Smile

Title: Smile
Season: Season 1-3
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Everything belongs to the WB and the Creators of Angel, but what I wouldn’t do if I owned Angel
Couples: Cordelia/Angel
Category: One-Shot: Fluffy (Tag to Offspring)



(Cordy POV)



I moved around the basement of the Hyperion and arranged the colorful array of plastic flowers I’d picked out to brighten up the room. Because god knows anything alive left down here wouldn’t last long. I shifted the vase as I heard footsteps on the stairs.

I glanced up and saw Angel walk into our training area with a raised eyebrow as he noticed the flowers in vases scattered around the room. His brows furrowed as he walked toward one in particular.

"What's this?"

I grinned.

"Oh, it's just so dark and lifeless down here; I thought I'd brighten it up a little for you.”

He picked up one of the vases and turned toward me as I continued speaking.

“You can't exactly go out and enjoy the sunny fields of nature, but that doesn't mean we can't bring a little bloom into your darkness."

"They're fake."

I rolled my eyes. Duh. I took the vase out of his hand and put it back from where he’d taken it from.

"Yeah, you put something living in this hellhole and it’ll die,”

I snapped my fingers, “like that."

He was giving me one of those probing looks that always made me feel like he was looking into my soul. I cleared my throat and gave him a ‘well’ look.

"Thank you, Cordelia?"

He shook his head lightly and smiled at me.

"You know, I've been around a long time..."

I cut him off as I bounced back a step.

"Which reminds me, next birthday, you think we could skip the two-hundred and fifty odd candles on the cake and the inevitable fire marshal and just go with a little song?"

His grin widened as he ignored my outburst and continued with his previous sentence.

“"And I've never known anyone like you."

I gave him my 1000 watt smile. Of course he hasn’t…I’m Cordelia. His eyes were watching me with amusement and something I couldn’t quite read.

"Well, duh! Times a wasting, big guy. Can we do it? Hi-yeah!"

I took on a fighter’s stance and he chuckled while nodding.

"Okay. Last time we were working on not pulling your punches and your kicks. Right? Don't worry about me.”

I swung my arm out and threw a punch, which he deflected with his arm.

“That's good.”

I swiped at him again.

“Good! Where is your weight? Balls of your feet?"

Angel looked down, I swung out my arm and right as he was looking back up at me, my fist slammed full force against his face. My eyes widened. Oh my god…

"Oops! Oh god, you said that...are you okay?"

I watched as Angel straightened back up and forced a smile onto his face.

"I'm a vampire. You can't hurt me. Good."

I watched him turn away from me and wince slightly. I had to hold in my grin. Can’t hurt him my ass…I nailed that punch! Concern crossed my face when he turned back toward me.

"You're off your game. It's because of the prophecy Wes and Gunn are trying to get their hands on. You think the end is coming."

He rolled his eyes, something I swear he got from me, and he scoffed.

"The end is not coming. Someone is always uncovering some ancient scroll, and they're always saying the same thing: that something terrible is coming. Do you know how many of these things I've seen in my very long life?"

I thought about it for a minute before scrunching up my nose.

"Four?"

He frowned and shrugged.

"Three. But there's nothing to worry about."

I placed a hand on my hip and tapped my foot.

"Then why are Gunn and Wesley breaking and entering right now?"

He took a few steps toward me and gave me an innocent look.

"Breaking and entering is such a negative term. They are simply retrieving some missing pieces from the Nyazian Scroll. Just to make sure..."

"That the end is coming. - Well, all we can do is live each moment to the fullest and be grateful that we didn't throw too much money at the NASDAQ."

I could see that he wasn’t paying attention to me as he lifted his hand toward his face. He gave me his puppy dog eyes as he spoke in a soft voice.

"Am I swelling?"

I rolled my eyes.

“Baby…come on let’s go…my big bad manpire.”

He sighed and moved his body behind mine. I could feel the heat of his body against me and I swallowed hard. Okay, so these past few weeks that Angel and I have been training, it’s possible that my attraction to him has grown exponentially. I don’t know how or why, but suddenly I am definitely more aware of the fact that Angel is not just Angel, but a big, strong, good looking, man.

His hand curled around my right thigh and shifted it into a position that set my body up to do a spinning kick. Oh boy…

"Ow. That doesn't feel right."

His voice was right by my ear when he spoke.

"Just relax. You have to bend."

When he moved his leg between mine and shifted my leg up and over; I could feel my muscles protest from not being worked in so long. I grunted slightly.

"I don't bend there, okay, now that's downright unnatural."

I felt a laugh vibrate through his body.

"I know it feels strange, but if an attacker comes at you from behind, you wanna be able to shift all your weight immediately to your other foot so you can spin and kick. Here, you try it."

