Title: Things Fall Apart (2/3): Story 14 in the "Who I
Am, What I'll Become" Series
Author: X_tremeroswellian
Email: X_tremeroswellian@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: Cordelia, Angel, Wesley, Kate, Gunn and Dennis all
belong to Joss Whedon. Clayton, Crystal, Trudi and Brian are
mine.
Rating: R for language, content and mentions of violence.
Distribution: Anyone with previous permission may take it without
asking. Anyone else, just let me know the link. People looking
for previous parts: the whole series thus far is archived at:
www.geocities.com/angel_roswell/whoiam.html.
Spoilers: Up through "Are You Now or Have You Ever
Been" and the first 13 stories in this series.
Timeline: Takes place immediately after "The Trick is to
Keep Breathing."
Summary: All hell breaks loose when a fed-up Cordelia takes
action.
Category: Story
Subcategories: Angst/friendship/suspense
Feedback: Is greatly appreciated.
Dedication: For Julia, who's been wanting more C/A interaction in
this series. Enjoy!
Things Fall Apart (Part Two)
Kate sighed. "The problem is that we have no real
physical description of this guy. All we know is that he's
tall."
"And has weird blue eyes," Gunn added as he read over
one of the murder files.
"But we don't know for sure that he hasn't been wearing
colored contact lenses," she pointed out.
Wesley nodded in agreement. "And he's obviously switched
vans. The other woman who escaped said she was assaulted in a tan
van. Cordelia and Oz said the van was navy blue."
"Maybe he had it repainted," Gunn said.
"Yet another possibility," Kate concurred.
"So I have a question."
She and Wesley both looked over at him and waited.
"We don't know what the guy looks like. We don't know for
sure what he's driving, or if he's even still in this area. How
are we supposed to catch him?"
At that moment, Angel came down the stairs. "Any
progress?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.
Kate tensed involuntarily.
"Not much, I'm afraid," Wesley said, glancing at him.
Angel plopped down onto the sofa a few feet away from the front
desk. "I'm sure something will turn up. You'll find
him."
She glared at him, but since his eyes were closed, he didn't
notice.
"Wait a minute," Wesley said suddenly. He lined up the
photographs of the victims right in front of her. "Look at
these pictures and tell me what you see."
Kate forced away her annoyance at Angel and studied the pictures.
"They all have dark hair. They all look like--" she cut
herself off just before she said Cordelia. She lifted her gaze to
meet Wesley's eyes.
"Which means these aren't random victims. He's picked them
all for the same reason."
She nodded slowly. "Which also means that there was probably
some woman in his life that looked like these victims who hurt
him in some way and this is his form of revenge."
"In his mind, he's killing that woman over and over
again."
Gunn started to say something, but stopped when the front door of
the hotel opened. Kate looked up, startled to see Cordelia in a
knee-length, black velvet dress and headed towards Angel with a
dark, angry look in her narrowed eyes.
Wesley stood up. "Cordelia, what are you doing here? Where's
Oz?" he asked, alarmed.
"Last time I checked he was asleep in the guest room."
Cordelia didn't even look at them as she stalked over to Angel,
who was now sitting up wide-awake.
"Oz? Why's Oz over at your place?" he asked in
confusion.
"Cordelia, you left without him?" Wesley asked in
shock.
"You know it's not safe," Gunn added, frowning deeply.
Kate moved around the front desk, ready to intervene between
Cordelia and Angel if she had to.
Angel stood up and looked at Cordelia, who stood directly in
front of him. "Why are you dressed up?"
Cordelia ignored the question. "Angel, I have something to
say to you, and I want you to shut up and listen to me,
preferably without falling asleep in the process. I know it'll be
difficult, but I think you can manage. It won't take long."
She didn't give him a chance to respond. "I've had enough. I
have put up with your brooding and your mood swings for a long
time without complaining, and what do I get for it? 'Why don't we
pretend that you don't work for me?'" Her voice rose
slightly. "Fine. Let's pretend I don't. Only it's not
pretending because I quit. You can find someone else to be your
doormat because I'm done."
The room was dead silent for a full thirty seconds.
"Cordelia, you can't--" Wesley began as he moved
towards her.
"Yes, I *can* quit, Wesley. I don't do anything here I can't
do just as well over the phone from Sunnydale. And quite frankly,
I'd rather be at the mouth of Hell than work for him," she
said angrily, jerking her thumb towards Angel, who was staring at
her in silent shock.
"Okay, why don't we all just calm down here?" Gunn
suggested, looking uncomfortable.
Cordelia turned her attention to him. "Gunn, thank you for
protecting me the past few days. It's been nice knowing you.
Wesley, I'll call you when I get back to Sunnydale." She
turned and stormed out of the hotel.
Wesley ran after her.
Gunn glared at Angel and then followed Wesley.
"Did I miss something?" Angel asked her in confusion.
"You've missed a hell of a lot of things, Angel. That tends
to happen when you sleep other people's lives away," Kate
responded.
He stared at her.
She folded her arms across her chest. "Look, I don't know
what your problem is lately and honestly, I don't care. You don't
have many friends, Angel, and you're not going to be able to hold
onto the ones you have now if you don't stop acting like an
ass."
