Title: While The Cat's Away
Author: Ophelia
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Email: opheliafics@yahoo.com
Rating: R
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Disclaimer: The characters in the Angelverse were created by Joss Whedon & David Greenwalt. No infringement is intended, no profit is made.
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Thanks/Dedication:“Cordelia, absolutely not!
“Oh, Wes, don’t be such a ninny! We need this job and I can do this. I’m perfect for this, and you damn well know it, so why don’t you just fess up to what you and I both know. You are afraid of what Angel will say. Admit it.”
Sighing, Wes looked at the determined tilt of her chin. As usual, she had spit out what most other people would have spent at least 30 minutes dancing around. “Of course that’s a part of it, Cordelia. I don’t think he would….” But he was drowned out by her insistent voice once again.
“Wes, think about it. This is an important job, a PAYING job. We cannot wait around for Angel to come back so we can run our idea by the vampire ‘formerly known as our boss’! Now work with me here, HOW long has Angel been gone?”
Adjusting his glasses, Wes cleared his throat before speaking, “Nearly three weeks, but Cordelia, he’s taken his son to the, uhm, to the uhm” he glanced furtively around before speaking in a hushed tone, “the ‘safe house’, and he can hardly be expected to hurry his goodbyes.”
Cordelia rolled her eyes and continued to speak in the same loud voice she had been using. “Oh, good grief. Paranoid much? Do you really think Wolfram and Hart have had the time to reinstall MORE video surveillance equipment with one of us standing guard? And back to the point at hand, I’m not saying Angel shouldn’t take all the time in the world with the little guy. That isn’t my point, and you know it. All I am saying is that we have no idea when he is coming home and we can’t wait around and let this job pass us by! We will be fighting evil and getting paid for it! It’s win-win!!”
Glancing down at the file sitting in front of him, Wes knew she was right. The situation simply couldn’t wait. But he also knew that he was right to be concerned about Angel’s reaction to Cordelia’s proposed involvement in this mission. All things considered her plan was the fastest way to a solution for the client. So why did he feel nauseous all of a sudden?
***
Gunn sat listening to Wesley speak with raised eyebrows. When silence had once again overtaken the office, Gunn looked at Cordelia with new respect and a little amusement. “And you’re seriously up for this?” Seeing the determined look in her eye when she nodded at him briefly, he nodded back. “Cool.” Then looking back to Wes, “So, what do I need to do?”
***
Cordelia looked at herself in the mirror and sighed as she pulled at her new “pants” one last time. Realizing she could get no more possible coverage out of them, she turned around to get the rear view prepared to be horrified. Her eyebrows shot towards her hairline, however, as she gazed at her reflection.
“Huh. Who would have thought leather hotpants with fishnets could ever be flattering?” Then, looking around at her room, “Now where did I put those damn stilettos?”
She had just strapped them on when she heard the knock at her door. Running as quickly as the 4 inch heels would allow, Cordelia looked through her peephole before answering.
“Cordy, let me in! You know I’m gotta see it sooner or later.”
Opening her door, Cordelia plastered a smirk on her face as she put a hand on her hip. “Hey, Baby. Come on in.”
Gunn stood speechless for a several minutes before finally scratching his head and emitting a low whistle. “Damn Girl!” he said as he extended his elbow to escort her.
Grabbing her trench coat and wrapping it around herself quickly, Cordelia followed Gunn out her front door. They both put their game faces on as they walked towards the stairway that would lead to the street.
“You ready, “Mistress”?”
Cordelia took a deep breath and reminded herself why this was a good idea. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
***
Two Weeks Later
It was close to dawn when Angel entered the Hyperion. He had assumed that everyone would have gone home for the night, so he was surprised to find both Wesley and Fred sitting in the office with lights blazing. Throwing his bag on the ground, he slowly walked over to the pair absorbed in their work.
“Hey guys. Big case?” He couldn’t help but chuckle when they both jumped at the sound of his voice. Wes, in particular, seemed unprepared for Angel’s sudden appearance.
“Angel! Good heavens, when did you arrive?”
Gesturing back towards his bag on the floor, Angel looked at Wesley speculatively as he answered. “Just now. So what has you guys here so late?” And as he watched Wesley fidget and Fred avoid his gaze, he realized they were both rather nervous.
