Title: Car Trouble
Author: LisaMarie514
Posted: 05-09-2004
Email: lisamarie514@msn.com
Rating: PG-13
Category: Angst, BtVS 3
Content: C/A
Summary:
Spoilers: BtVS Season 3
Disclaimer: The characters in the Angelverse were created by Joss Whedon & David Greenwalt. No infringement is intended, no profit is made.
Distribution:
Notes: angelncordyluv4ever challenge - I thought it would be interesting to read a fic written in early BtVS S3 about Cordy finding Angel right after he came back from hell. Maybe Cordy's car breaks down and she's looking for help with her car or whatever you come up with. Angel runs to her and finds her instead of Buffy. How Cordy gets Angel back to the mansion or even her house is for you to decide. Cordy tries to keep it secret and take care of Angel for a few weeks and she's acting all weird attending more of the Scooby meetings and getting into it a bit more. Anyway, as for the Angel/Cordy, Angel becomes dependant on Cordy and she's trying to wean him off her. He's always touching her or something to this extent. They become friends, Angel gets better with Cordy's help, the Scoobies find out eventually and of course lots of C/A interaction. I wanted to leave this one open ended to see what all you great writers can come up with. Any other storylines including Xander/Cordy, Buffy/Angel, Faith, the Mayor are all open for you to either toss out the window, keep the same, or manipulate. Please take it.
Feedback: This is my first attempt at fan fic. Please be kind.
Thanks/Dedication: Yes please.Part 10: Bathtime
Cordy started the water in the bathroom into the large old fashion tub. She loved the fact that it had those dragon claw feet and that it was deep. She adjusted the water to the right temperature and then poured in the bubble bath. Yawning a bit she was tired from the day. Not wanting at all to go to school tomorrow. She couldn’t wait until she was done with High School and start her real life. One far away from Sunnyhell, maybe she would go back east to school. Boston was nice and she was sure she could get into Harvard or Boston University. She would need to do well on the SAT’s this coming weekend. Have to put up some quality study time, and avoid any bait duties for Miss Likes to Fight.
Cordelia stripped out of the cheerleading uniform and stepped into the warm water. Slipping in her body immediately relaxed. The gentle smell of citrus of her bubble bath. It was pretty mild as she really didn’t like to smell like fake flowers and preferred the fruity smells. She sponged her body and cleaned away the stress of the day and really stress of the past hour. She need Angel to start getting back to normal. But what was normal for a vampire. Well biting and drinking and killing. Maybe she would settle for just less crazy and not normal. Heck who wants to be normal anyway. She rested her head against the back of the tub and closed her eyes.
Angel took the stairs two at a time. He had forgotten that the bedroom was probably as cold as the rest of the mansion. He had an arm load of fire wood and figured he should warm up the bedroom for her when she got out of the tub. He wanted to make up for being a lunatic earlier. He set the wood down at the fire place and started making another fire.
Cordy, got up out of the tub. She wrapped a towel around her body and pulled the plug to empty the tub. She moved to the mirror and wiped the steam away. She felt warm and clean, her two favorite things. She plugged in the blow dryer and started drying her hair, not a good thing to sleep in wet hair after being out in the cold for so long. She worked the brush through her long hair and felt the warmth of the air drying her hair. She liked the mansion, it was not as modern as her house, but it was nice in its own way. She finished brushing out her hair and then took her red toothbrush and started brushing her teeth. She was glad that Angel’s was a different color. The last thing she wanted was vampire cooties.
She turned around and realized that her robe was not hanging on the back of the door, shoot…where had she left it. Cordy unplugged the hairdryer an and set it on the shelf. She was thinking…where had she left her robe, or better yet her pj’s. Must be on Angel’s chair on the other side of the bedroom.
Cordelia opened the bathroom door and saw that the room was filled with the glow of fire light. It was warm and toasty in the bedroom. She smiled, her vampire had done this for her. Her vampire.
She walked over to the chair, spying her pj’s but no robe and picked them up and turned around to go change in the bathroom.
Upon turning around she ran right into Angel’s chest.
“Eek!!!!” Cordy let out as she bumped into the vampire. She self consciously moved one hand over the top of her towel, to make sure it had stayed covering her up, at the same time dropping her pj’s.
Angel quickly bend down to pick them up at the same time Cordy started to do the same. This gave him a great view of the top of her chest. Mmmmm
“Here let me” He said, quickly picking up the soft clothes from the floor where she dropped them.
“ummm thanks, you startled me” Cordelia said as he stood back up and handed her her night clothes. He was so close to her, she felt surrounded by him.
