Sunnydale facing yet another apocalypse." Wesley's explanation helped Cordy understand what misconceptions she had to make her family aware of.

"Wow-so that was mostly accurate"

"Mostly?" Fred queried.

"I wasn't tricked into becoming part demon"

"What do you mean you weren't tricked?" Xander exclaimed then quieten under Giles glare but muttered to himself about his ex girlfriends and demons.

"You told us that the Powers That Be gave you 2 options 1) to return to your failing human body and receive the visions until you died or 2) to become part demon to be able to handle the pain. The Power's must have realised that you would choose the second option. You were coerced Cordelia." Wes attempted to understand.

Lorne suddenly got a flash of comprehension, but he still couldn't see the big picture. "Unless, the Powers didn't suggest the demonisation." Wes, Gunn and Fred looked at Cordelia for clarification as Connor still bewildered from his heartfelt reunion with his mom, was trying to catch up with events that occurred when he was a baby.

"Okay, so I may have edited the play of events slightly but-"

"Cordy!" Wes reprimanded.

"Fine, I'm sorry. But it wasn't important." She tried to placate the former watcher but was rudely interrupted by Anya's snort of "obviously it was". Cordy tried to stifle her irritation and carry on, "I was told that my receiving the visions from Doyle were a mistake and that my human body could not sustain them. To rectify their mistake I was given 2 options by Skip on behalf of the Powers on my birthday. Option 1) was what Wes said, death via the back of brains being blown out." Both Willow and Dawn gasped at this piece of information. "Option 2) was my dream life, I was a famous TV star with my show and my life was perfect, in that universe I never encountered Angel at that party in LA. I declined and said that there had to be another way. Then Skip to me to the conduit where I overheard Angel arguing with them to take the visions away, saying 'I wasn't strong enough and that I was just a rich girl from who likes to play Superhero'. At that statement I took option 2) and began my new life. In this alternate universe Doyle had passed on the visions to Angel, who had incidentally been driven insane by the visions. Wes and Gunn were fighting the evil in Angel's visions. But even in my perfect life something felt wrong, and my instincts led me to Angel, and then I remembered my real life with you guys and I took my visions back and told Skip to find a loophole because my purpose in life included the visions. That's when the topic of demonisation came up, and I accepted. So my decision is what ultimately let Jasmine back into this world.

The table was stunned at the revelations revealed by Cordelia's speech. Whilst most of them were still coming to terms with what they had been told Dawn spoke up, "That still doesn't tell us where you were this past year, or what you were doing?"

"I was in the higher realms, and some other dimensions. I never wanted to leave my family but I was needed elsewhere. The mission comes first, 'help the helpless' and all that…oh crap… speaking of helpless… Cordelia's eyes began to shine and her body emitted a soft white glow as she received a vision. "Angel's patrol group is in trouble, his group is being overwhelmed at the docks, Gunn, Connor, Wes, Xander you guys need to take the potentials and go help, quickly there's almost 30 assorted demons and uber vamps against one group. Anya get in touch with the others and redirect them to the docks, Angel must have stumbled into one of the points the First Evil is smuggling in more troops. The rest of us will have to get ready for the injured". She snapped out of her trance and shouted "NOW!" as she saw everybody frozen, all of a sudden there was a flurry of activity as they all followed her orders and took off in various directions. She slowly got up and went into the kitchen to get a glass of water, she felt drained, the vision wasn't painful but the images were now crystal clear, too precise, she could now see, feel, hear and taste the vision, the experience was not pleasant. But as she saw in her vision, she was needed to help tend to the injured, hopefully her fledgling higher being powers will help heal some of the worse off. Her body mechanically began helping Fred and Lorne set up mini infirmary whilst Dawn and Andrew brought over their meagre supplies.

After 30 minutes or so some of the injured potentials began to trickle in, after that she closed off and just focused on helping and healing whoever was in front of her. She'd lost count of how many potentials and fighter's she had patched up, over a dozen with Dawn, Andrew, Anya and Fred doing basic first aid, Willow and Cordelia were focussed solely on their own patients. Two of the potentials the East Asian girl (If anyone knows her name please let me know as well as the names of any of the other potentials I only know 4, thanks) and Kim, were in bad shape, both Cordy and Willow were using their powers to boost the girls healing and it was rapidly draining both of them. Once Cordy's patient was finally stable she looked around. Astonishingly nobody had died, and rapid healing abilities of some of the fighters meant that situation was not catastrophic, from her corner of the room she could see Buffy helping Willow to drink some water whilst the non combatants were all around the large room tending to the fighters, she decided to try and get up but ended up stumbling into a decorative Ming jar next to her which crashed to the floor and drew the entire room's attention to her. Connor gasped a short "mom" and before Cordy could blink a blur of black had rushed to help her stand, she had time look into the topaz coloured eyes she had loved for so long before passing out into oblivion.

R & R.