Title: Some Re-assembly Required
Author: Argent & Lovin' Lorne
Posted: 04-10-2003
Email:
Rating: NC17 (for some very bizarre sex)
Category: Crossover BtVS
Content: C/A
Summary:
Spoilers: through S4 ep 1, but it's a little AU
Disclaimer: The characters in the Angelverse were created by Joss Whedon & David Greenwalt. No infringement is intended, no profit is made.
Distribution: you want it, take it
Notes: Reposted for those who missed it & 'cos LL said she wanted to read it again - the story wouldn't have been written without your good advice and generous encouragement, a pleasure to work with you.
Feedback:
Dedication: For Psychofilly for the inspiration & to our fellow Strangers in the hope they'll enjoy reading it as much as we've had fun writing it.

---

Lilah studied the documents in front of her and looked up at the Hamaldai'an sorceror in front of her, " You're certain you can accomplish this?"

The blue-robed, grey-faced figure nodded and spoke in a deep but hollow voice, " My kind specialise in this matter, Ms Morgan. Your operative can be sent back to accomplish his mission - if he is successful the vampire will come to you in his 'natural state' to do with as you will." There was a hint of unpleasant amusement in the tone, " Whatever that is."

Conscious of the cameras on her, and knowing how well Hamaldai'an's could read intentions, she insisted," My will is for him to serve my employers in their plans. Nothing more."

"As you say." He bowed deeply, " I shall gather my energies and meet you here in some three hours." Stepping backward the sorceror faded from the scene as if he had never existed.

Lilah sighed, " Just once I wish he'd use the door.."

***

Lorne hunched in front of the mirror, sipping his single permitted pre-performance seabreeze and tried to ignore the feeling that his 'bodyguard' was actually breathing down the back of his neck. Even without singing, the hulking figure was exuding an aura of mindless violence that had the demon trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. The ex-Pylean looked up in sudden hope as the door opened and then slumped as one of his employer's more gifted (as in able to speak words of more than one syllable) assistants came in, Egan.

"Five minutes. The Boss says he has a whole bunch of new prospects for you to check over so be sure that drink doesn't affect your accuracy."

A flash of rebellion made Lorne snap, " And if it did? If I make a mistake?"

The human smiled at him, laying a hand on the guard's shoulder, " Boss said to remind you - your talent's in your ears. Screw up and he can afford to arrange for you to lose those pretty red eyes of yours. You can always wear dark glasses."

Lorne swallowed, hard, all too aware that it was a real threat. He could feel the inner surge of excitement in the two facing him at the prospect of a little mutilation. Pinning a fake, placatory smile in place he assured them, " I'll do a good job."

"Yes. You will." Picking up the sequined jacket that hung nearby Egan threw it in Lorne's face, " Move it. You're due onstage."

Donning the garment Lorne muttered to himself, " Angelcakes, how about saving this 'helpless', huh.....?"

***

Fred read over the text of the spell once more, trying to remember if she had properly assembled her ingredients. It was a simple enough one - to find and bring back Cordy and Angel - but Gunn had vetoed even the thought of delving into magic. He reminded her of what happened when Angel had dabbled in his efforts to get Connor back, how she had almost died. They had argued for hours but he remained adamant about not risking her again. Her attempts to reach Wesley had been furtive and unrewarding, she gave up after a woman answered the phone to one of her attempts. Part of her flinched at the thought of their former friend having moved on, but her pragmatism insisted she had to find someone else. In desperation Fred spoke to Connor and was relieved when he offered to help, although she guessed that Angel was going to be angry about her bringing the boy in to assist there was no choice - she lacked the skill and confidence to spell-cast alone.

So, while Gunn was out chasing down a lead with one of his contacts, Fred and Connor prepared their charm.

Fred was shaky but serious, " Connor, when I pour the blood and oil on, you have to be ready to set them alight real quick, then we say the chant before the items are consumed, K?"

He was giving her one of those looks, that limpid-eyed compliance that somehow felt wrong, " I understand."

"Good." Carefully she seperately laid in the large brass bowl one of Angel's sketches and a small poem that Cordy had hand-written and kept attached to her computer. The notes had specified personal items, or things created by the hands of those that were sought, and she hoped these would suffice. She lifted up the bottle of aromatic oil that contained eight drops of her blood, a bridge to her friends and, hopefully, a way to bring them back. Taking a deep breath, and mentally apologising again to Charles for ignoring what he wanted, she poured the syrupy mixture over the two items. As she did so, Connor somehow managed to knock her arm so that instead of two neat piles she ended with both items awash in a pool of flammable liquid. Before Fred could act to re-seperate them, he dashed his torch down setting everything aflame so she hurriedly gabbled out the memorised words, hoping for the best that the mistake would not matter.

As she finished speaking Fred glanced across at Connor, seeing the leaping flames reflected in his eyes. Momentarily she glimpsed what looked like a smug smile on his face before he wiped off all expression and said aloud, " I hope I did not cause us to fail, Fred."

"You didn't," she assured him, dismissing what she had seen as an illusion from the smoky atmosphere, " The flame changed colour - we made a link." Closing her eyes she waited for some form of contact to reach her, unsure how it would come but certain that it would. There was a long, long silence until finally Connor asked her:-

"Do you see them? Where they are?"

Fred opened her eyes, feeling tears start to gather and fall, " No. I don't see anything." She looked down at the ash-filled bowl, a mute testimony to her failure and despair, " It should have worked. It should have!"

Connor gave her one of his rare, awkward hugs," We'll think of something else," he assured her in his gentlest voice. Face hidden from Fred he eyed the bowl, a smirk at variance with the concern that his tone held, " One day we'll get them back..."

***

Cordelia stared at the stranger's face, unsure that he was serious, " You're sending me back? To Angel?" She gestured around the white emptiness that surrounded them, " The PTB drag me up here without a chance to say goodbye to my friends, to the man I love, keep me hanging around doing nothing for who knows how long - and now it's 'sorry for the inconvenience, you can go home, we don't need you'. What are they thinking?"

The rotund, white-haired man laughed gently, " It's not that you're not needed, Cordelia. Matters have unexpectedly altered and you are being offered a mission - your old mission. Assisting the vampire Angel to preserve Order against agents of Chaos."

"What's altered?"

Pale blue eyes held a touch of sympathy, " The world is in danger. Chaos is attempting to alter what WAS to gain advantage in what IS. If it succeeds all that you knew - the world you lived in - will be altered forever. Innocents will die, evil will gain power and all balance will be destroyed - not just in your dimension but in all others that border it. The damage will be immeasureable." His voice seemed to deepen until it filled the air, " We are talking about the death of worlds, Cordelia Chase."

Fighting her own horrified reaction Cordy put her hands on her hips, " So what am I? Obi-wan?" As a brow rose in visible confusion she elaborated, " Y'know 'help me Obi-wan, you're our only hope'?" Seeing no sign of understanding she sighed, " Sorry, guess you guys don't get cable. Just chalk it up to dating a Star Wars geek."

"You and the Champion must ensure that events are not altered, that time follows its proper path."

Cordy asked impatiently, " Do we get some Cliff notes on how to do that? 'Cos I'm not too up-to-date on how to keep timelines straight - I think I slept through that episode of Star Trek."

The figure began to glow, brighter and brighter until she was forced to close her eyes, " You will be provided with a guide, Cordelia. All must happen as it should, no act, no word must alter or all is lost."

As she felt herself seemingly start to fall backwards Cordy muttered, " God, and I called Angel melodramatic..."

***

It seemed to have been an eternity of darkness, salt water pressure crushing him, stinging his eyes. The exquisite agony of utter boredom, fear for his friends and isolation accompanied by an unstoppable ride of fantasies that had placed in him scenarios as varied as heaven and hell. Compared to that torment Angel suddenly felt so light he almost laughed aloud at the relief, despite the gnawing pain of hunger that still tormented him.

Now...the water was gone and he was somewhere else. Somewhere that smelled really bad, adding a touch of nausea to his discomfort.

Angel struggled against a miasmic tide of clinging stickiness that had him fighting an urge to vomit. He surged upward in the noisome dark and took a deep breath, brushing something that felt like cabbage leaves from his breasts...

Abruptly the ceiling above him was thrown back and Angel looked upward into his own face. As he did so, he realised what his hands rested on and he stared in horror at his chest, wondering just how far these bizarre hallucinations were going to go. He had been on a rollercoaster of emotions - dreaming of imaginary perfect futures where it all worked out, nightmares where he lost control of Angelus and destroyed those he loved, a brutal re-cap of every face, every life he ended during his reign of terror. This, however, this was new! Fingertips absently caressing the malleable flesh he could feel through his thin top he commented aloud, " Jeez. Now I think I'm a woman?! I really AM going insane down here." A thread of memory told him that the voice he was speaking with was familiar even as, with instinctive male trauma, his hands shot down to check on lower regions. "I- I don't understand." Something told him this was not just another hallucination. Something had happened to him. Something was... missing. He jolted in shock and moaned aloud, "Oh my god, I - I AM a woman!"!"

The 'Angel' above him said with a very familiar intonation, " Nuh uh, you're me. And I want that body back off you right now."

He looked up in sudden hope, " Cordy?" Despair and fear fell away as Angel suddenly found himself halfway to tears at the prospect of finally regaining her.

"Angel?" The dark eyes were puzzled, half-hopeful but afraid to face disappointment, " Is that you?" Angel was pretty certain his voice did not normally hit that high a note. Strong arms reached down and seized him, hauling him forward into a sudden, desperate hug, fingers cupping his face as Cordy anxiously scanned his eyes and then began to frantically hug and kiss him. "I missed you so much...they wouldn't let me stop by and explain. It wasn't fair!"

"Where were you? I waited...but Connor came...and when I was in the box I thought maybe he did something to you after I went in the water. Maybe he killed you. I didn't know!" The former Scourge could hear what sounded suspiciously like a whine in his voice. Abruptly abandoning words he gave himself up to glorying in the relief of knowing she was back.

It was nice, it was better than nice, but very odd to be kissing his own face. Angel refused coherent thought for a while and went for it anyway - it was Cordy in there, never mind the packaging. His ears were full of the sound of his racing heart, a rhythm that almost stunned him with its alien sensations, and the weirdness of having to breathe once more. There was an odd 'glowy' feeling in his stomach that seemed to spread downward until he was so shaky he would have fallen but for her arms.

"I missed you so much," she muttered against his cheek. " I should've told them to stick their higher being cr-."

