Second Chances
Disclaimer: You know the drill. All of these characters are owned by Joss Wheadon...evil. Anyway, I don't own any of them, but if I did...well...::smirks::
Timeline:Almost up to everything that happened so far. Except Spike and Buffy aren't "together," there's no mini-Angel (you know, the kid), and Angel doesn't have messed-up feelings for Cordelia. That's just weird. Where does Joss even get ideas like that?!?!?!?!
Synopsis:Something terrible happens to Angel, and Buffy's devastated. But after constant "dreams" of the past, the PTB give her one more chance to make things right again.
Feedback:Sure. If ya want. Whatever.
Dedication:To all of you who still believe. Keep doing that so I'm not alone.
Rating:PG-13/at times NC like 15 I guess (depends which parts)
LA
He was trapped, held together by a confining metal choker, and his hands and feet were chained to a wall. His friends and coworkers, like him, were also chained to a wall, unable to move. They were wide-eyed, knowing that something horrible was going to happen. Holtz, the vampire hunter who came back from the dead to seek revenge on Angel and Darla for killing his family, had dropped in unexpectedly, captured him and his friends, tortured them for awhile, and was now pointing a crossbow directly at Angel's heart.
And then it came. The familiar sound of a vampire dusting. Angel dusting. Right before their eyes. Cordelia let out an ear-piercing scream at seeing her friend's demise or undemise as the case was. She thought that she was going to be next, but Holtz actually let them go to live on with the guilt of losing their friend and coworker. As he left, he turned around and smiled wickedly at them. Then he was gone, leaving the others with a pile of vampire dust, a very messy hotel, and horrible, terrible images.
Sunnydale
At the same time, Buffy Summers, the Vampire Slayer, was eating dinner with her sister and her best friend, Willow. They were enjoying a relatively normal conversation, vampires only coming up once. As the blonde was about to take a bite out of her Chinese food, she felt something turn inside her. At first, it was faint, but within the next few minutes, the pain became unbearable. She collapsed to the floor, clutching her stomach and complaining that she couldn't breathe. Willow and Dawn bent down to help her, but then it was gone. Everything. The pain. The breathing problem. Everything.
"Buffy? Buffy, are you ok?" Dawn asked her sister franticly. Buffy stood up, breathing heavily and still clutching her stomach but not as hard. She gasped a little before answering her distraught sister.
"Yeah, Dawny. I'm fine. Bad stomach ache I guess." But she knew better. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but something was up. Something was missing inside of her. Something was...
A little later...
*Knock, Knock, Knock*
Willow Rosenberg answered the door to find a teary-eyed Cordelia Chase standing in the doorway. Her mascara was running down her blushed cheeks, and her hair, the one thing that the redhead had remembered Cordelia being so obsessed with, was all raveled and messy. Willow stood there wide-eyed before she invited her dark-haired ex-snob friend inside.
"Cordy? What's wrong? What happened?" she asked shakily. The May Queen stepped over the threshold, grasping her leather coat in her arms. It was as if she was holding onto her obviously expensive coat for dear life.
Cordelia couldn't breathe. She couldn't even answer Willow. She just stood there as Buffy and Dawn exited the kitchen and made their way over to the perplexed ex-cheerleader. Buffy's hazel eyes wide, she stood beside her friend, not really knowing what was going on. At least, she hoped she had no idea what was going on.
"Something happened..." the brunette started, looking directly into Buffy's eyes, which were wider than they had been a few minutes ago. "There was this guy Holtz who was after Angel, and, and..." she trailed off before finishing. "He's..." She never got to finish her sentence because she belt down crying instead. Right then and there, Buffy knew. She just knew that Angel, her Angel was dead. For real.
Like her ex-cheerleader friend, the blonde fell to the floor. Willow caught her within seconds before contact and held her up. She was floundering like a fish out of water in Willow's arms. She heard the sniffling of both her and Dawn, who, when Angel had lived in Sunnydale, was very close to. Cordelia was crying hysterically, as well.
But Buffy didn't cry. No, what she did was worse. She went numb. Every bone and ligament in her tiny body stiffened, and she found she couldn't move. Everything just went black, and the Slayer felt like she was being sucked into oblivion. Or standing in a crowded room and screaming at the top of her lungs, but nobody was paying attention. Finally, Buffy was able to scream out,
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"
For the next few days, Buffy had dreams of her and Angel, him being human and them being together. But the strange thing was, it was only for a day. She felt his heartbeat. She saw him in the sun. She got intimate with him on...the kitchen table in his apartment. At first, she thought that they were just fantasies of what never was and would never be. But after the fifth night of this recurring dream, she started to get a little wondrous.
