Assignment 1-Cordelia
Lines of Communication
by Danielle
Disclaimers: Let's suffice to say these characters aren't mine and leave
it at that.
Authors Notes: This is written as my fic for "Assignment 1" of
the Watcher's
Council. The only requirement was that it be an explanation of why Cordelia
wasn't at Joyce's funeral. Takes place after the Buffy ep "Forever" but
before the Angel ep "Disharmony." A dialogue fic.
"Angel Investigations, we help the helpless."
"Cordelia, is that you?"
"Giles? Oh my god, Giles- it's been forever. How are you?"
"Um, well as good as can be expected given the circumstances. And you?"
"I'm fine. We're working constantly these days. I've been getting at least 3
visions a week. Good thing we stocked up on Excedrin Migraine. But enough
about us- what can I do for you?"
"Oh, well, I was wondering if Angel was in?"
"No, he's actually out brooding somewhere. He got back yesterday and he's
been broody ever since. Not that I would know since we're kind of not
speaking."
"Oh, alright then. Can you leave him a message for me?"
"I guess so. What do you want me to tell him?"
"Please tell him that I'm very grateful that he made the trip to Sunnydale-"
"Oh is that where he went? Wesley, Gunn and I were wondering. He got a phone
call and just up and left without saying anything. But he's done that a lot
recently so we didn't really ask, either. Oh, I'm sorry- what's the rest of
the message?"
"Tell him I'm not sure what he said to Buffy, but whatever it was it seemed
to help trememdously. So thank him for me."
"Okay got it. Thanks for coming to the 'dale and making Buffy feel better. So
what happened to her this time, anyway? Some new big evil throw her for a
loop?"
"Um, well, no... Cordelia, you do know, don't you?"
"Know what?"
"Good lord, you don't know. Cordelia- Joyce, um, Buffy's mother, she passed
away."
"What? What are you... sorry Giles, I dropped the phone. Mrs. Summers died?
From what? Oh god, Buffy must be devistated. Was it vampires?"
"No, actually. She had a brain annuerism. After her surgery, there was a
certain risk-"
"What? What surgery? Why did Joyce need surgery?"
"My god, doesn't he tell you anything?"
"Well, we've kind of been... on the outs for the past month or two. It's a
long story, but nevermind that now. What was wrong with Joyce?"
"She'd developed a brain tumor. She had surgery to have it removed, which was
a complete sucess. They gave her a clean bill of health and she had been
recovering at home for the past few months. In fact, she'd just seemed to get
things back to normal, when Buffy came home from class the other day and
found her. She was already gone. There was nothing anyone could have done."
"Oh, Giles. That's terrible. I'm so sorry. When's the funeral? Wesley and I
will be down as soon as he slays this gherechk demon we've been tracking."
"Cordelia, I'm afraid the funeral was yesterday."
"Yesterday? And no one called us?"
"Well we assumed that Angel had passed on the information and you couldn't
get away."
"Couldn't get away? Giles, Joyce was like a mom to all of us. I can't beleive
you thought we wouldn't be there!"
"I am sorry, Cordelia, but really, we did think Angel would have mentioned
something. Perhaps he tried? You said you weren't really speaking to him..."
"No, he never said a word. The phone rang, he answered it and then he was out
the door. We thought it had something to do with Darla and Drusilla again. We
never thought-"
"No, of course not. Why would you? Especially if you say he hadn't even
mentioned that Joyce was ill. I am sorry you missed it. I guess if we had
really had time to think about it, someone might have questioned why you
weren't here. As it was, we were all devistated-"
"Well, of course you were. How's Buffy holding up?"
"Buffy... well let's say that it was a good thing that Angel came to see her.
She wasn't doing very well at all. She's much better now. It will most likely
take a long time for her to be back to her normal self, and of course she'll
probably never completely get over the loss, but things are looking up at
least."
"Good, I guess. I just... Giles, I really am so sorry. And I'm sorry that we
weren't there for you guys. If we had known... Believe me when I say that if
I weren't one of the good guys, Angel would be sporting a stake through his
chest. As it is, I'll be sure to give him an earful of what I think of him
and his communication skills. Tell Buffy that we're thinking of her?"
"Yes, certainly. I'll let her know why you weren't able to be here. And
you'll pass my message on to Angel? When you start speaking to him again?"
"Sure thing, Giles. Tell everyone I say hello and give them my love. And
thanks for calling. We should really make this a regular thing. That way we
won't run into problems like this in the future, you know? Of course, I hope
you never call me again if it's to tell me that someone's dead."
"No, lets keep things on a much happier note in the future, shall we? Alright
then, Cordelia, I'll speak to you again, soon."
"Okay, Giles. Nice to talk to you. Or, wait, well it would have been if...
you know what I mean."
"Yes, I do. Goodbye."
"Bye, Giles. Talk to you soon."