"It doesn't matter now - I've got you back." Angel was almost delirious with sudden happiness, even being inside the wrong body seemed a trivial price to have Cordy back again. His hands began to wander over her body, still slightly jolted to encounter cool muscle and flesh instead of the lithe softness and warmth of Cordy's body that he recalled so achingly well from their training sessions. As he touched a sensitive spot Cordy moaned into his mouth and pulled him closer, crushing Angel's breath from him as she pressed into his stomach.

"Are you two finished yet or should I get you a room?"

The nasal question had them springing apart, Cordy dropping him so swiftly that Angel sprawled back into what he now recognised as a dumpster - full of rather ripe garbage. He struggled to stand up again, " Whistler?"

"Huh?" Whistler looked from one to the other and sighed deeply, " So, Head Office was right. You got switched."

"Who? What?" Cordelia was floundering in confusion even as she was appreciatively running her hands over Angel's former body in ways that had him getting a little hot and bothered. There was a slight smile on her face that had nothing to do with Whistler's presence and all to do with what she was cupping in her right hand.

Whistler slapped her fingers away pettishly, " Hey, a little decorum here." He looked toward Angel, " I guess despite the pretty face it's Mr BroodnSulk I'm talking to?"

Angel glared, " It's me, Whistler. Now tell me what Connor's done to my friends and cut the crap or I'll-."

"Hit me with your purse? Ooh, I'm shaking." Whistler smirked evilly, " Nice rack you got there. Ow!" He lurched forward, hat flying off his head and hand pressed to his suddenly aching cranium, " What the hell was that for?"

"Being a disgusting little perv." Cordy clenched a fist and drew it back, then paused, sniffing the air, " You smell like a demon."

"Full marks, Gorgeous. The PTB sent me to explain your mission and I guess that means I have to sort out another one of their messes." He took a breath and said, " OK, we'll take it by the numbers. You're both back in your own pasts - about four years to be precise - and you're here to prevent an agent of the Adversary who's going to try to change the past. There's a boy who's cutting up girl's bodies to make a zombie girlfriend for the zombie brother that he revived."

Cordy's eyes flew wide open, " Daryl? You mean this is...?" She closed her eyes and sighed deeply, " Great! As if that wasn't hard enough to go through once!"

Whistler tried to look apologetic with minimal success," Don't shoot the messenger, sweetheart. The Adversary's agent is somebody called Eric, and if he succeeds then your lives change, and not for the better. We're talking Angelus comes home to stay and Sunnydale, all the people you know, die. Followed by a lot of other people and places. It ain't gonna be pretty. Every person you saved, all the good you've done, will vanish like it never happened. You have to find this guy and stop him."

Cordy stared at him and then glanced toward Angel, instinctively lowering her voice " Did the Powers say why we've ended up in the wrong bodies? Or what the hell we're meant to do to accomplish this mission?"

Whistler shrugged, picking up and settling his deplorable hat into a comfortable position while continuing to cast occasional leers toward Angel, " All I know is they said somebody did a spell that went wrong, one of your friends. And that the agent will be seeking to kill a friend of the Slayer's called Willow, a witch." He cast a narrowed glance at Cordy, " Apparently she's the one who gives Gorgeous here his soul - so if she dies...permanent Angelus. You gotta protect her, and keep the timeline straight."

"In this body?"

Angel's protest faltered as Cordy snapped, " And what's wrong with my body?"

"Nothing! It's perfect. But I can't fight like this."

She sniffed audibly, " I manage it just fine. Besides-," Cordy smirked at him, " Now I get to be the one with superhuman strength and healing powers. Unfortunately I also get the dumb haircut but -hey- nothing's for free."

Angel blinked at her in sudden hurt, " You think my hair looks dumb?"

Cordy gave him one of her brilliant smiles, disconcerting from his own face, " S'OK, Broody, I love ya anyway." She looked down at herself, " But these clothes so have to go."

"What's wrong with my clothes?!" asked Angel a little heatedly. First she insulted his hair and now his clothes? He was beginning to think the bottom of the ocean was not so bad after all.

"You can't be serious! Look at this jacket!" She poked at the beige, canvas material like it would bite her. " This jacket does not say 'World's Champion', Angel. THIS jacket says 'Hi, Mrs C. Can Ritchie come out to play?'" She wrinkled her nose, " Honestly, Angel! What in the world were you thinking?"

"Well, I'm not the one who bought it," protested Angel. " Buffy gave it to me. It was a gift." As soon as the words were out of his mouth he wished he could take them back.

"Ohhh, BUFFY gave it to you. Well, that totally explains it. We ALL know what great fashion sense SHE has!"

"Cordy, I really don't think now is the time to discuss Buffy's fashion sense." He noticed her glare, " Or lack thereof."

Whistler looked back and forth between the two. He was starting to become impatient. Just when had he lost all control of the conversation?
" Guys! Guys! Little focus here please. Job to do."

Cordy forced herself back to the task at hand, " Right. So we protect Willow from that jerk Eric. While making sure none of the others knows what's happened? Why exactly? Couldn't the Powers just zap him and prevent the whole mess."

"They could. Except that'd be interfering with free will." He turned to Angel, " This putz works for some evil lawyers - something to do with transplants. Somehow you've pissed him off and he's taking the chance to pay you back. He's being sent into his own past to stop you ever being resouled by the Slayer's witchy friend."

Angel was moving around, seeking a way out of the dumpster, "What if Buffy and the others notice something different this time around?"

Whistler shook his head, " The one you need to worry about is Eric. He's the one who will recognise any changes. As for the Slayer and her gang...this is still the first time around for them. You just have to convince them that you are who you appear to be, warts and all, for as long as you're here" He looked at them intently, all humour gone from his expression. " And you cannot tell anyone about what's happened to you, or let them guess from your actions or behaviour. Because if you do, the timeline alters and it's a whole new future. One we can't even guess at."

"But I don't recall exactly what I said or did back then." His brow wrinkled, " Er, now, I mean."

"Wouldn't help if you could, you're in Cordelia's body now. You have to act like her, say what she said at the time." The greasy little demon lifted his hands placatingly, " Don't fret it. The Powers have arranged for you to be able to recall what to say and do - but in the bodies you're presently in."

The former vampire's face was a study in horror, " I can't do that!"

Cordy grumped, " Oh, quit whining. All you have to do is wear killer clothes and do a little cheerleading practice. And, ahh, get kidnapped and almost have your head removed so that Buffy and Xander can save you."

"Xander? I get saved by Xander?" He was almost choking, " I won't do it. I'd sooner...I don't need....Cordy, this is never gonna work!"

She looked a little grim, " It has to, Angel. We have to make it work. Whatever it takes to save the world, huh? Besides, what are you complaining about? I get the really hard job."

Angel looked at her, " Fighting evildoers?"

"Yeah. But harder still I have to - eeeew! - suck face with Buffy." She grimaced, " A lot, from what I recall of the two of you back then." She swivelled a glare at Whistler, "Tell me I don't have to sleep with her as well. 'Cos, One, that's gross and disgusting. Two, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't lose my soul as she's not my idea of 'perfect happiness' so hello to change of timeline and Three, did I mention the disgusting part?"

"Relax, dollface, that's not in the script."

"Thank god!"

Angel, trying to free his skirt from something that had snagged it in the dumpster had grabbed hold of something, lifted it up and was now looking at it in mingled horror and disgust, " Y'know I'm starting to remember what happened now, Cordy."

She took one look at the severed hand he was holding out toward her and gave a moue of disgust, " Oh yeah. That one. That was horrible."

Angel tossed the hand and reached out mutely for help climbing out, " Been a long time since I knew you get squeamish about a little gore."

Neatly picking up her former body Cordy deposited Angel safely on the ground of the carpark area and steadied him,"Who's squeamish? I just know how much the dry-cleaning bill was for getting that stuff out of my outfit. And I could still never wear it again...."

***

Wesley watched as Lilah finished donning her blouse, his eyes revealing no more interest than if she were a piece of furniture, " You're in a rush to get back."

Her glance over one shoulder was mocking, " Gonna miss me?"

"Hardly."

Turning away Lilah made a hidden face of disappointment, she had expected to have the englishman rather more under her control by now. Men usually caved quite easily once she got them into bed - but Wesley remained something of an enigma. Hoping to pique his interest she offered, " I have a new project on right now. One that concerns your friends."

His voice could have chilled icecream, " I don't have friends."

"So you're not interested then?"

"That's right." He rose from the bed, slipping on jeans and a light sweater.

Again Lilah gave a secret pout. It was so difficult to win a reaction from him these days, " We still haven't located Angel. But that won't matter pretty soon. Want to know more, Wesley. Or are you still sulking about how they've treated you?"

Wesley crossed to where their glasses sat and lifted his, swallowing the mixture of whisky and melted ice, " I thought you had to leave."

"My my, you're just no fun anymore. I thought you'd be all agog to hear about our evil plan to get our hands on Angelus...." At Wes' sudden, sharp glance Lilah let out a delighted laugh and wagged a mocking finger," Ah, ah, ah! Suddenly you're listening." She smirked, " And I can't tell you anymore....unless you want to make it worth my while..."

He snorted and knocked back the rest of his drink, " If you're fool enough to mess with the evil bastard who rampaged across half of Europe who am I to stop you? Although I might just wish him 'bon appetite' before I disappear for a while."

Lilah eyed him narrowly, gauging the reaction, " It doesn't worry you that he'll bring on the apocalypse/"

Wesley glanced at her with a one-shouldered shrug and a cold smile, " Always plenty of those to go around, Lilah. I assume you'll use a locator spell and something to remove his curse?"

"Guess again." Lilah laughed at him, " Nothing so crude. Just a way of ensuring that we don't have to go through these last tedious years of Angel being around. A shortcut straight to Angelus." She ran a hand down her body, tightening the fabric of blouse and skirt to draw attention to her figure, " Do you think I'm his type?"

Deadpan Wes answered, " I don't think he has a favourite 'type'. Just human and warm-blooded." He turned fully to look at her, " Do you qualify? On either?"

"Ouch! Not feeling the love here." Lilah smiled at him and gathered up her bag, " I'd better be moving on."

"That would be nice." Wesley stayed unmoving until the front door had closed behind her and then rushed toward the closet....

***

"Lorne?"

He flinched from the naked pain in Fred's voice, empathic senses more than raw from overuse and tried to keep things light, " Pumpkin! Long time no see. How's tricks?"

"I did everything right and it didn't work!" Her voice held a wail. " It should have told me where they are, brought them back. But it didn't. I messed up!" Tears were not far away.