And then, on the seventh night of her very detailed and vivid dream, They came to her. There were 4 of them, 2 girls and 2 guys. They glowed; it was as if They were the sun, but it was dark outside. Buffy stared at them in wonderment. She knew who They were. The Powers. But why had they come to her? What was going on?
"Slayer," the first woman started, "you've been having dreams. Dreams of you and your love being together." Buffy nodded, speechless. "These are memories, child. What happened in your dreams happened before. The memories were erased from your mind after the Oracles had swallowed the day. Your vampire warrior had turned human for exactly one day. But after he heard that you would die, he asked the Oracles to turn him back, and the memories were erased from your mind. Only he had carried that day on his shoulders. And now that you're getting your memories back, and the pain is coming back to you slowly, we will grant you a favor, Chosen One."
"What kind of a favor?" Buffy asked shakily. She had no idea what was going on, but if the Powers had sought her out, it must be important. After losing Angel, she thought she had nothing left to lose.
"Your vampire. The warrior. We like him very much so," the woman told her. Like, Buffy thought. As in the present tense? "Yes, as in the present tense," the woman replied. Buffy didn't even bother asking her how she'd read her mind and let her continue. "And you are our favorite Slayer of all. You've sacrificed your life for others twice now, and somehow you've managed to return to Earth. So, we have discussed it, and we'll be swallowing the last week, Miss Summers. You will have exactly 3 hours to get to your Angel before he dies. If you make it, he will live. For real. If you don't, he will die. For real. His humanity, and above all, strength is depending on you, Buffy. If you do manage to save him, it will take one month. Count that, one month, for him be fully human. Do not inform him of this, or it won't happen. Now, sleep tonight, and tomorrow we will leave you off 3 hours before you ate your dinner and found out about Angel's demise." And with that, the four were gone, leaving a stunned but aware Buffy staring at the spot in front of her dresser where they had just been.
The next day, Buffy found herself sitting in front of the TV with Dawn and Willow, exactly where she had been 3 hours before dinner. It was just like the Powers had told her it would be like. Almost like lightning, the Slayer got up off the couch, raced upstairs to get her Slayer Bag, ran back down to her friend and her sister, who were alarmed at seeing her behave so hurriedly, and said to them,
"I've got to get to LA." Wide-eyed, Willow asked,
"Why?" And then it came to her. What was the only reason that Buffy rushed to LA? Angel was in trouble, and Buffy wouldn't take that lying down. "Something wrong with Angel's lot?" Buffy just nodded, and the other two said they'd go with her. Buffy didn't have time to argue, so she let them, and together, they raced out of the house towards Willow's car.
LA
There they were. Chained up to a wall. Cordelia, Gunn, Fred, and Wesley watched in horror as Holtz tormented their boss with hurtful words. He chided him on how he killed his family and reminded him of all the painful deaths he had brought unto others as Angelus. Cordelia desperately wanted to yell "STOP!" at Holtz, but she was afraid that if she did so, she and Angel would be killed right on the spot. Instead, she just whined.
"Oh God, Oh God, Oh God. I'd never thought I'd die like this! At least up until about 5 years ago when I first met-"
"HEY!" Cordelia's whining was cut off by a bellow coming from the door. It was her old friend, Buffy Summers, from high school. She had Willow and her sister, Dawn with her, and she was fully Slayer-equipped. It was as if she'd known that something was wrong. Then again, she always knew when it came to Angel.
"Buffy!" she exclaimed, and the two others who knew what she looked like followed Cordelia's actions, screaming Buffy's name as well. Angel stared at his ex-girlfriend but most definitely not ex-love with his chocolate-colored deep-set eyes. Even being chained to a wall and being tortured with holy water didn't equal the amount of pain he felt when he saw her. "Oh, thank God! Little Miss Kick Ass is here!" Cordelia shouted with relief (and no sarcasm).
"Why don't you pick on someone your own species," Buffy demanded of Holtz. He just stared at her and lowered his crossbow, which he was about to shoot Angel in the heart with. Willow and Dawn stood at her beside, the ex-witch on her right and the Key on her left, only a little farther back than the other two.
