Disclaimer: All characters and things from ANGEL and BUFFY belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. If they aren't on the show they belong to me.
Summary: Angel and Spike get a chance to get back the people that meant the most to them after the battle against Wolfram and Hart. But can they keep the real past a secret from the only people they want to share it with? A/C S/B
CHAPTER 4
The sunlight trickled into Angel's room as his alarm clock rang. He fumbled to shut it off before climbing out of bed. He was tired. He had barely gotten any sleep because after he dropped Cordelia off at her house he could not get her off of his mind. He had been up most of the night thinking about her.
He managed out of his bed, however, and over to his closet where he threw on a pair of jeans and a long sleeve brown shirt. He looked himself over in the mirror, glad to finally have a reflection, and then made his way out of his bedroom and into the kitchen of his mansion that he shared with Spike.
The mansion was not really decorated, but Angel assumed that was typical since it was the home of two high school boys. He liked it all the same; the mansion had been his first real home back in Sunnydale.
Angel was sitting at the table with a bowl of cereal when Spike emerged from his bedroom.
"Morning, sunshine." Spike grinned at Angel.
Angel could tell Spike had information he was just dying to slowly let Angel know. "What is it, Spike?"
"Huh?" Spike played dumb. "What do you mean?"
"You have something to say, so say it." Angel told him.
"I don't know what you're talking about…" Spike was still playing dumb and it was pissing Angel off.
Angel stood, clenching his jaw. "Either tell me or don't."
"There's nothing to say…." Spike said, and then after a moment added. "Except that Buffy is beyond pissed at you."
Angel raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Little incident last night with you leaving the club with Cordelia and Buffy having no ride home." Spike reminded Angel.
"Oh…that." Angel said flatly.
Spike nodded. "But don't worry about it, I got Buffy home safe."
"Well, good." Angel said. "I mean, you got to spend time with her and she got home. That's good."
"You know she is going to yell at you today, right?" Spike told him as he and Angel began making their way toward the door.
"Oh yeah." Angel nodded. "But I don't care. Cordelia's all that matters right now. Besides, so Buffy yells at me a little? She can't stake me anymore. The worst thing she could do is dump me, and that wouldn't be so bad."
"Yeah, well we will see how scared you are of her when we get to school." Spike said, pushing Angel out the door.
"Buffy doesn't scare me." Angel laughed, trying to hide his nervousness as he and Spike made their way to his car. In truth, Buffy scared the crap out of him.
Angel pulled into the parking lot of Sunnydale High and immediately spotted Cordelia's red sports car. He knew it was hers because the car was sporting her famous license plate "Queen C"; he smiled to himself and parked his car next to hers.
Spike looked over to see Cordelia sitting in her front seat, reading something. He laughed to himself. "Can't stay away from her for five minutes, can you Angel?"
Angel turned to Spike. "She means a lot to me."
Spike nodded, seeming bored. "I see that."
Just then Cordelia looked up, seeing Angel and Spike in the car next to her. She smiled at them, waving.
Angel waved back, a dumbfounded look on his face, while Spike simply nodded, before getting out of Angel's car.
Angel followed Spike, getting out of his car as well, and making his way over to Cordelia's, opening her door for her.
"Thanks." Cordelia smiled, taking the hand Angel had offered her and getting out of her car.
Angel felt warmth shoot up his arm as Cordelia's hand touched his. It was the closest he had been to her since he had arrived in his new reality. He was so happy to be holding her hand that, when she first tried to pull away, he would not let it go. After a moment he realized what he was doing, and quickly jerked his hand away, not wanting to make Cordelia feel uncomfortable.
"So…" Angel said, realizing he was getting red in the face.
"Yeah." Cordelia smiled at Angel, before turning to Spike. "Good job last night, Spike."
"Yeah? Thanks." Spike said. "I noticed you didn't stay for the whole thing…"
Cordelia nodded, blushing. "Well, Angel was my ride home, and he wanted to leave…"
Spike nodded. "I know, he told me."
"Right." Angel said, and then turned back to Cordelia. "So you got in your house okay last night?"
