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crack_van2010-11-30 08:43 pm
sandystarr88.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2010-11-30 08:43 pm
Entry tags:
As The Page Turns by Evan Como (K+)
Fandom: ANGEL & BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
Pairing: Gen; Angel, Cordelia, Giles
Length: 9,506
Author on LJ: Unknown
Author Website: Profile at FF.net
Why this must be read:
I'm a sucker for the occasional outsider point-of-view story and this piece with Angel and Cordelia seen through Giles's eyes as they mourn the death of a friend is a wonderful look at how these two people have changed since leaving Sunnydale and questions whether or not Giles really knew either of them at all.
And so it began.
Giles looked up into his host's face while he placed his valise on the floor. He blinked, once, to clear his thoughts. The young man he saw before him seemed somehow different from the being he had known in Sunnydale. In this setting-an airy space, filtered sunlight reflecting on polished wood-he could have sworn that Angel had aged by several years. Of course, with Angel being vampire that would not be the case. Still it took a moment for Giles to gather his wits about him enough to finally say hello.
The smallest of smiles turned up the corners of Angel's mouth. "Traffic?"
"Oh, my God! It was a truck! They just shouldn't allow trucks on the freeways when regular people have to get places. It's just not fair. You know, we would have been here so much sooner-"
"OK, then. Let's get you all settled in." Giles' look of utter remorse prompted Angel to cut Cordelia short of her tirade. He could only imagine what the ride from the airport was like. "Why don't you go ahead and run to the store now, Cordelia? It'll give Giles a chance to wind down."
"I was going to stay at a hotel, actually. I don't want to be an imposition."
As the door slammed behind Cordelia, Angel stood for a moment to consider his uneasy guest. It surprised him that Giles had accepted the invitation to come in the fist place and it seemed the traffic wasn't the best of omens for the start of the weekend. With his guest's arrival, it was up to Angel to be a good host. The thought that somehow seemed reasonable a week ago didn't seem so easy now and he found himself missing Doyle's affable ability to put anyone at ease.
"It was the car ride with Cordelia?"
"I beg your pardon?" Giles, growing more uncomfortable by the moment, removed his wire-rimmed glasses and wiped them with a cloth from his pants. He folded the cloth in half, quarters, and then eighths before replacing it in his pocket.
Angel held the bag in front of him with both hands, stepping back to stand eye to eye with Giles. Although their difference in height was minimal, the other man still needed to obviously raise his head. Plus, Angel realized that Giles' discomfort was probably due to his sudden loss of personal space; he was the stranger in these surroundings.
"I thought that since you were only going to be here for three days, it might be more convenient for you just to stay here. You know, closer to the project... But if you would rather stay nearby, that's OK, too. Actually, even in this neighborhood, there's a very nice place a couple of blocks away. When Cordelia gets back, I can have her take you there."
There was a cordial, unassuming manner that Angel used as he spoke and Giles found himself acquiescing. He had come to Los Angeles on Angel's invitation to avoid yet another weekend of boredom. His life had lost its edge-whatever edge an unemployed librarian's-a decommissioned Watcher's-life could possible have, at least. Babysitting the weakened vampire Spike was hardly the role he could have imagined for himself although after the ride with Cordelia, Spike's company wasn't looking half-bad.
His hesitation began to subside with the remembrance of his current lifestyle's routine. "Perhaps, it was Cordelia. Does she ever shut up?"
Smiling warmly, Angel replied, "Cordelia does still have the tendency to use a dozen words when half will do. But, when it comes right down to it, sometimes she has amazing insight." When Giles chuckled at the absurd idea, Angel continued, "If you're around her long enough you eventually learn to weed out most of the babble. In the course of a few days you probably won't be able to get the hang of it. But, really, she's not all that bad."
There was something odd about Angel's change of heart regarding Cordelia. Giles had never remembered the two of them ever getting along, and if memory served him correctly it seemed as though Angel had deliberately avoided Cordelia in the past. But then, in the past, Angel only seemed to really care for Buffy and merely endured his relationship with the rest of the Slayer's team out of necessity. It began to seem odder that Angel should extend an invitation to him, of all people.