"Who the hell are you?" Holtz asked incredulously with his slight English accent. His accent wasn't as strong as Giles's or Wesley's was, but it was apparent that he was British. Buffy stood there, her arms crossed over her chest, thankful that she got there in time.
"Who the hell am I?" Buffy repeated. "Well, I'm your worse nightmare. But some people, ex-demons, friends who have visions," She waved a little at Cordy before finishing, "and tall, dark, and brooding vampires know me as-"
"The Slayer," Holtz finished for her. She rolled her eyes angrily. She was going to say her name, but whatever. The Slayer was good, too, she guessed. After a minute, she nodded. "So, you're the Slayer I've been hearing so much about." He turned around to look at Angel, who was still staring at Buffy wide-eyed. "She's beautiful, Angel."
"Oh like compliments are gonna make up for all your bad behavior," Buffy put in. She approached the vengeful vampire hunter carefully. She didn't want to jump right into a fight, but as long as she was keeping him distracted from killing her friends, it was ok.
"I tried," he replied cockily. Then, after a minute, he continued. "So, you come here to defend your vampire. Do you realize that you're going against everything you stand for by sticking up for a vicious killer?"
"Excuse me, Daniel Boone. I'm not going against everything I stand for by defending a souled vampire. And not to mention my friends you got chained up over there. What are you, anyway? And what era did you come from? You look like a bearskin rug," Buffy replied. Cordelia, who wasn't in as much pain as she had been before her Slayer friend arrived, decided to fill the blonde in. Hey, if she was going to kill him, she might as well know his story.
"He came back from the dead to take revenge on Angel for killing his family yada, yada, yada." Without taking her attention off the vampire hunter, Buffy replied,
"Oh. So, that's it. Let me guess the rest of the story. You were brought back by some demon after like 200 years or so because you wanted revenge on my," she gestured over to the chained-up souled vampire, "friend over there because his demon killed your family. Can we say 'holding a grudge?'"
Angel couldn't help but stifle a smile in her direction. Even after all these years, he still felt the same way about her. He loved every inch of her, physical and otherwise. Her blonde hair, her hazel orbs, her ambition, her impeccable timing, her...He wasn't going to go there. He couldn't. But still, he loved her. More than anything. He wanted to take her into his arms and hold her, but he knew he couldn't. One was because it was impossible for them to be together because of their little "situation" with intimacy, and two, well, he was chained up to a wall at the moment.
The raving banter part of the fight didn't last much longer than that. Holtz whined about his family and how Angel had killed them, and Buffy insulted him some more on how his physical appearance looked. They fought for about 15 minutes before Holtz actually gave in. He mumbled something like "this isn't over" and ran out the door with Buffy calling after him,
"Yeah, like I haven't heard that line before!" Within seconds, she was at Angel's side. She was so infuriated with worry and anguish that she was actually able to rip the chains out of the wall. Dawn pointed out that there was a key lying on the desk, but Buffy didn't seem to be listening. So, with a shrug, she grabbed the key, and with Willow's help, freed the others from their chains.
Dawn watched with curiosity and deep interest as Buffy lead Angel to a couch in the left corner of the main lobby of the Hyperion. She had always liked Angel, at least as far as she could remember. Except for when he was all evil, which was a valid reason for hating him. But later on, he'd saved her life a couple of times, so she forgave him. Besides, she thought to herself with a coy smile, he's such a honey. She liked him better than that Riley guy. A lot better. What had she even seenin that loser?
A few hours later...
"It was so weird," Dawn was saying. "I mean, one minute we're watching some freaky old movie, and the next Buffy's all up out of her seat, upstairs, and out the door. It freaked the...heck...out of me."
"How did you even know?" Wesley asked with great curiosity. Buffy just shrugged at his question. She couldn't answer truthfully, and she had to hide her complete and udder happiness at knowing that Angel would be human again in a matter of weeks. So, she decided to approach this as nonchalantly as possible.
"I have my ways," was her only reply as the others looked on. She, Dawn, and Willow had been introduced to the two unknown to them as Angel's coworkers and friends. The girl was Fred. She seemed nice, but she was pretty quiet. At least around Buffy. She didn't know why, though. The other dark-skinned man was Gunn. From what they'd told her, he was strong and helped out a lot with their investigations.
