FicWad

Cordelia walked with Wayne once the trio entered the sewers. She would let Angel trail behind. She was still mad that he came tearing in and hurt Wayne. She didn't see the purpose of that. She was a grown woman and if she wanted to have sex with a demon, that was her choice, not his. Sure, last time she got pregnant but she learned from her mistake! She gave Wayne a smile. "Nice little corner of the... Sewer... You got here."

"Thank you," Wayne replied to her. "We try to make it as homey as we can." It was cleaner in this area of the sewers. He paused at a metal door. There were pots with silk flowers on both side and a welcome mat at in front of it. "We really try to make it pleasant."

Angel did follow but he was on full alert. His footfalls were silent compared to Wayne and Cordelia. His dark eyes scanned their surroundings constantly.

She was also wearing heels so that made her footfalls click against the concrete of the sewer floor. She looked back to Angel. "Maybe you should go... Scout around or sniff around or do whatever you do... Around." She looked back to Wayne with a smile. "Love to see your decorating."

Suddenly, a loud roar echoed from a side passage. Angel looked to it. "Somehow I don't think I have too," he sad as he looked at that dark passage.

Cordelia was glad that they had brought weapons along with them. She looked to Wayne. "Get inside, lock yourself in, and stay hidden. Don't come out for anything." She looked to Angel and nodded her head. She raised her sword, waiting for Angel to lead the way.

Wayne didn't argue when he heard that roar and Cordy insisting he went in. His eyes got wide with fear and he rushed into his dwelling, closing the metal door behind him. He stood there leaning on that door for a few more moments until he heard another inhuman howl from the other side. He ran from the door calling, "Douglas! Douglas!"

She stopped Wayne quickly with a hand on his chest. "We will get him back but it won't help if you go running in there. Both of you could get killed. Just get back inside and keep yourself safe." She pushed Wayne gently towards the door. Once he was back inside, she rushed to keep up with Angel. The click of her heels wasn't exactly going to help them with the element of surprise.

Angel readied his weapon, the muscles in body tensed, made more visible since he was wearing the wife beater. He looked back at Cordelia. "Follow behind," he told her. "Let me get in some strikes. I want to weaken it if I can't kill it right off." He only said this because he didn't want her injured. It wasn't said in a commanding tone, just one of knowing his vampire constitution could take more then her mortal body. He advanced on towards that tunnel.

Even though she had been training with Angel, now was really not the time to go telling him she would jump right in. To be honest, the tight fitting vest and jeans didn't make for the best fighting getup and the blonde wig was itching the hell out of her. Oh, the things she did for fashion. She followed behind Angel, keeping on alert.

Angel stretched out his senses, including taking a sniff. He couldn't help but make a face. "Why can't these things be hygiene aware," he asked aloud.

"It lives in a sewer, Angel. Not exactly having the access to clean water or you know... A subscription to Seventeen." She paused behind him as he took his sniff. She came up to his back, almost touching him. She lowered her voice. "Where is it?"

"It's just," Angel started to say then out of the shadows it came. It looked almost like the big trolls from Lord of the Rings. "Its right here." The vampire went immediately to attack. The demon had what looked like a femur bone in its massive paw/hand. It brought it around to strike probably what it considered an annoyance. Angel brought the sword up and the bone shattered. He continued the arch downward and the sword cut into the thing's leg at the joint of the knee.

Cordelia looked around for this "Douglas" that Wayne had been shouting for. She just hoped that they weren't too late in finding him. She blinked when she saw a slender girl huddling in the corner. She looked at him, her, it. "Um...Douglas?"

Douglas looked up at the blonde girl and nodded his head, or rather, her head. Sex was sort of a fluid concept for these demons. She stood up slowly since Angel had the demon distracted.

Cordelia was still kind of weirded out by this but saving Douglas, priority here. "Okay, now when I say go, I want you to run as fast as you can back home, don't look back. You and Wayne, lock yourself inside, don't come out for anything." She watched Angel, waiting for a good time to tell Douglas to run.

Angel made the slice clean on the leg. The demon howled in pain and hobbled back a bit. This wasn't right. This puny creature shouldn't be able to injure it. Its gaze then fixed on Angel and it seemed to be sizing him up for the first time. It was a lesser, dead thing. Vampires in the ranks of demons were considered bottom of the barrel. The wretched things had to take over dead things to live. It broke off an old iron pipe from the wall and used it as a spear, throwing it at Angel.

