Flesh and Blood (1/25)

Author- Midnight Faith

Spoilers- none

Distribution- FF.net, AOH and Neurotica. Anyone else ask :)

Pairing- Eventual Lilah/Lindsey. Undertones of Lilah/Gunn and Fred/Gunn. C/A.

Rating- R

Summary- It's four months since Sunnydale.

Notes- The last part of the trilogy that includes 'Southern Comfort' and 'Silver cloud, bitter lining.' You'll need to read those two first.

Cordelia Chase stepped into her apartment taking the humid breeze of the mid-November heatwave with her.

Setting down the two brown paper grocery bags on the kitchen counter she was greeted with the all too familiar sight of her den curtains pulled tight shut against the unseasonably renlentless sun, Jerry Springer blaring from her TV and her portable electric fan stirring a cooling breeze over the living room.

"Cherry garcia?" Cordy said, her voice brittle with optimism despite herself, "And straight out of the tub? Either we ran out of all the good flavours or it's serious this time."

"We ran out of all the good flavours," Lilah said, leaning over to set down the half-empty tub of cherry ice cream on Cordy's glass coffee table.

Cordy sat down next to Lilah on the sofa, giving her a brief hug as she did so on instinct.

Lilah went rigid at her touch still, but Cordelia wryly noted the change Lilah had undergone since their disasterous visit to Sunnydale.

When they'd returned to LA, for two weeks Lilah hadn't said a word to anyone, and only blankly sat on Cordy's sofa barely moving and completely unresponsive to anyone.

Eventually she just broke down and cried for two days solidly. Cordy had been proud of the way Angel, Wesley and Fred had rallied round giving Lilah hugs and sympathy where needed. Even Fred had handed her tissues and put consoling hands on her shoulders.

After that a kind of connection had formed between Cordy and Lilah. Cordy had lost count of the number of times in the last four months they'd stayed up all night, listening to each other and crying over the guys in their lives. Cordy because she loved Angel and couldn't 'be' with him because he might lose his soul and 'go physco again,' and Lilah because the only man she'd ever truly loved had abandoned her (again) with a baby.

"Well it's lucky for you I got groceries then…" Cordy said, sinking the spoon into the half melted tub of garish pink ice cream on the table, "I know you hate cherries. So I invited the gang round for dinner tonight…"

A look of dismay crossed Lilah's face.

"It's only Angel, Fred and Wesley," Cordy reassured her, "They're your friends…"

"But tonight is double Jeopardy," Lilah said weakly, "And I have nothing to wear."

"You have loose shirts," Cordy pointed out, "And they really want to see you because you haven't been into work in like… forever… Since you've been permanently staking out Oprah on daytime PBS. Come on Lilah… for me? You can wear that dark blue shirt… the silky nice one and you'll still fit into that short black skirt you have. You and Fred can share a tub of cookies 'n' cream…"

"Fred likes ice cream?"

"She's an ice cream fiend… you two are going to get on so well someday when you really how much you have in common…"

"A little too much," Lilah said somberly.

"I'm sorry," Cordy said.

"No it's OK… thinking about Gunn makes me think about Lindsey which makes me think about…" she trailed off, her eyes falling to her ever expanding waistline, becoming glossy with unshed tears.

Cordy handed Lilah a tissue which she gratefully accepted, dabbing at her eyes as the tears fell.

"Have you been crying today?" Cordy asked, her voice full of concern noting the half-empty box of tissues.

"The dog died on the Bold and The Beautiful," Lilah told her.

"The one on life support?"

"It doesn't take much to set me off these days… joys of having this living, constantly kicking baby inside me… my hormones are a little wavering… yesterday I cried over Jerry's final thought."

"It's OK…" Cordy assured her, "Only six more weeks to go…"

"Then welcome insomnia… and actually having to find somewhere to live."

"I don't care if you live on my couch until the kid's twenty one," Cordy told her. "Or you could just move into the hotel. There's enough space for you to have about twenty rooms."

"Yeah and Fred lives at the hotel…" Lilah reminded her.

Cordy rolled her eyes.

"You and Fred would really like each other if you'd only talk…" Cordy told Lilah, "Sit next to her at dinner… talk about your childhood or something…"

"I don't think so… I don't want to depress myself…"

"If you don't want to go back to the hotel… we can always get a bigger apartment…"

"Really? You, me and a baby? You seriously want to do that?"

"Living with one of my best friends and her beautiful baby… of course. It'll be just like 'Friends.' We can even paint the door purple."

"I figured now you and Angel are together you'd be moving into the hotel with him…"

Cordy smiled slightly.

"I think living with Angel would be the thing that'd drive me crazy… We'll start looking after the baby's born… not long now, but I guess you haven't really registered."

Cordy's eyes drifted over to the boxes of baby stuff Angel had dropped off two weeks ago which were still neatly packed and sealed in their original carboard crates.

"I'll help you sort them… tomorrow if you want, the office is dead." Cordy told Lilah, "A lot of the stuff's neutral rather than blue… if you have a girl… or is this going to make everything too real?"

"It's real," Lilah said quickly, "It's happening… I'm having a baby…"

"How are you feeling about it all?" Cordy asked, happy she'd finally got Lilah to open up to her.

"Honestly? I don't feel a thing…"

"You will…" Cordy reassured her, "People on TV talk about a 'rush of love' when they see their baby for the first time."

"People on TV know what race their baby will be," Lilah pointed out a little snippily.

"Who's do you want it to be?" Cordy asked her.

Lilah shrugged.

"I can just see myself on Jerry Springer now… We can have Gunn's pile of ashes on one side of me and a live satellite link to Lindsey in Guam or wherever the hell he is on the other," she shook her head, "As far as I'm concerned neither of them deserve to be this baby's father…"