om6

~~~Chapter six~~~

Cordelia squeezed her eyes shut and bit down on her lip, trying to keep herself from babbling like an idiot like she usually did when these damn visions came. Fighting to get to her knees, Cordelia reached out blindly, trying to find something to hold onto. But that all too familiar force inside, threw her back about three feet, slamming her forehead into the doorjamb. The pain was getting intolerable, to the point she couldn't fight it anymore.

Amy and Willow exchanged a nervous glance and rushed to their friend's side. The remainder of the library's occupants stood in shock, watching with a mixture of gross interest and indecision. It was like watching a car accident. You see it happen, you can see that there's someone trapped in a car needing help, but you're not quiet able to make your body respond.

Finally Xander broke the spell, jumping up and down pointing in Cordelia's direction. "She's possessed! I told you, but would anyone listen to me? Noooooo." Amy and Willow were trying to hold Cordelia down, so she wouldn't hurt herself with her thrashing. Shooting Xander a disgusted glare, Amy wracked her brain for an explanation for Cordelia's odd behavior.

"Shut up Xander!" Amy snapped. "She's been getting horrible migraines. She's not possessed." Willow breathed a deep sigh of relief, glad that Amy was able to think quickly on her feet.

"Are you sure? Because it sure would explain a lot." Xander looked at Cordelia unconvinced.

"If I threw a stick, would you go away?" Amy retorted, returning her attention back to Cordelia who was calming down.

Moving from Giles's side, after finally getting over her initial shock, Jenny went to comfort the brunette. "Has she seen a doctor?"

"Why?" Willow asked thoughtlessly, her mind on what kind of vision the powers could've sent Cordelia.

"Her migraines?" Her face scrunched in confusion, Jenny looked from Amy back to Willow.

"Oh those." Willow's face reddened to a deep burgundy. This was a prime example why she should never lie. "Yeah she did."

"And?" Giles took his tweed jacket off, kneeling by Cordelia's side he gently lifted the brunette's head and placed the folded garment under it.

"Umm, she didn't say." Amy mumbled. Everyone seemed satisfied with the answer and let the subject drop.

"I still say she's possessed." Xander grumbled.

Angel watched Willow intently. He knew she and Amy were lying. If their faces and actions weren't a large enough clue, then their accelerated heartbeats was all the proof he needed. After being on this earth for over two centuries, he had several opportunities to study human behavior. It didn't take a genius to see that there was something way off with this situation.

Watching Willow sitting on the floor next to the cheerleader, brushing the girl's hair from her face in a soothing manner. Angel tired to pin point what it was exactly that was off with her. It was almost as though she wasn't the same girl she had been just days before. Her jittery nervous behavior was gone. It was true that she was still nervous, just not as jumpy as before. But it wasn't just Willow who was acting strange, it was also Amy and now Cordelia.

Sensing his childe watching from the stacks, Angel left Buffy's side to have a word with Spike. No one noticed that he slipped away, and he kept his voice low when he greeted Spike.

"What in the bloody hell was that?" The blonde vampire hissed.

"I don't know, but I'm not buying the migraine explanation." Angel looked back over his shoulder as Amy and Willow helped Cordelia to her feet and into a near by chair.

"Think they're in trouble?" Spike's gaze now locked on Amy, concerned that the little blonde he had come to admire and love might be in danger.

"If they are they aren't talking." Angel took them deeper into the stacks, not wanting to be overheard. "We ran into them last night in the park while we were on patrol."

"So." Spike shrugged.

"They were dressed in their bedclothes." Angel remembered how Willow had looked in the skimpy green silky camisole and matching short bottoms. She had been radiant, who knew what she was hiding under all those bulky sweaters and jumper sets.

"The chits were dressed for beddy-bye and you didn't have the decency to give me a call?" Spike pretended to be outraged, but his eyes sparkled with mirth.

"You're missing the point here." Angel growled in frustration. "They were walking through the park...at night...without any sort of weapons... in their
pajamas. " Spike's smirk vanished being replaced by a scowl.

"The gels know what kind of danger lurks at night, why were they being so bloody stupid?" Angel hushed Spike when his voice raised in anger.

"They said they were playing truth or dare." Slapping a hand over Spike's mouth when the blonde was about to spew out an angry retort, Angel quieted the younger vampire with his eyes. Spike nodded and Angel lifted his hand from his mouth.

"So what are we going to do?" Spike shifted to the right to look past Angel to where Amy was standing.

"I don't know yet." Angel answered honestly. "I think out of the three girls Willow is the most likely to tell the truth sooner or latter. Maybe we should corner her."

"Oh, now that sounds like a plan." Spike responded dryly. "Should we make her cry first then go for blood, or should we..." Angel cut him off with another glare.

"We aren't going to torture her. Just ask a few questions. She's nervous by nature. Sooner or latter she'll mess up." Rolling his eyes at his sire, Spike
shook his head. "Do you have a better plan?"

"No."

"Then shut up." Angel spun around in irritation and walked away, Spike following from behind. Things sure had been easier without this damn soul.

