The Mature Plan
by Vivian Ngan

STATUS: Complete
CATEGORY: C/A Friendship. Slight B/A Friendship.
RATING: PG

SPOILERS/SEASON INFO: Set post-Angel Season 2; post-Buffy Season 5. Although I haven't actually seen anything past Blood Money and Checkpoint, which would explain slight inaccuracies.  

ARCHIVE: Please contact me first! Mostly I'm going to agree.

SUMMARY: Buffy and the Scooby Gang visit Cordelia, Angel and Wesley to try to mend some broken fences in their relationships. Pure, pointless fluff.

DISCLAIMER: All characters on 'Angel' and 'Buffy: The Vampire Slayer" that appear in this story are owned soley and exclusively by Mutant Enemy, Twentieth Century and Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt. The author is in no way appropriating these characters for monetary gains, and any infringement on the rights of the aforementioned companies or individuals is wholly unintended. References to place names and plot lines that have appeared on 'Angel' and 'Buffy' are likewise the property of the above companies or said individuals.

AUTHOR'S NOTES:
* This is my first Angel fic. A pointless fic that turned very fluffy. And I was craving omelettes at that time for some reason.
* It was meant to give me a chance to hone (or try to at least get close to) the Angel/Buffy speak. I hope I haven't failed too miserably, but you know feedback would really help here.
* Feedback good. Flames bad.

Copyright (c) Vivian Ngan May 2001


PART ONE
Cordelia's head swam with a myriad of images, some curious, some not so. Bright flashes of colour illuminated the interior of her head as she fought and tugged for control of her consciousness, aware only of a pervading need to escape. To get out.

The source of her need manifested itself as a faint echo, a semi-persistent chiming ... of something. Bells, maybe? Something distant, far away, it's echo reaching towards her through incalculable distances. She felt her hair swaying in the breeze, a gentle yet buffeting wind inside her mind that seemed to awaken her sleeping senses with each swirl of chocolate-coloured tendril.

Gradually Cordelia felt her face warm, felt the faint touch of the sun's rays permeate her body. She was free to move now, free to move towards ... the chiming. The bells.

The door bell.

Suddenly aware of the incessant ringing at her door, Cordelia groaned inwardly and made herself get out of bed. Between the dream, the visions and the fighting last night, she really hadn't gotten all that much sleep. A couple of hours, tops.

Where was Dennis when you needed him?

The sound of running water emanated from her bathroom. Damn, Angel had beaten her to the bathroom ... again.

"Oh God, oh god I'm coming! Hurry much?!" Silently cursing at having someone seeing her in this state of unreadiness, she hastily brushed her short brown hair with her fingers. The Cordelia Chase of Sunnydale High would have died a thousand, no, make that a billion deaths before allowing anyone to see her in this condition. But now? The Cordelia Chase of L.A, resident vision gal of Angel Investigations and former candidate for Pylea demon spawn impregnation could care less.

Cordelia looked ruefully down on her old Sunnydale High t-shirt and comfortably fitting shorts and sighed. So help the Powers That Be if it turned out to be Steve Paymer from down the hall ...

There was no help for it. She unlocked the door ... and gazed in stark, raving horror at the scene before her.

It was worse than seeing Steve Paymer in this condition. It was worse even than seeing a gorgeous Russell Crowe or Heath Ledger or some other Hollywood hottie in her tatty sleep wear, her hair unkempt and absolutely no make-up whatsoever.

It was the Scooby Gang.

PART TWO

"Hi ... Cordelia. Are we? ... I think we're early."

Cordelia stared at the deceptively petite-looking Slayer in front of her. Impeccably dressed, although a little too retro for good taste, Buffy Summers peered curiously at the former cheerleader through eyes that betrayed a sparkle of a smile. Evidently she too had never had the privilege of seeing Cordelia Chase in this condition.

It was a privilege shared by the rest of the Scoobies, notably Xander, Willow, Giles, Dawn and ... Spike.

Spike?