“I wanted to make sure the bedroom was warm enough for you, after being in the rain for so long.” Angel said, moving a lock of hair behind her ear, gently grazing the top of her earlobe with the move.
Things seem to stand still forever. His hand resting on the back of her head.
If the bedroom got any warmer, she was gonna melt, Cordelia thought.
“Excuse me, I am just going to go..well get…well less naked.” Cordelia stepped around him and nearly ran to the bathroom and closed the door.
She rested her back against the door. Her heart was racing a little at Angel’s innocent touch. Her body never reacted that way when Xander touched her casually. Wonder what would happen if he kissed me?
She quickly changed into her pajamas and dropped her wet towel on the bathroom floor. Cordelia took a deep breath, and opened the bathroom door, to face the vampire on the other side.
“Well, I am gonna get into bed, I have school tomorrow and it is really late.” Cordelia said. First walking over to the windows and pulling the heavy curtains across the glass. Waking up next to a pile of dust would be bad. Then she moved over to Angel who had taken the chair next to the fireplace.
He looked relaxed as he watched her move through his bedroom. He was a thousand times calmer with her in his bedroom.
“Do you have to go tomorrow?” Angel asked, he knew the answer, but wanted to try anyway.
“Well after being out in the rain, I might come down with a cold and have to stay home.” Cordelia thought that it might not be such a good idea leaving him alone all day. Plus, after being out it the rain it was plausible she could have a cold, and nothing was due on Monday.
“Cordy are you sick?” Angel asked full of concern. Humans were fragile things, and he didn’t want anything to happen to his Cordelia.
“No I am fine, I just think I can safely miss school tomorrow to hang with you.” She bent down and kissed him on the forehead. Feeling his cool skin against her lips. “But I am still gonna go to bed now, I am so tired I am going to collapse if I don’t.”
Angel looked up at her, he wanted to pull her down into his lap and feel his lips touch her warm lips, feel her warm tongue in his mouth. “I am going to sit and read for a while, then I’ll come to bed.” Angel said, willing his body to calm down. Seeing Cordelia in a towel had stirred his blood.
“Why don’t you get changed for bed and read there, I will sleep better knowing you aren’t wandering around this big place by yourself all night.” Cordelia wanted to make sure he had really calmed down, and sulking downstairs meant that she couldn’t make sure he was calm.
Angel bit back a smile, a smile of joy that his girl wanted him in bed.
It was good to be back from Hell.
Part 11: Not Late for School
Cordelia sat on the stool at the table in the chemistry lab. Mr. Leete was talking about physics, things in motion stay in motion, things at rest stay at rest. This is boring. Not that she didn’t get physics or science for that matter, it just didn’t interest her, at least not since her mind was full of the events of the weekend.
Angel was back from Hell. And she was the only one who knew. The Scoobies would freak out if they knew he was back. They would probably stake first and ask questions later, cause the last time they had seen Angel he was Angelus. Evil and would have killed them in a moment for sport. They could not be kept in the dark forever. Angel was not ready to deal with the guilt that Buffy was sure to bring. He needs at least a week back from hell before she would let her start imposing her guilt on him was a minimum in Cordelia’s mind.
Xander was sitting next to her, doodling on his notebook, also not paying attention to the teacher. His thoughts were on Cordelia, he was glad that they had kissed and made up. Things had been better over the summer, and were good until Buffy got back to Sunnydale. They had even had a few small successes in killing several vampires over the course of the summer, working as a team, he, Willow, Cordy and Oz. But now that Buffy was back, they could get back to normal. His job was backing up Buffy no matter what. Especially since dead boy was well dead or at the very least gone. That was one vampire that Xander was glad was gone. He only wished he had been the one to push the sword through Angelus' gut sending him into the spirally vortex. Angel was bad for Buffy, bad for all of them, and his adventures in the spring just proved that he could not be trusted.
Xander moved his hand covertly over to rest onto of Cordelia’s hand. He looked up from his notebook at her face and smiled. He squeezed it gently.
Cordelia looked down and saw Xander’s big hand over hers. It was warm, really warm. It made her think of the cool hand that was resting on her arm when she woke up this morning.
Angel’s hand was absently stroking her arm as she woke. A shiver ran up her spine. She thought about waking up next to Angel. She turned over and looked at his face. His eyes were open and he had been watching he sleep. She smiled ‘Morning Angel’ he was a nice sight in the morning.
‘Morning sweetheart’ Angel said, he leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. He couldn’t help hemself, she was so warm still kinda sleepy.
‘Did you get any sleep Angel’ she smiled at being called sweetheart, a little disconcerting though. She liked it too much.
