[Reviews - 34]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Microsoft Word Chapter or Story | ePub eBook Chapter or Story | Printer Chapter or Story

Has been viewed 2064 times

- Text Size +




Chapter 15: Visiting

Angel speeds down the highway. A part of him wonders if he’s just trying to push off telling Cordelia about his feelings by rushing into this new problem. After their… encounter at the ballet, after kissing her, he can no longer deny it to himself, after all everyone else could see it, Lorne, Fred. He loves her. Angel had been in the middle of expressing that love when Wes interrupted telling him that he had a missed message from Willow. After calling her back and hearing about his former flame’s predicament he packed a bag and asked Cordy if she’d come to Sunnydale with him the next night. Angel thinks back.

“Cordy, you and I, we've been working together for… a long time,” Angel said and Cordy had laughed as if to say ‘duh’. “What I mean is, you've become a truly extraordinary woman,” and then she grinned, “I know we haven't always gotten along, but… I think that we, you know, we..." And that was when Wes cut in to tell them that Willow had called and Angel never returned to what he was saying.

Cordelia leans over the passenger seat to see how Connor is faring the ride. The tiny child sleeps soundly in his carrier in the back. Angel glances at her. He watches her stare at his child, a child to whom she’s become like a mother. He looks at them, his family and he knows he loves them.

“How’s he doing, long car rides, he might…” Angel worries.

“He’s fine,” Cordy replies. “Sound asleep.” A moment passes then she turns to him. “So… Buffy’s preggers huh? Hormones all around I guess.”

“Yeah.”

“Angel, we’re not… whisking off to Sunnydale so you can…”

“What?”

“You know… you, Buffy…”

“Willow mentioned that there’s a prophecy, she thinks this is all connected with Connor, that’s the only reason I’m going.” Cordy nods.

“Right… so you’re not gonna get all jealous when you find out that she’s in some new relationship with some guy who by the way she’s having a kid with?” Angel glares at her. “Just saying, let’s keep the drama to a minimum.”

--

1630 Revello Drive looks exactly the same as Cordelia remembers it. The front porch, the walk way, the large front window tapped up from where the glass had been broken; okay maybe not so much that part, but the rest is exactly as it was from the last time she had seen it when they had all still been in high school. Angel parks the car in the driveway then hesitates for a moment before getting out.

“I’ll um… grab the bags, you wanna get Connor?”

“Sure thing,” Cordy says and Angel gets out moving toward the trunk of the car. Cordy however freezes as her hand is about to reach for the handle. Her body tenses for a moment and her eyes gloss over white as a vision comes over her. Images blur by her vision, broken pieces of the future that she has to assemble and make sense of.

Angel’s face vamped out. He charges. Spike. Hands clasped together. Buffy. Buffy’s fingers intertwined in Spike’s. The Slayer, pregnant and upset. A fight. Buffy yelling ‘no’. Spike and Angel fighting.

Cordelia shakes her head and takes a deep breath. She’s glad for the pain of her visions to be gone since becoming part demon. Cordelia then thinks over her vision. Spike, evil, tried to kill them a bunch of times Spike; and yet he’s here and was holding Buffy’s hand in her vision. If he’s here and she’s sure he is Angel will try to kill him, but something tells her that that’s not a good thing, even despite how odd it seems. Could there be something going on between Buffy and Spike, an insane thought certainly, but the Powers sent her that vision for a reason and she won’t ignore it.

--

Buffy paces nervously in the entranceway. He should be here by now she thinks. She glances at Willow, Tara and Dawn who sit in the living room watching TV. She had been watching a movie with them, well watching isn’t really the right word; she had been there and a movie had been on but the only thing she’d been watching was the time. Spike leans against the doorframe leading into the dining room watching her pace. Time seems to be ticking by far too slow, and then she hears it, a car. She sees the headlights move past, they light up the dining room curtains, and she can tell that a car has pulled into her driveway. For a moment she stops breathing.

Spike rolls his eyes watching Buffy get so worked up over the great poof. He’s irritated by the thought that he will soon be graced with the presence of his grandsire, but also bothered by the fact that his coming here has this effect on Buffy. He steps up beside her.

“Buffy, love,” he says in a low caring voice and she turns to face him. Spike takes her hand in his and she doesn’t push him away. “It’ll be alright, jus’ relax.”

She nods, but then she can hear them making their way up the walk and she gulps. He squeezes her hand reassuringly and then there is a knock at the door. Buffy takes a step forward and reaches forward with one hand to the door knob keeping her other one entwined with Spike’s.

She swings the door open and before them stands Angel carrying a number of bags one of which appears to be a diaper bag, and Cordelia with short hair holding a tiny blue eyed baby in her arms. Buffy freezes upon seeing them and so does Angel, but his eyes are not locked on Buffy instead they’re locked on Spike.

“Connor!” Cordy yells before anyone can even say hello. “Take Connor.”

Angel doesn’t hesitate he drops one of the bags and grabs his son fearful that Cordelia is having a vision. His eyes lock on her after he takes Connor into his arms. He still hasn’t gotten used to the idea of her visions not making her fall to the floor to writher in pain, as Cordy would say being part demon has its perks, but Angel’s forgotten this at the moment.

“Cordy, you alright are you…”

“Oh it’s nothing.”

“What, but you…”

“Holding Connor means that your hands are not free to attack Spike, remember what I said about keeping the drama down… now that we’re all not in attack mode,” Cordy turns to face Buffy, “why the hell is Spike here?”