His curiosity finally got the better of him. "You were going me to show me to my accommodations?"
As The Page Turns
Pairing: Gen; Angel, Cordelia, Giles
Length: 9,506
Author on LJ: Unknown
Author Website: Profile at FF.net
Why this must be read:
I'm a sucker for the occasional outsider point-of-view story and this piece with Angel and Cordelia seen through Giles's eyes as they mourn the death of a friend is a wonderful look at how these two people have changed since leaving Sunnydale and questions whether or not Giles really knew either of them at all.
And so it began.
Giles looked up into his host's face while he placed his valise on the floor. He blinked, once, to clear his thoughts. The young man he saw before him seemed somehow different from the being he had known in Sunnydale. In this setting-an airy space, filtered sunlight reflecting on polished wood-he could have sworn that Angel had aged by several years. Of course, with Angel being vampire that would not be the case. Still it took a moment for Giles to gather his wits about him enough to finally say hello.
The smallest of smiles turned up the corners of Angel's mouth. "Traffic?"
"Oh, my God! It was a truck! They just shouldn't allow trucks on the freeways when regular people have to get places. It's just not fair. You know, we would have been here so much sooner-"
"OK, then. Let's get you all settled in." Giles' look of utter remorse prompted Angel to cut Cordelia short of her tirade. He could only imagine what the ride from the airport was like. "Why don't you go ahead and run to the store now, Cordelia? It'll give Giles a chance to wind down."
"I was going to stay at a hotel, actually. I don't want to be an imposition."
As the door slammed behind Cordelia, Angel stood for a moment to consider his uneasy guest. It surprised him that Giles had accepted the invitation to come in the fist place and it seemed the traffic wasn't the best of omens for the start of the weekend. With his guest's arrival, it was up to Angel to be a good host. The thought that somehow seemed reasonable a week ago didn't seem so easy now and he found himself missing Doyle's affable ability to put anyone at ease.
"It was the car ride with Cordelia?"
"I beg your pardon?" Giles, growing more uncomfortable by the moment, removed his wire-rimmed glasses and wiped them with a cloth from his pants. He folded the cloth in half, quarters, and then eighths before replacing it in his pocket.
Angel held the bag in front of him with both hands, stepping back to stand eye to eye with Giles. Although their difference in height was minimal, the other man still needed to obviously raise his head. Plus, Angel realized that Giles' discomfort was probably due to his sudden loss of personal space; he was the stranger in these surroundings.
"I thought that since you were only going to be here for three days, it might be more convenient for you just to stay here. You know, closer to the project... But if you would rather stay nearby, that's OK, too. Actually, even in this neighborhood, there's a very nice place a couple of blocks away. When Cordelia gets back, I can have her take you there."
There was a cordial, unassuming manner that Angel used as he spoke and Giles found himself acquiescing. He had come to Los Angeles on Angel's invitation to avoid yet another weekend of boredom. His life had lost its edge-whatever edge an unemployed librarian's-a decommissioned Watcher's-life could possible have, at least. Babysitting the weakened vampire Spike was hardly the role he could have imagined for himself although after the ride with Cordelia, Spike's company wasn't looking half-bad.
His hesitation began to subside with the remembrance of his current lifestyle's routine. "Perhaps, it was Cordelia. Does she ever shut up?"
Smiling warmly, Angel replied, "Cordelia does still have the tendency to use a dozen words when half will do. But, when it comes right down to it, sometimes she has amazing insight." When Giles chuckled at the absurd idea, Angel continued, "If you're around her long enough you eventually learn to weed out most of the babble. In the course of a few days you probably won't be able to get the hang of it. But, really, she's not all that bad."
There was something odd about Angel's change of heart regarding Cordelia. Giles had never remembered the two of them ever getting along, and if memory served him correctly it seemed as though Angel had deliberately avoided Cordelia in the past. But then, in the past, Angel only seemed to really care for Buffy and merely endured his relationship with the rest of the Slayer's team out of necessity. It began to seem odder that Angel should extend an invitation to him, of all people.
His curiosity finally got the better of him. "You were going me to show me to my accommodations?"
As The Page Turns