Smothering the urge to scream his name, she pushed the bubbling jealousy away. In an instant, she was out of bed and putting on the floral silk robe he had given her as an birthday present last year. Rushing out of the bedroom, Cordelia quickly and quietly made her way down the stairs in search of her husband.
Leaning over the balustrade, Cordelia spotted Angel on the couch; his neck bent at an unnatural angle as he slept sitting straight up, his head leaning back over the cushion. On the other end of the leather sofa was Buffy, her tiny frame curled into the fetal position, covered up with Connor’s light blue blanket. It was obvious from their positions that Buffy had fell asleep first; Angel had covered her up and stayed to make sure she was all right. Cordelia felt her shoulders drop with relief. As quietly as possible, she crossed the foyer and headed for the kitchen in search of coffee.
She was bent over in front of the refrigerator, contemplating what to have for breakfast, when a pair of strong arms circled her waist. With a tiny gasp of surprise, Cordelia jumped and came face to face with Angel.
“Morning, beautiful!” He whispered, brushing a feather light kiss across her lips. “I’m sorry I never made it upstairs. Tell me you aren’t mad.”
Leaning forward, she fell into his embrace. “You can make it up to me later.” She replied, nibbling on his neck for emphasis. “Mom’s not bringing Connor back until dinner time. So…maybe after lunch we can act like a pair of horny teenagers who lack parental supervision.”
Angel’s only response resembled a growl. “Hell woman, why wait until then?”
“No!” Cordelia gasped, waving her hand in the direction of the living room. “Buffy’s here! That would be too weird, what if she heard us!”
“Not a chance. She’s gonna be out like a light until at least lunch. I slipped her a sleeping pill.” At Cordelia’s horrified expression, he explained. “She had a headache, so I gave her two of those pain relievers with the sleep aid in them; figured a good night’s sleep would make things a little better for her.”
“So, did you guys talk? Think things between her and Spike will be ok?”
“I think so…hell, I hope so. Never in a million years would I ever think I could admit it, but those two belong together. You know…like us.” With one fluid motion, Angel swept Cordelia off her feet and into his arms. Carrying her as he did on their wedding night, Angel practically sprinted up the stairs to their bedroom.
Buffy awoke slowly. She felt disoriented; rested, but still out of whack. Rubbing her eyes, she sat up and looked around the room; Angel and Cordelia’s living room. It was at that moment that the events of the previous night came crashing down on her. Lying back down, Buffy buried herself under the blanket and started to cry…again.
It was several hours later when she woke up again, still groggy. Her head was throbbing; her back hurt from sleeping on the couch and most of all, her heart ached from being away from Spike.
“How the hell did last night end up so…miserable?” She muttered to herself as she wandered down the hallway towards the bathroom. “Hey…let’s go celebrate, maybe have a bit of sex in the bathroom and… get into a fight, why not!? Woo…hoo!” Shutting the bathroom door, Buffy stood in front of the mirror and stuck her tongue out at her reflection. “Bleh…you look like shit, kiddo.”
After washing her face and brushing her hair, Buffy left the bathroom; deciding there wasn’t much she could do about her appearance without a shower. Once in the guest room, she shed the borrowed clothes and started to put on her red dress. When she noticed the blood spatters across the front, Buffy wrinkled her nose and decided that she would just have to wear Cordelia’s sweatpants and T-shirt home. Bending over, she retrieved the wadded up shirt and started to put it back on. It was then she caught a glimpse of the garish purple bruise across her bicep. She knew Riley had held on pretty tight, but had no idea it was hard enough to leave a mark. Sighing, she put the shirt on and grimaced; knowing full well that Spike was going to have a fit when he saw the bruise.
Spike. She missed him. Bad.
Looking around the room, she found her purse on the bedside table. Digging through it, she started to call him, but stopped when she noticed there were several missed calls showing. Flipping through the list, Buffy noted that she now needed to call Faith, Willow and Lorne. Spike hadn’t called, but then again she was pretty sure that Angel had told him not to. He had mentioned something along those lines last night she thought, something about giving her time to calm down and figure things out.
“To call or not to call?” Buffy pondered out loud. “Call him and seem needy? Call him and yell? Ignore him and make things worse?” With an audible sigh of frustration, Buffy flung herself across the bed. “ARGG! This is just too hard! Why can’t I be all Normal-Buffy and have a normal relationship for once?. Noooo…I get Mr. Possessive and Boring! And, when that’s over…Hey…I think i’ll just fall for the guy that’s working for me and living down the hall. Yep, that’s so much easier than the normal dating lifestyle. Grr…Stupid-Buffy.”
Buffy laid there on the bed, completely silent and stared at her cell phone; as if it held all the answers she was longing to find. The minutes ticked away and the questions continued to pile up in her mind. Sighing, Buffy decided there was only one person that could give her what she needed. She flipped open the phone and dialed. It rang several times before it was answered.
“Hey.” Buffy said; her voice barely above a whisper.