Without a Paddle

By Danielle

Disclaimers: I am in no way affiliated with the WB or any of it's shows so
any characters portrayed in this fic are absolutely not my own.

Authors Notes: For WC Assignment 3- A Buffy or Angel crossover with any
Wednesday night show. God help us all. And by the way- no disrespect to the
other show in this piece. I'm just having fun and fulfilling my assignment.

He blinked as he stepped outside of his car. The sun was just about down and
he still felt a little uncomfortable, but he had a mission. Cordelia had had
a vision that a kid in this town was about to commit suicide and he had to
find him or her before it was too late.  It being a small, coastal town, he
went to the first place he could think of where kids would go to be alone and
contemplate offing themselves- the docks.

As he walked slowly past the vast array of boats and Jet Ski's he looked for
any sign of teens in distress. Immediately he saw a lanky blond with a frown
standing near the edge of the wharf. "Hey, are you okay?" he called out,
uncertain as to how to approach the young man.

The blond turned his head quickly. "No, no I'm not actually." Angel let out
an exhausted breath- finally an easy case.

"Can I help you with something? Sometimes talking about things with someone
who doesn't know you can help." Angel hoped that didn't sound too weird, but
figured if the kid was about to jump into the water and drown himself, who
cared how weird it sounded as long as he stopped him.

"Well, to start with, my girlfriend who's 21 but looks 30 just broke up with
me because she says she needs to get on with her life. My best friend Joey
just got dumped by my other friend Pacey and I think I might still be in love
with her but she already slept with Pacey and now I'll never be her first.
And my parents who got divorced and remarried again last year just had a baby
who never stops crying and I feel like they just don't love me anymore."
Angel looked at the guy, who had never even taken a breath while spurting out
his problems and raised an eyebrow. Surely this couldn't be the teen he'd
been sent to save?

Angel scratched his head. "Okay, well let me ask you this- were you thinking
about killing yourself at all?"

The blond looked at the stranger, surprised. "God, no. I mean, that's
something I'd never even contemplate. I have so much to live for, what with
getting accepted to USC Film School and High School Graduation and a whole
summer to bum around and do nothing."

Angel smiled. "Okay, that's good. I hope you figure things out really soon,
buddy- have a great life." He walked away as quickly as possible, not wanting
to hear anymore of the kid's sob story. What a whiner! He continued down the
boardwalk and came upon a young blond girl, huddled in a ball on a bench.
"Hi." He said quietly so as not to startle her.

She picked her head up and he noticed the tears running down her cheeks. "Are
you okay? Can I help you with something? Do you want to talk about it?"

She took a deep breath and wiped at her face. "How can I possibly talk to you
about something that you couldn't even possibly comprehend? I mean, do you
know what it's like to be a poor little rich girl from New York City who got
shipped to Capeside, Mass. by her parents after they caught her drinking and
doing drugs and having sex in their bed when she was only 15? No, I bet you
don't. And do you know what its like to have a best friend who's so hot and
you really like him but he's gay and will only fool around with you when he's
drunk? No- I don't think so! And that's not even getting into my issues with
my father and the fact that I caught him having sex with some teenager when I
was only 12 or the fact that my friend Abby drowned right here because she
and I were drunk and she fell in and I couldn't save her or my Grams'"

Angel held up his hands in defeat. "Whoa! I'm sorry I asked. But let me ask
you this- you're not thinking about suicide, are you?"

She looked at him with her impossibly weepy eyes. "How could I think about
killing myself when I have so many other things to dwell on?"

"Right. Okay, then- try to cheer up. My advice- get some therapy, quick." He
walked away, scared to death of the girl and her major psychological
problems. If these weren't the ones he was supposed to save, he was dreading
finding the right one. He walked on until he came to a brooding dark-haired
guy mindlessly sipping a beer and kicking rocks. "Aren't you a little young
to be drinking?" Angel asked as nicely as possible.

"What do you care, dude? No one cares about me. My dad thinks I'm a waste of
space, my best friend and I barely even talk because I ran away with the girl
he's still in love with last summer. My brother Doug hates me, I'm a big
disappointment to my sister Gretchen, not to mention the fact that I just
dumped my girlfriend because I love her too much. She deserves so much better
than a worthless guy like me and I can't stand the fact that there is nothing
I can ever do to be worthy of someone like her-"

"Hey, all I asked was if you should be drinking. What is it with you kids in
this town spilling your guts to the first stranger that walks by? You're not
thinking of killing yourself are you?"

The dark guy threw his empty beer can into the water and grabbed another.
"And ruin the miserable existence I've worked so hard for? I don't think so."

"Great. Glad to hear it. Have fun wallowing." Damn these kids today! They all
had enough problems to write a textbook about psychoses on. No wonder so many
of them were out of their minds. He walked on, hoping against hope that the
next person he found would be the one he was supposed to help because he
needed to get the hell out of this place as fast as possible. He saw a thin
dark-haired girl sitting on the end of the dock ahead of him and he walked
toward her, praying that she was the one.

"Excuse me, I was just wondering if you were okay? You look a little sad."

"Sad? Why would I be sad? My boyfriend just dumped me because he says I make
him feel like nothing- worthless just because I'm the smartest and most
talented person in this town. I love him so much that I seem to have
forgotten about the fact that I've been in love with my best friend Dawson
since I was old enough to look at guys. I got into the college I've always
dreamed of attending just to find out that I couldn't afford to go. Last week
I thought I was pregnant, and,"

"Forget it! I don't care if you are going to commit suicide; I don't want to
hear about it! What is wrong with you kids? Go have some friggin' fun and
leave the brooding to the professionals!" He stalked off, back toward his
car, not even caring that someone here really did need his help, and as he
did, things started to blur.

He woke up screaming, and Cordelia came running into his room. "Angel, what
is it?"

He sat up straight and took a deep breath. "I was dreaming that I was in hell
again."

"What show was it this time? Dharma and Greg? WWF Smackdown?"

"Dawson's Creek," he sighed.

"Oh god, you poor thing. Are the powers that be ever going to stop torturing
you?"

"I don't know. But if I never see that show again it will be too soon. Can
you bring me a blood bag from the refrigerator? Maybe it will cut down on my
urge to suck Kevin Williamson dry."

"Sure." She walked toward the door smiling, and as she was leaving, started
singing quietly, "I don't wanna wait for my life to be over..."

Angel grabbed his pillow and threw it so hard at her retreating form that it
exploded into a shower of feathers as it hit the door Cordelia closed behind
her