"Go! Now." She shoved Douglas in the direction of its home when she saw the thing was focusing on Angel. Cordelia found herself behind it and armed with a sword. She knew Angel could dodge that spear so she brought her sword down in a wide arc across the thing's back. She really hadn't counted on its back bursting open like a zit. She stumbled back, covered in the demon's something now. She wasn't sure if it was blood or pus or just general goo.

Angel deflected the pipe and at the same instant he lunged for the demon. His sword plunged into what should have been a ribcage. And just like Cordy the got rewarded with a fountain of goo or blood or puss or whatever it was. The thing fell in a whimper but tried to lash out. Angel had lost grip of his sword and it seems to sink into the thing.

As she stumbled back, she noticed that her sword was now gone from her hands. She looked at Angel, a panicked look on her features. Or what Angel could make out in her features since she was covered in bluish goo. "I am thinking now, good time to run back to the car for more weapons?"

"I'm thinking the same," he said as he reached over for that led pipe and then used it to hit the thing in the head, more goo spurted but it still wasn't dead. It was down but it was moving. He shook his head. He was feeling strange, almost like vertigo. The demon was starting to get to its feet.

Cordelia rushed around the side of thing and grabbed Angel's hand. She started tugging him back the way that they came. She looked over her shoulder as the demon started staggering towards them. "Angel... I think finding a place to hide where it can't chase us... Might be better."

Angel followed Cordelia. His usually sense of unfailing direction wasn't working right now. This wasn't good, not good at all.

Cordelia was feeling sick to her stomach, like she just might throw up all over her already ruined clothes. She tried to push away that feeling and the dizziness that was creeping up. She had gotten used to taking a lot since taking on the visions. She looked back to see the thing gaining on them. They would never make it to the car. She looked over at Angel. "Angel, seriously...place to hide. Now."

Holding tighter to Cordy he closed his eyes hoping maybe that would stop the world around him from spinning. "Go...Go," he called to her.

"I am going! What does it look like I am doing!" She nearly yelled at him. Normally, her fear would be carefully controlled behind a wall of bravado but now, it was crumbling down. Cordelia saw her chance when she saw a small opening. It was too small for the demon to get through. She grabbed Angel's shirt and ducked her head. She yanked him towards the entrance.

His eyes closed and he didn't see how low the entry was. He hit his head. "OWW!"

"Duck down!" She waited for him to duck down before she pulled him in. It wasn't a second too late as the demon came barreling down onto the entryway. She pulled Angel back, away from the entrance as the demon stuck his hand in, swiping at them. Its movements were slowed, probably from the injuries but it was still pissed.

When inside, Angel was against the far wall, sitting. The space was small. He sat there a moment before speaking. "That is one nasty thing," he said and then slowly opened his eyes. "This is not good."

She slid down the wall so that she could sit too. She started to pick the hardened goo of herself and flick it away. "You are telling me. What is this stuff anyway?" She pulled off a sticky string of it and flicked it against the wall. She reached up to pull her blonde wig off.

"Ah," he said as he started getting his bearings back. "I don't know. It doesn't smell like blood, demon or otherwise. But it... I don't know, I felt..." He paused and looked over at her. His eyes took her in. Even the demon goo couldn't hide the face that she was beautiful.

"All I know is that I feel sticky right now. What a way to end the night." She trailed off but she was unable to hide the sadness in her voice. She wiped the goo off her face with her hands. She was doing her best to try to get it off her. She had a feeling that is what was making her so sick and emotional.

Reaching over, Angel pulled some from her shoulder. It peeled like a fruit roll up off wax paper and it peeled all the way down to her cleavage. He stopped. "Maybe you better take care of the rest of it," he said, though his hand hadn't moved.

"Oh yeah, because touching me and getting near my girl parts is so repulsive to you." She pushed his hand away so that she could finish the job that he started. She sniffled just a little bit though she hadn't meant to. If she didn't know better, she would swear she was PMSing or something.

"No," he replied, "its not. Its because... I want to... I mean, you know, be respectful to you." His words faltered from his mouth because he wanted to touch her. Oh, how he wanted to touch her.

"Oh come off it, Angel." She raised her head and looked up at him. "It's not a matter of respect. Its a matter of you carrying a torch for your former flame and basically not even noticing other girls around you, who are trying to be subtly into you but know nothing can ever happen because they aren't Buffy." She picked the blonde wig up and then tossed it aside. She really had hope that maybe she could play up his fascinations with blondes tonight.

"Cordy, Buffy, she'll always be a part of me," he told her, "but its over. She as much as told me when she came here to get Faith." He swallowed hard saying this. He'd not told anybody but Wesley and that was because he had witnessed the exchange. "I told her to leave. Go home and not come back to L.A."