Hastily, with a wary eye on his minder, Lorne soothed, " Honeybunch, I get some of it, but it takes the music to be clear. Give ol' Lorne a song, huh?"

Gulping Fred fought back her sorrows and burst into a rendition of an old blues song, " Now you say you're sorry. I cried the whole night through. Well, you can cry me a river-."

Agonised Lorne squawked, "Stop!" Seeing his 'protector' start forward the demon waved a placatory hand and tried for a lighter tone, "Fred, honey, Angel and Cordy are missing and you tried a magic spell to get them back?"

"Uh huh."

"And something went wrong?

"I should know where they are. And I don't. I did something wrong. Connor..."

Lorne quivered at the name, helpless to fight off the body-blow of pain, anger and bitterness that the name evoked in his senses, " Connor did something?" he ventured carefully.

Fred said cautiously, " He made a little mistake. Nothing significant. It's my fault."

Carefully Lorne told her, " I don't think it was a mistake, sweetheart. Is Connor there right now?"

"He's sleeping."

Lorne breathed a sigh of relief, " Is Gunn there?" He was well aware that the young man would defend Fred no matter what.

"He's downstairs."

"OK. I think you should go to him right now 'cos, Fred, hun, Connor's not your friend and you're in a lot of danger. He messed up your spell some but you still have a link to Angelpie and our Princess and I think he may have figured that out - so go be with your sweetie." Seeing how restive his escort was growing Lorne hastily gabbled, "And, Fred, I'm reading that you did make a connection to them - when you dream next you'll meet with Angel and/or our princess. You have to tell Angel to disregard the curse - it doesn't operate right now - and he should seize his chance. Tell him that from me."

Fred's voice was suddenly full of hope, " Y'mean that they can be together?"

Even as an impatient hand reached toward him to remove the phone Lorne answered, " Happy ever after if they take the chance. In fact, the big lug will probably not believe you so just tell him this 'Angelcakes, deep down inside yourself you know this is true. Stop wasting time and grab your chance with Browneyes!'"

Noticing the restlessness of his guardian and desperate to give a clue to his own situation he added, " See ya then, Fred. Missing you guys. Drop by some time and catch the show..." His last words were whisked away as the phone was snatched from his hand.

Somewhat puzzled Fred put down the phone and moved to the doorway, unsure what was going on but instinctively trusting the demon. As she opened the door of her room she jumped in surprise.

Connor smiled at her in the half-light of the corridoor, strange shadows making his face appear almost predatory, " Hi. Who were you talking to.....?"

***

Eric studied himself in the mirror, familiarising himself with being in a younger, gawkier body and grinning slightly at the sight of his younger self in the days when he never needed to worry about suits, or lab clothes. There was an ironic amusement in finding out suddenly that he agreed with his mother's comments about how stupid his hair had looked back then.

"Back NOW," he said aloud. This was not the time to lose track of the mission. Wolfram and Hart were notorious for offering munificent rewards for good service, and equally punitive punishments for failure - with them 'cutting out dead wood' was taken very seriously, terminally so.

"Not going to fail, " Eric reassured himself. Picking up one of the three photos pushed into the mirror frame he examained the female face it held. It did not look to be a hard task, just difficult unless he wanted to act too far from original events too often. Then he had been warned the changes became unpredictable - he could alter things, but only the minimum necessary. Just enough to ensure she died.

His thin mouth quirked as he lit the match, then touched it to the picture of a smiling Willow. " See, the thing about witches, even immature witches, is that the best way to stop 'em," he tossed the burning photo into the trash can, watching it curl at the edges "is to have 'em burn....!"

***

Eventually, after Whistler had told them all he could of what they had to do and had left for Willy's bar, Cordy and Angel found themselves walking side-by-side to the library. As they were passing through the campus she commented aloud, " Angel, what happened to you?" At his puzzled look she elaborated, " When we were...y'know....you said something about Connor. And a box?"

Angel looked at her, fighting the feeling that he was talking to himself and answered,
"Connor...it's difficult, Cordy." He reached out to touch her arm gently, " Connor's very confused right now. I'm just glad he didn't hurt you."

She was frowning at him, " Connor? Why would Connor hurt me? And what do you mean 'down there'?"

"Connor put me in a box and threw it in the ocean."

Deliberately holding her face expressionless Cordy fought her internal reaction to the news of what had happened to Angel. A large part of her mind mentally slated the PTB for a collective ass-kicking in allowing the man she loved to be tortured after all the work he had done for the forces of good. An even larger part cursed herself for ever getting side-tracked from where she truly belonged - with Angel and her 'family'. If she had been there surely she could have found some way to prevent Connor going off the rails. Cordy refused to believe that the baby who had been Angel's world was truly lost to him - Connor might be screwed up but she WOULD find a way to reconcile him with his father.

Summoning up a slight smile she tried for a lighter note by commenting, "What? Why the hell would he do that? Didn't he like the allowance you gave him?"

Angel had to fight a slight laugh at her quip but shook his head sorrowfully, "He and that woman, Justine, they welded me in there, she told him I killed Holtz."

"You didn't did you?"

"Of course not!"

She shrugged, " Pity." Watching his expression her eyes softened and she reached out to touch his cheek, " Angel, we'll set things right, when we get back. Right now we have a job to do. And if you keep making faces like that I'm going to end up with wrinkles - not good."

He sniffed slightly but nodded, " OK, no wrinkles."

"Good. Now we have to go do the hardest part of this job."

"Find the bad guy."

"No, convince Buffy I'm her little vampire lap-dog and that you're Cordelia Chase and have fashion sense.

He glared indignantly, " Hey! I wasn't Buffy's lap-dog!"

Cordy wrinkled her nose at him, an incongruous look on her masculine face, " Oh you so were, Angel."

"And I do have fashion sense. You liked the clothes I bought you, you said I had taste."

"I said you had a gay man's taste." As Angel pouted she laughed aloud and took his arm, " C'mon, Angel, it's showtime. Let's see how well you can do a Queen C impersonation."

***

A short time later Angel and Cordy were waiting anxiously in the library for the Scooby Gang's return. Their explanations to Giles had passed without a hitch but they knew their impersonations had to be perfect for the next visitors or they would, perhaps fatally, alter events.

Outside in the hall they clearly heard Xander say, " So, both coffins are empty. That makes three girls signed up for the army of zombies."

As Buffy, Xander and Willow pushed open the doors Cordy muttered, " We're up!" and turned to look.

Willow asked, " Is it an army if you just have three?"

Cordy got up from the table and faced them, Angel getting into his 'Cordelia' role and clinging to her arm rose also.

Buffy commented, " Zombie drill team then."

Resisting an urge to roll her eyes Cordy allowed the words she needed to say to rise from her memory and said, " You're back."

Buffy's eyes flew wide, first startled and then guilty, " Angel!"

Cordy looked toward the well-remembered face with Buffy, " Xander."

Xander swallowed and looked as if he were fighting an urge to back off, " Angel."

Sticking to her role Cordy glanced at Buffy, " I thought you were takin' the night off."

"I, I was, um, but something came up."

Cordy said aloud what came into her head, " Cordelia told me the truth."

Xander chuckled, " That's gotta be a first." He looked faintly puzzled as both Cordy and Angel glared at him but shrugged it off.

Ever the peacemaker Giles insisted, "Um, as long as you're here, perhaps you could be of some help. Hmm?" Appealing to Buffy, " Hmm?"

Trying for a calmer atmospere herself Buffy explained, " We were investigating. Somebody's been digging up the bodies of dead girls."

"I know," Cordy replied, " We found some of them."

"You mean, like, two of the three?"

Grimacing slightly Cordy answered, " I mean, like, some of them. Like parts."

Before Cordy's uncharacteristic reaction to the gruesome memories raised questions Angel launched into a full-blown Cordelia impersonation, " It was horrible. Angel saved me from an arm. God, there were so many parts, they were everywhere. Why are these terrible things always happening to me?" He jumped slightly as Cordy pinched his arm, unimpressed by his attempt.

Xander gave a cough that tried unsuccessfully to cover a, " Karma!" Again he was disconcerted to receive glares from two sets of eyes, wondering what was up with Angel, he was not normally protective of anybody but Buffy.

Before things could turn ugly Willow hastily commented, " So much for our zombie theories."

Buffy was moving into Slayer mode, trying to figure it out, " I don't get it. Why go to all the trouble to dig up three girls only to chop them up and throw them away? It doesn't make any sense. Especially from a time managment standpoint."

Cordy fought an urge to boggle at the non sequitur and spoke her cue, " Well, what I saw didn't add up to three whole girls. I think they kept some parts."

Buffy made a gagging motion, " Could this get yuckier?"

Helpfully Willow offered, " They probably kept the other parts to eat."

"Question answered."

Giles too was obviously thinking hard, " Why dispose of the remains five miles from the cemetary at a school, of all places?"

Buffy looked at him in sudden realization, " Maybe because whoever did it had some business in the neighbourhood. Like, say, classes?"

Giles nodded thoughtfully, " Oh. Ah."

Cordy delivered her next grisly morsel of information, " This was no hatchet job. Whoever made those incisions really knew what they were doing."

Giles stared at her in disbelief, " Yes, really. What student here is going to be that well versed in physiology?"

Willow said, "Well, I can think of five or six guys in the science club. And me."

Xander smirked at her, " So, Will, come clean. Promise to never do it again and we'll call it a night." Getting no responce he added, " He joked!" and gave her a big smile.

Buffy was all business, " Willow, why don't you get these guys' locker numbers so we can do some checking?"

Abruptly Angel burst out, " No. I have to go home now. I have to take a bath and burn my clothes."

In mock disappointment Xander said, " You have to go? Aw, too bad. Keep in touch. Buh-bye."

Refusing to respond as he would like to Angel continued, " I don't wanna go alone. I'm still fragile." He looked at Cordy, " Can you take me?"

Cordy stared in open-mouthed shock, looking at Buffy for her reaction and receiving a stare of disapproval.

Angel hurried on, " Great! I'll drive?" Holding firmly onto Cordy's arm he teetered with some grace for the doors as Cordy looked at Buffy again, winced at her expression and followed Angel out.

She winced as, behind her, Xander twisted the knife with the comment, "How about that? I always pegged him as a one-woman vampire."

***

Fred, unable to help her reaction, shrank backward in responce to the implicit threat of Connor's body language. As she backed, Connor moved forward.