‘No, I read then watched you sleep. You snore Cordelia.” He teased her.
‘I so do not snore, Dorkus.’ Cordy said. Angel had moved his hand down her arm and he weaved his fingers in between hers. His hands were cool and felt nice on her sleep warm skin.
‘How are you feeling this morning, no sniffles?’ Angel asked, taking an inventory of her smell and heartbeat and body, wanting to make sure she was not ill from being in the rain.
‘No I am fine, thank you for asking.’ This morning small talk with Angel was easy, comfortable so right.
‘Then you should go to school’ Angel said to the girl…loving how she felt so close to him, but knowing that she needed to have normalcy in her life.
‘But, I don’t want you to be alone’ Cordelia said determined.
‘I will be fine Cordy,’ he squeezed her hand, ‘I need to get some sleep, and you would be bored here all day with nothing to do.’
‘Are you sure, you have had a very rough few days Angel,’ Cordy said very serious.
‘And you were here to keep me from turning into a monster. Seriously, all I want to do right now is sleep for a few hours, and you should not miss school’ Angel wanted her to stay in bed with him all day is what he really wanted.
‘As sure as you promise the minute you wake up you will go downstairs and heat up a bag of blood, eat, then page me.’ Cordelia didn’t want to argue this early in the morning. Plus, Angel was right she would be bored with him sleeping. She was already itching to get moving and start her day.
‘I will, you will probably be done with school before I even roll out of our bed,’ He planned on dreaming all day about her.
‘Okay, but you are going to page me when you get up. I will leave you my cell phone, you will be able to figure it out right?’ Cordelia looked at him. Knowing at some level that he would have no clue hot to make her cell phone work.
‘Yes, heat blood, then page you’ Angel said, letting out a yawn. He was tired and ready to get some sleep.
‘Alright Angel, I will be back as soon as school is done.’ Cordelia reluctantly let go of his hand and rolled out of the bed.
Angel grabbed the pillow that Cordelia’s head had just vacated and put it under his head. Her scent surrounded his head, he knew he would sleep like a baby.
“Miss Chase, do you know the answer?” Mr. Leete broke into her thoughts of the morning.
“…uhhh sure…” Xander squeezed her hand and she looked down at his notebook, “372?”
“No Cordelia, if you were focusing on the board and not the young man next to you, you would have known that the answer is clearly 42.” Mr. Leete admonished her for the public display of affection.
Cordy pulled her hand away from Xander. “Sorry Sir.” She said, looking up at the blackboard and realizing that the answer was simply 42, how in the world had Xander calculated that ridiculous number.
At that moment the class bell rang, she was never so glad for that sound to rescue her from embarrassment of getting caught holding hands with Xander. She looked up at the clock, 2:15, she was done with classes today and had to get back to check on Angel.
They walked out of the classroom and into the hall, almost immediately running into Willow and Buffy.
“Hey Cordy, how are you? Great game yesterday, huh?” Willow said very quickly.
“Yah if you were rooting for Bayside and enjoy looking like a drowned rat.” Cordelia said with bite, she hadn’t completely forgiven the Scoobies.
“Cordy, Willow was just trying to be nice.” Xander defended Willow automatically.
Cordelia immediately noticed, and decided to let it go. She was not going to start bickering again with Xander. For some reason it just didn’t seem worth it.
At that moment Principle Snyder walked up to the group. “Loitering as usual Summers?” He loved to pick on the Summers girl, especially in front of all her friends.
“No we weren’t loitering, we were standing.” Buffy said. Snyder was such a pain.
“Well, I have better things you can do with your time, here” Snyder said, putting a box of chocolate bars into her hands, and then went on to put boxes in each of their hands. “You will sell this candy to raise money for new band uniforms.”
“But we aren’t even in the band.” Willow piped in, she was not a band geek.
“Yah, and I don’t sell candy.” Cordelia said, trying to push the box of candy back onto the short little man.
“Well then Chase you can just get your Daddy to write a big check.” Snyder said, shoving the candy back at her.
“Pfft…as if”
“What was that Chase?” Synder asked
“Nothing, sure check, candy sold, not a problem” Cordy said, amazed she caved into the little annoying man.
Snyder sneered at the group and then walked away to tackle another student into selling band candy.
“So, Cordy, we are off to the library to well, we were going to study for the SAT’s, want to join us.” Willow said to the cheerleader.
“Yah right, what big bad is in town now?” Cordy asked figuring it was just the public way of saying they had a Scooby meeting.