"Just because its over doesn't mean you still don't carry a torch for her. She died and you go off to a monk-ery for three months. When I die, you probably won't even have a funeral." She hadn't meant for that to sound like her death was so soon. She had been very careful until now in hiding that secret from everyone.

The demon tried reaching in again. Angel looked over at that arm. He picked up a cinderblock, moved forward a bit and brought it down on the thing's hand. It screamed. "Will you please be polite and just go away? We're having a private discussion here," he yelled at it. Looking back at Cordy he shook his head. "I don't ever want to find out what it would be like without you in my life."

"Some demons really have no respect." She threw her blonde wig at the retreating hand. She fell silent though when Angel said that. She pulled her knees up her chest, trying to keep herself from saying something.

"You looked good tonight," he told her as he settle back down by her. "But, I like you better brunette." He looked over to her. "I was, well, jealous tonight that another guy could touch you and... You know, I couldn't."

That was just really out of character for Angel. She raised a brow and looked over at him. The question was written all over her face but she went ahead and said it out loud. "Huh?" He had managed to stump her. That was quite the feat.

"When I saw you talking to Wayne, before I knew he was a demon," he said, everything spilling like a damn was broke. He kept asking himself what the hell was he doing but he kept right on. "He made you smile. I just wished I could do that sometimes."

"You do make me smile. Plenty of times. Whenever you buy me things or you do something that so completely dorky..." She paused for a moment. She turned her head to look at him. She hadn't meant to say it but as soon as the words came out, it was too late. "I love you."

He sat there for a moment then he leaned over to her. His hand moved up behind her head and into her hair. He pulled her to him and kissed her. He couldn't help himself, he'd wanted to do that for so long now.

It was heartbreaking that he was kissing her without saying anything. She thought that maybe it was a pity kiss. She pulled away from him quickly, turning her head away. She didn't want him to see that she was crying.

"Cordelia," he said reaching over to touch her arm. "I... I love you. I just want...I want to hold you. Make you safe. I just want you."

She sniffled once more. She had to tell him. It wasn't fair for her to keep it a secret. "Angel...I am dying. Not like oh, we are all dying, sort of thing. As in I probably have less than a year to live."

Angel just looked at her for a long moment his mouth open but not a word coming out. He could only shake his head at what she was saying. He looked like a fish with that mouth opening and not saying a thing.

She forced a smile. She reached over to push his chin up. "There is nothing you can do. Nothing anyone can do. That is why I didn't say anything."

He shook his head. "No," he said. "No. We'll do something. We'll find a way. We'll talk to Lorne. He'll know who can help."

"Its fine. It's just... I've known for a while. I probably shouldn't have even told you. Its great that we love each other but come on, it won't work out. I am dying and you, remember, don't date." She wasn't like Buffy, continually whining about her destiny and her fate. She accepted it because she was stronger than that. She just dealt with it and moved on.

"It's not fine," he said. He tried to stand and in his anger, hit his head on the low ceiling. "DAMN!"

"This is exactly why I didn't tell you. I don't want you to get angry. This isn't something where you can go out and kill someone or rescue some sleezebag from a fire prison. This is how it is. My brain is damaged because of the visions." She did have a chance, at one time, to give them away. She didn't want that though. She never wanted to give them away and she still didn't, despite her death sentence.

Angel sat back down. "This is not going to happen," he said. "I'm going to the Oracles. I'm going to demand they do something. Nobody or nothing is going to take anything else away from me!"

"The Oracles are long dead. That is what happens in this line of work. We all die. Doyle, The Oracles, Buffy, me. Wow, never thought I would put myself in the same category as Buffy." She rolled her eyes mightily and looked away from him. "That is why tonight was so important to me. Probably the last real party I will ever go to. And I was trying to pretend it was a date with you, even if you don't do that."

Angel just sat here and looked ahead. He was quiet, dangerously quiet. He wasn't going to let this happen. A million things were going through his mind now as the light speed.

She reached over and she took his hand in hers. "Can I just have one night? Please. One night where you throw out the don't list? Where you aren't brooding and you are just... Fun and funny and dorky Angel? I love all the sides of you, the Champion, the dork, and even the brooding vampire but we are trapped in a small space until that thing dies. I don't want to spend it in silence."

Slowly, he turned and looked at her. He took her in her smile, her eyes. He leaned over to her again and kissed her, his other arm going around her.

She had to admit that kissing Angel was better than him sitting there and brooding about things. She wrapped her arms around him so that she could kiss him back. She could feel their bodies sticking together thanks to the goo. It wasn't pleasant but she could deal with it. She had been waiting for this for a long time.

