{cleveland} In which Xander did say come to Cleveland.
Cordelia really didn't know what she was doing there.
This was a risk. A big fat risk to begin with, because snapping some sense into Castiel and Uriel didn't necessarily guarantee that Dean Winchester would make the right choice. She hoped that he would -- in fact, she was pretty sure he'd be an idiot not to, but there still wasn't a guarantee that he wouldn't say no. Either way, she needed to plan for the option that he would say yes, which meant making sure that she had a place to stash him after Lilith was either really put-out over losing a soul, or smote out of existence. She needed somebody who could watch there back. Somebody like a Slayer.
She knew those years in Sunnydale were going to come in handy somewhere.
Landing quietly on the front porch of the Scoobies Cleveland home, she took an unneeded breath before knocking on the door. She knew she still looked the same -- the Powers were still nice enough to give her a compatible vessel to go with her newly angelic self, but she didn't feel the same. She hadn't felt like Cordelia Chase the human since her twenty-first birthday, all that changed was the form. She just hoped that Buffy and Xander hadn't heard too much about her escapades in LA to get suspicious.
Willow and Xander were hanging out with Dawn while Buffy trained down in the basement. The hanging out consisted of Twister and lots of soda. Thus there was a lot of laughter and craziness. Currently Willow and Dawn were twisted around each other on the board, trying not to fall over from their laughter.
"Xander! Spin already!" Willow shouted.
"I don't know. I'm enjoying the show," he grinned.
"Hey! Lesbian and Dawnie here. Don't look at us like that," Willow snapped.
"Dawnie is all grown up and the lesbian is hot either way," Xander argued.
"Spin!" Willow and Dawn shouted together.
"Alright!" He spun and watched it turn, waiting to call out, when the knock came. "Okay. Just hold it riiight there," he said to them. He got to his feet despite their yells and groans, and headed for the front door. "Oh shut up." And he yanked the door open, not yet turning to see who was there.
Cordelia looked at Xander's back for a moment, before smirking slightly. "You know, generally speaking I would say that this is your best side, but that still isn't really the way you should open the door, Xander."
He knew that voice. He spun around and his chin was hanging down. And he was blinking.
"Wow -- I still got it, don't I?" she laughed. She waited for a moment, and after Xander continued staring before sighing. "You know, customarily when two friends haven't seen each other for a long time, there's supposed to be some hugging involved."
Xander shook his head and smiled. "Cordy!" And he threw his arms around her.
She leaned into the hug with a happy smile. God, she missed this. "How are you, Xander?"
"Peachy-keeny," he replied. He pulled back and looked her over. "You look great. Did you do something to your hair?"
"God, what haven't I done to my hair," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "It's like there's something new every week. But enough about me, look at you. How're you doing?"
He shrugged. "I'm good. Got a part-time gig as a pirate at a nearby seafood restaurant," he joked. Because joking about his eye was a lot easier than talking about it, and he knew it was a big fat elephant.
She cringed. "Yeah, I heard about that. How're you doing?"
"I'm okay," he nodded. "Hey, come in." He stepped back, then turned over his shoulder. "We have a high school reunion at the front door!"
"Who's here anyway?" Cordy asked. "I mean, I know about Buffy and Dawn, but -- "
"Willow. And Giles. Well...Giles isn't here, he has his own place. But he's back in the country."
Willow came into the hallway at that point and brightened when she saw Cordelia. "Hi!"
"Willow!" Cordelia said with a smile, before moving closer and pulling her into a hug. "How are you?"
She hugged her back. "I'm good! How are you? What're you doing here? Does Buffy know you're here?"
"No, no, I was just -- in the neighborhood and I, uh -- I'm kind of in need of a favor," she glanced around at the other two before swallowing. "Is Buffy here?"
"She's downstairs," Willow nodded. Then she sent Dawn to go get her sister. "She'll be right up."
"Great," she nodded, before starting to move towards the living room. "Well, tell me everything. I feel like I'm so out of the loop."
"Oh Buffy's better at the storytelling than me," Willow said, shaking her head. She and Xander followed Cordy and they sat down.
"I'll have to ask her then. But wow -- it feels so weird sitting down with you guys again."