Hastily she gabbled, " You- you startled me!"

"Did I? Sorry." The teen's smile held nothing reassuring, " So, who were you speaking to?"

"L-Lorne," she stumbled to answer.

Connor tilted his head, continuing to pace forward, " You spoke to that dem -? That friend of my father's? Was he able to help find him?"

"No. No. We just talked about...his new job. He's having a lot of fun." Fred was still backing, trying not to box herself in, " Vegas suits him."

Blue eyes held no warmth, " From the little Gunn has told me it is a soulless place - the demon should fit in there."

Almost, almost she argued with him, but then discretion intervened, " Yeah, maybe." Fred felt her breath huff out in shock as Connor was suddenly no more than a step away, pinning her against a chest of drawers. " C-Connor?" she faltered even as Gunn's sharp tones spoke from the doorway.

"Hey! Junior! Anybody told you yet it's impolite to get right in people's faces?"

Connor paused and then moved off, suddenly restoring his sunny smile, " I forgot."

Charles Gunn was used to cocky attitude, he had enough of his own when needed, " Okay then - back off and come help me. We've got a new client."

As Gunn and Connor left the room, Fred's knees gave way and she slowly slid to the floor. " He was going to hurt me," she whispered aloud in disbelief. " After all we've done for him, he was going to hurt me." Quietly, she began to cry. "Why?..."

***

"Hey!"

Despite Angel's protest as she snatched away the keys Cordelia unlocked the car and indicated for him to take the passenger seat, " My car - I drive."

"I let you drive mine," he pouted.

"Well hoorah for Mr Care-and-Share! I don't want my baby damaged, and I've seen the way you drive, Angel." As he took his seat she backed them out and set off toward her home, then paused and said, " I can't go to my house. Where do you live? That mansion place?"

Angel winced at the memories that mention provoked and hurriedly replied, " I have an apartment. On Cecil Drive. But don't you - I mean I - won't your parents be worried."

Cordy concentrated on making a turn to head for the right address, her face unreadable, " It's what? 7.30? My mother's usually passed out by now and daddy won't be home until at least 1, and he never checks on me. You should be safe for a while yet - and we need to talk about things."

He paused, a little appalled by the matter-of-fact tone she used, "Cordy..." He trailed off uncertainly and then went on, " I - I didn't realise-."

"Don't!" She glanced a mute apology for the snap in her voice and continued more calmly, " Just don't, Angel. The Chases aren't exactly a poster family for togetherness. Big whoop. Let's move on." When he continued to hesitate Cordy asked, " So, we know we have to stop Eric from killing Willow. The question is how he plans to do it. I know he was planning on cutting my head off but I can't recall him doing anything to Willow."

Recognising she had no intention of discussing her family any further Angel conceded defeat and concentrated on the task in hand, " Maybe he didn't - the first time. Presumably he isn't concerned about keeping the timeline intact, so he can act more freely than us. We'll have to guard Willow between us."

"That'll be fun." Grimly she asked, " I suppose it might cause problems if I snapped Eric's neck."

"Guessing it would."

"Pity!" Catching his startled look she explained, " Eric was always a jerk. Chris, that's Daryl's brother, he was a nice guy...for a geek who went around raising his dead brother and cutting up girls' bodies I mean. My money's on the 'slice-up-Cordelia' plan being Eric's. Not really Chris' style and Daryl..." Her voice broke slightly and she finished, " Daryl wasn't responsible, not after what he'd been through."

Picking up on the odd tone in her voice Angel asked, " You talk about Daryl as if he meant something to you."

"He did." She gave a wry smile, " I had this big, big crush on him back in the day, totally threw myself at him. I covered a few books of mine with writing Mrs Cordelia Epps - the whole bit."

"So what happened?" Angel watched her hesitate and prompted, " Cordy?"

She shrugged, " He broke my heart once, and then he broke it again by dying." When Angel stayed silent she added, " If you want the whole sorry saga I....Daryl was my first. I was dumb enough to think the big football hero would be so impressed with a little fling in the back of his dad's car that it would make him love me. But it didn't. And then, two months later, he died. End of story. Except it wasn't. He got brought back from the dead and decided he wanted me after all - except I had to die to be with him. Like I said, that was hard enough to go through once."

Angel swallowed hard, unsure what to say, " I guess I get now why you were so...defensive...back in Sunnydale."

Cordy gave a sharp laugh, " Defensive. That's a nice term for it. Stone-cold bitch comes a little closer. But you're right. It took me a long time to trust anybody again and, lucky me, I picked Xander Harris. We all know how that turned out. I'm just grateful I never got around to sleeping with him."

"Um, yeah." Angel almost squirmed, not at all comfortable with the direction their talk had taken. He cleared his throat nervously, " So, how are we going to make sure we keep Willow safe exactly? I can hang around her in the daytime but there's no saying Eric won't try something more subtle."

She tilted her head, considering, " Maybe I should do some snooping."

"Yes. We should."

"No we - I. You have to do the things I did, Angel, if we're not to mess things up. But I can sneak around without anybody noticing. Nobody kept track of what you did, right?"

He closed his eyes, fighting fear at the thought of her acting on her own, " True. But if anything happens to you..."

"It won't. I do some spying, figure out Eric's plan and we decide what we want to do about it. Easy." She turned a final corner and announced, " So, Cecil Drive. Where do I go from here....?"

***

Eric glanced around his room with a slight smirk of satisfaction, satisfied the boobytrap he had concealed was completely hidden from view. The piece of electrical equipment he had hidden amongst a tangle of wires was quite undetectable. He remembered realising, as he packed for his escape from Sunnydale, that somebody had searched his room, computer discs had been disturbed and his collection of men's magazines and videos had been pawed through.

"If my guess is right then I'm betting the one checking out the comp is Willow." His mouth spread into a malicious grin. " Guess she's gonna have a tragic accident. She turns on the screen to take a snoop, some sort of power surge blows the whole system up in her face. Bye Bye Willow. And hello Angelus." He chuckled and added, " No interference in my transplant business and I get a big fat bonus. I call that perfect."

Turning away he glanced at his watch, " Whoops. Time to go..."

***

Cordy moved around Angel's small apartment, picking up and studying items as they talked through their plans. Angel watched her, recognising the signs of rising hunger and walked to the fridge, pouring her a glass of blood and adding a large slug of Bushmills.

"Here. You need this." he held the glass out to her.

She reared back slightly but her nostrils flared, "Get it away!"

" Cordelia," Angel's tone was uncompromising, " You're a vampire now - you have to drink." He forced her hands around the glass and added more gently, " It's just pig's blood, Cor. I don't keep human around. You've prepared it dozens of times for me."

There was an edge of tears in her voice, " Yeah, but it's not like I ever drank it. I can't do this, Angel!"

"Yes you can. You're Cordelia Chase - nothing scares you. It's still chilled and the irish will help mask the taste, drink it down." When she still hesitated Angel said, " Unless you want to consider leaving yourself hungry long enough to lose control of your appetite and go hunting.....?"

Cordy stared at him in shock, her eyes flying wide-open, " NO!" She bolted down the viscid mixture, face screwed up as if swallowing medicine. Only as the blood hit the back of her throat she suddenly paused, swallowed and sighed deeply, eyes closing. After a long moment they opened again, " Oh my god! I enjoyed it."

He gave a wry grin, " Goes with the whole 'being a vampire thing'."

Cordy backed off from him, " You don't understand. I - I can smell you. Your blood. I mean - my blood. I want to..." She wailed and covered her face.

Angel grabbed her and held her close, " I do understand, Cordy. I do. Nobody could understand better. It's a craving, it hurts...but you get used to it." As she began to cry he cuddled her closer, nestling her head down against his smaller shoulder and stroking her hair, " We'll do this, Cordy. We'll save Willow and go home. You won't have to suffer like this forever."

She drew her face up to look down at him, " I know. But - Angel. How do you stand it? Surrounded by us, smelling, almost tasting - it's torture."

Angel gave a laugh and shook his head, then sobered slightly to touch her face, " No. Being without you would be torture. Although I think being unable to make love to you after we get home is going to run a close second. " As she began to giggle, wiping her eyes with the edge of her hand, Angel smiled back at her.

Taking another sip of her drink Cordy commented, " We should talk about that."

"M-making love?" Angel stuttered, a little unnerved.

She grimaced, " Or not. I just....Angel, we shouldn't get...too touchy while we're like this. It's going to make things more difficult for us when we are home." Seeing his puzzlement Cordy elaborated, " I mean, we're obviously going to see....stuff....while we're in each other's bodies, but I think we should agree to keep it to a minimum."

"Oh!" Angel felt a twinge, well, more than a twinge, of disappointment. An unregenerate part of him had been looking forward to an interesting investigation of certain theories about Cordy's body. Theories he had formulated during those long training sessions, speculated on when she cuddled with him and Connor on his bed and spent far too much time dreaming about when on his own. He sighed, looked down and conceded, " You're right." Raising his eyes to hers again Angel added, " I wish you weren't though."

Cordy swallowed and said hoarsely, " I wish I wasn't too, Angel. That we could....," she gestured vaguely, " We can't...I can't." She blinked, still a little teary, " I love you so much. But I can't forget what it will cost you if we make a mistake." Her hands clenched on his shirt as she shook him gently, " I won't do that to you, Angel."

He snuggled up against her and whispered, " I know." Pressing a kiss to one of her hands Angel drew back and said shakily, " I should go. I'll see you tomorrow..."

***

Later the next evening, after having spent the day as the reigning Queen of Sunnydale High, Angel let himself into his old apartment. He could hear the sound of running water. A small, wicked smile formed on his face as he yielded to the prompting of his baser nature and cautiously sneaked into the bathroom, shedding clothes as he went.

Cordelia, who was intent on washing off the Buffy kisses she'd acquired from earlier in the afternoon, jumped and squeaked as two warm arms embraced her and a feminine chest pressed against her back. Whirling she swayed as Angel smiled up at her from behind her own face, " Oh, thank god! I thought it was Buffy !"

Angel frowned in puzzlement, " Buffy?"

Abruptly Cordy began to freak all over again, " Angel! My body! You took my clothes off!" Diving out of the shower she snatched up a towel and held it in front of herself, throwing a robe to him as he also stepped out.

"I didn't want to get them wet," he explained, squeezing water from long, dark hair and asked, " Why did you think Buffy would be joining you in the shower?"

Totally disconcerted she slammed her eyes shut, " Angel, I'm naked here."

He chuckled, " Well, it's not like you've got anything I haven't seen before. That is my body."