"What's he doing here?" The question popped out of her mouth unbidden, and it was all she could do to stare incredulously at the lean vampire, blinking through semi-bleary eyes at his bleached blonde hair. "Why is Spike, undead vampire guy here? Outside my apartment?" She pointed an accusing finger at him. "And you are so not invited in dead guy! I've got a G-H-O-S-T protecting me, so try anything and you die." She paused, repeating her own words in her head. "Okay, you know what I mean."

"Yeah," Spike paused sardonically. "It means you can S-P-E-L-L. Nice that. Imagine that comes in handy at work and all. Nancy boy must really appreciate that."

"Enough!" Buffy stepped in, putting a stop to what promised to be an entertaining few hours of bickering between Spike and Cordelia. She addressed the blonde vampire. "Spike, you promised you'd behave yourself if you came along. It's not like we had to take you with us. This isn't apocalypse-type stuff, this is a social call. On friends. Our friends. Now stop with the nasty or next time we head out into that sunlight there won't be a nice blanky between you and exploding into flames."

"No one knows why you're here Spike. We won't miss you for example, if you, oh I don't know, disappear and never be heard from again?" Quipped Xander, turning around to the vampire.

"Yeah okay, I get the point." Spike smiled sarcastically at Buffy, totally ignoring Xander's jibe. "Get rid of me good and proper. I told you to come up with a better line than that Slayer."

She ignored him. "I'm sorry Cordelia, I know we're like, a couple of hours early. But we thought that it'd be better if we did most of our driving at night, since, well--" she turned and gestured to Spike, "and we thought we'd get settled into the Hyperion and stuff, before you guys had to do your investigating ... and other stuff."

"... And then, well, when we got to the Hyperion, there was no one there." Willow, her short, layered hair flying unruly due to the long car ride, waved her hands expressively. "And then we thought, oh, Angel must be doing his super investigating stuff, and so we ..." She trailed off.

"... So you guys came ... here." She glanced over to Giles, standing wearily at the edge of the door as he smiled apologetically. Spending a couple of hours in the car with the Scoobies, a teenage girl and a bratty English vamp must've taken a lot of energy for the quiet librarian.

Cordelia smiled back. No matter what her outward mortification was at allowing herself to be seen in this less-than-stellar condition, the materialising of a large part of her high school past had a surprisingly uplifting effect. She unleashed her full-blown, devastating Queen C smile.

"Don't worry about it guys ... come on in." She stepped aside to let Buffy in, and the rest of the gang followed. She smiled tentatively at Dawn as she walked past, wondering fleetingly how long it'd take her to teach a ball of pure energy to dress properly. But then she realised that Dawn was Buffy's sister, so ... the lack of style was fully explained.

Spike stood in the door way, unable to enter. Seeing Cordelia's mouth harden, he protested aloud. "Oh come on! I can't hurt anyone! Ask the Slayer! I can't bite anyone, can't hurt any living thing, blah blah blah." He appealed to Buffy. "Go on, tell her."

Buffy looked tempted to leave him out in the hall way, but softened a little, sighing resignedly. "He's right. He's impotent. The Initiative put some sort of chip in his brain that prevents him from hurting people. He's like ... not dangerous. He can't even bite you."

Spike protested loudly once more. "Ooi! Nice way to make a guy feel not-evil there. Might as well dress me up in one of those white fluffy bunny outfits and have me give out Easter eggs to the kiddies. I'm a bloody vampire. I should be bloody dangerous!"

Cordelia lifted a perfectly plucked eyebrow but decided to accept Buffy's assurance. If the vampire slayer was okay with a vampire, who was she to question it? Besides, she didn't really care.

"Oh all right." She threw a warning glance at Spike. "I invite you in. But if you damage anything, or suck my blood, you're dead mister! As in, you'll be way deader than you already are!"

Spike smirked at her as he stepped into her apartment but kept silent. He was really looking forward to how Angel handled this little spitfire. Should prove interesting.

Cordelia switched into hostess mode. "Okay, anyone want drinks? Giles? Tea? Cos you know, I actually have some."