Angel pulled her over to him, into his lap. His right hand moved down her back to her ass in those tight jeans that fit her like a second skin. Her warmth against him excited him as he deepened that kiss.

She slid easily into his lap when he pulled her closer. She could feel his desire just barely contained in his jeans. That is what made her break away. "Angel... I really am enjoying this but curse? I am not really big on being trapped in a small space with Angelus."

Angel still held her close. He knew what could happen. "I know," he said. "I just want to hold you, not let you go." He rested his forehead over on her shoulder.

Cordelia closed her eyes as she laid against him. Before she knew it, she was asleep. It wasn't until a few hours later before she opened her eyes. She looked up at Angel, smiling. "Hey...that demon dead yet?"

"Hmm," Angel said holding her still. He had sat there while she slept, listening to her breathing and feeling her heart beat. "I haven't checked."

"I really want to get this goo off me. It's hard as a rock now and its making my skin hurt." She also had a sneaky suspicion that it was the cause of her emotional unloading onto Angel. She started to move out of his arms so that he could go and check for any signs of life from the thing.

When she was up, he crawled over to the opening and looked out. "Uh," he started and looked back to her. "It looks dead and well, kind of...You know how half melted ice cream looks in a bowl? But gross looking?"

"I really didn't need all those details. I already feel sick to my stomach. All I want to do is go home and shower. A couple of times." She was hoping that Angel would suggest just taking a shower at her place. Maybe he would even suggest sleeping over. She wasn't quite sure how a relationship with your best friend slash cursed vampire worked exactly.

Then about that time, Wayne peeked in the entry. "We were wondering when you both would come out," he said. "Douglas and I want to thank you for making out home safe for us again."

Cordelia stood up slowly, more of the goo crunching and falling away from her skin. She looked around for her wig before she remembered that she threw it at the demon. "It wasn't a problem, Wayne. But don't let it happen again. How about getting a nice house on the surface?"

The demon raised a brow. "What? With all the sun exposure and risk of skin cancer?"

"That is why they created sunblock." She waited for Wayne to move out of the entranceway and for Angel to leave before she made her exit. "We will send someone down to clean this up." She knew that Wes would want to take samples and Fred would want to play scientist with them.

Wayne moved and stood. Angel crawled out and looked at the mass of melting demon. "Oh, that's okay," Wayne told Cordelia. "Douglas likes to do canning." He turned and started back for their dwelling.

She looked over at Angel and then made a gagging motion. That was just so wrong. "We better take a sample for Wes or he will be pissed. You have anything we can put a sample into?" She looked Angel over. They didn't exactly dress for demon fighting, either of them.

Wayne turned back and smiled at them both. "Just one moment," he said as he stepped into the door.

Angel looked at Cordy. Demon preserves, that was so not good. When Wayne came back out, the demon gave Cordy a mason jar that had already been sealed. "There," he said. "Might I add it goes well on whole wheat, toasted."

She took the jar from Wayne with an unsteady smile. "Yeah... Thanks." She looked back to Angel. "Time to go." She didn't wait for him to say anything else. She put two hands on his back, starting to push him in the right direction. "Bye Wayne... Tell Douglas we give our best."

Angel started walking after her prompting him. He looked at the jar in her hand. "I don't even want to think about what their dimension is like." He paused as he looked up at the grate close to where they parked the car. "By the time I get you home then to the hotel its going to be daylight."

"My Jeep is at the hotel. I brought the clothes over, remember?" She couldn't be sure if that was Angel's subtle way of asking her to just come back to the hotel with him. Then again, it was Angel. He was about as subtle as a shovel upside the head.

He let her climb the ladder first, admiring the view. Hey, he might be a vampire but he was still male. When she was up top he went up the ladder himself.

She climbed up the ladder quickly. Her thoughts about Angel were confirmed when he didn't say anything. He couldn't do subtle. She stood by the GTX, not sure if she should get into it just yet. "Towel or sheet or something to put down so we don't flake goo all over?"

The vampire reached into the backseat and pulled the old surplus blanket out he used to cover himself with when he had too from the sunlight. He spread it on the seat then opened the door for her to get in.

She got into the car but unlike earlier, she didn't slide all the way over. She waited in the middle for him to get in. Of course, on the way here, poor Wayne had to play meat in the middle.

Starting the car, he then pulled on out. When into traffic, he slipped his right arm over the back on the seat behind Cordy.