Refusing to get into that discussion, guiltily recalling her own 'explorations' as she had undressed to bathe, Cordy asked,"What are you doing here?"

"I came to see how you were. And you were the one in the shower - I just joined you - what's that all about?"

She sighed deeply, opening her eyes and wrapping the towel around her hips " I felt....grubby. I've spent the last three hours using every excuse I could think of to get Buffy's mind off jumping your bones, and I still seem to have spent most of it with her tongue in my ear. Does that girl ever stop?"

Angel stared, " You kissed Buffy?"

"No! But she was all over me...you....whatever. Anything was better than the tongue-tonsillectomy she seemed to be offering." As he began to chuckle, belting his robe and reaching to take her into his arms, Cordy shoved him away a little, " It's not funny!"

"Oh, I don't know. I can't help but imagine poor Buffy's reaction if she'd realised who you really were." His expression darkened, " You didn't hurt her feelings, Cordy?"

She rolled her eyes, " No, I didn't hurt her feelings. But it was tempting." Grimacing slightly Cordy added, " I guess it was my own fault. Buffy dropped over with ice cream and I was...hungry. I tried to distract myself by asking for a taste and - Buffy got the wrong idea."

Angel gave a sympathetic nod, " Hungry, huh? Have you managed to eat anything today?"

Cordy shook her head ruefully, " I poured some...I'd never have believed blood could smell so good. But I got scared. That glass last night was just too good, I don't want to go there again."

"Cordy, as soon as we've done what we were sent to do, we'll be going back. It won't be that much longer. Trust me."

"I'm not sure I do - what with the sneaking up on me in the shower. I thought we agreed not to....invade each others privacy. More than we absolutely had to."

"You were first with the shower." Angel shrugged, he paused and added awkwardly, " I kept a beauty appointment for you today so there wasn't anything I hadn't seen already." He winced at a painful memory and asked cautiously, " Do - do you do that bikini wax thing often? It really hurts."

If a vampire could blush Cordelia would have been scarlet, " You went to my beauty parlour?!"

"Yeah. Um..," Angel dropped his eyes and swallowed, " you...may have to go elsewhere in future. They got kinda upset when I turned violent." At her expression he felt moved to explain, " I didn't know what was going to happen! I'm lying there feeling nice and relaxed after a massage and then somebody pours hot wax somewhere no wax should ever go and rips it off again. They were just lucky I couldn't find anything sharp."

Picking up another towel for her hair Cordy wandered out of the bathroom shaking her head, " I'm never gonna live this down."

Warily Angel followed and headed for the fridge, pouring her a large glass of blood and adding a healthy slug of irish. Walking over to where she had flung herself down on the bed, in despairing contemplation of the social ostracism it seemed Angel was ensuring for her future, he handed over the chilly glass and said, " I'm sorry. Really, really sorry. Are we good?"

Propping herself on one elbow she took a cautious sip, pursed her lips in appreciation and then took a longer swallow, " I guess so."

"Good." Seating himself beside her Angel added, " I'm sorry, Cordy. I don't handle surprises well, as Xander found out."

She cocked an inquisitive eyebrow, sipping again, " What did you do to Xander?"

Angel smiled smugly, " He patted my ass when nobody was looking - right after running me..I mean you... down in front of Buffy and Willow. So I 'accidentally' poured my drink in his lap."

"Was it hot coffee?"

"Iced tea," he shrugged, " I thought you'd be mad."

Cordy took a longer swallow, amazed and a little disgusted to find herself really starting to enjoy the taste, " Not that I wish him any real harm but, looking back, I have some Xander issues." Finishing the glass with lip-smacking relish she added thoughtfully, " Although I should have known better than to go there with him really. It wasn't like I didn't know that Buffy came first - I just never expected to get knocked to third place by Willow, of all people."

Taking the glass from her Angel walked off to pour her another, " I think Willow's cute."

Lying back Cordy giggled, feeling a mild buzz from the alcohol, " Don't let her hear you say that while you're in my body. I don't want to change history by having 'Cordy' be the one who brings little ol' Willow out of the closet."

Bringing her a refreshed glass Angel handed it over and re-seated himself, " Not gonna happen, Cordy. Do I need to tell you you're the only woman on my mind?"

Cordy drank deeply and countered, " Woman? Not right now, buster."

As she tossed off the rest of the glassful Angel took it from her hand, wiped her mouth with his fingers and leant forward to kiss her deeply. Nibbling at her lips he added, " Don't forget, Cordy, I know this body. I know what it likes, what makes it tingle." He trailed a lazy hand down over her throat and moved lower to caress a nipple, smiling around their renewed kiss as she moaned into his mouth, involuntarily arching upward.

"Sssh! Lots of time." His fingers teased cool, pliant flesh into pebble-hard peaks as Cordy writhed beneath him. Angel stretched out full length and added his mouth's attention to the mix, warm tongue laving from one side to another, teeth nipping and scraping.

"Oh my god, Angel!" Cordy tried to fight off the waves of arousal that had her suddenly hard and aching. " We- we can't."

He moved up to kiss her, " We won't. I'll be careful." Moving back downward he renewed his oral attentions.

"I-it's not - not you I don't trust," Cordy managed to gasp as she felt her determination melting.

There was a sudden knock at the door and they froze, both suddenly horribly aware at how close they had come to going too far.

"Angel?" Buffy's voice, sounding a little peevish.

He looked at Cordy, not sure of her reaction, and caught a hint of relief as well as dismay as she whispered, " She can't see you here, Angel. You have to hide."

Another voice spoke," Maybe Deadboy already went out, Buff."

Cordy closed her eyes, " Xander! It just gets better, doesn't it?" Opening them again she added, " You hide, I'll get them out of the way and you'd better sneak out. I'll see you tomorrow."

Reluctantly pulling himself away and moving toward the bathroom Angel grumbled,
" When did my life turn into a french farce?" His last view of Cordy, before closing the door, was of her poking out her tongue as she hurriedly donned some clothes.

Ear pressed to the door he listened as Cordy opened the door and Xander sniped, " We interrupting your busy social life?"

Cordy gave what sounded suspiciously like a growl and Buffy quickly intervened with a perky, " I thought you might like to join us on patrol....."

***

Hours later, having waited until the coast was clear and made his escape, Angel lay in Cordy's bed, dressed in her nightgown, scented with her shampoo, shower lotion and oil, feeling utterly frustrated. Despite his best efforts, as he undressed, curiosity had made him take a look. Then a second look. Followed by a wondering half-an-hour in front of a mirror.

"They couldn't have waited? Just a few minutes? God, I'd forgotten how annoying Buffy could be."

Taking a deep breath Angel raised the sheet and peeked down at his chest.

"Was that too much to ask? A little time to...Dammit!"

Cordy was so beautiful, even more than he had imagined...the temptation to touch more than he had to, to fondle parts of her he had been secretly yearning for for too long...

" I won't take advantage of her," he told himself as he shifted his head on the pillow. "It would be wrong. I won't do it." It seemed forever before he finally fell asleep.

He knew he was dreaming, but it was still very odd. The lobby of the Hyperion was brilliantly sunny and yet he was wandering around in it without harm. Suddenly Fred was there, looking anxious and yet somehow excited. Over and over she struggled to tell him something say. He was still trying to figure it out when the sun rose and woke him up.

***

The next day, following Angel's instructions on getting about in the sewers, Cordy moved cautiously through Eric's room in his parent's house. Despite the place being empty she did not relax; partly a result of frustration and partly unfamiliar instincts a-tingle with unspecified apprehension. Lurking in cover she had overheard Buffy sending Willow and Xander to check this place out and her internal alarms had flared. Eric was exactly the sort of little creep to use the opportunity to carry out his mission for Wolfram and Hart.

"Frickin' Buffy! And Xander," Cordy said venomously.

Her eyes swept back and forth until they fixed on the computer. It might just as well be labelled 'Willow magnet', she was betting that this was where the danger lay. Carefully she reached out to touch first the drive and then monitor, half-expecting to find herself electrocuted or some such. Nothing.

"Right. Of course I want to go patrolling! What else could I possibly have to do?"

Muttering impatiently Cordy groped around the back among the leads and gave a slight whistle of surprise as her fingers encountered a small box that she could not find a purpose for. "Yeah!" Stepping back to what she hoped was a safe distance she picked up a sliderule.

"Little-Miss-likes-to-fight whistles and Lassie-the-Wonder-Vampire's supposed to roll over and...," she poked at the drive to start it up.

There was a sound so loud it seemed to bypass her ears and hammer straight into her brain as the monitor exploded, showering her in burning fragments of plastic and painfully hot pieces of metal and glass. Hurriedly Cordy beat out the few places that smouldered on her clothes.

"Oh, good plan! That was almost good enough for Angel to have planned it." Cordy could barely hear herself as she pulled a piece of metal from her chest, wincing in disgust and looking at it ruefully. " I guess I better call this in to the fire department before the place burns down."

Tossing the metal aside Cordy grimaced as she made her way out to regain sewer access, " Well, Willow may be safe from that trap but I'd better find some blood soon if I'm going to heal properly. After I talk to Angel...."

***

Willow and Xander watched aghast as firecrews struggled to control the blaze that was raging through Eric's home.

"My guess. We're not findin' any clues in that, " Xander commented.

"No." Willow glanced at him thoughtfully, " Do you think this was deliberate? 'Cos the timing is very suspicious."

He looked briefly worried and then shrugged, " Hellmouth, Will. When don't weird things happen?" Taking her hand he drew her away, " We better let Buff know we've got nothing here..."

***

Cordy waited in a locker, barely able to fit, until the room was empty apart from Angel, the others from the squad either already outside or gossiping in the corridoor Then, ignoring the stinging from occasional shafts of sunlight she crept out and walked up behind him, as he stood in front of the mirror, and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Angel?"

"Agh!" He jumped and flung himself around, hand going first to his throat and then his chest in panic, " Don't DO that!"

She smiled slightly at the picture he made putting a finger to her lips," Shh! Keep it down or somebody will drop by to see what the noise is about." Cordy rested a hand on his cheek, " Sorry. I forgot about the reflection thing."

Angel's eyes fixed on her face and he reached to touch her face in turn, " You're hurt." His hand dropped to her chest and Cordy winced.

"Eric had the place rigged. But Willow's safe from it so I guess we succeeded. Unless there's a back-up plan... I'd better keep watching her-." Suddenly her arms were full of warm, concerned Angel and soft lips were on her own.