“None that I know of Cordelia, we really are just going to study. Yah know big test on Saturday.” Buffy said. A little amazed herself that they were really going to use the library for studying. “Giles promised me he would quiz us on antonyms and such.”
“Boy my idea of fun.” Xander sighed. Even studying with the Buffster, was not enough of a bonus to not hate the whole studying part.
“Well I would love to join the study session, but I have an appointment this afternoon.” Cordelia told them, well she didn’t exactly have an appointment but she needed to get back and check on Angel. When was she going to tell them all, especially Buffy that he was back from Hell?
“Ahh come on Cordy, skip it and spend some quality study time with us.” Xander practically begged.
“Can’t miss it, sorry. I will catch you guys tomorrow.” Cordelia, leaned over and gave Xander a peck on the cheek and turned from the group walking away.
She heard Xander say to Willow and Buffy, “Come on then, why don’t my two best girls teach me everything I am going to need to know about SAT stuff.”
Buffy laughed, “Xander we only have 4 days until the tests, I don’t think that is even possible with both Willow and my help.”
Cordelia heard the laughter and turned slightly, seeing Xander with his arms around both the girl’s shoulders, having apparently gotten completely over the fact she was leaving him. Pfft…she had better things to do with her time.
Part 12: Normal Routine
Cordelia pulled out of the school parking lot and let the top down on her convertible. The rain from yesterday was forgotten, as the sun had burned away the clouds over the course of the morning and the afternoon was warm and bright. A tape of Dingoes ate my baby was in the car’s stereo and Cordy turned up the music. She loved the feel of the wind in her hair, the speed the little sports car produced and the sound of music. Dingoes were not the best of bands, but she preferred the newer, less pop, music and this suited her mood. They could be a little edgy and dark and well that was her mood.
Hmmm was a certain vampire rubbing off on her.
Cordy drove the quickest route to the mansion it was almost 4 pm and she had been gone quite a while. She did not want a repeat of last night. She sped the car a bit faster. She loved driving fast.
She pulled up the driveway and stopped in front of the door. She’d love to figure out a way to get the old Crawford Street Mansion restored. It was a classic southern Californian Spanish influenced architecture and loved the thought of bringing the house back to its former glory. She was thinking of the place more and more like home. She thought about her parent’s house in the Hills section of Sunnydale. It was all new houses, very modern, very expensive, without a whole lot of character. Sure she loved what she had done with her room there and it was a nice house, but it more and more felt like just a place her parents stopped by in between trips around the globe. Oh well, she would be done with High School soon and had plans on getting out of Sunnyhell, so her parents house didn’t really matter. …then why did she still want to restore the Mansion?
She walked into the foyer and put her book bag down on the floor by the coat rack, and put the box of chocolate bars on the side table. She casually looked in the dusty mirror at her reflection, and was happy with her appearance. This place really needs a good cleaning from top to bottom…how to manage that one….she would need to make a phone call and then figure out how to get Angel out of the house for a bit.
“Welcome home Cordelia.” Angel said from behind her, gently placing a hand on her shoulder.
“EEEEKKKK!!!!” Cordelia shouted and turned to Angel, moving very close to his body, “Angel you scared the life out of me! Remind me to get you a bell or something.” She absently rested her hand on his chest. It hit her that he sounded very sane, almost normal.
“Sorry, I thought you had heard me, but then I guess you couldn’t see me.” Angel said, nodding toward the mirror.
“No, I could barely see myself with all that dust.” Cordelia said and then turned and looked at the mirror. Her hand looked like it was resting against the air, as there was no sight of Angel’s reflection in the mirror.
“Yes, this place sure has its share of dust. How was your day?” Angel turned and guided her towards the living room
“Good, you know classes, learning, ogling football players.” Cordy said casually taking a seat on the couch. “You didn’t page me when you woke up.”
Ogling football players, well as long as none of the looked at her, he was fine. “You’d be proud of me, I just got up about a hour ago, I heated a bag of blood, took a shower and got dressed. All done in a calm, rational matter, no insanity.” Angel said proudly, and he didn’t want to admit he had no clue how to make the cell phone work, and didn’t want to tell her that he had almost thrown it out the window. He sat down on the couch next to her, and put his arm across the back of the couch behind her head.
“You couldn’t figure out how to use my cell phone could you?” Cordy said, she had the vampire figured out.
“No.” Angel said quietly.
“That’s okay, you’re what two-hundred eight, ninety years old, it is understandable an old man like you would have a hard time.” Cordy joked. It was fun talking with a completely sane Angel, even more fun than Saturday night was.
“I am not that old Cordelia.” Angel said defending himself. I am not old, just extremely well preserved.