"I--"
"I'm not the one you need to talk to." She stared at
him and nodded her head towards the door.
"I don't think she wants to talk to me."
Kate sighed in exasperation. "Don't you get it? That's what
this is about. God, two hundred some years on earth and you don't
know a thing about psychology. She wants to talk to you! She
needs to. She's been through a lot in the past few days, and your
imitation of Rip Van Winkle has only added to that stress. She
just gave you one last chance to be there for her. Don't blow it.
Go after her before it's too late."
"But--"
"Angel! If you don't go, you'll be proving her right. She
thinks you don't care. And she *will* leave." Kate may not
have known the girl as long as Angel and Wesley, but she knew
that Cordelia hadn't been kidding around. She knew it with
absolute certainty.
Her words apparently sunk in. Angel headed towards the door.
She watched as he disappeared into the night and then she sighed
heavily and rolled her eyes. "Vampires."
"Cordelia, please talk to me. What happened
tonight?" Wesley asked as he stood in her bedroom doorway
and watched her throw things out of her closet and into the open
suitcase that lay on her bed. He knew how frightened she must be
after having been attacked, but something else had to have
happened to push her over the edge and make her decide to go back
to Sunnydale.
"I'm just sick of it, Wesley," she responded as she
tossed a pair of shoes onto the bed. "I can't take it
anymore."
"Can't we at least try and talk about this? There has to be
another way. You don't want to go back to Sunnydale." That
was the only thing he was sure about.
"No, I don't. But what other options do I have? It's not
like I have a lot of useful career skills and could find another
job here in L.A. At least there I could probably help research
demons or help Giles around the Magic Box."
"And this man that's after you? What if he follows you to
Sunnydale?" Wesley asked.
"Buffy will protect me. We may not be best friends, but I'm
pretty sure she won't let some serial killer murder me."
Cordelia stuffed a sweater into the suitcase, but it flew back
out. "Knock it off, Dennis!"
"Buffy is a vampire slayer. She doesn't have the time or
that authority to hunt down a serial killer," Wesley tried
to reason with her.
"I don't care, Wesley."
"Well, I do, dammit!" he said angrily.
Cordelia stopped trying to wrestle her sweater away from Dennis'
unseen hands. "I'll only be two hours away. You can come
visit me anytime. Come up for Christmas. Spend the week."
She made a grab for her sweater sleeve and missed.
"Dennis!"
"This is not the way to handle things. Since when do you run
away from your problems?" he demanded.
"I'm not running." She grabbed for the sweater again
and then gave up and began pulling other clothes from their
hangers.
"Oh, really? What do you call it?"
"A vacation."
"So you're coming back?"
"Maybe. I don't know. All I know is that if I don't get out
of here soon, I'll go insane."
Wesley turned to look at Gunn and Oz, who were standing behind
him silently. He motioned for them to go down the hall and into
the living room. He followed.
"You're not going to let her leave, are you?" Gunn
demanded.
"What choice do I have? If she's hell-bent on going back to
Sunnydale, I can't stop her. She's not a prisoner." He ran
one hand through his hair. "I don't like it, but we can't
force her to stay."
"If she leaves, her life will be in even more danger than it
already is," Oz said quietly.
"I'm aware of that, though she does have a point. Provided
she makes it to Sunnydale safely, Buffy and Giles and everyone
would protect her."
Oz nodded in agreement.
"Protect her from what?"
Wesley turned to see Angel standing in the open door of
Cordelia's apartment. His eyes darkened. "Thanks to you,
Cordelia is leaving town," he said bitterly.
"Not what I meant." He looked straight at Wesley.
"Why does Cordelia need Giles and Buffy to protect
her?"
He glared at Angel and remained silent.
"Wesley," Angel said warningly.
"Maybe you should have been worrying about what she needed
protection from instead of sleeping all the time and things
wouldn't have gotten as bad as they are now."
Angel's eyes narrowed and he moved forward, but Wesley held his
ground.
"You lay one finger on him and you're going to get a holy
water shower."
Everyone turned to see Cordelia standing a few feet away, holding
a spray bottle of clear liquid and glaring at Angel.
Angel moved slightly away from him, but stared right back at her.
"Cordelia, we have to talk."
"There's nothing to talk about. Get out," she said
flatly.
"Go." Angel's voice was quiet, controlled, and though
his eyes were locked on Cordelia's face, Wesley knew the message
was meant for him and for Gunn and Oz.
"I don't think that's a good idea," Wesley replied,
glancing at Cordelia again.
"Wesley, go. NOW." His voice left no room for argument,
but Wesley hesitated anyway. Then he nodded at Gunn and Oz. They
both headed for the door.
Wesley lowered his voice and glared at Angel coldly. "If you
hurt her anymore than you already have, so help me--" He
didn't finish his warning. He left Cordelia's apartment, pulling
the door shut behind him.
"You sure it's a good idea to leave them alone?" Gunn
asked as Wesley met up with him and Oz in the hallway.
"No, I'm not sure," he admitted. "But they have to
talk before the damage that's been done is too far gone to
repair, if it's not already." He knew what he said was the
truth.
Now all he could do was hope that when they returned Angel
wouldn't be a big pile of dust.