“Of course, of course. You’ve just arrived. Well, that’s….that’s wonderful! Excellent to have you home. Everything go alright? The little one all settled? How are you feeling? I would imagine you are exhausted. Please, head right on up to bed. Don’t let us stop you!”
Glacing around, Angel tried to determine what Wesley kept looking at nervously, but all he saw was the front door. “I’m fine, really. Why don’t you tell me what’s going on that has you so worked up.” Then a thought occurred to Angel, and he mentally kicked himself for not thinking of it sooner. “Wes, where’s Cordy? If you two are here working on something, why isn’t she?” And his brow furrowed in worry as another possibility occurred to him, “Was it another vision? Is she OK?”
Fred decided that this was one question she could handle. “Cordy’s fine. No visions! Well, not since you left, anyway. We think maybe the Powers were giving her a break what with you takin’ the little tyke away and all. We’re not sure. But she’s been fine. In fact, the whole no visions thing has really made it easier for her to….” Stopping herself abruptly, Fred began to blush when she realized what she had almost said. However, she saw that she had stopped too late to escape Angel’s radar, so she struggled to come up with a way to finish her sentence. “It really makes it easier for her to, to go out on dates.” Fred was pleased with herself until she saw his scowl deepen.
“Dates? Cordelia is going out on dates? Since when?”
“Oh, er….uhm, I only meant, you see, what I mean to say was that it would make it easier for her to engage in a dating relationship as in potentially in the future, not that she has now or that she even has her eye on anyone really, but just that she wouldn’t freak anyone out with the whole screaming and falling down thing, and I am just going to shut up now, OK?”
Angel thought that he had caught the main gist of what she had been saying, which was that Cordelia was not, in fact, actively dating, and so he just let the rest go. He did not stop to wonder why he cared. However, Angel did notice that Wesley was becoming noticeably more nervous, and that further sparked his interest.
“Really, Angel, I am sure you must be exhausted. Please do go on up to your room and we can fill you in on the details of the newest case in the morning.”
Angel cocked his head at him. “You know, if I didn’t know better, I would think you were trying to get rid of me, Wes. Now what could you possibly be trying to hide…” But Angel’s voice faded off as the front door of the hotel swung open abruptly and Gunn and Cordy came in arm and arm, laughing.
Angel could do nothing but stand in mute horror and shock as he looked his seer up and down. Cordelia’s once blond-streaked hair was now back to black, but where the blond had once been, there were now streaks of deep red. She seemed to be in some sort of black leather trench coat that reached her knees and was belted at the waist. The legs that spilled out from beneath the coat were covered in blood red, sheer hose and the tallest black heels he had ever seen. But it was her face that he couldn’t get over. She was wearing darker makeup than he had ever seen, her eyes were outlined in charcoal and her lips were blood red. If he hadn’t known better, he would have thought she was a vampire.
“What the hell?”
The smile froze on Cordelia’s face when she heard Angel’s exclamation, and Gunn dropped her arm like it had burned him. Cordelia tugged at the belt on her coat to make sure it was tight before she met his eyes. “Uhm, welcome home?”
Cordelia nervously tucked some hair behind her ear as Angel stood blinking at her. Under any other circumstances, it really would have been quite fascinating to watch him work himself up into a rage, but since she knew where his growing fury was about to be directed, Cordelia decided to go on the offensive. Reaching down to slide her shoes off, she sighed and padded into the lobby in her stocking feet.
“Whew. Long night, let me tell you! Don’t let the beauty of these heels fool you, I don’t think my feet will be speaking to me for quite some time.” Growing mildly frustrated when she realized that none of her coworkers were going along with her casual plan and were instead grouping together behind the counter, she raised her eyebrows as she glared at them. “So, Wes, you fill Angel in on the case yet?”
As Cordelia had hoped, her words successfully shifted Angel’s angry glare away from her for a minute as he turned to look at Wesley.
“Alright, WHAT is going on? What case are you working on?” And turning back to Cordelia, “And what the hell are you dressed like that for? Are you just trying to get bitten?”
Refusing to be intimidated by his gaze, Cordelia merely rolled her eyes and walked over to the counter. “I’m undercover. Duh!”
“The hell you are undercover! You are about as uncovered-up as I have ever seen you!”
Without thinking, Gunn snickered and began to mutter, “You haven’t seen her with the coat off!” But he grew silent once again when he received a growl from Angel and a glare from Cordelia simultaneously.