"Well, we're lucky you guys came along. I mean, we'd be dead right about now," Cordelia ventured. But then she realized what she had just said and, her eyes lit up. She hadn't ever expected to be happy to see Buffy Summers. The two hadn't really gotten along that well during their time at Sunnydale High, but the two had a connection. They'd both been on the popular side of things and knew what it was like to hurt people's egos. "Dead. Dead, you're alive! And you're here!" She couldn't help but give the blonde a hug. She was very upset at hearing Willow's detailed description of her demise, but when she found out that she was alive, it was like two anvils had been lifted off her shoulders. She hated admitting it, but she felt a little guilty about what had happened to Buffy. She cursed herself and her visions, which are supposed to tell me of people in danger, until Willow called to tell them that she was "alive and kicking."
Buffy hugged Cordelia back without hesitation. Despite everything that had been said between the two, they were still friends. And they hadn't seen each other in about a year and a half. But her attention wasn't on the ex-cheerleader. It was on the soon-to-be ex-vampire. The soon-to-be ex-vampire who had no idea what awaited him.
Cordelia caught on to what was happening, so she got up, half-smiled at her Slayer friend, and started to leave. Pretty soon, the others got the idea and repeated Cordelia's actions, leaving the unlikely pair alone.
"I'm...um...glad you're here," Angel managed to get out. He still couldn't meet her gaze. All of these supposed to be dead and buried feelings came rushing back up to him with just a glimpse of her hair. He couldn't bare it, and besides, he was still somewhat weak. He was still lying on the couch...with Buffy sitting up next to him.
"Glad to be here," she replied honestly. And she was glad to be there. Glad to be out of the Hellmouth. She'd been looking for an excuse to leave for quite some time now, and her love being killed if she didn't come and save him was a pretty valid reason. She was looking down at him, aware that he wasn't able to meet her eyes.
"How long do you plan on staying?" he asked her.
"Well, I was just going to-"
"You can stay-" They started each of their sentences at the same time. "I mean, you can stay longer. If you want." Buffy was trying to hide the fact that she was beaming inside. He had actually offered for her to stay. She wanted more than anything to do just that. She had almost lost him, and she didn't want to leave his side again.
"Well, I don't wanna impose..." Buffy started.
"No. We could always use the extra..." Angel stopped from saying what he was about to say. He knew that if he finished that sentence, he'd be lying. He knew perfectly well that they didn't need anymore help, but he wanted Buffy so much to stay. He wanted it more than anything (well, almost) since she had declined his offer of inviting her to stay with him at the Hyperion after their first reunion since her painful and traumatizing resurrection.
"Ok, sure. Since Dawn has off for the next two weeks, maybe I could-"
"That be...great," he put in. Angel wanted her to stay as long as humanly possible. Or as Slayerly possible as the case was with Buffy. He wanted to hold her. He wanted to hug her. Kiss her. Tell her how much he loved her and how sorry he was for leaving her. He wanted...All the things we can never have. He tried sitting up, and when Buffy realized that he couldn't, she helped him. She wasn't aware that her hand was on his bare chest as she helped him. But he knew, and what made him really angry was the fact that he didn't tell her. They looked into each other's eyes, for the first time since the girls' arrival. Angel leaned in close. Closer. Even closer until their lips touched. The kiss was soft at first, but after a few seconds, it got more passionate and filled with need. With want. With desire. And neither of them tried to stop the kiss. Angel because he loved her so, but for that reason alone. Buffy because she loved him, and she knew that they'd be together. Soon enough.
Sunnydale
One month later
Dawn, Willow, and Buffy had been home for about two weeks. They'd left the hotel after their agreed time for staying there. Dawn didn't want to leave. She hated living in Sunnydale and wanted desperately to be anywhere else. Not to mention the fact that she and Cordelia had bought about 30 new outfits in their time in LA. She'd bonded with the May Queen, and they became closer.
Buffy was lying in her room, staring up at the ceiling. Her smile was wide, and her eyes were shining. Today was the day when Angel would become human again. She wondered what he'd do when he'd find out. Would he be shocked? Would he call? He'd better.
She could've sworn she heard the PTB whispering through her open bedroom window 'It's time.' And right on schedule, the phone rang. Her heart pounding, she picked up the receiver and said hello to find that Angel was on the other line, as she knew he would be.