Before Giles could express his surprise at finding tea in Cordelia's apartment the bathroom door flew open, framing a semi-naked Angel against a back drop of steam. His glistening, athletic body was covered only by a hastily wrapped towel. His eyes were focused on a small tub of gel in his hands, and his demeanour was one of typically repressed agitation.

"Cordy! How many times have I told you not to use my hair gel? It says 'Angel's hair gel' for a reason you know! Maybe next time when you run out, you should, oh I don't know, tell me, because ..." Angel's ranting was cut off abruptly as he stood in full view of everyone in the room, standing stock still in absolute shock.

Cordelia pressed her lips together and tried vainly not to smile. She had almost forgotten that Angel was in the bathroom, and ... well, she guessed she could've warned him. Or something. Buffy's mouth formed an 'O' in astonishment, but oddly, there was little else in her eyes but surprise. And some repressed laughter. And maybe a little admiration, if Angel had possessed the ability to flatter himself at that moment.

"Wow Angel, that's ... more of you than I ever wanted to see." Xander's voice snapped Angel out of his prone state, and his hands fumbled clumsily at his towel. Damn. The towel seemed to be slipping ... which didn't make his situation any better.

He couldn't think of a smart reply to Xander's sarcastic jibe. Could this day start off any worse?

"Hey Xander. Buffy. Giles." He looked over beside the librarian, and greeted Dawn and Willow in turn, who were both smiling openly, not without some element of appreciation. And Spike.

Wait a minute.

Spike?

"What the--?" Suddenly forgetting the fact that he was a) almost naked, b) in the presence of the Slayer and c) thoroughly unintimidating without his game face and black coat, he lunged without thought at his former acquaintance. And was stopped by Cordelia.

"Angel!" She lightly touched his elbow in restraint. "Buffy says he's all impotent now, the Initiative guys put something in his head that prevents him from hurting living things. So it's okay ... okay?" She smiled at him, and Angel felt the tension draining out of his body.

He felt cold. And then he remembered his unclothed state.

"Ah ... okay, ah ..." Angel gripped for the right amount of dignity. For any dignity. "I'll ... just go get dressed now. Away from here."

"That's ... a good idea. L.A's kinda chilly and all in the mornings ..." Buffy quipped, her tone decidedly neutral.

Suddenly struck by the weirdness of the situation, Angel made a hasty exit from the room.

There was crystal still silence for a moment, and then Xander spoke up to allay the curiosity of the Scoobies. "So ... Angel takes showers here much?" Buffy perked her ears up, although she outwardly remained quite calm and controlled. Seeing Angel, comfortably walking around in Cordelia's apartment almost-naked without any awkwardness seemed to her quite impossible from what she knew of him. She sighed inwardly. But then again, he was different now ... she was different now, and strangely she was looking forward to getting to know a bit more about Angel and his life in L.A.

This was what their trip had been about. Ostensibly it had been by group consensus to visit Cordelia, and to a lesser extent, Angel and Wesley in L.A. After the recent traumas with Glory and the associated apocalyptic-induced stress, they'd all come to realise just how important their world was. And in particular their friends, and to an extent, the people they had never had time for.

So it was a time to mend fences, bridge gaps ... and stuff like that. Things were slow, or as slow as they would get around the Hellmouth, and Giles had even expressed enthusiasm for the trip despite loathing long car trips with loud pop music in general.

But for Buffy, the reason was clearly Angel. Yes, she definitely wanted to get to know Cordelia better, but her ultimate goal was to have a chance to get to know Angel. Really know him, as she had never known him before. Retrospectively she sensed that she had never really known him, never really peeled back the outer shell that he used to envelope his self-loathing. Their world had been completely filled by each other, their passion and love crowding out anything and everything between and inside them. It had been all consuming, irrepressible and ultimately, it had overtaken them. A dangerous passion. Something that could wipe out who they were without effort, a tide of inexorable feeling that could wash away their feeble resistance with a blink of an eye.

That was why they could never really be together. She understood that now, understood better now that Riley and her mom were no longer with her. That talk with him in the cemetery opened her eyes for the first time -- to Angel, to life, to love.

Love can be everything or it could be nothing; and love between people will last forever, no matter how it was they loved each other.