"And without the pleasant warm sunshine of Sunnydale," Willow nodded, almost longingly.
"Eh, Cleveland isn't so bad. Could be worse. Could be Siberia."
"Or Alaska," Xander added.
"Exactly," she nodded before looking up as Buffy came in the room, bouncing towards her.
"Oh, my God, Cordy!" Buffy grinned. "I haven't heard from you in so long."
"I've been busy," she said with a nod as she hugged her back.
"She's been doing stuff to her hair," Xander nodded.
"Yes, the hair has been a work in progress," she chuckled, before nodding. "So -- how much space do you guys have around here?"
"What kind of space?" Willow asked.
"Oh, you know, rooms, square footage -- space to stash two tall dark and handsomes of the demon hunter variety?"
"What now?" Buffy said, blinking back at her.
Xander frowned. "There's only room for one tall dark and handsome guy here."
"I know, I know, this is a big favor to ask when I haven't seen you in a while, but -- I really need your help, so just hear me out? Please?"
Willow gave Xander a look, then nodded. "Sure, what's up?"
"So there are these two brothers -- Sam and Dean Winchester. They've been tangling with this big bad named Lilith for a while, and the people that I'm working for now -- they have a way to get them out of it. But once all this goes down, if they decide to take the option, they're going to need a place to lay low, so -- I figured what better place for them to lay low than with a Slayer." She paused. "If you have the space, I mean."
"I think I saw that movie," Xander said.
Willow ignored him. "How long are we talkin'?" She glanced at Buffy, too.
"Yeah, I mean -- is this a forever kind of deal, or a temporary one?"
"Oh, no -- not long. Just until the shit fest around the whole thing dies down," Cordelia nodded. "A month, tops. And they're really nice guys. Plus, demon hunters, so they totally know how to take care of themselves. And did I mention tall dark and handsome?"
"Yeah...really isn't a strong argument for half of us," Willow nodded.
Dawn grinned. "I'll take strong dark and handsome."
Cordelia raised an eyebrow. "Stay away from Dean, honey. You'll only get your heart broken."
Buffy sighed. "As exciting as that sounds, what kind of big bad are we dealing with here?"
"Demon. Really old, really scary, but I've got people on my side who are older and scarier."
Willow went quiet, thinking this over. Xander glanced around the room, then cleared his throat. "And what are the chances of this really old, really scary demon coming here after them?"
"Well, that depends on how easily she lets Dean out of his deal."
"What's his deal?" Willow spoke up.
"His brother died, about a year ago, and Dean sold his soul to bring him back," Cordelia explained. "And while normally it wouldn't be right for my friends to interfere, if he died there's a potential that really big bad could happen. And that is so not what the higher powers need right now. So we're going to try and get Lilith to let this one go, but she might not go easy. And his deal comes due in three weeks."
"I think they'd be safe here," Willow said. "We would do our best, at least."
"Yup," Buffy nodded. "We'll do what we can."
"Thank you, you guys," Cordelia sighed. "My next step was Faith, and while I'm sure the boys would appreciate it, I don't think she's quite what they'll need."
"They call us the good guys for a reason," Xander nodded.
"Great," Cordy nodded. "So tell me, what have you guys been up to. I'm all curious. How did you wind up in Cleveland?"
"Giles," Willow nodded. "And a school bus."
"Yup, after Sunnydale went boom, we decided we needed a new place to call home. Giles mentioned that the next Hellmouth was in Cleveland."
"Wow," Cordelia nodded. "Yeah, I missed the whole Sunnydale thing. Coma."
"It was rough," Xander said quietly.
"I can imagine," she nodded. "I missed a lot that year, actually."
Willow and Xander were quiet. Seemed they'd all had a rough year that year.
"Possessed by a higher being." She paused. "Not that that really compares to some of the more permanent damage, though -- my damage was kind of as permanent as it could get."
"Least you're here now," Willow said, trying to sound upbeat.
"Yeah," Cordelia grinned. "Wings and all."
"Can you fly?" Dawn asked eagerly.
"No," she shook her head. "But I can do some really cool insta-teleportation stuff."
"Can you show me sometime?"