Tossing her hair over her shoulder, Cordelia sighed again. “Oh please, Angel. You saw me in way less than this at that commercial shoot last year!
Becoming alarmed when he saw Angel preparing to grab Cordelia by the shoulders and haul her off the back office, Wes finally spoke up.
“Angel, I think you should hear about this case we are in the middle of before you make any judgments or decisions you might come to regret.”
Putting his hands on his hips, Angel looked at him impatiently, ‘So? What’s the story? What mission is so damn important that you sent Cordy out looking like a common whore?”
Stomping one stocking-covered foot on the ground, Cordelia shouted, “Hey! I do NOT look like a whore!” But then, looking down at her outfit, she tilted her head to concede a part of his point. “Well, maybe an EXTREMELY high priced call-girl. But no whore, here! Ya got that mister? This is a $500 jacket! There’s nothing ‘common’ about that!”
Walking around the corner, Wes stepped in between the staring competition that had apparently begun between the two. “Cordy, let me explain to Angel what is going on. You must remember that he is coming off a very emotional trip and he hasn’t had 2 weeks to get used to your new look as the rest of us have.” Handing Angel a file, Wesley then began to explain what they had begun in Angel’s absence.
“A few weeks ago, a woman came in concerned about a phenomenon that seemed to be happening at her club. It seemed that some of the young women under her employ were disappearing under odd circumstances and she had reason to believe something supernatural was involved. The woman, whose name you’ll see is Katherine Romanski, was afraid that this supernatural interference was coming in the form of her current partner and former husband, Sergei.”
Wes took a deep breath before he continued with the next part as he fidgeted with his glasses. “I think you will agree, after some thought, that sending Cordelia in to work within the parameters of the club itself was the quickest and most effective way to finding the source of this problem. So, she’s been working there 4 nights a week for 2 weeks now, and we have some very promising leads.” Holding up a hand to stop Angel from interrupting, he continued, “I know what you are going to say, and her safety has been the utmost priority from the beginning of our operation. You must admit that you have trained her quite well. But we also have Gunn escorting her to and from work every night as well as staying in touch with our cell phones throughout the evening. It really is quite safe and secure, Angel. You needn’t worry on that front.”
Angel closed his eyes as he tried to calm himself down because, at the moment, all he was seeing was red. The red of Cordelia’s hose, as a matter of fact. Rubbing his eyes for a few moments, Angel began to talk, “You sent her to work in a strip club? I shouldn’t worry. You are telling me that you are sending Cordy out looking like THAT, and I shouldn’t worry. Well, that’s just brilliant, Wes. Do you think that no one’s suspicious? I mean, Gunn just hanging around waiting for her…you don’t think that just tips them off a little bit?”
Gunn and Cordelia began to look a little uncomfortable at Angel’s question, but Fred merely shook her head with the greatest of confidence. “Oh no, Angel! No one thinks anything of it at all, cause they all think they’re lovers!” And then she laughed goofily as she looked to a nervous looking Gunn, “What did ya call it, Gunn? They think you’re protecting your merchandise?”
Cordelia looked at the conflicting emotions on Angel’s face, the panicked ones on Wes and Gunn’s, and the utterly adorable and clueless expression of Fred’s face and she couldn’t help it, she began to giggle. Covering her mouth with her hand, she giggled until her eyes began to well up with tears. “I’m sorry, it’s just….it’s just….you guys all look so…”
Finally breaking through the last of his restraints, Angel grabbed Cordelia’s hand to pull her back to the office, “I wouldn’t be commenting on what anyone looks like right now if I were you.” Pulling her into the office, he gestured to the chair as he sat on the desk, ‘Sit.”
Cocking an eyebrow at him, Cordelia remained standing, “Getting a little bossy, aren’t we?” But seeing the expression on his face, she decided to comply. However, she had only been sitting for a second when she grimaced and shot back up out of her seat. “Uhm, on second thought, I think I will just stand for this little confrontation.”
Seeing her pain, concern began to filter through some of his anger, “Cordy are you OK? Why can’t you sit? Did someone hurt you?”
Shaking her head rapidly, Cordelia desperately tried to think of a lie she could tell. “No, no, it’s just this outfit wasn’t made for sitting, that’s all.” And then she avoided his eyes as she finished rather lamely, “I think I’ll just stand for now.”
