Title: Departure Point

by Meagan

Summary: Angel and Cordelia leave for Los Angeles, and Xander leaves for the beginning of a great adventure.

Series: Comes after "Reversal" and "The Morning After." I should probably figure out a title for this series. Any suggestions?

Spoilers: Well, everything, of course.

Disclaimer: Of *course* they belong to someone else. I could never some up with characters like this.

Specifically, they belong to Mutant Enemy, Fox, WB, and anyone else I forgot.

Rating: G, I think.

Distribution: Please ask. I'm not too sure anyone would really want it, though.

Feedback: Um, sure, I think. I'm not really a writer. I'm just trying to sort out what the voices in my head want me to do. There are just so *many* of them, telling me all sorts of different things, and I'm not sure which ones to listen to. Feedback would probably help. So would therapy, but I can't afford that right now, so I'll just try to keep on writing. The big question is this: Does anyone want to see any more of this?

Note: I stole this title from "Doors Fan" by Bruce McCulloch. I just had to admit that.

Reversal 3: Departure Point

By Megan

Xander's entire body sagged. "So they just left? Without telling anyone?"

"Yeah. Well, Cordy called Giles to let him know. I don't think they wanted to face any of us."

A small group gathered at Buffy's house. They lived through the Ascension. Well, most of them, more or less. Cordelia was mortally wounded and died. And then joined the ranks of undead Americans thanks to Angel. Giles and Willow performed the soul restoration ritual, this time on Cordelia. It was decided that Angel would take her with him to Los Angeles. He could help her through the transition that he had been through before -- from soulless demon to vampire with a soul. She would have an easier time of it, of course, because her demon's reign of terror took place while she was still unconscious, so she had caused no deaths that would cause guilt in her souled incarnation. What the humans did not expect was a midnight departure with no goodbye scene like the one they were currently participating in -- albeit in daylight -- with Xander.

Buffy was there, of course, morose after being denied one last meeting with her now-ex-boyfriend. "Xander, I'll miss you. Keep an eye out for evil truckers, okay? I couldn't face fall without you." He embraced the tiny blonde, briefly wondering if he would hit any of her haunts from the previous summer during his motorized walkabout.

"Here, man, you need road music." Oz handed over a cd holder. "Will and I made some of them." Xander flipped through the pages of the holder, avoiding eyes all around. "Just call when you need more, okay?"

"Thanks." Finally, he met Oz's eyes. "Take care of her, okay?" The unspoken message: She's your Willow now.

"Always." Unspoken response: She's *our* Willow.

The redhead in question tore away from her boyfriend to hug her oldest friend. "Thank you." Just loudly enough for Xander to hear. Then a bit more loudly, "I'm going to miss you. Hurry back, okay? And call if you need *anything*. Even if it's just to complain about the heat." The longest they had ever gone without seeing each other was just a couple of weeks, and that was when they were in grade school visiting grandparents during the summer. They even saw each other virtually every day during their not-close phases. A sad smile flitted across her face. Even during those not-close times, they forced their parents to arrange for grandparent visitations at the same times so they would both be out of town at the same time.

"Of course."

Giles stepped forward to hand over his contribution to Xander's roadtrip entertainment pile. Journals. "I expect a full report when you return." Xander held the books, tracing the spines with his fingers. "And I hope you figure out what you need to know." This last statement was in a much lower voice that Xander almost convinced himself was his imagination until he met the Watcher's gaze. With a start, Xander realized this was the same sort of thing that prompted the older man to dabble in black magicks and the circle of friends that included one Ethan Rayne.

"Thanks, guys. Really. I'm already missing you. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to hit the road so I can return just that much sooner."

~~~~

"I wish I could have said goodbye to Xander." Cordelia sighed, resting her head on the passenger side window. "All this changed things for me, and I need him to know that."

Hands wrapped tightly around the wheel, keeping his eyes on the road, Angel tried to keep his emotions from his voice. "Really, Cordy, it's better this way. He would have tried to get you to stay, and that's just what you *don't* need." Silently, he added, 'And he wouldn't have even needed to *try* to get *me* to stay. '

"Yeah, I know." She traced a flower in the condensation on the window. "But I still wish I could have let him know." Glancing over at Angel, attempting to gauge his reaction, she added, "I don't hate him anymore. Actually, I'm not sure I ever really did. But now, if I could have kids, I would want him to be Uncle Xander. He'd be good at that."

Angel chuckled. "You'd have one hell of a time breaking them of his habits, though."

Another sigh. "Well, I guess it's a good thing I don't have to worry about that." She wiped the flower away.

It was Angel's turn to sigh. He was thinking of a brood of dark-haired, dark-eyed children with Xander's energy and sense of humor. He knew what the teen had done for Cordelia for the prom. And then the ordeal during and after the Ascension. He had been doing a lot of growing up and maturing. He definitely wasn't the kid that Angel met two and a half years previously. "Maybe you can be Auntie Cordy for his kids."

"Maybe." She considered that. It would be nice, even if they weren't *her* kids. Xander would still be in her life. Suddenly, she realized Angel wasn't insulting Xander. "What's going on, Angel? I mean, you haven't once insulted Xander. Here we are actually *discussing* him, and the meanest comment you've made is that he has bad habits."

Angel gripped the wheel even more tightly. Cordelia half-expected chunks to break off in his hands. "I'm losing my touch, I guess."

"Um, okay."

They drove in silence for a while. Then, "Angel? Do you miss him?"

Quietly, so quietly that she almost believed it hadn't been said, "Yeah. I do."

~~~~ the end ~~~~