"Sure thing, Dawnie. We'll go shopping. In Italy."
Dawn grinned and clapped her hands. Xander shook his head.
"What, Xander? You don't approve of my newfound angel skills?"
"Not for shopping in Italy. All those...dirty, Italian boys looking at Dawn like...like dirty Italian boys do."
"Oh, relax. Dawn can handle the dirty Italian boys."
"I still don't like it."
"Well, you don't have to like it," Cordelia pointed out, before turning back to the blond sitting next to her. "Buffy?"
"I am certainly for shopping in Italy," Buffy grinned. "In fact, I feel I should insist that I come with."
"Sounds like fun to me," Willow nodded.
Xander crossed his arms. "Traitors."
"You live with girls, Xander," Buffy smirked. "We're always going to chose shoes."
"Willow shouldn't count as a girl," he argued.
Buffy looked back at Willow, before turning back to Xander. "She's got all the required parts?"
"Yes, well...I need a guy on my side and Will's the closest thing I've got."
"What about Giles?" Willow asked.
"He's...Giles," Xander replied.
"There's no other guys around?"
"The bag boy at the supermarket seems to like Xander, but...not in an acceptable way," Willow said.
She laughed. "Well, soon Xander, if all goes well, you will have two boys of your own."
Xander just made a face.
Cordelia looked at all of them, before sighing slightly. "God, I missed you guys."
Willow smiled. "We've missed you too."
"It's good to be missed," she nodded. "Really. It is."
"Stick around for dinner," Xander offered. "It's Chef Boyardee night, and Giles should be stopping by with research."
"The research? That I didn't miss," she laughed. "But sure, I'd love to."
"We were playing Twister," Dawn grinned. "You wanna play? Or-or you could spin? You wanna spin?"
"I can spin. I don't know of my flexibility is what it used to be."
"Hey! I was doing the spinning!" Xander frowned.
"So do some twisting instead," Willow offered.
"My hand-eye coordination isn't what it used to be," he said.
"Alternate spinning?" she said, looking back at Xander.
He grinned. "Works for me."
"Good," Cordelia nodded, before shifting back to settle on the couch.
This was a risk. A big fat risk to begin with, because snapping some sense into Castiel and Uriel didn't necessarily guarantee that Dean Winchester would make the right choice. She hoped that he would -- in fact, she was pretty sure he'd be an idiot not to, but there still wasn't a guarantee that he wouldn't say no. Either way, she needed to plan for the option that he would say yes, which meant making sure that she had a place to stash him after Lilith was either really put-out over losing a soul, or smote out of existence. She needed somebody who could watch there back. Somebody like a Slayer.
She knew those years in Sunnydale were going to come in handy somewhere.
Landing quietly on the front porch of the Scoobies Cleveland home, she took an unneeded breath before knocking on the door. She knew she still looked the same -- the Powers were still nice enough to give her a compatible vessel to go with her newly angelic self, but she didn't feel the same. She hadn't felt like Cordelia Chase the human since her twenty-first birthday, all that changed was the form. She just hoped that Buffy and Xander hadn't heard too much about her escapades in LA to get suspicious.
Willow and Xander were hanging out with Dawn while Buffy trained down in the basement. The hanging out consisted of Twister and lots of soda. Thus there was a lot of laughter and craziness. Currently Willow and Dawn were twisted around each other on the board, trying not to fall over from their laughter.
"Xander! Spin already!" Willow shouted.
"I don't know. I'm enjoying the show," he grinned.
"Hey! Lesbian and Dawnie here. Don't look at us like that," Willow snapped.
"Dawnie is all grown up and the lesbian is hot either way," Xander argued.
"Spin!" Willow and Dawn shouted together.
"Alright!" He spun and watched it turn, waiting to call out, when the knock came. "Okay. Just hold it riiight there," he said to them. He got to his feet despite their yells and groans, and headed for the front door. "Oh shut up." And he yanked the door open, not yet turning to see who was there.
Cordelia looked at Xander's back for a moment, before smirking slightly. "You know, generally speaking I would say that this is your best side, but that still isn't really the way you should open the door, Xander."
He knew that voice. He spun around and his chin was hanging down. And he was blinking.