Angel eyed her reaction to his question. “Uh-huh. Well, either you take the coat off or I will do it for you. If someone hurt you, Cordy, I need to know about it.”
“No! Nobody touched, er… uhm, hurt me, OK? I just don’t want to wrinkle my coat.”
Angel’s voice grew deadly calm. “Either you do it, or I will Cordy. The choice is up to you. WHY can’t you sit down?”
Seeing the calm determination in his eyes, Cordy felt her temper snap once again. Screw it. Untying her coat so she could pull it off, she exploded, “It’s my whip, OK? I can’t sit down because my whip jams into some mighty uncomfortable places if I do. Ya happy?”
Angel’s mouth went completely dry as he soaked up the vision before him. Cordelia was now standing in front of him in the tightest black leather skirt he had ever had the fortune of seeing. It rode impossibly low on her hips and ended high on her thighs with a slit that ended mere inches from the waist trimmed in blood red. His eyes skimmed up the inches and inches of exposed midriff to the matching bustier she seemed to be wearing that exposed more of her cleavage than he had ever seen, including the famed bikini incident. It, too, was impossibly tight and seemed to lace up the front with dark red lacing. But with all of that before him, the thing Angel’s eyes seemed to be stuck to was the low slung belt that hung around her hips. It held the aforementioned whip as well as various other “tools”.
When he was finally able to speak, his voice came out in a crack, “Cordelia, what kind of strip club are you working in? And what the hell does Wes have you doing?”
Unbuckling the belt and tossing it behind her, Cordelia shrugged as she grabbed her coat and put it back on. “It’s not really a strip kind of club, Angel.”
Watching her sit down and nonchalantly cross her legs, Angel narrowed his eyes, “What kind of club IS it then, damn it? I’m tired of playing guessing games!”
Cordelia crossed and uncrossed her legs several times before answering with a defiant gleam in her eye. “Well, it’s more of a club where men go to have the burden of making decisions taken away from them. It’s about relaxing, really, and just letting the women take charge!”
Quickly reading through the lines of her words, Angel tried to stamp down the curiosity that had suddenly stirred up his demon. “Cordelia, are you telling me that you are working at a bondage club? That you have been working as a dominatrix for 2 weeks now?”
Crossing her arms, she cocked her head she appeared to think, “Well, not really. I mean, I am just a waitress, but we all have to get in on the act. I mean, it’s really about the no-nonsense “vibe” Katherine is trying to establish. I don’t really have any clients, per say…but I do have some regulars already and they say that…..Uhm, OK, not helping myself here. Angel, I stay away from the kinky stuff, I swear! The whip’s for show, well, mostly.”
Cordelia chewed her lip as she studied Angel. He had been utterly speechless for 5 minutes now and she was beginning to wonder if she hadn’t robbed him of his power of speech. When she could not longer take the silence, she began to babble if for no other reason than to stop the silence that was driving her crazy.
“Angel, I am sure you think this is a bad idea but you have to realize that we have been very professional about all of this and you should see how much Katherine is paying us! And I know what you’re thinking, but Katherine says I’m a natural—that I was born knowing how to control men so this really hasn’t been much of a stretch for me at all. And, you know, I really think that I have developed a knack for this undercover thing. Maybe I should do this more often cause….”
She flinched when her words were cut off by a loud and abrupt “NO!” from Angel. Standing quickly, he walked out of the office without another word to her. Looking over her shoulder at his exit path, Cordelia hurriedly got up and followed him out to the lobby while yelling.
“Hey! I was talking to you even if you weren’t talking back!”
Angel glared at her a moment before returning his gaze to Wesley, “Well, I’m not talking to you right now Cordy, because whatever it is that you are supposed to be wearing has obviously sucked all of the sense out of your head. But YOU, Wes, I would love to know how you could let her do this. No, you know what? I don’t care. She comes out now. This goes no farther.”
Wesley crossed his arms as he looked at Angel’s deceptively calm demeanor. He could tell that the vampire was close to losing control. He had expected Angel to be furious about Cordelia’s involvement, but Angel seemed closer to the edge than Wes had anticipated and he couldn’t quite see why. “Angel, you cannot be serious. To lose Cordelia would put an end to this case and…”
Angel interrupted with a deadly soft voice, “Then the case is over.”