LA
A few days later
"They'd been in that room for 5 hours already," Dawn complained. "I mean, my GOD!" She did feel disgusted. Contemplating her sister having smoochies with any guy was just too much to handle, but this was Angel, and she was happy for her. Dawn knew that Angel made her happy, and she knew that her sister deserved every ounce of happiness she got. After being brought back from the dead and ripped out of Heaven, Buffy hadn't had many things to be happy about, but this, this was of the good.
"I know. It's gross, but I have a feeling that we'll be getting a lot of this later on," Cordelia replied, rolling her eyes. They were in Cordy's apartment, just sitting, talking, and complaining. They'd been there for about 5 hours, but they'd been in LA for 1 ˝ days. Ever since Angel called to tell Buffy that he was human, they'd been in LA. School had just let out, so there wouldn't be a problem there.
"Hey, the guy deserves somethin'," Gunn put in. "With the hell that they've been through, this hardly makes up for it."
"Oh believe me! It does," Cordelia responded. "I can't take this anymore. If I sit here and think about all the nasty images those two are putting in my head, I think I'll go mad. Let's get some lunch."
"Good idea," Wesley agreed. Then they were off.
Meanwhile...
Stomachs touching. Legs entwining. Breaths. Heavy breathing. Hands. Hands caressing her knees, working their way up a couple of inches. Then thighs. Then...she let out a moan of ecstasy. Lips on legs, on stomachs, on cheeks, and then on lips, moving behind ears and down to necks. Gasping for air, needing oxygen. Loud sighs and huffs. Breathing really becoming an issue. I'll never forget. I'll never forget. I'll never forget. Hearts beating rapidly. Tongues. Hands. Hands in new places. Please, please. Please, please. Please. Sweat making hair stick to foreheads. And then blackness. Dark. Eyes closed. Finally, sleep....
At a Starbuck's in LA...
Dawn, Cordelia, Willow, Gunn, Wesley, and Fred were enjoying cups of coffee, cappuccinos, frapaccinos, mocha café frapaccinos, and some other coffee related beverages with weird names in a little Starbuck's about 2 miles away from the Lakeview Mall. Cordelia, Dawn, Willow, and occasionally Wesley, when he was able to fit into the conversation, talked about old times and High School on the Hellmouth while Gunn and Fred engaged in mindless chatter.
"I remember graduation. That was something undesired, I'll tell you that," Cordelia put in. Even though these memories Dawn had of Buffy telling her and her mother after they had come back from their "little vacation" in LA about graduation and the mayor becoming this ugly demon or whatever were fake, they seemed so real. She remembered telling her about blowing up the high school, killing the mayor, and eventually, about Angel leaving her without so much as a goodbye wave.
"I know," Willow agreed with the May Queen. "It was so freaky. I just can't believe we all survived." Just thinking of that day, the day when everyone was supposed to be happy about moving onto better lives, made the ex-witch tremble. The mayor's true self was so incredibly terrifying that she had had dreams of him that whole following summer. Of course, later on, she had found other horrific things to have constant dreams about.
Just then, out of nowhere, Willow's cell phone rang. She opened up her black 5th Avenue purse and removed the red Nokia from it's 'Witchy Girl' cell holder. I'll have to remember to exchange this holder while we're here. She clicked the 'talk' button and said into the phone,
"Hello?"
"Willow, it's Xander," Willow's friend since childhood and former crush said into the receiver from his and Anya's apartment. He sounded incredibly frantic. Then again, when living on the Hellmouth, that wasn't too unnerving.
"Xand? What's wrong? You sound jittery," Willow replied.
"Giles just called me from England. He said he tried your place, but no one answered. Something's up. You, Buffy, and Dawn need to come home. And uh, I can't believe I'm saying this but, bring Ex-Dead Boy and his Musketeers with you." With that, Xander hung up the phone, leaving a worried Willow listening to the soft buzzing signaling the end of the conversation.
"What is it?" Dawn asked.
"We've gotta get back to Sunnydale. I mean, all of us. Something's happened."
Buffy awoke a little while later. She looked over to the digital clock on the beside table. 2:00 pm. It was only 2 in the afternoon. To the Slayer, it seemed much later. She stifled a yawn, but then the realization of the previous hours hit her. Her hazel eyes shifted nervously from left to right. She didn't want to see if he was there. She hadn't had the best experiences when it came to waking up after a night (or mid-afternoon) of passion. Her partner was usually either getting coffee, finding another victim...err girl...to take advantage of, or off losing his soul.