She loved Angel and always would, and he would always love her. She no longer feared that one day he would find his love for her to have melted away like last season's snow, or washed away like sand from a beach. Love was a permanence, a comfort, because it was eternal. Riley had loved her and always would, even if he was dead and gone.

With this understanding it had become increasingly difficult to not re-establish contact with her former lover. There was doubt in her mind as to whether they could make that difficult transition from passionate lovers to close friends. Could it really be done? And then she had realised just how little she knew of his life here.

What kinds of demons did they fight? Cordelia had mentioned to Willow about a rough patch a few months ago. What had that been about? Questions buffeted her mind with a ferocity that was hard to quell.

Cordelia was explaining matter-of-factly to Xander about her and Angel's curious arrangements. Deciding to discard awkwardness at the outset, Cordelia didn't let the semi-shocked and amused glances from her former high school friends perturb her. After all, they weren't in Sunnydale any more. This was her turf.

"So, Angel sleeps here sometimes cos of your visions?" Willow said sympathetically.

"And also the gourmet breakfast. You'd think a guy with a steady diet of blood, blood and oh, blood wouldn't know that much about you know, food, but he does. He cooks the most delicious omelettes!" Cordelia could hardly contain her enthusiasm, especially due to the fact that her stomach was now actually growling at her.

As if on cue, Angel stepped back out into the living room. "Okay, so I'm thinking that Cordy's filled you in about the important ... stuff." He paused dramatically, scanning the room. "Whose up for omelettes?"

PART THREE

Two cups of tea, a cup of coffee and three glasses of orange juice arranged neatly on a tray floated their way towards Cordelia and her guests. Dawn looked around the room excitedly.

"Ooh, is this Dennis?" She asked the empty space around her, and a glass of juice was gently deposited into her fingers.

Cordelia answered for her phantom room mate. "Yeah that's Dennis. He's really nice and helps around the house a lot, which is great since I'm not all that, you know, tidy." Cordelia looked around the room and smiled. "He's great to have around." She added quietly, almost as an afterthought.

"That must be nice." Willow could sense something hidden beneath Cordelia's happy exterior, but decided not to pursue it.

"Where's Angel with the food man? I'm starving!" Xander announced loudly.

"Xander, it's not like he's cooking for a whole bunch of us. Oh wait -- he is! Take it easy." Cordy berated him, and it almost felt like old times again. Old 'having a rebar through my torso' kinda times again. "I'll check on him."

"I'll come with." Buffy got up and followed Cordelia to the modest kitchen. Learning that Angel cooked, well, food was peaking her already peaked curiosity.

"Angel, are you done yet? I'm starving!" She complained good naturedly as she heated up some blood in the microwave.

"Cordy, it's not like there isn't any other food in the fridge. You can have that left-over chicken mornay from last night." Angel replied, without bothering to turn around.

"Angel you know I don't like chicken, not since you told me how bad blood kinda tastes like chicken. In addition to the 'ew' factor ... I like sushi. And other really expensive stuff that only you can buy because we're such good friends and you owe me for being vision gal!"

He smiled and turned around, surprised to find that Buffy had been standing there during their bantering. Flirting. Bickering.

Whatever.

"Buffy." He said, the surprise colouring his tone.

"Angel." She replied, still with a bemused glint in her round, blue orbs. "Smells good. Omelettes are good." She peered closely at the pan in front of him. "How can you tell when it's ready? 'Cause when I try to cook them they end up, you know, bad." Her nose scrunched up in annoyance. "And kinda raw ... and runny. And generally bad."

"Well, it's about the fluff. When the omelette's just about ready it kinda fluffs up, and that's when it's got the nicest texture. Then if you want, you can put some light cheese on it, grill it for a couple of minutes to get that nice golden brown..." Angel trailed off as he realised how odd it was, explaining the nature of omelettes to Buffy. When they had been together, their conversations seemed to have surrounded the Hellmouth, the fact that they couldn't really be together, and ... well, that pretty much covered it.  

