Stuck Between Two Guys: Part 3
by Ann
20 minutes later, they were all there in Giles’ apartment. While Buffy and Riley waited for Angel and Cordelia, she called Xander and Willow and told them to come over. They would love to hear this. Now they were all there sitting in silence drinking assorted beverages. Cordelia chose to start.
“Okay look. I know you all want to know why Angel and I are in Sunnydale. Let’s start this off. Angel owns a private detective agency in L.A. I am his secretary. He had a partner, Doyle with the power of visions. He was half demon. Well Doyle died saving Angel and me. I was given the power of visions. I had a vision of big trouble down here so here we are.”
Everyone seemed to understand that. That began the night. Angel and Cordelia were briefed about the Initiative. They were also told about anything that really had any affect on the matters at hand. There was just one thing that Riley didn’t understand.
“Who are you? You say that you are Buffy’s ex, but there is something more. I don’t know what it is, but it doesn’t seem normal.”
Angel had a nice sized smile on his face. When he was in Sunnydale, he didn’t have the tendency to smile or laugh but a month with Doyle and Cordelia changed that. Cordelia saw the smile and groaned.
“Angel no, not again. Can we please not hurt the innocent? Remember what happened last time? You almost broke my date’s hand.” Cordelia did not seemed at all pleased with the smile plastered on Angel’s face.
“What? I promise not to do anything. It’s not my fault that your date was a jerk. When he hit your ass, he crossed the line.” Angel looked almost smug and it freaked Buffy out. This was not the Angel she knew. This was almost a livelier one. He seemed to have more of a personality. She also kinda liked it.
“Yeah well I am different. I am a vampire. I was given a soul about 100 years ago by gypsies. That would be the main reason why I don’t kill anymore.” Angel said
Riley seemed to understand that. Not really but if this was a friend of Buffy’s he would try. He better just not try and get Buffy back, or he would have to hurt him. Bad.
Cordelia yawned. Angel looked at her and turned to everyone. “ Well it’s getting late and my companion is tired. We are gonna head to the mansion. We will see you guys tomorrow night at dusk. Should we just meet back here?”
Everyone agreed. It was getting late. They all left and went their separate ways. They would all meet again tomorrow night and take action on the new evil in town.
The Next Day
Everyone was basically going on like nothing was really wrong. Xander was at home probably watching TV. Anya was with him whining about the fact that she still didn’t have her powers. Riley was teaching his class. Giles was at home reading a book. Buffy and Willow were in there dorm. Only Willow and Buffy were discussing everything that happened the evening before.
Their Conversation
Buffy flopped down on her bed. She didn’t get it. There were so many things that bothered her with Angel being back. She needed to talk to someone and Willow was the right person. “ Why now? I mean, I just got everything to be perfect with Riley. Now Angel shows up and it changes everything. What great danger would drag him away from his life in L.A.?”
Willow was confused. Why was Buffy worrying so much about Angel? If everything was right with Riley this wouldn’t be bothering her. “Buffy why are you so worried about Angel? Most likely he is just here to kill something and then him and Cordelia will go home and it will be all done with.”
Buffy tried processing all this. Then another question bugged her. “Yeah what is with that thing with Cordelia? Angel never liked her when he lived here and then all so suddenly she is his partner? Is it me or are they just a tad bit too friendly?” Buffy looked at her and expected her to agree with her on the matter. Willow wasn’t so sure about Angel and Cordelia. She would have to ask him later. “Buffy, I don’t think that Angel and Cordelia are anything more than good friends. She seems to trust him a lot. I don’t think its anything else.”
Buffy felt guilty. She should have never thought that. “Yeah, I think you are right. I am sorry to bother you with all of this. I have to get to class so I will talk to you later at Giles’. Meet you there.” “Bye Buffy”.
The rest of the day went smoothly. The sun was dropping. They were all starting to arrive at Giles’ condo. After everyone had arrived, the conversations began. Willow was the one to start.
“Okay, you guys said that in Cordelia’s vision you saw Buffy and Riley in a big fight. What were they fighting?” Willow looked at Angel. Angel didn’t quite know so he turned to Cordelia. She began to speak.
