Challenges: Challenge under 21. Accepted! (Part One.)
by rockangelz25
A/N: (When Cordelia came back without her memory, Fred phoned Sunnydale to see if the Scoobies could help her remember it. So.... Kind of like the TV version of Spin the Bottle, only tweaked a little. Or a lot. Read on to see!) Also, this is in two parts.

Buffy walked into the Hyperion hotel, with most of her friends behind her. Spike was still running around playing at insanity, and Anya opted to stay behind.

But she, Willow, Xander, and Dawn had come in order to see Cordelia. Fred's phone call had been urgent, and as much as she and the others couldn't stand Queen C... Maybe she'd changed.

And besides, they all knew how traumatic it was to not have their memories. For some reason, Giles had also found out. He'd come along for the ride. Maybe Wesley had gotten in touch with him.

"Buffy! What's--"

"Fred called," she said, heading off Angel's usual stream of questions.

"Oh. About Cordelia?"

"Yeah. So, where is she?"

"She's in there... With Connor."

"Oh. Okay. Wait. Connor? Who's Connor?"

Angel fidgeted, not really wanting to tell her who Connor was...

The door to the Hyperion opened again, but this time there was only one person outside. "Wesley." Angel's tone lowered, and his brow furrowed.

"Angel. I heard about Cordelia. I came to help."

"I think you've helped enough." Angel crossed his arms, glowering at Wesley.

"Testosterone overflow becoming an issue again," said Buffy, coming between them. "I don't know what went on between you two, but shouldn't we worry more about Cordelia for right now?"

Angel looked down at her. He knew that she was right--Cordelia was why they'd all come here, and Cordelia was why they needed to get it together. Afterward, there'd be time enough to deal with Wesley... Time enough to kick him out.

"Fine. Let's go, then." He turned around and led the way into the main room. Cordelia was sitting on the couch with Connor.

"How's she doing?"

"She'd probably be better if you hadn't lied to her so much in the first place, dad." Connor looked up to glare at his father. He could kind of understand why they'd kept the truth from Cordelia--which didn't make it any better. They'd still lied to her.

He looked around at the new group. "Who're they?"

"They're some of Cordy's friends. They're here to help."

"Why's he here?" Connor walked around Angel and the group, moving to Wesley.

"I'm also here to help, Connor."

"Yeah, like you helped us every other time?"

"Hey, pipsqueak, no messing with Wes." Gunn came out of the office, where he'd been with Fred.

"Hello, Gunn."

"Wesley!" Fred's face lit up, and she ran over to him.

"Hello, Fred." Wes's face softened for the first time since he'd entered the hotel. Fred had the ability to make everybody feel better about themselves.... Even the people screwing evil lawyers.

"Hey, hey, the gang's all here!" A Lorne appeared from another room.

"Yes." Wesley looked calmly at Lorne.

"Can you guys do anything for her? Our own Cordy... A higher being."

"Whoa, whoa. She was a what?" Buffy crossed her arms skeptically to look at them all.

"She was a higher being. Elevated to a higher plane, and all that."

"So, how'd she come back?"

"We...." Lorne's voice trailed off, realizing that this was the Slayer of Angel's dreams--the Slayer that had come back from a higher plane with a little help from her friends, and had hated every moment of her life since then.

"You ripped her out of there?" Buffy's voice was incredulous.

"They messed with magic." Connor's voice was condescending. "They messed with magic, and now Cordy has no memory."

"There's a spell." Wesley's voice interrupted them all.

"More magic." Connor rolled his eyes and started to walk away.

"Connor." Angel's voice was low, but commanding enough to call the boy back.

Buffy narrowed her eyes at that, remembering how Connor had called Angel "dad". She'd have to ask them about that some time.

"Come on. We can do the spell, and restore Cordelia's memory." Wesley turned, heading to the doorway. Giles caught up to him.

"Which spell is it? Is it..." Their voices trailed off. They discussed spells for a few minutes, while the rest of them got everything else together.

"What's going on?" Cordelia looked between Angel and Connor as she got up.

"We're going to do a spell to get your memory back."

"Magic stuff? Does that really work?" She looked at Angel skeptically.

"It should."

The group all walked over to Wesley and Giles, more than one of them thinking that just because something "should" happen doesn't always mean that it does.

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