"Learn something new every day." Her tone was ambiguous, carrying dual meaning. It was true though, that was one thing about Angel she never knew. She was glad that she found out he knew so much about dairy-related foodstuffs. And she didn't even mean it in a sarcastic way.

Cordelia took out a mug that ostentatiously declared 'The World's Greatest 248 year old' on it and shook the contents of the now heated blood into it. Buffy reined in her disgust as its metallic smell assaulted her Slayer senses; it would take a whole lot of somethings for her to not bat an eyelid at the drinking blood thing, if ever she could get used to it.

Cordy held the mug under Angel's nose nonchalantly asking, "Hungry?"

Angel didn't seem to notice Buffy's disgust as he twisted around. "Yes. It's warm, right?"

"Uh-huh." Cordy smiled mischievously. "Two and a half minutes, medium high." She floated the steaming mug right under his nose, tantalising his vampire senses and holding the mug hostage. "Is the food nearly ready?"

Angel sighed somewhat melodramatically, playing along. Cordy was always a drama queen. Not that he really minded.

"Yes Cordy, this is the last one. Now please --" he looked towards her, naked pleading in his dark, intense eyes. "Give me a sip?"

Cordy rolled her eyes in mock suffering while Buffy quietly but incredulously absorbed their interaction. It was strange, and a bit surreal. She almost felt like an intruder there, getting a glimpse into something close and private that not many people got to share, let alone, have.

It made sense though. Cordy had learned to fight beside Angel every day. It was their work. More than that though, Cordy was his seer. Or Angel was her warrior, depending on which way you decided to look at it. They were each other's lives, and they had become closely and inextricably bonded because of that. Facing death, facing life. Much like how her and Xander and Willow and Giles and everybody else in their group all depended and bonded with each other, their closeness hard to absorb and hard to break into. For the first time, she got a sense of what confronted Anya and Tara when they had first entered their closely knit group.

The feeling was not altogether uncomfortable. It was ... different.

Cordy was delicately tipping the contents of the mug into Angel's mouth, and Buffy saw him gulp it with satisfaction before Cordy took it away again.

"I suppose I should ask Spike too ..." Cordy smiled slightly as she passed Buffy, muttering coherently. From her place in the kitchen, Buffy could hear the somewhat bizarre conversation taking place outside clearly.

"Spike? I just heated some blood for Angel. You hungry? And before you ask --" evidently there had been some iinterruption, "no, we don't have human blood. Ew. And way ew. Only pigs blood."

Spike seemed uncustomarily speechless, taken aback at the slender brunette's offer. "Why, lass ..." he faltered, "that'd be right good. Beginning to appreciate what Nancy boy sees in you."

Cordy chose to ignore the last comment, believing that it was what passed for a compliment in Spike's twisted vampire demonic head. Whatever.

"Not too hot, mind you. It stings a bit too much when it's too hot. Delicate stomach and all."

Cordy came sailing into the kitchen again, digging inside the cold confines of the refrigerator for the last packet of blood and depositing it in the microwave. "We're out of blood," she commented idly to Angel. "You'll have to buy some more if you don't want to go all hungry."

Angel absent-mindedly nodded, his attention focused on his last culinary masterpiece. There was something good about cooking; maybe it was creating something that would be appreciated by people, or maybe it was the ability to make people happy. Either way, he felt a familiar satisfaction as he placed the last of the omelettes onto the plates.

"You guys go ahead and eat, I'll be out in a while." Cordelia said to Buffy, smiling. "I know everyone's hungry. I'm just gonna get dressed and I'll be out, okay?"

Cordelia's change was one of the first things that had struck Buffy that day. She and Cordelia had never really talked much, but the few times that they had, she had found the former May Queen surprisingly deep and, well, human. The hardness she wore on the outside was only for protection, a defence against things that might hurt her. It was just that for Cordelia, the shell had been more abrasive than most.

But now ... the change was electrifying. There were still hints and traces of her Sunnydale self there, the remnants of the ex-cheerleader that were actually quite pleasant. Her sunny smile, her knack of saying things directly, her acceptance of everything without question. It was quite surprising for Buffy to realise that she and this newer, more gentle and open Cordelia had the potential to actually be friends. She smiled at the thought.

