|
|
HEART OF ENGLAND, PART 2: Disclaimer - All characters are the property of Joss Whedon, Twentieth Century Fox, Mutant Enemy and anyone else involved with Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
WHITE TURTLE DOVES
Written by Feather
Basic Plot - Sequel to Heart of England. A few problems occur in Willow and Xander's relationship, namely CC.
* Her long dark hair fell down past her shoulders in perfectly formed curls as she waited outside the church, two white turtle doves rested upon the arch just behind her. She glanced down to her feet; she wore a pair of white satin shoes with tiny flower shapes formed from pearls, slowly bringing her line of sight back to the carriage sat at the side the road she smiled softly and turned to face the church.
Her heart skipped a beat as her father opened the doors ready for them to proceed into the church, her smile fell a little as her father took her arm. Taking a deep breath she took her first step up the aisle, the satin folds of her dress rusting against the slate floor. The bridal march echoed out from above her, the organist played it perfectly every note sounded like the sweet singing of the nightingale.
She tightened her grip upon her bouquet of while lily’s and violets, it was true she was scared, really scared. Even though she had the perfect white wedding dress, the three bridesmaids dressed in violet, the beautiful bouquets, the gorgeous horse drawn carriage, she was still scared.
Taking yet another step towards her soon to be husband, she looked down to her hands and examined her nails.
“You okay?” She heard a soft voice whisper. She lifted her eyes to the owner of the voice, her fiancée looked at her with concern, Xander’s eyes kind and gentle. “Cor, everything alright?”
Cordelia Chase took another deep breath and grinned at him. “Tiptop!” She laughed softly, he joined her for a moment then they turned to look at the minister. *
Cordelia eyes fluttered open, her heart racing like a rabbits, why was she dreaming about marrying Xander? Xander? She sat up and stared into the depths of her apartment to where a photo sat of all the gang before the break-ups took place. She smiled and slid from beneath her soft sheets, walking over to the picture she traced a dainty nail across Xander’s face, he looked so sweet and innocent. * Maybe I should call him? * She thought.
* * *
For the first time since Xander had arrived in England the phone within his hotel room rang, he stared at it a moment shocked by this occurrence, after about the fifth ring he reached for the receiver. “Hello?” He asked a little warily.
“Xander, is that you?” A female voice asked on the other end, she sounded a little flustered.
Xander swallowed hard. “Yes, who is this?”
“Oh, thank God! I called your house and your mom said you’d gone to England, and well I have to admit I was a bit upset ‘cause I needed to talk to you desperately, but…well, I’ve got you now…so I suppose I can calm down, right?” She took a deep breath it was a very feeble deep breath, he heard her let out a sob.
“Yeah you can calm down now.” Xander paused, he knew the voice but he just couldn’t place it…it was definitely a voice he hadn’t heard in a while.
“I so wished I’d called you sooner, I mean who do I think I am, right? That’s what you’d say; you always used to say stuff like that, and it’s only now I realize you were right!” She went silent for a moment, and then another sob made its way down the phone line. “I can’t believe I’m crying down the phone to you, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay.” He whispered eventually realizing that this frail sounding girl was none other than Cordelia Chase. “You don’t have to tell me what’s wrong if you don’t want too!”
Cordelia was quiet, and then she whispered. “But I have to tell you what’s wrong, that’s why I called you!”
“Oh, what’s wrong then? And you must tell me I need to know, otherwise there was no point to this phone call!” Xander smiled and waited patiently.
“Okay,” Cordy took a breath, “I dreamt that I…umm, well I was getting married to you. I had this gorgeous ivory dress, there were three identically dressed bridesmaids, and we had this carriage drawn by two snow-white horses.” She gasped, Xander decided to let her carry on talking he wasn’t exactly ready for replying to what she’d just said. “It felt so real, I could hear the organ, feel the soft flowers against my skin…” She trailed off.
* Great, now I have to say something, don’t I? * Xander thought. “…And you called me about a dream?”
“Yes, I called you about a dream! Xander don’t you get it?” Cordy cried, she sounded really upset. “It made me realise that I miss you and I want to be with you-”
Xander’s attention diverted as the door to his room opened, Willow stepped in a grin plastered across her face. “Xand, I called my mom…” She paused. “Oh, you’re on the phone…I’ll come back in five, ‘kay.” And with that she bounced back out of the door.
Xander closed his eyes a second then reverted his full attention back to Cordelia crying on the end of the line. “You want to be with me? You’re not talking in the friend way either are you?”
She laughed softly, although you could tell it was put on, Cordy wasn’t in a laughing mood. “Friends would be nice, but I…well, you know…”
Xander wasn’t quite sure he did know. “I do?”