"Wow -- I still got it, don't I?" she laughed. She waited for a moment, and after Xander continued staring before sighing. "You know, customarily when two friends haven't seen each other for a long time, there's supposed to be some hugging involved."
Xander shook his head and smiled. "Cordy!" And he threw his arms around her.
She leaned into the hug with a happy smile. God, she missed this. "How are you, Xander?"
"Peachy-keeny," he replied. He pulled back and looked her over. "You look great. Did you do something to your hair?"
"God, what haven't I done to my hair," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "It's like there's something new every week. But enough about me, look at you. How're you doing?"
He shrugged. "I'm good. Got a part-time gig as a pirate at a nearby seafood restaurant," he joked. Because joking about his eye was a lot easier than talking about it, and he knew it was a big fat elephant.
She cringed. "Yeah, I heard about that. How're you doing?"
"I'm okay," he nodded. "Hey, come in." He stepped back, then turned over his shoulder. "We have a high school reunion at the front door!"
"Who's here anyway?" Cordy asked. "I mean, I know about Buffy and Dawn, but -- "
"Willow. And Giles. Well...Giles isn't here, he has his own place. But he's back in the country."
Willow came into the hallway at that point and brightened when she saw Cordelia. "Hi!"
"Willow!" Cordelia said with a smile, before moving closer and pulling her into a hug. "How are you?"
She hugged her back. "I'm good! How are you? What're you doing here? Does Buffy know you're here?"
"No, no, I was just -- in the neighborhood and I, uh -- I'm kind of in need of a favor," she glanced around at the other two before swallowing. "Is Buffy here?"
"She's downstairs," Willow nodded. Then she sent Dawn to go get her sister. "She'll be right up."
"Great," she nodded, before starting to move towards the living room. "Well, tell me everything. I feel like I'm so out of the loop."
"Oh Buffy's better at the storytelling than me," Willow said, shaking her head. She and Xander followed Cordy and they sat down.
"I'll have to ask her then. But wow -- it feels so weird sitting down with you guys again."
"And without the pleasant warm sunshine of Sunnydale," Willow nodded, almost longingly.
"Eh, Cleveland isn't so bad. Could be worse. Could be Siberia."
"Or Alaska," Xander added.
"Exactly," she nodded before looking up as Buffy came in the room, bouncing towards her.
"Oh, my God, Cordy!" Buffy grinned. "I haven't heard from you in so long."
"I've been busy," she said with a nod as she hugged her back.
"She's been doing stuff to her hair," Xander nodded.
"Yes, the hair has been a work in progress," she chuckled, before nodding. "So -- how much space do you guys have around here?"
"What kind of space?" Willow asked.
"Oh, you know, rooms, square footage -- space to stash two tall dark and handsomes of the demon hunter variety?"
"What now?" Buffy said, blinking back at her.
Xander frowned. "There's only room for one tall dark and handsome guy here."
"I know, I know, this is a big favor to ask when I haven't seen you in a while, but -- I really need your help, so just hear me out? Please?"
Willow gave Xander a look, then nodded. "Sure, what's up?"
"So there are these two brothers -- Sam and Dean Winchester. They've been tangling with this big bad named Lilith for a while, and the people that I'm working for now -- they have a way to get them out of it. But once all this goes down, if they decide to take the option, they're going to need a place to lay low, so -- I figured what better place for them to lay low than with a Slayer." She paused. "If you have the space, I mean."
"I think I saw that movie," Xander said.
Willow ignored him. "How long are we talkin'?" She glanced at Buffy, too.
"Yeah, I mean -- is this a forever kind of deal, or a temporary one?"
"Oh, no -- not long. Just until the shit fest around the whole thing dies down," Cordelia nodded. "A month, tops. And they're really nice guys. Plus, demon hunters, so they totally know how to take care of themselves. And did I mention tall dark and handsome?"
"Yeah...really isn't a strong argument for half of us," Willow nodded.
Dawn grinned. "I'll take strong dark and handsome."
Cordelia raised an eyebrow. "Stay away from Dean, honey. You'll only get your heart broken."