Cordelia actually being a nice person. Spike actually having some genuine feelings for her.

Giles was right. Wonders will never cease.

PART FOUR

"That was Wes on his cell." Cordelia announced to the table. "He and Gunn are heading over here. He ... kinda wants to see everyone too." Cordy sat back into her seat and glanced furtively around the table. If she had been unsure of the Scoobies reaction to her, then Wesley would be doubly unsure. After all, Wesley hadn't really gotten along with the others while he had been Watcher in Sunnydale.

Dawn, who had remained very quiet, spoke to Angel next to her. "That was great Angel." She smiled at the vampire shyly. "I had no idea you could, you know, cook."

Conversation reverberated around the room as Angel smiled back at Dawn. His recollection of her was vague and piecemeal at best, but with Giles' revelation that Dawn was, in fact, The Key that Buffy was protecting, her presence was doubly fascinating. It was difficult to imagine a world where Dawn didn't exist, and seeing the protective attitude that Buffy had formed over Dawn first-hand really made it quite impossible for Angel to think of her as anything but Buffy's little sister. Especially now that Joyce was gone.

Things were a lot different now. In fact, as Angel threw his gaze over to examine everyone's faces, he realised that everybody had changed a lot too. Willow he had seen transformed from a quiet, slightly unwieldy girl into a powerful Wicca who moved with full confidence in herself. Xander, an awkward boy now grown into a more confident man, holding down a job and fighting evil. And of course, his once-true love ... Buffy.

He didn't really know where his relationship with Buffy was heading after today. Once a upon a time, he had regarded his relationship with her as the forbidden love of all time -- star crossed lovers, the Vampire Slayer and the Vampire with a soul, two people who should never have fallen in love, but did. Against destiny or in spite of it, they loved each other with all their heart and souls.

But the day had come when they had both realised that it was not meant to be. At least, not then. After his move to L.A, Angel had held out the secret hope that one day, somehow, some way, they would find a way to be together. Something along the lines of 'love will conquer all'. And then his dream had come true -- he had Buffy, he had his humanity, and he could at last enjoy life. Life as it should be enjoyed, as a human, in the arms of someone you loved.

But again it was not to be. Angel could think of that brief day with Buffy now without regret, a bright and golden memory that infused his mind with imperfect happiness. Sitting opposite her now, watching her smile and laugh, and looking more like a twenty year old college student than a Vampire Slayer overtaxed with apocalyptic concerns, he realised that it had all been worth it -- the pain, the heartache at leaving his Buffy behind in Sunnydale, all so that she could have a normal life. At college and an undead boyfriend.

His thoughts darkened at the thought of Riley. After Joyce's death he had gone to Buffy at the cemetery, and she had tearfully explained why Riley wasn't there with her. Comforting her when she really needed to be comforted. It made the demonic part of him growl with anger, straining to be let out. How dare he betray her that way?

Noticing his sudden grouchiness, Cordy gave Angel a questioning look. He smiled back and his anger slid away, replaced by -- calmness. Cordy smiled at him, her deep brown eyes twinkling in the reflected sun light.

She always had that effect on him. Maybe it was the arrival of the Scoobies, but it suddenly struck Angel, really struck him, how much he and Cordelia had changed from their Sunnydale personas, and how much closer they were to each other than to anyone they had ever known from before. Buffy, Giles, Xander and Willow provided a yardstick with which to measure this change by. It was ... quite nice actually, to contrast his Sunnydale existence to this one. With the exception of the  periods following Doyle's death, and the Darla-induced craziness, he was much more comfortable about himself than before. And he had more friends ... Cordy being his best friend.

Even he had to laugh at that. Sunnydale High's finest cheerleader and broodiest vampire -- best friends? The Powers That Be really seemed to have a twisted sense of humour.

Cordelia's busy door bell chimed again. "Oh, that must be Wes and Gunn. Dennis, could you?"

The door opened immediately, revealing Wesley, dressed casually in loose fitting cream pants and a light coloured shirt. Gunn was beside him, peering curiously at the assembled personages before stepping confidently past Wesley into her apartment.

