"Angel, is that you?"

Lindsay's voice sent a chill down Angel's spine.

"Yes it's me, how did you get this number?" He growled the response, wondering why the lawyer was calling him here.

"That's not important, what is important is that your girlfriend is lying in a hospital bed, fighting for her life after saving three kids and their mother from some of the ugliest demons I've ever seen in my short life," came the reply, sending any color Angel might have had in his face flooding from his body.

"Cordelia's hurt? What happened?"

The panic in his voice alerted everyone in the room, and five concerned pairs of eyes flew to his face.

"All I know is I was walking home when I saw some young men with stakes rushing by me, yelling something about the 'warrior' being in trouble. Naturally I picked up on their urgency and followed them to a house down the street from mine. Once there, I walked in on your girl nearly unconscious but fighting with everything in her against one of the biggest demon's I'd ever seen. It had beaten her up pretty bad, and she didn't look good. Before I could get to her, she managed to kill it, but it pretty much killed her. I got her out of there and to the hospital, but it doesn't look good. So I figured I'd better call you and let you know. Why, I don't know, especially because you took my arm and my chance at a career future, but I'm doing it. Probably more for Cordelia's sake because anyone would feel pity at the state she was in. All because she was trying to save some kids lives. Imagine that," the lawyer trailed off, hearing nothing but dead silence on the other end of the phone.

"Angel?" he asked, wishing the vampire would say something, anything. He might feel extreme hatred towards the vampire, but something in him had a soft spot for Cordelia, and he'd be damned if he'd let her die alone. Besides, it would be nice to rub Angel's face in the situation.

"I'm on my way," was the terse reply as the receiver was slammed down.

Lindsay smiled slightly, then settled back onto the waiting room chair, rubbing his eyes and sighing as he awaited word on the young woman fighting for her life.

Buffy's voice didn't even penetrate the state Angel was in as he frantically searched for his car keys.

"Angel, listen to me, what happened?"

Willow's stern voice finally penetrated his fog as he located the keys in his jacket pocket.

"She's hurt pretty bad. Apparently she'd been fighting a demon, to save some kids," his voice cracked on the words as he pressed his fingers to his eyes, imagining how horrified she must have been, feeling sick at the thought of her dying because he wasn't there to protect her.

"We're coming with you," Buffy's voice booked no argument as she grabbed her jacket, and followed him out the door, followed closely by the rest of the gang.

Angel didn't say a word as Buffy, Riley and Willow climbed into the car with him, while Tara, Giles and Xander jumped into Giles's car to follow.

Angel said barely a word as he broke every speed limit and law known to man in his frantic haste to get to Cordelia. He was oblivious to the three people talking quietly around him, his mind only able to focus on Cordelia.

He cursed the fact he hadn't checked up on her, figuring she'd be okay on her own. What was she thinking? Fighting demons on her own? He wondered how she'd managed to stumble upon one while she was busy filming her commercial.

Unless there was no commercial.

Unless the visions hadn't stopped.

He cursed violently as the thought hit him with the force of sledgehammer, unaware of the frightened look Buffy gave him as his eyes began to glow and his face rippled.

"Angel! Stop it… what is it? Angel please," Buffy's voice barely broke through, but some of her fear must have penetrated, because his face smoothed out and he slowly returned to normal, stepping even harder on the gas.

"Angel, tell me what's wrong," she asked, seeing his eyes were black again, and he was lost in his own private hell.

"If the visions haven't stopped…" was all he managed to get out, pain zinging through him as he though of her bearing the pain of her visions alone.

Fighting the visions as well?

He cursed again as he realized that if she was still getting visions, chances are she'd been acting on them. It was pure Cordelia, especially after her unending vision ordeal.

How could he not have thought about that?

Because he was so enamored of clinging to the past, trying to make something that had been over long ago, work again. He looked in the rearview mirror, and noticed Riley had his arm around Buffy, who was burrowed against him, her frightened eyes watching the back of his head. He felt something suddenly click inside of him, realizing that was where Buffy was supposed to be.

With Riley.

He was her future.

Just as Cordelia was his.

The wave of knowledge hit him with the force of a blow, and he began cursing himself all over again at not realizing what should have been so obvious.

