Primal Hiding
by Salix
Showing Up
[reviews]
(Five minutes earlier)
Willow pulled the car into the hotel's parking lot. She turned it off and pocketed the keys as she raced towards the two main doors of the building. She walked into the lobby her sole purpose was to find Buffy, tell her how she feels, apologize to no end, get the human Buffy to come out of hiding and then go home and have wild monkey love. The only person that she saw a man that she had never met before. He was holding an ice pack to his head, and reading a magazine as he sat behind the desk.
"Hi there, I'm looking for Angel, possibly Buffy Summers," she said and he looked into her eyes. She could see the pain from whatever wound was on his head and she wondered what had happened. She knows that the Angel team fights demons as stuff as well but he didn't look like he had gotten into a fight.
"Miss congeniality is in quarantine. No one's allowed to see her right now. Chick's gone all primal and won't let anyone but Queenie in her room," he said and stood up when he saw that Willow was eyeing the stairs like she was getting ready to make a dash for them. "Look you really don't want to go up there. See this..." he took the ice pack off and lowed his head so that Willow could see the very large, very purple lump on his bald scalp. "She threw a clock radio at me when I asked her if she wanted any food. Angel said no one is to go anywhere near her room." Willow thought about making a run for it, making she could make it up there before he caught her, but then she realized that she had no idea which room Buffy was in and the man looked like he would be able to catch her before she found out. But then some of his words came back to her and she couldn't help but step back in disbelief.
"Queenie? You mean Cordelia? She won't let anyone but Cordelia see her?" She was afraid now, and that fear and uncertainty was really making her want to charge up those stairs and find the slayer, her slayer. But then again, this was Cordelia they were talking about. Buffy doesn't like Cordelia at all, even when the brunette started being nice to them Buffy didn't like her. She was rude and tactless, like Anya, only she was more of a diva then the blonde.
"That's right. Which is weird cuz according to Angel those two don't have the best history. What's your name anyways?" he asked and put the ice pack back on his head. She looked over at the stairs and she decided that she didn't care if he tried to catch her. She knows plenty of binding spells that won't hurt him but just make it so that he can't move. She looked him in the eyes and then looked over at the stairs and then she was off.
She ran up the stairs taking three at a time, almost tripping five times, before she made it to the landing. She looked at all of the doors, knowing that it would take her forever to find her. But she couldn't think about that now because she could hear the man following her, his large boots thudding very loudly on the stairs. She thought she saw some people towards the end of the hall and she ran towards them. As she got closer she recognized them, it was none other then Angel and Giles.
"Willow what are you doing here?" Angel asked and blocked her from the door. Being a vampire his hearing is very good and he could hear everything that's going on inside of the hotel room right now. And he knows that if Willow where to walk in now she would be very upset. He didn't want her to have to see slayer-Buffy trying to seduce Cordelia. He didn't want to see that, just hearing it was bad enough.
"I'm looking for Buffy. I need to talk to her. Is she in there?" she asked and reached for the doorknob but Angel was blocking her way. She glared at him, but he just gave her a fake smile, which sent her heart into overdrive. Angel never smiles so whatever is going on must be really bad.
"She's resting right now, you can see her when she wakes up. You might want to be careful, she's been pretty hostile to everyone but Cordelia," he said and he couldn't keep the jealousy and bitterness out of his voice. Willow heard it and she glared at him. No one was going to touch her Buffy but her, she doesn't care how much Angel still loves the blonde. There was a very loud thud against the door and Willow thought she heard someone moan. Oh yeah, it was bad.
"Is Cordelia in there?" Willow squeaked, her eyes started to turn black around the edges and Angel could smell the magical power coming off of her. She's gotten very powerful since he's been gone. He heard what was happening, he heard the sound of two people landing on a bed, heard the smacking sounds of kissing, heard moans and groans and Cordelia quietly calling out Buffy's name. He almost couldn't handle it.
"Yeah she's in there. But the thing you have to remember is that it isn't Buffy in there too, it's the slayer. And right now the slayer is hurt and she's looking for some comfort," he told her again the bitterness showed up and Willow couldn't help but glare. And then Willow thought she heard voices so she remained quiet and listened really hard, hoping that she would be able to hear.
"We can't. I don't want to be your rebound," they all heard Cordelia say. Willow was actually surprised. At least now she wouldn't have to kill the former fashion queen. She tried to push passed Angel but he stopped her and they all listened in to see what would happen next. Willow had a very bad feeling about this. She wasn't sure that a slayer getting rejected twice in the span of two days was such a good thing.
"Willow not want me, you not want me, nobody want me!" they heard Buffy scream and the sound of something slamming very hard into the wall. The walls shook a little and then they heard the sound of glass breaking and Cordelia calling after Buffy, telling to come back. Willow had sat back long enough, she grabbed Angel by the arm and pushed him out of the way, and she wasn't met with resistance. She threw the door open and saw Cordelia standing at the broken window, looking out into the night.
"What happened?" Willow asked and she saw Cordelia whip around. She saw something on the brunette's face and in her eyes that she never thought that she would ever see. Ok, well she's seen it before, but she never thought that she would be the cause of it. She saw fear, nothing but fear. Cordelia was afraid of Willow for the first time in her life, and as mad as Willow was couldn't help but smile on the inside.