“Well Big Guy, how old are you anyway?” Cordy asked, one of the many items on her list of things to find out about the Vampire.
“Well I was 25 when I was turned, so that would make me 241, as a vampire.” Angel said, how slowly time went by when on brooded 100 of those years.
“So that means you are really 276 then.” Cordelia said, not asked but said.
“No, I am 241.” Angel said back, he could sense a serious discussion starting with the girl. He was not adding another 25 years to his age.
“Actually, it is probably closer to 376, given that we should add the 100 years you just spent in hell.” Cordelia was enjoying irking him. It was so obvious that he was a little vain about his age.
“No you can’t count that time, it was in an alternate dimension. Plus Vampires start counting how old they are based on when they were turned.” Angel said. He was right. She was not going to add 125 years to his age, no way.
“Now that I will give you as, who knows how long it really was, maybe it just felt like 100 years. But seriously Angel, you really need to add the time you were human to your age count. All those experiences helped to shape you too.” Cordelia was going to win this argument. She might not have been on the school’s debate team but she certaininly could argue with the best of them.
“No Cordelia, it is just not how it is counted.” I am right damn it.
“Angel what is your birthday?” Cordelia asked innocently.
“May 16th, I was born in Galway, Ireland.” He said proudly, with a little hint of an Irish accent as he said his home country.
“Was that the day you were turned into a vampire Angel?”
“No, that was sometime in the fall, in September, I think, I don’t really remember.” Lots of questions, I like the fact she is so interested in me.
“See, you just admitted it, you are 276.” Cordelia said triumphantly.
“Huh? What kind of bizarre Cordelia logic is that?”
“Well, you did just tell me that your birth date was May 16th and you can’t even tell me what day you were turned, so you do the math. You add the number of years you have been a vampire, 241, plus the age when you were turned, 25 and you get 276 whopping years old.” Winner and new champion ladies and gentleman.
“But that is not how it is done.” Angel said, a lame retort to her logic. Was she right?
“I can’t wait till May 16th gets here Angel, we are going to need a cake that is the size of your dinning room table in order for me to fit all 277 candles on top!” Cordelia leaned forward and took her cell phone off of the coffee table.
“Pfft” was all Angel could say. But he was extremely glad that she planned on being around come the spring.
“Aww don’t go all broody on me. Hey what are your thoughts about getting out of here tonight?” Cordelia asked as a plan formed in her mind.
“You don’t need to stay here if you don’t want to Cordelia, I can feed myself now.” Angel said. Don’t leave me, please don’t leave me.
“What, no way, you fixed what one packet of blood on your own today. I can’t be sure you are completely back to normal until I see you cook your meals for yourself for at least a week. No, I just had a thought about getting this place cleaned up.”
He was never going to heat up a packet of blood again if it meant that she would stay by his side.
“Yah, I figured I would call the Daddy’s real estate company and have one of their quick clean crews come over and do a once over of the place. He uses them whenever he wants to get a property sold quickly. They come in with about 40 people and clean the place from top to bottom. Takes about 6 hours.” She turned on her phone and started dialing numbers.
“Hi, yes this is Cordelia Chase….Yes they are good, in Europe….Daddy called me, he has a property on Crawford Street he is thinking about renovating for sale, but it needs to be cleaned. It has been abandoned for quite a while…..Yes, that is the property…Well tonight of course, Daddy wants to act quickly on this one…Good, the door will be open, and it will be done by morning…good…Yes charge it to Daddy’s new project account…thank you, I’ll let Daddy know you took care of this for him, Bye.” Cordelia turned off the phone and looked at Angel.
“What just happened?” Angel was in shock at how she just took charge of everything, and didn’t get his permission as to what was to be done to his house. I hate the grime and dirt everywhere, maybe he would let her have her way with this, plus he wanted her to like his house.
“Chases are very good at getting things done quickly. I just hate the grime and dirt everywhere.” Cordy would have been surprised had she known she had said the exact words Angel was thinking.
“Cordelia, I can’t let your father pay to clean my house.” Angel said.
“Angel he would not want me staying anywhere that was this way, plus he has lots of money, won’t even notice that it was spent.” Cordelia said, knowing that her father never really paid any attention to what she did or how much she spent, as long as she didn’t interrupt client meetings.
“I love the fact that it is Fall and the sun is just about to set. Come on, we will go over to my place and hang out there for the night and then head back here before sunrise to a new clean house.” Cordelia stood up and looked at the shocked vampire.