Obvious in the way she'd looked at him, tears in her eyes, as he'd told her he wanted to leave. Her heart in her eyes as she'd watched him leave, after kissing him like she never wanted to let him go. The resolution in her eyes as she'd accepted that he had to figure things out on his own. The pain in those eyes he'd blinded himself to, so intent on getting back to the past.

How stupid could he have been to not realize that he loved Cordelia Chase more than anything in the world?

She held the key to his soul, he never would have been able to do what he had to get it back without her to help and guide him. She willingly bore the pain of Doyle's parting gift, if only to help him redeem his soul and save lives. She was the one who cheered him up when he was brooding, the one who held him when the sight of something had been too horrible to bear alone. The woman who'd always complained about never taking money from clients, but was always willing to 'help the hopeless' in her own strange way.

For the past two years, she'd truly been the one he'd gone to with everything. She was his best friend, his soul mate, his other half.

He only wondered that he'd been so blind to it all. Even coming back to Sunnydale hadn't seemed right. He didn't fit in anymore with the Scooby Gang, if he ever had.

He belonged in LA, his city, fighting the demons there, with Cordelia by his side.

He belonged with Cordelia period.

Buffy would always be a part of his past, and part of him would always love her… but it was Cordelia he wanted to be with. To make love to. To come home at night to. To love for as long as they had together on this earth.

Cordelia Chase.

Who would have thought it?

But he could lose her.

The thought brought the fear back as he sped through the night, praying that she'd hang on, praying that she'd know he was coming. The thought of Lindsey being the one to be with her… to stand by her… he cringed at the thought, knowing he'd never be able to bear it if the woman he loved died without knowing how much he loved her.

"Hang on Delia… I'm coming princess, I love you," he whispered, almost like a prayer, his words inaudible to everyone but Willow who sat beside him, staring at him with comprehension dawning in her eyes.

"She'll be okay Angel… she's waiting for you to come save her, to love her," Willow whispered quietly, reaching over and placing a gentle hand on top of Angel's tightly clenched one.

He turned to look at her, surprise and resignation in his eyes. Seeing no recrimination in the ones staring back at him, he tried to smile and squeezed her hand.

"Thanks Willow," he said quietly, expressing everything he felt in those two simple words.

Willow smiled back, offering up her own little prayer that Cordelia would hang on long enough for them to get her Angel back to her.

She sighed quietly as they sped away even faster into the night.

"Where is she?"

Angel's voice brought the entire waiting room to its feet as the tall, menacing figure in a swirling black duster slammed through the doors, eyes darting frantically around for a familiar face.

He was stunned to see how many familiar faces there were.

Their annoyingly rich computer games client was pacing the floor, being watched carefully by the group of teens in bandanna's and leather jackets. Kate was even sitting there with a cup of coffee, chatting with Lindsay. The lawyer slowly rose as the vampire zeroed in on him.

"Angel… you made it, and I assume these are… friends?" he said in a low tone, indicating the bedraggled group that had followed him in.

"Yeah, friends. Now where's Cordelia… I need to see her," Angel growled, fighting the urge to grab the lawyer and pound his face a few times for good measure.

"She's in surgery, has been for the past four hours, it's bad Angel," Lindsay said quietly, nothing but concern in his tone and on his face as he saw the agony flash across the vampire's face. Even in this moment of triumph, he couldn't help but feel sorry for the creature so obviously in pain in front of him.

Who would have though it?

"I need to see her…" Angel said again, spinning around, looking for a doctor, before Kate's gentle hand on his arm stopped his frantic moves.

"Angel, you can't see her just yet, she's not out of surgery… you just have to wait," she said quietly, feeling for the vampire. Despite her horror at knowing what he was and what he did, she couldn't help but feel sorry for him. She'd known he cared about Cordelia… but figured he hadn't realized how much until this moment.

"I can't lose her Kate… I just can't…" he mumbled brokenly, moving across the room and away from everyone, not wanting them to see the tear that slipped down his cheek.

"Angel, come sit down, you won't do her any good if you don't calm down," Buffy's voice penetrated his fog as he felt her come over and gently take his arm, steering him back towards the chairs. He pulled away from her, not wanting to feel anyone's touch but Cordelia's at this moment.

But what if he never got to see her again? Never got to touch her, or hold her, or make love to her? How could he go on knowing he'd let his future slip away from him by being too obsessed with his past?