Cordelia nodded as she, Angel, and Spike began walking toward the high school. "Yeah. The maid was there when I got home, and she left once I got to bed."
"Your parents weren't home?" Angel asked, already knowing that Cordelia's parents had never really been around for her in high school. He was hoping that in this reality things were different, that maybe she got the kind of parents she had always deserved.
Cordelia shook her head, almost sadly. "No. Not like they ever are. They were away on business."
Before Angel could respond a familiar name shouted out his name.
"LIAM ANGEL!" Buffy's voice roared through the air, causing Angel, Cordelia, and Spike to turn around and face the slayer who was making her way toward them rather quickly.
"Oh boy…" Angel said under his breath. Buffy looked beyond angry, but he decided he would play things down. He smiled at the petite blonde who was now standing in front of him. "Hey Buffy."
"Don't you 'hey Buffy' me!" Buffy poked her finger into Angel's chest, causing the ex-vampire to flinch. The slayer's finger was strong.
"What's wrong?" Angel played dumb. He knew why Buffy was mad.
Buffy narrowed her eyes at Angel. "How about how you left me at the Bronze alone last night!"
Angel took a deep breath, looking over at Cordelia who was looking down at her feet. "Oh yeah."
"That's all you have to say for yourself?" Buffy was appalled.
Angel looked up at Buffy, and realized she was not as intimidating as she used to be. "You looked content dancing, I wanted to leave, but I didn't want to bother you. I figured you could get a ride home so I left." Angel explained.
"With Cordelia." Buffy added, looking over at the brunette who had looked up when her name had been said.
"Buffy…I…" Cordelia stammered.
Angel stood in shock; he could not believe how scared Cordelia seemed of Buffy. This was not at all like the Cordelia that Angel remembered from Sunnydale, or the Cordelia that Angel had fallen in love with in L.A.
"You what?" Buffy pressed. "Just thought it would be okay to get a ride home with my boyfriend when I wasn't there? What? Were you trying to make your move on him?"
"Buffy. It was just a ride." Angel tossed back at the Slayer. "I just drove Cordelia home because she needed a ride."
"Yeah right! If it was just a ride home then why didn't you tell me you were leaving?" Buffy asked.
"Because you were dancing." Angel repeated himself.
"You are such a liar!" Buffy said to Angel and then turned to Cordelia. "And you are a slut! Making moves on my boyfriend behind my back!"
Cordelia's eyes narrowed. "I did not do that, Buffy. Angel just drove me home! That's all!"
"Buffy, why don't you relax for a second here?" Spike intervened.
"You relax!" Buffy pushed Spike away. "I'm the one whose boyfriend is cheating on her with his best friend."
"Buffy! That isn't happening!" Angel said, furious that Buffy had called Cordelia a slut.
"Hey, what's all this yelling about?" Xander approached the group, with Willow and Oz in tow.
"Angel drove Cordelia home last night!" Buffy told Xander, waiting to see his reaction, and expecting it to be just as enraged as her own.
Instead, Xander nodded. "And what's the problem?"
"He left me at the Bronze to drive her home." Buffy added. "He drove her home alone."
"I asked him to take her home." Xander said.
"But they were alone!" Buffy repeated herself. "They were clearly doing something!"
Xander chuckled to himself. "Yeah right. Why would Angel cheat on you, Buffy? He could never do any better."
Cordelia looked hurt as Xander spoke of Buffy being the best woman there was, and Angel could see the pain in her eyes. He wondered how long Xander had been putting her down like this, little by little, breaking her. Cordelia was strong, but she was not built of stone, Angel knew that more then anyone. He wanted to knock Xander's teeth out for making Cordelia's self-esteem drop.
"So, you're okay with them just going home together alone?" Buffy asked Xander.
Xander looked at Angel and then at Cordelia, nodding. "Yeah. I'm fine with it."
"And you should be, Buffy." Cordelia spoke up. "Because nothing happened."
After a moment, Buffy crossed her arms. "Fine." She then looked straight at Angel and Cordelia. "But if I find out any different, forget it."
