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Cosmic Companions
by Tami
The group, save for Cordelia, Connor and Angel were milling around the reception desk listening to the radio and the news reports on the rain of fire that was being described as a meteor shower. A sound caught their attention and everyone turned to see Angel walk in the front door. Fred ran up to him to greet him, but he was aloof as he stopped at the edge of the lobby.
Fred took in his appearance and noticed blood on his hands from when he busted the door down in anger after witnessing Cordelia and Connor’s little tryst. “Angel, you’re hurt.”
“I’ll be . . .” his voice trailed off and he winced as the scene replayed in his head. “Let’s talk about it in the morning.” Resignedly, he started walking upstairs to his room.
Fred turned to the group. “What about Cordelia and Connor? Has anyone checked in on ’em?” When Lorne shook his head negatively, she turned to Angel for an answer.
Angel continued up the steps without acknowledging her. “They’re fine.”
“You saw them?” Lorne asked, but Angel ignored him.
Oh, yeah, he saw them. Vampire eyesight was a curse sometimes. It’s not like he could miss them. The only thing missing was the road construction light signaling where they were. His friend and what he thought to be a possible girlfriend and his son.
What would you do if the world was about to end?
For demons, the answer is to go out and create as much havoc as possible. For humans, you apparently fuck the woman that may as well have been your mother. He really hated when mythical plays ironically mirrored real life.
When he received no response, Lorne commented to the group, “He looks like he was hit by a tank.”
Gunn shook his head. “I don’t remember seeing him that down after a fight.”
“We can’t blame him,” Wesley sighed, “No one likes to lose, whatever the circumstance.”
Fred excused herself, went upstairs to Angel’s room and tapped on the door. When she didn’t hear anything, she called out, “Angel, it’s Fred. Are you okay? Can I come in?”
Still nothing. She tried the door and found it unlocked. She looked around as if she would be caught and slipped inside. Tiptoeing to Angel’s bedroom she found the vampire laying in bed with his eyes closed. She remembered watching him sleep in her cave in Pylea. Even now, it was still eerie that he didn’t breathe.
Fred walked around the bed and stood beside it. Not seeing him too well in the dark, windowless bedroom, she started a little when Angel moved and
lifted the covers. When she didn’t move, he grunted.
“Are you going to get in or are you going to leave?” he asked gruffly.
The question struck Fred as odd. She and Angel were friends, but she would have never labeled their relationship as close enough to be bunk mates.
“Make a decision, in or out,” Angel said tiredly.
Fred slipped her shoes off and climbed under the covers with him. Angel covered her up, but didn’t touch her otherwise. The silence was becoming deafening for her. After living alone in Pylea for so many years, she couldn’t stand the quiet. That was probably the reason why she screamed whenever she was excited. Though, from what Lorne told her, Angel thought it was a Texas thing.
“Angel?” Fred prompted.
“You think you know someone. I worked with her for three years. I was with her through so many things. She was my friend, my first real friend. Sure, Buffy was my girlfriend, but we were never friends. Cordelia was . . . was different. I watched her grow from a spoiled rich girl to an amazing woman. I think I was starting to have feelings for her. After Lorne did that spell to get her memory back, she said we loved each other,” Angel said aimlessly.
It was the most Fred had heard him say at one time. The way he was talking made it sound as if something happened to lose that love, and it wasn’t Cordelia ascending to a higher power. Fred’s mind worked overtime. She was always thinking about things, whether she was awake or asleep. Her mind was always figuring out one problem or another.
Her curiosity got the best of her and she asked, “Angel, they say that the person you think about most when you go to sleep at night is your cosmic companion. Do you have anyone that you think about more than anything else?”
Angel snuggled against her, trapping her body against him with a heavy arm and leg and mumbled, “William.”
Fred looked confused. Who was William? |