~~~*~~~

"I'm fine," Cordelia rolled her eyes at the group gathered around her. In truth her head felt like her brain had been pur�ed, and soon it was going to start slowly leaking from her ears. Her forehead had a knot the size of an Easter egg, and probably just as colorful. She had Giles, Xander, Buffy and her once dead teacher scrutinizing her as if she were some grotesque bug under a microscope. Plus she needed to get rid of everyone, so she could get Amy and Willow alone. They needed to find Faith and get to the cemetery pronto. There was an evil looking gray thing mutilating a teenage couple who thought it was a keen idea to neck at the local graveyard.

"Are you sure, you hit your head pretty hard?" Jenny applied the ice pack on the already bluish purple bump on Cordelia's temple.

"No really I'm fine. Willow and Amy can walk me home. My...medication is there." Willow and Amy almost smiled at one another.

"What about that nest we're supposed to take out?" Spike asked from the library steps. "Thought our little plan had the witch in it."

Freezing at the familiar english accent, Willow sucked in her breath and refused to look in Spike's direction. "What the hell!" Cordelia shrieked glaring
in Spike's direction and jumping from her chair, sending the icepack crashing to the floor. "That blonde Billy Idol want to be freak better have a chip
in his head."

Willow and Amy groaned together. "What?" Spike looked at the brunette. "Is the chit possessed?"

Xander opened his mouth, "Shut up Xander." Willow and Amy snapped in unison. Looking hurt, he closed his mouth and pouted.

"Cordelia, remember Spike helps us." Willow sent her friend a silent message with her eyes. "She gets this way sometimes after one of her spells. She forgets things. Maybe we should take her home." Amy nodded.

"What about the nest?" Buffy asked again.

"We can wait for Faith." Giles cleared his throat, confused at the night's events so far. "I think Amy and Willow are right. Cordelia needs to get home."

"Fine, but it's easier if we had a witch." Buffy pouted.

Willow and Amy didn't waste a second, dragging a bewildered Cordelia out of the library. "That went well." Amy muttered.

"Yeah, at least they didn't tie us to a stake." Willow tried to joke. "What were you thinking? Hope he has a chip?" Willow felt like hitting Cordelia upside the head.

"Like I knew he was on our side." Defending herself, Cordelia shook her head. "Why is he on our side? This is way too much... Spike helps us?"

"I don't know." Looking over her shoulder, Willow felt like they were being followed. "What I would do for a handbook telling us what to expect."

"Oh, I don't know. Even a time line right now would be nice." Amy added.

"We need to find Faith." Cordelia stopped the two witches before they took the 'what we need' thoughts too far.

"She's with Wesley." Quirking her brows at Willow, Cordelia waited for more information.

"That's all I know, she's with Wesley."

"Oh that's helpful."

"Hey I just learned where I live, there's only so much I can do." Willow half-heartedly defended herself.

"This isn't getting us anywhere." Amy tried not to smile at Cordelia and Willows antics, but it was hard. They were stuck in what they had thought was the past, only to find it not quiet the past as they recalled.

"We have until a little after sunset to find her, there's a big ugly gray thing that is going to eat Sunnydale High School's 'Most Romantic Couple'."

"I don't remember that happening." Amy looked puzzled, hoping that Cordelia and Willow could perhaps fill in what she must have forgotten.

"It didn't." Willow gnawed on her lower lip. "Those two got married a year after High School and are expecting their first child."

"Oh goodie. So now things that didn't even happen are happening. Aren't we so lucky?" Amy clapped her hands together, sarcasm oozing from her being.

"Let's not freak out now. So things are a little nuttier than the last time we lived through High School. We'll just go to the cemetery, do what we've
got to do to get rid of Gray guy and call it another day on the Hellmouth." Cordelia tried to sound optimistic, but knew she was failing miserably.

"Okay so what do you usually do after one of your visions?" Amy sucked in a deep breath, trying to get a hold of the situation.

"Well Angel's usually there to take care of everything." Cordelia answered honestly.

"Oh we are so screwed." Amy whined, Willow and Cordelia silently agreeing with her.