"There's nothing to find out, Buffy." Angel said as the bell rang. "Now, can we get to first period?"
Buffy nodded, and the group disbursed, everyone attempting to make it to their lockers, and then to their first period class before the second bell rang.
Angel somehow found himself in his first period class without even realizing it. Even though he had never officially been through a day of high school at Sunnydale High yet, he seemed to know exactly where he was going. His first period class was health, and it seemed like it was everyone else's first period class also. Cordelia, Buffy, Spike, and Xander were in there. The bell for class to begin rung, and then a fifth person that Angel recognized walked into the classroom. Faith.
Faith was wearing a short black skirt, and white-tank top with a jean jacket over it. Her hair was long and hanging over her shoulders, the same way it had been when she had come to help get back Angel's soul in L.A. She smiled, winking at Xander before taking her seat in the back.
The sight of Faith smiling at Xander made Angel's blood curl. He knew Xander was cheating on Cordelia with Faith and he hated both Faith and Xander for it. He had never liked Xander, but Angel had always felt a special bond with Faith. They had a lot in common. They both had dark pasts and they were both looking for redemption, but now all Angel could see when he looked at Faith was a home wrecker.
Before Angel's thoughts could progress, the teacher, named Mr. Donko, came to the front of the classroom. He was a short man, with brown hair combed over to the side. His voice was low and raspy.
"Today you will start your projects for this semester. Now remember, these projects are fifty percent of your grade so you want to do a good job." Mr. Donko said, as he moved to a box sitting on his desk and lifted up a baby doll.
Moans and groans filled the classroom at the sight of the doll.
"Whine all you want." Mr. Donko told the class. "It won't change the assignment. Now, how this works is, I break you up into couples, give you jobs, and bills to pay and a baby to feed." He pointed to the doll. "You will be graded on how you manage your money, how your partner feels you contributed to your group, and finally, on how you treat the baby." He held the doll up. "Now these dolls have a chip in them that will send me a full report on how well they were taken care of. Your parenting skills will be tested."
The room filled with more groans from the students, which Mr. Donko ignored.
"Now, let's break you into couples. The computer actually did this by how compatible you were. Remember you took those personality tests last week?"
The class nodded.
"Alright, so when you hear your name come up and get a card that has all of your families information on it." Mr. Donko said, before putting the doll down, and picking up a list. He began reading the names off.
Spike leaned over to Angel, whispering as the teacher was reading. "This is ridiculous. We are being graded on a bloody doll?"
"Welcome to high school." Angel said sarcastically.
"Mr. Bloody?" Mr. Donko looked over at Spike.
"Yeah?" Spike looked up.
"You'll be paired with Miss Summers, please come up." Mr. Donko told him.
"Perfect." Spike grinned at Angel before making his way to the front of the classroom.
Buffy seemed to roll her eyes at the fact that she was stuck with Spike, but followed him to the front of the room anyway.
Angel waited patiently to hear his name and his partner, but first he had to sit through three more groups, one being Xander and Faith. It figured they would end up together. Finally, Angel heard his name.
"Mr. Angel, and Miss Chase." Mr. Donko read off of his sheet.
Angel could not believe his luck. He was partners with Cordelia. He grinned, but it faded when he saw the look of anger on Buffy's face. It was clear she was still mad about the night before. Angel wouldn't let her attitude get to him though, as he and Cordelia made their way to the front of the classroom.
Mr. Donko handed Angel the note card, and Cordelia the baby. "Congratulations, it's a boy." He said about the doll.
Cordelia smiled awkwardly at Angel, before taking the doll from Mr. Donko, and then leading Angel back to the lab table. She held the baby in place gently against her chest, like she had done so many times before with Connor and then looked up at Angel. "So, what's our card say?"
Angel was too wrapped up in his own memories of the woman across from him and his son, the son he would never see again, the baby Cordelia did not even remember caring for, to realize Cordelia was talking to him.
"Angel? What's the card say?" Cordelia raised an eyebrow at him, causing him to shake his head, quickly looking at the card in his hand.