She laughed again, though this time it was a real laugh, Xander was happy it was. This entire heartbreaking crying coming from Cordelia Chase was not natural. “I love you…” She whispered faintly.
Now that was out of the ordinary, Cordelia just said she loved him. * Am I on candid camera? * He thought. This couldn’t be happening, could it? “You love me?” He asked a lump beginning to form in his throat.
“Yes.” She confessed shyly.
* Oh, now you’re lost for words, huh? And just when you leave me stumped. * He thought and decided to remain silent.
“Well, don’t you have anything to say?”
Xander licked his lips. “Honestly, no…Cordy what do you expect me to say, I love you too? You can’t just call me after three years and expect me to still think of you like that, it doesn’t happen that way!”
He heard her take a long, deep breath. “No, I guess not.”
“I feel really bad saying this to you, but it’s t…” He stopped, what the hell was he saying? He’d waited years for Cordy to wake up and smell the coffee, but no such luck. Why Now? Why when he’d just proposed to Willow and told her how much he loved her? “I’ll call you back okay, a bit later, I promise.”
“Sure.” Cordy answered blankly then put the phone down.
“Damn!” Xander cursed and slammed the receiver down. “What the hell is happening to my life?”
* * *
Cordelia tried to throw the receiver down but she just dropped it, tears started to roll down her cheeks, letting out a loud sob she buried her head in her pillow and screamed for all she was worth.
“Cordelia? Are you here?” A voice came from the doorway, Cordy lifted her head up and sniffed loudly just in time to see Angel walk into her lounge.
“Angel?” She asked softly and sat up quickly.
He noticed her sat on her bed and walked into her bedroom. “Is everything okay? You were late for work and you’re not normally, so I was worried.”
She bit her lip and looked him in the eyes. “Angel, I’m gonna have to take a vacation!”
Angel raised an inquisitive eyebrow. “Okay, where are you going to?”
“England actually.” She said quickly and got up from her bed. “I just thought you should know, I better start packing.”
“Didn’t Buffy go there a couple of weeks ago?” Angel asked and followed her as she pulled a case from beneath her bed.
Cordy smiled. “Yeah, I think she did. You’re point being?”
“No point, I was just curious.”
“If you say so.”
* * *
Xander ran that’s all he could do, he didn’t feel like seeing Willow right now, especially after that phone call. The fresh green trees whizzed past him as he dashed down the street.
“XANDER?” He stopped at the sudden sound of someone shouting his name, turning he saw Buffy stood outside a shop window. “Is everything okay?”
He strolled over to her and studied the contents of the window before them. “Course everything is okay, why wouldn’t it be?”
“I’m not really sure, maybe you should tell me. After all, I wasn’t the one running down the street like a maniac.” She raised an eyebrow. “You want to get a coffee and talk for a while?”
Xander nodded. “You don’t know how much I would like that!”
Buffy motioned across the road towards a café. “Lets go then.”
“Sure.” He muttered.
* * *
Cordelia stared at the lady sat behind the desk; Wesley was stood behind her watching the argument. “What do you mean you don’t have any tickets? I need to get to England!”
“I’m sorry Miss, there aren’t any coach tickets left available, if you take the next flight I could get you a ticket-”
“I need to go now!” Cordy screamed at her, the lady kept grinning. “Don’t you understand what now means?”
The lady’s smile fell a little. “I understand Miss, but there aren’t any tickets!” Her emerald eyes glanced down to the computer. “We have several first-class tickets left, they’d cost you around a thousand dollars.”
Cordelia felt tears welling up again. “I can’t afford that.” She whispered.
“Well I’m afraid you’ll have to wait till the next flight. Now would you like to pay with credit card or-”
“I’ll lend it to you.” Wesley said quickly from behind Cordelia.
* Thank you, thank you, and thank you! * She thought, then turned and grinned at him. “Are you sure?”
Wesley nodded then stepped up to the desk. “First class ticket to England.”
* * *
Xander stared down in to his cappuccino, which he was sure would be cold by now. He couldn’t tell Buffy what was really bugging him, she’d never understand.
“Xander, tell me now! We’ve been sat her for the last hour and you’ve said nothing, whatever it is, it can’t be that bad!” Buffy ran a hand through her curly blonde hair and smiled softly.
Xander laughed. “Oh, believe me it can! You know sometimes you have those perfect days when everything is just how you want it to be?”
“I vaguely know those days, I haven’t had a lot of them!” Her smile widened.
“Well, I had one of those days on the day Willow said yes. But today out of nowhere this thing has completely mucked up everything, and I don’t really know what to do.” Xander frowned and slid his coffee cup away from him.
