SquidgeWorld Archive

RATING: PG
CLASSIFICATION: Cordy/Wesley
SUMMARY: Tossing a client's stuff leads to a revelation.
SPOILERS: Set after the season finale of Angel.
DISTRIBUTION: Any sites with my fic up; you all have unspoken permission. I write it, you can post it. Everyone else just keep my name on it and let me know.
DISCLAIMER: If you don't recognize it, chances are it's my own creation. If you do, Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Kazui Sandollar, FOX and the WB own it or them. Various friends of mine are holding characters hostage. You may see them by appointment only.
FEEDBACK: Sorry I'm not home right now I'm walking in the spiderwebs so leave a message and I'll call you back...in other words, I want it. Don't care if it's onlist or not.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Nightbird saw I was totally and utterly blocked, so she gave me a challenge: A Cordy/Wesley fic with a game of I never (take a drink if you never did something), a radio, someone throwing a music cd out a window in anger. (Bonus points if it hits something/one) and either someone taking embarrassing pics or finding them. Hope you like it.
Submitted through the 'YG deleted' All-About-Cordy mailing list. Please join us at AllAboutCordy

I have no idea how a little game of "I Never" could develop into the starting point for a relationship with Wesley. I mean, almost a year ago, I had flirted with him to make Xander jealous. But now, all that's in the past, and I thought that was where he'd stay, too.

But then he showed up...in leather, no less...and my world flipped upside down for the second time since I came to LA. I mean, the first time was when Doyle came into, and just as abruptly left, my life, giving me his stupid vision gift in the process.

Okay, it's not stupid, but I have never been so angry at anyone because of it. Except maybe Lindsey, because he was going to destroy the scroll...

And I'm straying from the topic, aren't I?

Anyway, I'd gotten out of the hospital about a week or two after the whole scroll incident. And I really didn't want to deal with anyone or anything. I wanted a vacation. And Wesley looked like he *needed* one.

But no. Angel had a client, he needed our help...vacation would have to wait. He did, however, give us a relatively easy job. We got to destroy certain things of our clients. Don't ask me why we were supposed to do this, but Angel handed us each a box of stuff and told us to have a blast and clean up after ourselves.

There was all sorts of stuff...and we sat there tossing it out the window. At least all the breakable stuff.

"I suppose I can hit the building across the street," Wesley said, showing me a CD he intended to throw.

"Who's on the CD?"

"Some group called Methods of mayhem."

I know I visibly shuddered. I know it. "Toss it. Toss it now."

Wesley took aim from his window and tossed. It hit the building square on, shattering. The remnants hit a small dog in the alley.

"Sorry," Wesley murmured, looking over at me.

But I was busy looking at something else.

"Cordelia?" he asked, moving over towards me. I tried so hard to laugh at the pictures I was looking at. "What is it?"

"Potential blackmail..." I said before the laughter just exploded. There, in my hands, were pictures of Lilah Morgan and some others at an office party, drunk out of their minds and doing some very strange things in front of and to the camera that had taken the picture.

Wesley grinned. "I think we should keep those," he said, moving them to the side. But before he could get them all, I ran across of Lindsey McDonald, smiling smugly as her watched the party unfold before him.

I looked through my box of junk, grabbed a CD, and tossed it as hard as I could.

"Ow!" came the yell from below, signaling I must have hit somebody.

"Cordelia..." Wesley said softly, taking my arm before I had the chance to grab and toss something else. The anger was growing in me as I pictured that smug look on an otherwise handsome face...

"Perhaps you should do something else," he said, leading me away from the window.

"Like hurt Lindsey?"

Wesley shook his head. "Why not...get drunk?"

I blinked at him. Prim and proper Wesley suggesting I get drunk?

"Uh...why?"

"Drinking normally makes one forget their problems, and, besides, I don't like drinking alone, and I have this need to get pissed." Wesley grinned slightly. "Do you want to?"

I thought for a moment. It could be a bad idea, letting my inhibitions go in front of him. But then again...

"Why not?"

***

"All right, Cordelia...I never....have visions that save peoples lives."

"No fair! That means I can't drink!"

"All right, all right...I never kissed a member of the same sex."

Both of us took a drink, Wesley of his Guinness and me of my cosmopolitan. Thought a change would be nice. Normally I drink wine cooler, enjoying the mix of fruit and alcohol.

"Your turn, Cordelia."

I had to think for a moment. "I never...flirted with anyone I didn't care about."

Only Wesley took a drink, and, needless to say, I was shocked. "Wait a sec...you flirted with me before."

Wesley nodded, appearing to sober slightly. "Yes, I did."

"So you cared about me?"

"Still do, actually."

I smiled, leaned over and kissed his cheek. "You're sweet."

He smiled a bit. "My turn again, I see. I never...danced the Macarena."

Once again, only Wesley took a drink. "Well, it was for a school dance..." I said, laughing. I turned up the radio, hoping to hear a song I liked.

He motioned at me. "Your turn."

"All right. I never fell in love."

Neither of us drink.

"Who did you love?" I ask Wesley.

"A woman in England. Before I became a Watcher...she didn't understand that I had to go away and I might not be back for a long time. I was going to propose when I came back, if she would have waited."

I nodded, simply out of shock. And the fact it looked like he was still heartbroken. "If it makes you feel any better, I think I loved Xander. In fact, I'm pretty sure I did."

I knew the look that must have been on my face, one of sadness and heartache. That's why what Wesley said next surprised me.

"I never regretted something I did regarding the other person playing this game."

It took me a moment to figure out what he was saying, and I knew I couldn't drink. There was something I regretted that involved Wesley.

"I'm sorry I used you, last year," I said quietly, then took a drink.

"And I'm sorry...well, I suppose the best way to say this is..."

He leaned over and kissed me, a kiss that was the total opposite of the clumsy one he'd given me last year, and so much more tender than the one I'd given him when I was trying to loose the visions power. A kiss that made em melt, inside, and never want to stop.

And when he pulled away, I sat there in the profoundest shock. "You...that...again?"

Smiling, he leaned in again, and all my problems were forgotten.