"It says…" Angel read the card. "That we are upper-middle class. I am a…detective?" Angel couldn't believe what job he had matched up with in this reality. A detective. Memories of Angel Investigations quickly flooded his mind.
"That's kind of cool." Cordelia smiled. "What else?"
"Uh…" Angel continued reading. "You're a manager at a small office." Angel smiled; Cordelia had always said she was the manager of Angel Investigations. "But you are working from home because of the baby." Angel pointed at the doll in her arms. "We have been married three years, and are trying to save money to move from our apartment to a house with a big backyard." Angel finished reading and looked up at Cordelia, who was smiling.
"Wow. That sounds good." Cordelia said. "This should be fun."
Just then, Mr. Donko slammed a stack of papers on the desk between Angel and Cordelia. "Here's your bills, and paperwork. And name the doll, the birth certificate is on top."
Angel pulled the fake birth certificate from the pile, and looked up at Cordelia. "What are we going to name him?"
Cordelia seemed to think for a minute, before looking up at Angel. "I like Connor." She smiled. "What do you think?"
Angel stared at her blankly for a moment. Did she remember Connor? He wondered. Maybe somewhere in the back of her mind Cordelia could remember Angel's son. The son that Angel considered Cordelia a mother to; regardless of what Jasmine had made Cordelia's body do to Connor when she had control of it, Cordelia, the real Cordelia, had always been there for Angel's son.
Cordelia took Angel's silence as definite no to her suggestion. "If you don't like Connor we can name him something else…"
"No." Angel said quickly. "I like Connor." Angel looked over at the doll in Cordelia's arms, seeing her holding it brought back so many memories, some painful, and some beautiful. "But I don't think it's a good name for the doll." He couldn't name a doll after his son.
"Okay. Then you pick." Cordelia said.
Angel thought for a moment, finally deciding to name the doll after one of his close friends, one of his brothers, so he would never forget his past. "What about Charles?"
"Sure." Cordelia smiled, and then saw the look Buffy was flashing her from the other table. It was a death stare. Cordelia quickly turned back to Angel. "I think Buffy is still mad you drove me home last night, so if you just want to lay low with this project until she is better it's okay."
"You mean I don't have to help you?" Angel raised an eyebrow.
Cordelia shook her head. "I'll manage on my own. I won't say anything to anyone. You'll still get whatever grade I get."
Angel shook his head. "No. This is our project together. If Buffy doesn't like it then too bad."
Cordelia smiled up at Angel. "Are you sure? I don't want her mad at you."
"I don't care if she is." Angel told Cordelia.
Cordelia nodded. "Okay. Then meet at my house later tonight. After you get out of football and I am done with cheerleading."
Angel nodded. "Are you going to take the doll with you today?"
Cordelia nodded. "Sure, me and Charlie will manage just fine." She laughed as she called the doll by its name.
"Alright. See you tonight then." Angel said as the bell rang to switch classes. He quickly shuffled out of the room, trying to avoid both Buffy and Xander, unfortunately both of them caught up to him. Faith was tagging alone with Xander, trying to force the doll onto him.
"Angel! Wait up!" Xander called out.
Angel stopped, waiting for Buffy, Xander, and Faith to meet him.
"What's up?" Angel asked.
"What's your families profile?" Xander asked. "For the project in Donko's?"
"Upper middle class, I'm a detective, Cordy is a secretary who is working at home, we are married three years and we have a son named Charlie." Angel said.
Buffy snorted. "Figures. You are well off and I am stuck with Spike."
"What's your profile?" Angel was curious what kind of fake jobs everyone else held.
"Spike is a song writer. I am a police officer. We are dating for about five years now, and we have a daughter." Buffy held the doll up by its foot. "We named her Anne." Just then the doll Buffy was holding began crying.
"Wow, it does cry." Faith said, as she finally accomplished handing the doll to Xander. "You take care of the kid and I'll see you later."
Before Xander could object, Faith had taken off down the hall.
The doll in Buffy's arms was still crying, and the Slayer looked lost. "I need to go find Spike." And with that she quickly went down the hall.
"This sucks." Xander looked at the doll in his arms.