“What’s mucked everything up?” Buffy asked gently.
Looking up Xander gulped. “This thing is a…” He frowned. “Buffy I can’t tell you okay, you’ll tell Willow and then everything will just get worse. I couldn’t cope with worse!”
“Oh!” Was all that Buffy said.
* * *
For the second time that day Cordelia was stood at a desk, a few moments later a young girl with flame red hair stepped out of the office. “Hi, how can I help you?” She asked cheerily.
“Umm, hi. I was looking for Xander Harris; I called here earlier and was told he was staying here, room thirty-six I think it was.” Cordy started twiddling the end of her plait.
The receptionist studied the book lay out upon the desk. “Yes he’s staying here, would you like me to call his room and tell him you’re looking for him?” The receptionists blue eyes lit up brightly.
“Do you think maybe I’d be able to get a spare key? I wanted to surprise him.” Cordelia grinned from ear-to-ear. “You see I’m his girlfriend!” * Oh, my God, what a lie! *
The receptionist paused a moment then gave in reluctantly. “Okay, sure. I can do that.”
“Thanks a lot, I really appreciate it.”
* * *
Xander stared down at the phone, just as he had been doing for the last twenty minutes, he had managed to pick it up once and press three for an outside line, but he’d put it straight down again. * Come on, you can do this! * He told himself and grabbed the receiver; slowly he moved a shaky finger towards the number three.
As Xander nervously pressed the button down he felt a set of arms wrap themselves around his neck. * You’re dreaming, you’re dreaming, you’re definitely dreaming! * He thought.
“Hi Xander!” Now the voice scared him, he let out a cry, dropped the receiver, and jumped up off the bed to be faced with an older looking Cordelia Chase, well older looking than when he’d last seen her. “Calling me?”
“How’d you get in my room?” He asked quietly. “Why are you in England?”
“To see you, duh!” Cordelia sat on the edge of Xander’s bed and looked up at him. “Sorry I scared you.”
Xander dropped down to sit beside her. “It’s okay.” He sighed heavily.
“I’m here because…” Cordy bit her lip and glanced across the room. “I’m here because…because-” Then she decide to give up, there was no way she could say what she wanted to say. Sliding a little closer to Xander, she leaned in closer and kissed him softly on the lips.
Xander wrapped his arms around Cordelia and kissed her back, this was exactly what he’d longed for over the past three years. Now it was all clear to him, he wanted Cordelia desperately. Then she pulled away.
“I’m really sorry, I shouldn’t have done that!” Cordelia jerked herself away from Xander. “I mean things could get really confusing especially if we-”
Xander didn’t really want to listen to her tell him how wrong it was, mainly because it felt so right to him. So instead he pulled her back to him tightly and kissed her passionately. “Confusing is good.” He muttered to her and switched the lamp off.
* * *
Willow ran her fingers through her silky red hair as she reached the door to Xander’s room, yesterday he’d told her that he’d been feeling ill so he wanted a bit of time to himself. And that was fair enough they’d spent near enough all of the holiday in each other’s pockets.
She grabbed hold of the door handle and for once found the door locked, now that was unusual, she shrugged it off and took the key from her pocket then unlocked the door. * He’s obviously still sleeping. * She thought and stepped into the room.
But what Willow saw shocked her, the door key slowly slipped from between her fingertips and dropped to the floor with a bang. “Xander?” She whispered barely; her entire world had just come crashing down around her.
The girl who was lying next to Xander turned over to look at Willow, as she did so her eyes widened, Willow knew this girl. “Cordelia?”
Cordelia sat up quickly and pulled the sheets around her protectively, she wasn’t really sure what to say so instead she nudged Xander in order to wake him up.
Willow tried to fight back the tears that were battling to spill over; her bottom lip began to tremble. “Wh-what’s going on?”
Xander rolled onto his back and slowly opened his eyes, Willow stared at him obviously heartbroken. He decided against answering her question after all he’d just say something stupid like; ‘it’s not what it looks like,’ or, ‘I can explain.’
“So everything you said to me was a lie? And when you told me that I was the only person you’d ever loved, I actually believed you.” That was it the tears had a won, a glassy tear rolled down Willow’s left cheek. “Obviously our friendship as well as our relationship doesn’t mean all that much to you.”
“It means everything to me, it’s just that-” Xander stopped himself before he got a slap.
Willow looked at him for a moment then closed her eyes; it hurt too much to look at him. Opening her eyes again she glanced down at her engagement ring, then making the decision of her life she slid the ring off her finger and threw it at Xander. “Don’t to talk to me…ever again!” She cried then ran out of the room in floods of tears.
The End