"You could have been killed!"

Keeping a wary ear for anybody else approaching (Cordy hated to think what would happen if Buffy witnessed THIS little scene!) she gave herself over to the moment. When they finally parted Angel's hair was a mess and his lips were bare and swollen.

She smoothed tresses from his ears, " Long hair is SO difficult to keep looking good!"

Angel smiled shakily at her, " You always managed it. I loved your hair like this. You looked beautiful."

Cordy smiled back, " So, you didn't like the new 'do, huh?"

"I didn't say that," he corrected hastily.

Laughing faintly Cordy assured him, " When we get back - I'll grow it back just to please you, K? Now I better make myself scarce so you can get kidnapped." She kissed him again and touched his mouth, saying as she left, " More lip gloss, Angel. Make me look good!"

Left alone Angel studied his face in the mirror, caught once again by not only the novelty of having a reflection but also by how beautiful Cordy was. His gaze traced her features, recalling the rare times in his original Sunnydale days that he had found himself distracted by her, appreciating anew the silken planes of cheek and brow, the subtle twists of expression that had held him fascinated during these past years.

A little self-conscious Angel caught himself blushing and muttered, " Make her look good, that's what she said. I can do that." He brushed his hair, caressing the long dark strands with sybaritic appreciation and then clumsily he applied lip-gloss as two girls from the cheerleading squad peeked in from the corridoor.

"Cordelia. You coming?"

"Yeah, I'll be right out." He watched them leave in the mirror, inwardly bracing himself for what was to come, continuing to apply lip-gloss. Suddenly Chris' face appeared behind him in the mirror. Angel jumped involuntarily and turned to face him.

"Oh, God! Chris, you scared me. What are you doing in here?" Angel was not sure about the tone, to him he sounded a little flat but the words were right. He hoped it would be enough. Chris looked down and away and Angel added, " Is something wrong?"

He remembered to scream as Eric suddenly appeared, pulled a bag over his head and dragged him away from Chris. Angel's last sight was of a guilty-looking Chris who refused to meet his eyes. He forced himself not to struggle as Eric pushed him to the floor and tried to tie his hands, astonished to find himself shaking a little at the unaccustomed feeling of helplessness. There was a flurry of noise and then smaller, gentler hands were on him, pulling the bag off.

Buffy's eyes were on his as she asked," Are you okay?"

Following his inner script Angel managed to gasp, " Oh my God, Buffy!" From the corner of one eye he saw Eric scrambling up from where Buffy had kicked him to and running away.

"Don't worry, he's gone," Buffy soothed.

Angel allowed himself to be helped up and gabbled," I was on my way down to the field when Chris came in, and all of a sudden someone jumped me."

"Ssh! Quiet down. Relax. Take it easy."

Hearing music from the field Angel moved for the exit, " That's the fight song. Oh my God, it's time for the cheerleader pyramid at mid-field. I've gotta go."

A little concerned Buffy ventured, " Well, are you sure you're okay to go out there?"

"Yeah, you don't understand, I *have* to go. I'm the apex!" He rushed outside to join the others on the squad.

***

What followed was several minutes of humiliation, embarrassment and frustration as he struggled to match Cordy's natural perky enthusiasm and grace. The body might be the same but Angel knew all-too-well that he could not move it in the way she did. Although he did well enough to provoke comments from a few male fans, that had him itching to teach them a little bit about respecting the woman he loved.

Once he was able to take a break he made his way to the coolers, next to the bleachers, to take a needed drink. As he gratefully gulped down a little chilled water Daryl jumped up and grabbed him. Half involuntarily Angel screamed just as the crowd cheered another touchdown and the noise of his cries were drowned out. He forced himself not to resist too much as Daryl dragged him away, not to fight as the suffocating bag sent him fainting into oblivion.

Hidden from view (and sunlight) Cordy chewed her lip, trying not to intervene and forced herself to keep a careful eye on Willow, who was now seated with Jenny Calender, Giles and Xander and helping herself to popcorn. Seeing Daryl again, remembering what had happened to him, Cordy felt nauseous all over again. Impatiently she waited her chance to go after Angel, unable to move until she knew for sure that Willow was safe.

***

Angel was back at the Hyperion, with Fred, and she was staring into his face as was her disconcerting habit.

"Angel?!" she shouted as she waved her hand infront of his face, " Can ya hear me?!"

He flinched from the loudness of her voice, " Jeez, Fred, I'm not deaf."

Fred began to babble with joy, " Oh Angel! We've been been tryin' to find you! Where are ya? You and Cordy just disappeared and we didn't know what happened. At first we thought you an' Cordy had gone away somewhere, but we never heard anything from ya and then when they found her car we-."

"Fred, Fred!" interrupted Angel. He knew if he did not stop her now he would never be able to. " Why am I dreaming all of this? What are you trying to tell me?"

"Oh. I'm sorry. I did this spell to find you. Charles didn't think I should do it, but I just had to find you and Cordy. Well I didn't think it had worked, because it kinda got mixed up, so I called Lorne to see if he knew anything but he didn't. Well, not about the spell anyway, but he did say that....oh!...Angel, what I've been tryin' and tryin' to tell you is that Lorne says your curse doesn't work right now - that you and Cordy can, well.., ya know..." She rolled her eyes and made a little motion with her fingers, blushing slightly, " be together!"

Angel sighed wistfully, giving her a sad little smile. " That'd be nice, Fred."

Her face was disappointed, " What's wrong Angel?" While she hadn't exactly expected him to dance around the room, well not much anyway, his reaction surprised her. "You don't seem too pleased."

"That's because this is a dream Fred. You're not real. My curse is still working. Cordy and I can't be together that way."

"Yes you can!" She slapped his arm lightly, " Lorne said you might not believe me so I'm susposed to tell you this 'Angelcakes, deep down you know this is true. Stop wasting time and grab your chance with Browneyes!' "

Within himself Angel was reeling at the prospect that any of this could be true, that there might be a chance for he and Cordy...Absently he commented, " I always thought so..." He blinked, realising Fred was fading, the whole scene becoming dark. For a second Angel shuddered, imagining waking up to find himself back in the oceanic box. Instead...

He lay on some sort of flat surface, blindfolded, being tied down. He repeated the words that rose from his subconscious, finding himself growing more and more frustrated at feeling so vulnerable.

"Please, what's going on? Just take off the blindfold. I promise I won't scream! I promise!" He could hear two other voices speaking but ignored the content of their comments, " Please? Just take off the blindfold! I promise I won't scream! I promise!"

Somebody said, " Cordelia?" and his blindfold was removed. He blinked upward at the patchwork face above him and gave vent to a shriek.

"You can scream all you want. We're in an abandoned building." When Angel carried on making a noise the youth, Eric, picked up a pan and threatened him with it, " Okay, that's enough." Reluctantly Angel stopped his noise and the pan was put down again.

Daryl was talking earnestly to Angel, " You were always good to me. Always noticed me. But I ignored you. I'm sorry. I'm glad I have a second chance to tell you that."

Angel fought his own instinct to growl at the man who had hurt his Cordy so much and managed to stay in character long enough to falter, " D-Daryl?"

"I was thoughtless. I see that now. But I've changed. I've learned to appreciate how much it meant that you wanted to be with me." Angel stared upward into earnest eyes, surprised to find a thread of sympathy for the wretched creature looking back at him.

Off to one side Eric's voice said, " We're ready."

"Ready? Ready for what?"

There was a smirk on Eric's face, " You're gonna feel a little pinch, maybe some discomfort around the neck area. But don't worry. When you wake up, you'll have the body of a seventeen-year-old. In fact, you'll have the body of several." He lifted a sheet from what lay on a gurney nearby and Angel screamed again.

"Daryl, please. You don't have to do this."

He answered sorrowfully, " We have to. So we can be together."

"We'll be together anyway! I'll be with you, I promise!"

Daryl smiled wryly, " Is that right?"

"Mm hm!"

The patchwork figure crossed to the other body and lifted the sheet, " You see anything you like?" He stroked one of the lifeless arms gently, " And when you're finished you won't go out. You won't run away. But we can hide together."

Fighting some genuine fear Angel continued to plead until Eric came to his side, holding up a gleaming knife, " Sterile enough for government work." He bent over and prepared to begin cutting.

"No! No, please!"

Abruptly there was a loud pounding on the door and it broke open to admit Buffy. Eric turned and flung the knife he was holding and gaped as Buffy effortlessly snatched it from the air.

Angel burst out, " Buffy, help me!" Eric dodged away as Buffy and Daryl argued over what he was trying to do as Angel yelled, " Buffy, they're crazy!"

Buffy spared her one glance, " It's okay, Cordelia. I'm gonna get you outta here."

"No, I'm not done with her yet!" Daryl snatched up a cleaver and prepared to hack at Angel's neck," I'm not finished!" Buffy dived forward to stop him and they fought viciously until Daryl succeeded in punching the Slayer, banging her head to stun her and throwing her over Angel to the floor. " I won't live alone!" he bellowed. Agonised he shoved the gurney Angel was tied to aside so that it clanked against something and the smell of spilt gasoline filled the air with nose-stinging fumes, quickly followed by the whoomph of ignition as a spark caught. The room began to fill with flames.

The cowering Eric, seeing this, burst out," I'm getting out of here!"

Daryl grabbed him by the shirt, " You have to help me!"

"Let go!"

Throwing Eric aside Daryl faced Buffy as she rose and they began fighting again as Xander burst through the doorway and yelled, " Buffy!"

Occupied she yelled, " Get Cordelia!"

Obediently Xander ran across and began to fumble at Angel's ropes as Angel snapped, " Get me out of here!" Against the background of brutal combat noise Xander continued to clumsily paw at the ropes. Infuriated at his position Angel urged, " C'mon! C'mon! Get it off!" struggling violently, " Get it off! Get me outta here! C'mon!"

As Angel fumed at his position Giles and Willow arrived and dragged out the unconscious Eric while Xander gave up his efforts to release the ropes, crowded onto the gurney with Angel and pushed them through the flames to safety. Once out of the danger area Xander and Jenny Calender untied Angel. Vaguely aware of an end to the fighting and the sound of voices raised in debate he watched the face of his future victim, struggling with nausea at the memory of delighting in her terror until the almost orgasmic pleasure of breaking her neck. Seeing his expression Jenny placed a comforting arm around him and Angel dropped his eyes in bitter shame and guilt, agonised at the thought of having to let her die to preserve the future.