"So...I guess we are eventually going to have to talk about how this works. " She glanced over at him. She could tell that what she had said in the hiding space was still weighing heavily on his mind. It was in his eyes and the way his brow creased.

"Yeah," he said as he turned a corner. The signal light making that ping sound. "It's going to work. I know it will. I guess we'll work it out as we go."

"Why didn't you ever see about taking care of the curse? You can't be the only person in the world to have ever been cursed by gypsies. I respect it and all but it's just been a really long time. Like Wilson Christopher long time. And these aren't dopey high school feelings I have for you. You are my best friend, no matter what. And I am in love with you. I want to be able... To express myself without worry about ending up as a vampire snack." She really didn't care if this was going to make Angel uncomfortable. Maybe if Buffy had been more open and honest and mature, they could have worked something out. Then again, she was a little smarter than the blonde Slayer and was a little more proactive.

"Gypsy magic, its tricky," he said. "They add all kinds of little side curses to things. Since I learned what can happen, I've just been afraid."

"I have never known you to be afraid of anything." Cordelia paused for a moment. "We have Wes now. He is pretty much an expert on that sort of thing. Can't we see, maybe he can come up with something. And then I won't have to die a near virginal vixen."

"I am afraid," he told her. "I'm afraid of Angelus. He's always here, in my head... Taunting and tempting me. Screaming when I stop some evil." This did terrify him. "I don't want... It has to be sure to work."

She paused for a moment because she had no idea about this side of Angel. She put her hand gently on his knee, to reassure him. "Its okay, Angel. I am really good at self-control. Except when it comes to shoes." She gave him a hint of smile, hoping that he would return it.

"Shoes," he replied, "that's a bad addiction, you know. We might have to seek intervention."

"Like you should talk. We should do an invention for black clothing for you then. Would it really kill you to wear some reds or maybe a nice blue? That would look really great on you." She glanced over at him once more, looking for a reaction on his face.

"When you can't see yourself in the mirror, it's easier to color coordinate if you have the same color," he told her. "Besides, it helps with the badass vampire image."

"You can see the clothes when you put them on. Besides, buy a Polaroid camera, take a picture of you wearing your different outfits. That is what I used to do in high school. It's the most accurate way to tell what looks good on you." She shifted just a bit. "Are we almost to the hotel. I need a shower, desperately."

"Few more minutes," Angel told her. True to his word they were pulling in the alley behind the hotel to get in faster and upstairs.

She paused when he pulled into the alley. There was a few moments of silence between them before she spoke. "I guess this is goodnight then."

Cutting off the engine, he looked at the steering wheel a moment. "I was thinking, and yes I can do that now and then, that you might want to shower upstairs." He looked over at her.

She gave him just a hint of a smile, very nearly teasing him with it. "Angel... Are you inviting me upstairs? As in, to your suite? Or just pick a room to shower in?"

Angel fingered the steering wheel looking back at it. Why was this so hard? Back in the day if he wanted a woman he just took her, even when he was a pub hopping human. "I have towels," he said.

"You didn't answer my question. But I guess that is an answer in and of itself." She slid away from him, moving to open up the passenger's side door. She wasn't going to put up with his toeing the dirt, downward gaze, and schoolboy ploys. She was too tired and she was too covered in crusty gunk.

Angel waited a moment then he got out of the car. When she walked around by him to go in, he reached out and grabbed her up, carrying her into the hotel.

She was taken by surprise as Angel just picked her up. It wasn't something he had ever done before, at least not as a romantic gesture. "Hi, Wes, still in the lobby. Do you really want him to see you going caveman on me?"

Angel stopped. "You're right," he said and put her down then turned her to put her over his shoulder. "I would." He carried her through the doors.

Wesley looked up at the sight. "Is everything okay?"

Cordelia looked at Wes when Angel passed since she could see him. "Angel and I are in love. We are going upstairs to shower. Probably not together, curse and all. If you aren't too tired, can you get working on that ASAP? Thanks, Wes."

Wesley, for once, was speechless. His jaw was slack as he watched them go up the stairs. When he finally got his voice, he said, even though nobody was in the lobby, "Yes, I'll get right on it."

"Thanks Wes. I will order you some of those fancy teas you like as a present." She turned her head to look at Angel. "I am about to pop right out of this vest, Angel. And I think my pants are going to split."

Wesley sat there still stunned. The revelation itself wasn't a surprise. Fred had said it several times to himself and to Gunn that Cordelia and Angel both had those special vibes, Kyrumption, he believe what she called it. Even Lorne had spoke about it. But the two had left angry and now Angel was carrying Cordelia up the stairs in a fireman's carry. It made his gaze go back to the photos across from the counter that Cordelia had hung of their little family.

