A fan fiction story by Melpomene based on the characters and backstory of "Angel: the Series" and composed without permission. No copyright infringement is intended and no monies have been earned.
“Okay, so who’s going be the first one to tell me what’s going on?”
Gunn and Fred turned at the unexpected sound of Cordelia’s voice in the entry. Her demand rang out in the lobby of the hotel, disallowing for anyone to ignore her as it echoed back at her from the nearly empty room.
Tanned and emoting concern mixed with confusion, she stormed across the room, the “new and improved” Groo in tow, until she stood face to face with Gunn. She raised her arms in a gesture of want. “What's going on? And I mean I want to know now,” she insisted.
“Cordy…” Gunn was hesitant to try to say anything, not sure of what she might and might not know, not sure even of what he himself knew.
“So we’re out on the beach with the sand and sun, just laying there, enjoying… ya’ know, when all of a sudden-Wham!” She made a sweeping motion through the air, smacking her forehead with her palm.
Fred jumped a bit with Cordelia’s over-zealous reenactment. She glanced around the room nervously, waiting for Charles to explain, knowing she wouldn’t be able to explain anything at all. She still couldn’t believe it herself. For a fleeting instant the worry of Cordelia's visions sprang to her mind. Had the pain returned? Was she suffering with them again? Had she somehow lost whatever part of her had been "demonized"?
Cordelia, once she had begun, had no intention of stopping until she’d told all. “Thank goodness these things aren’t like they used to be, because I’m tellin’ you, enough is enough. Anyway, it was a two for one deal on visions that day and the weird part was that I knew both the victims…” she trailed off for a moment, her eyes thoughtful and pained. “This woman, weird chick with bad vibes from here to Ohio, attacked Wesley and took Connor. But it was weird because it was like Wesley knew her, he knew her and he wanted to help her but she tricked him… slit his throat so she could steal Connor.” Cordelia’s eyes were unreadable. “Then just as the image of Wes bleeding to death fades away… I see Anya…” Her features quirked into bafflement with the mention of the woman's name.
“Who?” Gunn cocked his head. Hadn’t Cordy said she knew the victims? He’d never heard of an Anya that he could recall.
“Anya, ex-demon, was getting married to my old boyfriend last week?” Cordelia tapped her foot in irritation as if she were instructing him to pay closer attention, her patience was wearing thin and it she hadn’t had a great amount of it to begin with. “Anyway, Anya was sad, majorly sad, and she was talking with this demon guy… She was scared and upset and she wanted help but she was completely alone.” Shaking the confusion from her mind, she leveled her eyes at Gunn, daring him to back down from her demand. “What’s going on?” She looked around the lobby. “And where’s Wesley?”
Gunn wiped a hand over his eyes. He had kind of been hoping Angel would be around when Cordelia returned and demanded answers, but as it was he wasn’t sure where Angel was. It had just been Fred, Lorne and him at the hotel ever since the night Wesley took off with the baby, Angel hadn't shown up again and he hoped he had just wandered off to some monastery again, like he did after Buffy died, that or maybe Vegas.
"We don't know where Wesley is," Fred said, alleviating Gunn's need to find an appropriate way to broach the topic. "We haven't seen him since the night he took Connor."
Cordelia's lips twisted unpleasantly. "Wesley took Connor where?"
"No where to it. He just up and snatched 'im, gave Lorne a bump on the head in the process. Close as we can figure it, he took 'im and handed 'im over to Holtz nice as you please."
Cordelia simply stared at the pair, comprehension refusing to alight in her muddled thoughts. She sank slowly into a nearby chair, Groo watching her closely as she stared blankly ahead.
not yet finished...