***

Later, outside, Angel stood to one side watching as Chris and Buffy talked quietly to one another until Cordelia showed up with a vague excuse for her presence. Her anxious gaze briefly caught Angel's, scanning him for injury and giving a slight smile of reassurance. Still guilt-ridden he made himself smile back and then walked over to where Willow and Xander were talking, in responce to his inner prompting.

Xander was complaining, " Well, I guess that makes it official. Everybody's paired off. Vampires get dates. Hell, even the school librarian sees more action than me. You ever think that the world is a giant game of musical chairs, and the music's stopped and we're the only ones who don't have a chair?"

Tenderly Willow responded, " All the time."

Amazed at the boy's obliviousness Angel spoke up, " Xander? I just wanted to thank you for saving my life. What you did in there was really brave and heroic, and I just wanted to tell you if there was anything that I could ever do to..."

Xander impatiently barked, " Do you mind? We're talking here."

Taken aback Angel gawped in shock, unable to believe Cordy could ever have gone out with somebody so clueless. Fuming he began to walk away, realising that this must have been what happened to Cordelia before. While Buffy and the others stood about talking Cordy was left to deal alone, not even offered an escort to make her way home. It was a little insight into how much they had both been outsiders to the Scooby gang.

Behind him he heard Xander dismissively say, " So where were we?"

"Wondering why we never get dates."

"Yeah, so why do you think that is?"

Angel fought his urge to growl, digging for Cordy's mobile to call a cab with a final glance in her direction, seeing that once again Buffy was monopolising the attention of 'her' vampire. For some reason the sight irritated him immensely.

***

After it was all over Cordelia walked through the cemetary with Buffy at her side on a late patrol, a certain unaccustomed understanding for Buffy's situation prompting her to make a greater effort to stay in character as Angel, to keep Buffy happy. From her own experience she knew what it was like when your first experience went wrong, when you ended alone and hurt. With a few year's perspective she found herself wanting to cushion the girl she had resented so much, from the pain she knew was to come.

Buffy suddenly said, " God, the whole thing was so creepy. Well, at the same time, I mean...he did do it all for his brother."

Carefully Cordy commented, " Sounds like he took it a little over the edge."

"Love makes you do the wacky."

Cordelia fought an urge to giggle, so not an Angel thing to do, " What?"

"Crazy stuff."

"Oh." She swallowed and actually tried to put feeling to the words that rose in her mind, tried to put across the depth of emotion she knew Angel had felt for Buffy at this time, " Crazy, like a two-hundred-and-forty-one-year-old being jealous of a high school junior?"

Buffy stopped and faced her, a little amused but also visibly afraid of rejection, " Are you 'fessing up?"

Cordy smiled inwardly and answered, " I've thought about it. Maybe it bothers me a little." The words touched her own feelings as much as the pseudo Angel memories - she had always known the depth of feeling that lay between Xander and Buffy. It had been one of the many causes of friction between them.

Reassuringly Buffy touched her arm, " I don't love Xander."

That almost provoked a snort but she confined herself to saying, " Yeah, but he's in your life. He gets to be there when I can't. Take your classes, eat your meals, hear your jokes and complaints. He gets to see you in the sunlight." That last comment, so relevent to her own life with Angel, brought tears to her eyes.

The Slayer looked a little overwhelmed, obviously unsure how to cope with the sudden surge in the undercurrent of feeling, but tried for flippancy with, " I don't look that good in direct light."

Trying to get her emotions under control again Cordy glanced around and commented hoarsely, " It'll be morning soon."

Buffy replied, " I should probably go. I could walk you home."

The two of them looked at each other for a long moment, and then Cordy offered her hand. Buffy took it and the two of them began walking out of the cemetary. Silently, for the second time in her life, Cordy said goodbye to Daryl and the girlish dreams she had once treasured of happy-ever-afters.

***

"Eric, I'm noticing a certain something is missing." Lilah Morgan looked down at the rope-bound, gagged form of the (sacked) Head of Surgery for Wolfram and Hart where he lay strapped to an operating table.

She strolled around him, pursing her lips thoughtfully, " About 30,000 dollars to be exact. And I don't have Angelus to show for it. That's gonna really throw out my monthly budget."

Pausing Lilah gave him a sweet smile, " I know you want to make that up to me. So I've come up with a plan." The smile became predatory, " Do you have any idea how much you can sell kidneys for these days?" As Eric, seeing a surgical team approach, began to struggle, trying to scream against the cloth in his mouth.

Lilah patted him, "What am I saying? Of course you know, Eric. And then there's the price of a heart, corneas, liver. The list is endless." Lilah started to leave and then stopped to give him a last, fond glance, " Thanks to you I'll be in the black, even after this fiasco. Nothing calms the Senior Partners like a healthy profit margin....."

***

When Cordy greeted Angel at his apartment the day after their success she was smiling and fully healed. Angel fought his nervousness, not sure how to raise the subject of his vision/dream of Fred and the news she had given him.

Cordy kissed him and said, " You're OK after everything?"

He shrugged, " I'm fine. And you?"

Cordy's grin was infectious, " Couple of pints of blood and I'm good to go." She looked him over carefully and gave a nod of approval, "Love the outfit."

"Yours is good to," he commented gamely.

She snorted, leading him to a seat, " Yeah, black-on-black. Your entire wardrobe is the equivalent of my mom's little-black-dress that she has, like, a million copies of 'cos it's always in style, goes with everything and never shows stains."

"I have that jacket you said you didn't like," Angel offered as he sat down.

"The one Buffy bought you? Right! Style hints from Sunnydale's most famous fashion victim? I don't think so." Cordy flopped down in a seat next to him and sighed deeply as she added, " When d'you think we get sent back? I mean, we've done what we were sent to do. Willow's alive and I couldn't find Eric anywhere. So, what's the delay?"

"I don't know." Angel hesitated and then decided he had to ask it, " Cordy, why did you ever go out with Xander?"

There was a long pause, a pause that made him begin to doubt the wisdom of raising the subject, before Cordelia answered, " Honestly? I'm not sure." She squinted thoughtfully, " Yes I am. He was annoying, and dorky, and looked like he dressed in a thrift shop during a brownout most of the time - but...," she gave a sudden smile, " He was so brave. I mean, lots of guys talk about how brave they are - big guys, jocks. They're all so full of themselves. Xander was this skinny, smartass dweeb who went out and fought monsters that would have had most of the football team screaming louder than I could." Glancing down she added hollowly, " He faced it - and survived. There were other people I cared about who didn't."

Angel, hearing her tone, reached out with instinctive comfort, clasping her arm, " It's just...I couldn't believe how he treated you. After the rescue. I went and thanked him and he-."

"Totally blew you off?" Cordy grinned, " Yeah, remember that. It was the first time he impressed me, I wanted to let him know that and - surprise- he's more interested in Willow than me. Guess I should have paid attention to that clue, huh?" Her face grew serious, " And I don't think I ever realised how tough it must have been for you with Buffy."

Angel looked at her, unsure, "I don't understand."

Cordy shrugged, " Loving her, wanting to be with her. I finally get how hard it must have been to know you could never give her the stuff she wanted. I don't think I - no - I know - I didn't see that before. She was a different person with you. She and I always...grated somehow."

"You were too alike."

"Excuse me?"

Angel gave a scapegrace grin, " Buffy more or less said that to me once. That the two of you had a lot in common, that before she became the Slayer you were a lot alike."

Cordy began to laugh, " She said that? Jeez, not feeling flattered."

Watching her giggle Angel suddenly pulled himself toward her and dragged her head down into a deep, searing kiss.

Almost mindless in sudden, aching arousal Cordy gasped against his mouth, " Angel! We can't-!"

"We can." Kissing down her neck and ever lower, unbuttoning and unsnapping to reach bare flesh, tongue laving her abdomen and heading toward her groin he was already smirking in anticipation of her reaction. " I had some news from Fred, in a dream." He swirled his tongue and smiled at her involuntary groan. " According to Lorne - we can do this. Something to do with me being in a human body so I can't lose the soul." He tugged at her unfastened trousers and boxers, easing them down.

She tried to keep a tentative hold on her reactions, " Angel, are you sure? I don't want to - y'know."

"I'm sure. Somehow I knew. I felt different." He smiled up at her, " This may be the only chance we ever have." Leaning forward again Angel added, " Trust me, you're gonna love this." Further down, his hands encircled engorged, aching excitement and pumped back and forth as his tongue swirled greedily across the tip. As Cordy gave a wordless shout Angel opened his mouth and swallowed her down.

Cordy could hardly grasp what was happening as Angel's head bobbed up and down, drawing her into his throat. She was flooded with a host of totally unfamiliar sensations that left her trembling and desperate for more of the pleasure that made every inch of her skin almost agonisingly sensitive. Without knowing what she did her hands tangled themselves in Angel's long hair as she struggled to impale herself more deeply. There was a strange tightening sensation, a sudden almost-chill and then she felt herself floating in a post-orgasmic haze. The sound of somebody choking brought her back to herself in time to release Angel's head, realising in that body he did need oxygen.

"Angel, did I hurt you?"

His eyes, her eyes, were widely dilated and he was smiling even through his slight coughing, " You got a little enthusiastic but I'm fine." There was a definite air of amusement as he asked, " So, how was your first blow-job?"

Cordy felt herself begin to chuckle, " Well, it's rather different from this side of things. I think I get why you guys like 'em so much. And I'm not even going to question why you know how to do that. The two of us here like this is disturbing enough."

He rested his head on her thigh, " Disturbing in a good way, though?"

"Definitely." Cordy frowned in sudden concern, " Hey, you're really sure I'm not going to develop a sudden case of Angelusitis am I? 'Cos that surely counted as perfect happiness for me."

Angel shifted back up into her arms, " I don't think so." Resting his cheek against hers, as if almost afraid to look into her eyes, he explained, " Cordy, I know we haven't talked about it directly but you - you know Angelus is part of my personality. A big part." Gathering his nerve he lifted his head to look at her, allowing her to read his face, " Angelus is right here, Cordy. We both are. We both wanted you and while I'm in a human body Lorne says there's no chance he can either get free or hurt you. That's why I can risk this."

Despite the slight chill his words gave her Cordy managed to summon a mocking smile, " Both of you? Schizoid much!"

He was watching her closely, it struck her anew how strange it was to see Angel's brooding concern etched on her own features, as he murmured, " Everybody always seems more comfortable when I pretend we're not the same person."