"Heard some of Cordy's friends was in town, so I thought I'd drop English by to see y'all. I'm Gunn; spelt two N's." He introduced himself confidently as he looked around, his gaze settling on Buffy.

"And this must be the infamous Buffy. Vampire Slayer. From what these two say about you," he gestured towards Angel and Cordy, "you kick ass. Mind showing me some of them Slayer moves some time? English here ain't bad, but I can kick his ass clear to next week."

"You most certainly can not." Wesley spoke up and defended himself. "I'm not as good as you I'm sure, but I can hold my own. Now that my sides healed a bit better ..."

Giles looked questioningly at Cordy, who informed him matter-of-factly, "He got shot."

"Oh dear Lord." Giles exclaimed. "Are you all right Wesley?"

Wesley smiled at the Watcher, grateful for his obvious concern. "Yes, I'm fine now thank you Rupert." He turned his attention back onto his comrade again. "And I am not that bad. I didn't hear you complaining when we were fighting that Quinite demon last week."

"What's this?" Giles asked, concern etched over his face.

"Oh it was nothing. We killed it --" Wesley started to explain.

"You guys should've been there! Me and English here ..." Gunn interjected, explaining with an enthusiasm that infected his listeners. Angel listened to it, hardly believing that the Quinite demon had been that tall and that hard to kill. " ... And then you should've seen English here fly outta nowhere, nowhere I tell you, and cut the son of a bitch right down the middle. Slashed him up real good. Then me and Angel here, we took out this demon's bad ass friends, thinking this Quinite dude here was gone, and what d'ya know --"

"Sounds absol-bloody-lutely fascinating." Spike said drolly.

Gunn turned to stare at the vampire, noting in one glance the English accent, the blood in his mug, and this bleached hair.

"Let me guess -- we can't kill this one either."

Cordy shook her head. "He's with Buffy. Long story. Can't hurt people."

Gunn's cool appraising glance lingered on Spike a little longer, intimidating the vampire slightly. "Huh. Anyways, long story short, English here used my bad ass axe and split that demon right down the middle, just as I was about to become demon chow." He slapped Wesley hard on the back. "Dude saved my life more times than I can count."

The Scoobies were suitably shocked at Gunn's honest description of Wesley's fighting prowess.

Gunn and Wesley capped off the incredulity with their trademark secret handshake, prompting Xander to wonder out loud," How come Wesley's suddenly cooler than me?" He asked no one in particular. "I'm still cool, right?"

Willow and Buffy both smiled indulgently at him as Willow reassured him. "Yes Xander, we still think you're cool."

An awkward silence ensued, the silence one that habitually descended upon two different groups of friends meeting for the first time. It was Cordelia who broke the awkward stillness with a cheery uptake.

"Hey, why don't we, you know, get out of here? We could go out, see the sights, maybe see a couple of stars?"

"Oh!" Willow exclaimed. "Go shopping?"

Cordelia nodded, wondering fleetingly how weird a proposal that would have been to her two years before.

Boy, times have changed.

"So, why don't I take the girls and Xander out shopping, see the sights, spend some money. Coming Gunn?"

Gunn shrugged nonchalantly. "Whatever. 'Til I get word of something going down, I'm game for shopping."

"Cool. So Giles and Wesley will be doing their musty book thing ... right?" Wesley looked to the Watcher, and Giles nodded.

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that demon you fought a couple of weeks ago. Was it--?"

"Okay, so Giles and Wes are going to be doing their book thing." Cordy interjected loudly. "Spike, I'm guessing you wouldn't really be doing the shopping in full sun light thing, so -- you could probably do some, you know, skulking thing that vamps do. Or you could go to Caritas if you want to sing karaoke. Don't worry, it's a demon sanctuary, and they serve blood there. And spicy chicken wings. Just tell Lorne you know us."

"I am not even going to ask what a demon karaoke bar is." Xander piped up.

"D'uh. It's a karaoke bar -- for demons." Cordy retorted.