“I am going to pack a cooler, and check to see if you really did eat a packet of blood, then we can go, why don’t you go throw some clothes into a bag, and pack some swim trunks. I feel like doing laps in the pool and it is heated.” Cordelia said as she walked to the kitchen.
Angel was dumbfounded. A 17 year old girl, human girl, had just ordered his house cleaned and then ordered him to pack a bag, and what to pack. Who the heck was she; He was a 241 year old vampire who was the Scourge of Europe. Wait a minute…Cordelia…a swim suit…warm water where is the bad in this? Angel took the stairs two at a time to pack a bag.
Cordelia put the cooler in the trunk of her car. She was happy that he had had fed before she got home. It certainly helped his sanity level. She would need to find out what a normal consumption level was for a vampire, she didn’t want to see any extra pounds put on that yummy body. Three van’s pulled up with the name ‘Speedy Cleaning’ on the side, and a man came out of the first van with a clipboard.
“Miss Chase?” He asked coming up to the teenager. He could tell she had money and Cordelia had an ‘I am in charge’ air about her.
“Yes, you are the contractors right?” She put on her best business face.
“Yes, so you want a full cleaning, as if it were to be sold tomorrow?” The man asked, he had done enough of these to know how fickle the Southern California real estate market was to know that this was important.
“Yes top to bottom, and on the third floor there are some creepy dolls, those can be thrown out, as well as the bedding in that room.” Cordelia said, wanting to be rid of anything that had touched Spike or that creepy Drusilla.
“Any other instructions?” The man asked as Angel came outside to the car, tossing his bag into the backseat of the convertible.
“Yes, there are some very old books and such in the 2nd floor bedroom. Those aren’t to be discarded, nor are any of the boxes on that floor. Just dust and get rid of the grime.” Angel ordered, he too used to know how to order servants as he had done before he was turned.
“Not a problem Sir. Miss Chase, I just need you to sign here.” Cordelia took the clip board and started signing her name, very big, yet strong script.
“I need it done before dawn, Jerry.” Cordelia said, reading the name sewn into the man’s shirt.
“Not a problem, should I call you when we are done?” Jerry asked, looking at the young wealthy couple. Maybe they planned on renovating and living here themselves. Nice to be able to afford to hire help to clean your house.
“No that won’t be necessary, we will be back early, just before dawn. Angel are you ready?” She asked, dismissing the cleaning crew to get started.
“Sure.” He said. Amazing, simply amazing for someone so young to be so mature.
“Well hop in, my pool is calling me!” Cordelia said, getting into her car in the driver’s seat and starting the engine. Angel hopped in and looked forward to the evening.
“Seatbelt dorkus.” Cordelia said…everyone wore a seatbelt in her car.
Angel simply followed instructions and pulled the belt over his shoulders. He new he had no hope of winning an argument with her, well at least not this particular argument. He was happy.
Cordy sped through town and worked her way toward her parents house. They stopped at a light and you could hear the music coming out of the car’s stereo and Angel and Cordy talking and laughing. They looked like a very happy couple out on a warm fall night.
Neither of them noticed Xander on the other side of the interception, stopped at the light as well in his parents station wagon, which they had let him borrow, to go over to Buffy’s house. Xander looked and saw the convertible on the in front of him, and then speed past as the light changed to green.
“Hey that looks like Cordelia” Xander thought…”Hey who is that guy in the car with her????” Wishing he had gotten a better look, other than to tell it was a dark haired man sitting next to her in the speeding convertible.
Part 13: No we are not going skinny dipping
Cordelia pulled up to the gate and punched in her access code. The gate doors were barely open before she sped through the gate up the driveway to her parent’s house. She hit the button for the garage door and it slowly swung open, revealing two other cars, a large black Mercedes sedan and a red BMW convertible.
“Jeez, Cordelia could you have driven any faster?” Angel asked as she quickly pulled into the empty spot in the garage and hit the button to close the garage door. He knew that he could be an aggressive driver, but this girl drove the streets of Sunnydale like it was the Autobahn in Germany.
“What, I am an excellent driver Angel. Now I know that I don’t have all the years of experience driving that you do, I mean what was it like to be around when Henry Ford rolled out the first Model T?” Cordelia was beginning to enjoy ribbing him about his age.
Angel did not respond, he growled under his breath and undid his seatbelt. I am driving us home tonight.
Cordelia turned to him, “Did you just growl at me Angel?”
“No, just clearing my throat,” Angel said, and gave her a small smile.
“Oh, well come on, I will show you around.” Cordelia said, getting out of the car and walking to the door leading into the house. She unlocked the door and walked into the kitchen of the house.