When they got to the top of the stairs, Cordelia remembered something. She shouted down to Wes. "There is a jar of demon jam in the car for you to analyze. Whatever we battled tonight. But you know...Curse cure first!"

Angel carried her all the way up to his suite. When she squirmed on his shoulder he'd give her a swat on the ass. Finally through the door of the suite he used for a small apartment, he went across to the bed. He tossed her on it then he was down on her, grinning down at her.

"Okay, that grin, little creepy, Champ. And the fact that I am still covered in demon goo." She started to move out from under him but it was difficult since he seemed to be everyplace that she moved to.

"Goo or not," he said, "you are the most beautiful woman." Angel moved off her to let her get up. Then he rolled up and sat up himself.

She smiled at him when he said that. She sat on the bed next to him when he sat up. She nudged him gently. "Compliments, almost as good as presents. Almost." She got up from the bed, starting for the bathroom. "I am borrowing some of your clothes to sleep in."

"Yeah, T-shirt?" he got and went to one of his drawers and opened it. He started looking through shirts in it.

"And a pair of boxers if its not too much trouble. I think I got goo all down in my buttcrack thanks to these low rise jeans." She went into the bathroom and called back to him. "Do you have an extra towel and... Holy cow, you have more bath products in here than I do." She picked one up, reading over the label. "Let me guess, this Ocean Salt Scrub is really good at getting blood off?" She said it in such as way to let him know that she wasn't going to buy that excuse.

Angel got a shirt and boxers. He pulled off his own goo-covered shirt and tossed it aside. "Ah, yeah, it does really great," he replied. Picking up the shirt and shorts, he moved to the bathroom and hesitated before stepping in. "I've got you some clothes," he said to her not sure what state of undress he'd find her in.

She raised a brow at him. "I don't believe that for a moment. You have more hair product in there than I do too." She still had her clothes on. She took the shirt and shorts from him with a smile. "Thanks."

"Its not like I use them all at once," Angel said when she took the clothes. "It all depends on what I'm going to do or go what ones I use." He leaned on the door and just looked down at the marble floor.

"Its really hard for me to take a shower if you are going to stand there." She set the clothing on the counter. She reached for one of the towels, sniffing it to make sure it was clean. Angel might be a vampire but he was also a man. Sometimes his man makeup really overrode the facetious vampire nature.

"I'll just be," Angel spoke then and indicated with a gesture, "I'll just be out here." He then turned to step back out into the bedroom of the suite.

She paused for a moment because she saw Angel's face. She stepped out of the bathroom. "Angel, I want nothing more than to invite you to take a shower with me. But it won't stop with a shower. The temptation is just too great. Better we are just safe for now. Agreed?"

"I know," he agreed. Which in his mind he did. He knew what could happen. He knew that Angelus was there just waiting for that one little chance. "Would you like some coffee? I'll have it brewed when you get out."

"I'd really just like to curl up and go to bed after my shower. I didn't realize we were in those sewers until almost dawn." She moved over to him. She touched his face gently. "I don't want things to get weird. I might be dying but I am not made of glass. Please, don't start treating me like I am."

When she reminded him of the fact she was dying his lips drew in a thin line. His hands balled in fists. Though his head didn't move his eyes did look away from her in that way he had, seeming to be able to look all around him without turning his head.

"Bad topic then." She moved her hand off from his shoulder. She wanted to invite him in with her, to help ease some of the tension that was sitting in his muscles. She was the Queen of Self-Control, she could handle it. "Wait right here." She held a finger up and before he could say another word, she had left his bedroom.

Angel didn't say anything. His eyes just went back to look at her without a change of facial expression. He wasn't going to let her die, damnit. He'd find a way, something. He'd have Wes work on it. He'd call Willow. Somebody would have to know a way.

She returned several moments later, something dangling off her finger. It was a bikini. "I had to wear this for an audition right after we moved into the hotel. Not the one you went caveman on, another one. Put on some trunks and I think we will be safe to shower together."

"I didn't go caveman," he said in defense, though much of the tension seemed to ease from his face. "I just felt the guy could have been a bit more polite. Clear his mother never taught him manners."

"Well, I was mad then but I understand it now. You were just being protective of me." She gave him a smile. She started for the bathroom. "Give me five minutes to change into this and then you can come in." She shut the bathroom door behind her and quickly peeled off her costume so she could slip into the bikini.