"How did you get stuck with it?" Angel asked, pointing to the girl doll as he and Xander began walking to class.
"Faith's job for that class is a corrections officer, so I am a stay at home dad. I got the baby." Xander sighed.
Angel nodded, realizing everyone had landed with significant jobs for their school project. Spike was a songwriter, and in the old reality, Spike was a poet. Not exactly a good one, but a poet nonetheless. Buffy was a police officer, and Angel could see how she would make a good one with her Slayer abilities. Xander was a stay at home dad, and Angel couldn't actually see him doing any kind of real work, he was like a big kid. Faith was a corrections officer. In the old reality Faith was the one who needed correcting. And finally, he and Cordelia had landed jobs they had actually held back in L.A. Angel thought it was strange how things worked out.
"This project is going to be interesting…" Angel said.
"You don't have to tell me twice." Xander smiled. "I get to spend a lot of time with Faith." He grinned slyly.
Angel said nothing about Faith as he and Xander walked. He was afraid that if he let the thought of Xander cheating on Cordelia seep into his mind anymore, he would break Xander's nose.
Spike stood by Angel's car after school; they both had to stay at the school late, Angel for football practice, Spike for a detention. While Spike waited for Angel to come out of the gym, Cordelia and Buffy made their way out, both in their cheerleading outfits and both holding the dolls they had gotten in health class. Even from where he was standing, Spike could see there was still some tension over the night before between the blonde and brunette.
"Hey ladies." Spike said as Buffy and Cordelia got near Cordelia's car.
Buffy wasted no time with casual conversation, however. "Look, we need to start this project." Buffy held up the doll. "And I need to go do some…things in the library."
Spike had to smile at this. He knew Buffy had to train in the library with Giles, even if there were no more vampires for her to fight. He also knew she had no clue that he knew she was the Slayer. It was going to be an interesting afternoon. "Ok? So…"
"So we are going to work on it in the library." Buffy concluded.
Spike nodded. "Sounds good."
Buffy then turned to Cordelia. "I'll be checking in on you and Angel so don't try anything, understand?"
Cordelia nodded, rolling her eyes as Buffy started to walk away with Spike trailing behind her. Cordelia then moved to get in her car when she saw Angel and Xander emerge from the gym, carrying their football bags. Xander was balancing the baby doll from class in his free hand. Both football players made their way to Cordelia's car.
"Hey." Xander smiled at Cordelia, kissing her.
Cordelia smiled back at him. "Hey."
This exchange made Angel want to throw up. If only Cordelia knew how Xander was just using her.
Cordelia then turned her attention to Angel. "You're coming over tonight, right?"
Angel nodded, but said nothing.
"Working on the project?" Xander questioned.
"Yeah." Cordelia responded, looking down at the doll in Xander's arms. "You got stuck with the baby?"
Xander nodded. "Oh yeah."
"Where is Faith?" Cordelia asked.
"I wouldn't know, but I am supposed to be the one taking care of the baby while she works anyway." Xander told her. "I'll swing by her place tonight and we will really go over everything."
Cordelia nodded. "I guess I won't see you then, right?"
Xander gave Cordelia a sympathetic grin as he winked at Angel. "Not tonight, but you will be busy with Angel anyway."
"And you'll be busy with Faith." Angel told Xander, although the ex-vampire did not mean that Xander would be busy with the project, and Xander seemed to know that.
Xander narrowed his eyes at Angel. "Right. I will be." He then kissed Cordelia on the head. "See you later."
Cordelia waved and Xander made his way across the parking lot to his car. Cordelia then turned back to Angel. "So Daddy, ready to get this project started?" She joked.
Angel nodded, smiling at her. "Sure, I'll meet you at your place."
Cordelia nodded, and climbed into her car, gently placing the baby doll on the seat next to her. So far, her doll had only cried twice at practice, and she had quickly comforted it so it stopped, she hoped she would make it home before it decided to start crying again.
Angel watched Cordelia's car speed out of the lot before he got into his own and followed her back to her house. He couldn't wait to spend time with her tonight. He didn't think his health project could have worked out any better.