"She-she just took off. She opened the window and jumped out. She seemed really upset, you should go after her," Cordelia said, hoping that Willow would be so worried about Buffy that she would leave and Cordelia would get to remain human, and not become snake food, or have her clones killed by Willow. She watched as the redheaded witch walked closer to her, and her fear grew. She really didn't want to die, not right now. Not when there were so many things she still wanted to do, buying new shoes for one thing. Starring in a big movie was another.
"Why was she so upset?" Willow asked. She was just having fun now. She wanted to see if Cordelia was really as brave as she's thought to be. According to Willow's informant the former May Queen has come a long way, really grown as a person. She just wanted to test that a little. And plus this feeling of power over another person was really starting to feel great.
"She was hurting over you. She showed up here, bruised up and a little bloody and had this blue gooey stuff all over her clothes. She said that you don't want her and that she can't go home because without you there is no home and I'm pretty sure she called me stupid," she said and then she got this far off look in her eyes as if she were thinking about what had been said and how it could be translated.
"Well she got the last part right," Willow said under her breath. She felt bad that Buffy was feeling so horrible. She knew that it was all her fault. If she had only been willing to go out with Buffy at the time, if she had only said something, if she had just requested some time to think about it instead of just saying 'no it could never work'. How could she be so stupid? And now Buffy had turned to Cordelia and she could see the smudged lipstick, and the messy make-out hair and the rumpled clothes. God, Buffy had been all over her, how long had they been going at it until Cordelia had said no?
"We need to find her. I need to talk to her," Willow said and it earned a glare from Cordelia. Was Cordelia being...protective of Buffy? No she couldn't be, that's just crazy. But by the look on Cordelia's face Willow started to think that maybe crazy was the new sane.
"Oh find her and what, make her feel even worst? Haven't you done enough damage already? She doesn't even think that she has a home any more. Why did you reject her Willow? Everybody already knows about your feelings for her. It was so fucking obvious when we were in high school but Xander made me promise that I wouldn't say anything. You guys are perfect for each other, everyone can see that. So what's the big deal?" she yelled, she ranted, she let out all of the anger that had side swept her out of nowhere. She was surprised by the hostility in her voice, and she noticed that her words had a bad effect on Willow, but instead of just shrinking in and being all quiet like she would have in high school, she got angry.
"I don't know, ok? I can't answer that question. I can't answer it for you I couldn't answer it for her and I can't answer it for myself. I just, I don't know why. Maybe because it just all seemed too surreal. I've been wanting her to ask me out since high school and I thought that she never would. I was starting to move on, I even met someone that I might have started dating, and then without warning she just asks me if I'll go out with her. I just seemed too good to be true. Is that a good enough answer for you?" she yelled, but her voice wasn't angry anymore. It was shaky, and cracking with emotion. She had tears running down her cheeks and she saw something she thought she would never see on the face of Cordelia Chase: remorse for what she had said.
She felt Giles wrap his arms around her in a fatherly hug and she cried on his chest for a few minutes. It felt good to be able to let out all of the fear and confusion with her tears, and it felt even better being comforted while she was doing it. But when she stopped and wiped her eyes, she had on her patented resolve face. She looked over at Angel who had been standing quietly off to the side, watching the little show with some interest. He's never seen Cordelia act so protective of the slayer. He was starting to wonder if maybe she was getting feelings for the blonde as well.
"I'm going to do a locator spell. I'll need a map of L.A. and some herbs, mortal and pestle, do you have any of that stuff?" she asked, sounding in charge but not too bossy. Angel was impressed. Willow really has come a long way from just being a quiet little nerd. He shook his head no and looked her in the eyes.
"The map but not the magic stuff. But I can send Wesley out to get some. Make a list of what you need," he said and led her down to his office. He handed her a piece of paper and a pen and as she wrote down what she would need she he picked up the phone and dialed the number he knew by heart. He dreaded this conversation and the panic that would most likely occur because of it but he had to put out a warning.
"Hey Lorne it's Angel...I'm fine, thanks. I was just calling to warn you. The slayer's in town...No not Buffy exactly...no not Faith...Look, it's Buffy, but the slayer is in charge and she's pretty pissed. The only way a slayer works out hostility is violence so she's going to be tracking down all of the demons she can find...You're welcome," he said and hung up the phone. He explained to Willow that Lorne runs a demon bar but it's a nice place and he wanted to give the green guy some heads up. Then he called Wesley in and Willow handed him the list. They gave the ex-watcher a clip notes version of what was going on and he headed out promising to be back as soon as possible.
"Now what do we do?" Cordelia asked, pacing from wall to wall, back and forth while they waited. She hates this part of the job, being here knowing that something had to be done but not knowing what, or not being able to do it. The sit and wait came is not her favorite game at all.
"We wait for Wesley to get back, and then Willow will cast the spell and we bring her back," Angel said. Cordelia let out a long, frustrated sigh. He hated this as much as she did. If it were up to him he would still be with Buffy and his soul wouldn't have the little 'no happiness' clause but it isn't up to him and all he can do it hope that Buffy comes out of this happy. As they waited he listened as Willow and Cordelia passed the time by talking about life in Sunnydale, recent demon adventures, and Xander's girlfriend.