Cordy smiled sadly and reached to stroke his cheek, " It makes things a little easier, Angel. But I know it's a lie." Her fingers traced silken skin and cupped his chin, " We all have our dark sides, I guess. Yours is a little darker than most. And a lot more dangerous."

"You got that right," Angel agreed, unconsciously nuzzling into her hand.

Leaning forward Cordy kissed him, pressing his lips apart and inhaling the warm fragrance of living breath, savouring the taste of her lost humanity as her tongue stroked his. Drawing back slightly she gave a slight smile, feeling him tremble, " Want to find out how much I know about making that body tingle?"

"That sounds good," he gasped, a strange 'glowing' feeling spreading in the pit of his stomach.

She stood up and swept him up in with one arm, the other occupied holding up her trousers, amused by his faint sound of surprise and instinctive clutch at her neck as she carried him to the bed and laid him down, impatiently shrugging off her clothes before setting herself beside him. Cordy chuckled softly as she began undressing Angel, " It'll be better than good, it'll be perfect." She peeled back dark silk to reveal a familiar body and sighed gently.

"Something wrong?" Angel twisted to catch her expression, feeling concerned.

"Huh? Oh, no. Just - a little surprising seeing this from the outside." She traced the outline of a breast, " I do have a nice body, don't I?"

"Yeah."

Cordy tilted slightly to gain a better perspective and carried on, " I know big chests aren't exactly in but I think I keep 'em in nice shape and nobody's ever complain-."

"CORDY!" As she looked up, startled, Angel reminded her, " You can look all you want later. Right now I want to be touched!"

Her laughter was gentle as she bent her head to slowly trail her tongue moistly down his body from his throat, kissing and licking the sudden sweat of arousal away as she moved. Large hands moved downward over lush planes of warmth, tracing erotic pathways in an endless, rhythmic caress that brought nerve endings into a palpitating dance of anticipation. When her fingers moved down between his legs he was already wet and desperate for more. As Cordy dipped her head downward to taste him Angel dragged at her hair.

"NO! I want you in me."

"I thought you'd like-."

"IN ME!"

"Now who's impatient?" Lifting herself up she looked wryly down at her borrowed body, vaguely amused at the purplish erection winking back at her, " Will ya look at that. I'm like the go-faster bunny." Awkwardly she shuffled about, trying to figure how things were supposed to work and gave a yip as Angel suddenly reversed their positions. He maneouvred into a sitting position above her and suddenly Cordy felt astonishing warmth and tightness slide itself along her engorged penis until they were both panting and dazed with sensation.

Angel winced as he moved too vigorously and then smiled down at her possessively, "That's where I want you." His hips moved in a seductive circle, " Actually it's where I wanted to be...but you get the idea."

"You might have waited," she whimpered ruefully. "Keep this up and we'll be finished before we've begun."

"We won't," Angel assured her gravely. "One of the good things about being a vampire - lots of stamina. We can keep this up for hours." He tightened unfamiliar muscles and they both grunted involuntarily.

"Easy there, Angel, that pelvic floor's in primo condition. Tighten up too much and it'll take a bucket of cold water to seperate us."

As Cordy reached up to ease him upward slightly Angel nodded his assent, " Right, I'll be more careful." Then he frowned at the unfamiliar term, " What's a pelvic floor?"

Keeping one hand in place on his hips to steady him Cordy grinned up at him impishly, " Gimme five minutes and you'll know all about it." Her free hand moved forward confidently to touch and then slowly circle his clitoris, occasionally flicking hard enough to make him yelp and buck. " Let's see just how much stamina vampires have."

Panting Angel continued to move, " Sounds good to me...."

***

Wesley watched anxiously as the hulking box was hauled to the surface, unsure what he would do if it proved to be too late to save Angel. Not even sure why he was doing this for a man who had threatened to kill him. Except....Angel had given him a chance when nobody else would have, had given him a respect and support that had never been offered to him before in his life. That still counted for something.

Moving forward he swung the box down onto the deck and reached for the tools he would need to break it open.

***

Angel awoke, briefly unsure of where he was when he felt a warm body nestled close to him. He stared up at the ceiling of his apartment, trying to recall what had happened, how he came to be lying in bed and, most of all, how he came to be naked. Surely they hadn't....

"Buffy," he murmured, pulling her closer.

"Hmm!" His companion raised her face and dark eyes met hazel in mutual shock and horror. " ANGEL!" Cordelia reared back, noticed her own nakedness and snatched up the sheet, wrapping it around her and backing away. Bereft of cover Angel grabbed a pillow and stared at her in bewilderment. "What did you do to me?" she gabbled, searching for her clothes. As he struggled to reply she rushed on, " Cancel that. What do you think Buffy is going to do to me when she finds out about this?"

His face grew, if possible, even paler, " I can't remember anything."

Cordy snorted, " Like she'll believe that!"

Angel insisted, " No. I really can't remember anything."

She grew still, eyes widening, " Really? Neither can I." Cordy's expression grew thoughtful, " D'you think it could be a spell? And did we really...y'know...?"

Angel felt the peculiarly comfortable lassitude of post-coital relaxation and gave a faint grin, " Yeah. I think we did."

"Oh crap! I am so dead if Buffy finds out. You have to forget this, we both do."

"I already did." When she looked at him Angel risked a very faint smile, " Are you alright? I didn't - hurt you?"

Cordy felt her neck and then glanced under her sheet, " Guess not." Pulling a wry face she said, " How about we put this down to a moment of madness and pretend it never happened? If we can't remember it - can't have been that good, huh? Better we just ignore it 'cos you - I'm guessing you don't want to be a big ol' pile of dust. And I really, REALLY like my face on the front of my head. So, we agree? This is some crazy dream and we never talk about this again, right?"

"I can do that," Angel assured her.

"Good." Picking up her last item of clothing she gave him a look, " And when are we planning on turning around?"

"Huh?"

Holding her sheet with one hand Cordy set the other on her hip, " Listen, Broodboy, you've seen everything you're going to of me. Now turn your back and let me get dressed before Buffy turns up here and we both suffer."

Angel spun away, " Right." He concentrated on ignoring the rustling sounds behind him and not giving way to the surprisingly strong urge to risk a look.....

***

Wesley walked into the Hyperion, a faltering Angel half-draped over his shoulders, and set him down on the couch. Fred and Gunn started forward, Connor hanging to the rear. When he saw Angel the youth quietly faded further into the background and took the nearest exit from the hotel.

"Angel! You found him!" Fred was fussing over the vampire, horrified by his gaunt, haunted-looking face and the deep, raw cracks that covered his face and body.
" Charles, he looks so ill."

Gunn was torn between looking from Angel to a departing Wesley, searching for something to say to calm Fred down, " Wesley? Where did you find him?"

The englishman was almost at the doors, " It doesn't matter. Just - feed him."

"Wait!" Fred reached out toward him, then pulled her hand back with a cry as a brilliant light filled the lobby. They all hid their eyes, Angel groaning in pain at the brightness. A person-shaped brightness formed at the main doors, gradually fading into a familiar shape as they became able to see again.

Cordelia stood there, looking about in a frantic fashion, " Angel?"

"Cordy, you're back. Where have you been?"

"We thought something happened, girl."

Wesley said nothing, his expression a morass of confusion and some guilt. Cordy looked directly at him, " Wes, we have to talk. But not right now." As he opened his mouth to speak she insisted, " Just give me a minute, K?" He closed it again and shrugged. She looked at his bandaged arm and commented, " I know what you did, Wes. All of it. I won't forget it, any of it. It'll be alright."

From his slumped position Angel made a croaking noise and Cordy was instantly on her knees at his side, soothing hair back from his face. "It's OK, Angel. It's Ok. We're back. We did it." She glanced at the others, " Guys, can we have a moment alone?" Reluctantly they moved a short distance away, Gunn going to fetch blood with a nose wrinkle of disgust.

He struggled to speak, " C- Cordy?"

"I'm here."

Angel was staring at her desperately, " I thought I dreamed it all. Suddenly - I was back in the box." His face crumpled, " I thought it was a dream."

"It wasn't. It wasn't, Angel. I'm really here." She hugged him close, " It's over."

Angel risked a small smile, " The last thing I recall is my apartment. We must have fallen asleep."

She smiled back, " I guess so." Then, leaning forward she pressed her lips to his cheek and whispered, " I have some news from the Powers."

"News?"

"Lorne didn't tell you all of it, Angel. Curses take a lot of power - and because they take so much power they have to have a loophole."

Angel tried to grasp what she was saying, " Perfect happiness. I know. We won't risk my soul."

"No. We won't." Her brilliant smile was suddenly there, " Angel, what we did. When you couldn't lose your soul because of my being a human, not a vampire. You broke the curse. It's gone." At his look she began to laugh, reaching for the glass of blood Gunn had hurried to bring over and handing it to her starving lover. Angel gulped greedily, his face and body seeming to fill out as he swallowed.

After a few moments Angel paused and asked, " You're sure?"

"Positive."

His face lit up in a grin, " There's a place I want to take you. A room. There's pillows...and bubbles. Feathers everywhere. You'll love it-."

"I'm sure I will." Cordy kissed him again, " But first you have to get better. I want to try that vampire stamina again."

Angel gave what sounded suspiciously like a giggle, " I'd like that." He gulped again and then paused to look at her and say, " Cordy, do you remember waking up in bed with me?"

"Uh huh. And not knowing what the hell was going on. Except - I never recalled that before. I guess we did change the past a little after all." Her fingers traced the old scar that slightly marred the perfection of her body, " I remember you coming to see me at the hospital after I got this. And that never happened either."

His eyes were drinking in every movement and sound she made, "I don't care about the past. All I care about is the future. Our future." A cloud passed over his face, " But there's Connor. And Wes. And-."

Cordy pressed her lips to his, hearing Fred give a gasp and then a cheer, hearing Gunn's laughter, as she pulled back and murmured, " Later. We'll talk about it later. You need to rest right now."

Strong fingers locked on her wrist, " I want you with me."

"I will be," she soothed, signalling to Gunn. " You go with Fred and Gunn and I'll join you in a little while." Cordy watched as Fred and Gunn helped him up the stairs to his room and then turned to Wesley. " It's time we talked. But first...will you help me."

His face was a mixture of caution and hope, " You had a vision?"

"No." She swallowed hard and then set her shoulders and continued, " The Powers told me that we didn't get it wrong, Wes. Connor is the Destroyer. And I have to kill him. I can't ask Angel to help me." Her eyes filled with tears but she resolutely brushed them away, " So, I ask again. Will you help me....?"

End.