Of course she knew that she had to look eventually. So, with a rapidly beating heart, she swiftly turned over to find that Angel wasn't gone. In fact, he was very not gone, as in awake and looking at her. He flashed her his trademark lopsided grin, and she returned it with a bright smile. Then she snuggled into his chest, and he wrapped an arm around her back.
The two had clothes on. Somewhere in between their 5 hours of passionate lovemaking, they were able to squeeze in a redressing break. Buffy had on one of Angel's button down shirts, and of course, her underwear. Angel had slipped on a pair of black drawstring pants, which he used for sleeping. After a quiet minute, he finally asked,
"You didn't expect to see me here, did you?" Buffy's eyes were closed, but she knew that he was looking down at her. She let a little tight smile escape her now lipstickless mouth and replied the best way she knew how to: with a cute remark.
"Well, stepping into Giles Mode for just a minute, it's just 'somewhat unprecedented.'" Angel's smile grew wider as he tried to smooth out Buffy's wild bed head. When he knew he'd lost that battle with his lover's golden locks, he gave up and played with them for awhile.
"Yes, that's definitely Giles Mode," he agreed with her. As ludicrous as this may sound, Angel had actually begun to develop a sort of sense of humor. Sure, it wasn't very often that he'd make a funny, but every once in awhile, when the mood was right, he'd crack a slight joke. Buffy grinned knowing that he had changed for the better. LA had changed him, but in a good way. Not in a super killing spree way. After a moment, the ex-vampire caught himself blurting out something that he didn't want to, especially to the one person who wasn't supposed to know that something. "I didn't think it was possible for it to be even better than the first time."
Buffy knew what he was talking about. The Forgotten Day, their one day of contentment and normalcy. At least, up until then. The Powers That Be had filled her in on the parts that didn't come to her through her dreams. Still, she wanted to see him squirm. She liked to see him squirm.
"The first time?" the blonde finally asked. She found it hard to keep a straight face when she said that.
"Uh, I mean, in my dreams. I've had so many dreams about this that-"
"It's ok, Angel," Buffy cut him off. "I know." Angel's heart began to race, and it hadn't done that in over 220 years. He began to sweat, and his now warm flesh became HOT. How could she know? Why? When? How???
"You-You know? How could you..." He trailed off.
"I'd been having these dreams about it. I thought they were just that, dreams. But, about a month ago, the Powers came to me and filled in the blanks," Buffy explained. She felt him tense against her. He was shaking. He's actually shaking...
"Oh God. Buffy, I'm so sorry. I wanted to tell you but-" Suddenly, she was on top of him. He didn't know how she'd gotten there because of the fear that was taking over him when she told him she knew just a minute before. She sat kneeling, his legs between her knees. She wasn't quite strattling him, though. No matters. She aroused him no matter what she was doing. He just looked up at her with those chestnut orbs of his.
"Shhh. Don't tell me how sorry you are." This statement wasn't full of hatred or disappointment. It was actually full of lust, and to him, Buffy sounded like she purred that sentence out. "Show me." Angel grinned wickedly at her and took her into his arms. He tried desperately to unbutton her (or his) shirt, but his fingers weren't cooperating.
"Why'd you even bother putting that on," he practically growled. If he still had his vampiric features, they would've sprung out on him right about now.
"Well, maybe I'd thought it'd be funny to see you fumble with the buttons." Angel couldn't take it anymore. He just ripped the shirt in half and didn't even notice the buttons that were raining down onto his coverlet. Buffy laughed in mock surprise, and he grabbed her by the hips and pulled her to him. More passion was about to be made when...
*Knock, Knock, Knock* The two lovers ignored the knocking at first and continued their little display of physical love for each other when that dreaded knocking came again. *Knock, Knock, Knock* Frustrated, Angel practically shouted through the door,
"What?!"
"Chill! God!" came Cordelia's suddenly to the ex-vampire annoying voice. "I didn't want to go in there and have a post-childhood trauma, so I knocked. You guys better get out of there and get dressed. We have a situation." After a beat, he heard Cordelia say to the others in her apartment, "I've always wanted to say that!"