Angel stood at the door frame…”Ahh, Cordy, I need an invitation.”
She turned around and smiled “Go grab your blood out of the trunk and your clothes, and then you can come in Angel.” She flicked a button on her key chain and he heard the trunk pop open.
Angel turned around and went out to car and pulled out the little blue cooler. He had never felt so taken care of by anyone. He closed the trunk to the car and then walked through the door into the kitchen.
Angel set the cooler on the counter and looked around. It was a very modern kitchen with lots of stainless steel and glass. He also noticed the number of windows in the kitchen, and made a mental note that this was not a room to wander into by accident during daylight hours.
“I am so ready to go swim some laps, I am going run upstairs and change. You can change in the cabana by the pool. Just go through those doors and down the path. The lights are motion sensitive, so you should have no problem finding the pool.” Cordelia said causally as if it was just another friend over to visit her pool and house.
Can’t wait to see you in a swimsuit. “Sure, see you down there Cordy.”
Meanwhile…at Buffy’s house
“So I think that I saw Cordelia tonight driving around with a guy in her car.” Xander said, sitting on Buffy’s couch, Willow next too him on one side and Buffy on the other.
Buffy dug into the big bowl of popcorn that was resting on Xander’s lap and popped a few kernels into her mouth. “hmm are you sure it was Cordy?” She asked with popcorn in her mouth.
“Fairly sure, not that many red convertibles around town.” Xander replied a little sadly.
“Well maybe if it was Cordy it was just one of her you know other friends.” Willow said positively. Cordy would not cheat on Xander, she was positive of that, as she looked at the shape of Xander’s lips wondering if the kiss they shared the night of the Homecoming Dance meant that she was a cheater, but his lips were so soft and yummy. Stop..bad thoughts…Xander is Cordelia’s boyfriend…and I have Oz. The kiss was a fluke, a clothes fluke
“I guess, but I didn’t recognize him, other than the dark hair, and that he was a guy.” Xander said, looking at Willow. She looks really good tonight, I wonder if her hair is as soft as it looks. Stop…bad thoughts…Oz is Willow’s boyfriend…and I have Cordy…I think.
“Xander it is probably no big deal, just ask her, I am sure she will tell you.” Buffy said, Cordelia was nothing if not brutally honest. What did she say once..’ Tact is just not saying true stuff. I'll pass.’
“Yah you are probably right Buffster. I so don’t want to be the jealous boyfriend type. Plus, how lucky can a guy be my two best girls,” Xander said, stretching his arms so they rested on the back of each of the girls shoulders, “and watching movies.” The girls relaxed against him, he was their friend and they trusted Xander.
Buffy pressed play on the remote and the three friends went back to watching Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman.
Poolside
Angel walked out of the Cabana wearing surfer shorts that were a dark blue, almost black. He didn’t have many other colors. His chest and abs had well defined muscles under pale skin and he moved toward the edge of the pool. All of a sudden soft music started playing out of speakers hidden around the pool area and then lights came on all around.
The pool glowed a soft blue color and the lights around the pool made the whole place look magical. He heard Cordelia’s heartbeat and turned around to see her coming down the path.
She was dressed in a terry cloth robe and had her hair clipped up. Cordelia smiled when she saw that Angel did have swim trunks. Boy does he look good in those.
“Thought you would like some music, the sound system out here is great.” Cordelia said. Stopping at a lounge chair by the pool and looking at Angel standing on the other side of the pool.
“Yes, it is nice, I love music.” Angel said absently, he sat down at the edge of the pool and put his feet in. Expecting the water to be cold he was surprised when it was warm, almost bath water warm.
Cordelia read the surprised expression on his face, almost everyone had it when they first touched their feet to the pool and found out the water was warm. “Isn’t it great, the pool is heated.”
“Yes, I can see why you heard your pool calling.” Angel said looking at her. He then watched as she took off her robe, revealing a bright red swimsuit. As she turned around he saw that it scooped open in the back, revealing a great deal of skin, and showed off her tone body well. She unclipped her hair and let it fall down her back.
He was glad it wasn’t a bikini. I would never survive that. And that red color…Angel held back a growl at the site of her next to naked, watching her move around the edge of the pool closer to him.
“Yes, I have been really lucky.” Cordelia bent down and hopped into the pool and started swimming clean strokes toward the other end of the pool. She never had felt so lucky in her entire life since she had hit Angel with her car.
Angel watched her swim back and forth across the pool. She was athletic without the build of an athlete. She looks like a water nymph…no a Greek Goddess. Angel chuckled; Cordy would like to know he thought she was a goddess.