The only thing Angel had in the way of trunks was a pair of light shorts. He'd not done much swimming in decades and hadn't really stayed in one place long enough to gather much until he moved to L.A.. He pulled off his pants then pulled on the shorts. Five minutes...Five minutes...These were the longest five minutes of his life. He kept watching the clock by the bed and it just seemed to be teasing him.

She reached over to turn on the water. She had told Angel five minutes but it hadn't taken her even half that time to slip into the eye patch that was calling itself a bikini. It was for a job, after all. She put her hand under the tap, waiting for it to get good and hot before she switched it over. She called out to Angel. "Ready."

He heard her call and he stepped into the bathroom. Smiling, he looked at her smooth, tanned body. The eye patch really didn't leave much to the imagination.

She looked back at him, looking him up and down quickly. "Did you buy those shorts in 1983?" She shook her head and climbed into the shower. She let out just a bit of a hiss as the hot water hit her body. She was just happy to be getting this goo off her.

Grabbing a washrag, he then stepped in behind her. "Actually, no," he said. "I really don't have much need for trunks or shorts since my body temp is like... Well, I don't have one." Angel reached around her to the shower caddy and got the bar of soap. He lathered it up on the wash cloth then started to rub it over her back.

Cordelia pulled her hair around so that he could get all of her back. "It looks like something out of a Duran Duran video. And you can always use an indoor pool." She leaned forward into the spray, closing her eyes. Her skin was finally starting to feel a little normal as the goo washed off.

"Actually we have one." He had not told any of them this. Simply he didn't want to spend the money on fixing it because he hadn't decided what to do with that section of the hotel yet.

"We have a pool?" She turned around and look at him. She wiped the water from her face. "How many other secrets are you hiding from me?" She shook her head and turned so her back was now against the spray.

"I didn't think it was important." Angel handed her the rag. "I mean its not been used in years. Probably isn't worth even thinking about."

"Its worth thinking about to me. We need to fix it up. Put it on the list." She took the rag and reached out to wash his chest. The wife beater on him and the leather vest on her didn't really make good armor against exploding demons. She rubbed his chest, cleaning the junk off him. "Wes finding out what that thing was, curing the curse, cleaning up the pool."

Reaching around her again, he grabbed the shampoo bottle. With her hair wet, he put some in his hand then to her hair and started to scrub, working his fingers down into it. "The pool is pretty big."

She turned her body once more so that it would be easier for him to work the shampoo into her hair. "You've done this before, haven't you?" She smiled when she said it. She closed her eyes again so that she could just enjoy this kind of treatment.

"Comes with the territory," he said to her. "Touch is just as sensitive as everything else. And wait, that didn't sound right."

"No, it didn't. But you are better at this than Dennis so I will let it pass." It was hard to tell what she meant by that comment but she leaned back against him as he continued to work his fingers in her hair.

Angel let his fingers work a bit more then slipped his hands down her hand and neck to her shoulders. He rubbed her arms, feeling her wet skin. His hand went down to her wrist and then he held it and raised her hand to his lips to kiss it.

"I need to...The shampoo in my hair..." She said but she didn't pull her wrist away from him. There was some incredibly sexy and intimate in that small gesture. It was unexpected coming from Angel.

Angel turned her around to back her under the shower. He brought his hands back up and started working soap from her hair. He watched her face as worked.

She opened her eyes so that she could look at him as he did this. She didn't say a word. She kept her hazel eyes trained on his brown ones. "Kiss me, Angel. Before I ruin this moment with thinking."

Angel's hands moved down her head to her back and he leaned down and kissed her. His hands moved to her lower back. His kiss was of passion, not lust. His tongue pressed to her lips.

She knew that this would only lead to trouble. She just hoped that she could stop it before things went too far. She parted her lips as her body surged against his. The heat from the shower had warmed his body as well as make both of them slick.

He broke that kiss so she could breath. His forehead leaned on hers. "Kissing is good," he said in a whisper. "It's not perfect but its good."

"Perfect is bad in this situation." She said softly. She closed her eyes as she felt his forehead against her. She panted lightly before taking in a deep shuttering breath. "Wes needs to find that cure like yesterday."

"Yeah," he said nodding barely. He brought his hand up to her jaw and cheek to touch her face. With his touch, he was memorizing her as much as he did with his eyes and other senses.

"Angel...we have to stop. If we don't..." Her voice trailed off. If the heady tone of her voice didn't tell him, then her body spoke volumes of her arousal. She wanted him but she wanted him without the fear of Angelus looming over them. His fingertips against her skin were turning to her to a puddle. While it felt good, it was straddling the wrong side of the danger line.