Wesley had just begun to put together just the right words to say to Angel to make him see reason when he was preempted by Cordelia.
“The hell it is! Who do you think you are coming in here and ordering him around like that?” Genuine hurt filled her eyes as she spoke her next words, “You don’t even care how far we have come or what we have found out or who we may have been able to save. Maybe you just can’t stand that we could accomplish something without you here because I really can’t see why you are getting so worked up.”
Angel clenched his jaw as he looked into the charcoal covered eyes of his angry friend and felt his heart ache just a little. “Cordelia, think whatever you want about my motivations, but this is not open for negotiation.” She walked closer to him, and he noticed absently how much smaller she seemed without her heels. The ache in his chest began to grow as she put a hand on his arm.
“Angel, I know you’re worried about me, but you don’t have to be. We are doing a good thing here! And we can’t, we WON’T, put a stop to it now. Too much time and effort have gone into it, and lives are at stake.” When he simply returned her gaze with sullen silence, she grinned and leaned up to kiss his cheek. As he was still reeling from the shock, she leaned up to whisper in his ear. “Welcome home. I’ll see you in the morning.”
And then she twirled around and grabbed her shoes from the counter, hooked her arm back through Gunn’s and escorted them both to the door while tossing a final comment over her shoulder, “My LOVER is going to see me safely home now! Night, all!”
When the night air hit her face, Cordelia couldn’t help but giggle and think “Man, Katherine was right! I AM a natural!”
***
Angel stepped under the cold water in his shower and struggled to focus his thoughts. He knew Cordelia thought she had gotten the better of him during their “confrontation” but the truth was a bit more disturbing. While the human in Angel had become furious at the thought of Cordy in a sexual setting with anyone, let alone put in danger without backup merely for the sake of some money, it was his demon’s reaction that was worrying him and had caused his earlier silence.
From her outfit, to the thoughts of her using her “tools”, Angelus had begun to roar from the moment she had walked in the door. The noise had become deafening when she had taken off her coat and it had taken most of his energy to fight himself internally. And so he had been left without the ability to take on Cordelia and her “logic”.
Stepping under the spray and letting the water run over his hair and onto his back, he tried to think of a solution while banishing the memory of Cordelia’s outfit.
Vamp Cordelia. It was the last thing he had ever wanted Angelus to see.
***
Wesley walked into his office the next morning toying nervously with his cup of coffee. He had only been at his desk a few minutes when Angel walked in and began to nervously pace. When he began to speak, he did so without making eye contact.
“Look, I stayed up all night reading the case file, and I can see that you guys are right. This isn’t something we can just abandon. I cannot, however, understand how you would have ever thought it was acceptable to send Cordelia into that setting.” And then he stopped in his path abruptly and looked at Wesley with accusing eyes, “How could you put her at risk like that?”
Wes’ shoulder stiffened as his defenses were raised by Angel’s accusation. “Angel, our ideas about what constitutes ‘protecting’ Cordelia obviously differ. And it’s becoming painfully clear that our feelings towards her vary as well.” Seeing the protest forming on Angel’s lips, Wesley held up a silencing hand, “Please allow me to finish. I have a proposition to make. Before you judge this situation any farther, I propose you go to the club tonight while Cordelia is working and check out the layout of the place.”
If possible, Angel got paler and began to stutter, “You….you….wa..want me to go..go IN the…there?”
Wesley cocked an eyebrow and he sat back in his chair. “Angel, I was merely suggesting that you use your mastery of the stalking arts. You know, check out the neighborhood, the local demon clientele, that sort of thing.” And then he cleared his throat as he attempted to cover a smirk, “I hardly think that you going in for a spank would be productive for any of us.”
Angel muttered a quick “Uh-huh” before hastily retreating out the door.
Angel stood pacing on the rooftop of the building across the street from Cordelia’s place of “employment”. He had been there for an hour, unable to bring himself to do anything but watch for her arrival. His nerves were wound up tighter than a slinky and he was itching for a fight, or at the very least, a cigarette. He had just begun to contemplate the practicality of making a nicotine run when he spotted her, or more correctly, THEM.