Cordelia did ten laps back and forth, and felt the stress of the day leave her body. The water felt good and holding her breath as she dove under the warm water was also nice. She swam over to the edge of the pool where Angel’s feet were dangling in the water and popped up between his legs to get a breath of air.
“Hey” Angel said softly looking down at her.
“Hey, are you going to get wet or what?” Cordy asked, and then playfully splashed his legs with water.
“Well, I kinda don’t swim Cordelia.” Angel said.
“Oh that is fine, I can teach you, not a problem. I have been swimming forever.” She said, moving a hand to tug on his leg and pull him into the water.
“No it isn’t that I don’t know how…well it is just that vampires don’t exactly float.” Angel felt the heat of her hand on his leg. He wanted to feel her whole body around him.
“What are you kidding?” Cordelia asked, loving the new vampire fact she had just learned.
“Nope, sink like a stone, I can walk through water, but can’t float on it, making swimming next to impossible.”
“Weird.” Even if he couldn’t swim, he should at least enjoy the water. Cordelia moved her hand back and then skimmed it across the top of the water, creating a huge splash, soaking Angel.
Angel wiped the water from his faced and looked down at the girl. Her hair wet and slicked back, the swimsuit covering all her curves completely, but making him crazy because he could see the shape of her body so perfectly under the thin material.
Cordelia splashed him again, and that is when he made his move. Pushing off the edge of the pool into the water, he made a dive for her. But she anticipated this and swam just out of his reach toward the deep end of the pool. She was treading water out in the middle of the pool, laughing at Angel appearing to be stuck in the shallow end.
“I got you Mr. Vampire!” She said, she wanted to say something witty and that was the only thing that came to mind. She looked at his wet body and absently licked her lips.
Angel looked at her, and then sunk under the water to wet his hair, coming back up he looked around the pool and didn’t see Cordy. He turned around was doused again with water. She had quickly swam around behind him and had again splashed him.
“You’re a quick swimmer Ms. Chase” Angel said more to himself as Cordy was under the water swimming towards the safety of the middle of the pool.
Cordelia got to the middle of the pool, and thought to herself, safe! When she was grabbed from behind and dunked.
She came up quickly…spitting water, having gotten a mouthful and turned to find that Angel was right behind her. Floating rather easily…..”Hey I thought you said you couldn’t float?” Cordy demanded.
“I lied.” Angel said then let his legs float up and laid back in the water, clearly floating and gloating. He had a smirk on his face, happy he had gotten Cordelia at her own game.
“Why you…” Cordy said taking a quick breath and then diving into the water, swimming underneath Angel’s back. Cordy reached out and tugged on his shorts to pull him in the water…effectively trying to dunk him from underneath, before coming back to the surface for air.
Angel reacted quickly and grabbed Cordy by the upper arms and pulled her to the surface of the pool, “Got ya” He said, feeling like a champion.
“No..Annngelll don’t dunk me” Cordy said, laughing, and smiling as she felt Angel’s hands push her under the water, and then in the same quick motion pull her back to the surface. This time her body was held close in the circle of his arms. She didn’t pull away…didn’t want too.
Angel pushed her wet hair away from her eyes and let his hand rest on her cheek. They got really quiet and the sound of the pool filter running and the gentle lapping of the water filled the air. The stars in the sky filled the night with twinkles.
“Cordy, I just want to…” Hold you, kiss you, make you mine for eternity.
“Want to what Angel?” kissmekissmekissme Cordy moved closer to Angel’s chest, resting her hand on his shoulder for balance in the pool…brushing her foot against the calves of his legs as they both treaded water.
Angel saw the heat in her eyes and felt her heart pounding. “I want to thank you for taking care of me, for bringing me back to reality.” He said very softly, looking down into her hazel eyes, feeling the weightlessness of the water.
“I am glad that I hit you with my car, or else who knows what might have happened.” So glad I got to him first to take care of him.
“Cordy, I…” Awe to hell with it. Angel leaned in and kissed Cordelia on her lips…pulling her into his embrace in the water. Feeling her sigh and pull in closer to him. It was a kiss full of gratitude and friendship and the spark of something more.
Cordelia fell into the kiss and saw stars from it. She had never seen stars before. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed him back deeply. I am kissing Angel.
Xander dropped down from looking over the top of the fence at the Chase Residence. Needing to know what Cordy was up to, or if she was cheating (not that kissing Willow counted as cheating on her really. Willow was his best friend, he rationalized)
“Who the hell is that guy?” Xander said out loud to himself. For some reason the dark spiked hair seemed really familiar. …… Angel?
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