He moved back and I spun my body, kicked up against Angel’s chest and lost my balance. He caught me, one arm around my leg and the other around my waist, to keep me from falling.

"Whoa! Easy. Alright. That's alright.”

He lowered my leg and stepped back form me.

“That's better. We'll keep working on it. That's probably enough for today."

I winced and nodded.

"Yeah, well, we could do more, but then I'd have to ice every bone in my body."

He grinned and I pouted slightly before turning to head upstairs. I held a hand against my lower back as I moved toward the steps. I saw Fred standing there with a large grin on her face.

"Hey, Fred."

Her grin seemed to widen if that was even possible.

"Hey! - Kye-rumption."

I raised an eyebrow as I walked up the stairs. I love Fred, but she is so weird sometimes…

"Well - back at you."

I reached the top of the stairs and made my way into the lobby and up the steps to Angel’s room. There is so a shower with my name on it…

(Angel POV)

I watched as Cordelia made her way upstairs and then I turned my attention to Fred.

"What did you say?"

She came down the rest of the stairs and gave me a goofy grin.

"Kye-rumption. It's the one nice word I remember from the Pylean hell dimension."

I smiled. Hmm, I didn’t think there was anything nice about Pylea…good to know I was slightly wrong.

"What's it mean?"

She got a dreamy look on her face as she spoke.

"It's when two great heroes meet on the field of battle and recognize their mutual fate. It's also a kind of grog made out of ox dung but that's archaic."

I nodded and scrunched up my face.

"Oh, ah, that's interesting."

I turned away from her and started putting some of the training equipment back in it’s place. Cordy is forever messing with the weapons trying to get me to teach her how to use them. Believe it or not she’s pretty handy with a sword. Fred’s voice brought me out of my thoughts.

"When I see you and Cordelia sparring Kye-rumption always comes to mind."

I stopped what I was doing, straightened up and turned toward Fred. Me and Cordy? What? I waited a beat before giving her a look of confusion.

"Me and Cordelia."

She gave me a wistful smile.

"I know. She's such a hero, with the visions and the courage. It's only natural that you and she would be drawn to one another…”

Her voice trailed off and then she caught sight of the flowers Cordy had brought down here earlier. Her eyes lit up as she moved over and touched them.

“Oh! Plastic flowers! My favorite! They never fade, you know."

Forget the flowers…I was still stuck on the fact that she thinks something is going on between me and Cordy…I mean sure…Cordelia is a beautiful woman…and it’s possible that the more time we spend training the more I seem to notice that beauty, but that doesn’t mean anything…

That just means there’s a slight attraction…tiny…not even worth mentioning or overanalyzing…a normal attraction…I shook my head and made sure to get Fred’s attention.

"Oh, whoa, wait a minute. There's nothing going on between me and Cordelia."

She grinned.

"Nothing but Moira."

Huh? What is she talking about? I don’t even know anyone named Moira…

"Who's Moira?"

She laughed and waved me off.

"Moira is the gut physical attraction between two larger than life souls."

I gave Fred a nervous chuckle.

"Ha. No, there is no attraction. Cordelia is a friend. Someone I work with. That's all."

Fred’s grin widened as she rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet.

"See? You're being chivalrous. Because you’re a hero, just like her. You got Kye-rumption!"

This isn’t good…I can’t let Cordy here this kind of talk. She’ll make fun of me and call me a dork. I pointed at Fred with a frown.

"Stop using that word!"

The smile left her face and I sighed.

“Sorry Fred.”

She gave me a sheepish grin and shrugged.

“It’s okay. I should probably get back to helping Wes with the scroll. See ya later Angel.”

I waved as she made her way upstairs. About fifteen minutes later I made my way up the stairs into the lobby. I saw Cordy sitting at her desk and I stopped before anyone could see me so that I could take a minute and look at her.

She’s grown up a lot since she first came to LA. The transformation has been amazing to watch. She’s amazing…when I realized my thoughts were heading in a dangerous direction I tuned into the conversation the guys were having.

"Oh, that can't be right. Unless the world ended last March."

Gunn’s voice chimed in.

"So, are we talking Armageddon - or bad house number? Is it a bad event - or a bad guy?"

He sat down in front of Wes’s desk and Wes took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose before answering him.

"It's not clear on that. It predicts the arrival or arising of the Tro-clan, the person or being that brings about the ruination of mankind."

"So it's a two for one. Isn't that nice."

"And I'm not sure on the translation. Ruination may in fact mean purification."

"Purification? So this Tro-clan is a good thing?"

Wes sighed.

"I doubt that. But it's purification in Aramaic, ruination in ancient Greek and in the lost Ga-shundi language it means both."

I heard Cordelia’s reprimanding tone cut Wes off.

