Prologue
As the phone rang on the other end, Willow Rosenberg looked at the
business card in front of her. The card had an angel on it with Angel
Investigations written underneath it. Underneath that, there were phone
numbers.
After five rings, a machine picked up, saying that the agency had
moved. Then, it said a number. Willow grabbed a notepad and a pencil,
which were sitting on her bedside. She scribbled the number down just as
the lady was finishing.
"Finally. Took forever to get through," Willow mumbled to herself,
hanging up the phone. She beeped it back on and she dialed the number on
the notepad, then put it up to her ear, waiting for the ringing to
start. She brushed her shortened strands of hair out of her face.
"Angel Investigations," a very perky voice said on the other end.
Willow almost didn’t answer, not knowing what to say.
"Cordelia?" Willow asked into the phone, looking doubtful.
"Willow?" Cordelia asked right back, her eyebrows creased with
confusion and surprise. "Hi. What’s up?"
"I-I was...I was wondering...if-if Buffy had-had... been there, Cordy?"
Willow asked, stuttering. Why was she stuttering?
"Don’t freak out or anything, but yes. She came here yesterday,"
Cordelia explained sarcastically.
"Did, uh, Angel freak out a little, before Buffy came?" Willow asked,
hesitantly.
"How did you know?"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Part One
"Well, I sorta, performed a spell, that made Angel human but he still
has his vampiric strength and it sorta got rid of the loop hole in his
soul," Willow explained. "So, he’s okay, right?"
"Well, that’s interesting. I didn’t even know there was a spell for
that. Angel’s fine. Him and Buffy...well, they sorta...got pelvic. About
that spell, couldn’t like, another vampire get it and wreck havoc?"
Cordelia asked, the tiniest bit of concern in her voice.
"Yeah, but, I was going to burn it after I knew that Angel was okay,
which he is. So, here I go about burning it," Willow said, lighting up a
match. She had the spell in a bowl and she lit one corner, watching as
it curled in on itself, turning black.
"You’re burning it right now? Well, weren’t we one little prepared
witchy girl," Cordelia said, skirting around the idea of talking about
how Willow became a lesbian and how she had met Tara. She suddenly
looked up when she heard footsteps. She saw Buffy and Angel descending
the steps of the hotel, both looking extremely happy and Angel having a
little color back in his face.
"Well, look who finally decided to come out of their room," Cordelia
called, forgetting that Willow was on the other line. Angel looked at
her, but she could see the amusement in his eyes. Buffy smiled.
"Who ya talking to?" Buffy asked, wearing one of Angel’s silk shirts
with her jeans. She had the sleeves rolled up a third of their length so
they showed her hands. She was wearing her tennis shoes. Angel was
wearing a regular t-shirt with black jeans and black shoes.
"Willow." Buffy’s face lit up and Cordelia looked directly at Angel,
and said, "She explained your little episode yesterday." Cordelia was
wearing the jeans she had been wearing yesterday because all she could
find was a blue tank top. Wearing dirty jeans was something she never
did, but exceptions had to be made. Her hair was down this time.
"Really? What did she say?" Angel asked, finishing off the last steps
with Buffy by his side. He had thought that the Powers That Be had
something to do with it. But in any way, he was happy. He sat down in
the red chair sitting ten feet from the desk and pulled Buffy down into
his lap. She gave a little cry of surprise which quickly turned into a
kiss. She had leaned forward and grabbed his lips passionately, wrapping
her thin arms around his strong neck. He pulled her closer, one hand
around her waist and one hand tangled in her hair.
Cordelia rolled her eyes. Even in public, well, her, they couldn’t
keep their hands off of each other. And, they had just been together for
a day and they were acting worse then when her and Buffy were in high
school. She turned around and put the phone back to her ear. "Well,
Buffy and Angel just came down, and, they’re a little busy...with each
other," Cordelia said, sarcasm obvious in her voice.
"So, they’re acting alright, right? I mean, Angel’s not
like...deformed?" Willow replied, an image in her head of what Angel
could look like and not being able to go anywhere.
"What do you mean ‘deformed’?" Cordelia asked, her own picture of a
deformed Angel in her head.
"Well, like, he isn’t in, vamp face, all the time," Willow said.
"So, what you’re trying to say is, there was a default to the spell
but you still did it?" Cordelia asked, risking a glance to where Buffy
and Angel were sitting. The only thing she saw was the back of Angel’s
head and a very happy Buffy with bruised lips.
"Well, yeah, but it was a small default. It said there was a very
small chance of anything happening," Willow explained frantically.
"It’s okay. Nothing happened. Actually, they are sitting right in
front of me and even though I can’t see Angel’s face, they both look
very happy," Cordelia explained.
"Well, that’s good. Can I talk to Buffy?" Willow asked, wanting to
hear all the juicy details, returning to her calm self.
"One sec," Cordelia said, turning her whole body around to talk to
the two love birds.
"Buffy! Willow wants to talk to you," Cordelia said, half yelling to
get her attention.
"What? Oh, yeah sure," Buffy said, pulling herself out of Angel’s
lap. She walked over to the counter, taking the phone, then walking away
for a little privacy.
"So," Angel said, getting up himself and walking over to the desk
where Cordelia was sitting. "What did Willow say?"
Cordelia went over what Willow had said about the spell and the
defects. Halfway through what she was saying, Buffy had hung up the
phone and joined them, already hearing the story from Willow.
"So, I’m alive with vampiric strength. Neat," Angel said. He looked
down at Buffy and wrapped his arm around her waist and she leaned into
him. "Yeah," Buffy said, smiling brightly.
"So, what’s for lunch?"
Buffy and Cordelia couldn’t help but laugh.