"I know...I know..." He pulled his hands away from her even if he didn't want to. He had waited this long for her, he could wait until Wes found a solution. He wouldn't risk letting Angelus out, not when he knew what the demon would do to her.

"Do you have some conditioner?" She was trying to look every place but at him. The water sliding down his chest, his wet shorts, his eyes, those lips, she couldn't look at any of it or she would be in more trouble than she already was.

"Its...Its, uh, yeah," he was trying to say but this showering with scant clothes on wasn't working like it should have been. He grabbed it off the shower caddy.

She took the bottle from him. She turned back around, putting some of the conditioner into her hands. She worked it into her hair afterwards. She kept her eyes fixed on the tile of the shower, trying to ignore the manpire behind her.

"I'll just wash my hair when you're done," he finally had to speak. He was going to really need some gentleman time when they got done. Probably turn the hot water off after she got out.

"You aren't going to let me return the favor?" She glanced back at him and once she saw him, she knew anymore time in the shower with him, even in swimming clothes, was going to be too much. She rinsed the conditioner from her hair. She grabbed the washcloth to finish quickly cleaning her skin.

"I think its best if...you know..." He probably would not make it through her washing his hair. Now he could tell this wasn't a good idea. Well, it was a good idea but it was a bad idea. He needed to listen to that voice in his head more and not the evil one.

"I am going...I am going. But only for the good of Los Angeles and the world." She looked upward, as if she was talking to The Powers. "I want that noted." She looked back down before she went to step out of the shower. She grabbed two towels, one for her body and one for her hair. "I am sleeping in your bed tonight but stay on your side."

After she stepped out he waited a moment then he turned the hot water off to finish his shower, and he wasn't doing it to be conservative.

She heard that as she dried herself off in the bathroom. "Oh yeah, make yourself cold so I have to sleep on the edge. I know you are a bedhog." Her tone was teasing. She reached for his shirt, pulling it over her head. She removed the bikini top under the shirt and hung it on the towel bar.

Angel peeked his head out of the shower curtain. "There's an electric blanket in the closet on the top shelf." He looked at her in his shirt. It never looked so damn sexy before.

"Hey..." She went over and put her palm flat on his forehead. She pushed him back into the shower. "Back in there so I can get out of these wet bottoms." She shook her head as she went back over to grab his boxers. She had to move quickly to get the soaked bikini bottoms off and get his dry boxers on.

Back in the shower, he dropped his shorts and finished cleaning up, among other things. It did feel good to get that demon goo out of his hair and off his body. Done, he turned the water off and got out. Angel dried off then slipped on a pair of his boxers. Finally, he came out of the bathroom.

Cordelia had found the electric blanket after she brushed out her hair. She had already plugged it in and laid it on the bed. She was under the covers, waiting for him. She was fighting off sleep, which was odd considering the sun was up. She was getting to use to his schedule. "I found the blanket."

Nodding, Angel moved to the side of the bed Cordy hadn't claimed. He slid under the warm covers. The bed felt good, he was a lot more tired then he realized.

She was already turned in towards the bed so that she could look at him. She smiled softly at him. "Now we get to find out if the tough broody manpire is a secret snuggler." She laughed just a bit before she moved closer to him, waiting to see if he would take her into his arms once more.

Angel put his left arm out so she could lie on that shoulder. "You keep using that word and they'll put it in Webster's," he said as he pulled her to him.

"They better pay me for it." She laid against him once he pulled her closer. She closed her eyes and snuggled up against him. "I think that goo on us...it was some kind of truth serum. I told you things I wanted to stay hidden."

"If you hadn't said them and I hadn't said what I did," he said, "you wouldn't be here now."

"Well, I was scared to tell you that I love you. I didn't want to ruin what we have. I like what we have. You are my best friend, Angel. I don't want to lose that." She opened her eyes and tilted her head up to look at him. Here, in the privacy of his room, she could allow her carefully built walls to crumble just a bit. She wouldn't be telling him anything she hadn't said in the sewers.

"We'll never lose that," he said as he looked back down to her. "I promise."

"I love you." She smiled up at him. She moved her body enough so that she could kiss him once more. This kiss was soft, almost feather light as she touched her lips against him. It wasn't meant to enflame but rather to supply a quick spark before bed.

Angel leaned over to her a bit and returned the kiss. His arms held her not wanting to release her. She felt like she belonged here with him, like this. Halloween was usually not a favorite holiday for him. But his Halloween he would always remember and cherish the rest of his days. The evening's trick turned into a very pleasant night's treat.

-FIN-