--

Angel glares at Buffy and Spike from his position on the sofa. He still holds Connor in his arms and has yet to set down any of their bags as Cordelia who now sits beside him refuses to take the baby again. The Slayer and his grandchilide sit across from Angel in the two living room recliners and he eyes them both up. It’s a surreal sight to see Buffy pregnant. He never thought he’d see her like this but here she is with a round belly and glowing skin; she looks beautiful. What’s more surreal, however is Spike at her side. Spike not trying to kill her and giving him looks that he’ll kill him if he touches her; Spike being protective over Buffy.

“So, you gonna tell me what’s going on?” Angel asks with a low voice.

“I thought Willow filled you in on the phone?” Buffy asks.

“That’s not what I meant, what’s going on with you and Spike?”

“Oh,” the Slayer says in a quiet voice and stares down at her fingernails for a moment.

“Don’ see how that’s any of your business,” Spike retorts with a huff.

Angel glares at him but ignores him then he turns back to Buffy. “Are you and him… is… is he the father?” Angel asks, his voice incredulous and yet he believes his question to be true all the same. Buffy’s eyes dart to his. She takes a deep breath then looks away.

“Yes,” Buffy says ignoring his gaze.

She can feel the tension in the room thicken as his muscles tighten and he clenches his jaw. Were Angel not holding Connor in his arms he would have surely jumped across the room at Spike. Anger, guilt, regret all fill him, the slur of emotions run thoughts through his mind reminding him that he left her so that she could find someone who could give her what he never could; and here she is with one of those things and yet a vampire has been responsible for giving it to her. All Angel can think is that it could have been him, just maybe.

“Wow, out of the loop doesn’t really seem a strong enough phrase here does it?” Cordelia comments. “Where were you when Spike tried to kill us all those times… then again, it’s no crazier then Angel and Darla…”

“Cordy!” Angel says to silence the brunette at his side.

“He’s doing good Angel,” Buffy says. “He’s on our side… and what about Darla?”

“Nothing,” Angel replies but Cordy lets out a huff.

In an instant the Slayer’s thoughts have shifted from feeling shameful under her ex’s judgmental glare to feeling vindicated in her choices. If Darla is the mother of Angel’s child he has no right to question anything she’s done. How dare he, she thinks. How dare he judge her for being with Spike, especially when he left? Angel left and Spike stayed, Spike was there for her. How dare he judge her for being with a soulless vampire when he’s done the same? And, off that thought Buffy knows that Darla truly was evil where she knows that Spike… well, she may not know exactly how to define him, but she wouldn’t use the word evil; not anymore.

“Angel who’s your son’s mother?” Buffy’s voice is firm now. He doesn’t answer, but his eyes do turn away from her. Buffy glances at Cordy for a moment.

“Don’t look at me, I love the kid but he’s not mine.”

“Darla,” Buffy says somberly. “Wow, could you be a little bit more hypocritical?” Any remaining shame about her situation vanishes and Buffy feels empowered.

“Oh, that’s rich,” Spike says.

Angel lowers his head for a moment.

“It was different,” Angel says.

“Really,” Buffy says, “explain it to me then, because I’m failing to see how you hooking up with your ex-homicidal honey, who I’m sure was still quite dead, evil and soulless at the time is any worse from me being with Spike who’s been fighting on my side for years now.”

Angel glares at her but has no response.

“Actually no, I take that back, it is different,” Spike’s changed; she wants to say but keeps the thought to herself instead. “Darla was worse,” she says instead and can see that it hurts Angel despite the fact that he tries to hide it.

“Alright, enough of the blame game,” Cordelia says. “Let’s all push our insanity aside for a moment and focus… prophecy remember.” Buffy purses her lips wanting to continue, but she decides to shift to the topic of the prophecy instead.

“Right, Willow’s got all the details, she can go over it with us in the morning.”

“Okay great! So let’s all get some rest cause I know I’m beat, and by the way if Spike so much as lays a finger on me it’ll be the last thing he ever touches.”

“No worries,” Spike says with a smirk.

Angel and Buffy give once last glance at each other then Buffy takes a deep breath and stands. Everyone else soon follows suit.

“Okay then,” Buffy says. “The um… the couch pulls out, I know it’s not the comfiest, but it’s the best I’ve got… I’ll go get you some blankets,” Buffy turns to Spike then, “Spike…”

“’m heading out, patrol,” he says with a nod and Buffy nods back.

Angel watches intently as Buffy makes her way up the stairs to gather blankets and Spike heads out the front door. His mind is still boggled from the sight of his grandchilide here in Buffy’s home; the thought that he’s the father of her baby is still too impossible a situation to even comprehend. He can’t even bring himself to think about how close they must have gotten for this to happen.

Once the blondes are out of sight Angel turns back to Cordelia.

“Will you take him now?”

“Fine,” Cordy says as she takes Connor into her arms and Angel sets their luggage down. She watches as he pulls the cushions off the sofa setting them aside and moves the coffee table back. He focuses on the tasks at hand to keep himself from thinking about Buffy and Spike. Then Angel pulls the bed out from within the couch and sets to closing the drapes to keep the morning light out the next day.

“You uh, you can have the bed of course…” Angel begins to say.

“Don’t be ridiculous… we can share, unless you’re really that grossed out about sleeping next to me,” Cordy says as she sits on the edge of the bed. “What is with you lately?”





You must login (register) to review.