Buffy sighed. "As exciting as that sounds, what kind of big bad are we dealing with here?"
"Demon. Really old, really scary, but I've got people on my side who are older and scarier."
Willow went quiet, thinking this over. Xander glanced around the room, then cleared his throat. "And what are the chances of this really old, really scary demon coming here after them?"
"Well, that depends on how easily she lets Dean out of his deal."
"What's his deal?" Willow spoke up.
"His brother died, about a year ago, and Dean sold his soul to bring him back," Cordelia explained. "And while normally it wouldn't be right for my friends to interfere, if he died there's a potential that really big bad could happen. And that is so not what the higher powers need right now. So we're going to try and get Lilith to let this one go, but she might not go easy. And his deal comes due in three weeks."
"I think they'd be safe here," Willow said. "We would do our best, at least."
"Yup," Buffy nodded. "We'll do what we can."
"Thank you, you guys," Cordelia sighed. "My next step was Faith, and while I'm sure the boys would appreciate it, I don't think she's quite what they'll need."
"They call us the good guys for a reason," Xander nodded.
"Great," Cordy nodded. "So tell me, what have you guys been up to. I'm all curious. How did you wind up in Cleveland?"
"Giles," Willow nodded. "And a school bus."
"Yup, after Sunnydale went boom, we decided we needed a new place to call home. Giles mentioned that the next Hellmouth was in Cleveland."
"Wow," Cordelia nodded. "Yeah, I missed the whole Sunnydale thing. Coma."
"It was rough," Xander said quietly.
"I can imagine," she nodded. "I missed a lot that year, actually."
Willow and Xander were quiet. Seemed they'd all had a rough year that year.
"Possessed by a higher being." She paused. "Not that that really compares to some of the more permanent damage, though -- my damage was kind of as permanent as it could get."
"Least you're here now," Willow said, trying to sound upbeat.
"Yeah," Cordelia grinned. "Wings and all."
"Can you fly?" Dawn asked eagerly.
"No," she shook her head. "But I can do some really cool insta-teleportation stuff."
"Can you show me sometime?"
"Sure thing, Dawnie. We'll go shopping. In Italy."
Dawn grinned and clapped her hands. Xander shook his head.
"What, Xander? You don't approve of my newfound angel skills?"
"Not for shopping in Italy. All those...dirty, Italian boys looking at Dawn like...like dirty Italian boys do."
"Oh, relax. Dawn can handle the dirty Italian boys."
"I still don't like it."
"Well, you don't have to like it," Cordelia pointed out, before turning back to the blond sitting next to her. "Buffy?"
"I am certainly for shopping in Italy," Buffy grinned. "In fact, I feel I should insist that I come with."
"Sounds like fun to me," Willow nodded.
Xander crossed his arms. "Traitors."
"You live with girls, Xander," Buffy smirked. "We're always going to chose shoes."
"Willow shouldn't count as a girl," he argued.
Buffy looked back at Willow, before turning back to Xander. "She's got all the required parts?"
"Yes, well...I need a guy on my side and Will's the closest thing I've got."
"What about Giles?" Willow asked.
"He's...Giles," Xander replied.
"There's no other guys around?"
"The bag boy at the supermarket seems to like Xander, but...not in an acceptable way," Willow said.
She laughed. "Well, soon Xander, if all goes well, you will have two boys of your own."
Xander just made a face.
Cordelia looked at all of them, before sighing slightly. "God, I missed you guys."
Willow smiled. "We've missed you too."
"It's good to be missed," she nodded. "Really. It is."
"Stick around for dinner," Xander offered. "It's Chef Boyardee night, and Giles should be stopping by with research."
"The research? That I didn't miss," she laughed. "But sure, I'd love to."
"We were playing Twister," Dawn grinned. "You wanna play? Or-or you could spin? You wanna spin?"
"I can spin. I don't know of my flexibility is what it used to be."
"Hey! I was doing the spinning!" Xander frowned.
"So do some twisting instead," Willow offered.
"My hand-eye coordination isn't what it used to be," he said.
"Alternate spinning?" she said, looking back at Xander.
He grinned. "Works for me."
"Good," Cordelia nodded, before shifting back to settle on the couch.