Summary: Set in S3 somewhere after the battle. What if Cordelia never left like she said she would? What if she found comfort with the bar and a Margarita, and meets an enemy on the streets that she needs her ass saved from? Who will save her? Will someone find her before it’s too late, or will the angry and sad Drama Queen be killed? Read to find out what happens.
It was a dark night, as Cordelia Chase sat at the bar drinking a Margarita. She was hurt, crushed, mentally wounded, and wanted to leave this town. She didn’t leave, though. She didn’t know why. All she knew was that Xander and Willow’s kiss had hurt her. She didn’t know why, but she found herself mentally wishing that she had died in the battle. It would serve them right. Make them feel more guilty. Plus, she always wanted to go out with a big bang. Die fighting the monsters little kids feared.
She finished her third Margarita, paid Willy with a twenty, and then staggered out into the dark night. It was a cold night. It was one of those nights where she wished she had brought a jacket or sweater with her.
Meanwhile, the Scoobies were watching everyone party at the Bronze. Willow and Oz had gotten back together, but Oz was with Giles at the scene. Buffy stared out at the partiers blankly, remembering Angel walking away after the battle. Willow watched them dance in a somewhat good mood. Xander stared into the distance for about thirty minutes, until he came back to the present.
He knew what he had to do. He had to get her back.
“I think I’m going to call it a night. See you girls later,” he said, standing up and walking off.
“Okay,” Willow replied.
“Later,” Buffy replied meekly to him.
Cordelia Chase was by a jewelry store, staggering, on her way home. That’s when it happened. She was pulled into an alley. She knew it was a vampire.
“Pretty one.”
“Hardly,” she said.
“Wasted, too. I like that.”
“Don’t they all.”
He vamped out. With a swift motion, he jerked her head to the side to expose her neck. Then he bit. She tried to kick him like she normally did to vamps, but it didn’t work. With a last resort, she screamed just loud enough so someone could hopefully hear her. And someone did. Her vision was turning tunnel-like, but she could still hear.
“Cordy!” he yelled.
She would always know that voice. It amazed her. Even after what he had done, he was willing to risk his life for hers.
The vampire stopped and let her go.
She fell to the pavement and rolled onto her back.
She closed her eyes to rest.
As soon as the vampire let go, looking at him, Xander put out a cross.
“Back off.”
It stepped away from the cross, backing away.
When he was close enough, Xander staked it.
He ran to and knelt by her.
He pulled her into his arms.
“Cordy, can you hear me?”
She slowly opened her eyes.
“Xander…”
“I’m here. I’m going to get you out of here.”
“I’m sorry…for everything.”
“It’s okay.”
“I forgive you…Xan.”
He gently picked her up. When he did, she layed her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.
Thirty minutes layer, he layed her on a hospital bed and kissed her forehead.
“What happened?” one doctor asked.
“I think she got cut by something. I didn’t see.”
“Her name?” another asked.
“Cordelia Chase. She’s nineteen. My ex.”
He watched grimly, as they rushed her down the hall with a breathing mask on her. They hadn’t asked his name, because they knew him from as many times as he had visited his friends at the hospital.
“Stay strong, Cordy. For me,” he muttered.
He sat down on a bench once outside and called on his flip phone. First Buffy and then Willow. Willow had said before hanging up that she was on her way.
He put his phone in his pocket and then went into the waiting room and started pacing. It hurt him deeply that his girl was hurt. He didn’t know how much blood she had lost, but it had looked like a lot when he had rescued her.
Willow soon arrived and they hugged. As much as Cordelia hated and despised her, Willow respected and envied her. She respected her for being so fierce in a way that she would never be. She had despised her when she was rich and popular, because she had had everything. And even with everything, she had left all she had been a part of to be with Xander, the geek and dweeb, as Cordelia called him. And once, she had even called him the Zeppo of the Scoobies.
Willow sat down and watched him pace back and forth, hands behind his back. There was nothing she could say that would make him feel better. He loved Cordelia in a way that nobody, not even Wills, would understand. The only thing Willow could put in words of their love, was that they evolved around each other. He was her world and she was his. Wills understood it because of her own relationship. It was intimate.
Five hours later, fifteen minutes after twelve that morning, a doctor finally came up to them. His name tag said that he was Dr. John Gregory.
“Mr. Harris.” He nodded at Willow. “Miss Rosenburg.”
Willow stood beside Xander who had stopped pacing.
The doctor looked at him.
“She lost a lot of blood, but she’ll be fine. Visitor hours are over, but I’ll make an exception. You guy can stay as long as you like. She’s in room 119. You should know the way.”
“Thanks, Dr. Gregory,” she said politely.
“You’re welcome.”
After Dr. Gregory had left to go to the back, they went down the hall and walked in. She shut the door.
“You want me to leave you two alone?” she asked Xander.
“Both of you can stay for now,” came a voice.
“I didn’t know you were awake, Cordelia.”
“I am,” she said, her head still facing the window.
“Buffy will be here tomorrow, Cordelia.”
“Buffy? Here? I’m surprised. Sacrificing her fear of hospitals to come make sure I’m alright.”
“Xander said that you forgave him.”
“Yes. I forgive him. I forgive you, too Wills.”
“Thanks, Cordelia.”
“You’re welcome. Just don’t do it again. You can go now. We’ll talk more later.”
“I understand.”
As soon as she left and Xander was seated, she finally turned her head to look at him.
“Xander, I’m sorry that I never gave you another chance.”
“It’s okay.”
“No. It’s not. I hurt you because you hurt me. Well, I’m ready now. I want you back. But not just that. I want to be together forever.”
“I do. Cordelia Chase, I promise to take you back and be with you for as long as we shall both live.”
They smiled.
He got up and bent down towards her. She put her arms around his neck as he did, and they kissed.
Buffy came in the next morning. She guessed nobody had visited her yet, but she was wrong. Cordelia was in a wheelchair, Willow standing beside it, Xander knelt in front of her with her hands in his, the former Queen C in regular clothes and ready to hit the road sort of speak.
“What did I miss?”
“The cavalry road in,” Willow joked, smiling down at Xan and the former Cordette.
“She took me back,” Xander announced, smiling at his Secret Eyes.
“We’re engaged,” the former Queen B announced, smiling at her dweeb.
“Congratulations, guys,” Buffy announced, smiling, happy for at least one of her friends getting his life back on track.
That morning, they left with Buffy wheeling her out.
ns 15.158.61.20da2