"And you don't want to make the same mistake twice."

She looked up from her desk with a mischievous grin on her face and Wes cleared his throat and looked down at the papers on his desk.

"No."

Fred looked between Wes and Cordy for a couple of minutes before her curiosity got the best of her.

"What mistake?"

Wes cleared his throat again.

"There was another prophecy a while back. It seemed to be about Angel and contained the word 'Shanshu' which I thought meant to die and I - sort of told Angel..."

Cordy cut him off.

"...that he was going to die."

Fred gasped.

"Oh, no."

"Then I found out it also meant to live. It meant to die and to live."

She gave them a confused look.

"So - which is it?"

"Both. In his case it meant that some day the vampire in him might die, but the human in him might live."

I stood in a corner of the lobby listening to them and when Fred asked about me being a normal man someday my eyes drifted toward Cordy. I watched her work at her desk as she smiled at Fred’s question about what they’d do after I’m human.

There was amusement in her voice when she spoke.

"I'd buy him some plaid shirts and take him to the beach. The boy needs some color."

I smiled. Only Cordy would think of something like that. I walked through the reception area and slowly sat down. Cordy looked up and spotted me. She gave me a quick grin before looking back down at her desk.

"Hey."

I gave her an awkward nod.

"Hey."

I watched her for a few minutes before hearing her let out a loud sigh.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

I fidgeted slightly and spoke quickly.

"Ah, no reason."

She wrote something down before getting up and walking over to the coffee maker to grab a cup. She poured herself some coffee, turned and stopped in her tracks.

"Okay. It's getting creepy now."

I cleared my throat and shifted on the stool.

"I was just thinking about things…people. You know, how they relate. Take you and me for instance. We're very different. Very different. Obviously.”

I pointed to her,

“Human,”

I pointed to myself,

“Vampire.”

I pointed back to her again.

“Woman,”

I motioned to myself again.

“Man...pire."

She raised an eyebrow.

"Has someone been putting vodka in your blood?"

I let out a strained laugh.

"See? You're funny! And I, well I get off a good one every once in a while, but you..."

She sat on her desk across from me, sipped her coffee, and when she placed it on her desk her eyes sought out mine.

"Angel, are you trying to say you love me?"

I nearly choked as I squeaked out ‘what?’

"I love you too."

My eyes widened. Oh my god…she loves me…how…when…

"You do? When did this..."

Cordelia cut me off and yelled out to the guys.

"Angel loves me. I love him."

I shot up out of my seat and my voice was slightly frantic.

"Oh, my god!"

Cordelia turned toward me and frowned at my outburst as she continued speaking.

"You guys love us and we love you."

They all called out ‘we love you Angel’ and I gave Cordelia a look of confusion. Okay…back up. What just happened?

"They were all saying it earlier. Just in case this prophecy comes true and we all die...are you okay?"

My body relaxed. Ah, the prophecy…Cordy loves me as a friend…right…I knew that…I love her as a friend too…I cleared my throat.

"Yeah, I’m good."

She got off the front of her desk, went around it, and sat down. She gave me a small smile that filled me with warmth. She’s always complaining how I can’t see the sun and how I have no light in my life…she doesn’t realize she is my light…She’s the sunshine in the dark…her voice broke through my thoughts.

"God knows we've been through a lot together."

I nodded.

"That's really all I was trying to say, that we've been through so much together. You've seen the good, and the not so good in me."

"Just like you have in me. And for the record: the good I've seen far outweighs the bad."

My eyes softened and my face broke out into a large grin.

"Thanks. You, too."

(Cordy POV)

I watched his face break out into one of the largest smiles I’ve ever seen. He doesn’t smile often, but when he does his face lights up and the darkness recedes. His smile sent a wave of warmth through me and I swallowed hard. Ever since I met Angel back in Sunnydale I’ve thought he was a hottie.

But over the years I’ve come to consider him my best friend…and now…well I don’t know. I’m not sure how much longer I can ignore the shift in the way I see Angel…how long I can pretend that I don’t see him…that I’m not attracted to him…

Sometimes…I think he feels it too, but I can’t be sure, and so I won’t bring it up. Plus there is the whole issue of the curse…things are never simple when they come to Angel. I shook my head slightly and returned his smile.

“What are friends for? And you…you ought to do that more often.”

He gave me an inquisitive look.

“Do what?”

“Smile…”

His eyes softened and he nodded. We locked eyes and in the two minutes before Fred pulled him into the office we spoke volumes to each other. He feels it…he’s not ready to accept it and honestly I don’t think I am either, but it’s real and it’s there…

We’ll have our time…things will be complicated…and it’ll be hard, but we’ll get through it…and until then…well I have a best friend I know will always be there for me no matter what…and that’s a rare thing…