Cordelia and Gunn were strolling down the street for all to see and he had his arms wrapped possessively around her waist. Angel was so distracted by the dizzying smile Cordelia was shooting up at Gunn that he barely registered the short red coat she was wearing that was met mid thigh by a pair of tight black boots. He watched them frozen as they stood outside the employee entrance saying their “goodbyes” for the night, which consisted of Cordelia nuzzling Gunn’s neck while his hands roamed dangerously low on her back. Angel knew they were simply setting the tone for anyone who might be watching them, and he knew that the safest thing for Cordelia was for people to think that the intimidating young man was waiting for her, but that didn’t stop him from feeling nauseous.
He was just getting ready to put his hand through some bricks when he saw something that made him begin to smile: Cordelia subtly but surely moving Gunn’s hands up higher on her back as she kissed his cheek but shot him an unmistakable warning look. It was a look that anyone who knew her would recognize from a mile away. It was a little thing, a silly thing, but Angel’s heart suddenly felt a thousand pounds lighter.
Much later, he could only tell himself that it was this irrationally giddy feeling that had led to his next rather poorly planned decision. He chose to believe this because the only other alternative was that he allowed Angelus to make a few decisions, and surely that wasn’t possible. Was it?
***
Hanging her coat up in her locker, Cordelia gave one last tug at her hotpants before turning and walking over to the mirror to refresh her makeup. As had become her routine, she focused more on the conversations going on around her than what shade of lipstick she was putting on. In all honesty, her end of the investigation had become more about keeping track of the women who worked in the club while Wesley and Fred traced the activities of Sergei, but she wasn’t complaining. If she could keep one person safe from the sicko, all her chafing from the leather would be worth it. “Should have bought some stock in the damn baby powder company.” Scowling at her darkened hair, she pulled up the leather corset-top she was wearing as best she could and turned to head out to her assigned area.
Coming face to face with a broad, black silk covered chest, Cordelia jumped and tried to swallow her yell “Aww, Jeez!” Looking up into a pair of familiar brown eyes, her eyebrows shot up and she began to hiss in a whisper, “Angel! What are you doing here? You wanna blow this whole thing?” Alarmed by the odd smirk on his face, she began to get truly angry. “That’s it, isn’t it? You WANT to ruin this. Angel-that is not acceptable. You CAN’T be here right now, OK?” Her eyes began to falter under his steady and somewhat heated gaze and her whispering became less urgent, “My work here is too important….Angel, what is wrong with you? Why are you looking at me like that?”
Pinning her in place by putting his hands on either side the counter behind her, Angel’s smirk only grew, “Cordy, Cordy. You are worrying for no reason. If someone sees me, I’ll just say I’m one of your biggest fans.”
Cordelia pushed him away and tried to walk towards the door with as much dignity as her thigh high boots/hotpants combination would allow her. “Ok, this is officially not funny anymore. You have to leave, I’ve got a serious job to do.” And she walked through the swinging door without a backwards glance.
Angel chuckled slightly as he pulled out a cigarette and lighted it as he went back into the alley. “Man, everyone keeps telling me about this job. Think this is something I need to research for myself.”
***
Laying her tray down at the bar, Cordelia tried to control the grimace that threatened to overtake the bitch “mistress of pain” expression she had been holding all night. Telling the bartender what drinks she needed, she scanned the club while doing her best to ignore her throbbing feet and lower back. She had just picked up her tray when she felt the encroaching hand on her thigh. Slamming her tray down on the bar, she grabbed the hand and forced it to an unnatural backwards angle, forcing its owner to his knees. Her eyes flashing, Cordelia pulled out the handcuffs that were dangling from her belt. Handcuffing the offending hand to a ring attached to the bottom of the bar, Cordelia shook her head and clicked her tongue.
“Looks like Bobby-boy hasn’t learned his lesson so I think you can just wait here for your mistress to decide what to do with you.”
Seeing the nasty little man on the floor looking up at her with glazed eyes, Cordelia felt her stomach lurch as she turned away quickly. The art of controlling men was quickly losing its charm. Anymore the patrons seemed more pathetic than anything. This was the thought pounding into her head as she walked over to the back booth to take their order.
***
Angel sat quietly watching Cordelia handle herself with her “regulars” and once again found himself torn. It was taking more than a little control to not bash in the skull of any of the men who dared look at her, but he was able to take small consolation in the cold and absent look in her eyes. Any doubt he had as to her enjoyment of the attention had been banished within his first 5 minutes in the club. However, it was not Angel’s humanity that was giving him fits as he absorbed the pounding music, flashing lights, and the strobe-lit view of Cordelia in bondage gear. His demon had taken more than a little interest in his surroundings. For once, Angelus and Angel had taken interest in the same thing, and the sensation was a new one for them both.