"Yeah okay, so how do you  know of it?"

"Well, we have to go there sometimes, for work you know." Giles raised his eyebrows in question as Cordy explained. "We have to hear Angel sing and Lorne can tell us what he can see in his aura."

Buffy and the Scoobies blinked in incomprehension. They all thought they had just heard Cordelia say that Angel sang. Angel singing. In public. In front of people.

"I'm sorry. I thought I heard you say that you go there to hear Angel ... sing?" Buffy asked Cordelia with a wavering voice, feeling sure she would burst out in uncharacteristic laughter any moment.

Angel squirmed in his seat. First the towel incident, and now the singing. Damn, did he even deserve getting embarrassed twice in one morning?

Cordelia smiled, her teeth showing in a broad grin. "Oh yeah. You guys haven't heard singing until you've heard Angel singing. Don't get me wrong --" she paused, as Wesley and Gunn burst out into semi-repressed laughter, "it's for a good cause and all, but ..."

"Bad?" Xander chirped.

"Oh yeah." Angel squirmed again in his chair, but even he was hard pressed to maintain his uncomfortable demeanour. He wasn't deaf, he could appreciate good music like the next guy. And even he knew he didn't really hit the right notes very often.

"I try my best." Was all he said, trying very hard to sound hurt and confused, but failing miserably when he surprised himself by grinning good naturedly.

Cordy gave him a semi-comforting smile, but he could see glints of hidden mirth in her eyes. "Oh you know what we should do tonight?"

Xander and Willow both asked, "What?"

"We should go to Caritas. We could hear Angel sing!"

As the rest of the group broke out in agreement, Cordy said to Angel, "You could sing your old favourite -- Mandy."

Buffy burst out laughing at that, she couldn't help it. It was loud and golden, and was a surprising sound from her given her recent tragedy. Angel smiled at that. "Barry Manilow? Angel ... How ... could ... you?" Buffy's words came between her laughter.

"I think the words are pretty." It induced more laughter, this time from Willow and Xander, and to a lesser extent, Dawn.

"Okay." Cordelia decided it was time to let Angel off the hook. The poor undead guy had had enough humiliation for one day. "We should get going. We could have lunch at this really cool place I know." She started for the door, bag and jacket in hand. "Ah ... Angel?"

He looked at her questioningly. "Guess you'll be staying here right?" He nodded, wondering why she'd asked him that. She knew that he liked to nap a bit during the day time.

She looked over at Buffy. "What about you Buffy? You coming with?" Buffy looked at Cordelia with newfound respect as she realised that Cordelia had given her just what she needed -- time alone with Angel. She smiled at the brunette gratefully.

"Uh -- no, I think I'd like to rest here. I've been pretty strung out lately. You guys go without me."

Cordelia smiled at the slayer in understanding. "Sure thing. See you guys at dinner then? I'll call and let you guys know where we'll be."

The significance of what Cordy had done wasn't lost on Angel either. He felt nothing but overwhelming pride and appreciation for what his beautiful friend had done for him. He smiled, and as was more often the case when he was around his Seer, years of torture and pain seem to drop from his haunted eyes as he smiled gratefully at her. It seemed absolutely incredible that after all that he had done to her, disappointed her, had thrown her unconditional friendship back into her face, she could still find it in her heart to forgive him. More than that, trust him even more, trust him enough to do something so small yet so significant for him.

He followed the group to the door, and gently touched Cordy's elbow to stop her from leaving. She turned around and looked at him questioningly.

"Thanks Cordy." He whispered in her ear, low enough to be indecipherable to the others milling in the hall way. There was no need to say more, because he knew Cordy would understand. She always had understood more of him than he understood of himself.

He gave her a light kiss on the forehead, his arms enveloping her in the briefest but most private of hugs. "See you at dinner."

Her luminous eyes spoke volumes as she closed the door, leaving Angel and Buffy alone -- at last.

"So ..." His eyes drifted onto the beautiful slayer. "What's the mature plan here?"

There was silence, broken only by Angel's shuffling feet.

"So." Buffy paused. "Mandy, huh?"

[FINIS]