The thought of losing her was unbearable.

He sighed brokenly and fought down his emotions as he saw the teens come towards him. He looked up and tried to smile at their leader, seeing the sympathy in his eyes. He had to know.

"What happened? How could she be fighting a demon alone? How could she be fighting a demon period?" He asked them desperate for answers.

He started as he saw them exchange glances, noticing Kate and Lindsay staring at each other, then back at him. He didn't like the feeling he was getting.

"What aren't you guys telling me?" He asked quietly, the calmness of his voice fooling no one.

Still the room remained silent. It was Kate's voice that finally broke the stillness.

"She's been fighting demons ever since you left Angel," the policewoman said quietly, seeing his head jerk up, confusion in his eyes.

"What do you mean she's been fighting demons?" he asked hoarsely, not comprehending what they were saying.

"The visions didn't stop just because you left man," one of the teens said quietly, seeing the vampire's gaze jerk towards his.

"She's been having visions?" he asked almost in a whisper.

The LA people looked at each other then as one, nodded.

"She's been taking up where you left off, and doing a damn fine job of it," Lindsay said quietly, hating to admit it, but knowing it was true.

"It's true man, we've helped her out several times, in fact, she's become known as the "Warrior Princess" to those she's saved, and we've kept watch over her, figured you'd want us to, but she told us you knew," another teen said quietly, stopping at the pain he read in the vampire's eyes.

"She's been having visions, fighting demons, by herself? She's been alone when she had the visions? No one to hold her, to talk her through the pain, to get her aspirin and calm her down? She's been fighting these monsters on her own? By herself? She's being called a "warrior princess?""

Angel's tortured voice rung the hearts of even the most hardened in the room.

"Oh God, what have I done?" he moaned, burying his head in his hands and cursing the fates for putting them both in this situation.

Those watching him ached for him silently as they returned to their seats, anxiously keeping vigil over their friend.

Buffy was standing near the door, Riley's arm around her, holding her against him. She could feel the tears gathering in her eyes as she watched Angel's agony.

She had no doubts now why things hadn't been right between them since his return.

He was in love with Cordelia.

And while part of her rebelled at the thought that Cordelia Chase had stolen her man, another part of her realized that things had changed over two years, Cordelia included. She was obviously not the self-centered fashion queen they'd known in high school. She'd turned into a woman who battled demons and suffered pain to save others… a slayer of her own form and in her own way.

"Cordelia Chase: Warrior Princess" indeed.

But it still hurt knowing that the man she'd thought her future would be with, was hers no more.

"You okay?" Riley's soft voice suddenly penetrated her haze, and she knew that things had to be this way.

Because, despite it all, she did love Riley. It felt right to be here in his arms, and to love him. Maybe that's how things were meant to be after all.

With a painful sigh, she let go of the past, and turned to brush a kiss across Riley's lips.

"I'm okay now," she said, smiling up at him, seeing that he read her decision in her eyes. He smiled back and pulled her closer. Buffy snuggled down against him, praying that Cordelia would survive and that Angel would be allowed his happiness. It looked like she'd finally found hers.

Several pairs of eyes noticed the exchange, and Willow, Giles and Xander nodded quietly at each other, understanding what had just happened. Willow gently went over to Angel and put an arm around him.

"She'll pull through Angel, she's got all of us pulling for her, and you know Cordelia Chase isn't one to give up without a fight," she said softly, seeing Angel slowly lift his head and try to smile.

"I hope you're right Willow… God, I hope you're right," he said brokenly, closing his eyes and letting the guilt overcome him again.

"Angel, it won't do you any good to feel guilty about all this," Giles voice brought his head up again. "You had to realize in your own time that your future was with her and not Buffy," he said softly, seeing the torture that filled the vampire's eyes.

"But my stupidity might have gotten her killed Giles! How can I live with that if she dies?" he said brokenly, burying his head in his hands again.

"She's not going to die, you have to believe that. And when she wakes up, the first thing you tell her is how much you love her," Buffy's soft voice brought his head up again.

He simply looked at her, everything that needed to be said between them, conveyed in that glance. He smiled at the understanding he saw in her eyes.

"Thank you," he whispered, as more passed between them with a single look. Buffy smiled softly then returned to the shelter of Riley's arms.