“See this is why I hate being the one with the visions. It was easier when Doyle had them. Anyways, in the vision I saw Buffy and Riley fighting almost an army of vampires. They were strong. And they were getting beaten. I didn’t see any other GI Joe’s so I figure you guys are going at this one by yourselves.” That seemed to take a lot of effort from her so she flopped down on the couch and waited for someone else to speak. Riley chose to use that honor.
“That doesn’t make any sense. If there are any types of Hostiles we always call it in. You must be wrong.” Riley looked somewhat agitated that she would say something like that.
Cordelia looked annoyed. Was he calling her a liar? How dare he. She already didn’t like these powers, but now some GI Joe wanna-be comes along and calls her a liar? She was about to say something when Angel beat her to it. “Look, I don’t know what you problem is but you don’t need to take it out on Cordelia. She is 19 years old. She doesn’t like her powers, but Doyle thought that she was the one to have them. You calling her a liar is not helping the situation. All she is trying to do is to save your ass. If you want to go at this battle all alone and go down because of it, be my guest. But don’t you dare call one of my friends a liar. She is only trying to help you.” Angel was mad. He didn’t like this guy. Not only did he have Buffy, but also now he dared to call Cordelia a liar. That was a mistake. Doyle asked him to protect her and that is what he was going to do.
Buffy looked at Angel astonished. She couldn’t believe that he just said that to Riley. Yeah maybe he was right, but where did all the anger come from? She had to ask. “Angel is there something between you and Cordelia? You seem to almost protect her.”
Angel was shocked. Buffy thought that him and Cordelia were together. Well he was about to straighten that out. “No, Cordelia and I are not together. Cordelia is still heartbroken over Doyle, even though she tries to go out with other guys to get over it, and well we all know about me I guess. The reason I protect her is because one: I am her friend and two: Doyle asked me to look out for her.”
Cordelia was astonished. She didn’t know that Doyle had asked Angel to protect her. Man, that was so nice of Doyle. He really loved her. She wished that he were still here. She never got the chance to tell him how much she cared about him. Angel saw that she was thinking about him and went to her. “Cordy, its okay. We both miss him.”
She just looked at him and smiled. “I know, it’s just hard.”
Nobody in that room had seen Cordelia show so much emotion for a person that wasn’t herself. Xander was jealous. He realized that she hadn’t cared about him as much as she cared about a man that was dead. All so suddenly Cordelia straightened up and put a fake smile on her face. “So let’s work on this bad-guy situation. So from what I got, it’s going down tomorrow night in Shady Hill cemetery. So who fights and who stays behind?” Cordelia looked as if she just wanted to get this over with.
Giles took control at this point. “Well let’s see, Angel, Buffy, Riley, you guys will be the head team going in. Xander, Willow, and I will go in after you guys to catch them off guard.”
Cordelia looked at him, “What about me?” Xander looked at her liked she had lost her mind. “What you actually want to fight? I thought you would break a nail.” Cordelia was mad. What did they still think that she was the old tact-less twit? They were about to learn that she had grown. “No, actually Angel taught me how to fire a cross bow.”
Giles took this in. “Okay, you can stand in the bushes and fires arrows at the vampires. If you get into trouble then you scream for help and I take it Angel will help you out.” He looked at Angel for approval and Angel just nodded.
“Okay look I have to talk to Cordelia really quickly, we will be back in a second.” Angel said as he grabbed Cordelia and walked out the door.
When the were gone Riley turned to Buffy and said, “I don’t get her. She seems really stuck-up. But then if someone mentions that guys name then she gets all emotional. She is really weird.”
Buffy looked at him and smiled. He really didn’t know the real Cordelia. Yes, she had changed a lot, but she was still the stuck-up Cordy they all knew. Riley wasn’t finished though. He turned to everyone and said: “Does she even know the meaning of the word tack?”
Cordelia and Angel chose that moment to walk back into the door. Cordy heard that comment and became annoyed. She just looked at Riley and said. “Yes I know the meaning of the word tack. How stuck up do you people think that I am?” Everyone looked guilty. They didn’t know what to say. Somebody walked in and handled it for them though.
“So you are yelling at them for knowing the truth?” A mysterious stranger said from the door.
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