His concerns, however, flew out the window as he noticed his favorite waitress unknowingly making her way over to his booth. When he heard himself chuckle and mutter, “This should be fun”, he honestly was unsure of which one of them had said it. She arrived at his table without looking at him. He was just about to open his mouth to order when an abrupt motion from her silenced him momentarily.
Whipping out her nightstick, Cordelia flicked it menacingly towards his neck. He saw a flash of recognition and dread in her eyes when they met his, but he nearly smiled in pride when he saw that his presence did not break her act. Holding the stick against his neck, she glared at him.
“No one gave you permission to look at me, sport, let alone address me. So shut the hell up, avert your eyes, and I’m gonna tell you how this works. You behave and I might bring you a beer.”
Angel found himself quite agreeable to averting his eyes, since her angle gave him a nice close-up of the chest he had been trying to take covert glimpses of for over a year now. Unable to control the grin that crossed his face, Angel unconsciously snaked a hand around her bare waist. The contact with her skin sent a jolt through Cordelia. It was taking everything in her to keep up this ridiculous ruse and she couldn’t for the life of her figure out what Angel was trying to accomplish. The idea that he was messing with her for the fun of it honestly never crossed her mind. When she felt him pulling her closer she glanced behind them in a panic unsure of what to do.
Thinking that she had more strength in her legs than arms with which to hold him back, Cordelia wrenched out of his reach and kicked her leg up so that her boot-covered foot was centered on his chest. Amazingly, she hadn’t given a thought to the position that this would put them in, but the look on Angel’s face was enough to make her aware of the awkwardness of her stance. She fleetingly wondered why Angel didn’t look nearly as embarrassed by the situation as she was feeling, but the thought passed when she saw Mistress Celine headed their way.
Mistress Celine, or “Ci-Ci”, as they called her in the warm up room, prided herself on being the roughest full-fledged dominatrix in the place—and she also had a thing for the better looking patrons, who tended to be few and far between. Cordy knew she couldn’t let Angel near her or everything was blown. Trying to think quickly, she spied something hanging on the back wall and grabbed for it before she could rethink the bizarre twist her already insane evening was about to take.
Angel had been so busy enjoying the view of Cordelia’s leg he currently had, and Angelus was so busy enjoying the pain her spiked heel was currently inflicting on his chest, that neither of “them” noticed her actions until it was too late. Cordelia’s foot came down and Angel was jerked up in one smooth motion by the leather leash she had attached around his neck. He opened his mouth to protest when he realized he was being led to the back alley and his curiosity got the best of him for the millionth time that evening.
Angel felt his back slammed up against the alley wall and he chuckled incredulously as he pulled at the leather cord around his neck. “Well, this is new.”
Rolling her eyes as she unfastened the apparatus, Cordelia tried not to shiver in the cool night air. “Angel, I have no idea why you decided that NOW of all times would be the appropriate time to become Mr. Funnypants. I never thought I would be saying this to you, but lay OFF the sense of humor, would ya? I know it’s a bit much coming from a girl in this much leather, but you have to start taking me seriously!” And then, brushing her hair out of her dark eyes, she added under her breath, “I want my broody boy back.”
Cordelia suddenly blinked as she realized that sometime in her speech she had ended up trading positions with Angel and it was her back was now against the wall. She also rapidly realized that he was leaning in at an oddly low and close angle and was staring into her eyes with a bizarre intensity.
Angel gave her a grin as he spoke just inches away from her lips, “So I’m YOUR broody boy, huh?” And Cordelia honestly thought she had stopped breathing when his nose just briefly brushed against her cheek before he continued, “What does that make YOU?”
Looking into his eyes, she felt at an absolute loss for words, and they stood there for a moment, just inches apart, lost in the intensity of their gaze. Slowly but surely Angel began to slide his hands over the smooth material of her outfit and Cordelia closed her eyes as she felt her blood begin to heat up. Suddenly, the night chill was no longer an issue. She didn’t even realize she was murmuring out loud instead of just in her head, “That makes me…..that makes me….I’m…..I’m….” But her eyes shot open as she felt his head move in towards her neck and a sudden nip on her shoulder. That’s when she realized Angel had nibbled on her. ANGEL had nibbled on HER. Looking into his smirking and heated eyes that were once again in front of her, Cordelia felt suffocated by the emotions surging through her. “That makes me…..confused.” And she pushed him slightly away, “Very, very confused.”
