__Femme Fatale__
By Andrea
"Bills, motorbike magazine, coupons, " Giles muttered,
flipping through the mail. "Nothing interesting " he
said to himself, closing the door. Throwing the mail
on the desk, an official looking document caught his
eye.
Picking it up, he cursed under his breath. It was that
damn ticket, the cop had issued him a week ago. He'd
been daydreaming while driving and accidently swerved
onto the next lane. Before he knew what was happening,
he was being pulled over for reckless driving.
The cop was a young, plucky thing and he assumed he
just gotten out of the academy. And, he suspected,
filling his quota of traffic tickets and Giles had
just fulfilled it. Anyway, five minutes and two
hundred + dollars later, he was free to go, free to
resume what he'd been doing during the drive home.
Daydreaming.
About Cordelia.
About Cordelia and him dancing to 'Maria, Maria', in
some unknown square in the heat of summer.
Closing his eyes, Giles recalled some of the daydream
and smiled. "Well, that dream was certainly worth the
ticket" he uttered aloud.
Walking to his couch, he sat down and contemplated
what this all meant. He'd had seen Cordelia the week
before and had a surprisingly wonderful time in her
company. She had sparked feelings inside of him that
he hadn't experienced in quite awhile.
Naturally, the pleasant time he had, had worked itself
in an equally pleasant and slightly erotic daydream.
One of his favorite bands, Santana, had come on the
radio, with a new song, 'Maria, Maria' and singing
along with it, his mind had slipped in daydream mode.
He could remember Cordelia in a red sarong, himself in
a white linen suit and they were dancing the mambo in
some isolated town square. Hot and steamy, the dream
was so sexual that he thought he'd have to take a
shower afterwards, it was that good.
After being pulled over, he spent the rest of the trip
home wondering what it meant. Wondering if the
daydream meant anything. Or if it was his overactive
imagination trying to create something that wasn't
there.
Now, he hadn't thought about the day at all since
until seeing the ticket to remind him of Cordelia. 'I
wonder what Cordelia would say if she knew a traffic
ticket reminded me of her' he thought to himself.
'She'd probably say it was appropriate, since she
always knew she stopped traffic.' he chuckled.
Getting up to pour himself some juice, he thought
about the whole thing. Seeing Cordelia again had been
a lovely surprise. She'd had grown up considerably
since graduation yet she was still able to retain some
of that spark that made her uniquely Cordelia. Witty
and charming, but more of a witty banter than an
insulting one that she used to sometimes display in
high school.
He knew that living in a large city like Los Angeles
had forced her to become stronger mentally and
emotionally than she had ever been. And he slightly
suspected more than even she thought she was capable
of.
He had known Cordelia since his first year at
Sunnydale High. His first ever encounter with her,
personally was when that invisible girl had been after
her. He recalled asking her if she'd ever been in the
library before and her answer that, no she had a life.
At that time, he'd found her offensive and slightly
perturbed at her remark. But, looking back he realized
it was pretty nervy of her to express her opinion like
that.
Nervy.
That was always the word he associated with her.
Nervy. She had nerve that he wasn't sure even he had.
She wasn't afraid to say what she felt and didn't
particularly care if anyone liked it or not. At times
this was irritating but sometimes he was grateful for
it.
Like with the Buffy intervention scene. She'd had said
some things that he had wanted to say, like the part
that Angelus was more concerned with torturing those
closest to Buffy rather than Buffy herself. He had
wanted to say that but felt it was inappropriate to
say. But not Cordelia. She said it without any qualms
and truthfully, he silently agreed with her.
And even after that horrible accident, she still had
some nerve, some gall. But, he noticed she was
different. She became more quiet, less indulging when
it came to them and reverted back to some of her, as
Buffy called it, 'pre-Xander bitchiness'.
But, he honestly couldn't blame her.
He truly believed that she had genuine feelings for
Xander and when she caught him cheating on her...well,
that devastated her. Not only physically, but
emotionally.
He suspected that any walls that Xander had managed to
tear down had surreptiously been brought back up after
the accident. She had changed a bit since that day and
at the time, wondered if it would make her bitter for
it in the long run.
But, to his amazement and surprised joy, she had grown
up into a beautiful, confident woman that he had
always known she was. Living in Los Angeles had
toughened her, made her wiser beyond her years. He
knew that what living in a new city was like and on
top of that,living with practically nothing.
He hadn't known that Cordelia had lost everything and
he suspected that no one had known, not even Xander.
She kept it hidden and he wanted to ask her more about
it, but from the brief joking she did that day, he
assumed it was still a sore subject with her. Along
with Xander.
Laughing aloud, he remembered her telling him that she
rode the bus. He smiled as an image filled his mind.
'I wonder if she argues with the driver if she doesn't
have the exact change', he thought.
Anyway, what really surprised him that day was the
intuitiveness and raw emotion she'd expressed.
Intuitiveness at the fact that she knew he hated
Angel, a fact he never shared with anyone and honestly
thought he'd hidden well. But, he wasn't surprised
that Cordelia had known. She always had a knack for
picking up things that either people didn't see or
wanted to see. He sometimes wished Buffy had
Cordelia's intuitiveness, then he wouldn't be as
worried that she might miss something that was
unusual.
And the raw emotion, she had displayed in front of him
when he told her about Harmony made his heart go out
to her. He'd never intended for her to find out about
Harmony being a vampire. But, she had heard about
Spike bragging about a new girlfriend and she
essential forced him to tell her. He hadn't expected
her reaction at all. If he had remembered correctly,
Xander had once mentioned that Cordelia didn't 'hang'
with Harmony anymore and essentially hated her.
But, her reaction that day took him aback. She was
devastated but tried to hide it from him. He gently
persuaded her to talk about it and like the Panama
Canal, the flood gates opened.
She had opened up about her friendship with Harmony,
from their earlier years and told him of her
frustration and disapointment as the years grew. But,
still considered her a friend, even though they
weren't close anymore.
He had tried to comfort her, letting her talk
unabashedly and he even opened up himself. To his
surprise, he told her about his friendship with Ethan,
more than he'd ever told anybody. At the time, he
thought he did this to reassure her, comfort her but
looking back, now realized that he just plainly wanted
to share that with her. For no reason, just to share.
Soon after, he had to go and she'd given him her
number, saying to call whenever he got bored in
Sunnydale. Which was almost practically everyday since
he'd lost his job in the explosion of the school.
Walking to his table with his juice, he picked up the
paper and casually flipped through it. He had thought
about calling her a couple of times since seeing her,
and wondered if it was a good idea.
Glancing through the paper, Cordelia on his mind, he
stopped when a picture caught his eye. Reading it
closely, he gasped.
'Femme Fatale', the title of the picture said. Above
that, was a picture of a beautiful woman standing
there all in black with a glow radiating out of her.
She was wearing a black bikini that fitted nicely to
her body, showing off her best assets. But it was the
look on her face that captivated him. The look that
said, 'Come here', that bellowed him to her. She
looked like a spitfire.
A type of woman that could be both wild and carefree,
yet guided and calm when need be. Gazing at the
picture, made Giles come to a decision regarding
whether or not to call Cordelia.
Going to his desk he found the slip of paper with her
number on it. Picking up the receiver, he punched in
the numbers and waited.
Hearing someone pick up, he said, "Cordelia? This is
Giles."
* * *