Angel leaned back against the wall and watched her begin to pace in the alley way. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled the contents out without even thinking about it. In fact, he was completely unconscious of his actions until Cordelia abruptly stopped in her path and looked at him with wide eyes.
“You’re SMOKING? What the hell is going on with you?” Cordelia was having a hard time controlling the fear that was swirling up from her chest, so she started breathing the cold air in deeply in an attempt to clear her head. ‘Angel, you’ve been off since you got here tonight. I’m starting to think you haven’t even done any of the digging Wes asked you to do! Have you done anything tonight but try to mess me up? And why…wait a minute, what are you looking at?” With a dawning sense of understanding, Cordelia realized that her deep breathing technique had resulted in a little good old fashioned chest-heaving against her corset. To her utter fascination, she realized that Angel had dropped his cigarette and now seemed quite taken with the view a few inches below her face. Putting a hand on her hip, she gestured towards her eyes as her voice grew louder, “Hey! I’ve got two of these too, you know!” Angel’s eyes flicked up to hers momentarily as he closed the space between them with a grin and it was then that understanding finally hit Cordelia like a brick over the head.
“Oh my freaking word…..You are turned on by this…this…this freak show of a ‘look’!” And in her agitation, Cordelia lost track of the words that were coming out of her mouth, “This is what it takes to get your attention? THIS? I prance around in nice, old fashioned cotton miniskirts and midriffs till I am blue in the face, but you gotta have dead animal skin to turn you on? Unbelievable!” She began to poke her finger into his chest without really registering that he was now close enough for her to do so, “You’re kinky! I mean, I know you’re a creature of the night who lives off of blood and can smell fear….but…but you’re kinky? That’s just…..well….that’s….” but her voice trailed off when her mind finally caught up to what her body had already noticed: Angel was extremely close, closer than he had ever been to her before. And that’s saying something, Cordelia absently noticed.
“You’ve been trying to get my attention?” Angel smirked.
Looking into his eyes, Cordelia froze when she realized she wasn’t sure whose eyes she was looking into. They weren’t the warm Angel orbs she was used to, but they weren’t the cold Angelus eyes that haunted her nightmares either. They were somewhere in between, and she hadn’t a clue what to do about it. So she did nothing. Hands slowly creeped down her back until they were firmly placed in the area she had warned Gunn off of just a few hours ago, but for some reason, she had no desire to move them.
Frustrated with the few inches between them, Angel pulled her harshly against his body. Without ever taking his eyes away from hers, he slowly leaned in to take her lower lip between his teeth. Feeling her tense up and seeing her eyes widen, he gently let go and instead ran his tongue soothingly over the area. He noticed that the hands Cordelia had originally placed on his chest as a defense mechanism had started to slowly rub instead and that small, unconscious action made his decision for him. With a hand in her hair, he lowered his lips to hers in what he had intended to be a gentle kiss, but the force he had been battling all night quickly took over, and within a few seconds, he had lifted her until her legs were wrapped around his waist and his tongue had found entrance into her now open and welcoming mouth. Spinning until he could find a surface to pin her up against, he started to move against her and chuckled into her throat when he felt her moan. He was slowly becoming more and more forceful with his actions but it wasn’t until he bit her lip hard enough to draw blood that the fear overtook Cordelia’s hormones and she shoved him away with a gasp, landing rather ungracefully on her side in the alley.
It was Angel’s turn to freeze in confusion as he looked down at her. She was now looking up at him with unmistakable fear, but it wasn’t until she wiped the blood from her lip that he started and realized what had happened. She was back on her feet before he could help her and she was clearly keeping space between them as she walked around him to get back towards the club.
“Angel, I’m not sure what is going on with you, but you need to go home.” Seeing the hesitation in his eyes, she raised her voice, “NOW.” And she went back into the club without another word.
She had only gone two steps into the club when she was confronted by two figures. Looking between them, she rolled her eyes and sighed. “Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me!”
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